History NightmareFuel / DigimonTamers

* The series in general is a bit outclassed later works of the franchise has in terms of the DarkerAndEdgier spectrum, but there's a reason why it's the most remarkable -- the audience back in the time where this is aired are mostly ''young children'' who didn't expect Digimon to degenerate into outright Lovecraftian horror with gruesome and permanent deaths that have lingering consequences.

!! In General

* An early warning of things to come, episode 14, where the dying screams of the Digimon deleted by Shaggai/Juggernaut can be heard. A [[IncrediblyLamePun tamer]] version of ''VideoGame/{{Homeworld}}'' cataclysm's corruption by the beast.
** It's so bad that even one of Yamaki's BridgeBunnies can't take it.

** Shortly after ''that'', Mihiramon of the [[EasternZodiac Devas]] shows up: a [[PantheraAwesome giant, flying tiger]] with SuperSpeed and the ability to use its tail like a lethally damaging and lethally fast three-section staff. It effortlessly [[CurbStompBattle curb-stomps]] Kyubimon and Gargomon, and ends up putting Growlmon on the ropes. Oh, and it's also the first indication that tamers with a strong bond to their Digimon can, and will, feel every single hit their partner does, as Takato keeps feeling Growlmon/[=WarGrowlmon=] take blow after blow from an Ultimate level out to ''kill''. Even more horrifying is the realization that, while the injury was obscured by shadows, it's heavily implied that Mihiramon ''tore off Growlmon's arm'' and that Takato ''felt'' it.

* Orochimon's PsychoticSmirk in episode 31.
* Everything that happened to Juri post-episode 34, after Leomon died, is pretty creepy. So much so that ''Juri in general'' might just become NightmareFuel for people upon re-watching the series now that they know everything about her.
** Her creepy HandPuppet might have already been this. It ''definitely'' is when Juri starts talking to it like it's a separate person.
** The scene in episode 40 where the puppet ''somehow becomes sentient and actually talks to Juri'', convincing her to walk off from the group. The next time Juri's seen, it's actually the D-Reaper's agent, which raises so many questions...
* The infamous scene in episode 47, pictured above, where the audience is treated to a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cc_Srg40mR0 Mind Rape sequence]] in which Juri is forced to relive her mother's death. Taken out of context, it could easily be mistaken for a scene in an adult horror anime. To make matters worse, in-universe, we are told that this goes on for at least an ''entire week''.

** An easily missed moment, but at first the D-Reaper simply talks about how humans don't respect boundaries. In the penultimate episode, one of its agents is on a rampage, screaming about "beautiful chaos". Given this is after D-Reaper's been absorbing Jeri's emotions for days, it's not hard to think the D-Reaper has actually managed to go ''insane''.

** The worst of this is while Beelzemon did kill Leomon and Caturamon did manipulate him to make the deal with Zhuqiaomon, Zhuqiaomon himself does not object to his subordinate and gleefully gives Impmon the power to evolve into Beelzemon. He probably didn't even enable Caturamon, but ''ordered'' him to smooth-talk Impmon into becoming a last line of defense for his sake. This means that Zhuqiaomon indirectly killed Leomon (and traumatized Jeri) by proxy, showing a jarring lack of care when some humans and Digimon became collateral damage to the Digital World's [[TheSocialDarwinist social darwinist]] ideology, viewing it as a natural cause rather than something horrifically traumatizing.

** The ''entire fight'' with Beelzemon is extremely anxiety inducing, if not outright terrifying, once he kills off Leomon and the audience is slapped in the face with the reality that '''he is legitimately aiming to kill everyone'''. Other major digimon battles are usually just action-packed beatdowns with flashy effects with no real worry that the heroes will come through unscathed in the end, but with Beelzemon on the battlefield, AnyoneCanDie. Beelzemon comes ''uncomfortably close'' to killing Taomon, Rapidmon, Gaurdromon, Kenta, and Gallantmon (who is made up of Takato and Guilmon), and two of the Deva's die as collateral. And just to top the experience off, Beelzemon becomes increasingly unhinged and cackles madly all the while, taunting the children for their terror and how he plans on picking off everyone one-by-one. There is absolutely no room to breathe until Gallantmon ''finally'' turns the tide and Jeri spares Beelzemon's life when he's down, snapping him out of his PowerHigh and at last putting the rampage to an end.

