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o-w-quinlan · 3 years

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Digimon Adventure: (2020) Final Thoughts

Considering I stopped reviewing this series episode by episode months ago, they’re more positive thoughts than you’d expect, though still not all that positive.

To summarize, this is an entertaining series with plenty of individual good aspects and great episodes that nevertheless leaves me cold as a whole. Much as I enjoyed following it week to week, I can’t say I recommend this series to anyone but hardcore Digimon fans, or hardcore fans of the wider “monster” genre.

Action

It felt appropriate to start with this, considering a focus on action was what the initial interviews promised, and they delivered in spades. It wasn’t perfect or too consistent, there were several times when the Digimon not evolving when they could just broke any tension the fights had, but this series had some of the best fights in any Digimon anime. Anything in the first 3 episodes, Greymon/MetalGreymon vs MetalTyranomon, SkullKnightmon vs Greymon and Garurumon, Mugendramon vs DoneDevimon, Mugendramon vs WarGreymon, Millenniumon vs the dragons, Omegamon vs Abbadomon Core… all of them among the best things the franchise has to offer in terms of action scenes, which after so many series where fights were solved by having a protagonist Digimon evolve and one-shotting the enemy, comes as a breath of fresh air (to be fair, this series also had a lot of that, but it had actual great fights to compensate).

Worldbuilding

Another thing promised in interviews was the use of Digimon from all over the franchise, and not only did they deliver, but they also included plenty of references to the “null canon” to enrich the experience for the most hardcore fans. The series made sure to constantly emphasize the savage nature of the Digital World, bringing back the Tamers worldbuilding of Digimon consuming weaker Digimon in hopes of achieving evolution. Along the way we saw a lot of allies fighting back against this status-quo, from things as overt as Leomon organizing a resistance or Petaldramon protecting weaker Digimon from the all-consuming Entmon, to less dramatic stuff like weak Digimon settling down to live together, or the mere presence of a restaurant where everyone can rest for a while of the hardships of their world.

The biggest flaw here was in how the series handled its antagonists. With very few exceptions, every single enemy Digimon in the series lacked dialog, whereas nearly every single ally Digimon could speak normally, and this disparity cheapened the whole thing, because instead of coming across as “this mentality is normal for this world”, it came across as just your normal “everyone lived together in harmony until the villains attacked”, which is very much not what the series was telling us.

Characterization

That brings us to the next point: the lack of personality for most villains. I joked elsewhere that Minotaurmon from episode 19 was the most compelling villain of the series, and that’s not completely a joke. Almost every single villain of the week was flat, plenty of the “main” villains were lacking in dialog (Algomon in the first few episodes, Nidhoggmon, Millenniumon) or turned mindless halfway through (Devimon, DarkKnightmon). Negamon/Abbadomon in the final episodes managed to benefit from this by being the embodiment of an “instinct”, but in general this meant a mook-of-the-week like Minotaurmon managed to be a highlight among the villains simply by having dialog and non-trivial desires.

But what of the protagonists? The popular opinion is that everyone is far blander than they were in the original series, and I agree. But rather than comparing it with the first series, let’s look at what it had to offer to us. Where in other Digimon series, the backstories and issues of the protagonists and their reactions to what’s going on around them make for most of the drama, in this series the drama comes from the villains trying to destroy everything, and for the most part that means the protagonists only need to be distinct and charming on their own, no necessity to create conflict between them. There is an overall character arc for all of them, though: accepting and interiorizing their new duties towards the world they had ended up stranded on, getting to know and love the Digital World. Was this well done? Not really.

Taichi and Takeru, for example, were so much the embodiment of the stock shonen hero that accepting their place in this new world didn’t really reveal anything about them we hadn’t already seen from their first few appearances.

Jou got stuck as an unfunny punchline 90% of the time, to the point of damaging his few “serious” moments in some of his focus episodes. His development of becoming assertive was compelling in theory, but it got muddled with so many unfunny and uncomfortable hotsprings jokes that the impact was lost.

Hikari started as an even more blatant plot-device “mysterious character” than she was in the original series, before unconvincingly changing to cheerful little girl afterwards (the whiplash between her in episode 33 and her in episode 34 was something else), and only really managing to settle into a compelling character in her last focus episode (58, defending the Digitamas from the Bakemon and SkullBaluchimon, which to be fair is a great episode and probably the best showcase for Hikari as a character in any product or continuity).

Koushiro was mostly fine, although we all remember the several times the series seemed to promise it might do something with him (his uneasiness when his family was mentioned, or that line about having to “face the darkness of his past” in the HerakleKabuterimon episode) that ended up being nothing.

Mimi is the fan-favorite, being charming in nearly all her appearances and having some of the best focus episodes, and it’s mostly deserved. If there’s anything I criticize from her, it’s that her focus episodes don’t really add up to anything.

Yamato was fine, started out as a stock shonen rival before becoming the single most chill “lone wolf” in any Digimon series, probably because of what I said before of the conflict between the protagonists no longer being the source of drama. He gets a slow development of caring only for his brother to starting to care for other Digimon for the sake of Sora and Gabumon to caring about the Digital World just as much as everyone else.

Sora was made fun of by a certain section of the fandom for having the worst focus episodes early on, and I agreed, but having finished the series I can’t get rid of the impression that her focus episodes, while perhaps not that good on their own, when taken as a whole explore her character the best of any other. Yeah, this mostly means exploring her compassion (these are not very multi-dimensional characters), but they deepen and deepen both her impact on the Digimon she saves and how she is impacted in turn by them, moving her away from saving others through her combat prowess to saving others by empathizing with the grief of another caring soul, and by the end I honestly ended up considering her my favorite character (despite none of her episodes making it to my list of favorites).

As for the Digimon… it’s following in the footsteps of other Digimon Adventure products by not really having much of interest for the Digimon themselves except for Tailmon.

Overall, for the most part the main characters were decent, but besides Mimi and ultimately also Sora, I don’t think they’re very memorable. All of them start out promising, but never really improved from that promising start (again, except for Sora).

Pacing

And now we get to the biggest problem of the series: Pacing. I’ve seen it stated elsewhere that this series was more episodic than most (any?) other Digimon series before it, and part of the backlash it got was from not being as serialized as fans expected it to be. This isn’t exactly true. From episode 16 (Eyesmon) to episode 24 (DoneDevimon), this series was as serialized as any other Digimon series has ever been, with nonstop escalation that demanded you keep watching it week after week. Then, from 25 to 35 (Angewomon) or 36 (BlitzGreymon), it pulled slightly back from that never-ending escalation, but was still pretty serialized. It was only afterwards that it became heavily episodic, and by that point it wasn’t expectations set up by previous series that hurt it in the eyes of the fandom, it was expectations set by this series itself in its first half.

Not that the episodes themselves were bad. Honestly, I found myself significantly more entertained by the episodic later half of the series than the serialized first half. Maybe it was because they didn’t feel the need to convince me they were the most exciting, tense thing I had ever seen when they were clearly not (hello, Mamemon episode), or maybe it was that there were more than just endless fights to them, but I normally ended up those episodes entertained and satisfied, whereas with a lot of episodes from Eyesmon to BlitzGreymon, I mostly just felt frustrated after watching them. I agree with the criticism that, when seen as a whole, breaking momentum so hard for so long after months of never-ending escalation wasn’t the right choice, but when seen week after week, I can’t see this change of approach as that bad of a thing.

Conclusion

I think that sums up the series for me. On a weekly basis, it’s pretty entertaining. It’s when seen as a whole that the problems really become clear. There’s been some speculation in the past few weeks of how much the current situation in the world might have impacted the series, but ultimately, I have to judge what actually happened, and I can’t help the impression that this series ultimately left me with nothing of substance after it was all said and done. Like, I enjoyed this more than, say, Appli Monsters, but Appli Monsters have things that stick with you after it’s over. Not so much here, unless you’re a hardcore fan that loves the Omegamon lore this added (which I am, btw; love that Omegamon lore). I don’t think I can recommend this series to anyone who isn’t a hardcore Digimon fan, or at least a hardcore fan of the wider “monster” genre.

One thing I’m grateful to this series for, though, it’s the commercial boost it has given the rest of the franchise. I’m not going to credit it for all the successes it currently has, after all the Card Game would have fell off by now if it wasn’t genuinely well-done and the Vital Bracelet happened because of years of the virtual pet division progressively building up its audience after it had nearly died off, but it’s undeniable they wouldn’t have sold as well without this anime advertising the franchise week after week. Next week, we’ll have the first episode of Digimon Ghost Game, the first time since 2001 that we have a Digimon series being immediately succeeded by another. If that isn’t a sign of how well the franchise is doing right now, I don’t know what is.

