#koushiros compassion

[izzyizumi]

{Preview of a Thing I'm Working On} (If I can get This to Mix Properly...) [For Now Though!]

"Taichi-SAN..." - Koushiro, Adv #48 "TAICHI-sAN...." - Koushiro, Adv: #02

[koushirouizumi]

When they left the mountain hut, they found themselves at the summit. "What’s going on?" {Mochimon} asked Koushiro, confused. Because {it} had used up all of {its} energy, {it} had degenerated once more.

"I think the peak covered in clouds was an illusion made by Vadermon," Koushiro answered with a sunny smile. “As expected of Koushiro-han. You know everything.” “Not really. It’s still a mystery why my Crest was there of all places. It’s much too convenient to have been a coincidence! Perhaps it is something that surpasses even human intellect–” {Koushiro} was interrupted by a voice. "Hey!" It was Yamato and Takeru. They had climbed up the mountain by following the signal on the Digivice. "Let’s go, {Mochimon}. Everyone is waiting for us." And so, Koushiro climbed down the mountain and rejoined {Koushiro}'s {comrades}.

Digimon Adventure Novel; “The Inquisitive Heart” Translation from Digital Scratch (Link in the comments)

{Cap by IzzyIzumi / KoushirouIzumi} {DO NOT re-post without my Permission!}

[genork-the-fandork]

Sharing

Word Count: 525 Prompt: & Sora A/N: I honestly think I'm a little bad at writing interactions between Taichi and Sora. Maybe it has something to do with my personal attachment to him, or maybe it has to do with the fact that I (admittedly) don't think of them often. I'm always worrying about his interactions with Yamato, Hikari, Koushiro... but not Sora. I hope to rectify that here, even if it rehashes some of the same pain I touched on in the Yamato drabble. Here's to you, Sora! @taichiyagamiweek

There had been a time when being in the same room as Sora had been as easy as breathing. Another part of himself, someone he could rely on, always. Of course, he could still rely on her, and he always would be able to, but something had changed over the years. He was well aware that part of it was his fault, the way he let his feelings dictate his every move, but he also knew that Sora would tell him they were both at fault. Even on the days when he wasn't sure if he knew her, he understood her all too well.

"You, too, huh?" he murmured, noting the distinct lack of a certain pink-feathered bird. "Why didn't you tell us?"

Sora bowed her head, some strands of her hair falling over her face. "It hurt too much."

"Yeah. I get that." He tapped his fingers awkwardly on the table, trying to find something to say. It had been a while since they'd last seen each other, long before either of them had faced a greater loss than they were willing to go through. Taichi thought perhaps it would bring them closer together, as it had for him and Yamato, but maybe it was bound to drive them further apart.

"Taichi," Sora said quietly. When he looked up, she was giving him that look of sheer compassion she'd always been a pro at directing his way "I'm so sorry."

He blinked, and suddenly they were both in tears. Across the table, their hands sought each other, curling into each other as they had back when they'd played soccer together. Instead of congratulating each other on a job well done, however, they were sharing in a pain neither of them had imagined they would feel. For so long, the Digimon had simply been a part of them. Why did they have to be taken away so soon?

Bent over themselves, they cried out all the pain they'd been bottling inside for the sake of the others. Taichi had thought that perhaps their bond could never truly return to what it had been, once upon a time. He wasn't so sure of that anymore. Funny how the Digital World was still bringing them together, even as it tore their hearts out.

It took a while, but Taichi eventually straightened and squeezed her hand. "We should go get some water. I feel a headache coming on."

She smiled as she got up and followed him out of the room. "And here I thought I was the group mom."

He laughed guiltily. "You look after us, but you gotta let us look after you, too, sometimes." Meeting her brown eyes with his own, he added, "Besides, the three of us only have each other now."

Sora just stared at him for a moment before shaking her head. "That's not true. We still have five other friends."

"There she is," he said to himself as she entered the kitchen ahead of him. It would always hurt—that was the thing with losing your literal other half. But maybe, just maybe, some of the old Sora would still be around.

[tobiasdrake]

Digimon Adventure 01x11 - The Dancing Ghosts! Bakemon / The Dancing Digimon

Previously on Digimon Adventure: Mimi got harassed again and then thwarted Devimon's Black Gear by starving in its general direction. Meanwhile, Koushiro discovered the Dungeon Map. Since Mimi has the Compass, all they need now is the Boss Key.

Now two island shards and four kids are on their way back to the child murderer. That's not necessarily a good direction to be moving in but it is what we're doing.

(Warning: Very long. This one is intensively dialogue-heavy and the dub changes so much.)

We open on a long panning shot of Infinity Mountain, rising up to Devimon perched at the peak.

Devimon: Chosen Children... Curse the fates that have befallen you! Ahahahahaha!

My man, you do not have to worry about that. They curse the fate that's befallen them practically daily. Mimi just cursed her fate so hard, you have no idea.

That long sweeping shot means Dub Devimon has to vamp for a bit, so his dialogue is longer.

Devimon: I, Devimon, had completely separated those seven brats and their pesky Digimon! That is, until that Tai and Mimi caught up with Matt and Izzy! But I'll make sure they never find their other friends. Especially with the plans I have for Sora and Joe on that lovely day, the Bakemon Holiday! Ahahahahahaha HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Bakemon pronounced (Bah-keh-mon). Nobody tell Devimon that these island shard episodes are happening simultaneously to one another. Also, spoilers, geez. :P

(Can you imagine if they were happening sequentially? We start each one at night with the kids on their beds and then the sun comes up during their episode. That would mean Izzy and Mimi were on those beds for a full day, and Joe and Sora for two. ...poor T.K....)

Jou's bed did not have the luxury of landing on an island shard. Instead, he's been left adrift in the ocean. We find him cursing the fate that's befallen him.

Jou: This is why I didn't want to go to summer camp....

The dub changes out his despair for seasickness. That's not necessarily added; He does get seasick later in the scene. But it is a different source for his present turmoil.

Joe: There's one thing I've learned in Digi-World: Beds don't make good boats. Urghhhhh....

It's at that moment he realizes that while he's been in his fugue, Gomamon's finished off what's left of the emergency rations.

(I'm surprised there was anything left in that bag. The kids managed to stretch a three-day food supply for six children out to six days for fourteen. They've done an admirable job of only leaning on the emergency supply when absolutely necessary.)

Jou is absolutely livid.

Jou: THIS IS WHY I DIDN'T WANT TO GO TO SUMMER CAMP!!! I have to study for entrance exams next year to get into a prestigious middle school! Gomamon: No point in telling me that. There's nothing I can do about it. Jou: (picks up Gomamon and shakes him) THEN WHO DO I TELL!? THERE'S NO ONE HERE BUT ME AND YOU, GOMAMON!!! Gomamon: That's true, but we should try floating with a bit more hope in our hearts. That way, we won't end up getting seasick-- Jou: (shakes Gomamon some more) WHAT DO HOPE AND SEASICKNESS HAVE WITH EACH OTHER!? (Suddenly, Jou's forced to release Gomamon and vomit over the side.) Gomamon: Are you okay? Jou: No, I'm not. Gomamon: (rubs his back) That's why I said to have more hope.

Once again, we see Jou cracking under the intense pressure that's been placed on him. This time, not for his responsibilities to the younger kids surviving with him, but for his entire situation and the societial obligations of his age.

Jou was under a lot of pressure before he even came to File Island, and this whole intensely stressful situation has only made it worse. That he's one of the kids whose personality grates against his Partner's rather than meshing with it (Sora, Koushiro, Jou) only serves to amplify his stress.

Similar to his despair, the dub cuts this context surrounding Joe's emotional state. They keep the argument locked on Gomamon eating the food.

Joe: DIDN'T I TELL YOU NOT TO EAT ALL THE FOOD SINCE WE DON'T KNOW WHEN WE'LL FIND LAND!?!? I told you that we'd need to ration, which means to save food for later. As in much later! Gomamon: But it is later, Joe; You told me that twenty minutes ago. Joe: (picks up Gomamon and shakes him) TWENTY MINUTES IS NOT MUCH LATER!!! PLEASE TELL ME THAT THERE'S STILL SOME FOOD IN THE BAG!!! Gomamon: Well, no. Since you can't handle eating and floating on the ocean at the same time, I ate it all. Besides, I need food to Digivolve in case we run into bad Digimon. Joe: (shakes Gomamon some more) SO HAVE WE SEEN ANY BAD DIGIMON!?!? NO!!! IF I STARVE, WHO ARE YOU GOING TO PROTECT!?!? (Suddenly, Joe's forced to release Gomamon and vomit over the side.) Gomamon: That's enough about food. Joe: Urghhhhh.... Gomamon: (rubs his back) Things will get better soon. Hang in there, buddy!

Admittedly, it may have been difficult to localize the pressure of entrance exams to middle school. That's a facet of the Japanese education system that I'm not sure we have an equivalent to here in the U.S.

