So, I was getting ready for bed at half-past midnight
And I was listening to Psychic Lover's "Vanguard Fight" when I thought of something.
You know how in the OP, it starts off with a bunch of happy looking characters, and then, the part before the verse, it shows the name of the show and those two ominous rings?
I know cfvblahblahblah made a post about those rings before a while back, but given the events in the recent episodes, I feel that it's necessary to bring them up again.
So I have concluded (in light of the previous discussion of the rings) that the two rings could represent one the following if they don't represent a completely different antagonizing force altogether: Naoki and Kai Naoki and Aichi Kai and Aichi Naoki, Kai, AND Aichi (Given the rings kinda form a Venn diagram shape, Aichi could represent the space in the middle)
There is no doubt in mind after the episode with the Naoki and Suiko fight when Ren showed up (and gave me a fuggin' heart attack with that Psyqualia face ):) that Psyqualia is going to make yet another comeback this season. However, whether that is the main factor yet again this season or not, I haven't quite theorized yet. Maybe the rings represent an organization where they're all Psyqualia users or something. I don't know.
But back to the aforementioned characters. If there isn't an organization or something of the sort as the antagonist this season, the conflict would definitely have to lie between the Kai and Naoki and Aichi ties. Originally, I didn't think Naoki would be susceptible to the powers of Psyqualia because, by Jove, he literally learned Vanguard a couple of months - maybe even weeks - ago. Not to mention his overpowering demeanor indicated a somewhat strong sense of self. But, since Naoki's cardfighting record hasn't been too cool recently AND he literally takes all the blame of everything that goes wrong upon himself without anyone saying anything to him, I'm starting to rethink that. This guy's desire for power is starting to really affect his mind, and I wouldn't be surprised if anything came out of that.
Which, as mentioned in a previous discussion, would explain why the rings change color in the opening, signifying Ishida's shift from being on fire for Vanguard for being obsessed with getting stronger.
With Kai, though, I don't think he's in any danger of succumbing to Psyqualia, per se. I was told once that the guy did have Psyqualia in the past, according to the manga, but I never really got the full story on that. I wouldn't think he would still have it. But then again, he's always looking for "strong people to fight". So, while he doesn't really have Psyqualia and isn't obsessed with getting stronger (well, not that I can tell anyway), he is obsessed with finding stronger people to fight. And how could I forget what he told Naoki when he beat him? "Get to where I am"? Nope. Not suspicious at all. It doesn't quite help that last season, he said, "Aichi's gotten stronger . . . Stronger than me even." And like I said with the last post, his want to fight Daigo could either mean that a) he really wants to fight Daigo, b) he's attracted to the Royal Paladin deck, or c) he's looking for extremely strong people to fight so that he can be on Aichi's level.
So, once again, the ring turning from fiery red to a dark fire purple? Maybe it signifies a transition from Kai just trying to find strong people to fight in order just to get stronger, like he's done in the past two seasons, to Kai trying to find strong people to fight in order to get to Aichi's level.
As for Aichi, I don't really think the guy's going to change that much. Unless his Psyqualia goes out of control for whatever reason, he should be one of the stable characters of the show. Which is why that one of the possibilities for what the ominous rings mean is that the two rings represent Naoki and Kai, and Aichi is in the middle, keeping the two of them in check. But, if rings are heated to just the right temperature, they melt. If Naoki's desire to get stronger and Kai's desire to find strong people to fight transform into something that could potentially harm the both of them, the two rings break, and the two have no center that they can fall back on.
And then, all Hell breaks loose.
But, I can't help but feel Miwa has an equally important role in all of this too. His egging on Kai's desire to be stronger appeared to be a wakeup call for Kai with that one episode.
"You want to battle him. It's written all over your face." "It is?"
God help us all if Miwa turns out to be an antagonist.