Digimon, Digital Monsters, Digimon Are The Champions (Survive might actually be getting a release date!?)

I would be a combination of Joe and Izzy.  They have their priorities straight.  Look at those outfits: they'd all freeze to death if it snowed.

Yes, checking the fridge is a very intelligent approach after all the other 'human apparatus' worked so well. On the other hand Joe has managed to be even more ridiculous than everyone else.  This then carries on... yeah I wouldn't be like Joe.  

Then his character arc starts to potentially become the best so far.  And the whole mountain climb is adorable. Gomamon with his little squeaky 'hands'.  Ikkakumon is... okay. Jay's right, Gomamon's the real hero of the episode.

YASS LEOMON VS. ONIMON LET'S DO THIS.  Leomon's decorations look weirder than I remember.  Drunka, is there some Japanese myth that links the two?  It feels like there should be.  Also, if you know: does Ogremon have some form of Japanese dialect?  Just wondering what 'waiting for ya' translates from.

Is that Devimon's voice... yes it is.  I like!  'Death Claw', though?  Bit on the nose.  Also, since when is he only a Champion?  Those dreams are not the work of a Champion.  And his arms are ridiculous.

Izzy says 'Naruhodo'.  Hee hee.

Patamon being interested in that angel painting would be some great foreshadowing (get stuffed Jay)... if Angemon wasn't revealed in every intro sequence.

I'm guessing the bath scene is altered in the dub.  (Odd, Jay? Try abusive. Standard practice for male kids, natch.) Toilet scene also?  (Nothing of value was lost.)  Also, Joe is in the right, again.

It is really weird how the Digimon all know each other.  Shared 'database'?

Dat CGI. Great episode apart from that!

Devimon, you should really... just... go kill them.  You idiot.

Oh now Tai's worried about freezing to death. #justiceforjoe

'Yukidarumon!'  'It's Yukidarumon!'  'Yukidarumon:'   This guy's design is pretty good.  Digimon get a lot of flack for being overly complex in their designs, but that's simplifying things.  This chap is simple and effective.

Ah, the Television Cough of Certain Doom.  Nice harmonica background music.

Oh, Gabumon.  You the best. Matt is not.  Feck's sake Matt.  It's all a bit Supernatural with the ridiculous levels of brotherly love.

Yeti Digimon initially reminded me of one of the Spaceworld Beta Pokémon designs.  Then I realised it's a frosty hamster.  And, as it turns out, even hamster-sized!

JayMoyles wrote:

Jesus fucking christ, Mimi. Again, a view on how the dub did this scene would be appreciated.

Izzy wants mustard and jellybeans.  Mimi wants maple syrup and cherries.

Joe's references to being the oldest are removed.  Not sure why.  Instead we have a reference to him being the best at climbing, which... makes a lot of sense actually.

Also we have Unimon talking a heck of a lot after the dub said how quiet he is. Also we have the immortal line, 'Tai and Greymon are in big trouble.'  

Greymon says 'I'm styling dude.'  Dear God.  Fortunately Gomamon is still great in the dub!  

In the sub, don't they discover that it's an island by reaching the top of the mountain?  In the dub, they say, 'We found nothing at the top.'  Shite.

Just noticed how bad the art is in some places in this episode.  Agumon's face, cripes.

The Leomon/Ogremon dialogue is stilted as all hell.  'I strongly suggest that you go now, while you still can.'  'You have been warned.'  Christ.  

Devimon's voice is awful.  Proper moustache-twirling bobbins.  We do have, 'Why hasn't the Patamon digivolved?' a question we've all been worrying about and nobody has said.

And evil Leomon doesn't use the word 'kill' any more.  I remember the second season using the word quite liberally.  Huh.

JayMoyles wrote:

I know they're called "Digidestined" in English, but the Japanese broadcast seems to be calling them "Chosen Children". Am I misremembering the dub?

Nope.

JayMoyles wrote:

...um, Tai and Matt forcing Joe to go naked at the baths was certainly an odd scene.

Can confirm that they omit this scene, including Joe's naked bottom.  They also try to pass off Ogremon's reaction to Agumon's farts as being shocked by Agumon mentioning him.  Ineffectually.

