Digimon Adventure 02 epilogue: 25 years later occupations

Remember that Digimon creator and series director Hiroyuki Kakudou tolerates my questions? Well, the man still tolerates me, ha. I was curious about what he had to say about Yamato and Sora’s jobs, and whether the Chosen Children had the same occupations in the originally planned 01 epilogue as they ended up having in the 02 epilogue.

Me: “From the epilogue that was planned for 1999’s Digimon Adventure until the epilogue of Digimon Adventure 02, were the Chosen Children’s occupations changed?” Kakudou: "The occupations were decided at the end of 02.“ Source: Kakudou’s Twitter

So though Kakudou had a 01 epilogue planned from the series’ conception (with a Sorato marriage), the staff didn’t decide on their actual occupations until the end of 02.

So why did Yamato (Matt) Ishida become an astronaut? Why did Sora Takenouchi become a fashion designer?

Answers (and analysis) are within.

I’m in the minority, but I actually like Yamato and Sora’s future occupations. I’ve already analysed their jobs (and I’ll do it again, here), but I also asked Kakudou about them to see if he’d say anything new (he doesn’t really). First, I’ll tackle Yamato being the first astronaut with a partner digimon.

Me: "Why did Yamato become an astronaut?” Kakudou: “To answer simply, because there are enemies in the universe. More detail would take too long, so I can’t answer.” Source: Kakudou’s Twitter

Because Kakudou didn’t want to answer in detail, I decided to do the legwork for him and copy and paste a paragraph from the Japanese Wikipedia and simply ask him if it was true.

Me: “‘A plan for enemies to appear from space was created for the possibility of a third year of Digimon Adventure. Yamato becoming an astronaut is a remnant of that plan.’ Is this true?” Kakudou: “It’s true.” Source: Kakudou’s Twitter

So the Japanese Wiki is reliable regarding that fact. But though Yamato being an astronaut is a reference to an idea that didn’t take off, I don’t think Kakudou just decided to make him an astronaut without thinking about his actual character. Yamato’s official profile for 01 states:

“A cool boy who excels in both academics and sports. He can be very serious and has a strong sense of responsibility, so is sometimes overly cautious in exploring the Digital World.” Source: Toei Animation

Fanfiction has fabricated the idea that Yamato doesn’t like sports. But in addition to his official 01 profile:

Yamato is shown to be a very strong swimmer in 01 episode three, and in episode nine he even tells Taichi that he’ll swim all the way to the other islands (where they’re all separated) to find Takeru and the other Chosen Children.

Yamato happily offers - along with Sora - to teach the digimon how to play soccer in episode sixteen of 01, which means he knows how to play it at the very least - and doesn’t seem to hate the idea of playing it, either.

So, if anything, the series showed that Yamato did like sports and, obviously, his actual profile states he excels at it. But what does that have to do with being an astronaut?

Well, most astronauts come from the military. Actually, there are really two types of astronauts: commanders/pilots and mission specialists. Yamato is likely to be a commander/pilot, because a mission specialist is someone who’s a super brainiac like Koushiro. Commanders/pilots are military pilots (and they have to be smart, too).



Is it plausible for the Digimon production staff to make Yamato join the military and become an astronaut? In my opinion, yes. (Keeping in mind, of course, that this is an anime and dreams come true~ :P)

Yamato is a very patriotic name in Japan, being the country’s ancient name. (The Japanese Navy’s biggest battleship in WWII was also named Yamato.)

To be an astronaut, you have to be both academically excellent and physically fit (hi Toei profile from all the way back in 01).

Yamato does have the typical “military personality”. As his 01 profile states, he’s “very serious and has a strong sense of responsibility” (which is also obvious when watching the actual series) … which would make him fit right into the military.

The actual kanji for “academics and sports” literally means “literary and military arts”. It’s an old samurai phrase that means “the pen and the sword” - which the samurai were expected to excel at both. And who were the samurai? Ancient Japan’s military class.

