Digimon Adventure REBOOT Episode 21 “The Tide Turning Update” Review

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

Episode 21—“The Turning Tide Update”—had a lot of good spots, but it also had a lot of bad spots. The plot is acting weirder than usual, as the character stories with the separated DigiDestined aren’t really working. The animation was kind-of wonky in this episode except when Tai and MetalGreymon achieved a truly unexpected Digivolution through the emotionally-charged power of courage.

Picking up where we left off last week though, SkullKnightmon had kidnapped the DigiEgg and flew off on a Mailbirdramon. I did like how Gabumon and Agumon fast-forwarded their special Digivolution sequences this week, showing how the reboot series isn’t trying to focus too hard on the nostalgia. The Ultimate Digivolutions were even skipped altogether when they became WereGarurumon and MetalGreymon.

Tai, Matt, and TK ended up following SkullKnightmon to Devimon’s Castle, and TK finds a glowing feather—the same feather that he and Kari keep finding whenever they needed Omnimon.

Tai also remembers a dying Ogremon pointing “straight ahead” and jumps to the conclusion that this was the castle he was pointing toward. I have no idea how that’s even plausible, but the plot needed to make that connection I suppose. The plot was acting really wonky in this episode, like it was hard to suspend my disbelief about it.

But I do appreciate the Digimon diversity with Splashmon—from Xros Wars—and Calamarimon—from Digimon Frontier—making appearances. Devimon summoned Splashmon to fight Tai, Matt, and TK while the other DigiDestined were dealing with Calamarimon, who was making trouble on the Network. The balancing of the two stories was where the plot felt off-balance. With all this darkness stuff going on, it felt like being whiplashed when we shifted to the B-plot with the other lighthearted DigiDestined.

In the B-plot, we met Mimi’s family and Joe’s older brother—wow how I’ve missed that guy and his brotherly support. The lightheartedness was nice overall, but after experiencing such darkness and knowing we were going back to that in the same episode didn’t mesh well tone-wise. Also, I’m hoping the A and B plots are somehow connected with each other because I’m not sure how I’m supposed to be feeling anymore with the separation.

While those action sequences were going on, TK went into to a random hole for a plot reason. When he did this, I thought to myself, “What sane child thinks going down a big hole in the middle of a monster brawl is a good idea?”

SkullKnightmon also got away and put the DigiEgg on some mantle; this will likely lead into a bigger plot thing later. I’m hoping they save the DigiEgg soon because I want to see TK and Patamon hang out together at some point in this reboot.

Anyways, let’s talk about the new evolution upgrade for MetalGreymon and Tai’s emotional speech about never giving up and needing to save both worlds. Tai was using actual courage to lift Splashmon’s mouth off MetalGreymon’s arm. The animation was superb for this moment—not as good as MetalGreymon’s official debut in episode 10 though. This was a pretty cool mode change nonetheless—MetalGreymon: Alteros Mode! He has a sword laser on his non-metal claw arm and used it to kill Splashmon.

I honestly thought SkullGreymon—due to that darkness miasma spreading over MetalGreymon at first—was coming, then I thought WarGreymon was next when Tai did the moment, but I’m glad the Digimon writers found a way to knock me off guard. Are you reading these episode reviews, Digimon writers? Because it wasn’t that long ago when I said, “Prove me wrong.”

TK also returned with ElDradimon—a significant Digimon from Digimon Savers (Digimon Data Squad)—and helps Tai and Matt get somewhere. I’m not sure what’s going to happen next after this, but please let the Digimon episodes be good moving forward. I have been so patient, but this episode was half-baked. The Network B-Plot isn’t getting me excited aside from the Digimon Frontier callback. In a way, this reboot is gradually using nostalgia from other Digimon series to keep our attention.

Overall, I’m going to keep watching. Devimon is getting closer—episode 23—to fighting the DigiDestined. I do hope the two plots become more balanced or just mesh and get everyone back together. Thanks for reading this episode review, everyone! I’ll see you all next week in the Digital World!