Yamato "Matt" Ishida

Yamato "Matt" Ishida (石田 ヤマト) is a character in the and  series Digimon Adventure and Digimon Adventure 02. He is a, partnered with , and the bearer of the Crest of Friendship. He is the older brother of Takeru "T.K." Takaishi.

Appearance
In 1995, Matt is a young boy with light skin, spiky blond hair, and blue eyes. He wears a blue shirt with light blue raglan sleeves and a white collar, as well as khaki shorts. His pajamas include a green shirt with long sleeves.

By 1999, Matt is a preteen, and though he is much taller, his hair is as spiky as ever. He now wears a sleeveless green shirt, brown gloves, blue jeans, dark brown shoes with gray soles, white socks, and grey briefs with a white band.

After taking a bath in 's illusory mansion, he wears a blue bath robe over his briefs, which is later revealed to an illusion.

His pajamas consist of an oversized black T-shirt and grey sweatpants.

On March 4, 2000, he wears a wine-colored button-up shirt with long sleeves, dark blue pants and brown shoes.

In May 2000, when Gennai summons him back to the, Matt wears a white T-shirt with green raglan sleeves, a green collar and the word "WILD" written on the chest in dark red. He also wears light blue jeans, light brown shoes and light green wristbands.

In 2002, Matt is a teenager, has grown taller and grown out his hair. He usually wears the Odaiba Middle School uniform; a white buttoned shirt with long sleeves under a closed green blazer jacket, gray pants, white socks, and brown shoes.

During summer, he wears a black short-sleeved button-up shirt, wine-colored pants, and cream slip-on shoes.

During winter, he wears a dark brown turtleneck sweater over a black tank top, black pants with a black belt, and dark brown shoes with cream soles. Outside, he wears a dark grey jacket with a thick black line across the chest. While in Mexico, he doesn't wear his coat or sweater.

On March 25, 2003, he wears a black turtleneck sweater with a wide collar, dark green pants and dark brown shoes.

In 2027, Matt is an adult, and has cut his hair shorter than ever before. He wears a black turtleneck sweater under a brown leather jacket and cream pants. As an astronaut, he wears a full white space suit.

Description
Matt starts out as a secretive loner with a cool demeanor. He is mature, thoughtful and levelheaded, and more likely to think things through than charge head on. He is a deeply caring person who will do anything for a friend, and is very protective of his loved ones. He is prone to second-guessing and self-deprecation when he cannot protect others—his self-worth hinges on his ability to be a good friend. Unlike Tai, who is more willing to look at the "big picture", sometimes to the detriment of his friends, Matt always tries to focus on the good of his small circle of friends. As a teenager, he is more laid-back and easygoing, and is more willing to support his friends risking themselves against enemy Digimon. However, he still reacts strongly when his friends are under pressure, such as when the news depicted the team's Digimon as monsters, and Tai became reluctant to defend their reputation due to fears about possible casualties.

Matt's 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. After their adventures in the Digital World, their relationship becomes closer, and Matt trusts T.K. more, acknowledging his burgeoning independence.

Matt has a French grandfather, making him and his brother T.K. at least 1/4 French.

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".

Digimon Adventure
In 1995, Matt lived in Highton View Terrace with his parents, Hiroaki and Nancy, and his younger brother, T.K.. One night, the brothers witnessed the battle between and. This event led them to be chosen to become new. The destruction created by the battle caused it to be labeled a terrorist attack, and the Ishida's moved away from the area.

Sometime later, his parents divorced for unknown reasons. Matt was given the decision of who each child should live with, and he decided to stay with his father, while T.K. remained with their mother. Matt was deeply affected by the divorce, as he was very close to his younger brother.

At some point, Matt and his father moved to, where his father works at the Network, Inc. building.

Matt came to summer camp with T.K. by special arrangement, as T.K. was from a different school than the others. In the Digital World, Matt awkwardly tries to take care of T.K., comforting and coddling him, but he finds that his younger brother is more independent than he remembered.

