Digimon Adventure tri. 1: Saikai

Ah Digimon. Almost anyone who grew up watching anime will heard of this from somewhere. Even if you haven’t, Digimon is a series that was well-known when it first debuted. (and still is!) The franchise was introduced to the world that focuses on entities, known as Digital Monsters. These creatures are made of data that exists in their own parallel world known as the Digital World. However, their universe also crosses over the real world where chosen humans (known as Digidestined) are partnered with certain Digimon to fight against evil. First things out of the way, this movie takes place after the second season alsoknown as Digimon Adventures Season 2. Previous knowledge of the franchise is important to gain a better experience from watching the movie. This is because the kids that we’ve known from the previous seasons are back but also grown up. Their high school years takes them with a youthful development over their characters. And while all this seems normal at first, the story quickly turns abnormal. The story itself is consistent with the premise and overall style of Digimon Adventures. Contrary to Digimon Tamers, it retains a lighthearted mood in the real world. Thus, expect some amusing comedy coming from the cast. We meet the main characters including Taichi, Yamato, Izumi, Mimi, Joe, etc. What I find appealing about them is that although they changed physically, they still retain their personalities and are the characters that we can continue to adore. Their relationships with one another implies there’s a growing feelings between a few pairs; in other words, beyond just childhood friendships. At the same time, the characters show what they’ve learned and are open minded with one another. That same can be applied to the Digimon partners as they still remember who they are and relationships remain strong despite the time skip. And that’s another prominent aspect of Digimon I really find enjoyable – the relationship between humans and non-human characters. It emphasizes how they can co-exist despite their different nature. And it also shows why exactly friendships can be so important between them no matter how long time has passed. Despite the fine developments of the overall movie, there’s still problems I found that should be addressed. The introduction of a new female character is something that can be controversial especially since her personality isn’t anything unique. In the role of the movie, her presence lacks anything memorable for the role she plays. Speaking of characters, there’s some other prominent characters from the second season that seems to be omitted from the movie. The presence of a secret organization can be a fragment of what some fans can remember from Digimon Tamers. Unfortunately, they don’t seem to be anything unique about them and in fact looks stereotypical. And finally, there’s a lack of coherence about the main threat of the movie. I mean, it’s hard to tell in the end what the characters are fighting for or against. Perhaps this could a better focus for the sequel. Originally, I had some issues with the animation style after seeing the previews. However, I can say with confidence that the movie lives up to its promise to deliver action. Whether it’s in the real world or in digital style action, the performance is aesthetic and retains smooth choreography. In addition, the Digimon are also well designed with their original features. The parts with the Digi-evolution can be a mixed bag though when examined carefully but still is decent in overall terms of quality. The easiest part to notice is the different art style produced by Toei. It does have some lack of the old school feel when compared to the original series. After all, the kids have grown up and they have developed both mentally and physically. From my standpoint, the way the characters are designed can be easily attached to once you get into 10 or so minutes of the movie. It hardly is bothering as the movie itself retains the feel of what Digimon really was. It’s more than a nostalgic trip. Digimon Adventures Tri: Saikai (Reunion) is here to remind us that the franchise is still going strong even after all those years of childhood memories. The Digidestineds are back from who they were before and their partners are here to kick some ass as well. What can be improved for the continuation (Chapter 2) should be the storytelling about the antagonists. And in addition, the new female character needs a bit more of characterization. But for now, this is definitely worth waiting for. After 15 years of Summer vacation, the kids are back.

