Digimon Adventure: Last Evolution Kizuna Discussion Thread

[Vande]

Since it's just about February 21st in Japan and the release of Kizuna, it seems like time for the discussion thread.

Just a reminder: We have no expectation this will pop up on Crunchyroll at release ala tri., or anytime soon. You don't need to mark spoilers, consider this a spoiler warning.

The previously existing spoiler thread is here.

Digimon Adventure: Last Evolution Kizuna, the 20th Anniversary film for Digimon Adventure, comes out February 21 in Japan and March 25th in the US. Tickets are currently on sale for the US screenings, so check Fandango, Atom, or wherever you would normally check for tickets. The Kizuna page on Fathom's website lists theaters.


Update by Marc- The digital release is out in the US. Details for it can be found here.

 

[Digiforlife]

I have just seen it and I was totally blown away and it is probably the best digimon movie of all time for me. To be honest the first impression is that it is an upgrade to tri in many ways and really should have been tri to begin with.

Animation: totally different tier to tri and it goes back to original adventure animation style which was totally awesome! Fight scenes are very clean so it is easier for the eyes. (it is horrifying when Eoismon final form cut Omegamon to pieces)

Digivolution: goes back to original adventure styled sequences which is cool to see. But the flip side is that only Agumon & Omegamon got evolution sequences while most others occur off-screen which kinda sucks as I want to see 02 kids' evolution.

Eoismon: I absolutely love its design! Butterfly digimon (tribute to Wada Kouji perhaps) especially its final form which is absolutely majestic (totally opposite to Ordinemon). It really should be the queen of all insect digimons.

Story-telling: although it is still kinda predictable but at least they make it intriguing and relatively quick plot development. Also unfortunately there are no official names revealed for Eoismon line and new Greymon/Garurumon near the end.

02 kids: they only play supporting roles but they have some dialogues. Only Daisuke is still like his old self from 02. Ken, Iori are kinda bland which is a shame and Miyako is pretty much playing a Mimi role in the movie. Also international chosen children get more attention as well which also include Meiko (and Meicoomon?). The way they were controlled with red eyes is creepy and bit scary.

Since there are lots of characters in the movie few characters are left out of spotlight: Sora (pretty much just few lines and that's it); Mimi (only bit more dialogues and bit action in the last battle); Joe (pretty much same as Mimi and Sora); Koshiro (after he did his usual bits with computer stuff - a lot less from him in the movie); TK & Hikari (they played some part in the beginning battle and then disappeared afterwards - not really a surprise for me). Then the two new characters (Menoa and the guy in black suit) are pretty much Daigo and Maki from tri but again this really should have been tri to begin with and now because of tri those two are rather plain).

Overall I was totally absorbed by the movie and I don't think there is one boring bit in the movie. The goodbye scenes with Tai & Agumon; Yamato & Gabumon almost brought me to tears (the rest of them is ok because they are not old enough I guess). Totally recommend people to watch it in cinema if they can.

 

[G-SANtos]

From the cliffhanger ending, I'm actually thinking the last Memorial Story, which they have still said even the title is a secret, will be the Chosen meeting their Digimon again. Maybe it's even set a few years later.

We know from the people that saw the movie, even as far as the early screening, that Meiko and Wallace have cameos. Looking up on Twitter, it seems Catherine (the French girl from 02) is also in the movie. Someone who went to the early screening said on 5ch that Ruki also appears in the movie, but seeing how I can't find any mention of it by anyone after the premiere, I think it might have been a joke. Or maybe the person mistook a background character for Ruki.

Some Japanese are also saying the movie is like a mashup of Digimon Hurricane and Revenge of Diablomon.

Looking up Morphomon's name to try to find out the VA, I found there's a Spice interview with better images of the plush toy Marc posted on the spoiler thread. You can see Morphomon has antennae. It even explicitly says that Digimon is Morphomon and is Menoa's Partner... and the interview came out one day before the movie. I guess they're expecting people to have already read the novel?

I also found this page, which had included links to two tweets. The first is a picture of Morphomon from a theater pamphlet, and you can see its design better. Since I didn't comment on the design until now, I'll share my thoughts.

When I first heard of Morphomon being a thing, I imagined it being actually an insectoid Digimon, and then the picture of a plush of a vaguely mammalian creature with head wings, generic chibi cat/dog mouth, and butterfly-themed body paint came out and it was nothing like I imagined.
But this image represents the design better. You can see the wings and ears form a butterfly sillhouette, making its design more than just a dog-cat thing with head wings.

And also... It looks a lot like Terriermon. Like, I can't believe how much it looks like Terriermon. And top it of, it has a Partner from Colorado! Just like Wallace!! Is there something going on with Colorado in the Adventure world? Because it's a little weird how three very similar Digimon just get paired to two Colorado kids. I bet next time they introduce a Colorado Chosen, they'll have another Terriermon clone. Heck, it might even happen in the reboot series.

