#digimon theme: koushiros rooms

[taichi-x-koushiro]

{Gif by Me} / izzyizumi {Do Not Repost} {Do Not Copy} (Please ASK to Use!)

^ Whenever I see themes like this with Koushiro in dimly lit areas, I'm instantly reminded of how calm Koushiro looks in this moment from Kyousei, 5th Tri movie (when we can assume) {Koushiro's on the phone with the Izumi's- people Koushiro loves and cares about} It happens in the original Adventure~02 series too, but this moment from Kyousei is just super prominent in comparison with how happy/at ease Koushiro seems, despite the issues at hand.

So it makes me equally happy to see it portrayed with this ship too, because it shows Koushiro would be at ease/calm with Taichi in similar future-esque scenarios because Koushiro loves/cares for Taichi.

{Koushiro in Koushiro's Natural Element, Pretty Much but also, Koushiro feeling at ease enough to be in the same setting [as Koushiro very often is in private+canon] with those Koushiro loves!}

It's been a while, but I guess they really like to kiss in darkened rooms?

[x-infernhoes-x]

Honeysuckle- Yamato “Matt” Ishida x Reader

[gif by ydotome]

Title: Honeysuckle

Genre: Friends to Lovers, Fluff, Rom-com elements, Mutual Pinning

Warning(s): Cussing, slight adult themes, mentions of past trauma and parental issues/divorces, SPOILERS FOR DIGIMON TRI AND DIGIMON: LAST EVOLUTION KIZUNA, implied smut in the last part oOP, everyone is of age (ASIDE FROM IORI AKA CODY BC HE��S 17) bc this takes place in Last Evolution Kizuna, two idiots realizing their feelings for each other in the long run

Pairings: Mimi Tachikawa/Koushiro ‘Izzy’ Izumi, Sora Takenouchi/Taichi ‘Tai’ Yagami, Ken Ichijouji /Miyako ‘Yolei’ Inoue, Yamato ‘Matt’ Ishida/Reader, Hikari Yagami/Takeru ‘TK’ Takaishi, mentions of Mimi Tachikawa/OC, Meiko Mochizuki/OC  and mentions of Yamato ‘Matt’ Ishida/Sora Takenouchi

Description:  This is my first time writing for one of my childhood fandoms, Digimon.  I used to write this silly fanfic of Digimon Frontier back when Quizilla was a thing when I was about 10 or 11 called Cherry Blossom Moonlight (*GAGS*) but yeah it’s my first time writing for our OG resident lone wolf, Yamato ‘Matt’ Ishida and all that jazz after watching Last Evolution Kizuna. So yeah! This is based and inspired by me ranting my feelings about Matt to @aeonghaseyo​ on FB and my best friend, Lucy along with this particular Lux Botanicals body wash we have LMAO. This would be a four-part ficlet that’s going to be like a drabble and all but yeah, I hope you guys enjoy it! P.S. (Y/N) is your name, (D/P) is your digimon partner!

I- Can’t Sleep Love

 Out of the Digi-destined, you were never the type to call up people in the dead of night, especially if all of your other friends were busy with their own lives so why the hell did you think calling up at least 5 or more of them to your house at midnight? Usually, you would’ve called at least one or two of them if they were free or shoot them a text out of the group chat’s reach, write about it on your journal or let alone talk to your Digimon partner about it but you were pretty sure that they were starting to get tired of it despite their instances that it was fine. But after writing down what you feel in your journal just as you had considered doing so, you caved in and you were lucky that all of them were free.

 So now here you were, sitting inside your house’s dining room in nothing but a shirt that says ‘Know Your Worth’ and a pair of navy blue yoga pants and a pink cat headband on your head to keep your hair from sticking to the charcoal peel-off mask you had on your face. It was embarrassing really, calling up at least 6 of your closest friends at this time of night just to talk about the group’s resident lone wolf, Yamato ‘Matt’ Ishida, and your feelings towards the said male. In all honesty, you and Matt had been friends since your trip to the digital world, although the two of you shared some similarities, you were still different like day and night, you could’ve said both of you were like fire and ice but that’s more on with him and Taichi. Out of all of the chosen kids within your circle, the only ones who knew of your harbored feelings towards the elder of the Ishida-Takaishi siblings happened to be Mimi, Miyako, Taichi, Meiko, Izzy, Willis, and by extension, Ken because of his girlfriend, Miyako and finally, TK (Honestly, the kid was the first to know among you all and he would often tease you about your not so little crush on his older brother and it was even more of a pain in the ass about it when he got older? At least you got back at him when you found out that he has a crush on Kari. The kid thought he could escape, huh?)

 Taking a deep breath, you then faced your friends, all of them eager and curious about what you have to say as you finally spoke, “I know that this is unexpected for me to call you guys over on such short notice and I know that some of you are busy with your own lives and all.” The moment you had said that your eyes seemed to land on both Mimi and Izzy, the busiest ones out of the bunch before continuing, “But I just really need to talk to someone about well….” Unable to find the right words, your partner quipped in from beside you, munching on the pack of Fita Crackers both of you were sharing before the arrival of your friends, “About your feelings towards Matt.” To which you sent a glare towards your smug-looking Digimon partner, your friends sweatdropping at this before you continued to speak, “Just as (D/P) had said, yes, it’s about him.” Reaching over to the pack of chips Wallace had brought, you let your eyes wander over to where all of your Digimon partners were, munching down on their snacks and talking with each other, letting out a sigh.

 “I know I have other things to worry about such as college and my future and all of those other things, I just had to get this out of my system. I’ve been crushing on Matt for years and you all know that and it’s just… I have a lot of feelings and I just can’t seem to word them right, especially when it comes to him! Every time I try to express how I feel about him, I feel something weird in my chest. It’s the  'I can't explain this shit right' type of weird and it just frustrates me to no end! Like I will admit that I’m happy that he ended up with Sora.” At the mere mention of Sora and Matt’s relationship, both Ken and Izzy wanted to say something but both of their girlfriends had given them the look of ‘no, let (Y/N) figure it out by themselves.’ Honestly, you thought that it was weird but you simply brushed it off by popping another chip in your mouth. “It’s just….this sense of longing you know like almost as if we missed out or something and it makes me wanna go like…”

“Like real-life keyboard smashing?” Miyako spoke, brow raised in slight amusement at your current situation as you nodded, popping another chip into your mouth, “I mean I want to be with him but not in a sense that I want to sleep with him and ruin two of my long-running friendships with both Sora and Matt in one go the moment I come clean about my feelings!”

 “It sounds like you’re going through a crisis….” Willis spoke out, holding Lopmon in his arms while Terriermon situated themselves upon your arms, much to your surprise as Izzy spoke, “I don’t see this as a ‘crisis’ of the sort. Plus I don’t think you’d be ruining any friendships at all! What I’m trying to say here, (Y/N)-senpai is that I think you should try and talk to him first but be subtle about it and not go in guns blazing. Plus there’s a study that says that most romantic relationships start as friendships! Just look at Mimi and I or even Ken and Miyako.”

 “Easier said than done, Izzy.” You groaned, hand nearly flying to your cheek before realizing that you had a peel-off mask on, making you wrinkle your nose in slight annoyance as you pouted. “You guys had it easy because you didn’t have to worry about hurting anyone else’s feelings.” “That’s where you’re wrong, dummy!” Mimi spoke, reaching over to playfully tap you on the head as she continued, “Before Izzy and I became a thing, I was worried about hurting Emiko and ruining my friendship with her but after the three of us talked it out, we’re still friends and she’s okay with me dating Izzy here! “ After that brief story Mimi had told you, you recalled her dating Emiko, who happened to be a part of your little group and possessed the Crest of Loyalty and was paired with Elecmon. She and Mimi dated for 5 years but due to their packed schedules (Mimi running her own business and Emiko being a famous musician who constantly travels with Elecmon and takes up modeling and acting gigs as a side-line) and everything in between, it was safe to say that the both of them had ended their relationship on a good note and if you recall correctly, she and Meiko were dating now. “But still! It’s kind of different, alright? Plus the last time I had spoken to him and had seen him face to face was the time both of us were like 17!” This seemed to shock everyone, especially Mimi and Izzy as all of them spoke all at once, their questions mixed in a flurry of questions regarding your connection with Matt. Well…It was mostly Mimi, Wallace, and Miyako who did the questioning rather than all 6 of them.

 “Five whole years!?!  But the two of you are close!” “How about face-timing each other??? Or even DM’ing each other?” “Not even a single call or text or even a letter?!” Hearing all of them come at you all at once with these questions made you feel a little bit uneasy and perhaps even on edge, the only time they did stop was when they saw you clenching and unclenching your fists before holding a finger up as you spoke, “First off, we only talk in quick lapses and small ‘how are yous’ because we’ve been respectively busy with other things such as keeping our respective home bases safe from unwanted Digimon attacks. Both (D/P) and I have been keeping the damage on the down-low whenever there’s an attack and Izzy knows about this.” The aforementioned redhead nodded at this as he spoke, “That’s true, you’d be surprised at how many Digimons appear in (Y/N)’s home-turf now and then!” “I’m just lucky that I got a free week this time around and that I have nothing else to do. I mean I’d be in college right now but since I didn’t get accepted into the college I wanted to go to, I’ve decided to take a year off and then try again next year but that’s not our main topic here right now! The main topic is about how Matt and I went on for five years without seeing each other or let alone having an actual full-blown conversation with each other.” You spoke with a wave of dismissal as the rest of your friends listened to your final statement. You had been talking for at least an hour or so, at first, it was a small catch up on how things are going on with them and yourself included other stuff like hobbies and all that and somehow it came down to talking about the main reason why you called them up in the first place.

 Standing up to head over to the bathroom to peel off the dry mask off of your skin you continued to speak, your voice echoing from the open bathroom door and towards your friend’s ears, occasionally wincing all the while as you peeled off the mask, “Not to mention, he’s busy with college. The last time I heard from him was when he told me about how he wasn’t sure about what he wants to do with his life.” You could hear one of the chairs move backward, indicating that one of your friends had stood up while you were preoccupied with the remains of the black peel-off mask. When your eyes had met the mirror once more, Miyako was the one to stand right behind you, arms folded over her chest, brow raised, and lip quirked upwards in a questioning manner as she spoke, “And when did this conversation take place?” Turning around to face her, you then reached over to the towelette that hung on the rack that was near the door, patting your face dry with it as you thought, exactly how long was it since then? “Uh….a month ago at least??? Why?”

 Placing a hand upon your shoulder, the younger lilac-haired female stared directly right into your eyes as she spoke, “(Y/N)-san, you’re like family to me but PLEASE just talk to him. It’s as simple as that but like Koushiro-senpai had just said, just don’t go in guns blazing.” “I-I’ll think about it, okay? For now….”

 It had been an hour since your friends had left and now here you were, wide awake with an arm thrown across your forehead in a debilitating manner, nose scrunched up and lips pulled into a tight huff as you thought about what your friends had told you moments ago. They made a point, sure, but what they didn’t know was that you had been constantly texting Matt for the past few months, in hopes he would get the chance to read it, and sure, he did but he never responded and that was enough for you cease your texting because you were getting worried that you were probably distracting him from his studies and whatnot. So what do you do when you start to miss him? You scroll through your phone and re-read some of your old chats together, scroll through your gallery to look at some of the old photos and videos of the two of you together during your high school days. Most of these videos were taken by your Digimon partner, Gabumon, or anyone from the group and such. But out of all of the videos you’ve taken, the one you cherish the most was the one that you had taken during his 14th birthday. It was your first time seeing Odaiba without any Digimon attacking and you marveled at the scenery before you, both you and Matt venturing around the city and it was also the first time you had witnessed him perform live on stage with his band during the time and you’ve supported him in his endeavors ever since but you also made sure to knock some sense into him whenever you got the chance, this was also the time he had first taught you how to play your guitar as well and the time you had realized that you weren’t crushing on him anymore, no. You were in love and you fell for Matt, hard.

