Digimon Tri - Part Two Ketsui/Determination Ep 1

Moving onto part two of Digimon Tri and opening with some everlovin' narration about something and showing us damaged Digi-eggs and freakin' Ogremon and Leomon back at their old dramas.

We get rid of one beef, and another appears. No one cares about poor Elecmon and his eggy charges.

Then this guy is creeping on them out of nowhere

This is not an empty threat guys

 Tai overlooks the construction fixing up the damage they caused, Kari reassures him about them doing the right thing. I love how she's so caring, they have such a good relationship.

Agumon and Gatomon get along too, I suppose. As long as no one eats Agumon's food. Are they eating salad for breakfast?





Mimi arrives to corral Tai and Kari along on their hot springs trip and they go and meet the rest of the gang. Himekawa (mysterious lady) and Nishijima (mysterious teacher) are going too, and drop some hints about being a couple some time ago and their own hi-jinks at a hot spring resort.  Himekawa tells Nishijima to keep it in his pants and they talk shop.

Digimon TRI part one Saikai/Reunion episode 4

If your entrance in an episode starts with this - you're sulking. You're sulking Matt, and your little bro called you out on it.

Speaking of, Takeru is using this website to warn others. So... 02 must have definitely happened, right? Are there still Digidestined from other parts of the world that remember the Digimon or have partners? Still iffy on why Takeru and the others haven't mentioned or wondered about the other kids near them (or neighbours to certain people)

Koushiro has spent all night making magic Matrix goggles for Tai so he can see the distortions in the Force world.

They find one distortion, alright. It's sneeze girl.

Sora and Mimi forcibly kidnap her in the guise of helping her and the others watch on in fear.

They keep walking around town looking for distortions and decide to go somewhere higher to extend the range.

They drop off Mei and pick up another moocher, Matt.

Sora jumps into the rest of the group's ferris wheel cabin at the last second, making Matt and Tai share one together to work out their issues.

The others find this hilarious, Mimi even takes photos of the two caged lions.

Digimon TRI part one Reunion episode 3

We last left our Digidestined at the airport, wanting a lift and being creeped on by the unknown Digimon. One of them, anyway. Now they're in a car with the mysterious lady in a carpool that doesn't seem legal OR safe.

Admitedly, this is pretty cute. Patamon is sitting in Takeru's hat? Gatomon is in a food coma and Agumon has clearly stolen someone's sunglasses.

They discuss where Joe is and the fact that both they and the MIB seem to have lost Gomamon.
Koushiro is caught looking at Mimi and looks away blushing furiously. Mimi coyly calls him out on it but Koushiro quickly deflects the attention by reminding Mimi that Tai is supposed to pay for an airfare. Tai suffers a minor anxiety attack but Mimi just laughs as she's here for a while anyway. This causes the entire gang to have an anxiety attack.

While studying, Joe catches a news headline about the incident at the airport. A silent flashback shows that he shoved off the MIB and that's why he wasn't at the battle. Gomamon has somehow gotten to Joe's house without a car or the gang. Gee, good thing Joe hadn't moved house in however many years since Gomamon saw him last. Despite not wanting to get distracted from his study, Joe grabs Gomamon in an emotional hug while some asshole Digimon runs around outside.

The next morning everyone watches the news and are disturbed to see that everyone is treating the good Digimon as if they were the enemy. To be fair though, what would you think if you saw a bunch of massive beasts fighting and destroying stuff? Mrs Yagami does not shiv at all, and cheers up the companions by letting them know that they're just misunderstood.

Matt is waiting for Tai at school, wanting to discuss the news. They overhear a classmate's father was hospitalised as a result of the airport attack. They try to find Nishijima, to ask him some questions but instead find Mimi, who has enrolled in their school and 'forgotten' to tell them. Hi-jinks are bound to ensue here guys! She's with, but does not know, some random girl who sneezes and then runs away blushing. That's just going to garner you more attention, you weirdo. Next time, just say 'Bless me!'
It wasn't even as if it was a huge sneeze either.

Mimi asks Koushiro to escort her to their class, and Sora is left to drive an ice pick into some sore spots, telling both Tai and Matt that she heard the game and the concert were postponed. Uh.. really? You think? The boys are both like, uh, yeah, okay whatever and walk off. Sora's left there like whaaat? But I don't know what she expected, another double invite shenanigans?

Gross sneeze girl is in Tai and Sora's class and does the shy blushy run away thing again. Later on, Tai overhears someone say they wish the monsters would all die because they're irritating. Tai has to restrain Matt from wailing on them. It's normally the other way around and Matt is cranky and confused about this. Tai reiterates that there's no point in them getting upset and then stops the seniors from wailing on Matt. Sora is always watching and Sora is pissed about it.

Tai and Matt act like naughty school boys that have just been caught but try to play it off as 'nothing. It doesn't fly past Sora's bullshit radar and she calls a meeting. After school they all catch up by the lake and Mimi graces Joe with a exuberant hug (and obligatory gummi snacks).

