#vrains episode 1

[pigeonsage]

Vrains season 1 episode 2 screenshot redraw

always love drawing yusaku always love drawing things with unnecessarily dramatic lighting, this one’s a winner

[pico-farad]

I finished season 1 of Vrains and it was cool but I thought it needed about 2 billion more secret identity shenanigans

extended thoughts below

So I went into a deep dive in my last two posts (1, 2) about all the problems I had with Vrains, and you'd think I didn't enjoy it, but in fact as I was watching, there was a separate, parallel version of Vrains that was playing in my head, a Yugioh I think we were robbed of and which fixes every problem I had with the first season, and that is Secret Identities AU.

Yusaku needs FRIENDS

This is YUGIOH.

This dynamic is everything I wanted from Vrains. Yusaku developing unexpected fondness for these bozos who think he needs a defense squad. I want Miraculous Ladybug levels of secret identity shenanigans. I want Yusaku slapping his duel disk every time Ai tries to blow their cover.

This AU sprung forth from the scene in the duel club where he shows Naoki his decoy deck. Having Yusaku passing as a bad duelist is 1) so funny, but 2) Yusaku needing to maintain his low profile is a useful contrivance for other characters to get more duels, and 3) I think it would be a really fun one-off episode where Yusaku has to duel using his bad deck. When he wins, Naoki is so proud he cries.

Having Yusaku actually have to interact with the other characters in the real world opens up Greek play levels of dramatic irony. The crux of a secret identity story is that every single interaction builds up anticipation, because you the viewer know that the other party is being deceived, and that the tension will snap when the secret is revealed.

I have zero anticipation about Playmaker's identity being revealed, because Aoi would be like "oh.... I guess he goes to my school" and Go would be like "have I seen that guy before?" But SIAU Playmaker? My guy is making friends just so he can betray them. Insane.

Go needs A ROLE IN THE STORY.

I said in my first post that Go isn't a rival or a best friend character. SIAU fixes this by making him both simultaneously.

Having him be the ace of the duel club is a natural replacement for his whole hero of the orphans schtick, while placing him directly the circle of relevance with the other characters. Instead of being disgruntled that the orphans suddenly like Playmaker more than him, he's disgruntled that Naoki and the duel club mooks are fawning over Playmaker -- which is actually just Naoki's character anyway.

I would kill for a big dramatic moment where Go learns that Playmaker and Yusaku are the same person, and even though Go feels betrayed that Yusaku has been deceiving him, he stands by Yusaku anyway because they're friends.

With a secret identity story, every conversation is working on multiple levels because each character is working with asymmetric information. You get these fascinating, layered scenes of two characters talking past each other because they cannot give up their secret.

Which would go especially hard with Go and Yusaku, because Go has legitimate criticisms of Playmaker in canon and Yusaku has legitimate reasoning behind the things he does, and as Go Onizuka and Playmaker they could never come to an understanding on them, but as Go and Yusaku, two friends in duel club, that door becomes open to them.

Aoi needs WRITING THAT ISN'T A TRAINWRECK

I made a whole post on this. Basically every problem would be solved if Akira doesn't know that she's Blue Angel. There's no reason for her to lose grotesquely against Yusaku, or have her basic autonomy called into question constantly. 

Having her actively deceive her brother is delicious. Like I said in my last post, it's so obvious how Akira's overprotectiveness has taken its toll on Aoi, and pushed her into developing this other persona, Blue Angel. I want this absolutely dysfunctional sibling relationship so badly. The Blue Angel vs. Zaizen duel would make me lose my mind.

And a secret identities setting works so well with the potential themes of VRAINS as a stand-in for the internet and Blue Angel as an idol. Give me that Perfect Blue Satoshi Kon good stuff. Give me those themes about identity, and the different lives we live, outward and inward, online and offline.

This also helps Akira's character, because I think he would be much more interesting and relevantly positioned in the story if he stayed a SOL Technologies baddie. SOL Technologies has very little presence in season 1 despite being critical to the story. After Zaizen is replaced by an irrelevant clown, they don't do anything but send out mook AIs to get destroyed. By having a three-way standoff between Yusaku's squad, the Knights of Hanoi, and SOL Technologies, both Hanoi and SOL Technologies become more compelling. They've both got all the reason in the world to want to take down the other. Zaizen vs. Revolver or Spectre? That's good shit.

