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 Episode 23, where I'm talking about Digimon Dreamers, the manga, Chapter 3.
And I have to say, folks, my burgers!
Anyway, I really love the comedic tone of this manga. I don't know why.
Like, I'm pretty, uh, I pretty much, you know, well, you may or may not know this, because this could be your first episode.
I have this thing that I'm kind of uniting all my content under, which is Story Over Everything.
And that's the name of my writing podcast, where I talk about story and my writing and my process as a writer, you know, putting myself to be, you know, well, you know.
The Story Over Everything podcast is where I chronicle my journey as an author, artist, and analyzer, as I'm trying to make myself into a successful author, entrepreneur, I guess you could say.
So anyway, but yeah, Story Over Everything, I kind of have it tagged on everything that I'm doing, including this Digimon Dreamers, or including Digimon Chronicles,
because I really care about the stories here in whatever media I consume. It's not just, oh, these graphics are amazing, or that guy's so cool, or anything like that.
Is the story good or not? And that's why I can take seriously and, like, you know, cry about Gabumon and his love for Matt in Season 1 of Digimon,
and pulling, I guess pulling him out of that cave of despair towards the end there, when Piedmont's wrecking stuff, and Sora gets stuck too.
Like, oh man, all that stuff, I love so much. Like, there's such depth and beauty and amazing, like, emotional character arcs and character stories in Digimon,
even though it was just created to sell Tamagotchi, man. I mean, like, it's incredible what you can do with this stuff.
And being that that's my bent and that's my perspective, and I really, it's not that I want dramatic stories, I want good stories, and I think most, I personally think most good stories are dramatic.
But it doesn't have to be life or death stakes. It can be, you know, slice of life drama, or it can be end of the world drama, but I always love that personal connection here in the story.
Now, this Digimon Dreamers, so far, does not have any serious stakes. Unless you're talking about Tentamon, it's not Tentamon, it's Tantamon stakes.
I did not even put that together yet. Anyway, so like, there's no real stakes in it. It's just a fun, silly story with Digimon, who I'm nostalgic for,
and Digimon, who I'm not nostalgic for, but that are growing on me. Pulsemon is adorable. I love Tantamon, Tantamon's one of the cutest Digimon designs ever, or cutest designs ever, period.
And, you know, Patamon's there and everything, so basically I'm just saying that despite the fact that I care so greatly about story, it's the most important thing in the world,
I'm also, well, that needs to be tempered with, is it entertaining? Because this silly Digimon manga, which is like a silly cartoon, is just entertaining as all get out.
I'm having such a good time with it, it's not asking a lot of me, it's not asking me to read 30 pages or 50 pages, it's like 9 pages, and it moves fast, and the, you know, even, I don't think they, well, any going off of model,
well, anyway, the characters are just drawn really nicely. Yabuno, I believe is his name, right, the manga cow here, or the artist, anyway, he's just doing a great job with these illustrations.
He does, you know, the silly squash and big eyes and whatever for, you know, manga, but that's part of the genre, that's part of the medium, and I expect that, I don't want to see that stuff in American comics.
Never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, I want Chon Rumiida, I want Mark Begley, I'm not going to go off, I really like Spider-Man, and I just like a few Spider-Man comic books, mostly of all, and I don't want to get distracted by that.
So, anyway, just, it's fun and entertaining, and the idea of Tanamon growing a meat field, which they're calling Cyprus Meat, which, because they're in Cyprus Town or whatever, that's their primary village, it's not primary village, but that's the little town where all these young Digimon, nobody above a rookie, lives.
That's like a really cute, really fun idea.
And, uh, like it's ridiculous that, you know, apparently Digimon...
Well, first of all, it's ridiculous that Digimon, like, their primary food is meat.
Especially cause, well, I guess this is probably coming from the games.
I'm used to, uh, Digimon eating candy, Digimon eating, uh, sushi, Digimon eating ropes, you know?
Come on, Armadillo-mon escaping from, uh, Sheriff-mon? Anyway.
