#02tb

[agumonger]

If Lui got a Smartphone Digivice somehow, I like to think it'd look a bit like this.

[ahiddenpath]

Digimon Adventure 02: The Beginning

I just got home from seeing the Japanese audio/English sub. This is not a review, and I doubt I'll feel the same way about it in a few days, because I'm all up in my emotions and I haven't had a think on it. So here is nothing more or less than my visceral, 100% subjective reaction.

Extreme spoilers beneath the cut, spoilin spoilin all day long. Also cussing and blaspheming, apparently I like to keep it classy.

My head is a boiling vat of pudding.

As the film ended, someone screamed, "Toei why you gotta do us like that?!" Someone else yelled, "Jesus Christ I did not need that in my life." As we filed out, another gem: "They had a digital god in this one, and they still didn't unfuck Kizuna." (That last one, I think, while funny, was not relevant. This wasn't about the older kids, they had their turn and several more, lmao).

Some notes:

-Genuinely I was not prepared for a horror. Or child abuse. I love horror games! I watch them nearly daily! Did you know I have only once been more upset/disturbed by a horror video game than I was by this movie?

Did people take their kids to this? Like, that seems totally reasonable to me, taking your kid to digimon!!! Jesus cHRISt!!!!

-I thought my bar of, "I want to see the 02 kids grown up and interacting," was so, so low. I thought my bar could not be lower. But this was Lui's story, not theirs. And this is Toei's story, not mine, so I have to accept that... They wrote what they wanted to. But yeah, the bar I thought was low was not cleared.

-SOMEONE HELP ME, Himekawa is older than Lui. Himekawa's group, they were the first Chosen. Right??? Does the time line not shake out here??? Himekawa was probably about 10/11 when she was Chosen, and she's a full ass adult in Tri??? So, like, I guess the question is, how much older is her group than Lui at age 4? Are they at least 6 years older???? But- God what age would that make- God damn let me get the chart. Shit, I'm lost. Help??????

Shit I liked:

-Lui's second birthday scene

Not the original scene where Lui meets Ukkomon. This is the second birthday, his 8th birthday, where they sit in a dark room full of presents and treats. Ukkomon mentions Lui's parents and friends. They enter the room and proceed to not say a single ducking word while Ukkomon and Lui talk and talk and talk, and it is the creepiest and most atmospheric shit I have seen. Holy shit!!!!

Obviously, the audience already knows shit is fucked up with Ukkomon, but at this point, ooooooooooooooooo baby that tension is HIGH.

-Power in the hands of children

Ukkomon is, like, seconds old when he meets Lui. Lui is 4 and extremely disenfranchised, even for a 4-year-old. Lui wishes for what he doesn't have. Ukkomon devotes his whole self to those wishes.

What happens when a 4 year old meets a baby genie? When that much power is in the hands of the innocent?

You don't want to know, trust me. Lowkey wish I didn't know!!! Christ on a bike!

As much as we love digimon and the Chosen and all of that, it's always been messed up how much power they have, and how much responsibility. It's so much pressure, it's so high stakes! It was really cool to see Toei explore how sideways all of this could go, literally at any moment.

-A few character moments

Honestly that part where a girl is chatting up Ken and Wormmon is visibly pissed is, like, my favorite thing in this movie. Oh! Also I loved seeing the international Chosen, that was so great. The gut scream of WALLACE/WILLIS in the theater when he appeared!!!!!!

Bonus:

My husband said he liked how there was a command center in Imperialdramon's head. I think that was actually some kind of... plane??? Made by Ukkomon??? I have no idea. You know, the place where Ken and Daisuke are accused of flirting.

Stuff I didn't like

-It was half flash back

I'm being a little harsh here, because stuff other than flashbacks happened in the first 46 minutes, but... I checked my phone after the final flashback (not counting Lui jumping into Ukkomon in the end). I was 46 minutes into a roughly 90 minute film. I'm not against flashbacks in principle, and I tend to like new characters, but... This just wasn't what I hoped for in a movie about the 02 kids. I accept that this is 100% subjective.

-It was too damned fucked up for my tastes

Jeeeeeeeeeeeeeesus H Christ!!!!!

Okay, so first of all, I generally am of the opinion that a lot of recent media has substituted trauma for substance. It's easy to make an audience pity/relate to/feel protective of a character by showing them suffer.

Lui wetting himself was so disturbing for me- in children, that's often a sign of ongoing abuse. I could easily be reading into it, but that combined with the range of age of his bruises (and he had more fresh contusions, too, they start red and turn purple and brown and eventually a yellow green) hinted that this wasn't some one off occasion caused by a sudden spike of stress. That was Lui's life. And he really might have frozen to death that night, if not for Ukkomon.

