Score: A-

Not a bad third episode. The show continues to deliver some solid action while pushing the plot forward. It doesn’t feel like we’ve stopped and that’s a good thing. The next episode might be different since the immediate goal of saving Hitomi has now been cleared. While saving Asuka is likely very far off in the future. The immediate issue is of course Tomoro’s bond with Golden Dawn which is shaky to put it lightly. They are putting up with each other to a degree, but that can only go on for so long.

I don’t blame him that much

I can’t blame Tomoro for having his hangups with AI. His e-pulse has always been unusual and led to numerous troubles. That alone would push anyone to deal with those things as little as possible. But he also has a rebellious streak in general. If someone tells him to walk a certain path he wants to walk a different one. That would be there regardless of his e-pulse. Combine the two however and you get someone that just doesn’t fit in that society.

It’s obviously a scary thing (and possibly a legit look forward) to see how ingrained those Sapotama and AI are in society. Kids all have them even at such a young age and they are effectively raising the children as much if not more than the parents…Again, that’s a frighteningly realistic take. At some point you have to wonder who really is in charge of the world.

Save the team bonding for later

While I love everyone having their “ok let’s go help out” moment with the broker…it felt odd since Tomoro had long since run off on his own! But I guess to a degree that was within expectations. The reason the old guy gave Tomoro a ride was probably so the group could keep tabs on where he was. Wouldn’t be that tough to catch up in time even with Hyemon digivolving. Still, would have been good to not drive Tomoro away in the first place! They probably wanted to make it easier in some ways by not saying that they thought it was already too late for Hitomi’s e-pulse to be recovered. Sadly showed their inexperience that they were unaware that the e-pulse was probably still fine.

That does make me wonder though. What hope there is for Tomoro’s brother? Hyemon not digesting e-pulse right away is likely a pretty unique quality. Is there a good reason for whoever stole Asuka’s e-pulse to hang onto it? I presume yes since I don’t see the story going that dark. But it makes me wonder what the reason would be. Bait? Though if he wanted to go after Tomoro you’d think episode 2 would have been a better time than any future moment after the whole group had gotten stronger.

That could’ve gotten messy

Gekkomon going berserk in episode 3? Before the legitimate first evolution to champion!? Yes, I know we’ve seen digivolution before this point. But when the main character’s Digimon digivolves is generally a noteworthy moment. This choice certainly fits. Tomoro is in a dark place honestly. His brother is catatonic, his life has been a struggle with how he doesn’t fit into regular society, and he’s had all these life threatening experiences. Getting heated and wanting the Hyemon to pay for what it did…honestly isn’t that crazy. It’s a good way as well to establish the connection between human and Digimon. But it might simply be showing off how unusual Tomoro’s e-pulse is. That if he loses his head then things could get pretty bad.

A picture really says it all

I’m a bit iffy on the stance of the group though. What he’s talking about and what Tomoro wanted are different things. He didn’t want that Digimon deleted because it was a bug, glitch, or simply a Digimon. He wanted it gone for what it DID. There’s a difference between punishing something for mere existence and for actions. And honestly I’m not sure how far Glowing Dawn can go with such a mindset. Their enemies aren’t going to hold back for such reasons and plenty will be attacking with the intention to kill. The stronger the enemies get the more that rule is going to be testing their limits. A “no kill rule” is obviously fine and has been done many times. But…I just question the argument. They could argue Tomoro shouldn’t obsess with revenge and that’s one thing. But they attacked him for a reason he wasn’t even using!

At least these two are doing alright

This episode was solid, but also set up quiet a bit. We already got a hint that a dark digivolution might be coming. But it’s also clear that Tomoro is very much an anomaly. His e-pulse is unusual, powerful, and frankly seems almost infectious. Not to mention while Tomoro and Gekkomon are growing closer…he doesn’t feel any closer to Glowing Dawn. Their stance and his own aren’t necessarily aligning. Things worked out alright this time, but hard to say how long this can really go on.