The episode played out very difficult than I had originally anticipated. I wasn’t expecting the brief transitions back to the Battle Royale and the cuts and transitions felt quite awkward. I suppose they did it because they didn’t make or intend Shun VS Parasite!Ruri match to last very long. In fact it was very straight forward. Throughout the duel the audience was able to see just how far Shun has come in terms of his character growth. Back in the days before Heartland was invaded, Shun was a very bitter person to begin with. He didn’t like losing and never understood the selfless and kind gestures of others. For instance: after Ruri had lost to a duel with Sayaka, as they are friends Sayaka wanted to give her Little Fairy. But then comes along Shun who was acting like a total asshole and slaps it out of her hand yapping how no duelist should ever give away their cards the others. But now, ever since he had met Yuuya and the others, he finally understands Sayaka’s intentions (and even used her card which she had entrusted to Kaito) and the fun you’re supposed to experience while dueling.
It was hard to say whether or not Parasite!Ruri was indeed expressing some form of truths when she was ranting about how she can handle herself just fine when Shun said, “You weren’t able to do anything without me by your side”. Even I was like, ‘(ʘ‿ʘ✿) Wait a minute, (ʘ‿ʘ)ノ✿ what did you just say!?’ I was pretty annoyed to say the least. I also found it to be a bit weird to think Shun thought his sister was totally helpless, but then again he was a super bitter person and also known to be probably a super overprotective brother. But today Ruri proved that she is strong by having the strength to take control of her consciousness and pleaded to her brother to quickly take her down. It was something Rin could not do during her duel with Yuugo (especially since we never got to see any indication of it).
Now that Shun had actually defeated Ruri, the question now is whether or not she is truly freed from the Parasite. While he did defeat it in battle, I have a feeling it may still have some sort of effect, especially since there’s an actual parasite in her brain right now. It would be nice however to see her be freed and hopefully give her some chance to shine, but I think that would be too convenient. She either remains unconscious, successfully recover/be freed or the lurks in the shadows and waits for the right time to strike. They do need all four girls after all (or so we have been led to believe thus far).
Next week we’re finally going ot be dealing with the Battle Beast, Code Name: BB. I await for find out what the hell he is after seeing he has been experiencing the “penalty” deduction each time he interferes. Given to how many he had wiped out already, you would think his LP would probably be at 0 unless he has some way of protecting/preventing it from falling. Also surprise surprise, Sawatari’s luck has not run out, in fact it seems it’s the only thing what is keeping him alive. He and Crow are now paired up so that neither are alone, but they are up against two Academia Elite Students who look like will be taken down swiftly. In the mean time it will be good to see Yuuya and Gongenzaka finally pair up again, it feels like it has been a long while since we see the two duel together. Depending on what the Battle Beast is, if Yuuya tries to appeal to him with his entertainment performance, it could be a bit weird (especially if turns out to be a program/bug and not a Human).
Good episode and I’d like to believe Shay(Shun) has succeeded in unbrainwashing Lulu(Ruri), or at least severely weakened the parasite and since Lulu(Ruri) was able to fight it’s control at 100% she should be fine with it in a weakened state. Seeing Lulu(Ruri) in her mind fighting reminded me of when both Joey from the Original series and Jaden from GX were under mind control and how we saw them inside their minds, during their duels with there friends trying to get them back. Proving the Yugioh series #1 rule, no matter whats controlling you, if you fight on the inside and those that care about you fight on the outside, together you can destroy the darkness, or in this case squash that bug(calling it now that will be a line in the English dub for this episode or 117). So in conclusion liked the episode, glad Lulu(Ruri) was saved and I’m happy after so long the Obsidian(Kurosaki) sibling are back together.
P.S. to answer your question Eva the rules of Battle Royal allows your Life Points to return to 4000 if you start a new duel, remember the Miami Championships Yuya and Dennis paired up for a duel and by the end of it Yuya’s Points were 200 and Dennis was 2000, but when Yuya faced the Obelisk Force and Dennis faced Zuzu(Yuzu) later both had 4000 Points. So that’s why the Battle Beasts Points haven’t hit zero yet because each new duel his Points return to normal, except when he intrudes then he starts the duel with 2000 Points, of course considering how many duelists he’s already beaten I don’t think that penalty will hurt him too much unfortunately.
