Digimon Ghost Game: Episode 14- Zashiki-warashi

[Vande]

This is the episode discussion thread for Episode 14, Zashiki-warashi

A preview of the episode from the end of episode 13

Episode 14 airs Sunday, January 16th, 9am in Japan.

The simulcast for Crunchyroll is shortly after at:
Saturday, January 15th, 6:30pm in California (Pacific)
Saturday, January 15th, 9:30pm in New York (Eastern)
Sunday, January 16th, 2:30am in the UK (GMT)

If your time isn't included in the short list above this link will take you to an easy to use time converter so you check yours.

The show can be watched on the following:
(Most countries) Crunchyroll Series Page

No spoilers past this episode and no posting before the episode is commonly available for most people at the simulcast times listed above (if you are posting about the episode trending on social media in Japan, feel free to post about that.) You can discuss any next episode previews if they are shown at the end of the episode.

Feel free to join us in the Discord if you want to chat about the episode.

 

[MarcFBR]

I miss the hope that the Ghost Navigator would be interesting and not just a basic narrator.

Evil ball...

Oh man, the entire haunting it just Koemon wanting to play ball isn't it? Yes, yes it is.

The winter gear at the beach feels off, even if it 'is' winter.

I like the framing that they 100% are only there because Kiyoshiro is scared of exactly what the plot is, so he begged them to come.

Piano playing at a hotel in the middle of nowhere, would be less menacing if they didn't immediately reveal Ruli just decided to play it.

Gammamon standing there on the table looking at the manju is one of the best Gammamon poses yet.

Gammamon wants to share the treat with Bokomon. Doesn't understand what happened at all. Bakumon living with Hiro now is an interesting touch.

Ruli and Jellymon get shoved into the stereotypical looking at clothes and telling the boys not to peek.

Evil ball is back.

We really went back to the kind of going nowhere week to week episode fast.

Poor Kiyoshiro, evil ball is haunting him now.

The pure black scene where he's under his blanket and can't see anything, so they represent sound from Koemon was done really nicely.

Both girls are upset with Kiyoshiro for messing the place up. It seems odd they seem to not believe him. The entire series at this point has been looking for haunting things, then finding out a Digimon is doing stuff.

The hotel keeping the ball in a shrine as like, advertising, that they have a haunting is a good touch for a place trying to show they have something unique. It belonged to someone who used to work there apparently.

Ruli being super disinterested because it isn't really doing anything more than minor oddities feels like it fits her well.

BlackTailmon Uver with a delivery. And she's gone.

3 new Dim Cards inside the box.

Hiro plugs one in and... a new pseudo digital space, and a message from Hokuto! Hiro is disinterested in all of this. Which seems odd since he's been trying to get any info on his dad that he can. He just doesn't consider any of it useful information from his dad. Ruli isn't interested either.

It appears the explanation for the psuedo digital world is it's basically just recording of environments from the digital world overlaid on the real world.

All 3 cards are apparently worthless info wise, and the characters finally start to talk about Uver. They muse on if she can move between the worlds.

The episode has become somewhat relevant to ongoing stuff!

The ball has shown up in the bath... and a whirlpool.

Stolen underpants. Ghost Game amping up the terror by forcing Kiyoshiro to put on dirty underwear.

Ruli plays with the ball to try and tempt the Digimon, now that they've figured out it is a Digimon.

And then the episode more clearly points out Koemon is mistaking people for the old lady who used to own the ball, it wants to play with her and see fireworks. Forever and ever. And Koemon has realized they are not the old lady.

The problem has been dealt with earlier than expected with Koemon crying and explaining his story. Not wildly unexpected, but matches the setup well. It helps that Koemon wasn't really doing anything that felt evil through the whole thing.

Hiro sure is excited to get Gammamon to evolve so quickly after what happened last time, the others are nervous.

BetelGammamon is back and he helps Koemon makes fireworks. Jellymon also helps make more fireworks. Angoramon and Ruli are there.

Koemon was unaware other Digimon were in the human world and would like to meet them once they explain what's been going on.

Koemon realized on his own it appears, likely from emotionally concluding what ailed him. Also, apparently the old woman didn't die, there was a letter for Koemon explaining she had to leave, he just never noticed it.

Koemon waves goodbye and goes walking off on his own journey. Angoramon says this in a bit of a puffy way and Ruli seems annoyed.

