So I saw all of Digimon Fusion. Despite almost everyone hating it, I had a gut feeling I'd enjoy it more than Frontier and Data Squad.
Two warnings before I proceed with my review:
1.) Please don't give me a hard time if you dislike Fusion. I respect you disliking it, please show me the same respect.
2.) If you haven't seen Fusion yet, it's really hard to find on DVD (except MAYBE this one site that might have the official box sets), so if you want to be able to rewatch them forever in the event they disappear from anywhere else you might be able to find them, you might not want to start. (I found them by pure luck at a store 30 minutes from where I live, only once I had them preserved did I start) Besides, you'd probably not enjoy it anyway.
So... here's my review.
It's exactly what I was looking for. Not perfect, but in my top three favorites for sure. (Other two being Adventure 01 and Tamers) I love it being all set in the digital world like Frontier (except part of the first episode and the last episodes of each season). It pretty much takes all the good parts of Tamers and Frontier and puts them in one. Or most of them, anyway.
Shoutmon was fun to have around, and Cutemon, and the other Fusion Fighter Digimon hanging around like Ballistamon, Pickmonz, etc. I kinda like Beastmon too. And of course Dorulumon, having an interest in tails due to Dragonball Z I love his tail attacks.
I also love the fights to the death present in Adventure 01 and Tamers, and while other Digimon series had this too, a lot of them here are final. (Well, the Zone commanders in Season 1 are revived and purified, but the Three Generals, the Dark Generals (except Olegmon, who reforms and is revived alongside the true Apollomon), AxeKnightmon, and Lord Bagra are killed off for real. Most of them felt pretty compelling in their own way. I'd say Blastmon's my favorite of the original generals (though I do like Tactimon's voice and Laylamon's whole "element of darkness" thing), and my top three favorite Dark Generals are Splashmon, NeoMyotismon, and Gravimon. (Olegmon would be next I think, but that's going by before his redemption, he almost fits into a different category afterwards as he's the only redeemable one, not counting Apollomon as Whispered is the true Dark General, and speaking of Apollomon, I'm glad he eventually got to be free of his dark half and gets revived at the end)
I also love the cameos of Digimon from previous generations (even though they're all separate continuities). Beelzemon, Lillymon, Lilamon, Stingmon, Whamon, armies of Devimon, LadyDevimon, and Etemon, a Puppetmon who, though initially betraying the heroes, joins forces with them, a Lucemon who works for Laylamon but still takes all but his larval forms before his presumably final death, Unimon and Pegasusmon, etc.
Primary three things people disliked about Fusion, which I'll address - not giving you a hard time for it, but just saying how I felt about it.
I didn't mind the fusion system replacing digivolution - I can appreciate the show for what it is and not expect the same digivolution system from the other series except Frontier, as long as there's good fight scenes.
As for the censorship? Not being a fan of NSFW (as the pony fandom calls it), that just makes it better for me. Making Mervamon less suggestive? Makes her easier for me to look at (and I have nothing against Bare Your Midriff, which they kept, I find it to be cute and nothing else). Editing a swimsuit onto Angie in the hot spring scene? I praise them for it. One of the few things I hated about Inuyasha was characters going into the water nude and apparently having never heard of swimsuits (even though nothing explicit was shown), I'm glad they averted that with her.
Though they don't seem to be as fussy with male characters, given one moment with Jijimon in the Sand Zone I wish they had censored, it wasn't even important to the plot like the scene with Master Roshi in DBZ so they could've easily cut it like they did with MetalEtemon.
Classic anime style, when it aired in 2013-2015? I prefer it over the modern day anime style. High on my list of favorite animes, aside from Adventure 01, Tamers, and Fusion, are Dragonball Z/Kai, Sailor Moon, Sailor Moon Crystal (which is fairly recent but follows classic anime style and being just as disliked as Fusion), Inuyasha, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, even Death Note, though its style is a little different than the others. (Soul Eater is a LITTLE bit in the in-between point but when it gets down to it it was enjoyable)
