#(And Then They End The Scene On That Mugendramon.....)

[koushirouizumi]

[Index] Koushiro{u} Izumi {DigiAdvs} Scenes (J.P.N Ver.)

{This is still actively being worked on; Please be patient as I continue to add more!!}

Because I got tired of not being able to immediately refer to scenes without having to use piles of caps / etc.

{More to be added shortly!!}

NOTE/DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN THIS SERIES. I do not make $$$ off my posts. This is being posted for Reference. Please actively support the series via any official means in your location{s} as well!!

{Adventure}

Ep02: Koushiro + rapid Maths Calculations {+Moments; with Jou} Ep05: Inside the Battery; Interests + Adoption {+ Friendly; with Tentomon} Ep10: Koushiro Guides Mimi Out The Maze {+Friendly; with Mimi} Ep13: Koushiro stands to signal support for Taichi’s decision {Friendly} Ep18: Koushiro and Yamato discuss their Crests {+Friendly; with Yamato} Ep20; vs. Etemon Arc (Near-End); Koushiro assisting Taichi Ep21: Hosoda!Koushiro; Communicating from Vademon’s Dimension? {+Moments; with Taichi} [+Taichi’s Monologuing that follows in relation] Ep24: Searching for Crest; & Vademon’s Dimension {+Friendly; with Tentomon} Ep24: Koushiro’s laptop + “Cosmic Power”?? activates communication with Taichi Ep24; Koushiro regains Inquisitive Heart + “I Want to Know!” {+Friendly; with Tentomon} Ep24: Koushiro Snaps Awake {+Friendly; with Tentomon} Ep28 vs Tri. Kyousei: Motimon/Tentomon’s “Bond” {“Kizuna”} with Koushiro Ep28: The Gate sequence {+Friendly, with Taichi} + Part 2 Ep28: Ending moment; Taichi with hand on Koushiro’s shoulder Ep29 x Tri. Soushitsu x 2020 Ep59: Motimon / Tentomon Parallels Ep30: Koushiro {physically} intervening to defend Jou / Pushed from Bridge Ep31: Koushiro’s Polite{ness} +(J.P.N) speech {+Familial; with Mrs. Izumi} Ep31: Koushiro’s Excuses + Adopted!Koushiro Scene {+Familial; with Mrs. Izumi} Ep31: Koushiro’s Bad/bland jokes + Adopted!Koushiro  {+Familial; with Izumis} Ep31: Koushiro’s Guilt + Adopted!Koushiro & Izumi’s concern + Taichi’s worry Ep36: “Just leave your computer behind!” {+Familial; with Izumis} + “Let’s BELIEVE in Koushiro, in our son.” - Mr. Izumi, to Mrs. Izumi [Koushiro sets up Gennai’s “barrier”; Izumis discover Tentomon] Ep36: Koushiro sets off to help the fight; Izumis send him off with love Ep38: the Adoption reveal / “It’s not wrong for you to be obsessed with Computers!” Ep38: Koushiro & Izumis Figure Out the Prophecy {+Familial; with Izumis} Ep39: Koushiro Displaying Compassion for Parents {+Familial; with Izumis} Ep45: Yamato & JouMi Leave the Group {+Moments; with Yamato & Chosen} Ep48: vs. Mugendramon Arc (Start); Koushiro showing concern for Yagamis Ep48: vs. Mugendramon Arc; +Andromon; Fake-Fights {+Friendly; with Taichi} Ep48: vs. Mugendramon Arc; Taichi’s Confession {+Friendly; with Taichi} Ep50: Koushiro (Totally Not) Showing off Skills {with Adv!Chosen; & Taichi} Eps 52~53: “Why WON’T YOU LET ME FIGHT?!?” {+Interaction, with Taichi} Ep52: vs. Piemon; crying out for Jou + teary-eyed {+Friendly; with Jou} Ep53: (Near End) Koushiro’s realizations {+Friendly; with Tentomon} + Tentomon: “But that’s what I like about you” Ep53: (Near End) Adventure Lore about The Crests

[pushovermediacritic]

To me, if feels like the pacing is off between this and the last episode. It's weird in general to give Mugendramon 2 episodes while Pinocchimon had 5, but MetalSeadramon also had 2, so it's not that off. I guess Pinocchimon also has to share time with MetalEtemon and Homeostasis.

But I think the real problem with this episode is the pacing between it and last episode. Last episode was really slow, dedicating the whole thing to a cat-and-mouse game around the city for medicine. By the end of the episode, not much is really accomplished. They split up, evaded Mugendramon, reunited, then got blasted by Mugendramon.

This episode ends up super fast, by comparison, cramming in Kari meeting and freeing the Numemon from WaruMonzaemon, reuniting with Andromon, and the entire final battle with Mugendramon. The Numemon sacrifice feels rushed because they were just re-introduced in the same episode.

I think the Mugendramon mini-arc would have been paced better if the first episode included less cat-and-mouse scenes with Taichi and had included the scene where Kari frees the Numemon from WaruMonzaemon. Have that happen with Kari, Takeru, and Sora at the same time that Taichi and Koushiro evade Mugendramon's forces. That way, this episode could be more dedicated to Andromon's return, the team re-uniting and fighting Mugendramon, and the Numemon's sacrifice could have been given the weight it needed.

Digimon Adventure 01x49 - Farewell, Numemon / The Crest of Light

Previously on Digimon Adventure: Needing to fund their war campaign with ad revenue, Taichi went on a mission to acquire Brand Name Pharmaceuticals while Koushiro learned a valuable lesson about Brand Name VPN services. Furious that they were doing this in the middle of his sub-arc, Mugendramon shot them many times with bullets and ad-blockers, plunging them into a dark abyss.

Fun language note: The Japanese language has a number of ways to say goodbye to someone. The "farewell" in the title is さらば saraba, which is an archaic way of saying a solemn, final goodbye to someone that you expect to never see again.

So. Y'know. That's pretty tone-setting, right there.

Now, the remaining children in the war party have been separated into two groups and plunged into "an abyss where darkness rules".

With only the sound of water droplets echoing through a vast sewage chamber, Hikari slowly comes to. Takeru and Tailmon are with her, watching over her. No sign of Patamon, Sora, or Piyomon, however.

Hikari's been laid out on a makeshift bed of leaves, using Takeru's backpack for a pillow. She wakes up slowly, starting to sit up.

Hikari: I.... Takeru: You're awake! Tailmon: Hikari! Hikari: (fully sits up) Takeru-kun... Tailmon.... I.... Tailmon: How do you feel?

Hikari raises her hand to her forehead, checking her own temperature.

Hikari: My fever has gone down. I'm feeling a lot better, too. Tailmon: You were asleep for a long time. I suppose that must have helped you recover. Hikari: Where are the others?

Takeru and Tailmon suddenly look sad, neither answering the question.

In the dub, Gatomon and T.K. quip over the establishing shots of Kari and the sewers. They also use soft, gentle background music to soothe the ominous and unsettling vibe of the original.

The original does have gentle background music once Hikari comes around, but the dub skips the ominous silence and water droplets, and just plays the tension-relieving tunes from the get-go.

Gatomon: How long do humans usually sleep when they're sick, T.K.? T.K.: (cheerful) It's tough to say for sure, Gatomon, but I'd guess anywhere between eight hours and eight years, give or take a minute or so! Gatomon: Wow! Then considering how high her fever is, we'd better get comfortable. T.K.: I wish one of the older kids were here. I bet they'd know how to wake her up. Gatomon: You'll think of something, T.K. (Kari begins to stir) Gatomon: See! I knew you'd think of something! T.K.: I'm still not sure that woke her.

From here, Kari opens her eyes and starts to get up, and the original script begins.

(Kari opens her eyes and starts to get up) Kari: Huh!? T.K.: I could be wrong! Gatomon: Hi, Kari! Kari: (fully sits up) Hit the snooze button... one more time. Please? T.K.: You've slept enough! How do you feel? (Kari takes her own temperature) Kari: I think my fever's gone. So, how long was I asleep for? Gatomon: Let's just say that when you fell asleep, I had nine lives and now I'm down to only three. Kari: Where is everybody?

The dub's going a gag a minute, with even Kari quipping the second she wakes up.

Takeru and Tailmon don't answer Hikari's question, but the flapping of wings soon heralds a return.

Takeru: They're back! Tailmon: Maybe they found someone!

Sora, Piyomon, and Patamon slowly emerge out of the darkness of the sewer.

Hikari: Sora-san! Sora: (surprised) Hikari-chan! What a relief that you're awake! Takeru: What about Taichi-san's group? Sora: (shakes head) They weren't anywhere around here.

Hikari flashes back on the fall, when they all plunged into the abyss.

Hikari: ONII-CHAAAAAAAAAN!!! Taichi: HIKARIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!

Then we return to the present.

Sora: Taichi and Koushiro-kun must have landed somewhere else. Hikari: Onii-chan....

The abyss where darkness rules must have taken them somewhere else. Yes, I'm still stuck on that. We are in a sewer. I am a little baffled.

In the dub:

T.K.: Hey! I hear Patamon! Gatomon: I wonder if he's found anyone? (Sora, Patamon, and Biyomon return) T.K.: Who's that with Patamon? Gatomon: It's Biyomon! Kari: And Sora! Sora: Kari! You're awake! You look so much better! Kari: Have you seen Tai and the others? Sora: (shakes head) Mm-mm. I looked everywhere but couldn't find them. (Flashback) Kari: HELP ME TAIIIIIIII!!! Tai: KARIIIIIIIII!!! (End Flashback) Sora: My guess is that when we all fell, Tai and Izzy landed somewhere else. Kari: I hope they're alright. T.K.: Don't worry, Kari.

In the original, only Hikari is surprised to see Sora return. This is because she was unconscious for a lot of the previous episode and doesn't really know how the teams divvied up.

The dub seems to imply that Sora and Biyomon came down separately from Takeru, Hikari, and their Digimon. Patamon successfully found Sora and Biyomon, instead of Patamon, Sora, and Piyomon failing to find anyone.

While Hikari frets over the fate of her brother, Sora suddenly remembers something.

Sora: Oh, that's right! Look, Piyomon found this.

Sora holds up the medicine bottle that Taichi and Koushiro recovered from the hospital. She places it in Hikari's hands.

Sora: This must be the medicine that Taichi went and found for you, Hikari-chan. Piyomon: This place is like a maze. But if we all search together, we're sure to find the others! Takeru: Hey, cheer up! Hikari: (smiles) Yeah... I will ganbaru and search for him. (affectionately) After all, I am Onii-chan's little sister.

As a reminder, ganbaru is the Japanese cultural value of persevering and overcoming intense hardship through hard work and dutiful rigor.

I have questions about how the medicine bottle, which was in Taichi's left hand while they were falling, somehow landed near Sora's crew instead of Taichi's.

Also, good thing it wasn't made of glass.

But the important thing is that it's in Hikari's possession. She may now begin wildly guessing the correct dosage of a prescription medication. One for which we only have Koushiro's best estimation on whether it's even right for her, based on a spreadsheet he found on Mugendramon's network.

...good luck, Hikari!

In the dub:

Sora: Oh, I almost forgot! Look what Biyomon found! (Sora holds up the medicine bottle) Sora: I'm sure it's the medicine that Tai went to find for you. (Sora gives the bottle to Kari) Sora: Why don't you keep it in case your fever comes back. You can use it as a reminder of how much Tai loves you. Biyomon: This place has a lot of twists and turns to it. I'm sure if we all look together, we'll have no problem finding the others. T.K.: Right! We'll work as a team! Kari: (smiles) Yeah! I'll try to be strong enough to help too. (affectionately) After all, Tai would do the same for me.

Dub Sora advises Kari to use the medicine bottle as an emotional security blanket, and also to hang onto it in case the fever returns - Telling her anything but to take the medication right now, which is probably well advised if we're being honest.

A best guess dosage of a best guess medicine is the kind of thing you should only do as a last resort. The last thing we want is for this to become Taichi's anecdote of "The other time my enthusiasm accidentally almost-killed my sister."

T.K. also has something a bit more useful to say than, "Hey, cheer up!"

From here, Sora's team begins exploring the catacombs.

Hikari: This place contains the underground areas of every city in the world? Patamon: That's what Sora-san said. Sora: That's my best explanation.

Okay, so there is more to the abyss where darkness rules than a sewer system. Mugendramon's domain is all of the cities and urban structures in the world, and so it makes sense that all subterranean areas such as sewers and subways would fall into his jurisdiction as well.

Suddenly, Sora faintly hears a rumbling sound from nearby wheels being turned.

Sora: Stop! Group: Huh? Sora: Quiet. Do you hear something?

The group falls silent. The sound becomes audible; A low, nearby rumbling.

Sora: Listen. What is that? Takeru: It's coming from over there. Sora: Let's take a look.

In the dub, Sora presents her assessment herself so they can keep quipping about it.

Sora: This place is like a museum of the famous sewer systems of the world! Gatomon: I'll pass on the odor exhibits. Patamon: Haha! Too late for that! (rumbling sound) Sora: Stop! Group: Huh? Sora: Listen. Do you guys hear something? (rumbling sound becomes audible) T.K.: Yeah! I can hear it now too! Kari: What do you think it could be? Sora: I don't know, but... it sounds like it's coming from over there! Let's take a look!

Dub Sora refers to the place as a "museum of sewer systems", but we're clearly in a subway terminal judging by all the destination everywhere, so there's more going on there.

The phrase used here is 世界中の街の地下 sekaijuu no machi no chika. It's using 世界中 sekaijuu, meaning "around the world", as an adjective to modify 街 machi, city, which is itself an adjective to modify 地下 underground.

The subs, I should note, also err here and translate it as "all the world's subway systems". Like "museum of the sewer systems of the world", this too is too limited. It's close, but subway is 地下鉄 chikatetsu, adding on the word 鉄 tetsu which means iron. A subway is "underground iron".

(But most people just call it the メトロ metro).

There is no 鉄 tetsu in this line, nor does 下水道 gesuido for "sewer" make an appearance. Sora's theory is not so specific, and contains both. This place they're in is a composite of all of the subterranean urban spaces from around the globe, just like how the city above was a composite of all the above-ground cities.

Uh. Before Plan Z turned it into a parking lot.

Following the rumbling sound, Sora and the others make their way into a deep chamber where Numemon slaves are being whipped and forced to work.

Those collars seem like they would slide right off, but I guess it's hard to put a shackle on a ball of sludge.

A cruel, black version of Monzaemon cracks his whip, yelling at the Numemon to work harder.

Black Teddy: WORK!!! (crack) WORK!!! (crack) WORK, ALL OF YOU!!! Numemon may be weak to sunlight, but down here you serve as the power source for all of Spiral Mountain's urban areas, which Mugendramon controls! Work and work until you DIE!!! (crack)

That's not a very nice teddy bear. Surprisingly eager to share flat exposition with his slaves, though.

Y'know, working slaves to death in a world where the reincarnation village has been destroyed and no new Digimon may ever be born again is incredibly shortsighted. The self-destructive practice of unsustainable consumption is alive and well in the Metal Empire, it seems.

Up on the scaffolding above, Hikari watches with shock and horror; Her eyes glistening with unshed tears. We close in on her for a moment, then cut to a wider shot of the group.

Takeru: Isn't that... Monzaemon? Patamon: That is not Monzaemon! It's WaruMonzaemon! Sora: WaruMonzaemon?

WaruMonzaemon is a Perfect-stage Virus-type Puppet Digimon. His name comes from the addition of 惡 waru meaning evil, wicked, bad, etc. onto Monzaemon.

Like Gigadramon, WaruMonzaemon is another recolor created for the Digimon World video game to shore up its enemy roster. They would later join the Metal Empire lineup of V-Pets as the other Virus Perfect, next to Megadramon.

(There's also a WaruSeadramon recolor of MegaSeadramon for the same reason, though that one's pretty obscure outside Digimon World.)

WaruMonzaemon is also the teddy bear stuffy that MetalEtemon has on his person. Fun fact, according to V-Pet lore, both Monzaemon and WaruMonzaemon are actually disguises for a mysterious Digimon lurking within. They're both basically the Pokemon Mimikyu. In fact, you can see the true inhabitant's eye peeking out of WaruMonzaemon's belly.

Narrator: WaruMonzaemon. A Puppet Digimon with a fiendish face, it looks similar to Monzaemon but is completely different! His personality is pure evil! His special attack is Heartbreak Attack! Piyomon: So he's working for Mugendramon now.... Sora: He must be part of the Metal Empire Army.

I have no idea where Sora could possibly have learned the name Metal Empire Army. After all that script-reading the Dub Kids did back in the Etemon arc to learn the Crest names, I guess it's Original Sora's turn now.

The way Patamon and Piyomon recognize WaruMonzaemon seems to imply that he's originally from File Island, which is an interesting detail.

Come to think of it, the Numemon from Cockatrimon's ship didn't seem to have a problem with sunlight. That detail only applied to the File Island ones. I... I guess these are those Numemon specifically.

In the dub:

Black Teddy: WORK!!! (crack) WORK!!! (crack) KEEP WORKING OR ELSE!!!

The dub uses the shadow of WaruMonzaemon whipping the slaves as a good time to take its first commercial break. When we return, it replays that scene, so I guess WaruMonzaemon continued whipping them throughout the Arby's ads and toy commercials.

WaruMonzaemon: (crack) I SAID WORK (crack) YOU LAZY NUMEMON!!! (crack) You slimy Numemon make me sick! If you didn't have such a weakness to sunlight, we wouldn't have to keep you working underground to power Machinedramon's city on Spiral Mountain! You deserve to live in the sewers! Now get back to work before I really get mad! (crack) T.K.: Isn't that Monzaemon? What happened to him!? He used to be so cuddly! Patamon: That's not Monzaemon, T.K.; That's WaruMonzaemon! Biyomon: (rundown) Monzaemon was sweet and cute, but WaruMonzaemon is about as cuddly as a porcupine. His Bear Paw will give you heartburn, along with his Heartbreak Attack. Kari: Big meanie! Biyomon: He's torturing those poor Numemon down there! Sora: How can one kind of puppet Digimon be so nice while another can be so evil?

Dub WaruMonzaemon's awkward exposition is slightly less flat than the original's, but both are pretty glaring.

Unsurprisingly, they also tone down "Keep working until you die" to "Get back to work before I get mad".

I like the way they play up T.K.'s surprise and confusion over "Monzaemon" being a cruel slavedriver now.

From the scaffolding, Hikari watches with tears in her eyes.

WaruMonzaemon: (to the Numemon) What's wrong? Don't slack off now! Hikari: The Numemon... are so scared....

True to her name, Hikari closes her eyes and begins to glow. She passes out, with Sora catching her as her body goes slack.

Tailmon: Hikari! Sora/Takeru: Hikari-chan! / Are you okay!?

Unconscious though she is, Hikari glows brighter and brighter. Her light becoming impossible to miss, the Numemon below look up from their work stations and take notice. They leave their workstations, drawn in by the light.

In the dub:

WaruMonzaemon: I've been too hard on you guys. You need a break. OKAY BREAK'S OVER!!! Kari: If we had... more power.... (Kari passes out and starts glowing) Sora: KARI!!! Biyomon/Takeru: What happened!? / Did she get sick again!?

Small tonal shift: Following the tradition of the dub kids being more aggressive, seeing what's being done here makes Hikari break down with empathy for the suffering Numemon and makes Kari immediately want to throw hands at their slavedriver.

Of course, all this attention from the Numemon is going to draw attention from one other person as well.

WaruMonzaemon: What the hell? WHY AREN'T YOU WORKING!?!? (crack crack)

Despite WaruMonzaemon's whipcracks, the Numemon remain transfixed on the great light emanating from the corner of the room. It takes WaruMonzaemon a moment to realize what's happening, but then he sees it too.

WaruMonzaemon: Huh? (casually) Oh, you did this. Team: (collective gasp) Sora: We have to run! (The kids bolt through the doorway) WaruMonzaemon: COME BACK HERE!!!

It takes WarMonzaemon a moment to process the odd encounter, but he gets there. Waving his whip furiously in the air, he pursues the children. He leaps up onto the scaffolding and smashes through the doorway, leaving a comical bear-shaped imprint as he passes.

