#digimon adventure tri ending | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

thatseitagremlin · 21 days ago

Text

gremlyn's danganronpa: despair time x digimon au

born to draw / world is a fuck / blender em all / i am au man / 410,757,864,530 unfinished wips /ref

everyone in the image is in elementary school age. this started because i wanted to draw kid charles in a stupidly oversized lab coat and stupidly oversized square glasses and it spiraled into this (though the au itself has been in the works for far longer)

as usual, yapping about the au under cut! but there is a LOT of text down there holy Shit. allusions to Certain DRDT Character Development Spoilers; knowledge about digimon isn't necessary but will be helpful! :)

the au's bones / plot summary

ultimate titles and hope's peak academy do not exist in this universe. the tragedy never happened. everyone still has their respective talents, which helps some characters (e.g. min is a normal student living an average life) and hurts others

mai akasaki is this universe's first ever chosen child / digidestined. she encounters her partner digimon, makes all kinds of friends (everyone else in the pic except teruko) who she loves dearly (even if all of them drive her up the wall in their own unique ways), and eventually (high school age), all of them get isekai'd to the digital world!! they get to go on a fun adventure and improve as people and be closer friends!!!!!

until the part where mai dies an untimely, Brutal death during the final battle. which was Not Supposed To Happen. Whoops!

her death and the circumstances surrounding it cause her friend group to fracture, and most of them do not cope well at all.

i'll probably make a separate post for this, but tl;dr after the final battle; hu and ace initially stay in the digital world to clean up the final battle's aftermath, with differing outlooks on life -> charles has a breakdown + remembers his buried childhood memories, preventing him to function for a good while -> whit tries to take care of him just as he once did but his shitty coping mechanisms and refusal to acknowledge anything make the overall group disorder even worse -> david secludes himself in the digital world after a week of no contact -> xander tries looking for him and david avoids him. worst situationship in existence -> j and arei run away from their respective families and stay together. funniest situationship in existence -> arei realizes how fucked everyone is and is determined to honor mai's memory by keeping tabs on everyone and making sure her stupid friends will be alright

a few years after (depending on how old everyone actually is in canon— college age?), when things have somewhat settled and half of them (arei, j, ace, charles) have moved on, working for their futures, a message from mai's partner digimon is sent to everyone. it's something along the lines of "Bring* Teruko Tawaki to the Digital World and we'll revive** Mai"

*teruko would probably die in exchange

**they don't know and can't know in what form would mai Hypothetically come back in

teruko is just trying to survive with her scraggly cat who she definitely does not project onto. now she has to fend off a bunch of weirdoes with their own funny animals that are trying to?? kidnap her???????? her bad luck kicks in and an innocent stranger (eden) gets dragged into this mess too so she's morally obligated to let said innocent stranger get away as far as possible. (un?)fortunately, eden wants everyone to be happy, so she isn't leaving until teruko's safety is also guaranteed

teruko and eden get front seats to mai's friends having too many internal conflicts and moral crises about potentially sacrificing an uninvolved stranger's life to bring their friend back

i have no idea how this ends. i just want to do some Character Building (bullying my blorbos)

digimon & crest assignments (major characters)

people who at least know of digimon adventure will now notice that all of the digimon here are the baby forms of partners relevant in digimon adventure continuity. it is very much intentional! ^w^

in this universe, digimon partners are "reflections of their human partner's souls", and can be roughly categorized into three groups: those who resemble their human, those who resemble their human's ideal self, and those who are direct manifestations of their human's problems

it is indeed possible for one to project onto their digimon

everyone meets their digimon partners during childhood. since the digimon hatch and grow up in the "real world", they take a while to evolve, and seem to change along with their humans

also this is where i put the disclaimer. i use jp terms and names 95% of the time soryr if you grew up with the dub :pensive:

hu: puroromon -> morphomon, crest of love. happy little butterfly :> butterflies represent change and rebirth, but hu's partner can't evolve like everyone else's partners even after their adventure? even after all these years, morphomon is still stuck in her child stage? how strange...

(morphomon evolves to hudiemon in arc 2 after hu finally accepts that things have changed irreversibly and she has to move on from the past, too)

ace: tokomon -> patamon, crest of courage. the direct manifestation of ace's fears, fate has seen it fit to give him exposure therapy by making patamon a snappy little dog that evolves to a horse (unimon).

(patamon -> unimon -> manticoremon -> kentaurosmon? i can't decide the final stage quite yet, but since his character substansially grows in arc 1, he unlocks said final stage before the end of arc 1)

david: tsunomon -> gabumon, crest of hope. i had to give xanvid agumon and gabumon because... You Know. whatever they're having good luck with that shit! gabumon's thing about being a reptile that wears a beast's fur coat to seem tougher is a. masking thing. i think. gabumon also could behave like how david was as a child

(gabumon -> garurumon -> weregarurumon -> cresgarurumon. yellow. cresgarurumon is unlocked during the final battle but can't be accessed again until after david and xander finally have a successful mutually civil conversation)

xander: koromon -> agumon, crest of light. protagonist energy. agumon is like a second xander and they constantly enable each other

(agumon -> greymon -> metalgreymon -> blitzgreymon. red. blitzgreymon is unlocked during the final battle but can't be accessed again until after david and xander finally have a successful mutually civil conversation)

good place to mention that i could swap david and xander's crests (david light / xander hope) and it'd still work. i personally interpret light as living and valuing life, even with the destinies and purposes one is burdened with, and that's why i gave it to the man with the definition of survivor's guilt hidden in his bio. also haha david "dubious protag" chiem and the funny h word. i would need to blender these two longer to pin down their crests once and for all but i'm leaning towards david hope / xander light for now

j: mochimon -> tentomon, crest of integrity / reliability. the juxtaposition of cute, squishy mochimon vs a ladybug that emits ELECTRICITY that evolves to even COOLER and SCARIER bugs!? tentomon is also more sympathetic than j to contrast them being the most judgmental person in this cast

(tentomon -> kabuterimon -> atlurkabuterimon blue -> rhinokabuterimon. unlocked before the end of arc 1 when j starts being more understanding of others without renouncing their own moral compass)

arei: pyocomon -> piyomon, crest of friendship. piyomon used to be the snappier, harsher one to protect arei from her sisters, but as they grew up, it's almost like their personalities reversed somehow...?

(piyomon -> cockatrimon -> delumon -> griffomon. the only stage that can fly is griffomon. unlocked before the end of arc 1 after arei's ch2e13 speech)

charles: tanemon -> palmon, crest of knowledge. plant baby that i jokingly call "charles jr" in my notes, just because the thought of palmon being charles' lab assistant and wearing goggles + labcoat was really cute...

(palmon -> sunflowmon -> toropiamon -> hydramon. poisonous guys. probably unlocked before the end of arc 1? i'm still figuring out how charles' arc would work if he grew up with whit, because on one hand a friend would help him, but on the other said friend is Whit Young and all the backstory involved with him)

whit: pukamon -> gomamon, crest of sincerity / purity. gomamon is more responsible than her partner though she's still pretty chill. i want to make her behave like whit's (idealization and idolization of his) mom, but it's probably gonna take like 5 years until he says anything more about her

(gomamon -> rukamon -> piccolomon? -> marinangemon. piccolomon was the best link i could figure out between a dolphin and a holy-adjacent sea angel. also this man is NOT getting marinangemon until late arc 2 at least. he needs the entire party to talk sense to him)

mai: nyaromon -> tailmon, crest of miracles. for Plot Reasons tailmon is silly!monotv. goofy and self-deprecating and makes shitty jokes. disappeared after mai's death and returns after a timeskip to implore mai's friends to bring it teruko tawaki

(tailmon -> kabukimon -> ofanimon. it's a lucky coincidence that kabukimon happens to be a tailmon armor evo. final stage unlocked during the final battle)

teruko: nyaromon. it looks like one at least. it's totally a nyaromon guys it's just like mai haha -> meicoomon, crest of fate. a scared kitty :( the manifestation of what remains of teruko's wish to have friends and trust others. meicoomon also appears to drive other digimon berserk just by being near them for long periods of time; a variation of teruko's bad luck, and the reason why these two are basically bound to each other. since teruko's bad luck hurts other people and meicoomon's "bad luck" hurts other digimon

(meicoomon -> meicrackmon vicious mode -> raguelmon. you know. probably a late evolver?)

eden: petitmeramon -> solarmon, crest of kindness. she isn't here but she's the most important character who i didn't draw. Sorry Eden. but solarmon is also like a second eden and they constantly enable each other

(solarmon -> clockmon. it's not that eden isn't getting development, it's just that i need clockmon to be plot relevant and i don't know what the two stages after could possibly be.)

digimon assignments (minor characters)

everyone in this part is irrelevant to the larger plot but i didn't wanna completely leave them out, esp since thinking of their hopes peak-less backstories could be really fun!!

however i have No Idea about what digimon most of these evolve to aside from like. canon stuff

min: minomon -> wormmon. bookworms :>

rose: budmon -> lalamon. silly plant thing :> they're -_- and :o buddies. evolves to togemon

nico: bowmon -> loogamon. as a nod to survive, i think loogamon is the one partner who can't talk in human language, but is very expressive? and nico quickly learns how their partner communicates and how to communicate with their partner

veronika: pagumon -> porcupamon. i had to give her the Spooky Bear Digimon there was no other way around it.

levi: tsumemon -> bemmon. ourple. generally the "unnatural" / unknown digimon tend to be purple, i just picked bemmon since it's probably getting a new evoline in liberators soon

arturo: puyoyomon -> jellymon. i had Absolutely Zero Idea for this guy and settled on Ghost Game's bastard of a jellymon because i want them to beef with each other

backstories and situations

mai is a perfectly normal girl with a loving family and many friends. her partner digimon isn't a "partner" in the same way everyone else's digimon are, but rather an individual (hence the monotv-like personality) who "chose" mai to be the hero of a predetermined story. a story that would end in its heroes becoming better people, having hope for the future

not all heroes succeed, though

charles and whit are childhood friends! yippee! they've been friends and stayed friends throughout most of their lives :) elliot and whit's mom still die, and charles still forgets about the former and possibly the latter :) i wonder where whit got those coping mechanisms from aha :D

i don't have concrete ideas for anyone else's backstory yet Sorry

the digimon partners could pass off as plushies in their baby forms but most of the cast probably had to spill the beans when they evolved to their child-sized forms forms

ryan keeps tempting j to unleash tentomon everytime paparazzi annoy them, to which the only thing stopping j from doing so is tentomon himself. elliot bullies palmon in the same way he bullies charles (affectionately). elizabeth treats gomamon like an actual dog and their neighbors think the young household has a dog who loves swimming a lot. patamon and agumon are popular with their partners' younger siblings. piyomon actually has successfully attacked arei's sisters

i think it'd be really funny if eden is popular enough in town to inexplicably at least know about the non-relevant characters + their digimon, no matter how unlikely. maybe classmates with min and rose, met nico in a cat cafe and stayed in contact, levi works nearby, saw arturo and jellymon argue in public

i'm not a shipper by any means, so i can't and won't write explicitly romantic relationships. but if it helps, my initial thoughts for relationships were queerplatonic charwhit, jarei situationship where neither of them know or care wtf they're doing, xanvid broken pedestals and breaking up in every way possible, and hu + ace... whatever you call "most divorced pair of people despite 1) never marrying and 2) one of them being a gay man". feel free to do your own spin on things though!

also little fun tidbit: the digimon's base colors (except teruko's nyaromon) are colorpicked from digimon world championship sprites just as a fun little challenge, and the color-coded lineart is meant to showcase that they're digital lifeforms physically existing in the real world

57 notes · View notes

ashxketchum · 7 months ago

Text

HI Digimon Fandom, do you remember that photo the kids tried to take in the last episode of Digimon Adventure? Well the retake will now be sold on an art canvas, this truly is THE year to be a Digimon Adventure fan 😭

In collaboration with the brand Tohan, an art pop up exhibition + store will be held at Akihabara Onoden from 27th April till 12th May. This will feature some old and some new art, including the one used by andGallery cafe collab. These art will be exhibited at the location and you can place an order for the canvas print in person (it will take 2 months to get delivered).

