Before I begin, I want to outright say I am just going to skip the rant about the Action Cards because you have all heard me go on about it a million times already, (but I will say it irritated the hell out of me to see it happen not once but twice for this duel!) and I would like to focus on the better parts of the episode.
This episode was in a way nostalgic and special because not only this was Yuuya’s Synchro Summon debut, but highlighting the fact not a single card is useless instantly brought back memories of 5DS and how Fudo Yusei would acknowledge every card has a purpose and how not a single one of them deserved to be called trash. This of course isn’t the first time a card’s value for purpose had been disregarded and looked down upon, but it was precisely because the the situation, the location and the purpose and meaning behind Tuning Magician. It was great to see Jack smile at the sight of Yuuya using Tuning Magician properly. I am sure he was also smiling because Yuuya was not being the conceited child he was when he first went up against him. In fact, the Yuuya we saw today instantly reminded me of how he behaved back in Episode 71 in his match against Duel Chaser 227. Back in Episode 71, I remarked how it felt as if we were given a glimpse of how Yuuya was going to grow in the future, and today I we saw just that. The fact Yuuya was able to see and achieve the next step to the Pendulum Evolution involving Synchro monsters- and none other than birthing the Enlightenment Magician is yet another big step in his character growth. Each time Yuuya evolves as a duelist, the stronger and more intelligent he becomes. This development will be crucial to his survival and battle against Academia, and his dreadful counterpart he has yet to meet, Yuuri. Also to give him further credit, he was not in any sort of ‘possessed’ state when he made the discovery.
Tuning Magician was something that threw everyone off, thinking Yuuya was done for no thanks to the monster’s effect, and claimed he was an idiot when he chose to bring her back from the graveyard. But Yuuya understood how she was supposed to be used and it was her spirit which helped him see his new Synchro Ace, the Enlightenment Magician.
After we learned about Tuning Magician’s passive, I realized this monster embodies Yuuya’s ideals. Once summoned onto the field, Tuning Magician immediately strips 400LP from its wielder and heals 400LP to its opponent. The first thing that crossed my mind is how Yuuya is willing to hurt himself if it means not hurting another, and that is what Tuning Magician does. Further more, Tuning Magician is like Yuuya’s spirit animal. He has been disregarded by Reiji and others on his approach to the war, but the thing is, Yuuya is determined to achieve his mission in his own way, and that can be applied to Tuning Magician as well. She may appear weak at first, but if the plan is set up accordingly, further down the line, she is the one who will turn the tables and be victorious.
Now that Shinji has been defeated, I am curious to see what will happen now. As early as seven minutes into the episode, I started to consider the possibility of an uprising to still take place, regardless if Shinji lost. With Shinji so close to victory- so much so, he could taste it, the crowd was growing increasingly impatient as well. I hate to say it, but Jean-Rogers made a very strong point. He had doubts they would actually do anything because they never bothered to before. And he is right, the commons have this mind-set that the only way they can begin the uprising is to have a victorious leader lead them. With Shinji having lost, the Tops let out a sigh of relief and cheers knowing he will be sent away and hopefully to be never seen again. But the question now is, what are the commons going to do now. Regardless of his lost, will they finally make up their minds and decide to initiate change on their own, or will they become silent again or worse, will they throw Shinji under the bus for failing to fulfill their expectations.
Next week, I am very relieved to see that Yuzu appears to be awake again (THANK GOODNESS) and Yuuya will be talking to Sora. We now have to wait and find out whether or not Sora’s intentions were from the heart or if he has an ulterior motive. In the mean time, Jean appears to be very eager to attempt to persuade Yuuya to join his team.
Should Rogers try to recruit Yuya, I hope Yuya says no. I mean really, Rogers is responsible for their false arrest in the first place.
Although I do wonder whether Yuya and the other Lancers are aware that Rogers has pulled a coup yet.
I would certainly hope he says no. But other than that, the minute Yuuya finds out it was Jean to set up Yuzu to be up against Sergey, it’s game over.
This was so made for debuting his synchro monster lol. Because someone pointed out that Yuya actually could have won if he pendulum summoned SilverClaw and used Reborn on his TigerWarrior -> Made Dark Rebellion -> used his effect twice -> dealing 4500 damage on a single attack. I got to say though, despite the action card, this duel was set up pretty nicely from the previous episode, from the foreshadowing of him first using that spell card that increases his monsters ATK based on half the difference in LP. I kind of already knew that was how he was going to win back then. Also, I got to say, Shinji’s LV8 Synchro is a lot better than his LV12. I mean that thing can only do piercing damage, this one is pretty good….now I wish the Beeforce cards were printed because we need another Insect-archtype.
