Well the duel is finally over, and of course – Playmaker won. While the duel itself was fun to watch, I feel quite indifferent about the outcome, mainly because I knew he would win. Akira was getting way too ahead of himself. And speak of the devil himself, and GOD – Akira got some nerve to deny Playmaker’s right to get names and walk the path of revenge (NOT YOUR CHOICE!), but it didn’t matter since Playmaker obtained the data. (However Ghost Girl also has the data, and she plans on selling it for a high price, and the highest bidder is clearly set up to be none other that Kitamura himself.)
I wouldn’t say I was disappointed, but as expected Aoi puts her brother first. I had hoped maybe she would call Akira out on his BS arguments, but yeah, you can tell she cares for her brother a whole lot. I mean, he wasn’t going to get killed or anything, but when Playmaker went to deliver the final blow, she ran out to take the hit for him, but Akira saw that coming and made sure she didn’t. I suppose the silver-lining here is the fact the two siblings were able to finally understand one another, or at least Aoi does. If Akira lets her go back to school, then I assume it would be safe to say he understands she’s a big girl now, and she can take care of herself. However unlike Akira, Aoi understands and respects Playmaker’s wishes to walk his own path for justice.
I neglected t discuss it last week, but I must say it is quite cool and beautiful how Akira built such a symbolic deck, highlighting Tindangle Hound’s (Akira) and Tindangle Angel’s (Aoi) ability to protect each other. Supposedly it was because of this that Playmaker didn’t want to send them to the grave – even if it meant an earlier and more straight forward path to victory.
Perhaps the most iconic moment of the episode was when Playmaker declared he doesn’t want his revenge to drag the Zaizen siblings into the darkness, and they should walk where there’s light. When he said that all I could think of was, “Damn, that was really cool.” And honestly, it’s quite refreshing to see a protagonist actively seek out to fight alone, or at least only with those who have gone through the same experience as him, and are willing to walk in the darkness to achieve their goals.
But most importantly, this highlights another reason why Yuusaku doesn’t want allies. It’s not just because of they would have to put their lives at stake, or they wouldn’t understand him or because – he doesn’t want to drag anyone else into this mess. His path of seeking justice is his to walk alone. It’s a lonely path, but it’s the only path that offers him a glimpse of light at the end of the tunnel.
The data Playmaker has obtained contains documents claiming Dr. Kogami (of the Hanoi Knights) was the mastermind of the project, and researcher. It also claims he had died. Now there are a couple points to be made here: I guess Dr. Kogami may actually be Revolver’s father after-all. Some of us thought maybe he was more of a figurehead, but maybe not. It has been confirmed that the body in the machine we had saw Revolver check up on is Dr. Kogami’s body. The man claims he has been resurrected, and he and Revolver have just sowed the seed that supposedly will end Link VRAINS and the entire network world.
The data reveal Dr. Kogami was a researcher at SOL Technologies, and they claim he was the sole mastermind of the incident, and they found out about his activities because of a whistle-blower. Ai is the first to suggest perhaps Akira may have been the one to reveal the project, but I don’t think he is far off. I am highly suspicious of the fact how Zaizen’s parents were killed around the same time of the incident, so it’s possible they may have very well been the whistle-blower. But then there is also Dr. Kogami – who claims he was resurrected. Does that mean he was killed? He as a researcher in the Lost Incident/Hanoi Project, it wouldn’t be too far fetched to consider he may have also been the Whistle-blower.
Another suspicious point to keep in mind is the fact SOL Technologies covered up this incident, and they also want to get their hands on Ai – claiming they can’t afford to have Hanoi Knights capture him. However the Hanoi Knights have repeatedly claimed they despise Cyberse, and have been actively trying to destroy Ai and his kind – along with shutting down both VRAINS and the worlds network. This is the main reason why I have be leaning towards the idea the Hanoi Knights are actually defects from the Hanoi Project. And who else would be better to lead a project to interfere with SOL Technologies plots, than a researcher who may have been made into a scapegoat?
Now with that in mind, if Dr. Kogami and Revolver are actually related, then perhaps this would provide a more convincing leeway as to how Revolver may have communicated with Yuusaku and told him about the 3 Things Mantra. This would also mean Revolver may not actually been a victim of it, but a witness to the project (but this would make it hard for me to imagine why his father would bring him there unless his purpose was to give the children hope). Regardless, I expect a lot of angst from this, especially since Yuusaku is dead set on hunting down Revolver in order to attain more information in regards of the Lost Incident.
