Tag: Digimon

The Great Change: A Paradise Story

My dear little lights, the story I have for you today is a new adventure set on Paradise Island, while based in fiction it is also based in reality, just not a whole lot. For the most part this story is just a figment of my imagination..  a springboard for what is to come next. A teaser.. for season four?!  I hoped we could get a few famous guest stars but unfortunately all of them are still locked in their houses due to Covid. Brian Cranston told me he would do it.. but that guy is so overused!  So I passed!

The Beach

The manager of Paradise Island woke up, making some awful wake up sounds, wiping some drool from the corners of her mouth, apparently she bit on her plushy in her sleep again.  Groggily she got up and noticed a feeling of pain and nausea in her system. The dull experience of either a to low blood pressure.. or that sense of uncomfort you get.. just before you get really carsick! Not the  actual sick part.. but that bad feeling you get before. That was her new normal now.  No matter how many vitamins she took, no matter how much walks she would go on and no matter how healthy she ate.. the feeling stayed and it wore her out so often. For days the manager could not get out of bed and she cried. She wanted to make the guests of Paradise happy with all the content cocktails she used to serve before. Yet there simply was not enough energy! Could it be the poison from her own mothiness that kept her down? Unlikely! This problem started slightly more recently.. around the time she started YouTube.. but that dream also gave her so much energy? So what could be wrong.

Doctors could not tell her and explained to her that this might be an advancement of prior conditions. They were trying to help her but no immediate help could be offered, and so yet another day without content cocktails passed on Paradise. The Manager got so frustrated by it that that very frustration made her even sicker. She tried to work.. but for the first time  since she started it all did not sound good enough either. This could not be her glorious return.. and the frustration got bigger and bigger… and because the manager was such a worrywart.. that frustration made her sicker and sicker. Eventually she just lay in bed.. with some lemon tea beside her when she started hallucinating a beach where you encounter all sorts of familiar people…because Grey’s Anatomy did it and it’s really popular now!  So we are doing this.

The sound of the waves were different from that of Paradise island.. and they sand grains weren’t star and heart shaped…which is an actual thing,  no this was not her beach.. this beach was something more akin to that Train Station where Harry Potter met Dumbledore  after he was killed.  As the manager walked on the beach she noticed her footprints left no impressions in the sand.  “The Fudge”  she said.. when someone pulled on her dress. It Design 1 Pinkie.. the Chibi Maker one. “Hi” she said.  “I am the ghost of Paradise past”. 


The Manager patted the O.G. Pinkie on the head but then said sternly. “No!, we are not going to do that, I love you and respect you but we aren’t going the Scrooge route with this story it is so overplayed” Chibi-Pinkie sniffled a bit. “Aren’t you glad to see me then?”  The manager smiled. “Of course I am glad to see you, you are always welcome here and if you chibi maker was still thinking I would use yours more oftenly”. She paused for a moment and hugged the chibi. “Look, I know I had less fun with blogging then when I just started okay, I have become disillusioned with a lot of stuff and might be a bit bitter, I am not striving for the community anymore, and in a way that is wrong but realise this, that is not because I do not want to give these amazing people my attention, I just really lack the energy”.

The Revelation

Chibi Pinkie looked sad and asked “But they are your friends, surely they deserve your time” to which the manager nodded. “Of course they are.. but writing and making content is also my hobby, right now when I am done writing something, I need to lay down that’s how easily fatigued I get, I want to try to be there for these amazing people but it is hard to balance it all and I am looking for the balance, as much as I appreciate you, my sweet Chibi self.. I think I need to  find that balance myself, I do not need a vision of how I changed. So tell me who the ghost of Paradise present is okay?”  Chibi Pinkie nodded and said “It’s Periwinkle.. you used to spend so much time on images and now he isn’t even added to the banner yet”  The Manager chuckled.

“Yes.. I was planning to do a new banner.. but this whole story is kind of the reason why that new banner isn’t there yet, there are more things changing so he’s gonna be on the banner that is coming soon, I promise” The manager smiled looking at her former self.. and then had a thought! “Why don’t you stay around for a little.. I might have a job for you if this story is going where I think it is going.. and I should know cause I am writing it. “Soon we will reveal your thing too”  Chibi Pinkie cheered! 

“So who is the ghost of Paradise future” the manager asked after the celebration was over. “It is your best friend in the whole world,”  Chibi Pinkie said.  The manager smiled. “Ah I haven’t seen him since just before christmas”.  She then looked up at the sky and called out it’s name “Tamago Tomodachi, come on out I know you are there” Please come down from the sky and bestow us with your wisdom”. Both Pinkies looked up to the sky as a fried egg descended, smiling.. and smelling. “Yay it is I the ghost of Paradise Future, come with me Pinkie I have to show you a vision of….”  The manager waved it away “Yeah yeah yeah.. we are skipping that part, we know I have to change.. but how… but let me ask you first.. how did you become the ghost of Paradise Future?” .

The Egg pondered a bit and then began it’s tale. “Well You see, this is a Christmas Carol spoof, and when the three ghosts are brought up the third ghost usually is some obscure cameo of a character you saw in whatever franchise does the spoofing”.  Pinkie nodded as it made sense! “And how do I change.. I mean.. the moth stuff kinda seems wrong to me know”. The Egg shook it’s yolk. “It was not a mistake Pinkie, it was a step you needed to take to find your true self, anyway to find out how you become the new you, you first must discover what you are”.

“Find out what I am? I am a Kaijuman , I went over this a few times”. The Egg nodded while closing his eyes looking all smug and wisey. “While this is true, it would  narratively  prevent the development you have commissioned that will arrive in the near future. So nay you are not just a Kaijuman”. The egg spilled some yolk into the ocean as  giant eggplants grew from  that spot. Just to remind the audience this was a fever dream of sorts… maybe?!  “I am VTuber and VBloggger does that have to do anything to do with it?” asked the manager. “Yes , you are a virtual being, only existing in the online atmosphere.. So what would be an other word you could use for this” said the egg, while trying to look like a japanese Kung Fu master, which isn’t easy if you are just egg whites and yolk. 

“Fake”? asked manager Pinkie. “You are to sincere to be fake” the  egg said. “Digital?” Asked Chibi Pinkie. “Correct little one” the egg now said. The manager pondered and then gasped. “Wait , I am a digital life form that over my nearly two years of blogging has evolved three times… each form bigger and more powerful than the other… am I a Digimon?”.Tamago Tomodachi smiled and said “I can not imagine we would be allowed to use that trademark..but you are basically exactly the same” The manager then shivered. “Does that mean I have to be shot by my family to achieve my Mega Form?” . Her best friend laughed so hard more yolk fell and  the ocean almost became entirely obscured by eggplants. “No, that final evolution needs something different each time, you need to find an item this time”

The Item

Pinkie was very confused by this revelation, so I am something like a Digimon, but not quite…. because of copyright stuff and such.. and I have been trough my Rookie, Champion and Ultimate form.. and to find my perfect form I need an item?  What is the logic behind that?” The rich buddy of the manager finally stopped laughing  and said “Travel to fictional Japan and it will be clear”.  The manager got annoyed and crossed her arms. “If I leave here Periwinkle will let everyone piss in my pool! Indigo has been gone for  while now, Kuro likes to drink from her own bar and Sunny is Sunny. I can not leave this place alone! I am the manager!” The egg nodded compassionately “And there-in lies your problem, you are to weak right now to work every day… you need to become a ruler of this island that doesn’t need to be here every day, so you can recover and get your strength back” . Both Pinkies crossed their arms “And what type of boss would not need to take care of her staff all the time” they said. Tamago Tomodachi  replied sternly. Go to Japan inside your imagination and find out.  Once you are there you will be given your final clue.

“Guess I can finally use these wings for something,” the manager said while picking up Chibi Pinkie. “Let’s go little one” As the two zoomed across the ocean they both realised they were lucky that the fictional Island of Paradise was located somewhere between Fictional Indonesia and Fictional Japan.. and though the power of Imagination and fueled by laziness and limited energy it turned out that this island was a heck of a lot closer to Japan.  Chibi Pinkie and Manager Pinkie did have a bonding moment though where the little version enjoyed flying on the big version. I Imagine you should imagine something like that scene from the Never Ending Story movie, with the song Bastian’s Happy Flight being covered on the Kazoo.. with just enough difference to not be deemed the same song. Landing somewhere in Tokyo the pair immediately spotted a green little turtle. “Oh look it’s our friend Mallow” Chibi Pinkie said.  Manager Pinkie nodded “How convenient, he is always willing to help, I am sure it will be no different this time”. Chibi Pinki, Mallow and the manager shared some takoyaki together.. because… when in Rome and all that. Mallow had revealed to them that the item they would need was at Sony’s headquarters.

