is a 2020 Japanese animated adventure film directed by Tomohisa Taguchi and written by Akatsuki Yamatoya based on the Digimon franchise by Akiyoshi Hongo. Produced by Toei Animation with animation by Yumeta Company and distributed by Toei Company, Last Evolution – Kizuna is set in the same continuity of the first two Digimon television anime series, and serves as a series finale of the original Digimon Adventure story. Last Evolution – Kizuna was released in Japan on February 21, 2020.
The feature film is a commercial success, grossing more than 24 million dollars worldwide. Due to its exploitation in limited releases in most countries of the world, and the total absence of a theatrical release in the United States, the vast majority of these revenue respectively comes from China (more than US$19 million), Japan and Hong Kong. A solid business amid the COVID-19 pandemic-related reopening process in various parts of Asia. Originally scheduled to have a limited release in the U.S. by Fathom Events, the event was cancelled due to the pandemic and its impact on cinemas; the film was released in the U.S. on home media formats on October 6, 2020. Successful in the US, it ranked third in domestic sales with over 30,000 Blu-ray copies sold in one week (95% market share).
Although Last Evolution Kizuna received little attention from film critics, it drew extremely positive reviews from the pop culture and anime media in North America, which viewed the film as a satisfactory conclusion to the Adventure arc and praised the story, the animation, the English voice acting, and the bittersweet execution of the film's themes. In Europe, experts were more severe, especially with regard to its loaded dialogues and a particular stylistic approach, susceptible to lose a large audience.
A sequel titled Digimon Adventure 02: The Beginning, which serves as the series finale of the Digimon Adventure 02 story, was released in Japanese theaters on October 27, 2023.
Plot Five years after the events of Digimon Adventure tri., Tai and the other DigiDestined are approaching adulthood; however, Tai and Matt still remain undecided about their future goals. The DigiDestined later meet Menoa Bellucci, a professor at Columbia University in New York City, and Kyotaro Imura, her bodyguard. Menoa claims that Eosmon is targeting DigiDestined around the world by robbing both them and their Digimon partners of their consciousness. With Menoa's help, Tai, Matt, Izzy, T.K., and their Digimon fight Eosmon on the Internet.
When Tai and Matt fuse their Digimon into Omnimon, their form falls apart, allowing Eosmon to escape. In the real world, Tai and Matt find countdown rings on their Digivices. Menoa explains the Digivices are powered by the infinite potential of children, and because Tai and Matt are growing up with their potential fulfilled, they have a time limit before they are separated from their Digimon forever. She also warns them that Digivolving will accelerate the countdown. While Izzy examines Eosmon's gems, Matt suspects Imura is involved with Eosmon, and asks Davis, Yolei, Cody and Ken to investigate Menoa's job in New York. Meanwhile, Gennai visits Tai and Agumon, corroborating Menoa's statement.
After Eosmon leaves Mimi unconscious, Matt gives Tai and Izzy prepaid mobile phones out of suspicion they are being tracked and also shows them a news article revealing that Menoa used to have a Digimon partner. As Matt continues to investigate Imura, he learns from Davis' group that Imura's identity is fake and Eosmon's data was found on his hard drive, deducing that he is the culprit. Izzy is sent a link to a live stream video of T.K. and Kari held hostage, prompting Tai and Matt to rescue them, while Joe goes missing. By the time they arrive, T.K. and Kari are already unconscious from Eosmon. On the way, Matt confronts Imura, who reveals he is an FBI agent investigating Menoa, and he realizes that Menoa orchestrated the kidnappings and Eosmon as a distraction to target Izzy for the list of DigiDestined. Realizing this as well, Izzy texts Tai with the coordinates to Menoa's location in the Digital World, before she renders him unconscious.
In the Digital World, Menoa confirms that she lost her Digimon partner, Morphomon, prematurely from growing up, and discovered Eosmon's digi-egg during the recent aurora. To prevent the other DigiDestined from experiencing loss, she has captured their consciousness to allow them to be with their Digimon partners as children forever. Menoa sends a swarm of Eosmon clones to the real world to kidnap more DigiDestined, sparking battles worldwide. Tai, Matt, and their Digimon resolve to stop Menoa even if it quickens their separation, and Agumon and Gabumon fuse into Omnimon to fight her and the Eosmon clones. After Eosmon digivolves to its Mega level, it cuts Omnimon into pieces, causing it to split again. Tai and Matt are assaulted by the DigiDestined and their Digimon partners, but Tai awakens and turns them back to normal with Kari's whistle. While the DigiDestined and their Digimon partners join the battle, Tai, Matt, and their Digimon make one final Digivolution, forming Agumon (Bond of Courage) and Gabumon (Bond of Friendship). The two Digimon defeat Eosmon, with Menoa finding closure with Morphomon.
After the battle, Imura arrests Menoa. Tai and Matt spend their remaining time with Agumon and Gabumon respectively, until they vanish and their Digivices turn into stone. The next spring, Tai and Matt move on with their lives and pursue their dream careers, under the belief that they may see their Digimon partners again in the future.