The military fosters teamwork and camaraderie (as does being an astronaut). That’s part of Yamato’s growth in 01 - not to mention his Crest of Friendship.

Being an astronaut requires strong swimming skills (because being in space is like being in water) and all astronaut candidates have to pass a gruelling military swimming test.

Kakudou (or Hiro Masaki) even did something that I think is really cool in the Digimon Adventure novels. Excerpt:

As they exchanged e-mails, it was discovered that Nanomon [Datamon in the English dub] had clear consciousness but was unable to move as his mechanical body had been damaged. Repairing was necessary, but apparently reconnecting the mass of damaged wiring was enough. "I’ll do it,“ Yamato volunteered, taking off his gloves. It seemed he had a lot of practice back at home. Nanomon sent written explanations and sometimes graphics to illustrate how to fix the damage, which Koushiro explained out loud in minute detail. It took about 2-3 hours in all. Yamato couldn’t restore all of the wires, but he managed to repair enough so that Nanomon could make the minimum of movement. Source: Digital Scratch

It’s different from the anime, obviously. The three volumes of the novel were released after the end of Digimon Adventure 02, so Kakudou/Masaki had time to write that in before the end of the series. Why is that passage significant? It shows Yamato has an interest in and is capable at engineering. Keep in mind that Yamato is 10/11 (I think he’s 10), and he knows the basics and has "a lot of practice” with it.

If you’re going to be an astronaut, a Bachelor’s degree in engineering, biological science, physical science or mathematics is required. It’s likely Yamato pursues an engineering degree at a university or a military academy. He has the interest and the intelligence for it.

I thus headcanon that Yamato was a Navy pilot (with a degree in aerospace engineering) who emerges as highly skilled to be chosen as an astronaut in his late 20s/early 30s. And I chose the Navy instead of the Air Force because Japan is an island country surrounded by water, plus Yamato’s a great swimmer, so it seems more fitting. :D

If Yamato can handle battling evil digimon and saving the freaking world, he can certainly handle being a test pilot in the military and going through physically and mentally demanding astronaut training.

Now onto Sora being a fashion designer who specialises in the Japanese style (which is a variety of Japanese kimonos).

Me: “Why did Sora become a fashion designer?” Kakudou: “Personal interest.” Source: Kakudou’s Twitter

It’s as simple as that. Yes, Sora was a “tomboy” in 01 (while also having a strong maternal instinct), but that doesn’t mean she can't grow and develop new interests - the growth of the Chosen Children was the whole point of 01. Growing as a person and developing different interests also isn’t “losing yourself” (and it still astounds me how people can still think this). If you remember, Sora’s backstory was the issues she had with her mother.

“[Sora] also has a delicate side to her and often keeps her troubles to herself. Her mother once stopped her from participating in a soccer match, and Sora misunderstood her actions by thinking that her mother only cared about her being the successor of the family’s iemoto tradition [flower arrangement]. However, while she was trying to stop an injured Piyomon from joining a fight, she realized how her mother must have felt when she had stopped Sora.” Source: Digital Scratch

I never thought Sora was actually against what her mother did for a living, but that the two just misunderstood each other’s motives. As a 10-year-old, Sora preferred soccer to flowers, but it seemed more like she was rebelling against her mother for what she thought was her mother’s pressure for her to be a certain way - and that because she wasn’t, Sora took it as her mother not loving her. But of course, 01 showed that that wasn’t the case, and by the end, we saw a positive growth in their relationship. In the Digimon Adventure: Original Story audio drama CD, Sora writes a letter to her father in October 2000:

“I’ve picked up tennis recently. I play against Mom! Or, to be more exact, she’s teaching me how to play. She’s such a strict coach! *laughs* She’s even harsher than when she teaches flower arranging. I didn’t know that Mom was in the tennis club in high school.” Source: Digital Scratch

In the third Digimon movie, Sora is actively shown to be doing a flower arrangement. Her official profile for 02 states:

“Sora has grown up a bit since entering middle school. She gently encourages the new kids like everyone’s big sister. She’s still putting a lot of energy into tennis, but has also started seriously learning flower arranging from her mother.” Source: Toei Animation

Sora growing up to be a fashion designer specialising in kimonos (traditional and national Japanese wear) is, in a way, taking after her mother. Toshiko is a famous flower arranger (ikebana), which is traditional Japanese floral art. Both flower arrangements and kimonos are common elements of Japan’s traditional tea ceremonies (another traditional art form). Even in the scene showing Sora as a fashion designer, you can see flower arrangements. Sora’s occupation and her interest in art is basically a big fat confirmation of Sora’s healthier relationship with her mother.

