Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. Well guys it’s the final week of Aniween and we’re wrapping up Digimon Ghost Game. Part 4 was a bit boring so here’s hoping they can ramp up the excitement in the final part. Let’s see how it ends.
Episodes 53-57
Episode 53 is a Kiyoshiro episode. While on a class trip a student calls Kiyoshiro the king of knowledge at a shrine. Baalmon, a Digimon who resigns in the shrine takes offense to this and kidnaps Kiyoshiro to see who the real king of knowledge is. They have a duel where they bet their knowledge and each time they answer a question correctly they steal their opponent’s knowledge. We don’t get to see their duel (obviously, this isn’t Jeopardy), but apparently, Kiyoshiro came out as the winner as his knowledge has grown and like a drug addict he wants more. Kiyoshiro keeps going to face Baalmon and his losses begin to stack up as he forgets almost everyone around him. The group comes to Kiyoshiro’s rescue by challenging Baalmon themselves by asking him questions only they know the answers to. It works and they start to get Kiyoshiro’s knowledge back, but Baalmon has enough of this trivial pursuit nonsense (something tells me he’s the guy you don’t want to bring to game night) and starts attacking. Thankfully, they got enough of Kiyoshiro’s knowledge back that he remembers who they are. They manage to beat Baalmon with one final trivial question and it returns all of Kiyoshiro’s knowledge.
Episode 55 is for all the cat lovers out there. We meet Bastemon (oh wow, you are a fetish Digimon) who is taking control of all the cats and starting a revolution where they take over society (I knew it. I knew it). It gives the cats voodoo magic (see!? Black magic! Servants of the Devil) to train humans to be their obedient servants. Humans who resist are forced to dig holes and get buried in them (this takes digging your own grave to a new and literal level). The cats take control of Hiro, Kiyoshiro, and Gammamon so it’s up to Ruli and the others to save the boys (an episode with Ruli as the hero. This is rare). After getting the cats drunk on silver vine (olives and celeries), humans regain control of their bodies and we get our fight against Bastemon. She does a good job holding her own against everyone until it tries to suck the life force out of Jellymon which was a mistake because they laced her with silver vine. In her drunken state, Bastemon gets defeated and the cats return to normal with their owners calling this whole experience a bad dream (bullshit, these bastards tried to kill you. Spray and neuter their asses). Bastemon accepts the relationship of cats and humans in this world and wonders if it’ll find a partner like that someday (oh trust me, you’ll have your share of masters to choose from).
It finally happened. We finally get our first mega evolution in episode 56. The episode starts with people in the city becoming clean freaks (their OCD is showing) and destroying anything they deem impure (I can think of a number of impure things). We see that the Digimon behind this is Kuzuhamon who believes humans are impure and the Digital World is pure (https://youtu.be/BwSts2s4ba4). We see Ruli and Kiyoshiro fall victim to Kuzuhamon leaving only Hiro and Gammamon to fight where Gammamon mega evolves into Siriusmon (he’s got a gun for a gun and a plasma sword for hands. Make this a toy! Kojima approves. Actually, you can definitely tell Omegamon was the inspiration for this Digimon). After Siriusmon slashes through Kuzuhamon’s strongest attack she realizes that humans aren’t impure (well not all of us). She stops the ritual and turns everyone back to normal and erases their memories so they have no idea what they went through (blame it on the medicinal marijuana).
In episode 57, Hiro and Gammamon go to a Christmas play with Kotaro. While Hiro runs back to get his phone, he leaves a sleeping Gammamon with Kotaro where the two forcefully get inside a taxi being run by Digimon. The Digimon is searching for angels and after overhearing Kotaro talk about them, the Digimon demands to be taken to them or it’ll destroy Gammamon and turn Kotaro into a mummy. The group manages to track down the taxi and rescue Kotaro and Gammamon from the driver, Lilithmon (oh man, you guys are fucked). With Gammamon fully healed he evolves into Siriusmon to battle her where he manages to slice off one of her horns. She takes a liking to him and invites him to join her but he refuses. Lilithmon decides to retreat and shows that she can open digital gates at will (this is why I was afraid of her). Lilithmon also reveals that someone is sending Digimon to this world (and all with a horror theme).
