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Honestly don't have too much to say about this episode.
It seems it was mostly set up.
All the pieces are coming together, but most of the pieces are just barely set up and we're already barreling towards the end.
I didn't mention this last time, but the whole Bombermon incident being a distraction is… bizarre to me. So the Glowing Dawn was distracted, but what about literally any other cleaner group? I'm not entirely sure the distraction was totally needed because the only reason the GD got involved was because other people told them after the fact.
A quick mention that Reina's back to normal. Quick cameos by Tsukasa, Kaito and Honoka. Not entirely sure why Tsukasa of all people is contacting them, but whatever.
Brilliant Thorn and Rose is back.
The real meat of this episode is Miharu and Mephismon's backstory.
Miharu, like Tomoro, was raised by her beloved older sibling in the absence of their parents. But Chifuyu had a job with the World Union, and when her partner Digimon and hopes for the future were taken from her was driven to suicide.
Chifuyu seemed to have a more hidden toxic side to her, that manifested in Mephsimon… but at the same time despite Mephismon's unsettling nature, it's hard to say that it's definitely evil. Aside from the murders, which have a understandable motivation.
Like yes, Gift targeted people like Maki, who weren't really that bad. But the system they are dismantling IS.
But I have a feeling that this is going in the direction of breaking the overly positive view that Miharu had of her sister. Though from what we DO see it is understandable that Miharu thought so highly of her sister.
I do wonder how she managed to build up this cult on her own though.
Unfortunately, Miharu like much of what was going on with this arc, was woefully underdeveloped. She's got some fun parallels to Tomoro, and Tomoro is the kind of person to reach out to a child. But despite that fact, it feels unearned, like there's supposed to be more from Tomoro's side when there really isn't.
Also Reina and Makoto don't really get to be part of this episode. Typical.
So I was curious about other peoples thoughts on the most recent episode (more so than usual) because I couldn't make heads or tails of it myself. Specifically what Reina's problem was and how the pep talk helped.
And it seems that I'm not alone in that regard. The particularly damning thing is not that everyone is confused, (though some are) but that I've seen multiple slightly contradictory takes on what the pep talk was even ABOUT.
So... I'm extra curious.
What were your thoughts on the episode?
It made complete sense to me! I thought it was well written.
I was confused at first but I think it makes sense if you think about it.
I thought it made sense at first, but not after thinking about it more.
I think I get what it was going for but I don't think it was done well.
I don't think I understand what they were going for.
Don't watch/not caught up
Voting ended onJun 23
Also I'd really appreciate if you would elaborate on what you thought Reina's arc this episode was about. I've seen a variety of takes that I think make a lot of sense. But the ambiguity is rather odd for Beatbreak.
I do want to track down the Japanese script for the episode to see if I can find anything that clarifies because "cut loose" is such an ambiguous turn of phrase that I imagine it's not a literal translation and that phrase does a lot of heavy lifting this episode.
I voted the first but I get why it might not make sense, and it’s completely a writing issue. (Edit: just woke up and didnt see the other option that mentioned writing issue too)
They quickly tried to establish what Reina’s role in the team was in less than 30 mins: to be their leader, both strategically and tactically. This was actually established a bit earlier on too in the earlier episodes with Reina being sub-leader… and then never went back to it. The episodes goes to set up that Reina literally leads them in combat, that Wolvermon is on the frontline because they are fast and powerful, and it is Reina’s style to charge ahead and clear a path for everyone, expecting them to follow.
As you can imagine, doing this in 1 episode feels rushed and forced, and falls into more telling than showing. I love it only because we actually get to see the whole team together and interacting, a really ironic thing to say for a series with 4 main characters that is all about family.
Kyo and Tomoro basically say they have no problem with who Reina is. Kyo says supporting her weakness is what he is happy to do, and Tomoro wants Reina to be how she’s always be because he believes in her. And that part actually makes sense coming from Tomoro, as Tomoro kind of screws up and is too reckless when he leads…. Except so many episodes is about Tomoro going solo and being rewarded for that and his main character powers.
They tried to wrap up a whole team dynamics thing while ignoring all the episodes that didn’t feature it, and tried to make it like it mattered by telling us that, and not showing it.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts! I agree, absolutely, this epjsode is a casualty of the shows failure to set up the Glowing Dawn.
But this also made me realize that I think my broader issue with the episode is more specifically that they're trying to condense all of Reina's development into one singular episode when Reina's issues are a bit more complicated than that.
They basically just tried to throw in every facet of Reina's development into one episode which made it really unclear which of these aspects actually triggered the evolution.
Was it realizing her teammates had her back? Realizing she (&her style of charging ahead) was useful all along (regardless of level)? That she doesn't need to be useful because the Glowing Dawn loves her regardless?
Was she ready to evolve at any time and just hadn't gotten the chance yet before her more recent problems through her off? Or did she have to work through her initial trauma too?
These aren't mutually exclusive aspects of her character, but if she had more episodes we could break down outer expressions of her issues, before actually getting to the heart of the issue.
While I do agree BB has a Tomoro problem in that they focus too much on him (and can clearly develop a character over the course of multiple episodes), they at least spared Makoto episodes early on too while Reina got none. But the reason I do believe more group-focused writing would help is that, when developing a character, they don't need exclusive episodes. It could happen through their interactions with each other. They don't need special plotlines focusing only on them to hint or imply some underlying issue. In fact, I'd argue those should only be done for the conclusion on their arc, rather than the build-up.
I do see the point that didn't actually address Reina's issue with being useful (which they also already talked about before) and that is true. They didn't address that being in GD isn't about how useful you are.
I suppose as an episode, it was a good episode of course. But when you look at it as a whole with the series, it was bad. Tomoro's development is really the highlight of what could have been for every GD member, not just Reina, and they just refuse to commit to the same treatment unfortunately.
Well, because Reina's character is the most intrinsically connected to the Glowing Dawn, I feel Reina focus and Glowing Dawn focus is basically one in the same. Ex. Episode 4 and episode 45. Even episode 16 where she and Granit were lost gave us some Glowing Dawn interactions in the form of her team worrying about her.
I do generally agree characters dont necessarily need dedicated focus episodes if they get focus in other episodes. Which works for less episodic series.
However. Beatbreak has been pretty episodic outside of some 2 parters and the end of the tt7 arc (which was also messy). So for the most part, we arent getting that focus unless its in an episode dedicated to it.
I think our idea of what Glowing Dawn focused is different. Glowing Dawn is important to Reina, but it's also just as important to Kyo, who wanted to turn over a new life. Makoto, who wanted a safe place to escape his former life. And Tomoro, who needed support after losing his only family. When I think of a GD episode, I think of the Mummymon episode, where we actually see them active throughout in the same episode, along with their partners who interact with their fellow Digimon. Some may consider it "filler" but it's really necessary fluff for us to appreciate the characters and who they are, instead of being forced under pressure by the plot.
I feel like even Digimon Tamers has officially played that better with their trio already, where Takato, Ruki and Jenrya get decent origins, and Ruki getting an extended storyline of her. In the last arc, their parents even get to play subtle roles, and we still get quiet individual moments with them. They had silly shenanigans that weren't focused on the plot nor about Digimon fighting. Beatbreak could really use so much of that, but monster-of-the-week and big baddie plot are unfortunately really dragging them down, and hurting non-Tomoro characters.
I thing the main thing that makes Glowing Dawn and Reina so interconnected in the writing, as it exists, is the fact Reina doesn't have anything else.
Kyo has his past as a 5 star and their history that keeps coming back as well as Nirinso (even if everyone knows now). Tomoro has his families mysterious past, kanada and his glitchy e-pulse. Makoto at least has his toxic family and the Shangri La egg, and his desire to stay away from all that.
Makoto at least has Haruko and Tsukasa for people he knows outside of GD and their allkes. Tomoro has Hitomi, Chihiro and Pandamon's town.
Reina has nothing. Reina's just got dead parents and a long history of Cleaner teams that didn't work out and aren't in her life at all anymore. Nothing relevant to the plot.
Don't get me wrong GD is SUPER important to its other members as well. And personally I'd love if we got some Reina characterization outside of it (seeing Reina's former teammates would be really good, or getting more insight into why her relatives didn't want her).
But I think in terms of what Beatbreak has actually shown interest in discussing, Reina just hasn't been given anything of substance outside the Glowing Dawn and its values.
Which can be looked at one of two ways.
The writers neglected to give Reina more than the bare minimum plot points outside of her team.
Reina is intended as the teams heart, and is tied to the Glowing Dawn as the organization's emotional core. Everyone else can focus on their plot points because Reina's character is focused on how important this team is.
Or secret 3rd option, because of the 1st option they kind of wrote 2.
I do think we are talking about the same stuff we're just choosing to frame it differently. You're talking more big picture, series structure flaws. I'm talking more small picture within the series flawed set up.