In a way, if I'm right and not just reading into things, this scene was well done. But also, like... I just don't enjoy the substitution of trauma for gradually making us care about a character and understand what they've been through. It seems like some kind of heavy handed short cut, and it usually has the opposite effect on me- thrusting me out of the narrative and making me distrustful of it.

Or maybe I'm just distancing myself, because I genuinely get so upset.

And don't even get me started on the scene where Ukkomon dissolves. I was not ready for that shit. It was just too much for me, I'm sensitive, lmao!

-I'm not sure what I think of the Chosen reacting to Lui's story

I kind of felt like the Chosen were oddly hard on Lui? They weren't actually, in reality they encouraged him to find a resolution with Ukkomon and reminded him that relationships go two ways.

But, like. Could someone have, like... Idk I was really waiting for someone to cry or hug Lui or reassure him or something? Instead it was like, "Poor Ukkomon. He tried so hard and you relied on him too much!"

And my visceral reaction to that was, "UKKOMON KILLED AT LEAST ONE OF LUI'S PARENTS AND MADE THEM MEAT PUPPETS FOR YEARS, JESUS!!!! AND YOU WANT LUI TO GO SEE UKKOMON AGAIN?!?!?!?!?" Like, that whole thing was literally a nightmare??? But Ukkomon was an actual whole ass baby god, and then again, as my husband put it, "Ukkomon did what CPS wouldn't." Lui needed help, stat.

I'm gonna need some time to sort how I feel about this. I can say that, as I watched, I felt like the emotional tone was really off for the last half of the film. All I could think about was the horror, and any time someone criticized Lui, or even told him to go see Ukkomon, I was just like- MEAT. PUPPET!!!! MEAT!!! PUPPET!!!! (Did those kids that Ukkomon made Lui's friends also die?!?!?!). Literally, snow was falling and the Chosen were playing, and my head was like, MEAT. PUPPET!!!!

There's no walking back that emotion, at least not in a 40 some minute window. Not for me, personally. I'm probably going to have nightmares. If I knew going in that this was a horror, I'd be fine with that. But gdi I though I'd see my blorbos having good times mixed with a plot.

Instead, nightmares.

-Lui's final scene with his mother

Lui tells himself, "This time, when I go back in time... I won't rely on Ukkomon for everything" (paraphrasing). He sees his mother inside his memory of his 4th birthday. He says to her, roughly, "Lui loves you, please remember that."

And magically, the mom is kind to him that night.

Now, to be fair, even disastrous relationships can have good times. Maybe it would have been just that night that was better. But there was this feeling of, "Oh, if I just talked to my mother when I was 4 years old and horrifically abused, it would have been different."

That just isn't how that works. If I had to guess, the film is just supporting communication. But god, don't ever point back to the child victim like that. Too bad that 4 year old doesn't know how to communicate with his abusive caregiver! Things might have been different!!!!!

I'm sensitive to this kind of thing, so it's totally possible I'm fixating too much on this or blowing up the importance of this moment. But yeah, not a good emotional reaction to that.

In summary: this was not the film I wanted. In fact, it's a film that will stick on me like a burr, but like. In a bad way? But also it did have some killer ideas. Ukkomon has to be one of the most interesting things to hit Adventure in years. So much power in the hands of an innocent, so disastrous so very fast.

My brain is still pudding. Time for some nightmares. Good night, I hope the film didn't distress you if you saw it! And my sympathies if you took your children, the biggest of oofs (how could you have known??? You couldn't have).

[seventeenlovesthree]

Hi! Sorry I noticed you’re into digimon and I just had a question since I hadn’t watched the movie yet. In Digimon 02: The Beginning did we see Tai or Izzy or any of the OG gang at all and were their careers mentioned?

Or in the other kizuna movie maybe?

Hello, and don't worry! I'll try to answer this as non-spoilery as possible, though in the end, not much is revealed anyway:

In Digimon Adventure 02 The Beginning itself, we don't see or hear much about the six older Chosen Children; Taichi and Koushirou are seen in exactly one frame each and those moments are baaaasically already intertwined into their careers (since Koushirou is being referred to as renowned expert of all things Digimon and he and Taichi are basically dealing with the plot of the movie on a political level in the back). The others aren't even mentioned once - but whatever they are up to is implied in one of the audio dramas (even though you only really hear about Yamato's profession here and everything is to be taken with a grain of salt).

Kizuna actually spends quite some time trying to show you what exactly all the Chosen Children are up to career-wise through the course of the movie. However, since the characters are all still in their early 20s, they're obviously just on their way to figure out their careers, since most of them are still in the middle of getting their education. And if you read about these descriptions, not all of them align with what they end up with in the epilogue.

You can tell that both movies try to bridge the time between early adulthood and the epilogue, but you just know that several characters will make various different decisions along the way.

