Welcome to Digimon Analyzer. This is MJ. I'm an author. I'm an artist. I'm a Digimon Analyzer
You can find all my work at mjmunoz.com
Join me as I talk about Liberator episode 1 which is a three-part episode and this is technically
I don't know what episode I think episode 4 of Digimon Analyzer the relaunch of my Digimon podcast. So here we go
things I want to talk about three months
mysteries monsters
NPC and premium girl. So I will start off right away by saying that
I like this episode a lot this episode 1
It definitely keeps the intrigue going
It presents it answers some of the unanswered questions. Yes, it answers the invisible questions
I talked about in my last review as a story writing thing
it answers the
Invisible questions and it provides new invisible questions, which is fantastic
That's exactly what you want to be doing in order to keep the engagement. So
The answers are they have not been isekai'd they're able to leave the world. They're able to come back and do it actually
That's not really true. It seems as if they're able to leave the world and come back
But we don't really know that because all their time is spent in the digital world
in Liberator in lacuna, whatever and
That's what it feels like it feels like a happy thing you you would think if they've been isekai'd there if they've been stuck there
They would have said something so to me it feels like they come and go as they want and they make reference to the card game
And the liberator game so it's not like we're trapped in this game
We don't know how we're getting out of it, but it's saying it's more like they're saying like yeah
it's been three months and orisa's way better than shoto at the
Liberator version of the game, but he's better than her at the card version of the game. So it's interesting the
official
Like introduction or back of the book synopsis blurb type thing that was on the website
I think it's on if you go to the desktop site. It's on the webtoons liberator page
Um, it has a little thing up in the right hand corner
And it says what it's more of what it's about and it describes shoto as giving up easily
And never winning at the card game, but it's talking about the liberator card game because apparently he's
well it
based on the dialogue it sounds like he's way better at the
Physical card game down on the mat, but that something about being in the digital or in lacuna in uh, the tail pod
Makes it so that he's like flustered. He said he's not overwhelmed by the battles anymore
There's just something missing for him and something's wrong where he fails to win and uh, it's interesting
They have like a friendly battle type situation where they are just playing a practice running each other
I don't know what that means. There's no danger. There's no stakes
There's something different about the the battle
So that's interesting
And we get to see a little bit of how the game works. We learn and I I don't know
this is accurate to the card game as it is now or
The card game as it was before but apparently there's five defense shields that you get so basically
Like dungeon dice monsters from yugioh, right you get three heart points
And then once the third one's gone, you're dead
Uh, and the monsters move in different areas of the field. This is slightly similar. There's a breeding ground
And then there's like a foreground or battleground, I guess
And none of the breeding ground is the hand or if it's a field on the deck on the if it's a place on the field
Or what but apparently you can move your digimon in advance into the attack position or attack area
When it's in the battle zone, it can blast through five shields of your opponent and then on the sixth turn
And so i'm assuming let's say somehow in five turns for your first five turns
You're able to get a digimon and it's able to successfully attack your opponent's security shield
um, which like I it sounds to me like you can
Eliminate those five security shields in five turns and then on your sixth turn
If you've got a digimon on the field and your opponent isn't able to pull anything out on the sixth turn
You should be able to beat them. So it sounds like the battle should be pretty brisk
That's what it sounds like to me. I don't fully understand the rules
But they're introducing like the security check and these these different things. So
Uh, that's interesting and i'm grasping a little bit of what it is, but it's definitely dynamic looking and uh,
It's definitely exciting to watch the monsters them going back and forth against each other. Um
Uh, I don't remember all the different digimon that they pulled out
And it almost seems like every turn you get new digimon out onto the field. I don't know if you have to
Let them go out for one turn and then you call them back to the hand and then you put out new ones or what?
And i'm still unclear on that but regardless, uh, you know
It's interesting and engaging based on like observing the mechanics of the game in liberator
Which I assume is supposed to be the same mechanics of the game outside of liberator if you were playing on tabletop
But uh, anyway, that's not what we're explicitly being told but it's kind of being implied
That being said you have a couple mysterious elements pop in to the issue the episode and they are well
First of all a clarifying element. It's been three months that they've been playing and he's still not any good choto
That is but which is why i'm implying all these different things and making all these um
Assertions or drawing all these different conclusions that i'm telling you about so
That's good to know
Um, I like the fact that they have been there for a while and that they're familiar with things or they have a level
Familiarity with things that makes it more impactful when they're getting these surprises and mysteries popping up. So, uh,
We've got a couple surprises. We've got
Shoto sees out of the corner of his eye or senses some small figure running past them, which I believe is shuman
But we'll find out later. I'm sure or I mean it's heavily implied that it's shuman if it's not shuman
I think that will be clarified at some later point
Excuse me
Um, then there's the explosion. What's the explosion caused by?
