Super Evolution Stage: Digimon Adventure tri. pamphlet cast and staff comments and interviews

A translation of the cast and staff comments from the official pamphlet for the Super Evolution Stage: Digimon Adventure tri. ~The August 1st Adventure~ stage play, which had ten showings between August 3 and 15, 2017 at the Zepp Blue Theater Roppongi. The following translation includes:

Comment from Toei Animation
Comment from stage play director and writer Kenichi Tani
Short individual interviews with main cast members Gaku Matsumoto (Taichi Yagami), Shouhei Hashimoto (Yamato Ishida), Suzuka Morita (Sora Takenouchi), Kaisei Kamimura (Koushirou Izumi), Marina Tanoue (Mimi Tachikawa), Junya Komatsu (Jou Kido), Kenta Nomiyama (Takeru Takaishi), Yuuna Shigeishi (Hikari Yagami), and Ore no Graffiti (Etemon)
A list of ensemble and voice cast
A group interview with Matsumoto, Hashimoto, Morita, Kamimura, Tanoue, Komatsu, Nomiyama, and Shigeishi

Table of Contents

Comments from Toei Animation and Kenichi Tani

Digimon Adventure tri. production company Toei Animation

Thank you to everyone for coming today.
In 1999, the “Chosen Children” set off for an adventure in an unknown world. There, the children encountered “Digital Monsters”, living beings made from data. The children fostered friendships with the Digimon along the course of their journey, worked together to overcome difficulties and defeat terribly strong enemies, and eventually saved the world.
It’s been 18 years since the original series (Digimon Adventure) first broadcast on TV, but the story of the children and their Digimon continues to press on in a new form through Digimon Adventure tri. on the theater screen, as well as through Super Evolution Stage today. This is all thanks to the support of everyone who’s continued to support the adventure of Taichi, Agumon, and their friends. Truly, we cannot thank all of you enough. In today’s show, the children and their Digimon will be faced with another huge incident, as well as their own personal troubles.
But they should be more than able to overcome them with the power of the bonds they’ve cultivated. Please witness this new Digimon Adventure with your own eyes.

Stage director and writer Kenichi Tani

About a month before we started rehearsals, I went to go see the “Digimon Adventure THE REAL WORLD” exhibition at the Laforet in Harajuku. It was adorned with huge life-sized panels for the Digimon and model sheets, and I remember it feeling like I’d gotten lost in the mysterious world of Digimon, but just around the corner at the very end, a certain trolley car had been placed there, and there was footage from the first series playing, and you could hear “Butter-Fly” playing behind it…Around me were several people, frozen in place like lightning had struck them. There were even people crying.
I’m sure everyone must have had that kind of experience, where even a short bit of footage or a single line of music can bring back amazing, vivid memories. Those people who were standing in front of the trolley car weren’t just remembering Digimon Adventure; they were reliving the memories of what it was like to actually be a child.
Toei, the stage staff, and I created today’s show based on the idea of “trying to go back to your childhood”. I hope everyone in the audience — along with Taichi and his friends in the story itself, I’m sure — can see this camping trip as an opportunity to remember and feel nostalgia, especially for the Digimon Adventure from back then.

Cast interviews

Gaku Matsumoto as Taichi Yagami

Born April 8, 1993
Major roles:

TV series Shuriken Sentai Ninninger: Yakumo “Cloud” Katou/AoNinger (voice)
Stage play Our Pink Spider: Hideyoshi Koyama
TV series Offbeat Chief Police: Shinobu Aoki

Q1: What do you like about your Digimon partner?
I like how he can make his way right through to Taichi’s heart when he’s lost in thought and worried. I also really love reptiles, so I even like Agumon’s appearance.

Q2: Taichi is dedicated to playing soccer and Yamato to his band. When you were in high school, did you have a hobby you devoted yourself to?
Like Taichi, I was really into soccer. I was playing it from day to night, all throughout elementary, middle, and high school.

