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Digimon: Digital Monsters #1
Digimon, Vol. 1
Seven kids enjoying summer camp are suddenly transported to another world--a world of amazing digital creatures who call themselves "Digimon." With the help of the Digimon the kids battle evil forces to save the digital world and to make their way home.
192 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2003
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
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April 25, 2008omg
December 18, 2018
The interesting thing about manga is that, especially writing reviews is that there are so many volumes and it can be difficult to do a review on each one. So naturally, most people give a review of the whole series on the first volume and then just rate the rest of the books from the manga series. So I'm going to do something a little different now that I'm more active on Goodreads since I'm getting more settled into my new home with my new job and all.
What I'm gonna do is do a general review on the first volume of the manga series. Give my thoughts on the series as a whole and then for the rest of the volumes I'll go into a little bit more detail on those mangas. Whether it be events that happened in that specific manga volume or if the volume focuses on a character more than others. And I will do that for every single manga series that I read.
So let's begin with my childhood introduction to anime . . . Digimon.
I know that a lot of people think that this series is just a ripoff of the famous Pokémon and I guess I can kind of see why but I wouldn't know since I never got into Pokémon. So I'm not going to even bother doing any comparison or getting involved in a debate on which one is better.
This series is fun. It's an enjoyable adventure with kids that have interesting digimon companions that are also interesting as well, for the most part. While I can't say that the Digimon series is bad I just don't think it's as phenomenal as the fans make it out to be.
For one thing, not all the characters are that interesting. Most of them can be summoned up in one or two words. While most of them are not bad, it's just that some are more interesting than others.
Another thing is the plot or the execution of the said plot. The story is actually very simple. It's just about these kids that enter this digital world and meet these little monsters that end up being their partners and the kids try to stop the evils of the digital world from not only taking over the digital world but also taking over the human world as well. While the idea is good, it's just that the story has to go through a couple of detours in order to get there.
One example is the arc involving the search for the crests but that's a review for another volume.
Overall, this series is not too bad. I would suggest watching the anime instead even though it's mostly the same. But this manga series cuts out so much and also cuts off any narration that is describing the story. Like the main character will add a couple of thoughts of what's going on but then all of a sudden it will cut off and you couldn't finish that character's thoughts. I think that's more of a translation issue from the original Japanese version.
So yeah, I liked this as a kid but now, some parts still hold up. But as of right now, I probably wouldn't look that this again.
What I'm gonna do is do a general review on the first volume of the manga series. Give my thoughts on the series as a whole and then for the rest of the volumes I'll go into a little bit more detail on those mangas. Whether it be events that happened in that specific manga volume or if the volume focuses on a character more than others. And I will do that for every single manga series that I read.
So let's begin with my childhood introduction to anime . . . Digimon.
I know that a lot of people think that this series is just a ripoff of the famous Pokémon and I guess I can kind of see why but I wouldn't know since I never got into Pokémon. So I'm not going to even bother doing any comparison or getting involved in a debate on which one is better.
This series is fun. It's an enjoyable adventure with kids that have interesting digimon companions that are also interesting as well, for the most part. While I can't say that the Digimon series is bad I just don't think it's as phenomenal as the fans make it out to be.
For one thing, not all the characters are that interesting. Most of them can be summoned up in one or two words. While most of them are not bad, it's just that some are more interesting than others.
Another thing is the plot or the execution of the said plot. The story is actually very simple. It's just about these kids that enter this digital world and meet these little monsters that end up being their partners and the kids try to stop the evils of the digital world from not only taking over the digital world but also taking over the human world as well. While the idea is good, it's just that the story has to go through a couple of detours in order to get there.
One example is the arc involving the search for the crests but that's a review for another volume.
Overall, this series is not too bad. I would suggest watching the anime instead even though it's mostly the same. But this manga series cuts out so much and also cuts off any narration that is describing the story. Like the main character will add a couple of thoughts of what's going on but then all of a sudden it will cut off and you couldn't finish that character's thoughts. I think that's more of a translation issue from the original Japanese version.
So yeah, I liked this as a kid but now, some parts still hold up. But as of right now, I probably wouldn't look that this again.
August 12, 2016
I read all 5 of the volumes in this series. If I am getting this right, these were published after the TV show and I guess that they were trying to abridge it because they squished 52 episodes into 5 volumes and man did stuff get missed. There were a lot of things that would not have made sense unless you had watched the TV show. It's too bad this was so short because I liked the manga interpretations of all the characters (which were a little better than the TV series and things that happened made more sense- in respect to the characters, not the chopped up storylines!) Anyway, I would recommend this if you are short on time and needed to know the storyline quick- otherwise, watch the TV series which I find highly entertaining still!
