Episode 32
We finally get a bit more lore and backstory about Yusei’s hometown… Starting with how and why D-Wheels became a symbol of freedom in Satellite. It all started because of a man who dared to dream building a bridge to reconnect Satellite to the Neo Domino City. A one man effort once thought to be crazy soon gained support of many to create Daedalus Bridge, however they faced many struggles with the interference and arrests from security. Eventually the man who started it all was cornered for arrest, but instead of giving in, de decided he would take flight on the incomplete bridge, but nobody actually knows what happened to him after that. So unless that thing could actually fly, you would think it flew for a bit and then plunged into the waters. So it’s probably just better for the kid’s sake not to think too hard about the aftermath, haha.
This shows where Crow drew his inspiration from for his own D-Wheel. While it can’t fly, it certainly gives him a bit of traction to “glide” a bit in order to go a further distance in crazy jumps than a standard D-Wheel. But then again these things seems to be built to be real flexible, so who knows.
But perhaps the most shocking piece of reveal is the fact Yusei is someone who was actually born in the Tops. As it turns out, his parents were among the Moments developer team (MIDs). However after Zero Reverse took their lives, he was sent to an orphanage in Satellite. Since it was still only a baby then, in the end he never actually experienced living in the upper-class, and grew up there alongside Jack and Crow.
We also learned more about the truths that have been omitted from the history books. Seventeen years ago, Neo Domino and Satellite were once connected, but the catastrophic event of Zero Reverse quite literally tore them apart. The public was told it was a natural disaster, and was recorded as such in history to cover up the truth that it was actually a man-made disaster. In hindsight, knowing that just makes the Satellite’s situation even more tragic, considering Satellite’s survivors were effectively abandoned and its other half, Neo Domino ended up flourishing at its expense.
Finally, after his short reunion and breather with Rally and the others, Yusei had planned to go out to deal with the Dark Signers on his own, but before he could, Crow caught him and decided to join the party. It doesn’t take long before they run into the first Dark Signer: Kiryu, who is someone they both know, or rather knew personally very well. And to make matters worse: He claims he’s back for revenge.
On the side note: Poor Aki, she is the only one right now who isn’t completely in the loop with the Dark Signers because she is the only one of the four Signers right now who isn’t grouped up with the others. So as along as she’s stuck with Divine and his cult, she won’t be grouping up with them anytime soon.
Episode 33
With the introduction of Kiryu, episode 33 covers the first part of their past relationship. I enjoyed getting this backstory, especially since we got to see different sides to both Jack and Yusei’s characters. Most noticeably, I think we can all agree this is probably the softest we have seen Jack in a long time. Just like the other two, he was shook when he saw Kiryu again. Nobody expected him to see him again, much less as a Dark Signer. But out of the three of them, we can definitely see the one who is shaken the most is Yusei. And whatever this “betrayal” was, it is fueling Kiryu’s desire to hurt him, who he seems to blame the most for pushing him towards death.
At one point the four of them were a part of a gang called Team Satisfaction. Back then, there were many dueling gangs, each ruling a different district. Kiryu was their leader who Jack credits for being their savior that helped them overcome the city’s despair. When they met Kiryu, he gave them a sense of hope and they were drawn to his ambitions to do incredible things that will satisfy themselves in Satellite (hence, the name: Team Satisfaction), starting with conquering Satellite’s districts by defeating the gang the ruled them.
It was rather amusing to see Jack and Yusei being punks, (not so much for Crow considering he’s not shy of fights with security anyways), but it’s great to see a different angle of their pasts. We know the two of them are capable of throwing punches and picking fights, in fact it was mentioned how Jack was once a “King” of his own district, which clearly took place sometime after the eventual fallout of Team Satisfaction. This also offer a bit more context of his days as a lonesome King of a district, and how he eventually got fed up (ironically, unsatisfied) with his life in Satellite and sought to leave it all behind at a hefty cost.
As for Yusei, to see him actively engaged in gang wars may come as a surprise. Up to this point, Yusei has been shown to have a soft and gentle heart, so for some, it may seem almost strange to see he had gone through a gang-life phase of proactively picking fights that involved destroying his opponent’s duel-discs. But this isn’t a bad thing, and if anything this actually explains a lot why he is such a hardy individual, capable of taking the punches and some of the things he went through while he was in prison.
