#vrains analysis

[bonebreakjack]

Theory for why Ai wishes to die

Like we all know he is grieving yes, but that preview with Lightning made me pause when i watched it over with the subs.

Ai is desperate to die, its why he concocted this plan to begin with. He wins Yusaku dies, BUT Ai made it that he wound’t be able to out live him long anyway. His consciousness will be spread to the copies effectively killing him as he was.

If Yusaku wins, the plan is not enacted and everyone will be returned, and he will die as the result of his loss. Regardless Yusaku will be there in his last moments anyway.

Ai wants to die knowing he won’t outlive the last friend he has, that’s why in the previous episode he gave such vague answers to Yusaku abotu being okay with Yusaku dying. Regardless it wouldn’t matter to him because in the end he loses his only friend anyway. But the way he does it takes the choice out of his hands and puts in Yusaku’s.

(Which is incredibly fucked up goshdarnit Ai)

But then I thought, If Yusaku was truly the only person he had left to care for, why didn’t he and Roboppy just go back to him in the first place? OR hell convince to try and take down Sol as revenge for the Ignis?

And thats where Lightning message comes in, or Lightnings ghost whatevs.

As well as something Flame said before the Ignis where absorbed and that is The Ignis have no actual concept of death.

Ignis/A.I. can not die by natural means like humans/plants/animals/. When we die its because our own bodies begin to fail, or we are killed by outside forces. but tis mostly the former that is a natural death.

Ignis don’t have that, they could with caution and maintenance theoretically live forever.

I think the destroyed town we saw was Lightning showing Ai his future, one where he outlives all the humans on earth.

(And doesn’t that sound familiar? Saaaay 5D’s familiar? Hello Aporia~)

It doesn’t help that he is still grieving if and when he gets this information, but being faced with his own immortality that no matter what he does he was still going to be alone.

Ignis? Gone.

Roboppy? Had a simple A.I. that was reaching its end, they wouldn’t have lasted long anyway.

Yusaku? He was going to out live Yusaku. Literally the only family he has left and Ai has maybe what? 70-100 years hopefully with him? If he dies by natural means.

Essentially that could be why Ai not only choose Yusaku to be the one to kill him, but also to possibly test if he wins if AI could truly coexist with humans. It could be why he was so dead set on making people hate him before he goes out, the more people who do, the more bonds he breaks? the less likely he can back out of it.

Then again this is all theory, but it seems very likely until next week.

[pendulumprince]

Playmaker asking Ai what the Cyberse is like is so goddamn important. Whether you’re aiballshipping trash like me or just interested in their partnership, that was a key moment.

Not three episodes ago he was talking about how there’s “no friendship between [them]” and now he wants to know about Ai’s past. And we know how important the past is to Yusaku, he knows firsthand how much it can effect the present (to the point that it feels like certain events have never ended). In asking about that, he was obviously looking for inspiration to keep fighting. But on a subtler note, he was also showing intetest in learning why Ai is the way he is.

Because even though it hasn’t been spelled out, Ai is still effected by his past. Out of all the ignises, he’s the baby who did the least amount of work—so he’s used to relying on others. And they were the people he was closest to, so he’s gone to great lengths to ensure they won’t be hurt—because like his name has always implied, that’s what love does. And they all lived in a place he describes as paradise only for the Knights of Hanoi to rip it away for no concrete reason ar all—so he’s desperate to get it back.

Does this make sense? He’s silly and self absorbed because the first few years of his life were carefree, but he’s also cunning because his life since then has been anything but. And that’s comparable to Yusaku, because... well, Specter was probably right when he said Yusaku’s life before The Lost Incident had to be a good one. And because that life was taken in a particulatly brutal way, he eventually developed into a vengeful anti-hero.

So you can see, then, why Playmaker took inspiration from Ai’s story. They both have friends they want to protect; they both want to recover things that were stolen from them; they both have lives that were destroyed by the actions of one man. Playmaker has to win to save everyone, but he isn’t alone. His partner is still by his side, and understands his plight better than anyone would’ve guessed.

The evolution of their relationship since episode 1 has been so subtle and so Good that... the climactic drama of episode 42 aside, they didn’t need any huge moments to mark that development. It’s been happening the entire time and still has a way to go, but goddamn. I love these two together.

