D-Reaper (Tamers)
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| D-Reaper | |
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| Kanji/Kana | デ・リーパー |
| Dub Name | D-Reaper |
| Voice Actor |  Asada Yōko (浅田 葉子) (ADR-01/ADR-07/Mother)
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 Bridget Hoffman (ADR-01/ADR-07/Mother)
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The D-Reaper is an antagonistic force in Digimon Tamers.
Evolution[edit]
| Original | D-Reaper (original program)[N 1] |
| Evolution | D-Reaper |
Profile[edit]
Origins[edit]
The D-Reaper was originally a computer program, also called the "D-Reaper,"[N 1] which was created in the 1970s, long before the Wild Bunch began their research;[1] therefore, it predates other digital lifeforms such as the DigiGnomes and Digimon. The identity of the program's original author is unknown.[4] Its original purpose was to purge data from memory spaces in order to reset them to zero[1] (alternatively described as deleting useless data from the Network[5]).
At some point, however, the program underwent an aberrant evolution and became the D-Reaper entity.[6][7] The precise cause of its evolution is a mystery, but it is speculated to have come into contact with another world entirely during its hibernation in the depths of the Digital World.[8][4]
Multiple events in the history of networking and computer science have been speculated or implied to have been linked in some way to the D-Reaper:
- In the early 1970s, the world's first computer worm, Creeper, spread across the United States Department of Defense's ARPANET until a program by the name of Reaper eradicated it.[2]
- The self-defense system built into the American/British mass surveillance program ECHELON, whose operations commenced in the 1980s, is theorized by some to have been a forerunner to the D-Reaper.[2]
- In 1990, the Tierra computer life simulator had a Reaper program which committed a genocide against the simulation's virtual lifeforms after they multiplied to the point of exceeding memory limitations.[2]
According to Qinglongmon, the D-Reaper had been present in the Digital World since its earliest days, when the Digital World consisted only of the physical layer. It inhabited the layer along with the early Digimon and the DigiGnomes; the Digimon had no knowledge of its name or nature beyond that it was neither a Digimon nor a DigiGnome, but they deduced that its purpose was to delete them, and came to refer to it as "the true enemy" 「真の敵」. The D-Reaper was at one time in early history actively seeking out and deleting Digimon and DigiGnomes, but after a time, it totally vanished from the Digital World, retreated to a world of its own creation in the Digital World's deepest depths, and entered hibernation.[5]
In the D-Reaper's absence, there was a simultaneous rapid expansion of both the Network and the Digital World. The Digimon were able to proliferate and evolve, but they did so at too fast a rate, and this triggered the D-Reaper into reawakening, with the intent of deleting them.[1] In an attempt to avoid provoking the D-Reaper, Qinglongmon had the Digi-Entelechy transformed into a Digimon and hidden away, to make evolution impossible.[5]
Properties[edit]
The form in which the D-Reaper is first encountered in the Digital World is a gelatinous mass (hereafter, a "body," for convenience) that gives off bubbles. Its form in the Real World, known as the D-Reaper Zone, is very similar in appearance, except vastly larger and constantly expanding further to envelop the terrain around it within itself; the Wild Bunch diagnose it as a quantum bubble, inside which data flows at superluminal speeds, which is structured like a quantum supercomputer.[9] Its native wavelengths differ from those of Digimon.[8]
In the Digital World, anything that comes into contact with the D-Reaper body or its bubbles is deleted.[10] In the Real World, however, this ability is hampered. In particular, the D-Reaper Zone initially attempts to avoid living organisms, including plant life,[6] until its analysis of such organisms is complete.[11]
D-Reaper bodies operate at a high temperature, both internally[9] and externally; early in the spread of the Tokyo D-Reaper Zone in February, the ambient temperature around its margins is reported to be 30°C despite it being winter.[6] How hot a D-Reaper body, or an area of it, it is appears to correlate with the strength of its effect in that given area,[12] and with its own growth and expansion. In particular, interconnecting with other D-Reaper bodies around the world triggers such a rapid spike in its temperature that it is projected to be capable of singlehandedly changing Earth's climate if it continues to rise at the same rate.[9]
