Anime / Digimon Adventure 02

All spoilers for Digimon Adventure will be left unmarked. You Have Been Warned.

Stand up! A hero is within me.

Three years have passed since the summer we could never forget...

The second Digimon anime series, and the only direct sequel to another series, Digimon Adventure 02 is set three years^note The dub increased the Time Skip to four years after Digimon Adventure. As a point of clarification, the "02" in the title is a dual reference to the series being set in 2002 and to its status as a sequel.

Three years have passed since the original Digi Destined kids saved the Digital World, and they have all grown up and (mostly) gone their separate ways. When a distress call from Agumon draws Taichi, Takeru, and Hikari back into the Digital World, they discover that it has been conquered by a malicious boy calling himself the Digimon Kaiser, who is using a black Digivice to suppress natural evolution and brainwash Digimon into his slaves.

That is until the trio, with the help of new goggle-boy Daisuke (Davis in the dub), discover the power of Armor Evolution, which allows certain Digimon to attain more powerful forms while sidestepping the Kaiser's embargo on evolution. Joined by two other new kids, girly tech geek Miyako Inoue (Yolei) and The Stoic Iori Hida (Cody), this new generation of Digi Destined must use their new powers to stop the Kaiser's ambitions before the entire Digital World is consumed by darkness.

It was succeeded by Digimon Tamers, and years later would get a sequel with Digimon Adventure tri..

It was accompanied by a pair of Short Films. Hurricane Touchdown, also known as Transcendent Evolution! The Golden Digimentals,^note The two different titles are actually the respective titles of each half of the movie, pre- and post-intermission is set before Ken joins the Digi Destined, and details their adventures in America and dealings with Wallace, a Digi Destined with twin Digimon; it was dubbed as the third part of Digimon: The Movie.

The second film, Diablomon Strikes Back, is set within a year of the finale and is about the Digi Destined's response to the resurrection of Diablomon, the antagonist of Our War Game;^note The central segment of Digimon: the Movie it aired in the US as a television special under the name Digimon: Revenge of Diaboromon. Because of the length of time between the end of production on Adventure 02 and the dubbing of Revenge of Diaboromon, it was the only portion of the Adventure era of the show that wasn't produced by Fox, the franchise having since changed hands to Disney, but still reunited the majority of the cast^note Joshua Seth was replaced as Tai by Jason Spisak from the first two seasons of the show after 4 years.

While only the new members cameo in the Digimon Adventure tri. movie series, the 02 DigiDestined appear in Digimon Adventure: Last Evolution Kizuna as supporting characters with them being central in the 2023 film Digimon Adventure 02: The Beginning.

Its dub is available on Hulu.

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Digimon Adventure 02 provides examples of:

Tropes #-B

• 2D Visuals, 3D Effects: ExVeemon and Stingmon's DNA Digi-volving sequence, as well as their evolution sequence to Imperialdramon, is rendered in CG to make The Hero and The Lancer's mons look cooler/more imposing. Just like with MetalGreymon and WereGarurumon, no-one else in the team got CG evolution sequences.
• Adaptation Explanation Extrication: The Tokyopop manga adaptation, rather surprisingly, omits Ken's backstory episode, thus leaving Wormmon's return to life unexplained.
• Adults Are Useless:
  • With the exception of a few of the main cast's family members, most adults are either irrelevant to the kid's activities or obstacles to be worked around. During the second episode, Tai has to abandon his plans to accompany the new kids into the Digital World to serve as a decoy when a teacher shows up.
  • Subverted in some cases — after the series, T.K.'s mom and Sora's dad, a journalist and a college professor, respectively, end up becoming "Digimon experts", explaining Digimon to the public. Matt's dad arranged the situation to keep the kids out of the public eye.
• Alternative Foreign Theme Song:
  • The theme song from the English dub of first season is used again.
  • The Italian dub composed a new song for their dub, rather than translate Target.
  • The Korean dub also composed a new song. Averted in the dub of the Movie "Hurricane Touchdown", which featured a translation of Target.
  • The Greek and Arabic dubs elected to reuse their translations of Butterfly from their dubs of Adventure. For the Greek dub, this creates nonsense out of the lyrics because they reference the chosen children and their Digimon from that season.
• Amplifier Artifact: Azulongmon's DigiCores, which allow some Digimon to instantly achieve Mega level, no prophecy required.
• Antimatter: Imperialdramon's Positron Laser attack. Lasers do work by stimulating electrons, and positrons are the anti-matter equivalent of electrons. However it is more likely that "positron" was added just to sound cool rather than any scientific speculation.
• Arc Number: 02. The 02 in the title refers to the year 2002, the year the story is set. It begins in April when the new school year is starting and it ends at 31st December.
• Arc Welding: While nobody pretends that including Hurricane Touchdown in Digimon: The Movie was a good idea, the idea used to bridge the two^note Diablomon's virus surviving getting stabbed in the face and infecting Cocomon to strike at Willis directly actually provides more backstory for Touchdown than the original Japanese ever did. In the original, Cocomon disappears without warning and returns without warning, only now he's big, mean, and ugly.
• Arc Words: In the dubbed third movie: "Go back to the beginning!"
• The Artifact:
  • The original eight DigiDestined become this.
  • The Armor Digivolutions after Digimon Kaiser is defeated. They still appear from time to time after that, but there's no need to, since not only the normal digivolutions are more powerful, but are necessary for DNA Digivolution.
• Artifact of Doom: The Control Spires are a series of obelisk-like towers erected by Ken Ichijouji when he was the Digimon Emperor, though he has no real recollection as to how this was accomplished, with the implication that he was subtly being controlled by Myotismon to do it. They originate from the Dark Ocean and they were used as signal towers to power his mind-controlling Dark Rings. After Ken's Heel–Face Turn, Arukenimon would use them as raw material to create artificial Digimon, the more spires used creating stronger Digimon.
• Artifact of Hope: The Digi-Eggs are artifacts from the earliest era of the Digital World before Digimon could digivolve on their own. The second generation's digivices were designed to harness these digi-eggs to perform armor-digivolution, each of the eggs being based on the virtues of the first generation's tags and crests. They are utilized because while the Control Spires can weaken regular Digimon enough to where they cannot digivolve normally, this limit does not apply to armor-digivolution.
• Artifact Title: Zigzagged. The number in the title Digimon Adventure 02 actually refers to the fact that the series is set three years after the original Adventure in the year 2002, which at the time of airing was 20 Minutes into the Future. In the dub, however, the series takes place four years after the original show, placing it in 2003. At the same time, the dub never used either of the of the original Adventure titles, instead treating both shows, Digimon Tamers, and Digimon Frontier as four different seasons of the same show, Digimon: Digital Monsters.
  • The Adventure part of the title is also something of an artifact. While the first season really was more or less one long interconnected adventure where the protagonists explored a strange new world, 02's plot largely consists of episodic skirmishes and the two main arcs are only nebulously connected together.
• An Ass-Kicking Christmas: The Christmas Episode and the World Tour arc. The latter take place on Christmas Eve.
• Babies Ever After: The last chapter. It shows a few couples (Yamato and Sora and Ken and Miyako) that got together and ones that didn't, much to the disappointment of some fans.
  • A young Mexican DigiDestined named Chichos wears a pink T-shirt with yellow sleeve borders and collar, short enough to reveal her navel.
• Bash Brothers: Pegasusmon and Nefertimon tend to fight together (and share a combined attack). It helps that Patamon and Gatomon know each other from the previous season, and share a similar digivolution line.
• Bilingual Bonus: In episode 13, the sign on the dark beach says "Innsmouth" in Digicode - the whole episode being a shoutout to the Cthulhu mythos.
• Bittersweet Ending: Notably averted as this is the only Digimon anime series to end on a completely positive note. The Digimon and human worlds become closer than ever, everyone gets to reach their dream, and nothing bad happens. The only downer is Oikawa dying, and even he gets a happy ending as his spirit gets to remain in the place he wanted to see his entire life.
• Bowdlerise:
  • Kari's kidnapping in Episode 13 has one of two very different encounters with the Deep Ones, depending on which version you're watching. In the English-language dub (other ones, e.g. the one into German, doesn't censor that), the Deep Ones want her to become their "queen" to help them fight off their undersea master. In the original Japanese, they want her to become their bride and produce offspring that will help them fight off a "new god", and when she and her friends... decline, they decide to return to their "former god" and bide their time.
  • An entire story arc involving Ken being kidnapped was pulled from Disney's rotation. Fortunately, the DVD leaves the episodes in.
  • Wormmon's speech at the end of "Duel of the WarGreymon" also got cut from later Disney broadcasts. The DVD keeps the scene though.
  • In Diablomon Strikes Back, Miyako convinces an massive swarm of Kuramon to congregate in Tokyo Bay by hacking local building-size display screen to issue a challenge from the team. In the dubbed version, Diaboromon gives the Kuramon the command (the Japanese text still plays on the screen, but el Diaboro gets the voiceover), which serves the dual purpose of indicating that Diaboromon is still their guiding intelligence and releasing Yolei from the moral implications of hacking others' computers.
• Brick Joke: The last leg of the Digimon Emperor arc has the Digi Destined pretend to go on a camping trip (with Matt's father as chaperone) in order to stay in the Digital World for as long as necessary to defeat Ken. Jun, learning that Matt will also be on the trip, tries to invite herself along, and they ditch her the first chance they get. The end of the arc has her catching up to the group; cue a collective Oh, Crap! on Matt, Tai, and Izzy's part.
  • There was also one in the dub of "His master's voice". Early in the episode, the principal asks over the PA, "Would the person who put the Jelly Donuts in the swimming pool please report to the office?". Later in the episode, a couple kids run by Kari, and one of them says "...and then I put the jelly donuts in the swimming pool".
• The Bus Came Back: Unsurprisingly given it's a sequel series, a few characters from Adventure return.
  • The Otamamon and Gekomon in episode 5 are from the same group that used to serve Mimi
  • Andromon returns in episode 7.
  • Chuumon, Sukamon and Digitamamon all return in episode 14.
  • Whamon returns in episode 16 when Jo and Izzy call him in to help the new DigiDestined.
  • Wizardmon's ghost returns in episode 17.
• But Not Too Foreign: Matt and T.K. are revealed to be one-fourth French, when T.K. and Tai meet their grandfather in France.