Q3: In what way do you resemble your character? Or are you the complete opposite of them in any way?
In the first Digimon Adventure series, Taichi was already showing leadership skills and had a bright personality, but I’m not really the kind of person who’s good at being a leader, so we’re not very similar in that regard. But in tri., Taichi’s calmed down a little and started to worry too much about things, and I think that’s something we might have in common.

Q4: Do you have any particular memories of the Digimon anime?
I admired the eight kids so much that my friends and I went out on a trip into the forest.

Q5: What’s your impression of Shouhei Hashimoto-san, who plays Yamato?
Shouhei-kun is really easy to get along with, and he’s a very bright person. We’re also the same age, so we had a lot we could talk about compared to the other cast members.

Shouhei Hashimoto as Yamato Ishida

Born December 31, 1993
Major roles:

Stage musical Meiji Tokyo Love Song ~Chat Noir of the Hazy Moon~: Shunso Hishida
Hyper Projection Theatre: Haikyu!!: Yuu Nishinoya
Stage play Touken Ranbu Story of Justice: The One-Eyed Dragon of the Red Moon: Taikogane Sadamune

Q1: What do you like about your Digimon partner?
He’s a wonderful partner who’ll always be by your side, and it’s also fun to imagine what mysterious shape must be under that pelt (laughs).

Q2: Taichi is dedicated to playing soccer and Yamato to his band. When you were in high school, did you have a hobby you devoted yourself to?
Like Taichi and Yamato, I was really into club activities at school. I played handball, but even after practicing every day until I was covered in dirt, I still lost at my final tournament and was so upset I cried…Truly the epitome of youth.

Q3: In what way do you resemble your character? Or are you the complete opposite of them in any way?
Yamato’s most obvious first impression is that he’s a cool-headed person. So based on that first impression, I figured he was the complete opposite of me, but although he seems cool-headed and distant on the surface, he’s actually the most compassionate one out of all of them and worries about others the most. So I think “worrying about others” might be the one thing we have in common.

Q4: Do you have any particular memories of the Digimon anime?
Everyone in my generation was watching Digimon. I’d always get up early every Sunday morning to watch it, and even though I’ve never been a morning person, I’d spring out of the bed specifically so I could watch Digimon on time (laughs). When I rewatched the anime, all my feelings from my childhood came right back to me, and now that I’m older, I thought, wow, this really is a fun anime.

Q5: What’s your impression of Gaku Matsumoto-san, who plays Taichi?
I first met Gaku Matsumoto-kun when we were doing our first photoshoot for Digimon. We were both giving off an aura of wanting to talk to each other, but we were both too intimidated to break the ice…But as soon as we learned we were the same age, that barrier immediately broke down, and my impression of him was that he had a very wonderful smile and was like a ray of sunshine (laughs).

Suzuka Morita as Sora Takenouchi

Born December 7, 1992
Major roles:

Samurai Sentai Shinkenger: Kotoha Hanaori
Stage play Osho: Kimiko
Movie Our Time Will Come: Matsuko

Q1: What do you like about your Digimon partner?
I love how friendly she is, and how she’ll always stay by your side no matter what.

Q2: Taichi is dedicated to playing soccer and Yamato to his band. When you were in high school, did you have a hobby you devoted yourself to?
I was really into judo in elementary school, and in middle school I was into percussion. In my free time, I was into comics and video games.

Q3: In what way do you resemble your character? Or are you the complete opposite of them in any way?
We’re both calm and level-headed. We consider love as important as food.
As for how we differ, I can’t play soccer to save my life.

Kaisei Kamimura as Koushirou Izumi

Born February 25, 1997
Major roles:

NTV series and stage play project Water Boys!: Shintarou Mori
CX series & Pretty Girl ~NEXT GIRL meets Tokyo~ (Wednesday midnight): Yuuki Manabe
Musical The Prince of Tennis 3rd Season: Seigaku vs. St. Rudolph: Ichirou Kaneda

Q1: What do you like about your Digimon partner?
It’s something he shares with the other Digimon partners, but I like how he shares your worries with you. In particular, whenever Koushirou worries about something, even when he doesn’t understand it at all, he still follows him to the very end. So I personally love how much he cares about his partner.

