some closing thoughts after a little over 1 month of revisiting Yugioh Vrains

Vrains is a trainwreck in the most endearing and wonderful way

I love this show so dearly and feel like this time I finally managed to appreciate it in the way it's supposed to - problems and all. I feel like I was finally able to understand a lot of the peculiarities and subtexts that, before, I didn't have enough emotional maturity for, and it helped knowing generally what was going on because watching this show for the first time was.. not great (for reasons I talked about already in other posts from this marathon)

going through that grueling filler-plagued beginning was hell, and one of the reasons I was dreading going through this show again - it even got me questioning why I put Vrains so high on my ranking of favorite YGOs (because my memory is bad and I didn't see any reason for Vrains to be that high), but once it starts going.. oh boy it doesn't stop, this is why I finished it so fast LOL

Vrains's story is very compelling and the minimal cast helps to keep everything close-knitted (I highly prefer fewer characters like this). Not all of these are interesting, but the ones who are do make up for it. I have found love in characters I didn't pay much mind before; loved the ones I already did even more; and went batshit insane over my favorites; Spectre

I don't think we'll ever have a plot like this in the franchise and it's such a shame. Vrains portrays trauma, pain and loss without romanticizing it. The main character has PTSD and he's not magically cured after everything - none of them are, except Jin (and this is another whole can of worms I'm not sure if I want to get into....) - Vrains is not a happy show or a happy story, and this is what makes it so wonderful in my eyes. Tragedy is what kickstarts this story, and tragedy is the one thing that is consistently happening throughout it

before, I guess I didn't really like the ending very much because the story was cut short and everything was rushed and too vague? But now (and understanding why it was cut short), I can find some silver linings, for example: that open ending feels good. It's nice to have stories such as this (and also in Zexal) with a lot of openings, and holes and things to be filled with theories and ideas: if the canon doesn't provide, the fanom might as well do it

I have so many favorites and so many ships for this show now 🤣 I think I had like 2 max the other time O: surprisingly, Yusaku and Ai went kind of in the background? I wonder why..

I knew I would get obsessed with Akira even though I paid no mind to him before 🤣 what can I say, he's just my type hahahahahaha. I was already obsessed with Kengo before and it got much, much worse so congratulations me for the renewed and augmented Blood Shpeherd brainrot 🥺💜 I have always loved Shoichi and he'll remain as one of my favorite characters ever as well so it was a delight to watch this and have so many episodes and scenes with him, my heart is so fulfilled 🥺🥺🥺 I love Jin and also Lightning for all the wrong reasons (don't ask about it 🤣), and so many other characters too but lets focus on who is really important (and was very surprising): Spectre

I honestly do not know what happened that I got this much into Spectre? He was also one of those I didn't really pay much attention before, and he became.. my favorite character in this I guess???? Well one of them, but you get what I mean 😆 the long story short is probably me omega projecting on him, and his relationships with Ryoken. Let me dream, alright?

I don't know if I have the energy to talk about my ships but just know that I have a copious amount of them. It's a lot

all in all, Vrains is amazing and it would probably be my favorite YGO if not for all the production issues, really. There's several things I'd change and try to fix, but overall, it's fine and enjoyable as it is, thankfully

this whole sequence is so bittersweet and splendid

everything Ai has done, even fighting against his own peers, was for Yusaku's sake. I'm sure if given the choice between staying with the Ignis in Cyberse World, or staying with Yusaku in Den City, Ai would pick the latter, such is his attachment to his originator

Yusaku was the one thing Ai never wanted to experience losing. He felt heartbreak from losing the Ignis, who were his friends and his kin, but having his bond with Yusaku be severed by death was something unbearable for him

when you finally see this, the why starts making a lot more sense

it's such a sight to see Ai being actually vulnerable without hiding behind 200 layers of irony and cynicism 😆

this is probably one of my favorite scenes 😭 this was not at all how things started but look how they ended. The "Ai" that was an artificial being, became the "Ai" that means to love people. It's interesting that Yusaku does this here, exactly because 愛 broadly means "love", but Ai's name, in the way he sees it, in the way he sees him, takes that broad love and makes it human, into humans

which leads to...

and that's the light bulb moment when the character is about to die and confesses their love......................

oh goodness I cried like a little baby in this next scene for fucks sake dude......... 😭😭😭😭😭

reality hits him..

and this is when you know he's never going to stop looking for him, even if it kills him. Devotion to the point of disease. What a fitting end for him, and Ai, and the both of them

that was this

then a 3 months time skip..

