Digimon Adventure Tri. M01 Review: Rocking it like 1999

Digimon Adventure Tri., Part One: Reunion

"Taichi! Long time no see... you're all grown up now."

Man, Digimon! I don't talk about it a lot because, well, I haven't really been following Digimon with the save feverish fanaticism that I do Pokemon and have kind of lost contact with Digimon around halfway through the fourth series (Digimon Frontier, a good twelve years ago). The lack of promotion of the franchise outside of Japan, as compared to Pokemon, honestly is a big reason. Because Digimon can go for many years without a real anime or game series, whereas Pokemon makes it a point to have at least a game every two years. Add that to the fact that all the awesome games in Japan aren't localized to English since around 2005... what the hell, Bandai of America?

But I grew up on both the original series of Digimon and Pokemon. Pokemon was more... defined in what creatures will show up, how the cartoon and manga and video games worked, while Digimon was surprisingly far more mature. And while I never really had the patience or the skills to figure out the mechanisms on how exactly to play Digimon World or any of the Tamagotchi-style games as opposed to the more child-friendly Pokemon games... the anime was a different story. Digimon Adventure wasn't the best anime out there back then, but it's a damn good one! It has plot. It has great villains, with Vamdemon, Pinnochimon* and Piedmon being stand-out examples. It had character developments. It had things at stake, and the fact that characters die -- not just villains, but supporting characters as well -- really help to make the series feel epic for a young mind like mine. It brought fond memories. Digimon Adventure - Zero Two was a bit messier than the first series, especially near the end where the tie-ins to a video game that wasn't released outside Japan made some of the backstory confusing. But I liked it nonetheless!

*Back as a kid, I alternated between the English dub and a different dub that uses Japanese names, so forgive me if I alternate randomly between Japanese and English names. I'll try to stick to the original Japanese, though. So, uh, Adult, Perfect and Ultimate as opposed to Champion, Ultimate and Mega.

And then came Digimon Tamers, which was set in an alternate continuity. And while this is great and had great characterization and a whole new twist on the Digimon World, the sudden, jarring change as our old favourite heroes are replaced with all-new suspiciously-similar substitutes... probably didn't sit well with some. And then Digimon Fusion showed up, where humans can turn into Digimon... and right around that time I kind of lost interest in Digimon, through no fault of the show but just, well, it's hard to find any Digimon material, when other stuff like Pokemon, Batman, and all kinds of other anime and comics are far more readily available.

So this year, 2015, they announced Digimon Adventure Tri, a sequel to the original Adventure/Zero Two canon, starring the original eight Chosen Children (Digidestined, whichever term you prefer) done with sweet, sweet new animation. It's definitely welcome to me -- I was a big fan of the first series and having replayed the original PS1 Digimon World, and beating my fifteen-year-old archenemy at last, it is an absolute treat to know that this thing exists. Tri will take place over the course of six full-length movies over this year and the next, and Crunchyroll has subbed it in English and broke up the first movie over the course of four episodes. Needless to say, I watched it immediately as soon as it came out. I'm going to talk and review the first movie in its entirety, though.

The animation is gorgeous, there's no getting past that. There were some moments that I thought the models seemed kinda off, but holy hell. From Kuwagamon glitching in and out as he travels across the city, to all the brilliant fireblasts and electro shockers, to the digivolution sequences, to Birdramon just raining hell down onto that one Kuwagamon, to the battle between Greymon and Kuwagamon that takes them in and out of the digital world and the real world, to Alphamon pwning everyone, to Alphamon pulling out his awesome hyperspace spear, to the short cameos by the Perfect and Ultimate forms -- I fangasmed a little when MetalGreymon showed up -- and finally the battle between Alphamon and Omegamon...

Yeah, the battles are awesome. The soundtrack is awesome (this new remix of Butterfly and Brave Heart are going to be in my iPod's playlist for months) and the simple joy of seeing these old friends of mine on the small screen just puts me in my happy space. 

