Product Review: Digital Monster 25th Anniversary Book –Digimon Device & Dot History–

Introduction

The “Digital Monster 25th Anniversary Book –Digimon Device & Dot History–” is the most recent of the Digimon Artbooks that have been released for already a good amount of time. Those books have been the main source of information for three things, high-quality artwork of Digimon, details about the settings in regards to the era they were covering, and details about the development of that era of Digimon.

The last of those, Digital Monster – Artbook Ver. X, was a bit different as the previous one already expanded upon the world view of Pendulum X, so the unique content of that book was a different version of the events of Digimon Chronicle X.

This 25th Anniversary Book was also very different in its own way. The focus of this book was on the various Dot Sprites featured in basically all the Virtual Pets released in Japan, so we can see material from the very first Digital Monster all the way to the recent Vital Bracelet and Digital Monster Color.

Of course, it’s not just a Dot Art collection, this Artbook is also the one that develops the most about the settings, covers the highest amount of different works, and also brings out the first interview in a long time of one of the first staff members to work at Digimon. So, let’s take a closer look at this artbook and see what it revealed about the long history of the Digimon Franchise.

Note: Unless directly stated all the photos and scans featured here were done by myself.

Confidential Report

The first thing this book opens with is a “confidential report”. When the book was first revealed, we were still unsure of what it was going to feature, in the Digimon Con the first pages were shared by Taiki Uchida and we got this first look at the so-called “background setting” pages that according to him were an ultimate resource for fans. The first two pages were showcased at the event and right after that the pre-order of the book shared the first 4 pages of that section.

The material included in those 4 pages was amazing at first look. If you read my research on the original Digital Monster the origin of the Digimon was one of the big mysteries and this new book started directly giving an origin for the Digimon. It then gave context to the Digital World, different dimensions, and maybe the entire multiverse. This is all in just 4 pages. But, let’s start small.

This “confidential report” starts with the quote below and is 14 pages long and divided into 4 chapters.

A considerable amount of time has passed since the investigation of the Digital World began. For a closure, this document is a collection of the research information as of now. There might be information about the Digital World, which is still full of mysteries, that has not yet been made public. We hope that this document will be useful in sharing information for future investigations.
CONFIDENTIAL REPORT

Chapter I Research and Birth of Digital Monsters;
Chapter II Structure of the Digital World;
Chapter Ⅲ Evolution and Ecology of Digital Monsters;
Chapter IV Digimon Categories and Organizations

Starting with the 1st chapter we are introduced to the origin of Digimon. This book introduced something called the Life Simulation ‘World’ (ライフシミュレーション “ワールド”) an App that was developed in the early years of computing before the Internet was even a thing. With those programs, the researchers were studying the principles of evolution by giving programs Survival instincts, basically making it so that computer programs would act like living beings. Those programs existed alone at first in individual computers, but as the internet started to be developed those programs began able to drift across the data that was exchanged between computers, and in that Computer Network made out of many computers the programs were able to evolve as truly living lifeforms and after many developments, they became known as the Digimon.

After that happened more programs were developed to study Digimon in that new state, programs such as “Digimon Capture” and “Digimon Loader” were used by researchers and hackers. Out of those hackers, there was the “Crack Team”, not really a proper group, but rather a formless organization whose name is in the public domain, a self-proclaimed name used by hackers and crackers to spread their evil deeds. Their intervention triggered great advances in Digimon countermeasures and research. If you look at this, you will find a lot of similar dots to the current releasing “Digimon Seekers”, including this proper definition of what the Crack Team is that was the focus of Chapter 1-8.

The 1st chapter only lasted the first two pages, but the 2nd chapter has 4. It starts giving the context of the Digital World, or at least, one of the various meanings.

Digimon wasn’t the only thing discovered by the Digimon Capture. Through Digimon Capture, it was discovered that the collection of fundamental data, in which all sorts of information drifts, is actually a place like the “sea” where Digimon lives. For humanity, “the existence of another world” has become clear. That was named “Net Sea” and later collectively called “Digital World”. Once humans learned of the existence of the Digital World, they began research to discover new Digimon and directly interfere with the Digital World.
Digital World

The content of this chapter builds upon the changes that were made since “Digital Monster – Artbook Ver.1～5&20th”. Here File Island was a virtual space developed by humans to study Digimon on a Computer that ran the Yggdrasil OS, the first one to be used to see inside the Net Ocean. Later Digimon seemed to take control of File Island making it develop far more than humans expected and later the Folder Continent was found, but researchers were unsure of its origin, again following the changes that started from the previous book.

Now, the book explains that Yggdrasil was affected by the Life Simulation and developed a will of its own for self-preservation that resulted in Yggdrasil cutting off the Digital World from the network in order to protect it from the overflow of information from the Real World.

This is where we find the first problem with the structure of this book, as it’s going to go back and forth across different concepts without a clear consistency. What we had here is basically the book jumping from Yggdrasil starting to develop a will of its during the early years of research and resulted in Project Ark, after those researchers decided to break down the barriers of the Digital World and Yggdrasil then became aware of other Digital Worlds that existed in different computers.

Right after that, the next topic is about the Ancient Digital World and the Four Holy Beasts and how in those early days the Digital World was in a state of chaos including one such event that resulted in the reversal of the north-south axis of the Digital World affecting the Holy Beasts. This event is a reference to a typo that happened during the early announcements of the D-3 where the names of Zhuqiaomon and Xuanwumon were mistakenly swapped. As a way to explain that inconsistency, magazines, and books at the time gave the explanation that human researchers erased some places of the Digital World that affected space-time resulting in a change in the two beasts in order to keep balance, and so it remained until the researchers were able to fix their mistake.

This time the book lacks part of this explanation. In fact, considering that this text is right after their own explanation about Yggdrasil first keeping researchers away from the Digital World and they later needing to open forcefully, it does feel strange that this ancient Digital World event was put right after that, even more considering that they continued to talk about the Project Ark right after this, it could have made sense to introduce the Ancient Digital World first and only then talk about Yggdrasil’s view on what happened (Even more considering that fits with the real world timeline of what happened from the release of the D-3 all the way to Digimon Pendulum X). A new addition from this book was that the North-South phase change was the catastrophe that resulted in the extinction of many Ancient Digimon alongside the Digimental technology being lost. Not only that but here the Holy Stones (First introduced in Digimon Adventure 02) were revealed as a program that was developed by researchers to help the Holy Beasts to balance the world preventing phase-changes.

After this detour in the Yggdrasil explanation, the next topic is the introduction of another important new keyword never used before, the “Clustered Digital World” (クラスタ化されたデジタルワールド). As a result of the breakdown of the barriers put by Yggdrasil, that Digital World was fused with many other Digital Worlds from different supercomputers and servers as a single Cluster that is divided into many layers now existing thanks to Cloud Technology.

Basically, the network of many Digital Worlds that before existed as not part of the same structure are now under the same overall system with each individual world now being connected, while still isolated, to the other by the Net Ocean, also called the Big Data, that keeps each world with their own laws and concepts. The world of Witchelny is an example of a different layer.

This explanation finishes the second page and what we see on pages 3 and 4 is an expansion of the details of that structure. This includes a diagram that explained the most popular places in the structure, but it lacks a lot of explanation.

Due to Yggdrasil’s “Project Ark” and the subsequent clustering, the Digital World has undergone dramatic changes since its creation. The major Digital Worlds currently confirmed include the one managed by Yggdrasil, the one separated from it, and the “Iliad” managed by Homeros. There’s a Dark Area for each of them, they are connected to Cocytus, which can be said to be another Digital World. The most famous Other-dimensional Digital World is “Witchelny”, but it’s believed that there are many Other-dimensional Digital Worlds that haven’t been observed yet.
Structure of the Digital World

Previously Kazumasa Habu, while working on the next Digimon Story game, stated that in the documented settings that there were three Digital Worlds, one hosted by Yggdrasil, one hosted by Homeros -Illiad-, and a third Digital World. He also explained that Other-dimensional Digital Worlds such as Witchelny didn’t count toward that. Although we never got an update from him since then, he claimed he would like to have answered during the Anime Expo live stream, but didn’t have the time to say about that.

The content of this book seemed to be including this type of information, but basically, the same questions we had before continue to exist here as we really can’t be sure about anything. Ever since the release of the Digimon Profile on Witchelny and the scanning of some old books, it seemed that the answer was that other dimensions like Witchelny were still considered a part of a single “Digital World” as the Digital World itself was the name of the world in the computer network that included many dimensions, including that where Digimon live. If that is the case then Witchelny would be inside the individual Digital Worlds that were hosted by different Host Computers.

However, both Digital Worlds hosted by different Host Computers and Other-dimensional Digital Worlds like Witchelny all seem to exist in kind of the same structure, as if you count them all as different Digital Worlds and the difference isn’t clear. After all, why is Witchelny called “other-dimensional Digital World”, but not something like Illiad? The book really doesn’t explain the hierarchy very well and the details of what counts of not as a Digital World, other dimension, different server, and so on are still a mystery.