The German dub renames the boroughs of Tokyo in Adventure and 02, into generic German borough names such as "West End"(Odaiba) "City" (Stadtmitte)=(shinjuku) and Vorstadt (suburbs),"Unterstadt" etc.

Tropes C-D

• Call-Back:
  • Almost halfway through the first arc, the Digimon Emperor decides to add some serious firepower to his team by enslaving MetalGreymon. Thing is, he has no real power to control Ultimates and he decides to obtain his new teammate by forcing Greymon to evolve. It works as well as it did in Digimon Adventure, and produces SkullGreymon. Nobody is happy about this.
  • Remember the episode where the DigiDestined had to pursue Myotismon three years ago?. Well, you remember the nine cards that have to be put to open the way between the Digital World and the Real World, right? Yukio Oikawa plans to do the same thing. If you remember the first one, between the two Vaccine-Type Rookie-Level cards (Agumon and Gomamon), Tai chose the latter. In this season, Oikawa chose the former. And if you remember Gennai's words back at the first season, one is right and the other is wrong. That's why he ended up opening the way between the Real World and the strange world where ideas can become reality.
• Canon Immigrant: You guessed it, Ryo shows up, although in blink-and-you-miss-it cameos... and a flashback that's only meaningful to those who have played the games he's from (the Digimon (WonderSwan Series)). Too bad that they're actually important to the story.
• Cat Fight: Angewomon and LadyDevimon continue the tradition from the original series of getting into a slapping, hair-pulling catfight. LadyDevimon once again overpowers Angewomon after a fierce scrum, this time by twisting both of Angewomon's arms against her sides.
  LadyDevimon: (Pulling Angewomon's hair) "You'd better stay out of it, blondie."
  Angewomon: "Try to stop me, you witch!"
  LadyDevimon: As you wish.
  Angewomon: If you can!
• Central Theme: Digimon 02 has a number of themes subtly running through the series:
  • The pressure placed upon young children to "be normal" and adhere to the expectations of society, friends and family, even if not always intentionally. This is best exemplified by Ken Ichijouji and his older brother Sam, as both of them were placed under enormous pressure and expectations that resulted in Sam eventually dead, and his younger brother buckling under the pressure and becoming the Digimon Emperor. It's taken to even worse extremes with the Big Bad Wannabe Oikawa, as his fall into darkness was the result of Cody's grandfather accidentally harming his relationship with Cody's father under the well-intended but badly thought out decision to keep them from being interested in Digimon and tried to separate them, something Cody's grandfather sorely regrets when he sees the end result. This made him extremely susceptible to the machinations of Myotismon.
  • Recognizing one's own flaws. The crests in the first series tended be more about exemplifying the best qualities of the DigiDestined, with their flaws usually being a corruption of those traits. By contrast, this series is dedicated more to highlighting the weaknesses of the 02 cast, and them needing to be self-aware of said failings to improve themselves.
• Changing of the Guard: The two youngest heroes team up with a new group, while the main characters from the first series serve as support on the sidelines.
• Chekhov's Gun: In Hurricane Touchdown, bandages. Earlier in the film there is a brief scene where we see Wallace tending to an injured Chocomon, who smiles as he notices how much his partner cares about him. During the final battle, this memory is awakened within the corrupted digimon when he sees Miyako treating Poromon's wounds, allowing his true personality to break through the corruption and momentarily stop his own rampage so that Magnamon and Rapidmon can put him out of its misery.
• Chekhov's Gunman: Dagomon was supposed to be this, but Executive Meddling and Creative Differences put a nix on that.
• The Chessmaster: Myotismon. He was behind everything that happened to the Digital World for the last three years.
• Chick Magnet: Matt, by virtue of looks and a garage band.
• The Chosen Many: Adventure 02 reveals that the twelve Japanese Digi Destined are not the only ones, and there are groups of them operating all around the world.
• Colour-Coded Characters: All the Digi Destined have colors that correspond to them, based on their Digivice (for the current ones) and Crest (for the old ones).
  • T.K. has two colours. His Crest of Hope is yellow, but his new Digivice is green. The full list:
    Tai - Crest of Courage - orange
    Matt - Crest of Friendship - blue
    Sora - Crest of Love - red
    Mimi - Crest of Sincerity - green
    Izzy - Crest of Knowledge - purple
    Joe - Crest of Reliability - grey
    T.K. - Crest of Hope - yellow; Digivice - green
    Kari - Crest of Light and Digivice - both pink
    Davis - Digivice - blue
    Yolei - Digivice - red
    Cody - Digivice - yellow
    Ken - Digivice - black; Crest of Kindness - magenta
• Cool Boat: Because none of V-mon's armor forms can fly or swim, during the assault on the Kaiser's base, Daisuke thinks to try and make a raft out of a nearby palmtree to follow the others, as it's the only thing around to work with. Resting his hand against it, he accidentally throws the lever and he and V-mon are suddenly riding a small island.
• Compressed Adaptation: The Tokyopop manga ^note technically a manhua, as it was originally published in Hong Kong, not Japan adaptation condenses the entire 50-episode series into two volumes. Almost all appearances by the season one kids are omitted, and several lesser characters, such as Jun Motomiya, Dagomon and Professor Takenouchi are completely absent.
• Continuity Snarl: Digimon 02 attempts to tie in events form the WonderSwan games with the Drama CD and the Digimon Movie. The problem is that Digimon: The Movie, the games, the anime itself all have conflicting versions of the same events (not helping things is the fact that only the movie was actually released outside of Japan). For example, in Our War Game, Ryo^note A cameo from the first Wonderswan game, Anode/Cathode Tamer is seen sending a supporting e-mail to Taichi and Koushirou via laptop from some mountainside; in the game Tag Tamers, however, he and Ken are watching the Omegamon/Diablomon fight from Ken's room; indeed that fight kicks off the events of the game. Another example: in Hurricane Touchdown, 02's Non-Serial Movie, we meet Wallace, who has no knowledge of the Digital World; a younger Wallace actually appears in the third Wonderswan game, D-1 Tamers'', as a major character, no less.
• Curse Cut Short: In the dub.
  Davis: "Sticks and stones can break my bones, but when Magnamon gets a hold of you, he'll kick your-"
  Ken: "But! you didn't let me finish!"
• Cyberspace: Not just the Digital World, but the internet as well in Diablomon Strikes Back.
• Dark Is Evil: The Dark Ocean, the Dark Gate, the Dark Spore... redundant, but effective.
• Dead Sidekick: Even though he's alive and well now, Angemon's sacrifice in Adventure is the source of Takeru's anger towards evil Digimon. Wormmon sacrifices himself to help beat Kimeramon, and is resurrected two episodes later.
• Department of Redundancy Department: Invoked by a news reporter in "Dramon Power", regarding Paildramon digivolving into Imperialdramon.
