One thing that always gets me is when Ai says "I guess I'm not your friend," after hearing Yusaku's story. The kid was tortured so he could be created. And now we know Ai secretly pushed Yusaku into revenge. I don't think Ai fully understood the suffering Yusaku endured until he heard this. And yet, Ai was the one who really helped Yusaku recover. If he hadn't, Yusaku would probably still be traumatized by the Lost Incident and never have met any of the friends he has now.
i originally saw it as a joke (since he makes a similar joke earlier), but yeah, it's an interesting line with the context of S3. i don't think ai understood either, and was in all honesty acting selfishly at first, but like you said yusaku was placed on the path to healing /because/ of that selfishness! ;A; even more so, i feel like that is when ai started to treat yusaku differently, too. even though he was still using yusaku, by the end of S1, he really /does/ see his origin as his partner, through and through. i wonder if he started seeing him differently not only because he felt bad, but because he wanted to be his friend, after hearing all that? gosh everything concerning their relationship makes me so angsty now ;A;
I donāt remember Yusaku having that 2400 atk monster etherā¦ I donāt think he ever uses it again. I didnāt even remember him using his skill in that duel. I should rewatch more than just Ryoken & Spectre eps one day. Also love sassy Aoi I enjoy the idea of her sassing Spectre outside of a duel. āFriend Anonā
yeah i was like ??? who tf are you when it showed up LOL. i didnāt remember him using his skill that duel either tbh!! and aha god what a mood honestly
and YESSS sassy aoi is so good. i love the idea of them bantering. they had some great dialogue in their duel iām so sad they never really interacted again. we were robbed smh
It was so funny and fits so well with canon. It was nice art too but also painful to look it. Yeah that makes a lot of since I can it being the case. The logo also have 6 triangles which could be to do with the 6 victims &/or the 6 ignis. Though that numberās meaning could be different depending on the knight asked. Thank you! Kinda thinking of not even making the mask. As long as you have fun with it thatās what matters. I never noticed how confusing his cape is until now lol āFriend Anonā
yeah that sounds like it would be painful;; iām kinda glad i havenāt seen that before but iām sure iāll stumble upon it one day and cry a little pff. plus yes the six triangles youāre right!! i realized that while i was printing it out for my tattoo lol. itās a really cool symbol honestly and i like that it can be taken differently :ā)
and honestly maskless rev is so good so i fully support you in that!!! he looked so cute without it in 117!! and yeah for sure~ cosplay is all about fun after all!Ā
For an outfit that is supposed to cover his butt Revolverās booty gets a fair amount of screen time. That make sense lol it also felt bigger than the first. Ryoken for Yugioh 7 protag! Lol I mean would get more Ryoken & Spectre duels that way. Judai duels even more than the Yugis. Yusaku also has his Magician which is 2500 too. Though none is his other 2500 atk monsters come close to being an Ace. At the same time however I donāt remember Decode being used much in season 2 (1/2)
and then he only duels once season 3. Itās use is so similar to Junk Warrior but without a Stardust and being the card with the most meaning behind it does cause it to seem like the ace. Firewall however still has to make it complicated by having 2500, upgrades and having its Link 5 has meaning. Yusaku just wants to be different from other protags lol. āFriend Anonā (2/2)
LMAO right. itās so funny. the weird fanservice bits of vrains always make me laugh
and omg what i would give for that LOL. a vrains continuation would be so radical, but i know thatās never gonna happen ;A; best i can hope for is an all stars kinda thing, which doesnāt seem too far fetched i suppose :ā)Ā
and yeah, cyberse magician def doesnāt get used enough to be his ace, but yeah heās 2500 too. tbf i donāt remember a lot about early S2 (like 47-70) besides a couple of highlights, so i could be wrong about how much decode is used? i also, tbf, donāt remember firewall getting used much then either -- i feel like the last time we saw it was his duel against go?? but yeah i guess yusaku just wants to be different and have like 6 aces instead LOL. which, hey, he is the sixth protag, so at least heās consistent pff
this is... the most screenshot heavy post iāve made so far, lmao, so please bear with me. as iāve said, this is one of my favorite duels, and thereās a lot that gets covered here. like, seriously, i havenāt 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 iād 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, donāt get me wrong, but i miss him on yusakuās wrist lol. i would say when things were less angsty, but, well. lmao.
we very quickly get akiraās rad boss monster summoned out:
and seriously, i just love the animation for it. itās 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 itās 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 iāve ever heard the first time i did that pff.
