Plot: The battle with Devimon is reaching its boiling point, and it seems like the Chosen Children are in over their heads. With the power they have, there’s no way they can take down Devimon once and for all. Everything appears to be hopeless, but just when the devil has the team in his grips, an angel appears to save them.
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Title Card: 
Title Change: Angemon Awakens! is changed to The Legend of the Digidestined.
Takeru originally asks the baby Digimon if they need to poop. In the dub, he says “Okay, so you don’t want to play a game!”
Wow, Yamato/Matt came in from REALLY far away. How did he know Takeru/TK was in danger from that distance?
They remove Ogremon hitting Greymon in the head…..Really, Saban? That little bonk? When Greymon has a skull helmet, even? Use the stupid impact stars if you want, but that didn’t warrant a removal.
They remove Ogremon hitting Greymon with his Pummel Whack too? That’s a regular attack. Since when are those cut?
So…..more Black Gears = More evil, bigger and more powerful?….Then why doesn’t Devimon use a bunch of them by default? I’m getting Rita Repulsa flashbacks…
They remove Garurumon smashing into the cliffside.
But wait, they can show Greymon getting hit and being thrown into the wall? What is even going on right now?
Leomon keeps repeating that he has to kill the Chosen Children. Likewise, when Leomon hears Devimon talking to him in his mind, he reminds him that he was ordered to kill the Chosen Children. In the dub, they change this to ‘Take’ and implications of kidnapping instead.
Originally, they imply that Patamon is either dying or passing out, complete with Takeru yelling at him to hang in there. In the dub, TK reassures Patamon that he did a good job protecting him and Patamon just kinda….sleeps?
This goes without saying, but originally Taichi didn’t call Leomon….Booger Breath…Really, guys? Booger Breath? That’s what you put on the final draft? That gets recorded? That gets seen by dozens of individuals and no one bats an eye? Okay.
I love how they have problems with showing these Digimon taking hits that don’t even leave wounds, but they’ll leave in the rather gross shots of the Black Gears slowly leaving Leomon’s body. You can hear the flesh squishing and everything…
Tai: *after the Black Gears are destroyed* “That’s bad!”….You mean….that’s good?….Or is this another misuse of outdated slang?
Izzy: “It worked! We destroyed the Black Gear!” That should be “They destroyed the Black Gears!”
Originally, Ogremon flees because there are too many Digimon to handle by himself now. In the dub, he goes on about how the kids don’t know who they’re dealing with but they will soon enough.
Leomon: “…That would change good Digimons into bad ones.” Digimon plural is just Digimon. No need for the s.
Taichi originally says that it now makes sense that Leomon keeps calling them ‘The Chosen Children’ once he’s heard the legend of a group of children being chosen to save the Digital World. In the dub, since they change this name to Digidestined, they have Tai exclaim how awesome the legend is, but he wonders if that’s even true.
The other kids and Digimon don’t have a moment of doubt where Taichi needs to coerce them like the dub does. I guess them slightly nodding their heads for three frames lead Saban to thinking they were doing that.
Koushiro doesn’t mention it being ‘impossible’ to lose with the Digivices like Izzy does. You’re a stats man, Izzy. You should know better.
Mimi originally says that she’ll try her best even though she’s scared because she wants to go home. In the dub she says she’ll do some killer shopping when she goes home. Priorities, dub!Mimi.
Palmon originally supports Mimi and says they’ll help her. In the dub, Palmon says they need to send her back before she can shop.
The music in the original is really strange. I don’t really expect western-esque trumpet music right now, especially in an anime.
Tai: “Far out!” Oh come on, now you guys aren’t even trying to stay in the right decade.
I just realized that they seem to give zero shits where Sora and Jo are. Leomon said they need all of the Chosen Children to beat the evil, but they’re heading right into Devimon’s clutches without even mentioning Sora or Jo. This is a criticism of both versions, by the way. Either they’re being ridiculously reckless, they feel like it’s gonna be so easy that they don’t need them to help, or they don’t care….or all of the above.
