Digimon

Digimon

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Digimon ( デジモン , Dejimon ^? ) , short for "Digital Monsters" ( デジタルモンスター , Dejitaru Monsutā ^? ) , is a media franchise encompassing anime, manga, toys, video games, trading card games and other media. The franchise's eponymous creatures are monsters of various forms living in a "Digital World", a parallel universe that originated from Earth's various communication networks.

History

Conception and creation

Akiyoshi Hongo was the creator of the Digimon concept, although he remains a mysterious figure and his role is more or less unknown. The series was brought to the United States because "kids liked cartoons with cool monsters wailing on each other, and they seemed to like the big-eyes thing, too."

Rivalry with Pokémon

Digimon ' s history has been marked at times by rivalry with the Pokémon media franchise that debuted at a similar time. Described as "the other 'mon'" by IGN's Juan Castro, Digimon has not enjoyed Pokémon ' s level of international popularity or success, but has maintained a dedicated fanbase. IGN's Lucas M. Thomas stated that Pokémon is Digimon ' s "constant competition and comparison", attributing the former's relative success to the simplicity of its evolution mechanic as opposed to Digivolution. The two have been noted for conceptual and stylistic similarities by sources such as GameZone. A debate among fans exists over which of the two franchises came first. In actuality, the first Pokémon media, Pokémon Red and Green , were released initially on February 27, 1996 in Japan; whereas the Digimon virtual pet was released on June 26, 1997.

Eponymous creatures

Main article: Digimon (creature)

Digimon hatch from eggs called Digi-Eggs or Digitama. In the English iterations of the franchise there is another type of Digi-Egg that can be used to digivolve, or transform, Digimon. This second type of Digi-Egg is called a "Digim