History YMMV / DigimonFrontier

** Related to the previous, there's some diversity on opinions about the show's storytelling. While one side praised it for doing an excellent job at making the villains a credible threat, especially compared to previous seasons, the other side criticizes it because this had the side effect of spawning potentially endless {{Filler}} arcs where the heroes would fail at achieving anything decisive, including Izumi being infamously defeated in her own power-up episode or the "Transcendent" [=MagnaGarurumon=] and [=EmperorGreymon=] being defeated '''seven episodes in a row before they were soundly floored by Lucemon and never seen again''', the latter which earned its status as free game for ridicule in the Japanese fandom like ''Anime/DigimonAdventureTri'', where even ''Anime/DigimonXrosWarsTheYoungHuntersWhoLeaptThroughTime'' is otherwise considered just SoOkayItsAverage at most.

* EpilepticTrees: Many a fan has speculated the four children Ophanimon tasked an Angemon with protecting to have been the ones originally intended to wield the Spirits that became the four evil Legendary Warriors, due to their gender ratio matching up perfectly (three males and one female) and [[ColourCodedForYourConvenience their clothes colors matching the Digimons]].

** It's a commonly held belief amongst fans that the other group of children the group meets were intended to have the other four Legendary Warrior spirits. However, while there are strong implications that it is the case, it's never outwardly stated (although considering how much the series was rushed towards the second half and [[WhatCouldHaveBeen how many ideas were left on the cutting room floor]], there's no way truly know what the plan might've been).

** While Tommy's brother wasn't named in the original Japanese version, the Japanese fanbase generally uses the name the dub gave him, Yutaka.

* PresumedFlop: The fact that ''Digimon'' fell out of fad more or less at the time ''Frontier'' ended has caused the popular belief that the latter was a complete failure in ratings and sales, but it is not really the case. While the series did fail at making noise, this was (and sadly still is) the usual for the franchise in Japan after the ''Anime/DigimonAdventure'' continuity was closed; in reality, ''Frontier'' did not do much worse than ''Anime/DigimonTamers'' in any field, and still attracted almost twice the ratings later received by ''Anime/DigimonDataSquad'', which was the series that finally got the franchise out of its traditional broadcaster Fuji TV.
* SoOkayItsAverage: Probably the most consistent complaint with the series aside from the HenshinHero turn is that there simply isn't any aspect of the series that stands out as especially high-quality, with many characters and story arcs feeling bland, recycled, or underutilized, while some arcs and episodes rely too much on subverting the audience's expectations. At the same time, however, few would call it grievously flawed and terrible, and some have also acknowledged the writers' effort to actually do something different from the franchise's formula even if they failed at getting it right.

** All of the other children had fusion forms, but they never receive them during the show, echoing how the original Digidestined from ''Anime/DigimonAdventure'' except the two leads never reached their Mega levels (at least until ''Anime/DigimonAdventureTri'').
** All of the other children in general upon Takuya and Kouji reaching their highest forms. After this point, the other children end up just giving up their Spirits so the two could reach those forms and then standing around for most of the rest of the show. In the previous series, the protagonists that didn't reach Mega were able to at least still fight and thus try to contribute.
** The spirits themselves could qualify. They were not shown to be {{Empty Shell}}s for the children to simply transform into but rather unconventional partner Digimon that have to stay in the digivice due to their fragile state as ghosts. Instead of playing the role of SpiritAdvisor (no pun intended) for their human partners, they were reduced to silent {{Plot Coupon}}s to likely avoid copying ''Tamers''. This resulted in one of the main criticisms of the show being a HumanFocusedAdaptation, even more so than usual.
** Two episodes focus on four non-Warrior children who had remained in the Digital World since the beginning, with it seeming leading up to them inheriting the spirits of Earth, Wood, Water, and Metal. Instead, however, it ends with them going back home, leaving one to wonder why they were even introduced.
** The Warrior Ten are built up to be important characters and are frequently featured in ''Frontier''-related franchise, but in the anime itself they're only relegated to expository purposes and only appeared briefly for one episode at the end. [=AncientGreymon=] and [=AncientGarurumon=] do revive, but only in a NonSerialMovie.