Nonetheless, the dub version of the scene is much weaker. The original is a characterization moment centered on the philosophical differences between Jou and Gomamon while fleshing out Jou's anxieties. We lose just about all of that in the dub, which replaces it with a comedic misunderstanding bit.

Suddenly, the boys see a massive crate floating their direction. This changes everything.

Gomamon: A box? Jou: Maybe it has food! Like bottles of fresh water and sterilized food packages! Gomamon: No way. Jou: (shakes Gomamon) YOU JUST TOLD ME TO HAVE MORE HOPE RIGHT NOW!!! Gomamon: Calm down.

Jou's expectations are fairly reasonable for what seems to be a drifting supply box floating in the ocean. Joe's imagination runs away with him.

Gomamon: That crate is gonna hit us! Joe: Maybe it's full of fruit, vegetables, bread, milk, cereal, hot dogs, cookies, candy, and soda! Gomamon: I wish. Joe: (shakes Gomamon) YOU WISH!? WE WOULDN'T NEED MORE FOOD IF YOU HADN'T EATEN OURS!!! Gomamon: You're strong when you're hungry. Joe: Starvation is a good motivator! Looks like we'll need a jackhammer to open this....

They don't use jackhammers to open crates, Joe. The word you're looking for is crowbar. "You're strong when you're hungry" as a response to Joe's third shaking got me, though. That was good. XD

Good news for Jou is that the box is self-opening!

And it has a toy surprise inside!

(I desperately want to be a fly on that wall when Ogremon was making this plan. I don't know what's more ridiculous: That he sealed himself in a box and trusted the currents to carry him to Jou, or that this worked.)

With Jou isolated and defenseless, Ogremon swings at him with his club, throwing a set of horizontal strikes. Jou and Gomamon jump, avoiding some swings of his club while bouncing the bed in the ocean and carrying them under others.

Frustrated, Ogremon opts for a vertical swing instead, cracking the bed in half.

Fortunately, the halves remain buoyant for Jou and Gomamon who are split between them.

Gomamon conjures up his Marching Fishes, erupting from the ocean and throwing themselves at Ogremon. As his colorful fishes harass Ogremon with their tiny tackles, he explains his plan to Jou.

Jou: The wicked Digimon Ogremon is being defeated by the likes of fish! Gomamon: Ogremon grew up in the Great Canyon mountains, so he should be weak against the smell of raw sea fish! Ogremon: HAOUKEN!!! (pulverizes the attacking fish with bursts of dark purple energy) Gomamon: ...or so I thought, but I guess not.

It was a good plan, Gomamon. I'm sorry you were defeated by Power Levels.

Dub Gomamon gets philosophical with this.

Joe: What powerful force could cause this evil Digimon to be driven back and outmuscled by a bunch of small fish!? Gomamon: When the small and meek join forces to fight for a good purpose, they can often bring about the downfall of the big and powerful. Ogremon: Rargh! Get off me! (pulverizes the attacking fish with bursts of dark purple energy) Gomamon: Then again, sometimes they haven't got a chance!

Sorry, Gomamon, but today is not the day for seizing the means of production. But some day! VIVE LA REVOLUCION!

Honestly, I like both of these versions. Both Tactical Gomamon and Philosophical Gomamon have their merits.

It's not enough, though. With his back against the wall, Gomamon vindicates the dub's earlier point about needing his strength to evolve, and turns into Ikkakumon. Pushing through Ogremon's rapid-fire Haoukens, Ikkakumon headbutts him backwards, then nails him with a point-blank Harpoon Vulcan, knocking him back into the box.

Then he takes his kid and swims away, leaving Ogremon adrift in the ocean.

Ogremon: Damn it! I can't follow because I can't swim!

Oh wow, this was a terrible plan. Have fun rowing back to shore, Ogremon. In the notoriously unpredictable waters of the goddamn ocean. Hope you know how to navigate by the stars.

Dub Ogremon also refuses to get out of the box, but doesn't state his reasoning.

Ogremon: COWARDS!!! Go ahead and run! See how far you'll get! 'Fraidy cats! Come back and fight! I dare ya! Come on!

But the implication is nonetheless there, as we still get to see his visceral panic reaction upon realizing he's about to step out into the waters.

As they swim away from Ogremon, Jou curses the fate that's befallen him one more time.

Jou: I knew it was a bad idea to come to camp....

While Joe curses his fate in a different way.

Joe: Oh man. I don't like adventure. I'm a 'stay at home and read' kind of guy.

Unfortunately, the fight with Ogremon took a lot out of Ikkakumon. Before long, he loses his evolution and turns back into Gomamon, helplessly plunging both him and Jou into the ocean.

(RIP Senpai. I can't say I'm surprised that you're the first to die but I can be sad for you all the same.)

Meanwhile, on a nearby island shard, Piyomon returns to Sora, hopping over to her. She finds Sora taking a much more proactive approach to the Starving Digimon problem than any of the kids have thus far.

(And yet Koushiro gets the reputation as the smart one.)

Unfortunately, she has to make do with what she has on-hand.

Piyomon: Fishing? Sora: I thought I should try to get some food. Piyomon: You're so smart! I'm starving.... Sora: The bait is just a twig, though. It'd be great if some fish out there thought it was a worm... (glancing back at the island) How'd things look in there? Piyomon: I can't see anything because of the fog. I think this might be an island.... (Suddenly, Sora's twig bobber goes underwater) Piyomon: AHH! You caught something! Sora: (struggling with the rod, excited) There is a big fish stupid enough to fall for the twig!

SUCCESS!!! Piyomon braces Sora and helps her pull, struggling to bring in their unbelievably heavy catch! But, to their surprise but not the audience's, their big stupid fish is Jou-senpai.

Meanwhile, in the dub, Biyomon already knew Sora was fishing.

Biyomon: Catch anything? Sora: Not yet. Give me time; I'm hoping to catch something big. Biyomon: I've even be happy if you caught me a little sardine. Sora: Please, I know how hungry you can get. If I caught a huge 'any kind of fish', you'd be right there eating it with me, right? Biyomon: Well, since you put it that way.... Do you really think you can make a big catch? (Suddenly, Sora's twig bobber goes underwater) Biyomon: Oh, look! Maybe there's one now! Sora: Oh boy, it feels like a whale! This is a whopper for sure!

Like Jou's argument with Gomamon, this is a worse scene all around. We lose the brief exposition that Piyomon's been off trying to scout the island, and they removed the funny joke about Jou being a stupid fish in a localization that's actively trying to make things more light-hearted and funny.

While Jou recovers by the fire, Gomamon explains what happened. He woke up underwater, spotted Jou, and tried to carry him to surface. Then he saw Sora's twig bait and hook nearby. He grabbed it, wrapped it around Jou, and let Sora pull them both to surface.

Jou survived his plunge in the murky waters, but Gomamon has other concerns now.

Gomamon: Can I ask for a favor? Piyomon: What is it? Gomamon: It's about Jou. Sora: Is there something wrong with him? Gomamon: He's becoming more timid by the moment. Sora: Well, he never had a strong heart to begin with. Gomamon: We don't know what's going to happen from here on. If he stays like this, we can't have a proper adventure! Piyomon: So what should we do? Gomamon: Let's make him our leader so he can gain confidence.

Gomamon's concerns for Jou are valid, but we also see a bit of Gomamon's flaws creep up when he talks about wanting to have a "proper adventure". This is one of the traits that causes his personality to grate against Jou's; Gomamon's an impulsive thrill-seeker.

Dub Gomamon broaches this subject differently.

Gomamon: I'm worried about Joe. Biyomon: You are? Sora: Joe's going to be just fine, Gomamon. Gomamon: Well, yes. Physically. But I'm worried about his confidence. Fighting Ogremon back there really knocked him out. He needs to rebuild his self-confidence. Biyomon: How can we help him? Gomamon: Very simple: We just make him our leader.

The dub cuts Sora's observation that Jou's always had a weak stomach. That's something we saw for ourselves back in the Unimon episode, when he had his first pressure-induced meltdown. (Over eggs!) Instead, Dub Gomamon blames Ogremon's ambush for Joe being like this.

Which. Uh. Is a choice, to be sure.

"Let's make him our leader" also kinda comes out of nowhere without the context that Jou is the oldest and meant to be responsible for us to begin with. Gomamon's asking Sora to step back and let Jou-senpai take charge like he's been trying to do since episode 1.

Once Jou wakes up, the others put the plan in motion. Jou is initially reluctant once the topic is broached with him.

Jou: Where's everyone else? Sora: We don't know. We just got here ourselves. That's why you should be our leader, Jou-senpai! Gomamon: Agreed! Piyomon: Agreed! Jou: W-W-Wait a minute! Sora: You're the only one who can do it! Gomamon & Piyomon: Right, right! (Jou considers their words. Slowly, the trepidation on his face transforms into determination, and he stands up.) Jou: Fine then! I'll be the leader! (In the distance, a bell rings suddenly) Jou: Huh? ...is that bell ringing to celebrate me being the leader? Sora: Seems unlikely. Piyomon: (gasp) The fog is lifting! (Everyone turns and watches the fog fade away, revealing a church at the top of a hill)

Over in the dub, Joe wakes up rambling about Ogremon, following through on Gomamon's statement that the ambush messed him up.

