Friday, April 1, 2016

FIF#6-Digimon Adventure Tri


Seven years have passed since eight chosen children traveled to the Digital World and embarked on a quest that changed two worlds.  For Taichi Yamagi, those days are still with him.  But time has taken it’s toll.  His friends have drifted and now Taichi faces a future where they cant all still be together.  However, when digital portals open and familiar foes cross into the real world, the Digidestined (Taichi, Yamato, Sora, Izumi, Joe, Mimi, Takeru and Hikari) are reunited with their life long Digimon Partners.  Why are these portals opening and can they be sealed?  Once again, the fate of two worlds will be decided and the adventure continues.

“Digimon, Digital Monsters.  Digimon are the CHAMPIONS!!!”

If you were a kid watching Fox Kids in the early 2000’s, you knew this jingle and you knew this show.  Digimon arrived on the scene to challenge the popularity of Pokemon (though it’s clear which one overtook the other).  I was a fan, at times I did enjoy it almost a little more than Pokemon.  There wasn’t too much in common between the two entities.  Yeah there were evolutions into more bad ass forms and a creative assortment of creatures.  But beyond that, that was it.  Digimon took place, mostly, on another world and saw the Digidestined using their ever changing partners to take on threats that would end up spreading to Earth.  It was epic and a lot of fun.  I was with it for all of the first season, some of the second season and a lot of the third season (which ditched the Digidestined concept from the first two seasons and focused on a more Matrix like concept).  But my interest waned after three seasons and I didn’t stick around for more.  Still, I remember Digimon a little fondly for when I saw it in my Anime watching history. 

Well after that lengthy bit of history, what did I think of the first couple of episodes of the new Digimon Adventure Tri?  Well…it was boring.  Now let me also point out that this series is supposed to be released as a feature length film.  However, Crunchyroll has split each film into 4 part arc for viewing (there are two chapters up already).  So watching only the first half of the first movie, technically, may not be the best way to go about this one.  But if I wasn’t pulled in by the little bit I watched, I’ll be honest, how am I going to enjoy the rest?

The first half of the first film is a very, very slow burn.  Most of it is Taichi mopping about how life pretty much sucks now that high school is ending and it’s time to move on with life.  Ok, I get that more than one would think.  But I wouldn’t dedicate the whole first half hour to that with glimpses of a larger threat just around the corner…and I mean glimpses.  Even seeing everyone back again is a reminder of just how dull their lives have gotten.  Taichi and Yamato are still rivals for Sora affections (goddammit woman choose already), Joes still a study freak who is as far removed from the plot as can be, and Takashi still has his little hats and…isn’t pinning for Hikari?  It was weird to watch and I felt like this was a arthouse film more than a Digimon adventure.

When the Digimon do return, it is fun to see them at first.  But the most we get of them action wise is a Godzilla style showdown at an airport with the first evil Digimon they ever faced way back when in Digimon Adventure 1.  And then I remembered one of my least favorite things about Digimon…the freaking 30 second, nigh unskippable transformation scenes.  Every single Digivolution has to be show in complete detail…and that takes up the second half of the second part that I watched.  The nostalgia of seeing the Digidestined and their partners again got dull for me very quick.  We saw hints of a human organization that knows more than it’s letting on and quick glimpses of some very bad fates for the Second Generation Digidestined from Digimon Adventure 2 and I’m wondering if it’s worth going further just to learn more.  But this was a slough…and I wasn’t getting grabbed so much as bored to sleep.

If I hear good things from others, MAYBE I’ll come back.  But right now, Digimon Adventure Tri is for fans who loved this series a lot more than I did.  Chances are you’ll be so wrapped up in seeing everyone again that the progression will go faster for you.  Me though, I liked Digimon…a long time ago.  But I never went back to it, even when it popped up on Netflix.  I’ll always appretiate it for what it meant to me at the time (even going to see the God awful spliced together Digimon: The Movie released in the states).  But Tri is for a generation I was never part of.  Maybe I’ll rediscover it one day…just not today.

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