Following on from last week’s review and, of course, our podcast discussion episode, it’s time to watch the 38th episode of Digimon Adventure: (2020)!
Opening thoughts
I am really not looking forward to see Yamato again as that brings us closer to resuming the ‘Adventures of Taichi and Yamato’ series, however, with expectations as low as these, the episode HAS to be good..right?
Digimon Adventure 2020 Episode 38 “The Blazing Blue Friendship”
Digimon Adventure 2020 Episode 38 Review
Mephitsomon is CHANTING CREEPILY at Gabumon who is on a cross. Instantly I am hooked by the sheer eeriness of this episode.
Yamato is doing some parkour while Troopmon have bad aim., as they do. Oh one actually manages to hit him and knock him to the ground. Then, there’s a sudden plot geyser which reunites Joe and Gomamon.
Apparently we won’t be getting Joe’s onsen adventures in this experience. Yamato sounds so bored hearing Joe’s explanation and thanks Joe for coming, even though it wasn’t really his intention.
We see that Elecmon variants are also captured on crosses and are being coverted into energy into a black crystal, the cast then discuss how it’s probably related to what Taichi’s group were talking about.
Yamato has a quick flashback and it almost implies that Gabumon was passionately wanting to save the other Digimon and then Yamato got seperated from Garurumon. Yamato asks Joe and Gomamon to help him and Joe is SO HAPPY and says how he never thought Yamato would ask. It’s very sweet.
In the next shot, Ikakkumon is firing at the cliff face with Salamandamon – a brief bit about Salamandamon, – he debuted in 2002 on the D-Scanner toy as well as the card game and is an armor evolution of either Tentomon or Chuumon with the Digimental of Courage. He’s been animated before in Xros Wars.
Back to the plot, we have Yamato climbing the harpoon Vulcan spires and then we get a Taichi’s group update – they’ve all reunited with Takeru and Hikari which is, honestly surprising as I thought the plot was going to keep them split up.
Big fan of the colour variant of Elecmon and the Chibickmon from Xros Wars showing up, by the way.
Takeru mentions how he and Yamato don’t live together as his parents had a fight and how they were both busy with work and won’t home much and he went with his mother and Yamato went with his father. However, Takeru and Yamato still are able to communicate.
Weirdly animation bit is how absolutely large Takeru’s head is on his body and how his neck doesn’t look like it should support his head..let alone Patamon’s weight.
Anyway, Agumon comes in with grapes and tells them to eat, Taichi thanks him and then thinks about Yamato and Takeru, which transitions us to what Yamato is doing, which is being knocked off a cliff face.
While he’s falling to his death, we finally get to see how Yamato arrived in the net at the start of the show. Yamato met Tsunomon and immediately tells him to find somebody else as he doesn’t have the time.
Tsunomon just started following Yamato and it’s kind of cute. We then see how an Algomon attacked Yamato and Tsunomon jumped in front of the attack to protect him. Yamato then grabbed Tsunomon and ran, causing Tsunomon to glow, then Yamato ran at the Algomon to protect and Tsunomon had evolved to Gabumon.
It’s really nice seeing this flashback as I never expected this, and, as much as I would love it for the rest of the cast, I don’t expect it. But it is nice.
Meanwhile, Mephistomon has started to absorb Gabumon and is chanting, which gets in Yamato, Joe, and Ikkakumon’s head. Ikakumon mentions that this voice must be controlling Troopmon. Joe remembers his textbooks that Mimi threw in the swamp.
A Salamandamon charges at Yamato and he slips and continues to fall. Back to Joe, he starts chanting some stuff from his textbooks and enters the avatar state, basically, which causes the Troopmon to also chant along with Joe.
Joe is suprised when he stops and the Troopmon are chanting along. I absolutely love the background music here, it’s so cool. Also, well done Joe for doing a thing!!
Ikakkumon protects Yamato from Salamandamon and Yamato does some parkour to the top of the cliff, which makes no sense how he can do this but I guess I could do insane things on the monkey bars at school when I was his age which are similar just less deadly and it’s cool so whatever.
Yamato reaches Mephistomon and Gabumon and breaks through a barrier even if it causes him pain. Gabumon tells him to leave and calls him stubborn, and Yamato says his stubbornness rubbed off on him and how he changed and gained something important when he met Gabumon.
Yamato says that Gabumon was his first first and reaches for him, they break through the barrier with another glowing magic orb and then Gabumon evolves to Garurumon and then to WereGreymon, and then the writers remember that Sagittarius mode exists!
WereGarurumon then glows blue and I love Mephistomon’s little gasp before he gets hit, it’s actually adorable. Everything is encased in ice now and Mephistomon breaks open. Gabumon and Yamato high five.
At the end of the episode, Gabumon is amazed Yamato climbed the cliff and Yamato said that Joe and Gomamon helped, as did Gabumon.
Takeru calls out to Yamato and the eight children and finally all together for the first time. It only took almost forty episodes.
I’m watching the ending theme and I just realised the book that Gomamon is holding up says ‘pretty fish’.
Digimon Encyclopedia time! It’s Eldoradimon! Koshiro asks the real questions of “what does Eldoradimon eat” and “who fixes him when he flips over”. Koshiro says he has endless questions and wonders if he can ask for an interview.
Next time it’s Lopmon!
Rating for Digimon Adventure 2020 Episode 38
5/5
Another strong episode! We got to find out about Yamato and Takeru’s home life and we’re back to taking evolutions slowly and developing the characters first (except for Taichi because he’s special).
I loved getting to see a flashback to Yamato and Tsunomon meeting as that was completely unexpected and also showed how Yamao was fairly hesitant to being friends with Gabumon at first, but has friends now and Gabumon was his first (disregard Takeru, I guess).
I’m a little disappointed we didn’t get “the adventures of Joe and the onsen Digimon”, but I’m really glad he was helpful in this episode. It was a nice change of pace for the ‘damsel in distress’ to be a partner Digimon too.
Overall, I’m starting to think that either this series got better or I just got used to the show being terrible…as this was actually a pretty solid episode, and most likely in my top three.
Until, of course, we record the podcast tonight and I realise I’m wrong.
I’m also wondering how they’ll split up the group next episode, because that is definitely bound to happen.
So what were your thoughts on Digimon Adventure 2020 Episode 38? Let me know in the comments or in the discussion thread on /r/Digimon!
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