Ken’s Secret

8 - “Ken’s Secret” Davis plays the famous Ken Ichijouji in a soccer match, but is then subjected to mind-games by the Digimon Emperor. In a scuffle, the Emperor’s true identity is revealed. This episode is certainly the best of the series so far. The animation is slightly above normal standard, and the soccer match scenes are well done (particularly thanks to the well done music-synching for the dub, at least). Ken is excellently portrayed here – his two-faced nature at this time is evident, due in part to some very good acting from Derek Stephen Prince. The Emperor’s threats to Davis are cruel, and a rather nasty concept so early on in the series. I still have one BIG problem here, though.

Oh, WOW! KEN’S THE EMPEROR!!

Duhhhh.

This episode would have been SO much better if the writers had actually TRIED to hide the fact that Ken was the Emperor. They should have introduced a bunch of other supporting characters over the course of the opening episode, and made a few hints towards them, too. The revelation that Ken is the Emperor – being the big moment the series has been moving towards for the last little while – falls totally flat.