Digimon

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I would give my ratings for each arc, but in this case I pretty much agree with all of yours completely. Digimon Adventure 02 is certainly far from a bad series, and it has it's great moments that justify it's existence in the first place, but on the whole it's a big step down from the first season, and while it had a lot of potential to it, the obvious fact that it's production was rushed and that it had multiple teams of writers working on it without any real coordination between them basically caused the story to be all over the place, and the quality of the series suffered for it. Still, from what I've heard, it's still apparently not nearly as bad as at least one of the seasons that came after Tamers.

Speaking of which, if you get a chance to re-watch Tamers, I'd love to hear your opinions on each of its arcs, as well.

[Spark Of Spirit]

We unfortunately only have the first two seasons on Netflix as of now, but hopefully we'll get Tamers (and maybe Frontier?) sooner or later. When we get it, I'll definitely watch it. Re-watching 02 gave me some mixed reactions. First, it was better than I remembered in that there was a lot of good stuff to it that was fun to watch and better than I remember. Second was that it simply couldn't escape that fact that Adventure was better and I wanted to dislike it for that, but I couldn't.

Looking back, it's merely a good season between a great and an excellent one, but it still has a lot to offer for fans of the series. I definitely wouldn't skip it.

... But I might stop watching after Oikawa dies.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

You know, we don't have Tamers on Netflix over here, either. But, of course, there are other means to watch it if you really want. Just say'n....

As for Adventure 02, I just like to pretend that the epilogue is non-canon.

[Spark Of Spirit]

You know, we don't have Tamers on Netflix over here, either. But, of course, there are other means to watch it if you really want. Just say'n....

True, but I prefer the normal means. 

As for Adventure 02, I just like to pretend that the epilogue is non-canon.

There has to be a story for this because it makes no sense and probably soured 02 for a lot of people in retrospect. The ending was really good until that part.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

If you ever watched JesuOtaku's Digimon retrospective, according to her research she explained that Adventure 02 had 7 different directors (at least, I think it was 7) being juggled around throughout the course of the season, and it had just about as many teams of writers being switched between one another, so the entire project was entirely uncoordinated, and it showed with the really off-pacing of the season. The stuff with the Dark Ocean and the Daemon Corps were directed by the same guy who directed Tamers, so that's why that stuff felt incredibly out of place with both the tone and story of the rest of the Adventure 02 season.

[Rynnec]

BlackWarGreymon probably would've been a better character had he made his Face Turn sooner. Really did not like that he died the very next episode after becoming a good guy.

Likewise, the idea of two sets of villains battling each other could've really added some tension if it were done correctly. Daemon should've gotten a better showing than he did. Something like the old guard battling Daemon while Davis and his team deal with Oikawa would've worked.

There has to be a story for this because it makes no sense and probably soured 02 for a lot of people in retrospect. The ending was really good until that part.

It was probably to put the Adventure universe to rest.

[Spark Of Spirit]

If you ever watched JesuOtaku's Digimon retrospective, according to her research she explained that Adventure 02 had 7 different directors (at least, I think it was 7) being juggled around throughout the course of the season, and it had just about as many teams of writers being switched between one another, so the entire project was entirely uncoordinated, and it showed with the really off-pacing of the season. The stuff with the Dark Ocean and the Daemon Corps were directed by the same guy who directed Tamers, so that's why that stuff felt incredibly out of place with both the tone and story of the rest of the Adventure 02 season.

I saw the retrospective a while back, but I didn't remember that. I guess I'll have to re-watch it. It certainly explains why everything feels messy and the lack of coherence, but by the same token it's remarkable that it isn't unwatchable dreck despite it all.

There has to be a story for this because it makes no sense and probably soured 02 for a lot of people in retrospect. The ending was really good until that part.

It was probably to put the Adventure universe to rest.

Probably, but none of what happens to them really makes a lot of sense. Being that it's a character-based show, that's quite a heavy flaw.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

One of my many thoughts as a kid the first time that I watched that epilogue:

"WHY THE FUCK IS MATT AN ASTRONAUT?! HOW DOES THAT HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH HIS CHARACTER?!"

[Spark Of Spirit]

Remember all those stories TK wrote and how he always talked about how he liked to write? Or how about Sora's love of fashion that she brought up never.

The problem with epilogues like that is that they are either things we can already guess at (Davis and the noodle cart or Kari as a teacher) which makes them pointless or totally off the wall (like Matt being... an astronaut) which makes it degrading to the characters.

So either way, they're just not needed and that's probably why they've never done another one.

[Rynnec]

Well, Savers kinda had a similar epilogue, but it was more of a "life goes on" kinda thing. That, and what the characters ended up doing with their lives actually made sense.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Was it a 27 years later thing or just a 'this happened a bit later' thing?

I haven't seen Savers yet.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I think Tamers has the best epilogue, in how it leaves everything open to the viewer's interpretation.

Those, IMO, are the best kinds of endings. It's also why I really like Monster's ending, as well.

[Rynnec]

It was a "this happened a bit later" thing, the timeskip only fastforwarded by 5 years or so.

[Spark Of Spirit]

I really liked Adventure, 02 (before the epilogue), and Tamers' endings. They wrap everything up, but leave it open for something later maybe which are fun endings for kid shows.

It was a "this happened a bit later" thing, the timeskip only fastforwarded by 5 years or so.

Oh, well then that's fine to me. I'm not a fan of 'generation skips' because it always feels like we're missing out on a lot of stuff and thereby skipping story.

[The Shadow Gentleman]

I got back to watching this today. I'm only a few episodes in, but it's been pretty consistent so far. I'm waiting to see how "dark" it gets.