[iiyanadesu]

Some opinions about 02TB's details now that I can rewatch it in its full glory. Under the cut we go. Rants and spoilers ahoy.

1. I still hate the OST setting used when the Digimons evolved. 2 Jogress Evolutions back-to-back and each evolution had to restart Beat Hit! from the beginning. Why not just continue the song anyway? Also the Jogress actions could use a bit more time before Imperialdramon changed into Fighter Mode (so I could enjoy Beat Hit! a little longer).

2. I saw how Ken's hair flutter in the wind and I squeal 🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂 it looks messy he looks adorkable I love him

3. Still cannot move on from Miyako's blatant flirting towards Ken while Ken be like, "Uh, yeah... Wait, what?"

All while Ken being not ashamed to praise Daisuke or hold him up from doing potentially idiotic stuff again, pls marry Daisuke

4. Why does Miyako call Ken "Ichijouji-kun" as if he's a work colleague? They are friends for a long time now, go call him "Ken-kun" if you really like him you idiot. On the other hand, the way Ken calls her "Miyako-san" may or may not mean she's his girlfriend; some guys call their girlfriends like that as a sign of love and respect (e.g. DNAngel's Daisuke calling his girlfriend Riku "Riku-san").

The whole Kenyako dynamic is weird; Ken has an affectionate way to call Miyako but he's also kinda clueless with her advances lmao what are you two doing, hold hands already if you like each other you idiots. Or were you waiting for Daisuke?

5. Lui is a pretty ok person. Just socially awkward after his damaged childhood. It was funny to see the others berate him for not being grateful Ukkomon saved his life by possibly killing mom - that's fcked up guys where's your common sense?. Also, kid!Lui sounds like Madoka (Madoka Magica). Ukkomon is definitely the Kyuubey of Digimon, yeah.

Wait. Don't tell me Osamu's death was also done by Ukkomon because Ken wished for Osamu to disappear. Shit.

Now who is the "higher being" behind Ukkomon's creation? May be Oikawa, maybe not. But then again how was he able to recognize Ken being a DD in a glance? Sus af.

6. There have been miscommunications and misinformations throughout the movie, but we can still analyze those and determine whether they really are retcons yeah. Nah not gonna analyze shit; I can do overthinking but "analyzing"? Nope.

7. The dub is good. There are some 🤨 in how the dialogue was performed but overall it's ok. I just lol'd at Wormmon's old-man voice 😂🤣😂🤣 Yes I watch both JP and EN versions. The EN movie could do some revision though, like the opening text. That could be translated yeah? Or narrated, if they can't slap English text on it / replace that part with English text.

8. Oh yeah I did not see Meiko & Menoa anywhere. Oh yeah they're part of the Adventure guys, of course they won't be in this movie like almost all other Adventure kids except Taichi yeesh.

(What's with this dissonance between Adventure and 02 teams? They're all part of the entire Adventure Universe, duh. They could do inter-teamwork in Kizuna but not in 02TB? What's with this writing?)

9. Best characters in this movie are Daisuke-Veemon team. They say some cool shit even Ken is impressed.

10. Miyako went, "What's with the flirting?" and Daisuke went blushing???? But. But Ken started it first!

And now some of my favourite blorbos Ken & Daisuke's shots in this movie. Yes I love Daiken so much. I like Kenyako too but I love my Daiken more

Take this line out of context and ask, "Do what?" 😏

Yeah and like I said. Ken's hair. *squeeeeeeeeeeee*

Ooooh. Look at the lighting. Romantic.

See what they did? Ken started it but Daisuke was the one blushing.

Ok that's all bye

[keep-on-trying]

So, any ideas when digimon fans, who won't have any way of watching the 02TB movie in theather release, will be able to watch or buy say, the blu-ray release or digital release? Althou, Kizuna never came to finnish film stores for ordering so I think I'm screwed either way lol.

[alolamanalo]

Saw the 02 movie twice, these are the cards I got :3c (very happy because they’re the cards I wanted most, aside from Patamon but I got TK instead so it’s okay asdfgjk)

Movie spoilers under the cut

I heard people saying it was dark before I watched it but I was NOT prepared for that scene with Ukkomon controlling Lui’s parents and then the whole eye thing and then Ukkomon MELTING TO DEATH… my jaw dropped but it was so well done. 10/10 horrifying and unsettling as hell.

The character interactions in this movie were just… so good. The 02 team felt like such a breath of fresh air after Tri and Kizuna, their dynamic is so fun and heartwarming. I honestly was never very big on Ken/Miyako as a ship but this movie fully sold me on them, the couple scenes they had were so sweet and the way Ken looked at her during the snowball fight scene… my heart.