I will add the full infographic at the end, but these are the illustrations used featuring the kids + partners.

One of these is the new art drawn by kaeru_dx as a collaboration project ongoing between official Digimon twitter and 3 illustrators.

For ordering a canvas piece on the spot in Akihabara, purchasers will be eligible to receive a minicard which features the second illustration from the project mentioned above, which was released today.

Apart from the art prints on exhibit and sale, the announcement claims that there will be over 70 different variety of Digimon goods on sale during the pop up!

A lot of fun new photos and merch news to look forward to this week!

#digimon #digimon adventure #taichi yagami #yamato ishida #sora takenouchi #mimi tachikawa #koushiro izumi #jou kido #takeru takaishi #hikari yagami #agumon #gabumon #piyomon #palmon #gomamon #tentomon #patamon #tailmon #digimon merch news

101 notes · View notes

seventeenlovesthree · 2 months ago

Photo

@deathsend How old do imagine them being in the reboot sequel?

Well, initially, I was thinking about doing it "the usual way" by letting it take the usual "3 years later", but I am kiiiinda torn on that: On one hand, I feel like there shouldn't be too much time passing between the reboot and its sequel, since they would have the Digimon with them the entire time. On the other hand, making them older makes things more interesting for plot reasons (for me personally at least), which is why I like their Tri ages. So I would probably still put the majority of the characters in late middle school or early high school:

Taichi, Sora, Yamato (15, last year of middle school)

Koushirou, Mimi (14, second year of middle school)

Jyou (16, first year of high school)

Takeru, Hikari (12, elementary school)

Digimon Adventure 2023 - the sequel nobody we’ve been asking for

Ever since watching the very last episode of the 2020 reboot and witnessing the TON of nudges hinting at a sequel… I’ve been thinking about what such a continuation could look like. First of all, this is just one of MANY possibilities, but based on my very first impression, I had a lot of fun thinking about it:

First of all, I think we all agree that another season of 60+ episodes might not necessarily lead to more/better content, so… Let’s break it down to some kind of seasonal 12-24 episode season, shall we? 24 seems about right, since we still have a lot of characters to focus on…

… So let’s break that aspect down too, alright? We’ve had the original 8 characters and their 8 partners - but if we take a look at the implications the “epilogue” gave us, not every character may be equally invested in further Digital - or other - World shenanigans, so we gotta make some choices here: Round about 3 years have passed and Taichi will obviously still be relevant, as he’s actually the one seen spending the last scene in the Digital World; if we take the idea of “world hopping” seriously, he’ll be the “guinea pig” that does all the jumping while still trying to deal with everyday life issues and the occasional appearance of Digimon in the real world. Koushirou is the one we see building a Tri-esque hacker room in the club room provided and sponsored by Mimi - so we can assume that these two will be on board as well. If “Ghost Game” tells us anything about narrowing down a cast, three main characters seem to be a solid number here - which Tamers has already proven once before. But I would still like to put Sora in the mix as well - we don’t exactly know if she was on her way to the club room as well in the epilogue, but seeing how ride or die she was throughout the season, it’s hard to believe she won’t be around some more.

“What about the rest”, you’ll ask? Oh, they will still be part of the series and they’re gonna be relevant, but not in the front and center, because this time, we will actually spend a bit of time with the characters and have some “conflict”. The possibilities are endless and we shall focus on some character development in the first 12 episodes, before developing the plot throughout the other 12; Taichi finally realizing that he can’t solve every problem and that it’s okay for him to show weakness around others; Sora actually coming to terms with what she wants and making choices early, learning how important communication is or you’ll clash and grow apart from your best friend(s); Koushirou and Mimi clashing in terms of view points, but actually settling things this time; Koushirou actually getting the arc we’ve all been waiting for, opening up to the others about his “secrets”; Mimi going on a journey of self-discovery… Hikari will still be a bridge between the worlds, maybe even being the key to their “final” opponent this time, as they finally figure out what their crests mean and why they were chosen. Yamato/Takeru/Jyou will have a minor story in the back of course.

Also, there will of course be shipping fuel, but more about that later.

Maybe I will actually draw/write this one day if Toei doesn’t give us anything further.

#personal #digimon adventure reboot sequel #my two cents #i might still make them tri ages in the end because it's fun #digimon adventure reboot sequel au #reboot sequel au

44 notes · View notes

tobiasdrake · 18 days ago

Text

Digimon Adventure 01x52 - The Holy Swordsman! HolyAngemon / Piedmon's Last Jest

Previously on Digimon Adventure: Yamato and Sora picked the worst time to go spelunking. Fortunately, Jou vanquished Sora's insecurities through reason and logic and Gabumon vanquished Yamato's with indignant toothmarks. They returned just in time to stop Taichi from getting himself killed, as tends to happen when he's left unsupervised.

Now, together, WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon stand against Piemon. Which you may think will go either very poorly or very well, depending on which spoileriffic episode title you read.

We open on the Chosen Children taking cover behind a ridge, sending the two Ultimates out into the fight.

Yamato: Get him, MetalGarurumon! Taichi: WarGreymon! This all ends after we defeat Piemon! Piemon: But can you defeat me? Ahahahahahaha!

Piemon is very amused by his terrible comeback. He forms a ring of fire over his head while he mocks the children. MetalGarurumon is less amused, however, and takes the obvious bait.

MetalGarurumon: We will defeat you!

MetalGarurumon rushes Piemon. Piemon tosses out the ring of fire he was flagrantly telegraphing, which MetalGarurumon flies straight into. It constricts around his midsection, burning him and bringing him to the ground.

WarGreymon: MetalGarurumon! Piemon: And this one's for you.

Piemon summons a large ball, which emerges from the ground under WarGreymon's feet. He tries, futilely, to balance on it for a couple seconds before slipping and falling on top of MetalGarurumon. Piemon laughs merrily at his jest.

(WarGreymon, you can fly.)

In the dub, Tai uses the establishing shot to lead us in and remind us of what's happening.

Tai: Now that we have two Mega Digimon, let's destroy Piedmon once and for all! Matt: Go get him, MetalGarurumon! Tai: Come on, WarGreymon! Take care of this clown! Piedmon: So... I'm a clown...? Then I'll act like one! CLOWN TRICK!!! (Piedmon forms the ring of fire) MetalGarurumon: I'll get him! (lunges) Piedmon: Try jumping through this hoop! (Fire ring takes down MetalGarurumon) WarGreymon: Whoa, are you okay!? Piedmon: Why don't you join us? We're having a ball! (Balancing ball appears under WarGreymon) Piedmon: Hahahaha! Bravo! Sorry if I caught you off-balance! Round and round he goes; Where he lands, nobody knows! Hahahahahaha!

Dub Piedmon is chewing all of the scenery and it's fun. XD

In the original, MetalGarurumon flew straight into a telegraphed attack because he was baited by the worst comeback in history. In the dub, he's acting on Yamato's plan of "Get him". They changed his motive, but retained the pure essence of dumbness permeating the doomed charge.

Piemon's attacks here don't have a name in the original, but the dub calls them Clown Trick. Which makes more sense than last episode, where Clown Trick was their name for his finishing move, Ending Snipe.

I was initially a little peeved that Tai didn't say "Let's finish this clown once and for all," but then it turned out he was saving it for his next line. Calling someone a clown is a child-friendly burn in the U.S. so you obviously can't pass that up.

So, round 1 to Piemon. Time to regroup and figure out a plan for round 2.

Koushiro: He's toying with us. Taichi-san! Taichi: Hang back for now. Yamato: Agreed. Let's gauge the situation first.

How sick do you think Koushiro is hearing that? Taichi was telling him that all last episode and was nearly beaten to death for it. Fortunately, Taichi seems to have forgotten that he was on death's door between episodes so he's all good now.

Maybe MetalGarurumon brought him back to life too.

Piemon: I think it's time I struck the final blow. TRUMP SWORD!!! Taichi: Careful! We don't know where they might come from!

At the end of last episode, the boys vaporized this attack with a combined assault. But Piemon's got more where that came from, and this time he makes it trickier. The swords separate and flicker out of visibility to make it--

MetalGarurumon: Sensor Catch! WarGreymon, left by 45 degrees! WarGreymon: Got it.

Oh, never mind then. With MetalGarurumon backing him, WarGreymon easily deflects the first incoming sword with his Dramon Killer.

MetalGarurumon: Next, to the right! WarGreymon: Whuh!?

WarGreymon whips around in time to deflect not just one but all three of the other swords, flanking him to try and capitalize off the first's distraction.

(Clever trick. Clever clown trick, if you will. Ahaha ha ha.... Oh no, where did this sword come from?)

MetalGarurumon: I'll handle the rest.

The four swords regroup for their next pass. Firing blue beams from his snout, MetalGarurumon vaporizes them all.

In the dub, Izzy's exchange with Tai and Matt is less argumentative.

Izzy: He thinks this is just a big game! Tai: Well, I'm tired of playing around! Matt: Let's not be hasty. He wants us to make a mistake.

Here, it's Tai getting impatient and Matt coolly telling him to chill. In the original, it's Koushiro getting impatient with both Taichi and Yamato presenting a united front on where we go next.

You know. Because. Taichi and Yamato being united is kind of the big thing going on right now.

Piedmon: What's the matter? Don't want to play with Uncle Piedmon anymore? TRUMP SWORD!!! Tai: Be careful of the swords! Hey, wait... Some of those swords aren't real! MetalGarurumon: WarGreymon, I'm picking up the real swords on my sensors. Over to your right! WarGreymon: Cover me! (WarGreymon deflects the first sword. Then, without a word from MetalGarurumon, whips around and deflects the other three.) Piedmon: (triumphant) WAHA!!! MetalGarurumon: METAL WOLF SNOUT!!! (vaporizes the other swords)

Metal Wolf Snout. XD They are absolutely taking the piss with that one. I swear the dub is written like an Abridged Parody sometimes.

This fight is completely different. First off, the dub interprets the swords suddenly disappearing to mean that there are a bunch of extra illusory swords floating around alongside the four real ones.

I'm not going to bag on them for that. That's a cool idea and it still plays into the idea that MetalGarurumon's sensors will be the key factor in winning this exchange.

But... then the action kinda goes to shit. I don't like that they took out MetalGarurumon's precise instructions as well as him redirecting WarGreymon's attention to deflect the other three swords.

It's a small moment but super important for the theme of Yamato's arc. Remember "There are some things only you can do"? Both Yamato and recently Jou have been about it lately.

We saw WarGreymon face down Trump Sword on his own last episode, and he got decimated by it. He simply can't keep his attention on all of the swords at once. This moment is here to demonstrate how MetalGarurumon's unique abilities can push WarGreymon through an encounter that he can't win with his own strengths.

This is thematically important choreography.

From here, the boys go on the offensive.

MetalGarurumon: That attack won't work anymore!

WarGreymon nails Piemon with Gaia Force, sending him flying.

Taichi: We've got the upper hand! No more waiting around, Koushiro! Everyone, evolve and attack him together! Koushiro: Here we go, team. SUPER EVOLUTION!!! Tentomon: Let's go! Gomamon: Count me in! Andromon: Wait!

Andromon cuts in, warning the others. Piemon is up to something.

In the dub:

MetalGarurumon: Looks like the joke's on you, Piedmon. (WarGreymon hits Piedmon with Terra Force) Tai: Alright! Nice shot! Izzy, have everyone DIgivolve and attack! Izzy: You heard him, guys! Now it's our turn! Tentomon: I'm in! Gomamon: Me too! Andromon: Caution!

Taichi calls out Koushiro here because he and Koushiro have been having it out since last episode over keeping Tentomon in reserve. Koushiro's been chomping at the bit to get in this fight, so Taichi singles him out to say, "Okay, finally, now you can jump in."

The dub version of this is absurdly redundant. Tai tells Izzy to tell the team to evolve and fight, rather than just... telling the team to evolve and fight. They're all right there next to him; No need for a middleman.

