Sorry it took so long to get this out to you guys. I hope you enjoyed the video. What are your thoughts on Frontier? If you enjoy this sort of content, as a way to support the channel please consider liking the video and subscribing 🙏🏽💙
I do think Frontier got undeserved hate, but can understand why some would be skeptical of it as even as a kid I thought it baffling of them to not only have no Digimon partners, but what it meant for their development with them until the humans become the Digimon like how Tamers wonderfully executed it. That said still enjoyed it when it comes to the original 4 shows with the hiatus left after Frontier my ranking goes like this: Tamers > Adventure > Frontier > 02 Lastly, I have no thoughts on the next Digimon shows as that is when I jumped shipped and the Savers/Data Squad impression I got from it didn't help (as what I can say that turned me away was when the main character had to reuse Agumon and not even getting started on him punching and managing to beat Digimon which was way more absurd than the criticism Frontiers got from some of the fandom). Other than that I would be very interested if you'll be looking into and share your thoughts on Digimon Survive's story and cast!
@@SonicLegends ah you definitely should give Savers a chance, it’s such a novel take to series and also follows the format of the games much more so then previous series. I’m certainly planning to cover the games too once I’ve got videos out on most of if not all the anime series 🙏🏽🍻
Honestly I enjoyed Frontier and understood why they decided to start at Champion Level for the most part, but wish they did feature Rookie Level content.
Frontier is still my favourite season to date although I can't say it's the best. A part of it is that the "digi -destined" this time have to put themselves at risk by having to fight instead of "just" supporting their partners. Then there's probably also the power fantasy inherent to turning into a powerful Digimon. The story has been so-so. I like the episodic storytelling in the beginning of Frontier just as much as older seasons with a more involved story because it's still fun to see whatever plot (pun intended) the children have to deal with. Their Digimon guides are also likeable, if a bit annoying at times.
I'm very fond of Frontier, the theme song for the dub was the first time they branched out from the original dub theme from adventure (not counting the slight variation in Tamers that I still enjoyed) and man was it a banger! I remember getting to watch an episode here and there before school and I was always excited to see the characters grow. I agree they didn't follow through with all of their issues but all of them were relatable even if Takuya's is the most childish but it does help show just how much he's grown by contrast by having to take on the role as leader. All in all I have fond memories of the series and rank it highly among the series I grew up watching. Sadly this is where my knowledge of the series falls off as the next series I saw glimpses of was Data Squad and I was not fond of the MC just punching Digimon randomly. I know I'm probably being reductive and am willing to give it another shot from the beginning but it was more jarring than anything Frontier did for me. I'm happy the franchise has gotten a massive boost since the recent Story and World games alongside Tri, the reboot to adventure AND the reboot to the card game which I find incredibly fun. Thanks again for all the awesome content and I'll be waiting excited for more to come while replaying World 3 😁
I still say the 3rd and 4th season of digimon are the best seasons i didnt mind fusion either but i can understand the hate there lol this season aside from the typical 4kids issues id argue it was one of the best saturday morning/jagex anime weve gotten the privilege to see when it aired something kids today wont be able to experience anymore
Only problem i have with frontier is that the partner digimon were removed in favor of becoming the digimon, didnt like that, still dont, but the season wasnt as bad as people say it was
So basically Koji’s dad left his wife, split his twins up, lied to him about being an only child and that his (real) mom, who was actually the woman his dad left his wife for, died, and probably made him feel bad for not accepting his new stepmom fast enough?? Geez Digimon. These storylines are deep.
I have to ask though, how does someone just forget they have a twin? Like how can you grow up with a twin and just be told you're an only child? And believe it?
@@blackromeoKOK Because they were separated at birth. Their parents relationship was already falling apart during the pregnancy and they agreed to just each take a baby and go their own ways without ever informing the children about each other. They spent ten-twelve years being never told they had a twin and being told their other parent was dead/not part of the picture anymore. So of course they wouldn't know, it was only their grandmother who finally spilled the beans right before dying.
@@cathrienkeysha3111 So it's purely the parents being pieces of shit? Because I never got that from the show. I'm not saying your wrong by the way, just surprised. I always thought it was some weird anime BS that made it so he forgot his family in like a year or two. Because it's not unheard of for shows to literally forget what they wrote previously and just figure the audience will fix it in their head. Okay, well that changes my opinion on the situation.. but I still like my "fix" for a situation I read wrong.
@@blackromeoKOK Also don't forget that Japan has VERY different views on family structure and that things like divorce are not seen as lightly there. They've been getting better about it, but there's serious stigmas that still follow divorced families around there. The whole "we got married too early and turns out it didn't work out between us after all" doesn't cut it as well over there, even though they still have arranged marriages and such that would make "we didn't work out" more believable. And this show is almost 20 years old at this point, and as it's backstory then add another ten years and expect slightly dated views to be presented. But yeah, they likely thought it was better all around and made everyone's lives easier to just cut all ties and pretend the other person died. At least, Kouji was under the impression his mom was dead since he was at least very, very little. I don't remember anymore if Kouichi had always been told the same thing or not. Just look at how the flower lady reacted to the news that Kouji's parents had only been married three years to see how uncommon it was in Japan at that point. But they definitely had never been told they had a twin and their parents had never intended for them to cross paths with the other half of their family.
I'm a little sad that this show has had a lot of hate. There were also some missed opportunities, like not seeing the others with their fusion hybrids, or the other 4 kids having the purified spirits. I still love this show for its unique approach.
@@callumcrane241 Same. but I can see why some people didn't like it as it gave off the whole superhero vibes that didn't seem to fit well with the Monster raising franchise. Either way I still enjoyed it for its lore.
I always felt Frontier got too much hate. I really really enjoyed it. To me the series kinda like digimon / power rangers in a way with spirit evolution. I loved how the kids actually have something to do besides stand there and be a digivolution source.
Power Rangers was seen as a series for toddlers at the time. The comparison to power rangers hurt Digimon Frontier. It doesn't help the dub doesn't take the source material seriously until the dark area arc
I'm glad that other people are of this opinion. Not having a partner Digimon may the Digidestined children stand on their own, and the danger felt a lot closer.
DIgimon Frontier is my favorite of the franchise honestly. And I grew up watching Adventure, 02, and Tamers. The uniqueness of the DigiDestined turning into digimon was so amazing to me. Without digimon partners, it forced the children to not only be more proactive in their journey but think outside the box when transforming wasn't an option to them. And when it was, what would they do? They now had the power to fight other digimon themselves. What I especially loved about it was that it explored the children's own insecurities and how that influenced their relationships with each other. Instead of having a partner digimon to talk to, the children talked to each other or their guides.
Oh yea that's a huge problem with frontier. And I love EmperorGreymon, literally my favorite greymon variant but shit man the favoritism for Takuya and Koji made it so hard to enjoy when the other characters and even Koiji that was running their shit just became irrelevant
The Hybrid level digimon of the spirit evolutions are meant to be stronger than your average digimon. That is why Agunimon was able to take down Cerberumon at the very first episode. Even then there are large gaps in power between different spirits, and they can all be influenced by their elements and team work. In addition, the fusion spirits such as Aldamon and Beowolfmon possess all the power of AncientGryemon and AncientGarurumon, making them significantly stronger than average megas. What really ruins the show's powerscaling are EmperorGreymon and MagnaGarurumon, as it makes no sense that these two would have difficulties fighting against the Royal Knights. Overall I think having the entire team unlock double spirit evolutions and learning teamwork, would have made for a much better later half.
Personally, I think it’s too big a jump because it’s an ultimate level digimon souped up on the data of an entire region, which is shown to vastly increase the power of the antagonists. At those levels of strength being able to win means that a lot of the fights, they lose handedly become unbelievable, considering the circumstances here.
In regards to dub differences with Kouji's backstory in the Japanese version his father never told him that his mother had died, but that Kouji hadn't seen her since his parents divorced. Other than some minor censorship there isn't really a whole lot of differences between the sub and dub. Frontier's dub is actually one of the most accurate to the original version.
I remember being in daycare and watching this along w/ yugioh almost every day. Man what a childhood :)) Still absolutely love this series. Rewatched it a couple years ago and it still holds up along w/ the previous series.
Frontier's biggest weakness is that it has so many great ideas that don't get executed in great ways. The spirit evolutions is fantastic and thry play it out well, but how the digidestined find the spirits is often by chance. I think it would have been more interesting if the team had to work harder to get the spirits through a side quest that leads to a big confrontation. After watching this video I do think I was in the camp that was too hard on the show when it released, its new take is a fresh way to do the series, especially as it was the fourth entry show they probably felt they needed to do something unique.
I always thought Seraphimon, Ohphanimon and Cherubimin were such a cool trio ❤ And I love how Ohphanimon and Seraphimon are Mega forms a nod to Patimon and Gatomon from the Season 1 Digi destined’s Digimon.
Honestly, i like that lopmon got another bit of spotlight, but why do lopmons always end up being probably evil? Cocomon and... antylamon, i think, both already had lopmon confused between good and evil. Then here comes cherubimon, starting out just caring too much, like so many villains do. It’s enough to drive anyone crazy but for some reason it’s always lopmon. Just like how leomon usually dies. For the record, this series is one of my favorites and frequently trades first place with tamers. I love how koichi was able to use darkness to get stronger, unlike pokemon, which can’t seem to separate darkness from evil. I know, the translation, but still. Gary has an umbreon and honestly i like gary. He’s clearly the better trainer, cares deeply for all his pokemon, and does a great job with that aerodactyl. Even if gary didn’t have an umbreon, they evolve through friendship. Into dark pokemon. They’re clearly not evil. And that houndoom rescued togepi, and max had that episode with the poochyena, and so on. But i feel like i distinctly remember brock, of all people, painting all dark pokemon with one broad stroke, and that just never sat right with me
I used to despise this season when it was airing, but as a 30 year old I think I was just jealous that I couldn’t transform into a lizard with the power of friendship.
I always did love this season. Great start but when Koji and takuya fused their spirits I started to get mad cuz the others didn't. Those 2 got 2 more forms than the others.
This has always been my fav season of digimon ever since I was little from the action to the element system to the kids actually being useful instead of just standing on the sidelines everything about this season just works for me especially the opening in the dub was amazing and it has my fav cast of characters and how each character has their own struggle to overcome I also think the cast benefits from being so small cuz it gives each character their own time to shine well atleast it kinda did anyway
Absolutely! It’s a shame the rest of the kids where sidelined towards the end as they had to lend their spirits to Takuya and Koji. But they did get to fuse all as one for the final battle so there’s that 😊. It’s a shame the kids turning into Digimon was so poorly received when Frontier first released ..
Thanks for making this retrospective. Digimon Frontier is one of my favorite seasons even if towards the end the focus on Takuya & KOji and sideling the other kids is annoying. Still, I LOVE the idea of humans becoming monsters because then it focuses on the interrelationships between the humans.
