Pop Culture Panda: Digimon Tri - Part Two Ketsui/Determination Ep 3

Welcome back to another recap of Digimon Tri!

If you thought you could roll around in pleasant nostalgia - you can think again!
The animators want you to re-live that kick in the stomach from last episode when you see that poor Joe is still depressed like 1930's America and still walking around in the gosh darned rain like he's in a music video! He's still crying and belittling himself too! I can't take it no more!

Augh! Right in the feels!!!

Meanwhile - Kari - who is totally dry and happy talks about now she gets how Tai understands Joe.

This would be a nice bonding moment.. Kari wants Tai to go talk to Joe but Tai reasonably shuts her down asking who would clean his soccer boots if he went over there?
Then she decides this exact fear is why Tai can't talk to Matt. Personally, I think Matt's pretty much a douche hipster but Tai's eyes tremble with emotion... or maybe it's cleaning agent fumes.
Not really clear on that.

Well I don't feel so bad for Joe now seeing as how his English handwriting is probably better than mine and I WAS BORN IN ENGLAND!

Joe reminisces about that one photo everyone's got but hasn't got the licence to show on TV. But you can look at Gabumon. It's the only time you can ogle Gabumon without him getting all shy, apparently.

Meanwhile, Gomamon and Joe share an emotionally salty Ramen inspired scene, before Gomamon just up and leaves Joe like a dirty one night stand, with only a text lingering behind.

Gomamon has gone to Tentomon's bangin' crib which apparently has a freaking buffet. Tentomon says that Gomamon might need to assist with snacks and tea but if he can whip up a five star buffet then he don't need no help, damnit!

Koushiro runs in panicking - I can't help but admire his Hawaiian goldfish shirt. You gotta love the classics. He's had some crazy cryptic email sent to him which is probably just a side note from the editors to remind us that there is more to life than sadness, rain, soccer boots and Hawaiian goldfish.

Himekawa is all like increase security around the Digi-destined! Especially in crowded areas! Nishijima is like ooopsy, it's the school festival! What could possibly go wrong?

I'll tell you what! Mei doing her overdone I'm such an embarrassed school girl in my PG 'racy' costume trope! It's tripe! It's a tripe made completely out of tripey tropes!

Ugh, someone stop her! She's dissolving into a sea of blushy false modesty and sappy praise for everyone else and awkward head shaking/arm waving!

"Your goal of making everyone happy would be possible in this outfit!"

Yeah but does that include literally everyone or just the horny artists/fan-service devotees?

Mimi gets her groove back and sticks it to the other classmates who hated her idea and her design but for some reason decided to keep the 'Daters' theming?

Wait, is this not the same episode?

All the companion Digimon are at Koushiro and Tentomon's awesome hang out, stuffing their faces with apparently the second buffet in one day?

Koushiro gets a text from Joe asking if Gomamon's there but Gomamon's like no way man, I spat in his Ramen, don't let him find me!

Meanwhile Palmon gets heaped with praise and Pocky's from the others for her hard work during the battle of yester-episode.

Tentomon and Gomamon have a nice bro-vibe going on - buuuut back at the school festival Mei's regressed even further into her "oh no, I'm waaaayyy too embarrassed to do this" schtick. Then she gets soooo embarrassed that she 'cute-sneezes'.

Look at these poor confused lil bastards.

Himekawa spots Ken looking dodgy as all hell on a random roof top but he vanishes just as fast.

She and Nishijima end up going to Daters for lunch and are forced to watch Mei squeak and blush her way through everything. Mimi and Mei do a cheerleader style routine... or at least I think they do.

They're animated when they pick up their pom poms but then it dissolves to a series of vaseline smeared stills with the 'camera' zooming in and out erratically in order to create the illusion of movement. It's weird, and made me feel kinda car sick.

Is Mei being crucified up there or what?

This continues even with random people in the crowd and Sora sticking her head around the door frame. It is absolutely bizarre.

Then this happens..

Mimi immediately gets a text from Koushiro advising he'll be there immediately. I can only assume the text came with drops of blood from his inevitable anime male nose bleed.

Things get weirder....

The Digimon beg Leomon to take them to the school event and it turns out..

....Leo is a big softie for baby animal monsters?

He starts twitching and making choking noises, much like Vegeta whenever Kakarot is mentioned and just about creams his pants when Meicoomon calls him 'Senpai."

I feel like I'm watching an episode of Rugrats mixed in with every single anime high school trope ever invented.

To exemplify this.. Koushiro arrives with his super serious no I don't have a boner stop looking at me like that face and he is rewarded with super close up shots of Mimi's bust and crotch.

Mei gets even more awkward as more people she knows arrive and we even see female classmates develop simultaneous lady-boners for her because she's soooooo cute. Well enjoy your snot fantasies ladies because apart from a stutter that's all you're gonna get.

Leomon tries the old trench-coat and sick mask disguise.. but he's literally covered in Digimon and has a tail and his clawed feet sticking out.

He tries to maintain his charges with ruthless discipline.

It goes about as well as can be expected.

This episode can be summed up neatly by "hijinks ensues".
I can't even remember if people are supposed to be forgetting Digimon from when they appeared several years ago or forgetting them from when they appeared a matter of days ago and they were like, totally evil or like, something? There is no way that they could be getting away with these sorts of shenanigans for this long. I mean, damn, entering the 'creepy-cute' costume competition?

Does no-one question why someone who is supposed to be in an animal costume is so small? Or why the mouth isn't make-up or a mask of any kind?

Meanwhile Tai cottons on their shenanigans but he's got a game to play y'all so he sets Matt on their case. Matt's like sure, I'll put an immediate stop to this... but first lemme grill you about your emotions because I hate you yet I love you.

Did you, like me, think that last episode's goggle off was intense? You might want to look away now because good gravy it's a freakin' crotch off this time!

Matt's all serious about Tai's doubts, and puts out a ghastly pale hand to block his path and Tai's like you know what? Not even gonna answer you, I'm just going to shove you out the way with my powers of tan!

Tai runs off and Matt's left to look morosely down the empty corridor like great now *I* have to babysit.

VERDICT

So as you might have guessed... this episode seemed to be kind of like wish fulfillment for the creators. Kind of like when you read bad fan-fiction about aged up or shipped characters but this time it's more like "let's super sexualise Mimi and Mei and then have those kooky Digimon do something kooky and they can act like babies."

It doesn't seem to want to cater just to the now older audience who grew up with Digimon, nor the younger audience just learning about it, but it tries to do both and for me this has mixed results. I'd say this episode is sadly pretty forgettable with the only highlights being the Koushimi shipping.. (I know, full of cliches but it's kinda cute)