; v ; / Sorry for the sudden absence last week! I was sick so I couldn’t write up any of my Wednesday entries!
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Episode 88
Oh goodness, Episode 88 was a completely snoozefest. Frankly speaking, I was so bored, I wanted just wanted the episode to end so I could move on to the the next one. But that isn’t to say there wasn’t anything important that happened, in fact we got a bit of interesting new details that is certainly worth the attention.
So it turns out Windy was planning to go straight to Revolver, but it was Lightning who told him to deal with Takeru first. It was then when we also learned that Bohman is likely to go after Aoi, and as soon as I heard that I thought, “Well shit. Sounds like a default loss set up.” I really hope that won’t be the case. But at the same time, it make sense perfect sense for Bohman to target Aoi considering she was the one who took Haru down. The only thing he (probably) doesn’t now about, is how Lightning had always seen Haru as a disposable tool. He didn’t care if he was defeated, he just needed him to buy time.
However, bearing the threat of Aoi’s potential defeat in mind, and made me think about the potential outcome for this duel against Windy. Right now, Windy has all the momentum, and he is getting cocky, so it does look like they are setting the stage Takeru’s and Flame’s comeback. They both feel very strongly about what Windy has done to his partner, whom we saw today and how he was killed. He wasn’t in a car, but rather was hit by one, which Windy was controlling. Poor kid, finally got out of hell, and then just when he thought he could start living a ‘normal’ life again, he’s killed by the very entity that was created based off of his data they collected.
And this brings us to a really interesting point Flame made today. In his mind, he believes they should be thankful to their origins, because it was everything they have gone through was how they were born in the first place. Lightning thinks this is the dumbest thing ever, but I think it’s beautiful. Flame understands they have gone through such traumatic experiences. This also goes to show why Flame kind of acts like that guardian who helps Takeru in times of needs. It is Flame who helped him find the courage and face his fears, calms him down when he gets all riled up, and gives him advice when he’s feeling down. He cares deeply about his partners’ needs and he does what he can to help him.
Although the episode was terribly boring, I enjoyed seeing Flame trying to lay out a plan of provoking Windy, knowing he has a short fuse and how we got to see his more fierce side, when he got angry and frustrated after hearing what Windy thought of his partner.
Episode 89
Wow this episode flew by faster than expected. Compared to the last one, it was definitely a lot better since it was able to keep my attention, but still, it doesn’t change the fact I still found this duel as a whole was a terribly boring one. It didn’t surprise me to see Windy was acting in the beginning of the episode, because I mean it was too much. He did that so he could bait them into enabling him to use his skill Storm Access. But that doesn’t mean Takeru and Flame weren’t able to dupe him back. They did just that by baiting him with pretending they were in disagreement about setting a card, a trap that would later be used after Windy destroys it. The XYZ Summon was probably the highlight of the episode, just because it’s absolutely gorgeous to watch. It’s a real treat to the eyes.
And with that, Windy has fallen. He wasn’t able to blow out their fire. Flame ended up saving him by collecting his data, but I do wonder if Windy would be able to curse him as he wants to. It would be an interesting thing to play out later on, but for Flame’s sake, I hope not. No surprise that Lightning didn’t give a crap about Windy, as he says, “there’s no cure for the foolish!”.
With Windy out of the picture, that pretty much leaves Bohman and Lightning as the remaining two, unless Lightning intends to make use of Blood Shepherd and Spectre to even out the numbers again. Then again, those two don’t really need a third member, as I am sure they are both powerful enough on their own. But this also leaves me to wonder, if Bohman has reached completion yet, since Lightning doesn’t seem to be concerned about him going out to fight Aoi. Either he doesn’t see her as a threat to interfere with the process, or Bohman is all set ready to go, or both.
With the next match-up being Bohman VS Aoi and Aqua, I think it’s an understatement to say I am dreading it. I already have low expectations, and I really don’t have any hope for the matter of Aoi coming out victorious in this match up. The only way I can see her walking out of this even after being defeated if Bohman decides to show mercy, and spare her. And I can actually see him (potentially) doing just that because he has shown us he isn’t as cruel and heartless as Lightning is. I think for that to happen, both or at least Bohman need to come to an understanding of a sorts in order to give him a reason to do so. Frankly I wouldn’t even complain if they were to do just that, because don’t want Aoi’s character to go to waste, especially when she quite litterally JUST formed a partnership with Aqua. So hopefully, the outcome of this duel will play out differently than how I fear it to be. Regardless, I am not holding my breath for any miracles.
I’m glad you’re back in health. But if you’re not fully recovered yet, don’t force yourself. Take as much rest as you need.
Windy’s partner’s face is not fully revealed yet, but he looks kinda cute in my opinion. I hope they’ll show him again along with his name and voice. It’s really satisfying seeing Soulburner and Flame beat Windy. And the partnership between them certainly the strongest amongst Human-Ignis pair that I have watched so far. Yusaku and Ai needs to learn more from them.
