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Agumon II (and Burst Mode)
But this Agumon is a bit larger than his original 1995 counterpart (reaching easily the size of a small child, whereas the original Agumon barely reaches the hip of a child) and he has... he has these weird arm-straps? That's apparently enough for the various Digimon wikis and Bandai itself to consider this as "Agumon (2006 Anime Version)". Okay? I don't really contest the decision of bringing back an old favourite as a star character because that'd be marketable as all hell, and Savers!Agumon is pretty charming, but, jeez, really? Arm straps? I don't mind the character, but since I've been giving separate ratings for 'variant' species, this is a pretty piss-poor variant of the original design.
His partner, main character man Daimon Masaru (Marcus Damon in the dub) is a bit of a simple character. He's a bizarre beast, for sure, having the standard shonen hero protagonist of "Imma punch him in the face!" without actually having any sort of superpowers of his own -- but he's rewarded by the fact that the world of Savers runs on emotions and Daimon punching things in the face is the required catalyst for Agumon to evolve into his more powerful forms. Daimon himself is... he's not quite as safe and static as Takuya or Daisuke, going through his own character development of dealing with general loss (people die a lot in Savers) and with the revelation that his presumed-dead father has actually been working with the Men In Black organization trying to deal with the whole Digital World thing and hide its existence from the public. There's also the general debate about who's the real villain, but I honestly feel that our main characters basically just react to that conflict moreso than actually influence it all that much. Then again, it has been some time since I've watched Digimon Savers.Anyway, Daimon's neat. He's not my favourite Digimon character, but I definitely like him and the rest of the Savers cast enough.
2/10 as a variant of Agumon. GeoGreymon
Agumon II (which is how I'm going to refer to him from now on) evolves into a whole slew of new evolutions that are similar and inspired by the original Agumon's anime evolutions, but they are different so that they can market the merchandise and series differently... but GeoGreymon over here is just... it's just quite literally Greymon with a bizarrely more human set of gross man-chest proportions, and a fuck-ton of misplaced spikes glued onto his shoulders and the sides of his beetle-chitin upper jaw. It's really, really bizarre, and this is how not to do a redesign of an older design. I mean, at least it actually looks different from original Greymon, which isn't something that X-Antibody Greymon can say, but as much as I don't want to hate on GeoGreymon here... I really, really think it's a huge, huge step back from the original version. And it's not because it came in a bit later either, because the Xros Wars version of Greymon is actually something I find to be pretty badass and an improvement to the original design. I'm not sure if the art team behind GeoGreymon actively wanted to give GeoGreymon this uncannily human posture to homage... Godzilla's old-school dinosaur posture or something? Original Greymon was pretty Godzilla-esque already. This one just looks disturbing. 1/10.RizeGreymon (a.k.a. RiseGreymon)
Ah, here you go! This is how you do "similar, but different". So the original Greymon evolves into MetalGreymon, exchanging one of his arm, his head and his chest with grungy cyborg parts that look like it came from a 90's post-apocalyptic setting, and grew some patchwork corpse-like wings. RizeGreymon does the exact same thing, swapping out his arm, head and chest with robot parts, sprouts wings... but that's where the similarities stop, because instead of just doing the same thing, RizeGreymon takes the same concept but applies a wholly different aesthetic to it. Instead of a chunky, cyberpunk set of robot parts that is used by so many older robot Digimon, RizeGreymon instead takes inspiration from Japanese aesthetic like the Gundams of the world, bringing to us a design that's unmistakably a homage to MetalGreymon, while still doing its own thing. Do I prefer MetalGreymon to RizeGreymon? Sure as hell do, but that's because of my own aesthetic preferences, and I can appreciate RizeGreymon as doing its own thing and looking pretty unique.That's a pretty cool-looking set of quasi-skeletal giant mecha wings, and a pretty badass giant revolver as his robot arm, too, and it doesn't hurt that RizeGreymon does have a fair amount of memorable scenes in the Savers anime as well. I really do love that his arm is just a giant revolver gun, by the way. A nuclear-powered revolver. It's just so out of place and looks so bizarre on a cyborg-dinosaur-mech, but at the same time adds its own charm to RizeGreymon's design. Out of the Perfect-level cyborg main characters, RizeGreymon is kind of my least favourite, but I can still appreciate him for what it is. Plus, he covers up his man-chest, which is definitely great.
