In the end, despite going to Baira’s place, they weren’t able to get any information because she was purged. And while I am happy Blue Angel won the duel, especially after the hits and risks she had to take before she got to the finish line, the outcome was underwhelming.
I for one was disappointed how Baira was introduced, and no more than five episodes later, she has been supposedly purged by Revolver himself since despite logging out of Link VRAINS, she has yet to return to reality. This of of course raises questions about the nature of being “purged”. Do they lose memories, are their avatar deleted or are they different or the same case as an Another? It was appeared to me that Revolver was treating her kindly, especially when she knew of the consequences of her actions. I did not sense any malice, rather he did what he had to do as the representative as the group. (After-all, he is technically nothing more than a figure-head since Dr. Kogami is the one running the show in the background).
Still, it is sad to lose someone who could have been a cool villain, but I suppose she was simply never meant to be one to begin with. This wasn’t the path Baira wanted to take, and the writers made sure to make it clear Baira was having second thoughts when she had that conversation with Faust. They set it up so Blue Angel could remind her of how she used to be, and wondered to herself when did she change. She felt guilty of being responsible for having created the virus, and so when Blue Angel ‘changed her heart’, (I say that loosely though since it’s too much of a cop-out reason), she activated the virus removal program, and all the victims have been freed.
Blue Angel/Aoi on the other hand had a strong week. Not much happened in terms of the duel, making it a lot shorter than most of us probably expected – in fact I am quite certain it must have been shorter than Onizuka’s duel. However that doesn’t mean it wasn’t fun to watch. Despite the lackluster conclusion, was I proud of Blue Angel. She showed us what a total badass she is. The hits she took this episode were no joke, she was sent flying through a building which only made me think, “Oh my god, how many and what kind of hits can they tolerate before it ends up affecting them in the real world?” In fact, since it hasn’t been mentioned for a while now – I wonder if that’s still a thing? I hope it is…
Then right after that, since there’s no faster way of exiting the building she was thrown into, what does she do? SHE THROWS HERSELF THROUGH A WINDOW! Sure it was a small thing, but I thought she was so cool with the way she landed back on her board. Fabulous Max!!!!
It is also worth to note that despite Blue Angel having said she fought for herself, what Baira told her in response was also true: It left an impact on her. If she (Blue Angel) carry the hopes of others, she is fighting for everyone. It will be interesting how Blue Angel’s character will grow in the future, especially now that Akira finally acknowledged her efforts, and told her he was proud of her. (Bonus points to his fellow co-worker who told him to have more faith in his sister! IT IS GREAT TO SEE THE GIRLS BANDING TOGETHER!)
But if there’s one thing that should be highlighted about this duel, it’s the fact of how closely Aoi had paid attention and analyzed her opponent’s deck and strategy. She caught on to what Baira’s game-plan was, but was still in a pinch and needed a way out. She knew using her skill was a high risk given she suspected Baira’s deck was filled with trap cards, and should she draw one, she will lose on the spot. I also enjoyed seeing her outplay with her true ace, Link 4 Bella Madonna. Love the design and its effect. Since it’s a Link 4 monster, I do hope we will see more of her in the future.
As for next week’s preview: Oh no, Naoki is actually going to throw himself into Link VRAINS. Shocker, he actually does it. Up till now he’s been all talk, but yikes. Is he seriously going up against Faust? Good luck with that dude. That being said, hm, they said a lot more plot details were in store in the upcoming episodes, and I don’t doubt that, but is it just or the last five have been feeling a tad underwhelming? I sincerely hope Faust proves to be a tougher opponent, dedicated to his mission to protect Revolver, so he gotta pull through. I really hate it when villains are introduced only to fall a few episodes later…
So the new Trickstar Link 4 is a mirror of the legendary Cure Lumiere in Kirakira Precure, nice touch.
Haha, I had a good time seeing those crafted Skills (in reality another set of bullshit asspulls pulled out by random duelists as Storm Accesses are Playmaker’s specialty) from both players played to their strengths (but Blue Angel put herself on the brink of defeat and was lucky Baira didn’t draw a Trap card), and Yusaku does what an expert hacker does best, man this was a pretty solid & enjoyable episode as Aoi finally won Akira’s approval, but they just turned Baira into another fodder villain when we just had some grasp of her character (and her virus-based deck & strategy was actually pretty powerful & dangerous to certain players), which was very unfortunate. And the whole Another incident was suddenly settled, please writers, be more competent, it’s just the start of the 2nd arc of VRAINS!