Episodes 58-62
Episode 58 is a Ruli episode. When Ruli’s good friend goes missing, she and the others search for her as other people have reportedly gone missing as well. We see that the culprit behind these kidnappings is the Digimon, AncientSphinxmon (who looks like the missing zord from Power Rangers). It’s been going around and asking people riddles. Those who can’t answer the riddle get turned into golden stones used in AncientSphinxmon’s pyramid which it’s using to resurrect it’s master, Pharohmon. AncientSphinxmon turns both Hiro and Kiyoshiro into golden stones leaving only Ruli left to save the group. When AncientSphinxmon summons the pyramid into our world, it completes it and starts to resurrect Pharohmon the original ruler of the ancient digital world. Ruli with the help of Mummymon and Angoramon try to stop AncientSphinxmon but aren’t strong enough. Through their bonds, Angoramon is able to digivolve to his mega form, Diarbbitmon (damn, it looks like what would happen if a rabbit and a musketeer fused together. I actually like it more than Siriusmon). Diarbbitmon is able to beat AncientSphinxmon and returns everyone back to normal thus stopping the ritual and the resurrection of Pharohmon.
Episode 59 is a Kiyoshiro episode. While out of town for work, he goes to see a sentai show with a coworker named Meru who’s also into the same stuff he is (if he was a few years older I would ship them). While at the show, it gets interrupted by a familiar mon, TonosamaGekomon (for the love of God don’t sing), who is looking for Jiraiya from the Japanese folk tale, Katakiuchi Kidan Jiraiya Monogatari, who road toad into battle. In order to save everyone, Kiyoshiro steps up and says he’s Jiraiya and gets taken by TonosamaGekomon. Together, the two go around the city fighting evil and shattering criminals into tiny pieces. Hiro and Ruli show up to fight TonosamaGekomon where he runs the clock out on their evolution (when was this a thing) and goes on the attack. After beating up Gammamon a bit, Gammamon evolves into Gulusgammamon (been a while since we’ve seen you). He easily beats TonosamaGekomon and even tries to kill him to save the others but Hiro stop him. Gulusgammamon retreats for now but tells Hiro that it’s only a matter of time before he gives in and syncs with him.
At the start of episode 60 a cruise ship arrives on land where all the passengers are soaked in a strange water that causes them to expel data in the form of water and leaves them with a haunting face (their faces will hunt your nightmares). When the group arrives in the nearby city to participate in a festival, the mysterious water rains down on the city. The group gets to the high ground where they see the city become flooded with the water and many inhabitants succumb to the same fate as the passengers on the cruise. As the group goes to investigate the shrine for clues, they come across Submarimon who reveals that this is the work of Divermon. He gives them a ride to the shrine they find the dehydrated body of Cthyllamon (sweet Lord you look like a burnt squid). Once dropped in the water, Cthyllamon’s body gets restored and now he plans to flood the whole world. Hiro and Ruli gets splashed with the water (well they’re useless now. Kiyoshiro it’s up to you). Kiyoshiro and Jellymon fight against Cthyllamon and his gang of Divermon where Jellymon mega evolves into Amphimon (which is the worst mega out of the three. She’s just a scuba diver. You couldn’t turn her into a mermaid or a different version of a jellyfish?). Amphimon manages to beat Cthyllamon and the Divermon who turn everyone back to normal and unflood the city and then leave to find their own place.
Episode 61 starts off on a tragic note. At the Madarius Physics Research Center, a woman named Manami is studying warped space with her colleagues. While experimenting, an explosion occurs killing Manami instantly (and she had 30 days until her wedding). Everyone mourns for Manami no more than her sister Kotoha and her fiancé Toru. At night, Kotoha sees Manami walking around the house and calls Ruli to investigate. Ruli tells the guys who agree to help out and investigate the strange sighting. Sure enough, the body does move and talk with Toru in his depression accepting this as Manami being alive again (damn man, you in to some freaky stuff). When Manami senses the others, she absorbs energy from Toru, Kotoha, and Kiyoshiro while groups of Vilemon and Tsumemon watch (damn voyagers). It finally gets revealed that Manami is possessed by ZeedMillenniummon. It turns out during the experiment, MoonMillenniummon emerged from the gate and possessed Manami. Using Manami’s memories it was able to trick Toru into thinking she had revived. Manami speaks through ZeedMillenniummon revealing herself to be its weakness. Though hesitant, Siriusmon and Diarbbitmon defeat ZeedMillenniummon after targeting Manami and it reverts back into MoonMillenniummon who returns to a dormant state. After this, Toru is able to accept Manami’s death and Hiro holds on MoonMillenniumon’s crystal for safe keeping.