//P.S. to answer your question Eva the rules of Battle Royal allows your Life Points to return to 4000 if you start a new duel, remember the Miami Championships Yuya and Dennis paired up for a duel and by the end of it Yuya’s Points were 200 and Dennis was 2000, but when Yuya faced the Obelisk Force and Dennis faced Zuzu(Yuzu) later both had 4000 Points//
Thanks for pointing that out, I completely forgot that rule, ahahahaha!
WHAT. A. LETDOWN.
I might be among the minority to be bitterly disappointed by this episode. The only good stuffs were Ruri somehow shrugging off Pervasite Fusioner’s grip (which never happened to Rin when she duel Yugo), Sawatari being alive (Phew!) and new Rank 5 Raidraptor (still no RUM searcher and a Rank 12 Raidraptor). I just don’t feel any tension or even “emotional” vibes considering how the duel was poorly executed and hopelessly rushed (Lyrical Luscinias’ swarming might though…). And to the main point of why I disliked this episode: The performance of MUH BIRDIE RURI!!! The writers really love to screw her up as much as possible, it’s really bad that she had VERY FEW lines in the entire show prior to this episode (no thanks to her VA), and her dueling capabilities really bugged me! Ruri could’ve actually WON if Shun didn’t play that Action Card (dear lord, he’s becoming another Yuya) OR used the effect of Pervasite Fusioner to shield Independent Nightingale from Étranger Falcon’s effect (which the “bright” side of Ruri prevented). To add insult to the injury, Ruri actually lost to DAT CERTIFIED LIABILITY SAYAKA??!!! Such twist of her dueling skills from almost beating Shun to being annihilated by Sayaka, seriously this is GODDAMN INCONSISTENT WRITING!!! >:(
And yes, more filler with new Gladiator Beast support next week. I don’t care anymore, just get it done already!!! (I swear, if Yuya succeeded in EGAOing the fuck out of this predicament one more time…)
I too am disappointed with the episode, I didn’t hate it but it was definitely a major letdown. I expected a lot more from it- especially with it being Ruri’s grand duel debut, but instead we got random break always from the fight and little to no tensions at all. It felt flat that’s for sure, especially when we compare it to the likes of Rin VS Yuugo’s fight. This one was just too predictable.
Actually up to this point, I finally realized why Shun has so many duels (even more than the main casts Yuzu, Gongenzaka and Sawatari, not to mention the latter two have been relegated to jobbers) and the Raidraptors so well-developed: YUTO being killed off way too early. I need to admit, the writers did a fantastic job so far by giving Yugo a “separate” storyline in the entire show for NOT letting him officially meeting Yuya (still gutted about his treatment in Friendship Cup though), but the question is: With Yuto hopelessly out of commission, WHO will be the Xyz badass they need no promote? You got the answer: SHUN KUROSAKI! That being said, some are starting to get annoyed by Shun eating up too many important screen-time even after all his character development (just see the sad treatment of Gongenzaka and Sawatari), especially with the Konami scheme to “Sell more Raidraptors” considering they barely have new ideas for Phantom Knights with Yuto out for TOO LONG. (*And I’ll tell you, this is why some extreme Yuto fans (and to an extend, even extreme Serena fans) want Yugo DEAD by Yuto’s (or by Serena’s extreme fans’ perspective, Serena’s) hands even though him losing to Rin hurt more than enough…)
And here comes the main point I totally hate about the current Xyz/Fusion arc: KAITO MOTHERFUCKING TENJO!!!! Damn him all to hell for scoofing up irrelevant screen-time, I mean how many duels did he had already (at the expense of Asuka and EDO, one of my favourite characters in GX), more duels than YUTO in less than 20 episodes?!! Y’know, when Shun was arguing with Kaito about Ruri almost killing him by pushing him off the tower, I kinda hoped that either Shun or Ruri will smack his smug face and throw him off the tower for real, but nope, we need more useless Ciphers! F**k this asshole, ZEXAL Kaito eventually developed into a true hero (and hell to GODDAMN YUMA), but Arc V Kaito… GO AWAY, YOU SUNNUVA BITCH!!!! >:(
Of course, i got another reason to get annoyed by Arc V now: The mistreatment of MUH BIRDIE RURI!!! Out of the 4 bracelet girls, Ruri is definitely my No. 1 because not only she is the prettiest (and hottest), but she is also the most pacifist. Then the absurd writers decided to screw her up as much as they can… first, NOT giving her much speaking line prior to this episode, then by making her losing to F**KING SAYAKA!!!! Just… WHY? Sayaka actually being competent?? Or the 4 bracelet waifus are actually below that useless goddamn Sayaka?!! Also, if they really need to recreate those flashbacks, why don’t they include YUTO considering he’s actually part of the trio?!! It really pissed me off that Yuto’s name was not mentioned even ONCE by Shun when he dueled Ruri, but dat useless Sayaka and dat smug asshole Kaito were mentioned?!!