Once the light is gone, the Numemon all slouch in disappointment and despair. But then it returns, slowing filling the room again. On the other side of the bear hole, tucked away to the left of where everyone else went, the light begins to emerge.

Tailmon helps Hikari walk back into the room, holding one paw up to her lips to urge the Numemon to silence. Staring transfixed at Hikari's light, they all nod quietly in unison.

Hikari: Tailmon... I'll be okay. Free the Numemon... please.... Tailmon: I will.

In the dub:

WaruMonzaemon: What's going on here!? Get back to work! (crack crack) (WaruMonzaemon finally notices) WaruMonzaemon: Huh? The DigiDestined? Team: (collective gasp) Sora: He knows we're here! (The kids bolt through the doorway) WaruMonzaemon: SOMEBODY'S BEEN SLEEPING IN MY BED!!! Sora: RUN!!! WaruMonzaemon: AND HERE THEY ARE NOW!!! (Kari returns) Numemon: (chanting) Kari, Kari.... Kari?: Gatomon, please leave me here. I need to free the Numemon from their chains. Do you understand? Gatomon: ...I guess so...?

WaruMonzaemon makes a gag reference to Goldilocks and the Three Bears to try and lift the tone, similar to the "Time for a break BREAK'S OVER" joke from earlier. The dub is playing him as "monstrous, but still kinda silly" which is absolutely the correct take on WaruMonzaemon. He's Daffy Duck doing war crimes.

I mean, the silliness should be apparent from the fact that he made a Wile E. Coyote hole when he chased the kids through the door. He's a giant teddy bear who's cruelly whipping slaves; There's inherently going to be a dash of absurdity mixed in with the atrocity. That's unavoidable.

Once WaruMonzaemon departs, the dub deviates wildly from script.

Rather than being shushed, the Numemon are chanting Kari's name with religious zeal. This isn't really a plot shift so much as jumping the gun. The Numemon are going to start doing that, but only after a scene cut which presumably gives them time to learn her name.

More glaring is the part where suddenly Homeostasis returns!? At least, that's what seems to be happening. Kari suddenly starts talking in full sentences, ignoring her weariness and using the Deep Homeostasis Voice from the backstory episode. Meanwhile, Gatomon is utterly lost about what's happening and reacts as if Kari's not herself.

Something similar happens to Hikari later in the episode, where she begins talking in this booming echo - which is not the voice Homeostasis used but a different effect. However, the way the dub tweaks Kari's lines to make her seem possessed as well as giving her the same deep voice effect really makes it feel like Homeostasis has returned.

I don't think that's what they're going for here. But they make what's happening to Kari very confusing.

Meanwhile, in what is now clearly the distraction for a plan quickly formed.

Sora: (blows raspberries) Come and get us! WaruMonzaemon: YOU LITTLE PUNKS!!!

Yeah, the tonal whiplash hits hard right here. But that's because we've lured WaruMonzaemon into a deadly trap.

Piyomon: PIYOMON SHINKAAAAAA Piyomon: BIRDRA...mon...? Patamon: PATAMON SHINKAAAAAA Patamon: (weakly) Angemon...?

They play the evolution stock footage but then reverse the footage and dump them back out in their Child forms midway through, with a goofy "running out of fuel" effect. Well.

I guess the trap's on us now.

Sora: You might not have enough energy! Takeru: Sora-san, what do we do now? Sora: DON'T STOP RUNNING, THAT'S WHAT!!!

Unfortunately, that plan is doomed too. Sora's group soon finds themselves at a dead end. WaruMonzaemon closes in on them, cackling proudly to himself. He punches the air, showing off for funsies before the real fight begins.

In the dub:

Sora: (blows raspberries) Catch us if you can, you big throw rug! WaruMonzaemon: I'LL GET YOU!!! Biyomon: Biyomon, DIGIVOLVE TO.... Biyomon: Hey, what just happened? Patamon: Patamon, DIGIVOLVE TO.... Patamon: Wait a second, I'm still me. Sora: You guys must be low on energy! T.K.: What do we do now, Sora? Sora: RUNNING COMES TO MIND!!!

Dub WaruMonzaemon makes over-the-top martial arts kiai noises when punching the air. The kind you do when you're pretending to know kung fu, rather than real ones.

This is basically perfect. There are some differences in the aborted evolution sequence, with both having their advantages.

I like the way the original 'mons verbally try to finish the evolution as if they had successfully evolved. Piyomon takes a moment to realize it didn't work, while Patamon just sort of... weakly tries to will Angemon into happening.

That said, the original kinda gives away the gag from the start when it plays silly comedy music over the evolutions, rather than something like starting up Show Me Your Brave Heart and failing. The dub uses their standard evolution rendition of the opening credits theme, only to have it fizzle out as the evolutions fail.

Once he's warmed up, WaruMonzaemon strikes with his Bear Claw attack.

It does not go well. He is very big, and the children merely duck under his legs and then run for it.

Team: RUN AWAY!!! WaruMonzaemon: Hey!

WaruMonzaemon tries to chase them. However. There is the matter of his epic Bear Claw attack... which is now firmly embedded in the wall.

WaruMonzaemon: WAIT FOR ME!!!

Climbing up onto the wall, he uses his whole body weight to free his claw. Unfortunately, physics take over when his claw comes loose. He launches himself backwards onto his shoulders and begins tumbling head over foot - soon gaining speed and becoming an unstoppable rolling object, futilely voicing protestations for what momentum is doing to him..

WaruMonzaemon: ABUGPABUPHBAPHUG Piyomon: (eyes glittering with delight) Sora! I'm flying! I've never flown this fast before! Patamon: (eyes glittering with delight) Takeru! I am too! SUCH INCREDIBLE SPEED!!!

Cut to Sora putting those soccer skills to work, carrying Takeru in one arm and pulling Piyomon with the other.

Sora: BOTH OF YOU!!! THERE IS NO UPSIDE HERE!!!

This is all meant to be extremely silly.

The dub keeps the name Bear claw.

Sora: Watch out! Let's get out of here! WaruMonzaemon: WAIT!!! (WaruMonzaemon tries to pursue, but he's stuck) WaruMonzaemon: Lend me a hand! LITERALLY!!! (WaruMonzaemon becomes unstuck but starts rolling) WaruMonzaemon: It's time to play Bowling for DigiDestined! Biyomon: (eyes glittering with delight) Sora, something wonderful is happening to me! I've never been able to fly this fast before! Patamon: (eyes glittering with delight) Me too! Watch me go! FASTER!!! THAN!!! A JET!!! Sora: I don't care what you're faster than, as long as you're faster than a gigantic rolling teddy bear!

Weirdly, they seem to play the WaruMonzaemon boulder seriously. In the original, he makes angry flopping noises while he's rolling. He's clearly no happier about this than Sora is. The dub makes it into a purposeful attack he's throwing.

Biyomon and Patamon are still being silly, but Sora's punchline is cut down to her simply describing the ugly situation they're in.

Dub WaruMonzaemon, for his part, is still doing stand-up comedy.

Meanwhile, Tailmon has succeeded in freeing the Numemon. I imagine it wasn't hard; Those shackles look like they'd slide right off if someone had the height and dexterity to simply lift them up off and over the eye stalks.

Gathered together in what is clearly a church, the Numemon bow in supplication to their savior, chanting her name.

Numemon: Hikari-sama.... Hikari-sama.... Hikari-sama....

Hikari's glow slowly recedes while the Numemon chant her name. Tailmon looks up at her.

Tailmon: (thinking) The Numemon are... making Hikari their ruler.... Numemon: Hikari-sama... Hikari-sama... Hikari-sama....

Hikari smiles down pleasantly at Tailmon, while the confused Digimon struggles to process what is happening.

Then a door on the upper level flies open. Sora and the others spill into the room, falling from above and landing on the Numemon crowd. Even the fliers faceplant into gross Numemon bodies.

(Piyomon, I can understand. Sora dragged Piyomon down with her. But nobody was holding Patamon. He did that by himself. He wanted to be included in the team activity.)

Group/Sora: Hikari!? / Hikari-chan!?

In the dub:

Numemon: Queen Kari... Queen Kari... Queen Kari... Gatomon: (gasp) The Numemon... think you're... their queen.... Numemon: Queen Kari... Queen Kari... Queen Kari... (Sora and the others spill into the room) Sora: ...Kari? Numemon: Queen Kari, Queen Kari. Group: Huh!? Queen Kari!?

The dub uses the Queen Kari bit to set up a funny gag, leaving Sora's team as baffled as Gatomon. Well played.

Unfortunately, Sora's group is not alone. WaruMonzaemon enters the room shortly after her - albeit unsure of his bearings.

WaruMonzaemon: (finally upright) Hold on... eh? N-Numemon!? What are you dipshits doing in here!?

WaruMonzaemon refers to the Numemon as 手前達 temae-tachi. In the Japanese language, where second-person pronouns are to be used sparingly as they can be considered rude, 手前 is basically the most rude second-person pronoun. (With 達 -tachi doing its typical job as a pluralizing modifier.)

You wouldn't really use it... in any context, really, outside of anime. It's just an angry, mean, vulgar way of saying "you", when there are plenty of other pronouns you could use instead .

WaruMonzaemon: What the--!? Wait, that can't... Oh, shit! WHO TOOK OFF THE NUMEMON'S CHAINS!?!? Hikari: That... was me.... Group/Sora: Hikari! / Hikari-chan! WaruMonzaemon: You little bitch! Numemon: PROTECT HIKARI-SAMA!!!

More fun with Japanese vulgarities! WaruMonzaemon calls Hikari 野郎 yarou. Which is basically the most vulgar thing you can call someone. There is no particular nuance or context with yarou, it is just an extremely offensive and insulting thing to say to another person.

Between that, 手前 temae, and the 糞 kuso he dropped in there as well, WaruMonzaemon has a bit of a potty mouth.

The Numemon, determined to protect her, dogpile on WaruMonzaemon. He swings his claws wildly, trying to defend himself from the Numemon swarm.

WaruMonzaemon: What do you think you're doing!? Hikari: Numemon.... (faints) Tailmon: (catches Hikari) Hikari! WaruMonzaemon: (fighting the Numemon) Hey! Numemon: PROTECT HIKARI-SAMA!!! WaruMonzaemon: WaruMonzaemon-sama is not about to succumb to some pitiful Numemon!

Despite the Numemon's best efforts... they remain Numemon. WaruMonzaemon powers through their assault until every last one of the attacking Numemon has been broken and laid out before him.

In the dub:

WaruMonzaemon: I'm back! Hahahahahaha! Hey, you Numemon, what are you doing out here!? Isn't it time for your flogging? (The Numemon turn furiously on WaruMonzaemon) WaruMonzaemon: Don't just sit there staring! Get back to work! ...hey! Who cut your chains off? Kari?: (steps forward) I did. Got a problem? Sora: Kari, no! WaruMonzaemon: YOU'RE THROUGH!!! (The Numemon lunge, saying nothing) WaruMonzaeomon: Get off of me, you green blobs of sludge! I'll beat the stuffing out of you! Kari?: Numemon.... (faints) Gatomon: (catches Kari) Kari! WaruMonzaemon: (fighting the Numemon) YOU REALLY THINK YOU HAVE A CHANCE AGAINST ME!?!? Numemon: (continue attacking, saying nothing) WaruMonzaemon: Come on, give it your best shot! This is easier than swatting Digi-Flies!

I don't know, man. I've seen the size of the Digital World's bugs.

Unsurprisingly, Dub WaruMonzaemon does not cuss out an eight-year-old.

Kari is still speaking in her Homeostasis voice even after the bright glow has left her.

As with the rolly ball incident, the dub strips out some of the nuance of WaruMonzaemon's competency. In the original, he honestly seemed freaked out and taken aback when he realized the Numemon were free. As if, despite his subsequent bluster, he's sincerely afraid of a slave revolt.

A bee may be relatively harmless to most people, but a thousand bee stings is something to be feared. He wins the fight, but it's still a terrifying prospect to have to fight it.

Dub WaruMonzaemon, on the other hand, remains cool and in control of the situation all the way throughout.

Either way, with the last of the attacking Numemon down, the revolution is over.

Wait, no, it's not. What the shit is this?

WaruMonzaemon winds up to finish off the piled up Numemon. Not a special attack; He winds up his right paw, the teddy bear paw that doesn't have a huge claw attached to it.

WaruMonzaemon: Ehehe... This is the end! Hikari: (opens her eyes) ...Numemon....

Suddenly, Hikari begins to glow again, blinding WaruMonzaemon. Her light blinds WaruMonzaemon, forcing him to stumble back until he reaches the wall.

WaruMonzaemon: Ack! What is this light!? Tailmon: Hikari!

While Show Me Your Brave Heart starts up, the Numemon are all rejuvenated by Hikari's light and stand back up. They're not the only ones.

Piyomon: It's surging inside me! Patamon: The power is overflowing!

Hikari's light not only super-evolves Tailmon into Angewomon, it also restores all of the Numemon's strength and evolves Patamon and Piyomon into Angemon and Birdramon for good measure.

With Show Me Your Brave Heart, which is typically cued up by an evolution, instead beginning when Hikari starts to glow. Just to drive home that this is that energy. The same sacred light that typically emanates from the Digivices, pouring directly out of Hikari's body.

In the dub, WaruMonzaemon calls his soft teddy-paw punch as Heartbreak Attack despite it just being a normal punch.

WaruMonzaemon: DAAAAAAAAUGH!!! WHERE'S THAT LIGHT COMING FROM!?!? Gatomon: KARI!?!? WHAT'S HAPPENING!?!? I'M SURGING WITH ENERGY!!! QUICK, GET ME A SCRATCHING POST!!!

Only Gatomon reacts to Kari's surging light, which causes us to lose the context that it's Kari prompting Patamon and Piyomon's evolutions here.

(Which is probably why those two only go to Adult. Hikari's unfiltered sacred light can stand in for the Digivices, those are universal, but she can't stand in for their individual Crests.)

Similarly, without the musical cue of Show Me Your Brave Heart starting up as the Numemon begin rising back up again, it might not be as readily apparent that they aren't just getting a second wind; She's flooding them with sacred energy too.

This all feeds back into what Homeostasis was saying; That the power comes from the children. WaruMonzaemon demands to know "What is this hikari?" and the question is the answer. It's Hikari.

Her light, her hikari, the light channeled by the Sacred Devices and the Crests, is filling every Digimon in the room with power.

WaruMonzaemon blinks for a moment; His back against the wall. But then he resolves himself to fight them all anyway.

It does not go well.

WaruMonzaemon: N-No big deal. I'll put you all to work!

WaruMonzaemon's bravado lasts right up until they start shooting. Once Meteor Wing, Heaven's Knuckle, and Holy Arrow are all coming his way, he panics and flees the room. He shuts the door behind him, trying to bar it, but the three converging shots blow the door off its hinges and send him flying.

As WaruMonzaemon soars, he lets out an agonized scream like a death cry, though we do not see him pixelate; He's merely blasted offscreen.

Once WaruMonzaemon is gone, Hikari picks up one of the injured Numemon. Sora does the same. This time, when Hikari speaks, her voice does have a vocal effect. It's not the voice of Homeostasis but something different; A sort of booming echo reverberating her words.

Hikari: Are you okay, Numemon? Sora's Numemon: (perks up and starts squiggling) Nume! Nume Nume Nume! Sora: Ehehehe! This one's so full of energy! Hikari's Numemon: Thank you, Hikari-sama. Hikari: I'm glad you're okay.

Out of nowhere, Hikari begins to glow even more brightly.

Takeru: Ah! Hikari-chan's light!

Yes, that line does sound as redundant as you probably expect. XD It's ヒカリちゃんのひかりが Hikari-chan no hikari ga!

(If you're wondering why you can't find two instances of the same letter set in that sentence, it's because Japan has three separate written languages. Hikari's name is spelled in katakana since it's a proper noun but the word hikari is in hiragana. They're ヒカリ and ひかり respectively. There is also the kanji 光 for hikari.)

The light shines out through the doorway behind where Birdramon was standing a moment ago.

Hikari: The light will guide us. Takeru: Maybe if we follow the light, we'll find Taichi-san's group! Sora: Yeah. Hikari-chan, we'll trust your light to guide our way.

From there, the Chosen Children set out, following the course that the light has provided them.

In the dub:

WaruMonzaemon: Uh-oh. (blink blink) Oh, ganging up, huh!? I'll put you to work too! What do you think of that!? (The Partners shoot; WaruMonzaemon flees behind the door.) WaruMonzaemon: That should keep them out! (explosion) WAAAAAUGH!!! (Hikari and Sora pick up Numemon.) Kari?: No more chains, Numemon. Sora's Numemon: (dances and makes non-specific happy noises) Sora: Ehehe! They're cute when they're not so slimy. Kari's Numemon: I love you, Queen Kari! Kari?: You're sweet. (Kari sets down the Numemon and glows brighter) T.K.: That light again! Look at it! Kari?: My light will guide us towards the others. T.K.: Don't look at me but I think it's like this night light I used to have that guided me towards the bathroom. Sora: Oh. Well, Kari, I hope your light doesn't run out of batteries.

Here is where I'm pretty sure that what the dub's been going for with Kari is the same as the original. She's not supposed to be doing Homeostasis voice, but Hikari Booming With Light voice. They just... had her start doing it a lot sooner, weirding out Gatomon and making her seem possessed. And also the two voices are really similar.

The original keeps Hikari's normal speaking voice up until this scene, building up to it so it's more evident that this is just Hikari's power manifesting. This is basically her Crest Episode, since she didn't really get one due to being a late-comer.

(As a kid, I really did think this was Homeostasis coming back.)

While the children take their leave, the still-breathing WaruMonzaemon reports back to Mugendramon.

WaruMonzaemon: (whining and crying) Mugendramon-sama! Mugendramon-samaaaaaaa! Mugendramon: WaruMonzaemon. What is it? WaruMonzaemon: The Chosen Children and their Digimon are here! Mugendramon: They're in your area? WaruMonzaemon: (still whining) I bravely stood up to them because I wanted to make Mugendramon-sama happy but then they beat me up. Mugendramon: YOU IDIOT!!! Why didn't you report in to me first and tell me that you'd found the Chosen Children!?

WaruMonzaemon has no good answer for that, so he instead tries to deflect the conversation by turning around and milking his injuries.

WaruMonzaemon: Um, um... Augh, the wounds that the Chosen Children gave me hurt so much.... Mugendramon-sama! Help me! Mugendramon: Now that I know where the Chosen Children are... I have no further use for you.

WaruMonzaemon has only a second to process what that means, eyes filling with terror, before the communications room he's in explodes. The last we see of him is his severed left paw, which slowly disintegrates into pixel dust.

(Man, Cockatrimon was a way better minion than WaruMonzaemon. He went straight to the comms room to tell Etemon he had the kids. He only took his own initiative once Nanomon disrupted their connection and blocked Etemon from coming to them.)

In the dub, Machinedramon dominates the conversation, peppering it with constant threats.

WaruMonzaemon: Well, you see, Lord Machinedramon, it's actually a pretty funny story-- Machinedramon: Stop stalling and tell me what happened, WaruMonzaemon! That is, while you're still able to talk. WaruMonzaemon: Uh, yes, your Metalness. You see, I found the DigiDestined! Machinedramon: They were in your area!? WaruMonzaemon: (slowly breaks down and starts crying) Yes, uh, I was gonna capture them for you but this one little girl was really strong T_T and then the Numemon were fighting me and it hurt really bad and-- Machinedramon: ENOUGH!!! If you thought that puny little girl was tough, wait 'til I get through with you! Why didn't you alert me, you two-bit carnival prize!? WaruMonzaemon: I wanted to tell you sooner but they wounded me. Look at my owies and boo-boos! Machinedramon: I'm sorry. I should be more sympathetic after your grueling battle. Let me reward you for helping me locate the DigiDestined. WaruMonzaemon: (realizing) !!!

WaruMonzaemon has one more line after the explosion, uh, was supposed to kill him. As his arm pixelates, he quips:

WaruMonzaemon: HE SHOT MY PAW!!!

This may be a reference to the classic Western movie cliche, "He shot my pa!" You don't hear it so much these days but I remember growing up and making all kinds of jokes about, "Oh, you don't like reading? Did a book shoot your pa?"

