Yep I sure am still here

Episode 41:

A predictable episode, but enjoyable nonetheless. We got a glimpse at how Kyo was back during his Golden days. We got the "enemy brainwashes our protagonists but they get unbrainwashed through the power of Friendship" trope - an oldie but a goodie! We got a Sailor Moon transformation for Habakirimon. And, man does he look cool animated! There's only so much you can glean from the leaked design for the TCG. I think I would have been a little bit more surprised/excited in this episode if I hadn't been spoiled for Habakirimon's design, but it was still really neat. Honestly I thought for a moment there that we weren't getting the mega level at all, which admittedly would have been a really surprising twist! I just hope that we get mega levels for Chiropmon and Pristimon, too. Obviously Gekkomon is getting a mega form. I don't mind Atratusmon's design, though I think it's probably not his "true" mega form. Or maybe there's a form change that looks a little bit more like Gekkomon?

In either case, I'm glad that Kyo got the mega unlock after finally admitting that he just didn't want to lose Glowing Dawn, and even a good ugly cry. You know what that is? Growth. That being said, I wouldn't mind seeing more of the stone cold glowing-eyed Kyo, because like

damn

But yeah, this was a fairly unsurprising episode of Digimon. Heck, they even managed to save Lilamon! And hopefully Souji stays in jail this time, wherever he got put. There are some characters that I am hoping we get to see a little bit more before the end of the series, but he is definitely not one of them.

Also Kishiwada is definitely a mega level Digimon in disguise. He has to be, right? The question is, which one? Leviamon, maybe? Neptunemon? I hope we find out at some point in the next eight episodes!

Episode 42:

Yeah, Kishiwada is hella suspicious. And now that Chairman Wong has the white core, he can do his Shangrila project, so the plot should get moving methinks.

I'm glad we're finally getting backstory on Asuka and on Tomoro's grandfather but like... this should have happened 40 episodes ago. Not only did Tomoro not ask, but nobody thought to tell him? Nobody thought it was important??

Okay like, if they were just acquaintances or something I could believe that Kyo wouldn't go visit Asuka in the hospital or tell Tomoro about him. But like. Toei is clearly trying to establish that Asuka and Kyo were good friends. Kyo's flashback was in muted colors except for Asuka. Come on. How else am I supposed to interpret that, Toei?!

There were less clunky ways to tell this story. Have the flashback in like episode two or three. Have Kyo go with Tomoro on some of his visits to the hospital. I get that Kyo has been established as a slightly shady guy that hides things from Glowing Dawn but he always had a reason for not telling them things. Not telling Asuka's younger brother about how they met at the orphanage his grandfather ran seems like a no brainer?

I do totally get the writers wanting to keep the whole Asuka had a Digimon partner all along thing a secret. The reveal of that 42 episodes in actually was really cool. That said, the exposition from Chairman Wong and Genjo as they're walking down the hallway was also really, really clunky. Why would they be discussing that when this is something they both already know? The writers could have so easily thrown in a line at the beginning of the scene like "let's go over everything one last time, just to make sure there isn't something we're forgetting" and that would have been good enough.