** The worst part is that when Impmon agrees to the deal with Chatsuramon, he is ''clearly'' fighting his conscience. The idea of killing his would-be friends bothers him greatly. And yet, he still decides to ignore it and jumps straight past the MoralEventHorizon.

** Its battle capabilities are nothing to scoff at, either. In its initial form, just the red liquid bubbles it spouts are capable of deleting ''any'' form of data that it touches. After it "evolves," it can create agents that become increasingly bigger, stronger and more menacing, including those that ''dwarf the Digimon Sovereigns themselves''. The only thing that the D-Reaper seems to be afraid of is [[ThePowerOfLove MarineAngemon's Ocean Love]] for [[PoweredByAForsakenChild obvious reasons]], but after a while, it doesn't even phase this thing. Oh, and by the halfway point, it becomes so resilient that it [[MadeOfIron takes the power of a Demon Lord and a Royal Knight]] to even put a dent in its ''brain.''

** Beelzemon's a humanoid digimon whose main weapons are ''guns''. The kids spend ''three episodes'' trying to fend off and survive an assault by an insane digimon whose design is, apart from his tail, third eye, and UncannyValley proportions, not very fantastical. The parallels one can draw to a school/mall shooter situation are pretty disturbing.

** The fake Juri. Holy ''shit'', the fake Juri. Even from the get-go, when "she" appears it's clear there's something very definitely wrong with her, in case the dull eyes, vacant stare, pale skin and un-smile weren't a major warning sign. Amazingly, it does ''not'' get better when she starts speaking. Or when it turns into an older version of Juri. It's so far into the UncannyValley it's set up a small house. At that point, revealing its true form almost comes as a ''relief''...until said true form gains enough power to almost kill ''a freshly mode-changed Gallantmon: Crimson Mode''.

* The [[EldritchAbomination D-Reaper]]. Imagine a monster that combines the most horrifying aspects of [[Franchise/CthulhuMythos Lovecraftian horror]], [[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion the Angels]], [[VideoGame/{{Homeworld}} The Beast]], and [[Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann the Anti-Spirals]]. Now remove any [[WellIntentionedExtremist Well Intentioned Extremism]] or BlueAndOrangeMorality and replace it with sheer malevolence ...and put it in [[WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids a kid's show]].

** As if that weren't enough, let's add to it the fact that it's literally powered by [[PoweredByAForsakenChild the grief and despair of a depressed little girl]], and uses her as its avatar. This abomination has the ''voice'' of ''a ten-year old girl'' that breaks down into a MadnessMantra often.

* Suzie getting spirited away to the Digital World isn't usually focused on because of her befriending and redeeming of Antylamon. However, the AdultFear that permeates the scene is ''palpable'' as during a conversation with Yamaki about Shibumi's programming being akin to playing God, Suzie wanders off to the nearby playground only to stumble into a digital anomaly [[NiceJobBreakingItHero caused by Shibumi helping Henry and Takato out]]. In that anomaly she sees Terriermon and being ''six'' tries to reach him, unintentionally causing the [=DigiGnomes=] to grant her wish and take her to the Digital World just a few moments too soon for her father and Yamaki to save her. After that she spends some time bumbling around the deepest and most dangerous layer of the Digital World, has a few close shaves and ends up meeting Antylamon, who she tries to befriend in a fit of childlike naivety and innocence not knowing she's standing in front of one of twelve beings who want nothing more than to ''wipe her species out.'' Thankfully Antylamon turns out to be noble and ''doesn't'' crush the six year old to paste, but given the last Antylamon viewers had likely seen was the BigBad of the 02 movie the fear was there for an uncomfortable amount of time.

-->'''Tally:''' (''seemingly on the verge of tears'') AAAGH! That ''sound!'' ''[[EveryoneHasStandards Make it stop!]]''

