Well that escalated quickly. I’m just, stunned by how horrifying the Hanoi Knights are. Like man, they literally broke Blue Angel, she lost her wings, herself and everything. With the corrupted card, she was forced to submit to Revolver, who proceed to possess her in attempt to kill Playmaker – and my god, she was in so much pain too, she was crying. The Hanoi Knights are freaking monsters, and this Revolver dude, well uhhhhh yeah, he has turned out to be a pretty messed up guy. Kind of worrying to think he and Yuusaku may have known each other in the past. Hell, it would only end up to be tragic if it turns out that creepy dude is actually the one pulling all the things and is actually controller Revolver. Yeah that… that would be pretty messed up.
Personally, I expected this to happen. By that I mean, the way the battle was playing out, yes I came to realize and accept that Aoi was likely to be in a coma for while. However, I expect her to be back up on her feet again in the near future because we all know that Yuusaku won’t be able to fight Hanoi Knights alone. He is going to need all the help he can get.
And there’s more, when Aoi wakes up, you can bet your damn dollar that Akira is going to be fierce over-protective bear. He will absolutely do everything in his power to prevent her from ever stepping back into VRAINS, let alone, potentially duel. This can definitely offer an interesting opportunity for Aoi, should she be determined to resume dueling, I can see Aoi potentially picking up the classic physical deck, because I can’t imagine her being able to use the AI Duel Disk that SOL Technologies produce, because she’ll probably be locked out or banned from accessing it altogether. I also feel this event will trigger the desire to seek revenge against Hanoi Knights, which may later result her seeking out Playmaker to form an alliance. However the other thing that sticks in my mind is whether or not the Hanoi Knight continue to reign control over her even in her coma state, or simply used her for this one occasion and have already cast her aside.
This event set the heavy tone of the series that I have been craving for. We have an enemy that is downright terrifying. Just thinking of them going around, exploiting people like they did with Blue Angel, and how they can mess them up and potentially kill them while doing so, like – what the actual f*!&@? These guys are psychos. This also sheds some light on SOL Technologies as presently the… lesser evil. I say that because while we now know that Akira only had good intentions in mind for protecting his dear sister Aoi, the folks he is working with are pretty darn shady themselves. I mean they only appear as chess pieces for crying out loud. So Sol Technologies could also be problematic, but there is one thing for certain for a start: It looks like we won’t have an evil security head, which has been so over-used throughout the past series. I’m so done with that trope. Zaizen Akira, head of SOL Technologies is a guy who worked hard for the sake of his sister Aoi, after they had lost their parents to a car accident. He all he wants is to ensure her safety and a happy life.
And boy the Hanoi Knights sure shattered that dream. Akira was rendered powerless because even though he had tried to forcefully end the duel, they encountered a system error preventing them from doing so. I felt sad for Akira because he was willing to take all responsibility for intervening all for the sake of his sister. This shows us how if he sees Aoi in danger, regardless of her being Blue Angel on the field, he will do anything to save her. And that, is reassuring in itself to know he is not a heartless asshole, but just has a shitty way of expressing himself.
Needless to say, despite the grim outcome of this hyped up battle, it was very fun to watch. Aoi’s Trickstar deck is epic, I love it. The endless poke, personally I love that style. I also felt they may have sped up the process of the Link Summon procedures, I am going to have to go back to run a timer in comparison. I am curious to find out if the pace of the duel combined with the entertainment value is really what made time seem to flow faster. I also really liked seeing the little things, like Aoi taking the time to read her opponent’s card effect, because a lot of the times we don’t see characters do that, and it just shows how Aoi is a smart duelist. If she isn’t familiar or doesn’t know something, she is going to double-check it (also proves how this must be a feature in th AI Dueldisks, so it’s nice to see them utilize it.)
Also, this is probably a little underrated, but can we can a moment to appreciate Yuusaku not pulling a Heroic attempt of trying to dissuade or keep Aoi conscious/succumbing to Hanoi Knights corruption? He didn’t do anything. No motivation speech, nothing- and maybe even if he had, it would’ve been futile. He just focused on defeating her. But it was interesting how like Ignis, he could even sense the Hanoi Card in her hand.
