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The most recent Animedia had a huge interview regarding the creation of Appmon with the staff. Thanks to Kaen for scanning the whole thing and Garmmon for getting the whole thing translated we have the entire interview here.
A new entry in the history of the 'Digimon' series is carved here!
Production for the newest installment in the Digimon TV series, whose history spans 17 years, has been confirmed and the series is slated to air in October. This series, donning the title 'Digimon Universe: AppliMonsters' (henceforth referred to as 'Appmon'), gives us a completely new outlook on the world portrayed in the Digimon series up till now, which have played out with the Digital World as their stage. Changes, such as a key item of the series, the 'Digivice', having made way for the 'Applidrive' and 'Appmon Chips', signal the brand new start this series aims to bring about.
The monsters debuting in this series are known as 'Appmon', AI-equipped application lifeforms who reside within smartphones. Being the embodiments of apps, these monsters fulfil their duties as they run in the background of apps that people use daily. In an unexpected turn of events, one of these monsters, a search engine Appmon known as Gatchmon, comes to the protagonist, Haru, in search of help. The duo set out in order to stop the brutal deeds of Leviathan, an AI that aims to gain control over the human society from the world of the Net. Aside from Haru, other youths who have partnered up with Appmon also make their appearance. As they meet and fight together with these youths, Haru and Gatchmon grow stronger together as they forge their own 'story of bonds'.
However, the scope of 'Appmon' does not stop at the TV series. It aims to expand into a large-scale project, spanning toys, the trading card arcade game 'Data Carddass', a card game, a Nintendo 3DS, and more. Don't miss out on riding the big wave that is 'Appmon', which will be washing over in October!
---
Nagatomi Daichi - Producer of 'Appmon'
Seki Hiromi - Toei Animation Supervisor
Katou Youichi - Series Composition
Aiming for a new 'non-Digimon' series, 17 years since the series has launched
['non-Digimon' as in a removal of Digimon from 'Digimon']
- Please tell us more about your experiences in bringing to life 'Appmon', as a new series of Digimon.
Nagatomi: Ever since the 'Digimon' series began airing as a TV anime in 1999, we've had a series that keeps on continuing with TV series, movies, toys, games, and etc. The 'Digimon' series was originally an anime based on Bandai's LCD games, and this influence, in the form of the Digivice, has remained deeply involved throughout the series' plots as a key item, even all the way up to 'Digimon Xros Wars: The Young Hunters Who Leapt Through Time', which aired in 2011. However, these LCD toys might appear a little dated in 2016, where we are now; after all, smartphones have filled the world, such that even elementary-schoolers are capable of operating smartphones in this era. Catching onto that trend, Bandai proposed a new item, the 'Appmon Chips'. From there, Katou Youichi-san was the one who came up with the concept of Digimon but from a different worldview, and requested to be put in charge of series composition.
Katou: Even before we started work on planning the 'Appmon' anime, I was involved in consulting Bandai on what kind/structure of anime would be work alongside the toys more, and how to give it a modern flavour, etc, in order to come up with ideas that would push the whole Appmon series in the direction it is heading in.
Nagatomi: Katou-san and Bandai created a proposal, within which 'Non-Digital Monsters' was written. While this is a bit hard for me to say in front of Seki-san, who was involved in the creation of Digimon, I was extremely captivated by this catchphrase, and I really hoped to be able to create 'Appmon' from this concept.
Seki: I, too, feel that this is one of the best concepts in order to push Digimon out further in the modern age. The staff involved in the various Digimon series up till now couldn't bring themselves to discard the concepts of 'the Digivice being a key item' and 'the Digital World being part of the worldview', so to be able to overcome these traditions makes it great in my eyes!
- Seki-san, as one of the people responsible for the creation of the Digimon TV anime series, what kind of concept were you intending to push out with the first series, 'Digimon Adventure'?
Seki: We originally started on the project as we wanted to create an anime to boost the sales of the LCD 'Digivice' toys, even if by a little. But to be very frank, the initial generation of Digimon designs gave off quite a scary feel, and I wasn't confident enough to say that I would like those designs. However, being involved in creating the show, I did hope that I could grow to like them myself. From there, I thought of adding some drama elements, that I specialise in, into the show. We added the children, who would represent the point of view of the audience, and told a story of the bonds between these children and the monsters.