-->'''Tally:''' AAAGH! That ''sound!'' ''[[EveryoneHasStandards Make it stop!]]''

** Calumon's reaction to powering up the evolution--he's still being imprisoned by the Sovereigns and once the evolution starts up, he holds his head while squealing a panicked "Oh no!" and ''screams in pain'' as the light of digivolution shoots out of his head.

* Makuramon pulling an ExcorcistHead in his human disguise, followed by Calumon's desperate pleading for Jeri not to let him take him back to the Digital World is pretty terrifying.

** The fake Juri. Holy ''shit'', the fake Juri. Even from the get-go, when "she" appears it's clear there's something very definitely wrong with her, in case the dull eyes, vacant stare, pale skin and un-smile weren't a major warning sign. Amazingly, it does ''not'' get better when she starts speaking. Or when it turns into an older version of Juri. It's so far into the UncannyValley it's set up a small house. At that point, revealing its true form almost comes as a ''relief''.

* So, how about [[EvilIsDeathlyCold IceDevimon]], eh? A white-colored, psychotic [[OurDemonsAreDifferent devil]] who desperately wants Rika to be his tamer for the sake of power, to the point of coming off as a StalkerWithACrush, complete with the extremely uncomfortable invasion of her personal space and attempt at sweet-talking in her ear. That's not even counting his "trophy collection": a bunch of Digimon that bio-emerged into the real world and met their ends at this thing's hands, with him temporarily doing the same to Guilmon and Terriermon, and attempting to make quick work out of Renamon even when she Digivolves into Kyubimon. Even after Takato and Guilmon finally put him down and [[DeaderThanDead absorb his data]], the end result of his encounter puts the poor girl in a massive HeroicBSOD for a couple of episodes, causing her to distance herself from Digimon entirely.

** Beelzemon is arguably the most horrifying Digimon villain from a psychological standpoint, barring perhaps the D-Reaper who also hails from this season. Unlike most of the villains who are evil from the get-go and have over-the-top motives like taking over the world, Impmon was just a troublemaker who the audience was deliberately made to sympathize with or at least pity, and see that despite his bratty nature he had some good in him. The process of watching a character who seemingly had redeemable qualities make the decision to throw away all his morals and descend so far that he basically becomes a ''spree killer'', all for the sake of proving to the world that he isn't a weakling, is both incredibly uncomfortable and nightmare inducing. Especially given that similar misguided progressions unfortunately actually happen to real people.

** Beelzemon's a humanoid digimon whose main weapons are ''guns''. The kids spend ''three episodes'' trying to fend off and survive an assault by an insane digimon whose design is pretty grounded in reality apart from his tail, third eye, and UncannyValley proportions. The parallels one can draw to a school/mall shooter situation are pretty disturbing.

** An easily missed moment, but at first the D-Reaper simply talks about how humans don't respect boundaries. In the penultimate episode, one of its agents is on a rampage, screaming about "beautiful chaos". Given this is after D-Reaper's been absorbing Juri's emotions for days, it's not hard to think the D-Reaper has actually managed to go ''insane''.

* So, how about [[EvilIsDeathlyCold IceDevimon]], eh? A white-colored, psychotic [[OurDemonsAreDifferent devil]] who desperately wants to be Rika's tamer for the sake of power, to the point of coming off as a StalkerWithACrush. That's not even counting his "trophy collection": a bunch of Digimon that bio-emerged into the real world and met their ends at this thing's hands, with him temporarily doing the same to Guilmon and Terriermon, and attempting to make quick work out of Renamon even when she Digivolves into Kyubimon. Even after Takato and Guilmon finally put him down and [[DeaderThanDead absorb his data]], the end result of his encounter puts the poor girl in a massive HeroicBSOD for a couple of episodes, causing her to distance herself from Digimon entirely.

