In this episode, now that Guilmon's
evolved to this gigantic beast, Takato has to figure out what to do
with him until he changes back.
Early on, Takato mentions that the
process of getting Growlmon back down to size is more complicated
than it was on TV. That encapsulates both the appeal and the flaw of
this episode, a silly little misadventure built around a curveball
that is simultaneously amusing and frustrating. It invokes a new rule
that Champions don't devolve back to Rookie on cue and actually take
a bit of time, something that only mildly bothered Terriermon and
Renamon, but nearly destroys Takato.
It is a manufactured dilemma, without a
doubt. The logic makes enough sense: the excess data that forms a
Champion needs time to burn off before the Digimon can get back to
Rookie. But this is applied so inconsistently to past and future
evolutions. Gargomon got past it standing on his head for a few
minutes. Kyuubimon reverted off-screen after just a single shot of
Rika waiting it out. Growlmon needs a whole episode of misery before
turning back, and even that feels like a miracle. You can bet there's
not nearly as much drama when it happens in the future.
Forced as it may be, it's still
enjoyable watching Takato rip his hair out trying to find a solution. He
tries burning off the extra data through exercise, cooling it off
with a soak in the pool, even joining in himself when he reasons that
a Digimon's energy is tied to his partner's. Ridiculous as it looks
and as hard as it fails, Takato is at least putting thought into it.
There's a logic behind everything he does. It just doesn't work the
way he hopes. Eventually, they end up at a temple praying things will
work out.
The downside to all this is that no
matter how stupid Takato and Growlmon look, there's no clear answer.
Laugh at them all you want, but any other tamer in that situation
would probably go to the same extremes. Worse yet, we never figure
out what the answer is supposed to be. When a last-ditch camouflage
job is washed out by rain, Takato completely loses it, bawling in
front of a stunned Henry. Suddenly, Growlmon magically changes back
as a rainbow appears. It's so intense!
Along the way, it's a parade of
secondary character cameos, most of which are able to provide
additional comedy to the scenario. When Takato uses vague terms to
describe the situation to Jeri, she manages the impossible feat of
interpreting it as him having a crush on her. She lets him down
gently. This leads to a fun exchange with his parents, as Takato
quickly gets the impression that he's the only normal person in the
world. That should give you an idea of how crazy things are getting
in Shinjuku.
As Growlmon tries to sleep it off,
Calumon and Impmon rear their heads as well. Calumon decides that
despite Growlmon's condition and the time of night, it's playtime and
they need to pay Takato a visit... only to bail when Takato's not
feeling playful at 2 am. Henry's just thrilled when Takato wakes him
up for advice, suggesting they use the drainage tunnel that Guilmon
almost vanished from two episodes ago. And they do it! Impmon ruins
this, taking offense to Growlmon being forbidden to play with him
by... playing with him.
Without a clear explanation of what
Takato was supposed to do about all this, it becomes a baffling
little escapade with no real point. Don't say Takato's fit of tears
triggered Growlmon devolving because it meant he finally wanted it
bad enough; that implies that he didn't want it over the first half
of the episode. And definitely don't start with the rainbow. It makes
the episode good for a laugh, but that's about all.
My Grade: B-
Loose Data:
- In a slight moment of maturation, Takato finally realizes, after doing it twice, that designing a Digimon to be as large and dangerous as possible has some severe drawbacks.
- I'm pretty sure the animation of Takato taking bread from the kitchen was recycled from episode one.
- Given the... unusual designs of the playground equipment in that park, it's not at all a stretch that Growlmon fits in among them.
- Takato said the paint came from his family repainting the house. Terriermon makes a really good point about the available colors- they would be ugly. And why would they use water-based paint?
- Given her role here, Rika could almost be included in the “parade of cameos.” She shows up for a couple minutes, acts like a bitch, and leaves once the rain sets in. Given that she's already had two episodes where we've see her softer side, you'd think we'd be past that.
I dunno, I saw the resolution as something they should have realised all along: if Gargomon needed to calm down by standing on his head to devolve, and presumably Renomon is calm all the time, then Growlmon also had to calm down (I feel like interrupted sleep doesn't count). Looking at the rainbow calmed him and stopped the stress of "I need to devolve" for a time, and he changed back.
ReplyDeleteThe conclusion to that episode is one of my favorite moments in Tamers. Takato crying really got to me. The song in the japanese version helped make this a very emotional moment. I can't seem to recall another instance in fiction where a child screws up, tries to solve the issue on his own, fails and is unable to get the help of an adult. I really felt for Takato.
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