vrains rewatch

i really do love the pacing of this duel. i was glued to the edge of my seat while watching these episodes. i remember it so clearly, too, because i’d been binge watching from episode 16 that day, and got to like, 24 by the time i stopped, lmao.

ai does a lot of cute/funny stuff this episode, to help break up some of the more dark tones of the rest of it, like this:

it really makes me miss hi in this form :( i really like his soltis form, don’t get me wrong, but i miss him on yusaku’s wrist lol. i would say when things were less angsty, but, well. lmao.

we very quickly get akira’s rad boss monster summoned out:

and seriously, i just love the animation for it. it’s so sick. the door, the fire, how it looms behind him at first.... aaaaaa. so cool.

and of course the classic:

the worst part about this line is it’s said so often (esp in arc v LOL) that i actually. have slipped up and said it in normal, day to day conversation before. my boyfriend looked at me for like a minute and gave me the deepest sigh i’ve ever heard the first time i did that pff.

also:

i couldn’t not screencap this, given what my blog is for LOL

every time something reminds me of that painful final duel, i have to screencap it and make you guys sad with me. if i have to be sad seeing all this stuff, knowing where their relationship goes and how the series ends, so do you.

also, though, i forgot how often this was brought up before the bohman duel lmao. it makes that theory look a lot more credible, so it’s cool that it had all these little hints towards it, even if it ultimately wasn’t true.

seriously, my heart. i don’t think i need to talk much about this scene to make y’all sad, but really. they went from this to i loved you. ugh, god, i’m so sad thinking about it lmao.

there is so much to talk about between akira and playmaker and even blue angel in this episode, so i guess we’ll start here.

it is hard to decide that you want to take control of your trauma and do something about it. it is not easy. to see yusaku fight for that right so thoroughly is incredible, and really, really validating.

more sadness! seriously, this is too much. this deck was created specifically for him by ai. i don’t like this anymore lmao

but even besides that, often times the protag’s decks mean a lot to them, obviously, but i love that it wasn’t built strictly by yusaku. his cards were literally made by ai, and i think that’s such a cool twist. 

but then, akira’s speech:

i talked last time about akira wanting to handle things himself, and i briefly touched on him thinking he knows best...

but i really admire how calm yusaku stays at that tbh. he gets angry, reasonably so imo, but he takes this so well. i know i was a much more volatile kid then he is, so respect lol

i’ve spoken at length already about akira, but i also want to talk again about how oblivious he is. he is so blinded by his own thoughts and feelings on the situation that he doesn’t stop to think about how yusaku might be feeling -- and worse, honestly, how his sister might be feeling.

it was why he was so visibly shocked when emma mentioned a few episodes ago that aoi wasn’t just a little kid anymore. it’s so clear that he still, at the moment, sees her as the six year old girl he swore to protect, and not the sixteen year old person she’s become. he doesn’t think about how she might be feeling towards his actions, or why she does what she does.

this is highlighted as early as episode 6 iirc, when he asks her why aren’t you happy? as much as i, personally, dislike his character, i can’t deny it’s very realistic and well written.

speaking of aoi:

i love how she’s written in this episode, too. but her entrance here is great, and i love how she stands up to him about this. it’s minor, but it’s still a good step. when she’s blue angel -- or blue girl, or blue maiden -- she feels comfortable doing that. at least a little, and it obviously grows throughout the series. i hope that transfers over to the real world for her, too.

and then, we finally get the full story:

i remember flinching when he started talking about it, remembering the shots of yusaku getting electrocuted from his duel with revolver.

i really love this. i said it last episode, but vrains handles yusaku’s trauma so realistically and it’s amazing.

i remember originally staring open mouthed at my tv screen while this part played. we got a bit of it from the other episode, but the full context truly shocked me. where’s that post that says “who thought this was an acceptable backstory to give to a card game protag” bc honestly??? YEAH

it’s still hard to watch. it’s still hard to see play out, even if it’s only fiction. even though i’ve seen these clips so many times, and written about them in detail a few times too. doesn’t matter lol. watching it in context actually still made my stomach drop.

which leads me to talk about reactions to this, actually:

the two that vrains focuses heavily on are blue angel’s and kusanagi’s, and they contrast really well here imo.

blue angel’s is a normal reaction. it’s horrified, both at the thought of it happening and at the fact that someone would actually do that to another person -- a six year old child, no less.

kusanagi’s is strained. he is angry hearing about this, thinking about jin. we’ve been told, and have seen in the last few episodes, how much the lost incident impacted kusanagi and his brother, but i really love that the show tells us that here, too, and shows the difference between hearing about a tragedy and being involved in some manner.