Joe: Where's Ogremon!? Biyomon: He's gone. Sora: But we've got a bigger problem. We can't find the others. What should we do? We're stuck on this deserted island with no leader so I guess you're going to have to lead us, Joe! Gomamon: I'm for him! Biyomon: And me! Joe: Not me! I am not a leader! Sora: You have to! You're the strongest one here! Biyomon: Not to mention the bravest! Gomamon: Come on, Joe! Remember how you fought the Unimon? (Joe considers their words. Slowly, the trepidation on his face transforms into determination, and he stands up.) Joe: I am brave! You're right! I am the bravest one here! Sora: Well, let's not get too carried away. Joe: Oh. But if I fail, who will save save you or me? Sora: My fish line? (In the distance, a bell rings suddenly. Everyone turns and watches the fog fade away, revealing a church at the top of a hill)

This exchange has some good bits in it. I like Sora playing up their crisis with "We're stranded on a deserted island, help us!" That bit would go great with original Jou's particular anxieties. I also like Gomamon bringing up Unimon, though in the dub he says "the Unimon" for some reason. Might be a line flub.

What i don't like is that, again, they cut out a funny joke in this lighter and goofier rendition. "Do you think the bell's ringing to celebrate me being the leader?" is a great bit. They actually moved the ringing of the bell to get it out of the way for Sora's less funny "My fish line will save us?" bit.

Localizers, why are you removing jokes? Someone didn't understand the assignment.

The ringing of the bell seems to becoming from that church. Where do we go from here, Jou-senpai? Of course, anyone who's been paying attention to Jou knows exactly where his mind's about to go.

Gomamon: It's a church! Jou: There might be humans there this time! Sora: (skeptically) ...you think so? Piyomon: LET'S FIND OUT!!! (starts to fly towards the church) Sora: Wait! Jou is our leader! (turns to Jou) Leader! What do we do? Jou: Huh!? Um uh you see.... (looking absolutely terrified) E-EVERYONE, LET'S GO!!!

For once, Jou's interest in finding humans makes its way into the dub, but only in passing.

Biyomon: What do you suppose it is? Sora: Looks kinda like a church. Joe: Wherever there's a church, there's usually people! Maybe even our friends! Sora: Someone should check it out. Biyomon: I'll go! (starts to fly towards the church) Sora: Wait, Biyomon! Joe's our leader now! (turns to Joe) Well? Lead us! Joe: W-What if we see a bad Digimon? I, uh.... (looking absolutely terrified) I need a moment! ...okay!

From there, they begin their march up the hill. Jou mercifully lets them climb in silence while Joe insists on chanting an army marching cadence. Poor Dub Sora.

At the top, they take in their surroundings and get an understanding of their shard.

Jou: Just like we thought, this place really was a part of File Island before it broke up.

A fairly simple assessment that the dub makes much more complicated, filling dialogue into the scenes of the kids looking around.

Joe: Notice anything? Sora: It all looks sorta familiar to me. As if this were a place I've dreamed about or deja vu. You know, like we've been here before. Joe: You're right. This definitely looks like the part of the island that broke away.

So, in the dub, Sora and Joe are pretty sure they've been to this part of File Island before, even though they have not. Further, I had to listen to this several times to make sure I was hearing it correctly: Joe says "the part of the island that broke away" as if there were only one. I'm hoping that's also a line flub.

Lot of inappropriate the's going around the dub today.

From there, Jou gets into it once more.

Jou: Okay! Now we can finally find humans besides us at that church! Sora: Do you still believe that? Jou: YES! They must be there this time! Sora: But you don't have any proof.... Jou: I AM THE LEADER!!! Sora: Yes, but-- Jou: LET'S GO!!! (races off)

Of note: Every time they say "leader", they're using the English word as a loanword. When Jou comically cuts off the argument with "LET'S GO!!!" and bolts, that's English too.

Again, Joe actually brings up Jou's hangup on finding other people, but in passing once again.

Joe: So, we should find everyone else or at least some other people taking shelter in that church! Sora: You're assuming quite a bit there. Joe: FINE! That's my opinion. Sora: I'm just giving you another view.... Joe: I'M THE LEADER HERE!!! Sora: Okay! Excuse me. Joe: LET'S MOVE OUT!!! (races off)

Without Jou's long history of "I bet there's humans!" followed swiftly by disappointment, it's trickier for the dub to make this brief squabble work. They made more work for themselves by carving out that part of Jou's character earlier.

This isn't a mistake or bad choice on the part of the dub but rather an unfortunate reality of the changing language: Sadly, "LET'S MOVE OUT!!!" doesn't hit as comically as Jou interrupting Sora by screaming "LET'S GO!!!" in English and running off.

As they watch Jou run towards the church, the others hang back to discuss his behavior.

Sora: Why is he getting so worked up? Gomamon: (proudly) He's turning into a leader! Sora: (laughs) Hahaha what.

Dub Gomamon's not so impressed with Joe.

Sora: We've created a monster. Gomamon: Hey, do you think a Black Gear got him? Sora: (laughs) Hahaha Gomamon!

There we go, lighter and goofier dub. That one got me. XD Though the original's good too. Sora refusing to even dignify Gomamon's remark with a response; Instead, she just barks out "Sou ka!" while laughing in his face.

As they approach the church, the team spurs Jou to action.

Piyomon: What's that? Sora: Go take a look, Leader! Jou: HUUUH!? Piyomon: Go look! Sora: LEADER!!! Jou: ... Gomamon: Want me to go? Jou: There's no need for you to do that! I'm the leader, so I'll go! (storms off)

As Jou marches off to investigate the church, the trio exchange self-pleased grins. Meanwhile, in the dub:

Biyomon: Who's going in? Sora: What are you waiting for!? Joe: Uhhh huhhhhhh... Biyomon: What's wrong? Sora: Well, boss? Joe: ... Gomamon: Joe, you're the leader! (annoyed) Do you want me to take a peek? Joe: No, I don't want you taking a peek! I can't wait to go in there! (storms off) Gomamon: I think it worked.

Lateral difference here; They're mostly the same, but I do like how the Japanese version manages to do more with fewer words. At one point, Sora's literally just chanting the English word "LEADER!!!" at Jou.

Making his way inside, Jou finds a most unexpected sight.

Man, I sure am glad nobody spoiled the intrigue and suspense of this moment by calling it the Bakemon Holiday right at the start of the episode! No, I kid; That was probably necessary in order to preserve the tension to come.

Creeping around the church, Jou discovers a group of humans in human-faced masks dancing together. He races frantically back to the others and delivers the news: There's people in the church.

Jou: There really are humans here! Lots of them!

Joe delivers the same news but he's judgmental about it.

Joe: There are people in the church! Dancing! Badly, I might add.

Rude. XD

Jou brings the others back to his peeping spot to see what he found.

As the group observes the dancing people, they don't notice a man in a mask coming up behind them.

Jou: Why are they dancing? Sora: Is it a festival? Masked Man: This is a carnival where we give offerings to Bakemon-sama.

Horror scare chords play as he speaks, and the kids scream in panic. To be expected; He said they give offerings to "Bakemon-sama", which is sure to set off alarm bells in any Japanese person's head.

Bakemon is named for the word "bakemono". It's an umbrella category of shapeshifting yokai known for taking on the form of a variety of things, including impersonating humans. To my understanding, it's also a general term for "spooker" in common parlance.

Either way, "Bakemon-sama" is a red flag to be sure. He might as well have said, "Here, we give offerings to Lord Slender Man." This is probably why the episode had to spoil the "Bakemon Festival" earlier, so American kids could have their skin crawl too.

In the dub, we get this exchange.

Sora: There are people. They're dancing and they're wearing masks like it's Halloween. Masked Man: Hallow-what?

Bit of a weak line, but it still works within the context of the scene. When the kids scream and panic, it's in reaction to the man's presence moreso than what he said.

The masked man brings the kids inside the church, where six other masked people are gathered around an altar. As they enter, Gomamon has something bothering him.

Gomamon: I'd like to ask something. Masked Man: ...go on. Gomamon: You mentioned a Bakemon-sama. Masked Man: Yes. Gomamon: The Bakemon I know is a ghost Digimon who lives in the Overdell Graveyard. I don't think he's worthy of being given offerings and having '-sama' added to his name. Piyomon: Me neither. Masked Man: (leans in close to the Digimon) God does not forgive those who speak rudely of Bakemon-sama! Gomamon: Sorry! Piyomon: Sorry! Sora: Where's your offering? I don't see it anywhere. Masked Man: It's here. Jou: Huh? Where? Masked Man: Our offering to Bakemon-sama is YOU!!!

