Evolution/Anime

=Appearances=

Digimon Adventure original continuity
In Digimon Adventure, Digimon Adventure 02, Digimon Adventure tri., and Digimon Adventure: Last Evolution Kizuna, the ability to evolve is mostly tied to both the strength of the bond between the Chosen Child and their Digimon, and to the maturity and psychological growth of the Chosen Children themselves. For example:


 * The Crests that are required for Super Evolution embody a trait that each child displayed when they were younger, and unlocking Super Evolution requires bringing out the best of those qualities in themselves for the right reasons, rather than misusing them.
 * The ability to Jogress requires that each pair of Chosen Children "synchronize" with each other, and truly understand their thoughts and feelings.
 * Takenouchi Sora, Izumi Kōshirō, Tachikawa Mimi, Kido Jo, Takaishi Takeru, and Yagami Hikari's attainment of Ultimate Evolution is linked to a a cryptic message in Digimoji that is emailed to Kōshirō from an unknown address in the Digital World: To seek true power, know the darkness, and make it through. As the message hints, each of them is tested by a personal crisis that puts their philosophies and what they hold dear in jeopardy, and after learning from and navigating the experience, they become able to Ultimate Evolve their partner Digimon.
 * Agumon -Yuki no Kizuna- and Gabumon -Yujo no Kizuna- are the result of the deep bond that the two Digimon share with Yagami Taichi and Ishida Yamato.

Evolution can also be triggered, especially for the first time, when a Chosen Child is in danger. Their partner Digimon will evolve to protect them. The Chosen Children become aware of this, and on one occasion Yagami Taichi unsuccessfully tries to exploit this to force Greymon to Super Evolve.

Higher levels of evolution also often require some sort of intervention by some other force. For instance, the Chosen Children initially require physical Crests to unlock Super Evolution. Agumon and Gabumon need to be shot with arrows of hope and light by Angemon and Angewomon to fulfill a prophecy and unlock their Ultimate forms, and it takes one of Qinglongmon's Digicores to grant Paildramon the ability to evolve to Imperialdramon: Dragon Mode, and to enable the original eight partner Digimon to Super Evolve again after surrendering their Crest power.

Evolving requires a great amount of energy, and higher levels require higher amounts of energy. As a result, when partner Digimon Super Evolve to Perfect or higher, it is common for them to devolve to their Baby II forms when they are finished, and when they Jogress to Perfect or higher, they usally revert to their Baby I forms. The exception is Tailmon, who usually just devolves back to Tailmon and only devolves to Plotmon after Jogressing or other significant expenditures of her power, or Nyaromon on one exceptionally taxing occasion. She attributes this to her having greater self-discipline than the other partner Digimon. The energy requirements also mean that generally, the Digimon cannot evolve if they are hungry, and that they must rest to recover the energy needed to evolve the next time.

Several independent Digimon also undergo evolution in the various series:


 * As foretold in a prophecy, Vamdemon is resurrected in the evolved form of Venom Vamdemon after his defeat in "All Perfects Attack! Sparkling Angewomon". In the climax of Digimon Adventure 02, his spirit (possessing Oikawa Yukio) evolves again into Belial Vamdemon after he consumes the Dark Seeds implanted in several children.
 * After his defeat by Yagami Taichi and Metal Greymon, Etemon is eventually reborn as Metal Etemon.
 * Leomon gains the ability to Warp Evolve into Saber Leomon due to his repeated exposure to the light of the Chosen Children's Digivices. However, he has poor control over his evolution and cannot maintain the Saber Leomon form for long.
 * A Kuramon that hatched on the Internet evolves by eating data and causing havoc worldwide, going through the forms of Tsumemon, Keramon, Infermon (skipping the Adult level), and Diablomon. That Diablomon is later reborn, and the many Kuramon that it spawns all fuse together in the real world to evolve into Armagemon.
 * Hackmon is able to freely evolve into JESmon and devolve back into Hackmon.

In Digimon Tamers, the source of all evolution is the Digi-Entelechy, or "light of evolution". The existence of the Digi-Entelechy is what enables Digimon to evolve. Before the start of the series, the Digi-Entelechy is transformed into Culumon by the Digignomes in accordance with the wishes of Qinglongmon, who wanted to prevent any evolution from occurring to avoid provoking the D-Reaper. As a result, normally no Digimon evolve at all, but sometimes Culumon accidentally causes evolutions to occur around him just by emotionally reacting to events around him (sadness, curiosity, etc.)

