#I mean I thought for a second we were getting MetalGreymon and WereGarurumon

[dna-d2]

Digmon Adventure 2020 finally came out with an English dub. I’m 3 episodes deep, and man

I was sitting here thinking “They really just made the Digimon Movie for the fourth time without Mamoru Hosoda, didn’t they?”

But then I remembered that Belle came out AFTER the series originally started, so this is the THIRD time the Digimon movie happened, while Bell is the fourth time.

(But it was still Hosoda’s third time making it so my meme is still accurate, you hear me??)

Either way though, that’s rude to my dude, give him some credit, will you??

[jippy-kandi]

Digimon Adventure: 2020 – Episode 24: The Final Stage, DoneDevimon (Review)

Thoughts on the twenty-fourth episode of the Digimon Adventure reboot series.

As a standalone, I think this episode was pretty darn good. But as the end of the Devimon arc? It’s disappointing that another Devimon evolution (and the final one?) went out in another single episode, lol.

Odd thing to notice, but 2020 has made Yamato just as fast of a runner as Taichi. In the OG, across all the seasons, Taichi is always the fastest (thus why he plays soccer) and Yamato the second fastest. I have no point here - it’s just something I’ve always observed, and 2020 made them equal in this respect. :P

I generally think reboot Taichi is a vastly inferior version to OG Taichi. But his pushing Yamato to safety has made me like him a lot more (still nowhere near as much as OG Taichi though!). Thanks, reboot. Taichi levelled up!

Takeru is like a Pokemon - if his name was “oniichan” that is, lol.

We get a glimpse of the B team with their D storyline and zzzzz. lol. It’s not their fault, of course, but I really don’t care what they’re up to. I just want them back in the main storyline so that they become relevant again!

Yamato hangs off of WereGarurumon like a baby, LOL. I cannot un-see this.

WereGarurumon: Sagittarius Mode is so freakin’ cool, I have no idea why the reboot shafted MetalGreymon’s special mode so hard in comparison. XD;

How on Earth did Yamato survive a blast - especially at close range? The mind boggles. This is like Sora surviving a thump against a cliff in tri. . . . I don’t know which is more unrealistic. They should both be dead. XD;

So Tokomon is really powerful, eh? Yeah, I don’t like it. It’s just a total cop-out to make a digimon powerful at any level . . .

Whoa, DoneDevimon EATING TAICHI was so surprising, ridiculous and awesome at the same time. Did Takeru shit himself watching in shock? Does DoneDevimon shit out Taichi? Find out next time - or in this same episode, lol.

I really liked the reboot’s version of the OG’s “dark evolution” - this time making it MetalGreymon’s rage at Taichi being eaten. He rages into Machinedramon (in spirit?). Good shit.

The action this episode was very nice indeed. Just giving props where it’s due.

I still don’t like that the Crests haven’t been explained yet (what do kids watching even think they are?) - and that they seem to lack any meaning whatsoever. I’m pretty sure all the kids - except Jou - have the Crest of Courage. :P

DoneDevimon was an amazing opponent - I wish he had been a foe for longer. I do like when Devimon actually has a brain, because he’s a great villain, but his evolving into an actual mindless “monster” worked really well for me, too. So I’m cool with it. He was awesome.

I’m not sure I liked how the battle ended, though. There were too many spirits, lol. But yay WarGreymon cameo, I guess? I dunno. I could’ve done with a better end.

Patamon! And then . . . an abrupt ending, lol. THAT’S NOT HOW YOU END AN EPISODE, TOEI.

This episode was surprising and exciting with really good action moments mixed in with emotional moments. I mostly dug it. I still don’t think DoneDevimon should have been defeated in a single episode . . . but whatever, it’s done (Devimon :PPP).

Please just get my kids back together again and all is forgiven, Toei. :P

[fizzingwizard]

Alright alright alright digimon adventure: episode 21, go!!! Last week I was interested to see if the pretty vague ep 21 preview was gonna be a mostly dull fight type filler ep or if the reason for the vagueness was there was too much plotty stuff going on for them to reveal. It’s the latter, I’m happy to say!

It was really cool!! There was a lot of good stuff so YAY! Anything I write here will be a spoiler but let’s just say that T is a very important letter in the alphabet! multiple Ts, in fact!!

