Whelp, it’s Yuusaku VS Kusanagi this time, and Lightning is having a field-day. And this duel, oof, it’s a cruel one alright. Yuusaku is shaken and Kusanagi is not pulling any soft punches. He’s going all out. Did anyone else notice the red effect when Yuusaku was directly hit and slammed into the ground and into the tree? Usually it’s blue (and we have seen it switch and and forth between the two this episode), so I found it to be quite alarming when I saw that. I wonder if it’s a sign to real world impact. It’s easy to forget that damage dealt in Link VRAINS can be carried over into the real world if they aren’t careful! But it also could have simply been because of Codebreaker attacking him directly.
Although it was a really slow episode, it is important to note that it looks like they are building up to the moment where Bohman will inevitably break away from Lightning. One of the reasons why I think that is because we are seeing such a stark contrast between Lightning’s inhumane nature and while Bohman continues to develop more humane traits. An example of that was Bohman’s particular interest in Jin’s fate, and scarring Yuusaku enough to weaken him to the point he breaks. It was also interesting to learn defeating Yuusaku no longer Bohman’s goal. Instead, he regards him simply as among the opponent he respects. Today, he came to him to give him a heads up and bid him farewell.
Meanwhile on the flip-side, we are also seeing more of how Yuusaku fits into Lightning’s plans, and why he is being treated as their secret weapon. Lightning’s goal for this duel is to draw out his despair (sadness, anger, grief). That’s why he is blackmailing Kusanagi to fight him. In fact Lightning was so meticulous with his plans, he had carefully set the conditions where Kusanagi has no choice but to fight seriously. Choose he lose on purpose or end in a draw, Lightning will kill Jin. In turn, if Kusanagi were to win, Lightning promised to return his brother’s consciousness to him.
Which leads us to the situation at hand. It is safe to say we all knew Jin was going to be used as a hostage at some point or another, and what transpired this episode was exactly as most of us expected. Kusanagi will fight to his best ability for his brother, while Yuusaku struggles to find the resolve to fight against him. Regardless who wins, Lightning will he one who comes out on top.
But frankly, even if Kusanagi were to win, I can’t see Lightning giving Jin back to him. Considering he plans to get rid of humanity at some point or another, or use them as their vessels or slaves, I see little reason for him to follow through with his promise. The only situation where I can actually see it happening if Bohman were to intervene and makes sure he follow through with his promise (given his soft spot for siblings in general). Regardless, I don’t think we will be seeing that happen, but it would certainly be interesting if it were to play out that way.
As for Yuusaku’s current dilemma, I understand why he is unwilling to fight. Kusanagi is a precious ally, and he understands more than anyone how important Jin is to him. To defeat him here, would be essentially denying him his brother, and dismantling the foundations of their partnership! It’s only natural for Yuusaku to hesitate, I would be more concerned if he weren’t!
However given how we all anticipated this inevitable fight, there is also a good chance they are also keenly aware of the possibility as well. So we might see them discussing about the present scenario taking place in the flashback we are going to see, and how they agree to face it. Regardless, despite whatever preparation and promises they may have made in advance, it doesn’t make this fight any easier.
How this fight will end, I’m not sure. I think most of us are confident that Yuusaku will come out on top, but not without being scarred along the way, but the wild card lies in Kusanagi’s secret program.
There is one hope though, regardless of whoever comes out victorious, Kusanagi had been working on a program to use against Lightning. Before he logged in, he had sent it to the Hanoi Knights, in hopes that the three of them will be able to finish what he started before it’s too late. We still don’t know what exactly this program is supposed to do, whether it’s a weapon (since the file includes “sword” in its name) to use against Lightning, or an emergency escape for the remaining survivors. Of course if it’s the later, I think a lot of us would be frustrated with that move, I know I would be unless it’s a clever way to screw Lighting over and save those who had fallen.
Needless to say, I am certainly more inclined to see the heroes fall and suffer rather than making a comeback at this point of time. There is also the matter we have yet to see how SOL Technology is dealing with this, as they are most certainly aware of the situation at hand within LINK VRAINS. It seems that they are quietly waiting to make their move, after-all, the company litterally disguises themselves as chess pieces. Perhaps they will strike only when Kusanagi’s program is complete, treating it a window of opportunity and/or as a means to cover their tracks….