It’s just weird. You’d think they’d be extra cautious considering this is the literal source of all evil in the Digital World (at the moment anyway) but nah, they can handle it with 5/7 members – one of which can’t even get his Digimon to Adult level.
Devimon…maybe foreshadowed Angemon’s appearance by saying he wanted to destroy the Chosen Children before he appeared. And considering he really wanted Takeru gone first, I’d imagine he did know about Patamon’s evolution…..so….either Devimon wasn’t the evil in the prophecy or they didn’t need any other Chosen Child besides Takeru for this battle (which, as we’ll see, is more or less true.)
They remove a shot where Devimon is kinda strangling Ogremon.
Koushiro asks if this giant Devimon could be an illusion, and Leomon responds by saying no. In the dub, Izzy says “Bad guys always seem to think bigger is better.” and Leomon says “’fraid not!”……..What?
Izzy: “My biology teacher would love this!”…Uhm…Okay I get what he’s talking about, but why did it take so long for Izzy to say that when he’s seen so many Digivolutions already? Especially when he’s talking about Kabuterimon? Also, why are you guys making stupid jokes when you’re literally fighting the source of all evil?
Mimi: “I do like the way our colors match.” Ahh….Mimi….Please.
They remove Leomon getting hit by Ogremon’s club and Ogremon taunting him for believing Devimon would leave his back exposed as well as the further shot of Leomon on the ground.
Hahaha! I love how Ogremon shot Leomon into a treeline, but it left a hole like he was thrust into a rockface.
So…yeah, Angemon is the antithesis to Devimon so, even though Devimon’s so powerful that all of the other Adult level Digimon can’t even touch him, Angemon is a threat to him. As cool as I always thought Angemon’s debut was, as much as I love Angemon as a whole, and as tragic as his ‘death’ was, in hindsight, that really is kinda bullshit. I mean, at least this is a reprieve from the typical ‘leader (and deuteragonist) get the best stuff’ trope that this series will definitely embrace as time goes on, but it was literally that they only needed to guard Takeru and ensure Patamon could evolve instead of it being a full team effort to take down Devimon.
Dub!Devimon: “They say the smallest will destroy me.” Oh thanks, Saban. For a second I thought you were going to omit all the foreshadowing and try to be subtle, but specifically adding in a line where he basically admits TK and Patamon are the key to his defeat is totally brilliant and not stupid.
Okay, so you’re telling me you can’t show Greymon, dude with a helmet, getting bonked on the head or Leomon getting bonked on the head….but you can show Greymon, Ikkakumon and Kabuterimon biting the fuck out of Devimon? They really are thinking it’s more okay to show bad guys getting hit than it is to see heroes get hit…..
Originally, Taichi weakly called out to Greymon and Greymon apologized to Taichi. In the dub, Tai says nothing and Greymon comments on how tough Devimon is.
In the original, Togemon says ‘I wanted to send you back to your world, but….’ to Mimi, who if off-screen. In the dub, she says she can’t move and even her needles are numb.
So, in the dub, was TK calling out for Matt while unconscious/passed out?
Ya know, I joked in the last episode comparison about getting out tissues, but I was joking. I didn’t really think I’d start tearing up when the finale started. Angemon hasn’t even come out quite yet and I’m getting choked up. Jeez…
Originally, Mimi says Angemon looks like an angel….Yup…..yup….that’s uh….good observation there, Mimi. Of course, she manages to be even dumber in the dub where she says “Nice hair. Good color.” You know your Digimon is lying on the ground in agony right now?
Takeru only points out that Patamon evolved. In the dub, TK says “I wanna take him home with me!” which is….I was gonna say stupid…which it kinda is, but it’s also just kinda weird. For what reason do you want to take home an eight foot tall angel with a helmet over his face?
Angemon can just summon the powers of all the Digivices and use them to attack Devimon? I’m getting Tokyo Mew Mew flashbacks now. So, really, the way that all of the Chosen Children play into this finale is only through their Digivices, not the kids themselves or their Digimon? Come on.
