I am quite glad to see the show found its footing after last week’s sloppy episode. It took forever to get to this point, but Onizuka’s character has officially settled into a role, and its one that treks a dark path. It was heck of a bumpy road, but all of the pathetic struggles and his downfall from fame, and how he has seems to have completely forgotten why he duelled in the first place (no mention of the children from the orphanage, not that they were faithful supporters to begin with), blinded by his inferiority of being unable to defeat Playmaker, is finally paying off.
The version of Onizuka we met today, was the one who is willing to sacrifice his health and sanity in exchange for power. (Not that it makes him any less pathetic, but at this point, how much further can he go? He had already hit rock bottom longgggg ago!) He has agreed to become SOL Technologies’ lab-rat, wielding a new power, similar and undoubtedly based off the Ignis, called Brain-Hack.
And I don’t know about you, but I am loving this! It is about bloody time we see what SOL Technologies has been up to. We have already known they were shady, but up until now, the only thing we knew that was in development were the AI.Duelists, which utterly failed. Kicking the bucket to that plan, they have been working on something even more revolutionary, and that is this technology called “Brain Hack”. This is something to help Humans become a bit more like the Ignis themselves (which is ironic, don’t you think?).
However I must say, I am a bit surprised how Akira doesn’t appear to have an reservations about the project. He knows what’s going on, but we have’t had the chance to see what he truly feels about it. It is something that will likely pop up in the next conversation/secret meeting he has with Playmaker, to better understand what the corporation is planning to do with it. Either way, the timing of this event, while it’s still imperfect is a worrisome since this may quickly (or even intended to) become a weapon for Humanity in the war against the Ignis. Varying on how many people SOL Technology intends to use it on, I can also see this technology potentially being hijacked and abused by Lightning, or else destroyed altogether. However for the sake of making sure the Ignis don’t gain too much of an advantage, they will probably leave that out, or save it for a much later date.
That being said, it was absolutely hysterical the way Yuusaku and Ai reacted when he revealed himself. Had I not been laughing at the time, I probably would have made that face too. It’s insane how much he has changed, so much weight lost, I needed a moment to realize they really did change his design, to show how sickly and slimmer he has become. Keep this up, and the guy is going to wound up in the hospital.
I am curious to see whether or not Blood Shepherd would be willing to become a lab-rat for this project as well, but if it has anything to do with AI, he will probably keep himself away from it— not that he needs it anyways. The guy is already plentiful capable of taking people down.
Another great development that took place this episode, was Yuusaku calling Akira out to warn him about the upcoming war against Humanity. This officially, to some extent, forced Akira to get his head out of the sand, and re-evaluate his priorities, or so I hope. (I don’t blame Flame for feeling wary about him.) This event also led to highlighting the contrasts in the decisions being made by Aoi and Onizuka, and path they are now taking.
Both of them gone through their own phase of stupidity, especially after the Tower of Hanoi event, but the choices they are now making are what sets them apart. Onizuka kicked and screamed like child in a tantrum, and then traded everything for power, while Aoi took her loss against Takeru as a lesson of her ignorance, and recognized the bond that is shared between some Ignis and their Origin. Now Aoi is making the proactive move of making sure she finds Aqua before any of the Bounty Hunters do, to ensure they are able to protect and build good relationship with the Ignis that has been described as Neutrals. I really do hope it’s Aoi who finds Aqua, I really want to see how she is going to approach her, especially since the two of them don’t share the unique bond between the Ignis and its Origin.
Speaking of Aqua, we learned the reason why she suddenly vanished, was because she witnessed Lightning creating Judgment Arrow, and he didn’t hesitate to imprison her and hide her away somewhere in the Link VRAINS network. He already knew it’s pointless to try and persuade Aqua, so it would be best to remove her from the picture so she’s out of the way. She was briefly found and rescued by Earth, revealing she has healing properties (so maybe that’s her special skill) … until he shoved her off the board as an attempt to save her from Onizuka.
And I’m not going to lie, I laughed really hard at that because Earth is such a clumsy dork! Had he had Earth been a bit more patient, Aqua would have had the opportunity to probably be put in the safety of Yuusaku and Ai! What’s even more hilarious about Earth’s move was how Onizuka didn’t care for him, so his plan mostly failed until he readily challenged him to a duel to which he accepted.
I wasn’t exactly expecting this duel to go on for more than one episode, but I am loving the pace they they have set themselves to. With now so much at stake, it makes sense for them to make haste of finding Aqua and Earth before Lightning or SOL Technologies does. So I am glad this isn’t just a “duel” episode, so there was more than one thing going on. I would like to see them to continue doing this into the next episode, since the tempo they have set the pace at is just right, and they should keep rolling with it! With that said, Earth looks super mad in the preview, so I’m looking forward to see what provoked him. I just hope his fury will not shoot himself in the foot, and will still be able to defeat Onizuka!
And they successfully made Go even uglier and more pathetic. And from the preview, looks like Earth is going to be in a huge pinch. NO! Not my precious Earth! I don’t want him to lose and get captured! If he lost, then please at least have someone save him before being captured by Go!
I giggled when Emma was surprised by how much Aoi has matured. It was like her earlier behaviour before dueling Takeru was never there. Looks like the partnership between Aoi and Aqua will be official. Heck, even there are many who speculates that Aoi is actually a victim of Lost Incident who somehow lost her memories and Aqua is based on her. Considering Aqua’s design and many other things, somehow it doesn’t sound a far-fetched idea now. I still have doubts that’s the case though.
