Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. It’s the last week of Digimon 2020 as we take at the final part of the anime. Unfortunately, this is the part where the show has it’s most problems and where everyone turns on it. Part 1 started off good. Parts 2 and 3 were decent. Part 4. . .well keep reading to find out. Let’s get started.
Episodes 51-56
With the Digital World now safe in episode 51, the group receives a call from Gerbemon and Searchmon inviting them over to a large tree that contains a large reserve of information and data. Once they arrive at the tree, Gerbemon introduces them to Wisemon a digital philosopher (if you will) who is the head of an institute studying the Digital World in the hopes of discovering what Digimon are, where they come from, and where they’re going. The group gets taken to some stone tablets that have the crest symbols on them. The Digimon there have been studying the symbols long before the institute was found and believe the crest have been around since the beginning of the Digital World if not longer (yes, the old days of the internet before social media took over and all we had was porn sites and Homestarunner). They activate the tablets with their Digivices which records their adventures so far and warns them of a great catastrophe on the horizon that they must stop. It turns out Millenniumon was just a stepping stone. Also, all those strange incidents involving the real world weren’t the cause of Millenniumon, but instead their true enemy who is about to make their move. The place then gets attacked by Burpmon (my God, it’s Kirby all grown up), a gluttonous Digimon that eats any and all data (I take it back, it’s the delete history button on your PC). The group fights it but it keeps eating their attacks. They decide to over feed it with the corrupted data they had lying around and that manages to destroy it. The group returns to the tablets where they each receive a map in their Digivices pointing them in different directions. Supposedly, these directions will take them to their crests. So everybody goes their separate ways for now. Except for Joe who takes Kari and TK to the hotsprings to heal up Gatomon and Patamon.
The hunt for the crest begins in episode 52 with Tai and Sora landing on an island that has a volcano getting ready to erupt. The inhabitants of the island who don’t want to leave are being led by Junkmon (a half mole half machine creature. You were created by Robotnik/Eggman weren’t you?) and working to create walls for the lava to flow safely off the island without causing severe damage. Tai and Sora decide to help where Piyomon gets injured saving Sora from some wreckage. She still tries to help out but Sora won’t let her work for her own safety. This results in a fight between the two as Piyomon feels Sora doesn’t trust her and she runs away saying she hates Sora (wow, didn’t expect these two to have a fight). When Junkmon helps Sora realize her mistake, the volcano erupts, placing everyone in danger. Tai and Agumon start to get stragglers to safety while Sora carries an injured Junkmon. She meets back up with Piyomon where the two apologize to each other and team up to stop the eruption. This of course leads to Piyomon evolving to her mega form (finally! This should have been done many episodes ago), Hououmon. Hououmon firebends the lava off the island and creates a giant pillar of crystallized lava to stop the volcano from erupting ever again. With the island safe, Sora continues onto her destination while Tai stays behind to soak in some hotsprings (can’t help but feel Sora got cheated here).
In episode 53 we focus on Joe’s group who have just arrived at the hotsprings only to discover that they’ve been frozen over (who did this?). They come across a strange Digimon named Kabukimon (https://youtu.be/VKMw2it8dQY) who says that the hotsprings all dried up. However, there is a spring in his lord’s mansion. We see that his lord is a face from the past, Tonosamagekomon and underlings are the Gekomon. They quickly find out he’s the one responsible for the hotsprings drying up and he has no intention of sharing it with anyone else. Not only that, but he plans on making Gomamon his bride (well now I know I’m reading someone’s fanfic). Gomamon gets captured and the others get blown away where they find the Digimon who were relaxing in the springs before and come across Tai and Agumon who were arriving onto the scene (can we go one episode without these two showing up?). Thankfully, Tai and Agumon don’t steal the spotlight this episode and mostly just serve as background characters. They form a plan that lures Tonosamagekomon out where they reclaim Gomamon, defeat Tonosamagekomon and restore the hotsprings.
We open episode 54 with Tai and Greymon protecting a Digimon called Cutemon (because it’s faqing cute) from a group of Giromon where they get saved by Rebellimon (hands down one of the coolest Digimon we’ve seen so far). Rebellimon easily defeats the Giromon and then attacks Metalgreymon where the two fight to a draw. As the episode goes on we find out that Rebellimon is actually Ogremon reincarnated, but he doesn’t remember his past. However, he still has great respect for Greymon and Metalgreymon. Not much really happens throughout the episode, but we do get a cool fight between Rebellimon and Boltmon where Rebellimon wins with the help of Cutemon. This is one of the better episodes in my opinion where the focus is taken off of Tai and Agumon and focuses on other characters as well as establishes lore within the series.
