I think it's interesting that after Glowing Dawn defeats Snimon and makes off with both Yusuke's e-pulse and the Pabumon, Raito doesn't say anything to Tomoro about costing him the mission or defeating him, but instead focuses on the fact Tomoro hurt his Digimon. ("You hurt my Rhamphomon!")
You can also see his eyes water and hear his voice shaking when he repeats Tomoro's name so he also seems to be near tears over this.
Maybe he'll be a bit more sympathizable in the future? This is at least a more human look at him and makes it clear that he cares about his Digimon if nothing else.
Digimon Beatbreak Episode 14 Review - Rocks And Minerals Vs Time Of Day
I think that having a rival group like Tactics is a good source of conflict for Glowing Dawn in terms of construction and idealism. Unlike Glowing Dawn which was formed by Kyo after he left the Five Stars and contains a group of misfits with no place to go, Tactics is like a systematic group where potential trainees train and then are formed into a group. The Tactics that we are familiar with are Team 7, meaning that there are six other Tactics groups. I do wonder if they’re all lead by Seraphy Naito or if they’re all under the watch of other henchmen of Klay’s. However, Tactics Team 7 aren’t the most perfect group, as mentioned by Klay as his idea of perfection was what Kyo used to be during his time as a member of the Five Stars. It’s also later revealed that he used to be the strongest, which only amps up the mysteries shrouding the leader of Glowing Dawn.
Why they aren’t perfect is because how they acted throughout the episode. Their whole idea is to get bounties logically by any means necessary. This means that they’ll do anything they can just to complete missions. Also, the three don’t seem to get along as well as the Glowing Dawn members do. Raito is a bit of a glory hog and has a domineering personality. When he wanted to use the young brothers as bait as he knows e-pulse is the strongest when someone has someone to protect like siblings with each other or parents with their children, Hotaruko wasn’t keen on the idea, but Raito brushed her off as he remarked that he’s the leader of the operations.
This definitely makes Raito the opposite of Tomoro in that Tomoro isn’t much of a leader, but has compassion for others as he doesn’t want them to get into his mess like how he felt when Hitomi got Cold Heart because of him. In terms of leadership, Reina is technically the de-facto leader whenever Kyo is not with them. Tomoro and Reina had their conflict all the way back in Episode 4 and it was resolved in that same episode. It’s definitely going to take a while for Raito to be completely humbled, but at least he got his comeuppance for acting against his orders (an act of free will in a way) and getting punished by Naito. Also, Tomoro tells Raito his name, and he remembers it, which definitely starts the spark of their rivalry.
Another major difference between Tactics and Glowing Dawn is the evolution sequence. Ludomon is the only one who didn’t evolve while Shakkomon and Monodramon did. Shakkomon evolves into Tylomon and Monodramon evolves into Rhamphomon, which is interesting because this is much different from the usual Shakkomon and Monodramon lines that fans are familiar with. I do wonder why Ludomon didn’t evolve. Is it because Granit’s e-pulse isn’t strong enough to go through the process? If it isn’t, it does make me question why he’s in the group… Also, their Digimons maneuver the land, sky and sea motifs as stated in the episode.
The battle between Kyo and Seraphy Naito was interesting as it’s basically the battle between the leaders of the group. Naito’s Digimon partner is Gigasmon, who is a familiar face from Digimon Frontier. The fact that Murasamemon won the battle by cutting off Gigasmon’s arms shows how tough Kyo can be. Given that Kyo used to be the strongest, it does make me wonder just how strong he was in the past and what Murasamemon’s Mega Evolution was because I definitely can tell he did reach Mega before.
My only gripe about the episode was that Wolvermon and NightChiropmon got jobbed once again. I feel like it’s a constant thing for those two to get defeated and be reverted back to their rookie forms easily. Like, you two have been in the Cleaner business far longer than Tomoro. At least put up more of a fight before going down? Tomoro has only been a Cleaner for a month now and Gekkomon achieved his Champion Form a few days ago at max, yet they’re lasting longer than the other two. I get that it’s because they can’t handle their e-pulse as well as Tactics, but it’s getting ridiculous at this point…
Since I talked about Raito and Monodramon’s voice actor in the previous episode review, I’ll talk about the rest of Tactics. Hotaruko is voiced by Sakura Kawaguchi who voiced Fanbeemon back in Episode 1 and is the voice actress of young Tomoro. Kawaguchi has also been in Ghost Game before as various characters, which befits the common theme of Beatbreak’s tendency of casting voice actors from previous Digimon media. Her partner Shakkomon has a bit of an interesting voice actress. She’s voiced by Misaki Watada who voiced Hikari Yagami from the Adventure 2020 reboot. Hikari’s partner is Tailmon. Shakkomon’s evolution Tylomon is actually one of Tailmon’s Armor Evolutions that happens if Tailmon used the Digi-Egg of Reliability. Watada also voiced Miu Shinonome from Digimon Survive who also had a Shakkomon as a partner.
Granit is voiced by Marina Inoue who voiced Tagiru Akashi from the Hunters portion of Xros Wars, Emma Hanes from Ghost Game and also the female Agent from Time Stranger. I feel like she has a good ratio of male and female roles as Granit is her second male role. His partner Ludomon is voiced by Yuko Sanpei who voiced Taichi in Adventure 2020 and Yu Nogi from Hacker’s Memory. Seraphy Naito is voiced by Ryota Takeuchi who voiced DarkLizamon in Ghost Game. His partner Gigasmon is voiced by Ken Uo who coincidentally also voiced a Gigasmon in Ghost Game. I find that hilarious. The bounty Digimon of the week, Snimon and later Scorpiomon is voiced by Ryosuke Asano who has been in Ghost Game as various characters.
By the way, Tactics Team 7 all have a rock/mineral theme in their names which makes sense given that they’re working under the Earth Star. Raito can mean “Light” but his full name in the Eastern naming convention is Souda Raito, which is how sodalite is pronounced with Japanese phonetics. Sodalite is a deep blue sodium-rich mineral which is why Raito has a blue motif in his design (and also a very salty guy). Granit is obviously from granite. Seraphy Naito is from seraphinite, which is a deep green mineral. Hotaruko might be a bit unusual, but it’s from the Japanese name of fluorite, which is called hotaruishi in Japanese. Fluorite can be pink, hence why her e-pulse and hair color are pink.
But yeah, I’m glad that Glowing Dawn was able to triumph over Tactics and snag the bounty instead of making them be the recurring victors. Also, Gekkomon seems to be developing a fondness for watching samurai movies as he revealed to be able to use Neutron Blades, which consists of two swords. Maybe his Ultimate form will have two swords? Anyways, let me know your thoughts on the episode as a whole!