Nagatomi: It was a splendid series. Although I only watched it as an adult, it doesn't change the fact that it had an interesting story. However, I felt that because of the success that [Digimon Adventure] turned out to be, the series that followed were unable to break out of this 'curse' that would bind them to following a similar structure to what [Adventure] had laid out. From there, Katou-san, the series director Koga Gou, and I had various discussions with the goal of creating 'non-Digimon'. Among those discussions, considerable time was spent on discussing and dissecting what exactly the appeal of 'Digimon Adventure' was. One of the factors we derived was how the series would depict an interesting view of 'the near future'. In an era where a world filled with digital appliances and concepts such as the Internet and computer was clearly visible [in the near future], [Digimon Adventure] depicts a burning story and charming characters set in that new world. Let's take for example, the 'phrases' that appear within the series. Although they are now commonly-used words in our everyday lives, digital-related terms such as 'File', 'Folder', and 'Server' gave the impression of futuristic words. That 'futuristic' feeling gave off a sort of charm to the children of that time, who compared to adults, had less contact with digital appliances.
Seki: At that time, even mobile phones weren't commonplace yet, and I also found myself going 'File? Server?' at all the digital jargon. So I made a request to 'Digimon Adventure' 's series director and scenario writer to write these terms in such that even someone as un-tech-savvy as I am would understand it, since children at that time would most likely not recognise these digital terms either. And so, the series featured File 'Island' and the Server 'Continent', with these landforms added at the ends of the terms to allow for easy handling and understanding.
Nagatomi: By attaching elements such as 'island' and 'continent' to these digital terms, they provide some feeling of 'connection' to the real world, which may be a reason for the children being able to accept the Digimon.
Seki: Even the near future can be considered a form of fantasy. However, by just writing a typical fantasy story, such a story that is too far removed from reality may not invoke emotions as well. As such, we have to make room to include some elements of reality. Even if they do not fully understand everything that's going on, children will still try to find something they can grasp onto, and once they comprehend and start to understand everything, they start to get absorbed [into the series]. That's why we create an element rooted in reality to act as a hook, and from there connect it to fantasy elements, which is essential in creating content aimed towards children. Katou-san is especially skilled at creating such hooks.
Katou: From my point of view, it is impossible to create a story without having some sort of hook, since I'm the type who expands their concepts and ideas from that hook.
AI (Artificial Intelligence) as a hook that connects the story to reality
- Then, what would you say is the element in 'Appmon' that acts as the hook connecting to reality?
Nagatomi: That would be AI (Artificial Intelligence), which has been coming up in various topics in the news lately. AI is already beginning to be integrated into various household appliances, becoming something gradually more and more indispensable from our lives. Not only that, AI is also becoming a more familiar existence, with more topics about AI such as AI capable of human-like thought processes coming about. As such, I thought about composing a story with AI as the hooking factor, and it seemed that Katou-san and Seki-san shared the same views as well.
Katou: With the speed at which science is advancing, the notion of the '2045 Problem' has begun to surface, predicting how artificial intelligence will surpass human intelligence in the year 2045. In another recent development, Microsoft released an artificial intelligence chatterbox named 'Tay' to the public on the net, which was supposed to learn from conversations. However, it wasn't long before it started learning racist messages and went haywire, and sparked numerous news articles about it. While paying attention to these points, as well as how AI is starting to ride the current trends, I thought that it might be interesing to use AI as a plot point.
Seki: A few years ago, many AI books started to get published, and I found myself reading and getting engrossed in them as well. I did think about how if we were to make a new Digimon series now, it should definitely involve AI in some way or another. At that moment, Katou-san, whom I meet in the Toei Animation main building from time to time, told me 'I intend to use AI as a plot point in the new series of Digimon'. I said 'if that's the case, these might be of some help in order to strengthen the story', and recommended some movies and dramas that dealt with AI. Katou-san watched these works and read up more to deepen his knowledge about AI; that's when I strongly believed 'Appmon will succeed with this person in charge'.
