A teaser poster for Digimon BeatBreak's upcoming GIFT arc. (I wonder if this new character is also affiliated with Rose? I almost thought Hitomi had gotten a haircut until I noticed this girl's eyes were green 😅 She looks a little like Yuujin from Appmon)
Digimon Beatbreak Episode 25 Review - The Children's Number One Star
Just to reiterate: there are three interlude episodes before the third arc starts on April 26 at Episode 28! If all three episodes are just Glowing Dawn doing silly shenanigans without the high risk and danger, then I’m all for it! They need the R&R!
This episode mainly focuses on their trip back to Japan from the Kingdom of Albidia. I’m surprised the Ministry was kind enough to let Glowing Dawn travel back in luxury. The focus of the episode is mostly on Makoto who’s acting his age and enjoying a hero show! The rest of Glowing Dawn are just chilling with Reina and Tomoro playing in the pool and Kyo resting.
It seems that Makoto idolizes Star-Man a lot as he knows that they’re actually a Digimon-Cleaner combo consisting of the Cleaner Handa and his partner Starmon. Despite being the popular Star-Man for the children, Handa actually a timid man underneath the suit. Starmon is also a lot weaker than he appears in the video footage Makoto showed off. While it did appear as if Star-Man rescued the kids from a Digimon attack years ago, it was all due to luck as lightning struck at the right time for both the Octomon and the squid Digimon who’s name I forgot. Starmon’s signature Meteor Squall is also due to effects and not actually activated. Rather than being an episode where Makoto learns a life lesson, he’s the one observing and helping Handa become more confident. Overall, the problem did seem to be that Handa never knew how to control his e-pulse as it only activated when he was doing a heroic deed with bravery.
While Cleaners and Digimon are still a secret to the general public, it’s actually cool to see a Cleaner use his Digimon for kind purposes like to be an entertainer for kids. Usually, we see Cleaners use their Digimon for nefarious purposes, so it’s nice to see the opposite for once. It’s nice to see an individual Cleaner learn something from a Glowing Dawn member. This episode is just a feel-good one in general!
Though, the scary part of this rather wholesome episode is that pirates exist and instead of swords, they wield rifles. I know guns have been seen in Beatbreak, but it’s still scary to see rifles. Petermon is scary too as he’s a Digimon in cahoots with pirates, but is interested in kidnapping children to feast on their e-pulse. His spell causes people to sleep, but he can control sleeping people when needed like how he did with Tomoro, Reina and their Digimon.
This might come off as a surprise to some, but Handa is voiced by Soichiro Hoshi who voiced Masaru Daimon (Marcus Damon) in Digimon Savers (Data Squad)! Since the anime celebrated its 20th anniversary on the 2nd, I guess having Hoshi be a guest in this episode made sense! Handa’s character is the total opposite of Masaru’s which is why it might come off as a surprise to some. Starmon is voiced by Takeshi Kusao who voiced Kiriha Aonuma (Christopher Aonuma) in Digimon Xros Wars (Fusion) and Joe Kido in the Adventure 2020 reboot. To add a cherry on top of the Digimon veteran sundae, Petermon is voiced by Yumiko Kobayashi who voiced Koushiro (Izzy) in the Adventure 2020 reboot and Espimon in Ghost Game. This is definitely a Digimon veteran fiesta.
There’s a new ending! It’s sung by K-Pop idol Choi Yena who used to be an IZONE member! The sequence itself features all the girls from Beatbreak, so that means Rose’s two henchmen, who got a face reveal, are women! I find it funny how they gave the blond boyish woman Pomumon as her partner when there were memes surrounding Pomumon and Armalizamon back when Armalizamon first made his debut. The long-haired woman’s partner is Aruarumon and not Palmon. Since Rose is the Wood Star, the plant-themes is very apparent. I do wonder about the mysterious girl with green eyes. She’s the one on the key visual for the third arc. She doesn’t have a Digimon, which only brings in more curiosity to her identity.
While my theory that Honoka might actually be a guy has been dissolved, I do have a new theory in that the long-haired lady with Aruarumon could be Maki’s sister in that both have dark hair, blunt bangs and similar eyes. Also, the preview for the next episode has Haruomi making his return, which excites me because I like Haruomi! I’m glad that he’s not a one-off character and that they actually brought him back! Let me know your thoughts on the episode as a whole!
For fic purposes, I've been considering who Asuka's partner would be. Regardless of whether we get a brand new digimon, I really love scouring wikimon and seeing what I can glue together.
In this universe, digimon are a mirror of the traits you dislike about yourself. I don't know a lot about Asuka, so I was reaching for straws here. My first thought that maybe Asuka resented his circumstances, maybe even resented Tomoro a little. I mean, I would not hold that against a 18 year old who suddenly had to drop out of school and band to take care of a child. One thing beatbreak is good at is showing that people are complex and have ugly emotions and are still allowed to exist with them.