It could also be meant to deflect WaruMonzaemon's death, implying that the explosion only ripped off his arm and did no further harm to him.

So, did the dub spare WaruMonzaemon, or is he just getting one last quip in for the road? You decide.

From here, we go to commercial in both versions, then come back to see what's up with Taichi's crew. Taichi, Koushiro, and their Partners are exploring a different area of the undercity.

Taichi: HIKARI!!! HIKARIIIIIIIIIII!!!

Agumon stumbles and falls. He picks himself up, breathing hard. Taichi, who also sounds out of breath and at his limit, scolds Agumon for tripping.

Taichi: Agumon! What are you doing!? I'll leave you behind! Agumon: Ack... I'm sorry, Taichi.... Koushiro: Taichi-san, Agumon and Tentomon are tired. Let's take a small break.

Taichi is silent a moment while Koushiro speaks. He offers no response. Instead, he starts walking again, forming a circle in front of his mouth with his hands to project his voice.

Taichi: HIKARI!!! Koushiro: Truth is, I'm tired as well. Taichi: HIKARI!!! WHERE ARE YOU!?!? Koushiro: (more assertively) Taichi-san, please compose yourself. Even you must be exhausted. Tentomon: (worried) Koushiro-han....

Despite his best efforts Koushiro's words fall on deaf ears.

In the dub:

Tai: KARI!!! WHERE ARE YOU!?!? (Agumon collapses) Tai: Agumon, what are you doing, laying down at a time like this!? Agumon: Sorry, Tai. I'll try to keep up. Izzy: You know, Tai, that's the fifth time he's collapsed. Call me crazy but I think maybe we should rest for a while. Tai: Hmm... hmm... KARI!!! Izzy: (sarcastic) That's right, just let our Digimon die! Agumon & Tentomon: Huh!? Izzy: Oh, sorry, guys. It's just a figure of speech. Tai: ... Izzy: I'm pretty tired too, Tai. Why don't we rest. Then we can commence our search again. Tentomon: Please don't provoke him, Izzy!

Differently phrased but still captures the spirit of the original.

The only change of any significance is that Tai makes contemplation noises when Izzy first appeals for a rest, like he's weighing Izzy's words in his head before making a decision. Taichi is cold and silent, and goes back to what he's doing right after.

Unfortunately, Koushiro's words do not fall on deaf ears this time. Worse: Taichi listens.

Taichi: Hikari is sick! Koushiro: Yes, I understand that! Taichi: If you understand, then don't get in the way! Agumon: T-Taichi.... Koushiro: (shocked) I haven't gotten in the way at all! Taichi: SHUT UP!!!

Taichi roars that last line suddenly, sprinting back towards the group and tackling Koushiro to the ground.

Koushiro: You've lost your mind! Taichi: What was that!? Agumon: Don't do this! Tentomon: Both of you, calm down! Taichi: YOU BASTARD!!!

This time, it's Taichi's turn to throw down a 野郎 yarou. He is livid.

In the dub, as before, Tai engages more with what Izzy's saying - In contrast to Taichi, who's shutting out every word from his mouth.

Tai: Don't you understand? Kari's sick! We have to find her.... Izzy: I know that, Tai! But she's not here right now! Tai: THAT'S MY POINT!!! We have to find her now! Agumon: Calm down, Tai! Izzy: I'm warning you, Tai! You'd better stop giving us orders OR ELSE!!! Tai: OR ELSE WHAT!?!? (Tai tackles Izzy and shoves him to the ground) Izzy: I didn't plan anything after "or else"; I just thought it sounded tough! Tai: You want to see tough!? HERE'S TOUGH!!!

Izzy provokes Tai into attacking him in this version, continuing the trend of him being much more aggressive and rude than Koushiro. In the original, Taichi basically just snaps, hurling unfounded accusations and then jumping Koushiro while the poor kid's utterly lost.

Izzy's provocation does lead into an admittedly funny punchline, albeit one inappropriately placed given the tone of this scene. There's really nothing funny about watching the Chosen Children violently self-destruct even further.

Lifting Koushiro up by his shirt, screaming obscenities in his face, Taichi furiously throws a punch. Unlike all the times he's fought Yamato, we cut away before impact, and hear what sounds like him punching the ground.

Taichi: (whispers) Koushiro. Someone's following us. Koushiro: (whispers) What!? Taichi: Listen.

That's right, it was all a fucking ruse! Taichi snapped suddenly and unexpectedly, hurling out wild accusations and attacking Koushiro, to deceive their pursuer - who appears briefly in silhouette after Taichi tells Koushiro to listen. Their heavy footsteps faintly noticeable in the distance.

Tentomon & Agumon: Taichi-han! / Taichi! Taichi: I know. Koushiro? Koushiro: Yes? Taichi: Pretend to keep fighting while we hide behind that door. Koushiro: Understood.

Taichi stands up, pulling Koushiro to his feet by his collar and turning him so his back is to the door. While they yell at each other, Taichi forces Koushiro back through the doorway while Tentomon and Agumon plead for them to stop.

Koushiro: You've really done it now! Taichi: And what are you gonna do about it!? Agumon: STOP IT!!! Tentomon: Stop this, both of you! Koushiro-han, this is no time for fighting!

Nice fake-victim-blaming, Tentomon.

In the dub, when Tai throws his punch, Koushiro lets out a pained grunt. Tai actually hit him in this version.

Tai: Izzy! Did you hear that? Izzy: Huh? Tai: Just listen. Getting closer. Footsteps! izzy: All I hear is my head pounding.... Tai: Someone's here! (Silhouette approaches, heavy footsteps faintly audible) Agumon: Do you think he's been following us? Tai: Maybe. Let's pretend to keep fighting and we'll hide behind that gate. Izzy: Okay, but just make sure your next punch is pretend too. (Tai pulls Izzy to his feet) Tai: BETTER STOP CALLING ME NAMES!!! Izzy: I WILL NOT!!! YOU'RE A BULLY AND... A RUFFIAN!!! Tai: That's the best you can come up with? Izzy: Yes, on such short notice!

Oh, I hate that Tai actually hit him. The dub seems to be playing this like Tai and Izzy really are having a serious fight, only to be interrupted and brought back to reality by the approaching footsteps.

In the original, this is a clever fakeout. We know from his more sincere altercation with Mimi that Tai's trauma response is aggressive and violent. Taichi lashes out to avoid feeling helpless. His fear and his pain make him want to get up and take action, to push back against the thing that's hurting him. Which isn't always a good thing.

Just one episode ago, we saw that violence turned on Koushiro when his anxiety (and some childhood PTSD) over Hikari's wellbeing got the better of him. It's so easy to believe that he's doing that again. But he's not. Instead, he's using his own well-established flaws as a cover to pull Koushiro out of what may be an enemy line of fire.

This doesn't come through in the dub, where Izzy starts the fight and Tai genuinely hits him. There, it seems like they started fighting sincerely, then Tai heard something and realized they shouldn't be doing this.

The "bully and a ruffian" bit is great, though. Being comically terrible at smack-talk would fit perfectly for Koushiro too.

Once they're out of sight, Taichi and Koushiro lie in wait for their stalker.

Koushiro: Are they with Mugendramon? Taichi: Probably. Agumon: Taichi? Tentomon: Koushiro-han? Taichi: Do it. Koushiro: If you would, please.

Agumon and Tentomon kick off their evolutions. It goes as well as Piyomon and Patamon's first attempts.

Tentomon: Tentomon SHINKAAAAAA Tentomon: Kabuteri... mon.... Agumon: Agumon SHINKAAAAAA Agumon: GREYMON!!! Grey... mon.....

Unwilling to accept what just happened, Agumon starts flailing about and trying to make himself look big.

Agumon: GREYMON!!! GREYMON!!! GREY-- Taichi: (forces Agumon's mouth shut) Agumon! You guys must be too tired. Agumon: ... Taichi: I'm sorry, Koushiro. Koushiro: That's okay. I know you're just worried about Hikari-san.

Though the fight was fake, Taichi running them ragged looking for Hikari was not. Now the boys are left with few options against the Metal Empire soldier headed their way.

In the dub:

Izzy: Do you think it could be one of Machindramon's guys? Tai: It's possible. Agumon: Should we... Tentomon: ...Digivolve? Tai: Yes. Izzy: Not a bad idea. (Digivolutions begin) Tentomon: Tentomon, DIGIVOLVE TO.... Tentomon: Kabu... never mind.... Agumon: Agumon, DIGIVOLVE TO.... Agumon: Greymon. Greymon! Agumon: (out of evolution sequence) GREYMON, YEAH, I'M GREYMON, I'M BIG AND I'M BAD-- Tai: (forces Agumon's mouth shut) Agumon! Your Digivolve was a Digi-Dud. Izzy: Your energy levels are too low! Tai: Izzy... I'm sorry. Izzy: It's okay, Tai. I know your original intention wasn't to punch me. You were worried about Kari, that's all.

In the original, he's apologizing for exhausting their Digimon and leaving them defenseless. That Taichi pushed Agumon and Tentomon to the brink of exhaustion is kind of a big deal right now, what with the Metal Empire goon bearing down on them.

The dub uses Izzy's response to change the apology, making it about the fight they had a moment ago. A fight which, I repeat, was just a ruse in the original.

With nowhere to run and no better options, it's time to face the music. The team resolves themselves to face this new adversary.

It may not go exactly the way they expect.

Taichi: This is my fault. I'll go fight them. Koushiro: Please don't be so reckless. If we work together, we may be able to prevail. Agumon: He's right, Taichi. Tentomon: You should have more faith in us. Taichi: Guys... Understood. (Footsteps get louder) Koushiro: Here they come....

Taichi was legit about to go out there by himself to try and fistfight the forces of the Metal Empire. To be fair, he did successfully jump a Bakemon once. Kid's vicious.

Finally, their pursuer reveals himself... to be Andromon! From File Island!

It's been a long time since we've seen him, so he gets another rundown. Andromon is a Perfect-stage Vaccine-type Cyborg Digimon. That made him utterly invincible way back when but compared to the Dark Masters, he's practically quaint.

Andromon's putting in a thematically appropriate appearance here. Andromon was included in the Metal Empire lineup as one of its two Vaccine Perfects, alongside the Vaccine form of MetalGreymon that the anime debuted.

So he's returning for this arc because he's Metal Empire, even though he's not... in the Metal Empire.

Team: ANDROMON!?!? Narrator: Andromon. A Cyborg Digimon last seen on File Island. Kabuterimon was able to free him from the effects of Devimon's Black Gear.

Yeah, the spare rundown is just a recap of where we saw him last. Funny that Ogremon, Whamon, etc. didn't get one of those. Metal Privilege, more like.

In the dub, they're still talking about the earlier (real) fight with Izzy.

Tai: What's fair is fair. I want you to hit me right now. Izzy: That's ridiculous! I won't resort to that! Nothing can be settled with violence. I'm not going to hit you, Tai. Agumon: Can I hit you, then? Tentomon: I wouldn't mind a swipe myself. Tai: Okay, I get it! (Footsteps get louder) Izzy: Here he comes!

"Nothing can be settled with violence," Izzy says, in the middle of a warzone we have entered in order to kill the Forces of Darkness with supreme violence.

Agumon and Tentomon wanting to take Tai up on his offer got me, though. XD

Team: ANDROMON!?!? Tentomon: (rundown) I remember now! We met Andromon on File Island! He was the Android Digimon who had a Black Gear stuck in his mechanism, but we removed it and freed him of its evil spell!

Technically, he's a cyborg, not an android. But also he's literally called Andromon so I can see where the confusion came from.

Dragon Ball fans are probably nodding along right now like, "Mm. Yes. Jinzoningen." That word, a catch-all for "Artificial Human", has caused much argument among the Dragon Ball fandom.

But no. The Digimon Analyzer uses English words spelled in Katakana for its classifications. Andromon's classification is サイボーグ saibougu or "Cyborg". And his name is アンドロモン Andoromon. The original Japanese version did this to themselves.

Andromon, it turns out, is as surprised to see the kids as they are to see him.

Andromon: I didn't expect to see you here. Taichi: YOU didn't!? That's how WE feel! Right? Koushiro: Yes. Andromon, what are you doing here? Andromon: I'm here to liberate the cities under Mugendramon's control. I came underground to act as the lone operative of a resistance movement.

We zoom in on water droplets striking a puddle, and in the puddle we see visions from Andromon's memories. Images of destruction ravaging the urban areas of the Digital World.

Andromon: That is why I thought you were Mugendramon's subordinates. Agumon: No way! Tentomon: How awful of you. Andromon: (apologetic) I didn't know.

Come on, guys, let's not beat up the poor cyber-droid too bad. We thought he was with Mugendramon too. Taichi put on a whole song and dance for it and everything.

In the dub:

Andromon: I wasn't sure if it was you or not. Tai: Well, it's nice to see a friendly face! Izzy: Even if it is made of metal. What are you doing down here anyway, Andromon? Tai: And why are you sneaking up on people?

Izzy, was that remark necessary? Why are you so rude?

Andromon: I'm trying to put together a resistance army against Machinedramon. I've heard rumors that Digimon are hiding in the sewers. (Water drip flashbacks begin) Andromon: They fled here when Machinedramon burned the cities. I've come to the sewers to organize them and, while I'm here, I'm going to fix that drip! (End flashbacks) Andromon: I thought you were spies sent here by Machinedramon to destroy my plans. Agumon: HM!?!? Tentomon: How insulting. Andromon: I'm sorry.

We are most certainly in a transit tunnel area of the hybrid undercity. You don't generally find chain link fenced walkways and street art covering the walls in a sewer; Those are rarely considered to be social spaces. However, the dub's committed to all of this being sewers.

Moving right along, there are more pressing questions for Andromon.

Taichi: We're looking for someone named Hikari. Koushiro: She should be with Sora-san and Takeru-kun. Andromon: Is that right? Please wait one moment.

I love how Taichi's like "Have you seen Hikari?" and then Koushiro jumps in with, "Have you seen Sora and Takeru? We're looking for that assortment of people." Like.

Yeah. Ask Andromon about the parts of that group that he knows. That's going to be the best way to find her.

Andromon holds up his arms, and cables shoot up from them. Connecting to the... uh... ceiling?.... he scans for the missing children.

Koushiro: Please, if you could. Hikari-san is Taichi-san's little sister. Andromon: Incoming! Taichi: Hikari is!? Koushiro: She's on her way!?

Definitely Not Hikari suddenly smashes through the wall a short distance ahead.

Mugendramon: Here you are, Chosen Children. Team: MUGENDRAMON!!!

No, although he had intended to scan for the other Chosen Children, Andromon got a little sidetracked by the signal of Mugendramon thirty feet away and closing in fast. That took precedence.

In the dub:

Tai: We're looking for my little sister named Kari. She's sick! Have you seen her? Izzy: Sora, Biyomon, T.K., and Patamon are probably with her too. Andromon: You mean Queen Kari is your sister!? Izzy: QUEEN!?!? Andromon: Wait just a moment! (Andromon begins scanning) Andromon: THEY'RE COMING!!! Izzy: Kari and the others are coming here!? When!? Andromon: NOW!!! Tai: Really!? Izzy: Prodigious, Andromon! (Machinedramon breaks through the wall) Machinedramon: Oh, good. Just what I was looking for: Victims. Team: MACHINEDRAMON!!!

Man, remember when we needed to make a raft to leave File Island and everyone just showed up like, "Oh yeah, word travels fast." They weren't kidding; Those File Island Digimon really do love to gossip. Dub Andromon has not only heard of the Queen Kari incident but readily joined her cult.

The "incoming" confusion in the dub is janky.

In the original, all Andromon says is, "くる Kuru!" That is a verb that means something is inbound, on its way, on approach, etc. He offers no further specification, and Taichi and Koushiro only have room for two quick lines before Mugendramon arrives.

So Taichi and Koushiro draw the wrong conclusions because they don't realize the context has switched.

In the dub, he explicitly says "They're coming." That's a plural term. I mean, it can also be a singular pronoun for non-binary individuals but the dub uses he/him for Machinedramon.

This isn't necessarily incorrect. They are, in fact, coming. Hikari's group is following her light to Taichi and the others, and we will see them shortly. They are closing in, so if he'd left it at that, then it would still work.

But then he says "NOW!!!" right before Machinedramon breaks through the wall. Meaning he was unambiguously referring to Machinedramon when he said they're coming. Um?

Machinedramon's opening line is pretty sick, though.

Standing there now, side by side with Not Hikari, Taichi and Koushiro face down the wrath of Also Not Hikari.

Mugendramon: Andromon is with you? I'll dispose of you all together then.

Mugendramon puts into action his new plan: Being very large. Rearing up to his full height, he smashes through the roof above him. Then he walks forward, collapsing the tunnel in his wake.

Andromon: Find some place to hide. Team: Andromon!?

Andromon moves forward and grabs hold of Mugendramon's ankle, attempting to hold him back.

Team: ANDROMON!!!

He fails miserably, as Mugendramon uses the wheels under his feet to simply roll forward and drive Andromon back. But it buys the children a moment to tuck back into that side door they tried to ambush Andromon from.

Once Mugendramon's passed, Taichi's crew emerges and sprints off in pursuit.

Team: ANDROMOOOOOON!!!

We suddenly cut to another part of the undercity. Hikari, still glowing, lets out a sharp gasp.

Sora: Hikari-chan? What is it? Hikari: Close by.... Takeru: You mean Taichi-san's group? Hikari: INCOMING!!!

Suddenly Mugendramon's face and shoulders smash through the tunnel ahead, continuing right on out the other side.

Sora & Takeru: MUGENDRAMON!?!?

Yeah, that's right, Hikari fucking did it to her team too! XD

In the dub, Machinedramon is inexplicably more interested in Andromon than in the DigiDestined.

Machinedramon: Hello, Andromon. Babysitting? I'll destroy you first while the others watch! (Machinedramon breaks through the ceiling and walks forward, collapsing the tunnel) Andromon: I'll hold him off. You hide. Izzy: Careful! (Andromon tries to hold back Machinedramon) Team: Andromon! (The kids take cover while Machinedramon passes) Tai: Andromon, hang on! We're coming to help! (Cut to the upper floor) Kari: (sharp gasp) Sora: What is it, Kari? Kari: They're coming! T.K.: You mean Tai? When? Kari: Now. (Machinedramon smashes through) Sora & T.K.: MACHINEDRAMON!?!?

As with Andromon, the fact that Kari says "Now" right before Machinedramon arrives seems to explicitly confirm that she's somehow misidentified Machinedramon as Tai, rather than simply communicating the context badly.

Though in this case, at least Tai is fairly close, so the two events could be taken as unrelated.

It's still janky, but at least they got the part where this is an ironic repetition of the earlier bit right.

Unfortunately for Sora's group, being on the upper floor of the ceiling Mugendramon's caving in means they're standing on floors he's caving in. The floor beneath them collapses underfoot, plunging them into the lower tunnel.

Angemon, Angewomon, and Birdramon work together to slow the children's descent, giving Hikari the most messianic symbolism she's had yet. Her light is even shining in the shape of a crucifix.

Taichi's group watches them descend.

Hikari: Onii-chan! Taichi: Hikari! Koushiro: Sora-san! Takeru-kun! Sora: Koushiro-kun!

Tai's group climbs over the debris and hurries over to where the others landed. Now that they're finally reunited, Hikari stops glowing. Taichi runs up to her, picking her up and spinning her around.

Taichi: Hikari! Hikari: Onii-chan! Koushiro: What a relief. Sora: Hey, what's happening with Mugendramon? Koushiro: Andromon is fighting him to defend us. Sora: EH!? Koushiro: He's been down here putting on a solo resistance.

In the dub:

Kari: Tai, it's you! Tai: KARI!!! Izzy: Sora! T.K.! (The two teams reunite) Tai: (picking up Kari and spinning her) KARI!!! Kari: TAI!!! Izzy: She made it! Sora: Was that Andromon I saw fighting with Machinedramon? Izzy: That's him, alright. He's sacrificing himself to protect us. Sora: (wails) Izzy: He's raising an army against Machinedramon.

I mean. Sacrificing himself probably isn't the A plan. I'm sure Andromon would very much like to win this fight if that's an option. We should probably try to make that an option.

