Let's begin dismantling the bomb.

You know I have some minor quibbles on the Chronos/Crowler vs Camula episode (RIP my favorite line) but they got most of the spirit and most impressive of all: not a single Chumley joke

Can I say it kills me that Judai refers to Kaiser as "nii-chan" in their episode 8 duel and again refers to him as "omae no nii-chan" to SHOU, KAISER'S ACTUAL YOUNGER BROTHER. Who calls Kaiser "onii-san"

You know I have some minor quibbles on the Chronos/Crowler vs Camula episode (RIP my favorite line) but they got most of the spirit and most impressive of all: not a single Chumley joke

Can I say it kills me that Judai refers to Kaiser as "nii-chan" in their episode 8 duel and again refers to him as "omae no nii-chan" to SHOU, KAISER'S ACTUAL YOUNGER BROTHER. Who calls Kaiser "onii-san"

gx season 3 opening being edited to show how inexorably judai's entire life and perspective was altered by johan is just absurd. just berserk for doing that. they said you're going to know how much he's different now because he was understood by someone and how much it's changed him to be suddenly illuminated and aware of the fact that he's not alone. and then you're gonna watch him lose it all AND mcfucking lose it too. and they just did that

i think a lot of the pleasure of their dynamic is how incomprehensible judai is to a lot of other characters in the first 2 seasons. he agitates and impresses and delights and encourages all kinds of people out of intrigue and earnest kindness, but like he's not really on the same wavelength as anyone.. even people who adore him have trouble following his train of thought because he just is like.. in his own world a lot of the time. and i do feel like johan is - to begin with - more intuitive and even more mature than the way judai begins s3 - but he is tapped into the world in the same way judai is. that's his WHOLE entry point that's his whole ambience that's what everyone who knows judai in the canon remarks / observes about him. his passion for duels and about spirits it 'like judai's. dueling him 'is like dueling judai' etc. and it just like… erodes that loneliness that judai didn't even realize he had… Just… *Dies*

Okay but I think I have some complicated feelings about the dub version of this pair of episodes as a whole. Like, does an inconsistent tone to our Seven Stars/Shadow Rider arc intro episodes work given that the arc itself has an inconsistent tone?

GUESS WHO'S HAVING A PRODUCTIVE DAY IN AIR CONDITIONING