, short for , is a
JapanJapan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese
media franchiseA media franchise is an intellectual property involving the characters, setting and trademarks of an original work of media , such as a film, a work of literature, a television program or a video game. Generally, a whole series is made in a particular medium, along with merchandising and endorsements...
encompassing digital toys,
animeis the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
,
mangaManga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
and video games. The franchise's
eponymous creaturesDigimon are fictional creatures from the Japanese Digimon media franchise. They are central to several anime series and films, manga, video games and other merchandise. The word "Digimon" is invariable in the plural, and stands for "Digital Monster"...
are monsters of various forms living in a "
Digital WorldThe Digital World is a fictional universe featured in the Digimon media franchise. In Digimon anime, manga, video games, and other related merchandise, the Digital World is a parallel universe to Earth that was made from computer data originating in Earth's communication...
", a
parallel universeA parallel universe or alternative reality is a hypothetical self-contained separate reality coexisting with one's own. A specific group of parallel universes is called a "multiverse", although this term can also be used to describe the possible parallel universes that constitute reality...
that originated from Earth's various
communication networksA telecommunications network is a collection of terminals, links and nodes which connect together to enable telecommunication between users of the terminals. Networks may use circuit switching or message switching. Each terminal in the network must have a unique address so messages or connections...
.
Akiyoshi Hongo is credited the creator of the Digimon concept, but he is a mysterious figure and his exact role remains unknown.
Digimons history has been marked at times by rivalry with the
Pokémonis a media franchise published and owned by the video game company Nintendo and created by Satoshi Tajiri in 1996. Originally released as a pair of interlinkable Game Boy role-playing video games developed by Game Freak, Pokémon has since become the second most successful and lucrative video...
media franchise that debuted at a similar time.
