It’s been quite a while, but I’m still here. I’ve been taking a break from reading. I started quite a few books last year that I didn’t finish and it put me off reading for a bit. In the meantime I have done other things, one of those was finally finishing watching Digimon Adventure 2020 and I thought I’d share some thoughts about it here.
I’ve been a fan of the original Digimon Adventure when I was a kid. Back then there was this Digimon vs Pokemon thing among kids who could debate for hours which show was better. I enjoyed both of them, but if I had to pick a favourite, it would be Digimon.
At this point I will admit, I only really watched Digimon Adventure and Digimon Adventure 02. I tried to watch Digimon Tamers, but it just didn’t work for me. Of those, the original Digimon Adventure has a special place in my heart and I barely remember anything about 02, but I remember I wasn’t the biggest fan of some elements of it, like the new digivices for some reason and I absolutely couldn’t stand Davis. I actually don’t think I liked any of the characters of 02, I just wanted to see more of Kari and Takeru.
Now let’s move on to discussing what I thought of Digimon Adventure 2020. For starters, I ended up having a much more positive feeling about this reboot once I finished it than during the first half of it. I don’t think there is a fair possibility to compare the original Digimon Adventure to the reboot. There is not much room for nostalgia, the character design is the same as the original of course, but the personalities and developments are completely different. That said, it was impossible for me to watch this show and not think about the original.
Digimon Adventure 2020 was difficult to connect with since there was a lot less character development than in the original and the stakes didn’t feel too high. There was not as much backstory as in the original and where there was a possibility to explore some of it, it just didn’t go as deep as I would have liked. The Holy Digimon fighting the ancient war is a story that I want to know more about and keeping it in a shadowy, fogged up mystery legend of sort does work for the show, but it also always felt to me like it was kept that way in order to set up a deeper reveal that ended up never happening.
The show also felt rushed at the beginning. We jumped right into the action without a second thought. The kids are just thrown into this world with these creatures and they’re all instantly working together as a well-oiled machine. Yamato is the only one who needs some time to get to work with the others, but even that happens quickly enought that we get to see Omegamon… in the second episode? That is a bold choice, but it makes it clear that this is a different show.
While I respect that approach, it wasn’t for me. The character development needed to get Taichi and Yamato to the point where Omegamon’s appearance was possible was one of the strongest points of the original arc. Digimon Adventure didn’t even get that far, but it merely laid the foundation in terms of making these two very strong, different personalities learn how to work together and that is what made it possible for their two Digimon to fuse into Omegamon during Our War Game!. Seeing Omegamon show up in the second episode of a show where the characters have barely interacted which each other felt very odd.
Lack of character development doesn’t mean that these characters aren’t interesting. Mimi is portrayed here as a determined and confident girl, instead of the more I’m-the-center-of-the-world, more annoying OG Mimi. She is much more likeable and relatable as a result, even though she doesn’t sing this time around. Sora and Biyomon have a better relationship than the one shown in 1999. Angemon and Devimon have an interesting dynamic that unfortunately is not explored much, but still adds a nice depth to their characters. Tailmon is still the best Digimon.
Episode 63 is in my opinion the highlight of the show. Taichi and Agumon are separated. Taichi unknowingly ends meeting Botamon and trying to protect him from attacks by going as far as to taking on the attacking Digimons himself. I would have loved for this show to have more episodes like that.
The show is more action-focused than the 1999 version. We get to see all the Digimon reach Mega stage this time, which creates a better balance. Yes, I know a common complaint about this show is that Tai is given a bigger role than others and while it is true that he is there in moments where he doesn’t need to be, he doesn’t come off as arrogant or as thinking only he can save the day, so I didn’t mind it. If anything I thought Taichi was portrayed as a better leader this time around. He and Yamato were both trying to be leaders during the 1999 Digimon Adventure while disagreeing on pretty much everything and that was the root for many of the conflicts they had, so it was nice to see them be able to work together better this time.
Hikari and Takeru are given more power and aren’t just constantly seen as the little kids that need to be protected. They have their own stories and aren’t afraid to take charge when needed.
I also thought this show has a more optimistic point of view than the original version. There is definitely a lot less dead Digimon. My heart wasn’t broken over an over like it was when Leomon, Wizardmon, Pumpkinmon and Gotsumon among others. Even Leomon survives this time! Big round of applause for Leomon!
The end of the show is also better in my eyes, even though the final episode is almost a compact repeat of Our War Game! and doesn’t offer anything we haven’t seen before from an action perspective. Once the battle is over the Digimon and the kids stay together and that put a smile on my face.
Now another big aspect for me to consider here was the music. It was always going to be a huge challenge to top songs like Butter-Fly and Brave Heart and I have to say they remain the best ones for me. However Break The Chain does recapture some of the spirit of the 1999 soundtrack and I didn’t love it straight away, but it definitely grew on me. The one song I really liked was the last ending, Dreamers by Ateez. It’s a different type of sound than expected for Digimon maybe, but it works very well especially as the shows comes to an end.
I think I’ve made this post long enough, so I’ll wrap it up now just by saying that while I had my doubts about this show in the beginning, I am glad to have watched it. I am glad it had a happy ending and even if there’s things that I loved about the original version that this one didn’t do or did very differently, it all works to create a complete, separate, new version of a show that I enjoyed a lot.
The Melody In Words 
You must be logged in to post a comment.