The nostalgia continues but also reality and creepy stuff adds more after the aftermath of a weaker part 2…
What They Say:
Meicoomon vanishes into the distorted abyss. Shaken, Tai and the others search for answers about Meicoomon’s infection. Izzy seeks answers from Meiko but she’s lost all emotion. Izzy quarantines Agumon and the other Digimon in the office so that the infection can’t spread any further, but Patamon starts to show signs of the illness. Agumon and the others use Kari’s voice to tell the team about an important secret concerning the Digital World.
The Review:
Audio:
The audio has a 5.1 release in English and a 5.1 in Japanese – 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 though it has both dubtitles and subtitle options) but the movies having a Japanese release despite my nostalgia goggles is more than acceptable. 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) – it definitely feels like Digimon Adventure got an overhaul with the animation but still kept to the spirit of the original series (it is hard to notice the computer graphics because is blending it well and not that obvious), whilst no slowdown or broken pausing makes it work as a good release even on DVD.
Packaging:
There was no packaging for this test release.
Menu:
The menu differs from previous releases where we get shots from the movie horizontally with the selections below being Play, Scenes, Audio, Subtitles and the one extra it has (see below) – the menu is easily accessible and transits quickly into the next menu like a Blu-Ray. 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 actually selectable straight from the main menu – the premier of Confession at Anime Expo 2017 at a Q&A with special guests Brian Ward (Blu-Ray Producer), Joshua Seth (Tai), Colleen O’Shaughnessy (Sora) and Jeff Nimoy (Tentomon) – questions of course are asked by Brian and also the audience, whether the cast was surprised at the call – Jeff who along with being the voice of Tentomon was previously involved with the directing, explains his cast, known that Joshua didn’t initially get cast and Jeff accidentally spoiled that was playing the role as Toei animation not announced it, and then Joshua explained Jeff got him back into it – I briefly discussed in previous reviews that Joshua worked on live shows and retired from VA work, but Tai was the one role he would have come back to and here we are. Colleen hearing about it but unsure if would be asked – how they play the roles, why animation works for the actors into a Q&A and it is just a delight to hear the 3 original Vas return to these roles and despite being 16 years older they don’t sound any different and just how much Digimon has become part of them (though Jeff curses both Joshua and Colleen when they say Agumon is their favourite Digimon not Tentomon…^^)
Content:
The third of the tri Digimon movies comes after a strong opening followed by a slightly weaker second movie – whilst I enjoyed a lot of it with the moments focusing on Joe and Mimi, the usual joke of a certain Digimon dying and the betrayal of Meicocomon felt a bit tacked on and obvious, and whilst seeing new mega levels was great, it didn’t know if it was keeping the dark side with the Digimon Emperor returning (itself a bit of a Pandora’s box as there still wasn’t much info about what happened to the 02 kids) and see how it leads to.
The third movie hits us with a lot more feels and an interesting ending to see where the series leads to…
Whilst the aftermath of the festival seems to have made Mimi more accepted to her peers, Meiko is still upset from Meicemon leaving her. Added to that, Izzy can’t figure out how she became infected (leading to Izzy and Mimi actually butting heads considering their romantic tension in the previous movie). With Himekawa and Nishijima also butting heads with each other and keeping information secret from the kids, it leads to the Digimon being quarantined via one of Izzy’s portals. However, Patamon seems to be acting a bit weird and T.K is worried, leading him to realise that he has been infected, also leading into one of two scenes where I got teary eyed as hearing Patamon’s VA as the same as back in the day tell T.K to stop him if he gets worse, is actually quite heartbreaking…
With Izzy and others not looking after themselves (Sora steps up to the plate as a team mom for a lot of the characters), and the odd comic moment (Joe wanting to introduce Gomamon to his girlfriend, prompting our favourite seal like Digimon to quip ‘she is real right?’), the digimon eventually learn that Patamon is infected and know they could be next. What happens next is a great throwback to old school Digimon fans – back in both Adventure Season 1 and 2, there was something…not quite right…with Kari/Hikari. She has seemingly a spiritual connection, almost goddess like, with connecting with Digimon and here, this takes a further step as she is possessed by a being known as Homeostatis, and warns the digimon that if they become infected they could destroy both the real world and the digital world, and that the idea is to ‘reboot’ the Digimon next time Meicocomon appears – which would in turn make all the digimon lose their memories of all their human friends. This also lets Izzy figure out a potential plan to stop the infection spreading…
Meicocomon returns and the Digidestined trap her in a digital portal before she arrives in the Digital World. It seems to go well until Patamon wants to go help and his infection does slowly spread to the other Digimon. However Izzy’s plan is that before the reboot affects them is to put them in a field and use back up data so that the Digimon can still preserve their memories. Sounds great right?