As the series progresses, the Tamers become able to trigger evolutions at will by Slashing certain cards. They use the "Super Evolution Plug-In S" card (St-100) to evolve their Digimon to the Adult level, and Blue Cards to evolve them to the Perfect Level. Sometimes, when they do this, it is shown that the slashing of the card has triggered Culumon into using his powers on the partner Digimon.

Devolution is also significantly harder in Tamers. Unlike in other series, where a partner Digimon is likely to devolve as soon as the action is over, it is common for the Tamers' partner Digimon to remain in their evolved forms (mainly Adult) for hours at a time afterward with no way to force themselves to devolve, even if their Tamer is no longer present. Lee Jianliang theorizes that it is entirely possible for their Digimon to remain evolved indefinitely, but that after a while it becomes too hard to maintain an evolved form, so they devolve into a more stable form.

Several independent Digimon evolve in the series. This is usually caused by Culumon's power.


 * A Dark Tyranomon in the Digital World evolves into Metal Tyranomon and destroys a Maildramon that was chasing Culumon. The cause of this evolution is unknown, although it coincides with this exact evolution and fight outcome occurring in a Digital Monster Card Game match played between Matsuda Takato and Shiota Hirokazu.
 * A Wild One Goblimon who Realizes in Shinjuku evolves into Fugamon when Culumon unintentionally activates some of its power.
 * Impmon evolves into Beelzebumon for the first time when he makes a deal with Caturamon to be endowed with Zhuqiaomon's power, in exchange for eliminating the Tamers and their Partner Digimon. The next time that Impmon takes this form, he does it through the power of his rekindled bond with his Tamers, Ai and Makoto.
 * While playing with some Digignomes, Culumon unintentionally causes three Woodmon to evolve into Jyureimon.
 * Culumon unintentionally causes hundreds of Chrysalimon who are fighting Beelzebumon to fuse into one giant Infermon.
 * With the assistance of the Digignomes, Culumon intentionally uses its to cause many Digimon around the Digital World to evolve to the Ultimate level to help fight the D-Reaper. These Digimon include three Diablomon (from the fusion of hundreds of Chrysalimon), a Metal Seadramon, a Mugendramon, a Gran Kuwagamon, a Griffomon, at least five Pukumon, a Hououmon, a Boltmon, a Plesiomon, and a Marin Angemon (who becomes Kitagawa Kenta's partner Digimon).

Digimon Frontier focuses on the use of the twenty Legendary Spirits to transform into Hybrid Digimon in a process called "Spirit Evolution". Both human Chosen Children and ordinary Digimon are capable of Spirit Evolution. The series focuses on six human Chosen Children who use Spirits.

In addition to the human cast's use of Spirits, there are several independent Digimon characters who undergo evolutions, including both regular evolutions and use of Spirits to become Hybrid Digimon.


 * After being hit by Minamoto Kouji, a Pagumon evolves into Raremon to take revenge.
 * A Candmon evolves into Wizarmon after one of its allies was frozen by Himi Tomoki as Chackmon. It devolves into Candmon after being defeated and purified by Kanbara Takuya as Agnimon.
 * The Three Mushmon Brothers evolve together into a single Woodmon after they're beaten by Orimoto Izumi as Fairimon. They return to Mushmon after being defeated and purified by Wolfmon.
 * A Tunomon from the Digimon elementary school is able to evolve into Gabumon at will. However, because evolving scared its classmates, it refused to do so, and stayed on its Tunomon form, only evolving to save Izumi from drowning and then to save its classmate, Caprimon, from getting killed by a log swept by a strong current. After the latter event, the others stop fearing Gabumon, and Tunomon decides to keep evolving until it becomes as strong as the Warrior Ten, though it still stays as Tunomon rather than Gabumon.
 * Cherubimon created four of the five Evil Warriors (Mercuremon, Ranamon, Grottemon, and Arbormon) by bonding Spirits to Digimon. He also tried to bond the Spirits of Darkness to various Digimon, but none of these attempts succeeded; the broken data remains of these Digimon inhabit the dungeons of Cherubimon's castle at the Rose Morning Star.
 * On one occasion, Mercuremon also fuses with the scanned data of Seraphimon to evolve into Black Seraphimon, in a process that he announces as "Advent of the Fallen Angel" (「堕天使降臨」 Datenshi kourin).
 * A Shamamon finds the Beast Spirit of Fire in the temple where he works as a fortune teller, and is involuntarily bonded to it and evolves into Vritramon. He runs wild until Takuya (as Agnimon) subdues and purifies him and takes the Beast Spirit.
 * A Gottsumon who had befriended Kouji evolves into Insekimon so that he can help Kouji (as Magna Garurumon) fight Lord Knightmon. He devolves back to Gottsumon when Lord Knightmon severely injures him.
 * Murmukusmon is able to Slide Evolve between the forms of Darcmon, Hippogriffomon, and Murmukusmon at will.