  Reporter: I don't believe it. One of the strange monsters was hit by a strange light in a strange way, which changed it into another strange monster. This is all very strange.
• De-Power Zone: Any area with a Control Spire in it prevents Digimon from digivolving (and in some instances, will force a Digimon to de-digivolve when they enter the area).
• Deus ex Machina:
  • The Digimental of Miracles, which resides in the Kaiser's base and produces an 11th-Hour Superpower during the Kaiser arc. Davis actually has a reputation for his luck.
  • A literal example with Azulongmon (who is in other Digimon media mentioned as a god) ending the conflict in episode 37.
  • Lampshaded by Ken during Revenge of Diaboromon when he demands to know where their miraculous victory is.
• Did Not Get the Girl: Tai/Sora did not happen, as was the case with T.K. and Kari.
• Didn't Think This Through: In the dub episode "Cody Takes a Stand", Cody attempts to stop Blackwargreymon from destroying a Destiny Stone. Cody quickly realizes that he is out of his depth.
  Cody: Don't take another step or else!
  Blackwargreymon: Or else what?
  Cody: Um, I haven't figured that part out yet.
• Distant Finale: The final episode ends with a cut to twenty years later.
  • Ridiculously Successful Future Self: Most of the Digi Destined end up in glamorous positions, and those that don't end up in nonetheless highly satisfying career; for example, Davis is a millionaire food-chain owner, Sora is a Fashion Designer, Tai is the Digital World's ambassador, Mimi has her own cooking show, and Matt is an astronaut; on the slightly less ostentatious side, Kari is a Kindergarten Teacher, Ken is a detective, and Yolei is a housewife (and with her and Ken's three children, the most, ah, productive mother in the show).
  • In doing promotion for the 02 movie the original creators clarified some important details for the finale that couldn’t be shown: most of the kids ended up with very weird careers because they spent decades taking care of young Chosen Child/Digimon pairs orphaned by their parents for being burdened with Digimon partners or that were targeted or exploited by world governments for having Digimon. Yolei, Mimi, Sora, Davis, Joe, and Kari devoted themselves to taking care of Chosen orphans by providing necessary goods for them. Tai, Cody, and Ken fought for their rights legally and by trying to prevent Workd War III over the food shortages all of the partner Digimon caused. Izzy and Matt discovered aliens made Apocalymon to wipe out humanity before they could harness the power of Digimon and started a Digimon-human space program to find the aliens and launch a counter attack.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: After Paildramon introduces the combination of Jogress Evolution (DNA Digivolution) to the series, the team's Digimon all accost Chibimon and demand details, not unlike teenagers ganging up on a friend who managed to get lucky. Kari's... enthusiasm for the concept (she insists on imagining every potential pairing with Exveemon) doesn't help. It gets worse when you take into consideration how the Digi Destined act and react to get it to work for the first time.
  • In that sense, there is also a little bit of Ho Yay and Les Yay with the human half of the affair - no DNA digivolving partership consists of two characters of opposing genders, even with semi-official couples in play.
• Don't Ask: The DigiDestined, when they are found in a pile on the computer room floor, after returning from the Digital World.
• The Dragon: Agumon as MetalGreymon, once the Emperor enslaves him with a Dark Spiral.
• Drama-Preserving Handicap: To prevent the old guard from dethroning the Digimon Emperor in the span of a few episodes, there were two handicaps implemented at the start. First, when they lose their Crests to repair the Digital World back in the original, this prevents them from reaching Ultimate and beyond. The second is in the form of the Black Digivice along with the Dark Towers which prevents conventional evolution altogether. This, combined with their school life, results in them being forced to rely on the younger generation which don't have to worry about these issues as much.
• Dramatic Irony: The show never particularly bothers to hide that the Digimon Emperor is local supergenius Ken Ichijouji, though it keeps the Digi Destined themselves in the dark for a while. When they figure it out, Ken retreats to the Digital World and escalates things.
• Dressing as the Enemy: To sneak into an Emperor controlled city, the DigiDestined have their 'mons put on some fake black rings.
• Dub-Induced Plot Hole:
  • In creating Digimon: The Movie, the dub shoehorned the events of Hurricane Touchdown into continuity, which confuses people as to why Seraphimon and Magnadramon don't appear in the penultimate episode. Izzy also mentions Wallace (Willis) later on in the dub, which begs the question of what he's doing during the international attacks going on.
  • In the dub, the DigiDestined regularly refer to Arukenimon by name before she tells it to them. Aside from the fact there's no way they could find out that information otherwise, it spoils The Reveal that the humanoid Big Bad they're fighting is actually a Digimon.
  • The English dub for Adventure put in a lot of Ship Tease for Tai/Sora that wasn't there in the original Japanese while downplaying Matt/Sora moments (some of which couldn't properly translate to English anyway such as Sora dropping the use of Japanese Honorifics to address Yamato). While Matt/Sora was not heavily developed in the Japanese version, it was definitely much more shocking in the English dub as the series looked like it was building up to Tai/Sora the whole time. In the English dub Tai ends up as the Unlucky Childhood Friend in a spontaneous Love Triangle rather than being a Shipper on Deck who never had romantic feelings for Sora like in the original Japanese.
• Dub Personality Change:
  • A fairly brutal one occurs to Davis' entire characterization, which caused no shortage of problems when the series reached the latter half of the story. In English, his traits were altered to being a jealous hot-headed underdog whose personality swung wildly between being overly combatative (especially with T.K.) out of jealousy, to being put down extremely easily, especially in regards to the Love Triangle between him, T.K., and Kari. In the Japanese version, Daisuke was only outwardly an abrasive hothead, but in reality was very simple-minded and deferential to his elders, as well as being something of a doormat who succumbed to pressure (especially negative attention directed at him) very easily. While his crush on Hikari was still there, it was substantially smaller and was built more on a desire for approval rather than him having a possessive streak.
    
    In regards to his relationship to Takeru, the reason he tended to have so much difficulty getting along with him was because Takeru's character was prone to deflecting whenever he was faced with an uncomfortable situation that reminded him of his past traumas, or just something he didn't want to deal with. Because Daisuke was a very blunt and honest person, this would end up driving him absolutely up the wall, since he felt like Takeru was trying to hide something, but he he couldn't quite figure out what Takeru was doing due to the friction in their personalities. Needless to say, this drastic change would make his English characterization seem incongruent with the person he becomes at the end of the series.

