#02 analysis

[koushirouizumi]

( Hikari's place-holder profile for my re-done Advs shrine is up! )

[seventeenlovesthree]

Yamato Ishida's clothing style - a meta analysis

Since Yamato has won the fashion analysis poll ahead of Sora, Mimi, Takeru and Hikari, he'll be the third to get one after Koushirou and Taichi. Fortunately - and interestingly enough -, he might be one of the easier cases among all the Chosen Children, because he has very consistent themes and motifs going on, so let's get this on step by step:

Adventure (+ Our War Game), age 11/12:

Even though the kids do not change clothes very often throughout the series, we can still find a few of the aforementioned "themes and motifs" for Yamato here: Starting with his signature sleeveless/turtleneck shirt in Adventure, his favourite - and thus associated - colour appears to be green and since he seems to prefer overall dark colours, you will usually (but not exclusively) see him wear darker shades. This can also be observed during OWG, where he wears a dark brown button-down shirt - which will turn out to be a common theme in addition to dark jeans or pants. Plus, unlike most of the other male characters, you will almost NEVER see him wear sneakers, because he's clearly a "boots" kind of guy.

As for his hair, this is where the classic "cool boy haircut" with the spikes and side fringe found its origins (which is also pretty close to how his father wears his hair).

02 (+ Diablomon Strikes Back), age 14/15:

This is where the "rockstar phase" begins and even though green doesn't make an appearance here, he consistently sticks to dark colours - mostly blacks and browns - as well as complementing boots, button-downs or turtlenecks. Despite him being the leader of his own band, his style is something I would personally describe as very neat, almost unagitated and thus more in line with his introverted side - which can be interpreted as him trying to be somewhat lowkey, not intending to attract too much attention. But at the same time, his style (= dark clothes in contrast to his blond hair) naturally creates a sense of "mysterious aloofness" (as it may be described by his fans, such as Jun. While it is also never explicitly stated, we know that he has European/French genes from his mother's side, so this may or may not add to his visual appearance easily attracting attention and popularity).

In terms of his school uniform, he doesn't go all out on being extravagant either, but instead chooses "the middle ground" between Taichi's "loose and casual" and Koushirou's "neat and correct" style by wearing the blazer closed but leaving out the tie. It's still overall very correct, with a hue of "coolness".

Diablomon Strikes Back then adds two more motifs for him, implying him becoming more and more comfortable growing into "his own": From this point on, we will see him wear little accessories like rings and necklaces - which, as we will see later, may even have a link to Gabumon one way or another. He also starts to wear more layers from now on, such as (college or leather) jackets - which will become more prominent later.

The "cool boy haircut" has grown out a little, softening the spikes. Not only could this be seen as him "differentiating" himself a little from his father (which is a common interpretation of the hairstyle change); it also gives him more of a J-pop-star vibe and makes him appear more "chill" in general (whereas I can only assume he was considered more of a "surfer boy" in Western fandoms back in the day).

Tri, age 17:

While he has cut his (still softened) hair a little bit shorter again, he overall maintains an effortlessly "casual but cool" style: Not only have the green tones returned to his wardrobe, the boots are also still there (even if they're not visible on the picture evidence). The ensemble is usually complimented by elements from his aforementioned DSB/"rockstar" phase: We see him wearing necklaces and chains in his everyday outfits, simple (black, green or even white) shirts with or without prints and with or without cardigans or jackets - and we can also tell he has gotten generally more daring (and a little less "tame") by wearing ripped jeans.

His school uniform is still more or less "neat", but even though he has added the tie, he wears everything more loosely than he did in 02. For his Summer school uniform, he also chooses to wear a long-sleeved shirt rolled up - instead of the short-sleeved ones all the other male characters wear.

Kizuna, age 22:

As a young adult, he basically tries to marry the majority of his previously mentioned themes into one consistent style: His signature cool-boy hairstyle - neat, short, spiky - has returned as well as the dark greens and the boots. In general, his colour palette consists of green, black and white - with an interesting case of grey in the middle of the movie. Similarly to Taichi, this may or may not have some special implications: Taichi wears an asymmetrical shirt, black on the left (covering his "heart"), blue (his favourite colour) and white on the right ("light") side, indicating his insecurities in terms of what's the right path. In contrast, Takeru wears all of his associated colours (VERY colourful green shades), as does Koushirou (orange), while also wearing a pristine white shirt - they're both not at risk of losing their partners, they're both on the light side, whereas Yamato and Taichi are completely at a loss. Yamato, who wears a grey button-down shirt, appears to be just as torn about his future and current situation as Taichi is, having abandoned his beloved music and hesitantly contemplating a future in the military. Which is also why he may wear a dog tag - and, as mentioned previously, this may also be a reminder of his bond to Gabumon after all. (And on a lovely little side note, I assume that Takeru starts wearing necklaces at the time of The Beginning to signify his own bond to Yamato.)

In terms of layers, we see him wear leather jackets, blazers and vests, everything being mostly "neat and correct" (again), with the same sense of effortless coolness he always had (but, if you wanna follow Kizuna's course of action, it may also display a sense of insecurity that leads him to choose style cues from the past over trying to move forward. I do like his Kizuna style and there is nothing wrong with returning to what you are familiar with, especially because most of it is definitely and consistently "him" - but that interpretation would also be in line with Kizuna's message, "forcing" oneself to conform and be a responsible adult.) One interesting addition are the red (!) glasses he wears during lectures, which is a colour we haven't seen him consider before. (Since it's "red", a possible interpretation could be that Sora gifted it to him - Kizuna is very persistent with its colours after all.)

Beyond, ???

Now things are getting a little more tricky, because we do not exactly know how old Yamato is supposed to be in these sketches - since this could be Kakudou's interpretation of post 02/DSB!Yamato as well as him being somewhere in his later 20's, also according to Kakudou's vision. I've tried to put my thoughts on this style into words here already, but to summarize it very quickly here: It's interesting that we see the grown-out 02 haircut again, as well as the earring - if we follow my interpretation of 02!Yamato, this only means that he has grown even more comfortable with himself to dress and present himself as less neat and also "less spiky" (= less aggressive in personality).

The epilogue, approximately age 39:

Last but not least, the epilogue shows our astronaut choosing the same colour palette and style cues 02!Yamato had already been famous for: Blacks and browns, glimpses of beige, a turtleneck and a (leather) jacket. His hairstyle is back to being the exact same as his father's - and as for now, there is not a lot to say about that without having the full context of where "Beyond" may eventually lead him in this timeline.

So my final verdict is: As mentioned at the beginning of this post, most of Yamato's style choices have a coherent theme: cool, effortless, mostly unagitated, sophisticated and tame, but with a glimpse of growing "rebellion". You can tell he confidently knows his favourite colours - mostly dark greens, black and brown with softening tints of grey, beige and white. He loves his (short or no-sleeved) shirts (with or without print), button-downs, turtlenecks and boots - and sometimes even dares to put on something like leather jackets or vests over those. What he appears to be a little unsure about is the consistent usage of accessories - and his hairstyle.

While the dog tag may be one of his more prominent features at this point (potentially signifying his bond with Gabumon), the state of his hair may or may not indicate how comfortable he is with his identity. Next to Taichi and Sora - and due to him still dealing with the aftermath of his parents' divorce -, he is the one who struggles the most with where he sees himself in the future. We know he has a high sense of responsibility (especially for those he cares about) and tries to find rational solutions, but may let his emotions get the best of him sometimes, hindering communication, so that may be where the inconsistencies stem from. While his clothing style is mostly tame and neat, indicating his wish for order, it has these little moments of (emotional) "rebellion" in it at times; rings, necklaces, ripped jeans - all things he tried out at some point, but doesn't seem to be 100% sure of, since he doesn't consistently wear them. Whether that's because he feels like he has to conform and fit into society as he grows older, abandoning music because it's not a "feasible career" - or simply feels more comfortable wearing his signature haircut (and "what he already knows") once again. One could also interpret his return to his old hairstyle as a sign that he may have grown closer to his father, thus feeling more comfortable "merging" all these style elements and finding a middle ground, slowly but steadily - but whether or not that is true, I am not able to tell.

[tmagpposting]

Alice’s Attitude

and why I don’t think it’s going to save her.

I haven’t seen a lot of people talking about the implication of Alice's attitude towards the incidents and horror elements so far, so I’m going to. Someone else may have already made a post about this, but I haven’t found anything yet, and I couldn’t find a way to get this out of my mind without writing it down. Naturally, I’m also going to inflict this long-winded and potentially needless analysis on all of you, since I spent 2 hours typing it out (sorry in advance). TW for blatant overuse of parentheticals and politics towards the end. This draws on content from TMAGP episodes 1-3 and TMA overall, particularly the series finale.

