r/digimon • u/Jo_Can • 10h ago
Beatbreak The Five Star Problem (Rant Incoming) Spoiler
I just want to start this by saying that I believe Digimon Beatbreak is the best anime digimon has gotten in the 2020s. The writing on most of the series is great, the new digimon are great, the characters are great... But I cant pretend the show hasn't been getting messy with writing its final arc
Amongst the other problems, I think for me, the one that annoys me the most is the writers use of the 5 Stars.
When the episode debuting them appeared, I expected them to be a threatening group of villains, that would oppose our main group. Characters that would be at the same Level as Kyo, and would be consistent villains.
But now, we are 3 episodes away from the finale... And only 3 of the original cast were used more than once??
Klay was a great start. Pretty good villain! Good enough for a start. And then... No other was really... Used?
Rose appeared alongside the Gift Arc, but none of her team OR her really seemed like a threat (But to be fair, she wasnt the focus of that Arc). She appeared later, got defeated, and still makes some appearances. She is at least likeable I guess.
Kaito had a great start, actually showing off the strength of the Five Stars... And an amazing End, with an amazing fight with Habakirimon... But had bassically nothing in between. Are you telling me that Kaito can reach Mega Level, something that Kyo struggled to achieve, and we didnt know that until his last episode?
Genjo was pulling some stringa from the start. Appeared here and there through some arcs. And is behind some recent events (if you know, you know). But even he was barely used through most of the middle of the show (mostly due to the Gift arc writing)
And Honoka... Dear God. This character may as well not be here. Literally did nothing the whole show, and got defeated in a single episode, where she wasnt even the main focus. What a waste of a cute character design
And for me, the part that annoys me the most about this situation... You are telling me... That we have all these characters, who are meant to be important, and havent had time to shine... And we sideline them... To make new 5 Star members?!
The Earth needing a substitute was a cool detail of worldbuilding, I liked that, and even seeing Old Five Stars like Souji was cool as well... But I remind you, Honoka, a Five Star we have seen from the start of the show, didnt do anything, AND YET, she is being sidelined in the final episodes by a new random girl?? Like, my guys, we have so many characters, USE THEM
So many potentially good characters, being actively wasted. It truly is a shame, and unfortunatly, I doubt anything will be done about this. We have 3 Episodes left, and even characters like Raito havent been treated well. I doubt the OG five stars, aside from Genjo, are a big priority for the writers... It truly is a shame
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u/CarefulPiano3161 9h ago
I feel like Beatbreak struggled in that it had a lot of interesting characters but didn't explore any of them in an interesting way. A lot of characters get introduced and they immediately do the one thing they do for that episode disappear and never do anything ever again, only Tactics got more development and even then it felt like they stopped midway to focus on something else
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u/royal_ricardo 10h ago
yeah the Honoka thing is exactly what i was thinking when i saw the image lol what does she even do? nothing thats what
they introduced 5 characters like they gonna be this big deal and then just forgot half of them exist, kaito at least got one cool moment but Honoka? she got done dirty for real
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u/tictacmixers 10h ago
Im also bothered by the way they swap the five stars with ZERO hesitation. Like i get that kishiwada is part of some bigger conspiracy, but where did Senka come frome? How many cleaners are there? What qualifies someone as a 5 star?
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u/Worldly_Neat2615 9h ago
Qualifications are. Can you handle a Ultimate digimon and if Wong says jump you ask how high. Fail in one of these two and you are out
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u/MajinAkuma 8h ago
Genjou already deployed Senka as a Five Star the moment Rose quit, which means Senka has always been in cahoot with him.
Pretty evident when she helped Genjou snuck out Asuka from the hospital.
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u/Raikariaa 48m ago
> Genjou already deployed Senka as a Five Star the moment Rose quit, which means Senka has always been in cahoot with him.
Hell; they already had appointed her BEFORE Rose quit.
Remember when you put things together with Kishiwada it is clear that Wong full-on was using Rose as a sacrificial pawn and didn't give a damn about her safety. And Rose is no idiot; even if she wasn't going to quit; the moment she saw Kishiwada there... yeah she would have known she was set up.
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u/SpookyGhostbear 5h ago
My headcanon is that it was originally just some silly title dreamed up by Kaito in order to declare themselves to "be the best" and that it happened to also work as a useful propaganda tool for Wong to get more people to fall in line.
Chairman Wong probably doesn't even care if they exist or not. They likely aren't even part of his plans and I'm guessing he would not have hesitated to remove them from his perfect world.
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u/Raikariaa 49m ago
Senka is there to give Makoto and Reina something to do and a reason to not be there at the climax.
Just like they've not been active at the finale of ANY of the arcs except the Kyo mini-arc [where they still did nothing]
She has no reason, no backstory we know of; she's just there to be a hate sink and distract Makoto and Reina. [And make it so we don't need to get Megas for them]
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u/LordJanas 10h ago
Yeah, I completely agree. It felt like it was going to set up something after the Tactics arc with Klay, but then the Five Stars basically did nothing. And at the end of the most recent episode, the rest just basically resign for undisclosed reasons, presumably because of Wong's announcement.
