#hurricane touchdown

[cinoclex]

Favorite Armor Evolution!

Lighdramon/Raidramon

heavily thinking about that one shiny Charizard artwork while drawing this, it helped?

[realdigimonconfessions]

The kid Daisuke has in the epilog of 02 is just the cloned petri dish kid he made with Wallace trust me I know this

[popculturebuffet]

Digimon The Movie: The DigiReview: Happy DigiBirthday Broto!

The digivolution is up and running digi see, digi here digi know it was coming?... probably not as I don't release my schedule anymore, but it's here.

So once a year my patreons get a review for their birthday. Emma got hers early with muppets, and just on time for his @brotoman-exe is getting his. If you'd like this and other perks like exclusive reviews of a few movies upcoming monthly reviews of tv episodes and more, please head over to the digital world that is my patreon and give me some digibucks i'm digi desperate.

Jacob Mattingly | creating Animation And Comic Reviews | Patreon

I adore Digimon. I grew up with Adventure , 02 and Tamers and loved them dearly, being thorughly Digivested in the Digidestined. I still love the franchise and i'm glad it's getting a small revivial over here with a modestly succesful card game, a new video game after far too long, and a new anime that what little i've seen really helps shake up the franchise both in art style and formula in just the right way.

Digimon is just comforting to me. I really need to rewatch it but I have fond memories of both the toys I wish I held onto and watching the show with baited breath every week. Even now it's geninley good , the second best monster taming franchise and in ways that played with the formula long before that was the thing to do to try and stand out: OUr kids aren't catching em all, the partners can evolve and devolve, outside the shows evolution strings can go in a variety of wild directions thanks to the series digtial pet roots, and no matter the series children are in real tangible danger. It's a good time.

So it wasn't at all a hard ask when Broto, knowing I had the dvd due to a recent and failed patreon project, wanted this for his birthday. I geninley could not be happier to cover this thing. I loved it as a kid and it's a throughly facisnating one to review.

The big reason is that I ADORE anime movies. Their a nice breezy pop of a series that's often way too long to revisit often, usually around an hour due to starting as something shown off at conventions and expos to hype up the series. An original work that was also a way to show off whatever the series was doing for new eyes and easily be resold on vhs later. As such they often come off as fun distalations of a serie shistory. It's why i've wanted to review all of dragon balls at some point, and love getting pop in on one of these things. It also gives me a nice nostalgia pop revisiting these franchises.

Most of these films did run into a problem: Most anime are based on Manga and most stories generally don't purposfully leave massive swaths of time so adaptations can pop in a random movie. It's considered bad form. While there are gaps between arcs and such, sometimes it's generally hard to impossible to jam something in there especially if you want all the characters and abilities to play with to show off to investors. Some series lend themselves to it better: Pokemon's movies aren't TECHNICALLY canon but with a series that's 95% "Ash and whoever go to some town and stuff sure does happen", it's VERY easy to set up a movie, while One Piece's early story had enough travel to make a movie mildly plausable. It's only later when every single things matter did they just give up and make them fully non canon. DBZ on the other hand just flat out had to ignore canon and just went with whatever set of characters and powers worked.

Digimon went a different direction. The first film was actually to promote adventure itself, a theatrically 20 minute short that served as a distant prequel to the series that would later be made canon. The second was a sequel to adventure, taking place just after it and the third just took place some time during adventure 02 and took the dragon ball approach of

Why yes, I did mention three seperate movies and that's because Digimon the Movie is actually THREE movies stitched together: Digimon Adventure, Digimon: Our War Game! and Digimon Adventure 02: Hurricane Touchdown!

The reason for this is understandable: As I mentioned a lot of anime films early on were meant more for exhibition halls instead of theaters, so they weren't theatrical length. Their still full films mind and I didn't notice at all as a kid, but most are an hour at most with our war game clocking in at 45 minutes and Hurricane Touchdown at 65.

I get why Saban did this: They wanted that Pokemon the First Movie Money and they wanted it now and figured with Adventure 02 just starting in the US, this could be a big chance to promote it, even having the second generation of Digidestined headline the poster despite taking up only about half to a third of the film. They could hype up all sorts of brand new digimon and adventures while still giving audiences one last taste of the original adventure era.