7/10.ShineGreymon
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| Ruin Mode |
The Ultimate level of this evolution line is ShineGreymon, and while I'm not the biggest fan of this sort of aesthetic, I actually do love the progression from Agumon II to GeoGreymon to RizeGreymon to ShineGreymon, having a clear, distinctive visual continuity between a small dinosaur to a larger dinosaur to a cyborg dinosaur into a seemingly fully-robotic dinosaur. Or, well, a cyborg dinosaur in a full Kamen Rider suit. It feels a lot, lot more cohesive than dropping dragon knight warrior man WarGreymon as MetalGreymon's evolution. Again, ShineGreymon isn't entirely an aesthetic I'm a big fan of, but it's a pretty cool looking design as far as semi-mechanical anime mecha-people go. I don't have much to say about it beyond "it's neat". It's animated relatively well in the anime as well, which gives ShineGreymon a leg up over the surplus of other similar designs in Digimon. Also, not seen in this official art is his "GeoGrey Sword", which is a double-bladed sword with a circular handle, which is... neat.ShineGreymon's lore is that it absorbs solar energy and weaponizes it, which is kind of neat. Also seen briefly in the show is ShineGreymon: Ruin Mode, which is the SkullGreymon "evil evolution" equivalent of ShineGreymon, and it's basically just a duller version of ShineGreymon whose wings have transformed into a mass of black flames. As passe as black repaints are, Ruin Mode at leads into a pretty significant part of the story and led to a pretty dramatic moment, so at least this black repaint has a story behind it.
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| Burst Mode |
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| Agumon: Burst Mode |
Ultimately, while not my kind of thing, it's clearly meant to design to look cool (if, admittedly, a generic sort of cool) compared to all the other previous entries of this sort of aesthetic.
5/10.Wanyamon
And now we jump to the partner of the archetypal "cool, competent" partner-slash-rival to the hot-headed main character. We don't actually have a Baby I form for this evolution line, and it borrows from either Botamon, Popomon or Dodomon, all pre-existing Baby I's. The Baby II form is Wanyamon, which is... a furry cat head with a tail. Which evolves into an entirely canine evolution line. I'm not mad, that's the sort of Digimon logic I've known and accepted. Wanyamon's kind of a standard baby, a head-blob with a tail. Actually, after so many post-02 Baby II's having limbs and whatnot, it's neat to have something that's just a head and some features. Actually, I'm not sure if Gaomon was ever seen in his Wanyamon form in Savers.... eh. 4/10. Gaomon
You notice that I opened with Thoma and not his partner Gaomon, because, well, I vividly remember Thoma a lot. Gaomon is... he's basically a yes-man, and his design isn't one I'm particularly fond of. A humanoid wolf or fox is to be expected in a monster anime, even if I'm not the biggest fan of that aesthetic... but really? They just slapped a pair of boxing gloves and a bandana on this dog-boy and called it a day? I dunno. Gaomon feels utterly lazy to me, and even though I've watched an entire series starring him as one of the main characters, I've always felt that he's honestly an awkward-looking design. Throw in some utterly awkward action scenes in the anime, which really tries to animate a dude with the hands permanently in punching gloves do action moves that aren't boxing punches, and it's just not a design I like. I don't hate him, and at least his anime voice actor is neat, but he's one that I really just don't care about. I do like the little fact that he's apparently a sub-species of Gazimon.
4/10. (+1 point for anime)Gaogamon (also, BlackGaogamon)
And I'm honestly pretty sad to say that my m'eh feeling with the Gaomon line extends to his evolutions. And I really do feel bad -- Gaomon is such a pleasant, polite character in Digimon Savers even if he doesn't have that distinct of a personality, but I just don't really feel like any of his designs are appealing to me. And that's not because I dislike wolves either, because I love wolves and dogs. I just don't think what Gaogamon did with it -- again, slapping a bunch of ripped punching gloves and giving weird ribbon-hands -- ends up making Gaogamon look particularly cool. It just looks forced and pretty incohesive visually. Is Gaogamon appealing to the kiddied? I can see Gaomon and MirageGaogamon being appealing even if they aren't to my personal taste, but Gaogamon just looks bizarrely off.Because it's a bit hard to portray a wolf boxing -- especially with claws ripping through those boxing gloves -- Gaogamon actually spends most of his fights breathing a small tornado called "Spiral Blow", which is one of the sillier-sounding attack names in Digimon. There's also a black-coloured variant, which... eh. It exists. I genuinely can't say much about him. Can't say I like his name either.
