Tai Kamiya

Tai Kamiya
Digimon Adventure V-Tamer 01 (counterpart), Digimon Adventure, Digimon Adventure 02 and Digimon Adventure tri. character
Tai as originally designed for the manga V-Tamer 01
Voiced by Toshiko Fujita (Japanese)
Natsuki Hanae (Japanese, tri.)
Joshua Seth (English)
Jason Spisak (Revenge of Diaboromon, English)
Profile
Relatives Mother and father: Susumu & Yuuko Yagami (Susumu & Yuuko Kamiya in the English dub)
Sister: Hikari Yagami (Kari Kamiya in the English dub)
Date of Birth July 15, Shōwa 63 (1988)

Taichi "Tai" Kamiya, known as Taichi Yagami (八神 太一, Yagami Taichi) in Japan, is a fictional character in the multimedia franchise Digimon. He first appeared in the Digimon Adventure V-Tamer 01 manga, where he is sent to the Digital World to meet his Digimon companion Zeromaru, in order to save it from multiple enemies. An alternate version of Tai appears in Toei Company's 1999 series as the main protagonist of Digimon Adventure, a supporting character in the sequel and once again as the protagonist of the films Digimon Adventure tri.. In this timeline, Tai the leader of the first season DigiDestined. He is adventurous and a born leader, and is usually the first to spring into action. He is partnered with the dinosaur-like Agumon in the Digimon Adventure anime series.

Tai was created by manga author Tenya Yabuno from V-Tamer 01. Multiple voice actors have voiced him across the franchise. Critical reception to Tai has been positive by writers from manga and anime websites. While his role and personality in the first Digimon series has been positive, writers expressed mixed thoughts about Tai's characterization in Tri due to lacking his hotblooded personality.

Development

Tai's original character was designed by Tenya Yabuno, one of the authors of manga V-Tamer 01. He was based on Kentarou Kamon, the protagonist of the Digimon manga pilot, C'mon Digimon.[1] In the making of the first anime short based on the series, director Mamoru Hosoda wanted to focus on Tai and Kari's relationship with the Digimon that appeared in their house, Koromon. While viewers would envy the fact the protagonists for the fact that Koromon befriended them, Hosoda did not want to create explicit friendship with them as the Digimons might come across as dangerous creatures.[2]

In an exclusive interview released with the Digimon Adventure DVD box on December 21, 2007, Satoru Nishizono revealed that as the staff decided on Tai's name using kanji that related to "luck". While Tai was conceptualized as the main character, Toei wanted to focus on all the Digidestined children at the same time resulting in an assemble cast. Producer Satoru Nishizono stated that with the exception of Tai and Agumon, Toei was told to make in-depth young characters to fit's the series' viewers. The staff considered Tai to remain as a protagonist for the next sequel but instead ended as a supporting character.[3][4] For the second film, Hosoda wanted to focus on Tai's childish characterization, as he is nervous on interacting with Sora over a fight even though Tai and Izzy needed help from their Digimon to eliminate a big threat. While finding Tai's actions out of character, Hosoda wanted Tai to try his best to apologize with Sora to the point of calling it a miracle joking. Another aspect of the second film was that while the Digimon did not need to be by their partners' sides to fight, just by being together, they could solve difficult situations.[2]

For tri., Keitaro Motonaga stated the Toei staff thought about doing multiple situations which might feel out of character based on how he has aged in comparison to his previous appearances. The staff also focused on his rivaly with Matt Ishida, due to how different the two matured. Furthermore, Motonaga commented that fans that Tai was in a stage where he thought he would not be a teenager, which changed his characterization.[5] In the Digimon Adventure Tri series, Tai's teenage design is made by Atsuya Uki.[6]

In Japan, all of Tai's appearances were voiced by Toshiko Fujita. During auditions, the staff immediately chose her as they were fans of her works. Fujita liked Tai's character, due to how he cares for his sister and at the same time for his clumsy personality. She did not find difficulties in voicing Tai for the first series. She also liked the relationship between Tai and Agumon, believing it to be one of the best from the anime based on their similarities.[7] For tri, Fujita was replaced by Natsuki Hanae. During the audition, Hanae rewatched the entire first anime and the film. Ever since he was a child, Hanae was a fan of the Digimon franchise so when he was given the role for Tai, he became excited and at the same time pressured. He liked Tai, based on his bravery and his sense of justice. When reading the script, Hanae noted Tai was different from the time he appeared in the television series due to how he aged and felt this change was still natural.[8]

