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Digimon Savers Commentary Episode 12 - I Will Protect Chika! Piyomon’s Resolve

In this episode, a Piyomon hatches and instantly bonds with Chika, but DATS’s rules denote that either Chika and Piyomon must work for them, or Piyomon gets sent away. Meanwhile, this development brings some new faces, Falcomon and Mercurimon, to the human world in an attempt to retrieve Piyomon.

So, I know the series has been getting just a little bit fillery lately. It’s been Monster-of-the-Week-ish from the start, but at least the earlier episodes set up and developed some important character dynamics, whereas the most recent few episodes have been fully self-contained things that could be removed entirely and nothing would seem amiss.

But no more!

Are you ready for some plot? Are you ready for stuff happening that matters beyond just the episode it happens in? Are you ready for literally not a single filler episode ever again for the entire rest of the series? Then buckle up, because here we are.

(I should clarify that I do still enjoy that early arc for what it is; there are a lot of fun character interactions and a lot of important stuff gets established. But it definitely feels good to have finally made it to the beginning of the real meat of the story.)

We begin with a continuation of the final scene of last episode, as Tohma is explaining his findings about the effect of human emotions on Digimon.

Tohma: “There are seven emotions that lead the human heart towards evil. They are wrath, lust, gluttony, sloth, envy, greed, and pride.”

It, uh, doesn’t start off on a great note, though. Tohma’s explanation is trying to make this sound like it’s all about the seven deadly sins, which is kind of completely beside the actual point.

The only reason there would ever be to bring up the seven deadly sins in particular would be if it was relevant to the fact that there happens to be a group of Digimon called the Seven Demon Lords, who each represent one of the sins. As it happens, we are going to encounter one of those Demon Lords later on in the series – but the fact that it’s part of this group of seven and that it apparently represents a deadly sin is never actually going to matter. So there’s no reason for this.

Tohma: “With the co-operation of Professor Stimson, who specialises in parapsychology…”

Apparently that’s what the professor Tohma worked with last episode does. I guess “parapsychology” means psychology that’s related to supernatural things, such as Digimon. Which begs the question – why didn’t he seem to actually know about Digimon, based on the fact that Gaomon wasn’t out around him? And also, how does Tohma even know this guy? We will learn later that Tohma’s degree and PhD are medical in nature.

But, you know, whatever handwave allowed Tohma to do these experiments, I guess. It’s all the same when it’s Science.

Tohma: “…it became clear to me that all of the Digimon who have appeared in the human world acted violently because they were affected by these seven emotions.”

The general point of Digimon being affected by human emotions is really important and interesting, and it is frustrating that this point is watered down by Tohma’s exposition trying to insist that it’s about specifically these seven deadly sins.

Okay, so Shiratori, Neon, and the bank robbers could all pretty much be classed as Greed. Maybe some Pride for Neon, too. Chika’s list of slapstick fates was maybe arguably spurred by Wrath if you squint a bit, and Katsumata’s frustration at the traffic lights (and Masaru) could also come under that, but really that’s all just plain old anger in no particularly sinful way. Takashi not wanting to look after the animals could be considered Sloth, but was his wish for the animals to disappear as a result of that really part of that “sin”? The dudes in episode 3 were just bored – that’s not a deadly sin. It’s not Sloth, because they wanted something to happen. And how the hell is Manami’s pure but misguided desire to protect her dad any kind of deadly sin?

This just doesn’t actually work as being a product of those specific arbitrary seven things – and it’s way better that way. There’s a lot more types of negative and potentially harmful human emotions and desires than just those seven!

While this thing of Digimon being influenced by human emotion is a very important worldbuilding concept for this series that is going to come up again several times, it is never going to be relevant that it’s supposedly specifically about the seven deadly sins. So, for our sanity, I recommend we pretend that Tohma never mentioned the seven deadly sins at all. All he totally actually said here was that Digimon are affected by humans’ negative emotions, negative desires, etc, however you want to think of it, because that is what this is actually about in practice. Okay? Okay.

Argh. I love the human emotions concept of Savers; I hate this one specific scene that tries to pretend it’s about the seven deadly sins in particular. That is silly and doesn’t make sense and is not the point.

While we’re here talking about all the previous incidents of the first eleven episodes, I can finally mention what I think is the reason Cockatrimon showed up in episode 1, which was never indicated back then because the episode was focusing entirely on Masaru. Cockatrimon destroyed a WcDonalds – so I can only imagine that some poor wage-slave working there really hated their job, leading to a brief dark thought of something like, “man if only this whole lousy joint would just burn to the ground”. Whoops.

BomberNanimon also unfortunately existed, and the only thing that could even be vaguely hinting at him showing up in that episode is Chika wishing for fireworks. But I really don’t think that’s it, because that wish of Chika’s wasn’t negative, so it shouldn’t work that way. BomberNanimon remains a complete outlier to this whole deal who’s really best forgotten about.

The fact that Evilmon and PicoDevimon appeared to think for themselves is also an outlier, for that matter. Every other rampaging Digimon has not been lucid and has been blindly echoing and acting on the relevant emotions without properly understanding any of it, which is very important to how all this works. The Digimon are essentially victims in all this. Digital Accident Tactics Squad is an accurate name, whether or not the founder of DATS knew that when he coined it, because in principle, most of these incidents really are accidents that are nobody’s conscious fault.

Satsuma: “Human emotions, huh?”

Yep, human emotions, that’s definitely all Tohma said, he definitely did not say anything about there supposedly only being seven kinds, let’s move on like this.

Masaru asks why the number of Digimon cases has been increasing lately, and Tohma explains that the dimensional barrier between the human and Digital worlds has been gradually breaking down. This is something that was also briefly mentioned right at the beginning of the series that we still need to keep in the back of our minds.

Tohma doesn’t actually connect the dots for us and explain why this is causing an increase in Digimon incidents, but it’s easy to figure out the link. For whatever reason, human emotions influence Digimon only from one world to another. So if the barrier’s been breaking down, that means it’s been getting easier for human emotions to end up happening to latch onto a Digimon somewhere in the Digital World and cause it to rampage.

Savers has quite a lot of plot points like this that are never explicitly explained to us in the story but that are perfectly easy to figure out if you just think about it yourself and put together the pieces. I like that about this series.

Tohma: “Furthermore, this isn’t a natural effect.”

This is a new piece of information that Tohma has (somehow) acquired. At the beginning of the series, Satsuma said that they don’t know what’s causing it, but now apparently they’re at least sure that it’s not just a natural phenomemon.

