straightforwardly (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
straightforwardly) wrote2021-12-11 06:33 pm
straightforwardly) wrote2021-12-11 06:33 pm
239 | Digimon Ghost Game, Cozy Grove, & TAZ Imbalance thoughts
Well, it’s certainly been A While since I last updated. More than half a year, I think?
► I’ve been watching Digimon Ghost Game with my older brother (though we’re perpetually a week behind, since neither of us have Crunchyroll Premium), and I am so deeply charmed. I feel like it does such an excellent job of taking the Digimon concept and doing its own unique thing with it, while still maintaining the spirit of Digimon. Just… it’s making me really happy. ♥ I love the horror elements, and also just love the aesthetic of how it looks when the Digital World overlayers with the real world—cityscapes overgrown with nature, yes!
One of the most delightful surprises was Jellymon’s introduction. Obviously, she’s in the opening, so I knew the final MC was going to have her as partner, but honestly I’d assumed she’d be the blandly sweet type? Which isn’t terrible, but is nothing compared to the delight and glory that is Jellymon and her dynamic with her partner.
She’s just so gleefully sadistic? But in a way that feels more fun-loving than cruel. And her partner is such a melodramatic coward, which is also fun, but made even more fun by the way Jellymon takes advantage of it. She convinced him he was being haunted and wrote him messages with I Can’t Believe It’s Not Blood on his ceiling before she ever introduced herself! She calls him darling, but doesn’t let that stop her from teasing and tormenting him! There’s this moment near the end of the episode “Birds” where, after the enemy Digimon is taken care of & her partner talks about how scared he was, she tells him this in this cheerful tone:
—and that line really stuck with me. AND SHE MADE HIM HER PASSENGER DURING THE KART RACE, ahhhh, I loved that moment so much.
In general, there’s not very many female characters in the main cast—only Jellymon and Ruli—but I feel like they handle the two they do have well. Also, loved that Ruli is into kart racing! Though there was a moment in that episode where I genuinely thought Anphoramon would evolve, and was a little disappointed when that didn’t happen.
One thing that does intrigue me about this series is how basically none of the enemies are defeated in a straight-on fight? Honestly, it would not make sense if they were—nearly all of them have been ultimates so far, and the furthest any of the partner Digimon evolved is to champion, and even then only Gammamon. Instead, they take care of things by figuring out why the Digimon are acting out in the way they do. There’s only been a few of truly “bad” Digimon so far, and I find that interesting.
(On that note, I’m really excited to see that Clockmon might be returning in the most recent episode—I’ve been waiting for it since he escaped in that first episode.)
(...also, when it comes to the “bad” Digimon, I have no clue how to categorize Sistermon Blanc. Metalphantomon, yeah, absolutely a baddie, but she was just… I had no clue what to make of her by the end of the episode.)
► The other bit of media that I’ve been spending a lot of time with lately is a game called Cozy Grove. Which also has ghosts! I don’t have too much to say about it, but it really fills the Animal Crossing-shaped hole in my life while simultaneously doing something quite different. I love the setting and atmosphere and art style, and playing it is such a good way to unwind after work.
There were two moments so far, story-wise, that really got to me. The first was the realization that Charlotte Pine was the Spirit Scout who’d come to the island before you and failed!! Like, yes, clearly she was affiliated with the scouts somehow, but I’d been thinking of her as being someone along the lines of the Scoutmaster, so that revelation hit hard for me.
The other was the farmer, Lee Berry Dennings. I like most of the characters, but he was one I was a little iffy on, because of how he was clearly trying to manipulate the “Spirit Scout there to help spirits move on” thing to get items from them. But then I unlocked the memory of his being threatened with starvation as a child because his parents’ farm was in danger of failing, and I got very ;_; about it.
(I’m also curious if this has anything to do with how he died…)
I also wasn’t paying much attention to the surnames, so the reveal that Valentina and Allison are sisters was unexpected to me. I’m curious about what’s going to happen with that, because they’re so different, and so far their story quests haven’t had much to do with one another, but I feel like both of them ending up as ghosts can’t be a coincidence, right?
I’m also fairly invested in Patrice Furbac’s story… he keeps dropping backstory hints that intrigue me—especially this moment:
(His face there devastates me.)
And Captain Billweather Stout! I feel like he has to be the captain who the Scoutmaster mentioned in his letter—the one whose ship sank, killing a lot of people, while he was drunk. Which doesn’t sound sympathetic at all when I write it out like that, but I’m actually really fond of him, and (at the risk of sounding repetitive) I’m looking forward to piecing together the rest of his story and seeing his perspective on how that went down.