Tropes E-F

• 11th-Hour Superpower:
  • The Digimental of Miracles, which bestows a Golden Super Mode on its user.
  • Invoked and parodied in Revenge of Diablomon, where Ken demands to know why Daisuke hasn't yet produced a last-minute reversal as they exhaust themselves trying to get to the bay. Immediately after he does, Jyou arrives with the help they wanted — a bike to get them to the harbor. When it turns out the bike isn't enough for both of them, Jyou makes up for it by stealing another from a passerby.
• The End: The epilogue for the Summer 2003 audio drama went something like this: (paraphrased)
  Narrator: As stated in the show's epilogue, it was not easy for everyone to make it to the twenty-five year mark. Everyone still had battles to fight. However, please know that they kept on living, and that this alone should serve as an adequate end to their story.
• Enforced Plug: This season's dub heavily uses the soundtrack for Digimon: the Movie (which is admittedly more suited to an action series than the original series' soundtrack), and allusions to Willis are anything but subtle. Saban really wanted us to see the movie.
• Epic Rocking: "Bokura no Digital World", which, at 6:47, is anywhere from two to three times longer than most of the American songs written for the same season.
• Establishing Character Moment: The first thing MaloMyotismon does upon emerging from his host is brutally murder Arukenimon and Mummymon in cold blood in such a way the Digi Destined, who were the two's enemies, cover their eyes and can't bear to watch. This shows that not only is MaloMyotismon still as horrible as he used to be, he's even worse
• Everything Is Online: The Chosen Children are able to use their school's computer club as an alibi for their work in the Digital World.
• Evil Laugh: Parodied by the Digimon Emperor in the dub:
  Digimon Emperor: Ahahaha hahahaHAHAHAHAHA Oh, it's not that funny...
• Evolutionary Levels: This season added another branch with Armor and DNA Digivolving. However DNA Digivolving is not a branch just an alternative way of reaching Ultimate
• Expository Hairstyle Change: Ken, sort of - his Digimon Emperor hair goes away with his Villainous Breakdown and reverts to his normal hair.
• Expy
  • Davis — Tai's successor. Pretty much in-universe, since he basically worships Tai and really wants to be as good as him, as established in the first episode.
  • Dagomon is a dual one, of two Cthulhu Mythos deities: The more renowned one, Cthulhu (from who Dagomon derives his appearance), and Father Dagon (from who Dagomon derives his rulership of the Deep Ones).
  • Veemon — Veedramon, they were popular in Japan at the time.
• Family-Unfriendly Death: MaloMyotismon's brutal murder of Arukenimon and Mummymon. It's so horrible that even the heroes can't bear to watch and cover their eyes.
• Fangirl: Jun to Matt. We get far longer and more intense looks at her when she's cheering for Matt and following him around then we do during her domestic life as Davis's sister.
• Fantastically Challenging Patient: The finale's "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue shows that Joe has become a doctor of both humans and digimon. The montage has a still image of him treating an Ogremon's injury.
• Filler: One of the reasons the Kaiser arc lasted so long was because it insisted on including a string of episodes that gave Character Focus to somebody (not just some new Armor Evolution, but occasionally a member of the original team, too) without actually moving forward with the plot. But unlike Adventure, which only stumbled through six or so Digivolution-episodes before actually getting involved with the plot, 02 took at least 10 episodes to even get to the second set of armors, and didn't start concluding the Kaiser arc until episode 17.
• Final Exam Finale: Every Digimon form that appears in the show itself (except for one) appears during the final battle. This excludes the Digimon that premiered in the Non-Serial Movie.
• The Final Temptation: The Lotus-Eater Machine in the finale. The dubbed episode is even called "The Last Temptation of the DigiDestined."
• Five-Token Band: The New York team:
  • Mimi: Japanese
  • Michael: White
  • Phil/Sam: Black
  • Maria: Latina
  • Tatum: Irish-American
  • Steve: Jewish
  • Lou: Native American
• Flashback: The Digimon Kaiser gets an episode-long examination of his past following the conclusion of his main arc.
• Foreshadowing:
  • The series doesn't really bother to hide that the Digimon Emperor's true identity is local supergenius Ken Ichijouji.
  • Matt, Joe, and Mimi each get a focus episode in the early part of the Kaiser arc that establishes a relationship between them and one of the new members on the squad; take another look at the second Digimentals obtained by Davis, Cody, and Yolei.
  • During the final run of the Digimon Emperor arc, the kids split up, with Kari and Yolei left behind, and T.K. and Cody heading into the Emperor's base, matching who's partner with whom during DNA Digivolution.
  • It's also obnoxiously hard to spot, but the symbol on the Kaiser's eyemask is important. It's the same symbol that was on Myotismon's coffin in the Adventure.
  • Oikawa is introduced greedily slurping a dark red liquid through a straw a little hint at the bloodsucking evil Digimon that has possessed him.
• The Four Gods: The Four Holy Beasts are introduced in this season, a hint of what was to come in Tamers...
• Fusion Dissonance: Ankylomon and Angemon DNA digivolves into Shakkoumon. Even though Shakkoumon is also an Angel Digimon like its latter component, the closest similarity is in its wings which are even too stubby compared to Angemon's. Instead of a more humanoid angel or ankylosaurus, this fusion looks more like a dogu doll with ornaments that are inspired by Shinto, Taoism, and Christianity. This fusion is also possible in some of the games but sometimes, these components can transform into Shakkoumon by themselves.

