I dont think I can really pick one. This is genuinely such a fun, funny fandom.
Notable moments would have to be:
Fake Rayla and the evil monkey speculation
The Stache Wars
Bird Callum
Speculation on how Viren smuggled the mirror and Zym’s egg
Rayllum living at the Storm Spire era fics
This is such a lovely, fun fandom. I’ve been in fandoms for a looooong time, but have generally lurked and kept to myself. TDP fandom is really the first time I started actually interacting with other fans and it’s been so rewarding. I’ve met so many wonderful people and made so many lovely friends in this fandom.
The show is wonderful and I utterly adore it, but the fandom truly makes it special.
Rainy days are well known for the coziness they provide; hearing the rain, staying indoors. Turtles love rain, rabbits love warm places. Summarizing, they represent the aesthetic.
When Jason awoke he knew he was not alone in the room, the dark lessened somewhat by the hallway light past the open door, and a glow beyond the windows.
Still groggy from sleep and something else, it took him a moment to realise the silhouette against the brightened curtains did not belong to Batman; but to Ace.
He was undoubtedly in his room at the manor, and, a brief glance around while his vision fully adjusted to the almost-dark further confirmed it.
He’d woken from an apparently dreamless sleep, but couldn’t remember having gone to bed. The last thing he could think of, he’d been in the city – they all had.
Sitting up further, Jason reached toward the nightstand, switching on the table lamp. He didn’t appear to have any injuries that he could either see or feel which was somewhat of a relief, at least.
Ace’s ears twitched at Jason’s movement, but otherwise the dog was sitting incredibly still. He was watching Jason; almost intently.
“Hey, boy,” Jason managed to whisper past an inexplicably sore throat. He swallowed – what had happened to him on patrol? Jason patted the bed next to him. “Come on.”
Where he usually would have, Ace didn’t take the invitation this time.
Jason frowned. Paused. Rubbed his throat.
For his favourite holiday, Jonathan Crane – Scarecrow – had let loose another “fear toxin.” Bruce had called out the entire family to deal with containing and preventing the spread. All throughout the city, instead of experiencing their worst fears as an extrinsic entity, people were starting to turn into things they feared the most.
Jason cleared his throat, “What’s the matter, Ace…? You know Alfred won’t care,” Jason shifted, leaning forward to extend his hand in Ace’s direction, “I won’t tell—”
Ace growled, fiercely, showing his teeth and lifting his hind-quarters as if readying to attack—
“What the hell—?!” Jason had pulled his hand back at once—
Another growl, and a bark—
“Ace!” a figure appeared in the doorway to Jason’s other side—
“Alfred—!” Jason croaked, startled—
“Cease.”
Jason watched Ace, heart pounding; but Ace ignored Alfred’s command and snarled again at Jason instead.
“At once,” Alfred said.
A slow second passed before Ace complied, returning to sitting statuesque.
His eyes never left Jason.
“Out,” Alfred said. Ace visibly hesitated, turned his head at Alfred, as though awaiting a second sign or further instruction. Alfred stared him down, steely-eyed and unwavering.
Finally, Ace jumped from the window-seat, stalked around the bed and out the door, where he immediately sat down, facing the room.
“Alfred?” Jason breathed, “What did I do?”
“Don’t mind the dog, sir,” Alfred said, almost soothingly, as he came over to the bed, but left the door open. “Have some water; on the nightstand.”
“Who did I hurt?” Jason blurted, before he could stop himself.
“No one, Master Jason.”
“Ace—” Jason began, throwing a gesture in the dog’s direction, only to cut off when Ace barked and growled at him.
Alfred shot a severe look over his shoulder.
“—begs to differ,” Jason finished, swallowing thickly.
“He’ll come back around,” Alfred assured. “Once he’s realised you’ve returned to normal.”
“Scarecrow,” Jason said, half-thinking aloud. “His toxin got me; that’s the last thing I remember…”
“Yes,” Alfred said, and sat on the edge of the bed. Ace shifted anxiously, eyes darting from Alfred to Jason and back; and back. “Victims all over the city are waking without any recollection of the past 24-hours since Scarecrow’s toxin was released. We’re not certain if this is a side-effect of the toxin, or Master Bruce’s somewhat hastily constructed antidote.
