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hikaritakaishi · 6 months ago

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Digimon Adventure 02: The Beginning [My Movie Review]

♡ ! SPOILER ALERT! ♡

This review will contain spoilers of the movie, continue reading if you already saw the movie, or just don’t mind the spoiler! Enjoy & comment something if you want to share an opinion! ♡

After what seemed ages of waiting, Digimon Adventure 02: The Beginning finally aired in Portugal, on May 16, 2024, several months after it’s national premiere in Japan, on October 27, 2023. I was worried that it wouldn't come to my country, but perhaps due to the huge acceptance of Digimon Adventure: LAST EVOLUTION KIZUNA, the distributor made the hearts of the DigiDestined from the most hidden corner of Europe warm again and brought us the sequel. Thank you remembering us once again! ♡

I really tried to keep my expectations as neutral as possible until the day I went to see the movie, which was pretty difficult, due to the fact that I was constantly being bombarded with online information about it, whether on Tumblr or Twitter, or through video recommendations on Youtube. I was so excited for the movie, that I had to control myself immensely not to go see the spoilers.

Initial considerations? I like it. In general. But let's go in parts!

This will be an analysis of what I consider to be the most important points of the movie and what caught my attention the most. A personal analysis, so don't take it too seriously if I don't talk about a certain point or a certain specific topic, I probably just missed that.

Firstly, I would like to comment on the initial dynamics of the movie.

Everything seems to happen much faster here than it did in Kizuna. Despite being two movies with practically the same time span, this one seemed to go by much faster. But it might just be me. [LAST EVOLUTION KIZUNA have 94 minutes, and The Beginning have 87 minutes total].

We're introduced to the key plot problem pretty quickly too.

People's digital devices are glitching, and the same message is repeating itself on all of them, not just on the phones and televisions, but on computers and large digital screens in cities all around the world. And this all around the world is very important, because it not only brings us closer to what will be the future of humanity and it’s increasing contact with the Digimon and the Digital World, but it opens the path we take since 2012 [time of the movie] until to the epilogue of 02 (which the production team and Toei animation seem to insist on wanting to keep canon, despite all the script inconsistencies it can cause, or how different from the initial profile of each character it may be).

“May everyone have friends, may everyone have a partner Digimon”

It's the message. Meanwhile, we are told that a suspicious and unknown Digitama appeared in the sky of Tokyo, right above the Tokyo Tower, and it’s been there for a while. Taichi and Koushiro are showned to be trying to help resolve this issue as professionals in the field of diplomacy and technology respectively, but without major progress.

I think it's important to highlight that they are the only two characters from the first season of Adventure who appear in this movie, and even so, without any direct speech or great relevance, beyond contextualization, and later Taichi as well again for the context of “space- time”, in that frame we see in the trailer of the movie with Hikari, which we later discover is located in Hikarigaoka, where Rui also lived when he had his first contact with Ukkomon.

The focus is on the characters from 02, or at least, it should have been. But as in Digimon Adventure Tri, this focus is overshadowed by the introduction of another new character in the story: Rui Owhada [or Lui, in Japanese pronunciation].

Rui [or Lui] is a much more charismatic character than Meiko was in Digimon Adventure Tri. There is no doubt about that.

Meiko was a somewhat empty character. A static character without great charisma. The only pleasant scenes she had were driven by the other characters around her (namely Mimi).

Rui doesn't. Rui is a character on his own. With a much more aggressive personality and a much more interesting past. The only issue here is the length of the movie: This movie is too short; too short for us to get attached to this character and actually be able feel empathy for everything we are shown about him. So short, that it's difficult to develop both this new character and the others around him, which, by the way, is a shame.

I mostly went to see the movie in hopes to see more from the 02 cast, and not because, again, of a random character they created for this new script. Just like what happened in Tri.

And this is important because notice that one of the most complex and best-built characters in the Adventure universe is literally the character with the most screen time: Takeru.

Analyzing Takeru's character as a whole is extremely time-consuming, because he was in every season, and practically involved in all the main events of the plot, either by himself or through the relationships he establishes throughout the plot, which feed the character's emotional charge. Which makes him a very complex character.

There's no time for that here. There is no time to establish a relationship between Rui and the other characters, nor to establish a relationship between Rui… and the audience.

Rui's childhood is very shocking and once again, Digimon brings a very strong narrative based on a complex and deep family plot.

We had already had examples in Adventure of family issues with Takeru and Yamato, Koushiro, and in 02 with Iori and also Ken. To a certain extent, even with Miyako. But here we reach a higher level of complexity... and violence (remember that the age to see the movie is over 12 years old. I can totally understand why).

Rui is physically abused and neglected by his mother, who leaves him out in the cold, starving when he makes a childish mistake or does something she doesn't like... when he is only four years old. His father has a very serious illness and depends on his wife to survive. Rui is then shown as a sorrowful child, lonely and without any support network. We've never had anything in the Digimon Adventure series so… raw. The aura of the movie is deeply heavy and dark.

The evolutions and battles in this movie are far from being the focus, which probably frustrated many people who went to see the movie for this more dynamic side of the anime.

It is a film with a moral content and even touches on the philosophical, about the bonds we create with others and their nature, about how we should relate to others and learn about them every day we have them in our lives.

It's about healthy communication, and how it's okay to correct the people around us, as long as it's made based with pure intentions. Because love is not omissive. Love corrects, love draws the other's attention for what really matters, in the form of love. In the form of companionship. Nothing physical or superficial is worth the price of a real bond.

The movie really grew with it’s audience. It is not, at all, a movie targeted for new fans of the franchise, or for those who know little about the Adventure series universe. It's for those who know the characters, for those who grew up with them. If you don't know the characters, you will miss details and conversations that are important to really understand the plot as a whole.

Daisuke and Ken look on Rui’s past with him. They see the arrival of Ukkomon in his life, who should’ve bring peace and comfort, but it is only the beginning of all his problems.

Let's take a break from the movie's plot to talk about the characters of 02.

I'm going to divide them into groups, because it seems like they individually… don't have much progress or very memorable scenes, honestly. It doesn't even make sense to separate them, in my opinion, and you'll understand why.

♡ Daisuke & Iori

There is not much to talk about them here. Daisuke and Iori are the flattest characters in the movie. Iori much more than Daisuke, let's be honest. Iori barely speaks, and has very few relevant scenes.

Daisuke works at a ramen restaurant, as he always wanted, where he gathers his friends to talk about the problems they are facing right at the beginning of the movie.

His personality is practically the same, Daisuke from 02 is the same Daisuke from The Beginning, and even the same character as in Kizuna, he is just taller here and wears different clothes. He still aspires to have his own ramen business and is extremely focused on his career goals. Which was predictable, given the way he talks about his dream in 02.

Daisuke's only two relevant scenes are seconds long: the first when he convinces Rui that the bond of friendship he and his Digimon partner share is much more than something superficial; it's something that comes from the heart, and that no object makes a difference between them, namely the Digivice, (something we also expected to hear from Daisuke in 02, which justifies my opinion that in the meantime... he remains the same).

The other is a scene that had enormous potential, but is cut short by a comical moment in which Miyako pops up.

Daisuke is talking to Ken seriously about Rui, and how he and his Digimon could understand each other better if they just communicate more effectively and directly, and Ken comments that Daisuke's more serious side is very pleasant and rarely appears. However, Miyako speaks up and dismisses the subject. Sadly.

We could have had a conversation here that could tell us more about Daisuke’s presente self and way he sees life now.

*sigh* Anyway.

Iori, again, doesn't speak much. Seems to only have intermediary interventions, and serves as a “pair” for Daisuke and Rui in the snowball fight that we see at the end of the movie. A very beautiful scene, don't get me wrong, but only if we see it from the perspective of Ken and Miyako, and Hikari and Takeru. I'll talk about that now.

♡ Ken & Miyako

Ken and Miyako are two characters who seem to grow more together than apart within the movie's plot. Which is natural, given that we know at the end of 02 that they become in fact a couple, and that they build a family together in the future. Here we see the first steps towards their future as a couple.

As expected, nothing explicit or direct is given to us about the nature of their relationship, but we can understand that there is progress, especially by the end of the movie, before the snowball fight, when Miyako tells Ken something that seems extremely vague, but actually means something.

“Let's do it together! " What? I don't think they are aware yet. Ken also seemed very confused about it.

“ Keep thinking Ken, we have to find another solution. “ We also see Miyako trying to support Ken at that moment when they have to make a decision about the future of Ukkomon and the world.

Here comes what I said above: Love cannot be omissive. We cannot expect the least from those we love. If we know the potential of the person we have by our side, we have to support them. If we see that they are trying to go further, we must support their journey and be a source of advice and rest. Alone we can go faster, but with the right company we can certainly go further.

And I think this is where the movie touches on something really important.

It is in these small moments that we see that they really want to tell the audience something beyond, but we need to have a fine power of perception.

No conversation or comment is random, everything contributes to the story. Digimon Adventure has always been made up of metaphors and subjectivities, it is necessary to know how to interpret and be attentive.

In the midst of that dilemma of whether or not to defeat Ukkomon that we talked about a moment ago in relation to Ken and Miyako, we have another moment that I consider important between Takeru and Hikari, which for those who don't know the characters, can take it as a normal conversation of two people who know each other well. Too well, even.

♡ Takeru & Hikari

Keeping in mind their journey, and everything they went through together, is the key to understand the nature of the relationship they share now. But before that:

Much like Ken and Miyako, Takeru and Hikari do not exist separately in the plot. It's ridiculously difficult to separate them. If you talk about one, you have to talk about the other.

At the beginning we see them together in the city when the electronic devices break down, and this dynamic continues throughout the entire movie.

They practically always walk side by side, Hikari takes the front seat in Takeru's car, and even when they are talking to Rui and trying to understand what happened to him in his past, they were a nucleus apart from the others. Nothing new, really. More of the same. But it's in that conversation I spoke about earlier that we understand something that is even part of the main moral of the movie: the way they now communicate with each other now, is different.

Anyone who has followed Takeru and Hikari throughout the series knows that the main “problem” in their relationship has always been direct communication.

Exposing things to others as they are is scary. And none of them were good at doing that.

Deliberating about feelings, exposing what disturbs us, what distresses us, what we think of a certain attitude of the other person. That was always Takeru and Hikari's problem and what hindered the possible evolution of their friendship, into a real love relationship.

In Tri we discover that Hikari starts to look at Takeru differently. And we know that Takeru has concrete feelings for Hikari (Said by the actor who plays Takeru's voice) And then? It's done? Things… are much more complicated than that.

They first need to accept the situation in question (And I tell you this as someone who also developed a romantic relationship with a childhood friend. It's not easy. Trust me. It's far from easy!)

And far from being quick.

It requires a lot of deliberation mostly. Just accepting the fact that we see that person we grew up with differently, someone who has always been part of our life, and we can lose them. Just because we developed feelings. Is scary. There's a lot to lose. It's all or nothing. Especially when one side has trauma associated with romantic relationships. (remembering that Takeru's parents are divorced) it's even worse.

What seems to exist between them in The Beginning was the result of a long process. But effective, it seems to me. Whatever decision they made, it went… pretty well.

Takeru is completely against defeating Ukkomon, from the moment he realizes that this could also imply the disappearance of his Digimon partner.

He probably saw the suffering Taichi and Yamato went through when Agumon and Gabumon disappeared and the suffering he would go through if he lose Patamon... again. And he is extremely vocal and firm in what he says and what he thinks about all of that. Impulsive really.

Until Hikari intervenes. Which cuts through his catastrophic reasoning. She asks him to think, opening up a new perspective on the situation.

Here we have a conversation between them that is quite lengthy (compared to the fast action standard of the rest of the movie) in which Hikari tries her best to make Takeru use reason and not emotion in his deliberation on the situation.

Takeru who, remember, whenever “darkness” or “sacrifice” is mentioned, leaves his rationality aside, becomes blind with pain because of his past traumas.

Hikari's role here is almost the same as Miyako’s in Ken's case: calling to earth and calming Takeru, always in an understanding way, because you can see that she knows where that feeling comes from and that position initially adopted by him (and it is something which she can almost predict would happen, by the speed with which she responds) but she knows that he is better than those triggers that make him impulsively speak based on emotion and neglect reason.