also:
i couldnāt 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 itās cool that it had all these little hints towards it, even if it ultimately wasnāt true.
seriously, my heart. i donāt think i need to talk much about this scene to make yāall sad, but really. they went from this to i loved you. ugh, god, iām 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 weāll 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 donāt like this anymore lmao
but even besides that, often times the protagās decks mean a lot to them, obviously, but i love that it wasnāt built strictly by yusaku. his cards were literally made by ai, and i think thatās such a cool twist.Ā
but then, akiraās 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
iāve 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 doesnāt 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 wasnāt just a little kid anymore. itās 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 sheās become. he doesnāt 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 arenāt you happy? as much as i, personally, dislike his character, i canāt deny itās very realistic and well written.
speaking of aoi:
i love how sheās written in this episode, too. but her entrance here is great, and i love how she stands up to him about this. itās minor, but itās still a good step. when sheās 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 yusakuās trauma so realistically and itās 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. whereās that post that saysĀ āwho thought this was an acceptable backstory to give to a card game protagā bc honestly??? YEAH
itās still hard to watch. itās still hard to see play out, even if itās only fiction. even though iāve seen these clips so many times, and written about them in detail a few times too. doesnāt 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 angelās and kusanagiās, and they contrast really well here imo.
blue angelās is a normal reaction. itās 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.
kusanagiās is strained. he is angry hearing about this, thinking about jin. weāve 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, itās 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 donāt see brought up often? but thatās 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.Ā
we donāt see too much of ryoken when heās 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 wouldāve all gotten out okay and his father wouldnāt be in a coma.Ā
this was so powerful. itās obvious, and i think anyone with half a brain would understand that the LI isnāt something that a kid would recover from easily, but i love this anyways.Ā
he wasnāt saved. and even if he was in body, itās still something he and all the other victims will live with for the rest of their lives.
this also is something i donāt feel like people bring up enough, but does this mean that yusaku went around asking the kids at the hospital when he was rescued? itās not hard to believe they were all put together, at least for a short amount of time, but itās still something i feel like people overlook.Ā
i also love this, because itās nice foreshadowing to how revolver feels. heās 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. itās so dramatic, how the match the drum beats with flashes of everyoneās reactions.
but it drives home his point, and while i know most of akiraās development came through emma and aoi, iām sure this helped, too.Ā
iāve sung vrains praises this entire post, but iāll do it again -- this is incredible. this is so realistic. itās so well portrayed. and itās really honest to god incredible that we got a protag in ygo who was shown going to therapy.Ā
ygo has always dealt with some pretty dark subject matter, and itās never really been shy about showing it on screen. iām not saying that at all. arc v obviously dealt with some pretty heavy stuff, and while i havenāt 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 yuseiās father, and gx has... well, itās entire third and fourth season.Ā
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 donāt get resolved properly (ie arc v).Ā
idk where i was going with this but i just really love that this happened, this was shown on screen, and they stuck to yusakuās character. they didnāt 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 thatās not always the case, and itās really important to me that vrains doesnāt pretend it is.
anyways, though, iām almost done with this episode i promise lmao. before the episode ends, we get this:
and i think itās 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 someoneās elseās perspective or in a way that might make him uncomfortable. the way my boyfriend describes these kinds of people is that theyĀ āhavenāt had their bubble poppedā.
everyone has a bubble when theyāre 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.Ā
iām explaining this very poorly, because iām running on not much sleep and iāve 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 playmakerās case, that he doesnāt have a right to interfere and that playmakerās desire to handle it himself is justified and helpful for his healing. and in aoiās case, that just because he does a lot of good for her doesnāt automatically mean ignoring her for work and keeping her locked in their house is an okay trade off. and also that sheās not a child anymore -- sheās nearly an adult and she deserves to be treated as one.Ā
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 heās said. akira doesnāt even flinch, because heās not really listening right now.Ā
iām glad he learns to, or at least learns how to start, later on.
anyways, i think thatās enough for this post lmao. this took forever to type up, so letās 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 :ā)
so i decided i wanted to watch this duel all in one day, so thatās why i wasnāt around yesterday~ tomorrow is the last day of my break before starting my new job, so hopefully i can work out a new schedule for this after i get used to it.
enough about that though!! this is one of my favorite duels in all of vrains, so iām super pumped to be rewatching it! this one gets pretty heavy though, be warned lol
the episode starts out with akira explaining what heās just learned...
