#I forgot a Zexal character was called that too ^^°)

[kaiowut99]

Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters GX Episodes 127-128 Subbed (Finalized)

(Previously: Episode 126 Subbed [Finalized])

(Check out my Subbed!GX Stream Masterpost!)

TURN-127: Martin, Breaker of the Seal

Principal Samejima and Pegasus discover the stone tablet dedicated to Rainbow Dragon and are en route to it. Martin, acquiring the three Phantasm cards, provokes Amon into a duel with the three Phantasms at stake. Amon is conflicted, but he decides to duel Martin to ascertain how he feels. Martin summons Mad Reloader in Defense Mode, while Amon summons his 3000-ATK Cloudian — Eye of the Typhoon to blow away 3000 of Martin's Life--yet Martin is composed about that attack. Elsewhere, Johan and the others know the facility that will allow them to obtain the Rainbow Dragon card and head for it.

TURN-128: The Gem Beasts VS Cyber End Dragon

As it turns out, obtaining the Rainbow Dragon card will require fierce Duel Energy--leading Hell Kaiser Ryou and Johan to duel to that end. On his first turn, Ryou summons Chimeratech Overdragon, going on to activate his Future Fusion Permanent* Magic and prepare to summon his Cyber End Dragon in two turns. Johan performs a direct attack with Amethyst Cat, but Ryou barely flinches, summoning his Cyberdark Dragon to attack him even more. *Like originally happens in the episode, the original summary makes the mistake of calling Future Fusion "an Equip" Magic and not a Permanent/Continuous one.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Like Pegasus designing Rainbow Dragon, I've splendidly finalized my subs for 127 and 128!

Working on both works as a bit of an unintended two-parter as we have Amon confronting Martin--and the being within him--for the three Phantasms, learning more about himself in the process, while the race is on for Johan and co. to make it to the tennis courts and accumulate enough Duel Energy to get Rainbow Dragon and a shot at getting home. I do like 127 for the juxtaposition of Echo confronting Pegasus and offering more of Amon's past ("My dream of Amon becoming king... was shattered by Amon himself.") with the being--which episode 128's credits already reveal as Yubel so there we go--reading Amon and the will he's adhered to like a book and making him think of how it's held him back. Where that ultimately takes him--and whether it's good or not--is for another post, ofc. I also do love 128 and Ryou's intense duel with Johan; that opening turn with "Rival's Onslaught" playing and the first use of "Testing Duel" off Sound Duel 2 are great, as is the first use of "Wicked Grudge" as Martin plays House of Sand and we see what happened to Yubel. [Also I forgot how much dialogue 4Kids stuffed into this episode, especially as Marcel activates House of Sand--so much needless fluff...]

Animation error-wise, there's actually nothing too big involved--I applied a handful of fixes to both episodes (13 altogether), mostly quality-of-watching ones like split-screens, though I did fix up the error with Ryou calling Future Fusion an "Equip," along with one odd Ruby-related animation error. Details under the cut below, as always, for the interested!

Anywho, enjoy! We're just about set for a big reveal as we hit the arc's climax; I'll be mostly focused on getting some work started on 129-130 (I'd hoped to get them done before the GX remaster starts next Friday but hopefully it won't be too long after it does lol) while I look over the ARC-V work I've done for Yuya over in Tag Force Special as I get started with translating the ARC-V character story text after having just wrapped ZEXAL's. Stay tuned!

Fixes and Edits! (127)

As Martin and Amon get their duel started, they slide into a split-screen to shout "Duel!"; as they then slide apart to show their LP counters, Martin's split takes a frame longer to slide offscreen than Amon's does. A quick fix in Sony Vegas, as I held a split-less frame after that over the erroneous frame to get them offscreen simultaneously.

A bit later, as Amon uses Eye of the Typhoon to attack Martin's Mad Reloader, the two are on a split-screen as Amon explains the former's effect; as they split apart, something odd happens: 1) Amon starts to slide offscreen but Martin's split stays still--and shows more of Martin behind Amon's split; 2) Martin's split, now showing more of him, only starts sliding offscreen the frame after their slide-out starts; and 3) with the slide-out lasting only four frames (vs the usual 7-8 frames), this leads to them unevenly sliding out, with Amon's mostly gone and Martin's still halfway in the shot in the last frame before they're both gone. Fixed this in Vegas by redoing their slide-out to be smoother and the usual frames long while also keeping Martin's split consistent, grabbing a loop of the rain/wind slamming on him to move.

Later, after Martin is impressed by Amon's first move, the two are on a split-screen as the being inside Martin assesses his dueling--but as they split apart, things are uneven and odd, with Martin and Amon both moving to split apart yet Amon's split slides down and offscreen for two frames before Martin's actually splits away from his (and Martin still moves up in his split as the border on it shows up), leading to Amon's eventually being fully offscreen a frame before Martin's is. Fixed this all in Vegas by redoing their split-out to be even, keeping Martin consistent in his split as it slides upward, and also panning the pan shot of Amon behind them slightly downward behind them as it's transitioned to.

Later, as the being inside Martin suggests breaking Amon's god-like will, Amon slides in on a split-screen to gasp, but a few things happen: 1) Martin slides down for two frames before Amon's split starts to slide in; 2) after Martin reveals his Break the Seal Traps, Amon slides up to end the split-screen, but it's a quick four-frame slide-out (vs the usual 7-8). Fixed these in Vegas by redoing both the slide-in and slide-out, syncing Amon's slide-in with Martin's moving down and making Amon's slide-out a smooth seven-frame-long slide-out.

As we see the Phantasms’ silhouettes rising behind Amon’s Eye of the Typhoon, Amon and Martin slide in on a quick split-screen before sliding out to show Eye of the Typhoon being made to dissipate–but for a quick frame on slide-in and slide-out, the border on Amon’s split is a bit ghosty and faded, while on the slide-out, the close-up of Eye of the Typhoon that's being transitioned into is also briefly missing. As noted in 126's breakdown as I looked at this shot for the preview, I fixed these here first, redoing the border on Amon’s split for both ghosty instances to look more per usual, while on the slide-out, I masked in part of the close-up Eye of the Typhoon shot between him and Martin.

In the next shot, we see a shrouded-in-darkness Raviel standing up--but in the original preview for 127 in 126, his eyes ominously glowing red as he does so, while this was removed for some reason in the episode proper, so he stands up with his eyes looking normal. I thought it made more sense to still have his eyes ominously glow, so I took the preview version of the shot and masked out the glowing eyes over the footage here to restore it.