Cap of the day: my boy being AWESOME

Let’s get to it! under the cut as usual

Now last week’s episode was A LOT. We rescued Takeru who no one even knew needed rescuing, gained and then immediately lost the Holy Digimon, got him back in the form of a digi-egg, and then immediately lost THAT too. Honestly I get why it’s Chosen Children and not Chosen Adults - adults would be like “are you KIDDING me all this work with NO PAYOFF I am gonna SUE”

Patamon’s digi-egg has been abducted by this guy... Skullnightmon? It seems he was a Xros Wars character. I had to look him up because at first I tried “Scarlnightmon” because Idk I was thinking Scarlet Night??? like night of blood and death??? idk. and Google tried to autocorrect it to “Scranton.” Uh... yeah. Skullnightmon makes more sense because of the BIG ASS SKULL on his breasplate. -.-;

It occurs to me how little I know about any Digimon series other than Adventure X’D I mean, I’m not gonna do anything to change that, but.... yeah I’m gonna continue to mix up stuff like this. His loyal steed is Darkmaildramon.

Yamato, of course, is immediately like Protective Mode On.

So at first I was a bit worried that this ep was gonna just Move Things Along as usual and Yamato wasn’t going to react to his little bro randomly being in the digital world. Let alone in the clutches of pure evil up until just recently. When you’re caught up in battle it’s admittedly hard to find time to Talk about stuff but COME ON

Fortunately, thought we don’t get a lot of Talking, we do get a bit. Like this cute moment where Takeru tries to explain what happened and Yamato’s just like “We can talk later” and gives him this adorable head pat. Ok, fine. I can live with that. It’s better than nothing xP

They arrive at the creepy castle which Taichi recognizes as the place Ogremon directed them to. It looks very evil and in front of it is a giant equally evil moat.

They also find this sinkhole sort of thing which Takeru promptly rushes over to stand at the very edge.

Yamato: OMG kid I look away for ONE SECOND

le gasp! Takeru finds a shiny feather at the edge of the hole! It’s a sign of the holy digimon! We should go investigate!

Oops first we have to find this gross Garurumon knock off... Its name is Splashmon but I think it should be “MeltedCrayonGarurumon”

Splashmon is apparently also from Xros wars and can turn into liquid and take on the form of other Digimon... I don’t know if he’s always this shit at it though. Maybe being controlled by evil is the reason for all the meltyness because he looks pretty cool in his wikia:

rofl...

Splashmon showers them all with acid rain and Yamato protec baby bro :< *wibble*

He then carries him to safety like this. xP

Yamato: Takeru, hide!

Takeru: This bottomless pit that reeks of evil seems like an ideal hiding spot. Niichan will be so proud

No but seriously... looks like we don’t get cowardly, crybaby Takeru this season. The kids getting to y’know Be Human about stuff is a thing it looks like I’m going to continue to miss in this reboot. But on the other hand, I genuinely DO enjoy Takeru throwing his all into saving Angemon.

Skullnightmon sticks Angemon’s digi-egg here where it gets chained down by evil vines. Very evil. Also seems like overkill, I mean, it’s an egg, what’s it going to do, roll off the platform?

We then switch gears and rejoin the kids in the real world, where Koushirou has, apparently overnight, if not in the last five minutes, created an update for their digivices which enables them to always be in contact with their partner. I don’t really get the details but that appears to be the size of it. We also catch up with Mimi and Jou.

At first I thought this was a school, but no, IT’S MIMI’S HOUSE. She has a PERSONAL CHAUFFEUR. Like, 99 Adventure Mimi was well-off, that was especially clear in 02... but... WOWZA.

Mimi’s parents look as stupid as ever xD I love them. They’re joined by her grandpa. After having been gone for three days with no explanation, Mimi’s parents are just like “Don’t you want to take it easy at home today?” when she says she needs to go out. Mimi’s just like “I gotta do what I gotta do!” (ok she actually quotes her grandpa from back in her intro ep but) and leaves like nothing happened.

.... I think grandpa might be dead. He doesn’t move the whole scene. Doesn’t even change his expression. I guess his mouth is a bit more open but that could just be because rigor mortis hasn’t quite set in

Meanwhile in Jou’s (normal, average) apartment, we meet SHIN-NIISAN!!! He’s as much of a dick as ever. I love him. Jou’s parents were mad because 1) he was gone for three days, 2) he skipped cram school, 3) he lost his textbook. I think Shin’s basically like HECK yeah finally my little bro shows his cool side! So he decides to be an enabler. GOOD, seems like Jou needs someone to be on his side at home ;_;

Their Digimon partners are traveling in the interwebz like... this... -____-;

They end up tracking Calmaramon, who is indeed Calmaramon.