It's about getting to know each other. Knowing how to talk to our person about the most difficult topics. Because it is necessary to strengthen your union. Predict reactions, and be there to calm them down, because you may even know that the person is not to blame for the feelings and traumas they carry, but believe that they are bigger than them. And expect the same from the other side.

The way Miyako knew that Ken could find a solution, he just needed to think a little more. Hikari understood perfectly where Takeru's impulsive reaction came from, but she knew that if she appeal to his racional side he would be able to think of a better alternative to the problem, which he thought would be the end of the world.

That's why I separated this analysis into groups (although the first one isn't... substantial) and decided to analyze the characters together, because that's what this movie is about.

It's about who you are with your people, and the bond you share with them. In a world so individualized, so selfish and so distant (largely because of technology, which distances us from each other), I found it a very necessary message.

And the role of adults? With children and more painful lives?

It is to understand that children are also humans. Who also think, and feel, and understand things. Just like them. Adults tend to forget that they were once children themselves.

We already saw this topic being developed in Adventure 02, but seeing Rui as an adult, reaching to his mother in the past, and drawing her attention to the fact that she neglects her son, is something very touching. Sometimes, we just need a wake-up call, and we can change the future. Ours, and our future with others.

The DigiDestined of 02 encouraged Rui not to give up on someone he loved, Ukkomon, because after all, he only acted the way he acted because he thought it would make Rui happier, even though he failed. Several times.

Ukkomon basically gave Rui everything he thought he needed, everything he wanted. But this is not always ideal.

He acted with his partner's happiness in mind, and this blinded him to the risks he was putting him into. He idealized their entire relationship, and everyone's relationship with him. Instead of being, real. And real things are never perfect.

Rui wanted friends? He gave him friends. He even reprogrammed his parents. They became manufactured humans. And the movie is about reality and accepting it as imperfect as it is.

Do you know what that reminded me of? That whole fantasy created by Ukkomon of “perfect world where Rui is never sad and everything is wonderful?” The fantasies in which the characters from 02 cast were trapped in at the end of the series. That world created with the characters’ deepest desires.

Takeru wanted his family united. Iori wanted his father back and to be able to show him the Digital Word. Miyako wanted attention. Ken… wanted to redeem himself. Hikari wanted peace. It's exactly the same thing.

Think about it with me: For example, Takeru's parents could’ve stay together, they could never have divorced, but they would still have problems. They would argue, and there would be conflicts. Which doesn't mean that this wouldn't traumatize their children even more. Maybe the divorce was in fact the best option for all four of them.

Ken felt he deserved the same suffering he inflicted on others. Would that really be the answer to appease his soul?

But none of it was real.

Not even Hikari's utopia of a world constantly at peace is real. Not even the absence of siblings in Miyako's life would solve anything. Things are not black and white and really, what we want is not always what we need.

Rui just needed to talk to Ukkomon and be sincere.

Where is Mimi tho?!

I will end with a few quick notes that I think are worth highlighting: First, the music and animation in general. As expected, they are excellent.

Very well done visually, appealing scenes, and the last snowball fight scene is so simple… but so delightful.

Life is made up of beautiful moments as well as tragic moments, light and darkness.

Did you notice that part of the movie takes place in a much dark environment, and when the main action is resolved, the movie gains light? I believe that is not just because!

Visually it can be very strong because there is blood, there is violence, there are physical wounds, it conveys the affliction in a very literal way.

Another thing that was expected to happen, but that probably wasn't even thought of properly when the Epilogue of 02 was made, was the problematic of whether or not everyone deserves, has enough morals and ethics, to have a Digimon partner.

How do you maintain peace between humans when you give them free access to machines of war and mass destruction? How do we build the world we see bz the end of 02 where everyone lives in peace even under these circumstances? Which is the the role of the government?

We'll probably need one more movie to find out.

Honestly, I hope you enjoyed this short (not... that short in fact) and sincere review. If I were to give stars, I would give the film 4/5 stars.

It could’ve been better, sure, if there was at least another half hour of animation.

But I don't complain. Despite that, I liked it. I cried, I laughed, just like I cried and laughed when I saw Digimon in my childhood, and that's everything for me. I was surprised by the message of the movie and the way they chose to visually convey it to us. Either way, I hope there's one more movie. To finally conclude the arc of all these characters, and finally, reach the epilogue of 02 (but in a dignified way please).

♡ Thank you once again Digimon ♡

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maruhi · 4 months ago

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光丘神社　Hikarigaoka Shirne

#japan #yamagata #sakatacity #shrine #torii

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seventeenlovesthree · 9 months ago

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@digimonadventureweek Day 6, March 6th - Favourite episode: #31 - "Raremon! Surprise Attack on Tokyo Bay"

I have once made a list of my "Top 16 favourite Digimon Adventure episodes" and no matter what I do, I always come back to this one. Not only is this one of the episodes my dad had recorded for me when I was a kid because I couldn't watch it when it first aired on TV, but it also basically contains everything that I love about Digimon Adventure as a whole. It also justifies a lot of my biases and headcanons in the process, but that's just a side note.

This is the closest we've ever gotten to a "slice of life" anime that includes the original cast, as it contains several of its typical elements while focusing on and mirroring primarily Taichi's and Koushirou's experiences on their first evening back home in the real world. I could have taken approximately 100 screenshots of it, because the storytelling and pacing are just so marvelous to me:

Even though it definitely IS a slice-of-life-ish episode, it doesn't lose the main plot at all, but intertwines it perfectly into the story: The kids are looking for the eighth child and Taichi, rightfully, suspects Hikari, since she had been with him during the Hikarigaoka incident. Thus he and Koromon ask her if she owns a Digivice already, which she denies. The viewer can tell that she does own one, it was just stolen and played with by their housecat Meeko/Miko - and she is the reason we're gonna get an action-packed chase scene later down the line of the episode...

Then there's the secondary plot - I refuse to call it B plot, because it is so in the forefront of everything that happens. As mentioned, it's all about Taichi and Koushirou reuniting with their families and trying their best to hide their Digimon from them. They're both having rather warm, heartfelt and happy moments that feel light-hearted (and even a bit comedic) on surface level. The difference here is that Koushirou's personal backstory is also given more space to bloom; while both Taichi's mother, Yuuko, and Koushirou's mother, Kae, sense that something about their sons is off, the latter seems to be ridden by melancholy and guilt about it. Koushirou has been acting nothing but polite and grateful towards her, but she feels like this is not how he should be like, that he is hiding something - which, as her husband, Masami, puts it, "is nothing we can blame him for, since we're hiding something from him as well".

It's the first time the viewer actually hears that Koushirou was adopted - we have seen him having flashbacks and getting somewhat distraught and sad about something, but we didn't know what it was. One can tell that he means it when he tells his mother that he's grateful - we see it when he keeps smiling happily to Tentomon about everything -, but there is that barrier. He IS hiding something from them - and we know it's not just Tentomon, even if that is perfectly mirrored with Taichi hiding Koromon as well -, but she cannot grasp what it is. And he is burdening himself with it, everything: Caring for and hiding his partner, sneaking out of his room to deal with a rampaging Digimon in the middle of the night while (potentially) chasing the eighth child around town - on his own, because the others are already fast asleep -, having a one-on-one fight with an evil Digimon and almost gets impaled, while also trying to reassure his parents that everything is alright. A lot to bear for a 10-year-old, huh...

And why was he prompted to act in the first place? Not only because he was notified of Raremon being a threat, but also because the Yagami cat went on a stroll with the eighth child's Digivice and lost it several times over.

This episode simply has it all: It has a sense of happiness and peacefulness, it has comedic elements, it has a suspenseful fight and chase scene; the main plot and character development are perfectly intertwined and even though there is so much going on, it doesn't feel rushed, bloated or like anything shouldn't be there. The characters are pretty unreliable narrators while the viewer can see everything that happens - nothing gets resolved in this episode, it consists of a repeated "Almost!", but that is fine, because it contextualizes everything that will happen from now on.

It also tells us so much about the Yagami and Izumi family dynamics, including the fact that the mothers are very familiar with the fact that their sons are close friends who call each other at very odd times...

The adoption topic is rather heavy, not downplayed and presented in a light that makes you hope that all of this will eventually resolve.

It's just very dear to my heart and I would absolutely love a whole anime that deals with all of the kids and their backstories similarly, giving them all temporary main-character status.

#daweek2024 #digimonadventureweek #digimon #digimon adventure #koushiro izumi #koushirou izumi #izzy izumi #meta #my two cents #taichi yagami

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tobiasdrake · 17 days ago

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Digimon Adventure 01x53 - The Final Dark Digimon / Now Apocalymon

Previously on Digimon Adventure: Piemon put a lot of effort into collecting Digimon Adventure memorabilia but then Takeru mugged him and stole all of his shit.

Now the Chosen Children have been faced with a startling revelation: The Dark Masters were a symptom, not the cause. Who is the true enemy that they must face?

We open on the consumption of Spiral Mountain. What can only be described as the distortions of the Digital World finally made manifest and visible bleeds out over the wireframe of what had been Spiral Mountain, covering it all. At the top, the platform that had been the Dark Masters' home disintegrates into pixels.

The Chosen Children were up there so, y'know, they're fucked. They plunge together into the eldritch void where reality breaks. Their Digimon, still in their Perfect and Ultimate forms, fly in after them.

Garudamon: SORA!!! MetalGarurumon: YAMATO!!! AtlurKabuterimon: KOUSHIRO!!! Angewomon: HIKARI!!! Zudomon: JOU!!!

Nobody calls out for Taichi, Mimi, or Takeru. Rude.

One by one, the Children arrive at a space in the void where gravity stops pulling on them. They float, adrift in this space beyond reality.

In the dub, Tai narrates a bit for us.

Tai: Spiral Mountain is disintegrating! WATCH OUT!!! (The platform they're standing on disintegrates and the kids fall into the void) WarGreymon: TAI!!! Garudamon: SORA!!! MetalGarurumon: MATT!!! Lilimon: MIMI!!!

Tai yelling "Watch out!" as if the entire landmass you're standing on vaporizing as reality shatters around you is something you can dodge. XD He'd try, though. We all know he'd try.

They change up which Partners call out for their kid. Sora and Yamato/Matt get call-outs in both versions while both versions snub Takeru/T.K. That boy defeated Piemon and still gets no respect.

Together, the kids and their Partner Digimon come to realize their descent has ceased.

Jou: (relieved) We stopped.... WarGreymon: Taichi! Are you safe!? Taichi: Yeah.... Koushiro: What is this place?

As if on cue, Koushiro's laptop beeps to alert him to an incoming message. Not an email this time; Gennai transmits a live call, though the connection is fuzzy and starts breaking up immediately.

Gennai: This darkness probably goes on forever. Koushiro: Gennai-san! Taichi: Hey! What the hell is going on here!? Yamato: We already defeated the Dark Masters! Gennai: But the root cause of all this evil hasn't been defeated yet. Children: EHHHH!?!? Gennai: The source of darkness came from the Wall of Fire. Jou: Wall of Fire? Gennai: There was an inscription in the Ancient Dino Region. The inscription said this: Long ago in ancient times, something emerged from beyond the Wall of Fire. Just by existing, this creature warped the fabric of space-time, bringing the world to the brink of collapse. Gennai: The Digimon could not defeat it with their own power, so they called on Chosen Children from the real world to help them eradicate it. Taichi: Huh!? But that means.... Jou: There were Chosen Children before us! Sora: Then we were also called because something came through the Wall of Fire again! And that's the real enemy!

Well, that's an infodump and a half. This is what Gennai and Centarumon were talking about last episode. Something came through the Wall of Fire long ago and had to be defeated, and now it's back for more.

The revelation that there was another set of Chosen Children before the Hikarigaoka Eight raises all kinds of questions and it's unfortunate that Homeostasis is not around to answer them.

(Though it also kind of makes sense, since it hasn't been explained why Parrotmon and Hikari's Koromon "fell through a breach in reality", as Homeostasis explained. That was probably the first time the Wall of Fire creature was tearing down the fabric of reality. So Homeostasis summoned one set of Children then and there to face that one, then started preparing for the Hikarigaoka Eight to face it when it returned.)

Note: The five Chosen Children we see in the flashback here are... uh... not canon. Which is to say, what we're seeing here are silhouettes of Taichi, Takeru, Sora, Koushiro, and Yamato, along with their specific five Partner Digimon.

02 and Tri would later flesh out the Original Five more, including their own distinct set of Partner Digimon. But for the original anime, they reused five of the existing kids because the specifics of the Original Five don't really matter much to this story.

