Because the first two series weren't depressing enough...
Heavy spoilers below; look at your own risk.
- Guilmon's first evolution to Growlmon - it was everything Takato imagined, Gone Horribly Right. For a short moment he becomes scared that Guilmon's now a monster and doesn't remember him, and then a little voice pipes up."Takato? Why are you crying, Takato?"
- In the dub, he tearfully asks Takato not to cry.
- Episode 13, the death of the DarkLizardmon Yamaki had captured. It's actually screaming in pain as they kill it, begging to be freed as it dies in agony.
- During episode 27, Impmon trying to hug Ai and Mako when The Dog Deva, Caturamon, tricks him into thinking he was back at their house. And then watching his heart sink as he sees Ai and Mako fighting over a new puppy just like they did with him...
- Impmon's Deal with the Devil to become Beelzemon is designed to be as painful and terrifying as possible. Beelzemon isn't some random cartoon villain trying to take over the world; The audience knew Impmon. They watched his struggles, watched the kids try to befriend him. And now he's suddenly trying to murder them all. Watching these kids recounting their memories of playing with him in a desperate plea for him to see reason, while he doesn't give a rat's ass about their feelings and is 100% out for their blood, is absolutely heartbreaking.
- Episode 34 "Lionheart", Leomon's attempt to stop Beelzemon, who saw that Beelzemon wasn't truly evil, but misguided. "To have power is not to be strong", then looking at Jeri reassuring her what their bond means to him. He is then impaled by Beelzemon, and Leomon can only ask why Beelzemon can't see any other way.
- Beelzemon's final response to Leomon: "You're wrong, to have power is to be strong". The way of life that many digimon are forced to believe in order to survive in Digimon Tamers. Digimon that can have good lives are redirected by the might equals right concept, spending their lives fighting each other and absorbing data.
- While this isn't the first time a Leomon is killed in the franchise, not the last, this version is the most grueling because this Leomon is paired with a human rather than teaming up with one briefly. This fact alone makes Jeri's despair impactful and, unlike Adventure, there is no indication of him being reconfigured or reincarnated for the rest of the series.
- Beelzemon's rampage leaves nothing but terror and tears in its wake. Apart from Leomon's death, he's got the kids scared out of their minds wondering if their partners will be next, and Takato in his rage forces Guilmon to digivolve into a monster whose very existence threatens the universe which only serves to terrify an already traumatized and grieving Jeri even more. All of this leaves Takato horrified at what he's done to his sweet, lovable partner.
- Jeri: Guilmon was so sweet and cute and look what you did to him.
- An understated aspect of this moment—right before the evolution happens, we cut back to Calumon, still imprisoned by the Sovereigns. The moment Guilmon's dark evolution starts up, Calumon squeals a pained "Oh no!" and starts screaming as he lights up to activate it—implying that powering up forced or negative evolutions causes Calumon physical pain.
- In the midst of all the hell breaking lose after Beelzemon attacks the children in the digital world, Janyu gets into a fight with his wife in the real world, who is understandably freaking out over the fact that not only is Henry gone, but Suzie has suddenly disappeared too. Meanwhile, Janyu refuses to properly explain anything to her, leaving her a sobbing wreck, fearing the worst for her missing son and daughter and wondering if their other two kids might vanish next.
- Poor Suzie got sucked into the digital world and then gets caught in the crossfire of not one but three hostile digimon in less than a day. She's absolutely terrified, and things are only made worse when Henry, her big brother who she normally looks up to for protection, starts demanding her to let go of her new partner Lopmon because she's a deva and therefore paints a target on their backs. It's heartbreaking to watch Suzie sob her little heart out and insistently show Henry her digivice to prove that Lopmon really is her partner and how he has no right to separate them.
- Episode 36, Jeri pleading Gallantmon not to kill Beelzemon out of revenge:"Even if we killed you, that wouldn't bring Leomon back to life! I... never want to feel this sadness ever again... Please... stop fighting already..."
- The English dub is, if anything, even more painful because we start to see Jeri's cheerful facade crumble and her inner loneliness and lack of self-worth break through...Beelzemon: I don't get it, why are you protecting me? I destroyed your partner.Jeri: I hate you for doing that! But even if you died it wouldn't bring Leomon back. It's my fault he's gone, and if you destroyed each other that would be my fault too. I just can't let anyone else... get hurt... because of me...
