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.

There's also this photo and I'm not sure if it's blurred out because of the extreme nostalgia hit or if it's because a different animation group did the work?

A zombie had that may or may not belong to Tai appears to turn off what could be the most polite alarm clock ever. Don't know about you, but I require nothing short of Ride of the Valkyries to stir me from my slumber.

So far the locations are gorgeous and well done and even the lousy commuters on Tai's ride to school are well animated/drawn - even if they're only there for exposition about oooooo mysterious blackouts oooooo. Zoinks!

Hot damn - I remembered nothing of this! Random distortion in everyday Japan traffic produces a split second image of Daisuke from Digimon 02 falling into a red mist and dropping his digivice!

Well, he drops, and the Digivice goes up so I don't know what's going on there but it's suitably ominous.

Digimon 02 was noxious in it's dub form, but doable in sub life. It's still a kick to the original kids though, little turds having their own adventures after school and shit.

Aw shit, it happened again! Kari tries to wake her zombie brother up and in the meantime Yolei (who was the most interesting out of the new kids, even though they stiffed her with the wrong crests) does a backwards swan dive while her broken glasses float upwards.

Eh, this time it's Cody. Screw Cody. He was boring and annoying.

He gets a digivice shot though, but his falls down. Have all these guys been shot or what? How did I not remember this stuff happening?

Aaand, one more time, here's Ken (I assume?) after his mob style hit.

Ken, being male, also apparently gets a digivice shot but his is a show off and hogs the entire screen.





Tai is forcibly woken up by Kari and is late. Kari looks about the same as she did in 02 but a bit taller and less pink. Their mother doesn't appear to have aged at all. Kari, being the most likeable and underused 02 character is notably still alive and not falling over anything. Good for you, Kari.

In case you missed it, like me... somehow.. here's a shot of these four corpses to get you right back into nostalgia town. Is Toei apologising for 02? It kinda seems like it. Your methods are extreme, but appreciated. Quick flash of this Gundam-Evangelion hybrid Digimon that appears to have just punched the 02 kids to death because there's no sign of their companion Digimon anywhere.

It was at this time they knew, they messed up.

Much like the real world, the demise of the 02 kids has been cheerfully looked over as we watch Tai ride to his early training to the soothing sounds of the original Japanese theme song. I don't hate the English one but it's pretty much a toy commercial while Butterfly hits all the right notes.

Roll credits, and gratuitous images of Tai's butt cheeks to show he still carries his digivice. And still has butt cheeks.  This is followed by digital porn shots - showing how everyone is so caught up in the digital age of phones, laptops, giant outdoor TV's and headphones.

Awww, look how sad this one is with no signal!

Wait. What was that?

Damn you, Meicoomon! You're not even properly introduced yet and I already hate you! Look what you did to this poor guy's reception! Are you happy with yourself?! Are you!!??




Hey, check it out, Tai's still got a cute face, and a slightly tamed Anime-fro.

Nary a goggle in sight!

Has our little boy grown up?? *sniff*

How nice does this look? Seriously clean guys. 

I mean that. I have never seen a city so clean. The 3D cars even look nice.

Tai still slays at playing soccer, but it's probably easier now that he's got actual legs instead of sticks. Also a bigger animation budget doesn't hurt none.

I think having hair with personality also helps in this game as he's still pumped but all of his normal haired team mates are exhausted.

"Please notice me, Sempai!"

Laziness is contagious, so Tai also lies down and is approached by a near panty-shot of his sister because he forgot his lunch. Dumbass. Kari is gracious with her assistance, but demands a particular non-particular iced dessert as a reward. She then goes on to say that she actually wants a Strawberry Choco Bomber Crash seasonal Hyper Tropical Espresso. Is this a thing?



I'm only asking for a friend of mine... no really, it just sounds like a mix of awesome yet random words. And is it ice-cream or coffee? Or coffee ice-cream that's kind of strawberry or seasonal fruit? Does it taste nice or is it just a horrible mix? I need answers!

I don't get answers though, because Tai's soccer team mates are suddenly reinvigorated by the presence of a female and start flexing. Tai's disgusted, Kari's confused and I feel dirty watching it because it's funny, but also creepy.

Speaking of creepy, Matt's inviting Sora to something this Sunday when Tai walks into the background and then tries to sneak away but is spotted. I was kinda hoping the whole Sorato ship was retconned along with 02 because a) Taiora is life and b) that sucked more than the kids stupid career choices!
(I'm an astronaut and I have kids that are clones of me with the exact same Digimon! Screw you!)

I think Matt would welcome Death more warmly.. damn. 

Both boys are cock blocked by the appearance by their teacher who demands something from Tai before it's even school start and tells him to come to his office later. Turns out it's his career planning form. Not wanting to end up like freakin' astronaut Matt, Tai is actually struggling to submit his life goals. I like this. Not everyone knows what they want to do after school, and I think that after saving the world a few times... it would probably be even harder to pick what you want to do. I mean, what could you do?

Who are all these assholes on the street and why aren't they at work? We get it, weird lightning is disrupting your Candy Crush time but this is a very poorly organised protest and I don't know why I expected better of you.





Meanwhile, in the lunchroom Tai is eating a nice looking meal that doesn't look like it came from the flat pack Kari gave him. Matt appears and asks Tai if he wants to come to their gig. The expression on his face is a question all of itself, he looks surprised to be there.

Insert joke about sucky Engrish band names.




Tai almost chokes to death after hearing the band name change but recovers nicely. Matt punches him in the stomach but Tai's abs of steel laugh at his ineffective attack and also deflect his shitty gig invite as he has a soccer match. Tai gets his revenge by over salting Matt's food while Matt also ineffectively asks him to stop. Matt ineffectively punches at Tai's head, but Tai dodges without even looking. I guess where I'm going with this is that Matt is ineffective in general.

In the teacher's office, Tai ponders his future while stealing his teacher's food. Chuckling at his teacher's tears, Tai ingests the dessert after already stuffing himself at lunch.

Thinking about what he wants to do after school, Tai mentions that he likes hanging out with his friends, but that they are too far away to do this anymore (surreptitiously touches Digivice)


His teacher recommends the study of languages. I would have suggested soccer, but hey, maybe that's not a big career in Japan?

Meanwhile at a shipyard... man, nothing good ever happens at a shipyard does it? I know it's not probably their main routine apart from shipping goods in and out but shipyards are generally home to drug smuggling, murders, showdowns with Batman and now this, a blurry blob of pixels.

Oh no, it's Kuwagamon! That pesky varmint from the first episode of season one that seemed like a huge threat to the inexperienced humans and baby Digimon. It looks... kinda small here. Shipyard workers don't shiv because they can't check their Twitter. 

Also, go away Meicoomon! You keep letting bugs in the door! and also some random Digimon who 'wink wink' looks directly at the camera. 

Tai walks out from school, dejectedly kicking his (soccer) balls when he spots Koushiro.
Unfortunately he can't come to Tai's soccer match. I like how these two seem to be closer friends than Tai and Matt. they lament how it's harder to get the gang together again these days. Koushiro immediately thinks of asking Mimi... but isn't Mimi in America?

Yes. Yes she is. I don't know the time difference off the top of my head between New York and wherever in Japan this show is set, (is it still Odaiba?) so either Koushiro does (most likely because he's crushing on Mimi or is just a know it all) or he doesn't care to check before texting her. 

I don't know if 'what is she wearing' or 'what's wrong with her feet' is the better question here

While Koushiro gouges Tai for paying Mimi's return business class flight, Kari asks Takeru if he's going to come to the soccer match but no, he's taking a lady friend to his brother's concert instead. 

I always assumed these two would be matched up romantically. They seemed to really like each other, even though it would be weird seeing how both their destinies and Digimon are intrinsically linked to each other, like their brother's and their Digimon are. 

Kari teases Takeru about being a babe magnet and Takeru protests that it's not romantic, but anyone who's alive knows this will never stop teasing or speculation. 

Takeru tries a desperate table flip manoeuvre by asking Kari if she's jealous, but is laughed at again. 

Kari is worried Tai will be disappointed if no one comes to his soccer game, and Takeru confides that Matt is the same regarding his concert, but would never tell anyone. 

Takeru drops Kari off and conveniently a few seconds later, Kuwagamon appears. COINCIDENCE? I like how the clouds now look fake and not as good as the clouds we saw earlier. Animation issue? Maybe. I like to think it's the Digital World seeping through.  

