2% Dueling, 5% Jack Atlas and 93% Yuuya Wailing
Oh my goodness, this episode contained a whole lot of talk and a lot of characters making a fuss, having emotional breakdowns (I’m looking at you, Yuuya, Shinji…) and some others just eating their meal relatively peacefully. It was certainly starting to test my patience until we were finally rewarded for sitting through this agony. The reward of course, was seeing more of Jack, learning a bit about his childhood, how he (much to my surprise) relates to Reira and how he was impressed by Yuzu’s performance. But most importantly, he spoke about the card responsible for providing him newfound hope, who directed him onto the path to become stronger and reach the Tops.
I can’t tell you how happy was I was to see Jack’s soft-side, sharing his experience with Reira because he could relate to him. And furthermore, he proved to us, that the boy Sam did misunderstand his intentions when he passed on the card that helped him get to where he is today. Another important attribute is the fact Jack takes pride of being from the Commons. He is proud of where he is from, and he wants to see them rise up to the challenge, and see they too can make it to where he is today. It makes me sad he isn’t able to properly convey his pride without being identified as the traitor of the Commons. Jack isn’t the best at communicating his feelings in public, but he did a better job with sharing his experience with Reira probably because he saw a bit of himself in him. Jack was curious about the child, he wondered about the environment he was raised in, he provided Reira some unique perspective and advice, telling him he looks forward to seeing him duel once Reira finds his own resolve (something he hasn’t found yet). What gets me even more, is I feel Jack is genuinely concerned about Reira. I get the sense he is perspective enough to tell Reira is facing an internal conflict, and what he appears to be concerned about, is probably something else he had to face too, until he had found his resolve.
In fact, when we look back to the scene when Yuuya was doing some self-reflection based on what Jack had told him, he for a brief second interpreted Jack’s words differently, “To duel not for myself, but for others” – which in all honestly- makes PERFECT sense because yeah, Yuuya wasn’t dueling for the audience, at the time he was too caught up with focusing on trying to win. Unfortunately for us though, his bias stubbornly determined that was not the case, and is still bitter how Jack’s duel had no sense of kindness to it. And guess what, Yuuya’s stubbornness and bias towards others prevents him from having an open mind. This is a good thing because Yuuya needs to learn to try and read in between the lines, and not let his bias or let his beliefs stop him from listening to others and keeping an open mind.
With that being said, I am sure many of us were fed up with Yuuya’s tantrum episodes. I can tell you right now I am SO done with it. Hell, I am more surprised that Dark!Yuuya hasn’t popped into action yet, because he is simply going mad! Look, I love Yuuya- I freaking adore him- but his endless fuss about the corruption of the Friendship Cup is driving me insane, especially when I know the board doesn’t give two shits about what he is complaining about. And to be frank: I think they are more entertained watching him enact a melodrama. These old geezers just want to be entertained, and Yuuya is most certainly putting on a show for them.
But finally… finally, by the end of the episode, it appears Yuuya has found his resolve. He stayed up all night doing some self-reflection, staring intensely at his father’s card. By morning when the sun rose, it was a new day, and Yuuya now understands what he wants to do. His goal is to perform in the tournament his way, and will do everything he can to make everyone understand that the way the tournament has been established, is bullshit. To be honest though, I do wonder how Yuuya plans to change the tournament solely based on his performance… On the brighter note, next week we are FINALLY going to see Odd-Eyes Saber Dragon- LIKE MY GOD, THAT TOOK FREAKING FOREVER. This card been out for months now, about bloody time we see it in perform in the Anime! Can’t wait to see it in action! I still have to get the card myself, welp.
Now about the endless monologues and chatters and the characters going crazy I mentioned in the beginning- let me just tell you right now I am not exaggerating. There was SO MUCH useless chatter, that it took up the ENTIRE episode. To provide you a perspective, Selena’s duel was only (approximately) two minutes and forty-four seconds. There was so many characters having a brief scene just to blabber something and then rush to the next, I found myself rewinding constantly to ensure I was able to properly finish reading the subtitles and catching the important details. Amid all the chatter, there was one- crucial scene I almost missed due to it being so short and fast. It was Jean’s scene with the man (possibly a cyborg) who stands behind him, named Sergei. Now let me tell you, I would have missed the guy’s name had I not been more curious about seeing more of his character design to make me pause and inspect him. That is how fast the pace was this episode, everything was so rushed until the point Jack got to tell his story. So now let’s discuss about this man Serei. Right now I am under the impression he is a cyborg, and he is a very dangerous criminal (which would explain why he is essentially covered in Criminal Marks). The next thing we learned is something important, involving Jean’s plans and motives. Jean revealed to us how he plans to have Serei, defeat the runner up to the finals (whom he believes Selena is one of the major candidates) and then ultimately defeat Jack and shock everyone. Upon the revelation, two things came to mind: The first was how Jean wants to remove Jack the Hero from the Commons from the throne, and plant someone of his choice. The second, he wants to start a civil war in order to attain further power. I am not entirely sure how Serei becoming the new king would achieve that, but it sounds to me he wants to push both the Tops’ and Commons’ buttons- but considering the theories of the plan are still far too vague, I won’t think too much about either of them.
But there is something we do know that perked Jean’s interest. Upon hearing how Selena and Yuzu look-alike and people mistaking them (and possibly him included) as sisters, I only feel even more confident about the possibly of a Yuzu VS Selena match-up. I already had a sense it was going to happen at some point within the competition, but now Jean has a twisted reason to pit them against each other. But he ought to watch himself: one does not simply tick off Yuzu or Selena without being punished.
One last thing! During the second to last scene of the episode, we see how Jean had sent letter to a former Duel Chaser, who he will identify as 777, telling him that he will be up against Yuuya and must defeat him. If he achieves this mission, he will be reinstated to his former position before his demotion after he lost against Yuugo. Along with the mission Jean provided him a Fusion card. Oh brother, that certainly raises a lot of questions of where he got his hands on one considering this is the Synchro Realm. It only makes me even more concerned how he may already be co-operating with Academia… But hey, that asn’t the only thing he provided him! HE GAVE HIM THE LIST OF WHO THE OPPONENTS ARE FOR THE NEXT ROUND. DAMN YOU JEAN. Well that being said, it looks like Sawatari is screwed since he is up against Yuugo, and I am not surprised whatsoever to see Shun and Dennis have a rematch, it was only expected. It was also revealed how Seirei will finally be stepping up onto the stage against fodder friend Daimon. Well, we know of the results of that one, and calling it now: Shinji is going to lose his shit.
Next week! Yuuya VS Duel Chaser 227! Here’s to hoping Yuuya will stick to his roots this time!
This episode confused me about whether Jean is working with Academia, honestly. Mostly because I don’t get how Selena fits into his plans to take over the City. His wanting to capture her but not knowing her relationship to Yuzu seems like he’s working with Academia (possibly in exchange for aid in taking over the city – though the joke’s on him, there won’t be a city left when Fusion is done with them) with very little relevant information in hand. But then there’s the Goyo Emporer card… (speaking of which, it’ll be interesting to see how 227 summons it since he’s a synchro user)
I really appreciated Jack’s kindness to Reira (because I didn’t really like him in 5D’s beyond his interactions with Carly during the Dark Signer arc, despite his popularity there). Reiji dodging questions about Reira’s circumstances was really not smooth and manipulating adults is harder than he thought it was.
I thought it was a little weird to match up Kurosaki with Dennis, since it seems like the Council and Reiji would have a vested interest in showcasing Lancer vs. non-Lancer (also I was hoping to see Kurosaki get destroyed by Sergey). I think that matchup points to Reiji setting it up in purpose because Dennis is a very obvious mole and Kurosaki was starting to pick up on it during their first riding duel. Do you think Dennis will be forced to use Fusion during that duel and give up his cover willingly?
Also I realized that my comment regarding my opinion of Jack of 5D’s was unsolicited and rather rude, so I apologize. I did very much like the Jack of this episode.
Rather than Selena being a part of his plan to do whatever he is up to, I can see a strong possibility of him working alongside Academia and work his way to have her separated from the Lancers in order to assist their efforts of re-capturing her. We don’t know whether or not the rumors of the Forced Labor Camps are true, it could be something else entirely altogether, potentially something Academia is already a part of (though that might be pushing it). I am particularly suspicious of this because I am mainly wondering how he managed to get a hold of Fusion Card when they are in fact in the Synchro Realm. The only other alternative I could think of is in the past there has been an attempted invasion by Academia in the past, and the card may have been dropped by an Academia agent, so that’s how Jean got one- but that is a bit far fetched and the likelihood of him being allies with Academia seems higher in my books.
I don’t find it entirely odd how Shun and Dennis are up against each other so soon, it was only a matter of time before they had their rematch since their last one was interrupted.
It would be wise of Dennis to take out his Fusion Cards before he duels, but that would probably interfere with the plot progression and stall it. It would be an interesting situation for Dennis if Shun puts him into a corner, and he has to make a decision to either lose or win with the Fusion card in his hands, it’s a matter of how far is he willing to go to hide his true colors. If anything, Dennis might try and cover up it up by claiming because he is a LDS (Exchange) Student, naturally he also knew how to Fusion Summon as well. The question then would be whether or not anyone buys it, or perhaps worse case scenario for Dennis, Shun recognizes him and his cards, and is able to confirm his suspicions of him being a mole.
No worries, I at least didn’t consider it rude. You’re right about how Jack was in 5DS though. I found his character was the best during the Dark Signers Arc, but then afterwards, I don’t even know what the writers were thinking. The Jack we saw today in ARC-V is what I expected out of him post-Dark Signers Arc, not the immature brat he continued to be. (And to make it even worse, they reduced to Carly to another one of his fangirls ugh.)
The Carly thing was more because her VA was involved in a sex cult scandal and because Yoshida Can’t-write-girls assumed post Dark Signers.
Speaking of Yoshida he’s the writer for the Arc V manga I hope for the best but I’m not expecting too much about good femsle characterization comming from him.
I knew they were almost definitely leading up to a Shun vs. Dennis rematch, but I really wanted to see Shun get worfed because dude wins too easily most of the time (and I wanted the writing to keep to Lancer vs. non-Lancer). And it would help Shun have character development if he lost more (then again, as supporting cast, his character development may never happen fully). That said, I am looking forward to that duel more than the Yuya vs. 227 or Sawatari vs. Yugo duels since the outcomes of those are foregone conclusions. If Dennis does use Fusion and rationalizes it, Reiji doesn’t have his cave full of scanners to tell the difference anymore, so who knows, it might work. If he is revealed as the mole, poor Yuya is going to be destroyed (again).
Actually he is number 227, and according to Tvtropes it’s a reference to 227 rules for fully ordained monks in Theravada or something like that, just a small trivia.
I cheered when I thought Yuya got Jack’s message only to facepalm hard when he went “Nah, he’s a dick, as if he would give an advice”, Yuyaaaaaaa!!!
But well, the writers seem to take all of Yuya’s security blankets and force him on a tight spot, first with the special gift of Pendulum Summon, then with Yuzu and I feel that now they will desconstruct his dad’s Entertaiment Dueling which would be about time because one of the biggest factors that limit Yuya’s potential is how he wishes to be his father instead of trying to find how to be himself.
Also, my respect for Jack skyrocket after this episode! He seems very serious and mature in this version, he’s very different from his 5d’s self Wow! I was reminded a bit of Yusei because how even thought the card didn’t seen that good he strill treasured it, the feels!
It was also equally unexpected to see Jack giving pep talks to Reira, and you can tell it made an impression on the kid JackIsABetterBrotherFigureThanYouReiji*shot*, I can see Jack being a mentor figure to him hahaha PleaseDoIt.
