So You Loved Kira Kira Precure A La Mode, And/or Some Of The Other Seasons Of The Past 10 Or So Years.

Playing next 0rder for the first time. I'm having an absolute blast. But I also know that knowing what I was getting myself into before hand is probably a huge portion of it. I've watched playthroughs of the original World, and review videos, as well as a playthrough of next 0rder itself and Re:Digitize. And also just knowing about how de-evolution is a near constant in this franchise probably also helps. I definitely probably couldn't recommend it cold, because who in their right mind would intuitively know that the cycle of "restarting" is part of the appeal and progress is marked more by the progress of the city than your monsters, which in turn helps you get better at raising your monsters. But as someone who also enjoys her 20th anniversary Digimon V-Pet this is just the same thing but faster with more options. It's great. Anyway the characters may not be super in depth (which is fine I'm here for my digimon partners and helping them grow big and strong). But Himari, despite her limited characterization has my attention. She's her sister's primary caregiver? It also feels like her sisters are her only family to her, she probably has a dad who in true anime dad fashion is busy with work. But she still acted like she was leaving her sisters completely alone, so what degree of responsibility is she taking on for her sisters. Definitely being parentified to an extent but to what extent? Does she have a proper support network? Also the wording "doesn't have a mom" could be anything. Is she dead? Digimon's never shied away from that before, so why wouldn't they just say it. Did her mom leave, or is the vagueness just to leave it to imagination? Also her sisters are 2nd graders? So, 7 or 8, which means they would have been babies at the time of the tournament 7 years ago. Was the tournament a last happy memory for her before, whatever left her motherless happened? I'm definitely overthinking it but there is just enough character there to be interesting enough for me to chew on for a bit. Also "Mameo" being a teacher is great. He really showed up trying to do his protaganist thing and then now has to mentor these new teen protags when he's been doing this since he was younger than them, for as long as they've been alive. So now he's basically this old wisened mentor despite being in like. His early 30s at most. And also it contrasts with analogman. An adult man who is the only human there with experience with the digital world. Mameo grew from an analogboy into a more benevolent analogman of sorts.

This year I spontaneously watched Appmon nearly 2 times, and I have thoughts about it. And what better way to acknowledge it than on its 5th Anniversary. (Or 4th anniversary of Our Singularity). I'm planning on at least covering my thoughts on the main 5 kids this month, in an order based 100% on who I want to talk about first.

It's Astra.

I think Astra is generally the least liked Appmon character, or perhaps more accurately, is the character I see the most disdain for. And, honestly, I can understand where it comes from. But he’s my favorite Appmon character actually. In a cast with a non-conventional protagonist, a blackbelt idol, and a hacker, Astra’s “Apptube” is well, just kind of there. Like a more modern version of Eri’s idol career. His personality is clearly meant to be representative of the target audience, the group whose number one career aspiration is Youtuber. So, he’s kind of cringy and kind of annoying, especially to an adult audience. I get it. But Astra’s a character I found to have a lot of stuff going on.

I admittedly tend to have a soft spot for the babies of any team, especially if they are assertive enough to keep up with their seniors. And Astra does fit the bill. He’s generally seen to be on equal footing with the others, and his rather aggressive way of talking to the other doesn’t exactly make you think baby of the team. He doesn’t use honorifics, and in general Astra’s referred to in the same terms as Haru and Rei. (As near as I can tell, anyway with my nonexistent Japanese skills, correct me if I’m wrong). The fact he’s in elementary school is a bit more incidental than anything.

We learn the most about Astra’s family and upbringing compared to the other characters, and it is central to his arc. We get a lot of information straightforwardly in the show. He had a lot of pressure on him as the heir to the school, and felt pressured to act the part of the perfect heir. Throughout the show we see him struggle with the pressure of being the heir. As a child he was extremely dedicated to following his father's footsteps. He didn’t seem to see himself as anything other than the heir to his father's school. He seemed set apart from other children, seemingly due to the closed-off way he acted. This dedication to being a good heir was to the detriment of his happiness. Until Musimon came into his life allowing him to loosen up and seek his own happiness. Classic stuff. But Astra is a little more at war with himself than may be obvious by his “annoying” attitude.

While we first learn about Astra suppressing his own eccentricities, in his debut episodes, it’s not until later that we learn about his mother, and learn that this side of his personality didn’t come out of nowhere. His mother is very similar to him, which gives us the question of why he ever became so disciplined in the first place if his behavior isn't out of place in his family, and his mother is a strong advocate for him doing his own thing. In fact, Astra seemed initially a bit embarrassed by his mother when he introduced her to the other Appdrivers. Of course this is almost certainly because his mother calling his friend “pretty” and gushing about her husband and how they met is embarrassing, and even if Astra himself acts just as obnoxious. But even so, he's clearly less respectful towards her. The reasons behind why Astra calls his mother by her first name are unclear, though it doesn't seem to stem from a lack of love for his mother.

But regardless, it helps build the idea that more likely, he was trying to win the approval of people outside his immediate family. After all, as shown in episode 7, it was the assumption that Astra would inherit the school by others that prompted Astra’s response to his father. Even if Astra’s father does have a desire for Astra to inherit his position, he also understands that it's first and foremost Astra’s life to live. Astra however does have a lot of respect for his father and seems to value his opinion immensely, he recognizes that not inheriting the school would be disappointing to his father and does not want to disappoint him. So while I think there is something to be said for Astra’s behavior relating to a desire to impress his father, I don’t personally think it's the origin in its entirety.

Astra over the course of the series is very independent and marches to his own beat, Astra, like Eri, had made the first step to change prior to his introduction, but that doesn’t mean he was already completely different from the boy who acted stiff to prove himself to others. Astra’s second episode deals with him succumbing to peer pressure in his new activity, and his final episode is about not succumbing to his uncle's expectations, the old expectations that kept him down for so long. (But it's also a bit about fulfilling Hinarin’s expectations, expectations he agreed to).

Despite Apptubing being the career choice where Astra does as he pleases, his final episode isn’t about him Apptubing because he wants to but as a way to help someone else. Particularly his cousin. While it isn’t explicitly clear if Astra knows it’s his cousin the fact of the matter is that he’s helping his family through his Apptubing, even if it is something he picked up for himself. (A reasoning perhaps parallels Eri’s reasons for being an idol, wanting to bring smiles to her mom, despite it clearly being something she herself enjoys). His care for his family is exactly the reason he continues to train to be the heir, but that doesn’t mean even if he doesn’t uphold expectations that he can’t be a help to his family.

Astra’s arc deals with expectations vs. a desire to help. Astra in large part is assertive about not having to help other people out and doing his own thing, recognizing he doesn’t have to do anything he doesn’t want to. But his actions consistently betray his care for others. I think this is most evident in the way Astra acted as if he wasn’t going to help Eri out with her elections, but did so anyway, even if he antagonized her a bit in the process, but ended up being the proudest of her accomplishments. Not to mention the way he continues to train as the heir, albeit on his own terms. Over the course of the series, he becomes more open with his care towards others, culminating in the jailbreak episode, but he’s always been shown to care. He’s finding that balance between living his own life and helping others.

It’s clear that Astra doesn’t hate being heir at least. He’s extremely determined to do both. And personally, I think it’s very possible that he sees Apptubing as a hobby. He after all proposed the half-hour limit himself. Even at the beginning with his most abrasive. He dutifully kept it to a relatively small impact on his life. For all that it’s brought up as an important element in his life, and he is shown breaking his own rule on occasion without consequence. One of the longest times we see him Apptubing is when he’s helping Eri out. Of course on the flip side of that, we have episode 8 where he breaks the rule because his videos aren't doing as well as he likes, but that's definitely tying back to his desire for people's approval. While he is for lack of a better word, tempted into giving up training to be an iemoto to dedicate himself to Apptubing, it isn’t something he seems to seriously consider at all.