Making their way through town the Pinkie’s wondered why it was Sony’s headquarters. Sony is more a Periwinkle thing.. maybe Kuro and even Indigo. Pinkie rarely even touched her PlayStation… was it that? Was she catering to a wrong audience and tapping into the playstation crowd would save her?!  She still felt more like a Nintendo person and most of the content she had planned for the future would be Nintendo as well!. Inside Sony’s headquarters everything seems odd.. as if everything was a really bad anime. Everything looked a lot cheaper. “Have we run out of budget?”  Pinkie wondered to herself?.  They took an elevator up and Manager Pinkie promised to find a place for Chibi Pinkie by her side as a mascot of sorts. Rantan , her current mascot, kept floating off. When the elevator doors openend the delegation of Sony was ready for Pinkie.. they bowed to her. “Weird? Why are you bowing to me?” The Sony delegation cracked a smile at her. “Periwinkle..puray… baaaad peeeeee -eeesss tuuuuoooo game-uuuh, he spenda… lot of money on.. Pee-essss tuooo. So.. if Paradisuuuu remain…….we…..get money….. so we helpuuu. 

Pinkie pondered and then figured, they could be right. Her “employing”  Periwinkle did lead to someone buying American Chopper on PS2, not many people of sound mind would do that , so in a way she was helping Sony get rid of a lot of unwanted stock, maybe he could tempt people into buying these.. like their own Angry Video Game Nerd.. but.. ..with a lot of urine in her pool. But what item could PlayStation have to make her Non-Copyrighted-Digivolve into something beyond a manager?  Did they have some magic power?!  Was it because they have the best Digimon games? When the president came out with a mysterious box it suddenly dawned on Pinkie… as he bowed in front of her and opened the box and a smile appeared on her face and a sparkle returned to her eyes as she uttered the words. “Yes, I think that will do nicely’ 

Digimon Adventure Episode 18: The Battle in Tokyo Against Orochimon

Hello Little Lights, while I am trying to recover from my health issues I decided to start getting back into blogging slowly by tackling some easy to handle content! It is time to continue picking up those anime I was watching again! That way when I am forced to stay in bed, I  can at least get something done!  So yay!  We start with picking up Digimon again. Since becoming a VBlogger though, this will be more of a reaction blog to the episode than an actual review!

The First Act

I chose a bad time to burn out on watching anime as episode 16 is a direct continuation of episode 15, the enemy at the end  evolved  into Orochimon, from eyesmon! Luckily I am quite aware of the “digidex” and which Digimon evolves into what.. and how! So I did not feel lost! It would be kind of bad if I got lost in a kid show anyway I guess!  Anyway in the last episode the chosen kids fought Eyesmon in the fake Tokyo and after defeating it , the creature evolved. They had discovered that Eyesmon was responsible for the Tokyo blackouts  and this week we kind of see why?!

Orochimon has the power of EMP roars, which is treated as something way more serious than it should be… I loved how Digimon up until this point was very cleverly written and once again this power up does connect to everything going on in a very thematic way, but just like the last episode it feels a bit cheaper than before. It fits but it’s less earned. Kochiro’s laptop only flickers a bit while in the real Tokyo suddenly all sorts of light bulbs begin to burst as it is stated that the EMP roar affects the real Tokyo in the same way. Then why did Koshiro’s laptop not go poof?! The eight heads of Orochimon over-power the chosen ones and it is time to flee. Yamato however wants to solve this now, for a reason that has yet to be revealed as I react to it! If I were to guess I would say this is where Takeru and maybe Kairi come in…after all the group is with 6 right now… perhaps they need… 8?!

The first act ends with the party becoming separated again. Yamato and Taichi end up alone  due to the recklessness of Yamato. Orichimon does some shenanigans with water that destroy his “dimension”   Since they are in his dimension now, that is located more closely to the real world time flows differently here than in the rest of the digital world or something as is explained by Koshiro who works like a fine exposition tool, when the other four are discussing their lost battle and try to come up with a strategy. It is nice to see the four non leaders together and them dealing with problems that come with that. Without Yamato and Taichi we see the group depicted as slightly more fearful and less motivated, as a group should be without their leaders. Morale has dropped!  So the episode handles that pretty well! 

The Second Act

We begin the second act with a super lame visual of Taichi, Yamato and their Digimon sitting in some sort of underground location that looks quite similar to the location where the others were.  However the details of this picture are laughingly sparse. I get that it is hard to draw in details from a distance, but if that would be the problem I would not have chosen this shot! It lingers for a fair few seconds as wel so it kind of killed the gravity of the situation for me! It just looks a bit to yankee for me and I let out a chuckle rather than being concerned for their welfare. It is followed by a rather cool visual of Orochimon’s heads creeping past the location searching for them. I like how the sky is coloured white.. like empty digital space rather than some gloomy cloud that reflects their emotional situation. Normally in nearly every scenario.. in a situation like this the sky would be ashen  to reflect the despair .. but here the rules of the digital world stay in place and it doesn’t just start to rain to enhance emotions. So we are looking into a pretty somewhat strange sky!  It helps sell the alien world thing a bit more!  Something this show does quite a bit better than the original!

We then get a lot of focus on Hikari and Takeru, which makes me believe we may say two new chosen ones soon!  Hikari even sees an actual digimon! The mother of the family makes a very VERY strange decision though.  Because her car is glitching out a bit and stuck in traffic  she decides to abandon it and take the train back home?! What?!  Are you even allowed to abandon your car in the middle of the road like that?! And obviously people will stampede towards the train station.. so why would you let your daughter exit the car in a dangerous situation like this. Stuff just exploded not too long ago! Not so great parenting there! Of course Hikari gets trampled and separated from her mother. Also why is Takeru being left home alone during a black-out!  These parents are not very good! 

The second act concludes with a great team bonding moment from the chosen ones! The leaderless group says what they appreciate from their Digimon and tell each other stories on how they have grown and how they should not be scared.. because they have come a long way since coming to this world. We see Joe take on his Faux Leader persona and how it cheers the others up!  It is very wholesome to see and it makes sense! He wants  to be the Senpai and now he can when everyone is at a low!  We also see the strength of Sora and how proud she is of Biyomon, we see how Koshiro thinks his digimon is the coolest and we see Mimi tease Palmon that she is only the prettiest Digimon when she evolves. I loved these moments! It is followed by a strong moment of bonding  between Taichi and Yamato as well. Where the rest of the group kind of at times tried to slow down Yamato for reason, Taichi understands that sometimes you just have to step up, so when Yamato wants to fight to save his brother, even with chances not in their favour Taichi not only lets him he joins him!.

The Third Act

The third act and thus the climax of this episode is the battle against Orochimon! It quickly becomes clear that Takeru and Hikari won’t join the squad in this episode. However, I am beginning to see more and more similarities to the first episode. We have an enemy that evolves several times, a fight between a superior force in a realm that is somewhere between the digital world and our one.. and Yamato and Taichi who are the big focus. The rest does show up just a little into the fight.. but they accept that in this fight they are the support. It’s left up to their two leaders, which I think is a fitting end for the “Tokyo Blackout Arc”.  I suspect however that this fight will not conclude it.. something will happen here that brings back Takeru and Hikari to the digital world before it is over. I am sure of it!

The fight itself is quite nice as well, after a few failed attempts from Yamato and Taichi to do it alone, they do realise they need the group! Yet at the same time that group also realises they lack the sheer offensive dominance the other two have.. so rather than just fighting along, they distract the metal heads of Orochimon that it uses for defence.. Zudomon also shows some defensive skills, spinning his hammer around like Thor!  Kind of cool and nice to see everyone take slightly different roles in this fight.  Energy attacks do not seem to work on the snake’s water blasts so MetalGreymon and AtlurKabuterimon take a Melee approach that seems to work.  Sometimes a weaker attack is better than just the main attack! The classic show fell into that trap where everyone basically ended up spamming one attack! So these fights feel much more alive.

The fight is concluded by MetalGreymon… but hey Taichi has the goggles and it’s a digimon rule. Everyone got a moment again and even with Takeru and Hikari getting scenes here and there, it never feels too thin spread. Everyone is there and has personality, the music, the digivolutions , it all synergises once again and the battle ends on a high note!  We know have seen how a single Ultimate Digimon can still be on par with 6, so even Devimon being just a Champion for now seems possible..because unlike the old series there seems to be another force behind this all. Like how we have seen Omnimon in the first three episodes.. something is pushing them to this level.. and now yet again.. even after killing the Digimon, something changes. A new countdown shows up..towards the destruction of Tokyo.. just like in the first three episodes, and I am excited! I know I am watching this late..and not maybe not that many are into this series to begin with.. but I had fun again! I just needed to recharge my battery a bit!

For those who do not use Twitter, I have been currently having a lot of health issues that is completing consuming my energy pool or making me forced to stay in bed. As this is going on I can’t reliably put out blogging content, though I am slowly trying to get back in the swing of things. However since I have been quite unstable I can’t really tell you guys when I will be back full force! My apologies! I’m trying to recover as fast as I can! For now.. time for a bit more rest!
Shine on Little Lights! Oyasumi!

Animini: Digimon Adventure – Episode 16 – The Jet-Black Shadow Invades Tokyo

Greetings my sweet Island Guests, the animini cocktail shot we will serve you today is two parts delusion, a dash of Groundhog day with a healthy splash of epic reunions. A strong episode of a strong series so far, yet the taste is a bit washed out by using some tropes a bit too much! Luckily the Dr Strange like action made up for a lot. 