** The four spirits used by the villains, later reclaimed by the heroes, are never used again. According to a relatively strong theory, the four kids encountered later in the series (Chaiki, Katsuharu, Teppei and Teruo) were intended as candidates for them. However, nothing of this is ever brought up.

** The conflict between the Human-type and Beast-type Digimon which effectively ''started'' the show's plot, according to Cherubimon's backstory, is never elaborated on aside from a [[NonSerialMovie non-serial]] movie.

** In Spain, you will get only confused looks if you talk about Dynasmon, but they will instantly recognize him if you call him Dinocumon (or Dynocumon, or Dynokumon - it has never been revealed how exactly was it written, or why was it changed to begin with, but people seemed to like it).

* SoOkayItsAverage: Probably the most consistent complaint with the series aside from the HenshinHero turn is that there simply isn't any aspect of the series that stands out as especially high-quality, with many characters and story arcs feeling bland, recycled, or underutilized, while some arcs and battles carry conversely too much shock value. At the same time, however, few would call it as grievously flawed as ''[[Anime/DigimonXrosWarsTheYoungHuntersWhoLeaptThroughTime Hunters]]'' or the low points of ''[[Anime/DigimonAdventure02 02]]'', and some have also acknowledged the writers' effort to actually do something different from the franchise's formula even if they failed at getting it right.

* WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids: As usual in the franchise, ''Frontier'' could be hardcore for a show which was marketed to children in many countries. The new humanoid Digimon ensured the hand-to-hand was often savage, many villains were intimidating either for how they looked like or just for how shockingly dangerous they were, a DigiDestined was [[spoiler:killed (even if he got better)]] onscreen, some of the characters's backgrounds dealt with topics like bullying and parental divorce. ''Anime/DigimonTamers'' still gets away with more family-unfriendly aspects due to Konaka's foreign fandom and psychological touches, but this series is somewhat solid on it.

* EnsembleDarkhorse:
** Bokomon and Neemon are often cited as one of the highlights of the series, notably Neemon for his funny lines and antics.
** While also being FanficFuel, the unused Double/[[DubNameChange Fusion]] Spirit Evolutions of Thunder, Ice, Wind and Darkness (Namely [=RhinoKabuterimon=], Daipenmon, [=JetSilphymon=] and Raihimon) are very well-liked by the fandom, notably because they would have helped, in respective order, J.P., Tommy, Zoe, and Koichi not being sidelined.
** Katsuharu's group is relatively popular because they make for good FanficFuel in fics where they inherit the Legendary Spirits of Earth, Wood, Water and Steel.
** Other than Duskmon (who eventually becomes main character Koichi), Ranamon is the most popular of the Evil Legendary Warriors, both for her [[CuteMonsterGirl attractive]] [[EvilIsSexy design]], [[IneffectualSympatheticVillain fun]] [[LaughablyEvil evil]] personality and her rivalry with Izumi/Zoe.

* ArcFatigue:
** Arcs in ''Frontier'' tend to drag, as the writers often aimed to reduce the PlotArmor trope to the thinnest and create the most drama with what material they had, and it is commonly felt that they sometimes went just ''too far'' and made the entire series a borderline FailureHero show as a result. The Velgemon and Cherubimon arcs are long, but by the time the Royal Knights come around and curbstomp the leads episode after episode without much progress, some fans just put their foot down or skip to the ending.
** This also extended to the series' enemies. Out of the first five recurrent ones, [[spoiler:Grumblemon]] was always a pain to merely last against even in random scuffles and it took ages to defeat him, [[spoiler:Mercurymon]] literally [[spoiler:one-shotted the BigGood of the series in the latter's very introduction]] and then went to do little until his own battle, and [[spoiler:Duskmon]] was just a plain NightmareFuel who seemed he could never be defeated. For the last arc, after the heroes had received several power boosts, the Royal Knights wiped the floor with them episode after episode without any apparent advance, playing YouCantThwartStageOne at its finest before the arrival of Lucemon. But even ''then'', [[spoiler:when the heroes had unlocked power to match Lucemon's, they continued taking scary beatings every time Lucemon unveiled a new form, and it ended up with the Legendary Warriors having to pull basically a TakingYouWithMe against him.]]