June 5, 2025
a pretty good book I like it other people should read it
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January 1, 2018I ACCIDENTALLY CLICKED THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! help...
September 14, 2012
@_@
It's a good thing I'm familiar with Digimon. If I hadn't been, this thing would've lost me. It was all over the place. So confusing.
It's a good thing I'm familiar with Digimon. If I hadn't been, this thing would've lost me. It was all over the place. So confusing.
August 31, 2016
I fell in love with the cartoon. I love the manga for it. A must read for manga lovers everywhere.
July 29, 2019
There are many anime that marked my childhood, and there are many among those that were particularly formative, but there are few that I'm willing to wax poetic about as much as Digimon Adventure. The series and the franchise as a whole is so underrated, and revisiting it as an adult, even with the flaws more glaringly apparent, I've fallen in love all over again with the depth, scope, intelligence and whimsy of this story. It's heartbreaking and unfortunate that the manhua adaptation was picked up by Tokyopop and has long since been out of print, because tracking down copies of all the volumes that were printed in English is difficult enough; trying to find them in decent condition is a true challenge. However, I finally accomplished this feat, which is why I'm going to go through all the volumes (Adventure through Tamers) and bring you some reviews.
The first thing I'm afraid I'm going to have to do however, is point out the worst flaw of this manga series: its inability to stand as an independent gateway.
Usually when an anime is adapted from a manga and vice-versa, the general idea is that either media format should serve as an independent gateway for new fans to get immersed in the source material. Naturally I know from experience this isn't entirely the case: the No Need For Tenchi! manga produced by Viz is a continuation off the OVA series "Tenchi Muyo!", and the first volume of Little Witch Academia is meant to serve as something of a companion to the anime, based on my reading experience.
But those are unusual examples of manga spiraling off of anime; typically the notion is that either format should give you the same story with roughly the same details (usually with one or the other exploring smaller things in more detail than the counterpart.) Sometimes however, we run into an issue such as what we have with the Digimon Adventure manhua, where we are given the same story, but the manhua assumes a certain level of reader familiarity with the franchise already being present. Not in the sense of "it tells us nothing"; it gives us the important details. But the show is able to really draw out the episodes to beef up the story, whereas the manhua moves so fast that it's prompted me to realize how much I took the crucial development in the show for granted. Additionally, the humor in the manhua is a direct reflection of what is in the anime, but "from 0 to 60 in a matter of seconds." The anime introduces you to its style of humor and its jokes [at least in the English dub] gradually throughout the first several episodes, and was very much a reflection of mid-90s "kids cartoon" jokes and dialect. The manhua just opens with this, which can be confusing for those unfamiliar with either the anime or the style of humor.
Honestly it's a shame, because I would have gladly read this series if it had really taken the time to be fleshed out further. Unless I miss my guess though, the manhua was adapted from the anime well after the series had already finished completely, so it's unsurprising how imperfect the adaptation is when one examines the facts.
That being said, it's fun to go back as a fan and read the manga adaptation while going through the anime episodes again, because the manhua really does a good job of condensing the story into "digest chapters", so to speak, and has little things here and there that really help to enrich things we might already know about the characters. True, I feel like we see more of each of the individual Digimon's personalities in the show and that's stilted here, but there are other nuggets of information and fun points of character interaction that are only here in the manhua. Such examples include Taichi "Tai" Yagami mentioning that blues music "depresses" him and makes him want a hug, or the fact that Koshiro "Izzy" Izumi actually expresses his emotions more often early on in the story.
Overall, I enjoyed the condensed story the manhua has given us so far in volume one, and I really love and adore the way the art is drawn. It's so sweet and lively, and I am shocked that so many of my peers back in school hated the art style, because it shows a lot of love and care on Yuen Wong Yu's part. There's a lot of passion for the project, and as someone who still adores this series and found it to be so instrumental and influential to my childhood, that means a lot to me.
Would I recommend this as the starting point for new people possibly hoping to get into the original starting point of the franchise however? No. Absolutely not. I am all for people going and watching the original Digimon Adventure and getting an experience similar to my own, even if they are adults, but you do need to absolutely start with the anime, trust me on that one. Besides, it's probably easier to find someplace online to watch the episodes (geez, it's almost like they might have an entire website just dedicated to helping people watch all things Digimon or something out there) than taking the time to hunt down all of the elusive volumes of the manhua.
