#i like how its phrased as if this is a thing currently happening and Daigo and Mine are real people

[majimassqueaktoy]

I noticed Daigo and Mine are developing real feelings about each other I'm not being homophobic but Daigo said he wants a family one day and obviously Mine is a man and hates children so wont be able to provide this for him

[witchelny]

Piecing Together Adventure tri.’s Plot, Pt. 2

A few days ago I rewatched Digimon Adventure tri. Pt. 1: Reunion and made the first post in this series. I’d like to take a second to correct myself on a few things I had wrong.

First off, I could not remember where the virus had come from, and @alicekaninchenbau reminded me it originated from Meicoomon, though the reason why is still unknown (though it’s likely a result of her being a shard of Apocalymon’s data). Second of all, I wrongly stated that Gennai was working for Homeostasis, and @aiko-isari informed me that he is, in fact, working for Yggdrasil. It has been quite some time since I’ve watched the earlier parts of tri. and consequently I have some gaps in my knowledge due to the fact that Adventure tri. is being released so slowly, so bear with me as I get my facts straight! That’s what this post is about, after all~

So, with that in mind, here’s the revised list of the four different sides in Digimon Adventure tri.:

The Chosen Children, including Meiko & their ally Daigo. Their motivation is to protect each other, their partner Digimon, and the world.

Homeostasis, represented by Huckmon. Jesmon is also on its side. Its motivation is to restore balance to the worlds by eliminating Meicoomon.

Yggdrasil, assisted by Gennai, as well as Alphamon. Motivation currently unknown to my knowledge, though it is likely that on some level Yggdrasil is opposed to human interference in the Digital World.

Maki, who gets her own category due to her unique and specific motivations. As far as I’m aware, her sole motive is to get Tapirmon back, though she cooperates with Gennai in order to achieve this.

Determination begins with a similarly vague voiceover narration like the speech about Demiurge and Idea at the beginning of Reunion, but this time it talks about “opposing creatures,” those that create and those that destroy. This speech overlays a scene in which Leomon faces off with an infected Ogremon, so it’s possible it’s referring to Vaccine types versus Virus types. However, in the context of the larger plot, this introduction could also refer to Meicoomon as a “destructive” type of Digimon as opposed to other types.

This is followed by a scene in which the infected Ogremon, after coming through a distortion, is fought off by Maki and Daigo’s organization.

Maki and Daigo, especially Maki in particular, have probably the most interesting role in Determination - in my opinion, of course. There were many things I noticed this time that I did not put as much weight on before. For example, Maki hints throughout the first half of the film that she already knows that the infected Digimon are hunting for Meicoomon. And despite her purposeful sacrifice of Meicoomon later, Maki also treats Meiko and Meicoomon with an incredible amount of cordiality and kindness at the bath house. Why? Meiko claims Maki was a big help to her while she was relocating to Odaiba; did Maki purposely choose Odaiba for Meiko so that she’d be close to the other Chosen? Or did Maki, on some level, relate to Meiko?

I think it’s possible that Maki sees herself in Meiko and pities her, especially since she has some extra behind the scenes knowledge through Gennai. She knows Meiko is going to lose her partner. She knows what that’s like. To me, this speaks volumes about Maki’s personality and motivations.

However, Maki has one priority above all else, and that is Tapirmon. She does not let her pity for Meiko get in the way of her orchestrating Meicoomon’s descent into infection, which I’m assuming is Maki’s way of instigating the reboot so she can revive her partner. And the loss of Tapirmon is something that has scarred Maki deeply; for example, Daigo even notes the shift in her personality during the school festival.

It’s not long after this exchange that Maki notices “Ken’s” appearance at the festival, followed by this easily-missed scene wherein she takes an elevator to the roof in order to meet with him.

Though Determination does not show their conversation for the sake of concealing Maki’s ulterior motives, I can pretty reasonably theorize that this is most likely when Maki and Gennai conspired to have Maki bring Meicoomon behind the school so she’d be alone when a distortion appeared, resulting in her subsequent shift to a more violent, infected form.

Determination also gives a lot of hints to Meicoomon’s tendency to become scared and hostile easily. Hindsight is interesting, ain’t it? Her behavior was a lot more clear to me after watching Coexistence. There’s a scene in the bath house in which Meicoomon becomes separated from Meiko and starts to panic, then become aggressive - but Meiko comes in to save her right on time. Meiko seems to recognize what was happening, too, as she doesn’t seem shocked or surprised. She just instructs Meicoomon to stay near her.

