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Digimon Savers Commentary Episode 48 - The Perfect Conclusion! Goodbye, Street Fighter

In this final episode of the series, Yggdrasil finally gets the message about humanity with the help of a very big punch, family reunions are had, and heartbreaking farewells are made as the two worlds are separated for now.

No recap here – this episode’s so jam-packed that there’s absolutely no time for one. Instead, we open on the last handful of lines from the previous episode, but animated freshly in this episode’s much better art style. (Episode 47 was one of those with that annoyingly noticeably-weaker art style, but at least the final episode’s art style is a good one!)

Anyway, Masaru and Agumon have got their second wind and are rushing straight at Yggdrasil to prove just how strong humans and Digimon can be when they work together. Provocation Infinity kicks in as BGM as soon as they do so! Love the sense that evokes of the early days of the series, just these fighty dorks being fighty dorks, even as both worlds hang in the balance.

Masaru and Agumon dodge some crystal missiles and keep running. The other three partners leap into the fray to help out, and destroy some more – still at Child-level, mind you. I guess those crystals aren’t actually very strong? Yggdrasil lashes out with vines as Masaru and Agumon get close, but they leap over the intended strikes and climb onto them. Given that the vines are significantly thicker than Masaru’s entire body, they make workable platforms; good job giving them a way to get close to you, Yggdrasil!

Agumon gets knocked into the air by another vine, but Masaru (somehow) manages to reach out and swing his own vine around to grab his partner’s hand before he can fall. Friends helping each other out and working together!

Yggdrasil goes for dirty tactics and fires more crystals at the defenceless Tohma, Yoshino and Ikuto. Their partners desperately leap in there to protect them – and they emerge from the ensuing smoke cloud in their Adult forms, carrying their humans.

Yggdrasil: “Unable to compute. Unable to compute.”

Yggdrasil’s still very much in computer-mode, and it does not understand how they could possibly have evolved like this when this isn’t how things are meant to work. I’m not sure either, to be entirely fair, but I appreciate that it annoys Yggdrasil.

Tohma: “We didn’t even charge our Digisouls! How…?”

Gaogamon: “I don’t know either.”

Peckmon: “I just wanted to protect Ikuto.”

Sunflowmon: “I wished for the strength to protect everyone.”

Apparently Digimon can evolve on their own, without Digisoul, if they’re desperate enough to protect their partners! It’s still a little questionable that this is only an eleventh-hour superpower they’re getting right now and they were never able to do this any of the other times their partners were in severe danger throughout the series. That does seem to have been firmly established as not how it works in this Digimon canon, even though it works that way in most. (Though I suppose Piyomon did kinda do this in episode 43?)

But still, it's neat to see them doing something new in the final battle as the two worlds are at stake. Maybe it’s the direness of the entire situation, or perhaps the sheer amount of human emotion that’s powering all of the Digimon right now, as seen last episode. Or maybe it’s just that, hey, screw rules and expectations and calculations, they’re gonna do it anyway. How Masaru of them.

And if nothing else, I appreciate having this send-off for each of the partners’ (except Agumon’s) other forms! I like their designs the most at these lower levels, so it’s nice to see them again, if briefly.

Yggdrasil: “You couldn’t defeat me with your Burst Modes, so why do you still fight against me? The probability of you winning is exceedingly close to 0%.”

Yggdrasil is being me whenever I see a Digimon fighting something at a higher evolution level than itself and acting like it stands a remote chance of winning. Which, thankfully, is not a thing that’s happened very often in Savers. Usually when it has it’s been Masaru’s doing, of course, because Masaru’s never given a damn about calculations and logic.

Masaru and Agumon keep climbing the vines, while the other three partners fire attacks at Yggdrasil’s body to distract it, spontaneously evolving into their Perfect forms as they do. The pair make it onto Yggdrasil’s body itself, which is slanted enough that they can keep running up it, dodging crystal lasers along the way.

Yggdrasil: “Unable to compute. Unable to compute.”

It’s a small thing, but there’s something I really like about the way Yggdrasil keeps insistently repeating this among the action and fighting. It cannot comprehend why these stubborn humans are even still trying. Clearly it has not been properly introduced to Masaru yet.

The other three partners evolve again into their Ultimate-levels to protect themselves as they’re hit by attacks. There’s a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it neat shot as Rosemon and Ravemon slice apart Yggdrasil’s vines, in which you can see the insides of them – they’re some kind of fancy optical cables, just like the vines at its tree.

Some more attacks give Masaru and Agumon a smoke cloud as cover, and just as Provocation Infinity reaches its climax, the pair leap in towards Yggdrasil’s face, ready to pu—

…Only it’s not time for that just yet. Yggdrasil catches them in its vines before they can get close enough, inflicting horrible pain on them with red lightning. As far as Yggdrasil saw all this, it really was a pointless endeavour. Masaru was never going to stand a chance.

Masaru’s teammates call out in worry at seeing him and Agumon helplessly in pain. So does Chika, who’s holding Kudamon in her arms. Further out from the fight, the Norsteins and Yushima, Miki and Megumi, and Sayuri, all watch on, not even able to see anything that’s going on except for the huge shape of Yggdrasil hanging over Mount Fuji and the columns of light from the Digimon who are still trying to hold the worlds apart. All of them can’t do anything but hope.

Masaru: “Damn it!”

I appreciate this little outburst from Masaru as he and Agumon endure the red lightning; he must hate that the pain he’s in is making him so powerless to do anything right now.

Chika calls out again to her brothers, and then flares up in Digisoul from the sheer force of her desperation to see everything turn out all right.

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

Then, among the Norsteins’ group, Relena’s Digisoul activates, even though she doesn’t have a Digimon partner, as her emotions will the Digimon on. With the Noguchis and Satsuma, baby Yuka’s Digisoul makes an appearance, too. I like that it’s the children who manifest their Digisouls first here, since children do tend to be a lot more openly in touch with their emotions than adults. (Though Yuka is a bit much, because she ought to be too young to understand what’s happening, but shush.)

Also, a neat thing we can see here is that Digisoul colours run in families! We already saw that for the Daimons, but it’s true for everyone else; Relena’s is her brother’s cool blue, and Yuka’s is her brother’s purple.

After Miki and Megumi, Sayuri flares up with her Digisoul for the first time ever. It’s orange too, like that of Suguru and his kids, so evidently Digisouls run in families in a non-genetic way, because she’s not blood-related to Suguru. That makes sense, since it’s about emotion, not biology.

All over the world, every human is beginning to glow with Digisoul from the sheer strength of their will to not die. This emotion was already powering the Digimon last episode, but now it’s become strong enough and desperate enough to be visible, tangible Digisoul. We see the Hayase family from episode 9, the Shiratori family from episode 11, Neon from episode 8, to give us some characters we have vague reason to care about instead of random nobodies.

There’s Ivan too, with all of his siblings, and Nanami, who despite her nature has become desperate enough to be praying along with a group of other people. (This is how I knew the Bio-Hybrids weren’t actually dead when they were ambiguously defeated in their episodes.)

…Apparently the default Digisoul colour for unimportant characters is a sickly yellow, because there’s no variety in the hues for anybody else. Shame; I guess the animation budget only stretched so far.

From their place atop Mount Fuji, the DATS group can see the columns of Digisoul shooting up from all over the world, and the Digimon partners can feel it.

Yggdrasil: “Why do you interfere with me? The probability of your survival is equal to 0%.”

Are you still sure about that, Yggdrasil? There’s an awful lot of Digisoul floating around right now. It doesn’t seem like it’s factoring that into its calculations.

But hey, Masaru’s here – and since when did he ever care about something like calculations?

Ikuto: “That’s wrong! The power of each person on its own might be small…”

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

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

The DATS crew aren’t even making it about the Digisoul of every single human on Earth, but instead about the sheer power of even a few people’s Digisoul. Because friends! Of course they want to stay with their Digimon partners forever! Digimon and humans deserve a world where they can live together!

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

Gotsumon: “So do… So do I!”

Even the Digimon who’ve only recently met and got to know humans think so too, when they haven’t had their views affected by Kurata’s atrocities! It’s neat that even Gotsumon’s saying this – look how much a reboot to remove all that bigotry has done for him.

The Royal Knights are still there too, fighting to physically hold the worlds apart. Rather than have their own bodies give out under the strain, the ground beneath them crumbles from the sheer weight they’re holding up, because Ultimate-levels are just that strong I guess.

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

Though it’s still acting like a computer, Yggdrasil’s voice is beginning to sound a lot more emotional and insistent. No, this doesn’t make sense, it shouldn’t be possible, Yggdrasil’s not supposed to be wrong about anything. What do you mean this many humans and Digimon actually want to live together, and they might actually have the power to make that a reality. That’s not how Yggdrasil’s neat and tidy little Digimon experiment was supposed to go.

Masaru: “You’ll… never understand!”

Yggdrasil: “Unable to compute!”

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…!”

Not sure if Masaru’s talking about only humans, or both humans and Digimon here. It’d work either way, since at this point Yggdrasil’s trying to reboot both worlds.

Freed from the red lightning by now, Masaru and Agumon manage to reach out to each other and join hands as they give the climax of their speech. Friends doing this together!

Agumon: “Human emotions… make us Digimon stronger!”

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

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

Masaru’s side of this is… frankly a bit generic; I wish he’d said something more distinctly Masaru than just talking about dreams and courage. But Agumon’s got the real point here, and it’s something Yggdrasil can’t possibly deny. Digimon and humans are intrinsically connected. They have a symbiotic relationship where they can make each other stronger. Given that inherent law of the universe, how can there be anything wrong with them wanting to create a world where both species can live together, even if it might take some fighting and strife to get there?

As the lyrics of Believer kick in, a huge column of Digisoul erupts from their linked hands, vaporising the vines they’re trapped in, and Agumon evolves into…

…Agumon Burst Mode! Which might seem a bit silly, but I actually love this. Digimon series like to end on the main protagonist gaining some kind of eleventh-hour final super ultra strong extra special evolution, which tends to be your usual armoured humanoid dude – so I really like that, in this case, it’s still Agumon. He’s grown big enough for Masaru to suddenly be able to ride him, but it still very much seems like that character we know and love as Masaru’s dork of a best friend and partner. It makes their triumph hit harder when it still feels like him.

Masaru: “Learn your lesson, Yggdrasil! This is the humans’…”

Agumon: “And the Digimon’s…”

Masaru & Agumon: “Power!”

They mean this, too, because I don’t think this is just Masaru’s power manifesting here. This isn’t Masaru turning out to be extra super sparkly-special in the final moments for no particular reason. This is the power of every single human on Earth’s desire to not freaking die, and all of that Digisoul latching onto and happening to use Agumon as an avatar for it, simply because he and Masaru are at the centre of things and happen to be the most personally determined to prove this point to Yggdrasil right now.

This might be the most justified eleventh-hour superpower in any Digimon series, because of just how great a length this whole series has gone to establish Digisoul and the power of human emotion as a tangible force that can influence Digimon and make them stronger. Of course that much Digisoul would have one hell of an effect.

Agumon and Masaru fly at Yggdrasil, who erects a shield of energy in front of itself. They keep pushing, shattering not only the shield but also blowing a huge gaping hole through Yggdrasil’s body.

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

Yggdrasil doesn’t finish that sentence. Maybe it’s beginning to realise that the probability isn’t as low as it’d previously thought and doesn’t want to admit that. Or maybe it’s just that the “eye” in its body here explodes before it can finish saying that.

Out of the explosion flies a crystalline humanoid figure – apparently, Yggdrasil’s real true physical form, which it was keeping hidden safely inside its much larger body. It’s not actually as strong as it was trying to make itself look with all that godly posturing.

Masaru: “YOU CAN’T ESCAPE!”

Masaru clearly realises this is Yggdrasil trying to bail out of here before it can be forced to admit defeat, and he refuses to let that happen. He swerves Agumon’s path back around – Agumon’s claw-strap thingies have grown long enough that Masaru’s holding onto them like reins – and then leaps off Agumon’s back to punch the god right in the face.

…Or, perhaps, he’s punching the computer’s relatively fragile interface. And hasn’t Masaru always been one for, uh, “fixing” computer problems by hitting them as hard as he can?

That’s one way you could sum up the climax of Savers. Masaru fixes a very serious computer problem by hitting it really hard.

They’re still really good at timing these climactic fight scenes with Believer, by the way. The final line of the chorus plays over the punch and Yggdrasil’s face shattering, and it hits just right.

Yggdrasil’s body erupts into a blinding explosion, Agumon urgently swoops in there to try and catch his aniki, and everything turns white.

And with that, it’s the opening! There’s something really neat, and really final, about how the opening in this last episode happens right after the climax of the big world-saving fight.

Something else I also like about the finality of this opening is that the fansubbers I’ve been watching, for the only episode in the series, added subs crediting themselves during the opening. Again, it helps drive home that it really is the end, and, hey, they deserve it. Shout-outs to the fansub group who called themselves Ryuu-Rogue way back when for allowing me and many other non-Japanese-speakers to experience Digimon Savers in its original intended form.

Anyway, the opening itself has this shot at the end where the main and supporting cast line up (except Yushima apparently? Sorry, dude), so that seems like a perfect shot to highlight in this final episode as we give a send-off to everyone.

Also, the final final shot of the opening has Masaru and Agumon leap towards the screen like the dorky friends they are, which is adorable.

After the opening, Masaru and Agumon wake up floating in a white void.

Agumon: “What is this place?”

Masaru: “Heaven? No, of course not…”

Apparently it briefly crosses Masaru’s mind that they might have died, but then he brushes it off. No, of course not, there’s no way Masaru would have just lost like that.

Yggdrasil’s there, not even in its humanoid form that we just saw, but simply as a floating crystal. Perhaps in some ways, it doesn’t really have a true form, because its essence is simply a computer consciousness.

It’s not dead, of course. No matter how hard Masaru punched its fragile physical form, that wasn’t ever going to happen. I think Yggdrasil literally meant it last episode when it said that death doesn’t exist for a God. It’s the overarching consciousness that runs the entire Digital World; I doubt it’s even possible to destroy that.

Yggdrasil could never have been defeated or destroyed. What Masaru and his friends always needed to do was change its mind – and here it is, talking to Masaru and Agumon, because they’ve managed to achieve that.

Yggdrasil: “You two have shown me your abilities. It was indeed an enormous power, far beyond what I anticipated.”

Just like Masaru did when he managed to break Craniummon’s shield and prove humanity’s potential to him – he’s managed to prove it to Yggdrasil now, too! By punching it! Masaru always has been about communicating his feelings with his fists, hasn’t he? That’s why it took Masaru of all people to do this: not because he’s the strongest, but because of his very distinctive way of getting through to people. He’s so good at that that he’s even managed to get through to a god that was hellbent on rebooting two entire worlds.

(And it needed to be someone like Masaru, rather than someone like Tohma, to pierce through Yggdrasil’s hyper-logical worldview and teach it that things don’t always go according to calculations.)

An interesting thing to note here is that Yggdrasil’s no longer speaking like a computer and is back to using its more human-sounding androgynous voice. It dropped any pretence of not being a computer last episode when it stopped even bothering to try and sound like it cared about anybody’s interests but its own. But now that it’s accepted Masaru’s point of view and is willing to hear him out, it seems it wants to go back to pretending to be something more of a person than it really is, perhaps for the sake of making him see it in a better light. Yggdrasil’s definitely a benevolent god and not a tantrum-throwing computer, right, everyone can just forget that whole episode happened.

Yggdrasil: “But I still don’t understand. Why do you wish to live together in one world? If the two worlds between humans and Digimon combine, more conflict may arise.”

Hyper-logical as it is, Yggdrasil still can’t quite grasp why they’re not going for the simplest, most minimally dangerous option. At its core, to begin with, it wanted to wipe out humans because they caused conflict and problems with its nice neat isolated Digital World. Even though it hypocritically allowed the conflict to escalate in order to serve its own end goal, it still can’t see why anybody would want that in and of itself.

