Digimon Adventure:

Episode 16

So remember back in my review of Episode 10 of Digimon Adventure:, where I ruminated on the nature of spoilers and the role they play in manipulating our interest in a show like this? Digimon is a largely event-driven anime, moving things forward while ticking power-ups and form-changes off a checklist as much as it's being driven with actual plot momentum. That last batch of episodes certainly had its issues in terms of plotting and how that was presented, but it was also undoubtedly held back by the been-there-done-that nature of the Ultimate forms it was showcasing. When we've already known for two decades that Birdramon's next stage is Garudamon, the story of how we get there has to pick up that much more of the slack to keep our attention, and when you don't reach that level of engagement, you're in trouble.

So then this week's episode theoretically deals with the kids ending up somewhere very familiar to them which ironically leaves us as viewers in that sweet, sweet uncharted territory. Mid-series temporary trips back to the Real World are another staple of Digimon seasons, but this one isn't quite that, standing apart from entries like the 21st episode of the original series (Times I've mentioned that Mamoru Hosoda episode now: 2) or the 22nd episode of Digimon Frontier. More than anything to do with showing how the Chosen Ones could interact with their world at this stage in their journey, the story here is more about the idea of going home at this point, and how they'd react to the situation if it were actually real, which this immediately obviously is not.

There's another point about surprising spoilers, of course: watch enough cartoons and you get to be able to pick up on all sorts of subversive set-ups. Heck, last week I already made clear that I didn't buy this trip back to Tokyo from the moment the kids got there. But the ‘what’ of the revelation is a lot less interesting in this case than the ‘how’, as the anime plays up the dissonance of the Real World city setting compared to the digital wilderness we've been in for like three months, only to slowly peel away the facade for some truly unsettling rug-pulls. One thing that's always worked for Digimon as a franchise is it's willingness to toe the line with more darkly-presented material for flavor, working better when it does that without trying too hard (hey there, Digimon Adventure tri.). Our keen senses as seasoned show-viewers clue us into the fact that the team can't actually be in Tokyo right now, and by the time they've realized that "wait, it's ALL Shibuya, and always has been," the way things have so effectively become more wrong and unsettling is what was really doing the interest-keeping legwork of this episode's storytelling.

As I mentioned earlier, apart from that fresh plotting, this episode's also making way to work in some new ideas for the show. It uses this reboot's established unique setup to explore some new angles about these versions of the kids and their motives. They've ostensibly been exploring the Digital World of their own free will, specifically out to save their world from the disastrous power outage; like so many these days, these Chosen Children feel like they have way more responsibilities on their plate than in the carefree yesteryears. So there's the possibility that, job to do or not, they're harboring a homesick desire to return to their own world away from that daunting task, and this setting is tailor-made to draw that out. Being the one who wears her feelings on her sleeve, Mimi is the primary window through which we see this viewpoint. There's almost a tinge of sadness to her embracing of this increasingly-wrong world as it goes on, her desire to be home and free of all that digital madness so desperate that she's willing to believe any simulacrum of her world. She's the most vocal about it, but you can see the fleeting hope in Taichi and Koshiro as well, in how they prioritize splitting up and going to their own homes apart from any other investigation of the situation, boneheaded move as that may be (hey, they are still kids).

All that means we're doing something different for this series and utilizing its inherent differences from the show it's rebooting to explore new angles of both. I find that fascinating, as after so many episodes of the new characters being driven by how inherently heroic and selfless they are in their quest to save their home, here there's a suggestion of that being strained. It doesn't come off as the writing hastily back-porting in character flaws for the sake of them either – it really feels natural as a result of this episode's events. Communicating the idea through the filterless feelings of Mimi makes that work. Plus you get to hear her voice actress, Marika Kōno, say ‘Avocado Cheeseburger’ several times, so that's fun.

It's likely the comparison to the problem-plagued previous batch of episodes talking with all the praise I have for this one, but it really does work. And all that's before we get to the step-up in action and spectacle. The animation in this episode really picks up for the first time in weeks once the Digimon combat gets going, as it should since, surprise, this is actually bringing us the climactic reunion of the disparate data squads against the enemy supposedly causing the blackout. So we get this massive multi-monster crew battling a new antagonist we haven't seen before, and the result coming off all that atmospheric exercise is the show feeling like it's come to life in a way not unlike those original three episodes. That it caps off with another shocker, the out-of-nowhere appearance of Orochimon, embodies the feeling I had all through this episode that made it so entertaining: I have no idea what Digimon Adventure: is doing right now, and I love it for that.

Rating:

Digimon Adventure: is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.