Q2: Taichi is dedicated to playing soccer and Yamato to his band. When you were in high school, did you have a hobby you devoted yourself to?
I was very intent on going home as soon as class ended. Also, I had a thing about never running to school, no matter how close to late it made me. I was challenging myself on how quickly I could get home, and how quickly I could walk.

Q3: In what way do you resemble your character? Or are you the complete opposite of them in any way?
I probably shouldn’t be the one to say this about myself, but I think we’re both very serious people. But other than that, we’re not anything alike at all, unfortunately! When it comes to computers, I’m barely even able to figure out how to back up my phone (sweats).

Marina Tanoue as Mimi Tachikawa

Born September 28, 1991
Major roles:

Stage play Persona 3: The Weird Masquerade: Fuuka Yamagishi
Stage play Outburst Dreamer Boys: Mizuki Hijiri
Movie Pop in Q: Pocon

Q1: What do you like about your Digimon partner?
She doesn’t make a huge show of it, but she’s always desperately trying to do whatever she can. I like how she and Mimi strike a balance, or rather, it feels like she keeps herself close to mimi as they walk together in the same direction.

Q2: Taichi is dedicated to playing soccer and Yamato to his band. When you were in high school, did you have a hobby you devoted yourself to?
I really, really liked listening to the radio, so I’d record things I liked onto my MD and listen to them over and over again.

Q3: In what way do you resemble your character? Or are you the complete opposite of them in any way?
We prefer it when people are honest, and I also have a tendency to not be able to disregard any feelings or emotions that come out of something. We probably have that sort of honest sense of intuition in common. But Mimi’s very good at reading the room and can express her feelings easily, and I really envy her for having that kind of bravery.

Junya Komatsu as Jou Kido

Born December 23, 1993
Major roles:

Ensemble Stars! on Stage: Keito Hasumi
Stage play Poseidon’s Fang: Suguru Namekata
TSUKICRO × ALTAIR THEATER album Our Summer: Yousuke Shibuya

Q1: What do you like about your Digimon partner?
He does whatever he can to keep Jou-kun on the right path, and he does it all in such a carefree manner. Also, I just really love how he looks and how his voice sounds. He’s really so cute…(laughs)

Q2: Taichi is dedicated to playing soccer and Yamato to his band. When you were in high school, did you have a hobby you devoted yourself to?
I did kendo for ten years. To be honest, it involved some really rough training, but I had peers and a teacher who didn’t come off that way and looked like they were fun, and I was aiming to challenge the whole country with them, so I spent every day trying to perfect myself.

Q3: In what way do you resemble your character? Or are you the complete opposite of them in any way?
When we set our minds on something, we go for it all the way. For me it was kendo, and for him it’s studying to be a doctor, but our attitudes towards our studies are very alike. I might also be as prone to running around in circles like he is (laughs). As for how we differ, Jou-kun is very good at paying attention to the little details. I should learn from him!

Kenta Nomiyama as Takeru Takaishi

Born August 15, 1995
Major roles:

Musical Little Hero: Hans

Q1: What do you like about your Digimon partner?
He’s so, so cute to look at, and I especially love how bright and shiny his eyes are. The way he goes “Takeruuuu~” and acts clingy like he wants attention is so cute! And whenever Takeru’s in trouble, he evolves into Angemon and is just completely full of bravery and hope.

Q2: Taichi is dedicated to playing soccer and Yamato to his band. When you were in high school, did you have a hobby you devoted yourself to?
Like Taichi, I was really passionate about soccer. We were a team of friends, like the picture-perfect ideal of high school boys in their youth. I aws the vice captain, so during our matches I’d be warming up the bench for them! (laughs)

Q3: In what way do you resemble your character? Or are you the complete opposite of them in any way?
I think we’re both the type to always think about our friends, and we want to protect everything we like. Also we’re both pacifists. But I’m not as smart as Takeru, and I’m not very cool, and I’m not very popular…I always looked up to guys like Takeru, but I wasn’t able to be like him in the end (laughs).

