Digimon Adventure (movie)

デジモンアドベンチャー
*Dejimon'adobenchā*

**Digimon Adventure** (デジモンアドベンチャー, *Dejimon adobenchā*), also known as *Movie version Digimon Adventure* (劇場版 デジモンアドベンチャー, Gekijō-ban dejimon adobenchā), is the first movie in the whole Digimon franchise, and the first animated media to introduce the concept and characters of Digimon Adventure. It serves as a prequel to the Digimon Adventure television anime series.

## Plot

Yagami Taichi, an 11-year-old boy, reflects on his first encounter with a Digital Monster and how it changed the course of his life.

On a late night during the spring of 1995 in Hikarigaoka, electronic devices experience a wave of strange glitches. Taichi, a 7-year-old boy, awakens to find his 3-year-old sister Hikari staring at the family computer. The computer monitor is flashing red with static, projecting an egg-like shape, capturing Hikari's attention, as the egg emerges from the computer. The next morning, Taichi's mother awakens him and asks him to look after Hikari while she runs errands. Taichi is convinced that the events from the night before were a strange dream until he looks into Hikari's bunk and sees that she is holding the egg.

As Taichi makes breakfast, Hikari insists on clinging to the egg while she is seated at the table, while Taichi questions her and amuses over the thought of cooking the egg. When she reaches for her drink, the egg slips out of her lap and rolls itself away from her. Hikari chases the egg around the house, while Taichi does not realize what is going on until he almost trips on the Digitama. It rolls back into the siblings' bedroom and, as they watch, hatches into a small and round black creature. It immediately attempts to attack Taichi by latching onto his face, then runs and hides under their bed. Taichi attempts to attack it with his goggles, scaring it into blasting him with bubbles. Hikari, instead, blows her whistle, and the creature responds by blowing short blasts of bubbles the same number of times. The bubbles escape their room and begin drifting all around the Hikarigaoka area.

The two find that the creature has a very large appetite, as Hikari keeps feeding it. Taichi is at a loss as to what it is or what to do with it, and Hikari keeps rejecting his suggested names for it. When the phone rings, Taichi answers it but the phone experiences a severe malfunction. When he returns to the bedroom, he finds that the black creature has transformed into a slightly bigger pink creature. Hikari takes Mīko's food bowl to give to the creature. In gratitude, it latches onto Hikari and Taichi's faces unexpectedly. While it is eating the food, Mīko enters and attacks it. The creature is terrified and attempts to run away, and when Taichi attempts to intervene, Mīko scratches him, then the creature, before leaving with the food bowl. Later that evening, when their mother comes home, Hikari and the creature begin talking to each other, to Taichi's surprise, and it introduces itself as Koromon. Out of gratitude and as a "sign of friendship," Koromon latches onto both of their faces again.

Late that night, another wave of glitches impacts electronic devices around Hikarigaoka, and children begin to notice. Hikari wakes Taichi using her whistle because Koromon appears to be extremely ill. Before their eyes, Koromon evolves again, into a big yellow Dinosaur who shatters their bunk bed with its sheer size. Meanwhile, their father comes home, drunk and rowdy, but in good spirits. Their mother, completely unaware of what is transpiring in the bedroom, tries to prevent him from going in and waking them, while Taichi blocks the door and prevents him from opening it. The father is eventually dissuaded and leaves, but when Koromon forces its way out the window and destroys it, the sound alerts the mother. Before Taichi can do anything, Hikari climbs onto Koromon's back as it leaps out of the apartment, crushing a car. Taichi then runs out to chase them, against his mother's protests.

Koromon and Hikari explore the Hikarigaoka area. Not knowing what it is doing, Koromon causes some damage around the area, smashing a vending machine. As Hikari notices that Koromon is no longer speaking, it blows up a phone booth. Despite Hikari's protests, Koromon nearly attacks a bus and attempts to attack some aircraft lights in the sky. As Taichi follows the trail of destruction that Koromon leaves behind to find Hikari, another wave of electronic disturbances hits the area as Koromon senses that something is coming. A massive egg appears in the sky above Hikarigaoka, splits in half, and releases another big parrot creature, who descends onto a street. Koromon attempts to attack it to no avail. Meanwhile, children gather at their balconies and windows to observe, including Takenouchi Sora, Ishida Yamato and Takeru, Kido Jō, Izumi Kōshirō, and Tachikawa Mimi.

Just as Taichi arrives on the scene and rejoins Hikari, who tries to stop Koromon from fighting, the parrot retaliates with an electric blast that shatters the bridge above Koromon, Taichi, and Hikari, causing debris from the bridge to rain down on Koromon. At this moment, another wave of electronic disturbances occurs, disrupting the apartment lights and Jō's phone call. By the time that the dust clears, Koromon has evolved again, into a much larger orange dinosaur. As Taichi is reminded of Koromon's earlier comments about a "sign of friendship", Koromon engages the parrot monster in a lengthy, vicious fight. It unleashes a blast of fire that tears off the parrot's wing and grapples with it, piercing its lower beak with its horn. During the fight, the two smash cars and street infrastructure all around them. Eventually, the big parrot throws Koromon aside and blasts it with electricity again, knocking it out.

