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Part 1 ended up on the lowest point of their relationship. This now will show how they will climb out of that, let go of destiny, and hold hands.

But first, an interesting parrallel. When Edo confronts DD, he keeps talking about being a chosen one, justifying his violence and selfishness by destiny. A distorted image of Edo's past mindset. He has to confront it alongside the last of his father. Suddenly, the person that had taken the role of his mentor is a monster. At the same time he faces own father and has to grieve him all over again.

This duel set Edo to question his way of thinking, his memories all over again. In his need for a special destiny he forgot the parts of Saiou that were unsure, kind, warm, and the parts that tried to help. After confronting DD, that is comforting. After facing his father's death all over again, it's terrifying. Someone does care for him. Or maybe did, and is now gone too, and Edo has nothing left but his guilt.

With Saiou gone, the Light can try to manipulate Edo, using his fear of loss. Before that Saiou avoided answering his question, left him alone, but neither used words or psychic powers to use Edo for his plans. Even when he gave the key to him and Judai, he only used his powers on Judai. This is the kind of silent protection Edo only notice now that it is gone. He is left grieving, crying like he did for his father earlier.

Edo is still desperate to be useful for Saiou, that insecurity heightened by the Light's words, but his views have already started to change. He no longer think of his role as being a given. He no longer think of himself and Saiou as their role in their destiny. All that matter is saving his friend and for that he is willing to risk the fate of the world. He doesn't even care about being a hero.

How heartbreaking is it to have lost one father, found out another is a monster, and your best friend is most likely one of the two. Worst of all, Edo promised to help and he can't. It might be too late. Everyone he loved either did not care for him or he failed them.

But their genuine love and care for each other is still stronger than their own destiny.

Edo, who was meant to do the saving, is being saved. Saiou, who was meant to be passive or an agent of destruction save him. Saiou is still holding the umbrella for both of them. They're still those children lost and hurting, they're still those children who brought warmth to each other. Saiou wouldn't hold an umbrella if it wasn't for Edo. He wouldn't have faced the Light and found the strenght to exist if it wasn't for Edo's sake.

It's after nearly losing each other that they can talk to each other truthfully. Despite his feeling of failure Edo still admit to wanting Saiou by his side. Despite feeling guilty, Saiou show all the parts of himself that are ugly. Things they might have always felt about the other but never knew.

Their roles are gone. Destiny is pointless. They become human again. With all the pain and hardship and ability to change that involves.

That courage, letting the other see all of them, is what let them rebuild their relationship. Destiny, the umbrella that helped them, the things they desperately held onto because it allowed them to survive all those years is now trapping them. They can now face all the things they couldn't as children. Their relationship doesn't need to be destined to remain and bring them strenght and warmth.

When they leave, they're still full of insecurities, and pains, but they're not trying to hide them from each other. They look together at the bright blue sky.

“Klaus asked me to check on—“ no, no, no. I refuse to believe this episode had a brawl against Shadow it was actually Alice meeting Chan-Lee for a picnic date.

it is possible that the dub tried to label runo a tomboy as a way of giving her a distinctive personality (like how julie is super upbeat and peppy and alice is more soft spoken and shy) but in the context of the bakugan game, it makes no sense to paint runo as someone who's into 'boyish things' to justify her interest when the show already has plenty of girls that are interested in bakugan and who don't have to compromise their femininity to play it. looking at season one alone, julie, alice, jenny and jewls, chan lee (and even nene) are proof that girls can be feminine and still kick ass at the game. there's no need to push the agenda that you have to be a boyish girl to like bakugan.

i know that the show was made with a male demographic in mind and that's only to be expected but i never got the sense in-universe that bakugan was a game for boys so these comments about how girls don't know anything about battling or marucho's line about how the jj dolls probably aren't the best battlers, just the best female battlers (thanks dub) annoy me sooo badly. i guess it's just the casual misogyny of the 2000s era leaking into the script but still, i could very much do without it.

We have an implication the Lusters lived in some poor district that has became rubbish since, but not what happened with his brothers and sisters and it pisses me TF OFFFFF i want to know

no clue 🥹 but if nothing else, we can speculate.

the fact that they don't refer to volt with any variation of "onii-san" makes me wonder if they're not actually his siblings but just a bunch of orphan kids who lived together. there's a little girl seen cooking so it leads me to think that there weren't any adults present when volt was younger and they all had to take care of each other.

volt also looks at the rubble with no amount of surprise so i'm not so sure this is his first time back home since he was recruited. . .i know the general perception is that volt's family died for whatever reason but there's also a chance that they were forcibly relocated because someone else needed the land to build something new.

i might be looking at this completely wrong but the other houses look taller and made of steel whereas the "roof" of volt's old home looks like the concrete above ground. so it's possible that they lived underground but that's just me spitballing.

we know that volt rose up from the lower levels and made a name for himself, but there's no mention of him doing so for his family, only for himself. so really, we can only really speculate about what happened to those kids but i don't think the show implied death.

i don't think volt would search for them if they were alive either because 1) it'd be near impossible to locate them, especially on a planet that's supposedly struggling with overpopulation and 2) he probably thinks they don't want anything to do with him after what he's done.

also random fun fact about volt! hydron's throwaway line here implies volt could've previously been living in the countryside before he came to live in the lower rings of the city.

Gus trying to assimilate back into normal life. He saw himself as a revolutionary, and likely assumed he may well face death to put Spectra on the throne. And now he's... Living a normal-ish life? Yes he's still working on interplanetary spanning issues with the Brawlers, but like? He's not dead, and while still serving at Spectra's side— well, he isn't.

He stands next to Keith. Mira's brother. Who dotes on her, and laughs without the sharp edge of secrecy and ideological fervor. Keith who laughs openly. Keith who's blue eyes are the same bright blue, but not piercing. Not having to be so constantly vigilant. Keith's eyes are still beautiful to Gus, but softer.

And, truthfully, maybe not what he fell in love with.

Spectra was a mask. He understood that. But it he still can't help but feel like the rug has been pulled out from beneath him, the air stolen from him. Keith moves the same, but not quite. Sounds the same, but not quite.

Gus should be glad they survived. They succeeded, for all intents and purposes. But this isn't what he fought for. Gus thought if he survived that he would serve a new ruler of Vestal. Be constantly on the watch for those who would depose Spectra.

And it's not like Spectra is gone. He's still very much there, and how much of Spectra is/was Keith is staggering at times. His intensity, his power, his presence. They're all still there. But just. Slightly different.

It's a little maddening. It feels like he's insane or stupid or both. And he still cannot fathom leaving Spectra— Keith's side.

His name doesn't taste right on Gus' tongue. "Spectra" was a prayer, a litany of devotion to an idea he knew was an idea more than a concrete person. Keith is, well. A name. A person's name. Spectra's name.

It feels like blasphemy. It feels like letting go. It feels like stepping away from a ledge he'd willing led himself to, at the behest of the ideal that pushed him there in the first place.

"not interested in girly stuff"

I love this concept, I really do, but I think it made him more of a SECRET jerk than anything else.

Like, he was already a face hunter but there seemed to be at least a little trust in his companions but later on lion boi trust NOBODY and insists on doing everything alone.

This pretty edit of Kira’s clothes is from Adachi’s twitter somehow