Pokemon and Digimon

[Mikachu Yukitatsu]

For some people, these two games/animes/mangas/trademarks etc. are like night and day, but still many don't know which one is which. The purpose of this here discussion is to find out how to explain the differences and similaritises, especially for outsiders. You can list everything from major directions to minor details. And if you see someone mistaking here, feel free to point out, of course.

Some I noticed, correct if wrong:

Origin

Both are from Japan. Pokemon is originally a game for Nintendo's Game Boy handheld console, mostly based on an idea by Satoshi Tajiri of Game Freak. The first Pokemon games Pokemon Red and Pokemon green came out in 1996.

Digimon, on the other hand, is originally a tamagotchi-like game released by Bandai in 1997.

World

Pokemon games, TV series etc. take place in an ecosystem different from ours in that it has creatures called Pokemon. There exist also humans, normal animals and plants. The geography is based on the real world, in Mewtwo Returns we see the world map as we know it and, more notably perhaps, we see the map of Japan in the games. The towns and other places have taken different names from our world, except for some like Kanto (a Japanese province) and Hollywood (mentioned in the anime episode Go West, Young Meowth). For example Coldenrod City is believed to refer to Osaka and Ecruteak to Kyoto.

Digimon is situated in two worlds, the real world (sometimes called 'Genjitsu no sekai' in Japanese) and Digital World. The real world has all the real place names ranging from Australia to Moscow. Digimon live naturally in Digital World, but for example in the end of the second season they invade real world. Moving between the worlds happens through 'Digital Gates'.

Your turn.

[Austrian ViceMaster Alex]

Well one obvious similarity both have is the fact that the name giving creatures (Pokémon and Digimon) are able to evolve. I'm not really an expert when it comes to Digimon but I think unlike a Pokémon's evolution a Digimon's is not permanent.

[Knight of Time]

Another major difference between Pokemon and Digimon I happen to remember is, unlike Pokemon, who can only say their own name (with the exception of TR's Meowth, and Pokemon who roar instead), Digimon can speak human language.

But it's no wonder Pokemon is more popular, I mean, Digimon is not on TV where I am, and I've always preferred Pokemon over Digimon, anime-wise, in my opinion though, some Digimon episodes are good, too.

[Dark Scizor]

The Digimon anime actually has a kinda-decent storyline, depending on the series, and series that fully finish too.

Pokémon remains the same, but enjoyable.

[Houndoom_Lover]

Digimon tends to be more Darker, more adult, while Pokemon is playful for everyone. Pokemon does get dark, but like, 13 year old dark. Digimon gets kidnaping actual kids, terrorist themes, and drug referances (Gazimon forget-full-mushrooms anyone?)

Hmm, now that I think about it, Digimon season two with Myostismon was mighty 'dark.'

And Digimon don't...breed...they're made out of data, can die and be beborn as something completely different. Reincarnation!

[firepokemon]

I love both personally. I loved the first season of Digimon which I thought had far superior character development, the story was certainly darker, the storyline wasn't as episodic and I liked that Japanese references were kept in. That first season was magical, because everything in that season was linked, the fact the first evil guy was Devimon, right through to Piedmon and the rest. Every thing was thought out well and made sense.

On the other hand, Pokemon had superior animation, it was easier to get into the story. With digimon, if you didn't watch an episode one could get themselves slightly lost. Pokemon was less challenging but it was also more optimistic than Digimon, as digimon could at times wallow in emotions. The characters were more simple, but weren't contradictory as digimon could be.

Similarities and differences have already been rather covered well by other people posting to this, so I don't think it's something I can really add to.

What has ultimately proven to be the difference between the two is their sustainability. Certainly digimon has a number of seasons and still exists to this day. However, who is watching digimon? Who are playing the games? Whatever happened to the card game? Pokemon I think was able to survive its hype and keep going whereas Digimon was magical for a season maybe two but then has largely disappeared.

Oh and Pokemon movies beat the Digimon movies any day. They were terrible.

[Mikachu Yukitatsu]

I wouldn't have thought I'd reply this way and not just because I want to copy mr_pikachu replying or anyone replying to one's own thread...now what did that mean?

Austrian ViceMaster Alex: Yes, I think you're right. I think Digimon usually evolve when they begin a battle. We here in Finland had the oppoturnity to hear the Japanese evolution themes already when the rest of the show was in Finnish! I must say I'm not so expert either but I still posted this topic.

Knight of Time: Yes, and Digimon also repeat their names sometimes. However, maybe I'm nitpicking, but some Pokemon that we believe don't say their name actually say their Japansese name.

Dark Scizor: Yes, I also like the storyline but it's actually hard to compare with Pokemon because the objects are so different after all. In Digimon the good guys are saving the whole world whereas in Pokemon Ash just wants to become the greatest Pokemon Master ever.

Houndoom_Lover: Yes, Digimon is clearly Good VS Evil, while in Pokemon the trainers just battle for fun. Of course we could argue by mentioning Team Rocket and so on and also that in some Pokemon movies the whole world is in danger, I think especially in The Power Of One.

firepokemon: Yes, I like both too.

In any case, to me, Digimon look uglier than Pokemon, let's face it. And about missing eppies, I figured it out at once when they changed TV scedule here in Finland once. They used to show it only on Mondays but then they took Tuesdays and so on and I was completely lost because I didn't pay attention to newspapers where I normally would see when they show Digimon. I believe that many Finns however didn't notice when 'we' skipped Friends to the End, Pallet Party Panic and the whole Orange League. And they still haven't shown them. Only those who see Sweden's channels saw them.

Fillers are what many hate in Pokemon but at least skipping eppies doesn't hurt...or shouldn't hurt at least...too much.

If it looks like I can't say anything I can still tell what it's like here in Finland. It may be the same in many countries though, I don't know. Anyway, I'm trying to say many people thought Digimon was a Pokemon copy and didn't like it. Some others, on the other hand, claimed Pokemon is a Digimon copy which isn't true either. And some regard them both as some evil Jap cartoons that make a kid jump from a window. As some of you remember, I once DIDN'T jump because I wanted to watch Pokemon.

And even while we still showed Digimon repeats here in Finland this spring on Nelonen, MTV3, another Finnish channel, has showed Pokemon almost non-stop compared to that and newer and newer episodes. In fact, I have seen many magazines saying this is the last Pokemon episode which isn't true becuase the show is still going on in Japan and all. MTV3 always starts showing them again. And all the other aspects like Digimon card or videogames are lost while Pokemon is relatively still kicking, not as big as it used to be, but still kicking.