ENTRY 016: NANIMON AND DIGITAMAMON
Okay...
uh......
...No?
This...thing... is apparently supposed to be a reference to the Tamagotchi character, Oyajitchi, who's in turn supposed to be a caricature of a middle-aged dad. That's pretty funny, and Oyajitchi's design is stylized enough to hit that "ugly-cute" that's so big in Japan, but even without looking just a shade or two away from some sort of nebulous, nonspecific racist caricature or distorted celebrity cameo, Nanimon feels just plain creepy.
Yes, I know, I'm usually the last person in the world to even exhibit any concept of "ugliness," but this Radical 90's Mascot Man aesthetic has always been an uncanny one. It's like Bolt Man or Mac Tonight, arguably fun because it's so dreadful, but I'd have a pretty hard time looking my Digimon in the eye if it evolved into any of those guys either.
...And then I'd have to feel extra guilty about that, because this ridiculous thing, which is also a violent drunk by the way, there's also that, occupies the same exact role as our beloved Numemon. A "bad" evolution. A form that exists as a punishment to you, the player, for being terrible. Wanna know which child digimon were featured in the first V-pet to include Nanimon? Imagine screwing up so hard that a tweety bird or a flower in your care grow up into a booze-guzzling bench-pressing Dad Head with pit hair.
It gets worse, too. Early Digimon V-pets only changed the names and sprites of existing creatures, leaving stats and attack animations exactly the same, so just like the sewage-loving Numemon, this beefy ballman attacks by...yes...unfortunately...
...I really, truly want to have room in my heart for all of these broken, screwed-up, crap-lobbing underdog Digimon, but while a googly-eyed slug wallowing in feces is only quirky and endearing to me, a bearded orb-man doing it is just...
It's just.....
......it's godless. I'm not religious, that's just the only thing that this is. Godless.
RATING:
uh......
...No?
This...thing... is apparently supposed to be a reference to the Tamagotchi character, Oyajitchi, who's in turn supposed to be a caricature of a middle-aged dad. That's pretty funny, and Oyajitchi's design is stylized enough to hit that "ugly-cute" that's so big in Japan, but even without looking just a shade or two away from some sort of nebulous, nonspecific racist caricature or distorted celebrity cameo, Nanimon feels just plain creepy.
Yes, I know, I'm usually the last person in the world to even exhibit any concept of "ugliness," but this Radical 90's Mascot Man aesthetic has always been an uncanny one. It's like Bolt Man or Mac Tonight, arguably fun because it's so dreadful, but I'd have a pretty hard time looking my Digimon in the eye if it evolved into any of those guys either.
...And then I'd have to feel extra guilty about that, because this ridiculous thing, which is also a violent drunk by the way, there's also that, occupies the same exact role as our beloved Numemon. A "bad" evolution. A form that exists as a punishment to you, the player, for being terrible. Wanna know which child digimon were featured in the first V-pet to include Nanimon? Imagine screwing up so hard that a tweety bird or a flower in your care grow up into a booze-guzzling bench-pressing Dad Head with pit hair.
It gets worse, too. Early Digimon V-pets only changed the names and sprites of existing creatures, leaving stats and attack animations exactly the same, so just like the sewage-loving Numemon, this beefy ballman attacks by...yes...unfortunately...
...I really, truly want to have room in my heart for all of these broken, screwed-up, crap-lobbing underdog Digimon, but while a googly-eyed slug wallowing in feces is only quirky and endearing to me, a bearded orb-man doing it is just...
It's just.....
......it's godless. I'm not religious, that's just the only thing that this is. Godless.
RATING:
NO GOD
Did we mention there's another version that's also a bomb?
PERFECT: DIGITAMAMON
...But, behold, there is light in this darkness. Also like Numemon, V-pet Nanimon had its own exclusive, extra-powerful evolutionary upgrade, and "perfect" is right. There isn't anything to not love about a big, glowy-eyed egg with reptile feet. It's a little difficult at first to rationalize the connection between these two Digimon, but we mentioned that Nanimon is a Tamagotchi reference, and even said to have invaded the Digital world from "some other dimension." Digitamamon, meanwhile, is said to only evolve from the data of this other world, and looks more immediately like the broken egg design of a classic Tamagotchi itself!