Andromon and Mugendramon continue to fight while they have this chat. Suddenly, Mugendramon raises his claw and slams it down on Andromon; An attack the dub names "Dragon Fire" despite just being an open-handed smash.

Birdramon intervenes, shoving back against Mugendramon's bulk while the angels help Andromon get away.

Angewomon: You're okay. Andromon: (weakly) Thank you.... Angemon: We're with you now. Birdramon: Let's fight him together. Andromon: Agreed.

The four Digimon take take up positions in front of Mugendramon and fire their attacks. Meteor Wing, Holy Arrow, Heaven's Knuckle, and Spiral Sword converge on Mugendramon, resulting in a destructive blast that tears up through the ceiling and into the hybrid city above.

Caught in the middle of the blast but entirely undeterred, Mugendramon roars.

Taichi & Sora: (startled gasps) Koushiro: Mugendramon is Ultimate level, isn't he?

Mugendramon returns fire with his Mugen Cannon. Rather than firing two charged-up twin beams of destruction, however, this time he rapid-fires single shots, alternating cannons.

His aim is terrible. We see him spraying fire up into the city above, and one dramatically into the camera. So this is clearly a spray-and-pray firing mode. But he hits his marks, taking out all four Digimon before him.

In the dub:

Angewomon: Are you alright, Andromon? Andromon: Yes, thank you. Angemon: We'll take you to safety. Birdramon: NO!!! Let's fight Machinedramon together! (Everyone attacks to no effect) Tai & Sora: (startled gasps) Izzy: Machinedramon's a Mega Digimon! They can't win!

The initial plan in the dub is to retreat. However, Birdramon - the weakest of the four, mind you - has an attack of machismo and convinces the others to throw hands instead. They all lose and it's her fault.

Once the Digimon are down, Mugendramon turns towards the children.

Mugendramon: Ahahahaha.... These whelps can't even touch me. I suppose the rest of you are next.

Taichi closes his eyes and braces for the end. In the process, he takes his attention momentarily off Hikari, who marches right out there to give this colossal metal asshole a piece of her mind.

Taichi: (realizing) Hikari! Sora: Hikari-chan!

As she walks, sunlight streams down into the ruined undercity from the destruction above.

As Hikari stands before Mugendramon, a swarm of green floods over him from behind. The Numemon swarm him, covering every inch of his metal body.

Mugendramon: Hmph. These pipsqueaks shouldn't play around. Hikari: Numemon...? Mugendramon: (laughing while talking) You're really trying to fight me? Hikari: Numemon...!

We don't see the attack, but Mugendramon slams his right claw down into the ground and a sort of energy blast sound effect plays. But whatever it is, it kills them all. Crying out in unison, all of the Numemon disintegrate into pixel dust together.

Hikari: NUMEMON!!!

In the dub:

Machinedramon: They weren't even worth my time. You're all next!

We go to commercial here, with Machinedramon bearing down on the children.

Machinedramon: Now I've got you, DigiDestined! Who wants to be the first victim? (Hikari walks out in front) Tai: Kari! Team: (gasp) Machinedramon: How brave you are to volunteer. I'll try to make this as painful as I can. (Numemon swarm) Machinedramon: What do you think you are doing, Numemon? Kari: Numemon? Machinedramon: Do you slimy Digimon call this fighting!? Kari: Numemon!

Machinedramon calls Giga Cannon when he kills the Numemon, even though they are way too close for Giga Cannon.

Kari: OH, NUMEMON!!!

The main distinction between versions is that Machinedramon asks one of them to come out to him and Kari acquiesces, rather than Hikari simply doing that of her own volition.

Hikari's light consumes her once more and she passes out on the spot.

Taichi: HIKARI!!!

Taichi runs to his sister. Agumon tries to follow, but the Hikari's light takes him as well, overwhelming him with energy.

Agumon: So much fury and power!

Agumon Warp-Evolves into WarGreymon. Not to the sound of Show Me Your Brave Heart, but to a somber orchestral tune. There is nothing triumphant or heroic here. This is just revenge.

Roaring, screaming, WarGreymon charges forward while Taichi cradles the unconscious Hikari.

WarGreymon: RAAAAAAAAGH!!! Taichi: Wake up! Hikari! WarGreymon: HRRAAAAAAAAARGH!!!

In the dub:

Tai: KARI!!! Agumon: AUGH!!! I feel the power!

The dub plays the standard Digimon Theme over Agumon's Warp-Digivolution.

WarGreymon: HRUGH!!! Tai: Wake up! WarGreymon: RRRRRRGH!!!

Dub WarGreymon lets out angry grunts and growls as he runs, but isn't screaming blood fury like his original counterpart.

As WarGreymon charges forward, the camera briefly closes up on his Dramon Killers, which let out both a visible and audible shimmer. A momentary reminder that. Y'know. Digimon with "dramon" at the end of their name are super vulnerable to his claws.

WarGreymon and Mugendramon strike each other at once, posing dramatically in the classic quick-draw samurai "Which one will fall?" pose.

The answer is WarGreymon.

The energy Hikari gave him now exhausted, WarGreymon degenerates back into Koromon, with a carved line visible across his face.

Taichi: (gasp) Hikari: (weakly) Koromon.... Mugendramon: This is the end. Koromon: And a good one. I have Taichi, Hikari, and everyone else with me!

We briefly pan around the area to see them all smiling at him. Angemon and Angewomon. Sora, Takeru, Koushiro, and Tentomon. Andromon and Birdramon. Taichi and Hikari. Then, as if willed into existence by Koromon's friendships, WarGreymon's attacks suddenly take effect.

Bit by bit, carved-off parts of Mugendramon slide off and disintegrate into pixels.

(Dude was able to turn his head and hold a brief chat; That is a hell of a delayed reaction. Two of the slices were through his head, cutting it into thirds!)

This is too sappy for the dub, which focuses instead on the violence.

Tai: Koromon! Kari: Mm... Huh? Machinedramon: Now I will finish you once and for all! Koromon: I don't think so! You missed what I did as WarGreymon! I sliced you like an onion!

It's another example of the dub being more comfortable with the violent aspects of the show than the emotional bits. But, in their defense, it does segue better into Machinedramon's death. Mugendramon abruptly falls apart once everyone's finished validating Koromon, out of absolutely nowhere.

With Mugendramon's death... there is suddenly a new concern.

The world around them begins to shake furiously.

Andromon: Now that Mugendramon, ruler of the cities, has been defeated, this whole area is going to collapse. Takeru: (worried gasp) Sora: Don't worry. We'll face this together. Takeru: (affirmative) Mm! Koushiro: It's dangerous to stay here. We should escape as quickly as we can! Taichi: Yeah. Let's go!

Real sense of urgency going around with everyone standing there smiling and talking about how urgent things are. XD Come on, guys, I know the Hug It Out Energy got us through Mugendramon but we need to snap out of it and be worried again. At least until we're out of the undercity.

In the dub:

Andromon: Without Machinedramon, this area has become unstable! It's beginning to fall apart! T.K.: (terrified wail) Sora: Nothing can happen to us that we can't handle together! T.K.: Right! Izzy: I think it's becoming a little too dangerous. We better get out of here! Tai: You're right! Let's go!

As the city collapses and the city stripe recedes from Spiral Mountain, the children escape to the airspace surrounding the mountain.

Angemon carries Takeru and Koushiro. Angewomon has Taichi and Hikari. Birdramon has Sora. Where is Andromon? Well.... It's complicated.

It's not complicated. He's clinging to Birdramon's other leg. You can briefly make out his leg through the gap in Angewomon's wings if you look really close in exactly the right shot. But that brief glimpse in which you have to be looking at just the right time is all we see of him. Meanwhile, his voice has the internal monologue or voice-over effect played on it, like the group is remembering words he spoke to them before they left.

Andromon (V.O.?): Now that the cities are gone, my fight is over. Hikari: Onii-chan... When we get down, can I make a grave for the Numemon? Taichi: Yeah. Sora: We'll all do it. Team: Mm-hm!

While everyone has their minds made up on this next course of action, we close on a final shot of the floating island at the peak of Spiral Mountain.

Taichi: You're next, Piemon!

So. Andromon is still with us. He will continue to be with us next episode. But the dub (quite reasonably in my opinion) takes his absence from this scene and the voice-over effect of his line to mean we've parted ways.

Andromon: Machinedramon City is dissolving. My work here is finished. Angemon: Farewell, Andromon! Thank you! Kari: When we get down, can I build one of those memorials to my friends, the Numemon? Tai: Sure. Sora: We'll all help build it. Right, guys? Team: Uh-huh! (Final shot of the peak) Tai: You're next, Piedmon!

To make this a cliffhanger, the dub splices in a closeup of Piedmon's face, laughing maniacally.

Piedmon: WAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Narrator: Will the DigiDestined be able to defeat the most powerful Dark Master of all? Find out their fate on the next Digimon: Digital Monsters.

So, I can't really blame the dub for thinking Andromon had left given the weirdness.

...but also I can because. Like.

We've long since determined that they didn't watch episodes in advance and this is just more evidence. He is right there next episode.

Assessment: I said earlier that this is basically Hikari's Crest episode and I stand by that. We were promised an abyss where darkness rules, and the answer to that abyss was Hikari showering it in her light and purging the darkness from every corner.

There is a lot of poetry and symbolism in the way this episode uses Hikari's light. It connects directly to the idea that the sacred energy, the power to influence Digimon evolution, comes from within the children.

It's no coincidence that it's Hikari, the girl from the OVA, who empowers Agumon (formerly her Digimon) to defeat Mugendramon. They even play a bit of the OVA's music when she marches out to face Mugendramon alone.

In a poetic and spiritual sense, this is a very powerful episode.

But in the literal sense... there is a lot of "I guess this is happening now" going around. Hikari's suddenly throwing around new powers, evolving other kids' Partner Digimon and psychic-sensing Taichi and Mugendramon. Abilities that have not been previously established and are not well explained.

Similarly, all that build-up with the Numemon amounts to is them running in, accomplishing nothing, and dying swiftly so that Hikari can go Super Saiyan.

There's a lot of ideas I liked in here, but the Mugendramon sub-arc maybe needed another episode so this stuff would have more space to breathe.

[otakween]

Digimon Adventure (Blind Watch) - Episode 40

Ah...back in the digi-world at last. There's been a time-skip and its become kind of a dystopia. Of course, it kinda already WAS a dystopia which is one of the things that bugs me about this series. They keep being like "you're the chosen ones to defeat the evil in this world!" but then there's like an indefinite amount of new evils that keep showing up. Imagine if Harry Potter was the chosen one to defeat Voldemort but then when he defeated Voldy, new evil wizards kept popping up and his chosen-one status transferred to them. Pretty vague destiny. I get that it's a product of this show's monster-of-the-week structure but it still bugs me.

Digimon introduced: MetalSeadramon, Mugendramon, Piemon, Pinochimon

Notes:

-I can feel the shounen power-leveling problems setting in. Everything just keeps escalating and nothing feels special anymore. Angemon and Angewomon can just show up whenever and warp evolution was casually used too. I think we've at least hit the end of the line for evolution levels. I wonder what gimmick they'll use when they can't rely on revealing new evolutions?

-I can't decide if it's good or bad that there's a villain team this arc. It could be really interesting or they could all be really flat. It's funny that the leader of the team is another flamboyant dude. The 90s loved their queer coded villains, that's for sure.

-Piemon is just Hisoka, Digimon AU and I'm upset (I'm reading Hunter x Hunter right now and he pisses me off)

-Funny seeing Mugendramon (Machinedramon) right after finishing Digimon World where he was the big bad at the end. He followed me to this arc!

-I think Pinochimon might be the most interesting of the Dark Masters so far. I feel like his powers and personality have the most potential for interesting plotlines. (Lol I wonder if they changed his name in the dub to avoid angering Disney?)

-Felt really bad for Chumon in this episode :'( he was so cute being carried around by Mimi like a plushie. RIP. Hikari again showing off her animal whisperer skills.

-Love the design of Spiral Mountain. I don't know what the mountain obsession is in Digimon, but this is the coolest looking one yet.

-That scene at the end with Piccolomon's sacrifice was sooo awkward. There's an explosion and Hikari literally just says "Piccolomon is dead" as if narrating for the audience's sake. Yikes. Why did Chumon get a more dignified send off than him?

-So far we're getting a lot of callbacks to old friends. I wonder if things will continue in that vein. I wouldn't mind that, the one-episode-only digimon tend to feel more flat.

[o-w-quinlan]

Digimon Adventure: (2020) Final Thoughts

Considering I stopped reviewing this series episode by episode months ago, they’re more positive thoughts than you’d expect, though still not all that positive.

To summarize, this is an entertaining series with plenty of individual good aspects and great episodes that nevertheless leaves me cold as a whole. Much as I enjoyed following it week to week, I can’t say I recommend this series to anyone but hardcore Digimon fans, or hardcore fans of the wider “monster” genre.

Action

It felt appropriate to start with this, considering a focus on action was what the initial interviews promised, and they delivered in spades. It wasn’t perfect or too consistent, there were several times when the Digimon not evolving when they could just broke any tension the fights had, but this series had some of the best fights in any Digimon anime. Anything in the first 3 episodes, Greymon/MetalGreymon vs MetalTyranomon, SkullKnightmon vs Greymon and Garurumon, Mugendramon vs DoneDevimon, Mugendramon vs WarGreymon, Millenniumon vs the dragons, Omegamon vs Abbadomon Core… all of them among the best things the franchise has to offer in terms of action scenes, which after so many series where fights were solved by having a protagonist Digimon evolve and one-shotting the enemy, comes as a breath of fresh air (to be fair, this series also had a lot of that, but it had actual great fights to compensate).

Worldbuilding

Another thing promised in interviews was the use of Digimon from all over the franchise, and not only did they deliver, but they also included plenty of references to the “null canon” to enrich the experience for the most hardcore fans. The series made sure to constantly emphasize the savage nature of the Digital World, bringing back the Tamers worldbuilding of Digimon consuming weaker Digimon in hopes of achieving evolution. Along the way we saw a lot of allies fighting back against this status-quo, from things as overt as Leomon organizing a resistance or Petaldramon protecting weaker Digimon from the all-consuming Entmon, to less dramatic stuff like weak Digimon settling down to live together, or the mere presence of a restaurant where everyone can rest for a while of the hardships of their world.

The biggest flaw here was in how the series handled its antagonists. With very few exceptions, every single enemy Digimon in the series lacked dialog, whereas nearly every single ally Digimon could speak normally, and this disparity cheapened the whole thing, because instead of coming across as “this mentality is normal for this world”, it came across as just your normal “everyone lived together in harmony until the villains attacked”, which is very much not what the series was telling us.

Characterization

That brings us to the next point: the lack of personality for most villains. I joked elsewhere that Minotaurmon from episode 19 was the most compelling villain of the series, and that’s not completely a joke. Almost every single villain of the week was flat, plenty of the “main” villains were lacking in dialog (Algomon in the first few episodes, Nidhoggmon, Millenniumon) or turned mindless halfway through (Devimon, DarkKnightmon). Negamon/Abbadomon in the final episodes managed to benefit from this by being the embodiment of an “instinct”, but in general this meant a mook-of-the-week like Minotaurmon managed to be a highlight among the villains simply by having dialog and non-trivial desires.

But what of the protagonists? The popular opinion is that everyone is far blander than they were in the original series, and I agree. But rather than comparing it with the first series, let’s look at what it had to offer to us. Where in other Digimon series, the backstories and issues of the protagonists and their reactions to what’s going on around them make for most of the drama, in this series the drama comes from the villains trying to destroy everything, and for the most part that means the protagonists only need to be distinct and charming on their own, no necessity to create conflict between them. There is an overall character arc for all of them, though: accepting and interiorizing their new duties towards the world they had ended up stranded on, getting to know and love the Digital World. Was this well done? Not really.

Taichi and Takeru, for example, were so much the embodiment of the stock shonen hero that accepting their place in this new world didn’t really reveal anything about them we hadn’t already seen from their first few appearances.

Jou got stuck as an unfunny punchline 90% of the time, to the point of damaging his few “serious” moments in some of his focus episodes. His development of becoming assertive was compelling in theory, but it got muddled with so many unfunny and uncomfortable hotsprings jokes that the impact was lost.

Hikari started as an even more blatant plot-device “mysterious character” than she was in the original series, before unconvincingly changing to cheerful little girl afterwards (the whiplash between her in episode 33 and her in episode 34 was something else), and only really managing to settle into a compelling character in her last focus episode (58, defending the Digitamas from the Bakemon and SkullBaluchimon, which to be fair is a great episode and probably the best showcase for Hikari as a character in any product or continuity).

Koushiro was mostly fine, although we all remember the several times the series seemed to promise it might do something with him (his uneasiness when his family was mentioned, or that line about having to “face the darkness of his past” in the HerakleKabuterimon episode) that ended up being nothing.

Mimi is the fan-favorite, being charming in nearly all her appearances and having some of the best focus episodes, and it’s mostly deserved. If there’s anything I criticize from her, it’s that her focus episodes don’t really add up to anything.

Yamato was fine, started out as a stock shonen rival before becoming the single most chill “lone wolf” in any Digimon series, probably because of what I said before of the conflict between the protagonists no longer being the source of drama. He gets a slow development of caring only for his brother to starting to care for other Digimon for the sake of Sora and Gabumon to caring about the Digital World just as much as everyone else.

Sora was made fun of by a certain section of the fandom for having the worst focus episodes early on, and I agreed, but having finished the series I can’t get rid of the impression that her focus episodes, while perhaps not that good on their own, when taken as a whole explore her character the best of any other. Yeah, this mostly means exploring her compassion (these are not very multi-dimensional characters), but they deepen and deepen both her impact on the Digimon she saves and how she is impacted in turn by them, moving her away from saving others through her combat prowess to saving others by empathizing with the grief of another caring soul, and by the end I honestly ended up considering her my favorite character (despite none of her episodes making it to my list of favorites).

As for the Digimon… it’s following in the footsteps of other Digimon Adventure products by not really having much of interest for the Digimon themselves except for Tailmon.

Overall, for the most part the main characters were decent, but besides Mimi and ultimately also Sora, I don’t think they’re very memorable. All of them start out promising, but never really improved from that promising start (again, except for Sora).

Pacing

And now we get to the biggest problem of the series: Pacing. I’ve seen it stated elsewhere that this series was more episodic than most (any?) other Digimon series before it, and part of the backlash it got was from not being as serialized as fans expected it to be. This isn’t exactly true. From episode 16 (Eyesmon) to episode 24 (DoneDevimon), this series was as serialized as any other Digimon series has ever been, with nonstop escalation that demanded you keep watching it week after week. Then, from 25 to 35 (Angewomon) or 36 (BlitzGreymon), it pulled slightly back from that never-ending escalation, but was still pretty serialized. It was only afterwards that it became heavily episodic, and by that point it wasn’t expectations set up by previous series that hurt it in the eyes of the fandom, it was expectations set by this series itself in its first half.

Not that the episodes themselves were bad. Honestly, I found myself significantly more entertained by the episodic later half of the series than the serialized first half. Maybe it was because they didn’t feel the need to convince me they were the most exciting, tense thing I had ever seen when they were clearly not (hello, Mamemon episode), or maybe it was that there were more than just endless fights to them, but I normally ended up those episodes entertained and satisfied, whereas with a lot of episodes from Eyesmon to BlitzGreymon, I mostly just felt frustrated after watching them. I agree with the criticism that, when seen as a whole, breaking momentum so hard for so long after months of never-ending escalation wasn’t the right choice, but when seen week after week, I can’t see this change of approach as that bad of a thing.

Conclusion

I think that sums up the series for me. On a weekly basis, it’s pretty entertaining. It’s when seen as a whole that the problems really become clear. There’s been some speculation in the past few weeks of how much the current situation in the world might have impacted the series, but ultimately, I have to judge what actually happened, and I can’t help the impression that this series ultimately left me with nothing of substance after it was all said and done. Like, I enjoyed this more than, say, Appli Monsters, but Appli Monsters have things that stick with you after it’s over. Not so much here, unless you’re a hardcore fan that loves the Omegamon lore this added (which I am, btw; love that Omegamon lore). I don’t think I can recommend this series to anyone who isn’t a hardcore Digimon fan, or at least a hardcore fan of the wider “monster” genre.

