#kiyoshiro relevant

[izzyizumi]

me: *takes deep breath* me: I LO- Anyone who has spent five seconds around me ever: yes, you love AMPHIMON, we get it okay, you love AMPHIMON, AMPHIMON is ALSO A NEW brightest f*cking starshine in your life, you f*cking adore AMPHIMON, yes okay yes, you love AMPHIMON, HOW many times are we gonna go through this, yOU F*CKING LOVE AMPHIMON AND Jellymon In General Too

[koushirouizumi]

{Sonic Prime spoiler}

(under the 'read more')

Well at least Tails finally got to ""shock"" them back for ONCE

after getting zapped by electric shock as an outright semi-torture trope for ""humor"" like 3~5 times previously by ep. 8

[firstagent]

Digimon Ghost Game #60 Review

Since Ghost Game’s already done the “evil water” thing a couple times already and it was completely obvious we’d see Jellymon’s Ultimate Evolution here, it was going to take a lot for anything to truly dazzle us. Dazzling sure isn’t the word for what we got and it doesn’t quite escape being a half hour of cliches, but there’s still a satisfying execution about everything. The kids plow ahead with either limited or bad information and make things worse, which is better than having no control. Submarimon, Cthyllamon, and Amphimon’s personalities all click with each other nicely and elevate what could have been a real snoozer. It’s also a fitting cap to a round of evolutions that assure us that the Digimon characters are the ones running this season, and from that lens the development isn’t quite as bad as it appears.

You do have to dock points for going with the water motif again. And while Hiro tries to ask questions to make the story plot relevant, nobody bites. At least they mistook the mummified cryptid for the heart of Te Fiti and got appropriately cursed as a result. While that’s all the joy we get from the story, the debut characters make up for it. Cthyllamon is a carefree brat on vacation and his conquest of humanity stems not from a particular hatred of them like AncientSphinxmon, but because he’d have more fun without them around. Balance this out with Submarimon, who isn’t necessarily fond of humans and finds Digimon interacting with them weird, but is chill with it anyway and quick to help the kids out. It’s a nice parallel to have two Digimon with no real experience with humans react to similar encounters with them in completely opposite ways.

That’s not even getting into Jellymon. In both Siriusmon and Diarbbitmon’s evolutions, the partner Digimon drove while Hiro and Ruli got whatever crap could be scraped from the scene. Now that we know the pattern, we’re not shocked to see the same here. Kiyoshiro vowing to step up and be a hero is the same note we get whenever he, well, needs to step up and be a hero. Jellymon gets a nice revelation, supported by Submarimon and Cthyllamon’s attitudes towards humanity: she actually likes people. Whether that’s because she sees them as easy marks or just generally amused by them, she genuinely wants to keep them around. Her evolution Amphimon goes wild with that, reinforcing that attitude with pep and just a little Engrish. It’s nothing mind blowing, but let’s appreciate three new Digimon dropping in and working together to salvage something out of this one.

Initial Grade: B-

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[dovahkiin796]

Digimon Ghost Game: Halloween 2

Wow. That’s a little extreme and gross. Just having one’s mouth being stuffed with tons of eyeballs and then forced down your throat. However, there is a purpose to it.

These two schoolgirls are corrupted by the new Digimon’s power and become witches themselves. With flying broomsticks to boot too. Maybe they can attend Hogwarts.

It’s nice to see the gang built a Pumpkinmon decoration for Pumpkinmon who was the main (misunderstood) villain from the last Halloween Ghost Game episode. And we have Gammamon’s Turkey or Treatment making a return. Yes, Pumpkinmon does comeback towards the end.

Hiro, Gammamon, and Espimon all dressed up as mummies. I do wonder if the event with Mummymon influence this choice of costume. The two Digimon are cute as mummies.

Angoramon is a pirate. Hey! Foxy can have a new crew member. Jellymon is a princess because of course she is. Just fits way too much for her.

Kiyoshiro is dressed up as his favorite elf wizard anime character. We actually saw him dress up in this costume when Petermon was kidnapping kids. No, the costume wasn’t relevant to their investigation. He just got way into the anime and wanted to cosplay.

And lastly, we have Ruli. Who decided to go as a zombie and man. It’s awesome! Ruli could’ve gone as anything a girl would have gone as. But she broke the mold and decided on a zombie. Ruli has long become my favorite Digi-girl in the whole franchise.

ominous! 

