Essential Avengers: Avengers West Coast #92: When GOLIATHS Clash!!!!
March, 1993
When GOLIATHS Clash!
Cover text drops three of the exclamation points. That or Spider-Man is hiding them.
Four exclamation points is so many exclamation points for a Hawkeye!Goliath/Josten!Goliath fight.
This is not a much hyped and anticipated grudge match. And yet! The splash page is VERY excited about it.
See?
Last times on Avengers West Coast: Ultimate Ultron attacked Avengers West Compound and trashed the place while stealing the various broken Ultron corpses Hank Pym had left in his lab.
Ultron also kidnapped Mockingbird and made himself a new robot wife. One unburdened with morality the way Jocasta had been! But she had different murder priorities than Ultron and was casually familiar in a way he didn't like so it didn't seem like the relationship was going to work out, even before the Avengers launched the pair into space.
But that's where we are. The Compound is all smashed up and the Avengers are picking up the pieces.
As someone painted on the roof, at some point some Goliaths are gonna clash!!!!.
US Agent asks whether they're getting replacement Quinjets any time soon.
Ultron knocked one out of the sky and Scarlet Witch crashed another one into him. So they're down two out of. Some number.
Marvel wiki says there Compound hanger has space for four Quinjets. So they might be down to half.
Unfortunately, with Tony Stark dead, currently, Stark International is putting up a lot of red tape in the replacement process.
US Agent: "Boy, since you switched from being Hawkeye to playing Goliath, even your excuses have gotten bigger!"
The Avengers are just back from Carlos' funeral (member of the Compound staff, killed by Ultron) so Clint has 0 patience for US Agent's shit right now.
He almost hauls off and giant-sized punches him but Mockingbird asks him if punching US Agent is really how Clint wants to spend the afternoon. Insinuation, insinuation, subtext, subtext.
She suggests the two of them head inside now that the divorce is off and leave US Agent alone (tfw no love interest) to clear rubble on his own.
Kinda rude. Undoubtedly funny.
Meanwhile, Spider-Woman is moving Rachel out of the Compound. Originally, she was going to move her in, since she's a single mom now and it would be easier to take care of her if she was where Julia worked. And where could be safer than a superhero headquarters! Buuut after a big murder robot attack, Julia has reconsidered.
Spider-Woman got a place in Newport Beach. And Consuela Sanchez, the recurring support staff member, got spooked by Carlos' death and quit the Avengers... to take a job watching Rachel in Newport Beach while Spider-Woman is Avengersing.
A somewhat safer job but she's still helping out the Avengers.
Living Lightning came back from USC to attend the funeral but now he's wondering whether he should quit college and come back to help the Avengers.
I haven't mentioned Wonder Man being around despite Wonder Man being one of the mainstays of the Avengers West team.
The reason for that is that Wonder Man is not around.
Wonder Man's solo series is not available on Marvel Unlimited and the wiki doesn't have a synopsis. But my source for reading order does have a synopsis for what's happening over in Wonder Man.
Ever since Operation: Galactic Storm and the Nega-Bomb that affected Wonder Man's powers, he's only been able to get his powers to work by getting RAGED UP. And he's also been having ionic discharges that start causing powers in his supporting cast.
His behavior prompts one of his friends to call the Avengers West Coast to come check on him and yadda yadda, big misunderstanding fight. Not helped by Wonder Man's anger and self-worth issues making him decide he's just a living engine of destruction, not a hero, and not even a person.
Long story short, Wonder Man quits the Avengers. And since that's the direction of his solo book, the Avengers can't really talk him out of this and just shrug and leave.
Comic books! The 90s!
Anyway. The Avengers West have lost heavy-hitters Iron Man and Wonder Man so Living Lightning is thinking maybe the Avengers need him more than he needs a college education.
(And as we know from Peter Parker, Terrible Multitasker, its really hard to do both superheroics and college at the same time.)
Scarlet Witch tells him that the Avengers are always in one crisis or another. If he waits on the Avengers to be in a good spot before doing college, he'll probably never get to do college. She tells him go do degree and then if he wants his post-graduate career to be Avengers, then they can talk.
Wanda drives off with Spider-Woman, Rachel, and Consuela. And wonders if she said the right thing. She's in a time of uncertainty and flux herself. She finally gave up on Vision so she can build her post-marriage life.
Elsewhere, the media.
Meggan McCambridge is a journalist and she had a galaxy-brain idea. Most of the other journalists covering superhero shit today are at the Avengers Compound, peering through the gate and trying to confirm rumors that the Avengers might relocate after the Ultron attack.
Meggan, though, she's working a different angle. News has leaked that Hawkeye went and Goliath'd so she's at jail, hoping to interview the villain Goliath, Erik Josten.
She even talked the guard into putting Josten in his Goliath outfit because that makes better TV.
Josten Goliath isn't very communicative. Because they keep him sedated so he won't break out and wreck havoc.
And this system worked perfectly until Meggan McCambridge mentions Josten Goliath recently went on a rampage against Wonder Man.
Erik!Goliath suddenly snaps to attention and demands to know where Wonder Man is.
He OH YEAHs through the roof of the jail and stomps off looking for Wonder Man.
Good job, Meggan McCambridge. You really did a thing that should have been harmless but somehow had a huge impact because comic books run on drama.
Also, I kind of love when comic books have to explain why supervillains are allowed to keep their costumes in jail. This is one of the more plausible explanations. That Josten wasn't allowed. And that giving it back to him was a bad decision made by a guard who was doing a favor for a journalist.
Anyway.
Back at the Avengers West Coast Compound, Bobbi and Clint have finished up a romantic afternoon of wine and fucking.
They're in the honeymoon phase of calling off the divorce. Clint is giving her a backrub and they're both saying how crazy it was that they tried to split up.
Mockingbird: "It was my fault. If I'd leveled with you about that business with the Phantom Rider..."
HawkGoliath: "Shhh! It's over, Bobbi. We both acted like jerks."
Mockingbird: "Maybe, but I was the biggest jerk."
Well, not sure I agree. I'll agree that they were both jerks or at least were both stubborn jerks. But at least the honeymoon not-divorced glow is making them able to talk about this stuff without yelling.
Anyway. Bobbi hears a noise and goes butt-ass-but-artfully-cloaked-in-shadows naked to the window to see what's going on.
Bobbi insists that there's someone out there so both she and he start to get dressed and then wham bam what are you doin' here, ma'am?!
Kuroko of the Pacific Overlords suddenly appears in their bedroom.
Clint grabs her and pins her against the wall. But when she becomes fully visible, he sees to his shock that she's been beaten pretty badly. Not by him. By her boss, Doctor Demonicus.
Kuroko passes out before she can explain anything, though.
Oh, and Goliath punches through the wall and grabs Goliath to demand Goliath tell Goliath where Wonder Man is.
One of you needs to change names.
Clint wrestles loose from Goliath's hand and grows giant, man. But Josten Goliath still towers over him. AND he's pissed that Clint is calling himself Goliath. Dammit, he's Goliath! He's already had to change his name once because a superhero called dibs and he doesn't want to do it again!
(That was Luke Cage, Power Man, claiming Power Man. And now he mostly goes by his not-codename so he feuded with a guy over the name for nuthin. Also, does this make Erik Josten the supervillain equivalent of Monica Rambeau? The person who everyone steals names from?)
Anyway, Josten is willing to kill Clint over the name.
See? Clint is as tall as a building but he looks like a shrimp next to Josten Goliath.
And Clint can't grow that big without complications. Remember how the Giant-Man/Goliath/whatever Hank is calling himself this week grow real big powerset has always come with weird health complications? Like how Hank could only stay big for so long or he'd get stuck that way?
Well, when Hank gave Clint the Goliath serum during Operation: Galactic Storm, he warned him that growing bigger than thirty feet could cause problems.
Josten doesn't have those problems! His bigness is from ionic energy! He's like a big n tall Wonder Man! He's sixty feet tall without a problem!
Clint!Goliath: "Why is it that even when I trade in my bow and arrows for seven-league-boots -- I still end up second-best? 'Second best'? No! That's not true! Maybe there're two Goliaths now -- but in a minute, there's only gonna be one -- and it'll be ME!"
Wow, you really are going to steal what little this man has left. His name.
Clint trips Josten so that he falls and caves in another part of the Compound. Geez.
He turns away from the fight to check on Bobbi. But that brief distraction lets Josten get back up and put Clint in a bear hug.
Against his doctor's advice (Doctor Pym, bigologist), Clint grows up to sixty feet.
IT WAS A BAD IDEA!
Clint is seized with agonizing internal pain. Like he suddenly has the bends. He can't even stand up and collapses. On top of the building that Bobbi was just in.
Aw, dammit, they'd just cancelled the divorce!
Clint tries digging through the rubble to find her but Josten punches him in the back of the head and calls him a "a normal joe who swigged a few growth hormones" and no match for someone with IONIC SUPERPOWERS!
Barely able to stand, barely able to think good, Clint foggily decides he needs to get away. And he walks out of the Avengers Compound and starts walking where a bunch of bystanders were.
They ran, of course. Because giant man stomping around. But this is a bad look.
Somewhere, US Agent is sulking.
US Agent: "Those jerks never give me a chance. It's the same as when I was a kid. My brother died in Nam -- then the politicos threw in the towel before I could enlist. So Mike's the war hero -- the honored dead. And me? The power of a tank, and I still get treated like the Captain America stand-in I used to be. And women -- ! Mockingbird, Spider-Woman, and the witch all act like I'm some kind of social disease -- and none of them is interested in being the cure. Well, who needs them? I'll find a woman who feels like I do about things -- and then the Avengers West can all kiss my anthem!"
You are a prickly pear, John Jack Daniels Walker.
I don't think I knew his backstory. Unprocessed grief and survivors guilt might explain why he has such a chip on his shoulder about being the Hero Guy. Or maybe he's a dick.
He's definitely a dick about women.
The way he's been needling Mockingbird and Spider-Woman lately about Clint has been, I guess, a weird way of flirting? Or whatever you call it when you accuse all of the women around you of being into this other dude and insinuate repeatedly that this means they have shitty taste. It doesn't sound like flirting because flirting should involve at least an attempt at establishing a rapport with a woman.
I dunno. John Jack Daniels Walker is a prick.
Somewhere else, at a Palos Verdes schmancy shopping mall, Clint Goliath is still getting his ass kicked not by Josten Goliath but by the self-inflicted harm of growing too big too fast.
He manages to get a cheap shot by turning around and punching while Josten Goliath is standing behind him, mocking him for being totally screwed.
This punch knocks Josten to crash into the parking garage and towards a populated area.
YOU ARE BAD AT BEING BIG, CLINT. GO BACK TO ARROWS!
Josten just starts pounding on Clint. Literally knocking the big out of him. I'm not sure of the comic book physics of it. But every time Josten punches Clint, Clint loses ten feet of height.
Josten!Goliath: "I'm going to pound you all the way through to China!"
Mockingbird, suddenly arriving: "The Chiense have enough problems, Man-Mountain."
Mockingbird has arrived flying Hawkeye's sky-cycle and wielding Hawkeye's bow and arrows. Because, I mean, someone has to.