The fact that the clustering happened after the events of Digimon Chronicle could be used to explain the changes in definition and that maybe in the past places like Withcleny did exist inside a single Digital World, but now that all the Digital Worlds are “clustered” in a single organization, they became all kind of the same. But the very diagram of the Digital World is a bit confusing as it’s divided into the “pre-clustered” and “post-clustered” and the “pre-clustered” era is just two boxes under the name of Ancient Time that talk about the Warrior Ten and Imperialdramon Paladin Mode, something that really feels out of place considering this information will be repeated again just a few pages later.

Even the mention of “the one separated to it”, which could imply to be a reference to this “third Digital World”, is in fact just a reference to the New Digital World that was featured in Digimon Chronicle, as in the diagram it’s qualified as the one “separated” (分離, bunri), so it’s still the one hosted by Yggdrasil in some way.

The rest of this chapter is mostly contextual information about the Dark Area, Kernel, and the New Digital World, something that makes up most of the last page. A good part of the content featured here isn’t really new and is mostly reprinted from previous artbooks and manuals, but it’s still good to have most of it in a single place. It’s a bit strange that here content like the X-Program, X-Antibody, and X-evolution are featured here instead of the next chapter which is all about Digimon ecology, including different methods of evolution and what allows them to happen.

The last thing of this chapter was something new but also brings more confusion to understanding the current structure of the Digital World. In regards to the clustering “merging all Digital Worlds into one multi-layered structure”, some people interpreted this as merely being those individual computer worlds from a single human universe for this book alone, not something that encompassed the series as a whole. However, the last topic of this chapter is both very specific and at the same time very open.

Due to advances in research into the Digital World, the existence of other real worlds, the so-called “parallel worlds,” is speculated. They are scattered around the Digital World and are thought to interfere with it at different times with different points of view. Therefore, it seems highly likely that they perceive the Digital World differently depending on the world.
Real World and Digital World

For a bit of context, the Digimon Franchise was for the last 3 to 5 years in the “reboot project” led by Masashi Harada, and the overall objective was to unify the entire franchise under the same concepts and ideas and have all the branches collaborating to make a single big Digimon project. Making sense of the settings of Digimon was one of the goals of this project with the revamp of the Digimon Web portal and the release of the Digimon Profile articles. These first 15 pages of the artbook can be seen as another part of this attempt to unify the settings of Digimon, and this one in specific is a view that has been used in the series since the era of Digimon Adventure and has been actively being used more and more since Xros Wars.

The notion that the Digital World exists including the different real worlds with each world understanding only a small part of the totality of the Digital World has been a very old concept, so the book making a direct mention of it does help to solidify more about that. However, the lack of explanations about the nuances of the Clustered Digital World and how it fits with that notion isn’t something I like from this explanation.

Following this introduction to research and the structure of the world, Chapter 3 starts to talk about the ecology of Digimon. This section is 4 pages long and starts introducing the notions of Digimon gender. The section explains many details of Digimon’s ecology, expanding upon what was featured in previous art books, such as about Digicore and Physical Strenght.

Digimon don’t have sex, nor do they perform reproductive activities. A Digimon that mimics a specific gender is thought to be an individual that takes in information spread over the Internet and defines its own gender as information.
Sex (fig.15: Angewomon and LadyDevimon who define themselves as female)

There are many topics that have been expanded with references to many franchises’ unused concepts. For example, for the first time, an explanation for Slide Evolution is given and how it relates to Mode Change, and this all connects to the concept of Data Overwriting, famously used in V-Tamer. Basically, all of the main details of Digimon’s ecology have been related to Overwriting in some way.

When a Digimon transforms into another species with the same level, it is called “Slide Evolution”. While the Mode Change rewrites the data within the Digicore, this one rewrites the Digicore itself into a completely different Digimon, making it an even more astounding phenomenon.
Slide Evolution

Another strange topic is the explanation for Hybrid Bodies strangely used something that was similar to what was seen in Digimon Savers rather than Digimon Frontier which is often used, a very interesting way to tie concepts together.

A special state created by injecting human genetic information into a Digimon’s Digicore. It is a hybrid being that is both a Digimon and a human. Normal Digimon are subject to errors when human genetic information is inserted into them, but it’s highly compatible with the Digimon known as the Ancient Species and has been the subject of experimentation.
Hybrid Body

This section of the book is much more consistent and well spread than that of the Structure of the Digital World section, with basically every topic bringing some development or connection that didn’t exist or wasn’t directly stated before. But some odd choices were also made here. For example, various elements of Digimon ecology are related to the Digicore, but the Digicore is one of the last elements of a Digimon’s body that are expanded upon in the chapter when basically it has already been explained by previous topics, while a proper glossary for Overwriting was not included there. The last two topics, that of D.N.A and Chromedigizoid, are also the ones with the least amount of new information, as it’s basically just a reprint of the content of the Digital Monster 20th anniversary artbook and Digimon Profile.

The 4th chapter is by far the worst one in regard to new content and is also 4 pages long. This section introduces the organization of Digimon, fields, and groups. The material for the first part is basically the same one that was featured in Digimon Profile, just with slight rewording in some places (Sometimes making stuff vaguer than they were in the Digimon Profile). One interesting addition, in the end, was the presence of Prototype Digimon featuring an explanation for them that is similar to what was present in the booklets that came with Digimon Pendulum X, I even made a post about that material that you can check here.

The last part of this was an introduction to the great organizations of the Digital World with the chart that was first used in the Digimon Museum event and later adapted to the Digimon 2022 Guidebook given away in the Digimon Fan Meeting (You can check the English version of that guidebook here, it was scanned by @Fairi_digimon92)

Among the Digimon that inhabit the Digital World, there are individuals and species that act under the same mission, and researchers refer to them as Organizations. Since each individual is a being with great power, they basically act alone. Their power is immense, and even one can become a factor that greatly affects the Digital World. Below are the currently confirmed Organizations and their correlation diagrams.
Organizations

The text is a bit modified from the version that was during the Museum, but the overall meaning is basically the same with no big changes from what was known, take the example below with the Four Holy Beasts.

In order to maintain the balance of the world, five Digimon protect the Digital World by fixing their bodies as cornerstones in the east, west, south, north, and center of the Digital World.
Emperor and the Four Holy Beasts (Digimon Museum)

Five Digimon who have fixed their bodies in the center, north, south, east, and west since ancient mythological times to protect the balance of the world.
Emperor and the Four Holy Beasts (25th Anniversary Artbook)

The ending of this part of the book is a bit of a letdown. The first 4 pages that were shared initially gave the impression that maybe they would cover a lot more due to the topics addressed, but that isn’t really the case.

In books like these, we have basically 4 types of information that we can expect to find.

The first is information that is easy to find normally. Think of it as what is in the Digimon Web portal under the “About Digimon” section. This includes stuff like the online Digimon Encyclopedia, About Digimon, Digimon Profile, Digimon Journal, and so on. Basically, stuff that you can just research from this official source.

The second is older information that has been missing from current material. Think of it like the previous versions of the online Digimon Encyclopedia that were specific for certain V-pets, old physical guidebooks, booklets, magazines, lost webpages, and so on. Basically, material that was once available to be read in an official manner, but that has since been unavailable due to being out of print or the webpage being deleted due to changes in the portals.

The third is information that ties loose ends. Think of it as those isolated points in the series that seem to have a connection that only lacks a proper official word on it to really be understood as fully connected. It’s not really a piece of totally new information that is unrelated to previous development, but also not something that you can just find written in previous material.

And finally, there’s totally new information. It can be based on already existing content, but it’s not something that really ties any loose ends, if anything it’s added to bring more possibilities for other material to develop them.

For material like the art book, the first type of information is necessary as most of the time the easy-to-access information is the basic skeleton for the series, you most likely can’t make a book in the settings of Digimon without touching any aspect of what is on the website. However, I much prefer for those expensive books to have this skeleton to build upon the other three types of information, and not just to have this basic information.

That is basically why I dislike the 4th chapter of the report as it’s basically just already existing information with little to no addition. I would have much preferred if instead those last 4 pages were used to better develop the concepts that felt to be lacking in the previous chapters. Basically, a lot of what was said about Clustered Digital World still is vague and we really don’t know how it fits with previously existing information.

The last part of the 4th chapter shows a bit about what we can think of this whole “confidential report”.

The above is the information about the Digital World currently confirmed by our research. As the Digital World continues to expand and Digimon numbers continue to increase, continued research is essential. The research subject is also extensive, and further efforts are required of investigators and researchers. I hope that this document will play a role in your investigation and research, as now I’m putting down my pen.
confidential report

Instead of a complete resource to understand the world of Digimon, the content of this book is no different than basically any previous anime, manga, game, or book, just one piece of the puzzle instead of the answer. You aren’t supposed to take this as everything that exists about Digimon, but rather understand that this is just the view of a single person, or group, that has researched the Digital World in their world and still has an incomplete picture of the whole.

In the end, the number of pages dedicated to this “confidential report” would never really be enough to make this “ultimate resource of Digimon back settings” that Uchida told about. Frankly, the whole 14 pages wouldn’t even be enough to really explain all the details about even just one of the topics.

But, this still is the “Digimon Device & Dot History” and not the “Digimon Lore Complete Encyclopedia”. Looking into the book’s index you can see that these first 14 pages are considered something “apart” of the whole. The actual main subject of the book is the history of the Digimon Devices, their development, and Dot Sprites. You could even think of the first pages as an appendix and overall bonus instead of really being the main point of importance for the book, so what do they bring of new here?