Now understanding WHY this happened dosen't make it any less hilarious that it did. Just rewatching these it's very clear these films don't remotely flow into each other and just having characters randomly mention willis every 5 minutes in the first two segments doesn't actually make it mesh. The first two at least mesh thematically, both being about a baby digimon rapidly growing and causing problems before a titanic event breaks out that affects everyone else. The kaiju battle in adventure does feel loosely like foreshadowing to the internet based ones in our war games and it offers a nice parallel: the first segment is about digimon impacting our worlds physically, the second is about one doing so digtially. The two bounce off each other.

Hurricane Touchdown on the other hand... is it's own thing. I can't speak for the original: Unlike Digimon Adventure or Our War Game I haven't seen the original (A friend showed them to me in a stream years and years ago): The animation is beautuiful and i't sbasic concept, a murder rabbit that's alsos omeone's beloved digimon going rogue and trying to undo time itself, is good. It just has fuck all and no amount of saying "oh willis accidently made diaboromon and that's whY" is going to make these stories cohesive.

This grafted on feel isn't a new complaint: Even at the tender age of 8 when the film came out I loved the first two segments yet while i loved adventure 02, I checked out for the third segment. It's a problem screeenwriter Jeff Nemoy, who was under the impression the film would JUST be the first two, saw coming. He did not want hurricane touchdown as part of the movie and wanted to later adapt it as a tv special, frankly what should've been done in general with these films.

He correctly pointed out trying to cram in 4 new protaganists after the film had focused on Tai largely for the first two parts was a mistake.. and it was. TK and Kairi ARE in the first two segments with TK Having a cameo in adventure alongside matt (as do all other digidestined) and Kairi being deutragonist, being the one to actually raise the digimon and her remembering this whole incident being vital for the series proper, while in OUr War Game Kairi is conviently at a birthday party away from the plot and TK is one of the only digidestined Tai can actually reach for backup.

Since they cut out the bits with the older digidestined, the ONE BIT OF CONNECTIVE TISSUE they had on hand that could've possibly worked besides just saying Willis a lot, TK and Kairi are the only bit left connecting the final segment with the other two... and they only show up at the beginning an dend of it. The bulk of hurricane touchdown is instead focused on the new class of Davis, Yolei and Cody. I'm not against this, I like all three of them and miss them as apparently even their own recent movie isn't actually about them. I'm happy I can someday watch, maybe even review this film on it's own away from this baggage as I do want to see the two 02 films. I love that era, or at least the first half.

But the new kids just did not belong here and trying to push them like this was a mistake. Instead of making kids excited about them it probably made some fed up. I wasn't, but I was probably hyped by the new toys I got based around the movie. When you have a golden imperalizdramon and golden rapidmon you tend to ignore their an asspull in a segment no one rightfully gives an ass about.

While Hurricane Touchdown is the main part people gripe about there's two other common factors across all three segments that could be make or break. The first I totally get: like the dub they add a bunch of extra jokes to lighten the tension. This mostly works in Our War Game and Hurricane Touchdown as most of the added jokes are funny: Tai's mom's weird cooking is a stock joke from the time, but is so uniquely weird it wraps around to funny again, the guy getting charged one million dollary doos at a convience store is hilarious, the random andy griffith refrence, the various weridos as tthe barber shop matt has to tolerate to get internet and in the last segment Yolei's uncle playing banjo music is the best joke of the film. They sometimes pour it on a bit too thick like Tentomon admitting he's about to shit himself when entering the internet, not every joke lands or was necessary, but there's enough good ones for it to slide.

