Hi All,

As mentioned in my previous post, see the link below for further information, this will be the start of me writing a breakdown of each episode of Digimon Tamers and the differences between the Japanese/English/Manga version of this season.

https://www.deviantart.com/hibotancreations/art/Digimon-Tamers-Episodes-Breakdown-876521400

Lookie here who’s back doing these, as promised ( albeit a few months late, sorry )

Now that we’re at episode 4 I’ve noticed that the script starts to change the tone and dialogue a lot more between the 2 versions compared to the first 3 episodes, and I think that instead of trying to mash these 2 up as one coherent plot ( which I’ve done before for the past 3 episodes ), that I’ll instead be reviewing the 2 versions separate from each other.
This will avoid that I’ll be losing valuable differences between the 2 and it will be easier to come back to these later in case I need to refer to a specific part in the story.
Also the English Dialogue is golden, so that’s another reason why : )  I will however keep the English names for the Japanese recap for simplicity sake.

 

I’ll also start adding Konaka’s own interpretation to these as well, some of it might be a bit lost in translation since I’ll be using google translate to translate his blogs, but he definitely has some interesting insights into each episode ( some things that even I missed and or never noticed ), I think that it’s good to add them here for that reason.

Anyway on to the breakdown.

Digimon Tamers Episode 4: It Came from the Other Side

Japanese title: Teimā no Shiren! Gorimon o Taose!
( Japanese: テイマーの試練!ゴリモンを倒せ! )
( English: A Tamer's Trial! Defeat Gorillamon! )

Japanese air date: April 22, 2001
English air date: September 8, 2001

--Episode breakdown: Japanese version

The episode starts with a small recap of the ending in the last episode from when Terriermon Digivolved to Gargomon to the point when Guilmon pushed Gargomon away from Rika.

We then start the episode proper with Takato, Henry, Guilmon and Gargomon at the park after their fight in the underground parking lot.
Henry is trying to De-digivolve Gargomon back into Terriermon by doing a handstand.
Takato asks Henry if this has happened to Terriermon before, but Henry avoids the question and says that this will help Gargomon to cool off.
Takato then goes back home and questions what would happen if Guilmon were to Digivolve.

Meanwhile at the park in the evening while Henry is waiting for Gargomon to De-digivolve back into Terriermon he flashes back to him playing a Digimon computer game were we see a Terriermon and Gorillamon fighting, with Terriermon winning the match.
Gargomon then manages to De-digivolve back and both of them then go home, on the way Henry asks Terriermon to not Digivolve again, to which Terriermon says that he knows.

Meanwhile Takato makes a drawing of how he thinks Guilmon’s Digivolution would look like.

Then we see Rika rethinking how she should have won the fight against Gargomon with her initial strategy, but then she dismisses it and says that if Renamon would have Digivolved instead then she wouldn’t have needed the modify cards.

The next day we see Takato, Kazu and Kenta at the local card shop, Kazu has bought some cards and gives Takato one that he already has twice, the training gibs card.

Meanwhile at Hypnos we see that another anomaly has appeared, a wild one, and they are sending the Tracer program after it.

Then we see Takato, Henry and Terriermon walking down the street, when suddenly Terriermon senses a wild one emerging and then they see a cloud chasing after them.
They try to run away from it, they split up at the bridge, but Takato sees that the cloud chases Henry instead, and he ends up getting Guilmon at the park first before he runs after them.

Henry enters a construction site and the cloud then becomes a fog around the construction site area as a Digital field appears.

Hypnos is unable to stop the wild one, Gorillamon, from realizing.

While Gorillamon realized into the real world, Takato also arrives at the scene with Guilmon.
Henry asks Gorillamon to stop attacking and that he doesn’t want to fight him anymore, he asks him if he remembers them but Gorillamon attacks anyway.

While Guilmon fights him, Terriermon then wants to help too, but Henry forbids it, Terriermon starts fighting once Gorillamon targets him and the Tamers, this upsets Henry and Terriermon says that Henry used to push him to fight before.
Gorillamon seems to remember this from the game and in rage he tries to attack the Digimon.

Takato asks what happened and we then get a full flashback to when Henry met Terriermon for the first time.