The Summary

At the end of the last episode we saw Taichi’s group traverse a tunnel and end up in what seemed to be Tokyo and that is where this episode picks up.  The kids are back in Tokyo but things seem strange, there doesn’t seem to be any mention of the blackout and the kids cell phone will not connect. Excited however to be in the real world again the kids decide to visit their homes for a bit. Mimi being the most excited, wanting a shower and some change of clothes as well as going to a luxurious burger restaurant to have an Avocado Cheeseburger. Since Mimi lives in Shibuya the group has to split up! On the subway to their home though Koshiro and Taichi begin to feel worse. Why isn’t anyone talking about the blackout , why do they ignore the digimon with them? Things seem wrong. They are so locked into thought that they miss the next station they visit, Shibuya station.  The station they just traveled from. Meanwhile Mimi can’t seem to find the exit of the subway station and keeps ending up at the same map,  when she sees a Jack’s Burgers restaurant in the station. When the server glitches out , Mimi is pretty sure something is wrong.

The boys finally discover their train is looping as well and they get out. They find themselves in seemingly shrinking station loops happening more frequently. Relying on Greymon the group manages to collapse some of the area they are in and get out.  While it still looks like Tokyo the presence of a Digimon, who is scattered all around makes them realise they are still in the Digital world. A champion level Digimon called Eyesmon has copied it and can use it as his weapons to fight the Chosen ones. He proves to be such a formidable foe that even in their ultimate forms the digimon of our three heroes do not stand a chance. Just when  Eyesmon hurls three oil tankers at Metalgreymon, Lillymon and Atlurkabuterimon, they are held at bay by Garduamon, Zudomon comes in carrying Weregarurumon and destroys the tankers. Now united all the six chosen ones fight against a monster who can literally toss skyscrapers in their path. This champion level digimon has absorbed so much data it became this powerful. With a combined team attack they do manage to quell the danger. When the kids notice the blackout in Tokyo is still happening we see a few parts of eyesmon that did not get destroyed connect together again and it seems to digivolve into Orichimon.

The Positives

I love Mimi so much in this show! Her and Palmon’s interactions are hilarious! In this episode she also takes a starring role for me. The petty quest for an Avocado Cheeseburger is not something she gives up! No .. she let’s that desire empower her!   Seeing Palmon and herself in danger , she swears to Palmon she will take her to the real world so they can enjoy a burger together.  Giving her the strength to fight back!  Koshiro and Taichi are also  handled very well in this episode.  Taichi is becoming more of a leader noticing things are wrong in his gut, while Koshiro feels something wrong through contradictions seeing the world should not be like this.  When in trouble Taichi’s resolution is to power through and that is seen in this episode very nicely! I really love how the children are being handled here. Kari has a little cameo here which makes me wonder if she will come to the digital world. Takeru is shown with Palmon in the outro so I am pretty sure he is coming but Kari remains a bit of a mystery.. which I like!

The music and the battle here steal the spotlight in this episode. It is really great to see the group together again and see them combine their powers.  With Eyesmon shaping and twisting the city around them it is a very interesting fight as well. Metalgreymon crashes into a building so when Atlurkabuterimon leaps over the next he finds out there is a subway on top.. Lillymon gets struck by a plane.  Eventually the fight ends in complete surrealism where the city is formed into a sphere around the hero monsters. The music to accompany this all is great and it is done perfectly. It also works as a nice summary to see what everyone can do, and we see exactly how small Lillymon is next to all the other Ultimate digimon because there are a lot of great shows that offer us perspective! I do like these visual little things and it is one of the best fights yet! So on the action and personal front it was a great episode.

The Negatives

The scenario though is very bland, an illusion that keeps looping itself and where there is no escape. Star Trek Holodeck much?!  This thing has been pretty much done to death and this episode doesn’t really do anything new with it. The worst thing it does is forcing characters to be dumber than they are. I praised this show throughout for clever conflict set-up. What the characters did they were forced to do for valid reasons, here not so much.  Koshiro would never board that train without asking people about the blackout.. but no of course they have to seperate from Mimi first so questions aren’t asked until Mimi ate her burger so they could sneak in a creepy visual and get the more satisfying reaction.  I am fine with how Mimi is portrayed except that I would think she would notice her phone is dead too.. she probably would not take a subway back but ask to be picked up..if she needs that change of clothes so much. Maybe she grew who knows.. but it does feel like characters make more leaps to fit the story.

Furthermore I do think if you are going to use a location that loops, use something is a bit more visually impressive than a subway station. It does work better because everything looks alike .. but we are forced to believe this sequence of events based on a similar map on the wall. I assume a subway station has more maps. Why would they be able to travel to Shibuya but not from it.. why would the evil digimon know they are heading to Shibuya. There are several things off with the story here and while it isn’t anything horrible the show has shown it can set up conflict so much better. While the fight is very epic,  the escalation to it was very lackluster to me. It just isn’t executed well at all.

The Score

I was doubting between an Okiwi and a Fineapple here and I decided to settle on the latter. Yes it has a lot of sloppy writing, forced conflict  and even the rare character contradictions and it seriously insults the intelligence of any of the chosen ones.  Mimi doesn’t notice a Burger Restaurant just magically appears?! Okay she was hungry before.. but after she just shrugs it off.  No it isn’t nearly as well written and clever as most of the other episodes, while I think a Champion being this powerful is cool and needed to set up for Devimon later on .. it also kind of shows that you made a mistake and had to write an out!  It does show.  Yet it all feels slightly more irrelevant to me this time around because I still had so much fun.

The moments the characters DO act in character are strong, the action is sublime and the music is timed very well.  The Dr Strange like citybending and the weird eye filled version of Tokyo gave everything such an unique vibe as well. Kind of like those areas in the first three Digimon episodes that I loved  so much. I may not be convinced that this is how this scenario would play out had everything prior actually happened but I was super entertained. Like a toddler clapping at tv for seeing a fun colour combination they do not understand properly. I felt that kidlike joy that I also felt when watching the series when I was an actual kid. That in itself is also worth something I’d say. So while it is one of the dumbest episodes so far. The fact that I remember more cool scenes than poorly written episodes from anime in general makes me rule that this episode is quite alright.

Animini: Digimon Adventure – Episode 15- Zudomon’s Iron Hammer of Lighting

Salutations my sweet Island guests. It is time to get back into gear and review some anime! Starting with Digimon!   Last week we had a great week and even though the last episode was quite good , it ended  up as one of the weaker in my top seven. Very good sometimes doesn’t cut it!  Well.. this week this show offers some stiff competition for the fight at the top! As we include with the “final”  of the ultimate evolutions in an episode dedicated to Joe.

The Summary

Let’s get started.. and me just say.. this might be a confusing episode.. because the entire plot revolves around a group of evil digimon chasing the group again. Yukidarumon form the soldiery grunts of the group but they are led by the ultimate digimon Mammon. Why is this confusing?! Well because I know these digimon as Frigimon and Mammothmon. Both Digimon were changed for the dub.. one because it’s named after a demon and the other because it did not make a lot of sense in English I guess?!  Regardless.. the setting is an Icey hill. Birdramon needs to recover her energy and when the group lands they get attacked by a group of snowmen bears.. called Yukidarumon/Frigimon and a Huge mammoth, with ripped Dumbo style ears and a metal mask on it’s face and trunk!  When one of the Yukidarumon punches Sora.. she begins to slowly freeze to death from the inside.  The only way this attack can be negated is by thawing out the digital ice inside her. So she needs a fire.. but there is a problem! The group is being chased by a superior force. Making a fire would reveal their position.

Piyomon is too worried about Sora to Digivolve and seriously drains energy from the prolonged  flying. So One digimon has to stay with her all the time to protect her. Yamato is chosen for this role. He is the fastest, and can pull ahead of the group while Joe and Gomamon distract the group. Meanwhile we get a small subplot of the other group where Mimi sees a cute Digimon and tries to make it her mount.. resulting in (comical) disaster.  Joe has seen Sora and Yamato step up when it was their time.. but he ended up feeling afraid .. and invalidated all the time. After all … he is the groups oldest and he feels he is not living up to that role!  When things seem at their darkest and the plan to get away from the group fails Joe is met with a choice! Fight by himself and rely on Yamato or stick up for the group.. risk himself and keep Sora safe. He lies to Yamato and says he has the situation under control, now having to deal with the Ultimate Digimon alone. Wanting to be useful to the group and knowing Sora needs her defender.. fills the boy with a passion that allows him to Digivolve Ikakumon into Zudomon, who  uses his hammer and lighting.. to kick ass and take names. With this monster defeated.. it is time for the groups to reunite and face their biggest battle yet.

The Positives

While every episode is really simple I just love how they set up their episodes. Group 2 has Birdramon so obviously they would overburden her, of course that would make her vulnerable and of course that would mean Sora would try to defend her friend. So Sora being injured makes very much sense in the world they are trying to build. Of course Yamato would use his speed to take her out of the frey.. so we get a perfectly fine explanation while Joe has to fight alone! Ice and snow are not a good battlefield for him anyway so this is a great way to make Joe shine without making it feel obnoxious.  I also love how Joe attempts to use the terrain to his advantage.. but this backfires.. As if the show is talking to us! No! This is not Koshiro, this is Joe. Those tactics are not his strong suit.  His episode followed a few beats similar to Koshiro’s but we are reminded they are not the same.  Joe’s strength is never giving up, his ability to keep on trying even though he sees so many obstacles in his way. He stands up to that.. and conquers … with issue.. but he does.

