Japanese Influence on American Children’s Television by Gina O’Melia

Author:Gina O’Melia
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9783030174163
Publisher: Springer International Publishing

Digimon13

Just as MMPR’s success brought about the creation of more hybrid programs composed of sentai and tokusatsu footage spliced together with new American scenes, more “servant-monster” genre programs were imported into the United States to resemble Pokémon. One of these was Digimon aired by FOX to act as competition to Pokémon on WB. Pokémon and Digimon were not the only “servant-monster” programs to air on Saturday Morning as Monster Rancher was also aired by FOX to be competition to Pokémon. What makes the “servant-monster” genre different than the hybrid sentai programs that appeared after MMPR was that while Pokémon was created before Digimon and Monster Rancher, its popularity did not directly cause these other programs to be created as was the case with Big Bad Beetleborgs and Masked Rider. Programs in the servant-monster genre were generally originally based on video games of differing play styles that involved monsters being used in combat. It is the adaptation of the various source material that created a genre of shows that had this concept of servant-monsters, acting as the key unifying feature connecting Pokémon and Digimon visually and narratively. Both programs have a central conceit that human characters can gain the services of intelligent animal-like monsters and then use them in battle. Both programs also have the concept that these monsters can evolve into larger, more powerful forms to be more capable combatants. In Pokémon, this transformation—called “evolving”—is permanent, but in Digimon , to “Digi-volve” was a temporary transformation, more akin to the Power Ranger’s “morphing.”

Further, despite being the same genre of program, Digimon differs with Pokémon greatly in plot and in how the characters interact with each other. The main narrative of Digimon revolves around Tai and his friends, also known as the “DigiDestined,” opposing and subduing the forces of evil in the Digital World as had been accomplished by a previous set of destined children in a prior age. The DigiDestined are pulled into the Digital World that exists parallel to Earth and through a spiritual link their servant-monsters are drawn to them when they arrive. Through the power of friendship and interdependency, these children and their hero-Digimon are able to oppose both an evil Digimon named Devimon, who is overtly based on the appearance of the Devil, and then the true source of sadness and pain in the Digital World, Apocalymon. Immediately, one can see that Digimon is a radically different program narratively than Pokémon, even though visually it looks incredibly similar due to the use of these servant-monsters.

Unlike Pokémon, Digimon has a very strict continuity. Episodes are interconnected and cannot be shuffled without causing absolute narrative incoherence. While Pokémon offers many slice of life episodes showing individual moments of the longer journey, Digimon’s narrative presents a story that continues to unfurl with each episode. Digimon is also much less light-hearted than Pokémon. Much more like MMPR, it has a veneer of bright colors and fun monsters, but just below the surface is the weight of responsibility and danger. The

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.