“No other side-effects have been forth-coming, and the earliest victims have made full recoveries. The ones we were in time for, at least…”
Jason fisted his sheets; finally took up Alfred’s offer and swallowed several large gulps of water from the glass beside his bed.
“You’re avoiding the question,” he accused.
“Master Bruce managed to locate and restrain you within minutes of your exposure. He returned you here, where we administered the antidote within a handful of hours.
“You hardly had occasion to do anything, Master Jason.”
“Then you don’t have a reason not to tell me.”
“Sir—”
“Alfred!” Jason snapped. “…Please.”
Alfred came to his feet, straightened his jacket and avoided meeting Jason’s gaze for a moment.
“Mostly,” he said at last, not looking away. “You laughed, sir. Hysterically.”
Jason drew a shuddering breath, knowing at once what that meant; looked over at Ace – no wonder the dog was wary and anxious about him. He must have sounded just like—
Jason dropped his head into his hands, dragged his palms across his face.
“Alfred…” he mumbled, but didn’t know what he meant to say.
“Have some more water,” Alfred advised, gently. “And more rest. Breakfast is not for several more hours. Shall I return with a tray? Unless you’d like to join us at the table?”
Jason shook his head, eyes on his bedding, “…A tray’s fine.”
“Very well, lad,” Alfred replied, and made his way back to the door. “…Master Jason—”
“I’m fine, Alfred,” he cut in, attempted a convincing expression to accompany the claim. “You promise I didn’t hurt anyone?”
“I do,” Alfred nodded. “You didn’t.”
“Get some rest, Alfie,” Jason said, and scooted back under the covers, turned away from the door as he pulled the sheets up to his ears. “You had a long night.”
“Hm. …Indeed.”
Ace made a noise like an uncertain whine, before Jason heard the door close.
He didn’t stay for breakfast, but snuck out before sunrise, picking up the morning paper from a stand on the sidewalk in the city:
Here we have a portrait of Mr. Jonathan Teatime from Terry Pratchett's Hogfather, by @malnaplis. In the novel, Mr. Teatime (pronounced "Teh-ah-tim-eh," as he'd be quick to point out) is a professional Assassin, hired by a mysterious group of otherworldly entities to kill the Hogfather, Discworld's version of Father Christmas.
In this image, Teatime greets the viewer, practically radiating charm. With his boyish good looks, shyly sweet smile, rosy cheeks, and soft golden curls, he is the very picture of innocence... but don't let that fool you. In another moment, you'll find that being Mr. Teatime's new "friend" tends to involve something sharp and metallic digging into one's ribs.
What's that you say? Psychotic hired killers with disturbingly mismatched eyes don't seem in keeping with the spirit of the season? Why, whatever do you mean?
I know exactly why I love the found family trope with every fibre of my being. This arc has been so well done. I'm absolutely impressed.
edit: forgot to include that on scripts we had Morichi Natsumi who's not new to Digimon and series director Miyamoto Hiroaki on boards
Before I discuss the tragedy...something interesting about Klay's discussion...
That as far as he and probably the others are concerned, Souji went missing five years ago and was declared dead--the other Five Stars didn't know what Kyo did. Not only that, he was fairly new only having been there a year. Maybe a willingness to believe Wong's story (which may be true because he may not know either?) and the short time was there never raised suspicions? What makes this extra suspicious though is the information only Glowing Dawn and Kawarazaki know: Souji's records were erased. Whether because he was a Five Star, whose links are meant to be hidden from other Cleaners, or something else...remains to be seen.
(And this erasure is much more serious being that in Japan, he was likely erased from his family registry. Which means he has no means of proving who is family is, nor his birthdate or anything. In the Japanese drama, MIU 404, our detective duo realize that the culprit they caught had the means to erase his existence from his family registry and that there was truly no means for them to know what his real name was nor his surname or birthdate. To which one goes "Can you imagine if he had got in to the National Registry? Chills! I'm getting chills--look!" (paraphrased!))
