I Wonder If We Still Would Have Gotten A Cure Cameo Of Peach If She Hadn't Been One Of The Lead Cures.

I wonder if we still would have gotten a cure cameo of peach if she hadn't been one of the lead cures. How much were they willing to invest in that bit?

You know, I was kinda worried when they skipped Peach that we wouldn't see her at all. But now I just find it hilarious that they saved her cameo for for advertising an airline.

Why I think Ryo is the Ken of Survive.

Obviously, all the Survive kids are meant to reflect one of the 8 original Adventure kids. However, the characters aren't completely one to one, as each of the characters are in fact, unique characters in their own right. (Most evident I think is in the fact I'd assign basically every character except for Miyuki a different crest from their adventure counterpart). But they do echo the basic archetype of the role each adventure character played in the series. For the most part this is self explanatory, some more than others.

Takuma is Taichi Minoru is Koshiro (Less obvious but that's a separate point) Aoi is Sora Shuuji is Joe Saki is Mimi Kaito is Yamato Miu is Takeru Miyuki is Hikari

However, Survive has 10 important human/digimon partnerships.

The sole adult of the group, the professor, even bares some resemblance to a rather important "old man" of adventure, Gennai. An old man who knows a lot of their situation, was involved in the "inciting incident" looks after the kids to a certain extent, but is rather unreliable and has amnesia regarding some very important things he should know. Of course original Gennai isn't even really human, and therefore doesn't have a digimon partner, (Jijimon also takes on some Gennai traits imo) but Akiharu I would still say parallels Gennai.

However, Ryo doesn't match any of the original adventure cast. But I think it is fair to say he resembles Ken. Ryo has a worm digimon. Ryo has a family member whose death deeply affected him. Ryo is grumpy and aggressive, while hiding a secretly gentler and hurting side. Ryo is self-destructive, at the cost of his partner.

Ryo can't be Adventure Ken really, because Adventure Ken doesn't really exist. But Ken isn't exactly an 02 kid in the way Daisuke, Iori and Miyako are. A reoccurring theme in 02 is the difference in outlook between the Adventure kids, the Adventure and 02 kids, and the 02 exclusive kids. And so Ken is in no way one of the original Adventure kids, but there is something to be said of the fact that his (executive meddling hellscape) backstory reflects experiences of Takeru, Hikari, more than it does the other 02 original kids. He even has an associated crest. In many ways, Ken is a retroactive Adventure character, without actually being an Adventure character. Ken in the context of digimon Adventure 02 is very much so an example if a character like Takeru had been driven to the darkness, who then had to be rehabilitated by a set of characters with an outside perspective. Really that is what all of 02s Jogresses is really, the new kids helping the more experienced kids deal with their unprocessed issues. Miyako helps Hikari look out for herself, Iori helps Takeru stop lashing out in anger from keeping his emotions hidden, and Daisuke helps Ken see value in his own continued existence.

Which is why I think Ryo is a homage to Ken. It's not the "Adventure Ken" that theoretically exists, the little boy wondering around the digital world with Wonderswan Ryo or whatever did or did not happen in that unreliable backstory, but 02 Ken, the Ken after the trauma, who needs SOMEONE to connect with him to help save him. He's the sole character who is taken from 02 era rather than the first Adventure era. And 02's themes are in this character. Ryo dies in part due to hopelessness and depression. He is unsavable the first playthrough. Unsavable in the initial adventure context. The original context where the focus is on survival and connection with your own digimon. Wormmon couldn't Save Ken alone. just as Kunemon couldn't. Both Wormmon and Kunemon die in desperate attempts to try and save their partners (really from themselves). But Ryo is saved from death when you can manage to become friends with him. When you connect with him, not unlike how Daisuke managed to save Ken. And from there, Ryo manages to save other people (Shuuji) from falling into that same despair, not unlike how Ken tried to reach out to the dark spore kids. It's noteworthy that of the 3 initial endings, the moral route is the closest to the truthful route, but aside from Ryo and Shuuji has one key difference. It ends like the original Adventure did, the kids and their partners separating, while the truthful route has the kids and their partners living together, invoking the 02 ending. While the Harmony and Wrathful routes do also bear a resemblance to 02's ending, just relatively less optimistically, Harmony and Wrathful routes involve the failings of personal connections. The failure to understand each other. Ultimately the truthful route resolves peacefully, even the big bad reconciling with his sister, no longer feeling the need to lash out at others. Ryo is the factor that takes this adventure and adds a bit of 02 to it, 02 in this context being the importance of connection. 02 being what makes the happy ending.

