TRIVIA!

All the weird and wonderful stuff in Digimon that you might not have noticed - hidden references, parodies, imitations, common threads, reasons behind certain actions, and more! New info marked out with red.

What's in a Name? - the meanings behind US episode titles
Star Talk - celebrity impressions you might not have noticed
Call of Cthulhu - all the references to That Which Cannot Be Named
It's the Andy Griffith Show - classic sitcom in contemporary monster cartoon
The One-Track Mind of Chiaki Konaka - plot threads Tamers' head writer likes to re-use
The EVA Connection - homages to "Neon Genesis Evangelion"
Foxy Lady - the relevance of Kitsune legends

WHAT'S IN A NAME?

Many of the American titles given to Digimon episodes have been parodies of the titles of other films, books and TV shows, as well as famous quotes and phrases.

1.18 - "The Piximon Cometh" - from "The Iceman Cometh," a play by Eugene O'Neill.

1.25 - "Princess Karaoke" - a pun on the title of the anime movie, "Princess Mononoke" (right) known as "Mononoke Hime" in Japan.

1.42 - "Under Pressure" - while "to be under pressure" is a common expression, the title may also be a reference to the Queen song of the same name.

1.48 - "My Sister's Keeper" - reference to the Biblical story of Cain and Abel. Shortly after Cain murders Abel, God asks him where Abel is, and Cain replies: "Am I my brother's keeper?"

1.53 - "Now Apocalymon" - apparently a reference to the 1979 Francis Ford Coppola film, "Apocalypse Now."

2.04 - "Iron Vegiemon" - from the TV show, "Iron Chef," further substantiated by the numerous cooking metaphors RedVegiemon uses in the episode.

2.09 - "The Emperor's New Home" - from the fairy tale, "The Emperor's New Clothes."

2.12 - "The Good, The Bad, and The Digi" - obvious parody of the 1966 spagehtti western, "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly," starring Clint Eastwood.


2.13 - "His Masters' Voice" - from a painting of the same name by Francis Barraud (left). The painting, made in 1899, featured Barraud's dog, Nipper, listening to Barraud's voice on a phonograph, puzzled as to where the voice was coming from.



2.15 - "Big Trouble in Little Edo" - play on the title of the 1986 film by John Carpenter, "Big Trouble in Little China" (right). "Edo" is the name for ancient Tokyo.

2.16 - "20,000 Digi-Leagues Under the Sea" - an obvious parody of Jules Verne's famous book, "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea."

2.18 - "Run Yolei Run" - based on the title of the 1999 Tom Tykwer film, "Run Lola Run."

2.20 - "The Darkness Before Dawn" - working out of the saying, "It's always darkest before the dawn."

2.22 - "Davis Cries Wolfmon" - play on the fable, "The Boy Who Cried Wolf."

2.24 - "If I had a Tail Hammer" - a play on the title of the 1950's song, "If I had a Hammer," by Lee Hayes and Pete Seeger.

2.26 - "United We Stand" - working out of the saying, "United they stand, divided they fall."

2.32 - "If I Only Had A Heart" - named after the song sung by the Tin Woodsman (left) in the classic 1939 film adaptation of the L. Frank Baum novel, "The Wizard of Oz."

2.36 - "Stone Soup" - from the fairy tale of the same name. It tells the tale of a peddler who comes to an Eastern European country, which is stricken with famine. He says he will make "stone soup" to eat, putting a stone in a pot of boiling water. As the villagers look on, he comments that it would taste better with a little cabbage - one villager has some, and adds it to the soup. And so it goes on, as the peddler says the soup will taste better with other ingredients, and one by one, a different villager is able to provide the required ingredient. And finally, a delicious soup is made that feeds the whole town. This is only one version of the tale - the identity of the soup-brewer changes from version to version, and the required ingredients also differ.

2.37 - "Kyoto Dragon" - quite possibly a pun on "Komodo Dragon," a species of huge, ferocious lizard native to the Komodo Islands.

2.49 - "The Last Temptation of the DigiDestined" - based on the title of Martin Scorsese's 1988 Biblical movie, "The Last Temptation of Christ."