Oh, and the irrelevant jungle duel still rolls, oh c’mon! Stop giving us pointless fillers and get the story to the main plot please, the show’s about to end soon! Finally, I can guarantee that if Yuya still being stubbornly wanting to “entertain” the enemy and manage to succeed his Egao agenda on much higher annoying levels, then seriously F**K Yuya! >_>
You absolutely hit the nail on the head, the characters of the XYZ Realm have quite a messy disproportion priority. While Yuuto and Ruri (oh the irony) have been sorely neglected, the secondaries and more irrelevant/unimportant characters (AKA AU “featured guests” from previous series) are the ones eating up- leaving Shun to litterally be the only main character from the XYZ to have any sort of character growth and well established backstory to show how far he has come. We hardly know anything about Yuuto and Ruri’s friendship compared to Yuugo and Rin and that’s a real shame because they are important characters too, but haven’t been given the right amount of attention due to the circumstances in which they have been put into.
//Finally, I can guarantee that if Yuya still being stubbornly wanting to “entertain” the enemy and manage to succeed his Egao agenda on much higher annoying levels, then seriously F**K Yuya! >_>//
Given the recent duels and how he has managed to make the twins and Edo flip, I am not going to hold my breath for him not to- but I would LOVE IT if he didn’t because of the type of individual/thing he is dealing with. I think that’s why I subconsciously want Battle Beast to be a bug of a sort, so it becomes something Yuuya HAS TO defeat and simply cannot entertain because it should be considered impossible.
“the secondaries and more irrelevant/unimportant characters (AKA AU “featured guests” from previous series) are the ones eating up”
I don’t have issues with Crow, Jack, Asuka (who needs MORE duels for Ra’s sake) and Edo, but seriously F**K KAITO, when will he fucking die AGAIN?!! Hoping Diana to do the job, that didn’t work, betting on Ruri to do the job, that also didn’t work!!! >:(
Yuya may be the most ineffective Yugioh protagonist ever (YUMA being the most dense and annoying with his “kattobingu” bullshit) because he just couldn’t stop bitching about his and his dad’s Egao agenda whilst neglecting others’ feelings (which makes the pacifying of Synchro Dimension (everyone becoming “friends” so suddenly still bugged me) and the end of War on Xyz Dimension more absurd than you can imagine), and he never admitted that he often did that under WRONG circumstances, especially against the opponents that he really couldn’t persuade (see Obelisk Force). Don’t get me wrong, Yuya’s entertainment duel CAN work but only under the right circumstances, that and he chose the right time to do so.
It’s actually the only time that he’s intruded on a duel thus far. I did think that Lulu being able to break free when Rin couldn’t was a little sketchy, but I suppose we’ll see how much of an effect it had.
I guess we’re supposed to believe in THE POWER OF THE BOND BETWEEN SIBLINGS!!!!!!!
The power of sis-con more likely XD
Considering that the Doctor didn’t seem too disappointed that his mind infection was resisted (in fact, he seemed outright giddy at the new data he collected), I assume he’s going to find a way to improve his control and take Ruri back.
On the one hand, I am a little disappointed that Ruri didn’t win. On the other hand, it would’ve been sad for her brother to lose a third time in a row after his duels with Crow and Kaito (not counting his tag duels with Yuya), and at least they showed that she would’ve won if not for her resisting the infection. On the metaphorical third hand though, I feel bad for Yugo, as we didn’t see any signs of his words reaching Rin, even though, as shown her, it’s clearly possible.
P.S. Since we now know that the girls are aware that they are being controlled, I wonder how Serena feels about being forced to betray the Lancers, or worst yet, how Rin feels about almost killing Yugo and trashing the D-Wheel they made together.