Hikari is distraught, and she and Taichi attempt to wake Koromon up, with no effect, as the giant bird stalks closer to them. Hikari tries blowing her whistle for Koromon again, but she is unable to make a sound with it as she cries breathlessly. Inspired by this, Taichi snatches the whistle from Hikari, takes a deep breath, and blows it with all his might. The sound of the whistle reverberates all around Hikarigaoka's street and draws the attention of the onlookers. In response to the whistle, Koromon snaps back to life and, at Taichi's command, unleashes another blast of fire that consumes both it and the parrot monster, making the two disappear.

As the sun begins to rise, Hikari, saddened, cries out for Koromon over and over, imploring it to come back to her.

## Credits

* Cast
* Staff
* Companies

## Production

*Digimon Adventure* was the directorial debut of Hosoda Mamoru, who had been working for Toei Animation for several years at that point. Ever since he had commenced at Toei, he had wanted to make films, and Toei's producers granted him an opportunity to do so with both this film and the later *Digimon Adventure: Our War Game!* However, Toei constrained his film work to short films of a maximum of 40 minutes in length.

The project that eventually became *Digimon Adventure* began as ***"Digital Monster"***, a film concept which was also intended to be a prequel to a then-current concept for an upcoming televised anime series, also titled *"Digital Monster"*; unlike *Digimon Adventure*, this concept was intended to be set significantly further in the series' past. The film would have starred a character by the name of Akira—the father of the planned protagonist of the *Digital Monster* anime, dubbed "Kou" in a step outline (in contrast to a planning document for the series itself from August 1998, which called him "Yūsuke")—and would have depicted what was billed as "the first encounter between humans and Digital Monsters" in Akira's own childhood. A character named "Hikari" is also present in said step outline, but unlike Yagami Hikari, she has no pre-existing relationship to Akira.

In the story presented in released pages from the step outline, a Botamon Digitama appears out of thin air in front of Akira while he is working on a radio. Botamon/Koromon is immediately friendly and attached to Akira, but after an encounter with a cat, Koromon follows its senses to a nearby electronics repair shop, where he and Akira meet Hikari and her Digimon, Tanemon.

## Release

*Digimon Adventure* premiered on March 6, 1999, as part of '99 Spring Toei Anime Fair, alongside *Dr. Slump: Arale's Surprising Burn* and *Yu-Gi-Oh!*.

The first episode of the *Digimon Adventure* television series premiered on Fuji TV the following day.

### Home Media Releases

* Making-of featurette (a Toei Channel program)
 **Digimon THE MOVIES Blu-ray 1999-2006**(デジモン THE MOVIES Blu-ray 1999-2006)
* Trailer

## Reception

The producers of *Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris*, which was released on the same day as *Digimon Adventure*, largely praised the film and noted that they must create films like it.

The *Digimon Adventure* short film and *Digimon Adventure: Our War Game!* have been credited with bringing director Hosoda Mamoru to the attention of Studio Ghibli head producer Toshio Suzuki, who is said to have identified him as a potential successor to Hayao Miyazaki on the basis of his work on the two short films. This led to a brief tenure at Studio Ghibli in which Hosoda was, for a time, attached as the director of *Howl's Moving Castle*, although he departed both the project and the studio over creative differences before its completion.

In light of Hosoda's subsequent high-profile career, the *Adventure* short film and *Our War Game!*-in their original incarnations, independent of the recut versions in *Digimon: The Movie*-have attracted a small degree of retrospective critical interest from Western anime and pop culture press. Such retrospectives typically praise *Adventure* for its charisma and emotional resonance, its representation of the perspectives, emotions, and relationships of children, its atmosphere and visual storytelling, and how these traits set it apart from its origins as a tie-in to a toy franchise. It is also commonly characterized as an early demonstration of Hosoda's directorial style and talents.

In May 2020, in a Digimon Web poll in which users voted on their favorite *Digimon* films, *Digimon Adventure* placed fourth, earning 9% of the vote.

## In Future Digimon Media

### Media References

* In Digimon Adventure, episode 29, the seven Chosen Children return to the scene of the battle in Hikarigaoka four years later, and inadvertently re-enact it when Takenouchi Sora's Garudamon fights a Mammon sent by Vamdemon. They had forgotten the true nature of the events of that night prior to that point, but the familiarity of the sight of the battle jogs their memories and helps them reconstruct their recollections of what actually happened that night. It is established that the media had reported the destruction caused by the fight as a terrorist bombing (this story had displaced what they actually witnessed in their recollections up to this point), and that their families had all moved away from Hikarigaoka afterwards. The battle also has significance to the plot going forward, as the revelation that they all have their presence at it in common provides them with a clue as to the identity of the eighth Chosen Child (who they later discover is Hikari): that they must also have witnessed the battle, and therefore at the time lived in Hikarigaoka.
* In Digimon Adventure, episode 31, Taichi asks Hikari if she remembers the battle, and unlike the others, she still remembers it perfectly well without needing to have her memory jogged, explaining how she recognized Koromon.
* In Digimon Adventure, episode 45, it is established that Homeostasis chose the Chosen Children due to the events depicted in this film and that both "Koromon" and Parrotmon survived the battle and were taken back to the Digital World. It also confirms that Taichi and Hikari were, in fact, directly responsible for causing "Koromon" to evolve at all, which is the reason that Homeostasis chose them. A holographic recreation of the aftermath of the battle, showing "Koromon" and Parrotmon being taken back to the Digital World, is also shown.
* In Digimon Adventure 02: Part II: Transcendent Evolution!! The Golden Digimentals, Wallace is telling his story which took place seven years prior, and Motomiya Daisuke comments that it was around the same time as the events in this film.