Yuuna Shigeishi as Hikari Yagami

Born May 12, 2000
Major roles:

Tobu Zoo Winter Illumination commercial
TV series Lady Writer Mysteries: Moonstone (Fuji TV)
BACK ROAD (Nice International Film Festival, awarded Best Leading Actress in a Foreign Language Film)

Q1: What do you like about your Digimon partner?
She puts up a tough front around everyone else, and she acts sweet and spoiled only when she’s with Hikari. She’s been through a lot of tough things in her past, so she has a strong sense of duty, and I love how firm she is about it. Also, her Cat Punch! is so strong and cool!!

Q2: Taichi is dedicated to playing soccer and Yamato to his band. When you were in high school, did you have a hobby you devoted yourself to?
When I was Hikari-chan’s age, in my second year of middle school, I was doing dance almost every day. In particular, I really liked jazz. If there was a single day I wasn’t dancing, I’d feel all restless, hahaha. I’m still doing it now, and dancing is one of the greatest treasures of my life!

Q3: In what way do you resemble your character? Or are you the complete opposite of them in any way?
We’re the kind of people who get called “put-together” a lot. But I don’t think I’m as good at putting myself out as much as Hikari-chan can, so I think she’s pretty amazing. Also, we’re completely different in that she has much sharper intuition than I do. I’m extremely gullible, so I can go completely off the mark even if something’s dangling right in front of me. So I wish I could be as sharp as Hikari-chan is. Hahaha.

Ore no Graffiti (Theatre Company Shika564) as Etemon

Born December 6
Major roles:

Theatre Company 564 Train Duology 2017 performance The Train Runs on Blood/Neverending Train: Lonely Sakamori
OFFICE SHIKA × Cocco Les circonstances de Gilsé: Bantarou Mori
Musical HEADS UP!: Roppei Kujou

Q1: What’s your favorite Digimon?
Angemon. When the original series was being broadcast on TV, I was waiting with bated breath to see when Patamon would evolve, and of all things, he ended up evolving into a full-size handsome young man! It was such a fascinating swerve. And then he used up all of his power and reverted into a DigiEgg, and my heart felt like it was clutched tight…

Q2: Taichi is dedicated to playing soccer and Yamato to his band. When you were in high school, did you have a hobby you devoted yourself to?
I’d frequent the secondhand bookstore and pour myself into Yasutaka Tsutsui’s¹ short story collections. Also, I fished out an out-of-print Muscle Girl Band CD at the bookstore and was always litening to it all the time. Yutaka Ozaki too, but that goes without saying.²

Q3: In what way do you resemble your character? Or are you the complete opposite of them in any way?
Probably that we both look in-your-face at first but can be very intense. Before he evolved into MetalEtemon, we usually didn’t see him acting on his own. Also, we both probably have a rather twisted way of expressing affection. I’ve been kind of wondering, maybe he wears sunglasses because he’s antsy about having eye contact with others and exposing his true feelings?

Ensemble cast

Hideyuki Yoshihara (Agumon)
Born May 3

Salome: Bodyguard
The Endless Sea: Lucas Neyman
HATTORI Hanzo III: Hisamichi Kanou

Makoto Ohtani (Gabumon)
Born September 5

Hana-chan’s Miso Soup: Shintarou Matsunaga
Nobunaga Concerto: Retainer
Marugame Seimen TV commercial

Rina Minami (Piyomon)
Born September 16

Stage play Fantastic Strange Tales: Legend of the White Snake: Dance ensemble
Stage play Yumomi Girls III: Kazuyo
Town Work “Shogi” TV commercial: Female game record reader

Takuya Matsuoka (Tentomon)
Born March 23

Stage play TRICKSTER ~The Stage~: Action ensemble
Stage play Shout.: Shouta Takeno (lead role)
Stage play The World is Made with My Cube 2016: Shiva

Michiko Washiya (Palmon)
Born March 30

Dull Excalibur: Takei
Children’s Theatre Company’s Macbeth: Officer, Noble
Enomoto Gurim’s Soft Bread: Deecapoo Bachicorn
Hulu drama I’m Yamagishi. Got a Problem?: Script supervisor (role)

