Japanese Title: Turn Back into Guilmon! Growmon's Riot
Seeing the rather ferocious Growmon, Takato begins to become afraid, but despite his initial ferocity Growmon seems to be rather upset that Takato’s afraid of him and wants to be Guilmon again. After confirming that Growmon won’t fit inside his normal hideout, Takato tries to get Growmon to revert with various shenanigans involving his Digivice. He eventually concludes that the only way to get Growmon to revert is to get the excess data off of him, and attempts to do so by having Guilmon do various exercises and “cool off” in cold water. Takato soon joins in himself, reasoning that a Digimon uses its Tamer’s energy to evolve, but that also proves ineffective. Takato’s “last resort” is simply praying for it to happen at the local shrine.
Takato leaves Growmon at the shrine for the night, promising to return the next day. As he goes out, he runs into Juri, who’s heading to night classes. Takato asks Juri for help, only capable of saying that a very special friend has unexpectedly grown big; Juri reasons that it must mean that a girl Takato has a crush on has gotten too tall for him, and has her Hand Puppet point Takato out to a love oracle.
An exhausted Takato returns home, and in the middle of the night, he finds Growmon at the window, as Culumon had woken Growmon up and told him that they were going to play with Takato. Takato gets irritated at Culumon, who runs away, and decides to call Jian about it. Jian takes Takato and Growmon to the tunnel under the park, and Takato has Growmon promise not to come out. After Takato and Jian leave, Impmon approaches Growmon and wakes him up, but Growmon tells him that he doesn’t want to play with him because Takato told him not to and goes back to sleep. Irritated, Impmon attacks Growmon and chases him out of the tunnel.
Takato goes to the tunnel the next morning only to find Growmon missing. He finds Jian and tells him about the situation, and Jian sends Terriermon to go look for him. Terriermon finds Growmon sleeping in a playground, with a bunch of kids playing on him. Jian, Takato, and Terriermon rush to the area after school, only to find Growmon gone, but Takato finds him in some nearby bushes. Growmon explained that Impmon attacked him and chased him out of the tunnel, and although Growmon had been able to shake him off, he fell asleep at the nearby playground.
This still leaves the problem of how to hide Growmon, and Jian suggests camouflaging him with paint. Although this seems to work, Ruki arrives and points out that a Digimon could easily find him, having Renamon quickly demonstrate. Takato pleads with Jian and Ruki not to fight because of Growmon, and it shortly after begins to rain, washing off Growmon’s paint. Deciding that Takato and Jian have enough to deal with, Ruki takes her leave with Renamon, and as it starts raining, Takato begins to cry...only for Growmon to miraculously revert to Guilmon as the rain stops and a rainbow appears in the sky.
Tropes
- Asshole Victim: Impmon deserved to be thrown off Growmon’s back after attacking it when it was sleeping and honestly deserved more.
- Breather Episode: This episode is relatively lighthearted and comical after the events of the last episode.
- Call-Back: Jian decides to hide Growmon in the water tunnel the gang discovered in episode back in Episode 7.
- Contrived Coincidence: Impmon somehow finds the Central Park water tunnel despite never going there and nobody telling him about it.
- After Jian and Takato paint Growmon, it rains to wash away the paint. The sky is notably stormy when they talk about painting him but only then.
- Cue the Sun: When Growmon devolves, the Sun emerges from the clouds.
- Deer in the Headlights: Takato is completely terrified of the newly evolved Growmon and how much it has changed.
- Diet Episode: Due to Takato’s belief that Guilmon needs to lose data to devolve, the first half of the episode is this.
- Dramatic Drop: Takato drops the two bags of bread when he sees that Guilmon has escaped the water tunnel.
- Everything's Better with Rainbows: When Growmon finally devolves after so much effort, it is accompanied by the rain ending, a rainbow appearing and Takato’s portion of the Image Song “3 Primary Colors” sung by his seiyuu Makoto Tsumura.
- I Have This Friend: When Takato asks Juri what he should do about Growmon’s size, he phrases it like this but doesn’t go into specifics do protect the secret of Digimon from her.
- Image Song: The song that plays at the end of the episode is Takato’s section of the three main Tamers’ image song, “3 Primary Colors”.
- Inelegant Blubbering: When the camouflage plan fails, Takato breaks down after putting in so much effort into everything.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Ruki points out the camouflage idea is stupid because other Digimon can sense Growmon
- Kick the Dog: Impmon attacking Growmon as it sleeps and when it runs away for no reason
- Ruki chastising Takato and Growmon when the camouflage plan fails is quite cruel especially when Takato and Growmon begin to cry.
- Mood Whiplash: The first couple of minutes are completely Played for Horror, emphasizing Growmon’s Terror Hero traits and even having it struggling to speak. This is a sharp contrast from the rest of the episode which is a mostly lighthearted Breather Episode.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Jian getting angry at Ruki and almost fighting her is extremely out of character for such a Mellow Fellow.
- On the Next: An IceDevimon seems to kidnap Ruki and her relationship with Renamon becomes strained.Ruki and Takato: You, too, should aim to be a Tamer!
- Power Echoes: Growmon’s voice at first echoes noticeably, but this doesn’t continue for the entire episode.
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Recycled Script: Takato not believing Growmon comes up again but luckily is not emphasized too much. - Small Name, Big Ego: Child Level Impmon gloats about “beating” Growmon who just woke up not even a minute ago and decided to run away from Impmon’s attacks.Impmon: I’m beating Growmon, the one who beat that Devidramon! I am so awesome!
- Tender Tears: Growmon cries in the beginning when Takato is afraid of it and this makes Takato realize Impmon is his friend.
- Takato completely bawls when the rain washes away the camouflage paint of Growmon.
- Training Montage: Played for Laughs. To devolve, Takato has Growmon run around, take an ice cold bath (before Takato jumps in himself, fully dressed), running around again before jumping rope.
- With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: Subverted. Like Kyubimon before it, Growmon completely retains its sanity when it evolves, barring it briefly Turning Red during its battle against Devidramon.
