The Original Name of Garurumon Was "Garumon," Says Former Director

"LLLAADDIES AND GENTLEMAN, I'M SORRY FOR KEEP YOU WAITING, VOLCANO CHANNEL IS BAAACK, YEEAAHHH!"

February 9th, 2016. Former Digital Monster series project director Oota "Volcano" Kensuke uploaded the latest entry in his Volcano Channel video series after a two month hiatus. In this latest episode, Oota discussed the "Digimon All Stars" figures, a line of 1998 transparent figures. Each All Star figure set included 14 figures plus Digitama, and the series was succeeded by the "The Digimon" figure line of colored Super Deformed toys.

For this week's quiz Oota used five one-handed dumbbell rolls as a timer, asking fans this question; "In development, Garurumon was known by another name. What was that name?"

A.) Wolfmon
B.) Foxmon
C.) Garumon.

The answer is C.) Garumon. (Wolfmon is the name of the H-Spirit of Light in Digimon Frontier, while Foxmon has never been used.) It wasn't until later on that the second -ru sound was added. Oota also noted that in the Digimon anime series, Garurumon was pronounced with an ascending tone (emphasis on "ru,") while he had always pronounced it descending. (Emphasis on "mon.") He ended the episode by asking viewers what kind of nostalgic Digimon history they would like to see him talk about in the future.

Oota Kensuke is the original project director for the 1997 Digimon virtual pets, who has continued to work with Digimon to the present day. Serving as a lead developer for all Digimon toys up to 2007, Oota came back to prominence in 2014 due to his involvement in the development and release of the Digivice Ver. 15th.

His personality "Volcano Oota" was originally created to promote the D-1 Grand Prix tournaments, and has remained a memorable component of his public persona for almost twenty years. In 2000 this character was made into an official Digimon, Volcamon, and in 2002 given the Ultimate form Pile Volcamon, corresponding to his "Pile Volcano Oota" upgrade. In 2015 Oota launched Volcano Channel, his YouTube channel where he discusses the development and history of the Digimon franchise.

He later resigned from Bandai in late in that year to work at an unspecified company, stating publicly that he made the decision to challenge himself. While there were some concerns over what this meant for Volcano Channel, Oota assured fans that the series will continue, and he has remained an active part of the Digimon fandom on Twitter. His previous video focused on the design process of Omegamon, the Digimon created for the March 2000 film Our War Game!

Volcano Oota Leaves Bandai After More than 20 Years

Original image uploaded by Otaku Mode.

January 16th, 2016. The original Digital Monster series project director Oota "Volcano" Kensuke announced over Twitter today that he has resigned from Bandai, transferring to another company. Oota explained that this was a decision he made as a result of entering his mid-40s, having thought for a long time that "A life without challenge is over!" (He turned 45 on January 2nd.)

The news came as a surprise to many, including those who had worked with him in the past; Digimon Adventure V-Tamer 01 author Yabuno Tenya was shocked, but encouraged Oota, saying "We're in different genres, but let's both do our best!" Fan @rastadog77 reacted by creating pixel art of Pile Volcamon, a Digimon based directly on Oota's likeness.

Oota later added that he was grateful to Bandai, promising to cheer for them from the outside, and discussed how he was facing the situation;

In truth, if you try to challenge yourself, you'll often have moments where you think "Huh? I don't have the ability to do this? Maybe I can't face it." But whether you can face it or can't, the fact that you do it must not change! I believe the phrase in English is "It's never too late to start." (In Japanese, "It's not too late to begin something.")

Oota's contributions to the franchise are numerous. He is responsible for masterminding the original Digital Monster series that launched the brand, as well as other associated electronics toylines up through the early 2000s. Oota hosted the related line of D-1 Grand Prix tournaments, contributed to several Digimon designs like Omegamon, and assisted with the development of several video games including the Battle Spirit series. The Digimon Volcamon and Pile Volcamon were directly based on the host character he cultivated for various incarnations of the Grand Prix, and many Japanese fans have fond memories of meeting Oota at his events during the height of the franchise's popularity. Digimon will sorely miss his creative input.

Oota remained involved with Digimon long after the demise of the D-1, working for Bandai for just around 21 years. He assisted in the creation of the fifteenth anniversary Digivices, and made guest appearances at various Digimon events through 2014. Most recently, in late 2015 he launched Volcano Channel, a line of videos in which he discussed Digimon franchise history and how certain design decisions were made. What his departure means for the future of Volcano Channel is unclear; Oota's homepage is still live at the time of this writing.

The Original Name of Digimon was "Otokotchi"

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN HERE COMES TIME TO WATCH VOLCANO CHANNEL YEAH!"

November 20th, 2015. Original Digimon series project director Volcano Oota launched his YouTube channel "Volcano Channel" this morning, uploading his first videos detailing the history of the Digimon franchise. This time Oota focused on the original Digital Monster series of virtual pets, drawing from his memories of development. In his first video, Oota lectures on the bricklike design of the Digital Monster pet, and how his team eventually settled on the name Digital Monster for its "cool" factor. Notably, at one point he says the Digital Monster pets only went up to version five, ignoring the version six pet released exclusively in Australia; Oota likely had no involvement in its development due to it being a Bandai Asia original product.

Volcamon, based on Oota

Each video contains a small quiz, and for his first video Volcano asked viewers a multiple choice question, using a set of arm curling as a timer: "What was the working name for Digital Monster?"

A.) Otokotchi
B.) Digital Beast
C.) Mogital Denster

The answer is A.) Otokotchi, from the Japanese word Otoko "boy" and the existing franchise Tamagotchi (Tamago "Egg" + Uotchi "Watch"). The Otokotchi name came from the Digimon pet's origins as a boy's Tamagotchi. Hence, it can be thought of as a "Boy's Watch" as well as a Digital Monster.



In the second episode, Oota explains that the pixel measure of the original devices' screens was 16x32, but the actual monsters were only 16x16. He continues to a second quiz, using shoulder presses as a timer; how many evolutionary levels were programmed into the digital monster pet?

The answer is fourteen. One Baby I, one Baby II, two Child, seven Adult, and three Perfect Digimon. Volcano went on to talk a bit about "master" Watanabe Kenji of WiZ's illustrations for the Digital Monster pets. Oota worked closely with Watanabe during the pets' development, coming up with the monsters Watanabe illustrated.

Oota Kensuke is the original project director for the 1997 Digimon virtual pets, who has continued to work with Digimon to the present day. Serving as a lead developer for all Digimon toys up to 2007, Oota came back to prominence in 2014 due to his involvement in the development and release of the Digivice Ver. 15th.

His personality "Volcano Oota" was originally created to promote the D-1 Grand Prix tournaments, and has remained a memorable component of his public persona for almost twenty years. In 2000 his character was made into an official Digimon, Volcamon, and in 2002 given the Ultimate form Pile Volcamon, corresponding to his "Pile Volcano Oota" upgrade.