Ryou Miyake (Gomamon)
Born July 14

Movie Teiichi: The Battle of Supreme High: Student Broadcasting Club regular member
Theatre Company ReVeRsi
Stage play SNOW WHITE at the Sasazuka Factory
2014 Sonar Pocket End-of-Year Super Special: Sonar Pocket Street Performance Team

Kenshin Ikeda (Patamon)
Born July 17

Super Stage Bakumatsu Rock: Ensemble
Hetalia ~Singin’ in the World~: Ensemble
Touken Ranbu stage play: Ensemble

Sakiko Shouno (Tailmon)
Born May 30

Formerly from Shiki Theatre Company
Stage play Smile Mermaid
Movie Tap: The Last Show (directed by Yutaka Mizutani)

Voice cast

Chika Sakamoto (Agumon)
Mayumi Yamaguchi (Gabumon)
Atori Shigematsu (Piyomon)
Takahiro Sakurai (Tentomon)
Kinoko Yamada (Palmon)
Junko Takeuchi (Gomamon)
Miwa Matsumoto (Patamon)
Yuka Tokumitsu (Tailmon)

Cast group talk

We spoke with the eight actors for the “Chosen Children” about what they like about Digimon and this play!

–Did you have a hard time preparing for your role or acting it out?
Matsumoto: It really was hard. When I came on-site, I was expecting Taichi to be lost in thought and worried, but when I read the script, Taichi was very upbeat. I’m not exactly the upbeat type myself, so I had a hard time getting a feel for what I should be doing. But I rewatched Digimon Adventure, and in the process I did manage to figure it out, albeit very slowly. So I played him so that you could see him as upbeat, but also having grown into a proper high school student.
Hashimoto: Our director for this play, Tani-san, is very much a “theatre person”, so he put a lot of difficult things in the script, and I also figured that the audience for Digimon probably had a hard time imagining that kind of thing being on stage.
Matsumoto: Yeah, that’s true.
Hashimoto: But as an actor, that’s exactly what made me feel like it’d be worth it, so it meant I had to read the script more thoroughly, and in my case, I had a lot of walls I had to get over…for instance, I’d have to play the harmonica, and…(laughs awkwardly) It involved a lot of tough practice, but being an actor means you need to take on a lot of different challenges, so I wanted to bring all of that into myself. I wanted to be so good at it that people would say it (playing the harmonica) would be one of my specialties.
Komatsu: This story involves the kids trying to enjoy a camping trip on August 1 just as it was back then, so you can see some of Jou as he appeared in Digimon Adventure, and you can also see the high school-aged Jou who’s matured into someone seriously aiming to get into medical school. I wanted to make sure you could distinctly see both sides in my acting, but it wasn’t all that easy. I put a lot of effort into it, but I had a lot of things to worry about while I was at it. He has that conversation at the end with Yamato, but actually, everyone in the story is dealing with their own problems. But Jou is the only one who’s decided on a clear goal. So I didn’t want to make Jou look like he was slacking off in any way. It’s not that he’s reached a goal just by figuring out what he wants to do, but that he’s facing the future and heading towards it in his own way, so I wanted to play him in such a way that you could tell what kind of struggles he was going through. I want everyone watching to like Jou and Gomamon even more. Trust me! This play is really good!!
Morita: I did get a lot of help from watching the footage, but it had so much in it that I couldn’t wrap my head around it. Whatever I could come up with in regards to August 1 felt so small in comparison…So how was I going to bring those feelings out and make them impactful beyond what was already in the footage? That was what I had a hard time with. Also, Tani-san explained the “heart” behind each part. For instance, whenever there was loneliness or sadness mixed into it. So I felt like I had to be on par with that.
Tanoue: I don’t know if I’d say everything went completely fine, but ultimately, I got Mimi immediately! She really is a completely different girl (from myself). She’s positive, bright, and straightforward, she’s honest about her feelings, she can say things to people upfront, all things I can’t do myself…but I’m also the kind of person who does pay attention to my own feelings, and when it comes to other people, I think, I want to cheer them up! I want to brighten the mood! So I didn’t have to particularly force it, and I just had to push myself aside and get those lines out.
Kamimura: In my case…During rehearsal, the performers for the Digimon puppets were saying their lines, but we kept accidentally saying our lines back to the performers instead of the Digimon. At some point I realized I was looking Taku-san (Tentomon’s handler, Matsuoka-san) right in the eye (laughs). I had a hard time figuring that part out. Afterwards, they put in the actual voice actors’ recorded lines, and I think that was the point where it crossed over into “this really is Digimon!” And when it got to that point, we all knew we had to keep up with that. I’m going to have to put all of my effort into whatever kind of trial and error it takes to make it even better!
Nomiyama: I could sense that tri.‘s Takeru had mentally grown a considerable deal since Digimon Adventure and Digimon Adventure 02. He went on an adventure when he was so little, and then he grew up physically and mentally, and as I was watching the series I thought “ah, he really did get a lot more mature.” I really had a strong image of him as the crybaby he was at first, but that’s because I’m not very mature myself…so every day I kept thinking “I have to grow up a little more.” But he loves Patamon, and so do I. I have a long way to go, but…I love Patamon, and I think I need to keep loving him even more. Having this on stage is a big deal, and all of us as actors need to make this a hit! It feels hard, but we’ll do our best with everything we have…!
Shigeishi: In my case…well, first of all, I’m the youngest one here…! Everyone’s got so much experience compared to me…and the gap between me and the others is so obvious and yet I felt I needed to keep up with them, and that gave me a hard time…Also, when I saw Hikari-chan in the original Digimon Adventure, I thought she must be a rather clingy kid, but in tri. she’s grown up a lot. In a certain sense, she might actually be the smartest one there. Smart in a different way from Koushirou? She’s got a sharp way of thinking, that kind of smart. It’s like she’s thinking on a completely higher plane, so you can’t understand what’s going through her head at all. And it was incredible how hard it was to keep track of her because of how hard it was to tell what she was thinking, and even now I can’t keep up, and I still don’t think I completely get everything she’s thinking about, so that ended up being really hard to show in my performance. I have no doubt that this is going to be a fantastic show, but I personally don’t think I’ve quite caught up with Hikari yet…

