What better way to start off the episode than a tearjerker flashback from the time when Takeru was rescued! It choked me up real bad, hearing from the kid himself that he was only six years old, and then followed up with after reuniting with his grandparents, he learns his parents have been killed in an accident. What a freaking cruel way to come back home. His grandparents told him his parents searched for him every day until they had died, and that just destroyed me.
With the combination of the loss of his parents, and the psychological trauma that remained, Takeru lost a part of himself. He stopped living, skipped school, stopped duelling and did things half-heartedly, until one day, he was inspired by Playmaker, Blue Angel and Onizuka for their efforts of fighting against the Hanoi Knights, and saving Link VRAINS. He made the resolve to leave the small town and come to Den City in hopes to rediscover himself. Much like Yuusaku, Takeru now duels because it’s the only way to help him move forward.
However it is important to note, there appears to be an intriguing trend going on: 10 Years Ago, we know an accident took the lives of both Akira and Aoi’s (E18), and Takeru’s parents. While it is plausible for their parents to have been killed in the same crash (traffic accident), I can’t help but also wonder whether or not this is a start of a pattern. As it stands right now, we have yet to find out of the circumstances in regards to Yuusaku’s family (as he lives alone), and how Kusanagi seems to be raising Jin on his own, implying they too may be parentless. Currently the only exception is Spectre, as he was already an orphan to begin with. If it turns out the victims of the incident were either orphans or lost a loved one in an “accident” during the six months they were missing, then it starts to look like the victims’ parents were targeted as a threat for uncovering secrets of the Hanoi Project, and were silenced by death.
Boy, would that be one heck of a dark development…
In all this was a good episode. And if I weren’t already obsessed with Soulburner’s deck, Salamangreat Emerald Eagle did it for me. I am ecstatic to see that Ritual Monsters will likely be trending this season! I also appreciated Takeru’s sportsmanship, and how he tried to get through to Onizuka, but albeit the guy refused his hand and snapped back at him claiming only ‘when you lose, the true self revealed’. But the truth is, that doesn’t apply to everyone, and given both Takeru’s and Yuusaku’s circumstances, it does not apply to either of them. So Flame’s savage comment of, “He must lose a lot to be a sore loser.” was pretty much on point. (BLESS YOU FLAME, BLESS YOU AND YOUR GLORIOUS SAVAGE COMMENTS!)
Oh, and we can’t forget about Hayami. GIRL YOU ARE IN DEEP SHIT NOW. She showed us her scary side today, going all dark by attacking Soulburner without Onizuka’s nor Akira’s consent. She did it because she doesn’t want him to get demoted again, but oh my god- that face she made… That’s Yu-Gi-Oh for you, always bringing out the scary faces. It was funny though to see Onizuka having an “Oh hell no!” moment. He is already rock bottom, he doesn’t need someone to help him sink even lower by resorting to dirty play. I don’t think he would even be able to live with himself should he ever win under such conditions.
Next week Ai and Yuusaku are in for loads of trouble with Blood Shepherd hot on their heels. Both of them had a very bad feeling, Ai especially– poor guy. He can’t handle stress at all, he looks like he is going to have a mental breakdown. It’s adorable though, because while he is freaking out and begging for them to retreat, Yuusaku remains cool and collected, but otherwise rightfully cautious. There is no dodging Blood Shepherd this time, given he is happy to use unhand tactics, it wouldn’t surprise me if he manages to lock Playmaker into a duel in order to force him to face him. Not to mention, besides the duel itself, it sure looks like Blood Shepherd will be giving him a headache with firing shots of his own weapon to make it more difficult for him to focus. He is known as a Player Killer, taking out his targets by the count of three. Ohhhhh boy. Let’s see how this one will play out.
The poor boy Takeru! If his parents’ death was deliberate, it’s truly cruel! If there’s really someone behind their deaths, I hope they’ll find the culprit soon and kick their ass! Speaking about that, if there really is someone setting up their deaths, it’s either the higher-ups of SOL Technology or Kogami. Both sides are as guilty for: SOL Technology covering up the incident to reap benefit for their own without a care for the children, and Kogami, no need to be said. Kogami would be even a crueler character if he also killed the parents. Since Go is still like this, I guess that means Go’s problem will continue for a while. Hopefully it won’t get in the way of the plot or anything. Go has truly become a sore loser. How disappointing. Someone, please just knock some sense into him the hard way already. I just want to get this over with so that we can just focus on other more likeable important characters.
And not forgetting Kiku, Takeru’s friend back at his hometown! She only appeared briefly, but I hope she’ll appear again in the future episodes. It would be nice to know more about Takeru from other people’s point of view. Since Takeru asked her to take care of his grandparents, either she is a very close friend (perhaps childhood friend) or a relative.
I actually had hoped to see a flashback of how Takeru met Flame for the first time, but this is not bad. I wish they’ll show how this duo first met.
If this group of Lost Incident kids happen, I can foresee Yusaku being the leader of the group, as basically his actions supported Jin and Takeru and possible affected Spectre (if he comes back as the good guy).
ARGHH!! I’m imagining a boy band….
Salty Go stayed salty and whiny as I predicted. Besides, his new Dinowrestler deck was very lame and stupidly low-powered where even a third-rate duelist playing mostly vanilla cards can take them out. Soulburner’s backstory was way too similar to Playmaker’s, nonetheless it’s confirmed that his parents were gone when searching for him and it might be highly possible that they’re silenced by death due to uncovering the secrets of the Hanoi Project. I’m also intrigued about whether we’ll see Kiku again or not, Yugioh desperately need properly established couples (no, I don’t count Yuma x Kotori as one) and so far the lack of Yusaku and Aoi interactions didn’t give me optimism that they’ll break the mould. (Once again, FUCK Shin Yoshida for advocating Yu-GAY-Ohness instead of genuine couples.)
Playmaker vs the BLOODY Shepherd set to commence in the next episode, hopefully he’s a real deal instead of being a poster villain because so far VRAINS villains really lacked the intimidation factor compared to the previous villains of the older series.
Well, Yoshida has stated that he’s not good with female characters, but with how they’ve been developed so far, they don’t really need to include any romantic subplots at this point.
To be fair, most of the villains so far have been sympathetic and not outright evil.