What They Say:
“Hikari and the Moving Forest”
After travelling through many fields, the Chosen Ones finally come upon a forest. However, they find that the forest itself makes up a Digimon’s body. Hikari and the Chosen Ones help this Digimon fight an old nemesis.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
The Digidestined adventures in the forests continue but this latest forest is a large Digimon, Petaldramon. Unfortunately, there is a dark Digimon going around eating all the forests and it has Petaldramon next on its list. If there are Digimon eating Digimon then might as well have Digimon eating forests to further add to his horrifying season of seeing creatures devouring anything in their sights. Petaldramon can be seen as the protector of the plant Digimon. His anger comes from seeing his brethren being viciously devoured. Palmon is ecstatic getting to meet the legendary plant Digimon. Its like a groupie getting to meet their favorite rock star.
This was Hikari’s turn at bat but she only makes it to second base. She is the only one out of the Digidestined to attempt to connect with Petaldramon. Hikari goes out of her way to learn as much as possible about Petaldramon. There only so far you can go with a Digimon that cant physically communicate. There are some parts that work well as she demonstrates that it doesn’t matter if she doesn’t understand another being, she shows unlimited kindness to whomever.
The dark Digimon aren’t Digimon but Entmon’s attacks to devour the plants in the Digital World. Petaldramon and Entmon have fought countless times over the fate of the forests. There can only be one plant apex Digimon and these two final battle has come to fruition. Their fight is reminiscent of Godzilla going at it with King Kong from the latest film. Entmon has the upper hand as he landed a fatal wound on Petaldramon. Hikari and Angewomon arrive on the scene to heal Petaldramon and give him a fighting chance. They respect that there is a certain line that they can’t cross in this battle and leave Petaldramon to his fight. These two give it their all but in the end, there can only be none standing at the top of the world. Death is only the beginning of life as their bodies are transformed into a safe haven.
In Summary:
The tranquility of childhood innocence is destroyed with such an elegant somber note. The last few episodes of Digimon Adventure had been on such a mellow tone as the Digidestined explored the various corners of the Digital World. They established an emotional connection of joy to the Digital World. But there needed to be another connection at the opposite end of the spectrum for the Digidestined to feel that the Digital World is alive. There were a couple of scenes where the animation flow was a bit rough to watch.
Grade: B
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