What I do find interesting, however, is that the O5 were summoned directly to Primary Village and received their Partners from some Digitama that happened to be lying around. It makes the O-5's summoning seem a bit more rushed than the careful processing of Partners, Digivices, and Crests in a lab that Homeostasis was trying to do for the H-8.

In the dub:

WarGreymon: Tai, are you alright!? Tai: Y-Yeah... Izzy: Uh, this may be a stupid question but how come we're not still falling? ...huh!?

As usual, details buried in sound effects get lost. There is no beeping sound to alert Izzy to Gennai's transmission; He suddenly has a psychic premonition and breaks out his laptop.

Gennai: Greetings. I hope nobody needed a barf bag on the way down. Izzy: It's Gennai! Tai: So you're the one who brought us down here! Matt: What do you want!? We already beat the Dark Masters. Gennai: It's true that the evil of the Dark Masters was destroyed, but the source that created that evil still exists. Children: HUH!?!? Gennai: And that source came from the Wall of Fire. Joe: What's that? Gennai: When I was searching through the Dino Ruins, I came across an ancient inscription. It told of a time long ago when a strange being appeared from behind the Wall of Fire and it was angry. You would be too if you lived with that kind of humidity. Gennai: The mere existence of this being caused a warp in space, and time was thrown completely out of whack. It threatened the collapse of the Digital World and, even worse than that, my new wristwatch stopped working. Gennai: The Digimon knew they didn't have the strength to defeat this being, so the original DigiDestined children were summoned from the real world and together they defeated the evil. Tai: What!? Then you mean...? Joe: That there were other kids just like us before we came along? Sora: And we were summoned because something else came out from behind that Wall of Fire, didn't it? Huh. And that's the real enemy.

Tai and Matt are so hostile to Gennai. XD Taichi and Yamato are frustrated too, but Tai outright accuses Gennai of kidnapping them into the darkness. Y'know, 'cause homebody Gennai who was too lazy to visit File Island in person despite having a wearable mech suit definitely conjured up the power to consume Spiral Mountain in darkness himself.

Speaking of which, I love how Gennai takes credit for all of Centarumon's research. "When I was searching through the ruins" no you weren't, you managerial shit. XD That he pronounces it "Deeno Ruins" is the icing on the cake. He doesn't even know the name of the place he's claiming to have personally done archaeology at. Management!

The dub again suggests that the creature from beyond the Wall of Fire created the Dark Masters, rather than them empowering themselves from its effects on the world. It also suggests that the thing that came through the Wall of Fire this time is something distinctly separate from the one that came through before.

I see where they're coming from. "Something came through the Wall of Fire again" could mean that the thing from beyond the Wall of Fire has returned or it could mean that a new thing has emerged. But I'm fairly certain we're meant to take both instances as the same creature. I think there's only one of him.

From here, Gennai continues.

Gennai: There was also a prophecy written in the inscription at the Ancient Dino Region. It said that, in time, a great darkness would once again emerge into this world from beyond the Wall of Fire. Yamato: A great darkness....

The children look around at the void of darkness they're in.

Jou: You mean this darkness? Taichi: Are you saying this darkness itself is our true enemy? Gennai: In a sense, I suppose. But I'm sure it has a body too. Fight with all your hearts, children!

The transmission goes fuzzy and Gennai fades away. Good luck! Gennai out!

Taichi: Wait! Don't go yet! (Transmission ends) Taichi: (angry) We're just grasping at clouds! How do we fight something we don't even understand!?

"Grasping a cloud" is a Japanese idiom about trying to do something that's flagrantly impossible.

Jou: (worried) What did he mean by that? Is it different from the enemy Digimon we've been fighting!? Koushiro: I think it means our enemy's fundamental nature is different. Yamato: We'll still win this. Because, back in the day, kids just like us defeated this same Digimon! Sora: You're right. There has to be a way.

Even Taichi seems shaken by the prospect of fighting this thing. But, at Yamato's words, Taichi nods and the rest of the team steels themselves for the battle to come.

In the dub:

Gennai: That's correct. But, unfortunately, that's just the good news. The bad news is, it also told of a great darkness that would blanket the entire Digital World. Matt: A great darkness... Huh.... Joe: Don't look now, but it's pretty dark. Tai: So is this the enemy? Gennai: In a way, yes. But I believe he has a form as well. He's, uhhh... (Static) Gennai: UH-OH, I'M OUT OF QUARTERS, GOTTA GO!!! Tai: WAIT!!! GENNAI, COME BACK!!!

Reliable as ever. XD The dub's handling of Gennai's disconnection is beautiful. Useless jiji strikes again. They put their first commercial break right here on this punchline and we return to Gennai disconnecting, take two.

Gennai: Next time I'll use a phone card, I promise! SEE YA!!! Tai: (despondent) GEEEEENNAAAAAAAAAAI!!! Oh great, how does he expect us to fight this thing if we don't even know what we're looking for!? Joe: Just my luck. The second I start enjoying my vacation, another monster tries to destroy the world. Izzy: Sorry, guys, but something tells me this isn't going to be like any other Digimon we've ever run into. Matt: Yeah? So what? The first DigiDestined kids were able to defeat something like this. Well then, so will we. Sora: Matt's right! We'll just have to find a way to do it.

"Something tells me". Was it Gennai's infodump, Izzy? Was that what told you?

Here we see the confusion over how many Wall of Fire creatures there are again. This one's less understandable. Yamato calls it, in no uncertain terms, 同じデジモン onaji Dejimon. "The same Digimon". Not another one; It is the same. Matt's description gets more wishy-washy, calling the O-5's enemy "something like this".

Suddenly, the children hear a strange groaning coming from every direction at once.

Hikari: (freaked) Whose voice is that...? Mimi: (whispers) It's creepy.... Angewomon: I can hear it coming from everywhere! Taichi: It's... It's saying something! Voice: That's right. Are our regrets to go unanswered? Sora: Regrets? Jou: Who's there!?

A giant dodecahedron appears to answer Jou's question.

Koushiro: Is this the Digimon that came through the Wall of Fire?

Yes. And no. This is about to get complicated.

As important sound effects go, the dub lands this one. They remember to include the groaning, though the kids aren't nearly as bugged by it.

Kari: What's that noise? Mimi: Sounds like a moose! Angewomon: Sounds to me like it's coming from every direction! Tai: Me too! But what does it mean!? Voice: I know who you are! You don't have the power to eliminate my sadness! Sora: Huh? Joe: Who's there!? (Dodecahedron appears) Izzy: I'll bet this has something to do with that Digimon Gennai was talking about! Tai: Either that or it's a giant cube puzzle!

I'm guessing it's a d12. The Wall of Fire creature is going to be our DM in a giant game of Dungeons and Dramons. Joke's on him, we have WarGreymon.

Already we're beginning to see the tonal difference between versions of this creature but more on that later. For now, the dodecahedron unfurls.

Aside from the top and bottom faces, all ten of the dodecahedron's other faces unfurl into podiums which release colossal metal claws. The bottom face unfurls into a spike, while the top unfurls into a podium with no claw. Instead, a cloaked figure emerges from there, revealing itself to be a humanoid creature organically connected to the rest of the structure - with blue and red pipes pumping into its gut and another black pipe pumping into its back.

Its chains are made from strands of DNA. So that gives an early hint as to where this is going.

Yamato: (stunned) What is that thing...?

The narrator chimes in to answer Yamato's question 'cause it's time for the rundown. That... is not any Digimon we've ever seen before.

Apocalymon is a Digimon in the sense that it began being included in V-Pets and Digimon games and stuff following the debut of this episode. Because of course it did.

But it's one of the few creatures in the franchise to exist beyond the Ultimate stage. As previously discussed, it didn't hatch out of a Digitama and grow up but instead entered the Digital World fully-formed from an unknown space beyond reality through an impassible barrier. Consequently, it doesn't have any evolutionary path to it. It's not from here.

Games it appears in usually give it things like "Jogress Piemon, Mugendramon, Pinocchimon, and MetalSeadramon together to create Apocalymon" or something like that. It's just there because it's the guy from the Adventure anime and it would be cool if you could have the guy from the Adventure anime.

It doesn't have a type, it doesn't have an attribute, and its level is listed as "Ultimate" purely for lack of a word to describe it.

Narrator: A mysterious Digimon whose true nature is shrouded in darkness. No, it can't even be determined if this creature is a Digimon. It can reduce all things to nothingness with its Darkness Zone.

It is to Digimon what Gozer the Gozerian is to ghosts. Even the narrator doesn't fucking know what this is, initially calling it a Digimon and then catching himself and backpedaling.

(Though an interesting detail about Apocalymon is that it has features reminiscent of some of the Nightmare Soldiers nonetheless. It's cloak gives Vamdemon vibes. Meanwhile, its coloration and overlong arms ending in sharp red claws are reminiscent of Devimon's arms and that one freakish claw that LadyDevimon has.

So it may be part of the Nightmare Soldiers lineage after all. Or, alternatively, drawing power from the reality distortions created by Apocalymon may have ironically caused Digimon to evolve in ways that resemble it. LadyDevimon in particular certainly doesn't look like that claw is supposed to be there.)

While it has no lines in this part of the original, the dub gives us more of its dub personality. As the camera lingers on the blue and red pipes coming out of its front, it quips:

Apocalymon: I am the ultimate evil, complete with hot and cold running water! Matt: What on Earth is that thing? Apocalymon: (rundown) I am Apocalymon, a mutant Digimon. My Darkness Zone attack transforms my enemy to nothingness. I have the power to turn everything I touch into total darkness.

A lot more verbose. Dub Apocalymon is just, like, a guy. A really evil guy. Completely stepping over the ambiguity of his true nature in the original, he comes right out and explains that he's a mutant Digimon. That's all. Nothing to see here. Just a big bad evil guy we need to punch.

Unfortunately, the final dissolution of reality that dumped the Chosen Children into this void isn't just happening on Spiral Mountain. In the human world, four sets of terrified parents, one single mother, and a brother all watch helplessly as the void appears in their sky.

Yuuko (Taichi's Mom): What... is that...?

Then, in the void, the eight Children appear with their Partners. All of the parents gasp in shock. In an easy to miss move, Yamato and Takeru's mom Natsuko suddenly grabs onto the arm of their dad Hiroaki for support. The other two couples clinging to each other had already been doing that before the kids showed up in the void.

Toshiko (Sora's Mom): (worried) Sora! Mimi's Parents: (worried) Mimi-chan!

In the dub, Apocalymon keeps talking, carrying on from his self-rundown about his Darkness Zone reducing all things to darkness. Which the parents, apparently, can hear?

Apocalymon: Perhaps I will start with Earth. HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Susumu (Tai's Dad): I'd better get a new flashlight. But what about.... Yuuko: The... KIDS...! (The kids appear, as if on cue. Parents gasp.) Toshiko: (worried) Sora! Mimi's Parents: (worried) Our Mimi!

Susumu is having what we would call a himbo moment right now. Yuuko's line read gets messed up from having a line whose partition doesn't line up well with where the lip flaps need the break in the line to go.

Probably should have stuck with the original line for her, which divides very well at that spot in both Japanese and English. You can't go wrong with a half-whispered utterance of terrified uncertainty.

Back in the void, Apocalymon finally speaks directly to the Children.

Apocalymon: Hahahahaha... Do you find me ugly? It's true, isn't it? You all must have been thinking it. After all, we are the ones whose evolutionary course was blocked. Koushiro: The evolutionary process? Apocalymon: Digimon have continued to evolve again and again over the years. Did you know that some of them disappeared? Koushiro: It's inevitable that some species will disappear during the evolutionary process. If they aren't able to adapt to their environment-- Apocalymon: SILENCE!!! Children: (collective gasp) Apocalymon: (furious) "Inevitable". You think that one word can settle this matter!? Yamato: What do you mean by that? Apocalymon: (sarcastic) Does Your Highness deem us unworthy to survive? Koushiro: (backtracking) No, I wouldn't-- Apocalymon: Yes, we are the accumulated sorrow, bitterness, and regret from all those Digimon who vanished during the evolutionary process! Sora: You're the collection of all the dark hearts from the DIgimon who disappeared?

Some interesting linguistic notes. While they do use a couple of singular first-person pronouns, Apocalymon predominately refers to themselves by the plural first-person pronoun 我々 wareware. This is due to the true nature they reveal in this conversation: They are a gestalt entity formed of many beings.