(Um. Phenomemon??? That was a typo, but I’m leaving it in because it’s a hilarious typo to make during a Digimon commentary. There ought to be a Digimon called Phenomemon. I don’t think there is, but there should be.)

Masaru: “So you think someone’s doing it on purpose?”

Tohma: “That hasn’t been determined yet.”

It’s also good of Tohma to not immediately decide that this effect not being natural means somebody must be deliberately out to break down the barrier. Kinda like climate change – it’s a man-made effect that the climate is changing this fast, but that doesn’t mean that any one person set out to ruin our planet on purpose.

The conversation gets interrupted by another Digimon signal, so the trio head off to deal with it… only to realise that it’s at Masaru’s house. Masaru rushes into the living room in a panic, but his mom and sister are just sitting on the couch, everything perfectly calm and normal. Except for the fact that Sayuri is holding a Digiegg on her lap.

Sayuri explains that the egg came drifting down from the sky this morning while she was out doing laundry, but note that Chika was also there too when it appeared. This is important, because I believe the egg would not have appeared there if she hadn’t been present.

Sayuri: “I thought Agu-chan would be delighted if I used it to make fried eggs.”

Sayuri, really? You have to know that an egg this huge is not normal and, at the very least, not necessarily safe to cook with. Never mind the fact that you should be able to figure out it’s most likely a weird Digimon thing going on here.

(Or maybe Sayuri does know perfectly well that this is a Digimon thing, and there’s a tiny dark part of her that just wishes she could make this thing into fried eggs and be done with it and not have to worry about what this might mean.)

Agumon, for his part, is drooling at the thought of the biggest fried eggs ever. Agumon, no.

Lalamon examines the egg with a stethoscope, which is cute, but also, where even are her ears to be able to use one?

Yoshino: “Until now, there were five cases where a Digimon appeared in the human world in its egg state.”

Tohma: “They were Lalamon, Gaomon, PawnChessmon White and Black, and Agumon.”

This covers every Digimon that’s working at DATS, except for Kudamon and Kamemon. That’s a deliberate hint and not a writer oversight; those two did not come here as eggs.

Yoshino: “Digimon that hatch from eggs need a partner who has a compatible Digisoul for them.”

Tohma: “Both Yoshino-san and I were compatible, so we were scouted by DATS.”

Digimon who come here as eggs are a very different scenario than the living Digimon who are drawn here by negative human emotions. If it hatches here, a Digimon is completely lucid and in control of itself and capable of bonding with a human partner.

And so, here we get to the awkwardness that was going on in episode 1. Agumon came to the human world as an egg, something which has precedent that DATS has dealt with before. DATS should not have been treating Agumon as a dangerous renegade at all; they should have been treating him as a potential recruit who just needs to find the right human to bond with.

The only vaguely reasonable handwave I can think of for this is that maybe Agumon behaved really badly while in DATS’s care, to the point that they gave up on ever getting him under control and working with him and decided he needed to be gotten rid of. But I can’t imagine him doing that unless they were already treating him like he was just a mindless beast and not a potential comrade. Rargh rargh early instalment weirdness, we’re way past that now anyway, let’s just accept this here as how things are and always should have been and move on.

If these five Digimon are really the only five eggs that have ever showed up until now, it also means that these other non-Japanese DATS branches that we’ve heard mention of… don’t have any Digimon partners working for them? Which would give them a hard time dealing with any Digimon incidents. Although I suppose it’s possible that Yoshino was only talking about the Japanese cases of eggs appearing and just didn’t specify that.

Before they can transport the egg to DATS HQ – apparently nobody is considering the fact that maybe it showing up in this particular spot says something about who might be this Digimon’s compatible human partner – it starts rolling around on its own. After some brief shenanigans with everyone trying to catch it, Agumon trips and hits his face on the egg, causing it to hatch. That sure is one way to hatch a baby creature.

It’s a Puwamon, a fuzzy little ball of feathers with a face. Chika immediately decides he’s super cute and basically adopts him right here.

Digimon Analyser: “It’s very curious and becomes easily attached to people.”

Oh boy, does it. That’s a pretty relevant point for this episode.

Chika, already taking responsibility for looking after her new friend, feeds Puwamon milk from a bottle. I’m, uh, not sure why they think an egg-born creature needs milk, but hey, I guess Digimon really do eat anything.

Masaru: “Let’s take it back to HQ already.”

I wonder if Masaru is already thinking about what they said earlier – a Digimon that hatches here needs to find a compatible partner, who will then be scouted into DATS – and worrying about what might happen if Chika keeps on doting on Puwamon like this.

Tohma: “No. Now that it’s hatched, we can’t reposition it like this. Digimon are easily influenced by human emotions. I’m concerned that it’ll run rampant during transportation.”

This is a fair concern, I guess, but Tohma should also have enough information to know that this isn’t how it works for Digimon who hatch in the human world. They have to know that the Digimon who work for DATS never did any kind of rampaging before their partners were found (and that includes Agumon, thank you very much). For that matter, the Digimon partners at DATS don’t do any kind of rampaging ever, and there’s no reason to assume that having a human partner is the only thing that somehow gives them an immunity to that.

It seems that the usual scenario we’ve seen of a Digimon being influenced by negative human emotions only works across the two worlds. There’s been cases of a Digimon in the human world growing bigger or evolving in response to an emotional outburst, but only from a human that it was already connected to in that negative way. I think that’s the only way it can work within the human world. I don’t think Puwamon is genuinely in any danger of getting caught up in human emotions and rampaging at all right now.

You’d think Tohma would be able to piece this information together himself and figure out that there actually isn’t such a big risk. But, eh, let’s just assume that he’s so wrapped up in thinking about his new discovery about this emotions thing that he’s automatically applying it everywhere without stopping to think if it actually does apply everywhere. That seems a reasonable fallacy for him to make.

Or, you know, we could just accept that this is a big handwave because the episode needs Puwamon to stay at the Daimons’ house for a little while for the sake of the plot. But shush.

Somehow, Tohma’s solution to this problem-that-may-not-even-be-a-problem involves building a giant contraption in Masaru’s dining room.

Masaru: “What’s this?”

Tohma: “A Desire-Hunting Generating Device which I invented. It can quarantine against human emotions.”

Sure, maybe it can, but does it need to be this huge? I’m not a, uh, parapsychologist, but this level of extravagance cannot be necessary, surely.