i did not expect it at all when first watching vrains, and honestly, it still impresses me how gracefully they handled it coming off of arc v (cough, shun i love you but really cough cough). no hate on arc v at all, it’s my third favorite ygo very close behind gx, but the difference between the two on how they handle these things is staggering.

this whole section makes me thing that ryoken talked to yusaku fairly often, after the first time. which is something i don’t see brought up often? but that’s so important imo. it meant that yusaku had someone encouraging him not just once or twice, but on the regular, but also it meant that ryoken was constantly risking himself to comfort that child. 

we don’t see too much of ryoken when he’s a kid, but we do see him scared and crying over the lost incident. the fact that he was able to talk calmly to this child so many times is really amazing. it also makes more sense as to why ryoken feels so guilty over calling the police -- he probably felt that maybe if he had just kept up his encouragement, the kids would’ve all gotten out okay and his father wouldn’t be in a coma. 

this was so powerful. it’s obvious, and i think anyone with half a brain would understand that the LI isn’t something that a kid would recover from easily, but i love this anyways. 

he wasn’t saved. and even if he was in body, it’s still something he and all the other victims will live with for the rest of their lives.

this also is something i don’t feel like people bring up enough, but does this mean that yusaku went around asking the kids at the hospital when he was rescued? it’s not hard to believe they were all put together, at least for a short amount of time, but it’s still something i feel like people overlook. 

i also love this, because it’s nice foreshadowing to how revolver feels. he’s not captured, not like yusaku and the lost kids were, but he is a prisoner. and just like ryoken saved yusaku, way back then, he is determined to repay the favor.

not just because of that, either. because that voice meant so much to him. because that voiced saved him. because that voice understood him, and was there for him in his hardest moments. god i love them.

i love this shot. it’s so dramatic, how the match the drum beats with flashes of everyone’s reactions.

but it drives home his point, and while i know most of akira’s development came through emma and aoi, i’m sure this helped, too. 

i’ve sung vrains praises this entire post, but i’ll do it again -- this is incredible. this is so realistic. it’s so well portrayed. and it’s really honest to god incredible that we got a protag in ygo who was shown going to therapy. 

ygo has always dealt with some pretty dark subject matter, and it’s never really been shy about showing it on screen. i’m not saying that at all. arc v obviously dealt with some pretty heavy stuff, and while i haven’t seen zexal (keep shaming me please) i know it does, too. 5ds obviously has the dark signer arc, and the later arcs concerning bruno and also yusei’s father, and gx has... well, it’s entire third and fourth season. 

but we see everyone healing via card games. we see those shows talk about these things, but kind of at the same time, skirt around the subject matter; or if they do go deep into it, they pull out (ie 5ds) or the characters don’t get resolved properly (ie arc v). 

idk where i was going with this but i just really love that this happened, this was shown on screen, and they stuck to yusaku’s character. they didn’t just... up and make his trauma and his world view disappear at the end. he has a bittersweet ending, but it suited him and his development. a lot of people were mad about it, and i get it -- i wanted him to be happy, too.

but that’s not always the case, and it’s really important to me that vrains doesn’t pretend it is.

anyways, though, i’m almost done with this episode i promise lmao. before the episode ends, we get this:

and i think it’s honestly kind of cruel that akira says this, after everything, and still maintains his point of handling it himself. he has heard, first hand now, how horrible the incident has scarred yusaku for life. and yet, he still is stubborn in refusing to relate or at the very least empathize.

what i mean by that, since we obviously see him attempt to last episode, is he refuses to look at it from someone’s else’s perspective or in a way that might make him uncomfortable. the way my boyfriend describes these kinds of people is that they “haven’t had their bubble popped”.

everyone has a bubble when they’re born, and that bubble shields you from realizing that the world is a cruel and hard place. even if you go through hardships, sometimes your bubble stays put, and you think that is the worst of what can happen. 

i’m explaining this very poorly, because i’m running on not much sleep and i’ve been typing about this episode for like, far, far too long, but essentially, he refuses to step out of his comfort zone and recognize, in playmaker’s case, that he doesn’t have a right to interfere and that playmaker’s desire to handle it himself is justified and helpful for his healing. and in aoi’s case, that just because he does a lot of good for her doesn’t automatically mean ignoring her for work and keeping her locked in their house is an okay trade off. and also that she’s not a child anymore -- she’s nearly an adult and she deserves to be treated as one. 

those thoughts seem to unsettle him. you can kind of see it in how detached he is after hearing all that come from playmaker. blue angel is visibly shaken up by what he’s said. akira doesn’t even flinch, because he’s not really listening right now. 