In Summer 2014, Toei Animation surprised the Digimon Fanbase by announcing a sequel to the original Digimon TV series. Digimon Adventure, as it is officially called, aired in 1999 and became an internationally well-known anime that spawned several films and spin-offs with the latest being Digimon Xros Wars in 2010. Other than Digimon Adventure and its direct sequel, Digimon Adventure 02, all Digimon series take place in separate universes. This new film, however, plays three years after the events of 02. Some time after its initial announcement, Digimon Adventure tri was revealed to be a six-part film series rather than a TV anime. Moreover, its releasedate was pushed from summer to November 2015. Needless to say, fans were disappointed by the fact that it would air in November and worried they might have to wait a long time until they can finally watch it due to it being a film. However, Crunchyroll unexpectedly simulcasted Digimon Adventure tri, making it available for the entire world even before it aired in Japanese cinemas. The film starts by reintroducing the Chosen Children from Digimon Adventure. The main focus is on Taichi but all the other children receive enough focus so that the viewer knows how they have changed over the past few years. It also shows how the relationships between the characters has developed; there are, for example, several moments in which Sora's affection towards Yamato is being hinted at. Additionally, you can see how Jou does not have time to meet with the other Chosen Children due to him having to study for school. This behaviour splendidly builds upon Jou's personality from Adventure and 02 and is consequently remarkably realistic. Digimon Adventure tri manages to stay true to its origin by perfectly recreating the feeling one has while watching the TV series. At the same time, however, it deals with themes not present in the original as the children have grown. For example, Taichi is worried about the destruction they cause by fighting against Digimon, which contrasts his rash personality from before. Romance is also often being hinted at – in the past, there have merely been some subtle moments but this time, it is present much stronger. Moreover, a secret organization reminiscent of Digimon Tamers' Hypnos and Digimon Savers' DATS has been founded in order to research Digimon and to combat the infected ones. Due to the events in the previous series which posed a threat against humanity, it is only logical that an organization such as this would be founded. As diverse and well-developed as the children's characters are, the Digimon's personalities are, unfortunately, somewhat bland, which had already been a problem in the TV anime. They all act basically the same and while Gatomon/Tailmon used to have a strong personality, no signs of it are shown in this film. The Digimon act like catalysts which cause the children to grow but they hardly develop themselves. While this has always been the case, it would be welcome if this changed in the upcoming films. There are also some new characters introduced. Meiko, a transfer student, is a mysterious girl, who seems to have a secret. We do not get to know much about her but it is obvious that she will play a crucial role in the future. Moreover, some important members of aforementioned secret organization are part of this new adventure but, at this point, not much is known about them either. While there is also a new antagonist, it is unknown what his motives are and where he came from and whether he is actually bad. As such, the viewer does not yet know what the children's goal is or where the plot is heading towards. However, being the first of six films, this poses no huge issue as this film's main purpose is to reintroduce the characters and to demonstrate in which manner they have developed in the past three years. Naturally, not everything is explained in this film. We are informed about the fact that the Digital gate had been closed for over a year but we do not know why it was closed in the first place. At the end of 02, it seemed like it would be open for all time. While this might be explained in the future, there are some other aspects that pose an inconsistency regarding what we know from Adventure and 02. For example, in the film, it seems like only few people know about the Digimon's existence. However, due to the fight with Apocalymon at the end of Adventure and, more importantly, the battle with BelialVamdemon/MaloMyotismon at the end of 02, the entire world should be familiar with Digimon. Nonetheless, they are merely referred to as threats who had caused some major damage in the past. There might be some sort of explanation including memory erasing but this is unlikely and would probably not be satisfactory. When the film's first official artworks were released, most people were upset and claimed that the characters looked completely different. However, with the release of some trailers, it was made clear that the new art style and character design were not bad at all. Nevertheless, there is another issue in a similar department: Toei Animation's recent works all suffer from bad animation, as one can see in Dragon Ball Super, Sailor Moon Crystal and the newer episodes of One Piece. With Digimon being a film, one would think this would not be the case this time and while it is not as bad as aforementioned examples, the animation looks awkward more often than bearable. It is fine during action scenes but, other than