Digimon Adventure tri (subsequently I will say it as Digimon tri to make it simpler) is a sequel of Digimon Adventure and Digimon Adventure 02 to celebrate the 15th anniversary of Digimon. It is a series of 6 movies in Japan but is released online as an 26-episode anime for international market. The first movie was released in 2015 and although I was excited with the initial news, I could not be bothered about it. Firstly I find the graphics to be disappointing as it feels as if it is completely different anime from the the original series. I know the kids are growing up and so on but the style is just so different that it feels like different characters altogether. Thank goodness the digimons are still as cute. Secondly, I wanted to wait until the whole series is done and watch. I normally cannot stand waiting a week in between episodes and imagine waiting 6 months in between the movies. Time flies and suddenly it has been 3 years. I thought I was very late but that was not the case. The last movie was only released in Japan this May and the English version was only out in September.
Digimon tri is a perfect example of creators taking advantage of nostalgia from old series. As a sequel, the story is weak and sort of butchers the original storyline. I can tolerate bad stories and simply enjoy the characters and digimons. The thing that upsets me as a whole is the inclusion of Meiko Mochizuki. It ruins the original series to suddenly have an additional Digidestined who is never mentioned before. Not to mention that she is boring and adds nothing to the team dynamic so her presence is completely unnecessary.
It is nice to see how the DigiDestined are teenagers now who not as innocent as last time and have to start thinking about real life consequences. The biggest bummer is the character development for Taichi and Yamato, supposedly the 2 most prominent characters that we can consider as the team leaders. I feel that their character development is mixed out. Taichi is the one more hot-headed and with the crest of courage but in Digimon tri, he is more wary of fighting because of worries with destruction in the real world. Yamato should be the one more cool headed but in Digimon tri, he is more eager to fight. Thank goodness the rest is not out of their original personalities: Sora still takes care of her friends (and sometimes neglects herself), Koushiro is still the computer geek, Joe initially struggles if he should prioritise his real life (exams and all that) or fighting, and Mimi is becoming less selfish and is nice to see her very warm towards Meiko. With Taichi and Yamato so badly written, I think Takeru and Hikari deserve special mention for being more mature and level headed.
It is unfortunate that the crests seem to be thrown out of the story entirely. In the original anime series, we only get see Agumon and Gabumon evolve to their Mega level. Gomamon and Palmon are the first two to evolve to their Mega level in tri when Joe and Mimi overcome their personal struggle and somehow show the values corresponding to their crests. After them, the writers do not even bother writing something similar for Mega evolution of the others and Biyomon and Tentomon's Mega evolution feels like simply it is their turn. Without the crests thingy and if the Digimons can simply digivolve when they want or need to, we might as well do without the DigiDestined as the kids literally do not do anything, well except Koushiro who is the only one actually does something important to solve the issue with his computer abilities. Still about the crest, Meiko does not have any and that is another reason for her unnecessary presence.
With tri being a sequel of the original Digimon series, we definitely cannot run away from Digimon Adventure 02 which is also a sequel of the original series. They are not the focus in tri and they are being 'removed' from the story in a very lazy manner. It does not make sense (or perhaps because the story does not even bother to explain) how they know more about Yggdrasil's plan without involving the others. When they disappear and are uncontactable, the rest of the Digidestined does not show any hint of worry. It is so weird, especially for Takeru and Hikaru to do nothing about it since they are part of the Adventure 02 team after all.
Maki Himekawa and Daigo Nishijima are introduced as members of the very first or original DigiDestined even before Taichi and friends. The original DigiDestined has been hinted in the original series so a bit more revelation on them here is pretty nice. My biggest issue is with Maki Himekawa. I can understand her struggle but I find it super stupid that after researching information on rebooting the Digital World for years, she does not know that all the Digimons will lose their memory while the other DigiDestined are aware of this fact. Gosh! Sorry but I can't empathise when she is shocked that her partner, Tapirmon, cannot remember her and then she falls into depression etc.