Katou: Despite being short 5-minute chats, Seki-san's 'Did you watch that movie?' and 'That drama was interesting, wasn't it?' held a lot of meaning to me. Although we did not plan anything beforehand, it made me feel that I was polishing the project and pushing it in the same direction as Seki-san, who could be considered one of the founding mothers of 'Digimon'.
Seki: I felt that for me, one of the people in charge of Digimon before, and Katou-san, who is aiming to create a Digimon series now, to share such a similar viewpoint, it was definitely the right choice to integrate AI into a modern-era 'Digimon'. I was excited to work with a scenario writer whom I shared such feeling for the concept work with!
Nagatomi: Despite Seki-san, Katou-san, and I all having very different thought process, we all managed to come to the conclusion in integrating AI into this work.
- How will AI be integrated into the story in this series?
Nagatomi: In a world where AI capabilities grow more and more similar to that of humans, we come to the question of 'what exactly is the difference between humans and AI?'. As the protagonists, Haru and co. start to realise and think about the theme of 'AI might have surpassed humans, but what advantages do humans possess? What brings happiness to being human?'.
Seki: As we probe into the difference between AI and humans, we arrive at the question 'In the end, what are humans?'.
Nagatomi: Even looking at the past and present, there is a distinct difference between the AI then and now. Simply put, AI in the past were supercomputers capable of performing quick calculations. On the other hand, AI in recent times are capable of similar thought processes to humans. 'What do AIs which are close to humans think about?' 'How will humans approach AI, as beings that possess intelligence surpassing that of humans?' As AI-related news addressing these questions become prevalent, I find myself thinking hard about these questions as well. It is a plot point that I personally am very interested in, and I look forward to how Katou-san will push 'Appmon', with AI as its motif.
Katou: As I was discussing with Watanabe Kenji-san, who is in charge of character designs for the Digimon series, he mentioned 'don't you think that as long as we maintain our current viewpoint on ethics [or 'as long as we do not get rid of our ethical viewpoint', AI will not be able to truly evolve?'. It was an interesting opinion, and one that I hope to implement into the series. In the end, I didn't want to depict AI that surpassed human intelligence as a terrifying threat that sought to destroy humanity. While it is true that there are some kinds of scary AI that create confusion in society, that's not all there is. AI has various aspects to it as well, and there exists those that help humans, and those that are made to play around. In the end, how an AI turns out is dependent on how humans use or interact with it. I hope to portray the question 'what exactly is AI?' in a way that is not too difficult to understand.
- Just as 'Digimon Adventure' connected digital terms and a digitalised worldview, bringing excitement to the children who watched it, this series aims to hook viewers in by using AI, which is becoming an increasingly familiar existence, and smartphone apps, which are already concepts familiar to us, as motifs. Is that right?
Nagatomi: I feel that the Appmon themselves, who are personified versions of smartphone apps, will captivate the viewers in their own way as well. While we don't usually think of much when we use apps, to imagine that these Appmon work in the background so that these applications can run...it would make me happy if these series could invoke that imagination in the viewers in some way.
Haru and Gatchmon are un-protagonist-like 'Buddies'
- Haru, the protagonist of this series, while being a kind person, is introverted rather than being very active or outgoing. Do you think it makes him seem not very protagonist-like..?
Nagatomi: True enough, among the protagonists of the Digimon series up till now, we've had a lot of the 'has disappointing grades, but is energetic and with hints of manliness, if not too bright at times' types of protagonists. While these traits give the protagonistic impression, they would tend to end up being offshoots of Yagami Taichi, the protagonist of the first series. While Taichi was definitely a charming protagonist, in a series that aims to express 'non-Digimon', I wanted a protagonist that was a different type from what Taichi was.
