V-Tamer Author Shares Design Notes

August 24th, 2015. Today Digimon Adventure V-Tamer 01 writer Izawa Hiroshi uploaded an early draft from V-Tamer to Twipple, in commemoration of the manga's recent electronic reprint. Izawa attributes the prototype character designs to September 17th, 1998, three months prior to the manga's first serialization in V-Jump magazine. In this early version of the story, eleven-year-old Yagami Taichi was instead twelve-year-old Jimon Kakeru, and Zeromaru was nameless but nicknamed V. V. by his owner. According to a 2001 statement by Digimon Adventure director Kakudou Hiroyuki, prior to the manga's serialization executives at Toei chose the name Yagami Taichi to be used for the concurrent main character across all continuities. This, along with the Adventure title shared across V-Tamer, the 1999 film, and the anime series, helped improve brand awareness among audiences of the multimedia franchise.

Jimon Kakeru is described in the draft as an energetic and simplistic sixth-grade boy, who raises a special monster. V-Dramon is stated to be a Child-level Digimon in the draft rather than Adult as in the final manga, and is said to have some emotional dependence on Kakeru, with his mental age being around that of a five-year-old human child. The draft is otherwise close to the final version of V-Tamer; Kakeru is summoned to "Digimon World" by the residents of Folder continent, seeking his abilities.

Illust. Yabuno Tenya (1), (2)

Previously Izawa met up with V-Tamer illustrator Yabuno Tenya on the day of V-Tamer's closing anniversary, on August 21st. Both Yabuno and Izawa have been celebrating the anniversary, with Yabuno posting several of his latest illustrations of the characters to Twitter. As the day of the reprint announcement approached, Yabuno jokingly encouraged fans to send their reactions to V-Jump magazine. "Depending on the reaction, a paper version could be approved...probably? Go ahead, send V-Jump's editorial department a hot message! (Laughs)" Yabuno later commented that he had forgotten about the early draft details, and explained that it was Izawa who came up with the 01 title from his "calculations." (This is in reference to the origins of several characters' names; Rei was named for the Japanese reading of the number 0, and Neo from an anagram of One. Taichi and Zeromaru are counterparts to these characters, as Ichi is the Japanese reading of the number 1 and Zero the English reading of 0. Maru is also the reading for a circle, hence ichi-zero-maru is a play on 100%.) Izawa responded to Yabuno over Twitter that he chose 01 for its digital significance and because of how the addition of ichi turns zero-maru from 00 to 100, creating the series' titular "100% combination."

V-Tamer 01 Goes on Amazon Kindle This Month

August 11th, 2015. Amazon Japan has prematurely uploaded the covers for digital editions of Digimon Adventure V-Tamer 01, leaking that all nine volumes of the manga will be available via digital purchase for Kindle users living in Japan beginning on August 21st, twelve years to the day that V-Tamer finished its original run. Mangaka Yabuno Tenya had previously mentioned a V-Tamer related announcement would be found in the August 21st issue of V-Jump magazine, hinting that fans should not be putting any money in the expensive physical volumes currently available. Yabuno was likely referring to this in his message, but whether there is any further V-Tamer material to come remains to be seen, as any scans of the issue are still a week away.

The Amazon listings make reference to the inclusion of color chapters, the C'Mon Digimon storyline, as well as crossover omake with other Digimon series, all of which were found in the physical volumes from 2003.

Digimon V-Tamer 01 Mangaka Teases 8/21 V-Jump Announcement

Six hours ago the artist behind Digimon Adventure V-Tamer 01, Yabuno Tenya, uploaded a commemorative Odaiba Day sketch to his Twitter account honoring August 1st. Yabuno's sketch promises new information about V-Tamer 01 in the August 21st issue of V-Jump magazine, the magazine that originally serialized V-Tamer 01 for over four years. August 21st was also the date on which the manga's final chapter was published in V-Jump. Yabuno tweeted the following;

Ｖテイマー落書。8月21日にならないと詳しく告知できないそうなので、また、その頃ちゃんと描きます。どうぞよろしくお願いします！
"V-Tamer scribble. While it seems that until August 21st I cannot give a detailed announcement, still, at that time I will draw again. Thank you very much!"

Japanese fans on Twitter are ecstatic at the news, with many of them having a particular nostalgia for V-Tamer, which predated the Adventure anime series in Japan. Many are shocked by the news, not expecting anything new related to the long-finished series. Exactly what kind of V-Tamer material will be included in this coming issue of V-Jump is uncertain, but fan support for Yabuno's work is strong. In a later comment, Yabuno cryptically added "Somehow, I wonder if this is too suggestive of the announcement... (^^; Uumm, for now, it's better not to buy the expensive volumes on Amazon." While a reprint of the manga is possible, this may not be the only V-Tamer related news to come out of the issue--reserving the announcement for that month's V-Jump may point to something slightly more substantial than just a reissue.

V-Tamer 01 remains the longest continuously running Digimon manga in franchise history, chronicling the adventure of Yagami Taichi (based on a prototype of the Adventure protagonist) and his V-dramon Zeromaru. During its run, the manga featured crossover sidestories with every season of the animated Digimon franchise through Frontier. It was originally used to promote the Digital Monster virtual pets and later the Pendulum series devices, although it opted not to include the Pendulum X series developed late in the manga's life. After its storyline was completed the manga was later compiled into nine volumes. A new entry in the series now would be the first new material for V-Tamer 01 in twelve years to the day.