I feel like a lot of us going into TMAGP and having listened to TMA already were probably pleasantly surprised by Alice’s attitude of “The Horrors? Just say no!” since a lot of TMA revolved around the idea that curiosity and investigation of the fears usually doomed people to be consumed by one of them, as we saw with a lot of the Archive staff, particularly Jon. I certainly was. Though her ideas about how to deal with the incident reports are definitely somewhat callous, in the context of TMA, they feel very pragmatic, and I found myself thinking, “finally, a character who knows what genre she’s in and refuses to surrender to it.” I’ve been seeing a couple people agree with this, and say that her approach might even help her stay afloat when things start to escalate as the conflicts of TMAGP develop in the coming episodes. I thought that too, at least for a while. 

After thinking about it for several days, I don’t think this is the case. Given TMA’s themes and propensity for tragedy, and Jonny’s approach to tackling social issues, I don’t think Alice’s apathy is going to save her. In fact, I think it’s potentially going to be the character flaw that will doom her in the first place.

1. Alice already cares (not about the horrors, but about people)

To start with, I’d like to point out that Alice will only be able to maintain her apathy to a limited extent, and when people she cares about start being harmed, she is going to get involved. In fact, we can already see this happening. Ep 3 notably starts and ends with Alice making a plan to get Central IT involved in looking into their computers, when she tries to mention them to Colin in the first scene, and when she asks Sam to call them on her behalf in the final scene. I’d argue that the issue comes up because she’s concerned about Colin more than fixing the OIAR’s computers. She tells Sam it’s because Colin may not be able to handle FR3-D1 as well as he thinks he can since he’s been working on it forever with very little positive progress, but given the additional context of the starting scene, I think it’s reasonable to assume she also wants to meddle for Colin’s sake. In the first scene of ep 3, she seemingly talks more softly/slowly than usual (to me, it sounds like she’s trying to be soothing when compared to how she normally talks, even outside of the times she’s actually soothing FR3-D1), she doesn’t make too many digs at Colin as he sounds increasingly stressed, and she asks gently and subtly about calling Central IT for help when she is generally pretty direct when she seriously wants something (like all the times she repeatedly shuts down Sam’s questions because she wants him to stay out of danger). It sounds like she’s trying to slip it in as a half-joke, but Colin treats it as a genuine suggestion when he usually either brushes off her jokes or plays into them instead, so I think it was her actual intent to involve Central IT even at that point. Furthermore, Gwen tells Sam something along the lines of “Alice is the only one [Colin] tolerates” in a previous episode, they have good banter throughout so far, and Colin’s explosive reaction to Sam mentioning the app completely deflates when he learns it was Alice’s idea. All of this seemingly demonstrates a bond that goes pretty far beyond what I’d think of as a basic work relationship with no actual friendship involved. Colin is already pretty deep into investigating FR3-D1 to the point that it’s probably going to be detrimental for him based on him threatening/ranting at the computers in the first episode, and Alice is already trying to intervene on his behalf. Simply put, she is doing a pretty bad job of pretending not to care and staying out of it so far, and we’re only 3 episodes in.

With that in mind, I don’t even think Colin will be the primary reason she’ll get involved as the series goes on, and I actually think Sam is being set up to be the one to draw her into much of the conflict. She cares enough about Sam to find him a job when he’s having a rough time, based on their conversation in the bar, and she tells him not to care about the incidents precisely because she cares about him, and doesn’t want him to get sucked in and hurt by them. With Sam’s propensity for curiosity established and likely being set up to be one of his fatal flaws, Alice will probably get drawn into the conflict whether she likes it or not if/when Sam goes digging and actually stumbles on something dangerous later on. As a side note, I really do think Sam’s curiosity is being set up to be something big here, since he repeatedly wants to look into the Magnus Institute and says it’s a “blast from the past,” he wonders about how the code system works and how it could be improved, and he’s generally shown to ask a lot of questions about the OIAR, Gwen’s backstory, etc. He asks about things more often than I think he would if his questions were purely an expositional device for the audience and not actual characterization (I could make a post just about this, but I think other people have definitely already done that). Finally, our very first introduction to Alice as a character in TMAGP shows her trying and failing to be glib and uncaring about Teddy leaving, where she jokes with him casually before admitting, sincerely and somewhat hesitantly, “I’m gonna miss you.” If her failing to not care about something in the opening scene of the entire series isn’t going to turn out to be important, if not Jonny Sims style foreshadowing of some kind, I’ll eat my hat.

2. Apathy kind of sucks, actually (thematically and otherwise)

Alice being saved by her refusal to care, assuming she manages to maintain it, feels too much like an easy out for the kinds of stories TMA was trying to tell, and clashes with its sensibilities in my opinion. A lot of people fall into the trap of nihilistic apathy when thinking about the state of the world right now, and TMA even acknowledged this in the series with the Extinction beginning to emerge as a new entity/fear. Between worsening climate change, the gradual rise of bigotry and the increasing trend toward fascism in the western world (especially america, it sucks here), escalating international conflict, poverty and the worsening cost/standard of living, like the fact that a majority of people my age will probably never own a house and our college debt is going to eat us alive, etc., it feels like we’re all circling the drain and no one with the power to help is interested in doing anything other than making it worse to make themselves money. A lot of people think the only way to cope with that is to decide to not give a shit, which is a pretty natural response to being constantly confronted with worse and worse news every year that shows no sign of stopping. This has also naturally inspired a lot of doomerism and a rise in insincerity/irony poisoning and cynicism in popular culture that’s really hard to escape even if you avoid the news entirely.

However, the idea that not giving a shit about the problems in the world can somehow spare you from them is a) ludicrous, since they won’t go away if you decide to ignore them (a majority of the TMA statement givers didn’t previously know or care about the fears, and they got screwed over regardless), and b) definitely not supported by TMA’s cannon or themes. Surrendering to the idea of your own helplessness is precisely what TMA ends by specifically not doing. Jon sunk into a hopeless state of mind throughout S5, with the culmination of this process being his proposal to let the world end and allow the End to consume everything, including the rest of the fears. It wasn’t necessarily that Jon didn’t care or was apathetic, especially since one of his primary motivation was to avoid inflicting the fears on another universe, rather, he didn’t think anything could be done to stop the fears from destroying his world or whatever world they ended up in, which is the same deterministic mindset that Alice’s style of apathy stems from (“I can’t change or fix it, so I don’t care”). The other characters refusing this course of action and banishing the fears is what ultimately spares TMA’s universe from the sort of extinction it would’ve had if they’d accepted that it was hopeless and Jon had gone through with what he wanted. TMA ends with the central takeaway that you can’t give in to the idea you won’t be able to fix things because then you won’t try, and shows the characters subverting their helplessness and actually solving the problem of the fears by getting rid of it at the source (the ethics of sending the fears somewhere else are definitely debatable, but that’s a totally different post). The idea that Alice could be saved from the consequences of the problems in TMAGP’s world by choosing not to care flies in the face of the conclusion to the previous series. Alice’s refusal to care won’t save her from whatever TMAGP has in store, and judging by the events of TMA, fatalism and apathy might even seal her fate. 

Some of these points of evidence might be a little bit basic “water is wet” types of statements and I probably could’ve explained this in half the time, but I really do think that Alice’s apathy isn’t going to turn out to be very useful to her and I wanted to include everything I could think of that led me to believe that.

TLDR, Alice is just as screwed as the rest of the cast, if not more so, and her attitude is not going to get her out of it.

[nukitan]

Okay so as much as I dislike conflating Pokémon and Digimon, (they’re two shows that just so happen to be in the same genre and I think the comparisons should stop there. The bad faith ones anyway), how great the new Pokémon anime is has made me think about something.

Basically, I feel like Horizons has a lot of elements that I would love to see in a modern season of Digimon and I think the Digimon anime could take a page from their playbook. Which is funny since up until now I’ve always said the reverse.

Full rant bellow the cut to spare your time lines if you don’t want to read my rambles.

I split them into section going into Digimon first and then Pokémon if you want to skip around and don’t care about the other franchise. BUT, I will say that the point of this essay is that Pokémon Horizons is good, the first three seasons of Digimon are good and if you like one you should watch the other.

Anyway.

First I’m going to go into my history with Digimon and what I liked about the classic seasons and what I don’t like so much about the newer ones.

Basically, I love Digimon. Been hyper fixating on it off and on for twenty+ years. I’ve seen every season, subbed and dubbed multiple times, I’ve played a good chunk of the games, I play the TCG, ect.

Something that drew me to the Digimon anime over AniPoke, was the characters and the plot. In the early seasons Digimon tackled lots of difficult issues like divorce, adoption, death, loss, depression, among other things. But still kept a light hearted, feel good air. The characters felt deep and multi-faceted (At least in the sub), and I dare say are better written than some characters from some adult oriented anime out there. And they had cute monsters that evolved into bigger monsters and fought baddie monsters, what wasn’t there to love? The first three or so seasons did a fantastic job juggling characters, plot, cool creature fights, and cute and funny moments between the members of the cast. It never really felt like a commercial compared to contemporaries. It felt like the writers were creating something with soul, it was a story first and ad second. It felt like it had love.