Koushiro determines that the gate to the Digital World has been closed off, Takeru confirms his Digivice was malfunctioning. The radio disturbances and network issues are further proof that something's going down for real. Kari tunes Koushiro's rant out and asks Tai about his teacher. Mimi joins in and discusses the news. Matt says he will ask his dad to make a ... hahaha... complaint against the media.. hahahaha oh good one Matt. This isn't tabloid shit, they're actually just reporting the news this time.

Tai points this out and the gang look at him like he's taking crazy pills.

Well, except Koushiro who is still jabbering away. Poor Koushiro.

Mimi gets upset and yells out that it would have been worse if Agumon hadn't tried to stop them which is true but it's not what Tai was saying. Matt chimes in that Tai is blaming the good Digimon and it's wrong! Getting all up in Tai's grill about it and not letting him get a word in, perhaps trying to overcompensate for how wrong he was in just standing by when his friend's Digimon was being beaten to a pump and how Tai was nearly next.

Sora tries to play peacemaker but Matt just decides to bitch it out and walk his ass on out. Koushiro is still talking as all this goes on. Tai also leaves. Kari and Takero say they'll try to smooth it out with their respective brothers later on and the group is about to disband when Joe drops a bombshell. This gossip is so huge that even Koushiro reacts.

There follows a bizarre scene where Joe is then grilled about the girlfriend, but not in the usual way, and then the remainder of the group creepily monotone that 'sure, we believe you', which infuriates Joe to no end.

Look at the amount of casual behaviour right here. So legit. 

Mimi shuts down talk of the Tai/Matt fight by asking Sora which one she'll choose as they're both so handsome now. Sora chokes on her food and ignores the topic. Their Digimon mock them with their own pretend conversation about types when Sora sees Mei (sneeze girl) walk past and jumps on the distraction.

Tai and Matt inadvertently meet back at school and locate Nishijima who is an Information Strategy Section, Information Management Office Grade 2 Management Officer. He reveals that the Digimon that are coming through are infected and that they got a lot of their information from someone called Gennai.

That 'it' had better just be knowledge, Nishijima. 

Random interlude when we discover that Koushiro is buying his clothes online. No special reason. Maybe Mimi. Anyway, being Koushiro he's made his own dress up software.

That had better be online shopping you're talking about!

Which has an interesting definition for casual clothes, incorporating a Captain Jack Sparrow look, a Hogwarts outfit, Shakespearean ruffles and various animal onesies.

Matt can't play his harmonica because he's worried about Tai. Agumon can't enjoy the beach because Tai's pondering.

Matt wonders if they'll all change, Tai knows that Matt hasn't changed and understands why he's upset but confides to Agumon that he's scared. He's really afraid that he could kill someone without meaning too - a valid fear.

Most of the kids meet up at Koushiro's office, and Tentomon strong arms Biyomon and Agumon into a demonstration.

Seems a bit harsh, but last time Koushiro tried to explain something verbally everyone tuned out.

He's made a virtual network to stash the 'mons between jobs.

Verdict:

So they're still pushing the angst between Sora and the boys, and Tai and Matt themselves. This episode seemed to have a lot more to say about Joe but he got severely overlooked and made fun of. Tai is completely and utterly the sole voice of reason in this episode and that's scary. The other kids can't see the other point of view that the world at large is holding and apparently are fine with large amounts of destruction because our Digimon are good. Yes, but NO ONE OUTSIDE YOUR CIRCLE AND THE MIB KNOW THAT! Tai is the one who's been chased, attacked and forced to watch his buddy Agumon take a thrashing while his friends did nothing. Tai was there at nearly all the damaged sites and saw how close people came to death, how close HE came to death.
He's not lacking courage, he's just not sure what to do about the situation. I mean, if the next time your Digimon evolved to fight another monster - maybe someone dies. Maybe someone has died already in the previous attacks. How would you feel, given that some responsibility would weigh on you? Could you do it again? Issue the order for the battle and risk death or injury to others or sit back and do nothing, and still risk death or injury to others? Tai's in-between a rock and a hard place and the story seems to reflect that, and it's pretty thought provoking. It's just a shame that the story doesn't know how to handle the other kids - it gets pretty jumpy at times where it flciks to Takeru and Koushiro biking, then to someone else, then to the girls having a meal and Sora running out to see Mei but there's no follow up... it's very strange to watch, and I feel like there's an issue with the rest of the Digidestined in general because they all seem like apathetic ass-holes right now.

Gallery:

"Alright fess up - who farted?"

"We will now begin the summoning ritual"

Guy. Guy Incognito and my friend here is Summer Person.

Asking for seconds, hasn't finished firsts. 

"I had to eat this before Tai got here!!"

Contemplation station

Last time I saw a scene like this a Titan attacked

Ah, this show ain't no good..

Digimon TRI part one Reunion episode 2

Yaaaaassss, an actual opening credits showing the Digimon companions, including Gatomon! Aww yeah, Gatomon!

There's some nice throwbacks like in the original where the Digidestined were shown hurtling from the sky towards the Digiworld but with new twists. When they were kids, they mostly looked terrified or determined, now we have casual dropping from the sky, the occasional flip and the fun posing from Mimi, then theres this guy.....

Oh Koushiro, will we ever tame your wild ways?