Near the end of the episode, as Johan and Ryou are about ready to start their inter-dimensional duel, there's a quick frame as we start to pan up on Ryou (as he stares Johan down) where he's... missing from the shot--he's then added back in the next frame. A quick fix in Vegas, as I replaced the erroneous frame with that second fixed frame.

Fixes and Edits! (128)

A rare audio fix: as Ryou activates his Future Fusion on his first turn, he erroneously calls it an "Equip;" the card is shown as a Permanent/Continuous Magic, with its last appearance as an Equip Magic being in episode 83. Fixed by using UltimateVocalRemover to isolate the vocals and music/SFX, then replaced his use of "soubi"/"Equip" with an "eizoku"/"Permanent" I pulled from one of his Duel Links lines before mixing it all back together, making sure it was a seamless edit working with the audio before and after the clip before mixing it back into the episode's audio--to some good success, I think!

The next error doesn't happen until the eyecatch; it's a rare eyecatch involving a split-screen as Judai, Ryou, and Johan slide in--but there's a bit of a ghost split-screen border around the bottom of Judai's split that sticks around as Ryou and Johan slide in. Fixed using Photoshop to draw the ghosty border away with more of Judai's jacket and shirt, slightly redoing the proper borders around the edit for blending, then sliding the fixed portion of his split down with the rest of his split.

A bit later, after using Sapphire Pegasus to place her in his Magic/Trap Zone, Johan activates Ruby Carbuncle's effect to Special-Summon her and his other crystallized Gem Beasts--but an odd error happens as Ruby uses its "Ruby Happiness" effect, as light shoots out of its tail in a close-up scene launching the effect, yet in the next shot zooming out from her the light is... detached from Ruby's tail somehow. Thought I could fix this, and I think I did pretty well at it; I first used Photoshop to work on the first frame of the zoom-out by clipping out Ruby to move her so that her tail overlapped the ball of light, then redrawing the tennis court turf under her [using the Clone Stamp tool] and clipping out the ball of light to now be a layer above the re-positioned tail--after that, I started using Vegas to redo the zoom-out that happens before remembering, "Oh, yeah--Track Motion in AfterEffects;" working in there, the Track Motion mostly nailed the positioning for the zoom-out, so with a few tweaks, re-positioned Ruby was working seamlessly.

In the next shot, as Johan calls out Emerald Turtle, Amber Mammoth, and Amethyst Cat, who emerge onto a split-screen that then splits out to show them on the field, their splits all slide out unevenly, with Emerald's split being the first to slide offscreen before Amethyst's does so in the next frame, while Amber's takes two frames after that to fully slide offscreen. Fixed in Vegas by re-doing their slide-outs so that they were in sync, each lasting the usual eight frames.

After everyone escapes into the underground pipe tunnels, Judai implies what happened to Napoleon after he rescued him and stayed behind, causing everyone to gasp; Asuka then turns and notes that Amon hasn't come back either (want to note that the dub instead made Alexis think they're all done for because Bonaparte's gone for some reason), but as she turns, for some reason Rei jitters on the same frame and then stays in the same position the rest of the shot. A quick fix in Vegas as I masked out Rei in the previous frame and held her over her jittered self for the rest of the shot to keep her consistently drawn.

One last error happens at the very end of the episode: Judai, shaken by Martin's threat to eliminate everyone he turned into a Duel Zombie, boldly says, "I don't think so, Martin!"--but as he moves his head upward to say this, there are three movement frames [each lasting about three frames] in which Judai has a duplicate bottom-lip shadow. Fixed each one using Photoshop to first remove the extra lip shadow, then used Vegas to throw the fixed frames back into the video.

[newspropaganda]

Most of the production fault behind 5d's was just either made up or false accused since the fandom is likely to buy into it since their minds can't handle 5d's as a show due to it's nature and tension. How did yugioh fans became this dumb than aways talking about the card game anime or 4kids for fault. Pardon my english

No worries anon.

It's like the fandom wanted 5D's to be part of cancel culture back in the 2010s. There were plenty of theories that I thought were either lost or made up, but I think what really screwed up their opinions was their ignorance towards each other, acting as if they had a chip on their shoulder. To be fair, not all Yu-Gi-Oh! fans are bad or stupid—just misguided. It's 2024, and the fandom is still chasing after a ghost that makes no sense. The production issues can be blamed on Tomioka in season 1 for the shift everyone forgot about. I wish people would understand that DM and GX had it far worse than 5D's.

What really happened was that between 2008 and 2011, people made up theories that were ignored by the fans. Then, all of a sudden, it became relevant for the fandom to discuss. The ones most hurt are those who created these theories just to make us feel uncomfortable. No one wanted to admit it was all made up, instead acting like cowards, like many did in the 2010s. If 5D's suffered from misguided staff, then Zexal and GX were the result of overworked writers who focused too much on themselves rather than giving us closure on what the story or characters needed.

I don’t think anyone on Twitter will call out the issues they’ve caused in the fandom. Reddit, on the other hand, is like a parasite that feeds off it. If people see this message and send it there, I’ll laugh my ass off at how they respond.

There are no big problems with 5D's. Just too much focus on the story tbh.

I don’t even get why MangaKamen mentions 4Kids and the production issues during his videos on 5D’s or anything Yu-Gi-Oh! related. It feels like he’s just clout chasing, stirring up drama because he knows it brings him money, typical of an American. He only makes videos to push his own agenda rather than being a genuine YouTuber.

Tomioka leaving the show wasn’t really the issue, so why would Yoshida and Bonds Beyond Time be blamed for it? Who knows and who cares if this myth is real or not.

See ya in 2025 where it's gonna be the same but this time i am not gonna care for this fandom clout chasing it again. That goes to everyone on the earth.

[number-1-kuaidul-fanboy]

Hey

It’s been a bit...

I rewatched Zexal’s finale.

...I still kinda don’t like it.

I enjoyed it a lot more this time around, I like where we end up with the ending and the actual Yuma vs Astral duel is really good and exciting and brings everything that happened over the course of the series together in a really nice way.

The emotions of the duel on the other hand... “Yuma needs to remember to have fun duelling!” Hi, Judai called, he wants his character arc back, he says he did it way better. And I agree with him. We see Judai hit rock bottom, we see Judai become so obsessed with winning over anything else that it warps who he is to such a drastic degree that he becomes a villain and kills people. Sure, Yuma changed as a result of constantly having to duel for his life but it’s not nearly as fleshed out as Judai’s arc. If you’re gonna repeat the same arc, can you at least do it better so I don’t feel like this has already been done and been done better.