Gifting the opponent 400 LP while yourself losing 400 LP, yeah right Tuning Magician IS a “rubbish” card, but its combo with Gap power is incredible (and would be even more powerful with Megamorph)!! Like Lord Yusei said in 5D’s, all cards have their purpose and Yuya realized it too (wonder if Sam realized it or not), even Jack smiled at Yuya’s “enlightenment”! Shame on that hypocrite Shinji who actually bashed Tuning Magician as “rubbish” too while his deck is also low-powered, is that a good example for a revolutionist wannabe?! Riot, revolution, blah blah blah, no one gives a sh*t about this pathetic dude who tried too hard like Shun (a genuine revolutionist contender) but lacking any charisma! All talk and no action, just as Jean pointed out commons keep yelling about how angry they are without doing anything! Shinji preaching plain anarchy of “rich people and politicians are all evil” was blind stupid, and Crow was right about Shinji’s idiotic “revolution” not being the only way to rattle City’s divided society (in other words, Shinji is a crappy nuisance), but his remarks about Jack, umm… Whatever, next week our queen Yuzu is awake with Crow’s children, Yuya meeting Sora and Shinji MAD & BITTER about losing (just look at him staring Yuya angrily in the preview) thus his “revolution” failed to bear fruit (but Commons won’t bother about him anymore perhaps, such is the fate for a loser in Synchro Dimension). Maybe he’ll start considering joining Academia given that he’s a spoil brat who can’t accept reality?
Shinji is way too salty about Yuuya beating him to join the Lancers. Hell, he is so bitter and angry about it, regardless of how the crowd will now treat him, if for whatever reason he were to be given an offer to join Academia (merely as a pawn), I bet he would in a heartbeat due to tunnel vision of whatever wishes they claim they will make happen for him. But I’m not quite sure if that’s in Academia’s textbooks of strategies. It’s one thing to send their own guy in, but taking in another- we have yet to see in action.
Either way, it looks to me Shinji wants revenge against both Yuuya and the Tops now (or at least associate him as the Tops’ Dogs). I mean what was he expecting, Yuuya to surrender and let him win to begin his uprising? LOL!
Action cards seems always hated but their also dependent towards almost all duelist except Gon, not just Yuya only in different circumstances. People were understandably disappointed with no speed spells being introduced in riding duels for Arc-V but if that were to happen, lot of people would start complaining of how much they copy of 5D’s and ask is it even possible for the other characters to use spells of their own like specific rank-ups or fusion cards and wouldn’t fit with how the other characters. Regardless of Shinji’s hatred of Tops being understandable based on how messed up the society as a whole is, it wouldn’t make Commons much better than Tops and make things extremely worse than it already is. Commons view Jack as a traitor even though he never promised nor owe them anything, because in truth they always lacked a strong will and resolve like he does and always wind up bowing down basically what Jean pointed out. It was always talked about how Yuya could have easily summon Dark Rebellion instead of trying something else but that wouldn’t fit the moral this episode was trying to convey. Lastly, Jean standing up at the end as an implication of using Yuya would pretty much make up for his early screw up.
Like Revolutionhippo had suggested, I think it would at least make it feel more fair if it was the battle of counter-attacks with the Action Cards. If it’s just one party (except for Gongenzaka because that’s not his style and I respect that, and anyone else who feels that way) getting all the cards then it makes it less interesting and more annoying. Besides that, I am sure there is a way to strike a balance, but maybe it is just not plot convenient.
Hopefully Yuuya will say “LOL HELL NO.” regardless how “sweet” of a deal Jean might make. And the minute Yuuya finds out it was Jean to set up Yuzu to be up against Sergey, Yuuya will unleash his fury.
The whole Action Card thing was… agh. I heard booing in my head the moment I saw them start zooming forward on the track. Like, we all know it’s coming, just spare us. But then, if it weren’t for the Action Cards, I’m sure there’d just be more plot device cards and effects as well… but on the other hand, I was at least hoping Shinji would pick one up to even out the fairness.
