Pokemon or Digimon?

[deoxys]

Final showdown here.

Well shit, this was supposed to be a poll with the third option of Monster Rancher.

Oh well.

[Lady Kuno]

Want me to add a Poll option?

Season 1 and 2 of Digimon pretty much trump the Pokemon anime. Aside from that, Pokemon wins in every other conceivable regard.

[phoopes]

inb4 Pokemon wins by a long shot

By the way, voting Pokemon.

[Shuckle]

Digimon has gotten pretty unique. I...I don't think it's a cheap Pokemon ripoff anymore like it used to be.

The diversity is really nice and it has interesting mechanics. Pokemon is still better but Digimon is just different enough that I can enjoy it without thinking it's just an inferior version of Pokemon.

[Talon87]

Pokemon > Digimon > Monster Rancher

In before Doppel voices the dead opposite opinion. ^^;

[Amras.MG]

Pokemon.

You know what the fourth option should be?

Robopon

[Tyranidos]

DIGIMON

DIGITAL MONSTERS

DIGIMON ARE THE CHAMPIONS

[Tuner89]

Seeing as this is a pokemon forum, I'd imagine there would be quite a bit of bias. Personally, I liked Digimon more than pokemon back in the day, but digimon's obviously died off for the most part, so Pokemon's got my vote

[Haymez]

Originally Posted by Tyranidos

DIGIMON

DIGITAL MONSTERS

DIGIMON ARE THE CHAMPIONS

I've got to admit, digimon had the best theme song ever. Also I enjoyed digimon anime much more than Pokemon. However, in overall awesomeness Pokemon takes the cake.

[Talon87]

Originally Posted by Haymez

I've got to admit, digimon had the best theme song ever.

What.

WHAT.

WHAT.

I realize there are differences of opinion and in exposure, but the first one alone should suffice to prove this point. (And in case you can't tell, those are each hyperlinks. )

[phoopes]

Personally, I prefer the English version, but I 100% agree with Talon. Also, FREAKIN' ORANGE ISLANDS THEME SONG, MAN.

WE ALL LIVE IN A POKEMON WORLD
I WANT TO BE THE GREATEST MASTER OF THEM ALL

[Haymez]

I will admit that the Pokemon themes are great. I don't know, maybe it's a nostalgia thing, but I love the digimon theme.

[PikaGod]

I like both digimon and pokemon equally as much. I do prefer the digimon anime as opposed to the the pokemon anime, with the exception of the Kanto series. I think that the digimon anime, excusing the second half of Frontier and 02, tends to be better for the sheer fact that they use new characters, excusing 02 once again, and there is a definite beginning and end. And I believe that the Frontier theme song is one of the best theme songs ever, with the exception of the original Pokemon theme song.

Gameswise, pokemon is definitely superior, though the digimon games aren't exactly the worst games out, well with the exception of Digimon World Digimon Data Squad.

[Talon87]

Originally Posted by Haymez

I will admit that the Pokemon themes are great. I don't know, maybe it's a nostalgia thing, but I love the digimon theme.

I'll admit it's catchy, but then again, so is the themesong to Robocop Alpha Commando. In fact, I'd say the two songs have a lot in common, wouldn't you?

[unownmew]

Cha-nge
in-to Digital Champions
TO
Save The
Digital
WORLD!~

Digimon 1 was good, 2 was ok, and 3 I never got enough exposure to judge.

I like both equally, Pokemon and Digimon. Pokemon 1 and 2 obviously the best out of them all. Maybe Pokemon wins out overall since they have a lot more merchandise I enjoy (the games)

Theme song wise,
Pokemon 1 and 2 openings were great, but Digimon brings up some nice nostalgia too.
In my wiser years, I prefer the Japanese Pokemon themes, but the english ones will always stir up sweet, unshakeable nostalgia.

[deoxys]

Let me just say... the first 3 Digimon series' (Zero, Zero-Two, and Tamers) will forever be better than anything Pokemon has ever done and can ever do with the anime. Everything afterwards can be safely ignored... I didn't really care for Frontier.

And the themes were the best thing ever. I also enjoyed how dark Digimon was for the age group it was aimed at. I mean, Malomyotismon was the fucking Anti-Christ. Literally! You can't beat that.

As for Tamers, I loved the zodiac saga. Very cool.

[unownmew]

I disagree Digimon was better then pokemon, but;

And the themes were the best thing ever. I also enjoyed how dark Digimon was for the age group it was aimed at. I mean, Malomyotismon was the fucking Anti-Christ. Literally! You can't beat that.

I totally agree with you here.

[Slash]

I agree with deo, for the most part. Digimon anime was superior to Pokemon anime, until about a decent way into the Tamers series, anyway. Pokemon games, including the TCG, tend to be better, however.

[Talon87]

Can we get an actual poll going? Make it so, Kuno. [/picard]

[Firewater]

Not going to lie, agree that seasons 1 and 2 of Digimon were good. At the same time, Pokemon, while it's gotten a bit shitty, is still the far superior anime, or at least it didn't get destroyed to hell like Digimon, and Yugioh (to some extent had the same issue as Digimon) where later seasons added additional, shitty crap.

but Pokemon's best, ect.