–What was it like working with your Digimon partners?
Nomiyama: Honestly, just…they responded to everything we did, so it felt like they were really alive. The Digimon weren’t just dolls, they had actual performers behind them.
Morita: They’re (the Digimon) so cute…
Shigeishi: They’re so healing to watch…They’re puppets, but they’re really alive.
Komatsu: Yeah, they’re not mere puppets at all!
Matsumoto: They’re cute, and the voice actors are the actual ones…I was thinking, “I get to talk to Agumon!?”
All: I know, right?!!
Tanoue: It makes me so happy and kinda sad!
Matsumoto: But really mostly just happy. Especially with those words Agumon said to Taichi.
Tanoue: We were all crying into our sleeves (laughs).
Matsumoto: Yeah, yeah, it really makes me cry…I haven’t actually gotten to hear the voice actors reading the lines yet, but even when the performers were reciting them during rehearsal my heart hurt, so if I had to hear those words from Agumon himself, I don’t know but I think it’d go straight to my soul for real, our feelings would conect and it’d echo within me…I mean, that’s how big of a deal it probably is to people from our generation who watched it back then. How do I put it…It’s just a kind of deeply emotional experience. Like, “do I really deserve to have this?” That’s what makes me so happy. So I’m glad to be doing this, and I’m looking forward to seeing how far we can bring that to our audience.

