lilla.hegmann - 2016-05-02 17:16:01

Most Digimon fans are firmly divided on the merits of Digimon Tri, and it's hard to blame them at this point in time. The show (or movie series that's airing as a show, but who cares at this point) clearly takes a lot of influence from the darkest and most divisive entry in the franchise, Digimon Tamers, and the longer this show goes on the more it feels like it's alienating the fans who liked the original but didn't like the darker tones of later entries. 

There's also the harsh reality that it's very clear that Toei are merely chunking out shows that appeal greatly to the childhood of their viewers with the assumption that they'll make money, with no real care going to the animation.

Sailor Moon Crystal had massive production issues, Dragon Ball Super started off looking surprisingly good only to revert to the usual standards (or lack thereof) of the studio and Digimon Tri's animation in particular is especially abysmal (though still an improvement over the first movie) looking poor and cheaply done. Admittedly, action scenes look fairly fluid, but this is hardly the standard to be expected from a movie production of all things.

That's it with the negatives and down to the positives.

Digimon Tri's story is now very evidently semi-episodic with the plot constantly moving forward while still following a monster-of the week formula...which isn't exactly something new to the franchise but is still refreshing in just how its done. The pieces of the plot are slowly but surely being introduced, and it's very clear that not everything is what it seems. 

To say anymore would involve spoilers to what little we know about the plot (and considering many parts are speculation, it would be best to be vague here). Instead, let us discuss the meat of the plot, which are the characters.

The characters are clearly slowly but surely showing stark differences to how they were to the past, and the show is largely focusing on the resulting character dynamics and newly found clash of ideologies. The core theme of all of them is the same; the characters realize that whatever childish ideals they may have had in the past simply don't hold up now that they're older, and as such, Tri's tone feels like it's generally a coming of age story about them outgrowing that.

This theme is handled well and doesn't come off as unnatural or nonsensical; the emotional moments are well handled, the drama has clear reasons that make sense for starting as well as satisfactorily resolving the respective conflicts for the characters and the dynamics between the Digimon and their tamers feels very compelling and interesting (something that is continued from the original show).

Where the animation fails the artwork slightly makes up for it, if only because it feels that now that the tone is slowly shifting and getting more surreal the more the artwork is fitting in. Personally, I've been a huge fan of the character designs from the get go, but many people disliked them precisely because it didn't feel like what Digimon is, which was a fair complaint but also one I feel kind of misses the point.

The soundtrack is as stunning as ever, with remixes of classic tunes (Brave Heart's remix is superior to the original for me) returning to deliver an absolutely astounding score. The voice acting delivers extremely well and nothing sounds out of place, though that's to be expected considering the expertise of the voice acting.

Overall, it's very clear that people who loved or liked the first set of episodes will like this one and the opposite is true. I personally enjoyed the focus on the characters a lot more and found the characters growing up a lot of fun (Mimi in particular is a joy). This is clearly aimed at a group of people who wanted to see the same characters and setting but appealing more to an older audience, and harsh reality is that not everyone was going to enjoy that.

I look forward to see what surprises Tri has in store.

elisabeth.wolf - 2016-03-12 18:15:41

While for some fans, the 2nd installment too might have been a let down (if they had the same opinion of 1st installment) but for me, it was quite exciting to watch it.

They are not your regular Digimon Adventures kids anymore. We fans know that the DigiDestined are growing and the creators want to show the hardships one faces while growing considering the fact that being DigiDestined itself is tough.

So my review's here:

Story - 8/10

The Story was really good but slow paced for like the half part and really quick in the end. Couldn't enjoy the moments of Ultimate Evolution. It didn't feel so exciting as it used to in the original series. I was so excited to see the Ultimate Evolutions, even got to see those but then it got over in just 5 mins or so. Felt sad.. ;_; A lot of questions have been arising in both movies and I hope that we get answers to all of them but what really makes me mad is 'Why don't they try to contact the 02 kids'.

