Decided to try out the Crunchyroll subs coughthroughothermeanscough but hey im paying for the premium service already, so don’t judge me and I am pretty impressed with it.
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Raise of hands if you were disappointed that Yuusaku didn’t run away.
Ahhhh~, I really wanted him to runaway. It would’ve been a great way to make people lose interest in him, but I knew deep in my heart it wasn’t likely to happen. It could have been amazing, but this is Yu-Gi-Oh after-all. There’s a duelist’s pride on the line here. The bright side though, Ignis and Yuusaku’s interactions managed to entertain me a bit, but most importantly I actually like the fact Yuusaku seems to be more well versed about duels in general, and doesn’t need to rely on Ignis for any support (who has also proven is not necessarily the brightest when it comes to the actual strategy) and ironically, was the one ordering him to stop panicking. This is great because it creates a distinction from the previous series that had similar character dynamics such as Yugi and Yami (YGO DM), and Astral and Yuuma (YGO Zexal). Another thing worth mentioning is how we are definitely starting to see just how many layer Yuusaku has, and it does make me more interested of how he came to be this way, and how he is going grow in the future.
Speaking of the devil, we got to see what kind of pride Yuusaku has as a duelist. He wasn’t happy about winning, but rather he was indifferent about it. But what’s more intriguing to me was how he revealed he was enjoying himself so much, he actually wanted to duel Onizuka a bit longer. This gives us a better understanding of what he meant when he said, “Win or lose, there are some duels you want to keep doing forever”. Now the main reason why this is so interesting is because it contradicts his mentality we were introduced to in the first episode. We were told he doesn’t duel because it’s fun, but because he has to in order to accomplish his mission. Now this new side of him can be perceived in a number of ways. Yuusaku is focused at the task at hand, but even if he’s dragged into a duel, one he has his pride and he isn’t simply going to runaway because it’s convenient, (unless he REALLY doesn’t want to deal with it – which I suspect we will see at some point in the future since Kusanagi’s hacker skill has been established, so it can be used when necessary), two: if he finds himself enjoying the duel (especially when it’s not one that involves life or death for an exchange), he will take the opportunity to roll with it. And three: Yuusaku is someone who shows respect to those who sticks their play-style, regardless of it being unpopular or claimed as out-dated.
Another highlight that turned out to be good news was how it seems Yuusaku requires to enter the DATA STORM to summon his new ace monster he had obtain from it in the first place. Initially I was worried perhaps this was going to turn into a routine where he would obtain new cards, but thankfully it turned out to be Decode Talker he had already pulled out from his first encounter.
But what I think is the most important thing to take away from this episode is how Yuusaku would rather fight alone. Kusanagi suggested perhaps they should try recruiting Onizuka to join their group since it’s only going to get harder from here, but Yuusaku rejected the idea. He doesn’t want to get him involved because this sort of battle requires putting your life on the line, one mistake and it could result a certain death.
Finally, considering how the duel was last week, I was not surprised whatsoever to see it only grow duller by the minute in today’s episode. One of main reasons for that was, goodness… we had to sit through the tedious Link Summoning scene FOUR TIMES times in a row. And let’s be real here, the set up for Link Summon takes way too long! They really need to figure out a way to shorten the whole process because this downright ridiculous. This episode made it so difficult for me to pay attention, because while Yuusaku is summoning for the millionth time, I started doing my nails. It’s a bad habit of mine that always happens when I lose interest in what’s happening on screen. That’s how bad this episode was. And frankly speaking, the fact this already a problem as early as episode 4 and 5, is quite concerning. I sincerely hope that starting next week, they find momentum and make the duels interesting, because right now, they are anything but entertaining (which is especially bad when Onizuka is supposed to be an entertainment duelist).
Oh, and I am sure I was not the only one who was not convinced or moved whatsoever to see the kids saw the light how despite his loss, Onizuka is still the coolest. No. Stop it. I refuse to believe someone didn’t bribe them with candy to tell him that.
Next week Aoi, the Blue Angel will finally step into the scene! Okay, I know, I KNOW SO DAMN WELL that I should keep my expectations in check, but… I don’t know what to do guys, I am already excited to see her face Playmaker. That being said though, based on the preview, I am under the impression she is Zaizen’s (ah crap, I thought that was his first name, gonna have to adjust it next week) sister by the look of it… has a brother complex, whelp. Wonder how that is gonna turn out. She is really cute though, I like how ordinary she looks.
Random Note of the Week: It looks like they have SIRI installed in their duel-disks.
+ ALSO BITRON IS SO CUTE!
eva look at aoi as blue angel face at the end of the preview. it looks like she has lot of determation to win and be reconized by her brother and prove her worth to him. also if you consider her deck i think she will put up a good fight
Next time, control your inner fangirl before writing a Yugioh article, Eva… =_=”
Now onto this infuriatingly bad episode, I’m going to summarize it up in THREE points (Yusaku’s trending catchphrase):
1. Should’ve pointed this out in episode 2, but the Link Summoning animation was absolutely slow & atrocious. Given how Fusion (thanks to Arc V), Synchro, Xyz and Pendulum Summonings all have their unique, colourful aesthetics, it’s painfully easy to notice how BLAND and repetitive Link Summon animation is given that we’re INTO THE VRAINS era where the animation is supposed to be digitized and lively. I’ll be straight here: I already hated Links for shafting other Extra Deck methods and Pendulums because Komoney needs to sell Links, so seeing Yusaku spamming Links like no tomorrow was a direct kick to the gut especially when you can’t even spam more than one Synchros anymore unless Link Monster(s) grant you permission (a.k.a their Markers are generous enough to point at you Main Monster Zones).
2. What’s with Go’s mood swinging? One episode ago he was so hell-bent on taking down Yusaku and now he accepted his loss fair and square? Not to mention there’s still no aura of “charisma” emitting from him and any feel of his “entertainment” was some stupid wresting moves on a ring which seriously ticked me off. Even the audience and the orphaned children were fucking hypocrites for swinging their support INSTANTLY back to Go after he cornered the Playmaker. I almost lost my temper seeing those children crawling back to supporting Go at the end even when they’ve been cheering for the Playmaker for 99% of this duel. This is going to sound cruel, but hopefully these despicable, hypocritical little shits will die in a fire in future episodes, PLEASE MAKE IT HAPPEN.
3. Gotta make this short: My tolerance for Data Storms and the “Skills” is wearing thin…
“I don’t know what to do guys, I am already excited to see her face Playmaker.”
One more time, control your inner fangirl Eva. =_=”
I was not fangirling by the slightest. I was bored out of my mind! It was a shitty episode.
I do wanna talk about this episode, because I liked it, but more than anything I’m just so excited to see Aoi (who I have already totally fallen in love with) appear next episode so we can learn about her character. If she’s anything like I think, I’m excited for it, especially because she seems to have a sort of two-faced thing going on with her depressed state in person and her idol appearance in Link VRAINS. I’m also curious to see why she’s dependant on Akira so much.
As for this episode, I was honestly hoping for Yusaku to contact Kusanagi and at the very least have him cut the cameras on the duel or something so that they wouldn’t see him win, but I guess hoping for something that unexpected to happen early-series during setup of the show was a bit much.
Yusaku’s character development this week was great though. For one, we learned that he doesn’t hate dueling. In fact, he can enjoy it a lot, just without openly showing it. So it’s not just his pride keeping him in the duel, there is a legitimate enjoyment there. We also learned that he is somewhat noble, if only enough to keep Onizuka out of undue harm. He dueled and became friends with Go, so he didn’t want to subject him to harm, even if that would make the fight harder in the future. Kusanagi on the other hand seemed to not consider this potential harm, or at least not think about it too much. I don’t think this means Kusanagi is a bad dude, but it’s interesting that of the two of them it was Yusaku who wanted to keep Go safe from the upcoming fight.
I was glad to see Go get a happy seeing off at the end of this episode. I was waiting for the kids to say “we’re sorry we cheered for Playmaker at first” or something, but I’m still happy seeing them give him the praise he wanted, because I’d say he seems like a good dude and pretty much deserves it. Hopefully we’ll see more of him, he reminds me somewhat of the way Crow was in 5Ds.
Final side-note, HOLY SHIT YUSAKU CHILL OUT WITH ALL THE LINK SUMMONS.
You are absolutely right: Why didn’t they have Kusanagi at least cut spectator mode? (I would imagine that’s the set-up) OR at least attempt it? Surely he would’ve been able to hack that too in order to enable himself to see what’s going on as oppose to the public.
And seriously, who the hell thought it was a great idea to make Link Summons SO FREAKING LONG!!??!?! The whole process is a freaking mouthful, there’s GOTTA be a more efficient way to do this, also – it is honestly too much. Takes up too much time and if they don’t figure something out, I’m going to lose interest in this series pretty fast.
This episode’s probably Konami saying “See? Who said the new rule cripples Extra Deck summon? Yuusaku just summoned a bunch of Extra Deck monsters in one turn! It’s awesome BUY LINK MONSTERS NOW!!!”
And get a room, Onizuka’s manager and orphanage lady. You’re starting to creep me out.
“See? Who said the new rule cripples Extra Deck summon? Yuusaku just summoned a bunch of Extra Deck monsters in one turn! It’s awesome BUY LINK MONSTERS NOW!!!”
Glad to see some people finally realized how Links were Komoney’s greedy decision and pure business strategy to shaft other summoning methods just to promote Links. It DOESN’T slow down the game at all, instead it is the ultimate middle finger to the players who relied on their Extra Decks as they got severely shafted to the point they can’t even spam their monsters without gaining permission from Links. Given that the game barely functions without Links now (unless you’re playing Rituals or just a main deck player), Komoney is eager to make most Links super generic so they’re splashable enough to accommodate old decks (Ha!) or super specific to force you to buy the new Link archetypes, which would kill older decks even more and lower the diversity of the game even further. Putting the whole Links bullshit aside temporarily, the current Komoney has very bad card designers. They keep making broken stuff (Toadally Cancer) and unbalanced cards (Dimensional Barrier) that just completely stop players from playing the game. Cards are no longer made to unlock new strategies but to become playable by being extremely broken. There’s no sense of equal cost or sacrifice to do the most broken shit, and everything coming out of the VRAINS era seems to make that even worse (beyond the problems of Links themselves). The TCG also handles the banlists VERY poorly by not making them reactive or timely in the same way Upper Deck used to and hitting the WRONG things.
Now I’m going to bring out to the full details on how Links screwed the game:
1. 90% of all decks are destroyed by the new Master Rules. Most decks since the GX era use the Extra Deck to some degree and now they are rendered completely useless because most of their combos no longer work. The ones that escape unscathed are Rituals or those who relied on their main decks primarily.
2. Link Monsters aren’t a new way to play the game, but a way to get permission to do some of what we’ve been able to do just fine without them. They don’t enhance the game, they brick it. Furthermore their summoning condition makes the game much faster, as opposed to everyone who lied to themselves that they would slow down the game. Even more insulting is that Komoney is advertising this permission like we couldn’t do this before.
3. Turn 1 Link Locks through Extra Link are definitely going to become a thing further killing game balance. They already are in test builds that have shown up with 5 Link monsters. When Upwards Diagonal Links eventually appear, the game is going to be pretty much done as you’ve now locked the opponent out of the remaining Extra Monster Zone with 3 Links. With some of the absurd protection and effects of cards that have been coming out since the start of the VRAINS era, that’s going to lead to even more absurd unbreakable boards they can’t break out of.
4. Link Monsters are MANDATORY. If you’re not using them, you’re screwing yourself. You need Link Monsters to do any combos with your Extra Deck and main deck types will eventually have to contend with an opponent that can now summon 7 monsters to their 5. In either case, you’re punished in some way for not using Links.
5. Given how Arc V is STILL notoriously received in Japan and (perhaps) worldwide, Pendulums get screwed the hardest. That’s self-explanatory at this point, but there’s nothing like having a new summoning method focused on for the past few years only to have it disrespectfully neutered like that. I bet Komoney is doing that on purpose because Yuya himself is actually very hated by 90% of Yugioh fandom (I’m part of it too), but this is still absurd.
6. This all kills playstyle diversity that has been a huge boon to the Arc-V era. At a time when Main Deck, Fusions, Synchros, Xyzs, Rituals, and Pendulums can more or less stand on equal ground, giving players a lot of freedom, this suddenly just kills most of them.
7. Overall, this is all a greedy gimmick to brick everyone playing the game and forcing them to buy new cards. People have argued that this is what Komoney does every generation, but that argument is invalid because it’s blatantly obvious that Komoney will choose to brick the entire game for sales and making new rules & cards that just replace the old ones. At no point in this game outside the banlist have players ever been forced to abandon old decks or be unable to use cards no matter how many better cards came out. The new Master Rules effectively makes many decks unplayable as they can’t afford the extra resources to make Links and the few decks that can will only survive at half power of what they were before.
This episode was OK. I’m really liking Yusaku so far, but I’m not a huge fan of Go and I was tempted to skip past the duel, which says a lot. They need to cut down on the link summoning animation, and try do add a bit of intensity/fun into these duels. Hopefully things pick up again next week with Aoi and her inevitable duel with Yusaku
Is Akira Zaizen more like Godwin or Jean-Michel Roget?
Too soon to say at this point. XD But as far as I can remember, Godwin was certainly not as bonkers as Rogers LOL!