I think I can say you and I agree that the dynamics shown in the Mummymon episode needed to be present throughout more of the show. Not just that one episode.
I just think those dynamics also tend to be present in Reina episodes more than other episodes hence why I was conflating the two. The Mummymon episode is the exception that proves the rule that the GD don't get much focus as a group otherwise.
You actually talked about what I realized after writing my last reply: it's not character development or a build-up we mean. I think both of us are thinking of characterization because Reina... doesn't have one. The GD being her main thing is totally fine and can be a thing, but even that aspect is not shown as often. So without that, she is, indeed, left with nothing.
I don't know if they just have nothing or intentionally left out Reina's past, because she even has this history of jumping between Cleaners, which we know now of why that happened but that's still a lot of potential... Like, Reina having old connections? Because not only is the GD side feeble, the Cleaner side of the setting has really fallen out of focus since the Tactics arc, which I thought they would focus on but it instead accelerated to a global private militant group...
I suppose in that way, Reina's character struggles because the plot so far just doesn't touch on where her character story would shine and be utilized. And that is such a shame. BB is long past doing Cleaner work and going "how to fix society", which is, you know, Reina's life. And that reminds me of the auction arc too, where Reina - for a brief moment - had a conflict with Tomoro. Reina, as the sub-leader, was determined to keep everyone safe and look into the bigger picture. But Tomoro was insistent on following his beat. Reina had a unique role in this that could have gone on... But, yeah, the story has already moved past it.
Really a waste. That's why I do look at it from a broader, series-wide perspective, because I think the plot left behind where Reina stood at as the pseudo-leader of GD (despite it officially being Kyo.) Maybe specific episodes dedicated to Reina could have fixed it. I wouldn't be surprised, because BB is really good at it and making you forget that the whole arc was a mess haha.
So I was curious about other peoples thoughts on the most recent episode (more so than usual) because I couldn't make heads or tails of it myself. Specifically what Reina's problem was and how the pep talk helped.
And it seems that I'm not alone in that regard. The particularly damning thing is not that everyone is confused, (though some are) but that I've seen multiple slightly contradictory takes on what the pep talk was even ABOUT.
So... I'm extra curious.
What were your thoughts on the episode?
It made complete sense to me! I thought it was well written.
I was confused at first but I think it makes sense if you think about it.
I thought it made sense at first, but not after thinking about it more.
I think I get what it was going for but I don't think it was done well.
I don't think I understand what they were going for.
Don't watch/not caught up
Voting ended onJun 23
Also I'd really appreciate if you would elaborate on what you thought Reina's arc this episode was about. I've seen a variety of takes that I think make a lot of sense. But the ambiguity is rather odd for Beatbreak.
I do want to track down the Japanese script for the episode to see if I can find anything that clarifies because "cut loose" is such an ambiguous turn of phrase that I imagine it's not a literal translation and that phrase does a lot of heavy lifting this episode.
I voted the first but I get why it might not make sense, and it’s completely a writing issue. (Edit: just woke up and didnt see the other option that mentioned writing issue too)
They quickly tried to establish what Reina’s role in the team was in less than 30 mins: to be their leader, both strategically and tactically. This was actually established a bit earlier on too in the earlier episodes with Reina being sub-leader… and then never went back to it. The episodes goes to set up that Reina literally leads them in combat, that Wolvermon is on the frontline because they are fast and powerful, and it is Reina’s style to charge ahead and clear a path for everyone, expecting them to follow.
As you can imagine, doing this in 1 episode feels rushed and forced, and falls into more telling than showing. I love it only because we actually get to see the whole team together and interacting, a really ironic thing to say for a series with 4 main characters that is all about family.
Kyo and Tomoro basically say they have no problem with who Reina is. Kyo says supporting her weakness is what he is happy to do, and Tomoro wants Reina to be how she’s always be because he believes in her. And that part actually makes sense coming from Tomoro, as Tomoro kind of screws up and is too reckless when he leads…. Except so many episodes is about Tomoro going solo and being rewarded for that and his main character powers.
They tried to wrap up a whole team dynamics thing while ignoring all the episodes that didn’t feature it, and tried to make it like it mattered by telling us that, and not showing it.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts! I agree, absolutely, this epjsode is a casualty of the shows failure to set up the Glowing Dawn.
But this also made me realize that I think my broader issue with the episode is more specifically that they're trying to condense all of Reina's development into one singular episode when Reina's issues are a bit more complicated than that.
They basically just tried to throw in every facet of Reina's development into one episode which made it really unclear which of these aspects actually triggered the evolution.
Was it realizing her teammates had her back? Realizing she (&her style of charging ahead) was useful all along (regardless of level)? That she doesn't need to be useful because the Glowing Dawn loves her regardless?
Was she ready to evolve at any time and just hadn't gotten the chance yet before her more recent problems through her off? Or did she have to work through her initial trauma too?
These aren't mutually exclusive aspects of her character, but if she had more episodes we could break down outer expressions of her issues, before actually getting to the heart of the issue.
While I do agree BB has a Tomoro problem in that they focus too much on him (and can clearly develop a character over the course of multiple episodes), they at least spared Makoto episodes early on too while Reina got none. But the reason I do believe more group-focused writing would help is that, when developing a character, they don't need exclusive episodes. It could happen through their interactions with each other. They don't need special plotlines focusing only on them to hint or imply some underlying issue. In fact, I'd argue those should only be done for the conclusion on their arc, rather than the build-up.
I do see the point that didn't actually address Reina's issue with being useful (which they also already talked about before) and that is true. They didn't address that being in GD isn't about how useful you are.
I suppose as an episode, it was a good episode of course. But when you look at it as a whole with the series, it was bad. Tomoro's development is really the highlight of what could have been for every GD member, not just Reina, and they just refuse to commit to the same treatment unfortunately.
Well, because Reina's character is the most intrinsically connected to the Glowing Dawn, I feel Reina focus and Glowing Dawn focus is basically one in the same. Ex. Episode 4 and episode 45. Even episode 16 where she and Granit were lost gave us some Glowing Dawn interactions in the form of her team worrying about her.
I do generally agree characters dont necessarily need dedicated focus episodes if they get focus in other episodes. Which works for less episodic series.
However. Beatbreak has been pretty episodic outside of some 2 parters and the end of the tt7 arc (which was also messy). So for the most part, we arent getting that focus unless its in an episode dedicated to it.
I think our idea of what Glowing Dawn focused is different. Glowing Dawn is important to Reina, but it's also just as important to Kyo, who wanted to turn over a new life. Makoto, who wanted a safe place to escape his former life. And Tomoro, who needed support after losing his only family. When I think of a GD episode, I think of the Mummymon episode, where we actually see them active throughout in the same episode, along with their partners who interact with their fellow Digimon. Some may consider it "filler" but it's really necessary fluff for us to appreciate the characters and who they are, instead of being forced under pressure by the plot.
I feel like even Digimon Tamers has officially played that better with their trio already, where Takato, Ruki and Jenrya get decent origins, and Ruki getting an extended storyline of her. In the last arc, their parents even get to play subtle roles, and we still get quiet individual moments with them. They had silly shenanigans that weren't focused on the plot nor about Digimon fighting. Beatbreak could really use so much of that, but monster-of-the-week and big baddie plot are unfortunately really dragging them down, and hurting non-Tomoro characters.
I thing the main thing that makes Glowing Dawn and Reina so interconnected in the writing, as it exists, is the fact Reina doesn't have anything else.
Kyo has his past as a 5 star and their history that keeps coming back as well as Nirinso (even if everyone knows now). Tomoro has his families mysterious past, kanada and his glitchy e-pulse. Makoto at least has his toxic family and the Shangri La egg, and his desire to stay away from all that.
Makoto at least has Haruko and Tsukasa for people he knows outside of GD and their allkes. Tomoro has Hitomi, Chihiro and Pandamon's town.
Reina has nothing. Reina's just got dead parents and a long history of Cleaner teams that didn't work out and aren't in her life at all anymore. Nothing relevant to the plot.
Don't get me wrong GD is SUPER important to its other members as well. And personally I'd love if we got some Reina characterization outside of it (seeing Reina's former teammates would be really good, or getting more insight into why her relatives didn't want her).
But I think in terms of what Beatbreak has actually shown interest in discussing, Reina just hasn't been given anything of substance outside the Glowing Dawn and its values.
Which can be looked at one of two ways.
The writers neglected to give Reina more than the bare minimum plot points outside of her team.
Reina is intended as the teams heart, and is tied to the Glowing Dawn as the organization's emotional core. Everyone else can focus on their plot points because Reina's character is focused on how important this team is.
Or secret 3rd option, because of the 1st option they kind of wrote 2.
I do think we are talking about the same stuff we're just choosing to frame it differently. You're talking more big picture, series structure flaws. I'm talking more small picture within the series flawed set up.
I think I can say you and I agree that the dynamics shown in the Mummymon episode needed to be present throughout more of the show. Not just that one episode.
I just think those dynamics also tend to be present in Reina episodes more than other episodes hence why I was conflating the two. The Mummymon episode is the exception that proves the rule that the GD don't get much focus as a group otherwise.
So I was curious about other peoples thoughts on the most recent episode (more so than usual) because I couldn't make heads or tails of it myself. Specifically what Reina's problem was and how the pep talk helped.
And it seems that I'm not alone in that regard. The particularly damning thing is not that everyone is confused, (though some are) but that I've seen multiple slightly contradictory takes on what the pep talk was even ABOUT.
So... I'm extra curious.
What were your thoughts on the episode?
It made complete sense to me! I thought it was well written.
I was confused at first but I think it makes sense if you think about it.
I thought it made sense at first, but not after thinking about it more.
I think I get what it was going for but I don't think it was done well.
I don't think I understand what they were going for.
Don't watch/not caught up
Voting ended onJun 23
Also I'd really appreciate if you would elaborate on what you thought Reina's arc this episode was about. I've seen a variety of takes that I think make a lot of sense. But the ambiguity is rather odd for Beatbreak.
I do want to track down the Japanese script for the episode to see if I can find anything that clarifies because "cut loose" is such an ambiguous turn of phrase that I imagine it's not a literal translation and that phrase does a lot of heavy lifting this episode.
I voted the first but I get why it might not make sense, and it’s completely a writing issue. (Edit: just woke up and didnt see the other option that mentioned writing issue too)
They quickly tried to establish what Reina’s role in the team was in less than 30 mins: to be their leader, both strategically and tactically. This was actually established a bit earlier on too in the earlier episodes with Reina being sub-leader… and then never went back to it. The episodes goes to set up that Reina literally leads them in combat, that Wolvermon is on the frontline because they are fast and powerful, and it is Reina’s style to charge ahead and clear a path for everyone, expecting them to follow.
As you can imagine, doing this in 1 episode feels rushed and forced, and falls into more telling than showing. I love it only because we actually get to see the whole team together and interacting, a really ironic thing to say for a series with 4 main characters that is all about family.
Kyo and Tomoro basically say they have no problem with who Reina is. Kyo says supporting her weakness is what he is happy to do, and Tomoro wants Reina to be how she’s always be because he believes in her. And that part actually makes sense coming from Tomoro, as Tomoro kind of screws up and is too reckless when he leads…. Except so many episodes is about Tomoro going solo and being rewarded for that and his main character powers.
They tried to wrap up a whole team dynamics thing while ignoring all the episodes that didn’t feature it, and tried to make it like it mattered by telling us that, and not showing it.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts! I agree, absolutely, this epjsode is a casualty of the shows failure to set up the Glowing Dawn.
But this also made me realize that I think my broader issue with the episode is more specifically that they're trying to condense all of Reina's development into one singular episode when Reina's issues are a bit more complicated than that.
They basically just tried to throw in every facet of Reina's development into one episode which made it really unclear which of these aspects actually triggered the evolution.
Was it realizing her teammates had her back? Realizing she (&her style of charging ahead) was useful all along (regardless of level)? That she doesn't need to be useful because the Glowing Dawn loves her regardless?
Was she ready to evolve at any time and just hadn't gotten the chance yet before her more recent problems through her off? Or did she have to work through her initial trauma too?
These aren't mutually exclusive aspects of her character, but if she had more episodes we could break down outer expressions of her issues, before actually getting to the heart of the issue.
While I do agree BB has a Tomoro problem in that they focus too much on him (and can clearly develop a character over the course of multiple episodes), they at least spared Makoto episodes early on too while Reina got none. But the reason I do believe more group-focused writing would help is that, when developing a character, they don't need exclusive episodes. It could happen through their interactions with each other. They don't need special plotlines focusing only on them to hint or imply some underlying issue. In fact, I'd argue those should only be done for the conclusion on their arc, rather than the build-up.
I do see the point that didn't actually address Reina's issue with being useful (which they also already talked about before) and that is true. They didn't address that being in GD isn't about how useful you are.
I suppose as an episode, it was a good episode of course. But when you look at it as a whole with the series, it was bad. Tomoro's development is really the highlight of what could have been for every GD member, not just Reina, and they just refuse to commit to the same treatment unfortunately.
Well, because Reina's character is the most intrinsically connected to the Glowing Dawn, I feel Reina focus and Glowing Dawn focus is basically one in the same. Ex. Episode 4 and episode 45. Even episode 16 where she and Granit were lost gave us some Glowing Dawn interactions in the form of her team worrying about her.
I do generally agree characters dont necessarily need dedicated focus episodes if they get focus in other episodes. Which works for less episodic series.
However. Beatbreak has been pretty episodic outside of some 2 parters and the end of the tt7 arc (which was also messy). So for the most part, we arent getting that focus unless its in an episode dedicated to it.
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
✓ Live Streaming✓ Interactive Chat✓ Private Shows✓ HD Quality✓ Free Actions
Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
So I was curious about other peoples thoughts on the most recent episode (more so than usual) because I couldn't make heads or tails of it myself. Specifically what Reina's problem was and how the pep talk helped.
And it seems that I'm not alone in that regard. The particularly damning thing is not that everyone is confused, (though some are) but that I've seen multiple slightly contradictory takes on what the pep talk was even ABOUT.
So... I'm extra curious.
What were your thoughts on the episode?
It made complete sense to me! I thought it was well written.
I was confused at first but I think it makes sense if you think about it.
I thought it made sense at first, but not after thinking about it more.
I think I get what it was going for but I don't think it was done well.
I don't think I understand what they were going for.
Don't watch/not caught up
Voting ended onJun 23
Also I'd really appreciate if you would elaborate on what you thought Reina's arc this episode was about. I've seen a variety of takes that I think make a lot of sense. But the ambiguity is rather odd for Beatbreak.
I do want to track down the Japanese script for the episode to see if I can find anything that clarifies because "cut loose" is such an ambiguous turn of phrase that I imagine it's not a literal translation and that phrase does a lot of heavy lifting this episode.
I voted the first but I get why it might not make sense, and it’s completely a writing issue. (Edit: just woke up and didnt see the other option that mentioned writing issue too)
They quickly tried to establish what Reina’s role in the team was in less than 30 mins: to be their leader, both strategically and tactically. This was actually established a bit earlier on too in the earlier episodes with Reina being sub-leader… and then never went back to it. The episodes goes to set up that Reina literally leads them in combat, that Wolvermon is on the frontline because they are fast and powerful, and it is Reina’s style to charge ahead and clear a path for everyone, expecting them to follow.
As you can imagine, doing this in 1 episode feels rushed and forced, and falls into more telling than showing. I love it only because we actually get to see the whole team together and interacting, a really ironic thing to say for a series with 4 main characters that is all about family.
Kyo and Tomoro basically say they have no problem with who Reina is. Kyo says supporting her weakness is what he is happy to do, and Tomoro wants Reina to be how she’s always be because he believes in her. And that part actually makes sense coming from Tomoro, as Tomoro kind of screws up and is too reckless when he leads…. Except so many episodes is about Tomoro going solo and being rewarded for that and his main character powers.
They tried to wrap up a whole team dynamics thing while ignoring all the episodes that didn’t feature it, and tried to make it like it mattered by telling us that, and not showing it.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts! I agree, absolutely, this epjsode is a casualty of the shows failure to set up the Glowing Dawn.
But this also made me realize that I think my broader issue with the episode is more specifically that they're trying to condense all of Reina's development into one singular episode when Reina's issues are a bit more complicated than that.
They basically just tried to throw in every facet of Reina's development into one episode which made it really unclear which of these aspects actually triggered the evolution.
Was it realizing her teammates had her back? Realizing she (&her style of charging ahead) was useful all along (regardless of level)? That she doesn't need to be useful because the Glowing Dawn loves her regardless?
Was she ready to evolve at any time and just hadn't gotten the chance yet before her more recent problems through her off? Or did she have to work through her initial trauma too?
These aren't mutually exclusive aspects of her character, but if she had more episodes we could break down outer expressions of her issues, before actually getting to the heart of the issue.
So I was curious about other peoples thoughts on the most recent episode (more so than usual) because I couldn't make heads or tails of it myself. Specifically what Reina's problem was and how the pep talk helped.
And it seems that I'm not alone in that regard. The particularly damning thing is not that everyone is confused, (though some are) but that I've seen multiple slightly contradictory takes on what the pep talk was even ABOUT.
So... I'm extra curious.
What were your thoughts on the episode?
It made complete sense to me! I thought it was well written.
I was confused at first but I think it makes sense if you think about it.
I thought it made sense at first, but not after thinking about it more.
I think I get what it was going for but I don't think it was done well.
I don't think I understand what they were going for.
Don't watch/not caught up
Voting ended onJun 23
Also I'd really appreciate if you would elaborate on what you thought Reina's arc this episode was about. I've seen a variety of takes that I think make a lot of sense. But the ambiguity is rather odd for Beatbreak.
I do want to track down the Japanese script for the episode to see if I can find anything that clarifies because "cut loose" is such an ambiguous turn of phrase that I imagine it's not a literal translation and that phrase does a lot of heavy lifting this episode.
#I think what they were getting at was this:#Reina was not acting like herself#Reina is somebody who charges ahead and cuts a path for the others to follow#the Reina of last week and the front half of this episode was not leaning into her strengths or the things she defaulted to doing#first half of the episode Reina was trying to focus on defense#because she thought only the ultis could actually deal with bombermon#so Kyo and Tomoro telling her to be herself gave her the confidence to be reckless and charge ahead#instead of trying to play support
<- I see this interpretation too. They were DEFINITELY making a point about how Reina should be herself. It's definitely a piece of the puzzle, and I 100% agree with this as a summary of the first part of the episode. That's a very clear summary, good way of putting it.
The thing that kinda throws me off here, is if she wasn't acting like herself, (which she wasn't) what was the hold up on her evolution? Because the plot this episode is Reina needs to act more like herself. But the reason Reina wasn't acting like herself was she didn't have ultimate. But if all she needed to get ultimate was to be herself, the person she usually is. Then why didn't she get it earlier? They just resolved the problem they just introduced, not the underlying problem.
She just never needed it before? I suppose it's probably a confidence thing, like you said Kyo and Tomoro gave her the confidence. But I still feel like there's something missing. How does this tie into her need to be useful?
I can see where you're coming from, but I think it's also that Reina was the first person that Kyo brought into Glowing Dawn, judging from episode 35.
The episodes between Scourgechiropmon (31,32,33,34)- 31 is more Tomoro focused, showing that Kyo's dream is also his now. We also see Chiropmon hacking into the network, Wolvermon taking down threats in the sky, and Murasamemon cutting a bus in half- everybody did have something to do here, and it's only been one episode.
32 was more about Maki, so the kids weren't in the spotlight. Still, everybody had a hand in keeping GIFT away from Maki, so I'd imagine Reina still felt secure enough in her current incarnation.
33. Both Reina and Makoto were out cold for the entire fight portion of this battle, so I imagine Reina was starting to feel the mounting pressure of being left behind here. She's the oldest of Glowing Dawn when Kyo isn't around and she wasn't able to protect them or carve out a path for them to take.
34. We still see her throwing her entire physical body into the fight during th first half of this episode, but she gets distracted from tying up the culprit when Wolvermon gets attacked. They do point out that Champion versus Ultimate is a power disparity, and she's probably not feeling especially in tune with herself, who she is, what she should be doing, or Wolvermon at this point either. When she's told to protect Miharu, she isn't sure about doing it, but she trusts in her family.
Those few episodes give some lead up to her frustration and the mental block she seemed to have.
She sees that the two newest members of the family are outpacing her, despite being a Cleaner longer. In some way Reina was feeling a sense of inadequacy and thinking that her way wasn't going to lead to the amount of strength that Tomoro or Makoto had.
For both Tomoro and Makoto, they were put into pressure cooker situations where they absolutely had to step up or something dire was going to happen. If Tomoro didn't achieve Ultimate there, then he would once again lose all of the family he had left. If Makoto hadn't declared that he would fight for Chiropmon to stay with him, he might have never seen him again.
In 35, she had the pressure of "if we do not step up, we're all going to be blown up" alongside an inner alignment of herself, trust between herself and Pristimon, and a renewal of the feeling of trust in Glowing Dawn as a family and her place there.
It was interesting to solidify my thoughts into words this way.
So I was curious about other peoples thoughts on the most recent episode (more so than usual) because I couldn't make heads or tails of it myself. Specifically what Reina's problem was and how the pep talk helped.
And it seems that I'm not alone in that regard. The particularly damning thing is not that everyone is confused, (though some are) but that I've seen multiple slightly contradictory takes on what the pep talk was even ABOUT.
So... I'm extra curious.
What were your thoughts on the episode?
It made complete sense to me! I thought it was well written.
I was confused at first but I think it makes sense if you think about it.
I thought it made sense at first, but not after thinking about it more.
I think I get what it was going for but I don't think it was done well.
I don't think I understand what they were going for.
Don't watch/not caught up
Voting ended onJun 23
Also I'd really appreciate if you would elaborate on what you thought Reina's arc this episode was about. I've seen a variety of takes that I think make a lot of sense. But the ambiguity is rather odd for Beatbreak.
I do want to track down the Japanese script for the episode to see if I can find anything that clarifies because "cut loose" is such an ambiguous turn of phrase that I imagine it's not a literal translation and that phrase does a lot of heavy lifting this episode.
#I think what they were getting at was this:#Reina was not acting like herself#Reina is somebody who charges ahead and cuts a path for the others to follow#the Reina of last week and the front half of this episode was not leaning into her strengths or the things she defaulted to doing#first half of the episode Reina was trying to focus on defense#because she thought only the ultis could actually deal with bombermon#so Kyo and Tomoro telling her to be herself gave her the confidence to be reckless and charge ahead#instead of trying to play support
<- I see this interpretation too. They were DEFINITELY making a point about how Reina should be herself. It's definitely a piece of the puzzle, and I 100% agree with this as a summary of the first part of the episode. That's a very clear summary, good way of putting it.
The thing that kinda throws me off here, is if she wasn't acting like herself, (which she wasn't) what was the hold up on her evolution? Because the plot this episode is Reina needs to act more like herself. But the reason Reina wasn't acting like herself was she didn't have ultimate. But if all she needed to get ultimate was to be herself, the person she usually is. Then why didn't she get it earlier? They just resolved the problem they just introduced, not the underlying problem.
She just never needed it before? I suppose it's probably a confidence thing, like you said Kyo and Tomoro gave her the confidence. But I still feel like there's something missing. How does this tie into her need to be useful?
So I was curious about other peoples thoughts on the most recent episode (more so than usual) because I couldn't make heads or tails of it myself. Specifically what Reina's problem was and how the pep talk helped.
And it seems that I'm not alone in that regard. The particularly damning thing is not that everyone is confused, (though some are) but that I've seen multiple slightly contradictory takes on what the pep talk was even ABOUT.
So... I'm extra curious.
What were your thoughts on the episode?
It made complete sense to me! I thought it was well written.
I was confused at first but I think it makes sense if you think about it.
I thought it made sense at first, but not after thinking about it more.
I think I get what it was going for but I don't think it was done well.
I don't think I understand what they were going for.
Don't watch/not caught up
Voting ended onJun 23
Also I'd really appreciate if you would elaborate on what you thought Reina's arc this episode was about. I've seen a variety of takes that I think make a lot of sense. But the ambiguity is rather odd for Beatbreak.
I do want to track down the Japanese script for the episode to see if I can find anything that clarifies because "cut loose" is such an ambiguous turn of phrase that I imagine it's not a literal translation and that phrase does a lot of heavy lifting this episode.
My first thought when the evolution sequence started was "well, she got over that fast", but I didn't think it didn't make sense so much as it just seemed rushed? The more I thought abt it tho the more I questioned it. Like, yeah, Tomoro, that is the Reina way, so much so in fact that it's how she's been operating the entire series until the last few episodes, so why is it suddenly enough for her to get perfect when it wasn't before? It seemed less like she had some grand revalation that elevated her to new heights and more like she just... got out of the slump she'd been in. Which is just going back to how she was already before all this? Not any new development?
Saw someone else saying it was bc she finally cut herself free from the support role she'd boxed herself into previously in order to be 'useful' to her teammates, and instead forged ahead as the main fighter herself, letting her teammates be the ones to support her instead. And it does make sense. Wolvermon is good at things like providing cover fire but gets jobbed in direct confrontation, meanwhile Bearcatmon is clearly a frontline fighter, so it fits. (Wait does that mean jobber Wolvermon was intentional? I totally assumed it was the Worf effect at play, my b ig)
But like. They could've made that clearer methinks. In fact it might've been easier to make that clear if they'd stretched this out into a 2-parter, especially since Makoto and Tomoro both got 2-parters for their first new Digivolutions so why doesn't Reina? Why doesn't she get what they get?!
