I’ll go a bit more into certain elements of the plot, but let’s talk about the characters. In comparison to the cast of Adventure, the Digidestined here are a bit of a disappointment. Aside from Ken, possibly Cody, and the occasional moment for T.K., none of the heroes really go through proper character arcs or change. Davis is a replica of Tai minus the brains. He’s a friendly goofball who easily makes friends and believes there is good in everyone, being the only person who immediately forgives Ken. His stubbornness and refusal to give up are both pros and cons to his character, but in all honesty, Davis doesn’t really have any flaws. He seems proud to be a moron and has plenty of positive traits.
This comes to irk me a lot in the last episodes – MaloMyotismon uses an illusion to trap the kids in their perfect wishes, but Davis is apparently so content with life he is unaffected by it. That’s a load of digi-poo! Davis has plenty of wishes like marrying Kari, impressing Tai, becoming a great football player, opening a world famous noodle cart, etc. What a load of rubbish. His partner Veemon (also Derek Stephen Prince) is virtually identical to Davis, but maybe a little more obnoxious.
Yolei is hard to describe as a character because there isn’t really much to her. She is supposed to be a fusion of Sora and Mimi, has a crush on Ken, and is a bit of peppy tinkerer. Beyond that, I can’t really say much about her. She doesn’t really get any major development let alone attention, though she provides a lot of humour and the occasional episode in the spotlight. We learn her biggest wish is to be a lonely child since she apparently has issues having so many siblings, which is never mentioned or commented on at all in the show. Yolei’s partner is Hawkmon (Neil Kaplan), a somewhat pompous but friendly bird who has a British accent despite having a Native American theme.
Cody is the most developed character after Ken, but he isn’t exactly the most interesting of characters. He is always quiet and serious, but mature and wise for his age. His dad Hiroki was a cop but died taking a bullet for a politician. Because of this, Cody misses the time he spent with his father, and thus is always on edge and has a hard time trusting people. This becomes clear when Ken joins the group as a good guy, and it takes him a long time to trust him. He also has issues with T.K. when it comes to performing a DNA Digivolution with him. I’ll explain that gimmick a little later. Cody gets some good development in the later episodes when it turns out Oikawa was best friends with his dad when they were younger. His partner is Armadillomon (Robert Axelrod), a laidback, gluttonous guy who acts as a foil to Cody like Gomamon is to Joe.
T.K. and Patamon haven’t really changed much apart from the former; he’s grown up, acts as the voice of reason, hates Digimon lives being wasted, and is often quick to condemn evil. This comes to light in a particularly awesome seen where T.K. witnesses the creation of Kimeramon who is made out of a composite of numerous Digimon parts, including the data of the not-so-dead Devimon, the first antagonist of the original Digidestined, who was destroyed by Angemon but at the cost of Patamon’s life. Patamon later came back from the dead, but the trauma was apparently still there even if T.K. didn’t express it. Enraged that Ken will use Devimon’s data to create an evil Digimon, T.K. goes off alone and beats the crud out of Ken in the season’s most epic moment. Not much happens after that for T.K., but I’m glad he is here.
The same goes for Kari. She doesn’t really get much to do, and her strange light-based powers seem to be affected by darkness. Unfortunately, her biggest potential is cut short in the infamous “Dark Ocean” subplot that has several key connections to the story, but its true purpose is outright abandoned. In one episode, Kari is transported to the eerie Silent Hill-like beach where dark creatures called Scubamon try to force her to meet their evil master Dragomon, who is basically the Cthulhu of the Digimon universe. T.K. and Angewomon save Kari, but the Scubamon vanish into the sea promising to return for Kari. Too bad they never do.
We later learn the Dark Ocean is what corrupted Ken, and the brief appearance of the demon lord Daemon is connected to the strange world. But apart from that, the whole thing is outright abandoned. Perhaps the Dark Ocean story will be covered in the movies Digimon Adventure Tri but we’ll have to wait and see. And going back to Kari, poor Gatomon is reduced to making nothing but cat puns.
I’ve already talked about Ken but he is the show’s best character. He makes a fantastic villain as the Digimon Emperor, slowly going nuttier with each episode, and when he loses, he doesn’t take it well. It is then revealed Ken always assumed the Digimon were just part of a giant video game world, and when he realises they are in fact real, he has one hell of a breakdown. And if you are an observant viewer, you’ll notice looking back that the Emperor’s appearance is very similar to that of Ken’s late brother Sam. Ken goes through some pretty dark stuff and even after getting redemption, his greatest wish is revealed to be punished for his crimes. He still believes he is the Digimon Emperor, but after Wormmon snaps him out of it, Ken finally stops beating himself up. Ken’s genius was caused by the Dark Spore, which has a very complicated origin I can’t be bothered to describe, but when he turns good, his intelligent diminishes so he becomes more normal.
