This episode doesn't suffer the noncohesiveness from before. Unlike in "The Wrath of SaberLeomon", the plot establishes its trajectory early and only rarely deviates from it, making both halves feel more like phases than just distinct, barely related parts. This makes "One More Digital Dive" a slight improvement over its frustrating predecessor.
Kurata is quite dominant during the first act, with his constant smirking and slightly effeminate mannerisms. You've got to admire how he bamboozles the obligatorily frustrating director of DATS, although his labored reaction of surprise is so fake it elicits minor groans. The best moment comes after Thomas delays the expedition by invoking a technicality about the digital dive, in order to gauge Kurata's intentions from his reaction. The brief interaction between these two is intense, further implying that they will have a significant conflict down the road.
The trip to the Digital World leads to a couple of fights that I have conflicted feelings about. On the one hand, it's a cool sequence. The brawl with a Zudomon is one of the better examples of an old property being treated somewhat respectfully. Even though he is beaten, accomplishing that has a sense of challenge, which makes his defeat more satisfying than SaberLeomon's. Gotsumon's new form is surprising, giving Meteormon a much better portrayal than in the fourth season (though I would have done without that weird "Winnie the Pooh excited for the first day of autumn" mid-air splits pose). However, there's no denying that this is all just an attempt to delay the meeting with Merukimon until the end of the episode, which could have been accomplished just fine by making use of that extra time bought by Thomas for something other than discussing Keenan's loyalties.
Speaking of which, we get an interesting detail about this kid. Much of his musing is mere padding, but the conclusion that he is in a unique positon to negotiate peace between the two worlds is a very sad, lost opportunity. It's the one time in this series this kid could have been made convincingly important, but we already know it's going to lead nowhere because it's been made exceedingly obvious who the real bad guy is.
Kurata is quite dominant during the first act, with his constant smirking and slightly effeminate mannerisms. You've got to admire how he bamboozles the obligatorily frustrating director of DATS, although his labored reaction of surprise is so fake it elicits minor groans. The best moment comes after Thomas delays the expedition by invoking a technicality about the digital dive, in order to gauge Kurata's intentions from his reaction. The brief interaction between these two is intense, further implying that they will have a significant conflict down the road.
The trip to the Digital World leads to a couple of fights that I have conflicted feelings about. On the one hand, it's a cool sequence. The brawl with a Zudomon is one of the better examples of an old property being treated somewhat respectfully. Even though he is beaten, accomplishing that has a sense of challenge, which makes his defeat more satisfying than SaberLeomon's. Gotsumon's new form is surprising, giving Meteormon a much better portrayal than in the fourth season (though I would have done without that weird "Winnie the Pooh excited for the first day of autumn" mid-air splits pose). However, there's no denying that this is all just an attempt to delay the meeting with Merukimon until the end of the episode, which could have been accomplished just fine by making use of that extra time bought by Thomas for something other than discussing Keenan's loyalties.
Speaking of which, we get an interesting detail about this kid. Much of his musing is mere padding, but the conclusion that he is in a unique positon to negotiate peace between the two worlds is a very sad, lost opportunity. It's the one time in this series this kid could have been made convincingly important, but we already know it's going to lead nowhere because it's been made exceedingly obvious who the real bad guy is.