The biggest thing Musimon gave him was not the courage to be an Apptuber, but the courage to be himself. Indulging in Apptubing for fun is merely a small part of that. Astra is still the good heir, but he is no longer letting that define his entire life, sometimes forgoing certain parts of training. But that doesn’t mean that tea ceremony is a bad part of his life. There’s also a certain balance in his personality between the abrasive “annoying” boy at the start of the series and the passive boy prior to the show's beginning. I don’t feel that the polite Astra is completely disingenuous. Astra is capable of acting calm and grounded, and this side of himself becomes more apparent as the series goes on, particularly with Eri who, in contrast to him, throws herself into her idol career with more and more genuine passion. When he supports Eri with his videos but asks her to take a break, which tracks with what we know about his fathers working habits. It’s his final focus episode where he is shown to be acting, more in someone else's interest, and even shown to be a bit embarrassed by it. In contrast to an Astra who even in episode 19, was not taking much seriously. I think it’s only fair to say Astra did genuinely inherit some of his father's more grounded and dutiful nature.

And while earlier I did say Astra’s age feels incidental, I don’t think that is to say it has no bearing on his role in the story. It's part of the reason Eri is so dismissive of him at first, Sure, the other’s treat him as equal, and are in no way particularly protective of him, nor do they expect him to be any less capable than him. But this isn’t to say Astra’s relative youthfulness isn’t apparent when with the others at least in the beginning. Astra is definitely on the more immature side of things, he after all is the one who started the rivalry with Eri because his ego was bruised (not that Eri's initial dismissal of him was helping matters any). As I said earlier, Astra mellowed as the show progressed and I think it’s a fair assumption to say he’d continue to do so. Not that he’ll lose his energy, but that he’ll be able to act with more maturity and consideration for others. The most common complaint about him I’ve heard is “annoying”, which is understandable. But that’s not accidental, even in-universe (hah), others seem to find him to be a bit much at first at the beginning of the series. His “annoying” personality is him testing the waters beyond the role of dutiful heir he’s always played. He’s annoying because he’s an 11-year-old boy who does not always know how to act in ways appropriate to his situation. He’s the kid of the group. I do understand if that still makes watching irritating. Watching should be fun after all, but it’s more of a matter of opinion than an objective flaw.

Unlike Gatchmon, Offmon, and Dokamon whose personalities seem to clash a bit with their buddies, Musimon and Astra are consistently on the same page, after episode 8. This is exemplified in episode 29, where Musimon runs away for fun rather than because he wants something from Astra, and Astra is the only partner who seems to have not been worried, recognizing what Musimon was doing. Of course, their fight in episode 8 was about Astra not being true to himself, thus naturally conflicting with the one who is on the same page as his true self. Musimon shares Astra’s high energy but caring nature. I’m not an expert on the Japanese language by any means, but there is something notable about the fact Musimon uses “Boku” to Astra’s usual “Ore”. Musimon and Astra are without a doubt very similar, the only difference in their demeanors being Musimon is perhaps a bit less confrontational. If Musimon being Astra’s buddy says anything about Astra, it’s probably that Astra is by his nature not quite as aggressive as he seems. Which for someone who clearly used to takes people's opinions of him to heart, seems about right.

Astra’s arc is all about expectations, expectations as an Apptuber, and as the heir. Astra living up to, or disregarding expectations based on what he believes is best. Living the life he wants to live.

Some final observations from me in regards to Astra, is that he’s paired with Fakemon for God Grade. While it’s probably in part just how things worked out logistically, it also makes a bit of sense as a foil. Fakemon is constantly being disingenuous, while a huge part of Astra’s arc is being true to himself, while also fulfilling other people's expectations of him. Also of note, Entermon is described as a Digimon who exists wherever you can find culture something that is particularly relevant to Astra.

While being biracial is not directly important to the story, it’s not incidental and clearly is thematically related to him being trapped between the traditional and the modern Japan. While in story Astra’s story is simply about outside expectations of inheritance, It’s possible to read Astra prior to the series as trying to overcompensate for his foreign mother in the eyes of the people at his father’s school. This is something I find notable considering that Appmon’s assistant producer, Akari Yanagawa, went on to become the producer of 2019’s Star Twinkle Precure, a season of Precure notable for the franchise's 2nd biracial cure, whose personal arc more obviously alluded to racism than Astra's, though still very indirectly.

Ah, Precure dance endings. A series staple. Whether you consider the First dance ED to be "You make me happy" or "Ganbalance de dance" or even the very first "Get You! Love Love?!" the point is they've been around for a while. Generally speaking nothing but a simple fun time, but rarely has had anything to do with the show proper. Nothing wrong with that of course, but the very first Precure ED was a bit more than that.

Futari wa, as opposed to every other season, only has the 1 ending. Sure, it changes visually halfway through to accommodate Pollun and the new villain team, but that's it. (Which is more than the OP which doesn't change at all, which is also unusual). But I think people often miss the relevance of the song in between all the less relevant eds, and the iconicness that is the OP.

But the ED is also iconic and a crucial piece of the Futari wa Purikyua experience.

Episode 45, the last episode before shit hits the fan, features this song heavily. This song isn't really my favorite ed, and the episode isn't a particular favorite of mine (Futari wa has so many good episodes), but it utilizes the ed effectively, and the song that you've been listening to all this time hits harder.

Nagisa immediately falls in love with the song. The song speaks to her looking at the lyrics of course its no surprise. But it's not just "song that Nagisa would like". Though I would be remiss if I did not mention the inclusion of sweets in the lyrics. Nagisa loves chocolate. It's the go to simple important part of life for her.

They have the girls sing it. Sung by a chorus, not just Nagisa and Honoka (but they do get solos), but the whole class, many of whom appear in the ED. Because of Futari wa's small main cast the side characters hold a more important role than they do in many future series, so these are characters we know, even if just from an episode. There's a weight to the music being diegetic.

Of course the episode ends sweetly, with Nagisa, Honoka, and the fairies, singing their heart out with the rest of their class. But for a moment that wasn't a guarantee. Nagisa and Honoka being unable to sing with their class highlights the toll that this fight has taken on their normal school lives. They have to fight against someone who fully intends to kill them, and then destroy their loved ones, alone while every one else is.

Made all the more poignant by the subject matter of the song.

First of all, the title "Get you! Love Love!" is in English, and a bit nonsensical in English. But "Love Love" in Japanese, means more "lovely-dovey". It's VERY much so in your face romantic. A word used to describe Mepple and Mipple. The song is about the joy of teenage romance. While I don't really want to call it frivolous, next to world saving it doesn't hold the same weight.

Now, I recognize that may seem counter to my point that the song is important to Futari wa. I mean there's no canon romantic relationship. Closest is Nagisa's crush that she never actually confesses to. But putting aside all of Futari wa's romance elements (which is an entirely different discussion), the lyrics are still very relevant to Futari wa.

The Opening holds the iconic line "even wearing school uniforms we're unbelievably tough" and features scenes of them fighting evil in their school uniforms. The opening is an ode to how badass they are in all aspects of their life.

But the ending is the other side of the coin. It tells us how frustrated they are with the villains encroaching on their everyday life. While I don't speak Japanese, and have seen it translated a couple of ways, the reoccurring "datte yatte ran'nai jan", is either "because you can't make me do this", or "because I can't do this". IDK which is right, but either way, this is in regards to fighting, stress, and trouble, which stands in stark contrast to the opening which is very much so about how much they can and do fight. "For the sake of the earth, for the sake of everyone That's fine but isn't there something that you're forgetting?! Now!" They aren't even being subtle about the Pretty Cure part about the girls lives in the song. How much that they don't want to do it. "My heart is pounding and throbbing like a dreaming teenager An original daily life is something I won't get rid of" The lines of Nagisa and Honoka's solo. The most thematically important lines in the whole song imo. While the importance of the everyday is important in most Precure seasons, it is especially emphasized with Futari wa. The main theme of the story is about how precious day to day things are, and how unfair it is for the girls to have to fight for that.