And don't get me started on how I would turn Revolver into a Secret Identities character.

[creachureweachure]

i watch exactly 1 (one) episodes of both vrains and zexal for fun and to see if i can draw their hair. Ive been dreading it. (it was not that bad ^_^)

also bonus yugi below

[number-1-kuaidul-fanboy]

Does the Yugiohs goes to space?

DM: No space content. Lame 0/10

GX: Judai spends one episode on an alien planet and comes back with a deck full of aliens. They also fight a satellite in space at the end of season 2 and best boy Judai once sent his enby dragon partner to space once. Slightly scarce but decent space content. 6/10

5Ds: City falls from the sky and a motorcycle flies but neither to or from space :( 1/10

Zexal: Alien from space is always at the protag's side from episode 1! And the second season is all about even more aliens, complete with an epic journey through space to fight some aliens on another planet. Very good space content 8/10

Arc V: Exactly one scene where a monster attacks from space like a satellite. 2/10

VRAINS: Still no space. I'm getting bluespaced. 0/10

Sevens: The program for rush duels is a robot on the moon that's very plot relevant in the season 1 finale and throughout season 2. The Goha 6 also come down from space at the beginning of season 2 after attending school in space for a while. The final duel also takes place entirely in space after the main gang built a rocket to space and powered it with explosive curry. Awesome space content. 8/10

Go Rush: Entire show takes place in space and includes so many aliens! 10/10 Best space show.

[hellohimawarihana]

Yu-Gi-Oh Transformations, ranked by me

I did say in this post that Yu-Gi-Oh is no stranger to transformation sequence, but the more you look at it, it's like that all series had this in some degree, so I decided to rank them from least appealing to the most mind-blowing. It was inspired to this post, by the way. Unlike the protagonists ending post before, I'll include Go Rush!! as well, but I'll only include those from the protagonists and their main anime, so no Capsule Monsters or special episodes like Bonds Beyond Time, or supporting characters in that matter.

We'll start with the series that stood out the least, which is...

8. ARC-V

Yes, it’s pretty unappealing even for me. The Awakened version (left) are just him surrounded with aura and his mutated Z-ARC (right) is… not on my book.

7. Original / Duel Monsters

I ranked DM version a bit higher than ARC-V for this list. Yes, it’s the first and longest Yu-Gi-Oh series and therefore it’s iconic but Yami Yugi a.k.a. Atem didn’t really change clothes outside of making a cape jacket from his host. It’s still good that he manages to split into two selves for his partner later in the story.

6. Duel Monsters GX

It’s like Yami Yugi and Awakened Yuya because he spent some time being possessed by Haou / Supreme King (right), but Judai does had a control of his powers after gaining that and Yubel’s (left) powers and abilities, after that he doesn’t actually transforms outside the eye changes so I can’t rank him higher.

5. SEVENS

From demonic look to Sentai hero... Though unlike other series (except number 4 that will be explained later) these came off as one-off forms as he only wears the costumes in one duel with the process akin to early Metal Heroes series. But his roll call of The Yugaman (right) is cool, by the way.

4. 5DS

While the usual preparation before Riding Duel is pretty cool, this part stands out among my brother's favorite Yu-Gi-Oh series. Yusei just turns gold for his ultimate Synchro Summon technique, but it’s still cool. There’s even non-Riding Duel version on his Duel Links portrait too.

3. Go Rush!!

This recently airing series has the protagonist surrounded by blue (sometimes green) aura to turn back into his real, alien form. But it’s just “casual *flash* battle form” so I can’t rank him too high. But I like how he keeps doing this before his own duel, even when he doesn’t use this stock footage anymore starting in Season 2. And he’s unique among the protagonists as he’s one of the two capable of transforming on his own without outside source.