  Snapping yourself back into reality, you then cast your phone aside to your bedside table, hands flying over to your face, you then groaned a little bit loudly, enough to wake your slumbering partner right beside you, which of course, effectively woke them up, their eyes half-lidded and sleep ridden as they spoke, a little bit bluntly, “Y’know, it wouldn’t kill you to just talk to him, (Y/N). Mimi, Miyako, and the others are right, just talk to him. It would do everyone some good and please get some sleep instead of reminiscing at hours such as these.” Turning around to look at your partner, you finally caved in and heaved a deep sigh, expression softening as you spoke, “You guys win. I’ll talk to him.”

 At this point, your partner looked as if they were completely done with your bullshit and had reached over to bonk you on the head as they spoke, “Not through text, genius. Give him a call and don’t be awkward.” “Ow! Fine, I’ll do it, happy?” You responded, holding your head a pout on your face as your digimon partner yawned, turning over to their side, snuggling further into their side of the bed and their blankets, “Yes, now go the fuck to sleep.”

“SINCE WHEN DID YOU LEARN HOW TO FUCKING CUSS, (D/P)!?” “The moment I was paired with you, now go to sleep.” “I-Fair point. Good night.”

[otakween]

Digimon Adventure (Blind Watch) - Episode 10

I had to watch this episode twice because I lost my screenshots, so I watched it dubbed and subbed. This is a Mimi/Palmon and Koushiro/Tentomon episode. Again, it's nice to see these episodes focused on smaller groups so we can see how their personalities play off each other.

Digimon introduced: Sukamon, Chuumon, and Centarumon

Notes:

-Although his design's not my favorite, I really like Tentomon and his dynamic with Koushiro. When I think about the other digimon, it kinda seems like they just have an unwavering love for their partner (except for Gomamon who was kinda tsundere), but Tentomon is always questioning Koushiro (meekly) so there's actually room for conflict/growth there.

-It was hilarious the lengths the dub version of this episode went to censor any references to poop. In the Japanese, they're like "look! It's the poop-shaped Digimon who throws poop at people!" In the dub they're like "Hair mousse!? LeMoN cUsTaRd!?" Like...c'mon. We all know what it's supposed to be.

-Pretty lazy that we've already had two poop-themed Digimon and both hit on Mimi. Running out of ideas for gags already? (The fact that Chuumon and Sukamon share a brain is pretty funny though).

-We see more of the digivice's power to heal which I feel like is pretty common in Japanese kid's media. Instead of killing the villain you "cleanse" them.

-The way Koushiro was so calm and able to prioritize solving the mystery of the island over finding his friends and Mimi calling him out for being insensitive (which confuses him) gives me autism vibes. I did a quick Google and I guess that's a common headcanon people have.

-I dunno much about mythology, but aren't labyrinths associated with minotaurs, not centaurs? Ah well, I guess they figured "close enough!"

-Centarumon's design is hideous. Why did they think those purple blobs jutting out of his skin was a good idea?

-The dub doesn't play an insert song over every fight. Honestly kinda prefer that because I found it easier to concentrate. (Not that the insert song in the Japanese version isn't a bop).

-Togemon has best attack name ("chiku chiku ban ban")

-In the Japanese they called the digivices "holy" but they changed it into "mystical" in the dub cuz I guess that's sacrilegious lol

-They freeze frame on Koushiro's code from time to time. I always wonder if it's legit or just gibberish...

[shihalyfie]

Shihanne’s Kizuna meta -- Part 1: The meaning behind Kizuna, and the actual cause of partnership dissolution

Kizuna is a very easy movie to misunderstand, and it���s not helped by the fact that the official translation kind of sucks. (Seriously, I highly recommend you check out the translation of one of the novels -- the Dash X or the Shueisha Mirai version -- because of how badly the official one sucks.) On top of that, a lot of its information is packed in the subtleties of a lot of its lines, which means that, without paying very close attention, you can walk off with a completely misleading interpretation of what the movie is trying to say. A lot of times I see people talking about how the movie’s message is about adulthood sucking, or partnership dissolution being an inevitable thing...when the movie actually makes multiple indications that this is not the case.

(The rest of the post contains major spoilers for the movie, so be warned.)

Do note that the below is only my personal interpretation, and because there is a lot to unpack with this movie, please feel free to disagree with or disregard any of my interpretations here.

Kizuna has a lot of things to say about adulthood, but the most obvious theme is, of course, “don’t be too trapped in nostalgia” -- represented by Menoa’s desire to trap everyone in Neverland so they can never move forward, and, on a meta level, the ridiculous amount of Adventure imagery associated with people who can’t move on (yeah, they weren’t really subtle about that part...). But as a result, the idea behind the movie is often taken the wrong way -- does this mean that they’re trashing on the very series they’re meant to honor? Is the movie about people having to swallow adulthood being painful? After all, the movie says that partners disappear when you become an adult! Isn’t the movie saying we all have to accept that (even though the sheer existence of the 02 epilogue should imply otherwise)?

Nope! The movie actually does have another inner layer about what it means to become an adult, and how to develop a healthy relationship with your adulthood that isn’t just violently cutting everything away -- in fact, it considers that to be another unhealthy extreme that it warns against. It’s just that this theme is a little more latently hidden, and you have to connect the dots a little to figure that out.

I think a lot of the reason so many people miss this is predicated on the fact that you are not supposed to take Menoa’s statement at face value. It’s her statement as presented in the official trailers and a lot of the advertising material, so it’s easy to think that she’s supposed to be the deliverer of the movie’s message, but that is very much not the case! Understanding this is key to understanding the core theme of the movie, and what it’s trying to say in terms of a lead-up to the 02 epilogue.

Menoa’s statement on adulthood, which is what the concept of partnership dissolution is supposedly predicated on, is the following (quoted from onkeikun’s translation of the Dash X Bunko novel, which uses the movie script):

Do all of you know why it’s children who are chosen to be partners with Digimon?... It’s because children are full of possibilities... The future is rife with limitless choices. You grow as a person by making those choices. “Growth” and “possibilities” together produce vast energy. As I’m sure you guys are already aware, the evolutions of your Digimon partners are triggered by your growth... When that power is gone… Your partnership with your Digimon ends.

Keep in mind that Menoa has built this “theory” based on her own experience. She’s convinced that her “choice” to become an adult was what took Morphomon from her. She’s convinced that Adulthood is Bad, and that Choices are Bad. Menoa is very much biased from her own experience, and her theory is not reliable. Seriously, do you think someone who eventually decides that forcing everyone into an eternal loop of their childhood is an excellent idea is a reliable source for these kinds of things?

Not only that, she’s also claiming that this is supposed to apply to all adults just because this happened to her. Although she claims that this is part of her research, there clearly have not been enough cases of partnership dissolution for this to be a well-known issue. Given that she lost Morphomon at a young age, and she’s one of the oldest Chosen Children, it’s natural that she might think that this might be a universal phenomenon and that it might not have “kicked in” for everyone else, but nevertheless, she’s committing a major no-no in scientific research -- extrapolating based on a painfully small sample size, and letting her own biased perception of events manipulate what she sees as the result.

When Gennai supposedly “confirms” the partnership dissolution phenomenon, note that he does not actually confirm Menoa’s theory.

Unfortunately, you are experiencing the case where your partnership is dissolving... But if you guys still have infinite possibility…Then it’s possible…

The fact that Gennai refers to it as a “case” is very important (it’s very clear in the Japanese line too, jirei). This is a thing that may happen. It is not a thing that is guaranteed to happen, and it’s not necessarily a thing that comes with adulthood like Menoa thinks. What’s more, he even acknowledges that “having infinite possibility” is still possible for adults -- something that doesn’t fit with Menoa’s theory on Adulthood Being Bad and how it diminishes possibility.

As the movie eventually goes into Menoa’s plan for “saving” Chosen Children, she justifies her motive by saying that losing partners is “fate” (shukumei). She thinks that losing partners is an inevitability. She thinks that this is just something that comes with adulthood, and that unless she forces everyone to stay in their childhood, their only recourse will be to suck it up and to be miserable.

This is why the climax is dedicated to Taichi and Yamato proving her wrong.

“What you’ve chosen wasn’t a mistake!” “But no matter what waits for us after making that choice…!” “We have to live with the decisions that we make!”... “We might not be able to change our fate. But!” “We can change our destiny!”

In essence, Taichi and Yamato are disproving both parts of Menoa’s theory on Adulthood Being Bad. It’s not that choices are inherently bad, it’s just that sometimes there are consequences of said choices...but it’s not like said consequences lead to dead ends. Taichi and Yamato, in contrast to Menoa’s belief in “fate”, believe in “destiny” (unmei) -- the difference being that they believe in being able to change that predetermined fate by their own efforts.

The concept had come up earlier in To Sora, too --

Hey, Sora-san. I think it was destiny that we became Chosen Children. But I don’t think it was fate.

It’s a completely different conversation, but Mimi is basically talking about the philosophy that pushes the Chosen Children forward -- that sure, some things seem to be predestined and beyond simple luck, but also that they’ve had choice in manipulating the events and changing what seems normally inevitable.

So if Menoa’s theory about partnerships dissolving in adulthood is questionable to begin with, then what does cause partnership dissolution? Again, it’s not actually established that this is something that happens to everyone. We only have four confirmed cases within the scope of the movie: Menoa herself, Taichi, Yamato, and Sora. So what do they have in common?

Well, the night before the ring appeared on Taichi and Yamato’s Digivices, they had this conversation:

“You should take Gabumon with you to your classes,” Taichi said jokingly. Yamato smiled wryly. “Don’t be stupid. Why don’t you take Agumon to your classes?” “It’s not that simple. I have my own life to live.”

And during the events of To Sora -- which presumably happened right before the ring appeared for Sora -- this happened:

When Piyomon had come to inform her that Koushiro had sent a message, Sora had said to her angrily, “Don’t bother me!” The distress and irritation of her practice not going well had caused Sora to take it out on her. But even when lashed out by that irrational anger, Piyomon had been the one who apologized. When she saw Piyomon hanging her head apologetically, Sora had felt a surge of regret but no room in her heart to apologize as well. “I need to focus on this right now…” She had said as her excuse, and looked away.

And in Menoa’s case, a certain something shows up in the Shueisha Mirai Bunko version of the novel -- it’s implied in the movie itself, but the novel itself says it pretty explicitly:

Waiting in front of the swing at her family’s home, where they’d always played together when Menoa was a child, was her beloved friend. Lately, she’d been studying so much that they hadn’t been talking to each other at all, so she wanted Morphomon to lavish her with praise. She wanted her to say, “Menoa, you’re amazing!”

See a pattern? All of the known cases of partnership dissolution involved neglect of their Digimon partners in pursuit of “adulthood”.

Taichi and Yamato ditched Agumon and Gabumon at the start of the movie and left them with their siblings. Agumon hadn’t even been to Taichi’s room before, even though Taichi lives by himself and is clearly lonely -- his reaction when Agumon finds his AVs, “you have to be an adult -- “ tells all, because he clearly thinks of Agumon as “a child” who shouldn’t be near his New Adult Life. Sora may have apologized later, but it sounds like there’s been a constant pattern of her starting to focus so much on her studies that she’s emotionally neglected Piyomon. And, of course, Menoa herself rushed so much to become “an adult” that she neglected her beloved partner in the process -- they weren’t even talking anymore! And the fact that the swing is discussed in past tense, when Menoa was a child, indicates that Morphomon may not be the only thing Menoa had tossed away in pursuit of “becoming an adult”.