* TheUntwist: Lucemon was behind Cherubimon's actions. Given how the series decides to get mentioning him when revealing some of the backstory, it's no surprise that he plays at least ''some'' role.

* AudienceAlienatingPremise: This was the first ''Digimon'' series to seriously play with the basic {{Mon}}s concept, producing instead what amounts to a {{Toku}}satsu series. This contributed to the BrokenBase.

* DesignatedHero: Ophanimon is the BigGood, but she's surprisingly incompetent at her job. Her solution to the Cherubimon and Lucemon problem boils down to sending strange SNS messages to random children. Furthermore, her talking down Cherubimon [[almost works]], but she effectively makes dealign with him worse by revealing that she was distracting him so she could get the kids' Digivices. Also, she expects the children to reach the Spirits while leaving those who don't at risk, sends an Angemon to defend those who get stranded and never boots them out by force, and leaves her Fractal Key right inside her castle, allowing the Royal Knights to freely pillage it.

* AntiClimaxBoss: There are many awesome fights in ''Frontier'', but [[spoiler:Mercurymon]]'s duel with Takuya, although quite artsy and interesting in its own right, ends up unfortunately being a little too one-sided. While he does dominate in the first minutes, [[spoiler:[=ShadowSeraphimon=]]] gets utterly humiliated at the moment Takuya unlocks Aldamon, first by failing to make him even flinch and then by being taken down with a single, weak-looking attack, and his next round as [[spoiler:Mercurymon]] ends just as quickly, with more power being spent on the battlefield itself than on him. Fortunately, he later gets a more climatic showdown with the protagonists as [[spoiler:Sephirotmon/Sakkakumon.]]

* DesignatedHero: Ophanimon is the BigGood, but she's ''so'' incompetent that she becomes this. Her solution to the Cherubimon and Lucemon problem boils down to sending strange SNS messages to random children and expecting them to come while putting the lives of those who don't reach the Spirits in time at risk, sends an Angemon to defend those who get stranded and never boots them out by force, and leaves her fractal key right inside her castle so the Royal Knights can freely pillage it. You'd expect her to be more prepared when the enemy threatens to wipe out the entire Digital World, but she might as well as let the Royal Knights steamroll and that wouldn't make much of a difference.

* MisBlamed: This series is thought by many people to have been the cause of the ''Digimon'' franchise's decline in popularity and the long hiatus until ''Anime/DigimonDataSquad''. In actuality, it was the end of the virtual pets fad (and thus the base for the ''Digimon'' franchise itself), poor merchandising attempts both in Japan and abroad, and in the Anglosphere's case, Disney's apathetic treatment.

** A more minor one being the lack of the Digi-Rap as the English opening theme, which was due to the English dub rights changing hands - though admittedly, the new theme ''is'' kickass.

** The conflict between the Human-type and Beast-type Digimon which ''effectively started the events of the plot'', according to the backstory for Cherubimon, is never elaborated on aside from a single movie, and a [[NonSerialMovie non-serial]] one to boot.

* WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids: As usual in the franchise, ''Frontier'' could be definitely very hardcore for a show which was marketed to children in many countries. The new humanoid Digimon ensured the hand-to-hand was often savage, many villains were intimidating either for how they looked like or just for how shockingly dangerous they were, a Digidestined was [[spoiler:killed (even if he got better)]] onscreen, some of the characters's backgrounds dealt with topics like bullying and parental divorce. While ''Anime/DigimonTamers'' is way more awful in the kid-unfriendly aspect due to Konaka's foreign fandom and psychological touches, this series is still somewhat solid on it.

* ValuesDissonance: The entire reasoning for Calamaramon being uglier than Ranamon is essentially the Japanese equivalent of the OldMaid concept, usually called "Christmas cake" (that is to say, an unmarried woman over 25 is probably going to stay that way for the rest of her life), with youthful traits being idealized and traditionally mature traits being shunned. Hence, the cutesy, IdolSinger-like water sprite turning into a mature-looking woman with sharper features (well, and a squid for a lower body) causes her fanbase to abandon her for the hero. This idea is far from universal in Japan, but it's very unlikely that a series made outside of it would feature an apparently wholehearted ''endorsement'' of the concept.

