#Aoi zaizen

[pico-farad]

I finished season 1 of Vrains and it was cool but I thought it needed about 2 billion more secret identity shenanigans

extended thoughts below

So I went into a deep dive in my last two posts (1, 2) about all the problems I had with Vrains, and you'd think I didn't enjoy it, but in fact as I was watching, there was a separate, parallel version of Vrains that was playing in my head, a Yugioh I think we were robbed of and which fixes every problem I had with the first season, and that is Secret Identities AU.

Yusaku needs FRIENDS

This is YUGIOH.

This dynamic is everything I wanted from Vrains. Yusaku developing unexpected fondness for these bozos who think he needs a defense squad. I want Miraculous Ladybug levels of secret identity shenanigans. I want Yusaku slapping his duel disk every time Ai tries to blow their cover.

This AU sprung forth from the scene in the duel club where he shows Naoki his decoy deck. Having Yusaku passing as a bad duelist is 1) so funny, but 2) Yusaku needing to maintain his low profile is a useful contrivance for other characters to get more duels, and 3) I think it would be a really fun one-off episode where Yusaku has to duel using his bad deck. When he wins, Naoki is so proud he cries.

Having Yusaku actually have to interact with the other characters in the real world opens up Greek play levels of dramatic irony. The crux of a secret identity story is that every single interaction builds up anticipation, because you the viewer know that the other party is being deceived, and that the tension will snap when the secret is revealed.

I have zero anticipation about Playmaker's identity being revealed, because Aoi would be like "oh.... I guess he goes to my school" and Go would be like "have I seen that guy before?" But SIAU Playmaker? My guy is making friends just so he can betray them. Insane.

Go needs A ROLE IN THE STORY.

I said in my first post that Go isn't a rival or a best friend character. SIAU fixes this by making him both simultaneously.

Having him be the ace of the duel club is a natural replacement for his whole hero of the orphans schtick, while placing him directly the circle of relevance with the other characters. Instead of being disgruntled that the orphans suddenly like Playmaker more than him, he's disgruntled that Naoki and the duel club mooks are fawning over Playmaker -- which is actually just Naoki's character anyway.

I would kill for a big dramatic moment where Go learns that Playmaker and Yusaku are the same person, and even though Go feels betrayed that Yusaku has been deceiving him, he stands by Yusaku anyway because they're friends.

With a secret identity story, every conversation is working on multiple levels because each character is working with asymmetric information. You get these fascinating, layered scenes of two characters talking past each other because they cannot give up their secret.

Which would go especially hard with Go and Yusaku, because Go has legitimate criticisms of Playmaker in canon and Yusaku has legitimate reasoning behind the things he does, and as Go Onizuka and Playmaker they could never come to an understanding on them, but as Go and Yusaku, two friends in duel club, that door becomes open to them.

Aoi needs WRITING THAT ISN'T A TRAINWRECK

I made a whole post on this. Basically every problem would be solved if Akira doesn't know that she's Blue Angel. There's no reason for her to lose grotesquely against Yusaku, or have her basic autonomy called into question constantly. 

Having her actively deceive her brother is delicious. Like I said in my last post, it's so obvious how Akira's overprotectiveness has taken its toll on Aoi, and pushed her into developing this other persona, Blue Angel. I want this absolutely dysfunctional sibling relationship so badly. The Blue Angel vs. Zaizen duel would make me lose my mind.

And a secret identities setting works so well with the potential themes of VRAINS as a stand-in for the internet and Blue Angel as an idol. Give me that Perfect Blue Satoshi Kon good stuff. Give me those themes about identity, and the different lives we live, outward and inward, online and offline.

This also helps Akira's character, because I think he would be much more interesting and relevantly positioned in the story if he stayed a SOL Technologies baddie. SOL Technologies has very little presence in season 1 despite being critical to the story. After Zaizen is replaced by an irrelevant clown, they don't do anything but send out mook AIs to get destroyed. By having a three-way standoff between Yusaku's squad, the Knights of Hanoi, and SOL Technologies, both Hanoi and SOL Technologies become more compelling. They've both got all the reason in the world to want to take down the other. Zaizen vs. Revolver or Spectre? That's good shit.

