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Tai and Koromon are pulled through the rift and find themselves back on Earth. Tai goes home and visits his little sister who seems to be aware of the DigiWorld. Koromon digivolves to Agumon in order to battle the dreaded Ogremon. Confused? Well, you should be. Unless you're 12 years old. Or an executive at an American television network. Because this is the weird and wonderful world of Digimon, the latest Japanese animation to be hailed as the global future of children's entertainment. The Japanese are coming, it seems. And Pokemon was just the beginning.
Of course, we've been here before, whether with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. But this year's Japanese phenomenon has proved to be both enduring - Pokemon for Nintendo's Game Boy was still the biggest selling video game in the US last summer - and infectious. Prompted by the success of the pocket-sized monsters, TV networks in the US have now lined up a whole new range of Japanese animated adventures, including Digimon, Monster Rancher and Cardcaptor, which is due to reach American screens later this year. Even old favourites such as Dragon Ball Z, which has been on the Comedy Network since autumn 1998, have been given a new lease of life. Dragon Ball has nearly doubled its American audience in the past 12 months.
Most of these shows are aimed at a well-defined six- to 12-year- old age group - young enough still to take an interest in toys but old enough to know exactly which evolution of Digimonster will excite most jealousy in the playground. So far the strategy has worked beyond the wildest dreams of the show's producers. Digimon is now the highest rated show on the Fox Kids network in the US, despite the fact it premiered within the past six months. According to the network, children who were already watching Pokemon on Warner Bros are now switching over immediately afterwards to catch Digimon on Fox.
Yet until recently,...
