Talk about a whole lot of crazy plot-twists! So much information was given this episode, now my brain is a yarn tangled in knots! It turns out… Reira is not Reiji’s biological brother, he is in fact a child who was picked up from a war torn country by the LDC. Due to growing up in a hostile environment, he threw himself away in order to survive and that was how they decided he would be a valuable asset to be used as a puppet/tool they can use for their upcoming battle against Academia.
Wow, what the fuck! That is so messed up! I was so disgusted, and so was Yuuya. In fact, today, this is probably the angriest we have seen Yuuya since he learned about the true purpose of the LDS Tournament. He demanded answers from Reiji, he got them. Not a single bit of it was pretty.
The twist to the whole ordeal however, was the true reason why Reira didn’t want to fight in today’s match. Like Yuuya, I presumed Reira was simply scared and/or didn’t want to be any part of it. The truth is, Reira didn’t want to participate in this particular match because his opponent was Shinji.
Thank god they included the flashback because I didn’t read too much into the meaning of Shinji’s kind gesture of giving Reira some candy when he was at Crow’s place. Reira didn’t want to fight against someone who was kind to him. And I actually love this twist because it made a simple scene from the past become an important moment for Reira’s character development. And then they shocked us again, once Reira gave him an answer, Reiji surprised us by ordering Tsukikage to fight in Reira’s place, and followed up with how he was overjoyed to know that Reira is now is now in the progress of developing his own self, his own opinions, and most importantly, his own choices.. This threw me out of the loop because Reiji’s body language throughout the entire confrontation was anything but warm. His eyes, his posture, they were all ridge and cold, and that’s why Yuuya was reacting so strongly. He didn’t like the way Reiji was talking about Reira. So regardless of the good things he said to Reira, Yuuya is still not convinced whether or not he can trust Reiji and hates how there is no promises for Reira to not participate in the tournament.
I am sure there is a bit of debate about Yuuya possibly overstepping his bounds. This matter is complicated due to the fact we haven’t gotten a straight answer from Reira himself of whether or not he wants to be a part of this battle against Academia. Until then, we can’t side up with anyone. Yuuya has his own morale, firmly believes it is wrong for Reira to be dragged into this without his true consent. And it is understandable, especially when the kid is only learning now how to speak for himself, how to find the courage to disobey an order. I think the thing we as the audience can all agree on, it is really uncomfortable to see Reiji yap orders, and Reira reacting just as a the puppet he is supposed to be. But the question now is, how far can Yuuya go without ending up being the one forcing his own beliefs onto Reira. The best Yuuya can do is to teach and encourage Reira to start making decisions for himself. Since Reiji has already re-enforced that after Reira ran back to him, there is a possibility Reira will be more open to doing so in the future.
Now the question: Is Reiji truly trying to help Reira?
The reason why I am so uncertain is because Reiji’s character is so freaking hard to figure out. I would like to have the confidence to say he wants the best out of Reira, but this guy has the ultimate poker face, and if no poker-face- he often gives off the expression of someone you can’t trust. And like I have warned earlier on in the series, he is possibly on the path of slowly becoming the monster he wants to defeat. It could be that Reiji is a bit of both, but at some point of time- one side is likely to overshadow the other. We know he has a heart deep within him who is capable of helping Reira to rediscover himself, but at the same time, has the brains and strategies to take full advantage of him. Reiji knows his mother would be furious if she knew of this development, so for now, it appears he wants Reira to develop his own identity. It could be he just has his own twisted way of going on about it since he goes on how Reira’s participation in the Friendship Cup is to provide him battle experience.
Yeah I honestly don’t know what to think.
But this episode wasn’t just about Reira. In fact, before the big revelation happened, they confirm Gongenzaka is no longer a participant of the tournament, and followed up with the mystery about where the losers would be taken. According to the gossip Chojiro has heard: It is said the losers are probably sent to a place deep beneath the city, where is otherwise known to be as the city’s dump. Both the losers and the prisoners from the prison camp who were never seen again are sent there to do forced labor. But all of us know there is definitely more to it and I am talking about Jean Rogers’ plot! Jean Rogers without a doubt has some shady shit going on deep below because the board probably presumes there is no value to have sharp surveillance down below. With Jean in charge of running the security and most likely the one who chooses what goes through to the board, it seems to be the perfect place to make use of the force laborers and to keep secrets for his grand plot!