Adventure, 02, and Tamers are my favorites. Bellow are some characters and their arcs I really enjoyed from those seasons, skip if don’t want spoilers.

I love Taichi’s arc of being reckless, and being one track minded to the point where he put all his friends in harms way and Yamato tries to act like this calm and cool lancer type but he’s actually the group heart and sensitive the way they bounce off each other and have conflicts throughout the series is just fantastic.

Ken in 02 and his whole arc of getting over the death of his brother and accepting the consequences of his actions as the Digimon Kaiser. And the way he slowly warms up to the group is so cute. I legit cried when I watched some of his episodes post kaiser as an adult.

Tamers as a whole is an extensional horror trip. Juri’s whole thing with her depression after the death of Leomon, how it related back to her trauma after losing her mom when she was younger, and the way the D-Reaper took advantage of that- I honestly don’t know how this was slipped into a kids show from the early 2000s.

A lot of these shows that started in the 90s and early 2000s were pledged with the “Glorified 20-25 minute toy ad” problem, and Digimon didn’t really seem to have that issue to me. It felt like the creators were putting the story and characters first, and an ad second or third.

The early seasons of Digimon felt like a celebration of childhood and was something that could be enjoyable to kids of all ages and adults alike. I don’t at all get that feeling that I’m watching a baby show when I watch early Digimon. It presents things in simple terms that kids could understand without talking down to its audience. It’s great.

And then the later seasons happened and Digimon forgot what made it great and lost its soul…

Xros wars was where the ball really seemed to drop in my opinion. Sure it still had the epic Kaiju fights but… that’s about it. Gone were the intense character moments and interesting plots. All we had was the special little marry sue of a boy Taiki who could do nothing wrong besides not “TURNING HIS BACK ON SOMEONE uwu”. And there was no overcoming adversity like in the earlier seasons, Taiki would just epically throw his Xros loader into the air and scream away his problems with a “DIGi-XROS!” (Sorry Taiki fans I can’t conceal my venom for this man)

And the monsters were just disappointing too. Like they were clunky and just looked like… toys.

It felt like Digimon had lost what made it tick and started to more closely resemble what I didn’t like about AniPoke, a toy commercial with a sanitized feel.

This continued for the next couple of seasons, only really picking up again in Appmon, but while Appmon is good and had it’s moments (I love the story with Yujin. He and Haru are totally roommates, cousins even), it still doesn’t compare to the heart the first three to five seasons had, imo.

Tri felt like a soulless nostalgia cash grab. Last Kizuna was good, it gave me hope for the anime again just to crush it all away with The Beginning.

I won’t get started on Adventure 2020 or we’ll be here all day. Needless to say it spat in the face of the show it was paying homage to.

Ghost Game got my hopes up, but then the last episode just took a dump on the rest of the show. It was fun, Kiyoshiro and Jellymon specifically were the stars of the show and GulusGammamon was interesting… until he wasn’t. It was fun, had a lot of potential with its horror feel, and was the closest to classic Digimon the modern seasons had been in awhile… at first anyway. It really shat the bed. And my problem with it don’t really relate to it being episodic in nature or anything, that can be done well. The characters just didn’t feel consistent (Especially Ruli) and it didn’t deliver on any of the plot intrigue it tried to stir up.

BUT! Ghost Game at least had… a little bit of heart. It felt like the creators knew their Digimon lore and did a fantastic job incorporating it into the monster of the week. I could really feel the love there.

Also on a side note, I am not just the Digimon equivalent to Gen-Oner, hating on things that are new and fetishizing the old. In fact, before I rewatched all of the seasons around 2020, I didn’t really care for the Adventure or Tamers. But my opinions did a total flip watching everything as an adult.

So, for a quick collection of thoughts before we move on to Pokémon:

What I like in a Digimon season:

1. Good characters with arcs that tackle bigger issues in a way kids can still understand and relate to without feel like they’re being talked down to.

2. Cute moments between members of the cast and their creatures.

3. Fights that feel like they mean something and aren’t just there for cool flashy effects.

4. A feeling of love and care for the franchise that goes beyond just trying to sell me toys and games.

Things I don’t like:

-OP mcs that solve every problem with the gimmick of the given seasons

-Flat, inconsistent characters that don’t feel like they have any agency or reason for doing what they’re doing besides that fact that they do indeed have Digimon.

-Pointless fights that are just there for no other reason than just to show a cool fight

-“BUY ALL OUR GAMES AND TOYS AT YOUR LOCAL HOBBY SHOP”

Okay now Pokémon.

Just like with Digimon here’s a little background with my history with the Pokémon anime

I’ve watched the original Pokémon anime up to Diamond and Pearl as a kid and I watched some of SM and most of Journey’s as an adult, but I’ve never really been big on anipoke.

Like at best it just felt like a cute show I could turn my brain off for and just vibe.

At worst it felt like a hyper sanitized toy/game commercial (Not blaming it, that was the anime’s main purpose after all).

Out of curiosity, I watched the new series. As much as I liked Ash, I really felt like he overstayed his welcome and they should have gotten rid of him and moved on ages ago since it felt like by DP there was nothing interesting to do with the character. The Pokémon world is huge and intresting, there was so much they could have done but Ash kind of felt like he bogged it down and stunted the anime’s growth past a point.

So yeah,I got excited when they finally pulled the plug and focused on a new set of characters so I gave Horizons a watch.

And I love it! It’s got heart, characters with development, a little bit of plot, and it’s cute? Like I was dumbfounded by the fact that a Pokemon anime, that I previously wrote off as just being a glorified ad, could be so good???

And then after thinking about what I liked so much about it, that’s when the topic of this essay hit me: Horizons feels like it has everything I long for in a modern Digimon anime, almost as if they took a page out of classic Digimon’s book. Like I always heard throughout the years that “Digimon had the better anime Pokemon has the better games” But Horizons really turned that on its head.

Let’s revisit my criteria for what I liked about the classic Digimon seasons from the section above to show what I mean. (Light Spoilers for Horizons ahead, though I wont go into specifics)

1. Good characters with arcs that tackle bigger issues in a way kids can still understand and relate to without feel like they’re being talked down to.

Yep. Horizons has that. Like the early seasons of Digimon, Horizons doesn’t just use it’s human characters as a vehicle to show you all the monsters you could catch if you bought the next game from your local shop for the low low price of 60 USD, nope. There feels like theres care there.

While they aren’t fully developed yet, Liko and Dot especially show huge character growth in the first 50 episodes. They focus on their flaws and how the characters overcome them.

Liko is very indecisive at first. She’s socially awkward, she feels like shes just going with the flow, afraid to take that first step to find out what she really wants out of life. Then, she finally does, she makes the decision to follow Friede and the Rising Volttacklers to find her new horizons. It’s great. And she still has lots of growing she can do later both as a trainer and as a character. She’s fantastic for a lead.

I also like how they use Sprigatito’s evolution as stand in for Liko’s growth so far in the series. Early Digimon did that too with the Crests in Adventure and the Bio Merging in Tamers and I always really like monster partners evolving to reflect their human so much, it’s such a good narrative device!

Dot slowly being brought out of her shell by Liko and the others is just- chefs kiss. She goes from being a reclusive shut in to slowly taking interest in the things Liko and co are doing and develops meaningful relationships with them. Her care for her friends and want to be there for them makes her take the first step and is now traveling around Paldea with them! And they went about this in a very well paced way where she still isn’t just magically over all her awkwardness and shut in tendencies yet. She too still has so much room for interesting development later down the road.

The adult characters are interesting too, even though they haven’t really done much yet. They really perfected that found family group of misfits trope that I’m usually pretty sick of. I love them.

And Amethio and the other villains also feel like they’re more than just your cackling evil for evil sake type characters and I’m super excited to see what they do with them!

And as far as the tackling bigger issues point: Though its just conjecture and I might be over thinking things (Though others in the fandom have pointed this out too) there’s definitely the groundwork for it here.

Liko’s family is very hands off and distant. Liko goes away to boarding school at the start of the series, her parents work, and her grandma is a vagabond traveling the world and doesn’t often stay in one place for long.

Liko lacks solid connections and foundation in her life due to her family being so closed off emotionally, which would explains her going with the flow and being unsure of what she really wants to do. She’s lost with no guidance. And it’s not like her family doesn’t love each other, no. They just don’t want to express their feelings for fear of it bogging each other down. They want Liko to be free to do what her heart tells her, but they’re so worried about talking things out that they don’t realize how that freedom has hurt Liko and made her into an anxious mess. (They even kind of hint at this in the second opening)

But yeah, like others have said, I’m not sure if this is on purpose or if they were trying to write Liko’s family to be full of strong women and just kind of accidentally fell into making them all feel too independent and distant from one another. And it would be really cool for the show to go into Liko’s home life more… but I’m not sure it would be on brand for Pokemon to talk about something so heavy. But fingers crossed!

2. Cute moments between members of the cast and their creatures.

Yep! Horizons has got plenty of it. Right now all of the main cast has two Pokemon each and they’re really taking the time to show off each Pokemon and give them a lot of wholesome moments together and with their trainers.

