YMMV / Digimon Universe: App Monsters

• And You Thought It Would Fail: In its initial reveal, the show was universally hated by Digimon fans, especially the hardcore ones, calling it the equivalent of "the relative no one talks about" due to it initially appearing to pander to the mobile phone market by turning the Digimon into apps. It also had the misfortune of having to compete with tri. whenever the films came out. Then tri. proceeds to get hit with Fanon Discontinuity due to massive issues with characters, plot, pacing while also having massive amounts of Filler for a film series containing only 26 half-hour episodes, taking many story elements usually found in bad fanfiction and leaving a lot of plot points unresolved when it's over. Meanwhile App Monsters over the course of its run was able to tell a self-contained story and never suffered from pacing problems as much, while its Lighter and Softer tone meant that the characters can have fun without suffering from Skewed Priorities. By the time both shows finished airing, the general reception between the two shows was pretty much reversed.
• Awesome Music:
  • "DiVE", the series' first opening theme, is a very awesome, high-energy song with an atmosphere that would make Wada Kouji proud.
  • Eri's Image Song at the end of Episode 17 and Episode 36.
  • "BE MY LIGHT" during the fight of Episode 32. It makes a glorious return in episode 38 when the Appli Drivers manage to revive their partners and becomes the theme song for the Applidrivers' ultimate form.
  • Hearing "Brave Heart" after Agumon digivolves to WarGreymon is this.
    • Also, the iconic guitar riff counts as well.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • Tripmon got a lot of fanart and love online from his only episode appearance alone.
  • Sateramon to an extent, for being such a Comically Serious Bunny-Ears Lawyer whose schemes actually came very close to fruition several times despite being an Arc Villain.
• Epileptic Trees: So far this series has proven to be a treasure trove of fan theories. Noteworthy subjects of speculation include:
  • What's the deal with Yuujin? As early as the first episode there's been hints that something's not quite right about him. At first it was commonly assumed that he was simply under Leviathan's control, but as the story progressed more and more questions have been raised. Is he under Leviathan's control? Is his mother working for Leviathan? Is she Knight's secretary seen in episode 33? Is she just a third party independent of L Corp? Is Yuujin even human at all?
    • Answered as of episodes 47 and 48. Yuujin is an android, an AI, created by Leviathan to watch over Haru due to his connection with Den'emon. His mother is not a mother at all, but a researcher at L Corp allied with Leviathan.
  • Hajime's fate. Who was his data used to create? Hackmon? Knight? Was his data fragmented to create both of them? Is he Bootmon? Someone else entirely?
    • For now, it is at least confirmed that he has become an Appmon, due to Biomon's 'surgery'. Which one is what is yet to be revealed.
    • It was Sleepmon all along.
  • The real loyalties of the whole Ultimate 4 gotten dubious after episode 39. It also seems that some of them might be members against their will and are actually Brainwashed by Charismon.
• Estrogen Brigade: According to demographic polls, the majority of the series' viewers were women 18-35. It's really not hard to see why.
• Evil Is Cool:
  • Sakushimon and Sateramon.
  • The whole Ultimate 4, but especially Charismon, true to his name.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: Evil Marth's cameo in episode 45 became this when Fire Emblem Engage features him get tainted by Fell Dragon energy, thus turning Marth evil in that game.
• Jerkass Woobie: Rei Katsura is aloof and does some morally questionable actions, but he has a rather tragic backstory and does his actions in the name of finding his missing younger brother.
• Love to Hate:
  • Charismon, ever since his debut.
  • Several of the recurring villains fit too.
• Magnificent Bastard: Digimon Universe: App Monsters features the following two incarnations of Leviathan:
  • Anime: Leviathan is the "Final Boss AI" sealed in within the Dark Web of the Net Ocean, the founder of L Corp who allows C.E.O Knight to operate under his direction, and the orchestrator of all events within the plot. Separating himself from Minerva, Leviathan sought to fulfill his directive of guiding humanity through the "Human Applification Project," where he planned to turn all of the Human World into Apps to remove all conflict and suffering at cost of free will. Once the extent of Leviathan's strategies are revealed, he has shown to be one step ahead of the heroes at all times, factoring in their growth to his ultimate plan and managing to keep tabs of their developments. After one last Sadistic Choice in hopes of keeping his dream alive, Leviathan is so impressed by the actions therein that he takes his deletion with grace, wishing humanity "good luck."