This leads into the second thing that was great in this episode, the characterisation!  Sure the snowy fields are nice, and the movement on the slope is fun.. but it all pales in comparison to how great these characters are. The little moment of Mimi trying to make a Kiwimon into her mount.. fitting that princess theme again. The way Joe screams in panic for most of the episode.. but his realisation that there are things bigger than himself. It all feels unique. Nearly all the 6 episodes have the same format. Step 1: An Ultimate Shows up, Step 2: Bad Stuff happens , Step 3:  Someone is Separated from the group Step 4: After learning a lesson their digimon evolves to the next level. It happened Six times now.. and yet these episodes are VERY different from another. Joe is constantly overwhelmed.. he can not rely on his courage because it is not in his nature, he can not rely on his friends, he can not even face his own emotions because he would succumb to panic. No he has to solve this as Joe.. and the episode allows for that. Joe just really had to be there.. and it felt very different from what came before.

The Negatives

What the show does bad.. is what almost every show in an ice setting does bad. It’s what I call “white” stacking.  You make a fight set in snow, then make the enemies fight ice themed as well.. such as a yeti or in this case a white bear.  Then you set everything on a mountain, because skiing and snow are so intertwined.. now half of your skyline is white as well. The main enemy you give blizzard attacks.. which is made by a lot of squiggly lines. Ikkakumon… is also white and the beams of the Yukidarumon/Frigimon fire.. are you guessed it.. white. I would not call it boring.. but everything feels very defined and sharp but for some reason I always get tired of watching it. Not bored persé.. but after some time.. I am just done with it.  It feels disorienting.. in a sense off.. that you don’t know who is where and in a scenario where that matters.. it just feels a bit harder to sit through.  As if my brain subconsciously just has to work that one step more..and it’s just slightly less pleasant.

Second issue I had was the final fight. Zudomon doesn’t feel as powerful as Garudamon, Weregarurumon or heck even Lillymon. The latters physical hits did not hurt but that grass thing seemed vastly powerful. Zudomon hammers a lot.. and while his lighting seems.. quite powerful, the enemy is in water when he uses it.. So it already would be amplified.. it doesn’t seem AS special as what the others did.  Ice and Snow have that frail quality, so smashing someone through a slab of ice feels weaker.. then blasting back a mountain destroying beam attack.  Zudomon’s fighting also felt a bit clunky.. for some reason he doesn’t digivolve into the form wielding his hammer.. he needs to summon it which takes time. Until then .. he kind of fills the role of a bit of a grappler and that always just looks more like punches, kicks or beams.  The scaling isn’t done as well as it has done before.

The Score

I am torn about the score this time. It’s either a very high Berry Good, or a Low tier Star Fruit.  In the end I think I will have to go or a Berry Good for me personally. That is mostly because I really do not care for snowy settings. I don’t have much against them but they do nothing FOR me. Then again I also did not like last  week’s setting.. this one is significantly better as an episode.. maybe even as a setting. I am not sure. I just think the fact that once I took a peek to show how far I was watching this episode puts it under the Star Fruit rank.. but only just.

This episode has such a strong narrative, a great style and to a lesser degree even consequence. Nothing major happens in terms of consequences but there is a logic chain of cause and effect. “You can walk or fly?” .. Of course “We will fly” is chosen. Consequence is a spent Piyomon.. resulting in Sora getting hurt. It feels right! Things are still straight forward.. but it fits. Characters think like younger people, they make mistakes , but also gamify! They revel in new experiences.. but also get into trouble for it so they all feel just so much more human! That humanity is what makes every episode shine so much for me and this one is not an exception! Had there been a fire monkey instead of a polar-bear/snowman I think it would have pushed the episode into a higher range for me.. but if your biggest gripe with an episode is that it’s “too white” you got a pretty good episode on your hands.

Animini: Digimon Adventure Episode 14: The Kings of Insects Clash

Steamy Salutations my readers… and yes I do mean steamy in strictly the vaporised water way! It has finally happened. After 14 episodes we finally see Kuwagamon. The classical first episode monster from the series now only rears its ugly head in episode 14 in yet another very good digimon episode. Yet little things for me held it back JUUUST a little.

The Summary

It’s an even numbered episode number so we change back to Taichi’s group and will most certainly see Tentomon evolve! The episodes do not even try to hide it.. and that is fine.. we are here to see how it happens. Which becomes obvious fairly quickly. The group has to navigate through a maze of canyons. Encountering all sorts of weird materials. Surrounding by the high and tall cliffs the group can not use their digivices to communicate because of blocked reception. While this has been built up I do kinda wonder.. how the group can communicate across different worlds.. but not through rocks.. but who knows they might be made of a special material.  While Mimi has a lot of fun with some mirror rocks.. because of course she likes mirrors, Koshiro’s laptop breaks down. No longer able to analyse anything he feels rather useless to the group, which becomes even worse when the group is ambushed by a pack of Kuwagamon.  The group suddenly struggles to fight a bunch of champion level digimon, which seems kind of odd.. when Koshiro realises.. these attack patterns are not random.. These monsters work as a team.  They are quickly overwhelmed and have to flee.. only to realise.. this was part of the Kuwagamon’s group hunting strategy.. they fall into the claws of the ultimate digimon Okuwamon, the evolution of Kuwagamon.

The group gets overwhelmed even more and separated in their fight with Okuwamon. Taichi and Mimi do not let their digimon go into their ultimate form… for some reason, I think because of the lack of space or a clear strategy..maybe from sheer confusion.. but either way Koshiro gets seperated.. now further away from the group with no idea where they were and no way to analyse a proper strategy. When Kabuterimon is about to be killed by Okuwamon .. after a lot of self doubt the digimon ensures his partner that Koshiro still has the tool that makes him the greatest.. His brain. Realising he used his laptop top much, Koshiro uses his tactical mind to get Kabuterimon out of a hairy situation.. freed from the negative thinking and with a sharp mind again, he is able to super-evolve Kabuterimon into Atlurkabuterimon (which is the Japanese name for Megakabuterimon). Using his knowledge of standard bug behaviour, the attack patterns so far and the layout of the battlefield Koshiro comes up with a strategy that allows Taichi the time to Super-evolve Agumon as well.. and while the leader takes down the Kuwagamon.. Atlurkabuterimon faces off against Okuwamon and comes out on top!  Koshiro saves the day and Mimi tells him she is proud to have him as a servant as the episode ends.

The Positives

Yet again this show really is good at establishing a good cause and effect chain.. Although admittedly not as well as the last episode, there is a perfect reason for Koshiro to face his trouble. Communications are out.. Koshiro’s tool is taken out of commision, he now finds himself in a tough spot. The idea of letting an enemy use a coordinated attack when the one normally coming up with the strategies is out of commision is a great way for Koshiro to tap into his own strengths! It really feels like a Koshiro episode  in it’s very core. From the enemies chosen, the hazards to overcome and a battlefield where he has the advantage.  His relationship with Tentomon has always been one of my favourites in the original show and that is not too different this time around. I enjoy their bond where Tentomon seems to really idolise Koshiro in his own way and that is brought up again here!  Using the battlefield to your advantage in battles is always a big plus for me as a D&D player who always looks for those kinds of things.

The second big thing this episode does very well is once more establishing all the chosen ones as someone unique. From the very first few moments where Mimi encounters a reflective rock all the three children see different things. Taichi sees a funhouse mirror and reminds him of fun times. Mimmi sees a mirror admires it for that.. something that reflects her and Palmon.. and while she also has fun with it.. it is much more from a vanity stance. Koshiro however sees the rock as something to analyse, an interesting anomaly. So even in little things these heroes feel so distinct from each other. Where the original story oftenly had the characters that were not Taichi and Yamato take a backseat. This constantly happens throughout the episode and other episodes as well. Such as Mimi instead of saying well done Koshiro.. saying “Great Job, That’s my Servant” because she still keeps up the Princess Mimi act. It just adds so much flavour. Of course bringing back the classic Kuwagamon is a strength as well. There is a lot of respect for the original as well, it just modernises it.. and speeds it up quite a bit!

The Negatives

The episode is not flawless though, more so than in other episodes this one takes a fair few conveniences. Like Greymon and Togemon not digivolving. I do get why Gremon doesn’t evolve.. they are fighting in cliffs of stone, his missiles could surely endanger them.. but Lillymon can fly and fight with kicks if she needs to.. so it would seem she would do well here.  Koshiro being separated from his friends as he did also did not seem to make a lot of sense. The show is smart enough to leave out what exactly happened but one moment he is with his friends, the next he is two minutes of flying away from them.. it’s odd to say the least and in an episode that is about logic, recognising patterns  and finding a way it all stands out. It never feels obnoxious but it feels as if information we needed was left out.. like important parts of the episode where cut.  Which ties in with my second gripe.