The D-Reaper's "brain" is a central artificial intelligence core known as the Kernel 「カーネル」.[12] The data that it takes in accumulates in the Kernel; the passage of the data can be traced to identify the Kernel's location.[7] The purpose of the "Gatekeeper" Agent is to form a protective wall around the Kernel.[13] Although there is only one Kernel, it is possible for multiple D-Reaper bodies to exist; at its peak, there are multiple D-Reaper bodies in locations all around Earth, as well as in the Digital World.[13] D-Reaper bodies are capable of interconnecting with each other,[9] even between the Real and Digital Worlds.[14]
The D-Reaper draws power from Katou Juri's negative emotions and, toward the end, actively attempts to break her to stimulate its own growth.[9] It is also capable of accessing and analyzing her memories to inform itself.[7]
Agents[edit]
By loading Digimon data and analyzing their capabilities, the D-Reaper is capable of creating entities referred to by humans as Agents 「エージェント」.[N 2] Which act as extensions of the D-Reaper body itself, with far better mobility[6] and various specific purposes to serve the D-Reaper's needs. Agents have no individual identity or will at all, and all of them operate in accordance with the consciousness of the D-Reaper itself.[15]
When an Agent is operating outside the D-Reaper Zone, it remains tethered to the Zone with a red, umbilical cord-like[6] cable, which supplies it with energy.[12] Severing this cable can incapacite the Agent.[1]
| Agent | Debut | |
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D-Reaper ADR-01 "Juri Type" |
"Evolutionary Radiance - Shining Evolution" (Juri impostor) "Stand Up to the D-Reaper - Charge into the Zone!" (True form) |
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D-Reaper ADR-02 "Searcher" |
"The City Attacked by the D-Reaper" |
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D-Reaper ADR-03 "Pendulum Feet" |
"The City Attacked by the D-Reaper" |
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D-Reaper ADR-04 "Bubbles" |
"The Mysterious Girl! The Bringer of Miracles Dobermon" |
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D-Reaper ADR-05 "Creep Hands" |
"The Mysterious Girl! The Bringer of Miracles Dobermon" |
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D-Reaper ADR-06 "Horn Striker" |
"Stand Up to the D-Reaper - Charge into the Zone!" |
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D-Reaper ADR-07 "Palates Head" |
"Save Dukemon! Grani Scramble" |
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D-Reaper ADR-08 "Optimizer" |
"Save Dukemon! Grani Scramble" |
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D-Reaper ADR-09 "Gatekeeper" |
"Save Dukemon! Grani Scramble" |
| n.b. None of the D-Reaper Agents are referred to by name in Digimon Tamers itself. | ||
Personality[edit]
As a primitive program, the D-Reaper originally did not, and should not have had, the capacity for intelligence or emotions.[5] It analyzes of its surroundings, including sample specimens, to attempt to understand the unfamiliar and draw conclusions.[7]
Initially, the D-Reaper has no capacity for human language or thought logic at all. This changes once it has analyzed Katou Juri and absorbs these faculties from her.[11][9] It also duplicates her speaking voice.[7]
When communicating its intent to destroy humans and Digimon, it positions its reasoning as objective and based on the facts identified in its analysis: that humans are weak, foolish and contradictory, and that their thought process are illogical and (by its own admission, extrapolating solely from Juri) cause them to desire destruction and wish harm upon others, and to only ever act accordingly.[11][9][14] It deems the Digimon, as creations of humans, to also be foolish,[9] and condemns them for their need to consume other Digimon in order to further the individual's own evolution.[14] Its conclusion is that humans and Digimon are not worthy of existing and should never have existed,[11][8] and therefore it has taken it upon itself to reset the worlds to zero.[9]
Despite this, Mizuno Gorou speculates that the D-Reaper is also emotionally motivated by fear of the unknown, just like humans.[7] By its own acknowledgement, Juri's thought algorithms were similar to its own at the time that it first analyzed her.[11]
