Woah. I just finished watching the new promo for the third installment in the Digimon Adventure Tri film series and my head is swimming with thoughts.

I was one of those people that wasn’t that happy with Determination. The film was too slow and weakly mirrored the structure of the first film (story,action,story,action) and saved the meat of its battles for the last ten minutes. Needless to say I turned down my hopes for this next installment to avoid getting my emotions crushed.

How does Confession seem to be shaping up though? Let’s pick this new footage apart.

1- More Participants- One of the things that I didn’t enjoy about Determination was that despite the fact that the film would focus on Mimi and Jo, the eighty minute movie (four episodes) left the other six digimon out of the action completely. This time around, we can see in the footage that at least MetalGreymon, Angewoman, and Birdramon will be aiding in this fight against the corrupt Meicoomon. Will the others jump in? Will we at least get to see MagnaAngemon since all signs point to no Seraphimon? I don’t know, but I am content that this time around will be more of a team effort.

2- Return to the Digital World- I have a strong hunch that there is going to be quite the cliffhanger at the end of this thing. Confession, after all, will mark the halfway point in the Tri series. I think it’s safe to assume that the conclusion of the film will shift the gears of the story. Will the remaining three films take place primarily in the digital world? I’m not against it!

3-But Seriously…Where the F#$^# Are They?!- I’m sorry but this is just too distracting. Where in the name of Leomon’s horrible luck are the 02 kids!? They are your friends! You just murdered Imperialdramon! Are none of you concerned?! It seems that this film will focus primarily on Koshiro’s determination to solve this mystery and Takeru’s anxiety of losing Patamon once again. I am not going to leave any space for hope that this film might address the missing 02 team nor that it will approach Ken’s appearance in a way that treats the events of 02 as canon. I would love to see the movie end with them going to the Digital World not just to stop these infections but to save their friends!

4-But really, the 02 kids…- The movie is not exactly IGNORING the events of 02. After all, Ken appeared as the emperor, an evil Imperialdramon showed itself, we saw all four of them fall at the hands of Alphamon (so we think), Patamon digivolved with the green D3, and Ken’s D3 is shown in the promo for this next movie. So, they exist. 02 happened.

What I am not sure of is if Tri is allowing 02 to be canon for the sake of their world building only, and will ultimately just leave those characters in the dust because they didn’t live up to some expectation or if indeed this is all building up to something good that will bring those kids into the mix. For my sanity I have to go with the former.

The lack of any type of reaction to Ken and Imperialdramon or any curiosity to contact the 02 kids in this mess is very off-putting. To a DEGREE I let it slide to leave some space for this film to address their fate but if this one once again just completely ignores it…(deep sigh).

Of course I’ll keep watching, but it’s my opinion that the experience could have felt richer if it really had felt like the THIRD installment and not a shortcut sequel to the original.