(Note how Menoa constantly talked through the movie about the fact she and Morphomon had “always been together”, as if Morphomon had been ripped unfairly from her suddenly and for no reason...only for the revelation that Menoa was guilty of neglect to drop at the end. I repeat: Menoa is not a reliable person to be taking words at face value from.)

It really, really doesn’t seem like coincidence that Taichi and Yamato’s Digivice rings appeared the day after they flippantly laughed at the idea of taking Agumon and Gabumon to school because it would get in the way of “having their own lives to live”. Recall that Digimon in the Adventure universe have always generally been taken to represent an alter ego, or a part of oneself. (They were literally developed to represent part of the human soul in physical form.) On a symbolic level, your partner disappearing is representative of you losing touch with yourself -- and your own childhood innocence -- because of some arbitrary, societally-enforced standard of “becoming an adult”.

Fun side note? As mentioned in the movie, Eosmon is named after the Greek goddess of the dawn, who also has another interesting story about her: she fell in love with a mortal man and, not wanting him to die before her, requested that he be given eternal life, but neglected to ask that he be given eternal youth, and was forced to watch as her lover kept living on and on and withered further and further with age. Neglected the concept of youth, huh.

That’s why partnerships seem to dissolve with adulthood, but it’s not from the simple act of becoming an adult -- it happens when you take that adulthood and decide that you’re going to reject all of those “childish” things about yourself in pursuit of that goal, and lose yourself in the process. And sure, they may have tried to fix it right away, but these things aren’t just momentary moments of weakness; they build, and build, and build, and build, until you’re at the point of no return and need to take drastic measures to get it back.

And in fact, if you inspect the staff interviews (which have been, presumably, deliberately vague about this in the hopes of having the audience figure it out), they hint at it, too:

For this movie, we had the concept of "separation from their Digimon", which means being able to completely separate yourself from your past self, or rather, wondering if it might be better to cut yourself entirely from your past adventures in becoming more like an adult.

Not only that, but this explanation tracks much better than what Menoa claims is the case. Under Menoa’s explanation of choices diminishing possibilities, characters like Daisuke and Jou who had their paths already determined from an early age should have lost their partners a long time ago, and conversely, Taichi and Yamato, who weren’t sure on what to do with their lives at the beginning of the movie, should not have lost their partners. But “emotional neglect from the obsession with growing up” tracks even with our “outlier” cases -- Menoa “forced” herself to become an adult at the very-not-adult age of 14 and lost her partner, while Oikawa also didn’t actually get to “meet” Pipimon until he accepted that exact same thing -- that he needed to embrace the “power to dream” instead of considering himself a “tainted adult”.

(Ichijouji Ken, who could be argued to be guilty of emotional neglect of Wormmon in some sense, initially seems like a violation of this principle, but closely observing the Kaiser’s behavior during 02 indicates an often paradoxical thread of behavior implying that he seemed to have been rejecting and yet wanting him nearby at the same time, which is part of the reason Wormmon’s death breaks him so badly. In fact, it often feels like he goes out of his way to acknowledge Wormmon for the specific purpose of rejecting him. In a metaphorical sense, knowing that Wormmon is representative of Ken’s own inner self, the metaphor of Ken being in perpetual internal conflict of constantly trying to outwardly reject his own heart for being “weak” yet never truly being able to escape it until he’s finally forced to accept it for good is not lost. It was not a positive relationship with Wormmon by any means, but it was, nevertheless, a conscious and active relationship, for which “neglect” does not feel like an appropriate word.)

When you look back at Menoa’s life and backstory, it then becomes clear how she made her mistake in her theory. Menoa basically threw away her childhood in order to become an adult, and she never learned to embrace the happy medium between having an unhealthy attachment to the past and violently cutting it off. Late in the movie, she claims that there’s nobody else who understands how she feels, and we also learn in her flashback that she had an obsession with doing things “on her own”, or in other words, she cut off any potential friends or people who could help her (Morphomon seems to have legitimately been her only friend and confidant). So in her mind, “losing touch with your inner self and having no connection to the happiness of your childhood” is fundamentally synonymous with becoming an adult. That’s how she develops her mentality of “adulthood is drudgery and has no value, and we’d be better off never getting there” -- and that adulthood strips people of possibilities and therefore provides no recourse from losing your Digimon partner, and that the only way to reclaim anything from your childhood is to just shove yourself back into its box. Her own life had no such hope in it, so she projects that lack of hope onto everyone else.

With that in mind, the two major questions that come from this:

Will this happen to everyone? Hard to say, but I don’t think it would necessarily. Remember, even though Menoa is one of the oldest Chosen Children and had this happen to her at an abnormally early age, not everyone has such an unhealthy relationship with adulthood, nor is as likely to neglect their partners nearly as much in the process of figuring out what adulthood means to them. That doesn’t mean that those it does happen to made some “mistake” or “messed up”, though -- press materials and the BD commentary made it clear that this was not a movie intended to endorse “one way to live”, and sometimes the degree of introspection and experimentation with what adulthood means to you does result in momentarily trying to cut things away until you figure your life balance out, especially if you want to take on a challenge with as high of a hurdle as Taichi’s road to becoming a diplomat.

So what’s the solution? Although it’s still left to everyone’s imagination to figure out the details, at the very least, figuring out yourself and snapping yourself out of this very unhealthy relationship with “growing up” and holding yourself to arbitrary, false standards is probably a great start! Menoa had her “vision” of Morphomon the moment Taichi and Yamato’s words reached her within Eosmon. Gennai specifically says that partnership dissolution will cause the Digimon to disappear in terms of losing their “form” (sugata), but given that Digimon in the Adventure universe are supposed to represent a part of yourself, they’re probably still there (just not there)! In that light, getting them back...is probably not actually all that hard, if they can sit down and take some time to figure themselves out. That’s why Menoa never figured it out this whole time in the last eight years; she was so busy focusing on “scientific” ways to get Morphomon back, and staying perpetually stuck in a twisted nostalgic version of her past, that she never actually sat down to think about herself and what she was doing. And that’s why the movie’s climax is about Taichi blowing the whistle to wake everyone up -- it’s still about moving forward, but it’s about using your past to move forward, instead of gravitating to the extremes of either latching onto it eternally or attempting to abandon it outright.

So really, the solution is for everyone to get some damn therapy.

Given that, the path to the 02 epilogue doesn’t actually seem that particularly difficult compared to how Menoa made the problem initially sound like. It’s not like every adult is going to inevitably have this happen as a process, and thus it’s not like everyone has to find some magical technical solution that’ll rectify one of the laws of the universe. The solution is really more somewhere between the unhealthy extremes presented in the movie -- Menoa’s fixation on nostalgia and the past being the only good thing in her life, and Taichi and Yamato (initially) rejecting said childhoods in favor of “adulthood” -- and figuring out how to use and cherish your childhood, past experiences, and inner self to move forward.

And given Sora’s revelation in To Sora about taking care of herself more, and Taichi and Yamato starting to settle on their career decisions for real by the end of Kizuna, they’re already on their way to figuring things out. Or, in other words, it’s likely that they’ll get their partners back simply through the natural course of making their way to the epilogue. Taichi’s starting to value his childhood experiences as important in his future work in diplomacy. Yamato, according to the Shueisha Mirai version of the novel, is becoming an astronaut to entertain the “romantic” dream of going to space with Gabumon. Sora, as per the 02 epilogue, will end up known not for being an iemoto heir but a kimono designer -- a skill that she’s presumably going to be discovering on her own, and not under obligations to others. Gennai himself said that there was hope as long as they still had “infinite possibility” -- something that Taichi, Yamato, and Sora were closing up on themselves at the beginning of this movie, but were starting to re-open the door to again once they started reconnecting with themselves and embarking on some proper paths by the end of it.

“We’ll definitely come to see you” -- indeed, they will.

(Next is the sequel to this meta, where I discuss Kizuna’s relationship with not only 02′s epilogue but also 02 itself as a whole, and the reason the 02 group has such an unusual position in this movie.)

[earlgreymon]

koukari headcanons

＊ yes, koushiro came over to the yagami’s residence pretty often to play with taichi. although initially he was so shy, he then became the second son for being so close to all family members. he helped susumu to fix his computer whenever the man encountered a problem, he assisted yuuko with her weird experiments on the kitchen, and considerately asked hikari to join him and taichi to play (except if taichi didn’t want his lil sis to be involved in “the boys game”). even miko the cat started to grow fond of koushiro.

＊ on the contrary, every time taichi and hikari’s parents were going out, they would always drop the kids to izumi’s residence and ask for koushiro’s mother to look after them. hikari used to stare at the books collection inside koushiro’s room before she started to read them one by one. she never managed to read them all, of course, but she learned a lot.

＊ there was that one time when taichi had an important soccer practice so he dropped hikari to koushiro’s house, and it happened that his parents weren’t at home too so there were only the two of them. it was kind of awkward at first, but when they found out that kae forgot to prepare some meal, they teamed up to cook pancakes together. they were nervous about flipping the pan as they were afraid that the cake would slip away.

＊ they accidentally kissed when koushiro was on stand by in front of the computer and the younger kids came out from the screen as they got back from the digital world. hikari landed above koushiro and their lips met even just in a slight brush. however, they never really mentioned it after; koushiro was too shy, while hikari was trying to be oblivious and not making it a big deal as it was a coincidence.

＊   hikari always sent koushiro the picture of digimons they encountered from her camera. this helped koushiro to expand his data about digital world and to make an analysis of the digimons.

＊ hikari also created a photoblog and asked koushiro’s help to build the website for her, although she did the maintenance by herself. she sent him a chat if she encountered an error, but then the chats grew into small talks.

＊ koushiro regularly checked on hikari’s condition as he knew that she was seriously ill once.

＊ if taichi’s “missing”, hikari would always contact koushiro first, because she believed that taichi saw koushiro more often compared to yamato, as koushiro was his childhood friend.

＊ the hoi brothers once invited them back to hongkong and taichi—being a siscomp as always—was frantic because he couldn’t tag along. he, however, trusted koushiro to take care of hikari and seemed doing a pretty good job; even hikari was comfortable to fall asleep in his shoulder during the plane ride.

＊ they came back and gave each of their friends a very personalized gift depends on their likings—for example, a jade bracelet for mimi (yeah, remember the green bangles on mimi’s wrist in kizuna? they’re from koushiro and hikari) and mandarin hat for takeru (it was a joke—they actually bought a snapback too for him)

___

more than friends,

＊ hikari was the one who made the first move. koushiro was in the final year of high school, hikari was a freshman. on valentine’s day, koushiro got giri-choco (obligatory chocolates) from all girls in computer club (including miyako), and from sora, mimi, and hikari. koushiro ate the one from hikari during the club session, and miyako was there. she noticed that while daisuke, ken, iori, and takeru got ordinary handmade chocolates, koushiro got a matcha flavored one. excited, miyako was trying quite hard to convince her oblivious senpai that it might be a honmei-choco.

＊ they were so guarded in their first date at the zoo; it was as if they didn’t know each other for a long time. they managed to break the ice during the aquatic mammals show where they got splashed so they had to buy a new pair of t-shirts in the souvenir store. they happened to pick the same one—a panda-themed t-shirt—and they laughed about it. they went to see the giant bear and unconsciously gaped in unison because it was their first time to see a panda.

