Line #47 Trivia/DigimonTamers


1	* AcclaimedFlop: Despite being one of the favorite series among older Digimon fans, ''Tamers'' actually did incredibly poorly with its target demographic, with children either finding the themes too dark or frightening (and [[ScrewedbyTheNetwork the dub being hosed by corporate changes and local TV stations]] in America didn't help). It's thought this is why [[Anime/DigimonFrontier the next anime series]] was so drastically different from the base Digimon formula.
2	* ActingForTwo:
3	** Aoi Tada as Terriermon and Lopmon; Creator/YukaImai as Renamon, Rika's mother, and Rika's grandmother; Creator/SteveBlum as Guilmon, Kenta, ''and'' Yamaki (all except the latter are in the Japanese version). Ebonwumon has one head does most of the talking, including on behalf of the other.
4	** Juri and the D-Reaper, naturally. That was kind of the point.
5	** In the English dub, Jeri and her stepmother are both voiced by Creator/BridgetHoffman.
6	* AscendedFanon: Konaka gave this response when confronted with the fan hypothesis that Alice is a ghost.
7	* TheCastShowOff: Good thing Creator/FumikoOrikasa and Creator/MelissaFahn can really sing, or otherwise Ruki might not have had a song all to herself in the second movie.
8	* ChannelHop: During this season's run, Creator/{{Disney}} bought the dubbing rights along with the other Saban/[[Creator/{{Freeform}} Fox Family]] stuff; while the show did finish its' run on Creator/FoxKids in June of 2002 (Fox Kids was replaced by the Fox Box two months later), it immediately began airing in reruns as part of of Disney's block on Creator/{{UPN}} stations (previously called ''Disney's One Too'', a spinoff of ''[[Creator/OneSaturdayMorningAndABCKids Disney's One Saturday Morning]]'', which had become ABC Kids, resulting in the UPN block becoming unbranded) alongside new episodes of ''Anime/DigimonFrontier''.
9	* CreatorBacklash: Creator/ChiakiKonaka [[https://twitter.com/yamaki_nyx/status/942767590274772997 apologized]] in 2017 for killing Leomon and starting the RunningGag of one Leomon dying per continuity, noting that if he ever did return to the franchise, he'd have the character survive to break the tradition.
10	* {{Defictionalization}}: While Tamers largely relied on cards already published in the [[TabletopGame/{{Digimon}} card game]], several cards introduced were unique to the show (and [[NewPowersAsThePlotDemands often pulled out of thin air]]). Many if not all of these show-unique cards, such as "Alias!", would be later made into real cards.
11	* DependingOnTheWriter: Although at first glance the Ryo that appears in ''Tamers'' has a different personality from the one in the game, he was in fact written by the same person who wrote his character in the games, according to the main writer.
12	* DubNameChange: Interestingly, many of the name changes are still valid Japanese names.
13	** In the English dub (and the Spaniard one, with some exceptions):
14	*** Takato Matsuda -> Takato Matsuki
15	*** Jiànliáng Lǐ -> Henry Wong
16	*** Ruki Makino -> Rika Nonaka
17	*** Juri Katou -> Jeri Katou -> Jen Katou (German dub)
18	*** Hirokazu Shioda -> Kazu Shioda
19	*** Xiǎochūn Lǐ -> Suzie Wong
20	*** Zhènyǔ Lǐ -> Janyu Wong (note that Janyu is a valid transliteration of Zhènyǔ).
21	*** Makoto -> Mako
22	*** Nami Asanuma -> Nami Asaji
23	*** Hajime Katou -> Tadashi Katou
24	* ExecutiveMeddling:
25	** The series itself exists because ''Anime/DigimonAdventure02's'' meddling got bad enough that much of the team was willing to leave and break contract. Bandai's response was to let them make this.
26	** Juri's initial character concept, original name Mishio, was going to have parents who ran a prostitution business [[BreakTheCutie (as if she didn't have enough problems already)]], if Toei's executives hadn't intervened.
27	** Creator/ChiakiKonaka hadn't originally wanted to include Ryo, but was forced to do so by Bandai. See WriterRevolt below for how this was handled.
28	* FollowTheLeader: A Deconstruction of a highly popular {{Mon}}s series, that doesn't pull any punches in being realistic and happens to be the third chronological installment? [[Manga/PokemonAdventures Where have we heard that before?]]
29	* GodNeverSaidThat: Many claim that ''Anime/DigimonAdventure'' being a ShowWithinAShow in ''Tamers'' is an invention of the dub, and there was a different, unrelated Digimon anime in the ''Tamers'' universe. [[WordOfGod Konaka's website]] [[http://www.konaka.com/alice6/tamers/plan-e.html directly contradicts this]], and in the ''Digimon Adventure'' PSP game, Taichi meets Takato in a crossover dungeon and Takato is ecstatic to meet his hero. The misconception might stem from the dub outright namedropping ''Adventure'' characters in dialog, whereas in the Japanese version they don't explicitly refer to ''Adventure'' and it's AllThereInTheManual.
30	* KeepCirculatingTheTapes: If you want to get the original Japanese version but live outside of Hulu's supported territories (the USA and Japan), you'll have to get it online from unofficial sources as the Japanese [=DVDs=] are out-of-print. The American dub got a complete season Region 1 DVD release on June 2013, and the Japanese version finally got a Blu-Ray release in 2018. If you want to watch it subbed legally and can't access Hulu, you're still out of luck.