and man, part of the reason i love this duel so much is because of how they absolutely nailed playmakerās expressions. i wonāt go into too much detail, but iāve been in a...somewhat similar situation, where there was someone who for whatever reason believed they understood what i had gone through and should just let them handle everything, while not understanding part of my healing process was handling it myself. the idea of giving up my control over certain things was completely out of the question, and thatās part of what makes this duel was great to me. playmaker perfectly illustrates those thoughts and feelings.
iām sure iāll talk a lot about that throughout the next few posts, but iāll stop myself there for the time being lol.Ā
anyways,
this was already hinted to us, the viewers, but not to any of the characters really, so i love how shocked kusanagi is. big businesses are generally pretty shady, but the LI is obviously in a different league lol. it makes sense that he was surprised.
and hereās one of my biggest reasons for disliking akira initially. i think he does grow as a character, but to be honest with yāall, iām still not overly fond of him lol. i love his relationship with aoi, i appreciate his growth, but man.
the fact that he saw any of that data and was like,Ā ānah, better not let the kid who was used for this project see any of the data. nvm the fact that he is searching it out on his own, so clearly itās important to him, but he shouldnāt have to worry about this. i can do itā just.Ā
iāve seen a few people say that they like akira for this, and i wonāt disagree that itās a realistic way to react. but playmaker is right. he has the right to learn what he went through. why he went through it.
then we get:
itās still a bit weird to see everyone in vrains questioning this when iām so used to the concept and to the characters being used to it, lol. but itās nice to see that train of thought continued. they all have time to come to terms with it, just like we, the viewers, do. itās cool.
but then akira continues to be an idiot:
and like, honestly. i donāt think heās doing anything horrible. i donāt think heās being mean. i think heās being stupid lmao. he obviously does care, just... doesnāt know how to handle this kind of situation. heās so used to handling everything, taking care of aoi, and even in his former position he had employees that worked under him, so it makes sense. but heās not the only capable person around, and he needs to let others handle their own issues.
and also, is it any wonder why playmaker doesnāt let akira take care of it? besides all of the obvious, heās just gotten confirmation that the company he works for had something to do with the lost incident, lmao.
seriously, people knock on vrains for a lot of things, and like, you do you man. if this show wasnāt your fave, thatās cool. not everything is gonna jive with everyone and thereās nothing wrong with that!
but vrains really, really does this right. i love and will always love how it handles yusakuās trauma through the series, and i genuinely feel blessed that we got him as a ygo protag.
but on yusakuās last point, they agree to duel:
i hate to break it to you, ai, but youāre in a ygo show. you donāt really have a choice LOL
i also really love how kusanagi is handled in these eps. heās not a victim, not in the same way his brother or yusaku were involved, but he was still deeply effected. how could he not be? he basically gave up his life to become a hacker and try to figure out what happened to his brother so he could help him. he had to watch as his once sweet little brother became a shell of a person, and nothing he did could stop it.
but anyways, something sad in a different way for a sec:
i, of course, immediately thought of the final duel and how yusaku finished the duel with decode talker. that....really hurt to hear with that context lol.Ā
ow, my heart.
but at least aiās also got some non-depressing lines to break things up a little:
seriously lmao what is duelsick??? i always wondered why it bothered him so much lol
but this episode is very depressing so that didnāt last long, whoops. we get to find out next about akira and aoiās upbringing:
but hereās the thing: this is so, so different. itās why playmaker and kusanagi get so angry and lash out. i am not at all denying that what akira and aoi lived through was terrible. they had it really rough, and it clearly hurt them both and changed how they view the world and live in general.Ā
but he literally just looked through the LI files he knows at least somewhat how different these situations are, in fact, he literally says that he doesnāt know the pain playmaker endured.Ā
my own personal feelings aside, this is a great look into akiraās character. just like with his own little sister, he has a hard time relating to otherās problems. he has a hard time understanding how theyāre feeling, glancing at something and thinking he knows whatās best. itās consistent with everything weāve seen from him so far, and while it makes it easy for me to dislike him, i completely understand why people really liked him and his development.Ā
he was never a bad person. just a misguided person trying to help when he shouldnāt have, or shouldāve done differently. his heart is truly in the right place, and yusaku even acknowledges that:
and itās good to see that by the end of the series, he and aoi can finally fight together, understanding each other. and iām really happy about that.