We see that his father, Janyu Wong, has given his kids presents from when he visited America, and he gives Henry an English Digimon game because it released earlier there.
Henry is in his room and picks Terriermon in the game as his partner, and he finds him adorable.
Henry then notices that Gorillamon disappeared from the game through the network, and questions why this happened.
We then see what we can assume is the Digital world through Henry’s monitor, while Gorillamon is going on a rampage killing multiple Digimon and loading their data while chasing Terriermon.

Henry tries to stop his rampage by ordering Terriermon to fight him and he uses multiple modify cards for this, he uses 4, which makes Terriermon Digivolve into Gargomon, and now Gargomon is the one out of control.
This upsets Henry as Gargomon is acting the same as Gorillamon, and he questions if he is the one that caused this.

Meanwhile Guilmon and Terriermon are still fighting Gorillamon, Takato tries to help but unfortunately he can’t do much against the champion level Digimon, and Guilmon pushes Gorillamon away from Takato.

Takato questions what he should do and he scans a modify card to power up Guilmon, but it isn’t enough.
Takato says that if Terriermon were to Digivolve they might win, and asks Henry to do so, Henry refuses.

We see another flashback of the aftermath with Gorillamon and Gargomon, and Henry’s dad says to Henry that Digimon load other Digimons data if they defeat them, and that they are similar to wild beasts, survival of the fittest. He also says that Digimon aren’t real and that it’s just a game and that Henry shouldn’t worry.

Henry repeats this sentiment where he sees a badly hurt Terriermon fall unconscious in the Digital World through his monitor.
He starts tearing up and says that he’s sorry while suddenly a blue card appears on his desk.
Wanting to help Terriermon he then scans this card through his card reader, and it transforms into a D-arc Digivice.
The Digivice reacts with Terriermon on screen, and it transports him through the monitor into Henry’s arms.
Henry starts crying waking Terriermon up and he asks why Henry is crying, worriedly asking him what’s wrong.

Meanwhile Gorillamon is still fighting Guilmon and Terriermon, Takato says if they don’t do something then their Digimon will be killed, and Henry says that there has to be another way.
Henry sees Takato’s Training Gibs card and uses it on Terriermon, Terriermon then throws it back to Gorillamon who becomes fully restrained.
He breaks free after taking hits from both Guilmon and Terriermon and tries to attack them with his cannon, but Terriermon uses his attack to target the inside of the cannon thus killing Gorillamon.

Henry asks Terriermon not to load Gorillamon data.
Takato questions what happened with Gorillamon data if it isn’t loaded, and Henry says that he probably returned to the other side. 

The four are back at the bridge Takato was on earlier close to the park, and Takato says that Henry was amazing back there and that he and Terriermon make an awesome team.

The episode ends with Guilmon saying that he and Takato are also a good team and Terriermon telling Henry to momentai.


--Episode breakdown: English version

The episode starts with Takato reassuring Henry that he shouldn’t worry about what happened with Terriermon and that Rika was fine afterwards. Gargomon asks Henry if he can stop doing the handstand since it’s a real pain in the neck, Takato then asks Henry if having him do the handstand will help him to De-digivolve Gargomon back to Terriermon, Henry says that it has to because he wouldn’t be able to take Gargomon home since he is too big and that it will freak his parents out.
Takato agrees and says that since he’d Digivolved by himself he then must be able to De-digivolve since Digimon probably do it all the time ( This is probably referencing that in Digimon adventure Digimon easily turn back into their Rookie or In-training forms once they are done fighting )
Takato wonders if Rika could perhaps help, and Henry dismisses it.
Takato then adds that he hopes that his mouth will De-digivolve first, Henry doubts that’ll ever happen.

Takato then goes back home and wonders what Guilmon would be like if he were to Digivolve and he hopes that he wouldn’t get bigger than Gargomon.

Meanwhile at the park in the evening while Henry is waiting for Gargomon to De-digivolve back into Terriermon he flashes back to him playing a Digimon computer game were we see a Terriermon and Gorillamon fighting, with Terriermon winning the match.