CHAPTER ONE – DIGITAL MONSTER (1997~2023)

Hatch Digimon from the Digitama inside the toy, take care of them and battle with your friends with the Digimon you raised. In this chapter, the “Training LCD Toy” series is going to be introduced, they specialize in the enjoyment with the true essence of Digimon, “Training” and “Competition”. Let’s follow the evolution since its birth in 1997 to the present and explore the charm of “Digimon” that continues to exist in various forms.
CHAPTER ONE – DIGITAL MONSTER (1997~2023)

This is the main content of this book, in this chapter, we get details about the development of Virtual Pets from the very first all the way to the most recent Vital Bracelet and Digital Monster Color. This is followed by some extra information from that time, mostly talking about events or additional material that ties in with the V-Pet. Surprisingly there are also small images from the old V-Jumps that are used to illustrate some events, it’s amazing to know that this kind of material was available while making this book. It does make some lacking material from the “confidential report” feel even more strange as some of the topics that are addressed in the same scans that are featured here are nowhere to be found there.

Since I loved all that I saw here, I’m going to share all the details I got from those pages.

Digital Monster

The Secret Story of the Birth of the “Digital Monster” Series
The design image of the main body is a “cage” that traps monsters.

Planning and development for Digital Monsters had already started during the development of the first generation Tamagotchi. Because of the concept of raising monsters for boys, “Communication Battle” was essential, so the biggest difference with Tamagotchi is the communication function that didn’t exist before.

At first, we were considering a specification in which battles between Digimon progressed in real-time, but we encountered challenges such as the need for the devices to remain connected throughout the entire battle or the lack of a satisfying sense of exhilaration when battles dragged on and victory or defeat was determined in a split second, similar to a game of rock-paper-scissors. Therefore, we made it so that upon establishing a connection, the battle’s outcome is instantly determined based on the parameters of each Digimon, and the battle results are then sent to each respective device, allowing the battle’s visual effects to continue even if the devices were disconnected.

The design concept for the main body was to resemble a “cage” where the monster would be kept enclosed. Initially, the idea was that when taking care of the Digimon, you would open the cage, and if you forgot to close it, the Digimon would escape. However, due to increased costs and the inability to ensure the strength of the cage’s opening and closing mechanism, this feature was ultimately removed from the design.

At the time, Tamagotchi used a dedicated dot editor to create dot graphics for the characters, but Digimon had a different development environment and did not have a dot editor, partly because the programmers were different. Therefore, the dot graphics created by the designer were redrawn on graph paper, and the XY coordinates were programmed by the programmer, which was a difficult task. By the time of Ver.3, a tool was developed that could convert bitmap data, I remember that it became much simpler to develop using this tool.

Among the candidates for the hidden “Perfect Body” was a “high school girl,” who used to be the strongest (?) character during that era of the 1990s, however, that was rejected because we thought that boys would prefer monsters. So instead of a Digimon with a high school girl theme, we were initially considering that character to set really be the “strongest high school girl”, in the end, it became the plush bear character called “Monzaemon.” Perhaps, the inside of “Monzaemon” could be a part-time working high school girl?… Maybe?
In charge of Digital Monster development.

Digimon Pendulum

The Secret Story of the Birth of the “Digimon Pendulum” Series
Equipped with a “Pendulum Function” that lets you enter commands during battle

The “Digimon Pendulum” series planning started soon after the first “DIGITAL MONSTER” was released, and development was progressing in parallel with “DIGITAL MONSTER Ver.3”.

For the new series, a variety of gimmicks were considered, including some that had been rejected, so that users could participate more actively in Digimon battles. Some of the ideas that were rejected included a temperature sensor that could detect “warming” and “cooling,” so that warming a Digimon would turn it into a Digimon with a fire attribute, and cooling it would turn it into a Digimon with an ice attribute, and so on. However, we wanted to make the game easier to play…, so we equipped it with the “pendulum function” to make it possible to input commands during battles (fighting games were booming at the time). The name “Digimon Pendulum” came from the English word “pendulum,” which means “振り子” (Pendulum).

Since this was supposed to be released as a series from the beginning, we decided to give each version a subtitle for the first time in order to expand the worldview. We proceeded by determining the lineage and design of Digimon, such as gathering Digimon that reside in the natural world for “Nature Spirits” or Digimon that lurk in the deep sea for “Deep Savers.” Among them, “Digimon Pendulum 3 Nightmare Soldiers” was the only one that changed from the original plan. Initially, aiming for a release around autumn, it was named “Digimon Pendulum 3 Halloween Party.” However, the Digimon featured in it deviated from the cute image associated with a “Halloween Party,” so it was changed to “Nightmare Soldiers,” which aligns more with the image of an “army of nightmares.”

We have also increased the volume of training elements, and introduced the Fused Evolution “Jogress (abbreviation for Joint Progress)” and the new evolution stage “Ultimate”. Also, Digimon are classified into three attributes, “Virus”, “Vaccine”, and “Data”, which affect battles and training. During the planning stage, we had an specification that virus-attribute Digimon would occasionally infect the other party with a virus during communication such as Battle and Jogress. If infected, the virus would then destroy or tamper with the Digimon’s parameters, and the only way to cure it was to communicate with a Digimon with the Vaccine attribute and cure it or the virus would spread.. That was a radical specification and was naturally rejected.
In charge of Digimon Pendulum development

Digimon Pendulum Progress

This is the first time that we got a direct commentary on the development of Pendulum Progress. At least for me, these first-time-ever commentaries for many Virtual Pets are the true gold of this book.

~ The secret story behind the birth of the “Pendulum Progress” series ~
It was planned with the concept of reviving the Training Gear with a larger screen.

This was the Digimon Training LCD Toy released when the TV animation “Digimon Frontier” was airing.

When the TV anime was aired, the “Digivice” series was sold as the main product, so for a long time there was no product for Digimon training. Therefore, this is a product that was planned for the purpose of reviving the training gear with a larger screen. The base was the “Digimon Pendulum” series, inheriting the pendulum input gimmick, and we added a system where actions (battles and training) during the morning, afternoon, and evening would affect the evolution branches, we also introduced battle training that allowed players to earn achievements without engaging in communication battles. At the planning stage, we were all excited, saying, “It might be interesting to see changes depending on the time of day!”, but depending on the user, the challange to get the desired Digimon evolution during their their daily lives was high, so it became training gear with very high relative difficult.

Since the “Digimon Pendulum Progress” series is the successor to the “Digimon Pendulum” series, the names of Digimon’s influential powers should be used as subtitles for the LCD toys, and three new Digimon influential powers have been created: “Dragon’s Roar”, “Armageddon Army”, and “Animal Colosseum”.

By the way, the pixel art of Ulforce V-dramon included in Dragon’s Roar is completely different from how it was featured in the manga “Digimon Adventure V-Tamer 01,” which was serialized in V-Jump! That is something that we often hear, but since the pixel art was created on a schedule where we had no choice but to incorporate it into the toy when the design was still at a rough stage, it ended up looking quite different when the final design came up. About that, I can’t forget the moment I saw the final design and thought, “Huh…? This is unbelievable…” (This is usually the reason why there are discrepancies between the pixel art and official illustrations of Digimon…)
In charge of Digimon Pendulum Progress development

Digimon Pendulum X

~ Secret Story of the Birth of the “Digimon Pendulum X” Series ~
Let’s release the original Digimon training gear at its finest!

With the TV anime “Digimon Frontier”, the TV anime series that lasted 4 works went to a temporary stop, so we planned the “Digimon Pendulum X” series with the idea of “Let’s release the original Digimon training gear at its finest!”.

“Digimon Pendulum X” expands the popular adventure function of the “Digivice” series and has a map search specification.

As a new action gimmick, it features an LED-based dice system and introduces a new form called “X-Antibody Digimon” through the “XAI system”. Based on the concept of “Depending on the value of the dice it can one hit kill!”, the Digimon’s attack power changes depending on the roll of the dice, the Digimon can even defeat their opponents with a single blow. On the other hand, the lifespan of Digimon is short, we adopted a luck element where life and death can be decided by the value of the dice at the verge of death, it is a point of reflection that even among the training LCD toys, the lifespan of Digimon is short and it has a momentary play.

The body of the Training Gear has undergone a major layout change of the electronic board, such as renewing the communication terminal and adopting a coin battery and is designed to be the “thinnest” in the history of Digimon LCD toys. Based on the concept of “design as thin as a card”, we achieved a thinness (maximum thickness of 10mm) that was unheard of in toy design at the time.

Kenji Watanabe has been the character designer for “Digimon” so far, but for “Digimon Pendulum X”, we have decided to take on the challenge of creating new “Digimon” with creators other than Kenji Watanabe. That’s why the design concept of “X-Antibody Digimon”, where antibodies against viruses that kill Digimon inhabiting the Digital World, was born. Character making was done using a spin-off design method in which various illustrators drew new forms of existing Digimon that have changed with the “X-Antibody”. (However, some of the main Digimon were designed by Kenji Watanabe.)