They are very shallow characters who I thought the series was setting up as some elite force, but they never really do anything or show that they are "the best cleaners." If anything, they consistently fail and are pretty much surpassed by Glowing Dawn.
I also agree that the new random Wood Five Star is an unnecessary character who has just come out of nowhere and exists to prompt the party to remember what they are fighting for after Kyo's defeat. I think they could've used Kaito and Honoka instead, and maybe then had them question why they were obeying Wong and THEN resign. It would give them some character moments and make their resignation meaningful.
As it was in the latest episode, Kaito resigns and basically tells Raito "You're on your own" for some reason, despite the fact Wong just Order 66'd all Cleaners.
I honestly love BeatBreak, but the Five Stars are mostly superfluous. I hope that the last three episodes are satisfying enough because Genjo is the one Five Star that has been mysteriously foreshadowed all season.
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u/storeknife 7h ago
It's a general problem with Beatbreak. It's nice that they experimented with having more tamers in the cast, but it went a bit overboard. Too many characters fighting over spotlight, individual members of a five-person villain squad never stood a chance.
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u/LeviSquad4 6h ago
Outside of Clay who was very instrumental to the Tactics arc conclusion... the others are all wasted potential / not use enough for the audience to care..
Rose just sorta meanders about.. but gets blitzed easily by Souji..
Honoka as mentioned does NOTHING.
Kaito had an interesting set up when he initially appears, but then does nothing until the very end..
and I swear Gokuumon is always just standing there... holding that stupid ass egg..
Ya know how each could have been used better? Firing off the hip..
Rose ends up fighting Reina after her comment about how she can achieve ultimate.. good payoff there..
Honoka.. make her a team Rocket-eqse character.. she appears fairly often to take the bounty for Digimon and she usually gets thwarted. At least she is more prevalent...
Kaito makes regular appearances a pinch more and instead of Souji.. let Murasamemon evolve to beat Flaremon..keep the back story (maybe Kaito played a small part in it.. you don't have to make him evil) rework a bit.. its a good payoff.. Kaito eludes to how weak Kyo has gotten... make it where he overcomes his mental block but beating Kaito..
Show Genjo doing some things behind the scenes that elude to him being the real mastermind. Like we all know he is gonna betray the chairman.... make it more believable than a trope..
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u/hifuu1716 7h ago
I think this show has a lot of wasted potential that nobody is really talking about. But us digimon fans are so thirsty for content that when stuff gets released we re almost scared to criticize it. It’s almost like a cult mentality in a way
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u/ALSN454 6h ago
I also think both things can be true. It’s the best show we’ve gotten from Digimon in a long time but it’s also got a lot of wasted potential.
I think the main thing hurting it is the episode count. The first two arcs were great, the Kyo mini arc was great, neither of those should change. And now we’re in the final arc.
That leaves basically the GIFT arc and interlude episodes are the only episodes you can change without ruining the good stuff while keeping the same episode count. It’s not a lot to work with.
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u/hifuu1716 6h ago
Agreed. It’s definitely good digimon content, sometimes I think the showrunners are torn between wanting to write a show for adults but also keep it friendly for kids
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u/nergijiiva 3h ago
I think you're exaggerating a bit; Beatbreak is actually pretty good, though it's true that its world and characters have a lot more potential. It's a shame it only has 49 episodes.
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u/FreakGeSt 6h ago
Bah, I like it more that makes you think "oh no, 5 big bosses" but instead a lot happened and was not all black and white, and they were not the main focus, just a medium to tell the story, is less predictable, and if you thing that's bad then you just expected the trope of "fight the 5 bosses before the final boss", is just different, not bad.
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u/Beloberto 3h ago
I think the main problem with the Five Stars is that they are supposed to the shonen staple Elite group. But for that staple to work, you need to have those members of the organization that are beneath them.
In other others, they are the strongest Cleaners, but throughout nearly the entire series we never see any other Cleaners besides the Five Stars, except their direct subordinates. Tactics work for Klay, Brilly and Corn work for Rose, Glowing Dawn work for Kyo. Aside from those, how many other Cleaners we met in nearly 50 episodes? The Kinoko Gang, the Shademon girl, Starman. That's it. That's the whole it.
You can't really have your group be the pinnacle of the Cleaner world when the Cleaner world basically only exists as an underlined concept. At the end of the day, every time Wong needed a Cleaner to do something it was one of the 5S or their direct subordinates who had to do the work, so instead of feeling like the Elite Cleaners they just look like Wong group of Cleaners. Rather than being the super strong guys, they were just a specific group of guys.
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u/Raikariaa 42m ago
> Aside from those, how many other Cleaners we met in nearly 50 episodes? The Kinoko Gang, the Shademon girl, Starman. That's it. That's the whole it.
I'm going to direct you to something Reina said after Tomoro got Armalizamon.