Matt becomes good friends with the group leader Tai Kamiya, but also develops a rivalry with him, leading to a significant internal conflict throughout the journey. 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. Matt is also concerned that Tai might be a better older brother to T.K. than he is.

When separates the DigiDestined, Matt and  end up in Freezeland. As Matt frantically searches for T.K., he comes down with a cold, and Gabumon removes his fur coat at night to warm his partner up, at the cost of catching a cold himself. The next morning, Matt reunites with Tai, but they get in a fight because Matt wants to look for the others and Tai wants to head straight to Infinity Mountain. They come to an understanding once Matt begins to cry, voicing his concern for T.K.'s safety.

After Tai and disappear following the battle against, Matt and T.K. stick together even when the other DigiDestined leave. When they reach an amusement park near a lake, Matt and Gabumon cross the lake to check things out, and find Joe Kido and working hard to pay for a meal at 's diner. Matt comes to their aid and tries to help them at work, but Joe's clumsiness and 's trickery cause them to gain more debt and work more. Matt, growing increasingly worried about T.K., begins losing confidence in Joe, and even starts thinking he is making mistakes on purpose. However, when Joe risks his life to save T.K. from Vegiemon, Matt realizes he was in the wrong, and that he cannot win his battles alone and needs his friends' help, including Joe's. This causes his Crest of Friendship to activate, allowing to Digivolve to

Soon, the DigiDestined reunite and return to the Real World with their Digimon, hoping to find the eighth DigiDestined before and his army get to them. On August 2, as Matt accompanies T.K. on the way back to Setagaya, T.K. and get in an argument, and Patamon leaves the train in a huff in Shibuya. As T.K., Matt and try to find Patamon, they encounter two members of Myotismon's army, Gotsumon and Pumpkinmon, who are more interested in having fun with them than attacking the DigiDestined. Myotsimon is unimpressed with Gotsumon and Pumpkinmon's disobedience and banishes them (kills them in the Japanese version), and T.K. and Matt fight Myotismon in their honor.

Though Myotismon is first defeated due to 's sacrifice, he instead Digivolves to. Gennai tells the DigiDestined of a prophecy, and they decide to act on it. This requires T.K. and Kari, Tai's younger sister, to have their partners and  shoot arrows of light through the hearts of their big brothers. Though they both admit they are scared, Tai and Matt face this prospect together. The plan works, causing and  to warp digivolve to  and.

Before the DigiDestined go back to the Digital World to fix the distortions once and for all, Matt reunites with his mother, though it is a tense meeting. This encounter reveals lingering resentments in him that continue even after he returns to the Digital World.

Upon returning to the Digital World, he becomes angry when he thinks T.K. no longer needs him. He is persuaded by that Tai is his enemy, which culminates into a major fight between the boys and their Digimon, ending only when the Homeostasis take control of Kari. He decides to part from the group for a while, returning briefly only to save them from before disappearing again.

Before the final clash with, Matt falls into a pit of darkness and is 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 helps him to understand that everything would be alright and that he is valuable. After this experience, Matt reunites with Joe and T.K., and helps Sora escape from a similar pit of darkness using his experience to guide her. He then arrives at the place where Tai and WarGreymon have been holding Piedmon off, reviving them with the power of Friendship just in time for the final battle.

Digimon Adventure: Our War Game!
On March 4, 2000, Matt is with T.K. visiting their grandmother out in the country. Tai and Izzy manage to get a hold of them and warn them about Diaboromon. Following this, the brothers search the surrounding town for a computer to help fight in the Internet. He and Tai enter the Internet unintentionally and with the help of all of the kids over the net, and MetalGarurumon are able to DNA Digivolve into. Omnimon is able to defeat Diaboromon and Matt and Tai return to the Real World.

Digimon Adventure 02
On May 2000, Matt arrives in the Digital World and gives up his Crest power to free the Digimon Sovereigns. As a result, Gabumon loses the power to become and.