'My clothes are too cool for even me now.'  'Don't worry, I can give you the latest hot look!'

Yakuterimon -> Frigimon.  Hmmm.  He still keeps saying his name though.  He also has a... Brooklyn accent?

'Tubbymon'.

'Does everyone in the digital world have to be so noisy?' yells Tai.

This guy is called Centaurmon in English, right? I'm trying to remember this from Digimon World without looking it up.

Tentomon uses "-han" when speaking to Izzy - Wikipedia says that's a Kansai dialect of -san. Is that right, Drunka?

Mimi moaning about her food not looking nice, c'mon girl, it's that or starvation here.

And of course Mimi ends up with another shitey - literally - Digimon as her pal. Sukamon is properly disgusting though.

The "pull down your bottom eyelid and stick your tongue out" thing that lots of anime characters really establishes you as a shithead in my eyes. So good job, Mimi!

Convenient plug socket on that tree branch there Izzy - the Digimon world is truly a modern marvel.

You could act happier to see Mimi there Izzy... "Ah, Mimi-san", as he forces himself to tear his eyes away from his laptop.

I agree with Mimi here - you've all been split up by the literal Digimon devil who's out to kill you. Now is not the time to decipher wall runes, Izzy! Put the laptop away.

And now you've made Mimi cry. Baka, indeed. AND NOW PALMON TOO! YOU MONSTER IZZY. "Your crying is only a bother." All your goodwill from your solo episode is fading fast, boyo.

Tentamon, what a bro. He runs after Mimi without a moment's thought and she's not even his partner. He even backs up his partner and tries to defend Izzy ignoring Mimi.

It's cool seeing the partner Digimon interact with another Digidestined other than their partner.

Is it weird I got Alien vibes watching those blinking dots on Izzy's laptop?

Centaurmon is a pretty well designed Digimon - shooting air from his back to rush forwards, the laser cannon, the single red eye beneath his helmet - yeah, solid design.

Lore! At least they know that the Digivices are important now.

Not a great episode, that one.

Gomamon and Joe! What a combo. Gomamon eating the emergency rations and casually admitting it to a despairing Joe genuinely drew a laugh from me. Great stuff! I suppose it helped having that goofy kazoo track playing in this scene.

Having Ogremon jump out of a box at you in the middle of the ocean would probably scar you for life. He's a pretty scary looking dude!

I love Gomamon's logic here - Ogremon grew up in a dusty canyon, so of course he'd be weak to the smell of salty and raw fish. Until he starts casually pummelling them back to the ocean's depths, of course. Great start to this episode.

Ogremon, how do you miss punching the giant sea walrus? You truly are a jobber.

Sora thinking rationally and fishing for dinner! Albeit with a twig... but still, that's better than most of the kids would have fared!

Gomamon, what a bro! Making Joe leader to build his confidence - best Digimon partner, right there.

I do like that Sora's all in on the Joe confidence building exercise too.

Okay, so if I saw creepy bug eyed masked people dancing in the moonlight, I'd be getting the hell out of there!

How does the dub handle the scene where Gomamon says Bakemon isn't worthy of being revered? The Japanese broadcast focuses on the priest using "-sama" to refer to Bakemon to indicate respect and reverence, so that's why I'm interested.

Bakemon is creepy as hell! The fact that nobody knows what it really looks like under the sheet is scary stuff.

Joe and Sora arguing about whose soul tastes better was great.

Bakemon better back the fuck off, Joe has the power of god and anime on his side.

Good episode - one of the best so far I'd say.

Oh god, my eardrums are going to hate this episode.

Aw, I do feel kinda sad for Patamon not being able to evolve yet. But then I remembered that Patamon had plenty of moments where TK was in peril so you've nobody but yourself to blame on that one.

TK's fake Digivolutions for Patamon was fun. But then Patamon screeched "NO WAAAAAY" and my eardrums ruptured.

Please don't poke the babies, TK.

What came first, the Digimon or the egg?

TK - DO NOT TRUST WEIRD LETTERS SAYING "RUB ME."

Elecmon is kind of a dick, but I do get that he would want to defend his flock. At least TK realised that Elecmon nearly frazzled the babies.