i really do love their relationship. theyāre great siblings, even if theyāre not related by blood. itās really rare to see such caring step siblings in media, so iām really happy we got them!!
but also, talk about a smack in the face. i wonāt let this six year old be unhappy, he explains to the person who, as a six year old, was kidnapped and tortured for six months as he hides the explanation of that event from them. lmao. but this emotional investment i have is what makes this such a good duel for me! itās so high stakes, and the voice acting is so on point. i love.Ā
obviously, though, neither kusanagi nor playmaker take that very well:
i remember sitting on my couch, watching this episode for the first time, and just being blown away by this scene. itās so powerful. every time i rewatch this, i am still amazed and i can feel my heart pound lmao. itās not very often we see playmaker get this emotional, which definitely makes this impact greater, but the same for kusanagi.
heās a much more expressive character, but while heās serious about his job of helping yusaku, heās more laid back in every day situations. and even while heās on the job, he often smiles. to see that kind of character in this kind of a fury makes for a really, really big impact.
i love this. it so perfectly sums up that feeling, why someone would get so angry in this kind of situation. i could talk all day about it, but i have a few other episodes of this duel and iāve been writing this post for like 40 minutes lol
i wonder if this is also in reference to her own brother situation? i felt like that reveal... didnāt exactly come out of nowhere, most people had guessed it by the time they dueled -- as had i -- but it was definitely rushed imo. i liked their development a lot, donāt get me wrong, but i think it wouldāve been cool if sheād like... mentioned it, a few times beforehand. i suppose this could be taken that way, though i definitely hadnāt thought about it that way before haha
also, the dueling in this episode is great. i love the pacing of this duel. even without all the emotional stuff thatās done so well, i think iād still enjoy just watching this duel because itās solid all around.Ā
thatās all iāve got for this one, but iām gonna start episode 19 in just a little bit!
That is so when heād drink. I think there was Fanart based on his dub VAās feed being filled with Datastorm which was great. I do wonder why he has a tattoo of Hanoiās logo. I have seen a great Fanart where Dr. Kogami carved it into his hand but I donāt think Iāve heard much other ideas on it. Anyway boy would look good with earrings tho if he did. I would so love to just not sure how to make the outfit yet. Oh Blue Angel cosplay would be cool too. I never really styled a wig beforeāFriend Anonā
omg yes i did see that a looooong time ago, back when i first entered the fandom LOL. that was super funny. a lot of the english VA seem really active with the fans which is super cool!Ā
and oh god ouch. iāve never seen that but itās a cool idea. personally, with his whole guilt complex coming into play, i think he got it as a reminder of his duty. idk why ryoken chose to get it on the hand tho. maybe also as a guilt thing bc hand tattoos are extremely painful lmao.Ā
good luck when you do start it!!! it looks complicated but if you break it down piece by piece it looks doable anyways! the mask would give me the most trouble i think, iām terrible at those kinds of props;; and aha wigs are a lot of fun, at least for me, so itās always a deciding factor on whether or not i go through with a cosplay LOL
Ryoken does look like a cute marshmallow and as Revolver he has a marshmallow booty. I love that duel too! His entrance is amazing! Iām not sure which I like more tho 1 or 2 both are so good. 2nd is more dramatic but 1st has a close up of that booty. They both got me hyped and both times I was waiting for him. Out of 3 duels having 2 in your top 10 says a lot about the boy. Yeah I donāt remember him using Decode much season 2 ether. I didnāt finish GX so Iām not sure. (1/2)
Judai also dueled a lot more though too. I think Yusaku did use more ace like monster and had more with 2500 atk. āFriend Anonā
LOL marshmallow booty iām laughing lmaooo. youāre not wrong though!!! and yeah, itās tough -- i think the second entrance is my favorite though just because of everyoneās reactions. back during his first entrance nobody really knew who he was and it had that air of mystery, but windy/lightning and playmakerās faces when they realized it was revolver there to throw a wrench into everything was just too good lmao.
and yeah for real!!! i hope we one day get to see him duel again somehow :ā)Ā
judai definitely dueled a lot more, even just ignoring how much longer GX was, and yusaku complicates this even further with both clock dragon and quantum dragon having 2500 as well LOL.Ā
blue angel is back and ready to go! this little mini arc, from 16 through the akira vs pm duel, is one of the highlights of S1 for me, so itās been a lot of fun watching these back.Ā this was where i originally got super invested, and it went from something that i enjoyed watching and was looking forward to seeing play out to binging all day every day until i got caught up LOL. anyone who knows me from twit/yt knew how bad it was, lmao.