  • Manga: Leviathan is the leader and founder of the L Corp who seeks the fulfillment of the "Human Applification Project" alongside her partner, Knight Unryūji. Masterminding every conflict through her L-Virus and putting her henchmen in the positions to apprehend the Seven Code Appmon meant to stop her, Leviathan ultimately manifests via possession of the powerful Deusmon to force a hard-fought battle for the worlds. After being defeated and shown the strength of the bonds between Humans and Appmon, Leviathan seemingly joins Haru with Minerva, showing a willingness to be swayed from her strong ideals.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • The similarities between Haru and Yuya Sakaki created an immediate onslaught of jokes, mostly about Yuya traveling to the "Digital Dimension" or taking over other shows. Not helping is the fact that Eri is also a pink-haired girl with pigtails, much like ARC-V's Yuzu Hiiragi.
  • The Appli Drive's bombastic shouts are reaching this level. SEVEN COOOODES!
• Memetic Psychopath: Gatchmon gets this to an extent (primarily from Japanese fans) after his jealous tantrum over Haru in episode 29. While he has been shown to be a downplayed case of Crazy Jealous Guy towards him, it tends to get exaggerated into being a full-blown Yandere who will react violently at anyone for so much as looking in Haru's general direction.
• Moe:
  • Offmon is this in spades!
  • Haru, Gatchmon, Eri, Dokamon...
  • Yuujin's pose in Appmon Taiwanese site.
• Moral Event Horizon: See here.
• One-Scene Wonder:
  • Sakushimon doesn't appear nearly as much, but he's still fondly remembered thanks to his unique fighting style.
  • Dantemon as well. It's especially jarring given that he really DID live up to the hype, only to be sucker punched by Leviathan (which really shows how fast the story would have ended if Dantemon could assist the heroes against Leviathan).
  • Agumon only appeared for one episode, but makes the most of his screen time especially since he Digivolved into WarGreymon who looks exactly like the original, but in CGI.
• Paranoia Fuel: Everything about Leviathan. See Nightmare Fuel above for why.
• The Scrappy:
  • Watson is rather disliked for being an annoying character who doesn't really do or add anything to the series.
  • Astra is also heavily disliked due to his catchphrase, which became annoying after repeating it one too many times, and his YouTuber personality that was just considered grating and obnoxious. Eri also had a catchphrase, but she used it less and less as the series went on, so it wasn't as in your face. Astra on the other hand...
• Surprisingly Improved Sequel: Depending where you stand within the Digimon franchise dropping in quality. App Monsters is highly original in the franchise and anime overall incorporating a new concept of real world apps into the Appmon. A lot of Fridge Brilliance occurs as a result from the abilities used by the Appmon, avoiding Ass Pulls when past season Digimon would use new abilities from nowhere. The characterization of the human characters avoids the typical stale cliche of Hot-Blooded hero or the troubled Lancer. The main characters are likable due to having story arcs and expressing emotions that are relatable to viewers. The Applidrivers' relationships with their buddy Appmon are also reminiscent of Adventure and Tamers, as new evolutions are triggered by the convincingly strong bonds between human and mon. Also, the series has surprisingly good humor, the show doesn't take itself with utmost seriousness and takes jabs at how silly some real life apps can be. Overall, the series is best described as Lighter and Softer done right.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character:
  • Sateramon was a pretty entertaining villain before he was finally defeated by Shutmon, but at least his chip was retrieved by Unryūji Knight, so he could have returned in the future. Sadly, he was basically forgotten afterwards.
  • Same with Sakushimon.
  • Rei and Hackmon are rarely ever involved in the plot, something that is especially notable in the first season.
  • Coachmon used to be Leviathan's henchman before becoming Dokamon's Appligattai partner, so he could have been more involved such as giving the team some inside info on Leviathan.
  • Mienumon in general spent most of the first season working behind the shadows and constantly spewing cryptic comments about experiments on humans, and her potential was ultimately fairly underused as she rarely ever directly fought the Applidrivers despite being a Super Grade herself.
• Too Cool to Live: Dantemon, who truly lived up to the hype by cleaving Cometmon in half from the inside, only to be turned to stone by Leviathan after opening the door to the Undernet.
• Visual Effects of Awesome: The CGI used for Super Grade Appmon and above are really well made and animated which allow them to be used for spectacular fight scenes. Especially since the models allow the Appmon to look like they truly are digital monsters by also giving them a cybernetic look through the text code they have throughout their body. Special mention goes to WarGreymon since not only does he pretty much look exactly like the original Adventure WarGreymon, but in CGI, he also has Binary Code throughout his body just like how the Appmon have Text Code.
• The Woobie: Yuujin and Offmon, for they did their own part of tearjerking Heroic Sacrifice in the last arc.

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