Digitamamon's eggshell is actually described as just an egg-shaped "exoskeleton," and it's officially referred to as the "apex" of all possible Digimon evolution. This claim goes back to before Digimon ever evolved further to the ultimate stage, but I love the idea that a Digimon can both begin and end as an egg, and unlike many shadow-faced creature designs, Digitamamon has both an official "true" face and one that is not disappointing.
If it isn't broke, don't fix it, and if its face looks like nothing but eyes floating in darkness, that's exactly what it should literally, really be! Digitamamon's inner demon typically only emerges as an attack mechanism, which is rather dramatically referred to as its "NIGHTMARE SYNDROME" move!
...But, if this early art is to be believed, Digitamamon's inner being was going to be something much more interesting. As Nanimon was a poop-throwing reskin of Numemon, Digitamamon was a heart-spitting reskin of Monzaemon, so I guess there was at least one attempt to tie that in with Digitamamon's spookier, more monstrous design and concept!
As powerful as this Digimon is supposed to be, however, his only major role in the anime has been as a conniving, villainous restaurant chef, and you've got to love the Peter Lorre-inspired dub voice, which he keeps through his second-season, delightfully non-villainous reappearance!
I really do love this spooky egg monster as much as the next Digimon, and thank god, the TCG at least has given both Numemon and Karatsukinumemon the ability to evolve into one of these, so at least theoretically, I would never have to have a Nanimon anywhere in my home.RATING:
Digitamamon's eggshell is actually described as just an egg-shaped "exoskeleton," and it's officially referred to as the "apex" of all possible Digimon evolution. This claim goes back to before Digimon ever evolved further to the ultimate stage, but I love the idea that a Digimon can both begin and end as an egg, and unlike many shadow-faced creature designs, Digitamamon has both an official "true" face and one that is not disappointing.
If it isn't broke, don't fix it, and if its face looks like nothing but eyes floating in darkness, that's exactly what it should literally, really be! Digitamamon's inner demon typically only emerges as an attack mechanism, which is rather dramatically referred to as its "NIGHTMARE SYNDROME" move!
As powerful as this Digimon is supposed to be, however, his only major role in the anime has been as a conniving, villainous restaurant chef, and you've got to love the Peter Lorre-inspired dub voice, which he keeps through his second-season, delightfully non-villainous reappearance!
I really do love this spooky egg monster as much as the next Digimon, and thank god, the TCG at least has given both Numemon and Karatsukinumemon the ability to evolve into one of these, so at least theoretically, I would never have to have a Nanimon anywhere in my home.
RATING:
ULTIMATE: DEVITAMAMON
Many years after its debut, Digitamamon was also given a further, final evolution, so we can STILL say that this Digimon both begins and ends as an egg, and this 17-eyed hellbeast is just plain killer! It'd honestly like it a bit more if its head was typically retracted, still just showing its eyes in the darkness off the egg, but those long, jagged jaws aren't too bad of a look either.
Devitamamon is actually one of many Digimon added to the canon from a fan-art contest, though the original creator's design was quite a bit different:
It probably sucks to win a contest like this only for your design to get completely overhauled, but I'm still a sucker for the many-eyed nightmare they ultimately went with. If there's anything I like more about the original, it's the black sockets for eyes in what's apparently more of a skull-like head.
I believe Devitamamon's official profile still comes from the original contest entry, at least, and its creator loaded it with a loving degree of dramatic horror. The contents of its shell are likened to a "Pandora's box" of all things evil, it's said to use a lost programming language to cast wicked digital spells, and its main attack is known as the "Black Death Cloud," which "robs opponents of their sight, gnaws at their spirit, and decomposes their body."
CALM DOWN, EGG!!!!!RATING:
Devitamamon is actually one of many Digimon added to the canon from a fan-art contest, though the original creator's design was quite a bit different:
It probably sucks to win a contest like this only for your design to get completely overhauled, but I'm still a sucker for the many-eyed nightmare they ultimately went with. If there's anything I like more about the original, it's the black sockets for eyes in what's apparently more of a skull-like head.
I believe Devitamamon's official profile still comes from the original contest entry, at least, and its creator loaded it with a loving degree of dramatic horror. The contents of its shell are likened to a "Pandora's box" of all things evil, it's said to use a lost programming language to cast wicked digital spells, and its main attack is known as the "Black Death Cloud," which "robs opponents of their sight, gnaws at their spirit, and decomposes their body."
CALM DOWN, EGG!!!!!
