#tri week

Before the day is over, wanna hear me gush about Digimon Tri? Today marks the 5th anniversary for the first film Reunion/Saikai, and ngl, a bit emotional thinking 5 years have already passed. You guys might have noticed lately all I post, write & share about is Digimon; and there’s been a couple of factors leading up to that. When Tri first came out, I was ecstatic, it had been about 14 years or so since we last had any canon content from Adventure. Growing up in Brunei, I don’t really remember catching Digimon on TV. What we did have were CDs, loads of them (RIP Mr.Speedy); and about 5 iterations of Digimon being dubbed. I’m not joking when I say I probably consumed Digimon in more than two languages/regional dubs; but I have very fond memories of that. I wasn’t the biggest on learning the Digilore until the late 2000’s when I had access to the internet and could binge the entire series on YT. When you’re a kid just watching Saturday morning cartoons, lore isn’t something you instantly flock towards. I guess what I’m trying to say is that I had a lot of gaps with how Digimon’s story went, what arc came after the last; why certain things were happening.

But I adored the characters, I fell in love with their dynamics and (without realising it at the time ‘cause I was fucking 5) complexities. I was a really imaginative kid, I had stories to tell and scribble about. When it came to Digimon, there was just something about it that gave that extra spark; made me want to create even more. The Digivolutions, the character designs, the colour palette of the cast : sure all of this was probably a marketing ploy to sell more toys. But looking back now, hands down, Digimon has got to be one of the most colourful and vivid shows of my childhood (like in terms of design etc. Again when you’re bloody 5 yrs old, you see pretty colours & movement on the screen and you’re entertained for hours) Obviously Tri has a lot of oopsies, plotholes & overall gives me a migraine when I think about certain aspects *cough* Meiko. Today 5 years ago, I was just starting my A-Levels. Needless to say it was a rough time, but whenever a new Tri movie came out; God I went ballistic. I mean that in a good way, watching Tri made me feel like a kid again. That being said, it wasn’t pure escapism from having to deal with clinical depression & overwhelming stress. Part of the charm of Digimon is that characters change, they actually grow up; and for all the 90’s/00’s kids - we got to grow up with them. Taichi and most of the Chosen Children were 17 during the run of Tri, I was fucking 16 yrs old. This isn’t the most planned out ‘essay’, if you can even call it that. I’ll prolly revisit this in the future & polish up on what I’m trying to say. But what I can say is that the Tri film series ignited that childhood joy of simply watching something cool and wanting to create something akin to ‘giant-monsters-battling-to-represent-the-emotional-development-of-these-group-of-mismatched-kids’.