When Digimon Universe Appli Monsters was first announced I was pessimistic to say the least; the show seemed so different from the Digimon series that I loved as a child and the concept just seemed so dumb and ‘Quick! We need to keep up with YoKai Watch!’. However, from the first episode Appmon surprised and interested me, despite me being not the target demographic. The show quickly captured my heart very quickly with not only a clever and, at times, meta, plot, but endearing and unique characters that made me care from them even if, in Astra’s case, I hated them initially. Appmon really brings you back to the feeling you had when you first sat down to watch Digimon.

I love this season and picking the best, dullest, and worst episodes is actually pretty easy.

Probably because I think about this series daily.

I won’t spoil too much since we’re still relying on either fansubs or DVDs from Japan (which take up so much space on my shelf) so not many English-speaking fans have been able to see it since it’s not available legally if you don’t speak Japanese, Chinese, French, Portuguese. C’mon Toei, it’s been a year since Appmon finished, gimme it.

Okay, I lied: The best episode is actually really hard because, for me, the two best episodes are tied: Episode 4 and Episode 36.

So the answer really depend on how much you like Eri as a character, how satisfying you found her arc, and how touched you were at how supportive her Mum is.

I can’t think of Episode 36 without starting to tear up – it’s a great episode, it’s plot heavy, and Eri, while not making it as one of the 9 gods, was able to go from ranked in middle at around 200, to being ranked 10th. It’s the best 10th place ever.

However, in terms of clever writing and using the mechanics of the season to really showcase what Appmon is all about, I’d have to go with Episode 4, despite Episode 36 being amazing, if you don’t like Eri or you’ve missed a few episodes here and there, it might not mean much for you, as for Episode 4…

You can watch this episode and no nothing about Appmon, this could be your first episode and you’d catch on pretty quickly. While Episode 36 is the most emotion I’ve felt about an episode of Digimon in a long time, Episode 4 was just so entertaining.

It has our first look at the ‘big bads’, a potential of an evil Appli Driver (which, while the series does not explain, word of god has explained it and that there was no time for it – no spoilers here though), and an amazing and clever display of the mechanics – we have a character thinking about tactics and how to beat an Appmon.

It’s really clever and if anybody wants to watch just one episode of Appmon, I’d recommend this one.

Episode 26 – “I’m a Protagonist!? The Meeting with Gatchmon”

 I rated this at the bottom of my episode ranking list as I was watching the episodes as they were released, however, this episode isn’t the worst because of its content. It’s just so boring.

I hate recap episodes which don’t have any content (I praise Digimon Savers for having a recap episode which makes sense – it’s the big bad saying ‘Hey so should I destroy humans? Let’s see what they’ve done!’ Plot sense. This one is just…like a twenty minute long ‘last time on’ which could have been shorter’.

I actually showed this episode to somebody who hadn’t seen Appmon for my podcast and he actually said that I explained the series better in five minutes than a recap episode did in twenty. You can listen to this episode here.

The recap episode aired after Appmon moved to a more popular timeslot, so I guess it makes sense to have one if people are new, but this episode, for those who are up to date, it’s just so boring.

However, Eri and Astra have a catchphrase counter which is cute.

See what I wrote from the worst episode of Digimon Xros Wars and just paste that in here – I hate ‘the characters have a fight and get separated’.

However, while the Digimon Adventure and Digimon Xros Wars Young Hunters episodes had the partner Digimon saying “Hey this Digimon is super evil can you not be friends with it” and the human being saying “What? This clearly devil-inspired virus type horror abomination? How could you say such a thing!” leading the viewer to side with the partner Digimon because, no duh, that Digimon is hella evil; this episode has a character be so cute, Gatchmon basically gets older sibling syndrome and runs away from home despite Cutemon  Offmon not actually doing anything evil. Just being cute and a smol baby who everyone loves. I guess it’s a good display of the only child getting a younger sibling, I guess? I just can’t relate. It happens a lot in cartoons though but I don’t think it’s ever as bad in real life.

Alright, that was quick and easy and I have a lot of feelings about Appmon.

Appmon was the first series I ever attempted to watch raw and I feel like it’ll be the first series I’ll complete raw (maybe next year as I’m preparing for the N3?)

I’m interested to hear everybody’s thoughts on Appmon. This is my favourite season and I have a lot of feelings about it and the characters.

Also, if you’re interested in seeing how I ranked the entire season, you can find my AppliRanking here.

I’ll be covering each movie of Tri next time (not including the stage play because it would clearly be the best part)!