After the amazing Digimon Adventure, the expectations for Digimon Adventure 02 were considerably high. It was a direct sequel to the first show, but a new main cast would be taking over. Only TK and Kari got to stay as main characters while the rest of the DigiDestined were kept out of the (active) loop. They stuck around to help the new guys through a pinch, but for the most part, it wasn’t their show anymore.

It’s been 4 years since the events of the first series. Things are deadlier than ever and Tai and Agumon are basically the last heroes left to stop the evil forces. There doesn’t seem to be a problem at first, (After all, with Agumon’s Warp Digivolution there shouldn’t be a problem right?) but Agumon is unable to digivolve and it stuck at his rookie level. The Digimon Emperor has put up black towers known as Control Spires and they prevent all digimon from evolving. With Tai and Agumon defenseless, they are forced to retreat. Meanwhile in the human world, we are introduced to three new characters. Davis, (The new main character) Cody, and Yolei. They all obtain a new digivice known as a D3. It is able to open links between the two worlds and Davis quickly uses to enter the digital world. (Alongside Kari and TK)

Davis takes the whole thing in stride and uses a mysterious piece of armor to…Armor Digivolve. It is a loophole that allows his digimon to power up even with a Control Spire around. Later on, the other members all go to the digital world and receive their armor digivolutions as well. The first part of the series is mainly about defeating the Digimon Emperor. He seems to be about their age and he uses dark rings to enslave the digimon. He is able to create Control Spires in an instant, so the DigiDestined have their work cut out for them. The DigiDestined from the previous series appear as backup support for several of the episodes and they usually perform decently well. It’s always good to see Tai back in action and he continues to be the most impressive character. Matt has definitely mellowed out a little too much I’d say. He’s really cautious now and acts a little like Joe.

The second part of the show changes the situation pretty drastically. The DigiDestined meet another one of them. The boy’s name is Ken and he’s a pretty formidable ally. His partner is known as Stingmon and they end up helping the heroes a lot against the new opponents. The Control Spires have been reactivates by a pair villains known as Arukenimon and Mummymon. They are both ultimate level digimon so the heroes armor Digivolutions are definitely not going to cut it anymore. (After all, those forms were only champion level) The heroes can now digivolve the normal way and when they are in their champion forms, they can utilize a new (To the show) method of Digivolution known as DNA Digivolving. In this form, two of the heroes digimon merge into an ultimate level being. There are six DigiDestined so they end up with three different forms. Defeating this new group of beings will be one of their hardest challenges, which gets even harder once they take the fight to the human world.

The new cast of characters is pretty good, but the new DigiDestined aren’t really good for the most part. Davis makes for a very solid protagonist and while he’s no Tai, he’s still a fun character to watch. Unlike the other members, Davis has no insecurities or problems. He’s perfectly content with his life and nothing that the villains say can ever sway him. He’s definitely the most courageous of the group and easily the most heroic as well. There’s not much more to say about him. He’s definitely the best new human character in the show and his main digimon is known as Veemon. Through Digivolution, Veemon can turn into a mega level digimon who’s got a great design.

Cody is another new character, but he’s only all right. He strongly dislikes evil, (Like TK) but there’s not much that he is able to do about it. His digimon partner, Armadillomon, is one of the weaker members of the bunch. He’s decently tough, but easily outshined by the other members. Cody has a lot of inner monologue and has some serious doubts about destroying digimon (Which I’ll go over later on in the review) That’s fine and all, but it ends up putting the lives of his teammates at risk during some key moments.

Yolei is the final new member from the initial new DigiDestined group. Her partner is Hawkmon and he’s all right. He’s not quite as enjoyable to watch as the other digimon. Yolei can be pretty excitable and likes doing dramatic things. She would be a pretty likable character if she didn’t always think of romance at critical times. One should always focus on the mission at hand. (Especially if it’s world threatening)

Ken joins the DigiDestined later on and he gets more character development than the previous three characters put together. He gets a whole episode to himself and he’s in a constant battle against the darkness. Ken also struggles to be accepted by the other DigiDestined (Except for Davis who accepts him immediately) and things are tense for a while. (Especially when they think they see him destroying a digimon)

TK and Kari are main characters and they definitely show their experience. They are used to the Digital World already and they take things in stride much easier than the new kids. Unfortunately a plot twist prevents them from using their full power for a while. It was needed since they would have mopped the floor with the early enemies, but still pretty frustrating.

