Hot damn, this episode was fantastic. This week’s round was all about the battle of the wits, and it came with its merits. Since the start of the series they have been foreshadowing Yuusaku’s keen sense of Cyberse. And today they finally, much to my surprise covered some of the base questions that have been burning in our minds.
Yuusaku’s personal skill is having the ability to hear/sense the pulse of Cyberse. To say it has a pulse is an interesting way to put it. It basically implies Cyberse as a living thing, and in this sense, given the reason of its creation and Ignis, I suppose you could say at this point of time, it is an accurate description. The ability to sense its pulse is what provided Yuusaku the intelligence that the sealed away Cyberse monsters were still present. In a sense, while Fire Prison’s effect sealed them away, truth to be told, the actual trick was to serve as an illusion to make seem as they were not longer there. Had it been someone without the ability to sense Cyberse, it would probably be safe to assume they would’ve fallen for it and Ignis would’ve been a goner.
It turns out the man who developed Ignis (and the anti-Cyberse card: Fire Prison), wanted to create life, an AI with a free will from within the system. Wow, that sounds like a great idea! What could possibly go wrong? Well Ignis was one of the successful few (as we know he has friends who are waiting to be saved) with one hell of a personality, and sure enough, something did go wrong because that’s why everyone is hunting Ignis down in the first place, and now trying to either capture him or eliminate him altogether.
I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t skeptical about the Hanoi Knight’s claims of Ignis attempting to conquer Cyberse. The reason why I feel this way is not because I have more trust in Ignis (far from it in fact, he is a mischievous one by nature), but because I want to know why SOL Technologies want to ‘reclaim’ Ignis. Do they also consider Ignis a threat to their network? I don’t recall hearing a clear reason why they must have Ignis in their hands, and so as long as we are left in the dark about it (along with their shady chess pieces figureheads), I will remain skeptical to just about everyone.
We were met with a surprise of the Three Reasons backstory today. We were able to see that while Yuusaku doesn’t have a lot of his memories, he does remember a bit of his time when he was trapped. He was stuck in a room with a VR-like headpiece on his head, and just as he is about to give up, a he hears a voice. It tells him to think of three things. “Three things to live, three things to go home, three things to defeat the enemy.” The reason why they tell him this is because by thinking he can still live. Those words becomes the key to his survival, and the mantra becomes a prayer.
For Yuusaku, his three reasons are, 1) To regain those memories, 2) to learn the truth about then (the incident) and connection all the moments of his life, 3) to find that person. If that person is still captured he must rescue him.
Many of us are speculating that person may be in fact Revolver. The preview also implicates that could very well be true. The irony of course would having to face his savior (because it has yet to be explained how he got out of there in the first place) as an enemy.
Currently, the first thing that crosses my mind is that the headpiece he was wearing to serve as as VR for the duel itself, but also may have been used to process the data of his psychological condition and how he was coping. Truth to be told, it’s hard to say whether or not each child been told by this individual to think three things to encourage them to complete the process. All of this could have been contributing to Ignis’ creation, developing a program with a will of its own. By obtaining data of these make-shift lab-rats, and putting them into their dire situations, and make them think of three things, all of these can come into play of processing the data that can be used to feed to the AI which as result, with the knowledge it obtains can create its own conclusions, thus a free will.
What is also worth to keep in mind that this this could have also been a part of the early stages of Link VRAINS development.
But the most important piece of information we can take away from this, is the reason why Yuusaku can’t stand dueling. He was stripped of all the joy from what was supposed to be an innocent game of cards, because it turned into battle for survival. And sadly, the circumstances are still true to this day because he is continuously putting himself on the line in hopes to fulfill his wishes, and to protect others from suffering the same.
Should Yuusaku successfully overcome this hurdle, and at this point, I believe he will, we can be sure to expect Ignis to undergo an interrogation, so we can finally hear his side of the story. And from there we can start drawing further speculations. On the extra note though, it was unbelievably sweet to see Yuusaku speak so softly to Ignis – all while welcoming him back as his hostage.
This week’s round of the duel was probably my favourite to date, just because it was all about the battle of the wits. I love these type of duels. I live for them. It is something – and yes I am going to mention it – that I felt was severely lacking in YGO ARC-V (no thanks to those stupid Action Cards), so being able to experience it again in this series made me very, very excited. I loved how it was constantly going back and forth among the traps and counters, and Yuusaku just barely hanging on for dear life by the skin of his teeth. I would be lying if I said I didn’t find it funny how Firewall Dragon kept on being tossed around back and forth. Seriously speaking, I love its design and I hope it will be his main ace (also as you probably know by now, I’m always biased towards awesome looking Dragons).
Speaking of dragons, Revolver brought out his true ace monster, Borreload Dragon. For some stupid reason, this whole time in my head, I thought he was riding crackling Dragon (*FACEPALM*) and now I look back and I think to myself, “WTF Eva, they don’t even look alike- let alone it WOULDN’T MAKE ANY SENSE!!!” So yeah, that happened (LOL). And Revolver was so ahead of himself when Borreload Dragon attacked Yuusaku – and hit him hard mind you, shocking it didn’t finish him right then and there – he actually thought he might have defeated him before the duel itself was over. But that’s not the point. I laughed my ass off when Revolver applied ANTI-GLARE PROTECTION for the attack. I don’t think they needed to plug that in. It contributed to absolutely nothing.
And lastly, this cannot go unnoticed. Like come on… I can’t be the only one who who had an evil grin of approval of a new ship being born. Akira x Ghost Girl? FORGET THAT! Kusanagi x Ghost Girl is what’s up! BEHOLD, THE HACKING DUO! /SLAPPED
Okay that’s enough shipping nonsense from me.
