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Digimon Data Squad Dub Comparison Episode 48 - The Ultimate Farewell

This is a companion to my commentary on the original Japanese Digimon Savers! Reading my commentary on the original version of this episode (which you can find here) is recommended before reading this dub comparison.

Original name ~ Dubbed name

Masaru Daimon ~ Marcus Damon

Yoshino Fujieda ~ Yoshino “Yoshi” Fujieda

Tohma H. Norstein ~ Thomas H. Norstein

Ikuto Noguchi ~ Keenan Crier

Professor Suguru Daimon ~ Doctor Spencer Damon

Sayuri Daimon ~ Sarah Damon

Chika Daimon ~ Kristy Damon

Kenji Noguchi ~ Kevin Crier

Captain Rentarou Satsuma ~ Commander Richard Sampson

Yggdrasil ~ King Drasil

Craniummon ~ Craniamon

Dukemon ~ Gallantmon

Piyomon ~ Biyomon

Mercurimon ~ Merukimon

[Since several characters share the same name between the original and the dub, quotes from the dub will always be in italics, while quotes from the original will not, in order to distinguish them.]

Marcus’s voice sounds kind of wistful as he reads out the title card for this episode, which, aww.

Masaru: “The power of humans…”

Agumon: “And the power of Digimon…”

Masaru & Agumon: “We’ll show him what we’re both made of!”

~~~~~

Marcus: “You know what time it is?”

Agumon: “My watch says it’s fightin’ time!”

Marcus & Agumon: “For humans, and for Digimon!”

This is almost exactly the same lines they said at the end of episode 47, but not quite, because Agumon didn’t mention his watch back then. (I will let him off for the usage of human terms, because he’s been in the human world long enough to know what a watch is by now.) But then, though the original lines I quoted here were word-for-word the same as the end of 47, there’s a few other brief words before it that also aren’t quite exactly the same, so, hey.

Probably Marcus’s Theme comes in (for what I assume is the last time) and takes its usual place as the dub equivalent of Provocation Infinity, yes, I approve.

The evolutions don’t happen with a fancy animation, so for the only time ever, the dub doesn’t use the evolution BGM for them. Funny, that.

King Drasil: “If you could not defeat me while engaged in Burst Mode, then why do you continue to fight in Champion mode?”

Slightly awkward that King Drasil refers to their current Champion levels as a mode. Regular evolution levels are not the same thing as Burst Mode’s “mode-change” and shouldn’t use that word.

Alas, it seems Probably Marcus’s Theme isn’t actually long enough to get through all of this fight scene, so it ended and switched to a different piece of action music, before we even reach the climactic part where Marcus tries to punch King Drasil and gets caught. The new piece of BGM is more ominous and shifts the mood away from a triumphant one, even as they’re still pressing their attack. The music doesn’t even cut out and switch to anything else until after that moment when they get caught and electrocuted by King Drasil’s vines. It’s like the BGM just put the mood-shift of this scene a minute or so earlier than it should have come; it’s weird.

Yushima: “Look! The Digimon are using all of their efforts to support the Digital World in our place!”

~~~~~

Yushima: “Look there. The Royal Knights have joined our side, trying to stop the Digital World from crashing down on top of us.”

Dub-Yushima may be correct, but I’m not sure how he knows this. From where he is, the Royal Knights aren’t visible, only the other Digimon who are helping to hold the worlds apart through beams of light. I’ve no idea how he could have got the memo that the Royal Knights are also helping now.

Yushima: “So that none of their fights are in vain… we must never give up hope!”

~~~~~

Yushima: “And I know Thomas isn’t giving up any time soon. We must all have faith in our friends and family.”

Yushima mentioning specifically Thomas – since he’s talking to Relena – gives this a more personal note in the dub, which I like.

Relena: “The Digimon are protecting us. They’re fighting for us. […] You can do it, Digimon!”

~~~~~

Relena: “Father, the Digimon. They’re getting stronger. They are! I can feel it! I can feel it! […] Father… I feel it!”

I have absolutely no idea how Relena can feel the Digimon’s strength in the dub. That’s not how it works? It’s kind of literally backwards to how it’s supposed to work, in which Digimon can feel the emotions of humans (whether they’re feeding off them or being influenced by them)?

Which really begs the question of why Relena flares up with DNA Charge here, because her simply feeling the Digimon’s power is not actually anything to do with what triggers a DNA Charge – aka, emotions. There’s no sense here that she’s consciously doing anything herself to try and will the Digimon on and give them the power of her emotions. It's a very weird way to present this.

Rosemon: “I can hear their voices rooting us on to victory!”

Except for Relena, who’s just feeling your power, somehow, without actually rooting you on. At least the rest of this moment gets across the correct impression that it’s humanity consciously willing the Digimon on, but, what the heck was up with Relena’s line, seriously.

So… I guess all of the Digimon are going to consciously feed off humanity’s desire to not die in order to have the power to fight back against King Drasil. Which I guess isn’t too terrible of a way for it to work in this context, but it does put the emphasis a bit less on humanity’s strength and a bit more on the Digimon for making the choice to use their power and do this.

Tohma: “But the power of cherishing our friends and our comrades… is infinite!”

~~~~~

Thomas: “But together, the combined power of all our friends and family is huge!”

It’s kind of cute that Thomas specifically mentions family here, given we’ve just seem glimpses of most of their families. (That might have been the dub’s interpretation of what was subbed as “comrades”, which was the word nakama, which can mean something like a found family but usually isn’t so literal about it.)

Slightly different emphasis in that he’s saying it’s the power of the friends and family themselves, rather than the power of the emotions from caring about them. Which on the one hand is perhaps more correct, in that it is all those other people’s own DNA Charges that are going to be helping here. But then that also reads a bit weirdly as if it’s only the people who are their friends and family who are contributing to this, as if every other human not in that category isn’t also helping.

Yoshino: “We want to stay with each other… Forever!”

Piyomon: “I want to live with Chika… and the humans, too!”

Gotsumon: “So do… So do I!”

~~~~~

Yoshi: “We have the will to survive. We want to stay with our loved ones!”

Biyomon: “I wanna stay here in the human world with my friend Kristy!”

Gotsumon: “Me too! I wanna stay here!”

Yoshi’s line is slightly less ambiguously readable as if she’s also talking about humans and Digimon living together, like Yoshino could have been. Especially with Thomas’s line also being more specifically about friends and family, which is less possible to read that way. So it’s a little bit less linked to the lines the Digimon go on to have a moment later.

(Gotsumon’s “me too” is awkwardly timed as if he’s agreeing that Kristy is also his friend, which, bro, you haven’t even met her.)

Dukemon: “By staking the name of the honourable Royal Knights on the line!”

~~~~~

Gallantmon: “Our honour gives us strength, not the word of a King!”

I appreciate that Gallantmon’s line is a bit less generic and more specifically stressing the part where he’s rejected King Drasil’s authority. I can’t help but raise an eyebrow at the idea that he ever had any honour while he was murdering humans on his king’s orders, though.

Yggdrasil: “Unable to compute! Unable to compute!”

~~~~~

King Drasil: “Cannot compute. Cannot compute.”

These bits have been almost exactly the same, but one thing I miss is the change in tone as things escalate – note the exclamation marks or lack thereof. Yggdrasil was starting to sound almost emotional, frustrated and desperate at the thought that it might be wrong about this. But King Drasil sounds equally as monotone here as its earlier uses of this line.

Masaru: “You’ll… never understand!”

~~~~~

Marcus: “You can’t, huh? Then I guess you’ll never understand!”

This might seem the same, but there’s actually a difference in emphasis. Marcus is arguing that King Drasil will never understand simply because it can’t understand right now. Which is a bit of a close-minded thing to assume. Masaru wasn’t making any specific reference to that and was therefore assuming this more generally, because of the kind of selfish callous asshole he already knows Yggdrasil to be.

Masaru: “It’s true that we fight a lot over stupid things, and sometimes we even hate each other. From your point of view, we might have evolved in the wrong direction. But…!”

~~~~~

Marcus: “It’s true that best friends fight each other sometimes, even over little stupid things! But if you think that just because humans and Digimon fight means everything has to be destroyed, you’re wrong!”

In the original, it was possible that by “we fight”, Masaru simply meant humans fighting each other. It’s not inappropriate for Marcus to make it specifically about humans and Digimon, given that at this point King Drasil is trying to erase both of them. Him citing best friend fights specifically is cute, in that them fighting doesn’t mean they don’t belong together as best friends, though his wording doesn’t quite emphasise that point as much as it could.

Masaru: “And the Digimon… give us both dreams and courage!”

~~~~~

Marcus: “And Digimon give human beings hope… that anything is possible!”

Marcus’s line here is a little less generic! Believing that anything is possible is a somewhat more Marcus/Masaru-y sentiment, and it is true that he’s been especially a believer of that since he met Agumon.

Masaru & Agumon: “There’s no limit to how far we can evolve!”

~~~~~

Marcus & Agumon: “Ha! We’re friends, and together we make the ultimate team!”

As much as I agree that they’re Friends, it feels a bit weird to be emphasising that in this moment? It feels like it’s putting the focus entirely on just these two and their individual friendship, like it’s solely their power that’s able to trigger Agumon Burst Mode and defeat King Drasil, when it really shouldn’t be. I suppose it could be read like they’re talking about Digimon and humans in general being friends and the ultimate team, but it’s easy to miss that, if that was the intent.

I do in theory like the idea of them bringing their dorky phrase of “ultimate team” and using it to refer to humans and Digimon in general, though! Perhaps if this had been worded as more like “humans and Digimon make the ultimate team!”, it’d be more unambiguously read that way.

King Drasil: “Cannot compute! Cannot compute!”

Okay, now, King Drasil sounds more emotional in this line. Took it a bit longer to reach that point, though.

Oh, poor dubbers. Because Agumon Burst Mode does not have a conventional evolution animation, I guess they’re not allowed to use the evolution music to give it the appropriate feeling of triumph? We’ve just got one of their generic action pieces. Which is a shame, when this had Believer in the original, and the evolution BGM is the best equivalent of that.

Yggdrasil: “I-Impossible!”

~~~~~

King Drasil: “Cannot compute! Cannot compute!”

In this moment, as Agumon Burst Mode smashed through its body and it realised just how destructible it actually was, Yggdrasil dropped the computer thing and went back to being openly emotional about things in its wording (if not in the voice it was using), which was kind of neat. King Drasil is still being a computer, meanwhile, albeit still in an emotional tone.

Yggdrasil: “This is inconceivable! The probability of you defeating me is…”

~~~~~

King Drasil: “Fatal error! The probability of you beating me was zero percent! Fatal error!”

Japanese is vague enough that the tense in which Yggdrasil said that second sentence is ambiguous without it actually finishing the sentence, so I suppose it could have meant to say it in past tense like King Drasil does. But I did kind of like the way it could potentially be saying it in present tense, and it doesn’t finish the sentence because it doesn’t want to admit that suddenly the probability of it being defeated has become quite high, actually.

(It also hasn’t actually fully been defeated, as King Drasil’s past tense implies, given that it’s about to bail the heck out of its destroyed outer body and try to escape.)

The shot of Masaru’s fist cracking the surface of Yggdrasil’s crystalline but humanoid face is cut. I guess that’s a little more reasonable as something that might have seemed too violent, compared to most punching shots they cut out.

Agumon: “What is this place?”

Masaru: “Heaven? No, of course not…”

~~~~~

Agumon: “What is… this place…?”

Marcus: “I don’t know… The Digital World…?”

Obviously we can’t have a reference to something like heaven in our kids’ anime, and certainly not the notion that they might have died, either, gasp, so instead Marcus just somehow thinks this glowing white void could be the Digital World. Uh, sure.

King Drasil’s voice in this scene, while not computery, is still androgynous, like it was while it was being computery. I’m not sure if it’s the same voice actor, but it might be. It certainly is distinctly different from the voice it had the last time it wasn’t talking like a computer, which was that deep masculine voice that just screamed EVIL. Hmm, it’s almost like King Drasil was always more than just Unambiguously Evil Villain Dude and never should have had that voice in the first place, huh?

Luckily, King Drasil is the one character in this series that the dubbers can plausibly give multiple different voices to, thus covering their screwup when they realise they made a terrible voice casting choice in the first place due to not watching ahead. Alas, poor Falcomon.

Yggdrasil: “Why do you wish to live together in one world?”

~~~~~

King Drasil: “Why do Digimon and humans wish to live together in one world?”

Very slight difference here, in that Yggdrasil was only asking about Masaru and Agumon’s personal desire for this, whereas King Drasil is more asking Marcus and Agumon for an explanation as to why all humans and Digimon want to live together. On the one hand, it’s not exactly true that all of them actually want that just yet, but on the other hand it’s kind of neat that King Drasil has been convinced enough to believe that might be the case, even if it doesn’t understand why!

Agumon: “We can’t learn to appreciate each other if we’re scared of getting hurt.”

Masaru: “Agumon…” [to Yggdrasil] “You know, ever since I met this guy, I realised that by talking with these fists of mine, I could come to understand the other person no matter who they were.”

~~~~~

Agumon: “That may be true, but the Boss and I are still friends even though we fight sometimes!”

Marcus: “That’s right. You know… even humans don’t always see eye to eye, but… they can still wind up being friends. You just have to be willing to work for it!”

Agumon’s original point about forging friendships being worth it even though they inherently come with potential conflict is still here in the dub. But, of course, we can’t possibly keep Masaru’s distinctive point about communicating with and understanding people using his fists, they’ve removed that from (almost) every other moment it came up. Turns out that point’s pretty relevant to the overall theme of the series as well as to Masaru’s character! Buuuut, not in the dub.

(King Drasil actually knows full well that humans don’t always see eye to eye with each other; one dub-specific thing it complained about regarding humans in an earlier episode was all the wars they have.)

Yggdrasil: “I see. Then I shall lay myself to rest once more and watch over you.”

~~~~~

King Drasil: “Very well, then. I shall lay myself to rest and protect you from afar without any further meddling.”

Huh, King Drasil’s giving them a slightly better deal here, saying it’s going to protect them. Yggdrasil only said it would watch over them, which doesn’t necessarily constitute doing anything to protect them. Seemed like complete 100% non-interference from Yggdrasil.

Also kinda surprised that King Drasil is willing to admit that it was doing a lot of “meddling”. I guess protecting them from afar, even though that still involves interference with the world in some way, doesn’t count as that…?

Yggdrasil: “Whether or not a world shared among humans and Digimon becomes a reality… will depend on your abilities.”

~~~~~

King Drasil: “I don’t know if a world can exist where humans and Digimon live together in harmony, but if it is to become a reality, then it will be completely up to you.”

King Drasil kind of makes a point of sounding more doubtful here. Yggdrasil only really said the thing about “it’s all up to you” as a way of stressing that it’s personally going to stay the hell out of this.

Marcus still protests like Masaru did as King Drasil up and leaves, but he has slightly less reason to, since it did at least say it would protect them.

There appears to be a commercial break at the end of this King Drasil scene, which means that Yoshi’s voice calling for Marcus to wake up doesn’t actually overlap with the end of the scene like Yoshino’s did, because that’d probably be weird just before a commercial break.

Agumon: “You guys…”

Gaomon: “You’re awake!”

~~~~~

Agumon: “Nnngh… is it time to eat?”

Gaomon: “…He’s fine.”

A bit more flavour to Agumon’s waking up in the dub, which I like. I am amused by Gaomon’s teasingly-affectionate logic of “he’s thinking about food, he must be okay.”

Ikuto: “The dimensional barrier is restored!”

Falcomon: “It looks like they were able to safely isolate it from the human world!”

~~~~~

Yoshi: “The digital barrier has been completely restored!”

Falcomon: “We were successfully able to separate the two worlds!”

“We” did that? As in, just the DATS group themselves? …How, exactly? I’m pretty sure the only way this makes any kind of sense is if King Drasil did it, which isn’t precisely we. I guess this might be the dubbers not quite piecing together how this could be possible, and so they just kinda shrugged when it came to adding a subject to this line.

Dukemon: “Your Digisouls… have awoken a miracle!”

~~~~~

Craniamon: “Your powerful DNA Charge helped create a miracle.”

Hm, this pinged me as off in the dub even though it turns out it’s basically the same in the original. Maybe it was the fact that it was subbed as Digisouls, plural, that made it easier for me to read the subbed line as being about humanity’s Digisouls in general, whereas it sounds like the dub’s talking about just Marcus’s DNA Charge, which was not all there was to it.

Craniummon: “You were magnificent, Daimon Masaru. You are without a doubt our true saviour!”

~~~~~

Gallantmon: “You were magnificent, Marcus Damon. You are without a doubt, a true legend of the Digital World.”

(For some reason, the dub swapped around which Royal Knight got these lines, not that it matters.)

That word “saviour” in the original line is the same word that the Holy Capital’s citizens used for Suguru, which was translated as “legend” in the dub. The dub actually remembered this and kept the same translation here, drawing the same connection as in the original!

Masaru: “Thank you, Royal Knights.”

