Yamato "Matt" Ishida

Yamato "Matt" Ishida (石田 ヤマト) is a in the  and  series Digimon Adventure and Digimon Adventure 02. He is a partnered to, and the bearer of the Crest of Friendship.

Appearance
In 1995, Matt is a young boy with blond spiky hair and blue eyes. He wears a blue shirt with light blue raglan sleeves and a white collar.

His pajamas include a green shirt with long sleeves.

By 1999, Matt is much taller. He now wears a sleeveless green shirt, brown gloves, jeans pants, brown shoes with gray soles, and briefs of undetermined color.

After taking a bath in illusionary mansion, he wears a blue bath robe over his underwear, which is later revealed to an illusion.

On March 4, 2000, he wears a buttoned wine-colored shirt, and dark blue pants.

Description
Matt starts out as a secretive loner whose Digimon partner is. His younger brother, Takeru "T.K." Takaishi, is also one of the eight DigiDestined, but their parents are divorced and so they cannot spend much time together. He is very protective of T.K., and often acts harshly when T.K. is in trouble. Matt is the bearer of the Crest of Friendship.

Matt dislikes.

Etymologies
Name used in Japanese materials. Officially romanized in Digimon Adventure: Official Encyclopedia II.
 * Yamato Ishida (石田 ヤマト)
 * Ja: Ishida (石田). Japanese surname that means "stone field". "Ishi" is shared with "Takaishi".
 * Ja: Yamato (ヤマト). A Japanese masculine name. With Takeru, it is a reference to.

Name used in the English dub of Digimon Adventure.
 * Yamato "Matt" Ishida
 * Matt. Derived from "Yamato".

Anime
In 1995, Matt lives in Highton View Terrace with his parents, Hiroaki Ishida and Nancy, and his younger brother, T.K.. One night that year, the siblings witness the battle between and. This event caused them to be chosen to be among the new. The destruction created by the battle caused it to be labeled a terrorist attack, and the Ishida's moved away from the area.

Matt's parents divorced before the events of Digimon Adventure. His father took him while his mother took his brother, T.K. He and his father moved to, where his father works as a consultant at the Network, Inc. building.

Matt was good friends with the group leader Tai Kamiya, as well as his rival, leading to a significant internal conflict throughout the journey, mainly over whether or not Tai is a better older brother to T.K. or leader than he was. Matt is more protective and concerned about the group as a whole, sometimes to the point of being aggressive or violently overbearing, causing more conflict when compared to Tai's headstrong strategy.

He is the holder of the Crest of Friendship (友情の紋章 yūjō no monshō), which activated when Joe risked his life to save T.K. from a Vegiemon and was then being strangled by it. Matt remembered how he had berated Joe earlier for constantly making mistakes and keeping them both stuck working in a diner to pay off the bill for Joe's meal, especially his accusation that Joe was making these mistakes on purpose. Realizing that, he also realized that he could not win his battles alone (a revelation that was finalized in his mind much later in the series) and needed the help of everyone, including Joe.

When the DigiDestined traveled back into the Real World, he had one encounter with his mother, which did not go well. Although T.K. was ecstatic to have his whole family together (if only for a minute), Matt refused to say much more than "Hey Mom" to her. This encounter revealed lingering resentments in him that continue even after he returns to the Digital World. In the novelization, it is not because he resents his mother, but because he refuses to betray his father.

Upon returning to the Digital World, he became angry when he thought T.K. no longer needed him and decided to leave the group for a while. He was persuaded by that Tai was his enemy, which culminated into a major fight between them. He returned briefly to save the group from before disappearing again. Towards the end of the series, he fell into a pit of darkness and was forced to realize that his parents' divorce broke his heart and made him resort to solitude. He refused to let anyone see him cry, which caused him to push away from potential friends. Gabumon helped him to understand that everything would be alright and that he was valuable. Matt then rejoined the party just in time for the final battle.

In May 2000, Matt arrived in the Digital World and gave up his Crest power to free the Digimon Sovereigns. As a result, Gabumon lost the power to become and.

When began his rampage over the Internet, Matt was at his grandmother's place. He and T.K. rushed to town and enter a barbershop, the only place that had a computer, and connected to the Internet. With Tai and and help from Izzy, they both battled. T.K. was by his side, as was, in the form of MetalGarurumon. He and Tai entered the Internet unintentionally and with the help of all of the kids over the net, and MetalGarurumon were able to DNA Digivolve into. Omnimon was able to defeat Diaboromon and Matt and Tai returned back home.

On the Original Story Music and CD Drama, track 7 "Bass wo Hiki Nagara", set in March 2002, looks at Yamato theme as well as a short story of the creation of Yamato's band. Yamato had a conversation with his father, only to find out he was part of a band in his youth (he didn't sing, though—he only played bass). While Yamato tried to learn more about musical genres, he started playing his father's bass guitar, and they talked about the movie "I Was a Teenage Werewolf", and he reminded his father about Gabumon's evolutions (Garurumon looks like a wolf, and WereGarurumon is the one who looks like a werewolf).

He informed his father that his mother was writing a report about what took place in 1999, although she wouldn't mention the Chosen Children.

Later, Yamato recalled that when his parents separated and couldn't decide who would stay with whom, it was he who choose to go with his father, so that his little brother could stay with his mother. He thought about the way he always liked to make his own decisions, even though that could keep him from making friends. In the end, he concluded that, thanks to Gabumon, he had realized that he wasn't right and that he wasn't alone anymore.

After the end of the first season, Matt became the vocalist and bass player for a rock band called the Teenage Wolves. He was very popular and girls were always running up to him wanting his autograph, much to his dismay. One of his biggest fans was the older sister of Davis, Jun Motomiya, who constantly pursued him in the storyline. One time, when Matt was going to tell the Motomiyas that Davis was going to be gone for a little while, Jun said that she knew that he was lying and blackmailed him into going on a date. She also wanted to go camping with him, but he told her to close her eyes and left her behind; she later tracked him down at the campground itself.

His friendship with Tai changed considerably: while there was still a note of rivalry, it was a rivalry based on friendship and mutual respect for each other. At one point when Tai felt he had let down, Matt punched him in the face to try and get him to snap out of it. Unlike in the previous season; Tai said, "I needed that."

Toward the end of the season, Matt accepts Sora's confession of love and the two begin dating. In one episode, Matt is spying on the children that have the Dark Spores with the new DigiDestined and Izzy. Izzy asks Matt if he is comfortable that Sora is spying on another child with Tai and Agumon. Matt answers that he trusts Sora and he explains that Tai is his best friend and already knows his feelings for Sora, so he trusts him as well.

He regressed in age thanks to Wendigomon.

During a plan to distract Boltmon via tap-dancing, Matt confessed that he had romantic feelings for Sora.

Matt and Tai defeat /, with Gabumon and Agumon digivolving together to form. He was still good friends with Tai and the rest of the DigiDestined. There was a picture of Matt and Sora on a shopping date. Matt and Tai first travel onto the internet to try to defeat Diaboromon, but the battle moves to earth when the Kuramons escape into the real world. Later, he, Tai, and Sora lift up their Digivices to help give power to so that he can defeat Armageddemon.



By the year 2027, Matt has become an astronaut, and he and Gabumon became the first human and Digimon to land on though they were really supposed to land on the. He has married Sora, and the two are parents of a daughter with a Yokomon and a son with a Tsunomon. His son shares Sora's hair color, while his daughter has his hair color and original hairstyle.

Notes and references
石田ヤマト