Thank you for posting this, very interesting indeed. I figured this was the case to some extent, the Saban dub added a lot more Taiora dialogue than what ever existed in the original for certain, both the first movie (Sora saying "Come on Tai", while watching the battle with Greymon and Parrotmon as he blew Hikari's whistle that was not in the original and Our War Game especially with his message about throwing up in her hat). So it's official, Sorato was always intended, Taiora never really existed.
Yeah, the Taiora dialogue was really exaggerated in the dub. ("Sora's still waiting for Tai to call" in the third movie, for example.) But, honestly, I think it's "Our War Game" (Japanese) that really threw off the whole Sorato thing, because it introduced Taiora/made a triangle. Hosoda's style is much more "loud" and the Taiora implications in "Our War Game" were really obvious. But Kakudou's series is about friendship, and he didn't dwell on romance overtly. The Sorato in 01 is very, very subtle - the two are shown in some moments to have an emotional understanding with each other, especially in Sora's Crest of Love and during the Dark Masters arc. That was the foreshadowing. But as the series is about friendship, you had a lot of blatant friendship between all the Chosen - with a large focus going to Taichi, and his best friend, Sora. So a lot of people liked pairing them up because their friendship seemed much more obvious (but the key word is
friendship). And then, of course, "Our War Game" happened, and all the Taiora shippers could then claim all the Taiora friendship in 01 were intentional romantic hints (when Kakudou didn't intend them to be). But I understand why Taiora is much more obvious to most people, because Kakudou only hinted at Sorato a little in 01, then Hosoda implied Taiora way more obviously in "Our War Game".
That's interesting. I wonder why hardcore Japanese fans didn't already bombard him with such questions a long time ago.
Unless, of course, it DID happen and it was just us English speaking audiences not getting wind of his responses?
Also, you can't help but feel that he doesn't really care about the questions from the translations. It just may be me though.
From what I can see, if it WAS intended that Sora and Matt was to end up together, it still would go out the same way as it did happen with the relationship developing completely off screen.
Which would mean that honestly, it's still a very eye-rolling scenario. Off-screen development is just bad.
Twitter didn't exist back when Digimon Adventure/02 was relevant? The fandom for Adventure/02 isn't exactly that lively.
And just because Kakudou didn't care about the questions (it's a series from 1999 . . .) doesn't mean he lied. Because he didn't - even his answer regarding the epilogue "matched" what Nishizono said in the 2007 DVD. I asked the questions, and he got really,
really tired about my questions about Taiora. He didn't want it introduced at all; that much was obvious. (I got the impression that he's not a fan of cliches aka the "love triangle" - he just wanted it straight Sorato.)
. . . And it
was intended that Sora and Yamato end up together. Kakudou confirmed that. And only a shipper would deny that. =P
Digimon isn't an anime about romance. It's an anime about friendship. Yamato, Sora and Taichi were 10/11 in 01 . . . how do you expect kids at that age to fall in love with each other? That's why Kakudou didn't have blatant hints, just subtle foreshadowing.
If anyone is curious, you can read my initial post regarding Kakudou and Sorato/Taiora
here (but they are my personal opinions):
I’m of the opinion that though Digimon Adventure (the series, not the movies) had no romantic hints whatsoever - it’s a series about friendship - it still managed to lay the foundations for a possible future relationship between Yamato Ishida and Sora Takenouchi (which occurs in 02 when they date and later get married).
It’s subtle, but Yamato and Sora are shown to have similar emotions and to understand each other (in other words, to have an emotional connection), especially during Sora’s Crest of Love and the Dark Masters arc. In my opinion, an emotional connection is the basis for a romantic relationship, so even though nothing romantic developed during 01 with any of the Chosen Children, I still came away from it thinking: “Yamato and Sora are so similar emotionally and they ‘get’ each other - they’d make a great couple if they’re ever allowed to grow up in another season.”
In direct contrast, Sora’s interactions with her best friend, Taichi Yagami, showed that he didn’t understand her on an emotional level (refer to Sora’s Crest of Love and Our War Game, as well as numerous 01 episodes), and that the two fought all the time (refer to Sora scolding Taichi numerous times in 01 for being immature, as well as their fight over a hairpin, and Koushiro’s comment in Our War Game). I personally love the relationship between Taichi and Sora for what it is - that of best friends since childhood. And I really think the series demonstrated that the two had compatible personalities for friendship, but not romance.
Honestly, that's interesting and surprising since aside from Yamato breaking Sora out of her sadness in episode 51 (which isn't necessarily romantic either since Gabumon did the same) I don't remember any other hints even ignoring the more "Taiora" pushing dub. It feels left field really since for whatever reason the idea of the pairing didn't get through whether by hints or conversations between the two and without that development it's still hard to see that pairing.
That wasn't the only hint - but of course it wasn't romantic, they're 10/11. It just showed you that the two were very, very similar and that Yamato could "reach" Sora. And Kakudou's foreshadowing did get through to some people. *Raises hand and looks at the entire Sorato fandom.*
I personally think Sorato makes much more sense than Taiora (because their personalities are much more similar and therefore they're more compatible, in my opinion), but I don't think those who think the opposite have invalid opinions, either.
I really don't think Digimon had a lot to do with relationships to begin with, the fact that the children were just that in Adventure, very young children between the ages of 10-12. It wasn't relevant for the storyline or their development, it was about learning lessons of teamwork while surviving in a hostile environment while trying to find their way home ... With 02 Zero-Two, the children being older, it was natural that perhaps a little emphasis on their personal lives and relationships would be apparent but not to a real in depth extent. That is the reason for the lack of any real instances between Yamato and Sora, there simply wasn't many examples to speak of, especially when they were ten for crying out loud.
I agree.
Could anyone list what hints there were of Sora and Yamato being a couple, particularly in the original Adventure? I've never noticed anything of the kind. They didn't really interact much.
But something one should mention here: Even if Kakudou did not intend it... It does not mean, that the writers did not intend it either. I am quite sure, that Yoshida did intend Taiora. I mean, she did the script for movie 2.
Did you read my post? Kakudou had nothing to do with movie 2 aka "Our War Game". I addressed "Our War Game" as something either Hosoda or Seki (most likely) introduced. Yes, Yoshida (who rarely wrote for the actual series) wrote "Our War Game", but she would be working under Hosoda and Seki. Either of whom, as I said, wanted Taiora introduced in "Our War Game" (because Kakudou certainly didn't).
And writers
write for the director. It's the director (and producer) who has the final say in everything that is produced aka episodes and movies.
