Digimon Adventure REBOOT Episode 20 “The Seventh One Awakens” Review

Major Spoilers are included in this episode review. Please read with caution.

Episode 20—“The Seventh One Awakens”—played out like a boss fight on a video game, which is another way of saying this whole episode was action-driven. Not action-driven like the “Greymon versus Ogremon fight” episode, but more objective rescue mission where the players give chase to save someone.

There was little to no dialogue in this episode as well—aside from Sora and Izzy’s scenes in the Human World—with only Matt really crying out “Takeru (TK)” the whole time. I do love Matt and TK’s brotherly moments though, so I didn’t really mind it at all.

Picking up where we left off with Matt, Tai, and Leomon finding TK inside a cryotube, Velgemon rips off the rooftop—Valvemon’s top, which is quite violent if you remember Valvemon is a living Digimon—to capture TK and fly away. Valvemon also bursts into flames after everyone escapes the fortress, so that Digimon probably went through a lot of pain before dying.

Greymon and Garurumon immediately jump to Ultimate—MetalGreymon and WereGarurumon—and chase after him. Since MetalGreymon isn’t fast enough to catch up with Velgemon, he shoots his Giga Blasters so WereGarurumon can ride and surf closer. This was the moment that reminded me of a “trigger command” to close the distance between the player and a boss fight in midair.

Matt running across MetalGreymon’s metal claw—having used it to connect him and Velgemon’s leg like a bridge—was pretty awesome too. The DigiDestined have been more involved with the action sequences in this reboot, which is far better than acting like support from the sidelines.

Matt breaking into TK’s dark prison sphere thing and trying to reach him was also animated very well. The emotional reunion was cut short though when Velgemon cries out another shockwave, and kidnaps TK again.

This is the precise moment Angemon breaks free from his prison and saves TK in addition to giving MetalGreymon and WereGarurumon massive power-ups.  TK is also given a Digivice and watches Angemon die right in front of him after the battle’s over, reenacting the death scene from the original series in a rushed manner. I liked the callback in general, but I didn’t like how rushed it was considering TK and Angemon literally just met each other.

The next part—the actual cliffhanger of the episode—was a good plot twist though. Before TK can acquire the DigiEgg—after Agumon and Gabumon explained what DigiEggs actually are—SkullKnightmon swoops in and takes the DigiEgg from TK. SkullKnightmon is a significant Digimon antagonist from Digimon Xros Wars so seeing him make an appearance was another great callback from another Digimon series.

Let’s talk about the Sora and Izzy scene back in the Human World before I wrap up the review. A day had passed since they’ve returned, with Mimi and Joe not making an appearance because they’re running late to the meeting spot. Izzy and Sora discovered that their Digimon ended up in the Network World, so they are safe and sound!

However, the episode failed to follow up with the Kari tease. Normally, I would be disappointed, but I found this somewhat acceptable only because this was “TK’s official debut episode”. I’m sure after TK is done getting his introduction—since the next episode has to follow up on saving the DigiEgg—Kari will get her well-deserved screen time.

I did like the tease about Izzy’s parents though, when Sora asked how his parents reacted to his long-term absence and he hesitated to speak about them. In my episode 14 review—Izzy’s Ultimate episode—I mentioned how Izzy’s background and character hadn’t been fully explored compared to the original series, so we could potentially be getting some details on Izzy’s home life soon enough!

Overall, I was hooked on the entire episode from start to finish. The action sequences were amazing and drove the episode in a fast-paced manner that didn’t feel rushed—aside from Angemon’s death—in addition to delivering a jaw-dropping cliffhanger that teases more to come in next week’s episode. This was one of the best Digimon Reboot episodes I watched in a while. I’m looking forward to seeing next week’s episode—a potential “SkullGreymon situation” might occur!

Thanks for reading this episode review, everyone! I also recently watched Digimon Adventure Last Evolution Kizuna on DVD last week. The link to the movie review is here if y’all want to check out my thoughts on that as well! Otherwise, I’ll see you all next week in the Digital World. Let’s get ready to save the DigiEgg from SkullKnightmon!