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Digimon Tamers 35 - The Name's Dukemon! The True Ultimate Evolution / Give a Little Bit

Previously on Digimon Tamers: Leomon fucking died. I don't. I don't have a way to make that funny. He fucking died, y'all.

dr4coblade

I was waiting for this. This moment is still one of my favorites in Digimon, and helped cement Takato as my favorite Googlehead.

Finally, a Mega that felt earned - no last-minute prophecy bullshit, no magical plot device from the Exposition Dragon that only deigns to upgrade the central characters for some reason, but as the result of Takato's character arc that he has been building for some time now. He goes into deep introspection, comes out with a new understanding, and is reward with one of the most popular Megas in the franchise.

And yes, they did rewrite his epiphany for the dub, and I remember it falling a bit flat when I was watching it as a kid - but I didn't care, it was still the coolest thing I'd seen in Digimon at the time. The whole "not really alive" thing kinda came out of nowhere, anyway.

Oh, and the music - after two seasons of the dub just regurgitating the Digi-rap for every single transformation sequence, the new music was already a breath of fresh air. But then we reach this brand new final form, and the music actually changes to this sweet ethereal sound? I can't tell you how impactful that was on first viewing. I feel like this is the first season the dub team really paid attention to the soundtrack, and it shows here.

As for the form itself, Gallantmon is the first one to not be obviously derivative of Greymon's line. It still does the Greymon thing of abruptly 180ing from giant cyborg Dino to smaller humanoid warrior, but the similarities end there. Takato's still a fan of Greymon, but for this final form, when he's finally connected with his Digimon like never before, he's mainly doing his own thing.

Also, Gallantmon is a much, much better name than Dukemon - it's far more indicative of the "Noble Knight" thing Gallantmon has, plus it keeps the "G" theme of all his other forms' names. Besides, Dukes, Earls, Barons and the like have a long history of being the bad guys of English literature, so people in the West don't really associate them with knights to begin with.

Oh, and you know how the Digimon's voices and personalities didn't really change this season, no matter how how high up the evolutionary level they got? Well, here's it's finally subverted - Gallantmon is far more verbose than Takato or Guilmon ever was, because he's the end result of Takato's newfound maturity.

One final note - Beelzemon's line of "I don't recall asking for forgiveness" has been mentioned on TV Tropes for years, as a lampshade of how the classic "This is Unforgivable" line in Anime kinda falls flat to Western ears.

tobiasdrake

I wouldn't say it came out of nowhere. They've been bouncing back and forth the theme of what measure a digital life has since the beginning, it's just that it used to be a point of contention between Takato and other characters.

It started as:

Ruki: Digimon are just data. They aren't real living things. Takato: How can you say that!? Guilmon is a real living thing!

And then it became

Yamaki: Digimon are just data. Their existence has no value and I'm going to destroy them all. Takato: How can you say that!? Guilmon is a real living thing!

And let's not forget.

Takato: Don't you worry that Terriermon will disappear some day? Jianliang: Not really. He's just data. It's not like he's a real living thing. Takato: How can you say that!? Guilmon is a real living thing!

The early arc was full of Takato shouting down everyone about how Guilmon is totally 100% completely real and valid and should be acknowledged as a living creature.

Which is why it hit him so hard when Mizuno told him, "Yeah, he's a bunch of data assembled in the image of your blueprint."

Because if Guilmon is data then it means everyone else was right and he was wrong. Guilmon is not a real living thing. He never was. Takato was talking out of his ass in every single one of those altercations and doesn't he feel foolish now?

Which brings him around to his epiphany that it doesn't matter that Guilmon is data; He can be a real living thing anyway. After shouting "He's NOT just data, he's REAL" over and over and then finding out he's just data, this episode sees Takato having to find his way back to "But he's still real anyway".

Is he? Dukemon/Gallantmon feels very much in line with the design philosophy behind Omegamon/Omnimon and Imperialdramon Fighter/Paladin Mode. So much so that Digimon lore would later create a whole category, the Royal Knights, to connect Omegamon and Dukemon as the same Kind of Thing.

Takato just made his own big fusion armored knight warrior. The main difference being that he's filling the role of the other fused entity rather than having Terriermon or Renamon do it.

dr4coblade

Eh, Takato's never shown to be a fan of Davis or Veemon's evolutions. Besides, Imperaldramon is only similar in being humanoid, he's not a knight of any kind. I certainly never made any connection between them. Then again, I never saw the second movie as a kid, and only sort of knew about Paladin Mode.

Still, I like how Guilmon's final form is not "WarGreymon, but better," like all his other forms were. Even if he's similar to other Digimon, I find him unique enough in his own right.