Josten!Goliath laughs that a single arrow from Clint's 'girlfriend' won't do anything with an arrow when he's a big beefy manbeef of sixty feet tall.
Mockingbird: "Not his girlfriend, creep -- his wife! His wife, I might add, with a background in science..."
Science is truly the best of superpowers. And Mockingbird doesn't get credit for being one of the smart ones. But she took one of Hawkeye's electro-arrows and modified it to be a power dampener for ionic beings. Because: ions. Ions are just atoms with electric charges. All the arrow needed to do was absorb electrons.
Still, it was just one single arrow that she MacGuyvered in. What? Ten minutes? It's only going to work for about ten seconds before Josten's ionic body generates new electrons.
But Mockingbird knows that teamwork is essential in superheroics AND relationships. So she tells Clint to punch him. REALLY HARD.
She needs to offer a little extra guidance because Clint is still so woozy that he barely knows where he is.
But biff POW, teamwork made the dream work.
How nice that their first post-divorce-cancellation super fight required both of them working together.
The press wanders over now that the fight is over and when they give Clint credit for winning the fight, he quips "it was beauty killed the beast!" because he's the exact kind of dorkus that's always wanted to say that.
Then the two head back to the wrecked Avengers West Compound.
Clint!Goliath: "... Y'know, honey, I'm proud of how you remembered all those archery lessons -- and even improvised an improvement on that electro-arrow! What's a brain like you see in me, anyway?"
Mockingbird: "Hey, don't get me started on that!"
For inexplicable reasons, she finds you charming, Clint. When you're not being an ass, you're a fun person to be around. And you're such a romantic that when you love a woman, you make her the center of your universe.
I guess she likes that.
(Don't look the gift horse in the mouth.)
When the two lovebirds land at the Compound, Scarlet Witch and Spider-Woman have returned from dropping Rachel off at her new home. And Scarlet Wanda asks where the other Goliath got off to.
Answer: Mockingbird used her science brain to help a doctor create a sedative that will keep even an ionic man dosed long enough for the Avengers to send him back to jail.
Scarlet Witch thinks its weird that they just left him lying unconscious in the street instead of sticking around to guard him. But Clint has an answer for that.
Remember that subplot? Remember Kuroko? She showed up slightly before Goliath and foreshadowed something was going on?
Well, the Avengers head upstairs to where Clint and Bobbi left her. She's regained consciousness! And she has news! About Doctor Demonicus!
Kuroko: "[Doctor Demonicus has] gone mad -- and means to DESTROY the WORLD!"
Dun dun DUUUUUN!
Weird. Giving the madman his own island nation and immediate admittance into the UN did not, in fact, stop him from being a dick in the future.
I knew we'd be swinging back to the Pacific Overlords again. It'd be weird to introduce a new villain group over a multi-part story and then just end with 'lol he's in charge of a country now!'
I just kind of figured that Demonica would be a recurring problem. Like one of those trendy crime countries that comics have. Like Madripoor or Bagalia or Qurac or Zandia.
Comics love fictional countries!
And we're following this plot to its conclusion! Next week, more Avengers West Coast!
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“[Benjamin Lay] first began advocating for the abolition of slavery when, in Barbados, he saw an enslaved man commit suicide rather than be hit again by his owner. His passionate enmity of slavery was partially fueled by his Quaker beliefs. Lay made several dramatic demonstrations against the practice. He once stood outside a Quaker meeting in winter with no coat and at least one foot bare and in the snow. When passersby expressed concern for his health, he said that slaves were made to work outdoors in winter dressed as he was. On another occasion, he kidnapped the child of slaveholders temporarily, to show them how Africans felt when their relatives were sold overseas. The most notable act occurred in Burlington, New Jersey, at the 1738 Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of Quakers. Dressed as a soldier, he concluded a diatribe against slavery, quoting the Bible saying that all men should be equal under God, by plunging a sword into a Bible containing a bladder of blood-red pokeberry juice, which spattered over those nearby.“
From a Smithsonian Magazine article, regarding the Burlington Quaker Meeting incident:
He finally rose to address this gathering of “weighty Quakers.” Many Friends in Pennsylvania and New Jersey had grown rich on Atlantic commerce, and many bought human property. To them Lay announced in a booming voice that God Almighty respects all peoples equally, rich and poor, men and women, white and black alike. He said that slave keeping was the greatest sin in the world and asked, How can a people who profess the golden rule keep slaves? He then threw off his great coat, revealing the military garb, the book and the blade.
A murmur filled the hall as the prophet thundered his judgment: “Thus shall God shed the blood of those persons who enslave their fellow creatures.” He pulled out the sword, raised the book above his head, and plunged the sword through it. People gasped as the red liquid gushed down his arm; women swooned. To the shock of all, he spattered “blood” on the slave keepers. He prophesied a dark, violent future: Quakers who failed to heed the prophet’s call must expect physical, moral and spiritual death.
The room exploded into chaos, but Lay stood quiet and still, “like a statue,” a witness remarked. Several Quakers quickly surrounded the armed soldier of God and carried him from the building. He did not resist. He had made his point.
The article also describes Lay throwing tobacco pipes at fellow Quakers at a meeting in Philadelphia, while loudly protesting the slave labor upon which tobacco growing relied. At other Quaker meetings, whenever anyone who owned slaves stood up to talk (which is how Quaker meetings work), he’d jump up and yell things like “There’s another n****-master!” to shame them. He regularly said slaveowners bore “the mark of the Beast” and were basically Satan incarnate.
It came as no surprise, to Lay or anyone else, that ministers and elders had him removed from one gathering after another. Indeed they appointed a “constabulary” to keep him out of meetings all around Philadelphia, and even that wasn’t enough. After he was tossed into the street one rainy day, he returned to the main door of the meetinghouse and lay down in the mud, requiring every person leaving the meeting to step over his body.
Lay was disowned by the Quakers’ Society in 1738 because he just wouldn’t stop calling out elders and rich members for their hypocrisy on the issue of slavery.
Also that year, Benjamin Franklin published one of Lay’s anti-slavery pamphlets, “All Slave-Keepers That Keep the Innocent in Bondage, Apostates.” But Franklin owned a slave and later bought two more. Lay called his ass out.
Lay refused to eat or wear anything produced in any way from slavery, and was a vegetarian. After his wife died he lived in a cave, kept goats and bees, farmed vegetables and fruit trees, and grew flax so he could spin it to make his own clothes. He had a library of 200 books in there.
Oh PS and he was barely over four feet tall and was disabled (kyphosis). He called himself “Little Benjamin” and likened himself to David going up against Goliath.
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Stingray is great as the most superhero guy that least wants to be a superhero
“Costume? This is a deep sea exploration suit that just so happens to look rad as hell. Fight supervillains? Oh, no, not me. I just want to deep sea explore. The Avengers are asking for me? Damn, it must be important fate of the world stuff if they need a humble oceanographer and his totally awesome deep sea exploration suit to chip in. I’ll do it. I’ll help the Avengers. But I’ll be thinking about fish the entire time.”
Fun trivia for @thefingerfuckingfemalefury's comments about why Stingray would be chosen to appear - the letters page at the time had a noticeable amount of requests for him to show up, to the light bafflement of the editors.
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Stingray is great as the most superhero guy that least wants to be a superhero
“Costume? This is a deep sea exploration suit that just so happens to look rad as hell. Fight supervillains? Oh, no, not me. I just want to deep sea explore. The Avengers are asking for me? Damn, it must be important fate of the world stuff if they need a humble oceanographer and his totally awesome deep sea exploration suit to chip in. I’ll do it. I’ll help the Avengers. But I’ll be thinking about fish the entire time.”
Go to a furry convention dressed as an 18th century fur trapper. Longrifle, jawtraps, chains, fur hat, big coat made of sewn-together pelts of different polyester neons...
Digimon Tamers 26 - A Small World! Jijimon and Babamon of the Deep Windy Valley / Kazu and Kenta's Excellent Adventure
Previously on Digimon Tamers: The Tamers arrived in the Digital World and spent all day staring at the sun. Then they made a campfire but it was buried in a potato landslide. Despite starving, nobody thought to bring any potatoes with them because they're 10 and would rather eat cookies than vegetables.
This episode, Davis promised that we're going to find out what the data stream will do to Rika, Kazu, and Kenta! Seems like a safe bet. Let's go!
Oh, and the dub title is a reference to Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure but this episode has nothing to do with time travel, so it's just comparing them strictly on the basis of personality alone. Rude. XD
No pretense, we're getting right into it. No sooner has the episode begun than Ruki, Renamon, Hirokazu, and Kenta are picked up by the data stream and flung down a hole.
It's a good thing we established last episode that the Digital World doesn't have fall damage or this might be really bad for them.
It's still bad for them, mind you. But it could be a lot worse. Especially since they're all about to land on their faces. RIP Ruki's modeling career. And life.
This passes with no dialogue in the original. The dub gives the kids some dialogue.
Kenta: A bottomless pit!? NO FAAAAAAIR!!!
Kazu: Man, when you say bottomless, you really mean bottomless!
All: OOF
Kazu: Well... Maybe not quite....
Rika: Oogh, my back....
Kazu: Your back? My head!
Kenta: Do you guys mind!? Some people are trying to pass out over here!
Kazu: Good idea....
All: Urgh....
Though comical, the oft-censored dub ironically made this scene much more gruesome than the original. In the original, they fall into the hole and then we see them unconscious with no clear indication of what happened in the interim. In the dub, we actually have to listen to them hit the ground and then wail in agony for a moment before passing out.
Down on the ground, Renamon is the first to wake up.
Renamon: Ruki....
Renamon moves to Ruki, tapping her on her head to rouse her.
Renamon: Ruki.
Ruki: ...Renamon?
Ruki gets up, starting to become more aware of her surroundings.
Ruki: ...what is this....
Then, starkly alert, Ruki jumps to her feet.
Ruki: Wait, where are Takato and the others!? That's right... We were hit by that pillar of light and-- ACK!!!
That's when she sees it. The Real World sphere looking tiny up in the distance, so unlike the colossal structure hanging in the sky from her previous vantage.
Ruki: The Real World sphere... It looks so small from here.
This is the "Small World" that the title is referring to; A reference to the size of the Real World sphere from this vantage.
As an aside, this was a big talking point in Adventure but the Japanese word for light is 光 hikari. Which makes it kind of a trip to hear Ruki wake up and go, "Oh, that's right! I got hit by Hikari!" Yep, and she messed you up good. I would have given you better odds to win that fight but you can't argue with results.
In the dub:
Renamon: Ugh...
(Renamon wakes Rika)
Renamon: Rika!
Rika: Five more minutes... Renamon!
(Rika sits up)
Rika: Uh....
(Rika leaps to her feet)
Rika: Renamon, where are we!? Oh, wait, I remember. The Digital World! (gasp)
(Rika sees the Real World sphere)
Rika: Is that what I think it is!?
Renamon: Yes. The planet Earth.
Rika: But it's so far away! What if we can't ever get back?
Small nuance but JP Renamon's first thought before they're fully conscious is "Ruki" and I'm a little sad to see that dropped.
