16 GOOD Reasons Why BOTH Digimon And Pokemon Are Good/Bad
Recently, one of the Digimon fans made a mess of things by posting a narrow-minded article about the Pokemon-Digimon brand loyalty war. So let's put on our grown-up pants and be mature about the real comparison between these two franchise.
1. Pokemon Dub Had Catchier Openings; Digimon Sub Had More Endearing Theme Songs
Does anyone remember the opening theme song for Advanced Challenge, "This Dream"? I do. It's my favorite opening theme song from the American dub, next to "Born to be a Winner" from Season 4. Those were some catchy songs from Pokemon. Let's not forget "You and Me and Pokemon" and "Together Forever."
Does anyone remember Brave Heart? How about Butter-Fly, I Wish, Keep On, The Beat Hit, The Biggest Dreamer, One Vision... oh you get the idea. Good Digimon songs were easy to find, and all the ones I've mentioned trigger an intense emotional response in the audience through one way or another. In other words, "FEELS."
Unfortunately, Pokemon songs for the American dub have dwindled down nowadays with the lack of Pokemon Jukebox/Karaokemon, while recent Digimon Japanese songs are hardly as memorable as the older ones. This is a tie for both Pokemon and Digimon. The new Digimon music in Japan is becoming stale and cliche, while Pokemon simply toss out the musical style entirely from its once catchy dub.
2. Mon Talk
While it is true that all Digimon is able to speak human as opposed to Pokemon, it is an unfair assessment to say that Pokemon couldn't communicate with their trainers just as effectively. Body language and other subtle actions like that could easily allow Pokemon to communicate with their trainers.
That being said, do humans words convey more depth than actions could? While it is true that actions speak louder than words, let's not dismiss the power of words completely. Words can be quite convenient in the Digimon anime, and they allow a better understanding of the Digimon's feelings, ideals, philosophies, and of course, their personality, all without the use of an expert Digimon doctor to tell the audience what is happening.
Nevertheless, both series have their own advantages with this element. Digimon writers don't need to deal with the obstacle of communication, while Pokemon writers could use the obstacle to their advantage by exploring more interesting forms of communication through body language. Both have their own strengths, so I'm calling this another tie.
3. Item Purposes
In Digimon Adventure (or Digimon: Digital Monsters Season 1 in the American dub), the Digivice was a sacred device meant to be a holy item of sorts that allows the prophesied "Chosen Children" to exorcise the evil in the Digital World (or the Digimon World in the American dub). Naturally, they do serve a couple of nifty purposes in battle, as they're essentially battle-items used to defeat the bad guys.
Now, while the Pokedex does not serve as many purposes in Pokemon, we do have the in-game battle-items like X-Attack, X-Defense, Hyper Potions, Full Heal, etc. Also, there are various evolution and stat-boosting items that each serve their own unique purposes. Especially notable are the Choice Items (Choice Band and Choice Scarves).
Now, the verdict: which franchise has the better items? While Digimon has some pretty nifty evolution methods throughout the years through the use of only one device, not to mention the stat-boosting slash-cards in Digimon Tamers that actually makes more sense than Pokemon's stat-boosts (considering that Digimon are explicitly explained to be made out of data), it wouldn't be fair to dismiss Pokemon's creativity in their item-designs. You may argue that the huge number of items can be kinda intimidating at face value, but you've got to admit that many of the item-designs can be quite interesting (Moon Stones and Sun Stones, Charcoal and Miracle Seed). It's just too bad that the anime writers deemed it too difficult to make sense of those items.
This one is another tie.
4. Evolution
Evolution is the game for Pokemon. Hell, they even have a song based on evolution (Everything changes, changes!) So the subject of progression and evolution are quite the hot topics that were often brought up in the anime. Both Pikachu and Bulbasaur even refused to evolve simply because of their pride as a creature of intelligence and individual will. I wish they took this subject somewhere further, but unfortunately, the writers had to pander to the gamers (who are pro-evolutionists) so... this isn't the case.
On the other hand, serious topics about evolution in Digimon are far from absent. You have Digimon Tamers (Digimon Season 3), where Ruki (Rika in the dub) wants her Digimon to become stronger so she could kick everyone's ass, an idea that's frowned upon in the Digimon anime as opposed to Pokemon. Seriously, the whole dog-fighting controversy was turned on its head in Digimon Tamers. It was almost like a deconstruction. And then of course, you have X-Evolution (which even has the word in the title), where both existential crisis and evolution are discussed. This is essentially the "MewTwo Strikes Back" of Digimon, where hard, serious topics are exchanged about one's identity and one's place in the world.