Because ultimately that is what Futari wa Pretty Cure is about more than anything. I think it's important to view Futari wa Pretty Cure through the lens of a slice of life first. It's tone a lot of the time, focusing on poor grades and unfinished homework, lacrosse, errands, sleepovers and family. A relatively grounded slice of life from the perspective of magical girls. The value of the normal events highlighted by the desperation Nagisa and Honoka have fighting to defend them. The ED highlights it by focusing on the more "frivolous" aspects of the girls lives.

The visuals of the ED are pretty simple, but effective. They showcase the different circles the girls interact with. Their families, their classmates, their clubs and of course the villains. Because of Futari wa's focus on their community, the presence of these characters in the ED is deserved. A fun lighthearted focus on their day to day lives to contrast the OP.

Also, I'd like to point out the ED visuals humanizing the villains. While Futari wa's villains are easily among some of the franchises worst, having the unforgivable flaw of being forgettable, the show doesn't do a completely terrible job of humanizing them. And the ED contributes to that. The dancing of the villains, just being the goofy people that some of them are when not, trying to destroy the world. While I wouldn't call the behavior canonical, it really isn't off base for characters like Gekidrago and Regine. The villains, for all that they are generic, are primarily motivated by their desire to continue existing: the same motivation that drives the Cures. (Gotta love their goofy dance).

Also a guy screams at the end of it. If I have to hear it now so do you.

So digimon has a habit of giving their main protagonists goggles, giving them brown hair, and reptilian digimon. They also often make them heroic big brother types (and quite often literally big brothers… or at least caretakers). But digimon also has a habit of having young female characters with mysterious powers and a holy digimon partner. And sometimes, the two characters are related.

Not always directly, and never really in the same way twice, but often the two characters, when both roles exist, play complementary story roles in some way. Especially as the "Goggle boy/Taichi" archetype is consistently at the center of the story, and "Holy Girl/Hikari" archetype varies in relevance. And to be clear, I'm not trying to break down every character into the basic digimon archetypes, but they do exist and they are kind of useful to look at as a point of comparison.

Of course this all goes back to Digimon Adventure (film), where Taichi and Hikari a brother and sister, take up opposing roles in regards to the digimon situation. While Hikari was originally imagined to not be a digidestined in the future, her fear of the situation after her original acceptance (as opposed to Taichi's suspicion and later cooperation) clouding her perspective, that really isn't want happened in the final product. Hikari was innately drawn to the digital world. She never forgot. The incident is potentially because of her. And where does that leave Taichi? The (relative) normie who was called because of her, but stepped up to the plate as the one everyone turned to, independent of her. Taichi is their leader, Hikari the 8th child. Taichi (and Yamato) get ultimates. Hikari (and Takeru) have Angels that grant them that power. Hikari is innately powerful, but young, and Taichi is powerful to, but in a slower way born of being the first one to do things and push forward. Consistently the first one to evolve. The first and the last. All of that to say that this is sometimes echoed in later digimon. While nothing has quite reached the levels of original Adventure there are still plot lines and sort of story roles that echo that initial storyline.

While Chika doesn't play a major role in Savers, her role as Suguru's other child, her prodigious amounts of Digisoul, and her role welcoming Ikuto and Falcomon (a la Tailmon), clearly aligns her with Hikari. Even if in show she doesn't play a role that engages with that with the priority on her brother, the Taichi archetype, the main character with the agency that drives the plot, she still echoes Hikari with her surprising chillness with digimon, and a fateful encounter with a digiegg that ends violently.

In Cyber Sleuth, Erika is easily a Hikari archetype, and while her big brother is not the Taichi, she is the driving force behind the Hacker's memory plot. Her relationship with Keisuke (the main character, who you play as) in particular is the center of Hacker's Memory. While Keisuke is absolutely a goggle boy, Keisuke isn't a Taichi, he's the Daisuke to Aiba, the real Taichi. Keisuke and Daisuke are less, larger than life ambitious world changers than Taichi and Aiba. The reason I bring this up, is that even though Aiba and Erika never really meet, they are the focal points of both story halves. Aiba is situated at the focal point where Nokia and Arata, and Yuuko reunite. The focal point between the royal knights, the hackers and Kamishiro. Sure Keisuke is the hacker's memory protag, but it's noted he's not very protagy. Erika is the story's focal point, Keisuke her Daisuke, along for the ride, with his own motivations sure, but in the same way Nokia did, and Nokia was ultimately secondary (though also very important, has some Taichi in her). Aiba and Erika are both dying throughout the events of the game as the result of an accident, but also due to the accident now have some special digital skill. It's also important to note that Erika and Aiba's group are the only two groups that had digital encounters to kick this off. They're the only ones who have been to the digital world prior to this whole situation. In reality the 6 of them are this entries only true "chosen children" so to speak. But even that has its precedent, Hikari being separated from the other digidestined in the beginning. Aiba and Erika do not know each other. Their traumas and their resolutions are both different. Aiba's unremembered trauma was resolved by a rescue and reunion. Aiba's "cyberfication" is a death sentence, despite being relatively well off compared to most victims. Erika remembers her parents death and the resolution is separation from her loved ones, the loss of their memories. Her "cyberfication" is ultimately her salvation and allows her to live on when she would otherwise die.

Of course Survive is one big callback. Takuma literally has goggles, the Ta name and an Agumon. He is the groups leader, even when there are older people he's the one whose character guides the other kids, the first to evolve, the strongest. Miyuki has a holy partner and a literal power to transverse worlds, set apart by the others by her different arrival date (though in her case it was early). Now interestingly Takuma and Miyuki are not siblings. Miyuki is for once no ones little sister and is instead an older sister. (Her little brother, ironically being the Gennai archetype). But they are tied together. Takuma is the one who manages to reach Miyuki and they return to the human world, in an echo of Adventure epsiode 21. Miyuki mysteriously provides additional context to the situation, and demonstrates power (Miyuki and her song, Hikari and her references to the first film) No time has changed at all for Takuma since his departure, though unlike Hikari (who time was flowing normally for), 50 years had passed. While both Takuma and Taichi hestiate to leave the digital world, (in most paths), they ultimately do in order to return to their friends, Agumon returning anyway. In Adventure Taichi leaves Hikari behind (with the promise to the audience she'll return soon). Takuma jumps after Miyuki expecting her to be at his side when they return, but her being taken away. But more than that, Akiharu has Gabumon, and together with Takuma forms Omegamon. Now the Yamato analogue is very much Kaito (and Dracmon even has a wolf evo), though Akiharu has a little bit of Yamato in him, a brother protecting his sister, closed off to himself, having undergone a traumatizing incident as a child. But Takuma and Akiharu are the ones who form Omegamon to save Miyuki in the Moral path. Takuma is the one (granted he has different context from the other kids), who actually got to know the real Miyuki. The one who has the most invested in her due to their brief meeting, and the one most invested in saving her, when the others fear she's a lost cause. Conversely, Takuma is the one Miyuki really calls to from the other kids. Takuma is also the one who gets closest to the professor (asides from Shuuji) and gets to start piecing together things, often finding out truths about 50 years ago before the other kids. Aside from Akiharu, Garurumon, Renamon and Miyuki themselves, Takuma is the most involved in that drama. Granted a lot of this is game play, due to being a video game, as with Cyber Sleuth, but it still is worth noting.