~~~~~

Marcus: “Thanks so much. You guys rocked, too!”

Heh, I enjoy Marcus being more gung-ho about thanking them.

Ikuto: “Dad… Mom…”

~~~~~

Keenan: “Mama… Dad…”

Ah, lip-flap meant that they had to find something two syllables long for Keenan to call whichever parent he addressed first. He did also call Frigimon “Mama” when she died, so maybe this is a reference to that?

Ikuto: “I’m home!”

Kenji: “Welcome home, Ikuto.”

~~~~~

Keenan: “I’m home!”

Kevin: “That’s right. You are.”

This seems similar but hits different in each version because of the difference in the episode 27 scene it’s calling back to. In the original, Kenji was teaching Ikuto the stock Japanese family phrases used for this sort of occasion, and now he’s actually using them. In the dub, they couldn’t really do that because English doesn’t quite have that sort of thing, so instead Keenan said “Me home” (even though he kind of wasn’t yet in that episode) – and now he really can feel like he's properly at home with his parents, now that it’s all over. It still works in the dub’s version! I like it.

Tohma: “Relena…”

Relena: “Thank goodness, Brother… I’m so glad you’re all right!”

~~~~~

Thomas: “I missed you.”

Relena: “You’re safe! I was so scared… I didn’t know what to think!”

Relena continues to sound more grown-up in the dub, in that she’s articulating her feelings better. Thomas saying he missed her is very cute! I bet he misses her all the time when he’s not able to be with her because all of the other stuff he’s busy with, aww.

Tohma: “Father…”

Franz: “Thank you, Tohma.”

Tohma: “Yes, Dad.”

~~~~~

Thomas: “Father…”

Franz: “I want to… thank you.”

Thomas: “Well… you’re welcome!”

The dub missed the opportunity to have Thomas call him “Dad” for the first time here! That’s a shame. It’s not even lip-flap’s fault; there’d totally have been a way to fit it in there.

Gotsumon: “It sure is great that everything worked out!”

Yoshino: “What are you doing here?”

Gotsumon: “Hey! Hey, don’t say that! I did my best, too!”

~~~~~

Gotsumon: “We did it… we saved everyone!”

Yoshi: “And just what did you do, exactly?”

Gotsumon: “What, are you kidding? I was the back-up plan in case something went wrong! It’s not my fault I wasn’t needed!”

As much as flailing around making excuses like he totally helped when he actually did nothing at all is very in-character for Gotsumon… give him credit, he did help a little? He was one of the many Digimon helping to hold the worlds apart through the power of humanity’s DNA Charge near the end, so he was contributing.

Satsuma: “You’re safe, Kudamon.”

Kudamon: “Yes. It’s all thanks to Masaru and the others.”

~~~~~

Sampson: “Welcome back… my old friend.”

Kudamon: “I guess recruiting Marcus Damon worked out after all.”

Apparently Kudamon’s still thinking about how he wasn’t so on-board with Sampson recruiting Marcus in the beginning? I am surprised the dub remembered enough to call back to that, but I guess that’s neat! Sampson calling Kudamon his old friend is also cute.

(Though he is putting it all down to Marcus, rather than mentioning the others as well.)

Chika: “Mom!”

~~~~~

Kristy: “Mommy!”

This one is actually not caused by lip-flap, because we don’t see Chika’s mouth move for this line, so this is just the dubbers making the free choice to have her call her mom that in this moment. It does work reasonably well, since they’ve just been in so much danger.

Sayuri: “I believed that Masaru and Agu-chan would protect you.”

~~~~~

Sarah: “I never stopped believing that Marcus would be able to make everything turn out all right.”

This is a little more broad – believing that Marcus would fix everything, not just protect Chika from harm – but it’s still very cute and appropriate that Sarah would have believed that, aww.

Masaru: “I couldn’t bring Dad back with me…”

~~~~~

Marcus: “I’m sorry, I tried, but I couldn’t bring Dad back…”

It’s basically down to having some spare lip-flap, but I do like Marcus mentioning that he tried, even though he couldn’t manage it. Of course he tried.

Sayuri: “I was prepared for that.”

~~~~~

Sarah: “I had a feeling you’d say that… but I’m prepared.”

The way Sarah says this is ever so slightly backhanded, making it sound a bit more like she just expected her son to fail. I hope Marcus doesn’t read that into it.

Sayuri: “That man… Suguru-san has become the wind blowing through the Digital World.”

~~~~~

Sarah: “I still feel that one day he will return to us.”

…Uhh, okay, so I guess this isn’t nearly such a big deal for Sarah, because apparently she didn’t read Marcus’s bad news as implicitly telling her that Spencer died. Whoops, you might want to clarify that, Marcus. (Except of course he won’t, because this is the dub. And also because Spencer’s about to show up alive anyway, but shush.)

Sayuri: “Even if we can’t see him, I’m sure he’ll always be watching over us from the other world.”

~~~~~

Sarah: “I’m just sad that he wasn’t able to watch you grow up. He loved you so much, and he would be very proud of you, just like I am.”

This is a really freaking cute sentiment, though! Aww, of course his dad would be proud of him. The dub really can do these cute heartfelt moments quite well when it wants to.

Masaru: “Dad… Dad!”

~~~~~

Marcus: “It’s Dad… It’s Dad!”

More lip-flap cleverness with the “Dad” syllable discrepancy!

The whole dad-reunion scene gets Probably Marcus’s Theme: Heartwarming Piano Edition as BGM, I approve.

Masaru: “You’re really… You’re really my dad, right?”

~~~~~

Marcus: “Don’t mess with me… Is it really you this time?”

The dub line makes it even clearer that this isn’t just about his disbelief at his dad being alive, but that, after King Drasil, he doesn’t want to get it wrong again.

Suguru: “Yeah. The one and only yours truly.”

~~~~~

Spencer: “It’s me. The one and only Spencer Damon.”

For once, the dub keeps Suguru’s dorkily over-the-top dramatic phrasing of things. Spencer’s delivery is a bit more subdued than Suguru’s was, though.

Suguru: “Yggdrasil restored me to life.”

~~~~~

Spencer: “As a gift to you, King Drasil brought me back to life.”

Specifically for Marcus? Did it not occur to King Drasil that maybe it ought to do this as a favour to Spencer himself, who’s the person it had really screwed over the most?

Suguru: “Chika! You’ve sure grown big.”

~~~~~

Spencer: “Kristy! You’re taller than a tree!”

I mean, she’s literally not, Spencer, that’s overselling it. Slightly odd way to comment on how much she’s grown. His delivery is adorably proud, though.

Chika: “Dad… Dad! Dad!”

~~~~~

Kristy: “Oh, Dad… Daddy… I missed you!”

Aww! She did, didn’t she, even though she never truly knew him in the first place.

Sayuri: “Dearest…”

~~~~~

Sarah: “So did I.”

And it’s cute that Sarah then also gets to agree with this sentiment instead of just addressing him!

Suguru: “Sayuri… I’ve caused you to worry.”

Sayuri: “Don’t leave us any more, okay?”

~~~~~

Spencer: “Sarah… I’m sorry… So sorry.”

Sarah: “Just… don’t ever leave without us again, okay?”

It’s a little weird that she’s specifically not asking him to leave without us. That makes me feel like she’s imagining him taking another trip to the Digital World, but only if the whole family comes with him? I mean, that would be adorable, but also I think it’s a bit beyond Sarah to really think of that yet, given how the Digital World is still so strongly associated with the fear of losing her family, to her.

Sampson: “The missing… have returned after ten years.”

Thanks to lip-flap, Sampson has a weird awkward pause here in his line, which hilariously sounds like he’s realising exactly as he says it that this makes no sense at all. (Which is a goof from the original, of course, I’m just amused at how the dub line makes it come across.)

Kudamon: “We were able to defeat Yggdrasil. However…”

Gotsumon: “For us, we’ve just lost our God. Everyone is upset and confused.”

~~~~~

Kudamon: “Because we defeated King Drasil, more problems have come up.”

Gotsumon: “The Digital World is in chaos now that they’ve lost their leader. The Digimon are confused.”

I complained about this a little in the original, that it shouldn’t really be the loss of Yggdrasil that causes problems in the Digital World when most Digimon didn’t even know it existed. But at least Kudamon wasn’t necessarily saying that there are only problems because of this, even though Gotsumon apparently thought so.

The BGM score for this scene where the Digimon announce they’re going back is weirdly ominous, whereas in the original it had a more reflective, sad vibe.

There’s another commercial break between this and the next scene, so we sadly don’t get the immediate cut from Marcus being angry to him punching Agumon at the park.

Masaru: “What’s this crap about leaving? You traitor!”

~~~~~

Marcus: “You’re staying right here! No more talk of leaving!”

I don’t like how Marcus is framing this like he has the right to order Agumon around and decide this for him. Masaru was angry and lashing out, but he wasn’t actually trying to tell Agumon he’s not allowed to leave.

Aaaand suddenly the BGM has become… a comedic one? Turning this heartwrenching scene about best friends expressing their pain at being forced to part ways into a silly haha comic relief thing, because there’s punching involved, I guess, so we’ve got to make it seem slapstick? No! Bad! I do not approve!

Marcus: “You’re more than my best friend, you’re like a brother to me, so why would you wanna leave?!”

This line is basically the same, but it hits different in the dub, where Agumon never actually called him anything that meant “brother” in the first place. It means more for Marcus to say this in that context, where them being like brothers wasn’t already kind of an established thing!

…But it also unavoidably hits completely different when it’s happening over this silly comedic music, making this sound like we’re supposed to see it as some kind of joke, what even, who decided the BGM for this scene, this was the worst choice. (The original BGM was actually just silent at this point! The dub had no reason to put anything here!)

Agumon punching Marcus in the face is flash-cut, because of course. One last hurrah for Team We Can’t Have Punching In This Anime About Punching.

Agumon: “Even I want to stay with you forever, Aniki!”

~~~~~

Agumon: “You’re like a brother to me, too! I never wanna leave your side!”

Because Agumon has not called Marcus anything meaning “brother” before in the dub, he gets to add this here, which is also cute!

The comedic BGM cuts off around here, at least, thank god, but my god it should never have been there at all.

Masaru: “Then…! Then why don’t you just stay here?!”

Agumon: “I *can’t*!”

~~~~~

Marcus: “Then why go? Just stay here with me!”

Agumon: “They’re closing the Gate!”

I really like how in the original Agumon responds to this question by desperately blurting out the root of this – that he feels like he can’t stay in the human world. Agumon in the dub instead just begins with part 1 of his explanation, instead of getting right to the heart of his feelings on this, which gives it less impact, and also less reason why Marcus shifts to a more shocked expression upon hearing this one sentence.

Agumon: “I’ll just be one big *nuisance* who spends his entire time sleeping and getting fat on Sayuri’s fried eggs!”

~~~~~

Agumon: “I’ll just be a waste of space! Splitting my time between sleeping and eating your mother’s fried eggs!”

This is almost the same, but Agumon in the original had this bitter emphasis on the word nuisance that isn’t there in the dub. (Part of that’s thanks to the Japanese word order, though – that word is actually at the end of the sentence the way it’s structured in Japanese, which helps.)

Marcus: “A… Agumon!”

Marcus somehow still sounds kind of angry here? Why would you sound angry at hearing your best friend and near-enough-brother talk about how he feels like he’ll be nothing but a waste of space in your own home, what even.

Agumon: “I want to keep having adventures with you, Aniki!”

~~~~~

Agumon: “I wish we could go on forever having adventures, but I just have to go!”

The way Agumon phrases this in the dub, he’s making it sound like he would keep having adventures if only he stayed with Marcus, but he has to go for… some other reason. Whereas in the original, the point was that he wants to keep having adventures but he can’t have that in the human world, and therefore with Masaru, any more.

(Oh, finally, some appropriately sad BGM, thank you. Matches with when sad BGM kicked in in the original. Still mad about the comedic music earlier, though.)

Masaru: “Well… Even I… Even I want to be with you! I want to keep running wild with you everywhere until I die!!!”

~~~~~

Marcus: “Fine, then go! Who needs ya! You don’t even belong in this world anyway! Go back to the Digital World where you belong! …”

Marcus’s tone is very different here! He’s angry and lashing out and pushing Agumon away instead of desperately blurting out just how badly he doesn’t want to say goodbye either. It’s clear enough that he’s doing it out of anger to cover up how he really feels – and his voice begins to break into tears towards the end, which is pretty painful, but it sure hits different.

The dubbers even edited the shots a bit to work better with this changed mood. The last sentence of this line in the original is over a shot of Masaru on all fours, hanging his head with emotion, but that wouldn’t work so well with Marcus’s anger, so instead the dub cuts that out and just has a shot of the dark clouds overhead.

Masaru: “Go to the Digital World. This world is too small for you. Go back to the world you belong in.”

~~~~~

Marcus: “I only wish… I was going with you. I can’t even imagine this world without you. The Earth is gonna seem like a really cold place when you leave.”

The moods have kind of swapped around now! Masaru was, while not nearly as overtly angry as Marcus in the previous line, being rather bitter in tone. But now Marcus is showing his sadness and pain, sounding like he’s crying or at least on the verge of it.

(I can’t help but think that Marcus outright saying he wishes he was going with Agumon ought to make him realise, sooner than he’s actually going to, that… hey, nothing’s stopping him doing that?)

Agumon: “Aniki…”

~~~~~

Agumon: “Aww, Boss…”

Agumon in the original sounded sad, but potentially not for Masaru and more at the fact that Masaru was pushing him away like this. Agumon in the dub is clearly feeling sad for Marcus, who’s literally crying right now. Which makes it work a little less well that he then turns and walks away from this instead of trying to say anything else to comfort him. That made more sense when the scene ended on Masaru putting up an emotional barrier and pushing him away – Agumon was the one who ended the scene crying in the original, not Masaru.

Marcus’s voice actor was really on-point in this scene, for the somewhat different emotional direction he was given with it. Agumon’s dub VA, meanwhile, was fine I guess, but didn’t tug at my heartstrings nearly as much as his original VA’s performance.

Gaomon: “My Master…! Is no-one else but you.”

Tohma: “Gaomon…”

~~~~~

Gaomon: “We will [meet again], sir, I promise. …You’re my best friend, Thomas.”

Thomas: “…Same here.”

Gaomon’s a bit less adorably loyally Dog about this, but this is still extremely cute! Look at them calling each other their best friends, aww.

Lalamon: “But… it made me feel a bit relieved. Because you’ve become stronger.”

Yoshino: “That’s not true, Lalamon.”

~~~~~

Lalamon: “I’m actually kind of relieved. To see how strong you’ve become.”

Yoshi: “Yeah, I’m strong – when *you’re* here.”

Yoshino denied being strong at all, but Yoshi’s willing to admit that she is strong if only thanks to Lalamon’s presence (and still implicitly thinks she isn’t on her own).

Yoshino: “Lalamon!”

~~~~~

Yoshi: “Oh, Lalamon! I’m gonna miss you so much!”

Lalamon: [half-muffled from the hug] “I’m gonna miss you too!”

Aww, they are, aren’t they! (They’ve been together for over ten years, gaaah.) More good friendship additions.

The BGM’s shifted away from the sad one and into something which isn’t nearly as bad as the comedic one or anything, but it’s like… homely and cosy and doesn’t give the bittersweet vibe that these scenes ought to have.

Kudamon: “This place relaxes me the most.”

~~~~~

Kudamon: “I like coming to this shoulder when I wanna be alone.”

Heh. “Alone”, he says. Little liar of a weaselscarf. It’s cute.

Satsuma: “Me too.” [he chuckles]

Kudamon: “So even you can laugh.”

~~~~~

Sampson: “Heh. ‘Wanna be alone’.”

Kudamon: “I’m glad to see you still have your sense of humour, Sampson. I’ll miss that laugh.”

Apparently in the dub, Sampson does have a sense of humour, whereas in the dub, Kudamon’s teasing him about the fact that he usually doesn’t. If Sampson does, it must be something he only ever showed in private with Kudamon, since the DATS members sure never saw it. Which is pretty cute, actually!

Yushima: “Kamemon, drink your milk.”

Yep, this stuff they’re drinking which is making Kamemon’s face red is definitely just milk, no alcohol here, kids.

I forgot how adorably derpy Kamemon’s dub voice is, since we hear it so little.