I’m so glad to hear you enjoyed Frontier, and I agree with you about the sidelining of the other kids which began the moment Koji and Takuya gained the ability to fusion evolve 🧐
I don't think I ever gave Digimon enough credit for being another great intro anime for kids Frontier showed just how action packed the Digital World can really be and it made something very unique with the Spirt Warrior Digimon when they let the kids actually transform this time.
@@raytaku_ I just hope Digimon can keep their popularity going you know how some anime tend to be forgotten over a long time which is why I hope you will watch and review the series Bakugan next.
@@raytaku_ Thanks man it's good know that even with all the amazing anime and manga out there that all the series that started it all for a whole generation of fans will never be forgotten because of people like you.
Ah yes, Digimon Frontier the one that introduced me to the digimon franchise. I have a lot of nostalgia for this series and loved it even if others don't.
@@raytaku_ People probably wouldn't hate it as much if the kids had the rookies of the spirits as partners and they spirit evolve into the spirits by merging with their digimon just like tamer's matrix evolution except its the entire evolution line.
I'll always give credit to Frontier for introducing those variant versions of Adventure-named mons in their Beast forms. Like BurningGreymon, KendoGarurumon, Korikkakumon, MetalKabutarimon, etc. As a nod to Adventure for that parallel with this Anime's concept. Though oddly Zoe got Zephirmon for her beast spirit, and not something like "ZephirBirdramon."
My personal favorite digimon series and in my opinion one of the most underrated I feel. Like this show came out one on the wrong channel and at a time where people just weren’t really looking for digimon.
Episodes would air way too early here in the UK which made it hard to watch when it first released which is a shame 😌 I’m glad you enjoyed this season 🍻
Frontier and Tamers have always been my favorite season of the franchise. They’re stories always held my attention more as a kid. Because the characters to me seem more like real people, like I've met people like them. And for awhile I was like Zoey, and Rika in my own life growing up. Which probably help with my connection to thise stories and these seasons as a whole. Also the world building was so fascinating to me. Frontier especially, I want to know more about this Digital World and the lives of the digimon in it. And that this setting has so much potential! There use to be an amazing fan comic/fanfic that is unfortunately discontinued as the creator is no longer in love with the series. Luckily you can still find it. But it will no longer be posting new chapters. It's Digimon Frontier ReBirth if you google it, highly recommend people still check it out. Anyway a note to end on this long comment. And to sum it all up, Frontier is and has always been one of my favorites. It's the one I come back to the most out of the older seasons of this franchise, and because of that it will allways have a special place in my heart.
Who would win: A guardian with the power of wind who helped defeat literal satan Or Three Mushrooms in a trench coat. They did Zoe so dirty in this series.
Yeah… when they first spirit evolved, Izumi and Tomoki were not the ones who defeated and scanned their opponents!! Takuya and Koji did it. At least, Junpei was able to defeat his opponent by himself…
JP being the Avatar of Thunder but still being afraid of it really goes with the whole “our greatest fear is that we are powerful beyond imagination” saying
I liked Frontier a lot. It was like Digimon meets Power Ranger/Beetle Borgs. But I do remember the airing was all weird. I found it on accident when it was almost done and mostly missed it until it re-aired on jetix
I was unfortunate to come across the burger episode at like 13 years old. No patience for that, but i did fall madly in love with kendogarurumons first appearance before that, so i gave it a fair chance. I’m a sucker for a blue lancer
Please tell me that comment was meant to be ironic, please. All related to eng dub in Digimon SUUUUUCKS, you don't even have to compare it to the original which is beyond beautiful, it sucks in its own
I don't even know where to start, well the "it's time" before evolving sounds very out of place, even though Ophanimon communicates through it, the "tribal" as well out of place, the "execute" just why? The di di di sounds, gross as well. And please don't let me talk about the opening theme repeating DI GI MON, we know what we're watching duh. But it doesn't defeats the first intro in eng dub, that's the worst amongst the eng dub songs, names and/or terms
And Fractal code? Doesn't eng dub tend to add Digi to anything, as digivolve (original term is only evolution / shinka) and they just removed the Digi from Digicode to change it to fractal code? And I could continue for hours
Frontier really was and still is a blast to watch. The only thing that I thought was a missed opportunity was to not give JP, Zoe and Tommy Fusion Evolutions as well, which made them kinda obsolete in most of the battle scenes later on.
Biggest issue I got: the evolution abandonment. Now this is a bigger issue than JUST not abandoning the digivolve levels to the spirit evolution. As it stands its not that different than Armor evolution. Which is not a bad thing, but in S2, we still had more to it and eventually actual evolution. But more than just that, we also have 3 of the MAIN characters become completely sidelined towards the end and become COMPLETELY irrelavent. It's a common trope in digimon that you get the Greymon/Garurumon mains getting most of the fanfare, but at least everyone got to shine eventually in different ways or just way later. Frontier instead just said: "At best they learn to combind attacks" and than later said: "At best they give their powers to someone else" It ruins their character. All their backstory and purpose doesnt mean much when they done even contribute. They couldd have literally gone home and no power lose would be noticed. They are not even needed for the final couple evolutions. They can just give up their spirits. which is what they do. To give an example, imagine if in Adventure, we got Wargreymon and Metal Garurumon, and than all the other kids just stopped participating and only ever just fused their digimon into those two. Their purpose as characters becomes so muted no one would remember them. That's how I remembered this show. I remembered the two main characters, and someone of the stuff from the beginning, but I couldnt even remember their names by the end of the series. They dont even participate in the final 2 arcs of the show. They exist to get beaten, and than side line themselves to give their power to the 2 mains. THEY NEVER EVEN GOT A FUSION FORM!!!! They got the human form, Beast form, and than they learn combo attack. that was it. It was INCREDIBLY dissappointing. If I could have given some improvement advice. Have those character participate. Have susanoomon being a megazord of everyone coming together, give them all fusions. AND all the Spirits should have been given to the other kids in the digital world, have the spirits change like the darkness ones did (cause they turning good and sell more toys) and expand the world with their involvment. This isn't even some new idea, they're common tropes that could have saved the show from being so mediocre.
Wonderful video I remembered most of the series, but I usually stopped around the Knights because of the shift in pacing. Thanks for making this! I acknowledge that Tamers is the best, but Frontier is my favorite.
I'm writing this before watching the video just to see if it comes up later: The biggest problem I had with Frontier was the power gap between the kids as time went on. The three side liners each got an episode or two of feeling powerful as they received their respective beast spirits but it rapidly descended into the Takuya and Koji show from then on. The other three were pulled into the final Susano transformation, granted, but it almost felt like a cop out after over a dozen episodes of them contributing really nothing. Every season has its main protagonist from the bunch, but it felt the most egregious in Frontier, whereas I felt it the least in Tamers. Fun series though, liked it a lot
Frontier is one of my favorite seasons, with the all-time best opening. And speaking of the opening, I love the subtext in some of its lines, like "Through us, let your spirit evolve" being a double meaning, the kids, through learning about themselves, allow the legendary warriors to let their spirits evolve in a physical sense, while the spirits, through being the catalyst of the journey the kids are on, allow said kids to let their spirits evolve in an emotional sense. I just love when works of fiction do things like that. This was a great retrospection, can't wait for Data Squad.
So much deep meaning behind that OP and just the overall franchise as a whole, especially the older seasons. Thank you for sharing this, for supporting the channel and for the kind words🙏🏽🍻
I wondered if you would touch on the Frontier movie. Two armies - Human-type led by Darcmon vs. Beast-type led by Hippogriffomon, both leaders secretly Murmuxmon egging on the war to revive Ornismon. In the original Japanese, it's clever how the beast spirits of Light and Dark are both named after a creature from Norse mythology: Garmmon (a massive dog) and Velgrmon (a giant eagle)
I always was kinda.. disinclined of this Series of Digimon. But i dont know why, but i sit through the whole 2 hours and 40 minutes and i have to say, thank you for the Video and it brought a positive Light onto Frontier. Its not so bad. Its even good. Thanks!
I think this is the most unique and high stakes digimon story. Afterall who didnt think about being omnimon/omegamon, or angemon etc. best pilot for a new season agunimon was the best way to start it. You see the stakes and a true villian in lucemon (deadly sin of pride) plus crusadermon and craniamon (two royal knights and i believe the first time we get a mention of it). Also Susanoomon was insanely badass.
I agree with pretty much everything you said in your assessment. This was my favorite season, but I also see its flaws, especially in the latter part of the season. I especially agree with J.P. having so much potential as a character that was never explored. There were some pieces there implied, like lacking confidence, possibly because of his weight, and the way the other kids he entertained didn't really consider him to be a friend or close friend, more like an acquaintance. It was all very relatable for me because my childhood was like that too, amusing other kids to try to make friends while not really having close ones. Yes, that does create trust issues.
JP's character got lost on many, his backstory is sort of implied throughout the show but they could have done a much better and deliberate job explaining it by covering it more in depth with say some of the examples you listed. Thank you for sharing your story. For what its worth you've got a community of friends here on this channel 🍻😊
@@raytaku_ exactly! For all the time they spent reiterating what being a brother means for Takuya and Koji, they never spelled out J.P.'s story. Thank you! Much appreciated :)
I remember when I was binge watching all of the Digimon series about 10-ish years ago that during the 3rd gen I had the thought "woudn't it be really cool if humans could digivolve?" Since they fused with their digimon in that show. Low and behold, the next series did just the thing that I wanted it to do. So I was a happy anime fan that day.
That’s awesome! I loved the concept of Biomerge Digivolution… Frontier went all the way, and for me at least, given the story Frontier was trying to tell; Having the kids become Digimon, made sense 🙂
This was the last season of the show I watched the entirety of every week as a kid. I was extremely sick so it kinda had the whole vicarious living thing going on. Had trouble making friends because the more I hurt the easier it is for me to lash out because aggression in fight or flight is bad combo especially when the flight option isn't there and weirdly strong. Wasn't until one person helped me rather than bullied me or avoided me and she changed my outlook and I guess that's why this one resonated with me so well. She has no reason to other than being kind, thankfully I still have that violent reputation so people get shocked by meeting me and discovering I'm pretty chill, got that guard dog aura though. A newer friend I asked why he always seemed shy around me, told him to be honest because I care, he told me he didn't want to offend me because he was scared I'd hurt him for it. All I said was my boundaries are don't hurt someone for no reason and don't be dishonest with me because I'll know. Best friend ever since
Ah dude, I’m sorry to hear you went through that! Being sick and picked on is the worst. I’m glad to hear someone was kind enough to reach out to you and help you out in such a meaningful way 🙏🏽. You should definitely check out Data Squad, it’s a complete departure from the previous seasons but is such a fun watch 🔥😊
On episode 8 - Odd One Out Zoe, J.P., Bokomon and Neemon come across a Digimon School run by a Togemon. One of the Digimon name Tsunomon is having a hard time fitting in with the other little Digimon because he can digivolve to Gabumon. Zoe can understand Tsunomon feelings being different towards others because she's from Italy and her and her parents moved into Japan a year ago during the flashbacks it seems like the kids wanted to be her friend and hang out with them but it seems like Zoe wants to be left alone
I wish we got to see Kouichi being able fight and do more in combat. But due to him coming into the group so late in the show, as well as what the narrative required of him, we didn't get to see Kouichi assimilate in with the rest of the characters in better fashion. Here's hoping a Digimom Frontier reboot happens in the future.
