The Summer Anime 2025 Preview Guide - DIGIMON BEATBREAK

"e-Pulse," which is generated by human thoughts and emotions, was used as the energy source for the AI support device "Sapotama." From the shadows of this remarkable development, terrifying monsters appear. Digimon are living beings that evolve by consuming e-Pulse. Tomoro Tenma is drawn into an extraordinary experience after meeting Gekkomon, who suddenly appears from his Sapotama. While living together with Kyo Sawashiro and other members of the bounty hunting team "Golden Dawn," Tomoro renews his resolve.

DIGIMON BEATBREAK is a new television anime for the Digimon franchise. The anime series is streaming on Crunchyroll on Saturdays.

There are no rules saying that children's shows can't be dark, but I was still surprised by just how dark Digimon Beatbreak's first episode is. Perhaps that's because I'm not an avid consumer of Digimon media; I've dabbled, but somehow missed the collectible monster boat when I was little. Still, this episode grabbed me in ways I was not expecting, from its mild dystopian vibes to the contrast between protagonist Tomoro's life with pretty much everyone else's in the story's world.

Most striking to me is the Sapotama. A combination of a smartphone and an AI device, these weird egg-shaped things clearly rule their owners' lives… and they're not without flaws, as Hitomi finds out early on. That's because Tomoro has the unusual ability to alter Sapotama when he touches them (sometimes—he doesn't know how it works), and when he accidentally recharges hers, he also keys it to his own data. But the bigger question is whether or not altering her Sapotama caused her to come down with the mysterious ailment Cold Heart…and both Tomoro and his brother Asuka seem to think that that might be the case. That means that Sapotama aren't nearly as secure as people seem to assume they are, and that's without even getting into the fact that a Digimon hatches out of Tomoro's.

While we can guess from the first half of the episode, which features a group of Digimon trainers called Glowing Dawn using their monsters to fight bad guys, that things are heading in a particular direction, the episode still does a bang-up job of giving us an easy introduction into the series' world. It seems like there are two distinct types of lives being lived, the everyday ones like Tomoro and Hitomi were living, and the dangerous ones Asuka was involved in, and Tomoro is flung headlong. Are Digimon products of the Sapotama that most people don't know about? Are Asuka and Hitomi dead? (I'm assuming that Asuka also falls prey to Cold Heart, what with the whole frost on his skin thing.) The mysteries aren't complex, but they are interesting, and I appreciate that the episode seems to trust its intended audience to find the nuance and handle the hard stuff.

I do think Gekkomon is a little annoying, and that would have been true when I was in elementary school as well. But his design is fun (love the tongue), and it's hard to argue with the slick visuals. Details like Tomoro's tears splattering on his glasses are excellent, and I like the use of light and dark in the visuals. Digimon Beatbreak definitely has me wanting to watch another episode.

Tomoro has every right not to trust the people who showed up claiming that his brother sent them. Think about it: this poor kid has had his entire world turned upside down when not only does his brother/guardian fall prey to an evil Digimon, but also a purportedly helpful Digimon hatches out of what is essentially his internet connection. Even if Gekkomon claims to be on Tomoro's side, in his mind, the tongue-forward creature is just another version of the monster that froze his brother Asuka. And when a group of people working with their own Digimon arrive, the most they seem to do is stand around watching the two Hyenemon attacking him. Seriously, why should he trust them?

That is, I think, one of the strongest aspects of this second episode. Tomoro doesn't immediately jump on the Cleaner bandwagon; he's coping with what he presumes to be his brother's death (and it may as well be, as we see when Kyo takes him to the hospital) and the complete dissolution of what he thought was reality. Kyo, Reina, and Makoto don't give him any space to grieve or process; they bring him to their decrepit barge and feed him mushrooms. Tomoro's reaction to all of this is to retreat into his shell, and that feels incredibly real. That the rest of the group doesn't understand that says more about what they've had to get used to than anything else.

With this heavy subject matter, this isn't nearly as fun an episode as the first, but I think that's important. There's an idea that children's entertainment has to be all sweetness and light, wrapping kids in rainbow-colored cotton candy. But that's boring – there need to be stakes. And this show has those in spades while also indulging in the all-important Orphan Fantasy. In this plot device, children's guardians are done away with (either literally or figuratively) so that they can go on a dangerous adventure. The main difference is that Tomoro isn't looking for an adventure – he's thrust into one. His only real choice is whether to engage or to continue retreating into himself.

Although he does appear to choose to participate at the end of this episode, it's clear that he's conflicted. Gekkomon's brash style of communication (and his apparently anomalous abilities) is currently rubbing Tomoro the wrong way; it's Asuka and Hitomi, both afflicted with Cold Heart, who are passively convincing him to do something. I think this is going to be a journey worth following, whether you're a Digimon fan or not. Good children's media should engage viewers of all ages, and as of right now, Digimon Beatbreak is pulling it off.

