By now it is exceedingly obvious that the Digimon franchise is simply inept when it comes to final battles. For what is supposed to be the beginning of the ultimate clash, "The Data Squad's Final Battle" suffers from a host of defects. However, the biggest problem may be a near constant feeling that the episode is just spinning its wheels. By simplifying this event to a confrontation with a single opponent, the writers saddled themselves with the thankless task of stretching a simple scenario over an entire episode; why else would King Drasil so foolishly float away when he could have easily finished off the group? The resulting blend of preachiness and poor pacing, with only occasional bursts of energy, prevents this episode from achieving the climactic quality expected of a final battle.
This season's habit of drawing upon "Tamers" comes full circle with this non-digimon entity, but I don't think anyone would compare King Drasil to the comparatively complex, imposing D-Reaper. He has been built up for this entire story arc only to be given an insipid battle form that might as well be a floating Cybertronian apron. Despite being tough to destroy, he lacks a strong presence, partially due to uninspired abilities. Seriously, vine-whips? Also, I know his intentions are more pointed now, but it's still definitively unsatisfying to hear him so dramatically cite Kurata's attacks on digimon for the hundredth time. While he made some credible points in the awful "King Drasil's Fatal Decision", at this point I was only hoping someone would just shout, "Ah, get over it already!"
Worst of all, there is little sense of grandness to this enemy's final actions. Except for the brief scene where the blue beams scatter across several cities, there is no impression of a global threat, no dominant sense of hopelessness; all of the past final conflicts pulled this off more successfully.
The Data Squad's part is no better, merely amounting to the same old run of the mill preaching. As the episode wears on, it becomes evident that they intend to show King Drasil that harmony is possible between humans and digimon, but this was resolved in a more poignant, less heavy-handed manner in "Tamers".
The only thing in this episode I did like is the scene when the Royal Knights confront King Drasil, actually asking a question that is closer to thought provoking than anything else in this arc. For that matter, it's thoroughly disappointing that so few of the Royal Knights have seen any real action, especially when the group contains such icons as Omnimon and Gallantmon (who spends most of his time frozen).
But, this all pales in comparison to the monumentally foolish decision to have Mona Marshall provide King Drasil's mechanized voice. I know Jeff Nimoy really likes working with her and even had an idea to tie Izzy into a big twist ending, but there's no denying that, as the previous season made so abundantly clear, Mona Marshall simply cannot voice male villains.
The big revelation on the nature of King Drasil and his supposed experiments regarding the interactions between humans and digimon is um frankly, I don't really have much feeling towards it, aside from the fact that it is completely out of place. What exactly were his goals in doing this, and why did things have to get this bad before anything qualified as a failure, especially considering that he's clearly steamed about Kurata's earlier actions? Something like this should shock and surprise, not to mention change the perspective on the rest of the story, but it doesn't; it's a tacked on, extraneous attempt to emulate the sci-fi aspects of "Tamers", with no weight or ramifications. A motivation closer to the incarnation from "X-Evolution", which sought to decimate the Digital World to ensure its own survival, would have been more interesting. Overall, this is an underwhelming, disappointing penultimate chapter, and definitely not what the series needs.
This season's habit of drawing upon "Tamers" comes full circle with this non-digimon entity, but I don't think anyone would compare King Drasil to the comparatively complex, imposing D-Reaper. He has been built up for this entire story arc only to be given an insipid battle form that might as well be a floating Cybertronian apron. Despite being tough to destroy, he lacks a strong presence, partially due to uninspired abilities. Seriously, vine-whips? Also, I know his intentions are more pointed now, but it's still definitively unsatisfying to hear him so dramatically cite Kurata's attacks on digimon for the hundredth time. While he made some credible points in the awful "King Drasil's Fatal Decision", at this point I was only hoping someone would just shout, "Ah, get over it already!"
Worst of all, there is little sense of grandness to this enemy's final actions. Except for the brief scene where the blue beams scatter across several cities, there is no impression of a global threat, no dominant sense of hopelessness; all of the past final conflicts pulled this off more successfully.
The Data Squad's part is no better, merely amounting to the same old run of the mill preaching. As the episode wears on, it becomes evident that they intend to show King Drasil that harmony is possible between humans and digimon, but this was resolved in a more poignant, less heavy-handed manner in "Tamers".
The only thing in this episode I did like is the scene when the Royal Knights confront King Drasil, actually asking a question that is closer to thought provoking than anything else in this arc. For that matter, it's thoroughly disappointing that so few of the Royal Knights have seen any real action, especially when the group contains such icons as Omnimon and Gallantmon (who spends most of his time frozen).
But, this all pales in comparison to the monumentally foolish decision to have Mona Marshall provide King Drasil's mechanized voice. I know Jeff Nimoy really likes working with her and even had an idea to tie Izzy into a big twist ending, but there's no denying that, as the previous season made so abundantly clear, Mona Marshall simply cannot voice male villains.
The big revelation on the nature of King Drasil and his supposed experiments regarding the interactions between humans and digimon is um frankly, I don't really have much feeling towards it, aside from the fact that it is completely out of place. What exactly were his goals in doing this, and why did things have to get this bad before anything qualified as a failure, especially considering that he's clearly steamed about Kurata's earlier actions? Something like this should shock and surprise, not to mention change the perspective on the rest of the story, but it doesn't; it's a tacked on, extraneous attempt to emulate the sci-fi aspects of "Tamers", with no weight or ramifications. A motivation closer to the incarnation from "X-Evolution", which sought to decimate the Digital World to ensure its own survival, would have been more interesting. Overall, this is an underwhelming, disappointing penultimate chapter, and definitely not what the series needs.