＊ their friends (especially mimi, miyako, and daisuke) were trying so hard to tail them on their first date. as a matter of fact, everyone was kind of surprised when they found out koushiro and hikari became a thing—everyone but taichi. unexpectedly, instead of getting fussy with his siscomp, taichi was quite relaxed. probably because he knew that koushiro was a capable man.

＊ as they were both not really cut out for sports, they usually went for a bike together (refer to hikari and her bike in 02 and tri, and koushiro’s taking his bike to a bookstore in 01). it wasn’t really a workout; more like a casual biking session, but they would always try to go as far as possible. this is also hikari’s way to keep koushiro’s in shape and for him to explore new places, using the excuse that she wanted to collect photos from different areas.

＊ their favorite kind of date: pet shop and tea houses. koushiro was a fan of oolong tea, but hikari made him trying different types of tea, be it an original or blended, for each of their dates. hikari always took a picture of the tea and had a special scrapbook where she pasted all the photos with the tea name. there were nearly fifty types now.

＊ at one point, they managed to walk while holding each other’s hands without being shy anymore. however, they never did anything beyond that—even a kiss on the lips was only one or two times. keeping their relationship pure before tying the knot was a sort of projection of their “insecurities”. in their humble opinion, if they became so intimate and unfortunately ended the relationship at some point, it would be awkward for them to stay as friends.

＊ but do you think their relationship would end? ;)

___

i blame @digidigi-monmon​ and her headcanon for making me think about this even when i was sleeping last night.

a bonus because i can’t help it as always:

kae’s trusting her future daughter-in-law.

[noctisfishing]

What Do You Treasure?

Day 6 - Treasure

#noct writes taiora week 2020 [ 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 ]

@taioraweek for more Taiora love! @noctisfishing for Taiora/Digimon writings and more. :)

Setting: Digimon Adventure tri.: timeframe / Canon Divergence

Tags: Fluff, Humor

Other Characters: 01 Chosen Children and Digimon Partners

Notes: My challenge for this was to separate this prompt theme from a multi-chapter fic that I’m still working on. ;) Like a few of my other fics, I pictured everyone in high school in this one.

Basically, everyone has their own answers. ;D

~*~*~*~*~*~

“What do you treasure?”

Sora arrived home after school one afternoon with that question lingering on her mind. The teacher had posed the question to the class during a discussion about a novel in which the students were assigned to read.

“Is it an item that has some meaning to you? A place you’ve been? A friend, or a loved one? There is no wrong answer.”

When she met Piyomon in the living room and asked her, she responded right away.

“It’s you, Sora!” Piyomon leapt into Sora’s arms and nuzzled her beak against her. “Meeting you and becoming partners is the greatest treasure I could ever want.”

“Oh, Piyomon…”

Sora smiled and held her partner tightly, knowing that she felt the same way. 

She thought about calling Taichi to ask how he would respond. She already knew what she would tell him. 

But she also couldn’t help but wonder what her friends would say.

~*~*~*~*~

The moment Taichi arrived home and asked Agumon the same question, he responded without any thought.

“Hamburgers!”

“Hamburgers?” Taichi repeated.

“Can we go get some later?”

“We just had some with Sora and Piyomon the other day!”

“They’re so delicious, I could have them every day!”

Taichi laughed, shaking his head. “You sure never get tired of them.”

He went into his room to set down his school back on his desk chair, and he noticed the picture frame on his desk with his friends and their Digimon partners. Sora was standing next to him, and he remembered that the two of them were laughing together at the time the picture was taken.

He wondered if the answer was that easy to tell.

~*~*~*~*~*~

“Who do you treasure, Yamato?”

Sora with Piyomon sat on Yamato’s couch as she asked him the question. Gabumon sat in front of her, lifting his paw toward her and laughing playfully as she gently waved his paw up and down.

“Are you thinking about sensei’s question, too?” Yamato asked quietly while he tuned his bass guitar.

“Yamato might not tell you,” Gabumon added. “But you could probably make some really good guesses.”

“I’d rather you not.”

“He’ll tell us if he wants to,” Sora replied with a smile. She didn’t want to push Yamato into talking about something he was uncomfortable with.

She saw that Gabumon was eager to talk, but he kept quiet as he beamed at Yamato fiddling with warm up chords. She didn’t have to ask to know that Gabumon and music were his treasures.

Yamato paused his playing and looked as though he had just remembered something. “I was supposed to call Takeru today to help him with something.”

Both Sora and Gabumon both knew that Takeru was another one.

~*~*~*~*~*~

“I can’t just choose one pair of shoes!”

Taichi had caught Mimi on her way home as he and Agumon went for a walk.

“So, you treasure your shoes?” Taichi asked.

“My whole closet, actually. I do have a favorite dress and cute boots - oh, and just paired with the right necklace and earrings? Ah! It’s an outfit that I cannot live without!”

“Then, your treasure is something you can wear. Something, not someone.”

Mimi looked at him from the corner of her eyes in suspicion. “Why? Do you treasure someone, Taichi?”

“Well, uh…”

Taichi went red in the face the longer Mimi stared him down. He could tell that she was reading his mind.

“I don’t have to answer that!” he stammered.

“I’m sure you’ll admit it when the moment’s right,” she said with a wink. But then, she let out a giggle that sounded less mischievous. “It’s Palmon for me. And you, and all of my friends. The Digital World, too. It would be hard to deny that for any of us.”

Taichi smiled back. “That’s true.”

~*~*~*~*~*~

“Peace and quiet.”

Sora smiled with hesitation the moment Jou responded harshly to her question at his front door. “I’m sorry, Jou,” she said. “We must be bothering you.”

“Relax, Jou!” Gomamon added, jumping onto his arms. “Sora never comes here to make any trouble.”

Jou sighed, suddenly looking remorseful. “You’re right. I’m sorry, Sora. I’ve just been stressed.”

“It’s okay. Entrance exams are sure to be stressful.”

“Don’t worry,” Gomamon said with a cheerful smile. “I’ve been here to root for him when he needs it!”

“I’m sure you have been!”

“I should make you some tea! I already have the kettle going for Jou!”

Gomamon jumped off from Jou and disappeared from the door, leaving Jou to chuckle timidly. “Don’t feel like you’re intruding,” Jou told her. “Please, stay for tea. Gomamon will whine if you leave now.”

As Sora sat down at the table with Jou and waited for Gomamon, Jou had decided to answer her question.

“I don’t know where I’d be without Gomamon,” he said. “He truly is my best cheerleader.”

“I see,” replied Sora. “But I imagine ‘peace and quiet’ is still a true answer?”

“Yeah… Taichi and Agumon can test me on that. They showed up earlier and asked me the same question.”

“Oh…” Sora held her hand to her mouth to try to stop herself from laughing. “I’ll be sure to talk to him about it later.”

~*~*~*~*~*~

“My treasure?” Koushiro asked Taichi, his eyes transfixed on his computer screen as they both sat in his room.

“You know, something, or someone… that could have a special meaning to you.”

“Well, I think that’s an easy answer for me.” After clicking a few times on his computer mouse, Koushiro pushed himself away from the keyboard on his desk. “Tentomon, for one.”

“Koushiro-han…!” Tentomon replied on the side, and Taichi could swear his face was glowing redder than the shell on his body.

“And… my parents, too.”

Koushiro sat in his chair as though deep in thought.

“That makes sense, Koushiro,” Taichi assured him with a smile.

Koushiro remained quiet, but Taichi heard Tentomon clear his throat loudly and shift himself next to Agumon.

“Just try to stay away from his harddrive,” Tentomon whispered to Agumon. “He almost imploded when I nearly dropped one of it parts as he was building it…”

“Ooh, gotcha!” Agumon whispered back.

~*~*~*~

“Patamon… and Yamato, of course!” Takeru replied with a cheerful smile to Sora.

“I figured you would say that,” Sora said, giggling.

“He probably would tell me he’d never talk to me again if I told him.”

“But he would still talk to you again a minute later!” Patamon said chiming in, sitting on top of Takeru’s head.

“You must be really interested in everyone’s answers,” Takeru added.

“It’s nice to know what can make someone’s eyes light up,” replied Sora.

Patamon made a squeak, and Sora noticed that Takeru had been looking above her for a few moments.

“Has anyone asked what it is that you treasure, Sora?”

“Not yet.”

At that moment, Sora realized where Takeru and Patamon had been staring, and Sora moved her hand up to her hair, lightly running her fingers through her locks.

“Think he’ll figure it out?”

