Ep 42 thoughts (this one came out longer than I expected)
Very interesting episode with some really curious reveals and developments. Kyo's whole backstory with Asuka was pretty generic and expected once they gave us the context for it, but it was cute. I guess Kyo feels more like Asuka's older brother despite being younger.... yeah yeah they're not actual brothers, I knew my silly crack theory was going nowhere (although it IS still really weird that they have the exact same height and blood type and same age with similar same-number birthdays, WHAT'S UP WITH THAT), but I really enjoy thinking of their dynamic like that, with Kyo later also becoming a sort of older brother figure to Tomoro. It all makes sense in my head.
But y'all probably know what my favorite part of this one was. When I saw the ChiroMako eyecatch pop up I was like "huh, weird choice for this episode" and then I saw baby Kyo running away with Cougarmon and went OOOHHHHHH!!!! They're the same!!! I wonder if they picked it on purpose because of the parallels... That was so cute... I feel tempted to draw them again... Also it's kinda funny how often digimon seem to spawn through people lashing out at their own Sapotama. Those things ARE annoying, I get it.
I was a bit disappointed that Cougarmon was born and went straight to adult level (show me Liollmon you cowards!!!), but I guess it has to do with how strong Kyo's emotions were even as a child. Plus he's not the only example of this happening, we had Haruko and Shademon before. It's really interesting though... you can basically tell the emotional strength of the Saponushi from what their digimon partner's base level is (worth noting that Murasamemon is the current base level, he just deliberately devolves to Cougarmon to rest and save energy). Although I feel like sometimes the base forms are just picked based on convenience and aesthetics sfhkh.
Also I guess this final arc will revolve around Asuka, huh. He is a pretty intriguing character in the sense of what role he plays and has played at various points in the story, but it kinda saddens me that there's not much going on with him as like, an actual character. The flashback of his child self in this episode is probably the most characterization we've gotten out of him, and even then it mostly boils down to "sweet and kind sunshine child who did nothing wrong ever" (I guess he did tell a lie to help someone tho, IF THAT COUNTS), and... idk, I wish there was more to him. And now he's been awakened and immediately put under mind control, and will probably stay that way for a good while. I hope whatever went on four years prior that made him spawn Heliosboamon helps give some sauce to his character because he sure could use some. I mean this in the nicest of ways. With how little time we have left I wish the focus was on the rest of the Five Stars instead. Especially Honoka!!! She's so funny I wanna see more of her!!!!
But speaking of the Five Stars, that scene with Rose and Lilamon was so sweet... I'm so glad they both survived and were reunited. I want more of them too!!! And Meto and Kanon!!! I wish they got to appear more!!!! I love Beatbreak and I love when shows have a big cast of characters to explore but my biggest issue with this one is it has too many characters and most of them don't get enough screentime. Not like there's any time left now to fix that though... ah well. I suppose it's all free real estate for headcanons and theories once the show is over.
Anyway I'm complaining a bit too much but there was some really good stuff in this episode that I really enjoyed. The way Kyo just immediately accepted Cougarmon after he simply told him he was born from his emotions and then the two ran away together leaving everything behind with no hesitation... with the Sakura petals falling, marking the end of that era in Kyo's life and the start of a new one... they did indeed go for the symbolism I was expecting, which was really nice. Also Heliosboamon looks really cool. Very big and pretty. I love that we've been getting more snake digimon lately, there can never be enough snakes.
Curious to see how this all is gonna end. And especially how a certain evolution we have yet to see is gonna play out... surely they're not gonna kill Asuka, right? I don't think they will. But I'm getting really intrigued with that now...