They're also surprisingly emotional. They get suddenly triggered by Koushiro's use of the phrase 仕方がない Shikataganai, which means... It can't be helped. It's inevitable. This is just the way it is. Nothing we can do about it.

Poor socially awkward Koushiro was just answering the question academically without realizing he was verbally slapping Apocalymon right in their goddamn gestalt face.

Which is why Apocalymon responds aggressively with the second-person pronoun 貴様 kisama. This is on paper a very respectful term from samurai days of old used to address one's superior but has had its meaning corrupted through sarcastic and ironic usage. It's the equivalent of saying, "Oh, yes, your highness. Right away, your worshipfulness."

When Apocalymon uses it here, they're being salty and accusing Koushiro of looking down on them. They're, shall we say, a little bit bitter. Just a smidge. You might not have noticed!

In the dub:

Apocalymon: Hahahahahaha! Are you repulsed by my appearance? Don't be afraid to hurt my feelings; They're already hurt! Hahahaha... You see, I was created from all that was lost during the Digivolving process. Izzy: What do you mean by 'lost'? Apocalymon: Digimon have been Digivolving for many years now, over and over again. But there were some who weren't up to the challenge and simply disappeared. Izzy: That makes sense. Even on Earth, some species became extinct during the process of evolution. In fact, the Tasmanian tiger wolf was one of those-- Apocalymon: SILENCE!!! Children: (collective gasp) Apocalymon: Who's the one telling this story, anyway? Me or you? Matt: (snide) Alright, go ahead. Apocalymon: First, I have a question to ask. Do you believe that I am worthy of coexisting with you? Izzy: Uhh, well... Yeah, sure! Apocalymon: Oh, really? Even though I was forged from the pain and misery of all the ill-fated Digimon who vanished while attempting to Digivolve? Sora: You're entirely made up of grief and sorrow? How sad for you. Apocalymon: Sure, rub it in.

There's no verbal misstep in this version; Apocalymon just cuts Izzy off before he can start infodumping.

He also sticks with first-person singular pronouns here. In general, he's much more composed than his Japanese counterpart. Rather than throwing out bitter accusations, he randomly asks, "Am I worthy to exist?" That Izzy struggles to answer the question reflects poorly on him, but we already know he's a dick.

The language here is a bit... confusing.

The language is already a bit confusing because Apocalymon seems to be talking about species lost to the evolutionary process, not Digimon randomly dying during a level-to-level evolution. At least, that's the impression I get. They and Koushiro reference 進化の過程 shinka no katei, the evolutionary process, rather than saying that Digimon suddenly drop dead during 進化 shinka.

This makes Izzy's reference to the Tasmanian tiger wolf rather apt. Which, by the way, is also known as the thylacine, and is colloquially known as the Tasmanian tiger or the Tasmanian wolf. So far as I know, nobody calls it a "tiger wolf" but I might be wrong. Either Izzy's mouthing off again or he's actually got the better of me on this one.

The dub's been swapping out "evolve" for "Digivolve" for so long that they forge right ahead here and say "Digivolving process", the unique fantasy mechanism by which Greymon becomes MetalGreymon.

So while there's some uncertainty as to what they're talking about in the original, the dub clearly asserts that sometimes Digimon spontaneously drop dead while Digivolving. Those individuals' resentment, rather than the resentment of entire species lost to history, is what makes up Apocalymon.

Which... might also be how it's meant to be taken in the original too. It's a little confusing. To my knowledge, individual Digimon spontaneously ceasing to exist during an evolution isn't a thing that can happen but... IDK.

Now that their identity is explained, Apocalymon continues.

Apocalymon: The Chosen Children and their Digimon... We've been looking forward to meeting all of you. WarGreymon: (quietly) What...? MetalGarurumon: What do you mean by that!? Apocalymon: Listen! While we lay buried in a cold and sorrowful darkness, you were on the other side enjoying yourselves and laughing happily in the warm light. WHY!?!?

Furious, Apocalymon attacks. A burst of electricity fires out from their dodecahedron, which hits all eight children and their Digimon.

Once the shocks have passed, Taichi calls out to the team.

Taichi: Is everyone okay!? Yamato: Yeah, I'm managing. Koushiro: Yes. Sora: We're okay, Taichi.

I'm beginning to get the impression that Apocalymon is not emotionally stable.

An interesting note is that we generally don't get an explanation for why light is good and darkness is bad in media that use those things. It's considered self-evident. But in this speech, Apocalymon actually explains why the forces of darkness are forces of darkness.

Because the forces of darkness are drawing their power from them, Apocalymon, whose component entities are species banished from the light of existence, whose spirits live on only in this void.

In the dub:

Apocalymon: And now, DigiDestined and Digimon, I have been waiting an eternity for this encounter. WarGreymon: What!? MetalGarurumon: What do you mean!? Apocalymon: As I sat alone in the cold, miserable darkness of my world, I watched all of you on the other side laughing and having fun in the light! Well, now it's my turn... TO SHINE!!! (Apocalymon hits them all with a sudden electric burst) Tai: Is everybody okay? Matt: I think so. Izzy: Yeah. Sora: I'm okay, Tai. Apocalymon: Not for long.

Basically the same, but Apocalymon again doesn't sound as aggrieved as his Japanese counterpart, who is basically frothing at the mouth with jealous fury.

Speaking of which, shit's about to get gross.

Apocalymon: WHAT DID WE DO WRONG!?!?

Apocalymon proceeds to self-harm, digging their own claws into their shoulders and wrenching open their flesh. The blood and underlying gore is painted green to reduce the ick factor but. Uh. Ick.

Apocalymon: Why should you get to laugh when we have to cry!? Mimi: (shrieks and covers her eyes) NO!!! I DON'T WANT TO SEE THIS!!! Apocalymon: Even those such as us have tears and emotions!

They suddenly wrench their claws back out of their shoulders.

Apocalymon: WHAT RIGHT DID THEY HAVE TO TAKE AWAY OUR LIVES AND BANISH US FROM THIS WORLD!?!?

I think Mimi's face says it all. Jesus.

This section, which is so gruesome that a 10-year-old in-universe screams "I don't want to see this," gets one big NOPE stamp from Fox Kids.

Apocalymon continues.

Apocalymon: We wanted to live. To survive and talk about friendship, justice, and love!

Apocalymon curls into themself and stabs their claws back into their shoulder wounds, with a spurt of green blood from both sides. Reaction shots of the children show that Sora, too, is averting her gaze from the gruesome sight while Jou, Takeru, and Hikari watch in horror.

Apocalymon: We wanted this body to be useful to the world! Are you saying this world has no need for us? That we're meaningless!?

(Apocalymon is the voice of my entire generation and I was not prepared for that. The kids better do something quick 'cause I'm starting to root for the Failure Amalgam.)

A close-up of Apocalymon's bleeding shoulders (I guess they pulled their claws out again) shows the bloody wounds closing themselves back up and disappearing from their body.

Koushiro: They have the ability to self-regenerate! Apocalymon: We will take control of this world. We'll establish a place for ourselves here. Anything that gets in our way will disappear! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! A CURSE ON EVERY PLACE THE LIGHT TOUCHES!!!

The dub continues scrubbing shots with all this ick in them. They do, however, use one shot of Apocalymon with the visible claw marks in his shoulders. What those are goes unexplained.

Apocalymon: Do you think it's fair that I should have to live with all this agony!? Why should you get to laugh when I am forced to cry?

The reaction shots from the kids, including Sora averting her gaze, are kept in. Though it's not clear what Sora's so freaked out and unwilling to look at.

Apocalymon: Why do you get to taste the best life has to offer while all I do is choke on its leftovers!? Answer me this! WHY DO ALL OF YOU GET THE PIZZA!?!? WHY DO I GET THE CRUST!?!?

Then we finally get Mimi's reaction.

Mimi: (shrieks and covers her eyes) Oh, I can't take all these metaphors!

Before finally rejoining the original scene order with Izzy, who is no longer commenting on the regeneration because all shots of the gore were cut out.

Izzy: Boy, this guy really holds a grudge. Apocalymon: I will rule the world and plunge it into darkness so that I don't have to be alone anymore in my misery! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Wait a minute, what am I laughing at? I'm supposed to be depressed!

It's been the case multiple times throughout the series that the dub is written as if they were doing an Abridged Parody for YouTube, and Apocalymon tops that chart.

"Why do you get the pizza and I get the crust?" is pretty out-there. They are absolutely making fun of the original through this script. Literally a bit that happens between TFS Goku and TFS Frieza.

Nonetheless, "I will plunge the world into darkness so I don't have to be alone in my misery" hits the nail on the head. That is what Apocalymon wants. They aren't trying to build themselves up. They don't want to come out into the light. This isn't an act of hope.

It's despair. They're mad at the other species who outcompeted them evolutionarily, and they want everyone to have to suffer the way they've suffered. They want to punish the world for leaving them behind, rather than to improve their own circumstances by being accepted into it.

If this were a consequence of man-made forces, Apocalymon would be a complicated and sympathetic figure. If Captain Planet started dropping billionaires from skyscrapers to thwart the impending climate apocalypse, I think a lot of us would be okay with that. It'd be a conversation, at the very least.

However, "Should we let Revenge of the Mastodon tear the fabric of reality in half out of spite?" is a bit more cut-and-dry. Dude literally just said he wants to curse everything the light touches. There is no nuance to be had here. I'm sorry your species couldn't handle the Ice Age or whatever but you don't get to take it out on the ones that did.

Once again, worked up into a frenzy, Apocalymon attacks.

Apocalymon: ULTIMATE STREAM!!!

One of Apocalymon's DNA claws morphs into the head of MetalSeadramon, then fires Ultimate Stream from his emitter straight at Hikari.

Taichi: HIKARI!!!

Angewomon throws herself at Hikari, wrapping the girl up in her arms while taking Ultimate Stream straight to the back.

Angewomon: AUGH!!! Hikari: ANGEWOMON!!! Apocalymon: Kindhearted children, that was a sign of our friendship. The next is LOVE!!! BLOODY STREAM!!!

A DNA claw morphs into Vamdemon, swinging his Bloody Stream whip at Mimi. It's Lilimon's turn to block, taking Vamdemon's lash.

Lilimon: MIMI--AHHHHHHH!!! Apocalymon: JUSTICE!!! MUGEN CANNON!!!

Mugendramon's Mugen Cannon is going for Sora. Garudamon claps her hands around Sora and takes that one to the back.

Garudamon: Sora! AUGH!!!

Kinda sexist that you're only shooting at the girls, my composite dude/tte.

In the dub:

Apocalymon: RIVER OF POWER!!! (Apocalymon shoots at Kari) Tai: KARI!!! Kari: AHHHH!!! Angewomon: (takes the hit for her) AUGH!!! Kari: AHHHH ANGEWOMON NO!!! Apocalymon: That was MetalSeadramon with his classic River of Power. And now here's Myotismon with his #1 hit, CRIMSON LIGHTNING!!! (Apocalymon shoots at Mimi) Mimi: AHHHHH!!! Lilimon: (takes the hit for her) AHHHH!!! Apocalymon: Next, Machinedramon! GIGA CANNON!!! (Apocalymon shoots at Sora) Sora: WHAAA!!! Garudamon: SORA!!! (takes the hit for her) AUGH!!!

The only point of note is Dub Apocalymon DJing the attacks he's firing.

So, yeah, that's a hell of a thing. Koushiro assesses what's happening here.

Koushiro: Could it be... Are they able to use all of the techniques from every Digimon up to this point? Jou: Then... isn't this like fighting every single one of those Digimon at once? Sora: So does that mean there's no chance of winning? Taichi: Guys! Don't let them freak you out. Get back in positions! Takeru: We just need to stay together! Hikaru: (nods) Mhm! Yamato: That's right! There's no going back from here.

This Final Fantasy-style final boss fight against a primordial concept that's been secretly powering all the villains we've faced to this point is shaping up to be a hell of a thing. But the children steel themselves for it nonetheless. There's nothing else they can do.

In the dub:

Izzy: Inconceivable! He's using all the attacks of the evil Digimon we've defeated in the past! Joe: You mean we have to fight them all over again? This is the worst recurring nightmare I've ever been awake for! Sora: Hey, we were able to beat them once! Tai: Sora's right! We did beat them! And we can do it again! T.K.: We just have to fight together as a team! Kari: (nods) Mhm! Matt: I agree. We've sacrificed too much to give up now.

