Day 2 of the Fortune Cup, and it’s Yusei VS Bommer. Contrary to what one might expect, this duel actually fed us a lot of plot goodies, and finished it with a bomb drop at the end.
The one thing Bommer and Yusei have in common is how they are both fighting for the sake of their hometown. Bommer decided to serve Godwin when a deal was made that if he succeeded defeating and/or proving Yusei’s abilities as a Signer, the Kaiba Corporation would help restore his village after it has been ravaged by war and discrimination…. Or so that’s what he said in the first part (ep 20), but it is revealed in the second half (ep 21) that was all a ruse.
It turns out Bommer doesn’t trust Godwin and for a good reason. He had planned to win and take advantage of the spotlight to reveal Godwin’s crimes to the public of how he has blood on his hands for the destruction and disappearance of both his family and village (who are said to be descendants of those who served the People of the Stars) after using it as testing grounds towards the efforts of resurrecting the Crimson Dragon. Despite his loss, he still managed to go public with it, warning the Signers to not trust or help Godwin obtain the Crimson Dragon, alluding he intends to use its powers for ulterior motives that have yet to be revealed.
Well no shit Sherlock. This is the guy who is responsible for physically and psychologically torturing people and/or blackmailing the Signers to round them up to do his bidding. For a guy who likes to preach about using its power to lead the world to a better place, he sure isn’t doing a good job convincing us. Or rather, I don’t think he even cares because he knows he can get away with it (such as leaving the visuals on about the fate of Bommer’s village). God, I know I have already said this a million times, but his evil smirks infuriates me so much I want to smack him!
This also explains why Bommer told Jack he is a pitiful King. After-all he is nothing more than Godwin’s puppet. The authority and and freedom he believes to have is nothing more than an illusion, and he has continuously been left in the dark and mislead about many things, including Godwin’s true intentions. Now that Bommer has exposed not one but two of Godwin’s secrets, you would hope Jack would be more cautious and start questioning everything, but it may prove to be difficult to overcome when the man already has him in the palm of his hands and he cannot stand being taken as a fool.
The tone reveal of Godwin’s crime was going along beautifully… until they decided to have Bommer throw himself into the tower in attempt to kill Godwin and have Yusei pull off yet another wild stunt to block him to prevent him from staining his hands. The whole scene was so ridiculous I burst out laughing. But then one of Chariot Pile’s spikes goes flying through the windows and Godwin caught it with his bare hand, revealing he is has a bionic arm, and then next thing you know I was shouting, “WHAT THE F—?!” (Ironically that was the very card Yeager had given him as per his request).
As for the duel itself, this was one of those duels where I kind of felt for the duel monsters. Yusei was certainly on the defense the entire time until he could finally set the stage to make his comeback. But to get there, it meant buying time, and poor Speed Warrior, he was used repeatedly used as a sacrificial lamb in order to shield Yusei from a variety of deadly attacks. Talk about a rough day. But it was satisfying to see Junk Warrior (who is arguably (besides Stardust Dragon) one of my all-time favourite ace monsters) come back and equip Armory Arm to deliver the final blow. But what also made this duel so satisfying to watch was the animation of the combat between the monsters. It was explosive, dramatic and super clean.
Needless to say, it was nice to see Yusei not get hurt for once, but that isn’t to say he didn’t have some close calls. I am a bit disappointed that the Chariot Pile spikes Bommer had equipped turned out to have been very real. (Solid-vision is one thing, actual sharp things that could kill you is another!) Those sharp blades have no place in a duel, if someone were to get hit by one of those, I don’t think anyone would survive that. That being said, considering he had requested the card from Godwin, so I don’t know if he asked for it to deliberately disguise the built-in spikes, or it was part of the underhanded tactics to be used to defeat Yusei by any means necessary. (Solid-vision is one thing, actual sharp things that could kill you is another!) And don’t get me started on his outrageously oversized D-Wheel, (we knows Bommer used to have a normal sized one in his flashback), but it certainly feels like it deliberately built so he could attack Godwin with it, since while he had hoped to capitalize on the victor’s spotlight, it didn’t stop him from pursuing his revenge after his loss.
In the mean time, Saiga has finally arrived to Satelite only to find Yusei’s workshop has been ransacked and Rally and the gang is nowhere to be found. One can only hope they are laying low by hiding elsewhere, otherwise it would be a terrible thing if Godwin already had gotten his hands on them.
Next time, Aki VS Kodo! Considering how ugly the first match was and how they have been progressively getting uglier, you can expect Aki now has to face another nasty opponent.
PS: RIP Himuro’s pride as a pro-duelist.