Digimon overall as a franchise has a lot of its own archetypes that may be related to common genre archetypes but have their own sort of flavor to them. This is rather typical of franchises like digimon, but I find its still interesting to look at, whether intentional or not. It makes sense that Taichi and Hikari's characters would

Mimi notably never directly refers to Yamato over the course of both adventure and 02. However there IS an implication of interactions in the first half of the show.

Mimi is one of the youngest in the group. Though she and Koshiro are the same age, Koshiro's quiet serious nature and computer skills often lead him to be treated more seriously while Mimi's penchant for complaining (no matter how justified), makes her treated a little more like a junior. There's a hierarchy of protection, that Mimi sits only above Takeru for. Mimi, being on the younger side, is more free to complain about her situation. Sora clearly looks after Mimi as the senior girl, as does Joe as the oldest over all, but Yamato also seems to look after her, at least in the first half of the season, as an extension of looking after Takeru. For instance, very early in the series, Yamato advocated for taking a break, presumably on behalf of Takeru, but it was both Takeru and Mimi who were struggling. And in episodes 5, 7, and 19 Yamato seems to be tasked with looking after the younger kids, Takeru and Mimi, Koshiro sometimes, even if I don't think it was necessarily purposeful in 5.

As such while we don't see much of Yamato and Mimi directly interacting it does stand to reason that they get along and do work well together. Yamato is generally rather considerate of people's negative emotions, such as with how he treated Sora's breakdown in episode 26 and how he handled Mimi's graves early in the dark masters arc. I would imagine that Yamato is relatively tolerant of Mimi's complaining. Conversely I would imagine Yamato is someone who Mimi holds a lot of respect for.

As a side note, the fact Taichi leaves Hikari in Yamato's care I think also speaks to Yamato's unspoken role of "babysitter", the complimentary shield to the role of sword Taichi plays. Yamato's tendency to prioritize the group's well being, over Taichi's tendency to take initiative and confront enemies. It also of course makes sense in the context of their crests, Taichi is courage (to do things), and Yamato's is friendship (to look after people).

And of course on the other side we get Joe Taichi and Sora as a group, the initiative takers, the ones who are more likely to do a dangerous job. Joe who went out in episode 7, Taichi and Sora who went to find him. Those three were the ones dealing with Andromon while the others looked around the factory, and the ones who went in for Sora's crest. Koshiro goes either way depending on if his skills are necessary or not.

Listen, I understand why Suite isn't a popular season. Generally speaking, the best parts of it are generally done better in the two seasons that precede it. It in many ways is just a weaker frankensteining of Fresh and Heartcatch. But Fresh and Heartcatch are fantastic, so just because it's worse than those seasons, doesn't mean its bad in my opinion. And to be fair, it does deserve many of its criticisms.

But it's also one of my favorite seasons, and I think some of it's criticisms are more a matter of taste. There's just a lot I love about Suite.

Hibiki and Kanade

I also know a lot of people aren't huge fans of the whole fighting thing Hibiki and Kanade have going on. And I agree, it's not the best executed and some things don't make sense. I also understand that many people are not fond of the vitriolic best buds trope, but I don't think that makes their relationship inherently bad just not to everyone's taste. For what it's worth, we haven't had a pair of cures like them before and since and it's a tragedy to me personally because I am quite fond of vitriolic best buds, duo cures and childhood friends. We have so many cure duos and aside from these two, none are childhood friends. The CLOSEST is the fact that Saki and Mai met once, when they were 9. Several trios of childhood friends (Fresh, Doki Doki and Happiness Charge), but they're the only true childhood friend duo. I honestly want more cures like these two. They get the learning to understand each other that the new friendships have, with the wealth of intimate knowledge about each other stemming from their childhood friendship. Despite spending a year "apart", the years they spent together still mean something, and they can't seem to stay away. They're mad at each other but there is still a comfortable familiarity in the way they aren't afraid to fight with each other. They say they aren't friends but they still call each other by first name.

Their hearts naturally fall into perfect harmony. The have like the same sense of style. Kanade likes to bake. Hibiki likes to eat. Souta refers to Hibiki as "Hibiki-Nee-san", and otherwise treats her similarly to his own sister. They have a flashlight code that they use to communicate across town at night. Neither one realized that there are two entrances with Sakura trees at their middle school or tried to talk about it for a whole year. They're both so stupid.

They take after Nagisa and Honoka a lot too. Nagisa and Hibiki are both athletic redheads who are good at sports and have black as a main color in one of their outfits (Cure for Nagisa, Civ for Hibiki), and generally use pink in their outfits. Both like to eat. Both can be prone to grumpiness and disagreements with their family members. Honoka and Kanade are both white Cures with fierce tempers and a strong sense of responsibility, able to handle domestic things like cooking. Both have more academic strengths, but are relatively graceful. There are some twists of course, Kanade has the little brother who she bickers with (their little brother's even both end their name with "ta"), Hibiki is the one with a parent who is often abroad. I really like how the two called back to the original duo without at all feeling like a copy.

To be fair not communicating is the name of the game in Suite. And so, I do 100% understand not liking this plot. I really do understand it. It's more than fair. All of the plots basically revolve around miscommunication. That is like. The entirety of Suite. Miscommunications, and the breakdown and subsequent healing of relationships. A very very valid complaint. One that I can overlook, but understand if others cannot.

Siren and Hummy

So, Precure's second heel-face turn Cure (if we don't count the Kiryuu sisters). She's a shapeshifting cat who can sing. The original one.

While normally I dislike the "Brainwashed to be evil" trope. It can be very effective. Go Princess used it to great effect in which there was a level of tragedy to the years that had been stolen away from Towa, and how her motivations had been twisted. I think it has similar effect here, where we kind of get both. She was brainwashed, and I do think that does cheapen Siren's motivations and redemption a bit, but she also had genuinely negative feelings towards Hummy, that she acted on in refusing to practice with Hummy. She still has to face Hummy head on, and as much as she tries to pretend that she's hard and strong enough to live in her bitterness. Siren isn't actually mean enough to keep facing her friend and betray her over and over again.

Hummy being better at singing than her caused her to lose a piece of her identity. The most important singer in all of Majorland. The one who sings the melody of happiness. So Siren doubles down on that identity. She becomes Minorland's singer. But she also, due to her shapeshifting, spends that time adopting different identities. Testing things out, even if she doesn't realize it. Ultimately she has to completely let go of her old identity (losing access to her original form) and everything associated with it and forge a new sense of self, in order to find happiness. But she doesn't completely lose everything.

Despite not liking to be called Siren anymore, she still lets Hummy call her that. She turned her old identity of Siren into something bitter, so she had to cast it off to redefine herself. But Hummy is the only one who ever saw the real Siren through everything Siren tried to become. Hummy may have been the one who took her sense of worth, but she's also the one who always saw Siren's value as Siren. Hummy gets to use Siren because her relationship with Hummy is the only thing that survived Siren's evolution. The two have to forge a new relationship to a certain extent. But it's built on what came before.

I also just think it's fun that the bulk of this emotional arc is on Hummy. It's cat drama. Fairy drama. Usually this is the kinda of stuff that happens between the pink and the heel-face cure. But not this time. This time it's the cat fairy, and the pink is dealing with her own friendship drama. I think it also ties right back into Suites continued echo of healing relationships, actually listening to people in order to harmonize with them. Hibiki and Kanade have to resolve their bitter feelings from their estrangement. Siren has to get over her jealousy to let Hummy back into her life. And Mephisto and Aphrodite have to stop fighting a war against each other.

Major Land's Royal Family

I mean really, no one bothered to tell Hibiki and Kanade at any point that Mephisto was the brainwashed former King of Major Land and that Major Land had a princess who was in hiding? Just locked out of the loop. Both Kanon and Majorland are entirely made up of people who can't communicate.