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.”

Good old Masaru! This is getting nicely into some of the overall themes of the series, about Digimon and humans learning to get along and live in harmony despite all the strife and pain that can come from their interactions. And it fits neatly with Masaru’s philosophy of communication through fighting in general. He really did only develop that philosophy throughout this series, thanks to how he befriended Agumon at the beginning! It’s that which we have to thank for him being able to get through to Yggdrasil and solve all this in the end.

Agumon’s line also reminds me of what Masaru said to Kurata in episode 25 when decrying his cowardice – that when you fight someone, you acknowledge that doing so is going to cause pain both for them and for yourself, and you need to accept that pain instead of running away from it. Being too afraid to even get at all hurt in the first place when interacting with others is only going to lead down Kurata’s path.

It’s like Masaru was saying to Yggdrasil before punching it out, too – sometimes people hate each other and fight over stupid things, but that’s just an unavoidable part of how people work! That doesn’t mean you go erasing them all; it just means you have to learn to work with it and find a way to get along anyway.

Yggdrasil: “I see. Then I shall lay myself to rest once more and watch over you. Whether or not a world shared among humans and Digimon becomes a reality… will depend on your abilities.”

Having been convinced that humans have enough potential to deserve a chance for harmony between them and Digimon, Yggdrasil… promptly decides it’s going to have nothing to do with actually creating that harmony itself and retreats back to its original position of noninterfering observer. Thanks, Yggdrasil. Very helpful. After all the effort Suguru went to get its help on forging this harmony between the species, it turns out Yggdrasil’s best possible stance on the subject is, “eh, don’t look at me, do it yourselves?”

Maybe it just realises that figuring out the complexities of how to resolve interpersonal conflicts is really not its wheelhouse and it wouldn’t have the first clue how to help. But of course it doesn’t want to admit that.

As to whether or not Masaru and co. actually will create that world themselves? …Well, it’s literally the final episode of the series, so it’s not like they’ve got time to do it now. It’s almost like there ought to have been a sequel series following up on this or something. If only.

Masaru: “Hey! Wait a second!”

I like how Masaru seems indignant as Yggdrasil just up and leaves. Looks like he also feels like Yggdrasil ought to be taking more responsibility onto itself in actually helping them create this harmony and not just peacing out and leaving them to it. Of course he would.

As Yggdrasil floats away, Masaru hears Yoshino’s voice calling for him to wake up, and then suddenly he’s regaining consciousness, lying on the ground at Mount Fuji’s summit. Seems like he and Agumon were unconscious in reality while Yggdrasil was communicating with them, because it can just do that, I guess.

Tohma: “Geez, you’re such a character.”

Yoshino: “Don’t worry us any more, okay?”

Aww, it’s cute that they were worried. Seeing Masaru and Agumon be so close to the blinding explosion from Yggdrasil and then take longer than the rest of them to wake up certainly must have given them a fright for a minute. It doesn’t seem like they had any idea he was talking to Yggdrasil, so we can assume they weren’t doing so themselves.

Masaru: “What happened to Yggdrasil? And the Digital World?”

Ikuto: “It’s alright now! […] The dimensional barrier is restored!”

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

Indeed, as they look up into the sky – which is now a usual Earth sunset or sunrise – they see nothing but an ordinary-sized Digital Gate, slowly closing. The barrier’s been fixed. Because Yggdrasil can just do that. It could always have done that, right from the start. This conflict was always about finding a way to change Yggdrasil’s mind so that it actually wanted to.

(No, the barrier has not been fixed due to the efforts of Ikuto’s parents; if that were the case, it would have been mentioned. Falcomon says “they”, but the Japanese sentence does not actually have a subject there. It has to be Yggdrasil who fixed it. That’s the only thing that makes any kind of sense.)

Dukemon: “This is thanks to all of you. […] Your Digisouls… have awoken a miracle!”

I’m going to assume that by “miracle”, Dukemon means changing Yggdrasil’s mind, which does indeed seem pretty miraculous to me. It makes less sense that the power of humanity’s Digisouls would just somehow magically have fixed the barrier on its own.

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

That’s a little bit overplaying it, Craniummon. Yeah, it all centred on Masaru in the end, but it was really just him happening to be the right kind of guy in the right place at the right time to communicate all of humanity’s emotions and power to Yggdrasil.

The Royal Knights zoom away into the Digital Gate before it closes, back to their own world. Hopefully they’re going to start thinking for themselves more when it comes to protecting it, now that their god’s gone back into a dormant state.

A helicopter arrives at the top of Mount Fuji. Satsuma, Miki and Megumi have gone and rounded up the loved ones of everyone who was just here fighting, so that they can all have a big reunion now that everything’s over.

Ikuto’s parents are the first to leave the helicopter. Ikuto stares at them with tears in his eyes – this is the first time he’s seen them since he left for the Digital World to fight Kurata, back in episode 27. He rushes into his dad’s arms (because his mom’s got her hands full with his baby sister).

Ikuto: “Dad… Mom… I’m home!”

Kenji: “Welcome home, Ikuto.”

These are those Japanese family phrases that Kenji taught him just before he left in episode 27! Ikuto’s finally getting to use them! Aww.

Relena’s the next out; she manages a few steps out of her wheelchair to hug her big brother.

Tohma: “Relena…”

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

Tohma: “I’m sorry for worrying you, Relena.”

Aww, Relena must have been so worried about her brother, out there fighting to save the world, especially because she hasn’t even met all of the friends he has to fight alongside, other than Gaomon.

Also, this is the first time there’s been a Norstein family moment with any of the rest of the DATS crew around. Though it’s not focused on, Masaru must be watching this and seeing for the first time that Tohma has a little sister, just like him! It’s almost a shame that we never got to have any of Masaru’s thoughts on Tohma’s family situation, given how delightfully parallel their families are. But then, I suppose that might be because the Norsteins are probably all actually speaking to each other in German, so Masaru wouldn’t be able to interact with that. Still, even if he doesn’t understand their words, I’m sure he can see that this is Tohma’s little sister all right.

Tohma: “Father…”

Franz: “Thank you, Tohma.”

Tohma: “Yes, Dad.”

This is Tohma calling his father Dad for the first time! Or, the first time since he tried to as a little kid the day they left Japan and his father brushed him off. After their reconciliation in episode 42, and then this dangerous situation in which they must both have been afraid they’d never see each other again, it seems that was just enough to break down the barrier between them and make Tohma finally feel comfortable calling him that.

Yushima, Miki and Megumi also reunite with their Digimon partners, who were up here trying to help hold the worlds apart.

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!”

Yes, Gotsumon, you definitely helped out loads. To be fair to him, he did contribute as much as any of the non-main Digimon, but it is very him to flail in indignation when he’s treated like he wasn’t actually that important. I do kinda get the sense that this reborn Gotsumon awkwardly wishes he was more of a part of this group’s camaraderie than he knows he actually is. Which, hey, progress? I think?

Chika’s had Kudamon in her arms since Dukemon brought him up here, and now she hands him back to Satsuma so that he can take his rightful place around his partner’s neck. Satsuma has his weaselscarf back!

Sayuri’s the last person to leave the helicopter. Chika rushes to hug her.

Chika: “I’m sorry for making you worry!”

Sayuri: “It’s all right. I believed that Masaru and Agu-chan would protect you.”

Aww, at least Chika knows how much her mom worries about her being in danger and knew that going off to fight with Piyomon would definitely make her do that. And of course Sayuri coped by holding onto the belief that Masaru and Agumon would be able to keep them safe. She’s so good and brave.

Masaru doesn’t approach his mom, looking hesitant. There’s some bad news he needs to give her, and it’s not easy for him to bring it up.

Masaru: “Mom… I…”

Sayuri: “Masaru?”

Masaru: “I’m sorry. I couldn’t keep my promise. I couldn’t bring Dad back with me.”

Aaa, Masaruuu. It’s heartbreaking how he can only bring himself to phrase this as not keeping his promise and not bringing his dad back. That way it’s more like that same old status quo of his dad simply Not Being There, and he doesn’t have to think about the fact that his dad died protecting both worlds (let alone the fact that it was Masaru himself who killed him).

Sayuri: “I was prepared for that. That man… Suguru-san has become the wind blowing through the Digital World. Even if we can’t see him, I’m sure he’ll always be watching over us from the other world.”

Even without Masaru saying it, Sayuri knows what he means – that her husband didn’t make it. Despite what she’d said in previous episodes that she believed Masaru would bring Suguru back, it seems she also remained realistic about his chances of doing so and prepared herself for the worst as well. She’s able to frame it in this lovely way immediately, as a comfort to herself but even more importantly as a comfort to her kids, because she knows they must need it. Man, she’s so good, I love her.

Sayuri and Chika step forward and hug Masaru. He stands there and accepts it, but doesn’t hug back, not admitting that he needs it. Come on, Masaru, you stubborn idiot, hug your mom, it’s okay, you’ve been through so much.

Except, never mind all that, as a voice suddenly calls out to them – and it’s Suguru, alive and well and back in his own body, striding towards them. Masaru’s eyes widen in amazed disbelief as he realises who it is.

I love the desperate, stumbling way Masaru rushes towards him here, like he’s so overcome with relief he can barely contain himself.

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

Aaaaa, after having been wrong about it before and had to suffer the horrible pain that brought, Masaru wants to make absolutely sure he’s not getting it wrong again and this really isn’t too good to be true.

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

Man, look at Suguru’s big dorky smile and over-the-top phrasing about simply being himself. Again, can you see where Masaru gets it from.

Masaru: “But… how…?”

Suguru: “Yggdrasil restored me to life.”

Because Yggdrasil’s a god, so it can just do that! But really, though. I’m sure some people might find Suguru’s sudden revival to be cheap, but I personally don’t mind it at all. Aside from anything else, I think it makes decent sense in-universe as something Yggdrasil might do. Now that it’s become less up itself and has acknowledged humanity’s worth, it’s probably done some reflection and realised that it really, really screwed over Suguru in particular throughout all of this. Suguru wouldn’t have died if not for all of Yggdrasil’s actions – and also, Suguru’s one of the best people to keep around if we want to try and forge that world of harmony between humans and Digimon. Yggdrasil must have figured that the least it can do is make up for one of its biggest mistakes and give Suguru his life back.

Anyway, Chika also approaches her dad and stares up at him in utter wonder. This is the first time in her life that she’s ever seen him, as himself, here and real and alive rather than as some legendary fantasy in her head.

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

Suguru kneels down and ruffles her hair while saying this, the same thing he also said to Masaru two episodes ago when he was still a lion. He hasn’t seen his kids in ten years; he must be bursting with pride and emotion to get to see them having grown so much bigger and stronger without him.

Chika: “Dad… Dad! Dad!”

Chika breaks into happy tears at this simple gesture alone. She finally has a dad now, like she’s been missing and desperately waiting for all this time. Aaaa.

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

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

Suguru: “Yeah, I promise.”

Sayuriii. It’s so understated, but she’s on the verge of tears here, too, finally letting herself express how she feels about her husband’s disappearance – and she just doesn’t want him to disappear on her ever again.

I love the Daimon family so much and it warms my heart to get to see them happy and reunited like this. They deserve it, dammit, sanctity of narrative consequences be damned.

But, see, I also don’t personally feel that Suguru coming back here particularly cheapens the moment of his death in any way. Back when that happened in episode 46, both Suguru and Masaru absolutely believed it would be permanent, so all of the emotions they felt at the time were still just as raw and real. That doesn’t change just because he comes back here. I still enjoy that part of episode 46 just as much, even knowing Suguru’s not actually going to stay dead.

And while this might seem a little unnecessary in that it’s not like the writers had to bring Suguru back because there’s hardly any series left for him to do anything in anyway (alas, that hypothetical sequel, of which we can only dream), I do think there is actually a very specific reason why they needed to have Suguru back in the Daimon family in order for the rest of this episode to work as they’d intended it. More on that later on.

Suguru: “We’ll always be together from now on.”

Well, I say they’re happily reunited, but, uhhhh, about that.

As the Digital Gate in the sky closes up, we cut to some time later. Probably quite a while later, based on the fact that the DATS HQ is in the process of being rebuilt and is functioning again on the lower levels, including the main control room. Everything seems to be gradually getting back to normal, with all the destruction slowly being repaired. (I gather that Japan in particular is good at rebuilding things quickly, thanks to all the earthquakes they get.)

Masaru: “What? You’re closing the Digital Gate?”

Specifically, everyone’s gathered for this announcement. It’s a bit of a weird way for Masaru to phrase it, since it’s not like there’s any Digital Gates open right now that need to be closed, but what it really means is that very soon they’re not going to be opening any more Digital Gates for travel between the two worlds at all.

Satsuma: “The dimensional barrier has been restored, and all of the people who had disappeared have returned.”

Remember those missing people other than Ikuto who were part of the reason the expedition happened ten years ago? Because I would not remotely blame you if you didn’t. Apparently they… somehow…? came back home??? It’s honestly rather silly that the writers felt the need to clean up that loose end that never mattered and that nobody would even remember or care about if not reminded of it here, in a way that’s just never explained. It’d be better to just not mention it and have us passively assume that all the other missing people must have died in the Digital World.

Satsuma: “But that does not change the fact that its condition is still unstable. That’s why we’ve decided to close the Gate for some time.”

This seems fair as a reason to not have any inter-world contact for a while. The barrier needs time to heal itself, and while the Digital Dive machine is a cleaner way to open Gates than the space-time bombs, it’s probably still not a great idea to go opening Gates everywhere while the barrier’s still fragile. Don’t want another repeat of the dimensional collision that we nearly had.

Tohma: “For how long?”

Yushima: “We don’t know. Maybe for a year or ten years… Perhaps it’ll stay closed forever.”

NO, it will not!!! There are plenty of people here who will make absolutely sure that it does not stay this way forever and gets opened again sometime in the future, thank you very much!!!!! Yushima, why are you being so chill about maybe never seeing your turtle friend ever again, come on.

Masaru: “Then, what’s gonna happen? What about our promise to create a world that humans and Digimon can share together?”

Exactly! It’s such unfortunate timing that, right after this fight with Yggdrasil in which Masaru and friends fervently insisted that Digimon and humans can and should live together, they now have to go and separate the two worlds for a long while for the sake of dimensional safety.

As this discussion has been going on, the camera’s been panning out to show us that the humans and the Digimon partners are standing in two separate groups on either side of the room.

Agumon: “Um… Actually, there’s something we’d like to discuss with you about that.”

It seems like the Digimon must have been told about this earlier by themselves, if they’ve already come to a decision on what to do about it. They’re here, awkwardly separate from their partners, to break the news to them - the news that they want to return to the Digital World.

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

Falcomon: “That’s why we’d like to help rebuild the Digital World!”

Gotsumon’s statement that this is about them having lost their God is a bit silly, because most Digimon didn’t even seem to know that Yggdrasil existed, and it’s not like Yggdrasil ever actually did anything helpful for Digimon-kind in general, did it. But it’s true that all of the Digimon must be upset and confused right now, not because of Yggdrasil, but because of having recently endured a genocide followed by an apocalypse, the reasons for which most of them wouldn’t even understand.

The Digimon partners need to go to the Digital World to explain what happened and act as spokespeople on behalf of humanity. There’s probably still an awful lot of hatred and prejudice about humans floating around in the Digital World right now, thanks to Kurata’s awfulness, so someone needs to spread the word among Digimon that that was only one human and most humans are much better than that.

…Much like the human members of DATS are also going to need to be doing in their world on behalf of the Digimon, since most humans probably still think Digimon are horrible vicious invaders like Kurata insisted they were.