SEE YOU NEXT WEEK!
This is the best episode of VRAINS so far! Everything is just so…EPIC! I don’t know what else to say. This episode is just so amazing. I can’t wait to know how this Duel with ends! XD
Regarding the translation of Revolver’s ace Monster though, I’m not so sure with the translation. Borreload doesn’t sound right. It can also be Barrel Load or Varrel Load.
this was great episode and now we have 2 dragons on the field the end of the dual is close then ever
I’m glad we got to see the reason why Yusaku uses his lists in threes. So he was taught to think that way by the person who gave him courage. I think that was a great backstory. As for Yusaku welcoming back Ignis as his hostage, I felt like it was implied that Yusaku doesn’t truly see Ignis as a hostage anymore. I could just tell because he was smiling when Ignis came back. Plus there was no telling Ignis to shut up like in the first couple of episodes.
Firewall Dragon really amazed me. However, we really didn’t get to see its effect in use this episode. But I’m excited to see what happens in the next episode and what appears to be the conclusion of this amazing duel. On a side note, let’s hope Aoi wakes up from her coma soon, most likely next episode.
The way he said it was dry humor. But now that he knows Ignis has a will of his own, it definitely changes the way he views him. Although it has only been eleven episodes, the transition of how Yuusaku has been unknowingly growing closer to Ignis is pretty well paced.
This episode was so good. I cannot stress how much I missed these types of duels. Just the opponents standing there, playing mind games with each other all while their cards are constantly countering each other, the field representing their mental state. (Yusaku is on the edge and pretty worn out
In regards to Revolver’s fire prison field spell, Yusaku instantly realized that unlike what revolver said, it didn’t destroy the cyberse. It simply sealed them, and who better to break the seal that Yusaku’s true ace! So glad to finally see Firewall on the field.
(in case you’re wondering how to tell if he’s gonna be Yusaku’s ace I can tell you for certain that he will in fact be. not only does he have the usual stats, ATK: 2500, DEF: 2000 but Borreload Dragon has the usual 3000/2500. So now we have the first face off between them and so far it is glorious).
I really love the backstory behind the 3 reasons that Yusaku (and probably Revolver) say. To think that it came from their willingness to keep living.
Now my final thing is the ignis. It does in fact seem to be that Ignis is the name of his kind and that our lovable little friend is named Ai (thank you once again Yusaku, for your not so creative naming sense). Now the only thing that I want to truly know I WHY DOES EVERYONE WANT HIM SO BAD?!
//Just the opponents standing there, playing mind games with each other all while their cards are constantly countering each other, the field representing their mental state. //
YES! THIS IS WHAT WE LIVE FOR!!!!!! THIS IS THE TYPE OF DUELS WE WANT TO SEE! PLEASE GIVE US MORE OF THIS!!!!
I am thankful they didn’t drag out the three reasons backstory for too long and got straight to the point. It was crucial to do it during this battle because it came with its merits.
I wasn’t and still am not entirely sure whether Ignis was the name of the species or not, probably because I’m so used to it being used as an actual name for a character. But when necessary, I will transition from Ignis to AI, but I might not do it right away because I might forget to (which happens more often than not during characters changes, give me a week or two to work it out) LOL.
Personally, I think Yusaku calling him Ai was a better creative choice. Ignis is what everyone else calls it, calling him Ai shows Yusaku’s grown attached. If Ignis is the name of the program itself or the species, then calling him Ai is “naming” him. It feels more intimate. Maybe Ai didn’t quite like the name at first, but I’m sure he’ll eventually grow fond of his new given name. Maybe once he like his current name even after regaining his memories, he will introduce himself as or tell others to call him “Ai”.
Those kinds of duels were mostly seen in 5D’s, although there were marred by TOO MANY TRAPS invented by Yusei (Traps that were largely suited on one specific situation but useless on most pinches) it made the audience cringe.
Actually, Arc V did have some duels with both sides counterattacking with their own cards on fast-paced manners (especially the first Shun vs Sora duel), but fucking Action Cards were nothing but plot devices just to make Yuya win, especially the way he turned around the duel against Sawatari’s Yosenjus when he obviously lost, I’m still enraged by that outcome until today.
They just have to rub in the three reasoning thingies… Also enough with Playmaker’s ZEXAL hair, gimme back the regular Yusaku hair already.
Firewall Dragon vs Varrel Load Dragon, haha VRAINS is giving us the old memories of Stardust vs Red Demon in 5D’s again. Varrel Load is more similar to Red Demon due to its offensive, brute force ways (although it looks more like an armored version of Galaxy-Eyes) and has the trademark rivals’ aces’ 3000 ATK, while Firewall takes on a more defensive approach and has the standard protagonists’ aces’ 2500 ATK.
Thank god we’re actually seeing Spector next episode, I almost forgot that he’s been Revolver’s right-hand man and HAS to be important to the plot somehow, oh and I hate how Ghost Girl is useless for these past episodes even though this duel was dragged out, fuck you Shin Yoshida.
I’m pretty sure the reason SOL Technologies wants Ignis is just related to LINK VRAINS and the success of their company. “At some point following the disappearance of Cyberse, the data material which was taken and placed into the network had been reduced. This resulted in a reduction in the network’s efficiency by more than 30%.”
Hmm, actually looking at it now, it could be Revolver, from what’s said in the preview. It says “An irreplaceable friend” right before showing Revolver. Personally I was just looking at who Ignis’ creator was talking to in the preview, but that person might just be a nobody.
It’s kind of interesting how the MC always faces hardships and can no longer have fun dueling. And then someone duels them in the end to make them have fun again. It was like this in GX and Zexal, and I think the same might be said of 5Ds.