Since Flame kinda saved Windy by absorbing his data…does that mean Windy possibly will appear again in future episodes? I’d rather not seeing him again…really…
If this is going to be like Arc-V, then there are only 10 episodes left until the end of Season 2. I hope they show “Kusanagi’s betrayal” (or the sort) that is shown in the OP before going to Season 3, unless they scrapped the idea all of a sudden (better not).
^ v ^ / I am in much better health now, thanks!
Yeah I’ve been wondering about if Kusanagi’s “implied” betrayal is ever going to happen at this rate. I kinda wanna see it happen, so like you, I hope it wasn’t scrapped because they ran out of time.
Oh yes it’s indeed looming very soon… Once we get Bowman vs Blue Maiden settled we’ll jump into it.
“I still found this duel as a whole was a terribly boring one”
Is this going to be your norm whenever a deck involving meta decks occurred? It’s not as wicked as the previous one when Lightning & Specter both went for Extra Links, but it’s a decent one for the victors because it’s a delight when meta players enjoy playing their tools and the losers ended up cursing IRL. (And Salaman”grates” did get an overall boost, screw Komoney.)
Anyway, these past two episodes were nothing but a shameless commercial of Komoney’s new toy, perhaps even worse than Yuri’s Ancient Gear structure deck commercial when he defeated and carded Asuka in Arc V. It pissed me off so much that they took their time to revamp Salaman”grates” and shoved them down our throats as the new meta we MUST bow down to but I won’t yield. Plus the whole duel was really cringeworthy to watch due to Stormriders failing to deliver and Windy being batshit crazy but still went down in such a lame fashion. The only good thing that came out from this duel was a glimpse of Windy’s partner.
To make matters worse, the upcoming duel HAVE to be Bowman vs Blue Maiden just to hype up the supposedly grave threat of this shallow AI-white elephant who did NOTHING but will still be given a free victory on a silver platter. People on the internet are already being pessimistic about Aoi’s chances but I don’t care, placing my bets for Aoi to defy the script and WIN! (The one consistent thing about VRAINS, everytime when things are going fine (especially when we just got the fabulous Lightning vs Specter), it went down the drain immediately afterwards.)
The decks have nothing to do with it, especially when I don’t know or even follow the meta. What made it boring for me was the lacklustre dynamic between Windy and Takeru/Flame. It’s the way the characters interact with each other, be it sassy, playing mind games or getting under their skins is what makes it more entertaining for me. Windy playing “dumb” just wasn’t doing it for me when it was obvious that it was a bluff.
I’m glad you’re feeling better 😀
Anyways, I never liked Windy, so I felt nothing when he got absorbed into Flame. However, what I found ironic was that Windy was the one who behaved the most human yet he loathed them. He wore clothes, mimicked stances made by humans, etc. His loss felt so satisfying because of this. Also, I don’t believe that Windy’s partner is dead. I am predicting that he’s going to be a major villain in Season 3–SOL Tech will probably put an AI chip on him to help him survive.
The duel overall was much better in 89 than in 88. I actually do like Soulburner, but I feel like his duels are always lackluster in execution. They’re always slow and then go fast towards the end. Though, out of his duels, I liked this one the most because of the XYZ summon (I’m watching Zexal on days I don’t watch VRAINS, so I’ve developed a fondness towards XYZ summoning).
I LOVED the XYZ summoning animation. I had to look back at Playmaker’s and realized that the beam color for his was blue while Soulburner has a red color scheme. I kind of like that, honestly. It gives individuality.
Honestly, I’m probably the minority in this, but I think Blue Maiden is going to win. She needs the win to validate Aqua’s credibility as a threat to Lightning since he fears her the most. Though, I do want to see how their duel plays out.
//. I actually do like Soulburner, but I feel like his duels are always lackluster in execution. //
I’m glad I’m not the only one who thinks that. For a pair’s theme that is fire and all so to speak, it has always been lacking that punch. You hit the nail on the head though, starts off really slow and then a fast finish.
It makes me happy to see there’s actually more people than I thought being optimistic about Aoi’s chances of winning. XD And frankly, that’s really how it should be! This shouldn’t be a situation where we doubt about her chances!
The biggest gripe I personaly have with these 2 episodes is that it was clearly to commercial the new Structure deck and because of that they were dragging the duel as long as they could to have Soulburner use as many cards from the deck as possible thereby lowering the quality.
In episode 88 you could hardly feel any intensity and that isn´t a good thing when we are at the end of a season at war with the big bads faction, happily the quality and intensity went up in 89 though it would still so much better if what they were setting up for wasn´t a Rank 3 but a Link 4, and does Soulburner always have to make comebacks? it would cement his strenght alot more if he actually took the initative and pushed the opponent for once instead of getting slapped around like a ragdoll only to pull something.
Knowing the summaries for the next 3 episodes (no spoilers) I was before this episode 60% certain Aoi was gonna win. After today that has gone up to 75-80%. The duel is gonna be an amazing showdown of Owerwhelming power (Bowman) vs Resourcefull genius (Aoi) in a duel where no one can afford to lose in a beautiful arena.