Digimon Adventure: (2020) Episodes 16 + 17

Episode 16

Not gonna lie, there were things in this episode that legit freaked me out. But before we get into that, the Taichi group had suddenly found themselves back in Tokyo but already you can tell something was wrong. When they first got there, I was immediately screaming to hide the Digimon and I got so frustrated when that wasn’t one of their first responses. Like come on guys, you’re in public with mini monsters, how does the thought not occur to you until later on??? I don’t know why that bothered me so much but I just could not suspend my disbelief in that regard.

Anyways, you can obviously feel something is off because while I complained about them not immediately trying to find ways to hide their Digimon, people weren’t paying them any attention. However, things get REALLY weird when the kids just can’t seem to leave the station on or off the train. Mimi can’t seem to navigate her way out of the station and is going in circles, while Koshiro and Taichi go in never ending loops on the train. And things go from weird to straight up creepy when the people started being glitchy. Like, holy crap that was eerie as heck when they just did a close up on that empty smile. And I have to give it to the director of this episode because they did a fantastic job making it so creepy and unnerving. And I legit went “UGHHHHHHHH!!!” when the entire station were just covered in eyes. That’s what happens in nightmares!

I had a feeling this wasn’t truly the real world and I’m glad it wasn’t because in the original it hit so much harder. So I’m glad they didn’t soil that moment quite yet. Turns out that Digimon that appeared after the end of episode 3 was the one to collect data on Tokyo and made it’s own fake version of it. I can’t blame the kids for thinking it was real because it really did seem real, until they tried to interact with the fake people. Looks like it can make duplicates of things, but not the emotion.

I had to look it up, but apparently these red-eyed shadow Digimon are all pieces of Eyesmon and that they weren’t rookie forms, just a champion level Digimon that had split itself up. And I do find it interesting that despite it just being a champion level, all the Digimon partners in their Ultimate stages had trouble with it. Eyesome sure is resourceful to be able to take on multiple Ultimate level Digimon and give them trouble… which makes me a little concerned for the power scaling. It almost feels like the Ultimate and Champion level stages for the partner Digimon almost feel less valued if they’re having trouble with a Champion level. Even I thought it was Ultimate considering how giant it was. Though I will admit that it creating giant buildings and whatnot to attack is pretty cool. So with that power in mind, it could be a bit difficult to handle.

Also, can we just bring up the fact that Taichi’s mom literally just left a note for Taichi in case he comes back to tell him that they evacuated??? UM… EXCUSE ME???  For one, you’re in the middle of a city-wide crisis and you’re not going to show more concern about where your son is and would just leave a note for him? Like, I can understand trying not to panic. Heck, I can accept not looking for him due to it being dangerous, but why is she treating it like they’re just going to grandma’s house for the night and Taichi will show up when he does? HELLO??? Show a bit more concern for your son in a time of evacuation! Not to mention it’s freaking night time! I know it’s not THAT important, but the mom showing little to no concern for the situation just didn’t sit right with me. And two, why would you tape the note to the couch? Why wouldn’t you leave it on the table or something so it would be immediately noticed??? UGH. At least she took the cat.

Yamato’s group shows up and helps fight off Eyesmon and I will admit, the effects of the buildings closing in on the group was freaking awesome. Not to mention as it closed, Eyesmon just looked so smug like it won. I like how you can see its emotions just from the eyes (I guess that’s the point of it lol). Especially when it changed to disbelief when the partner Digimon broke through the building blockade and finished it off with one final blast.

Unfortunately, the battle isn’t over as time in the Digital world and the human world suddenly sync up and are flowing at the same time, putting them back against the 72 hour time limit before power in Tokyo just ceases completely. But not only that, but Eyesmon still had parts of it hanging elsewhere and evolved into its ultimate form…

Episode 17

Eyesmon evolves into Orochimon and considering how much trouble Eyesmon gave the kids, there’s no doubt Orochimon is going to be a big problem. Especially with the weight of the time limit closing in on them, they can’t afford any more time. But then Orochimon’s screeches directly affects the human world, causing electronics to go wild and explode. Yup, this thing is definitely a giant problem. Literally.

Unfortunately, due to the using so much energy against Eyesmon, the partner Digimon don’t have enough stamina to face a newly evolved Orochimaru. And man, situations where it has characters desperately hiding from an enemy gives me anxiety. I hate that feeling of someone searching for or following me, even in games, so I was super scared for the kids when they were hiding and resting. However that makes the time limit even more looming now that Orochimon creates a dimension that causes time to move at the same time between the two worlds.

