#vrains analysis

Like we all know he is grieving yes, but that preview with Lightning made me pause when i watched it over with the subs.

Ai is desperate to die, its why he concocted this plan to begin with. He wins Yusaku dies, BUT Ai made it that he wound’t be able to out live him long anyway. His consciousness will be spread to the copies effectively killing him as he was.

If Yusaku wins, the plan is not enacted and everyone will be returned, and he will die as the result of his loss. Regardless Yusaku will be there in his last moments anyway.

Ai wants to die knowing he won’t outlive the last friend he has, that’s why in the previous episode he gave such vague answers to Yusaku abotu being okay with Yusaku dying. Regardless it wouldn’t matter to him because in the end he loses his only friend anyway. But the way he does it takes the choice out of his hands and puts in Yusaku’s.

(Which is incredibly fucked up goshdarnit Ai)

But then I thought, If Yusaku was truly the only person he had left to care for, why didn’t he and Roboppy just go back to him in the first place? OR hell convince to try and take down Sol as revenge for the Ignis?

And thats where Lightning message comes in, or Lightnings ghost whatevs.

As well as something Flame said before the Ignis where absorbed and that is The Ignis have no actual concept of death.

Ignis/A.I. can not die by natural means like humans/plants/animals/. When we die its because our own bodies begin to fail, or we are killed by outside forces. but tis mostly the former that is a natural death.

Ignis don’t have that, they could with caution and maintenance theoretically live forever.

I think the destroyed town we saw was Lightning showing Ai his future, one where he outlives all the humans on earth.

(And doesn’t that sound familiar? Saaaay 5D’s familiar? Hello Aporia~)

It doesn’t help that he is still grieving if and when he gets this information, but being faced with his own immortality that no matter what he does he was still going to be alone.

Ignis? Gone.

Roboppy? Had a simple A.I. that was reaching its end, they wouldn’t have lasted long anyway.

Yusaku? He was going to out live Yusaku. Literally the only family he has left and Ai has maybe what? 70-100 years hopefully with him? If he dies by natural means.

Essentially that could be why Ai not only choose Yusaku to be the one to kill him, but also to possibly test if he wins if AI could truly coexist with humans. It could be why he was so dead set on making people hate him before he goes out, the more people who do, the more bonds he breaks? the less likely he can back out of it.

Not three episodes ago he was talking about how there’s “no friendship between [them]” and now he wants to know about Ai’s past. And we know how important the past is to Yusaku, he knows firsthand how much it can effect the present (to the point that it feels like certain events have never ended). In asking about that, he was obviously looking for inspiration to keep fighting. But on a subtler note, he was also showing intetest in learning why Ai is the way he is.

Because even though it hasn’t been spelled out, Ai is still effected by his past. Out of all the ignises, he’s the baby who did the least amount of work—so he’s used to relying on others. And they were the people he was closest to, so he’s gone to great lengths to ensure they won’t be hurt—because like his name has always implied, that’s what love does. And they all lived in a place he describes as paradise only for the Knights of Hanoi to rip it away for no concrete reason ar all—so he’s desperate to get it back.

Does this make sense? He’s silly and self absorbed because the first few years of his life were carefree, but he’s also cunning because his life since then has been anything but. And that’s comparable to Yusaku, because... well, Specter was probably right when he said Yusaku’s life before The Lost Incident had to be a good one. And because that life was taken in a particulatly brutal way, he eventually developed into a vengeful anti-hero.

So you can see, then, why Playmaker took inspiration from Ai’s story. They both have friends they want to protect; they both want to recover things that were stolen from them; they both have lives that were destroyed by the actions of one man. Playmaker has to win to save everyone, but he isn’t alone. His partner is still by his side, and understands his plight better than anyone would’ve guessed.

The evolution of their relationship since episode 1 has been so subtle and so Good that... the climactic drama of episode 42 aside, they didn’t need any huge moments to mark that development. It’s been happening the entire time and still has a way to go, but goddamn. I love these two together.

I think the general consensus is he can’t be the “original” Yusaku, but this was still a bombshell moment because it came out of nowhere and would have massive consequences if even remotely true. But to go from that to him simply being a Lost Baby would honestly be a bit... anti-climactic.

Because it wouldn’t be a huge reveal anymore. We knew Yusaku, Jin and Takeru were involved right off the bat; Specter is the only Lost Baby who really had a “reveal” because he was a pre-established character. And as much as I dislike Specter, I think his revelation was well done because we didn’t see it coming until we saw 35′s episode title.

Do you get what I’m saying? At this point Bowman is a pre-established character, we’ve known about him since episode 47. So if him being a Lost Baby by virtue of being Yusaku is revealed to be a fake-out, but then it turns out he’s a “regular” Lost Baby after all, then I just can’t see how that doesn’t fall flat. Because you’d go from a massive “reveal” to something a lot of people saw coming.

Ryoken’s breaking your heart, my heart, Playmaker’s heart, his own heart—

When I was first watching episode 45, what really hurt me the most was how it almost seemed like Revolver was reveling in Playmaker’s pain, like he wanted to drag the boy he inspired down into despair. And it came off as an insult, because he knows firsthand just how much Yusaku’s suffered. Why would he seek to exacerbate that?

But then I thought about episode 43, and remembered a certain exchange:

Yusaku: “An anonymous report uncovered The Lost Incident. That was you, Revolver?”

Ryoken: “I quickly regretted saving you.”

“I quickly regretted saving you.” 

