Okay, I have to point out the huge difference between the royal knights arc of frontier and every episode of Digimon Tamers. The aforementioned arc is repetitive, in that every single episode had the same beguining, some completely irrelevant events/plot points that can be explained in 2 lines Such as the fact that Koichi doesn't have a fractal code means that in fact he was dead and that the Koichi we see is actually a spirit, or that Kouji and Takuya are getting stronger by gaining experience as well as exactly the same ending, so all of these 8 episodes could be easily shortened to one.
The most notable thing about the episodes of Tamers is that they strictly obey realism by not having sequential plot points (heck, the very first scene is only fully explained, after plenty of gradual reveals, in episode 38) or even antagonists! The meaningful conflict is a moral one, in other words it's an argument between the characters who each defend their position and try to change the others. Note that while the previous is very intellectual, very adult, very sophisticated, certainly very meaningful, it's not particularly exciting and can only be appreciated if the viewer commits his brain to a detailed analysis of the show, and thus cannot be enjoyed absent-minded (which is why it is held as slow, when the plot itself is far more complicated than anything that came before or after in the franchise). Even the action, which instead of consisting of a difficult, hair raising struggle is in fact composed of very straightforward battles that can go horribly wrong without warning (again, realistic, but not very exciting).
That changes in episode 34, because afterwards there are always powerful antagonists that have the tamers struggle to their limits, extreme situations that trigger emotional outbursts, wider-scale battles, and very scary imagery alongside the other elements that are still there, except now are not so cerebral (hence, more appealing).
P.S Note that I like all of the series; I am just defining the genre shift.
Finally someone who understands,see this is exactly why I like Savers and Adventure more. Neither are slow paced and in the case of Savers,actually conveys a lot of the same themes,while maintaining a good shonen feel as well.
The plot is complicated,and it does pay off,however it does devolve at points such as the Devas
I found the big pick-up to be about the point when Leomon first joins though.
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Slow to Awesome in 34 episodes.
First off, let me say that the first half of Tamers is really boring, the best comparison I can think of is the Royal Knights arc from Frontier. That's not to say there aren't good moments to be had, but just that it seems to go at a snails pace. The turning point is Beelzemon going into action. Once he comes in you get all the action and psychology that was promised. After him things come to fruition and you get a rather unique final villain. The whole ending is well worth it, so even if the beginning is slow please believe me when I say that we weren't lying that this show is awesome. You just need to get through to it.