Tropes G-H

• Gag Dub: Much more so than Adventure, but similar to it, it was perfectly capable of being serious when necessary, as in the last 8 episodes.
• Gaining the Will to Kill: In Digimon Adventure the heroes were forced into do or die situations so often that they would kill when they had to. However in the sequel series the first few seasons the new members only fought mind control victims (that they freed) and artificial control spire enemies which they had no problems destroying since they weren't real. Towards the end of the series all three of the new recruits this season are forced to kill at least one real enemy which shakes them up. Before that, Yolei and Cody were stubbornly against lethal force, to the point where they insisted on searching in vain for another way when a powerful opponent they hadn't yet learned wasn't even a Digimon shrugged off all their non-lethal attacks and was moments away from flooding a nearby village.
• Gambit Pileup: The main participants are the Digimon Sovereigns and their DigiDestined warriors and Malomyotismon's gang. The first groups wants to protect the worlds from the second one, who wants to conquer them for themselves to rule. Other potential players enter the scene in attempts to conquer the worlds as well, such as the Daemon Corps, Dagomon of the Dark Ocean and a somewhat-back-to-life Devimon. Too bad they didn't get more screentime or development.
  • And if you see the movies as hour-long episodes rather than as regular films taking place in the same universe, count in Diaboromon and the virus-infected Kokomon.
• Gambit Roulette: All of 02's villains' actions prove to be part of the mon behind the mon's greater scheme - even the ones that would have made his greater scheme impossible.
• Genius Bonus: In the original version of the Christmas episode, the younger team of DigiDestined are playing Doubt ^note  perhaps better known by its proper name, Bullshit at Ken's Christmas party when his mom interrupts with a phone call from Tai. The focus is shifted in the dub, where instead Davis is cut off partway through suggesting they play strip poker.
• Get A Hold Of Yourself Man:
  • Matt Bright-slaps Tai over how he prevented Agumon's rescue in episode 10.
  • Kari to Yolei in episode 31, though she immediately regrets doing it. Yolei returns the favor later in the episode.
• Good Eyes, Evil Eyes: Whatever their eyes looked like before, once captured by a Dark Ring or Spiral, a Digimon gains Red Eyes, Take Warning.
• Grand Finale: Specifically the movie "Diaboromon's Revenge", it is set as the grand finale of Digimon Adventure continuity.
• Greater-Scope Villain: Millenniummon has a major influence on the plot, but you would need to play a trilogy of obscure videogames to understand how. Daemon and Dagomon could count too, if they weren't both a case of Aborted Arc.
• The Guards Must Be Crazy: During the Digimon Emperor's reign, an early episode features the kids busting out some simplistic tactics to free the Kaiser's prisoners. Apparently ringed Digimon are easily fooled by fake dark rings and robotic monotones.
• Guest-Star Party Member:
  • The older DigiDestined occasionally accompany the younger ones on missions to the Digital World.
  • Mimi's friend Michael joins the team for one episode, and he appears again during the World Tour arc as one of the American DigiDestined.
• Hard Truth Aesop:
  • After a season of breaking the Digimon Emperor's Control Rings and destroying fake Digimon created from Control Spires, Cody and Yolei have to learn that sometimes, the only way to stop a bad Digimon is to kill it. In the first season, this was never really questioned, probably because it happened more often and their survival depended on it— the first season team was trapped in the Digital World, while Cody and Yolei were able to go home every night.
  • Another possible example is when Cody refuses to take the Digiegg of Reliability since he told a lie, and Joe gives him an inspiring speech about how, while some lies are hurtful, there are some lies which aren't only acceptable, but helpful.
• He's a Friend: Mimi randomly shows up at the start of episode six, and the new kids freak when they see her. Then...
  Mimi: T.K.? Kari?
  T.K. and Kari: (beaming) Yep!
  T.K.: Everyone, this is Mimi. She's a member of the DigiDestined who moved to America.
• High on Catnip: In the dub, Gatomon picks some catnip to heal Hawkmon. A few scenes later, Hawkmon is alert and active.
  Gatomon: I found Catnip; it cures it all!
• Hijacked by Ganon: Guess who's responsible for all the crap that goes on in the latter half of the series? Myotismon—that's right, the guy who died in the last series by taking it to the crotch. Incidentally, the first half was essentially just cleaning up the aftermath of one of the Wonderswan games.
• Hollywood Atlas: the World Tour Arc.
  • Big Applesauce: The designated meeting place for the North American DigiDestined is Lower Manhattan, where the assembled kids are all of distinct ethnicities.
  • Gay Paree: Takeru and Taichi go to Paris where people are flamboyant and romantic.
    • There Was a Door: Somehow, the mons get away with ripping a hole in the Palace of Versailles, and this was after T.K.'s grandfather objected strongly to enemies desecrating it just by occupying it.
  • Sensual Slavs: In the English dub, both Yolei and Sora think Yuri is attractive. They're visibly upset when they can't take him up on his offer to get them dinner. The Japanese version just has them obsessing over piroshki and borscht. Since the German dub follows the Japanese version more close they also discuss food options as commands. *note East Germans are quite familiar with russian dishes.
  • Land Down Under: Jou and Iori go to the Gold Coast where the Australians are too laidback to even notice the world is in danger.
  • Land of Dragons: Hikari and Koushirou go to Hong Kong where people behave like a 80s Jackie Chan movie and then later to the China-India border to talk with no-nonsense communist soldiers to prevent an international conflict from brewing.
  • South of the Border: Yamato and Ken go to Palenque in Mexico, which is a Maya city.
• Holy Is Not Safe: The Big Good digimon Azulongmon provided a "digi-core" that could provide a great deal of power to the DigiDestined, but when Gennai showed up with it in hand, he warned them that it was extremely powerful, and offered them a chance to back down from using it, implying this trope was in effect. They took it anyway, and it allowed the original 8 kids' digimon to reach the Ultimate level, and gave Paildramon the ability to digivolve to Imperialdramon.
• Hopeless Suitor: Daisuke has a huge crush on Hikari but she treats it as a joke. Daisuke was even the former Trope Namer.
• Hope Spot: Wormmon gets one in episode 21.
  Digimon Emperor: (turns to Wormmon, speaking in a much weaker voice than before) There's only one Digimon suitable enough for me...
  Wormmon: H-huh...?
  Digimon Emperor: AND THAT'S KIMERAMON!
• Hybrid Monster: Kimeramon is a mix of a variety of fantastic creatures... including Devimon, whose influence over Kimeramon quickly messes up the Kaiser's plans.

Tropes I-L

• I Don't Like the Sound of That Place: In the dub, the Forbidden Valley Of No Return - though Cody points out that with a control spire there, it wouldn't be any safer even if it were the "Valley Of Duckies and Bunnies".
• I Should Write a Book About This: T.K. writes a book about their adventures in the Distant Finale, and it's suggested that the narrator (him) was just reading said book out loud.
• I Wished You Were Dead: Jealous of his brother, a young Ken wishes his brother Sam disappeared. Then Sam dies. Ken blames himself as he thought it was his fault.
• The Idol's Blessing: Daisuke Motomiya received his idol's Taichi Yagami's iconic goggles directly from the man in question when he got promoted from fanboy to Rookie Red Ranger.
• Image Song: Forty-nine of them, to be exact — including the duets.
• Infinity +1 Sword: The Digi-egg (Digimental) of Miracles, which allows Veemon to become Magnamon, who packs both the incredible defensive powers of the Metal type and some serious Light type firepower. (It's unknown whether the Digi-egg of Destiny — from the 3rd movie — counts as this as well).
• Instant Costume Change: The main team have Digiworld-specific outfits that they gain whenever they enter Digiworld. Originally it was supposed to be just Davis, Yolei, and Cody (who were suggested to have problems with their self-image), but the show appears to have forgotten this and decided that T.K. and Kari should change into their standard yellow-green and pink-white outfits when they entered Digiworld, too, regardless of what they were wearing on Earth.
• Invasion of the Baby Snatchers: During the final arc, Arukenimon, Mummymon and Oikawa abduct elemenary school children for their plans using typical kidnapping techniques such as gifts of toys.
• Kick the Dog:
  • Ken, literally. "...he kinda lifted it up with his foot and then it flew away..."
  • Does it from time to time with Wormmon, which is totally heart-breaking, because it's still totally devoted to Ken.
  • Also, one of the Dark Spore-infected kids, but with a kitten (and it also somehow started to defy gravity for a few seconds).
• Kryptonite Is Everywhere: The Control Spirals are this to the Digigods and to the Digital world.
• Kudzu Plot: The series added a bunch of interesting plot points on a regular basis and made you watch as they went nowhere.
• Lampshade Hanging: In the dub, Digmon indirectly pokes fun at the translators' incorrectly making his title "Drill of Power".
  Digmon: Digmon, the Drill of Knowledge! ...I used to say the Drill of Power, but I think this makes me sound smarter!
  • In the "World Tour" arc, everyone has met up with foreign DigiDestined and they all speak English... until we get to Russia, where Sora and Yolei discover none of their three contacts can understand them.
• Large Ham: Most people in the dub, much more so than any other Digimon series. One particularly funny moment has Davis saying "Digi-Armor Enerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgize!" with the consonant held out and the "gize" said so quickly and abruptly it almost didn't exist. Actually, this is the case every time he uses the DigiEgg of Courage and probably down to the dub trying to lipsync to the animation somewhat.
• Left the Background Music On: Audio drama: a Digimon Analyzer screen is read off, as always, prompting Yamato's dad's coworker to ask if Yamato's dad said something. Naturally, he answers, "Idiot, that's the narration, isn't it?" Of course, both Yamato's dad and the narrator are voiced by Hiroaki Hirata.
• Lighter and Softer: Digimon 02 definitely qualifies when compared to its successor and predecessor. Considering only one ally dies, the DigiDestined never truly get shaken up for more than one episode, all the lasting villains were Anti Villains working for one guy or barely made any mark at all (Daemon and Dagomon), and no large-scale damage is done to the Real World, let alone the city.
  • Just the picnic episode solidy the trope. As it's marking Mimi's return in the Digital World, she lampshaded that the original group didn't have the opportunity to picnic afraid about some digimon will coming. As there is not Dark Tower (at first) and digimon in danger, the 02 team allow themselves to lunch in the Digital World.
• Living with the Villain: Subverted. Davis and Ken do cross paths in the real world as enemies, but because they live in separate school districts and play on rival soccer teams, this only happens once.
• Lopsided Dichotomy: Arukenimon and Mummymon find the last Destiny Stone in Digitamamon's Chinese soup spring, with Mummymon saying it was either that or "a giant matzo ball".
• Love Triangle:
  • Daisuke at least believes himself to be in this with Hikari and Takeru. A short story booklet in the Christmas CD heavily implies that he's right, with both Daisuke and Takeru being suspiciously excited about giving their presents to Hikari. Tailmon reveals that Hikari is knitting a scarf for someone...but won't tell her whom it's for. In the We Love Digimon Music voice actor specials for 02, Hikari reveals she loves Taichi the most.
  • Also one between Tai, Sora and Matt. While a Love Triangle was never supposed to exist because Kakudou intended Yamato/Sora to be endgame from the start, the PSP game has retconned a Type 5 Love Triangle into the story so it can fit in with Hosoda's Our War Game!. Yamato loves Sora, but Sora loves Taichi, but Taichi can only think of Sora as a friend. Sora eventually falls in love with and reciprocates Yamato's feelings for her.

