#azhdarmon

In spite of the dark themes, this episode answers a lot of questions you might not even realize! First off, the lady with the mask is the same one from Episodes 9-10. I thought she’d be the Sapotama creator given her voice actress is the same as the devices, but it seems that she’s just a trafficker who finally got caught in the end. Second, BomberNanimon and his Owner from Episode 13 make a return. Since they were taken away by Tactics at the end of the episode, it does show that Tactics takes bounties from unaffiliated Cleaners. This means that all of the people that were in the auction were Cleaners without a team, most likely, and captured by Tactics. If Haruomi and Commandramon had been captured, they would’ve been in the same situation as these poor people. Though, it does make you wonder what happens if they only capture the Owner and not the Digimon? That hasn’t been answered yet and I dread when it comes because it’s definitely not going to be pretty…

One of the things I liked about this episode is that Tomoro isn’t the one to make his Digimon go through Dark Evolution, but it’s Raito instead! I honestly think the trope where the MC goes through dark evolution wouldn’t work on Tomoro who is progressing through his character development. It was refreshing to see Raito do it instead and pay for the consequences. The fact that there wasn’t an actual evolution sequence and it was shown in real time indicates that this isn’t Rhamphomon’s true evolution or when Raito finally gains control of his e-pulse is when the actual evolution sequence will happen.

While Tomoro was being reckless in wanting to free all the trafficked people and Digimon, I like that his heart is in the right place. He felt especially bad for Yume, who is definitely the youngest of the trafficked people. The fact that Tomoro is slowly developing a soft spot for young children makes my heart warm because he’s being the big brother to others when he was the younger brother to his own big brother. Heck, he’s two years younger than Raito and he’s the one stopping the so-called genius from harming Monodramon.

Raito’s actions really makes him despicable, yet it also makes me curious on what his backstory is like. He’s clearly Tomoro’s shadow archetype in that he’s the one who has the most emphasis of Team 7 and he’s having a hard time controlling his emotions like Tomoro. The only difference is that Raito doesn’t have glitchy e-pulse. The fact that his backstory still hasn’t been revealed yet does prove my point. I wonder what will Raito’s path will be like…

I also like how everyone can see how sleazy and shady Klay is right from the get-go. Reina thinks he’s a slime ball and Maki certainly agrees. The fact that he’s only a big cleaner from behind the scenes does show that Cleaners are essentially a secret, underground job at the end of the day. The only person who seems to respect Klay is Naito. Heck, Naito is shown to be extremely psychotic at the end with him tying Raito to a chair and beating him up WITH HOTARUKO AND GRANIT RIGHT IN THE CORNER! THEY’RE HEARING AND WATCHING THIS UNFOLD WHILE THEY EAT! I need these two to experience the craziest karma.

Also, this week’s episode has an interesting cast member. Both Yume and her partner Tinkermon are voiced by Hakui Koyori, who is a V-tuber. I don’t really follow a lot of V-tubers, despite the fact that I also v-tube, so I don’t really know who she is, but it’s so cool that they’re casting all sorts of people whether it be big named voice actors to V-tubers. In all honesty, I think Hakui does a great job with making both characters sound different. I feel bad for Tinkermon who got deleted permanently…

Klay is voiced by Satoshi Mikami who makes his Digimon debut. Some of Mikami’s roles include Fennel from Delicious Party Precure, and Gallagher from Honkai Star Rail. He does a great job making Klay sound shady and sleazy—it’s definitely a perfect villain voice. Speaking of which, it doesn’t seem like the Ministry is aware that Klay is also the ringleader of the trafficking. It does make me wonder what will happen when he gets caught…

Beatbreak is certainly on the podium for the darkest Digimon anime by far. It does make me wonder what else they’re concocting. Next week’s episode has Tomoro and Gekkomon be taken to an illegal battle colosseum after an encounter with Gokuwumon… Would that be the equivalent of illegal dogfighting? Let me know your thoughts on this episode!