What is your opinion about of dreams of digidestined in episode 49 (02)?
Miyako’s dream is so random and pointless and a total disservice to her character. I get that not everyone needs to have a tragic backstory, but couldn’t they have given Miyako a real problem or aspiration in life?
Mind you, I think it’s incredibly smart for them to show a child from a big family feeling neglected and wishing she were an only child and didn’t have to share everything — but they should have addressed it throughout the series. Maybe they could have made Miyako’s eagerness a symptom of fighting for her parents’ attention all her life. Instead, her dream felt random and superficial, especially in comparison to the other characters, and made Miyako look immature and selfish.
On the other hand, maybe the point was to show us that Miyako is actually just an innocent, normal child who leads a happy, healthy life. Either way, it turns Miyako into a poor imitation of Mimi, but without Mimi’s incredible growth and development. Not a fan.
It was an obvious dream and a lovely scene. I imagine that for anyone who has lost a parent, all other dreams and aspirations would pale in comparison to that loss and the wish of bringing that person back, so I can’t see Iori’s illusion being anything else. After all, Iori barely remembers his father (he was only 4 when he died). The part where Iori wants to show his Dad the Digital World is even more poignant and a nice connection to what’s actually happening in the plot.
This illusion is a nice summary of Takeru’s character during the two series. It does have a hint of sadness, when you realise that after 7 years and despite being rather smart and mature for his age, Takeru still wants nothing more than to have his family get back together. Even tough he is closer to his father and brother and even though his parents seem to get along now (according to that scene when we see Hiroaki emailing Natsuko), Takeru still has fantasies about having a “normal”, traditional, happy family.
Like Iori, it’s interesting to consider that Takeru was only 4 when the divorce happens, so it’s possible that he doesn’t remember the bad things and so has an idealised vision of a picture-perfect home.
Another pointless dream. I suppose it was a nice foreshadowing of Hikari’s future career and the message in the Epilogue, but apart from that it’s all so generic and boring. That’s what happens when you don’t bother to give a character an actual personality and dreams of her own. Since Hikari had already “decided” she wouldn’t be tempted by Darkness again, you’re left with nothing she wants to fix or achieve except something akin to “world peace”. Meh.
Expected but brutal. I though it was interesting that Ken doesn’t wish to go back in time and erase the things he did as the Kaiser — he just wishes to be more punished for it, even after it was established that he was only being manipulated and it all wasn’t really his fault.
So I think the result is that they depict Ken as a victim yet again, in order to keep making us pity him. See how good he is, kids? We’ve spent the last 25 episodes showing you how sorry he is, but he’s still sorry and he still hates himself. Poor Ken. You should feel really bad for Ken. You should forgive him.
I understand what the writers were going for, but personally I wish they’d just give Ken’s “redemption story” a little break. I’d love it if Ken’s wish had been something more positive — maybe being something as simple as hanging out with his friends and his parents. Personally, I just don’t care for the sanctification of Ken, anymore than I care for the idea that Ken is a horrible person. I wish that they wouldn’t erase Ken’s agency and turn him into a martyr. But it’s still a good scene.
And a special mention to Daisuke — that whole deus ex machina “I’m so fucking empty-headed that I have no dreams or wishes, and so I’m immune to Belialvamdemon’s attack and can save my friends” is still one of the stupidest, most unbelievable writing decisions I’ve ever seen in any show. It’s also a total disservice to Daisuke’s character.
