This Is verging on nightmare fuel now….
What They Say:
COEXISTENCE
An enraged Meicoomon digivolves to Meicrackmon and leaves through a distortion. Hackmon proceeds to reveal the truth: Homeostasis, which is trying to maintain the world’s harmony, has now personally declared Meicoomon a danger for becoming too powerful, and is attempting to get rid of her. The arrival of the rampaging Meicoomon starts the countdown to the real world’s collapse. A series of abnormal phenomena occur all over the place. The Digimon who appear through the distortions were waiting for this time to come… The DigiDestined are cast out of the Digital World and after returning to the real world are persecuted by the people. Finding themselves alone and unaided, they desperately search for a way to fix the situation, whilst a grief-stricken Meiko can’t hear
The Review:
Audio:
The audio has a 5.1 release in English and a 2.0 in Japanese (surprised as movie releases tend to be 5.1 in both) –because of the nostalgia factor I did watch it in English with its 5.1 option (I also turned the subtitles on to see how it compares as the original Digimon series did quite a few changes translation wise – happy to say this doesn’t especially as it is a tad darker than the original series but you can have both original Japanese subtitles and ‘dubtitles’ selected) but this is the first Digimon release I recall with a Japanese audio track so definitely welcomed. The track is perfect, with me having to adjust it to a lower standard as was too loud, and no problems in sync with the lip flaps either in English or Japanese (to test out) or transition with the video quality.
Video:
Similar with the audio, the video is set in full-screen format via NTSC transfer to PAL format with the show combining animation and colour in a more traditional sense, with no real problems with the subtitles, the sound synching in either language, no pause lag or in general, it is a quality release, and with the new way how it has been updated (the Digivolving sequences are now vastly different and definitely look more ‘up to date’ if you will) – my issues with the previous movies animation seem to have gone as I didn’t notice anything as glaring or as problematic, as they had to switch from the human world and digital world quite a lot, though there are still a lot of dark sections which give out to the shades of grey…
Packaging:
There was no packing for this test release.
Menu:
The menu has clips of the movie being shown through a broken glass like effect with Meiko and Kari on the right hand side through whilst a grey menu with the Digimon Tri insignia is shown – the menu below (Play Feature, Johnny Yong Bosch Interview, Scenes, Audio, Subtitles) is easily accessible and seems to be more straight forward with selection so there is a slight delay when selecting compared to a standard Blu-Ray release. You can return to the main menu easily via the movie as well but as a DVD release no pop-up menu.
Extras:
The only extra is accessible from the main menu is an interview with veteran English VA Johnny Yong Bosch (voice of TK) – it is only 9 minutes but as a new addition to the cast it is a bit different – talks about his character, his relationship with Patamon, Matt, Kari, being someone new on board and about the past, getting into character, research, difference between voice over work and acting work, and interacting with Digimon fans, both nostalgic and current. It’s short and sweet, but gets through plenty despite this.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
After a good mixture of movies in the first trio, something went a little south in the 4th – a combination of poorer animation, a really poor attempt at drama which dragged the movie on for way too long and still way too many questions that need to be answered, the 5th movie does do a bit better in that regard, though there are still a ton of questions to be answered. A surprising ending does definitely catch you off guard as it sets up for the final film and hopefully get to a climax the franchise deserves because whilst this is definitely better than the 4th, it still has its issues…
With Dark Gennai fully enraging Meicomon to set up the resetting of the Digital/Real World plot for the evils (yeah, it isn’t at this point still brilliant explained, fortunately the movie does do a better job later on), Mei fortunately is still alive but Meicomon has now digivolved into her ultimate form Meicrackmon and seems to not remember Mei, which is a driving plot point as we see a bit of Mei and Meicomon’s past and how Meicomon wasn’t really calm around anyone else bar Mei and with this trigger gone, she is going berserk…which doesn’t help the insanity when Himekawa is going insane herself looking for Tapirmon…
So the series definitely is going into the dark territory big time, and whilst Digimon has a history of dark, and usually worked quite well (Hello Digimon Tamers) it has mostly been a bit confusing due to the rush of stuff happening. With the kids having issues as the rift in the worlds mean that Digimon are coming into the Digital World and world leaders/militaries having issues, we finally get a bit of clarification thanks to a Digimon named Hackmon who talks with Nishijima and Mei’s father Mochizuki – Meicomon was in fact a part of Apocalymon’s data (end of Season 1 of Digimon Adventure) and Mei was the catalyst to suppress this darkness inside her, however because of Homeostatis, the power inside of her is unleashed and considered too dangerous and now wishes to be destroyed. This added to the fact the Digital World the kids are in now feels like it wants to expel them (and Kari slowly getting creepier visions/thoughts throughout the movie to add to this), this is definitely Myotismon levels of trouble…
The Digimon and the kids return to the real world and whilst there are a few fun moments (the ghost stories part was very funny, especially with the reveal Matt of all people is afraid of them, all of the girls and their Digimon give him the whisper treatment) the humans bar their family are pretty much also against them, but fortunately thanks to Nishijima after they get arrested, they basically stay at school to try and regroup (and calm down Mei – there are quite a few Tai/Mei moments throughout – hmm…is this the way to pair Tai up if Matt/Sora is definite?) but Meicrackmon doesn’t exactly follow the plan…Meiko is slowly getting to her though but before we see if a resolution is had, Jesmon attacks and Meicrackmon goes into her mega form, Raguelmon and the battles become a bit more impressive…
Now, for fans of Digimon Adventure, the next sequence may bring you flashbacks – just instead of being a cute creepy child, she is now a cute creepy er…teen. Kari is possessed by Homoestatis similar back in the day but is used as a martyr to not interfere, but they ignore that and go back to the Digital World along with Nishijima (this becomes important later) but are attacked by Alphamon – fortunately Agumon and Gabumon mega digivolve and fuse to become Omnimon, leaving four mega Digimon ready to battle. In the meantime, it appears Nishijima senses that Himekawa may have descended into the dark ocean (again, Season 2 flashbacks) as a metaphor for her own descent into madness, and Mei may not be too far behind her as she is forced to make the tough decision to destroy Raguelmon. With the battle enraging, a fissure opens and Tai and Nishijima fall off the cliff…
…wait what?