[trackermons]

i guess i could further condense my thoughts/hopes for ghost game ep 11 into "digimon has an arguably bad track record with how it treats its female characters compared to the male leads (in both actual strength/competence, narrative relevance and character development) and i'm tired of it, and desperately seriously hoping they can and will do better with ruli" but i'm gonna leave it at that probably otherwise i will be rambling and posturing all day

[noctilucentstorm]

Ghost Game Review: Episode 13

Executioner

Digimon are being assassinated with seemingly no pattern or motive. Hiro and the others try to stop this new foe, but an even greater enemy has been lurking.

Massive spoilers below the cut. You have been warned.

I was expecting a brutal episode given the preview and title, but I was definitely caught out by some of the more horrific elements. Poor Bokomon! I think one of the reasons it hit me so hard was that I had expected him to become one of the core supporting cast. Bravo to the writers for that set-up!

As an aside, I do wonder how they’ll censor this for the US dub (assuming we get one). Hopefully just cut out the frames with the knife going into the digimon? At least they won’t have to worry about editing out blood, but there is something still brutal about the digimon having daggers stuck into them.

At least we got a new, cute ending! Look at them! Almost makes up for the pain during the actual episode.

Characters

I know I’m biased towards them but I loved Jellymon’s little bit where she went to buy a kimono and talked about using Kiyoshiro’s credit card. We’ve had hints of her doing deals for digimon before (Sistermon Ceil being the most plot-relevant), but it is a reminder that, just like Angoramon, Jellymon has her own life outside her partner. Also, raises the question how Kiyoshiro can afford all this (assuming he also pays his own tuition), but I’d guess he’s either got a side job as an ethical hacker or mines bitcoin or something – I mean, he clearly understands multiple languages, so it is possible. I’ll be surprised if it’s ever explained, but weirder things have happened.

Sealsdramon was a fairly menacing villain, not least because at first I thought he was assassinating digimon who had broken human laws, which would’ve been interesting. However, it’s even more chilling when he reveals to the group that the deaths were just a number to him. I wonder how much of that is due to his evolution. Killing a bunch of digimon in order to get into the D Section is bound to mess up one’s psyche.

Finally, this guy is suitably terrifying! We’ve had brief hints of him from the start of the series, but I’ll admit I was always unsure how he’d actually turn up since Hiro seemed so chill. Turns out this evolution had nothing to do with Hiro, unless he’s been stopping Gammamon from evolving into GulusGammamon and channelling the energy for evolution into the other forms. It prompted me to rewatch the first episode when Hiro and Gammamon first meet.

Plot

I think what makes this episode so good and terrifying is that the little details from the previous episodes have finally come together in a really sinister way.

In the first episode, Gammamon greeted Hiro’s dad in a friendly manner, which I’d originally assumed was because Hakuto had created him. However, with the current episode’s events it now seems more likely GulusGammamon was somehow devolved (or reborn?) and taken in briefly by Hakuto. It also gives new perspective to his instruction for Hiro to treat Gammamon like a younger brother. Makes me wonder if he knew how dangerous Gammamon could be (probably, is my initial assumption).

We still don’t know BlackTailmon’s purpose or goals, but given they’re seen picking up a digi-egg it does make me wonder if they are some sort of guardian of (or bridge between) the worlds. It would explain their presence in the first episode. BlackTailmon was bringing Gammamon to Hiro, and giving him access to the digital fields… or at least making him aware of the mini-USBs.

And finally we have a mysterious BlackAgumon watching the proceedings. Do they know of GalusGammamon, or know him personally? It seems there’s another entity we may be introduced to soon enough.

Worldbuilding

Although it felt like a minor point, I liked the confirmation that the kids shouting their partners' attacks means something. My theory is it works as a power-up given GulusGammamon and Hiro's reactions.

And we now know how death works in this universe. I think the writers have balanced the stakes well. While digimon are reborn, it seems as if they don’t retain memories of their past life (at least, based on Bakumon and Angoramon’s explanation). Bokomon may return, but he will not remember any of the cast or the wisdom he gained of the human world. For that reason a part of me is tending towards the theory that Gammamon has been reborn following GulusGammamon’s death, but I guess we’ll see going forward.

