Digimon Adventure 02 In Retrospect (Part 5)
The transcript...more or less:
There’s one issue I hope to tread upon while addressing the Demon Corps., not that it’s a hard topic to address, but because most of what I have to say about it is going to fall along the same lines as what I had to say about Dagomon and the Dark Ocean in Part Four. Yes, the Demon Corps. is another subplot that was introduced on the fly, lasted about two or three episodes, and then subsequently disappeared because of…
…Well, that’s the question isn’t it? I’d really like to know why exactly such great subplot ideas would disappear not just once, but twice in Adventure 02. The manner in which they “shoved” the Demon Corps. into Adventure 02 makes the situation appear as if the writers needed an excuse to give the Chosen Children someone to fight while they were chasing down Oikawa…which, to tell you the truth, is not such a bad excuse when you really think about it. What I mean is, one of the most intriguing aspects about the Demon Corps. was the fact that the Chosen Children were now at odds with not just one but two factions of antagonists who were also at odds with each other. We’re no longer dealing with a split between the good guys and the bad guys, but the good guys against the bad guys against the other bad guys.
The original Digimon Adventure barely touched on a subject as intriguing as third parties to the general good and evil struggle. And Tamers…well, Tamers can almost be defined by how it inserted third or even fourth parties to the main struggle. With the Demon Corps., Adventure 02 had a chance to re-enter epic storytelling. Sadly, it is a story arc that only lasts for a short period of time and isn’t allowed to become anything other than filler.
Also, remember that the Demon Corps. is introduced in Episode 43, and that in another seven episodes Adventure 02 will be all over. Now you know why I complained about the length of the Digimon Kaiser arc. Add the Holy Stones and World Tour arcs, and Adventure 02 has around thirty episodes that have, essentially, been wasted. The Chosen Children are just…doing stuff. There’s not rhyme or reason for anything that’s being done anymore-things just happen and the children either have to just roll with it or fix it. There’s never a sense of real completion to any of those story arcs, they’re just putting lid on a steaming pot and saying, “Okay, we’re done here-lets move on to plot number…Six!” Filler material is no longer being relegated to single episodes in Adventure 02, but now entire story arcs!
Even so, there one good thing came from all those story arcs. That being the development of Ken Ichijoji.
The Demon Corps. are featured in Episodes 43-45. Upon re-watching them, I discovered that it would impossible to talk about them without also talking about…another prominent antagonist as well. So, here, not will not only address the Daemon Corps., but will also touch upon the subject of the main antagonist of Adventure 02 as well.
Now, let me tell you something about episodes themselves: the writing is absolutely horrendous. Remember when I said it that it made no sense for the new Chosen Children to bypass all the mental obligations when Adventure 02 began? Well, now Taichi is worried about how well they’re going to handle the moral obligations of killing other Digimon…This is Episode 43…and now Taichi is worried about this?!
Another thing about these episodes is that they’re all full of these moments of…Clarity? In some scenes, there characters seem to know exactly what is going on or what to expect regardless of the fact that they have little-to-no information. And then we get reams of dialogue full of exposition, some of which sounds like they are being read directly from the script to the audience, explaining every little event as we see it transpire. That is the kind of material that turned me off to shows like Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh!-when anything happened, the characters would have to take a few minutes to explaining it to…nobody.
Finally, there are moments of utter stupidity. For example, when SkullSatamon effectively pummels every partner Digimon in the area, Koushirou remarks that the problem with their Digimon is that they’ve spent too much time in the real world and need to go back to the Digital World for a recharge…or something like that. (The explanation is vague). So, why didn’t you send them to the Digital World overnight and then bring them back in the morning?! Did you forget?! Because, that seems like an extremely important thing you’d want to remember.
Other stupid moments include how some of the Demon Corps. threaten innocent bystanders. That’s right-if you didn’t believe they were evil before, then now we know for sure. SkullSatamon’s first priority when he has the Chosen Children at his mercy, is not to grab Ken and run back to his master-no, he just finds a bus full of kids and totes it in the air while laughing maniacally. Why?! And then he leaves the Chosen Children with an ample amount of time to kill him in manner which is actually on a higher scale of being morally suspect that the killing itself! I’ve always questioned not how the situation could have been resolved without killing SkullSatamon, but what would have happened if Imperialdramon had fired too high and scorched the bus…?