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tobiasdrake

Digimon Tamers 35 - The Name's Dukemon! The True Ultimate Evolution / Give a Little Bit

Previously on Digimon Tamers: Leomon fucking died. I don't. I don't have a way to make that funny. He fucking died, y'all.

dr4coblade

I was waiting for this. This moment is still one of my favorites in Digimon, and helped cement Takato as my favorite Googlehead.

#digimon tamers #digimon tamers blind watch in two languages #digimon

tobiasdrake

Digimon Tamers 34 - The Kind-Hearted Hero Leomon Dies / Lionheart

Previously on Digimon Tamers: Shaochung got bored of not being in the show so she pretended to be Terriermon so hard it tricked the Digital World and brought her inside. Andiramon agreed to be her Tamer, but it grossed out the Digimon God who fired Andiramon on the spot.

Today, Davis has promised that we'll find out what kind of Partner Digimon a former Deva will be like.

erior

Oh boy this one really comes out of nowhere and hits hard... Anyway, first, Leomon's expanded flavor to get it out of the way:

From the toys, his Child form was intended to be Elecmon, of course his Ultimate would be SaberLeomon, but his Perfect would be newly introduced GrappLeomon, whose debut IS on a Tamers themed card game pack, and not on Digimon World 3 as Bearmon's Perfect (that game has weird choices for the branching evolution lines, and specifically awkward choices for Bearmon, Kotemon and Koemon, who don't quite get tailor-made lines for the fist/sword/gun intended focus).

Anyway GappLeomon is cool and Juri should have debuted him:

On the Digital Hazard, well, remember Takato's drawing of Guilmon?

A certain symbol is missing... Guess the DigiGnomes understood Takato's wish for a very strong partner in an awkward way, and shoved into his data makeup pretty much literally hellish power. Because Guilmon's line is more of a hellspawn than a dinosaur. We are threading the line as our Guilmon is a sweetheart and even if following his Virus line he is sticking to the more controlled standard version rather than the Black version, but he still has quite wild instincts and a Viral hellspawn nature, so it is relatively easy to go through a darker path. And heart-on-sleeve Takato seeing a friend be killed, and the partner of the friend he is smitten with to boot, kinda leads to brutal rage and a surefire path to Dark Evolution. To Ultimate to boot. For the record, Beelzebumon has a modified version of the Digital Hazard symbol in his sleeves near his shoulder; may be related to shifting purpose on his usage as Tamers' planning went on. And, even if the Digital Hazard is quite linked to Guilmon's line in the franchise as a whole, the ACTUAL "strongest Child" also features it (and said Child is consistently used as "may be a better choice than Ultimates" in V-pets and RPGs after all). Still, Juri lost her partner but not her Ark. Takato still has his partner, but his Ark has ceased to be, and thus he is not a tamer anymore. Nice read on Beelzebumon's actions, for the record. At the end of the day, he is just Impmon throwing a tantrum while attempting to power trip. And he has gotten Leomon killed in his bullshit.

And, Lopmon being the one Deva to not be an ass could have sorted out issues. Then again, spoiler warning, a certain red bird has issues being an asshole as well, and that wasn't the optimal way. Interesting things are to happen with Juri and Beelzebumon anyway. Down to the final episode.

dr4coblade

Kenta looks up at the Real World sphere?

I don't know, does he or doesn't he? I'm not the one writing this recap!😆

You remember how you mentioned last episode that this version of Antylamon is different from the classic Antylamon? so much so that they are considered different evolutions altogether?

Well, this bit of lore dump actually justifies it - it's not technically an Antylamon, it's a completely new Digimon created whole cloth that just looks like Antylamon. Apparently, the Devas really wanted a rabbit, but didn't want to outsource either, so they just made up their own.

Also, if this Sovereign-original version of Antylamon was created whole cloth, that puts a new spin on Lopmon. Technically, God didn't "revert" Antylamon back into her Rookie form - she didn't have a Rookie form before now - so much as create a brand-new, much less powerful form for her to exist as.

...Which makes a lot of sense, really. If Takato can subconsciously create more powerful forms for his Digimon OC, then it stands to reason he can subconsciously make less powerful forms, too. He may have already, we just have yet to see it. Something to keep in mind.

I would call this conversation massive death flags for Leomon but the episode is titled "The One Where Leomon Fucking Dies". I think we're a bit past flags.

Is this a Moral Guardians thing? Like, "let's let the kiddies know this shocking thing is totally going to happen this episode, so they'll see it coming and won't be traumatized?" Because this happens a lot in anime.