But then again, this is the same person who came up with a magical sciencey spray made of a special chemical that reacts to Digimon when just throwing a bag of flour at the invisible Digimon would have worked just as well. So really, this tracks.

Masaru: “We can’t eat dinner with this thing in here!”

I like how Masaru isn’t even being confused about the sciencey part and has far more simple but important concerns.

Yoshino is also looking delightfully Done™. She puts up with so much from both of these dorks, not just Masaru.

Watching on, Agumon is snacking on potato chips and offers some to Puwamon with what he means to be an encouraging smile. Except all Puwamon sees is TEETH, and he hides behind Chika in fright.

Chika: “Agu-chan! Puwamon is still a baby, so don’t bully him!”

Agumon: “Okay, I’m sorry… No, I’m not bullying him!”

Good, Agumon! Don’t apologise when you haven’t done anything wrong! It is amusing that he did so out of habit because he perhaps often is kind of a troublemaker at home – you know, because food – but at least this time he genuinely wasn’t. He was being nice! He was offering his food – that’s a big deal coming from Agumon.

Chika dotes on Puwamon some more, deciding to call him Puu-chan, kind of like Agu-chan. Agumon is mortified.

Agumon: “I’m supposed to be the idol in the Daimon family!”

Then he begins attempting to copy Puwamon’s cute mannerisms, with little success, to try and get Chika’s attention back on him. A classic case of a kid getting jealous when their younger sibling is born and suddenly gets all the attention that they were used to having. Agumon is such a child.

Tohma’s definitely-unnecessarily-extravagant machine is going to take at least all night to finish, so Puwamon gets to sleep in Chika’s bed.

Elsewhere, over the bay, a Digital Gate opens up, and a Falcomon appears through it.

Falcomon: “So this is the human world…”

But he’s speaking for himself, and it sounds like he came here on purpose. This is not at all the usual situation of a Digimon being drawn here by human emotions.

The framing sure is trying to make him seem threatening and like some kind of villain, which is amusing when you’ve seen the whole series and know Falcomon’s character well.

As Masaru decides, probably out of boredom and impatience, to bicker with Tohma and attempt to mess with his device (Masaru no you will break it), Chika comes in saying that Puwamon’s been hiding under the bed acting really scared of something. It’s probably because of that ability Digimon have to sense other Digimon’s presence – Puwamon can sense an unfamiliar Digimon approaching the house.

(Yoshino went home for the night, so Lalamon isn’t here to chip in with her opinion, but Gaomon doesn’t say anything about sensing a strange Digimon. Maybe he doesn’t have that ability, and it’s only some Digimon who can do that? Or it’s just that Puwamon’s senses have an unusually long range. Lalamon only seems to be able to do it when the Digimon is reasonably close by.)

Because of the earlier mistaken bullying incident, everyone decides that Puwamon is just scared of Agumon – I should note that Puwamon can’t speak, so he can’t explain what he’s actually scared of – and Tohma and Gaomon drag a protesting Agumon away to reprimand him. This is kind of unreasonably mean of everyone to Agumon, but really this is just happening so that there are no other Digimon in the room for what’s about to go down.

Chika: “Puu-chan, come out.”

Masaru: “The evil’s gone now.”

Masaru, come on, what kind of aniki does this? You know Agumon wouldn’t bully someone on purpose.

Puwamon continues cowering, until he suddenly turns towards them with a desperate expression, his feathers standing on end. He must have sensed Falcomon getting here, because a moment later Falcomon shows up and shatters Chika’s bedroom window. (Yeesh. Sayuri’s going to have to get that repaired later.)

The sinister eye-glowing effect goes away from Falcomon, and he’s… actually a perfectly cute and appealingly-designed Child-level Digimon. I’m not sure anyone watching is being fooled by the attempted implication that he’s totally a bad guy.

He’s here to retrieve the egg, though we won’t learn exactly why he wants it for now. Seeing Puwamon try to make a break for it, he realises that the egg hatched and demands they hand Puwamon over, dodging Masaru with teleportation-like speed and then pinning him to the wall with shurikens through his loose jacket. (Damn, that is some scary accuracy. And speed. The writers are totally not going to forget about this once Falcomon is no longer an anta – I mean, of course he’s always going to be an antagonist, what am I talking about.)

Chika: “Can’t you see you’re scaring Puu-chan?!”

It doesn’t seem like Falcomon can see that. Puwamon frantically tried to fly away in what was presumably an attempt to flee from Falcomon, and then Chika grabbed him to try and keep him safe, despite him struggling. From Falcomon’s perspective, that could just as well look like Puwamon trying to escape from these scary horrible humans and being kept here against his will!

Falcomon: “If you won’t give him to me…” [he brandishes his claws]

So Falcomon’s just threatening the humans to get them to let Puwamon go, that’s all. They’re the bad guys here, aren’t they?

With Yoshino and Lalamon at home, Tohma and Gaomon in another room reprimanding the innocent Agumon, and Masaru pinned to a wall, nobody is here who can protect Chika (and Sayuri) from this threat… except for Puwamon himself. So he leaps in front of Falcomon, feathers on end, growling with a terrified kind of determination.

Falcomon: “Puwamon…?”

Falcomon doesn’t seem to have realised until this moment that he’s looking like the bad guy here. Surely Puwamon, a fellow Digimon like him, would be on his side? Why would Puwamon ever want to side with humans?

Masaru manages to break free of the shurikens but fails to grab Falcomon again, and then Tohma and Gaomon come back into the room to check on the commotion, and Gaomon immediately attacks Falcomon. Falcomon dodges back outside the window and makes an aerial retreat.

Falcomon: “Damn it! I didn’t know they had Digimon friends…”

And why would he have expected that? Never mind how rare it is to find Digimon in the human world, it just doesn’t make any sense for a Digimon to be friends with humans! What’s going on here?

Even aside from him being surprised by it, look at him running away as soon as he sees that his opposition has Digimon not even outmatching him but just matching him in strength (he only sees Gaomon, not Agumon). Despite his threatening behaviour just now, he may actually be a little bit of a scaredy-cat, this Falcomon.

As everyone watches Falcomon fly away, Puwamon, somewhat too late to actually help but refusing to let his determination go to waste, evolves into Piyomon.

(I should mention for anyone familiar with Digimon evolution levels that, while there are usually two baby stages in most Digimon canons, Savers simplifies it and only has the one. Going straight from egg to Baby to Child is just how it works in this universe.)

Piyomon: “You see how I got bigger? I did it to protect you!”

