Really writers? REALLY? They actually went as far to make Takeru an Onizuka Fan? Are you freaking kidding me? Ugh! You know what, I am just not going to care about this anymore. Onizuka’s character is already far beyond saving at this point, so I hope we will see him be phased out over time. Perhaps by making him stick as a Bounty Hunter would be a great way to do so, by enabling him to choose the path of self-destruction, and then take a permanent trip off-screen to undergo a journey of “Self Reflection”.
So on Takeru’s behalf and for the sake of our sanity, let’s just ‘imagine’ Onizuka is this “great duelist” who inspires players.
Takeru was so excited to meet and duel his hero, and he was so adorable about it. (Such a precious cinnamon roll, I can’t!!!!) Onizuka is the one who gave him courage, he admires him for defeating the ones who made them suffer, giving him a path when he felt he couldn’t move forward. It is thanks to him how he got himself involved today and admired Onizuka’s strength for being an independent duelist who believed in his own strength, even when his style was considered outdated. So when Onizuka starts barking about being freaking jealous of Playmaker, and being unable to tolerate not being number one and being unappreciated by everyone, this upsets him. It pleased me to see Takeru ripped him a new one by saying it as it is: “Onizuka is SOL’s new pet dog, a pitiful loser to complains to strangers.”
And this is precisely why I can’t bring myself to even care about Onizuka. His character started off as a poorly written “Charisma Duelist” (aka Entertainment Duelist), one of the biggest blunders of this series (especially since they are following up from a series that revolved around such style). Then we saw him undergo this period of trying to update his style, be trendy again, but even that fell short because they didn’t follow through with it completely. Fast forward to the present, Onizuka is now an even more pathetic character with a seriously bruised ego. Fuelled by his jealousy, he joins SOL Technology’s bounty team with the intention of not only defeating Playmaker, but also as a means to get rid of him, so he can reclaim that spot. Like how are we supposed to ever come around to even care this guy?
Now I am left to wonder if they are trying to salvage his character by making it as though he was supposed to become a character who completely lost sight of himself. He forgot how to be humble and appreciate his true fans like Takeru, who continued to stick by him even when he wasn’t doing well. But man, if Onizuka hadn’t already hit rock bottom, this episode he definitely did.
However the biggest joke is how Onizuka honestly believes he contributed to saving Link VRAINS. The only thing I can think of off the top of my head is his involvement of pursuing some of the hooligans and one of the researchers from the Hanoi Knights, and protecting some of the players. That was pretty much it. But in reality, he should know better than anyone, that he was the one who ended up being saved. So to get angry about Playmaker being number one in the public eyes is not only childish but pathetic.
On top of that, I am very annoyed with Akira right now. It was not his place to share the information with Onizuka how Playmaker is one of the victims from the Lost Incident. It is a very personal subject, and the only reason Yuusaku opened up about it because he was forced to. There is also the matter where he is surprised to Playmaker now has a partner who also possesses one of the six Ignis, and intends to use him to figure out if something weird is brewing up again within the network.
That said, I am relieved that we didn’t actually have to watch Yuusaku go up against Onizuka again, it’s definitely not worth his time. The only reason why I didn’t fall asleep or get too distracted while watching this is because Takeru alone was able to keep me watching. And with how things are playing out, nothing would please me more to watch Takeru crush him. Experiencing a loss to Soulburner should (if they intend to focus on his bruised ego) definitely kick him down a notch. In turn, that should also only make him even more salty about losing. But hey, if this is going to help finally phase him out, I am all for it.
I’ve seen people on other forums discussing about how they LIKED this kind of Go Onizuka: “Someone who was originally popular, viewed as a hero, had built a brand and was doing “good” work for the (ungrateful) kids. Not only did Playmaker trounce him when they dueled, but when he was seen as a “co-hero” of Link VRAINS, he was still overshadowed by Playmaker. Go was prideful and he basically sees everything he’s put his life into as being destroyed by Playmaker. Thus justifying his jealousy and his desire to surpass him.”
BULL-FUCKING-SHIT! Not only this so-called pretentious “entertainer” didn’t have any charisma whatsoever, he’s such a whiny loser who kept moaning at the harsh truth that Playmaker was and will ALWAYS be one step ahead of him, and even his childhood story didn’t give him an excuse to be a SOB that failed at his stunts EVERY SINGLE TIME. Even worse, he threw aside his Goukis and replaced them with the lame “Dinowrestlers” which looked like a mockery of the Gladiator Beasts in their primes. In conclusion, even after 50+ episodes Go Onizuka did what he always does the best: Nothing but an annoying attention seeker that we love to see getting stomped harder every time he appears. (Honestly, there’s legit reason why his parents dumped him because Go needs to look at the mirror to find out how ugly he was as a person both outside AND inside. His parents did NOTHING wrong.)