2.50 - "A Million Points of Light" - derived from the term "a thousand points of light," the most famous use of which was in George Bush Sr.'s presidential campaign. For example, in his acceptance speech, he said: "I will keep America moving forward, always forward - for a better America, for an endless enduring dream and a thousand points of light." The term is not original, though, having been used in the past by Charles Dickens and Thomas Wolfe.

3.01 - "Guilmon Comes Alive" - reference to the music album, "Peter Frampton Comes Alive."

3.02 - "Digimon, Digimon Everywhere" - from a verse within the poem, "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner," by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, which reads: "Water, water, every where/And all the boards did shrink/Water, water, every where/Nor any drop to drink" - which in itself has, over time, become the cultural colloquialism: "Water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink."

3.03 - "To Fight or Not to Fight?" - play on the famous "To be or not to be?" soliloquay from William Shakespeare's "Hamlet."

3.04 - "It Came From the Other Side" - a title that pays homage to many early B-Movies with similar names. The earliest one is 1953's "It Came From Outer Space."

3.05 - "Dream a Little Dream" - from the 1968 Louis Armstrong song of the same name.

3.06 - "O Partner, Where Art Thou?" - comes from the film "Sullivan's Travels," in which a Depression-era moviemaker goes on the road to research a significant story for his next movie, which he plans to call "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" This is also where the title for the 2000 movie starring George Clooney originates.

3.07 - "Now You See It, Now You Don't" - a popular phrase used by magicians when they make something disappear.

3.09 - "Not as Seen on TV" - play on the popular advertising slogan, "as seen on TV."

3.10 - "The Icemon Cometh" - like 1.18, "The Piximon Cometh," this is another, much more direct reference to "The Iceman Cometh."

3.11 - "Much Ado About Musyamon" - another Shakespeare riff, based on the title of the play "Much Ado About Nothing."

3.12 - "Divided They Stand" - like 2.26, another play on "United they stand, divided they fall."

3.14 - "Grow Mon Grow" - possibly a reference to the children's book, "Go Dog Go."

3.15 - "Snakes, Trains and Digimon" - play on the title of the 1987 movie, "Planes, Trains and Automobiles," (right) starring Steve Martin and John Candy.

2.19 - "Impmon's Last Stand" - probably a refence to the silent 1909 movie, "Custer's Last Stand," based on the Battle of Little Big Horn - while many movies have had simliar titles, this one is the earliest, and hence the trend-setter.

3.22 - "The Boar Wars" - punning on the real-life Boer War, which ran from 1899 to 1902.

3.25 - "Brave New Digital World" - based on the title of the 1932 novel, "Brave New World," by Aldous Huxley.

3.26 - "Kazu and Kenta's Excellent Adventure" - play on the title of the 1989 cult hit movie, "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure," (left) starring Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves.

3.28 - "Blame it on Ryo"- rather clever pun on the title of the 1984 movie, "Blame it on Rio," starring Michael Caine.

3.30 - "The Imperfect Storm" - based on the title of the 2000 film, "The Perfect Storm," (right) starring George Clooney.

3.33 - "Rabbit Transit" - named after a video game for the Atari system (below left).

3.35 - "Give a Little Bit" - possibly a reference to the 1992 Supertramp song of the same name.

3.37 - "No Mon Is an Island" - play on the famous quote by John Dunne, "No man is an island, complete unto himself." It basically means that no-one can do everything on their own.

3.38 - "Azulongmon Explains It All" - unwelcome reference to the early 90's Nickelodeon children's TV series, "Clarissa Explains it All," which starred a young Melissa-Joan Hart, who went on to become Sabrina the Teenage Witch.

3.40 - "Janyu's Ark" - obvious reference to the Biblical story of Noah's Ark.

3.46 - "When Is A Mon Justimon?" - based on the Biblical query, "When is a man justified?" The answer, as given in Paul's letter to the Romans, is: "when he believes."

3.47 - "His Kingdom for a Horse" - yet another Shakespeare reference, from "Richard III," during which King Richard exclaims "A horse! A horse! My kindgom for a horse!" Here, it's a reference to Grani as Gallantmon's steed.

