Digimon Tamers

Digimon Tamers is the third season of Digimon. It is set in a different universe than the first two seasons, which exist as a TV show in the tamers universe.

Introduction to Digimon
A battle sends Calumon to Earth, while Takato Matsuki receives a blue card and slides it through his card reader, which becomes a digivice. While in detention, he designs and draws a Digimon called Guilmon. His drawing and papers slide through his digivice, creating a Digiegg, from which Guilmon hatches after Takato witnesses a battle between Rika Nonaka's partner Renamon and Wild One Lynxmon in his dream. Digimon activity is monitored by the sinister organization Hypnos, led by Mitsuo Yamaki. Takato finds Guilmon, and while he follows him to school and Takato searches for him, he meets another tamer, Henry Wong, and his partner Terriermon. After destroying the Wild One Fugamon, Rika has Renamon fight Guilmon, but Henry and Terriermon break up the fight. Later, Guilmon challenges Renamon to a rematch, but the fight is stopped when Terriermon gets in Renamon's line of fire and digivolves to Gargomon, who loses his mind and attacks everything until Guilmon stops him, and Henry makes him stand on his head until he dedigivolves.

Henry doesn't want Terriermon to fight, but eventually is forced to let him fight his arch-nemesis Gorillamon, whom he destroys. Later, Takato, Guilmon, Henry, and Terriermon meet Calumon for the first time, and fight the Wild One Vilemon, whom Renamon destroys, Rika thinking Digimon to be nothing more than data and only wanting to fight. After Renamon destroys another Wild One, Allomon, Rika gets impatient for her to digivolve. When Renamon is nearly killed as she takes a hit from Dokugumon to protect Rika, Rika begins to care about her, and Renamon digivolves to Kyubimon, who destroys Dokugumon.

Later, a digital zone appears and makes Guilmon disappear inside it. Takato, Henry, and Rika are able to save Guilmon before Yamaki destroys it.

A mischief maker, Impmon, terrorizes people in the park and sets Guilmon up as the culprit, causing Takato to lose trust in him. During the fight with Wild One Devidramon, when Takato learns of Guilmon's innocence, Guilmon digivolves into Growlmon and destroys Devidramon. Dedigivolving him proves to be a difficult task, but eventually he does.

Rika is captured by a sadistic Wild One, IceDevimon, who wants her as his tamer. After Guilmon kills him, Rika decides she hates all Digimon, and she and Renamon go their separate ways, not talking to each other. Takato introduces Guilmon to his classmates Kazu and Kenta, but they only see his eyes, run away, and think him to be a trick, no longer talking to Takato. Henry decides not to let Terriermon fight anymore, but when Wild One Musyamon tries to kill a little girl, he realizes there are some fights you can't avoid. Terriermon retains his mind when he digivolves to Gargomon and destroys Musyamon. Yamaki introduces himself to the tamers, Takato introduces Guilmon to his classmate and possible lover Jeri, and Impmon is revealed to have had two partners, Ai and Mako, whom he left because of their fighting, and now hates humans. Renamon has to destroy three Flybeemon on her own, but when she is nearly killed by the next Wild One, Harpymon, Rika stabs Harpymon in the back, and Renamon digivolves to Kyubimon and destroys her, making amends with Rika and officially recognizing each other as partners.

Enter the Devas
After capturing, scanning, and destroying the Wild One DarkLizardmon, Yamaki gets permission from the guys upstairs to initiate a test run of his latest program, Juggernaut, designed to destroy all Digimon. However, the black hole it opens up instead turns into a portal, from which a mysterious tiger Digimon, Mihiramon, appears. He easily defeats Kyubimon and Gargomon, but Growlmon matrix digivolves to WarGrowlmon and destroys him. The battle is witnessed by Kazu and Kenta.

While Kazu, Kenta, Jeri, and Takato play with Guilmon in the park, a similar snake Digimon, Sandiramon, attacks the subway. Impmon tells Takato and Guilmon what is going on and Guilmon digivolves to Growlmon and destroys Sandiramon, but not before he reveals that he is one of the twelve Devas who works for a Sovereign.

While Takato and Henry take Guilmon, Terriermon, and Calumon for them on a field trip, a chicken Deva, Sinduramon, attacks, absorbing electricity from Shinjuku, but is destroyed by Growlmon.