Tropes M-N

• Mass "Oh, Crap!":
  • The original Digi Destined are paired off for reaction shots when Wizardmon's ghost shows up.
  • Everyone gets one when Myotismon returns and brutally murders Arukenimon and Mummymon in cold blood.
• Mentors: The original Digi Destined, sometimes. When new digieggs show up, the bearers of the corresponding crests offer moral support.
• Merchandise-Driven: All of the DNA Digivolutions and the Digi-armors featured in the show were shaped by the need to create marketable toys; note how most of the digivolutions are just "Main Charactermon with slightly modified limbs and extra equipment". This design philosophy even influenced some of the Expanded Universe — all of V-mon's armor forms maintain Morphic Resonance, suggesting that there might've been plans to market the extra armors as toys too, but the fact that the other families of armors don't bother suggests in turn that this idea was probably dropped.
• Meteor-Summoning Attack: In "The Good, the Bad and the Digi", Starmon's signature attack, "Meteor Shower" summons a a swarm of falling rocks. It completely overwhelms the team and knocks them unconscious.
• Mind-Control Device: The Dark Rings are magic slave collars and the Kaiser's main tools in enslaving the Digital World. However, the extent of such control tends to very from episode to episode; in more serious stories, they're full-on Hypno Trinkets, while in more comical stories they serve as Instant Allegiance Artifacts.
• Mix-and-Match Critters: Kimeramon, much as its name suggests, is the Kaiser's ultimate creation, assembled with body parts from almost every known family of Digimon.
• Mon Tech: The new D3 Digivices not only enable their users to open portals to the Digital World from computers, but also allow their users to use Armor Digivolution via interaction with the Digimentals stored in D-Terminals, and DNA Digivolve their Digimon to Ultimate and Mega levels. The former comes in handy when dealing with the Digimon Emperor's Control Spires, which prevent normal Digivolution but has no effect on Armor Digivolution.
• Monster of the Week: Downplayed. During the earliest parts of the Kaiser arc, the kids were generally counted on to fight the "Head Slave" of the week.
• Mood Whiplash:
  • The first episode - T.K. starting at his new school, meeting the new DigiDestined and reuniting with Kari is interspersed with shots of the original Digi Destined's partner Digimon being brutally attacked in the Digital World.
  • In the dub, To Be Continued is used the whole time, and more than once with an "Everybody Laughs" Ending or otherwise positive note.
  • Episode 32 ends in a cliffhanger, in a very negative note, with a deadly implication the Digital World is in mortal danger. The next episode then opens with an unrelated, light-hearted sequence of the kids going on vacation.
• The Movie: Two, both short, non-serial affairs. The first is basically a showcase for a few of the digimentals; even going so far as to worf Seraphimon and Holydramon to make room for Magnamon and Rapidmon. The second is a sequel to Our War Game which features Imperialdramon Paladin Mode. It's also set after the end of the series (but before the epilogue), so it can be considered The Movie if it wasn't released while the original series was airing.
• Multiform Balance: The various armor forms: at usually two to a person, there are two major categories: combat and transport (though the latter can be used in specific combat situations; mostly aerial). Combat forms include Flamedramon, Digmon, and Shurimon, while the Transport forms are Raidramon, Halsemon, Submarimon, Pegasusmon, and Nefertimon. Interestingly, Angemon and Angewomon are grouped with the other combat forms, and Shurimon was unlocked after Halsemon.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Ken, after he realizes the digital world isn't a game and that he had been harming actual creatures.
  • Chikara. Oikawa was friends with his son Hiroki. As kids, Oikawa and Hiroki would spend too much time together playing video games, coming in contact with the Digital World. This worries Chikara when they kept talking about another world. He decided to take the games away and tries to separate Oikawa from Hiroki. This results provoking Oikawa's obessession with the Digital World and risking him to become lonely and depressed, which made him an easy prey to Myotismon's ghost. This would bit Chikara in the ass once he saw what he had done years ago
• Narrator: Lampshaded in one audio drama, as he has the same voice actor as Matt and T.K.'s father.
• Nerdgasm: In-universe. The massive computer at the Giga House elicits one from Yolei; Kari says that Izzy "would have a field day" if he saw it.
• New Year Has Come: The heroes' final battle against MaloMyotismon symbolically takes place on New Year's Eve, with much emphasis placed on the things they want to do in the future and why the villain sucks for wanting to prevent that.
• Next Sunday A.D.: The show is set from spring to winter of 2002, but it debuted in the spring of 2000.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Done to Veemon by RedVegiemon in episode 4. Gabumon gets one earlier in the episode as well. The next episode has Gomamon also have this happen to him.
• No Kill like Overkill: The destruction of Myotismon's soul becomes this when you realize just what they shot it with. The light of millions of Digivices from every Digi Destined on Earth. To put this in perspective, eight were able to use said light to completely contain an explosion meant to destroy two worlds in one blast. Myotismon's spirit was hit with the combined light of millions of Digivices all at once fired out of an extremely powerful Digimon's dark-matter cannon. Though given the fact the guy just wouldn't stay dead, this was probably the wisest thing the Digi Destined could've done.
• Non-Serial Movie:
  • The first 02 movie, starring Wallace and his digimon, exists out of continuity with the series itself and is subsequently completely ignored by the anime... in the original version. The dub, however, did in fact try to bring it into continuity, leading to a rather huge Dub Induced Plothole when certain digivolutions failed to come Back for the Finale.
  • While the canonicity of the second movie is debatable, it apparently occurs several months after the events of the main series but before the Distant Finale. It fits pretty snugly into continuity, but there are a few questions raised about how certain Digimon from the original team can digivolve to Mega.
• Not Even Human: After the Empire arc, the newer DigiDestined express problems with actually killing Digimon, but then they learn that these threatening Digimon are actually control spires. This resolves their issues right up until the birth of BlackWarGreymon, the first control spire Digimon to display self-awareness.