And while I can understand why Yamato didn’t want to run and wanted to hurry up and defeat it, there are times where you need to retreat and regroup. Nothing good would come of Yamato stubbornly remaining there to fight if there is no one backing him. He can’t handle this on his own, nor are the others in any shape to keep going at the moment. And I’m glad that Weregarurumon had enough sense to grab Yamato and retreat. As much as he wants to help him, he knows he can’t face that thing alone, something Yamato needs to realize (despite knowing already by this point).

Also they finally show my boy, Takeru! And I guess I counted wrong when they showed the sparkling lights enter the Digital World. It’s been a while due to the hiatus so I should go back and check. ANYWAYS, little Takeru is adorable and is the person that Yamato wants to protect at all costs. Definitely the reason where Yamato developed his want to protect others. “Chronic Big Brother Syndrom” as others have put it. Takeru is so SMOL here and I couldn’t help but wonder out loud where the heck is mom is and why you would leave this tiny child alone at home during an evacuation. Unless his mom was at work and got caught in the traffic.

We get some brief downtime with the kids talking to and encouraging each other to continue fighting to protect both the Digital World and the human world. And I really do hope Sora gets some development of her own because as of now, she just feels like a female Taichi. So far, she is one of the least interesting characters to me and that’s such a shame because I remember I did like her in the original series. So far the most interesting characters are Mimi, Joe and Koshiro. Even though I gripe on Joe a lot, he at least seems to have his own personality and is at least interesting.

Also DANG MIMI! I couldn’t help but just gasp in bewildered amusement when she said Palmon was the most beautiful only as Lilimon. Savage.

I am starting to appreciate the Brotp that is Taichi and Yamato these days. When these two fight for a common goal, they sure are a force to be reckoned with. Not to mention I do like how Taichi helps Yamato open up to teamwork more and quit acting like a solo player. So I appreciated it when Yamato is trying to go off and handle things on his own by telling Taichi not to stop him, but Taichi says he’ll go with him instead. I don’t particularly like the two separately, but together they form a nice bond and bounce off the other pretty well.

I was worried that they were going to pull out Omnimon again for this battle, but I’m thankful that wasn’t the case. Though it did bother me a little that while everyone had a part in this battle, it did feel a little too one-sided in favor of Metalgreymon defeating Orochimon. The others were able to distract Orochimon’s head limbs, but it did feel like Metalgreymon did most of the heavy lifting by being the one to ultimately take it out. I definitely enjoyed the fight with Eyesmon more since it felt like they all had a very vital part in taking it down.

It seems like the next episode will be focusing a little more on the two remaining chosen children as this episode was building them up for something. Both of them having seen images of Orochimon and their brothers on the screen. Which I’m sure it’ll be the whole Omnimon situation again since in the preview they showed the two siblings taking hold of another feather with their crests shining. So I wonder if this will propel them into the Digital World as both seem to be separated from their parents with Takeru seemingly alone at home and Hikari being lost in the middle of a crowd. Though I do hope they stick with Hikari remaining in the human world. And judging by the ending, it doesn’t look like she’ll be physically involved yet. Though, I’ve been wrong by what I think I’ve seen before so….

But I wouldn’t put it past this series to bring up Omnimon again because this episode did give me some Digimon movie vibes… again. Considering how yet ANOTHER countdown was happening, it seems like they’re going to have to use Omnimon as the scapegoat to defeat yet another bigger and badder Digimon that I’m sure is going to appear in the next episode no doubt. Also the moment where Takeru and Hikari seeing their respective brothers on the screen reminded me a lot of the move as well. This series sure loves its countdowns lol. And speaking of countdowns, I thought the battle would end with this episode but NOPE. And I admit, I would be FREAKED OUT if I saw a countdown happening with red numbers and a heartbeat sound effect just appear on my tv screen.

I’m sure the kids will find a way to get through this, but I am worried about that quick clip in the preview where it showed Devimon. Is he coming to them this time? And if he is, I’m not sure if I like that since ALL of the danger has been coming to them rather than them going towards the danger. And I think I’d like the change up to them confronting the danger to protect the two worlds like how they decided to continue fighting Orochimon in this episode.