Gammamon mentions Bokomon off on his journey.

Koemon returns the stolen underpants.


Not a bad episode, an enjoyable one in fact, but it feels flat after the last one. Although at least this one did have... sort of a connection to the larger stuff at large, but seemingly just to remind you it exists, as even the characters were annoyed at how little they got.






Makoto Tsumura was Koemon. Digimon fans would know her as Takato in Digimon Tamers & the various other appearances of Takato throughout the franchise.

Hirohiko Kakegawa was Professor Okuma. He was Gokuwmon in Hunters and Sebasian in Re:Digitize.

 

[Digiforlife]

It's a rather sweet episode with Koemon and his relationship with granny which I really enjoy that any digimon can have relationships with ordinary people (in most other seasons only main characters get to interact with digimon).
Hmm Gammamon still didn't know anything from his time as Gausgammamon which may imply he has split personality of some sort?
So Blacktailmon Uver really works like a messenger for Hiro's dad. I'd love to see if Blacktailmon Uver has personality and maybe even seeing Ladydevimon later on

 

[RyummaSama]

Koemon!!! (I kinda like Koemon.) I love that it's finally got a starring role, not just a minor background role.

This episode was a very lowstakes ep, but everyone is still very much feeling the effects of last week, so it wasn't completely unrelated. AND we get to hear from Hokuto for the first time since like episode one (I think), loved Hiro's annoyance with his dad's antics. I am also a fan of civilians forming bonds with Digimon, rarely happens in the anime and manga (I know it happens in Cyber Sleuth a few times).

Next week is Phelesmon, and maybe maybe the long awaited debut of Symbare!

 

[Sparrow Hawk]

Look like Gammamon isn't denying Bokomon's "Death" so hard but he doesn't get it about Digimon digitama and Journey.

Surprised Koemon can make emotions unlike... Makuramon. And he only stay at hotel and never go outside since he got lost in this human world?! No wonder!

Koemon is very understanding boy after being told of Granny's reason for vanishing off.

Look like there are tons and tons of Lost Digimon. I bet the digital world might be in terrible conditions or Yggdrasil is too lazy to "repair" there.

So Hiro's dad is using BlackTailmon to deliver to his son.... So no special connections between them but it's just personal errand delivery? But I think it could be even more than just this.

Look like Bakumon isn't going to educate Gammamon to learn more... Hmm

 

[Taso]

A casual episode with my boy Monmon. I do wish the "capturing/ghost" portion of the episode was a little less padded and more focus was put into the firework/reminiscing portion at the end instead. Felt a bit weird to have cute Monmon portrayed as a creepy ghost for that long when he isn't that creepy.

Here's hoping we get another Monmon card in the tcg as well as see him in upcoming Digimon games.

 

[Thatguy3331]

This was an episode that surprisingly whole some with some good spooks. They really did a solid job on working with what felt like limited animation recourses this week as well, I liked the sequence where Kiyoshiro hid under the covers and that slide towards Ruli Koemon does near the climax of the episode was fairly startling.

It might sound strange to praise such a basic thing, but I am happy to actually see the continuity and carry over from the previous episode's events as I was worried we'd sweep all the implications from last week under the rug for another ho hum one off adventure. I'm happy to see the gang show legit concern over Hiro having Gammamon evolve at all seeing how none of the cast have put two and two together as to how to get the right form (e m o t i o n s !) and it's interesting that despite everything Hiro doesn't seem to mind the prospect of Gulus showing up again if it means he can talk to him. I hope in such a case my guess is right that Gulus doesn't want of off Hiro even if he doesn't care about whatever happens to his friends.

I'm a little perplexed at the idea that we have to go all "Bokomon went on a Journey" with Gammamon as Gammamon saw Bokomon disappear right in front of him. To me that sort of schtick works better when the child in question hasn't seen the death, but I do like the idea of Gammamon internalizing that idea as well as Hiro just flippantly saying his dad is on "a journey" as well, which has some uh... implications. especially since those psuedo digiworld spaces seem to be 3d photos of areas in the digital world, creates the idea that these hologram projections might be more past tense then we realize... then again I don't think Blackgatomon can deliver frequent packages from dead people so... hm. Foreshadowing maybe? Iunno.

