#armor evolutions

Digimentals and Crests

In Adventure, the Crests acted as catalysts that enabled Digimon to reach the Perfect level when their human partners embodied a core value. It was an inner journey of confronting their shadows and embracing those virtues, which deepened the bond with their Digimon.

In 02, the Digimentals feel thematically linked to the old Crests, though their connection is never clearly defined. They no longer function as markers of inner virtues being integrated but instead appear as tools that echo the legacy of the original chosen children. For example, the Digimental of Friendship could be seen as carrying a trace of the legacy of Yamato and Gabumon, and the same applies to the rest.

The first Digimentals appear in the early episodes. Daisuke receives the Digimental of Courage the moment he arrives in the Digital World, which fits since rushing in to help Taichi without knowing the risks requires a good dose of courage. Shortly after, Miyako and Iori receive those of Love and Knowledge without much narrative buildup. Later, Takeru and Hikari find the Digimentals of Hope and Light, which are directly tied to their original Crests.

In episode 27, Koushiro explains that after defeating the Dark Masters and Apocalymon the original chosen children were summoned back to the Digital World to help restore it. According to him, they used the power of their Crests to release a sealed force that protected the Digital World, an act that consumed that power and left their digimon unable to evolve to Perfect form again.

Based on that, I believe that the Digimentals, though ancient artifacts that already existed, were reawakened by the journey left by the original chosen children. Their virtues, struggles and the power infused into their Crests might have resonated through the Digital World, aligning the Digimentals with the legacy of the previous generation. This would explain their echo like nature in 02.

In episode 37, Qinglongmon (one of the Four Holy Beasts who protect the Digital World's balance) expands on this by confirming that the Four Holy Beasts had been sealed by the Dark Masters and that, although the chosen defeated them, the seal wasn't broken until the Crests were used (as Koushiro noted in episode 27). When the Dark Towers began to distort evolution and threaten the Digital World's balance, Qinglongmon explains that the Holy Beasts chose to use the power of ancient lost evolutions (Armor Evolutions) to counter the threat. New Digivices (the D-3s) were created and Digimentals were assigned to a new group of children.

Qinglongmon also clarifies that the Terminal allowed the new children to access more than one Digimental, which wasn't initially anticipated. The first three Digimentals (Courage, Love, Knowledge) were sent to initiate Armor Evolutions, while the subsequent ones (Friendship, Reliability, Purity) were given later as responses to unfolding situations, implying that their distribution was driven by need.

Qinglongmon highlights that the Digimentals of Light and Hope are fundamentally different from the others. While Courage, Love and Knowledge represent powers of the human heart, Light and Hope are described as essential forces that sustain the Digital World itself. They aren't just virtues but foundational energies, Hope that never fades even in darkness and Light that breathes life into the Digital World.

This opens the door to interpreting the later Digimentals not as rewards for virtues already mastered but as emotional tools granted during periods of crisis or internal contradiction. The characters receive them not because they embody the corresponding quality but because they're confronting its absence:

Daisuke receives Friendship while feeling unworthy of it.

Iori gets Reliability right after lying.

Miyako, overwhelmed by her impulsiveness, receives Purity after hurting others with her words.

Here, the Digimentals might act more like emotional mirrors or invitations to growth, rather than confirmations of achievement. They don't say "you made it", they say "look what you're missing". However, that potential is left mostly undeveloped. The anime doesn't follow up on these emotional tensions. Unlike the Crests in Adventure, there is no real emotional evolution. The Digimentals function more like keys than like journeys.

Ken's case breaks the pattern entirely, his Crest of Kindness isn't a reward or inheritance but something he comes to embody, reflecting a process of redemption and the beginning of the resolution of the conflict he created as the Digimon Kaiser.

The Digimentals seem to be relics from an older system that have been repurposed, which makes me think that the Digital World is shaped by the emotional imprints left behind by those who enter it, constantly adapting in response.

What is a D-3?

The D-3 is a next gen Digivice created to reestablish the connection between the Human and Digital Worlds. It allows for Armor and Jogress evolutions, opening portals and transferring data between both worlds. Its name stands for Digimon, Detect, and Discover.