And it is not a stretch for Sora to go from flower arranging to designing kimonos (especially as there are years between 14 and 30+) - they are in the same traditional Japanese art vein. To better understand Sora’s choice in occupation, it’s also best to have knowledge of Japanese culture. To keep this explanation as simple as possible, girls in Japan nowadays are getting more “Westernised” and aren’t really into the traditional art forms of their country. But Sora is not like those girls. She’s the opposite - and there are girls just like her (though getting fewer in number) who are interested in the same area of traditional Japanese art. Sora’s interest in traditional Japanese art forms is just another aspect of her personality and her family influence, as her family is steeped in tradition - refer to her mother’s ikebana. It’s never said whether or not Sora actually does succeed her mother as the Grand Master of their ikebana family tradition, though.

But I just think it’s really nice that Sora and her mother are obviously very close to each other. I think it’s really sweet that their relationship has strengthened so much from the beginning of 01. And I do think Sora has a genuine interest in Japanese traditional arts, and is not just doing it to please her mother - their harmonious relationship proves that. Sometimes, when you give something a go that you wouldn’t have in the past, you might find that you actually like it.

A lot of viewers actually misunderstand what the writers of Digimon were doing with Sora’s character - which is a little weird, seeing as they actually spell it out for you. The Digimon writers were saying that Sora initially had a “narrow” world view, where she never gave not being a “tomboy" a chance - that is, she wouldn’t even consider "girly” things just because they were “girly”. It wasn’t until after her adventure in the Digital World that she gained a “greater” world view and started exploring different interests - and found that she actually liked them, instead of just “restricting” herself to being one specific way. And how do we know this? Because Sora’s father actually says it all in the second season about her. Official Japanese Digimon books then repeat the same thing. That was Sora’s growth and transformation in Digimon. You can go ahead and dislike said growth - but that’s what it was.

Sora’s growth also comes across a lot more clearly in the Japanese version than the English dub. I think this is because in her first episode (episode four), she actually has character development in the Japanese version, where she’s contrasted heavily with Piyomon’s “girly” and sociable personality and wonders whether she can really get along with someone like that. Throughout the episode, Sora then learns to accept her more feminine digimon partner, becoming more open-minded. This carries on throughout the rest of the season with her interactions with Piyomon and Mimi in particular.

Sora is also a person - and people are complex. While the other Chosen Children thought of Sora as being a little “boyish” in the first season, Sora also always had what is most commonly associated as being feminine traits. She was really loving and maternal, even if not as outwardly feminine in dress. In the second season, Sora stayed the same in personality, but opened her mind a little more to different interests - and also decided to dress more femininely. I honestly don’t see anything wrong with that.

Sora aged and her interests expanded. I’m sure everyone can identify with that? I never thought Sora stopped being who she was just because, in addition to remaining her headstrong self, she pursued other interests that were more commonly associated with being feminine. Sora was still Sora - just with a few new interests where she eventually decided to pursue a specific career path. And a person can certainly play sports and be creative and artistic at the same time.

In conclusion: You don’t have to like Yamato or Sora’s occupations, but they do actually make sense and aren’t as far-fetched as one might initially think.

And it’s also important to keep in mind that Digimon is a children’s anime aimed at prepubescent boys. In my opinion, in that context, the epilogue really was supposed to show kids the different possibilities out there for them - that they too can become an astronaut, a fashion designer, a diplomat, etc. It's their "adventure".