I guess that's what I'm used to with Digimon, so...
It's weird, uh, to see that apparently they only eat meat, which, uh, like, hey, I'm trying to...
Instead, if I ever talk to people who I diet, I won't say I'm doing carnivore.
I'm doing the Digimon diet, and they'll be freaked out. Anyway.
Uh, so, yeah, they primarily eat meat and somehow, through selective breeding,
uh, Tana-mon has figured out how to grow meat straight from the ground, which...
Were they growing it from the ground before?
Or were they growing it from some sort of animal that they...
Where was the meat coming from? Like, I have so many questions, but it doesn't matter,
cause it's just meant for silly fun, and there might be, like, a legitimate answer to come from, uh,
come down the line, but, like, I don't care, cause it's funny and cute and fun, and, uh, yeah.
I... I just be interdating, so that's all that really matters.
But then, it has these weird dramatic flourishes, like, you know,
Pulsimon's so excited about the meat, because, uh, he feels like the meat alone could help him to Digivolve.
And then he and, uh, and the kid, Koto, somehow are, like, syncing up and, like, uh, becoming in sync,
cause they're even eating the meat together, and, like, their hearts are stirring,
and their souls are, you know, fixated on evolution through meat, or Digivolution through meat consumption.
Like, again, it's just really silly, but then we do get this nice edge at the end,
where there's two, I can't remember what he's called, Demi-Devimon, right?
There's two Demi-Devimon carrying a monkey guy, who sure looks like the Monkey Deva,
except he's, like, kind of a caveman, little shirt outfit thing, and, uh,
I think that's called Kikimon, but I'll find out, I guess, soon.
Uh, and then they go over to, um, to Ogremon, and that's kind of cool, like, so,
and he wants the Cyprus meat, apparently, so, uh, like,
they're being spied on in that village, with Tanamon, and the meat-growing efforts are being spied on
by these, you know, more nefarious Digimon, and maybe they're gonna come along and attack them,
because they want this great supply of meat, um, you know, to benefit themselves,
so they don't have to hunt, and they don't have to forage for it, or whatever,
and, like, that's kind of interesting, so, like, while it is very silly,
there is still, like, the core thing that Pulsemon wants to Digivolve,
and you Digim- you Digivolve to, uh, get more powerful so you can, you know, protect somebody that you care about,
or, uh, I guess just so you can be evil, which, uh, is always a possibility,
but I think it's gonna turn into maybe an attack on Cyperstown,
and there's gonna be something interesting and exciting going on, and even if it's, like, silly, like,
we're here to steal your meat, and, uh, your Cypress meat, and then it-
sorry, I just loved the joke so much, um, even if it's something like that, like,
it could turn into, like, a hopscotch competition, or a tug of war, or, you know,
we're gonna determine whether or not you get to steal the meat by, you know, sumo wrestling,
and, uh, you know, then the little monkey goes and sumo wrestles with Pulsemon, like, it could be anything, right?
It could be anything, and I kinda like- I think I'm enjoying the fact that it's so absurd,
and that it could be anything, and that there's, like, this freedom of, uh, for, like, freedom to be silly
in this- in this manga and in this story, um, and by virtue- I don't know if it's by virtue of that,
but it happens to be very entertaining, and therefore, it works. It's kinda-
oh, look at it, uh, yeah. I think, based on how entertaining it is, I'm accepting what's going on here.
If it stops being entertaining and it just becomes, like, weird or dumb, then I'll complain about it,
but for right now, I don't need a big dramatic story, because just the idea of Pulsemon pining for this dream,
and, uh, Kodo helping him, you know, achieve it at some point, that's enough.
That's enough to keep me going, and enough to keep me interested, uh, in going from gag to gag, basically.
So, anyway. That's pretty cool.
So, uh, with that, I hope that you're well. Uh, I wanna hear your thoughts on this manga, if you have any.
I'd be really curious, uh, what you're thinking about it so far, and I guess maybe even what you'd like to see
coming from it in the future, but I hope you're well. This is MJ, signing out.
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