I will be the first to admit that the movie is far from a masterpiece, though. It's got all sorts of shitty pacing problems, and with Crunchyroll splitting it apart into four episodes the lack of... anything plot-worthy in the first and third episodes really stand out like a sore thumb. There are also some rather grating problems, chief of which is Taichi randomly getting PTSD and flashing back to those two shots of destroyed buildings and a destroyed cell phone. Yes, we get it, Taichi, you're fucking afraid of endangering people and destroying shit, but your inaction not only caused all your buddies to get hurt, it also arguably caused more destruction courtesy of Alphamon. It's good, in a way, that they acknowledged the fact that shit gets destroyed in giant kaiju deathmatches, but they've acknowledged it since all the way from the first season -- the Vamdemon arc in Digimon Adventure and parts of Digimon Zero Two certainly more than explore the same themes, though obviously the kids probably aren't mature enough to really consider that. Yes, having our main hero be guilty about it is a thing, but at the same time it's freaking annoying to flash back to the same three shots like eight or nine times throughout the movie. Also, did Yamato and Taichi have to be at each other's throats and angst for so long? Yamato at least doesn't go bug off on his own this time.

Also to note that Taichi is angsting over the destruction of a pedestrian bridge and a couple of buildings when during the original Adventure series WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon basically used the Fuji TV ball building as an improvised soccer ball. Well.

Also, the big trigger in the argument between Taichi and Yamato is the fact that people are talking shit about the Digimon and not knowing that there are good Digimon and bad Digimon. Really, Taichi? You went through two seasons of monster deathmatches, all the destruction in the Vamdemon and World Tour arcs and you only realize that some people are scared shitless of your giant armoured fire-breathing T-rex now? And honestly how the fuck should some people gossiping get in the way of you stopping an inherently hostile digimon from fucking the town up?

We also get way too much talking. I mean, I get it, these kids are in school and have school problems. These kids are teenagers and have teenage problems. But honestly do we need to spend that much time talking about how Taichi has a soccer game and no one is coming to watch and Yamato has a band and Sora is confused which one she has to go, blah blah blah. I mean, yeah, it worked in the first fifteen minutes or so to give us a modicum of normalcy that's interrupted by the arrival of the Kuwagamon and the return to the good old days, and "Knife of Ramen" actually got me laughing, but still, for so much of it to continue into the third part... I don't want it to just be a brainless action fest because the interactions between the main cast is one of the main highlights of Digimon Adventure, but the sheer focus on Taichi angsting, and honestly the lack of focus on the partner Digimon, is jarring. 

Agumon, of course, gets his big reunion moment with Taichi, and gets most of the non-action screentime. Palmon has her moments of just being a ditz and being all 'Mimi where are you'. Tentomon gets some awesome lines, playing off Koshiro well as always. But I don't think any of the others actually got any significant lines. Gabumon, Biyomon, Tailmon, Patamon... hell, Gomamon didn't even get to evolve or fight! That is one thing that the latter series -- well, Tamers, at least, did right. The Digimon partners in Tamers were actually characters of their own right instead of just extensions of their human partners' personalities, something that is definitely hit-and-miss for the characters of the first two series. And, well, with their relatively reduced non-fighting screentime here hardly any of them got any actual meaningful dialogue.

While the main focus is on Taichi and Yamato and their angsty bromance, we do get a fair amount of screentime between the other Digidestined, though, and that is something the movie does right, instead of making it the Taichi Angst Show. Well, most of the kids except for Joe. Joe's so preoccupied with his exams and while he does show up here and there dealing with all the stress of entering college or whatever, and does show in the big group meeting, he flits out of the plot immediately afterwards, and doesn't participate in any of the big fights. He doesn't have time for his girlfriend (!), though, so I guess he doesn't have time for saving the world?

Sora... gets to be the love interest between Yamato and Taichi, who apparently hasn't given up despite the events of Zero Two. I don't mind. I also don't care. I don't think she really does anything significant beyond being the first to notice Mei's presence most of the time. Birdramon is awesome as fuck with her new model, though.

Koshiro, I think, gets the best treatment among the second tier Digidestined. Not only are his scenes hilarious -- the highlight has to be when he's just rambling on and on explaining about plot relevant things (and I totally would love to listen to them, damn it!) while Taichi and Yamato are arguing. He's just talking on and on and on and no one is listening to him... right until Joe goes "I have a girlfriend" and then he's like whaaaaaaat alongside all the rest. Koshiro's crush on Mimi is also a thing once more in Tri, and far more obvious than before, and it does lead to a couple more hilarious scenes like him choosing clothes (Tentomon has the most hilarious 'who are you and what have you done to Koshiro' scene) and kinda showing off his office. 