Sora laughed. “I’m sure he will.”

~~~~

“My stupid, adorable Onii-chan, of course.”

“Staaahhp,” Taichi said, pushing Hikari away from trying to pinch his cheeks. He had returned home, where she sat in the living room with Tailmon.

“This one, too.” Once Hikari stopped, she picked up Tailmon and nuzzled the top of her head.

“Is it really that easy?” Taichi asked. “Everyone responded with answers that seemed to roll off of their tongues.”

“It’s not too hard to figure out, Taichi. Even if you are afraid to say it out loud, the answer just comes to you.”

Taichi grimaced. “I didn’t say anything about being afraid.”

The doorbell rang. Hikari looked at Tailmon, and Taichi looked toward Agumon. They weren’t expecting any guests, and their parents weren’t going to arrive home until later.

Sora was at the door when Taichi answered, with Piyomon standing at her side.

“Hey, Sora,” Taichi said, finding himself happy to see her. “What brings you here?”

“Oh, well…” Sora had met eyes with him, but suddenly looked to the side with a shy smile. “I’ve been going around asking everyone a question, and I think it’s your turn.”

Taichi was taken aback. He had returned home after getting hungry, but he had planned to call Sora right after he had dinner.

He wondered if it was the same question he had been asking all afternoon. He watched her bring her hand to her hair, tucking a lock behind her ear, and then, he noticed it; a red shiny gem clipped in her hair on the side.

It was the hair clip he had given her for her birthday one year. He didn’t realize that she would keep it for so long.

He realized that that must have been something she treasured, just like how...

“I treasure you, Sora,” he said aloud. Somehow, his realization at that moment urged him to say it, and it seemed to tumble out of his mouth.

With a nervous laugh, she turned to face him again with a wider smile.

“I treasure you, too, Taichi,” she replied.

Even with the sizzle on his cheeks, he couldn’t have been happier. 

They stood face to face, suddenly laughing at each other. He knew that she had been nervous to say it, too, but he found relief knowing that saying it aloud wasn’t as hard as either of them thought, after all. 

.

.

.

.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Bonus:

Taiora brought their Digimon to a burger place and Taichi ordered the avocado burger that Mimi had told him about earlier. Mimi found out later and got upset that they went without her.

[opallene]

Digimon Adventure:

Why is it called “Digimon Adventure:”?  I don’t know.  I’m just trying not to call it “Digimon Adventure Colon” out loud, because that doesn’t sound very nice.

Okay, so.  I knew this was coming; I’d seen some of the concept art; I was, like most of us, confused about “what, and why, and why now?”.  I’ll admit I was suffering some Digimon Fatigue and I didn’t really have any particular expectations for this one.  Today I was tipped off that the first few episodes were on Crunchyroll.  I decided to start watching it.  Again, with no particular expectations.

When I saw Taichi and Koushiro together in the episode thumbnails, I knew it was at least worth checking out.  They sure LOOKED like the characters I remembered.

The theme song was -- cute!  Really, really cute!  Everyone looked so cool.  There was a nod to the original OP animation (in a 4:3 screen ratio; clever!), but it was otherwise new.  Taichi and Agumon were looking at each other just like they were supposed to.  I have to say, I’m happy for once that it was NOT “Butter-Fly”, because as much as I love that song, it has been done to death already.  There was running (and feathers?!), like every good anime opening should have (lol), but boy was it joyful and full of good energy.  I want to get familiar with the song, too.  I dig it.

Full disclosure at this point: Taichi, Hikari and Koushiro have always been my top favorite characters.  I have been a Taishiro shipper for, what, 20 years?  (IT’S BEEN 20 YEARS?!?)  These are my biases.  WELL, in this first episode, I got to meet all of my favorite characters right away.  My ship met each other right away, flattered each other right away, and proceeded to spend the entire episode thick as thieves, relying on each other and kicking some monster butt together.  (Did the writers of this sit together in a room and try to pander to me? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯  Just saying.)  The voices (at least Taichi and Koushiro so far) are really perfect.

Honestly, the directing was good too.  There were some great pauses and some different camera angles that I wouldn’t necessarily have expected from the original.  As far as the plot and action so far, it’s quite a bit “typical Digimon” (more akin some of the countless Adventure follow-ups, perhaps), and it does just dive right the heck in with little time for questioning, but...I’m game to see where it goes.  They already did the slow(ish) build-up in a strange world in the original Adventure, and it’s not like I want to see the exact same show again.  I don’t.

I think I’ll sum up my favorable impression like this: While I was watching the first episode, particularly the first 5-10 minutes or so, it literally felt like I was having some kind of dream about the characters I’ve been attached to for 20+ years.  They immediately felt true to character (unlike Tri, which took awhile to get that momentum and also, I think, missed the mark in some cases).  I realize this is a very subjective feeling, but I felt transported to a dreamworld of an AU, and I would like to keep having that dream.  The COVID delay is a real shame, but at least there are two more to watch right now.  I’m happy to see where this goes next!

[ahiddenpath]

Fic Talk: Digimon Kizuna: Infinite Possibilities

SO BASICALLY all of this epilogue talk recently has made me itch to work on Infinite Possibilities.  It’s probably because of all of this thinking about how the Chosen, the digimon, and the two worlds moved from Kizuna activities/status to 2028 epilogue status?  Whatever the case, I wanna dig in a bit and talk ideas. 

SPOILERS: This post contains spoilers for the Digimon Kizuna novel adaptation, which is apparently very much like the Kizuna movie.  More below the cut!

Here are the relevant links, if you’re interested:

-The Kizuna novel in English

-My immediate thoughts on the Kizuna novel

-Gut teaser for the fic

-Further ideas for the fic, what “infinite possibilities” might mean

Here are some developments on the story:

1.)  Setting

It will be canon compliant, working off of Kizuna and moving towards the epilogue.  However, that leaves me an enormous amount of wiggle room, as long as I honor what came before and where it leads.  Most of it will take place in Tokyo.

It mostly takes place post Kizuna, but there will be about two chapters set before Kizuna.

2.)  Cast

While all 12 Chosen will be featured in this fic, I’ve decided that this story will have three main characters: Koushiro representing the six oldest kids, Hikari representing the six youngest, and Eimi representing the perspective of a non-Chosen who wants to help digimon and humans coexist.  

The function of the older kids will be broken down thus, in decreasing prominence:

-Koushiro researching: Infinite Possibilities, the Digital World, digimon, the connection between earth and the Digital World, related tech and advancements, and scrambling for alternatives to digimon fights to handle digimon crises, especially on earth.

-Jyou, Mimi, and Koushiro dealing with the appearance of the circles of light on their digivices and trying to prevent the loss of their partners.

-Yamato, Taichi, and Sora trying to help the others however they can, but mostly dealing with their massive loss and struggling to cope.

The function of the younger kids will be broken down thus, in decreasing prominence:

-Hikari slowly realizing that her crest of light might potentially be tied to all of this, and wondering what Homeostasis could have to say in defense of partnering digimon and humans for a temporary amount of time...

-The 02 kids dealing with digimon appearances on earth, while also monitoring the Digital World for interference from Chosen around the globe.  What are they doing that’s positive for humans and/or digimon?  Negative?

Meanwhile, Eimi’s all like:

-What does someone who isn’t Chosen have to offer to digimon, and to the human/digimon political situation?  How can I deal with the increasing number of Chosen around the world, whom I admired, doing things to hurt Digimon and/or the Digital World?  How can I foster trust between humans and digimon when humans fear digimon appearances on earth and digimon have more and more reasons to distrust humans by the day?

-And slowly, as she gets to know the Japanese Chosen...  How can I tell them that the nature of their partnership might be destroying their digimon, or at least might not be as equal as they thought this whole time?

-Whom do I trust?  How do I prevent Digital Wold/digimon research and technology from being abused by the wrong hands?  How can the Chosen and people like me encourage a new blended world that no one else seems to want?  Should we?

3.)  General Plot Ideas

GUYS.  GUYS.  I AM SO STOKED, because I am going to (attempt to) tie things like Hikari and the crest of light, Homeostasis, the Harmonious Ones, and Yggdrasil all into the discovery of the Infinite Possibility that could allow the Chosen partner digimon to continue existing as the kids become adults.  Like, if the very nature of the Chosen/partner digimon bond is going to be challenged...  I don’t think any of these big forces in the Digital World are going to sit it out.

I have so many ideas, but I’m also sitting here like...  THIS IS A LOT, HIDDEN, THIS IS EXTREMELY AMBITIOUS, CAN YOU DO IT.

Honestly, I don’t know, but I want to find out!

Seriously, though, in addition to dealing with infinite possibilities and the powers that be in the Digital World, I’m also dealing with themes like...  What is potential?  When does potential end?  When do children become adults?  What is an even partnership?  How do we decide whom to trust?  How do we move forward in the face of enormous opposition?  What does the digimon research/tech scene look like around Kizuna?  Are some Chosen abusing their special status?  How are humans exploiting digimon?  How does the sociopolitical environment of Kizuna change into the one in the epilogue?  At what point are we (the heroes of a story) just forcing our desires on beings that don’t want them?  How do we deal with horrific personal loss?  How do we deal with impeding personal loss?    

I’m really intimidated!  If you think any aspect of this is particularly interesting, please do let me know!

[nostalgic-blood]

so yeah tri finale thoughts

i went into this movie with rock bottom expectations. mostly because i went into symbiosis riding high due to the ridiculously juicy poster that turned out to be the baitest bait that has ever bait.

and i suppose perception helps because I mostly enjoyed it! my biggest fear was that they’d try to answer the millions of questions and mysteries they brought up in one single movie, and seeing their track record it’d be done rather sloppily. instead, they went for a sequel hook so it made sense to leave out the answers to some mysteries. It’s not as if homeostasis and yggdrasil were the reason I was watching tri. If the lore was why I was watching it I’d be bored and left long ago

like thank god they didn’t explain much about huckmon or alphamon because i do not care. I do understand on an objective standpoint that leaving so many of these things in the air is bad writing, but for most of the movies they already reserve like 60% of the screentime for meiko and her murderous cat so really what spotlight is left is prime real estate for characters and digimon i actually care about. slice of life moment at an inappropriate point of the movie is better than static exposition for five minutes. 

still what they did use the screentime for was a little odd, though not to the egregious degree of meiko in the previous movies. I find it interesting for instance that yamato and gabumon had a pretty long scene together but they are the only ones of the cast that never had a full-screen metalgarurumon evolution. they also spent a lot of time that wasn’t the occasional flashback or the recap at the beginning of every episode even though it’s released as movies and we literally just watched that scene showing the faceless military being inept at destroying the supernatural giant monster. 

it feels like tri’s structure is far more rigid than average. As in they seem to follow some strict formula, which causes pacing issues and screentime priority issues. They also don’t really put thought into what goes into the structure. For instance we did get some Hikari spotlight because it was necessary due to the situation, what with tailmon having become part of the big evil bad. But instead of focusing on really anything specific on hikari’s character, it was mostly reactionary and worrying over meiko. There was a quick moment just before tailmon mega evolved which, when I put more thought into it was sort of poignant, but because that conflict of hikari’s character was so much more subtle than meiko’s plot it almost seems like it comes out of nowhere as a conclusion to hikari’s arc.