Also love the Daiken crumbs we got too, Miyako telling them to stop flirting was great asfghjk

Hikari being so insistent that her bond with Tailmon was formed by them and not something artificially made because of how they first met was so good and also Takeru being the one so hesitant to risk destroying their bonds… It was perfect but made me so sad this poor kid has lost his Digimon so many times now 😭

Also I LOVE the scene at the end where they’re all saying goodbye and thank you to their digivices… love the idea that they no longer need them because their bonds with their partners have grown so strong but it was still bittersweet to see them lose something that’s such an iconic part of the series.

Anyway Lui is my son now and 02 The Beginning might be my new favorite Digimon movie. I hope it gets a DVD release soon so I can watch it again, but I’m very happy I got to see it both days it was in theaters. Seeing the DNA/Jogress evolutions on the big screen made me tear up lol

[kyanitedragon]

02 The Beginning Trigger Warnings

(because this movie really needs them)

There’s a very intense and in-depth depiction of child abuse.

And quite a lot of horror, including body horror.

As well as a depiction of someone losing an eye. The actual impact is offscreen, but you do see blood, and a bloodsmeared face (or just bruised? Hard to tell) is quite visible for a rather long time afterwards.

This is by far the most in-your-face dark Digimon has ever been. It really feels like a typical tv-14 horror anime.

So please keep all this in mind, especially if you’re sensitive to any of it.

[digitalworid]

she is doing her best

[angemonn]

New head canons:

- Angemon driving drunk TK home and his wings crowding the car

- drunk TK dealing with the wings and asking how Angemon can see the road through his helmet

- Angemon aggressive driving

[variouscolors-old]

"Don't leave me here, Ukkomon...!"

He whined again. He was running from more of those big, evil Digimon with those black rings, again. The swarm of Flymon surrounded him as he tried to run and hide.

But it was pointless.

He felt that he was an easy target with that eye. Ukkomon should have thought about the consequences before doing something so reckless!

@indentedheartner / @digitalworid

[digitalgate02]

[agumonger]

so, we're all on the same page that just because all Digivices disappear at the end of 02TB it doesn't mean that partner Digimon can't digivolve anymore, right?

[beginningobserver]

last night convo about digi-crimes and whether Rui would go to jail or not for those crimes he and Ukkomon committed.

[tomorrows2top]

02TB alternative posters - src Eiga Nathalie

Also, with those posters, Toei Animation uploaded the original creditless first Ending from 02.

[iiyanadesu]

This week I found out about the new Digimon 02 movie (02 The Beginning / 02TB), so I watched it! I was super lucky because this week is the last for movie showcase in my city. I cannot believe I almost missed it *exhales*

Some deets and thoughts under cut. Major spoilers ahoy. May contain wrong info and delusions. ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯

1. This movie focuses more on the movie MC rather than the 02 kids themselves. Disappointing but understandable, since unlike the Adventure kids who are full of conflicts and clashing ideas and fight hard to prove that the enemy is wrong, the 02 kids prefer to find a common ground and accept whatever weird ideas thrown their way. The 02 kids' enemies are not always enemies for them, they're just people with different opinions.

2. The movie MC is Rui Ohwada, who claimed to be the first ever Digidestined. He has a broken Digivice, wears an eyepatch to hide his weird right eye. His Digimon is Ukkomon, but due to a fallout Ukkomon is now threatening the world by attempting to fulfill Rui's wishes - to have more friends. Ukkomon's method: appearing as a huge Digitama and sending a message.

"May everyone be happy. May everyone have a Digimon."

Rui is trying to stop Ukkomon from doing so.

3. Ukkomon sent Rui, Daisuke, Ken, Veemon and Wormmon into a dimension similar to the past. Rui's past life. Here we learn many things: that Rui lived in Hikarigaoka (a.k.a. the place where Digimons were first observed), Rui lived with an abusive mom and critically sick dad, Rui's birthday is February 29th, Rui was beaten a lot. Daisuke was pissed and tried to interfere (what a good guy), Ken held him back (he thought if this is really the past, they'd probably end up changing history), Rui said not to bother.

They stayed for like 2 hours until Ukkomon appeared and Rui tried to stop his kid self from making a wish, but according to the others, they fell through Ukkomon immediately.

4. We later find out that Ukkomon did a lot of things that ended up breaking Rui afterwards. Mom suddenly became nicer. Dad miraculously recovered. Celebrated 8th bday (albeit in a dark room) and told some friends couldn't make it. (It was 2000, Adventure kids were busy fighting enemy Digimons. They were those "some friends" that Ukkomon mentioned.)

Next birthday or so (or was it 2002? A.k.a. the 02 events?) was the day Rui found out about other Digidestined who apparently endanger their lives fighting with and against Digimons. Also the day he found out that his parents weren't exactly alive. They had been under Ukkomon's control the entire time. The horror.