3.51 - "Such Sweet Sorrow" - the final Shakespeare riff for season three, this one is from "Romeo and Juliet." The full line this title comes from reads "Parting is such sweet sorrow," which, in the context of this episode, has a meaning which is twofold - the parting of the Tamers and their Digimon at the episode's conclusion, and the parting of the audience and the show's characters, as the season comes to an end.

4.03 - "Kumamon Baby, Light My Fire" - reference to the Doors song, "Light My Fire," which contains the lyric, "come on baby, light my fire."

4.05 - "Ladies and Gentlemen: The Beetlemon" - parody of the introduction Ed Sullivan would give the legendary band, the Beatles, on his television show - "Ladies and gentlemen: the Beatles!" To hear this quote, click HERE.

4.06 - "A Molehill Out of a Mountain" - reversing the common expression, making a "mountain out of a molehill," which means to make a small problem seem to be bigger than it actually is.

4.07 - "Island of Misfit Boys" - a reference to the 1964 Rankin/Bass TV movie, "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," which featured 'the Island of Misfit Toys.' The film was remade in 2001 as "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and the Island of Misfit Toys."

4.09 - "Welcome to My Nightmare" - named for the 1975 Alice Cooper song of the same title.

4.10 - "Can't Keep a Grumblemon Down" - from the saying, "You can't keep a good man down."

4.11 - "A Hunka Hunka BurningGreymon" - from the Elivs Presley song, "Burning Love," which contains the lyric, "I'm just a hunka hunka burning love."

4.12 - "Fear and Loathing in Los Arboles" - from the title of the Hunter S. Thompson novel, "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," later made into a movie directed by Terry Gilliam (right). "Los Arboles" is Spanish for "the trees," of which there are several in this episode.

4.15 - "Beastie Girl" - evidently a reference to the band, the Beastie Boys.

4.16 - "The Swiss Family Digimon" - from the book, "The Swiss Family Robinson," by Johann David Wyss.

4.18 - "Trailmon vs. Trailmon" - reference to the 1979 Oscar-winning movie, "Kramer vs. Kramer," starring Meryl Streep and Dustin Hoffman.

4.19 - "You Want Fries With That?" - common question asked at fast food restaurants.

4.20 - "From Dawn to Duskmon" - reversal of the expression, "from dusk till dawn," which many will recognise as the title of the 1996 comedy-horror movie starring George Clooney.

4.21 - "Darkest Before Duskmon" - as with 2.20, this title spins out of the saying, "it's always darkest before the dawn."

4.27 - "Stuck in Sakkakumon With You" - from the title of the 1973 song by Stealer's Wheel, "Stuck In The Middle With You."

4.24 - "Alone But Never Alone" - reference to the famous Jazz music album of the same name, by Larry Carlton.

4.28 - "Darkness Before the Dawn" - as with 2.20 and 4.21, this title spins out of the saying, "it's always darkest before the dawn."

4.30 - "O Brother, Who Art Thou?" - as with 3.06, this comes from the movie, "Sullivan's Travels."

4.31 - "Workin' On The Train Gang" - from the 1960 song by Sam Cooke, "Chain Gang," which contains the lyric, "Workin' on the chain gang."

4.33 - "Ne'er the Twins Shall Meet" - from the phrase, "ne'er the twain shall meet." "Twain" means 'two items of the same kind.'

4.36 - "Ice Ice Baby" - from the title of the 1990 Vanilla Ice song by the same name.

4.40 - "The Bully Pulpit" - a turn of phrase which essentially refers to a higher power exerting itself over those below it. The term was coined by President Theodore Roosevelt, using "bully" not in a negative sense, but to describe things of an awesome or magnificent nature.

4.41 - "Jerks and the Beanstalk" - obviously, from the title of the famous fary tale, "Jack and the Beanstalk."

4.42 - "Glean Eggs and Scram" - pun on the title of the popular children's book, "Green Eggs and Ham," by Dr. Seuss.

