I’m very proud to bring you a review of this release, as it’s something that many of us fans have been waiting on for a LONG time. That’s right, a legitimate DVD release of episodes of a Digimon series in the US.
To cover why this is such a big deal, here’s the whole saga in a nutshell. Back when the first Digimon series was brought over, by Saban way prior to the takeover by Disney, there were two or three official VHS releases put out. However, due to low sales figures, the first season (or Digimon Adventure) was never fully released here. As far as I know no VHS were put out for season 2 (or Digimon Adventure 02), and the only tape I know of for season 3 (Digimon Tamers), was more of a ‘Best Of’ release, rather than the episodes in order. No VHS were ever put out for season 4 (Digimon Frontier) either, though by this point it has long been in the hands of Disney.
So prior to this release, there was no way to have any Digimon for yourself, outside of having had taped it off of TV back when it was airing, or importing either the original Japanese boxsets (which on top of requiring a region-free DVD player, is very pricey at around $500 a set) or the UK boxsets (which are incredibly hard to find, I myself have never been able to find them for certain). And there were never any DVD releases, barring the compilation of both Adventure movies and the first Adventure 02 movie, released here as ‘Digimon: The Movie’.
As you can imagine, when rumors of this set first started circulating the internet about a year or so ago, it was quite the buzz among the fanbase. It didn’t help that the main citation for this release for quite a while was nothing more than a Wiki article. On top of Wiki not being the best source to trust as a default rule, it certainly wouldn’t have been the first time it mislead us on Digimon (seeing as how the rumor of the Digimon Adventure V-Tamer 01 and Digimon Next manga being picked up for a US release hasn’t come true yet, it can be assumed that Wiki article was indeed false).
But luckily for us, this time it came true! I’m not sure what hand Disney played in this as the rights holder, but Well Go USA was able to give us a Digimon set. While Data Squad (or Savers in the original Japanese version) is possibly my least favorite of the franchise, I still had to pick this up as soon as I could find it. Sadly it took a while, but I finally got myself a copy. My thoughts?
To cover why this is such a big deal, here’s the whole saga in a nutshell. Back when the first Digimon series was brought over, by Saban way prior to the takeover by Disney, there were two or three official VHS releases put out. However, due to low sales figures, the first season (or Digimon Adventure) was never fully released here. As far as I know no VHS were put out for season 2 (or Digimon Adventure 02), and the only tape I know of for season 3 (Digimon Tamers), was more of a ‘Best Of’ release, rather than the episodes in order. No VHS were ever put out for season 4 (Digimon Frontier) either, though by this point it has long been in the hands of Disney.
So prior to this release, there was no way to have any Digimon for yourself, outside of having had taped it off of TV back when it was airing, or importing either the original Japanese boxsets (which on top of requiring a region-free DVD player, is very pricey at around $500 a set) or the UK boxsets (which are incredibly hard to find, I myself have never been able to find them for certain). And there were never any DVD releases, barring the compilation of both Adventure movies and the first Adventure 02 movie, released here as ‘Digimon: The Movie’.
As you can imagine, when rumors of this set first started circulating the internet about a year or so ago, it was quite the buzz among the fanbase. It didn’t help that the main citation for this release for quite a while was nothing more than a Wiki article. On top of Wiki not being the best source to trust as a default rule, it certainly wouldn’t have been the first time it mislead us on Digimon (seeing as how the rumor of the Digimon Adventure V-Tamer 01 and Digimon Next manga being picked up for a US release hasn’t come true yet, it can be assumed that Wiki article was indeed false).
But luckily for us, this time it came true! I’m not sure what hand Disney played in this as the rights holder, but Well Go USA was able to give us a Digimon set. While Data Squad (or Savers in the original Japanese version) is possibly my least favorite of the franchise, I still had to pick this up as soon as I could find it. Sadly it took a while, but I finally got myself a copy. My thoughts?
Beyond the obvious thrill and awesomeness that come into this just for it being Digimon on DVD, I was pretty impressed by this release. It’s by no means a dream set, but it’s definitely a nice, solid release that was more than most of us expected. The case itself is what I think they call a digipak - Think more along the lines of the DBZ Season Sets put out by FUNi than the Naruto ones put out by Viz. In other words, instead of opening like a book, it unfolds to reveal the discs after you’ve removed the slip cover.
Pictures of the set from basically every angle I could come up with, in addition to a nice gallery of screenshots, will be shown in a follow-up post here. For now however, before I get into how the viewing itself was, I’d like to cover some of the bonus features for this release. All one of them - a nice little booklet with character descriptions, episode summaries, and some nice little artwork.
But first, to give you an idea of the story of this series without getting too spoilerific, if you didn’t catch this one on TV, here’s the description off the back of the slip cover.