Lalamon: “We believe that in the near future, there will truly be a time when humans and Digimon can live together. That’s why…”

That’s why Savers deserved to have a sequel! Everyone keeps stressing their desire to create this world where the two species can live in harmony, but it’s not happening yet! Everything’s still a mess of confusion and pain and prejudice after all that’s happened, and it’d be so good to be able to actually see all of our friends here try and rebuild things from the ashes and eventually reach a point where the worlds can be together again. All of this talk is quite possibly the biggest most obvious sequel hook any end to a Digimon series has given, and it makes me so sad that we’ll never have that.

Masaru: “That’s why what?!”

Agumon: “A-Aniki…”

Masaru in particular is not happy to hear that his best friend and partner’s planning to just up and leave like that. Never mind that he’s got a good reason for it; Masaru doesn’t want this!

We cut straight to Harbour View Park, where Masaru punches Agumon to the ground. He brought him right to this special place where they first met each other, and he’s going to communicate to Agumon exactly how much pain he’s feeling about this decision, through his fists!

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

Aaaaa, Masaruuu, it’s heartbreaking that he feels that Agumon leaving like this is a betrayal. Wasn’t Agumon supposed to be his follower, who’d go anywhere with him and always fight by his side?

Agumon: “You can punch me all you want… But I’ve already made up my mind!”

Masaru: “And I’m saying that’s too selfish of you! I thought of you as if you were my little brother… So why…?!”

Masaru! He really is Agumon’s aniki – which, remember, can mean big brother – and that means Agumon really has always been like a little brother to him! Masaru’s assuming here that Agumon must not have any particular feelings about leaving him for the Digital World – but, still, he feels it’s selfish of Agumon to not be considering how he feels about having to say goodbye to his best friend and brother possibly forever! Aaaaaa.

Agumon: “Even I…!”

[he gets to his feet and punches Masaru in the face]

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

But of course Agumon has painful feelings about this, too! Of course he doesn’t want to have to leave his aniki any more than Masaru wants him to leave! Masaru must have not realised this until now due to the way Agumon was trying to hide it, because he’s made up his mind anyway and so it’s hard to think about that part – but of course he’s hurting just as much. He delivers a punch of his own to Masaru here to communicate that pain of his right back. They’re both hurting, equally, over this.

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

Agumon: “I *can’t*!”

Masaru stares at Agumon in surprise at that, having not realised this could be a matter of Agumon not feeling like he really has a choice in this.

Agumon: “The Gate is going to close. There won’t be any more Digimon incidents. So what’ll that make me? I’ll just be one big *nuisance* who spends his entire time sleeping and getting fat on Sayuri’s fried eggs!”

AGUMON. Aaaaaa. You were never a nuisance in the Daimon family! It’s so heartbreaking that he feels like he doesn’t properly belong in the human world, and in a human family, if there aren’t any more Digimon for him to fight.

But as heartbreaking as that is, it is understandable. This whole time he’s been here, there has kind of been this DATS-centric framing of “he’s here to help Masaru fight Digimon”, so Agumon may have internalised that more than he should have. And even if he looks beyond that… it’s still going to feel really weird and alienating for him, being stuck as the only Digimon in a human world that he doesn’t understand that well. He must have given it a lot of thought and realised that… he really couldn’t do that. Even if it means having to say goodbye to Aniki.

Masaru: “Agumon…”

Masaru seems taken aback. I don’t think he ever realised that his follower had been feeling that way about this, either. Aaaa.

Agumon: “I can’t forget the days I fought together with you. I…! I want to keep having adventures with you, Aniki!”

Look at poor Agumon in tears over this. Of course he wants to be able to keep having fun fighty times together with his aniki! But… you just can’t get those in a human world where no more Digimon are going to show up.

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

Masaruuu! He lurches forward with desperate emotion as he says this, a glint of tears visible in his eyes too, just for a split-second. Of course both of these fighty dorks just want to keep fighting things and having adventures together forever. It’s not fair on them that they seem to be getting forced into a situation where that’s not going to be possible any more.

The sky, which has been gloomily overcast all day to match the mood, breaks out into some Anime Sads Rain for the last time, to punctuate the moment. Something about that seems to make Masaru stop protesting and miserably accept it, as much as he hates it.

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

Masaru’s voice sounds bitter and angry here – and it is, because he’s in so much pain over this and he doesn’t know how to express that properly – but this is also said out of kindness and consideration to Agumon. He must realise that Agumon would be better off in the Digital World, where there’s fights and adventures, and then at least one of them will be happier. Part of that bitterness in his tone must be out of jealousy at the fact that Agumon has this world he belongs in, while Masaru doesn’t.

(And yet, as he says this, perhaps it’s starting to cross his mind that… maybe the human world’s too small for him, too.)

Agumon: “Aniki…”

Agumon must be upset that his aniki can’t bring himself to accept this and say any kind of goodbye in a less painful and bitter way than this. After a long pause, he turns and walks away, sobbing quietly to himself, leaving Masaru there alone on his hands and knees in anguish.

Aaaaaaa, these friends, this scene breaks my heart every time, I love it.

Elsewhere, Tohma’s watching the Anime Sads Rain outside his mansion window, also sharing that same mood, when Gaomon brings him a cup of tea. He takes a sip, and…

Tohma: “This is…”

Gaomon: “It’s an original blend. I call it ‘Our Vow to Meet Again’.”

GAOMON, what an absolute sweetheart, I love him. Look at his shy little blush and tail wag as he says it, too! I assume he also left the recipe for this new blend with Tohma so that his master can keep drinking it in his absence and thinking of the day they’ll meet again, aww.

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

Gaaah, the way Gaomon blurts that out, out of nowhere, and then just stands there staring up at him for a long moment. He’s such a good loyal dog. He says he’s not a dog, but he is. Best dog.

In an arcade out in town, Yoshino and Lalamon are having one last night out, like the regular friends and sisters they are. Lalamon fiercely bashes one of those arcade machines that test your punching strength. Now that Digimon are a known thing, she can actually be out of her Digivice and joining in! There’s a bunch of other people there watching, but none of them are batting an eye at the presence of a Digimon here. Good signs for the future!

Lalamon then insists Yoshino has a go too, and she punches her palm as she prepares. She’s clearly taking a leaf out of Masaru’s book; embrace your inner banchou, Yoshino!

…In fact, she gets so into it that she accidentally summons her Digisoul, and we know how much that can power up a punch. She ends up breaking the machine. Oops. The furious arcade owner kicks her and Lalamon out into the Anime Sads Rain that’s still going on.

Yoshino: “That sure surprised me! I’ll have to apologise to them later.”

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

Yoshino: “That’s not true, Lalamon.”

Aww, come on, Yoshino, of course it is. Though it hurts that Yoshino’s still being too hard on herself, I love that Lalamon can see this, and that she’s thinking about Yoshino’s growth, on this final day before they have to part ways. (Guhhh, they’ve known each other and been together every day for over a decade.)

Lalamon: “You’re not the Yoshino who couldn’t play piano by herself any more. Even if I go back to the Digital World, I can keep singing the song you gave me.”

Lalamon still really cares about that song that brought them together, and is thinking of what it means for Yoshino that she’s so much stronger now than she was on that day they met! Lalamon really has been the catalyst for all of Yoshino’s growth. Aww.

Out of nowhere, upon hearing this, Yoshino pulls Lalamon into a big hug, to her yelp of surprise. Aaa, they are FRIENDS.

Miki and Megumi are still at the DATS HQ, polishing their PawnChessmon’s armour and thanking them for everything.

Miki: “I wish we had more time to hang out… Then we could’ve gone to the hot springs, or karaoke…”

Megumi: “How about we do that now?”

Miki: “Seriously?”

Megumi: “Yeah! The night is young!”

Aww, they’re also gonna go have one last night out with their partners, now that they can actually hang out of their Digivices and join in! I’d sure love to see the PawnChessmon do karaoke. (…The joke is that they’re mute.)

Satsuma crosses paths with Miki and Megumi as they leave the control room and he enters. He sits down in his command seat, perhaps just for old times’ sake, and Kudamon settles around his neck.

Satsuma: “You’re here.”

Kudamon: “This place relaxes me the most.”

Satsuma: “Me too.”

Aww, Kudamon. He likes being a scarf! Satsuma likes him being a scarf! They are good scarf friends.

[Satsuma chuckles]

Kudamon: “So even you can laugh.”

Also look at Kudamon affectionately ribbing Satsuma for being so serious all the time. The same could be said for you, too, Kudamon, you super-serious Royal Knight, you.

Somewhere outside, the full moon overhead, Yushima’s sharing some kind of alcohol with Kamemon, and also Gotsumon. I guess nobody else wanted to awkwardly include Gotsumon in their heartfelt goodbye moments, but Yushima’s got him covered. He’s chill enough for that.

Yushima: “What a beautiful moon.”

Kamemon: “It is. But tonight is the last time we can see the moon like this.”

Kamemon’s being more talkative than usual! Perhaps it’s because he’s (almost) alone with Yushima – or perhaps it’s just that Yushima’s getting him drunk, which might make him a bit less shy.

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.”

In true Yushima fashion, he gets across his feelings in a metaphor. Something something things may seem different on the surface but they actually don’t fundamentally change underneath, so their bond will always be the same even if they’re far apart? Something like that.

Out on a pylon overlooking the city, Ikuto and Falcomon are sitting up there like the birds they are. (Most of the city is covered in scaffolding, as one would expect; there’s a lot of rebuilding to be done.)

Falcomon: “A lot of things have happened to us.”

Ikuto: “Too many things.”

They sure have, for these two in particular. It’s nice that they’ve finally got this quiet moment together to reflect and process it all.

Ikuto: “Falcomon. I’ll go back to the Digital World, too. I’ll make a new Digital World together with everyone else!”

Oh, Ikuto. Of course he’d want to do that and go and help with the restoration over there; it’s his home, much more than the human world is. But even as he says this, he’s kind of subdued about it – I think he realises on some level that, as much as he wants to, he can’t actually do this.

Falcomon: “You can’t, Ikuto. What about your mom and dad? Your family was finally able to welcome you back home.”

Falcomon gets it, even though it’s not his family. Poor Misuzu would not be able to deal with Ikuto disappearing on her again, and none of them want to put her through that. It’s heartbreaking that Falcomon has to be the one to voice it, even though Ikuto knows that just as well and has much more of an actual connection to the Noguchis than Falcomon does.

Ikuto: “But I… I’m family with Falcomon, too! I don’t want to say goodbye!”

But of course he is, and of course he doesn’t, and aaaa. Ikuto breaks into tears as he says this, which sets Falcomon off too, and the two of them just lean against each other and sob. Gahhhh, they’re just kids, and they’ve been together their whole lives, and now they have no choice but to say goodbye for who knows how long and this is heartbreaking.

The next morning, it’s time for the final Digital Dive for the Digimon, and (almost) everyone has gathered in the DATS control room. Chika is hugging Piyomon with one last tearful goodbye. (Piyomon seems kind of low-key about returning the gesture, which makes me suspect that he still didn’t consciously remember everything and is only going off his affection for her in this one most recent life.) Even Sayuri and Suguru came to see the Digimon off. But Masaru’s not there.

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

Oh, Masaru. That would indeed be a very plausible reason as to why he’s not here. He is not good at big displays of heartfelt emotion, at least not when those emotions are painful and negative, and it would be very him to not want to do that in front of everyone else. Even while alone with Agumon, he could still only manage to express those emotions through punching him.

Agumon: “Stupid Aniki.”

Poor Agumon, knowing that his aniki’s stubbornness and difficulty with this sort of thing means they won’t even get a proper goodbye, aaa. He’s acting bitter and annoyed about it on the surface, but you know he must really be hurting a lot.

Megumi: “Co-ordinate axes are set!”

Miki: “Cooling of transmission equipment on! Bionic Condenser functioning!”

Megumi: “Digital Harmoniser aligning! Security open!”

Miki and Megumi have given this whole Digital Gate opening spiel a bunch of times in the earlier episodes. But this time, it hits different, because you can hear the pain in their voices as they’re doing this, knowing that they’re sending their friends away for who knows how long.

But just as the swirling energy begins to descend through the Dive chamber, before it can warp anyone away—

Masaru: “WAIT JUST A MINUTE!”

Masaru shows up at the door with a massive backpack on his back. I love how this instantly makes it clear exactly what he is planning to do. This is why he was missing, not because he didn’t want to say goodbye. Or, well, effectively yes – precisely because he didn’t want to have to say goodbye, so he’s not going to!

Agumon: “Aniki!”

Agumon sounds thrilled to see him; he must also have immediately realised exactly what this means, as Masaru excitedly bounds right up to him in the Dive chamber.

Masaru: “Like hell I’ll ever say goodbye! I’m going to the Digital World with you!”

Oh, Masaru. He must have spent a horrible sleepless night last night agonising over the fact he’ll have to say goodbye to Agumon for an unknown amount of time. Of course he eventually found himself landing on the simplest, most straightforward, most Masaru solution to that problem. No, actually. Screw that goodbye. Screw the normal thing that’s expected of him in this situation. He doesn’t have to do that at all.

This human world is too small for Agumon, with his boisterous fighty ways – and hey, doesn’t that also mean it’s too small for Masaru, too? Way back in episode 2, Yushima cryptically told Masaru pretty much exactly that, and that in “the Digimon’s world” he’d find plenty of opponents to fight to his heart’s content. At the time, by “the Digimon’s world”, he meant DATS, but that was also very definitely foreshadowing this outcome in the ending!

The BGM that kicks in around here is also one I like a lot for this moment; it’s upbeat and kinda gives this sense of “yeah, we’re going on an adventure!”

Tohma: “Hold it!”

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

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

Of course Masaru refuses to let himself care about a little thing like never seeing the human world (or his family) again for who knows how long if he does this. He’s focusing on the good things about this – that he gets to stay with Agumon, and keep having fun fighty adventures! No need to worry about any of the downsides when there’s that!

Suguru: “Masaru! Go!”

Sayuri: “Dear!”

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

Of course Suguru – also known as the man who willingly chose to stay in the Digital World indefinitely when he could have gone home, because he knew that going home meant he might never be allowed back there – would be on board with this choice. This is pretty much exactly the same kind of thing that he did; in some ways he must be thrilled to see Masaru making a similar choice and following in his footsteps. And of course he’d see it as a way for Masaru to hone his manliness, what a dork.

(And yet, Masaru’s not even really doing this for dad-complex reasons at all – if this were more about his dad, he’d be wanting to stay at home with him and actually get to be a family again! But never having to say goodbye to Agumon is even more important to him than that, aaa. Or maybe it’s not quite that Agumon is even more important to him than his dad, but just that he’s used to his dad not being there, and so continuing to not be around him doesn’t feel like a bad thing, whereas not being with Agumon is.)

(And consider that Masaru’s going to the Digital World, where his dad’s built up this impossibly-awesome legacy of great feats, so in a way Masaru’s just going to keep on chasing after his dad’s unreachable, eternally-absent back. That’s not why he did this, but that sure is a position he’s put himself in again, hee.)

But, ouch, looks like the Daimon family is not going to be properly reunited for a while after all, despite what they said in that earlier scene. Masaru clearly did not take any time to inform his family of this choice of his and has just suddenly dropped this bombshell on them right now. Still, his dad’s back at home, so they’ll be fine without him, right? They don’t need Masaru to be the replacement father figure any more.

…This is why I think Suguru needed to come back to life. The writers were obviously planning this ending with Masaru leaving for the Digital World right from the beginning of the series – see it being foreshadowed in episode 2 – so they needed it to be possible for Masaru to choose this. And if his dad had actually remained dead, and the family had been left fatherless for good, I don’t think Masaru would have been able to cause his mom and sister the additional heartbreak of losing him on top of that. Not when he feels like he needs to be the protector of the family in his dad’s absence.

