Summary

• Digimon Tamers is a meta-narrative season that doubles down on character development and dark, mature themes.
• The season introduces Biomerge digivolution, complex villains, and stronger emotional connections between Tamers and Digimon.
• The final arc features a climactic battle against the D-Reaper, and evokes the cerebral anime classic, Neon Genesis Evangelion.

Digimon Tamers, the third season of Digimon: Digital Monsters, changes the formula of the previous seasons quite a bit. This season is a meta-narrative that establishes Digimon as a popular television series and trading card game, lowering the learning curve for the heroes when digital monsters start crossing over from the Digital World.

A smaller team of three Tamers allows for more character development, as does the more animalistic portrayal of Digimon. Novice Tamer Takato breaks the confident leader archetype that his "goggle-head" character design suggests, while Henry is moral to a fault and abhors fighting, and veteran tamer Rika is a closed-off loner reluctant to accept help.

Tamers' English dub is the closest to its Japanese counterpart yet and features a darker, more mature tone. The hallmark Digimon themes of loss, grief, and self-loathing are present throughout, and resolution, as always, is found through teamwork, perseverance, and self-acceptance. But the battles are more brutal, and the children are doing much more than just cheering their partner on from the sidelines.

They discover Biomerge digivolution, which bonds the Digimon and Tamer into one powerful form, putting them face-to-face with the enemy. More than ever, the villains are complex, have meaningful character growth, and their motivations are more substantial than simply being evil, or wanting to destroy the Digital World.

Digimon: Tamers blends the intense character study of Adventure 02 to create the perfect season of Digimon: Digital Monsters.

10 "O Partner, Where Art Thou?"

Season 3, Episode 6

Rika and partner Digimon, Renamon, are frustrated that the latter still has not digivolved, even though she's more experienced than her peers. When Henry and Takato intervene in a fight between Renamon and a wild Digimon, Rika rejects their help and insists that she relies on no one but herself. Rika misunderstands the secret of digivolution, which is a strong spiritual connection between Digimon and Tamer, and assumes that her partner is simply choosing to disobey her.

It's unusual to have a DigiDestined hero who doesn't automatically embrace Digimon as sentient beings, and Tamers uses that subversion to drive Rika's character development. During their fight with Bokugumon, a wild spider Digimon, Renamon is seriously injured and begs Rika to retreat to safety, but her partner refuses. Renamon digivolves into Kyubimon for the first time, taking the form of a large nine-tailed fox with traditional Japanese temple bells and red and white striped ropes around her neck. She quickly defeats Bokugumon, and mends the rift with Rika.

9 "His Kingdom for a Horse"

Season 3, Episode 47

Trapped in the core of the rogue antivirus, the D-Reaper, Jeri is haunted by memories of her mother's death. The Tamers and Jeri's father desperately search for the missing girl, but the reaper's gigantic humanoid monster form appears before them, as tall as a skyscraper. The gigantic pink creature attacks with chomping mouths on the ends of the tentacles that cover its body, easily ensnaring the Tamers.

Hypnos successfully transfers their remote-guided exploratory vehicle, Grani, from the Digital World to the real world. The vehicle, now armored with a special Digital World metal, acts as a steed for Gallantmon to ride into battle and turns the tide in the lead-up to the showdown with the D-Reaper’s final form. Hypnos, led by Mitsuo Yamaki, is a secretive government organization tasked with monitoring the Digital World and ensuring that Digimon do not materialize in the real world. This initially put the organization at odds with the Tamers, so it is a major step for them to work together.

8 "Beelzemon's Big Day"

Season 3, Episode 43

With the city on lockdown amidst the D-Reaper's invasion, the Tamers and their Digimon are confronted by the villain's bird-like scouting drones, and choose to flee rather than fight. They hide out in an empty school and bake bread together when they get hungry. Things are bleak in the real world at this point, so it's nice to see the Tamers have a moment of domesticity amid the chaos, which harkens back to the camping scenes of season one. After a visit from Yamaki, the Tamers and Hynos devise a plan to confront the D-Reaper.

Meanwhile, Impmon finds his original partners, two siblings whom he rejected due to their arguing over him like a toy. Although Impmon and his partners' reunion is joyful, he must rush off to fight alongside the heroes. As he runs away, the positive energy created by their encounter allows him to digivolve into Beelzemon once more. Now that his trauma is repaired, the Demon Lord Digimon can begin his redemption arc.

7 "The D-Reaper's Disguise"

Season 3, Episode 45

The Digimon Sovereigns, four Holy Beast Digimon who rule over the Digital World, send Dobermon to aid the heroes in stopping the D-Reaper program from deleting the real world. The Doberman Digimon sacrifices his life to give Takato, Henry, and Rika the ability to Biomerge in the real world. For now, Sakuyamon and WarGargomon must hold off the antivirus' expanding body and persistent drone attacks.

The D-Reaper's purple blob-like body envelopes the city and pulls Takato and Guilmon inside. They encounter Takato's classmate, Jeri, who looks tired and isn't acting like her normal, cheerful self. Takato tries to talk to her, but her responses are cryptic. Jeri experiences tremendous grief throughout Tamers, so it's hard for Takato to tell if she's simply defeated, or if something more sinister is afoot.