3/10.MachGaogamon (also, BlackMachGaogamon)
The Perfect-level evolution for Gaomon is... this... werewolf... cyborg... wrestling champion? What? I mean, at least it looks better than the awkward, disproportionate Lobomon evolutions back in Frontier, I'll tell you that much. I can't really say I like him, though. The design's just too busy, and it neither cool enough nor quirky enough for me to go "all right, it's neat". MachGaogamon just sort of... exists. I don't hate him, but I definitely don't like him. Having metal gloves and a wrestling belt on his chest is a neat little expansion of Gaomon's boxing theme, but the random cyborg parts, the jet engines slapped onto his back, the random goggles... I dunno. It's just ends up as a design that I'm genuinely just m'eh about. Also, a black-repaint version exists. I don't really care about him. 3/10.MirageGaogamon (also, Burst Mode)
The Ultimate evolution of Gaomon, MirageGaogamon, is another one that's a safe, generic robot-man. It's a much more coherent design than MachGaogamon, going for a simple, straight-up wolf-themed superhero design with a cape and two honking Wolverine claws. Similar to ShineGreymon, it's a "safe" design that just looks generically cool without trying too hard either way, which is probably just as well -- I can at least say that both MirageGaogamon and ShineGreymon are pleasant-looking, which isn't something I can say about, oh, Doragoramon or Susanoomon or MagnaGarurumon or whatever final form Agnimon turns into.
MirageGaogamon, as his name implies, moves so fast he leaves behind mirages, and just like ShineGreymon, when Thoma finally accepts his emotions or something, he turns into MirageGaogamon: Burst Mode. And unlike ShineGreymon, it's not just MirageGaogamon with some of his body parts glowing, but MirageGaogamon actually gets a whole set of new toys, getting this glowing staff with a moon-shaped sickle at one end and a flail on the other. It's something neat, I guess, and plays with the 'sun and moon' theme between the two. Overall, though, my expression towards the entire Gaomon line is genuinely just lukewarm. They're inoffensive designs, and look... okay, but I genuinely don't find much to like about them, which is a trend about the Gaomon line, I guess. They're neat things to watch in an anime, but at the same time I'm also indifferent about them as Tamagotchi-style partner creatures, as monsters, or even as a superhero design. They're so boring despite being so flashy. 3/10.PawnChessmon (Black & White)
We'll save the other Chosen Children for later, but we'll talk about some of the supporting characters in Digimon Savers. See, the setting for Digimon Savers is an organization with multiple members in it, and that includes bridge bunnies! Shirakawa Megumi and Kurosaki Miki (both having family names that are puns on 'white' and 'black') are the mission control people, and they, too, have partner Digimon -- the two PawnChessmon that correspond to their names! And while Miki and Megumi spent the entire first half of the season just adding some extra lines of dialogue or exposition, halfway through the series they show off that they, too, are actually fighters. It's the equivalent of Moneypenny or something pulling out a gun and showing off that while they might not reach James Bond level of sharpshooting or secret-agent-ing, they're still a goddamn secret agent, and I was genuinely surprised when they showed off that they can evolve their buddies, and even participated in some of the larger-scale battles.
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| Miki |
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| Megumi |
The PawnChessmons' lore is pretty interesting, too, noting that these two are apparently puppet Digimon that are born out of a chess game supercomputer, and it "strives for promotion", a fun little nod to how pawns can indeed be promoted in a game of chess. While the bio notes how PawnChessmon can only advance, the PawnChessmons we see in Savers and Xros Wars behave like any other Digimon. It's a neat design visually, too -- I've always been a fan of eyeless segmented visors, and the cute little spear and shield combo do look pretty neat. I've never really taken that close of a look on the PawnChessmon before, and I honestly didn't think I would be so fond of them before sitting down and writing this paragraph.
7/10.KnightChessmon (Black & White)
So the two PawnChessmon evolve into the Adult-level KnightChessmon, which are... well, semi-mechanical centaurs. It's a fun little combination of how the Knight piece in chess tended to be called "horse" in other languages, combining the horse and the knight. Besides that, though, I do feel that taken out of the context of being part of a chess themed set, KnightChessmon is a pretty boring centaur, especially compared to Centarumon, Sagittarimon and all the other centaur-bodied Digimon we've seen before. I do find it hilarious, though, that for a Digimon based on a knight-horse, KnightChessmon's weapon of choice is... a gigantic dart. It's not a javelin or a lance, it's straight-up noted as a dart in the bio. Maybe the bizarre movement sequence of the Knight piece in chess is what makes it attack with a weird-ass weapon? Anyway, not the biggest fan of this design, I'm afraid. 5/10.BishopChessmon
So Megumi's white PawnChessmon evolves into BishopChessmon upon reaching Perfect level. And yes, while Knights and Bishops do have the same "rank" in an actual chess game, we kind of have so many chess pieces to work with, so... BishopChessmon is a pretty simple design, a humanoid figure that combines the aesthetic of a cleric or a priest with that of a chess piece. I especially like the weird, scalloped arm robes and skirt. He's also holding a neat-looking mace-scepter thing. BishopChessmon is noted to use "technical arts", whatever it means, while praying and unleashing rays of light from its scepter, so BishopChessmon is more of a D&D style of priest than based on an actual bishop. It's a pretty neat, if not spectacular design.While originally the white Pawn/KnightChessmon can only evolve into BishopChessmon while the black line evolves into RookChessmon, subsequent video games and series would include variations for the Perfect-level evolution, but I can't find any good artwork for them.