that, animation quality is regrettably disappointing. The new evolution scenes are entirely different from what the viewer is used to and, at first, it might feel slightly awkward but they actually are not bad. A major issue, however, is that not all evolution sequences were animated. These scenes were an aspect of the film a majority of the fan base was looking forward to. Hopefully, these evolutions will be animated in the future because otherwise it would be an unforgivable disappointment. The Digimon Soundtrack's original composer, Arisawa Takanori, sadly passed away in 2005. Nonetheless, some tracks of the amazing Digimon Adventure OST were used in this film and lead to nostalgic moments. Some of his works were also remixed and while it sounds pleasing at most times, the one soundtrack that sounded infinitely better in the original is Koushiro's/Izzy's theme. There are also some new musical pieces which are nice but, unfortunately, not as breathtaking as Arisawa's. The opening is “Butter-Fly” by Wada Kouji and the ending song is “I Wish” by AiM. Both are remixes of the original series' opening/ending sung by their original performers and it is difficult to decide which version is better. In any case, both songs not only create a nostalgic atmosphere but also establish a refreshing feeling to underline the film's modernness. The same can be said about “Brave Heart”, an insert song sung by Miyazaki Ayumi, which primarily plays during the evolution sequences. Another qualm some people initially had was the fact that the children's voice actors were different. However, the new voice actors fit the children's personality impressively well and their performance could not have been much better – in particular, Yamato's voice actor, Hosoya Yoshimasa, did a magnificent job. Of course, the same can be said about the Digimon's voice actors, who all returned to their original roles. Ultimately, this film can be recommended to every Digimon fan out there. It might have some weaknesses but, being an introductory film, it cannot be a masterpiece. The good sites heavily outweigh the weaker ones and the enjoyment level while watching the film is over the top. Digimon Adventure tri 1 is a great start to a new adventure together with the characters and the atmosphere of the original series and I cannot wait to see the second part in Winter 2016.

Maybe I was expecting too much, but the truth is that I'm pretty disapointed. I think by now we all know that Toei animation has been doing a very mediocre job with their animation, but this time they managed to hit a new low. Digimon seems to be suffering from a worse fate than Sailor Moon Crystal and Dragon Ball Super. SPOILERS AHEAD, IF YOU HAVEN'T WATCHED THE MOVIE THEN STOP READING NOW. Unless you don't care about spoilers, that's fine too. So lets start this and see why. Story: 7 Seems pretty average so far and I was actually disapointed with some scenes, said scenes should have madeuse of the nostalgia factor and made for some great emotional moments, like the digidestined reunion with their partner digimons, it would only be logical, right? After all, they spent so much time without seeing them, WE spent so much time without seeing both digimon and children so it should have all been an emotional reunion for us lot. But aparently not.. The characters and digimons seemed overly casual about it and there was hardly any emotional factor there, it left me apathic and disapointed on how they wasted such a great oportunity. Then we have Taichi and Yamato clashing, a classic indeed, it's just how we all remember them, except this time around Taichi has changed and is no longer the corageous and impulsive leader he once was. Completly fine here, room for some good character development, however it can be a bit confusing why Taichi is having second thoughts about it sometimes. Yet he manages to pull himself together and realise he needs to fight in order to protect others, something he seems to have forgoten by the end of the battle agaisnt Alphamon, considering his apathetic and unsure atitude again. So far the best thing out of Digimon Tri has been the love insterests and such, those were actually fun to watch. I must say though, the addition of a new character seems interesting enough, firstly because of her digimon who seems to be hiding? And also because of her Digivice, the way it looks seems to imply she's from the same time as Taichi and the others, unlike Hikari and TK who have different digivices from the rest. This is something I'm curious about and looking forward to the explanation later on. Art: 4 Oh boy where do I start, Toei did it again guys, terrible lazy animation, a lot, and I'd like to give emphasis to the word "A LOT" here, there's a lot of stills and camera panning across the screen on Digimon Tri, really a lot of stills of characters not doing anything. Ocasionally we have a character saying "yeah" and their mouth keeps shut too. The animation is just, poor, very blocky, you could sometimes count the amount of frames they used to animate something. For a movie this sure is disapointing. Aren't movies suposed to have better quality because of the bigger budget and deadlines? The characters also looked very weird sometimes, they looked dowright deformed on some instances as they werent drawn properly. Another thing I that dissapointed me were the digivolutions. Yes, the most important and iconic thing about digimon and they managed to screw it up, now the normal