anyways, this episode starts off with blue angel coming in to help playmaker, instead of the other way around. their back and forth is kinda funny to me, with her saying she owes him and him being like ??? to that lmao.Ā
she also says this:
and i had completely forgotten how dead set she was in the beginning on defeating him.Ā
though that desire is quickly replaced with some other character development that i adore, it still leaves me strongly wanting an actual female rival in ygo LOL. oh well. maybe for ygo 7!
anyways though.
god i really donāt like this guy LOL i donāt think thatās an unpopular opinion or anything, and i think heās not exactly supposed to be likable, but iām not sad we never saw him again really pff
we also get the emma/akira convo about aoi, which i really like.
emma: says something about how blue angel showed up on time
akira: !?
emma: idk what youre talking about
LOL something about that just made me laugh a lot. but even more so, this conversation gives us this:
which is the beginning of akiraās realization that he canāt control aoiās life forever. i really love how this doesnāt come from the MC, but from emma. vrains underutilized a lot of the side characters (like, spectre shouldāve dueled more and miyu shouldāve been more of a character, for example), but i really like how they had takeru, ryoken, aoi, and akira all develop as their own characters separate from yusaku when necessary.Ā
itās something that was kept up with for a lot of the series, though it wouldāve been nice if S3 wasnāt cut so short so we couldāve seen more of aoiās development, but still.Ā
i also really like this scene because emma isnāt saying it just to get akira to go with her and finish her plan. she reminds him of that after this, which shows that she really cares about this. she doesnāt really know aoi, theyāve had like, one conversation at this point iirc (which was last episode in LV), but sheās a really independent woman, and can obviously tell aoi wants to be treated as one, too. i really love their mentorship and itās nice to see it take itās roots as early as this episode!
and blue angel. seriously, i love her, and this episode reminded me of why. sheās a really fun duelist to watch tbh. not my favorite, and obviously vrains has some killer duels (one of my top 5 is coming up next episode, for example), but sheās just fun. i love her as blue girl and blue maiden, too, but blue angel is probably my favorite design for her.
look at her! itās so fun to compare and contrast aoi vs her persona, because obviously some of it is acting, but how much? comparing to blue girl and blue maiden later down the line, i think if given the chance to act how she wanted IRL instead of constantly being isolated and worried about ruining her brotherās reputation, sheās be more spunky and sassy. in all her forms sheās got that going for her, and i think that is part of her true nature. IRL sheās just too shy and too worried over akira as i said, but in LV? sheās free to be whoever she wants. i love that.
anyways though, we donāt often get two duels in one episode, but vrains can do it pretty well for these shorter duels. i understand with how the format is now itās not really.. possible, to shorten most of the duels, but it still wouldāve been nice to see a couple more cutaway duel episodes. imo anyway lol.
moving on though, we cut back to yusaku, who has some mad recursion on his deck LOL and gets this dude from storm access:
i couldnāt remember who he got while i was watching this back, and i donāt remember him like.. ever using this again LOL maybe iām wrong but i really donāt recognize this monster.
i get they probably didnāt want to give him something too big or cool during a transition episode, but it still wouldāve been nice to have him gain something of importance lmao. i would say itās almost nice since it makes it seem like storm access is just another skill, but like, vrains puts so much emphasis on it. throughout the whole series. so it makes it feel kind of off in this duel lol.
anyways, though, then its the end scene:
and i am so excited to watch this duel again. like a month ago i rewatched it just because i enjoy it so much, but i donāt even care lol. this duel is so good. i almost want to wait until sunday when i know iāll have time to cover it all in one sitting, lmao, but idk. weāll see what i decide to do later ig!