[deoxys]

Originally Posted by Firewater

Not going to lie, agree that seasons 1 and 2 of Digimon were good. At the same time, Pokemon, while it's gotten a bit shitty, is still the far superior anime, or at least it didn't get destroyed to hell like Digimon, and Yugioh (to some extent had the same issue as Digimon) where later seasons added additional, shitty crap.

but Pokemon's best, ect.

I'm going to have to disagree. Pokemon still uses the same formula it's used since episode one.

Protagonist meets fellow trainer/civilian/etc and a new Pokemon, protagonist battles new pokemon, Team Rocket comes, blasts off again. Sometimes, there's a new badge.

It's stale and terrible. Digimon, however, has not been afraid to know their limits for a story and knows when it's over. Then they take a break and start a new series. I would compare YGO to this, but Yu-Gi-Oh sticks with the core dueling and such, and in the same universe (though I hear ZeXal is in a new universe, but I don't know), sometimes on motorcycles. As for Digimon, the only consistent thing is that there is a digital world and digimon. The universes and stories change each time.

[Doppleganger]

Monster Rancher is godly. It was universes above its contemporaries in children's adventure stories, and perhaps most of all was consistent. The first season of Pokemon was better strictly on an episode-by-episode count, but taken as a whole Monster Rancher fits in as one of the best shounen monster anime of all time. This isn't an exaggeration as adventure anime like that hasn't been in vogue for years, so the list is pretty short, but for its time it was peerless.

Digimon's great advantage over Pokemon was that it wasn't bound to any formulas or conventions, except maybe a "goggle-kid" main lead with a lizard Digimon partner. Digimon could die, and the characters could have more complicated backgrounds than was appropriate for the Pokemon audience. Toei didn't take full advantage of this, since every season could be reduced to saving the Digital World from some threat. That's hardly a franchise-defining characteristic, but their reluctance to experiment with the formulas has limited the show's reach. In contrast, the first season for Pokemon had all the originality but set the formulas the other seasons imitated. Can't not have Ash. Can't not have Pikachu. Must have a girl in the cast, Ash needs to get all the starters, etc.

Adventure wasn't the most substantive show, but it had loads of interesting tactical battles and cool moments and appealed to the era it aired in. It captured the imagination of kids growing up at the dawn of the internet where we had a sense a new world was opening up to us. Not only that, it was a coming of age story where the kids had to grow up fast to survive and fulfill their roles in the world.

Subsequent Digimon seasons save Tamers (I haven't seen Frontier) had less story, or worse story, than the bare-bones Adventure. Real wasted potential.

I wouldn't give the opposite ranking of Talon, but Monster Rancher >> Pokemon > Digimon.

[big bad birtha]

If we're comparing first seasons and stuff, I would say Pokemon has the edge over Digimon's first two seasons. However, this is my memory from like, 10 years ago speaking.

I don't think anything in the Pokemon anime could match up to Digimon Tamers though.

Everything else is a giant oozing ball of meh. I quit watching Pokemon because it was repetitive, and I quit watching Digimon because it became retarded, and I got tired of looking at dinosaurs in tacky armor. In the later seasons, I think Digimon has an edge, simply because the new seasons actually bring something a little different.

If the Raikou movie is any indication, I think Pokemon would be fantastic if it followed Digimon's example laid way for a new team. Obviously not gonna happen.

Err...I guess what I'm trying to say is that Digimon has an edge over Pokemon. I should rewatch both sometime and see what my current self says though.

[Doppleganger]

Originally Posted by deoxys

It's stale and terrible. Digimon, however, has not been afraid to know their limits for a story and knows when it's over. Then they take a break and start a new series. I would compare YGO to this, but Yu-Gi-Oh sticks with the core dueling and such, and in the same universe (though I hear ZeXal is in a new universe, but I don't know), sometimes on motorcycles. As for Digimon, the only consistent thing is that there is a digital world and digimon. The universes and stories change each time.

Actually, I'm surprised you didn't bring YGO into this discussion in your OP. If one strips away the card game gimmick, each YGO series is refreshingly different, and in the original Duel Monsters series different seasons were markedly different.

Like, there were at least two incidents where Yugi & Co. went to a virtual world consisting of Duel Monsters, an apt comparison for Digimon. In GX, from what I've read, the high-school hijinks came to an end when the Duel Academy was taken to parallel universes, most notoriously the Dark World. And 5D's was basically Akira for its first two seasons before spinning off into entirely new territory.

I'd still place it below Monster Ranchers and the first season of Pokemon, but YGO as a franchise is better than 99% of Pokemon and the whole of Digimon.

[Char]

Pokemon season 1...then Digimon 1-3...then I dunno. Digimon is probably superior but for some strange reason Pokemon has a bigger place in my heart overall.

Although THIS made me go OMGGGG