Something about the tri. Discourse
Something that kinda irks me about the discourse around Digimon Adventure tri. is, that the defenders very often will outright say or at least imply that people only dislike tri. because of Meiko and the people disliking it are misogynist. And I fucking hate that argument.
Because yes, Meiko is at least 30% of why I do not like tri., but if she was a boy that would not change much. And it is still not my main issue with tri.
My main issue with tri. is that the 02 characters are ignored in a way that is just comepletely out of character.
I could literally forgive every other issue with tri., if the writers had put in a modicum of effort to explain why the 02 characters are not there and why nobody seems to be bothered by it. It is the latter thing that is the issue.
Despite the 02 cast (outside of Ken) living super close to everyone else, and it being reasonable that out of Daisuke, Miyako and Iori at least one of them is visiting the same school as the rest of the cast - and despite the fact that not only should Takeru still be living in the same apartment building as Miyako and Iori, but also pass by the conbini owned by Miyako's family ever day, they do not notice for WEEKS that those are missing? Like, realistically speaking, if the 02 characters went missing, what would their parents - who all know about the Digimon - do first? Probably ask a) if Hikari and Takeru are still there, and b) just inform them. There is no way that these minors would go missing and Hikari and Takeru would not find out - even if they for some reasons did not interact with them anymore.
But obviously they would still interact. While I am by now as an adult of the opinion that yes, even if you saved the world together with some other kids you might just grow apart as you grow older... This is just a couple of years later. They should still hang out from time to time. The Adventure kids and Takeru and HIkari abandoning them so fully makes no sense.
Just as the thing with them then realizing they are missing. Adventure kids realize the 02 kids are missing and......... decide to go for a long winded onsen trip, because Toei had made this advertising thing. Yeah, that feels... totally in character.
Takeru and Hikari check up on the others, realize they are missing and just... shrug and move on, not being worried or in any way or form preturbed.
My issue is not that the 02 cast were not important characters in tri. I would have preferred that, but it would have been fine if they had not. My issue is that the explanation of them not being there is completely out of character and makes the Adventure-cast appear as the biggest assholes, who I can feel nothing but hate for, as they just fully abandon their friends, who - for all they know - might be in mortal danger. But apparently going to the onsen is more important.
The writers could have found some reason to explain this. This is a magical setting. They could literally have said: "Oh, due to magic-mumbo-jumbo they do not remember the 02 cast exists." Which would have been fine. I originally assumed this was going on, until Hikari and Takeru checked up on them. But yeah...
And that brings me to the specific issue I have with Meiko.
Meiko very much feels like the typical self-insert character a teenager would write for a fanfic. She is a lot like Hikari, is kinda-sorta the love interest for Taichi, and she has a super-duper-special Digimon. Also, everyone instantly loves her and she becomes the favorite person of all the people the author likes, basically replacing the characters the author does not care about instantly (the 02 cast). To me it would nto matter much if she was a boy filling this role. Digimon as a fandom has just as many boy-OCs that work by these rules as well. Sure, I am kinda annoyed of her also being hamfisted to be a love interest, but that is more generally my other issue of tri. forcing the straight ships in so disgustingly much. Meiko being a boy or not being pushed as a love interest for Taichi would not have made a difference.
Like there is a billion other issues with tri., given that OVA/movie series (it is not even sure what it wants to be itself) is just not very well written. The pacing is uneven. It cannot really decide if it wants to be a monster show or a shojo-slice of life thingie. There are more holes in the plot than on an average country road. But I would not mind any of that so much. I would probably be able to enjoy it as it is. Because there was good and interesting stuff there. While in my own writing I have my own headcanon first generation, I did kinda like Daigo and Maki - and would have loved the other three from their team.
But I absolutely cannot forgive how OoC the characters act about the 02 cast disappearing. And yes, this is made worse by how it very much feels like Meiko is now there to replace the 02 cast, like a fanfic OC that overwrites canon-characters that the writer did not like. But that would not have annoyed me any less it had been Meimaru rather than Meiko.
100%!! Completely ignoring the 02 kids is such a disgrace and totally jarring, especially when they’ve been previously shown to be close and caring and like a team.
I remember when I first watched the first Tri movie and there was no mention of the 02 kids I was like “is this some horror AU or sth where sth happened to the kids and they’re wiped from people’s minds? What could’ve happened?” Especially given the dramatic scenes of them in danger in the first movie.
And then the Digimon kaiser imposter showed up and oh so the kids do exist here? Where are they? Why haven’t they been mentioned at all, why isn’t anyone concerned about where they are?
And it just… turns out that it’s cause the director or sth doesn’t gaf about them. Even if all you care about are the 01 kids… does it not bother you to show them treating their friends and juniors in this way?