Also, I know Yuzu isn’t the focus, but can I confess that my face hurt with the size of the smile I had on my face when Jack acknowledged Yuzu? Or for once I agree with Jean in that Serena is also a badass lady~ I still not believing that I’m still alive to see the day when the female characters are being treated so well in a Yu-Gi-Oh spin off, Bless the Arc V writers!
AH, thank you for pointing out the error! How did I see 777?????
I had the exact same reaction as you did. GOD DAMN IT YUUYA. Here’s to hoping he will actually learn from this by the end of the ARC, ESPECIALLY once he learns how Jack actually was trying to help others in his own way.
And you nailed it on the head. Yuuya doesn’t know how to be himself, he needs to create his own identity for his Entertainment Style, not so much like his father’s. It’s one thing to be inspired, but it’s a whole different story if you’re trying mimic another.
Yeah, awkward moment is when Jack gives better talk to Reira. Here’s to hoping his words got through to the kid. 🙁
YUZU OUR QUEEN IS ACKNOWLEDGED BY THE KING, *THROWS CONFETTI* The positive treatment towards our female characters is definitely one of the biggest reasons why ARC-V is as successful as it is. And I am really hoping they continue to go in this direction for future series, because see- YGO can be just as awesome as ever when you have a badass girl who isn’t a cliche fangirl, and can stand her own ground. I consider this HUGE progress when I compare it to 5Ds. HUGE PROGRESS. Pretty much everything I wanted for our female characters in YGO and more. As a fan, I am extremely grateful to the writers and I hope they continue this till the very end!
Heheh… Looking forward to Sawatari vs. Yugo! Sawatari’s one of my favorite characters in the series, despite being total comedy relief and a pretty big clunkhead. (Maybe because he’s always stuck behind the top dog, or because he’s smart enough to run Yosenjus, Lol.) But he’s going to get wrecked BAD by Yugo, and they’re going to shout at each other every step of the way like the proud people they are and it’s going to be hilarious.
On that note, have you seen the manga? It’s first chapter came out yesterday, and it’s pretty different from the show- Yuya and Yuto share a body from the start as a Robin Hood-esque vigilante, and Sora and Shun are in a police force with Shingo- who’s telling them what to do all the time!
Ah- started to get off topic.
Anyways, I do totally think that Jean’s in league with Fusion, I’m still wating for Possessed!Yuya to appear, and after seeing next week’s preview I believe that he has every right to- Synchro dimension has a ton of arrogant idiots who can’t get along.
Although, I can’t see where you’re coming from about 5D’s Jack, but that’s mainly because I last saw 5D’s about 3 years ago- and my strongest memories are of World Racing Grand Prix Jack. He’s still a badass there, but at the same time he has (what I thought were) endearing moments with coffee and tea (I can’t tell the two apart) and ramen. So this one comes off as a little colder to me, but still nice in his own way, even if Synchro is about to erupt in civil war because of it.
Sorry for rambling on.
I will be sorely disappointed if Sawatari VS Yuugo is not a slapstick comedy episode. I don’t want to set my expectations too high, but it’s hard not to because I am envisioning all the silly things they would be shouting at each other.
I have not checked the manga, but I have heard about the part how Yuuya and Yuuto share a body from the get go. If my memory serves right, Yuuya’s character design is altered a bit where his coat is worn more like a cloak and a cowl over his head with a mysterious vibe to it… In general I usually skip out on the YGO manga as I have tried a couple of times, but I could never get into it like I have with the Anime.
I KNOW RIGHT, POSSESSED!YUUYA IS SO LONG OVERDUE, I MEAN- YUUYA HAS BEEN RILED UP FOR A WHILE NOW, WHAT IS GOING ON?!?!?! I guess the thing that possessed him in on vacation on something????? LOL.