He was so badass as Duskmon. Once he joined the kids he sort of fell into the shadows of Takuya and Koji , just as the others did. I do hope we get a sequel or soft reboot even like Adventure 2020
Funny enough Kouichi is the only character who is never shown to beast spirit evolve. He goes from loweemon then jagerloweemon which for some reason really frustrates me.
Frontier came out when I was in high school. I remember getting up and sitting infront of the TV by 6am every day, so that I could watch it before getting on the bus.
Hey man I just found your channel earlier today and I have to say these retrospective videos you make are amazing, I never saw Frontiers, Tamers was the last one I watched growing up but I'm excited to watch this vid and find out what I missed out on!
51:33 Every time I see Gallantmon/Dukemon in the armory, all I wonder is what happened to make a Royal Knight like Dukemon have to go shopping in an armory like this. I know there are evil Royal Knights and they ended up splintering, but I just think "Man, that's kind of a steep dive from 'Servant of Yggdrasil' to "Market Shopper" and I wonder where Omegamon, Magnamon, and the others are.
You're probably joking BUT other than Magnamon, Jesmon (?) and probably Alphamon (?) there can be more than one digimon of the same species as one of the RK but only one of them belongs to the organization.
@@chavaz06 It was a joke. It was for the sake of just imagining going from answering to entities around God level to having to shop at a Supermarket filled with Rookies and Champions. It's very likely this was not much more than a "If you recognize this Digimon, good for you" moment. As for multiples of a Royal Knight, it is confirmed that depending on continuity, there are multiples in the canon. Cyber Sleuth confirms that in terms of continuity, multiples exist for each universe, since the Cyber Sleuth UlforceVeedramon was lost to the dimension between the Digital World and Real World and VeeVee was the only other UlforceVeedramon available in a dimension close by. It's very plausible to have multiples as a result, meaning JESmon in Cyber Sleuth would be able to interact with JESmon from Digimon Adventure tri., for example.
I grew into liking this through a Japanese social economic lens in that almost all of the main characters demonstrates some aspect of collectivist culture, which I appreciate. Examples include filial piety as demonstrated through takuya and Tommy, as well as Zoe's osterization as someone who isn't purely Japanese and grew up in a different country. Even JP's character is a nod to unaddressed mental health in Japanese teenagers. The most apparent example is Koji and Koichi and the taboos of divorce in Japan and how the father would rather say the mother died than say they were separated.
Thanks for your work. i love Retrospectives and how you recap the shows. I will probably watch this video multiple times in the next month. Thanks again :) (even if the awesome Lofi beats are a little loud at times)
Thank you so much for the kind words and support 🙏🏽 & thanks for flagging the background music volume. I’ll adjust it down some more for the next video 🍻
I was shocked when I grew up and heard that people hated this. I love this version more than the others. The theme song, the charisma from the characters, the intensity of the story, I didn't want it to end
@@raytaku_ for sure I enjoyed. I never finished the last few episodes as a kid, but finished all of it multiple times as an adult. I loved every second of it
My opinion on the digimon series- Adventure: Best character development 02: Best villains Tamers: Best story Frontier: best world setting Savers: Best character interactions Fusion: I’m sorry, but what is that? AppMon: okay, Now your making things up. Tri: Best kitty Ghost Game: Best dark evolution
This season is way better than I gave ist credit for, when I was a kid. After beeing a huge fan of the first, second and third season, I used to hate Frontier. But I watched it years later, and I appriciate the story and characters, but I still think the first and second season had a deeper and better understanding of the themes.
Yeah i love this season but the writing and symbolism is pretty weak in comparison with the others. This season seems to focus more on world building and the history of the digital world. Which is done fantastically, but it takes away from the focus of the characters and plot
I really like what you did with this video. Frontier was the last series I watched fully - due to network scheduling and high school commitments, I couldn't watch any after that, but I didn't hear good things about Data Squad anyway - and I really enjoyed it. I actually thought they had stopped after Tamers because Frontier didn't air right away where I was. In fact, the first episode of Frontier I ever saw was Takuya's sojourn back to the real world as Flamemon, so him coming back to the Digital World as Agunimon was something of a shock. I've only just bought the DVD set that contains everything from Adventure, 02, Tamers, and Frontier, and I'm looking forward to reliving my childhood. That said, I'd forgotten so many of these details and how many missed opportunities there were when the show came out. For starters, I loved the whole concept of the kids turning into Digimon. It worked really well when they did the Biomerge in Tamers, and they figured out how to take it to the next level and make it work here. But at the same time, having the focus be on the friendship between the children rather than on the relationships between the children and Digimon made it feel like Frontier was missing a crucial aspect of what made the entire series so good. In Adventure 01, the Digimon are almost extensions of the children and their personalities, but they exhibit characteristics the children don't normally show. Think about how wildly different Joe and Gomamon are on the introvert/extrovert scale, yet they work perfectly together. The Digimon highlight the qualities the children need to focus on to reach their full potential and then help them get there. In Frontier, the children are left to do that introspection and reach those conclusions on their own. They can use each other as sounding boards, but they have to face their demons alone. (That could've gone south so easily for the kids, but they always make the right choice. What would've happened if one had given in to those demons?) That allows for deeper, more profound growth, but it's not quite as heartfelt. It might've been better if the Frontier kids could communicate with their spirits. Part of what made the finale so good was the spirits coming to life to give them that last morale booster and help them all converge into Susanoomon. For instance, when Takuya comes back from his stint as Flamemon, you mentioned that he learns how to use the environment to his advantage, which he learns by being in better touch with his spirit. It would've worked so much better if he and Agunimon could speak to each other mentally and that way, Agunimon could teach him. Having the Legendary Warriors act as mentors might've worked. They could leave the children to their introspections when necessary so the kids still have the growth on their own, but can chime in when they need to with words of encouragement or with lessons on how to fight. Second thing, I know it's been talked about to death in the comments already about how the Fusion Evolutions sideline the other kids and that's true (but that's classic form for Digimon. Who got all the upgrades? Tai and Matt, then Davis and Ken took that to new levels), but my problem is that the Fusion Evolution didn't advance the plot a whole lot. All the Fusion forms did was provide a power boost when the story required it. The season as a whole wasn't very consistent about which forms would be effective against which opponents. The human spirits are powerful and the beast spirits are needed to fight against each other in that part of the story (the human spirits not making a dent on Gigusmon and Petaldramon which required beast spirits to fight? THAT made sense.) but there wasn't much consistency about which spirits - human or beast - would be more effective against corrupted Digimon outside of the Legendary Warriors. That ties into your comment towards the end about missing the classification of Rookie, Champion, Ultimate, and Mega-level Digimon. You always knew what level you were fighting and which levels the Digidestined's partners need to be at to have a chance. You also got ideas of which Digimon didn't fit into those molds; the ones that didn't were the ones to keep your eye on because they were usually more powerful. Think how well Angemon - a Champion level - is able to hold his own against Piedmon - a mega level - for a long time in Adventure 01, and then when T.K. finally activates his crest and Angemon digivolves to Ultimate, he wipes the floor with Piedmon after Piedmon had wiped the floor with Tai's and Matt's mega-level Digimon. Frontier would've worked better if they'd separated out which opponents human and beast spirits work better against, and then either giving everyone a Fusion form or just scrapping that altogether. The whole reason they even had Fusion was to defeat Duskmon, and after that, you barely see the Fusion again because it gets scrapped for Unified Spirit Evolution sequence. Which brings me to my next point: Koichi. He was easily my favorite character of the children, but I'm a sucker for a good redemption arc. The way Adventure 02 handled Ken's and then Tamers handled Impmon/Beelzemon's are two of the best things Digimon has ever done. Koichi's though is wrapped up pretty quickly. He changes his tune after Patamon gives him a pep talk about darkness only being evil if you choose to make it so (which was a good lesson), and then only has two battles where he's able to take charge and win. After that, it's back to being focused on Takuya and Koji. And they did it again when Crusadermon tells him he's only a spirit. He realizes the implications of that: that not only is his body back in the real world, but the fact that his soul is in the Digital World means that his body is dying. He has almost no time to come to terms with the fact that he's dying; he does so right before Lucemon destroys him. (That was something else that didn't quite make sense for me, his coming to the Digital World. Did he die upon impact when he fell or was his body in something of a stasis? Was he dead the entire time he was in the Digital World or was his body hanging on by a thread during all the battles and only died in the real world when Lucemon scanned his data? That timeline didn't work for me.) They needed to flesh out his character more the way they had spent the first third of the show doing with the other kids. The second third is defeating Duskmon and Cherubimon, then you're right, after that was when the pacing lagged. That whole section needed to be redone, giving Koichi and the others more screen-time, and only bringing out the Unified Spirit Evolution when it was absolutely necessary, which would make that evolution more impactful. Okay, wow. I didn't realize I was writing that much. I'm sorry. Long stints in graduate school tend to make me run my month and overanalyze everything. Thank you again for this video! It was fun to watch!
My first ever Digimon episode was the episode where they first fused into Kaisergreymon and MagnaGarurumon. And because of that those two becomes my favourite Digimon.
I actually rreally liked Frontier! It was kinda nice to see the tamers actually IN the battle for a change of pace. Rather than sitting side line kinda just cheering on the digimon.
Digimon. The one good game franchise that actually tackles real issues. This is why while pokemon can be all that and whatever. Digimon will always be a cult classic and favorite for us adults.
Watched the entire thing in hits and pieces when I had some down time. Absolutely awesome to go down memory lane. This was my favorite Digimon szn growing up. Thank you for bringing it together in this way!
This was on at 5:30am when i was starting Middle school, which started at 6:30. I was barely able to finish an episode. What an odd time for a show for kids. It feels now in retrospect like they might've been trying to bury it.
I remember when I was younger watching through all the digimon shows in order and getting to Frontier. It was so different from everything else and the initial premises hooked me instantly. This show is extremely interesting and the process of spirit evolution is what undoability got me hooked on the show and to some extent the Tokusatsu genre as a whole. The process of these kids chaining to become more powerful rekindled my love for shows like power rangers and led me to explore other aspects of the genre. And for as much as the show faltered in the back half it is still one with awesome characters who are very relatable. All and all I wish this series could get some more love.