Izzy deduces only that Apocalymon has the attacks of the "evil Digimon we defeated", and not every Digimon. In his defense, that is just as valid of a conclusion to draw from the evidence shown.

Joe still freaks out, but the lowered challenge level does seem to make Sora a lot more confident than her Japanese counterpart is about facing this threat.

I appreciate Matt bringing up the sacrifices they've made. The road to this point is paved in corpses, both friend and enemy alike.

Unfortunately, as the children prepare themselves to fight, Apocalymon takes it as an invitation to ramp it up.

Apocalymon: You haven't even seen how terrifying I can truly be. DEATH EVOLUTION!!!

Rare singular pronoun from Apocalymon there.

At once, Apocalymon sends all of their claws forward, snatching each and every one of the Partner Digimon. This goes uneventfully for most, though Lilimon does have to shove Mimi away so she doesn't get caught in the claw too.

Mimi: LILIMON!!!

Once all of the Digimon are in Apocalymon's grasp, they address the crowd once more.

Apocalymon: I'll make you understand how we felt, as we vanished from the evolutionary process.

Within the grip of Apocalymon's claws, the eight Partner Digimon glow brightly. Then their light fades and the claws retract, leaving the eight of them reduced to their base stages.

(Oh, so that's where the power behind Etemon's Love Serenade came from.)

Yamato: No way.... Takeru: Everyone changed back...? Patamon: Takeru, I'm sorry. Takeru: There's nothing to apologize for, Patamon. Hikari: But we can't win like this! Tailmon: Don't give up! Gabumon: It's fine. We can still fight like this! Tentomon: All we have to do is evolve again. Jou: That's right! Evolve again, everyone! Gomamon: We're on it! Palmon: I am a little hungry, though.... Agumon: That's fine. Just get fired up! Gabumon: (to the children) We're counting on all of you!

We have a plan of attack. Having the team's evolutions stripped away sucks, but there's nothing stopping them from re-evolving and getting back to business.

In the dub:

Apocalymon: You fools! You haven't even seen my true power yet! REVERSE DIGIVOLVE!!! (Claws grab everyone. Lillymon shoves Mimi away.) Mimi: LILLYMON!!! Apocalymon: I'll make you understand how it feels to be one step closer to extinction! (Apocalymon regresses all of the Digimon) Matt: They're Rookies! T.K.: He changed them back so easily! Patamon: I'm sorry, T.K.! T.K.: It's not your fault, Patamon; It's him! Kari: Great. This time, we're finished. Gatomon: You'd better leave that 'tude, Kari! Gabumon: Just because we're at the Rookie level doesn't mean we still can't fight. Tentomon: We'd Digivolve if we had the energy. Joe: That's it! Start from scratch! You can Digivolve again! Gomamon: We'd have to eat something. Palmon: Come to think of it, I am kinda hungry. Agumon: Forget food! We have the power within us! Gabumon: (to the children) But we need your help!

Palmon and Agumon's cute little exchange is turned into a full-blown problem that all of the Rookie Digimon need to overcome. But nonetheless resolved as easily, with some gumption and can-do spirit.

"I'll make you understand how it feels to be one step away from extinction" is a raw line. I love it.

The children go for their Digivices--

Apocalymon: DEATH CLAW!!!

One of Apocalymon's claws morphs into four pairs of Devimon hands. They extend, snatching the children's Crests away from them. Within the grip of Apocalymon's Death Claws, the Crests and their Tags shatter into dust.

The Chosen Children watch helplessly as their Crests are destroyed utterly.

Taichi: THE CRESTS!!! Takeru: They broke! Sora: Now we can't make them evolve! Apocalymon: I see you're beginning to realize the despair we felt from being unable to evolve! Jou: Oh my god, they broke the Crests! Mimi: If we can't evolve then how are we supposed to win this fight!?

Mimi's question is left hanging in the air as we go to our commercial break.

In the dub, Tai queues us up for what's about to happen.

Tai: Everybody, get your Crests ready! Apocalymon: DEATH CLAW!!! (Apocalymon destroys the Crests and Tags) Tai: Ah! Our Crests and Tags! T.K.: He broke them all! Sora: They won't be able to Digivolve without them! Apocalymon: I hope you learned your lesson: Always save your receipts! The warranty was probably still good on those things. Joe: Isn't this usually the time when one of us comes up with a brilliant idea? Mimi: I don't think anything can save us this time, Joe! I'm afraid we're done for!

The dub forgot that they renamed Death Claw to Touch of Evil. ...wait, why was this "death" okay but Death Evolution wasn't? Is it because it had the world "evolution" in it? Was that the naughty word?

In any case, the dub agrees that this is a good spot for the second commercial.

Following the commercial, we return to the Chosen Children freaking the fuck out. The conversation picks right up where it left off, replaying Mimi's line.

Mimi: If we can't evolve then how are we supposed to win this fight!? Koushiro: It's impossible! No matter how hard they try, Child-stage Digimon cannot defeat an enemy with the combined power of all the strongest Digimon we've ever faced! Taichi: I won't accept that! There must still be a way to win this! Yamato: How did the previous Chosen Children defeat this enemy!?

Koushiro's done the math and hahahaHAHA no, these circumstances are not winnable. Not by a long shot. We are up shit creek without a paddle here. Though Yamato raises a good counterpoint.

In the dub:

Mimi: How can we fight Apocalymon without Digivolving!? Izzy: There's no way! All the Rookie Digimon combined couldn't beat an enemy who has the power of all the evil Digimon from the past! Tai: How can you be so sure!? There's got to be a way somehow! Matt: How did the original DigiDestined kids defeat this enemy?

Basically, the same, except Mimi addresses Apocalymon by name.

In the original, they're just calling Apocalymon "the enemy". Possibly because they might not even know that the enemy is called Apocalymon. That rundown was for our eyes only; Apocalymon might not even be in the in-universe Digimon Analyzer, and even if they are, Koushiro hasn't analyzed them.

Fortunately for the dub kids, Apocalymon's rundown there was diegetic so he's formally introduced himself. Mimi can use his name. No problems there.

Sadly, we are out of time for figuring out how to fight. Apocalymon's ready to end this.

Apocalymon: (chanting) Runani tade wa chita-emao! Runani tade wa chita-emao!

ルナーニタデーハチタエマーオー

By themselves, these noises are gibberish. However, that's because they're doing a backwards-talk spell incantation.

if you spell their words backwards (and with hiragana and kanji, which mean things), you get "お前たちはデータになる Omae-tachi wa deta ninaru." Or, "You all become data. You all become data."

Jou is the first to realize what's happening and start screaming. This grabs Sora's attention, who whips around to see Jou pixelizing before realizing it's happening to her too.

The bodies of all eight children are being broken down, reduced to data as the spell suggested.

Yamato: (alarmed) This is-- Koushiro: It's really bad! Our bodies are being broken down into digital data! Taichi: What did you say!?

The Digimon, too, are breaking down.

Piyomon: Then we.... Gabumon: ...we.... Agumon: ...WHAT'S HAPPENING TO US!?!?

There's nothing anyone can do but scream until they no longer have mouths to scream with. Then they're gone. All sixteen.

Now, in the U.S., we kinda had a big hubbub in the late 20th century about "Satan is sending messages to your children through backwards-talk on records!". So that's not happening. Apocalymon instead intones a rhyme to cast his spell.

Apocalymon: I'll take these children and use their fear / to make them digital and disappear! Ahahahahahaha! (The kids notice they're disintegrating) Matt: What's this!? Izzy: Fascinating. Our bodies are being broken down into little bits of digital information. Tai: FASCINATING!?!? Biyomon: Let's stay calm, everyone! Don't fall to pieces. Agumon: (jokey) Too late!

Tai and Matt are the only ones appropriately horrified by this. The Digimon are quipping and Izzy's downright intrigued.

The "fascinating" gag is pretty funny, though. That got me. XD

We find the children in a white void that is probably a hyperbolic visual representation of what's happening to them? IDK.

They fade in and out of existence whenever they speak. Except, briefly, Koushiro who has more to say. Naturally, the children begin to panic.

Taichi: Where are we!? Koushiro: The world of data. We've all been broken down into data. Mimi: Broken down!? Can't we go back to normal!? Koushiro: I don't know. Jou: What will happen to us if we can't turn back!? Hikari: Is this the end? Sora: I don't know! This is the first time this has ever happened to me. What do we do!? Taichi: ...did we lose? Yamato: Is it all over?

Sora, I'm pretty sure this is a universal first for, like, humanity. XD

Felt, though.

In the dub:

Tai: Ah! Where are we!? Izzy: We're information now. This is where all information gathers. It's the world of data! Mimi: Data!? I'm too young to be dating! Izzy: It's not the same. Joe: Sometimes too much information's a bad thing. Kari: Can we get back? Sora: I don't know, Kari. Nothing like this has ever happened to us before. I don't know what to do. Tai: Is this it? Have we lost? Matt: I'd say that's a pretty good conclusion.

About the same, but with less panic and more quipping.

But despite everything, the Digimon refuse to give up and let this be the end.

Agumon: Don't lose your nerve now! Taichi: Agumon? Gabumon: I'll fight to the bitter end. So don't give up hope! Piyomon: That's right! There were many times up to now when I thought it was over, but we always fought through it together! Sora: Sure, but we've been broken down into data! We don't even know if we'll be able to return to human form, let alone defeat our enemy! Jou: Even if we could make it back, they can't evolve without our Crests! Koushiro: This has never happened before. How is anyone supposed to handle being broken down into data!? NOBODY KNOWS!!! Tentomon: Tell me, Koushiro-han, In all the battles you've fought up to this point, did you always know how you were going to win? Koushiro: Eh? Gabumon: Right! There's a lot of 'firsts' on an adventure!

The Digimon have a point. This entire adventure has involved setting foot where no human has only five other humans have ever tread. Remember that time we made a cave into a wormhole between Etemon's pyramid and a random patch of desert miles away? Good times.

In the dub:

Agumon: Come on, you guys! Don't quit now! Tai: (resigned) Why not? Gabumon: Look, we can't stop fighting now just because of a little setback! Biyomon: So what if we're bits of information, we have no Tags and Crests, we can't Digivolve, and we're facing the most powerful enemy of all time. I don't see what the problem is. Sora: Listen, Biyomon. You guys have a great attitude about this whole thing, but all the positive thinking in the world can't guarantee that we'll find a way to get back to our original forms. Joe: I tried positive thinking once and I was positive about one thing: I positively hated it! Izzy: (excited) Speaking scientifically, we're the first humans to be digitally processed! Technically, we're pioneers! Like Marco Polo! Tentomon: Oh, I know what he's famous for! Marco! Agumon: Polo! Tentomon: Marco! Gatomon: Polo! Tentomon: Marco! Biyomon: Polo! Izzy: ...huh? Gabumon: In every battle, you're bound to face a number of unknowns.

Up until Gabumon's last line, the vibe on the Digimon talk is totally different here. Rather than inspirational and unyielding, the Digimon are presented as dim-witted rubes, utterly failing to grasp the severity of the situation.

Though the kids don't seem to grasp it either, as they're still delivering laugh lines. Izzy is downright thrilled to have been wiped from existence, and also queues up Tentomon for a wacky skit.

Finally, the Digimon break through. Jou-senpai is the first to come around.

Gomamon: We never knew what to do in situations like this! Jou: Jou're right! All those times....

Jou flashes back on meeting Pukamon for the first time, way back when they arrived on File Island and being attacked by Kuwagamon.

Jou: I didn't know anything about this Digimon World. It was just one thing after another that nearly made my heart stop! Gomamon: But because of you and your nakama, we were able to push through together. Jou: Yeah.... At first, I just wanted to escape this place as soon as possible....

A gentle, somber remix of the series OP Butterfly picks up.

Jou's memories turn to the Tokyo Bay, fishing Takeru out and saving him from nearly drowning when they were attacked by MegaSeadramon. Very nearly sacrificing his own life for Takeru's, and activating his Crest of Sincerity/Responsibility.

Jou: But it's because of all this that I could have experiences I never would have learned about from studying for my entrance exams. Mimi: There was a lot of gross stuff and things that made me cry. Palmon: But are you glad we became friends? Mimi: Yeah. I think meeting all of you has made me stronger.