Of course he did! A little late to help against Falcomon this time, but at least now he can definitely protect Chika if he ever needs to again!

It might be somewhat remarkable that Puwamon evolved without anybody doing a Digisoul Charge – but then again, Agumon must have evolved from his Baby stage at some point without Masaru’s help. I guess evolution from Baby to Child naturally happens fairly easily without needing much outside influence, and the danger just gave Puwamon the push to do it probably a little sooner than he otherwise would have.

Piyomon: “Nice to meet you, Chika.” [he offers his “hand”]

Chika: “Nice to meet you, Piyomon!” [she takes it; the two of them laugh happily]

They sure are hitting it off very quickly. Chika seems very happy with this development, too. She doesn’t have a cute helpless baby to take care of any more – now she has a special Digimon who’s an equal and a friend all for herself, just like her brother has Agumon!

I think Chika’s probably always kind of wished for this ever since she met Agumon, and that that’s why Puwamon’s egg showed up here.

Piyomon is equally happy with this, if not more so, because like Puwamon, Piyomon is also a species that gets attached to people very, very easily.

The camera pans over to Sayuri, who’s watching Piyomon with a look that seems to be something more than just surprise at seeing him evolve. I think she already knows what this means for her daughter.

Opening! Okay, look, the opening has very little Chika in it, so I can’t show anything especially relevant to this episode. Instead, here’s this bit with the main trio riding their evolved partners through a field. It isn’t necessarily the Digital World, but it always gives me vibes of it, simply because most of the human world stuff is set in the city while this is out in the wilderness. We haven’t been to the Digital World yet except for that one time in episode 5, but perhaps that’ll be changing pretty soon!

After the opening, we cut to something completely different: it is the Digital World! In a stone palace inside an icy mountain, a Gotsumon is hurrying to report to his ruler, Mercurimon. Mercurimon’s face is kept in shadow for this whole scene, making him seem menacing and imposing.

Gotsumon: “I’ve received news that Falcomon has gone to the human world!”

Mercurimon: “What?”

Mercurimon’s hand tightens on the arm of his throne as he hears this. It probably comes across as if he’s angry – but he could just as easily be worried and not wanting to show it.

Mercurimon: “What a fool! After I told him so many times not to get involved with the humans, he ignored me!”

This, too, probably seems at first like he’s angry at being disobeyed, but it could also be him having tried to keep Falcomon away from humans because he believes humans are dangerous.

Mercurimon: “What is Ikuto doing?”

“Ikuto”, huh. That sure doesn’t sound like a Digimon’s name, now, does it. And look at how Mercurimon is asking after him just after hearing about Falcomon, like he associates those two with each other.

Gotsumon: “I haven’t an idea, none at all. I can’t even begin to conceive what that boy is thinking.”

Absolutely none, Gotsumon? For this person that you clearly know in some capacity? It almost sounds like you aren’t even trying to understand this Ikuto person in any way, like there some kind of specific reason you don’t see him as worth understanding.

(Gotsumon was vague about how he “received news” about Falcomon leaving. I suspect he may well have heard it from Ikuto and just didn’t want to mention that, because he doesn’t seem to think that Ikuto is worthy of bringing up or treating as important.)

Mercurimon stands up from his throne and announces that he’s going to head to the human world himself to bring Falcomon back. A respectable leader, doing the job himself when he could just as easily have sent Gotsumon to do it for him. I approve.

Back at the Daimons’ house, some doctors are holding Chika still and advancing on her with a syringe as she protests. Piyomon yells for her, but he’s been locked in a cage. (Geez, DATS! Maybe episode 1 wasn’t such complete early-weirdness if this is still how you treat potential Digimon partners before they’re official DATS members!)

But Masaru is also in the house, and naturally he is not letting any of this happen to his sister, and… I kind of feel a little bad for these poor DATS physicians who were only doing their jobs.

Doctor: “W-We were just examining her for a Digisoul!”

Masaru: “Chika’s Digisoul?”

Doctor: “It’s been speculated that Piyomon’s rapid evolution is due to the effect of her Digisoul.”

I guess you can look for the presence of Digisoul in a blood sample, even though Digisoul is all supernatural and glowy and doesn’t exactly seem like something that would quite be literally in the blood like that? But either way, the real narrative point of the syringe was to get across the general atmosphere that what’s going on here is bad and scary and not something Chika wants – and even less something Masaru wants for Chika.

Yoshino: “It’s Captain’s orders.”

Masaru: “What?!”

Yoshino: “Piyomon needs a partner. That’s why we’re inspecting Chika-chan.”

As was explained earlier in the episode, when a Digimon hatches in the human world, DATS looks for its partner. That’s just procedure. (Or should have been – see me eyeing episode 1.)

It’s interesting to hear Yoshino be the one to say this like it’s just normal and fine, considering how old she must have been when the same thing happened to her with Lalamon. More on that in a later episode when we see some of her past.

Masaru is not at all happy to hear that the Captain wants Chika to join DATS. He confronts Satsuma about this over at HQ.

Masaru: “Stop making orders at your own convenience!”

I enjoy the sentiment Masaru is trying to get across here. He can’t stand how Satsuma is doing this thing that only benefits his own priorities and isn’t remotely considering what Chika or her family would want.

Satsuma: “But Masaru, you are also very much a child.”

This appears to be Satsuma’s stance on this: child labour is okay if it’s necessary for dealing with Digimon, apparently! To be fair, it’s not really possible to choose whom a Digimon ends up bonding and becoming compatible partners with, so I can kinda see why this practice has been deemed necessary (in this kids’ shounen anime where the main protagonists are inevitably going to be teenagers), especially since this whole organisation is a pretty secret thing.

Still, though, Masaru and Tohma may be minors, but they are definitely both not your average fourteen-year-old in their own very different ways. Chika is a lot more just an ordinary girl.

Masaru: “I’m in DATS because I want to fight against strong guys! Chika is different! This place is too dangerous for her!”

To Masaru, it’s all about the individual. He’s in DATS because he wants to be, but Chika doesn’t, so that should be the end of it!

…Or, well, does Chika not want to be in DATS? Nobody’s actually asked her. This is actually a lot less about Masaru considering Chika’s wishes and more about the fact that he doesn’t want her to be in DATS, because it might put her in danger.

Sayuri: “Masaru, please stop.”

Masaru: “Mom?!”