The human character interactions are great too! I really like the blossoming friendship between Liko and Dot (They could be roommates guys!) and the growing rivalry between Friede and Amethio! It’s great!

3. Fights that feel like they mean something and aren’t just there for cool flashy effects.

The fights in Horizons are so cool and well choreographed, but they aren’t just there to look pretty, not at all!

A lot of the fights that take place in the first two arcs are learning experiences for Liko, Roy, and Dot. They learn new strategies, their Pokemon learn new moves, and in the arc that’s airing at the time of writing, they’re learning how to terrestialize too. The fights don’t seem to happen without purpose and always seem like they either teach the characters a lesson about proper ways to be a trainer and even sometimes help them grow as characters too.

And theres even a healthy amount of losses and wins under the character’s belts and they drive home the lesson of “You learn more from a defeat”. I like how heavily they relied on the more experienced Friede at the beginning and they got frustrated from their losses and used it as fuel to want to learn to stand on their own two feet.

The fights are great and don’t just feel like a kid mashing two toys together like some series with battle elements can.

4. A feeling of love and care for the franchise that goes beyond just trying to sell me toys and games.

This is a little harder to explain and is more like a feel than anything. But I can definitely feel an air of care in Horizons that I don’t really see from shows that feel like twenty-three minute ads. The characters and story don’t just feel like they’re trying to sell me something.

While they’re definitely leaning heavy on the Paldea setting right now, it doesn’t feel like a straight adaption of the games. They don’t really do the “creature of the day” or “character of the day” type episodes like I remember seeing in past iterations of Anipoke. Horizons doesn’t have those moments that I feel like the character is looking right at me and saying “Buy Buy Buy”

And, at least so far, there seems to be a love for Pokemon with the way the reference Pokédex entries like with Hatenna being sensitive to strong emotions or what not.

Like I said, this is really more of a personal criteria and some people can be more sensitive to this kind of thing than others. The closest thing I can compare it to is like when you’re eating a meal a loved one made for you versus something you got at a diner or fast food restaurant. You don’t know how to put your finger on it but you can just taste the love… it’s like that with Horizons to me.

So yeah!

If you’ve read this far, thanks for listening to me rant! I’ll try to wrap it up here.

Basically I just really like Horizons. It gives me that same feel as when I was rewatching the classic Digimon seasons a view years ago… And like the way Horizons fixed all of the problems I had with Anipoke as a kid and as an adult is awesome, it really feels like Pokemon Company is making an effort to listen to criticism and better the series… I just really hope the Digimon anime can do the same.

Oh and all of this is just my opinion, if I said something that you don’t agree with about Digimon or Pokémon, I meant no offense and I’m happy to hear your opinions too!

I just want to close this by saying…

Fans of early Digimon, go watch Pokemon Horizons! You wont regret it!

Fans of Horizons go watch (the sub) of the first three or so seasons of Digimon! If you like Horizons and didn’t really click with Ash era Anipoke I think you’ll really have a good time, it’s so good!

I think both series could use more love, so go out there and give them both a watch!

Okay I’ll shut up now, thanks for reading!

[bagerfluff]

Episode Thirteen - ???

A series dissection of Digimon Adventure 02, a nerd talk for nerds.

SPOLER ALERT FOR DIGIMON ADVENTURE 02 EPISODE THIRTEEN

Part Two - Part Six - Part Ten

Part Three - Part Seven - Part Eleven

Part Four - Part Eight - Part Twelve

Part Five - Part Nine

This is part thirteen of the episode title dissection of Digimon Adventure 02. if you want to see part one click here. Part one has the rules and tells you about what this series is and what its doing. So read part one if you want to know but lets get right into this.

English Dub - His Master's Voice

Sub - The Call of Dagomon

Now, I don't like either of these, but why?

In this episode Hikari zones out a lot. Finder herself in a ocean when she is in class and seeing Digimon with red eyes. Soon, after a small fight with Takeru, Hikari transports to a weird now world.

This world is black and light, even the light tower shines dark light. Meanwhile Tailmon tells the others that Hikari has disappeared, causing Takeru to run out of the Computer lab.

Hikari walks around this dark beach and comes across a cave full of digimon, she doubts herself when they ask for help removing the dark rings on them but she try's.

Hikari is interrupted when a Airdramon appears out of no where and starts attacking her. Meanwhile Takeru, Tailmon, and Patamon are on a beach.

Takeru regrets leaving Hikari by herself. With regret, Takeru starts yelling out Hikari's name on the beach, with the help of Patamon and Tailmon they hear Hikari's voice and see a warp.

The three jump though it and find themselves in the dark world with Hikari. Takeru and Pegasusmon try to fight the Airdramon but fail, but when they destroy the dark tower Tailmon can digivovle to Angewomon.

With their help the Airdramon is defeated and the digimon that Hikari found are free. But, it was a trick, the digimon want Hikari to be their queen to fight their undersea master. (I know that's what they say in the dub but I am not telling you what they say in the sub, go find it yourself if you really want to know but I warned you).

They leave when Angewomon attack's them and Takeru takes Hikari back to the real world.

Now, this is a hard one. I kinda like and hate both titles. the english one, His Masters Voice, is a weird on. I assume the 'he' is referring to the digimon, but it's the digimon that summon Hikari, not their master.

They also call her to defeat their master, but the sub isn't much better. The Call of Dagomon. Dagomon is the name of the master, and you don't really know is name. You can guess seeing as you see a outline of them at the very end of the episode.

But I watch the dub first and only found out the name of that digimon when I watched Digimon Hunters, Dagomon appears in one episode of that series.

But Dagomon doesn't call Hikari in that one either, both titles really make no sense, it's not Dagomon that's calling Hikari to the dark world, it's his minions who want to overthrow him.

So I don't like either titles, but what do you think?

Tell me in the comments!

[spottys-rathole]

(all q!)

There's that scene where Baghera, Antoine, and Bad go adventuring out with their kids, and Bad leads the way trying his best to show them good dungeons with useful loot that aren't too hard

They cross a field running, jump into a speedboat and dash through until they spot a structure on the horizon. They loot it, rinse and repeat.

They just raided an outpost, Baghera has just stepped in and is trying to collect the bookshelves inside when she hears one of the eggs outside blowing into a horn, calling for attention. All the while Baghera is feeling overwhelmed. She explains out loud that she feels the others don't realize how poor she really is, how she's got nothing and how she's still discovering so many new biomes and new features that were added recently. She wants to take her time to check it all out properly, she wants to collect building blocks she likes for her house - because Baghera doesn't have a house yet.

This isn't the first time she brings it up on this evening. Since the first time she encountered BBH earlier that day, he has been slowly introducing her to the idea of building a house near him and Pierre. He said so himself to the eggs that he's trying to convince her to do so. At first he asked her if she had anywhere to live, then upon learning she's only got a hole dug on the flank of a hill so far, he told her they needed to get her a house. Then he showed her his place, welcomed her in and showed him everything that could peak her interest :

Here's BBH's storage room, Baghera can have free unlimited access to it. Here's a flower field surrounding the place, it's really pretty isn't it ? Here's the beach house Pierre built on the bank of this cool lake, look how gorgeous it is, she could build the same if she wanted to. Also don't fail to mention there's a nearby lavender field around, Baghera really likes purple right ? Surely she could enjoy the biome enough to decide to settle down over there.

And Baghera's immediate response is to use Pierre's waystone to teleport the gang to her actual place. Actually, she doesn't exactly teleport them to her place, she teleports them to Phil's place first, which is right across the river from where she lives. Because she doesn't have a waystone to herself, because again : She is poor.

She then proceeds to show them around her "house", which is a (yet to be) repurposed dungeon. It's empty so far. BBH notices and remembers it's a dungeon that he had already raided with Dapper a week ago before Baghera found it.

Baghera doesn't have much if anything at all. She started the afternoon with -37 coins and a gapple which she offered to Acau as a welcoming gift. Still she was so happy when she accidentaly discovered that dungeon and loved its aesthetic, even if the loot that was left inside was barely useful, but to her it was all she had.

Back to the pillager outpost, Antoine overhears Baghera mention how exhausted she is and how meeting everyone at spawn earlier has been really draining for her. That's why she usually prefers exploring alone because then she can do it at her own pace without feeling pressured, because what is of interest to her may not be for her adventuring partners.