In any case, Piemon's up to something. He holds out a simple white cloth.

Jou: What the? Is he waving the white flag to surrender? Sora: That pose... Is he saying there's no trick involved?

Calling Piemon out as setting up a magic trick, Sora seems to have hit the nail on the head. Piemon slowly turns the cloth back and forth, revealing it to be a plain white cloth with nothing on either side.

Taichi: Is he going to pull out a pigeon next? WarGreymon: PLAYTIME IS OVER!!! Piemon: Is it, now?

WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon rush Piemon. He tosses the cloth out in response. It expands in the air, growing into a large sheet that blankets the both of them. After a short crackle of pink energy, the sheet falls flat on the ground.

Taichi: WARGREYMON!!! Yamato: METALGARURUMON!!!

The boys run out onto the field to check the now-flat sheet. Piemon tosses another cloth, taking them as well. As before, it blankets the two boys and crackles with pink energy. Then it too goes flat.

Hikari: ONII-CHAN!!! Takeru: WHAT HAPPENED TO THEM!?!? Piemon: Allow me to show you!

Piemon lifts the two sheets and throws them into the air. The boys and their Digimon are gone! It's magic! What a performance!

Oh, shit, this is bad for us.

In the dub:

Joe: A white flag? Maybe he's trying to surrender to us. Sora: I don't trust him. I think he's got another trick up his sleeve. Tai: Hey, why don't you make yourself disappear? WarGreymon: PLAYTIME IS OVER!!! Piedmon: But I'm just getting started! (Digimon get cloth'd) Tai: WARGREYMON!!! Matt: METALGARURUMON!!! (The boys run out there and get cloth'd) Kari: What happened!? T.K.: I don't know.... Piedmon: (revealing) TA-DAAAAAAAA!!! Thanks for coming; Next show's at 7:30. You've been a GREAT crowd! Goodnight!

"Why don't you make yourself disappear!?" XD That one got me.

Also super love Piedmon's expanded last line. He's doing a fantastic job this episode.

On the original's side of things, I like the casual and unimpressed "Is it, now?" retort to WarGreymon over the more indignant response in the dub.

Now for the burning question: What exactly happened to Taichi, Yamato, and their Partners?

Jou: THEY VANISHED!!! Tentomon: WHAT'S GOING ON HERE!?!? Koushiro: (furious) WHERE DID YOU SEND TAICHI-SAN AND THE OTHERS!?!? Piemon: They're still right here, are they not?

Piemon feigns ignorance over Koushiro's accusation, then holds out his hand to show them what he means. As he opens his hand, he reveals a pair of keychains in the image of Taichi and Yamato.

Piemon: Look. And these ones too. Look!

Holding out his other hand, he reveals keychains of WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon.

Sora: H-He's turned them into dolls! Piemon: That's right. To reward them for trying so hard, I've made them part of my collection. Ahahahahahaha! So, who wants to go next?

What a dick! So, on a scale of 1 to Oh Shit, losing both of our Ultimates in the fight against the strongest Dark Master rates about a 13.

Yamato and Taichi's dramatic reunion after Yamato finally accepted himself and self-actualized made such a difference in this battle. XD

I jest. If Yamato hadn't come back, then Taichi and Agumon would have died last episode. Just because they didn't strike the final blow, that doesn't mean their reunion didn't matter.

Piemon may have had the keychain trick in his back pocket this whole time, but it was only Yamato joining the fight that pushed him hard enough to use it and sent us on to this next stage.

In the dub:

Joe: HE MADE THEM ALL DISAPPEAR!!! Tentomon: Well, at least he didn't saw them in half. Izzy: What did you do to Tai and Matt, Piedmon!? Piedmon: I hold the keys to their existence. And I need a place to put them, so I made a couple of keychains. (Piedmon reveals Tai and Matt) Piedmon: I think I'll hang these two on my backpack. (reveals the other two) Sora: What kind of sicko turns people into keychains!? Piedmon: I'm not a sicko! I'm a collector and these new items have such sentimental value to me. Ha! Haha! DAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Now, who wants to be next!?

Dub Piedmon is a lot more menacing here, rather than the playful tone that Piemon strikes. They also use his final declaration, "Who wants to be next!?" as the cliffhanger for the first commercial break. Good timing.

Cut to the fire cave. ...fire cave? Yes, that's right, the fire cave.

It's a cave that fire shoots out of. Alternating between horizontal flames and vertical flames pouring out of two separate holes. Gennai approaches, piloting that Mekanorimon from the flashback.

(...that was a Metal Empire goon that he temporarily hijacked. How are they friends now? There is an offscreen redemption arc that I need to see.)

Gennai: Centarumon, is this it? Centarumon: Oh! You managed to come? Yes, that's right. This is the Wall of Fire from the prophecy written in File Island's ancient ruins. (Gennai opens the hatch to see for himself) Gennai: But could it really have come through these flames? Centarumon: That's what the prophecy said. Gennai: Unbelievable!

Ominous! Obvious firewall pun aside, something has breached said firewall.

We, uh, need to revisit Centarumon's name for a second, because the situation there's a bit fuckier than I previously understood when I was doing his original episode.

So. Officially, his name is ケンタルモン Kentarumon. The intent here is clearly "Centaurmon". But. That's not. The correct spelling of Centaurmon. It should be ケンタウルモン Kentaurumon. In the process of turning this Romanized Greek word into Japanese, they missed a letter.

Wikimon calls him Centalmon while the dub goes for Centarumon, both for the same purpose. They replace the hard K with a soft C as is appropriate for the word "centaur" but leave the end misspelled. I'm siding with the dub on this one because the "Centaru" does a better job of looking like a misspelled "centaur" than "Cental" does.

The dub returns from commercial here to a bit more lighthearted tone than the original.

Centarumon: LOOK AT ALL THIS FIRE!!! This is terrible; I didn't bring a single marshmallow! Gennai: Centarumon, I came as fast as I could. Centarumon: Oh, Gennai! I'm glad you made it. Gennai: Is this it? Centarumon: Yes, this is the mystical wall of fire the ancient prophecy on File Island describes. Gennai: Really? What do you say we barbecue? (Gennai opens the hatch to see for himself) Gennai: Incredible! Is it really true that he had to make it across these flames? Centarumon: I know it sounds crazy, Gennai. But that's what the prophecy says. Gennai: Unbelievable!

This scene's a little dry, so the dub adds some levity. This has the effect of removing the ominous tone of the original, however. They're having a serious conversation about something bad that's about to happen, setting the stage for our final adversary.

The more casual tone fails to capture that vague sense of foreboding. We don't know what they're talking about but they're super friendly about it, like they're chatting about a friend's achievement.

"Oh, yeah, Tai jumped right through the electric fence without hesitation." "That's CRAZY!"

Neither of them seem too perturbed by the idea of something coming through here.

Back at the fight, Piemon has clipped his new keychains to his coat. They aren't attached to anything but instead awkwardly clipped to the fabric itself. The kids beat a hasty retreat.

Piemon: Hahahaha! Andromon: HIDE IN THAT CAVE!!!

The children run for a small cave entrance under the roots of one of the darkness realm's dead trees. However, Sora realizes that Andromon is not among them and turns back.

Sora: ANDROMON!!! Andromon: I'll hold him off. Sora: But-- Andromon: SPIRAL SWORD!!!

Before she can argue further, Andromon whips around and launches his Spiral Sword at Piemon. Piemon deflects the projectile with his sword, then closes distance.

For a short time, Andromon's metal armor allows him to deflect and parry Piemon's strikes.

Jou-senpai grabs Sora by the arm, forcing her to retreat.

Jou: RUN, SORA-KUN!!! DON'T LET ANDROMON'S GESTURE GO TO WASTE!!! Sora: (anguished) AUGH!!!

For Andromon, things are going well. He even manages to go on the offensive between blows, missing two punches but landing a solid hit with his third and pushing Piemon back. This buys him an opening to fire his Gatling Missiles,

For a moment, it seems as if they hit Piemon dead-on. But then Andromon sees the edges of the cloth coming down around him.

In the dub:

Piedmon: Huhuhahahaha HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Andromon: Get into that cave! (Sora realizes) Sora: ANDROMON!!! Andromon: Don't worry! I'll hold him off! LIGHTNING BLADE!!! (Andromon and Piedmon briefly fight) Sora: (anguished) Andromon! Joe: (pulling Sora) We've got to get out of here, Sora! Andromon's buying us more time! Sora: (wailing) WAAAAAUGH!!!

In the original, it's a little ambiguous as to what happened when the missiles landed. We didn't see Piemon get away, but the way he suddenly enshrouds Andromon in his disappearing cloth from an unseen location seems to imply an answer. He probably did that shonen anime thing where the dust clears and the bad guy's eerily not there because he dodged so hyper-fast you didn't notice.

But it's also possible he took the hit and tanked it with his Ultimate 'mon strength.

The dub has Piedmon grunt in pain when the missiles hit, indicating that not only did he tank the attack but that it hurt him. Still won the fight thanks to the cloth, though.

Inside the cave, the children find things are not so safe as they may have hoped.

Their path comes to the edge of an overhang above a great cavern. The path gives way in this massive room, with the only exit being a similar overhang across the ravine. Curtains are hung along the cavern's walls, with only a pair of trapezes offering a means of passage.

Tentomon: W-What is this place? Sora: It looks like a circus ring. Koushiro: It seems the path continues up ahead. Jou: But how do we get over there!?

Tentomon flies across, gesturing at the trapezes.

Tentomon: You'll have to swing across using these. Hurry up! Tailmon: Hikari, hold on tight! Hikari: Mhm!

Hikari holds onto Tailmon while the latter uses her natural agility to cross the trapezes. They make it across with ease. Tailmon deposits Hikari on the opposite cliff, then goes back for the others.

Takeru makes the jump to the first trapeze by himself. Jumping off at the midpoint, he grabs onto Tailmon's paws and she delivers him safely to the other side. Patamon flies across to join him.

Sora goes next, with Piyomon unhelpfully clinging to her back. Then Jou and Koushiro throw Gomamon to Tailmon, since the poor little sea mammal can't jump himself. Then, the last two on the ledge, Jou loads Koushiro up on the first trapeze to--

Piemon: You won't make it.

Piemon enters, holding Andromon's keychain in front of him.

Jou: ANDROMON!?!? Koushiro, GO!!!

Piemon casts one of his disappearing cloths, but in the moment before it takes him, Jou-senpai gives Koushiro a hard shove on the trapeze. Then he's gone.

Koushiro: (tears in his eyes) JOU-SAN!!!

It's for nothing. A second cloth wraps around Koushiro on the trapeze. By the time it reaches Tailmon, Koushiro is gone too. Tentomon furiously charges at Piemon.

Tentomon: WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO KOUSHIRO-HAN!?!? GYAH!!!

Predictably, Piemon takes him too.

Piemon: (singsong) Look, I ca~ught it, I ca~ught it! It's u~useless to run!

In the dub:

Tentomon: What kind of place is this!? Sora: It looks like a giant circus tent! Izzy: Whatever it is, I don't like it. Hey, there's a way out across this canyon! Joe: My only question is, how do we get to it!? Tentomon: (flying across) The only way is to use these swings like a trapeze artist. But don't look down! There's no net! Gatomon: Kari, hold me tight and don't let go! (Gatomon takes Kari across) Tentomon: Not so easy to fly, is it? (T.K. goes next; Gatomon grabs him) Gatomon: What do you carry in that backpack!? Bricks!? (Gatomon delivers T.K.; Sora's turn) Sora: Ow! Gatomon, you've gotta trim your claws! (Joe and Izzy launch Gatomon) Joe: Away you go! (Joe prepares to send Izzy) Piedmon: Don't you want to take your friend along? Joe: ANDROMON!?!? GO, IZZY!!! (Joe pushes Izzy and gets taken) Izzy: DAAAUGH!!! JOE!!! (The cloth takes Izzy next) Tentomon: Don't worry, Izzy! I'll save you! (Tentomon rushes in and gets taken) Piedmon: Now you see them and now you don't! They're dropping like flies.