Although TO BE FAIR part of it being unclear might just be that my JP skills are still Mid at Best (I have been watching this show without EN subtitles specifically to practice and admittedly that does cause me to miss things at some points, but also I am improving so it's serving its purpose). That said, there was one word repeated alot that I presume is probably the "cut loose" thing, 暴れる, I never looked it up while watching the episode bc I was like "yeah I already know what that means. Vaguely. It's sorta like 'do it', right? But like more wha-bam" but bc you brought it up I figured I'd go on Wiktionary and get a dictionary definition for ya and. Uh.
act violently, rage about, struggle, be riotous
Yeah alright that IS very clearly telling her 'go crazy go stupid don't worry about support' my understanding of that word was too vague I should have looked it up (head in hands). Forget that 'might' it was definitely only unclear bc of my poor JP skills (and also Crunchyroll's too apparently since their official EN subtitles didn't get that across to English-speaking viewers)
Still think it should've been a 2-parter anyways give Reina more episodes
That translation is definitely helpful! Thank you very much!
I saw that interpretation of events too, and I like it a lot but I'm definitely going to have to chew on it some more to see if I think it fits, but at least some of the pieces are in place.
So I was curious about other peoples thoughts on the most recent episode (more so than usual) because I couldn't make heads or tails of it myself. Specifically what Reina's problem was and how the pep talk helped.
And it seems that I'm not alone in that regard. The particularly damning thing is not that everyone is confused, (though some are) but that I've seen multiple slightly contradictory takes on what the pep talk was even ABOUT.
So... I'm extra curious.
What were your thoughts on the episode?
It made complete sense to me! I thought it was well written.
I was confused at first but I think it makes sense if you think about it.
I thought it made sense at first, but not after thinking about it more.
I think I get what it was going for but I don't think it was done well.
I don't think I understand what they were going for.
Don't watch/not caught up
Voting ended onJun 23
Also I'd really appreciate if you would elaborate on what you thought Reina's arc this episode was about. I've seen a variety of takes that I think make a lot of sense. But the ambiguity is rather odd for Beatbreak.
I do want to track down the Japanese script for the episode to see if I can find anything that clarifies because "cut loose" is such an ambiguous turn of phrase that I imagine it's not a literal translation and that phrase does a lot of heavy lifting this episode.
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Reina as a character has had very little focus overall until recently. And it was only last episode that we introduced the concept she was frustrated at her lack of Perfect, despite this being something that she logically would have been frustrated with as soon as Tomoro reached his perfect. So while I do appreciate the way last episode set up this one. It's unfortunately way too little, way too late.
But I've already said enough about that, if we pretend that Reina had decent set up, how is this episode?
So, I realize I'm going to sound hypocritical saying that Reina's complex about being useful has been a part of her character since the very beginning. But it is good to see it get expanded on. Unfortunately, aside from her backstory, reveals in episode 4 and episode 16 respectively the only real sign we had of how it was affecting her currently was her obsession with money.
It's nice to sit back for a bit and let the Glowing Dawn just. Exist. At their home. They do not do that nearly enough. And it is nice to see her teammates worrying about her. It's interesting that none of them spell out the VERY OBVIOUS problem Reina is having.
Though… that does make me think. While the fact that Reina has been a cleaner for 5 years longer than Tomoro and Makoto but has fallen behind them is incredibly frustrating for me. I DO have to admit that in Digimon strength and personal growth are closely inter-related. Personal-Growth doesn't happen on any sort of schedule. Obviously Reina's problem is that she's tied her self-worth into being useful. So… in that sense her teammates have failed her?
And while I hesitate to say that Reina is the reason for Tomoro and Makoto reaching Perfect, since that's not really what those episodes were about, I don't think it'd be unfair to say that the Glowing Dawn as a whole provided the support structure that allowed them to grow into Perfect. And I literally made a whole post about Why Reina is central to the GD based on what we HAVE seen, so even though we haven't seen Reina directly support their growth, I could make an argument that Tomoro and Makoto on some level owe their strength to Reina. But they are unable to return that support to Reina.
Honestly we don't see enough of the Glowing Dawn's dynamic in show, so I feel like I'm grasping at straws here.
That being said, I think my feelings of frustration with the fact that Reina is weaker than Tomoro and Makoto despite how much longer she's been a cleaner could have been resolved if Reina, despite not reaching Perfect, was demonstrably more experienced. Though I admit it would be rather hard to implement. Perhaps making her familiar with certain Digimon species, good at strategies, make her better at predicting attacks. She could still be frustrated with her weakness, even reckless about it.
I do like how at this point of the story the Glowing Dawn is Maki's go to for particularly dangerous problems.
I will say it's definitely a fascinating dichotomy that Reina is the most gung-ho about bounties, but the least capable of earning those bounties herself.
Tomoro listening to Reina's orders while she's clearly having a mental breakdown. On one hand. Yeah. She is still the more experienced cleaner. Tomoro and Makoto cede to her in fights. But she is NOT doing okay. I don't blame any of them for not being emotionally intelligent enough to help Reina (who is infamously not very emotionally intelligent herself). Because Tomoro's options here are ignore her, and break her last remaining razor thin shred of self-esteem. Or feed into her self destructive tendencies.
I like long panning shot of Wolvermon's face. Because this IS just as much a Wolvermon issue as it is Reina.
"Because Reina evacuated everyone first". Okay. That's great and all. I guess this is a busy episode so we didn't NEED to see it. But. Really. "Oh by the way before that fight Reina evacuated everyone so no need to worry about casualties. We just didn't think it was important enough to mention until now. But it is important enough that we attached Reina's name to it specifically". And. In shows like this, that's typically the job they give to a person who can't actually fight. It IS very important, more important than shows typically give credit for, don't get me wrong. But that kind of says the bare minimum about Reina. Actually really that reflects even more poorly on the rest of the cast if Reina is the one who gets 100% of the credit for that very obvious lifesaving decision that should be part of their routine when approaching a fight like this. That we have seen be a concern in a previous bomb threat that the GD dealt with. From an in-universe perspective I think Tomoro was trying to make her feel better, but honestly. If I was Reina I'd just feel like he was being condescending.
I do like that when Reina is blaming herself, she blames herself for making a bad call. That IS something she's got control over. That is something that she has "power" in so to speak. Despite the fact it's irrelevant to her physical strength, it's eating at her confidence in other areas.
Immediately followed by Reina taking over fighting bombs so everyone else can go ahead. Of course because that IS something that she can handle with her skill level. It IS her not being over confident and making the most reasonable call.
"Our job to protect our family" That's what she feels she is most useful for. Protection. At first out of being the strongest and most able… but now twisted into being the most expendable.
Speaking of which! It's been a bit since I've brought it up, but hey. What's with Reina's profile descriptor! Profile description's should be stuff that comes up in the show very early on, serving as just the baseline for the character for any newcomer. Reina's is the only one who never did. I think it would have been great if Reina's self-sacrificial tendencies for her family were shown more explicitly earlier on. Don't get me wrong, Reina throwing herself into danger without a second thought has been a consistent thing.
I think it says a lot about how little faith I have in this show right now that when Kyo stepped in to protect Reina I was actively annoyed because Kyo does this all the time. This is literally how they were introduced. "Oh great, Kyo protects Reina because he cares about her not for what she can do and that helps her get stronger despite the fact this happens all the time and is actively part of the problem".
That is to say I was pleasantly surprised with Murasamemon devolved. It's Reina's turn to protect him. The kids are catching up to Kyo too. It's not just Tomoro who is getting that honor. Unfortunately, the way the episode actually played out, it didn't matter at all if Murasamemon devolved or not. :/
I have very mixed feelings on the conclusion here. Because on one hand. YAY! Recognition of Reina's fundamental importance to the Glowing Dawn. While Kyo is nominally the leader, she's the one who drives them forward. And it's really nice for her teammates to tell her that they're willing to cover for her weaknesses when her biggest anxieties are about not being strong enough.
I'm not really sure what they were going for here. There is a lot going on here and I'm not sure it comes together sensibly. Her teammates are basically going, "Do what you want". Like. Okay. But that's not the issue here. The issue is Reina is frustrated with her inability to do what she wants to do. Not her willingness to do it?
Reina goes "I want to cut loose too but I can't" and the response is "Then cut loose?"
I realize the response is probably more in response to the "What's wrong with trying to be helpful within my own capacity" and her teammates going "Don't worry about what you can do, just do your best how you want to". Which is a nice sentiment. But. Does not address the underlying issue that Reina has been doing that, and it hasn't worked the way she wants.
Tomoro tells her to stop running away when she hasn't. This is the first time she's even slightly hesitated. She's only gotten to this point because her usual strategy wasn't doing what she wanted it to. It feels like Tomoro is yelling at her for daring to be upset that she's failing. Like I get here teammates are not bothered by her failures. And Reina's issues are related to how useful everyone sees her so reassuring her they don't care about her failures, counters the idea Reina has to be useful.
But Kyo tells Reina that Wolvermon (the Adult) is the only one fast enough to stand a chance. Kyo tells her she's good enough as she is.
Reina doubts that she is. Justifiably. Because when Reina had previously attempted WITH WOLVERMON. And failed.
But the conclusion of this is just. Reina gets Perfect. She just. Her anxieties about being good enough are solved by becoming good enough when everyone tells her she should just keep trying anyway?