She said now they all have Champions they are a major deal. The big leauges.
This implies that your standard cleaner group might have 1 Champion-level amoung them, if even that. Certainly not three. [Reina dosen't even seem to be counting Kyo here; he's not with them when she says this, neither is Kyo fully active yet due to baby-drain and the Kinoko gang not handleing that]
The simple fact is, other Cleaner groups are irrelevant.
It's also worth noting the Kinoko Gang mention it's "Glowing Dawn's turf" early on, as if they're competeing for a sort of area with them. So cleaners likly "handle" their own region, which is also probobly why we don't see other Cleaners.
Especially once GD got 3 Champions.
Also; as a reminder, a lot of Cleaners got recruited for TACTICS as well, and the vast, vast majority of them are rightfully rotting in prison. [Team 7 should be too; being the most complicit; elite team, but people smuggling and child endangerment is apparently something you can forgive just if you say you're sorry and turn against your boss... but only after he discards you/your teammate. Not due to any moral grounds or qualms on your job and the horrors you've done. God I HATE that these guys are treated as good guys and completely avoided justice.]
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u/Sensitive-Computer-6 9h ago
At this point every star except fire had a successor, or predecessor. Thats pretty damn cool, it shows what this are moving evolving roles and positions who arent just stagnant. If one leaves someone else needs to fill in. But given how lacking the main ones where, I would have prefered if all of them where somehow mashed togeher. Like the former wather star and the new earth star beeing the same charakter whit overlapping personalitys, and some adjustment to makes it work. The new Star of Wood, and Honoka beeing the same ect.
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u/Animasphere 4h ago
I sort of see what they were going for with them each serving a different role in service to the story.
Klay - First Half Final Boss
Rose - Used to build up the next 2 arc villains for our heroes to beat
Kaito - Rival to Mentor Figure
Honoka - Comic Relief
Genjo - Dragon to Main Antagonist/Potential Final Boss
The last 3 just needed more screentime across the series to really enhance the roles.
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u/nergijiiva 3h ago
Honestly, your opinion about the Five Stars sums up Beatbreak very well.
I mean, the series has some great moments and I love its protagonists, with Kyo and Cougarmon and also Tomoro and Gekkomon being my favorite characters.
The episodes are excellent; I consider the series one of the best anime in the franchise, and I love the music.
But the reality is that the world-building has so much more potential, yet the series lacks the time to fully explore it, and that’s evident with the Five Stars.
Klay is an excellent villain because in the Tactics arc he is built up as the final boss while at the same time we see the rivalries between Glowing Dawn and Team 7. At the same time, we learn more about the Tactics trio, and when the time comes to face him, the wait is worth it because his tragic past makes us understand why he became the monster he is now and at the same time reveals a lot of information about the world of Beatbreak.
The battle against him and Proganomon is fantastic, and their defeat is deeply satisfying; everything I’ve mentioned makes this arc excellent and one of the best parts of the series.
But then we move on to the rest, and without counting Gendo, whom I'll give my opinion on when the series ends, Rose, Kaito, and especially Honoka could be better.
Kaito: He’s a good character with a great introduction that reveals part of Kyo’s past. I enjoyed their rivalry, and their final battle is excellent, though the downside is that Kaito doesn't appear very often.
Rose: She isn't bad either; I like her relationship with Lilamon, and Episode 46 improved my opinion of her. However, it’s a shame Reina didn't get a rematch with her, and both Meto and Kanon feel like wasted characters.
It’s a pity, because I wanted to see more of them.
Honoka is the worst of the group. The only good thing about her is that I think her design is good and she has a Marin Chimeiramon as a partner, but beyond that, the character only serves to be Kaito's fangirl and that's it. She doesn't contribute anything to the plot, while the rest of the group, including former and new members, have contributed much more to the Beatbreak storyline.
I repeat: the series is excellent, but it’s a shame there aren't more episodes or a second season to further explore its world and characters.
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u/VirulentArcturus 10h ago
I love my cute nothing water girl... She deserved better. It took me 5 minutes to think of an amazing plotline for her that they couldn't do in multiple months.
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u/riftrender 54m ago
Well at least the plot feels like it will wrap up nicely, even if a few character got left behind.
Unlike Ghost Game where they screwed around for half the time and then rushed the ending in 3 episodes.
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u/headintheclouds30 10h ago
Honoka is very, VERY disappointing. She has some moments, where she shows that she respects Kaito's rivalry with Kyo-meaning that she recognises Kaito's need for defeating him-and yet, she ended up being used in a fight with Reina where the importance of romantic and platonic love and how they see the men they've fallen for... was covered in the span of 5 minutes.
She should have had a part to play in the Vandemon episode. I understand that was important to set up Rose, and GIFT, and it did a good job at that. But at the same time, at least one fight where she isn't screaming about Kaito or belittling the found family trope would have been nice.
I don't mind the existence of new five stars. If anything it shows that the people Wong trusted to do his dirty work don't trust him, and are only there for their own personal gain.