This is MJ. I'm an author, I'm an artist, I'm an analyzer. You can find all my work
at MJMUNOZ.COM Welcome to Digimon Chronicles. This is Digimon Chronicles episode 22 and
I'm on chapter 2 of the Digimon Dreamers...Dreamers? No, Digimon Dreamers manga. So I looked this
up and the mangaka, whose name I can't see right now because I foolishly cropped a small
image and I'm kind of locked in this screen now, Yabano? Something Yabano. Worked on
the...a bunch of Pokemon manga and some other Digimon manga as well and possibly Digimon
card designs, which makes a lot of sense. And I think it's more recent Digimon card
design. So that's pretty cool. So definitely not the mangaka behind...what am I thinking
of? Shaman King. Sorry. And I just read something funny...or not funny but interesting about
the Shaman King manga card. But I don't want to talk about it now because this is due to
ruining attention and I don't want to, you know, rip salt in anybody's wounds. So anyway,
this issue was fun. This chapter was fun. I like the small digestible chapter. It is
about...you know, I didn't count the pages, but again I'm going to say about 9 or 10 pages.
And I'm thinking about...well, I'm just going to talk about it itself and then I'm going
to talk about kind of writing technique after that. So it was a lot of fun. I like the gag
of Pulsemon bringing...oh, Kodo is his name, not Kudo apparently. I can't remember the
kid's name. Anyway, bringing Kodo to the digital world, summoning him there and having him
helping him train in the gag with Kodo enjoying the Digimon with him while he's drinking tea
or coffee or whatever that was. It was funny and Pulsemon was like, hey, I didn't bring
you here. This isn't a cat cafe. You're here to train me so I can digital evolve and become
stronger. Right? So simple focus. He's very direct in what he wants and Kodo, we didn't
get much characterization from him, but apparently he's an indoorsy, lazy type and he doesn't
really want to go outside and he wants to do it remotely. He's like, here, borrow my
phone and I'll use my laptop and you can show me and I can give you advice. You know, this
is not a remote job is Pulsemon's response. So it's funny and there's a cute, fun dynamic
between the two of them and I don't know, it makes for good comedy. It's almost like
it's just a series of gags. The whole thing is a gag manga, but it's really entertaining
so I like it. I don't know if that's supposed to be some sort of comment on Japanese kids
and their desire to play video games or computer games rather than actually be outside or anything
like that, but it's still fun and funny and then like Pulsemon tying him to himself at
the volcano for training is really funny and Vegemon comes along and well, okay, first
of all, they're not only using the dub terms, but they are enshrining and canonizing them
because they have a pyramid showing mega at the top and actually the pyramid is cool because
it shows that mega is at the top as the most powerful because you know, if you think about
it conceptually, the least amount of Digimon would get to the mega size or mega level.
So it'd be rare. So there'd be fewer of them, but they're also at the peak at the top of
the pyramid, which makes a lot of sense of the bases. I guess in training is what they
show the show in training rookie champion ultimate than mega, which is five levels,
right? And in training is the broadest at the base and that's kind of cool visually
just it makes sense that that's how it's broken down or that's how it's represented. And there's
even a little arrow showing that Pulsemon is at the rookie level. So that's cool. Anyway,
so talking about Vegemon, who is a champion, which I didn't realize Vegemon was a champion.
He just never struck me as a champion, but I guess he is, which I guess makes sense based
on the threat that he was in zero two. And anyway, apparently he doesn't smell. He's
got a good smell, which draws other Digimon in, according to this, the little info box,
which is hilarious because they're hilarious, frustrating and bizarre because in the dub
and I guess I don't know, can we lay this at the feet of Jeff Nimoy or is it somebody
else? Vegemon apparently stinks. And yeah, I mean, for American kids, veggies, you know,
are gross supposedly. And I get why he would go with that. But it's just kind of funny
that it's totally the opposite of what it is in the Japanese. And I like that they literally
do get lured in because during this training, all of a sudden the sweet smell draws them
in because of, you know, hunger associated with training and whatnot. So that was kind
of cool. Something I neglected to mention last time, I think, as a, I like Frontier
a lot. Digimon Frontier a lot, but it's weird to see Pokemon, that's right, Pokemon and
Neamon. Neamon was a stupid one, right? Pokemon and Patamon teamed up again because in a chunk
of Frontier, they're together as a pair. And I don't quite know why. Like, I think Patamon
makes a pretty good mascot for, you know, Zero One or for adventure and Zero One. I
think he makes a pretty good mascot for adventure and Pokemon, I don't think he makes a very
good mascot. I don't think he's a very cute character or at least like his design isn't
cute. Like his personality was fun in Frontier and I like it okay here, but it's just seeing
the two of them together makes me think of Frontier. And I don't know if they want to
be evoking Frontier or not because I don't know how well received it was in Japan or
anything like that. But anyway, here, I think it was kind of a flop. And I watched it, I
don't know, a couple of years ago, the whole thing through and I just thought, eh, not
so great. Especially the end game. Like the beginning of it is really good. Up to the
middle of it is like really powerful. But like when they meet those other kids in the
Digimon, anyway, I'm getting distracted. I'll talk about that on, I'll talk about that later.
So in Digimon Chronicles in the future, in 2026, I'll be talking about Frontier maybe.
We'll see. Anyway, but yeah, so I like this. It's entertaining. It's enjoyable. There's
really nothing to complain about, you know, other than it's not like a serious Digimon
story. But you know, there's a, what is it? Is it called Digimon Savers? Is that what
it's called? No, Digimon Next. I really like that one. I read through that whole thing
years ago and who knows? Maybe it's something I can do here in Digimon Chronicles. But yeah,
I mean, for what this is, it's a lot of fun and I'm enjoying it. The characters look good
and it's funny. It's entertaining. And for just a little bit every week, you know, I had
a good time reading it and I'm having a good time talking about it now. So anyway, I don't
want to go on too long. So I'm going to go ahead and stop myself. Let me know what you
thought of this chapter of the manga. What you think about the, I guess the vibe of it
overall with it being this more comedic manga, it's more comedic Digimon story and yeah,
just all your overall thoughts on it and anything you hated, I'd love to know. And anything
you loved, I'd like to hear about as well. So until next time, folks, take care. This
is MJ signing out. I hope you enjoyed that. Go to MJMunoz.com to leave any questions,
comments, or other feedback you might have. There you can find all of my analysis, art
and fiction. I cover books, tokusatsu, comic books, anime, and more. Look around. You're
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