Zoe’s Unbeelievable Adventure (Digimon Frontier Episode 26)

(Catch the previous episode review HERE. To go back to the beginning click HERE)

Thus far, the Earth, Wind, and Flame Areas of Sakkakumon’s interior matrix have all been disabled as the Digidestined previously entered each and destroyed the champions of those domains. In this episode, three more Areas will fall to the pressures of the Digidestined. The first of these Areas to go is the Thunder Area, which Takuya enters. There he finds a Parrotmon whose defeat is child’s play for Agunimon at this point. The big bird is defeated quickly, its Fractal code is digitized, and Takuya exits the Thunder area for another battle in a different sector of Sakkakumon’s interior.

J.P. likewise makes quick work of his Ultimate-level Digimon Cherrymon within the Wood Area. It seems that Sakkakumon’s champions may have once been worth their salt in battle against the Digidestined, but he has largely waited too long and allowed his enemies to grow too powerful. As the Digidestined now understand themselves to be a part of the Digital World, they can harness more of their power than ever before and thus even an H-Spirit Ultimate-level equivalent like Beetlemon finds it extremely easy to take down someone like Cherrymon just as he found Volcamon a weak opponent previously, and Koji and Tommy found their opponents Karatenmon and Asuramon relatively weak. After the battle, J.P.’s regard toward friendship is resolved and he feels that his Digidestined partners really are his true friends. This emotional confidence allows him to escape Sakkakumon and rejoin his friends Bokomon, Neemon, and Tommy outside of Sakkakumon.

Finally, the central focus of this episode is Zoe’s battle with Ranamon within the Water Area. Therein, Ranamon has been waiting for Zoe’s arrival so that she can prove which one of the two is most powerful, and thereby most deserving of praise as the most beautiful Digimon in the Digital World. She enlists her fan club of Armor type Honeybeemon to ensnare Zoe in one of their traps, but the Honeybeemon are so clumsy that they keep accidentally catching themselves in the traps instead. Each time, Zoe arrives and H Spirit Evolves into Kazemon to save the Honeybeemon from their own machinations. And though Kazemon remains none the wiser about the true motives of the Honeybeemon, they come to believe (or beelieve?) that Kazemon is actually a good person, a Legendary Warrior of superior moral standing than Ranamon who they find to be cuter than Ranamon to boot.

There is a narrative arc throughout this episode that consistently refers to the Snow White story. Initially, Ranamon becomes obsessed with defeating Zoe/Kazemon asap because of Mercurymon’s magic mirror. She calls to him and asks who the fairest of all the Digimon in the land truly is to which he responds that Kazemon is obviously the fairest in all the Digital World, and furthermore that her Beast Spirit form Zephyrmon is surely the strongest in the land. This lights a fire under Ranamon and influences her create a poison apple, which she hands to her Honeybeemon fan club with orders to give the apple to Zoe.

Although the Honeybeemon have come to adore and appreciate Zoe, they make a cold calculation, believing that Kazemon would not win in a fight against Ranamon anyhow. So they hand the apple to Zoe, which throws her into a stupor under which she begins to reflect on her school days and the fact that she could find no real friends back then. Everyone thought she was a snooty, stuck-up girl who purposefully tried not to conform or fit in with her classmates when the truth was that she was merely an individual who found such conformity impossible. Ranamon tells Zoe that she has no friends in the Digital World either and that her Digidestined teammates actually dislike her and talk about her behind her back. It is interesting to note here that Zoe has the exact same doubts and fears as J.P. regarding the authenticity of her friendships and as such, they are character types who really resonate with one another. This may be why J.P. and Zoe are the closest of all the Digidestined in Frontier.

Fortunately, Zoe awakens from out of her poisoned stupor by realizing that her friends must really enjoy her presence, that they are true friends indeed. She Spirit Evolves into her H Spirit form as Kazemon and proceeds to battle with Ranamon while the Honeybeemon continue to cheer on the latter, somewhat reluctantly. At a crucial point in the battle, Kazemon slide evolves into her Beast form as Zephyrmon as Ranamon does likewise and becomes Calmaramon. The outcome is as expected as Zephyrmon beats Calmaramon, but she also manages to take both of her Spirits and to digitize her Fractal Code in the process, which leaves only Mercurymon and Duskmon out of the original five Legendary Warriors of Darkness team.

Zoe and the Honeybeemon, resolved in their emotions and happy to be within each other’s presence and in the presence of friends, beam back down to the surface outside of Sakkakumon. There, Zoe, the trio of Honeybeemon, Bokomon, Neemon, J.P., and Tommy reflect upon how six of the ten Areas of Sakkakumon have now gone dark, but Koji and Takuya are still nowhere to be seen. And as they are still within the interior matrix of Sakkakumon, they alone must fight through the remaining four areas. These areas are Ice, Light, Darkness, and Steel. And presumably Darkness houses some antagonist at odds with Koji’s designation as the Legendary Warrior of Light, potentially even Duskmon himself. While the light and ice regions are probably somewhat uncontroversial, the Steel Area probably houses Mercurymon himself as the Legendary Warrior of Steel. If so, the Digidestined are just a few rooms away from defeating one of their last foes before reaching the Rose Morning Star and battling Cherubimon down the line.

It seems friendship is the theme of these Sakkakumon battle episodes as all of the Digidestined have some doubts about it. Doubts about whether their comrades are true friends or merely friends of convenience. Back in the real world, all of the Digidestined, except for Takuya, had no real friends and as such, they are all wary of whether their newfound partners will someday forget them or forsake them. A friendship or a new love is a miraculous encounter that is rare and beautiful and ought to be cherished and nurtured, coddled and protected. And for those who have given up on friendship or love, this encounter can throw one for a loop, can turn the wary into the waylaid and the wise into the foolish.

 

With love,

The Digidestined Cody

[Continued HERE]