Katou: There is a sense of exhilaration to be had from a story with a hot-blooded protagonist at the lead. However, for 'Appmon' which centers around 'an important trait that humans possess, that is, the kindness and ability to sympathise with others' as a theme, I thought that a protoganist other than the hot-blooded type would be a better fit. Instead of someone who tackles and solves problems impulsively and energetically, I felt that I wanted a protagonist that, when faced with a certain situation, uses their kind heart to make decisions and take action. However, kindness alone will not solve everything. Through the course of the story, [the protagonist] would learn the importance of enduring hardships, and gaining the strength to clench one's teeth and stand up against the problems they face. You can say that this series is also a story about Haru, who admires and looks up to protagonists [in stories], growing to become more protagonist-like himself.
Nagatomi: After watching the first episode, if you felt that [Haru] isn't very protagonist-like, then I can say we've succeeded, since that was the impression we were aiming for.
Seki: If I were to say what is good about Haru, it would be that he is a protagonist who feels very much like a real representation of the children in this era. As an indoor person who prefers to spend time reading books instead of doing physical activities, he looks up to and aspires to become like his active and cheerful friend, Yuujin. However, no matter how much he feels he's tried, he can't change who he is. I feel that it reflects the average middle-schooler in modern times quite well.
- What is Haru's view and relationship with Gatchmon, his partner?
Nagatomi: As we were looking through past Digimon series, and analysing the relationships between the characters and their Digimon, we realised that Digimon are 'partners in terms of soul [something like soulmates?], almost like an avatar [of their partner]'. They weren't just monsters that appeared from another dimension, they were a personification of another side of yourself.
Katou: While defeating Appmon that cause trouble is one of the pillars of the story in this series, even when Harumon meets evil Appmon, he does not immediately determine that they are evil in his head. He confronts them directly, and decides based on his feelings. The one who does the technical, careful investigation and thinking would be his partner Gatchmon, through its special skill of 'Searching'.
Seki: Among the children of today, there are a surprising amount of children who don't have a sure sense of self [as in, they're not sure what exactly they are, what they aim to do/be]. They lose confidence in themselves, and fill themselves with worries as they compare themselves with others. I believe that as partners, Digimon, and now Appmon, fulfil the role of getting close to their partners, giving them a sense of self and supporting them. When an Appmon speaks a different opinion, it means to present their partner with another possible choice that was in their partner's heart all along. I would be happy if Haru and Gatchmon can become partners that are able to support each other.
Part 2 below
A new entry in the history of the 'Digimon' series is carved here!
Production for the newest installment in the Digimon TV series, whose history spans 17 years, has been confirmed and the series is slated to air in October. This series, donning the title 'Digimon Universe: AppliMonsters' (henceforth referred to as 'Appmon'), gives us a completely new outlook on the world portrayed in the Digimon series up till now, which have played out with the Digital World as their stage. Changes, such as a key item of the series, the 'Digivice', having made way for the 'Applidrive' and 'Appmon Chips', signal the brand new start this series aims to bring about.
The monsters debuting in this series are known as 'Appmon', AI-equipped application lifeforms who reside within smartphones. Being the embodiments of apps, these monsters fulfil their duties as they run in the background of apps that people use daily. In an unexpected turn of events, one of these monsters, a search engine Appmon known as Gatchmon, comes to the protagonist, Haru, in search of help. The duo set out in order to stop the brutal deeds of Leviathan, an AI that aims to gain control over the human society from the world of the Net. Aside from Haru, other youths who have partnered up with Appmon also make their appearance. As they meet and fight together with these youths, Haru and Gatchmon grow stronger together as they forge their own 'story of bonds'.
However, the scope of 'Appmon' does not stop at the TV series. It aims to expand into a large-scale project, spanning toys, the trading card arcade game 'Data Carddass', a card game, a Nintendo 3DS, and more. Don't miss out on riding the big wave that is 'Appmon', which will be washing over in October!
---
Nagatomi Daichi - Producer of 'Appmon'
Seki Hiromi - Toei Animation Supervisor
Katou Youichi - Series Composition
Aiming for a new 'non-Digimon' series, 17 years since the series has launched
['non-Digimon' as in a removal of Digimon from 'Digimon']
- Please tell us more about your experiences in bringing to life 'Appmon', as a new series of Digimon.