2. ZEXAL

The concept is similar to DM and GX, only this time Yuma merges with Astral and can de-fuse anytime unlike the latter series. Dark ZEXAL (top right) isn’t in my book and just a palette swap between the first ZEXAL form (top left), which is my favorite. But the other ZEXAL forms (bottom) are awesome too, evolving through Yuma and Astral’s bond. I just wish that the other forms appeared in Duel Links as a skill and not just his first form. Normally, this will be all-time favorite for transformation fans for Yu-Gi-Oh, but he’s ranked here because...

Well, you know who will be my top pick:

1. VRAINS

While I grew up with DM series, my interest took at peak after seeing Yusaku’s transformation sequence when he logs into LINK VRAINS or any cyberworld. It’s cool and flashy, and I like the blue background, even though his Playmaker form has barely any blue on it. The pocket dimension where Yusaku transforms fits its technology theme too. I especially like the hair part, just look of his cool face! And he can transform by himself, just like Go Rush!! series!

The only downside is like Go Rush!!, he doesn’t do this stock footage anymore after Season 1 Episode 30, any login after that is just offscreen or the intro survives but he’s just do the login in blue flash of light, which is disappointing, he even lack the double henshin with Takeru! (his adventuring partner who has the same animation when he individually transforms) But I do like the fact that the world unlock scene in Duel Links has this transformation sequence, which is a nice callback for the first episode where Playmaker’s transformation was shown for the first time, especially for the players who had finished the anime since spoiler alert: Duel Links’s VRAINS World takes place after the end of the series.

See more of VRAINS' henshin here.

[bestygogirl]

BEST YGO GIRL: REDEMPTION CUP

Round 1, Match 20

please use this as an opportunity to say why you like a character, not why you don't.

Baby. Baby girl. vs Evil

Propaganda under the cut!

Kiku Kamishirakawa

Here to provide the Kiku propaganda because we LOVE absolutely normal side characters in these whacky card game animes!

-Is a total Mom Friend to Takeru, making sure he is safe when he wanders off on his own and skips classes

-Reminds Takeru that he has people who care about him

-Shows concern for Takeru's (seemingly) irrational phobias and his major life altering decisions, but supports his choices, promising to look after his elderly grandparents when he leaves.

-Is nervous to try new hobbies going into Link VRAINS for the first time, but does so because it makes Takeru happy and she still supports her friend after months of separation.

In conclusion, Kiku isn't a walk-the-walk talk-the-talk duelist who can stand up to people who threaten to destroy the world, but she IS the person who will lift up her friends and give THEM the confidence they need to be a walk-the-walk talk-the-talk duelist who can stand up to people who threaten to destroy the world!

And that's why this side character who only appears in 3 out of 120 episodes in Yu-Gi-Oh VRAINS is best girl!

Barbara

Support women's wrongs. Evil is sexy. Thank you.

[sojourner-between-worlds]

Me, having watched exactly one (1) episode of VRAINS: yeah okay I'm down with Yusaku being a Magical Girl

[lia404]

Get to know me better game—2 in 1 because I'm 6 months late

Tagged by: @baratrongirl and @missmewachu

Thanks for being so patient while I was figuring out how Tumblr works again and why I had a blue dot beside "Activity" (as in, notifications about tag games I've been sent 6 months ago. Better late than never 🤦‍♀️) Thankfully the tag games you sent my way are very similar so it won't be hard to do 2 in 1!

Last song I listened to: Chipzel - Courtesy - YouTube

The 1st track of Super Hexagon, composed by Chipzel. Chipzel's music has been a pick-me-up since 201...4 I think? And since I fell back into Super Hexagon around a week ago, the music has also found its way back into my work playlist.

Currently reading: Trick question! There is what I am MEANT to read, and what I am ACTUALLY reading.

What I am MEANT to read is To Shape a Dragon's Breath, by Moniquill Blackgoose, which has absolutely all the elements I need to love a book. The problem is that my brain absolutely refuses moving further than Chapter 1, and I've been stuck for MONTHS. The good news is that when it happens, I usually struggle until the moment my brain finally snaps and I read the whole book in an afternoon. Wait for me, Moniquill Blackgoose, I'll soon be raving about your book.

