Digimon Ghost Game

Zerockman★ 4

Wow, what a trainwreck of an anime. This anime managed to disappoint me more than I thought it could, and it turned into the all time worst Digimon series. This show actually had a lot of potential, but most of it was wasted down the drain. Let's break it down. Digimon Ghost Game starts off pretty well, introducing us to an interesting cast of main characters alongside their equally endearing partner digimon. For the first 10 or so episodes we get an episodic approach where we see the first digivolutions, i.e the Champion/Adult level digivolutions, for all 3 main digimon. We've seen other Digimon anime dothis, like Tamers and Universe. But what those series did and this one should have as well was to move on from the episodic formula and start to develop the story, even if slowly. Instead, what we got were 64 or so episodes of continuous boring, repetitive "digimon of the week" type of thing. You probably checked the episode count for this anime - 67. That's right. The last 3 episodes of the anime are the ones where the plot actually ensues. For the first 64 episodes literally nothing happens. We get a few teases here and there but nothing more than that. This creates two big problems: - The first one is that the vast majority of the anime is a boring episodic mess with close to no plot or character development or any meaningful moments other than the digivolutions. - The second one is how rushed the finale was. I'm not going to get into spoilers for how the story ends, but just know it was one of the most rushed and anti-climatic endings I've seen in any anime. The most frustrating part of all this is that the pieces were all there for a good series/finale, because the last 3 episodes actually have some really interesting plot twists and developments. In the final episode alone we got tons of exposition explaining several of the things that happened throughout the show. The future was even set for a potential continuation or sequel because they introduced a major threat around 4 or 5 minutes away from the end of the final episode. But of course they didn't follow through with that. Instead we got a meaningless, cheap and nonsensical finale that not only felt super rushed but also doesn't even explain how they averted the major threat I mentioned just now. Digimon Ghost Game does have some good moments, but that mostly amounts to the Digivolution scenes, the digivolved forms of the main 3 digimon which are mostly really well designed, and also to the 2 main insert songs, First Riders and Makuake, which are both pretty hype, especially Makuake. The animation is also generally pretty good. For both Toei and Digimon standards, I would say this is actually the best animated Digimon series, at least in terms of consistency. We never really got any slideshow battle which is a surprise for, like I said, Digimon standards. This makes it feel even worse that the imo worst Digimon show ever is the one that gets the best production treatment. Like I said at the start, Digimon Ghost Game is a big wasted potential and it turned into a huge flop. It does have some good moments here and there, but the boring episodic nature and the rushed, nonsensical finale turn it into my least favourite Digimon series ever, and as a Digimon fan it really makes me feel bad.

rasterman7★ 6

Digimon Ghost Game is the latest anime installment in the franchise and with the disappointment of Digimon Adventure 2020 one would understandably be hesitant to give it a watch. As such, after finishing its final episode I can safely say that... the recommendation is still up in the air depending on what you're looking for. On the one hand, compared to its predecessors, here the cast are much more charismatic, cheerful, full of fear and all in all emotional. And I'm not only referring to the main three but the partner Digimon and some of the supporting cast as well. Each of them has a wayof approaching things that resonates with their partner and they each have their set of episodes to shine... though some more than others. Plus, the way they come to solve their conflicts isn't just to beat up the bad guy rather to come to an understanding and for the most part, even in the horrific situations they are put through, that was a welcome change. Also, there's the digivolutions, of which there are quite a bunch and in order to not spoil them (though they have already been spoiled if you follow the products such as the VB) I'll just say that I'm really into the way the sequence are short enough to not take too much time out of the episode and they 're really well animated as well. I comment this as a frequent criticism the older series have had to do with this time loss. Plus their design is usually on point and it follows Digimon evolution logic with how one “kind of beast” transforms may transform into something completely different. On the other hand we have to address the elephant in the room: the narrative. At first it seemed that even though the show was advertised to have an episodic format, it would also feature an overarching story with little to big steps throughout it depending on the Digimon in question to be the main focus of the episode. However, after one of the first glimpses we got of that, there were too many episodes in between where barely no progression at all was made, only for it to take many huge steps by the end. It probably wouldn't have gone down as bad as it did if from the get-go the show didn't have an end goal or the progression would have been spread more seamlessly. In that way, the viewer has time to process each new development and theorize about their meaning. In reality, as the "Digimon of the week" came by with a new horror theme attached to it, the question was whether there was an endgame or not. Furthermore, aside from the most relevant and prominent battles, and the digivolution sequences as mentioned previously, there's really not anything remarkable about the animation. Most of the time it looks bland and with some of the horror theming it would have probably benefited more by having a bit more production put into it. The soundtrack at least has a few notable tracks, mainly Faction Faction by The Wieners and Monster Disco by Suga Shikao and a few of the digivolutions tracks whose names I'll have to look up later. With all that was mentioned above, I'd say this is a mixed bag. If you're into horror and don't mind slow to null story progression but seeing what dark themes can come up from the Digimon setting, then you may get a kick out of it. If on the flip side you've either bounced off previous Digimon series or were looking for a narrative focused one, you'll not probably not have a good time with it. At the very least, you should give the digivolution sequences a quick view.