I never liked that they went back to weaker forms, as a kid that inherently made me feel like Pokemon were better because they stayed evolved. Also, I did think the evolutions were very random as a kid and didn’t understand why their lines weren’t more congruent like Pokemon.
Honestly there were some good episodes based on pokemon changing as they evolve and whether that’s something they and their trainer actually want. Digimon Tamers played with it a little bit but not for long.
Also yeah, the evolution lines are just so fucked. I remember trying out the card game ages ago and being so confused by how different the evolution lines were from the anime.
The above being said I never turned down an opportunity to watch Digimon as a kid, I still liked it a lot.
Oh for sure. The most recent series, Ghost Game, was pretty good, too (as long as you don’t expect anything from the scant overarching plot).