Anyway I first gravitated to Petermon, because of the way it tempts people to never grow up. Maybe Petermon manifested from Asuka's desire to just be a kid(even though he's 18) and the more Asuka took responsibility the more disgusted Petermon became with him. But we don't know that Asuka feels this way.
Then I thought about the wrongs I actually did see Asuka commit- keeping information from Tomoro, babying him, putting up walls. Maybe Asuka's digimon represents dishonesty and distance, somehow.
ToyAgumon seems to have a theme throughout the meta of childhood and abandonment- children being abandoned by their friends, or children abandoning their toys. And Asuka was abandoned by his family as far as we know, even if they didn't want to, and he virtually an adult by then. Petermon is a rejection of maturity. Pajiramon is a secret keeper, and is associated with the childish notion of sheep making people sleep. Puppetmon is a liar but I thought- digimon are inverse mirrors. What if the personality of the ToyAgumon-Puppetmon was honest to a fault, and that's why Asuka couldn't keep them around.
Then I remembered that I didn't know exactly why the Tenma parents were arrested, or when Asuka's digimon manifested. It's kind of a leap to assume that former triggered the latter. What if it was the other way around? What if the reason the parents were arrested was because they did something to protect their son's digimon? Maybe the reason Asuka doesn't talk about it is because he himself feels guilty. This would be a delicious bit of irony.
I was also looking at the moon symbol on Gekkomon's head and I thought, if Asuka does have a digimon, it would make sense for them to have a sun theme. Obviously we won't be seeing him paired with Coronamon as Flaremon has already made an appearance, even though those two digimon would look good standing next to each together. Not quite a dino and a dog but a lizard and a cat, one green and one red, one with a moon on their forehead and one with a small sun for a tail.
But Coronamon and their evos are not the only digimon with links to the sun. Asuka is very digimon protogonist/goggle boy/fire/dino partner coded, and I thought I'd try giving him a line that matched that aesthetic.
Guilmon's name comes from guilt, which is a neat touch. He could feel guilt that the digimon was ever born, or guilt about hiding things from Tomoro. FlaWizardmon evolves with the digimental of courage, which resembles a sun. It also shows it face where its counterpart doesn't, which also plays into the idea of Asuka's digimon being more brave and honest than he can be. ShineGreymon is like the embodiment of the sun, and I stole one of Gammamon's evolutions bc he's probably the most brother coded protagonist digimon ever.
Dogs are sibling coded. Not just because of digimon- in packs, wolf siblings look out for one another and their parents. And, we haven't seen a cleaner with a dog partner yet. The Hyemon were feral, and BlackGaogamon's partner was not seen. There is room for one dog tamer in this show. It's not like tamers or survive where most of the protagonists will have dogs.
But I doubt it would be a dog with a lot of blue in the design. Just looking at the Glowing Dawn, their colors are villain coded. Neon green, orange and purple/black. Secondary colors. If you just saw their champion forms out of context, Wolvermon, NighChiropmon and Armarizamon all give off a villainous vibe. That's got to be on purpose. Beatbreak is about the outcasts of society- those villainized by circumstance. Meanwhile you have the red lion Flaremon, a digimon who is very hero coded design wise, traveling alongside Kaito.
So I wanted to make more yellow/firely digidog line. Pokomon is easily lured by fried tofu, which fits into Asuka's cooking. Wankomon and Siesamon look too similar and I think they're meant to evolve into each other, but I still like them. Wankomon kind of sort of likes to rest in the sun, and Siesamon charges up with and attacks with solar power. They can also create defensive walls. Visually, Zerimon reconnects with the horns on Wankomon and Siesamon's heads and is associated with another beloved digidog. Soloogarmon is partially named after the sun, and Erlangmon is known for its honesty, while also being able to cast illusions.
Asuka dislikes cold and snow- they want us to know this. What if his digimon represents the things he dislikes in a more blatant way? Maybe he puts on a warm, caring exterior, but inside he worries that he's too frigid and unloving. As far as personality, his ice digimon could have a cold demeanor toward him and feel like they don't need him, explaining why they aren't a pair.
Asuka literally haunts the narrative, so I love putting at least one ghost pun in there. Instead of being made of snow, SnowGoburimon, Ikakkumon and Frozomon deal with the snow. SnowGoburimon dresses up, Ikakkumon has a thick coat, and Frozomon melts and displaces snow. Regardless, these digmons attacks are snow/ice based. I don't feel super strong about Sleipmon except that it looks good as a period on this line. I like how it goes from blue and white and red sneaks its way into there.