51:33 Dukemon just casually being a trader when hes not out saving the world is really amusing to me. I can only imagine the other knights having regular ass day jobs like omnimon being an accountant, or Jesmon as a cashier. And obviously Alphamon is homeless
You definitely should finish it when you get the chance. The writing does drop in quality towards the final arc, but its still a fun watch and concludes the story nicely all things considered 👌🏽
Finalllyyyy I was waiting for it !!! ❤❤❤❤ After watching the whole video I agree with u about the characters! There was so much but yet so little ! I mean they tackled many issues yet they didn’t actually gave any depth to these issues ! However I really loved how the kids and the spirits got combined … also like you said I needed more for the story of the twins because it made no sense how he just went to meet his mother, how he didn’t ask WTH were their parents thinking separating them like this !! Also yes I feel like the way koiji became suddenly close with them felt rushed and for me I feel like starting from the episode they finally saw koyechi everything was reaaalllyyy rushed and just the ending was so so it felt like they didn’t know how to end it so they just did if that makes sense!! Despite everything this is my favorite season after adventure 1 … I think one of my favorite characters was koyechi just because it felt like he was the character that developed the most for me !!! Thanks for the video it’s so nostalgic and yeah the ost in my mother language was superb as well probably the best out of all the seasons
The intro music is great. Pacing and tone I think were some of the drawbacks for me. Also every series likes its callbacks to the former series, but it feels like half of the dogimon in this series were just there to be nostalgia traps.
As a kid, I absolutely LOVED Frontier, even had the GBA game, and its theme song I still remember word for word to this day. I completely get why people dislike it, it's for sure the "black sheep" of the series, but god was it quite unique.
Great video. Frontier and Tamers didn’t really hold my interest until I watched them in Japanese. Frontier did a great job with its human characters and gave them real growth throughout the series. I agree that JP’s backstory should have been explored more. They never showed why he felt that he needed to buy friendship with magic tricks and chocolate bars.
I had good times watching this series. Though I gotta say, the Royal Knights portion of the show was obnoxious. Takuya and Koji get super forms that “transcend” the full might of the Warriors Ten, which were all high end Megas in their own right, and then immediately go on to be mopped up by two Royal Knights (who are each inexplicably stronger than a fractal-amped Cherubimon on their own) and occasionally held up by lesser Megas under their command, not getting their much deserved win till the world is already destroyed and the Royal Knights’ much stronger boss is back on the loose. I’m kinda reminded of this obscure JRPG for the DS called Luminous Arc 2, where the good guys in that series also regularly fail to foil the villains’ preliminary plans at each turn. But I’d say that game broke up the string of heroic failures (helped by them not spouting hope only to immediately faceplant at each encounter). Not to mention that they actually killed their hypercompetent right hand villain right before the darkest hour instead of in the middle of it, and that said darkest hour was “the apocalypse is inevitable but we put a two-day stop gap on it,” to which their solution was to arm themselves, storm the villains domain preemptively, and kill the hell out of everything within before they got a chance to invade.
Out of all the Digimon seasons I watched growing up this was my favorite. I never missed it when it came on JetX. I even rewatched it in college as a comfort when I needed a break.
I appreciate this video because this shows Kumamon/Chakmon is an ice-based shapeshifter. Outside of the transformation sequence, you can't find an image of him shapeshifting or a mention in the online databases. I thought I was being gaslighted by the Mandela effect for months.
Even though Digimon wasn't on Fox Kids anymore, I did catch Frontier on Sundays in the morning on another station. The one thing that made Digimon a cut above Pokemon was that it ALWAYS tried something different. I thought the series was ok. I don't know why this show got so much heat.
This season was good but it looks like it was meant to end with cherubmon but since it didn't end they had to go with it in a very lowsy way, like they could give the other fused spirits in one go since they three other were leaning how to work without koji our takuia around so they had to think by themselves, instead of being like "they got better at fighting the knights" that is a concept that has never been used and later use the greymon and garurumon references to win them and, since they were not enought finaly fuse them all like if they were saying "we are not one group with a leader we are all equals " that would have a new and interesting topic since most of the time it is always a version of garurumon and greymon or their fusion that is the end hero
I think Cherubimon was a set up for Lucemon but they rushed the final arc. IMO we spent way to long with the royal knights, each episode towards the end had to kids chasing after them.
The only low point for me is the under use of Zoeys habilities. Shes the only one without a diginame referencial to season 1, she is constantly put in the position to be saved and her digicaracthers are reduced to pety fights with Ranamon
Honestly, of all the things I've heard of this season, I don't think anyone has ever mentioned how wierd it is to have so many Ultimate and Mega levels just hanging around. Imagine watching this right after bingeing Tamers and spotting a Gallantmon being a random shopkeep. Or seeing a WereGarurumon be a Dick Dastardly. Jokes aside, I'm really glad you took a great in depth look at this season. It was around here I got burnout from Digimon, which was amplified with some big lifesteps in school and responsibilities, so I lacked the chance to appreciate it. And the lingering negativity from the fanbase kept me from giving it a shot. I'll have to find a good way to watch it myself now. So truly, Thank You.
Thank you for sharing your story, it’s understandable as you had so much was going on in your life at that time. I definitely agree with you that you should watch it when you get the chance. Data Squad, the season after Frontier was really good too 😋 Thank you for your kind words and support!!!🙏🏽🍻
Sorry it took so long to get this out to you guys. I hope you enjoyed the video.
What are your thoughts on Frontier?
If you enjoy this sort of content, as a way to support the channel please consider liking the video and subscribing 🙏🏽💙
I do think Frontier got undeserved hate, but can understand why some would be skeptical of it as even as a kid I thought it baffling of them to not only have no Digimon partners, but what it meant for their development with them until the humans become the Digimon like how Tamers wonderfully executed it. That said still enjoyed it when it comes to the original 4 shows with the hiatus left after Frontier my ranking goes like this: Tamers > Adventure > Frontier > 02
Lastly, I have no thoughts on the next Digimon shows as that is when I jumped shipped and the Savers/Data Squad impression I got from it didn't help (as what I can say that turned me away was when the main character had to reuse Agumon and not even getting started on him punching and managing to beat Digimon which was way more absurd than the criticism Frontiers got from some of the fandom). Other than that I would be very interested if you'll be looking into and share your thoughts on Digimon Survive's story and cast!
@@SonicLegends ah you definitely should give Savers a chance, it’s such a novel take to series and also follows the format of the games much more so then previous series.
I’m certainly planning to cover the games too once I’ve got videos out on most of if not all the anime series 🙏🏽🍻
Honestly I enjoyed Frontier and understood why they decided to start at Champion Level for the most part, but wish they did feature Rookie Level content.
Frontier is still my favourite season to date although I can't say it's the best. A part of it is that the "digi -destined" this time have to put themselves at risk by having to fight instead of "just" supporting their partners.
Then there's probably also the power fantasy inherent to turning into a powerful Digimon.
The story has been so-so.
I like the episodic storytelling in the beginning of Frontier just as much as older seasons with a more involved story because it's still fun to see whatever plot (pun intended) the children have to deal with. Their Digimon guides are also likeable, if a bit annoying at times.
I'm very fond of Frontier, the theme song for the dub was the first time they branched out from the original dub theme from adventure (not counting the slight variation in Tamers that I still enjoyed) and man was it a banger! I remember getting to watch an episode here and there before school and I was always excited to see the characters grow. I agree they didn't follow through with all of their issues but all of them were relatable even if Takuya's is the most childish but it does help show just how much he's grown by contrast by having to take on the role as leader.
All in all I have fond memories of the series and rank it highly among the series I grew up watching.
Sadly this is where my knowledge of the series falls off as the next series I saw glimpses of was Data Squad and I was not fond of the MC just punching Digimon randomly. I know I'm probably being reductive and am willing to give it another shot from the beginning but it was more jarring than anything Frontier did for me.
I'm happy the franchise has gotten a massive boost since the recent Story and World games alongside Tri, the reboot to adventure AND the reboot to the card game which I find incredibly fun.
Thanks again for all the awesome content and I'll be waiting excited for more to come while replaying World 3 😁
This is my favorite season. Everyone else seems to dog on it, but watching humans becoming digimon on Jetix was awesome to 10 year old me.
💯!!!!
Man. Jetix. That’s a word I haven’t heard in a minute. I wish they’d bring back all those cartoons on jetix.
I still say the 3rd and 4th season of digimon are the best seasons i didnt mind fusion either but i can understand the hate there lol this season aside from the typical 4kids issues id argue it was one of the best saturday morning/jagex anime weve gotten the privilege to see when it aired something kids today wont be able to experience anymore
watching humans become digimon is what turned me off of digimon for decades
Only problem i have with frontier is that the partner digimon were removed in favor of becoming the digimon, didnt like that, still dont, but the season wasnt as bad as people say it was
So basically Koji’s dad left his wife, split his twins up, lied to him about being an only child and that his (real) mom, who was actually the woman his dad left his wife for, died, and probably made him feel bad for not accepting his new stepmom fast enough?? Geez Digimon. These storylines are deep.
Jeeezzz 🥶… Thanks for sharing this!! 🙏🏽🍻
I have to ask though, how does someone just forget they have a twin? Like how can you grow up with a twin and just be told you're an only child? And believe it?
@@blackromeoKOK Because they were separated at birth. Their parents relationship was already falling apart during the pregnancy and they agreed to just each take a baby and go their own ways without ever informing the children about each other. They spent ten-twelve years being never told they had a twin and being told their other parent was dead/not part of the picture anymore. So of course they wouldn't know, it was only their grandmother who finally spilled the beans right before dying.
@@cathrienkeysha3111 So it's purely the parents being pieces of shit? Because I never got that from the show. I'm not saying your wrong by the way, just surprised.
I always thought it was some weird anime BS that made it so he forgot his family in like a year or two. Because it's not unheard of for shows to literally forget what they wrote previously and just figure the audience will fix it in their head. Okay, well that changes my opinion on the situation.. but I still like my "fix" for a situation I read wrong.
@@blackromeoKOK Also don't forget that Japan has VERY different views on family structure and that things like divorce are not seen as lightly there. They've been getting better about it, but there's serious stigmas that still follow divorced families around there. The whole "we got married too early and turns out it didn't work out between us after all" doesn't cut it as well over there, even though they still have arranged marriages and such that would make "we didn't work out" more believable. And this show is almost 20 years old at this point, and as it's backstory then add another ten years and expect slightly dated views to be presented. But yeah, they likely thought it was better all around and made everyone's lives easier to just cut all ties and pretend the other person died. At least, Kouji was under the impression his mom was dead since he was at least very, very little. I don't remember anymore if Kouichi had always been told the same thing or not. Just look at how the flower lady reacted to the news that Kouji's parents had only been married three years to see how uncommon it was in Japan at that point. But they definitely had never been told they had a twin and their parents had never intended for them to cross paths with the other half of their family.