Yep – whilst I’ll believe it when I see it that Tai is dead, the image of his goggles at the side and Matt picking them up, with Kari in shock that Gatomon digivolves into a dark version of Nyaromon into Ophanimon – this creates a dark portral and she merges with Raguelmon into Ordinemon. This in turn causes a worldly blackout in the real world, the Digimon advances, and nothing left…Matt is left as leader to try and save the day but this is where it ends for the 6th and final movie…
This definitely improves from the previous movie because the major problem is a lot more pronounced than Sora not being friends with Biyomon. Here, both the Digital and Real World are in serious trouble, and whilst it isn’t the best explained (the several digivolutions which cause Gatomon/Meicomon’s fusion doesn’t fully explain the portal bar a link with Kari being possessed) it does leave an impact. The movie isn’t much about development of the characters, it is pretty much setting up the finale and the stinger that Tai and Nishijima may be dead combined with two of their Digimon vanished, it really is a set up, the x-factor of Kari’s mindset and what she is capable of really gives plenty of possibilities of what could happen…
The addition of Nishijima feeling the potential death of his colleague as well leaves his story up in the air if he survived or not, but the focus is on Mei and Meicomon – indeed, pretty much all the cast are on the side this time bar maybe Tai (a neglected sad point is a lot of the potential relationships explored earlier in movies are put to one side except Tai/Meiko, this is a shame as one of the best parts of the movies was the interactions between Mimi and Izzy) and whilst there are a few fun moments, the movie is very serious and the focus is more on the action and the disaster of the fact the Digimon are coming into the real world. Worse is that whilst obviously the kids Digimon are good, the majority are coming attacking and the world is not going to be ready for that hence their obvious worry. It will be interesting to see where it goes.
The major problem(s) though are still there – it feels VERY rushed and there are still way too many questions to answer. First of all, is Himekawa dead? We see her descend into the dark ocean and seems very anticlimactic to the whole ‘want to find her Digimon’ story as all it really demonstrates is how mad she became after Dark Gennai’s influence. Secondly on that note, Dark Gennai is basically now Homoestatis and doesn’t factor into the story at all after causing all this trouble so again, feels very rushed. The action, whilst great also forgoes plenty of chances to give focus on the relationships (as once again as I have to say this everytime, still no information to what happened to the 02 kids and with just one movie to go, if it does get mentioned it’s going to be rushed as well because of all the other stuff going on) which means the final movie has a LOT to go through.
It is definitely better than the 4th one, and the focus of Meicomon and her descent into madness is given backstory and explanation, so in that regard that is one major thing explained. Trouble is there is still at least 3 other side plots not explained and perhaps it is a little too dark because the fun moments are few and far between (bar that ghost stories bit) and whilst the Mei/Tai relationship seems to solidified, it is a small part of a story which promised so much at the start. Now, we are struggling to the end and I just hope there is enough time and resolution for this beloved franchise to not end on a whimper.
In Summary:
Digimon: Part 5 gives us a lot of adventure, darkness and action as the story reaches its conclusion. Some big things happen especially with the Digimon invaded the real world and the back-story of Meicomon brings us some closure. Very good to watch, and an interesting finale with Kari’s possession and Tai apparently dead, but unfortunately it still feels too rushed and still not enough answers to a lot of stuff. Combined with the lack of characterization in this arc bar some Tai/Mei things, most of the cast are cast away to the side and we just hope this is building for a big pay off because whilst the mega digimon were great to see, it still suffers from being too rushed for it to truly sink in as something classic.
Features:
• Interview with Johnny Yong Bosch
Content Grade: B-
Audio Grade: A
Video Grade: B
Packaging Grade: N/A
Menu Grade: B
Extras Grade: C+
Released By: Manga Entertainment UK
Release Date: July 30th, 2018
MSRP: £15.99
Running Time: 88 minutes
Video Encoding: PAL
Aspect Ratio: 16:9
Review Equipment:
PlayStation 4, Sony Bravia 32 Inc EX4 Television, Aiwa 2 Way Twin Duct Bass Reflex Speaker System.