Yushima: “Kamemon. Sometimes the moon looks as if it’s changed shape, but it really stays circular all the time. Come back any time. I’ll always be waiting.”

~~~~~

Yushima: “Kamemon. Though we may be as far apart as the moon and Earth, the connection between us will always be strong. One day the Gate may be reopened, and I’ll be right there waiting for you.”

Yushima’s metaphor was apparently too metaphorical for the dub, so they changed it into something a bit more straightforward in meaning (while still being about the moon).

Oh god, Falcomon’s voice. This isn’t a scene about two adorable kids who are best friends having to say goodbye, it’s this old, posh butler saying goodbye to the kid he looks after. It can never read the same way, purely because of that voice. Gah.

Keenan: “Me thinking, and I decide…”

Why is Keenan still sometimes using an incorrect “me” and a correct “I” in the same sentence, nobody would mess up their grammar like this.

Also, he shouldn’t really be framing this like he’s made a calculated decision to go to the Digital World with Falcomon, because he ought to already know he needs to stay with his family and just be wistfully voicing the fact that part of him wishes he could go with Falcomon anyway.

Falcomon: “No, Keenan, you can’t. You have to stay here and get to know your family.”

This is basically the same line, but it hits different because Falcomon’s voice makes him sound like someone who’d naturally be wise enough to decide something like this selflessly for the sake of Keenan’s family. It hits a lot harder when it’s coming from someone who sounds like a kid, and so he’s being surprisingly thoughtful and selfless about this!

Falcomon still ends up crying too, but, again, it unavoidably hits different because he sounds like an adult ghhhhhhh

Tohma: “He must not want to say goodbye.”

Sayuri: “Masaru…”

~~~~~

Thomas: “I guess he doesn’t want to say goodbye…”

Sarah: “It’s hard for him…”

Aww. I like the sense that Sarah gets it, that Marcus is bad at Painful Emotions, and especially bad at saying goodbye to family members indefinitely.

Agumon: “Stupid Aniki…”

~~~~~

Agumon: “Fine! Forget him, then.”

Ouch, Agumon’s tone and wording are being a fair bit harsher and more lashing out than he was in the original!

Miki and Megumi’s Digital Gate-opening spiel doesn’t have any noticeable emotion in it, like it did in the original.

Agumon: “Aniki! … Aniki!”

~~~~~

Agumon: “Hey, you’re here! … Bye, Boss.”

Agumon’s feelings here in the original were technically ambiguous, but given the excitement in his voice – and the fact that, by the second “Aniki”, Masaru had leapt into the Dive chamber wearing a huge backpack – he was clearly realising this meant that his Aniki was coming with him after all. But apparently in the dub, Agumon somehow hasn’t figured that out yet from the context clues, and is simply happy that he’s going to get to say a proper goodbye?

Masaru: “Like hell I’ll ever say goodbye!”

~~~~~

Marcus: “Stuff your goodbyes in a sock!”

I approve of the dub translating the spirit of Masaru being so gleefully gung-ho about not saying goodbye.

I enjoy the upbeat adventurous tone of the BGM here in the original a lot, but the dub’s BGM here is… kind of nondescript by comparison.

Yoshino: “Who knows when you can come back if you go now!”

~~~~~

Yoshi: “What happens if they decide to never open up the Digital Gate again?”

Really, Yoshi? You’re really willing to accept the possibility that they might never open it, and you’ll never see Lalamon again? Come on. Yoshino was never saying anything to suggest it’d never be opened again, just that Masaru didn’t know how long it’d be.

Masaru: “Who cares! I’m gonna enjoy travelling through the Digital World no matter how long it takes!”

~~~~~

Marcus: “I have to go! With Merukimon gone, who’s gonna keep an eye on the Digital World?”

Um, what? Why is this of all things Marcus’s apparent biggest reason for wanting to go? Not because he can’t bear to be apart from Agumon and wants to keep having fighty adventures with his best friend, but just because he thinks he of all people needs to be a replacement for Merukimon??? There are plenty of other powerful Digimon who could fill Merukimon’s shoes – the Royal Knights, anyone? And it’s not like Merukimon was that important of a global figure in the Digital World anyway. Is the dub still clinging to their ridiculous nonsense fact that Merukimon was supposedly the ruler of the entire Digital World, even though that’s been explicitly contradicted by King Drasil’s existence for ages now? What the heck even.

The only way this makes any kind of sense is if Marcus is just saying this as an excuse because he doesn’t want to mention his real reason that he just wants to keep being with Agumon, but, like, why wouldn’t he say that, come on.

Also, he just completely nopes on acknowledging Yoshi’s comment that he might never be able to come back. But then, that is a pretty Marcus thing to do, so.

Suguru: “Go there and polish up your manliness!”

~~~~~

Spencer: “You go back and keep the peace.”

Of course we can’t have the manliness, so we get this instead. I guess it’s fine and fair enough for him to want Marcus to keep the peace, but it is different and less dorky compared to Suguru wanting him to grow as a person and just keep having adventures and manly fights, like he did when he was stuck there for years.

Marcus: “Let’s go, Agumon! Now we can always fight together, side by side!”

Yes, Marcus, it’s almost as if this is the real reason you want to go with him and it doesn’t need to have anything to do with Merukimon, what even was that.

Agumon: “Aniki!”

~~~~~

Agumon: “Yippee!”

While original-Agumon gave the most adorably delighted exclamation of his aniki’s name ever, dub-Agumon… kinda sounds a bit silly with this here. It just comes across like “oh, yay, fun,” and not “oh my god I’m so glad I don’t have to say goodbye to my best friend indefinitely after all.”

The dub’s opening wouldn’t really work as music to play over the epilogue, so instead, we get the Next Time On music, which I guess is probably the best thing they had for this purpose?

Oh my god, puberty-Keenan’s voice sure is a thing.

Thomas has just won some unspecified “Medical Prize”, rather than specifically the Nobel Prize for Medicine. Him being nineteen is still mentioned by the TV announcer. Does this mean it’s been five years since the events of the series, or just three? Who knows! Take your pick.

The news articles Miki and Megumi are looking at list his name as “Thomas H. Nordstein”. …That’s. That’s not how you spell Norstein, guys. It has literally never been pronounced with an audible “d” in there. How do you get this wrong. And deliberately, at that! It’s on three separate bits of edited text – in Relena’s name, too! That’s not a typo; someone legitimately thought that was how you spell their surname! Oh my god, dubbers, please try caring just a tiny bit.

Either that, or his name canonically is spelled Nordstein in the dub, with a silent D for no reason, and I’ve technically been spelling it wrong every time I’ve written “Norstein” in a dub commentary. But also no, shut up, I haven’t.

Yushima: “Well, well. It’s still noisy here as always.”

~~~~~

Yushima: “That’s our Yoshi. Always scaring the fish away.”

Not only did Yoshi’s police car zooming past scare Yushima’s fish away, apparently she... makes a habit of doing this to him, somehow? Ooookay then.

The bit at the very end with Marcus and Agumon in the Digital World uses the evolution BGM (the Ultimate-level one), which… I guess kinda works for it? They didn’t get a chance to use that BGM anywhere else in this episode because there were no regular evolution animations, but looks like they found somewhere to squeeze it in anyway.