The cast from the original show appear throughout, but they don’t fight that much. They’re mostly about average, but Tai definitely looks the best. Thanks to power that was borrowed from a legendary digimon, Agumon is able to go into his mega form. None of the other originals are able to do this (No power left over) so they aren’t able to compete as much. As I said earlier, Matt is a very cautious guy now. He has a band, so he doesn’t have as much time as the other guys and he’s just not as cool as he was in the original show.

The Digimon Emperor is a main villain for a while, but he wasn’t a very interesting one. He can’t actually fight and he relies on his enslaved digimon to do the work for him. He builds a decently powerful digimon to aid him (Kimeramon) but it didn’t really make me like him. The Digimon Emperor definitely wasn’t that impressive.

Arukenimon and Mummymon appear later and are the main fighters for a new trio. (Their boss also can’t really fight) Arukenimon starts off as a decently mysterious being, but once Mummymon shows up they instantly become comic relief characters for the rest of the series. Mummymon’s only good scene was his first ever appearance and it was pretty epic. Another character who ends up complicating things for both sides is the legendary Black War Greymon. His power is unparalleled and he’s able to defeat several ultimate level digimon in a single attack. Tai is forced to bring back his War Greymon to combat this threat. It was a very awesome scene for fans of the original series and Black War Greymon is pretty awesome. He’s definitely my favorite digimon character of all time.

As if there weren’t enough groups running around, another group of darkness led by Daemon attacks the human world. They are after the Dark Spore and they are possibly the strongest group. (Unfortunately Black War Greymon never got to fight them. Now that would have been epic!) Daemon is very powerful and not even two ultimates and a mega level digimon are able to damage him…their strongest attacks combined couldn’t even damage him. That’s some serious power folks! Unfortunately his plot point is pretty much deserted.

The best fight in the series may have been the DigiDestined’s battle against SkullSatamon. He was a minion of Darmon and his speed was incredibly deadly. It was a very monumental battle which resulted in both generations of DigiDestined teaming up to fight him. It was pretty awesome to watch and SkullSatmon is a very powerful opponent. His skills seem to be that of a very strong Mega’s.

One plot point that I should mention, is that the new DigiDestined aren’t used to destroying digimon. In the first series, they just blew up whoever they came across. Here, the main characters don’t want to destroy any digimon (Even if they’re evil) because they are living creatures and all. It’s a pretty tough moral question since there are no jails to lock up the opponents. Also, it’s hard to defeat an enemy and not destroy them, since they typically die when they are rendered unconscious. TK, Davis, Ken, and Kari are all for destroying the evil digimon, but Yolei and Cody don’t want to do such a thing. This is a pretty big plot point and you are left to decide which viewpoint you think is correct. Personally, I would try to not destroy the digimon, but I would still fight back to save the world. I’d try to knock them out with destroying them if at all possible…but it tends to not be possible.

One thing I didn’t like that much, was that the main characters acted as if their parents didn’t know about the Digimon for a while. Most of the Earth knows about them, thanks to the first series. I didn’t agree with the whole pretending thing for this season and it would have made things much easier if they had just kept their parents in the loop. A new plot point is that there are now hundreds of DigiDestined roaming the world. They are all very weak for the most part, but the numbers add up. At least the main characters won’t be alone in their battle for justice anymore. I can’t say that I liked any of the new kids though.

The series was definitely one of the better anime out there and right from the start, you could tell that it would be great. The first episode was solid and the show has a very good soundtrack. It’s very energetic and the lyrical songs are pretty good. (For the most part) The Digivolution theme is still awesome and I never get tired of listening to it. There were several different villain groups over the course of the show and a lot of characters from the original show got to appear. The ending may be a bit sketchy, but I highly recommend checking this show out. Believe me, you won’t regret it!

Overall 8/10

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