I can't say the same for Adventure. The original short had some dialogue but was largely silent, atmospheric. really beautiful. The dub version on the other hand needs a nice tall glass of SHUT THE FUCK UP FOR CHRIST'S SAKE SHUT THE FUCK UP. every bit of silence is padded with either Kairi's unecessary narraition to help clumisly glue the film together or a stupid joke. our war game has a fantic enough pace and treats things seriously enough it dosen't clash. With adventure it's such a slow, neat little film that relies more on visual storyteling in a clever way that having someone go AND THEN THIS HAPPENED. AND THEN DAVIS WAS INVOLVED. THIS WASN'T THE POTOMON/KOROMON/DINOSAUR WE'D MEET LATER SO YOU WON'T GET CONFUSED EVEN THOUGH TAI REFRENCES THIS LATER SO THEY ARE THE SAME ONE. I DON'T KNOW. I'M KAIRI! The segment is still okay, but unlike our war game, which is largely the same with just a few changes that mostly work, the additions make the segment hard to watch till the kaiju sized climax.

The other big digiivolution is the soundtrack. The soundtrack for the three films is what you'd expect: a bit of jp pop, some orechestral stings, the anime works. It's not bad from what I remember of it.

The american soundtrack is what you'd expect for a 2000's children's film: all the ska you can eat! And frankly.. I love this soundtrack. It dosen't always fit: playing the digimon staple let's kick it up when Omni Mon turns the tide against Diaboramon was a mistake, they could've picked a song or just kept with orchestra as they did before and after. For such a MASSIVE crowd pleasing moment as the hero and his rival fusing their digimon again to create a god is, it's weird to treat it like a normal monster of the week fight. The use of Run Around, another series exclusive song, during hurricane touchdown works better as it's not at the climax.

The rest works for me: I"m biased as I HAD this soundtrack as a kid, so several songs are old nostalgic faviorites of mine , but the sountrack is mostly stuck to quite bits or bits where it saves while the actual action is kept to orchestra like the series proper only using the big songs once in a while. The digimon theme gets a badass remax for the kaiju fight in Adventure, the stupid let's kick it up moment and run around are the only stock battle songs used.

The rest are peppered in and honestly well: Rockafeller Skank, while hilarously random to remember it was in the film when I watched it, does fit the comedy bit it's thrown into fine just fine. Barenaked Ladies classic One Week is a perfect tone setter for the Tai and Sora plot as it too is about two people into each other having a petty argument and one of them refusing to apologize. The Impression That I get, a true classic, hits as our heroes are fighting an uphill battle and the use of Less than Jake's absolute masterpiece All My Best Friends are Metalheads , while not fitting lyrically, perfectly works for the montage of Diablomon going global. It dosen't quite fit the seriouslness, but it's a breezy song to help set it up. Not every moment with him needs to be dead serious, we get plenty. And the closing duo of all star, because why not, and kids in america is great.

So yeah the changes mostly don't bother me outside of Adventure and the soundtrack is fine for me. I do get it if you watched the sub first, the new dub first or just don't like 2000's ska, but I can't help but love this soundtrack and Digimon has more than enough cheese for it to be fine.

So now it's down to the films themselves as stories; I';ve griped about some of their shortcomings but how does each segment stack up. Let's have a digilook shall we? I do not have a poster for our first segment so i'll use the next best thing

Thanks broto for making me aware this was a thing!

Angela Anaconda was a show I kinda liked as a kid: I felt it was a bit too hard on i'ts hero at times, but I dug the style and the fun theme song.As an adult I'm blown away by the style and find the idea of it pretty neat. Not the best animated show of the 2000's by a mile but still pretty neat. It followed Angela, an imaginative and at least in her head very vindictive little girl in a unique style using paper cutouts, as she contended with her unfair teacher Miss Briggs, her punchable even for a child arch enemy Nanette Nanoir and her stupid friends. Also gordy. Gordy was the best. The basic setup was Angela has beef with "ninny poo", fantasises her death and thent hings somehow work out anyway.

It makes it a good fit for a 4 minute short and I can see why Fox wanted to use it as the show they plopped in front of this movie, help pad the runtime and promote another series. The problem is angela has a very 50's astetic while digimon is 90's and 2000's as fuck. It's a weird fit and the creators don't even try: They just make a generic story about the gang going to the movies , make the movie digimon, have a poster and a greymon standee, and go from there. Nanette gets ahead in line because she's a rich kid asshole and is rightly treated as a villian, while Angela's friends are busy with free refills and fucking around iwth the standee. Completely understandable. It's a pretty typical angela story just with a weird tie in.

