This episode was all about Desperation Plays, and dear god, it felt like such an overkill! Besides of a couple legit of surprises here and there (such as both Yuusaku and Ryoken losing an arm at one point, and gaining it back), this episode as a whole was incredibly underwhelming and ended on such a disappointing note.

Well at least he got a cool new Dragon.

What made this episode such mess? Well a number of things, but the one thing that really ticked me off was how they used the “For the Love of my Son” card. So basically Dr. Kogami sacrifices the last of his life to protect his son Ryoken (Revolver) and help level the playing field by providing the same opportunity Playmaker had (with Ai’s assistance), so he doesn’t kill himself in the process. But Ryoken doesn’t want that, and makes the decision to force the duel to end by taking both himself and Playmaker out in the process.

 “I’m sorry, I can’t continue this duel!” – Revolver

Like are you flipping kidding me!?!?!?!?! @#!*(@#& THIS!  After all of that build up and anticipation for this duel, THIS IS HOW THEY END IT?! Look I get his dad just died (or is about to), but feels  like such a cop out from the writers. Come on! The only “silver-lining” we got out of this is, Playmaker finally lost! He is finally on the board everyone!
And this irritates me to no end.

See that puff there? I’m pretty sure that was Playmaker smashing into debris. Hope Ai shielded him from that one.

AFTER EVERYTHING WE WENT THROUGH, not only this duel ends as a draw, but apparently both Yuusaku and Ryoken are going to be somehow miraculously spared from the Tower of Hanoi and are going to meet in the real world in the next episode! HOW DOES THAT EVEN WORK?! HOW DO THEY NOT BE ABSORBED BY THE TOWER, ESPECIALLY SINCE THEY QUITE LITERALLY, RIGHT NEXT TO IT. I don’t know, but it better be god damn convincing because from what has been established: Those who come into LINK VRAINS during this event, will not come out, (and be sacrificed to the Tower of Hanoi- unless it is stopped!). 

As result I can’t help but wonder if the writers intend to pull yet another “Phase 2 Duel” between the two in the real world. (I wouldn’t be surprised considering they ended this duel an episode sooner than I thought!) Or do they intend to simply make it a confrontation to learn more about the truth behind the Lost Incident, the Ignis species and what makes them so dangerous? Ai will be there, so he will surely have a lot to say in defence of those claims- or so I would imagine. (He isn’t one to simply sit quietly after all!)

And not only that, but I am also have a hard time picturing Dr. Kogami being out completely out of the game. He was the mastermind of the Lost Incident, so we can’t lose him like this. He surely must have a purpose to fulfill, because I don’t think Ryoken can fill his shoes. But there’s one problem, his consciousness is stored in a Cloud Server. So should they destroy the world’s network, that means Ryoken will lose him for good. This is perhaps that could be they key reason why Revolver made the decision to take himself out, under the assumption he is required to finalize the tower’s process of destruction. (Which is also why Yuusaku and Ai was so dead-set on defeating him, to make sure that doesn’t happen.) 

Speaking of the devil himself, Ai certainly had some major surprises of his own (at least for Yuusaku). He revealed he can not only escape the Duel Disk, but also grow into a Human Size figure, hijack other objects like a the hover-board and even provide him a thirty seconds shield to draw out Transcode Talker from the high density Data Storm, and even healing/regeneration (after he lost his arm), and even repaired his program. As much I would like to say he did it because he cares about Yuusaku, it’s clear he didn’t because if Yuusaku if didn’t get back his arm/died right there, Ai will fall along with him.

Which brings me to Yuusaku. In this duel in particular, he wasn’t quite himself. He acted more reckless than usual, such as attempting to use his skill and summon a new monster from the data storm, only to lose an arm in the process. This wouldn’t be the first time Yuusaku resorts to this method when he is in Speed Duels, especially since it can only be used when he meets a certain requirement, so I suppose one could say this is one of his major character flaws, and something the antagonists can potentially exploit in the future.

Maybe I am overreacting, but I can’t help be feel upset about this outcome. I suppose I just have to sit tight until next week, and hope that there will be a good explanation for all of this. My only fear is that the build up with the sacrifices such as characters like Ghost Girl, Aoi, Akira, even Onizuka will be for naught. We are drawing near to the 50th Episodes, and right now there is a risk of turning into one of the weakest events of VRAIN thus far… I hope the will be able to pull it together.

Eva

Blogging Anime since Summer 2009, & Founder of AngryAnimeBitches Anime Blog ...I may or may not be addicted to writing

This Post Has 16 Comments

  1. Kazanova

    I don’t think a Duel in real world would be likely to happen because I once read a translation of an interview regarding the Duel, and it was said that the Duel will only take in LINK VRAINS. I hope they have a change of mind or something about this. Soon this series will finally reach the end of Season 1. I wonder if that has something to do with the outcome of this Duel. I’m not sure yet about Ai’s character, but regardless of reason, he finally made himself useful compared to before.
    And a small note; Chibi Ai mimicking Playmaker’s peace pose was so cute~! XD

    1. Eva

      That’s why it’s so disappointing. This is supposed to be the biggest event of the season and the duel ends like this???? There got be something more. But then again, hm… now that I think of it, taking the recaps into consideration, this event could have potentially been scheduled 3-4 episodes earlier…

  2. Wilfredo Sifr Starduster

    Goddammit, another draw for Playmaker vs Revolver just to ensure his unbeaten record lives on for another day. And after all the buildup for the fated rematch, the duel lasted for only two episodes and was settled in such a lame manner. Worse (or as expected), both had to resort to Storm Accesses to gain new Links for their decks, and Playmaker got the lamest “-Code Talker” Link I’ve witnessed so far and the new Topologic Link acquired by Revolver (after Kogami’s “second demise”) wasn’t anywhere near better. However, it’s also a bonus that the true name of Revolver was officially revealed: RYOKEN, plus the “STARDUST” Road references, stop tingling the Yusei-senses VRAINS.
    Honestly, I don’t even know what direction this show is heading towards anymore. According to next episode’s preview, Yusaku AND Kusanagi will actually meet Ryoken in person when the whole network apocalypse is STILL going on? Whatever, they still have a big episode gap to fill in before the show hits the 50-episode mark so the storyboard team better NOT screw it up this time.

