Yu-Gi-Oh 5D’s Episode 11 & 12

Now that Yusei is out of the detention center, his next priority is to recover his deck and D-Wheel both which have been confiscated by Security. However the task was not something he could do alone. Thanks to Himuro’s referral, he heads off Bootleg, a bar where he goes in and shows the card then proceeds to asks for- of all things, a glass of milk! (Yusei, please!) He is then picked up by a man called Saiga, who was not only able to throw the agent off their trail (apart from Ushio), but also provided him the materials he needs to access the Security Vault to recover his goods. (And I must say, It’s a shame we didn’t actually get to see him in his disguise apart from from a single scene (and from afar at that).

He tried to warn Yusei against the idea of trying to recover his belongings, but Yusei was willing to take the risk anyways. And sure enough, Saiga was absolutely right. Yusei’s entire plan hinged on making a successful escape with his D-Wheel, but he underestimated how prepared the security to successfully corner him. Ultimately, this whole operation was never something Yusei could pull off on his own, and it was silly of him to think so. I understand why he is determined to see this through, but really he could have been smarter about it. Luckily for him, Saiga showed up at the nick of time to save his neck by somehow blowing up the elevator’s doors, and even kicked Ushio in the face in attempt to get them off their backs.

Speaking of the devil, while Ushio is being a petty little bitch at the moment, you have to hand it to him for carrying out his job properly. He is persistent, and he ended up doing a better job of trailing Yusei than the number of agents trying to keep tabs on his whereabouts. He had successfully tracked him down all the way to Saiga’s place, and camped besides the building and tailed him out again. (I suppose the one joke is that Yusei surely must’ve known he was being tailed, considering Saiga heard Ushio’s D-Wheel from inside the building, which prompted him to look in his direction in the first place). He also came with a new Pursuit Deck, which I find its dynamics were a lot more interesting than the first version we had seen of it. And since Ushio is a hardcore chaser so he was going to continue the duel regardless of the crazy circumstances they found themselves in, such as the free-fall through the elevator shaft. He put Yusei in a perilous situation where Yusei had almost been flung off his D-Wheel. Had he lost his grip, he would have died from the fall! Heck, it’s incredible that the D-Wheels are even resilient enough to bounce (I mean we’ve already seen them fly off buildings, make incredible bounce over gates) and for Ushio’s case, strong enough to plow through elevator doors and railings while still being in one piece. I have to admit, as crazy as it is, their endurance are what makes it entertaining to watch, but i digress.

In the end, Yusei was able to emerge victorious, but he certainly didn’t escape unscathed. As he was trying to escape, security was tasering him (again) and eventually he wounded up crashing outside of a building somewhere in town. He has been found by twins thank to one who had sensed his plight and went outside and found him unconscious.

Overall I enjoyed both episodes. The only thing I really couldn’t care less about was Saiga’s character. Initially he comes off as a chill dude who is a jack-of-all-trade, but once we learned his backstory his comments about how bonds and friendships are a farce becomes silly to me. Of course the guy who was already planning to backstab his friend to attain greater heights in the competitive field wouldn’t have much faith in bonds and friendships. He is the one responsible for breaking in the first place. But while Saiga has been wallowing in regret and has been left under the impression Yuji resents him, Yusei thinks its the opposite. He believes Yuji sent Saiga the card because he valued his bond with him. Now that’s great and all, but it does make me wonder: Did Yuji know about what Saiga was doing behind his back? How he was planning to cast him aside so he could enter the singles competitive scene? Perhaps Yuji would have been supportive of his decision had he actually been upfront about it, or maybe he would have been hurt. Seeing how Yuji was sentimental about always using their favourite monster to land the final strike, it left me with the impression that he didn’t care too much about their standings, and he was just happy to be dueling with his best friend. After-all, he cherished that card so much, that although he had initially escaped being caught in the crash head on, he ended up being caught up in the explosion that was responsible for forcing him to have to retire.

Next week, Yusei wakes up to find himself rescued by some kids! Bold of them to take him in, haha!