What They Say:
DANCE OF THE HEAVENS, HOUOUMON
The Chosen Ones start new adventures to prevent the Great Catastrophe. Taichi and Sora reach an island with a volcano. When they help Junkmon build a wall to protect the Digimon living on the island, an eruption occurs.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Taichi and Sora should be on their way to discover the meaning of the crests but of course, they get sidetracked. They end up stranded on an island where a volcano is erupting so frequently. The Digimon of the island are working as if they are in a factory to build a constrict to control the direction the lava flows to avoid danger. Taichi and Sora, from the goodness of their heart, decide to help out these struggling Digimon. The leader of the pack, Junkmon, values safety above all else and has hypnotized everyone into repeating the catchphrase “Safety first” and having them touch their head as a sign they understand. This gets old fast and it feels like it’s used to fill up the clock to get to the end without much substance. These kinds of things need to be used in moderation to make a lasting effect.
Sora and Biyomon’s relationship turns sour but it needed a bit more work to feel genuine. Biyomon gets injured as the volcano erupts and she protects Sora from getting injured. This would be a great moment to display how these two care for each other but no, it goes in the opposite direction. Sora and Junkmon bench Biyomon from doing any work until she recuperates. Biyomon takes this the wrong way and feels that she is being treated unfairly. Biyomon just wants to help and they get into a scuffle. I enjoyed watching them struggle because this is the first time that this show has bothered to explore the dynamics between the Digidestined and their Digimon partners. From the moment they met, they just followed each other blindly without any regard for building a relationship.
Mega-level digivolutions should be saved for special occasions and a volcano erupting does not warrant Biyomon digivolving to Hououmon.To play devil’s advocate, having a volcano erupting shakes things up. It’s a chance to have these characters deal with a natural occurrence instead of a monster of a week. It’s nice to get a break from having a monster of the week and forcing them to think outside the box.
In Summary:
This episode dragged on too long and needed to be cut by ten minutes. Digimon shows have served as commercials for products but now it’s serving as a commercial for workplace safety. It was putting in too much effort into making a catchphrase that is not going to last for long. The bar was set low for team dynamics and I hope that future episodes spend more time raising this bar.
Grade: C
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