plus, they rip away more of tailmon’s agency when they simply refer to the big ordinemon boob butt monster as simply meicoomon that has absorbed tailmon. You can’t backtrack like that! We VERY CLEARLY SAW in symbiosis that tailmon TOO was corrupted as ophanimon falldown mode, and that the two digimon fused together in a rather blatant manner. It felt far more like they were equals when they became one than one digimon absorbing the other. There is no point to tailmon’s dark evolution if that never comes up in the plot! If no one ever brings it up! It feels like, just as the poster was, included just as fanservice and bait so more people would watch, but with zero substance. 

Again, a rigid formula or structure, like the writers were all sitting in the room and throwing ideas on the wall, but the ideas are like “we should have a dramatic moment where tailmon disappears!” and they do. But it doesn’t do anything. It’s not really relevant because it’s not as if tailmon changes drastically or even dies. It feels like it was put there just for the drama itself, just to throw in a trailer so people will be like OMG DID TAILMON JUST DIE!?!?! HOW SAD!!! I NEED TO TUNE IN!1!!

or like “WE SHOULD BRING BACK WIZARDMON!” because fans of hikari and tailmon love wizardmon! so they do! for 3 seconds! He has no lines! We never see his face! What the fuck. It’s a tease that goes no where. They even have the audacity to include his hat in the poster for five seconds of screentime. I should have expected that after the ophanimon falldown mode debacle.

meanwhile the new characters are involved in drama that is actually affected by the plot, like meiko having to say goodbye to her partner forever because meicoomon is too far gone, and needs to be put down to end her suffering. Pretty dang relevant to the story right? it wasn’t simply put there for feels. Or Daigo dying. While the situation they got into seems kind of convoluted, like how they just happened to fall into the underground bunker where the 02 kids just happen to be, and Daigo just happens to be mortally wounded and Taichi just happens to be unscathed. People explain it away that Daigo “probably shielded Taichi as they fell” which he probably did! But when I have to say “probably” or if the audience has to explain it themselves because they SHOWED ABSOLUTELY NONE OF IT, then it’s especially jarring. Like the writers were like “Let’s kill Daigo off!” and put no thought into how they should smoothly transition to a moment where that could be possible. 

like you spend six movies foreshadowing and leading up to the twist that meicoomon was the source of the infected, and then slowly revealed how much yggdrasil’s influence was exactly on her and then give us the shock of the century when she fuses with tailmon into the big bad near the end, and then we finally conclude the conflict of sacrifice by yes, we must put the cat down. Because of all the damage that she had inflicted, by the death that taichi had just witnessed and could do nothing to prevent. That the theme of the movies was growing up, no longer the fun friendly idealism of digimon back in adventure. That she was just too far gone, almost dragged another digimon down with her, lead to the death of humans !! and risked the death or at least the reboot of the real world. It was not time to debate what we should or should not do because if action is not done now it’d be too late.

but for daigo dying it’s like, oh he ends up in a room, somehow far more injured than taichi. Like at least give Taichi cuts and bruises so the whole “OMG TAICHI IS DEAD!!!” thing had a little more merit, and then not!gennai sets up a sadistic trap where only one of them will live and the one that lives will conveniently return back to the real world safe and sound with the 02 kids that have been missing this entire time. I mean, real convenient hm? kill off a guy for drama and put the main char where he needs to be while fixing up one of the biggest issues in the entire series with the lingering whereabouts of the 02 cast and no one seemingly caring. They tried to kill many birds with one stone, but they were too greedy, trying to kill so many birds that all the birds they killed weren’t intact bodies on the ground for feasting but mere scraps, as the stone was used in such force their remains were absolutely pulverized. I swear that analogy was going somewhere.

I was still sad about it tho, because I warmed up to daigo and maki as characters, and if maki doesn’t come back then these original chosen have left Tri in rather brutal and bloody fashion, tragic with no real positive spin aside from maki’s cautionary tale over sacrifice and what it can do to a person and daigo leaving lasting words to taichi. They were the first to get Digimon and save the world! The rest of the adventure kids and in the 02 epilogue everyone else gets their own digimon and lives out happily side-by-side. Why do the first get such a bad hand? It’s sad.

i’m a bit disappointed some of the coolest theories over tailmon and meicoomon as foils didn’t come true, which I mean I can’t really expect what with the track record of tri, but it would have been nice. tailmon would be light and then meicoomon is darkness, and the demon that results is even more powerful because they light that combined has been tainted by darkness, or w/e. there was little explanation for the fusion and again, they often referred to tailmon as simply having been absorbed. When she escaped ordinemon I doubt there was memory of being ophanimon falldown mode. I guess the koushiro-ex-machina mass return of their selves before the reboot has some amazing ability to purify on the fly. Could have been done better!

still, on an emotional level I enjoyed it. Even if they planned every emotional moment in the most soulless, structured way possible without any ounce of passion I think I still would have teared up at some scenes. Seeing all the megas in grand animation was great, and the fighting was good this time too unlike the body slamming fun times from symbiosis. 

so my initial rating of this movie is 2.5 stars out of 5, but I will minus .5 stars for the ridiculous and unnecessary amount of fucking butt shots ordinemon has. I don’t know what person in this wide wide world would actually enjoy seeing cthulhu’s bare fat ass every twenty seconds but if they were the primary demographic somehow then I guess I have no justification to complain!

I also minus .5 stars for the stupid pointless recaps. And minus another .5 for doing nothing specific for hikari’s character. That least us at 1.5 stars.

BUT ONE WHOLE EXTRA STRAW FOR HOLYDRAMON!!! AWWWWW YEAH

Even if Holydramon only was around for 15 seconds itself, it still got a gorgeously animated evolution sequence and as I do not stare at trailers (and it never being on a poster) that surprise was not only well worth the wait but the time it took to process. I was cheering at 3am in the morning.

but . 5 deducted for the stupid wizardmon bait SHAME ON THE BAIT THE BAITEST BAIT I HATE THE BAIT

2 stars out of 5. Eh good enough. I personally put the movies as 3 > 6 > 2 > 4 > 1 > 5. That is all and Spotto out.

[seventeenlovesthree]

Sometimes, I’m still in awe of how things come together and this is one of them. I was made aware of the graphic novel around a year ago - and by now, I own the first four volumes at home, as they’re just super endearing, empowering, give room to a lot of different representation and cover very serious topics revolving around mental health, so... You should definitely read it as well. <3

THAT ASIDE - I was, obviously, initially drawn to the series because of the veeeeery obvious Taishirou parallels that was already apparent on the freaking preview pic presented on Amazon. I’m sure Lynn will come up with even more parallels, but I still wanted to point some of the points I/we already gathered:

Suspect number one: Charlie Spring is our resident Koushirou Izumi - even if they’re not the exact type of nerd, Charlie is STILL constantly being referred to as (gay) nerd throughout the series. Starts the series in grade 10 (14 years old, turns 15), spends a lot of time alone, isolating himself (mainly because he was being bullied after having been outed) or among his friend group (Tao and Isaac - or Aled in the graphic novels - and, partly, Elle). According to Nick, Charlie is “good at everything, video games, sports, maths, essays, making friends, playing the drums-” While Koushirou doesn’t play drums (he’s more the violine type according to one of the album covers for Digimon Adventure) and doesn’t really strike you as sporty, Adventure 01 still showed him being a competent runner around the more sporty kids - guess what Charlie is good at? Right, running. And even if that wasn’t the case - Taichi calling Koushirou “awesome” wouldn’t be a rarity either. So he’s pretty damn smart, he’s also got snark and wit - and, obviously, has pretty bad self-esteem (among other things I will not mention here yet, because spoilers), where he fits right in with Koushirou: “Before now, before he had come to the Digital World, Koushiro had considered himself an insignificant and worthless human being. He knew computers, but what use was that? Even he was aware that he stuck out like a sore thumb in class, and he had thought that even if he wasn’t around, the world would still go on.” Which is almost exactly how Tao refers to Charlie thinking about himself, so... I think our boy needs a golden retriever someone to pull him out of that state, right? Because he actually IS very capable, kind and able to make friends easily...

Suspect number two: Nick Nelson is our resident Taichi Yagami - the sporty jock, star player and captain of the school rugby team, a popular sunny boy, one year above Charlie in grade 11 (15 years old) and also a tad bit taller. (”Why are you so strong?” - “I’m not strong, you’re just short”). We see the two of them being paired together in their term, very unlikely people to get along with each other it seems - but they basically immediately do read: they’re starstruck by one another and Nick almost instantly asks Charlie whether he wants to join the rugby team, since he is a fast runner. Taichi didn’t ask Koushirou to join the football club in Adventure/the novels, but it is heavily hinted at that he took a lot of care of him there, treated him like everyone else - and may or may not have protected him about the other members, who, according to the novels “thought he was hard to get along with”. That’s exactly what both Taichi and Nick do for each Koushirou and Charlie - being protective and encouraging towards them (”Well, I like you and want you on the team!”). He’s generally just a super kind, supportive guy who overthinks and second guesses a lot - and might go for the punch if he can’t otherwise protect the ones dear to him. (Also has an amazing mom!!!)

Nick is seriously starting to question his own sexuality, as he’s crushing hard on Charlie - who is crushing back just as hard, but they do start off as friends, become closer, even best friends. That’s obviously a very common theme for Taishirou in most of fandom as well, with both of them being oblivious nuts that don’t realize what is going on. (”You like me too?” - “Wasn’t that obvious?” - “Why are we like this?”). One of my - and Lynn’s - favourite headcanons is that Taichi realizes he is bisexual - so this parallel with Nick is just too wonderful. There’s a lot of amazing cheese, a lot of texting, mutually protective behaviour displayed by both of them - all the things one enjoys in a Taishirou fanfiction, so I’m absolutely here for it.

Then there are the other characters and their dynamics of course. Again, not all of it fits and some characters are portrayed differently in the graphic novel than they are in the Netflix adaptation. Not only are the boys not wearing the green uniform (just like in Digimon Adventure 02, hehe), but Tao for example gets a lot more focus, his fear of the group drifting apart, him getting left behind by Charlie, his feelings for Elle, etc. He’s got quite the snark, the very apparent “Rough skin, soft core” attitude that makes him very much Yamato in my opinion. Isaac staying out of trouble and just smiling, reading his book and being a cuddly boy strikes me as Takeru a LOT. Elle is a difficult decision, though I feel she would be an amazing Jyou - in regards of her mature attitude towards Tao’s worries, basically mirrorring Jyou’s speech towards Yamato in the stageplay, who was also fearing that everyone would eventually just leave. And... That gives me a lot of Jyoumato parallels as well!

Then there are the other girls and, thus, the other canonically confirmed couple: Tara and Darcy. In the graphic novel, Darcy is being portrayed as a tomboy with short hair and a beanie who’s out as a lesbian openly (and later we also learn her family is giving her a hard time about it...). While her design (and family circumstances) obviously scream Sora, character-wise she’s more Mimi than anything else. And Tara - she is the one who still struggles with her identity (!), unable to take the gossiping around them. She’s fancied by a lot of the guys - and rumoured to have been in a relationship with Nick, since he used to have a crush on her and they even kissed in grade 8... Which was where Tara actually realized that kissing boys was not for her. Ladies and gentlemen, here we have the - bittersweet - Taiora parallel. Thankfully, throughout the series, Tara and Nick actually remain close in their growing/combining friend group so we have a very gentle, very adorable friendship dynamic between Sora and Taichi here. So Darcy is the spunky, confident and comfortable Mimi pulling Tara, the gracious, gentle and opinionated Sora out of her shell, both of them having a very adorable, fun and supportive relationship. (Plus, Sora and Mimi being friends with Jyou in their grade is a special kind of awesome the world needs more of!!!)

