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.