Anime Pilgrimage RTT

Digimon Savers – episode 3

April 24, 2006 on 12:24 am | In Digimon Savers | Comments Off

“The genius who returned home, Touma! Crush Meramon”

Introducing the traditional rival character! Problem is he’s a rich bastard with a level of arrogance found only in those who are escorted in limousines to their digimon fights.
Masaru’s just going to have to take him down a notch! Or learn to ~~love him~~ get along with him.

Masaru runs into Petitmeramon in the streets, but can’t defeat the fellow due to the unbearable lightness of its being. From Austria springs forth the noble fellow Touma H. Norstein, returning from a six month patrol of the European Union! Touma despatches the Petitmeramon, so naturally Masaru challenges him to a duel. Then many more Petitmeramon are on the loose, and of course Touma can take control of it.

I’ve generally been under the glowing light of Digimon for the last couple of episodes, but now I think I can say without fear: the bridge bunnies are ugly. They don’t look as dead eyed as Chika, but a bridge bunny’s job is to be cute and charming, as was the case in Macross. We live in the age of squeeing, so this is unfortunately no longer an option.

Last episode I complained that battles generally consist of contrived obstacles that have to be overcome in order to achieve evolution and win. That may have been a long sentence, but I was surprised to find that now, come the third episode, innovation has already taken place. Masaru’s plan to defeat the Petitmeramon was something that I would actually deem “clever”. I was thoroughly impressed by his plan, although the way that he reached it was laughable.
Well known fact in anime that involves taking on enemies from time to time: if an enemy is unbeatable, the solution to the problem is finding an analogy from day to day life that occurred in the same episode as the battle. The way that the analogy sprung up in this episode – and through the Deus ex Machina character, no less! – was nothing short of hilarious. I sure as heckfire loved that.
Also great: Masaru managed to punch a digimon made of fire, with no problems.

So, naturally I hate Touma. It’s the law to hate arrogant rich kids until they’ve actually proven themselves to have some sort of depth to their character. Touma says of Masaru “DATS has no place for rudeness and vulgarity”. I’ve got news for you, buddy: your arrogance and contempt are nothing more than another form of rudeness.

Digimon Savers continues to be pleasant, while raising all important questions: how does Agumon use chopsticks with his giant paws? Why does this episode have a Touma shower scene? All will be revealed! (actually, I can already answer the second one: Digimon has always had a healthy slash scene).