Years before the events of 02, Ken Ichijouji sees a Digivice appear before him and his brother Osamu, which reacts to Ken. However, Osamu grabs it first, claiming it as his own and preventing Ken from touching it.

After Osamu's sudden death, Ken in a broken state receives a mysterious email, and driven by innocence, follows the instructions that lead him to the Dark Ocean. In that corrupted dimension, he submerges the Digivice in its waters, transforming it into the first D-3, the black one.

This marks a turning point for Ken, giving birth to the Digimon Kaiser, an identity built on corruption and grief.

In response to this, Qinglongmon creates the other D-3s and Digimentals to give to new chosen children with the mission of restoring balance.

02's conflict

The conflict begins with the Digimon Kaiser, who enslaved digimon using Dark Rings, blocked evolutions through Dark Towers, distorted the Digital World's balance and even created an artificial Digimon, Chimairamon. Although he eventually regained his humanity, defeated and broken by Wormmon's sacrifice, the damage had already been done. His downfall left behind corrupted structures that others quickly adopted, escalating the chaos and pushing the story into a spiral of threats.

Then Archnemon and Mummymon appear, inheriting the Kaiser's structures and using the Dark Towers to create artificial Digimon until Archnemon creates one made from 100 dark towers and her own hair, BlackWarGreymon, whom she immediately loses control of because he ends up having a soul and an existential crisis. Their initial goal seems scattered but it gradually becomes clear that they're trying to destabilize the Digital World itself. When they begin targeting the Holy Stones, that destructive path ends up serving a larger plan, the fusion of digital and real worlds.

BlackWarGreymon was a Mega level artificial digimon who didn't seek destruction but meaning. With no worthy opponents, since no Digimon could even reach Perfect level and Jogress barely touched that threshold, he started destroying the Holy Stones hoping to fight Qinglongmon who he saw as a worthy opponent, but his arc led nowhere. After several brooding monologues and repetitive battles, he sacrifices himself in episode 47 to seal the portal at Hikarigaoka only for BelialVamdemon to bypass that entirely by opening a different one moments later, which easily brought him into the Digital World anyway. In the end, BlackWarGreymon was a beautifully designed but hollow character to me.

Continuing the overall chaos, Dark Towers begin appearing in the real world triggering unstable portals. The chosen children travel to different regions of the Earth to destroy them, meeting other chosen children from diverse cultures. The digital conflict becomes global, though they somehow manage to resolve it without turning it into a public catastrophe (Koushiro mentions in episode 33 that there are children across the world who have a partner digimon either because they witnessed digimon battles in 1999 or because of a strong inner desire like Ken, but the specifics remain unclear).

Yukio Oikawa appears, a lonely adult who bumps into Takeru's mother and warns her that "what happened in Odaiba in 1999 was just the beginning". We later discover he worked with Ken's father and was the one who after Osamu's death sent the email that led Ken to the Dark Ocean. It's also revealed that Oikawa was childhood friends with Iori's father, Hiroki Hida. They shared the dream of visiting the Digital World and that dream shaped much of Oikawa's scientific work. But Hiroki's death left Yukio deeply wounded, a crack that BelialVamdemon took advantage of. He took control of Oikawa's consciousness just as the original chosen children were returning to the Digital World after defeating VenomVamdemon in 1999. From that moment on, Oikawa lived possessed, becoming the vessel for a much darker plan. Using his research and personal obsession, he created Archnemon and Mummymon with his own genetic data, twisting his dream into something monstrous. He sent them into the Digital World with the help of the Dark Towers left behind by the Digimon Kaiser using them to weaken the world's barriers and continue the mission to fuse both worlds so BelialVamdemon could reign over all dimensions.

Demon also surfaces seeking the Dark Seed he implanted in Ken (?) and since no one knows how to deal with him, they simply toss him into the Dark Ocean.

Oikawa implanted copies of the Dark Seed in Ken into human children, turning childhood pain into dark energy to revive BelialVamdemon possessing him.

The anime's final stretch is full of mental manipulations and speeches about the frustrations of the 02 chosen. But instead of offering emotional closure to the conflicts raised, 02 relies on a victory powered by "the strength of dreaming and believing" rather than any real combat or personal growth.

