As the kids explore to find a way home, they learn that they are "DigiDestined", children chosen to save the Digital World.

After defeating Devimon, the DigiDestined are contacted by Gennai and instructed to reach the Server Continent to retrieve artifacts called Crests, allowing their Digimon partners to Digivolve into their Ultimate forms.

The DigiDestined face the Dark Masters, a quartet of mega-level Digimon who each took control of a part of the Digital World in their absence.

In the midst of their battles, they learn that they were chosen to save the real and Digital Worlds from intersecting four years ago.

After reflecting, the DigiDestined reunite to defeat the last Dark Master, and confront Apocalymon who attempts to destroy both worlds.

With the Digital World restored, Tai and his friends leave their Digimon partners behind and return to their normal lives.

The main opening theme for all episodes aired in Japan is "Butter-Fly" by Kōji Wada, which peaked at #47 on the Oricon Weekly Singles Chart.

[13] The series also uses three insert songs: "Brave Heart" by Ayumi Miyazaki as the Digivolution theme,[14] "Seven" by Kōji Wada,[15] and "Yūki o Tsubasa ni Shite" (勇気を翼にして) by Toshiko Fujita, Tai's voice actress.

[17] Saban Entertainment licensed the series in North America and produced an English-language version under the title Digimon: Digital Monsters, premiered on Fox Kids Network on August 14, 1999.

[19] The English version featured an original soundtrack and made changes to character names, as well as edits pertaining to certain aspects such as violence to make the series more suitable for younger audiences.

[23][24] The English dub series was released on DVD by Twentieth Century Fox (Saban's parent company) in 2000 and by Buena Vista Home Entertainment in 2002.

The story focuses on Tai and Kari finding a Digi-egg from their computer, which hatches and quickly Digivolves, culminating in a battle.

Digimon: The Movie was altered from the original script to remove "culturally awkward" Japanese elements and introduced jokes suitable for a North American audience.

A novelization was written by the Digimon Adventure screenwriter, Hiro Masaki and series director Hiroyuki Kakudō.

[45] However, audiences eventually noticed that compared to Pokémon, the characters interacted and developed realistically, as well as the integration of more complicated science fiction stories and societal themes.

[46] Despite the criticism, it placed first at the start of the May 2000 Nielsen ratings sweeps, surpassing Pokémon: Adventures on the Orange Islands among viewers aged 2–11 and 6–11.

[49] On Anime News Network, Luke Carroll gave the Digimon: Digital Monsters - Collection 2 DVD an overall grade of D+.