Since there were no media (anime or magazines) that could explain these things, we took the new challenge to attach a booklet to the product that would introduce the world setting and story as a manga. The worldview developed in this booklet would later connect to the CG animation “Digital Monster X-Evolution”.
In charge of Digimon Pendulum X development

On every one of those pages, there’s a “DIGIMEMORY” section that introduces more about the time of the LCD toys with some V-Jump scans, since it’s useful, here’s the one in Digimon Pendulum X.

DIGIMEMORY

The “Digimon Pendulum X” series comes with the manga booklet “Digimon Chronicle” featuring the recorded Digimon. VJ also explained the contents of “Digimon Chronicle”. It introduces the cause of the collapse of the Digital World and the birth of the X-Antibody Digimon. By the way, the CG animation “Digital Monster X-evolution” was created based on the story of “Digimon Chronicle”. After that, a sequel, “Digimon Chronicle X” was made.
“Digimon Chronicle” was also featured in the V-Jump!

As an interesting point, although the developer note mentions that “there were no magazines to explain these things”, the text right after it mentions that the V-Jump was used to explain the settings and even features scans of that content. In reality, the V-Jump teased the events of Digimon Chronicle using Digimon D-Scanner and developed multiple episodes telling the story of Chronicle with content that didn’t appear even in the booklets themselves.

Digimon Accel

~ The secret story behind the birth of the “Digimon Accel” series ~
“DNA” (Digimon Natural Ability), as long as you collect it you can easily evolve!

The “Digimon Accel” series was born during the project to release an LCD toy that can train new Digimon, following the “Digimon Pendulum X” series. The project was based on the concept of “Is it possible to create a gimmick in which the number of rotations of the Digicore directly affects the attack power, like the internal combustion engine hat drives a car?” However, until the final specification was reached, various ideas were dropped.

At the beginning of the project, we devised a gimmick that had a built-in flywheel in the main body and read the number of rotations of the flywheel when the trigger was activated. However, due to a large number of parts and high cost, we decided to forego the flywheel.

The next idea we came up with was to “measure human body fat”. When a weak electric current is passed through the human body, body fat can be measured by the resistance value. This idea was also scrapped.

Ultimately, we decided to measure the number of rotations, which is the decisive factor for attack power, on the program, and instead of measuring body fat, we adopted a method of checking how many contact terminals are touching the human skin. Since the contacts of this terminal pass a weak electric current, it is possible to conduct electricity not only to the skin but also to an electric board. Therefore, it was also decided to develop an item called “DDP (Digimon Data Plate)” with a built-in base.

By giving “DNA (Digimon Natural Ability)” obtained by energizing human skin or “DDP” to the Digimon, since it is also a training method for evolution, they can easily evolve without taking time as long as you can obtain “DNA”.

Also, we eliminated unnecessary decorations in the main body design and made it possible to insert decorative printed paper between the transparent plate on the front and the main body.
In charge of Digimon Accel development

Digimon Mini

~ The secret story behind the birth of the “Digimon Mini” series ~
Selling at convenience stores is a must!

This product was developed as an inexpensive “training LCD toy” of the “Digital Monster” series that could be purchased for 1,000 yen. The main reason for keeping the unit price down was that we wanted to sell it at convenience stores, even the package size was designed in anticipation of being put on convenience store shelves.

Minimizing the body size allowed us to keep costs down. Because of that the size of the LCDs decreased. Since the LCD size has become smaller, the Digimon pixel art returned to be 16 x 16 dots, which was the same size as the original “Digital Monster”.

Originally, the Digimon that were supposed to be in the line-up were the Digimon that appeared in the first “Digital Monster” with added Ultimate Bodies Digimon, but due to lack of IC capacity, the number of recorded individuals was reduced in a with a heart-breaking decision. In the initial concept, we also considered features such as training battles that would allow players to explore the Digital World. However, this idea also had to be abandoned due to IC capacity constraints.

We discussed sevel times about the question of “Shouldn’t we increase the replay value?”, but we concluded that in order to increase the accessibility for children to easily purchase the product, it was necessary to include sales at convenience stores. Therefore, we couldn’t raise the selling price to increase the IC capacity.

However, when we were developing the program for Ver.3.0, we had the programmers work hard to improve the code of the program to the limit, and we were able to increase the number of recorded Digimon by 5.
In charge of Digimon Mini development

Digimon Twin

~ The secret story behind the birth of the “Digimon Twin” series ~
Combine two LCD screens to make the screen look bigger!

The “Digimon Twin” project began with the idea of further expanding the way to play with the “Infrared Unit” that was incorporated in the “Digivice iC” series.

Infrared communication is faster than contact point communication made of attaching two units together, so we came up with a system called “Event Communication” that can be easily enjoyed by taking advantage of this.

In addition, since the amount of data that can be sent has increased due to Infrared Communication, we have made it possible to send Dot sprite data for one Digimon to the other party, so that your Digimon can be displayed on the other party’s LCD screen. With this system, while the LCD screen of the “Digimon Twin” is normally narrow, measuring 24 dots wide by 16 dots tall, during “Event Communication” when two “Digimon Twin L” or “Digimon Twin R” units are set side by side, we were able to realize the idea of creating a larger display by combining the two LCD screens.

Thanks to infrared communication, communication has become more convenient, so we also made improvements to the training battles. In previous communication battles, the specification allowed for input and communication to be accepted only once during an action. However, that was now changed so input and communication can be accepted multiple times. With the ease of communication, a new element was added where, if your Digimon is knocked out by the opponent’s attack, you can communicate to revive it with a certain input.

In addition, regarding the featured Digimon, we added the Digimon that appeared in the TV anime “Digimon Savers”, which had broadcasted just before the release of “Digimon Twin”. It incorporates two types of evolution, ShineGreymon from the Agumon family and Mirage Gaogamon from the Gaomon family.

Also, we were actually planning a successor to “Digimon Twin” called “Digimon Twin Tag”. The design for the main body was renewed from “Digimon Twin”, and we were planning to have two-on-two battles and the ability to train Coronamon and Lunamon types, but unfortunately development had come to a halt. After that, the commercialization of the “Digimon” series of Training LCD toys stopped for a while… However, in “Digital Monster Ver.20th” developed 10 years later, the elements and thoughts we had during that time were inherited and put to good use.
In charge of Digimon Twin development

Digital Monster X

~ The secret story behind the birth of the “Digital Monster X” series ~
We want users to feel the activities of the featured Digimon!

“Digital Monster Ver. 20th” and “Digimon Pendulum Ver. 20th” were so well received by users that we were able to begin planning the commercialization of the next “LCD toy for Digimon training”. That is how “Digital Monster X” was born.

Digimon that have appeared in anime, games, and other works with a story have a backbone, such as “this is the kind of activities they have performed,” but Digimon that have only appeared in LCD toys lack that, so we wanted users to be able to feel why the Digimon that appeared in the LCD toys were included in the series, and experience the actions of the featured Digimon. That’s how we came up with the booklet “Digimon Chronicle” that came with the “Digimon Pendulum X” series. We thought that “Digimon Chronicle” was the place where Digimon from the LCD toys could play an active role, so we decided to make a sequel, “Digimon Chronicle X”.

We decided to include a booklet of “Digimon Chronicle X” with the “Digital Monster X” series and also publish on Digimon Web, a story of what changes were made in the Digital World after the “Project Ark”.

From Ver.2 onwards, we focused on digging deeper into the themes. We added depth to the “story” of Digimon featuring Digimon based on the prepared theme and that were active during “Digimon Chronicle X”, for example, in Ver.2 it was “The Seven Great Demon Lords with X-Antibody”, in Ver.3 was “Royal Knights with X-Antibody”. With that, we were able to conclude the epic story of the X-Antibody that began with “Digimon Chronicle”.

Also, in order to express the coolness of Digimon in the LCD toy, we adopted the cut-in effect introduced in “Digimon Xross Loader”, that is now an indispensable point when talking about the appeal of “Digital Monster X”.
In charge of Digital Monster X development

Digimon Pendulum Z

~ The secret story behind the birth of the “Digital Pendulum Z” series ~
What kind of changes would happen if researchers conducted research “now”?

This project began with the concept of “what changes would have happened if researchers conducted research now? (In the year of 2020)” in the Folder Continent that originated in the worldview of the “Digimon Pendulum” series released in 1998. We paid attention to how the classification of Digimon’s influential powers, from Nature Spirits to Virus Busters, changed depending on the Digimon that appeared after the “Digimon Pendulum” series, and that is how we made the lineup of featured Digimon. In addition, we have designed and featured new Digimon that wouldn’t place in each classification.

In the previous “Digital Monster X” series, we took measures to convey the world view with a long-form narrative (Digimon Chronicle X), but this time we used the structure of a “research report by a researcher” that is typical for Digimon. So we decided to post the “Folder Continent Report” done by a researcher on the Digimon Web to create an immersive experience that was different from the “Digital Monster X” series.