One thing I’m grateful to this series for, though, it’s the commercial boost it has given the rest of the franchise. I’m not going to credit it for all the successes it currently has, after all the Card Game would have fell off by now if it wasn’t genuinely well-done and the Vital Bracelet happened because of years of the virtual pet division progressively building up its audience after it had nearly died off, but it’s undeniable they wouldn’t have sold as well without this anime advertising the franchise week after week. Next week, we’ll have the first episode of Digimon Ghost Game, the first time since 2001 that we have a Digimon series being immediately succeeded by another. If that isn’t a sign of how well the franchise is doing right now, I don’t know what is.

Favorite Episodes: 1 (Tokyo Digital Crisis), 6 (The Targeted Kingdom), 12 (Lilimon Blooms), 20 (The Seventh One Awakens), 32 (Soaring Hope), 42 (King of Inventors, Gerbemon), 49 (The God of Evil Descends, Millenniummon), 56 (The Gold Wolf of the Crescent Moon), 58 (Hikari, New Life)

[fizzingwizard]

Go ahead y’all ask me how I am... do it, I DARE you... after Digimon Adventure: episode 50 - the 1999 equivalent of which, I feel compelled to mention, was “Jou’s Battle,” when Taichi strategically splits his group apart with the goal of gathering the whole team for the final confrontation - I think my emotional state can best be described like this:

meme so funny haha

but the truth is I’m very sad. I just can’t with this show anymore. I don’t know if I’ll continue to review future episodes. Actually, as I was watching this one, I thought it was the final episode, even though I knew there were supposed to be more and it hadn’t been hyped as the finale at all. I just thought, “What else can they do after this? It seems like the kind of ending this shitshow would get. At least it will be a relief to not watch it every week anymore.”

However, let’s be clear that this is NOT the finale. I’m gonna watch till the very end, but idk if I have it in me even to make these depressing little reviews. At first it was fun, then it was meh... I held out and the show got fun again, but the last month or so have been such a drag. And this week’s episode is just the final straw. So we’ll see.

Anyway real episode review below the cut. Warning: I hated everything except for Taichi’s face so it’s mostly caps of him.

Pic of the day:

“At this rate... I’m gonna request a transfer to Boruto...” /Sanpei Yuuko joke

More below

Last week big bad Millenniumon appeared to be resurrected. Here he is.

Totally lacking a clear motivation other than “destroy the world...” Even in appearance, ALL of Devimon’s evolutions mid-season were WAY scarier.

Turns out Taichi and Agumon have faceplanted on this hunk of rock, which immediately breaks off and sends them catapulting earthward.

Wind noise what? Taichi and Agumon encourage each other while freefalling.

Agumon: Hey shouldn’t we have broken every bone in our bodies by now

Taichi: I once broke my leg tripping over Hikari’s hairbrush. This is starting to seem silly.

Meanwhile the others awaken inside what Tailmon explains is a cut-off dimension created by Millenniumon, where they will eventually fall into a dreamless sleep forever and ever.

Millenniumon’s power is immense and he makes volcanos erupt. So his power is he gives the earth digital acne.

Yamato evolves MetalGarurumon and stars just attacking the walls (of... the endless void... lol). This appears to slow Millenniumon down in a total rip-off of the way cooler way Koushirou slowed Diaboromon down in Our War Game.

The Holy Digimon are inspired by Taichi’s courage to fight wheeee I didn’t realize they were having problems with that

no kidding

Taichi fights a lot and escapes certain death a lot. Even when he and WarGreymon take a head-on hit and are sent spiraling into the ocean. Still fine because THE POWER OF BELIEF

Chumbawumba: I get knocked down but I get up again you’re never gonna keep me down

WarGreymon is able to knock the black ball thingy out of Millenniumon’s mouth. This is fortunate because it’s what contains Yamato and friends and now they are able to free themselves thanks to the Holy Digimon, who randomly start acting like the Crests are important. But since we don’t know what they are *cough* they just call them “everyone’s hopes!”

Now let’s interrupt my mocking to appreciate an adorable Taichi waking up face:

Alll the d’aaaaawwwww

... Aaaand his back is broken x’DDD

The HolyDigimon have evolved to Ultimate level! More on that later. First, they divided the group in halves with them, because because. Hikari gets Taichi, Sora, and Koushirou, and Takeru gets Yamato, Jou, and Mimi.

So yes... those Ultimate evolutions... Tailmon becomes Magnadramon and Patamon becomes... GODDRAMON, GOD OF STEELY ABS

no seriously thats all I could think. Magnadramon is all soft and fluffy looking and then Goddramon is like “I HAVE SMALL HEAD HUGE BODY ABS ABS UNTIL KINGDOM COME, VERY MACHO”

He punches Millenniumon in the mouth, of course.

Millenniummon considerately starts to melt. Thank you, Millenniumon. We wouldn’t want Goddramon’s ego to get bruised.

There’s a few good attacks here - I liked Magnadramon’s Apocalypse attack - but like who even cares. The animation is so half-assed that there’s nothing really to appreciate.

Just when it seems Millenniumon’s defeated, he comes back like... this. It’s enormous. Even Koushirou’s digimon analyzer doesn’t know what it is.

Lopmon does though!

bahahaha

but wait what’s this

sparks! are they fireflies????

no they are the hopes and wishes of all the Digimon we’ve met on our journey! how lovely and inspiring! what are they saying?

hopes and wishes: I DONT WANNA DIE I DONT WANNA DIE I DONT WANNA DIE

now I shall spam Taichi looking adorable while being as cliche as an anime protagonist can get.

Good heavens, WHY. WHY WHY WHY. I looooooove Taichi (obviously) but WHY is he the one fighting here?? First it was Taichi, then it was Goddramon/Magnadramon, and now it’s... back to Taichi??? FOR WHAT REASON???

I mean the reason is, we don’t know anyone else well enough to cheer for them the way we cheer for Taichi. As cool as the Holy Digimon are meant to be, I guess the one thing the producers realized is that, uh, they’ve only spent time building up Taichi (and even that, while they’ve done a lot of it, they haven’t done it well).

Kinda cool death scene.

Our heroes wake up no worse for the wear. Millenniumon is gone. Everyone is together and happy. I’m just spamming Taichi again.

his face when Mimi gives him the corsage

Taichi: “Wtf, what is this, is this supposed to mean something??? also didn’t we see this burn to a crisp a few frames ago??”

And we end with a blue sky, which is both the most beautifully animated frame as well as the most Digimon Adventure-like scene in the entire episode -____-

So, like I said, I was all prepared for this to be the inauspicious ending, despite what I’d heard about the number of episodes. But nope, there’s more. Although I’m frustrated beyond belief, I’m somewhat relieved because this does mean there’s still potential to recover somewhat from this utter train wreck of a battle. The big problem is that Millenniumon is a TERRIBLE villain.

The other problem is that the show HASN’T been terrible the whole time. It’s been up and down a lot, but the ups were very much there, and they gave us some stuff I found pretty interesting. Like, I really wanted to know more about what the heck went down between Taichi and DoneDevimon - the fact that only Yamato has any idea about it (Takeru too but he’s a baby) hasn’t been addressed. Then there’s the connections between Devimon and Angemon, SkullKnightmon and Tailmon. Those have been addressed, technically, but they left sooo much room for more.

Then there’s things like the kids’ family situations - my guess is we’ll end up back in the human world at some point quite soon - which were hinted at back when most of the team was exiled to the human world. Really want to see that expanded on.

Mosty of all, what gave me any positive vibes about this reboot at all was the first three episodes, which were pretty good overall - did a lot of things different but still preserved what I felt was most important. We saw Koushirou coming into his own, Yamato being standoffish and slowly opening up, and Taichi being the glue that keeps things together. Those first three episodes are arguably better than the rest of the show combined. And I bet it’s no coincidence that they predate covid-19 (sort of - I mean, covid was already a thing and around, Japan just hadn’t started caring much about it yet).

Episode 4 is when we started hitting misteps, and that’s also when the show went on brief hiatus due to covid. It never got back what made those first three episodes so promising, even during the highs.

I’ll make a list of the things I liked sometime, but I suppose the main points are the ones I mentioned above, plus the arc with Ogremon, and the kids getting new evolutions not seen in 99 Adventure (well, by “kids” I mostly mean Taichi tho - but I thought it meant everyone would get them. Technically, Takeru just did.)

So yeah. I’m  so done with this show and the things is, I just love Digimon Adventure so much, it meant so much to me as a kid. I didn’t expect the same show. I think my expectations were set at a reasonable level, though I knew I had to be cautious about comparing the now and the before too much. This show just hasn’t been able to live up to 99 Adventure, but that’s not even my issue - it’s that it doesn’t live up to other current children’s cartoons either. It’s got no heart. Just think about that, Digimon has got no heart. It’s literally all about the connection between kids and their partners, kids and their friends, kids and their families, and it has no heart! That is failure. It says to me that something got confused in production - there wasn’t enough money, or there was too much staff turnover thanks to covid, etc, and people just lost sight of the story they were planning to tell.

That’s what I think happened. It can’t be fixed at this point, but I’ll still watch till the end and hope for the best. At least maybe I’ll get more Taichi pics to spam.

I probably need to rewatch 99 Adventure soon to get my soul back.

Next week, apparently the Crests will finally matter. My hope is that this whole debacle with Millenniumon is gonna turn out to have been a cover for something much bigger and less boring going on. Millenniumon didn’t even get a villain monologue. He reminded me of the way Mugendramon had been somewhat, more like a puppet than his own person. Makes me wonder if the Vademon were up to more than simply resurrecting a vanquished evil. Here’s hoping.

[rurulaura]

digimon tri. rant thing

So, I was making new screenshots of Meiko for the last few weeks to make a phone wallpaper with. Kind of shocking I never did that before isn’t it? As someone who is so obsessed... 

So anyway, I was rewatching the series, but fast forwarding to Meiko’s scenes. Doing so made me realize that more things bothered me about the series than I remembered. 

I didn’t realize how I wasn’t the only one that thought this not in such a rage mindset. I ran a salt blog between part 1 and 4 where I shitposted. THat blog is now deleted. But I was so emotionally angry, that I couldn’t think straight, if that makes sense. I couldn’t put the logic to my emotions.

It’s been a few years and “rewatching” tri. brought these feelings back, but now I can look at it more logically.. I’m more mentally sound, so I was to see more. Hah, taichi’s goggles reference. See more, understand less. Get it? Well anyway. It ended up a little long. Enjoy.

Initially, anything that bothered me I tried to come up with an explanation for. I just thought back then, surely I am just not a deep enough person to fully comprehend what is obviously here. I don’t remember the last I rewatched tri., probably last year, but this darn pandemic makes feel it’s been a decade. The situation with the 02 kids is something I tried to come up with an explanation for. 

Sure, I can see the lead up to their disappearance, discovering Maki’s and Yggdrasil’s plan. Or maybe that’s just wishful thinking too. (Ok, but a detective/ hacker 02 squad? How can you say no to that! Can you blame me???) But ultimately, now that I look back on it. Just doesn’t make sense. 

\The four of them would have definitely called the other chosen for help. Daisuke and Miyako might be irrational at times, but I think even they would have realized they couldn’t hadle this.  Miyako and Iori would have definitely needed Hikari and Takeru by their side for Jogress. They would realized they would  need Koushirou for contact. Taichi and Yamato for Omegamon. Plus, the timeline for Reunion to Determination seems to be 2 months. They would have 1,000,000,000% have realized four of their friends were missing. The six of them are hanging out together. Miyako, HIkari, Takeru, and Daisuke are not just in the same grade, But I bet you they are still in the same darn school. I tried to make sense of this. Maybe this would make sense in a week period. But honestly. These 6 idiots would have known. 

In Determination, mysterious man shows up as the “Digimon Kaiser” and no one bats an eye. They all 100% think that’s Ken. After everything that poor kid has been through. and to top it all off Imperialdramon. You think Ken would EVER not only USE someonelse’s Digimon for his own doing, BUT PUT HIS PARTNER AND HIS BEST FRIEND’S PARTNER IN POTENTIAL DANGER? TO ACCOMPLISH WHAT EXACTLY? No. Absoulutely not. 

In Loss, when “gennai” was blowing up the kids with Mugendramon, one of the kids said “IS that really Gennai?” Then Takeru responds, “No way . Gennai would never do this!”

Takeru, TK. Teeks. Honey, remember how that old geezer didn’t even show up until half way through your adventure to guide you? Remember three years later when he didn’t appear until the world was pretty ending? YOU TRUST THAT GEEZER MORE THAT YOUR FRIEND. How freaking dare you. It was bad enough when Sora also said “Oh, stop Ichijouji-kun!” When she was pinned down and sexually harassed by mysterious man. 

I remembered trying to defend this. Saying “Oh, they just didn’t know what to call him.” In Japan there are so many ways to refer to someone in third person. Just like for the non-binary community,  They ask to be called “they/them”. It’s not that difficult to find those third person pronouns in English. I mean, even we have had nicknames. Dark Gennai, Kennai, Mysterious Man. 

There are some other nuances that didn’t make sense to me in the series. Like in part 5, when Meiko is sitting outside the school after having spoken with Taichi Agumon shows up in front of her. Agumon talks about how he wasn’t scared of the scary story she told. Agumon then states “I love Meicoomon, and I know she loves you too!”. I never got why Meiko teared up and hugged Agumon. I don’t get how that was comforting. 

Also in part 5, no one is suprised that Daigo could get into the Digital WOrld? I’m pretty disappointed that they basically used the Original Chosen Children for plot only. Because none of the kids cared that “Hey! How come you can get into the Digital World without a Digivice?” Or Taichi caring in the basement with the 02 kids/gennai with Daigo talking Maki also having partner. Why did you introduce them in this way, if you were just using for plot purposes? You can say, “Oh, it’s just time constraints.”

But there’s so much in tri. where you can say that to. It really does show how sloppy tri. was. 

We never really got to see much of Meiko’s personality. As a kid she’s shown as a happy go lucky kid. Seems like adventuring/exploring. I.e. “Meicoomon and I would always play in the woods behind my house.” She also knows to how to make fire. Cool skill. Seen drawing. Cool. 

Ok, so what happened in those 6 years to make her to traumatized that she’s so withdrawn and selfloathing? Were she and Meicoomon being chased for that long? Targeted? Without any of the 12 knowing? Koushirou made a huge Chosen Child database, wouldn’t they know if a Chosen Child out there was in that much danger? WOuldn’t they know the DIgital WOrld was being attacked and put in danger by a mutation? Why logically move her to Tokyo 6 years later to “protect her”. Yeah, I get it. For plot reasons. It’s just sloppy.

Like, the transfer student trope is done in anime alllll the time. But this one obviously screams plot convinience. Then to top it off, Meiko moves BACK to Tottori. Why? I get being mortified that you asked your new friends to kill your partner. That you feel you don’t deserve their friendship and that’ll close you off to others. But why move in a 5 month span? Look, I know it’s anime and things don’t have to make sense. But when you have so many plot points just for convenience, it’s sloppy! So poor! 

Like, Meiko could just stay in Tokyo. And the end of tri. is just the 12 of them at her door with presents and they have a christmas party. You can still have a one off character live in the same city. Michael and Wallace still live in New York as far I know. and hey, wallace even got a cameo in Kizuna! 

Also,, in part 2. Mimi has a discussion with Meiko in the clothing store that Mimi can’t stand people that aren’t honest with themselves. This bothers Meiko. I thought this was just because Meiko knew of the infection and didn’t tell anyone. But later in part 3, Meiko says she knew Meicoomon was special, but not that it would come to this. So the reaction there doesn’t make sense. 

Other inappropriate reactions consist of Agumon’s constant “I’m hungry!” jokes during serious moments. “It’s comedy releif for the dark scenes!” For a few sure, not constantly through out 6 movies. It got really old really fast. That also just doesn’t fit their personalities.  Patamon’s ship bait in part 6 was not cool. 

Also, really don’t like the girls in bikinis. Didn’t like it either. Still makes sense to not like it now. 

I think those are my biggest gripes. I’m going rewatch adventure and 02 at some point. I’ll probably have more gripes about the older cast. 

[noctilucentstorm]

Digimon Adventure: Reivew

Episode 12: Lilimon Blooms

Separated from the others, Mimi and Palmon stumble across an ancient weapons factory.  There they meet Andromon, who is being controlled by the Soundbirdmon, and Guardromon.

This episode starts where we left off.  The hole Mimi and Palmon fall through is deep enough they are unable to get back up, so they decide to try and find another way. Meanwhile, Taichi and Koushiro discover they are unable to use their digivices to communicate within the ruin.  Even Koushiro’s laptop seems to be struggling.

The girls find a large room with a scrapheap that turns out to be made up of discarded machine digimon parts, which is a little creepy.  They soon stumble upon Andromon, who identifies them as a target to be eliminated.

Luckily, the bit of scrap metal that Mimi wiped the dirt from turns out the be Guardromon, who ends up taking its name very seriously and decides to save Mimi and Palmon just as Andromon gets the better of them.  

I do find myself questioning how much Taichi has thought through this plan.  Trying to scale a shaft that they’ve determined is probably deep enough Mimi can’t hear them seems a little dangerous, particularly when Tentomon could’ve just scouted ahead.  Also, if Koushiro could figure out the ruins are a weapons factory, can’t he also find a map of the place? Maybe this has all been discussed between them off screen, but it seems a shame to leave out.

Others have mentioned the parallels with Castle in the Sky and this episode really does have a different feel to it.  The balance between the action (which has been this series’ main strength so far) and the quieter moments is really nicely done.

I know the robot with a flower has probably been done loads of times, but it’s really sweet and gives Guardromon and Mimi a really sentimental moment without much speaking.  Most of the digimon we see bonding with humans in a meaningful way are able to talk, so it’s a nice change from the usual formula.

This scene also does a lovely job of showcasing Mimi’s ‘pure heart.’ By not making assumptions she’s made a friend, and found a way to get back to Taichi and Koushiro without waiting for them to come and find her.  It’s a good contrast to her introduction episode, when she was much more reliant on Taichi and Sora protecting her and the Tanemon.

We have a very brief interlude where we check up on the other group.  Apparently flying by log isn’t as stable as the basket, because Jou is struggling a little.  Sora is still worried for Neamon and the others, but Yamato tries to make up for being a bit of a jerk in the last episode and reassures her that by reaching their goal they’ll likely end up keeping the digimon safe as well.  Sora clearly appreciates the gesture.  

Seems like Jou really looks up to Yamato, which is interesting given his reaction to Koushiro a few episodes ago.  I’m wondering if he realises that Yamato is in the year below him. Yamato didn’t realise Jou was older than him in the original series, so it would be a nice parallel.  The whole scene is a cute moment and shows how much these three have already bonded just in the short time they’ve been travelling – it’s lovely to see!

Taichi and Koushiro manage to catch up to Mimi just at the right time and surprisingly, Greymon evolves to MetalGreymon.  Doesn’t seem like there’s a limitation on how many times they can evolve in this series.

Also, are we just going to ignore that Mugendramon appears in MetalGreymon’s evolution sequence?!  He is the strongest of the Metal Empire digimon, but the red feels a little ominous, plus it’s Mugendramon!

I thought with the music that MetalGreymon would end up being the one to finish Andromon off, but instead he doesn’t seem to do much damage and ends up becoming incapacitated trying to protect the Chosen.  It’s a good way of keeping him out of the battle without feeling too forced.  In Adventure, Andromon was classed as a Data-type, but also seems to be Vaccine in other media.  Either way, type advantage would go to Lilimon over MetalGreymon since the fight favours a Data type over a Vaccine in both situations.

Plus, Lilimon is a cute fighter.

I admit I was a little surprised that they ended up killing Andromon.  I mean, the poor thing was being controlled and manages to gain back his senses only to end up dead.  It left me with a bit of a weird feeling, maybe in part because the original Mimi was so adverse to fighting and killing.  This’ll definitely be something to get used to.

Mimi does seem upset by the results, although I admit I’m not 100% sure whether she’s only crying over Guardromon or whether she is sad about Andromon as well.  