Sure. The issue was all in Reina's head. So confidence boost is enough to break through the mental block, to evolve. On the other hand, this was a mental block caused by more recent developments. Why had she never gotten Perfect before? Never needed to?
I think the idea might be that Reina succeeds here because she has the freedom to fail, because her teammates are covering her weaknesses. But considering the stakes are succeed or get blown to pieces + Kyo specifically asked her because apparently Wolvermon is the only one with a chance to match speed, that message, if it is the intended one, is really muddled.
I think the episode was actually held back by the stock animation requiring Pristimon to be reverted back to Child. I feel like the fight could have been a lot more impactful if Wolvermon evolved into Bearcatmon after attempting to fight Bombermon as Wolvermon, and actually getting somewhere as Wolvermon. I think a lot of the weirdness of the speech could be resolved if Reina hadn't just actively been beaten down for the sake of Pristimon, and hadn't had to evolve before she got to start kicking ass again. I DO WONDER if this was a decision made because of this rather than for creative reasons.
Regardless of the reasons though, as it stands, Pristimon just anti-climatically evolves during some downtime in a fight while the Glowing Dawn is just standing their talking to each other telling Reina she is literally fine as is (when she hasn't been) and Reina going "Okay I can do it now". While if she had been able to do it mid-fight, she could have been actively proving that she was valuable without her Perfect, before she kicked it up a notch. They definitely should have been able to work out something better either way.
I mean, did we actually address the root of the issue here being her need to be useful? That was literally explicitly stated in her dream. But it's not brought up at all by her teammates. Beatbreak isn't usually one for subtlety, so it's weird it wasn't brought up directly. I mean we kinda did? If we tell her she's fine as is and we have her back -> she doesn't need to be useful? But those don't feel mutually exclusive, especially because it felt more like they were insisting that she was useful, even at things she was actively failing at? I feel like regardless her teammates failed to validate her emotions in general. Maybe this is one of those things were the sentiment is more clear in Japanese and the translators dropped the ball on translating things consistently? But I find the sentiment her teammates express and Reina's actual issues to be woefully mismatched.
I like Pristimon's line about being unreliable. Because Reina has been putting all the blame on herself, but it's a partnership. Her doubt in herself, IS also doubt in Pristimon. So she has to have faith in Pristimon, (and by extension faith in herself).
Reina getting the final blow herself was awesome. That has consistently been something she has going for her, the ability to get her hands dirty alongside her partner.
Anyway, Reina joining Kyo couldn't have happened any more than 2 years ago, since she doesn't look any younger than she does now. So she spent probably at least 3 years being passed around.
I've said it before that Reina's character is centralized around the Glowing Dawn themselves. So it's only natural that her biggest character focus episode would actually focus on the Glowing Dawn and their dynamics as a team. And that did come across. I do very much appreciate Reina's teammates trying to hype her up.
I was ultimately never going to like what they did for Reina's evolution because I did not like how it was (or rather was not) set up. And overall, nothing this episode gave justified the 35 episode wait for Reina's first (and potentially only) evolution episode. But, given that. I think the episode was pretty enjoyable for the most part, save the context around the actual evolution.
Bearcatmon is cool though.
Oh yeah, and Miharu blows up Wong at the end of the episode. I guess we'll see where that goes next time.
Unpopular opinion, but personally wish instead of this whole "Who is Cure Eclair" mystery and episodes dedicated to the 4 suspects they just. Focused more on Mikuru and Anna investigating the other mysteries in the show themselves. Or developing other side characters.
On one hand I completely get playing on mid season Cure theories and turning it into a mystery.
But Cure Eclair isn't even a mystery in-show. Anna and Mikuru don't even know she exists? So this whole mystery, and all of the episodes and characters designed for it, are ultimately just for the audience and not really for developing the shows actual main plot and characters.
Honestly, why do I care which one it is (its really obvious anyway after Shiruku basically called herself the red herring, and it was never going to be Rei or Eliza). All of them are side characters right now. They're pretty decent side characters, but none of them have anything going on that makes me think "oh that will be a cool plot point if they are Eclair" or "I think being a cure would open up interesting character developments". I'm sure whichever one is Eclair has an interesting story, but its not something that is a part of any of their cbaracters yet so it doesn't really matter which one.
The Eclair mystery is just completely removed from what is actually going on with the plot and characters. And while I don't think every Precure season really needs to be rewatchable, I don't think it will be a good show to go back to in the future if the main mystery of the first half of the show is completely dependent on a viewer knowing Cure Eclair exists, when they don't explicitly mention her in show, but NOT knowing her civilian identity which will be plastered all over the marketing come July.
Admittey they did do a good job of making 4 distinct designs (though I do think Rei and Kurea look a bit too similar) and personalities that could feasibly be a main character.
I recognize I'm not the target audience though, so as long as the kids are having fun with it, its all good.
So... the exact thing I was worried about happening, Reina's character arc revolving around not being as strong as her (male) teammates. Her male teammates who have been at this for a year and a month respectively while she has been at this for about 6 years.
The only non prodigy of the team is a girl.
Hmmm.
I'm not sure they could be more stereotypically "strong-female character" if they tried.
Not necessarily a bad character arc... in theory... but not to the only girl on a team. But its not even being set up well.
Its contrived that Makoto got Perfect before her. Tomoro as special protag boy is one thing, but fellow average kid Makoto is another.
Like obviously if her teammates all had perfects and she didn't you'd expect her to feel some way about it. But even then, her feelings obviously weren't important enough to bring up the past few episodes. But I guess better now than later.
So despite the fact this is more Reina, like I want, I'm not exactly set up to trust what they do, which means that even if it is decent, I'm probably going to be too annoyed to enjoy it.
I've previously commented on how excited Reina is for others evolutions. And how it seemed to subvert typical jealousy tropes. Welp. Not quite I guess. I just wish they would have set this up earlier if they were going to do something with it.
Once Gekkomon reached Adult, Reina stopped being the 2nd strongest in the team. Even if Reina wasn't jealous yet, her role in the team would have shifted. Start showing Reina's feeling on this topic so we can understand how these feelings developed.
And, Wolvermon as the designated champion (heavy hitter) in the early season, took a lot of losses for the sake of letting Makoto and Tomoro have a place in the fight. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing. It's just a natural consequence of taking the story that direction. Different approaches have their positives and negatives.
But that's why its all the more frustrating now that the table has been flipped, the same logic doesn't hold true in reverse. Wolvermon was constantly brought down to Rookie level before, and now she can't hold her own at Perfect. A double standard.
And she did in episode 30. But if they're really going to draw attention to Wolvermon's current lack of strength, all that does is also draw attention to her past lack of strength.
Reina kicking that guys ass was great though. More of that please.
Reina is still the most invested in profits. Honestly, as she should be.
Anyway, the rest of the episode.
Mostly this episode feels like set up for the rest of the arc, which seems to finally be actually getting somewhere. The pieces that have been laid the past few episode are finally coming together as Rose, GIFT and the Brilliant Thorn get involved in the same conflict.
But considering there's only about 14 episodes left in the show, I'm wondering how quickly they plan to wrap GIFT up? Because we still have to address the Kaito, Honoka, Raito situation. And whatever Kanada and Wong have going on.
Gekkomon explaining who Asuka was has big little kid energy. Bragging about what he knows! He's in the loop! Even though it's not his place to say that information.
Miharu had an older sister. That's the hand. Older sibling huh? She's clearly meant to parallel Tomoro. Presumably that sister was cold-hearted.
Does Miharu have parents? Or was her older sister raising her and now she's been left alone, and vulnerable. As a foil to Tomoro not having anywhere to go without Asuka, being saved by Glowing Dawns presence, it makes sense that she'd find herself in the hands of someone who wants to take advantage of her.
I did like Miharu walking around the pool of water as she talked to Tomoro. Cool visually. I feel like there's some sort of symbolism there. She's got a sort of round about way of speaking. Despite she and Tomoro being reflections of each other they can't just meet.
Something interesting about Miharu's philosophy is that it is the philosophy of a human Digimon bond in most iterations (more specifically post-02 Adventure especially). So in many ways, yes, Beatbreak's world is a twist on what things should be. This twist was also found in the Cyber Sleuth duology, but still.
We've seen time and time again that Tomoro is extremely sympathetic to children, so it doesn't surprise me that he goes to protect Miharu when things go down. Even if Miharu is responsible for that amount of terrorism, he's both deeply sympathetic to what she has to say, sees himself and his mistakes in her. And the Glowing Dawn in general has a philosophy about second chances. It extends to this 13 year old girl as much as it does Digimon.
This isn't the first time Reina's been pulled into Tomoro's nonsense without context. But now Tomoro is getting her into situations she can't handle but Tomoro can…. hmm.
Rose and Reina… have to see how things play out.
