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I review this as 'average', but it's sort of an overall score of a series that has highs and lows, and it tended towards being better at the beginning than at the end. I will say it's difficult to give an overall score, because I have to rate the fact that I found some parts really boring against the fact that some parts were pretty cool.

I do get the feeling that the real highs are the stuff it takes from the original, but there are also some character moments throughout that were entertaining and even touching. I have not seen the original though.

I do think ... the overall story is interesting and the conflict is one worth depicting.

But it's also slow-paced and meandering, and the action throughout was quite disappointing: swords are waved around and mooks die, rinse and repeat. Lots of the time it feels like stuff is happening to fill out air-space.

All in all the good parts are not exactly amazing, and while nothing is atrocious the show is pretty boring a lot of the time. Check it out if you are interested in a samurai show, but don't expect too much.

I can only recommend this under one circumstance: if you specifically want to see something mediocre on a lazy day when you feel a bit too tired to watch something good.

Do you know the feeling? That you have these actually good shows lined up, but you also have a headache, not enough sleep for a few nights and you feel that it would be a waste to see something good on a day when you're not really primed to enjoy it?

That was kinda how I felt today, and it lead me to sit through this entire show.

And I really didn't hate my time spent, ... it was dumb and fun (though not *that* fun).

The characters are rather one-note and predictable, though Philly was honestly more difficult to like than I expected. Sam was a big nothing most of the time, but had some decent comedic moments. Casey is predictably adorable.

All in all, there's nothing much to say except that the show is a rather mediocre affair, and unless you are specifically looking for something like that I wouldn't give it the time of day.

I did like the opening song.

Spoilers ahead. If you want to read a melancholic, adorable and visually unique series I wholeheartedly recommend this one. I will explain why below, but doing so might spoil certain aspects of the story.

For a manga this is quite unique. The style and the story simply isn't that similar to most other series.

There are elements to it that are, of course. The monstrous father figure with the young girl is visually reminiscent of The Ancient Magus' Bride, or Somali and the Forest Spirit. The drawing style is different, but the effect here is cute and endearing in the same way as such works.

The storyline starts ... out with something rather familiar; a 'curse' ravages the land, and it threatens the bond between the characters. The mystery surrounding this curse is a significant part of the story, and while it is explored it ultimately is not resolved. We get some explanation as to what the nature of the curse is, why it existsk, but the damage it has done is never healed, no hope for a solution is provided.

Philosophically this is a very interesting thing to say: some aspects of life are out of our control, and the best we can do is live with it. To hope that we, in the end, can die close to those we love.

I personally like this type of story, where the focus is on the characters and how they deal with a situation rather than how they resolve a problem. With that said it is not always the most satisfying.

When I set a score I mainly go on my gut feeling and try to explain it. I think this series is brought down by being just a tad slow at times, and the characters - while visually appealing, are not always strong enough to quite carry a scene. There are some very good character moments, but some scenes feel like filler, not bad or off-putting, but filler nonetheless.

Basically, Digimon Tamers is a good show trapped within a horrible show.

The Good: The characters are quite well-realized and their growth is interesting, especially Ruki and the ties between her character arc and Renamon's powerset. Impmon was surprisingly engaging as well, and I enjoyed tracking the subtle development Culumon underwent.

Beyond that most characters, except the one-off monster-of-the-week baddies were fairly likeable; the adults were surprisingly well individualized and the side-kicks did not feel like they were wasting my time that often.

The overall themes present are ones I sympathize with, and they were explored with some nuance.

The general art direction was hit or miss; I liked ... the backgrounds, but the digimon designs range from pretty good to awfully overdesigned.

The bad: The problems with the show come down mostly to the technical stuff. The transformation sequences were too frequent and too lengthy, the animation quality in general was incredibly poor.

Beyond things like repeated transformation sequences, there were quite a few times when the show seemed to be wasting time; fights were padded and several episodes seemed like they weren't contributing to the plot in any significant way.

A lesser complaint, but the sound design was generally poor when it came to all the different growls and grunts the mons made- they very much sound like someone making an impression of something.

So, all in all, the show has many good things in it, but so much of it is wasted by poor choices in production that I could never really enjoy it; I watched it because I was interested in it, but with very few exceptions it was with the feeling that I "just want to be done with this".

If you have patience for the issues with presentation there is a lot to like, but otherwise I would recommend you to stay away.