Digimon Ghost Game 1×13 Review – “Executioner”

Digimon Ghost Game episode 13, titled ‘Executioner’, was definitely one of the best episodes yet. It was dark in an unexpected manner and I can’t wait to see what happens to our heroes next.

‘Executioner’ involved our young heroes and their DigiPartners trying to track down a mysterious Digimon who had decided to go around town killing random Digimon. This was the first episode in the series directly dealing with the “death” of Digimon and I think the emotional weight of such a topic was handled well by the writers.

Digimon fans know that, technically, Digimon don’t really die. A dead Digimon’s data is transformed into a Digi-Egg (or a Digitama) and the said Digimon is reborn without memories of the previous life. ‘Executioner’ allowed our young human heroes and Gammamon to accept such a fact of the Digital world. However, coming to such an acceptance wasn’t easy.

Gammamon’s basically a baby Digimon. There’s a lot he needs to learn. Witnessing Bokomon’s death right in front of his eyes (because Bokomon sacrificed himself to save Gammamon) understandably took a toll on him. The emotional trauma led to Gammamon undergoing a Dark Digivolution to transform into GulusGammamon.

The Digimon Ghost Game anime series has made it clear that there’s a darkness inside Gammamon. So, it was quite exciting to see the darkness manifest itself as GulusGammamon. I liked how GulusGammamon had a personality and wasn’t just another non-verbal evil Digimon filled with rage and hate. He had an attitude and he wasn’t afraid to show it. The way GulusGammamon used his tail to pierce Sealsdramon’s skull was just wow! GulusGammamon was also strong enough to break out of the mysterious place existing between the Digital and human worlds.

From what I could understand, the darkness inside Gammamon also impacted Hiro. There was a moment in ‘Executioner’ where the name of GulusGammamon’s attack got streamed into Hiro’s mind and he had to stop himself from thinking about it. I wouldn’t mind seeing Hiro continue to fight against Gammamon’s darkness in episodes down the line. I also wouldn’t mind Hiro temporarily succumbing to the darkness and becoming an evil version of himself to stand alongside GulusGammamon or another higher-level dark Digivolution for Gammamon.

There’s definitely something special when it comes to Gammamon. Apparently, he seems to be from a new Digimon species or is perhaps a member of a Digimon species that only existed in ancient legends and got lost to time. I think the fate of the Digital and human worlds is dependent on how Gammamon gets influenced as he continues to grow. I guess that’s one of the reasons Hiro’s father decided to give Gammamon to Hiro in the first place. I think he’s hoping Hiro’s positive influence would be enough to help stop Gammamon from completely falling into darkness and bring forth some kind of worldwide destruction.

According to Bakumon, Bokomon had also been wondering about how Hiro, Kiyoshiro, and Ruli’s connection to their DigiPartners could serve as a bridge between the Digital and human worlds. While we still don’t know about the main plot, I think the current episode showed that there’s definitely something happening, and Gammamon’s involved in it somehow. 

Another dark moment in ‘Executioner’ was when Sealsdramon revealed the reason he had killed a thousand Digimon. While the main characters thought Sealsdramon, being an assassin, was acting on certain orders, Sealsdramon stated that he was on a killing spree just for the heck of it. He simply liked increasing his kill count.

Even though Digimon Ghost Game has had some horror-centric and dark moments in the previous episodes, I wasn’t expecting such sinister reasoning. A Digimon killing others for sport definitely raised the stakes for what kind of dangers our heroes could face in upcoming episodes. Unlike the previous troublesome Digimon they had encountered, trying to talk to Sealsdramon and helping him see the error of his ways wasn’t an option. I would like the main characters to battle more Digimon that can’t be reasoned with.

After losing a friend and witnessing the darkness inside Gammamon, I’m looking forward to enjoying where the story will head next for our protagonists.

What did you think of ‘Executioner’?

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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