The fact this plot has unfolded over the course of like. A month or two in universe really does make a lot of the plot developments somewhat contrived.
Typically, a Digimon season takes place over the course of a year, more or less. Obviously the passage of time is less clear in seasons like Adventure where the kids are in the digital world the whole time. But even Adventure makes it clear that the show from the kids perspective took months. There's implied passage of time between episodes. Usually the problem with the timeline of these kind of shows is that events seem to be cover a much shorter amount of time than the amount of time they allegedly do (Ex. Tamers Digital World arc supposedly taking place from October to February, despite the fact that the episodes don't seem to cover 4 months worth of events).
In Beatbreak has the opposite issue, it still being summer, when it started end of May, means that there really isn't time for the kids to be getting into situations off screen. And this is coupled with the fact that beatbreak is arguably more episodic than a lot of older digimon. It's definitely more serialized than Ghost Game. But the plot events don't flow into each other as smoothly as they do adventure. Partially this is because Adventure had a simpler plot, and also because it was a journey, so Beatbreak has a status quo that Adventure never had.
But the end result is things literally jump right in between plot points, in a very disconcerting way.
Beatbreak has a lot of cool ideas. It just cannot string its ideas together in a cohesive way. Saying something has bad pacing is such a nothing statement most of the time but its very true of beatbreak. The plot points feel out of order, everything is improperly set up, its like there's just a bunch of episode ideas but the connective tissue is completely missing and it's obvious because of the otherwise tight timeline.
It was more important to develop and give Raito, a non-main character, a perfect than it was to let her have even a single true focus episode in the first three arcs.
Hell, Raito was the focus of last episode. A lackluster episode that said basically nothing but "i had offscreen character development and am strong and nice now". Meanwhile Reina spent the whole thing knocked out.
Reina should be more important than Raito. Raito isn't in every episode. Raito doesn't have main billing. Raito and Reina are very similar characters, when it comes down to it. They have more in common with each other than either does Tomoro. And yet.
Anyway, why did Makoto have the ad break? He's got the least to do with the episode out of our main cast.
Honestly saying that GIFT has 3 episodes and Rose and co have 2 episodes so far is being generous. 1 of those GIFT episodes didn't have any actual progression, just a quick shot of the GIFT logo on a Sapotama. And the Algomon episode did introduce Brilliant Thorn... only to sideline them for a random child character so Tomoro could save the day.
That's fair. I am being generous. Unlike Tactics which went in swinging being about Tactics, the episodes have mostly been about something else with GIFT or Brilliant thorn tacked on. Makoto's episode was sorely needed, and did have to do with GIFT but as a background element.
Rose and her underlings respective episodes were little more than debuts. A first episode to get things started. Despite being 5 episodes in we havent gotten followup on anything. This is a big part of why Tactics feels so out of place, they shouldn't be back yet.
I am going to have to disagree that episode where GIFT just appears at the end doesn't count though. That episode counts more than any other combined. The whole episode is dedicated to the mysteries of GIFT and meeting Miharu. Even if we don't find out it was GIFT until the end doesn't mean we weren't learning about GIFT the whole time.
Helped us understand GIFT's ideology, MO and leader. And then proceeded to just have it be a background element for 5 episodes.
Not because I don't like the Tactics kids (I love Hotaruko and Granit), but because I wasn't really sure if this was really what the show needed right now.
Partially because I feel that the GIFT arc hasn't really built up enough momentum. Excluding 33, we've had 5 episodes of GIFT and they've been split 3 episodes about GIFT and 2 about Rose. Which is fine, and I'm sure the plots are going to intersect, but it does feel like we're only a couple episodes into two different arcs rather than 5 episodes into this one. We're still learning about Miharu, Rose, Kanon and Meto. And we just learned about Maki and Makoto's backstories. Taking a detour back to a group we already spent an arc with instead of focusing on the current plot is a bit frustrating to me. I'd prefer if we'd check back in with Tactics AFTER learning the backstories of any of the characters relevant to this arc.
And partially because absence make the heart grow fonder, and while it HAS been about two months since we last saw the Tactics kids irl, 3 of those episodes were the interlude arc, so it doesn't feel like a lot has happened since we last saw Tactics. They haven't been gone long enough for me to miss them. I think they should have stayed gone for another couple episodes, but honestly it might make more sense here before things get serious.
And in fairness, Hotaruko and Granit haven't exactly been out of reach. The Glowing Dawn know where they are.
But we aren't even there right now.
Feeling like this episode is out of place could have been remedied by if GIFT had been the one targeting TT7. As it stands, the remnants of Tactics chasing them does make sense, and provides proper weight to the kids earlier decisions to stay in Tactics. There are consequences for their desertion that they are having to contend with.
Swimsuits are back. Debut of Makoto's.
Why is Tomoro wearing a sweatshirt in the ocean in midsummer?
As is giant Gekkomon who has swallowed way too much.
The beach shop seems weirdly nice for a temporary shop ran by the Kanuma's. How did this happen?
It's got deer imagery too, which matches the Kanuma name. So effort went into this set up.
The special shop on a quiet beach, and Raito showing up there is a bit contrived. Even Team 1 comments on them just happening to run into Hotaruko and Granit.
Tomoro staring at the "Guests" while simultaneously keeping Gekkomon out of sight without even looking is great. He's really getting a hang of this single teen parent thing.
Did Reina and Makoto really need to be written out of this episode. I know you already had a bunch of characters but like? It's getting to the point where Makoto and Reina barely have more focus than TT7.
Don't get me wrong, having Reina and Makoto out of the fight meant Tomoro had to fight a bit more cleverly. And in theory, it gave the digimon more time to shine as individuals. There was too many for them to really do anything of note but. In theory.
Or counterpoint I guess, did the Glowing Dawn need to be here at all?
I get that people in horror movies don't know they're in horror movies. But also, 30 Okonomiyaki? If they're a family of 8 that'd still be 3.75 okonomiyaki per person. And bring to the car? When you have a criminal history?
I wouldn't be going anywhere out of sight of my Digimon if I were them.
Interesting that Ludomon can take his armor on and off. I think that's good symbolism.
Granit built a shield around his strong heart as a defense mechanism. He can let his guard down now. But he still has the shield, the coping mechanisms, that helped him get through dangerous times, if need be.
Raito, I fear, its a bit too late to be pretending you don't care after the events of episode 24.
Tomoro continues to be easily baited however, so I guess it all works out.
Getting to see Team 1 is interesting. Of course there are other teams besides 7. I do think its interesting elaborating on the Tactics structure, even after they've disbanded. Just because Tactics is gone doesn't mean their consequences don't linger. I do think this is the kind of story that hits harder a bit removed from the Tactics arc.
But again, I think it could have hit a bit harder if I didn't feel like GIFT was just getting started.
Granit with the "Raito does that to everyone".
Obviously if this whole thing is just personal revenge against Raito, nothing against Hotaruko and Granit, Raito walking away easily makes the most sense. Like what's the point at lashing out at people who also had to deal with Raito.
Of course, rage isn't always rational.
Which ironically enough saves them a bit. As Raito is carrying the sole blame for Tactics disbandment.
Even though it was, in fact, all of team 7. And honestly more importantly the Glowing Dawn and Genjo's interference.
But, am I forgetting something? What did Raito even do? He got demoted to the colosseum? And then gave Tomoro a pep talk after breaking out of his coffin?
He did the least?
I kinda figure the abandoned town was because of the Kano island disaster. Living near the ocean is probably not as desirable.
And Raito is working with Honoka and Kaito? Interesting because unlike Rose and Klay who had their respective teams, and Genjo whose got the whole everything going on, Kaito and Honoka don't have much going on besides.
"Obsessed with Kyo" and
"Obsessed with Kaito" respectively.
So getting Kaito involved when them gives all three of them something to do.
Also, Raito and Tomoro rivalry.
Raito has been spending to much time with Kaito apparently.
Which. Eh. This isn't a sports anime. So… I don't… really… care, outside of that. Outside of maybe setting up Raito/Tomoro and Kaito/Kyo parallels. We've got way to much other stuff going on to invest in this as a genuine rivalry.
Overall, pretty decent I think. Just suffers from a lot of Beatbreak's usual issues (Odd pacing choices, somewhat contrived plot, hyper-focus on Tomoro).
Looking forward to seeing more of Miharu next week. And Reina focus?
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It's always good to get returning characters. Cold Hearting really is a useful story telling mechanic. It allows us to just, kill off (almost) whoever we want, with the opportunity of getting the back later.
So we can just. Kill of minor side characters when they've served their use.
Also, after about a 15 year hiatus on doomed Leomon's, we're back with Panjyamon.
Overall, I think this was a really solid episode that developed an ever present cast member, provided insight into the history of cleaners and Digimon human relations, all while connecting back to the GIFT plot and the idea of a world where people and Digimon can live together, that was brought back to the forefront of the audiences mind after last episode.