Nagatomi: Ever since the 'Digimon' series began airing as a TV anime in 1999, we've had a series that keeps on continuing with TV series, movies, toys, games, and etc. The 'Digimon' series was originally an anime based on Bandai's LCD games, and this influence, in the form of the Digivice, has remained deeply involved throughout the series' plots as a key item, even all the way up to 'Digimon Xros Wars: The Young Hunters Who Leapt Through Time', which aired in 2011. However, these LCD toys might appear a little dated in 2016, where we are now; after all, smartphones have filled the world, such that even elementary-schoolers are capable of operating smartphones in this era. Catching onto that trend, Bandai proposed a new item, the 'Appmon Chips'. From there, Katou Youichi-san was the one who came up with the concept of Digimon but from a different worldview, and requested to be put in charge of series composition.
Katou: Even before we started work on planning the 'Appmon' anime, I was involved in consulting Bandai on what kind/structure of anime would be work alongside the toys more, and how to give it a modern flavour, etc, in order to come up with ideas that would push the whole Appmon series in the direction it is heading in.
Nagatomi: Katou-san and Bandai created a proposal, within which 'Non-Digital Monsters' was written. While this is a bit hard for me to say in front of Seki-san, who was involved in the creation of Digimon, I was extremely captivated by this catchphrase, and I really hoped to be able to create 'Appmon' from this concept.
Seki: I, too, feel that this is one of the best concepts in order to push Digimon out further in the modern age. The staff involved in the various Digimon series up till now couldn't bring themselves to discard the concepts of 'the Digivice being a key item' and 'the Digital World being part of the worldview', so to be able to overcome these traditions makes it great in my eyes!
- Seki-san, as one of the people responsible for the creation of the Digimon TV anime series, what kind of concept were you intending to push out with the first series, 'Digimon Adventure'?
Seki: We originally started on the project as we wanted to create an anime to boost the sales of the LCD 'Digivice' toys, even if by a little. But to be very frank, the initial generation of Digimon designs gave off quite a scary feel, and I wasn't confident enough to say that I would like those designs. However, being involved in creating the show, I did hope that I could grow to like them myself. From there, I thought of adding some drama elements, that I specialise in, into the show. We added the children, who would represent the point of view of the audience, and told a story of the bonds between these children and the monsters.
Nagatomi: It was a splendid series. Although I only watched it as an adult, it doesn't change the fact that it had an interesting story. However, I felt that because of the success that [Digimon Adventure] turned out to be, the series that followed were unable to break out of this 'curse' that would bind them to following a similar structure to what [Adventure] had laid out. From there, Katou-san, the series director Koga Gou, and I had various discussions with the goal of creating 'non-Digimon'. Among those discussions, considerable time was spent on discussing and dissecting what exactly the appeal of 'Digimon Adventure' was. One of the factors we derived was how the series would depict an interesting view of 'the near future'. In an era where a world filled with digital appliances and concepts such as the Internet and computer was clearly visible [in the near future], [Digimon Adventure] depicts a burning story and charming characters set in that new world. Let's take for example, the 'phrases' that appear within the series. Although they are now commonly-used words in our everyday lives, digital-related terms such as 'File', 'Folder', and 'Server' gave the impression of futuristic words. That 'futuristic' feeling gave off a sort of charm to the children of that time, who compared to adults, had less contact with digital appliances.
Seki: At that time, even mobile phones weren't commonplace yet, and I also found myself going 'File? Server?' at all the digital jargon. So I made a request to 'Digimon Adventure' 's series director and scenario writer to write these terms in such that even someone as un-tech-savvy as I am would understand it, since children at that time would most likely not recognise these digital terms either. And so, the series featured File 'Island' and the Server 'Continent', with these landforms added at the ends of the terms to allow for easy handling and understanding.
Nagatomi: By attaching elements such as 'island' and 'continent' to these digital terms, they provide some feeling of 'connection' to the real world, which may be a reason for the children being able to accept the Digimon.
Seki: Even the near future can be considered a form of fantasy. However, by just writing a typical fantasy story, such a story that is too far removed from reality may not invoke emotions as well. As such, we have to make room to include some elements of reality. Even if they do not fully understand everything that's going on, children will still try to find something they can grasp onto, and once they comprehend and start to understand everything, they start to get absorbed [into the series]. That's why we create an element rooted in reality to act as a hook, and from there connect it to fantasy elements, which is essential in creating content aimed towards children. Katou-san is especially skilled at creating such hooks.