What I am ACTUALLY reading is... well, it's more re-reading, but I'm going through Happy Hour by Inkflavored and Keep the Light Shining by Clydeside, two Yu-Gi-Oh AUs that have been incredibly healing for me in the past months, for very different reasons. I wanted to re-experience them to see if I could turn them into fanbinding projects (if the authors give me the authorisation of course, but I haven't reached this level of confidence yet, let's give it time.)

Currently watching: Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS.

Do you believe me if I tell you that it was an accident? It kinda was though! I wasn't the one who played the first episodes I just kept going afterwards. That said, I have fully adopted Yusaku. I kind of wish he could meet Philip from Kamen Rider W. Things would go so well.

Currently writing: this one is plain cruel, because after a drought spell of almost 2 years, I finally feel like getting back into writing (thank you, current obsession.)

I have 3 WIPs, one PWP because I like a challenge, one backstory of a character that has basically become my OC, and one AU that @wisyhana created and that I'm using as a wonderful sandbox. I am between 2k and 5k into each, nothing is complete, I'm losing my mind. But at least I'm writing again, right?

Spicy/sweet/savoury: Okay yes no it's cruel again and you will not make me pick just one.

If you've followed me these past years you know that I have completely lost my sense of taste between 2020 and 2023. I was lucky enough, and honestly even the specialised doctor said it was a miracle, to have most of it come back to me abruptly in March 2023, after 3 years unable to enjoy a bit of chocolate or a nice gratin. Some tastes are lost forever, but so few compared to what came back that I just can only be very very grateful and very confident in saying SPICY SWEET SAVOURY I'LL TAKE THEM ALL. I LOVE TASTES. ALL OF THEM.

Relationship status: I have been told polyamory looks good on me.

And I am lucky to have the most patient and tolerant lovers ever. EVER. I love them so much and I'm so bad at showing it because I am a mess. There isn't a day where my heart doesn't overflow with gratitude that they are in my life and agree to putting up with my bullshit.

Current obsession: Listen, Mew put it SO ELOQUENTLY I can help but quote:

mentally ill traumatised japanese teenagers and their ancient egyptian guys who hang out in their jewellery all playing card games.

So, yeah, current obsession is Yu-Gi-Oh!, and with it Duel Links, and everything children-card-game-adjacent. I am currently trying to figure out why everyone in this kid's show is so hot and delightfully traumatised. Characters after my own heart, all ready to be projected on and used for cathartic writing purposes. Other obsession is MEW'S FAULT TOO ACTUALLY since it's my newly founded Clan in Flight Rising. Ask me about my dragon Atem.

Favourite colour: I like my colour like my wine—burgundy. (I actually like all sort of shades of purple, violet and red, but I don't know how to list them.)

Tagging: Wow uh who do I know around here who is still active?

@twilightknight17 for sure (although I'm sure you already did it), @wingsonghalo maybe? Uuuh, I think @the-wanderer-of-thoughts and @istadris? You know, considering how inactive I am here, I think it's already a lot, but if you're not in the list and want to do it too, be my guest!

[vrains-rewrite]

not gonnna lie no progress was made today with writing or setting up the discord server and sign ups (oops lol) im deeply afraid of discord bots (even though ive done it before)

Instead, for today, i humbly offer you all some song recommendations that remind me of vrains characters (mostly about their season 1 selves, maybe i’ll be able to update it with some for season 2 and 3 later)

- Emergency Contact by pierce the veil.

Yusaku coded?? Think final episode of season 1 trying to give up his little vengeance arc even though he Is Not Done processing all that happened

- I’ll make cereal by cavetown.

Also Yusaku coded!! But more chill of a song in tone, with a focus on earlier on in season 1 talking how his trauma affects him on the daily

- Frog on the floor by 100 gecs.

a much goofier song, very season 1 Ai coded lol. Its litterally Kusanagi/Koulter and Yusaku talking abt him behind his back

- The first punch by pierce the veil.

