Arum Journal

Still, Asuka is honestly one of the best brothers in the Digimon franchise by far. Heliosboamon was born because of his desire to protect Tomoro. Heck, Asuka even frantically searched for Tomoro when he got abducted by a Kuwagamon when he was eleven and Asuka was around eighteen or nineteen. It does make sense why Asuka never told Tomoro about all his knowledge of Digimon until now. His grandfather went missing and parents were all targeted by the Ministry just for being anti-Sapotama, so Asuka couldn’t trust them. Revealing about Digimon to Tomoro early on would’ve been risky for both brothers. However, I can’t help but to feel bad for both Asuka and Heliosboamon. I feel bad for Asuka because he knows a lot about his family situation than Tomoro does but since he’s protective of his little brother, he kept quiet about it. I feel bad for Heliosboamon because they were born from Asuka’s warm protective emotions, which made them a warm, gentle Digimon, but their ability of absorbing the e-pulse of anyone they touched only caused others harm hence why they retreated into a slumbering state, aka the White Core.

However, this does raise a lot of questions. How did Asuka birth a Digimon that’s already in its Ultimate form? Why is Heliosboamon so special that it had a harmful ability despite its gentle nature? Since Heliosboamon’s Mega form seems to be the rumored and elusive Atratusmon that showed up in the TCG, it does make me wonder if it’ll be the final boss and if the Shangri-la Project results in the same phenomenon that occurred during that incident. Since Tomoro’s glitchy e-pulse also seems to be a factor into the evolution, it does make me wonder if they need all of it or just some of it. I feel like they might need all of it since the first time was incomplete. This also raises some question on how Genjo was able to figure everything out when the incident happened around four years ago. In some cultures, white snakes symbolize purity, spiritual transformation or a deceptive force disguised as something holy…

How Kyo got his burn scar was also revealed in this episode—it was all to protect Heliosboamon from Flaremon and Kaito. The rivalry between Kaito and Kyo did feel like it’s more one-sided on Kaito’s side. The fanbase does like to joke that Kyo has a lot of evil ex-boyfriends, but Kaito might be the one who can’t get over him the most. It does make me wonder if Kaito will switch sides once he makes amends with Kyo because he has all the qualms to turn because he doesn’t care much for Wong and is also suspicious of Genjo.

I also noticed how Beatbreak has this tendency to make Tomoro get abducted once per arc. The only time he didn’t get abducted was the Kyo arc, so they made up for it by having him get abducted on-screen twice in this episode. He got abducted when he was eleven and then during the ending present day. This makes the total go up to five. Usually, younger siblings in Digimon are used for plot device, which is still true for Tomoro’s case, but this time, he’s the plot device younger sibling AND the MC. Kid cannot catch a break; he’s legit the story’s Princess Peach at this point…

Anyways, young Kaito is voiced by Umeka Shoji who voiced Eri in Appmon. Honestly, a surprise casting choice, but a welcomed one since Beatbreak loves to cast Digimon returnees; remember that Kaito’s adult VA, Yuichi Nakamura, voiced Charismon in Appmon as well. The burglar, Miyama (as stated in the credits), is voiced by Reiji Kawashima who voiced Yuto Takanashi in Ghost Game; outside of Digimon, he’s known for voicing Fushi in To Your Eternity, Finn Ames in Mashle and Nakao in Hana-Kimi. Kuwagamon is voiced by Ryosuke Asano who voiced Snimon in an earlier episode.

I do wonder if Tomoro will get fully Cold-Hearted for an episode or two. I feel like Tomoro being in danger might be the trigger that can snap Asuka out of his controlled state, if it is possible. I’m just worried that next week’s episode is just full of fighting between GD and the Five Stars. Let me know your thoughts on this episode…

You can tell that Sitara mildly looks down on the Mongols’ supposed lack of intelligence due to the lack of scribes and people who can do reading and writing jobs. This is due to all the intelligent people being a part of Tolui’s faction; does that mean they’re fighting alongside Tolui or is he just hoarding them all? Anyways, this is why Sitara revealed her prior allegiance to Sorghaghtani so easily to Boraqchin because Moge isn’t the brightest, so she assumed the Great Empress would be the same.