Now here’s the current trend of VRAINS: Whenever Aoi/Blue Angel does something the show becomes an instant plus because she’s a unique character on her own, and whenever Go even tried to do anything the show became an instant minus because who cares about such a pretentious “entertainer” that made people cringe? BUT WHY GIVING NAOKI THE SPOTLIGHT??!! WHO THE HELL THINKS THAT LOUDMOUTH FAT PIG DESERVES TO HAVE HIS OWN EPISODE??!! OH I’M NOW READY TO STORM THE VRAINS DIMENSION & BUTCHER THAT LUMP OF LARD UNTIL HE’S DEADER THAN FUCKING DEAD!!!! (BTW, Dylan from Yugioh Everything is gonna have a field day and it’s gonna infuriate me even more. As much as I respect him for putting up weekly VRAINS forums for discussions & reviews (and even fought against the Youtube copyright police multiple times) it seriously annoys me that he holds Naoki in such high regard.)
Agree, I feel like the Another’s incident was wrapped up a bit too prematurely, especially after hearing how Faust wanted to make use of it to pursue his own plans. It’s quite sad and unfortunate to see Baira get cut so soon 🙁 A lot of potential there.
I do think the ending was somewhat cliche, but I do like that Baira was redeemed. I mean, Baira was pretty sadistic throughout the episode, only to get redeemed and it seemed forced to me afterwards. I was quite sad to see that Baira was purged by Revolver. She could’ve have fleshed out more even as a redeemed villain. What would have she been planning on next? Baira’s character proves that some of the Knights of Hanoi are more like anti-villains if you consider their morality. I’m glad these past few episodes have been focusing on the other characters and having Yusaku take a break from dueling by doing research on the sidelines. I’m also really glad that Blue Angel had a Link 4 Trickstar monster being a Trickstar user myself. Now I hope that Trickstar Nightshade, Mandrake, and Bella Madonna become actual monsters, especially Bella Madonna with that much more elegant design than the other Trickstar Link Monsters. Like you said, it was a strong week for Blue Angel and her character development. You’re right about how she’s quite observant, almost as much as Yusaku. Plus the way Blue Angel was actually fairly aggressive with her plays and the way she jumped from the building to get back on her D-Board. It was still refreshing to see Blue Angel somewhat drop her cheerful idol persona until the final turn of the duel so she could focus on winning because her condition depended on the outcome of the duel. I’m quite happy that Aoi finally gave a genuine smile outside of Link VRAINS. It’s a beautiful smile just like Yusaku’s.
Now for next week’s episode, I couldn’t believe that Naoki is actually going to Link VRAINS as Lonely Brave. I think it’s a strange name, but it proves that he’s not all talk like you said. It’ll be nice to see Naoki and his deck in action, especially since he hasn’t had a character arc like a lot of the main characters and supporting characters already have. Yusaku, Go, and Aoi are already at least past Part 2 of their character development arcs. I guess it was about time Naoki overcomes his lack of confidence and according to the preview, it seems like he’s actually a pretty good duelist that even Faust would confront him. Maybe Lonely Brave has been defeating Knights of Hanoi that he’s been gaining popularity with Link VRAINS fans, but that’s just my theory.
I’m seriously not holding my breath at all for Naoki, but if anything he might say something stupid to Yuusaku (as he was supposed to be part of the Duel Club) such as suggesting they team up together to fight the Hanoi Knights, and Yuusaku is likely to be like HELL NO. Either Naoki gets provoked or he decides screw it, he’ll do it on his own. It could be that he will wound up serving as a “Bait Device” to set up Playmaker VS Faust. But again, dear god – I don’t want these “elites” to be dropping like flies when we have barely even begun the second arc!
Baira’s change of heart kind of reminded me of the Tyler sisters. They were cool villains initially but after they were egaoed way too quickly by Yuya they just faded to pointless background characers.
Yusaku’s breaking and entering in the real world was good build up, but they seriously keep making the real world bits mediocre.
Not going to lie I initially thought that the preview for Naoki going into Link Vrains was a filler episode. But now that they’re saying he’s dueling Faust and more cyberse cards other than Yusaku!? That will be interesting… although whether he’ll win or not? I’m going to say no. Plus Naoki really needs to tone down his avatar design. He looks like he’s wearing armour to fight megaman or he’s overcompensating for something.
I wouldn’t say the Tyler Sisters because they were all constantly built up with exposition, a duel, an offscreen duel and doing nothing afterwards for 1-4 episodes until they became bland cheerleaders. Baira in 1-4 episodes on the other hand was a bit more “get to know as quickly as possible” like first you see what she and Faust do, then they even have reveal the what kind of relationship they have regarding Revolver as well as trying to make sure they try as much to protect him. Then you get the exchange with her and Blue Angel/Aoi when she reveals what she’s done and takes responsibility for it. It’s not really out of nowhere but more of quickly rushed a best or it could have gotten more development.
Baira’s character definitely could have been expanded further for a while longer, so it’s a shame they had to rush it. Everything made sense, but it just felt like the Another’s and Baira’s case was resolved prematurely. 🙁
Not gonna lie, The Tyler Sisters Mess was what crossed my mind as well.
I think they could have been able to make something more of out of the event if breaking and entering Baira’s apartment, perhaps documents, anything, those things will be useful. But I agree, they really need to work on fleshing out the real world.