But anyway, it's awesome how they made a new Digimon for this role, something tri. couldn't even be bothered with, and just used old Digimon for the Four Holy Beasts lines (and actually, anything that wasn't Meicoomon or Omegamon MM). That, to me, shows Kizuna actually tried.

The second tweet linked on that site is this, and while it's not important for discussion of the movie, it's some funny trivia I thought I should share. So, the screen writer for Kizuna also happens to be a horse owner. And he has a horse named Eosmon. It is the offspring of Justaway and Shore.

Japanese Wikipedia claims Yuna Taniguchi is Morphomon's VA. Yukiko Morishita is also in the movie, but not as Meicoomon. Her role is "Female Customer".

 

[YongYoKyo]

But anyway, it's awesome how they made a new Digimon for this role, something tri. couldn't even be bothered with, and just used old Digimon for the Four Holy Beasts lines (and actually, anything that wasn't Meicoomon or Omegamon MM). That, to me, shows Kizuna actually tried.

To be fair, Morphomon wasn't just designed as a standalone Digimon. It's clearly designed with Eosmon in mind, or vice versa. Assuming Morphomon is Child-level, they even pair together as an evolution line. In that sense, it's not much different from how they made a brand new Meicoomon line (including Ordinemon) for tri. The main difference is that they got rid of the "Meiko" role, and combined the "Meicoomon" role together with the "Bakumon" role into the "Morphomon/Eosmon" role.

 

[Kon]

To be fair, Morphomon wasn't just designed as a standalone Digimon. It's clearly designed with Eosmon in mind, or vice versa. Assuming Morphomon is Child-level, they even pair together as an evolution line. In that sense, it's not much different from how they made a brand new Meicoomon line (including Ordinemon) for tri. The main difference is that they got rid of the "Meiko" role, and combined the "Meicoomon" role together with the "Bakumon" role into the "Morphomon/Eosmon" role.

I don't think they are a evolution line, but they are crearly connected.

Menoa created Eosmon, so it has sense she was inspired by Morphomon's appearance (especially as Menoa misses Morphomon a lot).

 

[MarcFBR]

From the cliffhanger ending, I'm actually thinking the last Memorial Story, which they have still said even the title is a secret, will be the Chosen meeting their Digimon again. Maybe it's even set a few years later.

We've known the title and basic plot information for roughly half a year.

"The Shibuya-ish Heroic Saga of Pump and Gotsu".

 

[Seer]

The cliffhanger shouldn't be resolved via a short, anyway.

 

[YongYoKyo]

Menoa created Eosmon, so it has sense she was inspired by Morphomon's appearance (especially as Menoa misses Morphomon a lot).

Eosmon wasn't just inspired by Morphomon; Menoa was trying to revive Morphomon and ended up with Eosmon instead.

Moreover, in the final scenes (based on the novelization), it was heavily implied that Eosmon really was Morphomon when Eosmon's "soul" smiled towards Menoa. It was similar to the scene of Meicoomon's death in tri.

 

[G-SANtos]

According to Japanese Wikipedia, Miho Arakawa is also in the movie, and voicing a random background character, also named "Female Customer".
...
...
...
So, both Meiko and Meicoomon's VAs are in the movie, but not under their previous roles. That's... Some weird coincidence.

To be fair, Morphomon wasn't just designed as a standalone Digimon. It's clearly designed with Eosmon in mind, or vice versa. Assuming Morphomon is Child-level, they even pair together as an evolution line. In that sense, it's not much different from how they made a brand new Meicoomon line (including Ordinemon) for tri. The main difference is that they got rid of the "Meiko" role, and combined the "Meicoomon" role together with the "Bakumon" role into the "Morphomon/Eosmon" role.

Yeah, but my point was that tri. introduced a bunch of Digimon characters, and instead of making some of them new Digimon, every single one that wasn't Meicoomon was an old Digimon. Alphamon, Jesmon, Bakumon. Even the 4HB evolve from old Digimon instead of new ones.

Although, Kizuna doesn't introduce as many characters as tri., so it's probably not a good comparison.

I don't think they are a evolution line, but they are crearly connected.

Menoa created Eosmon, so it has sense she was inspired by Morphomon's appearance (especially as Menoa misses Morphomon a lot).

To be honest, I kinda expect the franchise to treat Eosmon as Morphomon's Evolution line. Unless they go the Meicoomon route and introduce other Evolutions not shown in the movie.

We've known the title and basic plot information for roughly half a year.

"The Shibuya-ish Heroic Saga of Pump and Gotsu".

Oh thanks. I completely forgot about that.
I guess that makes sense than being an epilogue to the movie, as the two first Memorial Story shorts are scenes in the novel and it would feel weird for something that important to not be there.

But the cliffhanger ending still feels weird when this is supposed to be the final adventure and the director is saying the epilogue still happens. Feels like he's counting on the staff of a future 02 sequel to want to fill this gap, when said 02 sequel could very well want to ignore what Kizuna established (like with a "D-3 nullifies the anti-adult rule" excuse or something), so as to not repeat Kizuna's emotional stakes, and maybe not even address how the cliffhanger is solved.

