Remember when I said I might to a Xros Wars liveblog/rewatch becuase I don’t remember it all that well? No? Well today is apparently the 8th anniversary of Digimon Fusion, and while I’m going to go off of the sub (Xros Qars), if I’m going to do this re-watch liveblog thing it’s as good a time as any to start.
Haven’t really tried anything of this style, so I’m experimenting a little bit.
(Have to turn off the beta for this because pic limit, lol tumblr)
Pic of the day: Common sense
We open with a menacing army full of Mookmon, sorry, Troopmon, Tankmon, and some bigger baddies. Like physically bigger, I don’t recall them being very important. (I see you Valvemon in the top left.)
Then we get introduced to a human and a trio of Digimon that will in no way be important.
There’s also an army of good guys, you can tell they are good guys because they show up in previous seasons. I uh, only actually remember two of them appearing in this show.
Anyway, Taiki says Digixros a bunch, and the three non-silhouettes merge together into….x4? Poor Starmon I guess, no recognition.
X4 then solos the army of Mookmon, which is probably why the rest of the ‘good’ army never appears again, clearly they are superfluous. But X4 gets taken down by a lone off-color Greymon because nostalgia.
..and it was a dream.
(So Akari and Zenjirou don’t matter....that sounds about right.)
We are then introduced to Akari, who is trying to deduce exactly which ball-based team sport she got stood up for.
She stops midway to take a selfie, kids these days, amirite? Also to grab a bag with Taiki’s name on it...literally.
Taiki manages to pull an MVP move on the basketball court, by pretending to be in a sports anime when really just passing to a teammate. Thus securing the team the win that he’s been looking for for months… sorry, I mean four days.
Yeah, that’s a Taiki thing. The kid is a prodigy at nearly anything he picks up. The implication is that he throws himself into it completely, and then:
He does not necessarily pick the best time or place for a nap.
Akari being the best character (of this arc)
Taiki reveals that his need to throw himself headfirst is because of a desire to help those in need, not because he’s just showing off.
(I am reminded how much his gary-stu ness annoyed me the first time I watched this.)
Zenjirou shows up and I’m def going to spell that name wrong at some point. He’s mostly here for comic relief, but also to reinforce that Taiki can pick up a sport (kendo) in a couple of days and beat people who have been training their entire lives.
While Akari and Zenjirou rehash the great 1998 case of Bros V. Hoes, Taiki hears the voice of a dying king, then suddenly: chaos. Cars merge into walls, phones stop working, the sky turns green, dogs and cats, living together.
Turns out, cars superimposed into building are not stable. The strange voice warns Taiki of the falling car, and after he saves his friends, he is now able to see the tortured outline of Shoutmon.
All well and good, Taiki, but how do you propose helping the disembodied light?
(We also get a flashback to baby Taiki between these)
Shoutmon soft-mocks Taiki for trying to help him, and Taiki points out Shoutmon did the same, just in case you didn’t believe they were destined partners.
Floating toy with another disembodied voice. Offering to help if Taiki accepts, he does and the x loader turns from white to red. The others reasonably do not think touching the floating mystical toy is a good idea.
They wake up in a strange world, normal Digimon stuff, turns out the X-loader doubles as a Pokecenter, very convinent.
Then, suddenly the army of mookmon appear, lead by a new Digimon:
(Look. if the writers determined you were going to die every season, you wouldn’t be very happy either.)
But then dream Digimon #2 shows up to save them, alongside a bunch of babies. Shoutmon also comes out to fight. .
We get a quick sequence of the allies using special attacks to wipe the floor with the mooks, normal debut episode things. Then Madleomon gets mad that a human is involved and absorbs all his friends to…Digivolve?
(They missed a perfect opportunity for raving MadLeomon)
Uhh, good plan?
The mysterious voice tells Taiki to use the x-loader, which he does to form…the top half of a super-fighting robot. Which lasts long enough to get off one punch before dissolving. He then xroses the Starmon and Pickmons into a sword, (will happen a bunch.) just in case you weren’t sure of the core mechanic.
Madleomon’s powerup breaks, and he gets forced back, namedropping a greater villain. Tactimon, obsessed with perfection. Which is a good thing, because if he’s like half the perfectionist I know he’ll be too busy sorting out all the details of his plan to actually execute it.
Coming on a little strong there bub. Maybe take him out for a coffee first?
The name of the kids this time is generals, but that also gets extended to some Digimon.
If you are used to normal Digimon seasons, this is going to be a bit of a jump. It isn’t the normal 1 human 1 partner here. This is a battle of armies, (but mostly just jogress ++)
And yeah, they know nothing.
Keep being creepy Nene.
And also blond blue boy featuring off-color Greymon.
And thus ends the first episode that was mostly about introducing Taiki, and the concept of Digixrosing. Also uses a lot of X4 for never showing every component.
Final note: add break card
I think maaayyybe Vmon shows up in a limited capacity? For a series that is perfectly willing to completely ignore levels and do something completely different in terms of evolution, there sure is a lot of nostalgia pandering.