Antoine immidiately tries to reassure her the best he can, tells her that she can take all her time and shouldn't hurry for them, that they will wait for her. Baghera apologizes. While BBH is wondering what they're doing, Dapper goes up the tower to check on them, Antoine asks them to wait for them as they are taking their time. Baghera apologizes. When alone with her again she explains that it bothers her to not be able to take breaks and go at her own pace, but she blames herself for it because she accepted to go exploring in group and obviously even if Antoine and Bad keep telling her that they understand and try to make her feel the most at ease, and giving her food and gear. Well anyone would still feel pressured because making the others wait all the time might become boring for the rest of the group whether they say they're okay with it or not. At some point Baghera explains to Bad that she isn't feeling so hot, when she turns around he is 30 ft further ; something caught his attention and he wanted to check it out briefly. She comes up to him again and tell him she needs to get sugar because she is feeling dizzy, she insists that they shouldn't wait for her. Once she comes back, she tells the group that she wants to part ways and go back to building her house. Right on queue, Bad reminds her that she is the most welcome if she wants to come live near his place. Baghera still doesn't explicitely agree nor disagree with the idea, she only says she wants to build because that's what she enjoys doing. Right after, the group catch her up on what they were doing while she was afk : They're about to go raid this very dangerous sky dungeon, and Bad invites Baghera to join them. She iterates that sadly she will not, but Bad who's attention was caught by Dapper, has already ran off to listen to his child. Pomme and Antoine tell her it's okay, but then Bad rushes back towards them to excitedly show them what cool shenanigan Dapper is up to. Baghera bids them goodbye and Bad seems both surprised and disappointed to hear she's leaving now. As she is walking away, Antoine once again whispers to Bad that she was feeling real tired to which the latest answers he completely understands.

It's not so relevant of a moment lore-wise, but I've still been thinking about it a lot because I'm usually really into these kinds of small interactions that are still loud because of everyone's points of views ? Baghera's been there for 3 days and she still hasn't properly brought up to anyone what happened to her during Purgatory - she is not doing fine (I'm not going to go in depth because I'd have to slap a big ol trigger warning but her reaction to reading Pomme's and Richas' signs kicked me in the guts with the strenght of a 3T truck). And meanwhile BBH is this close to kick the bucket too and there's all his motivations that push him to surround himself with people when he would previously be paranoid about inviting anyone to his old base (and none of the french-speakers knew back then). Antoine is just vibing good for him (this was his last qsmp stream too lmao pretend i'm not crying rn /hj)

But it's one of those cases where everything was set up perfectly for it (Pomme was literally jumping with excitement at the idea of two more of her parents getting to live near) but it simply wasn't meant to happen -at least not that day-

[nightmareentertainment]

ken's whole story is built in [insecurity and loneliness] that funnels into [anger] which turns into [GRIEF guilt and even more anger] which makes him the prime suspect to be used but also makes him , like , fundamentally mentally weak , leads him down an even LONELIER path, leads him towards cruelty , and the turning point in his story is actually like. he describes it, verbally, as realizing in his moment of healing that his parents loved him. like going through life feeling completely abandoned by a better-than-you brother who was also suffering under their parents' negligence towards their kids' emotional stability, feeling abandoned by your parents, and then that brother dies and you are still left standing in his shadow, its just even bigger now, its full of grief, and youre full of grief, and you dont know what to do other than to just stare empty-eyed at his closed casket

and all you thought before was i hate you, i want you to dissapear and now you want to take it all back, because did i do this? did i wish this into existence? this isnt what i wanted. this isnt what i meant.i was nine years old and angry and sad and alone but i never wanted you to dissapear. not for real.and now your room is just your room, and you get an email, and someone wants to help you :-). except no he fuckign doesnt he just gives you a place to relinquish all that anger, and it builds, and youre still alone but youre convincing yourself now you have control over that. you step into your brothers shoes. youre better than him now. youre finally how tall he was when he died. your parents seem so happy to have their boy back. they dont realize they never got him; they just lost the kid they had left. you are a husk made from guilt and grief and you fill it with anger until its exploding from every part of you. you no longer know who you are, but the news decides youre ken ichijouji, boy genius and soccer star! so you go with that. eventually you find your way to your escape. a new world. and you get to decide who you are in this game; you get to pick your destiny, you get all the control. theres no consequences for not smiling at the camera, here. and youre alone, and the world is weak, and theres something itching in your mind; something telling you what to build and how to build it, and you never know your control isnt actually your own. you never get to know. you play the game how you want to. its your world. its not your parents, its not your brothers, its yours, this is yours and you are going to fucking rule it!!!!!

ken is very much like , hurt-people-hurt-people but the thing is that, in the real world hes trying very very hard to be NORMAL and NICE and GOOD even while hes bubbling with rage and hatred and wants to be left alone, he smiles for all the cameras everyone is putting in his face, taking his anger out in secret and only when nobody is watching, because hes aware of consequences but in the digital world there is no consequences. its a game, after all! then there's other players and at first it's kinda fun, having an enemy in your game, but then theyre not playing fair, then theyre in your way, its getting annoying, and its not fun anymore. and the worse you feel online, the worse you feel offline, and hes pissed, and everyone wants everything from him, and one day he throws it all down and decides fuck this and ken ichijouji runs away. the ichijouji family loses their second and final son. (this is their turning point, too. they realize maybe osamu was never happy, before he died. maybe they pushed ken into the same box. they bury their faces in their hands and just pray they havent completely lost their chance to try)

ken- the kaiser- is having a really Really Bad Fucking Time. hes not even having fun anymore he just wants to be in control of something, he wants the chance to be a winner, and theres other players and theyre in the way. and then. well, shit. and then they win. Doesn't that suck? It’s the first time you’ve failed at something in years. i like him. i like the digimon kaiser. thats just a little kid hes up playing games in this bitch. its shown he actually really, really loved and admired his brother, and i feel like this and his persona as the kaiser are involved. he literally resembles so much of his brother even in his persona as someone who rules the world isnt it crazy how you resemble your prodigy brother no matter where you go or what you do because without him there youre the only one who could possibly fill the space. ken is nobody, but everyone loved osamu. why not be osamu? even if you dont realize it!!!

thats all a big part in why he claims he doesnt know himself after it all goes down this kid has no clue who he is. only wormmon does. quite literally only wormmon knows who he is. who he was before it all went to shit. who he was while it happened. only wormmon was ever there for him. and he treated wormmon like shit, for so long. how do you ever forgive yourself for that? wormmon tells him he's kind. he really is. under all that anger and guilt and never ending sadness, hes kind and hes just lonely. and so ken turns his life around. IT MEANS SO MUCH TO ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NOBODYGETS IT NOBODY UNDERSTANDS HIM LIKEI DO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HE HAS NEVER KNOWN ANYTHING BUT THE FACT THAT HE WILL ALWAYS EXIST IN HIS BROTHERS SHADOW SO HE GROWS INTO HIS BROTHERS SHADOW AND ITS ONLY WHEN HES TORN DOWN TO NOTHING, INTO A GUILT-SOAKED MESS , DOES HE STEP OUT OF IT. KINDNESS IS THE ONLY WAY OUT. HE SPENDS HIS TIME TRYING TO MAKE UP FOR WHAT HE DID AND HE ONLY HEALS ONCE HE REALIZES HIS PARENTS AND WORMMON LOVE HIM, ONCE HE HAS FRIENDS ALWAYS READY TO BE THERE, ONCE HE LEARNS TO, AT THE VERY END, BE KIND TO HIMSELF TOO, AND FACE OSAMU AND FORGIVE HIMSELF

[i-promise-i-am-not-on-drugs]

Alright, rewatching episode 05×02 of stranger things, let's go!

I'm going to write what I thought/saw in each scenes, so it's probably going to be long.

1) Joyce

Wow, that house is really looking ominous as hell.

2) Will and Mike

Okay first of all THE FAMOUS WILL VOICE OMGJDKKKDKFKSKSJJCJXISKWJXJJWH!!! TuT💕

Sorry.

Anyway, I really like that Mike is trying to help Will by giving him some sort of reason as to why all this is happening.

Also,

Will, stuttering: You really think so?

Mike, softly: Yeah. Yeah, I really do.

This is just so sweet.

3) Hopper

Damn, I forgot about that.

This underground place is so full of toxic spores, I'm surprised he even walked this far!

Also, he was kinda dumb about it. I mean, these spores are pretty huge, I wouldn't go in there without covering my mouth and nose honestly.

Rip Hopper, I know you'll survive that but I feel for you man 🫡

4) Nancy and Jonathan

"you want a single. (side eye) Or a double." LMAO--

Anyway.

(The hand/scar thing is so adorable I love them. )

Damn, amazing communication skills guys. 🙂

5) Mike, Will and Joyce

Love how Mike is staying next to Will, even if he knows that it's probably dangerous. :)

Also,

Will: I think he's in trouble. I think he's going to die.

Woah, that's actually pretty cool. Also creepy, but still pretty cool. :D

6) Hopper

Guess Will has someone to relate with now. (Puking weird and disgustingly slimly Upside Down stuff)

Nice, he finally though about protecting his mouth and nose.

A cigarette really? ._.

I mean, at least he left something.

7) The Sinclairs

(I love Erica she's so sassy)

Miss and Mr Sinclair are such cool parents! :)

They're my favorite adult couple if I'm being honest.

