Brief Summary
This video reviews Digimon Seekers, a darker and more mature Digimon story aimed at adult fans. The reviewer's initial impressions were negative due to poor translation and slow pacing, but improved significantly with later chapters. While the story has compelling concepts, characters, and twists, the reviewer ultimately finds it difficult to recommend to anyone but hardcore Digimon fans due to persistent formatting issues and translation inconsistencies. The reviewer suggests that an English audio drama or novel adaptation could change this recommendation.
- Improved translation and writing in later chapters.
- Compelling world-building with nation-state mega-level Digimon and mind-linking mechanics.
- Strong characters and surprising plot twists.
- Formatting and translation issues hinder the overall experience.
The video introduces Digimon Seekers, a Digimon story designed for adult fans, which has concluded after four parts. The reviewer previously shared their initial thoughts on the first part in May 2023, describing it as a darker take on Digimon with a clear appreciation for the franchise's legacy. At the time, the reviewer noted potential but criticized the format, rollout, and budget, as well as the poor machine translation. The reviewer now provides an updated and complete review of the entire series.
The reviewer notes significant improvements in formatting and English translation starting from part two. The shift in quality was immediately noticeable, transitioning from robotic translation to something more human and poetic. Despite these improvements, the writing quality remains below that of a typical novel. The reviewer expresses confusion as to why the first chapter was never rewritten or re-translated, as it remains in its original, flawed state. The reviewer believes the initial poor quality could deter many potential fans, comparing it to a video game with a terrible opening that is never fixed.
Digimon Seekers introduces several interesting concepts, including nation-states using Mega-level Digimon as weapons of war, creating Cold War-like tensions. The story also features a well-defined system for digivolution with risk-reward elements tied to mind-linking. Mind-linking allows characters to telepathically pilot their Digimon, but it has time limits that decrease as the Digimon gets stronger. Humans who mind-link must also manage their caution and limit lines to avoid going DMIA (digitally missing in action), which results in a comatose state in the real world. The reviewer was surprised and impressed by these unique takes on the Digimon formula, especially the high stakes for human characters. The digital world in Seekers is shrouded in mystery, with characters likened to pioneers exploring an alien landscape.
Digimon Seekers is a mature Digimon story with many key characters in their 30s, 40s, or older. The protagonist, AG, is a flawed character who cheats and fights dirty, making him an unconventional lead. The reviewer grew to appreciate AG's character arc and enjoyed rooting for someone who wasn't a perfect hero. The story also features standout Digimon, including a unique take on Pulsemon and a well-utilized Omegamon, portrayed as a digital Angel of Death. The Royal Knights are presented as mysterious and powerful figures, adding to the story's intrigue.
Despite improvements in later chapters, the formatting remains a missed opportunity. While some passages are elegantly written and translated, others suffer from broken English, inconsistent names, and bizarre formatting. This inconsistency raises questions about the extent of human involvement in the translation process, even after part two. The reviewer wonders if the well-written lines were simply flukes amidst the overall poor presentation.
The reviewer praises the story's twists and the excellent villain, Professor Ryuji. Ryuji, who initially provides AG with his Lugomon, is revealed to be the mastermind behind the events of the story. He manipulated multiple groups of friends over decades, similar to the dynamics in Kingdom Hearts. AG was specifically chosen by Ryuji because he was a loser with no connections, making him the perfect, unnoticed victim.
Spoilers are over.
The reviewer likes Digimon Seekers much more after completing it, considering it one of modern Digimon's best stories, alongside Appmon and Digimon Survive. However, the reviewer cannot recommend it to anyone but hardcore Digimon fans due to its formatting and translation issues. The reviewer suggests that an English audio drama or a novel adaptation with a named translator could make the story more accessible and enjoyable. As it stands, the text-based web novel format on Digimon Donnet limits its appeal.
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Transcript
Full transcript of “Digimon Seekers: An Honest Review One Year Later | Final Verdict”. Click a timestamp to open the video at that moment. Need another video? Use the YouTube transcript generator.