Over in the dub, the Masked Man is much more verbose as he brings the kids into the church.

Masked Man: They're celebrating the Bakemon Holiday. Joe: It reminds me of Halloween! Masked Man: We'd love to have you join us. We don't have a lot of young people around, and no holiday is complete without them! You arrived just in time for some... fun.... Joe: Like trick-or-treat? You do that for Bakemon? Masked Man: Yes. Gomamon: Wait, Bakemon? As in Lord Bakemon? Masked Man: Yes? Gomamon: But the only Bakemon I know of is a horrible Digimon who lives among ghosts as their ruler. Why would you honor and celebrate someone like that? In the words of our friends, he's like a loser! Biyomon: You got that right! Masked Man: (leans in close to the Digimon) Don't you dare come in here telling us who to honor or not! Gomamon: Now, now! Biyomon: Back off! Sora: You're a little touchy. We just wanna know when the trick-or-treating starts. Masked Man: You're not afraid? Whole Kid Group: Nuh-uh! Masked Man: Well, you should be. Because it's a TRICK!!! AND YOU'RE THE TREAT!!!

They really play that Halloween thing for all its worth. That's fair; "It's a trick and you're the treat" is a payoff that goes hard. Credit where it's due, that is fantastic wordplay for a guy hearing about trick-or-treat for the first time in this conversation. Mad improv skills.

Though they're forced to stretch for the Bakemon-sama bit. Gomamon himself has to ID him as "Lord Bakemon" so he can then go off on how inappropriate the honorific is. Probably should have let the Masked Man refer to "Lord Bakemon" for that; It's awkward as is.

The man's mask cracks in front of the kids' eyes. Then it breaks and the bakemono reveals its true form.

Specifically, Bakemon himself, an Adult-stage Virus-type Ghost Digimon.

Narrator: Bakemon. A ghost Digimon that wears a white sheet. No one knows what its true form looks like underneath.

Gomamon handles the rundown for the dub.

Gomamon: The Masked Man was the evil Digimon Lord Bakemon in disguise! No one had ever seen him in his true form!

Once again, the original manages to be funnier than the dub. Bakemon is an actual ghost doing the "spooky white sheet to look like a ghost" bit. XD This is such a goofy episode.

The other worshippers turn towards the kids, shedding their human guises and revealing themselves to be Bakemon as well. In the dub, they shout "Trick!" "Or!" "Treat!" as they do, committing to the bit.

The kids panic and flee outside, only to find themselves in Overdell Graveyard. The dancing humans were also Bakemon this whole time.

Then, at last, the church itself changes, revealing it to be decayed and decrepit.

No option left but to fight. Piyomon lets off a Magical Fire to scatter the Bakemon while Gomamon tries to evolve; However, he used up what strength he had earlier, so no dice.

Gomamon: I can't evolve now because I used it up earlier!

The dub uses this to pay off the food argument from the start of the episode.

Gomamon: I need food! You were right, I should have saved some earlier.

If he'd saved it earlier, Ogremon probably would have killed them both. But they're trying to give this episode some semblance of a story arc after erasing the key points of it.

Piyomon tries to evolve as well, but she's too hungry. Defenseless and surrounded by Bakemon, the kids are completely outmatched. The Bakemon swarm and overwhelm them easily.

"Ow! No! I'm allergic! I'm allergic to pain!" ~Dub Joe, relieving the tension with a pretty good gag. XD

Gomamon and Piyomon are thrown in a dungeon cell. The Bakemon tie up Jou and Sora on their altar, gathering around it and beginning their ritual. They aren't saying anything in specific in the original, but in the dub they chant, "It's a trick! You're the treat!"

Jou: Are we going to be offered to Bakemon-sama? Sora: Looks like. Jou: (bawling) I knew I should have stayed at home studying instead of coming to camp! (A pair of Bakemon approach with salt and pepper shakers. They season the kids, causing Jou to sneeze.) Sora: I-I think you should go light on the salt, don't you? Bakemon: You're right. They say eating too many salty things is bad for your health. Jou: I knew it! Bakemon-sama is planning to eat us! Sora: Just who is this Bakemon-sama!?!?

Glad to see Sora looking out for Bakemon-sama's health. His worshippers were about to give him high blood pressure. XD

Over in the dub, Joe's still trying to take charge and be the leader.

Joe: Okay, don't panic. I'm still in control and feeling strong. Sora: Okay. Joe: (bawling) I don't wanna be somebody's appetizer! I'm supposed to go to Med School! (A pair of Bakemon approach with salt and pepper shakers. They season the kids, causing Joe to sneeze.) Sora: Salt and pepper? You're not really going to eat us, are you? Bakemon: You're a little on the scrawny side, but you'd be surprised what the right seasonings can do! Joe: You think we can finagle him into dining on someone a bit bigger? Sora: What kind of fiend is this guy!? We're just kids!

Here, the dub finally nails the "Why did I go to camp" bit with Joe's exclamation about Med School. Additionally, Joe trying to weasel out of this by convincing Bakemon to eat someone else is fun. Meanwhile, the original has the funny salt exchange. So both versions of this scene are pretty good.

Down in their cells, Gomamon and Piyomon plot what to do. They need to escape somehow but they're starving.

Gomamon: The walls are too thick to break down. Piyomon: We have to get out somehow. Bakemon: (snores) Gomamon: Let's trick that Bakemon into getting us out. He looks stupid enough. Piyomon: What makes you think he's gullible? Gomamon: Digimon who sleep with a mucus bubble coming out of their noses are easy to fool. Piyomon: Is it really a good idea to judge based on that? Gomamon: Yep! Piyomon: So how do we do it?

It's true. Sleeping with a snot bubble while on guard duty is a universal indicator of being a hapless rube.

Over in the dub, the roles are reversed.

Biyomon: There must be a way out of here. Gomamon: Maybe we've been looking in all the wrong places. Biyomon: There's not much room to look in this place. Bakemon: (snores) Biyomon: Hey! We may be able to trick the guard and escape? Gomamon: We may be able to trick him? I think that's a given; He doesn't look too smart. Biyomon: Right. So first we have to try and wake him up. Gomamon: And how are we gonna do that? Look at him. For a ghost, he sleeps like a log! Biyomon: We just have to get his attention or we'll never escape! But I'm all out of ideas! Gomamon: I think I have just the thing.

Again with carving the funny bits. Why did you remove the mucus bubble call-out?

To get Bakemon's attention, Gomamon picks up a rock and pops his mucus bubble with it, waking him up. Then we get the most amazing exchange in the entire episode.

Gomamon: Bakemon! Bakemon: Are you talking to me? Gomamon: I am. Bakemon: What do you want? Gomamon: Try to torture us. Bakemon: What. Piyomon: We want to be tortured! Bakemon: You two are weird Digimon. Gomamon: We're hungry. You should eat something in front of us to torture us. Bakemon: Huh!? Gomamon: Could it be that this graveyard is so poor, you don't even have any food? Bakemon: What!? No! We have tons of food! Piyomon: Then torture us with it! Bakemon: Okay....

This poor Virus is so baffled right now, it's amazing. XD

Obviously, the dub was never going to let these characters start shrieking, "Torture me, Virus-sama!" No way in hell that makes it to broadcast on FOX Kids. But they still try their best to make this scene their own.

Bakemon: Hey! What's the idea!? Gomamon: So, when do you start? Bakemon: Start what? Gomamon: Start taunting us, you floating bag of wind! Bakemon: Wha--? Biyomon: You give bad Digimon a bad name! Bakemon: But I haven't learned how to taunt anyone yet.... Biyomon: It's easy! You just find out what we want, then don't let us have it. Bakemon: Huh? Gomamon: Here's how you taunt. We're starving and want to eat. So you show us food but don't give it to us, got it? Bakemon: I think I gotcha! You know, I've got a bunch of bananas.... Biyomon: Then taunt us with them! Come on! Bakemon: Okay!

This is pretty clever. Playing off their Bakemon being dim-witted, Gomamon and Biyomon trick him into letting them teach him how to be cruel. It's not nearly as funny, but it captures the spirit of Torture Me, Senpai in a way that would be acceptable to American censors.

Bakemon goes and retrieves a bunch of purple bananas. Real bananas, not like those imposter bananas Mimi found. He tries simply peeling one and eating it, but they explain that they can't see. They're too hungry to see or smell the bananas; He needs to come closer.

Once he's close enough to the bars, Gomamon and Piyomon grab him, yanking him forward and knocking him out. With bananas in hand, Gomamon and Piyomon satiate their hunger.

Up in the church, the Bakemon prepare their ritual.

Jou: My soul tastes awful! Sora: What? Are you saying mine tastes better!? Jou: Yes! It probably tastes better than mine! Sora: JOU-SENPAI!!! And you call yourself a leader!?

Jou is now actively trying to throw Sora under the bus to save himself. That's not very senpai of you, Jou.