It's not a 1 to 1, after all, all of the characters are different from their adventure counterpart, and take pieces from one another. For example, its Minoru that has the parental divorce backstory, and Miyuki is a protective older sister to the professor, not a younger sister to Takuma, and the Professor is the most curious about the digital world's nature, and is the one with the digimon partner Gabumon. Saki is the one hesitating the most about going home at all rather than being the one to bring it up the most. I'd say Ryo also has elements of Joe in his fear of his partner and for being an unreliable older kid, and Shuuji has elements of Ken in his cruelty of Lopmon, and insistence on authority and desire to measure up against an older brother with whom he has a flawed relationship. Really none of these kids match up one to one with the adventure kids, and that's great, but I think it is fair to say that as far as analogies go, Ryo does draw from Ken.

02 is an extension of Adventure, and despite their differences in plot, theme and character arcs, no discussion of Adventure will ever be truly complete without discussing certain elements of 02 in relation to that, particularly 02s epilogue and what it means thematically. Ryo is a reflection of Ken, and how his story and needs were a reflection of the themes of 02, and how those themes were built off of the themes of Adventure. How Ken needed something that was not as prevalent in Adventure. Naturally, I think the "truthful" story of survive, would have to be a route that includes elements of 02 no matter how faithful it is to other Adventure themes otherwise.

Listen, I understand why Suite isn't a popular season. Generally speaking, the best parts of it are generally done better in the two seasons that precede it. It in many ways is just a weaker frankensteining of Fresh and Heartcatch. But Fresh and Heartcatch are fantastic, so just because it's worse than those seasons, doesn't mean its bad in my opinion. And to be fair, it does deserve many of its criticisms.

But it's also one of my favorite seasons, and I think some of it's criticisms are more a matter of taste. There's just a lot I love about Suite.

Hibiki and Kanade

I also know a lot of people aren't huge fans of the whole fighting thing Hibiki and Kanade have going on. And I agree, it's not the best executed and some things don't make sense. I also understand that many people are not fond of the vitriolic best buds trope, but I don't think that makes their relationship inherently bad just not to everyone's taste. For what it's worth, we haven't had a pair of cures like them before and since and it's a tragedy to me personally because I am quite fond of vitriolic best buds, duo cures and childhood friends. We have so many cure duos and aside from these two, none are childhood friends. The CLOSEST is the fact that Saki and Mai met once, when they were 9. Several trios of childhood friends (Fresh, Doki Doki and Happiness Charge), but they're the only true childhood friend duo. I honestly want more cures like these two. They get the learning to understand each other that the new friendships have, with the wealth of intimate knowledge about each other stemming from their childhood friendship. Despite spending a year "apart", the years they spent together still mean something, and they can't seem to stay away. They're mad at each other but there is still a comfortable familiarity in the way they aren't afraid to fight with each other. They say they aren't friends but they still call each other by first name.

Their hearts naturally fall into perfect harmony. The have like the same sense of style. Kanade likes to bake. Hibiki likes to eat. Souta refers to Hibiki as "Hibiki-Nee-san", and otherwise treats her similarly to his own sister. They have a flashlight code that they use to communicate across town at night. Neither one realized that there are two entrances with Sakura trees at their middle school or tried to talk about it for a whole year. They're both so stupid.

They take after Nagisa and Honoka a lot too. Nagisa and Hibiki are both athletic redheads who are good at sports and have black as a main color in one of their outfits (Cure for Nagisa, Civ for Hibiki), and generally use pink in their outfits. Both like to eat. Both can be prone to grumpiness and disagreements with their family members. Honoka and Kanade are both white Cures with fierce tempers and a strong sense of responsibility, able to handle domestic things like cooking. Both have more academic strengths, but are relatively graceful. There are some twists of course, Kanade has the little brother who she bickers with (their little brother's even both end their name with "ta"), Hibiki is the one with a parent who is often abroad. I really like how the two called back to the original duo without at all feeling like a copy.

To be fair not communicating is the name of the game in Suite. And so, I do 100% understand not liking this plot. I really do understand it. It's more than fair. All of the plots basically revolve around miscommunication. That is like. The entirety of Suite. Miscommunications, and the breakdown and subsequent healing of relationships. A very very valid complaint. One that I can overlook, but understand if others cannot.

Siren and Hummy

So, Precure's second heel-face turn Cure (if we don't count the Kiryuu sisters). She's a shapeshifting cat who can sing. The original one.

While normally I dislike the "Brainwashed to be evil" trope. It can be very effective. Go Princess used it to great effect in which there was a level of tragedy to the years that had been stolen away from Towa, and how her motivations had been twisted. I think it has similar effect here, where we kind of get both. She was brainwashed, and I do think that does cheapen Siren's motivations and redemption a bit, but she also had genuinely negative feelings towards Hummy, that she acted on in refusing to practice with Hummy. She still has to face Hummy head on, and as much as she tries to pretend that she's hard and strong enough to live in her bitterness. Siren isn't actually mean enough to keep facing her friend and betray her over and over again.