I guess it's by the npc blowing a hole through the wall to come and draw them into a fight. Um
then there's this mysterious girl with the
White hair or platinum blonde. It's white. It's white hair. Um, she's got a
Collar on she looks very much like the girl that has the actual like manacle
Uh chain around, you know the chain and the collar around her neck, but this is a choker that she's got on right now
Um, and we just see her for a flash and I don't know if she's still in the scene
She very well may still be in the scene
She might be outside of the little bubble that the npc created or she could be within it
And we're just not focusing on her at the moment. Uh, then we've got this npc which
Apparently it's part of the game that arisa knows about she asks is this an event that we don't know about how is this possible?
How's it happening? Is there some uh, shoto asks if it's a bug and she
Um says arisa says that there are not supposed to be
These npcs who can engage a battle with you like against your will
Um in this section of the game where they are
Um, so I don't know if that's like a different server or if it's a different area in the particular server that they were in
But you're not supposed to be engaging in these types of battles
But these types of battles are something that's a structure part of built into the structure of the game
And then I think it's called navi. It's got uh
A body similar to the npc, but the head is different. It's like this and then it's got little points on the sides
um and that navi
Character, I don't know if there I don't know if navi was explaining to the audience who's reading it or if navi was explaining to arisa and shoto
I kind of think it was to the audience. Anyway, um
but uh
Navi I think it's navi is explaining that
There are these npc
Opponents that will come up and they're these weird crazy looking cyborgs which have a fantastic design by the way
Great visuals there and they will come and they will battle people
At certain times in certain places and there will be a specific set of rules or a special set of rules
One of those rules is that the characters the player their deck can be changed without their consent without their knowledge or whatever
And it seems like it's temporary and then the deck goes back to being what it is. That's what I would presume
Because they're bringing their actual physical deck with them and it's getting scanned and imported into the game
but yeah, so
Schumann says that the npc they have been chasing it him or whatever. They've been chasing me
Schumann says to arisa who's digging him and I love to uh, there's a great moment for shoto where there's this explosion
And shoto runs forward to protect arisa and he ends up getting
Um, he ends up getting uh hit in the face by shuman
But it's cool because you get to have this great heroic moment for him where he's jumping in to defend her and uh,
Not because she's a girl but because she's his friend, right?
And I really like that he's jumping in to protect her and uh, I think it shows, you know good character for him and uh,
He thinks about quitting the battle later on against this
npc but like it seems
As if it's a bug and it seems as if it's dangerous so I can understand why he'd want to quit and arisa
Just wiped the floor with him and presumably he's going to get beat similarly again
Or beat him, uh, and if that can
Result in some sort of you know, big negative consequence or whatever. It makes sense. It's strategic for him to quit. Uh,
He doesn't know it's like a life or death situation and he didn't quit in his fight against arisa
But he is quitting in this the fight
Against this thing that could potentially cause some sort of negative outcome to them, which I think is interesting
um
Yeah, and then uh before he has the chance to quit taro man shows up and
Talks about how this is his island and he's going to protect it and he's going to help whoever needs help or whatever
He's got this like interesting hero complex and shoe where shuman seems like a victim
I'm a little confused or I was confused last time
I thought mucho one was actually going to be his partner
And it was eventually going to turn into taro man. Uh, I guess because it's a card game you have multiple character cards that you could use
They might have multiple partner digimon
Which is kind of strange and different to me because i'm so used to just uh seasons one through four that i have a familiarity with
And um, not so much the games I tried to play
Whatever that one where you're in the new digital world
Um in the game, uh cyber sleuth I tried to play that and I quit at some point very early on
I stopped playing the game and I was like, oh my god
At some point very early on. Um, I thought we're all the digimon anyway, um
But yeah, so that's interesting that uh, we have
You know the potential for multiple partner digimon going on here and taro man becoming like maybe his main or it'll be mucho on and
Taramon i'm not exactly sure but he shows up and it's a cliffhanger ending
Uh, and it's really exciting and really engaging and I like it
Um, you know, so we've got the mystery of these two monsters showing up
We've got the mystery of this npc showing up and apparently it's been chasing at least shuman maybe taramon as well
It's unclear. Uh, how did taramon break through the barrier that the npc created?
I don't really know was he already inside the barrier. That's unclear
I don't think there was a sound effect for him like crashing through or whatever, but there may have been and I just didn't
Acknowledge it and then like is the girl with the npc or is the girl partnered with shuman?
Somehow and they're running from
The npc or when Shoemon said that they have been chasing them did she mean they the girl premium girl and
The npc both have been chasing Shoemon
So I don't know but i'm intrigued by the story and i'm curious to see
What is going on and for us to learn more and that's it for my coverage of episode one
Of Digimon Liberator and I hope to continue it. Um
As you know with some regularity as time goes on and I thank you for your time and attention
Until next time take care. Be well be brave and keep growing
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