Mimi, for her part, flashes back on the battle at Big Sight convention center when her Crest activated. She has nothing further to say as the memory plays out, with only Butterfly playing in the background.

In the dub:

Gomamon: Yeah, you didn't know how those other fights would turn out but you fought them anyway, didn't you? Joe: Yeah, that's right. We did fight! (File Island flashback) Joe: When I first got to the Digital World, I was afraid of any little thing that moved! We faced all kinds of new monsters. Gomamon: But no matter who they threw at us, we always found the strength to beat the enemy! Regardless of how big it was. Didn't we, Joe? Joe: That's right! We did! We worked together as a team. (Flashback to Joe's Crest activation) Joe: Even that time when we almost lost T.K. because he couldn't swim. Of course... (sheepishly) I forgot that I couldn't swim either... Mimi: I remember times when all I wanted to do was break down and cry. Palmon: But instead, you fought on with your new friends! Mimi: Mhm! I feel like I've become a stronger person since I met all of you! (Flashback to Mimi's Crest activation) Mimi: Like that time at the convention center when all those Bakemon were attacking. I didn't cry a single drop! ...alright, maybe just one drop.

And so we draw near the conclusion of this series the way we began it: rewriting the characters to strip out their emotional sincerity and emphasize how fierce and raring to fight they are.

Mimi's speech is pretty close to the original, but Joe's sucks. Joe's speech completely sucks. The heart has been completely torn out of it, replaced with "Yeah we kicked so much ass my dude" and a laugh line that turns Joe's sacrifice into a "Whoops, my bad!"

Moving right along, Takeru is next.

Patamon: Before I met Takeru, I thought I didn't need to evolve. But....

Nope, sorry, Patamon first.

Patamon flashes back on his first evolution into Angemon, way back when. The battle with Devimon on File Island.

In the process finally and unambiguously confirming that Patamon does, in fact, retain memories from his past life. The dub staked that position as early as the Pagumon village so that's a cookie for them that's been a long time coming.

Even if you assume the Devimon flashback is Takeru's, Patamon even being able to reference a time "before I met Takeru" is itself proof that he remembers his past life.

For his turn, Takeru takes HolyAngemon's evolution in the battle against Piemon.

Takeru: Me too. Because I met you, Patamon, I feel like I've learned how important it is to fight.

Sora's turn.

Piyomon: Sora, you were always so thoughtful. Sora: (smiling) Piyomon.... Piyomon: That's why everybody adores you so much!

Sora's flashback is the debut of Garudamon, when she let Piyomon fight Vamdemon despite fearing for her safety.

In the dub, they continue talking over the flashbacks and making jokes.

Patamon: Before I met you, T.K., I didn't think it mattered if I ever DIgivolved or not. (Flashback) Patamon: But when Devimon went to grab you and got me, I knew it was my time to shine! I became Angemon for the first time and I've been flying high ever since! T.K.: I learned something from you too, Patamon. (Flashback) T.K.: I learned that sometimes you have to fight for what you believe in! Biyomon: I want you to know that you've changed my life in many ways too, Sora. Sora: Really? Biyomon: Of course you have! After all, I've never had a best friend before! (Flashback) Biyomon: I would do anything for you! Like that time I took Myotismon's Crimson Lightning attack right in the chest! Talk about heartburn!

Patamon's recollection of events is leaving out some, uh, significant things that happened to him between then and now.

T.K.'s bit is pretty much verbatim.

Awkward joke aside, the main difference between versions for Biyomon is that she keeps it narrowly focused on herself and Sora. Piyomon said that everyone loves Sora while Biyomon focuses on her own personal feelings for Sora.

Next up: Koushiro.

Tentomon: Koushiro-han. I learned a lot by being with you. Though it did upset me sometimes when you couldn't look past your computer. Koushiro: Tentomon.... Tentomon: But that's just another part of you that I like.

Koushiro's Crest flashback is a little different, as we don't get to see his Crest shine. We only see Vademon pummeling Kabuterimon with asteroids and Koushiro looking concerned, and then the opening bit of AtlurKabuterimon's stock animation for his evolution sequence.

Gabumon: Yamato.... Yamato: You don't have to say anything. I already know.

Yamato's like, "My dude, we did not spend a whole episode in that cave just to have beef now."

He's ahead of the curve. He already had his ultimate self-actualization into his final form. It's all-a y'all motherfuckers that need to catch up.

His flashback is, of course, Digitamamon's diner.

In the dub:

Tentomon: You know, Izzy, when I first met you, I thought you were just one of those computer geeks. But after I got to know you, I realized you are one of those computer geeks! And I'm glad you are! Because where would the rest of us be without you? Izzy: Thanks, pal. Tentomon: (sniff) I promised myself I wouldn't cry! (Flashback) Tentomon: Although I wanted to cry when I felt that asteroid belt tightening around my waist but you and I took care of Vademon together! Gabumon: As for you, Matt. Matt: You don't have to say anything. I know. (Flashback) Gabumon: There was that time when-- Matt: Yeah, that's right. I remember. Gabumon: And then you and I-- Matt: (annoyed) I know. Gabumon: Remember when we-- Matt: Didn't you hear me!? I said you don't have to say anything!

Poor Gabumon. Matt's trying to have his cool guy moment from the original but unfortunately Gabumon is contractually obligated to fill the silence of the flashback, so no dice.

Tentomon's speech here isn't great, but it's not awful either. Kinda mid. Though I will say that "I felt that asteroid belt tightening around my waist" is fantastic wordplay. Well punned.

There's only two children left. Onward to the Yagami siblings.

Agumon: Hey, Taichi! When we're together, we're invincible, right? Taichi: You know it!

Yeah, okay, those two have been on the same wavelength since day one. They may be reckless idiots at times, but they've always been reckless idiots together.

Taichi's flashback is split, since his was the first Crest sequence and didn't happen as suddenly as the others. We first see his Crest activating when he braved the firewall in Etemon's pyramid, after having to come to terms with the reality that he can die for real here.

Then the other part: Rushing Etemon in the desert with his shining Crest held aloft, having learned from the Skull/MetalGreymon arc the true meaning of courage.

Tailmon: We can't let ourselves fall here. If we do, then what was my long search for Hikari even for? Hikari: Tailmon.... Tailmon: I waited so long for the day when I would meet you and protect you.

For her part, Hikari gets the death of Wizarmon and tearful activation of her Crest.

In the dub:

Agumon: You and I knew from the beginning that together we'd be an invincible team. Right, Tai? Tai: You got that right! (Flashback) Tai: Of course, I probably could have taken care of Etemon without you. But it was nice having you around. It did get me out of a few jams. Gatomon: We can't give up now! 'Cause if we do, what was the whole point of searching for Kari in the first place? Kari: Hehe, Gatomon! Gatomon: I've waited my whole life to meet you and find my purpose, and that is to protect you no matter what the cost. (Flashback) Gatomon: Whether that meant facing Myotismon's Grisly Wing attack or facing the reality of losing Wizardmon... You know that we'll always be there for you.

Gatomon and Kari's segment is pretty solid.

Tai seems allergic to emotional sincerity. However, his "I could have taken Etemon myself but YOU HELPED I GUESS" bit is pretty clearly just him ribbing his pal, and not an honestly held belief. So, in its own way, it's still an expression of the bond they share. Just, in a more macho American way.

The eight children bring it in together.

Hikari: If I'd never met Tailmon.... Jou: If I hadn't come to the Digimon World.... Mimi: If I hadn't taken this journey with all of you.... Koushiro: We wouldn't have become who we are now. Yamato: That's right! It's because our Digimon were always with us.... Takeru: Because our nakama was always with us.... Sora: Because we learned the importance of helping each other.... Taichi: We could be ourselves!

In the dub:

Kari: Boy, if I had never met you, Gatomon.... Joe: And if I had never come to the Digital World.... Mimi: And if none of us became friends in the first place.... Izzy: Then we wouldn't have become the people that we are today. Matt: You're right! We never would have won all those battles without each other. T.K.: I feel like I've grown up a lot! Sora: I think we've all grown up in a lot of ways. Tai: I've grown up too! I'm a much better fighter now!

They stay on script up through Izzy and then lose the plot. Matt and Tai talk about how cool fighting is. T.K. and Sora just say "We grew up a lot" rather than talking about the specific ways this journey has shaped them and their group.

The dub ends this bit on "I'm a much better fighter now," which. Like. Okay. Sure. That's it. That's what this journey was about. It was about Tai learning how to punch things good.

From here, we return to the human world and the frightened parents who watched their children dissolve into nothingness.

BECAUSE BY THE WAY THEY WERE WATCHING THAT. THERAPY. THERAPY FOR YEARS. THERAPY FOR THE KIDS. THERAPY FOR THE PARENTS. THERAPY.

The parents, too, refuse to give up hope.

Hiroaki (Yamato's Dad): Ganbare. (Keep going and persevere.) Shin (Jou's Brother): For the Earth. Toshiko (Sora's Mom): All of you are our pride. Masami (Koushiro's Dad): Ganbare.

From there, we move around the world to see this same distortion in the sky everywhere. People in the United States, in Italy, and in Russia gather without truly understanding what is happening to see the fate of reality decided.

In the dub:

Hiroaki: You can do it! Jim: Come on! For Earth! Toshiko: We're so proud of you, no matter what happens! Masami: Give it your all!

Solid. Hiroaki and Masami both say ganbare in the original but the dub translates them differently to avoid repetition.

After this short break to remind us what the stakes are, we return to data.

Taichi: That's right! We can't let it end like this! Sora: We can't let our adventure go to waste! Yamato: For the Digimon we've met and our nakama and our friendship! Koushiro: And for everyone else we love, waiting for us on Earth! Mimi: We.... Yamato: We.... Takeru: All of us.... Jou: ...will never look back again! Hikari: We won't allow the light in our hearts to fade out!

With that declaration, the symbols from their Crests shine from their chests as if they were still wearing the things.

(They're divided along gender lines left to right but Koushiro's an honorary girl 'cause they don't have enough to make it four and four. XD)

Dry exposition can be difficult to absorb when you aren't poring over two different sets of it for differences, which is why I don't blame the children for being surprised here. However, it's worth noting that Homeostasis explained this to them already.

It's implicitly how Hikari's unexplained Glowy Form worked in the Mugendramon sub-arc. The Digivices and Crests are just tools to help manifest and control the light that's already within the children themselves.

In the dub:

Tai: I don't know about you, but I'm not ready to quit yet! Sora: I'm with you, Tai! I won't let this whole experience be for nothing! Matt: Me neither! There's no way I'm about to let my friends down. Izzy: And besides, there's still a lot of people counting on us down on Earth! Mimi: Let's find a way! Matt: Let's fight! T.K.: We're ready! Joe: We've reached the point where there's no turning back! Kari: Crests of no Crests, we're going to win!

Tai and Sora are on-script and Matt's pretty close. Things start veering off-course at Izzy with the subtle shift from "This is for the people we love" to "Lots of people are counting on us". That's not a super big deal, though.

It's Kari's line that's the major divergence. "The light in our hearts" is... kind of an important concept for understanding why their Crest lights suddenly start shining out of their chests. But Kari just gives a "Ra-ra Let's get 'em!"

However, the dub places their final commercial break here. They come back to another take on that last bit.

Mimi: Are we together? Matt: We are! T.K.: Then let's fight! Joe: It's gonna be pretty tough without our Crests. Kari: Crests!? We don't need no stinking Crests!

It's basically the same as the first take. No explanation is given for why Kari suddenly, confidently thinks they can beat Apocalymon without their Crests.

From here, it's time to unpack what these shining symbols mean.

Agumon: The Crests! The symbols engraved on the Crests were actually your hearts! Team: (collective gasp) Taichi: Our... hearts...? Koushiro: Like the knowledge inside me and the sincerity inside Jou-san. As long as we carry these characteristics in our hearts, we don't need the Crests. Yamato: No, you're wrong. Koushiro: Eh!? Yamato: It isn't the friendship inside of me that's shining. All of your friendship is gathered inside me, and that's what made my Crest of Friendship glow! Taichi: One Crest for everyone and all Crests for one! Hikari: Then the light inside of me is for all of us!

Again, Homeostasis explained all this but I can't blame the children for not paying attention to twenty minutes of a history lecture. Homeostasis is not a very good teacher. Needs to work on improving their methods of engaging children in learning.

