Digimon Xros Wars 02: Young Hunters

Japanese Titles: Digimon Xros Wars: Toki o Kakeru Shōnen Hunter-tachi
Also Known As: Digimon Xros Wars: The Young Hunters Who Leapt Through Time
Genre: Action
Format: 25 Episodes
Allegiance: Toei Animation
Director: Yukio Kaizawa
Vintage: 2011 – 2012
Intelligence Agency Report by: Drake
A year has passed since the epic battle between Kudo Taiki and his army Xros Heart against the evil Bugra Army. In that time, Taiki and Yuu have started a basketball team bearing the name of their old army and recruited a new member named Akashi Tagiru. However, one day Tagiru comes across the DigiQuartz and meets the digimon Gumdramon. Together, the two join the Digimon Hunt in DigiQuartz under the mentorship of Taiki and Yuu.

Field Agent Report by: Drake
Plot
Characters
Impact
Visual
Audio
2.00
2.00
5.50
8.00
9.00
Overall 4.25
(not an average)

xros hunters 04Let’s be totally honest: Digimon Xros Wars ended just fine—there were no vital unanswered questions. So imagine my surprise when a sequel was announced. Now, take that surprise and multiply it by a hundred when rumors began to float around that the leaders from past incarnations of the show would be appearing, as well. Needless to say, I was pretty excited.

Sadly, my excitement quickly turned to disappointment. Why is that, you ask? Well, of the twenty-five episodes, only ten show anything I would consider plot-relevant, and of those ten, only the final three are really aimed toward major plot progression. The rest are filler episodes, almost all monster-of-the-week, with literally NOTHING important happening. Don’t get me wrong; the filler is entertaining for the most part, but it also irritates me when I’m waiting for an overarching villain, an explanation of the DigiQuartz, or an explanation of anything, for that matter. Also, any explanation or plot actually given is riddled with plot holes and more questions than answers.

Heck, even character development is sparse. The new characters barely get any screen time to develop or give us a chance to get to know them, and the old characters stay pretty static.  This is a bit sad, as I hoped to see more development on Yuu following the end of Xros Wars. Instead, everyone ends up pretty one-dimensional. However, Nene, Kiriha, Akari, and Zenjiro visiting the new team throughout the series is a sight for sore eyes, since I started to get pretty tired of Tagiru—who, for the record, is a lousy main protagonist. He is essentially an immature, impulsive loudmouth who never thinks, and who apparently does not learn from his mistakes.

xros hunters 07Which is really irritating.

The only thing that kept me going through this series was the promise of seeing past Digimon heroes like Tai and Takato back in action. Unfortunately, they do not really surface in the show until the last three episodes. Is it worth the agony and repetitive monster-of-the-week fights? …Yes! I am not ashamed to admit that the fanservicey appearance of the five leaders, along with a few other characters from other seasons, sent me over the moon with nerdgasms, especially in episode seventy-eight. Especially when the leaders evolve, causing an uproar of confusion from the Xros Heart gang. This scene alone redeems the series from total failure…well, that and a great musical score and pretty animation. To be blunt, the Xros Wars 02 score for plot and characters went up two points for the nostalgia factor alone, even if I question the necessity of the characters’ appearance in the show.

All in all, if you are considering Xros Wars 02: Young Hunters, be ready for a severe lack of plot and character development. In fact, I recommend that you skip the filler episodes and only watch the important ones (episodes 1, 2, 5, 9, 10, 14, and 21–25). You won’t miss a thing.