Well then, now that the first film in the six-part Digimon Adventure Tri series has been officially released and a four-part OVA version is available for streaming on Crunchyroll, there's a whole lot more to speculate about. Naturally, this entry will contain spoilers for Digimon Adventure Tri - Reunion. So, if you're a fan of Digimon and you haven't checked it out already, you should definitely take the time to watch it. Be warned, however, as this is no longer the fun filled adventure you might remember from 1999. Things have taken a very dark turn right off the bat.
Fact: In the introduction sequence we are shown brief flashes of the silhouettes of the characters from Zero Two collapsing one after another, apparently locked in battle with a powerful adversary. Only Daisuke, Miyako, Iori, and Ken are shown indicating that Takeru and Hikari are both absent from this particular battle. As the second generation of digidestined falls we are also treated to our first glimpse of Alphamon, presumably the antagonist who has defeated them. The cast of Zero Two won't be seen or mentioned for the remainder of the film.
Fact: Later on, during some exposition from Koushiro, we learn that approximately one year prior the gate to the digital world closed suddenly and the digidestined have been completely cut-off from their partners. The events of the film are being made possible by spacial distortions that have allowed "infected digimon" to crossover into the real world without the need for a gate.
Speculation: So, clearly the boundary between the real world and the digital world has become even more unstable than it ever was before. But, that part about the gate having been closed for a year with even the D3's held by Takeru and Hikari being unable to re-open it is what's really important here. At a glance, we see the original digidestined going about their lives and blatantly unaware of what has happened to Daisuke, Miyako, Iori, and Ken. No one remarks on their obvious absence from school. In fact, no one mentions them at all. Why? Because when the gate suddenly closed one year ago, the second generation of digidestined were already on the other side. Daisuke, Miyako, Iori, and Ken are trapped in an extremely hostile digital world. In all likelihood they've been out of contact ever since.
Fact: Hackmon and Gankoomon are shown to be roaming freely between the distorted space and the real world.
Speculation: Since they aren't rampaging like the "infected" Kuwagamon swarm or Alphamon, they probably aren't infected. On the other hand, with them silently observing as events are unfolding, Hackmon and Gankoomon clearly aren't terribly eager to be discovered either. The real question, though, is what are they even doing in Odaiba in 2005? In my previous entry I mentioned how Hackmon and Gankoomon appeared in a bonus episode in Digimon Adventure PSP that ties-in with the events of the Young Hunters arc of Digimon Xros Wars. However, during that sequence of the game it was 11-year-old Taichi who participated in the events, not his 17-year-old counterpart from Tri.
This is also true for the Young Hunters arc as a whole. The Taichi who participates in the final battle in Young Hunters is most definitely the Taichi from Adventure, as is the Yamato who appears with Metal Garurumon to allow for the appearance of Omegamon during the battle. Taichi's age is even commented on by Daisuke, who remarks that even though Taichi is his sempai from the same universe, right now the two are actually the same age because Taichi was pulled from a different point in time.
Of course, those incidents were all made possible by Bagramon when he effectively shattered the boundary between dimensions prior to his final showdown with Shoutmon. Is it possible that Bagramon's actions in Xros Wars are responsible for what is now happening in Digimon Adventure Tri? Damn right it is. We won't really know for sure until someone confronts Hackmon and Gankoomon, but them being present at all seems like a pretty clear confirmation of there being some sort of connection between the two incidents. At the moment we're going to have to wait and see if the original digidestined have any recollection of encountering Hackmon and Gankoomon before.
Fact: Prior to these events, there have been no fewer than three major instances of digimon having appeared in the real world. Hikarigaoka (Heightenview Terrace), which was widely regarded as a terrorist bombing and lacked proper media coverage because entities such as Gennai were still working tirelessly to keep the digital world a secret. Odaiba 1999, when Vamdemon invaded the real world with his army and the subsequent battle with the Dark Masters which was visible across the entire world as the digital world hung suspended in the distorted sky. And finally, the World Tour, when digimon were released in large numbers throughout the real world.
However, in spite of these incidents, no one really talks about the existence of digimon. The news reports still cast them as "unidentified" monsters.
The government, though, is very much aware of the existence of digimon and has apparently had direct contact from Gennai. They state that they've been handling the "infected digimon" themselves for the most part, but lately the digimon emerging from the spacial distortions have become too powerful for them to deal with and so they've taken it upon themselves to reunite the original digidestined now that their partner digimon are also able to return to the real world to fight for them.
Speculation: Um... how exactly has the government been dealing with the "infected digimon"? So far, none of the government agents that have been shown appear to have a digimon of their own. Maybe they've been working with Hackmon and Gankoomon? I really just don't know.
Speaking of which, what exactly are these "infected digimon" infected with? I mean, I suppose it could be the X Program minus the X Antibody, but that seems like a bit of a stretch.
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So, that's really all the serious speculation I have for Digimon Adventure Tri - Reunion at the moment. This next part is really just for my own amusement.
Speculation: Well, it is 2005 and there sure are an awful lot of hexagons floating around in the distorted space. Could this be at all related to the Pluto's Kiss incident in the .hack// series? Well no, the timing is probably a coincidence. Besides, it would be way too freaky if that turned out to be the case.
Okay then, I'm starting to give myself a headache with all this wild speculating. Time to settle down and play some more Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon.