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Appmon Episode 1 Review: “The Search Results Are Shinkai Haru! Gatchmon Appears!”

Digimon is back.

A lot rides on this first episode of Appmon. It’s a highly-anticipated season, and for many people an uncomfortably-anticipated one. For a franchise so occupied by evolution, Digimon has struggled to make lasting and meaningful adaptations. More than a few fans are naturally riled up by the idea that the world of smartphones, mobile games, and microtransactions could be its salvation.

But what I think these fans will be relieved to discover is that at its core, that’s not what Appmon is about. Appmon is about a modular world where technology has an everyday presence, and children are forming identities in that world, where universes overlap, with those children having special access to those universes through technology–or to be more blunt, when you get past the aesthetics it’s the same essence Digimon’s always had.

Already we have a vibe for what the general structure of this season will be, and it’s not too dissimilar from the first six series. The first episode introduces a focal Digimon, an associated character dilemma, and a solution that both defeats the monster of the week and advances the human cast. After the episode proper, there’s a short bit at the end of the episode introducing an Appmon and what its powers are, similar to the old inter-episode Digimon Analyzer sequences.

Where Appmon differs is in a couple places. The first is that its overall tone is like a “Buddy Cop” narrative, with two contrasting central characters that solve cases involving berserk Appmon through their differences. Digimon usually features complementary pairs, so these two may throw veterans for a loop.

The second is that it has a collection aspect to it, as at the end of the episode Haru claims the Appmon Chip of the monster he’s defeated. Presumably this is to give him access to a variety of App Fusions–a skill we know about from the toyline, but have yet to see executed in practice. Appmon also sets itself apart from previous seasons in the way it writes its monsters.

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