Digimon Season 2 (Digimon 02)
Arc 1: Episodes - 1-11
Summary: Four years after the events of the first season, a villain called the Digimon Emperor is terrorizing the Digital world by building Control Spires that power dark rings and spirals to control and posses Digimon in the area. Three new Digidestined acquire Digimon, and along with TK and Kari also get new, more powerful Digivices to battle the Emperor. The control spires also block natural Digivolution, so the Digidestined must find Digi-Eggs representing the crests, which cause their Digimon to armor-Digivolve. Armed with the eggs and occasional help from the older Digidestined, the team frees areas controlled by spires and rings bit by bit. Meanwhile, the Digimon Emperor's identity is unmasked as a child prodigy, Ken, who then flees to the Digital World permanently. Agumon is captured and forced to dark Digivolve as part of revenge, but is recovered when Davis acquires a second Digi-Egg.
Place: Digital World
Principal Bad Guys: Digimon Emperor and Wormmon
Principal Mentors: the older, inactive Digidestined
The Good: The older Digidestined still show up, but not so much that it gets tired; the touching Andromon appearance; the Digidestined at the soccer match, and the Emperor's subsequent revenge. Ep. 1, 5-8, 10
The Bad: Much like the first season, a lot of the early episodes are kinda redundant and boring; it's not like we haven't seen Matt hitting Tai and Tai angsting about Agumon before. Ep. 2-4
The Indifferent: TK and Kari have had to share their 'focus' episodes so far, which is kinda odd. Ep. 9, 11
Overall: This arc is fairly cohesive, with the team collecting their first eggs and learning from their older counterparts. TK and Kari seem a bit out of place without counterparts, but they have siblings so I guess it's OK. This team's more casual attitude (since they can come and go as they please, I guess) makes a lot of their interactions casual and fun. My only other issue is that the Dark Spiral sub-arc could have been an episode shorter.
Arc 2: Episodes - 12-21
Summary: While the Digimon Emperor conquers even more of the Digital World with his new Dark Spirals, the Digidestined race to find the rest of the Digi-Eggs. The Emperor becomes increasingly unstable and even builds an extremely dangerous monster. Finally, the Digidestined organize a confrontation on the his battleship, which is ultimately brought down. The Emperor's Digimon sacrifices itself to save everyone from the uncontrollable Chimeramon. Ken, realizing what he has done, breaks down and relinquishes his Digimon Emperor identity.
Place: Digital World
Principal Bad Guys: Digimon Emperor and Wormmon; Dark Ocean monsters; Devimon cameo
Principal Mentors: the older, inactive Digidestined; Wizardmon cameo
The Good: Getting to see what makes Ken tick; Wizardmon's heartbreaking cameo and the tie-in back to last season; angry TK!; Wormmon's sacrifice and Ken's breaking moment. Ep. 17-21
The Bad: The 'find the Digi-Egg' episodes are still dull in this arc, and the filler was terrible. One episode was just downright confusing. Ep. 12, 13,
The Indifferent: There's an awful lot more of Matt, Tai, and Izzy than Sora, Mimi, and Joe - equal time for all! And, Wizardmon went to all that trouble just to tell them about the golden Digi-Egg? Okay... Ep. 14-16
Overall: After the okay first arc, this one gets off to a bumpy, uneven start with both crappy and dull episodes before hitting on all cylinders for the final confrontation of the Emperor. It almost makes me think some of the filler in this arc and the last were sort of shoehorned in at the last minute, maybe to replace an arc focusing more on the Dark Ocean villains alluded to in the mess that was the twelfth episode. On the plus side, this was a good arc for character development, though mostly in the second part. The terrible first half and wonderful second half make it hard for me to decide whether I like this arc or not.
Arc 3: Episodes - 22-37
Summary: While Ken finds the kind person he once was and Wormmon's egg, the team cleans up the Digital World by destroying the now-defunct Control Spires. However, this conflicts with the plans of Arukenimon and Mummymon, who turn the spires into artificial Digimon. Now with Ken on their team, the Digidestined regain the ability to Digivolve naturally and learn to DNA Digivolve their Digimon in pairs to combat the increasingly powerful Control Spire Digimon, culminating with Dark Wargreymon, who was made of 100 control spires. Dark Wargreymon set out on his own in a quest to destroy Destiny Stones, safeguards of the Digital World's existence. One of the Digital World's supreme beings, Azulongmon, finally appears to tell Dark Wargreymon his destiny lies somewhere else, and Dark Wargreymon takes off to find the answer.