But this? It’s still going to hurt them to lose Masaru, but at least with Suguru back, it won’t be quite so unbearable, and so Masaru’s just about able to make that sacrifice, for Agumon’s sake. It’s not that he doesn’t realise this is going to make his mom and sister sad – of course he does. But… Agumon.

Of course, it’s not like it’s not going to hurt Masaru to be apart from his family for ages, either! But in true eternally-optimistic Masaru fashion, he’s not gonna let himself think about that, now that he’s made up his mind to make that sacrifice anyway. He absolutely didn’t gloss over that when making his decision; I’m sure he must have known and thought about exactly what he was giving up. I drew a post-ending comic exploring this idea once.

And really… just like Agumon, Masaru also doesn’t belong in an ordinary human world with no Digimon incidents. He never truly did. He’s found his calling in life, and like hell he’s gonna let that go and go back to a boring normal human life just because the main adventure’s over and everything’s telling him he’s supposed to. Since when did Masaru ever listen to what the world tells him he’s supposed to do?

I love Masaru. He’s always so gloriously himself at all times, and this final choice of his exemplifies that wonderfully.

Masaru: “Let’s go, Agumon! You and I will always be together!”

Agumon: “Aniki!”

Agumon is so thrilled. The happiest Agumon ever! He’s never ever going to have to say goodbye to his Aniki!!! They are FRIENDS I love them so much.

Because it’ll take me far away!

And then, instead of the usual uninteresting ending song, we get an actual epilogue of content over a different insert song, which is in fact the first opening! Isn’t this first lyric just perfect? Masaru’s being taken away by his fighting spirit, all the way into the Digital World. That’s always what the first opening song was foreshadowing, too. I love it.

The song’s upbeat gung-ho mood also just gives a great uplifting feeling throughout the whole epilogue, which I enjoy.

It's several years later, and Ikuto, in middle school uniform, is meeting Chika at her door in the morning to go to school with her. They’re the same age, so they’d be in the same school year! Seems like the Noguchis moved to someplace in the city, so that Ikuto could be around Chika and get used to human life and school stuff in the presence of somebody he knows. That must have been helpful for him; I can’t imagine a wild, feisty kid like him would have adjusted well to being at school without at least someone there on his side.

Inside the house, Suguru’s just there on the sofa, reading a newspaper and watching the news, being a normal dad! I’m sure he must have still been working as a Digimon scientist all this time, though, publishing his research and generally spreading the word among humans as to what Digimon are really like, to prepare for whenever the Gate will be opened again. The Daimons are definitely not going to let it stay closed forever, not when that means they’d never see Masaru ever again, never mind the Digimon.

Tohma is on the news, having just won the Nobel Prize in Medicine. The text on the news screen mentions that he’s nineteen years old – oh my god it’s been five years, Masaru’s been off in the Digital World for that long. (Hah, he skipped the rest of school. Sneaky of him.)

Tohma: “May it restore hope to many people who shared the same illness as my sister.”

Based on this, we can assume that Tohma did manage to cure his sister’s illness! Look at him go! An older Relena is there at the awards ceremony next to him, looking much healthier, beaming with pride at her brother’s achievements.

Also Tohma wears glasses now, which only serves to make him look like even more of a dork.

At a police station, Yoshino’s working there as an officer along with Miki and Megumi, discussing the news about Tohma with them. Satsuma, their boss, coughs pointedly at their distraction, so Yoshino heads out on patrol. Satsuma’s gone back to his old job! And it seems like he put in a good word for Miki, Megumi and Yoshino, so that they could get themselves a job in this Digimon-free world. Yoshino was always pretty good at all the logistical investigation stuff that DATS required; she’d make a good police officer.

She drives past Ikuto and Chika on their way to school, and then finds herself chasing after Kouki – the only one of the Bio-Hybrids we didn’t see praying for the world’s survival earlier in the episode – for his crime of not wearing a helmet on a motorbike. Hey, if Kouki wants to go and recklessly endanger his own life like that, I say let him, no big loss.

Chika and Ikuto pass by Yushima, doing some fishing on a bridge. I guess he’s old enough that he simply retired, and has become a mysterious fisherman full time? Perhaps.

And then. And then.

As the music dies down, we cut to the Digital World, to a gang fight between two different groups of Digimon, squabbling over turf. Just as the fight’s about to break out…

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

…the music kicks back in, and we see Masaru and Agumon up on a cliff, ready to step in and keep the peace – by fighting, of course! These two dorks have clearly settled firmly into their role as protectors and peacekeepers of the Digital World, fighting anyone who’s looking for trouble and getting through to them with their fists.

(Also, a neat detail – Masaru’s still in the same clothes he came here in, but they’re all ragged around the edges, as you’d expect when he’s been wearing them out in the wilderness for five years now.)

Masaru: “Let’s go, Agumon!”

Agumon: “Yeah!”

With this declaration, and with one last line of Because it’ll take me far away! from the song, the two best fighty dorks leap into the fray, and the series ends right there. I love them. I love it. Best, most uplifting ending. Look at them go.

Overall thoughts

Have you noticed how in these summary bits, as positive as I’ve usually been, I’ve never called any episode my absolute favourite one? That’s because this episode is my absolute favourite single episode in Savers! A lot of others have individual scenes I like more, but this is my favourite episode overall, because all of it is just so good. There’s barely a dull moment, Feelings abound everywhere, and I always come out of it feeling just so delightfully happy. I love Savers.

While the fighting in the previous episode I was kind of eh about, I really enjoy this as a final fight scene! It’s fun and upbeat and gives a neat send-off to most of the lower evolution stages and really exemplifies Masaru’s Masaru-ness one last time. It actually makes sense that all of humanity’s Digisoul would spur an eleventh-hour superpower, I love that said power is still Agumon, and it’s so fitting that it takes all of those emotions and Masaru’s very distinct brand of communication-through-fists to finally get through to Yggdrasil and change its mind.

Then we can spend the bulk of this episode on giving a send-off to the characters and their relationships with each other, and all of it is lovely. Seeing everyone be so happy to see each other safe again after the danger is so sweet, especially the Daimons, god they deserve to finally have Suguru back and get to be a family again, I love the Daimons so much.

And then the goodbyes tug at my heartstrings in the most wonderful way. All of them (Gaomon’s tea!!!), but of course especially Masaru and Agumon’s – the heartbreaking fact that Agumon feels he’s a nuisance in the Daimon family, and the extremely Masaru way that they can’t express their pain at saying goodbye through anything other than punching each other, aaaaa.

The epilogue is great, too! Tohma curing his sister, Suguru being a dad, Chika and Ikuto being schoolmates, Yoshino being a police officer. There’s all sorts of stuff that could be done with them from these new lives they’re leading after the five-year gap, if only there’d been a sequel like the writers were obviously trying to hook us into. Gahhh, there needs to be a sequel. Savers deserved a sequel. Literally the only thing wrong with this ending is that there will never be one.

But the absolute best thing is MASARU GOING WITH AGUMON TO THE DIGITAL WORLD, I love him so much. It’s the best subversion of all the usual obligatory heartbreaking Digimon endings where the humans and Digimon have to part ways Just Because and nobody gets to say otherwise. It’s so delightfully Masaru for him to just decide, screw that. He never really belonged in the human world either, and he doesn’t have to stay there. And I love that the narrative lets him! It lets him go off and live the life of fighty adventures he’s most suited for, instead of forcing him to go back to his normal boring human life and learn to be the Normal Person that he never was in the first place. It really epitomises the great way in which Savers has handled Masaru’s entire character.

See, I think a lot of fictional narratives – especially shows aimed at children – would take a boisterous, fighty kid like Masaru and put him through a character arc that pushes him to be less like that and more like a normal person, presenting that change as if it were a good thing. But Savers does none of that. It never once tries to tell Masaru that he’s wrong for being the way he is, just because it happens to not fit the world he lives in. All his arc does is refine that nature of his to make it less aimless and more focused on communication and emotions and having a meaningful impact on people. Maybe it’s my neurodivergence speaking, but I really really love the way that Savers’ narrative allows Masaru to keep being unabashedly himself, no matter what, right up until the very end.

---

[Dub comparison]

#digimon #digimon savers #masaru daimon #agumon #tohma h norstein #gaomon #yoshino fujieda #lalamon #ikuto noguchi #falcomon #sayuri daimon #chika daimon #suguru daimon #miki & megumi #rentarou satsuma #kudamon #the digivice old man #yggdrasil

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cloudypinkblink · 3 months

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you know sayuri kinda looks like she has the dead mom hairstyle, kinda

so time to give masaru (and chika) some angst

aka sayuri dying and Masaru drops out of school to get a job and raise his sister, over working himself and having bad habits of caring more about others health than his own

Chika worries about her brother and the changed that happened to him since their mom death

Satsuma didn't know that sayuri died and when he finds that out plus masaru joining DATS he tries to be a parental figuur to him (like a dad or uncle)

I'm so glad someone finally mentioned this bc I've always thought that abt her hair LMAO Anyways I will give u my perspective w/ Sayuri's death, tho it's a LIL different from some of what you suggested, but I like the idea a lot and have thought about it before.

Firstly, I think Masaru and Chika do get financial support; Sayuri is a stay-at-home mom with two kids in the anime; I'm assuming DATS gave her money in compensation for Suguru's disappearance, especially considering Captain Satsuma and Suguru were friends, as well. So with her death (I'm just chalking it up to illness), the financial support fell to the kids- they get to keep their house and I think they both stubbornly want to so when Dad comes back, he knows where they are (bc mind u canon masaru is only 14; he's still just a kid, and is bound to have some childlike hope/logic) Masaru does drop out and start working- for two reasons. One - His temper and behavior is pretty bad in school- he struggles dealing with his grief, and eventually just can't deal with it anymore; he's getting into more serious fights and hurting other kids, and it has a negative effect on Chika so he just drops out. He was also failing because he almost never studied, just too stressed. Two - Part of him is afraid of what will happen if he doesn't provide or take care of Chika on his own; yes they've got the money, but what if it's limited? Furthermore- he wants her to have nice things. They're given enough to survive, but after losing both their parents, he wants Chika to be happy. Sure, he can't spoil her, but he likes being able to buy her nice things when he can.

He works a few odd jobs- I think the last job he really worked before he ended up meeting Agumon and getting to DATS was at his friends shop- the one there is an episode about? But when it closed he lost it, and was inbetween work. He meets Agumon and Satsuma does recognize Masaru; he is aware of his situation, as Sayuri had asked him to make sure they're taken care of, but I guess he didn't realize how bad things had gotten on Masaru. Instead of Yoshino going to seek Masaru out, the Captain does personally, and tells him a bit about his dad and his relationship with Sayuri. He outright offers a job for Masaru at DATS, and it only gets solidified after Masaru is able to get Agumon to evolve. Satsuma also does this personally to allow Masaru to keep his privacy; it's his choice if he wants the others to know his personal situation. (Masaru doesn't outright talk about it, but he doesn't keep it a secret, either. It is what it is, but he does appreciate being able to tell them on his own)

(I believe in giving Masaru different hairstyle supremacy)

Masaru ofc takes it because he's able to work, and the pay is ggood enough that he feels a bit better about spending more time at home. Satsuma gives him mornings/early afternoons off, allowing Masaru to do housework, cook, etc., Masaru is also very grateful to Agumon- and instead of being hungry af for Sayuri's fried eggs, he obsesses over Masaru's. The companionship and someone to chat with while he does stuff helps Masaru, and he doesn't get nearly as restless anymore given his fights with Digimon make him feel more fulfilled. (There is a part of him that's terrified of something happening, leading him to leave Chika behind; I think he's very much more hesitant about going to the digital world, and needs her encouragement before he goes. As much as Masaru the son wants to find his dad and have a parent, Masaru the brother doesn't want to abandon Chika. I also don't think he goes to the digital world at the end of the series; sure their dad is back, but Masaru's been Chika's main parent figure. I don't think he has it in him to leave her.) While I didn't draw her, Yoshino is definitely really sympathetic, and often buys Masaru and Chika snacks, and gives him rides to places if she's not busy. It becomes a little routine for her and Masaru to go grocery shopping together, and Lalamon often points out how much better Masaru is at housework than Yoshino- obviously to tease and fluster her. She also tries to be there when Masaru has his off and down days- but they all kinda learn pretty quick to just... let him simmer for a bit, and he comes around on his own. Masaru is probably depressed, and it manifests as quiet, slow days, or in angry bursts where he doesn't understand his sadness. Touma and Masaru of course buttheads at first, though Touma is fairly shocked and surprised when he hears Masaru say he takes care of Chika himself because his parents are gone. Masaru doesn't beat around the bush, saying Mom passed away and Dad went missing. Of course they kinda butt heads still when the ever proud and abrasive Masaru doesn't like pity, but Touma, I think, opens up a bit and explains his "pity" is empathy, because his mom died, and his little sister is sick, so he gets it. While I definitely feel thats information Touma doesn't give lightly, I think it's because Touma is rather caring towards Chika too, and at least he had others to take care of him and take care of Relena in his absence. Satsuma does enlist in Touma's help in tutoring Masaru- it's soemthing they'll do in quiet evenings, though Yoshino often has to butt in to get Touma to tone down his genius speak to something a bit less overwhelming. This will be dubbed orphan AU in tags. I will definitely come back, but please ask/prompt more as well hehehe. I definitely want to explore Masaru's relationships w/ some of the adult figures in his life- Satsuma, Yoshino. And ofc how Ikuto would be different given it was Sayuri's motherly affection that had a big effect on him.

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imasallstars · 8 months

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THE IDOLM@STER CINDERELLA GIRLS UNIT LIVE TOUR ConnecTrip!

Further information regarding the CINDERELLA GIRLS UNIT TOUR live has been revealed! The tour will span a mini live once a month from JANUARY 2024 until JUNE 2024. Each stop will feature three units performing.

The voice actresses participating in this stop are as follows:

ISHIKAWA. 2024.06.16. HONDAMORI HOKUDEN HALL

Hagoromo Komachi [Rika Tachibana (Sae Kobayakawa), Ru Thing (Syuko Shiomi)], Atarayoduki [Masumi Tazawa (Ayame Hamaguchi), Misa Kayama (Tamami Wakiyama), Hiyori Nitta (Karin Domyoji)], Kakuriyogatari [Yuuki Takada (Yoshino Yorita), Chiyo Ousaki (Koume Shirasaka)]

YAMAGATA. 2024.02.03. YAMAGI KENMIN HALL

Dea Aurora [Yuko Iida (Kanade Hayami), Aya Suzaki (Minami Nitta)], Lazy Lazy [Kotomi Aihara (Shiki Ichinose), Asami Takano (Frederica Miyamoto)], Ruby Countess [Maki Kawase (Tsukasa Kiryu), Nanami Yamashita (Yui Ohtsuki), Yui Ninomiya (Makino Yagami)]

IWATE. 2024.03.10. TOSAI CLASSIC HALL

One Steps [Saya Aizawa (Hiromi Seki), Satomi Amano (Hotaru Shiragiku), Karin Takahashi (Nono Morikubo)], Fairy Tale＊My Tale [Minami Tsuda (Miho Kohinata), Minori Suzuki (Hajime Fujiwara)], Sola-iris [Rika Nagae (Hayate Hisakawa), Yuki Nakashima (Yuuki Otokura)]

OSAKA. 2024.04.06. ZEPP OSAKA BAYSIDE

Triad Primus [Ayaka Fukuhara (Rin Shibuya), Eriko Matsui (Nao Kamiya), Mai Fuchigami (Karen Hojo)], Dark Illuminate [Maaya Uchida (Ranko Kanzaki), Shiki Aoki (Asuka Ninomiya)], VelvetRose [Kaoru Sakura (Chitose Kurosaki), Risa Sekiguchi (Chiyo Shirayuki)]

FUKUOKA. 2024.05.19. ZEPP FUKUOKA

Sexy Guilty [Eri Suzuki (Yuko Hori), Azumi Waki (Sanae Katagiri), Yuri Noguchi (Shizuku Oikawa)], Hero Versus [Sayaka Kamitani (Hikaru Nanjo), Yuki Nagano (Reina Koseki)], Beat Shooter [Makoto Koichi (Haru Yuuki), Hana Tamegai (Risa Matoba)]

TOKYO. 2024.06.01. ZEPP DIVERCITY TOKYO

Positive Passion [Sayuri Hara (Mio Honda), Chinatsu Akasaki (Akane Hino), Yuuki Kaneko (Aiko Takamori)], Seiten Tennyo ✦NEW✦ [Ｍ・Ａ・Ｏ (Fumika Sagisawa), Rana Morishita (Kako Takafuji)], #UNICUS [Megu Umezawa (Akari Tsujino), Miyu Tomita (Akira Sunazuka), Seena Hoshiki (Riamu Yumemi)]

#event rundown

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amethyst-geek · 1 year

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Olympos 12 Next gen partner-ups- Just Savers/Data Squad edition

Now that I’ve discussed who would be partnered with which members of the Olympos VII in both a “next gen crossover between Adventure and Savers” scenario and “Just of the 02 epilogue kids” scenario, I will now discuss who would be partnered with the Olympos VII in the event of Savers getting a next gen sequel focusing on their kids. While I think Adventure is more likely to have a Next Gen sequel at all, Savers is more likely to have its own next gen series (should it have one) assign all of the next Gen kids Olympos VII partners as so far it is the only Digimon Anime continuity to be canonically confirmed to have the Olympos 12, even though Mercurymon was the only member to appear in that series (and for reasons that should be obvious to anyone who has seen Savers/Data Squad, he will also be the only one who will not be assigned a partner). For those who did not see my post speculating why Mercurymon is the only member of the Olympos VII to appear in Savers, I speculated that the majority of the Olympos VII were given a potion that cursed to revert to digieggs and remain as such until humans who are compatible with them came along.