I also did like how they made the goggles relevant. Them goggles, they detect digital distortions!

Mimi is still the overexcited genki girl that she is. She transfers from America back to Japan because we need all the team together, at least, and I do appreciate how they took the time to have this play out over the movie while not spending too much time on it.

Takeru exists to bounce dialogue off Yamato and Hikari. And he apparently is a bit of a ladies' man now, possibly in an attempt to play the jealousy game with Hikari. Hikari herself is just cute as always, though like Takeru she's just there to bounce dialogue off Taichi and Takeru. They're both fun, doing the archetypes we're familiar with from Adventure and Zero Two, though it's strange that they don't comment anything on the fact that the rest of the Zero Two cast are MIA.

And, well, we, the viewers, at least, know what happens to them. During the opening we get Taichi lazily taking a bicycle to soccer practice as the opening song plays, and it's juxtaposed with random flashes to silhouettes of Daisuke, Miyako, Iori and Ken being taken out with a blood-red background... and we seem them lying on a strange battlefield (real world? Digital world?) their Digimon is nowhere to be seen. It's implied that Alphamon was the one who defeated them. Why did Alphamon hunt them down? Will they appear later on? Hopefully they do. There's a popular theory that they're going to be mind-controlled in some of the upcoming parts, which would be something, I guess.

I do hope this isn't just a mean-spirited 'fuck you' to the Zero Two cast. Yes, Zero Two is more problematic than the first series, and yes, I'm far more familiar with the original eight kids than the second generation ones, but I still do like them, and while I don't mind them being relegated into the supporting cast I do hope that they will at least become somewhat relevant in one of the future installments as hopefully the first-gen Digidestined goes off and saves them? I do find it odd (though definitely good for storytelling purposes) that the whole 'every child in the world gets a digimon' portion of the ending of Zero Two seem to be eliminated. So I guess we're having most bar the last weirder episodes of Zero Two treated as canon here? Or is there something else going on?

In place of the Zero Two cast, we have a couple of newcomers on the human side. We have the mysterious Hinata lookalike Mochizuki Meiko, who's introduced as this new transfer student in Taichi's class (and she's totally got the hots for Taichi and that's how we're going to solve the love triangle I bet) who we see looking for a cat when the main cast is searching for dimensional holes. Now pretty obviously the cat she's looking for is the cat-esque digimon we see running around throughout the movie, and in the climax when Alphamon shows up, he seems to be hunting plot device kitty-cat. And at the end, Meiko is revealed to have one of the old-style digivice and is partnered with the brand-new digimon Meicoomon (Meikumon?) who conveniently has the same name as her. And also able to make forcefields. And looks honestly out of place compared to the relatively simplistic designs of the first generation partner Digimon. But I'm not complaining. Her introduction rankles me a bit, but they didn't just go all 'oh this new character is super awesome love her!', something that these kind of franchise-driven shows love to do.

Also we get some mysterious government organization (totally not Hypnos) that monitors the Digidestined and able to get them to the crisis hotspot in the airport in no time at all. Most important among them is Taichi, Yamato and Sora's teacher, Mr Nishijima, who barely look older than the students he's teaching. He does deliver a bit of exposition. After the events of the past two series, the government has been monitoring and 'dealing with' any digimon that show up in the real world (hopefully not with a Juggernaut program) but apparently the Kuwagamon trio that showed up are unexpectedly powerful compared to how they normally are, which is why Greymon and company had so much trouble against them. Also, both Nishijima and Koshiro introdump and say about how there has been some odd events happening like how the gate to the digiworld has been closed for two years or something.

But seriously though I'm fangasming inside

Speaking of the steroid Kuwagamon, who apparently seem to have some kind of virus or program enhancing their strength... why doesn't the Digidestined evolve their digimon past the Adult stage? At first I thought it was because they lost the tags that allowed them to go all Perfect way back in the final episode of Adventure, but then Greymon and Garurumon randomly evolve into MetalGreymon and WereGarurumon randomly without any reason. And I know that it's supposed to be a love letter to the first series and as much as I appreciate seeing just the Adult level guys (bar Ikkakumon) it's odd, storytelling wise, why they didn't just pull out their strongest guns. Especially against Alphamon.