The dub edits this to remove Jou's supreme moment of cowardice.

Joe: You don't want to eat me; I'm mostly gristle anyway. Sora: What's that supposed to mean? Are you saying they should eat me first!? Joe: Oh, can't you see it's curtains for both of us!? Sora: Oh, go have your pity party somewhere else!

A much softer interpretation that cuts out Jou explicitly saying they should eat Sora instead of him.

The Bakemon perform the ritual, swirling together above the kids to merge together into a single huge Bakemon. With visible claws.

The process of merging into Bakemon-sama is silent in the original, but the dub has the lesser Bakemon perform a chant.

Bakemon: We're scary ghosts! / We like to boo! / Now it's time / to boo on you!

Once formed, Bakemon-sama descends upon the children, preparing to devour them. However, right at that moment, something bursts up through the floor behind the altar.

Don't know about you but I wouldn't want to be under that sheet right now.

Sora and Jou come untied... somehow, it's not super clear which titanic Digimon carefully snipped their ropes. They race out into the graveyard to take cover behind graves while the explosive battle takes place.

Bakemon uses his signature Hell's Hand to deflect Ikkakumon's Harpoon Vulcan and Birdramon's Meteor Wing. We're throwing everything we have at him, but he's taking it all.

Suddenly, Jou has a revelation.

Sora: Bakemon-sama is much stronger than I thought! Jou: Well, he's a ghost! (lightbulb) To fight against ghosts, you need to chant a sutra praying for God's good grace! Sora: Chant what!? Jou: By chanting the sutra, Bakemon-sama's power will weaken! Sora: Can you do that? Jou: Yes! Sora: Do you know any sutras? Jou: My rural grandmother taught me one so I could pray to do better on my exams. Sora: ...will that work against Bakemon-sama? Jou: It's a sutra. It has to work! Sora: What's with this sudden confidence? You're scaring me!

For fuck's sake. You can feel the localizers crying with every scene of this episode. Okay. Now we have to scrub the religious references from Jou praying to God for holy power to weaken Bakemon.

Hahaha. Ahahahaha. Ahahahahahaha. Okay, Joe. Let's see what you've got.

They start by chopping up the footage. The shot for Sora's first line is cut and Joe's first line is trimmed down. They reframe his lightbulb realization as him watching the fight and exclaiming, "WHOA!" and only use that shot for the duration of the reaction.

To fill back in the runtime for the shots they cut, they replay Bakemon parrying Harpoon Torpedo and Meteor Wing. But they put a commercial break between the original attacks and the replays so it's not as noticeable.

This way, Joe is confident and self-assured right from the get-go. We don't see his transformation from terrified to suddenly realizing he knows what to do. He's just got this on lock.

Sora: Lord Bakemon is tough! Joe: His power comes from evil. But I know that good can beat him in time. Sora: Ohh, what if it's too late!? Joe: It's never too late to fight evil! But we have to weaken Lord Bakemon to help our friends prevail! Sora: We!? You're the leader, not me! Joe: Don't be a quitter! Sora: So what makes you think that we can beat him? Joe: I once saw a show about this Roman physicist. He believed that repeating a phrase helped you focus mind over matter. Sora: Let's focus on running! Joe: No. We focus on making Bakemon lose his power! Sora: ...okay, you're in charge. Start focusing.

Wow, it's funny that the dub cut the line about eating Sora instead because they nonetheless threw her on the fire to make Joe look good here. She goes from being uncertain about Jou's plan and probing for details to full-on cowardly so that Joe can encourage her.

Using Sora's hat as a ritual drum, Jou performs his sutra to weaken Bakemon-sama. Meanwhile, Joe performs his definitely not a prayer mind-over-matter affirmation, intoning "Bakemon lose your power" again and again. They can't say he needs a ritual drum, so Sora instead simply suggests that we "use [her] lucky hat".

The sutra works, gradually diminishing Bakemon in size and power. Once he's weakend, Jou leaps up and gives the order to open fire on him.

Birdramon and Ikkakumon's shots hit home, causing Bakemon to explode in a shower of fabric confetti.

Sora: I have no idea what just happened but that was so cool!

I guess this makes up for trying to get Bakemon to eat Sora instead of him earlier.

Once again, the dub cuts out this great line and replaces it with something much more generic.

Sora: Way to go, guys! You got Bakemon!

Why. Why do you keep removing the funny.

Bakemon's... defeat? Death? Unclear. Whatever happened to Bakemon ruptures a seam in the ground, revealing the Black Gears.

We don't even need to touch them. They stop moving suddenly, then fall apart. Rather than going into reverse, they break entirely. So this shard's not going back to Infinity Mountain like the previous two are.

That's okay, though. We have transportation.

Reasoning that the rest of the group will be over there, Jou and Sora leave their shard behind and set sail for Infinity Mountain. We close on the pair riding off to an uncertain fate.

Assessment: In contrast to the previous two episodes, this one doesn't give Sora much of a character study. It's Jou's episode from start to finish. Sora agrees to Gomamon's plan, following Jou around to puff up his confidence. She questions and scrutinizes him repeatedly but remains firmly in that area.

They squabble repeatedly, but it never feels like it's pitting them against one another, the way the previous episodes did for Taichi & Yamato and for Mimi & Koushiro. Instead, the focus is on pushing Jou to his lowest, then raising him to his highest.

By the end of the episode, he feels like he's genuinely become the reliable upperclassmen that he's been trying to be. His plan against Bakemon relies on not just leadership, but drawing from knowledge that Sora hasn't yet had a chance to learn.

At the same time, this is the funniest episode the show's had thus far. Overflowing with absurdity.

On the other hand, the previous episode with Mimi and Koushiro was the best dubbed episode we've had yet. This one was the worst. They carved out so much and only sometimes had something as good to replace it with. A lot of it they had to carve out but there's also plenty that they didn't. Multiple places where they made a choice to be less funny or less interesting.

[kideternity]

Okay now i've finished Adventure let me write up my full thoughts about the season. This will be less structured than the Tamers review and I apologise for that, I just kind of had a different watching experience with Adventure and thus sort of format my feelings about it in a different way idk. Whatever the case, here’s my full review of Adventure under the cut, and if you don’t care about that, then here’s the TLDR;

I liked adventure! I had a lot of fun watching it. It’s not a perfect season, but nothing is, and whilst I am going to take a break for now, I'm excited to start Digimon Adventure 02 in the foreseeable future.

-First, I do want to highlight things I really enjoyed. I really loved the animation and art style- I know its seen as very cheesy and dated and not the best animated (Most notable example that comes to mind is reusing the animation for special moves) but IDC, I love the cartoony style and I've always been very endeared to older styles of animation and how they make use of the medium.

-I liked the kids! I liked the kids a lot! They’re good kids! The cast of adventure is absolutely a highlight, and I can see why Bandai always goes back to them for use in future projects, whether or not that’s ultimately a good thing.

-Whilst I personally prefer the more Urban Sci-fi / Fantasy settings of Tamers and Savers, The Isekai approach lends itself to be a good way to immediately show off the digital world and the creatures within it, and to start exploring the worldbuilding within. I like the worldbuilding of Adventure! It felt kind of more purposely vague then Tamers and Savers, but it’s an interesting world they set up, and I'd like to see more of it explored

-I missed the global aspect of Tamers and even Savers. Though I can’t really fault Adventure, being as it was literally THE first season ever, for staying strictly in Japan. I just personally enjoyed how large and expansive things got in Tamers, and how people from all over the world were involved. I will say, I did appreciate Adventure also having more unorthodox or complicated family dynamics- such as Yamato and Takeru being the kids of divorce who aren’t able to 24/7 be around each other, or how Koushiro is adopted. It’s always a breath of fresh air to see media, especially for kids, tackle these sorts of things with nuance and grace.

-The soundtrack was absolutely gorgeous. Probably my favourite out of all of the soundtracks so far- there was just so much passion and emotion packed into each musical piece.

-Tone and themes were fairly consistent throughout, mostly due to the fact that Adventure doesn’t really have any sort of grand overarching messaging like Tamers or Savers did. I would assume, due to being again, the first season of anime, it cared more about plot and characters than trying to Say anything too radical. Hence, the themes follow pretty standard “good versus evil” tropes, as well as the power of compassion and community and optimism and hope that digimon usually utilises in each of its different stories across mediums, instead of anything more complex, like Tamers attempts at dissecting morality and violence, and Savers discussing the inherent value of lives that aren’t humans and trying to understand those not like you. Adventure plays it safe, and doesn’t get burned because of it, which I can’t fault.

-The villains are. Eh. They’re entertaining but none of them are necessarily very well written. The most well written villain was Pinochimon, and ignoring that i'm a biased party, most people seem to agree with me on this. Vamdemon was definitely the most intimidating and well built up antagonist. Apocalymon has a really cool and sympathetic concept, and I wish he had been focused on more. Generally, due to the nature of Adventure's “good versus evil” tropes, a lot of the villains aren’t really allowed any sort of nuance or are portrayed in a “They're Inherently Damnable Let's Kill Em” sort of way, which is unfortunate. Only Ogremon top of my head really gets any sort of minor redemption at the end without dying for it, ala Wizarmon, Gottsumon and Pumpkinmon.