The training mechanics follow the footsteps of the “Digital Monster X” series while incorporating the essential “pendulum” function from the “Digimon Pendulum” series, we modernized it so it could be more accessible to play, so before battle starts, it’s shown how to make the Digimon’s strongest attack, and we arranged it so that the number of arrow bars will increase as the device is shaken.
In charge of Digital Pendulum Z development

Digital Monster Color

~ The secret story behind the birth of the “Digital Monster Color” series ~
Has a “Memorial and ONLY ONE specification” close to the original product

“Digital Monster COLOR” was launched in commemoration of the 25th anniversary since the birth of Digital Monster, aiming for the long-awaited reprint of the first generation of “Digital Monster” now on an LCD screen with color. With the shift to colored LCDs, it became difficult for conventional button or coin batteries to handle the operating time, so we switched the specifications to rechargeable batteries. We were able to create a “Digital Monster” that fits the current era by designing it from scratch. The charging cable supports USB Type-C; in fact, it is the first Bandai product to use Type-C.

The specifications for the main unit went relatively smoothly, at least centering on the colored LCD, but the programming specifications were a real headache… The reason is that the “Digital Monster Ver.20th,” released in 2017, included all the Digimon from the original “Digital Monster Ver.1-5” series, along with additional Digimon such as Ultimate Bodies, so it was a “definitive edition of ALL IN ONE” that was completed in terms of gameplay specifications; it really was an extraordinary product with a retail price of 3,500 yen.

In regards to “putting a program with a volume that doesn’t feel inferior to Ver.20th!”, the selling price would be higher, and we thought that such a product would be difficult for users to purchase, so as a result of repeated trial and error, the final concept we decided was a “return to the origins. The Digimon that can be raised are reconfigured for each version based on the Digimon featured originally, by featuring training functions and Dot pictures that were different for each version at the time separately, we feel that we were able to create a “Memorial and ONLYONE specification” that is close to the original. In reality, we wondered, “Is this specification really okay?…” and we were quite nervous and anxious when we started accepting orders, but in the end, it was very well received by the users, so we were very happy. I talked a little bit about it in the “Digital Monster 25th Anniversary Program” that was distributed on YouTube, and with the warm support of the fans, we have started considering the commercialization of a sequel “Ver.3~5”, so please wait for further information.

Also, we think that “depending on further support, it would be great if the “Digimon Pendulum” series could be developed as a part of the COLOR series…”.
In charge of Digital Monster Color development

Vital Bracelet

~ The secret story behind the birth of the “Vital Bracelet” series ~
If the digimon and your activity level and heart rate are linked, it will give a more real sense of partnership.

Simultaneously with the planning of “Digivice:”, we also started planning for a pure successor to the “Digital Monster” “Training” LCD toy series. It wasn’t going to be a reprint, but the first new model since the release of “Digimon Twin” for the Training LCD toys that isn’t tied to an anime. In those days, there were many cross-media products aimed at toys being connected to game consoles, so at first we were considering exploring that route, but after repeated trial and error, we decided to go with a more familiar approach. Currently, many smartwatches equipped with heart rate monitors and pedometers that can be linked with smartphones are beginning to be distributed around the world. Starting from there, we thought that if you could link your Digimon to your activity level and heart hate, you could feel it to be a partner in the truest sense. So we replaced the meat and protein that were used in the system of the Training Digital Monster with the amount of activity that we called “Vital”, In addition, the battles have also been changed to a system that starts automatically when it touches an electronic card read across the city. Futhermore, just like smartwatches around the world, we added different contents so the play could be expanded, such as the management and storing of Digimon, the registration of Digimon in the Encyclopedia, and Raid Battles with a free companion app.

While this is a product that values the elements of Digimon such as “Training”, “Evolution”, and “Battle”, it also has specifications that match the current generation, so we incorporated a colored LCD and it can be charged. It is interesting that this was released at the same time that people were becoming more health-conscious, because they were refraining from going out and exercising due to the Corona Crisis.

As a part of the “Vital Bracelet” series, along with the start of the TV Anime “Digimon Ghost Game”, we developed a variation with some improved specifications as the item “Digivice -V-” that was used in the anime.
In charge of Vital Bracelet development

CHAPTER TWO – DIGITAL MONSTER for the animation (1999~2022)

In 1999 the broadcasting of the TV anime “Digimon” series started. The “Digivice” is an important item that appeared in the story and connected children and Digimon. Chapter 2 introduces the toys from the “Digivice” series. It is a toy specialized as a “role-playing toy” where you can bring the same Digimon as the children from the story and engage in battles and evolutions with the same actions.
CHAPTER 2 – DIGITAL MONSTER for the animation (1999~2022)

Just like in the previous chapters the development details about the various Digivices released as tie-ins to the anime are featured. The main DIGIMEMORY for this chapter is basically a summary of the anime that the Digivice is tied to, but there are other memories focused on special events and announcements in regards to the Digivice using V-Jump scans and other details from the toy. There are also Columns featuring the other toys that are related to the anime such as the D-Terminal and Digiwindow.

Digivice

The secret story behind the birth of the “Digivice” series
The concept was a “Roleplaying Toy” that allows you to become the main character.

The planning for Digivice started as a product for the TV anime “Digimon Adventure”. We decided on the concept of it being a “Role-playing Toy” that allows the player to become the main character of the anime, so it would be different from the “Digital Monster” series and “Digimon Pendulum” series. So we decided to make a role-playing game where the player can walk and adventure in the Digital World with their Digimon partner based on that concept.

The design of the main body is based on the motif of ancient ruins. The distinctive “radio wave reception function” is a feature developed from the idea of “can we generate some events during the game by receiving the radio waves that are present in the city?”. The initial prototype of the radio wave receiver was capable of receiving AM radio, and when connected to headphones, it could receive specific radio broadcasts. It was a full-fledged device. Afterwards, we refined the prototype to reduce its cost and size, making it capable of picking up a specific range of AM frequencies. We even went as far as Okutama (a mountainous area in Tokyo) to test whether the device could receive radio waves in rural and mountainous areas. But we found out that it was easier to detect electronic noise leaking from electronic devices than picking up AM frequencies, so we decided to focus the specification of the radio wave catch mode on “catching help signals from the Digital World” that could be received by bringing the device closer to electronic devices.

In addition, the screen size was increased to a 32×32 square for the dots, so the “Digivice” was the first time we were able to draw Digimon in more detail with dots. This change in the dots also differentiates it from the “Digital Monster” series of Training Gear.

The TV anime began airing on March 7, 1999, but “Digivice” was released in July 1999, since it took a considerable amount of time to decide on product planning and specifications, this became an unusual product for Bandai because, although it was a TV Anime product, the product itself was only released 4 months after the start of the broadcast.
In charge of Digivice development

D-3

The secret story behind the birth of the “D-3” series
The design is based on a transceiver made overseas.

We started to plan a new Digivice for the TV anime “Digimon Adventure 02”. We started to think about the specifications after the gimmicks of the anime, “new character design” and “armor evolution”, were decided, and originally, we were aiming to release it in April 2000, but no matter how hard we tried, we couldn’t make it in time… so we pushed it back to June. The product was pilled up with specifications; not only did it have the pedometer function, radio wave receiver, and communication battle inherited from “Digivice”, but cable communication with the “Wonderswan” was also included, the challenges with the software development and debugging are an unforgettable memory even after these nearly 20 years.

Also, since it was possible to give partner Digimon all the Digimentals, not just the Armor Bodies that appeared in the anime, we had to design new Digimon that only appeared in the “D-3”. Since we couldn’t make the pixel art after completing the official illustration, the Armor Bodies that didn’t appear in the anime had their Dot Sprite made based on initial rough drafts when the design was still being thought about. That is the reason why the Official Illustrations and the Dot Art don’t look similar.

The design of the main body is based on the very stylish transceivers that were being made overseas at the time, so that image was used as a motif for the design. The body was also made with a special mold configuration and method that wasn’t used in toys at the time because we wanted to express the texture of the grip of the main body with soft resin.

One thing that left an impression in terms of the game’s specifications is that you can’t evolve to the Ultimate Body unless you communicate with the “WonderSwan”. It was a specification that was incorporated as part of the marketing strategy to link with products other than toys, but we regret that we went too far as the users couldn’t evolve to the “strongest Digimon” they wanted the most with the toy alone.
In charge of D-3 development

D-Ark

The secret story behind the birth of the “D-Ark” series
The concept was based on being mature and cool

The third in the “Digivice” series and appears in the TV anime “Digimon Tamers”. Planning and development started at a fairly early stage, taking into account the lessons learned from the “D-3” series. We started studying a way for cards of the “Digimon Card Game” to be readen and so the planning was repeatedly discussed with the aim of incorporating a barcode reader. However, it turned out that the size of the main body would be extremely large alongside high costs for electronic components with a selling price of over 10,000 yen. We decided that this price was too high for a product that children would enjoy, so we made it change to the password printed on the card being inputted into the main unit and then the card is slashed into it making a pseudo-card reading method.

The design for the body was based on the concept of making a design that was slightly more mature and cool. In fact, the design was inspired by a fishing reel, I saw a concept model of a reel in a magazine or something that had a dull chrome finish and a streamlined shape that looked really cool, and that is why I asked the designer to use it as a motif. Additionally, the front LCD bezel was given a candy coating by applying colored clear paint on top of a silver base coat to give it a sense of luxury for a toy from that time. One thing I remember from the D-Ark is that there were unexpected specifications that emerged during the programming phase. This is a confession after more than 20 years. At that time, the programming for the toy was sent to the IC manufacturer for the final ROM writing; once that ROM was written, it couldn’t be rewritten. Also, it is necessary to order a large amount of IC parts in anticipation of the production schedule, so if there are unexpected specifications in the program, hundreds of thousands of ICs need to be discarded.