Anyway, after Imperialdramon saves the bus we finally get to meet the all-powerful lord of darkness: Demon! And what’s the first action of this diabolical enigma? Well, he…politely (?) asks Ken to hand himself over or he will start killing civilians. (So much for first impressions). Unfortunately for Demon, Archnemon and Mummymon arrive and order Ken to come with them, else they’ll start killing off this truckload of children they’d been picking up a few episodes before. With mild hesitation, Ken chooses to go with Archnemon. And, for some reason, Daisuke decides to react after Ken gets into the truck. Wait, Daisuke, if you were going to stop him anyway, why did you wait until after he got into the truck? (Then again, this is Daisuke I am referring to.)
Moving onto Episode 4…And more bad writing. Daisuke tries to keep up with Archnemon’s truck, but to on avail. Thankfully, one of Jou Kido’s older brothers Shu arrives just in the nick of time, with the rest of the children in tow! How did Jou’s brother know they needed a ride? Simple-Wizardmon told him. Well, no, actually that’s not what happened-but it sure would have sufficed where we’re given absolutely no explanation at all. (Like I said, the writing sucks.)
While he’s inside the truck, Ken demands that Archnemon let the children go. But she doesn’t-well, I guess this should be a lesson in never trusting the untrustworthy, eh, Ken? Here, it is finally revealed who the Big Bad Boss of Adventure 02 really is. Yes, we finally get to see who has been the mastermind behind all the evil that’s been going on from the very beginning! He is, in fact…Norman Bates from Alfred Hitchcock’s Pyscho!
Okay, obviously not…But he might as well have been. (Actually, to tell you the truth. He has an uncanny resemblance to Tommy Wiseau.) His name is Oikawa, and we discover that his true identity as being that guy with the creepy smile who was standing at the back of the crowd at Osamu Ichijoji’s funeral…Indeed, that is the identity of our main antagonist…That creepy old guy in the background…
*Sigh* fair enough…
Here comes plot number…seven? (I don’t know…was I ever keeping track before?) About two years prior to the events of Adventure 02, Ken and his brother Osamu found a Digivice, and Ken used it to enter the Digital World. What exactly transpired at that point in time is vaguely detailed in the show, but apparently there’s a better explanation in Digimon Adventure 02: Tag Tamers.
(Digimon Adventure 02: Tag Tamers was a videogame played on the WonderSwan, a sixth-generation era, handheld videogame console by Bandai).
Ken traveled to the Digital World and encountered Ryo Akiyama, a Chosen Child from an alternate universe (who also appears in Digimon Tamers). From what I understand, Ken and Ryo fought and defeated an extremely powerful entity called Millleniummon, who was basically supposed to be an cyborg Kimeramon. Upon his defeat, Milleniummon’s data was scattered and some of embedded itself into Ken’s body. That data somehow warped Ken’s biology and turned him into the despicable prodigy who we see at the beginning of Adventure 02 as the Digimon Kaiser. I’m not sure why Milleniummon’s data required two years to fester, but for intents and purposes, Oikawa now wants to harvest this data from Ken’s body and transfer it to the children he’s kidnapped. Well, I get around to why he is doing this when I address the finale and the epilogue.
So the chase continues, with both the Demon Corps. and the Chosen Children fighting each other as Oikawa speeds away. Now while that may sound likes it is exciting, the excitement is offset, once again, by bad writing. You see, there are two reasons why the Demon Corps. were introduced-and neither one holds much water. First, the writers needed someone for the Chosen Children to fight while they chased Oikawa; secondly the writers wanted to contrive situations that would have new Chosen Children overcome this moral obligation that dictates that they should not kill their enemies. The problem with the first reason is, what do you do with the Demon Corps. after the chase ends? The problem with the second is-and I mentioned this before-why are we in the final stages of Adventure 02 and now the new Chosen Children are where the original Chosen Chidlren were in Episode 13 of the original Digimon Adventure?!
In Episode 13, their moral obligation was all-too-clear: Devimon needed to be destroyed. If he hadn’t, then he would continue to spread his evil throughout the Digital World and attempt to destroy the Chosen Children time and time again. Also, isn’t it ironic that it was the youngest of the original children (Takeru) was the one mainly responsible for destroying Devimon-a process that not only resulted in Devimon’s death, but Angemon as well! And now, we’re over forty episodes into Adventure 02, and now the new Chosen Children are just arriving at this point of no return!
