Digimon & Magical Witches
Bandai V-Pet Crossovers Part 2 (see Part 1 here)
With Tamagotchi's original launch in 1996, then Digital Monsters in 1997, Bandai and Wiz released Magical Witches in 1998!
While Tamagotchi were based on eggs, and Digital Monsters on cages, the Magical Witches v-pet is shaped like a book, cover and all!
Just like the original lines of Tamagotchi and Digimon, Kenji Watanabe was also the designer for the Magical Witches. Besides going through different stages, the Witches were also divided into four different clans each representing a different magical element. Which tribe of Witches you would raise depends on the version of the v-pet you have.
The clans and their respective magic are as follows:
Eneruge, who specialize in fire magic, Earthlin, who specialize in Earth magic, Baluluna, who specialize in wind magic, and Aquary, who specialize in water magic.
As your Witch grows, it can study other elements of magic! They cannot learn their opposite element until Gen 4 (and master it by Gen 5). So a Eneruge Witch has to learn Earthlin and/or Baluluna magic before they can learn Aquary magic.
[images from gotchi-garden]
Unfortunately this franchise never took off, and no further lines were created past the original line up. The toys are now quite the rare find and any online listings are super expensive.
But part of the franchise lives on within the Digimon franchise!
The Land of Witchelny is now portrayed as another dimension, so to speak, another layer to the Digital World we know. According to offcial DigimonWeb profiles, the land is ruled by elders of each clan and three sages that lead a council governing the clans.
Witchelny is split into four blocks for each cardinal direction, each occupied by a clan, and in the center lies Mount Brocken. On the top of Mount Brocken, the clans have established a joint magic school. Those who master magic (advanced programming language) at said magic school, move on to travel to the Digital World we know.
Here is a list of Digimon, who have been confirmed to have come from Witchelny: Wizardmon /X (master of fire and earth magic), FlareWizardmon (master of fire magic), Sorcerymon (master of light and ice magic), Witchmon (master of wind and water magic), Mistymon (master of various magics, of which fire is its forte), MedievalGallantmon (a legendary hero, who protected Witchelny in ancient times) and Wisemon (born in a magic-less region of Witchelny).
Furthermore, Hexeblaumon is a Digimon that came to Witchelny from the Digital World, and mastered ice magic there.
On the Option Card, Absolute Blast, which features HexeBlaumon, you can also see the symbol of Aquary!
Absolute Blast BT5-097 by Shin Sasaki from BT-05 Booster Battle of Omni
Comparing the original Magical Witches evolutionary charts to the what magic we know these Digimon to be proficient in, we can make some possible connections.
Wizardmon being a master of fire and earth magic, and Witchmon being a master of water and wind magic, these original Witches line up with their abilities.
[Wizardmon: Eneruge native master top, Earthlin native master bottom]
[Witchmon: Aquary native master top, Baluluna native master bottom]
However with official artwork, such as the one below, portaying fire and water magic as their respective specialties, I believe the top sprites would be more likely.
With Mistymon being proficient in all magic, only the "Soul" type of Witch applies, which is the same in all clans.
I find this stuff super interesting! But wait... doesn't that one face look familiar...?
If you are interested in Magical Witches, I recommend you check out gotchi-garden! They have a very detailed coverage on these.
Also shoutout to @/MagicLad_Ty on twitter who first brought these to my attention!
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