In the English dub, the character's name was shortened to "Tai." Joshua Seth provides his voice. He did not find any impressions, during his audition for the character with comments on how he was close to the people in the cast. He felt Tai was similar to him so he "pitched up [his voice] little bit younger". Additionally, he stated he enjoyed voicing the character.[9] However, by the time the film Revenge of Diaboromon was dubbed in English, he had retired from the voice acting industry in 2005, causing casting director Jeff Nimoy to cast Jason Spisak as his replacement, remarking how similar he sounded to Seth.[10] Seth commented that his regular is very similar to the one from Tai in Tri was not difficult as he initially thought he had to "warm" up to the character.[11]

Design

In Digimon Adventure, Tai wears a blue T-shirt with orange stars near the shoulders, a yellow pocket on each side of the chest and three yellow buttons in the top. He also wears a yellow shirt underneath his blue one, brown shorts, where he keeps his digivice, a blue headband where he puts his goggles, a black wristband on the left arm, white gloves, white socks, and blue and white sneakers with yellow triangles on them. His headband leaves a tuft of his hair out on the front. While he keeps this look in the Digimon Adventure V-Tamer 01 manga, Tai wears a cape and a wrist-mounted Digivice.

In Digimon Adventure 02, Tai usually wears the Odaiba Middle School uniform, including a white buttoned shirt with long sleeves, under an opened green shirt with long sleeves, gray pants, and white and blue sneakers. He gives his goggles to Davis on his first day in the Digital World. In the summer, he wears a green shirt under a blue T-shirt with a yellow border on the top, a yellow triangle on each sleeve, and a yellow triangle in the middle, which is cut by a yellow line. He also wears yellow wristbands on his hands, light brown shorts, gray socks, and blue and yellow sneakers with white soles. The series epilogue revealed twenty five years that Tai works as a diplomat for the United Nations, representing the Digital World. While his causal attire is yellow shirt under a zipped grayish blue jacket with a blue collar, wears blue pants and blue shoes with yellow soles, his business attire is a white shirt under a black suit, and a blue tie.

In Digimon Adventure tri., Tai wears the Odaiba High School uniform, including a black buttoned jacket, white dress shirt, blue tie, navy vest, black pants and sneakers.

Appearances

Manga

In the V-Tamer 01 story line, Tai is V-Pet trainer whose Digimon partner is a Veedramon that is named Zeromaru. Ending up in the Digital World after being summoned by MagnaAngemon, Tai accepts to aid in saving the Digital World from Daemon. During his adventures, Tai encounters Davis after he ended up in his universe, Ryo Akiyama, and Takuya Kanbara.

Anime

In the first Digimon Adventure short film, set in 1995, Tai and Kari discover a Digi-Egg hatching from Botamon to Koromon. This leads to their first encounter with Digimon. Greymon defeats Parrotmon, before they vanished. In Digimon Adventure, set in 1999, Tai, Matt, Sora, Izzy, Mimi, Joe and T.K., receive each their "Digivices", and they are sent to the Digital World. There, they befriend each partners and use them to defeat one of the Digimon villains. After Tai obtains the Crest of Courage at the Continent of Server, Agumon inadvertently transforms into SkullGreymon. Piximon teaches Tai to give in for courage. After Tai saves Sora, Agumon transforms into MetalGreymon and defeats Etemon. The reunited heroes meet Myotismon, an vampire Digimon, who sets to find Kari in the human world. As Tai and his friends protect Kari and her partner Gatomon, they seemingly destroyed Myotismon. The heroes return to the Digital World and confront the Dark Masters. After defeating Piedmon, the heroes meet Apocalymon, who destroys all tags. Though they are trapped in the data world, Tai and his friends realize that their crest symbols appear as a memory for themselves. This allows them to return to the Digital World and they defeat Apocalymon. With their worlds restored, the heroes and their Digimon partners part ways. In the Digimon short film Our War Game, while their friends are preoccupied, Tai, Izzy, Matt and T.K. confront Diaboromon, a computer virus Digimon, who accessed the Pentagon's computers to fire missiles at Tokyo. However, the power of the internet allows WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon to merge themselves into Omnimon, in order to destroy Diaboromon.