Henry snaps back to the present when the now De-digivolved Terriermon is looking for him in the dark and both of them then go home, on the way Terriermon says that he couldn’t help it and that he’s sorry.
Henry tells Terriermon that he told him not to Digivolve and that he would have had to move Terriermon in with Guilmon if he would have stayed like that.
Terriermons says that he didn’t mean to do it and tells Henry to moumantai.

Meanwhile Takato makes a drawing of how he thinks Guilmon’s Digivolution would look like, having huge teeth, big spikes and a laser guides missile system.

Then we see Rika commenting how a little weenie like Terriermon could Digivolve on his own but that Renamon even with 2 modify cards couldn’t.
She questions what that googlehead has that she doesn’t ( she refers to Henry here, not Takato ) she then tells Renamon to better Digivolve soon because she doesn’t want to be threatened by an overgrown rabbit.

The next day we see Calumon on top of a lamppost commenting on how humans must be very tameable with how a bell rings and that they come running.  

We then see Takato, Kazu and Kenta at the local card shop, Kazu has bought some new modify cards and gives Takato one that he thinks is lame since he doesn’t need it, Takato asks what training grips are, and Kazu tells him that they are supposed to make a Rookie big and strong so that they can stomp out the enemy.
Since it’s also like resistance training he comments that Takato won’t probably use it but that he might be able to find some sucker that would like to trade for it. Takato laments that this is just what he needed, another useless card.

 
Meanwhile at Hypnos we see that another anomaly has appeared, a wild one, and they are sending the Tracer program after it. Yamaki comments that they just never learn.

Then we see Takato, Henry and Terriermon walking down the street, Takato laments that Kazu probably gives him these cards so that he can then win later against him and Henry says that he gives him way to much credit.
Suddenly Terriermon’s ears go up and Henry asks what’s up ( he comments his ears for one thing ) Takato then exclaims what it is and Henry hopes that it isn’t what he thinks it is and then they see a cloud chasing after them.
They try to run away from it and Henry yells that it’s a digital field and Takato asks what a digital field is and why it’s chasing them and Terriermon comments that he picked the wrong time to ask questions to which Henry agrees.
They split up at the bridge and Takato takes the stairs while Henry keeps running on the sidewalk, but Takato sees that the cloud chases Henry instead, and he ends up getting Guilmon at the park first before he runs after them.

Henry enters a construction site and the cloud then becomes a fog around the construction site area as a Digital field appears.

Hypnos is unable to stop the wild one, Gorillamon, from bio-emerging.

While Gorillamon bio-emerges into the real world Henry comments that it can’t be and that he thought that he would never see him again, Takato then also arrives at the scene with Guilmon.
Gorillamon says Terriermon’s name recognizing him.
Henry begs Gorillamon to stop attacking and asks him if he remembers him. Takato asks what Henry is doing, but Henry tries to reason with Gorillamon that they played the game together, and tells him that they don’t want to fight him and to leave Terriermon alone since this isn’t a game anymore. He tells Gorillamon to go back to the other side.

Guilmon then starts fighting him, Terriermon then wants to help too, but Henry forbids it.
Terriermon leaps in anyway to help Guilmon, and hitting him causes Gorillamon to miss the Tamers with his blast attack.
Terriremon keeps attacking Gorillamon  but Henry asks Terriermon to stop and Terriermon asks Henry if he should just watch while Guilmon gets peeled like a banana.

Henry then flashes back to when Terriermon was fighting Gorillamon in the game and Gorillamon also seems to remember this same thing and in rage he tries to attack the Digimon.
Takato says that they need help and that they should do something and Henry thinks in his mind that he can’t and we then get a full flashback to when Henry met Terriermon for the first time.

We see that his father, Janyu Wong, has given his kids presents he gives Henry a new Digimon game, his dad comments that it’s indeed hot of the press and that he had to wait in line for hours to get it, he thanks his dad and says that he is the best.
Henry is in his room and says that the installation took forever and he then looks all through the new options.
When trying to choose a Digimon he says that picking a powerfull one like Gorillamon would be boring and picks Terriermon because he would be a challenge to play with.
He says that Terriermon is small and smart like him and that he dances like him too.
Henry then tries desperately to shut down the game, but it’s still running and questions if the program is frozen.
He then questions if maybe Digimon have a reality outside the game, but that this wouldn’t be possible.