Also “the two partners who’ve done nothing but work together over the course of the series are now duelling each other with the ultimate conclusion of separating.” Yeah... that’s just Yugi vs Atem again. Except that duel had the characters being honest and even vulnerable with each other in their final meeting and did well acknowledging both characters’ growth while Yuma vs Astral... did okay with Yuma but Astral’s growth is somewhat ignored. It’s shown at the end but for a lot of it, he’s faking this honestly still really jarring goal of wanting to destroy Barian world.

Also, as a side note even the “partner lies that he’s gonna do a big bad so his partner will beat him” aspect was something VRAINS later did better with its finale duel. That’s not Zexal’s fault as VRAINS came after but it does add to my point: Yuma vs Astral isn’t a bad duel but falls a bit short as a finale. All its main points are things three other finale duels in the series did better and in 2/3 cases, did first.

Iffy finale aside though, man I loved revisiting this show. I forgot just how much I loved Zexal’s characters and how beautiful the animation is and how well executed the twists are and how emotional some of these duels are-

My god, it’s great. And the dub managed not to take away from most of that, except the Barian’s backstories, holy shit were those massacred. But the rest is actually pretty faithful to the sub, at least in spirit. It’s not perfect, and I certainly prefer the sub version overall, but aside from the Barian’s backstories, none of the changes it had really took away from the experience for me.

And with that random and amazing rewatch over I should probably pick up Sevens again. I like Sevens don’t get me wrong I just don’t feel much inclination to watch more than a few episodes of it at a time. Plus I’m watching it in sub so it’s not something I can watch in the background like I can with the dubs.

Also quick update: I have no intention of quitting Tumblr, and I never did. I love this cursed place and Yugioh too much to ever leave completely. Heck, even during the week I took off from posting I was still lurking around in the shadows of this place like... *long sigh of ‘I really hate to make this pun but it fits’* like a spectre. I’m not leaving. But I won’t post as often as I was.

[elemental-daddy-neos]

for the characters ask.... Yugi, Yusei and Yuma? You said you prefer Judai but what about them?

I like to keep it to one character per ask, so... I guess I’ll pick Yuma! (Oops I forgot to add that there were some Zexal spoilers, sorry.)

Why I like them/why I don’t Yuma was one of those characters that had to grow on me when I started watching Zexal. At first, I thought he was kind of a brat, and annoyingly stubborn, but that is most likely the goal given that he’s 14 and all lol. He’s definitely an accurate representation of a 14 year old, I can say that much. It only takes a couple episodes for him to really start developing, and once you learn about his backstory with his parents and all, I just kinda went “Oh no, baby. He’s baby.” and I have cared about him ever since. Yuma really does get a lot better very quickly, so to anyone wondering about watching Zexal, give it like... 10 episodes. I’m sure you’ll love it.

What I like about their appearance

Well I can tell you this: it’s not his hair lmao. Yuma’s kind of got a lot going on with his design, and he’s what I’d call a fashion nightmare, but I do like his jacket/vest thing. He’s got a sweet face, too, and his eyes are pretty.

Do I prefer their dub names or original names? Yuma’s name is the same in both the dub and sub.

OTP

Sharkbaitshipping is hands down my favorite Yuma ship in Zexal! I usually love the protag/rival ships, with a few exceptions, and it’s particularly good here. Yuma’s unwavering belief that Shark is a good person is really sweet, and you get to see time and time again how much these two boys care about each other. It’s nice watching how Shark goes from bullying Yuma to running to get to his side the second he hears about Yuma being in danger, and I just. I love them. Good boys.

NOTP Skyshipping (Kotori/Yuma). I can’t fucking stand Tori, and I’m especially not a fan of the specific brand of romance they try to go for with her and Yuma, where she never exactly acts like she’s in love with him? But the second another girl seems to like Yuma, she’s jealous. That shit’s ugly and it’s exactly what they did in DM with Tea, only Tori’s even worse of a character than Tea is. 

OT3 *Looks at extensive Zexal ship list* Companionshipping! (Yuma/Shark/Astral). Astral and Shark are the two people I ship Yuma with the most, so the three of them being together would be nice. Also provides a nice little solution to the times where the anime tries to make Yuma choose between one of them.

Favourite card they use

Gagaga Girl was definitely my favorite! Look at this angy baby. She’s a cutie and I love her, and I especially love the personality they give her, too.

Favourite moment they were in I’m gonna have to pick the scene where Yuma reunites with Astral in Astral World, just because it was such an emotional moment for him. I loved getting to see him finally hug his spirit partner, and it was just... really good. He missed Astral so much and you can just hear (in the dub at least) how happy he was to finally have him back.

Least favourite moment Vector: Let’s go to Hell :) Yuma: Okay! Vector: Wait what the fuck That is basically what happened when it came down to their super rushed last minute redemption arc for Vector, and like. This was a problem that Zexal had as a whole when it came to trying to redeem the worst, most irredeemable assholes in the show (See Dr. Faker and Vetrix), but it was especially bad with Vector, arguably the worst of the worst right after Don Thousand. Though I’ve gotta say, hearing Yuma say “Everyone deserves a second chance :)” followed by Shark immediately saying “HE’S HAD LIKE 30 CHANCES!” was such a fucking mood. I get that the baby doesn’t want people to die, but like... Yuma. Yuma. He killed so many people. Just let the carrot go.

Would I fuck, marry or kill them Yuma’s an idiot, and were he not a baby, I’d pick marry tbh. Yuma has pan vibes to me, and he’s simply a very good boy, so I think that’d be nice.

[vrainsrewatch]

episode 19 thoughts

this is... the most screenshot heavy post i’ve made so far, lmao, so please bear with me. as i’ve said, this is one of my favorite duels, and there’s a lot that gets covered here. like, seriously, i haven’t written this post out yet but i can guarantee this will be my longest so far lmao.

the beginning of the episode starts off fairly standard, and mostly dueling:

i really do love the pacing of this duel. i was glued to the edge of my seat while watching these episodes. i remember it so clearly, too, because i’d been binge watching from episode 16 that day, and got to like, 24 by the time i stopped, lmao.

ai does a lot of cute/funny stuff this episode, to help break up some of the more dark tones of the rest of it, like this:

it really makes me miss hi in this form :( i really like his soltis form, don’t get me wrong, but i miss him on yusaku’s wrist lol. i would say when things were less angsty, but, well. lmao.

we very quickly get akira’s rad boss monster summoned out:

and seriously, i just love the animation for it. it’s so sick. the door, the fire, how it looms behind him at first.... aaaaaa. so cool.

and of course the classic:

the worst part about this line is it’s said so often (esp in arc v LOL) that i actually. have slipped up and said it in normal, day to day conversation before. my boyfriend looked at me for like a minute and gave me the deepest sigh i’ve ever heard the first time i did that pff.