** Izumi/Zoe is probably one of the biggest examples of this in the whole franchise. On the one hand, her fans like her for her and her Digimon forms [[MsFanservice good looks]], [[AllOfTheOtherReindeer having a relatable backstory]], [[FriendToAllLivingThings her gentle personality]] and some good ShipTease moments with Takuya. Her haters on the other hand, dislike her for being the [[TheSmurfettePrinciple token girl]] character with {{Stripperific}} Digimon forms, the first of which was [[FauxActionGirl easily defeated]] in its ''own debut episode'' and the second of which didn't fair much better.

* SoOkayItsAverage: Probably the most consistent complaint with the series aside from the HenshinHero turn is that it simply doesn't have much else working in a transcendent level (doubly ironic when [=EmperorGreymon=] and [=MagnaGarurumon=] exist and debuted with this series to serve as oversized punching bags), with many characters and story arcs feeling bland, recycled, or underutilized, while some arcs and battles carry conversely too much shock value. At the same time, however, few would call it as grievously flawed as ''[[Anime/DigimonXrosWarsTheYoungHuntersWhoLeaptThroughTime Hunters]]'' or the low points of ''[[Anime/DigimonAdventure02 02]]'', and some have also acknowledged the writers' effort to actually do something different from the franchise's formula even if they failed at getting it right.

* SoOkayItsAverage: Probably the most consistent complaint with the series aside from the HenshinHero turn is that it simply doesn't have much else working in a transcendent level (doubly ironic when [=EmperorGreymon=] and [=MagnaGarurumon=] exist and debuted with this series), with many characters and story arcs feeling bland, recycled, or underutilized, while some arcs and battles carry conversely too much shock value. At the same time, however, few would call it as grievously flawed as ''[[Anime/DigimonXrosWarsTheYoungHuntersWhoLeaptThroughTime Hunters]]'' or the low points of ''[[Anime/DigimonAdventure02 02]]'', and some have also acknowledged the writers' effort to actually do something different from the franchise's formula even if they failed at getting it right.

* WhatMeasureIsANonBadass: We're supposed to treat [=MagnaGarurumon=] and [=EmperorGreymon=] as badasses who transcend the Warrior Ten, who are all but indicated to be {{Physical God}}s. In the show itself, the two ''frequently'' get steamrolled by foes that they theoretically could beat without degenerating into uphill battles (even discounting the Royal Knights, they have trouble dealing with three [=SkullSatamon=] at one point) and even the battles they won are won only barely. The end result is the two having the worst win rate out of any anime protagonist's Mega forms (4 wins, 5 losses and 2 draws for [=EmperorGreymon=] and 3 wins, 6 losses and 2 draws for [=MagnaGarurumon=]) and making them look like ''failures'', that even the original [=WarGreymon=] and [=MetalGarurumon=] has a higher win-rate compared to their supposedly "superior" counterparts (defeating four Mega-level villains and only losing to Piedmon). It doesn't help that the duo of Megas aren't seen again after Lucemon unceremoniously throws them around one last time.

** Other than Duskmon (who eventually becomes main character Koichi), [[TheDarkChick Ranamon]] is the most popular of the Evil Legendary Warriors, both for her [[CuteMonsterGirl attractive]] [[EvilIsSexy design]], [[IneffectualSympatheticVillain fun]] [[LaughablyEvil evil]] personality and her rivalry with Izumi/Zoe.

* MoralEventHorizon: [[spoiler:Lucemon]] crosses it prior to the series by corrupting [[spoiler:Cherubimon, driving him to gather all the data in the Digital World so he could absorb it and escape his prison, leading to all the destruction he caused during the series]].

* SeasonalRot: ''Frontier'' is generally perceived as underwhelming when compared to every previous ''Digimon'' series, due to, among other reasons, the absence of partner Digimon for the children to bond with (opening less room for CharacterDevelopment), clumsy storytelling with tons of filler and shock value, and a rather weak second half which left every other character besides Takuya and Kouji OutOfFocus.

