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Time After Digimon Tamers, 2018 - 2021

In 2018 Digimon Tamers Blu-ray box was released in Japan together with a new audio Drama CD, written by Chiaki Konaka. The story ends on a cliffhanger and gets a sequel in form of a live script read at the DigiFes 2021, which sets the continuaton of the story in year 2021.

Quotes from the 2018 Drama CD are taken from Onkei's translations and the 2021 live script was translated by The Wild Bunch.

[drama cd] Digimon Tamers: days ~information and the unordinary~ / 2018 /


STORY SYNOPSIS: It's been seventeen years since Tamers and their Digimon stopped D-Reaper's invasion and the Digimon returned to the Digital World. Predicting a new threat to the real world Yamaki founds Nyx, an intervention organization that would deal with the threat - the "pure evil" program called Malice Bot that was growing in the deepest depths of the digital network and was now breaking the barrier between the two worlds. Yamaki summons the three Tamers for help but since Takato had been missing since 2017 (he left to travel the world in hopes to find Guilmon) only the now adult Rika and Henry respond. Yamaki uses a new device called the Re-Animator to summon Takato from the Digital World but a 14-year-old Takato appears. They then successfully summon Guilmon and Terriermon as well, but Renamon's whereabouts remain unknown. The Malice Bot attacks Tokyo, Tamers face their new opponent and defeat it, however the enemy sounds exactly like Renamon.

Rika's life in 2004

It's revealed that the trio is 28 years old in 2018, which means they were born in 1990 ((the year I was born as well, which somehow makes me so so happy!)). The anime was never explicitly set in 2001 (just the 2000s) but that was the year it came out in Japan. The last episode must be taking place a year later in 2002 and the beginning of the 2018 Drama CD is explicitly set in 2004, two years after the serie's ending.

Takato and Juri are walking home together, talking about their friends, realising they haven't seen them for a while.

JURI: Hmm... Hey, have you seen Lee-kun and Ruki lately?
TAKATO: Now that I think of it, not really...
JURI: It's harder to meet up when we're in different middle schools*, huh?
...
JURI: Do you think Guilmon and the others are doing well...?
TAKATO: It's hard to believe that two years have gone by since then...

*The outline of the Drama CD even reveals Rika's middle school: "They [Takato and Juri] haven't seen much of Jian and Ruki lately, since Jian has gone to a private prep school and Ruki attends Kagurazaka's All-Girls College's middle school section."

Rika's life in 2018

Takato goes past Guilmon's old home, gets sucked into a mysterious light there and wakes up as a 14-year-old in Yamaki's Nyx. The story continues in the year 2018.

TAKATO (as a 14-year-old): Um, so that means... Jian and Ruki are twenty-eight years old right now? You guys look really grown-up, but at the same time, it's like you haven't changed...

We get some info on Rika's life in the past seventeen years from the CD outline and the story itself as well.

Makino Ruki (age 28) // CV: Orikasa Fumiko
She debuts as a fashion model because of her mother's strong hopes, but has become a FMX (freestyle motocross) rider that does games with boys.


(one of the fanarts shown on DigiFes 2021; the only one I've found with Rika as an FMX rider)

TAKATO: I see… What about you, Ruki? What have you been doing?
RUKI: Me? Um… When I entered university, my mom forced me to work as a model. But I got easily bored with it, so I did freestyle motocross instead. I guess challenging others is what I like most.

Not only does she compete in an extreme sports discipline, she appearantly does it with men as well. She always was going for the boundaries and although she told Renamon she didn't want to fight anymore, not even in a card game, I guess she couldn't just stay still (quite literarily, when we think of her modelling job). I wonder to what extent her being an FMX rider has to do with her coping with losing Renamon, since Takato and Henry too have somehow dedicated their lives to reunite with their Digimon (we don't know what Takato did until 2017 but he then left to search for Guilmon and Henry becomes the head of Nyx by 2021). It is clear though that Rika never got over Renamon's disappearance: "Ruki had put distance between herself and the digital world, but thinks that her true nature is being a Tamer and answers [Yamaki's] call."

Unfortunatelly we don't know what she was studying at the university but the fact that she got into modelling on her mom's behalf tells me their relationship continued to improve. I really like that she tried modelling and then went for something that suited her more. I'd be disappointed if the writers attributed her "tomboyish" personality to her young age and made her find something (stereotypically) more feminine in herself when she got older (like they did with Sora, never forget, although okay it did a bit more sense for her I guess?).

Digimon Tamers 2021 (live script read on DigiFes 2021)

The Japanese cast reunited for a live script reading at DigiFes 2021, which took place on August 1st, and featured the sequel to the 2018 Drama CD.

The content of the script stirred up a big controversy with Tamers' new enemy being political correctness that's using cancel culture as an attack to fight them. In a pamphlet sold on-site of DigiFes there was a short interview with Chiaki Konaka, who also wrote the controversial piece, in which he states that: "The script reading can only be seen by those who come to the event or for a limited time via streaming, so I felt that I shouldn't make a formal sequel to the drama CD. This reading can't be treated as official canon, so if I were to do a straightforward, normal script reading, it wouldn't feel properly like Tamers. So I came up with a meta concept that would convey the Tamers line of thought" (translated by The DigiLab).

Although we shouldn't treat the live script as a canon (I assume that mostly goes for Tamers fighting actually materialised political correctness, ah so bizarre), there is some more info we get about the trio and their Digimon that I'd like to talk about here.