Favorite Episodes: 1 (Tokyo Digital Crisis), 6 (The Targeted Kingdom), 12 (Lilimon Blooms), 20 (The Seventh One Awakens), 32 (Soaring Hope), 42 (King of Inventors, Gerbemon), 49 (The God of Evil Descends, Millenniummon), 56 (The Gold Wolf of the Crescent Moon), 58 (Hikari, New Life)

#digimon #Digimon Adventure:#Digimon Adventure 2020

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ahiddenpath · 4 years

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Digimon Adventure 2020 Ep 14 Reaction

Hey! I’ve got a great idea! Let’s address the issue adjacent to Koushiro’s actual issue! THE KIDS WILL LOVE IT!

(I’m joking, this was a cute ep, but as always...)

Hahahaha, oh man! I am dying! This was such a fun episode, and I don’t really wanna throw shade at all, but ultimately... I think it fell a little flat by not quite addressing the concern I’d most want to hash out with wee baby 10-year-old Kou-chan.

But first! Some notes!

IKKAKUMON IS THE ABSOLUTE CUTEST SWEETHEART, I am literally here for Gomamon and Tentomon in the reboot. The humans? Sure, whatever. GIVE ME GOMAMON.

And I’m dying over Yamato and Gabumon. At first, I thought they really were scouting ahead a bit, although walking about two yards ahead doesn’t... help much (presumably, Ikkakumon can see father out because he’s tall). And then, in the end, when Jyou finally fell asleep and shut up... THEN Yamato hopped onto Ikkakumon!

I can’t even blame him, lol! I’ve never wanted to smack Jyou upside the head before, but his, “Hahaha, you don’t know what scouting means? WELL, as the oLdEsT, I will tell you!” Shut up, dude. I’mma smack! Smack! BAD SENPAI!

And I absolutely died at Togemon’s “COCONUT COUNTER!” And, “HEY, COME ON!” (or something like that) in English.

AND LET’S TALK ABOUT TENTOMON. Okay, so Ten-chan? He’s, like... He’s like??? A weird, supportive, loving... Osakan... uncle??? Which is to say that he’s like Tentomon, I guess, but I LOVE HIM SO MUCH. He’s getting the pulp beaten out of him and he’s 100% concerned about little Kou-chan’s sense of helplessness without his tablet. I love his energy and weirdness and kindness and... Just how much active attention he pays to Koushiro, all packed into a visually horrifying giant buggo. Absolutely wonderful.

But.

I dunno, this kinda reminds me of Saikai? Where I understood Taichi’s hesitation and concern about fighting in Tokyo from his first fight with Kuwagamon near Fuji Station... And then Saikai flashbacks to stills of the broken cell phone and streets like twelve times, and you consider making a drinking game of it, but decide that you want to live.

Panning to Koushiro looking at his tablet fifty times and having a helpless look was overkill, is what I’m saying. Like... I shouldn’t get bored/impatient with the setup while waiting for the payoff. I’ll give the Reboot more slack with this, because it’s aimed at children, whereas Tri was supposedly aimed at adults, but... Kids are smart, dude.

And I think the biggest sticking point is that... I absolutely want Kou-chan to know that he can think and act without the tablet. But what I really want to know is... Why is his self worth 100% pinned on how helpful he is to others? Like, this problem feels like step 0.5 in a fifty step program towards self confidence, lol! But hey, there’s plenty of episodes left!

I’m trying to think- I’m at that point where I’ve written so much Koushiro fanfics that I’m having trouble remembering what was canon... Have we ever truly dove into Koushiro’s self esteem issues? We’ve seen him blossom as the others come to trust and turn to him, explicitly starting with Taichi at the gate in Vamdemon’s castle. By 02, he’s the resident exposition man/original Chosen guru for the new kiddos. By Tri, he has his own fancy ass office and is making distortion goggles and a digital safe room for the digis. By Kizuna, he has his own company...

But does anyone ever tell him that he doesn’t have to stay up for three days straight, trying to help everyone alone in his office? Does anyone tell him that they’re worried about him? Like, I know Jyou comes by and cleans up and tells him to sleep, and Taichi has a single, “Don’t push so hard” line in the fourth film, but like...

I really, really want to see someone tell Koushiro, canonically, that they’d love him even if he couldn’t reason his way out of a paper bag.

Like, I’ve always admired and pointed out that Koushiro is so helpful, always, that he will always try to help if he’s just approached with basic respect- and often, he’s already working on something. I really love this about him! I just... Want someone to say, “Hey dude, I’m glad you’re here! You’re awesome because of [thing that isn’t Koushiro using his intelligence to be helpful].”

Instead, I’m getting, “Hey, you’re helpful even without the computer! Good job!” And clearly, this boosted Reboot Kou’s confidence, which I love! It’s a step in the right direction, and I shouldn’t even be complaining! This is literally one of those, “This isn’t exactly what I wanted to see, but objectively there is nothing wrong with it and it was good.” Ie, Hidden is being a baby!

But next time, Ten-chan, Taichi, instead of “You’re always helpful,” can’t we just say, “You’re always loved?” I know for a fact that they both love him already in the Reboot, especially Ten-chan.

BUT! Baby steps! There is so much series left! And in the meantime, FANFIC!

AND EVERYONE, YOU MATTER JUST FOR BEING YOU, NOT BECAUSE OF STUFF YOU CAN DO/HOW HELPFUL YOU CAN BE! I LOVE YOU! OKAY BYE!

#koushiro izumi #tentomon #digimon reboot reaction #digimon reboot spoilers #digimon adventure:#digimon adventure reboot #digimon adventure 2020 #digiomn reboot

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jokessho · 6 years

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[Update]: Seven Plus One Chapter 4

Woop! Sorry it took a bit longer to edit, but I had to go back and re-read the previous chapters to make sure I wasn’t contradicting myself. I wasn’t :)

This one’s a bit shorter, but there’s a bit more going on and some “new” characters.

FFN

AO3

“So how was shopping?” Sora asked as she settled for dinner onto the floor between Mimi and Meiko.

The teenage boys, sitting across from her, looked at each other with mirth in their eyes and smirks on their faces. Meiko, recalling the same trip, rolled her eyes and shook her head slightly, though a smile played at her lips.

“It was good.” Hikari answered, sitting by the window with Koushiro. “Yamato got clothes—we got some new ones, too, for winter. And me and Koushiro got school supplies for when Yamato starts teaching us.” She grinned over at Yamato, who smiled back.

“That’s good.” Sora smiled at her and then returned to her meal.

“So you got your key?” Jou asked the blond sitting next to him.

Everyone except Sora and Jou froze, some with food halfway to their mouths. Meiko, Taichi, and Yamato exchanged wide-eyed stares.

“I told you to remind me!” Taichi yelled at Yamato.

“And I told you I would if I remembered to!” Yamato retaliated.

“How did we all manage to forget?” Meiko groaned.

“Well, Taichi’s always irresponsible, so that’s explained.” Hikari chimed in, sticking her tongue out at her brother.

“Not like you were responsible and remembered.” Taichi stuck his tongue out at her, too.

Jou let out a large breath, pushing his glasses up before rubbing the bridge of his nose. “Maybe take a shopping list next time?”

“Nah.” Taichi waved the suggestion off. “It’s more fun without.”

“But a list would make shopping more economical.” Jou rebutted. “Winter will be upon us soon, so we need to start saving elsewhere, so that we can afford heating.”

“Not to mention we won’t be able to grow our own vegetables anymore.” Sora added, thinking of their small vegetable patch in the backyard.

“Oh, that reminds me.” Meiko said, turning to Sora. “One of Mimi and my colleagues was talking about getting rid of her small greenhouse and I told her that we could take it. I spoke to Mimi and she’s up for keeping vegetables going throughout the winter.”

Sora perked up. “Really?” Meiko nodded and Sora and Jou exchanged smiles.

“How are we getting it here, though?” Jou asked between bites.

“She said her husband could bring it here with his trailer. They don’t even want any money for it—they just want to get rid of it.”

“That sounds really good.” Sora said softly.

“So, wait.” Yamato said, looking from Meiko to Sora. “Mimi’s ‘up for keeping vegetables going’? Mimi takes care of the gardening?”

“Yes.” Sora answered simply.

“Oh.” Yamato looked down at his nearly empty plate and bit his lip. “I thought you took care of it, what with your background and all…”

Sora tilted her head, smiling kindly. “Well, it’s not like I don’t know how to, but Mimi loves gardening.” Sora let out a laugh. “Surprisingly, she enjoys getting her hands dirty.”

“She loves all plants.” Meiko added with an affectionate look on her face. “She talks to them and pets them and tells them all that they’re pretty. You should go with her one day; it’s a whole new side of her.”

