Generally speaking, when it comes to anime I like my villains to have a
heart. This doesn't mean they have to be nice, it just means they have
to seem real. To
be properly motivated, or to have some good side, or to show some degree
of
emotion/real feeling.
In Digimon, this does not seem so important. The bad guys are monsters,
not humans,
and even have the attribute that MAKES them bad. They can't help it.
However, some of the more interesting villains do show a "real" side. Just
like the kids'
vaccine Digimon, who are programmed with goodness, sometimes might argue
or get angry
- in other words, display "bad" personality traits - virus Digimon, who
are programmed with
badness, can sometimes show a good side, but this is less obvious.
Ogremon, who seemed a disgusting monster dedicated to evil-doing, turned
out to have
quite a sense of honour and sense of purpose. He even grew to care about
Mimi and Joe.
When he travelled with them, he was still grouchy and mean, but proved
to be a good
friend anyway.
Puppetmon was never very nice (or indeed, at all nice), but his main goal
was to have
fun, not kill the digidestined. Okay, so that meant he manipulated/played
with them, but
still, his favourite thing to do was play, he had all these toys and ideas
for games. He
seemed fairly upset at TK's assumption that he didn't have any friends,
and the way he
went to "make" a friend was kind of sad. So too was the way he found out,
as he was
dying, that what made the digidestined so successful was that they had
friends.
Apocalymon, now *he* was interesting. But I didn't get the impression he
was the
'ultimate evil' at all. More so than most other villains, he showed a personal
side, a
genuine motivation for trying to destroy the world. I felt he was someone
who could have
actually been reasoned with. They could have a conversation with him without
him trying
to blast them into oblivion.
He wanted a happy life. He reminded me of Neherenia from Sailormoon, actually
- seeing
the happiness of his enemies from his own personal hell. The digidestined
should have all
opened their eyes really wide, cried a little, and stared at him, telling
him they forgave
him. That woulda been much more effective, then they could have all been
friends and
he'd have woken up in a palace way back when...
Sorry, I got a bit sidetracked. ^_^.
Anyway, what was the point I was making? Oh yes. It's nice to have villains
you can feel
a little sorry for. But in Digimon if that were heavily done, it might
actually detract from
the story. These monsters are supposed to be plain evil, supposed to be
destroyed in
order to save Earth. Of course things aren't that simple in real life -
that one person is the
'good guy' and the other one the 'bad guy'. But obviously this is far removed
from real life,
and it's nice to be able to be happy for the kids when they win, instead
of feeling sorry
for the villain.
After all, they just get 'reconfigured', right? ^_-. Maybe they can reconfigure
Etemon into
something vaguely intimidating. ^_^.
One thing I do like is how the villains are not made a lot more powerful
than the kids'
Digimon. I mean, sure, the Devimon-Myotismon-Venommyotismon family was
super
powerful, but mostly it was what you'd expect... the bad Digimon that *were*
very
powerful were understandably so, as they, unlike the kids' Digimon, had
naturally
digivolved to their form and had practise being in it, to build up their
strength and power.
Still, what I like is the fact that while some of the bad guys have the
ability to do unusual
things apart from battle - like Myotismon creating the fog, or Devimon
distributing black
gears - some of the kids' Digimon do too. Like Metalgarurumon having a
scouter, Lillymon
being able to counter viruses, and MagnaAngemon being able to heal.
I also like it that the baddies aren't totally invincible. Like, you see
Piedmon looking
worried at a development in the kids' favour, or screaming as he gets hit.
While true that
villains are usually more powerful than the average Digimon - or else they
wouldn't be a
threat anyway - they can still be hurt by the children's attacks.
So, as a whole, do I like the Digimon villains? Not much. But then, you're
not really meant
to. I do like the way they are portrayed and designed, a great variety
of evilness from a
psychotic wooden/metal puppet-child who likes toys, a giant metal sea monster,
a
playwright with a penchant for morbid stories and magic tricks, an utterly
humourless
vampire, a fluttering, wild, jealous bowling bowl with wings, an Elvis-impersonator
monkey...
Keep on, kids. The opponents may be tough but so are you.
Oi! I'm Moo, and I just though I'd tell you that Leto's Digimon site CAN be found at http://envy.nu/leto/digimon