For the most part it works despite the weird clash of styles... but the fantasy does make it absoltuely clear the creators of Angela Anaconda did not bother to watch a single episode of digimon or even read a synopsis or antyhing. They know digivolving is a thing and tai had big hair, they make angela look like him and give her friend Johnny Joe's hair for some reason, but they think it's more of a tokusatsu two seasons before that nightmare became reality. The characters transform but do the action themselves, and Nanettemon is piloting a giant miss briggs mecha. It really comes off like an idea they already had that they quickly changed just enough to techincally tie in to this movie. I do like the ending where it turns out it was a snooty french film jay sherman would be proud of and everyone but nanette, including her cronies, leaves.

It's a decent short and I wish it'd been on the film. Diskotek DID try to get the rights for their recent release, but Wild Brain were assholes about it so sadly it's left off. While it gets mocked at times with digimon fans, I think it's alright and the sheer novelty of these two franchises crossing paths with neither remotely meshing and the writers having no idea what they were writing about is hilarious on it's own.

Digimon Adventure is a solid teaser to the series, a fun proof of concept that's truly gorgoeus. It's simple as you'd expect for a short film centered around small children: Baby Kari finds a digiegg, it hatches into a little bear, then a rabbit fetus, a dinosaur then a bigger dinosaur befor ebattling an evil parrot. It captures the series great: the bonding with digital pets, the mystery of what the hell these digital beings truly are, and the real life risk with Koromon wrecking up the place and Greymon and Parrotmon having a full on kaiju fight. It's a perfect proof of concpet and woul'dve been fine as just an episode of the show, but the extra budget does allow for truly gorgeous visuals. It's a simple story told simply and beauitfully that nicely sets up later parts for the series while giving everyone a sneak peak of what their in for. I would recommend either the remastered diskotek dub or the original subs over the digimon version. Like I said it just won't shut up and while it's not horrible, it's far from the best way to watch it. If you just want to watch the original dub of our war game though, it's still worth sitting through for the cilmax and beautiful animation.

Digimon Adventure The Movie was an early work of famed director Mamoru Hosada. The film didn't do well but his talent shines through and i'ts remakrable THIS was his first film. YOu couldn't tlel it's that good. It did end up being a warm up though as while the film didn't do well in the box office, the studio recognized his talent and let him do the followup.. and what a followup it was.

NOW WE'RE FUCKING TALKING! Our War Game was Hosoda's break out work: it's what lead to later masterpieces like One Piece's Baron Otsumori and the Mysterious Island which i've previously reviewed and loved or Summer Wars, which is this film but not digimon and one I badly need to watch. He has a unique gorgeous lineless style that was present for the last one but with what I suspect to bea higher budget and more runtime to tell an actual plot, Our War Game is easily a masterpiece, one of the best anime tie in films and probably anime films ever and certainly one of my faviorites.

It's also not suprisingly the closest to the original: As discussed there's more jokes, a bit of bowlderization here and there as you'd expect of any 2000's anime dub, and one bit of music that dosen't work.. but otherwise the excellent core of a dynamite story that perfectly captalizes on Y2K Fears, digimon being digital, and the core themes of friendship and monsters what fighting at the heart of the franchise and truly drop dead gorgeous animatoin is thre.

The animation really is stunning; the linelless look is unqiue and make sthe digidestined pop, it's expressive, gorgeous and really adds to the feel of the story: it's very cinematic and let's the fights, the jokes and the sheer worry our heroes go through all pop. It takes an already great series that worked with a budget of a paperclip and a piece of string and gives it the grandeur it well deserved and the result is far beyond what the pokemon movies did. I love them, their great, but Digimon really went all in on a unique style and it pays off.