[palms-upturned]

Let's wrap up the GG trio: 🎵 + Kiyoshiro

YESSSS LOL

Send me a ♫ + a character/ship and I will respond with a song that reminds me of them.

This track from the miles edgeworth investigations 2 soundtrack somehow manages to remind me of all of his relevant characteristics: gamer, hacker, and also having a very bad day all the time

[firstagent]

Digimon Ghost Game #64 Review

With the crisis introduced last episode in full swing and the final arc kicking into gear, it’s a awkward time for a sidebar. But, as always, Hiro deals with recognizing the problem of Digimon flooding into the human world the same way he always does: refusing to offer any solutions and going off to do something else. That does take a lot of attention away from this horde of refugees, but at least Ruli and Kiyoshiro try attending to it, since it’s extremely relevant to what happens at the end. As feared, the story potential of all this won’t get a chance to be mined properly, and it’s a shame given how much earlier chaff it could have replaced. That said, it’s hard to lament that for too long, as Hiro winds up in a story that’s Ghost Game at its most savory, while the new development is big enough to catch your attention even if you didn’t commit to the earlier slog.

There was nothing subtle about the direction this episode was taking. The title, the sailors getting possessed, the fog compelling everyone to the ocean… after Millenniumon and Quartzmon, it’s not even that big a deal to see Dagomon the way we first met and fell in love with. But Dagomon’s natural influence isn’t the only good thing: the trio having to react to a sudden situation from a position of disadvantage adds plenty of tension on its own. Rather than have one of them victimized by the fog they all find a way to get past it and rally together for the big showdown. While the buildup is Ghost Game at its best, the battle itself represents Ghost Game at its clumsiest, as Espimon awkwardly bails the team out thanks to a random bit from the first act and the fight gets cut short right as it was sizzling the hottest. Even if the reason for the interruption is a welcome one and the disturbing corruption to Dagomon may be a prelude to some dangers down the road, it’s a letdown that Siriusmon doesn’t get either a clean win or a dark transformation here.

Still, it’s not like Dagomon isn’t used to being shut out abruptly and the arrival of Terriermon Joshu Hokuto makes enough waves on its own. Hiro not showing any emotion to being reunited with his lost father (as opposed to Gammamon… and Espimon) is appropriate to their relationship, but you’re salivating for him to have some sort of outburst over this later. More important—and amazingly cutting in after the requisite Angoramon outro—is both the network and the power going down everywhere. The Digimon are overwhelmed as they sense the entire Digital World has vanished. In a moment, the push to send all the Digimon into the real world has new context, and the prospect of both this and a powerless human world makes for a juicy final few episodes. Again, you wish there was more time to explore all the ramifications of this, because damn.

Initial Grade: A-

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[firstagent]

Ghost Game #43 Review

One of the cardinal rules dictating the quality of Ghost Game episodes is that the more the crisis directly impacts the six main characters, the more successful the story tends to be. When the attention’s on a one-off character, they often take forever establishing their link to the main cast. Worse, sometimes they don’t have a pre-existing relationship at all. Either way we’re not going to care about them as much as characters we already know, putting any episode that relies on that at an immediate disadvantage. This, then, is quite the subversion. Not that it’s successful in getting us to care about Emma to any meaningful degree, but in linking her to Kiyoshiro so fiendishly her damage hits him almost as hard, and not just the kind from Eyesmon.

Most of the time when new characters need a link to our crew, it’s always slapped together like saying they’re friends with Hiro or they’re messaging Lirurun or they’re involved in Kiyo’s business dealings. That or they’re characters we’ve built up a strong antipathy to like Kotaro or Aoi or Mika. Emma’s personality is so strong and her connection to Kiyoshiro is so grounded in what we already know about him that she establishes herself in record time. We know her deal, we know their relationship, and we know he’s in panic mode. Also key is that their interactions aren’t interesting or relevant only because there’s a Digimon causing havoc. We would have been totally happy watching them and Jellymon go at it even without Eyesmon involved! It’s a lesson that isn’t applied often enough: if you’re going to feature a character in only one episode, might as well go big with them.