After defeating BelialVamdemon with the power of dreams, Oikawa briefly regains consciousness. He remembers his dream of going to the Digital World and is assigned a Digimon partner, Pipimon, who can say only two words: "hello" and "goodbye", as Oikawa sacrifices himself to restore the Digital World with his own life force.

If you ask me, the true conflict of 02 is its own script.

The existence of multiple worlds

In episode 34, Hikari and Takeru theorize that there are more worlds beyond the Human, Digital, and Dark ones. Previously, Hikari was summoned to the Dark Ocean through her light, and its existence redefines the structure of the Digimon universe, introducing dimensions that don't follow logic or code, but are instead shaped by virtues and emotions.

That experience took place in episode 13, when Hikari was pulled into the Dark World, a dimension with a dark ocean inhabited by presences that called to her without words. While the 02 group didn't understand what was happening, Takeru's strong desire to help her allowed him to reach the Dark Ocean and bring her back. The Dark Ocean isn't a realm of evil but a dark spiritual dimension, a manifestation of emotions like emptiness, sadness, pain, or disconnection.

In episode 31, when Silphymon's jogress first occurs, the 02 group enter a forest that seems to act like a portal or a space of spiritual convergence, possibly connected to the Dark Ocean. Hikari and Ken, being more attuned to that darkness, sense it immediately. Miyako is also drawn into that space, but lacking the same sensitivity, can't perceive it in the same way. While Hikari feels the pull of another world and Ken recognizes it, Miyako only experiences confusion.

Finally, in episode 50, Gennai explains that the dimension they were pulled into during the battle against BelialVamdemon is a space where thoughts and dreams become reality, a dimension without spatial logic that is constantly shifting and reacting to what is felt within it, and that the Digital World works in a similar way, meaning that these planes aren't just data-driven environments but mirrors of the human psyche reacting and evolving based on the willpower and internal conflicts of the visitors.

But there's a crucial detail never explicitly stated in 02 and only vaguely explained by Koushiro in episode 27, right after the first Jogress. After Adventure, the original chosen children were summoned again to the Digital World, they used their Crests once more to save it and in doing so the Crests vanished again. Though they had already been physically destroyed by Apocalymon, we never knew how the circuits were restored but that one line is the true narrative bridge between Adventure and 02.

And in episode 1 we know that Tailmon lost her Holy Ring, the sacred item that boosted her power. But it's not until the final episode that Gennai reveals the ring had always been at the Kaiser's base, serving as a catalyst for Armor Evolutions.

02 cast

Daisuke Motomiya: The anime hints at a distant family dynamic and a strained relationship with his sister (something Takeru, Yamato, and Hikari openly reject by framing it as a lack of respect toward his family), but by the end, he suddenly gets along with both his parents and sister without any emotional groundwork to justify that shift, though I suppose we're meant to understand that this change stems from the friendships he built with Ken, Miyako, and the rest of the team.

Early on, Daisuke has a crush on Hikari, feels overshadowed by Takeru, and ends up competing with him in his own head for her attention, but this tension fades as his emotional focus turns entirely toward Ken and his redemption arc.

Daisuke initially inherits the Digimental of Courage, and while he's neither mature nor strategic, he acts from his heart. Later, the narrative creates a forced contradiction regarding his bond with V-mon. While he starts as an enthusiastic partner who values his connection to V-mon, he suddenly acts as if he has no concept of friendship when the plot needs him to feel lost to earn the Digimental of Friendship, only to conveniently rediscover the meaning of bonds later when helping Ken.

When the group reaches the Kaiser's base and everyone else has given up, Daisuke decides to confront him, encountering Wormmon along the way who leads him to wield the Digimental of Kindness, triggering Magnamon's evolution and later deepening his connection with Ken. He later stops Ken from sacrificing himself during his redemption, showing rare maturity by prioritizing healing over punishment, and their bond eventually triggers the first Jogress Evolution.

Unfortunately, his character arc falls flat in episode 49, where he's suddenly positioned as a source of inspiration when he tells BelialVamdemon that he has no worries because he has friends, family, and a Digimon, a statement that feels hollow, as if that same truth doesn't apply to the rest of the team as well, rather than reflecting on his own growth or the wisdom he could've gained during this journey.