It didn't skimp on story either. The premise really is brilliant; A mysterious digiegg apperars that turns out to be a sentient computer virus, perfetl given virus digimon exists, Diaboramon. It shows what these powerful beings could do to the interent, as Diaboramon much like a virus uses denial of service attacks, mass dirspution and more to destroy the world, ostensibly to get to it's creator in this version and int he origina lbecause it exists. It's what it made to do. I do prefer that, that Diaboramon isn't evil, it just IS. It's doing what it's made to do and trying to nuke our heroes and everyone they love purely beause their the ones trying to stop it and destroying the worl dbecause.. it's just what it was designed to do. It was designed to destroy and thi sis the most efficient way.

Diabormon is one of the best filler anime movie villians ever, probably THE best: He ties into the series well, there's a good reason why he's so powerful, because he's eating all the data he can find to grow stronger to the point he digivolves scarily fast, and we likely never hear of him because this film takes place AFTER the series and in the gap before 02. Even beyond that the 02 kids were some of the many kids watching this all happen live on the net and on tvs, so once they got looped in on everything they likely realized "Oh yeah so that's what that was".

So Dia can be a massive power house that takes a super mega to vanquish without it being weird he's never mentioned. The fight is a standard shonen build up to a big baddie as he easily swats down our heroes champions and in a cool bit REVERSES digivolution by attacking greymon mid transformation. He's a cool as hell antagonist and his multiplying himself by a thousand only makes him scarier.

The story also uses the internet setting well to prevent it from being too stock: WarGreymon gets beaten at one point soley because all the kids trying to message izzy about the figh tslow down tai's bandwith. And the need for internet and it not being as common in 2000's japan is used creatively: Izzy can help but has to link his computer and tai's dad compute rtogether to get the bandwith while Matt and TK, stranded on vacation in the country, have to borrow a computer from Floyd the Barber and do their fighting in public. The rest are all given valid reasons for not being able to: Mimi is in Hawaii on vacation, Joe is taking his entrance exams (summer school in the dub), and Kairi is at a birthday party. Sora isn't given one: she's mad tai won't call her, dosen't get why he dosen't email despite the Diaboramon destroying the world being news, and just mopes the whole film till she gets tai's apology and love confession, the latter despite the writers KNOWING Sora was going to date Matt in 02 by this point

It's bad and should feel bad not just for the ship tease they knew wouldn't pay off but just for being annoying and making Sora look REALLY bad.

The rest... is excellent. Nicely paced as things ramp up from Diaboramon causing chaos to him trying to NUKE CHILDREN. tai and matt end up in the ineternet because shut up, but Tai's pep talk to wargreymon is genuinely sweet, the fights are truly stunning using the 3d space to it's fullest and the climax is great. lets kick it up really REALLY dosen't work here, but it's hard not to love omnimon at least here: the dramatic fusion, the way he carves through him and I love the way he gets help too: Izzy uses denial of service attack back on the bad guy by having tghe kids email him. I'ts a really clever chekovs gun and a nice payoff, ending beauitfully. Truly excellent and if you haven't seen this film PLEASE watch it. It's worth watching the digimon the movie version that is on youtube or purchasing the stellar looking discotek set. The movie REALLY is that good on it's own.

Can you tell this one is in america? And the dub just says vacation like that's an explination as to why our heroes are in america or have to hitchhike from new york to colorado to help a blonde kid and his rabbit save another rabbit from ending time.

Look I give Hurricane Touchdown's OG Dub some grace as they had to basically cobble a story that made sense together, cut it down to about half length and try and connect it. None of it worked, no one on the writing staff WANTED to do this, it was an objectively bad idea. It dosen't make this bit good.. but it has moments: The Nu Digidestiened are still great. At worst Davis gets pissy when new guy willis hits on Yolei... and thinks i'ts about kairi somehow? I don't get what their getting at, shut the fuck up Davis. I love Davis, I geninley like the character, but my god is his crush on Kairi especially whens he's shipped with someone else entirely even in this very series obnoxious.

The rest is fine it's just very slight: the IDEA of a digidestineds digimon going rogue and having to be saved is brilliant but the plot squanders it on Willis constantly going

And not admitting his mistake that got his othe rrabbit turned into a monster till it's almost too late. The idea of time regressing the heroes to toddlers and the digimon to in training is brilliant and I love this cast and their digimon enoguh for this to be watchable.. but it's just so fucking disconnected. On it's own i'm sure hurricane touchdown, if not great, is fine. While there's a new director, he's still good and largley keeps the excellent style of the other two. It's nowhere near as gorgeous as our war game, but it's still purdy.

