Digimon Ghost Game 1×4 Review – “The Doll’s Manor”

Digimon Ghost Game anime season 1 episode 4, ‘The Doll’s Manor’, showed Hiro and Ruli (or Ruri) facing another confused Digimon while also giving us more information about the Digital World.

‘The Doll’s Manor’ was a Halloween-centric episode, with a majority of the plot occurring inside the Cosmo Culture School during the Halloween festivities. The episode didn’t waste time showing that something sinister was afoot at the school. The Digimon Ghost Game writers know their horror references. Even though the current anime is targeted at younger kids, the scenes where staff members continued to be kidnapped by Pumpkinmon (or Pumpmon) and his minions were still quite creepy.

I think the overall tone was handled quite well. No one actually died, but seeing Pumpkinmon making the kidnapped people wear giant pumpkins over their heads and then proceeding to carve a new face while the victims were still conscious inside, unable to move their bodies, was just wow! I loved it!

With Ruli and Hiro meeting each other in the previous episode, it took them some time to realize what Pumpkinmon was doing. Ruli invited Hiro over to the Cosmo Culture School to help with the Halloween decorations. Considering the type of character Hiro’s supposed to be, of course, he didn’t refuse. I laughed at Ruli testing how far Hiro would go lend a hand by ordering him to do numerous tasks around the establishment.

According to Hiro, saying yes to people made his life easier. I think Hiro’s the type of kid who doesn’t like to confront others and start an argument. While I appreciate his helpful nature, I hope Digimon Ghost Game makes him go through some kind of character development arc. I want to see Hiro realize that you shouldn’t help everyone who asks for it. Saying no should be okay depending on what kind of assistance is required. Also, there are people out there who are more than willing to take advantage of individuals like Hiro without showing an ounce of gratitude or offering a helping hand in return.

Searching for the missing staff members is what led to Hiro, Ruli, and their DigiPartners facing Pumpkinmon. It’s revealed that Pumpkinmon was lonely and wanted to make human friends. Seeing people dress up as pumpkins during Halloween or using pumpkins as decoration made Pumpkinmon confused about the true reason behind why humans celebrated Halloween. Pumpkinmon thought it meant humans wanted to be friends with him, complete with a new face that looked liked a Jack-o’-lantern.

Pumpkinmon’s interaction with Hiro and Ruli helped him realize his mistakes and how being friends with someone shouldn’t be dependant on whether or not you looked like each other. 

While I understood where Pumpkinmon was coming from, episode 4 of Digimon Ghost Game left me a bit unsatisfied. I want to see Hiro and Ruli face a Digimon that can’t be reasoned with by using Talk No-Jutsu. I want to witness a Digimon battle that doesn’t end after a single attack and a heartfelt conversation. With Kiyoshiro and Jellymon joining the main team in the next episode, I guess we will get to see an actual battle soon? Here’s hoping.

Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the life lessons. But I would also like to see some well-choreographed battle sequences.

As for the information we got about the Digital World, from what I could understand, there’s a mysterious space where the Digital World and the human world meet. Hiro was able to accidentally enter said space while trying to make Gammamon go invisible in the human world. Apparently, anything you do in that mysterious space won’t harm the human world (or the Digital World, I would assume).

For example, Gammamon broke a small advertising board in the mysterious space, but the same board remained undamaged in the real world. Hiro, Ruli and their DigiPartners also fought Pumpkinmon and his minions in that mysterious space (I hope we get a proper name for such a space soon).

Having such an area will definitely make fighting Digimon easier because our heroes won’t have to worry about buildings being destroyed or people getting injured as collateral damage. The DigiDestined in the original series had to be very careful when it came to fighting evil Digimon in the real world. There were many instances where the original DigiDestined had to focus attention on saving bystanders instead of facing the main threat.

However, that’s something the leads of Digimon Ghost Game don’t have to fret about. The entire thing could be considered as an easy way out to help prevent the writers from having to worry about certain consequences in the human world during big battle scenes. I do feel there’s a reason behind why such a space exists in the first place and why Hiro was able to access it through his Vital Bracelet. I’m looking forward to learning the answer soon.

More information about the Digital World was delivered by Angoramon. According to Ruli’s fluffy DigiPartner, Digimon were created when a virus (we don’t know its name) infected the digital network. The Digital World has existed alongside the human world ever since. Sometimes Digimon does find themselves in the human world by accident and not all of them are capable of adjusting to their new surroundings.

Hiro also asked about why Gammamon was able to Digivolve into BetelGammamon (in episode 2) and revert back to Gammamon once the battle was over. According to Angoramon, Digimon are capable of Digivolving with time, similar to how living beings age in the human world. However, he’s never witnessed a Digimon Digivolving and then coming back to its prior form.

Angoramon was also the one who taught Ruli how to make him invisible in the human world and she shared that information with Hiro. However, Angoramon didn’t have an answer about what Hiro’s father was up to in the Digital World. Poor kid. Hiro’s going to continue learning about the Digital World to find a way to contact his father. And I’m all for it because I want to learn more, too.

Some other thoughts and questions:

• We got a new attack from Angoramon. The ‘Petite Tornado’ involved him rotating his long ears, like the blades of a helicopter, to create a whirlwind.
• With Hiro using himself as bait to find Pumpkinmon, I liked how, later on in the episode, Ruli used herself as bait to lure Pumpkinmon and his minions toward a trap. The scene showed that Ruli will also put her life on the line to help her friends and how she too has a heroic nature similar to Hiro.
• If Gammamon wasn’t able to break the promotional board in the human world, when he and Hiro were inside the mysterious space, how did the decoy statue (part of Hiro’s trap) get knocked over by Pumpkinmon’s minions in the human world? Can objects still be moved around, but not destroyed by those in the mysterious space? I would like to know.

What did you think of Digimon Ghost Game season one episode four ‘The Doll’s Manor’?

Let us know.

Author: Farid-ul-Haq

Farid has a Double Masters in Psychology and Biotechnology as well as an M.Phil in Molecular Genetics. He is the author of numerous books including Missing in Somerville, and The Game Master of Somerville. He gives us insight into comics, books, TV shows, anime/manga, video games, and movies.

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