Unfortunately the entire Digimon bar Tentomon have been infected by now and about to over-power the bug Digimon to escape into the real world. Tentomon warp-digivolves into his mega form for the first time, Heracules-Kabuteromon, and this leads into the 2nd real emotional moment of the movie as he manages to put all the Digimon back into the field…and the reboot occurs without the memories being recovered.
It leads to the discovery that Meicocomon was infected from day 1, so they need to see if they can recover their Digimon and return to them remembering them, which is clearly the set up for the next movie. The group returns to the now rebooted Digital World and whilst there is wariness, the Digimon tend to befriend them as the reveal of the Digimon Emperor is a bit of a twist (spoiler: it isn’t Ken…) and it appears Meicocomon does still remember Meiko…
The set up is obvious to see if the Digimon can remember the kids in the new set up and what they have to deal with the Digimon Emperor and Meicocomon – and the movie definitely has the biggest punch in terms of emotion. He scenes of T.K and Patamon hugging and Hercules-Kabuteromon holding off everyone whilst forgoing their memories so they can save the world are pretty sweet and/or intense, and whilst there have been sweet moments before, these really hit the viewer as T.K hasn’t had much real screen time or focus and this combined with fans remembrance of his initial relationship with Patamon as a kid makes this even more heart-wrenching and seeing Izzy panic over his friend and Tentomon well aware that what he is doing could screw their friendship up…
It definitely feels a step up over the 2nd movie as whilst I liked the Joe/Mimi moments, it felt almost as like an in-joke to fans than a movie – this one did feel like it, there are some comic moments (like T.K automatically thinking Matt got into a fight with Tai when he visits all sullen because that is apparently what Matt does) but they aren’t overbearing – the moments with Sora and Meiko seem to establish Sora as the most mature character(though this is also a turn off for original fans potentially considering Sora was quite the tomboy so growing up or getting a girlier upgrade?) and perhaps a friendship that strengthens given that Meiko was relying a lot on Tai in the 1st movie and now she is close with most of the group, especially Sora and Mimi.
Of course, the worrying thing is that there are still some plotholes that haven’t really been addressed. Whilst they have at least acknowledged the disappearance of Ken and it isn’t him as the Digimon Emperor, the fact that the kids still don’t seem to even give a concern about the other 02 Kids suggests that there is something more at work here…but the movies haven’t explained them very well. Kari’s descent into madness is something that has been hinted at in the past, but even then was only done a few times and then pretty much forgotten and again, not very well explained even with the Digimon and Himekawa together – Himekawa also clearly has more vested interest than you think after the last few scenes and with Meicocomon also still remember Meiko there is foreshadowing but you wonder if they can get everything in the next few movies – what with the rookie Digimon having to make friends with the cast again, the Digimon Emperor returning and where does he go from here, Kari’s transformation, Meicocomon remembering, etc – there is a lot to go through and only a few more movies to get to.
That said, it is still an intense movie and a love letter to Digimon fans and the good moments definitely outshine the potential plotholes they need to focus on in the future. We just hope that they can focus on them….
In Summary:
Confession is definitely a good subtitle for the 3rd Digimon movie – with Patamon getting infected and the Digimon being reset, they now have to take what happened with this confession and restart from scratch. With a lot more reveals (though still a lack of explanation), character development both in bits and bobs, as well as full throttle, friendships becoming through and some tensions understandable (Izzy suffers a lot because of this), it sets up the next movie well and probably my favourite of the three so far. I just hope it manages to do the story right if they need to reconnect with the Digimon because depending how long that might go, the rest of the plotholes may suffer…
Features:
Anime Expo 2017 Panel
Content Grade: B+
Audio Grade: B+
Video Grade: B+
Packaging Grade: N/A
Menu Grade: B+
Extras Grade: B
Released By: Manga Entertainment UK
Release Date: December 26th, 2017
MSRP: £14.99
Running Time: 105 Minutes
Video Encoding: PAL
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 Ananmorphic Widescreen
Review Equipment:
Playstation 4, Sony Bravia 32 Inc EX4 Television, Aiwa 2 Way Twin Duct Bass Reflex Speaker System.