Later, a similar interaction happens before the fight between Togemon and Ogremon. Meiko is very reluctant to follow Mimi because she clearly doesn’t want Meicoomon to go near a battle. And later, when Meicoomon shifts and kills Leomon, she does so because she has become terrified during the battle and perceives Leomon as a threat to her safety.

This leads me back to the original voice-over referring to destructive creatures vs. creative creatures, tying this into the prophecy that Koushiro receives by email: “The two sides of the universe are like two sides of the same coin/Those who desire true power must know the darkness, and go beyond.” Koushiro believes the last part of this prophecy - “those who desire true power ... go beyond” - refers to the Digimon achieving their Ultimate evolutions. However, I think it’s a little deeper than that. The phrase “two sides of the universe” seems to harken back to the creative power vs. destructive power theme. Consequently, I think the prophecy refers partially to the Digimon partners evolving to their Ultimate level, in addition to referring to Meicoomon’s transformation. Essentially, the other partner Digimon were able to know the darkness and go beyond, but Meicoomon was not able to conquer her darkness.

During the initial scene in which Koushiro receives the email, however, a couple interesting things happen. One, the narrative - through Koushiro and Leomon - takes the time to clarify that the distortions started occurring after the Virus, suggesting to me that it’s possible Meicoomon is not causing the distortions themselves, but rather that it’s a sort of response from the Digital World to detecting a malady in its midst (I could be wrong, though). Second, Huckmon is shown spying on them for what’s probably the second or third time in Determination.

I believe that the reason Huckmon does not make a move until later is because Homeostasis requires more information. Meicoomon, the Virus, the Chosen Children, and Yggdrasil have all been involved up until this point, but Homeostasis appears to have no idea what is going on. Huckmon appears at some interesting times - watching Meiko in her own apartment, observing Leomon and Koushiro, and even appearing in the in-between space inside of a distortion during the fight between Imperialdramon, Rosemon, and Vikemon. This suggests he is gathering intel on the other “sides” involved in this ongoing conflict so that Homeostasis can make an informed decision on how to go about restoring stability.

Something that’s also bothering me is the presence of the Royal Knights. It seems to me as if the Royal Knights aren’t a “Thing” yet, for lack of a better term; their allegiences are split. We saw Omegamon and Alphamon oppose one another in Reunion, but Omegamon is not yet a Royal Knight, as he serves the human children. Alphamon is serving Yggdrasil. Jesmon, however, is aligned with Homeostasis. And in Determination, we see an infected Imperialdramon - who is a jogress of Wormmon and Veemon - fighting against his own friends and under Gennai’s (disguised as Ken) sway. So, what’s the deal with the Royal Knights? Are they still in the process of becoming the Royal Knights throughout Adventure tri.?

Also, I can’t shake the weird feeling about Gennai using the infected Digimon for his own ends. The fact that he disguised himself as Ken and used KEN’S own Digimon against the other kids makes it seem like he could be purposely exposing Digimon to the Virus to use them for his own motivations. The problem is, what ARE those motivations?

I don’t have any answers to these questions right now, personally, but I do have one last thought on my mind that has been bothering me. There is a lot of emphasis in Adventure tri. on the kids being Chosen. “We are supposed to do this because we’re Chosen” and “This is who we are and we can do this because we’ve been Chosen” are themes commonly repeated throughout Adventure tri. It becomes especially apparent in Determination as Jou struggles to reconcile his dreams to be a doctor with his destiny as a Chosen Child. However, as I mentioned in the previous post, the race known as the Agents - of which Gennai and even Homeostasis once belonged - are the ones who selected the Chosen Children and created their Digimon.

So are the Chosen kids even Chosen anymore? Is this truly their destiny, if it was manufactured for them by someone who may have had ulterior motives? How can we say that the Chosen Children are meant to be with their partners, if the whole relationship between themselves and their partners was orchestrated by a race of beings that just intended for the Chosen to be weapons against the Dark Masters?

I doubt Digimon Adventure tri. will delve into this issue, but it’s one that hasn’t quite sat right with me throughout this rewatch. But I will say, I enjoyed Determination a lot more this time than I did the first time! I’ll be rewatching & analyzing Confession soon - that’s sure to be a doozy.