“Digimon” officially hit American airwaves in 1999 with its first television series. And now, 24 years later, the franchise is still going strong, with the latest movie releasing this week, “Digimon Adventure 02: The Beginning.”
The first television series in this franchise was called “Digimon Adventure” and followed the story of seven children at a summer camp in Japan who were mysteriously pulled into the Digital World, a parallel dimension to Earth. There, the kids met partner monsters called digimon. The kids discovered they were the DigiDestined and battled their way to save both the human world and the Digital World from various threats.
In 2000, a sequel series called “Digimon Adventure 02” came to America. Set four years later, it followed the adventures of three new children (and two returning from “Digimon Adventure” to join the main cast). This new group of DigiDestined had their own battles throughout the human and digital realms.
While “Digimon Adventure” has had a number of films and specials dedicated to furthering its story. “Digimon Adventure 02: The Beginning” serves as a series finale for the second group of DigiDestined.
The story follows the “Digimon Adventure 02” crew all grown up and in their early 20s. Davis, Yolei, Cody, T.K., Kari, and Ken are young adults, living with their digimon partners in the human world and trying to navigate life after school.
The film shares tiny glimpses of the “Digimon Adventure 01” crew who are all about four years older and settled into their lives post-battles.
A massive digiegg appears above Tokyo, and a mysterious message is broadcast across the world, saying every single person on Earth should have their own digimon partner. As the DigiDestined gather to discuss these strange happenings, a young man is seen climbing Tokyo Tower, trying to get closer to the egg.
The man slips and falls before being saved by the DigiDestined. He later introduces himself as Lui and reveals that he was the very first DigiDestined. But now his Digivice is cracked and doesn’t work anymore.
Lui’s former digimon partner, Ukkomon, is the one in the giant egg above Tokyo. And he wants everyone to have their own digimon. But the DigiDestined realize this would cause chaos around the world, with billions of new monsters unleashed on people who don’t know how to handle them.
Together, they have to figure out how to stop Ukkomon and learn the mystery of Lui’s past.
It should be pretty apparent by now for most viewers that if they haven’t watched “Digimon” before, this isn’t a movie they can just jump into. The story isn’t accessible for newcomers.
What “Digimon Adventure 02: The Beginning” does offer is one last story for fans of Davis, Yolei, Cody, T.K., Kari, and Ken. Don’t expect to see Izzy or Mimi suddenly join the fight. Their story is over, as is Tai’s, Joe’s, and Sora’s.
Lui and Ukkomon are interesting new additions to the narrative, and they bring some surprisingly horrifying moments to the film. Longtime fans might find themselves recoiling during some of their flashbacks. But it’s refreshing to see them add something new.
Of course, some viewers may find themselves annoyed that the 02 kids basically spend the entire film being witnesses to Lui’s story and his reconciliation with Ukkomon. It might not seem fair that this group finally gets their own movie, and it’s short on action and new digimon. In fact, it’s short all around, clocking in at a mere one hour and 20 minutes.
“Digimon Adventure 02: The Beginning” isn’t nearly as powerful as the previous film, “Last Evolution Kizuna.” They aren’t even close in terms of story or emotional gut punches.
With that said, the updated animations are enjoyable, the music is still great, and it’s just kind of fun to hear the original voice actors back in these roles again. For some, this group of DigiDestined was part of their childhood. And seeing them all grown up on one last adventure will be worth the price of admission.
For everyone else, there’s a new Marvel movie opening this weekend as well.