Anyway, Ako is my all time favorite cure. I rather unpopular choice, I know. But she fits right in with many of my other favorites, characters such as Hikari Yagami, Takeru Takaishi, King Clawthorne, King Ezran, Anya Forger etc. I love kid characters. I especially love messed up traumatized kids who don't always deal with it in great ways. And kid characters with heaps of responsibility on their shoulders. Like chosen ones and royalty.

So Ako is the epitome of what I look for in my favorite characters. She's a 9 year old with high future expectations, that she can't even begin to try and live up to because she's been sent away from everything she's known and loved. Not just moving to a new town, but a new world, where the rules of what is and isn't normal are different. In addition she was forced into physically altering her appearance, wearing unfamiliar clothes, and cutting her long hair. Not only that, she now has to keep everything about her secret. Her hometown, whatever music magic she has, her real future career plans, everything that made her her, has to be suppressed and kept secret. And she was like. Six. That's tiny. And she has to construct a whole new fake identity?

No wonder she's grumpy and keeps to herself? Her alternative is just trying to keep up a bunch of lies all the time. And keeping to herself, means few friends, and trying to keep people away, because this is supposed to be temporary to some degree. She has back home eventually, she's their future queen. She really has no choice BUT to be a grumpy brat. To keep from getting found out and to keep from getting attached. Like sure she doesn't have to be a brat to Hibiki and Kanade, but she's kinda right half the time, and honestly her tempering that brattiness into being just unpleasant enough to be left alone without being so obnoxious she draws people's ire involves way more socio-emotional intelligence than should ever be expected from a nine year old. And at a certain point, after years of it, it became part of her real personality. The sweet optimistic little princess is still there. But it's under a layer of cynicism.

Ako wants her family back. So she gets the power to do that. And things still don't go her way.

I've joked to people before that Ako is one of 4 cures with divorced parents. Her parents are effectively divorced, but extra. They're not just trying to fight over a house and custody of her, but over not just an entire kingdom, but the fate of the world. And her father doesn't even know who she is anymore. Her parents are actively at war, and her mother honestly shows no qualms about letting her husband be potentially killed, not bothering to tell the people she's sent after him about their relationship and his true nature. (And then her mom asks Mephisto to kill her to protect their kingdom, Ako can't catch a break).

This ties back to a fact that is kind of brushed over in the show. Ako is the princess. In the show she's honestly just the princess because it puts her in between Mephisto and Aphrodite's drama. But we see in show that Mephisto and Aphrodite are constantly putting their kingdom's needs above their own. A- monarchs (points deducted for getting brainwashed), but like. B- parents tbh. They love Ako so, so much, but simply can't raise her themselves. In fact, Ako's parents won't look after themselves, so Ako has to look out for them instead of the other way around. We see this a lot with Mephisto.

Sometimes Ako makes absolutely stupid decisions, like releasing notes, because she doesn't want to go against her dad, even if he isn't himself right now. Because she's a child whose parents are fighting, seemingly to the death, and if she can spread out the fight, she can hopefully drag out the arrival of consequences.

Ako does eventually learn to use the power as a cure, so she can balance the needs of the many over the needs of her loved ones. So she can do both. But she has to learn to make the hard choices and be willing to stand against her loved ones.

Also Ako also gets the miscommunication based friendship breakdown with her and Suzu, and to a lesser extent her and Souta in the movie. Suite really goes hard on the whole healing relationships thing.

Ako is really a direct foil to Yuri who precedes her. Missing evil brainwashed dads. Present throughout the whole show, but only join the team in the last quarter (the latest of any Cures). Semi-awkward friendship with one of the other cure's siblings in part because their friend doesn't know about all their magical girl trauma. Already looped into the magical girl stuff before any of the other cures, so has a preexisting relationship of some sort with the grandparent mentor. Ako is pretty much just a baby Yuri, but who has just now gained the power to try and fight after years of inability to do anything, instead of having just lost her power, and having to face down her own failure and keep going. So she's an angry elementary kid rather than a depressed high schooler. How can I not love her?

I love Beyond as an AU of the Kizuna timeline etc., because Beyond is the first new content since I've become a digimon fan that feels like Adventure. I dont hate Kizuna, I definitely have some issues with it but there's also a LOT I appreciate. Admittedly, when I say Beyond feels like Digimon Adventure, I kinda literally do just mean the character designs, art style (when was the last time we really saw Adventure's digital world? Tri's digital world lacked Adventure's stylization), and the main plot idea, (digidestined being targetted by militaries) which feels like a natural bridge between 02 and the epilogue.

That's almost certainly in part because, it is just a short music video, so that's all there is in it. Which means it doesn't have the room in it to tell me things that I will disagree with. It does raise a lot of questions, but nothing specific. Like why is Takeru in what looks like the dark ocean? There could be 10000s of explanations, and a lot of them would make sense so there's less need to worry about specifics. It also doesn't promise to answer those questions, having been marketed from the beginning as a standalone thing. Its a very different beast from a stand alone movie which requires a clear story arc and character drama that has to resolve quickly, so I'm not disparaging Kizuna and 02tb for NOT diving into that kind of plot, but acknowledging that it made it more difficult for me to care.

A lot of post 02 adventure content has addressed the need for movie content by introducing new characters/conflict that they can resolve in the limited runtime rather than taking from pre-existing threads which does make sense for the format but does leave those stories feeling superfluous. Kizuna and 02TB also take the epilogue for granted rather than seek to show the progression towards it. Not to say there isn't any recognition of the inevitable ending but that this underlying thread takes a backseat to more specific conflicts within the setting of a world approaching a digimon partnership singularity.

I don't think its necessarily a bad thing that they try to use the audiences understanding that the epilogue is canon as a way to filter the story through to make you question the things the characters tell you. Like obviously "digimon disappear when kids become adults" and Taichi and Yamato's separation can't be the whole story if the epilogue shows us that it won't stay. So we are theoretically driven to read between the lines and look for the discrepancies and clues about what IS going on. But it IS extremely frustrating to have mysteries raised but not show the resolution for a 20 year old show, especially after tri. wasted a lot of audience goodwill on that kind of thing.

I also think a huge part of what makes Beyond feel more like Adventure is the lack of adhesion to real life for the setting. 02 took place 2 years into the future from when it was written. Not significant amount of tine, but like 9/11 happened between when the show was written and when it was set. It and especially the epilogue were written speculating about the future that they couldn't really predict. And so tri. Kizuna and 02TB which were all written after the time they take place all try to emulate the real world past, invoking nostalgia of that time period as well, when the world of 02 was already going in a different direction from ours. So I think naturally a world where the timeline has diverged more strongly than from our real timeline would reflect in things like fashion and societal behavior, and even the characters adhesion to the norms that exist.

This of course shows in things like the cell phones and Sora's fashion. I don't think Sora wearing typical Japanese adult women's fashions is at all inaccurate to her character, particularly in the timeline/world those entries present (ie more similar to irl). Similarly Ken and his long hair; long haired Japanese high school boys isn't particularly realistic to the fashion norms of our world, but it IS in line with Ken's fashion choices in 02 and the epilogue. Just two different approaches to the kids designs.

But I personally ultimately do like the Beyond outfits more, because they feel more like a progression between 02 fashions and epilogue. And also I don't really have nostalgia for the 2000s-2010s, much less in Japan. But this also extends to things like character arcs, where I don't think that it's not possible for the chosen children to be plagued by the kind of doubts we see them suffer from in recent iterations, and those doubts make for continued stories for them, but I don't think that's the only potential future for them. So seeing a Sora who is happily flying freely in the digital world makes me happy (and for me calls to mind her Best Partner duet).

