Sora-san, Yamato-san, what is one thing that you would like to give to one another?
Hey, is everything alright? I miss you guys and your art.
Narrator:Guess who’s baaaaack.Well, Yamato and Sora are perfectly fine with the ~new~ status quo.
Digimon x Sanrio Collaboration (ꈍ ᴗ ꈍ✿)
Kizuna Spoilers
So, it’s been two days since I read the novel and I believe I’ve had enough time to think it through. I’m obviously gonna focus on Sora because duh, she’s my favorite and I’ve been thinking about her non-stop. Let’s begin.
My browser froze up and ate this post so I had to make it again -_-; I wanted to post something more about Kizuna, since I was somewhat disgruntled when I made my first post. There were things about it I enjoyed a lot.
Under the cut because spoilers
LAST EVOLUTION: Kizuna — Thoughts and first impression.
So, I watched the thing and wrote down some quick thoughts.
OBVIOUSLY, MASSIVE SPOILERS BELOW.
The difference in Kizuna
I think the reason why Sora/Yamato/Taichi lost their partners vs Jyou/Mimi/Koushirou is that the first three are “on their way” to the epilogue…
- Sora has decided that she won’t do ikebana and that she’ll choose her own way and do whatever she wants… the epilogue slips that her designs are a mix between tradition and fashion (if I remember correctly… I haven’t rewatched it), which is kind of “choose your path because the sky is vast and made for you to fly blabla”.
- In Yamato and Taichi’s case it may have been made faster because of the fight, but regardless we see that Taichi is writing a thesis about coexistance and that he’ll be a diplomat, and Yamato apparently will accept the position with the military and try to become an astronaut.
- And I guess in Menoa’s case it wasn’t so much “being accepted into college” but mostly something like deciding that she’ll be a resarcher etc.
But then on the other hand:
- Apparently Jyou still wants to be a human doctor when he’ll actually be a DIGIMON doctor
- Koushirou is rocking it with his enterprise blabla but he still needs to BECOME a researcher
- Mimi is not cooking. At least not on tv.
It’s kind of sloppy writing to say that growing up is “deciding what you want to work of”, as it removes humans of their ability to CHANGE and to keep growing but whatever. It’s not as if Kizuna has Digimon Adventure’s level of writing after all…
I hope that if we get those other short videos that apparently will be released (at this point I don’t even know if this is real or not) we’ll see Jyou Koushirou and Mimi changing their current path to the one they are shown to have chosen in the epilogue… but just because I love those! And not because I agree that growing up = knowing what you’ll work of.
Kizuna Thoughts
All below spoiler cut! (Also if you’re having trouble finding the leaked sub release, send me a message and I’ll point you the right direction!)
This is Sora's digivice before Menoa or Eosmon even showed up.
Her decision caused this but I want to think Yamato called and asked the rest of the chosen about their digivices and warned Sora about it.
That's why she chose to stay with Biyomon, she knew she was going to lose her.
want to know your thoughts on sora's decision to not take part in battles/fighting anymore. do you agree with her decision? based on the spoilers, it's said that she is the only one not to lose her consciousness & taken to menoa's neverland. the spoilers also said that sora & piyomon do nothing at all. for me, i'm ok if sora & piyomon are excluded since it is her decision & i respect that.
It took me a while to answer this question, because I wanted to know the actual contents of the movie and the novel, rather than form an opinion based on spoilers alone.
I think now I have enough data to answer!
First, of course I’m disappointed that Sora does nothing in the actual film. By nothing, I mean fuck all. In the novel, except for the sequence that is directly taken from the short film and not part of the film, Sora has basically a cameo. She doesn’t appear in the Neverland sequence, and although she is the first to lose her partner, her reaction is not shown or addressed. I’m not surprised by this (it’s inevitable that some characters will be ignored when you have a 12-member cast), but it’s still a sad development for the character.