-Like Tamers, Adventure is much more open to the idea of making horny jokes and talking about romance, which I do not enjoy, and it was by far the worst one when it came to that in my opinion. Why were there so many jokes about masc digimon hitting on Mimi. Stop that right this instant.

-Generally, I would say plot and character writing is a mixed bag. None of it is necessarily godawful, but you can tell that Adventure was very haphazardly and sloppily written. There’s a lot of inconsistencies in the writing- a lot of new characters or story elements are sort of abruptly added out of nowhere with no real build up and which sometimes ultimately don’t really matter all that much. It has definitely the worst pacing out of the seasons I've seen so far- Again, Building up momentum to then just suddenly stop and spill exposition on you. Savers and Tamers had issues too, but their handling of the plot was usually much tighter and the writing much more concise. Whilst I love the kids, and they do definitely get their own character arcs, none of them are written equally in that regard and often times it leads to situations where some characters get their arcs finished early and then stay stagnant for the rest of the season (Sora and Koushiro) whilst others only get major character writing near the very end (Yamato). It also definitely played favourites with some of them lol. Random things will interject in pivotal moments and the arcs for each different villain all have entirely different vibes to one another. Truthfully, it does come across as a much of mini stories hazily slapped together in an attempt to create a Larger Grander Narrative. Which, again, it was their first attempt ever creating an anime for Digimon, so I suppose I can’t blame them too much for this. It’s a miracle this took off so well in the first place.

Again, there’s definitely stuff I'm missing that i'd have wanted to say, but as a whole, again, I like Adventure! It’s not my favourite season of the digimon anime, and I can definitely understand the frustration for Bandai constantly milking it as a cash cow for the nostalgia points. But, I do think as a whole it holds up for the most part, at least for a kids anime from the late 90s, and Again, I don’t regret having watched it.

[taikouvember]

Taikouvember 2024 - Prompt Guideline:

Day 2, Tuesday, November 5th 2024: Love

"Love refers to a feeling of strong attraction and emotional attachment, encompassing a range of strong and positive emotional and mental states, from the most awe-inspiring virtue or good habit, the deepest interpersonal affection, to the simplest pleasure. In its various forms, love acts as a major facilitator of interpersonal relationships and most commonly refers to compassionate and affectionate actions towards other humans, oneself, or animals. Love can be considered to be both positive and negative, with its virtue representing human kindness, compassion, and affection – and  its opposing end representing a human moral flaw closest to vanity, selfishness and egotism, potentially leading people into a type of mania, obsessiveness, or codependency."

What is your favourite aspect about Taichi's and Koushiro's romantic potential with one another? What do you think makes them work out as a couple, how do you think their dynamic might look like? What kinds of habits and routines would they have? Are there any hardships they would have to overcome together? Do you have fluffy and cheesy headcanons about their love?

Additional idea: What is your favourite aspect about their relationship/dynamic with Sora?

Alternate prompts: Adventure / Calm (2022) & Past / Future (2023)

Take a look at the prompts of the other days too!

Day 1, Monday, November 4th: Friendship

Day 3, Wednesday, November 6th: Sincerity

Day 4, Thursday, November 7th: Reliability

Day 5, Friday, November 8th: Hope

Day 6, Saturday, November 9th: Light

Day 7, Sunday, November 10th: Kindness / Miracles

[dutchforstrangers]

Lynn writes Digimon - 2022 Masterlist [in progress]

Sora Takenouchi appreciation week | March 20th - March 26th

[Endless soaring love | Day 1: Piyomon | Sora x Piyomon] [A flower's glow | Day 2: Flowers | Sora x Hikari] [From another mister | Day 3: Friends & family | Sora x Mimi] [Twinkling and blazing | Day 4: Love/Compassion | Sora x Miyako x Iori] [Does this tell you enough? | Day 5: Sports | Sora x Daisuke x Ken] [Rich, proud and purple | Day 6: Fashion | Sora x Haruhiko x Toshiko] [Silly boys | Day 7: Free day | Sora x Takeru x 01 boys]

x x x

Taichi Yagami appreciation week | May 15th - May 21st

[Little light | Day 1: Hikari & Agumon | Taichi x Hikari x Agumon] [Seven/eleven friends | Day 2: Friends | Taichi x Jyou] [Dream big | Day 3: Mentor | Taichi x OC!son, with mentions Susumu, Gennai and Daigo] [Privilege | Day 4: Goggles | Taichi x Yamato x Koushiro] [Before it falls | Day 5: Courage | Taichi x Daisuke] [Blurry vision | Day 6: Growing up | Taichi x Mimi]

x x x

Taiora 2022 monthly events | February - December 2022

[A loving reminder | February: Valentine's Day] [Blossoming hearts | April: Hanami] [Alive | May: Rainy month]

Taiora week 2022 | ???

In progress

x x x

Astrology headcanon birthday fics continuation | [x]

[Coffee for the soul | Sora Takenouchi - 21st of March] [... | Jyou Kido - 11th of May In progress]

x x x

Requests and other events

[Treasure | requested by Eve | Taiora x Koushiro x Yamato] [Snow in August | for Digiweek 2022 Day 7 and Odaiba Mermorial Day | POV: Taichi]

x x x

Sway with me - Taiora & Koukari multi chapter | [AO3] [FF.net]

Chapter 3: Just dance partners [AO3 / FF.net]

x x x

Here with you - multichapter, Taichi and Sora centered

Chapter 1: Prologue [In progress]

[o-w-quinlan]

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)

[ahiddenpath]

Post Major Arcana Thoughts

I had a few “aha” moments about the Chosen while selecting and writing up the Major Arcana cards.  Of course, tarot cards are amazing for helping Seekers notice patterns and new ways of connecting ideas- that’s why we use them!  So I shouldn’t be surprised, but I still kind of am!  And I wanna share those thoughts beneath the cut.

When I say stuff like “outer strength” vs “inner strength,” I’m speaking in terms of my understanding of the tarot.  I’m sure there are many definitions for these ideas, in general.

Outer Strength (strength expressed as action) vs Inner Strength (strength expressed as resilience/maturity)

I assigned The Chariot to Yamato and Strength to Hikari.  The Chariot is about taking action, reaching goals through effort, and persevering in the face of obstacles.  The other half of the coin is Strength, a card about keeping calm and composed in difficult times, persevering through strength of character.  

You may think that The Chariot is ruled by fire (suit of passion) and Strength is ruled by water (suit of emotions), but in fact- it’s the opposite!  Isn’t that an interesting reversal!  

But I think The Chariot is ultimately about control: the Seeker must control their emotions, efforts, and energy on the task to see it through.  Self-control, self-mastery, self-assertion, which all point back to regulating emotions (water).  And, of course, emotional control is something Yamato struggles with- which is why this card is both who he is, and a goal he reaches towards (and something I personally really want to see him achieve- I’d love to read a fic dedicated to this journey). 

In contrast, the battle of compassion over force is ruled by fire- meaning that it’s very much active and passionate, even though the card itself is about gentleness!  Being kind and mastering the Self requires courage and conscious effort.  Even at 8 years of age, Hikari is almost eerily mature.  But while she’s a natural at compassion and composure, we see her struggle to assert herself and allocate some of that compassion towards herself and her needs.  So again, Strength is both who she is and a goal- and, of course, that’s ideal fic material.

But assigning them as opposite sides of the same coin makes me wonder- how do Yamato and Hikari get on, interpersonally?  They’re both intense characters, in their way- Yamato is loudly intense, Hikari quietly so.  And The Chariot is yin energy, while Strength is yang energy!  Oh, I need to know more about these two as... foils isn’t quite the right word, but it’s not exactly wrong?  

Taichi and Koushiro as Action Takers

Taichi and Koushiro are the do-ers of the Chosen, I like to think.  Which isn’t to argue that the others don’t do stuff- of course they do (for example, I gave Yamato The Chariot, so he’s no slacker)!  But Taichi and Koushiro are on their own level, here.

During the Dark Masters arc, Taichi is the one who pushes the team forward, even though everyone is exhausted and emotionally beaten- because he assesses that they will be caught and defeated if they stay in one place.  At the end of Tri, it’s Taichi who says- well guys, we have to do this, we have to stop Meicoomon.  Even though it’s understood that the Chosen are working together, Taichi is the one who takes on the burden of the decisions by making them, speaking them, and accepting responsibility for them.  This is, of course, a key part of why Taichi is a great leader- he takes the necessary steps to allow his team to continue functioning, even if they come at a high personal price.  And if there are moments where the team, er, isn’t functioning so well, he puts himself at risk to hold the line.