I’ll start by recapping the ones I’ve already speculated on

Dianamon- her partner would be Tohma’s daughter, whom I have dubbed Natsuki. Tohma and his partner, Gaomon, are associated with the moon and the color blue like Dianamon, so partnering Tohma’s daughter up with Lunamon/Dianamon was a no-brainer.

Apollomon- I would assign Apollomon to Masaru’s son. Now you’re probably wondering, “how can Masaru have a kid? He moved to the Digital World, where there are no other humans, not to mention he’s probably aroace.” Well I have come up with all sorts of explanations as to how Masaru can have a kid ranging from “making him out of sand or magic clay ala Wonder Woman” to “drunken one-night stand with Maki from Tri.” Though if the idea of Masaru having a kid is too weird for you guys, we could instead give Natsuki a twin brother and make him Apollomon’s partner. However, I really like the idea of Apollomon’s partner having the same orange Digisoul and olive green eyes as the various members of the Daimon family, so I might have Tohma’s wife be a relative of the Daimon family (like a country cousin who came to stay with her uncle Suguru and aunt Sayuri to attend high school and she wound up hitting it off with Tohma).

Jupitermon- Again, he would be partnered with Suzume (Ikuto and Chika’s daughter)

Ceresmon- She’d be partnered with Yoshino’s daughter.

Vulcanusmon- Vulcanusmon’s partnered would either a) another one of Tohma’s kids, b) the child of Masaru’s friend from episode 11 (blanking on his name), or c) one of the kids whose parents aren’t pre-established characters.

Now onto the rest of the Olympos VII

Bacchusmon- In some of my other posts, I suggested that that Bacchusmon got so drunk that passed just before the massacre and stayed passed out until just after the events of Savers. My plans for a next gen story between the first six Anime have him pull a “you shall not pass” in order to give the heroes time to escape to the human world and he winds up getting captured by the villains and forcibly merged with Kouki (who consented to becoming a bio-hybrid again because he’s still obsessed with defeating Masaru). However, in the context of Savers getting a next gen story that DOESN’T cross over with the other anime, there’s a little more room to have him be partners with a member of the new generation. Since his domain is wine (hence why I usually imagine him as a mentor figure instead of being a partner Digimon), I would want his partner to be a young adult instead of a child. Since Bacchusmon is said to be friends with Ceresmon, whom I imagine being partnered with Yoshino’s daughter, I was also thinking that Bacchusmon's partner could be another relative of Yoshino’s, perhaps a niece or nephew.

Minervamon- her partner (whom I imagine would also be a girl) would be either another one of Tohma’s kids or she would be Nanami’s daughter (who would be the maternal half-sister of Rei, more on him in the next section of this post).

Marsmon- he’s partnered with a boy (whom for argument sake I will call Rei; yes this is a Sailor Moon shoutout). I was thinking that Rei could be the illegitimate son of Nanami and Kouki. Maybe Kouki got back in touch with her a few years after Savers and they wound up having a messy romance that resulted in Nanami getting pregnant with Rei, at which point she broke up with Kouki without telling him about the kid because the idea of Kouki being a part of the kid’s life made her nervous. If Kouki finds out about Rei during this hypothetical next gen story (possibly while working with the main villain of the story), his initial reaction will be “Whatever. Back to figuring out how to beat Masaru once and for all.” Unlike Kouki (and Nanami for that matter), Rei is a relatively normal kid who heavily involved in the athletics at his school. Rei would also become good friends with Masaru’s son (assuming Masaru does indeed have a kid in this next gen story)

Junomon- I’m pretty content with Junomon being partnered with someone whose parents aren’t anyone of consequence. Also, I imagine Junomon’s partner would be a girl.

Venusmon- Again, I’m content with Venusmon’s partner (whom I imagine would be a girl) not have pre-established characters for parents. Though if I had to make her partner be related to a pre-established character, I’d probably make her a relative of captain Satsuma (like a great-niece who lives with him, either temporalily while she’s attending high school or he legally adopted her after the untimely death of her parents).

Neptunemon- Neptunemon’s partner (who would probably be a boy) would either not be related to anyone of consequence or he’ll be Yushima’s grandson or great-grandson

#digimon #digimon savers #digimon data squad #olympos XII #olympos 12 #Apollomon #dianamon #jupitermon #ceresmon #bacchusmon #minervamon #marsmon #junomon #venusmon #Neptunemon #Digimon OCs #digimon oc

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idolm-ster · 1 year

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EVERLASTING

Mio Honda (CV: Sayuri Hara), Akari Tsujino (CV: Megu Umezawa), Anzu Futaba (CV: Hiromi Igarashi), Natsuki Kimura (CV: Kiyono Yasuno), Anastasia (CV: Sumire Uesaka), Natalia (CV: Teru Ikuta), Arisu Tachibana (CV: Amina Satou), Sachiko Koshimizu (CV: Ayana Taketatsu), Yoshino Yorita (CV: Yuuki Takada), Mizuki Kawashima (CV: Nao Touyama.

#the idolm@ster #cinderella girls #mio honda #akari tsujino #anzu futaba #natsuki kimura #anastasia #natalia #arisu tachibana #sachiko koshimizu #yoshino yorita #mizuki kawashima

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nyankodanyan · 1 year

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Typical questions and answers regarding Nitta Eri, the iconic figure of Onyanko Club, on Yahoo Answers

Can you believe the fact that a girl with such a face became the iconic figure of Onyanko Club and the most popular idol?

Yoshino Kayoko, who was a beautiful and cheerful girl, should have been the ace of Onyanko Club, and Nitta Eri shouldn't have been the ace of the group.

Top:Nitta Eri, who became the iconic figure of Onyanko Club, and Kokushō Sayuri, her biggest rival. Middle:Nitta Eri and Kawai Sonoko, who was reputed to be the most beautiful among the members of Onyanko Club. Bottom:Nitta Eri and one of the most popular members, Takai Mamiko, who subsequently married Akimoto Yasushi.

Nitta Eri, Nakajima Miharu, and Takai Mamiko.

Nitta Eri on a bicycle, on her way home from Saitama Prefectural Fukuoka High School(It wasn't taken by a photographer, but by a local fan in secrecy).

After the disbandment of Onyanko Club, Nitta Eri answered with a smile to popular comedian Sekine Tsutomu's extremely lewd quizzes on a radio show.

Onyanko Club's Nitta Eri and AKB48's Maeda Atsuko are often compared cuz they were the aces of their respective groups.

Q136154273 Hidden ID 2005/9/20 11:36 I don't like Nitta Eri's viscous way of speaking. Has she been like that since forever?

Hidden ID 2005/9/20 11:44 Nitta's face and figure were below par, and so was her singing. Nitta didn't at all deserve to be a celeb. I didn't understand those who said this bitch was good.

Hidden ID 2005/9/20 11:54 She's always been like that. I don't like that way of her speaking either. Does Nitta think she's lovely? She's a middle-aged woman now, and on top of that, there's nothing good about her.

Q1110249601 nan 2006/12/12 18:02 I hear that former Onyanko Club member Nitta Eri was very popular. What was it about her that attracted many guys? In terms of looks alone, there were many other girls who were prettier, weren't there? Could someone who knew her prime please answer me?

ana 2006/12/12 23:15 I think it was her ordinary-ish nature that attracted people to her. She was like a cute girl in class. People may have found such a part of her approachable. If she'd been too beautiful, many guys woulda avoided her. Also, the fact that she was blessed with a hit song called “Winter Opera Glasses” was a major factor that couldn't be ignored. She was given the opportunity to sing that song because of her popularity.

aya 2006/12/12 23:21 Nitta's most attractive feature was her pouting jaw.

Q1112192096 han 2007/7/16 19:20 Nitta Eri was the most popular among the members of Onyanko Club, so why couldn't she succeed in the entertainment industry like Kudō Shizuka afterwards?

dre 2007/7/16 19:27 I think the main reason she was so popular during her Onyanko Club days was cuz people found her amateurishness endearing. Nitta Eri was the epitome of amateurishness and was therefore extremely popular. However, after graduating from Onyanko Club, it was tough for a character like her to compete with other female celebs. In the case of Kudō Shizuka, she had the singing ability to captivate people with her songs, but Nitta Eri had none of that.

Q1424314664 Hidden ID 2009/3/19 20:01 Why was Nitta Eri so popular? I often hear that Onyanko Club means Nitta Eri, but I don't understand the reason even after watching her videos on YouTube. I often hear that her ordinary-ish nature was the secret of her popularity, but then, I think all the other members besides Nitta had the nearly same atmosphere as well. At the time I was in elementary school and accepted the fact that Nitta was a very popular idol, but now when I look back at her videos I wonder why that was. I know this is a weird question, but I'd appreciate your answers.

hug 2009/3/20 1:05 At the time, her ordinary-ish nature was said to be good, but I didn't get it. Also, her singing was laughably terrible. However, it's possible that those aspects of her weren't so bad for guys. Btw, Nitta had a boyfriend who was a classmate at her high school, despite the fact that she was a very popular idol.

yab 2009/3/23 21:23 There were members who were considered more beautiful than Nitta at the time, such as Kawai Sonoko and Takai Mamiko. However, Nitta took the most prominent position with their debut song, and soon came to be regarded as the iconic figure of Onyanko Club. Unlike the other show-off members, Nitta was laid-back in both good and bad ways. In addition, maybe the boys felt that Nitta had the friendliness of a slightly cute female student from another school.

Q1043501820 Hidden ID 2010/7/11 6:40 Were Kokushō Sayuri and Nitta Eri like cats and dogs when they were members of Onyanko Club? Can you tell me specific episodes about these two at the time?

s_s 2010/7/11 19:05 Kokushō and Nitta once had a very real fistfight after airing "Yūyake Nyan Nyan". This fight was included in the 100 best bouts on Fuji TV at the time.

Q1043532745 kai 2010/7/11 20:01 I recently read a news article and found out that Nitta Eri was the very top member of a group called Onyanko Club. I don't think she was that beautiful in her old pictures. Was she really so popular back then? Why did Akimoto Yasushi make her a center of the group? I find it baffling that she even became a celeb from being such a low-level girl. I wonder why people had to watch a girl of that caliber on TV. Her selling point was said to be ordinary-ish nature, but if anything, it seems to me she was way far worse than ordinary. I'm sorry I said that very clearly.

pol 2010/7/11 20:15 Nitta's face was average, but her singing was pretty terrible. Nevertheless, she was extremely popular. Nitta was incredibly affable, and I guess that's what made people think she was cute.

Q1245080682 Hidden ID 2010/8/10 23:48 Onyanko Club apparently was divided into two factions, Kokushō Sayuri's and Nitta Eri's. Which did you support back then?

Hidden ID 2010/8/10 23:54 I was a Kokushō supporter. As an elementary school kid at the time, I thought Nitta was fugly and also had a very weird voice. I still don't understand well why she was the most popular idol.

Q1345131098 kit 2010/8/11 22:17 Yesterday, Kokushō Sayuri and Nitta Eri, both former members of Onyanko Club, appeared on a TV program called "Confessions of the Showbiz World" and talked about each other. I watched it and felt that Nitta Eri had a pretty bad character. Nitta continued to bitch about Kokushō while laughing. I thought the bitch who wasn't shy about saying such things was Kokushō, not Nitta. I'm not of the Onyanko Club generation, so I don't know about their past. Has Nitta been like that since back then? I thought that she was an idol with an image of innocence and purity. I found Kokushō to be a more decent character than Nitta after watching the program.

Hidden ID 2010/8/12 16:50 I'm of the Onyanko Club generation. Nitta has always had that kinda personality. She sang in the Onyanko Club song, "New Membership Number Song", "Sometimes I'm selfish and annoy those around me, but they see my smile and forgive me, that's my weapon." Books written by people involved at the time also described a number of episodes of her selfishness. She quickly became so popular and the face of the group without any hardship at all, and this situation probably made her even more selfish. However, I think what she said on that show was more of a story of memories rather than swearing. The story of the rivalry between the Nitta and Kokushō factions is probably a subject for laughter now. Kokushō rather used to be a bad girl. At the time, the newspaper Mainichi Shimbun interviewed Kokushō, but her attitude wasn't very good. They therefore denounced her extensively in the paper, saying that she was cocky and had no common sense. In fact, she seems to have been really cocky, and now deeply reflects on what she said and did at the time.

Nitta was selfish and stubborn, and in addition, she wasn't good at group activities. She always hung out with only a very few of her close friends, such as Nagata Ruriko and Nakajima Miharu. Therefore, she was completely indifferent to any bullying or other problems that occurred among the other members. On the other hand, Kokushō showed her leadership as a jock girl. However, she was surprisingly jealous, had clear likes and dislikes, and was cocky. I think they were both like that at the time. Incidentally, Kokushō was pretty harsh to Yoshizawa Akie, who made her solo debut soon after joining Onyanko Club, and to Kudō Shizuka, who'd known Kokushō since before the group. As a result, surprisingly many of the members disliked Kokushō. On the contrary, I don't think there were many members who disliked Nitta. I guess Nitta had a more refreshing personality than Kokushō.

Q1247301712 tut 2010/9/19 22:58 Was a woman named Nitta Eri really an idol? She looks like a middle-aged woman in a supermarket somewhere around there now.

pum 2010/9/21 19:00 She was an ordinary girl everywhere. So it's natural that she now looks like a middle-aged woman in a supermarket somewhere around there. The normal-looking part was her selling point.

Q1048496695 ryo 2010/10/11 17:11 Former Onyanko Club member Nitta Eri openly admitted on a TV program, "I already had a boyfriend when I was a freshman in high school." However, I heard the members of Onyanko Club were prohibited from having relationships at that time. Her comment is like a blanket denial of the romance prohibition of the members of AKB, produced by Akimoto Yasushi. Junior high school students believe that idols aren't permitted to fall in love, so I feel sorry for them that she said such a nasty thing.

