Appmon 37 Review

[davetheanalyzer]

That was a great and intense episode. As I predicted, most of the Ultimate 4 Appmon were quirky in some way or another but that didn’t detract too much from the threat they posed. They were well paired with the four Appli Drivers for the most part, complementing the personalities and struggles they were going for.

Beautymon was a bit sigh-worthy, being the only woman of the four and thus her quirks and motifs are about appearance and enchanting. I did not see as much of an interesting dynamic between her and Eri and Oujamon. Still, there is still potential to see her and this rivalry grow. Her raging for Oujamon not to mention certain appearance flaws he bemusedly points out he didn’t mention, while still annoying, was a bit amusing. Her shooting Beautymon Cologne at Oujamon, making him utter, “I don’t want to, but I’m turning into a hottie!” was meme-worthy funny and so was him asking if he was a hottie now. I’m certain some people would say he was always a hottie (I’m unsure if the lines are exact translation, since I heard ikemen and I don’t how equivalent the connotations of that word are to the connotations of hottie, but they were still funny lines).

I really like the dynamic between Astra, Entermon, and Fakemon. Fakemon plays possum when struck only to reveal they are dummies and go “psyche!” Him about to high five with Entermon later is the epitome of his character. He seems to be a foil to Astra and Entermon, and the latter’s pairs philosophy in how to present their personas in-person and on Apptube. With the number of episodes left, I wonder if there will be time to explore that dynamic in detail but I’m interested in what will become of it.

I didn’t think much about the operating-obsessed Biomon going against Rei and Revivemon other than irritating the latter pair. Then Revivemon hacks Biomon and finds out he was the one who operated on Hajime and apparently changed him in ways beyond human. That suddenly made him a bit creepier, and now Rei and Revivemon have a personal vendetta against him. They might end up finding out more information through dealings with him, and hopefully the Hajime plotline doesn’t get resolved much too late.

Charismon seems to be the least quirky of the Ultimate 4. I don’t see him displaying any of his stated mind control powers but he explains his and Leviathan’s goals at Haru, Globemon in a way that throws Haru off and make him doubtful of the Appli Drivers own goals. I wonder if that’s how he controls, by speaking so confidentially about his side’s goals that he break’s resolve and is able to manipulate people. Either that, or he has more explicit mind control abilities that might be used in future conflicts.

His speechifying matches well with Knight who dons his Cloud persona, which initially confused me, since the Appli Drivers know he works for Leviathan now, why disguise himself? He does loves to ham it up in the Cloud persona, maybe he wants to continue that charade so he could continue his alter ego cosplay. Haru being uneased by Cloud’s points seems to be an actual thread. His points about Leviathan being able to bring to absolute peace and quality and that humanity is too imperfect and judgmental to achieve it on its own, Haru is thrown off and made doubtful, even as his instincts tell him something is wrong about Cloud’s viewpoint. This still makes the brainwashed/evil Haru concept attractive, though I think it’s pretty unlikely in this series. I wonder where the Haru/Knight dynamic will go and how Haru might come to assert his own views. It would be interesting. Hamminess aside, Knight seems to genuinely believe humanity sucks, so Leviathan must lead, which makes me wonder if he has had any experiences that turned him this way and/or Leviathan tutored him into those beliefs. I wonder if he’ll be redeemed, since I have trouble picturing Digimon being comfortable with killing off a minor, being a teenager and all. If so, I hope it’s done well.

The Ultimate 4 also ask the Buddy Appmon why they aren’t with Leviathan’s cause, noting that as shameful and odd. The Ultimate 4 view Minerva as a deceiver. This return back to the plot point that Appmon apparently aren’t well taken care of and they follow Leviathan because they see him as their salvation. Hope the show explores this well, since it’d be interesting if most Appmon do have genuine grievances with humans, and how’d that be resolved. I wonder if Leviathan is deceiving them for his own ends or genuinely is trying to help them. I wouldn’t want any of these issues to be coped out.

Then the Buddy Appmon get seemingly killed off by having the Applidrives and chips destroyed. That was sad, since all of them, including Rei and Hackmon, have built a particularly tight bond and to have them ripped away from the four must be heart wrenching. Gatchmon saying he wants to eat his trademark favorite food back with everyone was effective, though I saw a nice fanart version of it first.

Then Yuujin comes in to save them at the last second. I admit, I was surprised he seems to actually be just late, and he and Shutmon hold the Ultimate 4 off so the others could escape. When he turned and smiled to Haru as the latter fell through the portal, I was reminded of that question Yuujin got from his Applidrive about who he would sacrifice his life to protect. Now he’s captured by the Ultimate 4. I wonder if by the next time we see him, we’ll get an explanation for those mind control eyes. I know his mother seems to be the source of that but is there some greater power urging or controlling her? Charismon, with his oft-mentioned mind control powers? Maybe even Minerva, for good or not-so-good reasons. I look forward to the explanation.  

Next episode hints Grandpa Denemon Shinkai is still alive online or has an A.I. copy of himself. From the reactions of Haru, Eri, and Astra, it seems the reunion with their Buddy Appmon isn’t going to be as happy as they think. Maybe they lose their memories? If that’s the case, I look forward to the how the Appli Drivers are going to get those memories back.