I remember from Frontier when Renamon evolved to Calmaramon everyone gave her SO MUCH GRIEF for not being sexy. Wasn’t there like this whole episode devoted to how beautiful Izumi’s evolutions were and then Calmara the Squid Woman shows up and everyone’s like “ewww gross yuck!!” And ok I know she’s evil here too. But guys I JUST THINK SQUID WOMAN IS WICKED AWESOME OKAY. Like that is a LOOK. Versace take notes.

Like can we get some body positivity??? There is NOTHING wrong with being half-squid. Zephyrmon is not better just because she wears lingerie! Bet she can beat everyone at the swim meet. Also tastes yummy fried or raw with soy sauce.

ok I’m done. I’m serious about loving Calmaramon though. I have so many Frontier issues I totally forgot about >_>;

*cough* so yeah Calmaramon and those little green Digimon virus things take control of some boat and Koushirou’s like Uh-Oh Danger Will Robinson. Piyomon tries to attack with Magical Fire and is surprised, for some reason, when it does not do much. They are very much outnumbered and Calmaramon is clearly a much higher level than them so WHY do they think child-level is gonna be enough??

So this is cool!! Koushirou appears to be learning to read digi-code! He sounds out Calmaramon’s name by himself. We still pretty much have the question of why Taichi could just read digi-code fluently (well, almost? he randomly couldn’t read everything at the fortress if memory serves) and Koushirou has to sound it out... will we get an answer to this or?? Like if it were Takeru or Hikari I’d just assume it’s their Magic Baby powers at work but it was never made clear if just Taichi can read like this or they all can, and now it seems like maybe they all can’t since Koushirou’s trying so hard here...

Meanwhile Takeru...

99 Yamato would never have taken his eyes off Takeru for so long lmao

though it makes more sense if this season’s Takeru is more independent which he seems to be

Splashmon turns out to be really tough to beat, because he’s lost his mind and therefore holds nothing back xP He crushes MetalGreymon and WereGarurumon to the ground, infecting them with miasma.

At this point I was disappointed that Taichi and Yamato were still so clear-headed... like when are you gonna worry about your partner dude?? He gets the Crest of Courage because he’s never felt fear in his life??????

But then, their next move fails and WereGarurumon de-evolves back to Gabumon, while MetalGreymon is still in Splashmon’s clutches. He proceeds to pretty much make MetalGreymon’s arm wither away...

And Taichi FINALLY looks worried. ABOUT TIME.

Takeru has made it to the bottom of the hole, where he is startled to find this giant eye. I would also fall right on my bottom if I suddenly came across a giant eye.

Giant eye seems interested in Takeru’s digivice, so Takeru politely lets him have a look. BLINGGGGGGG.

Giant Eye: Ow ow ow turn it down!!!

Takeru: Sorry it’s LED!!

Taichi runs to rescue MetalGreymon in the... most ineffectual way possible... I love him...

The miasma can even hurt humans, it appears. Even though he’s in pain, Taichi doesn’t give up, and we get to hear Yamato shriek “Taichi!” all scared and adorable-like.

Taichi passionately reminds MetalGreymon about what they’re fighting for and succeeds in motivating him to be less dead.

Taichi: GIMME A V DOT THE I CURLY C T O R Y VICTORY!! *CLAP CLAP* VICTORY!! *CLAP CLAP*

Yamato: Incredible... so this is the power of a Pep Talk...

Taichi’s Pep causes MetalGreymon’s arm to... fall off... but it’s ok because it sprouts a long wiggly band of light uhhhhhh which then turns into a Giant Gun. So all is well. because MetalGreymon didn’t already have enough guns

MetalGreymon succeeds in defeating Splashmon and we seem some purple crystal sort of thing disappear, my guess is that’s what was controlling him. Agumon falls from midair and Taichi catches him like this.

They cute. They also need a break. Well, Agumon needs a break, I honestly think Taichi doesn’t even have an Off button...

Just when you think things can’t get weirder... Giant Eye appears.

Takeru’s on top of him looking all cool! Till he immediately falls!

Yamato catches him somewhat more adroitly than Taichi caught Agumon xP

The eye belongs to ElDradimon!! I love “animals with worlds on their backs” so this is totally up my ally. My first guess about the eye was that it was gonna be one of the digital sovereigns but this is still pretty cool.

Sooooooo cooooooooool

Yamato doesn’t even lecture Takeru about going off on his own and not hiding like he was told. SO DIFFERENT CANNOT COMPUTE. But looks how happy Takeru is to be praised by his bro for helping ElDradimon. Awww.

