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Crest of Hope: Patamon's World - Tai's Digi-pinions - The Anime Pundits: Digimon Savers, episode 3

Patamon's World > Tai's Digi-pinions > The Anime Pundits: Digimon Savers, episode 3

The Anime Pundits

Digimon Savers - Episode 3

written by Mac McFearson and guest pundit Brian Miller

Welcome one, welcome all. Our third installment calls to the same trend as the first two - we're here to talk Digimon Savers, episode three to be precise.

This week we have our first "guest pundit", Brian Miller, aka Indigo. With Takeru Yamamoto still touring Europe, Brian was cool enough to fill in when other replacements fell through(I owe him one now). I'm not sure if Indi can be called a 'hard-core' anime fan, but he's been a dedicated Digimon fan since a little thing called Adventure. He was a member of the old TDE forums and remains a veteran member at one of the latest incarnations of the Digital Matrix Forums. He's also a writer of short stories(a couple of which can be found here) and has hinted at coming out with a Digimon fanfiction.

As always, we hope you enjoy it. 



a BRIAN MILLER concoction...

 Well folks, our hero, Masaru, is three days in as a member of DATS now, and seems to have impressed all the right people with his rebellion, ambition, and spunk. His partner, Agumon, has been welcomed kindly by his family, and is certainly managing to keep his face stuffed at the breakfast table. However, in episode three of Digimon Savers, “Genius Tohma Returns! Beat Meramon”, Masaru may be fighting his biggest battle yet... dealing with a certain blonde playboy who, predictably, will probably become his rival/best friend through out the series... much comparable to the infamous duo of Taichi and Yamato of the first series. My spidey-senses are picking up that the fangirls are going to have a field day with this.

When a DemiMeramon is discovered to have appeared in the real world, both Masaru and Agumon are eager to get on the chase... however, this invading Digimon proves to be too difficult for Masaru to attain a DigiSoul from, and elite DATS member, Tohma and his partner Gaomon, takes on the case in his stead. Determined to prove his worth, Masaru jumps at a free chance to take on the little buggers that Tohma and Yoshino can't get to in time... inevitably leading to a highly stylized fight sequence.

When it comes down to it, episode three is a necessary evil. Savers is still in infancy as a Digimon series, and still has a couple kinks it needs to work out before it can develop into an appealing story arc... which means, we, as fans, may have to endure a few more of these one episode, one adventure trials before some serious threats and villains may begin arising. The episode itself, however, is a good one, featuring a good few laughable moments, as well as a noticeably good performance by Hoshi Souichiro (Masaru)... particularly prominent in his little breakdown mid-episode. The new addition to the trio, Tohma, is going to prove to be a little high maintenance through-out the show... but, we'll hopefully see some changes as his character begins to develop.

Besides some obvious rip-off concepts from Men In Black (...the mind erasing? Come ON.) Episode three manages to keep the series running strong so far, and hasn't seem to let long-running fans down yet... unlike many who began uncontrollably vomiting twenty seconds into “Digimon Frontier” (Such as myself), three years ago. “Genius Tohma Returns! Beat Meramon” will hopefully never be considered the crème de la crème of the series – But it DOES keeps it's head on it's shoulders, and is good favoring of what's to come from this new generation of Digital Monsters... or at least it damn well better.



Musings of McFearson...

Quote
"Omit needless words!" cries the author on page 17, and into that imperative Will Strunk really put his heart and soul. In the days when I was sitting in his class, he omitted so many needless words, and omitted them so forcibly and with such eagerness and obvious relish, that he often seemed in the position of having short-changed himself, a man left with nothing more to say yet with time to fill, a radio prophet who had outdistanced the clock. Will Strunk got out of this predicament by a simple trick: he uttered every sentence three times. [1]

Choose a structure! Choose a structure! Choose a structure!

