Holy shit, this episode, talk about horrific! Bloody hell, Windy kept true to his word and was attempting to consume Flame inside out, it was so disturbing to watch! While Flame was able to suppress him through his own will power, it also meant his own demise, leaving Takeru to fight Bohman alone, the entire scene had me internally screaming, “NONONONONONONONONONONO NOT FLAME! @#*&! YOU WINDY!” Not even Bohman was able to stop it, not that it would have mattered since the end result would have been the same. The cruelest part about this duel was the fact that Takeru’s defeat was already more or less set in stone from the very beginning. That’s why Bohman was so confident, so much so, he even played Takeru by ‘daring’ him roll the dice to determine his own fate, regardless of the fact he knew no matter what he rolled, the path to victory was already secured. (He basically gave everyone the taste of hope, and the crushed it! How mean is that?!) Much of what Bohman did today was flexing his ultimate strength, being able to make incredibly advanced calculations of probabilities, ones that Humans and the first generation of Ignis cannot do.
And to think he actually suggested they call off the duel after Flame had passed— and I must say, when I heard that: Boy did that tick me off. I wished they never used that line to begin with, it was so unnecessary!
It was precisely because of that moment after Flame’s passing I legitimately feared that the power of friendship would triumph all. For the sake of the plot and further legitimizing Bohman’s powers, I wanted to see Bohman win, and I was growing restless at the possibility of Takeru being handed a win (because there have been instances in various series where such thing has happened). I mean, it’s a weird feeling, despite seeing the characters we love fall, I also can’t help but feel satisfied with the fact the villains are no pushover. After-all, this is building up to the ultimate fight between Bohman and Yuusaku. Bohman has grown immensely since they have last faced off, and despite being the main protagonist, they are doing a good job of actually raising the stakes to the point we have no idea what is going to happen next.
But let’s be real, the only reason we aren’t totally freaking out is because we know they are going to be back one way or another, haha!
Unless they pull that stunt they did in ARC-V.
But let’s not think about that.
Another thing to note, although the majority of Yuusaku’s team have fallen, there are still many players outside of VRAINS to take into consideration.
For starters, I am left wondering why Ryoken had asked his buddies to retrieve Kusanagi from the truck. As silly as this will sound, initially I did consider maybe they were “kidnapping” him to bring to their side, but really: this is about a health and safety issue. Since their data/consciousness has been consumed, that means their physical bodies will be in a state of comatose until they are retrieved, so naturally it’s dangerous to leave their bodies as they are. Now that Takeru has fallen there’s a good chance they may end up retrieving him as well. And there’s a real possibility they going to have to search for Aoi’s and potentially Akira’s and Emma’s bodies as well (should they be unable to leave Link VRAINS). I wouldn’t be surprised if we end up seeing everyone’s bodies at the mansion.
And then we have of course: SOL Technology. Although they have yet to make their move, I will keep mentioning them to ensure they don’t slip from my mind. How will they respond to Bohman hijacking Link VRAINS? Will we actually see them attempt to make use of the AI implant, by transforming it into a weapon to use against the war against Humanity? Bohman made it clear today, although he may not agree with Lightning’s methods, he more or less agrees that there is no future for Humans. So much of walking his own path.
Overall, I would still say last week’s episode was definitely Takeru’s best episode, this one while it had a lot of shock factor involved, it didn’t have the same feel. You could even say the distorted animation reflected the duel spiralling out of control into the pit of hell itself. That said, it wasn’t a bad episode, but damn did they punch us all in the gut with this one, because it hurts like a bitch.
RIP Takeru and Flame Q___Q
PS: Pryo Phoenix design is super slick. Love it!
This episode just pissed me off. I’m usually calm and collected, but never would I have thought an anime character would piss me off as much as Bohman. I don’t care what anyone says, Bohman was cheating. Everything in LV is made of data, so I wouldn’t be surprised if the luck he had with the dice rolls are manipulated. I hate cheaters, so Bohman manipulating luck and such angered me to no end. SB doesn’t deserve this. D: Also, go away Windy. I never liked you. I was literally flicking my screen during Windy’s appearance, telling him to “Go away”.