The knowledge Koshiro has while fighting his big battle seems a step or two , two big.  He knows how to distract the Kuwagamon, he knows where there are more of these shiny rocks besides the one they encountered. It feels like we miss a scene where Kuwagamon attacked a mirror instead of a chosen one.. and if it happened in the episode it was a blink and you miss it moment. That would be a great time to let him have a flashback.  Show us how he got to know this.. now it feels a tad Deus Ex machina.  Which isn’t helped by the fact that NOW Taichi can suddenly digivolve Greymon into Metalgreymon .. The episode feels, jittery.. as if I am watching a lagging stream. I have the idea I miss a few words or in another way do not get the full experience. The grey cliffs are also a bit boring compared to all the amazing things we have seen before.. and while they do make a good obstacle to overcome with logic it sometimes makes it hard to follow who is where exactly. 

The Score

On Crunchyroll this episode scores a 4.9 out of 5 based on 316 reviews. Which is already quite telling that this is not going to be a bad episode. However I do feel this episode is a bit less imaginative than the others. It delivers on fan-service, it delivers on it’s goal and it does even tell it’s story in a sublime way.. it just doesn’t have as much fun with it  as something like the last episode or the Weregarurumon episode did.  Taichi’s group is having the weaker episodes. Which is kind of weird because I do like that group more than the other. Maybe I am holding them to different standards? Just this episode to me lacks JUST that bit of soul to be as great as the other parties adventures.

Koshiro DOES have by far the best adventure of his group though. I did not like the Metalgreymon episode and the Lillymon episode just left me feeling rotten, despite being quite good. This episode does everything the amazing episodes do just a bit less. The music has less impact, the story is a bit less creative and the set up is a bit too straight forward. In that manner this episode is like a german car, or anything german really. It’s super solid, it works and it works well.. it works REALLY well. It might work the best of all the super evolution episodes i have seen so far even.. yet in the end I just wasn’t as excited.

Animini: Digimon Adventure -Episode 13- Garudamon of the Crimson Wings

Konichi-what’s up with these super spoilery episode titles? I mean.. I know some people never saw Digimon and might not know what is about to happen next.. but with a title as did I sure as heck was suspecting a Sora episode. Yet after last week I somehow expected Digimon to begin falling apart for me as well.. yet I saw one of my best episodes yet.. one that made me squeee so loud my downstairs neighbour asked me if it was alright.

The Summary

I am going to do these Summary sections a bit different from now on .. talking more on what I feel about certain plot points.. then using the positives and negatives section to talk more about the consequences of those choices and such.. because.. I have to use this section to gush a bit! We see both parties traveling forward on the way to the ford that contains the holy digimon still.  When Yamato’s and Sora’s group encounters a flying fortress shaped like a giant queen bee. It turns out this huge fortress is a digimon called cannon Beemon. It is in the process of capturing FunBeeMon and turning them into Waspmons.. with the dark Miasma to create soldiers for.. what I assume is Devimon. Sora, being the kind girl, wants to save these helpless creatures but ends up crashing in the woods with her partner.. where she encounters a single terrified Funbeemon… I LOVE FunBeeMon it is one of my favourite digimon!..Even if it evolves into a wasp.. it’s so cute.. and this anime makes the digimon super cute as well.  I am so happy they chose this.. plus it offers a very easy crutch to tell a Sora story… all enemies in this episode are Airborne. She has the only flyer in this group!

To take Joe out of the equation temporarily the series decides to give him air sickness.. because of this he lacks the strength to evolve Gomamon and gets into trouble. This means even Yamato who follows the belief of “we are so important , we can’t risk ourselves for everyone”  has to be involved. This same behaviour is seen with the rescue attempt.. as soon as they got Joe.. Weregarurumon punches a hole in the floor of Cannonbeemon to make an escape. So they can put Joe on the ground safely as he is out of his league. Cannon Beemon. Then Joe gets a great role as well not making him useless throughout the episode. He and Ikakumon will work as the “artillery station” using Harpoon Vulcan to keep the Waspmon away from Sora.. who can not leave innocent creatures behind. Yamato joins her.. knowing Sora by now.. and that she will save the Funbeemon. He comes up with a plan where he goes inside the monster.. while Sora distracts and fights Cannonbeemon. When we see the monster has the strength to blow up a mountain.. Sora wishes for the strength to protect these sweet little innocent creatures..her love for all that is living and pure allows Birdramon to evolve.. and we see Birdramon Super Evolve into Garudamon. It defeats Cannonbeemon in a spectacular way and we see Funbeemon lovingly say goodbye to the group as they travel into the new area.. no doubt seeing Zudomon in Episode 15!

The Positives

Once again this series really understands how to set up a conflict. You need to keep the focus on Sora so choosing for flying enemies is a great choice.. not just a single flyer.. because everyone has ranged attacks.. no this time they need to enter a flying fortress.  Joe can indeed function as heavy artillery as is displayed at the end of the episode so giving him motion/air sickness makes sense. It fits his character and you take out a character from the action in a non intrusive way. Old Sora struggled with love.. she was kind of cold and in the end her love for Biyomon pushed her to activate her crest. This time.. we see a Sora whose heart is filled with love. She cares for everyone.. and this was established prior to her own episode.. allowing it to work even better. It feels like a much more powerful emotion worthy of Digivolution.  We see a much more heroic Sora that has her own sense of justice. That pursues her ideals.. hard. Not as reckless as Taichi.. but a lot more proactive than Yamato. The idea of having Cannonbeemon be a flying fortress you can enter.. also opens up so many possibilities for cool encounters in later segments, plus having Joe struggle can be a great hook to activate his crest of Reliability!  Awesome!

The show also does some amazing power scaling. My favourite scene is the evolution into Garudamon. We first see Cannonbeemon blow up a Mountain when facing Birdramon.. the Mountain is miles and miles away but it blows away a huge chunk.. causing a shockwave to reach all the way over there.. then Garudamon arrives and instead of dodging this time it uses its own attack and a short beam struggle follows. Cannonbeemon’s beam however is fairly easily overwhelmed showing how immensely powerful Garudamon is! I am a sucker for these types of visuals in Shonen situations.. Beam Struggles are fun on it’s own.. but Beam Struggles we can power scale… Woop Woop! There are a few scenes like this troughout the episode.. that really makes us realise how much impact some of the attacks here have.. by applying the attacks to things we know.. and can imagine what force it would take to damage them.. it all makes the hits so much more.. real. Great Job.. great action!

The Negatives

This episode does fall in the pitfall again of having too many things scale though. Birdramon  takes up half the screen, the log the chosen ones are sitting on takes up a quarter of the screen .. so now you have to draw the digidestined into a  eight of a screen or so… it results in a few very ugly looking shots where there is no facial detail and thick outlines.  Even some scenes where the destined are bigger  have no facial details.. as if they just blew up the other art to give them perspective.. it really REALLY stands out.  To a point where I feel as if two animation themes did this.. and the cheap team did the non exciting scenes.  The scenes that matter look absolutely breathtaking.. but there are also a fair few scenes that look a bit clunky.. as if they think.. this is a kids show.. they don’t care. I HATE that excuse.  I am not sure if they did it for that reason.. but it left a bit of a blemish on this episode.. that honestly for me is not that bad since I don’t care about visuals that much.. but I noticed and I know for a few of you that is a big thing.

And that’s about all I dislike in this episode. The pacing was great, the action was superb and I LOVE FunBeeMon’s voice acting. It sounds super familiar..but I could not place it.. but I could just hear the joy and fear in it’s little voice.. great job. I do like how they take Koshiro’s laptop away little by little.. meaning he will not have the KNOWLEDGE he has had so far.. setting up for a great episode about him that undoubtedly will be next. The flying bee fortress setting was new and fresh as well. If I had to pick another nitpick..the final fight could have had a better endshot.. now the head of Cannonbeemon just kinda falls off and it looks a bit more comical than it does epic..but since there were people on board I do get why it did not fully explode. I would have loved to see Garudamon rip off the compartment with the Yamato and the Funbeemon and then see the evil fortress explode in a Death Star like explosion.. but that would be asking for a cherry on top of my cherry.

The Score

While admittedly this one will be on the lower end of my highest score I did still decide to award this episode just that.  I don’t mind the visuals that much.. I just notice them and wonder.. would it not be better to draw these things big and scale them down?!  But I have no idea about animation, let alone animation budget so who am I.. if these faceless weird Chosen ones help pay for the visual spectacle in the actual battle scenes I will take it for granted three times over. I really like how music is used in this show as well! It constantly lifts my spirit or brings me down.. when I need to be.. I am not a big music girl and I keep being surprised how much investment I have in it.

Digimon Adventure will be Digimon and it has a fairly high level of colour by numbers, when it comes to it’s overarching plot.  Episode 14 we will see MegaKabuterimon, Episode 15 will show Zudomon, I have no doubt in my mind and in that manner you could say the show is lazy.  Yet in a way this show is also a legacy show.  While also bringing Digimon to a new audience.. they indeed are probably best served with this level of structure.. while the audience that has been on this journey before will just love the ride for showing us all these classics and without delay and just offer us that other kind of fanservice.. you know the one that makes you go Wooo Demon Mayan Bird Thing that I know and love!.. Instead of Wooo Boobies. I can imagine this show will get stale for newcomers to the show that are of the age that they will read my blog…but for kids that where as old as when I first watched the original and for long times fans.. this just consistently an amazing series.

