Jokes aside, I liked it very much as well.
- Animation was great, especially during the fight sequences (duh) and the sunset scene! The 3d cg in the evolution sequences looked pretty good too (I thought), but it seems they're deemphasizing evolution sequences. It's not like pervious seasons of Digimon have always shown every single evolution, but it was a bit jarring at the end when they had Weregarurumon in one shot and then Metalgarurumon in the next.
- Backgrounds looked fantastic too. Digimon has always used stylized backgrounds, and these are no different. They don't look like the ones in Adventure/02, but they have their own unique flair.
- I don't think I know exactly how to explain it, but the pacing of the dialogue reminded me a lot more of the Adventure/02 movies (especially War Game, and that's a good thing) than the TV series (which makes a lot of sense since
this is a movie). I guess a lot of the banter/"humor" or whatever was kind of similar to the old movies. I do wish they toned down the "romantic" aspects a little, but I enjoyed the more lighthearted scenes nonetheless.
- Very interesting characterization for Taichi! Didn't know they'd go down that road, but it definitely made the film interesting and a little unpredictable, which was great! He seemed to get over some of his issues at least a little bit at the end, but I hope they elaborate on this and continue his character development throughout the six films. I bet most people don't like seeing him like this though, since it's such a complete turnaround from how he was before. It's not 100% accurate, but I guess you could say he and Matt kind of switched roles from how they were in Adventure 01.
- Speaking of Taichi, I think this is the first Digimon series in which the goggles are actually functional.
- The only character who I thought didn't look like himself was Joe. I think it's cause they changed the shape of his face quite a bit, but it could be something else. The funny part is that Joe was the one who sounded the most like his Adventure/02 self.
- For some reason I'm pretty glad they actually depicted the characters using 2005 technology instead of being all "Haha yeah it takes place in 2005 but everyone has a smartphone". Dunno why, but I thought they'd do that, and it would've irked me if they had.
- New girl was pretty uninteresting so far, but what I am interested in is learning how she and her partner (Meicoomon?) fit into everything that's happening. Though we don't really know anything about what's happening yet either, but that's ok since this first movie served mainly to reintroduce everyone (and some fanservice-y type things) and did a good job at it.
- Teacher/secret agent dude looks about the same age as the main kids for some reason.
- Enjoyed all the little (and not so little) references to previous series. Kuwagamon flying around like a madman, cooking eggs, Tai deliberating on whether or not to send part of the message to Sora, "One Vision" on Taichi's notebook at the beginning (Tamers), I thought I caught more while watching it, but I can't seem to remember now. Anyone else catch any little nods?
- I expected some rearranged music from Adventure/02, but I didn't realize how much I would enjoy it. The theme that plays when all the Digimon show up was just the best (it's the same one from when Tai goes back to the digital world in Adventure).
- Teenage Wolves > Knife of Day. C'mon Matt.
All said and done, very fun movie. I hope the next five films maintain the level of quality, though I'm guessing I'll judge the next one (whenever it comes out) a little more harshly than I did this one since I'll be done squealing like a fan girl by then... or maybe I won't be.
@Lulcielid @Wazi the pa Tri is a full 80 minute movie, but they split it up into "episodes" I guess to make it feel more like a TV series (since the originals were TV shows). I'm assuming that the theatrical version in Japan is all the "episodes" together. In fact, you can pretty much tell they just cut the "episodes" at every 20-ish minute interval since each one ends very abruptly.
Though the original poster for the movie was somewhat misleading to the actual animation provided but it wasn't to the point that it was a nuisance. It was acceptable.
I wouldn't exactly call the original posters and visuals misleading in regards to animation (can't telegraph animation with a still image very well after all), but it does look like they redesigned the characters (for the better, I'd say) since that first poster last year.
9.5/10