The dub adds in some quips to break up the silence when the kids make the trapeze jump. Apart from that, it's mostly the same.

As a villainous boast, I like Piemon's entrance line asserting bluntly, "You won't make it." There's something bone-chilling about a monster stating matter-of-fact that it's too late to run and then immediately proving it when you try. 10 out of 10 on the horror movie scale.

Meanwhile, the playful taunt of "Don't you want to take your friend?" in the dub is also a great entrance line. Tonally, they're very different, but they're both solid "Oh shit he's here" announcements.

Meanwhile, there's one last person who's finally ready to join this party.

Mimi's nakama doesn't get to "But how did we get up here?" their way onto the big bowl-shaped platform at the top of Spiral Mountain or fly on Birdramon's talons. No, they have to fucking climb with ropes.

We join Mimi with Lilimon shoving her butt to try and help her climb.

Lilimon: Nnggh... Yegh... You're too heavy... I can't push you up! Mimi: Liar! I'm not that fat, am I?

It seems Mimi has amassed a small army of Gekomon and Otamamon now, not just the pair. Some have made it to the top and are working at pulling up the ropes, but many more cling to ropes around her.

Gekomon: Mimi! It looks like the fight's already started geko! Mimi: There's so many of us! Isn't there someone in our nakama who can fly!?

As Mimi exclaims that question, the shadow of Unimon passes over her and the many hanging Gekomon and Otamamon.

In the dub:

Lillymon: Ugh! Mimi, I'm getting exhausted! Mimi: Really? That's strange; I feel fresh as a daisy. Gekomon: Mimi, get up here! It looks like the battle's started! Mimi: Oh, it's just my luck! I finally bring all the reinforcements and all they want to do is hang around!

This is a goofy scene in both versions, with the Lilimon exchange having punchlines predicated in Mimi's vanity in the original and her ditzy screwball tendencies in the dub.

But for the second part, the dub's gag doesn't really engage with the scene. She riffs on the animation, with Unimon's passing shadow now entirely divorced from the context of the scene.

Back in the trapeze room, Piemon inspects his new keychains.

A pair of sparkles under his eyes reveals that Koushiro's keychain is locked in the crying expression he had when he was taken.

Piemon: My my, you're still crying even after becoming a doll? You must be lonely without the rest of your nakama. Just wait; You'll all be together soon.

Skipping the trapezes, Piemon leaps across the gorge in a single bound. He pursues the Children into what appears to be a building interior, with brick walls and wooden floors. He calls out into the building, his voice and his footsteps echoing through.

Piemon: I told you it's useless to try and escape. Why not accept your fate and come quietly?

The children don't answer. They're hiding beneath the floor, silently waiting for him to pass.

Piemon: (receding footsteps) That's strange. Maybe they're over here.... Sora: (whispers) I think he's gone to another room--AHHHH!!!

Without warning, Piemon's sword thrusts down through the floor, splitting the air right between Sora and Hikari. The girls shriek, flinching away from the attack.

Piemon: HEY, I FOUND YOU!!!

He conjures his other swords to stab down through the floor as well, scattering the children who are forced to try and dodge in their tight confines. Hikari, terrified, buries herself in Sora's arms.

Piemon: Try this! (more stabs) Hikari: IT'S OVER!!! Sora: NO, IT'S NOT!!! Piemon: (jovially) It might be.

Nobody asked your opinion. XD

In the dub, Piedmon doesn't comment on Koushiro's tears. Additionally, as usual, the sound design misses some details. His echoing footfalls setting the isolating tone of the scene are gone, as is the eerie silence punctuated by a lack of music. He steps silently and the usual "We're in danger" BGM plays.

Piedmon: (mocking) "Hello, my name is Izzy and I'm very smart. Although I didn't know how to stop me and my friends from being made into keychains!" Wahahahaha, I love a good puppet show! (Piedmon jumps across) Piedmon: Ah, so you want to play hide and go seek? Mm, okay, I love a good game! Now, let's see... if I were a little pest, where would I hide? ...maybe you're in this room over here.... Sora: (whispers) I think we're out of danger for now--WHOA!!! (She is stabbingly wrong) Piedmon: PEEK-A-BOO!!! (More stabbing) Sora: RUN FOR IT!!! Piedmon: OLLY OLLY OXEN FREE!!! (stab stab)

Aww, they cut the funny exchange between Hikari, Sora, and Piemon.

"Olly olly oxen free" is an old phrase used during children's games like hide and seek, back in the day before children were banished indoors by a changing society that no longer welcomes them in public. It indicates that the game is over and you can come out now.

Piemon raises his sword for another strike. Thankfully, he's not the only one offering unsolicited opinions at this time.

Angewomon: HOLY ARROOOOOOOW!!!

(I love that she makes a finger gun when she shoots Holy Arrow. I never noticed that before. It's a consequence of using the joint where her thumb connects with her hand to steady the arrow while she aims it, I think, but the result is fantastic.)

Angewomon's arrow strikes the blade, shooting the sword out of Piemon's hand.

Piemon: What the--!? Angewomon: Run, Hikari! Garudamon: Hurry, Sora! Hikari: Angewomon! Sora: Garudamon!

Standing there excitedly shouting their names is neither running nor hurrying. Let's see some hustle, ladies. A man is trying to stab you. :P

Garudamon and Angewomon engage Piemon to try and buy time. Garudamon hits him dead on with her Shadow Wing, which he casually tanks. He does, however, move when Garudamon tries to crush him with her talon. She buries herself in the weak floorboards, and he lays down one of his disappearing cloths on her from there.

With Garudamon out of the picture, Piemon turns his attention to Angewomon. His Trump Swords pin her to the wall by her wings, and he collects her from there.

(Speaking of small details I just noticed, the Trump Swords have different handles. In the shot of Angewomon getting pinned, you can see a heart, a diamond, and a club. Presumably the other one is a spade. That's neat.)

The dub does a great job with the surprise Celestial Arrow too, though they might have overlooked that the arrow doesn't hit Piemon directly. That's a very tiny thing; It's interesting to me that they change his reaction of shock and surprise to a pain grunt.

Piedmon: NGGHH! Angewomon: RUN, KARI!!! Garudamon: Hurry, Sora! Kari: It's Angewomon! Sora: Garudamon!

From there, the fight plays out with no extra dialogue or censorship.

Sora, Hikari, and Takeru emerge from the floor in another style of building entirely. They crawl out from under a huge floor tile in time to hear Angewomon's final scream echo down the halls.

Sora: Takeru-kun! Takeru: W-What? Sora: Take Hikari-chan and get out of here. Takeru: Eh!? But what about you? Sora: Listen to me very carefully. There's no question at this point that Garudamon and Angewomon have both been made into dolls. You are the only one who can protect Hikari-chan now. Do you understand?

She's right. They have two Digimon left: Gomamon and Patamon, and Gomamon's Partner is already gone so he can't evolve. Takeru is the last Chosen Child standing with the ability to fight.

Takeru: But Sora, you-- Sora: Don't worry about me. Do you understand? Takeru: (reluctantly) ...yeah. Sora: No matter what happens, you have to get out of here. Takeru: (more confidently) Got it. I'll make sure to keep Hikari-chan safe.

Sora turns Takeru around and gives him a push to get him going.

Sora: Now, hurry up and go! Takeru: Let's go, Hikari-chan!

The youngest children make their retreat, leaving Sora to face Piemon alone.

In the dub:

Sora: T.K., come here. T.K.: What is it? Sora: I want you to take Kari and get out of here! T.K.: But what about you? Sora: Listen to me, there isn't much time. Piedmon has the rest of our friends and if he gets us, we're doomed. T.K., please, you're the only one who can protect Kari. You have to be brave. Now get going! T.K.: I won't leave you! Sora: Don't worry about me; I'll be fine! T.K.: (reluctantly) ...alright. Sora: No matter what happens, just keep running. T.K.: Okay, Sora. I promise I'll do whatever I can to protect Kari. (Sora turns T.K. around and gets him moving.) Sora: Right. Hurry, go! T.K.: Come on, Kari! Let's go!

"If he gets us, we're doomed" is a terrible line but setting that aside.

In the original, there is no question that Sora is going to sacrifice herself. She lets that hang over the conversation, engaging with Takeru with the expectation that he's strong enough to face that reality.

She's still clearly acting with intent to protect the youngest among them, but she talks to him as one of their nakama.

Dub Sora lies to T.K., adding in the false reassurance that she'll be okay so that he doesn't have to think about her fate. She also adds in the line, "You have to be brave," which isn't something that Takeru needs to be told. He faced down an angry puppet with a magnum revolver and won. His bravery is already well-established.

Sora's conversation with T.K. has the vibe of a parent's last words to their helpless child in a disaster film or something before they die. You have to be strong now, keep your sister safe, I'll meet up with you later (lies), get going and don't look back. Which, as an interpretation of Sora and how she interacts with younger children, is a vibe that works pretty well.

But it comes at the cost of once again downplaying T.K.'s strength and conviction in a scene that's partially about his strength and emotional fortitude. This late in the game, he doesn't need to be lied to and puffed up. He knows what the stakes are and what's about to happen to Sora, and he can make the hard choice.

While Takeru, Hikari, and Patamon go on ahead, Gomamon makes a few short hopes to try and keep up, then stops. He looks back at Sora.

Gomamon: Sora! I'll fight with you. Sora: Don't be stupid. You can't even evolve, so what can you do here?

Harsh. Uh, he can summon infinite fish out of seemingly thin air even without a clear source of water. I'm not saying that's going to be enough against Piemon. but I'd give it better odds than your proficiency at soccer and adequacy at floral arrangement.

Maybe if we throw enough fish at PIemon, some of them will manage to swim away with his swords. He'll probably summon new ones but it will feel like we're doing something!

Gomamon: Sora! Sora: If you get made into a doll here, how will you face Jou-senpai and the others later, knowing that they risked their lives to protect you!? Now get out of here! HURRY!!!

Reluctantly, Gomamon turns back around to go. But it's too late. Piemon bursts through the floor, holding up Angewomon and Garudamon's keychains.

Piemon: Hahahahahahaha! Did you not have time to run away? Well, it's only a matter of time before you become dolls anyway. Gomamon: THAT WON'T HAPPEN!!!

Suddenly, Gomamon lunges for Piemon's coat, snatching Yamato's keychain away.

(Maybe if you attached them to something sturdier than coat fabric, this wouldn't have happened to you.)

Gomamon: SORA, CATCH!!! Sora: (catch) TAKERU-KUN!!!

Gomamon throws the keychain to Sora. Sora prepares to throw it at the same time Piemon prepares a vanishing cloth. In a difference of microseconds, Sora wins the quick-draw and sends the keychain onward an instant before he takes her.

(That shuts me up for shit-talking her athleticism. Her sport doesn't even let you throw things like that! That's raw ability.)

This should be a meaningless gesture. Takeru and Hikari went around and a corner a moment ago so Sora should not have line-of-sight on them anymore. Fortunately, because a plot hole has opened up to warp time and space, Takeru and Hikari are now straight ahead down the path trying to open a huge door. Takeru can not only see what she's doing but receive the keychain in his hands.

(Did the creators change their minds mid-scene and forget to alter Takeru and Hikari's escape path?)

In the dub:

Gomamon: Sora, I wanna stay and fight with you! Sora: Don't be ridiculous! You can't even Digivolve without Joe so go before Piedmon gets here! Gomamon: But Sora-- Sora: Gomamon, Joe risked his neck to protect us and if Piedmon turns you into a doll, his sacrifice will mean nothing! Now please help T.K. and Kari; There's not much time! NOW GO!!! (Piedmon arrives) Piedmon: WAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Look, I only need five more keychains for my collection and then I'll have the whole set! Gomamon: NOT IF I CAN HELP IT!!! (Gomamon swipes Matt's keychain) Gomamon: SORA!!! Sora: (catch) T.K., CATCH!!!