-o-o-o-

“Ugh, I can’t believe the amount of homework I got for maths!” A purple-haired girl with large round glasses complained, whilst taking a seat in the school cafeteria. “I have afterschool activities, too!”

Yamato smiled, already seated at his small group’s usual table. He was in a different class from his two best friends, but at least they still had lunch together.

“It’s just busy-work, though, isn’t it?” He tried to console. “It won’t take you that long to answer all the questions, Miyako.”

“Unlike me.” Joined in a male voice. “I’m not as clever as her—or you—so it’ll take me forever to get through all the problems.”

The male took a seat next to Yamato, across from Miyako, and dug into his food immediately.

Miyako made a face. “Geeze, Daisuke, calm down, we have plenty of time to eat.”

“No time.” Daisuke informed between quick bites. “I need to get started on this homework if I want to have it done by tomorrow’s class.”

“Why can’t you just do it at home?” Yamato asked, chewing his food thoroughly.

“Can’t.” Daisuke said.

Yamato and Miyako exchanged amused looks.

“Yes,” Miyako emphasised. “We gathered as much, but why? You need to elaborate.”

A smile graced Yamato’s face for a second, upon recalling Taichi always telling him the same.

“What?” Daisuke’s tone held a teasing amusement.

With a slight delay, Yamato realised that Daisuke’s question was aimed at him. “What ‘what’?”

Daisuke’s brown eyes held a mischievous glint. “What’s that smile for? Something you’d like to share, hm?”

Yamato felt his face heat up. “What are you talking about?”

“That smile.” Daisuke repeated. “Looked like you were thinking of something nice—or someone.”

“Ooh.” Miyako chimed in. “Does our little ‘Mato have a crush on someone?” Miyako’s long hair whisked around as she scanned their surroundings. “Did she just walk in or something?”

“No.” Yamato stated firmly. “There is no one and Daisuke’s just making stuff up. Again. He’s just avoiding the real question.” Yamato’s tone changed to a teasing one. “Maybe he has a date tonight, which is why he doesn’t have time to do his homework at home.”

“Ooh!” Miyako, eyes ablaze, turned to Daisuke. “Is that it? Spill the beans!”

“What?!” Daisuke pushed backwards in his chair, as if putting himself further from Miyako physically would deter the girl. “There’s nothing like that going on!” He flicked some of his rice at Miyako when she opened her mouth. “I just have a video game going that I want to beat. I had to stop last night because my mum yelled at me to go to sleep, but I’m so close to finishing! I just need a few more hours and then I’ll be done.”

“A video game? Really?” Yamato slumped back in his chair. “Hasn’t anyone ever taught you to prioritise?”

“Yes and that’s why I tried to eat fast, so I could start on the homework and at least get part of it done before going home. But you guys held me up.”

Miyoko gave him a flat look. “So you have no intention of doing any of the work at home?”

“Nope.” Daisuke said, finishing off his lunch and pushing his tray aside. He pulled out his math book and a battered notebook, opening both. “I’ll try to get some done in literature in the afternoon, too.”

Yamato rolled his eyes, mumbling: “Whatever.”

The table was quiet for a few minutes, Daisuke working on his homework and Miyako and Yamato eating at a moderate pace.

“Say,” Daisuke started, chewing on the end of his pencil and looking at Yamato. “We haven’t really hung out together in a really long time. We should do something after school today or tomorrow or sometime this week. It’s been almost a year since we’ve really hung out together. Let’s go for ice cream or coffee or something after school today.”

“Am I not invited?” Miyako asked from across the table, looking insulted, though both males knew she wasn’t.

“No.” Daisuke said, sticking out his tongue at her. “So how about it, ‘Mato?”

“Ah, I can’t really hang out today. Maybe some other day? And you have a video game to get to, anyway.”

“Hey! You just told me off for not prioritising. Well, now I’m prioritising you over my video game, so you should appreciate that.”

Miyako smirked. “Instead you’re getting rejected.”

Daisuke threw his pencil at the girl. “Shut up.”

Yamato chuckled at his friends’ antics, taking another bite of his food.

“Besides—and give me my pencil back—I wasn’t rejected; I was just moved to a later day. Right, Yamato?”

“Yeah, we’ll see.”

“Ree-jec-teed.” Miyako sing-sang.

“Ugh.” Daisuke complained. “I ran out of things to throw at you. You never returned my pencil.”

“Sucks to be you.”

“Just give it back, Miyako. I need it to finish my work.”

“Is this the only pencil you have?” Miyako twirled the pencil in her hands, inspecting it. “Ew!” She threw it at Daisuke. “You’ve been chewing on it—gross!”

Daisuke smirked, returning to his work.

-o-

“Yamato!”

Yamato groaned lightly. He had easily managed to avoid Daisuke after lunch, as they were in separate classes. But now the energetic teen was running down the hallways, calling Yamato’s name.

Daisuke landed heavily on Yamato’s back, almost knocking both of them to the floor on their faces.

“Watch it.” Yamato complained, shrugging his shoulders a few times to try and dislodge the other male.

“Did you think you could escape from me that easily?” Daisuke asked cheekily, still draped over Yamato’s back.

“I did hope.” Was Yamato’s mumbled reply.

“Oh, why must you hurt me so?” Daisuke lamented loudly, attracting the attention of a few other students still in the hallway. Thankfully, though, he had removed himself from Yamato’s back. “So you coming round to mine today or should we head to yours? Or just hang out somewhere else for the rest of the afternoon?”

Yamato’s eyes fell to the floor as he started towards the main doors again. “I don’t think I’ll be able to make it today… Or for a while. Sorry, Daisuke.”

Daisuke’s frown turned more into a squint as the pair walked out into the sunshine. “We used to hang out all the time, you know—”

“I know, but things are different; so much has changed in the past few months…”

“Look,” Daisuke paused in his steps, making Yamato, next to him, stop as well. “I know you just lost your dad and are feeling down about it, but that’s no reason to stop spending time with your friends. You need to start looking on the bright side of things again.” Daisuke turned his whole body towards Yamato and took both the blonds hands into his. “You need to allow yourself to be happy again.”

The two stared at each other for a minute before Yamato gently pulled his hands away and continued walking. “I’m not unhappy, Daisuke. In fact,” Yamato thought about his current situation. “I’m actually quite happy with how things are now. Yes, it still hurts, but I’m moving on and—”

Taichi.

Mimi. Sora.

Meiko.

Jou.

Koushiro. Hikari.

He was meeting new people and starting to be glad of his decision to take the vocational route. Once upon a time, he had dreamt of going further with his education, maybe even achieving the title of ‘Doctor’ before he turned 30.

But right now, he just wanted to help his new friends. He wanted to give back to the people who had helped him at his lowest point.

Right now, he just wanted to see Hikari and Koushiro through their high school education, so that they could have better lives. Four or five years would be all it would take. Right now, Yamato was more than willing to invest his time into helping the others.

Hell, he could always continue his education a few years down the line, if he still wanted that. In fact, at a few years older, he would know better what he wants to do with his life.

“Yamato!”

Yamato started, snapping out of his thoughts. He turned, annoyed, to face Daisuke. “What?”

“You back?” Daisuke’s eyes held such concern that Yamato’s annoyance deflated.

“Yeah, let’s keep walking.”

Daisuke didn’t move.

“What’s up?”

“Are you planning on walking home? Don’t you live with your mum now and doesn’t she live really far away? I thought you took a bus or something in the mornings.”

Yamato’s eyes widened briefly, before he pulled his face into neutral. “Yeah, but I can take a bus from somewhere around your place. I thought that, since we can’t hang out, I can at least walk you home.”

Daisuke grinned and took a few running steps to catch up. “Yes!” He threw an arm around Yamato’s shoulders. “Thanks man.” Daisuke gave a long squeeze. “I really have missed spending time with you.”

“Yeah…” Yamato mumbled. “Sorry about that.”

“Don’t worry about it; I know you’ve had it rough.” Daisuke assured with another squeeze and an easy smile. Though in the blink of an eye, the arm as well as the mood dropped. “I just wish you’d rely on me a bit more. I want to help, but I can’t unless you tell me things and trust me to be able to help.”

Yamato cringed at the pang he felt in his heart. “I’m sorry, Daisuke. I do trust you, but I just…” Yamato fished around for the right words, eventually going with: “See? I don’t even know what to say now.” He shook his head, eyes on the ground. “I’m just no good with words or sharing my thoughts or feelings.”

Daisuke reached over to grab Yamato’s hand, making the blond look up into reassuring coffee-coloured eyes. “I know.”

-o-

Yamato let out a deep breath as he rang the bell of his new home.