* ItsTheSameNowItSucks: Ironically, despite the general TheyChangedItNowItSucks reaction to the HenshinHero concept, many viewers criticize this series for trying too hard to invoke nostalgia for ''Adventure'' from other directions, to the point that the characters comes off as compressed copies of the original cast (and this is only exacerbated by the two lead characters being the SpotlightStealingSquad just like their predecessors Taichi and Yamato). This could be considered a FranchiseOriginalSin, as it was also a complaint that was in ''Tamers''.

* SoOkayItsAverage: Probably the most consistent complaint with the series aside from the HenshinHero turn is that it simply doesn't have much else working in a trascendent level, with many characters and story arcs feeling bland, recycled, or underutilized, while some arcs and battles carry conversely too much shock value. At the same time, however, few would call it as grievously flawed as ''[[Anime/DigimonXrosWarsTheYoungHuntersWhoLeaptThroughTime Hunters]]'' or the low points of ''[[Anime/DigimonAdventure02 02]]'', and some have also acknowledged the writers' effort to actually do something different from the franchise's formula even if they failed at getting it right.

* DesignatedHero: Ophanimon is the BigGood, but she's ''so'' incompetent that she becomes this. Her solution to the Cherubimon and Lucemon problem boils down to sending strange SNS messages to random children and expecting them to come while putting the lives of those who don't reach the Spirits in time at risk, sends an Angemon to defend those who get stranded and never boots them out by force, and leaves her fractal key right inside the her castle so the Royal Knights can freely pillage it. You'd expect her to be more prepared when the enemy threatens to wipe out the entire Digital World, but she might as well as let the Royal Knights steamroll and that wouldn't make much of a difference.

** The Loser Element [[note]]The theme tune for Transcendent Evolution "The Last Element" is ridiculed by Japanese fans for being a ''loser's theme'' because the Transcendent Evolutions of Takuya and Koji have an infamous rep for losing nearly every major confrontation they come across or fighting uphill battles if they win before they get unceremoniously dumped by Lucemon and were never used again. It goes to the point where they are more like oversized {{Butt Monkey}}s with their "Transcendence" being more like an InformedAttribute. The only time where this theme is used in a winning battle, it's when Susanoomon fights Lucemon but it's not even the full version unlike with the losing battles.[[/note]]

** The Loser Evolution [[note]]The theme tune for Transcendent Evolution "The Last Evolution" is ridiculed by Japanese fans for being a ''loser's theme'' because the Transcendent Evolutions of Takuya and Koji have an infamous rep for losing nearly every major confrontation they come across or fighting uphill battles if they win before they get unceremoniously dumped by Lucemon and were never used again. It goes to the point where they are more like oversized {{Butt Monkey}}s with their "Transcendence" being more like an InformedAttribute. The only time where this theme is used in a winning battle, it's when Susanoomon fights Lucemon but it's not even the full version unlike with the losing battles.[[/note]]

** [=LordKnightmon=] ships [[{{Twincest}} KouKoucest]]! [[note]]When Koji saves Koichi from [=LordKnightmon's=] grasp, he proclaims that their sibling love is a beautiful thing with a romantic, campy undertone. This is present in both the original and dub scripts.[[/note]]

* DesignatedHero: Ophanimon is the BigGood, but she's ''very'' incompetent that she becomes this. Her solution to the Cherubimon and Lucemon problem boils down to sending strange SNS messages to random children and expecting them to come while putting the lives of those who don't reach the Spirits in time at risk, sends an Angemon to defend those who get stranded and never boots them out by force, and leaves her fractal key right inside the her castle so the Royal Knights can freely pillage it. You'd expect her to be more prepared when the enemy threatens to wipe out the entire Digital World, but she might as well as let the Royal Knights steamroll and that wouldn't make much of a difference.

* DesignatedHero: Ophanimon is the BigGood, but her actions are ''very'' sloppy. Her solution to the Cherubimon and Lucemon problem boils down to sending strange SNS messages to random children and expecting them to come, sends an Angemon to defend whoever gets stranded and never boots them out by force and leaves her fractal key right inside the her castle so the Royal Knights can freely pillage it. You'd expect her to be more prepared when the enemy can literally [[CurbStompBattle curb-stomp]] even Ultimate-level Legendary Warriors or Transcendents despite only being a level or two lower.