Yuusaku also pulled out a new monster that kind of threw me off. I am still trying to process it because of the way it was executed because I don’t know. Something about the way they went about it just confuses me. Okay, so we know that the DATA STORM can either summon a monster (via Skill) that already exists in his deck, such as Decode Talker (which can be summoned under normal conditions as seen in the beginning of the duel), or a brand new one entirely. Now I guess it was because I was not expecting a new monster (Encode Talker), it had me confused for a second thinking. “Wait, what, is this an upgrade?”, but I went back to double-check and I realized “Ooh, new monster.” ahahaha! I find it amusing though how Encode Talker has carries a shield and Decode Talker cares a Sword. Just a design perk that catches my attention.
The preview for the next episode is fairly vague, we see Aoi is hospitalize, at this point I’m convinced she’s probably in a coma since that’s the common theme they sure like to pull with the girls in Yu-Gi-Oh!, but like I said, because this is happening so early on, I expect her to be up and running again in the near future. The episode ended with Blue Angel falling, but I’m pretty sure Yuusaku swept in to ensure she doesn’t have a fatal landing. Otherwise she would really be dead. Needless to say, I am curious to find out how this will change things, if anything in the VRAINS network, and with people having watched what happened LIVE, it makes you wonder how SOL Technologies and Akira is going to respond to this event as whole.
Random Note of the Week: WHOA, THAT’S COOL YOU CAN TELEPORT ONTO YOUR BOARD?!
ADMIN NOTE: Please refrain from posting spoilers of future episodes in the comments. They will be deleted.
Okay, I’m going to start with the only good thing in this episode: Trickstars. IMO they are easily the most powerful out of the three primary archetypes in VRAINS so far (ahead of Goukis and Cyverse) & the Link variant of Rin’s Windwitches done RIGHT, because the looping Burning effects (which is highly tipped to make them meta in the future) were the exact same tactic used by Rin to defeat Yugo in episode 117 of Arc V, but since her only moment to shine (in a brainwashed state) was confined within that episode alone, Windwitches didn’t get to expand further and they’re mostly utilized for the three-card Crystal Wing summon done faster than Speedroids themselves IRL which is a shame. But that’s where the positivity of this episode ends. I knew that Playmaker would abuse the Data Storms via his “Skill” Storm Access for his own use just to gain new cards out of nowhere and it’s already getting on my nerves as a direct showcase of the protagonist’s plot armour. (As if Shining Draws weren’t ridiculous enough…) Also, I’m absolutely outraged that SHIN YOSHIDA is already doing what he excels at: Screwing the female characters THIS EARLY by putting Aoi in the coma due to being infected by a bug card forcibly inserted into the Blue Angel’s deck. I’m not saying that we should ignore the Knights of Hanoi, but the man who is notorious for treating females as non-humans shouldn’t even be allowed to be in charge of the VRAINS storyboard in the first place. To summarize my overall thoughts: Fuck the Knights of Hanoi and FUCK YOU SHIN YOSHIDA.
At least we have a break next week before resuming VRAINS on 5th July because this episode is so infuriating to watch and I need time to cool down my foul mood right now.
I guess because I was actually expecting it that it didn’t piss me off. My trail of thoughts were more like, “Ah…There is it. The coma trope. Well at least it’s happening early on instead of late in the series.” How sad that we have think this way!
Thanks for the tidbit in regards of no new episode next week. Made the adjustment.
you know there is a good thing about aoi in coma which is it open chances for akira charcter devloment like he will get close to her and more
To me, I liked the episode as well as the one that came before. Easily let you understand the siblings in their own point-of-view with a quick and nice pace rather than waiting 20-50 episodes to try understanding them.
The Trickstars, are an epic deck and I would love for more of them in the future. To me, they have that feeling that melodious should have been when first interest than leave the strong possibility of wanting more.