Ruki starts to ask about the strange environment she's waking up in, but then it hits her and she quickly comes to her senses. From there, she moves to more pressing matters: What happened to the others and how did we get to this specific place?
Rika never gets past "What is this strange environment?"
Rika needs Renamon to explain the Real World sphere to her as if this is her first time seeing it. She even asks "What if we can't ever get back?" even though the Tamers already discussed that exact topic last episode.
EN Renamon describes the object hanging in the sky as "The planet Earth", which hits weird when the distinction has always been described as Digital vs. Real World. Again, weird choice to dumb down something that was explained in detail last episode.
While Ruki's eyes are on the sky, Renamon's are on the ground. Renamon doesn't like this place.
Renamon: This world is strange....
Ruki: Huh?
Renamon calls Ruki's attention to the rocks.
Renamon: The rocks are full of unusual holes and scratches. What's happened to them?
Ruki notices a set of stone hut-like structures sticking up, each with a yellow cloth on top of it.
Ruki: Are those houses? They don't have any doors or windows... And there's a huge cloth covering the roof. What's that for?
Renamon points out the windswept trees previously visible when looking at the rocks.
Renamon: Not to mention, the trees have no leaves and are all leaning the same direction.
Ruki: This is freaking me out. We should hurry back to the others. Oh, but...
Ruki looks back up at the high cliffs above.
Ruki: How are we supposed to get back up there?
I could make a point here about how the title already spoiled what's happening in this valley but if you know anything about windswept trees then you can already tell.
In the dub:
Renamon: The world has changed since I left.
Rika: Huh?
(Pockmarked rocks)
Renamon: Look at how barren it's become.
Rika: Yeah... This is kinda how I pictured the inside of Kazu's head.
(Damaged huts)
Rika: Wait, are those houses?
Renamon: I believe so.
Rika: What's on top of them? They look like giant dish towels. I wonder what they're for?
(Windswept trees)
Renamon: Yes, and I wonder why all the branches on the trees are pointing in one direction.
Rika: I don't know. I've got a really bad feeling about this, Renamon.
(Cliffs)
Rika: We've gotta get back to the others! If we can....
The dub takes its first commercial break here.
Renamon says that the world has changed, which may be a mistranslation of the word 変わっている kawatteiru, which means to be unusual, peculiar, or odd. This word uses the verb 変わって kawatte which means to change, alter, or transform.
The dub then extrapolates from there to have Renamon say that the Digital World didn't used to be so barren. Again, this is one of those points where I'm not sure if the dub is making things up or if they're drawing on details not yet introduced.
Renamon and Leomon made no indication last episode that the barren scenery here in Digital World is anything but ordinary. It's not like Digimon really need lush greenery; Their food source is each other. But they do eat; Guilmon has been very clear on that. Plus, we don't know that the whole Digital World is barren; We just arrived yesterday. This could just be a desert biome. So. IDK.
But in the original, Renamon's not speaking broadly about the Digital World. They're pointing out the pockmarks in the rocks, as if those rocks are routinely struck over and over and over again.
Mind you, it's a little confusing that JP Renamon says "this world", この世界 kono sekai, is strange. Are we in, like, a different layer of the Digital World from Takato and the others? Is that a thing? IDK.
While Ruki's contemplating escape, her thoughts are interrupted by the Hirokazu and Kenta's snoring.
Ruki angrily marches over to where they're sleeping.
Ruki: Sleeping soundly at a time like this... Why can't you take anything seriously!? This is exactly why I was so against bringing these kids to the Digital World!
Renamon: Ruki--
Ruki: (to Renamon) Let me complain some more! (to Hirokazu) How long are you going to keep sleeping!?
Ruki kicks Hirokazu right in the butt. The impact knocks him into Kenta, making him accidentally kiss Kenta on the cheek, complete with smooch effect. The boys wake up startled.
Hirokazu & Kenta: UWEHHHH!!!
Might seem a little harsh but let's not forget the whole reason Ruki got transported in the data stream is because she doubled back for these two idiots. She has a right to be mad at them right now.
An interesting note is that when saying they shouldn't have come, Ruki calls them 子たち ko-tachi which means "children" or "kids". Indicating that Ruki considers there to be a maturity gap between herself and these two boys.
In the dub:
Renamon: What is that horrible sound!?
Rika: It's like a rusty freight train hauling bagpipes!
(Kazu and Kenta are snoring; Rika marches over to them)
Rika: Are you kidding me!? This is exactly why I didn't want them tagging along in the first place! Amateurs! HEY!!! WAKE UP!!! They both want to be called Digimon Tamers and then they fall asleep! If they ever do get a Digimon, they might as well just go and order them to jump off a bridge!
The dub censors out Ruki kicking Hirokazu and making him kiss Kenta. Fox Kids Censors said no homo. The boys just wake up offscreen between shots.
Both Ruki and Rika have a lot of ire to vent here. I am sad that the dub doesn't get the part where Renamon tries to calm her and Ruki snaps "LET ME VENT" at her.
Ruki demeans Hirokazu and Kenta by calling them kids. Rika does it by calling them amateurs.
Now awake, Hirokazu and Kenta angrily crawl across the dirt to Ruki.
Ruki: (flatly) Good morning.
Hirokazu & Kenta: WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!?!?
Ruki: GO HOME!!! GO BACK TO SHINJUKU RIGHT NOW!!!
Hirokazu: WE CAN'T GO BACK!!!
Kenta: YEAH!!!
Hirokazu: DON'T ACT LIKE YOU'RE OUR SCHOOLTEACHER!!!
Kenta: THAT'S RIGHT!!!
The boys climb to their feet.
Hirokazu: Sure, you are pretty cute...
Kenta: Hirokazu, that has nothing to do with anything! You need to act TOUGH with her!
Hirokazu: Kenta, should you really be talking to me like that?
Kenta: What do you mean by that?
Hirokazu: I mean, I could tell her that you had the highest cholesterol level out of all elementary schoolers in Shinjuku Ward during the last physical check-up.
Kenta: NO, PLEASE, DON'T TELL HER!!!
Ruki: To think a Tamer like me has to get stuck with guys like them....
Hirokazu & Kenta: WHAT DO YOU MEAN "GUYS LIKE THEM"!?!?
Renamon: Ruki, guys like them are--
Hirokazu & Kenta: RENAMON!!!
Renamon: Apologies. But your team is still your team all the same.
Ruki: I know that in my head, it's just....
Ruki won't get to finish that thought because we're about to be interrupted.
You know what? I take it back. The Bill and Ted comparison was entirely fair and appropriate.
Bold move to flirt with Ruki in the middle of an argument, Hirokazu. That's the kind of cunning, unexpected maneuver that's sure to land you a gravestone! Remember, this is a place no one has ever been to before! If she buries you in the Digital World, no one will ever find your body.
"Last time I saw him, an Ogremon was sitting on him. I don't know where he is now."
In the dub, the boys just woke up offscreen to conceal the censored shot, so they're still sleepy when they crawl to Rika.
Rika: Well, it's about time.
Kazu & Kenta: (miscellaneous groggy noises)
Rika: GO HOME!!! YOU'RE AS USELESS AS HAIR ON A FISH!!!
Kazu: HOW ARE WE SUPPOSED TO GO HOME!?!?
Kenta: YEAH, RIGHT!!!
Kazu: AND DON'T YELL AT US LIKE YOU'RE OUR TEACHER OR SOMETHING!!!
Kenta: YEAH, RIGHT!!!
(The boys get up)
Kazu: Although, you know, I wouldn't mind having a teacher as pretty as you....
Kenta: Huh!? What are you talking about, Kazu!? Yell at her for yelling at us!
Kazu: I wouldn't talk to me like that if I were you.
Kenta: Why not?
Kazu: Because otherwise I might feel sorely tempted to tell Rika here a little story about how we took our physicals in gym class, and you couldn't even do one single pull-up!
Kenta: Okay, okay! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!
Rika: Ugh, why didn't I just let them sleep?
Kazu & Kenta: HEY, WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THAT!?!?
Renamon: Rika, they're your friends!
Kazu & Kenta: WE ARE!?!?
Renamon: (sigh) Even if they are a pain.
Kazu & Kenta: HEY!!!
Rika: You're right, I'll try to treat them better.
Kazu: Yeah, well, you'd BETTER treat us better!
Rika: Don't push your luck!
JP Kenta's embarrassing check-up story is that he has the highest cholesterol of all Shinjuku children. EN Kenta's story is that he can't do a pull-up.
JP Renamon accidentally demeans the boys, but then comes to their defense. EN Renamon tries to come to the boys' defense, but then qualifies it with an insult.
The wind in the valley begins to pick up.
Renamon: The wind's picking up.
Ruki: It's taking the dust packets with it.
Then it picks up harder, lifting the dust packets into the air. Kenta
All: ACK!!!
Hirokazu: The wind's getting stronger!
Kenta: We're about to get blown away!
Ruki spots a large rock they can use for cover.
Ruki: Quick, get behind that rock!
As the team takes shelter, they watch the way the trees bend under the force of these winds.
Renamon: Did the wind blow all the leaves off these trees?
Ruki: With these winds, it's not surprising that all the trees are facing the same direction either.
Then the wind gets chunkier. A tire rolls past the rock where everyone's hiding, then slams into a tree. A dresser gets lobbed into a rock, causing both dresser and rock to disintegrate into pixel dust.
Renamon: That's what made those scratches!
Ruki: AH!!!
Ruki and Renamon duck behind the rock just before pots and pans strike it.
A refrigerator gets tossed into one of the huts, taking out a chunk of the wall.
Ruki: So that's why the houses don't have windows or doors? And the cloth is there to block the wind?
Renamon: It's probably also to measure the wind's strength.
Hirokazu: IS THIS REALLY THE TIME TO CHIT-CHAT ABOUT THIS!?!?
Ruki and Renamon are in deduction mode right now, eagerly solving the mystery of this area now that the last piece of the puzzle has fallen into place.
But they're also in the midst of the storm. Poor Hirokazu and Kenta are watching them look around awestruck and go "Check out the way the windstorm's deforming those trees!"
In the dub:
(Wind blows old data around)
Kenta: Man, there sure is a lot of old data floating around this place.
(Wind picks up stronger)
Kazu: The wind is picking up!
Kenta: GEE, YOU THINK!?!?
Renamon: Come on, let's find some shelter!
(Everyone takes cover behind the rock; Cut to deformed trees)
Rika: Well, I guess now we know why those tree limbs are all pointing in one direction!
(Tire blows past)
Kazu: Whoa! The wind's sure gotta be strong to blow a tire around!
(Dresser thrown at rock)
Kenta: Good gravy, did a furniture store explode!?
Renamon: That flying debris will crush us!
(Rika and Renamon hide behind the rock from pots and pans)
Kenta: I'm too young to be crushed!
(Fridge takes out wall of hut)
Renamon: We've got to find a safer place than this rock!
Rika: Hey, look at that! Those big dish towels must be to stop this wind!
Renamon: Yes. Or to gauge how strong the wind is.
Kazu: CAN WE TALK ABOUT THIS WHEN WE'RE NOT ABOUT TO BE CRUSHED!?!?