Not only that but we get some new information about Souji's e-Pulse abilities -- his skill to control Digimon is unique to him and not due to his black e-Pulse. Could Tomoro -- who flinched (!) -- skill be glitching out technology? Or was his flinch an involuntary movement recalling what his black e-Pulse has done to Gekkomon?
The first family...
I would be lying if I didn't say I wasn't watching this part with a sense of dread. Still, I was holding out some kind of hope that one of the two could've survived, despite all the evidence to the contrary.
The way the episode introduced to, and got us to know Karina and Minoru even just for a short time was enough to make their violent deaths all the more tragic...if not all the more painful. I know for some viewers it felt too short or maybe underdeveloped, but in the context of a flashback I think it was more than enough. You got to know them as briefly as Kyo did and how they impacted the trajectory of his life, and the grave cost that came with it.
We even got bonus worldbuilding and more insight into how chaotic things were after the Kano Island Incident through Minoru's history, and the observatory's history. Plus details about Karina losing her family as well.
The way they interact with, comfort, welcome and love Kyo do more than enough to communicate to us who they are and what they were like. (And how Kyo came to love them as family)
I can see why Kyo has put so much effort into breaking away from Reina, Makoto and Tomoro when Souji returned.
It isn't only for their safety and fears that history could possibly repeat itself, but that his past is now actively endangering them. To the same point that he may fear that continuing the Nirinso project and starting Glowing Dawn was a grave mistake, that they should've never met him.
It was painful to see him in this scene try to justify why he didn't deserve any ounce of love or happiness, especially when the audience is more familiar with present-day Kyo. Karina's (and Luxmon's) efforts to convince him work for the better. I really loved how much she gently pushed him to accept what he knew deep down he wanted. And the scene itself was so beautifully framed.
(The flashback ends with Kyo concluding that it would've been better if Minoru and Karina and the others had never met him. That he feels wholly responsible for their deaths. I am curious if over the years Kyo has forgiven himself yet, or if that's just unresolved. Or if his idea of forgiveness is to apologize and atone to Karina and Minoru by continuing Nirinsou, using his e-Pulse leaving him in a weaker state, and justifying his suffering and atonement as sufficient punishment. Maybe his way of continuing Nirinsou isn't for the best reasons and he needs someone to help him reframe why he should continue Nirinsou (or that may be where his ideal about coexistence comes in?))
Azakami's delivery during the end of this scene was truly heartbreaking. Truly.
A little note: but notice how the three baby Digimon are the baby forms of three protagonist's Digimon from three Digimon series with anniversaries this year! Botamon - Agumon from Savers (20th), Guilmon's baby form - from Tamers (25th), and & Gammamon's baby form - from Ghost Game (5th).
And resounding Fuck You to Souji.
That's it. That's the title.
It does piss me off that he had the last laugh in the end, which makes his return all more a horrifying event. But it's done so well for this story.
(Reserving on Wong because I think all he did was ask him to keep an eye out for Kyo, not hunt him down. Besides, he just nonchalantly described murdering them as something he came across, not something he did because Wong had eyes watching Kyo this whole time...unless?)
Mentioning Kyo's childhood again
I know way back in episode 12 the story of how Kyo was recruited by The Gentleman to join the Five Stars was presented probably in a way that didn't quite communicate the gravity of the path he was embarking on. But the way it was brought up again by Klay and how Kyo really had no childhood.
Whatever led to him leaving the orphanage (whether the birth of his Digimon, or an as-of-yet revealed event), the story as well as Klay's additional anecdotes, paint a picture that Kyo went straight into the very physical and violent ways he operated as a Five Star. I wonder if he was pushed into murdering people or had done so before joining out a need to survive...?
Speaking of, I did find it interesting how we saw another(?) level to his e-Pulse that didn't turn dark:
And I wonder if that will be key in the next episode. Whenever we've seen sparks from e-Pulses, the user's e-Pulse has turned dark (though in GIFT arc, Tomoro's didn't near the end when he overloaded Belphemon iirc)
And I didn't know whether to start a new paragraph, but the rage he had during his battle with Souji grew to the point where the killing intent from it was so powerful, Souji felt he had been sliced cleanly in half like his Digimon had. I suppose now we know what the "great feeling" Kyo had helped to make him feel for the first time.