“You’re back later than usual.” Hikari commented upon opening the door and walking backwards a few paces.

“That’s cause he was hanging out with his boyfriend after school.” Taichi announced, walking up behind Hikari, grinning from ear to ear.

Redness rushed up to Yamato’s face as he dropped his head to toe off his shoes. “What on Earth are you talking about? I wasn’t and I don’t even have a boyfriend.”

Taichi kept the grin on his face as he watched Yamato. Hikari rolled her eyes, already growing tired of the conversation and moved back into the living room to do some school work.

“If that wasn’t your boyfriend, then who was it, huh? You two were awfully close and touchy to not be dating.”

Yamato shoved past Taichi and into the living room, a frown on his face. “What were you doing spying on me?”

“I wasn’t.” Was Taichi’s easy reply. “I was walking past the school and thought that we could walk home together, but you already had company—very good company, by the look of things.”

“Would you just stop that?” Yamato snapped, turning sharply, toe to toe with Taichi. “He’s a friend and that’s it.” Then Yamato turned back towards the living room and his voice took on a more gentle tone. “How are you getting on with your work, Hikari? And where’s Koushiro?”

“Alright. This level is something I can do, though some problems need a bit more time. Koushiro finished ages ago, so he’s in our room.”

“Hm.” Yamato kneeled on the floor, facing Hikari, and started looking over Koushiro’s abandoned work. “These are very detailed…”

“He has a very analytical mind.”

“Clearly.” Yamato affirmed Hikari’s statement. “I can only get him so far and then we’ll need outside help… And Taichi stop pestering me!”

Taichi jumped back from where he had been looking at the papers over Yamato’s shoulder.

“What?” Taichi protested. “I was just checking on Koushiro’s work.”

Yamato’s eyes narrowed. “No you weren’t.”

Taichi smirked. “What was I doing then?”

“Well, I don’t know, but I know that checking Koushiro’s work wasn’t it.”

Taichi crossed his arms over his chest, eyes on the kneeling Yamato. “So what you’re saying is that your other friend can be really close to you, bu—”

“Didn’t I tell you to drop it?!” Yamato snapped to his feet, marching into the kitchen. “I’m going to start cooking. Hikari, bring me your work when you’re done and we can go over the parts you struggled with. And Taichi, don’t follow me.”

Taichi, who had just been slinking towards the kitchen, deflated, letting his posture sag. “You’re no fun.” He called out, sticking his tongue out towards the kitchen, even though he knew Yamato couldn’t see him. His eyes flew down to his little sister, who’s face held a contemplative look. “What?”

Hikari just rolled her eyes and returned to her work.

-o-

“Did anything interesting happen to anyone today?” Mimi asked when most of the ‘family’ were seated around the coffee table; only Jou, Sora, and Meiko were at work. Monday was Mimi’s only day off.

“Not really.” Hikari said around a mouthful of food. “Though me and Koushiro are starting our homeschooling properly tomorrow. We did some exercises to establish our level and now Yamato knows where to start.”

“That sounds great!” Mimi said with a broad smile, genuinely glad that the young girl would have the chance to get proper education.

“I saw Yamato’s boyfriend.” Taichi butted in, throwing a grin Yamato’s way.

“He’s not my boyfriend!” Yamato bristled, grip tightening around his fork.

“Chill.” Mimi grinned. “It’s not like we’re homophobic or anything.”

“It’s not…” Yamato started, though he wasn’t sure how to explain the situation.

Mimi seemed to have come up with something else already. A grin formed on her face. “Ooh! So you two had something going in the past, but are no longer together, but you might want to be?”

“No, not that either…”

“You’re not gay.” Taichi stated neutrally. “That’s okay, too. It’s not like it matters at all which way you swing. I’m also straight.”

Mimi nodded in affirmation and Taichi grinned, but Yamato had difficulty swallowing around a sudden lump in his throat. He didn’t know why. Maybe because he had never really thought about his sexuality before and he was nervous about labelling himself? Though that didn’t sound right…

“Yamato?”

Yamato started at Mimi’s gently inquiry. “Sorry.” He looked down at his half-empty plat, trying to find the words. “I’m just…” He paused again, shrugging a shoulder, and shoving a forkful of food into his mouth. He took his time chewing, whilst everyone waited in silence, eating their own meal. “I just don’t really like labelling myself—or anyone else for that matter.” He shrugged again. “I just like who I like and that’s it.”

Hikari smiled encouragingly whist her brother nodded.

Mimi grinned mischievously. “So you just like this guy. No labels attached, just attraction.”

Taichi gave a bark of laugh and Yamato’s face reddened.

“It’s not like that. I don’t actually like him. Not romantically.”

“Oh.” Mimi seemed disappointed, though she quickly put a smile on her face. “Anyone you do like, then?”

“Mimi!” Hikari scolded, though she was fighting to keep a smile off her face.

“What?” Mimi shifted her gaze to the younger girl. “It’s been ages since we’ve had fresh love affairs around this place. No woman in their right mind wants Taichi, and most others are taken. You and Koushiro are too young for romance.”

Hikari stuck out her tongue. “No where’s not.”

“Oh?” Mimi had a sly look on her face. “Are you interested in someone? You haven’t mentioned this before.”

“She’s not.” Taichi butted in, sending a quick glare at Hikari.

“Oh?” Hikari shot back. “And what would you do about it if I was interested in someone?”

Taichi straightened his back, pulling on an aura of authority. “There is absolutely nothing I could do about it, as a matter of fact.”

Everyone laughed before settling back to their meals. The silence lasted for a few minutes before Mimi’s eyes found Yamato again.

“You never answered my question.” She smirked at the blond.

Yamato nearly choked on his food, having thought that he’d gotten off the hook. “What question was that?”

“Who do you like?”

“No one.” Yamato’s reply was firm and he was quite sure he wasn’t lying.

-o-o-o-

“Yamato.”

Surprised, Yamato stopped and turned, waiting for Miyako to catch up to him in front of the school.

“What’s up?” Yamato asked, playing it cool, though he was slightly tense, annoyed that he was being—yet again—harassed by one of his friends after school. Daisuke had soccer practice, so he had been easy to get rid of, but it seemed Miyako had taken his position.

“Not much. I was just wondering whether you’re really okay, you know? I know you keep telling us that you are, but you seem kinda different and, like, off. And you know that you can always talk to me and Daisuke and not have to worry about what we think and stuff, yeah?” Miyako tone was soft, which was rare for the normally exuberant girl. Mind you, she was a caring friend, but it rarely showed in the way she spoke.

The defensiveness fell from Yamato’s demeanour and a small smile graced his lips. “I know, Miyako, I know. And thanks.” Yamato’s eyes fell to his shoes as he scuffed his toes against the ground. “I know I’ve been a bit different, but with everything that happened… And I’m still trying to get used to my new life.”

“Yeah…” Miyako said sympathetically.

Blue eyes met light brown and Yamato smiled. “I’m getting better.”

Miyako returned the smile with a broad one, eyes squeezing shut. “That’s good to hear!” Miyako’s manner softened again as she turned, throwing over her shoulder: “Well, if you’re getting better on your own, then I’ll be off.” She managed two semi-running steps before halting. “Isn’t that your brother?”

Yamato’s widened eyes followed Miyako’s pointing finger. A lanky blond stood by the school gates, shifting awkwardly.

“Shit.” Yamato mumbled.

“Huh?” Miyako’s hair flicked across her face as her head snapped to face Yamato. “Um, why? I thought you two got along well.”

“Oh.” Yamato’s eyes widened even more as he realised his mistake. “Uh, it’s just that I kind of forgot that we were supposed to be doing something today.” Yamato put a sheepish look on his face. “I just can’t believe I forgot something like that.”

“I can’t believe it either.” Miyako frowned. Then her face brightened in a smile. “At least that’s what I would have said months ago. These days, though…” Her eyes twinkled in jest.

“Hey.” Yamato gave her a shove, then blanched as he realised that Takeru had spotted the elder blond. “Well…” Yamato hedged, staring at his feet. “I guess we should get going, huh?”

Miyako nodded and bounced off with a wave. Thankfully, she had left in the opposite direction, towards the back gates. Yamato was tempted to follow her. Instead, he shoved his hands into his pockets and started marching, head down, towards the gates.

“Yamato—” Takeru started, hand reaching out to his brother’s shoulder, but never contacting as Yamato jerked away.

Yamato continued walking and Takeru watched him for a few steps before catching up.

“Yamato.”

Takeru didn’t seem to know what he was supposed to say, if the repetition of Yamato’s name was any indication. The younger probably hadn’t planned this meeting or had not expected to actually run into Yamato.

The two continued to walk in silence, in the opposite direction to Yamato’s new home.