The dub version of this scene de-emphasizes Rika and Renamon, opting instead to focus on Kazu and Kenta riffing about the windstorm. Though they do still play Hirokazu's punchline at the end.
It hits different, though. In the original, Ruki and Renamon spend the whole scene going "Look at that! Ooh, look at THAT!" which sets up for Hirokazu to call them out.
But in the dub, the boys are the dominant presence in this scene. Only three lines are spent on Rika and Renamon indulging their curiosity, while the rest is serious talk about how dangerous the situation is and jokes.
For her part, EN Renamon remains focused on the peril of the moment until her very last line, when she suddenly stops caring and dips into Deduction Voice so she can help set up the punchline.
The result is a very different punchline. The emphasis of the original is on the absurd behavior of Ruki and Renamon right now, while the emphasis of the dub is Kazu continuing the ongoing panic over how scary and dangerous the situation is.
Additionally, Rika doesn't get to call out the rock to take shelter behind like Ruki does. She stays silent and lets Renamon guide her to safety.
Just like that, the team's moment of safety is over. A piano comes hurtling at the rock they're hiding behind.
Kenta: AHHH RUN FOR IT!!!
The team flees downwind once more, but without their shelter, they don't get far. The wind picks up Hirokazu and Kenta. Renamon grabs onto Ruki to shelter her and bounds up into the wind, controlling their flight to the degree they can.
The wind slams Hirokazu and Kenta into one of the huts. Specifically, a stone circle in the front, which rotates as they strike it to allow passage. Renamon slips inside with Ruki before the door swings shut.
There was a door after all! Just not a very visible one!
In the dub:
Everyone: WHOA!!!
(Everyone runs; Kazu and Kenta are picked up by the wind)
Renamon: HOLD ON!!!
(Renamon grabs Rika and jumps; Kazu and Kenta slammed into door)
Kazu: OOF!!! ...we gotta stop hitting stuff....
A couple extra lines added but nothing significant.
Once inside the house, Ruki and the others are confronted by some alarmed homeowners.
Old Woman: Who's there!?
Old Man: How dare you break into another person's home!?
As Renamon looks them over, Ruki's Digivice delivers their profiles.
Ruki: Jijimon. Ultimate level. His special attack is Hang On Death. Babamon, Ultimate level. Her special attack is Empress Haze. Also, Jijimon and Babamon are a married couple.
Jijimon: That doesn't matter right now! First of all, seal the door!
Hirokazu and Kenta jump away from the door, hopping down from a wooden beam in front of it.
Babamon: There, that beam will seal it up nicely. Get to it!
Tamers & Renamon: Y-Yes, ma'am!
Ruki and Renamon take one side while Hirokazu and Kenta take the other. Together, they lift the beam into place, sealing the door.
Babamon: Make sure it's securely locked!
Jijimon: That's perfect!
Yep, we just happened to run into two Ultimates right after the herd of Perfects. We are having a bad time in the DIgital World.
Ruki's Digivice has no difficulty pulling up the profiles on these Ultimate Digimon, which pretty much nixes the possibility that the reason they struggle to scan Devas is because higher-level Digimon are harder to load data for. It really is a Deva-exclusive trait.
So. Jijimon and Babamon, two new faces. Jijimon was created for the Digimon World video game, while Babamon debuted in the TCG, from the same set as Jijimon's TCG debut. In fact, their debut cards are sequential in serial number.
Their names stem from 爺 Jiji and 婆 Baba. These are overly casual and pretty rude ways to say "Old Man" and "Old Woman". Notably, Taichi in Digimon Adventure frequently referred to Gennai as 爺 Jiji.
They're Geezermon and Hagmon.
In the dub:
Rika: I wonder who lives here?
Woman: We do! Eh... We do live here, don't we?
Renamon: Huh?
Man: The real question is, who would be so rude as to barge in unannounced WITHOUT SO MUCH AS A COOKIE!?!?
(Rika checks her Digivice)
Rika: Jijimon. Mega level. Special attack: Claw of Doom. Babamon. Mega level. Special attack: Empress Haze. Hey, whoa, whaddaya know? They're married!
Jijimon: That's right! Happily married for forty years! ...and not so happily for ten after that.
(Kazu and Kenta jump away from the door)
Babamon: Don't listen to this coot. He just likes to hear himself talk. LOCK THE DOOR ALREADY!!!
(Humans and Renamon lift the beam)
Jijimon: That's it, that's it, pick that up, that's good, put it here and then slide it down and oh, that's good.
Babamon: (annoyed) They know what they're doing!
For Jijimon and Babamon's voices, the dub has opted to play them with thick Jewish accents.
Unsurprisingly, the dub renamed Hang On Death.
Once the door is locked, Babamon and Jijimon can attend to business.
Babamon: Jijimon!
Jijimon: Babamon!
Babamon brandishes her broom while Jijimon brandishes his staff. They begin to fight, clacking weapons together as if fencing with them.
Ruki: What's going on?
Hirokazu & Kenta: A marital spat?
Babamon and Jijimon separate and take swings at each other.
Hirokazu: Shouldn't we stop them?
Kenta: Can we stop them!?
Jijimon dodges a swipe from Babamon, which nearly hits Hirokazu and Kenta.
Kenta: OH NO!!!
The boys narrowly dodge out of the way.
Ruki: So all we can do is watch?
Renamon: They'll tire out soon enough.
So, plan is to just wait for them to fight it out. That's the best we can do, really.
In the dub, Jijimon responds to Babamon chiding him for instructing the humans and Renamon.
Babamon: (annoyed) They know what they're doing!
Jijimon: Don't talk back to me, you evil little shrew! Lemme get atcha!
(Jijimon and Babamon clack weapons against each other)
Jijimon: Every! Day! The same!
(JIjmon and Babamon lock staves)
Jijimon: I... love... you... so... MUCH!!!
(Babamon nearly brings her broom down on Jijimon's foot)
Jijimon: Whoa! Take that!
(More fighting until Jijimon rushes in with staff pointed forward)
Jijimon: Now you're gonna get it!
(Babamon swipes and nearly hits Kazu and Kenta)
Kazu & Kenta: WAUGH!!!
Jijimon: Get back here!
Rika: Why are they fighting anyway?
Renamon: Maybe this is how you'll be when you're old, Rika.
Rika: Very funny, Renamon.
EN Babamon is just vocalizing grunts like both of them are doing in the original, but EN Jijimon gets a bunch of throwaway lines. The dub uses these lines to reassure the audience as soon as they start fighting that this is a perfectly normal thing they do because they love each other.
In the original, Babamon and Jijimon explain nothing to the camera here. They start swinging, and the humans are left to try and make sense of why.
As the next scene will reveal, the dub isn't wrong when it says Jijimon and Babamon are just having fun. It's just a difference in how that gets presented. The original wants the audience to be as startled by their behavior as Ruki and the others are, while the dub makes it immediately clear what they're doing.
In the midst of the fighting, Babamon turns and sprints for a stairwell leading down.
Jijimon: YOU CAN'T RUN FROM ME!!!
Jijimon pursues Babamon downstairs and, at the bottom, they lock staves once more before finally breaking apart and gasping for breath.
Ruki follows them down with questions.
Ruki: Um...
Both: What?
Ruki: Why are you fighting? Is this a marital spat?
Jijimon: We're killing time.
Ruki: Killing time?
Babamon: There's nothing to do when the wind's blowing.
Whenever they need to seal themselves in, Babamon and Jijimon swing at each other to pass the time. It may seem odd, but these are Digimon, and as we've repeatedly established, fighting is in a Digimon's nature.
In the dub:
Jijimon: Come back so I can wallop you already!
Babamon: Ha! You don't even know what that word means!
(Jijimon and Babamon lock staves again)
Jijimon: I... love... you... so... MUCH!!!
(They break apart to catch their breath)
Rika: Why are you fighting?
Babamon: What's that?
Rika: I said, "Why are you fighting?" Are you having a lover's spat or something?
Jijimon: It passes the time.
Rika: Passes the time!?
Babamon: What, like you have something better to do when the wind is blowing?
Once Babamon and Jijimon stop to catch their breath, we get back on-script. RIka even brings up the marital spat, which is the second time it's suggested in the original.
Punctuating Babamon's point, the chunky wind outside slams a washing machine into a rock, destroying the machine. The rock survives, though. Then we return inside to continue this conversation.
Ruki: Wha--!? So you have a marital spat just to kill time!?
Babamon: A marital spat is the best way to kill time!
Jijimon: But Babamon....
Babamon: What is it, Jijimon?
Jijimon: We don't need to keep having our marital spat.
Babamon: Why's that?
Jijimon: Because we have uninvited guests who came all this way to see us....
Babamon and Jijimon brandish their weapons at the humans now.
Babamon: Oh, this would be a great way to pass the time!
Hirokazu grab onto each other, shivering in terror.
Hirokazu & Kenta: (;;°_°) They want to fight us!
Renamon quickly puts themselves between the married couple and Ruki.
Jijimon: Babamon, let's prepare a feast!
Babamon: YEAH!!!
Jijimon and Babamon clack their staves together, then dart off for the kitchen, laughing as they go.
Hirokazu & Kenta: ( ᵔᗜᵔ) Did they say they're preparing a feast!?
So we pass from civil conversation back to confusion and concern about Babamon and Jijimon's inscrutable behavior, and then to relief when their intentions turn benign.
This is pretty much the intended tone for this pair for the episode. Are they strange but harmless kooks, or do they mean to do us harm?
In the dub, Babamon and Jijimon keep talking over the washing machine interlude.
Babamon (V.O.): Fighting's the best kind of entertainment!
Jijimon (V.O.): Oh, what do you know from best and worst? Well, worst, you know; I've had your cooking.
Babamon (V.O.): You want another swat? 'Cause I'll swat you so good....
Jijimon (V.O.): You couldn't swat the broad side of a barn!
(Back inside the house)
Rika: I don't get it. You're happily married but you fight each other for entertainment?
Jijimon: My guess is, you've never been married.
Babamon: We don't have to fight anymore!
Jijimon: Why? Are you leaving me?
Babamon: We can fight them, fool!
Jijimon: That might be the best idea you've had in years!
Babamon: You're right!
Jijimon: Okay, Mr. and Mrs. Interlopers, have we got a proposition for you!
(Babamon and Jijimon brandish their weapons)
Babamon: You get to keep us from being bored while the wind blows!
(Kazu & Kenta cling to each other)
Kazu & Kenta: (;;°_°) Can't we all just watch TV!?
(Renamon gets in front of Rika)
Renamon: You'll have to fight me first!
Jijimon: The yellow one's got spunk. Maybe we should just eat.
Babamon: Ehh, whatever.
(Bababamon & Jijimon clack staves and dart off)
Both: (singsong) ~We're gonna make some food now! ~We're gonna make some food now!
Kazu & Kenta: ( ᵔᗜᵔ) Now these are my kind of Digimon!
The original describes them repeatedly not as fighting each other but very specifically 夫婦喧嘩 fūfukenka, a quarrel between a husband and a wife. It's not "We pass the time by fighting each other" but very specifically "We pass the time by having a marital spat."