A key theme of Digimon Savers is the influence of human emotions on Digimon. Digisoul is a power that comes from human emotion, and Digimon respond to that power. Tamers must learn to focus their emotions and Digisoul, and direct it toward a clear purpose, in order to evolve their partner Digimon. Evolution is initiated by manifesting their Digisoul as an aura around themselves, and then charging it into their Digivice iC.

Savers also features a high number of independent Digimon, usually enemies, who evolve. Many of these are Digimon who have infiltrated the real world and are feeding on the negative emotions of humans, whose dark wishes they are often trying to fulfill.


 * A Kunemon uses Takashi's resentment of having to look after the chickens at Daimon Chika's school to evolve into Flymon.
 * Agumon's attack accidentally causes three Petit Meramon to fuse together and evolve into Meramon.
 * A Drimogemon evolves into Digmon in the Digital World.
 * An Elecmon that has fed on power lines evolves into a black Garurumon.
 * A Keramon that was manipulating chart data for Hanamura Neon evolves into Chrysalimon when Neon is enraged.
 * When Mercurimon tries to force Piyomon to forget about Chika, he evolves into Aquilamon and runs wild. He evolves again into Garudamon in his mad desperation to find Chika. Later, after being reborn, Piyomon's bond with Chika allows him to evolve into Garudamon again.
 * Mercurymon's servant, Gottsumon, is able to evolve into his "true form", Insekimon.

The primary focus of Digimon Xros Wars is on its main gimmick of DigiXrossing, where humans use Xros Loaders to temporarily combine their Digimon allies. The series features DigiXros combinations of more and more Digimon as it goes on. Later in the series, it is common for both Super Evolutions and DigiXrossing to be used together to create even stronger composite Digimon.

Antagonist access to DigiXrossing is mostly limited to Forced DigiXrossing, where a Darkness Loader is used to force a DigiXros to occur regardless of whether any of the constituent Digimon want it. Before the Darkness Loader is introduced, antagonists permanently consume other Digimon to gain temporary power-ups and equipment, in a process known as absorption.

Xros Wars does not use the concept of Evolution Stages. Instead, evolution is described as a permanent growth into new forms that Digimon undergo as they age, which takes a very long time. Unlike other Digimon series, evolution as a power available to the human cast and their partner Digimon is entirely absent from the series until "A New Journey!! The Great Tokyo Showdown!!", where Super Evolutions are introduced as the ability to skip over all of the time that is normally needed to evolve and immediately become the mature form that the Digimon will have in the future. As a result, each partner Digimon only has one conventional evolved form (not counting Mode Changes).

During the first season of Xros Wars, some Digimon transform into new, more powerful forms. These are not treated by the story as conventional evolutions, but rather as being caused by special circumstances, although both examples are considered normal evolution in both prior and subsequent material.
 * After being mortally wounded and donning the goddess's mask, Baalmon is resurrected as Beelzebumon.
 * After revealing he was truly part of the Bagra Army and a servant of Lilithmon, Lucemon takes his true form, Lucemon: Falldown Mode.

During the Digimon Xros Wars: The Evil Death Generals and the Seven Kingdoms season, only the partner Digimon of the protagonists evolve. In the Digimon Xros Wars: The Young Hunters Who Leapt Through Time season, some independent Digimon evolve as well, mostly those created by Quartzmon. Despite the lack of human element to them, other than the first one, they are still called Super Evolutions in-series:
 * Knight Chessmon absorbs the greed from Hiroya after pushing him towards becoming more and more obsessed with victory, turning from White to Black before Super Evolving into Rook Chessmon. Unlike other Super Evolutions, this one appears to be permanent, as it keeps the form after Amano Yuu captures it.
 * A Tsumemon created by Quartzmon evolves into Keramon, Chrysalimon, Infermon and finally Diablomon during several fights against the Digimon Hunters, making it the only Digimon seen in the series to evolve multiple times.
 * Several Vamdemon created by Quartzmon evolve into Belial Vamdemon, with three of them instead becoming giant Venom Vamdemon.

The guest characters from prior Digimon series who appear in Digimon Xros Wars: The Young Hunters Who Leapt Through Time all follow the same rules and mechanisms for evolution from their respective original series.