Shoichiās reaction would be so funny. Itād probably be so awkward for him since Yusaku is like his brother lol. Yusaku would probably get him clip ons. I donāt think Ryokenās ear seems pierced. I would love to have Revolver earrings, I want to cosplay him. Yeah Revolver & Yusaku tag duel is one of my biggest unfulfilled wishes too. They would of worked so well together. It really isnāt the same but I do love that he summons a Borreload. That means they are getting married right? Lol jk ā
i feel like if we ever saw kusanagi drink, it would be bc of smth like that LOL
and yeah youāre probably right about that. though we never see him with earrings, he does have a tattoo, so who knows, maybe he just doesnāt wear them often or smth. and omg that would be such a rad cosplay you should go for it!!! i really want to cosplay blue angel tbh, think i might start working on that this winter. i love styling wigs and iāve been thinking about hers for awhile pff
and no, youāre right, theyāre totally getting married :āD
The fandom really can be great. I love seeing fan content for it. Datastorm is so good, such angsty marshmallow sweet boys. Revolver is such fun specially when heās at his most dramatic. Spectre and his faces are fun to watch in a duel too. Their duels are my most rewatched. I wonder that too. Firewall has upgrades but Decodeās importance seems intentional too so Iām not sure. Does he use even use Decode as much as the other protags? āFriend Anonā
marshmallow boys......i love that. ryoken does kind of look like a marshmallow with that white hair, LOL. and yes!!! like i adore his duel vs windy in S2, his entrance is just so over the top it got me super hyped lmao. spectre too though youāre absolutely right!! two of his duels are in my top 10 for the series tbh.
hm... iām trying to think. he used decode a lot in the first season, not so much in the second iirc (itās been awhile since iāve watched anything from S2 tho so i might be wrong), and then obviously he finishes out the final duel with him. but i feel like judai used flamewingman way more than that?? maybe iām remembering wrong though bc i still find flamewingman very iconic lol. but honestly bc vrains pushed all the different summoning methods in S2/S3, i feel like playmaker uses quite a lot of differentĀ āace monstersā compared to, say, yusei or smth.Ā
i got some stuff done but then stress so i decided to watch another before tackling everything else i have to do, lol.
this was one of my favorite episodes from S1 originally and iām glad i still enjoyed it just as much this time around!
the episode starts with something we donāt see very often: yusaku going to school lmao.
we get this shot while heās bored in class:
and iāve heard a lot of people talk about the symbolism of the birds with the LI victims, and something interesting i noticed was that this shot only shows 5 birds.
it could be taken in the way of,Ā āwe already know one of the lost incident victims, itās yusaku!ā, but when we consider that windyās origin is dead, it makes me wonder. thereās some plot points in vrains that feel like they were kind of added in last minute, or were thrown out for awhile only to get added back in later, but windyās origin never felt like one of those to me.
not sure if thatās just me -- i know a lot of people wanted justice for him. i do, too, to some extent! i just also was one of the only people i saw in the fandom who fully believed him to be dead as soon as that was introduced to us, lol.
anyways, though.
man, i know right? i miss my girl. i love that yusaku noticed this, though, and was looking around for her at school. heās a good kid.
ai then talks about how akira might be keeping her isolated, and says:
but yes, yes i can blame him. even without the obvious effects it has on aoi,
thatās, uh, kind of a crappy reaction? kind of is an understatement LOL. sheās sixteen. sheās not some little kid that you can scold for doing something bad -- she was forcibly given a virus, that akiraās company probably shouldāve noticed, seeing as uh, the KOH are their biggest enemy, and she dueled when akira told her not to. oh no, how terrible!
seriously, for a kid who already feels isolated from the rest of the world, that must be terrible, being forcibly isolated even further. as i brought up when we first get introduced to her, no wonder she decided on becoming an idol in LV. i really feel for aoi.
i get that heās protective, but man, as someone who fought hard for my freedom when i was a kid, this really rubs me the wrong way lmao.
moving on.
more of yusaku completely ignoring anything romantic LOL. i just love this. i love that you can take it to either be complete obliviousness or apathy. either way is funny to me, AND in character, which is a plus.
we then get this:
emma is such an instigator here and i love it tbh. sheās really egging things on around her to ease her own curiosity, lol. we donāt really have many morally gray female characters in ygo (again, i have not seen zexal so iām unsure how true that statement is, shame me even more), so itās cool to see.
even originally i knew something was fishy about her going out of her way to duel playmaker when she knew she would likely lose, so i like how they followed up on that.
akira, you really could be such a cool dude. iām glad you become one by the end of the series, at least sort of lol, but right now, i still donāt like you much.Ā
itās interesting that she used a butterfly here to me tbh. i spent a stupid amount of time trying to figure out what kind of butterfly she modeled this after, but got absolutely nowhere lmao. i know theyāre often symbolism, so iām curious if there was anything i was missing here, but i guess iāll never know.
if someone does have an idea, drop me an ask! iām super curious.