31	* MarthDebutedInSmashBros: In the West, Kai's first appearance was a cameo in one of the later episodes. The ''Battle of Adventurers'' movie (where Kai plays a role) wasn't released until years later.
32	* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed:
33	** Notably Pajiramon, whose English voice is a homage to Creator/KateMulgrew - Captain Janeway of ''Series/StarTrekVoyager''. Creator/MaryElizabethMcGlynn, who voiced Pajiramon and was this season's voice director, had guest-starred in a ''Voyager'' episode.
34	** Impmon's dub voiceover is a very deliberate imitation of Creator/JoePesci. Interviews also reveal that Beelzemon's voiceover was originally supposed to mimic Creator/SylvesterStallone, but this was scrapped due to ExecutiveMeddling and he ended up with a voice somewhere in-between Pesci and Stallone.
35	* NoExportForYou:
36	** The official Japanese version with English subtitles is available on Hulu, which currently only serves the USA and Japan.
37	** [=DVDs=] with the original Japanese audio were released--only in Japan. And now they're [[KeepCirculatingTheTapes out-of-print]]. They were re-released on Blu-Ray in 2018, however.
38	* TheOtherMarty: In one of the English dub promos, Takato is voiced by Creator/BrianDonovan. In the series proper, he is voiced by Creator/BrianBeacock, who later rerecorded that promo.
39	* ProductionLeadTime: The second movie, ''Runaway Digimon Express'', was released on March 2, 2002, while the final episodes weren't released until March 24 and March 31. Despite being ostensibly set after the series, the movie doesn't even seem slightly aware of the finale [[spoiler: or how the Digimon were sent back to the Digital World]].
40	* RealLifeWritesThePlot: [[spoiler:Renamon]] is conspicuously absent from the controversial 2021 script reading because [[spoiler:[[Creator/YukaImai her voice actress]]]] retired in 2018 to look after her son after he was diagnosed with mental illness.
41	* RuleThirtyFourCreatorReactions: In one of his live blog posts, series creator Konaka has [[https://slutforchocorobos.tumblr.com/post/649728816183427072/chiaki-j-konaka-is-liveblogging-tamers-on-twitter warned people about searching for Renamon with safe search turned off]].
42	* ScrewedByTheNetwork: In the West, the series had some unfortunate timing when it was aired: 2001 was pretty much the peak of the {{Mon}}s fad, and at the same time, Creator/FoxKids (the [[UsefulNotes/BlockProgramming program block]] that ''Digimon'' aired on) was also being cancelled (half the affiliate base didn't air Fox Kids whatsoever, and others shifted it around to strange times, or even to sister stations in the same market). with its' assets sold to Creator/{{Disney}}; this left ''Digimon'' to appear [[Creator/{{Freeform}} on a different channel]], at [[ScrewedByTheNetwork inconvenient times]], which was also something that was already in motion before the ''Tamers'' dub even premiered.
43	** In the UK, Creator/{{ITV}}'s Creator/{{CITV}} block only aired the first 5 episodes before pulling it completely, likely due to its darker nature. Oddly enough, they were aired as the block was airing 02 during its Christmas arc (implying this may have been to satisfy some sort of legal requirement).
44	* ShrugOfGod: Chiaki J. Konaka on whether or not Alice is a ghost.
45	* StarMakingRole: Takato was Creator/BrianBeacock’s first anime role and would lead him into getting more.
46	* ThrowItIn:
47	** Konaka [[WhatCouldHaveBeen originally did not intend for Suzie Wong to become a Tamer]]. However, when he saw that the animators included her in the opening with a Digivice, he decided to give her one in the show. A lot of her comedy moments were this, too-- the character designer "couldn't stop" drawing pictures of her playing with Terriermon, and Konaka felt "it would be criminal" not to use them. See Chiaki J. Konaka's character notes [[http://www.konaka.com/alice6/tamers/characters/shaochung-e.html here]].
48	** He also mentions that Creator/KiyoyukiYanada (Guardromon) was prone to adlibbing lines during recording, which Konaka himself asked to be kept in the final version.
49	* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
50	** WordOfGod states that ''Impmon'' was originally conceived as Takato's Digimon! When that was shot down, Impmon/Beelzemon was then intended to be the BigBad of the series, but was replaced by [[spoiler: the D-Reaper]] and became TheAtoner instead. This may explain why Impmon is portrayed in typical BigBad fashion in the earlier promotional material.
51	** Tamers was originally planned to be a direct sequel to ''Adventure'' continuity.
52	** The earliest design notes referred to Rika's partner as "Lunamon". That name was used years later for a different Digimon.
53	* WordOfGod: Arguably has the most AllThereInTheManual info out of any ''Digimon'' series due to Konaka's blog being publicly available and packed with information, and with an English translation to boot so that non-Japanese speakers can read.
54	* WriterRevolt: Konaka wasn't pleased when Bandai [[ExecutiveMeddling forced him to include]] [[TheAce Ryo Akiyama]] in ''Tamers'', especially after they had promised him not to meddle much again. While he did comply by adding in Ryo as they wanted, Konaka deliberately minimized the amount of screen time and importance that Bandai wanted him to have in ''Tamers'''s plot.

Context Trivia / DigimonTamers