Plot: Taichi has found his Crest, but the responsibility of being the only one of the group with a Crest and the ability to get their partner Digimon to evolve further is weighing heavily on him. He’s putting a ton of pressure on Agumon and stuffing him with all the food they have to force him to evolve.
When Joe’s Tag reacts to his Crest nearby, Etemon lays a trap for them. An evil Greymon has been let loose in the area with the Crest, and with the Chosen Children and their Digimon trapped in an electrified soccer goal, Agumon, the only one outside of the net, is left to evolve to Greymon and face him. Meanwhile, Joe manages to find his Crest.
Taichi, believing there’s no way he’ll win without evolving Greymon, takes his opportunity to put himself in danger when they escape the goal to prompt the evolution. He throws rocks at the enemy Greymon and taunts him. With increasing pressure from Taichi, Greymon finally evolves!…..Into the horrifying out of control creature, SkullGreymon.
He makes quick work of the enemy Greymon, but he’s crazed and attacking anyone in sight. His fellow Digimon, even evolved, are no match for him. He eventually runs out of energy and devolves into Koromon. The little Digimon is horrified at what he’s done, but Taichi relieves the guilt to take the blame himself, recognizing his mistake and foolishness. He vows to never make that same mistake again.
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Title Change: “Dark Evolution! SkullGreymon” is changed to “The Arrival of SkullGreymon”.
Title Card:
Taichi is definitely putting too much pressure on Agumon, but Tai is a complete asshole. Whereas Taichi just says that, since Agumon’s the only one of the group who can evolve further, he’s got to be more assertive and stand up for them on the battlefield. In the dub, Tai says he’s got to Digivolve further when the time comes or else he’ll find himself a new Digimon. Jesus, Tai. What a terrible thing to say.
Small note, but Koushiro specifically says Taichi was always nice, even to younger kids like him, in club activities. The dub keeps most of the line but omits the part about club activities.
How did Sora know Tai’s Crest was the Crest of Courage in the dub? They haven’t learned what each Crest means yet.
Gazimon just repeats the question of wondering why the Chosen Children are out by the coliseum. In the dub, he suggests that maybe they wanted to get good seats to Etemon’s show.
For some reason, in the dub, when TK yells that playing soccer sounds like fun, there’s an echo in his voice like his sound clip was duplicated or Saban thought Tokomon was saying that too when he wasn’t.
They omit Palmon saying she’s at a disadvantage if she can’t use her hands.
Why did they all think the goal would be the best place to hide from Etemon? It provides no protection and you can see right through it.
Etemon’s clapping and laughter is heard as Joe and Taichi react not immediately after like in the dub. Makes you wonder what they were reacting to.
I find it kinda ironic that Tentomon, of all Digimon, can be electrocuted.
Typical reverse shot and repeat shot after the dub commercial.
I forgot Gomamon has a helping hand in this episode. That part with the fish was pretty cool.
Now that the other Digimon are out, why are they not evolving and helping Greymon?
Oh NOW the other Digimon evolve and help. Come on, guys.
As a bit of a change, I will say the music, for once, is actually better during the sequence where Greymon Digivolves into SkullGreymon in the dub than it is in the original. The tonal change is much more dramatic, and it hits right as you realize something’s gone wrong – where the Crest turns black. In the original, the regular evolution music that started when Piyomon and Gabumon evolved stays on until the evolution has already started, making the change more awkward and less dramatic.
And we follow that up with an audio ‘goof’ in the dub. They have Tai yell out in fright as the evil Greymon runs in terror, so it sounds a lot like Greymon is making that noise. In the original, Taichi’s not really making any noise that I can hear.
It is so weird that Saban will censor or cut out simple strikes during fighting, but they left in SkullGreymon clearly obliterating that evil Greymon.
Taichi only asks SkullGreymon if he’s really the evolved form of Greymon. In the dub, he says that, if he is the Digivolved form of Greymon he can’t hurt him.
They replay SkullGreymon devolving after the commercial break in the dub.
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This episode has always been one of great importance. It’s a pivotal episode for Taichi, and the corrupted evolution will continue to haunt him for years, being referenced in Adventure 02.
The Crests are extremely powerful, but only if they’re used properly and with good intent. Trying to force evolution will only cause the evolution to get corrupted and wind up creating beings like SkullGreymon who, while powerful, are uncontrollable beasts who will happily attack anyone, friend or foe, without thought.
Taichi’s personality is taking a turn for the worse, force-feeding poor Agumon and robbing the other kids and Digimon of food in order to give Agumon as much energy as possible to get him to evolve to Perfect level. He’s also being a dick to Agumon, though a tiny bit moreso in the dub. He’s putting an insane amount of pressure on the poor guy because he feels like everything’s on his shoulders now that he’s the only one with a Crest.
And that’s very understandable. Etemon has made his power and reach known to the kids, and they need Perfect level Digimon in order to combat him because it’s clear Adults aren’t enough. Since Taichi is the only one with a Crest, he seems to be the only one with a chance. He has to take his role as leader and protect everyone.
This is all great and wonderful character development, exploration, and lore-building. It makes this one of the best earlier episodes of Digimon…..
…..That being said…..
There are two major issues with this story. The first being that the other Digimon take way too long to evolve, especially once they’re freed of the trap. The evil Greymon is still just a Greymon. It’s still just an Adult level. Etemon isn’t even there. If they all evolved, they’d be able to take him out easily, but Taichi was adamant and insisted that Greymon had to evolve right there.
I thought I remembered something like they failed evolving because Agumon ate all the food so they couldn’t evolve, but nope. They’re able to evolve, it just took them forever to do it.
The second is….this was the worst possible episode to include Joe getting his Crest. If the reason behind Taichi being so adamant about Agumon reaching Perfect level is because he feels like everything’s on his shoulders since he’s the only one with a Crest, why would you ever have part of the episode be another of the kids finding their Crest?
It’s not like Joe found it at the very end – he got it before the commercial break in the middle. You’d think Taichi would chill out after that, but he is ridiculously stubborn, and no one points out this fact to him, either. Taichi should be smart enough to figure that out anyway, but still no one pointed it out.
If they had just said the other Digimon were too hungry to evolve and kept Joe’s Crest discovery for the very end of the episode (Maybe also had the enemy be a Perfect level), this story would make much more sense. But they didn’t, so it makes it seem like Taichi pushed Agumon way too hard and went to near suicidal lengths to force him to evolve for no good reason.
That aside, this is still a great and memorable episode. Plus, the dub fared extremely well. There were hardly any changes, and what changes were there were minor. Tai was definitely made to be more of a jerk in the dub. I would be open to that considering it just adds more fuel to the corrupted evolution fire, but telling Agumon he needs to Digivolve further or else he’ll find himself a new Digimon…..that was way too far. Someone needed to call him out for saying something so awful.
Next time, Mimi finds her Crest as the kids face a Cockatrimon on a cruise ship.
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