Yu-Gi-Oh ARC-V Episode 14 & 15

Yu-Gi-Oh ARC-V Episode 14

Was it just me, or was this episode incredibly confusing? There were moments when I was wondering, “What was the point of having so and so do that?” or just wounding up lost because there was so much information in such little time. Nevertheless, I was at least able to understand the point of Syuzou challenging Yuuya to a duel. It wasn’t about winning nor was it quite about trying to help Yuuya get some confidence back, it was about delivering an important message about instead of being upset that Pendulum Summon is no longer unique to him, Yuuya needs to acknowledge and embrace the fact that soon, there will be more duelist learning how to Pendulum Summon. In such situation, he needs to hone his skills so that he can become the very best Pendulum Summoning Duelist, much like his father was with Action Dueling. So now Yuuya has a new mission, he must become stronger, polish his skills and aim for the top.
This is probably the first time we have seen Yuuya so upset to the extent that he was absolutely furious with the fact Syuzou was challenging him to a duel. It is a very different side of him as he duels a bit more aggressively, not quite caring as much about the entertainment. Losing his cool is most definitely Yuuya’s greatest weakness because as we have seen before, Yuuya is stronger when he is aiming to entertain the audience, than competitively dueling, solely to win. I am looking forward to seeing Yuuya evolve as a duelist, and see how much his present entertainment style will change over the course of the series, and whether or not when he has to start dueling with a serious mindset (it is bound to happen at some point) with so much more at stake, how he will cope and whether he will address his weakness or simply somehow manage to stick to his style.
I was happy to see the kids at the very least give Sora crap for his shitty attitude. He wasn’t supportive at all, so they had every right to call him out on that. And then back at the LDC we learn that Professor Marco has gone missing after they have been alerted of a powerful XYZ Summon, which is most likely caused by Knight. Speaking of which, I wonder when we will see him again…
 

Yu-Gi-Oh ARC-V Episode 15

Yay! Knight showed up again, but… unfortunately we didn’t learn anything new except for Sora pointing out that he isn’t from this place/time either- something we the audience already knew about along with clearing up that he in fact, has no relationship with Knight. Aside from that, honestly nothing much happened this episode other than slowly at snail pace pushing the plot forward about the mystery of these cloaked duelists popping up (as another has showed up today), targeting important people such as Professor Marco who are connected to the LDC, as well as building up the mystery behind Yuzu’s bracelet as for the second time, Knight disappears when Yuzu’s bracelet suddenly glows whenever Yuuya appears at the scene. Although we are only at Episode 15 right now, I am hoping we will be given an explanation about the bracelet sooner than later, but I at least more or less expect these cloaked duelist to either take part of the upcoming Junior Champion Circuit or become more active since it will surely be a useful distraction.
I am happy that Yuzu is actively aiming to become stronger, and I am rooting for her because I want to see her win more than anything. She had approached Sora, requesting him to teach her a bit about Fusion Summoning because she wanted to secretly train without anyone else knowing. I won’t hold my breath for it, but I would love to watch Yuzu train to become stronger as well. It is always fun to watch characters evolve. Anyhow, it was nice that Sora was willing to help her.
I am very curious about their plans for Matsumi’s character as she is the only LDS students who was very close to Professor Marco be extremely active in investigating what had happened as well as searching for his whereabouts as she hates being kept in the dark. She successfully managed to encounter Knight, but was not able to duel him since he disappeared in the blinding light. With Yuuya showing up just afterwards, she got in his face accusing him for working with the “others”. Since she had mentioned that, I do wonder how much she knows about these “others” that Reiji and his mother are wary about and momentarily wondered whether Yuuya’s father is working alongside them. A part of me is kind of hoping that she will eventually join the main cast or develop a friendly rivalry relationship with them. We don’t know much about her, but I have already become quite fond of her character, so naturally I hope to see more of her.
The Junior Champion Circuit has some interesting rules, but at the same time, some weird ones for the sake of convenience. Yuuya only had a 56.2% record of his battles and to be eligible for the tournament, he must have at least 60%. So in order to be eligible (despite having been offered a free-pass into the tournament, which he had declined) he must win four more duels.  Yuzu is already eligible, but Sora isn’t as he is new to the city and doesn’t have enough victories- however (and this is where the sake of convenience comes in) if he wins six duels in a row, he will be eligible to join the competition. Obviously this offer works extremely well for skilled duelist (who or more or less expected to go far in the tournament) but poorly if the duelist is not as experienced or skilled. Had Yuuya been in this situation, it would probably be very challenging- not that I am saying Sora will pass flying colors, but I am certainly hoping that he doesn’t get through that easily.