(Also, this is definitely what Piccolomon was talking about when he said they needed something more than just to make their Crests glow and be physically together.)

The dub takes its second crack at explaining. They fumbled the setup but at least they land the exposition.

Agumon: It's your Crests. You don't need to carry them anymore because their power has been inside of you this whole time! Tai: You mean, like... in our hearts!? Izzy: Prodigious! That makes perfect sense. It's like my knowledge and Joe's sense of responsibility. If your special traits are within you, then you don't need your Crest because your power will be within you as well! Matt: You're wrong! Izzy: Huh!? Matt: It wasn't the friendship inside me that made my Crest glow, Izzy. It was the friendship I felt from all of you gathered inside my heart and that brought the power of my Crest to life. Tai: So each person's Crest isn't powered by themselves. It's powered by the faith we have in each other! Kari: Then the light inside of me is for everyone!

Yeah, that about covers it. Good job, everyone.

Hikari's light erupts from her chest and Super-Evolves Angewomon. The other children quickly follow suit. The next like two straight minutes are the children reciting their Crests and playing their respective stock animations, which is fun to watch especially with Show Me Your Brave Heart blaring behind it but boring to talk about.

Takeru: And everyone's hope is my hope! (HolyAngemon) Koushiro: Knowledge. (AtlurKabuterimon) Mimi: Purity. (Lilimon) Jou: Sincerity. (Zudomon) Sora: Love. (Garudamon) Yamato: Friendship. (MetalGarurumon) Taichi: Courage. (WarGreymon)

I'm not typing that again. It's exactly the same in the dub except Mimi and Joe call out different Crest virtues.

With the light of their hearts, the children are able to re-establish themselves and recompile their data back into reality, in Apocalymon's void.

Apocalymon: What!? Taichi: WE WON'T LET YOU HAVE YOUR WAY!!!

We end here, with the Children powered up and ready for round 2 with Apocalymon. Some of whom, I'm sorry, look absolutely adorable in their Get Fierce poses. XD Jou, Mimi, Koushiro, and the two eight-year-olds really can't pull off the Let's Throw Down look.

In the dub, Izzy offers some narration in case what just happened was unclear.

Izzy: We did it! We reassembled ourselves! Apocalymon: What!? Tai: You're dealing with the new and improved DigiDestined! Narrator: You won't want to miss the final battle that decides the fate of two worlds. Tune in to the next Digimon: Digital Monsters.

Because the narrator pauses the animation to talk, we get to really linger on the combination Fierce Looks and Attempted Fierce Looks. XD

Assessment: So here we are. The true threat behind the veil of reality itself that's been creating the distortions in the Digital World. The Actually Truly Seriously For Realsies final boss. Until sequels happens.

With regard to the "Did Apocalymon create the villains or did they just draw power from Apocalymon?" question, it's not super clear. Gennai said only that Apocalymon is the root cause of their evil and that they drew power from the distortions Apocalymon made in reality.

But Apocalymon's ability to conjure up images of the villains and use their attacks makes the matter murky. It was said that Apocalymon can use the powers of every Digimon they've faced up to this point. But Apocalymon only uses the villains, so it's ambiguous whether that means "Every Digimon" or "All the villains we had to fight".

The dub stakes out "Apocalymon created them" pretty unambiguously. I can't say with certainty that they're wrong or right. I can say that if they were all in league with one another, they didn't act like it. Devimon and Etemon, in particular, seemed to be doing their own thing and had no sense of alliance with the other villains.

There's no indication that any of them even knew Apocalymon existed. Which doesn't necessarily mean Apocalymon couldn't have created them, but if they did, then the villains didn't seem to know that they did. IDK

In any case, whether it's reality or the children's journey, everything comes to an end next episode.

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

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reignsan · 6 months ago

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I've been rewatching the Digimon Adventure dub recently and it's interesting how despite having a lot of the standard 90s-00s English dub changes (different music, Americanized names, additional jokes, etc) it also keeps a lot of stuff unchanged.

Like they don't censor death at all, Myotismon very clearly tells Gatomon "when you find the 8th child, kill her" with no euphemisms. Joe tells the younger kids there was a terrorist bombing 4 years ago (the public excuse for the Greymon vs Parrotmon fight), rather than the dub changing it to something less violent. I haven't gotten to it on my rewatch yet but I remember them keeping in the number of the beast reference later with VenomMyotismon too.

Plus they're very upfront about the kids living in Japan. Despite them all having English names and changing Hikarigaoka to Highton View Terrace, it's repeatedly said they're in Japan and Odaiba's name is unchanged. Instead of changing it to like California or whatever.

A really interesting piece of dubbing history, that it does some stuff that was standard at the time, but also in some other ways is more accurate to the Japanese than many of its contemporaries were.

#digimon #digimon adventure

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beginningobserver · 5 months ago

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Ni attempts to insert Rui-Ukko in 02 TV Series: the post.

⚠This is a ROUGH draft and may change later. ALSO, IT MIGHT HAVE CANON REFERENCES TO THE MOVIE ELEMENTS, SO I DON'T RECOMMEND READING IT WITHOUT WATCHING 02TB FIRST!

Ok, so the idea here is... to put Rui-kun and Ukkomon in 02. I've tried to pick a route here, and it might change later.

Will be under [read more/keep reading] so you can avoid spoilers even if i tag it with the spoilers tag.

[CW: murder mention + body horror]

So far, I've drawn not one but TWO routes for this AU - one where nothing bad happens to Rui (or, if it does, it's the usual Adv/02 level of child trauma, not something that goes "over the kids' timeslot filters" like this movie does) and he gets to explore the Digital World with Ukkomon alongside the 02 group...

... And one where maybe the "eye thing" happens during the 02 events. Now if it is the same as in the canon and the movie or not, I have no idea yet. But I am still amusing myself with this one comic where the Kaiser is testing his evil rings on Rui because he has a digi-eye and... Yeah, check out the doodle for yourselves.

Since I like both ideas I might mix them in one interquel plotline.

So Rui is the first Chosen Child, but this term hadn't been coined by the time of his encounter with Ukkomon. And Ukkomon helped Rui to get a better life, despite not having miraculous powers to grant wishes like he told Rui. Ukkomon’s tactic was just using Liar Dream on Rui’s mom and dad, to make them at least nicer to Rui.The part of the dad being in a deathbed status is also… uh, not here, but he’s still sick.

Ukkomon protected Rui from bullies as well, by using his mind-hijacking powers to drive them away. Despite both being bad at communicating with others, they do manage to get along. Rui still hates the same things as the canon, but more likely that he does not find them interesting (plus, the part of hating cake/sweets is about OVERLY sweet things and he prefers not-too-sweet stuff, or not-too-sweet fruits) yet he doesn’t seem to get courage to say them because he never had been listened by his own family. At this point, Ukkomon is not well aware of the difference between being legitimately happy and being just a bubbly kid. So… Ukkomon starts getting desperate trying to protect Rui’s smile from everything and going nuts (aka, “i can’t let him get sad or miserable!!” sort of thing, yes it’s basically what happened in canon too) and just… manipulating people with his mind-hijacking eye-stare technique.

Rui lives in Hikarigaoka, but going to the Digital World like everyone else, somehow his digivice – being the first model in the world – manages to get the access to the Digital Gate and he goes there to cool off and have fun with the digimon. It’s when he heard about this new menace called Digimon Kaiser. His digi-friends started to beg him and Ukkomon to help, but Rui says he can’t do much because Ukkomon cannot evolve and he’s afraid of fighting. Ukkomon also is clueless about how to evolve, he only knows more kids with digimon were appearing. Then, Ukkomon suggests trying to find those kids and ask them to help their digimon friends. Funny enough, the 02 kids + older six were already doing that.

In one of the offscreen attacks of the Kaiser’s army, Rui’s right eye gets hurt and Ukkomon starts panicking because this means Rui will be sad and upset so he just sacrifices his own right eye and slaps it in the boy’s face. Of course Rui hates that and snaps at him. Ukkomon feels it was all his fault and just disappears (actually, he kept around but invisible and without letting Rui know his presence). In the human world, Rui’s parents have absolutely no idea WHERE he is, so they start suddenly “caring” about him, tho they don’t go ask for help on TV or anything, they just stick with the police. The 02 kids are aware of a kid named Ohwada Rui going missing, but they think it’s nothing related to the Digital World or Ichijouji Ken/Digimon Kaiser.

Rui was having a hard time stuck in the Digital World though. He was alone, but he had the help of the local digimon refugees and survivors. This time he covered his digi-eye with an eye-patch so as not to attract the attention of the others. Somehow, the Kaiser hears about a human with a digimon eye and thinks it’s some skilled hacker “in-game” and sends his servants to search for Rui.

It was when, a few days before the Evil Spiral being made that he gets to spot the 02 kids looking for a digimon named “Agumon”. He never saw those kids– Wait a minute, he does remember seeing a boy with a Goku-like hair and a tiny girl with light brown short hair when he was a kid… Maybe they know him? (The answer is: not in person, Taichi and Hikari had passed by Rui while they lived in Hikarigaoka and until they moved to Odaiba, but none of them know each other)

Rui goes after those kids a few weeks later (around the episode Chimeramon project is almost finished), but he’s caught by the Digimon Kaiser, who was suspiciously aware of his “Digimon Eye”?! Ken just starts asking him real tough questions, thinking that kid is smart and a prodigy like him, but… Rui is just a simpleton. No offense, he’s not a genius or anything, he’s just an ordinary boy with a digimon eye and a digivice. Wormmon is scared about what that could mean, and Rui is not sure how to explain that the eye was slapped in his face against his will and that suddenly he got into a fight with his digimon and then Ukkomon just vanished and left him.

Since Rui had disappeared way before Ken decided to ditch the human world and live in the DW, he heard of a kid missing but he didn’t expect that the boy with a digimon eye from the rumors was Rui. He doesn’t feel like doing anything with Rui though, so he just throws Rui in the dungeon and focuses on the other kids. Rui has no idea if he could do something, and he feels like Ukkomon had just abandoned him and blames him for being hunted like an animal thanks to that eye.

Ken does hear Rui thru the speakers mentioning “something something if I had followed my mom’s orders I wouldn’t have been in trouble now” and he feels… empathetic for that kid? Is that possible? Ken doesn’t let Rui leave, but mysteriously his time inside his cell gets a little more… comfortable? He got a new pair of clean clothes and he’s receiving some decent meals now…? How??

One day Wormmon was feeling jealous of Ken getting some emotional attachment to that prisoner that he does the same thing he had done with Agumon: He opens the cell discreetly while Ken is not around looking at the cameras and lets Rui escape.

The 02 team and the Kaiser showdown happens normally, and Rui just appears in front of the 02 kids between the ep 22 and 24 events. The group catches him by accident because he was wearing a cape and hoodie to not call for peeps' attention and then Takeru immediately remembers seeing a kid who had disappeared mysteriously in the newspapers, way before Ken went insane.

Rui is not aware about that, but he feels like he cannot leave now because of that. The kids wonder what he means by that and he shows them the Digi-eye in his face. It makes them confused and question if he’s indeed human, but he tries to explain (this time) what happened, and that he got captured by the Digimon Kaiser for days and maybe months. The group is in doubt, but Daisuke tells them he trusts Rui. Hikari asks where’s Rui’s partner now and Rui pouts upset: We had a fight and he just vanished. The 02 group decide they should just help Rui to find Ukkomon, but Rui thinks Ukkomon might not want to talk to him anymore and then says Ukkomon was doing things he didn’t want to and didn’t like at all. Iori asks why he didn’t tell Ukkomon that, and Rui shuts in.

The 02 group’s digimon find that strange, because a digimon partner wouldn’t run away like that, right? Daisuke even mentions that Wormmon did not leave Ken’s side and even helped them to beat Chimeramon in order to rescue Ken from himself. The group agree, Ukkomon might still be around. Rui wonders how.

They had to stick along with the kid for a while, at least after school activities. The group ask Agumon and Gabumon to take a look at Rui for them (Rui is not happy with that idea but he has no options left) and then the digimon duo try to keep the boy comfortable. He’s NOT happy though.

