Are you freaking kidding me? 

What a cheap shot to turn the tables in Takeru’s favour. While I did find it absolutely hilarious to see Takeru and Flame completely dupe Blood Shepherd into thinking he could use his trauma against him, it did not make me any less irriated with how poorly they handled Takeru’s trauma.

He is still suffering from it, we can see that much (even if he claims he were faking it) and that is exactly why I didn’t like how they handled it. They show us one minute and then shove it under the rug the next for the sakes of five seconds of humour, and be done with it!

What’s even worse, was how this duel was going to end as a draw anyways! For GOD SAKES! If they were going to do this,they shouldn’t have half- assed it by dropping the “Oh that’s a thing of the past” exclamation. Cut the crap! It would have had such a bigger impact had we witness him fight tooth and nail for this trial!

It frustrates the daylights out of me because this could have been something Takeru could continue to work on from here on out. Then he and Flame can have fun duping Blood Shepherd by using his tactics against him. I mean, you have to give credit when it’s due: It is a genius strategy, especially since Blood Shepherd’s hatred towards AI completely blinds him of the fact Ignis are a species of AI with free will. Ugh. I just wished they had let us be a part of Takeru’s journey of overcoming his trauma, don’t give us a lazy flashbacks about how he overcame it!

Anyhow, as predicted, Takeru and Blood Shepherd are now officially rivals, with unfinished business between them. Both of them were confidence they were going to win, but with how this duel resolved, I am not particularly excited at all.

…At least Flame was super cute and we got a backstory of the meaning behind their skill: “Reincarnation”… But that’s pretty much the only thing I liked about this episode. Everything else was a disappointment.

And let’s be real: It is no secret VRAINS has been struggling from the get go with its story and characters. There is absolutely potential, tons of it, but the execution hasn’t been quite there. The most pressing problem is how most if not all of characters (aside from Yuusaku) are either too shallow or are being butchered. They desperately need to be fleshed out, and it’s frustrating to see them letting opportunities pass by, especially for Takeru’s case. As result, I don’t have a lot of hope for VRAINS’ future, because it is sure looking bleak. I can hope it will get better, but I am not holding my breath for it. Even if I lower my expectations or have none at all, but it doesn’t mean I will be spared from disappointment. Nonetheless, I will continue watching because I care enough about Yuusaku’s character to continue to be invested in this series.

Will VRAINS be able to redeem itself? Or will it have a slow and agonizing death as ARC-V had? Only time will tell…

Last but not least, I don’t know if Blood Shepherd is actually going to attack Emma, but I swear if this is their way of taking her out of the picture again…. Ugh, just thinking of that my head hurts. It is pretty pathetic that this is the first thing that comes to mind…
Next week, Kusanagi backstory and how he and Yuusaku met. Honestly I am surprised we didn’t get this sooner, but it’s about bloody time!

Eva

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

This Post Has 12 Comments

  1. The only good part for me in this ep was actually seeing Firewall Dragon in action again and actually getting properly used, albeit in a duel against a scrub, though xD

    1. Eva

      True enough, when I saw it I was like, “Wow, been a while buddy! Shame you had to come back against a fodder!”

      1. firestorm

        Did konami tryed to remind us why firewall is a limited card ?

      2. elior1

        if you look blood shaperd had one more face down card which he was about to activate and if I had to guess it mirror force like revolver

        1. Helios92

          I agree with you Ryuseishun 100%

  2. Moonflower157

    Well, it was definitely nice to see Firewall Dragon again, although more as support. But it did get to participate in its first Speed Duel. I can get how Firewall Dragon isn’t used that much. It’s Limited in both OCG and TCG. I have a Firewall Dragon in my Trickstar deck but I hardly ever use it.
    OK, onto the episode itself. It was quite lackluster this week. I wanted to see Takeru become determined after encouragement from Flame and overcome his fear in the present instead of in the past. I was shocked Soulburner had faked fear of Despair of the Dark. It certainly fooled me. I was surprised the duel ended with no result. I feel like Blood Shepherd is now determined to hunt down Soulburner more than Playmaker like you said.
    OMG, I got scared when I saw Blood Shepherd about to attack Ghost Girl. Emma certainly didn’t mind the consequences of becoming his enemy if she stood in his way. She stood there quite seriously when she saw Playmaker and Soulburner log out and didn’t hesitate to point out Soulburner could have won if the direct attack went through. By helping Soulburner get out of the trap, she pretty much proved she’s loyal to Playmaker and his team.

  3. Kazanova

    Why am I not even surprised by the disappointment from this episode… It seems the disappointment I received lately has taken its toll on me. It has only been the second season, so why do I already feel it’s like near the end of ARC-V all over again? VRAINS, I really need you to fix this!

    1. Eva

      My exact feelings right now :\ There is clearly a deep rooted problem that needs to be resolved. Some serious changes needs to made if they want any hope of redeeming the series. Not just this one, but future ones as well.

      1. elior1

        i call it blood shepard is going to have the same card as revolver which not showen the mirror card

        1. Eva

          LOL I would have loved to have seen it actually be used.

  4. Helios92

    Fair Enough.
    I seen worse from Vrains, but this is kinda mediocre. Atleast Firewalll was back, unfornatlly, it took him 52 episode to be used in a speed duel -_-
    Anyway, good review. I’ll check your ARC-V final one and maybe say someting on it.

  5. Wilfredo Sifr Starduster

    The only positive thing from this episode was Firewall’s PROPER return to bury yet another Gouki fodder with effects being used to its fullest potential; otherwise yet another blood-boiling VRAINS episode. (Kill SoulFucker already!) I’m also upset about the possibility Ghost Girl being put out of commission AGAIN soon by Blood Shepherd who played one of the brickiest decks ever.
    Now moving onto another news which is still Yugioh related: The 2018 Yugioh World Championship was concluded a few days ago and it was won by Wang Chia Ching (Taiwan) with his Trickstars and the runner-up being Bohdan Temnyk (Australia) who played Altergeists. (Even more hilarious, Goukis ended up in the third-place, proving they can be powerful as hell had they not been played by that pretentious “entertainer”.)
    … See what I mean? The two VRAINS females who played the strongest decks in the current meta are getting the worst treatments in the show who served them no justice, giving them defeats after defeats just to hype up the ever-underwhelming Cyberses and Salaman”grates”. Once again, I demand the notorious woman hater Shin Yoshida to be fired from his post.

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