Oh man, how did the dub handle the sumo battle? That felt incredibly Japanese, especially TK's intro song.

Ah, at least Elecmon explained why he was being defensive and mean. Makes sense considering all the black gear nonsense.

Aw, I like TK's naivety - worried for when the wee sprog and Patamon will need to seriously battle though.

And there's like 5 seconds of Matt and Tai on an iceberg. I did wonder if we'll get to see them in this trio of episodes at all!

Looks like it'll be some serious battles coming up soon!

Those white feathers flying towards the camera after Devimon was speaking about Patamon not evolving yet... FORESHADOWING.

LEOMON DON'T HURT THE BABIES.

I liked that this episode at least explained why Patamon hasn't evolved yet - TK doesn't want to fight and considering that the Digidestined play a big role in their partner's evolution, that makes sense. Still... Patamon doesn't have long to wait judging by the next episode preview!

(note: Tai, Matt, Agumon and Gabumon were severely hamstrung this week by not featuring, natch)

The Digidestined

1) Joe - Actual character progression! Great scenes with Gomamon! Praying the evil away! Great episode for yer boy Joe.
2) Sora - And a good showing in the same episode from Sora. She meshed well with Joe and I'd enjoy more adventures from those two along with their partner Digimon. She's gone from being dull to being a confident sweetheart to showing her goofy side in her time with Joe.
3) Tai - Literally three seconds of screentime for the previous best boy, which allows Joe and Sora to leapfrog him. I'd expect a return to one of the two top spots once he gets back into the spotlight. His lifetime performance still holds him in the upper half of the rankings though.
4) Matt - See, above.
5) TK - His naivety and purehearted nature was sweet to see. Seeing him in peril is going to be sad.
6) Izzy - I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt as his solo episode did him wonders, but his duo episode with Mimi did not help him at all and made him come across as a bit of a dick again. Please don't be this way, Izzy!
7) Mimi - Don't interact with Izzy ever again Mimi. He acts like a dick, you become even moanier than normal. Hang out with Palmon and your poopy mates some more instead.

The Partner Digimon

1) Gomamon - I want to be mates with Gomamon. What a cheeky and loveable guy. And his confidence building exercise for Joe paid off big time!
2) Tentomon - Whilst the humans didn't have a good showing in their episode, Tentomon came across as a wise mediator. Good bug friend.
3) Palmon - Puts up with Mimi's moaning with a smile, which is nice. Palmon crying was distressing. Please do not upset Palmon.
4) Agumon - See, Tai's ranking.
5) Gabumon - See, Matt's ranking.
6) Patamon - He's a good friend to TK but if he's going to keep screeching, it will erode any goodwill garnered for me. I expect a good showing when EVENTS occur next episode.
7) Biyomon - I mean, Biyomon was there, I suppose. I can't remember anything she did... the worst crime in this show is being boring.

I reckon Jay will sound off about Izzy ignoring his mates to go spelunking in ruins, but I get where he's coming from.  Don't worry lil nerd, I gotcha.  (And, as it turns out, he's right!)

Mimi cannot catch a break with the poo monsters!  Chuumon and Sukamon remind me of Octo-fella and Mr. Typhon (originally Mr. Chupon) from FFVI for some reason.

Okay Izzy going a bit far this time.  Again, I can be like that at work (and at home with the hyperfocus), but... come on mate, she's crying.  I'm actually keen to see how they do him in the dub.

IT'S KNIGHTMARE.  Centaurmon ('Kentarumon'... just say Centaur in the subs., jeez) even has the mask!  (I know I know, half-man half-beast in a maze probably reference something else a bit more.)

Stupid moment 1: Yes Mimi, run from the supersonic Digimon, that'll help.
Stupid moment 2: Breaking through the stone wall is a rubbish maze solution.
Stupid moment 3: IT'S A BLACK GEAR SHOCK HORROR.

Three stupid moments to round off what is (let's be honest) kind of a stupid episode.  

Much better.  I don't know how they handled it in the dub though, it being full of religious iconography and all.  The Bakemon are bloody scary!  Apart from the bit where they're basically doing Boolossus.  And the one with the snot bubble.

Gomamon remains the best character, but I do agree that Sora's improved a whole heck.  She even had a humorous line in there somewhere!  Joe seems to have lost all his character development from his previous episode though.

Oh, and I see Devimon's started twirling his moustache in Japanese as well.

My first thought was .  My second thought was: Jay, how the heck do you find Patamon's voice annoying when there's fecking TK, who makes dogs whine and cover their ears?

I WONDER WHAT PATAMON WILL DIGIVOLVE INTO...

I really liked the start of this episode.  It's lower-stakes than some of the others, with Elecmon (who is a cool chap) only being a rookie; but that feels appropriate for TK and Patamon.  And some of the babies are adorable!  (Not the weird hairy one though.)  Then it all got a bit silly, with the battle and all (yes battle amongst your babies, that's really a safe move... eejit), and finally the tug-o-war.  Also, TK got that costume from where?

It ended with some rather heavy-handed metaphors too.  Still above average, better than the Meramon episode say; but not one of the best.

OH WAIT IT ENDED WITH THAT CLIFFHANGER.  For the first time I actually really want to watch the next episode!  I'll wait, however.

Calling Mimi a 's**thead' given her company in her episode seems a bit off the mark to me...  Agreed about Tentamon though, he's a good fella.  And agreed about the episode.  It had its moments (Izzy almost being spiked, the lore), but it was weak.

Joe's already scarred for life by everything I think!  Also I think Ikkakumon did get hit...

Gosh Mimi talks really fast in that recap.  She's not exactly my favourite kid, but she's much better in the sub.

'The Bakamon holiday' is a new idea to start off with, and the dub gives it a Hallowe'en spin (lots of chanting 'trick or treat').  They call Bakamon-sama 'Lord Bakamon', so that's that sorted.

When Joe catches him in the emergency supplies, Gomamon makes the point in the dub that he needs that energy to Digivolve if he sees any evil Digimon.  Joe points out that there aren't any out at sea... oops.

'When the small and meek join forces for a great purpose, they can sometimes overthrow the big and powerful,' says Gomamon when the fishes come out to fight... which is much improved!  Then Gomamon talks all the way through the flashback, which is not.

Sora's voice is so terrible.  The actress is really really uninvested.  Gomamon and Joe on the other hand are still excellent in the dub.

It's still a church, and they still wear that rotated cross.  Huh.  Surprised.  'Torturing' becomes 'taunting', which is fair enough.  The prayer thing becomes a German physicist saying that repeating a phrase makes something happen, which is top-level dub bull.

Birdramon's victory laugh is terrifying.

YASS!  Big final battle.  It's pretty darn cool, although as with all anime battle scenes (and most Western ones) the pacing's occasionally off.  Significant moments of dramatic pause which, given the nature of the show, are anything but.  Still, it was good on the whole: Giant Devimon (+ Ogremon augmentation) is a significantly threatening Big Bad, Joe and Sora coming to save them is great, the bit where they all desperately clamp onto him made me a bit sniffles, and he even does the Joker-style laugh when he's taken down.

By Angemon... who is busted.  Can we talk about how Digivolution level apparently means nothing?  These two are Champions, and while I'm willing to believe that Devimon powered up due to the gears, I'm fairly sure Angemon shouldn't be as OP compared to his fellows.  His Godpunch kills him, for crying out loud!

Other random good stuff: the lore from the ruins actually being useful; Leomon being a cool dude, especially with Ogremon at the end; and the best bit of the entire episode, the music as they're moving in on Devimon. Great tune!

Other mediocre stuff: old man Princess Leia.  I can’t wait to see what Mr. Exposition has to say.

I think I even prefer this to last episode. Gennai wasn't the omniscient bore I feared, for one. TK being the catalyst for the new adventure was a bit soppy, the way they did it; but the File Island Digimon coming together to help was a heartwarming moment (although what did the snowmons do if anything? Moral support?) and better than anything, bar may episode 1 and Bye-Bye Butterfree, that Pokémon threw up. Not threw up like that...

...although we then get an intense misunderstanding of biology. Oh well, Whamon's another great Digimon (IN MORE WAYS THE ONE AMIRITE). Like his design lots. Like some of the underwater art too, and I nearly laughed at Palmon's 'Like poop' one-liner. For once I sympathise with Mimi.

