Hot damn, the animators were able to go all out this week! We were all waiting to see this kind of quality from them, and boy did they deliver. This episode was pure eye-candy, it made it even more fun to watch. I definitely noticed a couple of new features they didn’t quite include before, one of them is Revolver’s “Link Summoning” Animation, similar to Ghost Girl’s strings for her marionettes. Some neat new frame angles and just some high quality frames altogether. Nothing feels better than seeing the fights, the monsters and the characters all look their very best.
The highlight of the episode of course, was Ryoken proving he has more cards up his sleeve. His Mirror Force Strategy alone is no joke, but he has come prepared, expecting Yuusaku come up with a way to counter it. So he whips out the Continuous Trap: Link Turret, an ominous structure hovering above them, and has counters- which more often than not, is never a good thing. And To be perfectly honest with you, at first I was anticipating a hyper-beam to shoot out of it (in attempt) to deliver the final blow to Yuusaku and Ai, but by the sound of it, it might be another way of summoning Topologic Gamble Dragon, the one Ryoken picked up during their first round of their rematch (episode 42). I am expecting the two dragons to duke it at some point or another, considering they missed out their opportunity to do so during the Speed Duel round.
It was cool to see Yuusaku play more defensively during the beginning of the fight, making sure he had a hardy shield to fend of Ryoken’s attacks until he could finally turn the table on him. He was focusing his strategy on figuring out a way to counter Ryoken’s Mirror Force game, and then he would go for the kill. But just when he thinks he finally finds an edge, another curveball thrown at him, causing Yuusaku to return to the drawing board and figure out how to take Ryoken out before the Link Turret goes off. Tough luck for him.
My favourite part of the episode though has to be the interactions between Yuusaku and Ai. I found their exchanges to be absolutely hysterical, but the one that takes the cake was when Ryoken brought out the Link Turret:
“Umm….. Playmaker-sama. Five counters seem really dangerous. Did you get carried away and attack too much?” – Ai
“Maybe.” – Yuusaku
I actually had to pause it because I was laughing so hard, I could barely take down notes. It was a great kick to a situation that certainly looked grim to not only them but the audience as well. You could see it on Yuusaku’s face that even he was regretting going for the kill. It only caused him to walk into the trap Ryoken knew he would walk into, and that without a doubt, is frustrating to say the least.
It is hard to say who will come out on top in this duel. I thought maybe Ryoken might just finish him off by the end of this episode, (that would have been pretty epic), but the preview shows us Yuusaku will somehow dodge the bullet, dragging out the fight a bit longer. But more importantly, I am extremely curious about what the outcome of the fight will be. If Yuusaku loses here, then the network is destroyed, and is supposed to wipe out Ai and his buddies with it. However if Yuusaku wins, would Ryoken really continue to sit back quietly and let Ai roam free? It’s hard to picture, especially since Ryoken is willing to sacrifice everything in order to fulfill his father’s mission…
If I remember it right, I heard the Duel will lasts until Episode 46. I wonder if they can keep up with this great animation and Duel. This would be the first Duel to lasts four episodes. Wow. I wonder if they purposely make the Speed Duel round not so exciting to build up the excitement for the Master Duel round. Things doesn’t look good for Playmaker/Yusaku…And Ai, can’t you really do something to help aside from commentating? I know, this is not like Speed Duel, but come on, anything even a little bit to make yourself useful in such a grief situation?!
I wonder if by the end of this season Revolver/Ryoken will be able to let go of the past and move on…
For an episode that was focused entirely on the duel, I couldn’t believe that it left me bitterly upset! (At least this wasn’t as tedious as the one during Playmaker vs Specter where all the trading blows amounted to nothing for half of episode 36…)
Alright, the animation really went over the top this episode, however for all the season finale duels that took place in Yugioh’s long history this must take the cake as the LEAST urgent & tense where the stakes were apparently sunk to the lowest. It also didn’t help that FIREWALL STILL REFUSED TO RESURFACE despite we’re at the climax of the first arc of VRAINS especially in a duel that holds such importance to the story. Is Firewall even an ace monster anymore?? And Playmaker will most definitely WIN for the millionth-billionth time which that alone made me downvote the whole 40-ish episodes of VRAINS because 90% his duels were extremely predictable & tedious to watch with him Storm Accessing his way to victory most of the time in a manner that made Zexal Yuma a saint; oh and he didn’t even had the chance to duel outside of Link VRAINS with that dummy deck of old-school misfits. Which is why I’m totally annoyed at people who’re even complementing this episode as anywhere near decent when this was among the worst VRAINS episodes so far that didn’t include the recaps and some characters who deserve to be killed such as the fat lump NAOKI & the pretentious “entertainer” Go Onizuka.
At least Borreload Dragon is FINALLY back after its absence since god knows how long and this gives Ryoken a 0.001% chance of victory even with the preview foreshadowing a Stardust-esque monster making its debut.
How can you think that ?
The second hilarious interaction for me was AI actually not remembering the dragon’s effects, ironic for an AI!!!!!!