also:

i couldn’t not screencap this, given what my blog is for LOL

every time something reminds me of that painful final duel, i have to screencap it and make you guys sad with me. if i have to be sad seeing all this stuff, knowing where their relationship goes and how the series ends, so do you.

also, though, i forgot how often this was brought up before the bohman duel lmao. it makes that theory look a lot more credible, so it’s cool that it had all these little hints towards it, even if it ultimately wasn’t true.

seriously, my heart. i don’t think i need to talk much about this scene to make y’all sad, but really. they went from this to i loved you. ugh, god, i’m so sad thinking about it lmao.

there is so much to talk about between akira and playmaker and even blue angel in this episode, so i guess we’ll start here.

it is hard to decide that you want to take control of your trauma and do something about it. it is not easy. to see yusaku fight for that right so thoroughly is incredible, and really, really validating.

more sadness! seriously, this is too much. this deck was created specifically for him by ai. i don’t like this anymore lmao

but even besides that, often times the protag’s decks mean a lot to them, obviously, but i love that it wasn’t built strictly by yusaku. his cards were literally made by ai, and i think that’s such a cool twist. 

but then, akira’s speech:

i talked last time about akira wanting to handle things himself, and i briefly touched on him thinking he knows best...

but i really admire how calm yusaku stays at that tbh. he gets angry, reasonably so imo, but he takes this so well. i know i was a much more volatile kid then he is, so respect lol

i’ve spoken at length already about akira, but i also want to talk again about how oblivious he is. he is so blinded by his own thoughts and feelings on the situation that he doesn’t stop to think about how yusaku might be feeling -- and worse, honestly, how his sister might be feeling.

it was why he was so visibly shocked when emma mentioned a few episodes ago that aoi wasn’t just a little kid anymore. it’s so clear that he still, at the moment, sees her as the six year old girl he swore to protect, and not the sixteen year old person she’s become. he doesn’t think about how she might be feeling towards his actions, or why she does what she does.

this is highlighted as early as episode 6 iirc, when he asks her why aren’t you happy? as much as i, personally, dislike his character, i can’t deny it’s very realistic and well written.

speaking of aoi:

i love how she’s written in this episode, too. but her entrance here is great, and i love how she stands up to him about this. it’s minor, but it’s still a good step. when she’s blue angel -- or blue girl, or blue maiden -- she feels comfortable doing that. at least a little, and it obviously grows throughout the series. i hope that transfers over to the real world for her, too.

and then, we finally get the full story:

i remember flinching when he started talking about it, remembering the shots of yusaku getting electrocuted from his duel with revolver.

i really love this. i said it last episode, but vrains handles yusaku’s trauma so realistically and it’s amazing.

i remember originally staring open mouthed at my tv screen while this part played. we got a bit of it from the other episode, but the full context truly shocked me. where’s that post that says “who thought this was an acceptable backstory to give to a card game protag” bc honestly??? YEAH

it’s still hard to watch. it’s still hard to see play out, even if it’s only fiction. even though i’ve seen these clips so many times, and written about them in detail a few times too. doesn’t matter lol. watching it in context actually still made my stomach drop.

which leads me to talk about reactions to this, actually:

the two that vrains focuses heavily on are blue angel’s and kusanagi’s, and they contrast really well here imo.

blue angel’s is a normal reaction. it’s horrified, both at the thought of it happening and at the fact that someone would actually do that to another person -- a six year old child, no less.

kusanagi’s is strained. he is angry hearing about this, thinking about jin. we’ve been told, and have seen in the last few episodes, how much the lost incident impacted kusanagi and his brother, but i really love that the show tells us that here, too, and shows the difference between hearing about a tragedy and being involved in some manner.

i did not expect it at all when first watching vrains, and honestly, it still impresses me how gracefully they handled it coming off of arc v (cough, shun i love you but really cough cough). no hate on arc v at all, it’s my third favorite ygo very close behind gx, but the difference between the two on how they handle these things is staggering.

this whole section makes me thing that ryoken talked to yusaku fairly often, after the first time. which is something i don’t see brought up often? but that’s so important imo. it meant that yusaku had someone encouraging him not just once or twice, but on the regular, but also it meant that ryoken was constantly risking himself to comfort that child. 

we don’t see too much of ryoken when he’s a kid, but we do see him scared and crying over the lost incident. the fact that he was able to talk calmly to this child so many times is really amazing. it also makes more sense as to why ryoken feels so guilty over calling the police -- he probably felt that maybe if he had just kept up his encouragement, the kids would’ve all gotten out okay and his father wouldn’t be in a coma. 

this was so powerful. it’s obvious, and i think anyone with half a brain would understand that the LI isn’t something that a kid would recover from easily, but i love this anyways. 

he wasn’t saved. and even if he was in body, it’s still something he and all the other victims will live with for the rest of their lives.

this also is something i don’t feel like people bring up enough, but does this mean that yusaku went around asking the kids at the hospital when he was rescued? it’s not hard to believe they were all put together, at least for a short amount of time, but it’s still something i feel like people overlook. 

i also love this, because it’s nice foreshadowing to how revolver feels. he’s not captured, not like yusaku and the lost kids were, but he is a prisoner. and just like ryoken saved yusaku, way back then, he is determined to repay the favor.

not just because of that, either. because that voice meant so much to him. because that voiced saved him. because that voice understood him, and was there for him in his hardest moments. god i love them.

i love this shot. it’s so dramatic, how the match the drum beats with flashes of everyone’s reactions.

but it drives home his point, and while i know most of akira’s development came through emma and aoi, i’m sure this helped, too. 

i’ve sung vrains praises this entire post, but i’ll do it again -- this is incredible. this is so realistic. it’s so well portrayed. and it’s really honest to god incredible that we got a protag in ygo who was shown going to therapy. 

ygo has always dealt with some pretty dark subject matter, and it’s never really been shy about showing it on screen. i’m not saying that at all. arc v obviously dealt with some pretty heavy stuff, and while i haven’t seen zexal (keep shaming me please) i know it does, too. 5ds obviously has the dark signer arc, and the later arcs concerning bruno and also yusei’s father, and gx has... well, it’s entire third and fourth season. 

but we see everyone healing via card games. we see those shows talk about these things, but kind of at the same time, skirt around the subject matter; or if they do go deep into it, they pull out (ie 5ds) or the characters don’t get resolved properly (ie arc v). 

idk where i was going with this but i just really love that this happened, this was shown on screen, and they stuck to yusaku’s character. they didn’t just... up and make his trauma and his world view disappear at the end. he has a bittersweet ending, but it suited him and his development. a lot of people were mad about it, and i get it -- i wanted him to be happy, too.