- The English dub is, if anything, even more painful because we start to see Jeri's cheerful facade crumble and her inner loneliness and lack of self-worth break through...
- After reverting from their first Biomerge evolution together, Takato hugging Guilmon and telling him that they'll always be together, no matter what. If you know what happens in the end...
- Jeri's Heroic BSoD after Leomon's death is rough, to say the least. She's practically catatonic and can't stop staring at her digivice which now only produces static. She starts expressing extremely negative and depressing thoughts about herself: That she's not a good person, that Leomon's death was her fault, that she's destined to be alone... She's only in elementary school and has endured an immense amount of trauma, and her grief lingers, with no "easy fix" in sight.
- Jeri specifically recounts how after her mother died, she was cold to her stepmother despite recognizing that her stepmom was a good person and only doing her best. Jeri sees this as evidence that she's an awful person who doesn't deserve to be happy. This is a little girl who just lost her partner in a horrific manner, and now the audience is dealt an extra blow in learning that all this time, she was already struggling with dealing with the loss of one of her parents.
- It might not seem much by today's standards considering the absolutely insane Darker and Edgier shift the Digimon franchise undergoes and she does get better, but Jeri's funk is exceptionally remarkable because it's the first time the series does a darker take and the children watching at that time likely aren't expecting such a stark wake-up call. It's very traumatizing to young children and especially when they are not prepared for something this brutal.
- After Beelzemon is spared, he's left wandering the digital world haunted by Jeri's heartbroken face. He ends up allowing a pack of smaller digimon pile up on him and drain him of his energy, all the while screaming that he doesn't want his powers anymore. No matter how horrible he was, and no matter much he deserved it, it's still difficult to watch him wallow in his self-loathing to the point he practically commits suicide.
- And when after all that Impmon remains alive, he's left to stew in the guilt he feels, wondering why the heroes bother to rescue someone as awful as him and feeling like he doesn't belong anywhere.
- Episode 41, after the heartwarming reunion of the kids and their parents, the audience is treated to the mood whiplash of realizing that Jeri's parents didn't bother to pick her up. Takato, not wanting her to be on her own, decides to escort her on the train, and proceeds to tell her a heartbreaking dialogue in-which he confesses his feelings to Jeri...not realizing yet that the "Jeri" he's talking to is actually an imposter.
- What makes this even more heartwrenching is Takato revealing that he feels responsible for everything that's happened, including Leomon's death and Jeri's descent into depression, and apologizing to "Jeri" and practically begging her to just talk to him.
- And the first thing coming out from "Jeri's" mouth is to emotionlessly list off the nutritional information on her meal, completely oblivious to Takato's anguished pleas, it's equal parts heartbreaking and creepy as all hell...
- In hindsight it's also incredibly depressing that Jeri had already descended so far into a catatonic state after losing Leomon that no one was tipped off earlier that Jeri had been replaced with a decoy, or at the very least realized that something was terribly wrong with her.
- Then in episodes 45-46, the D-Reaper starts to make full use of the fact that it can copy Jeri's voice, and proceeds to use it to Mind Rape Takato with a combination of taunting humanity and repeating some of Jeri's most painful moments, rubbing that misery in Takato's face.
- What makes this even more heartwrenching is Takato revealing that he feels responsible for everything that's happened, including Leomon's death and Jeri's descent into depression, and apologizing to "Jeri" and practically begging her to just talk to him.
- All of Jeri's descent into madness and possession is insanely powerful even in the dubs, equal parts terrifying and heartbreaking. Parent death? Check. Parental Abandonment? Check. Revelation that she's been screaming on the inside for a long time and slowly getting worse for the entire series? Check.
- Later in episode 47, we get to see that Mr. Katou was not the aloof Jerkass we've been lead to believe he was, but actually a normal guy who utterly failed to deal with raising his girl alone after his wife died. Once he realises it's all his fault he tries to rescue Jeri from the Big Bad on his own by crashing a van into a massive D-Reaper agent
called the Paratice Head and tearfully attempts to talk her out of her Mind Control only to see Jeri's too emotionally damaged to hear him, and almost gets killed by the Eldritch Abomination holding her hostage. - Takato begs Mr. Katou not to be angry with Jeri. However, unbeknownst to Takato, Mr. Katou isn't upset with Jeri at all, but with himself for how poorly his attempts at the Tough Love approach as a single father went and how badly they have affected Jeri's mental state. He tears up as he recalls his mistakes, asking himself mentally "Why did I raise her like that?"
