Episode 42
The Road to Faga has literally become the Road to Filler Arcs because it’s just one filler episode after another. At least this didn’t feel like a reskinned episode of one of Koshiro’s previous spotlight episodes, but man was it a slog to get through. Not much happened save for Koshiro befriending a fellow scientist in Gerbemon and helping him defeat Raremon. Also, the name department really just named its evolution Rareraremon which left me like: wow, they be getting lazy with these names.
It was nice seeing Koshiro lead the charge this time without getting into “I’m just a support character” mindset. Which probably is a small nod to his growth when he stopped the missile from falling in Japan. And I do like that they’re trying different tactics to defeating an enemy besides just simply overpowering them and instead used science to defeat Rareraremon (still the dumbest name yet). Which makes the fights more interesting and won’t always default to evolving to a higher stage to sweep. And I found it rather touching that Tyumon evolved into Searchmon out of inspiration from Koshiro’s knowledge, donning his crest on his back. We’re seeing a lot of armored evolutions these days.
This episode was cute, but I feel just so done with the filler purgatory we’re stuck in. Sure it’s nice to see them actually interact more with the Digimon locals now, but it’s so far into the series now that I just want to see the plot get on with it. Stuff like this I wish we had earlier so the kids would be a little more determined to save the Digital World like they did in the original. I didn’t really feel that strongly about this episode as I found it a bit boring and I felt like it didn’t really add much besides picking up the USB that I’ll address in episode 43.
Episode 43
Oh my gosh, this episode was RIDICULOUS. But it was so entertaining and I loved it. Probably the best episode out of all the fillers we’ve had so far. Well, I guess it could tie with Joe’s episode since that episode was also very entertaining. If it’s going to be filler, at least make it fun and this was how you do it. And while they didn’t develop Mimi, at least she had a fun episode where it didn’t feel like a complete rip off from her earlier spotlight episodes. Even though they redid a boxing match, at least they changed things up and actually surprised me with certain developments.
The kids are continuing their excruciatingly long journey towards FAGA and Tailmon is having a difficult time figuring out the road from her memories due to the change in landscape. However, they run into a couple of ultimate Digimon fighting over the title of “King of All Digimon” with the power of song… Did Digimon turn into Hypnosis Mic or something? Either way, it was amazingly hilarious to watch these two Digimon basically rap battle each other. Made to be even more chaotic when their sound waves were disrupting the Digimons’ data. Which was a little weird since they were the only ones to be effected in that way while the audience of Digimon were fine. Maybe it was because the Digivices were being affected? It was a bit unclear. However, it was pretty hilarious how everyone was affected.
I was honestly wondering whether or not Etemon would make an appearance in this series since he was such a big antagonist from the original series. And while he isn’t a major antagonist, at least he was a fun one off villain along with Volcamon.
The two then semi-team up to attack the kids since there are rumors going around that every Digimon that challenges them never makes it out alive. Like… yeah… that’s basically how it has been and when put in that perspective… it sounds especially brutal and mildly disturbing. Especially as opposed to the original series where the kids only “killed” the Digimon that were actually evil. They didn’t go around slaughtering the rando Digimon that were out on rampages. Sure they beat them up, but they didn’t straight up kill them unlike in this series where IT’S SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST I GUESS.
But man, I was not expecting another mutation evolution but I’m so glad that it isn’t just limited to Taichi and Agumon. The fact that Palmon evolved into Ponchomon was hilarious and made even funnier when I realized how they foreshadowed it earlier in the episode. Though after looking up Ponchomon’s evolution possibilities, I thought it was hilarious that Patamon may have been a factor in the evolution since he evolves into Ponchomon himself with the power of the Digi Egg of Sincerity. Though it could have been a coincidence, the fact that it’s still there is still hilarious. Also I died when it showed Patamon’s arm just hanging out of Palmon’s overgrown flower before flying out when she was evolving. I had to pause and replay that part several times because it tickled my funny bone so much.
The fight between Ponchomon and the two rapping Digimon was also pretty entertaining as it mostly dodged and used their attacks to attack each other. So it wasn’t really outpowering them like they typically do, but used their own power for its benefit and finished them off when they were weakened. And once that was over, Etemon and Volcamon individually wanted to form a duo with Ponchomon and at that point I’m like: Why don’t you guys form a duo with each other??? But I guess their rivalry wouldn’t allow them. Seeing them run after Mimi and Palmon at the end was funny and I’m glad that they didn’t end up being destroyed. That in itself should be their badge of honor since they survived a scap with the kids when all the others were destroyed lol.
The absolute chaos that happened this episode was fantastic and there were so many parts that just had me rolling. Like, where the heck did Gabumon go??? I actually thought that Etemon and Volcamon would evolve into their mega forms, but I like the direction they took instead. Now the kids are back on track to FAGA after using the USB Gerbemon gave Koshiro that turned out to be a map of the past, allowing Tailmon to accurately show them the way using her memories now. I do hope we get to see alternate evolutions of the partner Digimon now since it adds more variety and changes up the battles a bit.