When attempting to trace the origin of a mysterious blue card, Henry's father Janyu walks in on a fight between Terriermon and Impmon, and realizes Digimon are real. He is later revealed to be one of the Monster Makers who created Digimon, but didn't get to finish their project. Two Devas, Pajiramon and Vajramon, bio-emerge. Terriermon fights Pajiramon as Gargomon while Renamon fights Vajramon, who falls in love with her. When it's clear Gargomon can't win, Henry uses the blue card to matrix digivolve him to Rapidmon, who destroys Pajiramon and Vajramon. However, Vajramon is somehow revived, and returns to the digital world with Renamon.

Eventually Renamon and Vajramon return. Vajramon asks Renamon to help his Sovereign take over the world by destroying humans, but she refuses. Eventually she matrix digivolves into Taomon and destroys Vajramon.

Battle of Adventurers
While Takato is on vacation with his cousin Kai, the evil Mephistomon tries to destroy the world with his virus and army of evil Digimon. However, a vaccine program is released, destroying the virus, and WarGrowlmon, Rapidmon, and Taomon destroy Mephistomon in his Mega form of Gulfmon.

The Devas, continued
A horse Deva named Indramon bio-emerges, while a creepy kid appears out of nowhere. Impmon fights Indramon, but is beat up. Eventually WarGrowlmon destroys Indramon. Yamaki brings all the Monster Makers together, except Shibumi, who continued the Digimon project. Jeri decides to become a tamer, and when she is attacked by the rat Deva Kumbhiramon, and Leomon fights him off, she thinks he's her tamer. However, this is seemingly proven wrong, and Leomon leaves after killing Kumbhiramon.

Then the pig Deva, Vikaralamon, bio-emerges, destroying part of Shinjuku while giving any humans not previously aware of Digimon a negative first impression on them. As WarGrowlmon, Rapidmon, and Taomon fight him, Yamaki activates Juggernaut, which nearly destroys Rapidmon, Taomon, and Vikaralamon, until the creepy kid, revealed to be the monkey Deva Makuramon, destroys Hypnos and the Juggernaut void. After WarGrowlmon destroys Vikaralamon, Makuramon kidnaps Calumon, who contains the light of digivolution, and leaves to the digital world with him. He injures Leomon, who becomes Jeri's partner. Impmon, meanwhile, is taken to the digital world by the dog Deva, Caturamon.

After discovering a portal to the digital world in a cave Takato set up for Guilmon, the tamers tell their parents about Digimon and go to the digital world to rescue Calumon. Kazu and Kenta go with them to find their partners. Before they leave, Yamaki decides to help them by giving them a com device.

Makuramon loses Calumon upon arrival in the digital world, and rides the dragon Deva Majiramon in search of him. A data stream separates Rika, Renamon, Kazu, and Kenta from the others. Takato's group defends a forgotten village from an evil motorcycle, Behemoth, while Caturamon makes a deal with Impmon, digivolving him into Beelzemon in exchange for the promise to destroy the tamers and their Digimon. He tames Behemoth and rides it as his motorcycle. Rika, Renamon, Kazu, and Kenta are teleported to a clock area, where they meet the legendary tamer Ryo and his partner Cyberdramon. Rika leaves with Renamon, out of hate for Ryo because he beat her in a tournament, while Ryo and Cyberdramon reunite Kazu and Kenta with Takato and the others, who were taken to a warped area by an elevator. Upon return to the desert they fight Majiramon, whom Cyberdramon destroys before leaving with Ryo to find another opponent.

Eventually Rika and Renamon find Calumon and reunite with the others. Beelzemon, after destroying Infermon and absorbing his data, confronts them, but retreats due a storm caused by Juggernaut, activated by government agents who restarted Hypnos. Caturamon captures Calumon and sends Takato, Henry, and Terriermon into a data stream before Yamaki arrives at Hypnos and shuts down Juggernaut.

When Guilmon, Rika, Renamon, Jeri, Leomon, Kazu, and Kenta defend a village of Gekomon from the evil Orochimon, with Leomon destroying him, Kazu becomes the tamer of the android Digimon Guardromon. Takato, Henry, and Terriermon find Shibumi, who explains the digital world to them and has an ark take them to the Land of the Sovereign, where they can return to Earth. However, when Henry's younger sister Suzie is transported to the digital world, in the Land of the Sovereign, Henry redirects the ark to her. She becomes friends with the rabbit Deva Antylamon, who defends her from Makuramon and becomes her partner before the Devas' Sovereign, Zhuqiaomon, dedigivolves her to Lopmon.