[pendulumprince]

With what went down this episode I don’t... know how I’d feel about Bowman being a Lost Baby anymore.

I think the general consensus is he can’t be the “original” Yusaku, but this was still a bombshell moment because it came out of nowhere and would have massive consequences if even remotely true. But to go from that to him simply being a Lost Baby would honestly be a bit... anti-climactic.

Because it wouldn’t be a huge reveal anymore. We knew Yusaku, Jin and Takeru were involved right off the bat; Specter is the only Lost Baby who really had a “reveal” because he was a pre-established character. And as much as I dislike Specter, I think his revelation was well done because we didn’t see it coming until we saw 35′s episode title.

Do you get what I’m saying? At this point Bowman is a pre-established character, we’ve known about him since episode 47. So if him being a Lost Baby by virtue of being Yusaku is revealed to be a fake-out, but then it turns out he’s a “regular” Lost Baby after all, then I just can’t see how that doesn’t fall flat. Because you’d go from a massive “reveal” to something a lot of people saw coming.

I’m not discounting the possibility. All I’m saying is right now, I don’t think I’d like it very much.

[pendulumprince]

Remember that piece of meta info that said Vrains is supposed to take place in a world “ten years from now”?

That statement goes straight into Nightmare Fuel territory when you remember The Lost Incident happened ten years prior to Vrains.

[pendulumprince]

Am I the only one who kinda wants to slap Ryoken in the latest VRAINS episode? This guy is seriously breaking my heart here! T_T Using the "three things" mantra to give Yusaku despair was such a low blow, especially since he knows how important the "three things" is to Yusaku. It's so deeply ingrained into Yusaku since he used it came from his Special Person, who gave him comfort and support during the Lost Incident. But now Ryoken is using it to hurt Yusaku emotionally in their duel! T_T

Ryoken’s breaking your heart, my heart, Playmaker’s heart, his own heart—

When I was first watching episode 45, what really hurt me the most was how it almost seemed like Revolver was reveling in Playmaker’s pain, like he wanted to drag the boy he inspired down into despair. And it came off as an insult, because he knows firsthand just how much Yusaku’s suffered. Why would he seek to exacerbate that?

But then I thought about episode 43, and remembered a certain exchange:

Yusaku: “An anonymous report uncovered The Lost Incident. That was you, Revolver?”

Ryoken: “I quickly regretted saving you.”

“I quickly regretted saving you.” 

Ryoken regrets it. He wished (and probably still wishes) he could take it back. If he could redo the decision, he probably would’ve let the Hanoi Project continue. Because his actions directly lead to SOL’s ascension, his father’s absence/eventual death, and the ignises posing a threat to all of humanity. 

Ryoken blames himself for all of this, because he did it for what? To save six children, one of whom actually enjoyed the ordeal and another who went on to become his greatest enemy. And can you really compare the lives of six children to the whole of humanity? Ryoken is a big-picture, ends-justify-the-means character. He’s definitely the type who would turn a blind eye to those kids if he knew then what he knows now.

We know, of course, that Ryoken is misdirecting his blame. He’d rather point the finger at himself, or Playmaker, or the ignises, or SOL, or the Charisma Duelists—literally anyone but his father. It’s for that reason that I doubt he’s given serious thought to what would’ve happened if he hadn’t said anything. Who’s to say Kogami wouldn’t have killed the Lost Babies once they were no longer of use? Who’s to say that he wouldn’t have kidnapped a new batch of kids so he could keep making more ignises? Who’s to say he would have “realized” the threat the ignises posed under these new circumstances? Without SOL curbing his actions, there’s no way to tell what Kogami would have actually done.

But Ryoken hasn’t considered any of this, because his devotion to his father blinds him to it. This is why Revolver seemed so hell-bent on breaking Playmaker: because he’s the embodiment of what is, in his own mind, his Greatest Failure. If Yusaku was truly the only child he spoke to during The Lost Incident, then Yusaku is undoubtably the one who most motivated him to expose what Kogami was doing. If it hadn’t been for Yusaku, for Playmaker, none of this would be happening. 

