One thing that sets the second chapter apart from the first is the pacing, this chapter is a lot slower as a lot of time is dedicated to learning about the two newcomers, Meiko and her partner Meicoomon (Who Meiko calls May for short and Mimi give Meiko the nickname of Meimei... someone on the writing or dubbing team really liked the word May and its different ways to spell it...). There are two other characters that get the spotlight though, being Mimi and Joe. As brought up in the first chapter, Joe did not participate in the fight against the Kuwagamon or Alphamon and has been using studying as both a reasonable justification and a bad excuse (I did not think that was possible) for why he's staying away from the team. As for Mimi, one of her character traits somewhat from the original series, but made more apparent here is that she's arrogant, self-centred. When she commits to something like for example, turning a cafe of sorts for a school festival into something easily comparable to Hooters (just more Japanese inspired and more kid-friendly to an extent), so during this chapter, she's learning to consider others opinions, and not just jumping into action, especially if it involves accidentally having Togemon shoot down a news helicopter while fighting an old friend of the team, Ogremon, who is now infected too. Joe and Mimi's stories, combined with a subplot revolving around Leomon providing more information to the team and slowly becoming infected himself, comes to a head when Meicoomon is kidnapped by... Ken, who is using Imperialdramon to battle Leomon, Togemon and Gomamon. Fans of 02 should be really suspicious right now! Why is Ken evil now? Why does he have full control over Imperialdramon? Where's Davis and the others? Are any of those answered now? Nope, as once Mimi and Joe learn their lessons, Togemon is able to become Rosemon, and Gomamon is able to become Vikemon, the first time since the original movie any of the team aside from Tai and Matt were able to get Digimon up to the Mega level. Ken flees after Imperialdramon is defeated and when it looks like the team have won, something causes Maicoomon to Digivolve to her ultimate form, Meicrackmon Vicious Mode, who then proceeds to kill Leomon, and escape into the rift Ken used to flee.
For a chapter that's slower paced, leading up to the halfway climax, it's fine. Nothing spectacular, nothing earth-shattering, nothing that makes the chapter stand out on its own, just fine. The biggest hooks it has been "What's with Ken being evil again?" and "What's going on with Meicoomon?", neither of which are addressed here. To review it as a stand-alone thing, this is not a good movie on its own, it relies too much on knowledge of Chapter 1 (like any novel to be honest). Honestly, the only huge complaint I have is related to Leomon. Digimon fans know that if Leomon's a character, he's there to die, so the shock of Meicoomon turning evil is hindered by an "Ok, when is it going to happen?". It's not a shock anymore, especially when its not going to top what happened in Digimon Tamers. If they had to do it, I wished they did it with another Digimon.
That will just about do it though for Chapter 2. I'll see you next week for Chapter 3. But between then, a special Mediaholics Playlist video, and the review of Combiner Wars Megatron.
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