0:00 Digimon Seekers the dark and mature Digimon story starring adult Tamers meant for adult fans has officially wrapped just under a year after its Premiere made up of four parts or chapters I shared my honest review of part one back in May 2023 when I had covered the 14 or so entries available at the time back then I called it a darker edgy or Digimon story with a clear love of the legacy of Digimon particularly the virtual pets I said that there was a lot to like but I believed that the seeker's format its rollout and its budget were significantly hindering the Project's potential for success I said that chapter 1 took too long to get going that the story was dragging and importantly that the poor machine translation was a brutal obstacle for non-japanese fans to overcome at the time I could not recommend Digimon Seekers to anybody based on the first chapter act one and I recommended those
0:45 interested in a more mature Digimon story check out cybersleuth or survive instead but that was May 2023 when only one part had been released now that Seekers is concluded with four of four chapters readily available I want to give you an updated honest and complete review of Digimon Seekers I've now finished Digimon Seekers reading Parts 2 3 and four at my own pace over a couple weeks here and I have to say my impression of seekers has improved drastically this completed project is a much better story and a much better package than what the first 14 releases led me to believe but that still doesn't mean I take back what I said or that I can recommend this to everybody now so what's changed off the bat the formatting in English translation saw a market Improvement the moment part two began it was honestly quite jarring to go from chapter 1.18 to 2.1 and feel
1:30 like I had moved from reading something that Google translate spit out to something with a human touch and often a poetic way with words while Parts two through four are way better than part one in terms of readability it should be said that the quality of writing is still far below what you'd get from the average actual novel and while I've heard people defend Seekers by saying this is just how light novels and web novels are written I think that's a disservice and kind of an insult to light novels and web novels which can be quite well written so acknowledging those writing and translation improvements in part two onwards it does Boggle the mind that whoever was in charge never approved going back to rewrite or redo the translation for act one as of Saturday March 2nd 2024 the English version of seekers chapter 1 is just as robotic and cold as it was when it released in April 2023 frankly if I
2:16 didn't host a YouTube channel that often talks Digimon I would have dropped Seekers during chapter 1 and never looked back because I thought the formatting was so brutal I only found out how much better the English writing SL transation got because I was determined to do this follow-up video Seekers is like if there was a video game where the opening hours were hated by just about everybody and the developers updated the game to include great middle and endgame content that new stuff would serve the small portion of players who soldiered through the game's brutal opening but if you never rework the opening hours nobody is going to want to keep playing to get to the great middle end and game content so I still believe the format the roll out and the budget these things still sabotaged Seekers but where as I once said I found a good amount of things to like but not a lot to love I can now say there is a lot that I loved with chapter 2 three and four of seekers the world
3:01 scenario Seekers is loaded with great Concepts I'll touch on these lightly and vaguely where necessary to avoid spoilers one of my favorite Seekers Concepts is the idea of nation states having Mega level Digimon in their weapons Arsenal these Digital Monsters are full-on weapons of war there are these Cold War feeling tensions where Nation X will compete with nation y over who has control of the strongest mega level Digimon both for National Defense and to flex their muscles on the global stage Digimon are nuclear weapons basically and I thought that was really interesting I also found there was a great set of rules for how digivolution Works in this universe and an interesting risk reward component to it all mind linking is key to this story select characters like our protagonist to AG almost telepathically pilot their Digimon experiencing the digital world through their digimon's eyes via mind
3:47 link but there is a time limit to how long you can stay mind link and the stronger the Digimon gets the less time you have so you can mind link to a rookie longer than a champion or an ultimate for instance as a result characters will end up up budgeting their mindling time by staying in lower forms as long as possible and only using Evolution when they absolutely have to it results in great scenarios and solves the decades long question of well once you have ultimate or Mega why not just digivolve straight to Mega why are Digimon characters always starting battles in their lower forms humans who mind link must also track and factor in the caution line and the limit line if they go over the limit line they could go dmia digitally missing in action with their Consciousness lost in the digital world and their human bodies falling into a com state it can be really hard to create Stakes for the human characters in a digimon story especially
4:34 when all the action is digital and they're not the ones getting hurt but here with the limit line going digitally missing an action there are real Stakes this is seriously interesting stuff for a digimon story and it's kind of shocking that 25 years into the franchise we haven't done this specific take until Seekers I was pleasantly surprised but also kind of heartbroken that this story became the text only web novel and ghost game with its minimal story got the 67 episode anime Seekers version of the digital world is also quite strong and shrouded in mystery the human characters are compared to astronauts deep sea divers pioneers and it feels that way a line I loved was quote we think we've discovered the digital world but what if we're the ones who've been discovered it's this cool science fiction sort of extraterrestrial question like was contacting this unknown life form a mistake who holds the real power in this Dynamic and like
5:20 ghost game Seekers has a black auman mystery teased through out but unlike ghost game this black aaman story is actually rewarding and comes with a few great reveals but I won't get too into that because of spoilers when it comes to writing Digimon I've noticed two schools of Digi thought there are the stories that hone in on mythology Digimon as Japanese yo-kai that humans interact with via technology I.E Digimon survive or Digimon Adventure and then there are stories that are interested in commentary on technology contemporary Tech and our relationship to it more like cyber SLO Digimon Tamers and now Seekers let's also talk the characters at the heart of Digimon Seekers much to my surprise Seekers really is an adult Digimon story even more than I expected at 19 years old AG is one of the youngest characters with many of the key players being in their 30s 40s or even older it's barely a young adult Digimon