Masaru: “Those who disturb the peace in the Digital World… this street fighter, Daimon Masaru-sama, won’t forgive you!”

~~~~~

Marcus: “Anyone caught fightin’ in the Digital World has to deal with me, Marcus Damon, the ultimate justice of the peace.”

Marcus apparently isn’t calling himself an ultimate fighter any more, even though this’d be a good time to have that in place of “street fighter”? I guess he really is leaning into that “keep the peace” thing to the point that he’s even made that part of his self-proclaimed title. I do like that they somewhat managed to keep the spirit of the self-sama in how bombastic he sounds about it.

However, I am rather iffy about the fact that he apparently does this to anybody caught fighting, full stop. Not people who are disturbing the peace in particular, like these two gangs of Digimon are doing, but just… literally any fight ever? Nobody’s even allowed to fight for friendly sport and competition, like Marcus himself so enjoys doing? Or for self-defence, if someone’s threatening them? Seems a bit hypocritical that he’s going around stopping any Digimon from simply fighting… by fighting them.

Overall differences

There’s a lot of subtle changes here, but nothing too dramatically different, for the most part.

It’s only very slightly so, but the climax of the fight is a little bit more focused on just Marcus and Agumon’s friendship than on the bond between Digimon and humans in general, which, though I love their friendship, isn’t quite the real point here. There was also that one weird line from Relena about her feeling the Digimon’s power (how), instead of showing that she’s willing the Digimon on with her Digisoul.

A lot of the lines in the cute family and friends bits are made even cuter! The dub’s often pretty good at that sort of thing. Though they did miss the opportunity to have Thomas call his father “Dad” for the first time, which the original did.

Why was there the comedic music there for the first half of Marcus and Agumon’s heartbreaking goodbye scene, that was the worst scoring choice ever, I am Mad about it. You do not take a scene like that and try to present it as a joke! No! (There’s also a bunch of other BGM choices that make some other scenes hit a little bit different, but none of them nearly as bad as this one.)

Once the BGM has stopped being terrible, the emotions in Marcus and Agumon’s goodbye scene are also switched around a bit compared to the original. While Masaru started out anguished and heartfelt and then degenerated into bitterly pushing Agumon away, Marcus begins with angry lashing out but then degenerates into open anguish and actual crying. In the original, Agumon ended the scene crying, while in the dub, Marcus is the one in tears at the end. It mostly works fine either way, but it does kind of beg the question of why Agumon just up and leaves Marcus like that – it makes more sense why he left in the original when Masaru was bitterly telling him to go.

And then, what even was that bit about how Marcus has to go to the Digital World because he needs to replace Merukimon. Not only does it not make sense that he of all people would need to do that, but why on earth would that be his primary reason for going there instead of the part where he wants to keep being with Agumon forever.

The only reason I can think of for why the dub did this is that they really felt like they had to shoehorn in some reason that Marcus needed to go to the Digital World, in order to justify his choice. They didn’t want to let him do it simply because he wanted to, simply because it’s the most Marcus choice to make in this situation and so what other reason does he even need? Because the dub’s narrative has never been okay with letting Marcus just be himself.

See, this isn’t really about this specific episode’s changes so much as it’s an overarching dub thing, but – that bit in my summary for the original episode’s post where I gushed about how much I love the way the narrative never tells Masaru not to be himself? Yeah, Data Squad has tried its best to be the complete opposite of that. It’s constantly presented Marcus as wrong and bad for being the way he is, and that’s one of the things I hate the most about how they treat him. I honestly think that if the Data Squad writers had had control over how the ending actually went, there’s a high chance they’d have written it differently so that Marcus stayed in the human world, just so he could learn to be a Normal Person like is obviously supposed to be better for him, right.

#digimon #digimon savers #digimon data squad

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trialbystory · 1 year

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On Guilty Pleasure

Been a while since I've done a,, navel-gazing kind of post, so here's a brief, meandering, possibly pointless look at my relationship/history with the concept of "Things you like that you're hesitant to tell other people about".

So for me, I was pretty much unashamed of what I was into until I hit Grade 6 in school. Before that point I went to a small, close-knit school where everyone in the same year was more or less friends. But in Grade 6 we moved to a new building, taking in kids from a bunch of different elementary/primary schools and things became kind of... fractionated, cliqueish. Suddenly I was ostracized, not just by the strangers but by my best friends as well. Why? Because I didn't like football. Or South Park. Because when we were told to do independent reading, I had the audacity to actually read. Because I enjoyed Digimon. And videogames that didn't say "EA Sports" on the back of the case. It sucked, and I stopped mentioning the stuff I was into because of that kind of social sense of shame. But hey, happy ending, near the end of the school year I finally fell in with other kids who were also into the nerdy shit. I still talk to most of them even now. But there was still stuff that was too nerdy even for them. I could talk about anime and CCG's and Final Fantasy and sci-fi books with them, but they'd get a little... non committal when I talked about fanfiction. Which, I get, not for everyone, I just enjoy fanfics in private and don't talk about it, but unlike Grade 6 I still actually have friends, so that's nice. But it kind of set a precedent.

I started backing off of stuff that I was into and my friends weren't. Eventually I stopped reading fanfiction. I changed what music I listened to, none of it was forced, and it's not like I didn't actually enjoy the same stuff my friends were into, I just took the path of least resistance. Years of stuff like backpedaling on my enjoyment of Code Lyoko, or half-heartedly defending FFXIII when a friend called it irredeemable. Eventually I got over it. I matured, my friends matured, eventually they stopped feeling the need to judge the worthiness of every piece of media and I stopped tying up my own value in the approval of my friends over my own interests. When I got into pro wrestling after checking out a new podcast from Internet Funnypeople LoadingReadyRun, I hid it at first, then started slowly sneaking in jokes and references. When I admitted I was a wrestling fan now I hedged and justified and my friends...didn't care. Eventually I fell back into reading fanfiction and I started sharing funny moments from a Slyvanas/Jaina political marriage AU while we were playing WoW together, and they fully laughed along with me. The worst anyone said was that they didn't like Slyvanas as a character. Now I'm kind of over the idea of 'Guilty Pleasures,' I enjoy the things I enjoy, and I don't feel any guilt or shame over it, so I don't hide it. The closest I get is that some stuff just doesn't come up. For example, until FlashFictionMonth a couple years ago it was never really relevant that I have a particular fondness for sweet romance stories about queer women where one is a single parent (For the curious my infection vector on that one was First Time at a Second Chance by TheGreatWeissShark, It's great, but does contain some smut; I think you get warned about it when it comes up but I can't recall for sure, so just go in aware). Or more recently I've come to greatly enjoy stories about trans folks coming out (cracking their egg/hatching is a term I've seen used?) and getting love and support from either their family, friends, or even strangers; I find that kind of thing beautiful, but it's also the kind of thing that's not necessarily the kind of story that's mine to tell, you know? (Putting Myself Together by AmaraWolfe is where I first realized I had a pattern in regards to that kind of story)

Yeah this is another one of those rambling posts that doesn't have a point. I guess what I'm saying don't be afraid to like what you like? Or to talk about it with your friends, because even if they don't share your interest there's a strong chance they won't care. Or at least not for very long.

#introspection

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shihalyfie · 3 years

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Some things to know about the upcoming 02-related movie

As someone who seems to be known for being a 02 metablogger now (and 02 lover in general), and who’s been closely following Kizuna’s development and is generally fond of the movie itself, I figured I’d probably need to address the elephant in the room that is the announcement of the upcoming (unnamed, as of this writing) 02-related movie. This is also especially because I’ve personally been on the record saying that I absolutely did not want a Kizuna sequel. And, well, on top of that, to be a bit blunt about it, a lot of us, especially 02 fans, have a lot of reason to be skeptical of Toei right now given some of the things they’ve done with this series in the past, and 02-related things in particular (trust me, the wound is still extremely fresh), so it says a lot about what it took for me to get even remotely positive about this prospect.

Well, here’s the good news: while I of course still think there’s good reason to be apprehensive, and while I wouldn’t say everyone should be getting their expectations up for it to be guaranteed fantastic (which is something I would say about anything, regardless of whether it even has to do with Digimon or not), I don’t think there’s too much to be panicked about with this movie. Again, it took a lot for the staff to gain my trust in this respect, so it’s not something I say lightly. But if you’re a 02 fan and you’re extremely apprehensive, here are my reasons for feeling this way, and, hopefully, they might make you feel a little better too.

The reason this movie exists to begin with

One of the most striking things about this movie’s reveal was that they’ve literally only just started production on this movie. This was to the point that, at DigiFes, where this was revealed, even the voice actors stated outright that they knew absolutely nothing more than what the audience knew from the trailer. Katayama (Daisuke) only knew anything in the sense that they had him record those few lines for it. So even though it’s been a whole year and a half since Kizuna released to the public, it had only just been decided to make a new movie like this. All of the statements between Kizuna and now stating that there was nothing particularly in the works at the time were completely accurate. Of course, there are obvious hints that they were setting up for this possibility (many, many people noticed the suspiciously favorable position the 02 group was in during Kizuna, and the press releases were carefully worded so that having a movie about “Daisuke and his friends” would allow any statement about Kizuna being “the last adventure of Taichi and his friends” to still be technically truthful), but for all intents and purposes it seems like there had been no actual commitment to making this 02 movie until now, and that they’d at least wanted to gauge the surrounding climate and fanbase reactions for what people were looking for before they decided to go ahead with this.

The obvious reasons as to why this movie exist involve the fact that Daisuke and co. are pretty much the only “out” you can have to continue the Adventure universe without constantly defaulting to Taichi’s group yet again, because at the very least it’d be something that you can’t deny hasn’t exactly had the best representation in recent years. Of course they’re trying to capitalize on this! I’m not going to pretend they aren’t! But producer Kinoshita left a very interesting comment about a particular goal they have with this movie:

This time, the core behind the movie is everyone from 02! Daisuke’s group has their own different kind of charm from Taichi’s, and we want to express that precisely because we’re in the times we’re in right now.

That comment alone has a lot to unpack. (For a frame of reference, Kizuna released in Japan in February 2020; development had already long finished by the time the pandemic first hit, and it was unfortunately one of the first victims of the initial lockdowns because of how bad the timing was.) Acknowledging directly that there’s something different about Daisuke’s group and their dynamic, which makes them especially suited for what we need in “the current times”...hmm, what could that be?

The implied answer is one that many 02 lovers will know very intimately: the 02 group’s particular specialty is in uplifting others and giving each other emotional support. While Adventure had traces of these themes, 02 was the one that went really hard on the themes of dealing with grief and loss, the existential crisis of what to do with oneself in a world placing heavy pressures on you, and how to move on from hardships with the help of others. The fact that the 02 group specializes in this more than anything else is probably one of the most distinguishing factors between them and their seniors, so there’s a very heavy implication here that they understand what distinguishes 02 from Adventure, and what it uniquely would bring to the table in this kind of movie. So this isn’t just “we’re relying on the 02 kids because they’re part of the same universe”; there’s some degree of substantial understanding of what makes 02 as a series unique, and a desire to use this to its fullest extent.

Still don’t believe me? Well, how about this...

This staff really likes 02 a lot

Seki Hiromi, the original producer of Adventure and 02, was involved as a supervisor on Kizuna’s development. Seki was personally involved in the creation of these kids and 02 itself -- she’s the one who noticed the story of the nine-year-old boy skipping grades into Columbia University, the one that formed the basis of 02 itself and eventually came back for Kizuna -- and even personally vetted Kizuna’s script to make sure everyone was in character, gave her thoughts on what the kids would be like in 2010, and was (repeatedly) commented as seeming to love the kids like her own children. As of this writing, it hasn’t been confirmed whether she’s involved on the new movie, but even if she’s not, this means that the staff on Kizuna that is returning all listened closely to those discussions about what the characters are like, straight from the mouth of one of their own creators. The new character song releases had a brief mention in Lounsbery Arthur’s interview that there were apparently extensive discussions with the staff on what the characters should be like at this time, so while Seki’s involvement with that is unknown, at the very least, a lot of conscientious thought seems to be put in at all times into maintaining these characters’ integrity.

Of course, just having an original creator alone on it doesn’t necessarily do it by itself, so here’s another interesting thing: Taguchi Tomohisa, director of both Kizuna and this movie, is also very fond of 02.

I suspect we’ll be hearing more from him as this new movie goes further into development, but Taguchi himself implied that 02 was actually the one he happened to connect with in particular, and when you really think about it, given the circumstances surrounding Kizuna, it’s not actually surprising that a movie trying to be conscientiously aware of 02′s position in the narrative would have someone with a particular fondness for it on its staff. (Reason being: a lot of Adventure fans don’t care much for 02, but you’ll almost never meet a 02 fan who doesn’t also adore Adventure.) The really fun part about this, however, is that Taguchi has repeatedly stated that 02′s first movie, Hurricane Touchdown, is his favorite Digimon movie -- in a climate where everyone else was talking about Adventure. The expected answer for the majority of Adventure fans in terms of “favorite Digimon movie” is almost always Our War Game! by knockout, but no, for Taguchi, it’s Hurricane Touchdown, and not only has he said this, he won’t shut up about it. He’s been saying this since 2019. Even Seki noticed. A whole article got made about this. He brings it up whenever he has a chance to. To top it all off, when a Kizuna event asked everyone present about their favorite characters, and everyone gave Adventure-related answers, Taguchi’s response was instead Terriermon and Daisuke. And I mean, look at Kizuna itself -- its entire plot revolves around having to move on from unhealthy nostalgia, represented by kidnapping people and turning them younger and an antagonist swallowed by their own negative emotions, which, well, is literally the plot of Hurricane Touchdown. (Yeah, that Wallace cameo is very, very likely to be sheer self-indulgence.) And considering that Taguchi said his favorite human character was Daisuke, not Wallace, it means that he understands what Hurricane Touchdown brought out of Daisuke, what his interactions with Wallace meant for both characters, and how Daisuke’s best strengths lie in his ability to support and uplift others.

And, finally, we have Yamatoya, who was responsible for penning both Kizuna’s script (and, thus, being privy to Seki’s corrections) and the bonus drama CD that came with it, on the script, and he personally said that he enjoyed writing for the 02 group because he felt they were important to lightening up the mood of the heavy story Kizuna was becoming. In fact, every comment from this staff about what the 02 group brings to the table in particular has showed a good understanding of what their appeal is -- that they have to be “fun”, that they were “healing in a heavy story”, and Taguchi himself said that he got the impression that the 02 group had more straightforward paths to their epilogue careers (which is interesting, considering that I’ve also personally pointed out that the 02 group seemed to have careers with significantly lower bars than their seniors’ due to their difference in priorities). All of these things are observations you make when you know this group and the importance of the story they came from.

Extend it even further to the rest of the staff members and you’ll find there are a lot of 02 fans on there, including the animation staff, who made some very neat observations about 02 and its finale. Miyahara Takuya is a particularly amusing case, because he seems to love Imperialdramon so much that in the thanks booklet for the deluxe edition for the Blu-ray, he drew a picture of Daisuke and Ken with Imperialdramon Dragon Mode because he didn’t get to be in the movie. (As in, he actually said, point-blank in the caption, that he loves Imperialdramon and wanted to draw him because he wasn’t in the movie.)

Of course, even if you’re trying your best, things may not always work out, so I’m not saying having love for the characters will necessarily guarantee that the product turns out for the best. However, considering that historically a lot of our fears come from the idea of them milking the name value of the characters without really caring about their integrity or understanding what the series was about (especially since a lot of people in the fanbase itself don’t tend to read 02′s nuances very well), I think, at the very least, we don’t need to worry about the staff for this movie not being conscientious, nor the idea that they’re making this movie without understanding or caring about 02.

Furthermore, one thing I appreciate is that they’re actually leading the advertisement with a premise that is distinct from Kizuna’s. Of course, it covers a similar topic of “partnerships”, and it’s very possible it’ll cover the issue of the solution to Kizuna’s problem (especially since the answer was already hinted to have a heavy relationship with 02), but nevertheless, it’s an actual premise that’s not just “Kizuna’s story, but more of it”. It’s an understanding that something 02-related should be allowed to stand on its own rather than just tacking it onto an Adventure-related thing. Beyond that, while I think it’s generally expected that a side story like this should have an original character, I think it’s actually very good this time in particular that there’s a new element/character for the 02 group to interact with; again, as with Hurricane Touchdown and Daisuke, these kids often have the best brought out of them when they’re supporting others, and honestly, because the kids suffered so much in their own narrative, I’m not particularly fond of the idea of seeing them having to go through too much more trauma themselves (it’s a big reason I don’t like the idea of a 02 reboot). So while I’m sure a lot of 02 fans feel a bit antsy that the actual group itself wasn’t advertised first, I actually consider it a positive sign that they have an understanding of what context this group performs best in, and, moreover, well...the last time they unveiled something that was so focused on advertising the return of old characters that it forgot to actually be straightforward about the premise, I don’t think that ended well. So to speak.

In general, the track record is good

It’s easy to just smile and nod at the portrayal of the 02 quartet in Kizuna, because in general everything from them is in-character, but I just want to point out how significant it is that they were portrayed so conscientiously when it is really easy to mess them up. (As I like pointing out very often: even official has not historically been very careful with Daisuke’s character.) There are so many easy pitfalls you could have fallen into and pigeonholed the kids into, but Kizuna absolutely demonstrated the quartet at their best, showing off all the nuances of their character and bringing up all the parts that were most important, especially Daisuke’s best quality being “positivity and cheerfulness” and not all of the other things about him running in circles or having a crush on Hikari-chan. This even goes down to the casting; Katayama Fukujuurou sounds terrifyingly like Kiuchi Reiko in terms of all the little nuances and pitch shifts she had in her performance, and the cast themselves spoke of all the nuances present in their characters as they were studying for their roles. These are things that even fans of the series tend to miss, but the voice actors for the quartet nailed their roles so well that it’s very easy to tell that the direction understood exactly what they were looking for and needed, and casted accordingly. Even those who didn’t care for the movie much had a very hard time disputing the voice casting for the quartet (and this is saying a lot given how much voice actor changes are often a really sore point among Japanese fans).