Ken Ichijouji: His arc follows a clear path where we learn he was a chosen child who fell to become the Digimon Kaiser, had his redemption after Wormmon's death, was integrated into the group, and performed an act of healing by offering the Digimental of Kindness. Throughout the anime, he struggles with guilt over his past actions, grief over Osamu's death, and the difficulty of believing he's worthy of belonging.

Iori Hida: His arc revolves around the conflict between the rigid morality inherited from his family and the need to adapt to complex situations. He receives the Digimental of Knowledge (ironically, he's one of the least open to the unknown) and later the Digimental of Reliability just as he faces his first ethical dilemma, lying to protect the group. He struggles to perform Jogress with Takeru because he can't accept that someone can embody both light and darkness but then this conflict is resolved abruptly. In the last four episodes, we learn that his father was the main antagonist's best friend but this connection has no emotional impact on the story or Iori's growth.

Miyako Inoue: She gets the Digimental of Love early on. Her arc is more episodic than progressive, marked by impulsiveness, lack of filter and a series of emotional crises that never quite resolve. She receives the Digimental of Purity in an episode where she, unable to hold back, lashes out at Digitamamon. She has moments of doubt about being a chosen child especially when she doesn't want to go to the Digital World to fight or when she's hesitant to confront a threatening digimon. From the first episode she shows admiration for Koushiro and a clear interest in tech. She often assists him directly, like when they help Yamato with music or when she leaves Poromon with him during the Kyoto trip episode. In that sense, her connection with Knowledge feels more consistent than the traits associated with Love. Her bond with Hikari hints at some self reflection but 02 never explores this in depth. During BelialVamdemon's Mind Illusion attack, she dreams of being an only child, longing for privacy away from the chaos of her big family, yet ironically in the epilogue she ends up as a mother of three and a housewife. Maybe the Digimental of Love makes sense in the end because at some point she embraces what it means to have a family but 02 never shows or builds up to that.

Hikari Yagami: She started 02 with the same calm strength she displayed in Adventure, initially guiding the new group. However, her journey soon became intertwined with the Dark Ocean, which seemed to call to her from a deep spiritual plane. Throughout 02, Hikari experiences a growing tension between her inner light and the fear of her latent darkness. Her Jogress with Miyako to form Silphymon represents an important emotional integration, helping her move away from repression and instead express what she feels while maintaining control over her emotions rather than being overwhelmed by them. Qinglongmon recognizes Hikari as a bearer of an original virtue essential for restoring balance. But this arc contrasts with her portrayal in Adventure, where she handled the light and darkness duality with greater serenity. In 02, that calm becomes more fragile and uncertain. By the end, during both Demon's banishment to the Dark Ocean and the battle with BelialVamdemon, her emotional struggle reveals an unresolved tension with darkness, closing her arc with a more vulnerable and complex Hikari than before.

Takeru Takaishi: He began 02 confident with experience and a clear understanding of what being a chosen child meant. However, during the Digimon Kaiser arc, he lost control, attacking Ken for using Devimon's data. This act triggered a trauma from Adventure that, while not explicitly shown before, became central to his emotional narrative. Later, his genuine fear of losing Patamon exposed a hidden vulnerability beneath his apparent maturity. Despite being emotional opposites, he managed to Jogress with Iori, the group's most rigid member. Qinglongmon also named him a key figure in restoring balance, but like with Hikari, this plotline wasn't explored further. In the illusion caused by BelialVamdemon, it was revealed that Takeru's core pain wasn't losing Angemon, but rather his parents' separation. This topic contrasted sharply with earlier episodes that had depicted him calmly coexisting with his divided family.

These characters had so much potential and I actually like them, but these writers didn't develop them with the care they deserved.

The impact of Digimon on the real world

After the chaos unleashed by VenomVamdemon in Odaiba in 1999, entities like Gennai interfered with the Digital World's code to prevent humans from ever studying that dimension. It was meant to contain the threat, but it also functioned as a way of keeping humanity intentionally blind. By rewriting the code, they blocked access to key information and left people unable to fully understand what had happened.

This helps explain why almost no one has clear memories of Digimon, even after major public incidents like the Greymon vs Parrotmon fight in 1995 or the Odaiba disaster in 1999. The digital system appears to have altered or obscured data in a way that blurred these events in collective memory.

