In this episode, we look back on
Digimon Fusion and marvel at how a story so choppy and a dub so shaky
will go down as one of the more consistent seasons.
It's not hard to have a strong opinion
on Digimon Fusion. It has a fresh concept, bringing a new spin on
evolution that fans either love or hate. It changes the rules around,
refusing to make all of the humans allies at first. Two of the humans
are endearing but pretty much spare weight to be jettisoned halfway
through. The second half is a series of short arcs, each bound to
have its share of champions and critics. It feels like a series that
people will either rally behind or dismiss without a second thought,
and many have. That's why it's surprising that one of the most
impressive things about its second half is its overall consistency.
Except for maybe Data Squad, no other
season can say this. Triumphant as Adventure's second half is, there
are still a few lazy efforts. Zero Two has plenty of memorable
moments that don't hold up against critical scrutiny. And while
Tamers is the strongest season and Frontier the weakest, the former
has its stumbles and the latter has plenty of high points. True
emotional apexes are at a premium in Fusion; only Underworld gave us
truly outstanding episodes. Likewise, it's never poor, with even the
most flawed spots bringing a lot to the table.
Much of that has to do with the overall
increase in production quality. The animation is generally better and
the dub, while it has its flaws, continues to have smooth
performances and occasionally clever writing. It's a far cry from
some of the work in the first two seasons. While the second half
didn't use its position on expanded cable to give us quite as much
blood as we had hoped, it didn't shy away from the truth when it
mattered. There may have been code words and the occasional deleted
frame, but it got the point across. We might even be grateful at some
changes, as we speculate on the psychological ramifications of
Christopher's mother surviving or actually paying attention to
Mervamon's character instead than her chest.
This may be the end of the line for the
dub, however. Unlike the end of the first half, when “season two”
of Fusion was announced before season one ended, we've heard nothing
about Hunters. Given how detached it is from the first two halves of
Xros Wars and the fact that it's mostly crap, it's understandable
that it be given a pass. But not here! When we say we're doing every
episode, we're doing every damn episode, even if we have to switch
over to the Japanese version. Trying to give full attention to every
episode of Hunters may be an exercise in torture, but we got through
the Royal Knights arc and we can get through this. Plus if all goes
according to schedule, it times out nicely to wrap up as the first
tri. movie comes out.
My thoughts on tri. haven't changed
much, even after it's been announced as a series of movies. It does
put a timely and accurate translation in jeopardy, but we'll deal
with that when we get there. Fact is, six movies will give us the
equivalent of a twentysomething-episode series, which is all I really
wanted anyway. It's also now a virtual certainty that Zero Two is
still canon, even if the actual events and individual characters from
it may not matter so much. That's all probably the way it should be.
So even though we're plowing ahead into
Hunters, I'll still do the usual thank yous to everybody for sticking
with the site through the interminable network delays. As always,
please use the Amazon marketplace link to support the site (you can purchase anything with it). Also, if
you haven't seen it yet, I wasn't lying when I said I got back into
the fanfic game. The first six episodes of Neverworld are now online
and I hope you take the time to read it. It's pretty simple:
everybody from every season is locked into the Digital World six
years after their original adventure. A bunch of teenagers with
strong personalities living on their own... you can imagine the kind
of stuff that's going to happen. Check it out!
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