The dub leans in on this and plays it for all it's worth. American writers love describing marriage as an inherently miserable experience for all participants that sucks out your soul and ruins your life. This is a depiction that somehow coexists with the constant pushing of heteronormative romance in all corners of media.
The JP script here gives them a clear opportunity to let those floodgates open, so enjoy the "Old Ball and Chain" jokes.
In the original, Babamon and Jijimon seemingly telegraph an intent to attack the humans, but after a moment of tension, it turns out that they're going to cook for the humans instead. This builds the growing uncertainty regarding their behavior and intentions.
In the dub, they actually do intend to attack the humans. However, Renamon's ferocity intimidates them into backing down.
In the kitchen, Jijimon rolls dough while Babamon stirs a cookpot.
Babamon: The humans call this sort of thing "cooking".
JIjimon: Judging by the aroma, these are some fine spices.
Babamon: This seasoning is perfect too!
Hirokazu and Kenta watch the pair cook, shooting each other delighted grins.
Babamon's admission here, that she and Jijimon don't typically cook food like this, is really interesting. It gels with what we know of Digimon; Like I said earlier, it's not like Digimon need lush greenery. They can eat but their actual target of consumption is each other.
So it makes sense that Babamon and Jijimon have never properly cooked a big meal before, and that they might nonetheless have a bunch of food lying around for recreational consumption. Meat from the meat trees and all that.
This is still just killing time and waiting for the wind to die down. The humans' arrival has presented them with a new kind of game to play: Try to cook a human meal that will satisfy human appetites.
In the dub:
Babamon: I hope they like my cooking! Well, they'd better, or I'll smack them a good one upside the head for sure!
Jijimon: Always with the worry! Your cooking hasn't killed me after all these years!
Babamon: Don't think I won't smack you too!
The dub takes this as an opportunity for more Ball and Chain jokes. They also drop the indication that Babamon's never cooked a big meal before. This is the second time they've had Jijimon make a crack about how deadly her cooking is, and those jokes won't work unless she cooks regularly like a normal Sitcom Mom.
Out in the living room, Ruki waits on the couch with Renamon standing stalwart at her side.
Renamon: They don't seem like bad Digimon....
Ruki: So it should be okay to trust them, right?
Hirokazu and Kenta race into the living room to report on the meal prep.
Kenta: It looks AMAZING!!!
Hirokazu: I've never seen anything like it!
Babamon: Thank you for waiting.
Babamon and Jijimon step out into the living room.
Babamon: Please allow us to introduce ourselves properly.
Jijimon: This is Jijimon's...
Babamon: ...and Babamon's home.
Both: Welcome!
Babamon and Jijimon bow to the humans and Renamon, who bow to them in turn.
Jijimon: This happened so suddenly that we couldn't prepare much, but....
Babamon: Let's all throw a party!
Jijimon: Now then...
Hirokazu & Kenta: OOOOH!!!
Babamon and Jijimon turn towards the kitchen. At the implicit permission, Hirokazu and Kenta sprint after them.
In the dub:
Renamon: They don't seem to be bad Digimon at all.
Rika: So do you think we can trust them, Renamon?
Renamon: I don't see why not.
(Kazu and Kenta run in)
Kenta: Haha, it all smells great!
(Babamon and Jijimon step into the living room)
Babamon: Okay, everybody! Dinner's done!
Jijimon: You'd better eat before we change our minds.
Babamon: Don't listen to him!
(Both sides bow to each other)
Jijimon: Well, what are you waiting for? The food won't eat itself! Don't get excited; It's nothing special.
Kazu & Kenta: Ahaha!
EN Jijimon is a lot surlier than his Japanese counterpart. That gels with the previous changes; JP Jijimon is approaching this as a new game to play while EN Jijimon's both a) upset he didn't get to fight the humans and b) unenthused about Babamon's cooking.
The feast is revealed! And what a feast it is!
Ruki: It looks delicious!
Renamon: It certainly does....
Ruki: This is AMAZING!!!
Hirokazu: See!?
Kenta: Itadakimasu!
Unable to wait a moment longer, Kenta quickly says the phrase and digs in. Realizing Kenta's beating him to the food, Hirokazu panics.
Hirokazu: ACK!!! Me too! Itadakimaaauuffff
Hirokazu doesn't even finish saying it before his face is stuffed with food.
Ruki: And me. Itadakimasu!
Renamon: Itadakō.
Babamon and Jijimon raise a toast and clack their glasses together, visibly satisfied by their performance here.
Jijimon: Oh, that's right. We've prepared the bath, so go ahead and use it if you wish.
Hirokazu and Kenta can't talk with their mouths stuffed but they both nod excitedly.
Renamon's usage of いただこう Itadakō instead of the traditional phrase, いただきます Itadakimasu, is interesting here. I think it speaks to a bit of hostility they still have towards Babamon and Jijimon.
Itadakō is the root word of Itadakimasu, but with the -masu cut off. This suffix serves the purpose of polite-washing a verb, making it sound humble and respectful. "Go mow the lawn" vs. "Would you please mow the lawn?"
So, to my understanding, cutting off the -masu here is similar to the difference between saying "Thank you for the meal" and saying "Sure, I'll eat." It's a little standoffish. Renamon doesn't trust all this.
In the dub:
Rika: Holy cow! Nothing special!?
Jijimon: Agh, I told you we should have made holy cow!
Kenta: Yum!
(Kenta digs in)
Kazu: Yeah! I'll say!
(Kazu digs in)
Rika: Wow, everything looks great.
Renamon: Thank you.
(Babamon and Jijimon toast)
Jijimon: And now, a grape juice toast to the meeting of new friends! And all that other junk.
Obviously, the Itadakimasu politics weren't making it across the ocean. We lose both the cute gag where Hirokazu tries to choke it out while stuffing his face and also Renamon's standoffish subversion of the the traditional sentiment.
JP Jijimon tells the kids that he's run a bath for them. The dub will get to that in a minute; First, EN Jijimon has to assure the parents at home that he and his wife are NOT drinking wine.
There's something funny about the way the dub had Renamon commenting on how barren the Digital World's become since she left it, and now Jijimon and Babamon are going "CHECK OUT ALL THIS FOOD WE HAVE."
As the winds outside continue to howl, Hirokazu and Kenta settle in for a bath and sing the song Otoko Shibuki, meaning "Manly Spray". I have other intentions for this episode's one video, but Hirokazu and Kenta's song can be found in this addendum.
Full version here.
The song is about sailing as a masculine identity marker, with lyrics like "This ship left by my father: I've carved a man's mark on it," or "Women can't understand / Exchanging drinks of sake / A man's spray!"
It's about manly bonds of manhood forged on the open seas, while taking a moment to condescend to women which is something I find fascinating. It's the only lyric that mentions women and, like, it's funny because they just had to get that jab in there. They had to.
But Hirokazu and Kenta don't even sing that lyric in the show version. They know better. They don't want to step out of the bath to Ruki going, "What was that about women not understanding your man's spray?"
Jijimon: How's the water temperature?
Hirokazu: Ahaha! It's perfect!
We start with Jijimon blowing on the flames. He appears to be burning either perfectly spherical coals or dust packets for fuel.
Here, the boys start singing. We cut over to the living room where Ruki and Renamon are chilling in silence with Babamon. Ruki's drinking tea while Babamon knits. In the distance, the boys' song can be heard, only adding to the chilling tone.
After about ten seconds of eerie silence, Babamon puts down her knitting needles and speaks.
Babamon: Oh, that's right. We've prepared beds for you, so you can go ahead and rest here until the wind dies down.
Then we cut back to the boys, who finish their song. Jijimon claps and we go to commercial.
Again, Babamon and Jijimon are being nothing but hospitable, but it all just feels weird. Like we're just waiting for the other shoe to drop.
In the dub, Babamon and Jijimon do more Ball and Chain bits over the blowing of the wind.
Babamon: Later, if you want, you can take a bath.
Jijimon: They get to take a bath and I don't?
Babamon: They won't leave a ring around the tub!
Jijimon: Ha! You should talk, with the leaving of the crumbs in the bed and the couch and just about everywhere else!
Babamon: I can't even look at you right now! START THE FIRE!!!
Jijimon: FINE!!!
Kazu and Kenta also have a song here. It's a country song about getting pruney in a bathtub. Check out the second addendum.
Unlike the original, once we cut to the living room, their voices do not echo into the room.
Renamon: Good thing we can't hear them singing in here; I thought my eardrums would bleed.
Babamon: By the way, the beds are all made so I won't hear any word about you leaving before the morning.
Rika: Thank you. That'd be great.
Babamon: It's so nice to have guests who don't beat each other up for a change, you know?
After that, we go back to the second verse of Kazu and Kenta's bath song.
Jijimon: Shoot, I never could whistle! Babamon, where's my plastic whistle!?
Babamon: Why do you want that!?
Jijimon: Listen! Don't talk back to me!
Rika: Weird place.
Renamon: Better than outside.
Babamon: Don't you yell at me!
Renamon: Well, maybe.
Like the original, the dub takes its second commercial break here.
The ominous, uncertain tension of the original is completely absent here. Babamon is nothing but a kind old lady, and the dub version is dominated by a) Kazu and Kenta's comically bad crooning and b) the endless deluge of Ball and Chain bits.
Coming back from commercial, we find Ruki flat on her back on a humongous bed in a massive bedroom. Renamon sits up on the rug, keeping watch.
Renamon: Ruki.
Ruki: What is it?
Renamon: Once the wind dies down, let's go look for Culumon. They could be in this village.
Ruki: Sounds good.
Speaking of, we cut to Culumon hopping over rocks with glowing green speckles. They vocalize with each hop.
Culumon: Cululu! Cululah! CuluLAH!!!
They stop on the third rock, staring at the Digital World below until a data stream comes up behind and takes them away.
Culumon: Culu? Cu-cu-CULUUUU!!!
Then they're gone.
What's interesting about Culumon here is that they're alone. The axolotls did not accompany them. So they were only there to spring Culumon, not to escort them to any place.
In the dub:
Rika: Ohhh, yeah! This is the life! Lying on a big, comfy bed! Ahhh....
Renamon: Rika.
Rika: Mrrgh... Yeah?
Renamon: I've been thinking.
Rika: Uh-oh.
Renamon: Very funny. When the wind dies, we should look for Calumon.
Rika: I'm sure he's fine.
(Cut to Calumon hopping over the rocks)
Calumon: Oof! Oogh! Whoa-wha-whoah!
(Calumon lands on third rock and stops)
Calumon: Hellooo? Man, this place is boring. Nothing interesting ever happens!
(Data stream takes Calumon)
Rika decides to be a jerk to Renamon for some reason.
Ruki agrees to go search for Culumon, but Rika says no. This is to set up a dramatic irony joke where Rika says Calumon's fine and then we see that Calumon is very much not fine.
Though, honestly, I'm not sure getting picked up by a data stream really satisfies the punchline of the dramatic irony bit. We got picked up by a data stream too. All that means is that Culumon/Calumon is now missing in a different place than they were missing before. Calumon's still fine.