Masaru sounds rather surprised; the DATS HQ was probably the last place he expected to see his mother suddenly show up. I also enjoy how Sayuri asks Masaru to stop protesting about Chika, even though she is here to protest to Satsuma about the exact same thing. She sees it as her responsibility to try and protect her daughter, not Masaru’s.

Sayuri: “Satsuma-san, it’s been a long time.”

I love how telling this simple greeting is. Sayuri and Satsuma already know each other, but they also haven’t spoken in a long time – as in, most likely, since before Masaru joined DATS. The reason they know each other has nothing to do with Masaru himself being a DATS member.

Apparently Sayuri gets to talk to Satsuma in a cushy-looking room that I assume is Satsuma’s personal office at the DATS HQ. Probably to keep Masaru out of the conversation, at Sayuri’s request. You know he’d be butting in with his own loud protests if he could be here – or more, especially considering some of what they’re about to talk about.

Sayuri: “I thought that with Masaru, it was inevitable. After all, he is the son of that man. It may have been a natural course of events that led to his enlistment in DATS.”

There’s a sense here that Sayuri always expected Masaru to get involved with Digimon and end up joining DATS perhaps even before she saw Agumon. It’s a lot like how in the first couple of episodes, Satsuma gave off a vague sense that he’d always expected Masaru to join them even before he befriended Agumon in particular. And in both cases, it’s because of “that man”.

Sayuri: “But… Chika is just a little girl! Please, don’t let Chika get involved in this!”

Come on, Sayuri. Chika is also the daughter of “that man”, so that argument alone doesn’t really hold up. I guess what she was really trying to express with the “son of that man” comment, which maybe the subs didn’t quite get across, is that Masaru is so much like his father in a way that Chika isn’t. Then there’s the fact that Chika is quite a bit younger than Masaru as well. I hope this isn’t just about gender, but then again Japan can be pretty backwards about issues like that, so eh.

Sayuri: “I’m scared. It seems as though everyone close to me is being taken away by the Digimon…”

Possible gender bias aside though, I love Sayuri. She’s dropping a pretty strong hint here that Digimon are the reason her husband disappeared and has been gone for ten years, and now that Digimon have showed up at her house and befriended both of her kids, she’s terrified of losing them, too. But she has never let that fear of hers make her try to drive Agumon or Piyomon away and tell them they’re not welcome in her home, or to tell her children they can’t be with their new Digimon friends. Sayuri is so brave.

Elsewhere, having not been allowed into his mom’s meeting with Satsuma, Masaru is in what appears to be the DATS library, talking to Tohma as the latter works on a computer.

Masaru: “That’s why I’m consulting with you.”

The library is obviously not Masaru’s usual haunt, so he evidently came here deliberately to get Tohma’s thoughts on what he should do about this situation. Which is pretty adorable and goes to show just how much he trusts Tohma – especially since Masaru knows so little about Tohma’s family situation and whether he could even relate to having a little sister you’d do anything to protect.

Tohma: “I understand how you feel about preventing her from fighting.”

You do, huh, Tohma? What would you do, if you hypothetically had a little sister who was stuck in a situation like this?

Tohma: “But… Digimon who aren’t maintained through DATS must be sent back to the Digital World. Would you… Would you be able to tell Chika-chan to say goodbye to Piyomon forever?”

It’s really not a very fair rule that DATS has about this. Piyomon is not a “renegade” Digimon – as in, not rampaging out of control due to negative human emotions, a concept DATS is fully aware of now – so he’s not a danger. There should be no reason he can’t stay in the human world as not-a-DATS-member so long as he remains hidden from other humans.

But these are the pre-established rules at DATS – either a Digimon and its partner works for DATS, or it can’t stay here at all – and nobody’s questioning them. Not Yoshino or Tohma, who must have gone through something similar themselves when being recruited. And not even Masaru, despite that he was given this same ultimatum with Agumon and fiercely resisted both apparent options for a while, until he realised he actually wanted to join DATS, conveniently shortcutting the dilemma. Now that he’s been in DATS for a while, he’s just accepted those two options as the way things are.

At the Daimons’ house, Chika and Piyomon are sitting in her room, back-to-back, together but not looking at each other.

Chika: “Hey, Piyomon. What do you think will happen to us?”

There’s a painful sense here that they both know they have no control over this. Chika’s mom and brother have both gone off to DATS to protest for her safety, but neither of them, nor anybody else at DATS, has asked her about what she wants here. Much less have any of them thought to ask Piyomon himself. These two are just kids, stuck letting the adults (or closer-to-adults) around them make all the decisions about their lives, whether it’s really what they want or not.

Chika: “You’ll stay… You’ll always stay with me, right?”

Chika puts her hand on Piyomon’s, but then the camera pans up to her face, her eyes red and puffy from crying. She already knows that that’s not what’s going to happen, doesn’t she. She just wants to hear that this is what Piyomon wants just as much as she does.

Piyomon: “Yeah. I promise. No matter what happens, I’ll be with you always.”

Piyomon’s face – which Chika can’t see – is one of grim determination as he says this. He wants this more than anything, and he’s going to do his best to keep that promise. But it seems, even though he knows a lot less about what’s going on here, that he’s also getting the sense it isn’t really going to be his choice in the end.

Piyomon grips Chika’s hand back – a little too desperately tight, as Chika tells him that it hurts, and he loosens his grip apologetically.

They sit like that for a little while, back-to-back, holding hands, Chika resting her head in the fluffy feathers around Piyomon’s neck. They both know this can’t actually last, but with the promises that they’ve said out loud, talking like it’s going to be okay, they can at least pretend for a little while.

This scene might come across as a bit forced when Chika and Piyomon have known each other for literally less than a day, but I really like it and I think it works anyway. Chika seems like she’s always wished for a special Digimon friend all of her own ever since she saw her brother with Agumon. And Piyomon is a child who clearly imprinted like mad onto Chika from the moment he hatched, so of course he couldn’t dream of ever not being with her. They may have only just met each other, but they already have a strong connection and a mutual desire to keep being friends that neither of them wants to break. This scene gets that across really well.

Their moment is interrupted as Masaru comes into the room. I love his expression and body language here. He is not happy about any of what’s about to happen, but he’s here to do what he feels needs to be done.

Masaru: “Let’s step outside for a bit.”

He doesn’t even bother to explain it. All three of them already know what he’s here for.

Dark clouds begin to gather in the sky, appropriately matching the mood as Masaru confronts Piyomon at a grassy spot near some pylons, probably somewhere on the outskirts of town where nobody’s likely to wander past and see the Digimon. Agumon’s there too, watching with Chika from the sidelines.