We then see what we can assume is the Digital world through Henry’s monitor, while Gorillamon is going on a rampage killing multiple Digimon and absorbing their data while also chasing Terriermon.
Henry then tries to stop his rampage by using modify cards, he uses 4, which makes Terriermon Digivolve into Gargomon, and now Gargomon is the one out of control.
This upsets Henry and he comments that Gargomon is just like the rest of them and he doesn’t know who his Digimon even is anymore, and he then says what he has done was all his fault.

Meanwhile Guilmon and Terriermon are still fighting Gorillamon, Takato tries to distract him but unfortunately he can’t do much against the champion level Digimon, and Guilmon pushes Gorillamon away from Takato.
Takato says that he has had enough and he scans a modify card to power up Guilmon, but it isn’t enough.
Takato says that if Terriermon were to Digivolve they might win, but Henry refuses and Takato asks why not.

We see another flashback of the aftermath with Gorillamon and Gargomon, and Henry’s dad explains to Henry that Digimon absorb other Digimons data if they defeat them, and that this is the way they get more powerful and that it’s the way the program works.
He also says that Henry is taking this too seriously and that Digimon can’t get hurt because they don’t really exist, that it’s just a game.

Henry repeats this sentiment where he sees a badly hurt Terriermon fall unconscious in the Digital World through his monitor.
He starts tearing up and says that he’s sorry and that he didn’t mean it while suddenly a blue card appears on his desk.
Wanting to help Terriermon he then scans this card through his card reader, and it transforms into a D-arc Digivice.
The Digivice reacts with Terriermon on the screen, and it transports him through the monitor into Henry’s arms.
He then says that he’s real and what he has done to him to get him this hurt.
Henry starts crying while thinking that this means that he has also hurt the other Digimon in the game as well.
The falling tears wakes up the sleeping Terriermon and he asks if he minds since the tears are cold.
Henry says that he is so sorry and Terriermon ask what for, Henry responds that he will never make him fight again.
Terriermon tells Henry not to cry since he is fine and tells him to moumantai.

Meanwhile in the present Henry thinks to himself that he can’t break that promise, and what he’ll do if he would lose him.
Gorillamon is seen still fighting Guilmon and Terriermon, Takato says that they can’t waste anymore time and that Terriermons has to Digivolve to Gargomon.
Henry says that there has to be another way. Takato questions what they could do since the other modify cards they have left are lame.
Henry sees Takato’s Training Grips card and uses it on Terriermon, Terriermon then throws it back to Gorillamon who becomes fully restrained.
He breaks free after taking hits from both Guilmon and Terriermon and tries to attack them with his cannon, but Terriermon uses his attack to target the inside of the cannon thus killing Gorillamon.

Henry asks Terriermon not to absorb Gorillamon’s data.
Terriermon asks if he can at least do a little victory dance instead.
Takato questions what happened with Gorillamon's data, if it just disappeared and Henry says that he hopes probably returned to the other side. 

The four are back at the bridge Takato was on earlier close to the park, and Takato says that Henry and Terriermon make for an amazing combination. Henry thanks Takato to which Terriermon comments why he is thanking him since he hadn’t done anything.

The episode ends with Guilmon saying that he and Takato are a good combination too like peanut butter and bananas. Terriermon jumps on Henry’s head telling him to momentai.

Guilmon then tells Takato-mon that he is hungry again to which Takato says that he isn’t a mon, he then tells him to forget it and that they’ll go eat.

--Character appearance for this episode in order:

 

Takato Matsuki-Guilmon-Henry Wong-Gargomon-Terriermon- Gorillamon - Rika Nonaka-Renamon-Calumon- Kazu Shioda- Kenta Kitagawa-Riley Ohtori-Tally Onodera-Yamaki Mitsuo-Jaarin Wong- Mayumi Wong- Suzie Wong- Rinchei Wong- Janyu Wong

 

--Additional differences between the Japanese and English version:

Plot/story/Terminology ( English/Japanese );

