Digimon Adventure tri. 5: Kyousei

While I know it is tradition for me to write up a full post on these films due to previous installments, this movie did not grab me like prior films. In fact, I got easily distracted by other things. What movie you ask, O reader who did not read the title of the post?

Digimon Adventure tri. 5: Kyousei

Rather than do my usual points on what makes or breaks the film, I will mention what little I liked and disliked from the film due to how little it grabbed me. I am not opposing you if you did like the film, reader, I am stating why I did not find the movie engaging (unlike the excellent No Game, No Life Zero which you should be watching if you are in a country where it is released officially, reader).

Liked:

Unpredictability - The film's story was somewhat unpredictable with how it would go. While the previous film brought up a name familiar to fans of the Digimon series (that includes the various other materials it had), there were new elements (like a certain ocean) brought into the film that made it difficult to predict how the story would go. On the other hand, these new elements do add on questions that may end up being unanswered since at time of writing, I have been made aware that the next film will be the last of these films.

Digimon - Again, the Digimon were among the parts of these films I continue to like. Mostly because of how adorable they are and how amusing my nostalgic mind becomes when witnessing their antics. With the amnesia issue mostly a non-problem at this point (aside from lacking familiarity on certain things that they used to know), the Digimon are virtually similar to their pre-amnesia selves.

Characterization - One thing I did notice on my watch is that the characters appear to be adhering to the lessons they have learnt from previous films. Things like Tai's rational hesitance (rather than outright emo hesitance) and Joe's loyalty to friends did pop up from time to time. While part of me thinks that I probably noticed these traits because I was looking for something like that, it is nice if it was intentional as it does indicate adherence to advancing the character's growth.

Disliked:

Pacing - This has been a problem for these films due to being limited to average film lengths which means that at times, the story seems rushed. This film did seem rushed at times (even more so than previous films if the reader can believe that) in my viewing with events progressing fast that I found myself wondering how did the characters end up in one situation and then another. The time spent by the characters in the Digital and real world seemed rather rushed and unevenly paced.

Lack of Hikari - As posters seemingly indicated, the movie is supposed to be centered around Hikari and Mei which based on the end of this film does make sense (not going into that part because of wanting to avoid spoilers). The problem is that Hikari does not get any focus or character arc for the film. In fact, more attention is placed on Mei's angst over Meicoomon and the fact that Meicoomon may need to be put down. As a result, the end of the film lacked impact for me as Hikari barely got any focus to establish her character prior to her reaction towards the events of the ending.

Lack of a character dilemma - Part of these film's premise is how the characters would face a dilemma that they have to confront in order to mature and grow. The second and third film had those developments which made them watchable for me while the first set up the dilemma. The fourth, while placing less emphasis on this, did have a character dilemma for the characters centered upon (or rather one of them) which made it watchable for me too. This film did not have one, or rather had too much focus on Mei's plight that has continued from previous films. While her plight and angst is something one may face if placed in the same situation, it does mean that there are no character arcs or dilemmas to confront which made the film less enjoyable for me.

Lack of 02 -  Okay, now I am quite miffed about this. It is one thing for fans to disregard characters as non-canon out of preference (nothing wrong with that as long as those views are not brought out in official capacity or used to undermine the materials through misrepresentation) but it is another for the actual production to flat out ignore the characters of an official season entirely for 5 movies at this point. Where the heck are the 02 character at this point? Again, no clues are given and aside from an antagonist's usage of the Digimon Emperor's visage, there are no indications of the 02 team existing. In fact, the characters do not seem to acknowledge the 02 group nor do they wonder, at any point, where the group is.

Conclusion:

At this point, I am wondering if I should even watch the final film lest I encounter disappointment at left-hanging plot threads or excessively rushed pacing for the ending. I may watch it out of principle but I am not sure if I would enjoy the upcoming film. Here is hoping that I am proven wrong.