Damn Tai, that upper-body strength!

Drimogemon's pretty nice too, doing Excadrill before Excadrill did Excadrill; and Gomamon remains 'da man', taking him on in an EPIC HORN BATTLE. Then Crests happen.

Finally: Poyomon and TK looking after him. Plenty of really good Digimon in a really good episode!

Tokomon's pretty cute too though! I love the entire chain. Get stuffed Jay.

They do a pretty good job of making Etemon into a more credible threat than previous Digimon, Devimon aside, with his ability to reverse Digivolution. I like his lackeys as well: the Gazimon remind me of Sneasel for some reason. And the Pagomon are just gits. It's all good stuff, not top tier like the previous two episodes but still good.

Tai gets it easy. Just happens to have everything happen to him first. I guess that's what upper body strength does for a person, huh? Although, if I remember correctly, I might be about to be proved very wrong...

Angemon basically has ridiculous type advantage over Devimon.  Still a biiit of a stretch to be able to one-shot, but there is reason for him dramatically outperforming everyone else in that fight.  

...I wonder what's going to happen THIS episode.

Right into it! Poor TK and Patamon... I do feel sorry for them as there's not much they can do against both Ogremon and Leomon. And he's taking BABIES hostage?! What a bastard. Ogremon will never get onto the Digimon rankings like this.

Patamon's voice isn't being utterly ear grating so far, and I like his concerns about if he can truly protect TK. I'm sure that'll come into play with Certain Events soon enough. See, all it takes is a bit of characterisation to get me to like you! You're much more palatable when you're not being presented as a screeching orange cylinder.

Garurumon and MATT. Big damn heroes moment for those boys. Out of interest, does the dub still include references to Leomon wanting to kill the kids? I don't think Digimon was as bad as the 4kids anime series where all references to death were scrubbed, which of course led to the infamous Shadow Realm in Yu-Gi-Oh.

Aw, Patamon. I feel bad for the wee guy now after getting beat up by Dark Leomon (should have done that much earlier if you wanted to win, Devimon...). You are being redeemed.

Gather round kids, it's time for Leomon's Lore Time.

Matt: "But you have no proof!" Matt. You literally just purified Leomon with your Digivice. What proof do you need that you are the cure to the darkness threatening the world?

Good music alert! And I can't find a link on YouTube! It's the bit where the kids get serious after chatting to Leomon and then sail to Mt Infinity. It's good, honest! It sounds like the type of music that'd play in the lead up to the climax of a Western.

The gears were Digimon all along? Or was that just Ogremon's fate?

Oh, hey Sora and Joe, what kept you?

The giant Devimon bit from the opening shows its face. Welp, the kids are screwed.

Well, thank god Joe and Sora were late or this would be a short show.

Ah. Well there's Ogremon.

The Digimon are getting bodied. I guess that's it for the gang. NOTHING OF NOTE WILL HAPPEN.

Patamon His little air shottos was heartbreaking.

WHAT A SHOCK HE EVOLVED?!!?!?!?!?!?!

Haha, Devimon's death speech - "oh, well, you beat me. sucks to be you, i'm not even that evil compared to the TRUE evil you'll face. you're fucked, kiddos."

Well, Patamon is now an egg. It was a good showing in this episode... and we're back to literally square one.

OBI WAN KENOBI, YOU'RE MY ONLY HOPE OF EXPOSITION. And who do you think hologram man could be Tai? Literally who could he be?

Good episode, natch. Big gains for Patamon and TK, as expected. I don't remember much of the plot beyond this point - I remember some characters, like Myotismon, but that's it. I'm excited to press on.

Old Man Questgiver is really coming across like a video game NPC. He's giving Izzy maps, giving them key items to chase and assigning them a new story quest. Well, he didn't overstay his welcome at least.

I suppose egging Patamon/Angemon was necessary considering how OP he seemed to be against Devimon.

TK! Actual character development! :O

Wait. What is this montage scene? It's even got the cheesy montage music like in a Rocky movie! Amazing.

KAWAII INDEED. Poyomon is ace.

Oh, hi Wailord. Well... actually, Whamon came first, I suppose.