But while the 02 group had a limited amount of screentime in Kizuna, the staff also had a lot of opportunities to prove themselves with the drama CD and the new character song CDs, and every single aspect of these reflects something that was represented in 02 itself -- again, things that often go over the heads of people who aren’t paying as close attention. The drama CD captures a lot of the essence of the dynamics between the group in only short lines, and all of the statements about the characters in the character song interviews are accurate (and remember: Arthur said directly that there were discussions with the staff about keeping them true to character). On top of that, not only do the lyrics in said songs directly mirror each character’s development from the time of the original Best Partner series, there are also a lot of things in said songs that demonstrate a nuanced understanding of each person’s character and what they got out of the events of 02. Someone with only a surface-level understanding of Ken or Iori’s character might think that Ken should only have a soft song, or that Iori shouldn’t want to do anything ridiculous, but the series goes ahead and gives Ken one of the most passionately emotional rock songs in the batch and Iori outright rap with Armadimon, which are both fitting decisions in light of Ken actually being one of the more emotionally assertive people in this group, and Iori only being stoic because he’s strict with himself and being willing to let loose in certain circumstances (especially after the events of 02).

As of this writing, I don’t know if the new movie is going to be featuring the entire group in a major role, and I’m not sure if I even want it to; as much as I do strongly feel like the group should always work together at all times, one minor personal complaint I had about Kizuna was that it tries to do too much in too little time, and I’m personally fine with this new movie being more Daisuke-centric or something if it means it can just get a nice story on the table (after all, if I wanted something that more evenly represents the entire 02 group, I’d just go back and rewatch a very nice anime series called Digimon Adventure 02). There’s also the very thorny question of what to do about Tokumitsu Yuka, since I don’t personally really like the idea of still dragging her out of retirement like this (but I also wouldn’t want them to awkwardly write around her just for this, and I’m wondering if Sonozaki voicing Tailmon in the reboot would let people accept her as a replacement without much fighting).

Nevertheless, I think Kizuna’s staff has proven more than well enough that they understand the essence of 02 and its characters, so, again, regardless of how it turns out, I at least expect that this can be made with some degree of conscientiousness, and at this point, that’s all I can ask for. I don’t think it’s fair to expect or want this movie to be the second coming of 02, because, again, if we wanted that, I think it’d be better for us to all go back and watch that lovely little 50-episode anime called Digimon Adventure 02. But in terms of being something that can add a little nice thing to the mix, I think, so far, this movie at least has positive signs of turning out that way -- and, remember, think about what I just said about initially being very against this idea; as a diehard 02 fan who has a lot of very picky feelings about how to best represent it, it took a lot for the staff to earn my trust in this sense.

#digimon #digimon adventure 02 #digimon adventure last evolution kizuna #kizuna spoilers

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adventure-hearts · 4 years

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some thoughts after reading the Kizuna novelisation...

[ Obviously, spoilers below. ]

Please do not repost my text elsewhere! This is a review, not a translation.

After a considerable amount of trying — geez, stop making it hard for international fans to give you money by all that geoblocking! —, I managed to buy the Kindle version of the Kizuna novelisation, which is available on Amazon JP at a very cheap price. I don’t speak a word of Japanese, but it’s a very short and simple book and Google Translator and the translation feature of the Kindle app are remarkably easy and effective — resulting in a readable, if surely not completely accurate, translation. I’d recommend it, even if you don’t have the language skills to read it without help! I went through it in a few hours and now I’m slowly re-reading some key scenes and comparing it to the summary made by someone who’s actually linguistically competent, to figure out what I missed or misunderstood.

(onkei-kun is currently summarizing the novel on Twitter, so I’d recommend following her for more concrete information. I don’t feel confident enough to post any dialogue or concrete details lest I misunderstood something. The last thing I want is to spread misinformation!)

The novel is pretty good. I don’t know to what extent it will deviate from the film in terms of structure / dialogue, but I didn’t identify many “cut scenes” (except two that seem to come directly from the short films). The most interesting and “novelty” part is that you get some insight into the characters thoughts / feelings at any given time, and that’s it.

As for spoilers: they were all true, folks! Moreover, the plot setting / premise that was officially revealed in trailers and synopsis released before the film holds until you’re 40% into the book. Only then do you start to get some actual development / surprises. I wasn’t wrong when I thought this movie wouldn’t have a very complicated plot… but boy, was I wrong about the ending! Now that I know more context I’m still digesting things...

Some thoughts:

It’s very action-oriented. There are at least three big battles in this.

This is Taichi and Yamato’s story. The real surprise to me was that Yamato seemed to have an independent storyline, that is, he wasn’t just reacting to things Taichi was doing. I loved seeing him investigating stuff on his own (foreshadowing for a future career?). We really get to see how Taichi and Yamato are doing and feeling before, during, and after. And they don’t really have a fight! The other kids, however, barely register — everyone has a few lines and they participate in the battles and are involved in the plot, but they are clearly secondary characters. Sora is absent from virtually the entire book, except for the scene based the first short film. She’s the only one who isn’t taken to Menoa’s Neverland. She loses her partner in the end, as well, but we don’t get see their reactions. Gennai also has a brief cameo, and Meiko is mentioned by name.

They make up for the absence of 02 kids in tri. Not only are they very active and involved in the plot, but they arguably get more screen time than some of the Adventure cast. I loved them in this. Although (and this is not explained) it seems implied that Takeru and Hikari are not considered part of this close-knit team anymore? Something tri. suggested and that us 02 fans have to make sense of.

The ending felt really weird. On the one hand, it’s very emotional because it’s the most definitive goodbye we’ve seen so far. Agumon and Gabumon essentially die, the digivices turn to stone, and they find no cure for the inevitability that, as chosen children grow, the bond with their partners is dissolved and they die. So it doesn’t really feel like a victory. But, at the same time, everyone is full of hope things will change in the future… and since the Epilogue exists and all, we know it will change. So, it’s an unsatisfying ending — we’re in this strange place where this necessitates a sequel to make things right and, more than ever, we now do need to know how and why things are they way they are in 2028! If this is indeed The End, then they’re leaving with a bittersweet cliffhanger that creates more questions about the Epilogue than the previous sequels ever did. And it doesn’t even really go deep into developing the aspects of the Epilogue we really know about, except through what feels more like winks and Easter eggs. Would it kill them to verbalize Yamato’s decision to be an astronaut? Or acknowledge / develop the end game couples in any way, even if you don’t show them as being together at this stage? Meh.

(I should stay that the exact details aren’t very clear to me, regarding who actually lost the partners, besides Taichi, Yamato, and Sora.)

I think my favorite scene was just Taichi and Yamato having dinner and commiserating about their uncertain future and how lonely they feel as young adults, when all their friends are so busy and so sure about their careers. That’s what I’d like to see more of — actually show us all the kids’ lives and feelings, their relationships with each other, as they navigate adulthood.

Also, am I the only one who feels this was a bit of a rehash of some of tri.’s plot points, but with less time and ambition to develop the same ideas? The antagonist is an older Chosen Child dealing with the loss of her partner. Dumb chosen children trust the wrong person. Some of the older kids are over the fighting and want to lead normal lives. There’s a “permanent” separation with the Digimon. Taichi and Yamato are still figuring out their future jobs. The kids struggle because they are growing up while the Digimon stay kids and have trouble relating to them. Digimon cause problems in the real world. The only big difference is that now the Digimon are well-known in society and people know the Chosen Children are famous... I couldn’t help but feel this was a bit “been there, done that”.

So yeah, excited for the film! I’m sure this story will work better visually. But I’d like to see more. This felt… incomplete.

(Oh, and case you’re wondering: yes, the scene when Agumon finds Taichi's "adult magazines" is real.)

#digimon #dalek #dalek novelisation #kizunaspoilers

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klywrites · 5 years

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11/11/11 tag

I was tagged by @hepiit - thank you! ♥ - tag list under the cut!

rules: (not sure if these are correct ) answer 11 questions, write 11 questions of you own, and tag 11 people.

1. do you model your ocs after real people? why or why not?

in appearance, no. in terms of personality? I usually take bits here and there from tropes I like, people I’ve met, and of course a sprinkling of self-insert

2. what is the most important thing, in your opinion, about creating a character who is realistic and interesting?

personally I’d like to create characters that people can relate to or see themselves reflected in. and for me the point is always to call on compassion and understanding before judgment.

3. what was/were the inspirations for your wip(s)?

okay I’ll try my best to be concise!

RSverse: this has evolved over like a decade (more than that if you ever want the full origin story lol) and at this point I don’t know/can’t remember what inspired it.

ClanDestined: I grew up a HUGE fan of Digimon and the whole concept/trope of destined children/youth + superheroes and superpowers + angst. basically all of those wrapped up into a thing. there’s no direct inspiration. I daydream a lot too so I honestly couldn’t tell you exactly.

Angels in the Compound: that song “O... Saya” from Slumdog Millionaire

4. outline or no outline? why?

I don’t outline because I can’t follow outlines and I don’t really enjoy making them. I tried making outlines for RS1 during NaNo and actually did have some success, but... yeah I haven’t been able to follow them.

5. how do you get back into the flow of writing after being in a rut for a while?

it’s very difficult, but I just have to sit down and force myself to write. problem is I can only write usually after midnight when everyone is asleep and it’s absolutely silent.

6. do you focus on a central theme whilst writing your story, or do you develop the story and then focus on the themes later?

I don’t think of themes until much later - and only if I’m faced with the question of what the theme is, otherwise I don’t bother because it doesn’t really matter to me.

7. write a brief biography for your favorite oc.

omg... but spoilers! because my fave OC is from RS2 and I’m still writing the first series!

I will tell you though, that my fave OC is Elynia Vayl. she suffers from depression and grief. she’s ocean aesthetics (but mostly the sad kind). she mentions her parents a lot. and talks a lot about ships (the sailing kind). doesn’t have many friends, has trouble making them. too much going on in her brain sometimes so if she doesn’t answer you or she ignores you, don’t take it personally. Elles doesn’t know wtf she’s doing she’s just, like, lost at sea and drowning.

8. what makes a villain dynamic, in your opinion?

when they’re complex and not just “evil”, like maybe they have noble intentions but are going about them in the wrong ways.

9. are flaws important for your ocs, and how greatly do they affect your stories?

I don’t tend to think “okay I gotta give them a flaw” - I just try to make them relatable and that means bringing conflict in sometimes.

10. what is your favorite type of setting to write?

aw yis,

11. favorite genre to write?

a mess of things and ... fiction with less concern over plot. to echo @hepiit , what is genre?? also, what is cohesion?? my mind is scattered a lot of the time so. yeah, a mess of things!

I’m sorry I don’t have the energy to come up with new questions but these are pretty good ones already! no pressure/expectation to do this if you don’t want to! but I’m curious about @wordsbyagremlin @katiehahnbooks @reeseweston @forlornraven @minny-santa @push-the-draft @wolvesofarcadia

#tagged #kly: personal

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genehackmon · 7 years

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Tamersona Week 2017 Day 4: A Hero’s Uniform

I am so behind on Tamersona that the official week is already over, but I don’t care! This is too much fun. Sorry to have kept everyone who’s been following Jules and Buns’ story waiting... this one took much longer because I was traveling over the weekend AND of course I had to read up on everyone’s Tamersonas to be included in the post!

In the spirit of the Share The Love Tamersona Day 7, shout out to @elecmon, @tortamon, @lighdramons, @knifeoframens, @metalphantomon, @beelko and @tangy-sweetlove!! I hope y’all enjoy meeting Jules and Buns!! :)

Also, shout out to @partiallyaquatic, @icewolf741, @1ggyness, @ladykiradevimon, @gaomon, @nekoharuko, @zenchoi, @thepastyman, @mametyramon, and the whole Tamersona community because I definitely missed some of y’all and I loved reading (and still reading!) all of your OC’s!!

Ok, without further ado, here’s the next chapter in Jules and Buns’ wacky adventure!!

Prompt 4: A Hero’s Uniform (Feb 18th 2017)

Jules woke up with every limb and joint shooting with soreness.

”Ugh,” he groaned, as he righted himself up from the fold-out bed in a plaster-white waiting room. He had underestimated how exhausted he was from the night before - being tossed around and dropped into choppy seawater from ridiculous heights was not how he expected to spend a Wednesday evening - not to mention how mental everything was with meeting Michael and Buns digivolving for the first time.

He peeled his eyes open and looked up at the clock. 10:30am. He overslept. As disappointed as he was with himself, he wasn’t surprised; the long drive down with Michael and Himekawa was draining. After leaving the city so late last night, the three of them didn’t arrive at the meeting site until 4:00am.

Suddenly he felt his face pressed back into his pillow, “Wakey wakey sunshine!” teased Buns as his little feet bounced up and down the back of his head.

“Ugh, Buns - cut it out!” Jules groaned.

“Oh, someone’s grumpy this morning!” Buns giggled.

Jules ignored him and sat up. His shirt was completely wrinkled. “Enough already, didn’t Michael say everyone was meeting in the next room? We gotta get moving.” He tried patting down his shirt and straightening his collar. No use, still a mess. He combed through his hair quickly with his hands. All knots.

Jules walked quickly into the meeting room adjacent to the waiting room he had slept in. It was quite a decorative, official space, with plaques of key scientists and innovators, pictures of significant moments of technology history, and large display monitors strewn across the walls. The Computer History Museum in Mountain View didn’t spare for flare.

“Ah, look who’s finally up!” Michael greeted Jules cheerfully as he saw him stumble in with Buns on his shoulder.

“S-sorry I’m late,” Jules announced.

“That’s quite alright,” Himekawa answered, standing at the end of a long, broad table at the far side of the room. “The others haven’t arrived for long, and have been spending some time getting to know each other,” she continued in her thick foreign-but-official-accent.

Jules glanced a slight eye at Himekawa - there was nothing he liked about that pretentious woman. He looked around, and there were quite a few people all gathered around, all chatting with each other before he and Buns had walked in, and were now staring at him. What’s more, each person had another pair of eyes with them that stared - they all had Digimon!

“Wow…” Jules didn’t know what to say. Buns was taken aback as well - the little bunny hadn’t seen so many of his kind in one place since, well, as long as he could remember.

A girl with dark hair tied in a ponytail broke the silence, “Hey there, do you work for Himekawa?” she asked politely.

“Wha- what?” Jules answered frantically, “No way - why would you - “ he looked down at his own clothes. Button-down dress shirt and khakis. He looked around the room. Everyone was dressed way less formal than him, save Himekawa. “Ah, figures.” he thought. “No, uh, no I don’t. I’m new here.” He replied.

“Yeah he just looks like a dweeb all the time,” Buns added.

Everyone chuckled and Jules blushed profusely. He noticed that aside from Himekawa and Michael, everyone gave off a noticeably younger vibe than him. He felt like he had just stepped back into college or high school. Or maybe it was just he was so hopelessly out of fashion that he felt out of place.

“Ah, gotcha. The more the merrier!” said the dark-haired girl. She approached Jules and extended her hand, “My name is Liz, nice to meet you!” A small ball of flame slowly peeked out from behind Liz’s back; it had a soft glow and shy face, “And this is Minnie!”

“Oh, uh - hi. Jules. Nice to meet you. This is Buns,” Jules shook her hand, immediately feeling like his reply was stuffy. He noticed her outfit. Long-sleeved, weather-proof teal shirt; blue shawl; brown hiking boots; utility backpack with blankets and first-aid kit; this girl was prepared. “Uh, wow… you’re dressed like a… real hero.”

Michael chuckled from the back of the room near Himekawa, “Jules is the guy I was telling you guys about earlier! Him and Buns there were the first on site during last night’s emergence!”

Murmurs and commotion went throughout the room. Jules didn’t know how to respond - he was always uncomfortable in front of crowds, the only time he could be articulate was when he prepared for hours the day before a board meeting presentation at work.

Liz gave Jules a chummy pat on the back and brushed Bun’s ear. “Nice job, you two!” she said reassuringly. Buns puffed a smile full of content and climbed from Jules’ shoulder to his head in triumph.

Another girl on the other side of the room with glasses gave an approving nod. She was wearing plaid and had a large red dinosaur with intense yellow eyes next to her. In a corner, a kid that looked around college-age in a beanie giggled with a floating, tapir-looking creature.

Next to them, was a brunette girl with an orange, striped, cat-like creature perched on her shoulder. She wore a black tank top, blue arm band, and orange gloves. She took her turn at introductions, “Sounds like you two are quite a team! I’m Kana, and this is Toramon.”

A taller-looking person with blonde hair, a dark cape, studded belt, and ripped black jeans stood up from the corner of the room with an impish-looking purple creature and gave an edgy smirk. In the same corner, a girl in a vintage 1990’s Jim Lee X-Men tee shirt and a purple skirt looked on in silence, accompanied by a sheet ghost with an oversized witch hat.

Jules reached back to nervously scratch his head, only to accidentally hit Buns on his. He was trying to cope with being the focus of attention in the room. “Uh… um… thanks y’all… I guess… ha,” he replied. “Say, uh… this might sound weird, but, uh, how old are y’all?”

“Huh?” Liz was surprised by the question, “I dunno, I thought we’re all about the same? I’m 22, for what it’s worth.”

“Oh,” Jules felt slightly more comfortable, “Okay, y’all all look really young, so, uh, I just didn’t know… you know? I mean, I felt old.”

“Ha! Relax my man! Are you scared of college kids or somethin’?” laughed Michael.

“Jules is scared of his own shadow if you don’t tell him it’s gonna be there beforehand,” jabbed Buns, always ready to get one in.

“Man, you’re a firecracker, Buns!” Michael and the others in the room laughed along, “Hey man, I’m 25 here, don’t make me feel like a fossil.”

“No that’s not what I meant - I’m 24.” Jules quickly replied with an apologetic tone, “Anyway,” he turned to Himekawa, suddenly firm and determined, “I asked because I want to know - why the hell do you have a bunch of kids gathered here, lady?”

Himekawa sighed and smiled. She closed her eyes for a moment, then looked straight at Jules, unwavering. “I suppose I owe everyone here an explanation,” she started. She began her long briefing in her distinct serious, foreign tone.

“My name is Himekawa Maki. What all of you need to know is that I am part of an international agency responsible for the monitoring and resolution of digital anomalies. It is our duty to prevent and deter cyber threats of any manner of manifestation, and we operate independently from political boundaries towards this cause.”

“Woah, that’s a lot of gibberish there,” commented Liz.

Himekawa ignored the remark and continued, “To put it simply, I’ve gathered all of you here to inform you of your current situation and to ensure your safety.”