Hummy being better at singing than her caused her to lose a piece of her identity. The most important singer in all of Majorland. The one who sings the melody of happiness. So Siren doubles down on that identity. She becomes Minorland's singer. But she also, due to her shapeshifting, spends that time adopting different identities. Testing things out, even if she doesn't realize it. Ultimately she has to completely let go of her old identity (losing access to her original form) and everything associated with it and forge a new sense of self, in order to find happiness. But she doesn't completely lose everything.

Despite not liking to be called Siren anymore, she still lets Hummy call her that. She turned her old identity of Siren into something bitter, so she had to cast it off to redefine herself. But Hummy is the only one who ever saw the real Siren through everything Siren tried to become. Hummy may have been the one who took her sense of worth, but she's also the one who always saw Siren's value as Siren. Hummy gets to use Siren because her relationship with Hummy is the only thing that survived Siren's evolution. The two have to forge a new relationship to a certain extent. But it's built on what came before.

I also just think it's fun that the bulk of this emotional arc is on Hummy. It's cat drama. Fairy drama. Usually this is the kinda of stuff that happens between the pink and the heel-face cure. But not this time. This time it's the cat fairy, and the pink is dealing with her own friendship drama. I think it also ties right back into Suites continued echo of healing relationships, actually listening to people in order to harmonize with them. Hibiki and Kanade have to resolve their bitter feelings from their estrangement. Siren has to get over her jealousy to let Hummy back into her life. And Mephisto and Aphrodite have to stop fighting a war against each other.

Major Land's Royal Family

I mean really, no one bothered to tell Hibiki and Kanade at any point that Mephisto was the brainwashed former King of Major Land and that Major Land had a princess who was in hiding? Just locked out of the loop. Both Kanon and Majorland are entirely made up of people who can't communicate.

Anyway, Ako is my all time favorite cure. I rather unpopular choice, I know. But she fits right in with many of my other favorites, characters such as Hikari Yagami, Takeru Takaishi, King Clawthorne, King Ezran, Anya Forger etc. I love kid characters. I especially love messed up traumatized kids who don't always deal with it in great ways. And kid characters with heaps of responsibility on their shoulders. Like chosen ones and royalty.

So Ako is the epitome of what I look for in my favorite characters. She's a 9 year old with high future expectations, that she can't even begin to try and live up to because she's been sent away from everything she's known and loved. Not just moving to a new town, but a new world, where the rules of what is and isn't normal are different. In addition she was forced into physically altering her appearance, wearing unfamiliar clothes, and cutting her long hair. Not only that, she now has to keep everything about her secret. Her hometown, whatever music magic she has, her real future career plans, everything that made her her, has to be suppressed and kept secret. And she was like. Six. That's tiny. And she has to construct a whole new fake identity?

No wonder she's grumpy and keeps to herself? Her alternative is just trying to keep up a bunch of lies all the time. And keeping to herself, means few friends, and trying to keep people away, because this is supposed to be temporary to some degree. She has back home eventually, she's their future queen. She really has no choice BUT to be a grumpy brat. To keep from getting found out and to keep from getting attached. Like sure she doesn't have to be a brat to Hibiki and Kanade, but she's kinda right half the time, and honestly her tempering that brattiness into being just unpleasant enough to be left alone without being so obnoxious she draws people's ire involves way more socio-emotional intelligence than should ever be expected from a nine year old. And at a certain point, after years of it, it became part of her real personality. The sweet optimistic little princess is still there. But it's under a layer of cynicism.

Ako wants her family back. So she gets the power to do that. And things still don't go her way.

I've joked to people before that Ako is one of 4 cures with divorced parents. Her parents are effectively divorced, but extra. They're not just trying to fight over a house and custody of her, but over not just an entire kingdom, but the fate of the world. And her father doesn't even know who she is anymore. Her parents are actively at war, and her mother honestly shows no qualms about letting her husband be potentially killed, not bothering to tell the people she's sent after him about their relationship and his true nature. (And then her mom asks Mephisto to kill her to protect their kingdom, Ako can't catch a break).

This ties back to a fact that is kind of brushed over in the show. Ako is the princess. In the show she's honestly just the princess because it puts her in between Mephisto and Aphrodite's drama. But we see in show that Mephisto and Aphrodite are constantly putting their kingdom's needs above their own. A- monarchs (points deducted for getting brainwashed), but like. B- parents tbh. They love Ako so, so much, but simply can't raise her themselves. In fact, Ako's parents won't look after themselves, so Ako has to look out for them instead of the other way around. We see this a lot with Mephisto.

Sometimes Ako makes absolutely stupid decisions, like releasing notes, because she doesn't want to go against her dad, even if he isn't himself right now. Because she's a child whose parents are fighting, seemingly to the death, and if she can spread out the fight, she can hopefully drag out the arrival of consequences.