Regardless if it was too soon with Aoi’s critically condition via Berserk by infected/hacked card(I don’t really much think of it as possession or brainwash since even they stated it was a berserk mode that could have given her more mental damage) honestly this could leave strong possibilities for Aoi, Akira and Yusaku if worked in the right direction which I won’t mind taking a chance at.
For Aoi, her devotion and brother complex lead to her overall downfall where Akira’s distance protection ended up pushing Aoi away to wanting approval. And for Yusaku, it could lead him into a more human feeling rather than more isolation. Sure he states many times he doesn’t like getting others involved but feels a little unaware that regardless of what he tries to prevent it will happen regardless based on their own agenda’s. That fact that he finds himself responsible for what happen is a step up.
Well said. I also think this is why I felt no anger or frustration (not that I had super high expectations to begin with anyways) seeing Aoi suffer like this. I definitely think if they play their cards right, this event will serve as a trigger for growth/character development for everyone (Aoi, Akira and Yuusaku). How they will respond from this point on makes me curious.
“To me, they have that feeling that melodious should have been”
Actually, they’re more similar to Windwitches due to their looping Burning effects. But since Windwitches didn’t have enough time & chances to shine back in Arc V, Komoney is making amends by meshing their Burning nature into Trickstars and so far it’s a job well done.
Sorry, I meant to say they had that feeling that melodious should have been when first introduced while giving the strong possibility of wanting more.
Melodias had special summon based as well as some monster including her previous main card being used for effect damage and power ups.
To be honest, I was horrified to see Blue Angel screaming that I almost had to stop the episode so I didn’t have to keep hearing her screams of anguish. After I finished the episode, I was sitting on my bed and silent. Then I thought, “What just happened? Poor Blue Angel”. I was happy to see that Akira cares about her to the point that he tried to save her by trying forcing the duel to end without a winner even if he ultimately couldn’t do anything but watch from the sideline. Even all her fans were concerned for her well-being. The end was done beautifully for music and showing how Aoi has psychologically fallen and that what she had done for Akira was all for nothing. I wonder if Yusaku will catch her as she falls after losing. I would really love to see that. Well, we’ll see how Aoi’s doing two weeks from now, even though I personally can’t wait two weeks. The plot’s really keeping me on the edge of my seat.
I am very curious to see how Akira and SOL Technology will respond to this effect. The general public certainly were not prepared to witness what they saw.
Hi. It’s been a while since I last commented here. Quite painful to see Blue Angel like that, but it’s still a good Duel, better than against Go if you ask me. This also worries me though because Revolver is more ruthless than I thought him to be. As you said, if he was the one who Yusaku said gave him courage in the past, it won’t turn out well for Yusaku. The one Yusaku wanting to meet so much turn out to be the leader of the very enemy he is fighting will be very tragic scenario to watch.
By the way, in your review, you said this: “The Data Storm can either summon a monster (via Skill) that already exists in his deck, such as Decode Talker,” Isn’t Decode Talker a brand new Monster that he gained in episode 2, which means it’s not yet exist in his Deck prior fighting the Knight of Hanoi in episode 2? So it’s not yet existed in Yusaku’s Deck at that time. Or am I misunderstanding your words here?
Ah my bad. I should have phrased it better for clarity. So the context of that was referring to how Decode Talker is now part of his deck, so I used that as a reference to how it was used in this particular duel.
This episode made me feel so bad for Aoi. I mean, I know as the protagonist, Yusaku was obviously going to win, but I felt for her when she was thought that all the damage she did was because he let her, not because she was “putting the pressure” on him. And that brutal demonic possession and falling angel scene… Screw you Knights of Hanoi! ;A;
I hope she gets better soon.
Yeah it definitely makes me curious as to how Yuusaku would have responded had he not intended to use the skill. It could have been it was more of a Plan B to resort to after he realized what her strategy was.
Okay, I think this episode is the new current holder of Best VRAINS episode thus far. I’m glad that I was right about Akira just being misguided in his attempts to take care of Aoi, (and they seem to be step-siblings, with his dad marrying her mom when he was a teen and she was a kid) and frankly, the idea of guardian working themselves so hard that they end up emotionally hurting the kid is something that’s actually fairly realistic. That duel was fantastic, and surprisingly, she didn’t really get possessed until near the end, after she almost beat him (about in the end, all “Berserk” Blue Angel did was discard Trickstar Dark Angel and use her Skill). For the most part, that was all her. Best part, though, was the ending, with all the feathers scattering across as she (metaphysically…?) falls, and there’s no sound effects from the time Encode Talker destroys Trickstar Holly Angel to when the Life hits zero as that music is playing. It was tragically beautiful.
P.S. In the preview, it seems Yusaku is even more revenge driven than before. I know the most concern he showed this week was wanting to end the duel quickly to decrease potential mental damage (and maybe that one time he yelled stop), but will this incident only add fuel to the fire.
Aside from having to watch Aoi suffer, this episode was fantastic and well executed. It was a great way to provide us insight on Aoi’s and Akira’s relationship, as well as provide us Akira’s perspective.
Like you said it was good she didn’t get possess until it was the very last card in her hand, it only added to the build up and set the fuse when everything blew up.
Yuusaku made appear cold, but he’s a soft guy at heard who doesn’t like to see people suffer. He is going to be out for blood against the Hanoi Knights.
I couldn’t agree more. Yusaku seemed pretty furious at the Knights of Hanoi and concerned for Aoi when she was screaming, even if his face didn’t show it. Now he’s probably even angrier than before for the Knights of Hanoi getting an innocent person involved in their schemes.
Can we all agree that this episode was nightmare fuel?
The final scene was fairly well represented, the wings broken, the slow fall between feathers and tears … oh damn.
It was quite dramatic alright!
For fans of ARC-V, I don’t have anything against but this comparison was a current thing that annoyed me. As much as tragic as it was for Aoi going through that, at least that made me feel something for her as well as the sibling trouble. Unlike ARC-V that waited for so many episode only to rush things in for the sake of it.
The relationship between Shun and Ruri, I honestly felt meant nothing since they barely had anything especially that random bit in 119 just to give Shun a win after losing two straight duels against nostalgia. Yuzu’s brainwashed literally existed off-screen and for the sole purpose of pissing off Yuya, creating a new card and setting up the disappoints crybaby known as Zarc.
I don’t think there’s any harm in fans comparing the two, but I think it’s probably better to have a more optimistic view it as what potential lessons the staff (who participated in ARC-V and now in VRAINS) have learned. Like you said, the relationship between Shun and Ruri was basically non-existent, we didn’t get any backstory, they never had any time to interact, and then when they gave us a half-assed “reunion”, it was already far too late into the series. Establishing a relationship and conflict between Aoi and Akira, along with the fact they did not waste any time giving us a bit of backstory and Akira’s perspective is certainly a positive start. For me, It is always something I look out for for any show when I see a director or writer in charge of a related series. I am always curious to see how they as individuals will grow and learn from their experiences and past mistakes. ^ v ^/
“Okay, so we know that the DATA STORM can either summon a monster (via Skill) that already exists in his deck, such as Decode Talker (which can be summoned under normal conditions as seen in the beginning of the duel), or a brand new one entirely.”
Well no it can only be used to summon new cards. He used it in episode two to get his Ace, episode 5 to get an unspecified card, and this episode to get Encode Talker.
That said this was a really good episode. We got some more development for Aoi and it was nice to see that she had Yuusaku on the ropes for most of the duel. It sucks that we have to wait until next week for episode 8 though.
I dare to say that every time he uses Storm Access, Yusaku simply gets a new card. So… how to explain why he used Decode Talker during Onizuka’s Duel? Well… I think that he just might have got another copy of the card (you may wonder why he did that, but… well, one more card never hurts, doesn’t it?) or he might have got a card not shown yet.