Be it narrating the incident vaguely or as a whole, I had to applause Akira for being one sly dog that revealed the Lost Incident to this pretentious “entertainer” just to ensure he’s hooked into his primary mission to capture the Ignis thus pitting him against Soulburner instead of Playmaker and I’m glad it turned out to be that way. As much as Soulburner being a secret fan of this annoying attention seeker (which allowed us to see his older casual form) was a surprise because I’m sure nobody likes this whiny brat that loves throwing tantrums, I’m already sensing Vector-vibes from him with some shots revealing his shaded sinister smiles… Which already made him a better character than Go will ever be.
It’s not even worth debating who’ll win this duel in the upcoming episode due to how predictable it is, it’ll definitely be Soulburner, just to send Go down the pecking order even further than anyone else and watch him stay salty for eternity.
I won’t exactly call Takeru/Soulburner only Go’s fan. He also admires Yusaku/Playmaker and Aoi/Blue Angel for fighting against Knights of Hanoi who made him suffered, especially Yusaku who is able to become strong and face his problem head on despite sharing the same experience, as stated in his character profile that you can see here:
As much as we both want Go to just disappear, character like him who has been introduced and promoted since the very beginning hardly disappears. He will stick to the series until the end in a way, maybe like Gongenzaka’s support role or something. His Gouki and Dynawrestler Decks are interesting to watch though. If it were not for Takeru/Soulburner and Flame in this episode, especially their usual funny exchange at the beginning of the Duel, I might have skipped this episode.
So before becoming a bespectacled guy, Takeru looks like a delinquent or the sort based on the OP and flashback. He is cool and cute without his glasses and different hairstyle! I initially thought his delinquent-like look is like his alternate personality that was born from his trauma of the Lost Incident. Oh well, either way, if he is going to appear like that again in future episodes, I can’t wait to see it!
It’s close enough, since he respected/looked up to him 😉 But I suspected as much as well. With that in mind though, I wonder how he will react when he meets Blue Angel? Hahaha! It will be funny if he’s star-struck like he was here.
HAHA! An alternate personality of Delinquent-Takeru would be hilarious! I want to see it!!!
Perhaps he was a s delinquent and picked fights as a source of comfort for himself, so he wouldn’t feel weak or something.
I totally get how you feel about Go. He’s definitely sunk so low. Yeah, I can’t believe how selfish he is, thinking he’s the only hero of Link VRAINS and that no one can steal his crown. He got mad at news reporters for mentioning Playmaker even a little bit and I’m pretty sure back in episode 22, he was bluffing when he said he knew Playmaker’s identity. Otherwise, if he knew Playmaker was Yusaku, he would have already tracked down Yusaku in the real world and forced him to duel again. If you’re going to be a hero of Link VRAINS, at least try to be selfless. I mean, Aoi/Blue Angel was a little selfish too at the beginning of the series in that she only fought for herself, but she’s no longer that way. Emma gave her the push to head back to Link VRAINS and she took Baira’s advice about fighting for others, thus becoming a lot more selfless. This also in turn, earned Akira’s approval and solved her problem of her brother paying little attention to her. Go, on the other hand, has let his jealousy of Playmaker consume him to the point of becoming a lap-dog for SOL Technologies.
This episode really got me liking Takeru/Soulburner even more. I guess I could also describe him as a “cinnamon roll”, a good-looking one too. Not gonna be surprised if he has fangirls in Link VRAINS, although something tells me Playmaker and Soulburner are going to mainly be going on some more private adventures in Link VRAINS as Playmaker is wanted by SOL and Soulburner will soon have a bounty on his head too. Looks like he still has that kind polite, and cheery demeanor as Takeru. At least Soulburner didn’t get mad at Go for mentioning the Lost Incident, which could have infuriated Playmaker if he was around, given how he was back in episodes 18-20. I really liked watching Soulburner being a loyal fan to Go and just smiling and laughing because he was having a great time dueling his idol. He even addressed Go as his “senpai” and Go’s contribution to saving Link VRAINS was one of the reasons why he stopped being a shut-in.
As for Akira revealing Yusaku’s past on the Lost Incident, I thought that was horrible too. Who wants to have their past told like that to other people so casually? I certainly wouldn’t. That really reminded me of how Spectre dug up Aoi’s past like that. It’s not really any of Go’s business to know about the Lost Incident and Yusaku’s involvement. I’m not so sure what Akira’s true intentions are for capturing the Ignis. It certainly doesn’t feel like Akira wants to help Playmaker in any certain way, which I believe is totally ungrateful especially what Playmaker did to save them all. I’m getting a weird feeling that after Playmaker and Soulburner make it to the restricted area, Ghost Girl and Blue Angel are going to be there to ambush them and try to obtain Flame and Ai for Akira.
I really like this episode, but not because Go’s motivations are good but rather the opposite.