I’ve got to now reevaluate how I think things will go down because I really expected Takeru to be something that drives a wedge between Yamato and Taichi. In the old days, Yamato was super protective but Taichi would let Takeru do whatever and Takeru got a little boy crush on him which fed into Yamato’s inferiority complex. But if Yamato’s not overprotective and Takeru is already capable on his own... New directions are good though. I won’t be sorry if they don’t rehash all that BUT I need it to be replaced with something else. Taichi can’t just always be serious, Yamato can’t just always be cool... I like the reboot but I am still on edge about the character stuff.

... Yeah so ElDradimon was mega cool and then... he opened up his VACANT head... bahahaha.... bahahahahahahahahahahaha

So what I really liked about this ep was what I saw as parallels drawn between Taichi and Takeru on the theme of “Do anything to help your partner.” Takeru can’t stop looking for Angemon’s egg, that’s why he goes into the hole after finding the feather. He might not know what’s doing but he’s still gonna do it. Taichi knows a bit more and he’s usually so calculating and strategic, but when MetalGreymon looked on the verge of defeat he threw caution to the wind and tried to save him himself. Okay, not the first time we’ve seen this, true, but it did seem to be the running theme of the episode.

I know I didn’t really talk about how apparently the kids can now update their partners with new powers/gadgets?? by believing in them enough... but y’know that just sounds like the sort of thing a kid’s show would do. I almost miss the card game from Tamers... it would be cool to see the kids have to think and strategically choose what they want to equip their partners with. That was part of the enticement of Tamers, where Adventure was more inexplicable magic, Tamers relied more on intent. Taichi is such a strategist (and of course there’s also freaking Koushirou) that it seems a waste to not involve the kids in the decision making more.

Next week’s ep preivew was a bit hard to follow but 1) the animation looks better than this week thank heaven and 2) it looks like fun. And we get more bamf Takeru! Woot. Can I still say woot in 2020? I can because of senior citizen privilege right?

[o-w-quinlan]

Digimon Adventure 2020, episode 17 reaction (and over-analysis)

The middle child between the creepy-ness of episode 16 and the obvious climatic moment of episode 18. I still like you, lil’ dude. Just not as much.

This episode starts the closure of this first part of the show. We have both the Chosen Children and Digimon reminiscence about how much they’ve gone through and a fight that involves every single one of them, as the Human World sub-plot is apparently reaching its most tense point.

The episode starts with Orochimon basically laying waste to the digimon, immediately devolving MetalGreymon and Zudomon. The rest decide to distract their evolved enemy while Garudamon takes the children to somewhere safe, but Yamato doesn’t move. Having heard Koushiro mention that Orochimon is affecting the real Tokyo, he’s seemingly having a small panic attack while probably thinking of his brother and of how powerful this threat seems. He only reacts when WereGarurumon picks him and Taichi/Agumon up, and it’s to order him to not evacuate but to go back and keep fighting. This of course doesn’t end well, since Orochimon destroys the ground they’re standing on.

Orochimon also knocks Garudamon out of the sky (prompting a seriously out of place joke by Jou). This group goes into hiding, where the digimon start complaining about Eyesmon suddenly getting more powerful by evolving in the middle of a fight. I didn’t catch the irony the first time around, but once I did, it was hilarious. Koushiro starts wondering if there’s a deeper meaning behind Eyesmon stealing Tokyo’s data and evolving. Later on, as the group is resting, the group start a conversation where they try to encourage themselves and come to terms with everything that has happened so far. This scene is interesting because almost everything the children say calls back to their own evolution episode, working as a conclusion to the entire previous evolution mini-arc. Even Jou gets to act like an actual leader for a second (though of course it’s Sora the one that ends as such).

Back with the protagonist group, Yamato opens up to Taichi on his motivations and feelings, mentioning his brother. He stands up to go fight Orochimon alone but Taichi tells him he’ll help. Yamato half-heartedly tries to dissuade him by mentioning the danger, but Taichi gives the obvious answer that he’s been risking his life pretty much every day now. The group prepares themselves to fight Orochimon.

In the real world, we get a few scenes with the siblings. Hikari was with her mother and is sensitive to Orochimon’s actions in the Digital World, getting scared. After getting off the car to take the train, she gets caught up in a mob and lost. Mother of the year there, Yuuko. Takeru is seemingly alone in his apartment, staring at his phone as he’s either trying to contact Yamato or working up the courage to do so. He looks thoroughly miserable the entire time. I guess he’s stopped being the only member of that family that doesn’t look sad 24/7.