–In closing, please tell us about the highlights of this show.
Komatsu: The Digimon, of course! They actually move in front of you, it’ll really be a surprise!
Morita: Also, based on today’s rehearsal, the final battle! It goes way beyond your imagination! You can’t predict what’ll happen next! It’s so exciting, even we’re excited for it!
Komatsu: And the on-screen footage and acoustic tech will give you goosebumps! So I’ve heard, anyway.
Nomiyama: There’s just so much to look forward to! Like Etemon! I don’t have a lot of scenes with him, so I mostly had to watch him from behind, but he’ll really make you laugh! For a moment you’ll be thinking “wait, what’s going on?” but that just makes it even more fun, and there’s more I want to say but I can’t! But you’ll definitely laugh! Ore-no-san is amazing!
Morita: What do you think, Yuu-chan?
Shigeishi: I think someone said it earlier, but the human relationships and their personal worries…how much am I allowed to say…?
Komatsu: They portray it very realistically, it’s exactly the kind of turmoil you’d feel when you’re in high school going through puberty.
Matsumoto: Back when I was in high school, I didn’t really go through this kind of thing. I didn’t really worry that much at all. So I’m jealous. Taichi and the other seven Chosen Children, they were able to worry about things like that. It makes me think I really should have had more to worry about.
Shigeishi: It’s amazing how they managed to show what all eight of them were worried about.
Matsumoto: Amazing! Too amazing! They got all eight of them together! To the point they even called Jou in first…It’s just! The epitome of their youth!
All: Yeah!
Matsumoto: You’ll never get this kind of thing anywhere else!
Kamimura: When I was with the performers for the Digimon, they’d react to me and make expressions…There’s something alive within those Digimon, so I want people to look out for that.
Komatsu: Yeah, their expressions are so deep and intense!
Matsumoto: Also, I still can’t believe they managed to get such a huge MetalGreymon on stage!
Hashimoto: Niether can I!
Matsumoto: Right? And he moves, too!
Nomiyama: Exactly how he does on screen (in the anime).
Matsumoto: I agree, it’s exactly like how it was on screen, it was such a shock. Like, wait, you’re actually breathing fire!? That’s how much work they put into making it.
Shigeishi: That’s the power of the staff!
Matsumoto: Yeah. But then on top of that, Omegamon comes out at the end!? Isn’t that crazy!?
Nomiyama: Omegamon is incredible! You can stand on his shoulders! People can stand on it!
Komatsu: And he’s so cool! You see them and they’re really like heroes! It makes me want to go “let me do it!”
Matsumoto: Omegamon comes out, and it’s a total must-see! Really! Omegamon shows up and everything feels just right, you know!?
Hashimoto: Also, the super-evolution. When the Digimon evolve, we do too! It’s like, Junya Komatsu here will be like “Komatsumon, evolve! Ohmatsumon!”³ An amazing accomplishment!
All: (burst out laughing)

–Thank you for giving us such a detailed discussion!

Bonus ~post-discussion~
Matsumoto: Nice work, everyone~!
Morita: Thank you all~!
Matsumoto: Hey, but there might be one between Komatsu and Ohmatsu! Like a Chuumatsumon.⁴
All: Huh?! There’s more!?
Komatsu: Okay, let me ask, what’d my Ultimate form be?
Hashimoto: Komatsumon, Chuumatsumon, Ohmatsumon, MetalOhmatsumon (laughs).
All: (burst out laughing)
Komatsu: So that means I’m Child-level right now, I’ve still got more to go.
Matsumoto: Baby, you mean Baby.
Komatsu: Wait, but then is my name gonna change again once I reach Ultimate? What’s after MetalOhmatsumon?
Matsumoto: Hm, I guess you don’t have one?
Tanoue: Well, sometimes you get ones that can’t evolve to Ultimate.
All: (laugh)
Komatsu: But this really is a lot of fun, so you should recommend it to your friends, or even people who don’t know anything about Digimon. Really. There are so many high points to look out for.
All: Yeah!

–Thank you very much!
All: Thank you very much!

Translator's notes

Yasutaka Tsutsui = A novelist and short story author known for his work in postmodern science fiction and dark comedy. Anime fans may know him as the original author of the novels The Girl Who Leapt Through Time and Paprika. [↩]
Muscle Girl Band and Yutaka Ozaki: Japanese musicians who were very popular in the 80s. [↩]
The “ko” (小) in Komatsu’s surname means “small”, so Hashimoto’s joke is that he evolved into “Ohmatsumon”, whereas the kanji for “large” (大) can be read “oh“. [↩]
The “chuu” here refers to the kanji for “large” (中). [↩]