but that’s not always the case, and it’s really important to me that vrains doesn’t pretend it is.

anyways, though, i’m almost done with this episode i promise lmao. before the episode ends, we get this:

and i think it’s honestly kind of cruel that akira says this, after everything, and still maintains his point of handling it himself. he has heard, first hand now, how horrible the incident has scarred yusaku for life. and yet, he still is stubborn in refusing to relate or at the very least empathize.

what i mean by that, since we obviously see him attempt to last episode, is he refuses to look at it from someone’s else’s perspective or in a way that might make him uncomfortable. the way my boyfriend describes these kinds of people is that they “haven’t had their bubble popped”.

everyone has a bubble when they’re born, and that bubble shields you from realizing that the world is a cruel and hard place. even if you go through hardships, sometimes your bubble stays put, and you think that is the worst of what can happen. 

i’m explaining this very poorly, because i’m running on not much sleep and i’ve been typing about this episode for like, far, far too long, but essentially, he refuses to step out of his comfort zone and recognize, in playmaker’s case, that he doesn’t have a right to interfere and that playmaker’s desire to handle it himself is justified and helpful for his healing. and in aoi’s case, that just because he does a lot of good for her doesn’t automatically mean ignoring her for work and keeping her locked in their house is an okay trade off. and also that she’s not a child anymore -- she’s nearly an adult and she deserves to be treated as one. 

those thoughts seem to unsettle him. you can kind of see it in how detached he is after hearing all that come from playmaker. blue angel is visibly shaken up by what he’s said. akira doesn’t even flinch, because he’s not really listening right now. 

i’m glad he learns to, or at least learns how to start, later on.

anyways, i think that’s enough for this post lmao. this took forever to type up, so let’s hope i actually have time to cover up to 21 here today LOL. if you read all that, thank you for your time on my kind of dumb vrains thoughts :’)

[itsana004]

Zexal month Day 3 Week 5 - The me that’s not me

Who is your favourite character? I said I had many but clearly from seeing my blog it has to be Droite

Who is the character you relate to? It has to be either Kotori or Cathy. Kotori because she usually shows he sass around Yuma, like me. And Cathy because I was also in the outcast, alone, lonely... meh whatever

Why is this character special to you? Wait, Droite? Why? I have no clue. After episode 54 crushed my hope, I rambled to my friend about it and told her how excited I would have been if she really won the duel and duelled in the finals. I didn’t even know her (I forgot) and called her ‘the purple tulip girl’ and only because of my friend I knew and know now her name and could search on the internet knowing who she is. Then I searched her name and felt pretty excited to see her fan arts, and that’s where I also found an AMV of her and Kaito since I felt she deserved him and shipped them, I felt over the top. If that AMV wasn’t deleted I think I would still listen to it after 6 years XD But I felt like fainting when it was deleted, oh well... I found cool songs of Kesha too, the song in AMV was ‘Dancing with tears in my eyes’, check it out. And also ‘Crush’ by David Archuleta, check that out too. And that’s my earliest memories of why I got into her I guess.

[em-exceeds-change-zearu]

I'm sending this again because my internet cut out just as I was sending it initially so I don't know if it went through. But 22 & 23 for any YGO series cause I can't pick one.

yea i don’t see another ask in my box so looks like you made the right call. 

anyways, what if i did it for all of the series except vrains ig because it’s only got the one season out so far and i don’t feel like passing judgement on it yet.

22. popular character that you hate

DM - i actually don’t have any characters that i hate hate from DM, mostly ‘cause it’s been so long since i’ve properly watched the series that i don’t actually really have intense feelings for it? also because my main experience was the dub, which made everyone snarky and hilarious so even if i would have hated them under normal circumstances. if we went by character type tho i think i woulda hated dartz the most, tho? he’s not popular popular but i know he has his fans.

GX - hate anyone? from GX? nah. next

5D’s - team ragnarok. again, i don’t hate them, but my god they were boring as hell and in the end they were hamfisted excuses for allies that got very little character development and were pretty much there to make sure that team 5D’s got up to the arc cradle and that’s it. it might have also been tournament arc fatigue kicking in, but honestly we didn’t even see hide nor hair of them until after Yliaster entered themselves in their own tourney and so ugggghhh all their inflated importance rubbed me the wrong way.

ZEXAL - hating anyone from zexal is impossible, bye

ARC-V - kurosaaaaakiiiiiiiiiiiii shuuuuu- okay again, not hate, but man his character rubbed me the wrong way because it felt too flat and what character development he did get was hamfisted and too late but then again that was pretty much all the characters in arc-v. so it’s not that i’m singling him out it’s that he’s the one who stood out to me that had potential and was screwed over and also he’s probably the most popular out of all the characters i can think of. like. absurdly popular.

23) unpopular character that you love?

DM - tristan? i don’t think he’s unpopular in moreso that he tends to be ignored for duke iirc but i like the guy. stalwart and dependable is his middle name but he also tends to be pushed aside a lot as the one out of focus guy, haaaa. 

GX - i don’t think he’s unpopular either, but Chronos absolutely needs more love and attention and respect, na no ne. he’s grown so much as a person and as a teacher. i love it? i love him. 

5D’s - honestly? i think Mukuro deserved more attention. in show, i mean. he was usually only there to be trashed by Jack, but his duel with Yusei showed that he actually DOES have reason to be confident in his skills because he trains hard for them, and he clearly respects a good duel by how he reacts to his loss with Yusei as opposed to how he does with Jack, (and alternate universe shows that he teams up with Yusei and Aki in a riding duel tournament, so. PLEASE.) and and and. he needs more attention. he’s great. why wasn’t he in the wrgp. also idk if he’s popular or not but jose. mostly because is��anyone in the iliasterbot hivemind Aporia paid atteniton to other than placido? i see tons of placido bee jokes but nothing about jose and lucciano and honestly? i love how lucciano is portrayed in tag force 5 because they really utilize the potential of his character so i guess i can safely say i love all the characters that make up aporia other than bitchboots. (bitchboots is fine, but he’s also boring.)

ZEXAL - hey. i really like tokunosuke. he gets overlooked a lot because of how tricksy he is and how little attention yuma’s squad gets after WDC, but still. tokunosuke is great. do more with him. 

ARC-V - sawtatari saaaaaaa (okay i know he’s not unpopular but i’m biased and i love him the most, fuckit, i have to mention him because he really doesn’t get that much attention compared to the yusquad and yuzusquad). anyways hey. you know who got a small character arc and everyone forgot about? fishing guy. he was great. too bad he got carded. 

