Post — Aaron Ngo

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

I had a better time with this episode than the “Izzy-centric” episode. The “Joe-centric” episode had raised the stakes for Joe’s character development, putting the reliability aspect into full throttle. Joe was feeling useless when he realized Sora and Matt were making all the strategic decisions without him, but Gomamon kept assuring him that he had an important role to play in the group too. Then while crossing a snowy mountain terrain, Joe, Matt, and Sora encounter Mammothmon and its Frigimon crew trying to stop them from crossing the river.

The first attack at the beginning of the episode was intense and dangerous when Sora was infected with an ice-virus. With the ice virus spreading from Sora’s leg up to the right side of her body, the stakes to cross the river became higher. Joe had no choice but to step up as the leader, using himself as bait to draw the evil Digimon away from Matt and Sora while they cross the river first.

I did like how Joe was forced to grow without needing to rely on Matt and Sora—and allowing them to rely on him for once. The emotions were running high in this episode as a result. When Matt offered to come help Joe fight the evil Digimon that cornered Joe and Ikkakumon, Joe refused and told him to wait with Sora—who couldn’t be left alone in her current condition. That moment felt earned for Ikkakumon to digivolve into Ultimate. Out of all the Ultimate Digivolutions so far, I believe Joe’s Ultimate moment was actually the most earned.

Also, the Zudomon digivolution was so gorgeous! The digivolution scene was on par with Metalgreymon’s debut digivolution from episode 10—if not topped it. The debate is there, but I loved watching that digivolution sequence. Zudomon’s fight scene against the evil Digimon and summoning his Hammer was also gorgeous. The rainbow at the end made the scene wholesome. With this latest Ultimate debut, now all six children have access to their Ultimate Digimon.

Moving onto the Tai, Izzy, and Mimi portion of the episode, they found a cave—after they were done getting chased by Kiwimon—that lead them back home to Japan! Based on the next episode preview though, this “Japan” is clearly not real—created by an evil Digimon. I was hoping TK and Kari would show up next week based on that cliffhanger, but it’ll be awhile longer before they make their official debut into the Digital World. Let’s be patient. The wait is almost over I feel like.

Next week’s episode should have some plot momentum now that everyone has Ultimate Digimon, so I’m looking forward to seeing the main story move again. I think the six children will meet up soon too now that their centric episodes are done.

Digimon Adventure 2020 Reboot hadn’t gone exactly as I hoped, but we’re not even a 1/3 (22/66) of the way there yet, and I’ve been mostly liking the direction of the character stories at least. I’m excited for next week’s episode though! Thanks for reading this Digimon episode review, everyone! I’ll see you all next week in the Digital World!

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