Rika's life in 2021

It's been three years since their fight against the Malice Bot and Tamers meet again. Once again it's the now 31-year-old Rika and Henry and the 14-year-old Takato. Rika and Henry (now the head of Nyx) meet first and we find out Rika got into bouldering (a form of free climbing performed on small rock formations or artificial rock walls without using ropes or harnesses).

RUKI: Jian!
JIAN: Ruki, you're already here!
Ruki, I heard you've been teaching kids lately? What's it called again? Climbing that cliff--
RUKI: Bouldering. I wanted to go at it on my own, but elementary school kids began coming by and I started offering them a little advice here and there.
JIAN: Well, you do have a remarkably caring side. I was a bit surprised though.
RUKI: In times like these, the kids will need to train up their bodies. There might even come a time when we need more Tamers.
JIAN: Wow, you were thinking of that? You have a point. It might be a good idea for Tamers to have a coach.

I actually like the idea of Rika coaching future Tamers (a new Digimon season in future maybe?). And I like her reasoning for coaching those kids that doesn't necessarily only show her caring side. While Henry seems to always like to point out her caring side (like he did in episode 20 when they were looking for Impmon), it's Impmon later on that's not so impressed by it (or at least acts not to be) when the Tamers hesitate to fight the new enemy:

IMPMON: What the heck is wrong with you guys?! Good grief, I couldn't watch this anymore. ... Unlike you guys, we're Digimon! We never get wrinkly!
RUKI: Hey, watch your mouth! Are you picking a fight?
IMPMON: Now that's what I wanna see! That's who you are, Ruki! You still consider yourself a Tamer, right? Coaching doesn't match your style at all!
RUKI: Well, if Renamon were here...

I don't really agree with Impmon regarding Rika's style, since we've seen her evolve throughout the series and become more of a team player (teaching Juri how to play Digimon cards was one of those moments) and I do believe Rika wouldn't hesitate to fight when necessary if she still had Renamon with her. However, she is the first one to respond and lends her smartphone and the evolution card (the former can now be used as D-Power appearantly) to both Takato (2018) and Juri (2021).

RUKI: What are you guys doing? You're Tamers, aren't you?!
JIAN: That's... a Digimon card!

Renamon's disappearance

GUILMON: Where do you think Renamon went?
TERRIERMON: It's strange, isn't it? We haven't seen her for a long time.

...

RUKI: Eh? Renamon? Where's Renamon?
TERRIERMON: Well... Renamon apparently disappeared from the digital world a while back.
RUKI: What?
JIAN: Then could she be in the real world?
TERRIERMON: I don't know...

Renamon's voice actor, Yuka Imai, retired from the industry by 2018, which is the reason Renamon doesn't appear in the 2018 Drama CD. ((I just noticed she also lent her voice to both Rika's mom and grandma, wow!)) I really like how the story itself had to be written considering the original voice actors (the reason Takato stays a 14-year-old is because Makoto Tsumura could never sound like a grown up man). I think they wrote a really compelling story considering the situation, however rereading Rika's message to Renamon and knowing it's been 20 years by 2021 since they've last seen or heard eachother, breaks my heart TT.

JIAN: By the way, Ruki... You wanted to talk to me before the others got here?
RUKI: Huh? Oh... yeah...
I didn't want to be abrupt about it, but...
JIAN: Is it about Renamon?
RUKI: Yeah... Terriermon comes to visit all the time, so why...
JIAN: I always have my searches out looking, since I've been wondering too, but...
RUKI: It's been 20 years now...
JIAN: Renamon will be fine! She's a strong one.

Renamon's whereabouts are unknown even to Guilmon and Terriermon, although they seem to know she's not in the Digital World anymore. In Digimon Tamers 2021 Terriermon is convinced Renamon is okay and is just training somewhere (TERRIERMON: "Momentai, Ruki. I bet Renamon is just off training somewhere."). However, when the Malice Bot appears and they do damage to it, it sounds to the Tamers a lot like Renamon.

[MALICE BOT moans]
JIAN: What an incredible voice...
RUKI: Is it crying...? [gasps] No way! What is that?!
JIAN: It can't be...
TERRIERMON: Renamon? Is that Renamon?
TAKATO: The Malice Bot is Renamon?

It's not clear if the enemy only imitates Renamon's voice but the question isn't brought up again in the 2021 script. Renamon is still missing in 2021, however the script does end on a more positive note regarding her. Guilmon goes missing as well (JIAN: "Wait, he's not completely untraceable like Renamon. Guilmon's ID can be seen at certain points.") but Takato gets a message from him in the end, in which it seems he's trying to tell them he's with Renamon but doesn't know where.

Voice transmission from the Digital World, addressed to Matsuda Takato.
TAKATO: What?
GUILMON'S VOICE: Takato!
TAKATO: Guilmon! Guilmon, where are you?
GUILMON: Don't really know, but... Right now, Guilmon is... ... Renamon is...
RUKI: What? Renamon?! Are you with Renamon?!
GUILMON: ...with Renamon...

We also get a confirmation that the Digimon successfully received the messages their Tamers sent a year after their disappearance:

JURI: ... When you all returned to the Digital World, we sent you messages. Jian's father and his group turned them into packets and sent them to you.
CULUMON: I know that, culu! Culumon heard them, culu!

It's probably not realistic to expect a continuation of this story (especially considering the 2021 sequel isn't supposed to be canon) but I do believe Rika and Renamon will meet again one day. <3

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