For me, 5DS Jack (post-Dark Signers Arc) remained as a badass of course, and had his slapstick comedy moments enjoying his afternoon tea and dorky ramen love, but what I didn’t like was his arrogance and how the writers had chosen to proceed with his character after such a dramatic and character defining arc. To me his character went downhill after the Dark Signers Arc, so it felt like a wasted opportunity. 🙁
To be honest I don’t see what’s wrong with Yuya wailing, it’s just part of his character. True he tends to be too worried about the whole situation but it’s understandable to the point where a in Synchro you have something which is one’s freedom. From Fusions treating the game as a sadistic term of fun to recent Synchro to a issue with society that it’s really no wonder Xyz and Standard world were the most calm worlds in comparison.
Yuya at first thinking that Jack was telling him his dueling is selfish but ignoring it in the end shows a bit of stubbornness but it shows just how much he looks up to his father believing that he’s always right. But because of that will foreshadow nasty turns coming through Yuya’s way especially with dueling 227 in a fight for one’s freedom. The thing is with Arc-V is the moment your involved with the plot Main Characters like Yuya/Yuzu have suffering were minor/supporting characters will likely get carded or worse.
I did indeed love the fact that Jack acknowledges Yuzu as well as the displaying Serena skill and being acknowledge by others. Even earlier on in the first season of Arc-V they displayed Masumi’s determination to honor her professor(despite the secret crush she might have had on him) and especially Mieru who at times was treated as comic-relief but was showed as good spiritual support and her deck which is ritual shows a lot of potential as well as explaining how exactly she got OTK’d by Tsukikage. Arc-v does a very good way of displaying female characters in comparison to the second half of 5D’s and the integrity of Zexal fun fact were directed by Shin Yoshida a writer who tends to have female characters in Yu-gi-oh! as mere cheerleader status and nothing else.
I secretly laugh at the thought of Reiji using Yuzu as his back-up by considering a Lancer when last time he just stood back and witnessed her get chased by Yuri for like 12 hours and didn’t care less. Plus he had Tsukikage drop his match in order to start a rebellion later on.
Jean has disgraced the Goyo archetype by creating a fusion for it. XD
Lastly, my thought on the second round depending if they do have brackets would be: Crow vs Shinji, Yuzu vs Serena, Yuya vs Yugo and Shun or Dennis vs Sergey.
Yuuya is our puppy boy. We love him dearly, but when he wails on and on and on about the same thing over and over and over again, it’s can get pretty annoying real fast. I know it’s all part of his character, but gosh, I cant help but shout “YUUYA! GET A HOLD OF YOURSELF MAN!” He has a lot of growing to do (which is always a good thing) because he is most definitely (as you said) will be facing even more emotionally difficult trials in the future. And ahaha, you’re exactly right: nothing good ever happens when Yuuya finally encounters the plot! DUN DUN DUNNNNNNNNNN!!!!
You make a very good point about how he is dealing with tunnel vision of his Father always being right. It is exactly what is keeping him a bit closed-minded. He needs to let go of that and be more open to criticism, and start under-going some true self-reflection on himself in order to become both stronger and wiser. And I do look forward to seeing how he is grow and adapt further.
Yuya’s character in general is one where he tries escaping a cruel reality with happiness and his father ideals rather than accepting that the world is at times pretty ugly. Through his life he’s been constantly bullied as a child with only a few friends by his side Gongenzaka and Yuzu. Gongenzaka has always been Yuya’s best friend and physical support where Yuzu is his inspiration and most important person rather platonic/romantic. After his father’s disappearance all he had was relying on the advice in his idea of faking your happiness to receive self-satisfaction in which Jack calls him out on it. Yuya’s greatest weakness is his emotions and so far the Synchro world has been nothing but a hurdle for him to bypass.