Tropes O-R

• Obvious Trap: The Giga House debacle. Arukenimon literally invites the kids to come meet her and they decide to do so, (since the best way to deal with a trap is to spring it) later ending up separated, swarmed by a Zerg Rush of Champion-level insectoids, and getting two of their own Digimon possessed. Somewhat justified as they expected this,the but entered anyways, seeing it as necessary to capture Arukenimon. See Trap Is the Only Option
• Odd Friendships: DNA evolution depends on pairs of children who are very different, and their attempts to reach an understanding.
• Older and Wiser: Although the age gap between Yolei and Mimi or Izzy is only one year.
• Pair the Spares: A weird non-romantic example. The partners for DNA Digievolution are, first, Davis and Ken, whose relationship is both a very important part for both the story as a whole and their respective characters (to the point that it sometimes crosses into Ho Yay). Then, we have Kari and Yolei, the two girls of the team, whose relationship had been touched upon in the past as well, even if nowhere near as much as Davis and Ken. So, who's left? T.K. and Cody, who upon that point were a prime example of The Friends Who Never Hang. Though it seems that the show was aware of this: Davis and Ken were the first ones to use DNA Digievolution, and Kari and Yolei followed them shortly after that, while T.K. and Cody had a really hard time unlocking it, since they were nowhere near as close as the aforementioned pairs.
• Phantom Zone: The Dark Ocean. Ruled by Dagomon, a giant Lovecraftian Digimon based on a pair of Cthulhu Mythos monsters. Surprisingly enough, Chiaki Konaka was responsible for that episode.
• Photoprotoneutron Torpedo: Imperialdramon's special attack is called "Positron Laser," probably meant to imply positive energy.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Thundermon is literally called this in the dub.
• Plot Pants: The new team gets a set of clothes for whenever they appear in the Digital World (the original team simply wear whatever clothes they were wearing on Earth). The most obvious are Davis, Yolei, and Cody, who have the most dramatic wardrobe changes. The show suggests this is due to inconsistencies in their self-image, which T.K. and Kari don't share, as they wear the same clothes as they had been in the real world. (The show appears to have forgotten this in later episodes, as T.K. and Kari will shift to their standard green-yellow and pink-white outfits when they travel to the Digital World, even if they were wearing different clothes on Earth).
• Previously on…: In the dub, the children take turns narrating it, but WarGreymon did it at least once.
• The Promise: Specifically, T.K. is still acting on a promise that he made to Sora back in Digimon Adventure: He'll protect Kari, no matter what happens.
• Prophetic Names: As with Adventure (but not played up as much), Kari is the bearer of the Crest and Digi-Egg of Light (hikari in Japanese) and has the ability to release a pink aura beneficial to Digimon.
• Protagonist Power-Up Privileges:
  • For Davis and Ken. Their partners are the only ones to reach Mega.
  • The new cast get this earlier on, each receiving two usable Digimentals — once for battle, one for transport — while T.K. and Kari, the reocurring characters, only get one. Angemon and Angewomon were grouped in the "combat" group with Flamedramon, Shurimon, and Digmon, though they were unable to be used for the duration of the first story arc, when armor digivolving actually mattered.
  • In the Expanded Universe, Ken starts losing these privileges in favor of Davis; Imperialdramon is implicitly treated as part of V-mon's line, and generally not Wormmon's.
• Power Nullifier: In addition to the Dark Spires blocking Digivolution, the Emperor's dark Digivice is able to block out the OG group's Digivices from working.
• Raijū: Raidramon is a Champion-Level Evolution of Veemon. It is a rare type of Digimon armor-digivolved from the Digi-Egg of Friendship, giving it the quadrupedal physiology of the wolf-like Garurumon evolutionary line and a lightning affinity.
• Red Baron: With the exception of Magnamon, the Armor Digimon all have nicknames that invoke the crest on the Digi-Egg they use. These nicknames are announced along with their names during digivolution:
  • Flamedramon, "the Fire of Courage".
  • Raidramon, "the Storm of Friendship".
  • Halsemon, "the Wings of Love".
  • Shurimon, "the Samurai of Sincerity".
  • Digmon, "The Drill of Power". He later starts calling himself the "Drill of Knowledge" because it "makes him sound smarter".
  • Submarimon, "The Reliable Guardian of the Sea".
  • Pegasusmon, "Flying Hope".
  • Nefertimon, "Angel of Light".
• Reed Richards Is Useless: The D - Terminal was ahead of its time. With messaging capabilities and wifi, it would have given the Nintendo DS a run for its money.
• Random Events Plot: Once the Digimon Emperor sage is wrapped up, the plot to the series becomes rather... Scattered, to say the least. Multiple plotlines start running at once, very few of which end up getting proper focus and resolution. Some, like the Dark Ocean, only get an episode of setup before being dropped completely. A lot of this was because of a lot of authorial fighting behind the scenes over where the series should go once the initial arc wrapped up, which none of the writers could fully agree upon.
• Reincarnation: For the Digimon; even if they die, they eventually are reborn again in Primary Village. Humans, on the other hand, are a different story.
• Rummage Sale Reject: Taken up to a notch from it's predecessor, the Destined's clothing look even more randomly designed than last season's. Only Cody averts this (both in the Real and Digital Worlds) and Ken upon his Heel–Face Turn. It's justified for The Emperor, Davis, and Yolei in the Digital World - the clothes are a manifestation of how they see themselves.
• The Runaway: Ken leaves his home and his parents in episode 9, especially the note about "leaving the world" he leaves behind on his computer for his parents to see.
• Running Gag
  • The DigiDestined awkwardly falling out of the computer in a heap when returning to the real world becomes this. They start lampshading it after the second time.
  • The English dub has Davis constantly getting T.K.'s name wrong, saying things like T.J. or T.O. He pretty much makes it through the whole alphabet before the season is over.

