Gennai



Gennai is a fictional character from the Digimon Adventure television series who serves as a guide to the Digital World. He is a mysterious being that the DigiDestined first encounter after the battle with Devimon. He claims to be data, but without the same attributes as Digimon. Gennai appeared first to the DigiDestined as a very old man, but when Hikari is possessed by the powers of light and gives them a glimpse of the history of the Digital World, he is seen as a young man wearing robes and a hood, apparently one among many of his kind. Gennai and his group were the ones that created the Digivices, Tags, and Crests, as well as the Chosen Digimon. Soon, however, the Dark Masters discovered their plans, and Piedmon, along with an army of Guardromon and Mekanorimon, invaded and destroyed the secret base, killing all save Gennai. Piedmon stole the Tags and Crests, but Gennai interrupted him by attacking him with a sword. Piedmon inserted a mysterious black ball in Gennai, and Gennai leapt into a Mekanorimon and kicked the Bakemon driver out, and then escaped with the Digi-Eggs of the Chosen Digimon and the digivices.

At some point after Digimon Adventure, Gennai called the Digidestined back into the Digital World to ask them to give up the power of their Crests to add another layer of protection to the Digital World, which they did. He did not appear again until the second series, where he appeared as a young man. It is thought that he accomplished this by copying himself, as many more of his kind later appeared in the series, and one of them stated that he and Gennai were once one and the same. It is possible that the people seen with him in the flashback in the first series were also copies of the original Gennai.

Throughout the first and second series, Gennai takes a backstage role to helping the DigiDestined. He calls them to the Server Continent to defeat Etemon, he helps them get through Myotismon's interdimensional gate, he gives Izzy a Digital Barrier program, and he tells them of the existence of Apocalymon, the final enemy.

In the second series, Gennai resurfaces younger than ever and aids them during the World Tour arc and caused the 8 original Digimon to regain their ability to Digivolve to Ultimate thanks to one of Azulongmon's powers cores which allows Paildramon to become Imperialdramon. He has counterparts in the locations that the DigiDestined were taken to by Imperialdramon. He appears at the end, returning to Gatomon her lost Holy Ring, which he explains allowed DNA Digivolution.

Some fans speculate that Gennai may actually be an older Ryo, as in Tamers it was clear that Ryo did not need to be transformed into data so that he could Biomerge with Cyberdramon, implying that he was already data. In addition to this, Ryo's backstory also reveals that he possesses a power unrivalled by all save his partner, Millenniumon. According to Millenniumon, he is the powers of darkness, and Ryo is the powers of light. If Gennai is not himself the powers of light, he is certainly an agent for them, and his resemblance to the younger Ryo is striking.

His young self was voiced by Hiroaki Hirata(Japan) & Jeff Nimoy in Season One and Two (where later on his replacement voice was done by Steven Blum) (English) while his old self voiced by Joji Yanami (Japan) & Mike Reynolds (English).