XD Piedmon excitedly sharing his new keychains like a neurodivergent kid info-dumping about his hobby, to one of the "keychains" he's trying to collect. Perfect. Perfectly written, perfect delivery, 10 out of 10. Hahahahaha.

With Sora gone, Piemon turns his attention to Takeru and Hikari.

Piemon: Now, where do you think you're going?

Piemon asks, and the camera slowly pans down to show Gomamon beneath his boot. It's unclear if he's talking to Gomamon or to the kids, but he isn't wrong either way.

They don't answer him. They push the huge door until finally it opens, releasing them back outside. Unfortunately, all that awaits out there is a balcony overlooking the realm of darkness far below. They're up in the observatory now.

Patamon: Oh no! Takeru: It's a dead end! Hikari: What now!? Piemon: Ahahahahahaha!

Piemon laughs us all the way to the commercial break.

The dub riffs off Piedmon having Gomamon underfoot.

Piedmon: In order to succeed, sometimes you have to step on people along the way! Wahahaha! (T.K. and Kari get the door open) T.K.: Quick, let's run! (Balcony) Kari: We just ran out of room! T.K.: This isn't the escape plan I had in mind.... Patamon: Now, what!? T.K.: Can we jump? Kari: It's too far! Piedmon: Nahahahahahaha! Welcome to the dead end! Come be a keychain like your friend.

"Can we jump?" Yes, T.K. Don't worry, the jagged rocks will break our fall. Among other things.

Piedmon is having so much fun right now. XD

We return from commercial to Takeru and Hikari trying to make plans.

Hikari: W-What do we do? Takeru: We have to go down. Hikari: It's too high! I won't make it down without falling. Takeru: But we can't climb up.... Patamon: Hey, Takeru? What's that?

Patamon calls Takeru's attention to a woven basket with a lid sitting in the center of the balcony.

Takeru: What is that?

Takeru approaches the basket, pulling off the lid to reveal a rope coiled up inside of it.

Takeru: Ah! It's a rope! We can use this to get down!

Unfortunately, the rope has other plans. Of its own volition, it uncoils from the basket and ascends into the sky, climbing up into the dark clouds above.

Both Kids: Wha--!? Patamon: Ah! Takeru: What is this!? Hikari: How far is it going to go? Takeru: It keeps going up....

Finally, the rope seems to reach its destination, affixing to somewhere beyond the clouds and holding tight.

So. You know. That seems super untrustworthy but desperate times and all....

The dub skips the commercial break and keeps the scene right on going.

Kari: We can't just sit here! T.K.: We've got no choice; We have to climb down! Kari: It's too high, T.K.! If we slip, we're goners! T.K.: Kari, we're going to have to try! Patamon: Look, T.K.! Where'd that basket come from? T.K.: Who put that there!?

Uh, that basket has been sitting on the balcony since they got out here. Though we don't know exactly what it is, we see it a couple times in wide shots of the balcony. Its origins are not the mystery; Its contents are.

The dub accidentally invented a mysterious benefactor whose identity will never be revealed because the basket was here the whole time.

T.K.: A rope! We can use it to climb down the side of the mountain. (Rope ascends) T.K.: Uwah!? Patamon: Whoa! I didn't know you were a snake charmer, T.K. Kari: Do you think we should climb it? T.K.: I dunno. Mom always said never to take candy or rope from strangers.

That is a weird thing for her to specify. Sound advice, but still weird. XD

Tonally, these quips don't vibe well. This is the height of tension. We could die sort-of in the next ten seconds.

Takeru tests the rope to see if it will hold.

Takeru: It's fine. The rope is holding steady. Alright, climb up, Hikari-chan. Hikari: But.... Takeru: Don't worry. Just climb. Hikari: (reluctantly) Okay....

Hikari takes the rope and begins to climb, with Takeru following up after. They only make it part of the way before Piemon blows open the doors, and our very last Digimon steps up to fight.

Patamon: I'll hold off Piemon!

Takeru's face says everything you need to know about this plan.

In the dub, T.K. backtracks over his awkward comical naysaying a second ago.

T.K.: (thinking) What am I thinking? We have to climb it! Sora told me to be brave no matter how scared I get. T.K.: (frightened) Looks dangerous; You go first. Kari: (disappointed) Oh. (Kari starts climbing) T.K.: That's it, Kari! Pretend you're in gym class! (T.K. climbs up after her) T.K.: LISTEN!!!

...nothing happens after T.K. shouts listen. We hang silently on them for a moment, then cut from there to Piedmon slowly approaching the doors. It takes about ten seconds between T.K. saying that and Piedmon blowing off the door.

So unless he could somehow hear Piedmon's soft, barely audible footsteps through the very heavy door from halfway up the rope, I have absolutely no idea what he wanted Kari to listen to.

Piedmon: OPEN!!! (Piedmon blows the door off) Piedmon: I must quit this. It costs me a fortune in new doors! Patamon: Keep climbing! I'll distract him!

So, yeah, the dub of this scene sucks. T.K. lets Kari go up first because he's too scared to do it himself. That sucks. I think they're trying to do the "(eyeroll) My hero, how brave" gag, but either way, it's pretty much the peak of the dub disempowering Takeru.

The reason Takeru sends Hikari up first is pretty clearly so that she can be the first to reach safety. He's doing what Andromon, Jou, Koushiro, and Sora all did before him: Sending someone else ahead first. So that if only one of them makes it out, it will be Hikari.

Evolving, Angemon throws himself into melee with Piemon.

Angemon's always been fantastic at hitting above his weight class, able to hang with the Perfects in fights with Vamdemon and his goons, and he shows it again here. He parries Piemon's sword strikes with his Holy Rod before taking a hit to the side and backing off. That's when things happen quickly.

Piemon tries to follow up by throwing a sword into Angemon's face. Angemon ducks under the blade and counters, coming in and slamming the tip of his Holy Rod into Piemon's forehead to knock him off-balance.

Before Piemon can recover, Angemon closes distance. Piemon jumps to try and escape, but Angemon swings his rod and slams the side of it into Piemon's gut. The hit takes the wind out of him, sending him stumbling for a second before he falls on his back.

Takeru: Now, Angemon!

With Piemon on his back, Angemon takes the opportunity to back off and prepare his signature attack, Heaven's Knuckle. But, before it can hit, Piemon puts up an energy shield and pushes the attack back, repelling it back into Angemon himself.

Hikari: Angemon!

The dub censors a bit of this fighting. Piemon landing a hit on Angemon and Angemon thocking Piemon in the forehead are both cut. After Angemon's parries, they cut to the sword toss, then cut the scenes together to segue straight into Angemon hitting Piemon in the gut.

Credit where it's due, the splicing's pretty good. It comes through like it's one fluid motion; Angemon ducks under the sword and then swings his rod and hits Piemon's gut. If you didn't know another move was supposed to be between these two, it'd be easy to miss that they did anything. Still, I'm left once again wondering what makes certain hits acceptable but others not.

T.K.: You get him, Angemon! Piedmon: CLOWN TRICK!!! (Piedmon repels Hand of Fate) Kari: Angemon, no!

So I guess this, too, is Clown Trick. What a versatile attack.

Kinda surprised the vanishing cloth isn't Clown Trick, now that I think about it.

Once Piemon's retaken control of the fight, he puts a hard stop to it.

He's got another bolt of energy waiting when Angemon lands, hitting him dead center and throwing him from the balcony. As Angemon falls, Piemon's Trump Swords pass through at once, clipping his wings.

Takeru: ANGEMON!!!

Leaving some feathers behind, Angemon falls from the observatory, hitting the ground far below. His Holy Rod clatters to the ground beside him.

Takeru: (crying) ANGEMOOOOOON!!! Hikari: Takeru-kun! Takeru: Hikari-chan!? Takeru: (thinking) I have to pull it together, or I'll scare Hikari-chan. Takeru: Angemon will be fine, so keep climbing! Hikari: Okay....

Hikari starts climbing again, but it's too late now. One of Piemon's Trump Swords slashes the rope over her head. There is no escape now.

Hikari: AHHHH!!! Takeru: Hikari! Piemon: I told you, there's nowhere you can run to. Hahahahahaha!

Panning down, we see that Piemon has begun to climb the rope after them. They can't go forward and Piemon is behind. There truly is nowhere left to go.

In the dub, Piedmon calls his Trump Sword attack when the blades hit Angemon.

T.K.: DON'T GIVE UP!!! (Angemon falls) T.K.: ANGEMON, NO!!! Kari: I'm scared! T.K.: It's okay! T.K.: (thinking) Great, now Kari's afraid. I can't let her see that I am too. I've got to be brave! T.K.: Angemon will be fine, but you've got to keep on climbing! Don't let that joker Piedmon scare you! Kari: Okay.... (Sword slashes the rope) Kari: AHHHH!!! Piedmon: You've reached the end of your rope! Ahahahahaha!

Sorry, T.K., but I think that joker Piedmon is doing a pretty good job of scaring her. Boy practically asked for this to happen.

Since coming out onto the balcony, the quips have been pretty bleh, but I liked Piedmon's rope quip.

Piemon climbs the rope, closing in on the two helpless children.

Angemon lifts his face out of the dirt, straining weakly.

Angemon: Takeru....

But it's too late for Takeru. Piemon grabs him by the ankle, pulling him downward on the rope.

Takeru: Augh! Piemon: See, I've caught you! Hikari: Takeru-kun!

Hikari turns around, grabbing onto Takeru's wrist to keep him from falling.

Takeru: Let go of my hand! He'll get you too, Hikari-chan! Hikari: No, I'll never let go! Piemon: Hehehehe... THEN FALL TOGETHER!!!

Piemon releases Takeru's leg and swings his blade, severing the rope behind the pair. With no magic rope above and no magic rope below, Takeru and Hikari scream and plummet to their doom, with Hikari still hanging onto Takeru's wrist.

Angemon: TAKERU!!! HIKARI!!! Piemon: NYAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Then Hikari loses her grip and they fall separately.

In the dub:

Angemon: T.K...! (Piedmon grabs T.K.'s leg) T.K.: NO!!! Piedmon: Sorry if I gave you a wedgie! Kari: Let go of him! (Kari grabs T.K.'s wrist) T.K.: Let go, Kari! Or he'll get you too! Kari: No, I won't let you go, T.K.! Piedmon: Sounds like you two are falling for each other! (slash) Angemon: T.K.!!! KARI!!! Piedmon: Ahahahahahahaha!

As T.K. and Kari fall, the dub finally takes their second commercial break.

Piedmon, don't ship it. They're eight.

I mean. People do ship it. It's one of Adventure's most popular ships. I think it might be the most popular, at least since 02 took Tai/Sora out behind the sports shed and gave it the Old Yeller. But wait until one of the shows where they're older!

As Takeru and Hikari fall to their doom, Takeru suddenly notices his new fashion accessory.

Takeru: AHHHHHH!!! Takeru: (thinking) It's hopeless!

The Yamato keychain clipped to his backpack jingles as he falls. He opens his eyes, turning his head to see where the sound is coming from. Unclipping Yamato, he holds his brother in his hand and examines him.

Takeru: (thinking) Onii-chan....

Takeru hears the sound of his brother's harmonica, and Yamato's voice. It's unclear if he's imagining what Yamato would say to him in this situation, or if the keychain is communicating with him in some way.

Yamato: Takeru. Don't lose hope. Takeru: Onii-chan! Yamato: As my little brother, you can't give up no matter what. You have to muster all of your strength, until the very end. Takeru: I won't give up! Until the end, I'll never give up! If we die, then this world and our world will die out with us! THAT'S WHY WE CAN'T GIVE UP!!! ANGEMON!!!

Over in the dub, as usual, they don't pick up on the little details buried in sound effects. Rather than the jingling of Yamato's keychain, they write in their own reason for T.K. to suddenly notice it.