6/10.KingChessmon
This evolution is never actually seen in the anime, but BishopChessmon's Ultimate evolution is KingChessmon, and it's... it's just PawnChessmon with a crown, a royal scepter, a cape... and the most glorious Mr. Monopoly mustache. It's the mustache that adds an extra layer of appeal to me, honestly, and considering how the King piece in chess technically is only worth a lot due to its "win condition" property, I do appreciate that it looks physically a lot weaker than Queen, Bishop, Rook and Knight. KingChessmon's bio notes that the KingChessmon works behind the scenes in order to build the "great Chessmon empire"... but no one knows what the hell that is, not even his subjects. KingChessmon is also a huge, huge coward despite being an Ultimate evolution, never attacking by himself and running away all the time. And while it's true as a King piece in a chess game...this artwork he got for running away is hilariously adorable. Hell, apparently KingChessmon's escape route is his special skill, the "King Dash", and he only attacks with "Checkmate" when victory is assured -- which is, again, how the King moves in real chess. Anyway, I do love this design. It's very charming. Must be that regal mustache. 9/10.RookChessmon
Here's a better look of RookChessmon's proportions. Miki's PawnChessmon's Perfect-level evolution is the RookChessmon, and it's... it's pretty fun! It's a giant mecha patterned after castle walls and the rook chess piece, and while I do think that the green and red doesn't make for good complimentary colours for RookChessmon, the design is neatly awkward and stiff, like this dude runs on clockwork or something. I also do love the extra little gun turrets for fingers and on his head. This thing honestly looks just so awkward, like it can't really move without tripping on those gigantic feet, but it definitely looks like it can fight -- something that is definitely appropriate for a chess piece designed after a tower. RookChessmon's profile notes that it is insanely fast, moving straight forwards like a real Rook piece in chess. Hell, in the anime, both RookChessmon and BishopChessmon managed to hold their own against Belphemon (a.k.a. one of the demon gods) for a time, which is pretty impressive!
Like BishopChessmon, a white variant of RookChessmon would later be introduced in a video game or card game or something.
9/10.QueenChessmon
Like KingChessmon, QueenChessmon here never actually made any appearance in the Savers anime, and it's basically based on the Queen piece in chess. She's easily the most boring out of the Chessmons, though, being just a lady in a vague chess-themed outfit and a cape. I'm also not sure what's going on with that staff, which goes from a heart to a red jewel to a... is that supposed to be a shaving razor? And I would probably go on a "dude is either comical or badass, but the girl one is sexualized"... except it is chess themed, and QueenChessmon looks like a knightly version of Sailor Moon or something, clearly meant to evoke a more badass silhouette more than eye candy, and that fits with the role of the Queen piece in chess being the most badass thing on the battlefield. That works for me. 6/10.Various Miscellaneous Agumon
I'm just going to lump these all here, because if Agumon II up there wasn't enough, 2006-2007 introduced six different Agumon sub-types. We've got Agumon Hakase (Professor Agumon), Nise Agumon Hakase (Evil Professor Agumon), arm-strap versions of BlackAgumon and YukiAgumon (both of which are variations of the original Agumon), BushiAgumon and SantaAgumon. Oh, and a bunch of dot-pixel versions of Agumon, Gaomon and some other main characters in Savers, but the dot-pixel versions that only appear as joke characters is where I draw the limit of acknowledging as a separate species.
Anyway, all of these are barely-different variations of Agumon that show up as secret characters in video games or virtual pets or whatever. Not even sure what's going on with BushiAgumon there -- how does a reptile even have that hairdo and topknot? The evil Agumon professor at least has a fun looking Dracula cape and a stick topped with a cartoon bat, which I do find charming. The rest are utterly redundant, though.
And with this pretty underwhelming half-dozen characters, we're done for today. Next up we'll be covering the rest of Savers' main cast.
1/10.
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