Next week we’re finally back to the real world, and we may get a bit more information about the seed being planted to end LINK VRAINS. I am curious to see what would happen should the Hanoi Knights succeed, and how this will affect Yuusaku’s investigation. If Yuusaku can’t investigation via LINK VRAINS network as Playmaker, he wouldn’t be able to effectively investigate undercover.
Yeah, Akira is a hypocrite as well. When Aoi was in a coma and he thought Playmaker did it he thoughtlessly went out for revenge against him in order to both avenge and help Aoi. Where was his rationality there? oh no wait. He wanted revenge because HIS SISTER WAS HURT! It affected him in an extremely personal manner! And Playmaker’s incident is an extremely personal matter as well! He had every right to the information!
I thought that was cool of Yusaku to say to the siblings as well. Despite how he comes across, he does genuinely care about others. He just doesn’t want to involve himself because he feels he walks a path of darkness that only he can end. It’s also the only thing he’s held onto for years with his PTSD. All he wants is closure, but he knows that no one will give it for free so he has to fight for it. It’s no one else’s journey but his.
Seriously, one of the best anti-heroes ever. It would’ve been so easy to turn him into an emo character like Sasuke uchiha (my most hated character ever). But no, they still manage to portray him as noble and relatable.
I’m not going to lie… I seriously hope we actually get to do some stuff in the real world now. I’m kind of bored of the LINK VRAINS world. I mean it has buildings and pretty lights in it. There’s seriously nothing that interesting.
EXACTLY! IF AOI WERE KIDNAPPED, HOLY SHIT MAN – AKIRA WOULD SINGLE-HANDILY DO EXACTLY WHAT YUUSAKU IS DOING, INVESTIGATE AND DESTROY THE SHIT OUT OF SOL TECHNOLOGIES. Actually, if it turns out that SOL TECHNOLOGIES DID kill their parents, LOL – I wonder how they will behave then? Would Akira continue walking the self-proclaimed righteous path?
I love LOVE Anti-Heroes, so I’m really pleased with what’s we’re getting with Yuusaku. I love him to death.
If the Hanoi Knights suceed, LINK VRAINS might not be around or usable for much longer, and more activity will have to happen in the real world. But yeah, we definitely need a break from cyberspace.
i hope there will be tournoment soon in real life and not in link vrains because we all waiting to see if vrains will do well in this
Hm, I wonder if a tournament would be against AI though, considering Sol Technologies has been developing them…. If they were the ones to actually overseeing The Hanoi Project, they may try to use it to their advantage to pursue their objective. This would give Yuusaku a reason to compete to investigate so as long as it enables him to dig deeper into the investigation.
I also imagine should a tournament happen, it would take place LINK VRAINS, and Kogami’s seed may bloom during that time and wreck havoc.
Or so I imagine could happen.
The writers have created a excellent character for Yusaku as an anti-hero. I really enjoyed his speech to the Zaizen siblings about Tindangle Angel and Tindangle Hound. I thought that was an amazing analysis. It was in my mind subconsciously but I never went into depth with that. I was happy to see Aoi protecting her brother from the final blow but Akira instead shielded her with his body. Like you said, at least Aoi understands that her brother truly cares for her now and everything up till now has been for her sake. Maybe this will be a chance for her to break out of her quiet shell in the real world and maybe start attending school again. I never got to mention this, but throughout the last two episodes, Blue Angel isn’t like her perky self but acts more like a mix between her real world persona and her Blue Angel persona, with Aoi’s questioning herself but still speaking up more like Blue Angel. I hope Aoi’s more like that in the real world later on.
Overall, excellent analysis for this episode. It certainly wasn’t as intense as last week, but still amazing. I wasn’t expecting Dr. Kogami to be dead. I just thought he was comatose. I wonder how the next couple of episodes will turn out becuase VRAINS has some really unexpected twists and turns. I think you’re right about Emma possibly selling the data on the ten year old incident to Kitamura. He would definitely take advantage of an opportunity like that, even if it would cost a lot. We’ll have to see though.
P.S. If you saw the preview for next episode, I wonder what kind of shenanigans Ai and Roboppy are up to this time. It seems like Roboppy is in love with Ai now. I wonder how much those two can do things without getting busted by Yusaku and so far, only the audience sees and knows about the shenanigans. It’s only going to mean trouble if Ai and Roboppy get caught doing certain “things” by their master.
