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[harevutai]

In Defense Of Gakuting

This is something I'd been meaning to write for a while now, because I very often see people regard this part of Gakuto's growth and arc as just comedic relief (and not good one, which I am not in full disagreement with...) and ignore the larger point and themes it portrays. Note that this post will contain spoilers for both Sevens (full series) and Go Rush (until episode 39).

So, first, for a bit of context. "Gakuting" is the 'persona' Sougetsu Gakuto takes on in episode 50 of YuGiOh Sevens- in an attempt to innovate and evolve the Sougetsu style passed down through his family- as he faces Neil Saionji, one of the strongest duelists in the entire anime season. And while it is often derided, both in and out of universe, that is not without some good reasons.

I mean, look at this guy.

And now look at how he dresses up in his 'Gakuting' phase.

This is a bit embarrassing- 'cringe', as the kids may say- and especially so coupled with the way he acts and speaks when playing this character (with slang, puns, and gratuitious 'yo!'s). But that's the catch. It's a character that he plays. And it is made very clear that not only is it still the same old Gakuto under it all, he himself is very aware how embarrassing this is. Which is precisely why it is so interesting to look at the reason why he still goes through with it.

In an earlier episode, one of his two most trusted aides- Ranze Nanahoshi- decided to leave the Sougetsu style, as she felt it had nothing left for her. That is what makes Gakuto decide to innovate his style. Before I go into more details, I want to acknowledge just how even this step is probably something that feels very big to him. Let's look at it in context- we know from Go Rush that it existed well before Mutsuba Town became Goha City, and that it used to be the sort of martial arts warrior clan inspired practice. In this context, you have to imagine the very young heir of such an ancient tradition suddenly deciding it is up to him to innovate it, because he feels it is not enough. It wasn't good enough for one of his most loyal retainers, after all. Further showing just how big of a step this was, he does so as he faces Neil. Neil is consistently portrayed as a really strong duelist- one of the strongest in the setting. Facing him in a duel is something that would unnerve most if not anyone. And yet Gakuto finds it in himself to not only stand up to him, but also attempt to innovate himself and his family's traditions specifically to face such an opponent. A big theme of Sevens- that I will likely expand on in another post sometime- is the courage and strength to push on the road you believe in despite everything. And I think just laughing at Gakuto's attempt to do this in that context is a bit reductive.

Now, of course, Gakuting is still something that is ultimately played for comedy, mostly. It is embarrassing, it is stupid, it is cringe and it is so much of a swing in a specific direction for Gakuto that it ends up just looking like a mockery of his own traditions. Rinnosuke, in that episode, definitely sees it that way, even demanding Gakuto resign as the master of the Sougetsu style after the duel since he brought shame to it (which, now that I think about it, means that his family made an eleven-something year old child the master of what is a very long-standing tradition and that is kind of messed up, but that's for yet another essay...!). But something happens during the duel. The lights go out, and Gakugen- a renowned ancestor of Gakuto's- appears to him as if in a vision, as (quote) 'without getting distracted by his surroundings, alongside his aides… he concentrated on finding a path to victory!' Seeing this makes Gakuto realize he had approached the problem in an immature way, and he should continue forth in a way that does not disgrace the Sougetsu style.

Now, this is a very good and interesting scene, because when you first see it, you get the first, most basic reading of it. Gakugen appears to him as he has 'lost his way', and through this shows him that he should thread a different path as the master of the Sougetsu style. Already, we can read into this that this is not done out of disapproval: that it was right for Gakuto to try this, to find the strength and courage to make that attempt; but that it is not the path forward. For the second, and to me more interesting reading, we must flash forward to the last arc of Sevens.

Here, due to other reasons, Gakuto's memories of Rush Duels (and of all his adventures and growth alongside his friends) have been 'sealed away'. And what is it that brings them back? Gakuting. Rinnosuke and Ranze (who has now made peace with her own issues, and has re-joined the Sougetsu style under Gakuto) don a Gakuting-like persona and duel in this manner, hoping to get through to Gakuto. And it works. Both in-universe, and also on a more meta level as both a really heartwarming callback to something that had been played for comedy and as further proof that this is the linchpin of Gakuto's character arc. This desire and strength to find his own road and improve himself despite the traditions that may feel like they are constraining him.

