It's better than Tri in terms of story, but what Kizuna lacks compared to the former was the development of Sora, Jou, Takeru, Hikari and Mimi. We know enough about Taichi and Yamato, but how many times can this be the two of them spearheading the opportunity to save the world. Perhaps it's due to Tri being planned as a OVA (earlier a series before that plan dropped) vs Kizuna being a full-fledged feature
Granted, what makes Kizuna appealing is the animation. First and foremost, Tri was such an eye sore despite the chance to see a proper English dub for the franchise done right. Kudos to the dub of this movie by the way. My salute to Joshua Seth and the rest of the cast for putting this together for the diehard fans like myself (in spite of the Covid pandemic slowing things down.) Of course, it's evident that we sorely missed the likes of Brian Donovan and Neil Kaplan voicing Daisuke and Hawkmon respectively.
Coming to the story, it's all about growing up. This was the most relatable film to all the 90 kids (and I'm sure many of you may feel the same after watching.) The bond between Digimon partner and Chosen child (or rather adult) ends after a certain amount of evolutions. As Taichi and Yamato come to fruition with this development, their time spent with Agumon and Gabumon are some of the best. The last 10 minutes is just splendid and no doubt will leave you with a lump in your throat.
The whole film is full of easter eggs to the great Mamoru Hosada's works (Children's War Game, Diablomon Strikes Back) are key examples and are sprinkled. And the Butter-fly motif with the opening song being the name-sake.
I certainly hope this isn't the last if that last word in the climax indicated that Taichi and Yamato will find a way to see their digimon partners again (and how so, the 02 epilogue indicated that the gang do co-exist & it does become the subject of Taichi's thesis in the end credits.) Another point to note, the 02 gang (even Takeru and Hikari) STILL have their digimon partners. Toei has clearly left this open-ended if they continue to do 5-year time skips (Kizuna being 2010, it can be 2015 or 2020 the next film can take place.) If and when Toei does come out with a follow-up, it should be named "Digimon Adventure : Always and Whenever (Itsumo Itsudemo)."
Granted, what makes Kizuna appealing is the animation. First and foremost, Tri was such an eye sore despite the chance to see a proper English dub for the franchise done right. Kudos to the dub of this movie by the way. My salute to Joshua Seth and the rest of the cast for putting this together for the diehard fans like myself (in spite of the Covid pandemic slowing things down.) Of course, it's evident that we sorely missed the likes of Brian Donovan and Neil Kaplan voicing Daisuke and Hawkmon respectively.
Coming to the story, it's all about growing up. This was the most relatable film to all the 90 kids (and I'm sure many of you may feel the same after watching.) The bond between Digimon partner and Chosen child (or rather adult) ends after a certain amount of evolutions. As Taichi and Yamato come to fruition with this development, their time spent with Agumon and Gabumon are some of the best. The last 10 minutes is just splendid and no doubt will leave you with a lump in your throat.
The whole film is full of easter eggs to the great Mamoru Hosada's works (Children's War Game, Diablomon Strikes Back) are key examples and are sprinkled. And the Butter-fly motif with the opening song being the name-sake.
I certainly hope this isn't the last if that last word in the climax indicated that Taichi and Yamato will find a way to see their digimon partners again (and how so, the 02 epilogue indicated that the gang do co-exist & it does become the subject of Taichi's thesis in the end credits.) Another point to note, the 02 gang (even Takeru and Hikari) STILL have their digimon partners. Toei has clearly left this open-ended if they continue to do 5-year time skips (Kizuna being 2010, it can be 2015 or 2020 the next film can take place.) If and when Toei does come out with a follow-up, it should be named "Digimon Adventure : Always and Whenever (Itsumo Itsudemo)."