I've pretty much always had a handicap in reviewing a new Digimon anime, since my lifelong affection for this franchise means I'm going to want to like it. The flipside of that comes in me watching the opening kickoff. The general visuals and styling make me wonder how much Digimon Beatbreak actually screams "Digimon" to me. The episode proper is mostly on a good foot after that, starting with a coordinated fight between some kids (and an adult) and their partnered monsters. There's a spunky girl named Reina whose vibes I like and whose Digimon turns into some Gargomon-styled gun wolverine. The action animation looks good, and its setup already has just enough unique framing to bring in someone like me, who doesn't need another Adventure reboot.

However, once that's clear, the first episode of Digimon Beatbreak jumps the tracks to spend what feels like half the episode on supplementary tech worldbuilding and a surprising amount of characters who it seems aren't really going to matter. Between the time spent on this girl, Hitomi, being late for school, and the action opening with characters not glimpsed again this episode, it almost feels like a fake-out before the real main boy, Tomoro, finally makes his appearance as the lead. Hitomi winds up taken out off-screen, and Tomoro's older brother also ends up offed before this episode is done—though at least that feels a little more telegraphed/purposeful. But the point is, it's all very disorienting to start, as the audience (including a lot of presumable kids, mind you) is still coming to grips with the Digimon battles, egg-shaped iPhone devices, an AR-tech-encased world, and mysterious terrorist(?) organizations backing everything to bring in the conflict. And all that (which I'll come back to) still only feels tangentially like "Digimon".

But then a lizard pops out of an egg and declares itself Tomoro's partner, and things finally click into place somewhat. The human/Digimon partner dynamic, including the introductory period, is a signature feature of the franchise. Even as Gekkomon is confusingly leading around Tomoro, there's that sense of sudden new companionship compounded by uncovering mysteries that defines Digimon. There's an immediate dynamic present, one that viewers can look forward to developing over many, many episodes, and maybe that could define a character like Tomoro in a way that codes him as a compelling protagonist—to say nothing of those other presumable main characters glimpsed at the beginning and nowhere else.

Many moments make Digimon Beatbreak feel like its own thing and could work. It's goofy, in an endearing way, that Gekkomon friggin' vores Tomoro before chowing down on his e-pulse to power up for the forthcoming fight. But then again, we don't even know what an e-pulse is at this point, and the episode cuts off before that fight can really get underway. It's a scattershot spectacle that just barely lets viewers know whether they might be interested in continuing. And I am, but I can't blame anybody left with nothing to go on after that premiere—especially if they're not invested in Digimon at the outset. It's the vestiges of vibes, and we don't have a clue what's going on at this point. The vibes are good, though.

Two episodes in, and my uneven opinion of Digimon Beatbreak remains as such. It's still a show that feels overstuffed in some places and overspread in others. It's missing or willfully ignoring some connective tissue, and hasn't defined its characters as much as I'd like for a franchise that's supposed to be built on intersecting personalities and relationships. But also, it's got some terrific sense of energy and momentum, and is presenting that with some of the nicest animation I've seen from this franchise outside of the movies. It's definitely moving to its own…beat? I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'll see myself out.

Seriously, the surface-level style stuff is probably the best part Beatbreak has going for it so far. It's not just the awesome animated action setpieces (though yes there are those), it's the wilder parts that frame it. There's Gekkomon eating Tomoro, carried over from the previous episode, and just the general way the funky little lizard fights using his tongue. The Digimon designs for this show in general have some nice offbeat sensibilities, like Chiropmon's cute little bat/camera beastie design, or Reina's partner attacking with a special move called, I'm not kidding here, "Tomboy Blaze". There's a sauce to it, beat against the cool, colorful backdrop of this "Bay Area" setting that means this Digimon setting has a personality to it even as it's currently set in the "real" world instead of any digital one.

Combined with that inherent cool factor is an effort at more dark, edgy tones that some Digimon entries have tried for and some fans definitely like seeing. Look, I'll admit that my inner fourteen-year-old was thriving a bit off of the malicious murderousness of the enemy Hyemon or the brutal way one caught a hand through the chest from the mysterious monkey monster later on. They do pull things back a bit, revealing that Tomoro's brother isn't actually dead and that the frozen condition people get from having their E-pulses drained is more of the old GI Joe movie coma special to keep things from getting too rough. Of course, that begs the question of if the girl Hitomi can be similarly saved, but the show sort of forgets about her again after using her memory to provoke Tomoro one time. Again, feels like the show getting distracted and missing points for itself in places.

I don't know that I want Beatbreak to dive too hard into the darker stuff—heck knows I don't want this getting close to like what Adventure tri got up to. I think, even as the eclectic excitement is a driving force in it, I really do want it to settle down now and define what some of its elements are. Properly explain, at least a little bit, what the E-pulse is. Maybe have Tomoro reflect on Hitomi and commit himself to saving her as well. Hell, give Tomoro a little time to explore some character interiority apart from his confusion and anger at his, admittedly overwhelming, situation. Right now, it actually feels like Gekkomon is doing more as a perspective pulling the plot along. That little guy's great, by the way. I think Beatbreak is still worth watching, at least as a fan who's interesting in what cool-looking new junk it might throw at me next. But I just want it to shore up and find a little more substance to fill in-between all this style.