Hidden ID 2010/10/11 20:27 I agree. Those who say such a thing now, like Nitta, seem to think that idols are allowed to fall in love as long as they ain't uncovered. If they want a boyfriend, they just don't have to become idols, but they're pretty greedy. The idea of desiring to be pampered by both boyfriends and fans at the same time horrifies me. It was a shock for me when I found out that my favorite idol had a boyfriend. Even the old idols were like that, so I believe that today's idols definitely have boyfriends. I'm pretty sure that AKB members will be telling stories on TV shows in a few decades, such as, "Actually, I had a boyfriend when I was an idol."

Sanpo 2010/10/12 13:11 Nitta ain't negative regarding the prohibition of romance for idols. She just said that almost no one actually abided by it. Btw, Nitta's first sexual experience was when she was 13, though.

Q1450732364 Hidden ID 2010/11/21 1:16 I often hear that Maeda Atsuko of AKB48 can be identified with Nitta Eri of Onyanko Club. I'm not of the Onyanko Club generation. Therefore, I finally found out through internet research that the two are indeed similar. They both have several similarities, as shown below. "They're the face of the group, even though they ain't very talented or good looking." "They're given special treatment by Akimoto Yasushi." "They've no ambition or motivation." "Somehow, they're number one in popularity." But if they're so similar, Maeda might even resemble Nitta's bad side, don't you think? Nitta Eri's career stalled after her graduation from Onyanko Club, and as of now, she's no presence in the entertainment industry, to the point where it's hard to tell if she's in or out of the business. Maybe Maeda Atsuko will be like Nitta Eri after her graduation from AKB? It seems to me that Maeda hopes to become an actress. But she doesn't have the acting ability or unique presence to captivate people, so she's likely to work in minor supporting roles. In the future, will Maeda appear on some "what's that idol who was popular in the past doing now" type of show?

Hidden ID 2010/11/21 1:33 I totally agree. Maeda will be on such a show in 10-20 years. I think she'll be like Nitta Eri. It seems to me that the only time she can be popular is now that she's in AKB.

Q1258441627 ysd 2011/3/23 23:27 Was Nitta Eri the most popular member of Onyanko Club? I believe there were other prettier girls, but why was she so popular?

yun 2011/3/24 19:05 Ah, I thought the same thing as you. I don't think she was particularly cute in my opinion, so I've a strong feeling of why. When I heard her episodes of the time, she was extremely self-centered. I can hardly say she sang well either. I imagine that Nitta Eri was a little lispy and spoke in a sweet tone, which was why she was considered cute by many guys? That's all I can think of in her good points.

Q1059256645 nik 2011/4/2 21:57 Kokushō Sayuri couldn't win over Nitta Eri. And now that times have changed, Shinoda Mariko can't win over Maeda Atsuko. Kokushō and Shinoda are completely more beautiful. Is it still the case that plain looking girls whom we somehow manage to approach, even though the times are different, are still popular?

Hidden ID 2011/4/2 23:32 The perception that Maeda and Nitta are plain looking is correct. The reason they both became popular is cuz Akimoto Yasushi gave them special treatment and always put them in a good position. If these two ugly idols would have stood on the same ring as everyone else, they wouldn't have been popular.

Q1173479156 sar 2011/10/16 17:55 The mystery of idol group popularity. Yesterday, footage of Onyanko Club was shown on TV, and a woman named Nitta Eri was mentioned as the most popular idol. Frankly, I thought Kokushō Sayuri and Watanabe Minayo were more beautiful than her. Why was Nitta the most popular idol?

Yosentsūka 2011/10/17 6:58 I never understood why Nitta Eri was so popular back then. She was selfish and only worked as if it was a part-time job, yet somehow she was popular.

Q1497449854 rat 2012/11/19 14:55 Concerning former Onyanko Club member Nitta Eri. I don't mean to be rude, but I've been a bit curious about this for a while and would like to ask a question. There have been a number of programs aired in the past few years featuring idols from the 1980s. But no matter how many times I've seen footage of Nitta Eri in her prime, I've never once thought she was cute. I don't know about the other female idols of the time well, but I think they were cute. If you call it a matter of taste, that's all it is. Only Nitta looks so lame to me, even though I find other idols who had just debuted at the time and looked provincial to be cute in their videos. I don't think she even had the singing ability to compensate for her lousy looks (I'm sorry). I was a little kid at the time, so I can't even get a sense of how popular Nitta had become. Did people who knew about those days think Nitta was cute?

yos 2012/11/19 17:32 In hindsight, she was laughably provincial. She was a pretty lame girl who deserved to be from Saitama Prefecture. However, Onyanko Club rose rapidly, thanks to Nitta's popularity, and as soon as the year 1986 arrived, their popularity reached its zenith. Anyway, that was the mood of the times. It was Nitta who symbolized Onyanko Club. Therefore, Onyanko Club was positioned by the public as an idol group, like an bunch of amateurs.

bra 2012/11/21 22:24 I watched "Yūyake Nyan Nyan" back then and wondered why Nitta was so popular. Onyanko Club was a group that sang terribly, which was the norm, and Nitta's face was way below average. However, Onyanko Club gave people a sense of familiarity, as if they were the amateurs beside us. Therefore, the girls' looks and singing ability tended to be of little concern. In addition, the tremendous momentum of the program "Yūyake Nyan Nyan" itself probably had an impact on Nitta's popularity.

Q12118347582 ich 2013/12/23 12:59 What do you associate with Nitta Eri?

gin 2013/12/23 21:57 It reminds me of Nitta Emi, a former porn star whose name and face were extremely similar to those of Nitta Eri(^O^)

Q12165055922 Mighty Action 2016/10/1 23:56 Please tell me! What was so cute about Nitta Eri?　 She now seems to me to be a middle-aged woman who is everywhere.

sth 2016/10/2 4:31 That's really true, isn't it? Well, when she was younger, wouldn't they have liked the "girl-everywhere" part of her?

A thank-u comment from the questioner I feel that there are many more beautiful ordinary women around than Nitta She had none of the glamour of a star. But she was lucky enough to have the right timing and to be able to sweep the world of idols.

Q11170861316 takodestakodayo 2017/2/22 18:38 Which was a worse singer, Nitta Eri or Kokushō Sayuri?

sei 2017/2/22 23:50 It musta been Nitta Eri. Her singing was exactly at the level of being noise and pollution.

Q10196443375 Hidden ID 2018/9/20 20:04 In the 1980s, did you think Nitta Eri was cute? Personally, I think Nakayama Miho and Honda Minako, who debuted at almost the same time as Onyanko Club, were cuter. Is it a matter of taste?

X_ray6723 2018/9/21 11:07 I've never thought Nitta was cute. In terms of looks, Nakayama and Honda were definitely better than her

ara 2018/9/24 20:10 I had no idea why Nitta Eri was so popular. Even now, I still don't understand. I personally think that Nakayama Miho and Honda Minako were far cuter, prettier, and more attractive than her.

Q13231678833 Hidden ID 2020/9/16 12:36 Who would be the first to think of an idol who was popular but being not so pretty or cute?

neko1991 2020/9/16 17:44 In terms of nostalgic idols, I can say that Nitta Eri of Onyanko Club.

A thank-u comment from the questioner Nothing shows more than the fact that such an ugly girl was the most popular member of the early Onyanko Club, how crazy the aesthetic sense of elementary, junior high and high school students at the time was.

Q10244287280 1149931252 2021/6/6 17:31 Did Nitta Eri have such a large number of fan base at that time?

kyūjī 2021/6/6 22:39 I think she was the most popular idol back then. I remember her making the following interesting remarks. "My debut song, "Winter Opera Glasses" was actually written by me, not by the fucking Akimoto Yasushi!" "A fucking stalker stole my stained underwear!"

Q14251207469 Hidden ID 2021/10/18 23:35 I'd like to ask Kumabenkei。. In the early days of Onyanko Club, Nitta Eri was the most popular by far, but what the fuck was so good about that bitch? Onyanko Club was basically a group of ugly girls, but there were relatively beautiful girls like Kawai Sonoko, Kokushō Sayuri, and Takai Mamiko from the very beginning. I have no idea why the popularity was concentrated on Nitta. It seems to me that this should be mentioned as the very first of the Seven Wonders of Onyanko Club. Looking at past Yahoo Answers, I realize that I'm not the only one who feels this way, and there're many others. I'd really like to see Kumabenkei。, who favors Nitta, explain this. Alternatively, I don't mind if it's someone else.

no_ 2021/10/19 14:09 I'm someone else! Well, I think the reason she was very popular was cuz she seemed so normal, as a member of an amateurish group! That said, looking at her early photos, she was fugly! I started watching "Yūyake Nyan Nyan" around the middle of May 1985, more than a month after the program first aired, so I don't know about its earliest days. I definitely didn't have any special feelings for Nitta! I couldn't even imagine the fact that Nitta has remained in the entertainment industry until this very day!

Response from Hidden ID 2021/10/22 20:59 It'd be normal to feel nothing at all when you see Nitta. It seems to me that there were too many abnormal guys back then.

tak 2021/10/19 14:51 Amateurishness was her selling point. However, I wondered why she was so popular. Apparently, Nitta Eri had no interest in show business and wanted to quit soon, but managed to continue until September 1986. Her graduation from Onyanko Club was due to Fuji TV's intention. During her Onyanko Club days, she often went AWOL for selfish reasons.

Response from Hidden ID 2021/10/22 21:11 Nitta may not have been so motivated at first, but after the smoking group got fired, she seems to have gotten cocky.

Kumabenkei。 2021/10/22 10:18 Greetings, I'm Kumabenkei。. I'm sorry it's taken me a while to respond to you. As you pointed out, I've had a certain favorable impression of Nitta Eri. However, please understand that this is just my personal taste and also I don't represent the feelings of other respondents. First, I wannna say that I'm not a fan of Onyanko Club. I just think Nitta Eri is good to some extent, but I'm by no means a hard-core fan or anything. Compared to the other members of Onyanko Club, I think that Nitta's shyness, less like a celebrity, and more like an amateur anywhere, gave people a good impression of her. She was neither a good singer nor a good dancer, and she didn't make a particularly outstanding impression on people. I think that her ordinary-ish nature was her strength. Generally speaking, Onyanko Club was like a group of amateurs on "Yūyake Nyan Nyan", so I didn't expect them to be anything amazing from the very beginning. Under such circumstances, my favorite was Nitta Eri. She was a friendly, smiley character who made people think it might be fun to date a girl like her. Wouldn't you agree? That's what I mean. Her ordinary-ish nature was irresistible to me. She didn't seem to have any weird sexiness or slyness, and yet she was cute♪ (^○^)ｂ.

Response from Hidden ID 2021/10/22 21:12 If Nitta was an ordinary-ish girl, then there woulda been such girls in your class. I don't understand the feeling of daring to seek such a point from idols. I don't think Nitta's smile was particularly attractive compared to the other members. Also, Onyanko Club's selling point was their amateurishness, but in reality, they were a group of professionals or semi-professionals from the very beginning.

Kumabenkei。 2021/10/22 21:29 There's a difference between ordinary-ish and just ordinary. Well, if we look around, there're certainly ordinary girls, but those girls don't always smile at us, do they? Nitta fulfilled the wish of an ordinary man who wanted a girl to smile at him. There're plenty of just ordinary girls everywhere. But they don't show us the smiles and kindness we expect, do they? They ain't very nice to us, are they? However, idols live up to our expectations. That's why they're valuable. As far as that's concerned, though, idols are unordinary. Nitta became popular cuz she was unordinary, even though she seemed to be pretty ordinary.

Response from Hidden ID 2021/10/22 22:16 I got what you meant. That said, was Nitta so affable all the time? Wasn't that only a small part from the overall image of Nitta as an idol? I could say that the act of interpreting only a part of the surface in an enlarged way is something that no one other than fans could ever understand.

Kumabenkei。 2021/10/22 22:20 Fans tend to do that. They overinterpret to their own convenience. It's a piece of cake for them, Yoo-Hoo＼(^o^)／

A thank-u comment from the questioner I understood to some extent how a fan felt. I have to say, however, that it's extremely difficult to accept approvingly the fact that Nitta became the most popular idol, even if only for a brief period of time.

Q11266501191 asterisk 2022/8/16 19:36 During your high school days, you naturally had a number of classmates prettier than Nitta Eri, hadn't you?

Hidden ID 2022/8/16 19:49 There were at least more than five girls in my class who were cuter than Nitta. I was flabbergasted that she was the most popular idol with a face like that. She looked corny, had a single eyelid, a flat nose, dry hair, and was even a terrible singer from a countryside. She was worse than Yamamoto Susan Kumiko, one of the least popular members of Onyanko Club.

Q13297335288 asterisk 2024/5/1 1:15 Was the confrontation between Nitta Eri and Kokushō Sayuri a fixed game, like pro wrestling? I heard that it was often mentioned on TV programs that the two didn't get along during their Onyanko Club days (I don't know specifically, as I don't watch those kinds of programs). However, I suspect that such a thing was just made up out of irresponsibility to create a buzz to have Nitta, who hadn't normally had a chance to appear on TV, to appear repeatedly on the programs. Both were separate groups, but it seems to me that the two weren't as confrontational as the public made them out to be. When Nitta retired from Idol in 1990, she said the following. “I was really surprised when my little cousin boy asked me if I was quitting cuz Kokushō bullied me. There's absolutely no fact of any confrontation between me and Kokushō." Then, long afterwards, why would she say the exact opposite? That'd be just a stage direction to make the show more exciting.

pro 2024/5/1 6:19 I'm sure these two have something to say to each other. That aside, Kokushō told the following episode on a certain variety show. Nitta told the staff in advance, "I don't wanna fucking wear a bikini at the upcoming swimsuit photo session!" However, on the day of the photo session, she was only provided with a bikini. Nitta, who definitely didn't wanna wear a bikini, refused to come out of the waiting room, which apparently delayed the start time of the event. The staff tried hard to persuade her, but she wasn't convinced. Kokushō, who became irritated, rushed to Nitta and persuaded her as follows: "Unless ya show up, the event won't start, so don't be selfish and come out!" "Everyone is waiting for ya!"

On that program, Kokushō said that she and Nitta didn't get along particularly well, but they weren't bad either. Therefore, it's possible that Kokushō and Nitta weren't in fact in a confrontational relationship, and that there was no pro-wrestling-like confrontation structure. It seems to me that the people around them spread the word as if the two were in confrontation.

Response from asterisk 2024/5/1 8:36 In fact, I think it was something like that. However, according to old Yahoo Answers, the two had amusingly told each other's confrontation stories repeatedly on several programs more than a decade ago. I guess they were staged after all. Since the two were leading members of Onyanko Club, those programs were probably worth watching for their former fans.

#idol #scandal #1980s

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yusuke-of-valla · 5 years

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Ok so I'm still thinking about young Yusuke doing art with Chidori

#alto arts occassionally #there are two contexts for this #option one: Madarame is doing business on Iwatodai and Yusuke meets Chidori and sketches with her and it's cute #option 2: aka the one that's a full au #to keep him from finding ou the tru th of the sayuri #madarame hands yusuke over to the kirijo group instead of taking him in #and uh basically it becomse strega + this kid #idk i haven't thought it out that much #mostly i was thinking of the pq2 time travel shenanigans #idk where I was going wi th this it's late and I still haven't done my hw #yusuke kitagwa #chidori yoshino #persona 5 #persona 3

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taishou-kun · 7 years

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Fuji Suzumu 富士進 (Katō Hiroshi 加藤弘) & Yoshino Sakura 吉野さくら(Yoshinaga Sayuri 吉永小百合) in Maboroshi tantei まぼろし探偵 (Phantom Detective) TV series from the mangaka Kuwata Jirou 桑田二郎 - KRT - Japan - 1958

Source middle-edge.jp

Opening song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsmSU3ePKOs

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aquasei · 7 years

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Aqours x Cinderella Girls x Wake Up! Girls x Walkure in Anisong World Matsuri 2017〜Japan Kawaii Live！！

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lovlensayu · 2 months

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⠀⠀— 🎀 𓈒 𝒀𝒐𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒐 𝑺𝒂𝒚𝒖𝒓𝒊 𝑵𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒈𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 ◌ ֺ ୨୧

yoshino sayuri, better known as just sayuri, is a fictional member of the kpop group, enhypen, debuting on november 30, 2020 after securing 2nd place on the show, i-land.

