Digimon Adventure Tri: Our Future Speculation

Welcome, one and all! Today, I’m going to be talking a little about Digimon Adventure Tri. Or to be more precise, I’m going to speculate what will happen in the final instalment next Summer. That being the case, it’s only fair for me to say … Be warned! There be spoilers ahead!

Now, although the reaction to the fifth part of the series, Coexistence, has been mixed, I must say, I quite enjoyed it. Yes, the story feels a little rushed in places with Tri, but it’s still a compelling addition to the original canon. Regardless though, a lot has happened, and there were certainly some surprises in Coexistence that set up some interesting possibilities for Our Future. So, with all that being said, I’m going to approach this in chunks, focussing on individual characters, groups and plot points.

 

Taichi, Hikari and Yamato

I didn’t see a body, so I don’t entirely buy Taichi’s death. OK, so given what happened, you wouldn’t expect to just push aside some small pieces of rubble and find a body, but I stand by this view. Taichi has always been the leader of the original kids and, while Digimon is not afraid to get pretty harsh, I can’t see the franchise killing off its primary protagonist.

Now, Taichi’s apparent death set off two events. The first was Hikari falling into shock and causing Tailmon to dark digivolve into Ophanimon Falldown Mode, and subsequently merge with Raguelmon to form … whatever that digimon’s called. This sets up a clear, overpowered foe for the surviving kids to face off with, with the added kick that it’s made from two of their partner digimon. The second event that it throws into play is Yamato having to step up as a true leader. What was nice with this was that he maintained his aggressive stance, even when rallying the others to action. This gives me hope that he’ll be a very different leader to Taichi moving forward.

But, what do I see happening? Well, Yamato should do a decent job as leader, and I can see him growing to understand the burdens that Taichi has been feeling throughout Tri. When all is said and done though, I would think that he’ll be happy to hand the goggles back to Taichi.

Yup, building on what I said above, I believe that Taichi will return. How this will happen, I’m not sure, but given how much the Digital World has been shifting, I would not be surprised if he was saved by Homeostasis and ends up meeting with Yggdrasil. The basis of their conversation will likely be whether Meicoomon and the Real World can be spared. In the end, Taichi will return, which will help sway the climactic battle.

The way that Taichi will help win the day won’t be through pure firepower though. I mean, sure, Agumon probably won’t be able to digivolve without him, but Hikari is going to be the key here. Her fall into shock is somewhat akin to Juri’s in Digimon Tamers, and without her brother, she will have lost all hope. When Taichi returns though, it will be after the villain that’s pulling all the strings has appeared and is looking set to win. His reappearance will spark her hope and cause Ophanimon Falldown Mode to split itself from Raguelmon and digivolve into a different form (I’m guessing Magnadramon, but regular Ophanimon is certainly a logical possibility). That is the point at which the battle can be won, and the whole process will be helped by Meiko …

 

Meiko and Meicoomon

Meiko is going to grow in confidence. She’ll mope a bit, and continue to blame herself for everything that’s happening, but when she sees Hikari regain her hope, sees that Taichi is safe, and watches Ophanimon begin to fight free, she will realise her place in things. That in turn will calm the rage in Raguelmon, cause Raguelmon to digivolve into an alternate form, and see them split from Ophanimon. This will lead up to a final battle with the true antagonist of the series: Daemon …

 

Himekawa, Nishijima, and the Dark Ocean

Again, no body means that Nishijima isn’t dead. He will have ended up the same place that Taichi did, but rather than rejoin the battle with the corrupted digimon, he’s going to head to the Dark Ocean. We saw Himekawa fall into the water and, we would assume, drown in Coexistence, but I don’t think that she’ll be dead either. The Dark Ocean is the third dimension (alongside the Digital World and Real World) and is a tainted world where dark thoughts spring to life and corruption reigns supreme. When we saw it in Zero Two, we not only learned that it was ruled by Dragomon, but also saw Daemon sealed away there when the kids were unable to defeat him.

So, that means we have two very powerful villains in play right now, though neither has yet been seen. This is where we end up with two battles. Daemon will be set free and head off to fight the kids, leaving the adults with Dragomon. Himekawa has been so focussed on finding Tapirmon that she’s lost sight of everything going on around her. Being a being of negative energy, I foresee Dragomon summoning both Tapirmon and Nishijima’s former partner Bearmon to the realm. There will be a reconciliation, Tapirmon may even appear to sacrifice himself to save Himekawa, and then we’ll see the return of the Zero Two kids …

 

Zero Two Kids

I’ve been wracking my brain on how they’ll be brought into this. We saw their silhouettes being defeated at the start of the first Tri movie, but they’ve not reappeared since. Plus, there’s the memory reboot. That should remove their bond with their partner digimon, right? Wrong. I think that they were defeated while in the Dark Ocean, and so missed out on the reboot. That means that they’re still there, and likely trapped in the water, their despair feeding Dragomon. As the kids starts to win out against Daemon, and both Hikari and Meiko’s hope rises, that will seep into the Dark Ocean and free them. That means that they can step in and, with only Dragomon to face now rather than both he and Daemon, they will emerge victorious …

 

The End

Daemon will be defeated, properly this time, and Homeostasis will be forced to acknowledge that he was the true villain all along. Meicoomon will be free of corruption. And then comes the shocker. Homeostasis is aware that several of the protagonists were used by the bad guys. That shows a weakness in the system. As a result, it will close off the Digital World until it is certain that such an event will not happen again. The digimon that are partnered with the heroes will be banished to the Real World until such a time that the gate to the Digital World is re-opened too. That way, we don’t mess with the Zero Two epilogue …

 

And so ends my speculative ramblings. What do you all think? Could I be right? Or do you think that something else will happen? Let me know in the comments below!