Henry's top concern becomes returning Suzie to Earth. As Takato and Henry try to figure out a plan to rescue Calumon, Beelzemon attacks. Caturamon transports Guilmon and the others to the Land of the Sovereign. During the battle, Beelzemon destroys Leomon. Takato enters a rage and accidentally digivolves Guilmon into an evil form, Megidramon, who nearly kills Beelzemon, until Beelzemon destroys Makuramon and absorbs his data, along with the ultimate data of Rapidmon and Taomon. Takato restores Guilmon to his senses and biomerges with him into his true Mega form, Gallantmon, who destroys Behemoth. When Zhuqiaomon sends Caturamon to kill Lopmon, Terriermon takes a hit for her and Suzie, mortally wounding him. When Gallantmon destroys Caturamon, Beelzemon absorbs his data and gains the upper hand on Gallantmon, but with help from Guardromon, Gallantmon defeats him. Gallantmon is about to kill him when Jeri tells him not to. Beelzemon leaves, regretting his actions.

Then the tamers go to Zhuqiaomon's castle where WarGrowlmon, Rapidmon, and Taomon fight Zhuqiaomon, but he gains the advantage, and Rapidmon is slowly disappearing. Once convinced he doesn't have to do everything on his own, Henry biomerges with Terriermon into MegaGargomon, who seemingly defeats Zhuqiaomon. Zhuqiaomon returns and tries to kill the tamers, but is stopped by Azulongmon, another Sovereign, who convinces Zhuqiaomon not to destroy the humans and to instead focus on the true enemy: D-Reaper.

D-Reaper battle
Baihumon, the most powerful Sovereign, fights the D-Reaper but is beat up while Ryo, Cyberdramon, and Ebonwumon, the fourth Sovereign, watch.

Azulongmon and Zhuqiaomon take the tamers and their Digimon to rescue Calumon, where blobs of chaos, part of the D-Reaper, destroy everything they touch. Rika and Renamon take a leap of faith and biomerge to Sakuyamon, who seemingly defeats the D-Reaper and rescues Calumon. However, the D-Reaper returns, and Azulongmon and Zhuqiaomon tell the tamers and their Digimon to return to Earth. Calumon unleashes the light of digivolution, digivolving all wild Digimon in the digital world to Mega, while Beelzemon, after being attacked by some Chrysalimon, dedigivolves to Impmon. Jeri disappears, and returns with a more creepy appearance. Rika and Renamon get Impmon while an ark created by the Monster Makers takes all the tamers and their Digimon home.

However, the D-Reaper follows the tamers to Earth, and begins invading. The military fight the D-Reaper, to no avail. On Earth the D-Reaper deploys agents. As WarGrowlmon, Rapidmon, and Taomon fight the D-Reaper agent Pendulum Feet, Impmon reunites with Ai and Mako, who have decided not to fight each other anymore. He digivolves to Beelzemon Blast Mode to help the tamers destroy Pendulum Feet. They are unable to biomerge on Earth, but a mysterious tamer named Alice and her partner Dobermon give them this power, Dobermon sacrificing himself. After destroying the agent Creep Hands, Gallantmon is pulled into the D-Reaper's chaos mass, separating into Takato and Guilmon where the Jeri who returned with them reveals herself as Evil Jeri, an agent of the D-Reaper. MarineAngemon fights her off while Justimon, Ryo and Cyberdramon biomerged, fights a D-Reaper agent named Horn Striker and kills him with Antylamon's help.

Jeri is trapped inside the D-Reaper's brain, and when Beelzemon and Calumon try to rescue her, the latter becomes trapped inside with her while the former is trapped by its tentacles. The ark that tranported the tamers home, thought to be dead after arrival on Earth, contacts Yamaki from the digital world, and he and the Monster Makers modify it, name it Grani, and enable it to bio-emerge while the biomerged Digimon fight D-Reaper agents Paratice Head and Optimizer, with Justimon destroying the former and Gallantmon destroying the latter after receiving Grani as his noble steed.

When the D-Reaper evolves its brain into a more transparent form while projecting a shield, Jeri, Calumon, and Beelzemon are now visible, Gallantmon goes to rescue them. Beelzemon breaks free, and after Gallantmon and Grani destroy its shield, Beelzemon uses Leomon's Fist of the Beast King, with the help of Leomon's spirit, to punch a hole in the D-Reaper's brain, but is unable to rescue Jeri before it closes, due to her becoming depressed that it is Beelzemon and not Leomon. The D-Reaper nearly kills Beelzemon, but he is saved by Grani. The D-Reaper evolves into a final, physical form, and with no plan to defeat it, the tamers are forced to retreat for a week.

