DIGIMON BEATBREAK ‒ Episode 5

© Akiyoshi Hongo，Toei Animation

Since last week's episode slowed the story down a little to focus on Tomoro building more of a connection with Reina, I assumed that the next couple would be similarly dedicated to Tomoro learning more about his teammates. Instead, this one seems to have gone in an entirely different direction, and we get a storyline that's about…a land rights feud involving the yakuza. It's certainly not something I would have expected from a show leaning so heavily on its cyberpunk aesthetic, much less a Digimon show. Still, there's just enough here that I'm curious to see exactly where this is all going.

While out on an errand for the others, Tomoro and Gekkomon end up running into a small settlement on the outskirts of the city. There, they discover that the citizens are being harassed by a yakuza group known as the Koala-kai, who want to turn it into a casino, and the only ones standing in their way are the leader of another group called the Panda-gumi, as well as his partner Pandamon, who serves as the town's protector. The basic conflict here isn't terribly original, but similar to last week's episode, it's a lot of the smaller details that help to make it more than the sum of its parts.

With how much of the setting has been built around the use of Sappotamas and the normalization of AI, it's interesting to see a group of people who are decidedly more skeptical about the use of such technology and live simpler lives. Although this isn't touched on too heavily, it does at least indicate that this technology hasn't completely taken over society quite yet, and it makes me wonder if we might see bigger forms of pushback against it later on. The lack of Sappotamas in this town also ties into Pandamon's relationship with the Panda-gumi leader. Rather than being born from a Sappotama like the other Digimon we've seen, the boss and Pandamon simply had a chance encounter when the former found Pandamon on the verge of death and offered him some of his e-Pulse. The only thing actually connecting the two of them is an exchange of vows to look after each other as parent and child, and it presents a bit of a problem for Pandamon, since the boss can only provide but so much e-Pulse in his old age, and being starved of his energy is making Pandamon too weak to keep fending off the Koala-kai.

Given how much emphasis is normally put on Digimon and their human partners having some pre-destined bond, this is a fairly notable departure from how the rest of the franchise tends to operate, and I'm totally here for it. It makes for a more complex partner dynamic than what we normally get, and doubly so considering how rare it is to see adults with their own Digimon since most other entries tend to restrict Digimon to kids. Since the villain group in the OP implies this likely won't be the only instance of adults with their own Digimon in this show, I hope that we'll get to see more partner relationships like this one, since they could open up all kinds of interesting stories for the show to play with later on. Speaking of relationships, I also liked seeing Gekkomon deciding to become sworn brothers with Pandamon purely off the promise that it could provide him with more food. With how simple the little guy is, I would have been content if he mostly just existed to facilitate Tomoro's development in the same way most Digimon partners tend to, but I'm certainly not opposed to seeing the show trying to make him his own character, and after watching Pandamon take a few bullets for him at the end of the episode, I'm curious to see what kind of affect it ends up having on him.

For all the positives I listed, this is probably my least favorite episode of the show so far, largely because I'm not quite sure how to feel about it. While some of what we see here does help to enrich the setting, it doesn't change how strange this storyline is since it feels a little divorced from everything else the show's been setting up. About the only major thread connecting to this to previous events is the revelation that the Koala-kai were the ones backing the cargo thieves from last week, and I was honestly a little disappointed by that since the Koala-kai boss doesn't seem like all that exciting of a villain outside of his Digimon partner having a tommy gun (which does certainly sell the whole gangster vibe if nothing else). Hopefully, there's someone else pulling his strings behind the scenes, but as is, he's not very intimidating. The episode is also a bit of a visual downgrade from the first four, and while it still has a couple of good action cuts, it otherwise feels a lot more conservative than what we've gotten before. Most of this would feel less jarring if it were all relegated to a one-off adventure, but it seems like this plot is going to be a two-parter at minimum, which makes it even stranger to see so much time dedicated to what feels like it should be a side story.

At the same time, it's because of that strangeness that I'm actually excited to see how this wraps up. It's hard to tell where exactly this plot is going, and while unpredictability isn't always a good thing, I'd certainly rather be surprised than not, and the suspense here has certainly done a good job of catching my attention. There are numerous ways this could all end up feeling like an unnecessary detour, but as strange as the events here are, the writing has otherwise remained as solid as ever, so for now, I'm willing to trust the payoff here will be worth the investment.

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DIGIMON BEATBREAK is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.