#raremon

The first ten episodes gives insight to how Digimon and their Owners are handled. Some use each other for their own benefits; others unknowingly cause a Digimon to hatch and wreak havoc. Some even use Digimon for their own gain. Some abandon their Digimon to fend off for themselves. Some even adopt a Digimon that isn’t theirs. There are all kinds of bonds, positive and negative. Episode 10 establishes one essential truth regarding a Digimon and their owner: A Digimon is a reflection of their owner. They are the side that one wishes to become or the one that is suppressed. Makoto and Chiropmon are similar in personality, hence why they were able to accept each other. Then, what is Gekkomon to Tomoro?

I get that Tomoro is a complex character, hence why some conflicts that center around him are easily piled onto him and only him like back in Episode 4 where people only blamed him and not Reina for their conflict. However, I do feel like people need to understand Tomoro’s circumstance. His parents were arrested by the Ministry when he was 10 years old. Why they were arrested was never explained and Asuka never told him the reason. Given that Tomoro has always been having issues with his faulty e-pulse growing up, he probably thought that it could be his fault, but no one blamed him. Because they no longer had their parents, Asuka, who was 17 years old at the time, had to drop out of school and his band to care for him. Tomoro probably blamed this on himself too because his brother had to give up a lot for him. For the next five years, Asuka takes care of him, but his brother still keeps secrets from him like what sort of job he has or what he’s been doing when he’s at school. While Asuka treats him like a child, Tomoro knows that being treated like a child only complicates things because, to him, it means that Asuka can’t trust him and it only makes the self-loathing grow even bigger. In a sense, Tomoro still doesn’t know how to process the fact that he keeps losing people around him and no one really gives a solid explanation. It’s because of this is why he has communication issues.

This is where Gekkomon comes in. He was born abruptly from Tomoro’s Sapotama. Because he disobeyed his brother’s orders and chased after Gekkomon, Asuka became a victim of Cold Heart. Yet, he never blamed it on Gekkomon. Instead, he just thinks that it’s his fault. I think that Gekkomon is the suppressed childish innocence that Tomoro lost. If you look at a flashback in Episode 2, Tomoro had a good relationship with his family; despite his faulty e-pulse, he was loved and adored as the youngest child in the family. However, all that changed when his family was torn apart. Because of that he couldn’t really be a child anymore, so he hides the selfishness that he once had just so his brother won’t find him a burden. This is why Gekkomon acts like he could be someone’s annoying younger brother. And since Tomoro was someone who was always being taken care of, Gekkomon came into his life where he wasn’t ready to take care of someone. He’s not in a position to fill in Asuka’s shoes. However, he still does care about Gekkomon as he got worried about him whenever he was being unruly.

Regarding Gekkomon, he was annoying in this episode, but the episodes with Pandamon does show that he can bond with others, but it’s mainly for his own selfish purposes. Gekkomon never really had someone to explain things to him as well, but Pandamon showed that he can be reasoned with. Though, there is one thing that I am curious about. If Digimon are born from the feelings of their Owners, why doesn’t Gekkomon seem understand how Tomoro feels about Asuka? Tomoro’s feelings are the strongest when it comes to his brother, so I do feel as if Gekkomon should have retained that part of his Owner, yet he doesn’t. All he has are the immaturity and childishness. I guess it could be due to the faulty e-pulse, but I feel as if the glitch is also an easy target to put blame on.

This episode also introduces one of the Five Stars, Kaito. Like his representative element, he is hot-headed and destructive. His partner being Flaremon does raise a lot of attention as Flaremon is an evolution of Coronamon, who is a partner Digimon in some Digimon games. To have a “good” Digimon be on the villain side is an interesting take… Anyways, the introduction of Kaito also reveals that Kyo used to be a part of the Five Stars. I feel like this was a theory majority had and I’m glad it’s confirmed.

However, a problem Beatbreak has is that it introduces important lore regarding characters but never gets elaborated. Like, how do Kyo and Asuka know each other? It never gets explained. Was Reina born an orphan or was she abandoned by her family? She still has yet to be in the spotlight. What was Makoto’s life like as a member of the Kuonji family? Never gets explained in favor of having his episodes be more focused on the Yamada family issues. Kyo was a member of the Five Stars? Doesn’t get touched upon. We’re already at the double digits in terms of episode count, at least explain! This is why Tomoro has communication issues!

Anyways, Digimon veterans return for this episode as Kaito is voiced by Yuichi Nakamura who voiced Charisma in Appmon and Ryuji Mishima in Hacker’s Memory. Outside of Digimon, I feel like anime fans know his name by now, but if you don’t know, Nakamura is the voice actor of Gojo from Jujutsu Kaisen, Umemiya in Wind Breaker and Shidou in Blue Lock. His partner Flaremon is voiced by Hisao Egawa who voiced Ogremon and Mugendramon in Adventure, and several Digimon in Ghost Game. Outside of Digimon, he’s the voice actor of Killer Bee from Naruto. Hosoda, Raremon’s Owner, is voiced by Taro Yamaguchi who voiced several Digimon in Ghost Game. The only Digimon first-timer in this episode is Raremon’s voice actor Joichiro Otsuki.

I apologize for how long this review has gotten. I do wonder how the conflict between Tomoro, Gekkomon and themselves will be resolved. Since there are two more weeks until 2026, I hope the payoff will be great because there were people who were expecting an evolution, but got an de-evolution instead. Will Kekomon turn back to Gekkomon next week? Will Gekkomon finally get an evolution before the end of the year? Let me know your thoughts and theories!