4.46 - "To Make The World Go Away" - a reference to the Elvis Presley song, "Make The World Go Away."

STAR TALK

Several of the voices given to various Digimon in the US version of the series are intended to mimic certain celebrities. In chronological order, they are:

Frigimon (Bill Capeze) - not Dom DeLouise, as was originally thought, but in fact Jackie Vernon, the late comedian who provided the voice of Frosty the Snowman.

Etemon (Richard Epcar) - the one everyone knows, Etemon's voice is an imitation of the famous singer and movie star, Elvis Presley.

Digitamamon (Derek Stephen Prince) - an emulation of Peter Lorre (right). Lorre played the role of Ugarte the restauranteur in "Casablanca," and as Digitamamon is also a restauranteur, he was given Lorre's voice. Prince was cast for his ability to imitate Lorre's voice.

Phantomon (Dave Guerrie) - based on famous horror film actor, Boris Karloff (left).

Piedmon (Derek Stephen Prince) - Prince notes that he styled the voice after actor Tim Curry, but "with a twist." Curry, among many other roles, played the evil clown, Pennywise, in 1990's "Stephen King's It."

Cherrymon (Jeff Nimoy) - after several actors were turned down for the part, Jeff Nimoy played Cherrymon with a voice similar to that of actor Marlon Brando.

MagnaAngemon (Dave Mallow) - Mallow describes MagnaAngemon as having a "breathy, Clint Eastwood style" voice.

RedVegiemon (Dan Lorge) - RedVegiemon's voice has a distinctive Jack Nicholson quality about it.

Deputymon (Dan Lorge) - Deputymon's voice is a caricature of the voice of John Wayne, the legendary wild west movie star (right).

Teacher (Neil Kaplan) - talk about an obscure one! Remember in "Digimon: The Movie," when Joe's freaking out about his test nearly being over? Well, the voice of the teacher who calls out "Finished!" is in imitation of classic comedy actor, Ed Wynn. An actor from before the time of most Digimon fans, Wynn may be familiar to you as the voice of the Mad Hatter in Disney's "Alice in Wonderland," and Uncle Albert from "Mary Poppins." I ain't makin' this stuff up, folk, Kaplan himself confirmed it, noting he'd wanted to try and use the voice in the show for some time.

Impmon (Derek Stephen Prince) - styled on the voice of the similarly small-but-tough actor, Joe Pesci.

Cop (?) - the voice of the policeman who accosts Takato in 3.08, "A Question of Trust," appears to be based on that of the loquacious, verbose Warner Bros. character, Foghorn Leghorn (voice of Mel Blanc).

Pajiramon (Mary Elizabeth McGlynn) - a homage to actress Kate Mulgrew (Captain Janeway of "Star Trek: Voyager" fame).

Makuramon (Joe Ochman) - apparently a slightly higher-pitched emulation of the late Roddy McDowall, in an homage to McDowall's role as Cornelius in the original "Planet of the Apes."

Divermon (Neil Kaplan) - the Divermon in 3.32, "Shibumi Speaks," has a voice that is a direct impression of cartoon character Bullwinkle J. Moose (right, voice of Bill Scott), of the classic "Rocky and Bullwinkle" cartoon show. The reason for this is that Kaplan has an innate fondness for doing the voice, tending to perform a routine with it in between takes in the recording studio.

Dobermon (Michael Sorich) - while it is almost certainly unintentional, Dobermon's voice bears an astonishing resemblance to that of professional wrestler "Macho Man" Randy Savage.

Locomon (?) - under all the heavy electronic modulation, Locomon's voice is an impression of the late country music singer, Johnny Cash, whose rumbling tones well befit a character who is a train. Locomon's final line - "I sped into a Digi-Zone of fire" - pays homage to Cash's famous song, "Ring of Fire," specifically the lyric, "I fell into a burning ring of fire."

Angler (Dave Wittenberg) - this Trailmon's voice is based on that of Heimlich the caterpillar (voice of Joe Ranft) from the Disney movie, "A Bug's Life."

Mole (Dave Wittenberg) - this Trailmon's voice is an imitation of famous cartoon character, Droopy (voice of Bill Thompson).