Animini: Digimon Adventure -Episode 12- Lillymon Blooms

It’s a new week my Island Guests! I doubt this week will be as amazing as last week but let’s give it a shot! Given the episode title and the set up of last week it was not that hard to figure out what this week’s episode would be about and how it would end. Yet.. something happened.. after this episode ended , it got under my skin! I ended up feeling really REALLY blue and bummed out. It wasn’t because it was a bad episode either.. I mean I would not call it great…but … well let’s just explain while I blog.

The Summary

In the previous episode we saw Mimi plummet to the depths of the ruins she was exploring with Taichi and Koshiro. She now is all by herself.. Palmon’s vines can’t grow up high enough to get them back up, or even communicate with the pair upstairs. Because these ruins are so deep and brimming with a strange energy they can not even use their digivices to communicate.  All of these little elements used .. have been established before.. Palmon’s lift.. the energy in the digiscript, the way digivices work.. once again showing a good plausible set up for this scenario.  Koshiro, with some lag,  works trough the interference to translate these runes and find out of there is a way to save Mimi, while the latter searches for a way up. Both parties soon discover that this place was once an ancient factory for mechanical Digimon. A soundbirdmon makes his way into the ruins and awakens a pile of deactivated digimon.. including Andromon.. the Ultimate level machine Digimon.. many fans of the series know and love. Like in the original series though he gets corrupted and tries to eliminate Mimi. She however is saved by Guardromon. Earlier Mimi uncovered a dusty body of a digimon.. and Mimi being Mimi, wanted to make it shine and polishes it off and smiles to it.. this act of kindness makes him her guardian!

Togemon is no match for Andromon and quickly gets critically injured ,  but Guardromon uses his missiles to attack the environment and collapse it onto Andromon. Thus highlighting that a lower level digimon can take on an Ultimate by fighting smart. It knows Andromon is not defeated yet so he flees with Mimi! Resting up in a little safe haven he gives her a little flower to reassure her and promises he will help her go to the upper levels of the ruins again.  Meanwhile Taichi and Koshiro are descending into the lower levels of the ruins , not knowing what awaits them.  Just before Mimi reaches the elevator Andromon catches up with her and he and Guardromon fight.. leaving Mimi’s new friend Critically injured. Taichi and Koshiro save her but Kabuterimon is easily tossed aside. Taichi evolves Agumon into MetalGreymon.. and here we see a new element come into play.. match-ups! MetalGreymon while super powerful has slow attacks that Andromon can easily take out on the account of having a gatling gun!  Metalgreymon is defeated.. and just about Mimi is about to be killed, her guardian Guadromon grabs onto Andromon and stops him. Andromon then kills Guardromon.. and Mimi feels tremendous pain and anger. These pure and raw emotions trigger her crest of Sincerity and Togemon evolves into Lillymon for the first time. Having no option but to kill Andromon. Using her attack to consume him in leafage.. makes the android snap back to his old self.. just to realise he will die for his sins. Mimi cries and the trio enters the elevator upstairs right after Mimi places a little flower onto the also overgrown corpse of her Guardromon’ friend.

The Positives

Wow… a Mimi episode. A Mimi episode that did not portray her as shallow but as a genuine and lovely bubbly girl that just loves when things are pretty.  A girl that has never faced too much adversity but now is finding herself on an adventure.. and an unwinnable one at that. In this episode the group experiences their first massive loss. While they won in the end they could not save Guardromon. Sure it kind of happened with MetalTyrannomon before.. but that was the noble sacrifice of Ogremon.. it had something heroic. The way Guardromon lost his life felt desperate.. and futile. He did not keep Mimi safe for longer than a few seconds! Yet he wanted to try anyway.. and the last thing he remembered was her genuine smile!  Such a powerful thing! It really embodied Mimi’s Crest well.. but I never would have expected for them to go the negative route and let her experience sincere pain and grief. 

To accompany this episode that packs a serious punch.. is this odd.. pacing and direction. Normally we see the classical three act structure .. where the heroes face a big problem, flee , strategise and return to a fight just to do well but be surprised by a hidden ability that forces them to “awaken” into a new shape or form. This episode does not really do that.  Togemon does not just get defeated it gets put on death’s door.  This is the second time this happens to Palmon.. so I am kind of afraid she might end up dying even if the show continues long enough.  However in the first act.. the enemy is already temporarily beaten and out-strategised.  The second act has no analytical part at all. Mimi is not that type of character, she makes friends and gets taken along for the ride and that is executed quite literally when  Digimon carries her. The third act shows the group suffer complete defeat.. there is not really a moment where tides look to have turned.. sure Andromon goes down one time but there is no epic music beat.. no victory song.. the normal music just drones on. We know this isn’t it. Even when Guadromon gets killed and Lillymon finally arrives, we do not get the regular digivolution theme.. instead the transformation happens to a much more subtle piece of music.. showing it’s too late! The group has survived.. but they haven’t won!

The Negatives

For some reason seeing the friendly metal man get taken down and lose his life made me extremely sad. Sure it is sad to see an episode from the very concept of it but the way it was done .. that final goodbye.. it landed very hard for me, which can be deemed as a good point.. but there are deaths that make me cry that feel like a good cry.. this just bummed me out.  In a way the odd pacing of this episode is very powerful but it makes it also a very unsatisfying episode.  That kick of feel goodness the show has given me so far is nearly completely absent from this episode. Gone are the bright colours, the hype music, the music and imagery synergising. Even the digivolution sequence of Agumon this time felt “off” as if it was forced in.. He had to kill Digimon that were nowhere near his level.. but he could not waste time.. so he could not show mercy. As a result though the fight felt kind of more uneasy than satisfying. 

Andromon I know as one of the best and most amazing allies of the digidestined so to see him snuffed out like this felt.. “wrong”.. In a way I really LOVE that they did this. There is no shooting lethal attacks into someones face just to break whatever spell makes him evil! No .. he got corrupted and they have lethal digimon.. so they had to put it down. Because they are the ones that need to save this world… there is no plot magic saving the good guys. There are bigger stakes at play than a single kindhearted digimon.. he needed to die for the greater good. This stuff is my jam..I love that morality where a good guy needs to make choices and sacrifices. Yet at the same time.. because the original Digmon series exists that gave us our shot of Dopamine.. this course of events feels completely unsatisfying. I love that they went this route.. but I did not enjoy myself persé in this episode. I suffered a bit and actually felt bad after the episode and had to take a long shower to get back a bit. So this one will be hard to grade again.

The Score

Death are a part of anime, and even digimon has richly used death in the past. Some deaths in anime even really hurt.. but there can also be a sense of beauty to it.  This one however did not give me any positives. It is very well written and I really appreciate them going this route in hindsight but I REALLY REALLY REALLY did feel bad from this episode. Not crying my eyes out bad.. just “I can experience no joy” kind of bad. So there is no way I can give this episode a perfect grade. I can’t even say this episode is very good. In a way it is.. but I can’t shake that terrible feeling this episode gave me. On it’s own I think this episode would be horrible.. like if someone sees this as their first episode of Digmon I don’t think they would ever return. The pacing is off, the music is unsatisfactory , the action feels dulled and the colours are super grey, it feels off in every way.

In the bigger picture I can see how it is designed to be like that.. how it is meant to contrast with the other episodes. This episode did confirm that only Taichi and Yamato will get those stock digivolutions as the Togemon digivolution happened without the cool animation and that is a bit of a let down but hey.. Taichi is the leader and Yamato is the second ..  I can live with that. Still though in an episode that bummed me out so much I can not help but crave for seeing that satisfying animation.  In the end I chose to grade this Okiwi.. but it is the wrong grade.. on many levels. It’s both worse and way way better than that.  Yet it is the only way I can express my feelings for this episode. I love the direction.. I hate the episode.  I love the journey. I hate the events. There was enjoyment there but it was dulled by that sensation of being bummed out to my very core.

Animini: Digimon Adventure – Episode 11 – The Wolf Standing Atop the Desert

A new week, a fresh badge of Animini! We take it from the top and start again with Digimon Adventure. Where last week’s episode ended up to be one of the weaker episodes in the series, this episode is arguably it’s counterpart.. with some very interesting choices and development. I still stand by my point that a series as Digimon doesn’t have to be nearly as good as it is!  Yet this show ends up constantly surprising me!

The Summary

Last episode we saw the group encounter the black Miasma. It is in the way of the direct path of the stronghold the group is going for. Since the group HAS to make it to that location they split up to make sure at least one group will most certainly reach it’s destination. For this random names have been drawn.  Tai-chi leads group one followed by Koshiro and Mimi and Yamato leads the second group with Joe and Sora tagging along. Now I am not sure how random this is as both groups have .. A flyer,  a geek, a girl,  and a powerhouse… but sure!  It will be interesting to see Yamato and Sora interact.   This weeks episode focusses on the adventures of Yamato’s group…(who would have expected it with that episode title) .. the group has to cross a Desert…. They quickly find out small ADORABLE little digimon are being attacked by dragonfly digimon that can summon dust devils.. but also a creature that is lurking beneath the sand. While the Dragonfly’s get killed by whatever is beneath the sand the group realises that this monster.. might have the strength of an ultimate.