Shoichi got his brother back yay \o/ and he'll be always waiting for Yusaku, how sweet <3

Akira got promoted to CEO somehow???? Good for him 😆 also waiting for Yusaku to come back

*incoherent screech* these two................aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Shima, Onizuka and the Hanoi are doing their things and happy as they can be, nice <3

Kiku and Takeru are the cutest couple ever what the fuck 🥺💜 PLEASE (this scene reminded me so much of Kotori and Yuma's ending with them going after Astral, while here they're going after Yusaku)

NOW THE REAL STARS OF THIS SHOW FOR ME:

YEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS LETS FUCKING GOOOOOOO it will never not be funny as hell how these two are ALWAYS together. They're amazing. I love them so much. I hope they stay together forever. I'm going insane brb

Yusaku being the same lone wolf from the start, how fitting and...

there he is..! \o/

oh it's just this comic 😆

he really considered it huh.......................... oh my goodness 😭😭😭😭😭😭 this is so sad dude, Yusaku doesn't get a break..

hmm Ai will still be himself if it goes anything like how it went with Bohman

also I'm gonna bitch about the translation here, what the fuck:

the word he's saying is "answer" not "solution"

I feel it changes the meaning of everything here, in special the part he says the only answer is that there's no answers - one of the things human use to develop mentally, emotionally and what not is by being curious and asking questions. Questioning opens possibilities, and less about answers (or solutions) and more about potential to change and grow, among other things

and in that last part, like I said, this is exactly the one thing Ai is not able to see because he probably cannot understand how to see it. All he could do was to run all those simulations, and live through several futures artificially generated without an ounce of nuance or questioning - after all, data is precise, exact, there's no room for questioning something that is, essentially, "correct"

Ai's reaction to this is also very human 😆 it takes work, a lot of work to obtain, nurture and maintain all these things, and you do have to do it forever

past me: awww Ai is proposing 🥺 how sweet!!!

alright so THIS is the whole thing about this show

I don't know about others but on my first time watching this show, the writing came off as pretty bad because it kept building on to.. nowhere and nothing

it was frustrating as fuck that you had to go through 119 episodes to understand all the plot holes left along the way (for comparison, Zexal has done the same thing but it made sense because it was all stitched together cohesively. It wasn't in Vrains)

"well, skill issue!"

you know I'm a writer too, right? I don't think the mystery and build-up is supposed to go on to the point of frustration, where you don't feel like continuing anymore. Vrains's production problems were related to the writing, too (if I recall correctly, they CHANGED THE PLOT COMPLETELY a little before starting). Now the plot itself is one of the best in the franchise, and a personal favorite of mine - the plot isn't the problem, the execution is ^^;

the irony of it all: because Ai have influenced all the events that ultimately lead to the destruction of the Ignis, he would come to be the only survivor

NOW THIS IS YUGIOH LEVELS OF CRAZY NONSENSE 🤣

also the irony in this 🤣 it would never happen, because all the other Ignis were neutral and would be swept in Lightning's and/or Ai's fates. Lightning extinguishing humans on purpose, while Ai, incidentally

yeah this is one of the few scenes I do remember.. it's so horrifying and lonely. He cornered himself, couldn't find a way out and decided to die

Yusaku is right. And this is the human thing about artificial intelligence that will never be truly replicated. Computers work in absolutes but real life is much more nuanced than one would expect. Change is always possible, tragedies won't always be avoidable but they can be overcome, one can start anew, and so on.. the only requirement is being alive

*gestures at marginalized people* they do that shit between humans too dude, you're fine 😄💜

good one, Yusaku!!

...

after the big revelation, everything makes sense and, well wasn't it obvious? Wasn't it exactly as the Hanoi expected? Wasn't everything done to get to this exact moment, for this exact duel between these two?

was it really?

fan-fucking-tastic, Ai

I could've not done it better. He made sure he would get what he wanted by all means necessary

this is horrible 😭

they're perfect for each other 🥺

something something he knew this wasn't the end something I'm here coping about the other 5 dead Ignis something something

HEY WHAT THE FUCK