I agree. While funny to imagine, it treads a bit to close to bringing NERV into the digimon side of things, at least to my mind. Maybe if the Final Villain turned out to be MAGI, like Yggdrasil in Savers was a computer system, it could make sense, but only as a late game thing.
Well the digital world comes from the spread of computers, the MAGI are very powerful computers, and they're based on Naoko, so it isn't as far fetched as one might think. Not sure about "Empress" but there could be a powerful digimon based on her and her personality. More fittingly, there could be a triad of digimons based on her, one for each MAGI. After all, they aren't directly based on Naoko but rather the MAGI computers, so having 3 makes more sense. I definitely second the idea of a few "warm up" villains like the first two series had in Devimon and Ken. Having "angel like" villains would be pushing it a little to far though. Go for something more classic; you could even have it be a villain from one of the canon series; it isn't like those happened in this universe. And now I want to rewatch those series and maybe even the later ones. Dang it.
You want to keep the two plots basically seperate, right? With the kids having their adventure in the digiworld and then returning to fight the Angels without the digimon getting involved? If that's the case, then let's do this. Naoko Akagi was the first to discover the Digital World, stumbling upon it while working with the MAGI. She began to secretly explore it, using what would become Rei's memory upload device to create a digital avatar for herself and look around without actually travelling to the place and taking all the risks that would entail. Then she does the whole murder/suicide thing. Without the real Naoko around, the avatar, being in the Digital World, develops a mind of its own. It thinks it's the real Naoko Akagi and believes that Gendo has somehow trapped her in the Digital World. She makes the most of it, conquering a large swath of digiworld and becoming the Digital Empress. When the kids show up, though, she figures that perhaps the pathway between the worlds has been opened, and starts to pursue them, planning to make her tell them where it is and how to get through it. There's no need for her to ever succeed in making it to the real world, and she'd make an awesome villian for Rei to overcome.
This is gold. A Naoko-derived triad as endgame villains would be a great way to top off Rei's arc for the digimon portion. And having it be the MAGI actually does make sense given Yggdrasil, the D-Reaper, and the role ENIAC plays in the mess with Ryo. Digimon is a pretty good show. I would rank the seasons in this order: 1. Tamers 2. Adventure 3. Savers 4. Xros Wars 5. Frontier 6. Xros Wars 2 7. Adventure 02 Although I'm not done with Xros Wars 2 yet, and haven't rewatched Adventure or Tamers yet either.
They wouldn't have to be villains, but they easily could be. If you didn't want to make them villains, they could be sears or prophets. After all, the word "magi" seems to come from a latin word for followers of a certain practices of astrology (and magic). Otherwise having them be a trio of (evil) "digital kings" could work, as Christian mythos often calls the three magi "the three kings," so it would fit with the theme of Eva taking stuff from Christianity and interpreting it rather loosely. Adventures was the first series aired, the one with Tai and Agumon as the gogglehead, right? Tamers had the D-Reaper and was the darkest if I remember correctly. Which one had the "spirits" the kids merged with to become the digimon, Savers for Frontier? That was the last one I watched. Some Tamers inspired plot would probably work best for an Eva fusion because the tones fit better, but it runs into the problems of not necessarily fixing the pilots' problems and potentially breaking them further instead. Something based on Adventure would probably help them work out their issues the fastest with the various positive emotion oriented crests that they have to activate to get their digivolutions. I still think Shinji should get courage just to make him grow into it (assuming this is to fix their issues). Likewise kindness would go the furthest towards helping Asuka. I've got no suggestion for Rei.
I recently re-watched Adventure. While I still enjoyed it a lot, I spotted a lot of significant flaws that I didn't notice back when I was a kid. The villians are often really damn stupid, especially Devimon; you almost think that guy was trying to help the digidestined overcome him and become stronger. Gatomon accepts that she's Kari's digimon and switches sides way too easily. That said, it's still fun, and it very rarely feels corny, which is pretty remarkable, given that it's a kid's show that features the characters learning various life lessons as they go along. I would more think the Crest of Love for Asuka. One of the major themes of Eva was that you had to expose yourself to a chance of pain to form a loving connection people, and I think that Asuka embodied the inability to do that more than any of the other characters. She couldn't make herself vulnerable for even a moment, which was why any move she made toward Shinji was ultimately self-defeating (e.g. the whole "let's kiss because I'm bored" scene). She threw herself at Kaji, of course, but I always thought that was because she didn't truly love him, and was confident that while he'd probably reject her, he would do it in a gentle manner. Plus, Sora had mommy issues. Mommy issues that were laughably minor next to Asuka's, but still.
Found it! The Digimon crossover ideas start on post #1948 of the first thread on this page, and continues on and off to about this page . . . I think. To be honest I'm just too tired to continue reading. (That said, there are some really cool ideas back then that we should really revisit.) Though, Aranfan, I gotta thank you for bringing this idea up again. Now I can't can't get this song out of my head, and I can't say that's a bad thing.