i’m glad he learns to, or at least learns how to start, later on.

and man, part of the reason i love this duel so much is because of how they absolutely nailed playmaker’s expressions. i won’t go into too much detail, but i’ve been in a...somewhat similar situation, where there was someone who for whatever reason believed they understood what i had gone through and should just let them handle everything, while not understanding part of my healing process was handling it myself. the idea of giving up my control over certain things was completely out of the question, and that’s part of what makes this duel was great to me. playmaker perfectly illustrates those thoughts and feelings.

i’m sure i’ll talk a lot about that throughout the next few posts, but i’ll stop myself there for the time being lol. 

anyways,

this was already hinted to us, the viewers, but not to any of the characters really, so i love how shocked kusanagi is. big businesses are generally pretty shady, but the LI is obviously in a different league lol. it makes sense that he was surprised.

and here’s one of my biggest reasons for disliking akira initially. i think he does grow as a character, but to be honest with y’all, i’m still not overly fond of him lol. i love his relationship with aoi, i appreciate his growth, but man.

the fact that he saw any of that data and was like, “nah, better not let the kid who was used for this project see any of the data. nvm the fact that he is searching it out on his own, so clearly it’s important to him, but he shouldn’t have to worry about this. i can do it” just. 

i’ve seen a few people say that they like akira for this, and i won’t disagree that it’s a realistic way to react. but playmaker is right. he has the right to learn what he went through. why he went through it.

then we get:

it’s still a bit weird to see everyone in vrains questioning this when i’m so used to the concept and to the characters being used to it, lol. but it’s nice to see that train of thought continued. they all have time to come to terms with it, just like we, the viewers, do. it’s cool.

but then akira continues to be an idiot:

and like, honestly. i don’t think he’s doing anything horrible. i don’t think he’s being mean. i think he’s being stupid lmao. he obviously does care, just... doesn’t know how to handle this kind of situation. he’s so used to handling everything, taking care of aoi, and even in his former position he had employees that worked under him, so it makes sense. but he’s not the only capable person around, and he needs to let others handle their own issues.

and also, is it any wonder why playmaker doesn’t let akira take care of it? besides all of the obvious, he’s just gotten confirmation that the company he works for had something to do with the lost incident, lmao.

seriously, people knock on vrains for a lot of things, and like, you do you man. if this show wasn’t your fave, that’s cool. not everything is gonna jive with everyone and there’s nothing wrong with that!

but vrains really, really does this right. i love and will always love how it handles yusaku’s trauma through the series, and i genuinely feel blessed that we got him as a ygo protag.

but on yusaku’s last point, they agree to duel:

i hate to break it to you, ai, but you’re in a ygo show. you don’t really have a choice LOL

i also really love how kusanagi is handled in these eps. he’s not a victim, not in the same way his brother or yusaku were involved, but he was still deeply effected. how could he not be? he basically gave up his life to become a hacker and try to figure out what happened to his brother so he could help him. he had to watch as his once sweet little brother became a shell of a person, and nothing he did could stop it.

but anyways, something sad in a different way for a sec:

i, of course, immediately thought of the final duel and how yusaku finished the duel with decode talker. that....really hurt to hear with that context lol. 

ow, my heart.

but at least ai’s also got some non-depressing lines to break things up a little:

seriously lmao what is duelsick??? i always wondered why it bothered him so much lol

but this episode is very depressing so that didn’t last long, whoops. we get to find out next about akira and aoi’s upbringing:

but here’s the thing: this is so, so different. it’s why playmaker and kusanagi get so angry and lash out. i am not at all denying that what akira and aoi lived through was terrible. they had it really rough, and it clearly hurt them both and changed how they view the world and live in general. 

but he literally just looked through the LI files he knows at least somewhat how different these situations are, in fact, he literally says that he doesn’t know the pain playmaker endured. 

my own personal feelings aside, this is a great look into akira’s character. just like with his own little sister, he has a hard time relating to other’s problems. he has a hard time understanding how they’re feeling, glancing at something and thinking he knows what’s best. it’s consistent with everything we’ve seen from him so far, and while it makes it easy for me to dislike him, i completely understand why people really liked him and his development. 

he was never a bad person. just a misguided person trying to help when he shouldn’t have, or should’ve done differently. his heart is truly in the right place, and yusaku even acknowledges that:

and it’s good to see that by the end of the series, he and aoi can finally fight together, understanding each other. and i’m really happy about that.

i really do love their relationship. they’re great siblings, even if they’re not related by blood. it’s really rare to see such caring step siblings in media, so i’m really happy we got them!!