Before I watch this, I just want to say and proclaim season 4 had the best theme song in all of digimon
1,000,000,000,000,000,000% agreed it does!!! Greatest Digimon theme of all time🔥
Digimon tamers spanish version has something to say about it.
All the yes! You cannot begin to imagine how often I sang that song. It was as meaningful to me as the Pokemon theme song back in the day.
On god! 👍🏾
All the Latino Spanish dub songs are bangers.
I'm a little sad that this show has had a lot of hate. There were also some missed opportunities, like not seeing the others with their fusion hybrids, or the other 4 kids having the purified spirits. I still love this show for its unique approach.
Frontier was bold, I will always respect it for that reason! I agree the hate it got was unfortunate 😌
there was a game that had fusions for the other kids but they kind off terrible in my opinion
Yea who wouldn't want to be a digimon?^^
@@callumcrane241 Same. but I can see why some people didn't like it as it gave off the whole superhero vibes that didn't seem to fit well with the Monster raising franchise. Either way I still enjoyed it for its lore.
@kdup-hp6zm what game was it?
I always felt Frontier got too much hate. I really really enjoyed it. To me the series kinda like digimon / power rangers in a way with spirit evolution.
I loved how the kids actually have something to do besides stand there and be a digivolution source.
Agreed! 💯
Power Rangers was seen as a series for toddlers at the time. The comparison to power rangers hurt Digimon Frontier. It doesn't help the dub doesn't take the source material seriously until the dark area arc
I'm glad that other people are of this opinion. Not having a partner Digimon may the Digidestined children stand on their own, and the danger felt a lot closer.
@@Captain_Chaz86 Over half of Power Rangers' fanbase are adults nowadays who grew up with seasons like Time Force and SPD.
I still don't see the big deal in the kids fighting themselves
DIgimon Frontier is my favorite of the franchise honestly. And I grew up watching Adventure, 02, and Tamers. The uniqueness of the DigiDestined turning into digimon was so amazing to me. Without digimon partners, it forced the children to not only be more proactive in their journey but think outside the box when transforming wasn't an option to them. And when it was, what would they do? They now had the power to fight other digimon themselves. What I especially loved about it was that it explored the children's own insecurities and how that influenced their relationships with each other. Instead of having a partner digimon to talk to, the children talked to each other or their guides.
Yes!! 👏🏽 - it’s a major reason why the chemistry between this group of kids was solid!
The moment Takuya and Koji got fusion spirit evolution while no one else go one was the start of the decline in frontiers
Agreed!
Oh yea that's a huge problem with frontier. And I love EmperorGreymon, literally my favorite greymon variant but shit man the favoritism for Takuya and Koji made it so hard to enjoy when the other characters and even Koiji that was running their shit just became irrelevant
It started earlier when they start losing repeatedly every episode
Takuya and Koji got the Goku and Vegeta treatment.
The Hybrid level digimon of the spirit evolutions are meant to be stronger than your average digimon. That is why Agunimon was able to take down Cerberumon at the very first episode. Even then there are large gaps in power between different spirits, and they can all be influenced by their elements and team work. In addition, the fusion spirits such as Aldamon and Beowolfmon possess all the power of AncientGryemon and AncientGarurumon, making them significantly stronger than average megas.
What really ruins the show's powerscaling are EmperorGreymon and MagnaGarurumon, as it makes no sense that these two would have difficulties fighting against the Royal Knights. Overall I think having the entire team unlock double spirit evolutions and learning teamwork, would have made for a much better later half.
Thank you for sharing this, very insightful! 🙏🏽… I agree with you, the other kids should have gotten fusion forms too!
Personally, I think it’s too big a jump because it’s an ultimate level digimon souped up on the data of an entire region, which is shown to vastly increase the power of the antagonists. At those levels of strength being able to win means that a lot of the fights, they lose handedly become unbelievable, considering the circumstances here.
They should have gotten fusion forms AND they should have been able to pilot the unity evolution digimon as well instead of standing there!
In regards to dub differences with Kouji's backstory in the Japanese version his father never told him that his mother had died, but that Kouji hadn't seen her since his parents divorced. Other than some minor censorship there isn't really a whole lot of differences between the sub and dub. Frontier's dub is actually one of the most accurate to the original version.
Thank you for sharing this 🙏🏽💙
For Digimon, as funny of a gag dub Adventure is, thats saying something.
I remember being in daycare and watching this along w/ yugioh almost every day. Man what a childhood :))
Still absolutely love this series. Rewatched it a couple years ago and it still holds up along w/ the previous series.
That’s awesome!!! 😊
Frontier's biggest weakness is that it has so many great ideas that don't get executed in great ways. The spirit evolutions is fantastic and thry play it out well, but how the digidestined find the spirits is often by chance. I think it would have been more interesting if the team had to work harder to get the spirits through a side quest that leads to a big confrontation. After watching this video I do think I was in the camp that was too hard on the show when it released, its new take is a fresh way to do the series, especially as it was the fourth entry show they probably felt they needed to do something unique.
I agree with your feedback for this season! And I’m glad your view on this season is more positive upon recalling it. It definitely is not all bad 👍🏽
I always thought Seraphimon, Ohphanimon and Cherubimin were such a cool trio ❤ And I love how Ohphanimon and Seraphimon are Mega forms a nod to Patimon and Gatomon from the Season 1 Digi destined’s Digimon.
Agreed! And I love all the call backs this season made to the seasons prior 🍻
@@raytaku_ I remember seeing all the Gomamon for the first time in this season and I was all excited 😆
Honestly, i like that lopmon got another bit of spotlight, but why do lopmons always end up being probably evil? Cocomon and... antylamon, i think, both already had lopmon confused between good and evil. Then here comes cherubimon, starting out just caring too much, like so many villains do. It’s enough to drive anyone crazy but for some reason it’s always lopmon. Just like how leomon usually dies.
For the record, this series is one of my favorites and frequently trades first place with tamers. I love how koichi was able to use darkness to get stronger, unlike pokemon, which can’t seem to separate darkness from evil. I know, the translation, but still. Gary has an umbreon and honestly i like gary. He’s clearly the better trainer, cares deeply for all his pokemon, and does a great job with that aerodactyl. Even if gary didn’t have an umbreon, they evolve through friendship. Into dark pokemon. They’re clearly not evil. And that houndoom rescued togepi, and max had that episode with the poochyena, and so on. But i feel like i distinctly remember brock, of all people, painting all dark pokemon with one broad stroke, and that just never sat right with me
I used to despise this season when it was airing, but as a 30 year old I think I was just jealous that I couldn’t transform into a lizard with the power of friendship.
😭
I was thinking that'd be cool too.
I always did love this season. Great start but when Koji and takuya fused their spirits I started to get mad cuz the others didn't. Those 2 got 2 more forms than the others.
Yeah I agree, the other kids got majorly sidelined cos of that too!
I just with they didn't have to give up their spirit for a certain form
What's worse is that Fusions for them exist.
@@saphiriathebluedragonknight375 and those spirit fusions suck. Most make no sense
@@mikemiller8430 Like why is Ice a giant penguin?
This has always been my fav season of digimon ever since I was little from the action to the element system to the kids actually being useful instead of just standing on the sidelines everything about this season just works for me especially the opening in the dub was amazing and it has my fav cast of characters and how each character has their own struggle to overcome I also think the cast benefits from being so small cuz it gives each character their own time to shine well atleast it kinda did anyway
Frontier has a lot of heart for sure and I love the chemistry between the characters too. Haha the Dub opening for this season is my favourite!!! 🍻
The NA ost REALLY enhanced my like for this series of Digimon.
It’s hard to believe so many hated this season. When I feel this is a natural progression of what tamers already established
@@t-god2439 agreed tamers started it off and frontier just went full throttle with it and that’s part of why I love it so much
@@midnightfox3157 why didn’t more people love it tho ?
I like the idea of humans turning into digimon. It gives the humams something to do besides standing on the sidelines.
Absolutely! It’s a shame the rest of the kids where sidelined towards the end as they had to lend their spirits to Takuya and Koji. But they did get to fuse all as one for the final battle so there’s that 😊. It’s a shame the kids turning into Digimon was so poorly received when Frontier first released ..
@@raytaku_ yess but honestly in recent years I’ve seen a lot more ppl show love of frontiers concept
I always loved the concept. Most partner digimon did not have enough of a personality to warrant them being their own character imo.
Takuya and Koji have such good Digimon designs. I really loved all their forms as a kid :)
💯 🔥
goosebump episode when JP gets his Spirit
Agreed
Thanks for making this retrospective. Digimon Frontier is one of my favorite seasons even if towards the end the focus on Takuya & KOji and sideling the other kids is annoying.
Still, I LOVE the idea of humans becoming monsters because then it focuses on the interrelationships between the humans.
I’m so glad to hear you enjoyed Frontier, and I agree with you about the sidelining of the other kids which began the moment Koji and Takuya gained the ability to fusion evolve 🧐
The evolutions alone made this series worth it to me.
👌🏽👌🏽
I don't think I ever gave Digimon enough credit for being another great intro anime for kids Frontier showed just how action packed the Digital World can really be and it made something very unique with the Spirt Warrior Digimon when they let the kids actually transform this time.
💯percent agree!
@@raytaku_ I just hope Digimon can keep their popularity going you know how some anime tend to be forgotten over a long time which is why I hope you will watch and review the series Bakugan next.
@@calebglasscock7392 Bakugan is on the agenda 🍻
@@raytaku_ Thanks man it's good know that even with all the amazing anime and manga out there that all the series that started it all for a whole generation of fans will never be forgotten because of people like you.
"like sora, she dons a hat!"
wow sora is so remarkable
😜
Ah yes, Digimon Frontier the one that introduced me to the digimon franchise. I have a lot of nostalgia for this series and loved it even if others don't.
Honestly I think people are coming around to this Season. You can't help but respect how BOLD Frontier was in some of the choices it made 🍻
@@raytaku_ People probably wouldn't hate it as much if the kids had the rookies of the spirits as partners and they spirit evolve into the spirits by merging with their digimon just like tamer's matrix evolution except its the entire evolution line.
I'll always give credit to Frontier for introducing those variant versions of Adventure-named mons in their Beast forms. Like BurningGreymon, KendoGarurumon, Korikkakumon, MetalKabutarimon, etc. As a nod to Adventure for that parallel with this Anime's concept. Though oddly Zoe got Zephirmon for her beast spirit, and not something like "ZephirBirdramon."
Yes agreed!
"Beats the fractal code out of them" 😂😂😂
Might be my new favorite phrase
🤣
My personal favorite digimon series and in my opinion one of the most underrated I feel. Like this show came out one on the wrong channel and at a time where people just weren’t really looking for digimon.