Devimon originally curses himself because he was so close to killing Takeru and Patamon before Angemon came to be. In the dub, he just acts as if he doesn’t know of Angemon and isn’t a threat to him, which we already know doesn’t make sense given how Saban wrote this.
Devimon tells Angemon that he won’t get off so easily either if he uses that power on him, implying that Angemon will also die along with him. In the dub, Devimon says he can’t take his power so easily and he’ll have to fight him for it….Uh…1) That’s what he’s doing. 2) He’s not trying to take your power, he’s trying to kill you.
Angemon’s responses, implying that he’s ready to die if it will stop him, is kept the same, which is weird because the dub lost the setup to that response.
Oh my god…Saban, why? They added lightsaber sound effects to Angemon’s staff when he was absorbing its power into his fist….why….why?
Angemon says “I’m sorry, Takeru.” In the dub, he says “I’ll get him, relax.” I don’t much care for that line change because it goes from a somber moment to basically Angemon telling Takeru to chill out just because he told him to be careful.
Attack Name Change: Heaven’s Knuckle is…well, it’s going to be changed to Hand of Fate, but as of this episode, he only says “I’ll stop you! AYYYEEEEEH!”
Oh yeah, and they’ll also show Devimon getting impaled by Angemon’s attack, but Greymon can’t be shown taking an energy attack to the chin.
Ugh…I know Saban redoes lines when there’s a commercial break, like 4Kids does, even if it’s a very confusing and stupid practice. Here, they’re using the same dialogue, but after the commercial break it’s like they went for a worse take on how the VA was saying it. Before the commercial, he had some decent emotion in the lines. Afterwards, it’s like he was just reading them off the script for rehearsal.
I really don’t like the way TK pronounces “Angemon” because it kinda sounds like he’s saying “Angiemon” which I think I’ve talked about before in the Adventure 02 SDC, but I feel like I should backpedal because even though that’s not the way it’s pronounced….it does make sense. When you say “Angel” you say it like “Eyn-jel” But when you say the “Ange” part in Angemon you say “Ann-jah” like in Angela, or you say ‘ahn-jah’. Still bothers me a tiny bit, but I won’t harp on it if it makes sense.
Ogremon originally wonders if the kids defeated Devimon. In the dub, he says that, with Devimon gone, he can take over now, which is obviously BS that Leomon stamps out before he even takes a step.
While both versions of Mimi say they don’t want to fight anymore, dub!Mimi adds “Oh, I think I broke a nail.” Seriously, guys? You’re going with the ridiculously overdone “I broke a nail” girl trope?
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Overall, I’ve always really loved this episode, and I still do. I was being serious when I said I was tearing up at the finale. I didn’t expect to, but it managed to get me again.
I still do believe it was a teeny tiny bit bunk that Angemon was able to defeat Devimon while absolutely none of the other Adult level Digimon could even scratch him. I get the parallels – angel vs. devil – I get that he had to use the power of the Digivices, and I get that he sacrificed his life for it, but it’s still the slightest bit bogus.
And, believe it or not, this situation is basically going to be mirrored near the end of the series, except Angemon doesn’t die there and it’s a bit more of a team effort.
As confusing as Patamon’s evolution line is, I adore it all. I own nearly all of his forms as toys. He’s always been one of my favorite Digimon ever.
His evolution scene was epic and heartbreaking at the same time. Like everyone else, he did evolve to protect his partner, but the buildup to it was quite sad because Patamon wanted to evolve so badly so he could protect Takeru. He had no chance in his Child form. Oddly, Patamon actually seems like the weakest Child level Digimon but the most powerful Adult level.
Compare that to the plotline in Adventure 02 where V-mon wanted to evolve to Adult, even though Armor evolving was seen as kinda better, all because he and Davis were jealous of Takeru and Angemon and their symmetry with Hikari and Angewomon.
Well, you can put away your hankies for now, Angemon/Patamon will return in due time. It will take quite a while, but he’ll be back. Until then, it’s off to even bigger threats.
Next time, the kids meet Gennai and learn what they must do to combat the next evil threat that is looming over the Digital World.
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