In Digimon Adventure 02, Tai becomes a high school student. He passes his goggles to Davis Motomiya, as he and the original group act as mentors, and support to the new Kids, whose membership includes their youngest members T.K and Kari. In the series epilogue, set in 2027, Tai becomes a United Nations diplomat for the Digital World and has a son with a Koromon as his partner Digimon. In the Digimon Fusion series, 11-year old Tai appears in the final arc of the series when summoned from his universe in his eleven-year-old form to aid the Fusion Fighters alongside his DigiDestined allies, the protagonists of Digimon Tamers, the Legendary Warriors from Digimon Frontier, and the DATS agents from Digimon Data Squad during the battle against Quartzmon.

In Digimon Adventure tri., Tai and his friends attend Tsukishima General High School. They learn from their teacher and agent, Daigo Nishijima, that a mysterious virus are infecting every Digimon, and causing distortions between the human world and the Digital World. After recruiting Meiko Mochizuki, they learn that her partner, Meicoomon, is the cause of the infection and the distortion to both worlds. Though their Digimon partners sacrifice themselves to prevent Meicoomon from entering the human world, the Digital World becomes rebooted. Tai and his friends return to the Digital World, and reunite with their partners. After falling from the cliff and ending up through the underground laboratory, Nishijima sacrifices himself to save Tai, Davis, Yolei, Cody and Ken. After Tai reunites with his friends, they rescue Gatomon and destroy Meiccomon. This allows Homeostasis to delete King Drasil, a host computer-like being.

In other media

Tai appears in several Digimon video games released by Namco Bandai.

In Japan, several image songs were released under Tai's name. "Yuki wo Tsubasa ni Shite" (勇気を翼にして) was performed by Toshiko Fujita and released on March 24, 2000 on the compilation CD album Digimon Adventure: Best Hit Parade.[12] For Digimon Adventure 02, a character CD single was released on June 21, 2000 under Tai's name and contained his theme song, "Atarashi Taiyo" (新しい太陽) and a duet with Agumon titled "Team", with Fujita providing Tai's voice once again.[13] On August 1, 2009, a CD album titled Digimon 10th Anniversary: The Bridge to Dreams (デジモン 10th ANNIVERSARY -夢への架け橋-) was released to celebrate the show's 10th anniversary, with Fujita returning to perform "Towa ni Tsuzuke!!" (永久に続け!!) under Tai's name.[14] For Digimon Adventure Tri, Tai's theme song, "Eien no Puzzle" (永遠のパズル), was performed by Natsuki Hanae and was released in the compilation album Digimon Adventure tri. Charater Songs: DigiDestined version (デジモンアドベンチャー tri.キャラクターソング「選ばれし子どもたち編」) on April 10, 2017, which peaked at #74 on the Oricon Weekly Charts.[15]

Tai appears in the audio dramas, Digimon Adventure Original Story: 2½ Year Break and Digimon Adventure 02 Original Story: 2003 -Spring- (both released only in Japan). In the manga, he appears in Digimon Adventure V-Tamer 01 and Digimon Xros Wars.

Tai is portrayed by Gaku Matsumoto in the 2.5D musical stage play.

Angela Anaconda features Angela wearing a caricature of Tai's attire in the episode "Good Seats", which first appeared in Digimon: The Movie.