This was definitely one of the better, if not the best peaceful resolution episode we got as we didn't have to go through the farce of a fight, just wholly on cheering up sad digimon. Even to the point where fulfilling the void in it's heart caused it to materialize, so can it just do that on or off on it's own now? I thought Koemon was going to follow our gang back home but I guess not? Huh. While I'm pretty sure throwing fire at rope doesn't make it explode like that, I can let that slide as pokemon nonsense (in the pokemon anime even a water and grass attack colliding into each other can trigger an explosion lol) especially for the overall goal of the episode. I'm especially happy that there was very little wheel spinning this week it really felt like we used the episode's run time to tell a solid point A to B story with no awkward stops! More of these please!

As a side note I liked Ruli suddenly playing the piano in the beginning I almost forgot that was a thing she does and that she's good at.

 

[Tarama]

I'd love it if Koemon will meet them again someday and in different form. You know, shinka-ed.

This is a heartwarming episode and in the first half the episode delivered the spookiness well enough.

 

[Guilmon]

While I like how they tried to carry over the events from last episode into this one, the topic of death was handled rather poorly.

Everyone knows (or should know) that you should never use euphemisms and metaphors when explaining death to a child, since they take everything literally. There's also the fact that Hiro compared Bokomon's death with his father's journey, which... yeah, not the best comparison since Hiro's dad is actually alive and will probably come back at some point.

And as someone already mentioned, there's a huge difference between finding out that a loved one has died and actually witnessing a loved one's death. If you add to that the fact that children are actually aware of death (even if they don't understand it), making Gammamon completely oblivious to Bokomon's fate was a weird choice.

Finally, I don't understand why they decided to reveal that the granny was alive at the last minute. It kinda ruins the parallels between Gammamon's and Koemon's grief (who I felt didn't bond as much as they could have).

 

[Dathanatus]

While I like how they tried to carry over the events from last episode into this one, the topic of death was handled rather poorly.

Everyone knows (or should know) that you should never use euphemisms and metaphors when explaining death to a child, since they take everything literally. There's also the fact that Hiro compared Bokomon's death with his father's journey, which... yeah, not the best comparison since Hiro's dad is actually alive and will probably come back at some point.

The dim cards are recordings. And we have no idea how old they are. For all we know he actually might be dead and those DIM cards are equivalent to the movie spheres from Jecht in FFX. Might make the comparison more on point that any of them know.

And as someone already mentioned, there's a huge difference between finding out that a loved one has died and actually witnessing a loved one's death. If you add to that the fact that children are actually aware of death (even if they don't understand it), making Gammamon completely oblivious to Bokomon's fate was a weird choice.

I chose to interpret it as Gammamon being in denial. He had his breakdown last episode. He knows Bokomon is dead and never coming back. The way he acts makes me think he either internalised it so hard he doesn't remember seeing him be deleted or as I saw someone theorize, Gulus handles the shit Gammamon isn't equiped to deal with emotionally and is actually the one with that memory.

Finally, I don't understand why they decided to reveal that the granny was alive at the last minute. It kinda ruins the parallels between Gammamon's and Koemon's grief (who I felt didn't bond as much as they could have).

I don't get it either. It doesn't change anything and honestly feels like a cope out. Unless that letter lies and "Granny" wrote it to ensure Koemon wouldn't get sad over her death.

About my own misgivings: This episode felt disjointed, scenes going by too fast without really any connections. Animation also went down again, and ok it does its job but I'd like Toei to show just a bit more of care toward this show.
Kiyoshiro being terrified of every weird shit even tho at this point he should have realized all those weird rumors are digimon is getting old. Felt like he spend the entire episode terrified.

I kinda said it on the preview thread but it really should be said that Hiro is doing a splendid job as a big brother so far. For an only child, who's had a toddler dropped on his lap by his good for nothing dad just before he fucked off , he's been stepping up to the plate incredibly.

Bakumon moving in with Hiro is kinda interesting. I wonder if it means Hiro will go around picking up strays digimon with nowhere to go.

 

[Ricardolindo]

I think this episode was good and heart warming. Another good opening scene. Good of Hiro to cheer Gammamon. Did they mention what town was the hotel?
Regardless, Kyoshiro's fear was a nice touch. Koemon turning out to be searching for the old lady was nice. Good to know that the old lady just moved in with her son. I had assumed she had died. Good for him to take his own journey.
I wonder why Gammamon doesn't realize what happened to Bokomon. I wonder whether Hiro fooling him is a good idea.
Good to know that Bakumon moved in with them.