Piyomon: “What did you want to talk about?”

Piyomon acts like he doesn’t know what this is about, but I think he knows perfectly well; he and Masaru are already positioned like they’re about to fight. Piyomon just doesn’t want to act like him being forcibly separated from Chika is obvious and inevitable and he should just stand there and accept it.

Masaru: “I’ll get to the point. Go back to the Digital World.”

Masaru does not beat around the bush, not ever, not even when he’s doing something a part of him doesn’t really want to be doing. Perhaps even especially not then.

Piyomon: “What if I say no?”

Masaru: [cracking his knuckles] “Then I’ll send you back by force.”

And of course Masaru knew that Piyomon wasn’t just going to agree to leaving Chika of his own accord – that this confrontation was going to have to involve beating the crap out of Piyomon and turning him back into an egg.

Chika: “Masaru-niichan!”

Masaru: “This is a fight between men. Don’t cut in!”

This might be the only reason that Piyomon is male even though Digimon usually match their partners gender-wise: so that he can be easily brought into Masaru’s concept of manliness like this. Though, really, Masaru’s concept of manliness is not meaningfully about gender; it should be totally possible for him to include a hypothetical female Piyomon in it and call her a “man” in his sense of the word. But I guess the writers weren’t quite brave enough to do that.

(Or, well, technically we don’t actually know Piyomon’s gender, because his voice is a child’s and therefore androgynous, and because Japanese doesn’t use gendered pronouns nearly as much as English. I don’t think any of the times the subs have used “he” for Piyomon have actually been drawing from the Japanese having explicitly used male pronouns. The subbers are just extrapolating based on Piyomon using the masculine first-person pronoun boku (which some girls do also use) and probably also from Masaru calling him a man here.)

Regardless, Masaru’s point here is not actually about Piyomon’s gender and telling Chika to stay out of the fight because she’s a girl. He’s saying this because, in line with his concept of manliness, this fight is about both of them fighting for their convictions: in Masaru’s case, his desire to protect Chika, and in Piyomon’s case, his desire to stay with Chika. These two convictions happen to be incompatible with each other, so in Masaru’s worldview, the only way for them to settle which one wins out is to fight for them with everything they have. That’s what a man does.

Piyomon: “I made a promise! No matter what happens, I’ll always be by Chika’s side! That’s why… I will fight you!”

Piyomon gets it! He wouldn’t normally want to fight Chika’s brother, but he understands that in this situation, it’s the only thing he can do to keep his promise. He really is a man, in Masaru’s definition, regardless of his gender identity.

Chika: “Piyomon, don’t!”

Poor Chika – she also doesn’t want to see Piyomon fight and hurt Masaru! This is going to be agony for her.

Piyomon: “Here I go!”

Piyomon has this battle cry as he and Masaru rush at each other, implying he’s aiming to get in the first hit – but Masaru is faster, and socks him right in the jaw. Piyomon struggles to his feet, running straight at Masaru again, but Masaru dodges easily out of the way at the last second and punches him to the ground.

Masaru: “What’s that? You done for already?”

Masaru says this as he stands over a Piyomon who’s struggling to rise again, but it’s not his usual taunting trash-talk. Masaru’s not in the same excited fighty mood he’s in during most of his fights; he’s saying this because he’s trying to make Piyomon seem weak.

Piyomon manages to get up, but then we quickly get several flash-cuts to Masaru punching and kicking him each time he tries to get a hit in. It’s framed as really pretty brutal, and that’s exactly how it should be. Masaru is not enjoying this fight like he normally would. Nobody is enjoying this.

There’s this Piyomon-POV shot of Masaru breathing heavily, even though he hasn’t taken a single hit and you’d think someone of his fitness wouldn’t be so exhausted after just punching somebody a few times. This isn’t physical tiredness; it’s because this is getting to Masaru on an emotional level.

Chika: “Stop! Don’t fight any more! Why does only Piyomon have to go back?! You have Agu-chan with you, Masaru-niichan!”

It’s not fair, is it, Chika!? Why should Masaru get to have his Digimon partner with him but you not get to have yours, just because DATS says so, just because your family says you can’t work for DATS?

Unfortunately, Chika is probably a little too young to quite understand the situation with DATS’s rules, especially since she hasn’t actually had any of this explained to her, so she can’t make a proper articulated argument as to why this isn’t fair and why DATS’s rule shouldn’t have to apply to her and Piyomon. All she can get across is the distress and injustice of being forced to watch this happen.

Agumon grabs Chika’s arm as she looks to be about to throw herself onto the battlefield.

Agumon: “Look, Chika. Aniki’s fists are crying.”

That’s a very delightfully dorkily manly way of putting it, but it does work. More than just saying that Masaru is upset to have to do this, he’s connecting that to Masaru’s fists, because Agumon of all people would be able to tell that this isn’t the same excited happy fighting that Masaru normally engages in. This is Masaru fighting in a more painful kind of way than he ever usually does.

Agumon: “Aniki doesn’t really want to fight either. But because he wants to protect you… Because he doesn’t want you to get involved in battles… He has no choice but to fight with Piyomon.”

It’s interesting that Agumon has to be the one to explain this to Chika, and Masaru can’t just do so himself. It’s like Masaru doesn’t want to soften the blow of what he’s doing by explaining that he’s doing it for Chika’s sake. As if he feels like having anybody but himself understand that doesn’t matter while he’s actually doing something so awful. He will do whatever it takes to protect his sister, even if that means looking like the bad guy.

Plus, this is Agumon showing quite a lot of emotional maturity for his standards. He’s managed to figure out this is why Masaru’s doing this, even though I doubt Masaru actually told Agumon about this in so many words.

There’s a nice close-up of Masaru’s eye here showing that he is in fact right on the verge of crying because of this. (Though I should note that Agumon wouldn’t be able to see that from how far away he is and definitely wasn’t referring to Masaru literally crying with that line.)

Chika: “Masaru-niichan…”

Chika seems to more or less understand here – this is said with a tone of pity for her brother, realising that he’s not just being unkind to her for the sake of it. He’s in a lot of pain to feel like he has to do this, too.

Piyomon: “I… I will protect Chika!!”

With this rallying cry to himself, Piyomon manages to get up again, and he punches Masaru square in the face, really hard, if the fact that it gets shown from three different angles for drama is anything to go by. Masaru just stands there and takes it, not attempting to dodge, not flinching or even moving an inch as he’s hit.