    1. Eva

      I don’t know what direction they are going either, I’m completely lost at this point! It’s frustrating!
      We’ll have to see what kind of explanation they come up with, that is, if they even provide any…

      1. Wilfredo Sifr Starduster

        Granted that there’re still tons of mysteries in store to be solved: The existence (& the supposedly grave threat) of the Ignis AIs, scouting for the three remaining tchildren of the Lost Incident (where one of them definitely had the hairbangs that resembled Aoi herself) and Sol Tech’s other shady secrets, but I wonder if they’ll even plot & pace the story right.

        1. Eva

          Indeed…
          As I mentioned to Kazanova, taking the recaps into consideration, this event could have initially scheduled 3-4 episodes earlier… So I am curious whether or not if they are actively trying to make up ground or are working to adapt and create a new timeline for the events.

          1. elior1

            first about why they didnt absorved into the tower it becouse it endded in draw. no winner and forced out of vrains. also i liked ignis and kogami sucrifise

            1. Eva

              No winner and forced out of VRAINS…
              Okay I did not think of that. But it still sounds sketchy LOL!

    2. firestorm

      Actually transcode and gamble seem pretty strong if we get them irl

  3. DimentioGhost

    I thought this was a very good episode and I’m glad that Revovler didn’t lose this duel.

  4. Moonflower157

    I guess you can say that Ai cares for Playmaker just because if Playmaker dies, so does he. However, I can tell that Ai is also trying to make up for what happened because he was lying about losing his memories. After all, I can tell that Ai thought that Yusaku is still his partner no matter how horribly he’s treated and I don’t think Ai would have put himself at risk if he didn’t care about Yusaku. Ai did tell Playmaker to be quiet as this is a way of atoning for his actions, which shows he does regret what he’s done by lying. Ai really came through for Yusaku this time such as helping him repair his arm and giving him time to use Storm Access safely. Playmaker in turn showed some genuine care and concern for Ai when Ai was going to act as a shield from the Data Storm and then almost dying in the process. I hope their relationship begins to improve after this season, especially since they now know that they had a connection with each other in the past.
    After this episode, Revolver isn’t such a bad character as I thought. It looks like both Dr. Kogami and Revolver have their redeemable traits as Dr. Kogami was willing to die to let Revolver live and continue their mission. Revolver wanted to end the duel to go and try to save his father even if it meant having to end the Speed Duel in a draw and putting the mission at risk. I wonder how the conversation between Yusaku and Ryoken is gonna go now that they’re meeting each in the real world for the first time. I hope it’s not going to be too hostile, but by the looks of it, it looks Yusaku is staying pretty calm and not lashing out. However, by leaving Link VRAINS, what’s gonna happen to it? It’s not like they have all the time in the world. Last time I remember, there was only 2 hours left until the Tower of Hanoi was finished.
    P.S. I was really shocked by Ai’s hidden abilities up till now. He can now be the size of a human and take control of the D-Board, which I didn’t think was possible. I remember reading about how Ai could take control of D-boards on a FanFiction back when the series first started. Looks like that FanFiction author is really good at predicting what events might happen in the future.

  5. kofmaster

    Well I think this will not be the last duel against Revolver.

    THAT EVEN WORK?! HOW DO THEY NOT BE ABSORBED BY THE TOWER, ESPECIALLY SINCE THEY QUITE LITERALLY, RIGHT NEXT TO IT.

    I think that was because the duel ended in a Draw.

  6. elior1

    considering the next episode title i assume we will learn about the ignis quite a bit

  7. il-Palazzo

    Regarding “Phase 2” duel in real world:
    “Our duel disks only work in cyberspace, but there’s this thing called ‘table’ in the kitchen. You’ve got physical cards, right?”

  8. becs

    I kind of see your point about this episode being rushed… With Revolver’s moment with his father. It really doesn’t get any sympathy because we have been given little personal information about Revolver prior to this point. We only found out his name this episode.It’s like they’re setting up a story where the antagonist and protagonist both have legitimate reasons to win.
    But we have no indication of how strong Revolver’s relationship with his dad is… I mean, did they have happy memories? A strict childhood? An incident that made Ryuken understand his dad enough to help him willingly?
    I think maybe those recaps got in the way of us being allowed privy into Revolver’s backstory and there were meant to be flashbacks in them. Without any context of Revolver’s personal life or background it’s hard to really feel connected or sad for him or Dr Kogami when he says “Follow the stardust road” and basically gives him the dead loved person encouragement speech thats a trope at this stage.
    I mean if the “Stardust road” was a legend he heard in childhood from his dad like with Aoi adopting the name Blue Angel from a book her brother read her then this would be a clever callback. but without it, it’s a desperate attempt to try and win the 5ds fandom.

    1. elior1

      from the next episode title I think we will get answeres to the question about revolver and his dad

Comments are closed.