Welcome to Victory Script, a world dedicated to reviewing the best and worst moments of anime and video games.

Victory Script - An Old Enemy Returns

Next up is quite a surprise from Episode 19 of Digimon 02 - An Old Enemy Returns.

Following on from the previous episode, the Digi-destined find the Emperor's fortress, Davis has to stay behind due to no land access while the others infiltrate the base along with Tentomon.
A dark whirlpool is seen by TK and Pegasusmon, what he sees is Ken obtaining Devimon's data, the thought of seeing Angemon's killer enrages TK so he splits to confront Ken directly.
Cody, Yolei and Kari are confronted by Kimeramon, the very creation Ken has been working on.
TK confronts Ken but TK just laughs at him and taunts him for his lack of understanding of the dark forces he's playing with, even shrugging off a whip to the face, followed by TK beating the ever loving crap out of Ken, it doesn't last long as Kimeramon runs rampant through the Digi-destined, Davis being useful for once uses the moving island to help his friends escape forcing the Digi-destined to re-group.
Ken assumes control of Kimeramon but it's not clear if he's really in control.
Three takeaways from this episode.
1. I'm reminded how useless Davis is, he's a poor substitute for Tai and TK really should've been the protagonist.
2. Speaking of which, this is the same TK who was too young in the previous season to make any kind of impact except as a last resort with Angemon, when did he become such a bad ass? It's a testament to his character how much he's evolved between seasons and how much his experiences have affected him as he's grown, his reaction to Ken and full on fist fight with him is one of the best moments in the franchise.
3. TK isn't the only anime character to beat the crap out of someone for making a chimera, isn't it Edward?

Next time on Victory Script
Fairy Tail

Victory Script - Warcry of Excessiveness

Next up is the comedic series spinoff Full Metal Panic Fumoffu Episode 7, Warcry of Excessiveness.

The episode opens with a student named Gouda talking to the principal about the state of his club, he talks about all the charity work they do and all the quality of life work they do around the school but the Principal flatout says that they are not a club dedicated to charity, they are supposed to be playing Rugby.
The Student Council gets involved as the President brings in Kaname and Sousuke to sort the issue while he's away at a conference, the goal is to get the Rugby team to defeat their rival side in order to remain a club.
A look at what the club actually do can be considered, how should I put this, soft and a little excessive with the safety and very sissy; Kaname sees them as a lost cause and even joins in making fun of them when the rival team bullies them but when Kaname refuses an advance from the rival team captain and Sousuke's inability to read the situation triggers a mass brawl, Gouda and the team fed up of being humiliated asks Sousuke for help.
The next day, Sousuke trains them army style using some rather colourful language from Sousuke's book written by Melissa Mao how to abuse a training recruit.
The day of the match comes and Sousuke leads his team onto the pitch, the team themselves looking stoic and disciplined are rallied into action.
Once the match starts, Sousuke immediately gets sin binned for kicking out the rival captain, the rest of the team go in and destroy the remains of the rival team.
The episode ends with Kaname smacking Sousuke for trying to end with something meaningful to say.
Three takeaways from this episode.
1. It's pretty terrifying how easy it is to mold the kindest soul into a soldier, a reminder that the battlefield is no place for those not willing to kill.
2. The training montage is a direct reference to Full Metal Jacket.
3. According to Sousuke's dub actor Chris Patton, there is an uncut version of the training montage as the original episode was censored with bleeps and he confirmed in person he really did say all those things.

Next time on Victory Script
Digimon 02

Victory Script - Pika and Goliath

A look at Pokemon DP Episode 74 - Pika and Goliath.

Its a normal lunch time for Ash, Dawn and Brock when Pikachu has to deal with Piplup who wanders off. A trainer approaches with a Pichu mistaking Pikachu for a wild one, Sho is attempting to make a powerful evolution team of the whole Pikachu line and begs Ash several times to trade Pikachu but Ash is having none of it but does at least agree to battle Sho's Raichu.
Ash tries everything against the Raichu, even calling on his previous knowledge fighting Lt Surge but Raichu not only matches Pikachu's techniques but greatly over powers the electric mouse, the battle ends when Pikachu takes a point blank hyper beam.
Paul who was watching says Pikachu would never beat Raichu as it is and calls Ash pathetic for even trying, but insults would have to wait as Pikachu is badly hurt.
Over night, Pikachu is in intensive care and even goes into cardiac arrest, the extra voltage keeping him going.
Ash approaches Pikachu in the ward and places the thunderstone next to his bed with Team Rocket watching in the background contemplating the idea of Pikachu becoming Raichu, Ash gives Pikachu the option and leaves him to rest, Pikachu not so happy is found the next morning training to strengthen his attacks, it's heavily assumed that Team Rocket helped him make the decision by stealing the thunderstone.
Pleased that Pikachu will stay as he is Ash re-challenges Sho and in an epic clash of titans, Pikachu overcomes the Raichu using his new found strength and techniques learned by watching Dawn's contests, Sho admits defeat and accepts Ash as a rival, Paul still not impressed.
Three takeaways from this episode.
1. This is a callback to season 1 when Pikachu went up against Lt Surge's Raichu with the next logical step obviously going up against a fully trained Raichu but it's also the last time we'd get this story.
2. Pikachu nearly died, really think about that for a second, we've seen Ash dice with death several times and plenty of episodes have dealt with ghosts of the deceased but rarely do they cover the death of Pokemon, it wouldn't be until Alola that it really talks about it but for many people, this was a nervous episode to watch.
3. With that in mind, a question: what counts as "too far" in a Pokemon battle? With Pokemon having constant medical help, it's easy to assume that most will get up after a mere fainting but Pikachu took a point blank hyper beam while pinned to a rock and was lucky to be alive, this is also the major plot point of Arven's story when his Mabostiff is injured to the point of being on life support before the first Titan, something to consider when you next decide to incinerate that level 2 Pidgey with a maxed out Charizard.

