Anime Pilgrimage RTT

Digimon Savers – episode 9

August 6, 2006 on 9:21 pm | In Digimon Savers | Comments Off

“Tohma’s Dishonorable Battle
The Secretly Maneuvering Togemon”

Despite my realisation that Digimon Savers has presented several cases of people making Faustian deals with Digimon, this episode was an effective mystery story. As an added bonus, all of the boxing scenes were reminiscent of the likes of Tomorrow’s Joe (Ashita no Joe).

Boxer Hayashi Arase has had several wins of a dubious nature and is about to go up for a world championship qualifying match. Masaru thinks that this situation is highly suspicious, but Tohma will hear none of it. The chief of DATS is suspicious, too, and he has the final say: DATS will investigate the situation.

The theme of having an idol that may not meet your expectations is explored well in this episode, with obvious parallels between Hayase and Tohma and Tohma and Gaomon. Tohma has worries but does not discuss them with Gaomon, who eventually comes to understand the passion that Tohma is feeling. In the same fashion, Tohma manages to see into Hayase’s soul with the insight of faith.

The mystery is good and surprising, but there’s never any surprise in the appearance of Togemon. First up, he’s a natural fit for a boxing episode, and second his name is in the title. The battle with Togemon is unsurprising, and Gaomon and Togemon are a natural match up. The need to evolve Gaomon into Gaogaomon is slightly disappointing because Gaogaomon is a quadruped and therefore the boxing connections must end there. Yet the true meaning of love and passion is gleaned, which makes everyone happy.

We learn that boxing shows what being a man is about and that, despite whatever amnesia is administered by secret agencies, we will always retain the things that we must not forget. Gets me every time.