What happens in this episode? Good God, what doesn't happen!? Myotismon shrouds the city in fog, cutting off access to the outside world and any communication within. This impacts six of the seven (registered) digidestined, who are all separated. The episode darts quickly between all of them, making for an exciting episode at a breakneck pace. There's even an underlying theme as five of the scenarios involve parents being just as heroic as the kids.
As with everybody in the area, Tai's home is invaded by Phantomon's army of Bakemon. While Agumon keeps him and Kari safe, his mother is taken away. Greymon goes for the rescue, but Phantomon's too strong and forces them to retreat for Kari's sake. As they run away, they run into...
...Matt, who totally gets upstaged by his father in this episode. Hiroaki Ishida is best described as the cable guy in Independence Day if he were played by Bruce Willis instead of Jeff Goldblum. One disruption in service and he will correct it no matter how many people he has to kill! He's out to save the world and get your television working again, and charges out solo despite having three co-workers and a son with a Digimon partner. He stashes Matt away, even though he knows about Gabumon. Hiroaki has no reason to know about Gabumon and the fandom has acknowledged this as a dubbing error. My theory is he's too awesome to be fooled like a pansy. With a dad like that, who would possibly worry about Matt's well-being? Well, perhaps......TK, who's safe on the outside of the fog with his mother, but knows that something's going down and that it's his duty (either as a digidestined or as Hiroaki's son) to be in the fight. Hiroaki's ex-wife doesn't get nearly as much of the spotlight, but her actions here are significant. The last thing she would want is for her or TK to be in the thick of this predicament, but TK says he needs to be in there and somehow she knows he's right. So off they go. Not that they'll get very far, because they'll just get stuck on the outskirts like...
...Joe, who's bummed about his latest test results and even more bummed that he can't get back home because of the dang-gummed fog. He's dormant in this episode, but can I point out that it's very likely that he had to spend the night on a bench somewhere surrounded by a bunch of strangers? For someone who's nervous about germs and allergies, that's pretty badass. Even more badass than...
...Sora, who goes to soccer practice without Biyomon in the middle of all this insanity. Her mother doesn't even try to stop her this time. Oh you betcha she gets caught! Her mother fares better as Biyomon saves her from the Bakemon. Desperate to rescue Sora, the two disguise themselves as Bakemon and infiltrate the compound. Along the way, Ma asks if Sora hates her and Biyomon has the cheek to say no, even invoking episode 26 in the process. Sora's not helpless, however, and invokes episode 11. With the menfolk attacking the Bakemon physically and a recorded chant disabling them, all hell breaks loose. Phantomon finally puts a halt to it... which cues mommy and Biyomon to save Sora and ignite a much-needed reconciliation. The other half of the great escape falls to...
...Mimi, who smuggled Palmon in when her family was caught. Sora's plan gets Mimi and her family out of the building, but a DarkTyrannomon wants to put them right back in. So naturally, Mimi's dad drives into it with a golf cart. Ahem... sorry Mimi, it was a valiant effort, but your dad just isn't as cool as Matt's dad. There's no shame in that. With Togemon struggling against the monster, Mimi grows deeply concerned about her family, friends and the whole city as Myotismon tightens the noose. She gets a damn fine soliloquy, taking both her character and her Digimon to another level. Lillymon tames DarkTyrannomon because that's just her style. The whole time, Mimi's family is revealed to be incredibly cheerful and happy. Almost as loving a family as the one taking care of......Izzy, who apparently slept in and missed this entire episode. Slacker.
My Grade: A
Loose Data:
- All this talk about Mimi's dad paling in comparison to Matt's has me wondering... who'd win in a fight between Matt's dad and Marcus's dad from Data Squad?
- Given that he's resorting to enveloping the entire city in fog and using a captive Gatomon to filter through every child in Odaiba one-by-one... isn't a bit early for an evil victory laugh?
- In all the cuts to different scenes, the episode randomly cuts to a scene of Mimi telling her parents she's dying everything pink. Her parents are cool with it and that's all we see. It's like they flipped to the wrong channel or something.
- The episode ends with Myotismon about to hit Lillymon with his Crimson Lightning attack, in what is made out to be a cliffhanger. Even if it connected, WereGarurumon and MetalGreymon took a ton of those and survived. While Lillymon wouldn't have the same constitution, she's an Ultimate too. Even if she did get hit, it couldn't possibly be fatal.
I think Marcus's dad would win not because he's a better fighter but because Matt's dad doesn't seem to have the patience to match him in sagacity.
ReplyDeletewait a second, I just notice Izzy wasn't even in that entire episode. Ohmygod how could one of my top fave episodes not include Izzy.. wow.
ReplyDeletebtw I love love love this review <3
Just watching (yes, it's Digimon marathon) this episode and then...