After finishing debugging Version 1, we sent the ROM to the IC maker so they could start IC production, but then it was discovered that Omegamon and Imperialdramon, which should be obtained by clearing all areas, couldn’t be obtained. The full clearing required communication with WonderSwan and had a high level of difficulty, so this situation where the last bonus Digimon weren’t available was quite serious. Not only would discarding the ICs result in significant financial losses, but more importantly, it would mean that the product couldn’t be released in April, when the anime started airing. We reviewed it to see whether there was a way to get the bonus Digimon in time for the release, and as a result of that, we devised a method. The program had a feature called “Debug Mode,” there was a function that switches to this special mode for debugging when you turn on a switch that is not implemented in the product and perform a specific operation. Entering a specific password with the debug mode turned ON would complete all characters, so the Card Slash specification was implemented in the “D-Ark”. Therefore, we rushed to add a rubber switch that can turn on the debug mode inside the battery cover of the main unit. A while after the release, the procedure and password for the Digimon were posted in the V Jump magazine with the headline “A hidden function was discovered!”, It was arranged so that players could obtain Omegamon and Imperialdramon (strictly speaking, it would complete all Digimon…) following those steps. With this method, we were able not only to avoid discarding the IC and remaking but also to release the D-Ark at the same time as the long-awaited release of the anime. However, I still have bitter memories of the game not being able to be played as I had originally hoped.
In charge of D-Ark development

D-Scanner

The secret story behind the birth of the “D-Scanner” series
I believe it is a product that can evoke an intuitive sense of excitement, making people wonder, “What kind of Digimon I’ll get from this barcode?”

This is the fourth Digivice and it appears in the TV anime “Digimon Frontier”. Still during the development of the D-Ark, discussions on methods to read barcodes were ongoing within a separate team. Meanwhile, due to repeated discussions with American toy makers, they were able to utilize their circuit design and barcode reading mechanism. The barcode reading mechanism had constraints that prevented changing its dimensions, so we had to design the main body within the constraints of size and aspect ratio, which was a first for the Digivice series. As for the barcode reading program, we improved the reading accuracy based on the provided program. The screen size is 32 x 32 dots, which is the same as the previous of the “Digivice” series, but D-Scanner has changed the sound output from the piezoelectric buzzer to a speaker system, which greatly improved the sound reproduction.

Regarding the gameplay, the previous three versions involved adventuring while you walk, but with the D-Scanner, the gameplay has transformed into a collection playstyle, where players can directly obtain Digimon by scanning barcodes from the “Digital Monster Card Game” and various other products anywhere in the world. So although the immersion of becoming a character from the anime alongside a partner has diminished, I believe that the product still provides an intuitive sense of excitement, making people wonder, “What kind of Digimon can I get from the barcode?” It offers a different kind of enjoyment compared to previous Digimon LCD toys. We hoped to make players to enjoy a different kind of enjoyement from the past Digimon LDC toys making a product that makes them feel the intuitive excitement of “What kind of Digimon I’ll get from this barcode?”.
In charge of D-Scanner development

Digivice iC

The secret story behind the birth of the “Digivice iC” series
The first time an Anime tie-in product was equipped with training elements

This was the Digivice developed for the TV anime “Digimon Savers”. This product had various twists and turns, and at the beginning of the project, we were developing it as a device that could read data from an 8 cm CD. While we were able to overcome the cost and technical issues, we couldn’t secure a production route for 8cm CDs, so we had to abandon that idea. Afterward, we quickly reconsidered the plan and decided to incorporate the item interaction using the power terminal and circuit-equipped cards (Mini D-Plates) used in “Digimon Accel,” we also incorporated infrared communication interlocking with the Data Carddass cabinets.

The main body design features a simple square shape with the anime’s logo design reproduced on the operation buttons and engravings. On the back, the infrared communication transmitter and receiver are laid out in the image of a digital camera lens. In addition, there’s a connector at the bottom of the body making communication with “Digimon Accel” and “Digimon Mini” is possible. “Digivice iC” is the first Anime tie-in product to adopt a training element, so the gameplay has changed significantly compared to the past “Digivice” series. There is also a feature that allows you to use currency for the first time in a Digimon portable device, so you can get rewards (points) by battling in the Colosseum and purchase items such as weapons at the shop. I think that “Digivice IC” is by far the most fun of all the anime-like toys.
In charge of Digivice iC development

Digimon Xros Loader

The secret story behind the birth of the “Digimon Xros Loader” series
A colored LCD screen, music player, and a wide range of features were added

It was the first time the TV anime “Digimon” series would be broadcasted after four years and we were planning a new LCD Toy to coincide with that broadcast. We adopted the portable digital music player that was popular around 2010 as a motif for the main body making a specification that allows you to actually listen to music just like any “music player”. Not only that, buy we continued to incorporate cutting-edge gadget elements, such as creating Digimon by picking up various sounds with a microphone, and inputting data by operating dialsm, all of these specification that had never existed before for Digimon.

The biggest change was the introduction of a colored LCD for the first time in a “Digimon” LCD toy. While the know-how of using colored LCD screens in LCD toys was gained from the “Tamagotchi” LCD products, there were many new specifications such as the drawing speed in battle, the music player, and the sound collection of the microphone, so it was a highly difficult development.

Also, since the TV anime “Digimon Xros Wars” has become a battle between armies, instead of having training specification the main gameplay was to collect a lot of Digimon. In addition, it ended up having card battle-like specifications, such teaming up Digimon and powering up multiple collected Digimon with Digi Xros.
In charge of Digimon Xros Loader development

Digivice:

The secret story behind the birth of the “Digivice:” series
A LED light emission function was incorporated to reproduce the evolution sequence from the show

21 years have passed since the start of broadcasting in 1999, and the TV anime “Digimon Adventure” has been rebooted and reborn with a completely new story, so we aimed to commercialize the Digivice of the chosen children, updating it to a modern version. The biggest feature of this rebirth is, of course, the eight full-color LEDs mounted around the LCD screen to reproduce the evolution sequence from the show. Like the previously released “Complete Selection Animation Digivice,” this new Digivice is designed to illuminate in the colors of the chosen children, accompanied by their partner Digimon with whom they embark on adventures. The product development progressed to not only update the design but also the function.

Regarding the LED production, we were particular about the flashy lighting that reproduced the evolution sequence from the show, when the users turn on the power for the first time after purchasing it, I want them to be surprised and say, “This Digivice is going to be something special!”, at least that is what I was thinking. To achieve this, we incorporated a flashy rainbow illumination effect where eight LEDs light up in the colors of the chosen children on the Bandai logo screen that appears immediately after powering on the device. Many of those who have played the game already know, this rainbow lighting effect can be seen not only on the Bandai logo screen immediately after turning on the power, but also when you clear the secret area. If there are people who haven’t seen it yet, we would be happy if they could play the game all over again.
In charge of Digivice: development

Digivice -VV-

The secret story behind the birth of the “Digivice -VV-” series
The answer we arrived at, “Digimon’s individuality”

The “VITAL BRACELET BE Digivice VV-” aimed to evolve further from the “Digivice -V-” with the product concept of “turning physical activity into a game”.

We proceeded with the planning with the aim of creating something that would satisfy even more users who have loved the “Vital Bracelet” series so far, but also have product specifications that could be enjoyed by new Digimon fans who have not yet played it. Prior to development, we brainstormed, “What should we do to improve Vital Bracelet?”, and finally arrived at one answer. That answer was “Digimon’s individuality”. Based on the philosophy that “If the lifestyle and exercise cycle of each user is different, it is only natural for Digimon to have their own individuality”, we decided to add a function that “the result of training is directly reflected in the status and it is visualized as a rank”, which wasn’t in the original “Vital Bracelet”. In addition to the specifications of the program, we aimed to create a world where users can use the “VITAL BRACELET BE” in their favorite color to match their lifestyle.

At the same time, the app “VITAL BRACELET ARENA” has also undergone a major version upgrade, finally “real-time online battles” between users became a reality. “Now you can battle rivals from around the world with your own raised Digimon anytime, anywhere” and “That’s why you’ll be even more motivated to raise more Digimon”. This app was born under that vision. I think that raises the fun of playing “VITAL BRACELET BE Digivice -VV-” by several levels, so I would like players to enjoy them together.

This product was born by gathering the essence of the 25-year history of the Digital Monster LCD toys, but our evolution will never come to an end. We will continue to surprise Digimon fans around the world and develop products that will make them love Digimon even more, so we appreciate your continued support.
In charge of VITAL BRACELET BE Digivice -VV- development

Creator of everything “Digimon”! The developer of the first “Digital Monster”

Between the second and third chapters, there’s an interview with Ayumu Horimura, the developer that was in charge of the first Digital Monster. This is someone very special to the series and before this one, I only knew of one interview with him. A lot of fun stuff is shared in this Q&A, so let’s take a look at what they have to say.