 

[Kon]

Oh thanks. I completely forgot about that.
I guess that makes sense than being an epilogue to the movie, as the two first Memorial Story shorts are scenes in the novel and it would feel weird for something that important to not be there.

But the cliffhanger ending still feels weird when this is supposed to be the final adventure and the director is saying the epilogue still happens. Feels like he's counting on the staff of a future 02 sequel to want to fill this gap, when said 02 sequel could very well want to ignore what Kizuna established (like with a "D-3 nullifies the anti-adult rule" excuse or something), so as to not repeat Kizuna's emotional stakes, and maybe not even address how the cliffhanger is solved.

This movie ends with Taichi and Yamato determined to meet Agumon and Gabumon again (and Taichi bases his thesis on that).

In itself, that would not need a continuation, since it's a valid ending for an story. We even know that they will achieve it due to the Epilogue.

 

[Golden_Fate]

This movie ends with Taichi and Yamato determined to meet Agumon and Gabumon again (and Taichi bases his thesis on that).

In itself, that would not need a continuation, since it's a valid ending for an story. We even know that they will achieve it due to the Epilogue.

While I do agree with you, it seems kind of lame to end the story on a sad note. Especially since we know there's a happy conclusion after the movies end, it just seems a little emotionally manipulative since there was no implication they'd ever been separated in the epilogue! XD;!. For me, even a post credit scene of adult Taichi's back, standing in the Digital World, and hearing Agumon call to him off screen would have satisfied enough to let it go. If that's what they wanted, I mean. It does seem like this was their symbolic of way of telling the adult fan base to move on...which it totally fails at lol Now I just want more! Hopefully, 2020's series will connect more than being just a 100% reboot.

 

[Kon]

While I do agree with you, it seems kind of lame to end the story on a sad note. Especially since we know there's a happy conclusion after the movies end, it just seems a little emotionally manipulative since there was no implication they'd ever been separated in the epilogue! XD;!. For me, even a post credit scene of adult Taichi's back, standing in the Digital World, and hearing Agumon call to him off screen would have satisfied enough to let it go. If that's what they wanted, I mean. It does seem like this was their symbolic of way of telling the adult fan base to move on...which it totally fails at lol Now I just want more! Hopefully, 2020's series will connect more than being just a 100% reboot.

To be clear, I just say the film has a closed ending for the story, that's why a continuation wouldn't be so necessary.

However, the producer has said a sequel isn't impossible, so it will depend on the reception.

I really don't think Adventure 2020 will be connected to the story of Kizuna. Although a crossover movie is never impossible for Toei.

 

[Seer]

Although a crossover movie is never impossible for Toei.

That's my bet. It would be a way to appeal to as large an audience as possible, and it would be less derivative than another Tri-like movie. Plus, imagine a Japanese kid wanting to watch a Digimon Adventure movie only to find that it has nothing do with the show he's just finished watching. They were smart enough to release Kizuna before the new series even starts, after all.

I'd personally rather watch a movie about the 02 characters, but I'm being realistic here.

 

[DigiPokeMon]

I do not know why toei animation putting Last Evolution Kizuna in selected theaters for 1 night
not many people will be able to see it

I think it would be better for them to dub it and release it onto netflix where alot more people will be able to see it

 

[Metalgreymon7]

It does seem like this was their symbolic of way of telling the adult fan base to move on...which it totally fails at lol Now I just want more!

Smartest business move ever tell people who wan't to give you money go away!

 

[Golden_Fate]

Smartest business move ever tell people who wan't to give you money go away!

*shrug* I mean...the plot of the movie is literally the cast getting too old for their Digimon. I don't agree with that mindset but I can't help but feel like that's what they're trying to say.

 

[Youkomon]

Our theaters are shut down because of the virus panic..I emailed Toei to hopefully find out if they are planning on rescheduling the showings since so many locations are shutting down....They know these movies bring them in money...They probably don't want to risk losing any.

 

[Azrael]

Our theaters are shut down because of the virus panic..I emailed Toei to hopefully find out if they are planning on rescheduling the showings since so many locations are shutting down....They know these movies bring them in money...They probably don't want to risk losing any.

Did you receive any word? I was wondering too. There really is no word anywhere on when we will be able to see it The theaters shut down before it was going to show and that was the only chance I had currently. I am assuming the same for you.

 

[Vande]

There has been no news on if/when Kizuna will now be released.

 

[Youkomon]

Our theaters are shut down because of the virus panic..I emailed Toei to hopefully find out if they are planning on rescheduling the showings since so many locations are shutting down....They know these movies bring them in money...They probably don't want to risk losing any.

Did you receive any word? I was wondering too. There really is no word anywhere on when we will be able to see it The theaters shut down before it was going to show and that was the only chance I had currently. I am assuming the same for you.

They announced on Facebook and Twitter that the movie is not canceled. It's just postponed. Thankfully. I'm glad they didn't decide to just cancel it