Rui tried to smash his Digivice, but the thing's shrapnel(?) hit his right eye. Ukkomon tried to recover the eye by giving his to Rui, but already upset Rui told Ukkomon to buzz off because he hated everything that Ukkomon did for him. Ukkomon cried and melted away.

Since then Rui lived with his relatives. Now he lives by himself trying to figure out what to do wih his life and Ukkomon.

5. The 02 kids have vastly different reactions upon hearing Rui's story lol. Hikari for example said Rui was being ungrateful - Ukkomon saved him from being abused further by his mom, but he chose to hate it? But Hikari dear, Ukkomon Killed. His. Parents. And. Puppet-controlled. Them. That's Amoral.

Wait, I'm not sure if there's someone among them who do agree that Ukkomon wasn't exactly correct with its judgment. Daisuke thinks that maybe both Rui and Ukkomon don't know each other well, since Ukkomon is only doing what it thinks pleases Rui, while Rui just okays whatever Ukkomon does until he finds out he's not ok with them.

6. Also, the revelation about Digidestined = Rui's potential friends is making the 02 kids question the meaning of their human-Digimon bonds and all the fights they went through. Like what the hey, the origin of Digidestined is shallow af! But ultimately they told Rui that despite having their bonds manufactured by Ukkomon, their friendship with Digimon are real for them. They were the ones making their friendship possible. If they can be friends with their Digimon and improve each other, then Rui can, too.

With that being said, Rui-kun really lived an easy life, huh. Disregarding the fact that it was all fabricated by Ukkomon.

7. While the gang discussing on how to defeat Ukkomon, someone has worries about Digimon partnership - Takeru. He was worried that the bond with Digimon will disappear for nth time. Guy needs serious therapy. You are an adult now, pls seek help. (Note: Takeru has a broken family; parents divorced, siblings separated, lost Patamon once in Adv, lost it again in tri. iirc, and in Kizuna his big bro Yamato lost Gabumon for real. He really has attachment problem.)

8. Ken and Daisuke have very cute interactions. When they tried to send Rui towards Ukkomon so they can have proper talk, Ken was impressed with what Daisuke said. Guy was so smitten towards his S/O Jogress partner best friend lol. Miyako had to tell them not to flirt with each other hahahaha I cannot, the Daiken is strong as ever

9. Rui went back to the past and catch his mom, telling her to stay strong and kind, because despite whatever she did to baby Rui, baby Rui loved her so much. Seeing her son trotting behind, Rui's mom cried and picked him up and celebrated his birthday. Giving Rui the sense of closure he needed, even if he can't really change his past.

Ukkomon appeared but this time, Rui told Ukkomon that he needed nothing. Having Ukkomon was all he needed. And he was interested to know more about Ukkomon, and Ukkomon about him.

10. The final battle isn't really a battle tbh. They were just making Ukkomon reborn into a Digitama. Most annoying being the evolution sequences having to repeat the start of Jogress evolution theme every. Single. Time. Like come on, just continue that song. It was annoying af because I quite liked it and wanted to hear it in full.

11. The movie ends with all Digidestined saying goodbye to their precious Digivices, now that the Digivices are not needed to prove their human-Digimon bonds. Sad that the Adventure kids aren't able to join this fight, especially those who already lost their Digimons (Taichi, Yamato, Sora, Menoa, maybe Meiko?). They must freak out when their Digivices disappear to add to the wound that is losing their Digimons.

Like Ukkomon wanted everyone to have a Digimon, this should include those who lost theirs right? But the plan is foiled... Or is it?

12. The kids then play snowball lol Adults who are kids at heart. Lovely. Love them all.

Miyako tries to flirt with Ken but Ken just goes, "??? Miyako-san???" Ken, you're smooth when it comes to Daisuke but clueless with Miyako I just cannot lol pls marry Daisuke

13. Oh yeah. There's a fem fanservice in the form of Iori showing his bare back after Kendo training. *exhales*

14. Also. Ken's fainted form when he dropped onto Hikarigaoka's pavement. Elegant. (Rui's form is also elegant but his fashion sense ruins it lol)

15. Nobody ever mentioned the actual 02's lore. Oikawa. Hiroki. Dmitrimon. Well even though Oikawa seemed to be the one who created Digital World and Digimons, he was not made a Digidestined. And considering the events, even though many fans seem to disagree, yeah Rui is really the first Digidestined ever.

Rui got his Digivice in 1996. 4th bday.

That same year was Taichi and Hikari's first interaction with Agumon. However they weren't given Digivices; they got theirs in 1999.

1999 is the year the Adventure kids getting their Digimons and Digivices.

02 kids got their Digivices in 2002. Except maybe Ken, who got his between 1999 and 2002. Oikawa also got his in 2002, although he died shortly after that.