Then, we get the fight. Taichi and Yamato initially agree to target the body, but apparently their partners didn’t hear that because both of them target the heads. It does help them figure out the dark head is a likely weak point, though. Eventually, the rest of the group joins them, and we get a couple moments of each digimon getting boosted by their partner as they attack Orochimon... except WereGarurumon. He’s running away. Well, he can’t be the coolest all the time. MetalGreymon overpowers Orochimon’s head with a Giga Storm before finally defeating him with a Giga Destroyer (its first appearence in this anime). Gotta praise Orochimon, though. It was literally flicking in-and-out of existance and it was still trying to fight. Also, Takeru and Hikari saw their brothers on TV, though it’s unclear if normal people could see them. In general terms, it was a good conclusion to everything up to now by having all the Perfect-forms work together, though I still find a couple other fight scenes better than this one.

After the fight is over, the group are relaxing and Yamato can’t resist Taichi’s charms. The goggle boy muses whether this means it’s all over, but before he can finish the thought, everything flickers once more and a countdown appears on a screen, both in the digital world and in Tokyo. The preview tells us Orochimon’s evolved form, Nidhoggmon, is about to appear. This is giving me flashbacks to the first 3 episodes and I seriously, seriously hope it’s not just an Our War Game remake again.

Additional notes:

Koushiro acknowledges in the opening encyclopedia that Sora should be hurt by Birdramon’s heat but isn’t. This is the second time in a row the children’s apparent invulnerability is mentioned. I hope we get an actual answer for that later.

It’s confirmed that Eyesmon was winning against the intial 3 Perfect-level team. I know a lot of people were wondering about that.

Mimi is the only one of the group that does not cheer when WereGarurumon rescues Yamato. She’s seemingly praying, thoroughly scared. Good to know that character trait hasn’t disappeared.

Sora thinks of the Taichi-Yamato group as “Taichi and the others”. Let the shippers despair over that.

Jou got one (1) more badass moment than the rest of the non-protagonist gang.

Takeru has two lines here: “Onii-chan” and “Onii... chan”.

Devimon in the preview: “All according to keikaku.”

Next episode seems like the conclusion of this entire first part of the series. I’ll be posting my thought on the series so far after its aired. See you next time!

[jippy-kandi]

Digimon Adventure: 2020 – Episode 11: The Wolf Standing Atop The Desert (Review)

Thoughts on the eleventh episode of the Digimon Adventure reboot series.

Objectively, this episode was just all right. But I personally really enjoyed it anyway because of the characters highlighted. XD;

I didn’t expect to see Taichi’s group this episode. I thought they would switch from one group to the other every week - and, narratively, I think this would’ve been the better choice, to focus solely on one group at a time to build up the evolution to Ultimate. So the narrative suffers due to not making this choice, but . . . I don’t really mind, because now we don’t have to wait every two weeks to see the other group. XD;

Mimi: “Geez, who even suggested drawing names?” Palmon: “You, Mimi.” LMAO they’re so entertaining. I love their dynamic.

My absolute favourite trio is Taichi, Yamato and Sora. But my second favourite trio is definitely Jou, Yamato and Sora. I love every duo within that trio. So . . . though this wasn’t one of the better episodes, I still appreciated it anyway because I got those three in a group. XD;

OMG the kyaromon are so freaking cute! Even cuter than Patamon. *SQUISH*

Facepalm moment: Garurumon biting a blade . . . What. Why. How.

We meet Bearmon, Labramon and Neamon. (Neamon is actually voiced by Masami Kikuchi, who voiced OG Jou! Very nice.) I think they’re from a later Digimon series so their presence is giving me crossover vibes. They don’t look like they fit in this Digimon universe . . .

We learn that Leomon is leading a resistance against the digimon infected with the miasma. Good for him! But just like with Ogremon, I’ve never cared that much for Leomon, either. :P

Neamon informs them that they’re going to cross the desert, despite the danger, and Sora turns to Yamato and says, “If that’s the case, let’s go with them too.” Jou: “You aren’t gonna ask me?” LMAO. I love when the series is actually funny. And Sora completely disregarding Jou and automatically “asking” Yamato for his opinion/approval is great. Sora respects Yamato and sees him as a competent “leader” of their trio. Though poor Jou! XD;

The disagreement between Sora and Yamato was actually pretty brief. Reboot Yamato is a lot more logical and rigid than OG Yamato, and he definitely has a point to just focus on their goal. But I also understand Sora’s point of view. What I liked about their disagreement was that it showed you that Sora has a huge capacity for love, and I think her characterisation is improving every episode. What I didn’t like was that Yamato came off as a bit of a dick. *Ignores the Yamato haters who insist he’s always a bit of a dick.* XP

Yamato to Gabumon: “I have you. That’s all I need.” Awww. <3 Definitely the highlight of the episode for me.