In episode 55 we focus on Mimi and Palmon who arrive back at the Tanemon village which has now been turned into a school run by Jijimon and Babamon (the grandpa and grandma duo of Digimon) that train young Digimon and help them evolve. Mimi and Palmon enroll in the school where Tai and Agumon show up as well (out of nowhere and for no apparent reason, what the hell!?). Eventually, the school gets attacked by Banchomamemon (I wonder if he knows Bancholeomon?) a delinquent Digimon who used to go to the school but left after Babamon couldn’t accept his mega evolution. Together with a bunch of Mamemon and Bigmamemon they attack the school where Lilimon gives us our next mega evolution and evolves into Rosemon (something that the internet hasn’t lewd all that much. Which is rather disappointing if I’m being honest). Rosemon defeats Banchomamemon and he enrolls back into the school to discover the true beauty of mega evolution (I’m sorry, but, why the hell are Tai and Agumon there again?).
We focus on Matt and Gabumon in episode 56 as the two are being hunted down by Zanbamon (who is one of the coolest looking Digimon we’ve seen so far). Zanbamon has been attacking and killing the local residents of the bamboo forest and seems to be invincible as nothing seems to hurt him. Of course Tai and Agumon show up (again, for no apparent reason, what the actual hell? Okay, I get that they’re the main characters but for God’s sake focus on the other characters and give them a chance to shine). With the aid of Izzy they find out that long ago Zanbamon fought in a battle where he was defeated by another Digimon with a golden sword. Throughout the episode, Gabumon has been having visions of the Digimon with the golden sword but can’t seem to figure out what they mean. Eventually, they go to the grave of the golden sword Digimon and find the sword which has now become rusted and unusable. Gabumon takes the sword into the battle believing that it will help him and sure enough it does. Using the power of the sword, Gabumon evolves into his second mega form, Cresgarurumon where it gets revealed that he was the warrior who defeated Zanbamon in the past. Cresgarurumon defeats Zanbamon and Matt manages to find the crest of friendship.
Episodes 57-62
So in episode 57 we focus on Tai and Agumon (hey~, haven’t seen that in the show). The two get abducted by the catastrophe threatening the Digital World which is the Algomon. They claim that they’ve been tasked by their no-name master to execute a mission and have been studying and monitoring the group on their adventures. They separate Agumon from Tai and create a bunch of clones where Agumon has to figure out which one is the real Tai and if he guesses wrong the fake will explode (what is this Saw?). It takes Agumon a bit, but he manages to find the real Tai (spoilers, they were all fakes) and the two fight their way out of the Algomon fortress. The Algomon retreat for now saying that the catastrophe is unavoidable (oh yes, we know that).
Episode 58 attempts to focus on Kari as she, TK, Gatomon, and Patamon return to Petaldramon’s forest which has only grown bigger and become a hotspot for digitamas to hatch peacefully. Tai shows up out of nowhere (yeah, at this point I’m used to it) and journeys deeper into the forest where they find out that some of the eggs are being attacked by Soulmon. Only Gatomon’s attacks seem to be working on the Soulmon so it’s up to her and Kari to take them out while the others gather the eggs and keep them safe. As Kari and Gatomon venture deeper into the forest, they find the leader of the Soulmon, Skullbaluchimon (the raged filled bone dragon). So we get our big battle where Angewomon almost loses, but Kari’s determination to protect the forest in Digitama gives her the strength to keep on fighting and they manage to win (can you see the light?).
For episode 59 we get some Izzy development (with dash of Tai and Agumon because this is clearly their show). In the episode, they come across Nanomon who reveals himself to be Izzy’s stalker (damn, out of the characters, I thought he’d be the least likely to have a stalker) who wants to prove he’s smarter than him. Nanomon challenges Izzy to a game of riddles where if Izzy fails then Whamon will pay the price (okay, this is becoming Saw). Izzy has 30 minutes to solve the riddles, find Nanomon and touch it in order to win. The game starts off on a bad foot as they mess up on the first riddle and as a penalty, Tai gets captured and locked up (I call that a reward. Now we can focus on Izzy). Izzy and the others continue through the riddles where they do a good job but the time pressure gets to Izzy and he makes another mistake losing Agumon. As Izzy begins to panic, Tentomon snaps him out of it and they continue onwards. They manage to find Whamon and save it where Tentomon evolves into Heraklekabuterimon (that’s a mouth full). Izzy and Heraklekabuterimon then trick Nanomon out from hiding and Izzy manages to touch it to win the game.
Episode 60 is a miracle as it’s the first episode in a while where Tai doesn’t steal the show (thank God). In the episode we focus on Joe and Mimi. The hotsprings have dried up once again, so now Joe and Mimi are leading the Digimon to a warmer environment. On their journey they get attacked by the pirate Digimon Olegmon and his crew. Just like the other Digimon their village also dried up so Olegmon made the decision to abandon the village and become pirates in order to get food and survive (it’s not an honorable life but’s the only way he could save the villagers). Joe and Gomamon challenge him to a duel where if he wins he gets all their food, but if they win he becomes Joe’s underling (since when did Joe become a mob boss?). The fight goes as you would expect with Olegmon winning until Gomamon evolves into his mega form, Vikemon. Vikemon defeats Olegmon and leads them to a tropical island where there’s food and room for everyone. Once there they run into Tai (okay he shows at the end, but that’s all he does).
Episode 61 is a pretty pointless episode. It just focuses on TK, Tai and a bunch of other Digimon helping Eldoradimon return to the Cloud Continent.