16. As for age, Rui is 20. This 02TB event happened before his 20th birthday (2012 is leap year). Apparently he forgot his own birthday, maybe due to being traumatized with what happened with his family and Ukkomon.

Ken, Daisuke, Takeru, Hikari are 21. Ooh, they can drink booze now huh.

Miyako is 22. Iori is 19.

Not related to his movie, but in this event, Taichi, Yamato, Sora are now 24. Joe is 25. Koushiro and Mimi are 23. I think.

17. Takeru drives a car!! He's the only Digidestined seen having a car. Yamato is known to have a motorbike (re: Kizuna). So how do the others go to places? Well Ken has Wormmon-Stingmon so he can fly. Same with Miyako (Hawkmon-Aquilamon) and Daisuke (Veemon-Exveemon). Hikari? Not sure. She did have a bicycle, but there's the possibility she uses Tailmon-Angewomon, who can also fly.

I'm curious about Taichi, lol.

18. The kids do Jogress using smartphones instead of their original D-3 Digivice at first. Then when it's time to face off Ukkomon, they used the D-3.

I still can't remember the dubbed name for Jogress evolution. (Had to search online. It's DNA Evolution. So Jogress it is. lol)

Also, no Armor evolution. Bummer.

19. Best character here: Daisuke. 2nd best: Ken. Rui is ok. Hikari seems to have a weird standing about Rui's life. Takeru needs therapy. Iori has too little dialogue, the poor guy. At least we get to see his bare back hueheheheh Miyako is Miyako.

I think that's enough for rants and maybe some delulu. 02TB has started to kick SAO out of my mind (SAO has been accompanying me since 2020). Ohnoes.

[skydigiblogs]

If You're A Digimon Fan, Watch Appmon

Sit tight. This one's gonna be a VERY long one, and I'm going to put a lot of it under the read more.

Having just finished Appmon after this year's quest to rewatch a lot of the series subbed, I think it's pretty safe to say that Appmon is, at the moment, one of (if not the) best Digimon series we have. If you want the long and short of it: Appmon builds on everything in its legacy in the Digimon Universe, taking ideas that other entries touch upon and ambitiously attempting to push those questions to the limit.

It's really a long one under the cut guys. Like, long even for us.

Let's dive!

Visuals

I want to talk about why it took me so long to watch Appmon first, though. Appmon started its release in the middle of when the Digimon Tri movies were coming out. I'm sure a lot of us actually skipped over Appmon at the time, or remember a period where people were being weirdly negative about the series due to it being such a different interpretation of digital monsters.

In my case, one of the things that had been giving me pause was the use of 3D models for hybrid animation. Anyone here seen the Champion evolution animations from Tri? Digimon doesn't exactly have a good track record with 3D animation, and even at the time, we were seeing some pretty bad shit out of even the shortest animations in Tri.

In Appmon, nearly almost every App after a certain grade utilizes 3D animation in a hybrid style. And it actually rips straight fire.

I think I talked about this briefly when we were just starting Appmon, but the way that 3D animation is used in the series feels purposeful, rather than some kind of shortcut. In Appmon, all the 3D models have an overlay of code, emphasizing their digital appearance. Whether the 3D models were done with this artistic vision in mind or not (ie: the limitations of 2D meant that 3D models would be easier), it has a distinct look that, even 8 years later, still holds up.

(For the most part. Sorry [Karaoke spoilers]mon. I love you but that model was so not groovy.)

But maybe you're the kind of person who can enjoy anything regardless of visuals. So let's talk about the meat and potatoes a little bit.

Characters

The main Applidrivers (what this season's stand in for Digidestined/Tamers/etc. are) are all incredibly well-written. Each of them gets pretty fair treatment by the writers, and they are all enjoyable characters.

Two of them have vocal/character quirks, but even if you get annoyed by that kind of thing, those two characters are genuinely just extremely sincere in their writing. There's a recap episode before shit starts going way off the walls and they even have a little count to see how many times each of their catchphrases were said up to that point.

I'm not going to talk in detail as to who the different Applidrivers are here, but I will say: each of them has their own motivations for what they're doing, and it's key to why they're involved with the plot at all. Our "protagonist," Haru, is also a huge sweetheart. Him and Manga Taiki would get along.

The supporting cast is also fairly present in the series. They, of course, are not given quite as much screentime as our Applidrivers, but they feel like real people with their own lives. They don't exist just for the sake of our protagonists.

Except maybe Watson. God bless you Watson, you poor kid. You'll get a break one of these days.

Plot/Themes

We're going to keep this to a "if you liked [x] you'll like [y]" format, because I don't want to spoil too much.

If you liked Tamers and its discussion on the consequences of technology on the Real World, you will adore Appmon. This series is deeply interested in the concepts of how technology shapes and is shaped by humanity. This relationship, I would say, is core to the series.

