In this episode, Lucemon is not only
a selfish, sadistic megalomaniac... he's also a total kill stealer.
It would be easy to say the Royal
Knights episodes are entirely skippable. How great would it be to
pretend that after the disastrous opening battle, the kids just hop
to a different moon, watch helplessly as the Royal Knights finish off
the Digital World, then head up to engage the kids because Lucemon
demands 100% completion. Think of all the crap we wouldn't have to
watch! If only it were true...
There's no doubt that a few of the
episodes could be glossed over. That nonsense at the Village of Flame
was a complete waste of time, for example. But the little development
we got from the last few episodes pays off big time here. After
moving at what seemed like a snail's pace for so long, we look around
and realize that the entire landscape has changed, even ignoring the
obvious part about Lucemon being here now. Not only have Takuya and
Koji slowly gotten stronger, the bad guys are now having doubts about
their mission. This is a frightening combination.

At the end of this massacre is what
must go down as the most diabolical kill steal in anime history. It's
not the only kill steal, but it might be the only one with that many
experience points on the line. Lucemon's original form is plenty
nasty- this wicked little shota boy with no patience for dissent.
This EXP boost allows him to level up into his Chaos Mode, and now
we've got a fighter who means business.

On top of that, you've also got the
rebirth of the other two Celestials, free of the memory of their
mistakes and thus free to move on together. It's an encouraging,
happy sight and we should do the same. While this doesn't excuse the
crappiness of the Royal Knights arc, it does resolve it very well,
and deserves credit for doing so. Now let's hope this Lucemon thing
gets handled a lot quicker.
My Grade: B+
Loose Data:
- It's clear that JP and Zoe are getting pretty sick of Takuya's positive attitude. World's destroyed, they're stuck on the moon... it's just a little sparse, it's still good! It's still good!
- Digimon are just hatching and already at In-Training level? That's some powerful formula those digieggs are getting.
- Tommy says all they need is a new plan. Takuya's plan is to fight until they win. Meet the new plan! Same as the old plan!
- The episode was pretty solid, but the clip show was uncalled for. It was quite awkward that Takuya was telling it all to the revived form of Ophanimon, as if to say “you dragged me into this, you bitch.”
- The final battle with Dynasmon turns into a spirit dragon beating a spirit wyvern. I don't care how lousy Dynasmon was as a character; that's pretty badass.
- Remember all those times Takuya learned a valuable lesson about not blindly charging at a seemingly invincible opponent? Takuya doesn't!
I DID skip the entire arc, save episode 46. I was forewarned about the Royal Knights arc.
ReplyDeleteContinuing the discussion from four episodes ago, Lucemon's shota form is a Rookie and even his Chaos Mode is only an Ultimate. It's only his final two forms that are actually Megas.
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