Next week! Our beloved Ninja Tsukikage is up again Shinji who wants to start a riot!
In all honesty, regardless of the results, if Tsukikage were to lose, I can’t imagine him having any problems poofing away before the security could get him. I thought about the possibility of investigating what Jean could possibly be up to under the city, but then I remembered something. There is definitely a possibility those zapping chokers we saw in 5Ds’ mini arc with Kiryu (or something similar) could possibly be in use for the prisoners to prevent them from escaping.
PS: Wait I just realized something, it looks like it is supposed to be Riding Duels all through the tournament… Does that mean Reira would have to ride a D-Wheel as well if he ends up participating…? I wonder if they will ever reach that point…
Yuuya was a freaking badass here facing Reiji. The rumor about forced labor reminds me Gyakkyou Burai Kaiji.
I like how Arc-v makes amazing plot-episodes. I always thought of it being rumored of Reira being adopted but I never thought he literally came from a war-based country to be used for countering his Leo. This leaves it not too surprising that he would assist in war like this after he himself was brought into a war his own life but the only thing that made him ressist is fighting a guy who was nice to him which develops Reira’s character. As for Reiji is basically morally grey to the point of the purpose of the Battle Royale incident as well as keeping the penalty featuring unto the Lancers duel disks which emphasizes on terms “If you can’t win in a handicap you’re not fit for war.” To me I find it debatable if it’s right to compare Reiji to Emiya Karistugu and Yuya to Saber or Shiro.
//“If you can’t win in a handicap you’re not fit for war.” //
You make a very good point about the duel disk penalties. I never quite thought of it like that, but now that you put it that way, it makes total sense. I’m on the fence too about whether or not Reiji and Yuuya is comparable to our Fate’s protagonists. I see where you’re coming from, and I do see the similarities, so I think it would be fair to say they share similar sentiments.
You’re right about the ambiguity of who to root for, and let me tell you, in many places exploded discussions about who was right, how wrong or how much blame would be right to say that Reiji has as well as people questioning if Yuya wasn’t pushing his ideals on Reira too and two asshole wanting to beat the crap of Yuya for it.
Holy shit I didn’t even remember the shocking collars! Considering how bleak Synchro Dimension is, I wouldn’t doubt if that happened, this city is so rotten that I’m almost wishing for Fusion Army to wipe all the assholes there D:
I really liked the animation this episode, they did well with the characters’ face and the voice acting was brillant as usual, I like how intense Yuya is, but he needs to chill a bit, I’m glad Tokumatsu was there to offer voice of wisdow, and I don’t doubt that he could prove to be a good mentor figure for Yuya.
Also, did you get Neo Genesis Evangelion vibes from this episode or it was just me? XD This was a truly psycodelic trip, specially at the end with red imagery and Reira’s eys animation changing(that stuff was creepy as hell, Holy Sh*t!)
Hahahaha, heated debate amongst the fandom, ah gotta love it. XD
They absolutely delivered in the animation this episode. You said it, they executed the intensity between Reiji and Yuuya perfectly.
I actually haven’t watched Neo Genesis Evangelion (been putting it off only because I’m not too sure what the gore level is- I know it’s bloody at the very least… I know of the the memes though! LOL ;D) But yeah, that was super weird when Reira’s eyes started going all crazy! Props to the staff member to drew this week’s episode storyboard!
Evangelion is more trippy than gory. Most of the gore is not even human (though saying more would be spoiler). And yeah, Reira’s vision was a great touch that reminded me of Eva too 😛
All in all, this episode was really wonderful!