Pandamon (Michael Sorich) - imitation of actor Adam West, who played the role of Batman in the 1960's TV series.

Dogmon (Michael Sorich) - taking a cue from the laugh emitted by Dogmon in the Japanese version of the episode, Dogmon's dub voice is a direct imitation of Muttley (voice of Don Messick), canine sidekick of that double-dealing do-badder, Dick Dastardly, in Hanna-Barbara's "Wacky Races" cartoon series - because the episode in question, 4.18, "Trailmon vs. Trailmon," is about a fairly 'wacky race', y'see.

Mercurymon (Daran Norris) - while apparently not intentional, many fans and even director Mary Elizabeth McGlynn have noted the voice's similarity to that of actor Kelsey Grammar (Fraiser Crane, Sidewshow Bob).

Dark Trailmon (Dave Wittenberg) - in the style of the HAL 9000 (above left, voice of Douglas Rain), the computer from Arthur C. Clarke's "2001: A Space Odyssey," inspired by the fact that the Dark Trailmon shares HAL's single glowing eye.

IceDevimon (Dave Wittenberg) - the IceDevimon who appears in season four is described by Wittenberg as "a really twisted" impression of actor Christopher Walken (right).

CALL OF CTHULHU

Someone at Toei and/or Bandai (mostly likely Chiaki Konaka, see below) seems to be extremely fond of the writings of author H.P. Lovecraft, who wrote the tales of the demon, Cthulhu (right). Numerous references to the mythos have appeared in the Digimon series.

The first, most obvious reference to the Cthulhu mythos is Dragomon. Or to be more precise, to use his Japanese name, Dagomon. Dagomon is named after Dagon, a Phoenician fertility deity, who features in Lovecraft's stories as an outer god (Lovecraft version pictured at left). While Dragomon gets his name from Dagon, his physical appearance as a tentacled monster is based on the appearance of Cthulhu himself, as is evident from the Cthulhu picture on the above right.

Additionally, Dagon was served by the "Deep Ones," frog-like creatures who would do his bidding (right). It's no stretch of the imagination to consider the "Scubamon" to be Dragomon's equivalent of the Deep Ones, given their frog-like appearance after they return to their true forms. This has led to some fans calling them the "Digital Deep Ones."


There is a small reference at work during the Daemon Corps episodes. The symbol on Daemon's hood is a version of the "Elder Sign," (left) created by the Elder Gods in Lovecraft's stories as a means of protection against Cthulhu and the other Old Ones. The symbol adorns the door of Cthulhu's crypt.

The name of the Hypnos organisation in the third season of the show is another reference - in Lovecraft's stories, "Hypnos" was the god of sleep (or more specifically, dreams). Hypnos acted to prevent Earth's dreamers from sending their dreams beyond Earth's "dreamscape" - preventing them from moving from one world to the next, in much the same way that the Hypnos organisation in Tamers worked to prevent Digimon from moving from one world to the next in the early portion of the series.

The Yuggoth deletion program used by Hypnos is another reference - in Lovecraft's stories, Yuggoth is the name given to the planet Pluto.

The Japanese name for the Hypnos-created Juggernaut program is "Shaggai." In the Cthulhu mythos, Shaggai is another planet outside of Earth's solar system.

In 3.44, "The Messenger," we briefly see a professor from Miscatonic University. Monster Maker Curly is also presented as working at this university. Miscatonic Univeristy, located in Massachusetts, featured heavily in Lovecraft's stories, as a place where many bizarre things happen.

IT'S THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW!

Digimon writer Jeff Nimoy slipped a subtle reference to the classic 1960's American sitcom, "The Andy Griffith Show," into the dubbed version of "Digimon: The Movie."

For starters, the barber in the dubbed movie was named "Floyd," for the barber of the same name who appeared in "The Andy Griffith Show," as played by Howard McNear. Nimoy himself performed the role for the movie, emulating McNear.