Birdramon surrounding herself in flames was a cool visual/attack. It makes up a little bit for the series shafting her, lol.

Of course, I loved Yamato jumping in and saving Sora. ;) I still don’t understand how he is literally jumping with Garurumon though. XD; Is he just jumping off of him when Garurumon jumps in the air? Is he really that acrobatic? XD;

Just like Taichi’s super evolution last week, Yamato’s super evolution felt flat to me. I don’t think the reboot is handling the build up to Ultimate well at all. Once again, Yamato’s “power-up” back in episode 8 felt more like it deserved a super evolution. I 100% prefer how the OG handled these evolution episodes, and that’s due to the OG focussing more on characterisation than the reboot has. I think the reboot might be saving the big character progressions for the mega evolutions? In the meantime . . . I guess we just have to speed through these Ultimates every week.

We got a glimpse of Takeru this episode! Well, his silhouette . . . because it’s not like we’ve never seen him before, right reboot? XD;

Garurumon’s super evolution to WereGarurumon was so quick, I think it took even less time than MetalGreymon’s evolution. I mean, it looked cool for that second or so, but can’t they make the Ultimate evolution sequences better?

At first SkullScorpiomon was a good enemy with all the underground reads in the beginning of the episode . . . and then in the end he instantly and easily gets trumped by WereGarurumon, lol.

Sora: “Thank you for coming back.” Yamato: “If I left, you guys would make a move. As a result, they’d make a move as well.” Jou: “That’s what you were aiming for!? We were bait!?” Sora: “Well, let’s just leave it at that . . .” I love this trio so much. XD; I don’t totally buy that that was always Yamato’s intentions though . . . maybe he did leave, felt guilty because of Gabumon’s speech to him, then decided to turn back and help them? But what matters is that he did turn back. :) Also, I love how positive Sora is towards Yamato - just thanking him for returning and not having an issue with being bait. Their friendship is being formed with such good foundations! ;)

Yamato telling Sora and Jou about his reason for wanting to find the Holy Digimon as fast as possible was another highlight of the episode. The reason of course is his little brother, Takeru - but Yamato said more than he needed to, in my opinion. He could’ve just said he had a little brother in Tokyo that he’s worried about and leave it at that, like a true tsundere lone wolf, but he actually opened up quite a bit with how Takeru must be fearful and he wants him to live in peace. For an emotionally closed-off character? Well done, Yamato. (Though I also thought . . . Sora and Jou are from Tokyo, too, and they have family there - they have the same worries as you, Yamato! XD)

Jou to Yamato: “Thank you for telling us! I’m so happy to know you better! In return, let me tell you about myself!” Sora: “We’ve heard it already . . .” LMAO Sora is so savage to Jou. And Jou is just as entertaining as Mimi, I love it.

Overall, I liked this episode because I really like Yamato and Sora interacting. :P Plus, Yamato got some really good moments. Win!

So far - and it’s totally not fair to compare them after only eleven episodes - I think I prefer reboot Koushirou and Mimi to their OG selves. And possibly Jou as well - let’s see if he stays hilarious and doesn’t just become a complete clown! But I think I prefer OG Taichi, Yamato and Sora to their reboot counterparts.

SO FAR.

I still think this series, overall, is of a higher quality than the OG. It’s just that the reboot wants to focus more on action and rushing things, that the OG is better with characterisation . . . so far.

But things can change!

[fizzingwizard]

Alright and now for episode 23! Which was a lot more interesting. Still lacking in pertinent ways but at least it got some stuff moving, and there were a few small but very nice character moments.

I took a LOT of Taichi spam this week you guys. The animation was slightly better than normal and my boy was just so good.

At parkour. He’s good at parkour.

More below!

We pick up where we left off last week, with Devimon arriving in his true form and picking a fight over Poyomon. He’s so threatened by a wad of jelly.

He does seem a bit weird though. More on that later.

The quintessential Taichi picture.

And just a cute one.