* Traning Grips - Training Gibs card ( it raises HP and powers up offence )
* Terriermon just loops back and forth kind of giving the impression that he dances - We see Terriermon poop in the game Henry got ( throwback to the V-pet games )
* Speed activate - High speed plug-in-B
* Power activate - Boost chip ( boosts power percentage )
* Targeting activate ( for better accuracy/aim ) - Avondale’s Arrow ( boosts hit percentage )
* Stamina activate ( extra energy ) - Stamina Seed ( boosts stamina percentage )
* Not mentioned in the English version - Power Percentage up
* Power activate - Devil Chip

 

--Digimon Tamers Manga breakdown:

 

Vol.1 Chapter 3

This chapter in the Manga starts with Renamon and Gargomon fighting.
He manages to throw her of off himself and then he starts targeting Rika.
But Guilmon pushes Gargomon out of her way just in time before he could have attacked her.

Henry then tells Gargomon to follow him out of there and that he is in big trouble.

At the park Henry also let’s Gargomon do handstands to get his energy down for him to De-digivolve, and he tells him that he is grounded too.

Takato says that he has never heard that a Tamer wants their Digimon to stay a Rookie and asks him if this is what he wants.
Henry says that he doesn’t have a choice since he is to unstable as Gargomon.

Then there is also a flashback that Henry’s dad got him a Digimon game from America as a Christmas present.
He decided to pick Terriermon because he was little like himself and he wanted to use Terriermon alone.
Terriermon also poops just like in the Japanese version of the anime and Henry says that he’s even got good hygiene and that he’s cute.

He then spots Gorillamon who starts attacking Terriermon.
Henry then scans a Digivolution card  through the card reader and it makes Terriermon Digivolve to Gargomon.
Gargomon overpowers Gorillamon and Henry asks him to spot now that they have won but he got out of control just like in the anime.

His dad then tells him that Digimon are supposed to fight since those are the rules of the game and that it doesn’t matter if they die since they aren’t real.

Henry then questions if he shouldn’t care while looking at a beat up Terriermon, and a blue card appears, he then scans the blue card while saying that he won’t let Terriermon die.
While Terriermon appears in the real world Henry says that he will keep him safe in this world.

Then we see a narration from Takato in text that he now understands Henry, and that the rules of the game doesn’t mean that it applies to real life.
But he then questions what rules do apply.

The chapter ends with Renamon fighting a Goburimon and defeating it and loading it’s data.
Rika then says that they should be close to Renamon Digivolving since they have defeated so many Digimon, and that she will get them to the top if it’s the last thing she’ll do.

 

--Konaka’s notes breakdown for Episode 4:

He mentions that from this episode the story gradually begins to move to develop the relationships between the children who become friends with each other and the Digimon, basically as shown in the end animation of 'My Tomorrow'.

At this point he says, while writing the Deva Arc and the Digital World Arc, he hadn't decided how they would develop the final confrontation in the last part of the Tamers anime.
He felt it would be a bad idea to decide everything at the beginning, when various elements that would setup those final moments weren't clear yet at the time.

He says that it was a serial animation that would be made over the course of a year, which is completed with the work of multiple writers, many story directors, and voice actors, and that the inspiration you get when you see the complete package (the completed version that was broadcasted)
He says that it sharpened his senses about the possibility of what will happen in the future and it gave feedback to the subsequent scenarios.

He called this approach "deductive" construction. Unless it's a puzzle-type mystery, he didn't like using " induction " -type scenarios.

He discusses another series, Ultraman Gaia, where in the end they knew the two characters would reconcile and fight together to win, but in the process up to that point, each story script and direction would be original.
Elements and information that were not in the concept will be accumulated.
By picking them up and making use of them, the depiction of the work would  be deepened, and above all, a swell will be created in the "story".

Of course, such a play would be extremely painful at the final stage of compiling the story, he mentions.
However, at least in his experience, if each element is put logically in the story, it will eventually fit beautifully together at the end.

Devilman Lady and Texhnolyze were made with this approach.

He mentions that various story writers verbally discussed the outline of the story in the form of a synopsis, and then they would express their opinions and requests, which would then become part of the plot/scenario.

Except for Konaka, the writers were the main writers from throughout Adventure and 02, and that Konaka was the newcomer.
He had written the Dagomon episode in 02, but that was as a special guest writer, so he had only ever talked to Mr. Kakudou and the producer.