Back to Pokemon. While Pokemon evolutions are permanent, it makes sense why they are. Unlike the data-composed Digimon, Pokemon are organic, meaning that 'going back to its previous form' is going to be tougher than 'resetting a software'. While Pokemon writers do over-romanticize the notion of evolution a little too much, it can't be denied that evolution can be quite a beautiful thing in Pokemon.
This is why it's an automatic tie for both franchises. Don't worry, a tie-breaker is coming up soon, when we discuss...
5. Character Depth
There's no argument here. Digimon Tamers automatically takes the spot for being far more superior in depth compared to the Pokemon anime, games, and the manga.
Written by Chiaki J. Konaka, the creator of the notorious Serial Experiments Lain, Digimon Tamers broke just about every rule in the book for both Pokemon and Digimon. Battling? It's not necessary all good and magical. Heroes always win? Oh hi, Leomon. Villains are always evil? The main antagonist D-Reaper says hi.
And of course, that's not even getting to the sheer awesomeness of the main characters that made Taichi and the gang look like Saturday morning cartoon counterparts. Takato the hero, Ruki/Rika the pragmatist, and Jianliang/Henry the pacifist. These three children could easily top the three children of the Pokemon original series, Satoshi, Kasumi, and Takeshi, in terms of depth and originality. While the Pokemon trio's most serious discussions are Pokemon breeding and what to have for dinner, TaRuJi's discussions often involved philosophical exchanges that conflicted with each other, not to mention furthering their character growth as they learn about mature themes.
While Pokemon Adventures does have its share of serious characters, the level of goofiness vs. seriousness between Pokemon and Digimon are far too distinguished to call it a tie (and no, I'm not talking about the butchered dubs), especially if you take Digimon X-Evolution, V-Tamer, and Digimon Chronicles into consideration. That's not even getting into the fact that the main characters in Digimon Savers (Digimon Season 5) are young adults who could relate to the older audiences, not ten year olds whom the producers feel to be too young to be involved in mature themes.
This win goes to Digimon, though not as easily as I had expected.
6. Character Morality
While Satoshi’s definitive goal is undeniably “win all the leagues, catch all Pokemon, and become a Pokemon Master”, his journey is hardly as simple or shallow. They said that the journey is sometimes better than the destination, and this holds very true for Satoshi. He meets various Pokemon with their unique quirks and traits, he meets many trainers along the way and learn important life-lessons, and he even saved the world multiple times at the risk of his life, despite being only one kid of age 10 (granted, he had the help of Legendary Pokemon on his side).
And besides, he’s a lot less selfish than real life trainers. I couldn't count how many times Americans called Ash “fag and gay” because of his compassion towards Pokemon (and humans too). He even goes against some of the commonly accepted ethics of Pokemon-battling like forcing one’s Pokemon to evolve against their will or battle with Pokemon till they faint and die in a pit (Suicide Teams in competitive battling, anyone?). So yes, he’s practically an angel compared to the rest.
Now let’s look at Digimon. Contrary to what another article implied, not all the main characters are selfless saints - and that’s a good thing. I would rather have some selfish, imperfect character than a boring Mary-Sue who wants to run a charity fund to save the endangered Doduo. There were many times in the Digimon series that the main characters bend their morality to some extent in order to achieve their goals, namely Ruki in Digimon Tamers (see Point 5), and that’s what makes them interesting! Because they are mature enough to know that the world is not all rainbows and sunshine, and sometimes, you've got to do what you've got to do, even if it means blowing up Hiroshima. Oops.
Anyway, this one is another tie. Both franchises have their own set of morally relatable characters.
7. The Crests Have More Values Than The Badges… In The Anime
Only because Charizard sucks. The guy earned his Earth Badge and you still refuse to obey him? Really? Hey Team Rocket, your badge is broken!
But seriously, the badges served only one purpose in the anime - to show off Satoshi’s accomplishments. This automatically makes the crests in Digimon Adventure much more valuable because they added to the character development of the main characters through the discussion of the traits represented by each crest. Or to put it in another way, the crests opened up more plot and character development, while the badges merely served as battle items.