Overall this film.. isn't the best way to watch these movies. Only one got properly adapted as it deserved and it's thankfully the one tha'ts one of the best anime films ever. Our War game does the heaviest of living, and its such a high it's easier to overlook the Adventure dubs not shutting the hell up and the Hurricane Touch Down Dub being cut to ribbons. It just dosen't make them WORTH not just watching Our War Game on it's own and on that's a credible option both in ska and non ska flavors, the only reason to revisit this one is pure nostlagia and snark. It is fun to laugh at the begining and middle and keep your jaw on the floor for the middle. The rock is cheesy but works. It's not HORRIBLE.. it's just not as good as it could be. I don't lik ebeing one of these "the original was better guys" i'm fine with english dubs.. but this one flew way too close to the digital sun and got burned to a digtial crisp. I nothing but recommend 2/3 of this film, and really need to get that blu ray at some point soon, as well as the one for the sequel films. If you'd like me to review Hurricane Touchdown's more faithful dub, the second 02 movie that features the return of diabolomon or the two tamers films please let me know. I"d also gladly review the frontier, data squad and genocide movies, I just want to wait till theirs an offical release now it's a matter of when rather than if> Thanks for digi reading and happy birthdya broto. Thanks for everything. d

[slutpoppers]

[slutpoppers]

[maryychill]

Building on the meta I wrote about Hurricane Touchdown & The Golden Digimentals, I wanted to look at the abstract decisions that hold the story together.

Wendimon had two clear chances to capture Wallace but didn't, using the kidnappings to feed Wallace's guilt and lead him to the flower field instead. He wanted Wallace to wish he could return to the past, so that if he gave in to that desire, Wendimon could revert him to his childhood, convinced that they could be happy that way.

I don't think the movie ever mentions it, but if the D-3s are supposed to grant access to the Digital World, why did Daisuke and the others have to travel by plane? I assume Wendimon blocked the access points, though the logic is a bit shaky.

Regarding Wallace, he wasn't part of the Japanese chosen children or any other group, so he had no direct link to those portals. He was alone, running between trains and hitchhiking.

The point is, perhaps Hikari and Takeru traveled to New York to see Mimi through a digital portal, Wendimon noticed it and made sure Wallace was cut off from the kids who could have helped him.

There's a moment when Iori asks Wallace if he knows anything about that other Digimon. Wallace admits he always knew it was taking children who had a Digimon, which shows he's living in denial. Having already known his former partner had become dangerous, he perhaps clings to the most innocent stage of his Digimon, insisting on calling them Gummymon and Chocomon instead of their current forms.

I don't think he does it only out of affection or ignorance because by naming them as they were, he's freezing them in the last happy memory he has.

That denial also explains why he doesn't react with joy to Terriermon evolving into Galgomon and instead just responds with sadness.

His resistance to facing reality keeps him stuck in a loop that makes him vulnerable to Wendimon's manipulation.

Hikari and Takeru were traveling by train toward Summer Memory when Hikari's D-3 emitted a pink light. The train entered a kind of distortion and suddenly all the other passengers vanished, leaving only Hikari, Takeru and their Digimon partners trapped in a space created by Wendimon.

The other Digivices flashed red at Wendimon's appearance, but this time, a rainbow light emerged from Hikari and Takeru's D-3s, bridging the gap between the real world and what was happening inside Wendimon's corrupted heart.

The rainbow symbolizes the calm after the storm, and a bridge between two planes.

Hikari and Takeru always notice things the others don't. They aren't the ones leading the battles but they act as sensors who perceive what others miss, holding the thread that links rational and emotional.

I think the pink light from Hikari's D-3 protected them from Wendimon's first attack, preventing them from disappearing like the others. I also think Wendimon couldn't take them because they were with Tailmon and Patamon. Just like Terriermon helps to anchor Wallace emotionally, Hikari and Takeru's Digimon keep them grounded.