 

[digifan313]

The great big journey lie huh? I can't say I remember what I was first told about death. Wonder if that's that. That Gammamon thinks Hiro's dad is also on a journey feels like that means they will revisit this topic eventually.

In other news, so I guess we finds out why each bracelet makes a different Digital world, cause they use different DIM cards? Can't wait to see more sceneries then.
And that subject is finally discussed. As far as all digimon that was stuck in the real world knows, there is no way back home. Yet here is one that goes back and forth being a courier of sort and can even make other digimon go home too.

I chose to interpret it as Gammamon being in denial. He had his breakdown last episode. He knows Bokomon is dead and never coming back. The way he acts makes me think he either internalised it so hard he doesn't remember seeing him be deleted or as I saw someone theorize, Gulus handles the shit Gammamon isn't equiped to deal with emotionally and is actually the one with that memory.

It's a bit hard to interpret Gammamon's frame of mind right now since he acts more like a toddler than your average child.
And also Angoramon said that particular Bokomon won't return so they probably told him about the process of reverting back to digitama, but how's Gammamon supposed to understand the concept of there is a Bokomon but it's not the Bokomon you know.

 

[Rohan]

As I had feared, we are back to the monster of the week formula though they did at least try to give us some answers. So, the DiM cards are creating a pseudo-Digital World based on a recording that Hokuto takes and sends to Hiro. Hiro being so callous after his father mentioned nearly dying to a Digimon struck me as weird given how anxious he was last time he brought up Hokuto. The scene of Kiyoshiro hiding and the screen turning negative as Koemon's footsteps paced around him was really well done and it's a shame we didn't see more of those creative takes as the "hologram ghosts" attack the humans. On the subject of Koemon...I felt how he was handled was a mishmash. They really should have either stuck to either the horror tone or the grief of losing a loved one plot as trying to put the two together made the former feel too padded and the latter not developed nearly enough to sell the idea. Furthermore, the twist that Granny was alive the whole time really undercut the parallel between Koemon and Gammamon. Speaking of Gammamon, seems he doesn't recall any of his time as Gulus and is comparably an innocent toddler. Hiro casually mentioning seeing Gulus again and then telling Gammamon to Evolve without hesitation was odd, and while Betel was cool for the five seconds we saw him I would have preferred Wezen since he was denied a climactic finish last time.

Next week will we see SymbareAngoramon at last since Ruli's friends seem involved?

 

[TMS]

The best scene was definitely Koemon bothering Kiyoshiro in his room. The unusual visuals mixed with the sound effects made it one of the few actually creepy scenes the series has had.

Hiro casually mentioning seeing Gulus again and then telling Gammamon to Evolve without hesitation was odd, and while Betel was cool for the five seconds we saw him I would have preferred Wezen since he was denied a climactic finish last time.

I don't know, evolving just to make fireworks seems even more disappointing than getting your finishing move interrupted.

 

[Thatguy3331]

Hiro casually mentioning seeing Gulus again and then telling Gammamon to Evolve without hesitation was odd, and while Betel was cool for the five seconds we saw him I would have preferred Wezen since he was denied a climactic finish last time.

I don't know, evolving just to make fireworks seems even more disappointing than getting your finishing move interrupted.

Betel is just happy to be useful in any capacity lol.

 

[Ricardolindo]

I think this episode was good and heart warming. Another good opening scene. Good of Hiro to cheer Gammamon. Did they mention what town was the hotel?
Regardless, Kyoshiro's fear was a nice touch. Koemon turning out to be searching for the old lady was nice. Good to know that the old lady just moved in with her son. I had assumed she had died. Good for him to take his own journey.
I wonder why Gammamon doesn't realize what happened to Bokomon. I wonder whether Hiro fooling him is a good idea.
Good to know that Bakumon moved in with them.

A thing I missed: I liked the revelation that BlackTailmon is working for Hiro's father and him appearing.