≫≫ About Planning & Production ≪≪

Q 1 Before “Digital Monster” what kind of products did you make?
I was involved in the planning and development of Shueisha’s character products. After that, my boss asked me if I wanted to be in charge of a new product, Tamagotchi… I was a graduate of an art college, so I think he thought I would like something unusual (laughs). That is how I was put in charge of the planning and development site. This was the first time I worked with Kenji Watanabe and Wiz.

Q 2 What made you decide to make a “Tamagotchi for boys”?
Tamagotchi was created based on the concept of “raising a Digital Pet with a small toy machine” incorporating video game elements. Although there were some concerns, when we actually tried test marketing it, there was a significant response. So, I thought, “This toy should be enjoyable for boys too!” …and immediately laid the foundation for the concept of “Digital Monsters”.

Q 3 What was the origin of the phrase “Fighting Tamagotchi”?
At first, since it was a Tamagotchi for boys, we just named it “Otokotchi” (laughs). The development concept of “Fighting Tamagotchi” emerged because Tamagotchi already existed, so we came up with a way to express that would be the most easily understood when explaining it to customers, manufacturers, and other departments.

Q 4 How many people were there on the initial production staff?
As production and development staff, there were two of us from our side (Bandai), my boss and myself. For the design, we continued to rely on Watanabe Kenji-san, who worked on Tamagotchi. He could draw anything, even monsters (laughs). There was also Kitagawara Makoto-san, who was the contact person at Wiz at the time. The Ok for the planning decisions was made by me, my boss, and WiZ-san. The team was small in number, but that made communication much easier, and it was enjoyable.

Q 5 How were the designs for Digimon decided?
For character design, we focused on creating powerful-looking monsters. The concept had a clear influence from American comic shadows. We came up with monster ideas like making Tyrannomon because we wanted to create a monster with a Tyrannosaurus motif, we converted that design into pixel art at the same time working in parallel.

Q 6 Why was the initial number of Digimon included in the program limited to 14?
We were limited to 13 monsters in the program. Later, we realized that we could add one more monster it fit just half the size of the LCD. That’s why we added Mamemon. I chose the top slot of the “Perfect Body” to add a sense of surprise.

Q 7 As a “Training LCD toy,” was there anything that you had to be particularly conscious about?
Since the main target audience was students that were in upper grades of elementary school and middle school students, we made sure to align Digimon’s waking and sleeping times with their daily routines. So they would be awake and active by the time they returned from school, and they would go to sleep by around 9 p.m. at the latest.

Q 8 Why was the life span of Digimon set to about 10 days?
At the time, the small battery life was about 3 weeks. It would be sad if the first Digimon raised died because its battery ran out, so we wanted to make it last long enough so they could raise it again after death. Since we couldn’t add a save function to the system, when the battery runs out, the game is reset. Also, since it is a living creature, we wanted to give it a life span to make it more realistic.

Q 9 Did you have any intentions regarding a desired way of playing?
Since Digimon have a lifespan of about 10 days, players can reflect on their actions. When they felt the desire to raise a Digimon that had died, they could recreate the past 10 days and encounter the same Digimon again. I also wanted to encourage a sense of enjoyment similar to observing and nurturing living creatures.

Q 10 How was the process of deciding on the Dot Designs?
We first created rough designs in dot art based on the illustrations by Watanabe Kenji-san. After that, we would check if the finished rough designs accurately represented the original illustrations. Such as the shape of the limbs and whether the patterns matched the illustrations. We also had to ensure that the silhouettes didn’t resemble others too closely and so on.

Q 11 Where did the idea for Digimon’s attributes (vaccine, data, virus) come from?
That idea was from Volcano Ota-san, but we took the terminology from the Internet. We wanted to make it a rock-paper-scissors specification, so we made 3 of them.

Q 12 From the planning to the release, how long did that last?
It was roughly 8 months. Not only we had the foundation from Tamagotchi, but just like our target audience, we were boys (laughs). This made it easier to envision and it took shape very quickly.

≫≫ About Digimon ≪≪

Q 13 Why was the name “Digital Monster” chosen?
Since boys like monsters, we decided to use the term “Monster”. Also, at that time, computer software was just beginning to spread, and the word “digital” had a futuristic sound to it. The monsters were just dots, so we felt it would be good to combine the two and make them “Digital Monsters”. We soon trademarked “Digital Monster” and its abbreviation, “Digimon”.

Q 14 What was the biggest change from Tamagotchi?
At the time, Tamagotchi did not have names for each character. We knew that boys would want to know the names and strengths of the characters, so we decided to give each Digimon a name of their own. We thought it would be nice if the characters were called “〇〇mon,” so they would be easily recognizable as Digimon, and that’s how it turned out.

Q 15 Regarding the evolution system, were there any specific aspects you focused on?
Since when they are in the Baby Stage, they will cry when they are hungry. This was designed to help players get used to “caring for Digimon” from that early stage. The fact that they can’t fight because they’re babies is another way to make them feel real as living creatures.

≫≫ About PR and events ≪≪

Q 17 What made you decide to post an article on Jump at the time?
Since I was working with Shueisha at the time, I brought it to Weekly Shonen Jump, which was unique among manga magazines in that it had a proper hobby page.

Q 18 What was the main reason you chose Weekly Shonen Jump?
I wanted to spread Digimon as cartoon or anime characters and go beyond being just a toy. At that time, you would start serialization in Jump, it would turn into a hot topic and later an anime… That was the golden line for characters. I wanted to put Digimon in that scheme of success.

Q 19 Is there anything that left an impression on you from your interaction with the editorial department of Weekly Shonen Jump at the time?
At a very early stage, I asked if they could serialize a Digimon manga. Looking back on it now, it was a rather drastic proposal (laughs). Through various circumstances, we got the manga “C’mon Digimon” by Yabuno Tenya-sensei, who later serialized “Digimon Adventure V Tamer 01” in “V Jump”, in 1997 in Akamaru Jump. I was very happy about that.

Q 20 Is there any article or event covering that was published on JUMP that you have a special place in your heart?
The “Nationwide Tour” section in which a character called “Digimonkey” fights Digimon from all over Japan and distributes gifts to children in order to spread the word about Digimon. I got a little sick when I was offered the chance to appear there… That’s how I decided to hand over Digimon to Ota-san.

Q 21 Was there any expression about Digimon you is particular about from those days?
During those days there were children who asked Bandai directly how to raise their Tamagotchi and Digimon. When that happened, we would give fluffy answers like “It seems they wake up around ○○ o’clock” or “It seems that you should do ○○”. I didn’t want them to think “If you do this, they will definitely grow like this!” because they are a “living thing”. The same expression was used in articles and strategy guides from those days.

Q 22 Did you participate in promotional events at department stores and such?
I don’t think those were around the time of the “Digital Monster” series. Those events started with Volcano Ota-san, who was in charge of the “Pendulum” series. That was largely due to the success of the character “Volcano Ota”. I think the D-1 Grand Prix was also his idea.

≫≫ The expanding World of Digimon ≪≪

Q 23 In the TV Anime Digimon after evolving to return to the Child Stage, who had that idea?
I think that was a proposal from Toei Animation, according to them there wasn’t an image of friendship between a large monster and a child. And that worked, even after a Digimon evolved…. like Greymon and WarGreymon, it’s easy to understand that they are still Agumon.

Q 24 Do you have any memories with the users during those days?
I was at a Bookstore and was wearing a Digimon around my waist when a fifth-grade boy told me, “Let’s battle”. I said, “It’s fine, but I’m really strong” (laughs). As expected, I won three times in a row, and then he said, “Let me borrow your Digimon, big brother” so I gave it to him… and he made my Digimon eat protein a lot (laughs). During those days there was a specification that if you increase their Muscle Strength with protein, they would become a little weaker. Said, “I understand now” (laughs). But, for me as a creator, it was a great pleasure to realize that really was something that could be enjoyed across generations.

Q 25 Do you have anything to say about the future of Digimon?
I think that Digimon is now gaining popularity mainly among the adults who played with it back then, but I don’t think that the elements that captured the hearts of young boys that were present in Digimon back then have disappeared.
However, adults know what Digimon is because they have played with LCD toys, but today’s children don’t have much opportunity to experience what Digimon is. Because they don’t know, it’s hard for them to be interested in Digimon. If we can carefully convey to them what Digimon are, I think they will continue to find them attractive.
I think the beauty of Digimon is that there are no limitations. They are characters with freedom of expression. That is why we need to throw away the fixed concept of “Because they are Digimon, they have to be like this”, while still not forgetting to convey the charm of Digimon. I hope they continue to spread to a wide range of children.

CHAPTER THREE – DIGITAL MONSTER MUSEUM & HISTORY

Chapter 3 looks back on the history of Digimon, which began with liquid crystal toys. To commemorate the 25th anniversary, we will showcase a list of games, comics, and animation works released so far, starting with the exhibition introduction of the “Digimon Museum” held in the summer of 2022. Also, let’s look back on the era when each and every one of us raised their “Digimon” with the results of the questionnaire.
CHAPTER THREE – DIGITAL MONSTER MUSEUM & HISTORY

All the contents of Chapter 3 have been explained in that introduction, and there isn’t much more to say. Some art that was featured in the Digimon Museum was included here, just like some photos of the event and the list of Digimon works released in Japan that were used during that event.

It’s very nice to take a look at what happened during the event, although it would have been nice if there were more pages showing more of the art that was used and also other trivia that was only shown there.

