Anime Pilgrimage RTT

Digimon Savers – episode 7

July 4, 2006 on 1:02 am | In Digimon Savers | 2 Comments

“Touma’s Day Off! Exploding BomberNanimon!”

I almost forgot that this episode required a fight with a rogue Digimon. It wasn’t until eight and a half minutes in, after the cold opening and the OP, that I saw a Digimon name in the title and remembered that this show is about Digimon liberation; having discovered its sense of humour and the general idea of “heart”, the series barely concerns itself with what is not yet an overarcing story.

Episode complexes: Mothercon, sistercon, maidcon.

When Masaru is caught up at school having to take a semester’s worth of make-up exams, he enlists the help of Touma. Touma is charged with accompanying Chika for the entirety of the day, and plans out an intricate schedule. Small girls don’t believe much in schedules, though, and Touma’s plans are shot. Plus there’s an attack from Bombernanimon in there somewhere, but that’s largely immaterial.

We can no longer doubt that Touma and Masaru are friends because Touma takes little convincing when asked to formulate the great birthday plan. The character is at the point of coming to know Masaru’s family and feeling welcomed if out of place. It’s similar to the relationship between Kunugi-tan and the rest of the -tans, but on a different level of awkwardness.

It’s also nice to see that Touma has a crush on Sayuri (previously known as “Masaru’s mother”), and the nature of of the welcome is simple: the Daimon family are good people, and Touma is likewise a good person.
Touma’s awkwardness springs from reasons revealed in a vague flashback: he appears to have lost his mother years back. Watching him gad about and seeing him feel out of place in the natural habitat of the “not-rich” is fun, as if a new world is being opened to him; a world that is not simply digital. It is a well known fact that the less wealthy someone is, the richer their life. This concept is in full force here.
In addition to that, the situation is greatly helped by the fact that the family are completely aware of the digital threat; the stereotypical hiding situation needs not be applied, allowing the whole concept to become much more .

The Digimon, Bombernanimon, is largely irrelevant and dispatched by Touma in just one moment. That doesn’t stop him from being hilarious with his incredibly rude Japanese.
“Watch and be amazed, you bastards!” is a great approximation of his dialogue, and it’s almost a pity to see such a fiend cleansed of the real world.

Digimon Savers continues to be not particularly innovative, but its warmth and its natural humour reserves serve to create something enjoyable.