Digimon Adventure: 2020

After watching more of the series, my initial fears got confirmed. Digimon was always a shounen, albeit a very character driven one. And here we have the 2020 reboot, taking the sooner to extreme limits and the latter totally out of the product. 'Digimon adventure 2020' (code named 'Digimon Adventure Psi') can be just summed up as a collection of battle episodes with an exhaustingly repetitive script. Threat arises (causing planet extinction risk from day one), absurd battle with no coherence at all ensues, deus ex machina victory happens (usually due to unexplained phenomena or the characters shouting out very loud), threat that was over reappears in a more threatening way to have an excuse for another episode. The characters that drove the story in the original run and were likeable, relatable persons with emotions and strong bond between them are plain robots with the mere function of riding their Digimons, remember us how unexplainable everything happening around them is and shouting their Digimons' (and occasionally other character's names) an average of five times per minute. Or that is the case at least for the two "main" characters of the story, the rest of the kids have been cut back to a lesser role than an extra would have in any other show.

Animation wise the new re-imagining of 1999's franchise originating title edges the original, feeling very pleasing visually during some episodes (even if the sloppiness of the sequences they had no interest on investing time on, like some digievolution sequences for "lesser" Digimons, is almost insulting) and keeping in the vibrant colour palette of its predecessor that makes it so attractive for younger kids. The soundtrack, although not in the level of the masterful score of the first 'Digimon adventure', is still pretty good and definitely up to the standards of the franchise. Little matters any of it as the script makes it an unbearable ride for anyone looking for a bit of emotion or warmth in it, or at least a coherent, thrilling story. 'Digimon adventure 2020' is, at best, a mediocre shounen enjoyable by the youngest of the family, but it's in no way an entertaining watch for a newcomer to the franchise, and it is like salt in the recent 'Digimon Tri' wound to all of us who grew up with the original and expected a tweaked, improved storyline with the humanity and emotion that glued us to the screen twenty years ago intact.