Score: B+

In terms of properly introducing the current villain team, this episode did a better job than the previous. We got a nice crash course on how Tactics works, the mentality of their organization, and also acknowledging their flaws. The only part that threw me off a bit was how surprisingly flawed they did choose to make these guys. It seemed a bit early to have the protagonists score a win against them. The situation did kind of require it since otherwise that poor kid was in bad shape. But I am still a bit surprised they even gave the main cast any sort of feeling of victory.

Smug to embarrassed by Kyo in record time

No doubt that Tactics is very much run like an army. This team of 3 that we’ve seen aren’t the only group, but they are clearly the best of the small teams. They handled a training course that left others exhausted and clearly know how to handle themselves. There is clearly a design to take these Digimon tamers and organize them with military teamwork. In theory that is pretty scary. Digimon are by themselves extremely powerful and if you bring better tactics into the picture then yeah it gets pretty scary in a hurry.

But even in this episode you can see the cracks. Klay doesn’t have absolute faith in Tactics and probably isn’t that attached to them. His subordinate is kind of whinny and picks a fight with Kyo out of some misplaced sense of jealousy. As if it’s Kyo’s fault whether or not people still idealize who he used to be. And then within Team 7 you can see the flaws. Raito is an absolute narcissist and scumbag. Someone that will let an innocent kid get attacked to make his job easier. But he’ll also smugly ignore orders to retreat because he wants to watch a cool fight. The other two seem fine, but there’s not too much to say about them yet.

These two were nicely synced up

At least in this occasion raw stubbornness and emotional drive won the day. It is impressive that Tomoro managed to dig even deeper to get more energy even after looking incredibly worn out. But I mean it does make some sense. Tactics may obsess with rules and stability, but Tomoro just wanted that E-pulse back! Emotions are key. Tomoro obviously saw a similarity between his own situation and these kids. Saving that older brother let him feel a sense of accomplishment. Tomoro just didn’t quit and kept on attacking. I’m not sure if it was just because his passion was bottomless regarding saving that kid or if Tomoro’s special E-pulse played a role.

I honestly don’t think Glowing Dawn should feel bad here at all. Kyo obviously handled his opponent with relative ease. The only reason Makoto and Reina’s partners took hits is because they were trying to fight an ultimate level while being attacked from behind! Wolvermon is of course not super strong anyways so maybe some training there would be good…but as a whole I think Glowing Dawn wasn’t completely outclassed. In a head on fight they probably do just fine.

These guys should make decent rivals

I still think Tactics will be a decent way for the story to buy time. Tomoro scoring this minor win will of course set the pride of Raito ablaze. That’ll keep Tactics coming back over and over. If Tactics purely kept on winning then of course it would be tough to give them more reasons to pick fight. But a narcissist like Raito getting shown up? That will do! Raito is a pretty ideal scumbag. A hypocrite that gets mad over his partner getting hurt, but has no problem sacrificing a small child to his mission. What a piece of work. I do hope we get more characterization from the other members. Not too much to say of them quite yet. Hotaruko has some sense of right and wrong but…that’s about it. Either way she’s willing to go along with all this.

Rough day for that kid

This episode was pretty solid. Even if most of Tactics fighting was attacking people from behind. Armalizamon got some new attacks and you can tell the staff do enjoy him out there. As a whole I think Tactics did their job of establishing a middle-tier threat that will give Glowing Dawn time to reach the ultimate level.

I am going to make this the last Digimon Beatbreak post for now. I’m definitely not picking up several shows this season. But I do want to go into this season with a fairly clean slate and see how some other big shows measure up. But I’m definitely feeling the overall the direction of Digimon right now. I may not have always been upbeat about this season, but it has potential even now. And if nothing really grabs me I might just carry on with the next episode. We’ll see!