50 Fun Facts About Digimon

Digimon began in 1997 as a virtual pet intended as the masculine counterpart to what?

WiZ and Bandai built it; the name is short for Digital Monster.

What is 'Digimon' short for?

The creatures live in a digital world that grew out of Earth's communication networks.

How many units of the original 1997 Digital Monster pet had sold worldwide by March 2004?

By 2005 the figure passed 24 million; the toy was banned in some Asian schools for being noisy and violent.

Which designer created the first Digimon, drawing on American comics to make them look 'cool'?

By 2000 there were 279 different Digimon.

How much had the franchise generated in sales by 2000?

The Digimon World game on PlayStation in January 1999 helped it gain momentum.

What is the term for a Digimon changing into a stronger form?

When two Digimon merge into one it is called Jogress, or DNA Digivolution in the dub.

What is the gadget, modelled on the virtual pets, that lets children empower their partner Digimon?

Later series introduced variants like the D-3, D-Power and D-Tector.

Which studio has produced the Digimon anime series since 1999?

Digimon Adventure started life as a short film that was turned into a series.

On what 1999 date are the seven children sent to the Digital World at the start of Digimon Adventure?

August 1 is celebrated by fans as 'Odaiba Day'.

From which Tokyo district do the original DigiDestined come?

Digimon Tamers, by contrast, is set in Shinjuku.

Which villain hunts the DigiDestined early on using black gears to corrupt other Digimon?

Etemon and Myotismon follow, then the Dark Masters and Apocalymon.

What artifacts do the children retrieve so their partners can reach the Ultimate level?

Apocalymon destroys them, but the kids realise the Crests' power was inside them all along.

Who is revealed to be the eighth DigiDestined child?

Her partner Gatomon had been serving Myotismon.

What are the Dark Masters?

The mastermind behind them is Apocalymon.

How many episodes did the original Digimon Adventure run on Fuji TV?

The 2020 reboot ran 67.

Who sang 'Butter-Fly', the opening theme of Digimon Adventure?

He was nicknamed the 'Immortal Butterfly Anisong Singer' and died of cancer in 2016.

Which song by Ayumi Miyazaki plays during Digivolutions in Digimon Adventure?

'I Wish' and 'Keep On', the ending themes, were sung by AiM, Mimi's voice actress.

Which company produced the English dub of Digimon Adventure that premiered on Fox Kids in 1999?

Disney's purchase of Saban later moved the show onto Disney-owned channels.

How did the DigiDestined characters get their names, according to the show's creators?

Katsuyoshi Nakatsuru designed the children.

Which magazine named Digimon the 'Worst Pokémon/Net Crossbreeding Attempt' of 2000?

Later critics praised its more realistic child characters compared with the Pokémon anime.

Which future Oscar-nominated director made the 1999 Digimon Adventure short film?

It premiered in Japanese cinemas the day before the TV series began.

In Digimon Adventure 02, who is the Digimon Emperor revealed to be?

He is redeemed and joins the team with his partner Wormmon.

What new type of device in Adventure 02 lets the kids enter the Digital World through any computer?

D-Terminals hold the Digi-Eggs used for Armor Digivolution.

Which Digimon does Arukenimon create from Control Spires in Adventure 02?

He destroys the Destiny Stones hoping to summon Azulongmon.

In Digimon Tamers, what does Takato find that turns his reader into a D-Power?

His partner Guilmon was his own drawing brought to life.

Which Serial Experiments Lain writer, known for Lovecraftian touches, was head writer of Digimon Tamers?

Tamers is set in Shinjuku and treats Digimon as a card game within its own world.

In Tamers, what is Hypnos?

Henry's father and the 'Monster Makers' created the prototypes that became Digimon.

What makes Frontier different from the earlier series?

The kids are summoned by a text message telling them to board a train at Shibuya Station.

How many Legendary Warriors, tied to elements from fire to darkness, are there in Frontier?

Each left a Human and a Beast Spirit, twenty in all.

Digimon: The Movie (2000) stitched together how many Japanese short films?

It grossed over $16 million on a $5 million budget.

In Digimon: The Movie, WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon DNA Digivolve into which Mega to stop Diaboromon?

Diaboromon had hacked the Pentagon and launched nuclear missiles at Colorado and Odaiba.

How many parts make up the film series Digimon Adventure tri.?

It introduced a new DigiDestined, Meiko Mochizuki, and her partner Meicoomon.

In which year is Digimon Adventure tri. set?

The first part, Reunion, was released in November 2015.

Digimon Adventure: Last Evolution Kizuna is set how long after tri.?

The 02 kids were recast with new actors while their Digimon kept their original voices.

In Kizuna, Menoa Bellucci is a professor at which university?

She lost her own partner, Morphomon, prematurely by growing up.

When was the film Digimon Adventure 02: The Beginning released in Japanese cinemas?

It is billed as the finale of the 02 story.

How many episodes did the 2020 reboot of Digimon Adventure run?

It is the eighth anime series in the franchise.

In Digimon Ghost Game, what is Hiro's partner Digimon called?

The series is built around horror-tinged 'Hologram Ghost' rumours.

On which console was the first Digimon World game released in 1999?

Raise your Digimon badly and it Digivolves into the pathetic Numemon.

In Digimon World, the player is brought to File City on File Island by which Digimon?

The goal is to help amnesiac Digimon recover their memories and return to the city.

How many Digimon anime series were adapted into English, by Wikipedia's count?

The sixth, Digimon Fusion, was only partially dubbed.

What was the title of the one-shot 1997 manga in which the franchise first appeared in story form?

Designed by Tenya Yabuno for Shueisha's V-Jump, it spawned the popular Digimon Adventure V-Tamer 01 manga in 1998.

Who wrote the Digimon Adventure V-Tamer 01 manga, serialised from November 1998?

It grew out of the one-shot C'mon Digimon; Hamazaki and Okano later made Digimon Next for V Jump from 2005 to 2008.

Which NFL on Fox commentator hosted the 'Digi-Bowl' specials of 2001 and 2002?

Co-produced with Fox Sports, the specials framed episodes as if they were a football game, with interstitial segments between them.

Under what title did the 2013 English dub of Xros Wars air on Nickelodeon?

Saban Brands had re-acquired the franchise in 2012; it sold most of its properties to Hasbro in 2018.

Which studio produced the English dub of Digimon Data Squad that premiered on Toon Disney in 2007?

Around the same time the remaining Adventure 02, Tamers and Frontier films were finally dubbed, mostly with the original TV voice cast.

Which comics publisher adapted the first 13 episodes of the English Digimon Adventure dub in 2001?

Daniel Horn and Ryan Hill wrote the American-style books; the UK's Panini later reprinted them and ran its own original stories.

Re:Digitize, released in Japan in 2012, ended a hiatus in the World game series of how many years?

An enhanced Nintendo 3DS version followed in 2013.

Which 2015 game was the first Digimon Story title released in North America under its original name?

Earlier Story games had been marketed in the West as Digimon World entries; Cyber Sleuth reached America on February 2, 2016.

What was the title of the web novel Bandai launched in 2023 for the franchise's 25th anniversary?

It ran for about a year on the Digimon Web site, published simultaneously in English, Chinese and Japanese.