Katou: From my point of view, it is impossible to create a story without having some sort of hook, since I'm the type who expands their concepts and ideas from that hook.
AI (Artificial Intelligence) as a hook that connects the story to reality
- Then, what would you say is the element in 'Appmon' that acts as the hook connecting to reality?
Nagatomi: That would be AI (Artificial Intelligence), which has been coming up in various topics in the news lately. AI is already beginning to be integrated into various household appliances, becoming something gradually more and more indispensable from our lives. Not only that, AI is also becoming a more familiar existence, with more topics about AI such as AI capable of human-like thought processes coming about. As such, I thought about composing a story with AI as the hooking factor, and it seemed that Katou-san and Seki-san shared the same views as well.
Katou: With the speed at which science is advancing, the notion of the '2045 Problem' has begun to surface, predicting how artificial intelligence will surpass human intelligence in the year 2045. In another recent development, Microsoft released an artificial intelligence chatterbox named 'Tay' to the public on the net, which was supposed to learn from conversations. However, it wasn't long before it started learning racist messages and went haywire, and sparked numerous news articles about it. While paying attention to these points, as well as how AI is starting to ride the current trends, I thought that it might be interesing to use AI as a plot point.
Seki: A few years ago, many AI books started to get published, and I found myself reading and getting engrossed in them as well. I did think about how if we were to make a new Digimon series now, it should definitely involve AI in some way or another. At that moment, Katou-san, whom I meet in the Toei Animation main building from time to time, told me 'I intend to use AI as a plot point in the new series of Digimon'. I said 'if that's the case, these might be of some help in order to strengthen the story', and recommended some movies and dramas that dealt with AI. Katou-san watched these works and read up more to deepen his knowledge about AI; that's when I strongly believed 'Appmon will succeed with this person in charge'.
Katou: Despite being short 5-minute chats, Seki-san's 'Did you watch that movie?' and 'That drama was interesting, wasn't it?' held a lot of meaning to me. Although we did not plan anything beforehand, it made me feel that I was polishing the project and pushing it in the same direction as Seki-san, who could be considered one of the founding mothers of 'Digimon'.
Seki: I felt that for me, one of the people in charge of Digimon before, and Katou-san, who is aiming to create a Digimon series now, to share such a similar viewpoint, it was definitely the right choice to integrate AI into a modern-era 'Digimon'. I was excited to work with a scenario writer whom I shared such feeling for the concept work with!
Nagatomi: Despite Seki-san, Katou-san, and I all having very different thought process, we all managed to come to the conclusion in integrating AI into this work.
- How will AI be integrated into the story in this series?
Nagatomi: In a world where AI capabilities grow more and more similar to that of humans, we come to the question of 'what exactly is the difference between humans and AI?'. As the protagonists, Haru and co. start to realise and think about the theme of 'AI might have surpassed humans, but what advantages do humans possess? What brings happiness to being human?'.
Seki: As we probe into the difference between AI and humans, we arrive at the question 'In the end, what are humans?'.
Nagatomi: Even looking at the past and present, there is a distinct difference between the AI then and now. Simply put, AI in the past were supercomputers capable of performing quick calculations. On the other hand, AI in recent times are capable of similar thought processes to humans. 'What do AIs which are close to humans think about?' 'How will humans approach AI, as beings that possess intelligence surpassing that of humans?' As AI-related news addressing these questions become prevalent, I find myself thinking hard about these questions as well. It is a plot point that I personally am very interested in, and I look forward to how Katou-san will push 'Appmon', with AI as its motif.
Katou: As I was discussing with Watanabe Kenji-san, who is in charge of character designs for the Digimon series, he mentioned 'don't you think that as long as we maintain our current viewpoint on ethics [or 'as long as we do not get rid of our ethical viewpoint', AI will not be able to truly evolve?'. It was an interesting opinion, and one that I hope to implement into the series. In the end, I didn't want to depict AI that surpassed human intelligence as a terrifying threat that sought to destroy humanity. While it is true that there are some kinds of scary AI that create confusion in society, that's not all there is. AI has various aspects to it as well, and there exists those that help humans, and those that are made to play around. In the end, how an AI turns out is dependent on how humans use or interact with it. I hope to portray the question 'what exactly is AI?' in a way that is not too difficult to understand.