Jules scoffed, “Our safety?! What exactly do you think is our situation?!” He looked at Michael, “Michael, did I not tell you the whole story in the car?” He turned back to Himekawa, “I trust Michael, but you, I still think you’re up to something fishy!” he accused.

“Mr. Yue, if you are referring to the emergence incident last evening in San Francisco, that is part of the reason I have brought all of you here today,” Himekawa responded.

“So you’re saying… what happened to Jules here, and the Blossomon that Minnie and I encountered, these things are connected?” Liz asked.

“Precisely. The frequency of digital anomalies is something that is unprecedented since the Demiurge Incident of ‘06. I believe you are familiar with the event?”

“The… Demiurge Incident?” Jules repeated in confusion.

“Okay, lady, you really lost me now,” said Liz. All eyes around the room looked towards each other for some kind of confirmation. No one had a clue. Liz glanced at Michael, who was patiently waiting for Himekawa to explain.

“Interesting that no one here admits to the rumors they’ve heard on the internet,” observed Himekawa, “considering that I found all of you through your forum browsing history.”

“You what?!” Liz was shocked.

“Please hold a moment,” Himekawa held a hand up calmly, “The Demiurge Incident is the designation used to refer to the string of digital resurgences in Tokyo, Japan that occurred six years after the viral digital anomaly broadcast of 2000. I’m sure some of you have seen the term “Demiurge” used in online communities that expound on theories regarding entities known as ‘Digimon.’ We believe that the emergences this time are similar to the events of 2006. However, there is one major difference.” Himekawa paused.

“Uh, okay… what?!” prodded Jules, frustrated with Himekawa’s complicated explanations.

“We believe that the current emergences are synthetically triggered. Our intel has led us to match several distortions of the digital plane coming from IP addresses of a linked server during the same time as the most recent emergences. Digital anomalies have consistently appeared in many locations where our agents are stationed around the world. We believe that a highly sophisticated cyber sleuth has compromised the system and is carrying out a vendetta against our organization.”

“Hold on… let me get this straight,” Jules rubbed the bridge of his nose, “You’re telling me, some super hacker is messing up the apparently world-class act that you’ve got going on, and your solution is to bring us all here to, what? Keep us safe?! Aren’t you making things more dangerous by having everyone be a sitting duck around you?!”

“The opposite actually,” Himekawa replied matter-of-fact-ly.

Michael sighed and propped himself up on a desk, leaning his back on the wall and kicked back his feet. He knew the twist.

“You see,” Himekawa continued, “our organization has been keeping an eye on each of you for a long period of time, to ensure that these anomalies you call Digimon that you spend time with do not pose a threat to public safety.” Himekawa glanced at each of the tamers in the room, all with various degrees of distressed looks on their faces. “However, our current ability to keep both you and your partners safe from each other and yourselves is compromised due to the many emergences we discussed that are occurring globally at a rapid pace.” Himekawa suddenly looked down, as if in shame, “I’ve asked you all here today as a request for you and your partners to assist us in finding the culprits behind these attacks.”

“Huh,” grunted Jules, “So you want to use us as pawns in your weird cybersecurity games?”

“We will need your help to keep the public safe,” Himekawa reiterated.

“Sorry, no thanks,” said Jules. He turned away with the slightest of hesitations, “this isn’t our problem. And if you ask me, the public isn’t any safer with your kind roaming around.”

Jules started towards the door quickly, only to trip over Buns, who had jumped down to stop him. “Jules! Wait a minute!” he pleaded.

“No, Buns. We’re going.” Jules insisted.

Suddenly, a bright flash emitted from one of the large display monitors on the wide boardroom walls, and two figures jumped out from the light as if the computer screen was a portal.

“Well?” Himekawa said to the unknown figure while the rest of the room still struggled with the light almost blinding their eyes.

As his vision came back to focus, Jules saw a puffy-haired girl with goggles, a hooded cape, and heavy boots stepping out from the light; a true adventurer’s garb. A small, blue, pointy-eared creature followed her.

“Nothing,” said the girl. “Vic and I searched everywhere. No sign of any rogue tamer.” The girl’s cloak was tattered and caked in dirt.

Vic the Veemon plopped down on his butt, exhausted and full of scratches on his body. “I’m pooped! Man, I could really use a doughnut right now,” he moaned.

“Jeez Choco, you and Vic look rough! What happened out there?!” Michael jumped down from the desk he was sitting on to help Vic back on his feet, and Bates crawled next to Choco to comfort her.

“We ran into a swarm of Vilemon, and then a Devidramon attacked out of nowhere,” Choco explained as she pet Bates, “Vic had to digivolve into two forms, first into Raidramon to run out from the swarm, then into Flamedramon to duke it out with that Devidramon.” Choco gave Vic a fist bump, “You did great pal.”

“You know it!” Vic mustered a boast despite feeling completely worn out, “whoever is behind all these disturbances, though, they ain’t messin’ around!” he added.

“Unforgivable!” shouted Ray, the girl in the plaid shirt and glasses. Newt the Guilmon growled in agreeing resentment.

“I’m sorry the mission was not successful,” apologized Himekawa, “however, it’s prudent that we continue the search.”

“This is insane,” Jules protested, “You - this… this girl just jumped out of the computer screen like it’s a window, all beat up, and you’re telling more people to go into that thing?! Y’all should call the cops or something. I’m done here.” Jules walks towards the door again.

“Jules!” Buns yelled and tugged at Jules’ leg, but he didn’t budge and keeps walking. Suddenly, Jules felt a grip on his arm that stops him.

“Hey!” Liz called out, “can’t you see what’s going on here? These people could use your help. We’re all in this together.”

“‘We?’ What does this have to do with me? With Buns?!” exclaimed Jules, “you don’t know what you’re talking about. You’re all naive. Go home.”

“No, you’re a coward,” Liz stated firmly, “you think I don’t know what’s going on? You think you’re the only one here with a Digimon you care about? Wake up. We all have partners. We all love them more than anything, and we’re not going to let some punk just bully his way around, terrorizing innocent people. If you’re too scared to do something when it counts, be my guest and go.”

Jules was silent, stunned. He lost Bao once and he had vowed; never again. “You don’t understand,” he cried, “I won’t do it. I won’t lose Buns too!”

“Jules…” Buns muttered, standing behind Jules, at a loss for words.

Liz let go of Jules’ arm. Minnie gathered cautiously next to the two of them. “Look,” Liz said patiently, “I don’t know what happened to you, what happened to Buns. But you need to trust in each other. Minnie here is my world. She might be bashful, she might be tender, but together our flame burns bright and we are strong. You need to believe in yourself, and believe in Buns.”

Jules wiped away his tears angrily with his sleeve. Liz was right, he thought. His whole life, he had been afraid. Afraid of what would happen if he lost safety, if he lost control. He had spent his whole life running from risk. He gritted his teeth.

No more.

Jules turned around and scooped up Buns from under his little arms. “Where are we going?” he said with determination, looking straight at the still-open digital portal.

Buns looked up at his partner, big beady eyes and wiggling dumb smile full of emotion that he could barely contain.

“That’s the spirit!” cheered Michael.

Liz smiled.

“Um… guys, c-count me in too!” came a softer voice from the corner of the room. It was the young college-aged kid, dressed in a beanie with a floating mammal by their side. “I-I didn’t introduce myself. My name is Salem, and this is Baku!” The Tapirmon floated down slightly in a polite bow.

“Fantastic!” exclaimed Michael, “Now it’s a party!”

“Right. A group strategy should increase our chances of finding the culprit behind these emergences,” reasoned Himekawa, “the rest of you should stay here in case we need to relieve the other group. As long as each team has a D-3, we should be able to transport all of you quickly between the physical and digital world.”

“Great! Good thing we have Salem with us!” Liz gave Salem a supportive nudge.

“Ms. Choco and Vic, please stay and recover for the time being.” Himekawa requested.

Ray, Newt, Kana, Toramon, Choco, and Vic nodded at Himekawa’s orders. The taller blonde with the cape and the girl with the X-Men tee in the back corner rolled their eyes.

“Okay, here goes nothing,” Salem holds up their D-3 as Baku snuggles up against them.

“Alrighty, see you crazy cats on the other side!” cheered Michael as Bates let out an energetic bark.

Liz cupped Minnie close.

“Here we go!” shouted Buns, still tight in Jules’ arms. “Here we go,” sighed Jules.

Woah!! The plot thickens!! So many cool new characters!! When are they gonna eat breakfast?! Why do tamers always beat up on Vilemons and Devidramons??! Is the writer losing it?!?! They better stop adding cliffhangers to cliffhangers next time on Tamersona Day 5: Way To Grow!

#tamersona #tamersonaweek #digimon #oc #jules #buns #liz #minnie #salem #baku #choco #vic #kana #toramon #jack #mukade #ray #newt #metalphantomon #a hero's uniform

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jolteonjordansh · 7 years

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Thoughts on Digimon Adventure tri.: “Determination”

Look everybody, it’s my favorite word! Noting that, no, I’m not here to make Undertale jokes. But it’s a pretty good choice of words for this “movie”, but let’s not waste any time and jump straight into talking about the second entry of the Digimon Adventure tri. series.

I guess the best way to start this off is to compare how it fares against the first film. I’ll go ahead and get some of the negatives out of the way. First off, if you really hate filler content, you probably are not going to like or did not like “Determination”. There’s hot springs, shopping, school festivals... There’s a lot of padding. Personally, it’s not an issue for me because it takes either a lot of filler or really bad filler to irritate me to the point of not like something (you’re talking to someone who adores the Pokémon DPPt anime, which is probably among the most guilty of having too much filler and bad filler on top of it). I felt some of it was cute enough or helped balance the mood for topics I’ll get into later for this.

I’ll get Meiko out of the way here. She’s more involved now, but... She’s still just as bad if not gradually getting worse, at least for me. Her shy qualities are really in your face in this movie, down to the point that I swear she’s blushing in every scene. It’s ridiculous. But don’t worry, she’s not perfect! She’s super clumsy and not a perfect little girl! She’s just doing her best! I don’t know what it is about writers, but they need to understand this: clumsiness is not a flaw. It is a trait. And it quickly becomes a very irritating trait rather than the endearing trait when you constantly exploit it. Hell, at least Colette’s clumsiness from Tales of Symphonia actually moved the plot at times. I’m not saying it was meant to be her flaw either, but at least the writers there did something with it instead of using it as a flimsy excuse to try to flesh out Meiko as a character.

Other than that, she doesn’t particularly do a lot of damage. She’s just sort of there. It’s Meicoomon who does a lot of the damage by the end of this movie because she Dark Digivolves and kills Leomon, except since he was in the real world, he’s Dead for Real™ much like Wizardmon in the original Digimon Adventure. His death comes a little more suddenly than anything, but it is still upsetting since I actually liked Leomon in this movie because he was the guardian figure for the other Digimon throughout it (Papa Leomon is best Leomon). Plus, Meicoomon is supposedly the source of the infection subplot going on--which I’m pretty sure is going to be revealed as a lie later on--and sets up for being the biggest problem for the next movie. But I’ll get to that when I get to it.

The only other big problem is how Mimi’s development is prompted. I’m not against the development at all, but the way it was forced was honestly kind of stupid. She wants to show Togemon fighting off an infected Ogremon with the media around to prove Digimon are good, but rather than using Needle Spray forwards like it’s pretty much always been depicted, instead Togemon spins and causes a nearby news helicopter to crash. Thankfully, no one is killed, but the mistake and blame being pushed on Mimi really hurts her. I get what the writers were trying to do and I like the development Mimi gets in the process, but changing the form of the attack for this moment (Needle Spray has been depicted in a 360 radius only a few times) was just stupid. I think maybe if they had put emphasis on Mimi maybe wanting to show off with Togemon rather than giving the Digimon a good image, it might have worked. She would clearly be going for careless flashiness. But it just sort of seems like a second thought here.

Still, the development itself is really good. Mimi really begins to soak in how vain and narcissistic she’s been this time, rather than it just being touched on here and there but not really being dealt with in the original series. The reality actually hits her, and it clearly hits her hard. It’s much-needed development that I think Mimi always lacked before. Not something that necessarily needs to be fixed--it’s her character flaw--but something for her to acknowledge and address.

Joe also receives some much-needed development himself. He remained in the background for “Reunion” and remains there for a while in this too, but the development is really strong, gradual, and even extremely relatable. In the original, a lot of the time he felt useless and like a constant screw-up. Here, he’s confused about how to handle being a DigiDestined while still trying to meet the high expectations that have been placed upon him as he works to try to be a normal functioning member of society. He clearly feels a sense of uselessness by standing by and not helping the rest of the DigiDestined, but at the same time he doesn’t understand why he has to be among them in the first place and deal with the responsibilities of it. But because of these burdens, Gomamon believes he must also be a burden to Joe and runs away. This leads to a really powerful and painful confrontation between them, with Gomamon feeling abandoned by Joe as he rejects being a DigiDestined, but thus rejecting Gomamon as well.

I know I carry some bias for Joe and Gomamon being my favorite characters of the series, but it’s their development as well as Mimi’s that’s so well done. Joe’s had been building since “Reunion”, while Gomamon’s began during this movie and Mimi’s had been a long time coming all the way back to the original series. It’s so satisfying to see these characters grow here, and it’s part of why I can excuse some of the excess filler in this movie. In the background, all of this is developing and slowly coming into fruition. It’s not rushed, and it’s not really in your face until towards the end where it all comes to the ending climax.

There are some elements I want to talk about that are towards the end. First, I’m probably going to say something I don’t think most would expect from me based on my past posts on my feelings of Digimon. Holy. Shit. I like Kari and her character. And it’s not I’m not saying this as a joke. I have admitted that she’s at least likable, but I mean it when I say I genuinely like Kari and her character in tri. I think it helps that though she hasn’t had any huge moments in tri up to this point, she seems... normal. Like an actual human being. She emotes, she isn’t being used as a constant plot device, and her behavior actually seems normal. She doesn’t really do anything out of the ordinary, but she’s honestly a helpful figure.

In fact, it’s when she confronts Joe towards the end that her character really works. She’s the one who has to remind him that it’s not being a DigiDestined that matters, but being Gomamon’s partner is and that’s the only answer and purpose he should need to be taking part in these fights. It’s not even one of the best moments from Kari in tri, but one of her best moments period. She’s logical and sincere here, and she clearly cares about what happens to her friend and Gomamon. Maybe it seems like I’m making a huge deal out of this, but her impact has never felt so important as it has here. She doesn’t do this because the plot demands it, but because she actually cares about what happens to Joe and Gomamon, and she’s serious and firm about it. Maybe I could argue that because of Meiko’s presence it feels more like the Sue traits have been pushed to her and Kari looks like a good character by comparison, but I don’t think that’s the case. I think the writers have just actually figured out how to handle Kari, at least here. So in regards to the future, I really hope they have some good material with her when we inevitably get episodes that focus on her for tri later on.

It’s also this chain of events that honestly leads to my favorite fight in tri so far. Granted, I understand that’s not saying a lot when tri hasn’t had a lot of battles so there isn’t a lot to compare to, but it’s still really powerful. Considering the fight is with the “Digimon Kaiser” (I put that in quotes because I think even here we can agree it’s likely not the real Kaiser) with an Imperialdramon against Togemon and a Joe-less Gomamon, it instantly looks hopeless. But it’s after Kari’s pep talk that Joe returns to be by Gomamon’s side and even manages to get him to Digivolve all the way to Mega form. Mimi ends up inspired by this, and also helps Togemon Digivolve all the way to Mega as well. It ends up being a really awesome fight between Vikemon and Rosemon against an Imperialdramon, not to mention I’m all for THE POWER OF FRIENDSHIP, so seeing Joe come back and empower Gomamon through evolution (especially since this was Gomamon’s first evolution in the whole tri series), I felt some serious excitement watching him Digivolve through each stage.

I guess the only other thing I can think of to really comment on in terms of plot is Himekawa. It’s pretty clear through a few actions that she’s pulling the DigiDestined by their strings and plotting something bigger. I’ll admit, there were moments here and there where I wasn’t sure if she could be trusted, but there’s been a few brief moments that make it clear to me she’ll inevitably become the central antagonist (after she told Meicoomon to stay put, completely alone, that automatically built my suspicion). Honestly, the moment the government was getting involved with the DigiDestined, I was already suspicious. But I think it’s at least clear so far that Himekawa and Nishijima have different agendas.

I complained a little about the animation in “Reunion”, but it has some improvement in these episodes. There’s less weird frames (though there were a couple of shots where Gomamon’s head looked a little big), but it overall looks better. I especially like some of the other evolution animations in this. The Ultimate animations are really cool with the use of the crests as well as the Mega animations. I guess I’d only really complain about the pointless bouncing boob physics on Rosemon, but that isn’t to say even the original Digimon didn’t do weird things with Digimon like Angewomon and LadyDevimon. But seriously though, why the hell did Nerfertimon have boobs?

The music still sounds good, voice acting still sounds good, and the Brave Heart that kicked in at the end--which even had to loop more than once from how much time the evolution animations took up as well as the battle itself--really got me fired up. I just remember my mouth dropping further down to the ground with every evolution Gomamon did. It was definitely a highlight moment for me to see Vikemon and Rosemon as well as Leomon fighting his own infection take down a freaking Imperialdramon.

Overall, even though there’s a lot of dragging moments and some annoying flaws for “Determination”, the great development of characters like Joe and Mimi and even some improvement with Kari really makes it for me. There were a lot of cute moments with the Digimon, even if it meant a bit of filler, and the last fight scene was just worth the build-up for me. Overall, I still enjoyed this movie quite a bit, even when it tore me up to actually relate with Joe’s own struggles as well as seeing poor Gomamon cry.

But “Determination” is only the beginning of tri tearing me to pieces.

#Shut Up JJ #Digimon Adventure tri #final thoughts

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commentaryvorg · 3 years

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Digimon Savers Commentary Episode 3 - The Genius Who Returned Home, Tohma! Crush Meramon!

In this episode, we’re introduced to Tohma, whose return to the Japanese branch of DATS immediately sparks a hostile rivalry between him and Masaru. Meanwhile, Masaru’s first mission as a DATS member presents him with the tricky conundrum of figuring out how to punch fire.

We open with Masaru and Agumon stuffing their faces at the Daimon family breakfast table.

Sayuri: “My, my. Masaru never usually gets up before the afternoon on a Sunday. This must be thanks to Agu-chan!”

Masaru habitually sleeping in on non-school days is deeply relatable.

But more importantly, it’s lovely that him meeting Agumon has changed that! Though Masaru might have got something out of fighting random street punks before, it seems that it wasn’t quite exciting enough to him to get him out of bed early for it. It was probably more just that he’d wander around town bored and pick fights with anyone who seemed up for it out of a lack of anything better to do.

But now that he and Agumon have got all these Digimon to fight, Masaru’s got a real reason to wake up as soon as possible to go do that! Meeting Agumon has genuinely made him a whole lot happier with his life.

Also it is adorable how Sayuri and Chika have already taken to calling Agumon “Agu-chan”. It’s a cute sign that they see him as exactly the dorky kid that he is rather than as some weird monster, and also that they see him as one of the family, which is absolutely what he is now.

