Post — Aaron Ngo

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

Episode 29—”Escaping the Burning Jungle”—centered around Tai and Agumon deciding to go after Kari while everyone else regrouped. The first opening minutes of the episode established Tai separating from the others, which made me initially frustrated. Splitting the party is a good tactic, but Digimon stories are more fun when the group is together. It doesn’t really work when everyone’s separated all the time. I made similar remarks about Big Dad D. One Piece recently in my most recent thought pieces about the “split the party” trope, so watching it infect Digimon too makes me sad.

Tai and Agumon hurry through a burning jungle, which was caused by SkullKnightmon when he escaped with Kari, in order to catch up with them. The concept of eating other Digimon—digi-cannibalism—to gain more Digi-power is an interesting one to explore, as wild Digimon began eating each other to stay alive or to prove they are the strongest Digimon in the jungle. The Survival of the Fittest mentality kicked into overdrive.

Tai and Agumon ended up protecting a Lopmon and a group of Woodmon from enemy Digimon trying to eat them. I’m enjoying the world-building that’s been done with the Digital World so far, but I do wish the Digimon Writers expanded more on the lore. Also, Lopmon showing up in this episode could be an Easter Egg, or actual foreshadow to the Holy Digimon being fleshed out later. Remember, Gatomon still hasn’t appeared in the reboot series.

I will not discuss the other Digi-Destined’s locations due to how irrelevant it is right now with the story. However, I will discuss Sora and Biyomon because they showed up to save Tai and Agumon from trouble. I do appreciate Sora not listening to Tai, and deciding that saving Kari is more urgent than the plot-driven stuff that Izzy blabbed about. The Rescue Kari story arc is also the more interesting one because of the digi-potential it has.

The cliffhanger was interesting, with Tai, Agumon, Sora, and Biyomon about to battle a second wave of evil Digimon trying to kill them. I don’t think I’m liking the attention Tai has been getting lately, but his sister got kidnapped, so maybe I’ll give him a pass. I will see this arc through either way.

Thanks so much for reading this episode review, everyone! I hope y’all had a Digi-Holiday with your loved ones! I’ll see you all next week in the Digital World. Let’s hope this arc is a good one!

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