I do like that the talk of immortality is brought up again. Sitara knows that immortality isn’t a real thing due to her meeting Master Changchun but she still knows the concepts of alchemy and the components to create an elixir via the text. The way she mentions each ingredient does make me wonder if Boraqchin is going to poison someone with all this newfound knowledge. While it does seem like she’s seeking out immortality, there is some emphasis on how some ingredients are poisonous and that Sitara points out that Boraqchin’s sickly constitute could be a result of poisoning. The way Sitara made medicine from the jada stone and gave it to her does indicate that she’s scheming something, especially since she did get better with Sitara’s help.

By the way, there is some mentions of Christianity during Sorghagtani’s segment where she was praying to God on a cross. It turns out that she’s Christian, but a specific type called Nestorianism. If you look up some texts, the real Sorghaghtani Beki was actually Nestorian Christian, so I found that cool since Christianity is mostly a Western religion and probably not commonly practiced in 13th century Asia (Please correct me if I’m wrong). Other than that, the way Sorghagtani was praying despite Hulegu commenting on it does make it seem like Tolui won’t be successful with conquering Kaifeng…

Other than that, it was cool seeing the cooking segments. I’m going to end my review here because this episode was mostly one where questions are formed for answers later on. I can’t wait to see how everything will transpire next episode. Let me know your thoughts!

The whole Gratitude Day stuff is honestly adorable. However, I can tell it’s foreshadowing Sheena’s possible future: finding a way to get reverse Mimi’s immortality. All the hints are shown with her interest in finding a way for Mimi to stop fighting and that she has healing magic that’s not brought into the spotlight just yet due to its weak powers.

The two older girls who were kissing on the staircase in the first episode are revealed in this episode—well, just one of them. The brown-haired girl’s name is Esther and she lost her roommate and girlfriend. This is the first time an older student is shown and it just showcases the cruelty of war. No matter how much you love someone, war will drive them apart and only grief remains. Esther uses Gratitude Day as a way to get rid of her girlfriend’s stuff, which is sad, but understandable. She is voiced by Haruka Shiraishi who always seems to appear in some anime I watch for reviews… I mean, she’s still a talented voice actress nonetheless. She voiced Luna in Champignon Witch, Reiko Kujirai in Kowloon Generic Romance and Karen Morita in Blue Box.

Because of the nature of war in this story, Mimi’s status as a living weapon has made her take lives without much thought. This has made Sheena conflicted because she cares a lot about Mimi, but her taking lives without hesitation does raise a question if Mimi will kill her fellow students without remorse if given the orders. It’s also risky to make Mimi think about the preciousness of lives. Fran even makes a good point: it’s either Mimi or the students. Mimi has to keep fighting to protect the world and prevent an increase in student casualties but if she refuses to fight, then the students have to fight in her place and there will be more deaths. Both sides warrant unhappiness either way. It’s really unfair, in a way. 

I’m doing my best not to reveal too much since I read the manga, but the theories I’ve concocted are the ones I genuinely had when I was reading it. Oh yeah, Haru also showed up in the episode, but she didn’t do much; she’s still very elusive. Anyways, if you’re not familiar with daisies, in the flower language, it symbolizes innocence, purity, loyal love, etc. All of these fit Sheena and Mimi both in their relationship and them as characters in a way. Let me know your thoughts on this episode!

Akiha is quite the character. Him being on campus to scout boys does make him seem like a weirdo at first, but it turns out that he’s allowed on campus as he’s an alumnus. He also had a crush on Umeda when he was a student that still seems to present even as an adult; he’s quite something if he can make the resident man-killer Umeda start panicking. However, he’s also a divorced man and his ex-wife Ebi is still a co-worker. He has quite the spontaneous life, honestly. Regardless, he takes pride in his job as a photographer. Honestly, I do like that the anime’s budget went up a bit for this episode because all of those photos were really good quality. The fact that he mostly does monochrome photographs is quite interesting. I know nothing about photography, but I do wonder how monochrome differs from other types.