- Just as 'Digimon Adventure' connected digital terms and a digitalised worldview, bringing excitement to the children who watched it, this series aims to hook viewers in by using AI, which is becoming an increasingly familiar existence, and smartphone apps, which are already concepts familiar to us, as motifs. Is that right?
Nagatomi: I feel that the Appmon themselves, who are personified versions of smartphone apps, will captivate the viewers in their own way as well. While we don't usually think of much when we use apps, to imagine that these Appmon work in the background so that these applications can run...it would make me happy if these series could invoke that imagination in the viewers in some way.
Haru and Gatchmon are un-protagonist-like 'Buddies'
- Haru, the protagonist of this series, while being a kind person, is introverted rather than being very active or outgoing. Do you think it makes him seem not very protagonist-like..?
Nagatomi: True enough, among the protagonists of the Digimon series up till now, we've had a lot of the 'has disappointing grades, but is energetic and with hints of manliness, if not too bright at times' types of protagonists. While these traits give the protagonistic impression, they would tend to end up being offshoots of Yagami Taichi, the protagonist of the first series. While Taichi was definitely a charming protagonist, in a series that aims to express 'non-Digimon', I wanted a protagonist that was a different type from what Taichi was.
Katou: There is a sense of exhilaration to be had from a story with a hot-blooded protagonist at the lead. However, for 'Appmon' which centers around 'an important trait that humans possess, that is, the kindness and ability to sympathise with others' as a theme, I thought that a protoganist other than the hot-blooded type would be a better fit. Instead of someone who tackles and solves problems impulsively and energetically, I felt that I wanted a protagonist that, when faced with a certain situation, uses their kind heart to make decisions and take action. However, kindness alone will not solve everything. Through the course of the story, [the protagonist] would learn the importance of enduring hardships, and gaining the strength to clench one's teeth and stand up against the problems they face. You can say that this series is also a story about Haru, who admires and looks up to protagonists [in stories], growing to become more protagonist-like himself.
Nagatomi: After watching the first episode, if you felt that [Haru] isn't very protagonist-like, then I can say we've succeeded, since that was the impression we were aiming for.
Seki: If I were to say what is good about Haru, it would be that he is a protagonist who feels very much like a real representation of the children in this era. As an indoor person who prefers to spend time reading books instead of doing physical activities, he looks up to and aspires to become like his active and cheerful friend, Yuujin. However, no matter how much he feels he's tried, he can't change who he is. I feel that it reflects the average middle-schooler in modern times quite well.
- What is Haru's view and relationship with Gatchmon, his partner?
Nagatomi: As we were looking through past Digimon series, and analysing the relationships between the characters and their Digimon, we realised that Digimon are 'partners in terms of soul [something like soulmates?], almost like an avatar [of their partner]'. They weren't just monsters that appeared from another dimension, they were a personification of another side of yourself.
Katou: While defeating Appmon that cause trouble is one of the pillars of the story in this series, even when Harumon meets evil Appmon, he does not immediately determine that they are evil in his head. He confronts them directly, and decides based on his feelings. The one who does the technical, careful investigation and thinking would be his partner Gatchmon, through its special skill of 'Searching'.
Seki: Among the children of today, there are a surprising amount of children who don't have a sure sense of self [as in, they're not sure what exactly they are, what they aim to do/be]. They lose confidence in themselves, and fill themselves with worries as they compare themselves with others. I believe that as partners, Digimon, and now Appmon, fulfil the role of getting close to their partners, giving them a sense of self and supporting them. When an Appmon speaks a different opinion, it means to present their partner with another possible choice that was in their partner's heart all along. I would be happy if Haru and Gatchmon can become partners that are able to support each other.
Part 2 below
This is the best explanation I've seen so far about the whole idea of the Appmon. Truly appealing to understand the series I bet.