The duel between Yusei and Kiryu did not start until the last five minutes of the episode, but once they did, finally the war has officially begun. This won’t be a pretty fight, and Kiryu is pretty set on killing him so Yusei will be in for a rough one, but also quite a dramatic one given that heck of a cliffhanger with a demonic hand hovering over Yusei ready to pummel him into the ground.
Though I have to admit, I couldn’t help but chuckle a bit about the number of times he said Kiryu’s name (not counting the recap portion and flashbacks nine times, if I counted right), especially since he didn’t actually say a lot outside of that. Yusei is definitely in for a rough battle as Kiryu is pretty dead set on making him suffer with the intent to eventually kill.
Episode 34 & 35
There isn’t much to say about Episode 34, so I’m going to mix this one with Episode 35 for simplicity sake. It was one of those episodes where the time just flies by and before you know it, it’s over. For most part, this round of the duel mostly involved deflecting each other’s attacks, until Kiryu brought out One-Hundred Eyes Dragon used a combination of monster effects, and finally delivered a punch with his hand-less combo. It wasn’t until then Yusei finally figured out why Kiryu has changed so much, and why is holding a grudge against him. This change of character confused Yusei because the Kiryu he knew was an excellent leader who wouldn’t forsake his friends. When they were fighting for the final district, when facing the opposing Leader, Yusei had their weapon used against them when he was thrown off a building. Thankfully Kiryu made it on time to catch him from fall to his death, reinforcing he would never forsake his friends.
So when the third part of the flashback came around, we saw how after successfully conquering all of Satellite, things went south when Kiryu got involved with an officer’s death. Nothing more ominous than to seeing him stand over a body while wearing a smile with blood on his face. The episode ended with Yusei tackling Kiryu to the ground and the security showing up to the scene. If anything rather than turning him in, it was just a matter of both of them being in the wrong place at the wrong time when Yusei and the others were most likely searching for Kiryu to find him before security did, but that didn’t stop Kiryu from assuming the worst and screaming, “TRAITOR” in his face.
Unfortunately we don’t get to see the rest of that story because before we could, Yusei accidentally dug his own grave when he forced Kiryu to draw and destroyed Hundred-Eyes Dragon. You always know the protagonist is screwed when the side characters start singing praises and how they are so sure they are on the path to victory. Jack however saw through it, and realized that the card Kiryu drew was bound to be trouble. That isn’t to say Yusei didn’t land quite a punch on him, as he did managed to knock him down to 900 LP. However the cost of doing that was too great. The card Kiryu drew was none other than his true ace: Earthbound Immortal Ccapac Apu. This monster ain’t small, it’s gigantic, and it’s one of those types that requires consuming souls to be used. As such, the people who have gone missing in Satellite have been herded together in preparation to be serve as such sacrifice.
Yusei was pretty close to getting killed himself had it not been for his D-Wheel finally giving out at the last second. Earlier on we saw how it was really taking a brunt from the impacts and it’s thanks to that the duel was called off and Yusei didn’t get crushed by Ccapac Apu’s hand. Actually in hindsight, it looks like Kiryu quite litterally, want to crush Yusei with hands. It started off with a Demon hand emerging over him, and ended with Ccapac Apu smashing the ground around him, but I digress. Although the D-Wheel breaking down saved his life, Yusei was flung from it and suffered a terrible injury by being impaled by debris. Oof, that is a nasty wound. But you know what’s even worse – and no matter how many times I watch this scene, I wince every time I see Crow and the others put him onto his D-Wheel WITH THE DEBRIS STILL IN HIM. OH GOD, IT HURTS JUST LOOKING AT IT. Thankfully Crow took him to Martha’s, where there’s a doctor in the house to help safely take it out and stitch him up. This is certainly among some of the worst injuries Yusei has suffered from so far (though the electrocution and the Marker process certainly remains on top for the worst forms of torture he has gone through).
Needles to say, with Yusei’s D-Wheel being in such rough shape, unless Crow or Rally and then gang decide to help fix it themselves, for better or worse this means he won’t be diving back into the battlefield just yet.
Next entry batch will be released on Wednesday, November 24th! See you then!