That said, the story is about the main characters, so you’d hope for them to grow a little bit as people or at least for them to suffer whatever malady is going around. They don’t grow, they don’t get infected by Eyesmon… but that doesn’t mean they don’t suffer! Making Kiyoshiro uncomfortable is both easy and fun, and a full episode of a girl needling every aspect of his life while Jellymon watches in amusement is a different kind of suffering, but it’s such a delight to watch. He has the most unique backstory of the three kids and throwing in a character who will exploit every inch of it is almost as good as the three exploiting it themselves.

Initial Grade: B-

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[firstagent]

Digimon Ghost Game #38 Review

A lot gets thrown at us here. Hiro’s sudden kidnapping and possession leaves Gammamon to fight this one solo. Espimon seems friendly enough but poses some interesting questions about who he is and what he knows. The whole idea of vengeful spirits inhabiting both Hiro and Doumon and the way they go out makes you wonder if they’ll return. It’s solid enough on its own, but what’s really going to move the needle on this episode is how relevant these things end up being in the long run. Going off of everything Ghost Game has thrown at us prior to this, there’s reason to be skeptical.

You do have to credit Ghost Game for getting Hiro to play the young lord in an all-girls school performance, setting up his capture, without it coming off as forced. It’s been a while since Kotaro being horny got the gang in trouble, but it’s hardly the first time. The sequence of Hiro’s capture is great. The screams of anguish as victims become talismans are top notch. Everything about Doumon’s conscription process works wonders. It’s one reason you hope there’s more to it, as once again it’s an enemy that cowers and runs after getting slapped around a little. The spirits swear vengeance and it’s ominous enough that you want to believe they’ll deliver… but it’s hardly the first time we’ve seen that too and so far only one prior enemy actually followed through. We’d be up for a proper fight with an army of shikigami, but it’s hard to expect the show to give it to us.

Two allies are introduced. One is Airdramon, who doesn’t actually get Ruli and Kiyoshiro there on time to help but has enough attitude to wish he’d show up again. Again, no expectation that he will. Espimon, however, is definitely positioned to be a recurring character. The rocket hamster is given enough time to share part of his story and flex his personality, but also carries a mystery: he is adamant that Hiro isn’t who he says he is. There’s no way that can be left alone, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’ll matter. It could turn out to be the most relevant plot development since GulusGammamon first showed up. It also might be resolved neatly next time he shows up and never brought up again. Part of assessing this episode hinges on whether this news is important, or just another letter for Uver to deliver without incident.

Initial Grade: B

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[firstagent]

Digimon Ghost Game #30 Quick Reaction

Sometimes an episode of Digimon Ghost Game is meaningless fun from the beginning. Whether or not it actually entertains is hit or miss, but you’re not going to dock it points for its frivolity either way once your guard is down. This one’s certainly meaningless fun, and it is fun enough: Kayono’s new aesthetic once she accepts the darkness, her gradual Digimon-enabled descent into utter cruelty, everything working against Kiyoshiro again after last week’s brush with glory… it’s a pretty enjoyable trip. But when you’re playing in territory this close to the main cast and you don’t feel like you learn anything about them or the people they associate with, you’re going to be left wanting more.

Aoi and Mika feel like they should be relevant characters. They’ve been seen with Ruli since episode one, been saved by her several times, and can tell that something is going on with her. Here, where they’re literally feeding Gammamon and wondering why that’s possible, and providing a direct link between Ruli and Kayono, it’s the perfect opportunity to develop that further and either start asking questions or at least intimate to Ruli that they’re not blind to this situation. Aoi instead lets it drop, which is extra galling in an episode where she’s turned into a doll as punishment for waiting too long to check on a friend who’s clearly going through something.

It’s even worse when the episode even shows its openness to show continuity, useless as it is. If it’s going to ignore Aoi and Mika’s knowledge of Ruli’s Digimon activity, maybe it’s best not to remind us that they’re already suspicious. And the reminder of CanoWeissmon’s unexplained reversion against Asuramon is irrelevant when Monzaemon deals with the situation himself. Really, Monzaemon dealing with everything himself is another point of frustration itself, both in how his reasoning for not contacting Hiro earlier is flimsy and how it makes both Hiro and Ruli seem like accessories in their own series. It’s not the first time that’s happened, but when the bad guys are hitting people like Aoi and Kiyoshiro, it’s especially annoying.