Why battle-items, you ask? Contrary to misconceptions, the badges are actually quite useful in the games, for they not only demand that your Pokemon must obey you as long as they remain under a certain level (unless you've acquired the final badge), they also improved your Pokemon’s stats (due to reasons unknown) and allow them to use HM moves outside of battle (again, reasons unknown), so they’re more than just trinkets hanging off of your Trainer Card.
That said, this is a match between practicality and philosophical values, both are subjective matters with no real objective arguments. This one is a tie for the both of them.
8. Villains
Let's be real - the villains in Pokemon sucked, and even those in Pokemon Adventures are only comparable to above average manga villains. With Pokemon, the only ones worth mentioning are MewTwo, Giovanni, Groudon, Kyougre, Blaine, and Koga. The rest of them are either world-dominating stereotypes or power-hungry tyrants. They even butchered Sabrina's character by turning her into a heartless bitch in the Adventures manga. Even when you consider the heavyweights of the Pokemon anime, MewTwo's "humans are cruel" philosophy never really got explored, Giovanni's pragmatism was underused compared to Jessie and James, and Groudon and Kyougre are merely unintelligent forces of nature. The same can be said for Deoxys. Seriously, do any of these Legendary Pokemon have a more interesting goal than "destroy the world/destroy all humans/destroy each other"?
That being said, Digimon is no better during the first, second, and fourth season. Apocalymon and Cherubimon are emo bitches who whine about their bitterness, VenomVamdemon and the Dark Masters are shallow bullies, and Lucemon is just as shallow of a rip-off from the Christian mythologies. Thankfully, Digimon made up for this with Beelzemon, the sympathetic/badass ex-convict, Yamaki the anti-Digimon/Pokemon cool guy who thinks all mons are dangerous to the city, the selfish jerkass Royal Knights whose "survival of the fittest" philosophy rings more true than the naive might think, and let's not forget Kurata, the yellow-bellied coward who's the very embodiment of "cruel, selfish humans" and has more balls than the yellow-bellied cowards of Pokemon, Team Rocket themselves.
But when it comes down to comparison, both Pokemon and Digimon have numerous shallow and/or cliche villains that don't serve much purpose in the protagonists' character growth. A good antagonist is one who forces the protagonist to question his values. Pokemon rarely has these moments outside of the Adventures manga, and though Digimon has more of such moments, many Digimon are merely world-destroyers that the heroes need to stop.
This one is another tie.
9. Shit Got Real
There used to be a consistent atmosphere of seriousness present in the Digimon anime (up till Season 4). Compared to the American dubs that tried to lighten up the mood with silly pun jokes, the Japanese original versions were way too serious for American kids. If they are not talking about family values, they are talking about surviving in the wilderness of the Digital World. If they are not mourning the deaths of their friends, they are too busy running away from the next evil villain trying to kill little children. Make no mistake - Digimon is about war. That's why Digimon have the unfortunate tendency to look more boring sometimes, because they are forced to be equipped with militaristic weapons and armor suited for high-graded battling that Pokemon would never come to encounter in the family-friendly Pokemon world.
But does that mean there's a lack of serious themes in the Pokemon world? Not necessary. In the Pokemon Adventures manga, Green was kidnapped as a child by Ho-oh and was raised by evil creepy masked men, causing her not only to have ornithophobia, but also a mean streak of kleptomania (or at least, the tendency to be generally naughty). Red and Blue would also share similar mature encounters during their adventures, and even Satoshi has his share of world-breaking problems in the movies. And this isn't even taking into account the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon games, which I've heard that have a rather grim-dark tone to it as well compared to the color-oriented games.
All that being said, does a tone of darkness mean a better story? If Digimon Season 5 proved anything, it's that "grittier and darker" don't necessary make a great story. It's a rather subjective taste, actually. This one is another tie for both franchises.
10. Story
The big one. The "Story". The other definitive proof (aside from character depth) that Digimon is better than Pokemon.
Let's face it, even with the cuts and edits of the American dub, Season 3 was easily one of the best children's TV shows of its time, along the ranks of Cowboy Bebop, and of course, Serial Experiments Lain. Remove the cheesy dialogues and lame-ass music from the dubs and you have a solid package that could easily contend with Pokemon's best - Pokemon Adventures. Furthermore, Season 1, 5, and X-Evolution have decent storytelling too.