Technically describing Maki as a former cleaner is misleading; her partnership predates the cleaner system.
As she predates the cleaner system, and didn't meet Kyo until after he retired, she definitely wasn't the former star of water, if there ever was one. Though it is implied Maki, and those like her, were doing work for the government even before the Cleaner system.
Her partnership with Panjyamon was somewhat like Haruomi and Elizamon's partnership. A digimon seeking revenge for their dead partner, and a Saponushi separated from their partner.
Maki having a copy of Nighthawks on her wall is fun.
I love young Maki's design.
Seeing under construction Shangri La eggs, and lines of houseboats was cool. Helps showcase the state of the world what was probably about 15-20 years ago. The titular rainy atmosphere really helped sell the melancholy vibe of the world post Kano island incident.
Interesting seeing the start of the cleaner system. Right after we interrogated it's effect on young Saponushi last episode, seeing it's birth is fascinating. Seeing it reiterated that the options for those who give birth to Digimon are to work for the government or be targets of the government is good to reiterate, after stories like last episode or whatever Haruomi is doing. I would like some clarifications on what is required of cleaners but the specifics aren't that important I guess.
Seeing Panjyamon reject the cleaner system to keep Maki out of it is nice. Panjyamon is regardless cursed to this life, but doesn't want to drag Maki down with him. Maki was willing to make this sacrifice for him, but respected his wishes. This relates to Chiropmon's arc about recognizing that he makes Makoto's life better, despite the fact that his birth removed Makoto from his family and their privileges.
Digimon being inherently tied to a life of violence is a reoccurring thing in Beatbreak. It reminds me of Tamers and the discussions of if digimon have to fight or not. It was a little different in Tamers, as that had more to do with the nature of Digimon themselves, rather than how humans factored into that. But it's still interesting.
While Savers had a similar set up to Beatbreak, with those with Digimon partners being required to work with the government despite age and Masaru protesting about his little sister getting involved, I don't think it leaned as heavily into this as Beatbreak is.
Maki having a bunch of knives is cool of her. I like how the shaking knife in the flashback shows that despite it all, Maki doesn't really want to kill. Foiling when she goes for the kill against Curimon.
We've seen so little of Maki, and haven't seen her working on Nirinso, but finding out she too shares the dream of a world where Digimon can coexist with humans really helps contextualize her relationship with the Glowing Dawn.
Tomoro being the one to stop Maki was admittedly pretty good because:
1. Tomoro experienced something similar with the Digimon who Cold Hearted his brother
2. This violence on her hands was the exact think Panjyamon didn't want for Maki
Interesting that we still don't know who her original partner was after the end of this episode. This episode was entirely dedicated to her second unofficial partner. So there's still a mystery there.
To the surprise of (probably) no one, Miharu is the leader of GIFT. What is a surprise, is Mephismon. Mephismon's biggest outing is as the villain of the first Tamers movie. But just one-off appearances since. Mephismon is likely Miharu's partner. She does think that Tomoro is a good match for their groups ideals, but that's only true on a surface level.
Maki is adverse to killing Digimon too, this was just an outlier of personal revenge, not an act of violence born of disregard for the lives of Digimon on the whole, and Tomoro himself has also almost killed Digimon.
Tomoro isn't much less aligned with the system than Maki, the person she sent an assassin after. Maki's just a more willing and able to work from within the system. And Tomoro's priority is his brother, who Miharu almost had blown up.
Why was Miharu at the hospital? Scouting?
With the description "midsummer" next week, (Late July/August) it really is worth noting how little time has passed in series. The show started May 20th. Episode 12 was June 6th. Tomoro has only been with the Glowing Dawn for a couple months. We have recently learned that Makoto has only been around for a year himself, so despite Tomoro being new, the Glowing Dawn as a whole probably hasn't known each other for very long.
On one hand, that kind of explains why they don't all know a lot about each other. On the other hand, man the found family kicked in really fast for them.
It'll be fun to see TT7 next episode. I'm a little disappointed tbh, because I feel like Brilliant Thorn and Miharu still need a bit of time to shine before we get back to them, but it is what it is. I wouldn't be surprised if TT7 find themselves targeted by GIFT considering their past crimes.
Absolutely gorgeous episode. The stakes were high, the character of the week is charming. It's got a cute story. The visuals were gorgeous and thematic.
I've seen a lot of comparisons to it being like an OVA/Movie that digimon used to do, and I have to agree. It does however seem like there is some thematic relevance and will factor into the plot
To me… this is a lot like the Pandamon episodes, good and bad. Good in that it tells a solid one off story, good in that it is thematically relevant and really fleshes out the world.
Bad in that it's yet another episode about Tomoro/Gekkomon and a set of side characters getting a whole storyline when the rest of the Glowing Dawn is already extremely underdeveloped relative to their role in the story.
Honestly, the first thing I noticed this episode was Hitomi's face seemed off. Not a big deal, it just was noticeably off to me.
It was good to see Hitomi again though. Love that she and Tomoro hang out some times. Conceptually, I like the idea of Reina and Hitomi as foils in their roles in Tomoro's life. Hitomi as Tomoro's anchor to the everyday, just a normal girl. While Reina is part of the Glowing Dawn and is an anchor to the "other". Tomoro met both at about the same time.
Chihiro is a cute character. I have a soft spot for child characters, so it doesn't take a lot to endear me to them. Quiet child with a powerful digimon, so some broad Hikari similarities.
The bullying storyline is a good addition to Beatbreak's list of heavy topics. Beatbreak's signature lack of subtly is on full display here, for better or for worse. We don't really dwell on it, it's just the catalyst for Chihiro's issues. But Chihiro's issues are given a lot of weight.
While I think the fandom has had a lot of discussion on how messed up it is that child cleaners are a thing, I think this is the first time that the messiness of children being involved in cleaner business is brought up in show.
I've said it before, but it is very notable that Tomoro is the only member of the Glowing Dawn who hasn't been a cleaner since he was about 9. While we don't know the details of Kyo's childhood, both Makoto and Reina have had to grow up fast, even before they got their Digimon partners. Tomoro meanwhile was almost coddled by his family. Despite the fact that his parents were arrested when he was 10, he was able to go to school normally and was provided for well enough by his brother. Tomoro has consistently been shown to be good with kids, or at least shows a great deal of empathy for them.
So Tomoro expressing concern for involving an elementary schooler in cleaner business while the others see zero problem with it does track. They don't know anything else.
She does seem even younger than Makoto though.
Congrats Little Rock AR on being the location of a fictional historical anime disaster I guess. (Maybe? Honestly hard to tell. Oklahoma City maybe? That whole area at least).
But… alas… what DOES this episode have to do with anything outside of introducing Kanon and Meto.
Don't get me wrong, I DO see where this COULD be going, with Algomon potentially being the instrument that brings about the birth of the digital world in this setting. The theme of a place where digimon and humans can coexist has been a reoccurring idea, and the digital world seems like the natural conclusion of that idea.
But speaking of Kanon and Meto, they're fun, if a little one note so far. Classic butch x femme duo. A trope with its origins in the Takarazuka Revue. A little unusual in a shonen setting, but very common in shojo. Like Rose, they seem to be a bit more well meaning than Klay/Tactics. Though their methods don't hold up to the Glowing Dawn's standards, we'll have to see if they have a darker side.
Pomumon's evolution to Tropiamon was completely expected, we can probably assume it's Adult is Parasaurmon, though I wonder if we'll see it. I also wonder if we'll see it become BloomLordmon because of how strongly it matchs Meto's aesthetic it seems a waste to skip that.
Alraumon becoming Oleamon was a surprise. Primarily because it is a digimon I completely forgot about. A relatively new digimon, that hasn't been in anything aside form a monster of the week in Ghost Game and the Vital Bracelet. It's potential Adult is completely up in the air though.
This episode does seem to mark the first time Digimon have caused problems on a wide spread scale within the context of the series. Obviously there have been some large catastrophes before, such as the Kano island incident and whatever US issue they mentioned this episode. Stuff like this was brought up before with the MarineBullmon fight. But that was still contained to the Glowing Dawn's headquarters.
Despite the OVA like story, or maybe more accurately because of it, the episode felt weirdly underhyped despite this being the first fight with major implications on the public and the introduction of what may end up becoming the Digital world.
Murasamemon cutting the bus in half was certainly a unique way of dealing with the problem. It was cool though.
Interesting that Chihiro was told about Nirinso and intends to go there. Will she go there in a future episode? We shall see. It'd be a weird thing to leave the episode off on otherwise.
Though its also a little weird that Chihiro and the Brilliant Thorn have to share a debut episode if Chihiro has a role to play later.
Maki episode next week it seems! Yay! Perhaps we shall finally learn about her time as a cleaner and what brought it to an end. I'm still predicting she was the former star of water, and considering we see some ice digimon that might be evidence.