Alright having gone on a bit of a Saint Seiya kick recently due to the release of Omega I just had to post this. The Holy Wars of the 20th Century once again brought Sanctuary to the brink of annihilation. Weary and exhausted, but still refusing to break before the overwhelming odds before them the Saints rebuild once more, as they have done each time they were faced with catastrophe. Then the world was threatened, not by the cruelties of the Old Gods, but by the actions of foolish men playing with forces they had no comprehension of. Third Impact and the wars resulting from it nearly accomplished what even the Gods had not done, the destruction of the Sanctuary and the order of Saints that had protected the world since The Time of Myth. But yet again they rebuilt. Years later whilst traveling in Japan a Saint found a young boy abandoned by his father and living in despair, yet this boy held a particularly strong Cosmos. Offered the chance to become something more he gladly took it. 2015: Bronze Saint Unicorn Shinji steps foot into Tokyo 3. Yes I went there. Needless to say the Angels will be the least of Nerv's concern, as if I were to ever write this (unlikely as I have other things to do at the moment) I am going the same way as Omega and reviving Mars/Aries. And does anyone else think that the purple Unicorn Cloth fits Shinji too well? I mean seriously, someone else in this vast Internet had to have the same idea at one point in time.
Reading through that thread reminded me of some of the good ideas we had, espeacily with the toiju having to turn evil thing, and I still like the idea of the time difference between the words being enough that if the kids spend 5 days real time in the digital world, 10 years would pass for them. And having the stat point be when there 14, not 10, seems more workable if you want the two series to mix more.
Oh, I noticed that when I was watching for the first time. As I said before, I don't think Crests are really necessary. I don't really want the series to mix more. I want the biggest effects of the Children's adventure in the digital world to be that some of their issues have been resolved before Eva starts. I also want a large time difference, but mostly so that the kids can spend a few months adventuring in the digital world and be back before anyone notices they're gone.
I dont really see the point in keeping the series separate though, even if the pilots social issues are fixed, that literally the smallest issue that the eva world has, and wont stop 3rd impact. And the old plan was for them to spend 10 years in the digital world, pulling a narina so to speak. Hmmm, what would Gendo do if he finds out theres a world based on dreams, and the dreams can come true.
Actually, Rei becoming more of an individual, and her helping to save a world, probably would help stop 3I. As to the old plan, people change a lot in ten years, especially teens. Having them be in the digital world that long is tantamount to replacing them with older OCs.
It would if we went with the tv show, but in rebuild it would only make it more likely. And if we show the character development, and make it logical, it wont be replacing them.
The Rebuild is about to get dark. Shinji's already decided he doesn't want to exist anymore, and is using Rei as a crutch. Rei doesn't even know whether she wants to live or die. Shikinami just had her main coping device blow up in her face just for doing a good deed, she's going to be pissed/suicidally depressed. Kaworu is made of rape, and his first act in the tetralogy is to spear Shinji from behind.
It's also the only realistic way for them to get over their problems. The Children have deep-seeded mental issues that simply can't be solved in the span of a few months.
Its what I like about this actually. Most people wave a magic wand and make people get over their deep seat mental issues. Or have them pop their cherry. One of the other. This way you can have a slow build up and have it make sense.
New trailer showed unit 2 alive, and doing space combat. The ten year plan is going to be really hard to write well though, are we up for that?
You know what else explodes into a mountain of coins (well, a few) when it's killed, and are from a series made by Gainax? Ghosts. Asuka: "These revised plug suits are stupid! And I am not turning my... my underthings into a weapon!" Shinji: "I have to agree with her! It's a bad idea!" Rei: "What is the problem?"
If it's any consolation, you don't have to show every little bit of character development, just enough to show that the character development is happening (that's still a lot, but it's less) over the course of the years.
Hmmm, yeah, how many arcs do we want to have them go through in the digital world, how many main groups of villains, looking back over my past ideas.... I think I over plotted it
[spoiler]Shikinami doesn't identify with Unit-02 the way Sohryu did. She told Misato that if she liked Unit-03 to get it repainted red. She does use the Eva's as a coping device when her problems get too much. And, you do realize she was the test pilot for Unit-03 right? Mari is the one who trashed Unit-02, while Shikinami was lying on a slab somewhere with the lovely designation of 'specimen'.[/spoiler]
I was thinking of a four arc scheme over the course of the series. The first arc would have them deal with Iruel, the second would have them dealing with Touji and other villains over the course of years, the third arc sees them return home to deal with the Angels, and then the final arc comes about with the 'mon who was Touji's boss revealing his plan to rewrite reality while Seele reveals their own plans to . . . rewrite reality.