And then, 3 years later during the 02 arc, Dark Towers began appearing globally, causing portals to open and Digimon to appear everywhere. Buildings collapsed and daily life was constantly disrupted, yet most people still had no idea what Digimon were or how to react. Even by the final episode, there is a massive social and scientific vacuum that the series never actually addresses.

Then comes the epilogue, 25 years into the future, where the human world is suddenly shown as a place where every child has a Digimon and there is no explanation of how communication barriers, collective fear, or the original manipulated code were overcome.

The epilogue

The epilogue jumps 25 years ahead to 2027 to show a utopian future where every human has a Digimon partner and all the friction between worlds is just gone, but nothing in 02 actually builds up to that, so it doesn't feel like a natural progression, it feels like something tacked on to lock the story up and throw away the key just so they could move on to other projects.

In the final moments, the narrator says:

"Light and darkness dwell in the hearts of people and the world and their battle will be eternal. But as long as you remember the power of light within your heart to make your dreams come true, everything will be alright. You are the one who will turn the pages of new adventures."

That closing line is what opened the door for later chapters like Tri, Kizuna, 02 The Beginning, and Beyond.

What I didn't like

Everything felt pulled out of a hat. The rules changed almost every 5 episodes and the characters just rolled with it without narrative logic.

Episode 36, where Shakkoumon appears, is pure narrative chaos. It starts with Iori and Ken arriving late to the mission, setting the tone for a team without serious commitment. The group fails to protect the Holy Stone because evolutions don't work due to hunger (with multiple unnecessary evolution sequences that were exhausting to watch), strategies are forgotten mid mission and objectives keep shifting between stopping Archnemon, dealing with BlackWarGreymon or just finding food. No one takes charge and decisions are reactive. Takeru and Iori Jogress without alignment, simply because the plot needs it and after all that, they sit down for chinese food and laugh. A complete mess.

They didn't fight anything real. They debated moral dilemmas like "is it okay to attack a demonic, child murdering digimon with the word demon in its name?" 🫠 Homeostasis should've granted them the Crest of Common Sense.

The BlackWarGreymon and Qinglongmon arc drained me. It was so painfully dull I had to force myself to continue days later. Dense, soulless, boring episodes. I didn't watch 02, I survived it.

Too many TED Talks: Qinglongmon, Gennai, Koushiro, even Sora's dad. Everything was explained, not felt. One big powerpoint of hollow speeches.

02 felt like it was trying to blend emotional depth into a chaotic smoothie, mixing themes like Ken's redemption, the new emotional struggles of Takeru and Hikari, the existential dilemma of an artificial digimon, japanese philosophy and Qinglongmon as a symbolic parallel, darkness as a dimension, Oikawa's grief and loneliness, all shaken together with endless towers, holy vs. evil stuffs and underdeveloped new characters.

The nostalgia was overused. I love Adventure but 02 never really committed to its own story. Every time the tension dropped or the narrative lost direction, it fell back on Taichi, Agumon, WarGreymon, LadyDevimon or vague callbacks to make up for the lack of development in the actual 02 cast.

The epilogue is a forced jump. Suddenly everyone has a digimon, everyone is happy and everyone has kids who almost look like clones of their parents. No development, no transition.

What little I did like

The idea of a chosen child becoming the villain. Starting the story with a corrupted chosen instead of a generic evil digimon was bold.

Ken's arc. It has a beginning, a fall, a redemption and a symbolic closure.

Armor and Jogress Evolutions as concepts. Not their execution but the ideas.

The music. Both the opening theme and the evolution tracks bring back a wave of nostalgia. They elevate even the flattest scenes.

Takeru's conflict with Devimon. Watching him lose that usual light and composure gave his character a rare, unexpected glimpse into the darker side of Hope.

Some micro interactions between the original chosen. Whenever they appeared, I could feel the history behind them.

I probably wouldn't rewatch it, but I'm glad I did. 02 isn't a personal favorite, yet its importance is undeniable. Not necessarily for what it achieves, but for what it leaves unresolved, although underneath this critique is the frustration that the story never got the development it deserved.