[VRAINS] [SPOILER] General discussion thread

[Sanokal]

After you mentioned that, if I'm not mistaken, that's where the card originally came from. Green Baboon was a Manga Card, like Gorz, the Emissary of Darkness.

There are a lot of Manga cards that I don't realize or remember were Manga cards.

Yes, but I've previously novelized R and done summaries for it on Yugipedia. I am subsequently ashamed.

[J. D. Guy]

Yes, but I've previously novelized R and done summaries for it on Yugipedia. I am subsequently ashamed.

You shouldn't be so hard on yourself.

[Sanokal]

You shouldn't be so hard on yourself.

Yes I should, but I appreciate the sentiment.

[J. D. Guy]

Ah! I, and this show in general, really needed this break from the usual. And I mean really needed it.

It was short, but sweet, and as full of interaction and chemistry as I had hoped. It wasn't as focused on Naoki or the contents of the Duel as I would have liked, but it was still good, and once again I must emphasize, a much needed breather.

Bookended by the SOL folks and the "good guys" discussing their failure in the beginning and said guys falling into a trap by the folks in the end (talk about mood whiplash...), the Duel is introed on a hunch by Blue Girl that she is later teased on for being wrong later.

Naoki was breautiful here! Simply so! So was Ghost Girl, and her "trying not to groan and snap" reactions to Naoki's "cool-n'-tough guy" routine. To the latter's credit, Brave really did come of as genuine in spite of everything (he even stuck the lander after he lost!), and to the former's, aside from showing some personal frustrations on her face a few times that remained unvoiced aloud to her opponent, Ghost Girl managed to go the whole Duel without breaking the "innocuous adversary" thing from, technically parting on amiable terms after her win.

I'll need to rewatch this to see and savor everything, but I can't state enough how much I love following Naoki's character! And I especially love watching his Duels, as he makes them feel so lively regardless of length or context, or because of context, even. I like how it looked like he "bricked" again but he played out of it himself and didn't let it affect him this time (lovely Scrap Kong cameos, by the way). That new Baboon was all kinds of cool (and so I want it!!!)! We got Multifaker and Hextia from Ghost Girl (but no Pixiel ). Lastly, despite losing and shedding manly tears, he took the loss in stride and with grace. Blue Angel's concert thing or whatever that was probably helped, too. (All things considered, I'm glad they left Brave/Naoki on a happy note. At least someone gets to be happy and feel good and secure about themselves in this show.)

Though this episode wasn't as centric on his character as I would have preferred, he slipped into the role of "viewpoint" nicely and played his part superbly from start to finish. Kudos to Ghost Girl who did likewise. Anyway, this episode kind of cemented my desire for more of Naoki/Brave in general, even though the show's structure can't really accomdate more than these occasional asides (or more likely, refuses to; they easily could if they wanted to, but they don't). Hope for another one where he gets to Duel Yusaku/Playmaker, though.

In the end, I enjoyed this episode. Alas, as I mentioned before, it's back to "business as usual" and it appears to be sticking that way for the foreseeable batch of episodes. Oh well. The levity and underscored awesome was good while it lasted.

And real life Soulburner took martial arts and hung out with some stereotypical toughs not long ago. Go figure.

[Dark-Shimy]

The first Real Life Duel.

[Comun]

Why is this flashback duel lasting longer than one episode though?

[J. D. Guy]

Wow. Breather Episode really telegraphed its necessity, didn't it. I'm kinda surprised they manged a Duel here, as I was kinda laying to rest the likely reality that this would be another Duel-less episode. At least, it seems Shepard will be Dueling Soulburner after all. That dude's really going too far, though.

Also, in case @ScionStorm might be interested, this episode's opposing Duelist was using Zombies including some new stuff and some older things (spoilers from the Duel's transcript).

Spoiler Alert!

And that player also actually Summoned Despair from the Dark!

The first Real Life Duel.