Season 1 revolver/varis!! Its litterally just him i swear. lines like ‘glass over diamond blue eyes’ oh u mean his vrains avatar? lines like ‘why can’t we just be friends? Its not easy’ yusaku moment?? lines like ‘kill it fast and never watch it die’ oh you mean like the tower of hanoi, and his attitude towards Ai? Like come onnnn you see it right?

i encourage you all to add ur own suggestions if you’d like btw~

[couldtransitionsaveher]

KUSANAGI JIN from YU-GI-OH VRAINS

JUSTIFICATION:

"Kusanagi Jin's story is arguably the emotional backbone of VRAINS, and yet the character herself suffers some of the clumsiest writing in the entire show. We learn early on that she's the younger sister of Yuusaku's/Playmaker's ally, Kusanagi Shoichi, that she and Yuusaku have some sort of shared history together, and that both Yuusaku and her brother are partially motivated in their revenge quest against the season 1 villains for Jin's sake, but it's not until halfway through season 1 that we learn what happened to her – she, like Yuusaku, was abducted as a child and starved and tortured as part of an experiment to create sentient AI. We learn there were six children forced through this and we go on to meet other survivors of the experiment, one of whom joins the protagonists and one of whom is an antagonist. But Jin herself remains a background presence for the entire first season despite its core focus being uncovering the truth behind the experiment that traumatized her and the others so that they could all have closure. We don't even learn her NAME until the 29th episode. Season 1 ends and Jin is told – offscreen again – the truth of what happened to her between seasons, and she's explicitly stated to be recovering well in the hospital now that she knows she's safe. Her brother invites her to come to the city to live with him once she's released. And THEN! RIGHT at that moment! She's kidnapped by that season's villain and put into a coma for literally 70+ episodes. Not only that, the villain is to her what Yuusaku's own partner is to him – as in, was created using her data from the experiment in her childhood, and has what's basically a direct link to her soul – and yet the relationship between them is never explored. She has no personality or agency of her own, she's just a tragic figure in need of rescue, again. To add insult to injury, at the end of the series, we learn her traumatic memories have been magically wiped from her brain and that's treated as a happy ending for her – despite giving her closure so that she can move on being her brother's ENTIRE MOTIVATION for the first season! AND they cut off all her hair. TL;DR only a woman in Yu-Gi-Oh! could be done so dirty, I rest my case." - @lightignis

Reminder: Submissions are always open! Submit here!

Did you make your daily click today?

[cyberdragoninfinity]

saw your arc-v livepostings on twitter n' your z-one/aporia posts and now i really wanna get into the show and into ygo in general. do you have any recommendations on where to start so that it won't be too confusing for a poor sap such as i if you can? please and thank you (:

WAHHH IM HONORED THAT MY SILLY POSTING HAS INSPIRED YA TO CHECK OUT YUGIOH!! ;w;

yugioh really is something truly special and an absolute blast to really dig into, but it IS a very big franchise.... forgive me for being a bit inexperienced at giving recommendations, but I shall do my best!! here's some pointers that I think could be helpful if ya wanna get into the show(s) (not getting into the mangas too much on this, for the sake of brevity LOL) (the spinoff mangas are fun reads, though!)

ok so the thing with yugioh is there are Eight Different 'Main' Yugioh Series (and a few little stray other series but we ain talkin bout those right now)--my recommendations are focusing on the first five series, since those the ones i've seen (though ive heard glowing reviews for VRAINS and Sevens and you could certainly go check either of those out if you wanted to! You don't really need to know anything about the plots of the other series to follow those stories)

as a yugioh fan i am of course obligated to recommend Duel Monsters as a starter. It's the OG, just absolute Yugioh at its most tried and true Yugioh, it Is that good, the dub and sub are both classics--but IF i am being my most honest true self, if my arc-v postin and zoneporia chattering have got ya ygo hooked then I would recc maybe taking a gander at one of the spinoff series first instead ;3

(In general what's cool about yugioh is you can basically pick up any of the series as your 'first' ygo experience to start with and have a great time with it! I know tons of people who've all started with different series/only are invested in 1-2 series,Theyre all made to be their own self-contained plots, and there's really something for everyone among 'em! you could honestly just read wiki blurbs on each series and go with whatever one sounds most interesting to you, and that's a fine start right there.) (though sometimes youll see characters from one series show up in another one, the Entire Storyline isnt Hinged on that--i.e. a bunch of alternate version GX/5D's/Zexal characters show up in ARC-V, but you dont need to have seen all those series to watch arc-v or follow its plot.) also idgaf what anyone says, the dubs are just as wonderful a watch as the subs are when it comes to ygos--you have to deal with some scene censorship or dialogue changes, but to me it doesn't really impede the experience. (in fact I almost want to recommend the dubs MORE for someone just starting to get into yugioh--it can be easier to follow the duels sometimes. AND a lot of the dubs are free on Youtube!!)