I love how Lucas asked his dad what he does when his mom's angry, it really shows that he has a big crush on Max. And it's pretty cute too! :3

(The Sinclair mens really are a perfect example of "my girl is mad at me I hope I die" lol)

8) the Handersons

Oh noo, Mewsyyyyy..!! :(

Dustin, you smart manipulative little shit. (This is both so sad and so funny help)

That plan to catch Dart was actually really smart!! Amazing job Dustin!! :)

Also, "I'm sorry. You ate my cat." that made me laugh for like two minutes straight lol--

9) Eleven

That random man in the truck was so nice, I hope he'll succeed in whatever he's doing in his life.

Alright, go find your mom El. I don't remember how that went, but hopefully not too bad.

ELEVEN MY GIRL YOU CAN'T JUST USE YOUR POWERS TO ENTER SOMEONE'S HOUSE DEAR---

Alright, that went.... Alright I guess... Hhh...

10) Nancy, Jonathan and Murray

Murray is such an interesting character, I really liked this part.

Also, completely destroying his evidences was such a Nancy thing to do lol--

11) Max and Lucas

(Hell yeah, fuck Billy. Anyway.)

Alright, I really love lumax, and I know that it wouldn't have happened if this scene didn't, but I still think it was a bad decision to tell Max what happened.

I know she "accepted the risk", but she wasn't taking it seriously and that was pretty dumb (but completely understandable) of her.

Now, let's go Lucas. Put your future girlfriend in the secret!

12) Will, Mike, Joyce, and Bob

Wow, Bob is actually really, really smart. I forgot about that too.

(Also, I really love how Mike and Will are always next to each other. That's cute. ^^)

13) Hopper

Okay, first of all, ew.

And then, good job Jim!! You found an exit! :D

14) Dustin (+Erica)

I mean, at least the cat got a proper grave.

Ooohhhh,, right. He cleaned the blood. Must be slightly traumatic.

Like I said before, I love Erica and her sassy attitude, but right now it's not playing for her side. Not cool Erica.

15) Eleven and Becky (+Mama) (forgot her name)

I really love how understanding Becky is there. She's trying to stay calm and find aweser, without pushing El to get them. It's nice.

And I forgot that her mom also had some kind of powers, that's pretty cool!

16) Will, Mike, Joyce, and Bob

He's really, really smart. That's cool.

Poor dude must be so confused thought--

17) Dustin and Steve at the Wheeler's

Damn, two hours is fucking long--

Anyway.

Ted is pretty fucking useless, you're right Dustin. I like how it's really clear that Dustin has no respect at all for Ted, I mean he's swearing without even thinking twice about it! Really shows how passive Ted is in everyone's lives.

Steve coming to give Nancy flowers and "apologize"... My boy stop lying to yourself, you know this relationship is already fucked.

Anyway.

It's funny how Dustin orders him around and he doesn't even blinks lol

18) Hopper

Yep, the spores are getting to him again.

And the vines, apparently. Rest in pieces my dude. (Sorry)

19) Lucas and Max (+Billy)

I mean, of course she's not going to immediately believe you, who would! I mean, at least she has some doubts.

Alright, fuck Billy again, in a non sexy way, can't wait to see him die. (/hj)

20) Nancy, Jonathan, and Murray

Murray thinking with alcohol and music is so funny to me.

Also, he's so right about the counter thing.

Anyway.

That scene is so badass. ✨

21) The Lab

Welp, that's weird as fuck.

22) Eleven, Becky, and Mama

Well, that for sure was intense. Also made me really uneasy, but it was pretty interesting.

Guess we know why "rainbows" now.

Also, tinny eight (I forgot the name she chose), if it is actually her, is so adorable. :)

23) Will, Mike, Joyce, Bob, Hopper, and Hawkins Lab

Poor Bob is confused as hell.

The way Joyce is immediately clinging to Hopper to make sure he's okay makes me kinda sad for Bob, but I guess we know why.

(Also, Jim almost forgetting his hat and going back to take it was so funny to me lol)

Alright now, Will.

Nothing much to say here, but HOLY HELL WHAT THE FUCK MY POOR BOY IS HAVING A SEIZURE!!!! DO SOMETHING PEOPLE??

— End note

Welp, that episode was something! I'll watch the next one in a bit.

[bethanythebogwitch]

Digimon: Dark Spore children's partner lines

The Digimon Adventure universe is so open for stories and possibilities that it's fun to speculate about many of the minor characters we see, like the international chosen children and the Dark Spore children from 02. Digimon youtuber Karn EX made a video speculating on the possible evolution lines of all the international chosen children we see in 02's Digimon world tour arc and elsewhere in the franchise. While he did not cover the lines of the partners of the Dark Spore children from the end of 02, he did note that the partner Digimon they got were all the same baby forms as the original Adventure children's partners and this was likely not a coincidence. I also think that this was intentional and that the Dark Spore children's partners should parallel the evolution lines of the Adventure partners. So I'm going to speculate on what their evolution lines could be.

Something to note is that there are 20 Dark Spore children but I'm only going to go over 8 evolution lines to parallel the 8 Adventure partners. I'm also not limiting myself to Digimon available at the time the 02 finale aired. If we ever get some follow-up on the Dark Spore kids in official media, it will be something new with plenty of access to newer Digimon.

The Dark Spore kid who gets the most spotlight in the show is Noriko Kawada, who is partnered with a Punimon. This makes her a counterpart to Matt/Yamato of the original crew and if there was a Dark Spore spin-off or sequel, I think she would be the group leader. There are black variants of the entire Gabumon line, but that's a bit boring so instead she can have Psychemon as her partner. It's a fun Gabumon variant that kind of matches Noriko's color scheme in that they both have a lot of pink. From there, I think a great Champion/Adult level is Fangmon. Fangmon being a more evil and violent counterpart to Garurumon (and more interesting than Garurumon black or Gururumon) would be great. Maybe Noriko could use her knowledge of how to deal with the Dark Spore's darkness could help teach her partner to control the violent imposes that come from being a Fangmon. For the Ultimate/Perfect level I think Astamon works. Psychemon -> Astamon has precedent in the franchise and Astamon matches WereGarurumon as the bipedal, pants-wearing member of the evolution line. For the Mega/Ultimate I picked DinoTigermon. It matches MetalGarurumon in that it goes back to being a quadruped and gains mechanical elements. It is a cat and not a wolf, but Astamon kind of has some saber-toothed cat elements with the shape of it's hair so I'm ok with it as the through line between wolf and saber-toothed cat. I think that Noriko and her partner should also be able to unlock a branched evolution at this level to MetalGarurumon black. You can probably see where I'm going with this.

Another named Dark Spore kid is Takashi Yoshizawa, who has a Poyomon. This makes him the counterpart to T.K./Takeru. They even have similar names. Patamon has two good parallels: Tsukaimon and DemiDevimon/PicoDevimon. I went back and fourth before deciding to give him DemiDevimon as it more closely fits the Angemon/Devimon rivalry. I'll use Tsukaimon later, though. From there is the fairly standard line of Devimon to NeoDevimon to DoneDevimon as the intended parallel to T.K.'s Angemon, MagnaAngemon, and Seraphimon. A heroic Devimon is fun to imagine and could create some unique stories with T.K. If you don't want to use the Devimon line because you see them as too evil or don't want to reuse major villains then an alternate could be Devidramon to Baalmon to Beelzemon.

Next up is Keiko Kurata who gets YukimiBotamon, making her a parallel to (Hi)Kari. For her rookie I will be using Tsukaimon. while it's not a direct parallel, there isn't a Salamon/Plotmon variant and Tsukaimon still lets me represent the connection between Patamon and Gatomon/Tailmon. From there, Tsukaimon will evolve to BlackGatomon/BlackTailmon. Maybe this could be its default level like Kari's partner. The next level will of course be LadyDevimon to parallel Angewomon. A heroic LadyDevimon could be a lot of fun alongside Angewomon and they could even become Mastemon in a story. (Hi)Kari is the only one of the original 8 to get a branched evolution path at the Mega/Ultimate level, getting both Magnadramon/Holydramon and Ophanimon as options. I'll also give Keiko's partner a branch with a humanoid and bestial option. The humanoid option will be Lilithmon, the dark counterpart to Ophanimon and the bestial option will be Ghoulmon/Deathmon as there aren't that many demonic dragons or beasts other than Megidramon, which I don't think fits very well.

The last of the named Dark Spore kids is Hiroshi Shibata, who gets Nyokimon, making him Sora's counterpart. His partner stumped me for a bit as there is no Biyomon/Piyomon variant and there just aren't many dark birds to choose from. I noticed that Sora's evolutions of Birdramon, Garudamon, and Hououmon are all based on mythical birds: the firebird, garuda, and hōō/fenghuang. So for Hiroshi's partner I dropped the bird theme in favor of keeping the winged mythical beast theme. The rookie is Tapirmon/Bakumon, which does not fit the theme but there is literally no other good option. At least it can levitate even if it doesn't have wings. From there it will evolve to Unimon, Hippogriffomon, and Gryphonmon, based on the pegasus, hippogriff, and griffon.