And as he regains his memories, he sees another vision. This time, he sees Gakugen at a time where he was surrounded by enemy forces, without a way out. So what does the great general who could find a way to victory without letting circumstances affect his way of thinking? Does he choose to die a warrior's death, fighting, but leaving the camp he was guarding without protection? Gakuto- in Gakugen's shoes- does indeed think he should. But Gakugen did not do this. It is at this point that Gakugen resolves the conflict with a silly dance routine, much like what Gakuto did in his Gakuting persona, and not only does it lead to no lives being lost, but he gains great renown and it directly leads to the two warring countries forming an alliance.

And that is when the second, and much more fascinating, reading of the scene in episode 50 comes into play. Gakugen appearing to Gakuto is then no longer to shame him, to reprimand him for losing his way. Rather, it is out of respect for someone who like him was not 'held back by meaningless customs' but instead found his own way forward through an unconventional path, staking his pride and dignity to do so. This is what Gakuting is supposed to represent. This is what the Sougetsu style is, how it began- 'the point where a road was carved open by breaking free from discipline and tradition', as Gakuto himself notes. And that is the importance of Gakuting, and why it is more than just a simple joke.

[harevutai]

The Brilliant Foreshadowing of YuGiOh Go Rush

"Never do I deceive you, Hastings. I only permit you to deceive yourself."

~The Mysterious Affair at Styles, Agatha Christie

This line spoken by the famous Belgian investigator Hercule Poirot- probably the most famous of Agatha Christie's fictional creations- may seem out of place in a post about Bridge-era YuGiOh. 

But more than for any other season, YuGiOh: Go Rush has employed this technique of misdirection from its very first episode. And all of course in order to pull off one reveal in the end of its third arc, that flipped everything we'd assumed about it on its head. This is where I shall place a "Read More", so as to not spoil what it is. If you've been keeping up with Go Rush, it should be obvious; but if you haven't, or haven't reached the end of its third arc yet, then I ask you read no further. You'll enjoy the experience more without knowing.

With that being said, of course this misdirection refers to the twist that the season (mostly) takes place in the past of Sevens' setting, and not the future, as we had first assumed. As we'd been told? No, in fact. We were never told directly that it was the future. And that's why I find it so brilliant. We see spaceships, we see aliens, so obviously we think that this has to be the future. After all, spaceships and aliens and all that stuff belong squarely in the sci-fi genre, and that is a genre that is on 99.9% of occasions set in the future, which of course the writers at Studio Bridge know. And that's the brilliant misdirection that leads us, as an audience, to make an assumption that they never actually stated.

Now, if this was all there was to it, it would already be pretty good. But I argue- and this post is made to show- that not only did they allow us to deceive ourselves, they also gave us a lot of foreshadowing and clues to the fact this was the past and not the future.

Let's start with the most obvious. Firstly, the setting is "Mutsuba Town", and not "Goha City"- in fact, Goha Corporation is a small office like any other! And indeed as we know from Sevens, the city that would eventually become 'Goha City' was founded by the Mutsuba family, and their heavy machinery was what was most predominant until Goha-made drones took over. Also, compared to Sevens', the town the show is set in is much less high-tech. No drones around, the radio and VHS still exist, and so on. The level of technology is noticeably lower that Sevens' super high-tech city where you could just casually go to an holographic sushi restaurant almost entirely ran by drones. Compare any of Yuuga's Roads to any of Yuuhi's creations. But because we see space travel and aliens coming to Earth- with technology that is of course much more developed than ours- we sort of push these details to the side. Even though we know that in Sevens things that would be considered 'aliens' exist as a matter of course! (Think of the -ko girls for instance, which are just accepted with no question!)

In fact, on the topic of space travel, it is shown to already have existed in Sevens. In Episode 90, we are directly shown a spaceship as something 'old' that already existed for a while.

Not only that, in fact, we are told that it was 'developed by Mutsuba Heavy Machinery' when they were still at their prime. We know from Asaka's grandfather that this was at least two generations ago. Perhaps contact with the Velgearians is what caused this? Further, remember that the Goha Presidential Siblings have lived in a spaceship (the Sixross) and apparently 'played among the space debris' and went to school somewhere in outer space. This strongly hints that, at least to some extent, space travel is already very much developed.

For another interesting contrast, we also see the Sougetsu-style is even more aggressive and invokes even more a feeling of military tradition in Go Rush's setting when compared to Sevens'. Think of when people trained in martial arts to even survive as opposed to now. Gakuto's Sougetsu-style is a lot less harsh and brutal than what we see Manabu was subjected to in his flashbacks (think especially of the duel against Bochi). We also know that Gakuto would eventually innovate and bring the Sougetsu-style to new heights and to modernity (I do want to analyze this part of Sevens too...), so we can be reasonably sure that what Manabu went through would not have happened. But because of our above-mentioned assumptions, we are led to ask ourselves 'what could have happened between these two series to lead to this?'- and that's when we deceive ourselves further.