Digimon Universe Appli Monsters has its own version of Evolution Stages, called "Grades", but unlike other Digimon series, there is not quite any directly "evolving" a single Appmon into a single new form. Instead, all progression to higher Grades revolves around two compatible Appmon (or their Appmon Chips) undergoing AppGattai to combine together.

Unlocking a Buddy Appmon's higher-Grade form via AppGattai creates an Appmon Chip of that form, and as the series progresses, that chip (when activated, for instance in an Appmon Band) can be used to Appliarise the Buddy Appmon directly into that form instead of having to AppGattai them again. This basically works how evolution works in other Digimon series.

If a Buddy Appmon is exhausted, they are unable to take their Ultimate Grade form until they have rested and recovered the energy needed to do so.

Several independent Appmon, primarily villains, undergo AppGattai or are Appliarised:
 * Cameramon uses Shotmon's Appmon Chip to AppGattai into Scorpmon.
 * Mienumon uses Sakusimon's Appmon Chip to AppGattai into Warudamon.
 * The completed Seven Code PAD uses Shinkai Haru's Appli Drive to Appliarise Dantemon.

A single Digimon appeared in the series: Agumon. It follows conventional Digimon evolution rules to undergo Warp Evolution, instead of Appmon rules.

Evolution in Digimon Adventure: works similarly to how it does in the original Digimon Adventure. It is generally triggered by the Chosen Children by their emotional responses and willpower, especially as it relates to their Crest.

Unlike the original Adventure, Adventure: explores the idea of multiple routes of evolution for partner Digimon, as four of them have unlocked an second, alternate evolution to a given Evolution Stage. However, most of these evolutions have only been used once.

When an evolution is triggered, the outer central ring of the Digivice: will light up in a specific pattern that corresponds with the Evolution Stage that the Digimon is undergoing evolution into. It also lights up when their partner Digimon is gaining a temporary power boost from the Chosen Child's/their own determination and emotional drive. The lights are in the color of the Chosen Child's Crest.

Several independent Digimon have undergone evolutions, including many of the series' villains.


 * Some Baby II Algomon undergo evolutions into higher levels, including one that evolves into the Ultimate-form Algomon.. This repeats several times during the series, including with the one Algomon capable of speech, who evolves from Adult to Perfect in its first appearance, then into Ultimate during its last battle.
 * One of the Eyesmon evolves into Orochimon, and then again into Nidhoggmon.
 * Skull Knightmon Super Evolves into Dark Knightmon.
 * Devimon evolves twice in his final fight with the Chosen Children: first into Neo Devimon using power taken from the Real World, and then into Done Devimon thanks to Dark Knightmon using the power of the dark crystal on him.
 * A Tyumon from Gerbemon's garbage region evolves into Searchmon after Rare Raremon's defeat.
 * Millenniumon is resurrected from its Moon=Millenniumon form when it fuses with an incomplete Chimairamon (itself evolved from Sephirothmon). When Goddramon and Holydramon destroy it, its soul survives and evolves into Zeed Millenniumon.
 * Several Soundbirdmon fuse together to become Deathmon, which quickly switches from grey to black.
 * During the last fight in the series, Negamon undergoes several evolutions, into an unnamed evolved state, and then simultaneously into Abbadomon and Abbadomon Core.

In the last fight against Negamon, Omegamon turns his arms separatedly into those of Omegamon Alter-S, before fully becoming the aforementioned Digimon. It's never stated if this is a kind of evolution.

How evolution works in Digimon Ghost Game has not been explained yet. Evolution appears to be related to a "vitals gauge" readout on the human partner's Digivice-V-, which is displayed and shown filling when an evolution is about to occur.

Ghost Game explores the idea of multiple routes of evolutions for partner Digimon, albeit only for Amanokawa Hiro's Gammamon. He currently has access to three different conventional Adult forms which are used for different situations, plus an Adult Dark Evolution.

Several independent Digimon undergo evolutions:


 * When Hiro's group breaks into Never-Ever Land to confront Petermon for abducting children and Digimon, Kazuma's two Hawkmon friends both evolve into Orcamon to protect Kazuma from Petermon. They inspire the other Digimon to evolve as well, including a Virus Elecmon (into Thunderballmon), a Gazimon (into Hanumon), a Bearmon (into Gryzmon), a Kamemon (into Gawappamon), and a Hagurumon (into Guardromon). The Orcamon stay evolved when they return to Tokyo.

=Additional Information=