Not everyone absorbed by Wendimon ends up manifesting like the six original chosen children in that dark space. Most of the missing people were likely casualties of his search. They might not even have a form inside him, existing only as distorted data.

Wendimon absorbs out of resonance. As I said, those six are living proof that time moved on without him. They've grown, drifted from the Digital World and reclaimed their lives. Their existence represents a maturity that is painful to him.

Maybe Wendimon did something similar to what Homeostasis did with the original eight chosen children.

<<< DIGIMON ADVENTURE FLASHBACK >>>

<<< END OF THE ADVENTURE FLASHBACK >>>

Wendimon scanned every person, searching for frequencies that echoed his wound, trapping them once he found them.

I assume that when Wendimon is finally stopped, everyone, just like the original six chosen children, returns safely to the real world.

To close, I just want to praise Daisuke for being such a fun, charismatic, tender and brave character in this movie.

I saw a friend, a naive and sympathetic boy whose admiration for someone else moves him to do the impossible. He's loyal and honest.

He may not always understand what's happening but he never backs down from trying to help, his heart leads the way.

After watching Hurricane Touchdown and The Golden Digimentals, I have a clearer understanding of where Tri, Kizuna, and 02 The Beginning come from.

Yes, there are also other stories focused on action like Our War Game and Diaboromon Strikes Back, which are epic and super fun, giving us iconic moments like the first appearance of Omegamon and Imperialdramon Paladin Mode, but I'm more interested in exploring the stories where Adventure takes the time to walk with its characters through that hero's journey trope.

[maryychill]

Digimon Adventure 02 "Hurricane Touchdown" and "The Golden Digimentals"

Hurricane Touchdown and The Golden Digimentals feels abstract, atmospheric and slow paced. The story begins with Wallace, a young American boy running joyfully through a field of flowers with his two Digimon, Chocomon and Gummymon.

Suddenly, a swirl appears and Chocomon vanishes without a warning. Wallace, confused, calls out for him while Gummymon stays by his side, equally surprised.

After this scene, we move to the present and see brief transitions showing the original chosen children in their daily lives: Sora arranging flowers and feeling frustrated with the result, Koushiro at his computer, Joe buying a drink from a vending machine, Taichi playing soccer, Yamato practicing the bass, and Mimi in New York with Takeru and Hikari.

Mimi and Takeru have fun teasing Daisuke by emailing him a picture of Hikari and Takeru together, joking that he'll get jealous when he sees it.

Suddenly, Hikari senses a digimon crying, searching for someone.

At that moment, Mimi's digivice lights up red and a swirl appears, pulling her in and making her vanish. The same thing happens to Taichi, Yamato, Sora, Koushiro and Joe.

They are taken to a dark, cold, mysterious space where movement is slow, as if their bodies were floating in a dense tide. They're trapped in a space where life doesn't flow and time runs backward, and although they recognize each other, their consciousness begins to fade.

Chocomon (or rather, Wendimon, though Wallace keeps calling him Chocomon throughout the entire movie) seems to have chosen those who have already grown up, with solid foundations and identities, and who are proof that time moves forward.

Turning them back into children is his way of denying the passage of time. In his limbo, there is no growth, only regression, as an attempt to reunite with Wallace.

The story revolves around Wallace and his lost bond with Chocomon in that field of flowers. Wallace lives with the guilt of not having protected Chocomon, and he also senses that Terriermon, whom he still calls Gummymon, feels the same pain.

Maybe that's why he hides behind a lighthearted mask when interacting with others, he learned to perform that way to avoid worrying his family or Terriermon, using compliments and jokes to deflect attention from his own vulnerability.

Terriermon, on the other hand, is the voice that translates what Wallace says or leaves unsaid, the alter ego that breaks his mask.

At the same time, Terriermon carries the burden of being "the surviving twin" who was also there when Chocomon disappeared. Through his loyalty, Terriermon reminds Wallace that he's not alone, even if that void will never be fully filled.

One of Daisuke's roles in this story is to reflect what it means to have a living bond and face how painful it would be to lose it. When he cries, saying he could never fight V-mon, he and Wallace are mirrored.

