23rd Anniversary of Digimon Adventure: Our War Game!

[MarcFBR]

It's March 4th in Japan, which is the day Our War Game (or Children's War Game), the second Digimon Adventure film, opened in Japan.

Generally held up as one of the best, if not 'the' best, parts of the franchise, Children's War Game premiered as part of the 2000 Spring Toei Anime Fair, so it's the 23rd anniversary of the movie!

(Various text below has been used in prior anniversary articles.)



The film was used as the 2nd of 3 parts for the American composite Digimon the Movie, and was the part of the film that was most heavily advertised around.

Because of the film, director Mamoru Hosoda ending up at Studio Ghibli for a short time, before his eventual rise into being one of the better known Japanese directors.



The film also seemed to have stuck with Hosoda to a decent degree though, as he's actually remade it twice!

First as the (slightly less well known) short film Superflat Monogram in collaboration with Louis Vuitton and artist Takashi Murakami (Hosoda once commented that the way that happened was Murakami saw the film, and later when Louis Vuitton wanted to work with him, the presentation Murakami made involved the Digimon film, which is what later led to Hosoda being involved.)

Second is as the feature film Summer Wars, which is an expanded 'Digimon free remake' of the film, which was a well liked and successful feature film.


Various aspects of the visuals from the second Digimon film continue to show up through Hosoda's work, and the film continues to be something he's asked about at Q&A events. His newest film, Belle, had people commenting on the general look and thematic connections even before it was released.



The second theatrical Digimon film seem to be what the franchise looks to on a normal basis at what to aim for, as you can see it acting as a guide for numerous Digimon content, from various films, to Cyber Sleuth, to tri., to Appmon, and that likely won't stop based on it's popularity.

Even Digimon Adventure: Last Evolution Kizuna & Adventure: took a decent amount of inspiration from it, and it wouldn't be a shock if the upcoming Digimon Adventure 02: The Beginning did as well.


On top of everything else, it's just a fun and exciting movie to watch, which is part of why it's stood at the tip top of the franchise for so long.




A few years ago we got ahold of promotional film slides and did scans of the clean version of the movie poster off of one.




After the release of the movie as part of a larger Digimon movie Blu-ray Box, it was later re-released as a single along with the first Digimon Adventure film, also directed by Hosoda! Those are still available: (affiliate links)
Digimon the Movies Blu-ray Box
Digimon Adventure Movies 1 and 2 Blu-ray
Children's War Game is also being included in the Digimon Adventure 1999-2001 Blu-ray box.

 

[Mugenlazlo]

It’s a bummer that Joe and the girls couldn’t help Tai, Matt, Izzy, and TK fight Diaboromon.

 

[Cardcaptor Takato]

Though I like Runaway Digimon Express slightly more, this is still one of my favorite Digimon movies. It's hard to explain but it has this full length feature vibe to it even though it's only 40 min, like it doesn't feel like a short at all. I love the dynamics between all the characters and it has my favorite Taichi/Sora moments, and it does a good job of building up Diabolomon up as a big threat and it's a nice wrap up to the original Adventure. Even years later the animation still looks gorgeous and I love the music, both in the dub and the original. Our War Game is also why Summer Wars is my favorite Hosoda film as I like he made it as a more extended story with his own characters.