Tropes S-T

• Sadistic Choice: About a third of the way through the first arc, the Emperor requires Davis to choose which of his friends will be saved from being eaten alive by a Deltamon. Davis willingly humiliates himself and tells Ken to have him eaten instead of his friends instead.
• Save Both Worlds: The calamities that befell the Digiworld affect the human world and an unknown number of other worlds resp. dimensions, as well, so the villains have to be vanquished for the sake of both and more worlds.
• School Club Front: The DigiDestined have referred to their group as the "Computer Club". It's basically a cover for their afterschool trips to the Digital World, using one of the school computers to get there. An early episode shows that there is a teacher who acts as the club's advisor - but he doesn't know the first thing about using computers and is a nonentity for the rest of the series. (His story purpose was to send Taichi to Not Important To This Episode Camp by forcing him to run interference.)
• Screaming Woman: When MarineDevimon surfaces in the Tokyo Bay near a ship carrying a wedding party, the bride is the first to scream, followed by the rest of the wedding guests.
• Shadow Archetype: The Kaiser is one to DigiDestined as a concept.
• She's a Man in Japan: Iori (Cody) is male in Japan and in America, but in Spain and Portugal, they accidentally thought he was female, and "she" referred to "herself" as a girl for the whole series. Needless to say, the epilogue where they showed him all grown up got some strange reactions.
• Shipper on Deck:
  • Taichi supports Sora and Yamato as a couple but the English dub makes him look like an Unlucky Childhood Friend.
  • In a Drama CD, Mimi thinks Sora and Yamato make a good couple.
• Ship Tease:
  • The dub teases T.K. and Kari in episode 13.
  • Also, Veemon was briefly endowed with a huge crush on Gatomon to mirror his human partner. In the original, it was only for an episode, but the dub extended it for a couple of episodes.
  • Miyako develops a crush on Ken.
• Shoot the Shaggy Dog: BlackWarGreymon's Heroic Sacrifice fails to stop Oikawa plans and BlackWarGreymon is simply forgotten in the Distant Finale.
• Short Film: Diablomon Strikes Back counts; the first movie for Adventure 2 was split into two parts with individual titles.
• Shout-Out:
  • Yolei's "Mimi fantasy," in which Mimi suddenly has blue eyes so that she looks more like Utena.
  • The Dark Ocean and Dagomon, to the Cthulhu Mythos (the episode was written by Chiaki Konaka, who actually has written Cthulhu Mythos stories).
  • Diablomon Strikes Back has Armageddemon, whose appearance is reminiscent of an Angel. Furthermore, when Omegamon is severely wounded in the battle, he is left standing up with his arms having fallen off in a pose that echoes Unit 02 after being defeated by Zeruel.
  • The dub title of Revenge of Diaboromon is a Star Wars reference, paralleling Diablomon Strikes Back. Revenge of the Sith had just been released a few months prior.
  • There is a quick blink-and-you-miss-it shout out in episode 15; when ShogunGekomon sees the dark tower erected, he cries out "GeGeGe no Ge!"
• Shown Their Work: The World Tour arc has a ridiculous amount of detail in regards to time zones and equivalent times in Japan. According to the DVD Box interviews, whole meetings were spent devoted to making the schedule work out right.
• Sleep Cute: Downplayed with Daisuke and Hikari at the end of the Digimon Kaiser arc; during the trip home, there's a shot of them sleeping in the car next to one another with their Digimon, but without the conspicuous shoulder-pillow.
• Snap Back: None of the damage caused by digimon in Digimon Adventure is shown. In particular the devastation caused by Venomvamdemon seems to have never happened.
• Sneaky Departure: When the DigiDestined set out to bring down the Digimon Emperor, T.K. and Cody abandon their camp before the others wake up, so they can search for the Emperor's base by themselves.
• So Last Season: One plot point of the new season is that the Emperor's Dark Digivice prevents standard evolution from working, so the new gang all have to augment their partners with Digiarmor.
  • Ironically, once the emperor falls and the team gets access to standard evolution again, the armors are rendered almost completely obsolete, making only cameos from then on. And then the champion forms only get a handful of episodes before the show jumps straight into DNA Digivolution.
• Spoiler Opening: The series' second Japanese ending, which started at the time of Paildramon's introduction, was arguably one of the franchise's most egregious examples. It showed Silphymon, Shakkoumon and even Imperialdramon, in both Dragon and Fighter Mode! And one episode later, the opening was revised, which in case you hadn't already seen the ending, showed the then-unintroduced Silphymon, Shakkoumon and Imperialdramon Dragon.
• Staredown Faceoff: Played for Laughs in the English dub of Digimon Adventure 02
  Patamon: Wanna fight?
  Wormmon: Actually, I'd prefer a staring contest.
• Stock Footage: The evolution sequences, as usual. Also, there was a set of stock footage for the partner Digimon using their attacks, but it wasn't used as much as in Adventure. A bit of it also shows up during battles; notably in repeat Bakemon fights within the Kaiser's base.
• Storming the Castle: The Digi Destined board the Kaiser's floating fortress out of necessity in order to bring a faster halt to Kimeramon's country-ravaging destruction. While eventually successful, it remains poignantly bittersweet.
• Surreal Horror: The first Zero Two movie is rife with this. The kids are separated, their mentors kidnapped, desperately trying to get to an empty flower-field in the middle of Colorado by plane and truck and dragon and train and bus while being harassed by a warped Digimon named for a mythical cannibal monster and the struggle ultimately culminates in a battle against a Fallen Angel Monster Clown; in the original Japanese, the soundtrack consists primarily of dreamy, ethereal banjo music. Unfortunately, the movie makes very little sense and can be used as an example this trope being used poorly.
• Synchronization: DNA evolution between the partners of two Digi Destined can only be achieved if the Digi Destined's hearts are beating in synchronisation, characterised by a deep understanding of each other's motives and beliefs.
• Taking the Bullet: Digitamamon leaps in the way of Gorrilamon's attack to save the kids. It doesn't kill him, just catapults him into the sky.
• There Are No Therapists: Lampshaded at one point in the English dub.
• There Are No Police: Downplayed. While the police do occasionally show up, most of the time they're either late to the party or dealing with something they think is mundane (like when Ken disappears).
  • Interestingly, the kids are concerned twice about the military becoming involved. Only once does it actually make some plot relevance.
• This is Digmon's Drill
• Timber!: One of Digmon's dubbed one liners when knocking down a Control Spire is "Sorry, I forgot to 'Timber'!".
• Time Skip: Digimon Adventure 02 starts three years after Digimon Adventure ends, but in the dub, it's been four years, so the original team is in high school and the new team is in middle school (except for Cody). Near the finale, the dub apparently forgot and referred to the gap being three years.
• Token Competent Minion:
  • Unlike most of The Digimon Emperor's enslaved Digimon, SkullGreymon wasn't beaten in his first battle against the DigiDestined and the only reason Ken had to retreat from the fight was due to SkullGreymon becoming unstable.
  • Kimeramon proves to be the most powerful Digimon under Ken's command, taking just about everything the heroes threw at him and responding in kind. It takes the power of Magnamon and Wormon making a Heroic Sacrifice to defeat him.
• Tokyo Is the Center of the Universe: Zigzagged; this was the first Digimon series to really care about the goings-on around the world^note Digimon Adventure only briefly alluded to freak acts of nature transpiring across the globe, but never left Japan, while Digimon Xros Wars: The Young Hunters Who Leapt Through Time featured a little bit of travel, but the bulk of the action happened in Tokyo. Justified since the entire season turns out to be a revenge scheme of a previous foe.
• Too Dumb to Live:
  • In episode 22, Davis attempts at making Veemon evolve to win Kari's heart, leading to a scene of Davis destroying a bridge that he is standing on.
  • Chasing after Oikawa through the gate in episode 48 even after seeing him fatally wound BlackWarGreymon. Arguably justified, as not following him would mean him getting away.
• Took a Level in Badass: Davis in the three final episodes, when his Idiot Hero ways start paying off.
  • Takeru definitely took one between Adventure and 02, best evidenced when he stops the Digimon Emperor's whip attack WITH HIS BARE HAND and then proceeds to beat him senseless. And that's after he took a whip strike to the cheek without flinching or changing expression.
• Took a Level in Kindness: Just guess.
  • Aside from the obvious one, ShogunGekomon and Digitamamon are much more benevolent this season than they were in Digimon Adventure (until they get brainwashed) with Digitamamon its explained that he changed his ways after the Dark Masters were defeated. The ShogunGekomon is a different character as the one from the previous series was killed by the Dark Masters.
• Trap Is the Only Option: In an aptly named episode "The Insect Master's Trap", the DigiDestined enter into Arukenimon's trap to find out what she is up to.
• Translation Nod: One of the World Tour episodes features an English-speaking chosen child who refers to himself as a DigiDestined in the original Japanese version; this is an acknowledgment of terminology made up by the English dub.
• Trauma Swing: Mummymon finds a Dark Spore kid on a playground.
• True Companions: Kari and T.K. actually belong to two sets, including the first crew, something that Davis is occasionally envious of.
• 20 Minutes into the Future: Released in 2000 and set in 2002, hence its title, Digimon Adventure 02.
• Two-Headed Coin: Davis attempts to pull this on T.K. when deciding who will go to rescue Kari. Since Davis has a crush on her, he uses an American quarter with tails on both sides. After Davis has supposedly won and is gloating to T.K., T.K. swipes the coin back and calls him on it, noting that he knows where they sell such quarters.

Tropes U-Z

• Unexpectedly Dark Episode: While Adventure 02 can get pretty dark, the episode "His Master's Voice" is an outright Cosmic Horror Story, with Kari being threatened by Deep Ones and Dagomon, an outright Cthulhu Expy. The events of this episode are never mentioned again, aside from occasional references to the Dark Ocean.
• Video Game Cruelty Potential: The Digimon Emperor exploits this to its fullest, not grasping that the Digital World isn't a video game.
• Voodoo Shark: The explanations for why the original Digi Destined couldn't use the power of their crests. Thankfully excised from the manga adaptation.
• Webcomic Time: Often weeks of time pass in show between episodes.This is to keep the show in sync with real time... four years into the future.
• Wendigo: Yes, there's a Digimon based on this; though he's not named onscreen, Kokomon spends most of Hurricane Touchdown in his corrupt Champion form, Wendigomon.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: The Dark Ocean, and Dagomon and Daemon therein; the mysterious flashbacks of how Ken got infected with the Dark Spore.
  • In the original version, Gennai's newly youthful form is never really explained. In the dub, this is handwaved by a throwaway gag line about him taking some "Digi-Vitamins."
• "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: The last five minutes reveal what happened to all the characters from this series and the one before it:
  • Tai and Agumon become ambassadors to the Digital World.
  • Matt and Sora get married. He's an astronaut and she's a fashion designer.
  • Izzy sets up a research team to study more of the Digital World.
  • Mimi becomes a celebrity chef with her own tv show.
  • Joe becomes a doctor for Digimon.
  • T.K. becomes an author.
  • Kari becomes a kindergarten teacher.
  • Davis becomes a noodle cart owner, and actually starts a successful chain of noodle carts.
  • Ken becomes a police detective. He marries Yolei and they have three children.
  • Cody becomes a defence attorney.
• Where It All Began: After the portals to the Digital World that are located in Tokyo are sealed, Tai and the rest of the original seven DigiDestined (Sans Mimi who's in America, and T.K. and Kari, both of who are already in the Digital World) are forced to travel to the camp they first travelled to the Digital World from.
• World Tour: The heroes have to travel across the globe to take down the black spires planted by the villains.
• You Fight Like a Cow: Some of Paildramon's lines are written this way in the dub; it lightens the mood a little bit.
  Do you even know what the word "aim" means? Desperado Blaster!

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