A return to childhood

Naive-fox

After the incredibly dissapointing anniversary project 'Digimon Adventure Tri' comes this new take on the original -and to the date best and most succesful- Digimon series. A memorable adventure with which thousand of children grew up, enjoying a very character focused story full of principles and morals.

More than twenty year later Toei reimagines the classic, with up to date animation, new soundtrack and a story that promises to differ enough from the original not to be considered a simple remake. And after the first episode, it already shows great promise, enough to make any fan of the franchise starting title hopeful and expectant about the result.

The opening is the first clear sign that 'Digimon Adventure Psi' is going to do things its own way. In a very Tai centered sequence most old timers will miss Wada Kouji's 'Butterfly', but the new opening song, while lacking the personality of the original, is a catchy enough tune not to feel out of place. The visuals throughout the episode are astoundingly faithful to its source material, yet more defined and detailed as befits a production coming out two decades later. The soundtrack never relies on the vast and memorable songs from 1999's take, but is still consistent and very reminiscent of the original in its own way.

If 'Digimon Adventure Psi' falters in any way, its in its pace and setup. Without any character or world introduction we're thrown into an already dire situation in 20 minutes of animation that feel more like a short film such as 'Our War Game' than an episode of a -hopefully- lasting series. It's to be expected that as characters meet and stories collide the focus will drift into a more character based storyline before returning to a more action packed approach as the climax approaches, but if that's not the case this new take on the digital monsters might suffer from a similar issue as its most recent predecessors. Although the seeds are strong and the first signs are very promising, only time will tell if we're finally in front of a worthy successor of the highly acclaimed original work.

score 6/10

Naive-fox 5 April 2020

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw5610424/