Voice cast
The Japanese voice actors from the Digimon Adventure tri. OVA series returned to reprise their roles, as the cast from the 1999 TV series was not retained in 2015 due to Toshiko Fujita's health.. As was the case with that series of films, the DigiDestined characters from Digimon Adventure 02 (now young adults) were recast with new actors while their Digimon retained their original actors. The English cast from Digimon Adventure tri., which reunited several voice actors from the original series, reprised their roles with two recast roles with Nicolas Roye replacing Vic Mignogna as Matt and Kate Higgins replacing Philece Sampler as Mimi. As for the Digidestined and their Digimon from Digimon Adventure 02, all characters were recast to new actors, except Ken, Veemon and Wormmon who retained their original actors. Internationally and in Europe, the protagonists and their respective Digimon were generally voiced by the same actors as in the original 1999 series.
Character Japanese EnglishTaichi Yagami / Taichi "Tai" KamiyaNatsuki HanaeJoshua SethYamato Ishida / Yamato "Matt" IshidaYoshimasa Hosoya Nicolas Roye Sora TakenouchiSuzuko MimoriColleen O'Shaughnessey Kōshirō Izumi / Koushiro "Izzy" IzumiMutsumi TamuraMona Marshall Mimi TachikawaHitomi YoshidaKate Higgins Joe KidoJunya IkedaRobbie Daymond Takeru Takaishi / Takeru "T.K." TakaishiJunya EnokiJohnny Yong Bosch Hikari Yagami / Kari KamiyaMao IchimichiTara Sands AgumonChika SakamotoTom Fahn GabumonMayumi YamaguchiKirk Thornton Piyomon / Biyomon Atori ShigematsuCherami Leigh TentomonTakahiro SakuraiJeff Nimoy Palmon Kinoko Yamada Anna Garduno GomamonJunko TakeuchiRobert Martin Klein PatamonMiwa MatsumotoLaura SummerJamieson Price (Angemon) Tailmon / Gatomon Yuka Tokumitsu Kate Higgins Daisuke Motomiya / Davis Motomiya Fukujūrō Katayama Griffin Burns Miyako Inoue / Yolei InoueAyaka Asai Jeannie Tirado Iori Hida / Cody HidaYoshitaka YamayaBryce Papenbrook Ken IchijoujiArthur LounsberyDerek Stephen Prince VeemonJunko Noda Derek Stephen Prince HawkmonKōichi Tōchika Christopher Swindle Armadilmon / ArmadillomonMegumi Urawa Robbie Daymond WormmonNaozumi TakahashiPaul St. Peter Menoa BellucciMayu MatsuokaErika Harlacher Kyotaro YamadaDaisuke OnoKaiji Tang Morphomon Yuna Taniguchi Cherami Leigh GennaiHiroaki Hirata Jeff Nimoyjeffnimoy (@jeffnimoy) "I can finally announce that I return to the Digimon franchise to voice Tentomon, Kabuterimon, and Young Genai, and I adapted the script into English as well. I did not voice direct. Hope you fans love it as much as I loved working on it!" April 20, 2020, 18:31 PM. Instagram Parrotmon Yoshihito Sasaki Aaron LaPlanteAyakaMiho ArakawaTara SandsAyaka's GirlfriendYukiko MorishitaErica Lindbeck
Development
A new film project was announced on July 29, 2018, as part of the series' 20th anniversary. The film, titled Digimon Adventure: Last Evolution Kizuna, is directed by Tomohisa Taguchi and written by Akatsuki Yamatoya, featuring animation by Yumeta Company. It was then teased on Toei's YouTube film account that Toei Animation is producing the film, and the rest of the staff and cast are returning to reprise their roles. It premiered on February 21, 2020.
Development for Last Evolution Kizuna started in 2017, whilst Digimon Adventure tri. was in the middle of airing. It was made as the staff realized the Digimon Adventure series was the most popular part of the Digimon franchise as a whole after the positive reception to Adventure tri., so they decided to make another Adventure movie for its 20th anniversary. Toei aimed the main cast to become far more likable as characters. While the teenagers were known as heroes in television series, they had yet to mature in the narrative to be appeal more to the audience.Anime News Network "Digimon Adventure: Last Evolution Kizuna Producer Yosuke Kinoshita"
On May 28, 2018, original Director of Digimon Adventure and Digimon Adventure 02, Hiroyuki Kakudo revealed he had quit the staff of Digimon Adventure: Last Evolution Kizuna after something was approved that he claimed was incompatible with what the previous series had established. On September 20, 2020, Producer Yosuke Kinoshita stated that Digimon Adventure: Last Evolution Kizuna is in continuity with Digimon Adventure, Digimon Adventure 02, Digimon Adventure 02: Digimon Hurricane Landing!!/Transcendent Evolution!! The Golden Digimentals, and Digimon Adventure tri.. This included the end of the final episode of 02, set in 2028, where the DigiDestined are adults.Bleeding Cool: "Digimon: Last Evolution Kizuna Producer Talks Conclusions and Cameos"
Before the film's release in the U.S., Comic Book Resources held an interview with Executive Producer Yosuke Kinoshita regarding the franchise itself and what he wanted the fans to take away from the film. During the interview, Yosuke stated, "As we go through life, I believe that it is not only success and joy that makes you grow as a person but also overcoming failure. Hard and sad realities are what keeps us alive. I'm sure there will be a lot of obstacles in the future, but let's go live our lives forward strongly! This is the message that we are trying to convey."
North America