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magentacitrin · 6 months ago

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What the 2nd audio drama of Digimon Adventure 02 The Beginning tells us (potentially) in text and subtext

I've been anticipating the 2nd drama "An SOS to Our Brothers! Takeru and Hikari’s Secret Mission?!" for various reasons and in the end - it was not exactly what I had expected, but I can't say it hasn't caught me off guard. Also in various ways.

So take my little self-indulgent analysis with a (big) grain of salt.

Spoilers under the cut:

First things first: These are not the breadcrumbs I was hoping for, but they are breadcrumbs nevertheless! I will try to analyze the drama from the perspective of what it tells us about Takeru, Hikari, Ken - and the perception of the older children from their point of view AND from a production standpoint, aka "what the creators probably wanted to include in the movie, but couldn't and now tried to portray it in a more lighthearted way".

What the drama tells us about Takeru:

In context of the drama: Let's get the most important aspect out of the way: Let's hope the writing stress won't get to him in the way of turning him into a slight alcoholic. No, all jokes aside, just like in Kizuna, we are told that they're actual adults now by showing them drink alcohol and that will never not baffle me. What absolutely DOESN'T baffle me is that he continues to be an absolute troll that vibes with (and gets enabled by) Hikari 100% - and that he feels comfortable enough to troll and be open with Ken is also very nice development for him. Also, let's not overlook the fact that he basically made (diplomat and spy in training) Taichi the main character of his Totally Spies/Evangelion fanfiction here. Sure, Yamato ("he got my brother, the astronaut-in-training, on his side") and Koushirou ("[he] wasted no time in analyzing it and developing a shield that would nullify its attacks") played important roles in there too, but they were basically just the supporting cast Hikari had to remind him of, so he wouldn't just write an entire novel about Taichi's adventures to prevent World War III. Of course there were still lots of plot holes (which were rightfully pointed out by Ken), but you gotta love Takeru still idealizing Taichi like that, while sprinkling in references to Kizuna's events (and including Imura while doing so, whom he may actually have had some talks with after he regained consciousness again, so that was a nice touch).

In context of the production: I actually adore that they are going all out on portraying Takeru as obsessed with writing and I think it feels very organic in terms of foreshadowing his career AND his role as narrator of Digimon Adventure as a whole. I also maintain that this means to take EVERYTHING we hear about the Adventure canon with a grain of salt, because it may or may not be fabricated by his own ideas and perspectives - and that is EXACTLY what this drama did. It definitely worked for me - because by the end of the drama, I actually went "You litte sh*t really got me good, I actually believed you!" It's also funny that they're contextualizing their obsession with Evangelion references through Takeru - at this point, we can just assume that he is a big Evangelion fanboy himself and that is where all these hints and nudges are coming from.

What the drama tells us about Hikari:

In context of the drama: She actually appears less prone to being a habitual drinker than Takeru and only drinks sweet stuff (Pina Colada) because she's got a sweet tooth - as opposed to Tailmon going all out with the Tequila, holy... That aside, her main role is to enable Takeru and help him write fanfiction. I'd like to believe that she would actually have liked to contact the others for real (hence why she was so keen to talk in detail about Yamato's and Koushirou's involvement and Sora's and Jyou's reactions), but the movie itself already showed us that Taichi and Koushirou were not available and the former actively shouted at her to leave him alone - hence why the frustration over that may have led to them coming up with a little story like that in the first place. And I think it's very telling that they feel comfortable enough to tell their little headcanons to Ken in particular. Even if it was a trolling attempt, it shows that they are supposedly close with each other and that is pretty neat.

In context of the production: The main take-aways for me here are: a.) The fact that Hikari and Takeru are basically glued to one another by the hip, troll partners in crime - and Toei and the writers absolutely have no intention of changing that whatsoever while STILL managing to portray them as strictly platonic. b.) You can tell Hikari is a skilled story-teller by the way she was sprinkling in little details about the "characters" to flesh out Takeru's narration, or else it may have been even less convincing. And that was also a nice touch to showcase she would be great at telling stories to children as a future kindergartener too!

What the drama tells us about Taichi:

In context of the drama: There he is, our busy diplomat in training, working for the "Digital World-related department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs". Despite all the outlandish and exciting things Takeru likes to imagine about his career, as Ken points out, Taichi is still "too young" to make that big of an impact yet, being able to pull strings and having important connections like that - but at least the movie showed us he WAS working behind the scenes together with Koushirou.

In context of the production: I cannot help but wonder whether they actually would have liked to make a little OVA about Taichi going on an undercover mission, backed up by Yamato and Koushirou (and Mimi????), to prevent his own employer from causing World War III/Third Impact. Granted, Takeru's descriptions there were WILD and I'm still not over the "my brother and Taichi-san boarded an F-16 and rushed into the sky over Tokyo" comment, but overall... Cutting away some of the over-the-top narration, Kizuna already showed us that they absolutely WOULD go on spy missions and that this could have been a great OVA theme to show that the older kids are, indeed, still relevant. ESPECIALLY our main character of main characters, Taichi Yagami. Even if we still don't know the state of Agumon, at least we do know he is making progress.