I don’t have to explain Koushiro as a proactive do-er, that’s pretty much his whole life, doing stuff/manifesting/creating/discovering.  And I think that, out of the Chosen, he best understands and accepts the difficult choices Taichi makes.  Obviously, Taichi makes mistakes and isn’t always logical (and definitely not always tactful, lol!), but in the clutch, he does what has to be done.  And Koushiro- he’s always trying to do what has to be done.

Something about assigning them as The Emperor and The Magician really drove that home, although it’s not a new thought for me.  Geez, no wonder these two get on so swimmingly!  They’re very different, but they’re both so driven to move forward and figure things out however they can.  Yamato, too- he’s sort a step behind them (he has the ability, and will step up if needed, but it’s not his natural urge).  Emperor, Magician, Chariot.  LET’S GOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

Miyako is a really cool character you guys

Okay, so tarot works by tapping into ancient archetypes, concepts/characterizations that have been around ever since humans have told stories.  I’m sure you’ve read a zillion metas about how the Adventure cast turns archetypes on their heads, and I’m not arguing- but to do that, you do need to evoke the archetype enough to subvert.  I personally think that I was able to find a fitting Major Arcana card for everyone...

Except Miyako.  

I was originally planning to give her Strength, but the card emphasizes calm, composure, quiet strength.  Every other card seemed to have a better fit for someone or something else.  In the end, I made her The Wheel of Fortune, owing to how dynamic she is, how optimistic, how ready to handle things- and, of course, by how she can overextend herself trying to be all those things.

But it got me thinking about how unique Miyako really is.  She’s smart and capable, she’s loud and confident, she’s direct and maybe a little too blunt, she’s mischievous and snarky and sweet and kind, but is allowed to make mistakes and have days where she isn’t running at 100%.  She’s allowed to have crushes (on boys and girls, at that!) and do kid stuff and also be mature!  She can make friends easily with anyone, boy, girl, her age, younger, older!  

Miyako really breaks the mold.  I respect the hell out of that.

Iori supports justice by defending the wrongfully accused

We all know Iori grows into a defense attorney after watching people change after making mistakes, after seeing the various ways people struggle.  We talk a lot about how 02 is basically the Ken show, and Ken has the single most loving character arc in Adventure- but give some props to Iori, my dudes!  The kid shifted some intense black-and-white thinking into compassion.  That’s amazing.

So yeah!  Using tarot to notice stuff = cool and fun and a good time!  Makes me wish I had a digimon deck D:

[uniarycode]

Digimon Adventure Reboot, Episode 51

Joys of sploilerish knowledge benith the cut

- I guess I Sorta got my wish? They changed the opening by…taking the sound effects out again?

- Relaxing chilling all cool

- Guess who’s back? Garbage, that’s who

- Rude, Tentomon

- You’ve heard of pocket Koushiro, now get ready for pocket Wisemon

- Bokomon, and more than 1

- This tree is like the inside of a computer, somehow, I’m sure.

- Ancientwisemon…ancestor of wisemon? Big if true

- Now we see eight crests there, but OG fans know more than that exist, as was explicitly shown in 02. I think the omission of one in particular is on everyone’s minds, even though it was just a digiegg, that’s right, the crest of Darkness

- You didn’t think I make everything about Ken or Daisuke did you?

- “You can say they existed since the beginning of this world” or 1999, which is like the beginning of the world, if you think about it.

- Why would the researchers call them crests? Words mean things; crests trace back to clan/family heritage. Why are these not glyphs, why won’t this show give me extremely pedantic in universe answers to unnecessary questions with simple out of universe explanations.

- Bbys

- The eye is back

- Uhh, Didin’t the angels summon them there, does Wisemon not know about them? Tailmon is right there, does she not remember this?

- “Even with Millleniummon gone this has not stopped” uh dude that was a like 20 minutes ago, wait for news to spread.

- “there’s an even bigger bad” is literally the least interesting way to frame this and I don’t like it.

- There are known unknowns, and it was good

- Soundbirdmon back after years of irrelevancy?

- Kirby…wait that’s trademarked…Burpmon

- Patatail fail

- (Tailmon is already adult, why isn’t she fighting with the rest?)

- If only there were some way to obtain more power….

- This Digimon gets stronger the more it eats, we can barely handle it, so the answer is of course to feed it more….

- Whatevs

- The great catastrophe is about to begin, give or take some episodes of filler

- Compasses in different directions, so……Separation arc, why would we need a separate reason to focus on all kids at this point in the story, hmm?

- Guess who’s the special snowflake

- So in the world-altering fight that involved Wargreymon launching out of the atmosphere and channeling unfathomable amounts of energy, it was the dragons who willingly transferred some power that got fatigue.

- everyone: “Hot spring! :D” Tailmon: “Water? D:”

- (didn’t that hot spring get destroyed when Jou met Yamato again?)

- The squads are: Taiora, baby sitter Jou + pupper, Kou and the brain gang, Mimi and servant # 100, and Yamato’-is-not-doing-anything-Gabumon-just-wanted-to-run, his well-established character trait.

- I wonder what might happen on this separation arc revolving around the crests.

- Oh, next encyclopedia is of Hououmon, in an episode title after Hououmon, I really wonder what’s going to happen on this separation arc revolving around the crests.

- (tbh I heard a rumor that episode 52 was Nefertimon based and tried not to put much stock into it, glad to have.)

- I was kinda hoping this episode might tell us…..something? Really anything? All we got was some tree lore and a McGuffin hunt. It worked a little as an arc starter….but still, maybe we could learn something about what the heart means?

[izzyizumi]

Digimon Adventure tri. Pt 3: Kokuhaku ["Confession"] featuring DUO/SHIP: Taichi Yagami x Koushiro Izumi (Taishiro/TaiKou/KouTai) ~ Important QUOTES ~ Foreshadowing ~ [Potential] PARALLELS (across other Medias) {with Novels}

"DON'T YOU {WANT} TO [SEE THEM?!??]" - Koushiro, with voice somewhat RAISED, almost INSISTENT,

"AGUMON AND the REST!" - Koushiro continuing, as Taichi flash-backs;

"IT MADE ME {GLAD} To hear {YOU} speak so casually {openly} to me,"

"I felt like you'd finally OPENED UP {REVEALED} {Your heart} to [ME]."

-Novels!Taichi; to Koushiro; during the (condensed) Mugendramon {Machinedramon} arc tie-in [from Novel written by Adventure-02 series Director + head scriptwriter Hiroyuki Kakudou & with contribution by screenplay writer Hiro Masaki, who contributed often to Koushiro's writing/episodes]

(Koushiro in the Japanese version is known for speaking using "Polite" speech forms, almost overly-so during the vast majority of the wider series canon) [Koushiro also always calls Taichi with the "-san" honorific] {this also continues with Tri!Koushiro's speech}

Gifs by @izzyizumi / @koushirouizumi​ {Do Not Repost or Reproduce without my Permission} {Do Not Remove Caption} (Please Ask to Use)

Image usage rules under the ‘read more’!

{Additional note: this post is mainly intended AS [SPECIFIC] DUO/SHIP (KouTai/Taishiro). please remember + respect this when interacting} please tag with the ship name[s] and DO NOT tag as only “brotp” or the like only*, thank you!} (*It is ok if you tag as “friendship” or the like along WITH the ship!!) {Failure to acknowledge interacting rules WILL result in a block}

[Note: Tags/replies that are Positive/respectful are ok!]

[koushirouizumi]

Koushiro felt that {Koushiro} should at least give {Babumon} a response {to Babumon's relentless vocalization}, but because {Koushiro} had lost {Koushiro's} words, {Koushiro} could not speak. As if {Babumon} could sense that, Babumon’s eyes directed Koushiro to the laptop {Koushiro} was always carrying in {Koushiro}'s backpack. When Koushiro rested the laptop in {Koushiro's} lap, {Koushiro} typed into the keyboard: >I’m sorry for making you degenerate.

"Babu, babu, babu!!" >Since I don’t have my inquisitive heart, I'm not very sure about this… but I feel that I have been {tricked}. "Babu, babu," Babumon agreed, nodding its head. >Babumon, will you help me take back my inquisitive heart? Babumon could only say "Babu, babu," but to Koushiro’s ears, he could hear the nostalgic tinge of Kansai dialect in Tentomon’s voice telling {Koushiro}, "Of course, Koushiro-han!"

Digimon Adventure Novel; “The Inquisitive Heart” Translation from Digital Scratch (Link in the comments)

[sakurarebin]

“To Sora” Flower Arrangement

Here are the meanings of each of the flowers from the Ikebana in “To Sora”, and who I think is associated with each flower for friendship. 

Yellow Daisy (Takeru):

Like orange daisies, yellow gerberas represent friendship. They do so in a slightly different way, however. Yellow flowers represent and celebrate the trust, compassion and respect that friends share. While orange celebrates the warmth of new and old friends, yellow is more appropriate for close friends whose bond extends beyond the more bubbly aspects of interaction.

