What They Say:
“King of Inventors, Gerbemon”
Taichi and Koshiro, who are scouting the area, come across a genius inventor, Gerbemon. Koshiro’s eyes sparkle as he sees the number of inventions Gerbemon had created from junk. However, an enemy Digimon suddenly attacks them.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Never straying too far from the path, it’s time for a quick pitstop to Taichi’s Adventures. But he quickly gets relegated to the back as Koshiro takes center stage. They stumble upon a garbage dump where all sorts of items from the human world end up. There all sorts of items from technology to fast serve hot meals. Unfortunately, another thing they have in common is that they’re items of yesterday. The food is expired and the technology is outdated. This doesn’t matter for the dumpster Digimon, Gerbemon, and his companion, Tyumon or Chuumon as he more commonly known. While others may see trash, Gerbemon and Chuumon see a wealth of treasure. They use these items to create experiments and increase their knowledge. Gerbemon realizes that not every experiment is going to be a success and uses these words to cheer up Chuumon. These Digimon haven’t had a great reputation in prior adaptions but they make a great appearance in this episode. They just two beings that you can’t help but support and cheer as they go after their dreams. They had that perfect chemistry in every scene. It was taken to a new level by having a silent Chuumon whose loyalty to Gerberom has been earned. Gerbemon may not seem like the ideal scientist but he has the best qualities required for being one.
Koshiro shines as he becomes more than just the tech geek. Hisnkost notable trait is that he is always carrying his tablet and shows an overreliance on it. There was an earlier episode that attempted to show him as something more but this is the episode that cements it. Using a tablet is easy but having a brain that understands how a tablet run is an outstanding achievement. Koshiro applies the same process to defeating a Digimon, Raremon that seems impossible to beat. Taichi and Greymon only make matters worse as their attacks power up Raremon causing him to digivolve to Rareraremon. Yes, the double name is redundant but it is what it is. Koshiro builds upon what Gerbermon has created to defeat Rareraremon.
I would like not to make a reference to the original Digimon Adventure series and judge this reimagining by its own merits. But it gets harder when it keeps making subtle references that new audiences wouldn’t understand. These subtle references aren’t so subtle to people who grew up with the original. Last week had Yamato and Takeru’s hidden family issues and it goes for a repeat with Koshiro. This series either needs to commit to having its own identity separate from the original or let it know that it’s following the rules of the original series.
In Summary:
Digimon Adventure has figured out the perfect formula to make delightful episodes. The monster of the week trope is blended in wonderfully to demonstrate the DigiDestined’s heart and create emotional connections to the Digital World. One problem that this reimagining has created for itself is that it cant have its cake and eat it too. This series needs to pick a path that it wants to be known for. And considering that its 40 episodes in, it has to pick a direction soon or it will be weighed down by indecisiveness
Grade: B+
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