I’m sorry, but this has come about way, way too late! What’s more, this begs the question just how seriously we’re supposed to have determined every episode was…Minus that of Episode 13, I might add. In Episode 13, Takeru and Hikari had no bones to pick about killing Airdramon, yet everyone is all up in arms about Ken destroying Thunderballmon in Episode 24. They completely disregard the fact that Ken had probably saved the lives and the livelihood of everyone in the village that Thunderballmon was attacking. Even if that Thunderballmon were not a Dark Tower construct, the principle still remains!
So, the writers have put themselves into a corner. Having established that it is morally wrong to actually “kill” a Digimon, how do we excuse the Chosen Children effectively murdering the Demon Corps.? Well, gee, it isn’t enough that the Demon Corps. are terrorizing the city folk, causing havoc, or effectively neutralizing the Chosen Children. No, the Demon Corps. have to deliberately take hostages, threaten children, and endanger the sick and helpless. Because, at that point, I guess killing them is okay? Whereas on those other occasions it wasn’t okay? I’m just not following the logic here-when exactly is or isn’t it necessary to kill your enemies? Buy whatever-the moral obligation is completely bypassed with as much efficiency as the mental obligation was in Episodes 1 and 2!
For me, this is where Adventure 02 officially died. Yes, I’m calling it! Somewhere between Episodes 43 and 44, the entire show just kicked the bucket and it becomes blatantly apparent that the writers just gave up. This goes beyond mere nitpicking, like why is it that when the Daisuke and the others are forced to give up the chase because of a railroad crossing that Daisuke doesn’t get V-Mon to evolve into Lighdramon to continue the chase. Yet, later, he gets him to evolve anyway because of the traffic is backed up!
End Episode 44 with Demon appearing in the middle of the road in front of Oikawa’s truck. Queue Episode 45…And the end of the Demon Corps. (essentially digging the hole to which we bury a cartoon that has just died.) Demon once again demands that Ken be handed over to him, so that he can harvest Milleniummon’s data. Oh, please! Why doesn’t he just do it by force anyway?! What stopped him before-if he’s supposed to be this magnificent lord of all darkness or whatever, why doesn’t he just show some diabolical initiative already?!
Since Oikawa has already harvested Ken, he willingly hands him over to Demon, only to have Daisuke intervene. This leads to a full-out confrontation among Demon, the Chosen Children, and even Oikawa’s lackeys. The partner Digimon Jogress evolve and throw everything they have at Demon to destroy him…but to no avail, he’s much too powerful. Imperialdramon holds Demon at bay for an indefinite amount of time, while the Chosen Children try to come up with a new strategy. Now, they can’t simply banish him into the Digital World like they did during the World Tour arc, as he demonstrates he can open gates between worlds via willpower anyway (neat trick, by the way.) So, they decide to send him into the Dark Ocean.
And there we have it! Just like Dagomon, the Demon Corps. just disappears and is never seen again. However, unlike Dagomon’s story arc, the Demon Corps. arc suffered from very poor execution, even if the original idea had potential to become something great. Too many questions are left in Demon’s departure. Like BlackWarGreymon, there are no explanations or back-stories for Demon or the Demon Corps. (however, there remains much room for interpretation.) Where did they come from? What were their motivations? Had they been around since the original Digimon Adventure? Why did they suddenly decide to make their move towards harvesting Milleniummon’s data at the same moment Oikawa did? (Most likely, that was contrived.) How did they discover that data, and what did they plan to do with it after they retrieved it? No answers! Nothing is explained, and that just adds to my determination that the Demon Corps.’s involvement really only served the purposes of giving the Chosen Children somebody to fight, and to contrive an illogical stage of character development for the new children.
I, for one, take issue with how Demon was defeated. Even when banishing him into the Dark Ocean is taken into consideration, Takeru mentions that getting out won’t be easy. Not easy does not mean impossible. Note that nobody discussing this even mentions the possibility that if Demon can travel between the Real and Digital Worlds so easily-then why should the Dark Ocean be any different? In fact, when the Dark Ocean opens, Demon recognizes it for what it is, which would imply that he has been there before! So all evidence leads me to conclude that banishing him is not a permanent solution! (I’m looking at you, Etemon.)
