In this episode, Sora’s childhood is ruined
when the producers decide her cheerful, caring partner needs a gritty
reboot.
We often chastised tri. for its slow starts to
every movie. By the time it’s over, it will be half the length of a
regular Digimon series. That would be enough time to tell this story,
complex as it is, if not for the need to reset everything at the
start of each movie. Barring a serious cliffhanger, nothing kills the
momentum of a big fight or a tense revelation like waiting several
months for the next chapter. Loss enters with a big advantage,
however, since the ending of the last movie gives the slow liftoff of
this one a subtle intensity hiding behind cute fluff. But hey, if
they want to take a quick detour to artistically portray a climactic
moment from one of the deepest mysteries in the Adventure canon, that
works too!

More importantly, it has a purpose. Not only does
it reveal that Maki and Daigo were former digidestined (Daigo as the
gogglehead even!), it shows Maki losing her partner through some
Homeostasis machinations. Their previous talk about letting go of
childhood suddenly takes a profound turn, especially as we learn how
Maki hasn’t been able to do so at all. Daigo, the poorly dressed
manchild, is somehow on better terms with adulthood. His reward now
is an inability to find Maki or Meiko. Meiko, meanwhile, laments
being left behind and misses her partner (the feeling is somehow
mutual). She gets into the tragic flashback game too- a very quick
one of an angry Meicrackmon, some computer banks, and a lot of fire.
That’ll be important later!

Sora ends up making the one false move, stepping
on Pyokomon’s petals and getting off on the wrong foot. It’s not
enough to explain why Pyokomon’s this surly from the get-go, but
the situation it creates is irresistible. Originally, Piyomon was
overly cheerful and clinging, initially rubbing Sora the wrong way.
Sora has changed so much since then that once Pyokomon starts acting
as the moody teenager Sora once was, the Mom approach is too forceful
and turns her off.
Whether Pyokomon was so put off by a bad first
impression or she doesn’t want to be forced to choose whom she
obsesses over, she views Sora as trying too hard and refuses to
entertain the idea of partnership. Sora struggles to adjust, slipping
into depression as the others make rapid progress. It’s a helpless
feeling, even though she’s been in Pyokomon’s shoes before and
knows how these reconciliations happen. After all, when Sora was the
moody teenager, she had to figure it out herself rather than wait for
her mother.
My Grade: A
Loose Data:
- While the design is conventional, we’ve now seen different patterns on both Maki and Meiko’s digivices. Meiko’s helix pattern is obviously significant, but there’s something cool about Maki’s weird retro look.
- For the first time in tri. (not counting Maki’s gate opening bit), someone uses a D-Terminal! Takeru brought his to help communicate with the real world, anticipating trouble with cell phones. It may or may not have worked. Which may or may not be why everyone stopped using D-Terminals.
- We get a little scene for all of the Chosen establishing a new rapport with their partners except Joe. He’s certainly present when asserting the need to keep an objective in sight, but where’s his scene with Pukamon?
- The 02 epilogue is again making tropes interesting! In Determination, the only reason Sora helping Meiko sew the Daters outfits was interesting was because we know she becomes a fashion designer. Here, the only reason Mimi’s unusual flavor combinations is funny is because we know she becomes a chef.
- Hikari is surprised Nyaromon wants to be thrown up in the air with Koromon and the others. It’s a quiet nod to Tailmon’s maturity and her usual habit of refraining from such nonsense.
- Taichi seems to have regained some of his confidence, chasing after Meicoomon and rallying the troops to go after her later, but he’s not all the way there. His speech insisting that Meiko and Meicoomon are their teammates only echoes what Yamato told him earlier. In fact, Taichi glances at Yamato for approval after he says it. That’s not quite confidence there.
Just wondering... who is this original head writer, and where can I find his fanfic? (if there's a translated version, that is...)
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