This episode was something like this:
Go: “I know you’ve suffered, but I also suffered, just listen” -progress to give backjstory
Soulburning: “That’s bullshit, stop making you the victim, Call me when you really have problems”
It is shocking to met the idol that freed you from the absolute depression and realize that he’s an asshole.
And its shows how soulburner was also a highly affected boy with a lot of depression and low self-esteem despite he looks happier now, the heroes of Vrains gave him hope and it also justified that he wasn’t in the previous season. It’s impossible to compete against that shitty past when you’re dumbfounded with “beating playmaker to be number 1” which is a pretty empty goal, while Yusaku and SoulBurner they want something much deeper.
Well said! :Db
Here’s the thing about Go: the guy is just Captain Qwark without the charm and much like Qwark, Go’s here to stay so we might as well tolerate him. Now, I’m not saying his character is good – at all – not even Qwark was all that engaging. However, as the R&C series went on, he kinda faded out of relevancy so I think we can expect the same for Go. Eventually the writers will realize they have nothing of meaning for the poor guy to do and will come up with some half-baked reason for him to disappear.
Getting annoyed every time he’s on screen will just lead to unnecessary headaches and I know a thing or two about those. After all,
I still watch RWBY.
Let’s rewind time to the earliest VRAINS episodes and counting up all the sins of this pretentious “entertainer”:
Episodes 4-5: A one-sided manpain where those ungrateful little shits ditched him in support of the then new VRAINS icon-Playmaker. First time he got butthurt, and subsequently disguised himself as a goon of a cybernet terrorist organization to lure him out where he fought him in the DULLEST wrestling smackdown of all history (anime or IRL) despite the spam-happy nature of his Goukis.
Episodes 22-24: Could you even believe it? After his duel against Playmaker he vanished completely for almost 20 episodes just to rush back in time to confront the DNA Frankenstein of the Knights of Hanoi (Genome) for the sake of… rescuing a throwaway fodder with one of the most awkwardly forced “friendships” ever. Plus his stunts of “evolving” himself made the audience cringe so hard it’s better that he remained as he was before. Those three episodes were his last attempt of redemption and he still screwed himself up so bad.
Episodes 39-40: Once again, another vanishing act for this pretentious “entertainer” for another 15 episodes and he was dragged out to “save” Link VRAINS but in reality he simply wandered around the deserted digital realm reminiscing how he’s being an asshole for firing his manager who was trying to stop him, and he outright revealed his ugliest side when dueling Revolver: He’s only dueling for the sake of HIMSELF and his selfish desires! Thank goodness he got his ass kicked by mirror Force which gave us viewers a good laugh about such a miserable punk.
Episodes 51-??: The best stunt for Go Onizuka was without a doubt his endless vanishing acts where he could lay on his bed for his own “self-reflection” of his manpain for long periods due to him being overshadowed by Playmaker, and leaped back to action so that we had to endure his unbearable rant about people no longer giving two shits about him. Now he’s set to be BURNED down by the last of his devoted “fan”.
Is it just me, or does Eva have an unspoken hatred for entertainers?
On a more serious note, I can kinda understand why Go is acting this way. He grew up with nothing, but through hard work, became VRAINS best duelist. Then Playmaker shows up out of nowhere and suddenly he’s hailed as a hero after one duel. Then when the Tower of Hanoi business was over, all the reporters kept asking him about Playmaker because between the two of them and Blue Angel, Go was the only one who’s identity they knew and therefore the only person on the scene they could question. Essentially, they were only paying attention to him because he was the only one available, especially since it was so they could learn more about Playmaker.
To have all of his hard work overshadowed like that, it’s not hard to see why Go turned out the way he did.
Meta wise though, I think the shows staff had plans for Go but scrapped them. He is literally the only major character to have had no connection to the Knights of Hanoi. Yusaku and Takeru, as well as Kusanagi’s brother Jin, were victims of the Lost Incident, Aoi was used to try and take Ai, then used as a bargaining chip to make Yusaku duel Ryoken, Akira was competing with the knights to defeat Yusaku, and Emma, as a treasure hunter, discovered their plans for the Tower of Hanoi and risked her life to get it to Yusaku. All in all, I don’t think the staff know what to do with Go’s character and are trying to experiment with him, but I doubt that he’ll fade out of the show.
Another thing worth noting is that Go did contribute to saving Link VRAINS, having dueled Ryoken and exposing his Mirror Force card to Yusaku, with that knowledge being put to good use during his duels.
I can see why Akira would tell Go about Yusaku’s past involving the Lost Incident, as they have developed a rapport of sorts with each other.
Almost hard to believe that delinquent looking character in the tracksuit was actually Takeru. The hair and eye color probably should have been a dead giveaway, but it’s still surprising how the shy, glasses wearing Takeru was what I’m guessing his Soul Burner Avatar was based on.