Episodes would air way too early here in the UK which made it hard to watch when it first released which is a shame 😌 I’m glad you enjoyed this season 🍻
Frontier and Tamers have always been my favorite season of the franchise. They’re stories always held my attention more as a kid. Because the characters to me seem more like real people, like I've met people like them. And for awhile I was like Zoey, and Rika in my own life growing up. Which probably help with my connection to thise stories and these seasons as a whole. Also the world building was so fascinating to me. Frontier especially, I want to know more about this Digital World and the lives of the digimon in it. And that this setting has so much potential! There use to be an amazing fan comic/fanfic that is unfortunately discontinued as the creator is no longer in love with the series. Luckily you can still find it. But it will no longer be posting new chapters. It's Digimon Frontier ReBirth if you google it, highly recommend people still check it out. Anyway a note to end on this long comment. And to sum it all up, Frontier is and has always been one of my favorites. It's the one I come back to the most out of the older seasons of this franchise, and because of that it will allways have a special place in my heart.
Thank you for sharing this 🙏🏽and I’m definitely gonna check out that Comic, it sounds like an interesting read😊
Who would win:
A guardian with the power of wind who helped defeat literal satan
Or
Three Mushrooms in a trench coat.
They did Zoe so dirty in this series.
Fair point!
Yeah… when they first spirit evolved, Izumi and Tomoki were not the ones who defeated and scanned their opponents!! Takuya and Koji did it. At least, Junpei was able to defeat his opponent by himself…
JP being the Avatar of Thunder but still being afraid of it really goes with the whole “our greatest fear is that we are powerful beyond imagination” saying
💯 Heard one of the characters in Coach Carter quote that and it’s so true!
I liked Frontier a lot. It was like Digimon meets Power Ranger/Beetle Borgs. But I do remember the airing was all weird. I found it on accident when it was almost done and mostly missed it until it re-aired on jetix
It aired way too early here in the UK. I’m glad you managed to catch it when it re-aired on Jetix 👍🏽
I was unfortunate to come across the burger episode at like 13 years old. No patience for that, but i did fall madly in love with kendogarurumons first appearance before that, so i gave it a fair chance. I’m a sucker for a blue lancer
Idk how this doesnt have a million views. This is a great way to get refreshed on the series if you dont have time to watch it again
🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽
This season has the best evolution theme, it had a techno tribal feel to it that really paired well with the aspects of spirits and digital world.
And each progressive evolution increases the amount of tribal music played. Susanoomons evolution music was awesome!!! 🔥
Someone seriously needs to upload the ost of the dubbed version.
Please tell me that comment was meant to be ironic, please. All related to eng dub in Digimon SUUUUUCKS, you don't even have to compare it to the original which is beyond beautiful, it sucks in its own
I don't even know where to start, well the "it's time" before evolving sounds very out of place, even though Ophanimon communicates through it, the "tribal" as well out of place, the "execute" just why? The di di di sounds, gross as well. And please don't let me talk about the opening theme repeating DI GI MON, we know what we're watching duh. But it doesn't defeats the first intro in eng dub, that's the worst amongst the eng dub songs, names and/or terms
And Fractal code? Doesn't eng dub tend to add Digi to anything, as digivolve (original term is only evolution / shinka) and they just removed the Digi from Digicode to change it to fractal code? And I could continue for hours
Frontier really was and still is a blast to watch. The only thing that I thought was a missed opportunity was to not give JP, Zoe and Tommy Fusion Evolutions as well, which made them kinda obsolete in most of the battle scenes later on.
Agreed, it’s awesome but the latter parts had the other kids majorly sidelined 😞
Biggest issue I got: the evolution abandonment.
Now this is a bigger issue than JUST not abandoning the digivolve levels to the spirit evolution. As it stands its not that different than Armor evolution. Which is not a bad thing, but in S2, we still had more to it and eventually actual evolution.
But more than just that, we also have 3 of the MAIN characters become completely sidelined towards the end and become COMPLETELY irrelavent.
It's a common trope in digimon that you get the Greymon/Garurumon mains getting most of the fanfare, but at least everyone got to shine eventually in different ways or just way later. Frontier instead just said: "At best they learn to combind attacks" and than later said: "At best they give their powers to someone else"
It ruins their character. All their backstory and purpose doesnt mean much when they done even contribute. They couldd have literally gone home and no power lose would be noticed. They are not even needed for the final couple evolutions. They can just give up their spirits. which is what they do.
To give an example, imagine if in Adventure, we got Wargreymon and Metal Garurumon, and than all the other kids just stopped participating and only ever just fused their digimon into those two. Their purpose as characters becomes so muted no one would remember them.
That's how I remembered this show. I remembered the two main characters, and someone of the stuff from the beginning, but I couldnt even remember their names by the end of the series. They dont even participate in the final 2 arcs of the show. They exist to get beaten, and than side line themselves to give their power to the 2 mains.
THEY NEVER EVEN GOT A FUSION FORM!!!! They got the human form, Beast form, and than they learn combo attack. that was it. It was INCREDIBLY dissappointing.
If I could have given some improvement advice. Have those character participate. Have susanoomon being a megazord of everyone coming together, give them all fusions. AND all the Spirits should have been given to the other kids in the digital world, have the spirits change like the darkness ones did (cause they turning good and sell more toys) and expand the world with their involvment. This isn't even some new idea, they're common tropes that could have saved the show from being so mediocre.
Your criticism of this season and Adventure is not unwarranted. Frontier took sidelining the other kids to another level though 😔
Wonderful video
I remembered most of the series, but I usually stopped around the Knights because of the shift in pacing. Thanks for making this!
I acknowledge that Tamers is the best, but Frontier is my favorite.
🤜🏽🤛🏻
I'm writing this before watching the video just to see if it comes up later:
The biggest problem I had with Frontier was the power gap between the kids as time went on. The three side liners each got an episode or two of feeling powerful as they received their respective beast spirits but it rapidly descended into the Takuya and Koji show from then on. The other three were pulled into the final Susano transformation, granted, but it almost felt like a cop out after over a dozen episodes of them contributing really nothing.
Every season has its main protagonist from the bunch, but it felt the most egregious in Frontier, whereas I felt it the least in Tamers. Fun series though, liked it a lot
I 💯percent agree with this!! 🍻
I also love the kinda techno, tribal theme for the spirit evolution and the intro theme.
Yeah, the music really stuck out for me. It became more and more tribal leading up to Susanoomon’s evolution sequence
This season got me into the tcg. Loved everything about this season.
🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽
was my favorite season as a kid, still my favorite as an adult!
Im so glad to hear that 😊🍻
Same here
Frontier is one of my favorite seasons, with the all-time best opening. And speaking of the opening, I love the subtext in some of its lines, like "Through us, let your spirit evolve" being a double meaning, the kids, through learning about themselves, allow the legendary warriors to let their spirits evolve in a physical sense, while the spirits, through being the catalyst of the journey the kids are on, allow said kids to let their spirits evolve in an emotional sense. I just love when works of fiction do things like that.
This was a great retrospection, can't wait for Data Squad.
So much deep meaning behind that OP and just the overall franchise as a whole, especially the older seasons. Thank you for sharing this, for supporting the channel and for the kind words🙏🏽🍻
I wondered if you would touch on the Frontier movie. Two armies - Human-type led by Darcmon vs. Beast-type led by Hippogriffomon, both leaders secretly Murmuxmon egging on the war to revive Ornismon. In the original Japanese, it's clever how the beast spirits of Light and Dark are both named after a creature from Norse mythology: Garmmon (a massive dog) and Velgrmon (a giant eagle)
Yup, I plan to cover the movie too 🙂🍻
This was, and still is, one of my favourite seasons. Wonderful character development, and very original idea for Digimon.
💯!!! I’m glad that you enjoyed this season 🍻
I always was kinda.. disinclined of this Series of Digimon.
But i dont know why, but i sit through the whole 2 hours and 40 minutes and i have to say, thank you for the Video and it brought a positive Light onto Frontier.
Its not so bad. Its even good.
Thanks!
That’s awesome, I’m so glad to hear that!!! And thank you for watching the entire thing 🙏🏽🍻
Loved that we got to see the digital world like the original series and they interacted with a ton of new and old digimon from the prior series
Agreed! 👌🏽
I think this is the most unique and high stakes digimon story. Afterall who didnt think about being omnimon/omegamon, or angemon etc. best pilot for a new season agunimon was the best way to start it. You see the stakes and a true villian in lucemon (deadly sin of pride) plus crusadermon and craniamon (two royal knights and i believe the first time we get a mention of it). Also Susanoomon was insanely badass.
🔥🔥🔥
Best Digimon theme ever
💯 🔥
That is true.
It may have been considered not as big an entry as Tamers, but I still absolutely love Digimon Frontier
🍻
I agree with pretty much everything you said in your assessment. This was my favorite season, but I also see its flaws, especially in the latter part of the season. I especially agree with J.P. having so much potential as a character that was never explored. There were some pieces there implied, like lacking confidence, possibly because of his weight, and the way the other kids he entertained didn't really consider him to be a friend or close friend, more like an acquaintance. It was all very relatable for me because my childhood was like that too, amusing other kids to try to make friends while not really having close ones. Yes, that does create trust issues.
JP's character got lost on many, his backstory is sort of implied throughout the show but they could have done a much better and deliberate job explaining it by covering it more in depth with say some of the examples you listed. Thank you for sharing your story. For what its worth you've got a community of friends here on this channel 🍻😊
@@raytaku_ exactly! For all the time they spent reiterating what being a brother means for Takuya and Koji, they never spelled out J.P.'s story. Thank you! Much appreciated :)
I remember when I was binge watching all of the Digimon series about 10-ish years ago that during the 3rd gen I had the thought "woudn't it be really cool if humans could digivolve?" Since they fused with their digimon in that show. Low and behold, the next series did just the thing that I wanted it to do. So I was a happy anime fan that day.
That’s awesome! I loved the concept of Biomerge Digivolution… Frontier went all the way, and for me at least, given the story Frontier was trying to tell; Having the kids become Digimon, made sense 🙂
This was the last season of the show I watched the entirety of every week as a kid. I was extremely sick so it kinda had the whole vicarious living thing going on. Had trouble making friends because the more I hurt the easier it is for me to lash out because aggression in fight or flight is bad combo especially when the flight option isn't there and weirdly strong. Wasn't until one person helped me rather than bullied me or avoided me and she changed my outlook and I guess that's why this one resonated with me so well. She has no reason to other than being kind, thankfully I still have that violent reputation so people get shocked by meeting me and discovering I'm pretty chill, got that guard dog aura though. A newer friend I asked why he always seemed shy around me, told him to be honest because I care, he told me he didn't want to offend me because he was scared I'd hurt him for it. All I said was my boundaries are don't hurt someone for no reason and don't be dishonest with me because I'll know. Best friend ever since
Ah dude, I’m sorry to hear you went through that! Being sick and picked on is the worst. I’m glad to hear someone was kind enough to reach out to you and help you out in such a meaningful way 🙏🏽.