[pxiao]

Could ya give your thoughts on Zexal as a whole and tell is it really bad. can you?

As a whole post? Seems a bit vicious even for me. But as a whole I’ll say it, z-xal fans look away because as this is my pure opinions as a Z-xal hater. My opinions could be wrong and they can annoy you but remember this is my opinion and just as you have a right to be annoyed, I have a right to my opinion. Don’t whine if you find something you don’t like on a Z-xal hate piece.  

The show is textbook at best and at worse just annoying with some horrible lessons. When the it first aired, I was willing to give it a try despite initially being put off by the character designs, if not just because I thought the fandom was being annoying. I got up to the cat girl episode till I just felt it was boring as all get out and stopped watching. It wasn’t a conspicuous decision either, I just didn’t feel like watching the next episode and I honestly forgot the show existed till Zexal 2 started and well by that point I didn’t give a damn. But I started to hear things about the show and well I honestly found it annoying and I watched it and I was right. Yoshida doesn’t seem skilled at creating characters, world building or even plotting. 

Plot wise, a lot of the logic is ignored for trauma and angst. And I know that in Yu-Gi-Oh!, logic isn’t exactly common anyway but you still need some logic in people’s actions or there really isn’t any point in watching a show. If you watch the Yu-Gi-Oh! Abridged series, LittleKuriboh is doing a good job of pointing out the flaws of the Orichalcos season written by Yoshida. Like Atem’s duel against Rafael was started by Atem deciding to answer his challenge for rescue Professor Arthur … who was released for no reason before Atem even dueled Rafael and for no real reason either. Zexal is the same, a lot of episodes don’t do anything to advance the story, characters or even the world. It’s just duel of the week episodes which rarely have any effect on the world at all. Zexal’s story is generally duels of the week, some plot, more duels of the week and then final battle. There isn’t any rising action, it’s just exposition and then overdrawn climax. His attempts at “foreshadowing” are laughable. They don’t hint, they spell it out to the point we know what’s going to happen 99% percent of the the time. And lets face it, people like to watch shows that have some surprise as otherwise the show becomes a checklist and that was what Zexal felt like at times. It was less of a show and more of Yoshida’s checklist of the tropes that Yu-Gi-Oh! has done. A major plothole I found in the Barian onslaught was Shark’s attitude throughout the arc. Why did he go straight into war mode if he “knew Yuma’s feelings”. Yuma who spent the arc freaking out at the death and war that was going on, if Shark actually knew Yuma, he should know that a war is the last thing Yuma would ever want. But he spends the arc angsts over how he has to betray his friends. Why couldn’t he TALK to Yuma, while Astral is iffy, he should know how much of an influence that Yuma has on the alien and thus maybe a deal can be made. And if it couldn’t be, he could have at least tried before he lead a war that lead to his “friends” dying like a REAL ruler. 

World building, ha. He doesn’t build worlds, he builds a blank slate that the characters “live” at. Heartland has no personality at all, despite being the city of the future there was nothing unique about it. Astral world and Barian worlds are just factions at war with that represent the concepts of order and chaos and that’s from the show TELLING US. We only see the Astral world dying and nothing about it’s people, the Barian world is just not shown at all except for some red rocks. If I had to compared Astral world and Barian world to say Arc-V’s worlds, it’s depressing. Arc-V has a bit of Chaos vs Order in the form of Academia and the Resistance and the difference in writing quality is depressing. Academia would is order and we get a taste of how messed up their ideological is from Sora, Serena and Edo. We see how the public openly supports their ideas, the children believe the lies that they’re making a better war and when they’re in danger they freak out as they thought of it as a game. Hell we see how they take their ideology to the extreme in the BB arc when Sanders and the students beg for Sanders to be carded as it follows their ideals. The resistance is chaos, as Shun states they had trouble creating a defense in time and it shows. The flashbacks show duelists not in any uniform, just attacking without any formation or plan, their bases are just tents huddled together and the Resistance didn’t even have a main base, it was different branches and by the time we see it, it’s all but dead. Maiami is defined by how free the setting is, there are a LARGE variety of dueling schools from You Show, Gongenzaka Dojo, LDS, the many different schools Yuya saw and Ryozanpaku. Each having a variety of philosophies and how the public acted show they had a healthy mix of positive, loving Entertainment duels, and negative traits, their bullying of Yuya in the past. 

His characters are the worst, they aren’t really characters, just personality traits put together in the hopes of being a working personality. Most of the time, they’re just 2D cutouts. Don Thousand is a perfect example. In a story, the most important characters are the protagonist and the main enemy of the series as they shape what the show is. The worst thing you can do when making a main villain is making them easily replaceable. In the manga for Z-xal which was pretty similar to the anime Don was replaced while the story was going on because the artist didn’t like him and Yoshida EASILY replaced Don Thousand. That just proves that Don Thousand didn’t have a personality if he could be replaced by another villain so easily. In comparison, you can’t replace Zarc or Leo, they have shaped Arc-V plot and setting that if you take them out, the plot will change. He generally makes his protagonists overally perfect like what he did to Yusei in season 2 of 5D’s. Yuma is a horrible attempt to fix this, he had flaws for sure, but instead of Yuma growing, Yoshida made the show bend over backwards to make a flaw a virtue instead. The infuriating part is the show actually did a good job of showing his flaw but then everyone even the people that called out him earlier are telling to not change. You don’t make good characters that way, you destroy your show. Yoshida doesn’t do enough to build up the relationships that are supposed to form the backbone of the show and it feels hollow. A direct example is Yuya and Yuzu relationship vs Yuma and Kotori’s relationship. The couples are both childhood friends but the difference between their bonds is clear as day. Kotori is a side thought to Yuma at best and we never get an explanation of why Kotori and supposedly Yuma like each other. Their relationship development is Kotori screaming for Yuma and her getting jealous over him. Yuya and Yuzu? The first few episodes show how they understand each other the most and when something is up with one of them, they’re the first to realize it. Despite being separated for most of the show, Yuya and Yuzu continuously show support and love for each other while Yuma and Kotori barely interact despite being next to each other for the majority of the show. Arc-V shows plenty of times when Yuya puts her safety above everything and that includes his own ideals. Yuzu also puts Yuya’s safety over her own and her speeches are the only thing to reach him as the Zarc vs Ray/Reira duel showed. Fan reaction proves this, Yuya and Yuzu is one of the most popular ships in their fandom while Yuma and Kotori is hardly liked at all. And how he writes girls … Look Yu-Gi-Oh! isn’t going to win awards on how to write women unless you include Season 1 of Arc-V. But Yoshida is the worst at them, nearly every women he writes is obsessed over romance and plays little to no part in the story. Rio appeared as an independent girl that didn’t want to seen as part of Shark. And she became just that, she never made her own decisions ever and everything that came out of her mouth was about Shark and that’s it. She became his angst magnet. And based on how Aoi was written, I doubt he’s changed in Vr–ns.

