8 Reasons Digimon Was A Better Show Than Pokemon

4. The Stakes Were Higher

With a better class of villain also came greater dangers. Unlike in 'Pokemon' where most battles only resulted in a disheartened Ash or Pikachu, the battles in 'Digimon' were life and death. Although they were in The Digital World, Izzy made sure to explain to the others that a death in The Digital World would also result in similar consequences in the real world €“ an aspect of the show that was toned down, for obvious reasons, but nevertheless was still prevalent throughout the rest of the episodes. Eventually, the situation was made even more dire when Myotismon and other dangerous Digimon began appearing in the real world, breaching the barriers between both worlds. That meant that the fate of two worlds was left in the hands of mere children. Stakes don't get any higher than that. But even before the later battles, The Digidestined had it rough right from the start. Not only did they have to survive long enough to figure out their situation in the beginning, but they also had to face off against larger Digimon like Kuwagamon and Shellmon back when their own Digimon were just relegated to their Rookie forms. Luckily, they were able to use their Digivices to level the playing field soon after, but don't overlook the fact that the threat of being eaten or destroyed at any moment, or even just starving to death, was entertained as an actual possibility. To see that in a kid's show is pretty harrowing stuff.