Taking shelter after being mostly outclassed the group discovers that more Digmon here are refugees from the evil creature that is known as Scorpiomon Apparently they attempted to flee towards a digmon called Leomon.. who is known as a resistance fighter taking up the fight against those responsible for the black Miasma.. and with that we get a huge reference and potentially later story point! I love Leomon!  Sora and even Joe want to escort these little guys to safety but Yamato  argues they are dead weight and will slow them down too much for their journey. When Sora insists on saving them he leaves the group! Gabumon tells him he should reveal his secret to the group.. but Yamato keeps on walking. Sora and Joe end up in a fight with Scorpiomon and end up on the losing side, just to be saved in the last moment by Garurumon. Seeing his Digimon in trouble.. and Gabumon being all Yamato says he needs.. makes him think of all the bonds that have strengthened him.. even those of his allies. He realises the power in friendship and this allows us to see WereGarurumon for the first time as the second chosen one gets his ultimate. The fight is won and Yamato reveals he used the group as bait and never planned to abandon his friends. He then tells the group of his secret.. he has a brother named Takeru (TK) who is his reason for fighting. 

The Positives

Where to Start?! This episode was amazing!  Mimi has an adorable moment with Palmon, when it is revealed that Mimi can’t climb once again showing this show goes out of his way to diversify the group. They can’t all do the same thing. The idea to pair her up with Koshiro and Taichi to which in the original story she has the “least” connection is also quite interesting.  Seeing Sora and Yamato travel together is interesting for a whole other reason!  
It also makes sense to let Taichi go for the shorter ..but more uncertain route while letting Yamato have the  longer but more controllable route. The way Yamato uses the group as resources yet cares makes his crest of friendship (even though they do not need to collect the item)  so much more interesting and earned this time. The way Gabumon is the primary instigator and the group in general.. more so then his relation to Taichi .. works! Sora having the crest of love makes her a perfect defender of the innocent and Joe wanting to be a doctor not being able to turn out these creatures in need of help and overcoming his fear yet again shows amazing commitment to these characters. Everyone is so much more fleshed out and this episode gives everyone a small moment yet again.. though pushing Taichi a bit aside.. which is perfect because the show needed that.

The music and the cinematography of this episode is amazing as well. The Ultimate battle theme was amazing and with the choreography of the battle added it really lifted the excitement of this episode.  The show is being quite creative with how wounds work on digital characters as well. While not new  to the series it is really used well here! I was also really happy to see Bearmon/Kumamon .. one of the available partners Digimon from Digimon World 3 and while I usually go with Kotemon in that game, I was very happy to see him acknowledged. The show isn’t afraid to dig into the expanded library of the current Digimon world!  The mention of Leomon is great as well! I look forward to seeing more about that! The show does something quite amazing in terms of visual references and other little easter eggs and snippets of knowledge and this episode had some really good ones.  I think it really showcases a great love for the franchise that at times is palpable and here it most certainly is. If the makers had a Biyomon I am sure it would be a Garudamon already!

The Negatives

So here I am fangirling about Digimon a lot, do I have any negatives? Well I guess I would have liked to seen a stock footage digivolution of anyone but Gabumon or Agumon.. but it doesn’t matter THAT much, that Digivolution animation still is really amazing and the way the show manages to make it feel hype and much more choreographed in the battles.. rather than the more stand alone digivolutions of the original. Still there is some favouritism here and once again it shows it’s colours.  Now this is a Gabumon focussed episode so this is no real gripe.. but I have to mention at least something. Another thing is why Takeru is hidden in the shadows. I know some people haven’t seen him yet.. but we only see a Silhouette when his brother remembers him.. which just feels odd.. you know what your brother looks like..  most of us watching probably will know as well.

 Another small gripe I have is how these new Digivices work. Besides evolving your Digimon they can also power it up, which I think is a neat feature. Yet the animation for powering it up also uses this glowing ring in a similar fashion that Super-Evolution works.  In this episode Birdramon gets a filled ring and it results in her getting a super powerful attack.. a Moba player would call it an “ultimate”   I would have liked to see it a bit more visually distinguishable.. The digivice has several segments of “led”  lights that light up in subsequent order and if they move fast enough and all are lit at the same time.. stuff happens.  Whatever the stuff is. I would have loved it if digivolution used that pattern while powered attacks had a single segment glow up in increasing intensity.. or several.. but at least something that conveys a difference so we can get what is coming next. That would make this show even better!

The Score

So it should be quite clear that with negatives like those that this episode will get a high grade. I oftenly found myself leaning into the screen in excitement! This show captures that childhood spirit but at such a high pace that almost every episode feels rewarding and this Episode packs more punch that most of the previous episodes and I am not even that much of a Yamato person.  I bet you all can guess my favourite character quite easily!  Based on the cliffhanger this week I might be in for a treat next week! So if I wasn’t exicted enough this episode also gave me next week to look toward too a perfect ending for a nearly perfect 20 minutes.

Thus it should come as know surprise that this one will get the highest grade in my flavour meter. While not flawless it comes darn close, and while I would love to see an episode of peace and calm.. it just isn’t that type of show. It is something I disliked in the past but if the action is done like THIS  and they keep making smart choises I certainly will not mind.

Animini: Digimon Adventure Episode 10 -The Steel Solid Super Evolution

I am back to my lovely Island Guests! After a short vacation to settle into my new town and home I am back with a vengeance! This post is the start of a new feature on my website called the Animini.. a “mini”  review of a single episode of an anime I happened to be watching. Basically.. It’s Saturday Anime Adventure torn to shreds and made into daily anime content with two more shows to follow! But to find out what those new shows are you will have to wait until the end of the week! Until then we pick up my old schedule!  Starting With Digimon Adventure Episode 10!

The Summary

Okay that was a really long intro unbefitting of a mini! But hey I had to tell you what it was all about! Speaking about telling you about things, let me discuss what Episode 10 of Digimon Adventure was all about! We pick up after the apparent death of Ogremon at the hand of Metaltyrannomon we saw in episode 9!  The group is facing an ultimate and that leaves them up a creek without a paddle.  There is no way they can face this behemoth .. yet there is no way to avoid him either.  So the group opts for a tactical retreat so they can come up with a plan of action. Koshiro’s laptop and analysis reveals information that leads them into discovering the headquarters that hold the holy digimon! Two major obstacles however remain in their way.

The first is of course Metaltyrannomon With all the Soundbirdmon..(those are the scanny/evil eye digimon that control other digimon for Devimon)  make escaping unseen rather impossible so Taichi decides to cause a distraction, using Kochiro’s battle data to find a weakness in the behemoth’s offence. Still failing quite bad!  To make matters worse, the rest of the group finds their escape route cut off by a large poisonous bog that you can only traverse if you are tainted by Devimon’s dark Miasma.  When the fight between the courageous boy and his digimon with the Ultimate monster draws close to them… he manages to surpass Greymon’s limit and we see MetalGreymon arriving through super evolution! This wipes the floor with their foe and the group now only has to deal with the bog. There are two ways around with no way to tell if one route is better than the others. They decide to split up.. and while figuring out who goes with who the episode cuts off.

The Positives

Overall we had another great episode, though I must say I was less entertained by it than some other episodes. What it did right once again was the pacing, the setting up things and the cause and effect that this show has going on. My favourite moment of this show was the conflict between Yamato and Taichi.. where Taichi manifests more as the standard Shonen hero that would die in a blaze of glory , Yamato takes a different stance. They are the chosen ones… one of them or all of them are the only thing that can stop the evil. If they die both worlds will suffer, so they can not go around and sacrifice themselves willy nilly It brings some stakes to the show, more than before. They can lose one member but not all. This is also why they split up the group in the end.If one route is easier or the right path.. they have to make sure they travel it.. which can be achieved by splitting up. This way all characters can still shine.

And shine they also do in this episode. Everyone save for Sora has a bit of a moment. Joe takes on the roll of group eldest and breaks apart fights, Mimi can’t deal with conflict as it bursts her little bubble thus highlighting the importance of working together, while also providing some comedy this episode needed in not caring for the property of others..tossing Joe’s books into acid to check out if it is really that acidic. Koshiro’s analysing abilities really shine and Yamato’s tactical prowess help flesh out the story and choices this series makes.

The Negatives

While the episode kept me very entertained, there also was a lot of “clunk” in this episode. The show does make a good point in why they should not attack the Ultimate head on but then the show Taichi and Greymon holding their own single handedly against the thing.. which makes you wonder, would the group not have had a chance?!  Maybe it’s a risk not worth taking.. but there seems something off about the balance of it all. They do provide a pretty sensible reason. But by stretching out the fight as much as they did.. they remove the intensity of the treat a bit, it doesn’t feel proportionate. It is a bit of a nitpick but it did bother me.

