I’m a bit disappointed with how this episode turned out. There were still things I liked, but overall, it kind of felt boring. Though I guess that’s not a big surprise considering how the series has been progressing as of late. I typically like Joe’s episodes, but this time it didn’t do much for me since they keep trying to push him being the “leader.” Which got old in the first episode he brought it up in. Though I will say I do find it amusing how Joe somehow continues to have his group of Digimon grow. First with the hot spring Digimon and now the others from that Japanese mansion.
And man I’m SO GLAD that Joe didn’t run into Taichi and instead Mimi who was out on a field trip with the Digimon school. Not to mention Taichi didn’t even appear until the end of the episode. See, Digimon. You don’t NEED Taichi to be present at every situation. Seeing the others interact with each other is a breath of fresh air instead of only Taichi interacting with everyone else. And I feel like my younger self would have been overly thrilled to see Joe and Mimi interact since they were my childhood ship. Their dynamic was pretty hilarious as she literally hid underneath Joe’s coat and basically puppetted him into being the leader of the group against Olegmon. Couldn’t help but spit a laugh at that lol. Though it does look like Mimi was promoted to “sensei.”
But sheesh, these hot springs sure are unlucky since this is the second time it’s dried up. So Joe and his posse are traveling to warmer lands but ended up stranded in the snow if not for Mimi saving them. However, it’s one thing after another as per usual when pirates attack the Blimpmon.
What I do like in this episode was that it was pointed out that whenever it is Joe’s episodes, he’s always fighting for others, never for himself. Which is nice, but I feel like they could have gone deeper. Especially since he’s not particularly studying for himself, but because his parents are pushing him to. He doesn’t seem to have a particular passion when it comes to himself, but his passion absolutely flourishes when he is working to help others. I also appreciate that they basically made Olegmon a foil for Joe as he is also doing everything in his power to help his crew. Their home was destroyed and has been on the verge of starvation and turned to piracy to provide. He’s fighting for the sake of others rather than himself. While that wasn’t a bad point to focus upon to activate Gomamon’s mega evolution, the overall impression just felt lackluster and anticlimactic. Especially since it didn’t particularly feel like there were high stakes so it didn’t feel like it mattered to much whether Joe won or lost.
Sigh… this series really is testing my patience. While this episode wasn’t bad, I feel like they’re wasting precious character developing chances and not doing a good job in really making the circumstances for mega evolutions special. So far, I haven’t been particularly happy with any of the episodes showcasing mega evolutions and this episode was no exception. So far, the only episode with a mega evolution that I actually liked was Sora’s episode. Especially since the stakes were high and it did feel like the evolution was necessary while the other situations didn’t feel particularly needed at the time. It also doesn’t help that they’re just building off things we already know about the kids and not delving too deeply into their backgrounds or focus on another part of their personalities. From how they portrayed the crest episodes at the start of the arc, they made it seem like we were going to get some more in depth characterizations in them. But nope, still just scratching the surface on these characters and it’s making this series incredibly underwhelming. At least I finally got a decently animated and choreographed Zudomon fight.
I really wanted this series to be good, but considering there are only 6 more episodes left, I don’t think there’s enough time to really impress me anymore. Sure next episode might be good since it’ll be a Takeru centered episode. Because those tend to have better writing. Watch them prove me wrong…
