Summary

There’s an expectation withseries like Pokemonor Digimon that the creatures look distinctly monstrous, or at the very least like fantastical animals. That assumption is actually a little off when it comes to Digimon since the monsters are collections of digital data. That means they could be anything.

Still, it can be a little jarring to see a Digimon and realize that it’s just some guy. Thatthe fancy Digivolved creatureyou’ve been grinding to get in the games is a human. A powerful human, maybe in armour, but still a human. We’ve pulled together some examples to prove this point and to also prove that these designs are still great.

The Digimon Lord Knightmon smelling a single rose.

Although many Digimon might appear male or female, they’re collections of data which don’t conform to our notions of gender. With that in mind, we’ll be using pronouns like “they” or “it” throughout, to maintain consistency withthe Digimon seriesas a whole.

8Lord Knightmon

The Indifferent Warrior

Lord Knightmon, one of the Digimon known as the Royal Knights, is an armoured human figure. A dashing armoured human figure, absolutely, but still human regardless, and you can’t really assume it’s anything else under that metal.

Lord Knightmon is one of the Digimon with many names thanks to translation issues. There’s Lord Knightmon, then for some reason, Load Knightmon and RoadKnightmon; thanks to the dub though, most of you will know this as Crusadermon.

The Digimon Sanzomon, a woman wearing a golden crown and white robes.

7Sanzomon

The Journeying Monk

Yes, that clearly human woman is in fact a Digimon. Sanzomon is a Vaccine Monk Digimon specifically, even though it’s a blonde woman in a shiny metal hat, also called a crown if you’re feeling particularly fancy.

Sanzomon doesn’t use weapons, instead reciting mantras for effects. It travels across the digital world, seeking enlightenment. Perhaps it can meditate on the fact that it’s secretly a person, but in all fairness the design is fantastic.

The Digimon Queen Chessmon, a black clad woman wielding a large staff.

6Queen Chessmon

Bow To The Queen

Queen Chessmon is, perhaps not surprisingly, the Queen of all the Chessmon Digimon. It’s also got a fantastic design, a black-clad royal woman with the type of ridiculous staff that could only come from anime or video games.

Queen Chessmon is almost as powerful as a Digimon can get, protecting the equally powerful but far more cowardly King Chessmon. King Chessmon looks a little less human than the Queen, something tells us that the marriage was arranged.

The Digimon Venusmon, a blindfolded blonde woman in white clothing.

5Venusmon

Of The Olympus 12

Venusmon might look like a fanservice design, and maybe it is, but it’s a member of one of the most important groups in the Digimon canon, the Olympus 12. It’s unfortunate that so much of her art, even official art, ends up being reductive and suggestive.

It’s a shame because the lore behind Venusmon has potential, a Digimon who rules over their lands with compassion and has blindfolded itself to better see the digital world through their mind’s eye.

The Digimon Tinkermon, a blonde woman with fairy wings and a red spear.

4Tinkermon

Where Do We Draw The Line?

Tinkermon is definitively a fairy, it even has the Fairy type according to official sources, but that’s really just because of the wings on its back. Take those away and what are we left with? That’s right, it’s just a regular old person holding a very pointy stick.

It raises the question of where we draw the line of considering a Digimon to be a human or not when it comes to their design. Is a fairy distinct enough, or do all the other features add up to the undeniable conclusion of human?

Two Digimon, Sistermon Blanc and Sistermon Noir. They look to be human female nuns, one in black and the other in pink.

3Sistermon Blanc / Noir

Two For One

There’s no dancing around this one, Sistermon Blanc and Sistermon Noir are people, you’re able to’t really see it any other way. Yes, silly anime girl nun people, but there isn’t a single thing about them to suggest they’re Digimon and not cosplayers.

They’re not bad designs necessarily, but if you put them next to a WarGreymon or a Kabuterimon and asked people who didn’t know, it seems unlikely that they’d ever assume they were from the same series.

The angelic Digimon Ofanimon from the Digimon anime.

2Ofanimon

You Can’t Just Call Yourself An Angel

Also spelt Ophanimon or Orphanimon, a minor name change isn’t going to fool anyone that this isn’t a human in a suit of armour. Yes, there are metal wings, but aren’t they just part of the suit? Yes, it’s the last in the Angewomon evolution line, but Digivolution isn’t exactly a straight line.

Whether Ofanimon is an archangel or a regular person the design is still top tier. It’s refreshing to see an angelic design that doesn’t overly rely on the colour white, instead opting for teal and steel as the prominent tones.

The Digimon Gankoomon, a black and white clad man, with a fiery dragon emerging from its back.

1Gankoomon

Fighting Spirit

Gankoomon is probably the coolest Digimon around, even if it clearly is a man in a trenchcoat and not some sort of cyborg sea serpent. An expert fighter and one of the Royal Knights he doesn’t hold himself apart like the other Knights do, instead actively helping other Digimon and acting as a known figure.

Then there’s the flaming dragon behind him, which you could easily mistake for a Stand from JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure. It’s a sort of fire spirit based on a hearth god from Japanese folklore and it really elevates Gankoomon from being just some guy.