Dropping the goggles he got from Taichi is a symbolic moment. While he inherited Taichi's leadership and courage, in this scene, Daisuke connects more through friendship and compassion.

But what is a tragedy for Daisuke is still a possibility for Wallace.

Even so, Daisuke becomes the open heart that validates the pain he doesn't want to admit.

Hikari senses the instability before it manifests, picking up on the shift just before Mimi is pulled into the swirl, and when she first sees Wendimon, she recognizes the Digimon who is crying and searching for someone, though by the time she faces Black Cherubimon, she knows that nothing of Wallace's Chocomon remains.

There's nothing but a hollow will that has reshaped reality to mirror its pain.

Koushiro, trapped in the dark space, at first can't think clearly but when it shifts into a replica of the original flower field, he realizes they're inside someone's heart and everything around them is an emotional echo turned into space.

When Black Cherubimon appears and everything starts freezing and distorting, Miyako touches the black snow and realizes that it's all flowing from his broken heart.

The entire movie revolves around the distortion of time, the original chosen children keep regressing inside Wendimon's heart until they're little kids again.

His cry of "I want to go back" is the raw urge to return to the way things were before the loss.

The same happens with the 02 kids in the real world and their Digimon, their time moves backward by Wendimon's will, materializing the desire to get back to that Summer Memory in the flower field, that moment when they were still together and nothing bad had happened.

But moving forward only begins by facing the pain and accepting that "those times are gone".

The kids can't stop Wendimon and their Digimon are getting badly hurt and devolving, but when Miyako heals Poromon, she recreates that moment of care and triggers a memory for Black Cherubimon of when Wallace looked after him.

When everyone is reverting into infants, Hikari and Takeru resist a bit longer, unlocking the key by joining the forces of Seraphimon and Holydramon to open the channel for the Golden Digimentals to appear, so that Wallace and Daisuke can receive the miracle and their digimon to gain the Armor Digivolution of Rapidmon and Magnamon.

But the resolution didn't come from a big battle, but from getting Black Cherubimon to remember his bond with Wallace. By recalling the moment when he was bandaged and cared for, he finally smiles, restoring himself as Cherubimon Virtue, and giving Wallace and Terriermon a moment of peace before he leaves

The group farewell is playful, with Wallace kissing Hikari and Miyako while Terriermon just watches him knowing he's about to do something mischievous, and Daisuke's comedic jealousy in the background.

Underneath it all, Wallace has learned that life goes on even with those holes inside, so he keeps traveling perhaps to fill those voids, which feels coherent since you can't close a wound that big overnight.

Later on, Wallace spots a digiegg appearing on a seashore.

What once seemed lost returns, reborn. Each wave crashes, yet another follows, as the sea (symbolizing emotions and the unconscious) sweeps away his regrets while delivering a new beginning.

I liked this movie, its art style, landscapes, quiet pacing... Wallace moved me as a child who hid his heart so as not to worry others, trying to protect them even from his own pain.

From Terriermon, I liked his tenderness and that role as an inner voice that speaks out what Wallace never dares to say aloud.

Daisuke struck me as funny, sweet, clumsy and brave. He was awesome along with V-mon.

Miyako and Iori shone as well, and Hikari and Takeru were the ultimate miracle when everything else was falling apart.

The movie was about what it meant to lose a piece of yourself and face the hollow space it left. That emptiness hurts, but facing and accepting it, is necessary for it to become a place where you recognize yourself again and find a new beginning.

[destinydigitama]

Digimon Adventure 02: Hurricane Touchdown

Chocomon's Disappearance in the Flower Field

Just a few gifs I made to set up my blog. I did a faithful color edit and one that kind of removes the warm filter this scene has over it. It's definitely not perfect, but I thought it'd be nice to see Wallace with his 'true colors'.

These have been added to my Gif Collection page, where I'll add all future gifs in a sortable and organized manner.

Do not use for mood boards, but anything else is fine. I'd appreciate a link back, if possible <3

Here's a few bonus gifs: two sets of shortened, looping edits.