I don´t know if it´s because we are just comming from a 2 part episode that left me anoyed at the writters or if it´s my gut feeling telling me despite everything that I hope for that we aren´t getting another last year like ARC-V had, but this episode while I understand and know why they are going this rute felt abseloutly BORRING for the sole fact that it´s so easy to predict how we came to this, why and how this will turn out.
Bowman´s growth is great and if you ask me his scenes are actually the highlight of this episode yet again it makes me fear of how the next part is gonna be handled: As it stands now he´s a Season 2 characther that have absorbed Aoi and Aqua and he´s sopposedly set up to defeat Soulburner and Flame to absorb them along with Windy to then go after Yusaku and finish his purpose.
Season 2 ends if not in march then early April and we got least one more episode left of this duel + duel against Lightning + duel with Revolver + Bowman vs Yusaku round 4 and we only have at most 6 episodes left of this season and that´s if we go to middle of April. So we have 4+ duels left for this season where none of them can be alloved to be a 1 episode duel yeah sorry this is gonna get messy.
To end this rant with a question: Am I the only 1 who would hate for this plot, SOL TECH plot to overlap in a single season? cause it will get ugly then.
Again sorry for ranting.
Although this series has had a ton of recaps to buy time for production, I don’t think we have to worry too much about this show suffering the same kind of fate as ARC-V did. ARC-V’s disaster stemmed from an internal strife and at a certain point became very apparent the staff just stopped caring for the series altogether. Right now, it’s really a matter of what has to be cut to make up for the lost time that was sacrificed because of the recap episodes (as there have been 6 up until now).
As for Bohman, I think we can all agree his development is the greatest highlight of the arc as a whole. He has truly become a fascinating character. I’m looking forward to how he evolves and when he finally starts sets upon his own path, be it good or bad.
And in regards to your question, I’m not entirely sure to be honest, so I can’t really give an opinion on that yet. I think it really depends on how they approach it. At the end of the day, it all comes down to execution, otherwise it will, as you say, turn into a hot mess.
The evil lemon must be squashed. I hope he gets the most brutal death scene as karma.
Anyways, this episode made me sad. D: I can’t stop this sadness welling up within me. I tried eating breakfast, but it won’t go away. Lightning is a coward for using Kusanagi’s weakness (Jin) against one of Yusaku’s weaknesses (his attachment to his friends). The fact that Lightning is willing to kill his own origin makes him no better than Windy.
The wild card is indeed Kusanagi’s program because Kusanagi is smart for he never leaves an open opportunity (since it said sword, it might be for Yusaku since he’s the sword to Kusanagi’s shield). I feel like Kusanagi is being all serious in order to conceal his real intentions.
However, what Lightning doesn’t know is that a pissed Playmaker is a terrifying force, as shown in PM vs Akira duel. It’s sad seeing Playmaker so hesitant. This also makes me realize that Yusaku would react the same way if he were forced to duel Soulburner. Yusaku may not show much emotions, but it has been shown many times that he cares about others (heck, he even felt sad for Blue Maiden).
YUP, an angry Playmaker is a a dangerous one. For the sake of those who have fallen, it can also be used to strengthen his resolve.
Actually now that you mention how terrifying Yuusaku can be if he were to become broken. Perhaps that’s exactly Lightning’s intention, since he is trying to obtain data on raw emotions as such. What kind of strength can be drawn from despair, and how he can make use of that as his secret weapon.
I know we’ve been expecting this duel for quite a while since the opening showed Kusanagi betraying Yusaku, but it was still quite painful to watch. I never thought Kusanagi would actually be a strong duelist when he specifically said that he was an amateur before. I guess his resolve to fight for Jin and Playmaker’s reluctance really added onto the aggressive assault. I feel so sorry for Playmaker. He sounded quite half-hearted and he didn’t even battle to get rid of Kusanagi’s Code Breaker. I don’t blame Playmaker. Having your most trusted ally betray you and turned against you must be horrible. Playmaker didn’t even say “Duel!” when the duel started and instead looked quite shaken and disturbed by what was going on.