But there are even subtler details that hint towards this twist! Specifically the decks human characters play, compared to their ancestors or even by themselves! To wit-

Yuuhi's deck follows Yuuga's 'machines' in the Jointech archetype: but where Yuuga's has cool and futuristic machines made out of cutting-edge technology (both Magnum Over Road's, Mirror Innovator, even Vast Vulcan is defined as a 'Hyper Engine'), Yuuhi's machines are a lot more 'mechanical'' and rudimentary, made out of parts screwed together, in comparison.

Yuamu's high-tech dragons would then seem a bit odd, but this one is actually one of the biggest clues. Because while they are called High-Tech, what really is the first of her ace monsters? "Bluetooth Burst Dragon"! Now correct me if I'm wrong, but when was the last time you heard bluetooth being called 'high-tech'? The rest of her monsters follow the same theme of 'being excited for this new cool technology!' that used to be the prevalent feeling back when these new things were first being developed (as opposed to today's attitude of this being more the norm than the exception)

Rovian compared to Romin shows a significant "de-evolution" in terms of their respective themes. Rovian's monsters use instruments that are much more classical- Prima Guitarna's electric guitar is contrasted by Battle Bandijo's string instrument; and generally, Rovian's instruments and designs are much more shamanistic and their instruments much more classical compared to Romin's superstar pop rock cards.

London and Roa have a very similar contrast- London's deck aesthetic is entirely based on cassette tapes. Try bringing the subject up to Roa's hard rock demons and see if they even know what you're talking about!

Manya and Mimi are a very interesting example as well, since they are a much more 'direct' example of this. Mimi's ace is Dian Keto, a grown woman who explores and expresses herself through different occupations. Manya's ace is... Dian Keto, a child actress who takes on many roles in her career. Quite literally, a past version of the one we eventually get to know in Sevens!

Gakuto and Manabu are... interesting cases. As I mentioned, the role and form the Sougetsu-style takes in each series is very different. The two deck themes don't immediately contrast in any way. Gakuto's is about tradition and employs almost mythical (or, with his fusions, literally mythical) warriors and beasts. Manabu instead deals with alchemy, experimentation, and the scientific method. Alchemy is however a very early form of 'science' (or well, an attempt at it)- once again hinting at the 'past'.

Finally, while I did say that I would focus on the human characters, it is also interesting to look at The⭐Lugh versus Luke- specifically because they use (almost) the same monster and make it do essentially the same thing. Looking at it in a 'past-and-future' way, wouldn't it be easy to say that The⭐Dragias (a normal monster who needs outside support and an equip card to attack twice) would eventually evolve into Multistrike Dragon Dragias (an effect monster who, by itself, can attack twice)?

There are probably more that are not coming to me right now. If anyone has more to add, by all means! Feel free to do so. But I hope this goes to show two things- one, that it was indeed ourselves who had made the wrong assumption despite plentiful clues being given. And two, that Bridge Era YuGiOh is just as 'deep' and 'smart' (if not more so) than Gallop Era YuGiOh. Boundary builds creativity as they say, and I genuinely believe that by making a show catering to a younger audience but deciding to make one that even an older audience would enjoy, they managed to write a very interesting and nuanced story and setting with a lot of meaning 'hidden' under the comedic overtone of it- which I really love and love analyzing.

And that's all for today! See you around in the next post, which I promise will come sooner than in ten thousand years (I apologize for that I've just been super busy with university and other things...)

Hope you enjoyed reading this, and see you around!

[harevutai]

Providence, Curiosity, and You

(Or, why the localization of Neil Saionji's catchphrase to 'curiosity' is dumb and is gonna cause a bunch of problems) So this is something I've been thinking about for a while now, and while I have ranted about it on whatever discord servers I could reach (and also to a good friend of mine who I dragged into yugioh sevens so I would not brainrot alone) I am writing this post because I genuinely feel that like, this dub choice baffles me on so many levels. But let's start from the basics. So. Neil Saionji. Picture below. This eleven year old blonde kid who is a major character in YuGiOh SEVENS, holds a high executive job in the local super-corporation that regulates the entire town and is a genius hacker who could apparently just causally reroute satellites at 3 years old. For the longest time the person closest to him was a sentient massage chair robot, named Sebastian. He also had apparently gone his whole life prior to meeting the main cast without tasting good ramen. This last bit of information has no relation to anything but is funny so I wanted to mention it.