Aoi and Mika are poised to be friend characters capable of influencing both the story and Ruli as much as Hirokazu and Kenta did to Takato in Tamers. Which is more than they get credit for. Neither they, nor Ruli for that matter, have enough quirk and personality to get away with being another Watson.

Initial Grade: C+

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[firstagent]

Ghost Game #1 Quick Reaction

Oh, I missed this!

On the heels of Adventure:, Ghost Game dives after everything we were missing. Hiro’s regular life is front and center: he has friends, he has annoying classmates, he has uncommon skills like lockpicking… he even has that anime protagonist thing where both parents are out of the picture (the “one’s relevant to the story�� track). The profile suggested something a little closer to Taiki than we’d be comfortable with, but the fact that his helpfulness is not so much a moral code thing as he is too complacent to say no to people is endearing and gives him some everykid credibility that may not feel warranted considering everything else we know about him.

The most interesting question the episode had to answer was what kind of mood Ghost Game was going to take. Hopefully nobody expected legitimate horror, but skimming that aspect too much would be disappointing. They struck a very nice balance, with mostly upbeat notes as the kids go about their school day discussing the hot gossip… mixed with scenes of Clockmon terrorizing a random girl that offer enough resemblance to horror and hits with a couple good shots of her being victimized. And Kiyoshiro is fantastic as the obnoxious smart kid turned into an absolute wreck at the thought of anything scary.

Beyond Clockmon, the Digimon aspect has a real Appmon feel, as there’s a family connection to Hiro receiving his Digivice V (and immediately struggling to figure out how to use it), the family member being a little nuts, and Gammamon showing up and overwhelming Hiro right from the start. Gammamon is a delight: a hungry little baby eager to make friends with Hiro, eager to fight, and with all the usual spunk of a protagonist Digimon. And the early portrayal of the Digital World as dad is speaking recalls a digiquartz style environment, although whether that integration is a tangible thing or just artifacts from the holographic message is a question to answer later. Everything fits together, the tone is exactly what it should be and we got enough of a taste of everything to want more!

Initial Grade: A

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[firstagent]

Digimon Ghost Game #7 Quick Reaction

Perhaps we’re hitting a point where the blame for expecting anything relevant to happen in a given episode will begin to turn towards us. The show’s staff has indicated they’re going for something more episodic and few Digimon series have anything earth-shattering in the first seven episodes. And it’s not like the thrills have gotten less fun or Gammamon’s gotten less cute or Kiyoshiro’s gotten less high-strung. There are enough exploitable horror tropes for the show to do just fine being Hunters with better characters. But like Hunters, it posed a lot of interesting questions to us very early in the series. And with no progression towards answers, we’re still left stuck with the feeling the show is spinning its tires.

But wait, something big did happen! KausGammamon, an alternate evolved form of Gammamon showing up without the help of a new digimental or the myriad weird outside influences Adventure: used. That counts for something, right? It does… looking at things from the broader perspective of the Digimon anime. Yes, that’s kind of cool to throw at us this early, even before Angoramon or Jellymon get evolutions. But only because it’s new-ish to the franchise (the anime side at least). In the world of Ghost Game in particular, the only surprised faces were from those who react that way to everything. Circumstances called for Gammamon being able to fly, and everybody’s just pleased he pulled it off. Considering how perplexed Angoramon is that Gammamon can evolve back and forth so dynamically, the rules are different here. In this universe, evidence suggests KausGammamon isn’t weird at all.

Either way, it doesn’t lead to the one thing that really should have happened by now: the good guys decisively winning a fight. We’ve had three episodes where the hostile Digimon realizes what they were doing was wrong and decide to shape up, and now three where they take a couple hits and decide it’s not worth the hassle (and, of course, one who accepted an apology and left peacefully). There are plenty of upsides to devoting most of the time on the antics of the team investigating the mystery du jour and opening up the ranks of Ultimate level Digimon to find the perfect fit for the theme. Overall, the positives probably outweigh the negatives. But by now they really should have been thrown a Digimon they actually do need to beat, and actually can beat at this level. Because as much fun as we can derive from creepy birds breaking the laughably IoT-enabled padlocks and Yatagaramon leading a revolt against birdcages… it’s awfully anticlimactic when they give up and leave the moment a whiff of resistance pops up. It suggests that none of it was really a big deal, contrary to everything we’d seen before that. At some point, this is going to have to matter.

Initial Grade: C

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