Yes I can see that happening. It would be cool to see Ruri be herself again for a bit only to be taken back under control at the most crucial moment of time.
XD I think a lot of us were sad that Ruri didn’t win, we wanted her to have a spectacular and angst duel like we had seen with Yuugo VS Rin, so is fair to say it was quite an underwhelming. It is hard to say, but I am not sure if ending it as a draw could have left a different impact on us, possibly, but we will never know. It did feel a little too easy how Ruri was capable to take back control when Rin couldn’t.
Selena is probably going to kick some serious ass once she gets her mind back under control, due to how ticked off she will be. I can see Rin doing the same, but will may actually return the hug Yuugo always tries to give her whenever he sees her. That being said, it would be glorious to see all four girls have revenge of a sort.
“I think a lot of us were sad that Ruri didn’t win”
Too true, Shun TECHNICALLY won through cheating… If not for the power of Sibling love (and because Ruri’s “bright” side stopped the “brainwashed” side from using Pervasite Fusioner’s effect), Shun would’ve gone the way of Yugo… except that he would’ve actually been carded. That being said, Shun losing would actually make people question his already questionable dueling record (considering he already lost to Sora (rematch), Crow and DAT INGLORIOUS C**T KAITO).
I’m also wondering that when she was brainwashed, Ruri actually lashed out part of her hidden feelings. “Unable to do anything without her brother around”, I don’t think Ruri is a type of girl who thinks that way. A girl who bravely challenge Yuri even when she’s cornered and the fact she’s joining the Resistance is the proof itself that she doesn’t think of herself as helpless or such.
For Shun saying something like that, I think he’s just being overprotective. I won’t blame him if once Ruri regain her consciousness he will tell her to go back or such because she’s being targeted, but if he’s still saying something like she’s helpless and such, I’m disappointed in him. Worrying is fine and all, but he needs to have more faith in his own sister.
No thanks for the writers who love to screw MUH BIRDIE RURI as much as possible, but for Shun’s case, it’s just an example of sis-con. XD
without spoil to you i will just say you will like this dualist in the next episode you seen hidden in this episode
That first picture just screams tracing material for Shun x OC xD
I don’t really have an opinion on this episode. I don’t know why everyone seems disappointed. Maybe it’s just me being overly positive? I thought most of Ruri’s monsters were really cute, though! Seeing Ruri all curled up reminded me of Judai in s3 of GX… GX just so happens to be my favourite of the series. Still wish Johan made a cameo in Arc-V, that would be awesome!
Hopefully we’ll actually get to know why the Professor needs all these girls and stuff soon…
Ruri has shot right up to second best girl! Selena is still my top girl but depending on if Ruri does some more cool stuff and displays a great personality later on she could still win this.
I identify so much with Ruri being a little sister myself and i absolutely hate those little sister characters who either accept that their elder brothers are always going to be overprotective or just act as a little annoying follower who does nothing for themselves!
I was SOOOO scared that Ruri was going to not mention that or anything! But i was so glad that she brought up how he believes that she’s useless, and that she rebuffed him for it! I would be livid if that was said to me!! So i dont blame her for her reaction.
I’m thinking of her new nickname to be Lyrical Rogue Ruri. What do you guys think?
The cutting away to the lancers in the forest was kind of distracting and really kept cutting the tension of the duel making it not as fun as Rin and Yugo’s duel.
Even though Ruri lost, i’m not as disappointed as i should be. It’s not because we’re shown she COULD’VE won, it’s because she had the will to stop her own corrupted self from winning the duel. Allowing herself to lose and possibly eliminate the parasite controlling her. (dont think its true, but she likely doesnt know that is what i’m assuming). And its this will that made her my second best/possibly first depending how she plays out.
Preview looks really boring… i just want them to be out of that stupid forest already and get on with the plot!
I cant believe i’m saying this since i never disliked the character but i didnt wish to see him desperately… But what’s going on with Yugo? I’m more interested in HIM than Yuya right now! that’s a BAD sign!!
The next episode better be damn amazing to draw me back to the main yutagonist!!! The plus side is that the animation looks pretty good. this weeks looked kind of half assed if i’m honest. Some shots of Ruri looked appalling…
Oh yeah, how does the professor put up with that scientist blabbing on constantly? I mean i would’ve told the twat to shut up AGES ago if he valued having a head!