So of course he’d stop at nothing to crush Playmaker. Of course he would use his own monsters against him. Of course he’d expose Ai’s capacity to lie in hopes of breaking their partnership. Of course he would use the Three Reasons Why mantra to drag him into despair. 

Yusaku is the object of his obsession, but he’s also the target of his hatred: hatred that was originally directed at himself, but should truly be directed at his father. It just so happens that the boy he saved all those years ago is, as he’s always been, the easiest target.

[pendulumprince]

*deep breath* okay but if SOL is the antag of season 2, Playmaker being a fugitive makes perfect sense.

Link Vrains being reinvented into (NEO) New Link Vrains means that SOL must’ve reasserted control over it. And as Akira once noted, the ignises are considered SOL Tech’s property. 

SOL’s wanted Ai back since episode 1. And after what went down in episode 42, you can’t tell me Yusaku’s just going to hand Ai over to them. 

Thus, Playmaker is illegally withholding a piece of SOL Tech’s property with no intention of returning it. Of course he’s going to be a fugitive.

[pendulumprince]

Ok, so something interesting I have to make note of is that in the first episode, after it makes it seem like Ai's been spying through cameras on Yusaku (Because who else might be?), that he then makes the "OH NO I'M IN TROUBLE" comment in such a way that reminds me of whenever he's fake-acted later on. And this was after the camera blinked. Your thoughts?

Oh yeah, Ai definitely orchestrated his own capture.

The first person I saw propose this theory was @bluebeirry in their post Ai/Ignis- Playing Playmaker? I highly recommend reading it, it totally changed the way I saw Ai as a character. I won’t rehash all the evidence in support of it, but I will go into what I think it means.

If he truly did set up his own kidnapping, the bottom-line reason is because Ai wanted to get close to Yusaku. He wanted it so badly that he put himself in a position where he could also be captured by the KoH or SOL. There was no guarantee that Yusaku’s “escape” route would have materialized in time. Ai was really taking a gamble in episode 1, all in the hope that Yusaku would “catch” him.

So if he’s willing to do all that, the question then becomes why? The most obvious reason is because they both had a common enemy in the KoH, and Playmaker was the only duelist successfully taking them on. He may have viewed working with Playmaker as a mutually beneficial endeavor; Ai would further Yusaku’s crusade by attracting the KoH to them, and he (Ai) would be protected all the while. 

But even before this episode it’s been clear that Ai’s feelings for Yusaku run on the personal side. He’s helped Yusaku in multiple ways, never once lashed out or hurt him (remember vore!Ai?), doesn’t hold any of his harsher comments against him, does his best to help during duels (even if much of his “advice” is incorrect), and genuinely seems to admire Playmaker. All this, on the part of someone who’s supposed to be a “hostage”.

So it isn’t like Ai orchestrated his kidnapping but later came to regret it. Hell, it’s debatable whether he ever even saw Yusaku as his “captor”. There was always something more to their relationship… and episode 41 proved it.

Several significant things were confirmed this episode:

Ai never lost his memories

Ai (#IGN006) was modeled after Yusaku (the sixth Lost Baby)

Ai remembered baby!Yusaku.

The last one is especially important, because it adds a whole new dimension to why Ai was watching Yusaku since episode 1 (and perhaps even further back). He wasn’t just following the only duelist taking on the KoH—Ai was following “his” kid. And wanted to be close to “his” kid. He wanted to have a partnership with “his” kid. Even if he had to risk being caught by his enemies. 

And even now, Ai only thinks the best of “his” Lost Baby. I’m not saying that having a common enemy in the KoH didn’t play into what Ai did in episode 1; it may have even been the deciding factor. But this is another element that just can’t be ignored.

So yes, Ai absolutely set everything up in episode 1. And we won’t really know what his motives were until he confirms them himself, but to me the decision was charged in equal parts by pragmatism and sentimentality (or as close to the feeling as an AI can get). 

[pendulumprince]

Regarding episode 41 of Vrains: What are, in your opinion, the chances that the pigtails girl who was certainly the base for the blue Ai and the other girl who also wears/used to wear pigtails and we all relate to the color blue (and who the writers should really bring back soon cause I miss her to death) are actually the same person, despite all the evidence saying that they’re not?