The writers were generally of the same generation as him, and he had worries that they would dislike his suggested narrative, which was different from Adventure.
They were all amused and actively proposed ideas with no hesitation.

Yoshio Urasawa, a Digimon veteran, was someone he was personally a huge fan of, [Urasawa has a long history in the industry, writing an insane number of things, being the series composer, etc.
He wrote for Digimon of course, and he was in charge of the story for Bobobo, he wrote for Lupin, he was behind how the anime version of Ranma worked, and the list is basically endless.] Konaka was initially afraid to ask him to write a story based on the rules he had written (believing them to be complex, despite his attempt to simplify them.)

After work was done on the 02 story, Hiro Masaki was able to join them immediately and wrote this episode and veteran anime director Takeshi Kawada had been in charge. [Kawada was in the rotation for storyboards and directing for the original run of the anime.]

--Konaka Explaining Episode 4

Terriermon that has evolved into Gargomon and has run away from the parkinglot in the previous episode.

At Shinjuku Central Park, Henry and Takato haven't returned back until the evening.

Guilmon is practicing handstands, but he can't do it right away.

However, Gargomon can do a handstand (although he leans against a tree).

“Hey, not yet? “ Gargomon is dissatisfied.

The tamers discuss the consequences of Digivolution of and their increased growth as soon as the battle is over. If a Digimon appears in the real world, there will be more problems if you think about it realistically, but also thinking about the pros and cons of becoming stronger so that the children viewers who are watching can also realize it. That is what I wanted to convey.

But how can they turn back? Konaka asked the writers for their opinion.
For the time being, stand upside down and be patient. This is Masaki's idea.

Henry opposes Terriermon’s Digivolution. There is a deep reason for this. It will be revealed in the second half of this episode.

Then Takato says that he is going home. Gargomon can't go home for a while yet.

Even at night, Henry waits patiently. His memories come flooding back.

Grayscale pixel graphics style fighting game - Terriermon fighting Gorillamon with bunny blast.

Then Terriermon, who has finally returned to his original state, joyfully runs back to Henry.

Terriermon in this story wants to get on Henry’s head.
Didn’t I tell you not to Digivolve ? Henry says.

“ You said that. “ ... Terriermon with a troubled face.

Takato is crazy about Guilmon's plans to Digivolve even stronger.

But he just wants him looking "cool" for now.

Then we see Rika Nonaka's house for the first time. The place around the area is quite exaggerated, but some of these old houses remain around Kagurazaka.
She tries to simulate the winning pattern by arranging the cards. However, it is meaningless unless Renamon Digivolves.
So far, the story of Rika.

Calumon’s is only visible for a moment.

Kazu is buying cards at a candy store on a Saturday afternoon. He gives Takato a card that he has double, but it doesn't seem to contribute to much strength.

Nobody in the script was to knowledgeable about Digimon cards or the card game, and while they were trying to expand the cards in the series at the time of the meeting and wondering "when should we use this ? ", Konaka found something that could be used as a drama element.

That aside, even at that time, the main sources of Digimon cards were card vending machines at hobby stores and other stores. Konaka thinks it wasn't sold in the candy stores at that time. When he was a kid, there was a cheap item called "Monster Photograph" at a toy store in the now extinct town.
Buy it in a bag and pull it out of a bunch of blinds. he thinks it was 5 yen per sheet. Mostly it was a still photo of Tsuburaya Productions monster.
Around this time, Kamen Rider cards appeared in snacks, creating the ground for children to collect cards in earnest.

For some reason, Takato doesn't look at Henry passing by.
Maybe it's because he hasn’t told Kazu and others that he’s become friends with Henry.

The "appearance" of Hypnos building is a staple of the mushroom-like radars on the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building. It's hard to see it from a distance, but when you look at the top of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building from a nearby skyscraper, you'll be able to see a strange group of radars.

They discover a powerful Wild One trying to realize.

As the tamers are walking around the town, they noticed that a Digimon was coming.

A white cloud-shaped digital field follows them.

Takato and Henry want to cross the bridge that passes over the street above.

Takato runs towards it. However, Henry goes straight.