Can we please appreciate Chika’s done-ness here. I love her.

Masaru: “What the hell, Mom! Serve me before Agumon!”

Sayuri: “I never said you wouldn’t have your share. Just wait for a bit. After all, Agu-chan’s still a child.”

Again with the just treating Agumon like the big kid that he is. Sayuri is so good.

We are also introduced to the glorious treasure that is Sayuri’s fried eggs! Agumon has certainly discovered how great they are.

(Technically, these are tamagoyaki, a Japanese miniature rolled omelette thing. But the subs go with fried eggs, which is close enough and rolls off the tongue quicker in English.)

Masaru: “Gimme that!”

Agumon: “I won’t hand over the last of Sayuri’s fried eggs, not even to you!”

Oh, won’t you, Agumon? Not ever?

(This is another line to keep in mind for a lot later.)

Chika: “What a child…”

As Masaru wrestles Agumon in an attempt to literally get the fried egg back from out of his mouth, Chika observes that she’s somehow the most mature of the three Daimon kids. (Yes, I said three, what of it.)

Meanwhile, Tohma is… having a gratuitous shower scene. Uhhh, sure. Apparently this totally needed to be his introduction. …Look, at least I appreciate that the fanservice is being equal-opportunity in terms of gender. (For now.)

He also has a butler, and is living in a pretty big but mostly quiet and empty mansion. This sequence is about showing the huge contrast between Masaru and Tohma’s home lives, but I do not know why the writers thought a shower scene was necessary for that.

(Tohma mentioned at the end of last episode that this country is his mom’s homeland, but he sure doesn’t appear to be staying with his mom right now, does he.)

Agumon attempts to fit himself into the basket of a bike which I can only imagine is Chika’s, because I don’t think Masaru’s bike would be pink. Agumon doesn’t seem to realise this. Chika doesn’t seem to want to tell him. He is such a ridiculous dork.

Meanwhile, Tohma gets seen off in the morning by the mansion’s staff bowing goodbye to him, and then is driven around in a limo.

Masaru’s “transportation”, on the other hand, is running down the street while giving Agumon a piggy back. Apparently this is so that Agumon can stay still and pretend to be a really big stuffed toy, but he’s kind of ruining that by talking and waving his arms around to cheer his aniki on.

(Of course, the most obvious way to not have Agumon raise suspicion would be to keep him in his Digivice, but it seems they’ve already agreed offscreen that that’s not an option because Agumon doesn’t like it in there. Yoshino and Satsuma would probably have some words to say to them about that, but hey, they’re not here, so Masaru’s gonna let his follower stay outside and be happier.)

Masaru: “Uh… what do I press again? This? No…”

Masaru, that DATS earpiece only has like two buttons on it, it can’t be that hard to figure out.

Yoshino: “We have a Digimon signal.”

Masaru: “Where?!”

Yoshino: “Area C-7. Can you get there directly?”

Masaru: “Yeah! Leave it to us!”

Not pictured: Masaru wondering where the heck “C-7” is and why he impulsively said he could definitely get there when it could be on the other side of the city for all he knows.

(Okay, that’s probably not actually what happens. Somehow we are supposed to believe that Masaru – Masaru – memorised all these location codes that DATS uses remarkably quickly. I imagine he knows the city quite well, but these codes for the areas are presumably a DATS-only thing that civilians wouldn’t be familiar with.)

Street punk #1: “So boring…”

Street punk #2: “Nothing’s going on at all…”

PetitMeramon: “Nothing at all!”

This is the first time we’ve seen a rampaging Digimon speak… but it doesn’t necessarily seem to be expressing its own thoughts. Rather, it’s just parroting these bored dudes. The PetitMeramon goes on to float down the street and set things on fire, which certainly makes it so that something interesting’s finally going on. It almost seems as if this is happening because these dudes were bored and wanted some kind of excitement, even if they weren’t necessarily wishing for this.

This is almost immediately followed by Masaru and Agumon showing up, which… the timing of that doesn’t exactly work out for the PetitMeramon to have only just appeared, assuming this is the Digimon signal Yoshino told him about while he was still in his own neighbourhood. But I’m still very sure that the writers want us to feel like these dudes’ boredom is related to the PetitMeramon being here, and honestly, showing us that is more important than getting meaningless details like the timing of things exactly right, so I don’t actually care.

Masaru: “Let’s fight!”

PetitMeramon: “Fight…”

Again, still not really speaking for itself, just parroting. Though this time it’s parroting a different person, so maybe what we can take from this is that there were some other bored people who originally brought it here and now it’s just parroting and acting on the thoughts of whoever happens to be nearby. (It’s true that we didn’t actually hear the sound of a Digital Gate opening just now.)

Unfortunately for our pair of dorks, a living fireball like PetitMeramon is immune to Agumon’s fire attacks and not solid enough for Masaru to punch. And without punching it, Masaru can’t get his Digisoul, so he can’t evolve Agumon either. This is the absolute worst possible enemy for them to try and fight.

Naturally, they just chase it further down the street anyway, giving absolutely no care to the random dudes who just watched a giant lizard and a living fireball duke it out. Despite being a DATS member now, Masaru is still really not here for all of the calculated government secrecy stuff.

Luckily, Tohma arrives on the scene in his limo and cleans up these loose ends Masaru left using a memory-wipe flashy thing. And, to be fair, I wouldn’t be surprised if Satsuma just didn’t even give one of those to Masaru in the first place. I’m not sure I’d trust him not to accidentally point it the wrong way when using it or something, given that he could barely figure out the two buttons on his earpiece. Masaru and technology do not mix.

(…Though I have to wonder why Gaomon then emerges from the limo and isn’t inside his Digivice. Sure, the flashy thing knocked out those dudes so they’re not a problem right now, but do you really not expect to run into any more people as you chase down the target? …But of course, the only real reason Gaomon is out right now is so that we can get a brief glimpse of him as a stinger before the opening.)

Okay! Okay!

I can jump over any limits!

Feel that excitement passionately!

Some more gung-ho opening lyrics! These feel appropriate here, as the idea of Masaru’s burning passionate excitement is going to be a bit of a thing in this episode, as is the idea that he brashly considers himself to have no limits whatsoever.

At DATS HQ, Masaru is grumpy about not being able to win.

Yoshino: “Well, I didn’t think it would go easily for you from the start.”

Honestly, having seen how easily Masaru handled the fights in the first two episodes, I would have expected things to go easily for him, at least in terms of fighting. It only didn’t because this specific enemy happens to be immune to all of his usual tactics. The more logistical side of things, such as the secrecy and the memory wiping stuff, I can see Masaru needing a while to get used to (though, spoiler, he’s, uh, never really going to become any good at that at all), but not the fighting.

Tohma shows up with the PetitMeramon’s Digiegg, presenting it to Yoshino and not even acknowledging Masaru’s presence.

Miki and Megumi, the two young women who work the tech side of things at HQ, begin fawning over him, which is, uh, a liiittle questionable when he’s fourteen and they’re… it’s never made clear exactly how old, but definitely at least adults. Thankfully, this mostly goes away and stops being much of a thing after this episode.

There is also Gaomon! He is a good dog. Though right now he’s being as dismissive as his master and ignoring Agumon when Agumon tries to ask who he is.

Masaru: “You bastard! You took away my prey!”

It’s so Masaru to be mad about this. That PetitMeramon was his opponent first, and now he can’t even settle the fight himself because this guy came in and defeated it before he could!

Tohma barely looks at him, and…

Masaru: “What, gonna fight?”

…of course Masaru is ready to start a fight over this, because this is how he’s used to settling disputes.

But actually Tohma was just turning to walk towards Satsuma, still pretty much entirely ignoring Masaru’s presence.

Tohma: “I’ve looked through the written reports, and it seems rather peculiar that there are a large number of Digimon detected in this country lately.”

[…]

Satsuma: “Is the frequency not as high in EU?”

Tohma: “No. It must be because it has a larger area.”

I do not understand what Tohma is trying to get at with that last part. Since Europe is bigger than just Japan, surely that means they’d expect more Digimon incidents in it, not less.

That weird part aside, though, it is a relevant point that Japan in particular has been seeing more Digimon incidents than anywhere else. There’s a reason for this.

Masaru is fed up with Tohma acting like he doesn’t exist and walks up to cough pointedly behind him. It’s actually rather unlike Masaru to be passive-aggressive and indirect like this, but it does amuse me.

Satsuma: “Oh, let me introduce you. This is…”

[Tohma barely even glances at Masaru; Masaru gets angry]

Masaru: “Hey! I don’t care if you’re called Tohma or Tonma… but around here, I’m your senpai! I’ve only been here for three days, but make sure to call me ‘Daimon-san’ or ‘Daimon-senpai’!”

Not that it takes much for Masaru to go back to his usual direct approach to things. Tohma just waltzing in here, easily defeating the opponent that Masaru was struggling against, getting immediate respect from everyone else in the room and barely even acknowledging Masaru as worthy of looking at makes Masaru feel inferior, which riles him up and gets him flailing to assert some kind of superiority in a really transparent way.

See, Masaru wouldn’t usually care all that much about people showing the appropriate politeness when referring to him, but when it’s this jerk who’s making him feel like this, damn right he’s going to insist that the three days more he’s been here is totally enough to count as making him a senpai. (A senpai means someone senior within the same group; it’s a Japanese concept that doesn’t quite have a direct English equivalent, hence the subs leaving it as-is and just giving us a translators’ note explaining it.)

Calling him “Tonma” – which another translators’ note informs us is a word for an idiot, so basically Masaru’s just insulting him in a very juvenile way – is, of course, not exactly the best way to establish himself as a mature and senior senpai.

Satsuma and Yoshino point out that actually Tohma is Masaru’s senpai, because he used to work here until he took a six-month trip to work at a DATS branch in Europe, which he’s just returned from.

Masaru: “B-But no matter how you look at it, he’s the same age as I am…”

Establishing Tohma’s age as being also fourteen. (Though technically Masaru wouldn’t necessarily know his exact age and is just saying he seems similarly aged, but whatever, Tohma is fourteen as well, let’s go with it. Their rivalry has a much more fun dynamic if they really are exactly the same age rather than one having a year or two of seniority over the other.)

They also go on to add that Tohma is a genius who already has a degree (and even more than that, as we’ll later learn). And, okay, while on paper Tohma’s genius achievements are probably wildly unrealistic for anyone to have managed at the age of fourteen no matter how clever they are, it doesn’t really bother me. In practice, the genius thing isn’t here to make Tohma magically unrealistically special; it’s here to make him interesting and a great foil for Masaru. Tohma is a very well-written character whom I really like, almost as much as Masaru, and I’m looking forward to getting to talk about him a lot here.

On top of this, the Norstein family is Austrian nobility, so Tohma’s practically a prince as well. (Again, there’s very much a point to this that’s relevant to his character and not just for the sake of making him special). And they add that Gaomon is the most accomplished battler they have among the Digimon at DATS (not that there’s that many for him to compete with there).

Satsuma: “Be sure to get along with each other, as you are colleagues.”

Yep, Masaru’s sure to have no problems getting along with this person whom you just lengthily explained is way more awesome than he is despite being the same age as him.

Masaru certainly doesn’t seem too happy about this.

Tohma: “I think it will be futile to do so, Captain Satsuma. There is not a chance that this person could benefit DATS.”

Masaru: “What d’you mean?!”

[Tohma only barely glances at Masaru before turning back to the Captain]

Tohma: “People like him should be dismissed at once.”

…Though, it turns out, Tohma is also equally unwilling to even attempt to play nice. All this barely even glancing at Masaru and talking about him rather than to him is kind of a dick move. Really, Masaru and Tohma are being equally as rude to each other here, albeit in completely different ways.

Masaru: “Say that to my face! Look into a person’s eyes when they’re talking!”

And I love that this in particular is what gets to Masaru the most. He’s always so straightforward, and being that way is important to him. He can’t stand people beating around the bush and being vague about their intentions rather than just coming out and saying what they really mean directly to the person involved.

To be fair to Tohma, he does actually listen and look Masaru straight in the eye this time.

Tohma: “You and your partner are not suited for DATS.”

Yoshino: “Tohma!”

I like Yoshino protesting here. Even she thinks this is going a bit far.

And it is a bit far, really – sure, Tohma caught a glimpse of Masaru and Agumon’s rather unfortunate fight against the PetitMeramon earlier, but that’s hardly enough evidence to decide that they have absolutely nothing to offer. This says less about Masaru and Agumon and more about Tohma himself: he’s something of a perfectionist, and he doesn’t like the idea of working with anyone who doesn’t match up to his very high standards.

(College degree as a teenager? Member of Austrian nobility? Yeah, we can already guess where some of that might come from.)

Masaru, being Masaru, has had enough and just tries to punch Tohma – but he blocks it easily.

Tohma: “Really, now. You want to face me with that level of power? How incredibly pathetic.”

Masaru: “What do you mean, ‘that level’? How strong does that make you, then?!”

This is the first person Masaru’s met in probably a really long time who’s said anything to the effect that he’s not strong enough, who’s implied that there’s some other, higher level of strength that Masaru just doesn’t have yet. He’s not used to thinking of his strength in those terms, and feeling inferior. Isn’t he supposed to be the number one street fighter in Japan? How can there be any kind of greater strength he doesn’t have?

Tohma: “Do I have to answer that?”

Masaru: “Yeah! Go on, show me! Let’s see the truth behind all that bragging!”

Of course Tohma has to answer that and actually prove himself! Masaru is all about actions rather than words; if someone’s claiming they’re stronger than him, there’s no way he’s going to just accept that until he tests it out for himself.

It turns out Tohma is indeed perfectly willing to put his money where his mouth is, because we cut to what’s presumably a gym somewhere in the DATS HQ, in which there is a boxing ring. I might call this awkwardly convenient, but no, actually, since Tohma used to work here (and he’s into boxing, as we’re about to see), it makes a lot of sense that he might have asked to have one installed for himself to use recreationally in between missions.

Yoshino: “Hey! Put on your headgear!”

Masaru: “I don’t need it! Besides, he’s not wearing any!”

Masaru and Tohma are both being reckless idiots here, pointlessly endangering themselves because of their pride. They’re both telling themselves “I don’t need to protect myself to win against him”, and they’re certainly not going to be the only one to wear headgear while the other doesn’t and end up looking like they’re only winning because they have an unfair advantage, or like they’re wearing it because they’re worried.

It is notable that Yoshino is only trying to encourage Masaru to wear the headgear. Apparently she’s already expecting Tohma to have the upper hand here? Ouch.

As you’d expect, the first few moves of the fight are Masaru throwing wild punches at Tohma while he easily dodges them all.

Tohma: “You put all your faith in power without using any strategy or tactics.”

Which pretty much sums up the entire Masaru-Tohma contrast going on here: reckless power versus careful strategy.

Tohma: “Why did you join DATS?”

Masaru: “Huh?! It was so I could win, obviously!”

Tohma: “Against who?”

Masaru: “Against strong guys!”

Look at how Masaru doesn’t even think to specify who he wants to win against at first, because the exact opponent he’s fighting isn’t the point. He just wants to challenge himself and prove to himself how strong he is by winning those challenges, and fighting Digimon happens to be the best way for him to do that right now.

Also look at how Masaru has completely stopped caring about the part where the other reason he joined was so that Agumon wouldn’t be taken from him. That genuinely does not matter to him any more, now that he’s here anyway because he wants to be.

(So it’s actually kind of a bit much that Tohma is insisting Masaru should be dismissed from DATS – because that would mean he’d lose not only this job, but also Agumon.)

Tohma finally stops just dodging and counters with a blow to Masaru’s stomach – the first punch that’s actually landed for either of them – giving him a sense of the high ground as he says these next words.

Tohma: “What a boring story. DATS has an important mission. Every member has an obligation and a responsibility to carry that out.”

It’s very appropriate that Tohma would be so disdainful of Masaru being here for entirely personal reasons, while he feels like this whole thing is supposed to be about a sense of duty for a greater purpose. That noble Norstein family heritage is showing just a little bit.

Obviously, DATS’s general mission of covering up Digimon incidents is indeed important, but so long as he helps them do that anyway, what does it actually matter if that’s not the reason Masaru’s here?

Masaru: “Shut up! Stop acting all elite!”

Masaru still does not like Tohma constantly acting like he’s better than him, like he’s just this perfect superhuman who doesn’t even have any personal desires of his own other than to do as he’s supposed to.

Tohma: (He’s beyond help.)

Geez, Tohma, that is going a bit far. Again, he’s just writing Masaru off entirely because he doesn’t fit Tohma’s idea of how things should be, rather than trying to understand his different view on things.

(But of course, Masaru is not really being any better about trying to understand Tohma’s perspective and is currently similarly writing him off as an elitist jerk who needs to be taken down a peg.)

Tohma follows this thought up by punching Masaru right in the face, implying he’s been going easy until now and has finally started getting serious, expecting this single blow to end this. Which it does, because Masaru is knocked to the ground and doesn’t manage to rise for Yoshino’s count of ten, making Tohma the winner of this boxing match.

(please appreciate this look on Masaru’s face as he realises that Tohma has arguably beaten him, that maybe he really is inferior)

…But of course Masaru’s not just gonna stand for that. As Tohma is about to leave the ring, Masaru finally manages to get to his feet anyway.

Masaru: “Wait right there… You really are… spouting a lot…”

Tohma: “The match is over.”

Masaru: “Match? What we’re having is a serious fight! It’s not a game!”

He doesn’t care about anything so pointlessly official as a match or a countdown to determine the winner. Settling their differences and proving who’s strongest goes way beyond those silly arbitrary restrictions!

With these words, Masaru manages to punch Tohma just as hard in the face… albeit only because Tohma was turned away and not quite ready to defend himself. Still, as far as Masaru would see it, in terms of his usual kind of fights, that’s on him! If he turned away from an opponent who’s still able and willing to fight him, that’s just letting his guard down!

Masaru: “A fight doesn’t end until one side admits defeat!”

That’s the only rule Masaru needs for his street fights. So long as the combatants are still willing to fight each other, anything goes!

In fairness to Tohma, he doesn’t even complain about Masaru catching him off guard and seems quite willing to accept these new “terms” for the fight, because they jump right back into beating each other up.

We cut to later in the main control room.

Masaru: “Damn it… That bastard…”

Yoshino: “You should be happy it was a draw!”

Who’s betting it was Yoshino’s decision that it was a draw. I can’t imagine either Masaru or Tohma being willing to even admit to that much. After a while of them trading blows and obviously being quite evenly matched to the point that this could end up going on forever, Yoshino probably stepped in and insisted they call it off as a draw before they seriously hurt each other.

Yoshino: “Tohma’s beaten Olympic champions in the past.”

…Yeah, so also on top of everything else, Tohma is a supremely talented boxer. But I don’t mind, because something like that is necessary for him to be able to equal Japan’s number one street fighter in a fistfight. And his fighting style being the precise and controlled sport of boxing rather than anything-goes street brawls once again serves to contrast their approaches. Tohma’s boxing talent is just another part of making him Masaru’s equal and opposite. These two are such good foils for each other.

Masaru: “Well, I’ve taken out the leader of the third Minato high school!”

That is totally an equivalent thing here, right. He’s successfully beaten tough guys, too, the context doesn’t matter. Masaru was expecting to win and not just draw, damn it!

Yoshino: “Really, the only things worthy of a gold medal around here are your pride and your competitive attitude.”

I love her snark. She’s not wrong. (Though really, Tohma’s pride would be giving Masaru just as much competition for that medal.)

I also love how pouty Masaru is.

