Do you see tri as a deconstruction of digimon as a whole? if so do you think they did a good job? what tropes do you think were “deconstructed“? (like the original children having such a tragic ending, daigo and makis final fate, mieccomon sacrifice and final death, all the political stuff with mei´s father), or do you think it was just darker version of digimon?
I haven’t thought too deeply about this, but I wouldn’t call tri. a complete deconstruction.
After all, the main “patterns” we’ve come to expect from a Digimon (and, specifically, a Digimon Adventure) story are all there: a group of chosen children who evolve their partner monsters in order to save the world from darkness and destruction, while exploring themes such as friendship, courage, hope, personal growth, and becoming an adult. The essential elements that made the original series stand out are also mostly preserved: a bildungsroman against a background of fantasy/sci-fi/action-adventure, with references to other works of fiction, mythology, technology, and philosophy. Even the more “external” characteristics of the show (music, colour, visual gags, callbacks to the other series, the relatively “static” roles of the characters within the team) were very recognisable.
However, in my opinion tri. did go beyond following the old formula and avoided being a by-the-book sequel, by bringing new ideas to the table.
Specifically, there are two big aspects than, in my opinion, make tri. feel slightly “different” from the previous series; even “darker”, as you put it.
First, it has to do the writing and the storytelling decisions that were at the basis of this story. I’ve been writing about this for a while, but tri. is deliberately hermetic and ambiguous. It doesn’t even attempt to provide the audience with direct answers to everything. It eschews a typical three-part story structure and the hero’s journey. It tells a detailed, complex story using suggestion and winks, and expects the audience to unite the dots and come up with their own reasons for what is happening. Moreover, it is a show that seems to ask people to rewatch it multiple times, to reinterpret everything that happens continually, and to reflect deeply about what we are seeing. In other words, it requires the viewer to engage with the story on a deep level, wanting us focusing more in matters of feeling and themes than (it often feels that way) plot intricacies, brushing away whatever it doesn’t consider “important”.
This means that watching tri. can often be a frustrating and confusing experience. unsettling even. As a result, it is no wonder that this approach is unpopular with many viewers, because not everyone is going to be satisfyied with a show that doesn’t provide direct answers and tells a story in a convuluted way. The line between “subtle” and “lazy” is very thin, as is the line between “ambitious and profound” and “convoluted mess”.
However, the way I see it, this approach was deliberate, not to mark a contrast to the relative “straightforwardness” of Adventure, but also to confront the adult audience’s expectations.
In other words, the fact that tri. is “messy and confusing” reinforces some of the larger themes in tri., namely the fact that adulthood itself is messy and confusing, and doesn’t give you all the right answers. There isn’t a single Big Baddie to defeat; instead, the Chosen Children are caught in the middle of a powerplay between multiple agents, feeling lost and lacking easy solutions. When Taichi says “I see more and understand less”, that ends up being very applicable to what the audience experiences when they watch tri. unfold for the first time.
I think the second point is related to how. tri. presents a somewhat bleak vision of what happened post-02. In other words, the answers it gives to the question “What happened in those three years?” aren’t exactly what most of the audience expected or wanted to hear, nor did it correspond to what many of us had imagined.
Maybe Taichi did not grow up to be a confident and fearless leader. Maybe the 02 kids did not stay best friends forever. Maybe Takeru and Hikari are bad friends. Maybe Yamato and Sora did not start dating at 14 and stayed together all their lives. Maybe Jou’s doubts about his future and his priorities weren’t completely resolved when he was 12. Maybe the Chosen Children go back and forth in their development and continue to be imperfect and forget what they learnt. Maybe being an adult Chosen Child isn’t all sunshine and roses. Maybe Homeostasis is actually not a friend. Maybe the human world doesn’t embrace the digimon. Maybe sometimes you have to kill a partner, and it won’t be reborn. Maybe humans can die even though you never really did anything truly wrong. Maybe the kids’ troubles are never going to end completely.
Again, I think this may have been a deliberate answer in order to emphasise the themes of the series, and the rough path to adulthood. You can’t always get what you want. It doesn’t make tri. a “dark” show, but it does show that they aren’t interested in only giving viewers happy moments sprinkled with a few sad moments, to maximise nostalgia and be exactly like Adventure. Instead, they throw the audience uncomfortable ideas about the world and the characters they love. (Another reason why so many people react negatively to tri.)
To sum up, I don’t think tri. is a “desconstruction” of Adventure; it just tried to tell a more complex, ambitious story while emphasising a less-than-idealistic vision of growing up. It treats the audience as adults, expects them to do a lot of homework and it doesn’t pull any punches. However, this also means that it is much harder for it to succeed and to please everyone. In the end, each fan is going to have a different view and a different appreciation of what tri. attempted to do… and no-one is wrong or right.