Now, what will Yusaku and Ai do? And not forgetting Takeru and Flame who are going down to possibly where Aqua ends up to.
Well at least at least this episode pretty much set it into stone how Onizuka’s character will be from here on out. I for one am glad they are choosing to roll with it since he’s beyond saving at this point. Takeru’s words of how he used to see him as his idol didn’t resonate him the first time, I doubt it will a second time, especially with whatever the side effects of “Brain Hack” will cause (I’m sure there will be plenty).
The possibilities of Aoi being a victim of the lost incident but lost her memories, has been something lingering in the back of my mind as well. The only thing that makes me puzzled about it, is that would mean Akira would probably have no memories of it either. That or their memories been fabricated/manipulated, which could be an interesting twist, but I don’t really see the need for it. I feel like, besides how much Akira was overprotective of her earlier on being used as a potential easter egg, they would need to more clearly allude to it much earlier on.
Even if Earth were to lose (please don’t!), I highly doubt Ai and Yuusaku would simply allow him to take him. It would be hysterical if they anyone (Aoi, Yuusaku or Takeru) were to grab Earth and Aqua and just log out. XD Screw the rules!!!!
Let’s assume that Aoi is indeed a victim of Lost Incident. She and Akira are not actually related by blood, right? They are step-siblings. Perhaps Aoi was kidnapped and lost her memories before she and Akira became siblings, so it’s understandable that Akira doesn’t know that Aoi is a victim too. But still, I’m not sure with this speculation until proven otherwise.
And I almost forget about the Knights of Hanoi. While yeah, they’re still treating the Ignis overall as a threat to humanity, they’ll at least tolerate the Ignis who decides to side with humanity like Ai and Flame at least until Lightning and Windy are defeated. So maybe if something happen to Earth and Aqua in the next episodes, they’ll interfere too. I doubt they’ll just stay silent and let SOL Technology capture the Ignis. I hope they’ll interfere somehow, mainly because I wanna see the interaction between Earth and Spectre who are supposed to be partners.
But there is another thing to take into consideration, there were also three events that all took place 10 years ago: Akira/Aoi’s parents were killed, the Lost Incident/Hanoi Project was in action, and Takeru’s parent had been killed while they had been searching for him as well. Now that I really think about it, I feel like Baira would have recognized Aoi’s name when she was working in the hospital.
LOL I actually forgot about the truce too. Even though the alliance is only temporary, i’m not used to them not going out to kill them. HAHA!
I think the ending song, Glory, kind of suits the VRAINS theme going on around now. Go Onizuka is doing whatever he can to seize glory while Aoi is not really achieving glory, but wanting to find Aqua in order to increase their numbers.
Since Akira’s group knows that there’s a 2:2 ratio between enemy and ally, increasing the enemy’s force is probably their biggest disadvantage. I do think Aoi is smart because if she finds the Ignis as an ally, humanity will have the upper hand. I also think that Cafe Nagi allying themselves with Akira is probably the best choice since Akira owes Playmaker a debt for saving them and he’s genuinely friendlier towards Playmaker than the others. Though, I’m REALLY worried about his secretary. She can potentially screw things up.
I’m kind of worried about SOL Technologies’ new program. It might be the cause of their destruction if Lightning manages to find out about it and hack into it. Speaking of Lightning, I saw a picture on Twitter comparing him to a lemon, and now I cannot unsee Lightning as an evil lemon.
Oh definitely, the girls were quick to recognize how important it was to gain a number advantage. I’m not sure if that’s something that has crossed Akira’s mind though, since he sees it as, “Well shit, the Hanoi Knights were right”. His assistant is surely going to be worlds of trouble if he isn’t careful around her. If Akira were to cut himself away from SOL Technology altogether, I can see her taking over. She can be scary when she wants to be.
Yup, SOL’s tech is exactly what I’m worried about too. It will either serve as a weapon against the Ignis, or perhaps against Humanity. We will have to see just how powerful SOL’s firewall is to keep Lightning out if they want any hope of keeping this off his radar. It wouldn’t surprise me if he already knows about it though, and is already planning how to exploit it. Just think about how he could litterally make Humans the Ignis’ vessels through that program.
AAHAHAHAHAHAHA LIGHTNING AS AN EVIL LEMON! AHAHAHAHA I CAN’T UNSEE THAT EITHER, IT’S SO FUNNY!!!!
You know, I had a bit of a laugh at the Brain Hack when the episode ended. This technology for which Onizuka effectively damaged his body, with its cool and somewhat generic visuals, allowed him to do the unimaginable…remember to use the effect of his monster in the graveyard, the only one he could use in that situation even!
I realise it was for the sake of both making his Fusion Summon more impactful/cooler looking and implying that Brain Hack is a computer to brain aid duel program that makes the best move possible for the situation, however it ended up looking like a joke because of its timing.
It also made his outer eyes look like Bohman’s.
considering specter in the cast list and it implied a bit in playmaker vs earth that he might be earth ignis maybe he will save him
[Takes out popcorn] Omg, how I’d LOVE to see how that would unfold. Spectre’s wicked mind games are always fun to watch!