Next I don’t think Yoshida understands the idea of a card game show. While card game shows are generally shonen series, they don’t have the same rules as a general shonen series. An enemy having a broken power in a regular shonen is accepted because the point of shonen is to make things unfair for the protagonist so the audience can feel something when they overcome it. That doesn’t work with card games, there has to be a SENSE of balance as card games are meant to be a game first and foremost. Otherwise the enemy comes across as overpowered to the point of ridiculousness. Don Thousand was overpowered to the point I was rolling my eye when he was literally breaking the rules of the game. From easily causing 50,000 points of damage, to summoning monsters with 10,000 and later 100,000 attack points. Don didn’t feel powerful, he felt like the writers were trying too hard to make him dangerous and instead came off as annoying.  

But the worst part of this is how Yoshida never changes. Everything that he works on has a basic plot and character types and he never varies. His writing has the same ideas in the seasons he writes. And I’ve seen how some people defend him on this because of his writing style. I strongly disagree, authors can have similar themes and ideas but they should never make a series the exact same. Kasumi Ono was the director for 5d’s and Arc-V while there are similarities in themes and character points, it’s impossible to say they’re alike at all. Or the writer for Type-Moon, compared Fate/Stay Night and Fate/Extra. They take the same concept and play with it so the story is different.  Authors don’t have to make everything original but the problem is Yoshida rarely changes the details at all.  

[skittymon]

Okay I made this post before but I’m doing it again.

Why do people keep saying that the Arc-V manga is better than the anime?

Rant below the undercut

First off how can the manga be better when it’s on chapter 20 and being compared to a 148 episode series. And for the love of god even when I wasn’t in the fandom I saw people saying this a year ago. Like how???? 

Maybe the ending will be better than the anime’s but it seems like the end goal is going to be Yuya working at Yu-Show or whatever its fucking called in the manga, and as of right now it seems like the other Yuu boys are going to disappear too so its on the same boat as the anime (but with longer farewells from the Yuu boys probably).

And it might be me but like how is the manga even better???

I do like the manga, it’s fine (about 6/10 for me but this last chapter makes me want to say 4/10) and I LOVE its art style, but like…..its so generic, if it wasn’t Yugioh (or even Arc-V because I stopped reading 5ds’ manga after the first volume and skipped over Zexals) I wouldn’t have read it.

I mean I can see why people like it, you got dimensionshipping up the ass, and ‘badass’ Yuya. But like everything else pisses me off.

First the plot. I can’t say much because obviously it’s still on going and there’s some stuff needed to be discovered like how the Yuu boys became one, what G.O.D is, how Yugo and Yuto recognize Yuzu, and chapter 20 did seem like we’ll be getting more info next chapter. But like Yuya comes back from the future with amnesia to save the world because everything is destroyed because of card games. WOW YOSHIDA WHERE HAVE I HEARD THAT BEFORE???? AND IT DOESN’T HELP THAT FRICKIN REN, EVE, AND OTHER GUY LOOK A LOT LIKE  THE YLIASTER GUYS. 

The characters, OH GOD EVERYONE BUT THE YUU BOYS (and kinda Sawatari and Sora) GOT FUCKED OVER. 

First Reiji. Reiji is okay, and I adored his flashbacks with Leo but like wow way to staple him as the bad guy. In the anime Reiji subverted tropes because while he was Yuya’s rival he never antagonized him, and in fact Yuya was often in the wrong and Reiji would have to set him straight. Here nope. Instead it’s Reiji who’s the idiot/in the wrong despite doing what he think’s is right and Yuya is almighty and right and fucking pities Reiji for not coming around. Like….ugh wtf.

Shun is a weird case. His masochists personality turned me the fuck off and is creepy as hell. I mean I guess Yoshida had to give him a new personality since he doesn’t have his best friend or younger sister or tragic backstory anymore (which sucks for me because seeing Shun overcome his losses was one of my favorite things about his character), but why the fuck did you pick that. Shun is so far is literally the only character, in my opinion, so in the manga to get decent character development so that saves him a bit and he seems to have lost his creepiness a bit (which is still weird for me because you can’t fundamentally change your personality after one fucking duel).

Sora….I’m confused on. It maybe because some of the recent chapter I skimmed but he’s working for Ren and people right??? Why?? Is he from the future too??? His character confuses me because apparently he forgot that he was working with Ren and Eve?? And p sure Sora admitted to using the sister thing as a trick to Yuya but its not?? Like you’re not even same side as Yuya or have any nice feelings about him and are suppose to be chasing after him why are you being nice to him??? I mean I guess he’s acting as a double agent/undercover like in the anime but idk I feel like its sloppy and confusing.

Sawatari is fine, he hasn’t done much and is kinda the butt of stuff like in the anime sorry man you can’t escape that fate lol

I know I said the Yuu boys are fine (Yuto and Yuri I feel like they kinda improved on so good on ya manga) but Yuya and Yugo man. I thought Yugo was fine until this recent chapter where he just shitted on Yuzu like wow I know for a fact the anime Yugo might have done that but it would have went over his head and no way in hell would he be allowed to get away with that. I guess Rin really is a fundamental part of his character….

Then Yuya, who literally might be fucking god because Yoshida was a savior boner / Jesus complex. First off, 20 chapters in and no character development (he might get some in the next chapter finally). I mean he has character but he’s still the same as he was in chapter one: being cocky, 100% with his convictions that he dad is right, doesn’t question why the Yuu boys shaft him sometimes or has regain a single memory. Then I feel like he’s too high on a pedestal. He’s apparently a genius hacker who can get into Leo Corporation without being traced and his narrative portrays him as almighty in duels and in life general. Fine, people like badass superior cocky characters but like they eventually need to be taken off their high horses and knowing Yoshida’s writing….that’s probably not going to happen (see Yusei in 5ds part 2 or Yuma with his convictions that always get stomped on but come back two minutes later no questioned and changes the bad guys heart).