We finally get Hououmon in episode 62. Tai and Agumon have once again reunited with Sora and Piyomon who are helping out some other Digimon cultivate the land. As they work they reawaken Shakkoumon the guardian of the land (hey, there’s a familiar face). In the past Shakkoumon protected the land from the forces of darkness, but it was outnumbered and was losing the fight. In order to protect it, the Digimon of the past put Shakkoumon to sleep. Now that Shakkoumon has awoken he now believes that the war for the land is still going on and continues to fight. Sora’s love for the Digital World and the Digimon within it allows Piyomon to mega digivolve into Hououmon (about damn time) who honestly doesn’t really do that much (to the anime’s credit Hououmon despite being a powerful Digimon was never one for combat. It’s a supporter/healing Digimon which matches up with Sora’s personality. She’s more about her feelings and supporting others rather than fighting). So Hououmon manages to calm Shakkoumon down without destroying it and it goes back to sleep. Staying in slumber for the day it would be needed again.
Episodes 63-67
Episode 63 gives us closure on Tai’s crest journey. Tai, Sora, Agumon, and Biyomon arrive at a castle being guarded by Knightmon who lets them in (they were on the list). They then meet Valkyrimon who takes the form of a bird and explains that the castle was once a meeting spot for warriors who fought against darkness. Tai asks if it knows away to stop the great catastrophe coming and then it stabs him with a sword of light saying the answer lies within him (a simple yes would have suffice). Tai wakes up and finds himself in the wilderness where he rescues a Botamon from Goblinmon. From there, Tai and Botamon get chased by other more aggressive Digimon trying to kill them, but the two work together to stay alive. Now, you may think this Botamon is Agumon but nope, it’s a different Agumon. In fact, it’s the same Agumon from the Digimon movie (that’s kind of cool). After saving Tai, the Botamon turns into the crest of courage and Tai returns to the others.
The final battle begins in episode 64. The tree of knowledge is under attack by Soundbirdmon. Everyone arrives to protect the tree and the Soundbirdmon combine to create Deathmon the king of darkness and the Digimon that originally started the great war in the past (and his design is very basic. Seriously, king of darkness and eyes on his palms is the best you can do?). This soon leads to mega evolutions of Patamon and Gatomon who evolve into Seraphimon and Ofanimon (much better evolution for Gatomon then the one they had in the first Digimon movie). They easily defeat Deathmon (man, the king of darkness is a bitch). After this they go back to the monoliths which are glowing and then the monoliths fly up to open a hole in the sky where a shadowy Digimon appears.
Episodes 65 and 66 give us the final boss of the season, Negamon. All of the Digimon evolve to their mega forms to take down Negamon who takes their best shots, but just keeps coming back stronger than ever. Eventually, Negamon starts entering both the digital world and the real world. Just when it looks like the group is about to be defeated, they receive texts from around the world cheering them on (it’s the Digimon movie all over again with a dash of DBZ). The texts get converted into power and they use that power to fuse Wargreymon and Metalgarurumon into Omegamon.
In the final episode Tai, Matt, and Omegamon fight the main body of Negamon while everyone fights the artificial body. This is a by the books fight as far as Digimon goes. Omegamon overpowers Negamon, but Negamon powers up to overpower Omegamon, bonds and friendship speech, and then Omegamon gets the win thus saving the Digital World and our world. After the battle peace finally sets in the Digital World and our heroes return to our world with their Digimon and Izzy begins working on the digital gate which will allow them to journey to the Digital World whenever they want. The end.
Final Thoughts
It’s not as good as the original. While the anime starts off on a good note, shows a good number of Digimon from past seasons and shows how disturbances in the Digital World can affect our world this reboot falls short in a lot of areas. Aside from Devimon the villains this time aren’t all that memorable, strong, have no personalities and go down a little way too easily for my taste. There’s a number of filler episodes which could have been used for character development that go nowhere. That’s one of the major faults of this season, it doesn’t explore the characters as they did in the previous seasons. Nobody gets any major development as a character with the exception of Tai and Agumon who pretty much take over the show. Every time we get a chance to do some character development Tai and Agumon show up out of nowhere and steal the show. We keep constantly focusing on these two and not focusing on the others which is a big disappointment. I get that Tai’s the main character, but you shouldn’t be forcing him down our throats. This doesn’t make us like him this just makes us hate him which should be impossible, but they found a way to make me hate Tai. Nice going.
The animation is bad too. They try to capture the style of the original and bring it up to date. While the backgrounds look decent and the environments a little better, this animation is still bad. It starts to look good in the final episodes where you can see where all the budget went. The music does nothing for me too. I feel like they keep reusing the same song for all the major battles. Is it too much to ask for a switch up?
Final Score
My final score for Digimon 2020 is a 4/10. Just like the year it came out in this anime was a disappointment and a poor reboot to one of my favorite animes as a child. I recommend checking out the original over this version. The original had better character development, villains, and story. With the way the anime ended it seems like the story will continue and if it does they better get their shit together, see their mistakes and fix all of the problems for the next part. Otherwise they’re going to have another disaster on their hand. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.