anyways, though, i also love how emma knows itās her and akira didnāt even notice her there. itās really cool to think of it like that when you think about aoiās character development and her relationships with both emma and akira later in the series.
this is probably the attitude that causes ai to have to watch yusaku die in all those simulations, so i was not happy seeing this line LOL
anyways though,
hereās another yusaku smile. i guess iām screenshotting all of the good ones now. thatās fine. we need them anyways.
then we get the infiltration scene, which i honestly loved originally and still love now. they found a really cool way to actually visualize something that is... not terribly interesting IRL and i appreciate that, honestly!Ā
bahaha. famous last words, ai.
this was a line i was not expecting them to ever bring back, but like, the whole bohman thing in episode, what, 57-58? or something along those lines? i know it probably wasnāt intentional -- or maybe it was, who knows -- but remembering that mini arc when we were all likeĀ āwait is yusaku actually an ai lolā and seeing this line so early on is actually pretty cool!
i also love the context for it, though, lmao. yusaku being likeĀ āitās a viable strategyā and ai just being -__- to that really made me laugh. then thereās the start of the duel vs the duelist AI things, then thereās the bs about them trying to steal his duel disk -- hello, this is ygo, you have to duel for these things! -- and then:
LOVE BLUE!
ANGEL!!
i literally shout it/clap along whenever that track comes on, lmao, i love it. and i love her reappearance! itās been almost 10 episode since weāve seen you do something, best girl, so good to see you back!Ā
i love how shocked playmaker is to see her, too! so fun. what a great entrance.
we end the episode with this:
and i love it. i love her! love blue! angel!!
lmao sorry. anyways, weāre getting to one of my top 5 duels of the series soon, and iām sure you all know what duel that is, so iām super excited! hopefully iāll be able to squeeze a third episode in today, but weāll see. these posts actually take up quite a bit of my time, lol.
thanks as always for all the asks/notes you guys have been giving me!! itās really awesome and iām so glad so many people are enjoying this little project of mine. please feel free to keep sending stuff in!! it really makes me happy <3
I'm right with you with that "A dumb AI can't understand this feeling" line. Anything related going back to Ai's final moments hits hard. A lot of what Ai did was he is capable of love.
yes for real!! that last episode was so impactful, itās crazy.
and honestly, i think the series showed just how capable any of the ignis were of love. itās one of my favorite things that vrains tackles; that even though theyāre AIs, they are still capable of forming important bonds!
Itās a shame we never did get Playmaker & Revolver vs Anyone. That Firewall XYZ dragon would have worked well with Revolverās Topologics. Then again I guess those two tag dueling anyone would end up with a duel that didnāt last long. āFriend Anonā
GOD RIGHT, thatās like, my number 1 unfulfilled wish about vrains. itās a tradition for the rival & protag to tag duel, but also itās a shame bc like you said it would be just so funĀ to watch. at least we got to see playmaker bring out a borreload, that was pretty awesome, but itās not the same
Shoichi and/or Yusaku probably came across fanfics while trying to cover Yusakuās tracks. Probably Fanart too and even merch. Yusaku so would buy Ryoken Revolverās earrings. āFriend Anonā
LMAO I LOVE THIS, kusanagiās reaction to finding fanfic of playmaker just. makes me laugh so much itās so good
and yes. you are 1000% correct he absolutely would. would he get him clip ons or are his ears actually pierced though is the question.
The anime maybe over but the fandom keeps Vrains alive. Angst and softness is my fav lol Datastorm fits so well for angst with all theyāve been through and Ryokenās guilt complex. I never expected to ship them so much ether but wow their relationship is just beautiful and fits well for it. Ryoken may not have the best duel record but boy is skilled. With how decode is treated it isnāt odd to see him as the ace. If anything tho Iām not sure he really has a true ace at least not like everyone else
yes indeed!!! weāre so blessed to have such an active fandom, considering i feel like with each spin off the fandoms grow smaller and smaller aha.Ā
and y e a h you took the words right outta my mouth lol. itās so easy to write angsty datastorm and then end it with some soft times......theyāre just so good. and honestly heās a great duelist!! heās always so fun to watch, i canāt wait to get to some of his other duels tbh.Ā
yeah i gotta wonder if they had to change things around considering the firewall ban IRL lmao. like with firewall having the 2500 i feel like it was intended to be the actual ace but then they had to change things around to decode aha. though i really liked the fact that we ended the series with decode anyways, seeing as it was the first card he got from storm access!