By March 2002, Matt and his friends from school form a rock band, with Matt singing and playing bass guitar. They decide to name it The Teenage Wolves, influenced by a discussion Matt has with his father about Gabumon's evolutions and the movie "".

Matt's band is already popular by the time the new DigiDestined step into the fray. One of his biggest fans Davis's older sister, Jun, who constantly pursues him after receiving his autograph. When Matt goes to tell the Motomiyas that Davis was going to be gone for a little while, Jun recognizes that he is lying and blackmails him into going on a date.

His friendship with Tai has changed considerably, with the two respecting each other immensely. When is enslaved by the Digimon Emperor and Tai falls into despair, Matt punches him in the face to try and get him to snap out of it - an act that Tai is grateful for. The two then work together with the new DigiDestined to rescue Agumon.

In summer, Matt is kidnapped into another dimension and regresses in age thanks to Wendigomon. The new DigiDestined reverse this.

When the new DigiDestined decide to go to the Digital World and stay there until they defeat the Digimon Emperor, Matt and T.K. convince their father to chaperon a camping trip for Matt, Tai and Izzy as a cover up for the younger kids. When Jun attempts to insert herself into their trip, Matt tricks her and leaves her behind. Jun later tracks him down at the campground itself, and Hiroaki makes him take her home by bus.

When Cody has concerns about becoming T.K.'s partner in DNA Digivolution, he comes to Matt for advice, hoping Matt would know more about T.K.'s violent reactions to darkness. Matt explains how darkness hurt T.K. three years ago, and lets T.K. know about Cody's inquiry.

On December 24, Matt and his band are scheduled to perform at a junior high band contest. That day, Matt accepts Sora's confession of love to him, and the two begin dating. On Christmas Day, the DigiDestined are empowered by the Harmonious One so that their Digimon can once again reach their highest forms. Matt, Ken Ichijouji and their Digimon go to Mexico to help a Mexican DigiDestined, Rosa and her partner, Gotsumon, transport some loose Digimon back to the Digital World.

Matt later aids the others in fighting the Daemon Corps and tracking down the children seeded with Dark Spores by Yukio Oikawa. He is present at Highton View Terrace when Oikawa gathers the Dark Spore children and is confronted by the DigiDestined. However, he remains behind when Oikawa, the children and the new DigiDestined enter the world of dreams. When the world is engulfed by MaloMyotismon's darkness, he goes with older DigiDestined and their families to the site of the summer camp from which they were transported to the Digital World years ago. He and the older DigiDestined manage to reach the Digital World from there, and help defeat MaloMyotismon once and for all with the light of their Digivices.

On Valentine's Day, 2003, during a plan to distract Boltmon via tap-dancing, Matt confesses that he has romantic feelings for Sora.

Digimon Adventure 02: Revenge of Diaboromon
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.

After Digimon Fusion


By the year 2027, Matt has become an astronaut, and he and Gabumon became the first human and Digimon to land on. 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.

Music
Matt has two Japanese image songs, "Walk on the Edge" and "Negai Kanaeru Kagi" ("The Key To Granting Wishes"), sung by Youto Kazama. He has an additional image song, a duet sung by Kazama with Mayumi Yamaguchi as, called "Oretachi no Melody" ("Our Melody"). Kazama also sings two songs as part of Matt's band, The Teenage Wolves, "Tobira~Door~" and "Hitoribotchi no Seesaw" ("The Lonely Seesaw"), and participates in "Bokura no Digital World" ("Our Digital World") and in the male Digimon Adventure characters' rendition of "Butter-Fly" in the Digimon Music 100 Title Memorial Box. Matt also has a song in the English dub, "I Turn Around", sung by Michael Reisz, as a stand in for every occasion where the Teenage Wolves sing in the anime.

Notes and references
Matt Ishida 石田ヤマト Ishida Yamato