Ako does eventually learn to use the power as a cure, so she can balance the needs of the many over the needs of her loved ones. So she can do both. But she has to learn to make the hard choices and be willing to stand against her loved ones.

Also Ako also gets the miscommunication based friendship breakdown with her and Suzu, and to a lesser extent her and Souta in the movie. Suite really goes hard on the whole healing relationships thing.

Ako is really a direct foil to Yuri who precedes her. Missing evil brainwashed dads. Present throughout the whole show, but only join the team in the last quarter (the latest of any Cures). Semi-awkward friendship with one of the other cure's siblings in part because their friend doesn't know about all their magical girl trauma. Already looped into the magical girl stuff before any of the other cures, so has a preexisting relationship of some sort with the grandparent mentor. Ako is pretty much just a baby Yuri, but who has just now gained the power to try and fight after years of inability to do anything, instead of having just lost her power, and having to face down her own failure and keep going. So she's an angry elementary kid rather than a depressed high schooler. How can I not love her?

I saved Yuujin and Offmon for last because I simply couldn’t talk about them properly without having talked about everyone else, particularly Haru first. Yuujin and Haru’s arcs are closely entwined, and while we go through this world largely more or less through Haru’s POV, and that includes how we view Yuujin, save for the one glaring detail.

Also, I feel like anyone who has talked to me about Appmon (or digimon in general) ever probably knows I have a lot to say about Yuujin.

At first glance, Yuujin’s personality is that of a typical main protagonist. A paragon archetype, not unlike Taiki. He’s athletic, brave, and kind. Yuujin is someone who thinks of others before himself and works hard with everything he has to support them. Haru’s ideal hero, and as his name indicates, the ideal friend. A foil to Haru’s less traditional protaganisty personality. This of course is true, but not merely for the narrative, but because the subversion is enforced in-universe.

It's impossible to discuss Yuujin without discussing his true nature. All of the above still rings true. Anyone who's looked over the lyrics for “Be My Light” can see that parts of it seem explicitly related to Yuujin and Haru’s stories. Yuujin’s personality on the whole was not a complete lie. Yuujin really existed and really cared about Haru.

That much is made very clear. The degree to which Yuujin’s attachment to Haru is constructed vs. genuine isn’t explicitly made clear, if I was more cynical, I’d perhaps note that the part of Yuujin meant to befriend Haru extended into protecting him and that was all. But Appmon might be more hard sci-fi, but isn’t cynical. If that was all there was to it, there was no reason for Yuujin to have gone through the personal struggles he did.

Yuujin in some ways, particularly on a first watch imo, comes off as a little bit more of a plot device than an actual character. His existence facilitates Haru’s arc, as well as the main plot. But as for Yuujin himself, he’s largely out of the picture for the first half, he has an arc that’s perhaps more about Offmon than himself, and spends another chunk of the season needing to be rescued or under Leviathan’s control. But Yuujin is a main character like the others. His struggles are more subtle, more shown through the lenses of the other characters, but that’s what makes rewatches all the more tragic. He has an arc, but unlike the others who are given the tools, they need to make the choices to grow and become better people. To live up to their infinite potentials. Yuujin is instead guided down a path leading to his own end, one that we all should have seen coming from the moment Yuujin revealed his question to be, “Is there a friend you would give your life to protect.”

Yuujin was made to monitor Haru as someone close to Shinkai Denemon. (Opening up the implications that there are similar AI’s out there, but that’s not what this is about). Yuujin, the personality, was constructed to befriend Haru, unaware of his status as an AI, and seems to exist within a larger program that works to monitor Haru and is loyal to Leviathan. Yuujin seems to have broken out of this larger program, during the finale for the purposes of protecting Haru, or perhaps, being a good friend to Haru, just as Leviathan broke out of Minerva for the purposes of fulfilling its objectives. Notably even the larger program is still distinct from Leviathan, but still connected in some way as after Leviathan fell its influence on Yuujin’s body. Yuujin himself hardly had time to process the circumstances of his own existence. There was only a brief window between Haru and YJ’s confrontation on the roof and Leviathan taking over Yuujin’s body. Yuujin was shown to be aware of everything going on while not in control, and felt immense guilt over it. The Yuujin we watched throughout the show had been shown to care deeply for other people and put his all into helping others, particularly Haru, with very little thought to his own well-being. Everything he had fought so hard for, was undone due to him. Yuujin at the time of the finale was left in a position where of course his only option was to die, but more tragically left with no particularly strong desire to live.