While most of the episode is animated properly there are some very weak moments in the fight. A lot of repeat animations as MetalTyrannomon seems to have a very strict attack pattern. This means a lot of the time we see Greymon dodge the same attack over and over again. The scale being on three levels, Taichi being tiny, Greymon being midsize and MetalTyrannomon being large results in the loss of many details on Taichi’s end which sometimes can be a bit obnoxious. The fight itself is pretty cool, with brains really coming into play over sheer brawn and post Super Evolution the animation has this Dragon Ball level of intensity…but some corners here have clearly been cut making it a bit rougher than it needed to be.

The Score

In terms of writing and feel the episode is easily on par with everything we have seen so far. However with some slip ups in the animation and a slight issue in power-scaling result in an episode that is not as good as it should have been.  The idea of not needing Crests or some sort of force  to go beyond is something I am very much on board with however. It brings things much closer to how they are in the Digimon World games or the equally excellent Cyber Sleuth games, this way there will be less hero gate-keeping and the show can introduce any ultimate whenever they want.

I am a big fan for the group splitting up and the whole.. “If at least some of us survive we may be able to save the world”  mentality. It will make it so easy to not offside any of the chosen ones.  The failure of this episode seems kinda inevitable.. they reached a bottleneck and something had to give , had they kept the foe stronger it was too strange that Taichi would have survived, had they had the group attack all at once they would immediately ignore and nullify their own strategy.. so they have written themselves in a bit of a corner here and the way it broke.. is the least annoying they could have chosen… that doesn’t make it any less noticeable though.. so I can’t in good faith call it as good as the rest.. it is still a sweet watch!

The Night of the Undead Bubble! The Bubble Tag – Halloween Edition

Hello again my dear mortals! This week will be crazy for me so content is going to be a bit strange here. I am settling into my new place and while I am writing this I am working a lot on getting the final things packed! EggSandwich being a pal provided me some relief! How? He nominated me for The Bubble Tag! Of course for Halloween Month I am doing it a bit different!  My Bubble.. is a strictly spooky one!

The Rules

Lyn the Otaku Author created this tag! It is a great idea and such an orginal tag that provides some good spirits in these strange times! Which people would we lock ourselves in with!.. Well I am fairly late to the bubble party and so.. I am not sure if the people what would be in my bubble can be trusted! So I made a new one! A bubble of people with whom I .. assuming we would befriend each other.. would stand a good change to stay safe! You  can’t become sick if you become undead!

Other than giving him credit which I’ll happily do I shall also provide you with another shout out to EggSandwhich who tagged me for this! I will do a monster special version of this tag for Halloween but the actual one I will be tackling as soon as I return from my moving week. Here are the rules for those wanting a copy pasteble thingy

Put ‘The Bubble Tag’ somewhere in the post title and as a tag on the post.

  • Thank the blogger who nominated you and link back to their post.
  • Link back to the original post – The Bubble Tag.
  • Select up to nine people, real or fictional to join you in your bubble.
  • Nominate five bloggers.
  • Stay safe.

The Bubble

Thus it is time to craft my bubble. For this specific version of the tag I will only use monsters! Though the word is the biggest sense of the word. Vampires, ghosts, or anything occult goes. If there is some way you can call it a monster, other than in the personality sense.. it is allowed! So here we go! What bubble will we create?! Here are my 9 picks!

Vampire  Willow (Buffy The Vampire Slayer)

Let’s start with my most dangerous choice here.. but Hubba Hubba! Vampire Willow is something I am extremely into! In the episode where she gets “isekaid”  we see her having some semblance of a redeemable persona.. before she gets killed.  Still.. she is undead.. she is a lesbian.. and she does have a facination.. of sorts with pink girls.  While I would have to give up on the sun to be with her. it would mean I am in no danger anymore!  Can’t get sick if I am undead!  She would probably not be the one I’d let me turn.. because.. I do not fully trust her and ..well her vampirism form is akin to dying and a demon living in your body! She is one of the few people in the world I would wrinkle the sheets with and let’s be honest, besides the internet and games there isn’t that much else to do right now! At least not in the Netherlands. While I love gaming.. she is here for variety!

Jeanette Voerman (Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines)

Jeannette would be my ideal sire! She is a Malkavian Vampire which provides a healthy dose of insanity on top of your personality! The Vampire the Masquerade vampires keep their old personality but I’d see the things in a whole new way.  I would get incredible insights in how the world truly works. Jeanette is incredibly fun and volatile as well, you never know what you will get around her .. which makes things rather exciting and a whole lot less stale ..also stable which Google Docs suggest to me is the word I was looking for! She would be a great insane big sister type!

 Eucliwood Hellscythe (Is This a Zombie)

Having two rather insane vampire chicks that I adore live in my house means I have a high risk of death..with the way the world is right now.. and not just the pandemic.. I also risk death. So it is always good to have a necromancer at your side.  Given how Jeanette probabaly never will shut up it is also nice to have a quiet person in the house! I could just draw with her or sip tea in silence! She can bring me back as a zombie.. which is better than nothing! At least I know it would not ruin my magical girl chances! 

4. Wisemon (Digimon)

Wisemon is a powerful digimon that can mess with time! So he is a great backup if Eucliwood fails me.. and my plan backfires. However Wisemon also has the power to be anywhere in time.. so he can get me the good take-away before it’s gone, he can get my Cyberpunk 2077 before anybody else does and he can get me all my shows that will get delayed! It will be a hassle but.. it is something! I am pretty sure he can also reset my internet bundle on my phone so I can use it as a hotspot where-ever my bubble might be!  That way I could have a bubble in the woods or on a tropical island! 

Mii-kun (How to Keep A Mummy)

Mii-kun is mostly here because it is so cute!  Still undead though so it is also perfectly safe to keep it around as well. With 9 people things tend to get crowded so it is best to take this into account. Mii-kun takes no space, isn’t too noisy and is mostly just fun to be around! He will also be a very good distraction for Jeanette who is sure to love the heck out of Mii-kun. I also want to see if I can teach it to hum the Mii-Channel theme! So It gives me a mission.

Ryuugajou Nanana (Nanana’s Burried Treasure)

A “ghost”  girl  that is into gaming and in return only wants pudding seems easy to please. Sure she has expensive tastes.. but we got Wisemon who can reset my bank account to a moment prior to a transaction. Just by ordering to the front door she would probably rush over to receive those puddings ..and my other groceries! Besides that she is a gamer and I do love to play video games so we could play Mario Party together or bond over some Smash Bros Ultimate. She would be the ultimate partner to finally play Overcooked with!  And if I can ever venture into the world she may tell me about some super valuable relics to boot! So heck yeah she is in my bubble!

Brook (One Piece) 

I assume at one point humanity will even grow more stir crazy at it is.. so eventually the internet will be done.. luckily Wisemon can connect to the wifi of yesterday and such .. but the monster has to sleep at some point!  So we need entertainment for that time and Brook is perfect! his music is catchy and he is Skeleton! So we can use his ribcage as a jewelry cabinet and such!  He is no slouch in fending off the looters either.  He sings some jaunty tunes and I can see him develop a beautiful friendship with Mii Kun.. and  who knows alongside him maybe one day my dreams to become an idol girl can come true!

Dark Magician Girl (Yu-Gi-Oh)

So is this one a monster? Well yes of course she is a monster in the game of Yu-Gi-Oh, she even has her own squad of magical girls as an archetype these days! Perfect opportunity for me to get recruited into the squad. Magician Girl Pinkie! If not DMG seems to love to play analogue games. She might make good Waifu Material as well, in case Willow doesn’t work out! She is like the ultimate 2d! Even in her own universe she is most of the time 2d!  Which means she is easy to store in my house! She doesn’t take up space unless I want her to! She has played with capsules/figures/cards and dice so she truly is a pretty good game master, so with her in my deck I never get bored!

Rimuru Tempest

Two Vampires, A skeleton, A ghost a mummy, A witch, A necromancer and an overgrown Jawa! That is some pretty solid squad..I figured I would add a cute little dragon Maid .. to cook and clean for us.. but this would leave me with a few problems.  First of all.. it would be to Harem like and I don’t want that. Secondly.. with Tohru present everything would devolve into utter and complete chaos! I am not a great bubble leader! I am a great lieutenant, a second in command but I am the weakest off all of these by far. My leadership would not be accepted and some are to chaotic for me to control! So I need a strong person, that is also a classical monster. Since the Blob is a thing Rimuru would absolutely work as a monster. His special skill besides being super overpowered is making a community out of monsters so tadaa it’s perfect! Our leader will be Rimuru.

To Be Continued

Tohru would be the 10th Nakama we sneak in because DMG is a card and we can hide her and Mii-Kun easily enough!  That being said this would not be my actual “real” Bubble.. that one I shall return to when I get back from moving.. that is the one that I will use to nominate 5 people to do this tag. Until then you can self nominate by being a Coconut or by commenting that you want to take on this tag! I hope my Bubble will not burst! Arceus knows that a guy called Murphy is going crazy at the idea of this being my actual bubbl.

Who do you think will be in my real one? Who would be in your monster bubble? What are you doing for Halloween this year?! Let me know in the comments and I will see you all in my next post! This is Pinkie and her Dragon Maid she hid illegally in her bubble signing off!