So okay, Devimon makes mincemeat of MetalGreymon and WereGarurumon. Like he wipes the floor with them. Even though they should be a level above him. I was like what’s going on. Clearly dark powers are giving him extra strength, but this still seemed like too much...

Yamato yells for Takeru to go hide. Taichi then yells for Yamato to go hide xD However Devimon has no trouble destroying all their possible hiding spots and attacking them.

Takeru worries about his brother :’<

Taichi quickly tries to think of a strategy but yup “Hide” is all he can come up with.

They communicate via digivice and Yamato has something of a better strategy but... it still just amounts to hiding.

Meanwhile their partners continue to get their butts kicked.

MetalGreymon: Hey watch it I just got this painted!

WereGaurumon: My nails! I just had them done!

Taichi: Would you two stop fussing, you’re so vain!

Taichi: We’ve got more important things to worry about! Like my hair!

Meanwhile in the real world... the four are together and Koushirou updates Jou and Mimi on the situation, which boils down to Not Good. The tank ships are still on a collision course. On top of that, Koushirou notices that the data being absorbed by Calmaramon’s... idk what to call it, data collection tower? thing, is being sent directly to the digital world. He guesses it’s going to be used to power the creature whose name I forgot they fought before.

This guy.

Koushirou also guesses this probably means Taichi and Yamato are in some deep shit rn.

Taichi is pretty smart too... he’s able to tell that Devimon is able to manipulate the dark mists and that’s how he’s able to find their hiding spots and attack them so easily.

Here’s the evil crystal that I would have thought was from Sailor Moon. Ahhh evil is so beautiful. And purple. Hmmm, the Crest of Knowledge is also purple, and absorption of data is converted to power.... GUYS KOUSHIROU’S GOING TO GO DARK.

Kidding, kidding. I would totally watch it though.

So the others go to fight Calmaramon and destroy the tower to help Taichi and Yamato. But, uh, they didn’t count on Calamaramon’s tentaclesx ;D

Kabuterimon makes the classic amateur mistake of DRAMATICALLY ANNOUNCING HIMSELF when he swerves in to rescue the girls...

... and he gets his just desserts. :P

Meanwhile Taichi and Yamato... are still losing. So who steps up to the plate but...

Takeru and Poyomon! Lol!

No seriously, this scene SCREAMED of the one in 99 where Hikari sacrifices herself to protect Yamato and Sora. I was really expecting Takeru to do the same thing here. “Leave my brother alone! Take me instead!”

But, I guess, since he’s a boy, he’s less self-sacrificial and more just... irrationally strong...

His conviction results in evolution!

Poyomon becomes Tokomon! THANK GOODNESS. I could not handle another “poyo, poyo!”

Devimon takes one look at this pink-cheeked thing and FREEEEEEAKS OUUUUUT.

“You remind me... of someone I once knew... you have... the same eyes... GRRRRRRRRR!!!!”

he didn’t say that but he totally should have lol. Now someone please make an edit of Angemon where he takes off his helmet and he has Tokomon eyes underneath x’D

Data readings on Koushirou’s computer start going haywire! The data is being sent somewhere fast!

I was expecting some kind of power up but I wasn’t expecting full on evolution. Because yup. That’s what goes down. Devimon evolves.

And here’s where he gets weird. His evolution seems painful. Unnatural. He doesn’t seem exactly pleased with it, to be frank. He’s really agitated by Tokomon but he doesn’t do much in the way of monologuing and it’s not even clear that the evolution is by his own design. It just kind of seems to happen. Then, once he does evolve, he’s much less talkative. This is generally not the sign of sanity or even sentience. It’s like Devimon is imprisoned by his evolution, which goes on a rampage.

Neodevimon. Actually, original Devimon is scarier but :P

Lol and then Tokomon gets blown out of Takeru’s arms and goes for a tumble while Takeru runs frantically after him xD Great moment.

Rollin rollin rollin, though the streams are swollen...

NeoDevimon is very powerful but y’know... WereGarurumon just STOOD there. This... this is totally his fault that he gets hurt here x’D

Taichi is displeased with this development, and yet, still cute in his displeasure.

Finally Koushirou manages to get through! Taichi is too preoccupied to jump for joy or anything but you can see that he’s excited. “Koushirouuuuu please save us!!!” basically that’s what’s going on

However he’s right away blown over and his digivice scatters and the signal drops...

Yamato is very Stressed.

However, contact with Koushirou has rejuvenated Taichi.

LIKE THE PHOENIX HE RISES FROM THE ASHES

Taichi: “FUCK THIS SHIIIIIIIIIT!”