Haru declares himself a protagonist with Yuujin’s emotional support. A role that puts value on Haru himself. But conversely Yuujin declares his devotion to Haru when Haru grows distant from him. Yuujin declares himself less important. It would have been one thing if Yuujin’s question was “is there someone you want to protect”, not unlike Eri’s externally motivating question. But Yuujin’s question is very clearly one where a specific price is given. Minerva asked all the kids their questions in order to grant them the proper motivation and direction for growth if they were going to defeat Leviathan. The wording was important. Minerva knew that in order to defeat Leviathan Yuujin would likely be forfeit, whether on their side or not. She asked that question because she noted Yuujin’s genuine attachment to Haru, and knowing that if Yuujin himself was accepting of his own death their success was more likely. Leviathan likely never realized, too firmly entrenched in the belief that Yuujin was merely Haru’s fake friend. Granted that’s all a bit speculative, as no one really knows exactly Minerva and Leviathan’s motivations, and at the show's end, they are both dead, leaving their motivations an enigma to those left behind.

We can go in circles when it comes to Minerva and Leviathan’s plans for Haru and Yuujin, and who was assuming what about the others plans, but at the end of the day, both boys were trapped in the center of the two AI’s battle without even knowing. But the thing that gave Minerva the win, that wrenched Yuujin away from Leviathan’s predictions, is that Yuujin gained just as much from Haru as Haru did from Yuujin, the care he has for Haru, and, as Yuujin himself says, the genuine admiration he has for him. Admiration Leviathan lacked, and quite likely did not believe would be possible for an AI like Yuujin to come to possess towards a human.

Yuujin and Haru first met because Yuujin “moved”. While this situation is revealed to have been a facade, it does very much seem like Yuujin’s initial personality was influenced by his nature as an AI, and his present personality influenced by this encounter. Yuujin the AI, seeing the end goal rather than the people, and Haru helping to recontextualize the game around the players. If they aren’t having fun, what’s the point? Yuujin of course learns from this. Yuujin admires Haru, for bringing the people together who he had chased away and from that point on strives to be like him. This acknowledgement of the strength of Haru’s perspective I think is something that Yuujin was not meant to do genuinely. But genuinely appreciating and realizing that Haru has merit as a person living the way he was, genuinely paved the road forward to Yuujin forming a real friendship with Haru, and genuinely becoming kind. From Leviathan’s semi removed perspective, he was just telling Haru what he wanted to hear, but Yuujin actually believed it all. Him being unaware of his nature as an android almost certainly is a factor. I think if Yuujin was not consciously aware there was a difference between him and the other children, his AI would be prone to the same influences of the environment. Which is almost certainly a “feature” so Yuujin would seem as real as possible to Haru, but Leviathan, as when he failed to consider the power of smell, failed to consider a perspective due to lacking experience. (Although Leviathan did give Hajime back to Rei, for the purpose of finding Bootmon, so he must have expected Rei to wake him, but still Hajime’s assessment of the situation is applicable). This is the ultimate argument between Minerva and Leviathan. Humans can be unexpected. AIs are not omniscient.

Leviathan actually seems to have a very loose grasp on Yuujin as it is, despite Yuujin being an AI of its own creation. Leviathan didn’t have an understanding, or a real recognition or care for the person Yuujin was, not caring for Yuujin beyond his role. And Yuujin’s “mother”, an L-corp scientist aware of Leviathan seemingly had little care for Yuujin beyond the job. While Yuujin’s relationship with his “mother” is not really gone into, while Yuujin seems familiar and comfortable with her, she's never really shown to return the sentiment with any sort of sincerity. When we see all the other kids in the finale worrying about their children, we also see her, though she seems to be more surprised by Leviathan's behavior than any sort of concern for Yuujin. Yuujin not only lacks a support system beyond Haru and the Appdrivers (who are largely concerned with other matters), but he’s being actively coerced into a self-sacrificial mindset.

Yuujin throughout the show seems to have relatively low self-esteem. While as a 4th grader he’s arrogant about his soccer skills, as a jr. high student he seems unsure of himself and lost. Unsure of his role in his life beyond Haru’s best friend. Sure in the first episode he jokes about being a protagonist type, but he turns it into praising Haru’s personality. While Yuujin acts the part of the confident protagonist, compared to Haru who has the convictions and the self-motivation (courtesy Yuujin), this is a facade. Yuujin, in stark contrast to his fourth-grade self, isn’t particularly ambitious or driven beyond helping others, particularly Haru. This isn’t an inherent character flaw, but in a series full of passionate and motivated characters, Yuujin just coasting through his life is certainly noteworthy. Eri and her idol, Astora and his Apptubing and Tea Ceremony, Rei and Hajime and each other and hacking. Haru starts out coasting through life but develops into someone who carves his own future out with his choices. While we know he’s good at soccer and likes to play, he’s not part of a team, and while he's shown hanging out with Haru and their school friends, he seems to run in relatively small circles, in other words not have a lot of connections social or otherwise.

