We finally did it! We're in the Digital World! One of the main draws for Digimon and something that not a lot of Digimon series, including Adventure and 02 wasted time to get to. Secrets are bound to be revealed, friendships remade, and more... right?
Well, yes, but the way they handle it is... strange to say the least. We learn why "Ken" is evil, although that was revealed in Chapter 3, I left it for here as it flowed better and it's more important here. We learn Himekawa's involvement in the plot along with another new face for this series, we know who's pulling the strings, and we learn more about Meicuumon's role in all of this, but its not before the kids have to reconnect to their Digimon, as all eight of them have lost their memories. It's honestly amusing to see how the Digimon interact with their partners, how afraid, confused, mad and the like that they all are. I can't help but smile at things like Nyaromon being one of the first to trust their partner thanks to the connection Kari has with the whistle. One of the last ones though is Biyomon, who is mad at Sora until pretty much the end of the film. What brings some stakes into this though is that not only are the team eventually separated, but a villain is trying to take Meicuumon. That villain is... Gennai? You remember that old man that helped the original team in Adventure, then suddenly became a lot younger in 02? Had a whole thing about the balance between the Human and Digital World, was even giving information to the organization Himekawa and Diago Nishijima (I'll get back to him) on the Infected Digimon. Well... Apparently, he's evil now, working alongside Himekawa, and serving King Draisel, an entity those who are familiar with Digimon Data Squad would know of. Turns out, Draisel was behind all of this and is intending to go to war with the Human World. To do this though, he needed the Digital World rebooted so that all the powerful Digimon that the Digidestined have defeated return, including those who fell in the human world, and never became Digi-eggs again.
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| One of the rare times we see all of them in their Rookie forms together. |
I love this idea in theory as it's an easy excuse to bring back old villains, especially if the team have to relearn how to get their partners up to Champion, Ultimate and Mega again. That last part though is a missed opportunity, as not only does Biyomon become Phoenixmon, her mega form, but Tentomon becomes HerculesKabuterimon, and Patamon suddenly becomes Seraphimon... something he hasn't been able to do since the third film that made up Digimon The Movie... Ok? Unfortunately, that is probably down to the release structure of Digimon Adventure tri. What were six movies became 26 (I think) episodes of varying length, which have been turned into films again for the home releases? Because that's not redundant at all! If it was allowed to breath more, we could have seen some interesting ideas, like the return of villains and Digimon that mean a lot to the kids, such as Devimon (the one that gave T.K some strong trauma as Angemon died that episode), Wizzardmon (who sacrificed himself to protect Kari and Gatomon from Myotismon, imagine if he was brought back as a villain), Diaboromon would be cool to see again. We do get the return of Machindramon and Metal Seadramon, but they're relegated to mukes now and lost what little personality they had. The reboot restoring the Digimon who didn't get revived is also a reason why Himekawa is working for King Draisel. She and Nishijima were two of the original Digidestined, the team before the Adventure team we know, and her partner Digimon was killed in a battle against the Dark Masters. Her partner was the only one who died that battle, as the other four, including Nishijima's partner, became the four Digimon Sovereign from Adventure. It's another thing that sounds great in theory, but I get the sad feeling that it's not going to be developed fully by the end of this.
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| I have no idea why they went back to the Digital World in their school uniforms though. They're on summer vacation right? |
So, where do we end this marathon? Seven of the eight digi-destined can reach the Mega level, Meicoomon is about to rip Genai a new one as her anger and Meiko being harmed got the best of her, turning her into one of the two Meicrackmon forms, Himekawa's insane, and Draisel's getting ready to go to war in the human world, intending to use Meicrackmon in the plan. Could I review chapters 5 and 6 now? I could, however, I do stick to English dubs to make it easier to review, and Chapter 5 hasn't hit home media yet, with Chapter 6 not even out yet in English. Chapter 4 only hit DVD and Blu-Ray here last week to the day, so this is another extremely timely review. However, that is the reason why this marathon is being called here. I will try and review Chapters 5 and 6 when they come out, but that is easily going to be a while. The anime content isn't over though because next week, we're looking at a team that fights evil by moonlight, stretches the definition of strong female characters depending on who you ask, and was stupid enough to try and hide a lesbian couple with an incest one... that flew over well! Regardless, I'll leave you here, Sunday will be the Tamagotchi review I promised (that I've been meaning to do since I launched the Toybox...) and next Wednesday will be the start of another marathon of reviews with Sailor Moon.