His renewed conviction becomes power. Yeah, that’s a thing, we know.

Meanwhile, in the human world, the others have worked out that Taichi and Yamato are fighting and need help, and they combine the powers of their own passionate hearts in a classic shonen anime trope.

Koushirou gets a special moment all to himself! It’s really fast but still, the episode makes a point of focusing on Koushirou’s desire to connect with his friends and help them. I choose to believe this a nod to Koushirou’s significant role in the show and a way of saying “Sorry they’re not all together right now but they will be soon and characters other than Taichi and Yamato will get to do cool things in the not so distant future!”

Their partners are then able to defeat Calmaramon and destroy the data collection tower.

BOOM, baby.

Meanwhile our heroes who never sleep manage to defeat Devimon. Which, I figured, meant he’d retreat for now, but...

He freaking dies! Yup, that’s right! Disintegrates!! I was like what the heck?? This was a Boss Battle???? It had none of the signs of being a boss battle other than the boss being present and it wasn’t even that hard...

However, it’s not over till it’s over...

... Tokomon looks on NeoDevimon’s death kind of creepily. Like, the episode makes a point of showing us Tokomon’s reaction, not just the group’s. So... I feel like this is gonna be relevant. I COULD BE WRONG. But I just personally wouldn’t stick this bit in without it meaning something. But that something could be pretty much anything so we still don’t know much.

The sailors aboard the tankers whose control systems are restored at the last second are pretty darn relieved anyway.

This was my favorite moment in epiosde, Mimi flinging herself over Koushirou and knocking Jou out of the way to hug Sora in her enthusiasm over their victory xD awww Mimi

Yamato wants to know what’s with Taichi. Taichi’s like, “The others helped us from afar, I just know it...” AND THAT’S WHY HE’S BEST BOY.

Yamato gives Takeru an adorable pat on the head and tells him good job. Only thing that could have made this moment cuter would have been if he also patted Tokomon’s head. BECAUSE HELLO. KID JUST EVOLVED. SAY HI AND TELL HIM YOUR NAMES AT LEAST.

But then! Darknightmon uses the dark crystal thingy and...!

Le gasp! NeoDevimon’s corpse emerges from the ground...

Taichi has a flashback to another time they thought they won only for their defeated opponent to be infused with dark energy and resurrect...

... uh I forgot this guy’s name too >_>

Taichi: “Wow I never saw this coming!”

Well, I did. :P Due to being over ten years old...

We end with NeoDevimon’s mask cracking off!

Creepy!

Final thoughts... it now kind of looks like Darknightmon is the one pulling Devimon’s strings rather than the other way around. But my guess is that’s not the case. It could also be that Devimon told Darknightmon to do this - after all, Devimon used the stone’s power to evolve Darknightmon before, and this is just the reverse of that. Or it could be they are equals and in cahoots with each other. I definitely think there’s an even greater, bigger Bad out there that they either work for or are afraid of etc something like that, I think we probably all feel sure of that at least. But Devimon in this episode really surprised me in the ways he seems to lack agency. He seemed like a pawn of evil rather than the chessmaster himself.

So next week! Looks lit!

Devimon’s new evolution? or power up? whatever is creepier than NeoDevimon so that’s a relief.

BUT THIS IS EVEN CREEPIER HOLY CRAP TAICHI! Get some sleep, your eyes are all red! (And he’s injured. His hand is where he got hurt two weeks ago fighting Splashmon right? He got hit with miasma. I wonder if this is the same wound and if it’s somehow controlling him due to the dark energy getting into his system... But everyone’s more or less been hit with the dark energy at this point so maybe not. Anyway, CREEPY EYES, CREEPY CREEPY EYES.)

Also Yamato DIES. He DIES y’all. *funeral march plays* Hmm, Tokomon looks hungry...

Then we got this bit which in case you can’t tell is Takeru being awesome. So I figured, ahh, THIS is the boss battle, and we’re gonna see Angemon again already... weird as that sounds :P

HOW-E-VER

We also get this???? Taichi silhouetted against a brilliant light????? What does it mean? I mean we know Takeru has healing powers so I’m fully expecting that to happen but uhh are we also going to canonize Taichi next week? lol. Saint Taichi. I love him the best but I will be a bit miffed if next week IS the big boss battle and Takeru’s role is “power up Taichi so he can kill it” and that’s it... But I guess we’ll have to see.

It does rather look like they saved the animation budget for next week, the preview was nuts x’D Can’t wait.