Finally Yuzu…..my daughter I’m so sorry what Yoshida did to you. You’re basically Kotori now but worse because we know you have potential. First, her dad owns a duel school why can’t she duel??? Like fine maybe Konami doesn’t have any Medious cards to see but you can still show she can duel but have Yuya duel instead because ‘its his fight’ or whatever. Second, why is she the butt of all the jokes even more than Sawatari? Again chapter 20 just made her a joke (Yugo: We’ll start when the girl crouches down in fear) and she’s always in the wrong as has to corrected by any other guy in the series. Then her character traits are the she’s smart (but not as smart as the guys of course shown with Shun beating her in a math tournament and yet he never uses those skills and seem like something he wouldn’t even compete in) and she likes money….that’s it. I almost hate manga!Yuzu and I feel like Yoshida was forced to write Yuzu because she’s suppose be a huge force to Yuya but is like….’but is she really compared to the guys tho.’ At this point the only thing I’m hoping for with her is that Yugo and Yuto recognize her because she’s some important figure in the future (probably a scientist and most like Leo or Yusho’s assistant because she can’t be as smart as them) and I get to see older Yuzu who hopefully looks a lot like Ray. ALSO WHY ISN’T SHE THE EVE FACTOR SHE AND YUYA ARE SUPPOSE TO BE SOULMATES KINDA.

And why did you only include the ‘pretty’ characters Yoshida? Reira I understand because Reiji is from the future. But like where are my quirky characters of Gonzengaka, Tsukikage, and Dennis? Why don’t I get Yoko is Yuya’s memories? Where are the three kiddies attending Shunzo’s school? I know that Arc-V has a big cast but so does GX and its manga included nearly fucking everyone at least once.

So basically I have all these problems with the manga, so no to me it’s not better than the anime. But it’s only 20 chapters in, that could change probably not because Yoshida’s writing is meh to me lol but I think the argument of ‘the manga is better than the anime’ is flawed and pointless at this point because the manga has a lot of problems and unanswered questions that needs to be resolved and then once its over we can use the aftermath to compare with the finished anime. 

Basically: can people stop saying that, it pisses me off.

[calvinwatchesstuff]

Let’s Watch Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V: Episode 7 (!)

Guess who’s back, everyone?! I’m not gonna talk for too long; just gonna jump (or rather, swing) into action. 

And we start off with a new character. I have zero idea who he is, but his hair is so ridiculous that he must be important.

Well, that badge looks like it says “LDS”, but it doesn’t look like the same logo. The plot thickens.

Oh good, this asshat is still here.

“…you guys should call me Neo Sawatari!” I am literally never going to call you that ever.

And of course jump-cut to Yuya being Yuya.

“The Wrath of Rebellion: Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon!” WAIT FUCKING WHAT

Okay, so it looks like Xyz Monsters are also going to be a thing now. Color me impressed.

I still don’t know this little red-haired girl’s name.

Huh, looks like we have a Yuzu-centric episode, eh? Alright, I’m down.

I cannot possibly imagine what kind of food that is he’s describing, but it sounds god-awful. And the weird thing is, most of the individual components sound great on their own, but when combined into one dish I cannot imagine a good result being produced.

Oh hey, this guy again.

…so he knows her, does he? That’s interesting.

Alright, I know how to admit when I was wrong: that pie looks fucking delicious.

Okay, I like how the dramatic music literally screeched to a stop when she pointed out the pie on his face.

Her side of the screen keeps getting bigger oh my god

Whoa, what is this music I’m hearing? Is this the mystery guy’s theme?

Ah, so it is an LDS badge, okay. (Although based on the logo it looks more like LD5.)

Well that’s a different-looking Duel Disk.

So Yuzu has no idea who this guy is, but the guy knows her and clearly has some personal connection with her. I have a feeling I see where this is going (I was kind of spoiled on the fact that parallel universes become a thing at some point in this series, although I know literally nothing else about the plot beyond here), but I’ll just let it play out and see what happens.

Oh wow, even the duel subtitles don’t know this guy’s name.

Well…that’s certainly an interesting opening move. Can’t say I’ve seen that strategy before.

Yeah, I wouldn’t be so cocky around a guy who has five potential Trap Cards waiting for you. When your opponent has that many face-downs, it’s not a matter of if you’re going to get screwed up, it’s how.

I like the touch that he actually has a holofoil card. That injects a moment of realism into this whole thing.

Wait, you can release a single Level 5-7 monster to Advanced Summon a Level 8+ monster? Since when? Was that always a thing and I just didn’t know about it?

Ah, okay, that makes more sense.

Oh wow, I didn’t even pick up on the fact that it’s not an Action Field; I’m so used to holograms doing whatever the fuck the writers want them to that I forgot this series was trying to justify it. So I guess that Duel Disk must have the Solid Vision technology built into it somehow?

Yeah, I’m going to guess that the cards that were destroyed have some effect in the graveyard, right?

Called it!

I like the new effect for Banishing. I’m not sure if Zexal had an effect like that, actually.

Well this guy has a distinctly different tone than the rest of this series. It’s like they photoshopped a 5Ds character into first-season GX.

OH THIS IS IT ISN’T IT

“XYZ SHOUKUN!” You have no idea how good it feels to hear that again.

So here we have what appears to be this guy’s ace monster: “Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon”. I can’t help but notice the similarity of the name to “Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon”, but then again the naming motif of “Adjective Noun Description Dragon” has been pretty standard across the franchise so it might just be a symbolic thing.

The phrase “Xyz Summoning Course” still makes me laugh.

Oh wow, that’s a pretty powerful monster you have there, Sawatari. Would be a real shame if someone…used an ATK reducing effect TWICE!

So yes, this guy does indeed have a Solid Vision system of some kind inside his Duel Disk. That’s…interesting.

“Academia”…isn’t that what Duel Academy from GX was called in the Japanese version? Eh, probably a coincidence. 

Well damn, that would probably be an intimidating Trap Card if it wasn’t in the hands of the series’ least competent duelist.

Oh wow, that’s TWO perfect losses IN A ROW this guy has gone through.

“This is the pain and sorrow of the battlefield!” Iiiiinteresting. So this guy is a soldier of some kind, is he?

Wait, why does she think he’s Yuya? Is he supposed to look like Yuya? I mean…I guess I kind of see it, maybe?

What happened to Sawatari? His coat got speared, and now he’s allegedly injured?

Ooookay, Yuzu’s bracelet is doing a thing, and now the mystery guy is gone.

And of course Yuya quite coincidentally arrives at the same time the guy who allegedly looks like him disappears.

Looking at them side by side like this…I mean, I guess there’s a resemblance.

Well damn, I’m really starting to get curious about what’s going on in the story. So we have a kid who looks like Yuya but is apparently some kind of soldier, he knows Yuzu (I keep wanting to call her Tori from sheer muscle memory; god I miss Zexal) and wants to keep her safe, and now there’s something going down with LDS and something called Academia. Honestly, I’m just glad because this is the first episode where we didn’t have to see that damnable hippo. 

Alright, see you guys for Episode 8; hopefully it won’t take over a month this time!