ANYWAY Z-one and Aporia are from Yugioh 5D's!! The, Last twenty episodes or so. Of 5D's. 🥴 <--the suffering nicherfaverrrr. So if you want to meet them properly you Do unfortunately have to be in for the long haul (i am of course biased and will say: Worth It.) 5D's is all around fantastic though; it has its slow spots, but the duels get crazy fun on those damn motorcycles, so even if you do buckle in for the All of It you'll have a good time--there are some chunks in the second half of the show that never got dubbed though (sad!) which is just something to keep in mind.

RE: Arc-V! since youve seen me tweetin about it, I will say, the first 50 episodes or so of it, that first season, does make for a really great crash course intro to yugioh and its worlds/how dueling works, since it touches upon all the main types of summoning as part of its plot, and talks about how they work. You get to learn about them as the characters do, which is really cool! My main hesitance from suggesting it 100% as a starter series is that it gets. fucking Bonkers. like characters from the other series showing up aside there is just So Much Going On in Arc-V At Any Given Point. IT CAN BE A BIT OVERWHELMING. AND APPARENTLY ITS ENDING IS. NOT VERY GOOD. which might not be very fun for a first time ygo experience 😭BUT BY ALL MEANS GIVE IT A WHIRL IF YOU'RE INTERESTED. I'm having fun with it at least, hehehe.

OK HONESTLY. HONESTLY. I think if I have one good recommendation to take away from all of this: watch Zexal. Zexal is a fantastic starter yugioh, I can't recommend giving it a go enough. Yuma as a protagonist starts out dogshit at the game and gets better over the course of the series, and that really helps the viewer follow along with the card game and start to understand it at a nice pace without getting confused over all the finer points of it. It does a really nice job of explaining how things work imo! It's also just, a gorgeous show. It's one of the most beautiful cartoons ive ever seen art direction wise. It's so kind and so fun and goes hard as hell and the characters are so full of love and personality. AND THE WHOLE DUB IS FREE ON YOUTUBE. BTW. BONUS.

THIS ENDED UP SO LONG SORRY tl;dr you can pretty much start with whatever yugioh sounds most interesting to you personally as your first series and you won't be missing any critical lore! Also Zexal is one of the best, consistently good and really easy to pick up. I think if you could only ever watch one yugioh make it that one.

also this is a less a recommendation and more just "little things about watching yugioh to keep in mind" but: don't let the card game aspect intimidate ya too much! the show really does it's best to explain how cards work and keeps it engaging; it's a show geared towards kids so of course it tries to keep things pretty easy to follow along, game-wise (also do not listen to the 'The Duels Arent Important' Crowd they are Wrong. yugioh is a sports anime but the sport is a card game. that's the crux of its storytelling. and it's genuinely really cool!!!) And if you're interested in giving the game itself a whirl, Duel Links is pretty beginner friendly imo!

I HOPE THATS AT LEAST SOMEWHAT HELPFUL the trials and tribulations of recommending where to start with a franchise that boasts some 1000+ episodes across 8 series is mighty but that should give ya some sort of idea!! whatever you end up going with I hope you have a ton of fun! YUGIOHHHH

[pigeonsage]

Vrains season 1 episode 3 screenshot redraw

Love these two they have such an underrated dynamic<3

[pico-farad]

I hit episode 90 of Vrains! Season 2 is long, so I'm stopping here to put down some thoughts.

But before that, I wanted say that I was blown away by the response to Secret Identities AU! I didn't even know the Vrains fandom was still alive, but clearly I was mistaken. I plan to make a part 2 going over more characters and changes I'd make, but I'm going to hold off until I've finished the series, so that I can factor in the larger arc of the story.