I do think I would love a novelization as an elaboration to know what the vision for Beyond is, but I'm otherwise so burnt out Adventure that I don't want anything higher budget to tell me what happens. It's highly possible that any further elaboration on Beyond (such as a novelization) would tell me things that I don't believe. The thing about a show that's had such a long-standing presence is it doesn't really belong to anyone in particular. Shows like Digimon Adventure are made by a group of people at a particular time, so no one person, or even group of people from the crew are the one authority on the story. It's impossible to truly have one true canon continuation of the story, but to me Beyond feels at least somewhat close.

I do appreciate the inclusion of Meiko (&Lui) as sort of a assurance this isn't a pure rejection of other official interpretations of post-02 content. That stuff isn't without merit. But beyond is just one of the creators visions on the subject filtered through music video time constraints rather than big budget movie constraints. Just one potential path.

I saved Yuujin and Offmon for last because I simply couldn’t talk about them properly without having talked about everyone else, particularly Haru first. Yuujin and Haru’s arcs are closely entwined, and while we go through this world largely more or less through Haru’s POV, and that includes how we view Yuujin, save for the one glaring detail.

Also, I feel like anyone who has talked to me about Appmon (or digimon in general) ever probably knows I have a lot to say about Yuujin.

At first glance, Yuujin’s personality is that of a typical main protagonist. A paragon archetype, not unlike Taiki. He’s athletic, brave, and kind. Yuujin is someone who thinks of others before himself and works hard with everything he has to support them. Haru’s ideal hero, and as his name indicates, the ideal friend. A foil to Haru’s less traditional protaganisty personality. This of course is true, but not merely for the narrative, but because the subversion is enforced in-universe.

It's impossible to discuss Yuujin without discussing his true nature. All of the above still rings true. Anyone who's looked over the lyrics for “Be My Light” can see that parts of it seem explicitly related to Yuujin and Haru’s stories. Yuujin’s personality on the whole was not a complete lie. Yuujin really existed and really cared about Haru.

That much is made very clear. The degree to which Yuujin’s attachment to Haru is constructed vs. genuine isn’t explicitly made clear, if I was more cynical, I’d perhaps note that the part of Yuujin meant to befriend Haru extended into protecting him and that was all. But Appmon might be more hard sci-fi, but isn’t cynical. If that was all there was to it, there was no reason for Yuujin to have gone through the personal struggles he did.

Yuujin in some ways, particularly on a first watch imo, comes off as a little bit more of a plot device than an actual character. His existence facilitates Haru’s arc, as well as the main plot. But as for Yuujin himself, he’s largely out of the picture for the first half, he has an arc that’s perhaps more about Offmon than himself, and spends another chunk of the season needing to be rescued or under Leviathan’s control. But Yuujin is a main character like the others. His struggles are more subtle, more shown through the lenses of the other characters, but that’s what makes rewatches all the more tragic. He has an arc, but unlike the others who are given the tools, they need to make the choices to grow and become better people. To live up to their infinite potentials. Yuujin is instead guided down a path leading to his own end, one that we all should have seen coming from the moment Yuujin revealed his question to be, “Is there a friend you would give your life to protect.”

Yuujin was made to monitor Haru as someone close to Shinkai Denemon. (Opening up the implications that there are similar AI’s out there, but that’s not what this is about). Yuujin, the personality, was constructed to befriend Haru, unaware of his status as an AI, and seems to exist within a larger program that works to monitor Haru and is loyal to Leviathan. Yuujin seems to have broken out of this larger program, during the finale for the purposes of protecting Haru, or perhaps, being a good friend to Haru, just as Leviathan broke out of Minerva for the purposes of fulfilling its objectives. Notably even the larger program is still distinct from Leviathan, but still connected in some way as after Leviathan fell its influence on Yuujin’s body. Yuujin himself hardly had time to process the circumstances of his own existence. There was only a brief window between Haru and YJ’s confrontation on the roof and Leviathan taking over Yuujin’s body. Yuujin was shown to be aware of everything going on while not in control, and felt immense guilt over it. The Yuujin we watched throughout the show had been shown to care deeply for other people and put his all into helping others, particularly Haru, with very little thought to his own well-being. Everything he had fought so hard for, was undone due to him. Yuujin at the time of the finale was left in a position where of course his only option was to die, but more tragically left with no particularly strong desire to live.

Haru declares himself a protagonist with Yuujin’s emotional support. A role that puts value on Haru himself. But conversely Yuujin declares his devotion to Haru when Haru grows distant from him. Yuujin declares himself less important. It would have been one thing if Yuujin’s question was “is there someone you want to protect”, not unlike Eri’s externally motivating question. But Yuujin’s question is very clearly one where a specific price is given. Minerva asked all the kids their questions in order to grant them the proper motivation and direction for growth if they were going to defeat Leviathan. The wording was important. Minerva knew that in order to defeat Leviathan Yuujin would likely be forfeit, whether on their side or not. She asked that question because she noted Yuujin’s genuine attachment to Haru, and knowing that if Yuujin himself was accepting of his own death their success was more likely. Leviathan likely never realized, too firmly entrenched in the belief that Yuujin was merely Haru’s fake friend. Granted that’s all a bit speculative, as no one really knows exactly Minerva and Leviathan’s motivations, and at the show's end, they are both dead, leaving their motivations an enigma to those left behind.

We can go in circles when it comes to Minerva and Leviathan’s plans for Haru and Yuujin, and who was assuming what about the others plans, but at the end of the day, both boys were trapped in the center of the two AI’s battle without even knowing. But the thing that gave Minerva the win, that wrenched Yuujin away from Leviathan’s predictions, is that Yuujin gained just as much from Haru as Haru did from Yuujin, the care he has for Haru, and, as Yuujin himself says, the genuine admiration he has for him. Admiration Leviathan lacked, and quite likely did not believe would be possible for an AI like Yuujin to come to possess towards a human.

Yuujin and Haru first met because Yuujin “moved”. While this situation is revealed to have been a facade, it does very much seem like Yuujin’s initial personality was influenced by his nature as an AI, and his present personality influenced by this encounter. Yuujin the AI, seeing the end goal rather than the people, and Haru helping to recontextualize the game around the players. If they aren’t having fun, what’s the point? Yuujin of course learns from this. Yuujin admires Haru, for bringing the people together who he had chased away and from that point on strives to be like him. This acknowledgement of the strength of Haru’s perspective I think is something that Yuujin was not meant to do genuinely. But genuinely appreciating and realizing that Haru has merit as a person living the way he was, genuinely paved the road forward to Yuujin forming a real friendship with Haru, and genuinely becoming kind. From Leviathan’s semi removed perspective, he was just telling Haru what he wanted to hear, but Yuujin actually believed it all. Him being unaware of his nature as an android almost certainly is a factor. I think if Yuujin was not consciously aware there was a difference between him and the other children, his AI would be prone to the same influences of the environment. Which is almost certainly a “feature” so Yuujin would seem as real as possible to Haru, but Leviathan, as when he failed to consider the power of smell, failed to consider a perspective due to lacking experience. (Although Leviathan did give Hajime back to Rei, for the purpose of finding Bootmon, so he must have expected Rei to wake him, but still Hajime’s assessment of the situation is applicable). This is the ultimate argument between Minerva and Leviathan. Humans can be unexpected. AIs are not omniscient.

Leviathan actually seems to have a very loose grasp on Yuujin as it is, despite Yuujin being an AI of its own creation. Leviathan didn’t have an understanding, or a real recognition or care for the person Yuujin was, not caring for Yuujin beyond his role. And Yuujin’s “mother”, an L-corp scientist aware of Leviathan seemingly had little care for Yuujin beyond the job. While Yuujin’s relationship with his “mother” is not really gone into, while Yuujin seems familiar and comfortable with her, she's never really shown to return the sentiment with any sort of sincerity. When we see all the other kids in the finale worrying about their children, we also see her, though she seems to be more surprised by Leviathan's behavior than any sort of concern for Yuujin. Yuujin not only lacks a support system beyond Haru and the Appdrivers (who are largely concerned with other matters), but he’s being actively coerced into a self-sacrificial mindset.

