Digimon Adventure: Last Evolution Kizuna (デジモンアドベンチャー LAST EVOLUTION 絆) is a 2020 original theatrical anime film directed by Tomohisa Taguchi, and produced by studio Toei Animation. Staff credits also include writer Akatsuki Yamatoya, character designer Katsuyoshi Nakatsuru, and music composer Harumi Fuuki. The film released theatrically in Japan on February 2020.
Background:
“Tai is now a university student, living alone, working hard at school, and working every day, but with his future still undecided. Meanwhile, Matt and others continue to work on Digimon incidents and activities that help people with partner Digimon. An unprecedented phenomenon occurs and the DigiDestined discover that when you grow up, your relationship with your partner Digimon will come closer to an end. As a countdown timer activates on the Digivice, they realize that the more you fight with their Partner Digimon, the faster their bond breaks.
Will you fight for others and lose your partner? The time to choose and decide is approaching fast. There is a short time before “chosen children” will become adults. This is the last adventure of Tai and Agumon.”
Plot Synopsis via Anime Limited, November 2023.
Everyone at this point knows what Digimon is, a popular kids franchise that has spanned multiple anime shows, films and video games that has appealed to both younger people and also fans who grew up with anime over the years. It didn’t exactly reach the heights that Pokemon did, but its still in people’s thoughts as the years go by.
My experiences with Digimon is in a similar vein to Pokemon where I did watch Digimon the Movie when I was very young and may have watched some episodes here and there with that iconic English version of the opening theme song. In recent years I did play Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth which was a surprisingly entertaining JRPG which took the Persona formula and made it its own, but I never watched any of the other Digimon properties that came out like Digimon Adventure Tri or even the Blu-ray upgrades that Discotek Media have been working through.
Which is funny saying that considering what we have here is literally the ending for Digimon Adventure. To recap, the timeline here is that Digimon Adventure: Last Evolution Kizuna takes place five years after the events of Digimon Adventure Tri which in itself takes place six years after the events of Digimon Adventure series. I don’t believe the 2020 reboot is canon to the newer films so I’ll put that aside and the other Digimon instalments focus on different characters so it’s not required here.
Toei Animation is pretty strict when it comes to anime distribution since the Digimon franchise for the most part had remained available in English edited form for a while. The games did support the original Japanese audio track eventually and the newer films do support dual audio but distribution wise Toei aren’t easy to deal with. Which is why it’s rather surprising to see Toei jump ship from Manga Entertainment (who eventually turned into Funimation UK and now Crunchyroll UK) who released the original Digimon Adventure series and Digimon Adventure Tri over to Anime Limited for the release of this film back in 2021, though it took a while for a theatrical and home video release to be sorted.
Collector’s Edition Contents:
It makes absolute sense to give one of the most beloved franchises at least some form of a collector’s edition, so Anime Limited did that with Digimon Adventure: Last Evolution Kizuna, despite not owning the rest of the franchise.
This edition is presented with a rigid box containing an Amaray case to house the discs. Alongside the case is a 24-page booklet, containing various pieces of artwork drawn by the production staff who worked on the film basically saying farewell to the cast of characters and thanking their fans for loving the franchise.
The artwork is free of any information or BBFC content and the info sheet covers the information and specification like previous Anime Limited releases. The collector’s edition Blu-ray parts are 1000 units each printed for an SRP of £39.99. A standard edition Blu-ray was also released on the same day.
The collector’s edition Blu-ray was made available to order directly through Anime Limited’s online store as an early bird during the month of October, on offer for £24.99 (with the Anime Unlimited membership lowering the cost down to £22.49). However, I decided to hold off and eventually it was included in the August 2024 Summer Sale for £19.99 (£17 with a 15% Summer sale discount offer) which is where I received my copy of the set.
Physical Contents:
- Rigid Box with Amaray packaging and clean artwork
- Info sheet for specification and BBFC description
- 16-page Booklet
On-Disc Contents:
Distributor: Anime Limited
Released: 27th November 2023
The collector’s edition release for Digimon Adventure: Last Evolution Kizuna contains the film on a single Blu-ray disc and a single DVD disc, with the encode and authoring done by Shout! Factory via their release in 2020.
The audio options available include Japanese with English subtitles and the Studiopolis English dub commissioned by Shout! Factory & Toei Animation. The white subtitles are unlockable during playback for the English audio but remains locked for Japanese audio, and the regions are locked to Blu-ray players set to B and DVD players set to 2 with NTSC playback.
Blu-ray Specs:
| Languages | English, Japanese |
| Audio | English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 |
| Video | 1080p High Definition Native format 16:9 aspect ratio |
| Region | B |
| Subtitles | English |
| Locked Subtitles | Yes (Japanese), No (English) |
| Discs | 1 BD-50 |
DVD Specs:
| Languages | English, Japanese |
| Audio | English Dolby Digital 5.1 Japanese Dolby Digital 5.1 |
| Video | Standard Definition in NTSC format 16:9 aspect ratio |
| Region | 2 |
| Subtitles | English |
| Locked Subtitles | Yes (Japanese), No (English) |
| Discs | 1 |
Blu-ray On-Disc Extra Features:
- The Final Evolution: Remembering 20 Years of Digimon Adventure
- Theatrical Trailer
DVD On-Disc Extra Features:
- The Final Evolution: Remembering 20 Years of Digimon Adventure
- Theatrical Trailer
Unboxing Photos:
Final Notes:
Digimon Adventure: Last Evolution Kizuna is available to purchase on Blu-ray by Anime Limited in the UK & Ireland. The collector’s edition Blu-ray & DVD release can be bought through the AllTheAnime Store.
The standard edition is available to purchase across different retailers including Amazon UK, AllTheAnime Store, and Anime-on-Line.
(Disclaimer: Amazon links are also included when available. They are affiliated so if you decide to order them, I’ll earn a small percentage if they ship which will help me with any hauls or small bills.)
The Normanic Vault 
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