It’s interesting how Yoshino’s putting band-aids on Masaru’s bruises, yet Tohma then walks into the room (still barely acknowledging Masaru) with an equally bruised face, and Yoshino’s not trying to tend to him. It’s like how she was only trying to get Masaru to wear the headgear earlier and not Tohma.

At this point, I doubt this is so much about thinking Masaru is weaker and more in need of this than Tohma, since she just watched them match each other in a fight. So maybe it’s more that Yoshino finds Masaru more approachable than Tohma. For all his reckless stubbornness, Masaru’s basically still a regular person, while Tohma’s from a whole other world to her. Perhaps she simply feels more comfortable directing this mom-friend behaviour at Masaru rather than Tohma, despite having known Tohma for longer.

The Digimon-signal alarm blares and Masaru instantly shifts to this excited grin. What a dork.

It’s more PetitMeramon. A lot of them. Turns out that if even the tiniest flame from their body is left behind, it can develop into a new PetitMeramon. Hearing this prompts Masaru to recall his earlier unsuccessful attempts to punch it, which only succeeded in sending little embers from its body flying everywhere.

Masaru: (This is my fault…)

It’s admirable of Masaru to immediately acknowledge this rather than stubbornly try and make excuses to himself and pretend he totally didn’t mess anything up at all. But it is notable that he’s not saying that out loud. Which is probably because Tohma’s in the room, and he doesn’t want to give Tohma even more ammo to keep claiming that he’s a liability here.

Kudamon: “It’s up to you, Tohma, Gaomon.”

Masaru: “Wait! Those fireballs are ours to beat!”

Masaru insists this partly because he’s still frustrated that he didn’t get to finish the fight himself earlier, but almost certainly also because he feels responsible for this. This is his mess, and he wants to at least make up for it by being the one to fix things.

Tohma: “Are you 100% certain you can secure these Digimon?”

Masaru: “Damn right! We’ll pull it off somehow using our spirits!”

Such certainty. Masaru is definitely the kind of person to optimistically throw himself into things without being sure what the outcome will be. Usually, it might be reasonable to bank on that, but against this particular enemy which Masaru and Agumon currently have no way of even damaging… probably not.

Satsuma: “This time, Tohma and Gaomon are best for the job.”

Satsuma realises this, too, of course. I like how he’s specifying that this is only because Tohma and Gaomon are more suited for this particular job, which is extremely true, and not that they’re better overall, which Masaru would not respond well to.

Satsuma: “Yoshino. You and Lalamon will go to support Tohma.”

Which is to say, Yoshino will drive the car, because Tohma isn’t old enough to do that. (Lalamon won’t really be doing anything at all.) Tohma came to the earlier fight from his limo, but it seems that was only because he was being driven to DATS HQ and happened across the Digimon on the way. Limousines are not the usual DATS-approved method of transportation to Digimon incidents, funnily enough.

Masaru, having been ordered to stay behind and just watch them, is left feeling frustrated and inadequate.

(It’s really only because you can’t punch fire, Masaru!)

Gaomon fighting alone against the swarm of PetitMeramon achieves basically nothing, so Tohma very quickly switches from “Plan A” to “Plan A-2” and evolves him. (I like how it’s not “Plan B” and is totally just an alternate version of the first plan. It’s definitely not that trying to fight a swarm of several Child-level Digimon with a single Child-level was ever a bad plan and really he should have evolved Gaomon from the start.)

It’s a neat detail that Tohma clicks his fingers to summon his Digisoul. Yoshino does kind of a similar thing, not clicking her fingers but instead making a very particular emphatic motion with her hand. It’s like they need some sort of psychological trigger to get it to work – which then also makes it slightly less ridiculous that Masaru needs to outright punch a Digimon to get his to show up. It’s just a stronger kind of psychological trigger, is all! And Tohma and Yoshino have been doing this for a long time. Maybe it usually takes a lot of practice to be able to get one’s Digisoul to show up on command, and the reason why Masaru’s has this extra condition to trigger it is actually because he’s new at this.

I want to take this moment to inform everyone that Gaogamon is a very good fuzzy doggy. He’s one of my favourite Digimon designs.

As an Adult-level, Gaogamon is exponentially stronger than these Child-level PetitMeramon and can easily take down the entire swarm of them in a single attack. Digimon evolution levels, everybody. This isn’t even Gaogamon being especially impressive; this is just how it was always going to turn out.

Tohma: “3 minutes, 47 seconds. We shortened it by another minute.”

Okay, so, some of Tohma’s genius traits can come across as a little bit silly in practice, such as this idea here that he and Gaomon have been timing themselves in their fights against rogue Digimon and constantly bringing that time down. It doesn’t take a genius to understand that each opponent they fight is different, so really it should be completely unreasonable to act like their times for each fight are at all comparable and that completing one fight faster than another means anything. (Plus, this is a thing that’s never going to come up again.)

Still, I do appreciate the narrative purpose of this bit – to show that Tohma is always pushing to improve himself and be better, despite being so incredibly hypercompetent at everything he does already. A lot like Masaru is always striving to challenge himself and get stronger despite already feeling like the strongest fighter in Japan! They are really not so different in a lot of ways.

Also, note how Tohma is getting to fight here, but it’s not the climactic fight of the episode. Just like I talked about for Yoshino in the previous episode: even though this is his introduction, this is not actually Tohma’s episode. It’s still Masaru’s. Tohma gets to have this fight and win it not for his own sake (the whole thing is so effortless that it’s not at all an interesting narrative from his point of view), but rather for the sake of Masaru’s conflict in this episode, because seeing how good Tohma is at this contributes to Masaru’s feelings of inferiority.

Agumon: “Wow…”

Having watched Tohma and Gaomon’s performance from HQ, even Agumon can’t help but be impressed. But then he catches himself and looks guiltily at Masaru, realising he’s just making him feel worse. Aww.

It is interesting to note how, despite all the similarities between him and Masaru, Agumon himself doesn’t seem nearly as bothered by being outclassed by Gaomon in the same way. After all, he’s still a kid who knows he’s got a lot to learn from his aniki; Agumon has never tried to present himself as the best person around at fighting like Masaru does.

Kudamon: “Understand now? This is the difference in ability between you and Tohma.”

Kudamon is apparently quite happy to imply that Masaru is significantly inferior to Tohma. Satsuma, though, doesn’t say anything to agree. I get the sense that Kudamon was a lot less on board with bringing Masaru into DATS, even though he ultimately accepted Satsuma’s decision to do so.

Masaru rushes out of the control room in frustration, with Agumon following.

Kudamon: “Aren’t you going to stop him?”

Satsuma: “Leave him alone.”

I like that Satsuma gets that this is something Masaru needs to figure out on his own, and that trying to talk to him directly about this is probably only going to make him feel worse.

(It’s this kind of approach of Satsuma’s that makes me think that him being so indirect about recruiting Masaru was on purpose out of him wanting Masaru to make the decision for himself.)

Masaru runs out of the DATS building through a tunnel that I’m pretty sure incidentally happens to be the same one we saw Agumon escaping through at the very beginning of the first episode.

Agumon: “Aniki… Why are you angry?”

Masaru: “Shut up!”

[Masaru trips in his running and falls to the ground]

Masaru: “Damn it…”

I enjoy how Masaru tripping over serves to illustrate how his unthinking recklessness doesn’t always end well.

Agumon: “Well, I think Tohma and Gaomon are nasty guys too, but…”

Aww, Agumon, trying to show that he’s still on his aniki’s side. And, yeah, he agrees that Tohma and Gaomon have been kind of dicks to them so far, but… (but still, he doesn’t get why Aniki is this upset about it.)

Masaru looks at Agumon with this bitter look for a moment, almost like he’s tempted to agree and just keep sniping at Tohma… but then he drops it.

Masaru: “No… It’s myself that I’m mad at, not them.”

Of course that’s been what this is really about. This is the first time in a long time that Masaru’s been given any sense that he’s not good enough at something he really wants to do. This isn’t about Tohma; Tohma’s presence just brought this out of him.

And hey, big props to Masaru for being willing to admit this! He couldn’t quite do so at HQ in front of everyone, and especially not in front of Tohma himself, but at least he’s willing to do so here in front of Agumon. A weaker person could easily have kept insisting that, no, this totally is all about that arrogant jerk Tohma, and avoided the necessary self-reflection, but Masaru is generally pretty good at being emotionally honest about things, even when it stings.

He also happens to pull the band-aid off his face at this moment, which I enjoy – needing his wounds patched up is a sign of weakness that he doesn’t like having.

Masaru: “Damn it! What am I doing? Really… what the hell am I doing?”

You’re doing your best, Masaru! Just like you’ve always, always been doing!

I really like how Masaru can’t actually properly articulate what the problem is. He knows there’s something wrong, something that’s frustrating him about himself, but he can’t put it into words. It doesn’t seem like he’s properly consciously aware of why he’s so into his whole fighting thing, and why he wanted to “fight stronger opponents” through joining DATS, so he can’t quite grasp why feeling like he’s not good enough at this bothers him so much.

Also, my compliments to the animators, and to Masaru’s VA. He looks and sounds like he’s on the brink of tears here, and it is good.

Masaru reaches the end of the tunnel… and who should he run into but the old man who gave him his Digivice, who’s sitting there cooking a fish like nothing is more natural.

Old man: “It’s hard lighting up a fire… The sparks go out easily whenever the wind gets a little too strong.”

Masaru: “Well, obviously!”

Old man: “But… once I get a larger flame going, it burns strongly no matter how much the wind blows. Fire is an interesting thing, isn’t it?”

What we learned about the old man last episode is that he finds Masaru interesting and likes randomly showing up whenever Masaru is acting in a way that he considers to be interesting. Apparently, he got wind somehow of the fact that Masaru has been having these doubts, and so he showed up to just… observe, and express his observations in metaphor form. He’s comparing Masaru to the fire, saying that right now his “sparks” aren’t quite strong enough to keep going when something challenges them – but that soon enough, if he just keeps growing more, he’ll become so strong that nothing will be able to stand in his way.

That said, I highly, highly doubt that the old man expects Masaru to actually learn anything from this metaphor – I’m sure he must know well enough to expect anything and everything metaphorical to go right over Masaru’s head. This isn’t actually an attempt to give Masaru advice. This guy just likes being a mysterious old man who makes abstract metaphors about people he finds interesting, that’s all. Sooner or later, Masaru’s flame is going to burn so brightly that nothing at all can blow it out, and won’t that be fascinating to watch?

(I agree, old man. It will. That’s why I’m here, too.)

[Masaru stares intently at the fire the old man has managed to light]

Masaru: “This is…”

And naturally, Masaru, who wouldn’t understand a metaphor if it punched him in the face, completely failed to pick up on what the old man was getting at. Instead, what this metaphor also coincidentally (or maybe not so coincidentally?) happened to be was some pretty useful advice on how to deal with the very literal, practical problem he’s been having today.

Before he can think on that further, Masaru hears a conversation over his earpiece. There’s more PetitMeramon signals, in a place where gas tanks are – not a great place for living fireballs to be flying around – and Yoshino and Tohma are 10 minutes away in their car.

Masaru: “Leave it to me!”

Yoshino: “Huh? What are you saying?”

Tohma: “You can’t do it!”

Masaru: “Shut up! I can get there in 3 minutes!”

The perfect opportunity for Masaru to get the chance to prove himself! Under other circumstances, it’d be arguably better for Masaru to stay back and leave this to Tohma again. Having shown some self-reflection on things, even Masaru himself would probably be willing to accept that and relent. But in an emergency like this, when he’s the closest one to it? Damn it, he has to at least try.

Since the “there” in question was only described as being “Area B-42”, what we have to conclude from this is that somehow Masaru has magically memorised all those location codes already. He doesn’t seem to be making this up to save face; he’s looking at an area off in the distance that he’d probably reasonably be able to sprint to in that time.

(Well, either that or he just assumed based on knowing that this is the only remotely nearby area with gas tanks. Maybe it’s that.)

Satsuma: “I won’t approve of this!”

Masaru: “Whatever, just watch! I’ll get ‘em this time!”

This isn’t Masaru arrogantly trying to show off and refusing to acknowledge that he’s unsuited for this. This is Masaru genuinely caring about trying to prevent the crisis if he can – and this time, he does have at least some idea of how to go about doing so.

Masaru makes it to the gas tanks, where there are indeed three PetitMeramon floating around.

Masaru: “Agumon! Use Baby Burner!”

I’m… not sure how Masaru knew that Agumon even has an attack called Baby Burner, since he’s never used it before. I would say he could have had some kind of offscreen fight as a DATS member already in the three days he’s been here, but Yoshino’s response to his failure earlier suggested that today was indeed his first proper DATS mission.

Agumon: “My attacks don’t work on them!”

Masaru: “You heard me, do it!”

Agumon: “Okay…”

Agumon is such a loyal follower! He doesn’t understand why this is a good idea – in fact, it seems like a thoroughly bad one – but he trusts his aniki’s judgement and does it anyway, even as it only seems to make the PetitMeramon stronger and Masaru keeps ordering more.

After enough fire, the three PetitMeramon grow strong enough to fuse together and evolve into Meramon. (Hey, at least this one’s a non-partnered evolution that makes sense to be happening right now.)

Agumon: “It evolved! What now, Aniki?”

[Masaru grins]

Masaru: “This is perfect!”

I love Masaru’s cocky taunting face here. He knows he’s got this, and he’s so ready to just have a good old fight again, like always.

Masaru: “Fire sparks easily go out whenever the wind blows on them. But… Once they burst into flame…!”

[Masaru leaps to punch the Meramon quite solidly in the face and lands with his Digisoul flaring]

Masaru: “They won’t be extinguished so easily!”

This was what he got out of the old man’s words. Not metaphorical advice about his emotional struggles, of course not – instead, just very literal advice on how to punch fire. He couldn’t punch the PetitMeramon because they were small enough that the wind of his punches just blew the flames out before he could connect. But if he makes the fire bigger and stronger? Then it’s no problem!

And you know what this is? This is Masaru using strategy. It’s a strategy that he needed someone else to nudge him towards – he’s still not really the kind of person to come up with something like this on his own – and it’s also a much more straightforward, reckless, Masaru-style strategy than someone cautious like Tohma would ever dare to use. But hey. It worked.

(Also, please appreciate this ridiculous shot of the DATS car skidding sideways as it dramatically arrives on the scene. That is not how cars work, but okay. …In fact, surely it’s been less than seven minutes that Masaru’s been here; I guess Yoshino floored it to get here as fast as she could, hence the dramatic skidding? She drives like a badass.)

Tohma: “He got it to evolve on purpose… by making the fire stronger…”

See, even Tohma appreciates what the strategy was, even if he’s kind of gobsmacked at it being something so reckless.

And then, as usual, GeoGreymon wins the fight in a single attack. But again, I don’t really mind. The interesting part was getting to this point in the first place.

The Meramon disintegrates into three eggs, appropriate for the three PetitMeramon it came from – but it kinda raises some questions that this single Adult-level Digimon was effectively three individual Digimon in one. It also raises some questions that PetitMeramon was able to multiply itself just by its embers setting stuff on fire, and each of those multiplied offshoots also had its own individual egg. Is this just a particularly unique method of Digimon reproduction? I am definitely not supposed to be thinking about it this much.

Masaru: “How’s that? I was able to take out the PetitMeramon, too!”

Having shown that he can do just as good of a job as Tohma after all, Masaru has bounced right back from his self-doubt and is feeling good about himself again. This kid doesn’t stay down for long.

Tohma: “Don’t let this go to your head. You were just lucky this time.”

It really was not luck. Masaru used an actual strategy that he had good reason to believe would work. Tohma himself even just about acknowledged this during the fight… but not now, now that Masaru is properly listening to him and he’d have to acknowledge that to Masaru.

(A bit like how Masaru only acknowledged his own sense of inadequacy when Tohma wasn’t around.)

Masaru: “It’s just like I told you. The ones who don’t give up until the end win the fight!”

Masaru claims this is like he told Tohma, but is it really about him? After all, Masaru himself was the one who had almost given up for a moment. It’s more like he’s saying this to remind himself that he shouldn’t have done that and should have just believed he could do it all along. (Like the old man said, he just needs to let his sparks grow into a bigger, unstoppable flame!)

We cut right from the location of the fight back to DATS HQ, while the argument amusingly continues as if there was no timeskip at all. They were probably arguing like this all the way back in the car, too. (Poor Yoshino.)

Tohma: “Don’t be absurd. You don’t come up with any strategy or tactics. Do you think using force all the time will let you win at everything?”

He literally did come up with a strategy, though, Tohma! Maybe a strategy that relied on force, maybe not the kind of careful, cautious strategy that you’d use, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t count as a strategy!

Masaru: “Hah, sounds like a sore loser to me.”

Yeah, I think Masaru’s spot on with this one. Tohma refusing to acknowledge Masaru’s approach in that fight as a legitimate if risky strategy really does seem like he’s just being a sore loser.

(Though I like how Masaru himself isn’t even trying to argue that it was strategic of him. Clearly that’s not something that he sees as being worth bragging about.)

Tohma: “What did you say?”

Masaru: “Wanna make somethin’ of it? I’ll knock you out with one hit to the face this time!”

Oh my god, Masaru. Look at this competitive dork. Now that he’s got his confidence back and feels like he is just as good or better than Tohma after all, he’s ready to have a rematch in the ring and certain that this totally means he’ll win this time!

Satsuma shuts them both up with his, quoth Yoshino, “thunderous demon roar” – apparently a regular thing of his – and declares that Masaru and Tohma will be working together as a team from now on. Naturally, they are both Not Happy about this.

Yoshino: “This is the worst…”

Neither is Yoshino. This is a catchphrase of hers, which is sometimes used when things are going badly in a crisis, but is just as often used simply to express her sheer exasperation at the people around her. I love her role as the Only Sane Man among these two ridiculous over-the-top dorks she’s wound up working with.

Overall thoughts

I like this episode a lot! It’s a great introduction to Tohma, specifically in the context of him serving as a foil to Masaru.

There will be a lot more things about Tohma’s own issues and situation (like I said, there’s a reason for all the genius stuff, I promise) that we’ll eventually get into, but that’ll be a gradual process, because Tohma is not the sort of person to talk about his personal problems to anyone else. For now, since Masaru is the single main character of this series and we therefore see a lot of things through his perspective, it’s appropriate that Tohma is introduced in terms of how he differs from Masaru (as well as a few hints at their similarities).

Then, because of this, we get spend a lot of the episode on Masaru feeling outclassed and how he deals with that, and it’s delightful and subtle and I love it. The first two episodes were setting up the deal with Masaru encountering Agumon and joining DATS, but now that we’ve settled into a little more of a status quo, it’s the perfect time to start digging into Masaru’s character and have things begin to challenge his conception of his own strength. There will be more of this, and I’m looking very much forward to covering those episodes in particular.

This won’t really ever come up again, but it’s incidentally neat to see Masaru struggling with an enemy he can’t punch, and eventually coming up with a strategy by interpreting the old man’s metaphor about his issues literally, because of course he does.

I also just love the old man being there making metaphors about Masaru’s issues simply because he felt like it and finds Masaru interesting. He serves as a nice little narrative device to help draw the audience’s attention to when things are going on with Masaru, as we’ll see in a few more episodes in this arc. I can’t help but appreciate that about the old man, because it’s also basically what I’m doing with this commentary.

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[Dub comparison]

#digimon #digimon savers #masaru daimon #tohma h norstein #the digivice old man

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