Final Thoughts:

I really loved this episode. Mimi is my favourite character in the series so far, so it was nice having most of the episode dedicated to her. In fact, the bits with Taichi and Koushiro felt a little clunky in places, particularly when Koushiro was giving the extra information.  I liked that we learn more about Mimi’s character and get a chance to see both her and Palmon shine.  After episode 8, this is probably my next favourite so far!

[recentanimenews]

FEATURE: 5 Action Scenes That Represented The Best Of Digimon Adventure 2020

  Digimon Adventure: — the 2020 reboot that took the "Digi-Destined" from the turn-of-the-millennium classic and filtered them through a story that was more focused on action and adventure — has wrapped. From the onset, it had been a goal of Toei's creative team to overhaul the way battling was portrayed in a Digimon series and I'd say they were pretty successful. If anything, I'll remember this series for giving me some of my favorite scenes of combat in the entire franchise. To celebrate its finale, I'd like to go over five memorable action scenes that encapsulate the best of what the series had to offer. 

    EPISODE 2: GREYMON AND GARURUMON VS ARGOMON

  The first three episodes paid obvious homage to Mamoru Hosoda's film Our War Game!, almost serving as a standalone trilogy before rocketing our characters into the Digital World proper. However, it did set up the stakes of the fight scenes pretty well, granting them a sense of brutal and animalistic physicality. Greymon bit, clawed, charged, laser-blasted, and tail-whipped his way through battles, as did Garurumon, setting us up for a series that took full advantage of the "monster" half of Digital Monster. 

    EPISODE 14: GREYMON, TOGEMON, AND KABUTERIMON VS KUWAGAMON

  One important part of any good fight scene is the layout of the battleground. Whether it's the empty block in the arena that became a field of lonely desperation for Gon when he dueled Hisoka in Hunter x Hunter or the limitless Mirror World in One Piece that gave Luffy the chance to pull out all the stops against the nearly invincible Katakuri, the location not only helps with the atmosphere of the fight but influences the characteristics of the combatants. Here, assaulted by multiple bug monsters in a cramped stone labyrinth, the Champion-level Digimon had to be clever in their maneuvers. It's perfect for Togemon, though. Any space to punch in is a good enough space for her. 

    EPISODE 24: TAICHI AND METALGREYMON VS DONEDEVIMON

  Angered over the fact that Taichi had been swallowed by DoneDevimon, MetalGreymon evolved into Mugendramon. Ripping into his foe uncontrollably (reminiscent of the way SkullGreymon lashed out against his former friends in the original series) it was a pretty barbarous scene for a creature who, just a little while ago, was the very ambassador of courage and Digi-goodwill, Agumon. Mugendramon has served as a foe across multiple Digimon games and anime series, and seeing it be the "dark" evolution of MetalGreymon was a treat. 

    EPISODE 30: THE EVOLUTION OF WARGREYMON

  It's not too uncommon, in any Digimon series, for an episode to be capped off by a glorious new evolution followed by a swift victory thanks to the upgrade in power. Digimon Adventure: had already become known for its lavish evolution sequences, but I think my favorite in this new series was WarGreymon's. 

    It had been teased since the beginning, with the monster's silhouette being shown in the OP and being seen again at the end of the battle with DoneDevimon. But here, we got the full transformation and then, of course, the enemies realizing that maybe they shouldn't have tangled with the big dinosaur and the goggles-wearing fourth-grader in the first place.

    EPISODE 54: REBELLIMON VS BOLTMON

  In the best-directed episode of the entire show — courtesy of Nozomu Shishido, assistant director of Dragon Ball Super: Broly, director Episodes 2 and 24 (among others), and director of Adventure:'s final installment — we get a kind of animated dynamism that manages to stick out as worth celebrating and makes the most of the otherworldly designs of the Digimon. In a post-apocalyptic-looking wasteland, Rebellimon makes a last-ditch ride against the imposing Boltmon, and in doing so, discovers the meaning of his life. Of course, the meaning of his life is to "keep fighting but figure out what you're fighting for." But let's be honest — it's the 2020 reboot of Digimon Adventure. It would be weird if the lesson wasn't "Just keep on battling, dude."

    And that's that! Hopefully, this list inspires you to check out Digimon Adventure: if you haven't. I've had a really fun time writing articles about this series over the last year-and-a-half and this is as good a time as any for those that missed out to gorge themselves on the whole thing. But as has been the moral of every Digimon series before it, we all gotta grow up and move on someday. Of course, moving on means usually going to the next Digimon series, so I'm sure I'll see you there, too. 

      Daniel Dockery is a Senior Staff Writer for Crunchyroll. Follow him on Twitter!

  Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features!

By: Daniel Dockery

[noctisfishing]

A Certain Glow

Day 4 - Emblem

#noct writes taiora week 2020 [ 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 ]

@taioraweek for more Taiora love! @noctisfishing for Taiora/Digimon writings and more. :)

Setting: Digimon Adventure tri.: Future / Canon Divergence

Tags: Angst, Fluff, Romance Hints

Other Characters: Koromon & Pyocomon; Chosen Children cameos

Notes: I’m clinging onto my idea of a tri. rewrite that sprung into life during Takari Week (here’s the fic that started it). 

I also wrote this for catharsis from watching Last Evolution Kizuna, so this one’s going to be emotional.

I hope you recognize where this scene starts - near the end of Future.

~*~*~*~*~*~

It felt like a lifetime since Taichi saw the sun rise in the sky. The water on the beach before him and the other Chosen Children began to glisten from the sunlight. No longer was the sky shrouded in darkness; the clouds were on their way to disappearing into the brightening blue as a rainbow began to form.

Everyone was exhausted. Buildings were destroyed. Not everyone came out alive.

But the battle was over. Daisuke and the others had been found and returned to the Real World, and Taichi and his team had saved their homeland once again.

The deep silence within the group was broken by the squeaks of everyone’s Digimon partners bouncing toward them. One by one, each Digimon flew into their own human’s arms to be cuddled, the peaceful comfort found between human and Digimon partners the longer they were together.

Koromon had stopped in front of Taichi, looking up at him with a worn expression.

“I’m hungry,” Koromon said weakly.

Taichi cracked a small smile as he looked down toward his partner. After everything that had happened - the Digimon losing their memories; Taichi nearly losing his life, but ending up finding the missing Chosen Children, only to be forced to say goodbye to Nishijima-sensei…

...and even after he DNA digivolved to Omegamon, all Koromon wanted was a bite to eat.

Taichi picked up his partner and held him tightly, wishing that he could think as simply as Koromon and not have the weight of emotions that he still needed to process.

As the sun rose higher into the sky, everyone decided it was time to part ways. It was cathartic to be with eight of his friends - the only eight he knew would understand what they went through - but Taichi recognized that everyone wanted time alone with their partners.

Yamato and Tsunomon were the first to leave. Hikari had convinced Meiko to join her, Tailmon, Takeru, and Tokomon on their walk home. Jou with Bukamon and Koushiro with Mochimon went their own separate ways.

Sora stood a few feet away from Taichi, looking across the shoreline with Pyocomon resting soundly in her arms.

“I’ll call you,” Sora said quietly as she smiled at Mimi, who gave her a hug before running to Taichi and hugged him too.

With Mimi and Tanemon gone, Taichi and Sora were the only two left.

Taichi recognized the sullen expression on Sora's face. Even behind that smile she gave Mimi, he knew there was something that was troubling her. But he wasn’t sure if she was going to tell him what it was.

“Hey, Sora…” he started, causing her to turn her head, but Koromon’s loud yawn interrupted what he wanted to say next.

“Let’s find a comfortable spot for them to rest,” Sora decided, with Pyocomon slowly fidgeting with her eyes closed.

Taichi and Sora walked to the nearby park where they found a grassy lawn near a shaded tree for their Digimon to sleep. As Taichi brushed his palm against Koromon’s relaxed face, he smiled again and stood up to let Koromon be.

He watched Sora kneeling in front of Pyocomon doing the same thing, except when she stood up with her back facing him, he noticed hushed gasps that could have only come from her, and her shoulders began to tremble.

“What’s wrong…?” Taichi lifted his hand to reach for her shoulder. But before he could, Sora turned and threw her arms around him, holding him tightly with her face hidden in the front of his shirt.

“I tried so hard to convince myself that you were still alive,” she whispered with a quiver. “I’m so glad that you are… Thank goodness…”

Taichi was startled, to say the least. He had been so used to seeing her brush off her own feelings enough to hide them from everyone else.

He never thought he’d ever see her cry for him.

“Sora…” was all he could say. He found himself at a loss of what to do whenever she got emotional, but he hated seeing her like this. Pulling her close, he wrapped his arm around her and held her close with his other hand cradling the back of her head.

He thought back to the moment before he fell into the crevice during the battle and blacked out, followed by what happened when he came to and discovered Nishijima-san who ended up in the same place. The moment that Dark Gennai revealed that only one of them could escape that place alive, Taichi knew that he had to find a way to save everyone.

Even if it meant sacrificing himself.

“I was terrified,” he told Sora, holding her as she quietly sobbed. “I wanted to save Meiko and her partner. I wanted everyone to stay out of harm’s way from that fight. That’s why I ran.”

“Baka,” Sora said, sniffling. “You didn’t have to run after them, only to get caught in the crossfire. But…”

She looked up at him, revealing her tear-stained cheeks and her eyes puffy, which he was certain was also from fatigue.

“...You must have been terrified coming back here, too. You had to fight through that, even when you knew there was a bigger fight here in the Real World... It couldn’t have been easy. Doing what you needed to do even when you’re terrified: that’s why you bear the Crest of Courage, right?”

Taichi felt his eyes begin to water. Even before telling her the details, she gave him the perspective in the words that he needed to hear.

It was his turn to cry. Sora ran her hand slowly up and down his back as he let his tears stream down his chin and onto her shoulder. He needed to let that out, to grieve over the weight of his choices and the losses he had to bear.

He was glad to have Sora there for him.

“Taichi…” he’d heard Koromon say. Looking toward the tree, Taichi saw that Koromon and Pyocomon had opened their eyes and were watching their human partners in sadness.

But Taichi took one deep breath and sighed. His tears stopped rolling, and he felt a little bit lighter.

“You okay, Taichi?” Sora asked him when they pulled apart.

“I am,” he replied, cracking a smile. “Thanks.”

There was a certain glow to the smile she gave him back. Even as the rays of sunlight shimmered on her cheeks and on her lashes from her tears.

It made him realize something.

“You know, Sora, what you said about my crest… I could say the same about yours.”

“Really?”

“Staring at the threat of danger, terrified, but doing it to protect the ones you care about. That’s love. That’s why you bear that crest.”

There was no doubt that the moments in the Digital World after the reboot sprung into her mind. He remembered how she tried to fight off dark Gennai on her own, and jumped onto Mugendramon for Piyomon.

Watching her eyebrows furrow as she ran the memories in her head, then seeing her lower lip tremble - he wondered just how hard it was for her, too.

“Sora.”

“Hmm?” she said, blinking at him as she appeared to return to the present.

Taichi brushed his thumb against her cheek to wipe her tears away. They were both in the present now. It would take time for them to fully process the last few days, but Taichi realized he couldn't have done it without his own strength. 

And it was Sora who helped him realize it.

“I’m glad you’re here with me," Taichi said, taking her hand.

Sora’s eyes fell from his gaze to their hands, suddenly expressionless. Taichi began to wonder if he made a mistake, and he could feel his face burning.

“Well, you know-” he added, recognizing that he was stammering his words but he couldn’t stop. “I mean- um…”

“I’m glad you’re here with me, too,” Sora replied, closing her hand around his. When Taichi looked at her again, she was looking up at him, smiling in her radiance.

He hoped that Sora realized her own strength, too.

“Taichi,” Koromon called.

“Sora,” said Pyocomon.

Taichi looked down to see both Digimon standing at their feet.

“Can we eat now, Taichi?”

“I wanna eat, too, Sora.”

“Let’s go have some breakfast, then,” said Taichi.

“I’m sure we all need it,” added Sora.

Koromon jumped up to Taichi who carried him with one arm. Pyocomon did the same with Sora. The four of them went on their way to find breakfast, with Taichi and Sora walking side-by-side, never letting go of each others’ hands.

[amaryllisblackthorn]

The Digimon Adventure 02 Appreciation Challenge: Day 6

Day 6: Which bond between the 02 team kids do you enjoy the most?

[I’m really behind because I wasn’t feeling well for a few days and then this one ended up taking a lot of time to write]

There are a lot of relationships among the kids that I really like, but bond has a slightly different connotation to me which affects how I pick this. since I've already talked a little about Iori&Takeru before, and others have already talked about them for the challenge, I guess I'd pick Takeru&Hikari.

I know, I know, it's kind of cliche. but I really do enjoy the bond these two have. it's true they're not exceptionlessly close -- they don't share all their deep feelings to each other, Hikari doesn't seem to connect Takeru's intensity with anything, Takeru struggles with how to reach out and help Hikari -- which is why I enjoy their relationship with their jogress partners. but that doesn't discount that these two do have a good bond. the two are tied together by their last adventure. they were the youngest and they were the last two left with Piemon. this connects them both in the season 1 group (the youngest) as well as the 02 group (veterans).  Takeru is still, perhaps subconsciously, connected to the promise Sora had him made to protect Hikari when Piemon was picking them off; there's also a brief moment when they're the only two with their digimon until Patamon comes back with Sora&Piyomon in the sewers during the Mugendramon stuff.

While earlier on in the season Daisuke saw Takeru as a rival for Hikari, Takeru never reciprocated despite potentially having feelings for her. He never made any advancements or anything either; he just tried to be a good friend. Granted, they are still pretty young in 02 but still, I kind of like that aspect of it, too. and even just platonically, it’s nice.

I feel like the two of them admire the other, too, stemming from the younger days. they both admired the strengths they saw in the other. Hikari admired how Takeru refused to give up hope during the Piemon stuff, which enabled her to keep having hope. Takeru admired how thoughtful and selfless Hikari was, which made him want to be less egocentric. Granted, a lot of this particular interpretation is based off the Character Introductions in the Digimon Adventure Character Complete File, but I think it's valid enough.

HOWEVER! While I'm not particularly sure of this in terms of bond per say, I do really, really like Daisuke&Takeru's relationship throughout 02.

Just a warning; this gets very long. like, around 10 pages on google docs long.

It starts off with Daisuke seeing Takeru as a rival, coming from a place of defensive insecurity and whatnot, and Takeru just being a pleasant, nice guy. It's a really funny dynamic that I love. 

Episode 1 has the renowned scene where Daisuke goes 'oi, omae!' to Takeru to which Hikari criticizes him and says it's not 'omae' but Takeru-kun, to which Daisuke then goes "Takeru, omae, Hikari-chan to douiu kankei nan da yo*" (or "kankeina nda yo"?) [Takeru, you, what kind of relationship do you have with Hikari-chan?] And then Takeru goes "Huh? What do you mean?" in a really cute confused way before quickly giving a really cute genuine laugh with his ^-^ eyes and saying "Daisuke-kun, you're funny!" (I think he says 'omoshiroi', which has connotations of both funny/amusing and interesting, and possibly interesting-because-it's-funny?). This really irritates/aggitates Daisuke who takes it as a dig -- which it wasn't -- and Daisuke's all "I'm not funny at all!!", fist raised, but then Takeru goes "Ah, Miyako-san! :D " super cute and pleasantly when Miyako appears. It's just. such a funny dynamic in the beginning.

Episode 4 has Daisuke getting frustrated/agitated because he feels left out with all the veteran kids unintentionally flexing their experience and stuff. Takeru laughs with Hikari and Iori when Iori figures out that Daisuke meant "delicacy" and not "telepathy" -- Daisuke refers to Takeru with "teme" when he did it too, which didn’t offend Takeru at all (nor did Daisuke’s ‘oi, omae!’ in Episode 1). Later, Takeru tries to make some small talk with Daisuke when they're walking, bringing up how he met his sister earlier. Daisuke doesn't respond to it well, probably because he's in a bad mood and also Jun's not his favorite topic to talk about probably; poor Takeru's just trying to strike up small talk with Daisuke, which is pretty nice as Daisuke's been feeling left out. Daisuke states that Jun probably bad-mouthed him to Takeru and that Jun doesn't really like him but that's fine because he doesn't really like her either -- Yamato goes "Oi!" and just comes running from where he was, laying into Daisuke for badmouthing his sibling (Yamato it's none  of your business, man) and they're about to fight. Takeru exclaims "Stop!" and grabs ahold of Yamato to restrain him and says "You won't hit him, right, onii-chan? You wouldn't do something like that, right?" Yamato calms down and says he wouldn't, but tells Daisuke to watch what he says, and he and Takeru walk off. Hikari sternly tells Daisuke to stop talking bad about his sister when he grumbles about how he can say whatever he'd like about Jun. Daisuke feels even more left out now; poor Takeru just wanted to make some small talk with him; he didn't mean for this to happen! also notable, Takeru didn't chastise him for what he was saying about his sibling. Later, when Yamato says the Chosen Children's mission is to destroy the Dark Towers, Takeru says, "We'll do our best! [ganbatta yo, onii-chan!]" Daisuke runs across into the frame and says "Me too!", which has Hikari and Takeru smile with ^-^ eyes, Hikari with a closed smile and Takeru+Patamon with an open mouth smile.

Then you have Episode 7 which is full of the fun 'Unknown Rival' dynamic.

Daisuke gets on Takeru's case for what happened to Hikari. Iori tells Daisuke not to blame Takeru, Daisuke snaps at Iori, Iori tells Daisuke 'don't talk to me like that' which brings Daisuke to his senses and the latter apologizes, then Takeru says, 'No, Daisuke-kun's right' and goes on to blame himself -- which is probably related to Takeru's problem in Adventure where he kept blaming himself for things that weren't his fault!! cough as well as other things -- which makes Daisuke then like feel bad and say, "Well...when you put it that way...None of us noticed...not even me..."

Takeru's super focused on getting to and helping Hikari, for reasons, and Daisuke kind of sees it as Takeru trying to look good and be the hero, sort of. When Takeru notices a nearby gate, he immediately goes for it without any consultation with the others -- kind of similar to how Takeru goes to look for Hikari in Episode 13 when the others remain in the computer room -- and then Daisuke's like 'I can't leave it to that guy!'

Daisuke tells Takeru that the sun's going down and that Takeru can go home. Honestly, the way Daisuke says this, it's entirely possible that he's not just saying it because he wants to be the one to save Hikari -- it's possible he's saying it because he doesn't want Takeru to feel guilty and like he has to, going back to how he ended up feeling bad when he saw how much Takeru blamed himself. He does quickly go to the loaded coin trick to decide who gets to go when Takeru says that it's fine because his mom won't be back til later and then inquires about Daisuke's parents. 

So, Daisuke uses a trick coin. "Heads, you go home. Tails, I go home." Daisuke has a funny face when he says "I'll save Hikari-chan" -- even though he's wrong in referring to the tails side of the coin 'head'. then Takeru flashes a grin with his ^-^ eyes as he snatches the coin and says "Both sides of this coin are heads, right?" -- he's wrong too!! either both Daisuke and Takeru are mistaking heads and tails, or it's an unintentional mistake on the show's part -- but Takeru's just so good natured about it, saying "They sell them at Kadoetsu!" with his ^-^ face. and Daisuke's all sheepish, sweating. Takeru then, with determined eyebrows and his theme (Happy Friends!) starting in the background, says, "Let's go together." Daisuke has a much less certain/sure expression (not exactly the same but not dissimilar to the "Face with Raised Eyebrow" emoji) on as he says, "Alright" and the two walk together, with Patamon and V-mon lagging behind together. Patamon asks, "Why didn't they do that from the beginning? How silly..." and V-mon says, "Don't say that... he just wanted to look cool..."

Later, Patamon interrupts their plan to armour evolve by suggesting he try to evolve into Angemon, which Patamon and Takeru are both excited by. Takeru's thrilled Angemon was able to evolve, and Daisuke has a very exaggerated shocked face, jaw dropped style, while V-mon has a more subdued but also shocked face. Daisuke's all like "A-Angemon..?!" and Takeru just pleasantly smiles at him (^-^) and Angemon kind of gives a little smirk-smile, heh, before he goes to business. 

