Dot Monster Re:Volution (Part 2 - Plot)
Hello, all. Welcome back.
This is Part 2 of my analysis of Dot Monster Re:Volution, focusing solely on the plot. See Part 1 for the introduction and explanation for how this series will be structured. Otherwise, let’s dive right in.
STATS
Title: Dot Monster Re:Volution
Series: N/A
Author(s): CJ Van
Genre: Science Fiction
First Printing: December 2024
Publisher: Self-published through Amazon
Rating: 2/10
SPOILER WARNING
Mild spoilers for Dot Monster Re:Volution will be included throughout this review, through I will keep the first paragraph of each section as spoiler-free as possible. Heavy spoilers will be confined to clearly labelled sections.
Additionally, it will be necessary to discuss the Digimon franchise at multiple points throughout this review. You can expect heavy, unmarked spoilers for any Digimon media released prior to October 2025. Regarding Digimon Beatbreak (which released its second episode today), I will not be providing any spoilers from the anime itself, though I may provide mild spoilers based upon information that is available in promotional materials.
STORY
The story opens on the event known as the 202X Cyber Attack, which overwhelms the Internet and threatens to plunge global networks into chaos. A group that would one day become known as the Internet Communications Commission (iCC, as they are called throughout the story) resorts to triggering protocols that isolate each country’s servers, quarantining the spread of the attack. It is at this moment that programs known as the Dot Monsters are triggered, shutting down the attack.
Years later, a Japanese girl named Aki, who lives in Toronto with her mother, meets up with her friend Haru online. In this era, the iCC has severely regulated and monetized the Internet, especially across international lines. This requires Aki to use an unauthorized data tunnel. On her way back through the tunnel, Aki’s avatar is attacked by programs that she refers to as Reapers. This causes a Dot Monsters installed on her account, Mamoru.mon, to activate. Once the Reapers are defeated, Aki recruits Haru to help her repair the damaged tunnel and prevent more Reapers from entering the Internet. This process triggers a transformation in their Dot Monsters, transforming the programs into sapient beings.
The rest of the story follows the Aki, Haru, their Dot Monsters, and a growing circle of friends as they seek to dismantle the various systems iCC has put in place to regulate the Internet, with the goal of restoring free and open access to all users.
THE VILLAINS
Throughout most of the story, the iCC are presented as moustache-twirling villains who only care about money. We are meant to despise them for preventing people from talking freely across international lines. Every scene featuring them after the 202X Cyber Attack prologue presents them as slimy, stupid suits obsessed with nothing but profit. Every time Aki and her friends dismantle one of their control systems, it is presented as an unconditional win. There’s a twist villain introduced later in the story, but for two thirds of the narrative, it is just the iCC standing in the way of the protagonists.
All of this would be fine … except we were Shown the 202X Cyber Attack.
Yes, the iCC are self-interested suits, but they are also prevented the complete collapse of the global information networks. Every restriction they apply is either a protective measure to prevent a repeat of the 202X Cyber Attack. Even the fact they are charging for these services can be seen as a necessary evil to finance the new, safe infrastructure.
The real kicker, though, is that Aki and her friends should know this. Yes, they didn’t see the events of the prologue, but they did see the “first Internet” that lies outside of the iCC’s protective network. It’s crawling with Reapers. They put all their focus on how this place restores Dot Monsters to their true forms (Aki’s and Haru’s Dot Monsters were reawakened when they entered the first Internet to seal the data tunnel) and ignore the fact that the Reapers were probably a manifestation of the original cyber attack.
So how, exactly, are the iCC actually the bad guys here?
Maybe Van wanted to frame the iCC as a group that fell from grace over the years and became more interested in money than doing their jobs, except (A) he never explains this fall from grace and (B) they are still doing their jobs. The closest thing he gives us to the iCC actually acting in bad faith is near the end, when one of the leaders of the organization tries to explain how bad the first Internet was and how safe things are now. This could have reframed the iCC as zealots. Unfortunately, even that’s blown apart. Aki and her friends witness the depravities of the first Internet firsthand when they deal with an identity thief and Internet mob tactics, and the twist villain at the end of the book only becomes a threat because Aki and her friends were unraveling the iCC’s web of control.
I think there are two ways that the iCC being these corporate stereotypes could have worked. If we never saw the 202X Cyber Attack, with it merely being a background detail, then the knowledge of just how desperate the iCC were when they quarantined the Internet wouldn’t undermine the whole story. Alternatively, if he was willing to lean into the iCC being more nuanced and ideologically motivated, that could have enriched the themes about Internet freedom by exploring the risks of freedom and alternative perspectives about it. What we got instead is a weird middle ground. I spent the whole story wanting Aki and her friends to face accountability for their reckless behavior.
I have much more to say on the iCC as villains, particularly in how they choose to manage their new Internet. However, this is really more of a worldbuilding issue, so I’ll hold off on that until October 26th.
TWISTS
As mentioned above, there is a twist villain in this story. That reveal is fine. It’s not great, and it’s not even all that impactful, but it works well enough for what it is.
However, it’s the twist right before that which is the problem.
Aki and her friends need to deal with betrayal at a couple points in this narrative. One of these betrayals is an attempt to sell them out to the iCC. When the betrayal is revealed, they reveal that they knew the truth all along, willingly walking into the iCC’s trap in order to gain access to administrative systems.
And this twist is justified by …
… a single line about a Dot Monster’s eyes …
… buried in the middle of a sparring match several chapters earlier.
…
Oh, and also a passing statement made by the character making the betrayal, but the eyes thing is what is leaned upon by the narrative. This is the Jack Barlowe venin twist all over again, and not just in the superficial details. We are being expected to buy the twist based upon an insignificant detail buried so deeply and so far back that it’s nearly impossible to remember. Van has to explain the twist to us in the moment for it to make sense, because otherwise, it would be nonsense.
I supposed the various scenes of Digivolving (it’s called something else in the story, but it’s clearly Van’s take on Digivolving) could also be taken as unsupported twists, as each one is triggered by different factors. However, I’m willing to let that one slide. The first time makes sense as a surprise, and once the Digivolution is established as a factor, the protagonists actively pursue it. That makes the randomness of the triggers into the only questionable element. However, those triggers do all at least make sense in hindsight, and the Dot Monsters can use any of the triggers once those triggers are established, so I feel like this is more an issue of haphazard delivery of information than it is with bad twists.
ACCESSORIZATION
On October 19th, we’ll look at the characters of Dot Monster Re:Volution, or rather at the issues with shallow characterization.
I think all of the characters in this book make sense in concept. Setting aside the mishandling of the iCC and the fact none of the protagonists seem to think through why the iCC regulates things in the first place, everyone is acting consistently with the world in which they live. A lot of their less thoughtful or mature moments can be chalked up to the characters being teenagers acting on priorities that make sense for people of their age.
The real issue with the characters in this book is instead that not enough time is spent to earn things. Motivations, emotions, and character dynamics aren’t given time to Show themselves to us. Everything is shallow, and thus, when the story leans on characterization, things feel very unsatisfying.
That’s for next Sunday, though. For now, thank you all for stopping by. Please be sure to subscribe if you’d like to receive the weekly newsletter, and please share this review with others if you enjoyed it. Take care, everyone, and have a good week.