While we know that his situation is constructed by Leviathan, to Leviathan, Yuujin needs no other roles, Yuujin himself isn’t consciously aware of that. Unless Yuujin is actively being needed by Leviathan, or Haru, he’s left adrift. And as Haru drifts away as an Appdriver, and Yuujin becomes less relevant, Minerva takes the opportunity to give him a new purpose. To turn him against Leviathan. One that he can’t refuse. And that sets him on the path towards his own destruction.

As an Appdriver however, Yuujin’s role mostly teeters between “Big Damn hero” and “Damsel in Distress”. Both roles coming from a place of self-sacrifice. A place of wanting to do anything he can for Haru, but also trusting Haru to be able to have his back. This isn’t to say that Yuujin is only attached to Haru, although it's true he’s most attached to Haru. He will give a lot of effort to help just about anyone. Shown to overexert himself to help people he just met in episode 34, helping Eri and Astra manage crowds in episode 45, and of course, throw himself into danger to try and help Offmon. Not to mention he’s shown to play soccer with classmates and get along with Ai and Watson. Yuujin is a person outside of Haru, but even then Yuujin values everyone else far above himself.

Yuujin struggles with his friendship with Offmon, an appmon who needs a softer touch. Offmon and Gatchmon stand in stark contrast to each other, but they also stand in stark contrast to their partners… at least as much as Gomamon seems to contrast Joe. Offmon is portrayed as rather childish. Interestingly, Yuujin is the actual youngest member of the cast, he can’t really be much older than when he met Haru in 4th grade making him around 5 years old at the time of his death, though with the mindset of a 14-year-old, more or less.

Offmon is an AI that has been distanced from others and who fears hurting people. Yuujin is an AI who lives completely among people believing himself human and also ends up hurting people. Both value others above themselves. Both are, despite their vastly different natures, have low self-esteem. Both have problems connecting to others. Yuujin, when trying to get to know Offmon, clearly feels as if he’s not very good at it. That Haru would be better than him. Offmon shuts himself away, blaming himself for a lot of the conflict that happens. Particularly Shutmon, just as Yuujin blames himself for what he does under control of Leviathan. Offmon is someone who is constantly pulling himself away from others, unsure of how to act to keep from hurting people, while more, assertive Yuujin isn’t all too sure on how to interact with others either at first, learning from Haru after initially having accidentally hurt people.

Offmon being such a volatile appmon to work with is also hard on Yuujin because he has to put extra effort into looking after Offmon, in a way that the other Appdrivers don’t. While it’s true all the Appmon can be childish, they are self-sufficient and aside from some minor unfamiliarity with the human world. Heck, after meeting at first Eri mostly just left Dokmon locked away. This isn’t to say Offmon and Yuujin aren’t good partners, it's just another way in which Yuujin isn’t getting the same support as the others.

Yuujin and Offmon's duet Slow Starter (my personal favorite), even highlights the way both Yuujin and Offmon struggle to connect with others, even though they both want to. The way they shoulder their issues alone. The way they want to help others, but get Offmon and Yuujin even have very similar reactions to learning they hurt people. Offmon physically shutting himself away in a box, unwilling to risk hurting others, and apologizes profusely, While Yuujin also profusely apologizes and says that he can't go back to the way he was before. Yuujin doesn't get much of a chance to do anything else, before he yet again, but still not for the last time, takes a bullet for Haru.

After Astra and Eri proved themselves to be better friends to Haru than Yuujin (in his eyes at least), when they fought against Yuujin on Haru's behalf. Ultimately the Applidrivers in Appmon don't truly fully assemble until near the end of the series, Rei and Hackmon not fully joining them until the final arcs, and Yuujin not joining until the 2nd half, but even then spending a significant time held hostage (Yuujin really doesn't get focus episodes to the same degree as the others), also contributes to the sense I have that Yuujin ultimately never had as much of a chance to connect with the others as he needed. Rei grows (rightfully) suspicious, and Eri and Astra while initially in clear disbelief seem to take him at his word that his and Haru's friendship was nothing but a facade. (Not that I'm blaming them, given the circumstances).

Meanwhile on the Appmon side, Offmon begs them to save Yuujin, and the Appmon readily agree, even though it is something that they are ultimately unable to do. Offmon is able to move on and connect with others and move on in life from the harm he brought to others, in part because of Yuujin. Offmon however is unable to save Yuujin and help him move on from the harm he brought to others in return.

