My Complicated Relationship With Digimon Adventure 02.

(Sighs) I knew it would only be a matter of time. I have long had issues with this anime, and I think the release of the finale movie (after being delayed for a year) is the right time. Many people are coming to reevaluate the second season of Digimon Adventure in recent times. Here is why I am not among them. Let's explore my complicated relationship with Digimon Adventure 02.

Courtesy: Toei/Bandai/Akiyoshi Hongo

I won't be structuring this the same way as other things I've written; because this subject has a myriad of issues to address. So, I think the best way to approach this is to go arc by arc. Let's start with the premise- this could have easily been a direct sequel that immediately followed the end of the first. Instead, the "02" in the title represents it taking place in the year 2002. Ironically, when the actual 2002 rolled around; it was more dated than a K-Pro in a town where everyone else had Windows XP.

Now, let's get started with the first arc, charitably speaking: with most of the original cast having gotten older; save for TK and Kari, a new cast is brought into the fold... which is my first issue. I'm not against adding new characters when it makes sense; but this is one of many issues that metastasized to future incarnations that started here. While the idea isn't the worst, it's the execution that bothered me at the time and still does.

Case in point- how this season introduces our new heroes and the first villain.  On paper, a new threat emerging to fill the vacuum left by Myotismon should be all right; as with a new generation of heroes. From the perspective of an 8-year-old and watching this again to write this (and yes, I did factor in the subs as well); though, lots of elements never sat right in execution. We'll get into this more later, but the Digimon Emperor never fit that bill to me.

On the side of the heroes, the idea of new leads was never the problem I had- it was the execution. Both from the perspective of a younger viewer watching at the time and since, I never really had the same attachment to these characters as I did those before or after. Especially Daisuke "Davis" Motomiya- at the time, his constant lusting over Kari and immediately jumping into the position of new lead didn't really sit well with me; and still doesn't. One of the easiest fixes for this issue I and others have proposed is to have TK and Kari lead the new team instead. That way, you can still have both the new characters and legacy ones in solid balance.

Now, let's address the storytelling. Though there are a lot of interesting concepts (the head writer of my favorite season, Tamers; Chiaki Konaka started his run with the series here), none of them really lasted long enough to stick or be properly utilized. It's not just the darker material (such as death in the family or what's functionally child trafficking in the episodes with Oikawa near the end); I never really had a clear idea of what attitude to adopt even when I was younger. This was not an issue I had with other shows on Fox Kids at the time, including Beast Machines and Power Rangers (which it shared a block with on affiliates near where I lived in those days).

As for the "World Tour" arc- some people might like it; but I consider it synonymous with arc fatigue. Even how other countries celebrate the season feels underutilized. I know this anime came out well before Rise of the Guardians, but this storyline comes off like a Rise of the Guardians wannabe in hindsight.

That's not to say none of it works. Far from it- the Black WarGreymon storyline is one of the most effective aspects of the season and one of the few new aspects that genuinely left an impact on me. Same with Oikawa's death at the end of the storyline I mentioned before. The animation is also quite solid; even with the Armor sequences having CGI that looks considerably dated nowadays.

Still, there are lot of ideas that just feel uneven and don't come together as a unified whole. One storyline features Ken still struggling with his brother's death; another features Russian singers that come off like you ordered the Nutcracker Suite from TEMU. When the viewer has no clear idea of what attitude to adopt, the story just doesn't work. 

So no, I am not among those that considers this better than 01; not with Tamers, Data Squad/Savers and now Ghost Game in mind. It's at least better than Frontier; but that's not saying much. I do not consider this the T2 of the franchise; I would argue it's more like its Terminator Salvation- where it feels like a rehash of ideas we've done before; and the new ones we see break willing suspension of disbelief.

That is something that becomes readily clear with the now-infamous epilogue. I understand why people who paired Tai and Sora in particular weren't happy; but that's only the tip of the iceberg of story problems here. Even when head writer Hiroyuki Kadadou attempted to explain details about this ending, it just made things more confusing; once again invoking the Hermes Conrad meme.

I might be able to buy some of the trajectories, such as Davis making noodles and Sora arranging flowers; but the lion's share make no sense me. Even worse, is not only how TK detailed all these in a tell-all book (honestly found Jennette McCurdy's memoir more interesting); but how he took his children to the digital world; as did everyone. It didn't make sense to me as aa kid; and it still doesn't make sense to me now.

With all this in mind, I can submit that this anime functionally died on the following dates of its respective Japanese and US airings- March 25, 2001 and May 19, 2001. Were it not for Tamers later that same year, my interest in the entire franchise might have gone down with it.

I know this is not the piece I envisioned writing; but I am once again glad to have it done so I can move onto something else. That's more or less how complicated my relationship is with Digimon Adventure 02. It's a series that has some interesting concepts and potential for its stories; but that potential was never fully realized. Its approach as a sequel felt more to me like Digimon Adventure 1.5, and it still does. I don't hate it; but it remains one of the most uneven viewing experiences I've had in any language (not even the subs changed my perspective).

As for the movie out this year, that's another story. I have made quite clear that I was not a fan of Last Evolution Kizuna, and I am going into the sequel with significantly lower expectations. I will have to watch the movie to be entirely sure, but I don't have high hopes. That will be all for now, take care.