Digimon Adventure: Last Evolution Kizuna Review

The latest game news from IGN - one of my fave channels ever - check it out Digimon Adventure: Last Evolution Kizuna will be available on Digital on Sept. 29 Blu-ray on Oct. 6. It will debut in both English dub and original Japanese with English subtitles and will be available for download on iTunes, Microsoft, and Sony PlayStation Network. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Popular animated characters have a tendency to stay ageless, but not in Digimon Adventures, a series that has long been concerned with ongoing maturity, approaching each new step in the lives of its protagonist with thoughtfulness. The series has come a long way from being (unfairly) branded a Pokémon knock-off, maintaining a distinct visual sensibility and willingness to change that sets it apart from that other franchise, which has contently remained in stasis even this year with the release of the CG remake, Pokemon: Mewtwo Strikes Back - Evolution. Digimon, to its benefit, has consistently evolved with each story arc, changing in ways that are permanent and meaningful rather than simply superficial. Characters move on with their lives, relationships change -- and end. It’s all approached with a refreshing air of finality, too rarely seen in franchises as long-running and as popular as this one. Set five years after 2015’s six-part film series Digimon Adventure tri., now taking place in 2010, Digimon Adventure: Final Evolution Kizuna finds the series’ longtime protagonist Taichi (Natsuki Hanae, returning along with the majority of the cast of Digimon Adventure tri.) as a university student, living alone with an undecided future before him. The more insular, carefree joys of childhood are long behind him, with worries about his future, his career, and his thesis consuming his focus. The rest of his “DigiDestined” friends are still working together to solve Digimon incidents and help others with their partner Digimon. With these characters now on the cusp of adulthood, the time has come for the most painful part of franchises so squarely focused on friendship like this one: accepting that things can’t always stay the same. Tai and his friends soon discover that when they grow up, their partnership with their Digimon will end and they will be forever separated, the approaching end of this bond indicated by a countdown timer that expires quicker the more they fight together. This news all comes at a time where they’re needed to save the world once more, recruited by Digimon researcher Menoa (Mayu Matsuoka of the Palme d’Or winning Shoplifters) and her partner Kyōtarō (JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure’s Daisuke Ono) to help stop a powerful Digimon called Eosmon, robbing other DigiDestined of their consciousness in an adventure billed as Taichi and Agumon’s last. [ignvideo width=610 height=374 url=https://ift.tt/3054DPn] Directed by Tomohisa Taguchi (Persona 3 The Movie) and written by Akatsuki Yamatoya, Digimon Adventure: Final Evolution Kizuna’s attitude to such ongoing storytelling is frank and clear from the beginning, as a brief opening title card offers no exposition other than “this is not a story about the past”. It’s surprisingly measured and downbeat, immediately dispelling the idea of nostalgia and affirming how things have moved on since the series’ previous installment. Despite this, it’s still a joy to see how the older cast has both grown independently and how they coordinate, as even the more contentious relationships (read: Matt and Taichi) have softened in their long time together. It all kicks off with a thrilling kineticism, showcasing detailed and impactful action that is bound to satisfy even those who have checked out from the franchise since its earlier installments. However, director Tomohisa never gets sidetracked by a desire to deliver bombastic, precisely storyboarded action sequences, balancing them with plenty of quiet moments of introspection and moving companionship between the characters and their Digimon partners. Despite the franchise’s long history, it’s a film that is more accessible to newcomers than one might expect, thanks to clear narrative stakes, established with impressively little verbal exposition. The hallmarks of Mamoru Hosoda (who directed the first Digimon movie along with a number of short films) are still in play, with simple yet creative visual distinctions between the digital world and in the real world, clean red lines used to draw characters while moving about the former, sometimes flattening their coloring as the space around them changes. The space itself is depicted with abstract backgrounds and limitless potential, one digital environment appearing as a giant, crystalline floating island, surrounded by other smaller islands. There’s a comforting hesitance towards the use of 3D computer animation, which is carefully and sparingly integrated, leading to a film that feels both visually impressive, as well as cohesive. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=digimon-adventure-last-evolution-kizuna&captions=true"] It’s a wild sci-fi concept but one that is revealed to be grounded in a very personal struggle, one that’s depicted with immense and moving empathy as characters come face-to-face with their own pasts and the damage of clinging on. Tomohisa and Akatsuki set up the story in a way that the impact won’t be lost on new viewers, and only amplified for longtime fans of the series. There’s plenty of familiar faces and nostalgic joys to be found here, but as the film posits, such pleasures aren’t and shouldn’t be the be-all and end-all of things. Little moments involving the mundanity of everyday life like the fact that Agumon has never visited Tai’s flat, or their childlike naivety when they discover a certain kind of magazine in his room, is just as compelling as any of the spectacular and kinetic fight sequences the film delivers. The Digimon’s childlike excitability and inquisitiveness are all the more conspicuous, the film doing well to build on the idea that some relationships aren’t meant to last forever, and that even though it may be painful, such change is as necessary as it is inevitable. Final Evolution Kizuna never loses sight of its emotional through-line, as it heads towards a powerful, go-for-broke ending that gives immensely satisfying closure. The conclusion recalls the likes of Toy Story 3 and How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, as a film that trusts its audience to be able to let go, though here with a more definitive and perhaps even more heart-wrenching finality. It’s ultimately bittersweet, but the film’s embrace of change is tackled with inspiring optimism, positing that moving forward shouldn’t be treated as a loss, but as a new direction, definitively closing this chapter of Digimon Adventure while looking forward to what new things might spring from it. [ignvideo width=610 height=374 url=https://ift.tt/3054Emp]

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