For now though, here's my thoughts on the second third of Vrains (up to Aoi vs. Bohman). I had too much to say again, so this part will cover Soulburner and Flame.

Critique is meant in good taste. I don't think the Vrains writers will be offended.

All Vrains season analysis posts

⇀ Soulburner

Well, I saw this coming. With a protagonist like Yusaku, the writers need a character who can engage him and generally fill up that "Yugioh friend" role, which was sorely missing in Season 1. Naoki, Go, or Ai? Not marketable enough. They needed to make an anime boy, and they sure did.

That said, I was expecting more from Yusaku and Soulburner's relationship, it's a little... nondescript. They had the same problem in season 1, where the writers don't leave room for the characters to just be characters and bounce off each other, it's all just plot and duels and exposition. At least season 1 had the excuse of Yusaku's trauma alienating him from others, but not only has Yusaku already resolved to overcoming that barrier, but Soulburner is one of the only people who can connect with him because of that experience.

I really would have liked to see them connect more on both being victims of the Lost Incident. Season 1's emotional conflict resolved with Yusaku putting his trauma behind him, so Season 2 needs a new emotional conflict. This would be an excellent use of Soulburner's character, except they've made the strange decision that Soulburner has also already overcome his trauma... offscreen.

Don't get me wrong, the Soulburner vs. Blood Shepherd episodes are good. Having Soulburner and Flame trick Blood Shepherd with their acting is a fine gotcha, but think about what we could have gotten if Takeru was allowed to grow through the story itself -- Yusaku and Flame both encouraging him, Takeru finding strength in Yusaku, the only person he knows who has been though the same trauma as him, but was able to stand up to Hanoi nonetheless. Instead, we don't even get to see Yusaku's reaction to Soulburner's backstory, he's stuck outside the bubble.

I can see why people like him though. Both his designs are good, he gets some funny lines, some good duels. I like his trait of fanboying over the heroes who saved Vrains, EXCEPT that the duels vs. Go and Blue Girl were unforgivable and I WILL go deep into that in their sections, mark my words anime boy.

Most of all though, I like his relationship with Flame.

⇀ Flame

He's funny. Like if Jack was five inches tall. I like how he just casually puts words in Soulburner's mouth. ("Prepare yourself! Soulburner never shows mercy!" "What? I didn't say that." "You didn't?") Flame thinks he's the Ratatouille rat in this relationship, both of them think they're the one calling the shots, and that's great.

I wish that element of their relationship had come back in the Soulburner vs. Windy duel, which is another case of introducing an interesting challenge for the characters -- in this case, the idea that Flame should want to be independent of Soulburner -- only to once again go Psych! Bamboozled! They were just acting the whole time!

Ah yeah, they sure tricked me into thinking we would get some good character development...

It's a shame, because I think Windy actually does raise an interesting point. The audience is biased towards thinking of Soulburner as the one who calls the shots -- he's the one who plays the cards, who declares attacks and announces effects, while Flame is the one who looks like a mascot and provides standard Yugioh audience commentary. It makes complete sense for Windy to instill doubt in Flame this way, because the conflict between the Ignis and humans is that humans think AI should only serve humans, and Ignis believe in their own free will.

For reference, here is the exchange that happens (paraphrased) after Soulburner refuses to listen to Flame's advice not to set a card (though this is just part of the act)

Windy: Don't you want to fight using your own will, Flame? Partners are just a nuisance. That's why I got rid of mine. Soulburner: Nuisance? During the Lost Incident, the captured spent every day in an unimaginable situation. Despair, day after day... When we were freed, we were so happy that our hope became reality! But you stole that away from your partner because you thought he was a nuisance? Flame: Windy, we were able to be created because they spent day after day enduring despair. We should be thanking them. We have no right to steal their hope!

Flame's rebuttal to Windy is so bizarrely essentialist. The Ignis don't owe anything to the Lost Incident victims, much less gratitude. They didn't ask to be created, and they are not responsible for the crimes of SOL. The message should have been something like "I chose Soulburner with my own free will."