Place: Digital World
Principal Bad Guy(s): Arukenimon and Mummymon; Dark Wargreymon; the Dark Ocean, again
Principal Mentor(s): Izzy, Agumon, and some of the older Digidestined; Azulongmon
The Good: Ken's angst was good storytelling as he gradually becomes a part of the team and bonds with Davis; Arukenimon and Mummymon reminded me of Pokemon's Jesse and James; Black Wargreymon's angst was also cool Ep. 23, 25-27, 30-32, 35
The Bad: Didn't really like the whole Destiny Stone arc, and the Giga House eps didn't seem to belong Ep. 22, 28-29
The Indifferent: There were two episodes that explained Digital World minutiae, which while interesting was also kinda boring; the reconstruction bits were slow-moving Ep. 24, 33, 34, 36,37
Overall: The construction and setup of this arc was a lot better, but it suffered for me because I found the whole Destiny Stone thing uninteresting. I liked Arukenimon, Mummymon, and Dark Wargreymon being introduced though, and I appreciate that everything's tying together. I also like the focus on character development due to the DNA-digivolving thing, and the new Digidestined seem to be meshing as a team a lot better. And the lesser use of older Digidestined here felt about right
Arc 4: Episodes - 38-50
Summary: With Christmas approaching, Ken throws the team a party, while the Digidestined bring the older kids' Digimon to the real world as a gift. Which was a lucky break, since Arukenimon and Mummymon appeared in the real world across the globe, setting up control spires and wild Digimon. All the Digidestined around the world teamed up with a group of Gennais to undo the damage. Then some Dark Ocean Digimon came to also terrorize the Real World. While the team was distracted, Mummymon and Arukenimon's master, an adult called Oikawa, recruited children and planted copies of a dark spore in Ken's brain within them. He attempted to use this dark energy to gain enough power to enter the Digital World himself. Fortunately, Dark Wargreymon sacrificed himself to seal the gate, and Oikawa, the dark spore children, and the Digidestined team wound up in a different dimension. Oikawa was revealed to be a puppet of Myotismon, who trapped the children in fantasies until Davis broke them free. With the help of Digidestined around the world, Malomyotismon was finally defeated. Then it's a flash forward twenty-five years, where everyone has a Digimon and the Digidestined's kids get together in the Digital World for fun and adventures!
Place: the Real (including Odaiba, Japan) and Digital Worlds
Principal Bad Guys: Oikawa, w. help from Arukenimon and Mummymon; the Dark Ocean Daemon corp.; Malomyotismon
Principal Mentors: the Gennais
The Good: Tai and Jun maturely moving on from their respective crushes; Matt's concert song; meeting the international Digidestined and the older kids getting something to do; Yolei and Cody finally having to kill Digimon; all the emotional deaths; Malomyotismon's dreams and Davis not being affected by them; Oikawa's character development Ep. 38, 40-44, 47-50
The Bad: Ken and Davis pretty much hog all the glory with Imperialdramon; also just a skootch too much Ken-angst
The Indifferent:the Dark Spore kids, and their storyline, were kinda boring; I thought giving everyone's job at the 25-year reunion wasn't really necessary, and the women got hosed there; and everyone gets a Digimon? Okayyy. Ep. 39, 45, 46
Overall: I really like this arc - there weren't any horrible episodes, and a lot of emotional character development. I think the plotlines may have suffered a bit, but it was still more cohesive than the other arcs and the only subarc I didn't like was the Dark Spore kids one. I liked how Oikawa was a tragic figure used to link the Myotismon, Cody and this conclusion together. I liked that the older kids' maturity, especially Tai's were shown; I liked that Davis' lack of angst came in handy at the end. I liked enough other things that I don't feel that annoyed by the 25-year reunion where almost everyone's job blows. What's important is that they (and their kids) all still hang out together with their Digimon in the Digital World.
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