Character Development - 7/10

Saikai was about Taichi and Yamato, Ketsui about Joe and Mimi. This time, the character development seemed better (at least to me) as these 2 considerably got over their doubts and fears. I liked how they once again regained their true personalities (from the original series) and were able to form determination to fight (which the movie was all about).

Art - 6/10

It isn't bad but not good either, but well, it should be expected since the Studio is low on budget (I wish a lot of money for them to be able to improve upon this aspect). Since this is a review, which is why I include this else I don't care much.

Music/Sound - 7/10

Most of the points go to the Opening and Ending song. That's all.

Enjoyment - 6.5/10

A Digimon Fan so enjoyed a lot actually but the points don't consider this fact. They represent the actual enjoyment level that is to be expected when watching the movie as 3/4 of the movie lacks any form of action. And the fact that the Evolutions were short-lived leaves me unhappy.

Overall, I enjoyed the movie as a whole and eagerly waiting for Kokuhaku (Confession), the 3rd installment.

zgrady - 2016-03-12 00:11:05

In terms of story, this one is just as good as part 1 or possibly better in how it handles the fact that these characters are growing up.
The conflict with Taichi and Yamato is still unresolved, though slowly coming to a conclusion, but for now it takes a backseat to the individual struggles of Mimi and Joe, with Mimi dealing with the consequences of her bold and brash nature and how it can negatively affect the people around her, and Joe struggling with being drawn back into the battles of the DigiDestined despite wanting to focus on his own life and his future career.
As I said back when I discussed part 1, this ain't a kids show anymore. The DigiDestined are growing up and have to balance out their real lives with their lives as chosen heroes, a type of plotline that a lot of shows are still too scared to tackle because it takes a lot of maturity and thought-out scenarios to do them justice, and that's exactly what you'll get with Digimon tri.
Are some of the events a bit cliched? Sure, but they rarely get in the way of the heart and soul that is infused into this story about the hardships of growing up, and I mean the real hardships. Not the "wah high school is hard" crap. I'm talking about the "oh shit my decisions have consequences that affect me and the people around me" stuff, and I really want to see more stuff like this not just from Digimon, but from anime in general.
As for the new characters that have been introduced, they do get some development in this part, but not as much as I had hoped. Meiko is the shy and bashful type as I predicted, while Meicoomon is even more childish than the other Digimon, but we haven't really gotten much substance out of them quite yet. The new support characters are pretty nice as well and are fairly interesting when they get screen time. They've also started introducing new villain characters, and I feel that I'm going to start getting a bit disconnected from this show's history soon, as I could not make it through season 2 of Digimon Adventure when I tried to rewatch it and I have very little nostalgic memory of it, but that's more a fault with how I'm personally watching it.
The animation, once again, is where the more serious faults come into play. To be perfectly honest, it feels like a lack of ambition is putting a damper on this project more than anything. While some scenes do work really well in how they're constructed, there are also a lot of scenes that feel either really lazy or like the director had no idea how he wanted the scene to look so something really bizarre happens, as in the scene where Mimi and Meiko are doing a dance number for the school festival and the camera is being jerked around like a monkey is sitting on top of it. The editing is also kind of off as well, making each scene even more awkward to watch.
There are also a lot of shots where the animation is just plain bad as well, especially when it comes to fight sequences and the lack of ambition shines through even more and the movement comes off as really awkward. I'd like to say that I knew what I was getting into because this is still Toei Animation, but I'm not going to make exception simply because I know that a studio doesn't make good animation anymore and yet is still allowed to exist because of its history.
I do still like the Digimon designs though. I will say that much.
As for the soundtrack, Go Sakabe does his job of filling in the silence...and that's about it. It's really disappointing for me when an anime's soundtrack is just the standard fair, because I know I'm going to immediately forget what it sounded like in about an hour. There is one really solid and creepy track in it, but that's about it.
Overall, the story, once again, outshines its technical aspects, providing a story that is mature and thought-provoking, but also hampered by bad production decisions. I'm still definitely sticking with tri until the end, but the lack of animation talent is still very disappointing, though not at all surprising.