Speaking of Shinji, he actually was a bit terrifying when he lost, with those eyes. I don’t think he’s gonna be a villain, but he’s not joining the Lancers anytime soon. Crow, on the other hand, seems to be okay with it.
I loved the 5Ds feel of the episode, too. The last episode of 5Ds in particular, when Yusei gathers all his level 2 and below monsters together against Jack… it almost felt as if Jack was recalling the events of that episode. XD
But Yuya’s character did grow excellently today displaying his beliefs in a firm way. No one listened to him before when he talked about non-violence, but now that he backed it up with winning, it’s reaching people, and Jack seems to be proud of that growth as well. On the other hand, this is attracting Jean and Sora alike, and I suspect Sora’s motives may not be entirely pure.
Next episode seems like it’ll be plot-heavy, but I’m still not sure what Sora wants and why, so it’ll be a relief to hear some from the horse’s mouth. Jean, on the other hand, is seemingly becoming desperate with his control over Sergey failing, so now he’s targeting Yuya to help him as well.
Hopefully Yuzu will be back in action soon…
I agree, I think it would at least make it feel more fair if it was the battle of counter-attacks with the Action Cards. If it’s just one party (except for Gongenzaka because that’s not his style and I respect that, or anyone else who feels that way) getting all the cards then it makes it less interesting and more annoying.
Shinji is super pissed, depending on the response from the audience- if it’s a bad one and they are throwing him under the bus, it would be safe to say he would probably become an enemy of the Lancers.
:3 Yuzu looks like she will be back on her feet in the preview, and if so- that would be great!
I won’t lie, it was hard to read what you wrote with Shinji’s scary stare there, I needed to hide it with my hand because it was creeping me a lot XD.
Shinji, don’t be a hypocrite, your tiny baby bees are also low lvl, stats monsters with pretty bad effects but you were able to make use of them right?
I don’t mind the action cards as much because like some people say it stops situational cards being used from their decks and allow more useful cards to be used and printed, God knows how many supports I need for my deck!
Chrono’s effect of going back in time to pick a spell card from the graveyard was really cool!
I know I’m wearing my shipping goggles really tight but it amused me that Yuya drew Tuning Magician after thinking of Yuzu and that Tuning Magician has musical scores on the background(also pink haired), speakibg if that the tiny chrono looks like Yuto doesn’t he? XD
Looking at the preview I can only say this:
IN YOUR FACE NON-BELIEVERS!!
People were already speaking of Yuzu receiving the Aki treatment, being in the coma for tge rest of the arc and lising revelance while I laugh here.
I hope the title for the next episode means Yuzu and Yuya meet again, it has been so long!
To be fair to Shinji, Tuning Magician would be a rubbish card… if Yuya didn’t have the power to plotdevice cards into existence. For all Shinji knew, Yuya couldn’t have a Synchro monster, so Tuning Magician was useless in his deck…
The thing with the action cards – Is that they’re this series way of getting out of a pinch. If it weren’t for action cards, it would have been trap cards for sure. In Yugioh Zexal, I lost count of how many times Yuma used trap cards to get out of a dire situation. And honestly, it’s been this way ever since the beginning really. I’m honestly not bothered by the action cards. Because if it weren’t action cards, it would have been something else.
Characters calling monsters “weak” always annoyed me. Do they people would be stupid enough to revive a monster with no stats for no reason at all? People use weak monsters in combos and various other strategies all the time, even in the anime, including Yuya’s opponent IN THIS DUEL.
This duel was in the Synchro dimension. Very few tuners have good stats, are they really not used to weaker monsters being used to summon stronger ones? If so, I have no idea what sort of Synchro decks they’re playing.
I could see a rebellion happening due to the Commons. They got VERY close to defeating Yuya, and I’m sure at least some of them noticed how uncomfortable the Tops were when surrounded by yelling commons.
Action cards are still… bleh.
Yeah, people calling Tuning Magician useless is pretty stupid since these guys are supposed to be Synchro duelist.
Tuning Magician is a good card. Hell, all tuners that summon themselves from the graveyard have had pretty heavy limitations, and they’re still a staple in synchro decks. Glow-up Bulb’s only effect is to summon itself from the graveyard by sending one card from the top of the deck to the graveyard, and it’s widely considered one of the best tuner monsters ever, if not THE best tuner monster, and it was banned for quite a long time. That said, Yuya wasn’t supposed to even have a Synchro monster, so I can see why they’d think he was pretty stupid for summoning it.