I hate Lightning more than ever! He’s basically using psychological warfare to weaken Playmaker’s resolve and using Kusanagi is part of that plan. Unfortunately, that’s just how villains work. Many of them play dirty and will go to extreme measures to take advantage of their enemy’s weaknesses. With Kusanagi and Playmaker, one’s gonna have to lose in the end. Either way, it’s a win for Lightning because he can get rid of Jin and Playmaker’s strength through Kusanagi or have Playmaker finally crack and be able to brainwash or kill him more easily. I actually have a feeling Lightning isn’t gonna uphold his end of the bargain even if Kusanagi does win. I feel he’s gonna kill Jin anyway because throughout the episode, it felt he doesn’t have any more use for his Origin anymore. Bohman was clearly quite uncomfortable with the idea of blackmailing Kusanagi into betraying Yusaku and dueling him. It’s no kidding. Lightning’s using the power of bonds and human emotions like that and turning Team Playmaker against each other. He’s definitely gonna pay later on. Why do I also have a feeling Bohman might finally turn against Lightning? I’m sure Aqua’s words are still stuck in his mind.
Lightning is such a coward too by using others instead of dealing with the problem himself. If you really want the Ignis to become yourself, then come out and fight, Lightning! After this duel, I won’t be surprised that Playmaker becomes consumed with revenge once more. Lightning is way worse than Revolver in season 1 for using people like that and brainwashing them, hoping they would turn against each other. I just hope he won’t become evil because all the protagonists but Yusei have turned to darkness and become villains at one point in their series.
Do you think Ghost Girl has figured out who Playmaker’s trusted ally is? I mean, Kusanagi didn’t even change his clothes when he logged into Link VRAINS. I’m gonna predict once this final battle is over, Team Playmaker is gonna figure out each other’s identities, at least on Emma and Aoi’s side. I really want the entirety of Team Playmaker to work together offline in season 3.
When his brother’s life is on the line, I expected nothing less of Kusanagi ahaha. It’s really great to be able to see him go all out in a duel for once (considering this is what, the second time we’re actually seeing him duel?). The only downside is that this is a duel that determines both his own, his brother’s fate and Yuusaku’s fate. One or more will fall.
I hate Lightning, but I freaking love him as a villain. Finally, we have a quality villain who knows how to act like one. I don’t have any confidence in Lightning upholding his promise with Kusanagi, if anything he will mock him for being such a fool (if he were to win).
This episode definitely indicated Bohman’s starting to question Lightning’s ways.
Excellent point about Yuusaku being consumed by revenge once more. It would be really intersting to see if this strengthens his resolve to purge Lightning from existence. I don’t think he or Ai could possibly allow Lightning (in particular) to co-exist after this.
I think it’s obvious at this point the secret is going to be out in the open now. Everyone’s going to hear them talking about their partnership and all throughout the duel ahahaha.
I would really love to see everyone offline for once as well, but when that happens I want everyone alive, not half of the team in a coma. Funny when you think about it, how the majority of this series has rarely stepped outside of the network setting.
You know, somehow I can foresee Playmaker and Soulburner’s cover blow in the near future by the fact that Shoichi showed up in full view to Akira and Ghost Girl. Shoichi’s avatar isn’t disguised at all- a few poking here and there and they’ll be able to connect the dots immediately- after those three don’t have a social life.
no matter if playmaker will win or lose lightning will get what he wanted. stir up yusako emotions : anger grief and sadness
The way I see things playing out is Soulburner Vs. Bohman. For 3 reasons: (Refrence to Season 1 not intended). 1. Because Bohman is studying “Bonds” between the Ignis and their Origins. 2. Because by defeating them he gets to absorb Flame AND Windy and is 2 Steps closer to his goal of being the Ignis “Vessel” or whatever. 3. Because Lightning will probably duel Revolver. Just saying. And because I don’t think any of us want to sit through another Playmaker/Bohman Duel.