Everything else... is up for debate or doesn’t fit too well. (Like Charlie being the one who has siblings - although, hey, could be nice to have a Koukari sibling dynamic as well, with Tori being Hikari, right?) There are a few scenes in between that definitely made me giddy (like Nick calling Charlie “Char”, which is basically the fandom equivalent of Taichi calling Koushirou “Kou” and if that isn’t amazing, I don’t know what is. Actually the same could be said about Charlie getting a haircut - at least in the graphic novel, because, let’s be real, fandom is pretty divided on Koushirou’s hair. :D)

To be continued??? :D

Just here quickly to talk Heartstopper. I'm watching it and it's crazy good, loving it <3

Aside from that it's a such a great setup for a Taichi x Koushiro AU (I mean, the sweet sports guy from 5th grade and the cute nerd from 4th grade), for which I will write down all the headcanons sometime soon, there's something very important I want to point out to everyone after @seventeenlovesthree pointed this out to me earlier.

This is Heartstopper's creator Alice Oseman's Twitter account:

Nothing special right? Yet. Cuz THIS IS THE HEADER SHE/THEY USE FOR SAID TWITTER ACCOUNT:

Yes my darlings, that's Sora. SORA FROM FREAKING DIGIMON. You cannot tell me that this person isn't a Digimon fan and this gives me and all of you all the reasons to make every possible Heartstopper x Digimon crossover!!

Bye.

[izzyizumi]

DIGIMON ADVENTURES x SUMMER-TIME RECORD (Parody AU version) {not an 100% Exact-parody} main pairing: Taichi x Koushiro {TAISHIRO[U]} (Koushiro specifically is in the Hero role / Protagonist role here) Tri is mildly featured for overall feel {no major final battle spoiler}, I do have Tri & Canon-compliant timelines in this series. (They’re Included TM) but this was made before Kizuna’s release; so there’s no Kizuna.

Comparisons video I did for this Anime Music Video I originally made sometime around/before Dec 19 2019! most of my other past A.M.V.s for this ‘Verse can be found in this tag on my blog (scroll for links to recent/past A.M.V.s in ‘verse). This other more recent A.M.V. contains direct links to all past ones!

REPEAT?_-Verse/A.M.Vs-verse story background Introduction is Here my once-Attempt at Fic-writing for it was Here {Please read ALL info/notes/warnings first!} (The videos are obvs safe for work and can be watched without reading any!)

The original 1st video in the series, “K@gerou Daze” Here For an overall more upbeat intro-like song, “Children Record” Here For a shorter but more Opening theme style song, “DAZE” Here!

This video compared here essentially served as an “ending theme” of sorts for the originating series’ Music videos-based “timeline”, (that series started as music videos). Naturally there are somewhat mild (technically STRONG) spoilers, if just, basically a showing of various characters/locations/themes in-series. You can watch it without contexts, but it might have more impact if you’re aware of at least any of the originating series’ earlier story.

You can probably see what I did there TM in comparing many of these scenes in my version :’) (Though I also had to do quite a lot of improvising!)

if it wasn’t obvious the 1st time around, Locations and characters Relevance: Odaiba & Hikarigaoka (aka ‘Heighton View Terrace’) = Taichi (& Hikari) Yamatos’ bands’ room = Yamato “Irrelevant Roadsigns” / lead up to Pyocomon Village = Sora Koushiro’s Tri Office, Fuji TV (Odaiba) convention center = Koushiro (where Koushiro also learns about his being adopted from his parents) The crossing Gate = Mimi (her hat has Significance!) File Island mountain peak = Jou {Relevant A.M.V. HERE} Tri Classroom & sunset scenery = Takeru & Hikari (younger kids), also as they’re rounding the 1st 6 off (with nod to Kokuhaku for Takeru) (also a subtle nod to Daigo Nishijima despite him not showing here) various shots of the sky can also = Meiko (‘Aikotoba’ / ‘Words of Love’)

(In mine I’m more focused on adding in some extra scenes/moments basically tied to the timings of the music/beats in the song for emphasis; the original has a very movie credits-like atmosphere, it’s somewhat slow-moving with little action at first as a result. Not all unique scenes were compared exactly because I also wanted to include my own feel / ideas for my ‘verse, but you can still get the idea I was aiming for.) The Advs charas are also not meant to be stand-ins for particular roles; more just semi-comparing their actions / animations / the overall feel.

(Anyhow I’m mainly just doing this video for fun because this comparisons video is honestly long overdue, I don’t think I ever made one for this song earlier!)

(If I could re-do the video with additions / fixes at any future time, would probably also add in this scene from Adv 2020 somewhere fitting.)

[ahiddenpath]

Digimon Adventure Tri Stage Play Reaction

Guys, this is not an analysis: this is my feels and obnoxious comments while viewing the stage play.  My initial goal was to use these notes to make an analysis, but they’re too funny/stupid/wow to hide from the world.  I typed these notes in real time, stopping the play whenever I had a thought.  It’s the closest I can get to having you watch me watch the stage play without using videos.  I will write an actual meaningful post soon, but for now, have a confused and jumpy/unpolished blob of feels.

The other thing I want to say is that I didn’t edit this after I wrote it, except for surface editing (grammar, spelling) and clarifications (mostly adding more names).  So if I formed an impression at some point, that’s what I really thought in that moment; I didn’t go back and change it.

That said: this will completely and totally spoil the stage play.  SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS!  Read on below the cut (if you dare; it’s almost 4K words long and full of images).

Hidden’s Digimon Adventure Tri Stage Play Reaction

I am immediately not buying that Mimi wouldn't want to camp in the bungalow.  Isn't this the kid that went to Tokyo Tower instead of patrolling Tokyo because the tower has AC?  I guarantee she'd whine an hour in about wanting the bungalow, but wouldn't allow Koushiro to point out that she made this choice for all of them x__x

 Did Mimi just... just throw the laptop?  How bratty can you get?  I... wow, I really hope they don’t treat my Mimi so poorly the whole play.

From Sora's speech, I can see that nostalgia will be a major theme here, which, to be fair, is appropriate, lol!  Nostalgia is pretty much why we’re here.

TAICHI! It’s so good to see you get your big bro on again, lol???  Hikari:  "I'm not a kid who needs to wait for you to walk home with me."

 Taichi: "What?  Why not?  WHAT'S WRONG?!  CONFIDE IN ME!"  He’s so aggressive and clumsy about it, lol??

Taichi:  "WHO ARE YOU CALLING A STUBBORN BLOCKHEAD."

Jyou, amiably: "You, of course! Wait-"  I'm like 15 minutes in and I have already decided that Jyou is my favorite (not surprising lol).

Jyou:  "YOU ARE IN DANGER, TAICHI.  I HAVE NEVER SEEN YOU STUDY."  Oh lord, Jyou is bashing Taichi with the stone of foreboding. Is Jyou okay?  Is he quite sane?  He isn't, is he.  Do you see that gleam in his eye?  No, no. He is gone and gone indeed.  Jyou’s actor is A+++

Annnnnnd oh hey, it's Yamyams doin' jamjams!  I can dig that bass, is he actually playing?  Oh hey, he's gonna sing for real, he's-  Oh my god, stop!  ABORT! He's terrible, hahahaha?!?!?!  IT BURRRRNSSS!!!  

OH MY GOD HIS BAND HATES THE BAND NAME AND THEY'RE SPEAKING TO HIM IN FRENCH WHAT IS THIS

Wait wow what is this weird ass vibe between the bros?  Teeks is accusing Yams of not visiting...  Did Yamato have that habit to start with?  Hmm...

So Takeru says, "I don't want to see us go our different ways."  I've mentioned it over and over, but this feeling is so important to me.  It's something I want to write an entire fic around.  On the one hand, it's such an easy topic, given the subject material. On the other, it's where my brain keeps going.  So... Let's see what happens!

Also:  Takeru:  "Stay hidden, Patamon!" *puts Patamon on his head and skips offstage* Takeru, sigh...

OH SHIT IT'S ETEMON, saying Taichiiiiihehehehe like a creep ass creeper.  He done got beef, too.

Annnnd we cut to everyone reacting because Mimi has no supplies (did you all not bring any?). What I like here, though, is that Jyou can at least talk to her without getting shut down.  Poor Kou-chan -__-

Koushiro: "We're amateurs, is there anything we should watch out for?"  OH I DUNNO, MAYBE ETEMON IN A HAT AND A VEST god damn I know this is supposed to be funny, but they all look like idiots- 

Koushiro: "That old man had a feminine way of speaking"  Says the dude being portrayed by a male actor FOR THE FIRST TIME-

Koushiro: "Taichi-san, you're the closest thing to a caveman we have-"  Ah, bless.

(At this point, my husband is pointing out while playing Destiny that the puppeteers do really good digimon voices, and I'm explaining that the digimon voices are pre-recorded, lol).

ANNNNND Mimi is whining for supplies that she forbade people to bring.  I am shocked.

Jyou is talking about how he wants to help digimon by being a doctor, by saving and protecting, and my heart is growing three sizes.  Best Chosen, y'all.

But oof, the atmosphere got so heavy...  Why do these kids refuse to talk about what they want to do???  Jyou remains refreshing.  Also, I'm just noticing how Koushiro turns his entire body around every single time towards whoever is talking?  He leans in, too.  It's both cute and unexpected (I would expect much more reserved body language, but I get that this is a play and that's what you do).

HAH!  Only Jyou can see the shooting star because he's the only one with his shit together!  I love that, lol!  (Also, is that really Tailmon's voice actress?  Hmm...)

NO, ETEMON HAS KOU-CHAN, BAD TOUCH, BAD TOUCH although really it's painful that we're still pretending they can't recognize Etemon.

Koushiro can't read the room...  Well, at least that's familiar, lol!

(At this point, my husband is asking what I think, and I'm stuttering over how annoyed I am at the ‘not-recognizing-Etemon’ gag.  My husband is laughing at me and saying I'm at a loss for words. Thanks, love.)

HOLY SHIT did Hikari and Mimi just use the tired "scary stories" trope to bring up the Dark Ocean? I'll give 'em points for that.  I AM INTRIGUED, let's go!!!  Oh.  Oh, they broke it off.  They're not doing anything with it.  That's... sigh.  Thanks, guys. (Caterpillar Sleeping Bag Mimi is cute AF tho).

Hmm, right now I'm thinking that Mimi's actress is so lovely and so lively and really feels like Mimi, but...  I also can't stand how they wrote her so far.  Throwing Koushiro's computer, talking over him, not allowing him to point out when she's contradicting herself, immediately requesting the supplies she forbade people to bring...  This stuff annoyed me in Adventure, but she was 10 and in a situation I would have strongly struggled to handle.  But now she's literally...  Making problems for everyone...  For nostalgia's sake...  At age 16? I'm so torn, lol, because the acting is so good but ahhhhh...  Let's see how this develops...

Hmm hmm, I'm listening to Sora talk about how she doesn't wanna grow up, either... Darling, you're already quite grown up, lol!  Lovely lady. I love how the digimon puppeteers echo their puppets, I can't get enough of watching Agumon's puppet and performer while Sora speaks.  They really did a great job!

I think I'm about an hour into this, maybe a little less?  45 minutes?  So far all that's really happened is that we've established that the characters want to be together as Chosen Children, and that with the exception of Jyou, they aren't emotionally or mentally prepared to seriously think of a future beyond that.  I'll be the first to say that this a compelling and interesting topic, and it's something I've wondered about for them, but...  Shouldn't... more things... have happened by now?  Hmm...  I understood that this would be an issue from Sora's very first bit of dialogue.  No one in the audience needs this much expansion and repetition, particularly with so few new ideas and so little momentum so far.  Tri is intended as a love letter for fans of Adventure, yes?  Mostly adult fans?  We don’t need this much repetition to understand, we truly don’t...

Ah!  Now Yamato is talking about Jyou and how to become an adult, finally dropping some new ideas in.  Love ya, Yams.  And ahh, man, Taichi is just... screaming all of his lines?  The actor is so sweet and cute, but the delivery...  I'm pretty sure it's supposed to reflect that Taichi is putting up fronts like nobody's bidness, though.  Yamato ain't buyin' it (Yamato is Almost Best).  I really want him to grunt, "Tell the truth or shut up." XD XD  GRUNT GRUNT.

 Augh, god, I can't take this tho?  Literally EVERY TIME someone tries to say something that will move the plot forward or inject some vulnerability into this play (except for Papa Jyou), they change the subject.  I'm about halfway through now and this has to be at least the 10th time we've been blocked from useful information and deeper thoughts with this method.  Tri suffers from this same issue, though...  Their plot is such that they can’t sustain tension if issues are faced in a natural way, so they CHANGE THE SUBJECT or DROP A LEAD or IGNORE A LEAD, etc, etc.  Here it's mostly saying, "Well what about you?" or screaming someone else's name, which...  Subtle???  Ah, Taichi's latest method of not saying anything is to ask Yamato to play his harmonica...  Oh my god, he's playing Walk on the Edge!  Okay, okay, you got me, stage play.  Hahaha, I remember Yams being better at playing a harmonica, tho!!!!  (I keep picking on this poor dude who is asked to do all of the awesome shit Yams can do, sorry my dude).