### Media Homages

* Digimon Adventure: Our War Game! opens with a non-diegetic shot of a massive Digitama, in the same style as the one that yielded Parrotmon, over the sky of Odaiba while Boléro plays.
* Digimon Adventure 02: Diablomon Strikes Back includes two homages to this film; Armagemon hatches from a giant Digitama in the sky of the same style as Parrotmon's, and a shot from this film in which Taichi blows the whistle to awaken "Koromon" is shown as the crowd assembled at Tokyo Bay hears the sound of the whistle.
* Digimon Adventure: Last Evolution Kizuna also includes two overt homages to this film as plot points; It begins with a battle in Nakano, Tokyo between the adult Chosen Children, including Taichi's Greymon and a Parrotmon who has also appeared suddenly in the Real World, and in Never-Land Taichi seizes the whistle from Hikari and blows it to snap the other Chosen Children out of Menoa Bellucci's influence, during which a recreation of this short film's shot of Taichi blowing the whistle is shown.

## Gallery

* Previews
* Promotional Art
* Characters
* Art Works
* Screenshots

デジモンアドベンチャー (Digimon Adventure) Promo adventureMovie preview.

Movie poster.VHS cover.DVD cover.Blu-ray cover.

Yagami Taichi.Yagami Hikari.Koromon.Parrotmon.

*Digital Monster* step outline.*Digital Monster* step outline.Concept art.Concept art.Parrotmon first concept art.Taichi and Hikari's first concept art.Taichi's first concept art.Hikari's first concept art.Taichi and Hikari's early concept art.Taichi and Hikari's early concept art.Taichi's early concept art.Hikari's early concept art.

Hikari staring at the computer.Koromon's Digitama coming out of the computer.Hikari holding the egg as she sleeps.Koromon's Digitama.Taichi and Hikari meeting Botamon.Hikari bonding with the creature.Taichi and Hikari bonding with Koromon.Mīko confronts Koromon.Yūko trying to calm Susumu who returns home.Hikari on "Koromon"'s back.Parrotmon's Digitama.Agumon attacking Parrotmon.Jō witnessing the battle while talking on the phone.Sora witnessing the battle.Mimi witnessing the battle.Greymon fighting Parrotmon.Kōshirō witnessing the battle.Taichi blowing Hikari's whistle to wake "Koromon".Yamato and Takeru witnessing the battle.
## Trivia

* This is the very first movie of the *Digimon* franchise.
* The background music score used in the movie is called Boléro and was composed by Maurice Ravel in 1928. The track was not credited.
* In the English version, this movie was combined with the two following movies - *Digimon Adventure: Our War Game!* and *Digimon Adventure 02: Part I: Digimon Hurricane Touchdown!! Part II: Transcendent Evolution!! The Golden Digimentals* - and was released on October 6, 2000 on theaters, naming it Digimon: The Movie.

## References

1. ↑ Camp, Brian. "Mamoru Hosoda Exclusive Interview". *Otaku USA Magazine.* May 21, 2013.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 運営 (as "DPスタッフ"). "「デジモンプロデューサーへの道」第２回〈プロット〉". *Digimon Partners*. July 13, 2022.
3. ↑ 運営 (as "DPスタッフ"). "「デジモンプロデューサーへの道」第1回〈企画書〉". *Digimon Partners*. May 30, 2022.
4. ↑ Nikkei Entertainment, 2007, Volume January 2001, Nikkei Business Publications
5. ↑ Collin, Robbie. "Sacked by Studio Ghibli: how the boy wonder of Japanese animation grew up ". *The Telegraph.* (Archived by Ghost Archive.) November 15, 2016, 6:16 PM.
6. ↑ Cimi, Chris. "Mamoru Hosoda’s TOEI Origins and What Could Have Been". *Otaquest*. June 9, 2021.
7. ↑ Jehros. "LE FILM DU DIMANCHE : Digimon Adventure: Bokura no War Game!" *Crunchyroll*. March 22, 2015.
8. ↑ Frank, Allegra. "Getting fired from a Miyazaki movie was ‘a good thing’ for this anime director". *Polygon*. October 20, 2018.
9. ↑ "デジ民投票 第2回結果発表！" *デジモンウェブ | デジモン公式総合サイト*. June 5, 2020.