Quote
A sonnet is built on a fourteen-line frame, of five foot lines. Hence, the sonneteer knows exactly where he is headed, although he may not know how to get there. Most forms of composition are less clearly defined, more flexible, but all have skeletons to which the writer will bring the flesh and blood. The more clearly he perceives the shape, the better his chances of success. [2]

The words above are from E.B White as they appear in Elements of Style. The words of White, and the words of his teacher, William Strunk, Jr., who originally authored Elements of Style as a textbook for Cornell University, are priceless. These men were not writing about anime, far from it. But as a writer I compare the art of the English language, and composition in any language, to every facet of life, entertainment included.

Structure is something I will discuss for a third consecutive edition, only this time in a different light. We see in this third episode of Digimon Savers something we did not see in the first two. We see planning not only affecting character and plot, but being embodied in them as well. This owes in large part to the introduction of the newest lead character in the series, Tohma H. Norstein.

In Tohma we see a young man who appreciates precision and planning. In the introduction and use of his character, we finally see that perhaps the writers of this series share that appreciation. The young Austrian noble's persona is ostensible, if not at times autocratic: Tohma is calculated, precise, intelligent, cold, and efficient. The appearance of Tohma shows that the planners of this series are willing to do more than merely mix and match a montage of anime and Digimon stereotypes. Not to say that Tohma is entirely novel, but that his presence and overwhelming effect could produce relationships among characters that are more original than his character alone.

In place of objectivity, I must confess my personal perference towards Tohma's character. I too appreciate the precise, the well timed, and well thought out.

For all my praise of Masaru, I must say that in one episode, Tohma has made me rethink my choice of favorite character. Obviously I like them both for different reasons. Masaru for his strength, his passion, his tactlessness, and his sense of honor. Tohma for his precision, his steadfastness, his calm, and his focus. To try and determine which is of higher quality as a character is tempting, but unfair. They are both good in their own way; they appeal to different audiences. To see these two interact over the course of the series will be compelling to say the least. The writers deserve our praise just for putting these two characters on the screen together.

Teamwork! Teamwork! Teamwork!

The title alone for the upcoming episode excites me. "New Team, First Mission!" it exclaims. I'm anxious to see how our three main characters, Masaru, Yoshino, and Tohma, and their partners are intertwined, not only in casual relations, but also in battle. Although all three characters were present in this episode, we didn't see any teamwork. What we saw were two instances of individual accomplishment: Tohma and Gaomon/Gaogamon efficiently dispatching the swarm of PetitMeramon and Masaru and Agumon/GeoGreymon defeating PetitMeramon/Meramon with an unorthodox yet successful strategy. Yoshino and Raramon followed the pattern they established for themselves in the first two episodes and didn't do much.

The three Digimon partners vary in their attributes so it should be interesting to see what kind of battle scenarios can be concocted in order to best utilize them in conjunction. And of course our three DATS officers have significantly different personalities, so methods and strategy should be a point of contention.

Joining three differing characters in what is essentially an occupation, in my estimation, is better than doing so by "destiny" or chance, at least in this case. There is no mistaking the need for teamwork. They will be forced to work together not only for survival, but because it is their job.

It will be interesting to see who emerges as a leader. Masaru and Agumon are clearly the main duo of the series(though I personally prefer Tohma/Gaomon), but there is no Goggle Boy motif as in past seasons, so it is not certain he will be the leader of the group. Yoshino is the oldest of the group by four years and that has to play some role in determining leadership. And in Tohma's obsence it appeared as though she was the senior officer in terms of field operations for DATS. Tohma clearly has an edge on his two teammates in terms of sheer tactical skill and protocol understanding. And apparently he is universally respected, even admired by his co-workers. 

Whatever happens in this series, with these characters, this team, it will be compelling. How do I know this? There is a simple answer to that question:

Look at the structure. Look at the structure. Look at the structure.


------

[Editor's Note: We hope you enjoy what you've seen thus far from TAP, but if there's something you don't like, let us know! Anything from the writing style to the how we arrange things, if you have a suggestion for change, leave us a reply or drop us an email. We're far from established so our methods are open to change based on what the readers want.]

---
[1] Cited from Introduction to Elements of Style by William Strunk, Jr. & E.B White.
[2] Cited from the second chapter of Elements of Style, Elementary Principles of Composition, rule 8.


Copyright © Mac McFearson 2006

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