Score: B

I will be honest that there have been ups and downs while following Beatbreak. The show started off really strong, but I feel like it’s languished while being hesitant to change any kind of status quo. This episode was a positive in the sense that it feels likely that Chirpomon will be digivolving. But I also know not to get my hopes up for that since the writers seem terrified to make that kind of bold move for anyone. But it’s certainly possible that things will get interesting in the next episode.

Little guy is hard on himself

One good thing is that Makoto is easily the most likeable of the main cast. He’s just a good kid that constantly tries to do his part despite his partner not being that geared towards direct combat. His story is also a good deal more interesting. He comes from the much praised “egg” and a lot of drama in this episode is how him gaining a digimon partner changed his course. There’s obviously a lot to unpack there with Kyo saying he didn’t have to take this job or how the antagonists constantly berated him over his situation.

The obvious thing here is that Makoto at no point says he regrets what happened. It sure doesn’t appear like he misses life in that place. Maybe it’s because he’s seen the bigger world outside that egg. But at the very least Makoto doesn’t appear to miss what is honestly a pretty creepy locale. Instead he’s got a new group of friends and a partner that he wouldn’t trade for anything. But obviously poisonous words could wear down Chirpomon. Guilt over the changes to Makoto’s life would have been on his mind anyways and having someone point them out just hurt him more.

Nothing good to say here

I honestly don’t have any good things to say about the antagonists of this episode. Haruko and her dad can jump right off a cliff for all I care! I get it. She’s clearly being manipulated by her father to fulfill his ambitions. Her life has gone off the rails thanks to her father and that’s all quite sad. At the same time…she’s a jerk and the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree! She’s just absolute trash. Her venom towards Makoto is utterly bizarre. He’s a cleaner like her. She knows that. His life isn’t sunshine and rainbows. But this brat keeps attacking him, Chripomon, and frankly mentally assaulting anyone she feels like. This girl is terrible. And frankly I don’t wish a good fate on anyone that abuses their Digimon partner like she does.

Her dad will likely be the main enemy here and of course he’s worse. This moron was so obsessed with the egg’s higher ranks that he committed a crime, messed it up, and got banned while dragging his daughter down with him. No Digimon of his own so he uses his daughter to hurt people and get what he wants. The only thing you can say is that he’s clearly been broken by the messed up system around him, but he’s still responsible for his actions.

This guy kind of represents the Egg for me

The egg is creepy. The only interesting thing I can say about it is that it’s meant to be a shelter as well as some utopia. What’s happened in the world? What do they fear happening in the future? There’s clearly some weird and disturbing reason that society has gone down the direction it has in this setting. It’s just a creepy setting where people desperately struggle and work to get into that egg in the first place. Then people struggle like crazy to rise up the ranks into the upper levels. No one is truly satisfied, everyone is giving up all control of their lives to AI, and feeling more unnatural than the Digimon themselves.

Lock this jerk up!

I’m curious to see where things go from here. Obviously the focus will stay on Makoto who has to battle to get his partner back. That should be plenty engaging. We’re obviously not looking at a digivolution for Gekkomon until episodes 11 or 12 at the earliest. This episode was solid and that’s great. But I do wonder how many are truly watching it.