Ryoken regrets it. He wished (and probably still wishes) he could take it back. If he could redo the decision, he probably would’ve let the Hanoi Project continue. Because his actions directly lead to SOL’s ascension, his father’s absence/eventual death, and the ignises posing a threat to all of humanity. 

Ryoken blames himself for all of this, because he did it for what? To save six children, one of whom actually enjoyed the ordeal and another who went on to become his greatest enemy. And can you really compare the lives of six children to the whole of humanity? Ryoken is a big-picture, ends-justify-the-means character. He’s definitely the type who would turn a blind eye to those kids if he knew then what he knows now.

We know, of course, that Ryoken is misdirecting his blame. He’d rather point the finger at himself, or Playmaker, or the ignises, or SOL, or the Charisma Duelists—literally anyone but his father. It’s for that reason that I doubt he’s given serious thought to what would’ve happened if he hadn’t said anything. Who’s to say Kogami wouldn’t have killed the Lost Babies once they were no longer of use? Who’s to say that he wouldn’t have kidnapped a new batch of kids so he could keep making more ignises? Who’s to say he would have “realized” the threat the ignises posed under these new circumstances? Without SOL curbing his actions, there’s no way to tell what Kogami would have actually done.

But Ryoken hasn’t considered any of this, because his devotion to his father blinds him to it. This is why Revolver seemed so hell-bent on breaking Playmaker: because he’s the embodiment of what is, in his own mind, his Greatest Failure. If Yusaku was truly the only child he spoke to during The Lost Incident, then Yusaku is undoubtably the one who most motivated him to expose what Kogami was doing. If it hadn’t been for Yusaku, for Playmaker, none of this would be happening. 

So of course he’d stop at nothing to crush Playmaker. Of course he would use his own monsters against him. Of course he’d expose Ai’s capacity to lie in hopes of breaking their partnership. Of course he would use the Three Reasons Why mantra to drag him into despair. 

Yusaku is the object of his obsession, but he’s also the target of his hatred: hatred that was originally directed at himself, but should truly be directed at his father. It just so happens that the boy he saved all those years ago is, as he’s always been, the easiest target.

Saaaaaame

I agree! I think it would’ve been way too abrupt if Revolver suddenly sided with Playmaker. Remember: Ryoken looks back on his childhood bond with Yusaku as the moment where he most faltered, and since then he’s been borderline brainwashed by Kogami. It’s going to take a lot more than one heartfelt speech to bring him over to Yusaku’s side, because doing so will make him diametrically opposed to his father.

And I mean that. Playmaker made it clear in 46 that he isn’t going to turn on Ai or compromise his beliefs for Ryoken’s sake. He doesn’t just want to be Ryoken’s friend, he wants to change his heart. But because neither of them are willing to compromise, their relationship can only come to a stalemate.

So it makes sense that Ryoken stood true to his convictions. He still intends on destroying the ignises because in his mind, his cause is just; for that, he has to return and “fulfill is purpose.” 

Link Vrains being reinvented into (NEO) New Link Vrains means that SOL must’ve reasserted control over it. And as Akira once noted, the ignises are considered SOL Tech’s property. 

SOL’s wanted Ai back since episode 1. And after what went down in episode 42, you can’t tell me Yusaku’s just going to hand Ai over to them. 

Oh yeah, Ai definitely orchestrated his own capture.

The first person I saw propose this theory was @bluebeirry in their post Ai/Ignis- Playing Playmaker? I highly recommend reading it, it totally changed the way I saw Ai as a character. I won’t rehash all the evidence in support of it, but I will go into what I think it means.

If he truly did set up his own kidnapping, the bottom-line reason is because Ai wanted to get close to Yusaku. He wanted it so badly that he put himself in a position where he could also be captured by the KoH or SOL. There was no guarantee that Yusaku’s “escape” route would have materialized in time. Ai was really taking a gamble in episode 1, all in the hope that Yusaku would “catch” him.

So if he’s willing to do all that, the question then becomes why? The most obvious reason is because they both had a common enemy in the KoH, and Playmaker was the only duelist successfully taking them on. He may have viewed working with Playmaker as a mutually beneficial endeavor; Ai would further Yusaku’s crusade by attracting the KoH to them, and he (Ai) would be protected all the while. 

But even before this episode it’s been clear that Ai’s feelings for Yusaku run on the personal side. He’s helped Yusaku in multiple ways, never once lashed out or hurt him (remember vore!Ai?), doesn’t hold any of his harsher comments against him, does his best to help during duels (even if much of his “advice” is incorrect), and genuinely seems to admire Playmaker. All this, on the part of someone who’s supposed to be a “hostage”.

So it isn’t like Ai orchestrated his kidnapping but later came to regret it. Hell, it’s debatable whether he ever even saw Yusaku as his “captor”. There was always something more to their relationship… and episode 41 proved it.

Several significant things were confirmed this episode:

Ai never lost his memories

Ai (#IGN006) was modeled after Yusaku (the sixth Lost Baby)

Ai remembered baby!Yusaku.

The last one is especially important, because it adds a whole new dimension to why Ai was watching Yusaku since episode 1 (and perhaps even further back). He wasn’t just following the only duelist taking on the KoH—Ai was following “his” kid. And wanted to be close to “his” kid. He wanted to have a partnership with “his” kid. Even if he had to risk being caught by his enemies. 

And even now, Ai only thinks the best of “his” Lost Baby. I’m not saying that having a common enemy in the KoH didn’t play into what Ai did in episode 1; it may have even been the deciding factor. But this is another element that just can’t be ignored.