#koemon

Out of the Tactics trio, Hotaruko is the most compassionate as she was the only one against the idea of using young children as bait, as shown back in Episode 14. This correlates to the events of this episode as Hotaruko is revealed to have younger siblings, who are probably boy-girl twins, and a single mother who is raising three kids all on her own while running the okonomiyaki shop (okonomiyaki is Japanese savory pancakes). Her father had passed away, meaning that Hotaruko is essentially the eldest daughter in an Asian family in that all the pressure to help her family lies on her. However, she’s lying to her family.

If Reina and Granit are opposites in terms of how they view life and survival, then Makoto’s ‘rival’ and ‘opposite’ is Hotaruko. Both are similar in that their Digimon was the reason they lost everything. For Makoto, he lost his family and his cushy life at Shangri-la Egg. For Hotaruko, she was climbing up society by being a very studious girl and even graduated college by skipping grades, but by the time she got a job as a researcher, it all came to a stop when her Digimon was born and she now has to be a cleaner and live a rough life where she can’t see her family as often as she would like, but does it for their sake.

This is where Hotaruko’s feelings of antipathy comes into play. The moment she learns that Makoto used to live at the top of society but now is a Cleaner who works odd jobs and little pay, she gets angry because Makoto could easily try to climb his way to become a top Cleaner, or be someone accomplished despite his fall from glory, yet he chooses to be passive and soft-hearted about it all. She hates the fact that he has no motivations and no goals in life while she’s here trying to make end’s meet by working at a terrible job where her colleagues suck, her boss is strict as hell, and her boss’s boss is shady as heck. She essentially has no one to fully rely on other than herself as she’s the one who decided to join Tactics and go through such rigorous training and risk lying to her family because she doesn’t want them to worry and also doesn’t want anything bad happening to them. Remember that there are risks if people are associated with Cleaners.

However, I do think that Hotaruko is right in a way. While Glowing Dawn works and functions as a found family, Makoto can’t always be relying on Reina and Tomoro to help out. Sometimes, he needs to take matters into his own hands. It would also be good development for NightChiropmon as he hasn’t gotten the best track record by far. I get that Makoto and Chiropmon aren’t suited for combat, but if Ludomon who has yet to evolve and only function is to be a shield has more usage than a Champion-level Digimon at this point, you need major redemption at this point. However, Makoto’s greatest strength is that he’s kind. I honestly liked that he helped clean the broken shards of the okonomiyaki shop and doesn’t hold Hotaruko’s disdain against him. He’s going to kill with kindness.

I feel like the Digimon featured in this episode are just props instead of being super plot-relevant. Koemon wasn’t that significant.Though, the Burgermon and Burpmon duo is interesting in that they work in a symbiotic relationship, showcasing that stray Digimon can team up and benefit each other. It showcases how Digimon can survive in different ways like how Pandamon gets adopted by someone who’s not his Owner and lives a compelling life.

There are a lot of Digimon veterans in this week’s episode. Koemon is voiced by Makoto Tsumura who voiced my favorite Digimon protagonist Takato from Digimon Tamers. Tsumura also voiced Koemon in Ghost Game. Burgermon is voiced by Ayaka Saitou who voiced Pillomon and other Digimon in Ghost Game. Burpmon is voiced by Megumi Urawa who voiced Cody (Iori) Hida and Armadillomon/Armadimon from Adventure 02 and other Digimon characters in different media.

For the human characters, Hotaruko’s mother Nagisa is voiced by Mami Kingetsu, who makes her Digimon debut. Some of her roles include Miss Merry Christmas from One Piece and Alice from Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World. Kou, the brother, is voiced by Eriko Kadokura who voiced Tyumon and other minor characters in Ghost Game. Ao, the sister, is voiced by Honoka Mitsubishi who voiced Pyocomon in Ghost Game.

Beatbreak has been hitting it well with these past two episodes that humanizes the Tactics member. To be honest, Hotaruko is slowly becoming my favorite of the Tactics trio. However, it does seem like next week’s episode doesn’t seem to focus on Raito, but it could just be a case of the trailer not showcasing the important parts until the actual episode airs. I do wonder what Raito’s backstory is going to be like because he’s still the one with the worst impression. Let me know your thoughts on this episode!