6 "Grow Mon Grow"

Season 3, Episode 14

Early in the season, Hypnos activates their ultimate weapon, the Juggernaut, unintentionally breaking the barrier between worlds. As Digimon begin to disappear around the agency's headquarters, a Digital Field appears on the roof, bringing a mysterious Ultimate-level tiger Digimon into the real world. Mihiramon is one of the 12 Deva, Holy Beast Digimon, each inspired by an animal in the Chinese zodiac. The feline quickly defeats Kyubimon and Gargomon, but Takato manages to unlock Matrix Digivolution and WarGrowlmon makes his debut.

Whereas in previous seasons the kids watched the battles from a safe distance and were never in that much danger, Tamers sees the heroes putting their physical safety on the line. When Growlmon battles Mihiramon in battle, Takato feels sympathetic pain with every hit. Normally, the show simply emphasizes the importance of partnership, but this season escalates that concept and makes the Digidestined experience the same violence their partner must engage in.

5 "When Is a Mon Justimon?"

Season 3, Episode 46

Ryo and Cyberdramon's Biomerged form, Justimon, arrives to the fight against the D-Reaper. Yamaki and the hackers find the core of the D-Reaper's consciousness and devise a plan to attack it and eliminate all the drones attacking the city. Beelzemon manages to pierce the D-Reaper's force field to let Calumon in to find Jeri, but he's captured in the process. The D-Reaper's Jeri copy mutates into a winged creature and attacks Takato. Kenta arrives in the nick of time and the Jeri-type Agent is scared away by Marineangemon's love-based attacks.

The final arc of the season culminates in a depressive mental breakdown set against an apocalyptic backdrop, which is very reminiscent of Neon Genesis Evangelion, as are the Angel-like D-Reaper manifestations. Jeri is catatonic from the overwhelming loss of her birth mother as a child, and her partner Leomon, just after they'd met. The D-Reaper is using her as a proxy to understand and interact with the real world, and their combination of grief and power make for one of the most complex, relatable villains of the entire Digimon series.

4 "Give a Little Bit"

Season 3, Episode 35

Takato struggles to understand that his rage caused WarGrowlmon to Dark Digivolve into Megidramon, as the virus-type Digimon's hazardous waste disintegrates the ground beneath them. Evil monkey Deva, Makuramon, arrives and taunts Beelzemon until the devil-inspired Digimon kills him and absorbs his powers. Finally strong enough, he defeats Megidramon, leaving Guilmon incapacitated. Takato begs Guilmon for forgiveness, which revives his partner and reaffirms their bond.

Takato makes a wish that he could fight alongside Guilmon, and it comes true when they both suddenly Biomerge into Gallantmon. This is the first appearance of a human/Digimon hybrid, and it implies perfect synchronicity between the two halves. As is usually the case with Dark Digivolution storylines, the connection between the hero and his Digimon grows stronger than ever in the end.

3 "The Battle Within"

Season 3, Episode 36

Gallantmon faces off against Beelzemon in a brutal fight when Caturamon, the dog Deva, appears and is quickly defeated by the Holy Warrior Digimon. But this backfires when Beelzemon absorbs the resulting energy and becomes super-powered. Gallantmon eventually gains the upper hand, but just before he can deliver the final blow, Jeri protests and explains that she cannot bear to see anyone else hurt on her behalf after the death of her partner, Leomon.

It is very comionate of Jeri to rise above and forgive the Digimon who killed Leomon, especially making that call in the heat of battle. This small act of kindness stirs confusion about the path Beelzemon is on: he's finally achieved his goal of Digivolving, so why isn't he satisfied? In the end, the Demon Lord Digimon stops fighting and turns his back on the Tamers, leaving in search of answers to his questions.

2 "Lionheart"

Season 3, Episode 34

While Calumon is imprisoned by the Digimon Sovereign, the DigiDestined meet back up in the Digital World. Beelzemon ambushes them and quickly outmatches the entire group, killing Leomon in front of his newfound trainer, Jeri. The death of his friend sends Takato over the edge, and he orders WarGrowlmon to Mega Digivolve. Forcing digivolution goes horribly wrong and the virus-type Megidramon emerges.

Episode #34, "Lionheart" is Tamer's take on the Digimon trope of Dark Digivolution. This is when a Digimon is forced to digivolve by a partner with a mind clouded by rage, resulting in an evil version of the intended digivolution that is singularly motivated by the urge to destroy. Like Tai and Davis before him, Takato must now break through his partner's bloodlust and repair the damage.

1 "Such Sweet Sorrow"

Season 3, Episode 51

Grani fuses with Gallantmon to activate his ultra-powerful, flying Crimson Mode, and engages in the final confrontation with the D-Reaper. The Digimon Sovereigns subdue the reaper long enough for Hypnos to reveal to MegaGargomon that he has the Juggernaut program's code buried inside and must unleash it to devolve the D-reaper to its basic form. The plan works and Takato rescues the original Jeri. With the city saved, and the crisis resolved, the children gather in the park, where Impmon is finally forgiven by Jeri and absolved of his misdeeds.

While the D-Reaper is defeated, the method used to seal it away means the Tamers' Digimon can no longer stay in the real world either. They promise to be reunited one day, and after bidding their partners a tearful goodbye. Life returns to normal, but Takato finds that the gate to the Digital World in Guilmon's hideout has reopened, giving hope that the Tamers can fulfill that promise.