With the new release of Digimon in 2021, it reminded me of the anime. I recall watching the Pokemon anime a little as a child, but the only thing that stood out to is the movie, orange island and charizard. The Digimon anime stands out to me in my childhood memory than Pokemon. Overall, the story was more appealing and I didn’t get annoyed as much with the Digimon masters the same way I with Ash’s performance. Which anime did you prefer and why?
Pokémon because the cartooning was more catered to my liking. The graphics just look much better to me, and I know you asked about the anime, but Pokémon really gets you hooked with the cards and games. You see a Mewtwo on TV and you can catch one in your game. How cool was that??
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Pokemon is better.
…I’ve never watched Digimon.
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Pokémon is better. I’ve never actually watched digimon and whenever I heard someone talking about it my first though was always “bootleg Pokémon”
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Digimon had a better anime and worse games. Pokemon had way better games but a worse anime
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@lamplamp , I fully agree. The games were what hooked me on Pokemon, but I was way more invested in the Digimon anime than the Pokemon anime. Digimon had much better storytelling and suspense. The stakes were higher and Digimon wasn’t afraid to bring (digital) death on the table, and a good story needs sacrifice. Pokemon always felt more like feel-good episodes, with a few exceptions (like the movies and a few episodes like the Butterfree one and another with Charmander later on).
However, what killed my interest in the Digimon anime was the removal of the previous main characters in season 3. I know that season 3 had some of the best storytelling in the entire series, but not seeing my heroes anymore was a huge letdown, and then came season 4 with the concept of humans fusing with Digimon which killed my interest entirely. Meanwhile, the Pokemon anime kept its quality on a steady level and is still enjoyable to this day.
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I think my siblings and I enjoyed the Digimon anime more, but all other aspects were dominated by Pokemon (cards, games, etc). Digimon just had more characters and an actual storyline beyond watching the most incompetent Pokemon trainer collect gym badges through friendship.
I will also vote for Digimon. I used to wake up at 7am on the weekends to watch Digimon as a child, and it was the coolest thing ever.
Good old days.
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Pokemon, Digimon was always a second class citizen in our house lol
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Digimon has objectively a better story line, and possibly also more developed characters. The Pokemon franchise was better in everything else.
But no way Pokemon would be where it is today if it was only for the anime.
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Definitely. What seals the argument for me is the arc at the end of Season 1, when the gang returns to the Digital World and you think they are going to roll over the Dark Masters because they have two mega-level digimon. Then they get ambushed, a ton of their digimon friends sacrifice themselves so they can escape. That was pretty hardcore for a kids show and I loved it.
Every old season of Pokemon is literally Ash being an idiot and never learning from any of his experiences
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Not an anime fan in general, but Digimon and Yugioh are actually amazing. While Pokemon was my favourite as a kid, it’s the only one that I can’t rewatch today because of how boring it is (speaking strictly about the originals, have not seen anything recent). Digimon had a much better anime, but was unfortunately lacking in everything else compared to Pokemon.
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@lamplamp, yeah, the Dark Masters were OP. The only reason the Digidestined beat Metalseadramon and Machinedramon was Wargreymon having Dramonkiller gauntlets, and Piedmon required a Deus Ex Machina to get rid of.
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I grew up watching both and loved them but always thought Digimon was so much cooler. I still have a ton of cards from the first few series. If it weren’t for the games and TCG, I would have preferred Digimon over Pokemon.
Digimon just had a better story for me, it seemed more adventurous, there was more high stakes, and some adult/dark themes that were explored. I still won’t forget the tensions between Matt and Tai during the end of one of the seasons, the first time we see MetalGarurumon and WarGreymon. I even loved the second series and their spin on implementing the real world with the Digimon world.
Don’t get me wrong. Pokemon was great, but due to censors, cut episodes, and just animation style - a lot of it kind of felt pretty much the same. The first movie was what sucked me back into the anime.
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I will say Digimon. Pokemon anime lacks everything, plain and repetitive.
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I liked the anime for both Pokemon and Digimon. I’d say Digimon had the better overall story arc, Pokemon had the best memorable/standout episodes, and Digimon movies were way better than Pokemon movies (except for the promo cards, of course).
But Pokemon takes the cake for everything else… Cards, games, etc…
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I think the two shows are a bit different in nature: Pokemon is a bit more episodic (story progression happens over time but most episodes are relatively self-contained), whereas Digimon iirc is more serialized. I think each type of storytelling is preferred by different kinds of people and are both good in their own rights.
I really enjoyed Twitch Watches Pokemon a couple years back–those nights were super entertaining and I feel like the early seasons hit differently (in a good way) when you’re older compared to when you were a kid.
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Digimon was better imo, it actually had a story
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I 100% prefer the Digimon anime over Pokemon. The characters are so much more deep and they can often connect with you on a personal level. I’ve felt so many different emotions going from season one all the way through the recent Kizuna movie. I’ve genuinely laughed really hard at a few jokes but also had my heart ripped out and stomped on a couple times. Pokemon never made me feel anything like Digimon does when it comes to the anime.
The cards are a different story though. EXCEPT…except…seeing that Digimon Battle Spirits artwork. There’s a tiny unfilled place in my soul waiting for Pokemon cards similar to that. The new Digimon cards don’t hit me like the Battle Spirits artwork does, but I think it has something to do with the white borders. The artwork seems contained while the Battle Spirits cards feel like the entire card is being used. I am so happy though that the 2021 cards are being made in English and I will definitely be buying a few boxes.
Neither, they were awful. Dragon Ball Z
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