What I like about Kari is how damn chill she is. Anyone else would be like "Whaaa?! A giant bug!? What is this!!???" and she's just like 'Welp, here we go again.'

Meanwhile, Joe is in prep school. When I was studying Japanese, we heard about how tough the study programs there were and how it was usually the main reason for students committing suicide. Well, this prep school is an ass. You're doing well? Sit at the front! You're failing hard? Better sit at the back, asshole, we don't want you learning anything or improving! Yeah, work harder D level students while you squint to see the blackboard from all the way back there. 

A mysterious shadowy figure appears in a mysterious shadowy room. Talking about witnesses, and looking at a screen showing GPS locations of all the digidestined apart from the ones who don't count. *cough cough random overseas Digidestined from 02 and I'm talkin' bout you, Willis*

It's interesting that the 02 kids have red 'unknown' stats while the rest have colourful Tetris stats. Also Cody appears twice? 

Mysterious woman's phone call cuts out and she grumps. 

Kari tells Tai she can't make it to the soccer match as she's got a birthday party. She seems to want to bring up the rogue Digimon she saw earlier but is hesitant, and merely tells him 'Good luck'. 

Tai is disappointed she can't come to the match and before he leaves, he awkwardly texts Sora to see if she's coming to his thing or going to Matt's thing. 

Now truly a show about Digital Worlds, we watch Tai and Sora text out their conversations awkwardly.  Overly polite removalists apologise for being in Tai's way, but he's on a bike and could get past their truck even if he was doing doughnuts. New neighbour nods politely to Tai but just stares morosely and walks past. 

Sora is freaking out because she wasn't aware of Tai's soccer match and now has a dilemma, politely telling herself to get it together and switching violently between clothes and how she speaks to herself. 

She has a brief moment of rage for why these two blokes put her on the spot, and decides not to go to either of them before going 'I'm late!!' and running out the door. I don't know how she knows she's late as her clock has turned into a gambling machine and is running all lucky sevens. Like, 12 lucky sevens. Sora thinks it's lucky as well, and then gets angry about her clock breaking. 

She calls Koushiro who's trying to enjoy a fancy meal with his adoptive parents and also hide his English speaking addiction. Sora is convinced it's an emergency but Koushiro calls bullshit and so do I because she doesn't actually say what the issue is so I assume it's either the clock or Matt/Tai drama. Neither of which is actually an emergency, so get your shit together Sora. 

Matt's band looks like a barrel of laughs

Takeru comes to laugh at Matt's practise. Turns out you have to buy tickets too so that's a rip for a start. The power goes out and everyone is standing around like stunned mullets. Takeru looks like a hipster.  Joe's techno-calculator goes screwy as well and he curses the ground beneath him mightily. 

Seriously? It's a pain, but it's been on the news for like, days at least. Why are you all so surprised? 

Tai's creepy team mates are like 'I told you to bring your sister man!' Oh, that's right, you need your boner for a much younger girl in order to play a ball game, don'cha? 

Kuwagamon makes a much welcome distraction on this pitch/tent pitch and Tai runs after it. But seemingly runs to where it came from? Unclear. 

Spooky music and people having issues with their phones. A modern day horror film, for sure. 

Takeru and Matt - sitting in a backstage area of some sort with nice furnished counter tops and chairs but walls like a truck stop bathroom toilet stall - watch the news. Takeru quickly calls his girlfriend or female associate and calls off the gig. Takeru tells him not to worry as he still loves Matt the most. Is Takeru being creepy or just trolling everyone? Only time will tell. 

Matt tries to call his boyfriend Tai but can't get through because duh, soccer match. Matt pulls a weird face when Takeru points this out and then shows off that he can get through to his friends with minimal effort. Roll credits to 'I Wish - tri version'. 

Seriously, what is this face?

Naw, Tai's evolving too!

This is a pretty good picture, who took it? Spiderman?

Gatomon bulked up a bit

Angemon has clearly lost some muscle mass

Oh no, new people!

Collect the whole set!

So, not a terrible start to the Reunion series. A lot of intrigue - why are there Digimon appearing? What's the deal with the little orange bastard? How did the 02 kids fail so hard? Are Sora, Tai and Matt caught in a three way? What will Tai decide to do in the future? 

Not very action packed but I expected that from a first episode.