That is a very brightly lit up red tower.
Aviel and Pachepa are the names given to 'mysterious guy with mysterious dog' who are not anyone in disguise for sure.
Lots of red stuff, the room, the jewelry.
Standard but decently done "It's a vampire" setup, with the added fun of the dog doing it also, and giving us a peek at a Digimon we've seen before in Ghost Game.
We know those bats flying, and some blood explodes out of the jewelry and splatters.
That building being lit up red seems weirder than it should.
Ruli is showing off her SV platinum membership and thanking her friends for help.
Invitation to testing a high end dessert brand that hasn't launched yet. She's upset that she can't bring a guest. Angoramon seems distrustful of the invitation and the blood/red theme of the brand already.
Another group of girls, invited to test new nail polish. And bit. And the little guy joins in the biting.
And the infected go out to bite others.
Gammamon has found out about the desserts and is interested. Angoramon talking to everyone else about him distrusting it is a nice little touch. The dog watched over it all, and informs his master.
Pervert friend is back after awhile. Showing Hiro social media posts from the girls who went to the events and how they've changed on a dime. Hiro wants to know why he is following so many of them. Vampires are mentioned as a joke, this does not amuse Kiyoshiro.
The friend still has no clue Gammamon isn't an AI Hologram.
Ruli is at the event, Angoramon is bothered. Ruli looks nervous. And right behind her is...
And she recognizes his voice. Dracumon. Haven't seen him since way in the beginning.
The dog turns into Sangloupmon, and goes after Angoramon alongside a bat.
Ruli has finally figured out there is some vampire stuff going on. And Dracumon reveals who the leader there is, Vamdemon. And Dracumon is dead, crossed Vamdemon because he wanted Ruli. That was a rather waste of Dracumon, gone with almost no reason for coming back.
Vamdemon explaining his plan, only vampires should be able to rule the world, etc. and he should be king.
The others show up to help and the door opens for them, thanks to Vamdemon. Vamdemon seems to have some idea what may be going on overall, as he wants to test them. And the other assistant was Matadrmon.
Vamdemon transforms into his proper form. Updated for the art style of Ghost Game, but pretty much exactly as you'd expect him to look. Ruli smacks him in the face with her purse and runs off. This has impressed Matadrmon and has Vamdemon muse this shows leadership potential.
Angoramon is down.
Vamdemon and Matadrmon only plan to watch what's happening, part of their test if they can be part of the vampires. Gammamon attacks and Vamdemon just slaps him away. And here's Betel. And Tesla.
Both villains seem a bit shocked they can evolve, but not bothered, more curious.
Vamdemon vampires away to dodge attacks from both, then he kicks Tesla so hard she reverts to Jellymon. He's not impressed. And Betel isn't doing much better, although Vamdemon does seem interested in him. He does a data scan using one of his bats.
Hiro starts to feel ill, the bat infected Betel with a virus. Hiro takes damage anytime Betal does.
Vamdemon knows there is 'something' special about Betel, he assumes it's something being hidden on purpose about him. And he wants to know.
Betel gets the black eyes, but Hiro gives him a small pep talk. Beter doesn't seem to believe it until Hiro says they'll do it together. Eyes back to normal, insert song starts. Super evolution to Canoweissmon.
The animating the mouth of Canoweissmon sort of shows why they often don't, as it seems a bit goofy. And he goes zooming at Vamdemon who tries to hold him back, but that ain't really going to work.
And right through him. He explodes, but it appears he gets away as the bats. Matadrmon is disappointed (not clear if as an assistant, or if he was actually something more), as he mouths off then leaves, as does Sangloupmon. Perhaps all 3 will be seen again.
Nice shot towards the end of Canoweissmon.
The episode early on seemed interesting, and I was feeling it despite some issues. Like the kind of unearned Gammamon evolution in an episode that felt like it was meant to focus on Ruli?
The unceremonious death of Dracumon feels like it knocked this episode down a few pegs hard, as it feels like it wastes something that could have been neat.
Better than average episode, a few exceptionally poor mistakes, and we'll see where, if at all, the hanging elements lead.
Toshiyuki Morikawa returns to the Digimon anime after a long time away to play Vamdemon! He was BelialVamdemon in 02 (plus Battle Chronicle), along with Devimon, Mummymon, Sora's dad, and Oikawa. He was also Mummymon in X-Evo.
Hideyuki Hori is another person returning to Digimon to play Matadrmon. He was previously Dorbickmon in Xros Wars.
Masaya Takatsuka appears to play Sangloupmon. He was Manbomon in Adventure: plus Unimon and Saberdramon earlier in Ghost Game. Plus Magnamon in Cyber Sleuth.