You should definitely check out Data Squad, it’s a complete departure from the previous seasons but is such a fun watch 🔥😊
On episode 8 - Odd One Out
Zoe, J.P., Bokomon and Neemon come across a Digimon School run by a Togemon. One of the Digimon name Tsunomon is having a hard time fitting in with the other little Digimon because he can digivolve to Gabumon.
Zoe can understand Tsunomon feelings being different towards others because she's from Italy and her and her parents moved into Japan a year ago during the flashbacks it seems like the kids wanted to be her friend and hang out with them but it seems like Zoe wants to be left alone
Even what people consider filler episodes have so much meaning behind them, thanks for sharing this 🙏🏽🍻
@@raytaku_your welcome 😊
Omg I just finished the Tamers video and was so looking forward to this 😭
🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽🍻
I wish we got to see Kouichi being able fight and do more in combat. But due to him coming into the group so late in the show, as well as what the narrative required of him, we didn't get to see Kouichi assimilate in with the rest of the characters in better fashion. Here's hoping a Digimom Frontier reboot happens in the future.
He was so badass as Duskmon. Once he joined the kids he sort of fell into the shadows of Takuya and Koji , just as the others did.
I do hope we get a sequel or soft reboot even like Adventure 2020
@@raytaku_ Actually, you could apply that fact to rest of the cast during the tail end season. (The shadows, good one. 😂😉)
@@raytaku_ Still love the show regardless!
Funny enough Kouichi is the only character who is never shown to beast spirit evolve. He goes from loweemon then jagerloweemon which for some reason really frustrates me.
It’s absolutely wild that I was literally just looking for a review of Frontier today
All hail UA-cam’s algorithm!! Thank you for watching and supporting the channel 🙏🏽🍻
Frontier came out when I was in high school. I remember getting up and sitting infront of the TV by 6am every day, so that I could watch it before getting on the bus.
Woah! It came on around that time here in the UK, but was way to early for me to watch 🥱…. How did you find the season overall?
@@raytaku_ It was definitely the low point from 01,02 and Tamers, but it wasn't bad. I remember it fondly.
One of the most interesting episodes to me is the Trailmon race episode. Mainly because it is literally just a Trailmon Wacky Racers episode.
💯
Hey man I just found your channel earlier today and I have to say these retrospective videos you make are amazing, I never saw Frontiers, Tamers was the last one I watched growing up but I'm excited to watch this vid and find out what I missed out on!
Thank you so much, I appreciate the kind words and support 🙏🏽
51:33 Every time I see Gallantmon/Dukemon in the armory, all I wonder is what happened to make a Royal Knight like Dukemon have to go shopping in an armory like this.
I know there are evil Royal Knights and they ended up splintering, but I just think "Man, that's kind of a steep dive from 'Servant of Yggdrasil' to "Market Shopper" and I wonder where Omegamon, Magnamon, and the others are.
I honestly think Gallantmon was added there just as a fan service to reference to previous seasons. Just like Gabumon, Biyomon and Gomamon etc
You're probably joking BUT other than Magnamon, Jesmon (?) and probably Alphamon (?) there can be more than one digimon of the same species as one of the RK but only one of them belongs to the organization.
@@chavaz06 It was a joke. It was for the sake of just imagining going from answering to entities around God level to having to shop at a Supermarket filled with Rookies and Champions. It's very likely this was not much more than a "If you recognize this Digimon, good for you" moment.
As for multiples of a Royal Knight, it is confirmed that depending on continuity, there are multiples in the canon. Cyber Sleuth confirms that in terms of continuity, multiples exist for each universe, since the Cyber Sleuth UlforceVeedramon was lost to the dimension between the Digital World and Real World and VeeVee was the only other UlforceVeedramon available in a dimension close by.
It's very plausible to have multiples as a result, meaning JESmon in Cyber Sleuth would be able to interact with JESmon from Digimon Adventure tri., for example.
I guess the fact that my cell ringtone to this day, is an instrumental version of digimon frontier op..
says it all...
I was 8 when it aired...
😮👌🏽👌🏽👌🏽
I grew into liking this through a Japanese social economic lens in that almost all of the main characters demonstrates some aspect of collectivist culture, which I appreciate. Examples include filial piety as demonstrated through takuya and Tommy, as well as Zoe's osterization as someone who isn't purely Japanese and grew up in a different country. Even JP's character is a nod to unaddressed mental health in Japanese teenagers. The most apparent example is Koji and Koichi and the taboos of divorce in Japan and how the father would rather say the mother died than say they were separated.
Wow! Thanks for sharing this very insightful comment 🙏🏽
Thanks for your work. i love Retrospectives and how you recap the shows. I will probably watch this video multiple times in the next month. Thanks again :) (even if the awesome Lofi beats are a little loud at times)
Thank you so much for the kind words and support 🙏🏽 & thanks for flagging the background music volume. I’ll adjust it down some more for the next video 🍻
@@raytaku_ its really not that bad, i can hear your voice pretty good, but Lofi beats have sometimes parts that are just loud. :)
I was shocked when I grew up and heard that people hated this. I love this version more than the others. The theme song, the charisma from the characters, the intensity of the story, I didn't want it to end
I’m so glad to hear that you enjoyed this season, it definitely didn’t deserve all the hate it got when it aired.
@@raytaku_ for sure I enjoyed. I never finished the last few episodes as a kid, but finished all of it multiple times as an adult. I loved every second of it
My opinion on the digimon series-
Adventure: Best character development
02: Best villains
Tamers: Best story
Frontier: best world setting
Savers: Best character interactions
Fusion: I’m sorry, but what is that?
AppMon: okay, Now your making things up.
Tri: Best kitty
Ghost Game: Best dark evolution
🫱🏼🫲🏿 I like it, I largely agree with them all 🙌🏼
As someone who watched Digimon growing up, this was the series I remember the most.
👌🏽
This season is way better than I gave ist credit for, when I was a kid. After beeing a huge fan of the first, second and third season, I used to hate Frontier. But I watched it years later, and I appriciate the story and characters, but I still think the first and second season had a deeper and better understanding of the themes.
Thank you for sharing this, I felt very similar about this season too
Yeah i love this season but the writing and symbolism is pretty weak in comparison with the others. This season seems to focus more on world building and the history of the digital world. Which is done fantastically, but it takes away from the focus of the characters and plot
I really like what you did with this video. Frontier was the last series I watched fully - due to network scheduling and high school commitments, I couldn't watch any after that, but I didn't hear good things about Data Squad anyway - and I really enjoyed it. I actually thought they had stopped after Tamers because Frontier didn't air right away where I was. In fact, the first episode of Frontier I ever saw was Takuya's sojourn back to the real world as Flamemon, so him coming back to the Digital World as Agunimon was something of a shock. I've only just bought the DVD set that contains everything from Adventure, 02, Tamers, and Frontier, and I'm looking forward to reliving my childhood.
That said, I'd forgotten so many of these details and how many missed opportunities there were when the show came out. For starters, I loved the whole concept of the kids turning into Digimon. It worked really well when they did the Biomerge in Tamers, and they figured out how to take it to the next level and make it work here. But at the same time, having the focus be on the friendship between the children rather than on the relationships between the children and Digimon made it feel like Frontier was missing a crucial aspect of what made the entire series so good. In Adventure 01, the Digimon are almost extensions of the children and their personalities, but they exhibit characteristics the children don't normally show. Think about how wildly different Joe and Gomamon are on the introvert/extrovert scale, yet they work perfectly together. The Digimon highlight the qualities the children need to focus on to reach their full potential and then help them get there. In Frontier, the children are left to do that introspection and reach those conclusions on their own. They can use each other as sounding boards, but they have to face their demons alone. (That could've gone south so easily for the kids, but they always make the right choice. What would've happened if one had given in to those demons?) That allows for deeper, more profound growth, but it's not quite as heartfelt. It might've been better if the Frontier kids could communicate with their spirits. Part of what made the finale so good was the spirits coming to life to give them that last morale booster and help them all converge into Susanoomon. For instance, when Takuya comes back from his stint as Flamemon, you mentioned that he learns how to use the environment to his advantage, which he learns by being in better touch with his spirit. It would've worked so much better if he and Agunimon could speak to each other mentally and that way, Agunimon could teach him. Having the Legendary Warriors act as mentors might've worked. They could leave the children to their introspections when necessary so the kids still have the growth on their own, but can chime in when they need to with words of encouragement or with lessons on how to fight.
Second thing, I know it's been talked about to death in the comments already about how the Fusion Evolutions sideline the other kids and that's true (but that's classic form for Digimon. Who got all the upgrades? Tai and Matt, then Davis and Ken took that to new levels), but my problem is that the Fusion Evolution didn't advance the plot a whole lot. All the Fusion forms did was provide a power boost when the story required it. The season as a whole wasn't very consistent about which forms would be effective against which opponents. The human spirits are powerful and the beast spirits are needed to fight against each other in that part of the story (the human spirits not making a dent on Gigusmon and Petaldramon which required beast spirits to fight? THAT made sense.) but there wasn't much consistency about which spirits - human or beast - would be more effective against corrupted Digimon outside of the Legendary Warriors. That ties into your comment towards the end about missing the classification of Rookie, Champion, Ultimate, and Mega-level Digimon. You always knew what level you were fighting and which levels the Digidestined's partners need to be at to have a chance. You also got ideas of which Digimon didn't fit into those molds; the ones that didn't were the ones to keep your eye on because they were usually more powerful. Think how well Angemon - a Champion level - is able to hold his own against Piedmon - a mega level - for a long time in Adventure 01, and then when T.K. finally activates his crest and Angemon digivolves to Ultimate, he wipes the floor with Piedmon after Piedmon had wiped the floor with Tai's and Matt's mega-level Digimon. Frontier would've worked better if they'd separated out which opponents human and beast spirits work better against, and then either giving everyone a Fusion form or just scrapping that altogether. The whole reason they even had Fusion was to defeat Duskmon, and after that, you barely see the Fusion again because it gets scrapped for Unified Spirit Evolution sequence.