Secondly, though not identified by name in dialogue, the man in the barber's chair (the one who says "Careful, Floyd! You almost cut my ear off!") is named "Andy," (it's in the credits) after Griffith himself. However, this creates a Dub Error, as the man in the chair is supposed to be the same man who gives Matt and T.K. a ride on his motorcyle, who the dub already referred to as "Uncle Al." What can ya do, eh? Notably, both "Andy" and "Uncle Al" were voiced by Nimoy's partner, Bob Buchholz.

Even the old couple in Floyd's barber shop are dubbed in as another reference. They've been named "Aunt Bea" and "Barney" (not named in dialogue, but in the credits) - a reference to Aunt Bee Taylor and Deputy Barney Fife from the show, as played by Francis Bavier and Don Knotts, respectively. In the movie, Aunt Bea is performed by Anna Garduno, while Barney is once again played by Nimoy.

THE ONE-TRACK MIND OF CHIAKI KONAKA

Chiaki Konaka is the head writer and director for the "Digimon Tamers" series in Japan. In all of his works - the most famous of which is "Lain" - there are similar threads at play.

Before becoming involved with Tamers, Konaka wrote "His Master's Voice" for 02. In it, he writes of evil creatures emerging from a dark ocean - just like in the "Big O" series, which he also worked on (in that series, he also wrote about "things which man should not know," another Cthulhu mythos reference). And speaking of Cthulhu once more, the anime series "Hellsing" is also rife with references to it... guess who wrote it? Yep, that's right.

In both "Lain" and Tamers, there are three characters named Juri, Reika and Alice (for the uninformed, Juri and Reika are the original Japanese names of Jeri and Riley). Indeed, the Juri character's full name - Juri Katou - is the same in both series'.

Also, there's the notion of a "dead" character. The very first line of "Lain" is something to the tune of: "Last week, a girl in my class commited suicide. She e-mailed me yesterday." While it's not either obvious or officially canon, it's entirely possible that Alice, the gothic granddaughter of Rob "Dolphin" McCoy of the Monster Makers, is dead. Konaka himself noted that after he wrote the script for the episode, he thought it was possible that "Alice had stopped being this world" (poor translation courtesy of Babelfish). He only notes it as a possibility, so it is deliberately ambiguous and up to the viewer to draw their own conclusions. But Dolphin's forlorn stares at Alice's picture do seem to suggest something...

Konaka's website can be viewed HERE.

THE EVA CONNECTION

Within the Digimon Tamers series, there exist many purported homages to the famed anime series, "Neon Genesis Evangelion," often hailed as one of the best animes ever made (though truth told, while it's a good show, it's only really famous for it's outlandish nature). Be warned that if you have not seen this series, and plan to, that there are SPOILERS for several big moments of it below.

First and foremost, the basic essence of the show is the same - young children must protect the Earth from otherworldly invaders, with help from creatures born of that other world (with Digimon, this is evident, but in Evangelion, the EVA units are based on Angels) while a covert government organisation works behind the scenes to ensure the safety of the globe. That said, of course, if you drop the 'government organisation' bit, you have the plot of all the other Digimon series... and, heck, a good-sized chunk of all fiction ever written...

Some of the main stars of the show are simliar. There's an innocent young boy, thrown into a battle he doesn't want to fight but knows he has to - Shinji and Takato. An angry red-haired girl who strives to be the best she can, but who has family problems and whose past is a troubled one - Asuka and Rika (though Rika's better off than Asuka, as Asuka's mother committed suicide). On the other hand, though, beyond the fact that they both have blue hair and always tend to be on top of situations, there isn't much to connect Rei and Henry. The character of Hikari is comparable to Jeri, while the goofy duo of blowhard Touji and nerdy Kensuke are clearly the models for Kazu and Kenta - and in both series, these players are reduced to minor roles and do little more than support the main characters.

Both WarGrowlmon and Gallantmon Crimson Mode have some of their physical traits based on Shinji's EVA, EVA-01. Most notably, WarGrowlmon's jaw armour is identical to EVA-01's mouth, and the seemingly pointless cable attatched to his back emulates the umbilical cable that transfers power to all EVAs. Gallantmon Crimson Mode, meanwhile, has eight glowing wings behind it, like EVA-01 generates on occasion.

