It's curious that the writers decided to make Susie a tamer, because it ultimately makes no dang sense. It's often assumed that 8-12 year old boys prefer the superheroes that they follow to be males instead of females, so why they devoted an entire episode to integrating a little girl into the mix is beyond me. Rika was successful because she was instilled with the most fighting talent, but what appeal Susie could have to the target demographic is a mystery.
But, more to the point. This is perhaps the fifth weakest episode of the season, just above "Snakes, Trains and Digimon", "Jeri's Quest", "It Came from the Other Side" and "Kazu's Upgrade". For the most part, this is because Susie is perhaps the most grating character in the series. Though the writers did a decent job at giving us an idea of what would be going on in the mind of a girl that young, as I said before, realism does not preclude annoying; and let me tell you, this episode took plenty of opportunities to remind us of that. More so than any other episode in the season, "Rabbit Transit" suffers from a dichotomy in its material, with two tonally antithetical segments. The brief conversation between Janyu and Yamaki is aimed at audience members who care about the story, while everything surrounding it is purely for easily amused children. It's frustrating, because the latter just obstructs further insight into who Shibumi is and his colleagues' views on him. Once Susie arrives in the Digital World, we are "treated" to some of the worst animation the series has churned out. The scenes of Antylamon running are embarrassing, and the fight with Makuramon is brief, sluggish and without an ounce of excitement. Makuramon, once the most interesting of the Devas, has over the course of this middle arc been reduced to a hardly intimidating, snide runt. For me, the lone silver lining of these scenes is Antylamon herself. You can really sense the blend of confusion and fascination that the giant rabbit feels concerning this small child. It has a tiny fraction of the charm in a similar scene from Disney's "Tarzan".
Overall though, that doesn't make up for the saddest fact: this development ultimately serves no purpose in the grand scheme. Susie could have never become a tamer, Antylamon could have never joined the team and everything could have still turned out the way it did, and it's this sense of minimal pay-off that relegates a sub-par episode to a particularly frustrating one. The good news is that the remaining episodes of "Tamers", while not all on the same level of entertainment value, are consistently recommendable.
But, more to the point. This is perhaps the fifth weakest episode of the season, just above "Snakes, Trains and Digimon", "Jeri's Quest", "It Came from the Other Side" and "Kazu's Upgrade". For the most part, this is because Susie is perhaps the most grating character in the series. Though the writers did a decent job at giving us an idea of what would be going on in the mind of a girl that young, as I said before, realism does not preclude annoying; and let me tell you, this episode took plenty of opportunities to remind us of that. More so than any other episode in the season, "Rabbit Transit" suffers from a dichotomy in its material, with two tonally antithetical segments. The brief conversation between Janyu and Yamaki is aimed at audience members who care about the story, while everything surrounding it is purely for easily amused children. It's frustrating, because the latter just obstructs further insight into who Shibumi is and his colleagues' views on him. Once Susie arrives in the Digital World, we are "treated" to some of the worst animation the series has churned out. The scenes of Antylamon running are embarrassing, and the fight with Makuramon is brief, sluggish and without an ounce of excitement. Makuramon, once the most interesting of the Devas, has over the course of this middle arc been reduced to a hardly intimidating, snide runt. For me, the lone silver lining of these scenes is Antylamon herself. You can really sense the blend of confusion and fascination that the giant rabbit feels concerning this small child. It has a tiny fraction of the charm in a similar scene from Disney's "Tarzan".
Overall though, that doesn't make up for the saddest fact: this development ultimately serves no purpose in the grand scheme. Susie could have never become a tamer, Antylamon could have never joined the team and everything could have still turned out the way it did, and it's this sense of minimal pay-off that relegates a sub-par episode to a particularly frustrating one. The good news is that the remaining episodes of "Tamers", while not all on the same level of entertainment value, are consistently recommendable.