Something else I take issue with is the moment where Ken holds out his Digvice to open the gate to the Dark Ocean. Now, this particular scene may have seemed very touching and meaningful when you first saw it (admittedly, I thought so too when I first saw it.) There’s a lot of emotion riding on this moment, but afterwards, I felt deeply that there was something fundamentally wrong with it. Upon re-watching a few times over, I began to see what was really going on here, and made me a little sick to my stomach. What I believe is going on here, is that the writers are giving Ken a moment of absolution. Understand that the show is coming to an end (just five more episodes) and Ken hasn’t arrived at any major point in the show where he’s stood out as being the new and good Ken Ichijoji completely divorced from his Digimon Kaiser persona. That point of atonement occurs here in one of the worst ways possible: exposition. In fact, not just exposition, but exposition via telepathic empathy! Just think about that for a second: exposition via a telepathic empathy…Takeru, Hikari, and the three newbies all gather around Ken and hold up his outstretched arm and are able to feel and partake (?) in his despair and the darkness of his heart.
Let me ask my readers a question-because I know some of you are going to buy this moment or refuse to realize the utter ridiculousness of it. Is understanding and coping with someone else’s pain and despair really that easy? I, for one, would say that it isn’t! There are levels of understanding and emotion that myself, and many of you have never reached and will probably never reach. For example, I personally have never gone through the pain of having somebody very close to me die. While I do know there is pain associated with death, I only know the fact, I do not know the feeling itself. It’s the same for me as the pain associated with marital divorce: my parents have never been divorced so I have no idea the level of pain that comes with a divorce-neither from the standpoint of a parent or from the standpoint of a son. While I’m not personally insulted by this ridiculous display of affection that occurs within this moment-I’m sure anyone who has experienced a great level of pain and despair in their life would recognize just how bogus this scene actually is! But consider the fact that characters like Miyako, and Daisuke are suddenly sharing a portion of Ken’s anguish and…somehow they recognize it despite never having experienced that level of pain before! (Iori might be an exception, considering he’s lived with the loss of his father. Hikari and Takeru don’t even need an excuse.) How legitimate do the writers want Ken’s struggle to be?
To top it all off, Daisuke suddenly start preaching to Ken about forgetting the past and his fear while embracing the future and his new “self’ (as if that wasn’t the path that Ken was already taking.) Okay, since when did Daisuke develop such a sage-like attitude towards these kinds of things, and how is it that he so readily understands all the anguish that Ken has been kept bottled up inside him? What gives Daisuke the right to tell Ken, “Hey, man, get over it already!” You know, I’m partially convinced Daisuke just made all those words up just because he was eager to get rid of Demon. What’s more, this isn’t the last time this strange sage-like Daisuke appears in Adventure 02-he crops up again during the Finale. (But I’ll get to that later on.)
However I will tell you about a scene that I did find very touching. It was a scene that had even more to say contextually than Daisuke’s stupid little speech ever will. That is the scene where Takeru gives Ken his seat in the car. It is a scene that should put things into perspective when I say that I like Takeru and believe that he is a very endearing character! We find out that immediately following his arrival home that night, Ken would tell his parents about everything that had happened or was happening. He told them about the Digital World, about his being the Digimon Kaiser, and about Wormmon. You can make any determination you want to based on what happens in this or any other episode, but ultimately I think Takeru was the one who had the greatest impact on Ken’s life. His friendship wasn’t based on, nor did it rely upon some telepathic empathy “magic” or a emotional links via Jogress evolution or anything. Plain and simple, Takeru had the ability to be a good friend. To me, that was what the Digimon Adventure series should have been about.
The Demon Corps. had potential for greatness. A third party insertion would have turned Digimon Adventure 02 into an ordeal that we could care about from more that just one angle-it would have become epic story once again! Yet, of all the ideas that were brought to the frontline of Adventure 02’s course-Oikawa was probably the worst. I’ve seen it mentioned that Dagomon was considered to be “too frightening” or “too dark” for younger audiences. However, look at the alternative they set up here: It’s a creepy old man kidnapping little children and loading them into the back of his truck with the promise of “dream fullfillment.” Everything implied by that can never be a good idea. Ever.
END PART FIVE