“Yamato…”

Yamato turned them down a quiet alley, stopping halfway down and turning to Takeru. He crossed his arms over his chest, fixing the younger with a piercing look. “Whatever it is you want, forget it.”

“Yamato...”

Yamato waited, but it seemed his earlier suspicions had been confirmed: Takeru had not planned this encounter.

Letting his hands drop to his sides and releasing a long breath, Yamato half-turned. “If that was all, then please go home. I’ll see you to the bus stop—”

“No.” Takeru had apparently found his tongue and, thus, his extended vocabulary. “I’m not leaving until you tell me why you did.”

The brothers stared at each other for a few minutes in silence.

Yamato closed his eyes and turned to face Takeru, looking defeated. “I left because I don’t want to be somewhere I’m not welcome. And she doesn’t want me there.”

“That’s not true!”

“Yes it is.”

Takeru opened his mouth again, but Yamato gave him a meaningful look.

“Takeru, you know she hates me. You were there when she realised I wasn’t coming back. I bet she was thrilled.”

Takeru bit his lip.

“She was, wasn’t she? Did she throw a party when she realised she would never have to see me again? When she realised she was finally rid of the biggest mistake of her life?”

“Yamato… Stop.”

Yamato’s eyes narrowed. “She never wanted me, you know. Not when I was born and especially not after dad…” Yamato trailed off, still not ready to speak of his father’s fate.

“I’m sure she loved you when you were born. You were her firstborn…” Takeru didn’t sound too sure.

“Do you know why dad was such a workaholic?”

Takeru shook his head, slightly surprised at the turn of the conversation.

“It’s because he had to take time off work when I was born so that he could look after me.” Yamato’s tone was harsh as he recalled what he’d been told about the first years of his life. “She didn’t want anything to do with me—she kept working. Dad had gone to his boss to ask to work from home, but he was given paid time off instead. I was put into daycare when I turned two so dad could return to work and he felt like he owed his boss for the year he got off and that’s why he worked so hard for the rest of his life. She didn’t want anything to do with me.”

Takeru bit his lip, looking at his feet. He knew his mother had taken care of him, working from home and even taking some unpaid days off, just to care for Takeru. It had never crossed his mind that his elder brother never gotten the same treatment.

“Come on.” Yamato’s tone returned to neutral. “Let’s go before you worry her.”

Takeru hung his head, dragging his feet as he followed his brother. He didn’t know what to say or do; he hadn’t known what to say since seeing Yamato after so long. Now he just didn’t know what to do with the information he had received.

“Here.”

Takeru started at Yamato’s voice. They were at a bus stop. He looked at his brother, who refused to look back.

A minute later, Takeru boarded a bus without saying a word.

Yamato watched the bus leave, standing on the curb well after it was out of sight.

“Who was that?”

The voice startled Yamato so badly he actually jumped a few inches, then turned sharply, eyes narrow.

Yamato worked his face and tone into neutral: “Taichi.”

Taichi cocked his head, inspecting the blond. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you by just appearing... Who was that kid?”

Yamato’s eyes shifted quickly from the road the bus had been on, back to Taichi. He frowned. “No one.” He shoved his hands into his pockets again, much like he had not an hour ago when he had ignored Takeru.

He started walking off, still not moving towards his current home—their home.

Taichi caught up, casually putting his hands into his pockets. “Looked a bit like you. Brother? Cousin?”

“I said: no one.”

“Most people are someone.” Taichi didn’t seem deterred by Yamato’s rudeness and clear avoidance of the subject. “I bet it was your brother wanting you to go back home.”

Yamato made a sharp right turn, not speaking.

“I’m right, aren’t I?”

Still Yamato didn’t speak, marching ahead.

“Why not just admit that I’m right?”

“…shut up.”

Taichi followed as Yamato made another turn—this time left—into a more crowded street.

“Do you miss home?”

“Just shut up.”

“It’s okay if you do.”

“Shut. Up.”

Taichi quirked an eyebrow at Yamato, but then his face relaxed again as his eyes returned to the street and people ahead.

“I would miss Hikari if we were separated. That’s why I was adamant about us being adopted together or not at all. Ended up being ‘not at all’ what with Koushiro. Would have been nice, though, if even one of us had gotten a loving family. Maybe it was selfish of me to want to stick together, but what’s done is done. None of the three of us can go back.” Taichi paused. “You could.”

Yamato picked up his pace, shoulders moving closer to his ears.

“I know you hate your mother, but your brother seems to at least care about you. I mean, he did come out of his way to find you and you two don’t seem to go to the same school, so it must have taken a lot of effort to meet you. I’d understand if you want to go back with him.”

Yamato stopped moving. A few passersby bumped into him, mumbling something that sounded like apologies.

“What?” Taichi asked. He, too, stopped a few paces in front of Yamato. “Do you want to?” Taichi’s tone held some sadness, but then he worked his mouth into a smile. “I’ll miss you, but you probably miss your brother, so if you want to go back to take care of him, then you should.” Taichi dropped his gaze to the ground, his tone sombre: “You don’t owe us anything, if that’s what’s keeping you from going back…”

“I don’t—” Yamato started saying before he burst into a sprint.

Taichi’s head snapped up and he stood stunned for a few seconds, but then he rushed into the crowd in the same direction Yamato had run off. It shouldn’t be hard to spot a blond in the mass of dark-haired people, right?

Right…?

After half an hour of searching, Taichi had to admit that he had been wrong. He had no idea where Yamato had gone or how he had managed to disappear like that.

#fic #fic update #seven plus one #own fic

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pulaasul · 4 years

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Digimon Adventure Tri: 02

Takaishi Takeru mentioned in a letter to Mochizuki that Daisuke and the others were healing. What Takeru neglected to mention to the bereaved Chosen Child were the circumstances on “why” they were healing in the first place.

FFN I AO3

---------

The day of the meeting, Taichi woke up early, surprising his parents and younger sibling. He felt a need to talk with the Motomiya and see if there's anything wrong.

At the very least, he should ascertain the reason why he won't be able to attend the meeting later in the day.

"I'm off!" Taichi called out. "I'll see you at Koushiro's office Hikari!"

"Take care!" Hikari and his parents responded.

----------

Considering the proximity of the Motomiyas' apartment complex with the Yagamis, Taichi decided to run towards the Motomiyas instead of taking his bike.

There were a lot things Taichi wanted to speak with Daisuke today, including the reason for skipping the meeting happening later. It was just so not Daisuke for him to skip any meeting at all. If anything, he's one of the chosen who'd agree for the meeting in the first place. Not unless he had an explanation.

All of which were last night's conclusion.

The thing was, Ken was attending the meeting.

Taichi shook his head as he approached the apartment complex the Motomiyas lived in.

----------

"Taichi-senpai?" Daisuke yawned as he got out of his bed room. "What are you doing here?!" He asked, confused at his senior's visit.

"Oi Daisuke! Make yourself presentable for the visitor." Daisuke's mother rebuked.

The older woman shooed Daisuke back to his room.

"Wha-bu-!"

"Not buts!" The woman sternly replied.

"Fine." Daisuke grumbled but followed his mother's instruction nonetheless.

"Forgive my son's unruly appearance Yagami-san." The elder Motomiya apologized in Daisuke's place. "Really, that boy even having Ichijouji-kun as a friend, he's still a slob."

"It's not a problem." Taichi smiled at the teen's mother. "I was just here to ask Daisuke about things."

"Take your time then Yagami-san." Daisuke's mother returned the gesture. "Make yourself at home."

"Thank you for having me Motomiya-san." Taichi bowed in respect.

A moment later, Daisuke got out of his room and greeted his senior.

"Good Morning Taichi-senpai. Let's talk in my room, we'll have some privacy in there."

Daisuke gestured for his senior to follow him to his room.

As Daisuke lead the senior bearer of courage towards his bedroom, there were a lot of questions inside of his head, including what the reason for this visit was.

Taichi-senpai couldn't be here to force him to attend the meeting, right?

All of these thoughts were forced to the back of his mind as he opened his bedroom and let the older teen in.

He figured he could ask Taichi-senpai what his reason for his visit was.

"You can sit anywhere you like senpai." Daisuke offered as he closed the door then sat on a chair near a counter.

The two of them sat in silence for a few moments.

The silence between the two teens were unnerving. Daisuke wanted to learn of Taichi's reason for the visit and this silence wasn't helping.

He figured he'd make the first move.

"So?"

"Why are you skipping the meeting?" Taichi bluntly asked.

"Can't I just skip the meeting without any reason?" Daisuke asked, hoping to derail the topic.

"You can." Taichi nodded. "But usually, you're the one who is enthusiastic about these meetings. I rushed here to see if something was wrong."