In episode 62 strange events begin to occur in an apartment building. People move out and, in their place, Digimon begin to move in with ClavisAngemon serving as the landlord (this is a badass looking angel Digimon. It looks like something out of Kingdom Hearts). When the group goes to investigate, the Digimon accuse them of trespassing (which in all fairness is true) and when Espimon violates the contract by giving a key to a human, ClavisAngemon attacks the group. ClavisAngemon manages to seal Lamortmon and Amphimon using his keyblade and just when he’s about to do the same thing to Sirusmon, Hiro synchronizes with Espimon and he evolves into HoverEspimon (not as cool-looking as I would have hoped). With their combined strength, HoverEspimon and Siriusmon defeat ClavisAngemon who agrees to return the apartment building back to normal and only use the space between floors as homes for Digimon (with the rent you’re charging it better be a good place).
Episodes 63-67
Nothing much to say about episode 63. When Ruli goes to a cake buffet with friends, she gets cursed with an insatiable appetite that can’t be quenched. It gets revealed that this is the work of Quartzmon (that is the last thing I would ask to watch over a baby) who’s been sheltering baby Digimon and sent its copies to masquerade as food that humans would eat in order to give the baby Digimon their energy. The group fights and defeats him, and after coming to a resolution where everyone wins, he returns everyone back to normal including Ruli. Clockmon then appears and tells the group that a large number of Digimon are rapidly entering the human world (great, more mouths to feed). Someone or something is telling them enter the human world.
So the whole massive influx of Digimon to the human world gets put on hold as Hiro goes fishing with some friends. When they head back, a mysterious fog encompasses their boat and they hear chanting. Soon enough, everyone aside from Hiro and Gammamon become possessed and the fog soon envelops the whole city. The possessed people start to head toward the ocean and even start morphing into fish creatures (ooh that transformation is creepy. This feels like something Junji Ito would make). We find out that the fog is being caused by Dagomon who is turning everyone into his underlings. Siriusmon is able to easily defeat him and return everyone back to normal. Once Dagomon is defeated he returns to the digital world just Hokuto returns to the human world and meets up with Hiro and the others to explain what’s going on.
In episode 65 we finally get an over-arching story (thank you. I’ve been craving this for so long). Hokuto explains that the digital world is on the brink of destruction due to GRB particles. GRB is short for Gulus Realm Burst, it’s a virus that causes a black corrosion to appear. Any Digimon who comes into contact with undergo a twisted change in personality and attack other Digimon. The GRB particles are covering the entire digital world and making the place unhabitable for Digimon which is why they’ve been fleeing to our world. Speaking of our world, the GRB particles are causing all digital communications to go down around the world meaning we have no internet and wi-fi (and then mass hysteria consumed the world as riots broke out everywhere). Digimon are also starting to become visible for everyone to see (Nero: Looks like we’ll have to erase everyone’s memories again. (Nitsuj): Wouldn’t be the first time). Using their digivices, Hiro and the others enter the digital world where a few of them get infected by Rafflesimon who absorbs them into her body. When she absorbs Siriusmon, GulusGammamon emerges from within Siriusmon and destroys her from the inside to save everyone (save by GulusGammamon again. We are never going to hear the end of this). The group then flies towards an abandoned city in the city where they believe they’ll find the voice that’s sending Digimon to their world. However, they get stopped BloomLordmon (today is not the day your lordship).