Damage done to an EVA unit is felt by the unit's pilot. This is obviously paralleled by the Tamers feeling pain when their Digimon are hurt (which seems to occur more often with Takato).

At one point, Shinji achieves the unprecedented synchronicity ratio of 400% with his EVA, combining with it utterly, in much the same way as the Tamers fuse with their Digimon during a Biomerge Digivolution. During this, EVA-01 went berserk and consurmed one of the Angels, internalising and gaining the power of its Super Solenoid Engine - comparable to the way Digimon gain the powers of other Digimon by absorbing their data.

Takato's dream sequences (floating Guilmon and the like) are direct take-offs of Shinji's dream sequences, in which he sees many of the characters floating in a similar manner (although his are a lot more obscure than Takato's).

The design aesthetics of the D-Reaper's Agents are similiar to the enemy characters, the Angels. Most notably, the Mother D-Reaper has some resemblance to Lilith, the second Angel. In the concluding feature movie, "The End of Evangelion," Rei joins with Lillth, and Lilth's mask falls off, revealing Rei's face - somewhat similar to the giant Jeri head appearing in the Mother D-Reaper, while Jeri herself is within it. The Agents are also connected to the main D-Reaper chaos by a cable which sustains them - the same way that EVAs are connected to an external power source by their umbilical cable.

The Angels exist in a matterless universe, comprised of energy. When they travel to our world, their Super Solenoid Engines convert their energy into matter, giving them physical form - not unlike Digimon's synthesis of false protiens from Earth's natural electrical field within Digital Fields.

At one point in the series, an Angel takes the form of a human - Kaowru (left) - to infiltrate the children - comparable to the D-Reaper's assuming Jeri's form. He was somewhat nicer than the Reaper, though.

Asuka eventually goes catatonic, as a result of an Angel's psychic attack, which causes her to relive her mother's suicide. This is paralleled by the Jeri clone's treatment of Takato (though not as severe), and also by Jeri's experiences within the D-Reaper's Kernel Sphere, when she sees her dead mother again.

FOXY LADY

Most everyone knows that the design of Renamon is based on that of a Kitsune, a mythical Japanese fox spirit (right). Indeed, in the original Japanese version of 3.25, "The Journey Begins," Rika's Grandmother believed that Renamon *was* a Kitsune. However, there's more to it than meets the eye, as several of Renamon's powers, actions and traits have their roots in the Kitsune mythology.

Kitsune are eaters of energy. They draw energy from other beings to feed themselves, draining the other being. This is mirrored by Renamon's absorbing data from her foes. A Kitsune can form a bond with a human, and they will be able to share their energies. A lot of the time, humans didn't want this connection. This is reflected by Rika's distancing herself from Renamon early in the series, but when she and Rika reconcile their differences and their bond strengthens, Renamon no longer needs to absorb data from other Digimon.

In 3.16, "Back to Nature, Back to Battle," Rika gives Renamon an energy drink, and Renamon happily remarks that it's her "first gift." While it may seem like nothing, gifts are an important part of the Kitsune legends. In order to stop Kitsune feeding on crop energy, people would offer gifts to them via shrines. The act of giving the gift fills a Kitsune's energy needs, so Rika's gift of an energy drink is both a nod to and pun on this.

Kitsune are said to be very earthly, sensual beings, although some would gain spirituality. If they followed the right rules, they would ascend to heaven. Renamon's following of the rules is reflected by her giving thanks for a meal in 3.44, "The Messenger." Kitsune spirituality is, in general, represented by all of Renamon's Digivolutionary forms, which are a mish-mash of Shintoism, Buddhism and Taoism.

Renamon's ability to fade away is an interpretation of a Kitsune's power to fold space, and create interdimensional pockets for them to travel through.

Thanks to Andromon X, Argemon, Ben-San Arizona, Steve Blum, Fenrir X, Neil Kaplan, Mary Elizabeth McGlynn, Christopher Miller, Minarvia, Jeff Nimoy, Hannah Parvin, Settou, SirSTACK, Dave Wittenberg, and especially AndyTaft/Andy00.