Another proof of poorly planned story line is the pacing of the story. Whether we view the episodes as movies or as anime, the pacing feels very haphazard. As movies, it is quite obvious that there are some parts which are just fillers and there are the action parts. When this is converted to the episodic format for the anime, it makes some episodes completely fillers and some are the story or action parts. Either way, there is a problem with the pacing and I can't help feeling bored. I will suggest to watch as the movie format since the episodic format does not really have the feel of continuity between an episode to the next.
Enough of the bad things and lets move on to the good things. One thing for sure: do not under estimate the power of nostalgia. I can overlook all the things I dislike simply because of the nostalgia. While the children are maturing, their partner digimons are still like their old selves. Some will find it irritating, childish, and may not fit the overall dark atmosphere of tri but I think it actually makes more sense that the digimons do not 'grow'. That makes the reunion more touching as it really feels like the DigiDestined are meeting their old friends. This bond between them is what makes tri so touching. I am not ashamed to admit that there are a lot of parts that made me cry such as the first time they reunite and when they have to reboot the Digital World with the partner digimons lose their memories and they start befriending all over again.
I also like the depiction of the real world in tri, especially the use of actual real life locations in Odaiba. Having been to Odaiba a few times and recognising the landmarks make it even more exciting to see these places being depicted. I don't know why they have to 'mask' the name of the real life locations and yet they omit the 1/1 Gundam outside the Diver City. Haha.. I can't help to think if really monsters are appearing in Odaiba, someone will ride their Gundam to fight. Lol. The second movie features the visit to Oedo-Onsen Monogatari. Now I know why last time there was a collaboration between Digimon and Oedo-Onsen Monogatari. Sigh if only I was 'into' this much earlier, I would visit Japan to see. Sadly the real life onsen is not as nice as what tri depicts. Haha.. I had the interest to visit but after reading the reviews, I actually changed my mind a few times and have never visited it.
The connection with the real world also extends to the 'fan-service'. It is interesting to see jokes related to the pairing that digimon fans often have such as Taichi x Sora x Yamato and Takeru x Hikari although we already know what happen in the official epilogue. They even include Taichi x Yamato and Yamato x Takeru moments. In fact, Takeru teasing Yamato for being his number 1 or more important than his 'girl friends' happens more than once.
Listening to the songs that we love as kids is very nostalgic. It makes it really sad as well to know that Wada Koji had passed away. When we remember Digimon, we definitely cannot forget the iconic Butter-Fly and Wada Koji. Despite more 'misses' than 'hits', I think the nostalgia elements are played, or exploited, really well. Nevertheless, overall I think Digimon tri is a nice tribute to Wada Koji and is definitely a project that he will be proud of.
Apparently there is a movie planned for 2019 to celebrate the 20th anniversary and I am praying hard it will be better than than tri.
I completely forgot about this but this is another reason why Meiko should not be introduced in the first place!
It is nice to see how the DigiDestined are teenagers now who not as innocent as last time and have to start thinking about real life consequences. The biggest bummer is the character development for Taichi and Yamato, supposedly the 2 most prominent characters that we can consider as the team leaders. I feel that their character development is mixed out. Taichi is the one more hot-headed and with the crest of courage but in Digimon tri, he is more wary of fighting because of worries with destruction in the real world. Yamato should be the one more cool headed but in Digimon tri, he is more eager to fight. Thank goodness the rest is not out of their original personalities: Sora still takes care of her friends (and sometimes neglects herself), Koushiro is still the computer geek, Joe initially struggles if he should prioritise his real life (exams and all that) or fighting, and Mimi is becoming less selfish and is nice to see her very warm towards Meiko. With Taichi and Yamato so badly written, I think Takeru and Hikari deserve special mention for being more mature and level headed.
It is unfortunate that the crests seem to be thrown out of the story entirely. In the original anime series, we only get see Agumon and Gabumon evolve to their Mega level. Gomamon and Palmon are the first two to evolve to their Mega level in tri when Joe and Mimi overcome their personal struggle and somehow show the values corresponding to their crests. After them, the writers do not even bother writing something similar for Mega evolution of the others and Biyomon and Tentomon's Mega evolution feels like simply it is their turn. Without the crests thingy and if the Digimons can simply digivolve when they want or need to, we might as well do without the DigiDestined as the kids literally do not do anything, well except Koushiro who is the only one actually does something important to solve the issue with his computer abilities. Still about the crest, Meiko does not have any and that is another reason for her unnecessary presence.