Which has to have made the punch hurt way more than if Masaru had rolled with it and not absorbed every single bit of the momentum. But stopping himself from being hurt wasn’t the point. His point in letting this happen was to try and make it look like Piyomon couldn’t even damage him at all.

Piyomon stands there with his fist in Masaru’s face for a moment, until he lowers it in shock at seeing Masaru so seemingly unfazed.

Masaru: “It doesn’t hurt. It doesn’t hurt at all.”

Definitely not. It’s not like Piyomon might have just broken Masaru’s nose or anything based on the way it’s bleeding. Masaru shakes the blood away dismissively, as if that’ll somehow mean it’s not there.

Masaru: “You think you can protect Chika… with puny fists like that?!”

These words from Masaru make it clear why he’s really doing this. He’s trying to make Piyomon look weak, so that he can insist that Piyomon isn’t strong enough to protect Chika. This fight is ultimately about Masaru and Piyomon fighting for their respective desires to protect Chika, knowing that they can’t both do so together. Masaru feels like he needs to prove with this that he’s the only one with the strength to protect his sister, not Piyomon. If that’s true, then it’ll make it okay that Piyomon needs to be sent away, right? Chika deserves only the strongest and the best watching over her, after all.

(In reality, Piyomon has been proving here that he’s really freaking strong, given how brutally he’s been beaten down by Masaru over and over again and yet keeps getting back up.)

Masaru punctuates his point with another decisive punch, and this one triggers his Digisoul. It’s a little strange why none of his other times punching Piyomon caused it to flare up, since he was still punching a Digimon, but I assume that the meaningful difference here is his state of mind. He must have finally fully solidified his determination and resolved to himself, no matter how much he hates this, that he is stronger than Piyomon and Piyomon does need to be sent back to the Digital World no matter what.

Masaru: “Now I’ll send you back to the world where you belong!”

Piyomon: “Don’t…!”

Masaru: “Agumon! Evolve!”

Because, yikes, Masaru is actually intending to get GeoGreymon to just roast Piyomon in a flash and turn him back into an egg. He’s got to hate the thought of it, but he’s certain it’s what he needs to do to protect his sister.

Agumon: “Okay!”

And Agumon is willing to go along with it, rushing forwards without hesitation. As much as he understands Chika’s distress about all this and the fact that a part of Masaru hates having to do this, he’s his aniki’s partner first and foremost. If Masaru needs Agumon’s help with this awful task, Agumon will willingly take on that burden with him.

But just as Masaru’s about to Digisoul Charge, a shuriken flies past and knocks the Digivice out of his hand. Falcomon is here, atop a nearby pylon, having found his courage to again take on these humans who somehow have Digimon friends.

Falcomon: “I’ve come to help you, Piyomon. Now, come back to the Digital World with me!”

He still thinks he’s helping Piyomon, saving him from these nasty humans! And he also still assumes that Piyomon will automatically consider the Digital World his home, not realising that since he hatched over here, the Digital World would only seem like a strange and unfamiliar place to him.

Piyomon flatly refuses, insisting that he wants to stay with Chika, and Falcomon should leave him alone. Falcomon stares at Chika in accusatory disbelief.

Falcomon: “Is it you? Are you the one… that made him turn strange?!”

He’s so convinced that a Digimon wanting to be with a human is awful and strange and wrong, to the point that it must be the human’s fault for forcing that upon him somehow. Oh, Falcomon, if only you knew.

In a burst of rage, Falcomon attacks Chika with his shurikens, and Piyomon dives in to tackle her out of the way. He’s protecting her, like he promised!

Falcomon: “Piyomon? Why?”

Falcomon is still so confused. Why would a Digimon protect a human?

Masaru, ever the one to get right to the point, starts climbing straight up the pylon Falcomon’s on top of. This of course gives Falcomon plenty of time to attack him with shurikens on the way up, and Masaru ends up hanging upside-down from it by one foot like a doofus.

Amongst all the commotion, the DATS car drives up with Yoshino and Tohma. We don’t know exactly how they knew to come here, but we can presume they followed either Falcomon or Piyomon’s Digimon signal. I appreciate how this episode didn’t even feel the need to show them detecting that signal and heading towards it, because it isn’t necessary and it’d just take up episode runtime that’s better spent on all of the other stuff that’s happening.

Speaking of saving episode runtime, we also get the shortest possible cut of Gaomon and Lalamon’s evolution animations, which is appreciated when this episode features all three DATS members evolving.

Falcomon: “What?”

Falcomon’s no doubt surprised by seeing even more humans show up with Digimon partners. But I bet he’s especially confused by the whole Digisoul Charge and evolution thing. That… that’s a thing that humans can do to power up a Digimon?

Falcomon uses his ninja-like speed to dodge Gaogamon and Sunflowmon’s attacks. There’s a very silly sequence where Sunflowmon repeatedly gets halfway through calling her Sunshine Beam attack, only for Falcomon to keep zipping out of the spot she was facing before she can fire it. This is the inherent issue with the whole calling-your-attacks thing that Digimon insistently do! And if you really must telegraph it, Sunflowmon, surely you could fire the beam anyway and then turn your head to face Falcomon again.

(Sunflowmon being the one to particularly make a fool of herself here does reflect somewhat badly on Yoshino, but I’d like to point out that Gaogamon did absolutely no better at hitting Falcomon either. At least Sunflowmon kept trying.)

Masaru: “You moron! Go on, keep wasting your time!”

Yoshino: “Try saying that again when you’re not looking like a fool yourself.”

I approve of Yoshino throwing it right back at Masaru when he tries to call Sunflowmon an idiot for this. Everyone here is looking like a fool right now.

Piyomon decides to fly up towards the pylon to help Masaru out.

Piyomon: “Masaru!”

Masaru: “No honorifics?”

The subs note that Piyomon using Masaru’s given name without honorifics is kind of rude for him when they barely know each other, but this is bound to be either because he’s young or because he’s a Digimon and doesn’t know any better, not because he’s trying to be rude. It’s a lot like Agumon calling Sayuri by her name with no honorifics and not understanding why Masaru thinks that’s weird.

(Or, perhaps it’s because Piyomon and Masaru have had a man-to-man fight and this means they know each other a lot better than they did before. Masaru should understand that himself, really!)