Agumon asks what’s wrong and he just sulks, refuses to talk with Agumon or even Gabumon. Piyomon, Palmon, Gomamon and Tentomon come in and try to help the other two digimon to deal with that kid. Rui just keeps hating more and more being there and he wants to go home, but he knows that eye would make people claim he’s a FREAK and maybe things would be even worse now. Sadly, the older six’s digipartners are clueless and don’t feel like they can solve it. And Rui started to just blame the digimon in gen for his misfortune, making the six critters sad. He then just realizes he messed this up with them, and quickly tries to apologize. He tells them that Ukkomon really didn’t know him that well, and didn’t even know what he liked or wanted. Gabumon then says “Are you sure about that?” out of the blue.

Once Rui fell asleep, the six digimon noticed something hiding behind the trees and found Ukkomon, who was invisible this whole time (somehow) and kept protecting Rui in the shadows, though he was still upset with the boy’s statements and behavior. Piyomon asks why did he “leave” Rui behind and Ukkomon vents that he was getting frustrated about what to keep Rui happy and smiling. The other mons look at each other and then back to Ukkomon, who continues “He really needs me but he snapped when I tried to help him before'', making Gomamon comment that “giving your own eye to a human is not going to help him at all” and everyone agree. Ukkomon is unable to understand WHY this is wrong, and they had to say “If Rui slapped his own eye on Ukkomon out of the blue, to help him out, would he like that?” and Ukkomon took a while to give an answer. And the digimon didn’t want to think about a scenario where Rui is literally destroying himself either. But now Rui is mad and he’s having a tough time with that big eye in his face. Ukkomon feels ashamed for going off the rails. Palmon suggests that he go talk with Rui, but… Ukkomon also is bad at communicating so he just shuts in just like Rui.

The digimon reported it to Daisuke and co., and they just think those two need to be in the same room in order to deal with it themselves… But Daisuke refuses to turn his back on Rui and Ukkomon, so he just goes to talk with the boy.

Daisuke asks Rui why he didn’t tell Ukkomon that he didn’t like some things Ukkomon was doing and Rui just feels like he’s getting scolded by his mom. Daisuke continues, “You have to tell what’s bothering you or else nobody will get your feelings right,” and Rui just argues back “If I told Ukkomon he wasn’t helping me at all he would lose his reason to exist.”

The digimon and the kids are confused: Does Rui think the digimon are just servant familiars? Something similar to Ken believing the DW and the digimon were a game?

Rui explains that Ukkomon came to him to make his wishes come true, but his partner had no idea what he likes or needs, so he kept quiet accepting everything like he was used to – His mother was the one to decide his favorite things, and if he said something otherwise she would claim he’s an ungrateful kid. So not even he knows what he needs or what he likes.

Daisuke sighs and then tells Rui that Ukkomon did all of those things because Ukkomon likes him, and doesn’t know how to help him. V-mon sneaks into the convo and asks Rui “Do you know what Ukkomon likes and what he hates anyway?” and it makes Rui just realize something he and Ukkomon were not communicating. Yes he had been watching things by distance and those kids and their digimon had a better understanding of each others’ personalities, likes and dislikes, traits and flaws…Something he and Ukkomon's partnership had been lacking all along.

Ukkomon was hearing that convo, still invisible for them all. A little pouty because he was still hurt by Rui’s actions. However, the eye made Rui notice Ukkomon was nearby and he called for his digimon. Ukkomon felt no reason to keep hiding and just popped in front of them, still missing his eye. Rui then speaks with his heart for the first time and asks Ukkomon to let them start from zero, and to learn more about each other. Ukkomon agrees, and asks what Rui wishes for and the boy answers he doesn’t need anything else. And Ukkomon in return said he didn’t know how to help Rui and assumed that the boy’s smile meant Rui was happy so he tried to prevent anything bad from happening in order to keep Rui happy and smiling even if it meant to do some… wrong things. The group ask “Which ‘wrong things’??” and Ukkomon reveals he can control people’s minds and had been using it on people. He feared that Rui would hate him, but… Rui was only disappointed that this meant nobody liked him for real.

Ukkomon doesn’t agree with that statement, and thinks there’s people who care and like Rui for real. And then mentioned the digimon they met and the older six’s digimon, also Daisuke and the others right there. Rui takes a moment to agree with that, and then he asks Ukkomon if he could get his eye back. Daisuke asks why Ukkomon gave his eye to Rui before, and Ukkomon says Rui got hurt in the middle of a digimon attack. Miyako suggests them to take Rui to the hospital after Ukkomon “returned” Rui’s injured eye (= he just removed the digi-eye just like magic and the real eye, hidden by the other one, just reappeared in Rui’s face)

The kids and their digimon go back to the human world and then Rui asks to be taken to his relatives instead. Everyone asks why and he says that they are the only ones able to talk with his parents at the moment. Ukkomon offers to use his power on Rui’s parents again, but Rui himself tells Ukkomon to not. He can handle this, he will ask his cousin and her parents to help him out. No one, not even Mr. Ishida argued with him, since they thought it could be a delicate subject that maybe having one or two peeps who care about Rui enough could help there.

Rui gets to talk with his relatives and explain everything to them (with the help of the 02 kids, Taichi, Koushiro and Mr. Ishida, of course, after Rui and Ukkomon explained to them hours ago) and they didn’t know how to break the news that… Rui’s parents had died while he went missing. Rui was in shock, just like all the others who came to give him support, and now they all plus Rui’s relatives were there to help him to deal with the loss. Ukkomon wonders if it was his fault, but he does not tell anyone, and he continues to bottle it up. He wasn’t around to make sure they would be fine… Right? His power wouldn’t be that strong to KILL humans, R I G H T ? !

Rui and Ukkomon get to meet Ken and Wormmon again on ep 39 events. But before that, he and Ukkomon spend their own time trying to get to know each other and find a way to use Ukkomon’s powers for good and not for selfish purposes. Since Ukkomon cannot evolve, they thought it would be better to not get involved with the digimon battles happening around (and again) – Though this made him emotionally exhausted: Why are the digimon trying to attack this world…? Why are they fighting those kids and their partners? Ukkomon himself doesn’t know either, but he believes they could get the answers from his higher-ups.

Rui wonders what kind of higher-ups would Ukkomon have, he just remembers Ukkomon briefly mentioning them before. Ukkomon then suggests going to the DW and looking for Homeostasis’ agents and talking to them. Rui doesn’t know what those agents look like, or why someone would be named ‘Homeostasis’ to begin with. Ukkomon doesn’t know how to answer those questions so he reinforces the idea of going to look for them.

Once they’re on their mission, Rui asks Ukkomon: “Wait, if you’re connected to something greater, couldn’t you simply contact them and call for help?” Ukkomon blinks those big green eyes and admits he didn’t think about that before. Rui glances at him, unamused by that answer.

The truth is, Ukkomon doesn’t know how to call for his higher-ups. But Rui just got a dumb idea of… pressing a few buttons on his digivice. Ukkomon feels this would be hilarious if they could summon someone like that…

And then they casually pass by Gennai, who was heading back from his encounter with Qinglongmon. Yup. Ukkomon and Rui look at each other for a moment, and ask if they did that or not. Ukkomon points out that that ‘human-like’ lifeform is one of Homeostasis’ agents. Rui notices he’s carrying an orb. They follow Gennai but SUDDENLY that ‘person’ disappeared?!

Ukkomon wonders where that agent has gone and Rui thinks maybe they should go home and try another time… Until they spot a long silver haired woman in a dress and purple shades with a tall man in a blue uniform. Ukkomon can definitely sense that woman and man are not… humans at all, and then he and Rui decide to follow them, returning to the human world.

Huh?! Why were those digimon– Hey, they’re in Tamachi now?? And there’s a digimon running amok. He notices a boy with a familiar digimon before trying to get people out of there and protect themselves, but the Dark Tower prevents Wormmon from evolving and Ken is not very happy with that at all. The wild Triceramon running around and causing havoc hits a traffic pole and it comes into Ken’s direction, BUT! Ukkomon and Rui appear, and Ukkomon uses his tentacles coming from his fingers to catch the pole before it hits Ken. Wormmon immediately recognizes Rui, and Ken’s a little awkward around that kid. Wormmon sees Ukkomon and also recognizes those eyes, but Ukkomon and Rui had no time to explain, nor Ken and Wormmon have time to hear a long story right now. Ken asks Rui to simply escort the people around the area for them, and the other just agrees but says he’s worried about Ken and Wormmon, who just tell him they will be fine.

Rui and Ukkomon then leave the area, searching for anyone else in the middle of Triceramon’s rampage. A few hours later, he and Ukkomon witness a strong and powerful aura coming from the beam hitting something in the area he and Ukkomon were with Ken before, and then they witness Imperialdramon dragon mode for the first time in their lives.

A few days passed and then Rui did not hear about Daisuke or Ken or the digimon for a while. But he and Ukkomon try contacting the alleged “higher-ups’ Ukkomon talked about. This time they manage to get in touch with Gennai personally and start asking some questions. As usual, not even Gennai or the Holy Beasts know why digimon partnerships are happening, or why the evil digimon are attacking the human world. Rui comments this was pointless, and then he believes it was all his fault because of that wish he made in 1996 on his birthday, Feb 29. Gennai says it’s unlikely to be because of him and that he was just the first of them.

Ukkomon comments about hearing someone saying “something something you’re the first attempt with this experiment” and Rui snaps “So am I a guinea pig for the digi-gods?!” Gennai stares at Ukkomon, and sighs. He explains that it might not mean something in a heartless sense, that the human and digimon partnerships started because of a peculiar encounter of a Koromon and a pair of human siblings prior to 1996. Then, Gennai asks him if he had witnessed a digimon before meeting Ukkomon and Rui takes a moment to think. He then mentions seeing a giant orange dinosaur and a big parrot fighting when he was 3 years old, but he thought it was just a crazy dream he had after watching something before falling asleep. Gennai then reveals that it wasn’t a dream, and that Rui had been chosen as the first to form a bond with a digimon because of it. And that Rui has been observed to be in the need of someone to love and protect him.

He realizes that… Ukkomon did save him from the bad parenting life he was living. He was just a BABY and couldn't even accidentally wet his pants or bed sheets like other kids his age, or reject stuff his mom wanted him to like and claimed to be “his favorite”. Ukkomon agrees, but still feels that using that technique on Rui’s parents might be the reason they had died. Rui tries to tell him it wasn’t his fault, it couldn’t be true, RIGHT?? Ukkomon begs for Rui’s pardon, but the boy still does not get it at all. Gennai then tells Ukkomon to leave it as it is, for better or for worse. Rui also did not get that either.

After talking with Gennai, Rui returns home with Ukkomon and then the news on TV is about a few children disappearing out of nowhere, just like him. He then learns that Ken also went missing before, and mused if it was around the time Ken was the Kaiser. Again, he couldn’t do anything so he only hoped for the best.

It was only when the truck headed to Hikarigaoka that he decided to do something. But he and Ukkomon just witnessed the Jogress digimon sealing Daemon in the Dark Ocean. The police were nearby taking care of the kidnapped kids and the now abandoned truck, so he couldn’t approach that area at all. The only 02 group member Rui and Ukkomon meet is Takeru, who was looking for a safe spot to evolve Patamon into Pegasusmon and head home. Rui asks Takeru what happened and if the kidnapped kids were related to something about the digimon attacks recently and he explains a brief version of the current events. Ukkomon wonders why someone would kidnap children like that.

They later learn, from Daisuke, that the kidnapped children now have digimon data inside their bodies. And then Rui is assigned to keep an eye on one of them who might be from the area where he and his relatives live. With Ukkomon’s unique abilities like sneaking into places or being invisible, Rui could help them to keep watching the dark seed kids, even if he doesn’t understand what’s happening that much.

But he couldn't do much, and in the end his efforts were in vain because of what happened on New Year's Eve. Rui wanted to do more, and he in fact did go to the Digital World for that final battle, and helped them out like the rest of the Chosen Children around the world. But that whole action might have caused a MASS PANIC in the human world because children are disappearing en masse for a few hours?!

BelialVamdemon is beaten, everyone returns home. Fin.

So far this is all I got for it, and idk how to do the post-series stuff (movies and drama CDs) or the Epilogue part so I’ll just stop here for now. Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed my dummy Hacker’s Memory-esque idea (or Lion King 1 ½ lol) and I might draw more stuff with this whole setting. (☞ﾟヮﾟ)☞

#02tb spoilers #ohwada lui #ukkomon #digimon adventure 02 the beginning #digimon adventure 02 #cw: murder mention #cw: body horror #ni's digiheadcanons #digimon adventure √02 interquel au

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