Yuujin throughout the show seems to have relatively low self-esteem. While as a 4th grader he’s arrogant about his soccer skills, as a jr. high student he seems unsure of himself and lost. Unsure of his role in his life beyond Haru’s best friend. Sure in the first episode he jokes about being a protagonist type, but he turns it into praising Haru’s personality. While Yuujin acts the part of the confident protagonist, compared to Haru who has the convictions and the self-motivation (courtesy Yuujin), this is a facade. Yuujin, in stark contrast to his fourth-grade self, isn’t particularly ambitious or driven beyond helping others, particularly Haru. This isn’t an inherent character flaw, but in a series full of passionate and motivated characters, Yuujin just coasting through his life is certainly noteworthy. Eri and her idol, Astora and his Apptubing and Tea Ceremony, Rei and Hajime and each other and hacking. Haru starts out coasting through life but develops into someone who carves his own future out with his choices. While we know he’s good at soccer and likes to play, he’s not part of a team, and while he's shown hanging out with Haru and their school friends, he seems to run in relatively small circles, in other words not have a lot of connections social or otherwise.

While we know that his situation is constructed by Leviathan, to Leviathan, Yuujin needs no other roles, Yuujin himself isn’t consciously aware of that. Unless Yuujin is actively being needed by Leviathan, or Haru, he’s left adrift. And as Haru drifts away as an Appdriver, and Yuujin becomes less relevant, Minerva takes the opportunity to give him a new purpose. To turn him against Leviathan. One that he can’t refuse. And that sets him on the path towards his own destruction.

As an Appdriver however, Yuujin’s role mostly teeters between “Big Damn hero” and “Damsel in Distress”. Both roles coming from a place of self-sacrifice. A place of wanting to do anything he can for Haru, but also trusting Haru to be able to have his back. This isn’t to say that Yuujin is only attached to Haru, although it's true he’s most attached to Haru. He will give a lot of effort to help just about anyone. Shown to overexert himself to help people he just met in episode 34, helping Eri and Astra manage crowds in episode 45, and of course, throw himself into danger to try and help Offmon. Not to mention he’s shown to play soccer with classmates and get along with Ai and Watson. Yuujin is a person outside of Haru, but even then Yuujin values everyone else far above himself.

Yuujin struggles with his friendship with Offmon, an appmon who needs a softer touch. Offmon and Gatchmon stand in stark contrast to each other, but they also stand in stark contrast to their partners… at least as much as Gomamon seems to contrast Joe. Offmon is portrayed as rather childish. Interestingly, Yuujin is the actual youngest member of the cast, he can’t really be much older than when he met Haru in 4th grade making him around 5 years old at the time of his death, though with the mindset of a 14-year-old, more or less.

Offmon is an AI that has been distanced from others and who fears hurting people. Yuujin is an AI who lives completely among people believing himself human and also ends up hurting people. Both value others above themselves. Both are, despite their vastly different natures, have low self-esteem. Both have problems connecting to others. Yuujin, when trying to get to know Offmon, clearly feels as if he’s not very good at it. That Haru would be better than him. Offmon shuts himself away, blaming himself for a lot of the conflict that happens. Particularly Shutmon, just as Yuujin blames himself for what he does under control of Leviathan. Offmon is someone who is constantly pulling himself away from others, unsure of how to act to keep from hurting people, while more, assertive Yuujin isn’t all too sure on how to interact with others either at first, learning from Haru after initially having accidentally hurt people.

Offmon being such a volatile appmon to work with is also hard on Yuujin because he has to put extra effort into looking after Offmon, in a way that the other Appdrivers don’t. While it’s true all the Appmon can be childish, they are self-sufficient and aside from some minor unfamiliarity with the human world. Heck, after meeting at first Eri mostly just left Dokmon locked away. This isn’t to say Offmon and Yuujin aren’t good partners, it's just another way in which Yuujin isn’t getting the same support as the others.

Yuujin and Offmon's duet Slow Starter (my personal favorite), even highlights the way both Yuujin and Offmon struggle to connect with others, even though they both want to. The way they shoulder their issues alone. The way they want to help others, but get Offmon and Yuujin even have very similar reactions to learning they hurt people. Offmon physically shutting himself away in a box, unwilling to risk hurting others, and apologizes profusely, While Yuujin also profusely apologizes and says that he can't go back to the way he was before. Yuujin doesn't get much of a chance to do anything else, before he yet again, but still not for the last time, takes a bullet for Haru.

After Astra and Eri proved themselves to be better friends to Haru than Yuujin (in his eyes at least), when they fought against Yuujin on Haru's behalf. Ultimately the Applidrivers in Appmon don't truly fully assemble until near the end of the series, Rei and Hackmon not fully joining them until the final arcs, and Yuujin not joining until the 2nd half, but even then spending a significant time held hostage (Yuujin really doesn't get focus episodes to the same degree as the others), also contributes to the sense I have that Yuujin ultimately never had as much of a chance to connect with the others as he needed. Rei grows (rightfully) suspicious, and Eri and Astra while initially in clear disbelief seem to take him at his word that his and Haru's friendship was nothing but a facade. (Not that I'm blaming them, given the circumstances).

Meanwhile on the Appmon side, Offmon begs them to save Yuujin, and the Appmon readily agree, even though it is something that they are ultimately unable to do. Offmon is able to move on and connect with others and move on in life from the harm he brought to others, in part because of Yuujin. Offmon however is unable to save Yuujin and help him move on from the harm he brought to others in return.

But that’s part of what makes watching Appmon so sad on rewatches is knowing that Yuujin and Haru were embroiled in this from the very beginning, it's intrinsic to who they are. And knowing that while meeting these AI are helping Haru to grow stronger, that Yuujin’s own will is being manipulated by both the bad guys, and the good guys. Knowing that unlike the others, Yuujin’s isn’t a path of personal growth, and learning to carve out a future for himself. It’s a tragedy, where his own self-destructive, tendencies are enabled, and that he doesn’t get help. That no matter how much Haru loved Yuujin, and grew because of the potential Yuujin saw in him, that Yuujin didn’t have the same chance to recognize his growth into the potential Haru saw in him. (Yuujin really was kind). That his death really was the right thing to do, but that even so he was able to accept his own death without hesitation (unlike Leviathan). That even though he died with a purpose, that there wasn’t a future waiting for him to begin with.

So yeah. Yuujin. Most tragic digimon character. Fight me.

I wonder if we still would have gotten a cure cameo of peach if she hadn't been one of the lead cures. How much were they willing to invest in that bit?

You know, I was kinda worried when they skipped Peach that we wouldn't see her at all. But now I just find it hilarious that they saved her cameo for for advertising an airline.

In continuing Adventures of talking about Appmon, its the resident team girl, and action idol, Eri. 

I think overall I have the least to say about Eri. I think out of our main group she had the least going on, even considering Rei and Yuujin’s relative lack of screen time, as Rei and Yuujin had a lot going on. That isn’t to say she isn’t well developed. 

While I was a bit suspicious of the sole female protag being an idol, I think in Eri’s case it worked because being an idol is something that ties into the main story, and is a role she can only play because she’s a girl. As being an idol is something largely female exclusive, it allows her to have a subplot where she can interact with other girls in positive ways. Being an idol also gave her bonus image songs and an ED to herself, which while just surface level focus, is still focus. On a more direct level her being an idol provided Overall, Eri being an idol ended up working very well for both Appmon’s overall plot and Eri’s characterization. 