Than being said, the short was lovely and it did make up for the crappy treatment Sora got in Kizuna! Of course Sora’s exclusion was made to serve the format of the movie and the reality of now having 14 main characters, but I’m really grateful that they managed to find a thoughtful, organic explanation for why she isn’t there. (Unlike the previous films.)
I think the most important thing to take from Sora’s decision is that it’s a massive step for the character. Sora is someone who has lived her entire life under other people’s expectations, doing what was supposed to do rather than what she really wanted. (Supressing her will until it comes out as anger or rebellion). She didn’t chose to be born as iemoto Crown Princess. She sure as hell didn’t decide to become a Chosen Child. But, nevertheless, until now, she accepted those roles and fulfilled them to the best of her ability.
It’s clear that Sora was under pressure from both sides, and that neither activity would be necessarily her first choice.
Being a Chosen and fighting was clearly hard on Sora. Already in Adventure, you start to see that she crumbles under the pressure to do well and to fulfill her role in the group. She isn’t like Taichi and Yamato, who get energized by being in the centre of battle, or like Koushirou, who thrives from finding solutions to these problems.
Let’s not underestimate the amount of emotional labor Sora had to perform as a Chosen Child all the freaking time, meaning she basically had to deal with everyone else’s emotional troubles in addition to her own. Moreover, apart from the general traumatic experience that was the whole 1999 experience and other battles since then, Sora had some terrible shit happening to her during their adventures, the type of things than can probably cause long-term trauma and fear:
- being kidnapped (and almost cloned) by an evil Digimon;
- watching her best friend die in front of her eyes not once but twice;
- being assaulted by Mystery Man (a teenage girl being pinned down and licked by a grown ass man… how else are you supposed to read that???)
- being separated from Piyomon a bunch of times;
- literally falling into a dark cave;
- constantly having to suppress her negative feelings because her job is to keep everyone safe and motivated plus a constant sense that her friends don’t really do the same for her;
- etc etc etc
Can anyone blame Sora for wanting to be a normal girl after 10 years of being some kind of child soldier?
As for Ikebana, it isn’t that Sora doesn’t like it. In fact, it was shown that initially she was only rejecting it because of troubles in her relationship with her mother, and she actually came to enjoy it.
The problem is the pressure that comes along with it. The short illustrates this beautifully — Sora has to dedicate all her time to Ikebana, because she doesn’t want to produce anything unworthy of a Grand Master’s daughter, and she still feels she isn’t good enough. Trying to succeed in something while being under he constant shadow of a parent who’s excellent at it is never easy.
Over all, the feeling I got from the short is that Sora is approaching it out of a sense of duty and it is not longer fun, or even rewarding, for her. Especially if it means that, after graduating from college, she was supposed to go straight into the Ikebana business, which won’t let pursue her own dreams, the things she truly wanted to do and won’t even reveal to Piyomon…
So: Sora’s reasoning was perfectly understandable and it shows both self-awareness and courage. It’s literally Sora doing something she never does: putting herself first. Choosing do to things her way, rather than out of a sense of responsibility or obligation for others.
It doesn’t even come across as “Sora sitting out while her friends suffer”, because before she can try to help, the consequence of her decision is that Piyomon disappears (another cruelty resulting from being a Chosen Child, which Sora will have to deal with later…).
Sora retiring is unfortunate for us fans, since it means that she will probably never get centre stage again if any future installments ever happen. But, on the other hand, it’s the start of her building a great, independent future and why the Epilogue shows her as happy and fulfilled woman.
I'm so happy, I can die in peace.
Digimon Adventure: Last Evolution Kizuna
Sora Takenouchi & Yamato Ishida
My PS work.
Ai Kotoba
Words of Love:
-From Yamato to Sora
-From Takeru to Hikari
-From Taichi to Meiko
-From Koushiro to Mimi
-From Joe to girlfriend
Digimon Adventure: Last Evolution Kizuna
Yamato Ishida & Sora Takenouchi
When the three of you are trying to have some sexual tension in the middle of the night but Agumon cockblocks you