So, in the series, one of the words you'll hear him say the most and that is really most important to his arc and character is 'providence' ('setsuri' in japanese, if you want to organize your drinking game or something. Not recommended for people who need their liver, though!). Providence is usually a term used in a religious context, but I think for the sake of a more general discussion it can be safely defined here as 'an external, omnipotent force that guides people and events towards a pre-determined path'- something that is so intrinsically woven in the fabric of the universe that it is impossible to escape from. This is something Neil is shown multiple times to deeply believe in. He believes things should be according to providence, though he is not always sure what this providence is, or where it's leading him, it seems to initially just essentially amount to keeping the order and nature of things as they are. The reason he opposes Rush Duels, initially, is because they oppose the current status quo- oppose providence- and so he feels that as an agent of both Goha and of this superior force, he has to stop them. But even as he does so, he discovers something even their creator, Yuuga, hadn't seen. The possibility of Maximum Monsters, the area left intentionally unfinished. And as he has seen it, he feels it is 'right' that he use it for the sake of providence. So far, though, you could reframe this in the context of 'curiosity' rather easily and this is what the localization team has done. While this has led to some interesting dialogue being left out, and some other stuff being replaced by generic taunt/countertaunt exchanges, this is par for the course for dubs, so why am I so bothered by it? Well, not only do I feel changing a character's entire motivation with something that does not have nearly the same impact- in fact, curiosity by itself is much more open-minded and in a way goes in contrast to providence!- it will also make some later plot beats to come lose a lot of their meaning, at least I feel.

What I am referring to is specifically the Goha Siblings arc, and more specifically episode 65, 'Solitary Providence'. To give a brief recap, it sees Neil duel Asana under Yuo's orders, and him resigning from his position at Goha after his loss. Now, in the original version this is a very good and insightful episode. Neil has until now- even though he has changed after losing to Yuga- still been a pretty external character. He had a more active role to play in the Team Battle Royale arc, but even then that arc was more focused on Gakuto and Romin reaching a turning point in their character arcs, and on the bigger mystery around Otes and his plans. Otherwise, he's been the overseer, a more benign one after his arc, lending aid to Yuga when prompted but never actively seeking to do so. As mentioned, this lines up with what I believe to be his idea of providence- that things that are to happen will happen, and there is no need or reason to fight it. The universe follows a pre-determined fate, and the only way to free oneself from the chains this realization brings is to accept it and go with the flow.

And this is where it gets him. To follow his providence, he now has to duel against his friends and to do so under the orders, and for the benefit of, someone who directly stands opposed to them. He will still do it of course, and he does. Bound not only by his position as a Goha worker, but also by his providence as such. But he loses. He loses and not only that, he loses to the one thing that was able to overcome providence the other times he lost: bonds. Bonds with people, something he has so far mostly been 'outside' of due to his providence. And what's worse, by the end of it, after he resigned from his position as he muses how he's always been alone, he loses Sebastian as well. The person that had been closest to him, or at least for the longest time.

It's no wonder this episode has the title it has, and it's really what prompts Neil to reflect on his idea of providence, and to realize what he's given up because of his belief. ...Of course, this is all done under the layer of a kids's show about card games, with comedy and lightheartedness to spare: I might go into this more in a separate post, but I do think sevens is very interesting like that, where the fact it undoubtedly is more child-friendly and humorous doesn't stop it from having pretty deep subtext and themes.

The point of all this is, though, do you now understand why 'curiosity' is not a good enough replacement for this providence? Why I think that either they have to change the context of this episode- and Neil's arc- completely, or they will end up with a very weak character in the dub where the original had a much, much more nuanced and fascinating outlook into the conflict of determinism versus free will? (With Neil being able to both innovate and thrive from his providence, but also losing things dear to him and being alone because he just accepted it rather than fighting).

I sincerely doubt curiosity can replicate this duality in any satisfactory way, but since the dub has not yet gotten to season 2, I suppose we will wait and see- but I am not hopeful. I have been burned by the yugioh dub too many times, the latest example that comes to mind being how they handled Playmaker and Ai's relationship in VRAINS. I just wanted to get my thoughts on it out of my brain and written down somewhere, because why not?

Finally, to close on a more positive note, let me also share a screenshot me and my friend took when we were watching Sevens that always takes me out instantly.