I do like how Tailmon's status as an Adult-level is restored. I absolutely hated how she's basically treated on the level of a Child-level during the Zero Two arc. Yes, holy ring and all that, but Tailmon's initial appearance during the Vamdemon arc being able to knock down half of the Digidestined's Adult-level digimon all on her own has always stuck in my mind. And I love how in all her fights here she's treated to be on par, if not one of the biggest hitters, on their team. You go, Tailmon.

Alphamon... doesn't really do much, honestly, other than just fight. He does kinda look like a Gundam, doesn't he? And if you're not that aware of the fact that he's a member of the Royal Knights in the expanded media and profiles and previous appearances (I know who the Royal Knights are, at least, even if I haven't caught up to any of the post-Frontier shows beyond reading quick synoses here and there). But he does pretty easily shrug everything the Adult-levels throw at him, naturally, considering he's one of the more powerful Ultimates out there. And it's not until Omegamon shows up that he stops using Iron Man blasts and pulls out that awesome-looking hyperspace battleaxe. He's all mysterious now, though, and I'm fine with that. I also do like how they're technically fighting one of the most powerful 'good' digimon, something that was explored in both Tamers and Frontier but never in the original two series, where all the villains were evil demonic monsters.

We also have this weird intro about the world's creation and ideas and a digi-egg hatching and something something shadow. Who is this egg hatching into? Is Meicoomon secretly evil so Alphamon wants to hunt it down?

Or is it the other digimon, a dinosaur-esque dude, that keeps flitting in and out of scenes, observing Meicoomon, apparently named Hackmon? Hackmon is a pre-existing digimon instead of one made specially for this series. Granted, Hackmon only debuted in a video game less than a year ago, but yeah. He's being all mysterious and shit and apparently the Child form of another one of the Royal Knights, Jesmon. Not sure how we're going to get all this, but I guess the Royal Knights are hunting Meicoomon down for a reason. Or are Meicoomon and/or Hackmon the ones that infected Kuwagamon? Or is Alphamon just hunting the infected digimon? He was heavily implied to be the mysterious hand that crushed the last Kuwagamon in the airport. But I dunno.

And the Zero Two cast being taken out by Alphamon fits in... uh... somehow?

It's more of a mystery, honestly, and this movie's main focus is on exploring the relationship between the Digidestined and exploring how the world has changed (Fake-Hypnos, powerful Kuwagamon) and just re-establishing the tone of the series. It's cool, even if the ending could really been less abrupt. Also, awesome fight scenes. Even if the Digimon being mostly silent and not calling out their attack names felt... so wrong. I think Togemon called out her needle spray once, but that's about it. Does make the final scene a lot more dramatic, though honestly we couldn't sneak in a Baby Flame or Mega Flame somewhere?

The evolution sequences seem a bit off, but they do look like a pretty awesome update on the original 'data comes down from the sky, digimon evolves' sequence, though the change from a black background to white and the lack of spinning around kind of... well, I'm old-school, yeah? It just feels wrong. Pretty as all hell and the silhouette made up of data is sort of a nice callback to the old Digimon World games, but still. Also appreciate them using the proper digivices for each other characters -- the newer D-3's for Takeru and Hikari.

I do love all the homages to the original Adventure series, that we do get, though. Main cast aside, there are a couple of subtle nods -- subtle, mind you -- to the original series. The first enemy is a Kuwagamon. The fight in the digital world briefly having Kuwagamon crash onto a cliff over a river, and a chunk of said cliff crumbling down, just like the first episode. We've got Agumon and company dressing up with human clothes. The picture taken at the end of Adventure in Taichi and Sora's rooms. Mentions of Gennai (okay, this is probably plot-relevant). Hikari missing out in the initial Kuwagamon battle thanks to going to a birthday party -- why she was absent in the Diaboromon movie.

Overall, though? Big nostalgia trip for me, and if the attempt is to get me interested in Digimon again, well, they sure have it. Now the problem is, if there's any actual new games or comics or whatever that I can buy. Oh well. I'll have to settle for re-downloading Tamers and Frontier, which I really haven't watched to completion. This movie or four-part episode, whatever you want to call it, is pretty good, problems notwithstanding. It's going to need to be able to deliver more than nostalgia to survive, though, because if I wanted nostalgia I would just download the original series and rewatch it. It's kind of an underwhelming movie, but as the first four episodes of, oh, a 24-episode cartoon series, I think it's decent.