After all the aim here is Terriermon. Takato went to go get Guilmon.

 

They dive into a building at a construction site and then they are covered in a digital field.

Gorillamon Biomerges and appears.

Takato uses his D-ark, through Guilmon's point of view it analyzes Gorillamon.

Terriermon hasn't moved, wondering if it's the same Gorillamon.

Henry calls on Gorillamon hoping that he will remember.

He shouts that he can’t hurt Terriermon, but he doesn't seem to understand the language.

The first move is Guilmon. However, his power is not enough.

Guilmon is easily trown off.

He then succeeded in doing the handstand for some reason.

Alright, Henry stops Terriermon from fighting.

Henry wonders if he wants to return to the other side/the wild. Takato doesn’t understand this.

Gorillamon points the muzzle of the energy canon at Hnery and the others.

It ’s dangerous! Terriermon then confronts him.

Attacks with bunny blast. “Stop Terriermon !”

“Henry, you didn’t told me to stop fighting before !”

It is revealed that the encounter with Terriermon was in a Digimon game. It seems to be PC software, but the graphics seem to be based on the  WonderSwan. At that time, PC games had evolved their graphics in the era of Alice in Nightmare. They wanted a visual that is familiar to viewers. Then does that mean that Henry uses a WonderSwan Emulator on his PC ?

No, but the package is from a western game.

His father Janyu came back from a business trip. Jaarin and Suzie are happy to receive souvenirs. Although it is not shown, there is another brother, Rinchei. Thus the Wong family consists of 4 siblings in total. The Japanese version names are (probably) taken from a Hong Kong filmmaker (staff / actor) who was active at the time , but Suzie Wong was a man ... No, Konaka doesn’t remember it at all ...

The Digimon game that released earlier in North America was given to Henry by his father.

Henry installs it immediately, once it was done, he loads the software and starts it.

It seems that he can’t choose the appearing Digimon himself. The first choice was Gorillamon, whose opponent was Terriermon.

He start playing, and uses a mouse.

At the time, Gorillamon behaved strangely, and for some reason escaped to the physical layer (more on Tamers' worldview later). Ah, this game is a PC game because it requires a network connection.

Now, from here, it will be a way of showing back and forth between the current confrontation between the tamers and Gorillamon and the in-game battle of recollection from Henry’s perspective.

Terriermon is trown around by Gorillamon in the present. There was that much history that this Gorillamon individual was very strong.

In the game Vegimon and Numemon get defeated. Then a Monochromon.

He is loading their data.

On the other hand, in the present, Terriermon is being beaten.

But he is also struggling in the game, and Henry slashes the cards in quick succession to support him. At that time, the card reader was a 25-pin parallel connection.

Terriermon momentarily increases its power with the support of Henry’s cards.

Good terriermon! Henry looks like he wouldn't normally encourage him when he beats Gorillamon. He then slashes the card called Avondale’s Arrow.

Anyway, hel slashes many cards to strengthen Terriermon. In the depiction around here, Konaka isn’t worried about the existence of rules such as card usage, restrictions ...

But this will evolve Terriermon. It's a natural outcome because it's an over-dose of power-ups.

 

In the distribution of Nico Nico Douga ( Japanese site similair to Youtube ), when Terriermon evolved into Gargomon, it was routine to hear comments such as "return", "return", and "stop". Gargomon in the game shows the atrocity of shooting the Gargo lasers while laughing, as in the previous story.

Henry is pleased that Gorillamon is defeated, but Gargomon does not stop shooting.

Henry is stunned that this happened because Terriermon Digivolved.

The battle in the real world continues.

Guilmon follows and catches the thrown Terriermon.

Takato grabs a steel pipe to help Guilmon, but is attacked by Gorillamon’s energy canon.

Takato desperately tries to help Guilmon with his own cards, but at the wrong time he uses a card that is not very suitable.

After that, Takato persuades Henry to Digivolve Terriermon. But Henry stubbornly refuses to.

Henry is worried. He was asking his father about the Digimon ecosystem. Janyu thinks about Digimon being compared to a program. For him, Digimon was something he worked on long ago.

But Henry dismisses what he said. He is reluctant to use the in-game Terriermon as just a battle tool.

