With the release of the stunning Digimon Adventure -BEYOND- short video, the franchise has officially brought Tai and his friends’ story to an end. According to the team behind the series, there will be no more entries based on the original series or its various sequels. The time for new quests and DigiDestined has arrived, which has been met with excitement from almost all Digimon fans.

Nonetheless, this announcement has also brought confusion to the fandom, as there does not seem to be any link between the recently released video and the canon ending of the series. Adventure 02’s epilogue greatly differs from the events depicted in -BEYOND-, which has led fans to question which ending will be considered canon by the franchise.

Is Adventure 02’s Epilogue Still Canon?

Do the Heroes Grow Up Into Their Adult Counterparts?

During the final moments of episode #50 of the Digimon Adventure 02 anime, fans witnessed the fates that awaited the DigiDestined once they became adults. With the Digital and human worlds connected for the first time in history, the heroes decided to do their best to help humanity acclimate to their new reality. Characters like Tai and Joey did their best to connect both dimensions, with the leader of the team becoming a diplomat and the latter studying to become the first Digimon doctor. Izzy continued his research of the Digital World, with his research becoming invaluable for humanity.

Others decided to live simple but fulfilling lives, like Kari, who became a teacher, or T.K., who was revealed to be the narrator, retelling his adventures in books that became bestsellers. It was a hopeful ending, although it was severely criticized by viewers for how odd the professions of several characters felt. It has been a controversial topic among fans of this beloved kids' anime for decades, with some fans beginning the franchise forgoing to acknowledge it in the timeline. This has caused fans to believe that each new entry included in the Adventure canon will change the ending in some way.

-BEYOND-, the short video released to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the original anime, has not been the exception. Although the story of the short is not yet clear, as its accompanying text-only adventure has yet to be released, it does not seem to fit with the ending fans were accustomed to. Moreover, the events of this latest entry do not seem to connect in any way to the ideas originally introduced in the epilogue, with several contradictions being presented. Fans have theorized that the franchise might have altered the epilogue without anyone noticing.

The Franchise Addressed the Issue Years Ago

Could the Producer Have Hinted at This Idea in the Past?

In 2020, as the world prepared for the release of the Last Evolution Kizuna movie, one of the most important entries for the Adventure timeline in the past 25 years, an interview was released. The website Blending Cool ed Yosuke Kinoshita, one of the most prominent producers in the franchise, to ask him about the plans the series had for the original DigiDestined. One of the questions that came up at the time was the idea that the film’s ending was a retcon of the 02 epilogue.

Kinoshita confirmed that, according to the team behind the series, the ending of 02 was never intended to be altered or removed from the timeline. Despite the small inconsistencies between the events of Kizuna and the ending of the series, the fates of the DigiDestined and the beloved original Digimon. These words seem more important now than ever since -BEYOND- seems to have reignited the desire for a new epilogue to be created for the Adventure canon. Despite the time, there has not been any indication of the writers having a change of heart.

Still, the producer also talked about anything being possible in the future, as the story could have gotten to a point where it would be difficult to make the epilogue fit. Despite this being a major possibility, as the events of the commemorative video seem to challenge the epilogue, there has not been any confirmation from Bandai or the Digimon team. Unless an official announcement is made in the future, the epilogue of 02 will remain the true ending of the Adventure timeline.

-BEYOND-'s Confusing Plot Could Be Responsible for This Response

The Events of the Video Cannot Be Understood on Their Own

One of the main reasons why so many fans have concluded that -BEYOND- implies the 02 ending to be unofficial is because of its confusing story. The entry does not seem to follow a linear structure, making it hard to deduce which events occurred first. The plot begins with Matt, Tai, and Cody helping a new DigiDestined meet their partner Digimon. Shortly after, they are attacked by Ravemon, forcing them to fight with the help of their incredibly powerful creatures. There is no indication of when this event took place or how the heroes recovered their Digimon after Kizuna’s ending.

Moments later, flashing moments with the rest of the Adventure cast can be seen, with nothing to indicate in which order or at what point in the timeline they are included. For several fans, these events could have easily replaced the futures they had already accepted for their favorite characters. Lamentably, there is not much that fans can do with -BEYOND-‘s plot alone, as the video was always meant to be accompanied by the still-unreleased text-only side story. Once this exciting final entry is revealed to the world, the true ending of the Adventure timeline will be officially confirmed.

Could the DigiDestined’s Fates Have Been Changed?

The 02 Epilogue Might Have Been Too Difficult To Insert Into the Timeline

During the interview he gave back in 2020, Kinoshita hinted at the possibility of the 02 ending becoming non-canon if the team decided it would not make sense with the current story. His words were likely implying that, more than 20 years after its release, an ending that predicted the future would be hard to include in the current timeline. The final episode of the anime was created long before the idea of new entries in the Adventure canon was conceived. As such, it would not be out of the question to assume a new ending is arriving soon.

The franchise has already explored the idea of different universes revolving around Tai and his friends with the release of the Digimon Adventure 2020 reboot. While the show’s intent of bringing back older fans did not go as planned, with it ultimately killing the hype fans felt for such an idea, there have been hints at the franchise wanting to explore this concept more. The side story that will be released soon could be an example of this practice, with the ending being completely different from the one fans knew.

Source: Blending Cool