Man I am so relieved this duel only went on for two episodes. Any more than that would’ve pointlessly dragged it on and making it even more boring than it started out as. However it is fair to say that this episode managed to hold my attention a lot better than the last one, but it probably had more to do with rooting for Revolver. Onizuka did put up a heck of a fight, and even served to be a nuisance to force Revolver to reveal a couple of his hidden strategies to Playmaker, but ultimately fell in battle. Truth to be told, he was definitely one of the lucky ones, since he wasn’t tortured prior to his defeat, nor fallen in such a cruel fashion as Blue Angel had.
Unfortunately we didn’t get a significant backstory about Onizuka. I had hoped they would show us more about how he became the man he is today, driven by the desire to entertain the children. Instead, all we got was a very recent “development”, where when there were no fans to cheer for him, he realized he fights alone, (no shit, Sherlock!) and decided to fight for himself. It’s disappointing that they couldn’t give us anything because it only adds to how shallow his character already is. I was also mildly disappointed (I wasn’t holding my breath for it, but I did hoped for it) we never got to see Dark!Onizuka. It frustrates me how they seemingly have no intention of bringing this personality back whatsoever. When they did use it, I found it finally added some much needed flair to his character.
In the end, I liked the way the duel wrapped up. Revolver was always two steps ahead of Onizuka, so regardless of his clever plays, he could only go so far. One of the things I liked the most was Revolver’s attitude in this duel. He absolutely refused to lose in such ‘lame’ fashion. He wanted to win elegantly, so to speak, and I found his definition of “elegant” to be quite amusing.
When Onizuka fell, it suddenly dawned to me how unusual it is for a (Yu-Gi-Oh!) protagonist to not agonize about their allies defeat. Yuusaku knew exactly what was going to happen, and was incredibly calm about it. One could say he looked as though he wasn’t affected whatsoever, but we know it does. After Akira sacrificed himself for the greater cause, Yuusaku learned that in order to carry out his mission, he must have a strong conviction and accept that sacrifices must be made. It is a refreshing approach, especially after having watched an especially emotionally-driven protagonist like Yuuya in ARC-V, for three years.
Next week! The long awaited rematch between Playmaker and Revolver finally takes off! We will be returning to Speed Duels, which was bound to happen at one point or another. I do like the track will be around the Hanoi Knights Tower, with all the debris, I expect it to be a lot more thrilling than the usual, or at least I hope it will be. It also looks like Revolver will waste no time in revealing most if not all of Ai’s darkest secrets, and fully explain to Playmaker what makes Ignis so dangerous. I am so excited for this! BRING IT ON!
Extra News: The New Opening Theme has been announced! As nice as the current one is, I am so sick of it. The new opening song “Go Forward” will be performed by Kimeru. The last time he did the 5th OP Theme Song for Yu-Gi-Oh! (DM) was back in 2000! I will be greatly anticipating it! It was one of my favourites!!!!
Random Note of the Week: AI WHERE DID YOU GET THAT KNIFE?! (EVERYONE SAW THAT RIGHT?!)
ARC-V manga chapter 31 RAW was uploaded a while ago and now this! This is such a good day for me! I love today! Go was indeed lucky not to fall the same way as Blue Angel. And I gotta admit, I’m quite surprised by how Revolver saying he wants to win in ‘elegant’ way. After the Protagonists like Yuma and Yuya, I can understand how you feel about Yusaku. It’s certainly necessary to have a Protagonist like Yusaku that is different from both Yuma and Yuya who were the types driven by emotions. People are saying this will be the final Duel between Playmaker and Revolver. They better make this rematch a great one!
Good riddance Go Onizuka, you won’t be missed… Actually no, it’s too painful to realize that everyone will possibly return after this whole network doomsday stuff is over, including this bland, pretentious ‘entertainer” that STILL didn’t have any significance to the overall plot. >:( Anyway, I will now grab my machete and kill that lard ass NAOKI who pissed me off the instant he reappeared on-screen despite himself saying that he won’t be getting into Link VRAINS stuff for a while. Revolver’s Rokkets, though, have finally won my acknowledgement, they’re unique on their own and their latest ace, Borrelsword Dragon, had the sickest dragon design I’ve seen in a while.
Playmaker vs Revolver… Who am I even kidding? Playmaker has this duel WON before it even started, or they’ll pull a surprise stunt since Revolver already knew Playmaker’s true identity.
I’m just going to wait to see what they do in the next season or so. Because in my opinion it just feels too borderline stale especially with everything being on Yusaku and knowing what’s going to happen. Doesn’t really help with the fact since there first duel Revolver already lost to him and there really wasn’t much going on between the two compared past rivalries.
I don’t mean to make a scene out of this or any of the character but this leaves a bad expression with how they took out Blue Angel/Aoi especially with her not having a single word as well as Akira not having to duel; Ghost Girl not getting a single win yet GO(the character the show barely worked on) got to be the only one to go on a high note.
ARC-V pissed me off to the point where I constantly ask myself why should I care and after that when Vrains happened, all the production behind the scenes all I’m left with disappointment and on the other hand it’s expected in modern YGO nowadays.