"Ken wasn't so sweet back then...and even good Digimon had to do his
bidding..."
-Gatomon, on the Kaizer
Looking back on the Kaizer, with all we know now, is a strange endeavor, to be certain. We can understand why he was that way.
We might not, however, be able to believe it anymore.
The Kaizer. He was...a royal bastard. He took over the digital world, destroyed lives, attacked the DigiDestined on a daily basis, chained up Daisuke on at least two occasions, beat up each of the 01 DigiDestined's Digimon...(he was especially cruel to Agumon, who he enslaved and made attack the DigiDestined...even Tai.)...in general was responsible for more pain and suffering than can easily be believed. He was, to be short, a Digital World...not quite Hitler or Stalin, but certainly at least a Mussolini...Where today's Ken smiles when he watches Minomon and Chibimon have a little wrestling match on Daisuke's legs (while poor Daisuke tries to sleep...) the Kaizer made Gotsumon and Elecmon fight in a ring while he laughed.
It also makes for an entirely different level of connection between Daisuke and Ken, if you're the kind of person who, like me, looks for it. Daiken can be almost sickeningly sweet at times...it's not hard to do, really. I mean, Daisuke obviously cares for Ken very strongly, either as a friend or as a love. Today's proofs are all embarrassed smiles and blushes.
Back then...well, we all remember the most MAJOR Kensuke episode, don't we? Ken's Secret. What did we get then? Ken had Miyako, Hikari, Iori and Takeru tied up and was about to feed them to a digimon (well, we THOUGHT he did. The Kaizer was nothing if not a little mindfucker...), and Daisuke was below him.
Kaizer: If you want me to show mercy, you must beg for it. "Please
master, spare my friends."
Daisuke (falls to his knees) : Please, master. Spare my friends.
Kaizer (mocking): "Please, master, spare my worthless friends."
Daisuke: Please, master. Spare my worthless friends.
And...a little bit later, perhaps the most disturbing line ever to come across in the show.
Kaizer: Seeing you squirm is SO delicious.
Whoa. THIS is what people call a kids show? Sounds more like Kink Night at the Man Ray...and how did Daisuke figure out who the Kaizer was? They'd played soccer earlier that day. Daisuke had tripped Ken and given him a cut. At one point through here, the cut had re-opened and bled though Ken's pants.
Brr. This is the point where I said that writing Kensuke/Daiken fluff was a lost cause. Couldn't work. Never happen.
Words I'm now eating, let me tell you.
Because when it comes to Ken, there are two of him. Maybe that's too simplistic, but it's the best way to describe it. The Kaizer...even when he wasn't in his regalia, he LOOKED different from today's Ken. For one thing, as stupid as it sounds, he had smaller pupils. Doesn't sound like much, but it's the main thing I can find that's different from the "real world" Evil Ken and the real world Ken-chan. And the entire effect was just DISTURBING.
And why did all this happen?
Because Ken felt like he killed his brother.
It's, perhaps, the sweetest reason to become a mass murderer ever. Ken's older brother Osamu (his dub name is Sam) died after being hit by a car. In front of little Chibi-Ken's eyes. And Ken, always in his brother's shadow, had wished he'd just go away. And afterwards, torn up by guilt, Ken had tried to become a mirror image of Osamu (for instance, Osamu had wild blue hair which stuck up in all directions and wore large glasses...hmm...where have we seen THIS before?) becoming the "perfect son" to his parents. The boy genius.
And he HATED it.
We're never given that straight out. Ken never says "God, did I hate being Ken." But...it's implicit in EVERYTHING. Ken wanted another world.
Enter the Digital World.
Ken was the Chosen Child of Kindness. (Though some would have it that Osamu was actually the original child of Kindness...theories in general differ.) And, at one point before Osamu's death (presumably at about the same point as when the 01 DigiDestined entered the Digital World), a Digivice came out of the computer. Not a D-3, certainly not the DARK D-3 Ken now has, just a plain, ordinary, run-of-the-mill Digivice. Osamu, always worried (and perhaps a wee bit...or maybe more than a wee bit jealous of his scapegrace younger brother), tried to keep it away from him. But Ken found it.
Ken used it.
Ken met a certain little caterpillar of a digimon.
Ken came back.
Osamu took the Digivice from Ken.
And died.
And poor, grieving Ken, received an e-mail (we are led to believe that the e-mail was from Arukenimon, or her own boss) and was led to the Digital World again.
And past the Digital World to the World of Darkness, the dark ocean. Where he dipped his Digivice and presumably made a wish.
Enter the dark D-3.
And enter the Kaizer. Because the moment Ken dips his Digivice, that's where his eyes change. Remember how I mentioned the size of Ken's pupils? This is the moment that they get tiny.
And they stay tiny until Ken has his regrets. Until that certain little caterpillar of a digimon, our poor, faithful Wormmon, sacrifices his life to save the DigiDestined. Not Ken, the DigiDestined and the Digital World. Wormmon betrayed the Kaizer, but he stayed loyal to his Ken-chan, if that makes any sense. (He gave his energy to Magnamon, a digivolved form of V-Mon...which leads to part of MY theory that the Jogress connections existed before they digivolved together.)
And Ken realizes that he had been an idiot.
And we get towards the Ken we know today.
Big pupils and all...