I'm shocked, but also glad. This is a good thing, and now should hopefully open the proverbial floodgates that have been limiting the potential for Duels in this series. I'm also happy because I recall reading some translated interview that said the characters would never Duel outside Link VRAINS. I wasn't a fan when I heard about it because I knew the type of limiter it could and would produce, but at least now I know they can bypass that limiter whenever they choose to do so.

Why is this flashback duel lasting longer than one episode though?

Probably because they spent most of the episode setting it up and also probably because they are in no hurry to rush things for this.

[KingKaash]

Blood Shepherd vs Soulburner is going to be very interesting. I don't know who's going to win. I want Blood Shepherd to win because I'm getting a little tired of seeing Playmaker and Soulburner win every duel they are in on screen. And I want to see the non-Ignis people get a win and actually take an Ignis. I want to see what they do with an Ignis. So as much as I like Soulburner as a character I hope he takes the L here. It'd be better for the plot in my opinion. But I could totally see the writers getting Soulburner a win to get past his weakness for character growth purposes which would be a bit cliche but somewhat necessary as well. We shall see.

[J. D. Guy]

Blood Shepherd vs Soulburner is going to be very interesting. I don't know who's going to win. I want Blood Shepherd to win because I'm getting a little tired of seeing Playmaker and Soulburner win every duel they are in on screen. And I want to see the non-Ignis people get a win and actually take an Ignis. I want to see what they do with an Ignis. So as much as I like Soulburner as a character I hope he takes the L here. It'd be better for the plot in my opinion. But I could totally see the writers getting Soulburner a win to get past his weakness for character growth purposes which would be a bit cliche but somewhat necessary as well. We shall see.

My only issue with Shepard getting the win is that Shepard is kind of a louse. It'd also kinda be Spectre 2.0, with Playmaker getting the "revenge" win afterwords.

I'd be okay with Soulburner losing to one of these guys, but I really don't want it to be against that particular guy.

[J. D. Guy]

And once again, they tease a 2-on-1 Duel, only to not deliver. :/ It's starting to become bothersome to me.

Interestingly enough, @KingKaash, this episode, they managed to get around a few of those speculated things regarding Goukis! Putting this in spoilers for now, just in case.

Spoiler Alert!

Gore's two new merc-bros are actually using Goukis! At least the one who Dueled this episode did. And the other who got knocked away before the Duel began actually came back at the end, so it's likely he'll be doing likewise. What's so cool and clever is that by having them use Gouki, they get around a lot of the hypothetical pitfalls of Gore using them as his full-time Deck. The Pink-afro bro didn't use any new Main Deck stuff (his set-up play was super similar to Gore's in his first Duel), but the Link-3 was new. Since things like Links are perfect support for the Deck that don't support the engine, this made for a convenient way of giving them tactically chosen support without the obligations of a bigger cache of cards if Gore was playing. It also had the dirty yet pragmatic benefit of having someone else use Gouki and than promptly lose, implictly 'cause they're not experienced with the Deck, without unduly making Gore look bad by taking that kind of loss.

Other things include Despair from the Dark apparently being the devil now, at least for Soulburner. Shepard being a dirty rat of a piece of scum, which I already knew. And a Salamangreat Link-2, which is super welcome (though once again, I'm pretty sure most figured it was only a matter of time before one came along). Oh, and Playmaker used Penestag and reused that Sword Spell from his Duel with Gore.

Bit of an aside, but one thing I really like about VRAINS is its character designs. As short as his Duel was, Pink-afro really looked cool actually getting to move and act, and even those toughs from Soulburner's flashback actually looked pleasing.

Looking forward to another token Gouki support from Short-n-spiky bro, for more new Salamangreat things, and for Soulburner to dunk that cape-and-fedora-wearing scrub into the fake lava.

On another note, it's too bad that Shepard's Drone Deck wasn't able to expound on its normal playstyle because it had to be used as support for the symbolism of Soulburner's fear of Despair from the Dark. I understand that it makes sense, but still. If/when he Duels again, hopefully against Ghost Girl or Akira (especially, since he needs the Duel), it'll be a more straightforward showcasing.