Conclusion

This book was an amazing experience for me in many ways. This was the first time I ever imported something, so the experience and wait for this to finally get here were out of this world (it took a lot of time since I had to choose some of the slowest methods for the shipment because of price, so sorry for having to wait this much time since the release for the summary and review).

About the content in general, it was really amazing to see so many Dot Arts for so many Digimon and the development history of so many V-Pets. At the same time, the missing, or even just limited, content in this book across all the chapters makes me a bit sad.

As I said before, they could easily have made each one of these chapters into their own book of around the same size as this one so they could finally complete everything. Much of the development images we have in this book are ones we have seen in other events, like the already mentioned Digimon Museum, but the fact that a proper book with “all the information” never existed really makes this one stand out by the range of information it covers. Even if it’s not “all” in every chapter, the fact it covers as many topics as it does is impressive.

The compromises that might have been needed to make this book work in the limited space really show in some parts. For some reason, the so-called “reprints” of the original toys, the anniversary versions, were all just put in the same part as the original version. So the Dot Art used in Digital Monster Ver.20th or Pendulum Ver.20th were considered a part of Digital Monster and Digimon Pendulum without any information about the extensive work that was done on them. The same happened with the Digivices such as the various Ver.15th.

This doesn’t feel right in many ways, especially considering that there were interviews and information about them that really shows how much work went into making some of them, such as an entire interview dedicated to the production of the Digivice Ver.15th that was made for Premium Bandai in 2014. There should be a lot more information about certain devices.

There is also some sprite work that is missing from this book; the saddest example is the lack of the unique Blast Modes that were featured in Digimon Accel. When this device was released, it expanded upon the Blast Mode that was featured in Digimon Pendulum X 3.0 and introduced many unique artworks for certain Digimon. Currently, we only have archives of those that were made because fans, such as @IAllysonMendesI, archived their sprites. It would have been amazing for this book to finally acknowledge the sprites and show them all in a single place (maybe even give lore to them), but no, the Blast Modes weren’t featured anywhere in the Digimon Accel pages, even though they were mentioned in the Digimon Pendulum X 3.0 page.

But, in the Digivice iC, we had a lot of reuse of concepts from Accel, such as the Digisoul, which is basically the D.N.A. with another name. And the focus of the Digivice Burst was Burst Mode, which was clearly inspired by Blast Mode, which is, most of the time, just a Digimon showing an energy aura, and Burst Mode, which does appear in the gallery.

Why does Burst Mode, which is basically just the sprite of the original Digimon but smaller and inside of an aura, have such an important showcase in the book but not Blast Mode, which is much more mysterious and has a more unique approach?

Things like that really show how much bigger and more complete this book could have been. And this isn’t exclusive to “things from many years ago that maybe they don’t have the archives anymore, but even current material is also lacking all the potential it could have had. Take the Vital Bracelet, for example. One of the most important details that are presented in them is the background; they are chosen as if they are a part of the Digital World and are related to the setting of the Digimon that are found in that DiM Card. According to the person in charge of the Vital Bracelet, they want to expand it so they can maybe make a map of the Digital World or an adventure book.

When the Vital Bracelet was first released, the V-Jump Starter Guide had a small introduction to the settings of those places, connecting them to the Digimon found there and their characteristics. This book would have been the perfect place to finally update that list of settings and include information about the stages.

A similar piece of content that could have been in this book would be a full Xros Loader gallery. Although the book does contain the sprite work of the Digimon featured in the LCD Toy, the Xros Loader was full of other sprite work that made it feel more complete, such as detailed backgrounds for the places where the player could go and even various Digimon items. Recently, there was a fan project to extract those sprites from the Xros Loader, so it could have been great to see official material for this kind of material as well.

In general, the content of the main part of the book was amazing. The stories that were featured were, for the most part, full of never-seen-before details, and I’m very happy with them. The interview with Ayumu Horimura brings light to a rarely seen part of the history of Digimon. So just by that, I’m very happy with my acquisition of the book. If anything, I just wanted a few more pages about similar content for this to be a perfect experience. Imagine if instead of just Horimura, we could also have Q&A from other staff members like Makoto Kitagawara or Yuusuke Maekawa so we could get more diverse perspectives about the series. I would have really loved that. In fact, I would be very happy with the 14 lore pages being removed if this was used to complete those spaces that I felt were lacking.

The sad truth is that making an “ultimate resource book” is impossible for Digimon. Basically, any topic you can think of could fill an entire book just about it. In fact, I would have much preferred if they had done a book about the Digital Monster and Digivices series individually.

My dream in regard to Digimon content is that all the more important material will finally be released in a non-premium way. The previous artbooks, although full of content, were Premium Bandai exclusives; this new book was the first time in a long time since Digimon released something similar, even in physical bookstores. So I’m perfectly fine with reprinting information from the previous artbooks because of that premium tag, but the space really didn’t help to make the best version of what this could have been.

The evolution of Digimon’s settings is something I tried to chronicle at first in my Digimon History series, but even that is only touching the surface when it comes to Digimon’s settings. The settings as originally made by WiZ were done to create a backbone to be built upon by external media, but as they became more complex and branched out, Digimon became just too big and contradictory, and we are now at a point where there’s at least a small attempt to make sense of it because it was already reaching a point where some people had difficulty working with Digimon.

This book has so much information about the settings, incorporating stuff from old books while making new connections, and it’s really good in many aspects but still far from being the “ultimate compilation of Digimon settings” that some fans might have wanted. In fact, some fans were concerned about certain things that were lacking from previous books or things that might be assumed to be “the most common” but are still not listed in the book’s settings. Take, for example, the fact that no “easily available Digimon LCD toy setting source” mentions settings in regards to Digimon being able or not to go back and forth between the two worlds. When this new book brought so many sci-fi answers, some fans did wonder if they were removing any tangible connection between the two worlds and the Digimon were forever, in the LCD settings, locked as computer programs inside the network. But this isn’t really true; it’s just that the one piece of modern setting compilation that mentions that was exclusive to limited-time events.

Currently, there are mainly three sources of Digimon’s setting information. The easiest to access was the Digimon Web; not only did it have the usual Digimon Encyclopedia and About, but it also had new articles such as “Digimon Profile”. There’s also this new artbook, but there was also the information that was given at the Digimon Museum and later compiled for the Digimon Fan Meet Up as a booklet. The information there was much less “unique” when compared to the Artbook, being more of a reprint of what was on Digimon Web, but with some minutely updated information; for example, the Museum text does mention cases where Digimon did manifest in the Real World.

So… why hasn’t Digimon Web been updated with information from the Museum when it’s basically just the same structure as the About section, but with a few more lines of text? I can understand the information from the artbook taking some time to be implemented in other materials, but keeping certain setting elements exclusive to limited-time events when the objective is to make them widely available to both old and new fans seems very contradictory.

Comparing the different chapters, it’s surprising to see how much more clear, connected, and consistent the Digimon Ecology was in comparison to the Digital World Structure page. Even with both lacking certain information, the Ecology page was able to give a complete view of a Digimon’s physiology without bringing more questions than answers.

This book isn’t really this complete retcon of the Digimon series as some fans might have understood initially; it’s just yet another piece of the puzzle that is Digimon that isn’t there to overwrite anything and merely gives a different perspective, but that really isn’t enough for certain fans. In fact, the worldview as depicted in Digimon Seekers, although clearly building upon certain elements from this book, already depicts certain events and elements that contradict in many ways what was depicted in the book, as if showing that the true scope of that reality was far bigger than the researcher of the book initially believed.

So while this book is already much better than what I expected and I’m very happy with it, it’s sad that we are still a long way from my dream of having a proper archive for Digimon’s setting and development. I really would have been much happier if the 14 pages dedicated to the lore were instead used to finish the Device commentary and Dot Art.

Still, I’ll be sharing the information regarding the settings in this book as a part of my current research, you can keep a closer look here. If this book is opening the stage for us to finish this research, this is another product like Survive that really is motivating me to finally make this big archive a reality. I can’t wait to finally see what the World of Digimon has in all of its totality.

5 thoughts on “Product Review: Digital Monster 25th Anniversary Book –Digimon Device & Dot History–”

S U P E R T R A M P

¡Tu compromiso con el fandom es lo mejor que le pasó a Digimon!

Las comunidades de todos los idiomas en occidente estarían atoradas en otra década de no ser por tus colaboradores y tú trabajando desde los tiempos del facebook de Universo Digimon, muchos posts de ahí le dieron forma al contenido que de YouTube que varios enamorados del lore nos hicieron llegar para expandir la comprensión de Digimon y tras tantos años de lucha llegamos a este artbook. ¡Gracias por tanto!

Hace prácticamente nada estaba leyendo en tu twitter un hilo sobre Demon y 02 (y V-Tamer…), y viendo lo mucho que te empeñas en ilustrar cada post quise saber, ¿no has tenido problemas en el límite de imágenes que subes por día a Twitter debido a la implementación de Twitter Blue? Tenía entendido que quienes no se suscribieran a ese servicio estarían limitados a postear unas pocas imágenes cada 24h.

Mil gracias por todo, mil gracias.

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June 20, 2023 at 3:38 pm Reply
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