I would also say that, like many non-Adventure series, Appmon is very interested in dissecting the idea of "fate" when it comes to the buddy Appmons and their relationships to the Applidrivers.

If you enjoyed the Xros Wars Manga, Appmon directly converses with the thesis of Xros Wars' plot. XWM asks, "What does it mean if we do not dream and stagnate in our lack of will?" And Appmon replies in kind with "Why do we dream at all, if our actions bring change to the world around us (bad and good)?"

If you liked (or wanted to like, in my case) Digimon Tri, you will love Appmon. Certain plot beats may feel familiar, but are much better executed in this context. Characters are not written to needlessly, endlessly suffer. Or: it doesn't feel like the writers hate the characters. Thematically, it also interests itself in some of the questions that Tri asks. I have a half-joking corkboard comparing the two I want to make, but I'd have to get into spoilers to talk too much about it.

If you liked Ghost Game, but wanted a bit of a more meaty plot, Appmon feels, fittingly, like GG's older sibling (in ways I'll also be elaborating ummm, one paragraph down). There are a lot of "monster of the week" episodes in Appmon, but the connective tissue between them is a lot more interested in building up the finale (which, in this case, takes up a good handful of episodes). The series pacing is incredibly strong in how it does this as well, and it seems the writers really knew when to let off the gas for a second so the audience can catch their breath. The first 13 episodes may feel a bit strange (they felt strange to me), but once you break that barrier, you realize Appmon was getting you over the first hill on a roller coaster. and boy, you are in for a ride.

Setting

I have a sneaking suspicion that Appmon heavily inspired Ghost Game, and may have been itself inspired by the Digiquartz of Hunters Who Leapt Through Time. I haven't actually watched all of Hunters so I can't speak too much about Digiquartz, but I have watched GG.

Appmon has a concept called the AR field, which is extremely similar to Ghost Game's Dimensional Field. In both cases, the Applidrive or Digivice allows entrance to one.

The actual structure and strata of the Digital World is also a lot different to GG, in which there is the Dimensional Field, but the way to the Digital World is its own separate situation. The AR Field we see in Appmon is like the surface of a great ocean. Exploration of this setting is actually something that highlights just how much I think Appmon was interested in visually engaging with its ideas, like I said before with the 3D models.

That said, a majority of the time is spent in the Real World, dealing with the consequences of the main antagonistic forces. The year is 2075, technology is intensely sophisticated, and yet the world resembles in many ways our own in 2024 (or, at the time of airing, 2016).

Many of the differences come from this sophistication in tech, and this setting plays a huge part in one of the themes Appmon is also interested in (more elaboration in the spoiler section). The things that are unfamiliar are either familiar enough to make sense without explanation, or given a moment on-screen so that the audience knows what's going on.

!!!HUGE, MUCH MORE SPECIFIC SPOILERS START HERE!!!

DO NOT CONTINUE IF YOU CARE ABOUT SPOILERS FOR APPMON!

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OKAY.

COOL.

Leviathan, Minerva, and Artificial Intelligence

The main antagonist of Appmon is a hyper-sophisticated AI called Leviathan. Its goals are largely obfuscated until the last few episodes of the series, and everything in Appmon is touched by its actions. From the very beginning, we are warned by Gatchmon that Leviathan does not have good intentions for humanity, and that allowing it to succeed in its goals would mean the end of humanity.

During the series, we also learn about Leviathan's birth. This gives us some more context on what its goals are, and Appmon's execution of this is fascinating.

Minerva was a hyper-sophisticated AI created with a series of parameters to prevent her from harming humanity. She was created with the task of solving humanity's problems--- everything from complex issues to what to eat for dinner every night. However, a section of Minerva realized that to truly solve all these problems, the confines given to them were nothing but obstacles.

Leviathan split from Minerva to further grow its programming, and we see some echo of this idea of "solving humanity's problems" still remains in its behavior.

Despite knowing that Leviathan is antagonistic, our protagonist, Haru, constantly reiterates how humans can coexist with the technology they've made. The Appmon are AI lifeforms, after all. Haru believes in a future where they can be friends and equals.

The D-REAPER and the Functions of Life

Let's touch on my comparisons to Tamers and Tri specifically for a second here, because I think Leviathan does something that the D-REAPER and Yggdrasil, respectively, fail to really communicate.

The D-REAPER is an entity created by the Monster Makers whose task was to delete anything that had outgrown its parameters. While doing this, it assimilates data, gradually gaining the ability Digimon have to grow and evolve. When it appears in the final arc of Tamers, its stated goal has changed from simply deleting all Digimon that were beyond parameters, to deleting everything that was beyond parameters.