Next time on Victory Script
Full Metal Panic

Victory Script - A Wicked Wind Blows

An example of raising the stakes in a sports anime, Beyblade 1st season episode 49 - A Wicked Wind Blows.

The finals of the first World Championships hasn't started well for the Bladebreakers as Kai loses to Spencer, Ray is up next against Bryan and it's all on him to deliver, but Bryan isn't pulling any punches as the arena is a rotating disk stadium, the first round goes poorly as debris from Falborg's attack strike Ray several times along with the wind coming off his Beyblade, Ray loses pretty quick as he and Driger have to regroup and give it another shot but Bryan isn't about to slow down for Ray and intensifies his assault, Ray is able to scrap a win by going all out but collapses from his injury.
Bryan is pissed although you can't always tell with how he speaks and puts Ray as he puts it through the wringer, getting more violent as the attacks start tearing into his clothes and hair ties revealing some unbelievable hair from Ray, he's all but reached his limit but through inspirational words and Driger's desire to protect Ray, Driger pulls off one final attack that defeats Bryan and shatters his blade into pieces, unfortunately Ray collapses from the injuries and is hospitalised, he also loses Driger in the process having given all his energy to save Ray, the victory sets up a final clash between Tala and Tyson.
Four takeaways from this episode.
1. It's disappointing that Bryan never did much after this as he's on par with Tala for pure ruthlessness.
2. The injuries to the actual beybladers serves as a foreshadow for where the series ultimately ends up in G Revolution where the stakes are higher and injuries more frequent.
3. With that in mind Ray's super long hair makes it's debut and ultimately acts as a symbol of how intense the sport gets.
4. Ray's passed out expression is a reference to Tomorrows Joe's most famous scene where the boxer dies with a smile on his face, Ray doesn't die but it's great to know where the reference originates.

Next time on Victory Script
Pokemon

Victory Script - Nao's Precious Bonds With Family

An example of really well done emotion from Episode 42 of Smile Precure - Nao's precious bonds with family.

Nao's mother is hospitalised while delivering her seventh child, Nao being the oldest, takes charge in looking after the siblings and decides to make a curry for everyone, simple sweet Shojo stuff.
Missing an apple from the recipe, two of her siblings offer to get it for Nao only for them to be captured by the witch villain Majorina in order to lure out Cure March, Nao along with the rest of the family find Majorina and seeing no choice in the matter Nao transforms into Cure March despite it revealing her secret in front of her family.
Cure March struggles with the Akanbe monster prompting Nao's family to defend her which only angers Majorina more as she goes into her younger form and fights Cure March head on as she to powers up, March getting more angered attempts her new attack but it fails to do anything to the Akanbe, Majorina then uses the moment to attack her siblings in an attempt to kill them, March completely has a mental breakdown as she helplessly watches the attack happen, thankfully the rest of Smile Precure show up to save them, the team wrap up by defeating the Akanbe forcing Majorina to retreat. The episode ends with Nao welcoming her newest sibling into the world.
Two Takeaways from this episode.
1. It's a major testament to the voice talent of Inoue Marina for her performance as she absolutely nails the distress that Nao went through and double the praise to the animation team for making that scene so effective. What really sells the scene is the fact that Nao is in so much shock it takes quite a few seconds for herself to click that her siblings are okay, even while her siblings are hugging her, she's still clearly shaking; for a season of Precure that is traditionally sillier, when they do go serious they absolutely nail it.
2. At the same time, I miss when Precure were capable of being serious and really making the effort to push the direction into situations that may force it's target audience to grow up just that little bit, too often over the last few seasons they fall short of delivering the story often being too accepting of a quick resolution.

Next time on Victory Script
Beyblade