So when 2016 rolled around, promising a new film series to put the beloved first Digidestined in the spotlight, most fans were notably pumped. Really, "Digimon Adventure Tri" could've just been the unofficial season 8; there's enough content here for a miniseries. Although they probably didn't advertise it as such because the movies contain things that might be a little too deep for kiddos. But for longtime fans who wanted a bit more closure beyond what 02 gave us, this is a notable step in the right direction.
Gonna go over the movies one by one since they each have their own merits and a gratuitous amount of flaws so it's hard to lump them all as either good or bad. One last disclaimer is that I watched the English dub version since they managed to get 80% of the original voice actors to reprise their roles, and that just tickled not just the nostalgia centers of my happiness, but also the continuity sense terminology changes when you switch between languages. In addition, the dub was smart enough to include the iconic Japanese insert songs aside from a couple of instances.
Reunion:
After a quick glossing over of how the divisive heroes of 02 are "no longer around" and quite possibly dead, the focus goes to our main heroes livin' that high school life...which is quickly shattered with the presence of giant rampaging beetles that they know all too well. Not only are the kids' partners back, but a government agency dedicated to monitoring the beasts as they crossover to the material plane, and a mysterious 8th member of the group. The main thing about this series though is how the ideals of youth can get thoroughly trampled by reality. This particular movie shows the leader of the bunch realize that maybe his foolhardy, hothead tendencies that worked in his youth, leads to real consequences. The gravity of fighting giant monsters and all the collateral damage that goes with it is downright paralyzing for the goggle-wearing youth and it takes a long, long time for him to snap out of it. But snap out of it he does, and just in time to defeat the villain...who has no bearing on the rest of the movies but got hyped up something fierce.
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| Behold! The instrument of your destruction for the next 5 movies |
Otherwise known as An Excuse to have a Hot Springs episode and School Festival episode Crammed into One Movie!
Aside from the blatant fanservice, this one focuses on absolutely nobody's favorites from the original cast, the shallow one and the stick-in-the-mud. Yet, the movie is determined to show us how growing up with the exact same traits that defined you as a child can logically lead to strife further in life. The shallow one, having been established as having moved to America for a time, had found a home for her outspoken personality, but upon returning to Japan, realizes that this can be perceived as being really selfish. On a similar spectrum, the most responsible one of the group now finds himself trapped between wanting to help his friends in the fight and studying for his goal of becoming a doctor...and finding it easier to excuse his so-called cowardice on the very real fear of not studying enough to get into the right college. While not completely resolved, their realization of these traits leads them to greater power...just in time for a battle with an inexplicably evil-again former villain and an even further heartbreaking betrayal. Yes, that means the a familiar face dies...again.
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| Riiiiight..."Daters" is really big in America; y'all ain't slick screenwriters! |
Zombies, vampires, werewolves, all these monsters come with the familiar trope of anybody you love becoming one of the evils you're trying to vanquish. The third movie tries to pull this on us by having the partners become victims of "the infection" and with that, get ready for a WHOLE lotta heart strings to be pulled. Further complicating matters are the possibility that the cure might be worse than the disease, as the only way to save their monsters means destroying their memories. So the digital monsters quietly accepting their fates of berserker, feral rage, asking to simply spend time with each kid they've bonded to before it happens? Heart. Wrenching.
To further hammer in the theme of growing up sucking, the two focal characters this time come from childish beliefs being not enough to ensure happiness. For the brainiac, he has to overcome the childish notion that he can solve the problem since sometimes there really is no option but the lesser of two evils. For the avatar of hope, his unfounded optimism manifests in the worst option: pretending the problem is not imminent and believing that it will all work out, with all evidence pointing to the contrary. So when the excrement hits the rotating cooling device, it's even MORE heartbreaking that it had to go down that way. To be fair, this leads to the first proactive move these kids make the whole movie: going to get them back to reforge their bonds no matter what. Time to hop back down that rabbit hole!
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| WHY MUST THE FLYING PIGGY SUFFER?! AND WHY DOES IT KICK ME IN THE FEELS LIKE THAT? |
When we last left our heroes, they had to endear themselves to the amnesiac babies that used to be their partners...and for the most part, everyone manages to succeed in making the blobs love them...irony being that the gal whose whole power came from the Love Crest can't make her blob love her. So unlike the previous movies where the focal characters naturally learn the consequences of staying childish, this one gets manufactured tension because there is literally no reason for the blob-that-becomes-bird to remain angry at her, made even more jarring when not even 20 minutes in, and everyone else has roughly the same relationship before the amnesia hit. Further baffling is the revelation of evil players, their government handler. who through flashbacks was revealed as a previous generation of Digidestined desperately trying to find her revived partner, and a copy of their digital mentor, an Obi-Wan Kenobi lookalike, BUT EEEEEVIL! As far as fanservice goes, they pointlessly get separated into pairs, have to fight the final bosses of the last arc of their season, and then have to deal with their macguffin critter evolving into an evil version of herself...again. Much more a mess of a movie, but made up for in spades for familiar locales and faces.
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| If anybody wanted to know what a young & evil Obi-Wan Kenobi looked like, they give you a taste... |
Coexistence:
*deep breath*
Why?
Why does nothing make sense? And when it does, it's so poorly executed.
Who are the bad guys? Who are the well-intentioned extremists that might as well be bad guys?
Most aggravating of all are the 4-5 instances where they have to pause the plot and the story to reassure the newbie that none of this is her fault? That sometimes cats just go berserk? This is all interspersed with the kids all just hiding out from one thing or another so a buncha NOT fighting until the last couple of minutes with all the players being a garbled mess of a melee.
Just when you thought cliffhangers can't get worse, we end it with THE EVANGELION-ESQUE COSMIC HORROR-MON!! Also, the leader's gone and his sister goes catatonic with mysterious waif energy.
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| Dangit Elsa! Be careful you don't trip over Himekawa as she's drowning in the Dark Ocean! |
(our) Future:
So less of an epic conclusion to the story of the Digidestined (there's ONE MORE MOVIE not available until sometime in 2020), but it really ends the focal point of the insane kitty causing havoc across two worlds. So not only do the kids now have to deal with the perceived death of their leader, but of the looming threat of the evil angel made by two cats completely destroying their world, with the proposed solution being sending humanity back to the dark ages. Thankfully, such drastic measures are not needed as we find out the answer to their dilemma lies in a hidden file deep within the psycho kitty that restores the memory of EVERY digital being. With the full power of Understanding at their disposal, they join forces in one big ol' knight kaiju to slay the foul creature. Aaaaand that's all they do before events get wrapped up offscreen and anti-Digimon sentiment is still running rampant, and the missing 02 protagonists aren't even given the decency of shown faces, just silhouettes, and the reassurance they're fine and will show up in the next movie. Really weak ending to the whole film series.
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| So what have we ultimately learned children? If the animal goes bad, you gotta put. it. down! |
So overall, the Digimon Adventure Tri is a film series that seems to bank on nostlagia, what with most people who watched the cartoon as kids, finding themselves relating to the heroes' struggles about growing up. But overall, the last half drops the ball something fierce, not just in thematic cohesion but in story elements that they couldn't be arsed to properly conclude.