The disappearance and...reapperance of Kyo's eye rings
Beatbreak has a decently run production (from the outside looking in) that I had a difficult time believing this could be an error. So what happened with Kyo's eyes during the flashback and especially after the flashback in present day had me bolt upright while still crying.
Kyo's eye rings do something very strange -- they disappear. In fact they were gone after his first meal at Nirinsou with Karina and Minoru after he starts to lower his guard around them a little.
They only reappear when he goes to confront Souji after Kyo leaves the observatory building to see where Karina and Minoru went, coming across their bodies in the lake.
When Kyo opens his eyes after the pain in his head subsides, (a pain that built up as he made his way to Mt. Aihoshi waterfall moments before the flashback scene kicked in), his eye rings returned in the present. Like? He has a strong headache the closer he gets to a place associated with a significant life trauma, sits, closes his eyes, moments later it's back?
He hasn't had his eye rings at some point since he left the Five Stars. It's bizarre and highly suspicious and I think genuinely disconcerting.
Is it dependent on emotional state? A switch? A trigger unique to each Five Star?
Asuka and Professor Tenma's roles in Kyo's life -- they're still relevant
I don't get the feeling Kyo left the Five Stars immediately following the incident at Nirinsou. In fact, I think he just drifted through the days until another event happened which triggered the departure. Whatever that event could be.
Kyo at that point was in no mental state to probably consider continuing Nirinsou in the form we know it in in the present. Let alone improve his cooking, nor maybe apply what he was exposed to from Minoru and Karina's gestures of kindness. I think the catalyst could be Asuka in some way. Granted, I'm still holding out hope for a connection in the past leading to a lost connection.
There's still quite a lot about Kyo's life we don't know that we may find out, or see revealed later as they tie elements of the plot they laid out closer to Professor Tenma
Something of note: it's November in the flashback.
Five years ago from the present setting, Asuka and Tomoro's parents were arrested in the winter. It could be that that winter was..."this" year in December 2045. It could have even occurred in January or February of that year, too!
Would be interesting if that links to this arc or Kyo's final period with the Five Stars. (I had a wild theory that the original owner of the Observatory was Professor Tenma because of the way Karina discussed things --there's also a picture/illustration of an old scientist on the wall with the map of the solar system back in episode 15 I think. If the original owner was Professor Tenma, and he went missing, then someone could frame him and the family for sheltering unregistered Digimon and people with outstanding warrants)
Finally: the theatrical screening of the Kyo Arc plus premiere of episode 42, and stage greeting/chat with Series Director Miyamoto, and Kyo's and Cougarmon's VAs Azakami Ryohei and Hamano Daiki, also includes a gift -- a cassette recording of Edge of Limit. (as well as an illustration from character designer Kojima Takahiro)
Why include a cassette recording of a song so strongly tied to Asuka?
Also: we know the extensive burn scars were a "parting gift" before being expelled from paradise, so to speak. Kyo's going to get seriously injured and be alone and in immense pain. Someone has to find him. But who?
Edit: And we were given a hint earlier that made seem at the time that it could have been Asuka who swayed him. (In light of the flashback, I could see how Minoru and Karina could be candidates, but it also doesn't make sense given what we know)
Episode 41 preview - The conclusion of the Kyo Arc
So we'll see how Tomoro and the others ended up losing so badly to Souji and Kyo possibly succumb to rage again, but with a dose of fear.
I do hope the kids get through to him, that there's a complete emotional meltdown from all of them to him after what Kyo did. And that rather than dreading his past, he fully appreciates the good that transpired from meeting Karina and Minoru and Luxmon, he appreciates what he's been able to carve in the present and that he learns to let himself to be loved and stop punishing himself for what happened.
I do think that we may get an evolution. Or two. next week? I hope there's a big payoff for Kyo's if Murasamemon will be the first to achieve mega.
(Also, hahahahaha---I'm scared. I've been dodging the preview images so hard but saw one)