"I'm sorry if I made you worry senpai." Daisuke bowed in apology. "I feel fine, I just don't feel like attending the meeting."

Daisuke may have said it but Taichi didn't buy it.

Daisuke didn't have his usual enthusiasm whenever he have some things to say. He'd usually be scratching the back of his head sheepishly or be his overdramatic self whenever he voices out his thoughts.

"Are you really okay." Taichi's eyes narrowed in worry. "You know we're here for you."

"I'm fine senpai, really." Daisuke insisted. "It's just that…"

"That?"

Daisuke kept everything hanging as he retrieved a pair of goggles with its glass shattered. The remaining glass on the goggles had some red and black marks while its head strap had some noticeable tears on.

"I'm returning this senpai." Daisuke stood up and handed the goggles back to its owner. "I don't think I deserve them anymore."

"Wha- Daisuke." Taichi sputtered. "Where is this coming from?"

"We… I…"

Daisuke can't really explain to his senior why he was returning the goggles that was entrusted to him.

No.

It's far more accurate that he just can't elaborate on why he'd return them in the first place. If Taichi had known of the decisions he made for the four of them, he just knew that Taichi won't approve of them.

He knew that he should tell them of what really happened.

He just doesn't have the heart to face his senior's disapproval of him. To shun him.

After VMon…

He just can't.

"I walked us straight into a trap senpai." Daisuke murmured.

"No." Taichi stated sternly.

"No?"

"I'm not accepting this Daisuke." Taichi stood up. "I gave this to you to show how much I trust you." He explained.

"B-but."

"No buts." Taichi stated firmly. "Look I'll hold unto this for you. It's clear that you're making an emotional decision." He offered. "You don't have to attend today's meeting, Miyako and the others should be enough for us to grasp the current situation."

"I-"

Daisuke shook his head before responding.

"Thank you senpai."

"Rest up Daisuke, The next time we meet we're going to play some soccer." Taichi grinned as he ruffled the younger teen's hair. "Let's see if you haven't gotten rusty."

"In your dreams senpai!" Daisuke stuck out his tongue. "I'll beat both you and Ken, just you wait."

Taichi felt like sighing in relief at the complete 180 Daisuke's attitude had done. The young boy may have been keeping things bottled up, even now, but his ability to bounce right back up was nothing but great.

"All I'm hearing are words Daisuke."

"Just you wait senpai." Daisuke huffed. "Just you wait."

-----------

Taichi found himself back in that cranny where he and Nishijima-sensei fell.

Nishijima-sensei's bloodied form.

The fake Gennai's haughty laugh.

The clock ticking down to zero.

Nishijima-sensei's fist before it fell.

"Taichi, are you okay?"

----------

Taichi suddenly found himself staring at an elevator, sweating.

He looked to his side and saw that Yamato was staring at him in worry.

Taichi gulped audibly. "I'm fine."

"Let's go upstairs, everyone's waiting."

"You go on ahead and use the elevator." Taichi grinned. "I think I'll take the stairs."

Taichi didn't wait for any response as he went further inside the building and ran up the stairs. As he climbed up the stairs, he shook his head to banish everything about what happened in that cranny.

The younger kids had it much worse than him, he doesn't have time to second guess everything or else another situation like Nishijima-sensei would happen again.

-----------

As soon as Taichi got inside, everyone looked at him strangely.

Yamato probably told everyone of their exchange downstairs.

"Are you okay nii-chan?" Hikari asked.

"I'm fine Hikari." Taichi assured his younger sister. "I just wanted to have some exercise, I did leave the house early." He tried to explain.

Everyone else in the room looked at each other, having a hard time believing the story. They were unable to prod the bearer of courage as he voiced out his thoughts.

"Where's everyone else?" Taichi asked.

"Actually, I scheduled the meeting earlier for the rest of us." Koushiro informed the group. "Jyou-senpai's arriving alongside Iori-kun and the others."

As if on cue, the flat screen TV by the wall lit up and showed Mimi's face on it.

"Hello everyone!" Mimi greeted. "Koushiro-kun, why'd you set the meeting this early?" She pouted at her friend.

"I apologize Mimi-san, but this was the only time that Jyou-senpai is free." Koushiro apologized.

"So?" Yamato voiced out. "What's this meeting about?"

"Have any of you seen Daisuke-kun's and everyone else's Digimon on the news?" Koushiro asked.

"I haven't." Mimi answered. "Wouldn't they be on the news if their Digimon were found beside them inside those pods?"

"Exactly." Koushiro nodded. "I find it odd that there were no news reports about that."

"Could it be?" Takeru gasped.

"No." Yamato's eyes widened in realization. "That can't be true."

"Oh no!" Hikari gasped. "Rosemon and Vikemon battled an Imperialdramon!"

"D-did we…" Mimi trailed off.

"No! It can't be!" Takeru whispered as his eyes widened in regret.

Everyone had been devastated when the reboot happened and that had been something they hadn't been able to prevent. Everyone had lost their Digimon partner.

It was especially painful for Takeru. He lost Patamon on his first journey in the Digital World.

"Don't be quick to jump to conclusions." Koushiro voiced out.

The bearer of knowledge started typing furiously on his computer. A few moments later, two images of Imperialdramon appeared beside Mimi's face on the TV. The first image was the Imperialdramon beside Daisuke and Ken.

The second image was the Imperialdramon Vikemon and Rosemon fought.

"Look closely, the color schemes of both Imperialdramons are different." Koushiro pointed out. "Daisuke-kun and Ichijouji-kun's Imperialdramon have Red, Black, Gold and White color scheme."

"The Imperialdramon Vikemon and Rosemon fought had various shades of purple and gold as its color scheme." Sora observed.

"What a relief." Mimi sighed.

"Of course there is still a possibility that the Imperialdramon we fought was indeed Ichijouji-kun and Daisuke-kun's Imperialdramon." Koushiro shook his head.

"Koushirou's right." Taichi nodded. "I was with Daisuke earlier today and I didn't see Vmon or Chibimon inside his house or his room."

"That can't be." Mimi gasped as tears formed on her eyes. "Tell me that isn't true!"

"Unfortunately." Taichi shook his head.

"The color scheme is what's bugging me." Koushiro hummed in concentration.

"When Agumon was under the Digimon Emperor's Dark Spiral, MetalGreymon's color was dark blue instead of his usual orange." Yamato supplied.

"That can't be right." Takeru voiced out. "I remember Daisuke stating that it was a huge relief to know that Sora-san and the others could get their Digimon to Ultimate."

"That's right!" Hikari nodded. "I think they'd at least tell us if they lost their partners."

"What if they were unaware?"

Everyone fell silent at Yamato's words. They just couldn't fathom that they could have possibly destroyed a Digimon partner, let alone the Digimon partners of the people who were supposed to be their friends.

"W-were really bad friends, aren't we?" Mimi somberly stated. "First we fail to aid them in their time of need and we destroyed their Digimon partners."

"We even suspected Ichijouji-kun when that Dark-robed Gennai appeared using the Digimon Emperor Persona." Koushiro pointed out.

"W-we didn't see a Dark Spiral on the Imperialdramon when Rosemon and Vikemon fought it." Sora interjected. "We'd only be stressing ourselves out if we keep on thinking that way."

Before anyone else could add to their discussion, the doorbell to the office rung.

"I'll get it." Sora volunteered.

Sora went towards the door and pressed in the intercom inside the room.

"Who is it?"

"Sora, its Jyou." Jyou's voice was heard through the intercom. "I've got Ichijouji-kun, Inoue-kun and Iori-kun with me."

Sora pressed a button and the sliding door opened, letting the new arrivals in.

"Whoa!" Miyako exclaimed in pure amazement. "This is a very cool office Izumi-senpai."

"Thank you Miyako-kun." Koushirou expressed his gratitude at the praise.

Ken, Miyako and Iori looked around to acclimate themselves from the new setting when Miyako noticed Mimi on the TV.

"Mimi-san! Good afternoon!" Miyako greeted the Sincerity Senior. "Or is it Good Morning?"

"Good Afternoon's fine Miyako-chan." Mimi chuckled.

"In any case, thank you for joining us Ichijouji-kun, Miyako-kun, Iori-kun." Koushiro smiled. "Are you able to answer some questions?" He asked the trio.

Ken, Miyako and Iori looked at each other. They knew they had to tell everything that happened to everyone in the room.

"Let's start with your Digimon." Mimi immediately stated.

"We had them escape." Ken answered.

"Escaped?" Mimi dreaded.

"Let's probably start from the beginning." Iori suggested. "Give them some context of what happened."

"If you're comfortable." Taichi offered.