Critical reception

In a series of online polls conducted on Toei Animation's Digimon website, Tai was ranked 3rd by Japanese voters as their favorite DigiDestined.[16] When the same question was asked three more times, his rank fell to 6th,[17] rose to 4th,[18] and finally landed at 5th.[19] IGN listed him as 62nd best animated character, praising his ability to admit his mistakes and his relationship with his Digimon partner, Agumon, which made one of the most popular characters from the 90s.[20] In a poll he was voted as the 5th "Which catcher/trainer would take home the gold?"[21]

Multiple writers for manga and anime have commented on Tai's character. IGN listed how Tai forces Agumon to evolve into SkullGreymon as one of the best moments from the first Digimon anime. Additionally, Tai and Koromon's brief return to the real world as listed as another moment due to Tai's brief interactions with his younger sister, Kari.[22] Anime News Network highly praised Tai's character in the first series due to how he matures as a kid due to how he takes care of his sister most notably when she was sick and he got tired of seeing her inside the house while her parents were busy at work. Additionally, the site commented on Tai and Yamato's misrelationship due to their multiple differences that made them often clash.[23] Retro Junk liked for how he looks after his group and that despite his issues, his friends respect him.[24] THEM Anime Reviews liked the rivalry between Tai and Yamato, citing that at the same time both are similar character due to the two of them being big brothers who are often worried about their siblings.[25] The same site also praised Joshua Seth for giving making Tai more appealing. Adam "OMEGA" Arnold from Animefringe praised the amount of focus given to Tai's character in the trilogy film Digimon: The Movie alongside other present characters.[26] Shamus Kelley from Den of Geek also acclaimed Seth's acting in the movie due to the multiple emotions Tai shows across the trilogy as well as how the character tries to handle his relationship with Sora.[27] In the book Digimon Power: The Ultimate Guide to the Coolest New Monster Game! a young reader expressed he liked Tai's character design for how large and spiky is his hair.[28] In the book Anime Classics Zettai!: 100 Must-See Japanese Animation Masterpieces, Brian Camp stated that Tai's apparent relationship with Sora who is later revealed to be interested into Matt was well handled as due to the characters' ages in contrast to other Western series.[29]