- It's actually worse than that, at least in the dub. Mr. Katou actually wasn't talking to his daughter at all, just an unknowable monster who's stolen her voice and speaks like a machine. When the Paratice Head tries to comprehend familial relationships it hits a feedback loop that also inadvertently acts as a Breaking Speech for poor Mr. Katou.
- It's even more explicit in the original script where it's way more understandable why it's a breaking speech for Mr. Katou. It's repeating what he had said to her on the day her mother died, forcing him to realize just how badly those words affected her.
- A painful line from the dub, after his flashback montage.Mr. Katou: (With tears streaming down his face) Now I see the consequences of my actions.
- Later in episode 47, we get to see that Mr. Katou was not the aloof Jerkass we've been lead to believe he was, but actually a normal guy who utterly failed to deal with raising his girl alone after his wife died. Once he realises it's all his fault he tries to rescue Jeri from the Big Bad on his own by crashing a van into a massive D-Reaper agent
- Episode 45, Dobermon's sacrifice to allow the main three to merge with their partners in the Real World and unleash their Megas. No matter if Alice is alive or a ghost she's heartbroken to lose her friend, and the tiny Hope Spot where the remains of his data become his head once more is shattered as the data completely vanishes.
- And then the following scenes as the news reports on the three Megas fighting the D-Reaper. All of their watching family and friends are terrified because they're watching their children fight a terrible menace but they're the only people who can fight it.
- Beelzemon's entire character once he becomes The Atoner. This change leads to one of the season's greatest Crowning Moments of Awesome in episode 48, followed immediately by one of its biggest Tear Jerkers when Beelzemon uses everything he has to smash through the D-Reaper's defenses, only to be stopped just before he can reach Jeri. Severely injured, his wings shredded, his weapon lost, all out of options, he manages to summon up the attack of her Digimon Leomon's Fist of the Beast King, in a My Name Is Inigo Montoya moment. Not only does he punch through the D-reaper's defenses to Jeri, but hearing him say the attack, and hearing the attack itself, snaps Jeri out of her Heroic BSoD. Just long enough for Beelzemon to yell at her to give him her hand. Jeri looks up, expecting Leomon. Sees the digimon that killed him instead. She's so traumatised that she can't move, and the D-Reaper closes the wound. Beelzemon gets impaled from behind by razor sharp polygons. Fatally wounded, Beelzemon plummets to the ground, flickering in and out of existence. And what he says during all of this?Beelzemon: "Jeri! Take my hand! Take it! Jeri! Jeri! Just let me save you! I need to save you! Jeri! I just need one more chance! Just give me one more chance!"
- But...Jeri: You're... you're not Leomon...Beelzemon: ...Huh?
- The whole moment also brutally subverts the viewers expectations of Beelzemon's rescue attempt by showing Leomon when he calls on the Fist of the Beast King attack. It almost reads on the fallen Leomon lending his strength to his former enemy to save his tamer, but the mere idea of his presence is enough to drag Jeri's trauma over his death back to the surface and only serves to make things worse.
- The scene is so effectively done that you can see and practically feel the moment Beelzemon's heart just plummets, realizing just the extent of how much Jeri's hurting because of his actions, and how try as he might, he won't be saving her.
- In the manga version of that scene, she actually does accept Beelzemon's attempt to help and approaches, but he is cut down before she can take his hand.
- How he screams "I need to save you!" on the verge of tears... even though he called his own past actions "unforgivable" he still puts everything he has into trying to rescue her at the repeated risk of his own life is what being The Atoner is about.
- And then there's the Tamers horrified reactions when the D-Reaper stabs him. Gallantmon and Sakuyamon both give a Big "NO!" and move to save him, but the D-Reaper blocks them off, either restraining them or slowing them down enough that they can't reach Beelzemon in time. They can both do nothing but watch as someone who, despite all odds, has become their friend, falls to his death.
- And just when you think the show is done pummeling your feelings, you get the worst part of this scene. Jeri breaks out of her Heroic BSoD completely after this. Usually escaping a Heroic BSoD is a triumphant moment that causes you to cry Tears of Joy if anything. Not here, as Jeri realizes that her inaction has, to her knowledge, gotten Impmon killed. Seeing her desperately pounding against the Kernel Sphere only to be seized by a cold uncaring D-Reaper drives home that this is an elementary school child being held captive by an Eldritch Abomination that cannot and does not care about her emotional state as it annihilates everything and everyone she's ever known. Oh yeah, and said abomination feeds on her pain and despair and now that she's not in a passive state of constant despair it decides the best way to keep feeding is to agonizingly torture her! You know, for kids!