but also, talk about a smack in the face. i won’t let this six year old be unhappy, he explains to the person who, as a six year old, was kidnapped and tortured for six months as he hides the explanation of that event from them. lmao. but this emotional investment i have is what makes this such a good duel for me! it’s so high stakes, and the voice acting is so on point. i love. 

obviously, though, neither kusanagi nor playmaker take that very well:

i remember sitting on my couch, watching this episode for the first time, and just being blown away by this scene. it’s so powerful. every time i rewatch this, i am still amazed and i can feel my heart pound lmao. it’s not very often we see playmaker get this emotional, which definitely makes this impact greater, but the same for kusanagi.

he’s a much more expressive character, but while he’s serious about his job of helping yusaku, he’s more laid back in every day situations. and even while he’s on the job, he often smiles. to see that kind of character in this kind of a fury makes for a really, really big impact.

i love this. it so perfectly sums up that feeling, why someone would get so angry in this kind of situation. i could talk all day about it, but i have a few other episodes of this duel and i’ve been writing this post for like 40 minutes lol

i wonder if this is also in reference to her own brother situation? i felt like that reveal... didn’t exactly come out of nowhere, most people had guessed it by the time they dueled -- as had i -- but it was definitely rushed imo. i liked their development a lot, don’t get me wrong, but i think it would’ve been cool if she’d like... mentioned it, a few times beforehand. i suppose this could be taken that way, though i definitely hadn’t thought about it that way before haha

also, the dueling in this episode is great. i love the pacing of this duel. even without all the emotional stuff that’s done so well, i think i’d still enjoy just watching this duel because it’s solid all around. 

though that desire is quickly replaced with some other character development that i adore, it still leaves me strongly wanting an actual female rival in ygo LOL. oh well. maybe for ygo 7!

anyways though.

god i really don’t like this guy LOL i don’t think that’s an unpopular opinion or anything, and i think he’s not exactly supposed to be likable, but i’m not sad we never saw him again really pff

we also get the emma/akira convo about aoi, which i really like.

emma: says something about how blue angel showed up on time akira: !? emma: idk what youre talking about

LOL something about that just made me laugh a lot. but even more so, this conversation gives us this:

which is the beginning of akira’s realization that he can’t control aoi’s life forever. i really love how this doesn’t come from the MC, but from emma. vrains underutilized a lot of the side characters (like, spectre should’ve dueled more and miyu should’ve been more of a character, for example), but i really like how they had takeru, ryoken, aoi, and akira all develop as their own characters separate from yusaku when necessary. 

it’s something that was kept up with for a lot of the series, though it would’ve been nice if S3 wasn’t cut so short so we could’ve seen more of aoi’s development, but still. 

i also really like this scene because emma isn’t saying it just to get akira to go with her and finish her plan. she reminds him of that after this, which shows that she really cares about this. she doesn’t really know aoi, they’ve had like, one conversation at this point iirc (which was last episode in LV), but she’s a really independent woman, and can obviously tell aoi wants to be treated as one, too. i really love their mentorship and it’s nice to see it take it’s roots as early as this episode!

and blue angel. seriously, i love her, and this episode reminded me of why. she’s a really fun duelist to watch tbh. not my favorite, and obviously vrains has some killer duels (one of my top 5 is coming up next episode, for example), but she’s just fun. i love her as blue girl and blue maiden, too, but blue angel is probably my favorite design for her.

look at her! it’s so fun to compare and contrast aoi vs her persona, because obviously some of it is acting, but how much? comparing to blue girl and blue maiden later down the line, i think if given the chance to act how she wanted IRL instead of constantly being isolated and worried about ruining her brother’s reputation, she’s be more spunky and sassy. in all her forms she’s got that going for her, and i think that is part of her true nature. IRL she’s just too shy and too worried over akira as i said, but in LV? she’s free to be whoever she wants. i love that.

anyways though, we don’t often get two duels in one episode, but vrains can do it pretty well for these shorter duels. i understand with how the format is now it’s not really.. possible, to shorten most of the duels, but it still would’ve been nice to see a couple more cutaway duel episodes. imo anyway lol.

moving on though, we cut back to yusaku, who has some mad recursion on his deck LOL and gets this dude from storm access:

i couldn’t remember who he got while i was watching this back, and i don’t remember him like.. ever using this again LOL maybe i’m wrong but i really don’t recognize this monster.

i get they probably didn’t want to give him something too big or cool during a transition episode, but it still would’ve been nice to have him gain something of importance lmao. i would say it’s almost nice since it makes it seem like storm access is just another skill, but like, vrains puts so much emphasis on it. throughout the whole series. so it makes it feel kind of off in this duel lol.

anyways, though, then its the end scene:

and i’ve heard a lot of people talk about the symbolism of the birds with the LI victims, and something interesting i noticed was that this shot only shows 5 birds.

it could be taken in the way of, “we already know one of the lost incident victims, it’s yusaku!”, but when we consider that windy’s origin is dead, it makes me wonder. there’s some plot points in vrains that feel like they were kind of added in last minute, or were thrown out for awhile only to get added back in later, but windy’s origin never felt like one of those to me.

not sure if that’s just me -- i know a lot of people wanted justice for him. i do, too, to some extent! i just also was one of the only people i saw in the fandom who fully believed him to be dead as soon as that was introduced to us, lol.

anyways, though.

man, i know right? i miss my girl. i love that yusaku noticed this, though, and was looking around for her at school. he’s a good kid.

ai then talks about how akira might be keeping her isolated, and says:

but yes, yes i can blame him. even without the obvious effects it has on aoi,

that’s, uh, kind of a crappy reaction? kind of is an understatement LOL. she’s sixteen. she’s not some little kid that you can scold for doing something bad -- she was forcibly given a virus, that akira’s company probably should’ve noticed, seeing as uh, the KOH are their biggest enemy, and she dueled when akira told her not to. oh no, how terrible!

seriously, for a kid who already feels isolated from the rest of the world, that must be terrible, being forcibly isolated even further. as i brought up when we first get introduced to her, no wonder she decided on becoming an idol in LV. i really feel for aoi.

i get that he’s protective, but man, as someone who fought hard for my freedom when i was a kid, this really rubs me the wrong way lmao.

moving on.

more of yusaku completely ignoring anything romantic LOL. i just love this. i love that you can take it to either be complete obliviousness or apathy. either way is funny to me, AND in character, which is a plus.

we then get this:

emma is such an instigator here and i love it tbh. she’s really egging things on around her to ease her own curiosity, lol. we don’t really have many morally gray female characters in ygo (again, i have not seen zexal so i’m unsure how true that statement is, shame me even more), so it’s cool to see.

even originally i knew something was fishy about her going out of her way to duel playmaker when she knew she would likely lose, so i like how they followed up on that.

akira, you really could be such a cool dude. i’m glad you become one by the end of the series, at least sort of lol, but right now, i still don’t like you much. 

it’s interesting that she used a butterfly here to me tbh. i spent a stupid amount of time trying to figure out what kind of butterfly she modeled this after, but got absolutely nowhere lmao. i know they’re often symbolism, so i’m curious if there was anything i was missing here, but i guess i’ll never know.

if someone does have an idea, drop me an ask! i’m super curious.

anyways, though, i also love how emma knows it’s her and akira didn’t even notice her there. it’s really cool to think of it like that when you think about aoi’s character development and her relationships with both emma and akira later in the series.

this is probably the attitude that causes ai to have to watch yusaku die in all those simulations, so i was not happy seeing this line LOL

anyways though,

here’s another yusaku smile. i guess i’m screenshotting all of the good ones now. that’s fine. we need them anyways.

then we get the infiltration scene, which i honestly loved originally and still love now. they found a really cool way to actually visualize something that is... not terribly interesting IRL and i appreciate that, honestly! 

bahaha. famous last words, ai.

this was a line i was not expecting them to ever bring back, but like, the whole bohman thing in episode, what, 57-58? or something along those lines? i know it probably wasn’t intentional -- or maybe it was, who knows -- but remembering that mini arc when we were all like “wait is yusaku actually an ai lol” and seeing this line so early on is actually pretty cool!

i also love the context for it, though, lmao. yusaku being like “it’s a viable strategy” and ai just being -__- to that really made me laugh. then there’s the start of the duel vs the duelist AI things, then there’s the bs about them trying to steal his duel disk -- hello, this is ygo, you have to duel for these things! -- and then:

LOVE BLUE! ANGEL!!

i literally shout it/clap along whenever that track comes on, lmao, i love it. and i love her reappearance! it’s been almost 10 episode since we’ve seen you do something, best girl, so good to see you back! 

i love how shocked playmaker is to see her, too! so fun. what a great entrance.

we end the episode with this:

and i love it. i love her! love blue! angel!!

lmao sorry. anyways, we’re getting to one of my top 5 duels of the series soon, and i’m sure you all know what duel that is, so i’m super excited! hopefully i’ll be able to squeeze a third episode in today, but we’ll see. these posts actually take up quite a bit of my time, lol.