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About A. R. Pulver

A. R. Pulver is a geek living in Wisconsin and has been watching anime for more than fifteen years. He first gained notoriety in the Digimon community through his fanfiction, most recently Neverworld and Resumption. Beyond Digimon: System Restore, he also offers several articles and commentary on Tumblr and Twitter. He is the new co-host of the With the Will podcast, a bi-weekly podcast talking about the latest Digimon news and other discussion topics. He has also presented Digimon and fanfiction panels at conventions in Wisconsin, Illinois, and Iowa. Check out his SoundCloud page for his Kitsune Kon 2017 panel with six Digimon voice actors discussing a range of topics!

Beyond Digimon: System Restore, he is a staffer at Kitsune Kon in Green Bay and a PA announcer for his high school basketball and football teams. And one time he took Jeff Nimoy to Culver's.

About Digimon: System Restore

Digimon: System Restore is an unflinching look back at every season of the Digimon anime. Most people have a nostalgic view of the series, remembering the epic moments and glossing over the shaky bits. This project sheds that by dedicating a full post to every single episode from the original Adventure series through Fusion.

The aim is threefold. One is to critique the show as an anime. Many of us have gone on and enjoyed other anime, never looking back and viewing gateway series through the same set of eyes. Digimon broke the mold of typical children's programming with an intense plot, deep characters and underlying themes that go far beyond the power of friendship and hope. Simply put, it's an anime. But is it good anime?

Secondly, Digimon fans have a front-loaded mentality, showing reverence to the earlier seasons without paying much heed to more recent series. In reviewing every episode from beginning to end, we can identify the progress of traditions, themes and common angles. We will look at how both the early and late seasons all fit together, comparing and contrasting elements from the start.

Finally, we want to have fun with this. While we are trying to unlock some hidden truths to this show, there's no secret that the primary goal of Digimon is to entertain. Expect this site to poke fun at the series and its characters, employ sarcasm wherever appropriate and dress down what must be dressed down. While I certainly will have strong opinions on characters and seasons, they will be backed by arguments based on how I see things now. Comment boxes are below every post, so feel free to practice civil discourse.

Format

The vast majority of posts are episode discussions, with three exceptions:

Openings correspond and include new opening themes as they premiere in Japan, allowing you to experience some amazing songs if you haven't heard them yet. Most of the time, this will also link up to a new season, allowing a chance for preliminary thoughts as we head back into the breach.

Endings follow the opposite schedule, posted once the series is about to switch to a new ending theme. They're included for completion's sake, although they're far more hit and miss. Post-series endings will be our way of signing off on a season with final thoughts. Mid-series endings are a chance for some general thoughts, site announcements and halftime entertainment. It's also a short break.

Movies will be posted when they would have premiered in Japan, with the exception of Digimon: The Movie, posted in one big three-part series where the third movie would have went.

Every episode and movie will include a letter grade. An A means it is outstanding and would be among the model episodes I would show to anyone wanting to see how Digimon stands up as anime. B episodes are either fundamentally sound but lack that extra kick, or strong entries that screw something up along the way. Mediocre or unremarkable episodes get C grades, while Ds are reserved for the dumb, offensive, or downright bad episodes. Fs require a special combination of incomprehensible, lazy and bothersome.

After the body of each episode will also be a Loose Data section for stray observations that didn't fit in the main article. The quantity of these will vary depending on the episode, but I'll always try to have at least two or three.

Notes

Unless otherwise stated, Digimon: System Restore uses the dub canon as much as feasible. We recognize that there are often major differences between the dub and the original Japanese version, but as it is what most people are familiar with, the dub makes the most worthwhile review material. Thus, differences that don't break everything will be treated as if the dub is truth. Clear dub flubs and inconsistencies will either be broken down, mocked or ignored. I will both praise and bury the dub as the situation dictates, but being different is not be a crime in and of itself. That said, I may comment on significant differences, particularly in seasons where a subtitled release is at our disposal.