Although the Digimon franchise isn't often viewed as possessing the same world-shaking levels of popularity and influence that Pokemon has, the series has still done very well for itself, especially in its animated shows. With Digimon Survive on the horizon, one group of fans decided to go back to the beginning with a stunning cosplay shoot of the original DigiDestined, complete with their Digimon partners.
The base premise of the original Digimon Adventure show has a lot in common with Digimon Survive. Both focus on a group of teenagers– very young teens and one preteen, in the case of Digimon Adventure – trapped in a strange world full of monsters, which they must find a way to escape from with the help of friendly inhabitants. However, while Digimon Adventure could be quite serious in its own right, Digimon Survive promises a significantly darker tone and a focus on, well, survival.
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Before the darkness promised by Digimon Survive finally arrives, one group of Japanese cosplayers has arranged a celebration of the original DigiDestined kids. Some of their names were changed or shortened in translation, but Tai Kamiya, Matt Ishida, Sora Takenouchi, Izzy Izumi, Mimi Tachikawa, Joe Kido, T.K. Takaishi, and Kari Kamiya are still recognizable as Japanese youth, both by their names and by their fashion sense. This cosplay group shared by @kbt_ta1 on Twitter, who's dressed as Tai, might be mistaken for ordinary teens if not for their stylized wigs and accompanying Digimon plushies.
The shoot is divided into a before and after, with the first picture being dedicated to the original DigiDestined kids as they appeared in Digimon Adventure and the second image showing them as the older teens from the more recent sequel series Digimon Adventure tri. As Digimon Adventure tri also made an attempt to tackle the struggle of growing up in the aftermath of a terrifying and wondrous adventure, Digimon Survive isn't the first time the franchise has analyzed the nature of maturity, and it may not be the last Digimon project to do this. In both pictures, the kids are shown perched on and around what seems to be an old, overgrown bus, sporting either their colorful Adventure or subdued tri outfits and hairstyles.
The photos have been cleverly staged so that the cosplayers appear to be younger and smaller in the first picture than they are in the second. This is likely intended to reflect the way that the kids visibly grow up in tri. In both images, everyone is shown outside of the bus except for Tentomon, Izzy's partner, who is shown flying around behind the windshield. It also appears that at least some of the plushies have been replaced in the second picture- that, or edited so that they have slightly different colors and expressions. The result looks very much like a live-action Digimon cast picture.
Digimon Survive is set in 2022 for PC, PlayStation 4, Switch, and Xbox One.
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