Honestly, I really enjoyed this show. A lot of it is nostalgia, sure. But to me, this is the best season of Digimon since at least Frontier, and it's the first one in a while that felt like Digimon to me. For that alone, I had a really good time.

This season was intended for a younger audience, and also to cash in on the Yokai Watch hype, and for that reason it's really, really basic. The tone is much lighter than any other season, the dialogue features a lot of catchphrases and running gags, the characters are not as multi-dimensional as in some seasons, there are a LOT of episodic "filler" episodes, and the final arc kicks in way too late. That said, I enjoyed the fillers for the most part. A lot of that comes down to the characters, music, and overall tone of the series, which I enjoyed. Digimon, has, to an extent, always been a formulaic series, and while each season alters the formula a bit, within each series there's a definite script for how each episode should play out. From the perspective of a Digimon fan, that's what you expect, so you can't really hold it against any particular iteration.

I think this show really nailed it with the character designs, I love the main four and they each got an appropriate amount of focus, instead of the situation in some seasons where 1 or 2 protagonists steal the spotlight from the rest. The Digimon partners are great as well, my favorite being Musimon (I love the entire line, and this Digimon's attitude, in general), and despite how weird and ugly-cute Appmon designs can get, I think all 5 of the partner Digimon are all-time greats from the franchise. Offmon was a nice late-game addition, and one of the cutest partner Digmon ever.

Like mentioned before, the characters are a bit simple, but all memorable and likeable, and I liked their gags (Astra and Eri's catchphrases; Rei drinking chocolate milk; Offmon's entire shtick). I warmed up to Haru and Yuujin even, by the end. I wish other seasons had casts as consistent as these. What I really appreciate is that the kids really are all friends, and there's not much humor about them bickering and hitting each other like you might expect. The closest thing to a typical shonen rivalry is Eri and Astra, but they clearly have a mutual respect and are pretty buddy-buddy with each other by the last arc of the show. Appmon is definitely one of the more low-stakes seasons for most of its run, and I enjoyed the fact that the chosen children are more mellow than usual. Haru as a leader is a nice change; instead of being hot-headed and combative, he's quiet and polite, which really changes the whole dynamic (this was sort of done with Takato, but he had a lot of insecurities that are not present in Haru's character, so the vibe is completely different). I like how he slowly grows into a competent and reliable leader, instead of arriving as one fully-formed like many shonen protagonists do; this is one of the pros of having a more chill, lighthearted season.

The relationships within each pair of partners are also excellent. This is, to me, the core of any Digimon season (I liked Frontier, but, let's be honest, it wasn't the same). The partners are always a great fit, and the slice of life episodes are all the more enjoyable for it. I didn't like that Xros wars opted for having more Digimon (meaning less focus on any one human-Digimon pair), so returning to the old formula was very much welcome. I do feel like Digimon has evolved past the need for the cheerleader role though, as other seasons have added elements to fix this (bio merge, for example), but I don't mind it that much.

The last arc was genuinely good, and it went in a way that I wasn't exactly expecting. There are some savvy nods to the history of computing, and the apocalyptic atmosphere of the last 5 or so episodes worked. It went beyond the bare minimum as far as a premise goes, and I liked that it dealt with topics that Digimon specifically is really equipped to handle (the relationship between humans and technology, singularity, etc). By setting the series in the future, we get to have some glimpses of a version of our world even more reliant on technology, which is cool. The main cast including a Youtuber, an idol, and a hacker, as opposed to ordinary kids, is neat too. Didn't know where else to put this, but I loved the music as well.

I appreciated that this was a real reboot, though I'd be lying if I said the shoutout to the original series wasn't one of my favorites. I'll always appreciate that every Digimon season is different, and I would be very sad if that didn't continue to be the case. Overall, I'm very fond of this show, and will definitely come back to it at some point, though probably will avoid a lot of the filler episodes. It's nice to enjoy a new Digimon season again.