#digimon adventure tri #taichi yagami #sora takenouchi #yamato ishida #daisuke motomiya #joe kido #mimi tachikawa #koushirou izumi #ken ichijouji #iori hida #miyako inoue #story #triquel

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ahiddenpath · 4 years

Text

Digimon Adventure 2020 Ep 11 Reaction

In which the kids have their own ideas about how to proceed, and it’s beautiful.

(Warning: I got excited and started cussing a lot. Also, this ep is really good, and I’m really proud of this reaction, you should read it!).

I love it when the Chosen argue.

The kids arguing means that they have different ideas, different priorities. The kids making a stand- Yamato prioritizing the mission, Sora and Jyou prioritizing the digimon who will die without help- means that they are exerting agency over the situation. This is so refreshing after all of those “blindly follow the prophecy, without even having an actual, living being to explain things and provide prospective” episodes. I mean, seriously, I was a second away from “Would you kindly” jokes. (If you’ve never played the original Bioshock... DO IT, OMG).

AND SORA! FINALLY, SOME GOSH DANGED CHARACTERIZATION FOR SORA! I am so happy for her! Now, this is going to get highly subjective, but... I detest “competency” as the main character trait for female characters. And so far, what we know of Sora is that she’s: competent, active, brave, warm (so we’re told- we’re mostly left to infer this from her beautiful facial expressions, which I guess is fine, but I’d love to see it guiding her actions more, which we’re finally getting!), and supposedly well-liked at school (no proof of this, just Koushiro’s word). Er- also, knives. For some folks, this seems to be enough to celebrate, but it just... Falls so flat for me.

The idea of a “competent, active girl” suggests that most female characters aren’t competent and/or active, or that competency/being active are male traits (hence, Sora having these traits somehow makes her “tomboyish”). In Adventure, Sora was always competent, active, and playing a guiding/decision-making role with Taichi and Yamato, while Koushiro provided intel for them. I remember and liked that about her, but I love Adventure Sora for simultaneously accepting, struggling with, and resenting her caring, sisterly role for everyone. The caretaker love and resentment cycle was so fucking real, dude. Sora’s... I’m gonna say it, she’s probably the most complex Adventure character, and when people reduce her to AcTiOn ToMbOy, I vomit in my mouth (even though she absolutely is competent and active! It’s just that competency does not a personality make, and she had SO MUCH relatable, compelling stuff going on!!!!! And also, “tomboy” in general implies that certain character traits are masculine, which is damaging for everyone, frankly).

Anyway, here we see Sora standing up for her principles, which means saving these digimon who will die if left where they are. There is no fighting, no name-calling, no posturing... Just Sora saying: I care about these digimon, this is the right thing to, and therefore, I will do it.

ALSO I AM PROUD OF JYOU FOR BACKING SORA, and also showing his Adventure roots with an attempt at peace-keeping so ineffective that it was annoying, lol! First, he is sad that Sora asked Yamato’s opinion, not his... But when actually asked for his, he says “Er- I guess everyone has good points?” *sweat sweat* THIS IS SO CLASSIC JYOU, I AM CRYING. And then Gomamon is like, “What do you want?” Ie, I don’t want a statement of validity for everyone else’s thoughts, I want your thoughts. Gomamon is the best!

Then we jump to Gabumon and Yamato, walking off all lonesome-like. Gabumon says, “Yamato, they can’t know what you’re thinking if you don’t tell them,” and honestly? THAT’S A HELL OF A LINE FOR A KID SHOW. Damn, Gabumon is great? In the fortress siege ep, I thought that Gabumon explaining that Yamato is excluding the others to protect them was a little... Too much. Kids shows especially tend to error on the side of being too explainy, though, for the sake of their young audience (I laughed my ass off in Frozen when Olaf goes, “TrUe LoVe SaVeD hEr,” or something similar, because yes Olaf, we fucking got that, thanks, lol!). This line was similar in intent (helping the audience understand an aloof character who is potentially unlikable on the surface), but damned if that ain’t some tea for real life.

AND JFC, WAS WEREGARURUMON ALWAYS SO FUCKING EXTRA?! Wait, what am I saying, of course he was! Hahaha! I gotta say that these reboot perfect level evolutions aren’t feeling earned or impactful, just a kind of fun, “Oh hey, there you are” (and in this case, “Who does your nails, btw?”). I’m hoping that we’ll see other content to make up for this, but so far, I’ve given up on the thought of being touched/impressed by evolutions in Digimon Adventure:.

AH SHIT! BUT AT THE END! Sora says, “Thanks for coming back!” And Yams replies, “Eh, you were bait.” And SORA! SHE SEES THROUGH THIS BS! SHE’S ALREADY REACHED GABUMON LEVEL OF SEEING THROUGH THIS IMPOSSIBLE BOY’S GRUMPY FACADE! “Well, we’ll leave it at that,” she says, with an understanding smile. GOD! THIS IS SO GOOD, I FINALLY SEE SORA IN FRONT OF ME, I’M CRYING, THIS IS 1,000% MORE SORA THAN HER OWN INTRO EP!!!!!!

AND I AM DYING! Yams says, “I have a brother, so I... AM SO... DETERMINED TO END THIS AND PROTECT HIM.” You butt face, EVERY KID HERE HAS A FAMILY, OMG, WHAT A FUCKING DORK! I am absolutely dying! Here Yamato is, tryin’a explain his tunnel vision and his DEEP DARK EMBARRASSING SECRET... HE, A HUMAN, HAS A HUMAN FAMILY THAT HE LOVES. It tells us a lot about Yamato, alright, but not what Yamato was actually trying to say (ie, I hate to admit it, but I am a huge softie for my brother)! Instead, what we’re finding out is... Yamato is forgetting everyone here has a beloved family that they also want to help, because HE LOVES HIS BROTHER SO MUCH!

GOD, SUCH YAMATO. SUCH PURE, UNDILUTED, 1,000% CONCENTRATED YAMA JAMMAS. I FUCKING LOVE HIM. WHAT A GOOMBA!

THIS EPISODE WAS SO DAMNED GOOD, my second fave so far after Mimi’s intro, and it had 0% to do with the action/plot/evolutions and 1,000% to do with these dumb kids being good, dumb kids, god I love them.

ALSO! HERE WE ARE AT RUINS AGAIN WITH KOUSHIRO AND MIMI?!?!?!?! AM I HAVING A STROKE?!?!?!?!?! BUT THIS TIME IT’S EVEN WORSE BECAUSE TAICHI IS HERE!?!?!?!?!?!? GOD, I AM SO FUCKING HAPPY. WHAT HAVE I DONE TO DESERVE THIS BOUNTY?!?!?!?!?!?!

God, thank you, reboot. Bless.

ETA: I’m also hoping we swing back around to Leomon’s Resistance. I mean, I assume we will... And I also assume Leomon ain’t gonna fare so well, lol! But seriously, I wonder what kind of intel Leomon can provide? I’m loving that the Digital World has so much going on, its own groups and such.

#digimon reboot reaction #digimon reboot spoilers #digimon adventure:#digimon adventure reboot #digimon adventure 2020 #digimon 2020 #digimon reboot #faves

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o-w-quinlan · 4 years

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Digimon Adventure 2020, episode 23 reaction (and over-analysis)

It’s... weird. Half of it is a battle scene that is clearly just marking time for the actual relevant one next episode, and the other half is emphasizing the importance of the B-Team, except it’s just “I must save my friends”, instead of anything more revealing about their characterization. All in all, it’s episode 17, but not as good.

Let’s start with the battle with Devimon/NeoDevimon, since that’s basically most of the episode. It starts with Devimon surprising them by being capable of attacking at a distance without them noticing where the attacks are coming from. It’s appropiately menacing, although it starts to feel too static very fast. After 2 episodes of high-octane action with great tactics from the digimon, this fell a bit flat. After that, he evolves, and the dynamics of the fight are almost exactly the same, except instead of the interesting “action at a distance because of miasma” attack, it’s just NeoDevimon moving fast enough that he looks like he is teleporting (shown in the episode by having NeoDevimon be in one place in a shot and then in another place in the next one). All in all, it was sort of forgettable, which would be understandable because obviously they can’t maintain the high level of the previous 3 ones due to budget constraints and other things, but it still felt weird that they would choose to have their less frenetic episode be a full-episode fight scene.

Devimon himself was interesting, though. He once again refers to Poyomon as “his old friend” and states he wants to share his pain with them. While I don’t expect this to be explored for him, I do think it’ll be expanded upon by future villains. The ominous crystal (that, confirming a theory I had discarded as wishful thinking, turned out to be MOON MILLENNIUMMON OF ALL DIGIMON!) ends up seemingly controlling Devimon, distorting his voice, making him go through a painful looking evolution (and Taichi notes something has changed, something apart from just evolving). When DarkKnightmon later shows up (he’s alive!) and recovers the crystal before making NeoDevimon evolve again, you realize the villain dynamics may be far different from what we had expected until now. Devimon was not the big bad, or even the boss of the previous digimon, but just another pawn of MoonMillenniummon, no more relevant than SkullKnightmon.

