Yu-Gi-Oh VRAINS Episode 19

DAMN THAT CLIFFHANGER. PLAYMAKER AIN”T GONNA LET THAT SLIDE.

I think there were many of us who initially hoped this duel was not going to drag out for far too long. I was expecting everything to be wrapped up today – mainly why how they suddenly ramped up the pace the duel itself. But then they surprised us with revealing the the incident’s backstory that we had been waiting for since day 1.

And it’s so messed up.

The Lost Incident: Six children were kidnapped by a certain organization, Yuusaku and (if I understood correctly) Kusanagi’s brother were two of them. These children were imprisoned, room of nothing but VR Equipment that they were supposed to use to duel with. If they did not duel, they would not be fed, (they were basically being starved to death), slept on the floor and when they lose the duel they would be tortured. I will add though when we saw that creepy eye (whose color looks alarmingly similar to Ai himself) and the little fragments, it gave me the impression every-time they lost a duel and be shocked, they would lose a piece of their themselves/memories. This could explain how Yuusaku lost some of his memories during the incident. The children were test subjects for six months, and then they were suddenly told they could go home and were freed. However the incident was covered up and no one was prosecuted, and the media let it slide. The victims were given no answers in regards of where they had been held captive and for how long. While Yuusaku was liberated and received treatment, he still suffers from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. He doesn’t believe he has a future, he has no irreplaceable memories (if any, he may had lost them), and doesn’t need the warmth from people. Friendship and a normal high school student lifestyle is not in the equation. For Yuusaku this incident is far from over. The only path forward is to investigate the case himself, for three reasons:

#1: The incident torn apart his life: He will learn the truth, and reconnect his life that was torn apart.
#2: That incident deeply hurt the victims and their families: Some still haven’t recovered from the shock. He will learn the truth for them and their families.
#3: Save the one who saved him: If it weren’t for The Voice, he would be a broken. Whoever had kept encouraged him, wasn’t among those who had been rescued. And if he’s still captured, Yuusaku wants to save him.

And we learned another crucial clue. It turns out The Lost Incident had another name: Hanoi Project. This is why Yuusaku has been trailing the Hanoi Knights. This is an interesting revelation because we already know those like Dr. Kogami and Revolver (who are affiliated with the Hanoi Knights) are somehow related to the Lost Incident. This makes me wonder if the Hanoi Knights, in name might really be an organization of defects from the Hanoi Project, and are looking into combating whatever purpose the Hanoi Project was supposed to serve.

The important thing we must remember about the Hanoi Knights are their intentions to obtain Ai, and eliminate the Cyberse. Why are the Cyberse a threat and how are the Cyberse potentially connected to the Lost Incident? We also know that Revolver and Yuusaku have a connection through the “Three Things” mantra. Many of us believe Revolver is the The Voice, especially when Dr. Kogami says fate is a funny thing. If that’s the case, then the real question we need to remember Revolver could actually be one of two things:

1 – Revolver was The Voice
2 – Revolver was another one of the six victims who was told to keep “Three Things” mantra close to his heart.

The reason why I am speculating a lot on the latter (2) is because I am trying to understand how Yuusaku was able to hear The Voice in the first place. I don’t know if I’m overthinking it too much, but if the children were really able to hear each other, they would have surely heard each other’s cries. But instead Yuusaku described the place as isolation. Of course this could just be a little hole in all the details, but it’s because of this I ask myself: Was The Voice really from of the fellow children?

What could be more shocking is that it could have been an AI. We know thanks to sassy Ai himself and the brief moments we have seen of his friends is that “Ignis”, they don’t sound like an AI.

And if all of that wasn’t enough, well Akira just dropped the bombshell: He knows the mastermind of Hanoi’s Project’s mastermind is in this data.

Okay first let me just set a few things straight there: Akira and Ghost Girl beat Yuusaku and Kusanagi to the punch and got ahold of the information he is looking for. They have now been filled in the details in regards of the incident from ten years ago and more. Akira also revealed he knows the name of the mastermind. Hopefully we will get names next week because I swear to God, if Akira tries to keep that information to himself – I will lose it on Yuusaku’s behalf. He has no right to obstruct him any further!

And then there’s Blue Angel! Who would have thought she would be the catalyst to getting these two to actually discuss The Lost Incident. Although she interrupted the duel (I didn’t mind though haha, it was a nice intermission to say the least) appreciated the fact she was proactive about learning the truth now, rather than waiting for the outcome of the fight. She knows she was missing out on something terribly important, but it certainly felt she was quite naive when she asked for the truth. It also perplexed me how she apparently, doesn’t know what she duels for anymore. This was a bizarre line, and I don’t really get why she said that because I thought the reason why she dueled was to be independent and prove to her brother she’s a big girl now. Does this have anything to do with being a victim of the Hanoi Knights? DOES SHE EVEN REMEMBER THAT? Can we please get a confirmation on this? It’s gonna drive me nuts. Writers, please don’t sweep this under the rug! Anyways, she wanted to know what is really going on, and what Playmaker is fighting for, she felt if she knew the truth, she can move forward.

And now that she knows: my guess is that as Blue Angel, she is not going to let this go. If anything she is might end up pestering Playmaker to let him become his ally.

Speaking of which, I was taken aback how quickly Yuusaku calmed himself down after Akira set him off last week. I was like, “Whoa, I thought Yuusaku would be a lot more emotional?” But no, he kept his cool. However now that he knows the mastermind’s name is in the databank, one has to wonder if this is the catalyst for his emotions to finally take the wheel.

In all, should Akira share all of the information he had obtained, then what remains at stake is simply the possession of Ai. At this point I don’t know who is going to win, by until the duel was interrupted, I had been hoping for Yuusaku to lose. But that mindset changed after seeing how much he had been tortured while dueling. We know now why Yuusaku hates dueling, he had the worst possible experience one could have, and why he simply cannot afford to lose. He was tortured because of his losses, and there’s not a shred of doubt in my mind that he is afraid what would happen to him if he does lose. This of course only makes me more curious about how Yuusaku would handle a loss at this point. There is already so much at stake for him. His PTSD, his safety, his sanity. He has so much on his shoulders. He decided to carry the burden of investigating on his own, with Kusanagi as his sole sidekick. (But it looks like Yuusaku is probably going to win the duel. My guess the card he had drawn and set down earlier was his destiny draw considering we didn’t get a chance to see it.)

Now, while it is great and all that we finally know and understand Yuusaku’s motives and a little more about the mysterious about The Lost Incident from ten years, there is something serious we must take into consideration.

By discussing the Lost Incident and revealing Playmaker was one of the six victims, this exposes to SOL Technologies. And should the ones who were involved with the incident witness this information or be given the tip by Kitamura (the guy is bound to be used at some point… unless he really is a filler character), this means Playmaker’s True Identity is now in jeopardy, because they revealed he is one of the six children and are definitely going to narrow them down and hunt him down now. This was already the case with Revolver and Dr. Kogami. The last thing Yuusaku needs is more people knowing how he’s related to the incident.

And it’s not just Yuusaku who is going to have a target on his back. Ghost Girl, Akira and Blue Angel/Aoi will also be watched closely. It is going to be interesting how everyone goes about their days after this, because once they leave the databank, it could to get potentiality dangerous for all of them.