Enering the nameless Dark Spore kids we have a Pabumon to parallel Izzy/Koushiro's Tentomon. There aren't any Tentomon variants, but Kabuterimon is set up as the enemy of Kuwagamon. Therefore this line will go Kunemon, Kuwagamon, Okuwamon, and GranKuwagamon. A classic bug line.

Here I have to cheat as Joe/Jyou doesn't get a counterpart in the Dark Spore kids as his Fresh/Baby 1 form, Pichimon, does not show up among the partners at the end, so something else will have to act as the Bukamon pre-evo. Again, there is no Gomamon variant (I'm not counting x-antibody variants here) so it's time to get creative. I want a line that can work well in and out of water and keeps a consistent theme through, like Gomamon's seal/walrus theme. The line I picked starts with Crabmon/Ganimon and evolves to Ebidramon. Ebidramon being big and a bit goofy I think works to parallel Ikkakumon. The next stage will be Gusokumon, which shares some artificial traits with Zudomon. Zudomon carries a hammer and wears armor while Gusokumon is upgraded with mechanical parts. Sadly, there is no crustacean Mega/Ultimate level to pick from so the final stage will have to be Regalecusmon. It still kind of works, both lines ending with a humanoid warrior and Regalecusmon does use Ebidramon's claw as a shield.

The Yuramon parallels Mimi's Palmon and we finally have an actual variant to work with in the form of Alraumon, a darker Palmon. For the next level I picked RedVegiemon to parallel Togemon. They're both more monstrous and goofy evolutions of a cute little plant and use punches in battle. I picked RedVegiemon over Vegiemon and Weedmon as those two are supposed to be failed Digimon akin to Numemon while RedVegiemon is the complete and ripened form. For the Ultimate/Perfect level, Oleamon is perfect. It looks like a Lilymon with depression and it acts as a carnivorous flower. There's not a prefect Mega/Ultimate level as the only dark plants at that level don't fit, so I picked Lotusmon. That way there could be a hypothetical fusion with Mimi's Rosemon to get a Rafflesimon.

Finally we reach the Tai(chi) parallel with Botamon. We are spoiled for choice when it comes to Agumon variants. YukiAgumon, Agumon black, Agumon 2006, 2006 versions of Yuki and black, and three versions of ToyAgumon before even getting into x-antibodies or Agumon Hakase. Our Tai(chi) parallel will use Agumon black. Once again, there are black versions of the whole Agumon line, but that's a little boring. Instead, Agumon black will evolve to DarkTyrannomon. Tyrannomon was the original default evo for Agumon before Greymon stole the spotlight, so referencing it here with its dark variant works. From there it will become MetalTyrannomon and Samudramon/Gaioumon. This works as a great parallel, going from little dinosaur to big dinosaur to cyborg dinosaur to humanoid warrior dinosaur just like Agumon. Like with Noriko's partner above, this Tai parallel will get an alternate mega in the form of BlackWarGreymon. That way, the Dark Spore kids can have their own Omnimon/Omegamon in the form of Omegamon Zwart. And from there, just like all the original 8 can combine their power to become Omegamon Merciful Mode, all the dark spore kids can combine their power to become Omegamon Zwart Defeat.

[ozoraslegend]

Affection Language

Words of Affirmation

The ones with Words of Affirmation as their favorite affection language to receive from others value sincere compliments, encouragement, and verbal recognition of their worth. They feel most loved when their emotions, achievements, or efforts are acknowledged through kind and thoughtful words.

The ones with Words of Affirmation as their favorite affection language to give to others are natural encouragers who often express their feelings openly. They frequently use heartfelt compliments, thank-you notes, and uplifting messages to make others feel appreciated and supported.

Color Code: Blue

Emotional Connection

The ones with Emotional Connection as their favorite affection language to receive from others cherish deep conversations, empathy, and understanding. They feel most loved when someone takes the time to truly listen, validate their feelings, and share emotional moments with them.

The ones with Emotional Connection as their favorite affection language to give to others are empathetic and attentive. They create safe spaces for others to share their thoughts and feelings, often making an effort to understand and connect on a deeper level.

Color Code: Yellow

Quality Time

The ones with Quality Time as their favorite affection language to receive from others appreciate undivided attention and meaningful interactions. They feel most loved when someone prioritizes spending time with them, whether through shared activities or heartfelt conversations.

The ones with Quality Time as their favorite affection language to give to others make an effort to be fully present and engaged. They enjoy planning meaningful experiences and dedicating their time to show how much they care.

Color Code: Green

Exchanging Gifts

The ones with Exchanging Gifts as their favorite affection language to receive from others treasure thoughtful gestures that reflect their personality and interests. They feel most loved when someone puts effort into choosing or creating something meaningful for them.

The ones with Exchanging Gifts as their favorite affection language to give to others are highly observant and attentive to what others enjoy. They often express their affection by surprising others with tokens of appreciation or heartfelt presents.

Color Code: Indigo

Acts of Service

The ones with Acts of Service as their favorite affection language to receive from others value practical help and thoughtful gestures. They feel most loved when someone goes out of their way to make their life easier or takes care of something important to them.

The ones with Acts of Service as their favorite affection language to give to others are proactive and considerate, often stepping in to help without being asked. They express affection by handling tasks, offering assistance, or solving problems for others.

Color Code: Orange

Physical Touch

The ones with Physical Touch as their favorite affection language to receive from others find comfort and connection through physical closeness. They feel most loved through hugs, hand-holding, or a reassuring pat on the back.

The ones with Physical Touch as their favorite affection language to give to others are affectionate and tactile. They often initiate comforting gestures like a hug or a gentle touch to express their care and warmth.

Color Code: Red

Intellectual Connection

The ones with Intellectual Connection as their favorite affection language to receive from others appreciate stimulating conversations and the exchange of ideas. They feel most loved when someone engages their mind and respects their perspectives.

The ones with Intellectual Connection as their favorite affection language to give to others enjoy sharing knowledge and exploring ideas with others. They show affection by initiating thoughtful discussions and encouraging curiosity.

Color Code: Violet

Now, it's headcanon time~

Please give comments to help me improve~ Have a nice day.

[mel0deon]

im just rewatching a lot of stuff so hear me out

with the adventure 99 kids, the only way they know how to interact with digimon is if the world is at stake. there is a definite Divide of the human and digital world. the hikarigaoka and odaiba fog incident seals the deal with them. next time theyre called, diaboromon is rampaging the internet, and they can finally see their friends again. they had to part ways, and deal with growing without them first.

with the 02 cast, the worlds intertwine. they deal with enemies that interact with them in both worlds and have influence in both. by episode 50, the digimon being at home is a pretty open secret. they do everything together and in the 02 cast were a part of the incidents.

thats why kizuna was so jarring for them. at least taichi, yamato and sora. with the digimon now being more known, they could take them to class. they could have lunch out with them. however, there is definitely a cloud of 'I have only seen them in a life-threatening situation, what can I do with them' thoughts that's blocking them from having fun with them.

jou's arc in adventure especially speaks out to me. his issues are especially why he and gomamon are still together. its because of the issues at home. in the digital world, he learns the value of reliability in his own way. his own choice, as both a Chosen Child and as a person.

dealing with problems that relate to human social issues is hard for the 99 digidestined because all they know dealing with problems is to fight their way through it. it doesn't pass their thoughts that the digimon themselves are related to their own personal issues.

[themattress]

Favorite Redeemed Villains

One who was just redeemed all at once, and another who got the full arc treatment.

The Grinch - How The Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss delivers redemption in a charming, easily digestible for children way. The Grinch is a curmudgeony loner who hates Christmas for embodying all that he hates about socializing with others: all the noise and the spectacle and the superficiality. This drives him to impersonate Santa Claus and steal all of the presents and food from the Whos down in Whoville. But when the Whos still celebrate Christmas in spite of this, it makes the Grinch's "two sizes too small" heart "grow three sizes" as he realizes that Christmas - and thus social bonds in general - are at their core about love; no misuse can change that nor can any attempt to destroy them succeed. Thus he returns everything to the Whos and becomes a happy member of the community. It's simple and effective, introducing many kids to the concept of a villain who undergoes a change of heart.

Ken Ichijoji - Look, we all love Prince Zuko, but we need to be honest: he only got to spend the second half of the show's third and final season actually redeeming himself. His arc worked due to all of the fantastic build-up, but the pay-off was still remarkably short. Ken Ichijoji, on the other hand, spent the second half of his entire series redeeming himself for the crimes he committed in the first half. And unlike Zuko, Ken was no conflicted villain. As the Digimon Emperor, he was unabashedly evil and cruel, living out his twisted power fantasy without a thought to who might get hurt. But not only was his Heel Realization masterfully executed and his heart-wrenching backstory make his subsequent evil actions make perfect sense all while not justifying them, Ken also went through the emotional ringer several times over as he bent over backwards to redeem himself. He feels so guilty about the suffering he's caused that toward the end of the show we discover his innermost secret desire is to die at the hands of his former victims as a matter of justice. But after this he gets over the notion, realizing that dying solves nothing and that he must continue to live in order to truly make up for his sins, which he does even to adulthood as a detective. Ken went from a truly repulsive monster to someone absolutely worthy of the Crest of Kindness, and that's why he's the best.

