Pacing done right. That would be the best way to describe this episode. I was extremely pleased with how well they managed to balance out the two on-going duels (oh, including the Junior’s Final as well- which Reira won), and managed to have both of them wrapped up by the end of the episode. Better yet, I in a way relieved to see that Yuuya VS Sora duel is not the final big one of the season. Instead it will be against Reiji, but I will talk about that a bit later.
It was a smart decision to not start from the very beginning of the duels. First off, I am glad they had chosen to completely skip the Junior Championship (and its part of the tournament) because nobody ever cared about that. They simply showed us the beginning (last week) and the final hits this week. And just like that it’s done. It only took up one minutes and twenty seconds. Then for Yuuya VS Sora’s match, they were already engaged in battle, allowing the pace to be set where the moments counted the most during their duel. Truthfully speaking, last week I expected their match to hog this week’s episode, but it was perfectly balanced with the on-going battle against the Obelisk Force, which was also wrapped up in a timely manner. Neither matches felt rushed and when I checked the time of how far I was into the episode, I was pleased to see we still had another ten, fifteen minutes.
I couldn’t have been more proud of Yuuya today. He has come so far and I can’t tell you how much I cheered seeing him use the Action Cards in the way they are really supposed to. Up to this point, Yuuya has shown far too much reliance on Action Cards to get him out of a pinch situation. Today we were able to see him utilize them with strategy involved and not recklessly running around the field in desperation. He was the most level-headed we have seen him since the beginning of the series. The biggest surprise, which was something I had been anticipating for a while now, is seeing Yuuya duel without focusing on the entertainment. In this duel, Yuuya had one mission and that was in hopes to bring back Sora’s true smile, and that was simply by having a friendly competitive duel, not one that is sparkling for the sake of providing entertainment. The highlight of it all is how he took big risks, countered his fears and pulled off what he had learned and gained during his darkest moments. He was nervous about it, so he decided to try and believe in Yuuto to help him follow through with his promise, to bring back the smiles to the dueling field, and to successfully summon Odd-Eyes Rebellion Dragon without losing control of whatever is trying to take a hold of both of them. Yuuya’s heart and mind were clear today, and so he was able to pull it off without a hitch.
Sora on the other-hand, didn’t waver the slightest. Which begs the question of whether or not he can truly be “saved”. Throughout the duel, while Yuuya tried to communicate with him, Sora kept on flat out telling him that he doesn’t give a shit. All he cares about is how Fusion is going to unite the world. So Yuuya then straight up told him, “TO HELL WITH ACADEMIA!” HOWEVER: Much to my dismay, the Battle Royale had a timer all long and it ended the moment Yuuya and Sora were about to determine the outcome of the fight (DAMNIT REIJI!) and Sora had the chance to retreat back to Academia.
Call me bias, but Yuuya totally won that fight. Nobody can tell me otherwise.
Meanwhile against the Obelisk Force, Sawatari tries to be beneficial as their new substitute- except of course, it backfires since the Obelisk Force was always two steps ahead. Then Gongenzaka as promised stepped in and meditated the fight, prepping it defensively, utilizing the Pendulum Field Sawatari had set up earlier, providing the cards needed, and then passing the Pendulum Cards to Shun, telling him that he should be the one to finish it. And truly, what better person than Shun (who has the most experience against Academia) to finish the Obelisk Force? He took all the pain and sacrifice and shot it right back at them, successfully defeated their enemies.
The hilarious part though is that everyone failed to notice Selena was NOT Yuzu- and here I was thinking Gongenzaka of all people would notice, but then again, with someone having the same face, wearing her clothes and has her hair up is probably easy to mistaken when ones eyes are so used to the similar pattern. It’s like not noticing someone dyed their hair until they mention it. Also to the be fair, they had more important things to address. But once things settled down, Selena boldly reveals herself, telling everyone that she isn’t Yuzu. This of course freaks Yuuya out because he thinks Yuzu was turned into a card.
If that wasn’t enough of a shock for him, Reiji appears telling them they all dueled splendidly- but Sawatari beats him to the punch explaining to the others that this tournament was an exam to become one of Reiji’s Lancers. (I guess Reiji did fill him in after all, ahahaha. Here I was thinking he sent him in knowing nothing). Yuuya of course (in the preview) is extremely upset about this and will be dueling against Reiji next. I wonder what the outcome will be though.
Also Dennis looks scared, I hope he gets caught. THE SOONER THE BETTER!
I disagree. There were people looking forward to at least some of the duel between Reira and Tatsuya, especially since Reira will likely be one of the Lancers. Tatsuya uses another Enter archetype like Yuya and Dennis with his Entermachine.
Sawatari knew what was up and got his new permanent deck, Reiji sent him out to help them and didn’t tell him about the penalty, because that penalty is an ass that screws over people so the Jobelisks can seem threatening. Literally everyone using Standard duel disks is unaffected by it.
We can only hope then that this skip meant the writers want to save showing both Reira’s and Tatsuya’s abilities for another day. The two look like they can become good friends (that was a cute smile from Reira), and rather than facing against each other, perhaps they will be tag teaming the next time we see the two duel.
I for one am thankful that he uses “Makai’s” as his permanent deck now….Yosenju’s can just jump in a pit of fire now (well current Yosenju’s that exploit basically every floodgate possible).
I was very surprised at how the Battle Royale ended Yuya’s and Sora’s duel without any resolution. But it does set up a possible resolution in the future.
True enough. It will be interesting to see whether or not Sora will have development where he doesn’t enjoy working alongside Academia like he did when he started. I can see a potential inner conflict where he may start feeling lonely as it appears he doesn’t have any friends in Academia. And while he claims he doesn’t need/want any/they aren’t important, he will probably come to miss it somewhere along the lines. You know what they say, you don’t know what you have got until it’s gone. This may apply to Sora nicely, depending on what type of character he is supposed to be.
Lol, nice to know that Mieru might become a Lancer out of default of knocking herself out in an ice crevice. Sawatari’s new deck kind of combines the fact he now looks up to Yuya and Reiji as individuals. Yuya- they’re about acting Reiji- fiends that revolve around their own separate spell/traps
Mieru will be their wild card O w O/, nevertheless, glad to see that she had woken up!
You make a good point about Sawatari’s deck. It does seems to symbolize who he looks up to, and that being said, it suits him very well.
For me, the most amusing part of this episode was that Tsukikage actually survived this whole thing. I was thinking he’d sacrifice himself with his last face-down card but turns out he didn’t. Seeing as he’s a Lancer, I’m gonna laugh so hard if he ends up being promoted to a supporting cast member. To think several episodes ago, I thought he and his brother (RIC) were just throw-away background characters lol.
Another thing I liked was Shun reflecting on the actions of everyone else who defended him before he made his move, sounds like he’s slowly warming up to them.
Well what can you say? The Ninja brothers charmed us quite quickly so I know some of us (including myself) will be pleased if he gets a promotion, even if it’s only for a little while.
And here to hoping that Gongenzaka and Shun will be Bros! 8D