What the drama tells us about Yamato:

In context of the drama: What we can assume is that Yamato actually already is an "astronaut-in-training", since Ken didn't really disagree with that point. There were a few "details" that may or may not be taken with a grain of salt as well, such as (Kizuna's) Imura being portrayed as "a friend of my brother in the FBI" or the idea that Yamato might already be capable to board a "F-16 and rushed into the sky over Tokyo", but... Hey, since Tri, we have at least seen Yamato giving persuasive speeches, but whether or not he would be as involved in everything remains to be questioned. We actually don't know how or if he was involved at all in this.

In context of the production: I still find it funny that, even in Takeru's own world-building, his big brother is "just" the secondary main character - but that is at least mainly in line with how he is overall portrayed.

What the drama tells us about Koushirou:

In context of the drama: There actually isn't a lot of content mentioned in THIS drama that could be used canonically, since everything mentioned here is just Takeru projecting his Evangelion fanboyism onto Koushirou - but drama 1 and the movie itself already contextualized his role rather nicely, as you will see below.

In context of the production: Interestingly enough, through the course of both the movie and the dramas - aside from Taichi -, he was the character who was mentioned and referred to the most. There shouldn't be any question about his role as tertiary (or even occasional secondary) main character, since, even as a background character, he oozes supporting cast energy - no matter whether he is being referred to as "expert in all things Digimon" (movie), mentioned by Tailmon and Patamon to be a potential sugar daddy sponsor as rich "company president" (drama 1) or is being described by Takeru to pull strings in the back by creating AT fields to support Taichi and Yamato. You can tell that they simply CANNOT tell a story without him and it's nice that, through Takeru's (and Hikari's) narration skills, we are being told that he is vital and influential to everything that is happening. He really deserves the appreciation. (I do wonder if Takeru watched the Rebuild Series and thought "Wow, Maya is so annoyed and fed up with everything, I can use that for Koushirou in my fanfiction!!!")

What the drama tells us about Mimi:

In context of the drama: Crazy Mimi being crazy spy Mimi was actually what broke the immersion for Ken. And that in itself is amazing. We actually have no idea what she is doing right now, but apparently, "Mimi, who happened to be passing by, to make an anonymous phone call" is not realistic enough for Ken to accept Takeru's fanfiction as canon. To be fair, it was Patamon who included Mimi - since neither Takeru nor Hikari knew how to include her in there...

In context of the production: ... And Toei probably didn't know either. Which is a shame, since I think we can all agree that we all would have loved to see crazy spy Mimi in action. But at least we know she wasn't the only victim here...

What the drama tells us about Sora:

In context of the drama: I want to believe that Hikari actually IS in (semi regular) touch with Sora. I want to believe that she is currently on her way to "follow the path [she] believed in". Because if she isn't, my reaction to Takeru and Hikari not knowing how to include her either that would be the same as Ken's: "Wow..." At least it being "hard for her to join the fight after all" could be explained by her and Piyomon not being reunited yet, but... All we can do is guess here.

In context of the production: Once again, Sora, just like Mimi and Jyou, get the shortest end of the stick and we are still led to believe that she is not really in touch with the group and still on her way to self-discovery. Which is still a shame. And maybe they really just (still) don't know what to do with her.

What the drama tells us about Jyou:

In context of the drama: Writing Jyou is easy. Because I actually BELIEVED the course of the story outlined by Takeru here: Them not wanting to contact him, because he is "always busy" and him getting "really pissed at us after the fact, saying that he actually managed to have some free time for once, and we hadn’t let him know", so they "had a hard time calming him down". THAT WAS REALISTIC - and also implies that Gomamon would have been there and ready to take on the fight, but... Yeah, unfortunately, all of that wasn't real.

In context of the production: They love to play with the running gag of Jyou always being busy - but I like that they, through Hikari, acknowledged not only the fact that they should ALL FEEL GUILTY FOR NOT CONTACTING HIM (and everyone in general), but that he is indeed Mr. Reliable if he is given the chance. Even if reading that bit got me mad for a moment, it at least granted him a little dignity.

What the drama tells us about Ken:

In context of the drama: I think the most important take-aways here are that Ken Ichijouji not only is a person of common sense and sensibility in general - but also that he can be assumed to be comparably rather close with Takeru and Hikari, which is a very nice touch. We don't really get to hear a lot about him personally, but the fact that Hikari and Takeru went out with him alone for food and drinks is pretty telling in my opinion.

In context of the production: Ken has the honour of being a stand-in for several parties at once: First of all, he is a stand-in for us, the readers/listeners, to witness the craziness that is Takeru Takaishi's (and Hikari Yagami's + their Digimon's) imagination in real time, reacting skeptically to whether or not the stuff is realistic/believable in the first place. Secondly, by the end of it, he is a stand-in for the writers who (I am sure now) absolutely would have LOVED to go bonkers with the older kids, telling a crazy Totally Spies/Evangelion AU through them (or at least the ones they knew how to include, such as Taichi, Yamato and Koushirou - they OBVIOUSLY would have loved to put Mimi in there too, even going so far as to make Ken TRY to come up with a scenario for her... But then, they didn't even try with Sora and Jyou).

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