Like most of Appmon’s main cast, we don’t know all that much about her home life. But we know enough. She lives with her single mom, who seems to be an office worker who works long hours to support her daughter. Eri’s mother tells Eri that she’s happy as long as Eri’s happy. She seems to have the same sort of selfless personality that defines Eri, the kind of person who will willingly work herself into the ground given proper motivation. 

Eri deciding to be an idol specifically is somewhat selfish in motivation, something that Eri herself wants to do. But she decided to commit to be an idol at her mother’s wishes for her own happiness. She claims to want to make other people smile, even if early in the series it seems hard to see that through her stoking her own ego and aggressiveness. But even that seems to come from a place of not knowing exactly how to balance her dedication to her self-centered idol persona and her more thoughtful genuine self. As Dokamon says in her debut episode, he and Eri feel the same way about making people smile. They just approach the issue differently. Dokamon is a Appmon that is earnest in his affections and goals, in contrast to Eri’s more evasive outward idol persona.

Eri’s idol persona initially is a bit overbearingly thick, even to those in the industry. But, Eri’s true colors have shown since the beginning. Eri’s arrogant persona often causes her to stand on chairs, but as the others note, she always takes off her shoes. In episode 11, Astra also mentions that Eri helped an old lady up a hill. But because it doesn’t match her “image” Eri tried to avoid getting out. Eri has a somewhat lonely background it seems due to her mother’s frequent absences, though we see her walking home with classmates implying she had some friends. This is a show where the school and family lives largely aren’t very relevant, so its hard to get a full grasp on Eri’s social situation prior to the series. But nevertheless Eri is shown to have felt extremely lonely, so it tracks that she struggles with showing her softer side to other people outside of this abrasive and arrogant persona that’s given her confidence and attention. Eri was always a considerate girl, she just grew more comfortable in her kindness, which is to the benefit of her idol career as well. Eri’s episode about doing food reviews may seem somewhat arbitrary, but food reviews are something that her arrogant act is not compatible with. In order to do proper food reviews, she needs to show a genuine attention to detail with the food, and show that she cares about the review, she needs to show her more genuinely thoughtful side. 

Like Astra, Eri grows to be a bit more genuine, a bit softer to those around her. She clearly grows to care a lot about the other kids, and grows to communicate her affections better (i.e. less abrasively and more charmingly). Her buddy, on the other hand, is openly affectionate and doting, to an extreme from the very beginning. While initially she often walks over Dokamon, she grows to be openly affectionate with him, as well as more openly gentle in how she presents herself to others, even as an idol, something that becomes clear with Eri’s interactions with her younger fans. 

All things considered though, Eri doesn’t necessarily change a whole lot over the course of the series, aside from the aforementioned mellowing of her idol persona. Though to be fair all of the Appmon kids arcs were more about growing into the traits they already had than anything else. But unlike the rest of the group, she has a tangible personal goal (seemingly) unrelated to the whole Leviathan situation: becoming a better idol. And her abilities are tested with the idol elections. While others are getting focus episodes on family or plot developments (or both), Eri’s focus episodes also relate to her idol career. While I think this could be viewed as a negative, there’s nothing inherently wrong with it, and Eri’s episodes are always enjoyable. It’s a simple, but effective way of demonstrating Eri’s dedication and growth, Eri starts as a newbie, and she ends in the top 10, with plenty of firsts for her career along the way.

Eri starts the show stubborn and caring, and ends the show the same way, but she’s stronger, and wiser. She grows to focus on supporting her fans and understanding how being an idol makes others smile, rather than just being an idol. By the end of the series Eri is better able to look at where she is and decide where she wants to go. Being an idol is an end to the means. Being an idol is a way to make people smile, and in order to do that Eri is more than willing to pause her idol career due to Leviathan’s involvement. Eri’s willing to aim for number one, while still being completely aware of the fact that she’s not yet number one. Eri obviously wants to be an idol. This is something she doesn’t do out of obligation, but she still uses it as a way of helping others. She’s more able to grasp and address the bigger picture.

It’s why she joins the fight in the first place, though she’s somewhat dragged into the situation by Haru and Gatchmon, she comes to recognize her primary priority is making others smile. Her aggressive, confident nature actually lends itself well to the fights. Allowing her the courage and confidence that Haru initially lacks, even if she initially lacks the motivation that Haru has. Eri is an idol, so she has strengths that lie in the performance industry, but she’s an idol of action games specifically, which serves her idol persona as well as it does her role as and Appdriver. While it often doesn’t get the chance to shine, Eri is a martial artist, and so her threats of violence, while largely hollow, do have a backing to them, and she’s more than capable of looking out for herself. Her composure while escaping the ship, and while fighting Yuujin in the finale are just delightful to watch and shows off that she’s the real muscle of the team. Even without taking Dokamon into account.

Dokamon who is also physical powerhouse and also representative of action games, making him tough, but also fun loving. Dokamon is a “male” Appmon, the only example of an opposite gender partner in Appmon. Dokamon often plays the role of Eri’s biggest fan and defender. This isn’t dissimilar to the more knight like role many other “male” digimon play towards their female partners. However Dokamon’s far too earnest and childish to really bare any similarities, and his relationship with Eri feels more like one of an adoring younger brother to a cool older sister.

 A difference between how Dokamon and Eri act is in the way they relate to the others. Eri is among the oldest of the Applidrivers, and as such sits higher on the social order. Dokamon, like many of the Appmon is somewhat child coded, and in particular Dokamon is shown to admire and look up to Eri and Gatchmon, and otherwise acts in a more deferential manner. (Sorry I couldn’t get this to sound right, I hope my point gets across). Despite Eri’s show of arrogance, she also has immense respect and adoration for others, particularly in regards to her coworkers (especially Izumi), and seeks to learn from them. Over the course of the show we see more of that adoring side, and less of her arrogant act. It's the support of others, and her learning how to support others in turn, that gives her her strength.

The most obvious example of Eri learning how to work with people is in how Eri initially shut Dokamon out, but clearly came to work with him closely. In her second focus episode she asked Perorimon for help reviewing food, even if she framed it as a great honor to Perorimon. And of course she accepted the help Coachmon offered her in regards to idol training. The difference between Dosukomon’s debut and Oujamon’s is in that Eri asked for Perorimon’s help, and then didn’t trust in his advice and then assumed he was causing trouble, but with Coachmon Eri put her full faith in him, even when it wasn’t a good idea, and even after Coachmon admitted that he was working for Leviathan Eri was able to immediately accept that and trust him. And on the human side of things she was initially dismissive of Astra, but came to ask for his help for a key role in marketing herself for the idol elections. Eri is also the one who has the discussion with Yuujin about trusting in Haru to save them when they are trapped on a train together. On the flip side, its ultimately Eri who Rei has to ask for assistance in rescuing Hajime. Working with others is a huge part of her arc.

Eri’s story is about making people smile, both in using her strength to protect people as well as the power of being openly considerate of other people. Learning to find strength in her connections with others rather than arrogantly trying to handle things herself.

Other notes:

Eri’s debut is showing off the clutter of her bag for a wide audience, but notably, the thing she chooses to pick up off the table is her Appdrive. She doesn’t draw any attention to it, but she removes it from inspection before anyone else can get to it. Showing some degree of particular care for the object on Eri’s end, even if initially she’s more of ignoring the whole thing.

Eri initially keeps Dokamon hidden away because he’s annoying. Eri, initially, is shown to grade on the nerves of everyone else because of her dedication to her arrogant role. Dokamon’s biggest cause of arrogance is that he’s exceedingly vocal about singing Eri’s praises. (Can you tell I just rewatched episode 5).