The first thing I'm afraid I'm going to have to do however, is point out the worst flaw of this manga series: its inability to stand as an independent gateway.
Usually when an anime is adapted from a manga and vice-versa, the general idea is that either media format should serve as an independent gateway for new fans to get immersed in the source material. Naturally I know from experience this isn't entirely the case: the No Need For Tenchi! manga produced by Viz is a continuation off the OVA series "Tenchi Muyo!", and the first volume of Little Witch Academia is meant to serve as something of a companion to the anime, based on my reading experience.
But those are unusual examples of manga spiraling off of anime; typically the notion is that either format should give you the same story with roughly the same details (usually with one or the other exploring smaller things in more detail than the counterpart.) Sometimes however, we run into an issue such as what we have with the Digimon Adventure manhua, where we are given the same story, but the manhua assumes a certain level of reader familiarity with the franchise already being present. Not in the sense of "it tells us nothing"; it gives us the important details. But the show is able to really draw out the episodes to beef up the story, whereas the manhua moves so fast that it's prompted me to realize how much I took the crucial development in the show for granted. Additionally, the humor in the manhua is a direct reflection of what is in the anime, but "from 0 to 60 in a matter of seconds." The anime introduces you to its style of humor and its jokes [at least in the English dub] gradually throughout the first several episodes, and was very much a reflection of mid-90s "kids cartoon" jokes and dialect. The manhua just opens with this, which can be confusing for those unfamiliar with either the anime or the style of humor.
Honestly it's a shame, because I would have gladly read this series if it had really taken the time to be fleshed out further. Unless I miss my guess though, the manhua was adapted from the anime well after the series had already finished completely, so it's unsurprising how imperfect the adaptation is when one examines the facts.
That being said, it's fun to go back as a fan and read the manga adaptation while going through the anime episodes again, because the manhua really does a good job of condensing the story into "digest chapters", so to speak, and has little things here and there that really help to enrich things we might already know about the characters. True, I feel like we see more of each of the individual Digimon's personalities in the show and that's stilted here, but there are other nuggets of information and fun points of character interaction that are only here in the manhua. Such examples include Taichi "Tai" Yagami mentioning that blues music "depresses" him and makes him want a hug, or the fact that Koshiro "Izzy" Izumi actually expresses his emotions more often early on in the story.
Overall, I enjoyed the condensed story the manhua has given us so far in volume one, and I really love and adore the way the art is drawn. It's so sweet and lively, and I am shocked that so many of my peers back in school hated the art style, because it shows a lot of love and care on Yuen Wong Yu's part. There's a lot of passion for the project, and as someone who still adores this series and found it to be so instrumental and influential to my childhood, that means a lot to me.
Would I recommend this as the starting point for new people possibly hoping to get into the original starting point of the franchise however? No. Absolutely not. I am all for people going and watching the original Digimon Adventure and getting an experience similar to my own, even if they are adults, but you do need to absolutely start with the anime, trust me on that one. Besides, it's probably easier to find someplace online to watch the episodes (geez, it's almost like they might have an entire website just dedicated to helping people watch all things Digimon or something out there) than taking the time to hunt down all of the elusive volumes of the manhua.
November 15, 2019
Seven young kids go to camp for the summer, and wind up living in a digital land, where everybody meets their own Digi monster, a digital companion, a digital friend. That is the premise of the book, and man is it really good, these Digimon transform into bigger forms of what they used to be and it's very interesting to see what they transform to, this is a very fun and interesting book in general, and on the Ali rating scale this gets a 5/5.
June 1, 2018
awesome
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 11, 2020
Best manga in Digimon history!!
October 17, 2020
I would have given this a higher review because Digimon is from my childhood; however, a lot of the speech bubbles had the text cut off so sentences were incomplete.
July 16, 2025
Classic. Better times.
November 21, 2024
So fun and cute! Had me giggling the whole time. Really reminds me of the good ole days when I would watch the show with my siblings. Did not disappoint!
September 9, 2015
I literally grew up with Digimon and even though I was obsessed with Pokemon, Digimon was truly fascinating. I randomly got this at the library yesterday and I'm glad that I did. It brought back wonderful memories of the tv series and nostalgia of my childhood. I automatically relate myself to Tai and plus I love Agumon!
August 23, 2007
IN THIS BOOK I LOVE ALL THE ANIMAL...SUCH AS GABUMON..AGUMON AND ALL HIS FRIENDS
Want to read
August 11, 2012Omnimon will forever and always be my favorite
May 10, 2014
While I adore the anime... I'll admit that the manga adaptation isn't the most amazing thing that's ever been created.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews