Wow. That escalated quickly. I will be honest and confess that I never expected so many of the Lancers to fall during event alone, and by none other than one of Academia’s greatest weapon they were forced to keep captive, the one man army: BB, Battle Beast.
And this is going to sound terrible, but: I can’t tell you how happy I was to see Crow get carded. I was literally cheering, “DO IT DO IT DO IT!” and celebrated when it actually happened. The reason why I was so happy and so relieved he was carded because I was seriously becoming concerned about how he and Kaito were possibly going to hog the much needed screen-time that other characters like Sawatari need in order to properly undergo their character growth. But that joy from that was short lived as I realized how very real it was for Gongenzaka to possibly be the next one to fall. Gongezaka is one of the most underrated characters of the series. It saddens me how he hasn’t gotten a whole lot of attention, but I think this episode was a very special one for him to say the least. Both he and Yuuya understood how much danger they were in, and Yuuya having remembered how Gongenzaka cannot use Action Cards because it will disrupt his deck, takes it upon himself to try and protect him both. 
But his efforts were futile as Battle Beast has successfully blocked him, preventing him from ever snatching an Action Card in hopes of either negating an attack or providing them a window of opportunity. With Yuuya being beaten, Gongenzaka- being the honorable man he is selflessly grabs an Action Card for the first time, and takes the damage that would have wiped Yuuya out (who was already down to 100LP). Ultimately Gongenzaka was defeated, but an unexpected hero has now made a return.
And that savior is none other than Jack Atlas.
I suppose this is an interesting transition, to say the least.
Instead of having two 5DS characters participating in the battle against Academia, they basically substituted one out for another. And as result, it only brings back the concern I was worried about to begin with. I don’t know how much screen-time Jack will take up now that he is in the picture, but all I can hope is that it won’t be too much. However I must admit, by choosing Jack to be the last glimmer of hope to defeat the Battle Beast is quite fitting. He the King must now slay the beast, who uses a Gladiator Deck. And I must make another confession: I am actually quite excited for it.
It was gratifying to see the writers allow Yuuya’s mindset to be focused on survival and not entertainment. It was certainly have not been appropriate to see Yuuya start performing as if nothing bad had happened when Crow was carded right before his eyes, and now Gongenzaka who is just a breath away from the same happening to him. I also liked the fact both Yuuya and Gongenzaka had struggled immensely. The writers did a great job at making Battle Beast a very real threat, where for once you are worried about the Protagonist and their allies. 
These are the kinds of fights we need to see in this arc, especially given the nature of Academia as whole. One cannot expect Yuuya to skip through and simply win by entertainment alone. Now more than ever, it is about survival and this is will highlight everything Yuuya’s maturity, what he has learned, adapted to, for the sake of living another day. Based on the preview, it appears Yuuya will find himself standing at a crossroad once more and must decide how he should proceed from this point forward. It was be interesting to see how Yuuya will respond to the way Jack duels, because Jack will not be performing to entertain in front of an audience, but as a King to defeat a monster who has taken the ‘life’ of his friend.
As for Sawatari, this guy must have seven lives because the number of times he has either escaped or been saved from an ugly situation. Crow forced him to forfeit from the duel by damaging his duel disk in the process so that Battle Beast would not be able to pursue after him. He knew Sawatari was not strong enough to survive, and he also knew he had a very slim chance of coming out victorious as well. As result of this event, I sincerely hope this will be the turning point for Sawatari’s character. He hasn’t changed all that much, maybe he’s not acting as spoiled and bringing up his father as much as he used to, but Sawatari’s character is lacking the development that is supposed to come out from what he has experienced while in the Synchro Realm and now the Fusion Realm. With Crow sacrificing himself to save him, and witnessing how Gongenzaka and Yuuya were both looking out for one another, I would like to see Sawatari start learning how to be selfless to others instead of being the ignorant egomanic he has been since day one. The question now however, with his duel disk damaged- will he even be able to participate in future duels, or will he be stuck on the sidelines helplessly watching the battle play out? I sure hope not, that would be quite a bummer.
After watching the episode, I will say that to me it was kinda good with how much of a risk there was as well as kinds of consequences that can come out of it. My only problem to me, was that this kind of concept or these kinds of ideas would have been much better if they had been shown much sooner than later. Plus in my opinion, BB’s role/position with would be much better suited for Yuri due to the fact that we knew him a lot more and way before introducing this new guy and it would give more complexity to both Yuya/Yuri’s character a lot better. Yuri would indeed to be known to card anyone from left – right either out of annoyance, people getting in his way or just for fun, something that’s a complete polar opposite to Yuya. Also, it’s nice to see Gongenzaka and Sawatari’s character to be getting a little bit of development but I only wished it came much more soon especially with the way they were treated back in XYZ arc.
When it came to Crow’s sacrifice/carding, I did indeed felt bad for him however his execution of breaking Sawatari’s duel disk to me comes off as incredibly stupid or something that could bite Sawatari in the ass much later in the upcoming events(or if they replace his duel disk with any one they come across). My other major problem but it will probably be resolved for later would be how in the world did Jack come out of nowhere?
Overall, I know that using Legacy characters is good(as well as expected for an anniversary series) and brings a lot of things to both old/new fans once done right(even though the execution of Edo’s and Asuka’s wasn’t done too well in Xyz arc). I just think that Crow and Jack overstayed their welcome once the Synchro arc was over and believe there’s much better opportunities towards more original Arc-V characters in said arcs like Tokumatsu(A character who was more likeable despite his appearance and his debut episodes weren’t that great. Plus he helped the Lancer earlier both in the jail-break as well as during the raid) and Shinji (even if he gave a conflicted impression but could possibly give more character development to deal with him since the issues with Tops/Commons were done).
There better be a god damn good explanation how Jack suddenly entered this realm, as well as his reason for it. Why would he suddenly appear now? If they don’t provide a good reason then it’s just going to look like desperation on the writers’ part to have him included- when he is not the main character in this series. This duel against BB could have been anyone’s special duel, and honestly I would have liked it if it were Gongenzaka’s chance to truly shine.
Yes what will happen to Sawatari’s duel disk is a concern of mine as well. Will he even be able to participate in future duels, or will he be stuck on the sidelines helplessly watching the battle play out? I sure hope not, that would be quite a bummer and it leaves him exposed and vulnerable, and becomes useless baggage for the rest of the crew.
WRITERS, LET SAWATARI UNDERGO HIS CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT DAMNIT
Sawatari for all tons and purposes always played the role of not only an egotistical dumbass but also has the “lovable loser”(at least in my opinion) who is suppose to change for now on ever since Crow’s sacrifice but comes off as a really dumb move with questionable execution. Gongenzaka we already knew as Yuya’s best friend and a good friend with Yuzu(who is being just as restrained as the others at this point in favor of Nostalgia and giving Yuya too much focus) but kept getting sadly roped with Sawatari with very little development especially with XYZ arc and them being a not so good team, that alone gave a lot of opportunities for the better but nope we have to rush it as quickly as possible for the next arc because hardcore 5D’s/Synchro fans wanted a remake of the motorcycle riding series. One of the sad things is the Lancers as much as they call themselves a team are not a team as a whole with their constant separation, very little interaction, very minuscule conflict between said rivals of Yuya/Reiji(VA issues over the time) and much more. Now when they are seen together it’s not really that meaningful.
The problem is overall in this series since Synchro mid 2015 there have a lot of missed opportunities of things that could have been better but was largely downplayed due to too many “behind the scenes actions(most the original writers that started the series left at the time, replacing them with new ones and the main writer barely did anything in Synchro until the 3rd act of it and because of that did the majority of the Xyz arc”. In sort they are adding to many new characters with less time working on the character we know right now as well as trying to re-trend all the past series within said dimension because “anniversary series”. As much as I still love the characters and Arc-V in general the ideas/execution of it now to me is becoming too damn depressing, to which I now know what it’s like to feel like Yuya.
“There better be a god damn good explanation how Jack suddenly entered this realm, as well as his reason for it. Why would he suddenly appear now?”
It’s all part of Reiji’s glorious keikaku to let the Avatar of Synchro to bust in during the last minute :p
“WRITERS, LET SAWATARI UNDERGO HIS CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT DAMNIT”
Don’t worry, the swagmaster actually just achieved that through NOT dueling. And THIS is exactly why I would love to have him duel against YURI, not only to complete his run of dueling all 4 Yutagonists (and LOSE all those duels >_>) but to give Yuri and his Predator Plants a horrid run by his Abyss Actors before he (maybe) went out in a blaze of glory. And don’t forget the Sawatari X Serena ship is still possible! 😀
Well, I’m beyond furious that Crow was carded so early – this was not the end that he deserved! On the plus side, he went out like a badass and gave Sylvio some depth. Joey would be proud. Plus, more Jack action. The King is in the house!