However, it is true that Digimon only has four out of seven counts when it comes to decent storytelling. Season 2, Season 4, and especially Season 6, are all black sheep of the family that contained either a boring storyline or just simply rehashed the same stuff that happened in Season 1. Even with the manga series considered, the Digimon franchise as a whole is hardly on the level of Evangelion and Ghost in the Shell as elitists would have you believe. It's a different story, however, if you're merely talking about Season 3 and the X-Evolution movie.
Less could be said of the Pokemon, a franchise where "story" could be entirely thrown out of the window with its money-grubbing creators. The manga series and the one Mystery Dungeon game series aside, Pokemon is notorious for rehashing the same "Gotta catch'em all" story just to hypnotize the children into the same mentality.
But look, I love the Pokemon anime. It has a different story-approach that doesn't need to be taken seriously to be enjoyed. For Pokemon, the journey is more fun than the destination, and that's good enough for me. Just because the story wasn't written as well, it doesn't mean that it lacks the enjoyment factor. So don't take it too hard when such an objective-based discussion is considered, because as we know, art is supposed to be subjective.
This win goes to Digimon, though not because Digimon is a masterpiece, but because Pokemon's writing quality is somewhat lesser.
11. Cliffhangers
"Cliff-hangers would be not knowing if Ash would win yet another badge."
I remember the times when Satoshi lost to his best friend Richie at the Indigo League, lost to Akane/Whitney, lost to Takeshi/Brock, lost to Matis/Lt. Surge, lost to a Level 5 Tsutarja/Snivy... Ahem.
The point is, Satoshi doesn't always 'win'em all.' Bullshit anime logic aside, there were many times when Satoshi legitimately lost, and that's good because it showed that he's still human and not a Mary-Sue, unlike a certain other guy whose name is based on a color. I mean, seriously, who names his kid "Red"? Satoshi I understand, but Red, Green, Blue, Yellow, Gold, Silver, and Ash? Seriously? Yeesh, at least the later names sound like actual names (Kris, Emerald, Ruby, Sapphire, etc.)
Also, there were obviously many cliffhangers in the manga series as well. According to sources, the Adventures series held up its unpredictability pretty well too, such as characters going missing or the team splitting up. I'm sure there are many other moments that I'm unaware of.
On Digimon's defense, the heroes lose a lot too. And I do mean a lot of times, especially in Season 3. And no, not because they are pathetic, but because they are children. It's realistic for children to lose when you're going up against demonic monsters that kill others for a living. Furthermore, those losses made the characters much more stronger as a person - cue character development.
And let's not even get into the deconstruction Digimon Season 3 brought up. It broke so many rules and tropes in one season alone that people could hardly recognize that it's the sequel to Digimon Season 1 and 2 by the time it's done (though I'm sure the dub countered this through its censorship). The unpredictable level was especially turned up to eleven after the death of one certain hero, whose death wasn't just a cheap shock-factor in the long run.
That said, it's another tie for the both of them, mainly due to Adventures' quality writing.
12. Growing Up With Your Heroes
Character growth is very important in a TV series, especially if you want to make it a long series. Friends, Seinfeld, Big Bang Theory, Dragon Ball, Avatar, etc. Hell, even Batgirl grew up on TV. This helps the audience relate with the characters as they see the length of progression these fictional lives take on-screen. It helps enhance the experience that they are important people that are part of our lives.
Unfortunately, the Pokemon anime never received such a treatment, because much like Spider-Man writers, the writers are afraid of losing their target audience, the children. While some fanboys would tell you that this is a good thing because you get to be with Satoshi and his Pokemon forever and ever... such an argument obviously has its flaws. The first thing that comes to mind is... you don't live forever. Though it is true that Satoshi will remain a hero for every generation there after, it's such a wasted potential that we don't get to the more mature side of Pokemon.
One great thing about Digimon is that it can be an empty canvas used as a medium for storytelling. Though many seasons are obviously targeted for children, Digimon has proven that mature storytelling can happen in Season 5, the X-Evolution movie, and the upcoming Season 7, where Taichi and the gang are now high schoolers.
On the Pokemon side, it has its character growth in spades too for the Pokemon Adventures manga, where Red and the gang are shown to have grown up by the later volumes of the manga, while new characters stepped into the spotlight to bring new stories to tell for the audience.
This is a tie for both the Pokemon and Digimon side.
13. Communication Barrier
Ironically, Pokemon has psychic powers that allow you to telepathically communicate with your Pokemon. This wasn't utilized at all in the games, and only the rare once or twice in the anime.