6:06 story and it's more of a grown adult story I had a soft spot for AG after chapter 1 but wasn't sold on him whereas after finishing Seekers I grew to really like this character a is a cheater a loser a dirty fighter in a lot of ways his sort of rival character the noble and just Leon would be the easy choice for protagonist in another kind of Digimon story and AG would be that slimy but lovable anti-hero rival there's a bit where Leon an AG battle and you think it's going to be pson versus lugon 1 V1 but we see AG brings his tyrannomon into the fight making it 4v1 it was kind of fun rooting for the guy who's kind of cheating in what was supposed to be a 1 V one I liked following around someone who wasn't the perfect Paragon of what an upstanding citizen should be and him being a punk also allowed for a ton of room to grow which Seekers did capitalize on in the end there were a ton of standout Digimon too I mentioned
6:52 black aamon already but this story has a great take on pulson Digimon dreamers and its comedic pulson are still pretty great but just like aug can differ between adventure and Savers and survive this pulson dropped in a bit more serious of a story is one that I enjoyed omegamon gets utilized well in this story too as this digital Angel of Death we know very little about the Royal knights in this story and the less we're told about these demigods of Destruction the better and with this great world scenario and these great characters Seekers manag to catch me by surprise on more than one occasion there are some great twists and turns in this story and what I consider to be an excellent villain I'm going to spend a bit of time on spoilers later in the video I'll have time stamps on screen if you want to skip and plenty of spoiler warnings so don't worry but for now back to the delivery of seekers I know that super fans of seekers will hate that I'm still laying into this point but the formatting is such a missed opportunity
7:39 even with the improvements I felt from Act 2 onwards occasionally Seekers would be written quite elegantly with these real standout lines for instance there are these vortexes in the digital world and nobody knows what awaits you on the other end a character warns AG quote there's a story going around that says you'll catch a glimpse of the system administrator if you go through a Vortex but they say it kills you you know like all the old Legends say you burn up if you catch even a glimpse of the true face of God I thought that line was sick as hell clearly well written in the native language and then translated into English pretty well so that's good but then Seekers will suddenly fall back to really broken English or be inconsistent with names and spelling have bizarre formatting that appears to have never been reviewed by a human as a reader it calls into question if they even did add a human translator after part two or if the machine translation just got a bit better or if my standards just got lower
8:26 while reading I don't think that last part is true by the way I do think something Chang with part two onwards but yeah with these glaring formatting issues you start to wonder if those Banger lines like the one about catching a glimpse of the true face of God if those were just flukes like a broken clock being right twice a day now before I give you my verdict on Digimon Seekers and whether or not I recommend it in its March 2024 State I want to quickly cover some spoilers mainly so I can praise the story I think this will take a minute or less if you want to skip ahead I also have time stamps on screen right now on where to skip so if you don't want spoilers I'll see you on the other end of this section I mentioned twists and I mentioned a great villain Professor Reus sji being The Mastermind villain is excellent this is the professor who gifted AG his lugon at the start of the story like a Pokemon professor who lets you choose your starter imagine if Professor Oak was the secret villain of Pokemon Red and Blue and he set you a
9:12 naive kid out into the world to power up your starter Pokemon for him to catalog and catch Pokemon so that he could use that information for evil that's pretty much what happens in Seekers and it's incredible Ryu sji connects all of those adult characters I mentioned having used multiple groups of friends over a decades long scheme it feels a bit like Kingdom Hearts and the trios in that Series where we have the current Sora rku Kyrie Trio but a decade or so prior there were the Venus terara and aqua Trio who met with a terrible fate we talked about AG being a loser and how I thought this worked but we also learned near the end of the story that ryuji handpicked AG because he was a loser and a nobody AG had no family no friends no job and so he couldn't really tell anybody what was going on and if one day he mysteriously vanished nobody would notice the missing person he was the perfect victim a ghost that nobody would
9:58 miss this this is great stuff seriously all right so spoilers are ending now so what's my final verdict on Digimon Seekers and can I recommend it I can say confidently I like Digimon Seekers infinitely more now having finished it than I did last year I think it has one of modern digimon's best stories up there with my favorites appmon and Digimon survive but still I just can't recommend Digimon Seekers to anyone that isn't a digimon Super Fan due to its brutal format and the lack of care shown in its official translation let me be clear I'm not even saying this needed to be an anime or a game to be worth engaging with I think the Japanese language Audio Drama version sounds really cool where the voice actor for gaman narrated it while there was background noises like subway train tracks and explosion sounds I love a narrative podcast production and if we got that in English I would recommend this product in a heartbeat imagine if
10:44 they hired Joshua Seth the voice of Tai or aara Jill Miller K's original VA to do the narration or if this was an actual novel made available with a named English translator and was released in one package I would totally recommend this I'd love to have an official Digimon novel in the English language to flip through and put on my shelf when I was done as it stands as a text-based poorly translated series of web pages on Digimon Donnet I can only recommend Seekers to the most hardcore Digimon fans who also like reading fiction and the rare chance that they announce Digimon Seekers is getting a manga adaptation or an English Audio Drama like the one they made for the Japanese language I'll be all over social media recommending the hell out of Digimon Seekers to anyone who will listen but Media Matters formatting matters and while I enjoyed what Seekers gave me it's not something I can recommend to anyone but Digimon Die hards thanks so
11:30 much for listening to my review if you enjoyed it and you haven't already please subscribe to the channel as our next Milestone is 50,000 subscribers my next video is going to be on Beyblades Asia tournament Arc from the original series back in the day in case you missed my first video on Beyblade series 1 I'll link to that below and on screen now I'm doing this little Beyblade original series run here reviewing one Arc at a time thanks for watching have a great week and I'll see you in the next video