YOSHINO SAYURI ⁠♡

˗ˏˋ ★ sayuri everything ⊹

sayuri profile

˗ˏˋ ★ enhypen ⊹

wip !

˗ˏˋ ★ social media ⊹

wip !

˗ˏˋ ★ relationships ⊹

wip !

˗ˏˋ ★ writings & drabbles ⊹

wip !

AUTHOR STUFF

intro to koko

#yoshino sayuri #kpop added member #enhypen added member #enhypen 8th member #enhypen female member #enhypen female addition #kpop oc #idol oc #enhypen female oc #enhypen x oc #8th member of enhypen #female!member #enhypen oc #⠂♡. sayu navigation page ⌣ೇ🎀

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commentaryvorg · 2 years

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Digimon Savers Commentary Episode 43 - Power Means Justice! The Beast Knight, Duftmon

In this episode, Chika is reunited with Piyomon as he and some baby Digimon appear at her house, while Yoshino and Ikuto visit there and help out to protect the Daimons from the Royal Knights, and they both achieve their Burst Modes.

After a brief recap, we open inside the giant tree in the Digital World, where Yggdrasil, still in its borrowed body, has just learned of RhodoKnightmon being defeated last episode along with Dukemon the episode before.

Yggdrasil: “But the human world must be eliminated. It is the only way to save the Digital World.”

You just keep telling Craniummon that, Yggdrasil. I still don’t believe you.

A new voice speaks up, declaring that he’ll carry out that mission. It’s Duftmon, another Royal Knight whom we haven’t met until now, not even in the gathering of them in episode 40. This guy likes to work alone, I guess?

Digimon Analyser: “An Ultimate-level Digimon who believes that power means justice.”

This motto of his is apparently something the writers thought was so important it needed to be the title of this episode, but… it really isn’t? It’s literally just him being a tyrant: powerful people are more just and right than weaker people. Wow. What a dick.

Apparently he’s also the Royal Knights’ strategist. Not that this remotely matters either.

Craniummon: “What’s this? You’ve never voluntarily made a move before now.”

Duftmon: “We are dealing with a serious matter that is putting the destruction of the Digital World in question!”

…Yes, Duftmon, and we’ve been dealing with that for several episodes now. Why did you not show up to help then? Craniummon’s remark that Duftmon apparently never voluntarily did anything should either, A, make him a terrible Royal Knight when they’re supposed to help the Digital World, or B, not matter because they all follow Yggdrasil’s orders whether it’s voluntary of them or not.

Also, for those of you not familiar with the original, I need to let you know that the U in Duftmon is not pronounced like in “dust”, as you’d probably expect. It’s pronounced “Dooft”. Now have fun trying to take this guy seriously when his name sounds like that.

Anyway, they make a thing of Yggdrasil grandly telling Duftmon to go help destroy humanity, and I am still raising an eyebrow at why this is supposed to matter any more than the multiple other Royal Knights who were already out there doing just that. I’m being kind of dismissive about Duftmon here because the writers clearly want us to care about him in particular and I just. Don’t. Nothing about him is interesting.

There’s actually a reason for the writers treating him this way! In between the previous piece of Digimon media to feature the Royal Knights, and Digimon Savers, three new Royal Knights were created and added to the roster: Craniummon, Sleipmon, and Duftmon. Those three debuted in this series, so the writers clearly wanted to give them more important roles and some time in the spotlight to show them off. They managed that with Craniummon and Sleipmon, who are both significant characters who matter a lot in this arc. They… really didn’t with Duftmon, who, despite the writers trying to shove his importance in our face in this scene, is really just another uninteresting villain-of-the-week like RhodoKnightmon was last episode.

The other reason for Duftmon being introduced separately from the rest of the Royal Knights we saw in episode 40 is that he happens to be a lot smaller than the others, in Savers canon at least. This is because he exists to fight Rosemon and Ravemon in this episode and nothing else, so that fight would look weird if he was as huge as, say, ShineGreymon. But on the other hand, it would look weird if he was standing there alongside the rest of the Knights in episode 40 just being awkwardly way shorter than anyone else. Hence him being conveniently introduced alone. (Or, well, Craniummon’s here, but the shots are never angled such that we can really see their difference in size.)

Over in the human world, Yoshino and Ikuto are driving in a minivan through the abandoned neighbourhood where the Daimons’ house is.

Yoshino: “DATS subdivisions around the world are doing all they can to fight the Royal Knights, but the damages on our side keep rising.”

Ah yes, those very vaguely-defined other DATS subdivisions outside Japan. It’s still unclear as to whether those divisions even have Digimon partners with them (though that line in episode 12 about the “only five eggs” who’d appeared in the human world could have been referring specifically to Japan, making Digimon partners in other DATS branches possible), but even if they do, I doubt they can evolve to Ultimate. No wonder they’re getting creamed.

Ikuto: “I’ll fight, too!”

Ikuto says this while punching his palm; look at how Masaru he’s being.

Yoshino reminds him that they’re here to protect Masaru’s home like they promised him they’d do.

Yoshino: “We have to work harder for Tohma’s share now, too.”

This line would be implying that this episode happens concurrently with episode 42, while Tohma’s off at the airport dealing with his family issues. Except that the opening scene had Yggdrasil mention that RhodoKnightmon had already been defeated, so apparently… not…? Not sure what Tohma’s doing with himself in the interim in that case, then (he’s not already headed to the Digital World, because he's gonna show up here at the end of this episode) – I guess it’s just taking him a really long time to get here, for… some reason?

In amongst some talk about hoping things will be able to get back to normal, Yoshino mentions that Ikuto’s parents are busy trying to find a way to fix the dimensional barrier. Good for them! They’re the only experts in interdimensional gates that we have, so of course they of all people ought to be trying to help.

They spot a tornado in the distance, which coincidentally (or maybe not so coincidentally?) happens to be headed towards Masaru’s house. It turns out to narrowly miss the house, but not before depositing a small group of Digimon in the garden right before Sayuri and Chika’s eyes. It’s a bunch of nine Baby-level Digimon, and also, to Chika’s astonishment, Piyomon. Yes, that Piyomon. We hadn’t seen the last of him, it turns out!

As Chika rushes towards her long-lost friend in excitement, we go to the opening. Here’s a shot of Ikuto and Yoshino being cute together! It’s a bit of an unusual pair to see together in the opening every episode (kinda just left over because of course the first pair-shot had to be Masaru and Tohma), but now we finally are getting an episode focused on the two of them together.

Anyway, we interrupted Chika in the middle of flinging her arms around Piyomon.

Chika: “Piyomon! You came to see me, right?”

Maybe? Perhaps it’s not such a coincidence that the tornado came right by their house, if there was some kind of invisible force drawing Piyomon and Chika back together. But if so…

Piyomon: “You’re… Who are you?”

…it wasn’t at all on a conscious level. Piyomon doesn’t remember her.

Of course he doesn’t. Digimon who get turned into eggs lose all their memories of their past lives. Gotsumon didn’t remember, either.

And okay, so, yes, Agumon did remember. But I talked back in the episode where he hatched about my belief that that was down to the strong bond Agumon had with Masaru, allowing his memories to be retained. So what I believe happened with Piyomon – I can finally properly talk about what was going on in episode 13! – is that this only sort of half happened for him.

He had that bond with a human, but his time with her was so brief that it wasn’t quite enough for his memories to carry over completely. Instead, he was reborn in that messed-up state in which he retained the emotions of having somebody important to him, which caused him to rampage, but not enough to actually remember who she was. And then it took another egg-reversion reboot, just like is always needed when a Digimon rampages, to wipe that out and reset him back to his natural state of not remembering anything at all.

If Chika and Piyomon had had longer together before he got turned into an egg the first time, I believe he would have remembered everything about her just like Agumon did, and episode 13 wouldn’t have needed to happen. They just got very unlucky.

Sayuri and Chika, along with Yoshino and Ikuto, who made it here, take Piyomon and the babies inside the house to take care of them.

Lalamon: “Is it really that Piyomon?”

Chika: “Yes. I can tell.”

Aww. She just can, because they were friends. (Or rather, perhaps, because they were destined to be partners and share an intangible connection? Like Lalamon appeared as an egg in front of Yoshino when she found her courage. It seems like the Digimon who become someone’s partner often aren’t just any random Digimon but a specific Digimon who’s intrinsically drawn to that person’s inner strength.)

Chika looks sadly at Piyomon, recalling how she felt when he became an egg again at the end of episode 13 – glad that he didn’t have to suffer any more. (Since that really was unfortunately the only way to stop his rampage, him having lost his memories but being safe and himself now is better than the alternative.)

Chika: “Piyomon. Have you really forgotten about me? Are you sure you can’t remember?”

Piyomon: “I’m sorry…”

Aww, Chika, trying to hold onto some last hope that maybe he might remember her if he just tries. Of course she’d feel like they had enough of a bond that surely he couldn’t just forget like that. Alas, it worked for Masaru, but not quite enough for her.

Ikuto: “Falcomon, is this Piyomon…?”

Falcomon: “Yes. He’s from the Digiegg we planned to raise together.”

Aww, remember when Falcomon and Ikuto were gonna be Digi-dads! It’s nice to have them reflect that Piyomon’s the reason they ever got involved in all of this in the first place, even though things have changed enough that it wouldn’t really be appropriate right now for them to try and raise him any more.

Yoshino asks Piyomon how he and the babies ended up here. He explains that the Digital World is currently suffering from all kinds of natural disasters and a lot of Digimon have lost their homes. (He doesn’t ever quite explain why he’s with the babies, but I imagine he happened across them and tried to make an effort to protect them, being stronger than them? Look at him being something of a dad, heh.) As they were trying to find shelter, they got caught up in a tornado, which blew them all the way over to the human world.

Falcomon: “But I guess this means not all Digimon think the human world should be erased.”

Yoshino: “You guys are also victims.”

How about that! It’s almost like the Digimon side is also mostly good people who wish no harm on the other species and is just being driven by a small bunch of close-minded pricks right now.

(Yoshino picks up the Tokomon, who yawns, and oh god Tokomon please close your mouth your teeth are terrifying. This is a thing about Tokomon: cute, so long as it keeps its mouth closed.)

Piyomon worries about what’ll happen to him and the babies now. After a pause, Yoshino stands up and dramatically declares that she’ll look after all of them. Her mom-friend side is showing in full force, it seems!

Lalamon: “But where will you take care of them?”

Yoshino: “At my place, of course.”

Lalamon: “But there’s no floor to step on.”

Yoshino continues to be deeply relatable. As I mentioned way near the beginning of the series, though she’s extremely reliable and gets all the stuff done in her work at DATS because it’s expected of her, apparently she does not extend that diligence and energy to her home life.

Chika instead suggests that they can stay here.

Chika: “Piyomon. Even if you don’t remember, I do. We promised we’d always be together. I believe that being able to meet you again isn’t a coincidence.”

Aww. It’s hard for her to see her friend not remembering her, but that doesn’t mean their friendship and promises didn’t happen! She also believes in the power of (not even consciously-remembered) friendship bringing them back together again, of course she does.

Piyomon just sits there silently, not responding. It must feel kind of awkward on his end, knowing he’s so important to this person who seems like a stranger to him.

Sayuri: “I’m glad to be given a reason to cook again!”

Sayuri says this with a happiness that might be a little bit forced, to lighten the mood in this grim situation. But we do know that she copes best with her worry when she can cook food for people, don’t we.

Lalamon: “What are you doing?”

Yoshino: “Oh, shut up. I’m helping out, too.”

We cut to a dramatic sparkly apron Yoshino… who is immediately sassed by Lalamon for the fact that she’s taking this so seriously. Again, more signs that she is not usually like this at home.

Their attempts at cooking keep getting interrupted by chaotic Baby Shenanigans. Pyocomon somehow manages to unroll enough toilet paper to wrap Falcomon up in it; Pukamon and Otamamon, the two aquatic ones, fill up the bath to overflowing so they can splash around; YukimiBotamon, a cold-loving Digimon, decides to hang out inside the fridge; two other babies fight over a pillow and tear it apart when Ikuto tries to pull it off them, knocking over a vase in the process. Then, just as Yoshino’s already had enough and loses her temper, Tokomon comes along and provides the one (1) singular brief poop joke in the entirety of Savers. I would complain about this, but also, I have watched Digimon Adventure in Japanese, so really this is incredibly tame in comparison.

A bit later, Yoshino’s calmed down, and she and Chika are cleaning up the mess.

Yoshino: “I’m sorry, Chika-chan. Just when I said I’d look after them, too.”

Seems that after her bold promises, Yoshino somewhat regrets not being able to stop the chaos and letting herself get worked up at the babies, who are, after all, basically just Digi-toddlers who don’t know any better.

Chika: “No, I’m having fun! I love it when things are lively.”

I mean, when your brothers are Masaru and Agumon, you kind of have to like lively, don’t you, Chika.

Yoshino: “I admit, I enjoyed myself too. It’s been a while since I’ve found something worth doing.”

Now this is an interesting seemingly-innocuous comment from Yoshino. Apparently, the things she’s doing at DATS, she doesn’t consider to be ‘something worth doing’, by her own metric? I’ve often talked about how she must have joined DATS because she had to, in order to keep Lalamon around, and not necessarily because she cared about their mission. And even, more recently with all the stopping-genocide and saving-the-world she’s been doing, she doesn’t consider those ‘something worth doing’ in quite this way either? Perhaps she’s also been doing that out of a sense of obligation, simply because it's the right thing to do and she’s one of only a few people who can. But this here seems to be one of the first things in a while she’s found herself actually caring about doing on a personal, individual level.

Chika: “Such as?”

Yoshino: “Well… I’m always looking after Masaru and Tohma, so this isn’t all that different.”

Hah. She sure is. I love how she also includes Tohma in that as well; he is often no better at not being ridiculous than Masaru, and Yoshino has always been the most competent and practical of the team. Her mom-friend tendencies don’t just have to apply to them, however!

Lalamon: “I actually think it’s those two who are always looking after you.”

Yoshino: “What was that?”

Lalamon casually floats past and sasses her with this. In a way that’s also true! The team all look after each other in different ways, with their different strengths.

Yoshino: “Anyway… I just think I should do my best as well.”

Implying she isn’t necessarily always doing her best in her usual DATS business, and instead only does good enough to get the job done satisfactorily. But having found something she actually cares about here, she’s more willing to put her all into it.

(I’ll be honest, this brief little look into Yoshino’s issues and implication that she’s finding a true calling here isn’t really going to go anywhere – and maybe there would be something a little awkward if it did, in that the one female character on the main cast would be finding her purpose in doing housework and looking after babies. But I at least appreciate these tantalisingly rare tidbits here that, again, hint at the fact that Yoshino was never really happy with her work at DATS and only did it out of a sense of obligation because she was forced into it. I really do wish this had been explored more.)

Later, Sayuri has prepared plenty of food. Piyomon awkwardly doesn’t join in with the itadakimasu, because of course he wouldn’t know to do that. (Which does beg the question of why Ikuto and Falcomon did do so in episode 22 when they were new to it, but at least the writers remembered to think about that this time.)

Yoshino: “Delicious! I didn’t know emergency rations could taste so good…”

Apparently Sayuri managed to whip up something tasty even out of emergency rations, look at her go. But there still also are a bunch of fried eggs, somehow (who knows where she’s getting the eggs from right now), because Sayuri’s fried eggs are important and we cannot go without them. Ikuto and Falcomon are, of course, eagerly stuffing their faces.