Afterward, the D-Reaper will be at its most vulnerable when connected to its form in the digital world, so Yamaki and the Monster Makers decide to act now. Janyu scans Terriermon, uploading Juggernaut into him, and Shibumi creates a red card enabling the tamers and Digimon to stay biomerged inside the chaos. Gallantmon, MegaGargomon, Sakuyamon, and Justimon make their way to save Jeri, when a portal to the digital world appears, and is blocked by the fearsome D-Reaper agent Cable Reaper. Gallantmon goes to save Jeri while the other three fight Cable Reaper. Grani sacrifices himself to turn Gallantmon Crimson Mode, and as he fights his way through D-Reaper agents, destroying Evil Jeri, Justimon's last ditch attempt to kill Cable Reaper fails, but he is pulled into the digital world by the Sovereign, and Shibumi activates Juggernaut, with MegaGargomon powering it, creating a black hole which sucks in, devolves, and destroys the D-Reaper.

Due to a miscalculation by Shibumi, the four Mega Digimon separate, but are rescued along with Jeri and Calumon by Kazu, Kenta, Guardromon, Lopmon, and MarineAngemon. Impmon is now officially Ai and Mako's partner, and Jeri forgives him for killing Leomon. Juggernaut's effects cause the Digimon to dedigivolve to their In Training forms, forcing them to return to the digital world to survive. Henry forgives Janyu for this, knowing it was the only way to save the world. Eventually Takato discovers the portal in Guilmon's cave is still active, and realizes he can get Guilmon and the others back.

Runaway Locomon
After the tamers' Digimon and Calumon are returned to Earth, Takato and Jeri plan a surprise party for Rika's birthday. Locomon appears and goes on a rampage. Takato, Guilmon, Rika, and Renamon try to stop it, and Rika becomes possessed by a Parasimon, which is killed by Guilmon. His brother, the Parasimon leader, is possessing Locomon to create a digital zone, from which an army of Parasimon spawns and invades. Gallantmon, MegaGargomon, Sakuyamon, Justimon, Guardromon, MarineAngemon, and Beelzemon fight the Parasimon, but there are too many. Gallantmon turns Crimson Mode and destroys the digital zone, which in turn kills Parasimon and his army. Locomon returns to the digital world, and the tamers and their Digimon attend Rika's birthday party.

Episodes
Main article: Episode list

Videography
Main article: Digimon Tamers videography

Manga
Main article: List of Volumes

Differences from the first two seasons

 * Humans with Digimon partners are called tamers instead of Digidestined. (although Omnimon does use the term)
 * The digital world is portrayed a bit differently, with Earth above it, and also data streams and packets of old data as "digital tumbleweeds"
 * When Digimon are destroyed, they don't explode into particles of data the same colors as the Digimon, but usually disintegrate into red particles of data, in a slightly similar style to Devimon. This data can be absorbed by other Digimon, usually the one who kills them.
 * In the first two seasons, when good Digimon are destroyed they are reborn as a Digiegg in Primary Village. In Digimon Tamers, the death of any Digimon is final. Only Vajramon comes back to life, and only the first of two times he is destroyed. They can still return as ghosts, although only Leomon does.
 * The digivolution theme is different
 * "Digi Modify" is introduced, where tamers slide cards through their digivices to help their Digimon battle
 * Digivolving to Ultimate is called Matrix Digivolution, and Digimon can go from the Rookie level straight to the Ultimate level
 * Digimon don't DNA Digivolve, except for when a swarm of Chrysalimon becomes Infermon, and another swarm of Chrysalimon become three Diaboromon.
 * Tamers (Takato Matsuki and Henry Wong and Rika Nonaka and Ryo Akiyama) can biomerge with their Digimon into their Mega form
 * Vilemon's name is pronounced differently
 * The first two seasons never had an antagonist that was neither human nor Digimon.
 * Instead of characters of the season narrating the recap, Davis from the second season acts as narrator.
 * The opening sequence has a few differences, aside from showing characters and footage from Tamers. While the theme song has the same tune, the instrumental part of it sounds different. "Change into digital champions to save the digital world" is changed to "Change into digital champions to save and defend the world." During the part of the opening where Season 1 would show Devimon or Myotismon, and Season 2 would show the Digimon Emperor, Tamers shows Takato, making it the first to not show the villain for this part. Also, "Digi Modify" is said in place of "Digivolve into Ultimate" for Season 1 and "Armor Digivolve" for Season 2.

Trivia

 * The story-line of Digimon Tamers, written by Chiaki Konaka, was based on "Konaka Gamera", one of the original scripts prepared for Gamera: Guardian of the Universe by Konaka brothers (Chiaki and Kazuya), prior to the script by Kazunori Itō, and the idea was later adopted for Digimon Tamers and Gamera the Brave.