Digimon Adventure Tri: Reunion premiered in Japan in November of 2017 and was something all die hard fans of the digital monster franchise had only dreamed about. Last September’s theatrical debut of the dubbed version in North America met fans with a dub that was not only closer to the source material than some of the last few seasons, but starred some of the classic voice actors returning at the reigns of popular characters like Tai and Izzy. While some characters were played by some well known names in the voiceover game.
This new story, continuing years after the second season, shows the cast in high school and you soon see their new conflicts are more akin to those if the average teen, trying to figure out what to do with your life, having to make tough decisions and how time just tends to pull people away from each other after being just a reach away. After this time away from their partners and enjoying the now peaceful real world and digital world, the one thing that can bring the deeply distracted digidestined together is chaos. After Tai has a run in with a familiar digimon with not so friendly inclinations, Tai somehow manages to summon his digital dino Agumon into the real world in the facd of potential tragedy. After digivolving into his bigger, champion level form, Greymon, he battles what they discover is an infected Kuwagamon until they end up at the airport and is soon joined by the rest of the crew and their partners, who were transported there after seeing that the news was reporting on these mysterious monster sightings by agents of an undisclosed organization. The battle ensues against a total of three infected Kuwagamon until a mysterious giant hand comes through a portal and grabs the last remaining insectoid Digimon.
The next day, we see Tai has matured significantly. He now takes into consideration that their actions have consequences and casualties are a reality that grows ever bolder as he observes the damage after the previous night’s events. After meeting with the others, minus ol’ reliable Joe (Who’s of course busy with his college entrance exams), and strolling through their local waterfront, Izzy shows them a new way to survey the area for any signs that an infected Digimon is trying to break into the real world; goggles that scan the digital waves for any anomalies or unusual activity. Naturally, leader Tai is the one wielding their new tool against the infected Digimon, who are actually stronger than the normal digital entity. While patrolling the area, they meet up with new girl in town Meiko, who appears to be looking for something. The Digidestined find out she’s looking for her “cat” and invite her to join their team since they, too, were looking around for something.
On the search for higher ground, they get the idea to use the ferris wheel to get a better view. After the Digidestined leave Tai and Matt to sit in the ferris wheel alone, Tai reveals to Matt the reason he’s been so reluctant to put all his heart and courage into their last fight. He says to Matt the game has changed. They’ve grown older and he is more aware of the damages their confrontations cause and how the good Digimon get a bad wrap, despite their efforts to help. As they reach the crest of the ride, Tai sees a huge disruption in the data not too distant from them. As they get to the area, a portal has opened and from within has come a Digimon that they’ve never seen before, Alphamon. The mighty Royal Knight Digimon seems to be after a small, orange feline-esque Digimon by the name of Meikoomon. Once most of the Digidestined Digimon have been easily defeated, Matt tells Tai he knows what must be done and that he can’t hold back for the sake of their city and the citizens in the area. Once Tai realizes what must be done, their Digimon reach their Mega forms, WarGreymon and Metal Garurumon, to become their fused form Omnimon. As the epic of Royal Knight skirmish ends in Omnimon unable to make the potential final blow before Alphamon escapes back into the digital world. The dust settles and the Digidestined meet with Meiko who reveals herself to be the 9th Digidestined with her Partner Meikoomon and she’s welcomed with open arms. After what happened, they need all the help they can get.
With Joshua Seth coming out of voice acting retirement to reprise his roll as Tai and with well known, talent such as Vic Mignogna and Johnny Yong Bosch, the voice acting hits home. The opening theme they play is definitely and homage to the iconic, catchy theme of the original series. The score even sounds reminiscent of the old season one background score. Some redesigns, such as WarGreymon, increase the detail and compliment him to look very intimidating and offensive and the details added to the digivice make it look more technological and intricate. However, it may take some time to adjust to the Digidestined’s new look, but it doesn’t hinder the entertainment factor and with the plan to release 5 more films, Part 5 “Symbiosis” to debut in Japan closer to this Fall, there’s a lot more to look forward to with many answers to undisclosed details of the Digimon universe and lore, such as the creation of the digital world and, later on, the reveal of who were the 5 original Digidestined before Tai, Izzy and the others. Part 2: Determination is to be released in the US in August of this year and Part 3: Confession was shown during AnimeExpo 2017 so there’s plenty of Digimon doses to be delivered to us in the near future!
