Tag: episode 12

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: Flip Flappers – Episode 12 – Pure Howling

Hello my Island Guests!  Sometimes you want to address a show as if it was a person, and if I could I would say “Flip Flappers  Dai-Dai-Daisuki”  My Arceus this episode yet again is so amazing… if the last episode can stick the landing at least a bit this will become one of my favourite shows ever, alongside Tengen Toppa Gurren more recently Kyousougiga. Sometimes a show resonates super strong with you and the message of Flip Flappers is basically the way i want to live my life. Dai-Dai-Daisuki!

The Summary

Jeesz.. this one is a bit trickier to describe without sounding like a raving lunatic!  I will do my best though! In this episode Yayaka and Papika chase Cocona and Mimi into Pure Illusion while the real world is still invaded by the snow monsters. While they are chasing their dear friend , Mimi is brainwashing Cocona to only listen to her mother.. she is one Disney song removed from Rapunzel’s mother.  Salt meanwhile has his mind set on finding the Elpis.. held by the evil organisation which seems to me like it is the original Flip Flappers now. He takes Nyunyu, Buu-Chan .. and the tracksuit Flip Flap girl whose name I forgot along on a perilous journey!  His leads him eventually into descending into the enemy base where Buu-Chan finally transforms into a muscle mode mecha.. and that gets defeated right away.. but Salt manages to get into Elpis. The Amorphous twins meanwhile can peer into deep Illusion as they try to recover their injuries and they actually see Yayaka made the right calls.

Inside pure Illusion we essentially get a boss-rush!  Evil Mimi makes Yayaka and Papika fight through the original stages of Papika and Cocona’s adventure.. but when facing that desert lady that brainwashed Cocona in episode 3.. Yayaka and Papika really struggle.. that is until an Amorphous shard lands into Yayaka’s possession. Papika tells her to think of her treasure and draw power from that. Yayaka realises her treasure is not the Amorphous but here dear friend Cocona.  Determined to take her back, Yayaka manages to Flip-flap into a magical girl much like her two friends. The Boshrush now gets pretty easily cleared until they end up in the cyberpunk world of episode 7.  Here Mimi alters Papika’s memory to break her resistance and make her believe she is right. This prompts the good Mimi to show in front of Cocona and tell her she should fight to make her own choices in life.. she might lack the courage but mother will give her that.  Mimi steals the magical girl powers of the girls.. but when Papika and Cocona confess what they mean for each other .. they transform into a new form of magical girls!  Together they easily punch the boss of the cyberpunk world away.. paving the path to the final episode and the fight against evil Mimi. Who wanted to use her power of Pure Illusion to create the perfect safe space for Cocona.

The Positives

I loved practically everything about the episode! Basically everything I had wished for in previous reviews of this show have been handed to me. It is confirmed that Cocona has a father, the Amorphous Twins got their head out of their ass, we got to see more magical girl stuff and best of all Yayaka got her magical girl powers.  Her power relaying around speed is a perfect accompaniment to the girls who respectively form the sword and shield together.  Now we have Strength, Bulk and Speed… amazing!  I really really liked her design as well. Her switching to a green hair colour was a bit odd..  but since Cocona swaps colours with Papika.. it kinda is fun to see how Yayaka combines colours with Cocona and giving her a green hair colour. Seeing Buu-chan transform but easily be defeated I like because this kind of reminds me of the powerscaling in Dragon Ball Z.. or Super.. how people suddenly become relevant again.. Flip Flappers basically just says… NAH! Just kidding this character still kinda sucks in terms of battle prowess.   

I still really like the choice of having Mimi who was captured and experimented on all her life as someone that is quite broken and it does work wonders in this episode. Clearly deep down she never was able to make her own choices so it makes sense that a part of her really wants to see Cocona do that. Yet she was als tremendously hurt, betrayed several times and she had a pretty horrible life. It makes sense that she would not want that life for Cocona either. Those choices are preventing each other.. those who make their choices freely will eventually end up getting hurt. And those who try to avoid being hurt at all cost never have a real choice in life. So it does make sense that these sides conflict with one another. I also like that these conflicts have been in Cocona from the start. She wants to have fun with Papika.. but she is also afraid to do the wrong thing. The new magical girl form looking more like their regular selves is also pretty empowering.. just be yourself and trust in who you are!   I haven’t even begun to talk about the awesome battles in this episode!   There is just too much goodness here!

The Negatives

I would love to say there are non.. but unfortunately one thing kinda missed the mark. Nyunyu tags along with Salt on her adventure and the way she does it is cute.. but also kind of annoying. It results in a few visual gags that while I did not mind in particular I did not really care for either. It’s there and I realise I rather would see something else than her sitting on a drone or using Buu chan as a helicopter swing thing…. which is weird because Nyunyu is my type of character. So the only conclusion I can make here is.. that I don’t really dislike her.. I just like the rest so much more that those scenes seemed annoying by comparison.  We are talking about her being like an 8.2  of entertainment while the rest of the show constantly is around 9.5 or higher. It’s not bad at all but it kinda feels like a big dip?!

That really is it though so since I have another paragraph I am gonna just rave about how awesome this episode was. The callback to old locations can be called cheap but I am the type of person that likes Boss Rushes.. because it can show how much you have grown and that is exactly what chain of events meant for me.  The ease with which Papika transforms, the way how they strategise now. That is delightful and I kinda disliked how Cocona constantly flipped between hating and loving Papika I get it now.. that is once more Cocona lacking the courage to make a choice.. following what society would say about their relation or having a friend that is so odd.. or doing something  not normal. It fixed my biggest issue with this show!  The ending might be a bit sudden.. but  it is quirky enough to work and it leaves expectations wide open.

The Score

I would like to give this a score beyond Star Fruit.. this episode while not my favourite in the long run did so much for the show for me.  It is more than just an episode.This episode for me is my favourite moment off all those Ocean Eleven movies.. you know when the jazzy funk music begins playing and they explain how they did it and we see some awesome shots of them sitting in a vault when we thought they failed the heist.. That is this episode for me.. I love that kind of thing and this is it’s own unique spin on that kind of thing so I love it even more!

I mean I could just rave about Yayaka finally being a magical girl and yelling Flip Flapping for the second time and I would be right to do so but….. aww .. who cares I am going to do it! SQUEEEEEE  YAYAKA FINALLY BECAME A MAGICAL GIRL! THATS MA GIRL! WEEE! This to me is one of those episodes where you scream and your screen  hoping to “send some energy” to transform along with them… I did not transform yet.. but I know one thing.. if the last episode is even half as good as this one I might very well choose Flip Flappers as my treasure to transform with!