T.K.: (thinking) I'm sorry I let you down, Matt! ...wait a second! (T.K. grabs the keychain off his backpack) T.K.: (thinking) Matt! What would he say? Matt: T.K.! Don't ever give up. T.K.: ...Matt!? Matt: You can do it, T.K. I have faith in you. But it won't help if you don't have faith in yourself. No matter what happens, you have to fight to the very end. T.K.: I promise you, Matt! I'll never give up the fight! Kari: AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! T.K.: If I don't do it, then this world and our world will be destroyed! I have to do it for Matt, for Angemon, for everybody!

I see the way you carefully talked around the phrase "If we die" but it works. I also love how they opted to have Kari scream for four straight seconds rather than find a way to pad the dialogue out, since they had too many lip flaps to pace it the same way as the original.

Though I am a little irked at the line, "I have faith in you but it won't help if you don't have faith in yourself." Filthy rich coming from Matt when, historically, the problem was always Matt's faith in him, not his own faith in himself. More deflection, I guess.

In any case, I hope that pep talk was real because it shows remarkable character growth and pays off Yamato's cave revelations in a big way. Whether it is or not, Takeru refuses to surrender even in the face of the impossible. And finally, at long last, the Crest of Hope shines.

Angemon: (reinvigorated) TAKERU!!!

Takeru's hope fills Angemon with power, and it's time for the very last new evolution sequence of the first Adventure. Angemon CHO-SHINKAAAAAA!!!

HolyAngemon catches Takeru and Hikari in his arms.

Takeru: Angemon Super-Evolved!

HolyAngemon says nothing in reply. He smiles down at Takeru, then ferries the children safely to the ground below. Time for the rundown.

HolyAngemon is a Perfect-stage Vaccine-type Archangel Digimon. From what I can tell, HolyAngemon was created for the anime. Specifically, the earliest appearance for him that I can find is the anime's tie-in Digivice V-Pet, released in July of 1999 and featuring evolution chains for all seven original Partner Digimon going up to Perfect.

Which is right around the time the kids were invading Nanomon's pyramid and finishing off the Etemon arc. Japan does not give a fuck about spoilers. "We're going into the arc where everyone gets Perfect evolutions. Buy this toy to find out early what they all are! If you don't buy it, don't worry, we'll put them all in the new closing credits."

He wouldn't make his first appearance in the regular V-Pet series until Virus Busters, released one week after this episode debuted, nor in the TCG until November of 1999 when the kids were fighting Vamdemon's Odaiba siege in Tokyo. So he's in a kind of a funny place where the TCG got to him before the anime did but the anime kinda got to him before the TCG.

Narrator: HolyAngemon. On his left arm is his Beam Shield. On his right, the holy sword Excalibur. An archangel Digimon with eight glittering wings. His special attack is Heaven's Gate.

If you're hoping for more information on what "Beam Shield" means, I have none. Those words are in English. That's just what it's called. I guess it blocks beams? He has Excalibur, though, so that's pretty neat. It's a laser sword that comes out of a wrist-mounted beam emitter.

So Excalibur is a beam, but the Beam Shield is not a beam. It's a hard chunk of material that's more of a pauldron than a shield.

I have no idea what's going on with this Digimon.

In the dub, he's called MagnaAngemon. Because... Angemon is fine but Holy is forbidden, I guess. Same reason Holy Arrow had to become Celestial Arrow. The word "magna" is Latin for "great" or "large".

This makes both of their names funny. The redundancy of "holy angel" implies that his prior form has secretly been Insufficiently Holy Angemon this whole time so y'know maybe he should work on that. Meanwhile, in America: "Big Angemon. The biggest."

T.K.: Angemon! I knew you could Digivolve! (MagnaAngemon sets T.K. and Kari down) MagnaAngemon: (rundown) I am MagnaAngemon. I have eight shining wings and a Beam Shield. I wield the mighty sword Excalibur and my devastating attack is the Gate of Destiny.

Between "Hand of Fate" and "Gate of Destiny", it seems the team has settled on predestination as their go-to swap-out for Heaven.

With the children safe, HolyAngemon turns to confront Piemon.

Piemon: What.

Piemon angrily throws a vanishing cloth to capture HolyAngemon.

HolyAngemon: Take the sword of judgment!

Excalibur slices through the cloth. Because it is cloth and Excalibur is a sword.

(This is what the others were missing: Sharp edges. Always bring a pocket knife on survival excursions, kids. ...super embarrassing for WarGreymon, though.)

With his second swing, HolyAngemon slashes Piemon's midsection, cutting all the keychains free and sending Piemon hurtling to the ground below.

In the dub:

Piedmon: Chew on this! (cloth throw) MagnaAngemon: I'm not hungry. (MagnaAngemon slashes the keychains free) MagnaAngemon: I guess my sword trumps yours.

"Chew on this!" "I'm not hungry!" is a pretty weak replacement for a line as raw as "Take the sword of judgment!"

But then he comes back with the Trump Sword burn and that's fantastic.

As an aside, I love what the dub does with MagnaAngemon's voice. HolyAngemon's voice sounds about the same as Angemon's in the original, but a bit sharper and more commanding. MagnaAngemon's voice gets a lot deeper and has an eerie calm about it. Additionally, his words sound artificially synthesized and his lines echo, as if they were coming through a speaker in an empty cave or something.

It all comes together to give MagnaAngemon a profound "Booming Voice of God" resonance in his line deliveries.

Watching Piemon fall, HolyAngemon does not follow up. He prioritizes healing the party instead.

HolyAngemon brings the keychains down to ground, then calls Holy Disinfection. His wings shimmer with rainbow energy, shining a healing light on the keychains that purges them of this strange status ailment.

Taichi: Guys... We're back to normal!

OH GOD THEY WERE CONSCIOUS DURING ALL THAT. Well, that's fucking horrifying.

Again avoiding the H word, the dub calls this Magna Antidote.

MagnaAngemon: Now to bring our friends back to normal. MAGNA ANTIDOTE!!! (MagnaAngemon heals everyone) Tai: Wow! What a weird dream! I had an incredible urge to carry some keys.

Time for some team reunions.

Takeru, Hikari, Yamato, and Taichi run to each other, both pairs of siblings cheerfully embracing one another.

Takeru & Hikari: ONII-CHAN!!! Taichi: HIKARI!!! Yamato: TAKERU!!! Thank you! You were amazing. Takeru: Only because my big brother was there to cheer me on! Yamato: (confused) Eh?

I think Yamato's confusion confirms that Takeru was imagining what he'd want Yamato to say to him. He was having a one-sided conversation with a conscious Yamato doll, who only saw Takeru suddenly burst out with a surge of confidence.

Tentomon, meanwhile, gushes over HolyAngemon.

Tentomon: WHOA!!! When did you evolve!? You look so cool-- Piemon: Haha, is that right? Tentomon: EE-YEE-YEE-YEEP!!!

Angemon whips around in the direction that voice came from, while Tentomon falls to the ground in a flailing panic. This isn't over yet.

In the dub:

Tai & Matt: KARI!!! / T.K.!!! Kari & T.K.: TAI!!! / MATT!!! Matt: You did a great job, T.K. T.K.: If it wasn't for your advice, I don't think I would have been able to do it! Matt: Huh? Tentomon: Wow! When did Angemon digivolve!? You look great! Turn around, let me see! MagnaAngemon: Very well. (MagnaAngemon turns to the side looking worried. A second later, Tentomon flails and falls to the ground.) Tentomon: AUGH!!!

The animation doesn't line up with the joke the dub's trying to make here. But the idea of the gag seems to be that MagnaAngemon turned around at Tentomon's behest, inadvertently swatting Tentomon with his wings and knocking him to the ground.

Piemon, furious, storms towards the children.

Piemon: I had planned on mercifully keeping you as my dolls instead of killing you, BUT YOU'RE SO DETERMINED TO DIE!!! SO BE IT!!! I'LL GIVE YOU WHAT YOU WANT!!! DAHHHHHH!!!

I mean. He says that but "mercifully keeping them as dolls" was Plan B after murdering them all one-by-one failed. I don't think Taichi's barely conscious near-corpse at the end of last episode appreciated Piemon's mercy very much.

Piemon raises his hand, and the ground erupts all around them. Countless strange little gremlin Digimon emerge, filling the sky and the terrain around them.

Tentomon: GYAH!!! They're coming out everywhere! What are these creatures!?

To answer his question, those swarming creatures are the rather bluntly named Evilmon, an Adult-stage Virus-type Imp Digimon. They're from the Sega Saturn V-Pet, the same one that debuted Angewomon and LadyDevimon.

Narrator: Evilmon. A darkness-type Digimon that loves to fight. Their special attack is Nightmare Shock.

And there's like a hundred of them so. Y'know. Have fun with that.

The dub names them Vilemon. Uh, okay. Evilmon may be a bit on the nose but Vilemon isn't that much better.

Piedmon: So, those DigiDestined think the Dark Masters are that easily defeated, hmm? Hahahahaha! Well, guess again! You're not the only ones with an army of friends that can help you! TA-DA!!! (Piedmon summons the Vilemon swarm) Piedmon: This is more fun than a barrel of flying monkeys! Piedmon: (rundown) DigiDestined, meet the Vilemon! Their Nightmare Shock will give you a rude awakening!

Very different vibe with Piedmon. Piemon is losing his shit right now, ranting furiously and vengefully about how he's going to slaughter them all. Piedmon, on the other hand, remains cool and collected, and is still making merry jokes.

He also isn't talking directly to them, courtesy of the reframing from last scene, so they only seem to become aware that he's still around when the Vilemon swarm moves in around them.

Speaking of which, the swarm of Evilmon surrounds the children. There are so many of them.

Jou: We're surrounded! Koushiro: There's nowhere left we can run. Takeru: But we aren't going to lose! Yamato: Yeah! We're turning this around! Taichi: That's right! As long as the Chosen Children and Digimon stand united, these little freaks-- Mimi: WAIT!!! DON'T FORGET ABOUT ME!!!

Mimi charges into the fray atop a gleaming white Unimon, leading her army straight into the carnage.

Sora: (shocked) Mimi-chan! Lilimon: Thank goodness! We made it in time!

Ogremon makes the first move, swiping away three Evilmon with his club.

Ogremon: I hate enemies that swarm. EVERYONE, THIS IS WHAT WE'VE BEEN WAITING FOR!!! HAHA!!! Taichi: ALRIGHT, TEAM!!! IT'S THE FINAL BATTLE!!! Digimon: YEAH!!!

It is not the final battle.

Together, Mimi's army and the Partner Digimon pour into the Evilmon horde. MetalGarurumon begins the battle, scattering a group with a stomp.

Elecmon shocks a cluster of Evilmon, incapacitating them long enough for Unimon to fire his Holy Shot, an exploding ball of energy shot from his mouth, into the crowd. The successful combo attack prompts Mimi and Sora to high five each other.

Mimi & Sora: YES!!!

Ogremon slams his Haouken into another trio of Evilmon.

Jou and Koushiro watch from behind a rock with their Partner Digimon, while Mimi's army continues to work together surprisingly well. The Gekomon and Otamamon lure in a trio of Evilmon and retreat, right into Yukidarumon, Meramon, and Andromon.

The latter of whom is not part of Mimi's army but he counts now.

In the dub:

Joe: We're surrounded! Izzy: Oh no! We can't escape! T.K.: Come on, toughen up! Matt: I'm with you, T.K.! Tai: Our only chance is if we all combine our powers together! But the problem is, we're still missing some of our friends.... Mimi: Wait for me! (Mimi rides in on Unimon, leading her army) Mimi: Sorry we're late! Sora: It's Mimi! Lillymon: Are we too late for the party?

Tai's line here is totally different. In the original, he is all set and ready to try and do this with the seven of them. Taichi's not thinking about Mimi here because. Like. She left a while ago and he's made peace with that. He has no reason to be thinking of her now. He's thinking only with the resources they have on-hand, and he's got his game face on. He's ready to fight.

In the dub, Tai doesn't think they can win this and queues up Mimi's cavalry charge by implying that her impending return is their only hope now.