In the final two episodes, BloomLordmon refuses to let the group through to meet the voice. This forces the group to fight him where he’s just too powerful for them to beat. This forces Gammamon to call on GulusGammamon’s power to defeat him where it gets revealed that he’s the cause of the GRB particles in the digital world. Before Gammamon was sent to Hiro, GulusGammamon left a drop of the GRB particles in the digital world and it’s been taking over ever since. GulusGammamon wants to create a new digital world with a survival of the fittest mentality with him as the ruler (geez, this guy was doing Metaphor before it was released). He evolves into Regulusmon (a dark dragon. How fitting) and continues to fight BloomLordmon where the two seem evenly matched. Hiro manages to trick GulusGammamon into synchronizing with him for more power, but instead Hiro separates Gammamon from him. Everyone starts fighting Regulusmon where he blows a hole through Siriusmon’s belly (ohh~ he dead). Regulusmon attempts to absorb Siriusmon to gain complete control of Gammamon’s body, but the voice slows down time and allows Hiro to enter Gammamon’s time and save him. He cuts it close and even avoids Regulusmon’s trick to find Gammamon and heal him. Siriusmon gets back up and fights against Regulusmon where he reverts him back to GulusGammamon and then devours him (like Kirby at an all you can eat buffet). GulusGammamon accepts defeat and Gammamon regains complete control of his body to end the fight. Using Gammamon’s body, GulusGammamon unleashes a vaccine to destroy the GRB particles and return the digital world to normal. The group then gets to meet Quantumon the ruler of the Digital World (a digital being in charge of a digital world. It’s perfect), who was responsible for calling the Digimon into the human world to help them escape the corrosion as well as collect data on human emotions (okay but did you have to send horror-themed Digimon?). She also sent the black Digimon to monitor GulusGammamon due to them being immune to the GRB particles (why? I have no idea. Seems like something she should have been researching to figure out why). With Gammamon’s consent, GulusGammamon speaks through him to reveal that he came from another planet that was destroyed by entity he calls the Endbringer (the Galactus of Digimon). He says the Endbringer is heading towards Earth but won’t arrive for another 2,000 (that doesn’t give us much time to prepare). Quantumon panics saying they need to separate the two worlds to keep each other safe but Hiro and the others say no. They vow to create a world where human and Digimon can live together in harmony. Despite the odds being against them, Quantumon decides to trust them and reconnects the two worlds. All of the Digimon return to the digital world while Hiro and the others return to the human world where they get to work creating a world where Digimon and humans can be happy together.
Final Thoughts
And that was Digimon Ghost Game. If I had to name this anime’s biggest flaw it would be no over-arching story for the entire run. I was honestly hoping around episode 15-20 they would start developing an arc and story for the team but nope, it’s a villain of the week scenario which got dull. According to reports this was intentional as the director didn’t think the target audience would have the attention span to follow an over-arching story. Well that’s a huge shot at your audience. The other seasons had over-arching stories and the audience was able to follow it just fine. Hell, even as a kid I was able to follow the stories just fine and I watched the third season which was as dark as it got. The ending is also trash. Why couldn’t you have just made GulusGammamon the main villain? Just have him appear more in other episodes and show him talking and taunting Gammamon in dreams or when Hiro wasn’t around. Instead, we get this stupid and pointless villain that we know nothing about, don’t care about, and probably won’t see in future installments. Even if we do see it, it won’t matter because the team that has the strongest connection to it will be long dead and the emotional investment along with it. As far as the characters go there’s not much character development among them and they’re kind of forgetful. Out of all the Digimon animes I’ve watched this is the team I am least invested in.
Now with all that said I will say the anime wasn’t boring. I did like the horror theme they had going on in the anime. There are some good and legit scary moments scattered throughout the anime as well. The music and the animation do a good job setting the atmosphere and tone of the anime. Is this series better than Digimon 2020? In my opinion, yes. While Ghost Game may have its share of problems, I give them credit, it never felt boring to watch and gave each character a fair chance to shine in the spotlight rather than downgrade the characters and give all the attention to one character. For the most part, Ruli does get a bit of hate here and there. Which is odd because out of all of them I felt she had the most personality.
Final Score
My final score for Digimon Ghost Game is 4.5/10. Not a bad series to watch for the Halloween season, but not the best Digimon series in my opinion if you’re looking for an overarching story and character development. Still, not a boring watch with a few scares. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj. MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHA-
*As Nitsuj laughs, the timer on the finally hits zero and a non-lethal explosion goes off shattering windows and making a big sound throughout the neighborhood. The AI girls are out on the lawn in chairs sipping drinks. As smoke could be seen coming out of house, the front door falls down as Nitsuj comes out with his clothes torn and his face covered in smoke. He slowly walks up to the girls who smile as he approaches them*
(Nitsuj): You’re despicable.
*Nitsuj collapses onto the lawn*
(Chibi): And that’s all folks!
(AI Girls): Happy Halloween!