However, what the whole modeling thing did bring on a positive note is that it made Mizuki horny for Sano. I honestly like that Mizuki’s eyes are only for Sano and her feelings are both pure and impure. I need more shoujo heroines horny for their love interests, honestly! That girl was dreaming about Sano to the point that it made her sleeping habits even worse by clinging onto him like a koala to the point that he had to sleep on the floor because his feelings for her are also growing stronger by the day.

Ebi is voiced by Yumi Uchiyama who voiced Fran in Kimi Shinu and Sakurazawa in Daemons of the Shadow Realm. The entitled model Mari is voiced by Yukiyo Fujii who voiced Sailor Saturn in Sailor Moon Crystal and Stella in Digimon Beatbreak. Given that the next episode continues with the modeling mini-arc, I can’t wait to see more of Ebi. She seems cool; Mari, not so much…

Also, props to Ebi for figuring out Mizuki’s gender unknowingly. Hopefully, Sano will forgive Mizuki next episode because he’s still a big softie for her regardless. I honestly wonder what the next part of the story will be about. I’ll have to wait a week to find out. Let me know your thoughts on this episode!

The episode does jump around from several perspectives, but the main focus was definitely Gabby vs Akio. That flight was pretty cool. Though, I do have to commend Misaki Kuno’s voice acting because she’s usually voicing cuties, so for her to voice a hot-blooded loll like her and use a lower range to speak is honestly so cool. Akio’s Daemons, Mountain God, were pretty formidable, but they don’t seem too strong as combat-based mons. Gabriel easily annihilated them. Also, I was chuckling when Midori showed up and enveloped Akio in his balls. I think that was the most expressive he has been so far.

Gonzo Kagemori proves yet again why he is OP. His main Daemon is Hyakki Yako, which translates to Night Parade of Hundred Demons. It’s something that’s mentioned in some yokai stories, like Yohaji and even in The Case Study of Vanitas where the Charlatan’s parade is loosely based on that concept. He’s here collecting Daemons like Pokemon. Also, I find the switching between Natsuki and Asa creatively pulled because in the previous episode, Natsuki’s eyes were covered by her glasses, so it was hard to tell what was wrong with her. Natsuki and Asa share the same hair color and are about the same height, but they have different eye colors, so making the glasses shine conceal them was clever because the eye color would be a dead giveaway.

I still can’t help but to commend how active Yuru is. Even when laying low, he doesn’t hesitate to turn his situation into his favor. All those weapons he crafted with Ken had purpose: they were used for protection. The grappling hook he made was pretty creative. Still, Shingo had the upper hand since he has Daemons while Yuru’s are preoccupied with Ivan, which he doesn’t know about.

Anyways, the battle of the daemons are hilarious when you realize that they’re all voiced by Ayumu Murase, aside from Bunbun and Torty. Natsuki’s daemons are Namomihagi, which are based on the Namahage. If you watched My New Boss is Goofy, you might be familiar with them as Shirosaki is afraid of them.

Honestly, I feel bad for the Kuroya siblings the most. Their youngest is the traitor and they can’t do anything about it. I do hope they get some questions out of him soon. Why did he betray them? It doesn’t seem like Akio is working for Asuma or Shingo… who is he working for, then? Let me know your thoughts!

I do like how different each brother thinks. Tolui isn’t as intelligent as his older brothers, but he has the best mindset when it comes to war and attrition. Ogedei, despite his own set of cruelties, seems to desire community due to his desire of wanting a hub city. Chagatai seems like the guy who sucks up to those higher up in power just so he doesn’t cause any instability, but secretly disagrees with mostly everything Ogedei concocts. They’re not evil for the sake of being evil, but they have nuances to them.