This goes back to Point 2: Mon Talk, where Pokemon language is concerned. Pokemon have their own world of Poke-speak where what they are feeling isn't necessary conveyed with their body language. This can be very tiresome for both the trainers and the audience, especially the latter when you deal with Pokemon like Sonans (Wobbuffet in the dub) whose name is a real Japanese word meaning "I know, right?", so you are left wondering if Sonans is agreeing with you, or if he's just saying his name. However, please note that I love the humor caused by Sonans, because it makes for good banter between Jessie and Sonans, more so than Wobbuffet (Sonans agreeing to stuff Jessie said for example). Though it is true that this is less of a problem with MewTwo, Lugia, and even that Lapras in Season 1, knowing what your average Pokemon is feeling isn't as convenient as a talking Digimon. And it goes further than that for Digimon.
By having Digimon combining with the children, they were able to connect as one mind, thus allowing them to share their thoughts and consciousness. Furthermore, when you consider that Digimon is essentially made out of data, this makes a lot of sense. It's basically a data-exchange between two entities. This is something I would like to see more out of Pokemon in the future through the use of telekinesis. Perhaps have Satoshi and the Pokemon hold philosophical debates about the ethics of battling.
This win goes to Digimon.
14. Originality
If Pikachu is the cash-cow of Pokemon, then Greymon is the cash-cow of Digimon. However, not every form of the leader's Digimon is necessary a rip-off of another. And even ShineGreymon looks much more different different than WarGreymon, especially in his Burst Mode. He carries a freaking fire-sword for Christ's sake!
The reason Digimon has more room for variation is because they are based on mythological creatures, so they can be as varied as history allows them. Beelzemon is based on Beelzebub, Vamdemon is based on Dracula, the Olympus Twelve is based on the Roman mythological gods, and even the Four Holy Beasts are based on the actual beasts in Japanese folklore that guard the four cardinal points of Japan.
That said, Pokemon isn't devoid of originality either. All the starters have their own various quirks and traits, not to mention being based on different kinds of animals. Legendary Pokemon become more badass as they come, with Arceus being the creator god of all Pokemon. You even have a freaking scorpion-like Legendary with Giratina, who happens to have a Mode Change... just like Digimon. Huh...
Regardless, new generation Pokemon aren't as unoriginal or ugly as the GenWunners would like you to think. This is a tie for both Digimon and Pokemon.
15. It Can Actually Happen, If Your Scientific Knowledge Is Of Any Value
Or hey, just check out the news for Japan Weekly. Look up on the "Artificial Intelligence" section. Though the wild and exaggerated theories certain fanatics have claimed were obviously false, the creation of AIs that are similar to those featured in Season 3 are not too far off. The creation of robots and machines that rely on similar AIs is already a matter of reality, so it isn't necessary 100% impossible for even more intelligent AIs to be created in the distant future.
That said, we probably wouldn't be fighting off evil virus-filled entities that want to destroy the world any time soon, so this point is as invalid as the existence of magical creatures like Pokemon.
It's a tie.
16. Closure
Closure is very important. Every good story comes in three parts - beginning, climax, and resolution. A good ending even promotes character growth, something that has its limits even with lengthy stories that have strong character development, in spite of the length. The Pokemon anime lacks both - strong character development and an ending. Spanning 17 Seasons with the birth of XY, Satoshi neither matured mentally nor physically. It's pretty sad if you think about it. A character being trapped in a TV show because its writers are too cheap to write off a cash cow like that. Never growing up, never growing old.
Pokemon Adventures, on the other hand, faces no such problems. All of the characters have proper character growth, from Gen 1 protagonists all the way to Gen 6. The manga writers are the ones who truly know how to handle proper story writing.
Of course, little defense needs to be held by Digimon. Digimon is known for its closures and use of new characters every season. With new stories to tell with every brand new series, Digimon is seeing a bright future... even if Season 7 is bringing back Season 1 characters. Let's face it - Season 2's epilogue sucks. We never really got the closure we wanted.
This one is a tie for both Pokemon and Digimon, simply because only the anime lacks an ending.
With that said, let's face front, Digi-fans, and look forward to the shining future that's 2015 Spring!
Btw, this article is merely Part 1 of my discussion. For my next entry, I'll write up a list of good points Satoshi/Ash has that the Pokemon gamers often neglected. See you around!
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