ReplyDelete* A Jurassic Park reference in scene where Hiroaki Ishida and his friends in the van get ambushed by Tyranomon?
* Pyomon saving Sora's mother is just THAT badass.
* Taichi's "This isn't what it looks like" when he comes out with his sister on Greymon to save the mother is...awkward to say the least.
* Greymon fighting in the middle of a crowd was just...too much.
* Taichi seems to take a bit of his fieriness from this father.
* Mimi's father is...Muu La Flaga. That's it. "Ore ga fukanô ni kanô suru otoko da."
* The "heartbeat-y" soundtrack when Sora's mother rescues her is pretty intense. I was expecting that on 24, not DA.
* The jokes of Mimi dyeing everything pink were only in the dub it seems.
Only four words can describe this episode: SHIT. JUST. GOT. REAL.
ReplyDeleteStarting off the episode with Myotismon casting his fog curse all over Odaiba is just foreboding in ways I can't explain. We see it causing heavy fog and power outages, which is what gets Hiroaki Ishida on the case, but we don't grasp the full extent of what he's doing until the Gizamon come out of the water and go on the attack. Cut to the next morning and the fog has become a barrier all over the town, which allows Myotismon to travel even at daytime and artificially empowers him so that he's virtually unstoppable! And in a matter of minutes, what was once the unthinkable finally happens - evil Digimon go on a rampage. Phantomon and his underlings attack public locations, block entrances and exits, take prisoners, and separates entire families - children getting taken away from their parents while all are taken to the Convention Center. Myotismon wants to weed out the eighth child by having innocent children abducted, presented to Gatomon and identified. If the eighth child isn't found among the children, they all die. Meanwhile the adults are kept held up in lobby room guarded by Bakemon, afraid for their lives and unable to do anything to save their kids. This is simply horrifying. To make matters worse? The Digidestined are separated at this moment, many of them just waking up to this terrible news and some of them at risk of getting captured themselves. Tai, Kari, and Matt are all risking themselves facing danger, Sora and Mimi are captured and have to lead an attempted prison break, Joe and TK are both getting flat out held up, and who knows what Izzy's doing? Phantomon, Bakemon, Gizamon, DarkTyranomon, DemiDevimon, Myotismon, and all the good guy Digimon all loose in Odaiba, families getting torn apart AND drawn together, humans actually trying to fight back, mass hysteria! Oh, and a brand new Ultimate evolution thrown in for good measure! The intensity, excitement, terror, and "holy shit" factor of this one is just so huge, I can't even...
Not much more I can say here, since this review summarizes everything great that happens in this gripping climactic point of this excellently epic arc, including the debut of badass dad Hiroaki Ishida, a character I always found awesome and am glad to see someone else recognizes it too. Two quibbles with the dub, though. The part where the method of weakening Bakemon from episode 11 comes back into play is made odd in the dub, since in the original they play a Buddhist Sutra. In the dub, everyone cries out "Bakemon, lose your power!"...so why did they need the tape player? And for some reason, they're shifting the order of scenes around. They did this last episode with ending it on Myotismon taking Gatomon away, and this one ends on Myotismon about to attack Lilymon with Crimson Lightning. That attack has never been instantaneously fatal before, so what's the danger here supposed to be, dubbers?
Oh and regardless of what you think of Sora's arc and episode 26, the payoff it got here was glorious. Sora's mom actually managing to fool Phantomon when he was ordering to have her daughter captured or eliminated, and then making a stand so that Sora can get to safety...awesome. Pure awesome.
Myotismon also sends that DarkTyrannomon "Back to the digital world." I can only assume that's another dub error (why aren't people as in up in arms about that one? I guess because DarkTyrannomon doesn't talk), as if Myotismon could send anyone he wants back to the digital world, it would really be a game breaking power that's a bit of a plot hole in that he doesn't just use it against any troublesome enemy he scraps with.
ReplyDeleteAnimation error: Despite it being after 6 am in the morning, ( you can tell by all the clocks in this episode everywhere), the clock on the wall in Tai's house says 2 o'clock if you look close. I'm guessing it's an background artist error, or the clock in just broken.
ReplyDeleteHow early do Tai's family eat breakfast? Since it's just after 6am and Tai and Kari mom is seen clearing the breakfast table and taking up the dishies. Plus the dad wasn't home yet( he was still stuck at the station) I'm guessing she left his breakfast on the stove or in the microwave.
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ReplyDeleteTK mom tells him " get your coat son"... Really? In hot August you'll tell ya son to get a coat? Plus he's not seen in a coat later on, the writers should have written it to say "get you shoes on". Not the mention TK and Matt dad is seen wearing a coat despite it being August. The animators should have just drawn him with a office/suit coat on at least after he left his coworkers and came home to get Matt.
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