Resident Evil Village and Digimon both originate from Japan, but one would think the similarities between the two would end there. After all, Resident Evil Village is the latest entry in Capcom's long-running survival-horror series, whereas Digimon is a monster-collecting media franchise aimed at kids. However, there is actually an interesting similarity between Digimon and Resident Evil, though it probably wasn't on purpose.
In Resident Evil Village, players contend with Mother Miranda's four lords, who serve as the main bosses that need to be toppled. In the original Digimon anime series, the main characters have to face off against the Dark Masters, who are four especially-powerful and evil Digimon. And as it so happens, there are thematic similarities between the Dark Masters in Digimon and Mother Miranda's lords in Resident Evil Village to the point where each one seems to have a counterpart.
Again, this is most likely just a coincidence, and some of the similarities between the characters are admittedly surface-level, but some fans may still find this interesting.
Machinedramon and Heisenberg
One of the Dark Masters in Digimon is a creature known as Machinedramon. Essentially a giant metal dinosaur, Machinedramon's entire gimmick revolves around its identity as a ruthless machine. It also has a bunch of cyborg-like Digimon lackeys that help do its bidding, including Megadramon and Gigadramon, which look like dragons outfitted with cybernetic enhancements. Heisenberg from Resident Evil Village isn't quite a massive metal dinosaur, but he still has some thematic similarities with Machinedramon nevertheless.
Like Machinedramon, Heisenberg in Resident Evil Village is all about metal and technology. He experiments on people, transforming them into creatures that are part-monster and part-machine. When Ethan Winters starts to fight Heisenberg head-on, Heisenberg himself transforms into a huge beast that uses large sheets of metal for both defense and offense. Visually, Heisenberg and Machinedramon couldn't look more different, but the two of them still share a "metal" theme.
MetalSeadramon and Salvatore Moreau
The similarities between Digimon's Dark Masters and Mother Miranda's lords in Resident Evil Village don't stop there. One could also point out a thematic similarity between MetalSeadramon and Resident Evil Village boss Salvatore Moreau. Both Moreau and MetalSeadramon are water-based creatures, with Moreau literally morphing into a massive fish while he is trying to take out Ethan during the events of the game. MetalSeadramon and Salvatore Moreau may not have much in common beyond both being aquatic creatures, but their similarities do still manage to set a pattern of Mother Miranda's lords being somewhat analogous to Digimon's Dark Masters.
Piedmon and Lady Dimitrescu
Piedmon is positioned as the "leader" of the Dark Masters in Digimon, and while Lady Dimitrescu doesn't have officially that role in Resident Evil Village, she is still the most prominent member of the group. Prior to the game's launch, Capcom heavily featured Lady Dimitrescu in Resident Evil Village's promotional materials, and so she has become the defacto "face" of Mother Miranda's lords regardless of whether or not she actually is in the game itself.
Piedmon and Lady Dimitrescu also share some other characteristics. Both are tall and pale-skinned, and both live in castles. They both have vampire-like proteges under their wings, with Piedmon utilizing the services of LadyDevimon while Lady Dimitrescu relies on her daughters. The visual similarities between Piedmon and Lady Dimitrescu are more obvious than Heisenberg/Machinedramon or Moreau/MetalSeadramon, but Puppetmon and Donna Beneviento may be the most similar out of the Dark Masters/Mother Miranda's lords pairings.
Puppetmon and Donna Beneviento
Finally, there is Puppetmon and Donna Beneviento. In Resident Evil Village, Donna Beneviento is able to use her abilities to animate dolls to fight Ethan. There are a variety of dolls that players see during Donna Beneviento's section of Resident Evil Village, but the main doll is Angie, a creepy-looking figure that appears to be wearing a tattered wedding dress.
In Digimon, Puppetmon is quite literally a puppet creature, and so the similarities between the two characters are apparent right away. What's more is that Puppetmon lives in an eerie, secluded house, which is not unlike Donna Beneviento's house in Resident Evil Village.
Apocalymon and Mother Miranda
In Digimon, viewers discover that the Dark Masters were formed by an all-powerful evil Digimon named Apocalymon, who appears as a humanoid figure sticking out of a large floating structure. Mother Miranda fills that role in Resident Evil Village, having formed her own four lords and serving as the true final villain in the game. The final boss fight with Mother Miranda isn't all that similar to the showdown that the DigiDestined have with Apocalymon, but the two villains do have another thing in common.
Mother Miranda is revealed to have had an impact on the Resident Evil storyline from the get-go, even though fans are only becoming familiar with her now. Mother Miranda actually served as a mentor to Oswell E. Spencer, the founder of Umbrella, and is the person that inspired him to create the T-Virus in the first place. Likewise, Apocalymon is responsible for all of the evil events that happened during the course of Digimon's first season.
The two characters also look somewhat alike when comparing their humanoid forms, at least. Again, this is likely all just a coincidence, but anyone that's a fan of both franchises may still be interested to note that these thematic similarities between the groups of characters exists.
Resident Evil Village is out now for PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.