The A-Team... wasn’t quite as interesting this episode. We get some more dynamics between Yamato and Takeru: Yamato tells Takeru to hide, Takeru obeys until he realizes his brother is in serious danger, he tries to do something, when miraculously he succeeds Yamato congratulates him with no explicit lingering worry. Since this time around Takeru was not as suicidal as last episode, it’s a nice enough dynamic. What fell flat was Poyomon evolving to Tokomon and dissolving the miasma. Takeru screaming for the villain to stop before a miracle happens was already done, and much better, on episode 20. We never got to see much of Poyomon, so his evolution didn’t really ellicit any reaction (not even shock, since we’ve already seen a lot of miraculous stuff surrounding the Holy Digimon this season). About the only interesting things with Tokomon this episode were his smile when seeing NeoDevimon slowly vanish (”that’s for torturing me, you big meanie!”), and him being blown away from Takeru’s arms (the best bit of comedy in the episode). Taichi got.. er... observational skills, athletic skills and a burst of determination that felt vastly underwhelming compared to what he did 2 episodes ago.

As far as the B-Team goes, we saw Mimi be the first one to take action when being told what Calamaramon’s plan may be, Koushiro getting an internal monologue about how he believes he is helping his friends, and Jou and Ikkakumon getting humiliated for comedy (Kabuterimon was similarly defeated while attempting a rescue, but it wasn’t as focused on). All in all, functional stuff. Honestly, I was more drawn to the brief scenes with the ship crew trying to remain calm while realizing they were about to crash into the city (which was Singapore, not Tokyo as I thought last week). The tension there felt thicker than in the rest of the episode.

Other notes for this episode:

I was very weirded out when Devimon’s mouth didn’t move whenever he spoke, specially since he did move his lips at other points. Made him feel off, alien, which is great for this series.

Someone as big as MetalGreymon trying to hide behind the ruins of the castle was a bit silly.

We saw intereference in the communications between the Chosen Children through the digivice. Perhaps this is because of the massive ammount of data moving from the human world to the digital world?

We got the consecutive evolution sequences back. Can’t say I’ve missed them. Can’t say I’ll miss them if they never appear again after this episode.

Whoever is piloting that boat must be the GOAT to be capable of steering it that fast.

Sagittarious Mode appeared for only a second, just for one attack, after a massive burst of the Power of Feelings with a Holy Digimon at his side. It’s a great justification for why Alteros Mode didn’t appear last episode.

DarkKnightmon does not attack the Chosen Children, even though we know he is perfectly capable of fighting a fresh MetalGreymon and WereGarurumon without any issue, let alone exhausted ones. The Holy Digimon, even when in Baby form, are dangerous enough even one of the most powerful and skilled villains yet would rather run away.

No, Koushiro, I beg of you, please don’t enable the belief that “natural lines” are the norm in Digimon. Please.

All in all, a functional episode that raises a couple interesting questions. Next week we are going to see a new Ultimate form for Devimon (which looks very silly to me), Taichi getting corrupted by Darkness, MetalGreymon maybe evolving to Mugendramon, Tokomon most likely evolving to Patamon and perhaps even WarGreymon as a cliffhanger. Exciting stuff.

#digimon #Digimon Adventure:#Digimon Adventure 2020 #Devimon #NeoDevimon

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o-w-quinlan · 4 years

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Digimon Adventure 2020, episode 11 reaction (and over-analysis)

In which Yamato relearns his lesson from episode 8 by, er, remembering episode 8.

One of the most typical shonen archetypes is the anti-hero lone wolf. Digimon has often used this, but tweaked a bit to make them more distinct characters. Characters like OG Yamato, Ruki, Tohma and Kiriha had personality traits, relationships, ideals or character arcs to differentiate them from the “standard lone wolf”. Well, that’s out of the window with current Yamato, who plays into every single trope of it to a T. Considering that archetype has always annoyed me and I liked these characters for how they deviated from it, you can see the problem.

Anyway, today’s episode showcased Yamato prefers to work alone but that he’s starting to work on it. He’s calm under pressure, he has no time for sentimentality, he’s determined on his goal to save Tokyo. Basically nothing we didn’t know from the previous episodes. What is new is his admission to Gabumon that “he has Gabumon, he doesn’t need anyone else”. It'd be heartwarming if it didn’t feel so unhealthy (and Gabumon thinks so too), and it seems like it’s setting up something for the future. It has no pay-off in this episode, though.

Anyway, after briefly leaving to continue his mission but remembering he’s not actually an asshole and returning to help, Yamato has a flashback to the events of the first 3 episodes and episode 8, which enables Garurumon to evolve. If last episode was a good concept that could have been executed better, then this is a complete failure. With Taichi and Agumon, the idea was that their syncronization, their combined determination to suceed in defending their friends, avenging Ogremon and reclaiming their “honor”, was at such level that it allowed Agumon to evolve. This bond was constantly reinforced through the episode, so while it could have been better, it was still satisfying on its own, and it was doing something completely different from OG Adventure. This time around, it’s not any synchronization between Yamato and Gabumon that enables the evolution, it’s Yamato’s realization and character moment. And it falls completely flat because we’ve seen him have this exact same realization before. In fact, had Garurumon evolved back in episode 8, it would have felt more emotionally satisfying, since we clearly see how touched Yamato was that these complete strangers were risking so much for him, how much trust they had in him. Here, it’s just a memory of that, and the kids are no longer complete strangers, even if they aren’t friends yet.

Anyway, we get our fight, which looks “cool” but feels static. Yamato and the devolved Gabumon high-five each other, and then we get him confessing his true motivation to Sora and Jou. Why the animators thought to only show Takeru’s silhouette when we have already seen him on the first three episodes and on the opening and ending is beyond me. Certainly the confession would have carried a lot more weight if we had a brief flashback to Yamato and Takeru interacting. Even the brief conversation on episode 3 would have sufficed. He also mentions a “plan” to use Sora and Jou as bait, but I’ll assume he’s bluffing because otherwise that’s idiotic in a way that does not fit the current Yamato.

Anyway, onto other points:

Seriously? Societal panic after one day of blackout? Do they seriously expect me to believe that?

The contrast at the start between Taichi’s group walking through the desert and climbing walls and Yamato’s group just flying around in a basket tells you everything you need to know about both sets of characters.

Jou is constantly framed as feeling inadequate compared to Yamato (and to a lesser degree Sora) and having to make difficult decisions, sometimes making them and sometimes not. He’s also the only one of the group who does not trigger one of the “emotion” boosts in the digivice. Combined with his fear to interfere between Taichi and Yamato in the previous episode, this seems to be setting up something very interesting for Zudomon’s evolution episode.

Sora has a lot more agency now that she isn’t around Taichi, showcasing her determination to help those small in need (highlighted by her catching the Kyaromon in the air and reassuringly smiling at it).

We get a mention of Leomon having recruited an army to fight the miasma-infected digimon. I’m intrigued.

Scorpiomon is supposed to be on Devimon’s side given the miasma, but he’s constantly sabotaging the SandYammamon’s attacks. Either this is setting up something interesting about the miasma, or the writers didn’t think this through.

The animators sure did everything they could to not animate Ikkakumon, didn’t they?

The first thing that crossed my mind when seeing Koushiro take pictures of the temple walls was “classic Koushiro”. Then I remembered he hadn’t done anything like that in this show yet. So this is our introduction to a new character trait of his, and it feels okay, even if he should have been animated as taking pictures from different places.

Both in dialogue and in visuals, Mimi is framed as an outsider to Taichi and Koushiro. She also interacts a lot more with Palmon than the other kids do with their partners (with the possible exception of Jou, and there it’s Gomamon who initiates most of it). Also, despite appearences, she has kept in mind their ultimate goal at all points. The next episode seems to be leaning a lot on her dislike of conflict introduced on the previous episode.

Anyway, I’d say this episode was about as good as the previous one. It didn’t have anything on par with the worst of it, but it didn’t even come close to the best of it either. I was more hyped by Jou and Mimi (and the preview) than I was by the episode’s focus, and while that bodes well for future episodes, it wasn’t a good thing for the current one.

I expect great stuff from Jou’s and Mimi’s episodes, and disappointing stuff from Koushiro’s. It’s Sora’s the one I’m not sure about.

#digimon #Digimon Adventure:#Digimon Adventure 2020 #Yamato Ishida

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