(Ogremon swats three Vilemon) Ogremon: PUMMEL WHACK!!! Nice slice! I guess I'm gonna have to work on my swing, huh? Hehehe! Tai: Alright, gang! Give them the full Digimon attack!

During the combo attack, Elecmon and Unimon call their attacks as Super Thunderstrike and Horn Blaster respectively.

Sora & Mimi: (high five) NICE SHOT!!!

Ogremon's Haouken is also, as usual, renamed Pummel Whack.

Not to be left out, Tentomon and Gomamon quickly evolve and then Super-Evolve so that Zudomon and AtlurKabuterimon can join the fray.

Zudomon obliterates a group of Evilmon with his Hammer Spark. Piemon chooses that moment to get in the thick of it, casting out his Trump Sword - only for AtlurKabuterimon to see him coming and blast his swords out of the air with a shot of Horn Buster.

This is followed by the goofiest-ass shot of Jou, Sora, Mimi, and Koushiro rising from the scenery doing V for Victory poses. XD

With the army engaging the Evilmon, the Partners move in together on Piemon. It's time for the Chosen Children's most powerful technique: dogpiling on an asshole's face.

Lilimon gets the first shot off with her Flower Cannon. Piemon deflects her shot, then tosses his vanishing cloth. But that's not happening this time; Angewomon's Holy Arrow tears through the cloth and narrowly misses a hit on Piemon, who sidesteps quickly.

He can't dodge everything, though. As he's evading the Holy Arrow, Garudamon lets off her Shadow Wing, which hits him dead on and sends him flying from the blast.

Piemon: DOWAAAUGH!!!

Piemon's face in the instant before the Shadow Wing hits him is priceless. A picture truly is worth a thousand words.

Up in the sky, HolyAngemon calls Heaven's Gate. He carves a circle in reality using Excalibur, which opens up into a huge golden door.

Taichi: What is that? Takeru: Ah! It's opening!

As Heaven's Gate opens, the hordes of Evilmon are pulled inside of it. HolyAngemon explains.

HolyAngemon: Evil things are drawn inside the Gate, where they will be consigned to oblivion. Piemon: Eh!? WHAT!? WarGreymon: Let's wrap this up. MetalGarurumon: Yeah!

WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon hit Piemon together, blasting him with a simultaneous Gaia Force and Double Tomahawk. The blast throws him into Heaven's Gate with the rest of his forces, which closes and seals around him as soon as he's inside.

(Y'know, given that he spent most of the episode chasing the kids around with an Instant Kill move, it's fitting that Piemon himself falls victim to an Instant Kill in the end. Ultimately, HolyAngemon collected him.)

Then, explaining what "consign to oblivion" means, the Gate disintegrates into pixel dust as if it were a dying Digimon. A wave of golden dust ushers outward from the disintegrating dust, washing over the Dark Masters' platform and down into the Digital World below. As it goes, the stripe of Piemon's darkness realm recedes from Spiral Mountain.

The dub explains Gate of Destiny like this.

MagnaAngemon: GATE OF DESTINY!!! (The gate pulls in all the Vilemon) Tai, Matt, T.K., and Kari: Wow! Piedmon: Huh!? WarGreymon: Hey! Remember us?

They...

Do not.

Explain Gate of Destiny. At all. They remove all dialogue referencing the gate beyond a simple "Wow" and leave it completely ambiguous as to what the fuck happened to the show's penultimate villain.

Weird choice, guys.

With the very last Dark Master finally defeated, the Chosen Children take a moment to savor their victory. Their long ordeal is finally over.

Taichi: (smiling) It's over. Yamato: Yeah... Both: Huh?

Taichi and Yamato turn and notice Mimi's army cheering their victory and waving to the children. This is their big moment too. Taichi and Mimi wave back, but Taichi's a little confused.

Taichi: Eh? Ogremon is here? Why and how? Mimi: Oh, yeah, you don't know what happened. You see.... Koushiro: Huh? A message from Gennai-san.

Once Mimi's caught Taichi up on the events of her sub-arc, the group gathers around Koushiro's laptop.

Sora: Might be a congratulatory email. Taichi: (griping) Oh, what is it now? Koushiro: (reading) Nonsense! Taichi: (annoyed) What did he write? Koushiro: Our true enemy is not the Dark Masters. Taichi: HUH!?!?

That gets Taichi's attention. He whips around, shocked.

Koushiro: Our true enemy is a creature whose very existence creates the distortions in the world. The Dark Masters merely drew their power from those distortions. Taichi: Then... who's our real enemy--WHOA!!!

Suddenly, the ground beneath the children's feet shakes violently.

Lilimon: What's happening!?

A fissure opens in the ground between Lilimon and Angewomon, forcing them to fly from their positions. A spray of red energy pours out of Piemon's observatory, and the sky turns as black as it was before. The episode closes on the ominous implication that something worse is about to happen.

In the dub:

Izzy: The last remnants of Spiral Mountain are disappearing! The Dark Masters' control over the Digital World is finally gone! Tai: Good riddance!

The final commercial break comes here and we return on the shot of Mimi's army waving. In the process, Matt's line and his and Tai's sudden surprised faces are cut.

Digimon: BYE!!! / TAKE CARE OF YOURSELVES!!! HOPE TO SEE YOU AGAIN!!! Tai: You know, I'm starting to think we have a strange looking group of friends. Mimi: They might not have the best fashion sense but they're the best friends we've ever had! Izzy: Hmm... We have email from Gennai. Sora: What's it say, Izzy? Tai: Not now! I need a nap! Izzy: It's coming in now. Tai: Is he congratulating us? Izzy: Gennai says here that the Dark Masters aren't the real enemies. Tai: HUH!?!? Izzy: It says here that the real enemy is an evil force whose very existence warps the Digital World and created the Dark Masters. So according to this, I don't think we're out of the woods quite yet! Tai: Wait a sec! If it's not the Dark Masters, then who do we fight next--wh-WHOA YAHHHH!!! (Earthquakes) Angewomon & Lillymon: What!? (Fissure opens and red energy blackens the sky) Mimi: WHAT'S HAPPENING!?!? Narrator: What is the evil force that Gennai was warning the DigiDestined about? Find out on the next Digimon: Digital Monsters.

The funny "Wait, why Ogremon" exchange doesn't make it into the dub, which is a shame. Plus side, they do capture Taichi's annoyance at hearing from the useless old codger, as he sees him.

An interesting note: The dub says that the True Enemy created the Dark Masters, which isn't quite accurate. The True Enemy created the distortions in reality, as a passive consequence of existing within it.

This creature's existence is steadily breaking down the fabric of reality itself. This is what the "distortions in the Digital World" that we've been hearing about since we first met Gennai have been all along. The true nemesis was never Devimon or Etemon or Vamdemon or even the Dark Masters; They were all just evil Digimon who drew power from the distortions created by this thing.

We've been battling symptoms all this time. Evil Digimon made stronger by drawing power from the distortions. But there's no implication here that they are in league with the source or even that they are aware of its existence. Only that they found reality straining and breaking down, and promptly went, "Fuck yes, I can use this!"

Something is happening that is destroying both realities. And all of these guys have been opportunistic parasites riding its coattails who thought they could profit off the end of the world.

Assessment: Can you imagine if Piemon won here? This is the guy. Leader of the Dark Masters. When Homeostasis conceived their plan to create the Chosen Children, this was what it was for. It was Piemon they were afraid of. It was Piemon they were right to be afraid of, as it was Piemon who broke through their defenses and nearly strangled this entire countermeasure in its crib.

This was Homeostasis's last, best hope for thwarting the Dark Masters and the growing instability in the Digital World. What a victory this would have been for Piemon to not only vanquish the Chosen Children, but to collect them as memorabilia. To store them on his trophy case as a reminder of the desperate, futile lengths the world went to in order to try and stop him.

This. Right here. This fight. This is what it was all for. I mean, it's not really, the next fight is what it was all for. But so far as anybody knew, this was what it was all for.

There's an interesting implication that Yamato's behavior towards Takeru was suppressing his Crest this whole time. That he needed Yamato's validation, needed his brother to believe in him, before he'd have the strength of will to achieve Super Evolution like the others.

Mimi's cavalry charge gives me life. I legit spent the entire episode wondering when she'd get here. I remembered HolyAngemon and the Heaven's Gate finisher, so when Angemon Super-Evolved and Mimi still wasn't here yet, I was beginning to worry that they'd make her a punchline or something by having her show up after the fight was over.

But nope. Mimi's army to the rescue!

#digimon #digimon adventure #revisiting digimon #revisiting digimon adventure

23 notes · View notes

digitaldreams0801 · 1 month ago

Text

How the Production Problems of Digimon Adventure Tri Directly Parallel the Issues of Ace Attorney Dual Destinies

i lied. put your clothes back on. we're talking about why digimon adventure tri is the worst thing to happen to the digimon franchise (and how its problems directly parallel ace attorney dual destinies and spirit of justice)

this is a very long rant i typed in a discord server first but it’s something i’ve been thinking for years and i finally put it into words. everybody clap and cheer. (contains very negative opinions toward tri and lukewarm takes on adventure 2020 and ghost game, proceed at your own peril)

let’s talk about digimon tri and ace attorney dual destinies

so first and foremost, what exactly *is* digimon adventure tri?? digimon tri is the seventh-ish season of the digimon anime that released from 2015-2018. despite running for over three years, this show has twenty-six episodes that were split up into six movies and then divided into twenty-six episodes again. that alone should tell you how much of a struggle the production was, but when i tell you this anime might have had the most troubled development of any anime i have ever seen, i fucking MEAN IT. digimon tri is a disaster.

so to start, it's time for a history lesson. digimon adventure aired for around a year in 1999-2000. it was going to be a standalone anime, but it was extended into a second season known as digimon adventure zero two (the zero two standing for 2002, the year the series takes place in). the second season follows the youngest of the first season cast forming a new team of six for adventures in the digital world. the original digimon adventure was universally beloved as one of the best anime of the 90's and early 2000's, but zero two was received a bit less well. it was a bit of a divisive season with some people really loving it and others not so much. personally i adore zero two and think people's adventure nostalgia keeps them from acknowledging how good zero two is. but that's beside the point. after zero two, the team behind digimon decided to start from scratch and make an entirely new cast of characters going forward, so the series began to follow that pattern going forward, and no season after this save for adventure follow-ups have characters shared with another season

digimon tamers was the next season and it started airing in 2001. the first thing people noticed about tamers is that it is a MASSIVE departure in tone from adventure and zero two. the first two seasons were already surprisingly dark for kids' shows, but tamers in my eyes just. flat out is not for children. this is a horror anime they put under the digimon name. it's very beloved by the fan base now and is known as one of the best seasons of digimon but at the time it was known for scaring kids and generally being terrifying. so the series is starting its decline going into 2002

so to fix this, the next season is the black sheep of the franchise: digimon frontier. i could write an entire paper about the problems in digimon frontier but to put it simply this is the digimon season i have rewritten in excruciating detail. digimon frontier tried something radically different at the time and tried to capture the child audience once again by being a lot more episodic than the last three seasons. in the end frontier struggled a lot with maintaining a consistent quality and fluctuates massively from being amazing to being really bad. frontier being so radically different by taking away partner digimon and instead having the main cast turn into digimon was a massive turn off for a lot of people, and after frontier ended, the digimon anime ended, and the so-called "golden era" of digimon came to a close with the last episode of frontier airing in 2003

after a few years' hiatus, the next digimon season, savers, aired in 2006, and it was very clearly targeting a teen audience. it was also radically different from most other seasons and was most in line with tamers, though even that isn't really a perfect comparison. it has a radically different art style, departs from series tradition by making the characters mid to late teens instead of in the 10-13 range, and is very intense in very strange ways. like the main character just punches digimon. savers was a very strange anime and definitely a second wind but not quite the one the franchise needed to keep going, so the anime went back on hiatus after savers ended in 2007

after another few years, we got digimon xros wars, the longest season of digimon. i say season?? it's one season of 79 episodes split up into three parts. xros wars was a return to form with tween main characters and an overarching story that was nowhere near as intense as tamers or savers. xros wars was radically different because it involved fusing digimon instead of straight evolution, and out of all the digimon seasons, it feels the most like the one made to sell toys. this season was picked up by nickelodeon internationally if that's any indication of how much of a success they thought it was going to be. in practice though?? the third and final part of xros wars went out on a whimper and was so bad it didn't even air internationally. digimon was just falling out of favor with people, and an anime that had once been so good that it was competing with and even *beating* pokemon in ratings and views was now having a hard time getting a season off the ground in japan, much less internationally

and that is where digimon tri comes in. digimon tri was an attempt to recapture the golden era of digimon with its most popular and universally beloved season: the original digimon adventure from 1999. tri was announced as a fifteenth anniversary project, and it would bring back the adventure cast for the first time in fifteen years. this was the first red flag though: it was bringing back the *adventure* cast, not the zero two cast. there are four new characters who join the party in zero two, and they are all very significant. there are two characters who carry over from adventure to zero two, and to be quite honest with you, they are closer with the zero two cast than the adventure cast. like takeru has a much stronger connection with the zero two cast than he did with the adventure cast. but all four characters from zero two were suspiciously absent from all promotional material, and even as fans asked where they were, their questions were never answered. they were just *gone,* and nobody knew why. this is especially bizarre since zero two is very much an extension of adventure. like you can watch adventure alone but it is much stronger with zero two and zero two is the definitive ending of the story. so why the fuck were they ignoring the ending they had set to to their own story??