Baby Blue Eyes (Yamato):

Baby Blue Eyes means congratulations on your success. It also has another interesting meaning in a therapeutic sense: “It can be helpful for those who put a mask or cover over their painful sensitivity, and instead display defensive characteristics of cynicism and mistrust, emotional isolation, or even anti-social and criminal tendencies. This beautiful, blue-eyed flower seems to move straight to the individual's hardened personality, softening and healing the soul's conflict.” It also is helpful to reveal the true self, which works really well for Yamato since that being true to himself is a big part of his character development.

Orange Daisy (Taichi):

Bright and cheerful, it's hard to mistake the meaning of orange gerbera daisies for anything but a warm and cheery message. Appropriate for both close and new friends, orange daisies represent friendships, and the warmth, joy and happiness they bring into your life.

Pink Hydrangea (Mimi or Hikari)

Means heartfelt emotion, gratitude for being understood, and in Japan hydrangeas can be a symbol of apology. I've been associating most of these flowers to the colors of the crest. However, these ones make more sense for Mimi, especially given the phone call. If these represent Mimi, then this ikebana is focusing on the original 7. In the hanakotoba (language of the flowers), Hydrangeas mean pride.

Lupine (Koushiro)

I thought that it was lavender at first, but after talking to a friend, we decided it was lupine instead. The color array is correct even. Lupines mean happiness, creativity, imagination, and voraciousness. Which is very fitting for Koushiro. 

White Magonolia Buds (Jou)

So, I think these are white magnolia buds. It is rough since they are so small. But this is the closest I've been able to find. White magnolias are interesting because they have a lot of messages that tend to vary widely. It tends to represent a love of nature (main hanakotoba meaning), as well as purity and dignity. It is commonly used in bridal bouquets due to its meaning of purity. I do find it interesting that they decided to use the buds rather than the full flowers.

Poppy (Sora)

So this one is the most fascinating to me. In Hanakotoba, they mean fun-loving, which is fairly good for Sora. But since they seem to be using a mix of western and traditional meanings for some of the flowers, I find it fascinating that they used poppies. Poppies are normally associated with sleep and death. In a figurative sense, Sora is leaving behind her role as a chosen child and I think it is also supposed to subtly reference this. I also love the fact that all of the flowers are surrounding the poppies. She is being surrounded by all of her friends.

[lightchildofthespring]

Episode five, things we’ve learned about Koushiro:

He’s super chill while inside Whamon! Is he related to Sora or something?

At least Tentomon points out how strange the boy’s calm is, but Koushiro explains that it’s better to get information, aka doing something useful instead of panicking, which earns Tentomon’s admiration.

I wonder if this is set up to a clash with Mimi’s way of thinking. Although, from what we saw from the preview, she could be more of an outside the box problem solver than someone who panics easily (I’m basing this solely on Mimi being a leader and protector of a kingdom of digimon. I wonder if being raised to inherit a tech company led her to develop leadership skills).

Okay, back to Koushiro!

I liked how they showed his compassion for Whamon, hurrying Tentomon to get away from the whale digimon so it could run (swim?) to safety, which makes Tentomon admire Koushiro even more! Honestly, is Tentomon representing the writers of the show? I can tell that they have lots of love for Koushiro, which fills me with happiness.

Koushiro tries to find a pattern in the attacks, trying to help Tentomon even while being in great peril. As if that wasn’t enough to illustrate how the boy puts the needs of others before his own, Koushiro tells Tentomon to let go of him, so he could attack. Tentomon doesn’t want to do that, because he wants to protect the boy above everything else. However, it gets to a point where the digimon doesn’t have other choice but to let go of Koushiro, but it’s clear that his priority still is to protect the human (and we can tell that Koushiro sees this even before the evolution! He’s surprised but also touched! Is this how he reacts to anyone being kind and caring for him? We need Koushiro’s backstory asap!).

The final part with him flying on Kabuterimon’s head and saying that he wonders if he had gone alone to that place just to meet Tentomon was so cute! Could he possibly believe in fate or something like that? Could it be a way to rationalize the death of his parents? Maybe I’m just really reaching here. When Kabuterimon asks the boy to repeat what he said because he hadn’t heard it and Koushiro blushes (first actual blush in the show so far!), the human gets so embarrassed! The kid insists that he hadn’t said anything. I wonder if he was thinking aloud when he said it or if Koushiro had a moment of emotional bravery and opened up to his partner, but regret it immediately after. Hopefully, being open with his emotions will tie to his arc. Get comfortable talking about your feelings, Koushiro! And also tell us your backstory, please!

One last thing: if Taichi and Sora are going to find Mimi, the chances of Koushiro running into Yamato increase! Let those two be awkward around each other, Toei! Bonus points if Jyou is there too trying to break the ice!

[earlgreymon]

i have a navigation page now! yay!

you can access it by clicking the link above, or you can also click on the compass in sidebar. while this page makes me look like an adventure extremist WHICH I AM, i use yamato-mimi-takeru-jyou’s color combination to differentiate it with my main page (which uses taichi-sora-hikari-koushiro’s colors).

[goliath-de-senfina-sango]

Who wants to read my discord chat thoughts?  Everyone?  yes?  ok

Rex - Today at 9:33 PM So i'm not sure any of you care to hear but its my channel so here i shallramble So i was thinking about digimon earlier Hikari's crest? A dumb crest Now i thought she was nice, she power boosted everyone etcetera but like Light isn't a personality trait that can be measured Its not a character trait to develop overtime or display You're basically calling her a demigod and closing the book there So i thought to myself: what personality traits does Hikari show? Two came to mind Empathy and Compassion Ok 1 trait two names Hikari felt deeply for all sentient life she encountered She, as an 8 year old girl, gave up herself to save the lives of the other people around her To a vampire she just watched murder someone else RIGHT in front of her She heals digimon she saw hurt with her simple fury at seeing them hurt and killed in front of her So I'm calling Hikari the chosen child of empathy of course other things in Digimon could've been expanded upon frankly I know that tey were literally making things up as they went so i don't blame them but if each character could be boiled down to one character trait that they are supposed to embody then things would've gone differently had they been planning things out a bit more for instance, Yamato (matt) would've been a bit more friendly toward everyone, like, genuinely friendly.  He's supposed to embody friendship within the group and he does a poor job of it frankly Yamato could've even gone a whole like character arc about how he needs to be more friendly toward everyone else in the group. like htere's a billion ways to express friendship between people and there's various different members of the group Yamato was basically defined as the big brother to Takeru and while that's fine it's not what his arcs shoulda been about like, him bouncing off the others a bit more besides TK (I don't remember him even bouncing that much off TK) and Tai woulda been fun and interesting! Encouraging Izzy to talk with the group and share his ideas a bit more giving Jo some one on one talk about his fears an insecurities sharing his two cents with Mimi and how she complains about everything - and I mean making sure she understands that everyone does know she's upset, but so is everyone else and they're al there for each other Tai leading them as the head of a fight ready to dive in and do what it takes to win Matt as the second in command making sure everyone stays together hell, Matt being a big brother could tie into how he interacts with everyone, treating them like he does TK - worried about their safety and trying to get them behind him or make sure they're running away ahead of him also i'd have changed the order of some things like when Genai appeared the first time he shoulda been like "So you're missing a kid.  Here, come to my place and we'll chat" and then explain to the kids whyt hey need to be int he digital world nad then he'll tell them about the 8th child back on Earth and then send them back cause I know full well that Gennai coulda sent them home any fuckin time or even send Tai back alone, have him do the thing with agumon in the real world while the rest of the team searches for primary village and I know Takeru is young and all digimon recylcle themselves into eggs after death but like i want Patamon's egg to appear in primary village and then Gennai takes them there while Tai is out finding the 8th child Matt and Sora together are consoling him best they can about his dead partner, reminding him that Patamon isn't really dead and with his world thrown into dispair, that's what sets Takeru on his own arc to growing into the role of the Chosen child of Hope cause he rises up from the devistating event and pushes forward with the hope that he'll find patamon's egg, and he'll be with his best friend again and no matter what happens he'll always find his partner again i'm not even sure how to structure Koushiro's arc other than what happened in canon honestly he was always, and I mean always on the search for more information maybe his curiousity gets the better of him and the group on their way to try and find the gate between worlds where Gennai says Tai will reappear (coincidentally where Vamdemon is waiting for them as well, imagine that) and so he gets afraid that his thirst for knowledge and information is going to get him killed, since Kuagamon isn't the strongest mon out there? idk man, Izzy literally just shoved his digivice into the damn laptop and reprogramed his digimon to evolve instead of going through character growth of course that could be how he reaches the next stage this time! Rex - Today at 10:00 PM some event that actually makes him think that giving up his knowledge really is for the best and then once he regains it, he finds the code for evolving to perfect form somewhere int eh files of data that the digimon he traded his curiosity to has stored up and Kabuterimon evoles into megakaburterimon i fuckin forget some things though gonna look up the trait of reliability and get back to this rant