It wasn’t really made clear if the forced labor (if true) is something that originates from Jean-Michel or from the Council. The Council seems to be the host of the tournament, though the fact that Jean-Michel approves Yuzu and Yugo to participate say that he can administrate it. The Friendship Cup is ultimately some kind of twisted punishment for everyone who participates, since Jack always wins. Maybe a sort of secret punishment for those who dare to defy the Tops and try to challenge their way in? (I was also confused about the Council, as I didn’t see any indication that they existed up until they showed up.) I thought it was also a nice throwback to the trash-recycling plant from 5D’s, even if it is worse.
I completely agree that I want to see Reira make more decisions on his own in the future. I think this is the furthest into a Yu-Gi-Oh! series where the protagonist and the rival are not on good terms. I thought a lot of the purpose of this episode was to make the audience feel that Reiji is sympathetic, even if he acts in ways that are not in line with Yuya’s morals. (Then again, I’m also convinced that Reiji will pull some convoluted Face-Heel Turn before the end because that would be different from other rivals of the franchise, once they’ve allied with the hero. It would also be a reason for a Reiji v. Yuya’s duel. I want a better explanation of his transition from naïve, kind Reiji of three years ago to the cold and stoic person we have now. How did he know about his father’s ambition to fuse the dimensions? Why would Reiji and Himika know about that but not about sealing people into cards? The explanation I might give would be that it had been Leo’s goal from before he left Standard, but then what made Reiji and Himika ultimately oppose that? Simple revenge for leaving them, or something more? Also, where does Himika fall on the moral spectrum? She seemed horrified at the idea of people being sealed into cards back in the early episodes, but she clearly has no qualms about child soldiers.)
It is definitely possible they wanted to show that Reiji has a sympathetic layer, but it’s really hard to identify if it genuine. Until I can get a better grasp of who he is and how he became like person we see today (like you I would like to see how long the transition took and if anything else happened). I think Leo did tell him of his plans when he was captured while he and Selena were looking for a way to get off the island, and if not- he may have heard from him or from his mother if they had another confrontation.
Yeah Himika is super shady. Honestly, I don’t buy her “horror” towards the cards (even more so when it had only been their own LDS/LDC people at the time, not strangers or rivals). Himika is a twisted lady and she hasn’t given me any reason to buy her ‘worries’, so I don’t trust her a single bit.
God it’s crazy I started arc v last year I didn’t expect for it to become my favorite show its been great
haha this is so unrelated to the episode. But I just realised something. If anyone has ever played Sonic the Hedgehog 2006 ( also known as the worst sonic game ever).. I’ve realised that, the 4 dimensional counterparts of Yuya, are kinda like Sonic/Shadow/Silver the hedgehog and Mephiles the dark?
Like.. just their colour scheme are similar, Yuto = Shadow since they both wear black (Well, Shadow IS black), Yugo = Silver because they’re both white, and Yuri = Mephiles because they both have a purple/pinkish colour, and while they do have some resemblence to the main characters Yuya/Sonic, they don’t really look like them as much as the other two.
I can’t really compare Yuya and Sonic together since they don’t have the same colour scheme, but personality wise does fit them a lot. I guess personality wise, Yuto/Shadow, Yugo/Silver and Yuri/Mephiles fit too..
Funny story, a few months ago since I started getting back into Yu-Gi-Oh, so I bought some booster packs at my local comic book store, and one of the cards I got was worth over 100$, and that card just happened to be the exact same card Chojiro used to bribe the kid, so that got a good laugh out of me when I saw he dropped that 🙂
As for the meat of this episode and Reiji’s character, I agree with what you said, it’s hard to judge. He’s not really a good guy since he’s still exploiting Reira (or Layra) who is still an abused child. On the other hand he’s the leader so he has to do what he has to do, and even if it doesn’t make what he’s doing right he’s still better then his mom and his dad. It’s also not like this is new, we’ve already seen Reiji sacrifice plenty of others when he could have easily stepped in (lest we forget his army of pretty boys). In many ways he reminds me a lot of John Constantine, he’s on the side of good, but he’s still willing to use all of the worst methods possible for the greater good.
Also Melissa continues to be great 🙂