DIGIMON BEATBREAK

Episode 9

After a couple of one-off episodes, we're in for another big two-parter. However, unlike the yakuza one, which felt a bit disconnected from Beatbreak's setting, this one feels a lot more connected to what's come before as it pulls double duty as both a Makoto-focused storyline and our first chance to see the so-called utopian society within the Shangri-La Egg. While having to split all of this between two episodes means that a lot of this one ultimately ends up feeling like a set-up, it doesn't make what we get any less compelling, as what it does show us serves as a pretty effective demonstration of how harsh life can be when living on the fringes of a system that demands perfection.

As the Golden Dawn kids chase after another bounty, this one requires them to infiltrate the Shangri-La Egg, and gives us a glimpse of how the supposed better halves of their society live. Unsurprisingly, it's not all that it's cracked up to be. While people's lives are made slightly easier through having a lot of daily tasks automated by their Sappotamas, even within this supposed ideal society, they're still required to work regular jobs, with access to certain parts of the city being highly monitored. The only exceptions are those who live within its High-End district, with anyone who has any criminal record being cast out of the city altogether, with a permanent record that makes it nearly impossible for them to find employment. It's a system that demands constant perfection from the people living under it to reap its benefits, while offering very little of that back (the fact that our trio of misfits were able to break in with relative ease despite the supposedly high security measures is certainly proof of that), and one that isn't all too different from the systems we already live in under our modern society, given our current treatment of those with criminal records, and the ways AI automation is being pushed on everything while still demanding people work regular 9-5 jobs. In other words, it's a sign that Beatbreak is doing its job as a piece of cyberpunk media, with it feeling less like a glimpse into the future, and more of a reflection of our current times.

With that in mind, it makes the rival Cleaner pair of Sunny and Haruka into a compelling set of antagonists for these episodes, as they show what can happen to those who fall out of grace within this social order. The two of them used to live within Shangri-La Egg, with Sunny dreaming of one day becoming a resident of the High-End district, until he got caught up in a case of fraud and they were tossed out into the streets to fend for themselves, before eventually becoming Cleaners as no other form of employment was available to him. Haruka, in particular, turns out to be a former classmate of Makoto, which helps to contrast how the two of them have approached their current circumstances despite landing in similar places. We discover that while Makoto was born into a family of elites before being cast out for giving birth to a Digimon, he doesn't seem to resent what happened to him because he sees Chiropmon's life as more important than his status, and values him as a partner. Haruka, on the other hand, is understandably bitter about how her life has gone and only sees her partner Shademon as a reminder of how far she and her father have fallen, making it easy to convince herself that Digimon are simply tools to be exploited instead of living things. Seeing that Makoto seems content despite the both of them being labeled as outcasts it's easy to see why she's so resentful of him, and it's also not hard to see how she's adopted such a negative outlook when she and her father have been left in such extreme poverty that we even see them breaking into people's homes in order to steal food.

Sunny on the other hand, is a lot less sympathetic, as he's been more than happy to drag his daughter into a life of crime alongside him, and clearly views both her and her ability to command a Digimon as a tool to exploit which makes him terrible as a parent. However, while he has brought his current situation on himself, even he is is a victim of the system in his own way, and with no other real options available for their survival, it's horrible, but not shocking to think he'd resort to using her this way if he thought it could allow them to scrape by or somehow return to their previous lives. That we see Haruka feel the need to exploit Shademon the same way she's being treated by her father only serves to highlight how even on the lowest rungs of the social order, the idea that you can only get ahead by stepping on others is difficult to break free of, and with her attempting to put herself above Makoto by taking Chiropmon away from him, I'm very curious to see where the second half of this story takes them.

We are still ultimately talking about a Digimon show though, so for as heavy as the subject matter here is, there is still quite a bit of levity to balance that out. That levity largely comes from the fact that the Digimon both teams are hunting are Gold Numemon, and ones that are infamous for having attacks that involve throwing around swirly cartoon poop. You might think having our heroes try to endure a barrage of giant golden turds would make for some insane tonal dissonance for an episode about what it's like to live on the fringes of society, but the ability to balance both is the magic of these kinds of kids franchises. Even with this show being targeted for a somewhat broader audience than usual for a Digimon series, the knowledge that a lot of this material is also meant for kids only makes me more appreciative of the show's willingness to dive into these kinds of subjects and I hope it keeps these kinds of social critiques coming. DIGIMON BEATBREAK has done a pretty good job of wearing the aesthetic up to now, but this episode more than demonstrates that it's capable of being a genuinely compelling piece of cyberpunk fiction in its own right.

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DIGIMON BEATBREAK is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.