By the way, Mr. Kawada's production in this story often uses pan shots. It's not a large cell (which I wouldn't say anymore in this era), but a magnified zoom with motion. So when you cut out the cut, there is still a cut with a thick main line.

Although there is no telling what happened after he Digivolved, Terriermon, who became a battle junkie in the Gargomon state, was exhausted and tattered.

Terriermon falls down. Henry regrets that she has boosted him too much.

A miracle may happen if you are so impressed with the existence in the game as a "living existence".

One of the cards becomes a blue card.

Henry thinks that slashing it might help Terriermon. Then, the card reader was transformed into D-Ark. And when Henry holds it, D-Ark shines.
D-Ark is a trade name. In this blog, Konaka will write it as D-Ark.

At the same time, Terriermon materializes and emerges from the CRT monitor (which may not be understood by young people) .

Henry takes Terriermon to bed so that he can rest. The digital field is still flowing out of the monitor.

Henry's tears fall on Terriermon's head, and Terriermon raises his face. Hey Jen, why are you crying?

It is not clear from the video why Terriermon suddenly called Henry "Jen". Emotionally, it's because the hearts are connected-maybe, but when Henry started the game, I suspect it was the name he used when Henry registered himself as a player.

Terriermon who sits on the bed wants to comfort Henry, but he drops his shoulders and cries.

Immediately he gets on Henry’s head and tells him not to cry.

Takato called Henry, snapping him back to the present.

Henry desperately thinks that there must be some means other than Digivolving.

Henry spots the Training Grips card Takato has.

Then Henry’s Card Slash debut.
A version with vocals of "SLASH !!" that flows out. It flows to the end of the battle.

His is the most flashy of the three. This will be a clue for the writers to dig up a personality for Henry later, but what was the intention of Mr. Kaizawa's production?

The intonation of "Card Slash" is slightly different from that of Takato and Rika, but it is rather normal at the beginning. Mr. Yamaguchi's uniqueness gradually emerges.

Anyway, Takato is suspicious. Why is he using Training Grips on his ears.

But Terriermon immediately throws it at Gorillamon.

Gorillamon’s body is restrained.

Immediately Guilmon Brain Chops Gorillamon !

Terriermon chases after with a Terrier Tornado.

They thought that they had won with this, but…

Gorillamon destroys the restraints with his power. However…

With Terriermon's unprecedented size of bunny blast.

Finally converted to data. Terriermon, tries to instinctually to load the data, but he is stopped by Henry not to do it.

He was dissatisfied.

The ending scene was also a pan shot, but Konka to tried connecting it.

Takato was honestly impressed with the combination of Henry and Terriermon.

Then Guilmon says we'll do our best too. Guilmon's intelligence has already risen considerably.

And in the case of Terriermon and Henry.

Moumantai.

Yes, the magic word, Moumantai.

 

--My opinion:

Welp, once again sorry for the lateness of this review, but as you can see it has become quite the textwall that I was trying to avoid.

Now that the English and the Japanese version will become more different in tone as the series will go on I had decided to review them separately, it’s also good to refer back to them later on regarding my comic to take the best aspects from both the Japanese and the English version.

I had also decided to add Konaka’s viewpoints as well from now on since he really gives some new insights that I never would think about or had expected.
Some people might not like him anymore, but I personally don’t really care about that and I think that people have overblown the entire recent situation with the 2021 Tamers audio drama. However that is the only thing that I will comment on that.

I will mostly use Google translate and some early With the will forum translations when writing Konaka’s insights, but some things might be lost in translation ( please keep that in mind when reading these )

Other than that I thought that this was another solid character development episode, especially regarding Henry and Terriermon. It was incredibly emotional and sweet how they first met, and in hindsight interesting since Janyu is one of the original Monster Makers who hasworked on the original Digimon AI project.

Also Henry has by far the best Card Slash/Digimodify animation by a longshot.

Either way hope you enjoy the breakdown of this episode, I will probably rework the first 3 episodes as well by separating the Japanese and the English version and adding Konaka thoughts to those breakdowns as well, but that will be for later as I’d rather work on the next few episodes first.

And don't forget if you have any questions feel free to ask.

 

See ya all next time.