Angemon devolves to Patamon, who's dismayed. Daisuke says to Takeru, "Patamon can also evolve like Agumon?" -- which implies that Takeru and Hikari haven't told the other kids that at this point, which is kind of a thing that happens more than once -- and Takeru's just like, "Of course, if there's no Dark Tower", which kind of supports the idea that Takeru isn't really aware that he's like not told them some things (communication, Takeru!), though to be fair I can see how Takeru may not have realized it was something that needed to be told and wasn't easily inferrable, but still. Takeru as unintentionally mysterious/closed/uncommunicative.

Daisuke makes the connection that Hikari's Tailmon can also evolve, and Patamon gleefully tells Daisuke that Tailmon becomes Angewomon and goes, "We're perfect for each other, right, Takeru?" Takeru kind of nervously/awkwardly laughs and makes a nervous ^-^ face, Daisuke clutching his fists, gritting his teeth and looking angrily to the sky before he angrily tells V-mon that he has to then become UltraAngemon and then shaking him. Takeru looks up at Patamon with a slightly distressed expression as he says, "Don't tease him too much...", Patamon giggling in response with no regret. with a ^▽^ like face.

Then, when Hikari sees them, she says, "Daisuke-kun! Takeru-kun! You came back!" and Daisuke looks up at Takeru and says, "Did you hear that, Takeru? She said 'Daisuke-kun' first!" and Takeru, smiling down at Daisuke with his ^-^ face, replies, "Good for you/That's great/I'm glad" [Yokatta ne.].

What makes this funnier is that depending on how it's said, "Yokatta ne" has the potential to come off/be sarcastic, and the way Takeru says it is a little more ambiguous to me than the other instances which seemed more obviously sincere; however, Takeru's seiyuu describing him as 'straightforward' does have me more inclined to think that he wasn't being sarcastic, but honestly? either way is funny. 

When Takeru sees a devolved V-mon with Daisuke after Andromon's attack, he drops off of Pegasmon and runs toward him, going "Daisuke-kun!" 

Daisuke asks what a Perfect level is, which is another instance of Hikari and Takeru not telling the others things. again, it probably split their mind, but if you're fighting an enemy and trying to protect the Digital World, you think this is stuff they should know, haha.

Episode 8 is nice in that Takeru along with the others go to support Daisuke in his game (well, Miyako goes for Ken); he cheers [Faito da yo!], hehe. It’s nice in general that they all came to support their friend, and it shows that despite Daisuke’s one-sided rivalry, Takeru considers Daisuke a friend at this point and supports him. I mean, Takeru is a friendly guy in general, but it’s nice! The whole thing’s nice. Takeru brings up how his sliding tackle at the end was great, and seems to join in the good natured group laughter after Daisuke says that Taichi’s strict in response to Taichi’s comment. This episode is also nice in that it shows that despite Daisuke’s jealousy/rivalry, he considers Takeru a friend too -- he considers him just as equally unsacrificable as Hikari, Miyako, and Iori. It’s a good Daisuke scene; he’s a sweet kid. 

Episode 11 has the only significant time Takeru really ever gets angry and fights with Daisuke that I can recall. The first time is when Daisuke gets angry at Takeru for saying they don't have a choice but to fight WarGreymon, risking possibly destroying him. Daisuke gets angry at what he sees as Takeru easily doing something like that, and Takeru gets angry because, hey, this isn’t something Takeru’s happy about but “that’s what Taichi-san has decided!” and he gets it. It’s significant that Takeru actually gets angry in response to Daisuke’s escalating aggression; Takeru’s own anger escalates, too. Daisuke then leaps over across the carts to physically get at Takeru, who exclaims ‘What you’d do that for?!’ Daisuke initiates the physical aggression. Takeru is, however, noticeably angry; unlike Daisuke's previous attempts at 'nettling' him, this one actually angers him. He doesn’t reciprocate the offensive physical aggression at this point, but is angrily trying to get Daisuke’s hands off of him.

Taichi draws a parallel between Daisuke&Takeru to Yamato&him, and even though it's not a 1:1 parallel because they're very different, it is an interesting thing to note in terms of like, strength/significance of bonds. I remember someone noting that Daisuke was the one resembling Yamato and Takeru resembling Taichi somewhere once, which I also think is a neat thing to store somewhere. 

Later, when Takeru has noticed Patamon is gone, he says "Patamon?" with a quiet panic and then "Patamon is gone!" with a loud panic. Takeru rushes after him, quickly followed by Fladramon, Holsmon, and Daisuke before MetalGreymon gets in their way. Takeru and Daisuke both make audible sounds of anger as they clench their fists. Takeru repeatedly calls out for Patamon and when the Kaiser says he going to put a spiral on Patamon, Takeru is pissed. Takeru shouts, “[Nandato?! Fuzakeru na!]”. Nandato meaning “What did you say?”, but with the intensity and emotion that Takeru says it with, my amateaur opinion is that ‘What [the hell] did you say?!” wouldn’t be inaccurate. “Fuzakeru na” means, at the base, “Don’t fool/play around”, but the meaning gets affected with the level of intensity and variations used.

There’s “Fuzakeru na”, “Fuzaken na”, “Fuzakeru na yo!”, and “Fuzaken na yo!”, among others. From what I’ve read, “Fuzaken” is rougher than “Fuzakeru”, but the “yo” inserts more emotion to it, so I think “Fuzakeru na yo” would be harsher/intense than “Fuzaken na”, but the actual emotion in the voice also affects it. So it takes a lot of context analysis to pinpoint the accurate meaning in translation -- because this phrase can and is often translated as cursing, though I don’t think that would fit here. The interesting thing is that in Episode 19, after Takeru has his flashback to Digimon and he says that Ken doesn’t even know or understand anything, he yells “[Fuzaken na!]” as he throws his hat down, which is just an interesting thing to note. (he warned you, Ken; he warned you to stop fooling around. but you didn’t listen. you should have listened). basically, from what I understand and have read, “Fuzakeru na” etc is used when the speaker thinks someone isn’t taking something seriously enough or is being too flippant about something important. This little information session detour wasn’t really necessary, but I thought it was interesting enough to talk about since it’s one of those anime phrases, if you know what i mean. 

Basically, Takeru shouts, “What [the hell] did you say?! Stop fooling around!”

Basically, it means that Takeru’s pissed. 

The Kaiser gets like angry at this and tells him "you better watch your mouth/be careful how you speak. which is funny because of Episode 19, when Takeru will speak to him however the heck he wants. 

Daisuke tells Fladramon not to attack because he might hurt Patamon, and Takeru is angry! He angrily demands “What are you doing?!” Daisuke returns with “What did you say? [Nandato]”; it’s what Takeru said to Ken, but doesn’t have nearly as much vitriol imo; Takeru says they have to get Patamon back quick, and Daisuke retorts that he already knows that; Takeru then demands that Daisuke stop just standing and watching then, which has Daisuke reply, “Who’s just watching?!”. Daisuke initiates the physical aggression, but this time Takeru reciprocates. Previously, Takeru was mad and trying to get Daisuke's hands off him. This time, Takeru is going at Daisuke just as Daisuke's going after him. Takeru’s already worked up and dealing with a bunch of emotions, primarily panic and fear of losing Patamon (to darkness, again) and rage at the Kaiser. 

Like, it would be devastating to have to kill Patamon after what happened in Adventure, but at least Takeru knows now that he can/will be reborn. But having to see Patamon enslaved? Enslaved to and forced to serve the thing he once gave his life to stop (evil, darkness)? Not to mention being forced to evolve, and the potential of that forced evolution being something like neodevimon or vamdemon or something.

...speaking of which, has anyone told the 02 kids about digimon being reborn yet?

but, yeah, Takeru’s freaking out, which is why he becomes ‘uncharacteristically’ aggressive towards Daisuke here. 

miyako has to physically get in between the two of them, and the kaiser laughs at it.

(ken, thinking back to this moment after takeru's told him about angemon+devimon when the latter apologizes for beating the former up in his base: oh)

Takeru yells at the Kaiser that he'll absolutely won't let him let him to continue to do what he likes with Patamon, which Taichi joins in with in regards to Agumon; Kaiser's amused and is all "if you say so...if you can get them back, do so" which is funny bc they do with weregarurumon and then he gets mad. As the Kaiser brings the spiral closer and closer to Patamon, Takeru just runs toward Patamon despite the fact that it’s unlikely he could scale WarGreymon before it’s too late, and Taichi has to tackle Takeru out of the way of an attack; thankfully WereGarurumon comes to save the day (for Patamon). Patamon apologizes for making Takeru worried, Takeru's happy Patamon's safe <3 

Daisuke reflects on how Takeru put himself in danger to save Patamon (recklessly driven by his emotions). Fladramon asks Daisuke if he'd do the same thing for him, which Daisuke is hesitant to affirm ('maybe/probably/perhaps' [tabun]). Fladramon is less than happy about that response ('you mean 'of course' [zettai]!') 

Daisuke reflects on how Takeru and Taichi have far stronger bonds with their Digimon than he thought, and how it must have been really tough for them to say that they have no choice but to attack Agumon; Daisuke realizing how Takeru's insistence on having to fight Agumon/WarGreymon wasn't Takeru not caring/being callous, as he just witnessed just how much Takeru loves Patamon and would understand how Taichi feels.

and Takeru and Taichi had many life/death experiences with their partners; as Miyako will reflect on in Episode ~33, the previous kids had a different experience. it makes sense that the previous kids would have more confidence and stuff to their bonds at this point, which isn’t to knock at the new 02 kids’ bonds with their partners. the bonds of the previous kids have reached the point where they kind of put their partners desire above their own selfish ones in the sentiment that the Digimon would rather die than hurt others and used for evil, and the kids feel like they have to respect that.

also Patamon flies V-mon out of the way of an attack which is really cute especially bc Patamon's wings aren't the strongest, and they’re both pretty small <3

Takeru's calmer now when he addresses Daisuke, since Patamon's out of that specific danger (they're all still in the general danger of like, being killed, but it's different). He tells Daisuke that they're good so don't worry about them, go for MetalGreymon. he's got the determined eyebrows. Daisuke looks at Takeru and says, "Takeru...!" before he closes his eyes and clenches his fists, thinking, “even though I couldn't understand how Takeru felt... even though I couldn’t help Patamon…”, which has him shout to the sky, “I’m so pathetic!”, triggering the Digimental of Friendship.

I have some tentative thoughts on this, though I’m not 100% sure; earlier, Taichi tells Daisuke to have faith in/believe in/place trust in Agumon and Garurumon when Daisuke expresses how at this rate they’re all going to die; Daisuke echoes back, “Believe [shinjiru] ...?” I think this could be related -- that when Daisuke’s thinking “even though I couldn’t understand Takeru’s feelings...even though I couldn’t help Patamon”, it’s linked to that Takeru still has trust in him to go after MetalGreymon; that Daisuke is taken aback by Takeru still having faith in him to go after MetalGreymon despite Daisuke having been unable to understand his feelings and help Patamon. I could be off, but that’s how I’m currently reading the scene. especially as ‘shinji’ comes up again when Yamato tells Daisuke to trust him [“ore shinjiro!”] when he says they’ll definitely get the spiral off & when Daisuke worries Agumon/WarGreymon will be like that forever when an attack fails to be effective, Yamato also tells him to believe in Agumon and in himself [“Omae wa Agumon shinjiro! Jibun shinjiro!”] Having faith in the strength of your bonds and placing your faith in your friends seems to be the theme. 

Takeru then calls out, “Daisuke-kun! Fight together with Lighdramon!”, with Daisuke echoing, “Together?” Daisuke then realizes that “If I'm with Lighdramon, I should be able to do it" -- he has faith in the strength of their bond! -- and then goes, “No! We’re the only ones who can!” -- and then they do it! They free WarGreymon/Agumon! But yeah, I’m definitely getting the vibe that’s the theme. 

Takeru also seems to join in as everyone goodnaturedly laughs at Daisuke after Yamato teases him at the end.

Episode 20’s next! Daisuke is the first one to make the leap to the base, blazing ahead, and Takeru comments, “He's perfect for leading the charge, huh?" -- Takeru technically says he’s perfect/ideal/most suitable for “totsugeki taichou”, [totsugeki] meaning ‘charge, attack, assault, rush’ and [taichou] meaning ‘commander/commanding officer’. There’s kind of a restrained laugh around the ‘chou’ part of ‘taichou’ when Takeru speaks which is kind of cute. Miyako calls Daisuke silly and Hikari giggles, but it’s all good natured. “Totsugeki taichou” is also what Takeru calls Daisuke in the Drama CD “Armor Evolution into the Unknown”, when Takeru and Ken run into Daisuke trying to change his image and Takeru says that he likes the old, usual Daisuke who gets going without thinking. Takeru has taken notice of Daisuke’s whole moving forward, going ahead’ thing and appreciates it, which comes back up again in the episode! 

Later, when their Digimon are thoroughly beaten by Kimeramon in the base and Ken’s starting to realize the Digimon are alive and tells Kimeramon to stop attacking for the time being. Takeru says, “Let’s escape.” [Dasshutsu yo.] and goes on to say how they can’t fight anymore; their mission has failed, they need to strategically retreat and wait for another chance. The others seem to accept this, except for Daisuke who’s adamant. 

“Ie ni Kaerou” [Let’s Go Home] starts to play as Daisuke talks about how they may not get another chance, and if they leave now they’ll attack everything in sight. Hikari, Iori, and Miyako all have protests. Takeru is silent. Daisuke goes on to say, “But...didn't you all see it? Destroying those towns..and all we could do was watch quietly. I don't want to see that ever again. I won't let them do whatever they want! So I'm going, even alone. I won't give up now. After getting this far, all I can do is go forward!”

Chibimon, of course, is the first to say he's going with Daisuke, and the two run off. After a couple of seconds, Takeru says, "Let's go, too." They were all moved by what Daisuke said, but I think it's significant that the show has Takeru being the one to voice it, especially as he was the one who had initially asserted they needed to retreat. Hikari comments that he really is 'leading the charge' (she repeats Takeru's [totsugeki taichou] from earlier). Also, those sentiments from Daisuke are definitely sentiments that resonate with Takeru.

Daisuke rides with Takeru in Episode 21 on Pegasmon to escape the base since Magnadramon is busy fighting. It’s a small thing, but I like it and I think it’s significant enough to note. An even smaller thing is that Takeru rides on Paildramon in Episode 35 when Angemon’s busy carrying Iori, but that’s also nice.

Episode 25 has Takeru looking on after Daisuke after Daisuke’s talked with Ken, reflecting on how Daisuke doesn’t seem to look at people the way he used to but he looks determined, followed up by what sounds like [ittai nani] which means something like  “what the heck?/in the world?”. This whole scene is so intriguing and interesting to me but also hard to completely understand. It seems? like Takeru has noticed that Daisuke’s matured in some way? thus looking at people differently than he did before. and he’s … confused/wondering what caused this change and/or confused at Daisuke just being mature? it’s an interesting scene even if I don’t completely get it yet. and then he seems to call Miyako in regards to ‘what Daisuke was trying to say’. 

also it seems like Takeru’s the only one that Daisuke didn’t try to talk to about the prospect of Ken joining the team, which is also interesting. and even though Takeru is opposed to Ken joining the team, he thinks Daisuke is right thinking that Ken has changed. 

Takeru is right with Daisuke in being willing to kill the Golemon if it came to that to protect/save the Digimon. Daisuke says "if he's serious, then we have to get serious, too." Miyako is opposed to the idea of killing the Golemon. She's adamant that there has to be a way to protect the dam without killing Golemon. Takeru states that's impossible, that they may be able to stop him but only for a little while. Hikari asks if destroying him is their only choice -- she's willing to do it but hesitant about it -- and adds "Like how Stingmon and Ichijouji Ken-kun did?" Iori is completely against it. i just like how Takeru is right there with Daisuke idk it’s a kind of nice solidarity or something

Episode 26 has a small moment I really like for some reason? After Daisuke is knocked in the river, the groups running with Takeru in the lead and Takeru calls out to him "Daisuke-kun!" and then "Are you okay?". Daisuke then speaks directly to him -- "Takeru!" and tells him that the Dark Tower Digimon is really trying to destroy the bridge they just repaired. idk. like, I know Takeru called out to Daisuke first so it kind of makes sense to call back out to him, but the fact that he technically singles out Takeru when he tells him about the Dark Tower Digimon's seriousness? idk i like it a lot for some reason. it's a really small thing but i like it a lot. 

Takeru and Daisuke sort of share a sort of moment at the end of Episode 27 as they both look on as Ken walks away while the others are already moving away. 

Episode 30 has Takeru along with Miyako, Hikari, and their digimon taken aback at his thoughts that Iori and Ken need to grow up a bit. then, Takeru's the one who says, "Daisuke-kun, behind you." after Mummymon and Archnemon show up. 

Episode 31, Takeru tries to diffuse Miyako and Daisuke's fight that was spurred on by Daisuke teasing Miyako; later, Iori and Miyako both tease Daisuke ("trying to score some points with Hikari-san?" "you're so predictable, eh, Daisuke?"), Hikari chuckles good naturedly, and Takeru just says, "But Daisuke-kun is right. Let's look for [the Holy Ring]." The really fun part about this episode is near the end, when Daisuke looks back at Takeru as he says, "Looks like Hikari-chan's partner was Miyako~~", particularly the ending [ka] of the sentence -- it's just so funny how he says it, sort of in a singsong-y kind of tone but not quite. to me it kind of looks like he's teasing Takeru, who's too preoccupied with the intense worry he had about losing Hikari to another world (again) to respond at all. but if he is teasing Takeru, it's a lot more good natured than his attempts at riling Takeru up early in the season. 

In Episode 32, while Hikari and Daisuke are flying around together and notice the dude trying to destroy the Holy Stone, Daisuke tells Hikari to contact "Takeru and the others" [Takeru-tachi] (Takeru, Miyako, and Iori); it's not really a big thing but I get a kick out of the small things. 

at the end of Episode 37, Daisuke is shaking the bridge and calls out "Takeru~! Hurry up!" and makes a 'heyeyeyheyey' kind of mischievous laughing sound before Miyako tells him to stop acting like a brat which has him quickly apologizing. it's another kind of fun teasing-Takeru thing from Daisuke, and while he is acting like a little kid it also doesn't seem as 'malicious' (lack of better word) as early season jabs were and comes off, to me, similar to Episode 31's  teasing. like, Daisuke's teasing of Takeru comes off less as from a defensive and jealous place and more from a friendly place, which is a neat and nice development.

i’m skipping over to near the very end since i don’t have notes for them nor have the details living rent free in my mind, so there are probably other moments and developments i missed. But! Episode 49. Daisuke enters Takeru’s illusion, and the first of the two he enters. Then, the two of them enter/show up in Ken’s together. There’s significance to that, and it probably at least partly is to represent the development of their relationship since the beginning, but I feel like I’ll be here for weeks if I try to go into it more -- this already got waaaaay longer than i intended. 

Episode 50 also has Takeru and Daisuke professing (for lack of a better word; i seriously spent time struggling to come up with a word and failed) to the Dark Spore kids about dreams and that stuff. It’s just kind of neat that the two of them … i really can’t think of how to describe what I want to express and it’s really frustrating but I like how the two of them have kind of taken charge? the lead? in talking to the kids like and about this. that’s no where near close to how I want to express my thoughts but hopefully some of you at least know the sentiments despite my words failing terribly.

Basically, I really like Takeru+Daisuke’s relationship. I like their dynamic in the beginning, because the Unknown Rival is a funny dynamic especially when he’s a friendly nice guy. I like their development, too. I like how Takeru takes notice of Daisuke’s “commanding the charge” trait and appreciates+admires it. I like how Daisuke started to kind of feel bad about going too far/being too harsh with Takeru in Episodes 7 and 11, and how he comes to appreciate, for lack of a better word, stuff about Takeru -- his realization that Takeru still has faith in Daisuke to attack MetalGreymon in Episode 11, for example. I like how Daisuke goes from being jealous and sort of insecure towards Takeru and being rude to him, to respecting him and teasing him because it’s fun. I like their early dynamic, I like their later dynamic, and I like the journey. 

to end it off, I think one of the supplementary works (i can’t remember which it was?) implied Daisuke saw both Ken and Takeru as rivals of sort -- I think he was drinking milk so he wouldn’t lose in height to them??? -- and shout out to Daisuke saying that maybe he should have brought Takeru with him instead at the end of  "Daisuke and Ken's Shopping Carol” after Ken ditches Daisuke with all the stuff

[firstagent]

What is your take on Impirialdramon’s appearance in Determination? Was it an infected evolution of our Veemon and Wormmon performed by the Mysterious Man? Or a facsimile? What’s always bugged me is how the kids were ok with killing Impirialdramon with no hesitation yet are hesitant when it comes to Meicoomon. Hikari even goes as far as to say she will never forgive Taichi. So what are we to take away from this?