But that’s part of what makes watching Appmon so sad on rewatches is knowing that Yuujin and Haru were embroiled in this from the very beginning, it's intrinsic to who they are. And knowing that while meeting these AI are helping Haru to grow stronger, that Yuujin’s own will is being manipulated by both the bad guys, and the good guys. Knowing that unlike the others, Yuujin’s isn’t a path of personal growth, and learning to carve out a future for himself. It’s a tragedy, where his own self-destructive, tendencies are enabled, and that he doesn’t get help. That no matter how much Haru loved Yuujin, and grew because of the potential Yuujin saw in him, that Yuujin didn’t have the same chance to recognize his growth into the potential Haru saw in him. (Yuujin really was kind). That his death really was the right thing to do, but that even so he was able to accept his own death without hesitation (unlike Leviathan). That even though he died with a purpose, that there wasn’t a future waiting for him to begin with.

So yeah. Yuujin. Most tragic digimon character. Fight me.

There is something in the fact that instead of Hikari, Tailmon found Vamdemon, dwelling in the very castle that the chosen digimon originated in.

Because of course Nyaromon should have grown up with the others. She should have grown up playing together and waiting for Hikari with others who knew what she was waiting for in why. Tailmon shouldn't have had to grow up to be an adult while the others were still babies.

But if we're going with what ifs and should haves, then all 8 of them should have been at that castle, but with the Agents to teach them about what they were meant to do. With their tags and crests, and knowledge of their meanings. With knowing not just who they were waiting for but why.

In the end, Plotmon found where she was supposed to be, but none of the people who were supposed to be there, were there.

So while I was working on my… analysis I suppose, on why Digimon Adventure: does not work as a show, it occurred to me that despite claims that Taichi in Adventure: is inspired by V-Tamer Taichi, his partner is an Agumon whose final evolution is Omegamon, and why that doesn’t work. But I realized that it is a point that I could expand on, and so I have separated it out here. Consider it a preview.

The protagonists of Digimon V-Tamer are Yagami Taichi and his partner Zero, a Veedramon. The story is carried by these two alone. While others help and hinder them on their way, their mission is theirs, and the responsibility of defeating Daemon belongs to no one else. It is with that power that they reach their highest form, UlforceVeedramon Future Mode While Taichi is the main protagonist, Zero is just as much a protagonist. Their names, even reference binary. While there are other characters who impact the plot, the role of protagonist belongs to these two. 

This is echoed in the themes of Digimon Adventure:, the digivice in the title supposedly representing the bonds between human and digimon. And, while I don’t think it particularly succeeds, I can see clear attempts to be made to make the digimon partners their own characters, equals to their human partners. 

But yet, Digimon Adventure: uses Omegamon as Taichi and Agumon’s final evolution. And that is a bit of a problem. Digimon Partners are not interchangeable. Well, okay, the species are a bit arbitrary, all things considered, (after all, Zero’s rookie form is also Agumon) but the problem is what UlforceVeedramon represents vs. Omegamon. 

In Digimon Adventure, Omegamon is not Taichi’s power alone. Not by a long shot. Taichi is not the solo human protagonist of Digimon Adventure. Even in the first film, before Hikari was even meant to play a key role in the series, she shared the series debut. Regardless, the burden of defeating Apocalymon is not his alone to bear. And Agumon’s evolutions reflect that. WarGreymon is reached through borrowing Hikari’s power. Omegamon is literally formed by WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon (who was formed by borrowing Takeru’s power), but in reality is born from the power of hundreds of people reaching out from across the world. And perhaps even Taichi’s crest of Courage is not something that belongs to him alone. As Yamato puts it, “It’s everyone's Friendship”. Though Taichi best embodies courage, the courage he wields is not his alone. Even tri. which I usually avoid using as an example, has Omegamon Merciful Mode, which very explicitly draws from the other children’s partners. Adventure’s Taichi’s not strong because he himself is powerful. Really compared to Hikari he seems rather unimpressive on his own. He’s strong because he is able to easily act as a receiver to others powers, a trait that is fitting for a leader. Because that’s what sets Adventure Taichi apart from his peers, he’s a leader.

Note, that I didn’t really bring up the partners in regards to the discussion of Adventure, not that they aren’t important, but that they aren’t a driving factor. Digimon partners are something vastly different in Digimon Adventure. They are reflections of the children’s inner selves. For straightforward characters, like Taichi, his partner Agumon is very much like him, and for characters like Sora, Piyomon seems very different. This isn’t to say that the digimon are simply their partners, Tailmon went through quite a bit on her own. But nevertheless, Tailmon is the way she is, because Hikari is the way she is. 

Digimon Partners and their evolutions are not things that are just assigned, and given. They are things that arise from the circumstances. Omegamon is there because the themes and circumstances make Omegamon the most appropriate "Ultra”. This is true both in and out of universe, who can forget SkullGreymon? SkullGreymon isn’t wrong. It’s just not the evolution that fits Taichi and Agumon’s situation.