On a different note, I am so in love with the ghost pets! So, so, so incredibly adorable, oh my heart! And the imps! You can feed the imps and also help them mend their broken hearts! Addoooooorable! ♥ ♥ ♥
► I also streamed all three episodes of TAZ Imbalance with a friend, and I have a few brief thoughts about it. Overall, I found it a fun return to the Balance universe—though I did think the ending was a bit abrupt—I had a, “wait, is that really it?” moment after the Time Dragon left. But mostly I really enjoyed it.
One thing that I particularly appreciated was the way it fleshed Davenport’s character out for us, as I always felt like he was the one member of the Seven Birds who felt the most like a blank slate. And now I have so many feelings about his trauma, his relationship with Lucrezia, and the way those two things intersect.
The phone call between the two of them in the beginning is a big source of that. Just, how he instinctively turns to her when he needs help/advice, and how it’s not until partway through the conversation that he even remembers what she did to him—how he immediately and awkwardly makes an excuse to cut the conversation off—and the implication that it’s not the first time this has happened, because Griffin referred to it as the way he always ends his conversations with Lucrezia!
It’s like… they spent a hundred years together. He’s used to being able to turn to and trust Lucrezia, and the way he keeps falling back to that before remembering all the reasons he shouldn’t, just…
And the ending? Where it’s revealed that his biggest regret is not listening to Lucrezia’s suggestion as to how to defeat the Hunger—and not because it led to him spending a decade mindwiped, but because he felt like it was unfair to her? Oof. That’s heavy, and Davenport is definitely, definitely the most traumatized of the bunch.
I did like Taako’s arc as well, as well as the fact that he had an arc, unlike Magnus and Merle. It’s clear from the beginning that something’s wrong in his post-canon world, and I enjoyed the slow reveal of what that was. (Though I did find it odd that Lup wasn’t mentioned even once?) And I really liked that he decided to go back to adventuring, especially since he was always the most cautious of the trio (“Taako’s good out here”.)
Also:
1. I’m more convinced than ever that Taako just can’t handle being alone. That bit at the end, where he had to make a choice, but everyone else had already made their choice and vanished? And how he reacted to it by calling Kravitz so that he had someone to talk to before he made that choice? Yeah.
2. Kravitz taking Taako suddenly calling himself Jocasta and running with it has me absolutely convinced that roleplay is a regular part of their sex lives.
► I’ve been watching Digimon Ghost Game with my older brother (though we’re perpetually a week behind, since neither of us have Crunchyroll Premium), and I am so deeply charmed. I feel like it does such an excellent job of taking the Digimon concept and doing its own unique thing with it, while still maintaining the spirit of Digimon. Just… it’s making me really happy. ♥ I love the horror elements, and also just love the aesthetic of how it looks when the Digital World overlayers with the real world—cityscapes overgrown with nature, yes!
One of the most delightful surprises was Jellymon’s introduction. Obviously, she’s in the opening, so I knew the final MC was going to have her as partner, but honestly I’d assumed she’d be the blandly sweet type? Which isn’t terrible, but is nothing compared to the delight and glory that is Jellymon and her dynamic with her partner.
She’s just so gleefully sadistic? But in a way that feels more fun-loving than cruel. And her partner is such a melodramatic coward, which is also fun, but made even more fun by the way Jellymon takes advantage of it. She convinced him he was being haunted and wrote him messages with I Can’t Believe It’s Not Blood on his ceiling before she ever introduced herself! She calls him darling, but doesn’t let that stop her from teasing and tormenting him! There’s this moment near the end of the episode “Birds” where, after the enemy Digimon is taken care of & her partner talks about how scared he was, she tells him this in this cheerful tone:
—and that line really stuck with me. AND SHE MADE HIM HER PASSENGER DURING THE KART RACE, ahhhh, I loved that moment so much.
In general, there’s not very many female characters in the main cast—only Jellymon and Ruli—but I feel like they handle the two they do have well. Also, loved that Ruli is into kart racing! Though there was a moment in that episode where I genuinely thought Anphoramon would evolve, and was a little disappointed when that didn’t happen.
One thing that does intrigue me about this series is how basically none of the enemies are defeated in a straight-on fight? Honestly, it would not make sense if they were—nearly all of them have been ultimates so far, and the furthest any of the partner Digimon evolved is to champion, and even then only Gammamon. Instead, they take care of things by figuring out why the Digimon are acting out in the way they do. There’s only been a few of truly “bad” Digimon so far, and I find that interesting.
(On that note, I’m really excited to see that Clockmon might be returning in the most recent episode—I’ve been waiting for it since he escaped in that first episode.)
(...also, when it comes to the “bad” Digimon, I have no clue how to categorize Sistermon Blanc. Metalphantomon, yeah, absolutely a baddie, but she was just… I had no clue what to make of her by the end of the episode.)