[seventeenlovesthree]

Theory: Digimon Adventure 02 The Beginning is the origin story of why the Digimon Adventure: 2020 reboot timeline exists.

The more I try to analyze how the events of the movie affect the overall timeline, I do have moments when it all feels a bit jumbled - and others, when it just seems to make a little too much twisted sense. I will always be a fan of reincarnation theory when it comes to the reboot - but the movie also provided a different angle to look at.

Spoilers under the cut!

To sum it up once again: The idea presented in the movie - which is influenced by unreliable narration and us having to tie the timeline together - is that, Rui was the one who sparked the partnership system between humans and Digimon:

Encountering Ukkomon for the first time, he wished to have a friend - and eventually friends around the whole world -, who'd protect him, Ukkomon's wish-fulfilling abilities created Digimon to partner with other human beings.

It is also said that Ukkomon "misunderstood" his wish back then:

Since it is also said that Ukkomon is linked to some kind of "God figure"...

... My theory was the following:

"Homeostasis does not have a physical form, so it created its agents like Gennai - and PROBABLY Ukkomon too. Since we know the Digital World has “wish granting” abilities, I can accept there being a singular being that is capable of doing the same thing. So then, a Digiegg gets into the real world in 1995, and Homeostasis gets to scan Hikari, Taichi and the others, discovering the potential they have - since Hikari is the child that enables the hatched Botamon to evolve into Greymon super quickly, Homeostasis sends Parrotmon to retrieve it. Afterwards, in 1996, Ukkomon “would appear who had special connections with [a child] in the real world”. And thus, Rui’s wish was the indirect catalysator of the foundation of the “partnership system”. Basically, Ukkomon’s wish fulfillment powers enabled a system based on the limitless potential (of wishes and the bond between humans and Digimon) that was deemed useful by Homeostasis for the sake of saving the world(s). A system that wasn’t in place like this before, so Rui was basically some kind of “prototype” - as was Ukkomon, kinda testing the waters of partnerships in the first place. And through analyzing the other 8 kids in the meantime, their potential had been discovered, which is why THEY also had Crests created for themselves. Like Ukkomon said - they came into existence to “protect” him, so he wouldn’t have to save the worlds himself."

However... This proves to be a problem by the end of the movie.

Aside from personal bias and the fact that Bandai must have been bonkers to approve of the disappearance of one of their most marketable toys, doesn't that mean that we should be having a splitted timeline now? If Rui never made the wish in the first place, if the partnership system had never been founded because of it - how did the 8 Chosen Children come into existence?

First of all, removing the Digivices from the equation causes quite a butterfly effect (no pun intended) within the entirety of the OG Adventure timeline and it may or may not be a plot hole to not SHOW the effects of what it meant for the original Chosen Children which may be the reason why they were not included in the movie in the first place. However, there are two ways I could see to get out of this mess:

Homeostasis NEEDED to see if humans' wishes really had the ability to make Digimon evolve. Rui was a guinea pig that was needed to have a justification for "choosing" humans to be partnered with Digimon. Hikari, Taichi and the others had already been scanned at this point. So the original timeline may still have happened the same way it did - IF Homeostasis had just looked for another miserable child that could have been used to be forced into wishing for friends.

The other option is... That we'd end up with a timeline that is a little bit to the left. So... What if we had a timeline that fulfilled the following criteria:

The 8 Children of the Hikarigaoka Incident had already been scanned, they were always meant to be "chosen", because they had the potential to save the Digital and the real world. The respective Digimon partners were also "already in the making", as were the "Crests" their hearts corresponded with.

Since there was no "wish" in motion to test the waters, no Digivice "in the shape that we are familiar with", Homeostasis had to come up with a "different design" to facilitate the energy of the children and make the Digimon evolve.

The Digimon may or may not have memories of a former timeline in which they and "their humans" had already been brought together, which is why they seem to be so familiar with them.

There are no other partnerships this time around - just the 8 that were needed, no other "friends" to protect one singular child (and in extension the entire world).

So long story short - the split timeline starts with the moment the past is changed within the movie, it's literally THE BEGINNING of the events of the reboot timeline. The kids were already scanned, the Crests already created - they exist since THE BEGINNING of this timeline. And whether or not the passage of time between the Digital World and the real world is still different... Saying that it was "long ago" that the Crests were created still lines up with the idea that Digimon perceive time differently than humans do. Because between the events of 2012 (which had an influence on the events of 1999) in the OG timeline AND the reboot taking place in 2020... That's still a pretty damn long time in Digimon terms.

Either way, Homeostasis just went for it, created its own version of the Digivice and formed the partnerships between the 8 Chosen by its own will without any wish being linked to it. It actually IS an alternate timeline. And yes, it may not line up with timing, but it IS an interesting theory to look at.

Reference posts I used - and which I recommend to look at further! - can be found here: [X] [X] [X] [X] [X]

[froggie-bolt]

Mapping out how the digital world works theoretically?? Eden is the main server which is created probably in the future when traveling into the net is more widespread. We only see the digidestined doing it originally, with the first instance of any of them traveling INTO the net in our war game, when Taichi and Yamato did so.

But we know for a fact that Digimon can enter the net freely and mess with other people from inside the digital world and the net.

The sub spaces are like pocket dimensions created by the digital world itself.

The created servers are the smaller physical areas in the net, like where the majority of the fighting in our war game takes place, as well as menoa’s neverworld. They are usually coded by people or are empty domains the already exist.

The DIGITAL WORLD itself is the one we know of from adventure/survive/ next order/ frontiers/xros wars/ world games(mostly). In most cases, humans are unable to get there unless called by the digital world itself, OR in the case of 02, without a digivice.

The digital gates that move between the net servers, the digital world and the real world were created as a way for (probably) digimon to get to the net, until people found ways to use them to. Koushiro probably figured a way to access these gates from the real world after Taichi and Yamato initially travelled through one in our war game.

(Will be adding to this post)

EDIT: I FORGOT THE DARK OCEAN

EDIT: fixed it

[koushirouizumi]

ME: Good morning only to the Japanese fans I follow elsewhere who will rewatch Adventure/02/etc. and find all the same small details I notice about canon!Koushiro literally every time I rewatch *too*, like "Koushiro has Taichi pay the phone bill using Koushiro's {phone card}/'Telecard'" but does it in such a way it makes Koushiro "cool and {reliable}" in their opinion, or details like "Koushiro was equally as distracted by the prospect of food as all the others were" {but was much better at hiding it} up until the point something happens that makes Koushiro actually acknowledge it, which Koushiro then Ignores in an attempt to distract both Koushiro's self and the others (from further noticing Koushiro's plight) ("{We were talking about what YOU had right}???") / "What about YOU, Taichi-san??"

[bagerfluff]

Episode Four - ???

A series dissection of Digimon Adventure 02, a nerd talk for nerds.

SPOLER ALERT FOR DIGIMON ADVENTURE 02 EPISODE FOUR

Part Two

Part Three

This is part four of the episode title dissection of Digimon Adventure 02. if you want to see part one click here. Part one has the rules and tells you about what this series is and what its doing. So read part one if you want to know but lets get right into this.

English Dub - Iron Vegiemon

Sub - Digimon Kaiser, King of Darkness

Now, one, I will never get over the names of episodes in Japanese that are so extra. Like, Digimon Kaiser, King of Darkness is a little over the top. Plus Kaiser is just Germen for Emperor.

I don't think the dub is any better though. Neither of the titles are good so but neither are better then the other so I hate both.

In the episode the 02 gang and Yamato go to the Digital World to save a village from the grasp of the emperor. In the processes Daisuke and Yamato get into a argument.

Daisuke if a little to self-centered and is angered by Yamato's words and Hikari's words. Though he's more sad at Hikari's words then angry.

This causes Veemon to fight an Campion level Digimon, Redvegimon and get hurt in the process. Once Daisuke figures out he's the problem he yells to Veemon and that allows Veemon to Armor Digivovle to Fladramon and win.

I don't think either titles really have anything to do with this. They don't even make any sense. I can kinda get the Iron Vegiemon since the Redvegimon is the strongest Vegimon and he does have some pretty hard hitting punches.

But I just don't like it that much, it kinda makes sense but still feels a little weird. The sub title, Digimon Kaiser, King of Darkness doesn't really make sense either.

In previous episodes we see the Digimon Kaiser being evil, or the "King of Darkness". Yes, in this one we see him capture an entire town and Gabumon but in episode three we see him make Digimon fight for his enjoyment.

That's pretty evil, and so if capturing a entire town and keeping them in jail. But by the point of the fourth episode we've already seen lots of acts of evil by the Digimon Kasier.

This episode isn't a big revel of evilness or King of Darkness stuff or the worse thing he's done, in my opinion. So I don't think these episode titles are great.

What's your opinion?

Tell me in the comments!