Taichi:  Should we sleep?

Yamato:  Let's talk some more.

Taichi: (shit!  fuck!  He remembered I'm dodging-)  YES BECAUSE HE ISN'T AN IDIOT EXCEPT WHEN ETEMON IS ONSTAGE OMG SOMEONE HELP ME-

Ahhh, and they fade out...  With no forward movement.  THANKS.  I mean we established mood, touched on Taichi/Yamato’s relationship, and set up the problems that will be address later (I assume), but...  It’s so drawn out...  

And now Koushiro is drawing on the ground with a stick, bless you, are you trying to compute something? Sigh...  Ah, bless, Tentomon is intervening, haha! 

But...  As right as Ten-chan is, he's also... Wrong? XD  DON'T TELL YOUR FORWARD MOVEMENT MACHINE TO POWER DOWN!!!  Annnnd yes!  We're an hour in and SOMETHING IS HAPPENING!  I am so ready for something to happen. (Tony: "Can we handle the stimulation, though?")

Oh god, the kids freaking out over their partners acting weird, Gabumon's stage hand collapsing... God, right in the feels, I'm almost mad about how easy it is to get an emotional response this way, lol!  We just love our babies too much, lol!

Wow, Yamato lost it at Kou-chan...  You know, we think of Taichi as carrying a lot of pressure (and rightfully so), but Koushiro carries just as much, as we saw in Kokuhaku.  He's not magic, Yams, he needs his tools, and he doesn't have 'em. Related:  Although I don't much care for how it happened, I definitely would love to read/write/see a story where Koushiro has no computer and has to adapt, though.  I'd also love to see one where a new tech wizard appears and he questions his role, but that's a whole' nother thing.

EWW OH MY GOD DON'T UNDRESS ETEMON MIMI WHAT THE HELL, bleeeeehhhhhhh...  Oh god, he thought his outfit was obvious...  Well, you see Etemon, somewhere in the last 6 years, the kids completely lost their ability to read situations x__x  (I get that this is a joke, I really do?  But???)

 Oh huh, so they're claiming Etemon wandered the Dark Ocean for 100 years?  Didn't he...  Come back in Adventure as MetalEtemon?  Is he referencing his second defeat?  ?????

OH GOD POWER RANGER ETEMON WHAT IS HAPPENING.  Haha it's kind of cute that he's like, "Eh I don't know these two (Hikari and Tailmon).  I don't think Metaletemon saw them?  But honestly I don't remember.  I think he was around Jyou and Mimi mostly?

Wait shit are we seriously doing the actual conflict part WITHOUT JYOU AND GOMAMON?  I am so mad right now.  I kind of feel like they'll burst in at some point???  I hope...

...Etemon has a song and dance number.  I am rolling on the floor in pain with the Chosen.  I'm doing it, guruguru mawaru-  No, NO, YOU PUT TAICHI DOWN-  Goddamit how many bad touch jokes do I have to make-

 OH THANK GOD, is Jyou coming back?  THANK YOU DIGI JESUS!  (Tony: "Wait is your favorite back? Did he leave?  It sounded like he wandered off and now he's wandering back in again."

Gomamon: "YOU'RE BEING GROSS JYOU" honey, oh child, you ain't seen nothing yet.  Oh bless him, he's so happy, can we just watch Jyou bounce around in joy please and no more singing power ranger monkeys?  I take back my complaints about nothing happening, haaaaaaaaaaaalp me Senpaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiiiii

Oh lord Etemon's back WHELP.  Oh shit, oh shit that Obon joke, THAT'S THE BEST JOKE IN THIS PLAY, isn’t it?  We can't beat that.  Should I... leave?

Taichi, in Etemon's gross ass digital Wonder Land:  "What's wrong, Hikari?"  WHAT'S WRONG?!  WHAT COULD POSSIBLY BE-

(My husband has informed me that I'm growling.  He tells me that, when we were watching Gravity Falls and Mabel tries to tempt Dipper and the others to stay in the perfect imaginary world Bill made for her, I said, "What is she, Satan?  Tempting them to stay here in comfort instead of facing danger to save everyone?"  This is a similar scenario, and it's one of the few things I didn't like about Gravity Falls and OH NO, TAICHI IS THE MABEL OF THIS SITUATION, HELP!!!!  Oh thank goodness, Taichi's done with this too, whew, okay, okay, breathe, stop growling).

Oh God, the Agumon puppet looks dead without the puppeteer, that's actually really awful? These puppets are amazing, guys.  I cannot say enough good stuff about the execution with these puppets.

Hmm, Taichi just begged for mercy, and Etemon is unimpressed...  Reminds me of the fandom after Saikai.  I wonder where they'll take this...

HOLY SHIT Taichi is losing his shit!  I won't say that all of that stammering and dodging earlier is accounted for here, since most of the characters did it to some degree, but it's nice to see the payoff within the same piece (instead of waiting months for the next Tri film and forming your own conclusions in that time period).  I'm actually happy to see a screaming breakdown like this...

Man Koushiro speaks SO QUICKLY, dude, slow it down!!!  Ahhh, he says that we're granted whatever we want here, so Etemon is probably trying to trick us by having us hear Jyou.  SOMEONE IS THINKING USING THEIR BRAINSSS I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!!!!

JYOU IS HEREEEE TO SAVE THE DAAAAAAYYY THE NEW DIGI JESUS, JYOUUUUUU!!!  (And while I 100% agree that you should be cautious, Kou-chan, c'mon, he arrived saying that you made his phone go off on the train and it made him feel awkward, that's pretty much proof that it's Jyou, lol!).  OH AND NOW KOU AND YAMS ARE ROASTING JYOU, classic.

Koushiro finally takes a stab directly at the heart of this...  It's not even about being children and avoiding adulthood; it's about not wanting to leave August 1st.  I realize exposition is Kou's job, but I didn't expect him to be the one to lay it out after all of this dodging.  I’ll be honest, I’m so pleased with Koushiro in this stage play so far?  I love how he moves, I love how quickly he speaks, I love that he’s able to come out and say this.  I wasn’t into the way the play used him spouting off numbers to indicate intelligence, but that’s a nitpick compared to the ground they gave Koushiro here.  

JYOU.  JYOU.  EVEN IF YOU DON'T BELIEVE IN YOURSELF, KOUSHIRO, I BELIEVE IN YOU.  He continues to be THE BEST, I am in awe, I bow before Jyou.

OH MAN is Jyou gonna work his awkward magic on Yams?  Where's my freakin' popcorn.  Oh, well, hell.  Yama said he... doesn't wanna talk.  *rubs forehead*  Great. Entertaining.  THIS IS FUN I AM HAVING FUN *curls up and cries*

Okay so now Taichi is freaking out and Koushiro is trying to talk to him (roughly 70% of this stage play is someone trying and failing to talk to someone else).  But I really like what Taichi says here- "I have nothing to hesitate about." We all know this isn't true; Taichi is hesitating all over the place right now.  Let's see where this goes!  (Please let it go somewhere this time, lord above).  WAIT- WAIT-  ARE YOU SHOWING ME KOUSHIRO POINTING FINGERS AT TAICHI'S BULLSHIT AND SAYING "I'VE BEEN BY YOUR SIDE FOR SIX YEARS!!" AND THEN CUTTING AWAY?!?!??!?!?!?!?  RAAAAAAAHHHH is this an aneurysm?  I think this is what an aneurysm feels like.  You can't drop lines that good and then CUT AWAY FROM IT GOOD LORD IN HEAVEN-

Sigh, tsk, groan. Hikari, Teeks.  Whacho got for me?  Whoa, I swear Takeru has been a second away from sobbing ever since Etemon revealed himself.  You... you okay, buddy?  Can I, uh, get you anything?  I love how much Hikari has her shit together in contrast.  Oh, and Takeru is about to say something usefu- ohhh, another cut. God, I have a headache.

Hmm, Sora and Meems are cracking, too...  Sora says, "It was simpler when I was everyone's mom.  It's not like me to decide on someone or something."  I really need to hear Mulan's Reflections in the background right now...

Mimi saying "I want to do SO many things!" is refreshing my soul.  I know she's one of the most shippable Chosen, but honestly, if not for the fact that she has a kid that is clearly biologically hers, I would assume that she's too busy doing EVERYTHING to have a family.  My headache recedes just a touch.

Hmm...  I actually really like what Sulky (Yams) is trying to say here.  "I don't want to be with everyone because I'm Chosen.  I want to be with Gabumon because he's my friend," basically.  Part of me sides with Jyou- dude we all get that, it's not a shameful secret- but another part of me...  Deeply appreciates that Yams can separate his duty as a Chosen from his bond with his digimon.  Gabumon is his best friend, his number one.  It doesn't matter if Gabumon can't fight, if Yamato can never digivolve him again. It doesn't even matter that he's a digimon.  It just matters that they're friends, and that they be together somehow, which may seem a more tenuous position by the day.  ...Now I'm sad.  Well played, stage play.  This moment is wonderful.

...Annnnnnd now Yamato is overacting to hell, and I'm laughing instead of thinking and feeling, was that supposed to happen?  Sigh. I still don't understand why he has to be SO SECRETIVE about it, but I mean...  That's our Yams??? 

And now we're back to Kou and Taichi, and they're pulling at each other's throats, as they will, and honestly this is the only "NOW KISS" moment for me, but where was I-

In all seriousness, I really like that the person to finally, FINALLY get the truth from Taichi is Koushiro.  That's how it often was in Adventure too, yes?  But I almost feel like Taichi's breakdown here is a reflection of what fans said in Saikai.  Taichi in Adventure always took action (although he grew so much during Adventure, I'd argue the version of himself he's referencing now wasn't there by the end of Adventure?). He can't fight in Saikai because he's concerned about hurting people/property/the tenuous relationship between humans and digimon.  He can't take action...  But the ability to see that is an indication of growth, not regression.  Will he understand that here?  

Ok god, Agu-chan is dropping some truth bombs...  And the way he and his puppeteer crawl...  I swear these goddamm puppets will be the death of me.

Agu-chan, can you do me a solid and STAMP THIS ALL OVER EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THESE KIDS PLEASE AND THANK YOU?!

HOLY SHIT IS THAT A METALGRAYMON PUPPET?!  THEY HAD THAT SHIT ALL ALONG AND THEY BRING IT OUT WITH 20 MINUTES LEFT?!  WHAT WOT WOOOOT?!??!  I cannot believe I'm seeing this.  And I love how heavy and cumbersome the huge puppet feels.  Like, I always felt like Metalgreymon would be huge and slow, right?

Etemon, I was done with your shit a LONG time ago...

WAIT he is admitting that he was Metaletemon previously. So... when... exactly did he fall into the Dark Ocean?  Sigh. This is one of those "Let it go, Hidden" things, isn't it.  Uh, wow, I am totally unfamiliar with Kingetemon.  That's... a... thing.  

The use of screens and images in the stage play are really fun!  It must have been awesome to see this show in person O__o;;

OH SHIT, Yamato arrives in a cloud of smoke, that's how you KNOW shit is gonna go down!

OH MY GOD OMEGAMON ONLY GETS A HEAD OH MY GOD I'M DYING (Tony:  "HEY do you know how big that thing's supposed to be?!)

KOUSHIRO IS WEARING THE GOGGLES I'm down.  HIDDEN IS DOWN!  REVIEWER DOWN!!!!

HOLY SHIT JYOU'S "A" ON HIS MOCK TEST WASN'T REAL okay this is also a Good Joke, I applaud. Also I am LOVING sassy Koushiro in this? His way of being sassy is to do it in a way where you're not quite sure if he is trying to be a butt or not, which is 10000000% yes lol (In contrast, Izzy is intentionally awful usually lol).

Annnnd I was right from the start; Jyou is carrying this entire thing, lol.  Oh my god, the delivery on this?!?!??!  AMAZING.

HAHAHAHHAHAHAHA. LAUGHTER.  THEME SONG.  DRAMATIC POSE.  I THINK THIS IS THE END SHOT YOU GUYS.

 Now the actors are coming out to speak!

THIS.  LITTLE.  SHIT. I love him?  I...  I love him. The snark is strong in this one. I... he is so... so beautiful.  I...  I think I might be in love?  (This at least indicates that I wasn’t alone in thinking the computer toss was too much???).

YAMATO’S ACTOR JUST SAID "DON'T SAY GOODBYE," Well played, son.  I like the cut of your jib.

 AHHHHH OKAY OKAY I have no idea how I’m going to analyze this.  My surface thought is that this play features a lot of the emotions and inner thoughts of individual characters that can’t fit into Tri, and that (I personally think) Tri suffers from a lack of.  Because there isn’t really ship bait and maneuvering around a new character and plot, we’re able to see relationships that feel much more familiar to Adventure than we often see in Tri (ie, Taichi worried about Hikari, Koushiro worried about Taichi, etc).  As you noticed, I’m very unhappy with the way the play pushes the payoff back as far as possible, cramming it into an AMAZING twenty minutes or so...  But I loved those twenty minutes.

Also, Koushiro feels waaaay more like Koushiro than he does in Tri, except for Kokuhaku.  As your local insane Koushiro fan girl, I am standing and applauding and screaming and crying.  NO PERVY KOUSHIRO.  NO FASHION DISASTERS.  Just Koushiro being supportive and apt and sweet and trying so hard.  I am refreshed.  I am younger.

And the passion and love and energy that went into us, so visibly in human form...  I can’t describe how wonderful the actors and the puppeteers were.  And even though I kind of hated Etemon, his actor was incredible.

So the stage play has amazing points and really irritating points, but on the whole, it’s my second favorite thing Tri has given us (following Kokuhaku).  I will try to write about it more smart-like soon!  If you got this far...  I’m in awe, lol!  High five, my friend!