Characters:
No matter how you look at it - you'll compare it to the first season. Where the first season had 8 original characters, all with an amazing background, unique in every way, this series simply does not have the same amount of effort put into it. Daisuke is even bolder than Taichi was, to the extent of you wanting to smack him in the face. Big time. The same with Veemon. He's like Daisuke, and thus, annoying as hell. Didn't grow to either one of them.
As for Miyako - wow. She's even more annoying. She's that one girl that nobody really hates, but has no real friends around her either. Comes from a family that runs a convenience store. Not really much to add here.. her Digimon is okay though.
Iori. Iori, Iori, Iori-kun.. back then, I thought Takeru was a crybaby and rather holding the team back. But this guy? Wow. His Digimon is somewhat okay, he reminds me a bit of Tentomon, but a little more childish and adding -dagyaa behind everything he says.
Takeru. Takeru sure has grown up. He's gotten used to fighting, protecting people, he's someone you can rely on. Patamon hasn't changed either. Both in a good way.
Hikari still is the same sweet girl she was back then, only a little bit more mature. Back in Adventure, Taichi said that "she was a person that really didn't care for herself, always sticking out for others". That quality seems to have been flying away in this series. Even though that's the case, she's still likeable.
Ken - well. I don't like him. Imagine someone torturing all of your friends, to the extent of almost dying, and then having him join your team because he was crying in a desert. Yeah. THAT kind of guy.
The story:
Well, yeah. A Chosen Child that thinks Digimon are just "data"-segments that have no feelings, and thus abuses them? With evil rings? And with a whip he hits his partner with? Okay. The story after the Digimon Kaiser-era (which took up 25 episodes if I'm not mistaken) grew a bit. Not a lot, just a bit.
I immediately resented the bit where Veemon came out of his Digimental, and instantly knew what to do. "YELL DIGIMENTAL-UP YOU BLOODY IDIOT, I DON'T HAVE ALL DAY!" is basically what it came down to. Where the original series was about the actual adventure, finding out what to do, where to go - this series has it all laid out before them.
The art:
It was still okay. Not that impressive, but good considering what year it came out in. Design of the Digimon.. well.. to be honest, I quite resented the Pegasus/Sphinx types that Patamon and Tailmon Armor-Evolved into. BlackWarGreymon and Parrotmon were Digimon that shouldn't have been introduced any further. Parrotmon had its charm because it was, well, just there when the original Digidestined saw it fight.
Sound:
The music was great. Well thought-through, just like the first series. Music, sounds, nothing to say about those but good things! :-)
Overall:
I enjoyed the series, even though there were enough things that bothered me. The biggest of them all was the following:
Remember how in the first series Digimon died all over the place? They wiped out Devimon without a second thought. That happened in the 13th episode. In the new series, the thought of having to "destroy"/delete Digimon, first occured in episode 40. And even then, when it finally came down to it, all new Digi-destined didn't like the idea. Honestly, someone is trying to kill you, but hey, let's not try to kill him back? That annoyed the hell out of me big time.
I still give the series a 7/10, mainly for the reason that the old Digi-destined (Taichi, Yamato, Sora, Jou, Koushiro and Mimi) were having a well formed role throughout the whole series. Don't get me wrong - if you've watched the first season, I highly recommend you watch this one, just don't get your hopes all the way up.