Dammit, I both hate and love the Battle Beast now.
If it weren’t for another theory that I have, I’m surprised that Yuya hasn’t gone Awakened.
“Number”, not “amount” (pet peeve, sorry).
😉 Make the correction, thanks for pointing it out.
Man….Gongenzaka sure got shafted by the plot this episode lol. He actually could have done A LOT more and possibly won if he used Coral and Jade’s pendulum effects to Sync Shutendoji instead of his new LV7. That would have blown up BB’s backrow, letting him destroy his monster and attack again thanks to Coral. But hey, plot~ (and I guess they needed a reason to showcase a lv 7 Synchro for him).
At least the animation was beautiful this episode~
=3= I wish this could have been Gongenzaka’s special dual, and his to win. That would have been awesome.
Uhh, I used to think about that, but scratch that, all three monsters that he Pendulum summoned were at a total Level of 7, and Shutendoji is LV6. Also, Jade’s Pendulum effect is to INCREASE one Level of the Superheavies, so that theory was just thrown out.
you realize he could have just increased the level of his level 3 to 4, then used his tuner? 2+4 =6. He didn’t need to summon SoulFire/Suit. So no, the theory was not “just thrown out”
The dude overextended. Hell, SoulFire would have been better in his hand or if he attacked with it along with Shutendoji it would have brought BB down to 700.
You know what? Scratch that. Gong could have full out won. With BB taking damage from odd eyes his life is at 2600. His next GB was summoned in defense. Note I’m using the cards anime effects (and even with anime effects Gong could have won with the cards he had): Pendulum summons his 3 monsters. Use’s Jade’s effect to make Prep Defense into a level 4. Tune Prep with Battle Ball. Make Shutendoji. Blow up the backcrow (looking at the backcrow it would have been safe as neither activates when destroyed). Shutendoji destroys his monster. Gong destroys Coral to let Shutendoji attack again for 2500. BB is at 100. Gong attacks with SoulFire, reducing him to 0…..so yeah….I’ll say it again the theory (which is now fact than theory) is still there. As you can tell I’m a little ticked due to the fact that you debunked what I said when the evidence was clearly there.
…You win. 😉
this episode was great. i expected BB to be great but i enjoyed his dual very much he is real threat and played smart with the gladiator beasts. and if he will hold on against jack more then one episode then i will call him the best dueler in academia so far
What a plot-twist it would be if not even Jack could defeat him. LOL. The only person who has recently defeated Jack is Yuuya, but Yuuya wasn’t doing so well. LOLZ, if it happens it might just trigger the Beserker within him- hahahaha, man what a shitstorm that would be.
I’m still mad that Jack lost, Yuya only won because of those ass-pull Action Cards, in a fair match he would’ve been blown away like the rest of the Duel Chasers.
NO NOT CROW TO FIRST DENNIS, THEN MOON SHADOW(TSUKIKAGE), NOW CROW, WHY!
What really hurts is that both Moon Shadow(Tsukikage) and Crow were beaten by a one of character, I mean in GX and Zexal when character started dying(or doing what was equivalent to that in the series) every episode or two, they at least got taken out by villains that we had all ready been introduced and we had seen a good number times, also there duels lasted at least two episodes to show off all of the dying characters skills and give them there dues and a proper send off. Although the BB is impressive, I mean the Youtuber Clueless Gamers may be right in his review when he said the BB may be the strongest one off character who ever lived in Yugioh history. I mean think about he’s beat several powerful duelists Moon Shadow(Tsukikage), Crow and Gong, if he beats Jack the 2nd strongest duelist from 5Ds as well then I’ll have to admit he is the strongest one off character. You know it’s kind of funny Crow just died here but he will be making his first appears in the English Dub when Episode 56 airs this Saturday, I can’t wait.
But now a memorial service for Crow. Just imagine Yugioh Zexal’s 6th ending Challenge the Game playing in the background.
Here are the images and clips I would chose in dedication to Crow
The first image would be when Crow saved Yuya and the others in episode 56.
The second image would be when Crow flew is Duel runner over the bridge in episode 88.
The third image would be when Crow faced off against Shinji and all his supporters in episode 95.
The first clip would be when Crow Syncro Summing from the Graveyard, in his duel with Shay(Shun) in episode 82.
The second clip would be when Crow and Shay(Shun) became friends at the end of episode 82.
The third clip would be when Crow had his Blackwing attack Yuya’s Odd-Eyes Rebellion in episode 88.
The last clip would be when Crow attack Silvio(Shingo) in this episode number 120.
The last image would be when Crow is about to get carded by the BB but is smiling in this episode number 120, this image would turn gray to symbolism Crow’s demise.
“I can’t tell you how happy I was to see Crow get carded. I was literally cheering, “DO IT DO IT DO IT!” and celebrated when it actually happened.”
SHADDUP EVA YOU INGLORIOUS BITCH!!!! DON’T MAKE ME MOURN FOR HIS DEMISE FOR THE 1000TH TIME IN ONE WEEK!!! T_T
“The writers did a great job at making Battle Beast a very real threat”
Well Gladiators Beasts used to wreck havoc back in 2008-2009, until it was OUTMATCHED by Blackfeathers. Ironically that was back when GX had finished and 5D’s just started its 2nd season. In other words, this victory over Crow is actually a kind of revenge.
“It was be interesting to see how Yuuya will respond to the way Jack duels, because Jack will not be performing to entertain in front of an audience, but as a King to defeat a monster who has taken the ‘life’ of his friend.”
First, Jack is not the really “close” friend like he once was to Crow in 5D’s, I think he just wants revenge because he’s salty at two Synchro users being wrecked by dat Battle Beast, who used a CONTACT FUSION archetype. Second, everyone should still brace for the circus of Pendulums Yuya might conjure because his MAIN solution is to use Smile World and end the war with HIS entertainment style. Hell I’m betting he might even go as far as to tell Jack to STFU and do his usual “entertainment” shenanigans and the entire Academia will be “pacified”. :p
Anyways, RIP Crow Hogan 2008-2016. Thank you for delivering us the fabulous Blackfeather archetype. T_T
• A reminder that Tsukikage sacrificed himself to shield his fellow Lancers from a savage beast. T_T
• Umm… What just happened? Were those Academia scrubs carded at the speed of light without being given a chance to duel because Crow & Sawatari look pretty lost.
• Necalli is confirmed to be the “Battle Beast”.
• I don’t know why Gongenzaka & Yuya don’t just summon monsters to scope out the place like they previously have in this show. And yes, all five of the Academia “Elites” ended up being fodders. :p
• Crow is just looking at Sawatari like “DUDE, SHUT THE FUCK UP!”
• CROW HAS FINALLY SNAPPED! HE’S HAD ENOUGH OF YOUR BULLSHIT, SAWATARI!
• Sawatari’s actually going to do someth-LOL NOPE!
• So Crow did that intentionally to spare Sawatari from further duels, but I don’t know how Crow planned that out since there was no guarantee that Sawatari was going to put his arm up to block.
• How the hell did the Battle Beast launch random attacks with his silhouette Gladiator Beasts?
• What? Crow’s LP is 0… But Battle Beast is still alive… NONONONO, DON’T TELL ME THAT…!!!!
• NONONONONONONONONONNONONONONONONONO!!!! CROW!!!!!
• CROOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWW!!!!!
• RIP Crow… You were the hero we needed and deserved… And an amazing Bird Bro… You didn’t deserve to die like this… #CrowForLancers2016 TT_TT
• This also means that Shun has officially lost his other half… #CrowShunBirdBrosForever T_T
• GET LOST YOU BATTLE BASTARD!!!! DON’T YOU DARE STEP ONTO BIRD JESUS!!!! >:(
• Sawatari actually protected Crow’s card from being stomped by that Battle Bastard and is now crying over Crow’s demise? Whoa, didn’t expect him to have such a side of his smug personality.
• Yuya… Gongenzaka… FUCK!!! HIM!!! UP!!! >:(
• The Devour Hour has begun!
• Gladiator Beasts… Time to party like those good old days in 2008-2009.
• As pissed as I am at Battle Beast here… I’m actually glad we’re seeing Gladiator Beasts in the anime. I was wondering when they were going to introduce a proper Contact Fusion archetype in the Fusion Dimension, though I thought it was going be from Leo first.
• …WHAT? A Trap that would literally make you LOSE on other circumstances…?
• Really Yuya? You have an extra three cards in your hand. Nothing to set? What a lame first move.
• AW YEAH! It’s finally time for THE MAN GONGENZAKA to do shit!
• SYNCHRO SHOKAN!! LEVEL 7!! SUPERHEAVY SAMURAI SHINOBIASHI!!
• That direct attack effect is pretty sweet, but it would be much better if Gongenzaka Synchro summoned Shutendoji and nuke the backrow of that Battle Beast to wipe off that smug look of his face.
• Like I said, even if he ends up getting blown up, I’m still happy to see THE MAN finally doing shit.
• Contact Fusion Hype!
• FUSION SHOKAN!! LEVEL 8!! GLADIATOR BEAST ANDABATAE!!!
• DAT POLICE THUMB!! INCOMING POLICE BRUTALITY?!!
• Something tells me that card is going to lead to the Battle Beast’s… Or Yuya & Gongenzaka’s defeat.
• I love Gongenzaka, but when ACTION CARDS ARE USED his deck quickly becomes useless.
• HOW THE FUCK CAN BATTLE BEAST TELEPORT?!!
• OH HEY LOOK, what a convenient Action Card that can only be useful in THIS situation.
• Another Contact Fusion in one turn… And THE MAN Gongenzaka was fucked by police brutality… :p
• THE MAN GONGENZAKA! BREAKING YOUR STEADFAST STYLE AND CRIPPLING YOUR DECK TO SAVE YUYA! WHAT A BRO! YOU ARE THE HERO WE NEED AND DESERVE!
• Sawatari ironically gets A LOT of character development in this episode through NOT dueling.
• THE MAN GONGENZAKA! YOU ARE THE ULTIMATE BRO! Please don’t get carded… ;_;
• NONONONONONONO!!!! GODDAMN WRITERS, DON’T YOU DARE MAKE US MOURN FOR THE PASSING OF TWO LANCERS IN ONE EPISODE!!!!
• Wait… WHAT?!! Is that Wheel of Fortune?!! COULD IT BE??!!
• ZA KINGU TO THE RESCUE!!! ROYAL CURB-STOMP TIME!!! 😀
NEXT EPISODE
Za Kingu returns to avenge Bird Jesus and Synchros show their Contact Fusion Granddaddy who’s the boss.
I don’t really remember gongs deck can someone tell my why he can’t use action cards?
Most of his cards cannot activate their effects if he has traps/spells in his graveyard (action cards counts as spells sent to the graveyard)
Superheavy Samurais need ZERO Spells & Traps to work, so playing Action Cards will instantly cripple his deck.
Because Gong’s deck consist entirely of effect monsters and most of them can only activate there effects if Gong has no spells or traps in his graveyard, so if he ever grabbed and used an action card after activating it the card would be sent to his grave, there by making a good chunk of his monsters unable to uses there effects. In fact it was that very reason he and Silvio lost there tag duel off screen against the Tyler Sisters back in episode 108, since the sisters rules for tag duels involved a shared graveyard so since Silvio like most duelist plays with spells and traps, and like the other Lancers likes to uses Action Cards that effectively made over half of Gong’s deck useless.
I was more surprised with this episode than i was expecting. I expected another pointless filler duel that would lead to nowhere. and instead i got a climactic and heart-racing episode. I am seriously scared for Yuya, i was feeling super sorry for Shingo! The first time that EVER happened considering my irritation for the character who cant keep his goddamn mouth shut sometimes. I relish the scenes when he isnt talking for the most part…
It was really cool to see the trust and sacrifice Gongenzaka and Yuya show one another. And Gongenzaka truly is the bro of all bros. He really is underappreciated Eva 🙂
Obviously i squealed for joy when Jack appeared! I was like ‘THE KING IS IN THE HOUSE!’ but now i kind of wonder if he’s going to be a dick to Yuya again next episode… see i have a love/hate relationship with Jack,on one hand i love his duelling style and how badass he is along with how i get his good intentions. However, the way he expresses his feelings kind of leave a little to be desired and come off as a bit of an asshole sometimes.
I too liked how Yuya didnt put on his entertainment mask on. He saw that there was a time and place for it. and this was survival! 😉
Jack is going to avenge Crow, so it’s obvious that he won’t bother to hear any of Yuya’s entertainment crap. And I swear, if Yuya still stubbornly insists of Egaoing the fuck out of Academia with those dancing hippos and those Pendulums created out of nowhere…
I’m so pissed that Crow got carded by that fucking bitch. Thanks for the memories. RIP Crow 2008-2016
Y’know, I actually preferred SHUN over Jack to avenge Crow considering that they’re fellow Bird Bros and Shun already had his antagonistic stance against Academia’s atrocities. If Shun ever find out that Crow was carded the Academia will be SOOO DEEAADDD. >:)
Gong’s monsters’ effects rely on having no spell or trap cards in his graveyards. Action cards are spell cards, so having one in his deck means he can’t activate them.