Digimon Tamers, produced by Toei Animation and written by Chiaki J. Konaka as the third series in the Digimon franchise, is centered on the Digimon Tamers, a group of children partnered with a wild Digimon. The characters were designed by Katsuyoshi Nakatsuru and was based on the concept of "a normal elementary school student has a great adventure over the span of a year." Producer Hiromi Seki had wanted the three main characters to be of mixed genders and consist of an immigrant or someone not raised in Japan. Main characters Tamers Takato is a 10 year old student. His parents run their own bakery. Takato plays card games with his friends and draws his own Digimon on paper. After finding a Blue Card, he uses it on the Digivice to create Guilmon. Learning that Digimon are mysteriously appearing in their world, Takato joins the battle. Because Guilmon was a product of his imagination, Takato appears to be empathic with him and thus the two influence each other in every fight. Their bond is augmented when Takato biomerges with Guilmon into Gallantmon. Takato becomes the leader of the organization. He also appeared in Digimon Fusion. To reflect the normalcy of the characters, Takato was imagined to be a "normal" boy who is "full of curiosity" and "fascinated by monsters and Digimon." To continue the tradition of naming the leading characters in the Digimon series, Takato's name began with the same sound as Tai and Davis' Japanese names, the leading characters from Digimon Adventure and Digimon Adventure 02. Rika is a 10-year-old champion of the Digimon Card Tournament and known by the title "Digimon Queen." Her relationship with her mother is initially strained, as she is often too busy with work to spend time with her. She is partnered with Renamon. At first, she has a cold and lonely personality and believes in fighting Digimon to become the strongest. However, Takato helps her see that there is more to Digimon beyond fighting. She also appeared in Digimon Fusion. Rika was designed with a "strong" image and character in an attempt to boost sales for products based on female characters, which traditionally did not perform well in the market. In early stages of her design, Konaka and Nakatsuru based her on Trinity from The Matrix. Fumiko Orikasa was cast to play her due to her clear, strong voice. Konaka decided not to