I believe all of this would strongly lead up to how Yuya’s see things in a new light after confronting all his counterparts and their experiences through dueling. At first there was Yuto a counterpart that experienced the cold truth of dueling which lead to war/destruction of his world in which had him deeply hating Fusions despite not wanting that kind of reality and wanted to resolve not to hurt people. Yugo who is an orphan having a cruel reality of society with 99% of the poor being overtaken by 1% of the rich and being treated like nothing but trash hence the friendship games irony of the loss of one’s freedom, his inspiration is Jack giving him hope that any poor person can will and move up in the world. Lastly, there’s going to be Yuri the polar opposite of Yuya in every way despite there not much of his backstory he is indeed evil and finds whatever he does fun somewhat similar to Sora and the rest of the Obelisk Force but unlike them Yuri isn’t exactly bound by rules, loyalty or elitism instead he seems like Leo’s right hand man. Yuri will also likely get rid of his own soldiers of Fusion should they get in his way.
The moment Yuri was fully-introduced in 47 you can see just how evil, sadistic and frightening he can be making him Yuya’s worst enemy (both have same VA Kensho Ono). All-in-All Yuya vs Yuri duel will definitely in my opinion define Yuya’s true identity and complete character in how all the other counterparts experiences should Yuya absorb them all affect in which he would question will it give new light towards him or break him to the point of no return.
*Standing Ovation* WELL SAID!
The Yuuri VS Yuuya fight is going to be super intense and emotions going haywire on Yuuya’s part. I am hoping he doesn’t actually end up absorbing them all because it would make me sad. 🙁 I would not mind too much if it would only be temporary, but it would break my heart if Yuugo and Yuuto wouldn’t be able live as themselves again. ; ___ ;
Such a good episode and my heart went out to Yuya agonising over his current dueling. I was constantly begging him to eat during the episode partly cos i was hungry at the time but cos i felt he should’ve eaten, if only to feel slightly better. I get that about Yuya wanting to see his father as always right. I think that is because throughout all his life he has constantly been compared to his father and expected to be like him so naturally he has either consciously or unconsciously taken everyone else’s expectations unto himself. This is actually quite damaging for children as they aren’t really allowed to explore their own identity as well and naturally they would struggle to see their idol or parent, whom everyone including yourself admired, as wrong. Something is going to happen and i mean REALLY happen that will shake Yuya’s belief in his dad to the core.
I’m glad angsty Yuya will take a back seat for now because while he still has this stubborn mindset (which i think is from his mother… I remember her saying something along the lines of that his stubborness and refusal to stop until he completes his goal is like her.) it was rather annoying to constantly see him complain, i know the thing is unfair but any more than 3 times and you’re just whinging for the sake of it especially if you can’t do anything. I’m glad he realised at the end and decided to stop moaning about it and do something even if next episode it sounds like he’s just going to do a speech… *groan* we’ve had so many! I want Yuya to be fun again! Be the fun self you are! Show Jack Dicklas (He’s alright but his attitude is still mostly dickish) that you do have entertainment skills!! (looks like he might given the fact that it looks like Dicklas will FINALLY show an emotion next episode!)
I will note that the fact that the council has cameras in all of their rooms is kind of creepy i mean what if they want to take their shirt off because it was stuffy or an especially hot day or if they had a shower (that’s if they have an en suite bathroom)? That makes them pedos…
Selena kicked ass like always! Was there any doubt?
That female presenter who-i-cant-remember-the-name-mostly-cos-i-dont-really-care just pisses me off now frankly. First off she kept banging on about Yuzu and Selena being female duelists which granted since they are the first ones to make it, it’s understandable that she point it out because when your gender is represented in a media you love, you naturally want to support them. However when she went on about how it’s the dueling era of girls that seemed quite sexist to me or at least biased because in dueling it doesn’t matter if you’re a girl or boy, physical strength is not relevant! It only matters on the quality of your duelling which was the first sensible thing that Jean pointed out (probably the first and only time i’ll ever agree with him).
I also gave the woman the benefit of the doubt for her cheery disposition that she was unaware of what happened when you lose. But any respect i had for her went because it looks like she states to Yuya clearly that she knows what happens in the preview…