And don't get me started on how I would turn Revolver into a Secret Identities character.

[rosefinnapple]

A pile of new Yugioh mini charms just landed in the shop! ^_^ ✨

arc-v mini charms / vrains mini charms

[justanotherotakuandartist]

Me @ Myself

[svxlua]

ブルーメイデン .𖥔 ݁ ˖

[talaofthevalley]

No joke, I actually find the character dynamics of S1 of Vrains hilarious.

You've got the loner vigilante protagonist who is too occupied with revenge and being full of trauma to acknowledge but a small handful of people. The group he's hunting are cyber terrorists. No one outside his circle seem to acknowledge this as a possible danger until people in the real world start dropping like flies. He flipflops between being bitingly savage and bleedingly genuine, and both responses will leave his opponents sprawled out on the ground after he's sent them flying.

Then you've got these two conceited celebrities running around, gunning for the glory of being the one to defeat Playmaker or show up Playmaker only to fail miserably at every turn. Aoi makes an ass of herself in her second time ever talking to Yusaku, runs away upset, and Yusaku isn't even slightly inclined to follow her. They don't speak again for months. Onizuka is having an image crisis during a high-risk duel with Hanoi and Yusaku's response is to show up at his duel and say he's there to laugh at him as he loses. This actually works.

We've got a virtual world treasure hunter who is addicted to tricking people and is so set on on profit and getting her own she will sell out her own clients and send off a valuable ally down the wrong road just to get to the mystery alone. She dies. Somehow shows some morals through this ordeal.

The only person Playmaker has any interest in is his archenemy and rival, who he's too busy being propositioned by or propositioning himself to pay any mind to the two people he inadvertently gave an identity crisis each to, or care about the beautiful woman taking an interest in him but keeps tricking him to absolutely no emotional response. Too busy plotting revenge, wondering what Revolver is planning, and eating junk food. Revolver meanwhile fluctuates between a mix of brooding and yearning for Playmaker or curbstomping every other cast member he encounters except for Playmaker.

The climactic final battle is set-up like the gangs finally getting together until the audience remembers around the time the show reminds you oh yeah, Yusaku doesn't care about these people beyond keeping them alive. They talk about being here to help but mostly drag Playmaker down. The world-ending disaster brings no one but our unlikely hero and his rival-revealed-lost love interest closer. Screw the power of friendship, in this house we're about the power of belief in a brighter future. Playmaker and Revolver are in the show we're watching while Blue Angel and Go Onizuka still thinks we're in a battle shounen.

It's hilarious, I never grow tired of it.

[m3djed]

i dont think i ever posted my vrains cats all together

[hellohimawarihana]

Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS Pop-Up Shop in Sukima Store Acrylic Stand (Umbrella version)

[anthurak]

Hey, so you know every pretty Yugioh girl who plays a deck full of gorgeous monster ladies?

Why aren't we treating each and every one of them like the yuri-harem protagonists they clearly deserve to be?

Like you've got Aoi with her Trickstars,

Serena with her Lunalights,

Asuka with her Cyber Girls/Angels

Mai with her Harpies AND Amazons,

The list goes on.

[shitpostingkats]

YUGIOH CHARACTERS THAT ARE TRANSFEMME. TO ME.

[haouenjoyer]

[bradbradleyart]

Some random Ygo doodles I can’t remember if I posted

[yourlocalpurplekinnie]

Blue Angel and Luke ^0^!!!

Did this a little whole ago just didn’t post it :333

These two have been festering within my mind so OF COURSE I had to draw them together <333

[gedascrown5768]

Blue Angel fans the minute when Spectre set foot on duel links:

[justanotherotakuandartist]

Rainy day - aka more background practice

[svxlua]

rainy aoi ᡣ𐭩

[shionsky]

aoi zaizen!:3