Jumping into it - our first introduction is of a kid being stage dived on by his mother. They flop over onto the ground and wait for a moment. No real context, until we see Kuwagamon swooping them. Their eyes look notably more mainstream anime but whatever. Kuwagamon can't fly for shit and causes insurance premiums around Odaiba to skyrocket. 

Can you imagine that conversation? "Yeah hi, a giant digital creature destroyed my car and then vanished.." Sure sure, drunky. 

Digimon TRI part one Reunion episode 1

I'll be blunt, I enjoyed my snarky review of Digimon Tri part four Loss so much that I'm going to go back and do them all. Also I can barely remember what happened in the previous instalments due to the huge gaps between the movies.
I am still a fan of Digimon but Tri is not what I expected to be honest.

I first started watching Digimon when I was young and only had access to the dub version (since watching the sub I can never go back - the dubs butchered that series in lieu of jokes!)

Example: Kari tells Gatomon she's not allowed pets in her apartment yet OWNS a bloody 'real life' cat. It would have taken all of two seconds for the writers to fact check this especially since Mika the cat was instrumental in screwing up Kari's digivice in a few previous episodes.

That said, I will use a mix of dub and sub terminology depending on personal preferences and what I feel like typing at the time. Sorry!

Now -  onto Reunion episode one -

So we open on some random box thing hurtling through space. I get that it's supposed to represent digital data but all I'm thinking of is those Odyssey monkeys jumping around the obelisk.
Helpful narration only gives us vague information about this one black or evil, if you will, piece of data going into a pure white digi-egg. Hmm.. something about soulless Demiurges and the teenage existential angst?

This leads us out to Tai's bedroom which has probably never been this neat before until he was told about the Reunion special.

Bloody child stars.

Digimon TRI: Soushitsu/Loss Ep 4

I find the flashback openers to the new episodes annoying, especially when the whole thing about Tri is that it's meant to be a set of 'movies'.

Anyway, the actual opener is Joe, Mimi and TK running from Gennai and Machinedramon. Gennai is monologueing about Digimons being life, humans can die, Digimon die in the real world and don't revive but a reboot can bring them back.

 Then this happens.

Geez Gennai, are you gonna lick TK too??

A well placed Boom Bubble Puff almost takes off Gennai's creepy head and then freakin' Joe charges him and lays the smackdown on Gennai! Gooooo Jo-bra! 

"How do you like being on the receiving end, jerk?!"

Gomamon then sends out the sassiest Marching Fishes you ever saw, headbutting and slapping the sense out of Gennai. Palmon traps him with her Poison Ivy but then Gennai sees Sora and Biyomon and his Pedo-power level raises enough to let him escape. 

Turns out Koshirou's plan is to project a large hologram of Tentomon to distract the baddies?

It's kinda cool but begs the question can Koshirou just do anything and we can put it down as technology power or what?

Digimon TRI: Soushitsu/Loss Ep 3

This time open on Sora and Mei - Mei is apparently a super Girl Scout now while Sora seems to have retained none of the survival skills she gained from her previous years in the Digiworld. That's disappointing. Stop being shown up by these poncey newcomers!

The angriest food delivery system ever

Unfortunately, Mei does seem to care about Sora and Biyomon so I guess we'll be seeing a lot more of them together and talking. It's not even as though Mei herself is a bad character, but the series already has more characters than it knows what to do with and does not need another dorky nerd character with a super OP/messed up Digimon.

Turns out Gennai has sent Hackmon. Hackmon, like every male protagonist in this damn series, has to wear goggles by Digimon law. He drops the bombshell that Himekawa is in the Digimon world. Oh woah! Nishijima is so surprised that his Digimon obsessed partner who is currently missing and shown previously to be looking up locations of Digimons in the Digiworld has found more to life than just boning his dorky ass. WHAT A TWIST!

There's also a dire warning about something or other and calling Meicoomon the 'Libra' which just sounds stupid. Look, my star sign is Libra, which is an awesome sign but the sub makes it sound like they're just going with random English words to sound cool.

Digimon Tri - Soushitsu/Loss ep2

The episode starts with a little recap of How I met your mother.. I mean, How my Digimon got so fat during a food coma that it digivolved.




The rookie Digimon seem more like their old selves with a touch of bemusement about what they are now.

Yeah Matt, stop creeping already!

"Patamon!" Yells Takeru with glee.
"Oh, so I'm called Patamon am I?" he replies.

Well.. normally you'd call it out yourself but sure, we'll exposition you out of nostalgia, I guess.

Lazy ass Digmon, eating all the food, forgetting their names and stuff.

How cute is Biyomon here?

Like their first taste of illicit drugs, the Digimon decide they like being big and want MORE of a hit, they need to get bigger.

There's still some forced drama with Biyomon and Sora. Again, no one else cares. No wonder she had that issue with her love crest back in season one.

"Eff this noise, I'm out!"

Meanwhile, Meicoomon who we last saw fleeing into the jungle and vaulting into a convenient distortion is now back in front of the kids (although they're not stupid enough to get back in that trolley car so they don't know) and is about to have a sook so fierce that she briefly becomes Satan.