Calumon then goes for another irony joke right after Rika's, though the data stream works better for his bit.
Back in the house, while Ruki gets the giant bed, Hirokazu and Kenta have futons. Hirokazu's wide awake, staring at the ceiling.
Hirokazu: Kenta, are you awake?
Kenta: Yeah.
Hirokazu: Jijimon and Babamon are good Digimon, aren't they?
Kenta: You think so too, HIrokazu?
Hirokazu: I think so.
Kenta rolls over tucks in.
Kenta: Yeah, me too.
Hirokazu: They're a little old, though.
Kenta: ....
Hirokazu: ....
Kenta: Zzzzz....
Annoyed, Hirokazu reaches over and pulls Kenta's blanket off him.
Hirokazu: Kenta, did you go to sleep already!?
Kenta: ....
Hirokazu: Because I was thinking they might make good Partners for when we become Tamers, but they--ARAUGH!!!
Hirokazu suddenly yawns, then falls asleep on the spot without even finishing his sentence.
These boys have fucking narcolepsy or something. XD They slept through an entire Digimon stampede last episode too.
In the dub:
Kazu: Kenta, you awake?
Kenta: ...zzzz, pruney, eheh....
Kazu: Jijimon and Babamon are really pretty cool, aren't they?
Kenta: Absolutely, yeah.
Kazu: Yeah.
(Kenta rolls over and tucks in)
Kenta: Oh, yeah....
Kazu: Do you think they'd want to become our Partners?
Kenta: Zzzzz....
Kazu: Hm?
Kenta: Zzzzz....
(Kazu pulls off Kenta's blanket)
Kazu: How'd you fall asleep so fast!? Hmph! Some Tamer you'll be! I can stay up for days because I've got an iron will and--ARAUGH!!!
(Kazu yawns and drops to sleep)
Kenta: ...a raisin in Juney....
EN Kenta's already asleep at the start of the scene, which makes for an awkward transition to Kenta wide awake and staring at the ceiling for his next line.
Hirokazu has reservations about inviting Babamon and Jijimon to be their Partners. They seem nice, but they're also really old.
Kazu has no such reservations.
In the original, HIrokazu's sudden yawn and drop to sleep happens abruptly and without warning. The dub builds up to it.
At two points in this scene, EN Kenta sleep-sings lyrics from their Soaking in the Bath song.
As the night goes on, Hirokazu finds himself lost in dreams.
Hirokazu: Jijimon... Babamon....
In his dreams, Babamon and Jijimon appear amid a field of flames. Laughing wickedly, Jijimon swings at Hirokazu with his staff while Babamon breathes fire.
Hirokazu and Kenta both wake with a start, just in time to hear rattling outside their door. They sit up quickly.
Hirokazu: What if Jijimon and Babamon are....
They imagine Babamon and Jijimon rushing at them with torches in hand, as well as two lit torches in Jijimon's hair. The torches make for occult imagery, as though the pair were witches planning to curse or sacrifice them.
Hirokazu: They're coming to get us!
Kenta: Could Jijimon...
Hirokazu: ...and Babamon...
Both: ...be bad Digimon!?
And so the pendulum takes another swing. What if they really are dangerous after all?
In the dub:
Kazu: (thinking) ...Jijimon... Babamon... We can be Partners... We'll finally be Digimon Tamers....
Kazu: Such nice... real... Digimon....
(Nightmare)
Jijimon: Ha! The little stringy one wants to be our Tamer? He's only good for one thing!
Both: Ahahahahahahahaha!
Jijimon: CLAW OF DOOM!!!
Babamon: EMPRESS HAZE!!!
(Kazu and Kenta wake up)
Kazu: I think they're gonna maybe attack us or something!
(Boys imagine the attack)
Kenta: Like, with fiery sticks and flames coming out of their heads!
Kazu: That's exactly what I was thinking! We can't just sit here and let them beat us up!
Kenta: (gulp) I guess you're right....
Kazu: Be tough....
Both: ...like Tamers!
Kenta: You go first.
Kazu: You go first!
Both: ...together!
EN Babamon and Jijimon talk during the nightmare, and even call their attacks.
Hirokazu and Kenta sneak over to the door, cracking it open so they can see what's happening in the living room.
Jijimon tosses a dust packet into the fireplace, confirming that those are in fact what they're burning.
Babamon: That's too rough! You should stoke the fire more gently. We want our guests to stay warm and get some rest. It wouldn't do to wake them up.
Jijimon: Sorry. Say, Babamon....
Babamon: What is it, Jijimon?
Jijimon: I never would have thought a windy day could be so much fun without quarreling.
Babamon: Yes, you're right, Jijimon. I'm amazed we were able to get along so well on a windy day. We owe our gratitude to these travelers.
Babamon and Jijimon both approach the fire, pressing their hands together.
Both: (to the fire) Thank you. (to each other) Thank you.
Seeing this, Hirokazu and Kenta back from from the door.
Kenta: They clasped their hands and paid respect to us.
Hirokazu: They don't even know that we doubted them.
Kenta: Jijimon and Babamon are a lot older than us but....
Hirokazu: They have honest hearts and they believe in other people.
Both: We're the ones who should be clasping hands and showing gratitude to them!
Hirokazu and Kenta do just that.
Both: (to each other) Thank you. (To the door) Thank you.
Back in the living room, Babamon and Jijimon watch the fire burn in silent contentment.
Here, the question of whether we can trust Babamon and Jijimon is, at long last, finally put to rest. They really are just as kindly as they seem. They've enjoyed entertaining the humans as guests, and have been entirely sincere in the way that they've treated them.
Kenta brings up that Babamon and Jijimon are super old, indicating that he did catch that point Hirokazu made earlier. In addition to re-evaluating Babamon and Jijimon's sincerity as hosts, the boys are also re-evaluating their fitness for Partnership.
In the dub:
Kazu: (whispers) Open it!
Kenta: (whispers) I am!
(Kenta opens the door to peek into the living room)
Jijimon: I CAN'T HELP IT!!! I'm a naturally loud person!
(Jijimon throws an old data sphere on the fire)
Jijimon: What, you gonna sue me now!? Look, I got the fire going. That at least should make you happy! And maybe melt the ice around your COLD, FROZEN BLACK HEART!!!
Babamon: I JUST DIDN'T WANT YOU TO WAKE THEM UP!!!
Jijimon: Hey, honey, it's been nice, huh? With the having of the guests and all that?
Babamon: Nicest day in years!
Jijimon: Who would have thought it possible that we could spend the whole windy day not fighting?
Babamon: I can't believe it either. And it's all because of a couple of nice strangers who just happened to blow through our doorway. We should give thanks that we were blessed with their visit!
(Babamon and Jijimon clasp their hands)
Both: So nice, huh?
(Kazu and Kenta close the door)
Kenta: Wow, how much of a heel do I feel like?
Kazu: Tell me about it. Without them, we'd still be out in the wind.
Kenta: Yeah, getting crushed by refrigerators or blown off a cliff somewhere.
Kazu: And we don't even have any lip balm! Our lips would be so way chapped by now.
Both: We should both be giving thanks for Jijimon and Babamon, not the other way around.
(The boys clasp their hands and pray to the door)
Both: Okay.
(Cut to the living room)
Jijimon: We're still gonna fight later though, right?
Babamon: Oh, yeah! Next time you make me mad! Which should be any minute now!
Jijimon: Whew! That's a load off.
JP Jijimon says they've gone without 喧嘩 kenka, which means to quarrel, argue, brawl, etc. It's a broad term for an aggressive dispute between two parties, which can be either verbal or physical.
Babamon similarly says that the presence of the travelers has made them 仲良く nakayoku, which means to be on friendly terms with someone and get along well.
This goes with the 夫婦喧嘩 fūfukenka or "marital spat" language earlier. They typically bicker for fun but having this new "entertaining guests" form of entertainment has given them the ability to have fun together without needing to quarrel to do it.
But this broad scope doesn't really work for the dub, which has been having a blast doing Ball and Chain jokes, and even continues to do so both before and after that exchange. So they narrow the definition strictly to physical violence. They haven't had to fight, but they've still been quarreling all day and have no intention to stop.
Hirokazu and Kenta talk about what good and honest people Babamon and Jijimon are. Kazu and Kenta talk about how dangerous the windstorm that Babamon and Jijimon spared them from is.
Additionally, the dub didn't have Kazu make the point about Babamon and Jijimon being too old, and so sees no need to bring it up again here.
Morning comes and at last the wind dies down. It's time to say goodbye.
Ruki bows to Babamon and Jijimon.
Ruki: Thank you for everything.
Jijimon: Are you leaving already?
Babamon: You're welcome to stay longer.
Ruki: Our team is waiting for us.
Babamon & Jijimon: That's a shame!
Ruki: I'm afraid we have to go.
Ruki and Renamon turn and begin climbing the stairs out of the hut, but stop when they realize HIrokazu and Kenta aren't following them.
Ruki: What's wrong?
Hirokazu: Well, it's just that we have something we want to talk to Jijimon and Babamon about.
Ruki: You do?
Hirokazu: We'll catch up later.
Ruki: Okay, then. Let's go, Renamon.
Ruki climbs the stairs with Renamon trailing after, but Renamon's wary eyes remain on the boys and the elderly pair. Renamon doesn't trust this, and voices their concerns as they step out the door.
Renamon: Are you sure about this?
Ruki: It's fine.
Renamon: I know those two said they need to discuss something with Jijimon and Babamon, but--
Ruki: More importantly, we need to look for Culumon.
Hirokazu and Kenta have been convinced that Babamon and Jijimon are trustworthy, as has Ruki. Even the atmosphere is treating the pair more positively, with warm reassuring music instead of ominous, eerie silence. But Renamon still has their hackles up.
The dub uses the extended sequence of the wind dying down to slip in some extra dialogue.
Kazu: You can't be thankful for the food! I'm thankful for the food!
Kenta: Why can't we be thankful for the same thing?
Kazu: Because it makes the bath and all the other stuff feel bad!
Kenta: Hey, the wind's stopped!
Renamon: Time to go, boys.
(Rika bows to Babamon and Jijimon)
Rika: Thank you both for all your hospitality.
Jijimon: What? So soon, you're leaving?
Babamon: But you can't go yet! You just got here!
Rika: We have to. Our friends are waiting.
Babamon: (disappointed) Oh well. Fine, then.
Rika: Thanks again!
(Rika and Renamon start to leave, then realize the boys aren't following)
Rika: Are you coming?
Kazu: Actually, no. We've gotta ask Jijimon and Babamon something.
Rika: Like what!?
Kenta: You know, like a question.
Rika: Ugh! Fine, I don't have time to play twenty questions with you guys!
(Rika goes upstairs and exits with Renamon behind her)
Rika: Catch up with us when you can.
Renamon: Rika, shouldn't we--
Rika: No. Finding Calumon is more important than those two dips. Besides, apparently they have their own little game plan to pursue.
The parting exchange between the boys and Rika is much more hostile on both sides.
Hirokazu offers to catch up with Ruki later. In the dub, Rika's the one who tells Kazu to catch up with her.
