IF & HG

 I write this as I’ve just watched the movie “IF” for the first time while flying on an airplane for my wife and my first trip away from our daughter. Yep, I cried. No helping it. Just could not hold it in. I loved that John Krasinski directed it and loved that the actress who played Mrs. Dursley in Harry Potter was the Grandma in “IF”. Such a lovely story about imaginary friends (IFs) and the role they have in helping their children even when the children are grown up. 

The story revolves around Elizabeth, who goes by Bea as she experiences the loss of her mother as well as the pending surgery for her father. Lots of an emotions for a 12 year old girl to go through. A big take away for me is that kids need their parents and kids need their imagination even if it is not an imaginary friend. 

Perhaps the imaginary friends could be representative of the Holy Ghost and how we need his influence and guidance throughout our lives. As a comforter, as a guide, and a teacher. It reminds me of Elder Bednar’s talk about receiving the Holy Ghost where he shares that this is an invitation that, for me, is a lifelong quest. While I don’t see the Holy Ghost, I know he is very real and I know that I need his influence every day, much like the grown ups in “IF” still need their imaginary friends at every stage of their lives.

Reflections from DigiCon 2025

A couple weeks ago Digimon celebrated their 25th anniversary with DigiCon 2025. Plenty of other blogs and websites reported on the announcements and updates as they were given, but I felt like I'd be a poor Digimon fan if I didn't at least share some thoughts (and I am the self-proclaimed Digimon King). So this is less a summary of the announcements and more my personal feelings about each announcement.

Digimon Adventure: Beyond

After the release of The Beginning there was no clear direction as to where the franchise was going next. Sure, Digimon keeps making games, but what about the anime? I wouldn't even care as much about the next installment in Digimon Adventure if they hadn't explicitly left a gap in the continuity between Last Evolution Kizuna and the Digimon Adventure 02 epilogue. So when the short/music video "Beyond" was released, I hoped for some answer to how Agumon and Gabumon returned. No such luck. Instead, we got a montage of adventures taking place between Digimon Adventure Tri and Kizuna. I definitely enjoyed the video, seeing some adventures as the Digi-Destined grew up. We got shots of Meiko, alternate armor digivolutions, and plenty of other Easter eggs alluding to storylines old and new. Even Lui appeared, so it begs a rewatch. Maybe someday I'll get my wish and we'll get more.

Digimon Beatbreak

Though no dub information is likely to come any time soon, a new anime was announced. Another branch in the Digimon multiverse. This new anime is about "emotion-devouring Digital Lifeforms". Because it's phrased that way, I expect a darker tone in this series compared to the ones I watched as a kid. I still need to watch Digimon Ghost Game, but I imagine the tone of this anime will be similar. Granted, a lot of that is based off the revealed poster. And that's like judging a book off its cover. Either way, it's set to broadcast in Japan this fall. I'm banking on it appearing on Crunchyroll.

Digimon Story: Time Stranger

I never had a game system to match with popular/successful Digimon games. Historically I said that Pokemon has a better track record with games and Digimon is better with anime. But now Pokemon has mixed up its anime and I haven't played a new video game since I bought Ultra Sun. I heard that Cyber Sleuth was a successful video games series in Digimon's corner, but I haven't saved the money to buy Switch (bought a house instead) and the time to play it. Since I'm inexperienced in this department, I sit here with curiosity to see how it plays out. A name like "Time Stranger" makes me wish it were about jumping around the Digimon multiverse, but I know better than to wish for that.

Digimon Alysion

This is the announcement I'm most excited about. After playing Pokemon TCG Pocket and Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Links, I'm excited to get my hand into the Digimon card game. I have a handful of physical cards from when I saw The Beginning in theaters, but I lack people to play the game with. Without close friends to play against, I decided to avoid spending money on booster packs (I had horrible luck with booster packs when I collected Yu-Gi-Oh cards anyway). With an app similar to Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh, maybe I'll get invested enough to buy physical cards. Plus it sounds like it'll have more of a story than Pokemon TCG Pocket. That could be fun. I miss having a Digimon mobile game--I never understood the mechanics of Digimon ReArise, but it had my buddy Dorumon.

Toys and More

DigiCon had plenty of other announcements, including anniversary toys and Digivices. Since I can't imagine myself taking a Digivice toy to work, I probably won't buy one--I remember how my old D3 would start beeping. That being said, I'm grateful that the franchise is growing even if I'm unlikely to buy the toys... though I am liable to base a cosplay around a Digivice toy... you shouldn't put it past me. I would love to get all the toys... But for now, I'm going to just keep rewatching Digimon anime on repeat.