I originally reviewed Marine Angemon as the Ultimate stage of Whamon, and it really was Whamon's go-to evolution at one time, but by now, I think it makes more sense to review on its own page...or half its own page, anyway. This aquatic angel Digimon is, appropriately, based on the Clionidae or "sea angels" you may have seen in various other Japanese franchises, or maybe seen in person if you're lucky enough! They're adorable, transparent sea slugs that flap through the water on their cute little wings, and make perfect sense as one of those "tiny-yet-powerful" Digimon. This was also, technically, the only Ultimate level marine invertebrate in the Digimon franchise for the majority of Digimon's existence.

My biggest critique, of course, had always been that a real sea angel isn't so peaceful at all. The real thing is actually a pretty fearsome predator of other swimming gastropods, and its adorable round "head" is actually the "buccal sac" housing several retractable, barbed tentacles!

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I always held out hope that maybe some day, Marinangemon would see some a darker counterpart, even if there's already a "Marine Devimon" that's neither an Ultimate nor a sea slug. At least some sort of "fallen mode" form, or even an X-evolution? Well, it turns out Digigod has heard my pleas, and done even better than that.

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Yes, there really is now a "demon" doppelganger to the digital sea angel, and the design is just what you might have expected in classic devil digimon fashion. It's a darker blue Clione with a red skull mark on its chest, bandages on its tail, a leather neck collar, stitches on one of its "arms," tattered purple wings, narrow yellow eyes and a spooky jagged mouth with stitched-up corners. It perfectly follows the classic design schemes of digidemons, now in sea slug form! And since the "Marine Devimon" name was already taken, they decided to call it Cthyllamon, like some kind of Lovecraftian horror, even though it's less of a world-threatening cosmic abomination and more of a tiny little shitheel.

Cthyllamon is said to have the nickname "Phantom of the Ocean," because only the skull mark on its chest can be seen glowing in the deep sea. Its most important special move is Ocean Hell, which uses the sensation of "endless terror, akin to the darkness of the sea" to break an opponent's spirit and reduce them to its enslaved puppet, so basically overwhelming their mind with a comprehension of abyssal vastness. Killer!

The key question, of course, is whether this clionid also does the thing, and I'm overjoyed to tell you that yes, yes it does.

Not only does Cthyllamon's mouth conceal a set of tentacles, but the attack is even called "Buccal Rush!"

There's still a curious dearth of boneless aquatic Ultimates in the digital world; we're in dire need of a fully evolved cephalopod, a crustacean, maybe something as unexpected as a giant coral reef, a polychaete dragon or an all-powerful sea sponge. Both our angelic and demonic clionids, however, are appropriate enough for any of the mollusk and shellfish Digimon, as well as a pretty cool option for the Numemon family!

...And the best part is, Cthyllamon isn't JUST a scarier, more tentacled ultimate-level sea angel Digimon that they revealed in the year 2023, it's ONE OF the scarier, more tentacled ultimate-level sea angel Digimon that they revealed in the year 2023, and the other one isn't actually related in any direct way to this one. That sounds pretty crazy, I know, but just wait until our next review!

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