Which brings me to my next point: Koichi. He was easily my favorite character of the children, but I'm a sucker for a good redemption arc. The way Adventure 02 handled Ken's and then Tamers handled Impmon/Beelzemon's are two of the best things Digimon has ever done. Koichi's though is wrapped up pretty quickly. He changes his tune after Patamon gives him a pep talk about darkness only being evil if you choose to make it so (which was a good lesson), and then only has two battles where he's able to take charge and win. After that, it's back to being focused on Takuya and Koji. And they did it again when Crusadermon tells him he's only a spirit. He realizes the implications of that: that not only is his body back in the real world, but the fact that his soul is in the Digital World means that his body is dying. He has almost no time to come to terms with the fact that he's dying; he does so right before Lucemon destroys him. (That was something else that didn't quite make sense for me, his coming to the Digital World. Did he die upon impact when he fell or was his body in something of a stasis? Was he dead the entire time he was in the Digital World or was his body hanging on by a thread during all the battles and only died in the real world when Lucemon scanned his data? That timeline didn't work for me.) They needed to flesh out his character more the way they had spent the first third of the show doing with the other kids. The second third is defeating Duskmon and Cherubimon, then you're right, after that was when the pacing lagged. That whole section needed to be redone, giving Koichi and the others more screen-time, and only bringing out the Unified Spirit Evolution when it was absolutely necessary, which would make that evolution more impactful.
Okay, wow. I didn't realize I was writing that much. I'm sorry. Long stints in graduate school tend to make me run my month and overanalyze everything. Thank you again for this video! It was fun to watch!
Thanks for sharing this, it was a super interesting and enjoyable read 🙏🏽🍻
@@raytaku_ You're quite welcome! I'm glad you enjoyed it.
My first ever Digimon episode was the episode where they first fused into Kaisergreymon and MagnaGarurumon.
And because of that those two becomes my favourite Digimon.
😮that’s awesome!! 😊
I actually rreally liked Frontier! It was kinda nice to see the tamers actually IN the battle for a change of pace. Rather than sitting side line kinda just cheering on the digimon.
I’m glad to hear you enjoyed this season 👌🏽🍻
Digimon. The one good game franchise that actually tackles real issues.
This is why while pokemon can be all that and whatever. Digimon will always be a cult classic and favorite for us adults.
💯
This was honestly my favorite in all of Digimon this did my heart good seeing it again 💜💜
💜🙏🏽🍻
This season always got way too much hate for me. I’m glad to see that people are showing love for it finally. This season was so great!
👍🏽👌🏽
Plenty of people show love, just not as much as other seasons
Watched the entire thing in hits and pieces when I had some down time. Absolutely awesome to go down memory lane.
This was my favorite Digimon szn growing up. Thank you for bringing it together in this way!
That’s so awesome!! Thanks for watching and for supporting the channel 😊🍻
Great content. I honestly can't believe how much of this long form content I've watched.
Forever grateful for your support, thanks for watching 🙏🏽🍻
I’m not going to lie this is my favorite season. Can’t wait to hear what you think
🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽
This was on at 5:30am when i was starting Middle school, which started at 6:30. I was barely able to finish an episode. What an odd time for a show for kids. It feels now in retrospect like they might've been trying to bury it.
Yeah that was a major issue with this season, so many kids couldn’t watch it cos of how early it would air 😖
I remember when I was younger watching through all the digimon shows in order and getting to Frontier. It was so different from everything else and the initial premises hooked me instantly. This show is extremely interesting and the process of spirit evolution is what undoability got me hooked on the show and to some extent the Tokusatsu genre as a whole. The process of these kids chaining to become more powerful rekindled my love for shows like power rangers and led me to explore other aspects of the genre. And for as much as the show faltered in the back half it is still one with awesome characters who are very relatable. All and all I wish this series could get some more love.
Thank you for sharing, I’m so glad to hear you enjoyed Frontier so much 😊
So glad this season is getting the love it deserves.
💯🙏🏽
just found you randomly on youtube like a week ago and im glad i did. great video
Thank you for the kind words and for supporting the channel 🙏🏽🍻
Great to see you covering this. Digimon and Beyblade are my favorite series that you’ve covered 😊
🙏🏽🍻
I was WAITING. Nobody has a good long form video for frontier
kinda sucks still that zoe was the only one that didnt win her first fight
🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽🍻
Man i definitely need to give this a rewatch, i remember liking it cause i was into that transformation sequence lol
You definitely should!!! 🍻
51:33 Dukemon just casually being a trader when hes not out saving the world is really amusing to me. I can only imagine the other knights having regular ass day jobs like omnimon being an accountant, or Jesmon as a cashier. And obviously Alphamon is homeless
‘Alphamon is homeless’ ngl that made me laugh 😂
I wanna say thank you for making this video, and you did an amazing job. I'm really glad that people enjoyed this series of Digimon as much as i did.
🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽
I always remembered the opening, so catchy. And the series is very much interesting, I sadly never got to watch it all in full. But I like this!
You definitely should finish it when you get the chance. The writing does drop in quality towards the final arc, but its still a fun watch and concludes the story nicely all things considered 👌🏽
"like Sora she wears a hat"
Omg that line fucking killed me
😂😂😂💀
My favorite digimon season. Tamers I feel is the best, but Frontier is my personal favorite.
🫱🏼🫲🏿🍻
Wow nostalgia burst. Adventure 1 and 2 were my favorites but frontier was airing as my bus came for school. I'll never forget this theme song
🤜🏻🤛🏽
Finalllyyyy I was waiting for it !!! ❤❤❤❤
After watching the whole video I agree with u about the characters! There was so much but yet so little ! I mean they tackled many issues yet they didn’t actually gave any depth to these issues !
However I really loved how the kids and the spirits got combined … also like you said I needed more for the story of the twins because it made no sense how he just went to meet his mother, how he didn’t ask WTH were their parents thinking separating them like this !!
Also yes I feel like the way koiji became suddenly close with them felt rushed and for me I feel like starting from the episode they finally saw koyechi everything was reaaalllyyy rushed and just the ending was so so it felt like they didn’t know how to end it so they just did if that makes sense!!
Despite everything this is my favorite season after adventure 1 …
I think one of my favorite characters was koyechi just because it felt like he was the character that developed the most for me !!!
Thanks for the video it’s so nostalgic and yeah the ost in my mother language was superb as well probably the best out of all the seasons
🍻🙏🏽
@@raytaku_ 🍻
I watched this from start to finish. I love your point of view and how you explained the story in its entirety great video. Keep it up ❤
Thank you so much for your kind words and for supporting the channel 🙏🏽🍻
The intro music is great. Pacing and tone I think were some of the drawbacks for me.
Also every series likes its callbacks to the former series, but it feels like half of the dogimon in this series were just there to be nostalgia traps.
100 percent, the Digimon also had the same voice actors from the original, like Gabumon, Gomamon, Biyomon and Palmon too
As a kid, I absolutely LOVED Frontier, even had the GBA game, and its theme song I still remember word for word to this day.
I completely get why people dislike it, it's for sure the "black sheep" of the series, but god was it quite unique.
Unique it indeed was 🤜🏻🤛🏽
Great video. Frontier and Tamers didn’t really hold my interest until I watched them in Japanese. Frontier did a great job with its human characters and gave them real growth throughout the series. I agree that JP’s backstory should have been explored more. They never showed why he felt that he needed to buy friendship with magic tricks and chocolate bars.
🫱🏼🫲🏿
I had good times watching this series. Though I gotta say, the Royal Knights portion of the show was obnoxious. Takuya and Koji get super forms that “transcend” the full might of the Warriors Ten, which were all high end Megas in their own right, and then immediately go on to be mopped up by two Royal Knights (who are each inexplicably stronger than a fractal-amped Cherubimon on their own) and occasionally held up by lesser Megas under their command, not getting their much deserved win till the world is already destroyed and the Royal Knights’ much stronger boss is back on the loose.
I’m kinda reminded of this obscure JRPG for the DS called Luminous Arc 2, where the good guys in that series also regularly fail to foil the villains’ preliminary plans at each turn. But I’d say that game broke up the string of heroic failures (helped by them not spouting hope only to immediately faceplant at each encounter). Not to mention that they actually killed their hypercompetent right hand villain right before the darkest hour instead of in the middle of it, and that said darkest hour was “the apocalypse is inevitable but we put a two-day stop gap on it,” to which their solution was to arm themselves, storm the villains domain preemptively, and kill the hell out of everything within before they got a chance to invade.
I agree with you! 😌
Out of all the Digimon seasons I watched growing up this was my favorite. I never missed it when it came on JetX. I even rewatched it in college as a comfort when I needed a break.
🤜🏽🤛🏻
I appreciate this video because this shows Kumamon/Chakmon is an ice-based shapeshifter. Outside of the transformation sequence, you can't find an image of him shapeshifting or a mention in the online databases. I thought I was being gaslighted by the Mandela effect for months.
🙏🏽🙏🏽🍻
Even though Digimon wasn't on Fox Kids anymore, I did catch Frontier on Sundays in the morning on another station. The one thing that made Digimon a cut above Pokemon was that it ALWAYS tried something different. I thought the series was ok. I don't know why this show got so much heat.
Agreed! I respect the franchise as a whole for trying new things 💯
This season was good but it looks like it was meant to end with cherubmon but since it didn't end they had to go with it in a very lowsy way, like they could give the other fused spirits in one go since they three other were leaning how to work without koji our takuia around so they had to think by themselves, instead of being like "they got better at fighting the knights" that is a concept that has never been used and later use the greymon and garurumon references to win them and, since they were not enought finaly fuse them all like if they were saying "we are not one group with a leader we are all equals " that would have a new and interesting topic since most of the time it is always a version of garurumon and greymon or their fusion that is the end hero
I think Cherubimon was a set up for Lucemon but they rushed the final arc. IMO we spent way to long with the royal knights, each episode towards the end had to kids chasing after them.
The German Ost for this was the greatest thing ever and some Songs are still on the playlist :D
I haven’t heard the German OST for frontier 😮, I definitely need to give it a listen too 🍻
The only low point for me is the under use of Zoeys habilities.
Shes the only one without a diginame referencial to season 1, she is constantly put in the position to be saved and her digicaracthers are reduced to pety fights with Ranamon
I agree!
Honestly, of all the things I've heard of this season, I don't think anyone has ever mentioned how wierd it is to have so many Ultimate and Mega levels just hanging around.
Imagine watching this right after bingeing Tamers and spotting a Gallantmon being a random shopkeep. Or seeing a WereGarurumon be a Dick Dastardly.
Jokes aside, I'm really glad you took a great in depth look at this season. It was around here I got burnout from Digimon, which was amplified with some big lifesteps in school and responsibilities, so I lacked the chance to appreciate it. And the lingering negativity from the fanbase kept me from giving it a shot. I'll have to find a good way to watch it myself now.
So truly, Thank You.
Thank you for sharing your story, it’s understandable as you had so much was going on in your life at that time. I definitely agree with you that you should watch it when you get the chance. Data Squad, the season after Frontier was really good too 😋
Thank you for your kind words and support!!!🙏🏽🍻
Yeah this season was big on fan service. The Digimon fan in me loved it, but the critic in me was like...wth