Also, I noticed that PM was only sad when BM died but was angry when Kusanagi and SB died. I think the more angry PM gets, the more he cares about someone. Now that Bohman killed SB, he’s going to have to put a certain AI in the trash.
Next week is Revolver vs Lightning. JUICE THAT LEMON SO HARD, REVOLVER!
I wouldn’t be surprised if the dice rolls were manipulated, and Flame definitely alluded to that. While I didn’t initially interpret that way completely (I did have my suspicions though, I should probably add that in), if that proves to be the case, I will be pissed off too because it would make it as though Bohman can’t beat SB or PM without cheating then.
Now that he’s playing God, I’m sure it’ll be his downfall. Watch Windy be the one to take him down due to the virus. Cheaters never prosper, after all.
This episode makes it clear that Bohman was not cheating, He simply had plans for when the dice don’t come out as he wants.
They all still benefit him in the end because his monsters have four attributes. I won’t call it cheating if his rolls landed light or dark attributes, but did they roll on them? No.
Am I the only one who thinks the Duel ended a bit too fast? I often feels this way whenever Soulburner duels: His duel started quite slow and steady but end very quickly. But still, yeah, this is his best duel so far in my book.
Playmaker and Ai, the two of you must learn from Soulburner and Flame and deepen your friendship. I’m very touched when Soulburner said that he considers Flame as dear friend before he considers him an A.I. That’s what I call best buddies…(TT_TT)
I have no doubt everyone will be revived, but then that may also means Windy can be revived too later. He is a good villain for the series and formidable enemy, though personally I don’t want to see him ever again.
Actually, there’s a mistranslation in the preview of the next episode. It’s actually Revolver who reveals the hidden truth behind Lightning’s action, not Lightning himself revealing it to him. I think Revolver figure it out himself and provoke Lightning with it, which explained Lightning’s angered expression.
Yeah it did feel like it ended quickly, but i think it was because of all the drama that happened in the middle with Windy and Flame.
Thanks for the clarification about the mistranslation in the preview!
I actually found something kind of ironic in this episode, as someone who think they have mistreated Aoi I can´t help but notice that it´s her strategis that Bohman is using to screw over Soulburner. For that matter and I may be overthinking it, but Bowman seem to add the strategis of those he absorbs to his normal one, case in point like EARTH he uses a 0 ATK monster in the EMZ and then protect it with what it can summon and Aoi´s hand traps.
Bohman lost alot of my respect in this episode cause while I can accept him claming to be God and not bat an eye he has begun lying and manipulate like humans. 1st. example, he let Soulburner chose to call off the duel knowing it will piss him off considering the moment goading him to continue. 2nd. he claims that Soulburner will determine his fate by the dice he rolls, WRONG! he allready had a backup plan so esentially he was lying to his face. lastly pls cut back on the dice rolling, I like the reassoning they are giving but this is to much.
Soulburners Link – 4 was cool and it´s nice having a boss monster for Salamangreat though I have 2 small problems though they may be kinda petty. 1st. this is the kind of things they should show him obtaining, the fact that he was able to Reincarnate it means he have had 2 for a while and they certanly could have been used earlier to great effect. 2nd. while it does look like it when it attacks it dosen´t look that much like a phoenix but again that may just be me being petty.
Last remarks to this episode:
– Animation several times was awfull and not decerving of this duel.
– While they are going for emotional gut punches this episode I´m kinda numb to them now considering how often they have played this so I thought it was lame.
– If they are gonna make more 2 episode duels in the future have them last more rounds, this is getting anoying.
Yeah it was so rude! 💢 Bohman treated Kakeru like he was playing with his food! I don’t think Bohman really understands what it means to “respect” an opponent.
I think you’re onto something though, it would be really interesting if he really is absorbing their strategies, it’s just like collecting data, except he has the ability to use it right away.
Not to mention, Bohman claims to be superior to humans when he has only encountered 5-7 people out of a billion. I think he’s getting rather arrogant claiming to be better than the ones he only knows about rather than trying to understand the whole.