digivolutions are fine, no where as much action and eye candy as the old ones but they're okay. Now what's beyond me is how the rest of the digivolutions weren't animated, so Garurumon and Greymon just suddenly appear digivolved again, out of nowhere, and it happens again and again, untill suddenly they digivolve into Omegamon. If this isn't being lazy, then I don't know what it is. It was horribly anti-climatic and downright ridiculous. Not to mention it makes you think, if they they could easily get past their first digivolution in order to get stronger, then why didn't other digimon do the same? Surely it would have made their lifes easier. Sound: 7 While it wasn't amazing, it wasn't bad either, it was just right. The new versions of the old opening and ending were very nice touches, if they wanted to give us some nostalgia, they sure nailed it there. I also noticed some of the songs used throughout the movie were from the old digimon soundtrack, so the feeling of nostalgia was there throughout the whole thing and I give them props for that. Character: 8 This is the part I probably liked the best, some characters changed, some didn't, others not so much, but they're still the same old characters we grew to know and love, their personalities and relationships are still there, but they've also grown and we're able to see that. It's always satisfying to see your favourite characters again after some years and noticing that their personalities are still there, so you easily recognize them. For example how cheerfull Mimi is, or how Taichi and Yamato often clash due to their personalities. We know all that too well and personaly, I'm glad to see it all again, it's nostalgia all over the place in that sense. Enjoyment: 5 Even though the movie had its good points.. they werent the right ones, so I can't say this was very enjoyable. Unfortunately good music and good characters don't make up for bad art and average story telling. If one of those two had been good, then surely my opinion would differ. Overall: 6 It's fair, it's average. It's not too bad but it's far from being very good too. It was a very disapointing experience in overall, this was something many of us grew up with and longed for, obviously that created a lot of hype and expectations, except that was all taken away quickly. I honestly expected a lot better considering the franchise we're dealing with. But then again we too expected a lot better from Sailor Moon Crystal and such, and those expectations fell way short. A shame really. However I must say I'll keep watching this, not only because of the story, but mostly out of nostalgia. Had I been new to Digimon, I'm not sure if I would stick around for the next one. So here's to hoping the next movie will be better.

Like others, I was pretty hyped up about the new Digimon and anticipating how it would turn out. Suffice to say, although the look is different, the feel is still there. I think there are more people familiar with Digimon than not. But for those who aren't, what's always separated Digimon from the often compared-to Pokemon is how they approach their material. Aside from the fact that Digimon has approached darker and more complex themes across its seasons, part of its appeal has also been its focus on the characters. Battles and character quirks are perhaps done better in Pokemon, but for Digimon, much ofits best content centers around inner struggles that characters have and their growth from dealing with them. The events in the Digimon world usually parallel and reflect these struggles, providing both high stakes and visual manifestations. The first movie did a good job in reuniting the characters, reintroducing their various quirks and relationships naturally with some sprinkles of fanservice (not nudity, but stuff for "fans"). The story moved along at a good pace, relaxed while bringing characters together and speeding up once the action started. It's also kept another facet that differentiated Digimon, which is how it embraces the impact of Digimon on the real world rather than just skirting around it with resets or isolated boundaries. And I believe this is the reason why this sequel does well in embodying the Digimon spirit. As mentioned before, Digimon's never been too afraid of going into more mature themes and messages, so it's always been able to bring in some real stakes for tension while balancing it out with lighthearted moments. And that continues here, with good use of foreshadowing and music to transition cleanly from warm to suspenseful atmospheres. This somewhat extends to the art and animation, which suffers quite a bit from still-frames and pans. I may have some rose-colored glasses on though as other Digimon series had many of these issues, with really well-animated segments usually being the influence of particular directors. That said, this is technically a movie series and the animation will seem stilted in comparison to some other Digimon movies. The new character designs didn't bother me too much as they are flexible enough to convey subtle emotions quite well, which is necessary for a character-driven show like this. Overall, I can confidently say that this new addition to the franchise won't disappoint Digimon fans. It's definitely got the spirit of the show and looks to be tying up some loose ends too, for those fans that were left hanging with the end of Adventure 02. Here's to looking forward for the next one.

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