Digimon Tamers is known as the third season of Digimon: Digital Monsters. It was premiered in Japan in April 1, 2001. Note that season three does not continue from the ending of season two. Instead, three new children are introduced, calling themselves Digimon Tamers. There are many other children who are Digimon Tamers but the show will only focus on three of the children. Unlike Digimon Adventure I & II, battles in season three takes place solely in the real world. Season three is more chaotic and darker than the previous seasons and is believed that at one point, an intersection with the digiworld will occur. Because there are fewer main children in season three, their Digimon will have a deeper involvement in the show. There is also an emphasis on the closeness between the Digimon and the children. Seki Hiromi, the producer of Digimon Tamers, states "The aim of the series is to trace the path that leads Takato and the others to the realization that they are Tamers."

The setting of Digimon Tamers is an area in Tokyo called West Shinjuku. In actuality, the children play the Digimon battle card game in the show. There is a distinct relationship between the card game and the show. Impmon, an evil Digimon, threatens the Tamers and they, along with their partner Digimon, must fight to save their world. It seems that digivolving is much more difficult in season three. Thus, the Digimon require special tools to do so. It has been rumoured that the old digidestined (Taichi, Sora, Yamato, Jou, Mimi, Koshiro, Ken, Daisuke, Miyako, Iori, Takeru, Hikaru) will not appear in season three. This is true due to the fact that season three begins twenty-five years later after season two. By now, the previous characters will be much older. Terri-Lei O'Malley, the producer of Digimon, believes that the old characters will make an appearance but I highly doubt it. But it is still a possibility. Digimon Tamers will have a different feel to what you are used to. All battles take place in the real world and because of the involvement of the card game, the battles are strategized. The Japanese opening of Digimon Tamers is called "The Biggest Dream," which is sung by Koji Wada. "My Tomorrow," sung by Aim, is the ending of the show. Click here to view the logo of Digimon Tamers.

The story of season three begins with Takato. At his elementary school, the Digimon battle card game is played by many children. Takato and his friends love to play the game. In one occurring morning, Takato discovers a blue card, similar to a Digimon battle card. When he inserts the card in his card reader, it reacts. Takato is very surprised. He takes the card and hurries to school. During his classes, he thinks about the card he found and with inspiration, he draws his own Digimon. When Takato was searching through his Digimon cards, he finds the card reader to be glowing. It suddenly falls to the ground and with a sudden flash of light, his card reader becomes a D'arc. Takato ponders about what had happened. At home, while going through his cards, Takato wanted to try to read his Digimon drawing in his D'arc. At this point, he does not know that his card reader is a D'arc. ^-^ His attempt failed so he left the D'arc on his desk and went downstairs. As he was leaving, the D'arc becomes active and a digi egg appears in his D'arc. Takato tried to convince his friends about the card and the egg but they did not believe him. Finally alone, Takato checks to see if the egg is still in his D'arc. Unexpectedly, the egg appears to be broken or have hatched. Takato panics and fiddles with all the buttons on his D'arc. A sudden beam of light directed from the center of the town appears and Gillmon begins to make his way to Takato. Because of Takato's imagination, he created his own Digimon! =P As Takato's new adventure begins, he meets Lee, a boy who also has a Digimon and Ruki, who must learn the real value of having a Digimon. Takato, Lee, and Ruki must first learn how to properly let their Digimon digivolve and learn how to respect each other before they can work together to defeat their enemy.

As I mentioned earlier, digivolving in season three require a more decisive method. The Tamers have a special kind of digivices called D'arc. These devices contain certain slots at the top to insert the battle cards. This is important as it aids their Digimon to increase their powers. This entire process is called the card slash system. Hence the name D'arc or Card. The D'arc can be used with different cards and these devices are very powerful. This system was added because according to Seki, so that both the Digimon and Tamers would be able to strategize the battles and part take the battles. With the usage of the battle cards in the show, it gives the battles a more logic flow. Not only does the card slash system help the Digimon digivolve, but an orphan Digimon, Kurumon, is an important asset to digivolving. Click here to view the D'arc.

There is going to be a movie release for Digimon Tamers. The movie will be called "The Adventurer's Battle," and will be shown in theatres in Japan, summer of 2001. The setting of this movie is in Odaiba. Takato and Lee travels to a small island for a summer holiday. Ruki, apparently, does not go with them but she is still present in the movie. In this movie, the children are faced by an unexpected enemy. Not a lot is known about this movie because it hasn't been released yet.

At first when I had heard that season three will only consist of new digidestined, I was a bit disappointed. I adore the old digidestined and would hate to see them leave the show. After watching several clips of Digimon Tamers, I found myself actually liking it. Since the show only focus on three children, Takato, Lee, and Ruki, you get to really know the character and understand their personality. The digivolving process is quite interesting and more strategic. There are a lot of hidden mysteries and twists within the show. If you are truely a Digital Monster fan, you will definitely enjoy Digimon Tamers as I have. For videoclips of Digimon Tamers, visit Anime Intro. You will find videoclips of each Digimon Tamer episode that has aired on TV as this site is always updated.