*This review covers the whole series and contains spoilers*
Digimon Adventure tri. had a lot of things I liked. Bringing back the original cast, giving it a slightly more mature feel, the storyline of Himekawa, the reference to the Dark Ocean, and more. However, there were a lot of gripes I had while watching it; the complete disregard for the 02 cast, Meiko's character in general, the reference to the Dark Ocean, the personalities of the partner Digimon being generalized to be like children.
As someone who grew up on the original Digimon Adventure and Digimon Adventure 02, I was very excited not only to see the
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characters I grew up with grow up with me, but for the prospect of bringing the cast of the original series and 02 together for one big adventure. Each installment I would eagerly ask if this was the one that would bring the 02 kids into the story and every time, the answer was no. Even after they found and rescued the missing 02 cast, we got nothing more than silhouettes. It seemed extremely weird for none of the cast to really try and contact them, seeing as how a new digi-threat emerged and they could have helped. The closest thing we got to the 02 cast joining the story was an evil Gennai taking the form of the Digimon Kaiser. It felt like th writer wanted to do everything they could to pretend they didn't exist short of retconning them out of the canon. Instead, we got Meiko as a new character. Meiko is by definition, a "Mary Sue"; an idealized character that the rest of the characters will love unconditionally. She was just a bashful, “moe” through clumsiness trope. There was an abundance of moments where either Mei-chan or the other Mei-chan (I hate how they were both called Mei-chan) were shown obvious favoritism; Whether it be her hidden talents, how she can tell great scary stories, or how the main cast treated her like one of their old friends. I would expect most of them to openly accept a new digidestined or chosen child, whichever you want to call them, but they treated her as if they'd known her forever. Even Yamato/Matt who's stand-offish or Joe who's wary of everything seemed to have no problem with her just showing up out of nowhere. The only time anyone got mad at her was Taichi/Tai when she said she shouldn't have been born. Meicoomon also got this treatment with Leomon being unable to say no to specifically her, winning the cute/creepy contest to establish that she is in fact the cutest of the group, or being adult/champion level despite her personality being completely a child. Honestly, the plot wouldn’t have been any different if Meiko was never there and would actually have been better if they had given her abundant screen time to any of the original cast as many of them including Yamato/Matt and Sora had very little focus beyond Biyomon’s hesitance to accept Sora after losing her memory. I was especially afraid that they were going to try and make her Taichi/Tai’s love interest, especially at the end (thank you Agumon for dropping that “friends forever”).
As for a well written original character, Himekawa’s story was very interesting. Having only her partner not be chosen to be saved, its understandable that she would not only resent the Homeostasis for not saving them, but would want to try and find any means to see them again. Seeing Himekawa in the Dark Ocean holding a gun and being surrounded by the creatures that once tried to take Hikari/Kari, I thought that a) she was going to start icing some suckers, and b) that they were going to expand on the Dark Ocean as a concept. But instead she just gave in to the despair and either drowned or was taken by the dark sea creatures to become their new “Hime” (get it? They wanted to find a queen). I was really hoping things would work out for her despite her actions (“hime” means princess). After all, one of the points they made while having a four-way fight between Alphamon, Omegamon, Jesmon, and Meicoomon was that they were going to protect their friend regardless of if it was right or wrong (Her name is “Hime”-kawa). I really wanted her and Nishijima to work things out and be able to be happy together. (I’m hilarious… That’s actually a really messed up ending for her. I am not comfortable with that)
There were many parts through the series that tugged on my heart. Takeru/Tk finding out Patamon was infected and being unable to tell anyone, Patamon realizing it and sitting in the dark with Takeru/Tk, each of the Digimon trying to spend as much time with their partner before the reboot, the reboot that cause all of the Digimon to lose their memories (and while it was obvious they would get them back, the character’s reactions to that loss is what hurt), Nishijima in the bunker, and most of all Hikari/Kari’s reaction to Taichi/Tai going missing after Jesmon’s attack. Hikari/Kari has always gotten the supporting character treatment, but her role is important none the less. Whether it was her helping the other characters with their issues, being the “light” of the group, or having the perpetual target on her back for being possessed, she’s shown to still be the strong character that she was when she handed herself over to Myotismon to save to world.
The Digimon partners seemed to lose a part of their individuality in tri, basically making them into a group of kids needing to be babysat. Even Gatomon/Tailmon who’s the adult of the group acted more childlike. There were moments where she became an adult again when the plot needed it but then she’d just regress back to being a kid. There were also points in the digital world where certain child/rookie level Digimon’s attacks could stand up to or neutralize certain ultimate/mega level Digimon’s.
There’s enough done right in tri for it to be very enjoyable, but there were many problems with it. If you’re a long-term fan of the series, then seeing all of the little details thrown in can be very satisfying. If you’re not as big a fan, then a lot of the things that bothered the hardcore fans probably won’t bother you. Still, hearing them all sing Butterfly at the end made me very happy.
Jun 27, 2018
*This review covers the whole series and contains spoilers*
Digimon Adventure tri. had a lot of things I liked. Bringing back the original cast, giving it a slightly more mature feel, the storyline of Himekawa, the reference to the Dark Ocean, and more. However, there were a lot of gripes I had while watching it; the complete disregard for the 02 cast, Meiko's character in general, the reference to the Dark Ocean, the personalities of the partner Digimon being generalized to be like children. As someone who grew up on the original Digimon Adventure and Digimon Adventure 02, I was very excited not only to see the ... |
