Well turns out Divine was still alive and well, and the slimy bastard didn’t miss his opportunity to take control of Aki who had been brainwashed by him, (which was no no surprise given how much blood this guy has on his hands, we already knew he was a murderer when he killed Carly). That’s why Aki had suddenly stopped caring about Misty and Toby. However it is pretty horrifying to think that Aki probably had undergone the same kind of tests as Toby had, and yet managed to survive them as he set her as the for everyone to reach. And when you think about it that way, it’s horrible to think about the amount of abuse Aki had been subjected to, without even realizing that what was being done to her was a crime. And the saddest thing about Toby’s backstory, was how it shows how Divine and the Arcadia Movement preyed on psychic children who were either outcasts or those who look to help others with their powers, and then grooms the promising ones to serve as his faith servants and are treated as weapons. They were led to believe the pain and suffering they were put through was going to help for a greater cause– only for many, to tragically take their lives.
The only “good“ thing Divine did, was save Aki from being impaled by glass after she had stumbled. She wasn’t really in the state of mind to catch herself, so Misty could’ve very well killed her right then and there, and we can’t have that. Of course Divine didn’t do that because he cared about her. He simply didn’t want to lose his most prized servant/weapon. That’s why he had disguised himself and attempted to drown both Mikage and (especially) Yusei so that they wouldn’t get in his way. Luckily Ushio was close by and was able to get them out– and dear god, it was so FREAKING ANNOYING to listen to Mikage screaming for Jack when he’s nowhere to be found, and even more so when Ushio the one to show up and ultimately be the one to save him. Ugh, it’s so grating to the ears, but I digress.
Thankfully, Divine is definitely dead now as Ccarayhua did us all a favor and ate him whole (certainly a traumatic sight for the lot, especially the twins. Luca was wise enough to cover her eyes, while Lua ended up watching the whole thing, poor kid.) With her revenge completed, Misty was prepared to surrender and apologized to Aki for mistaking her for being the one to have murdered her brother, of course the evil god wasn’t about to let the fight end there. Aki had hoped to save Misty, but unfortunately the evil god was determined to take them both out, so she had no choice but to defend herself and take Misty out. And although I’ve watched this scene at least five times now, that last bit where she deals the final blow and the locket music playing always tugs the heart-strings. It’s understandable why– despite the urgency, the need to activate the seal. At the very least she did manage to beat Misty right before the sunset, so all the souls that had been taken for Ccarayhua were released on time.
But what this incident did show, was just how invaluable it is that Aki now has people who are looking out for her. Mikage was concerned about what Aki had told her about Misty’s accusations, and shared it with Yusei so that he had a better idea how to support Aki if/when she needed it. And it was thanks to that info share that once he identified Divine, the information he was already suspicious gave him more certainty of how he would be able to help both Misty and Aki, which was have Divine himself confess his crimes for everyone to hear. That’s why that scene, where after Yusei is blown out of the building, the way he smugly fires back at Divine about his duel-disk featuring a nifty multi-voice channel that enabled him to connect to Misty’s disk always cracks me up. He played right into his hand, and honestly it’s satisfying to watch. Actually, speaking of which, his whole confrontation with Divine really felt like Yusei was tapping into the skills he used/acquired during his Team Satisfaction days.
Overall it wasn’t a bad duel, though the backstory for Toby’s death that Misty was showing was something that I can see might be confusing for some. I figured from the start that it wasn’t the truth (it was wholly suspicious from the get go anyways), as the images of from “Sad Story” were more like projections of what Misty thought had happened based on what she has gathered from her investigation, mixed with how she reacted following his death. Regardless, of the mix of truths and lies, it did it’s job to rattle Aki, and put her in a distressed state where she couldn’t properly focus on the duel until Divine intervened.
Next time, time to face the final boss for the season!
Next Entry Release: February 1st, 2023 | Updated: February 8th, 2023
Notice: I would like to give up a heads up that as soon as I finish this season, I will be taking a break with this coverage just as I had done after Season 1. How long that break will be is uncertain, but I am estimating sometime between Summer 2023 – Fall 2023. I know that is a long wait, but not only do I feel I need more time to prioritize the new titles coming out, it has gotten to the point where I need to switch up the format on how I will cover the remaining seasons so I can aim to have this finished by 2024. Then depending on how I feel and the time I have, maybe I’ll go episodic for Season 5. Regardless, this format isn’t something that can be pumped out in a week, much less a month or two time with the workload I’m dealing with at the moment, so naturally I need time to do this. As I said before, I’m looking to finish this coverage one way or another, and if I have to change the format to do so, then that’s how I will proceed.