 

[Chappinhas]

Gotta say this series isn't really up to my standards, i dunno i feel the ghost theme ain't being used so well and the pacing just seems off, like it's a story there should be higher stakes to keep a viewer engaged or at least more dynamic events. Take this episode for instance couldn't the whole firework request showup after a bit more of a "fight" like koemon dodging around and being more engaged with the explosions of an atack or something, even then i dunno just feel like the animation is really underwelming, rushed even, showing so many evos of gammamon and still no symbare, barely any setup for any meaningfull overaching plot and the characteres are so plain like they have ONE character trait, nothing else ( Hiro barely has one).

just a comparison, by ep14 tamers (the last digimon series i watched) debuted its first perfect and had a far more established world, not just characters but rules and goals as well.

Overall i expected more, and don't go sayin just cause its for kids it doesn't have to be held to any standards, it's not digimons first series and they could at least try to make a story with a litlle more substance instead of just adding to the noise.

 

[Unknown Neo]

Poor Gammamon. He doesn't remember Gulus? But Koemon was cute/sad. At least it ended well. ...Was that a real kimono or a hologram Jellymon was wearing?

 

[Mon-Ohma]

Me after sitting through Sailor Moon Eternal.
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What with the amount of gut-punching (and head-stabbing) that went down last time, it doesn't come as too much of a surprise they chose to follow up with something more lighter in tone to help both the cast and viewers unwind gently.
The setting being a Hotel plagued by a creepy child who likes to stand at the end of corridors asking people to play with him, which I guess you could call a Stephen King reference if you squint enough.

It's still weird seeing Digimon wander around casually in broad daylight regardless of the excuses given. One kindly member of staff even takes the time to provide Gammamon with some exposition regarding the resident Zashiki-Warashi, who is most definitely not a Digimon.
Regarding our scoffer of champions, I'm no psychologist but it appears Gammamon is going through some serious self-denial after loosing Bokomon. Hiro (clearly no psychologist either) tries his best to ease his little brother over it. Wisely they haven't tried to brush things quickly under the carpet, and the impression left by Gulus hangs over everyone, unnerved understandably by the likelihood of him appearing again.
Though it's become clear the trigger is extreme negative emotions, just how exactly the Gulus/Gamma relationship functions internally is still difficult to understand. Whether the two are separate personalities sharing the same body, and only one can be fully active at a time as I initially believe. Or the more cynical Gulus portion overrides Gammamon's innocence temporarily, and the traumatic after-effects result in vague memories of that experience.
This subplot conveniently overlaps with our Mon of the week, and although I find this comparison between the two a little rough in execution, the sentiment behind it is enough for me to overlook it.
Koemon is neither malicious nor high enough in level to provide any real reason to pull out an unnecessary fight scene, doing little worse beyond abducting Kiyoshiro's clean underwear to hold for ransom.
Ultimately Hiro puts on an optimistic face despite rightful caution by the others and uses this opportunity as therapy for both him and Gammamon, evolving simply just to give Koemon a small fireworks display on the beach. Despite how apparently randomized these evolutions are, Betel is clearly favoured by a good 80%. Which is probably just as well here since Kaus would most likely have just stood around looking awkward, and Wezen might accidentally have levelled the Hotel.
I do find the last minute letter from the old lady rather suspect, since no one (especially Koemon) apparently noticed it before, to the point I wouldn't have put it past someone or even Hiro to have forged it.

Nevertheless, the plot is deliberately low-key and it works decently enough with some fun moments and interactions peppered throughout in order to balance out the sadder parts.
Ruri and Jellymon bond over Kimonos and threatening physical violence on Peeping Toms. Fortunately this not being Frontier nor Xros Manga their dignity is sparred, with the only actual fanservice coming from the boys relaxing in the spa showing off their well developed bodies.
Kiyoshiro and his Professor of Gettinglosteasiology receive visitations and an invitation with inevitable results.
BlackTailmon pops in to provide some new toys from Hokuto's Digital Safari, and what with all that's been happening recently Hiro seems to have very little time to spare on any of his Dad's high-spirited shit.

Additionally: It's nice they took the time to acknowledge poor Bakumon, who is briefly staying with Hiro. And Makoto Tsumura finally gets to become Takatomon.

 

[Strontium]

Any piece of media dealing with death and grief really gets me teary-eyed, so I was almost crying watching this episode. After reading people’s comments I think I might have been overreacting XD

It struck me as odd that the color of the water in the hot tub was a yellow-brownish color. It kinda looked like soup. Is that a cultural thing, or was it an animation technique (so they didn’t have to draw the bodies under the water)?