Well, you've done a shit job of it so far! Hell, it's kinda implied that you're only here right now because, once again, Catsuramon's making you. It's probably no coincidence that you only showed up after God's Roar.

I'd like to make a note - Beelzemon's the only Digimon whose voice does change when he Digivolves. He still has that Brooklyn accent, but it's a lot more mature sounding.

That said, it's clearly only skin deep - as the series has been showing, just because you've grown bigger and stronger doesn't mean you've actually grown up.

But now we're saying that no, Culumon isn't necessary for activating Matrix Evolution? We just need the Blue Card?

Or, alternatively, Calumon is close enough that the Tamers can invoke his powers from where they are - though if that is the case, they don't do a good job showing it.

Guardromon raises his arms and fires twin Destruction Grenades. Beelzebumon spins his motorcycle, easily evading the blasts before circling around to face Guardromon again.

Why Beelzebumon would feel the need to doge an Adult's attacks when he tanked a Perfect's is never eleaborated on.

I have more notes, but it's getting late, so I'll save them for later.

tobiasdrake

What, the practice of anime title spoilers?

No, to my best understanding, that happens because anime has a different relationship with "spoiler culture" than western media.

It's a marketing thing. Moments like the death of Leomon aren't treated like hidden secrets to be discovered by watching the episode but as WTF Hype Moments to build immediate intrigue.

Leomon dies? LEOMON DIES??? What the fuck do you mean, Leomon dies!? Well, now you're gonna have to watch the episode if you want to find out. You know Leomon dies, but how Leomon dies, why Leomon dies, what possible chain of events could result in Leomon dying, that's all the hook.

Note that they're not alone in this, either. Comic books will title story arcs things like "The Death of Spider-Man" and then make you read six issues to find out how and why Spider-Man dies.

The conventional wisdom is that spoilers always ruin the experience, but marketing has been using tactical spoilers to create hype forever.

dr4coblade

Oh, yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Don't know why I didn't think of it before.

Anyway, back to the ending scene - and oh boy, is there a lot to talk about here.

Now, obviously, both Leomon's death and Guilmon's dark Digivolution are callbacks to similar events in Adventure, just combined and with much greater dramatic effect.

Leomon's death in Adventure was certainly sad - but it also happened in the B plot, totally divorced from the actual main story. Tai and most of the kids never even learned about it before the series was over, and only after we get reassurance that Leomon and all the other Digimon killed by the Dark Masters will totally come back anyway (which he never does. Nor does Ogremon. I don't like season 2 much).

Here, Leoman was a principle character for a while now, teamed up with our hero's main love interest, and while he never really had much in the way of the spotlight - had to make room for Player Insert Character, I guess - he was still a constant presence for the past few episodes, a comforting fatherly/brotherly figure the others could depend on, especially his own Tamer.

And this makes it even devastating when he dies, for the main characters and the audience. Unlike Adventure, Leomon's never coming back - Beelzemon downloads his data, just to make that abundantly clear. It's also the first time a Digmon partner actually dies on screen. It's annoying that this started the "Leomon dying" trend, but divorced from that it's still a really good scene.

Likewise we get another Dark Digivolve scene, that clearly calls back to the last time this happened - but the stakes are higher here. This is not the main character getting too big for his britches for one episode and overfeeding his Digimon. Guimon's dark Mega form is not going to rampage for 20 seconds and then revert back with no actual harm done. This is our hero - normally a sweet, mature "average kid", in contrast with our last two leads - completely losing his shit and ordering his partner to murder the fuck out out the guy who just killed their friend. Honestly, the fact that it's Takato saying this makes this scene hit way harder for me then if it was a more hot-blooded protagonist - the contrast is far more jarring that way.

Another major difference is that Guilmon is arguably in complete lock-step with Takato here. This is not like Adventure, where Augmon clearly wasn't going along with Tai's efforts to evolve him and was being overfed and abused. Takato wants Beelzemon dead, well, so does Guilmon. Takato pushes Guilmon to Digivolve past his limits with the power of hate, consequences be dammed, and Guilmon happily obliges (well, as happily as a feral berserker can be, anyway). It's not the first time we see how the human can negatively affect their Digimon, but by far the most memorable. It's enough to make me think that Guilmon's "Feral Mode" came at least in part from Takato himself, from a part of him that not even Takato knew he had.

Also, to address this:

I also was not prepared for it to happen this quickly. Juri only got one serious Tamer Fight with Leomon before his death! I hope this doesn’t mean she’s being written out.

Eh, well.... the good new is, that doesn't happen. The bad news is, well, you'll see.