I’ve returned to Digimon! After finishing Adventure 02, I decided to take a break from the anime side of the franchise to avoid burning out; I had been feeling pretty recharged in recent weeks though, so I gave Digimon Adventure: Last Evolution Kizuna a watch. There’s a split after Adventure 02 where you can watch either Tri, which is a series of 6 movies that focuses on the characters in college, or Kizuna, which is a standalone film. I’ve heard Tri has some major flaws and people were saying that you don’t need to watch it to understand Kizuna, so I ultimately went with Kizuna, though I still plan on watching / reviewing Tri later on.
To start, the movie has excellent animation. I know I’ve said that about every movie I’ve reviewed, but it’s still true. The action is incredibly well choreographed and even the little opening skirmish with Parrotmon feels more exciting / impactful than the vast majority of fights in both Adventure and 02 did, meanwhile the Digidestined themselves have really good new designs, and the animators stuck a great balance between having them still feel like themselves while conveying that they’re adults with their own lives now. The original kids being significantly older isn’t just a novelty too, it’s pretty much the main focus of the film. The gang still occasionally gets back together to fight enemy Digimon, but they’re mostly off doing their own thing; with Tai and Matt struggling to find out what they want to do in life. The plot really gets going when a researcher named Menoa gets in contact with the group, informing them that a Digimon called “Eosmon” is digitizing the consciousness of Digidestined all across the world, leaving them in a coma-like state. And after an initial confrontation where it manages to slip away, the gang finds out that the partnership with their Digimon is going to end. Apparently the Digimon partner up with children because their potential gives them energy, but once they grow up and their potential is realized, they vanish.
It’s devastating news, and it’s treated with appropriate gravitas. Tai and Matt in particular take the news really hard, especially after Gennai visits and confirms that it isn’t some kind of hoax or prank. This ties into the quality animation I mentioned earlier, but the film does such a great job of conveying the sadness of everyone throughout the film without resorting to long-winded dialogue, with a lot being conveyed with body language and the few exchanges they do have. To me, the Digimon represent the childhoods of the gang, with their departure being symbolic of them having to grow up and move past the artifacts of their childhood. It’s a very relatable struggle as someone who's recently turned 18, transitioning from childhood to adulthood is a scary process, and the film perfectly captures the nostalgia and anxiety that accompanies entering the “real world”.
These themes are also reflected in the main villain, who turns out to be Menoa herself. Izzy finds out that she created Eosmon, and after managing to send coordinates to the gang before being rendered unconscious like the others, Tai and Matt discover that she’s created “Never World.” Essentially a place where Digidestined are kept in childhood forever so they never have to leave their Digimon. See, she had her own Digimon who abruptly departed after she was accepted into college early, with her motivation being to spare other Digidestined from having to go through the same trauma she did. It’s a pretty understandable motive, and she’s not really portrayed as a “bad” person, with her claiming all the people in Never World joined voluntarily and trying to convince Tai / Matt to join themselves. It’s a little unclear exactly what Eosmon is, with it apparently coming to life after the “Aurora,” a mysterious Northern Lights type event mentioned at the start of the movie. Menoa states it’s the Digivolution of Morphomon (her original Digimon) and that it was telling her to create Never World telepathically, but I’m not sure if that’s true or if she was mistaken.
Matt & Tai manage to destroy Never World with another great action sequence and revive the unconscious Digidestined. But the Digivolutions their Digimon had to undergo reduced the amount of time they had left together, and they end up having to say goodbye shortly after coming back. Digimon isn’t exactly short on goodbye scenes (I’m still sad about the ending of Tamers lol), but it’s such a powerhouse moment here, easily the best scene in the movie. It’s split between both Tai and Matt, with their Digimon asking them what they plan on doing tomorrow. When they look over at them with a response, they’re gone, just like that. I love how there isn’t some cheesy cop-out scene where they magically come back. They’re gone and stay gone, with Matt and Tai narrating about how they’ve continued moving forward. It really hammers home the theme of growing up and increases the weight of their departure. I kind of see the movie as a meta-commentary on Digimon fans, Kizuna came out in 2020, twenty years and some change after Adventure first released in 1999; and I see the film’s theme of growing up as a critique of the nostalgia culture that’s so common online in the 2020s (though this message, if intended, is undermined somewhat as it definitely taps into nostalgia itself). The kids are reverted to their Adventure designs in Never World, with the main villain basically wanting to trap them in a facsimile of 1999 forever. Sort of like how some people seem to fixate on the media of their childhood, not being able to move forward with their lives or try new things. I’ve struggled with this myself, and wanting to branch out and try new things is a big part of why I even gave Digimon a chance. I heavily stagnated and retreated into nostalgia between 2021-2023, and I wanted to get out of my bubble. The film feels like both a love letter to the original shows (I felt nostalgic about them while watching despite having finished both shows like 2 months ago!) and a conversation with them. I’d heard that the movie was really good and that it would involve the kids separating with their Digimon, but I didn’t expect a Digimon movie of all things to handle the subject with such grace.
Okay, that’s enough gushing for now. I really liked the movie, but it still had a few problems. First of all, Tai & Matt are focused on too much. Izzy got a decent amount of screentime, but Joe, Sora, Mimi, Davis, Yolei, Cody and Ken barely show up despite being important members of the team in the original shows. It’s also not really made clear what happens to their Digimon either. Presumably they’ll disappear at some point in the future, but when or how much time they have left (or if they even know their time together is limited) isn’t stated. The Aurora also isn’t really explained, it’s just kinda mentioned at the start of the film and not talked about much after that; nor is it clear if the occupants of Never World really did want to stay or if they were being controlled by Menoa / Eosmon. The plot is still perfectly coherent, I just wish some of these plot points were a bit more fleshed out.
Overall, I had a fantastic time with this movie, and I’m excited to continue my Digimon adventure (pun 100% intended)!