And here’s that second review for Digimon Data Squad: Collection One, just as promised. This time I’ll be a little more brief at least - there’s not near as much I can say on just these episodes, without spoiling, which is why most of my reviews have been on full series rather than parts like this.
For starters, as this is a dub-only release, I’ll pretty much stick to talking about the dub, with only a few comparisons to what was changed from the original version, what I remember anyway.
Digimon Data Squad is the dub of the fifth installment in the Digimon franchise, known as Digimon Savers in it’s original Japanese form. It covers the adventures of DATS once they’re joined by a young man named Marcus Damon. Marcus had been just a street fighter, aiming to be the world’s best ‘Ultimate Fighter’. One day, after clearing out a group of punks in his area, he ends up fighting a rouge Digimon named Agumon. An agent from DATS named Yoshi tries to stop them, so they end up having to flee the scene. Having lost their fight however, Agumon decides to become an ‘employee’ to Marcus, calling him ‘Boss’ and expecting him to provide him food and shelter. When another Digimon attacks a burger joint in town, Agumon gets the blame as he was the only signal active at the time. Yoshi attempts again to take in Agumon, but when it’s revealed it was another Digimon entirely, Marcus and Agumon set out to fight it together. From punching the Digimon himself, Marcus unlocks the power hidden deep within, his DNA Charge! With it, and a Digivice tossed to him by a mysterious old man, Agumon is able to digivolve into GeoGreymon and defeat the other digimon. Yoshi takes the two back to DATS, to get them to join up and help the fight against rogue Digimon.
The story is pretty simple to follow from there - Marcus joins the squad and takes on rogue Digimon at every turn, along with Yoshi and her partner Lalamon, and a genius named Thomas H. Norstein and his parter Gaomon. Just like the other Digimon shows, this one starts off with a series of stories that are pretty well stand-alone. The cases the squad deals with range from a pair of burglars using a Drimogemon for their heists, to a singer with a Keramon that changes charts to make him appear as the top selling artist.
Also, just like in previous shows, each character of the main team (Marcus, Thomas, and Yoshi) all get episodes that focus more on them than the other two. Really, as you watch it, you’ll notice that lots of this show seems very similar in tone to the previous installments. When the show was in production in Japan, the decision to aim at the same (only now older) fanbase as before was made. That’s one reason that we have yet another leader with an Agumon partner, in reference to the original show.
There’s two main differences that you’ll notice between Data Squad and the previous shows. First off is the fact that even while he’s the leader, Marcus is anything but a Goggle Boy. Even beyond the obvious fact that he doesn’t wear goggles, his personality is quite different from the normal lead in these shows. Rather than being, for the most part, happy and out-going, Marcus is incredibly disagreeable and rather violent, turning to his fists more often than his head.
Though, he does still share a few common traits to a Digimon lead, in that he never gives up, and is determined to protect his friends and family from harm.
The other big difference you’ll notice is the art style. While the previous shows all had a style that was very much it’s own, Data Squad looks pretty much like your standard Shonen anime. This isn’t a bad thing really, but it can be a bit jarring if you’re expecting something that looks just like the previous shows.
Also just like the previous shows, this one has had a fair amount of edit’s done to make it ‘acceptable for kids in the US’. There’s nothing too drastic done though, except for one instance in a later episode on the set. Long-story short, so as not to spoil, a certain bomb-based Digimon is turned into an orange, and rather than threatening to blow things up, he threatens to flood the place with juice…yeah…barring that, the show is pretty much just how it should be.
Oh, and also, there’s some name changes for the main characters, but like usual, it’s nothing too major. Here’s some examples, using the main three human characters.
Original Japanese Name --- English Dub Name
Damon Masaru --- Marcus Damon
Fujieda Yoshino --- Yoshi Fujieda
Tohma H. Norstein --- Tohmas H. Norstein
As you can see, it’s per-the-norm for name changes in Digimon. While this is a sin to lots of fans, it doesn’t really bother me, so long as it’s something as simple as Taichi to Tai, or Masaru to Marcus.
You’ll hear tons of voices that you recognize too. Jeff Nimoy, the director from the original two seasons of Digimon, has returned, and he’s re-united much of the cast from all four previous shows, to keep the feel the same. Colleen O’Shaughnessy, Crispin Freeman, Brianne Siddall, Steve Blum, Melissa Fahn, Derek Stephen Prince, and many many more - They’re all here in roles as both humans and Digimon, along with new to the franchise but long-time friend of Nimoy, Quinton Flynn. Sadly, Joshua Seth is nowhere to be found in the episodes on this set or later on either, as he seems to have retired from voice-over.
All in all, this set is a solid start into the show, letting you know whether or not you’re ready to join back into the Digimon fold completely, or if you’re just going to live with your fond memories. Again, it’s available at a number of places online, so grab it if you get a chance guys. You more than likely won’t be sorry - just don’t go in expecting an experience quite as good as the previous installments.
I give Digimon Data Squad: Collection One a 7 out of 10. DNA Charge!