Almost 30 Years Later, Digimon's Darkest Tradition Is As Alive As Ever

Warning: Contains spoilers for Digimon Beatbreak episode #32.Long-running franchises almost always repeat certain themes or story beats across seasons and installments, and Digimon is no exception. Not only is it common for new shows to reuse Digimon across different anime, even if their roles and personalities often change depending on what the new show needs, but as different as the narrative of each Digimon anime can be, the basic themes of characters learning about family and friendship through their new adventures are always a constant as well.

Naturally, another recurring element across the Digimon franchise is its humor, as despite how different each anime can be in tone, it’s fairly easy to see certain types of jokes repeated across the franchise. That’s especially true for jokes that have a bit of meta humor to them, and as of the latest Digimon anime, Digimon Beatbreak, one dark bit of meta humor in particular is still being used, even with the anime side of things being almost 30 years old.

Digimon Beatbreak Finally Brought Back The Anime's Oldest (And Darkest) Joke

Of all the running jokes in the Digimon franchise, the oldest—and longest running—joke is the Digimon franchise’s tendency to kill off Leomon; Digimon Tamers infamously brought back the iconic Leomon from Digimon Adventure and killed him off at the halfway point, and ever since then, nearly every single anime has killed Leomon or someone derivative of him, and Digimon Adventure tri. even brought back the original Leomon just to kill him off all over again.

Leomon’s constant deaths in Digimon have been a joke for over 20 years, and it’s back with a vengeance in the latest Digimon anime, Digimon Beatbreak. The latest episode, episode #32, told the story of Maki’s past with her deceased partner Panjyamon, a variant of Leomon sometimes named “IceLeomon” in English translations, and sure enough, the story ended with Panjyamon dying to protect Maki from an evil Digimon named Fumamon, a common explanation for Leomon deaths across decades of Digimon shows and movies.

The most recent Digimon anime had avoided Digimon's tendency to kill Leomon, and with the 2020 Digimon Adventure reboot going out of its way to keep Leomon alive, it seemed like Digimon might have finally dropped it altogether, especially when Digimon Beatbreak and Digimon Ghost Game before it were conscious efforts to take the anime in new directions. With Panjyamon’s death in Digimon Beatbreak episode #32, however, it’s clear that the joke is as alive as ever, and it won’t be going away anytime soon.

Why Digimon's Leomon Joke Is Always Tragic

Ever since 2001's Digimon Tamers, there’s an undeniable comedy to how Leomon is seemingly destined to die whenever it appears in a Digimon anime, and with how often promotional material highlights Leomon deaths, and especially with how Digimon Fusion made him a zombie-like Digimon, even the staff behind Digimon are clearly in on the joke. It’s as if Leomon is Digimon’s answer to Kenny from South Park, and that’s always funny to watch play out.

As funny as Leomon’s constant deaths in Digimon are, though, what’s truly notable about the joke is that whenever it happens, it’s almost always from Leomon sacrificing himself to protect someone or something important to him; it’s been like that since Digimon Adventure, and that’s still the status quo as recently as the Digimon Beatbreak anime. That, of course, adds a level of tragedy to Leomon’s character that never fails to make his death hit hard, and that’s arguably far more important than the meta humor of it all.

It’s been almost 30 years, but Digimon is still keeping to its oldest and darkest tradition of always killing off Leomon and its derivatives, and with how much mileage it always gets out of it, it always works not just for comedy, but to highlight how consistently great Leomon is with his limited amount of screentime. Even with just one episode, Digimon Beatbreak did a lot to make Panjyamon another great addition to the tradition, and hopefully, Digimon’s next use of Leomon will be even better.

Digimon Beatbreak releases new episodes Saturdays on Crunchyroll.