Ah yes, I’ve been waiting for someone to ask me this question!

Anyone who’s been following my blog long enough knows that before episode 20 or so, I was one of (if not the) most vocal proponent(s) of the theory that Baby Blue was connected to Aoi, and that Aoi was a Lost Baby in turn. But then Akira’s recounting of their backstory threw a wrench in that idea, and while I figured anything could still happen, I came to believe chances were slim to none.

And then… we got this shot:

Which naturally reminded everyone of this precious bean:

This revived the theory—at least in my opinion, and at least for now. But there are valid counterarguments, which I’ll address under the cut.

It may be a different girl with the same hairstyle. Ai being based off Yusaku proved that the Ai’s don’t need to physically resemble the children they were based off of.

The Blue AI is actually modeled after Specter (a confirmed Lost Baby) because he also read the Blue Angel book.

Aoi being a Lost Baby directly contradicts Akira’s recounting of their backstory, an account that Blue Angel heard herself and didn’t dispute.

The first counterargument is one I raised myself. Jin and irl!Revolver both have similar silhouettes, which helped inspire the now debunked Revolver=Shoichi’s Brother theory. The writers may be pulling a similar move here (and if so, say it with me now: they’re officially fucking with us (ʘ‿ʘ✿))

But let’s revisit the main reason why so many of us thought the Blue AI was tied to Aoi. The AI’s don’t necessarily look like the children they were based on, but… the argument was never that Baby Blue looked like Aoi. It was always that she looked like Blue Angel, Aoi’s VR persona—aka, an expression of her inner self.

Episode 33 confirmed that Aoi didn’t imagine Blue Angel herself. She based her on a book that inspired her as a child, and if Aoi went into that torture room clinging the story of Blue Angel as her lifeline, it would make perfect sense for the AI modeled after her to resemble that character. If it weren’t for episode 18, I think most of us would’ve taken that as proof that the Blue AI had to be connected to Aoi. 

Which leads me into the second counterargument. It’s one that I addressed in this reply, and I stand by my original reasoning. TL;DR - stupid as it is, I doubt the writers would have a female-coded entity be based on a male character. It would also be a bad move overall, since it would lend validation to Specter’s aggression against Blue Angel when, even in episode 34, he was framed as being in the wrong. And one last counterpoint that I didn’t bring up in the above reply: we never got a flashback of baby!Specter reading that book. He may have been lying just to screw with Blue Angel’s head.

And the third point? Well, this is the original reason why so many people let go of the theory in the first place. With this highly suspicious flashback it may not be the death knell we once thought it was, but with our current information the only way it can happen is if both Aoi and Akira’s memories were tampered with.

Because Yusaku, Specter and Jin’s memories of the event are fine. I’ve seen a few people propose that Aoi may have suppressed the memories, and while that may be the case for her it still doesn’t account for Akira. There needs to have been an outside force with incentive to take at least his, if not both their memories away.

If you ask me, SOL seems like the most obvious choice. They wouldn’t have even had to do it immediately after Aoi was rescued. The Zaizens could have lived with The Lost Incident hanging over their heads for two, three, even four years before Akira got himself involved with them. And SOL may have erased their memories of it because, at that point, they were still taking advantage of the incident’s end result and didn’t want him “learning something he shouldn’t have.”

If this is the case, it would add a new dimension to Akira’s attempt at empathy with Playmaker in episode 18. It was a strange move, even for someone as emotionally shortsighted as him. But… what if, deep down, Akira knew he could empathize? That Aoi really was once kidnapped by a stranger, and it totally broke his spirit? For all we know, this could have been a moment of covert foreshadowing.

So SOL is one possibility. Another, far less likely idea I’ve been messing around with is the Blue AI—the one based on Aoi—erasing their memories. But that’s a long shot dependent on a lot of information we just don’t have right now. I’ll explore it seriously if/when we get any hints at it, which may not be for a while. 

In any case, my final conclusion is: nothing is certain, but until we get a flashback shot of another little girl with pigtails, associated with the color blue, and with a connection to the Blue Angel book, this theory lives on.