That bit about esophagus and restaurant using the same word but with a different meaning depending on the kanji used... How did the dub handle that pun when the kids were getting Pinocchioed by Whamon?

"Poyomon, are you okay?" "Poyo." Incredible. My new favourites. What a turn of events for TK and Patamon.

Gomamon coming out with the equivalent of "that's not a knife... this is a knife!" to Drimogemon - good stuff.

I just love the voice acting for Poyomon. The little innocent "poyo" noises are the best.

Hahaha, the total change in voice acting for Drimogemon from gruff brute to scared geek after he was freed from the Black Gear drew a laugh from me.

Key item acquired! Onwards to the next MacGuffin.

That episode was fine. I suppose any episode after the last would suffer somewhat.

Another lost in translation moment perhaps - the show makes a joke about Joe and Mimi mishearing continent "tairiku" with "taiyaki", which is a fish-shaped cake filled with sweet beanpaste apparently. I'm assuming a "continent/condiment" equivalent in the dub? Or does the show not bother with a pun at all?

Christ, Mimi is moaning a lot in these set of episodes.

Pagumon are bullies... DO NOT BULLY POYOMON OR ELSE.

I wonder if that bath scene was cut in the dub too.

Oof, more lost in translation moments when Mimi talks about feeling like some lady from Japanese history and Joe corrects her. I have no idea who they were on about.

I would not trust the little Digimon with red eyes and a sly look saying that they're good guys.

OH NO POYOMON DON'T EAT THE FOOD NOOOOOOOOOOOOO NOT TOKOMON. YOU BULLIED POYOMON OUT OF EXISTENCE.

OH GOD MY EARS. Please stop bullying Tokomon - not because I like him, but because his voice is the worst.

Is there still kanji on the gate of Etemon's trailer or did they redraw that for the dub?

Also, holy copywrite laws Etemon... your guitar riff was a little too close to Johnny B. Goode, no?

I genuinely thought Etemon was a joke Digimon from what I played in the games. I didn't expect him to be one of the big bads. He's got so much more character than bland ass Devimon. This arc should be fun!

STOP SHOUTING TK, CHRIST MY EARS.

Ha, the Pagumon singing "this is not the Pagumon village" got a chuckle from me.

Etemon is entertaining. More of him, please.

Very convenient that one of the MacGuffins was in the escape tunnel, kids.

Yeah, fun episodes. Proabably the best set of three we've done yet.

The Digidestined

1) Tai - Honestly, those kids would be lost without Tai. He's the only decisive one amongst them. Best boy.
2) TK - Definitely benefited from these set of episodes, although I worry for him in these rankings without Poyomon by his side. Bring back Poyomon.
3) Matt - Not the best set of episodes for Matt, but he had a few big hero moments next to Tai. He's definitely playing second fiddle to Tai now though.
4) Sora - Also had some hero moments, but she's fading into the background. These ensemble episodes don't do much for her.
5) Izzy - He was there. He has a map now, I suppose.
6) Joe - Some weird character moments from him. One that stood out was him suggesting they just stay on File Island when he's been all about getting home so far. He seems to regress from being somewhat confident every few episodes too.
7) Mimi - Moany and didn't really contribute much, did she?

The Digimon

1) Patamon - Almost bottled it with the arrival of eardrum destroyer Tokomon, but some heartwrenching scenes as Patamon combined with cuteness incarnate in Poyomon made for a league topping set of episodes for Patamon. But bring back Poyomon, seriously.
2) Agumon - The nose knows. Quick thinking in signalling Tai with the steam from his fire hitting the waterfall too. Clever boy.
3) Gomamon - I enjoyed his drill fight with Drimegemon and him shelling Devimon as Ikkakumon. Quieter episode from the sass lord, though.
4) Gabumon - He was in the background, but had some cool moments as Garurumon.
5) Tentomon - See above, but as Kabuterimon.
6) Palmon - Made me chuckle with her reason for going to the new continent as being "nobody will be as pretty as me over there, we've nothing to fear", but didn't do much else beyond that.
6) Biyomon - Er... shot some fire at Devimon as Birdramon, I suppose? Like I said last time, the worst crime the Digimon seem to commit - beyond destroying my eardrums - is being dull.