If anything, I’m more surprised at Masaru caring about this to the point of mentioning it. Politeness is generally not a thing he really cares about, and while I can imagine him making an exception when it’s his mother, it doesn’t feel like he’d care that much himself. Maybe that’s just me underestimating how much the Japanese culture of this would be ingrained into even somebody like him.

Regardless, Masaru doesn’t linger on it any longer than that one comment and gets onto Piyomon’s back at his request, so that they can both fly straight at Falcomon. They may have been fighting each other over their inability to both be there to protect Chika in the long run, but here they have a common enemy who’s endangering Chika right now.

Falcomon: “Don’t do this, Piyomon! I don’t want to fight you!”

Piyomon: “Even if you don’t…”

Masaru: “We do!”

Falcomon still sees this as him saving Piyomon and doesn’t want to hurt him, but since he’s attacked Chika, he’s made himself an enemy of both Piyomon and Masaru. Really this could be solved by explaining to Falcomon, “if you really don’t want to fight me, then leave me be and don’t attack my friend” – but in their defence, Piyomon is a child and Masaru is Masaru, so of course they’re taking the most straightforward approach here.

Masaru leaps off Piyomon’s back and punches Falcomon to get his Digisoul. Falcomon didn’t use his ninja-speed to dodge out of the way this time, perhaps partly out of still being confused that Piyomon is working with humans and fighting him, and partly at sheer bewilderment at seeing not a fellow Digimon but a human flying towards him to punch him.

(This was Masaru’s second Digisoul-activating punch this scene – it seems that the surprise of Falcomon showing up caused the Digisoul to dissipate from the first one to the point that he needed to activate it again.)

We get the first instance of what’s going to be something of a running thread of somebody catching Masaru as he falls from a midair Digimon punch. This time, it’s Gaogamon, as Masaru grabs onto his big fluffy tail to break his fall. Sunflowmon catches Piyomon, who used all of his strength for that brief bit of flying. Falcomon has no friend to catch him and crashes into the ground.

Falcomon: “Damn it, I can’t believe so many of those Digimon have sided with the humans…”

Why would any Digimon do that? Siding with humans – don’t they realise humans are the enemy?

As Agumon evolves, there’s still no Believer, just like there wasn’t last episode. Not only are they saving it to give it more impact in an especially triumphant moment later, but also, this fight isn’t even really going to end as a triumph at all. Using Believer here would set the wrong tone.

GeoGreymon fires a Mega Burst at Falcomon, who stares in horror and screams as it shoots towards him. Either he’s too injured from the punch to use his speed to dodge any more, or he froze up and panicked upon realising how incredibly outmatched he is.

But before Falcomon can get turned back into an egg (he’s an evolution level lower than GeoGreymon, so one hit and he’d have been done for), a bolt of lightning shoots down from the sky to block the attack, keeping Falcomon safe. It’s Mercurimon, here to bring Falcomon back like he said he would!

He appears in an ominous burst of blue flames, but I should note that he must have actually got to the human world itself through a regular Digital Gate; I do not think he can teleport between worlds at will. I imagine this is him teleporting here from wherever he first came out in the human world; apparently he just has an unnecessarily cool blue-flame-teleportation power within worlds.

The dark clouds above start raining, possibly just with dramatically-appropriate timing, or possibly in actual response to Mercurimon’s presence. He’s a powerful enough Digimon that I wouldn’t write that off as a thing he can make happen. DATS is certainly busy freaking out at the strength of the Digimon signal they’re detecting and the fact that they don’t even have data on which Digimon this is.

(Sayuri also happens to still be there at DATS, and she’s watching these events unfold with worry for the danger her children are in. I love her and I love that the writers cared enough to show her here.)

Mercurimon is an Ultimate-level Digimon. After the Adult level of GeoGreymon and the others, next comes Perfect level, and then Ultimate level. He’s two levels higher than our protagonists’ partners are right now. It’s a neat breaking of the usual Digimon power level progression that we’re actually seeing our first Ultimate-level antagonist before even seeing any Perfect-levels show up.

Kudamon: “Masaru, Tohma, Yoshino. You won’t be able to overpower this one.”

They really won’t. Remember how I’ve explained that each evolution level is exponentially stronger than the last, such that a Digimon even one level lower than its opponent stands basically no chance in hell? Yeah, imagine how much even more ridiculous it is when the gap is two.

Kudamon: “Retreat!”

Masaru: “You think the great street fighter, Daimon Masaru-sama, is going to back down from this? Let’s go!”

But of course Masaru doesn’t care about any of that! To be fair, he doesn’t know anything about the disparity between evolution levels and so has no idea just how thoroughly screwed they are to be facing down an Ultimate-level at their current stage. But let’s be real here. Even if Masaru did completely understand that… he wouldn’t let it stop him.

Aaand the episode ends as Masaru charges in to take Mercurimon on. Cliffhangers! Now that the plot’s started (and won’t ever stop), there’s going to be a lot of episodes ending on moments like this.

Overall thoughts

This is a very good episode that I enjoy a lot!

It’s kind of only here as an exposition dump this episode, but I still have to give a shout-out to the concept of Digimon being influenced by negative human emotions. (Deadly sins, shush, what deadly sins, Tohma definitely never said that.) As I’ve mentioned a few times by now, I just find it a really neat and fascinating worldbuilding idea. It’s going to fade out of focus a bit now that the plot’s beginning, but it’ll still continue to be important multiple times throughout the series, so keep it in mind!

Admittedly this whole thing with the DATS rules of “work for us or lose your Digimon friend”, though it’s treated as Not Good in this episode, never really gets properly addressed or followed up on, because this is going to stop being an issue soon for unrelated reasons.

But still, for the purposes of this episode, it sets up a strong dilemma, and all of that is really well framed and executed to make it as painful as it should be for multiple characters. I feel so much for Sayuri being scared of losing her family to Digimon, the scene with Chika and Piyomon helplessly making a promise they know they can’t keep is great, and everything about the fight between Masaru and Piyomon is delightful. I love how Masaru fervently tries to make Piyomon seem weak to prove he’s the only one who can protect Chika. I love how much Masaru is hurting to have to do this. I love me some Masaru being Not Okay.

It’s also a fun introduction to Falcomon. The episode may be making a token attempt to frame him as a villain, yet if you’re paying attention there’s still a very distinct sense that he sees himself as the good guy and is utterly bewildered at the idea of Digimon happily working with humans. Oh, Falcomon.

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[Dub comparison]

#digimon #digimon savers #masaru daimon #chika daimon #piyomon #sayuri daimon #falcomon #mercurimon #gotsumon

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