Once Ruki and Renamon are gone, HIrokazu and Kenta get on their hands and knees, bowing in supplication to Babamon and Jijimon.
Boys: Jijimon! Babamon! Will you become our Partners?
Babamon & Jijimon: What!? "Partners", you say!?
Boys: We're sure to become fine Tamers!
Babamon & Jijimon: "Tamers"...?
The boys get up, grabbing Babamon and Jijimon's staves and making V for Victory poses.
Boys: (singsong) ~Digimon Tamers, oo~oo, YAY~!!!
These poor Digimon have absolutely no idea what's happening to them right now.
In the dub:
Boys: Jijimon? Babamon? Will you be our Partners?
Kenta: Pretty please?
Babamon & Jijimon: What's all this about "Partners"?
Boys: We promise we'll be the best Digimon Tamers there ever were!
Babamon & Jijimon: "Tamers"...?
(The boys make poses)
Boys: That's right! (singsong) Digimo~on Ta~amers!
This is pretty much 1:1 with the original.
Out in the desert, the search for Culumon begins.
Ruki: CULUMOOOOON!!! CULUMOOOOOON!!!
Ruki and Renamon have made their way up one of the buttes, where Ruki uses her binoculars to search the area for Culumon.
Renamon: They don't seem to be in this world.
Ruki: Oh!
Ruki raises her binoculars up the cliffs, seeing the Real World sphere in the distance.
Ruki: If we made it to the top of those cliffs, would we be able to meet back up with Takato, Jian, and the others?
Renamon: We should.
Ruki: But it doesn't seem possible to climb that....
Then Ruki notices a scrap of yellow fabric drift by on the breeze.
Ruki: The wind....
Renamon: It wouldn't be possible to climb, but....
Ruki: ...if we could fly....
They look back at Babamon and Jijimon's home, specifically at the cloth over the roof.
Renamon: We just need the wind and that cloth.
A plan is made! And I continue to find Renamon's use of この世界 kono sekai to describe our surroundings to be fascinating.
In the dub:
Rika: This is stupid! How are we supposed to find one little Digimon in this crazy place!?
Renamon: He'd better not just be playing Hide and Seek.
Rika: Hey!
(Rika looks up the cliffs)
Rika: Do you think if we went to the top, we could make it back to the Real World?
Renamon: Perhaps.
Rika: But how can we get up there?
Renamon: We can't climb it.
(Fabric scrap floats by)
Rika: Huh? But we could fly up.
Renamon: We're going to need a lot of cloth.
Rika: I bet I know....
(Babamon and Jijimon's home)
Rika: ...where we can get some.
Ruki wants to scale the cliffs so they can meet back up with the rest of their team. Rika wants to scale the cliffs so she can go home.
Inside the house, Hirokazu and Kenta explain the concept of Digimon Tamers. They demonstrate how to perform a Card Slash.
Hirokazu: CARD SLASH!!!
Kenta: CARD SLASH!!!
Jijimon: So then we'd evolve and get stronger?
Babamon: That sounds interesting.
Hirokazu: Doesn't it!?
Kenta: I think we'd go really well together as Partners and Tamers!
Intrigued, Jijimon pantomimes a Card Slash of his own. The Card Slash theme comes out to accompany Hirokazu's evolution.
Jijimon: CARD SLASH!!!
Hirokazu: Then, if I was a Digimon....
Hirokazu pictures an odd little Digimon for himself to evolve into.
Hirokazu: BLACKWARHIROKAZUMON!!!
Kenta: Make me evolve!
Babamon: CARD SLASH!!!
Kenta: If I were a Digimon....
Hirokazu and Kenta begin to play-fight, much to their Tamers' amusement.
Babamon: Oh ho, now this is fun!
Jijimon: Ahahaha, it sure is!
Hirokazu gets Kenta in a headlock and runs with him, but then stops when he realizes something's amiss.
Hirokazu: Huh? Wait, why do we have to fight?
Kenta: Yeah, now that you mention it....
Jijimon: Fight harder!
Babamon: Keep fighting!
Both: TAKE THESE!!!
Babamon and Jijimon toss their staves to Kenta and Hirokazu respectively.
Hirokazu: If it will make you happy, Jijimon....
Keneta: If it will make you happy, Babamon....
Boys: Whatever, I guess!
The boys take their weapons and face off.
Hirokazu: How dare you, MegaloKentamon!
Kenta: What's your problem, BlackWarHirokazumon!?
They circle each other for a moment, then swipe at each other. Going for a visual pun, Kenta repeatedly tries to sweep Hirokazu's legs out from under him. Hirokazu's footwork keeps him from getting tripped up, and he tries for a jumping overhead slam.
Hirokazu misses Kenta, but he does take out an urn in the process.
Babamon and Jijimon watch from the sidelines and applaud, clearly enjoying this.
Hirokazu and Kenta lock staves as the fight continues.
Then the boys stop and both do V for Victory poses. They're having fun.
Outside, Ruki and Renamon take the cloth down from Babamon and Jijimon's roof.
Renamon: Yes, this cloth does seem durable enough. I feel bad for Jijimon and Babamon but--
While Renamon's collecting sticks, they suddenly hear roaring and crashing from inside the house, emanating from the fight between BlackWarHirokazumon and MegaloKentamon.
Hirokazu: Special attack, HIROKAZU BURST!!!
Kenta: Special attack, KENTA SHOWER!!!
Hirokazu never gets to fire off whatever Hirokazu Burst was supposed to be. Kenta sweeps the floor aggressively, kicking up dust to choke him out.
Hirokazu: Why, you!
Kenta flees back upstairs with Hirokazu on his tail. Babamon and Jijimon follow the boys back up, laughing all the while.
At the top, Hirokazu and Kenta strike at each other once more before backing off, evenly matched.
もぎゅ Mogyu = Onomatopoeia for squishing, hugging, or squeezing.
臭い Kusai = Stinky, smelly
息 Iki = Breath
Babamon's Milk Squish and Jijimon's Stinky Breath, in other words.
While the boys are still processing what just happened, Ruki suddenly comes barreling through the door.
Ruki: What are you guys doing!?
Hirokazu & Kenta: UWEHHH!!!
At the sight of Ruki, the boys flinch and bound over to stand with their Tamers.
Renamon: Jijimon, Babamon, what in the world is going on in here?
Jijimon: From now on, we'll be known as Tamers!
Babamon: Kenta and Hirokazu are our Partner Digimon now!
Ruki: Tamers and Digimon? The hell is that supposed to mean?
Hirokazu and Kenta discard their costumes.
Hirokazu: Well, at first we were going to be the Tamers....
Kenta: ...but as it got going, we became the Digimon instead.
Ruki: Go home! Go back to Shinjuku right now!
Boys: Ruki....
Ruki: We're going back to where Takato and the others were!
Hirokazu and Kenta hurry to follow Ruki and Renamon, but Babamon and Jijimon interject.
Babamon & Jijimon: WAIT!!!
Babamon: Kenta and Hirokazu can't go!
Jijimon: You're trying to interfere with our marital fun!?
Babamon & Jijimon: WE WON'T LET YOU!!!
Babamon and Jijimon attack together. Renamon catches their staves while the humans back off. Renamon strains against their weapons, but seems to be just a bit stronger, forcing them back a step by sheer brute strength alone.
Then Renamon jumps, bounding over the pair of them and releasing the staves. Renamon lands on the stairs, baiting the couple into swinging at their back before flipping back over them and sending them tumbling down the stairs. The battle is ended!
Uh, in the sense that they're falling down the stairs and we can just fucking bounce. It's a good thing those two ended up attacking us or we might feel a bit guilty about stealing their roof cloth!
This "fight" gives us a rare instance of the Tamers actually knowing Digimon lore like they should! While Kenta based his Digimon name on MegaloGrowmon, Hirokazu's clearly drawing on BlackWarGreymon for his; A Digimon that has not appeared in this series but was a fairly significant character in Adventure 02.
As an aside, if Renamon can manhandle two Ultimate-level Digimon like that, then evolutionary power levels really don't mean shit in Tamers, do they? Renamon is really powerful and can easily fight above their weight class, but usually that just means they're on par with Adults. Perfects like the Devas still usually hand Renamon their ass on a platter.
But the Devas are also Digimon gods so they may not be representative of what an ordinary Perfect is like, strength-wise. Even so, the idea that Renamon can effortlessly toss around Ultimate-level Digimon without any Card Slash buffs or evolutionary level-ups hits pretty weird.
As an side, the return of Ruki's "GO HOME" with a vengeance got the biggest laugh out of me this episode. XD
In the dub:
Kazu: DIGI-MODIFY!!!
Kenta: DIGI-MODIFY!!!
Jijimon: This is getting better and better! With these kids, we could Digivolve!
Babamon: Think of the fights we'd have!
Kazu: That's the spirit!
Kenta: So what do you say, guys? Are we Digimon and Digimon Tamers or what?
(Jijimon does the motion)
Jijimon: Oooh... DIGI-MODIFY!!!
Kazu: If I could Digivolve, you know what I'd be?
(Kazu pictures it)
Jijimon: What? You gonna tell us or should we start with the guessing?
Kazu: I'm BLACKWARKAZUMON!!!
Kenta: Digivolve me now!
Babamon: DIGI-MODIFY!!!
Kenta: Alright! KENTA DIGIVOLVE TO....
(Kenta pictures it)
Jijimon: Again with the pausing!
Babamon: So they're dramatic!
Kenta: MegaMightyKentamon!
Jijimon: Okay, you both make a lot of noise. But can you fight?
Babamon: Yeah, go to it, MightyMegaKentamon!
Jijimon riffs on the imagination sequences.
The dub retains the BlackWarGreymon reference but renames Kenta to MegaMightyKentamon, which is not a reference to any Digimon whatsoever. They just made some words up. I wonder if someone saw the "Megalo", didn't realize it's the Japanese name for WarGrowlmon, and just shrugged?
Babamon immediately proceeds to say MegaMightyKentamon's name wrong.
(The boys fight)
Kazu: Careful! Not the hair!
Babamon: GET HIM!!! It's better then our fight!
Jijimon: Less gab! More jabs!
(Kazu headlocks Kenta but then stops suddenly)
Kazu: Hold on a minute. How come the two of us are fighting and not them?
Kenta: I don't know. Just seemed like the thing to do, I guess.
Jijimon: Don't give up now!
Babamon: You're so close to doing real damage!
(Babamon and Jijimon toss over their staves)
Kazu: Well, I guess if it makes them happy...
Kenta: ...then it's worth the bruises.
Boys: Okay!
(Kazu and Kenta face off)
Kazu: Feel the full power of BlackWarKazumon!
Kenta: Yeah, whatever.
(More fighting; Kazu smashes the urn)
Jijimon: I like the kick and the flying and stuff!
(Kazu and Kenta lock staves)
Jijimon: Such anger! Such violence!
Babamon: Such great entertainment!
(V for Victory poses)
Jijimon: What are you stopping for!? It's just getting good!
The dub takes its third commercial break here before we come back to Rika and Renamon taking down the cloth.
Renamon: I hate to just take this.
Kazu: (distant) BlackWarKazumon will TRIUMPH!!!
