"A Very Digi Christmas" from Digimon Season 2
Recap: Tai + Sora = Taiora = Digi OTP. In the first season, Tai and Sora were close friends due to being teammates on the soccer team; a deeper relationship was hinted. In the previous movie, a major subplot was how she was mad at him and how he wanted to repair their friendship (to the point of accidentally writing "Love, Tai" at the end of the email). This is three years later.
The Moment:
Anime has weird angles.Biyomon: Don't worry, Sora. We'll be sure to get good seats! Especially after you bring him those homemade cookies!
Sora: I hope.
Tai: Sora! Wait up!
Awkward.Agumon: Something smells good!
Gabumon: Matt's busy getting ready. But I'll take those to him! Mmm!
Biyomon: Oh, no you won't! You'll eat the whole thing yourself!
Gabumon: Why, I resent that. I'm on a diet.
Seriously. What's with the prolonged weird angles?Sora: No. I want to be available in case Matt's free afterwards. Hmm.
Tai: Oh. I see. Matt, huh?
Sora: Yeah.
She looks so guilty here. Sora: You're not mad at me, Tai?
Tai: Of course not. Now, get in there and say 'Hi' to Matt for me.
I mean, it's really, in my opinion, a case of believing for so long that you're goingto get together with someone that you don't put an effort into doing it until the
moment that that person has finally given up on you and fallen for someone else.
Sora: Thanks, Tai.
Agumon: The least you could do is leave us the cookies.
Sora: Tell you what. I'll make some special ones for you.
The offer is sweet, but you can sense that she's not actually going to do it.
Not that Tai cares. He's still head-over-heels and is convincedthat he'll get her in the end.
Tai: What?
Agumon: You've really grown up.
June (zooming through on a bike): Look out! Incoming!
Tai: Watch where you're going, June!
June: Sorry! I'm in a hurry to see Matt! He's the cutest!
Tai: Grr...
Yeah. Let's just rub it in Tai's face how much cooler Matt is.Thoughts: I thought I'd ease into blogging about angsty moments by taking a more low-key one to write about, something with limited heartbreak, and this moment from Digimon instantly came to mind.
I know this seems a little out of the realm of shows I'll normally be covering (which will be very sci-fi/teen drama focused), but I used to LOVE this show. Not to get too into it, but Ria and I would watch this religiously. Afraid of being judged by our peers, we called it "Don't Miss It" and referred to the Digimon themselves as "Jamaicans" (get it? Digi-mon?). Yeah. We were awesome.
Anyway. So this moment. I'm not denying that feelings can change over the years, especially during years the audience doesn't see. I mean, when TV shows jump ahead, they count on that shock factor (One Tree Hill, Desperate Housewives). But on a kid's TV show? Where it added little to the story except for major Tai angst? I just can't see why it was necessary to add the Sora/Matt plot.
But if we're to accept this at face value, it is a great Tai moment. He has always been impulsive and, in that way, gotten what he wanted. When he is finally refused the object of his affections, he's remarkably mature, but still in love with her. Matt has always been his main rival and Tai has finally been displaced. He is no longer on the main team of Digi-Destined and he's no longer the one that Sora turns to.
It's just frustrating and heartbreaking because we never get the final payoff of this moment. In the thoroughly unsatisfying season finale, Sora and Matt are married (a sarcastic whoop-de-doo), and Tai is married to a someone we don't know. We never see Tai find this woman. We don't know if she's worthy of him or if he loves her as much as he cared for Sora. In fact, the same thing applies to every other suggested relationship and its eventual dismissal in the finale. TK/Kari? Married to two other unseen people! What happened there? It's all very Harry Potter epiologue crappiness where without a logical build, everything comes out as super trite and unfulfilling.
But, despite all this, I really enjoy this episode. It was taped on a Spring Break tape when my family went off somewhere for spring vacation and I watched it over and over again. What can I say? I'm a sucker for having my heart broken by my ships.
3 comments:
Because there's nothing dorkier than watching a dorky show and then talking about it in code.
I was always more committed to the TK/Kari relationship (which is why what's-his-face-Tai-replacement... Davis? annoyed the pants off of me) but Tai and Sora were so... alright, meant to be, if I have to say it. honestly, sometimes I think tv writer's don't get fan favorite couples together for some mistaken reasoning that we will enjoy the angst or it will keep us watching or something. I do not find that to be the case.
I feel like if the epilogue to Digimon were like the Harry Potter epilogue, everyone we wanted to get together would have gotten together and it would have been incredibly trite but also satisfying. Instead, they were all randomly in situations we didn't care about (except that whats-her-face [god I didn't care about the second gen team besides TK/Kari] and Ken got together, which was totes creepy).
TK AND KARI WERE MEANT TO BE TOGETHER! is what I'm trying to say. Like Ron and Hermione, you knew they were meant (or written) to be together. Their Digimon digi-volved (dig-evolved?) into the SAME FREAKIN' THING!
Wow, I didn't know I was still this hacked off about Digimon. That show was almost as emotionally painful as a Joss Whedon show.
But I still love it. And I'm glad we don't need to use the code anymore, though having a code is fun...
That is SOOO true! TK/Kari were the best! And, really, I didn't mind Davis' unrequited crush because I was THAT convinced that TK and Kari would get together. And they both had Angel digimon. Like, duh.
There's an episode that really solidified TK/Kari for me but I can't remember it right now. I think a lagoon was involved or something. I'll look for it and if I find it, post on it later on.
And our code was amazing! Never deny the awesomeness that was the code! (Because that would be denying Tai = Beanie Baby, which is possibly the greatest code name ever.)
Our code was even more awesome because it had no underlying unity. Who can crack a code where half the code-words are obscure references to the sound of the original word, and the rest are the first initials of the characters. I don't even remember what names we used for the Digimon...
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