Tai's characterization in Tri. resulted in mixed comments by Jacob Hope Chapman from Anime News Network due his new hesitations which might not appeal to viewers of the series.[30] While feeling it as part of Tai's character arc Christian Chiok from Japanator found Tai's traits out of character contrasting previous Digimon main characters.[31] However, there were positive comments by Shamus Kelley from Den of Geek approved of Tai's new character arc noting that Tri focuses on personal responsibility and his potential for character growth.[32] DVDTalk's writer Chris Zimmerman praised the still ongoing arguments between Tai and Yamato in Tri as fans from the first Digimon series would still find it memorable due to the history between these two characters.[33] Otaku USA noted the arguments between these two characters as well and stated "Tai is actually the character who seems to be suffering from arrested development the most".[34] Kelley complained about Tai and Yamato's still ongoing conflict in the next films commenting there were already enough in the first film and the possibility that Tai did not have character development in such movie.[35] For the next film, Kelley readdressed such issues that were more present in the movie.[36] In a Coexistence review, Anime Now's Richard Eisenbeis believes Tai managed to fully mature during the climax of the film due to his decisions in regards to who is the enemy, contrasting the original series where it was more obvious where Tai, as a kid, could easily is the enemy.[37]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Yabuno, Tenya (1999). Digimon V-Tamer 01.
  2. 1 2 Digimon Movie Book (in Japanese). Shueisha. 2001. pp. 111–119. ISBN 978-4087790955.
  3. ↑ "Memories of Our Digimon Adventure, Part 6" July 24, 2014
  4. ↑ "Memories of Our Digimon Adventure, Part 6". Archived from the original on 2010-10-11. Retrieved 2010-12-26.
  5. ↑ "Digimon Adventure Tri Interview". Otomedia. No. February 2016. Gakken Plus.
  6. ↑ "New Digimon Anime's Staff, Key Visual, Title Unveiled". Anime News Network. Retrieved 13 December 2014.
  7. ↑ "Memories of Our Digimon Adventure, Part 1" July 24, 2014
  8. ↑ "Digimon Adventure Tri Interview". Otomedia. No. August 2016. Gakken Plus. pp. 58–59.
  9. ↑ Minor, Jordan. "Digimon's Joshua Seth on Blowing Minds and Reuniting With Digital Monsters". Geek. Retrieved August 18, 2017.
  10. ↑ "Retrospective with Jeff Nimoy". Digipedia.db-destiny.net. Retrieved 2015-03-16.
  11. ↑ "Joshua Seth Interview: Digimon's Tai Returns". Den of Geek. Retrieved August 1, 2017.
  12. ↑ "デジモンアドベンチャー ベストヒットパレード". Oricon (in Japanese). Retrieved 2018-10-12.
  13. ↑ "新しい太陽". Oricon (in Japanese). Retrieved 2018-10-12.
  14. ↑ "デジモン 10th ANNIVERSARY -夢への架け橋-". Oricon (in Japanese). Retrieved 2018-10-12.
  15. ↑ "デジモンアドベンチャー tri.キャラクターソング「選ばれし子どもたち編」(初回限定盤)". Oricon (in Japanese). Retrieved 2018-10-12.
  16. ↑ "デジモンランキング第１回結果発表". Toei-anim.co.jp. Retrieved 2015-03-16.
  17. ↑ "デジモンランキング第９回結果発表". Toei-anim.co.jp. Retrieved 2015-03-16.
  18. ↑ "デジモンランキング第１８回結果発表". Toei-anim.co.jp. Retrieved 2015-03-16.
  19. ↑ "無題ドキュメント". Toei-anim.co.jp. Retrieved 2015-03-16.
  20. ↑ "Tai Kamiya". IGN. Retrieved August 18, 2017.
  21. ↑ "6 Most Dangerous Military Institutions". Anime News Network. Retrieved March 31, 2018.
  22. ↑ "LOS 10 MOMENTOS MÍTICOS DE DIGIMON ADVENTURE" (in Spanish). IGN. August 9, 2016. Retrieved August 18, 2017.
  23. ↑ "Why We Still Love Digimon". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on October 25, 2016. Retrieved August 18, 2017.
  24. ↑ "Digimon Adventure". Retrojunk. Archived from the original on December 4, 2014. Retrieved August 18, 2017.
  25. ↑ "Digimon S1: Digimon: Digital Monsters". THEM Anime Reviews. Archived from the original on February 10, 2015. Retrieved August 18, 2017.
  26. ↑ "Digimon: The Movie". Archived from the original on February 22, 2014. Retrieved August 18, 2017.
  27. ↑ Kelley, Shamus. "10 Reasons Digimon: The Movie is Flawless". Den of Geek. Dennis Publishing Ltd. Retrieved August 18, 2017.
  28. ↑ Schlesinger, Hank (2014). Digimon Power: The Ultimate Guide to the Coolest New Monster Game!. St. Martin's Paperback. ASIN B00KP86AZ6.
  29. ↑ Camp, Brian (2007). Anime Classics Zettai!: 100 Must-See Japanese Animation Masterpieces. Stone Bridge Press. ISBN 978-1933330228.
  30. ↑ "Digimon Adventure tri. Episodes 1-4 Streaming". Anime News Network. 21 November 2015. Retrieved 2 September 2016.
  31. ↑ "Review: Digimon Adventure tri: Reunion Blu-Ray Set". Japanator. June 23, 2017. Retrieved August 18, 2017.
  32. ↑ Kelley, Shamus. "Digimon Adventure tri.: Reunion Review". Den of Geek. Dennis Publishing Ltd. Retrieved 28 September 2016.
  33. ↑ "Digimon Adventure Tri.: Reunion (Blu-ray)". DVDTalk. May 16, 2017. Retrieved August 18, 2017.
  34. ↑ "Review Digimon Adventure tri.: Reunion Reluctantly Grows Up". Otaku USA. May 11, 2017. Retrieved August 18, 2017.
  35. ↑ Kelley, Shamus. "Digimon Adventure tri.: Reunion Review". Den of Geek. Dennis Publishing Ltd. Retrieved August 18, 2017.
  36. ↑ Kelley, Shamus. "Digimon Adventure tri.: Loss Review". Den of Geek. Dennis Publishing Ltd. Retrieved August 18, 2017.
  37. ↑ Eisenbeis, Richard. "The New Chapter of Digimon Adventure tri Is All About the Crushing Weight of Responsibility". Anime Now. Retrieved October 13, 2017.
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