Renamon: Hm?
Kenta: (distant) MegaMightyKentamon's special attack will stop you!
Rika: Huh? What in the name of all that's good are they up to now!?
(Cut to stairwell)
Kazu: Special attack!?
Kenta: Yeah! Uh... BROOM OF MAGIC!!!
(They return upstairs)
Kazu: Broom of... LAME attack!
(The boys fight some more)
Babamon: DIGI-MODIFY!!! Step on his leg!
Jijimon: DIGI-MODIFY!!! URRRRRP!!!
(Rika shoves the door open)
Boys: ULP!!!
(The boys jump to Babamon and Jijimon's side)
The dub drops Renamon's assessment of the cloth's durability.
In the original, all they hear is the sounds of a scuffle inside. It's only after they investigate that they find out the embarrassing truth.
In the dub, they already know they're responding specifically to Kazu and Kenta doing some shit.
Hirokazu tries to call an attack of his own before Kenta's interrupts him. The dub treats the calling of an attack as Kenta just being silly.
Unsurprisingly, Babamon's Digi-Modify is changed to "Step on his leg" instead of Babamon's Milk Mogyu.
Surprisingly, the animation of Babamon grabbing and squeezing her own tits was not censored out and remains in the broadcast episode.
Rika says nothing when she pushes through the door.
Renamon: What's going on in here?
Jijimon: Well, little miss nosey, if you must know, our Partners were having a fight!
Babamon: That's right, you're looking at MegaMightyKentamon's new Tamer!
Rika: What are you guys talking about? Being Partners and Tamers?
Kazu: Well, there was a little mix-up. We were supposed to be the Tamers.
Kenta: Yeah, but we ended up being the Digimon.
Rika: HAVE YOU GONE TOTALLY CUCKOO!?!? What about getting home!?
Boys: Oh, yeah....
Rika: Now come on! Let's get out of here!
(Boys start to follow)
Babamon & Jijimon: WAIT!!!
Babamon: You can't just run off with our Partners!
Jijimon: And anyone who tries to stop our fun gets a noggin' knockin'!
(Brief Renamon vs Babamon and Jijimon fight)
Wait, is this why the dub thinks Rika's trying to get home? Because Ruki keeps snapping at Hirokazu and Kenta to go home?
Ruki means that in the sense of "You are unfit to be on this expedition. Leave immediately." This is consistent with what her opinion about their presence here has been since the day the Tamers met up in Central Park to come through the portal.
The logistical difficulty in what she's telling them to do isn't her problem.
But the dub seems to have taken it as "We, all of us, must make finding our way home our #1 priority."
As the wind starts picking up, the team prepares to put their plan into motion.
Renamon: Okay, this fabric should work. The kite's finished.
Ruki: We're going to use these strong winds to soar up the cliff. Don't just stand there zoning out; Grab on!
Boys: O-Okay!
The boys grab hold of the kite.
Babamon & Jijimon: WAIT!!! WAIT!!!
Down below, Babamon and Jijimon sprint after them in a mad pursuit.
Unheeding of their cries, Renamon and the Tamers leap off the cliff into the wind.
Ruki here accuses the boys of ぼけっと boketto, which means to stare vacantly into space with no thoughts in your brain.
The dub again uses the shot of the winds picking up to slip in some extra dialogue.
Rika: Now, are you two clowns ready to go?
Boys: Alright....
Kenta: You're the clown.
Kazu: Hehe, well, you're the whole circus! Especially the baboons!
(The kite's ready to go)
Rika: When I give the signal, everybody push off good and hard so we don't hit the rocks, okay?
Kazu/Kenta: Okay! / Yes, Rika.
(The boys grab the kite)
Babamon & Jijimon: WAIT!!!
(Down below, Babamon and Jijimon chase after)
Babamon: MegaMightyKentamon, we need your fighting skills!
Jijimon: BlackWarKazumon, our dishes need washing!
Babamon: DON'T ABANDON YOUR PARTNERS, PLEASE!!!
(The kite takes off)
Again, Renamon's assessment of the fabric is dropped. EN Renamon doesn't get a single line in this scene.
Rika gets all of her insulting the boys out of her system in the added dialogue so she can focus on delivering instructions once the kite shot rolls around.
As the team pushes off, the kite initially goes straight down. That seems bad. Good thing there's no fall damage here.
They do manage to catch the wind before they hit the ground, but they get low enough for Babamon and Jijimon to latch onto the kite's tail streamers.
This passes with no dialogue in the original, but the dub gives Rika one line once they start lifting into the air with Babamon and Jijimon on their tails.
Rika: They're going to drag us down! We'll never make it to the top!
I guess the dub wanted to add some extra peril.
You may be wondering why they even put those streamers there. In kite design, the tail streamers serve the purpose of giving the kite stability. Adding weight and drag to the back of the kite keeps its top side topside, preventing it from spinning or flipping or tumbling in the air.
Things that would be especially bad for a kite with human beings attached to it to do.
Good aerodynamic design is always important because the laws of physics famously do not care about what you were trying to do.
As the kite rises into the air, Babamon and Jijimon plead with the humans to come back one last time.
Babamon & Jijimon: PLEASE DON'T GO!!!
Then their streamers break off from their added weight, sending Babamon and Jijimon plummeting back down to the ground.
Babamon and Jijimon collide with the front door of their hut and roll through it, just as Hirokazu and Kenta did at the start of all this.
In the dub:
Babamon: You can even have my best broom!
(Streamers tear)
Kazu: JIJIMON!!!
Kenta: BABAMON!!!
Rika, Kazu, & Kenta: GOODBYE!!!
Babamon & Jijimon: SO LOOOOOONG--
(Babamon & Jijimon hit the door)
Babamon & Jijimon: OY!!!
I can't actually tell if Rika says the goodbye with the other two, though I definitely hear Ruki's distinctive voice in there.
Is it still blood libel if the Jewish-coded characters only plan to keep the stolen children and not to eat them?
As the kite rises from the canyon, the humans give their final assessment on everything that's transpired with Babamon and Jijimon.
Hirokazu: When will we finally get to become Tamers?
Kenta: Jijimon and Babamon were good Digimon after all, huh?
Ruki & Hirokazu: Yeah.
I do like that, for all her frustrations with Hirokazu and Kenta, Ruki does join in when they're saying goodbye and then here. She liked Babamon and Jijimon too.
This is the final verdict on whether the two of them are dangerous or harmless. They did well by the Tamers, and had no ulterior motives. Their hospitality was genuine. Things did take a turn at the end there, but only because the pair of them are playful kooks, and the boys made the mistake of offering them a fun new game.
They were, at all times, entirely sincere and genuine with the kids.
In the dub:
Kazu: You know, I had this kite idea too! But I thought I'd let Rika do it.
Rika: Your Digimon name's gonna be BlackWarAndALotOfPainmon!
Kazu: Aw man, I wonder if we'll ever be Tamers?
Kenta: I don't know. Maybe someday.
Kazu: Yeah... Well, first, we gotta get home! Right, Rika?
Rika: Don't even try to kiss up to me now!
The dub drops the final assessment on Babamon and Jijimon, replacing it with one last reminder that the Tamers' primary goal right now is to escape back to the Real World.
(It is not.)
Inside the house, Babamon and Jijimon pick themselves up off the ground.
Jijimon: Babamon.
Babamon: Jijimon.
Jijimon: Hirokazu and Kenta have left us.
Babamon: I'm so bored....
Babamon and Jijimon raise their staves to begin fighting once more, but then think better of it.
Both: That's it!
Instead of fighting, they come together and begin to sing Manly Spray.
Babamon: This is my, This is my....
Jijimon: ...this is my sea!
Both: Today too, today too, it's calling out! / We got a great haul in life / So let's raise our flag!
We zoom out on their house, as Babamon and Jijimon embrace a new way of entertaining themselves on boring, windy days.
In the dub:
Jijimon: Ugh...
Babamon: They're gone!
Jijimon: And I'm already bored beyond belief without them.
Babamon: Well, you know what to do!
(Babamon and Jijimon raise their weapons)
Both: Wait a minute!
Babamon: Let's sing!
Jijimon: Yes! Their beautiful song!
Both: Getting all pruney! / Like a raisin in Juney! / Soaking in the bath! I'm soaking in the bath!
EN Babamon and Jijimon telegraph that they're going to start singing the song, while JP Babamon and Jijimon just go straight into it.
We close here on-- Wait, no, after we finish zooming out, the wind smashes a piano on the ground and Jijimon interrupts.
Jijimon: YOU SING LIKE SHIT!!!
Babamon: YOU'RE TONE-DEAF!!!
Jijimon: TCH!!!
Zooming back in on the house, we find Babamon and Jijimon swinging at each other once again. They lock their staves.
Jijimon: Stupid old hag!
Babamon: Old geezer!
They sling ババ Baba and ジジ Jiji at each other as insults, and that's where we close out. Zooming out on the home once more, we end with everything back to normal on another windy day-- Is that Culumon?
The fakeout ending here is a fun little bit. It seems like it's going to be a happy ending for Babamon and Jijimon until we finish zooming out, then they start bickering and we have to come back in one last time time and be disappointed. Then do another slow zoom-out for the real ending.
In the dub:
Jijimon: Oh my stars and garters, woman! You have a voice like a thousand broken bottles raking across a chalkboard!
(piano smash; Zoom back in)
Babamon: What about you!? You make screaming babies sound good!
Jijimon: Okay, little missy! Those right there are FIGHTING WORDS!!!
(Inside, Babamon and Jijimon lock staves)
Jijimon: I... love... you... so... MUCH!!!
(They break apart, Jijimon swings)
Jijimon: Take that!
(More fighting; Slow zoom out again)
Jijimon: Just like old times.
Babamon: It is, isn't it?
Jijimon: Let's always fight again.
Babamon: HI-YA!!!
Jijimon: OW!!!
(Calumon blows past)
Calumon: Whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh!
Davis (V.O.): Maybe the guys will have better luck next time! That's if they don't crash first. Find out on the next Digimon: Digital Monsters.
The dub messes up the fakeout by having them start fighting as soon as we cut to the exterior of the house, before the zoom-out's started. They fight while we zoom out, fight while the piano smashes, and then fight while we come back in to see what's up.
The dub brings back the "I love you so much" bit to book-end this fight with the one that kicked things off.
"Let's always fight again" is a pretty good line. XD
This episode, Davis promised that we'd find out what the data stream does to Rika and the others. That got decisively answered so that's a Promise Kept.
Assessment: The central focus of this episode is on the ambiguity of Babamon and Jijimon's intentions. The first half of this episode is a paranoia thriller; We're trapped in a confined space with people we don't know and who may or may not mean us harm.
Until it turns out that they don't. They actually do like us.
Until they like us too much and we have to fend them off anyway because they want to keep us. But at least we left them better people than they were when we found them.
Oh wait, no we didn't, they go right back to business as usual.
It's a yo-yo. This episode is a yo-yo of expectations and realities, serving to provide Hirokazu and Kenta with a bit of character examination since they've never really had an episode about them before.
All while poor Ruki somehow got tapped as their babysitter. XD
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