Clearly it was a facsimile created by Mysterious Man, similar to Mugendramon and MetalSeadramon.

When you really process the reaction of the kids and weigh everything together, what you end up with is a pretty cool realization:

After the initial shock, all of them knew this was neither the real Ken nor the real Imperialdramon.

That’s it. That’s the answer. They got such a big “does not compute” out of it and knew with such certainty that Ken would never revert like this that they sniffed out the lie instantly. It’s also fair they wouldn’t show a ton of mercy to the perpetrator of said lie, even without all the details.

When you look at the scene, the whole of Determination really, it actually shows how much faith they have in Ken and the 02 kids. Obviously in hindsight they should have shown concern earlier, and seeing Mysterious Man leads all of them to begin asking questions about where they are, but they only way they aren’t worrying is the understanding that Daisuke and company can be counted on to take care of themselves and don’t need a welfare check every minute. They proved it during the events of 02, and who knows how many adventures they had between then and tri. when the older kids let them get the job done without a trace of concern.

Want to support my site and/or my work? Buy me a coffee!

[koushirouizumi]

Digimon Adventure/02/Kizuna/2020 {Preview} (1st 30 seconds) “Fireworks in the Summer End” featuring Ship: KouTai / Taishiro {Koushiro Izumi x Taichi Yagami} MUSIC (C) Jin (Kagerou Project Inspired Parody A.M.V Series)

Contains spoilers for: - Adventure (Adv 21, Mugendramon Arc Eps #48~49) - Kizuna (just scenery shots from Opening scenes) - 2020 reboot (Ep01; Koushiro meeting Taichi)

[florencetheflowerfairy]

The Sorato – Taishiro Parallel

To celebrate reaching 100 followers, I wanted to do something for both the Sorato fans and the Taishiro fans who follow me. How about we look at that time they deliberately paralleled these two relationships in the Dark Masters Arc!

In the first scene, Takeru is kidnapped and Pinnochimon may kill him. Yamato is desperate to save his brother. Pinnochimon’s henchman threatens the group, and Yamato insists that they question the henchman for Takeru’s whereabouts before killing him. But the henchman attacks the group, and so Piyomon fights back in self-defense, killing the henchman. Sora thanks Piyomon, and Yamato loses his temper. He shouts and raises his fist at Sora.  Taichi grabs his arm to stop him. Yamato apologizes for his behavior in the next episode.

In the second scene, Hikari is ill and Mugendramon may kill her. Taichi is desperate to save his sister. Koushiro plugs his laptop into a wall to search for the whereabouts of medicine. However, Mugendramon uses the signal from Koushiro’s laptop to track down the children, and he sends his henchmen to attack them. When Taichi and Koushiro escape, Taichi loses his temper. He shouts and grabs Koushiro’s collar. Agumon and Tentomon grab Taichi’s arms to stop him. Taichi apologizes for his behavior immediately.

To be sure, they’re both disturbing scenes. But I care about this parallel because both relationships are able to overcome this conflict. Taichi and Yamato redeem themselves. And if you want to foreshadow a long-lasting relationship (whether platonic or romantic), you should show that your characters can forgive each other’s mistakes and move forward. Since Taichi and Yamato have tempers, it’s important to me that the story confronts that issue in their closest friendships.

I also love this parallel because it’s all about family! It sets up Yamato-Takeru-Sora and Taichi-Hikari-Koushiro as two families dealing with a conflict. Adventure is not a romantic show, but it does do a fantastic job with families. Having Yamato and Sora act as Takeru’s “parents” was a frequent foreshadowing tool for their future romance. Fortunately for my non-canon heart, once Hikari joined the group, sometimes Taichi and Koushiro got the same “parental” treatment!

Really, I just think it’s cool how the writers very-obviously-on-purpose paralleled Taichi and Koushiro with the canon couple! The writers could have chosen anyone to be the targets of Yamato and Taichi’s tempers. Choosing Sora—Yamato’s future lover—shows how far Yamato has fallen, that he would threaten his own “family.” Choosing Koushiro for Taichi has the same heartbreaking effect, because Koushiro is Taichi’s close friend. Both scenes are meant to show the boys at their darkest moments, when they have lost their minds out of worry for their siblings. That they end up threatening the redheads carries emotional weight, because Sora and Koushiro are arguably the boys’ greatest allies. Sora and Koushiro have always been loyal to the point of risking their lives, and they are a constant positive force in pushing the boys to act better.

Here are a few examples of how the writers established Sora and Koushiro as the boys’ constant allies:

From the beginning, Sora is always able to stand up to the older boys when they start shouting. She pushes them to be more considerate.

Sora secretly helps Jyou and Yamato at Digitamamon’s diner, without expecting anything in return.

Sora runs into battle, armed only with a stick, to rescue Yamato from a literal grim reaper with a scythe.

Sora comforts and encourages Yamato after they have lost Hikari.

In short, over the course of the show, we see how Sora is one of the few characters to get to know Yamato as a person and befriend him. She protects him, counsels him, and learns to understand him.

Koushiro faithfully recalls that Taichi was always a good person, even though he disapproves of the way he is currently treating Agumon.

Koushiro stops Taichi from recklessly running into the electric fence and explains why he should be careful.

Koushiro offers that he and Tentomon will fight Etemon alone, in order to give Taichi time to save Sora, even though there is no way that Koushiro and Tentomon could win this fight by themselves.

Koushiro expresses total faith in Taichi as a leader at Vamdemon’s Gate.

In short, over the course of the show, we see how Koushiro and Taichi’s already-strong friendship becomes stronger. Koushiro trusts in Taichi no matter how bleak the situation, and always gives him valuable advice.

On the flip side, Yamato and Taichi have been always great supportive friends to Sora and Koushiro. Here are their most iconic examples:

The moment that made little kids fall in love with Sorato. When Sora begins to cry about her mom, Yamato is the most respectful and understanding of her feelings. 

The moment that made fans swoon for Taishiro. After everyone has put their faith in Taichi to lead, Taichi picks Koushiro to solve Vamdemon’s puzzle and inspires the others to encourage the boy.

They’re both important moments that have a huge impact on Sora and Koushiro’s development. Yamato and Taichi supported the redheads when they most needed validation. It goes a long way to help the audience trust the boys. This makes their fall from grace all the more dramatic.

After writing all this, I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out that another part of the Dark Masters parallel is that both Sora and Koushiro are the most observant, understanding, and forgiving characters of the two boys throughout the arc.

How Sora sees Yamato

Before they meet Pinnochimon, we have the graveyard scene. Sora takes up half the screen so that she can properly observe Yamato lose his temper at Taichi and look concerned for him.

After Yamato sneaks away from the group, Sora is the only one who notes how his behavior was becoming more worrisome.

After Yamato apologizes to the group and says that he needs to leave, Sora asks if he wants company. When Yamato says that he needs to be alone, Sora says that she still believes in him. (*cough* Incredibly similar to how Koushiro said “I’ve always believed in Taichi-san” at Vamdemon’s Gate! *cough*) Sora also immediately comforts Takeru, and Yamato thanks her before leaving.

Even after Yamato has shouted at her and then betrayed the group, Sora remains compassionate. Sora is the only one who reaches out to Yamato to call him back to the group when they see him again.

How Koushiro sees Taichi

Before we meet Mugendramon, we have this scene. After Hikari falls ill, Taichi confides in Koushiro that maybe they shouldn’t have brought her with them, or Takeru.  Koushiro responds practically that they still need the younger children, and asks Taichi what’s wrong. Taichi demures, and Koushiro takes up the whole screen to look worried about him. 

After Taichi apologizes to Koushiro for grabbing his collar, Koushiro remains calm and understanding. He has deduced that something private must have happened to Taichi and Hikari, and so he asks specifically if that is the case. Taichi finally answers him honestly.

Even after Taichi has lost his temper at him, Koushiro remains steadfast in his loyalty. He continues to bravely speak up to Taichi and counsel him, even when Tentomon and Agumon act nervous.

IN CONCLUSION

Sora and Koushiro are both incredibly patient friends to the rascal boys. It’s a good thing that Yamato rescues Sora from the Dark Cave, and that Taichi protects Koushiro from Piemon as they wait for the party to regroup, because they definitely had to redeem themselves! They had to prove they were worthy of the redheads’ trust.

I’m certain that it was planned from the beginning that Yamato would freak out about Takeru in the final arc, and it was only natural for Sora to be written as his most observant, understanding, forgiving friend, since Yamato and Sora were created to fall in love.

When the writers decided to add Hikari to the group, they must have also decided to give Taichi a parallel arc where he would freak out about her, and in the process learn to be more sensitive like Yamato. Happily, Koushiro got to fill in the parallel role of Sora, as Taichi’s most observant, understanding, forgiving friend.

Was it meant to be queer romantic foreshadowing for Taishiro? No. But it’s fun to interpret it that way. :)

[o-w-quinlan]

Digimon Adventure 2020, episode 29 reaction (and over-analysis)

In which Sora gets a chance to shine and it’s the best executed moment in the series since the DoneDevimon vs Mugendramon fight. The rest of the episode is business as usual.

Episode starts where last week ended, with Taichi chasing after SkullKnightmon  and Hikari, soon falling and losing hope. Unless he’s frustrated because Hikari semi-willingly chose to follow SkullKnightmon, then this is horribly out-of-character. Taichi’s defining trait in this series so far is his determination, his willingness to put himself in extremely dangerous situations for the sake of his friends and his mission. For him to lose hope when we haven’t even see him try to get Agumon to evolve to MetalGreymon again so that he can follow is absurd. Note, I am not saying Agumon should have evolved here, I am saying we should have seen Taichi try everything and, only after that all failed, should he have lost hope.

After briefly communicating with the rest of the gang and being encouraged to rescue his sister (with Takeru in particular asking him to fight for “Hikari-chan”), Taichi and Agumon go through the jungle and meet a bunch of Woodmon, Budmon and a Lopmon in a very well directed scene. It’s almost something out of a horror episode until the Budmon appear to deflate that tension at exactly the right moment. Anyway, we get exposition from Woodmon, who tell Taichi and Agumon that digimon in this world hunt and consume other digimon to enable evolutions, which ties in with what we’ve seen for the past 3 episodes. It’s interesting to see digimon’s desire for evolution be once again mentioned, after episode 19 made a big deal out of it with both Leomon and Minotaurmon. They are soon attacked by a gang of Allomon, led by a Tankdramon. The Woodmon attempt a resistance (which is immediately crushed), and Taichi and Agumon fight to defend the forest critters from the other forest critters.

Afterwards we have some Koushiro exposition on what’s happening in the human world. This scene doesn’t work for me for 2 reasons: it’s plain unbelievable that Koushiro would have access to all the information and programs he would need to calculate what he did in this episode (when Our War Game pulled something like this, it was noted that Koushiro didn’t discover it, one of his friends did and told him), and the threat seems extremely abstract, easy to ignore, a repeat of what we’ve already seen 3 times in this series that will climax in simply yet another evolution to Ultimate much like the previous 3 times it happened.

After a scene where a Baby-level is killed on-screen (I seriously wasn’t expecting that), Greymon and Taichi confront the Tankdramon directly. Once again, we aren’t quite sure why it’s Greymon and not MetalGreymon, since they evolve without issues a couple minutes afterwards. The reboot’s constant refusal to address why sometimes the digimon evolve to the highest level as soon as possible and why sometimes they wait a long time before doing so seriously hurts my ability to get engaged with the fight, even though on its own it’s pretty fun (and seeing Greymon manhandle a Perfect-level like it is nothing is pretty impressive).

Anyway, MetalGreymon is unable to defeat Tankdramon and has to run away, where soon they are surrounded by fire with the enemy fast approaching them (also, an Allomon bites MetalGreymon in his chrome digizoid shoulder and it hurts him enough to scream). We then get a seriously epic scene where everything seems to point to Taichi and MetalGreymon getting a boost in power from their courage... except not. What was actually being built up to was Sora’s and Garudamon’s entrance, which completely took me by surprise but made perfect sense in retrospect. The way her serious expression and call to Birdramon in her previous scene was framed made it seem like it was a reaction to hearing Jou in distress, but no, it was the realization that Taichi needed her. After Sora and Garudamon put out the fire, deal with the Megadramon and are generally awesome, MetalGreymon once again engages Tankdramon in one-vs-one. It’s a pretty standard fight (”attack the place from where it shoots lasers” strategy, power of teamwork from the allies-of-the-week), but it’s well done. Just as it seems the heroes have won, though, we get even more enemies, and the silhouette of one of the most nostalgic digimon enemies of all: Parrotmon.

Other thoughts:

Lopmon is clearly important, right? I believe that’s a reincarnated Cherubimon. Maybe it’ll have something to do with MetalGreymon’s evolution next episode?

Once again, most of the not-spotlighted characters fall into one-note roles here. Koushiro is there for exposition (though he at least gets to be flustered when Yamato calls him by his first name), Mimi is there to be briefly charming, and Jou is there to be humiliated for bad attempts at humor.

Takeru doesn’t move. At all.

Those jewels Mimi and Palmon found may end up being important for her evolution episode. After all, Rosemon carries a jewel (the Tifferet) that symbolizes her power.

Sora once again appears to be Taichi’s second in command. Hadn’t happened since episode 8.

Generally, a standard episode of Adventure 2020 (good action, very good direction, okay worldbuilding, some problems with characterization) elevated by a single perfectly executed moment. Next week we’ll have the evolution to WarGreymon. Synopsis make it seem like it’ll be a repeat of the MetalGreymon episode (Taichi and Agumon willingly stay behind to fight an unbeatable enemy so their allies can escape), but hopefully they’ll manage to do something interesting with that.

[fizzingwizard]

We are nearing the final arc y’all. Episode 48 is just one long battle, with meager dialogue, and an attempt at pulling a Shocker at the end that, well, doesn’t cut it for me, but I do think it’ll probably do it for the target audience of ten year olds who haven’t seen the same sort of thing over and over again :P

So, no, it’s not much, in terms of how much we get out of this episode. But it’s a lead-in to things to come. This’ll be another short review.

Pic of the day: apparently Koushirou’s tablet has a touch screen. I... should ave assumed as much but I guess I was thrown by how he only ever uses the keyboard...

So we start with a very long reminder of everything that’s happend so far, since we have been mostly ignoring lately. Right, right, we want to prevent Millennumon’s resurrection so we are traveling to Farga or whatever on Tailmon’s word.

As usual, the construction of this story is so sloppy, the pace was too off-balance for so long, that I guess it just can’t get back on its feet all the way. It has been significantly better for a pretty good period of time at this point, so I’m very happy about that. But this episode was kind of a disappointing return to old habits (lots of fighting an enemy who is barely intimidating and doesn’t even speak, plus no character moments). Hopefully we won’t have too many more like this in the future.

The message that Koushirou gets is from Leomon, who is fine, still with Eldradimon and all his friends (and then some). This scene pretty much serves to remind us, oh right, things happened in the past.

Next Koushirou’s computer is infiltrated by Vademon, who kindly informs them all that they are doomed yadda yadda. We find out (not that we didn’t already know) that the Vademon are using data collected from battles, such as with Sephirothmon, to strengthen their forces and are particularly interested in the Chosen’s data. That seems to be the reason why they now...

... sick Mugendramon on them :P

This Mugendramon is a far cry from his 99 incarnation. He appears to be a completely mindless robot who moves only on Vademon’s command.

The kids are quickly overwhelmed fighting him but for some reason Taichi and Yamato don’t bother going to Ultimate level right away, even though their digives ought to have been able to tell them Mugendramon is also Ultimate level...

Full team assault! Guns! Guns for everyone!!

It’s not a great idea when this guy is clearly eating your data with every attack...

One by one the others are knocked out of the fight. WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon finally come out, but no for long before it becomes a showdown between WarGreymon and Mugendramon.

Taichi’s like “why does death have to hurt so much”

Hikari cries and thus activates deus ex machina.

Then she faints daintily into gallant Sir Takeru’s arms.

Taichi and WarGreymon become super-charged on Holy Digimon juice. I was kinda hoping he’d be concerned to use it, on seeing how it totally drained his sister like that... but I guess he can’t even tell that she’s passed out from way up in the sky :P He gives a dramatic speech about what their goals are and how he’s going to make sure to take Mugendramon down.

On the one hand, it’s cool to see him be a leader like this. On the other, I really was not expecting Taichi to self-destruct this episode, lol. Seems like there should have been some lead-in, or at least a few sweet character moments first...

All we get - and I guess we should be grateful we even get this - is Yamato looking conflicted and begging Taichi to come back safely.

Mugendramon stabs WarGreymon right through the chest with his claw, but WarGreymon just yanks it out and continues to take Mugendramon apart piece by piece. He finishes, of course, with his favorite move: the “IN YOUR FACE”

Mugendramon’s lopped off head starts to do weird robot shit and then an infinity sign appears in his eye as Vademon orders Mugendramon to overload and self-destruct.

Dun dun dun. Infinity power!

I honestly... can’t think why... Taichi doesn’t just *get off* him at this point. Like, do they really need to be there for the blast? I guess we’re meant to assume that he knew he wouldn’t be able to avoid it if he stayed to fight and that’s why he sent the others evacuating (yeah forgot to mention they all evacuated on Komondomon and went underwater after Taichi’s speech). But still. At least try to run away boy.

Instead he is swept into the air by Mugendramon’s husk and they explode into what I think is Cloud Continent.

So... this does mean possibilities. Of course Taichi isn’t dead, but I hope there is some kind of consequence for all this. Long ago we had some theories about Taichi and Mugendramon after seeing Agumon go berserk in the Devimon fight. Now that Mugendramon and WarGreymon have exploded together, what if in the chaos parts of them merge together, or get corrupted... I’m probably hoping for too much but xD

So that’s it! That’s the episode. Sorry my reviews have been pretty unexciting and unfunny lately but I just can’t come up with much to say about them! They’re fine. I want to see this show through to the end. I just don’t know what it has against characters being themselves all the time, even when fighting. I mean, I guess it’s realistic that you don’t have much time for friendly banter in a war zone xP but who watches cartoons for realism?

Next week... episode title is “The Evil God Millenniumon” so maybe we’ll finally meet the Big Bad!

Also Hikari collects some flowers, I assume because her brother is Super Dead and all :P

Forgot to menton - before everyone evacuated, Taichi did tell Yamato “I’m relying on you” to take care of the others, etc. So maybe we’ll see leader Yamato next week. Or... crappy leader Yamato? lol.

[darthcontusion]

let meiko be stupid

everytime meiko works up the conviction to run to meicoomon somebody stops her. I think that’s a huge part of the problem with her arc... any other chosen rushing to their partner would be the climax of their scene, sparking some transformation of consciousness leading to a new evolution.

But people keep stopping Meiko. Don’t fight with us, just run. Don’t go to your partner, stay back. As a result, her connection to her partner is stunted.

How many times did the others do something completely irrational and potentially suicidal across the franchise? How many times was that framed as stupid instead of heroic? Never, right? Remember when Tai and Matt hurled themselves into a writhing digital pit of Diaboromon? That shouldn’t have worked, it was stupid and dangerous, but it did.

In movie 4, Sora’s big scene is hurling herself onto mugendramon to save Biyomon, which is a colossally idiotic act that should have killed her. I mean, if a burly 5 story tall dude slams you into a wall, you should end up with a broken spine. But instead, it spurs an evolution to Phoenixmon and Sora is none the worse for wear.

So just let Meiko bear the consequences of her convictions. Let her do something dumb and suffer for it. Character growth in Digimon is about feelings first and foremost. Holding Meiko back clashes with the tone of Adventure and it’s really really really really weird and awkward.