Oh God no please don’t disgrace Faust by losing to Naoki. At least make Faust be in a sort of trouble dueling this guy.
Next episodes’ info says that Playmaker has to step in to save his stupid ass.
That’s what I suspected would probably happen.
“Playmaker has to step in to save his stupid ass.”
Hahaha… no, just NO! And just when I had hope that we’ll finally be rid of that lard ass soon… GOD-FUCKING-DAMMIT!!! I really, REALLY don’t want Yusaku to befriend Naoki, but now the writers are ready to let him save his fat ass?!! This is my main gripe with VRAINS: It might work to some advantage with a (currently) small cast (to avoid Arc V’s second half crash which rendered the show unable to recover), but we barely started the second arc and it already has several unbearable characters that everyone hates with a blazing passion and demands them dead sooner than later (Go the pretentious “entertainer”& those orphaned chilrdren under his wing who’re all sissy, ungrateful little shits, NAOKI, etc.) but of course the writers will not let them die which is a direct middle finger to us viewers.
I think Naoki is somehow related to the Lost Incident. Of all the classmates, Naoki is the one who interacts with Yusaku the most, and tries to get Yusaku into normal activities like joining a club or talking about current events. On top of that, the fact that Naoki is actually stepping into Vrains hints that his role in the plot will increase in the future, even if his personality is insufferable.
Also, until the remaining four children and the voice that saved Yusaku are revealed, we still don’t know the various ways the Lost Incident impacted on their lives. Like some people might be putting a false mask on, like how Yuya did after Yushou disappeared.
Ehhhh I don’t know how I’d feel about that. It could explain why we haven’t seen him actually go into Link VRAINS until next week, but eh… Honestly I’m not digging that idea. I hope they don’t go that direction. If they do though, I sure hope they execute it well because Naoki is definitely the LEAST popular character in the show right now.
“Naoki is definitely the LEAST popular character in the show right now.”
Least “popular” is still being kind to this fatty. “Right now”? Not really, he’s already the most annoying, least relevant and overall the WORST VRAINS character that made my blood vessels burst EVERYTIME he appears since episode 1! (Not even Go is as bad as this lump of lard.) Honestly I hope this spiritual heir of Arc V’s FUCKING SHIVERS KID dies in the upcoming episode against Faust and we’ll never have to see him again. Then again, they let the fat kid live throughout Arc V’s entire run (which was yet another one of Arc V’s most infamous decisions), so I may be hoping too much, but Naoki is a despicable existence that deserves to be erased by YLIASTER.
Honestly, I think of this as the show trying to play safe until they reach the mid or final half. They don’t want to try to have a too bloated cast, otherwise you would get with what happened with ARC-V.
I do admit, the new characters are very interesting, unfortunately it would have been a lot better to probably give them like the arclight family treatment where they were a lot more understandable regarding the characters and fully understand the motives behind actions.
Funny thing, this might have been the only time where in 1-30 episodes Yusaku barely ever interacted with Aoi which I don’t mind since their last IRL interaction she called him off since she felt like he wanted to use her(which arguably he was).
Loved Blue Angel/Aoi as always 🙂
I am starting to think that as well. We’re not seeing a whole lot of risks and there has been a lot of hits and misses as of the late. They are doing some things right, other things… not so much. They are certainly going out of their way though to have a contained cast.
Great episode. Despite the cliches, I think both Blue Angel and Baira have done wonderfully in this episode. Seeing Aoi’s smile at the end of the episode is the best of all! Glad to see that Akira finally put some more faith in his own sister. The woman working with Akira (she hasn’t been named, right?) did a good job telling Akira to believe in his younger sister. Some people said that Baira was ‘killed’, but I think it’s too strong of a word, I’m thinking that Baira’s case is most likely leaning closer to the same case as Another victims. Poor Baira, and I like her too. It’s been a while since I saw a strong female Duelist other than Blue Angel and Ghost Girl.
So the next episode will be Shima’s turn to duel… I never like Shima (I don’t like him more than Go to be honest), and I don’t like his avatar shown in the preview either, so maybe I won’t care much for the next episode when watching it other than to see our main protagonists. I hope it’s not Faust that Shima will be facing. And if his opponent is Faust, since the man is one of higher-ranking members, Faust better beat Shima because the thought of one of Hanoi high-ranking members being defeated by Shima of all people doesn’t sit well with me.
I don’t think Baira is killed either, she is bound to come back in the future. She is likely to be an Another’s case, and will remain unconscious until someone uses the virus removal program on her. (I wouldn’t be surprised if Faust is the one to bring her back sooner than later though, in order for her to more effectively help with his plans.)
I’m guessing Naoki is going to have to be saved. He is going to be reckless, and decide, “Screw it, I’ll do it by myself!”, and potentially be used as a bait to lure Playmaker out to save him, which is exactly what Faust wants to do.
I dont like Aoi deck and I hope she lose