- Jeri's despair reaches its worst point when she comes to the conclusion that everything horrible happening is all her fault, and decides to rectify it by taking herself out of the picture via self-strangulation. It's quite possibly the darkest scene to ever come out of the digimon franchise. Thankfully, Calumon immediately leaps in to put a stop to it, begging Jeri to realize that people love her. Both Calumon and Jeri are sobbing as he finally comes through to her, and it's hard not to feel the same while watching.
- But...
- Shortly before the above scene, the D-Reaper decides to give Beelzemon a Breaking Speech reminding him of all his crimes (as if he could forget) ...using Jeri's voice. The change in his posture from defiant and angry to despairing and guilt-ridden as it hits home is particularly heart-wrenching.D-Reaper: Analysis complete. Subject positively identified as Beelzemon. Beelzemon: the Digimon that tried to hurt Jeri Katou and other human children in the Digital World. Beelzemon: the Digimon that destroyed Leomon. Destroyed Leomon. Destroyed Leomon. Destroyed Leomon. Destroyed Leomon.
- And of course there's his verbal reaction to it, too.Beelzemon: Shut up...SHUT UP! Stop using Jeri's voice!
- And of course there's his verbal reaction to it, too.
- It's Played for Laughs at first, but the part where Impmon is trying to get someone, anyone to tell him what the note Ai and Mako left him says in episode 43. And then when Jiànliáng's martial arts instructor reads it out to him. In light of what's happened and what will happen, you can't help but feel your heart swelling.Impmon: How come you're not scared of me?Chou-sensei: The body is nothing more than a container. At the very least, I didn't feel an evil heart within you.
- When Ai and Mako, who watched Beelzemon's fight broadcasted on TV, take shelter with Impmon. Impmon, still recovering from his failed mission to rescue Jeri, laments at how useless he was in the fight. And through it all Ai and Mako, who are even younger than Suzie, try to reassure him that he did great fighting out there. The cherry on top is how their steadfast support finally results in a D-arc materializing, cementing their partnership.
- Grani, especially his Dying Moment of Awesome. A tireless, reliable "vehicle" program that acquired sentience, came to understand the threat of the D-Reaper and what was at stake, was repurposed as Gallantmon's "steed," and when too badly damaged to continue, told Takato and Guilmon that he cared about them and merged with Gallantmon to enable its Crimson Mode. He was like a digital version of The Giving Tree...
- The entire final dialogue between Gallantmon and Grani is a combination of this, heartwarming, and awesome.Grani: Do you want to fly? I will give you my wings.Guilmon: Wings? I can fly?(Grani appears)Gallantmon: Grani!Grani: I can no longer move on my own, but I can give you the strength remains within me. You can have my wings, Gallantmon.Takato: Grani, you really are a Digimon, aren't you?Guilmon: Grani, are you sure?Grani: Yes, I am very sure, you are my friends, you talk to me. This is my gift to you.Takato: GRANI!Gallantmon: A PART OF YOU WILL ALWAYS BE WITH US, GRANI!
- Cue transformation to Crimson Mode and a Final Justice to the face for the D-Reaper!
- The entire final dialogue between Gallantmon and Grani is a combination of this, heartwarming, and awesome.
- Impmon is finally able to properly see Jeri face to face after the D-Reaper has been defeated, and his body language is shy and uncertain, as he clearly doesn't know how to confront the girl he wronged so badly. But Jeri immediately approaches and lets him know that she never wanted to see him get hurt, and that she forgives him. Impmon looks like he's about to burst into tears from relief. While the moment is all too short, it's hard not to get emotional to finally see a good resolution come out of a storyline that had been wrought with so much pain.
- Really, the final episode of Tamers from about 4 minutes to about 4 seconds before the ending credits was a Tear Jerker. Watching the Tamer's partners de-digivolve and then disappear into the Digital World, Henry's father's guilt-ridden reaction as he reveals why they're going away, yet Jianglian still manages to smile at him and then Mr. Lee weeps, and Takato thinking that he'll never be able to keep his promise to Guilmon. Rika takes saying goodbye the worst. She's crying while telling Renamon she loves her.