“This first ever Digimon Data Squad Collection One set contains 13 full episodes from the newest Digimon series. Follow the adventures of Marcus, a cool junior high school student, and his favorite Digimon Agumon as they investigate their way through the Digital World battling Digital Monsters in exciting and different situations. Marcus' best friends Thomas and Yoshi with their Digimon partners Gaomon and Lalamon join in the adventures and help challenge and battle strong opponents along the way. Experience the newest Digimon series like never before.”
The inclusion of this booklet, mixed with it’s contents and the overall design of this set, makes me really think that someone on the design team from Well Go USA is a fan of the DBZ season sets. It just oozes the same feel as those, it’s hard to miss, unless it’s just me for some reason. The booklet has a few pages of nice art from the show, and some that was for promoting the show I think, all for you to oggle. The main event of course is the character bios and episode summaries. I don’t want to give you all of them, so as to not ruin the fun when you get the set yourself, but here’s a sample of the character bios, one for a human and one for their Digimon partner.
“MARCUS DAMON”
“Marcus can't contain his urge to duel when he comes across a worthy opponent. One day, after defeating the Digimon called Agumon, he takes in the mysterious creature as his apprentice. In the midst of a battle with the menacing Kokatorimon, Marcus is able to digivolve Agumon to the bigger and stronger GeoGreymon. The newly formed pair brings down the rouge Digimon and is inducted into DATS for their efforts.”
“AGUMON”
“Agumon is a dinosaur-type Digimon. He is Marcus's partner. During his escape from DATS, he finds a role model in Marcus when he loses a fight to the seasoned brawler. Agumon decides to partner up with Marcus as his apprentice. He has a special move called 'Pepper Breath' where he breathes fire from his mouth. Receiving Marcus's DNA, he is able to digivolve to GeoGreymon.”
For further exampling, here’s the episode summary for the first episode. Be warned, these episode summaries are among the most spoilerific I’ve ever seen, if you haven’t seen them. Read this part at your own risk.
“1. THERE ARE MONSTERS AMONG US!”
“Secret Agent Yoshi gets a call to chase down a rogue raptor Digimon, named Agumon, but she finds him in a fight with Marcus Damon, a boy training to become an Ultimate Fighter. After the two fight to a draw, the combatants bond and become friends. They work together to battle another Digimon invader, Kokatorimon, who is attacking the city. During this time, Marcus discovers he can awaken something in his fist known as the DNA. With his DNA and a digivice, he helps Agumon digivolve into a bigger, stronger form. Agumon becomes GeoGreymon and ultimately defeats Kokatorimon.”
Now onto the show on the DVDs itself. This set contains the first 13 episodes, spread across 3 discs, so there’s no worry on footage quality here. This only features the English dub version which should be well assumed as it is, as there’s no dub for the uncut version. There’s still two audio options to choose from, just both in English - Stereo or 5.1 Surround Sound. I recommend playing with those settings while watching an actual episode to see which one sounds best on whatever you’re watching it with.
The first disc contains the first 4 episodes, the second another 4, and the third the final 5 for this release, as seen below.
EPISODE GUIDE
DISC ONE
1. There Are Monsters Among Us!
2. Marcus' Inner Strength!
3. The Return of Thomas!
4. The New Team of Marcus & Thomas!
DISC TWO
5. Digital World, Here We Come!
6. The Ultimate Team No More?
7. A Birthday Kristy Will Never Forget!
8. The Singer's Secret
DISC THREE
9. Never Meet Your Heroes
10. Curse This Curse: Marcus's Bad Day
11. The Vile of Vilemon!
12. The Digi-Egg That Fell to Earth
13. The Rise of RizeGreymon!
The footage was taken directly from what was used to air on Jetix, as you can tell where there’s about 2 to 3 commercial fadeouts per episode. The Jetix logo and it’s animation aren’t present here though obviously, and the actual end credits are seen rather than an ad for another Jetix show, so this is easily your best option for seeing this show from the beginning.
However, that’s where things get a bit grim. This is the first and only anime title distributed by Well Go USA, and in spite of the obvious great effort put into this set, that makes me think they must be watching the sales figures like a hawk. Whether or not we get the rest of this show on DVD is directly related to how many sets sell, more than likely. So be sure to get a copy guys, as soon as you can. You can get it for around $20 from RightStuf, Wal-Mart, DeepDiscount, and presumably Well Go USA’s site itself.
With that, I draw this review to a close. I know, I know - I only covered the set rather than the show really. But there’s so much to say about this set that there was simply no room for that here. Expect a second review on this set, only focused more on the story, very soon. In closing, this is an exciting time for us as Digimon fans. So let’s all support this release and hope we get similar sets for the previous four seasons in the near future.