With tri being a sequel of the original Digimon series, we definitely cannot run away from Digimon Adventure 02 which is also a sequel of the original series. They are not the focus in tri and they are being 'removed' from the story in a very lazy manner. It does not make sense (or perhaps because the story does not even bother to explain) how they know more about Yggdrasil's plan without involving the others. When they disappear and are uncontactable, the rest of the Digidestined does not show any hint of worry. It is so weird, especially for Takeru and Hikaru to do nothing about it since they are part of the Adventure 02 team after all.
Maki Himekawa and Daigo Nishijima are introduced as members of the very first or original DigiDestined even before Taichi and friends. The original DigiDestined has been hinted in the original series so a bit more revelation on them here is pretty nice. My biggest issue is with Maki Himekawa. I can understand her struggle but I find it super stupid that after researching information on rebooting the Digital World for years, she does not know that all the Digimons will lose their memory while the other DigiDestined are aware of this fact. Gosh! Sorry but I can't empathise when she is shocked that her partner, Tapirmon, cannot remember her and then she falls into depression etc.
Another proof of poorly planned story line is the pacing of the story. Whether we view the episodes as movies or as anime, the pacing feels very haphazard. As movies, it is quite obvious that there are some parts which are just fillers and there are the action parts. When this is converted to the episodic format for the anime, it makes some episodes completely fillers and some are the story or action parts. Either way, there is a problem with the pacing and I can't help feeling bored. I will suggest to watch as the movie format since the episodic format does not really have the feel of continuity between an episode to the next.
Enough of the bad things and lets move on to the good things. One thing for sure: do not under estimate the power of nostalgia. I can overlook all the things I dislike simply because of the nostalgia. While the children are maturing, their partner digimons are still like their old selves. Some will find it irritating, childish, and may not fit the overall dark atmosphere of tri but I think it actually makes more sense that the digimons do not 'grow'. That makes the reunion more touching as it really feels like the DigiDestined are meeting their old friends. This bond between them is what makes tri so touching. I am not ashamed to admit that there are a lot of parts that made me cry such as the first time they reunite and when they have to reboot the Digital World with the partner digimons lose their memories and they start befriending all over again.
I also like the depiction of the real world in tri, especially the use of actual real life locations in Odaiba. Having been to Odaiba a few times and recognising the landmarks make it even more exciting to see these places being depicted. I don't know why they have to 'mask' the name of the real life locations and yet they omit the 1/1 Gundam outside the Diver City. Haha.. I can't help to think if really monsters are appearing in Odaiba, someone will ride their Gundam to fight. Lol. The second movie features the visit to Oedo-Onsen Monogatari. Now I know why last time there was a collaboration between Digimon and Oedo-Onsen Monogatari. Sigh if only I was 'into' this much earlier, I would visit Japan to see. Sadly the real life onsen is not as nice as what tri depicts. Haha.. I had the interest to visit but after reading the reviews, I actually changed my mind a few times and have never visited it.
The connection with the real world also extends to the 'fan-service'. It is interesting to see jokes related to the pairing that digimon fans often have such as Taichi x Sora x Yamato and Takeru x Hikari although we already know what happen in the official epilogue. They even include Taichi x Yamato and Yamato x Takeru moments. In fact, Takeru teasing Yamato for being his number 1 or more important than his 'girl friends' happens more than once.
Listening to the songs that we love as kids is very nostalgic. It makes it really sad as well to know that Wada Koji had passed away. When we remember Digimon, we definitely cannot forget the iconic Butter-Fly and Wada Koji. Despite more 'misses' than 'hits', I think the nostalgia elements are played, or exploited, really well. Nevertheless, overall I think Digimon tri is a nice tribute to Wada Koji and is definitely a project that he will be proud of.
Apparently there is a movie planned for 2019 to celebrate the 20th anniversary and I am praying hard it will be better than than tri.
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