** That's not even considering the fact that the battle with Beelzemon had ''additional'' stressors on top of everything else. Guilmon spent half of it in the form of the world-ending monstrosity Megidramon as a result of Takato losing control of his anger, causing the dimensional plane to start imploding so strongly it could be felt in the ''real world''. And in all this, Sovereign decided this was the ''perfect'' time to try to kill Lopmon for betraying him, putting Suzie in the direct line of fire as a result. Basically the whole fight feels like everything that can go wrong seriously just might, up until the heroes triumph.

** That's not even considering the fact that the battle with Beelzemon had additional stressors from the fact Guilmon spent half of it in the form of the world-ending monstrosity Megidramon as a result of Takato losing control of his anger, and also that the Sovereign decided this was the perfect time to try to kill Lopmon for betraying him, putting Suzie in the direct line of fire as a result. Basically the whole fight feels like everything that can go wrong seriously just might, up until the heroes triumph.
** It doesn't help that Beelzemon's a humanoid digimon whose main weapons are ''guns''. The kids spend ''three episodes'' trying to fend off and survive an assault by an insane digimon whose design is pretty grounded in reality apart from his tail, third eye, and UncannyValley proportions. The parallels one can draw to a school/mall shooter situation are pretty disturbing.

-->'''Takato''': ''I'll make you hurt!'' '''I'LL MAKE YOU PAY!!!''\\

* As scary as Dark Digivolutions are, Megidramon definitely takes the cake. It certainly doesn't help that its name is derived from the words "Megiddo" and "Dragon". You know, like Har Megiddo. The mountain where ''the end of days is supposed to start.'' Oh yeah, and Megidramon's presence is actively ''causing'' the apocalypse in the Digital World due to his power rampaging out of control. It doesn't help that before it Takato is practically ''[[BewareTheNiceOnes screaming]]'' about how [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge he is going to make Beelzemon suffer for killing Leomon]].
-->'''Takato''': I'll make you hurt! '''''I'LL MAKE YOU PAY!!!''''\\
** Just the sheer sight of Takato, easily the sweetest of all the goggleheads, angrily screaming for Beelzemon's head is enough to make one uneasy. Creator/FoxKids even played up the unsettling nature of the event in the commercials when they got to this point, especially focusing on a shot of Takato's rage-filled glare as Growlmon digivolves; it looks like he just got possessed for a second.

** -->'''Takato''': I'll make you hurt! '''''I'LL MAKE YOU PAY!!!''''\\

-->'''Takato''': I'll make you hurt! '''I'LL MAKE YOU PAY!!!'''\\

* Chatsuramon approaching and manipulating Impmon into taking the deal to become Beelzemon is creepy and unsettling, especially with the way he uses Impmon's memories against him. His voice is calm, commanding, and rational in the way you know he's good at sweet-talking in all the wrong ways. Even knowing from the outset that he's up to no good doesn't temper the sheer foreboding feeling of 'this is not going to end well'.

** The ''entire fight'' with Beelzemon is extremely anxiety inducing, if not outright terrifying, once he kills off Leomon and the audience is slapped in the face with the reality that '''he is legitimately aiming to kill everyone'''. Other major digimon battles are usually just action-packed beatdowns with flashy effects with no real worry that the heroes will come through unscathed in the end, but with Beelzemon on the battlefield, AnyoneCanDie. Two Deva's die as collateral, and he comes ''uncomfortably close'' to killing Taomon, Rapidmon, Gaurdromon, Kenta, and Gallantmon (who is made up of Takato and Guilmon). And just to top the experience off, Beelzemon becomes increasingly unhinged and cackles madly all the while, taunting the children about their terror and how he plans on picking off everyone one-by-one. There is absolutely no room to breathe until Gallantmon ''finally'' turns the tide and Jeri spares Beelzemon's life when he's down, snapping him out of his PowerHigh and at last putting the rampage to an end.
** That's not even considering the fact that the battle with Beelzemon had additional stressors from the fact Guilmon spent half of it in the form of the world-ending monstrosity Megidramon as a result of Takato losing control of his anger, and also that the Sovereign decided this was the perfect time to try to kill Lopmon for betraying him, putting Suzie in the direct line of fire as a result.