Flame does not owe Takeru anything, but he chooses to be his partner, because the whole point of the Ignis is that they have free will. That is the proper resolution to Windy asking "Don't you want to fight using your own will?" The answer is no, they choose to fight together. Even if Soulburner appears to be the one calling the shots because he wears the duel disk, they are equals, and the reason Soulburner takes the lead is because Flame trusts him. 5D telepathy chess undercuts that.

⇀ Lost Incident Victims, and Alternate Season 2 thoughts

The more I think about it, the more I wish they used the different Lost Incident victims to explore different reactions to trauma. Yusaku used it to fuel him and his revenge, Takeru went down a route of self-sabotage and lashing out, Jin shut himself down, and Spectre, uh, decided to be Like That lmao.

Here's the set-up that I would have done for Season 2: after Jin is kidnapped, Yusaku decides to seek out the other Lost Incident victims to see if any of them have been targeted too, which could give them a clue on how to get Jin back. This is how he meets Takeru. 

Yusaku has to learn how to connect with people, which follows up on the season 1 finale, where he resolves to open himself up to others and tells Revolver that he wants to be friends. By befriending Takeru and helping him overcome his trauma, and eventually the other Lost Incident victims too, it builds up to the reprise of Yusaku vs. Revolver, where Yusaku finally succeeds in connecting with Revolver, who he realizes is another victim of the Lost Incident.

Jin and Miyu get to be actual characters this way, too, rather than just damsel devices. I'd also pay to see the deranged interactions Spectre would have with Yusaku.

[minor-deity-of-chaos]

Almost a year ago today, I made a rant about how cool it would've been if the accidental-lost-incident-backup storyline given half-heartedly to Bohman during season 2 was a full season plot (not using Bohman because we can do better) and not just a random, unimportant thing. A couple days after that I had written a short-form script for that potential season, only to forget about it the next week.

Well, I found it again, and I decided to turn it into a complete season breakdown fic! This is now a VRAINS Season 3 reimagining, and since I've had massive writer's block for years now, I decided to go easy on myself and write this in 'episode summary' format. I means that I'm basically outlining each episode in detail, but not writing actual 'prose'. I will post each episode as they are written, and the season will be 20 episodes same as the original S3.

My intention is to stay mostly canon-compliant, just pushing the seriousness of the show even further to give it weight.

And yes, it's going to be Aiyusa, but so is the canon ending of the series and no one can convince me otherwise 💚

[number-1-kuaidul-fanboy]

My current all series ranking (Before Go Rush Season 3 drops later today)

1 GX 9/10 (Do I really need to explain this one? It's the Judai Yuki show. Judai Yuki is my all time favourite Yugioh character. Enough said.)

2 VRAINS 8/10 (Exciting and interesting with great lore and the duels have grown on me but its theming issues hold it back for me.)

3 Zexal 8/10 (Interchangeable with VRAINS. The central dynamic carries this one. It's entertaining and endearing and makes even the non epic plotlines fun to watch.)

4 Sevens 8/10 (Doesn't quite hit the highs of other series but is overall consistent as what it lacks in overarching plot it makes up for in charm, wit, and character.)

5 Go Rush (Currently ongoing so this could change. At the moment though, the highs are peak Yugioh and the lows are better than the lows of the series I put below it.)

6 5Ds 7/10 (The ultimate peaks and valleys show. The highs are peak Yugioh amazing and the lows are "forcing an abuse victim to forgive her abuser" bad.)

7 DM 7/10 (Mostly dry cast and overly long duels make me not as interested in this one but the general fun silliness, great final arcs and characters I do like still make it good overall.)

8 Arc V 6/10 (Went to shit in Synchro and never fully recovered for me, though there was still the occasional great episode/character.)

9 Season 0 (I haven't finished this one but while there's nothing inherently wrong with it, it's at the bottom by default because it's just not the kind of show I generally like and really hasn't hooked me.)

[kcuf-ad]

God, I forgot how savage Episode 18 is of VRAINS.

Ai: Aww, daddy only bought you 1 pony instead of 6?

Akira: How about no ponies?! And no families, either.

10 seconds silence

Ai: Do you think I crossed the line?

Playmaker: Yeah, probably.