Last year we learned that in honor of Digimon’s 15 Year Anniversary, they would be making a new series which would serve as a follow up to the original Digimon Adventures storylines. Since then we’ve gotten a mini-teaser here and a quick update there; but nothing really substantial considering this is meant to be a series.

Well as it turns out, the so-called Digimon Tri will not be a TV series but rather a series of films that will start to be released in Japan November 21^st, with plans for eventual DVDs and Blu-Ray releases. What this all means for the non-Japan releases remains to be seen; BUT we did get a sneak peak at the first few minutes of the first installment. And it looks like this series will not only fit in perfectly with the original Digimon Adventures stories; but will also serve as their biggest battle yet.

Continuity With The Original Series – Timeline, Look & Characters:

Now just because this series is supposed to bring back the original Digi-destined and their Digimon, how much of a follow up will this be? Would it be the same characters but a completely different story or would it be a full fledged canonical additional to the series? Well by looking at the opening moments, we find that this series isn’t just keeping canon – at least partially – ; but also paying specific attention to even getting the smaller things correct.

As we can hear – and even get confirmation of in the official Press release – the original voice actors will return for this series for the Japanese version. As of the moment we can’t be sure about the US release or anything else; but hopefully the same will be true. Regardless though, particularly astute viewers will notice that Tai and Kari’s apartment is still the same – albeit an updated – version of the one from the original anime, which is a very nice touch for continuity purposes.

Though the biggest reveal of continuity comes when we see the Digi-destined that were added in Season 2 – Davis, Yolei, Cody and Ken! With so much focus on this returning the original Digi-destined, many wondered if this series would count Season 2 or not. Now we know that it does indeed count Season 2 stuff and will also take place approximately 3 years after Season 2 – and thus 6 years after Season 1. Timeline wise, this would place the original Digi-destined in College for the American version and Highschool for the Japanese version – since the US version changed the original ‘middle school’ class year into ‘high school’ when Season 2 came out. Although the presence of the Season 2 Digi-destined do a lot more than just give us continuity… sadly.

The Season 2 Digi-Destined Fall:

The first few minutes doesn’t show much besides Tai oversleeping – as usual – but we also see quick flashes of something else. These quick flashes are of course the Season 2 Digi-destined; but it’s not WHO these scenes show but WHAT is happening to them. These quick shots all show the Season 2 cast getting the stuffing knocked out of them by an unknown Digimon. These cuts are super fast and are hard to notice if you don’t watch multiple times and/or pause it. Though even if you couldn’t initially tell who these people were, you would notice that they did have Digivices –Season 2 style obviously.

So what does this all mean for our heroes? Well this does explain why we haven’t heard too much about the non-Season 1 Digidestined. If this battle does indeed take place before the start of the first film, then we’ll probably learn about the specifics sometime during the film. IF we want to keep perfect continuity with the first series, then the Season 2 Digi-destined and their Digimon were just defeated – not killed or deleted since Season 2 has a flash forward moment with all the Digidestined grown up. But who beat them and for what reason?

Mysterious New Digimon – Alphamon? & ???mon:

We get a very brief glimpse at the monstrosity behind this and it’s…. it’s…. IT’S A GUNDAM!!!!!!!!!! Okay, probably not. Despite the very Gundam-like appearance, I don’t think there’s a Gundam-mon yet. Although a much more likely culprit seems to be Mega-Level Vaccine-Type Digimon named Alphamon. This Digimon hasn’t appeared in the “Digimon Adventures” series yet; but in others it is usually considered one of the “Holy Knights” and is an enforcer Digimon. Additionally, it also has an advanced form called “Alphamon Ouryuken”. So why is a good Digmon attacking the Digi-destined?

Well in the first few moments we see a Digi-Egg being formed and a small dark particle entering the egg. Was this Egg Alphamon’s and it was corrupted early on by a computer virus or something? This would make sense; but then again maybe there is a bigger threat waiting since there are 6 films. Either way, there’s more than just one battle waiting ahead as this trailer gives us another mystery Digimon – in another blink and you’ll miss it moment.

While the opening cinematic plays, we see a man who looks like he’s having problems with his phone. As he holds it up to get better service, we see some sort of ghostly cat-like Digimon fly around. I honestly have no clue what Digimon this is; but after taking another look at the brief teaser trailer, we find something that looks similar to this phantom. In the trailer, we see something that looks similar to this in the arms of another unknown character.

The first film will be released in a few weeks, so we should get some answers soon – as well as hopefully some news on the English version as well. So stay tuned for more Digi-news and Digi-ventures!