► The other bit of media that I’ve been spending a lot of time with lately is a game called Cozy Grove. Which also has ghosts! I don’t have too much to say about it, but it really fills the Animal Crossing-shaped hole in my life while simultaneously doing something quite different. I love the setting and atmosphere and art style, and playing it is such a good way to unwind after work.
There were two moments so far, story-wise, that really got to me. The first was the realization that Charlotte Pine was the Spirit Scout who’d come to the island before you and failed!! Like, yes, clearly she was affiliated with the scouts somehow, but I’d been thinking of her as being someone along the lines of the Scoutmaster, so that revelation hit hard for me.
The other was the farmer, Lee Berry Dennings. I like most of the characters, but he was one I was a little iffy on, because of how he was clearly trying to manipulate the “Spirit Scout there to help spirits move on” thing to get items from them. But then I unlocked the memory of his being threatened with starvation as a child because his parents’ farm was in danger of failing, and I got very ;_; about it.
(I’m also curious if this has anything to do with how he died…)
I also wasn’t paying much attention to the surnames, so the reveal that Valentina and Allison are sisters was unexpected to me. I’m curious about what’s going to happen with that, because they’re so different, and so far their story quests haven’t had much to do with one another, but I feel like both of them ending up as ghosts can’t be a coincidence, right?
I’m also fairly invested in Patrice Furbac’s story… he keeps dropping backstory hints that intrigue me—especially this moment:
(His face there devastates me.)
And Captain Billweather Stout! I feel like he has to be the captain who the Scoutmaster mentioned in his letter—the one whose ship sank, killing a lot of people, while he was drunk. Which doesn’t sound sympathetic at all when I write it out like that, but I’m actually really fond of him, and (at the risk of sounding repetitive) I’m looking forward to piecing together the rest of his story and seeing his perspective on how that went down.
On a different note, I am so in love with the ghost pets! So, so, so incredibly adorable, oh my heart! And the imps! You can feed the imps and also help them mend their broken hearts! Addoooooorable! ♥ ♥ ♥
► I also streamed all three episodes of TAZ Imbalance with a friend, and I have a few brief thoughts about it. Overall, I found it a fun return to the Balance universe—though I did think the ending was a bit abrupt—I had a, “wait, is that really it?” moment after the Time Dragon left. But mostly I really enjoyed it.
One thing that I particularly appreciated was the way it fleshed Davenport’s character out for us, as I always felt like he was the one member of the Seven Birds who felt the most like a blank slate. And now I have so many feelings about his trauma, his relationship with Lucrezia, and the way those two things intersect.
The phone call between the two of them in the beginning is a big source of that. Just, how he instinctively turns to her when he needs help/advice, and how it’s not until partway through the conversation that he even remembers what she did to him—how he immediately and awkwardly makes an excuse to cut the conversation off—and the implication that it’s not the first time this has happened, because Griffin referred to it as the way he always ends his conversations with Lucrezia!
It’s like… they spent a hundred years together. He’s used to being able to turn to and trust Lucrezia, and the way he keeps falling back to that before remembering all the reasons he shouldn’t, just…
And the ending? Where it’s revealed that his biggest regret is not listening to Lucrezia’s suggestion as to how to defeat the Hunger—and not because it led to him spending a decade mindwiped, but because he felt like it was unfair to her? Oof. That’s heavy, and Davenport is definitely, definitely the most traumatized of the bunch.
I did like Taako’s arc as well, as well as the fact that he had an arc, unlike Magnus and Merle. It’s clear from the beginning that something’s wrong in his post-canon world, and I enjoyed the slow reveal of what that was. (Though I did find it odd that Lup wasn’t mentioned even once?) And I really liked that he decided to go back to adventuring, especially since he was always the most cautious of the trio (“Taako’s good out here”.)
Also:
1. I’m more convinced than ever that Taako just can’t handle being alone. That bit at the end, where he had to make a choice, but everyone else had already made their choice and vanished? And how he reacted to it by calling Kravitz so that he had someone to talk to before he made that choice? Yeah.
2. Kravitz taking Taako suddenly calling himself Jocasta and running with it has me absolutely convinced that roleplay is a regular part of their sex lives.
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Most of the Digimon anime are accessible to new fans, really. The only exceptions are Digimon Adventure 02 and the Digimon Tri movies, since they're sequels to Digimon Adventure. Everything else has their own characters and lore and (apart from one instance) aren't connected to the other series at all.
no subject
Jellymon is such a troll, omg. You're in for a treat with episode 10 if you like Kiyoshirou and Jellymon!
no subject
and how the fights have been handled - it'll be interesting to see how everyone reacts to first time they defeat a Digimon in battle!
Yes! The way the fights have been set up are so interesting to me, especially when I place it in contrast with previous series, and I, too, am curious about when (or even if) they'll get around to defeating a Digimon in a straight-up fight.
Re: episode 10 — that sounds very promising /eyes emoji