I've known that Digimon are cooler than Pokémon since I was a kid. For one, the cool little digital monsters can talk to you, which is just way more fun than something that can only say its own name over and over. Also, some Digimon are scary as heck and want to kill you, which every 90s kid can tell you automatically makes them wicked sick; it's like every Digimon is MewTwo. Finally, as the Digimon movie and the PS1 Digimon World Games go out of their way to remind you, sometimes Digimon have to make poops. Humans, as a species, also sometimes have to make poops. We have so much in common with our digital friends.

Digimon Beatbreak is the first Digimon series I've managed to check out since, I don't know, I think it was the Tamers series that aired back in the day? Regardless, it's been a hot minute since I've been reminded that Digimon Are the Champions, but Beatbreak didn't even have to make it to the opening theme before it had me once again feeling like an excited little dude who was ready and eager to sear Fox Kids' programming into his eyeballs as soon as school let out. The opening fight between the skeezy thief and the members of Glowing Dawn highlights everything fun about this franchise's spin on the monster battling formula: The Digimon are full of personality and cool moves; the Digivolutions that can occur mid-battle are exciting and reliably bonkers; a grown man actively attempts to murder a teenaged girl with a giant, robotic bee. It's great fun.

Then, we get a proper introduction to the futuristic setting of Digimon Beatbreak. I could get all cynical and complain that a world where all of your life's data and private information is inextricably linked to an A.I. egg-gadget is dystopian as all hell, but I'm pretty sure that's exactly the point that Digimon Beatbreak is trying to make. Sure, this is a world that can power fantastical technology with the almost magical “e-Pulse” energy generated by humans. Still, they also have giant egg-dome paradises that are seemingly reserved for society's elite. There's a Ministry of Civil Protection that makes even criminals like the guy from the opening break down and tremble in fear. I haven't even gotten to the part where the Sapotama gizmos hatch out Digimon that feed on e-Pulse energy and then afflict them with a Cold Heart syndrome that either leaves people in a coma or outright kills them.

As our hero Tomoro discovers when he meets his new, er, “friend,” Gekkomon, the world of Digimon is much darker and more dangerous than anything Ash Ketchum ever had to deal with, and he's going to have a hell of a time unraveling the mystery of his strange e-Pulse glitches and avenging his (maybe?) dead brother. As for me, I'm excited as heck to dive back into the Digimon franchise with a show that is this stylish and entertaining. Plus, Gekkomon is a deranged little gremlin, and I absolutely adore him. Screw Garfield; give me a plushie of this freak with suction cups on his claws that I can stick to the rear window of my car.

I love how much Digimon Beatbreak understands the assignment. When you come right down to it, the entire appeal of the monster-battler genre of multimedia entertainment is that it capitalizes on the innate urge that every child has to make best friends with a weird little monster freak that can beat up all of the bad guys in the world—and also look so danged sick as a sticker to slap on to binders and lockers at school. For the new generation of kids (and kids-at-heart) that Digimon Beatbreak is being made for, Gekkomon is that weird little monster freak. He's creepy, he's crawly, he wants to eat Tomoro's soul-battery juice, and he probably smells like the inside of a reptile tank that hasn't been cleaned in a good while. I want one so bad, you guys.

Tomoro, understandably, is less than enthusiastic about suddenly becoming the protagonist of a dark new Digimon series. His brother is…well, we learn this week that the Cold Heart victims aren't actually dead, but Asuka is in the kind of permanent and maybe irreversible coma that counts as death in a kid's cartoon, and Tomoro wasn't even in a good headspace before all of this craziness went down. Now the Glowing Dawn crew is telling him about nefarious conspiracies involving the World Union and rogue Digimon, and this poor kid in on the verge of losing it completely.

Another thing I've always appreciated about Digimon compared to that other show about catching 'em all is that these stories always have real, meaningful stakes. It's not all fun and games for kids like Tomoro, even though Gekkomon is just having a blast no matter what is going on. Like we saw last week, Glowing Dawn deals with legitimately dangerous threats, and this Cold Heart outbreak seems to be the team's biggest case yet. If the premiere successfully sold us on this new vision for the Digital World, this second episode is all about showing us how Digimon Beatbreak can sustain its story for dozens and dozens of episodes.

Even though his brother is gone (for now), Tomoro has found himself a surrogate family to go along with his deranged new pet, and you can bet that this will lead to all sorts of adventures and daring heroics. It's a simple setup, but it works well for a show like this, especially since Beatbreak is putting a lot of work into making its setting feel all sorts of suspicious and dystopian. You can bet I'll be back next week to see where Tomoro and Gekkomon's Bogus Journey goes from here.