sighs loudly. the director. i hate this man. i have beef with him. his name is keitaro motonaga, and in cloud's words, he should sleep with one eye open because i am coming for him. so motonaga did this super cool thing called "directing tri without ever watching the source material." ...what? yes, you read that right: the director of tri had *never seen* the original adventure nor zero two. he was going off what i can only describe as a spark notes description of everything that happened. the original adventure was very heavily focused on the subversion of common anime tropes. the ditzy popular girl is the most emotionally genuine. the oldest is the most irresponsible, and the youngest is the most put together. even the two "rivals" aren't *really* rivals when it comes down to it. digimon adventure takes a lot of anime tropes and stereotypes and flips them on their head to make very deep and compelling characters. so when you're operating on a spark notes understanding of the story, you're going to fall back on those tropes, and that is *exactly* what the director did. rather than watch the source material and become acquainted with these characters and their relationships, he operated off stereotypes the characters were made to subvert and completely butchered them in the process. taichi and yamato were always at each other's throats when they were genuinely friends in adventure. mimi became overly mean and insensitive. jyou stepped *back* from a character beat in adventure in a major way that ruined him. in trying to play to nostalgia, digimon tri completely forgot what made all of these characters so great in the first place and then spat on it

i know you're wondering: why the *fuck* did the director not watch the source material? he thought it would "dampen" and "ruin" his creative vision. he shouldn't have even been adapting a media he knew nothing about, but there he was, and it was bad. since he only got the spark notes for adventure, he ignored zero two entirely and cut the characters out of the plot. in fact, various things meant to invoke zero two nostalgia were done solely for the sake of "rule of cool" and nostalgia instead of actually meaning anything. none of it made any fucking sense. there were others on the project who had other ideas of what the story could have been--ideas that actually made sense in line with the spirit of adventure and zero two--but they were shot down in the name of the creative vision of a man who had never seen nor engaged with the source material. keitaro motonaga went on to get a massive reputation in the anime scene after tri ended for doing this with multiple adaptation projects of his: ignoring the source material for the sake of a creative vision that made no sense. it was overall fucking atrocious

and you can tell it was bad because in japan, they generally don't let the audience know when production is going bad on the back end of something. however with tri, it was bad enough to be addressed multiple times in many ways, and i'm sure that what we know is only the tip of the iceberg. it was a disaster from start to finish. i know a lot of people joke about production disasters but sincerely this was fucking atrocious and i hate it from the bottom of my heart

while tri was airing, it was being released internationally. it actually got international support unlike the traditional season airing at the same time: appmon. out of the two, appmon is *much* better, and it's a return to form for the franchise. i would argue that appmon is much more deserving of the golden era than frontier. appmon is amazing, but because it always had to compete with tri for attention, it never truly got off the ground in japan, much less internationally where it didn't even get official subs until YEARS after the fact. appmon was much more deserving of the spotlight and was actually written well but didn't get jack shit because tri was the adventure thing and therefore drew in people for nostalgia. hindsight is 20/20 though because if they had marketed appmon, maybe toei wouldn't have to bitch all the time about digimon not going well. this is your own damn fault you dipshits

tri has been panned by both japanese and western fans for a lot of reasons. it's heartless slop meant to prey on a person's nostalgia for adventure, and it has none of the heart of its predecessors. it's clumsily written and overall a poor exploration of what an older cast for adventure would get up to. the plot doesn't make sense, and it's a train wreck from beginning to end. the director wanted it to be "mature," so the season is unnecessarily dark and edgy much to its detriment. the creative vision of "maturity" and darkness completely ignored the fact that the original adventure and zero two *were* mature anime with very deep character development. they're classics for a damn reason, but they were pushed aside for the sake of being more "mature." fans panned tri for feeling insulting to their intelligence, like toei thought they would eat up anything as long as it had the digimon name attached to it

and it backfired like all hell. because nobody wanted *anything* to do with tri after it ended. when it ended, it was without any ceremony to speak of. it was 26 episodes split into six movies and then back into 26 episodes again, and it took over three years to release. it had more than double the release time window of appmon, and it had *half* the episodes of appmon. it's not like the tri was an animated spectacle or anything either. in movie four, the budget goes off a fucking cliff and never recovers. appmon may have had shaky animation at times, but it hit it out of the park where it count. tri has a color grading problem in its last two movies, and it's impossible to make out anything that happens in the finale because of it. things happen without reason, the characters have been obliterated completely, and the story makes no fucking sense. everyone was RELIEVED when tri ended, but it was such a massive failure that the digimon anime went on hiatus for ages after it ended, and for a while, everyone thought it would never come back

and when it did?? toei was trying to recoup the losses from tri the best it could. tri was purged from almost all digimon media, relegated to background cameos in future digimon media at most. nobody wanted to talk about tri to the point that when a sequel movie set after tri (last evolution kizuna) was released in 2020, tri was completely ignored. kizuna focuses on the zero two cast to overcompensate for the fact that they were completely absent from tri. the zero two cast even got a new movie last year (the beginning) all their own to try and make it up to fans that they were gone. the adventure timeline has continued, but tri has been entirely excluded from it aside from a few brief snapshots in the background of kizuna and the beginning. nobody wants to remember this anime existed despite it being a part of the main anime's timeline between zero two and kizuna. it hasn't been outright retconned but it might as well have been

after tri, toei decided to play it safe again. they went for an adventure reboot as the next season, and thus, digimon adventure psi (or adventure: or adventure 2020, it has a million names) was born. adventure 2020 is just,,, mediocre. it's a lot more focused on the spectacle of big fight scenes now that the digimon anime has a budget to speak of, and the character growth took a backseat. adventure 2020 took a long time to get dubbed though. like over two years. and it's still very inaccessible to this day because it's not available on any streaming service but instead (reads smudged writing on hand) available on the play station store where you can buy every individual episode out of 67. adventure 2020 is the second longest season of the anime after xros wars but it's still kind of a nothing burger because it fails to capture the emotional heart of adventure 1999. it's a fine enough season but a lot of people lost interest when it turned into just a fight compilation instead of developing any of its characters in a meaningful way

adventure 2020 also saw the continuation of a big problem with tri which was favoritism. since both adventrue 2020 and tri were meant to be franchise revivals in their own ways, they play it very safe and focus on taichi and yamato almost exclusively to the point of ignoring many of the other characters. the problem is at its worst in adventure 2020 in my eyes even though it is present in every season to some extent or another save for tamers and appmon. since adventure 2020 focused on two characters and their fighting capabilities while kind of shelving the other six, it fell into the pitfalls of past seasons (especially frontier and xros wars) and kind of ended without anyone really caring about it

after adventure 2020, the final season of the digimon anime was ghost game. this one is the most episodic digimon season of the bunch to try and appeal to a casual audience, and i think it does that very well! unfortunately it doesn't really develop its overarching plot at a good pace and crams everything together into the last five episodes after having a run time of over fifty episodes before that. ghost game is fine, but it's not a character driven season because of its heavy reliance on the monster of the week structure. the characters were always the draw of digimon, and each season has its own method of going about developing its characters. ghost game,,, doesn't do that! so it's just kind of there, and it once again ended without a grand finale and no one really cared much that it was over

so in conclusion, digimon tri was meant to be the revival of the digimon anime. in practice though, it had a very troubled production and didn't give a damn at all about the suorce material it was meant to follow, and it fell flatter than any other digimon season in the process. tri soured a lot of people's opinions on digimon, which is ironic since tri was supposed to bring back the audience that was lost all the way back when zero two aired in 2000. the digimon anime has not recovered since then, and i think outright ignoring tri in favor of new projects is the best way to go

now for how this ties in with ace attorney dual destinies and spirit of justice! i feel like you can figure out where the parallels are just by reading through everything i've already said, but i'm going into it anyway. ace attorney's popularity started to fall off after the original trilogy ended, and after a few experimental entries (aa4 and the aai games), it was decided that they needed something to bring the old audience back. that wound up being bringing phoenix back into the courtroom for dual destinies. however, dual destinies tries to act as an entry point, so while it's not the same as deliberately ignoring everything that came before it, it has the same effect. dual destinies does not let itself reference anything that happened before it released, and that means it's relying on nostalgia without actually digging into what implications the story will have on the greater narrative. the no-spoiler rule ends up very similar to the tri director's refusal to watch the original digimon adventure and zero two. on top of that, dual destinies tries to tackle darker, more mature themes, completely forgetting the maturity of the storytelling that came before it. frustratingly enough, both dual destinies and tri have nuggets of gold in them, but they're squandered by bad plot points and also reusal of old plots. tri's entire premise is actually just the basis of the first movie for zero two. it's just hurricane landing again but stretched out for closer to ten hours instead of just one. similarly, dual destinies' finale follows a very similar premise to the end of the first game, but it reenacts it without understanding what made the original great. it *could* have been great though, and that is ultimately what frustrates me so much about both of them. they're so close to being amazing, but they just fall short

the difference between ace attorney and digimon though is that digimon did not double down. after tri didn't work, they yanked the wheel in the opposite direction and made kizuna, a movie that *is* narratively cohesive with adventure and zero two. i'm not a huge fan of kizuna but i do acknowledge that it is very well written. ace attorney, on the other hand, doubled the fuck down and made spirit of justice in the same vein as dual destinies. in doing so, they wrote themselves into a corner they now can't get out of. pandering to nostalgia fell short in the end, and it wasn't enough to truly bring ace attorney to a wider audience as they had hoped. apollo is out of the plot, and he was character assassinated before he was pushed out. athena has been sidelined because of nostalgia around phoenix specifically. spirit of justice is the epitome of the bad decisions made in dual destinies, and they're blowing up in capcom's faces now. there's no easy way to write a seventh ace attorney game now without retconning something, but since they doubled down in spirit of justice--a game that is much worse than dual destinies both in terms of bloat (which is also a tri problem lol) and writing--they can't just quietly escape it the way digimon did with kizuna and the beginning. ace attorney hasn't come out with a new mainline game in eight years. if you ask me, it needs to cut its losses and either a) go the appmon route of making something entirely different since dgs did that and was an amazing game just like appmon was an amazing anime or b) figure out what to retcon and what to keep because going down the same path of spirit of justice very clearly is not working. they realized it too late though, and now, they're in trouble for it

#digimon adventure #digimon #digimon adventure zero two #digimon zero two #digimon tri #digimon adventure tri #ace attorney #ace attorney dual destinies #ace attorney spirit of justice #dual destinies #spirit of justice #when i find the director of tri i will have to fight him in a denny's parking lot #same for the people who wrote dual destinies #screaming into my pillow as we speak

21 notes · View notes