- Sadly, if the actual canon is to be believed, the opening that Takato found turned out to be too small for them to actual reunite with their Digimon partners, there is a Firewall keeping humans out of the Digital World that cannot be cracked (without possibly destroying the world), and as of a year after the series ended, the Digimon and their Tamers have not reunited, the closest they get as of this point (the last canon release in this series) was being able to send messages to their Digimon. Talk about a downer.
- Which may not even be official canon. Even one of the show's creators has since stated that they like (perhaps even prefer) the "Runaway Locomon" movie and its implication of a reunion, the audio drama has not been expanded upon... Even then, if you consider that it is canon, this doesn't totally mean a solution won't ever be found. But more importantly, it's much easier to end with the Hope Spot that is the show's final moments, because it seems to be closer to what the writers intended rather than the audio drama (so still quite sad, but not soul-crushingly depressing at least).
- To make it worse, compare the endings of Adventure & Adventure 02 - In the original series, the DigiDestined were separated from their Digimon, but they at least got to give heartfelt goodbyes to one another & the series ultimately ends on Tai stating his belief that they'll see each other again; & 02 paid that off by having the characters Earn Your Happy Ending with the DigiDestined old & new keeping their partners. Tamers? The Digimon are literally ripped from their partner's arms, after being forced to de-Digivolve, and sent back to the Digital World.
- It's really sad for Ai and Makoto. They apologize to Impmon, he forgives them and they can be a family again, and right after that? He has to leave, and being so young, they probably don't fully understand why.
- The manga adaptation excises the portal from the ending, implying this might indeed be the last time the kids and their Digimon see each other.
- Sadly, if the actual canon is to be believed, the opening that Takato found turned out to be too small for them to actual reunite with their Digimon partners, there is a Firewall keeping humans out of the Digital World that cannot be cracked (without possibly destroying the world), and as of a year after the series ended, the Digimon and their Tamers have not reunited, the closest they get as of this point (the last canon release in this series) was being able to send messages to their Digimon. Talk about a downer.
- The first of the movies had one during the final battle. Shisamon has reverted to Labramon, who resembles Mei, the puppy that used to belong to the little girl the Tamers are all trying to protect. She doesn't know him until he says her name, and maybe ten minutes later, he dies in order to take down the movie's villain as she screams his name and cries.
- Let's not forget the musical number from the dub version of "Runaway Locomon".Promise that we'll stay for the sunset. And when the moon shines through the darkness, we can find the path that leads us home, and on the way you'll, maybe, sing me a song. Promise that you always will be there, hold my hand if ever I'm real scared. Help me stand up tall if I fall down. Make me laugh away all my bluest days. How could you promise you always would be there. Why'd you have to go away somewhere? Every morning and every night, do you watch over me like the sun in the sky? Am I all alone or standing in your light? I wish that I could, maybe... sing you a song tonight. ...You promised me we'd stay for the sunset...
- Listening to the song while watching the scene with Rika and her dad really drives the point home.
- The story of Ryo Akiyama, once you take a look at his home series. To put it shortly: whether he hails from the Adventure or Tamers universes, he initially didn't actually have a partner to call his own, being accompanied by either Tai's Agumon or the Veemon that would later belong to Davis. After plenty of traumatizing situations in his first adventure, his friend Ken Ichijouji eventually becoming the Digimon Emperor, feeling used by the Digimon Sovereigns of his world and the DigiDestined, and being sent to the Tamers Digital World by Millenniummon, he finally finds a partner in Monodramon, finds out that Millenniummon was his partner the whole time, and the former forces a DNA Digivolution with the latter to become a Digi-Egg that would later hatch into his "true" partner, Cyberdramon, which Ryo went into the Tamers universe to learn how to control properly. The training went on for ten months, during which he wasn't able to get back home until it was all finished. Once he returns to the real world, Cyberdramon manages to revert back to Monodramon, undoing his berserker tendencies, and the two even gain the means to Biomerge... only for them to have to say goodbye with all the rest of the Tamers and their Digimon. The poor guy just can't catch a break, can he?
- A smaller example, but in the dub, Calumon's reaction to Makuramon trying to kidnap him—though maybe a little Narmy to some—implies that he has a lot of trauma associated with his time in the Digital World...Calumon: I CAN'T GO BACK THERE! PLEASE DON'T LET THEM TAKE ME, JERI! I'M SCARED!