Ikuto: “Sayuri is a carrot at cooking!”

Falcomon: “You mean, an expert!”

Ikuto: “Yeah, a carrot!”

The subbers’ notes explain that Ikuto’s mixing up two similar Japanese words here (though they’re not even that similar; ninjin versus tatsujin). There’s something amusing about Ikuto’s dorky stubbornness in insisting that, no, I was right the first time, she’s a carrot.

Piyomon is awkwardly peering at his bowl of rice, when Chika places some fried eggs in front of him instead. She knows what’s up.

He tries one, and though he’s pretty low-key about it, he clearly loves them. Everyone loves Sayuri’s fried eggs. The babies were apparently waiting for their Digi-dad’s cue to see if it was okay for them to eat this food, because they only dig into their own meals after this.

Yoshino: “Why did you come back here, Sayuri-san?”

Sayuri: “Well… I wanted to greet them here when they came back. I’m sure Masaru will bring Suguru-san back with him.”

As she says this, Sayuri looks at the family photo, which has had the glass taped back together after it was broken by the power of symbolism a few episodes ago. If Masaru’s finally actually going to be bringing Suguru back, of course she wants to have that long-awaited reunion in their family home.

(Maybe. She says she’s sure, but I don’t think she’s actually so completely sure that Masaru will be able to manage it. She completely believes in Suguru being Suguru and not a genocidal god, of course, but Masaru actually bringing him back? She’s gone so long without him that in some ways that must feel too good to be true.)

Chika wonders how Masaru and Agumon are getting along right now, leading into a brief cutaway to the two of them in the Digital World. They would be wandering aimlessly through a desert! …were it not for the fact that they’re sitting back-to-back feeling too thirsty to move at all.

Masaru: “Damn it, of all the places we had to fall in…”

This might actually be happening earlier than concurrently with the rest of this episode, because based on this, they’re specifically sitting in the giant crater that ShineGreymon landed in, so I can’t imagine they’ve been here for that long.

They notice something else falling towards them from the sky. It’s Gotsumon, who crashes into them and creates a smaller crater inside their big one. Fair payback for ShineGreymon landing on him last time they met, I guess!

Gotsumon: “Oh, it’s you… Daimon Osaru and Ahomon!”

Or, as the subbers’ notes translate for us, Monkey Daimon and Moronmon. These words in Japanese are just about plausibly similar enough to their actual names that it’s possible this is a genuine mistake and not Gotsumon being a dick. Even if he is being a dick, he’s playing it off as not deliberate, because he’s simperingly polite like that. It’s very him.

(Chill, Gotsumon, you got your revenge for them falling on you, no need to keep holding a grudge.)

Gotsumon was also thrown here by a tornado, much like Piyomon. At least this conveniently allows him to guide Masaru and Agumon to Yggdrasil’s tree again, so that they don’t have to spend several episodes having irrelevant filler adventures while wandering aimlessly through a desert. Hooray for coincidences that make the plot happen! Plus, all of their not-aimless desert-wandering until they reach the tree again is going to happen (/has already happened) offscreen while we’ve been focusing on Tohma, Yoshino and Ikuto in the human world.

Back at the Daimons’ house, Ikuto and Falcomon are with Piyomon and the babies in Masaru’s room. Satisfyingly stuffed from the meal, Ikuto stretches out on Masaru’s bed. It’s a small thing, but it’s a really great sign of how much he unconsciously feels like he belongs here, after everything in his earlier arc.

Ikuto: “Piyomon, do you like this place?”

It’s cute how enthusiastically Ikuto asks Piyomon this. He, Ikuto, really loves this place and how at home he’s been able to feel here. He’s sure Piyomon must feel the same, right?

Piyomon: “We’re not being nuisances, are we?”

Aww, Piyomon. He’s not so sure – all of these people he doesn’t even know, going to such lengths to cater to them and clean up after the babies’ messes. What if they don’t really want to? (He was not present for Yoshino’s conversation in which she talked about how she was invested in helping with this.)

Piyomon: “Is it really okay for us to be here?”

These words in particular make Ikuto take notice. That’s the exact thing he asked Masaru in episode 22, when he was having doubts about whether he really belonged here (or anywhere) and whether Masaru really wanted to take care of him. But of course Masaru did, and that was all there was to it.

Ikuto knows exactly how Piyomon feels – and now, he’s secure enough in his own sense of belonging that he can be the one to tell Piyomon it’s okay.

Ikuto: “I’ll be your aniki.”

Piyomon: “Aniki?”

Ikuto: “Masaru protected everyone. I’ll protect everyone, too. I’ll protect all of you!”

Falcomon: “Me, too!”

Or, more specifically, he can be this! Aww. Look at him learning from Masaru and now feeling confident enough to be an aniki himself to people weaker than him. It’s such a cute symbol of how much he’s grown. (And Falcomon, too!)

As the babies all excitedly start calling Ikuto aniki, he blushes and laughs, and it’s adorable.

Ikuto: “All right! Time for a pillow fight!”

Falcomon: “Yeah!”

Of course, the most important thing for anikis to do with their followers: teach them how to have a pillow fight! Man, I love all the callbacks to episode 22, it was such a good episode.

Yoshino walks in to pillows flying everywhere among excited yelling, and Ikuto accidentally throws one in her face. She’s almost about to get mad at them – including Ikuto – for being chaotic again, but then there’s a crashing noise from outside.

Ikuto: “Th-That wasn’t me!”

Yoshino: [heading towards the window] “I know that!”

I like this; Ikuto still thinks he’s somehow about to be chewed out for that too, but as soon as there’s evidence of actual danger, Yoshino’s dropped her petty frustration with them entirely and is getting right down to the business of figuring out what’s going on.

It’s Duftmon, of course, happening to be doing some human-world destruction in an area worryingly close to Masaru’s neighbourhood.

Duftmon: “Weak and foolish humans. Accept Yggdrasil’s verdict!”

Duftmon, you are monologuing to literally nobody. Even if the humans in the houses below could hear your voice (probably not), there aren’t even any humans in the houses below, because everybody’s evacuated.

His attacks leave gaping holes of Digital Gate throughout the suburbs, and again, I don’t think this is a property of his attacks (it’d be a bit much if Royal Knights could just do that without having swallowed any space-time bombs), but rather a side effect of how deeply unstable the barrier is right now.

Duftmon: “The weak should perish.”

So to him, this isn’t even just about Yggdrasil’s orders to supposedly protect the Digital World, it’s also about his bullshit tyrannical philosophy: strong people good, weak people bad. What a great person.

As they head out to fight, Sayuri tells Yoshino and Ikuto to be careful.

Piyomon: “Will we be forced to leave this place, too?”

Aww, Piyomon. He’s been forced out of anything that might have been a home to him thanks to all the disasters in the Digital World, and now that he’s finally found somewhere he can belong at least for the time being, he’s afraid he might not be able to stay here, either. All the more reason for Yoshino and Ikuto to fight to protect not just everyone’s lives, but this place in particular. They could always flee to somewhere safer, but they don’t want to have to.

They take the minivan up to the edge of the destruction where the huge Digital Gate gash in the streets is, because of course it didn’t cross their minds to evolve your partners for transport goddammit. They only evolve them once they get there and see Duftmon.

Their attacks do very little to Duftmon; unimpressed, he does some more pompous gloating and counters them with an attack that also causes a bunch more destruction. Back at home, the Daimons hear the tremors, and Chika gets worried enough to go outside and see from the balcony, despite her mother’s protest.

Chika: “Why can’t both Digimon and humans get along?”

Aww. That same question that’s been bothering her almost from the beginning, since she befriended Piyomon, when everyone else was starting down the warpath with Mercurimon. There really is no reason at all that the two species shouldn’t be friends; it’s all just been a bunch of misunderstandings and prejudices and deliberately twisted truths on both sides that’s led to all this fighting. Thanks a bunch, Kurata. (And Yggdrasil, too. It claims that it’s only doing this because of Kurata’s actions, but it also sat around and deliberately let Kurata’s genocide happen, so it’s equally culpable, really.)

Piyomon: “It’s dangerous out here.”

At seeing her go out into potential danger, Piyomon’s forgotten protective instinct towards Chika seems to be surfacing, even if he doesn’t consciously remember his promise.

Duftmon is still determined to carry out Yggdrasil’s orders, and Yoshino and Ikuto are still determined to protect this place and stop him. Despite being somewhat smaller than the other Royal Knights, Duftmon’s nonetheless quite a bit bigger than Rosemon and Ravemon in their current forms and can smack them bodily away by just backhanding them, before hitting them with an attack that blasts through a bunch of houses down below as well.

The destruction’s edging ever closer to the Daimons’ house as the fight goes on. It’s only a few streets away now, close enough that Yoshino can look back and see Chika and Piyomon watching them from the balcony.

Yoshino: “Stop this!”

Ikuto: “There are Digimon who were blown from the Digital World up ahead!”

Duftmon: “Then they will have to disappear along with the human world!”

Ikuto: “Why?! You destroy human world because you want to save the Digimon, isn’t it?!”

Duftmon: “Saving the Digital World is justice. The small number of Digimon lives that are sacrificed in the name of that justice is meaningless!”

Welp, Duftmon is a massive dick who will murder babies for the sake of doing what he’s told and pass that off as justice. Like, dude, it wouldn’t be that hard for you to go in there, grab the Digimon and give them a lift back to the Digital World before continuing your destruction. Ikuto totally has the right idea to call him out on this blatant hypocrisy.

Ikuto: “We will protect them. Both the people *and* the places we care for!”

It’s a neat little thing that Ikuto also stresses protecting the places that are important to him, too. He’s finally become able to feel like he belongs, not just in the human world in general but in places like Masaru’s house where he made all those good memories. He is not letting that get destroyed.

Duftmon’s attack collides with Rosemon’s and Ravemon’s in a huge explosion that sends a shockwave and dust cloud all the way back to the Daimons’ house. Piyomon clings to Chika protectively to shield her from it, and when the dust clears, he’s evolved. All the way to Garudamon, his Perfect-level.

Garudamon: “Chika… I will protect you!”

That fierce desire and promise of his to protect her from two whole lives ago really was incredibly powerful, to have persisted all this way without even any memory and let him evolve. There is still a flash of (orange!) Digisoul over him as he does it, so in some way I suppose Chika’s emotions towards him also helped do this even if she wasn’t doing it consciously, but, damn. Still impressive, without a Digivice to channel it all through.

Yoshino and Ikuto look back and see that Piyomon evolved. Perhaps seeing his determination is the last little nudge they need to push their own determination into overdrive. Or, uh, not overdrive, I guess, but Burst. Shush, that was an unintentional pun and then I ran with it.

Yoshino: “So that Masaru and the others can return home… We will protect this place!”

Yoshino also cares about protecting this place in particular, after hearing why Sayuri chose to stay here!

Ikuto: “My duty is to protect everyone!”

And I bet Ikuto’s thinking about his newfound duty as an aniki, aww.

Ikuto’s Digivice has still been the original version all this time, incidentally, since he wasn’t there for the episodes where the others broke their Digivices and fixed them through BanchouLeomon’s training. That older model has been enough for him to still manage Ultimate-level anyway, knowing how to control his emotions, but apparently Burst Mode does need the Digivice Burst in particular. Luckily the Digivice can also evolve itself just from Ikuto achieving Burst Mode level emotions, even without being broken, so it finally does that now.

Rosemon and Ravemon don’t get the fancier 3D CGI evolution animations for their Burst Modes like ShineGreymon and MirageGaogamon did. Rosemon’s still feels the need to remind us that she has boobs and a butt, of freaking course, ugh.

Their Burst Mode forms are largely recolours with some extra adornments, like usual, but in their case they also happen to make them significantly larger than human-size, so that they’re almost as large as Duftmon now.

Ikuto: “One-sided justice…”

Yoshino: “Isn’t justice at all!”

Not that it wasn’t already obvious that Duftmon’s concept of “justice” was a load of tyrannical bullshit, but I guess I can appreciate them telling him that.

Ravemon Burst Mode has more of those long elaborate Japanese attack names, but it does look cool, with him swooping in and hitting Duftmon at super-speed from multiple directions. And Rosemon’s new attack name is French for “arousing lips”, because why the heck wouldn’t it be, ughhhhh.

They win the fight pretty uninterestingly in one attack each, but, hey. Duftmon doesn’t really deserve to get to put up more of a fight than that.

His egg still gets yoinked up into the sky by a beam of light, like RhodoKnightmon’s did.

The morning after, on the street outside the Daimons’ house, Yoshino and Ikuto are getting ready to head off to the Digital World after all.

Ikuto: “The Royal Knights’ way of thinking is wrong.”

Falcomon: “We’ve decided that we must fight!”

Yoshino: “We have no other choice but to fight if we want to protect what’s important to us.”

The way they’re talking here makes it sound like they hadn’t had any kind of resolve to fight until the events of this episode. Which… isn’t really what it was at all? They were still resolved to fight, just to specifically protect the human world, where all the attacks were happening.

I talked last episode about how there is a sensible reason for them to want to head up there to help Masaru, in that the Royal Knights’ attack is too large-scale for them to make any meaningful dent in it by themselves, and the only real way to stop it is to confront Yggdrasil. But that’s… not at all the angle on it they’re taking here, nor Tohma last episode, really. It kinda does read a bit transparently like the three of them only had these episodes here in the human world for the sake of getting their Burst Modes before they joined up with Masaru again. Ah, well.

Ikuto: “Piyomon, can you protect everyone for us?”

Piyomon: “Okay. I’ll protect everyone.”

At least, although they may be leaving this place that they were just stressing the importance of protecting back in the fight, they do still know they’re leaving it with someone to protect it, because Piyomon can evolve now. Only to Perfect and not Ultimate, mind, but still better than nothing.

Tohma and Gaomon show up at the street, having apparently made their way here after the end of last episode rather than heading straight to the Digital World. I guess Tohma had a feeling that Yoshino and Ikuto would also be having a somewhat-inexplicable change of mind about heeding Masaru’s wishes to let him go alone. So they’re all going to head off after him together.

Chika: “Have a safe trip!”

Though it’s not subbed the same way, this is exactly the same Japanese phrase of goodbye-with-the-expectation-of-coming-back that little Masaru said to his dad all those years ago. And Chika’s waving them off from the same street, as they’re heading to the same place that Masaru’s dad was. Parallels! I like to think that was intentional.

Overall thoughts

Ehhhhh, this may be the weakest episode of this arc, other than the clip-show one. It’s fine, it does its job, but I didn’t find myself with nearly as much juicy stuff to talk about here as I do in most episodes.

I appreciate the brief bits hinting at Yoshino’s issues and showing Ikuto’s growth into an aniki himself, but there’s so little time to focus and expand on them; I wish there’d been more. As it is, it’s somewhat hard to tell exactly what it is about this episode’s events that triggered such new strength for them. It probably would have been better to split this up and spend one episode each for their Burst Modes, to explore them more. Perhaps Ikuto could have been here with the Daimons, and meanwhile Yoshino could have visited her family in some capacity? It would have been nice to get some follow-up on her issues with them that were hinted at in episode 17.

Then of course, Duftmon is just as uninteresting a one-off villain as RhodoKnightmon was, so it’s silly that the writers apparently expect us to care about him more. He does not carry this episode, guys, really.

Despite all that, I appreciate this episode feeling like less of a bottle episode plot-wise than Tohma’s, in that a bunch of other stuff happens relating to multiple different characters. Some more focus on the Daimons is nice, and it’s neat to see Piyomon again and have him brought back into things at last. Oops, looks like one of the Daimons does have to deal with the pain of their partner forgetting all about them, ouch. Poor Chika.

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[Dub comparison]

#digimon #digimon savers #yoshino fujieda #ikuto noguchi #chika daimon #piyomon #sayuri daimon

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