You make a great point about Aoi seemingly caught in between her two personalities. It certainly makes me more curious as to how she will behave here on out in the real world. More over, she has been pretty sharp on Yuusaku to begin with, but I wonder if she will put the pieces together and figure out he’s Playmaker. Should she catch him with Ai again, she will definitely know it’s him.
LOL I don’t know what they are up to, but those AI are certainly implying they are into super kinky stuff. LMAO.😂
Re:Zero’s run was FAR MORE BRUTAL than I’ve imagined… Episodes 15 & 18 broke my heart to see Rem (they didn’t lie, she’s the BEST female character I’ve ever seen) die the worst way imaginable & GOT REJECTED LIKE THAT. Episode 25? MEH. (What an awesome anime gem I missed last year, will 100% rewatch this series again anytime.)
But back TO ZA VRAINS… As much as I’m happy to see Playmaker retain his composure for being a lone wolf to search his path of justice (and suddenly I’m less frustrated at Akira losing anymore because he’s a dickhead attempting to make Playmaker brick), I’ve had enough of Playmaker STILL NOT LOSING. Seriously, this guy’s ZEXAL hair & Storm Accesses that led to such absurd plot armor, I’ll cheer when it FINALLY shatters. Also, I’ve been asking this myself for sometime: WHY ONLY TWO CHARISMA DUELISTS WERE SHOWN SO FAR?? It’ll be totally blasphemous to discard the whole “Charisma Duelists” schtick, don’t do this director…
The best way to describe Re:Zero’, is the endless cycle of torture and despair.
From this match-up, the one thing that I noticed is how he has a lot of anger in him, but he never let it take control of him. He is, as you said, excellent at regaining his composure.
Yeah I’m sick of him not losing yet either, but man – I hope it happens sooner than later, and show there are some serious repercussions such as PTSD effect due to the loss.
Honestly, I’m starting to question of the concept of “Charisma Duelists” may be scrapped altogether (I mean, they did scrap the “bad” Action Cards in ARCV). I am already starting to doubt Onizuka having any significant role in this series (unless it turns out he comes from the same Orphanage as Yuusaku, should it be revealed Yuusaku is an orphan). He was so uninteresting and utterly failed the whole “Charisma Duelist” concept. He goes on about Entertainment but JFC, we just watch a series all about Entertainment Duel, and the only one who seems to have it right is Blue Angel, at least she has character when she’s performing. :\
“The best way to describe Re:Zero’, is the endless cycle of torture and despair.”
Yes, and that’s why I’m eager to rewatch this series as many times as I wish. (Once the new season airs I’ll DIE happy.)
“He was so uninteresting and utterly failed the whole “Charisma Duelist” concept.”
Like I’ve said before, Go Onizuka’s character is an attempt to mesh Jack & Crow into one but failed miserably.
if he were to lose in any of his previous duals ignis would be taken from him including his dual with aoi.
We’re gonna need Ai to stay home if we want any chance of Yuusaku losing a duel. 😛
To me, anti-hero’s are always the most interesting especially in anime. Yusaku/Playmaker defiantly raises interest in me as a character exactly like Yusei who are known to be talented from the get-go in real-life situations and pretty mature/tragic; the dueling bit though, well that’s not his fault since pretty much any every protagonist rarely loses which does get boring for me. Especially since it’s written by Yoshida the stakes have to be so dire to the point where the chances of the protagonist losing about %0.1 But again that’s kinda to be expected.
I’d like to see more with the other characters later on especially with Aoi/Blue Angel, Revolver and Onizuka Go-man VRAINS
ANTI-HEROES FTW!!!!!!!!! Seriously, they are usually the type of characters with the most depth to them. Actually now that I think of it, I wonder how Yuusaku fares dueling OUTSIDE of Link VRAINS. When he duels for a long time, such as against Revolver and Akira, he comes out exhausted and worn out. One has to wonder if perhaps it may actually be harder for him to duel in real life than in virtual reality, because the Playmaker alias could also be considered as a “Mask” to cope with the trauma.
But yeah, I really hope Yuusaku/Playmaker loses a duel sooner than later – and hopefully it comes with a price just to show what is at stake (other than losing Ai of course).