And here’s the thing. Digimon has done the whole focus on “Bonds with Partner’s” before. That’s Tamers. And in Tamers, the final evolution was born from a human and a digimon literally coming together as one. The final episodes all appear somewhat humanoid as a result, particularly notable from WarGrowmon to Gallentmon. Because that was what evolutions were needed narratively and thematically. Otherwise, we have Megidramon. And guess what, the Adventure timeline also has a movie in which the focus is on the bonds between human and friendship, and lo and behold. In Digimon Adventure Kizuna, Agumon (Bond of Courage) and Gabumon (Bond of Friendship) were born. Born from the bond between human and digimon. They even use the “looking like humans” idea from Tamers.

Interestingly, Kizuna came right before Digimon Adventure: started. 

Now, I am really advocating for the Bond forms to be used in Adventure:, those forms were something special to that timeline. But that’s just the thing. Many evolutions, whether unique digimon or not, are brought about by circumstances unique to that timeline. Look at 02’s usage of Armor levels, Frontier's Hybrids, and Xros Wars' Xros mechanic. It’s not new for later seasons to take these Digimon that have existed in these specific circumstances and use them generically later. It would, after all, be a shame to put all those good designs to waste. But at the very least, the evolutions of the main cast are carefully chosen, created if need be, to fit the show.

And that creates a problem for Adventure: as a reboot. It is pulling from the evolutionary lines of its predecessor, despite aiming for different themes and using an entirely different world and characters, and in the process the meaning behind the evolutions has been stripped out. While it has been able to throw in additional evolutions, most of those are well within the confines of precedent: Armors and Ultimate’s that are already related to these evolutionary lines. Adventure: is trying to be a show that, as a reboot of Adventure, it cannot be. Adventure: spends so much of its time screaming that it is not the original Adventure, while simultaneously dragging in call backs that it loses any sense of identity.

The enemies they fight are not Taichi’s responsibility alone. These kids have to have crests. Agumon must evolve into Omegamon.  Angemon still has to die, HolyAngemon and Angemon have to mean something. Tailmon has to be Adult, and has to have been evil. Hikari and Takeru have to give their brother’s power. Omegamon still has to appear. . They still go to summer camp, and Taichi still fights Parrotmon. 

Note, that this is far from Adventure:’s only problem, however I do think it illustrates a large problem that affects the way certain elements and characters are used in this show. Taichi is a solo protagonist, but his “Ultra” is still Omegamon born of Yamato, Takeru and HIkari’s influence. Mimi is now a bossy rich girl, but her crest is still Purity. Yamato is a loner who doesn’t overly concern himself with others, but he’s still Friendship, and still Takeru’s semi-estranged younger brother. 

When Adventure: manages to work a new angle into the old mold, it works well. Yamato’s focus on his friendship with Gabumon works well, and various side characters work alright. Resolving the conflict over Tailmon’s Ultimates by using both for separate things and bringing in Goddramon is a great idea. But more often than not, it doesn’t. Properly contextualizing what a holy digimon is is great, but Angemon’s death is awkward, and Pegususmon’s presence smooths over the issues of Tailmon being champion and keeping Angemon special in an awkward way, refusing to address what an Armor is. Because they are trying to write a story around a set of evolutions they are required to have while absolutely refusing to be Adventure where it matters. Leading to the awkward mesh of Adventure elements and characters, with themes and stories that they were never meant for. 

If Adventure: was meant to be about the bond between Taichi and Agumon, Omegamon was never going to work, including the concepts of crests, was going to muddle things at the very least, and including 7 whole other partner pairs who are going to require at least a few episodes of focus a piece was not going to work out. It’s not that we couldn’t have had more focus on Taichi and Agumon within a reboot and their bond, or that the idea of Taichi and Agumon (or any other pair), activating an evolution because they are in agreement on a concept isn’t a good idea. Just an understanding that this primary focus wasn’t going to work because Adventure in its very concept has a lot of characters that need some degree of focus. Savers with its heavier Masaru focus and use of shonen tropes, dials back the number of “main” characters to half that of Adventure, because it is built around its premise. That unless they were going to be bumped down to secondary, recurring characters, this was never going to work, because that’s not how Adventure’s concept was intended. To tell a new story, it needed to have dropped a few more of Adventure’s elements. But to do that would be to essentially admit that this isn’t Adventure at all. Adventure: needed to have evaluated what story it could tell with what elements it was required to include.

Anything goes in Digimon, and Adventure: seems to want to make the most of this, using armors, Hybrids and Xros Wars digimon with regularity. But you can’t build a cohesive narrative simply by plucking your favorite ingredients and sticking it in a pot. Some things just don’t go together. You can’t take the ingredients to make bread and make a salad. But in short, V-Tamer Taichi and Adventure Taichi aren’t interchangeable. They are two different characters because they are designed for two different stories, and their partners reflect this. Adventure: was doomed from the start if it didn’t realize this.