I do like that the conversation between Moge and Boraqchin rivals Toregene and Sitara. People say that Moge is a foil of Sitara, but I think that’s false; she’s more of a foil towards Toregene in that both have to rely on the more intelligent. By the way, Boraqchin is the Khatun, or the Empress, since she is Ogedei’s first wife. She is a brilliant woman who’s unfortunately bedridden due to illness. In a way, Boraqchin is Sitara’s unknown rival in that both have brilliant plans but are handling them differently. For Sitara, she believes that letting Tolui conquer Kaifeng is for the best, while Boraqchin thinks it should be stopped. I honestly wait to see which side will win in this game of strategy.

Boraqchin is voiced by Kujira who voiced Orochimaru in Naruto, Sakura Ogami in Danganronpa and Ikki Juno in Journal with Witch. There are also an influx of new characters introduced in the kurultai. There are Jochi’s two sons—Jochi’s passing is finally mentioned, by the way. Anyways, his first son is Orda (the one in yellow) who’s voiced by Masayuki Sato; Sato mostly voices supporting characters in various media. His second son is Batu who is voiced by Sohei Horikane who also voiced various supporting characters in various media. There’s also Otai who’s name his father Temuge can’t get right; he’s voiced by Shuichi Uchida who also voiced various supporting characters in various media. It does make me wonder if they’ll all play some part in the story in the future…

There are also a few returning characters like Chinqai. Remember him? He’s the Uyghur man from Episode 3! He’s now working under Ogedei. Shira also returns briefly. Qadaq also returns, but I do wonder who he’s working for. I’m guessing he works for someone in Chagatai’s faction or one of Ogedei’s wives? I honestly can’t wait to see what happens next. Let me know your thoughts on this episode!

Seeing Lara struggle with job interviews and never getting a response back just got me having my own war flashbacks of trying to find jobs in my 20’s. Job boards really do have weird specifications despite the fact that you’re qualified most of the time… Fortunately, both Lara and Mari get hired at a cake shop with its building looking like a castle. Mari handles the front while Lara works in the kitchen. By the way, did anyone notice that the cake shop is called Anderken, which is based on Hans Christian Andersen, the author of The Little Mermaid?

My only issue with this episode is the fact Lara is very hasty and impatient with her job. She never gets severely punished for rushing things. On top of that, I don’t think Lara has a time limit or anything regarding her goal to find true love. I feel like someone should’ve told her a lesson about how rushing and being impatient won’t get her anywhere. I think the only lesson she got out of her job is that there are sides to many people, but I feel like it wasn’t shown enough.

The abrupt reunion between Lisa and Lara does make it seem as if the story is setting up Lisa to be the main antagonist and not Grace. She has disdain towards humans despite having human legs. Come to think of it, Grace was being pretty vague about the royal family going to sleep; she didn’t say all of them were. Did she know Lisa was missing and didn’t say anything about it? Other than that, I don’t think Kota is dead because when the fish rock thing crashed into the car, you can see something fall into the water last minute—though, it could just be car pieces…

The shop owner, Seta, is voiced by Kenji Fukuda who voiced Mayu’s father in Wonderful Precure. Ishiyama, one of the male employees, is voiced by Tasuku Kaito, who voiced Bachira in Blue Lock. Like I mentioned before, I do like that they don’t cast super popular voice actors for this anime and use mostly ones with some experience under their belts or a complete rookie like Mari’s voice actress.

Also, am I the only one who sensed death flags towards Lara when she used the camera? Will Lara die to restore her family back after finding true love? It does give off that she’ll have to go away after finding love given her special powers and such. I do wonder what’s going to happen towards the end… Let me know your thoughts on this episode!

