This week I decided to take a short break from mainstream film releases and hop on the nostalgia train with the English-language release of Digimon Adventure tri.: Part 1 – Reunion. This is going to be a special review aimed squarely at Digimon fangirls and fanboys like myself. Back in 1999, while kids in elementary school were getting into fistfights over holographic Pokémon cards, another Japanese import quietly became a staple of Saturday-morning entertainment: Digimon.
Despite launching around the same time as Pokémon, Digimon enjoyed solid mainstream success in the late ’90s and early 2000s. I was a big fan of the TV series, and it remains one of the few shows I genuinely looked forward to waking up at 7 a.m. every Saturday to watch. The first season of Digimon Adventure followed eight DigiDestined kids who were transported from summer camp into the Digital World—a parallel realm filled with creatures called Digimon. Each child was partnered with a Digimon and given the responsibility of protecting both the Digital World and the real one. That season laid the foundation for the entire franchise’s popularity. There have been multiple subsequent seasons, but none captured fans’ hearts quite like the original cast (even though Digimon Tamers is the best series overall—that’s a conversation for another day). So when Toei Animation announced a new film series that would reunite the original DigiDestined, fans were understandably excited at the prospect of seeing those characters—and, in the English dub, many of the original voice actors—together again for the first time in roughly sixteen years.
Digimon Adventure tri. is structured as six separate films that serve as a direct sequel to the first two seasons of Digimon Adventure. On a personal note, given how much I disliked Digimon Adventure 02 and the way it wrapped up, this new chapter feels like a welcome course correction. Reunion picks up several years after the events of Revenge of Diaboromon. Tai, the former leader of the group, is dealing with a quiet sense of depression and disconnection; most of the old team has drifted apart and no longer shares the same closeness. His former best friend Matt is at odds with him, partly because both are interested in the same girl, Sora. Joe is buried in studying for college entrance exams and barely scraping by. Mimi, everyone’s favorite self-absorbed fashion plate, is still living in America and spending her parents’ money. Izzy is working a high-tech job that comes with a suspiciously nice office and has inexplicably started speaking French. Meanwhile, T.K. and Kari remain about as useful as they were in the earlier seasons (and T.K. has embraced full hipster mode, which does him no favors in my book).A small part of your childhood will light up the moment you hear those familiar voices again.
After fifteen years, most of them still sound like the lovable kids you remember (with the notable exception of Matt, who spends a good portion of this film in full emo-douchebag mode). Tai, Matt, Izzy, Mimi, and the original Digimon partners are all back. One of the purest joys for longtime fans is hearing Izzy drop his classic “Prodigious!” line somewhere in the middle of the movie. Partner Digimon sound exactly as they did in 2001, which is pure catnip for the nostalgic.Importantly, Reunion knows it cannot survive on nostalgia alone. The characters are older now, so the story leans into more character-driven conflicts than the original series typically did. Much of the emotional weight rests on Tai’s internal struggle and the fraying relationships among the old group.
There is also a new secretive organization operating in the background—something like a digital-world CIA—that has been monitoring the distortions allowing Digimon to cross into the real world, though they still don’t fully understand the cause.The new animation is crisp, sharper than the old television series, and gives the whole production a more polished anime feel. The tone is noticeably grittier and more serious, which makes sense given that the target audience has grown up alongside the characters. The action sequences are a clear step up; the film features three major battles, each of which raises the stakes and underlines how unprepared the team is for the new threats they face. There are also subtle teases pointing toward the eventual return of certain Adventure 02 elements (if you know who Imperialdramon is, you can reasonably expect that thread to pay off later).
The worst thing I can say about Reunion is that it ends just when you’re fully hooked and leaves you impatient for the next installment. If you were a fan of the original series, there is almost no chance you won’t enjoy this.
Digimon Adventure tri. Reunion delivers exactly the jolt of adrenaline that nostalgia-driven hearts have been waiting for, while also telling a story solid enough to stand on its own. For a little while, it really does feel like 1999 all over again—only with better animation and a more mature edge.
4/5
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