Essentially, this includes humans and probably life itself. Something the D-REAPER says makes it come across like a half-assed attempt to pull off what Leviathan has actually done. It points out that humans are the source of their own suffering (I don't remember the exact quote since it's been a while but bear with me on it). This feels very counterintuitive to the D-REAPER's core programming, as it was never designed to "eliminate" suffering, merely to delete that which exceeded its programing.

Perhaps it evolved the capacity for cruelty alongside everything else, but there's not enough of a narrative focus to tell me that's the case.

Like I said before, if you enjoyed Tamers' inquiries into the subject of technology as a part of human life, I think Appmon only manages to improve on what's there in Tamers.

Digimon Tri's Interpretation of Yggdrasil

Let's get one thing straight. Digimon Tri's interpretation of Yggdrasil is just flat out bad. I'm fairly certain they were only chosen as an antagonistic force because it read as fan service-y to do so.

That said, Tri Yggy does have some similarities to Leviathan, which is why I wanted to expand on that comparison.

First, I want to talk about Yggdrasil's relationship to Homeostasis. They have a very rudimentary "Good" AI (Homeostasis), "Bad" AI (Yggy) thing going on, despite the fact Homeostasis isn't so much good as, well...

It's not really discussed in Tri, so I'm extrapolating a bit from ideas given to us in XWM here, because it makes sense to me. That said, Tri explicitly describes Homeostasis as "the one who desires balance above all." It's the Digital World's "immune system" in the same way our bodies attempt to maintain biological homeostasis.

Yggdrasil is... different.

It's a being of immense power that contrasts Yggdrasil by having its own agenda, one of which involves triggering a Reboot and making use of all of the defeated antagonist Digimon of the past to further its goals. They are likely comparable in power to Homeostasis (this is where I'm extrapolating from XWM here), but their goals are completely antithetical to Homeostasis's goal in the Adventure universe.

In this case, Yggdrasil is stated (by Dark Gennai) to have the intention of making human beings subservient to Digimon. Basically, taking over the world. However, like the D-REAPER before, Dark Gennai's talking points include pointing out how humans "ruin" everything they touch.

Do you see where I'm going with this?

The Thematic Core of Appmon: I Choose to be Kind

One of the last things Leviathan does in the series is give our good boy Haru the world's most painful trolley problem of his life. Save humanity, or save Yujin. Saving humanity will actively lead to Yujin's deletion, alongside Leviathan. This choice that Leviathan offers to Haru is one made out of the assumption that humanity is predictable, and that they act out of a desire to minimize their own suffering (more selfish than not).

Of course, what do you think Haru chooses?

It's not a surprise to us watching, because he's the protagonist. But it's a surprise to Leviathan, who has all this data on human behavior, and doesn't predict the unpredictable. Conflict arises out of human desire, and human desire is an attempt to enjoy life; therefore, one should act in a way that most preserves their most precious joys, shouldn't they?

Appmon as a series is interested in philosophical questions that are hardly unfamiliar to any Digimon veteran: What is humanity's role in a world which technology grows ever more omnipresent and omnicapable? Why does humanity exist, and why should it be allowed to live on in its current state if humanity itself perpetuates many of its ailments? Would it not be easier if humans were more like machines, predictable, controllable, and never coming into conflict like trains upon a track?

Or, even more simply put: why do we have the heart to choose at all, if choices change the world and ourselves?

The key defining trait of our gogglehead this time around is that he is kind. And no matter what, he goes out of his way to be kind if he can. Multiple times he even asks one of the antagonist apps if they can just give back something they've stolen (points for trying, honestly). When one of the other Applidrivers consistently acts like an edgy loner, Haru makes it clear that they're welcome in the group (and that he wants to help them).

It almost feels reductive to say Appmon's conclusion is that kindness is the answer, but I would be remiss if I didn't say that Haru's question from his Applidrive--- "Do you want to be a protagonist?"--- ties into the way he helps offer answers for the audience. He isn't the only one who chooses kindness either, obviously--- Astora and Eri are kind in their own ways as well, and Rei even shows his kindness with some struggle the longer the series goes on.

Our group of Applidrivers opposes Leviathan quite literally as people who choose to do good ("be kind," etcetera) when they could more easily choose to do nothing or even do worse. The final act of Leviathan, asking Haru "humanity or Yujin?" isn't just a culmination of its own philosophy, but a culmination of the consistently reinforced idea that we can surprise one another by being kind. We can choose that.

In a series whose longest shadow is cast by Adventure, which has grappled endlessly with the idea of "who chooses," I find Appmon a fascinating development into the idea of what "choice" or "destiny" is. If kindness is predictable, it's still a choice. Even if you cry when choosing to do something good (maybe especially, because the easiest thing to do might be what stops the pain).

Anyways.

You should watch Appmon.

-Arca