The flashback of how Kyo and Asuka met was super cute. Asuka was a super extrovert while Kyo was an introvert who got into fights. The orphanage Kyo was in was a facility run by Tasuku Tenma, Asuka and Tomoro’s grandfather, who was housing orphans affected by the Kano Island incident, with Kyo being one of them. The way they met and how they became friends was adorable, but since the title of the episode is called “Cherry Blossom Friendship”, it was short-lived due to cherry blossoms symbolizing impermanence; it also means rebirth because meeting and caring for Asuka caused Kyo to be reborn as a Cleaner when Cougarmon was born. This means that Kyo became a Cleaner at 7 and lived that life for around three years before becoming a member of the Five Stars at 11 (It’s three, not four because Kyo was 7 going on 8).

A few details of the Kyo and Asuka flashback you might have missed: there’s a shot where Kyo and Asuka have a glimpse of Shangri-la Egg and it’s in the same state as it was during Maki’s flashback, meaning it was 15 years ago. A staff member that worked on this episode confirmed Asuka’s age in the flashback to be 7 as the staff mentioned Asuka’s behavior and movements was based on their friend’s seven-year-old son, which is cute. Since the current year in the story is 2050, the flashback took place 2035 and, since it’s spring, this means that Tomoro was only around 2 months old at the time (he was born January 20). It’s kind of hilarious knowing that Kyo and Asuka were having the time of their lives while Maki was out fending for her life in the same year and had to experience Panjyamon dying too…

I also like that this flashback gives a lot of insight to Dr. Tenma. He opened up the Sakura Orphanage because of his regrets for the casualties caused by him and Chairman Wong. He’s also the creator of the Sapotamas, but warned Asuka and Kyo to be cautious of them. He also seemed to be on good terms with his family as Asuka came to visit him occasionally and was even a drummer like his grandsons; given his hair color being closer to Asuka than Tomoro’s, he’s definitely his paternal grandfather as Papa Tenma has brown hair while Mama Tenma has purple with the yellow streak. Also, Yoshimura even tells Tomoro how he and Dr. Tenma go way back and it makes me wonder why this hasn’t been brought up until now… I wonder about Dr. Tenma’s current whereabouts…

With Kishiwada instilling himself as a prominent character for this final arc, I can’t help but wonder what role he’s going to play. A part of me thinks he’s going to be the final boss, but then that would make Genjo wasted potential since there were a lot of hints that Genjo would be the final boss. On the other hand, we don’t even know who Kishiwada is; is he human? Digimon? Also, why does he know so much about the White Core and how it harbored Asuka’s Digimon?

Yeah, the twist of Asuka becoming possessed was obvious, but I didn’t expect that Asuka would give birth to a Digimon with a power very similar to the one that Wong is seeking out. On top of that, it happened four years ago, meaning it hatched a year after the Tenma parents got arrested. Heliosboamon has a sun motif and Gekkomon has a moon motif. Are they trying to create an mon with an eclipse motif or something?

Speaking of Heliosboamon, they’re voiced by Yukana who voiced Lalamon and her evolution line in Digimon Savers and New Century as well as Sistermon Ciel in Ghost Game. I’m using they/them because I don’t know what gender Heliosboamon is; they could be female due to the female voice actress but they could be male with a female voice like Mephismon. Also, the pink-haired nurse is voiced by Megumi Toyoguchi who voiced Rui’s mother in 02: The Beginning; outside of Digimon, she’s known for voicing Dawn from the Pokemon anime and Junko Enoshima in Danganronpa. Also, why do people think she’s Jokermon’s Owner from Episode 28? Their voice actresses are different, meaning that they’re not the same person!  Oh and if you're wondering about the voice actresses for young Kyo and Asuka...they're voiced by Pristimon and Maki's respectively.

Anyways, with the good news that Rose has been restored from Cold Heart, it does seem like she’ll be playing an active role later on but helping Kyo and his family. This would mean that Kaito and Honoka are not going to be active for the climax. Kaito has shown up a few episodes ago to stop Brilliant Thorns, but what has Honoka contributed to the story? I feel like she’s going to be the most wasted potential… Let me know your thoughts on this episode!