#should have moved on to vrains then

[merryfortune]

Kickstart My Turn

August 11th: Soulmates | Tag Duel | Secret Relationship

Title: Kickstart My Turn

Ship: Magnetshipping | Yusaku/Yuya

Series: Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc V & VRAINS

Rating: T

Word Count: 2,392

Tags: Meet Cute, Implied/Referenced Ai/Yusaku, Past/Referenced Child Abuse, Mild Angst, Humour, Crushes, Flirting, Not Canon Compliant

   Playmaker grit his teeth and tried to temper his breathing.

  He had been in worse spots than this. Way worse. Sure, he had his back to the wall - literally - and a thousand points of life left but hey, his board hadn’t been completely broken and he still had his next draw. It was a shame that his Skill, Cyber Access, didn’t quite work like it should here but he could still invoke it if he had to. And he might.

   Though two versus one wasn’t exactly fair.

   But life wasn’t always fair, Playmaker knew well. Though what he didn’t know quite so well was that life wasn’t always predictable, either. Sometimes, it could be full of surprises.

   His brow furrowed as he reassessed his situation and the Duel itself.

   Playmaker replayed the events of the past turns in his head. Every twist and turn, he saw it in his mind’s eye. He visualised all the resources he had at his disposal. His hand, his Graveyard, his Extra Deck. His key to victory was somewhere.

   He just didn’t know where yet.

   “Oi, oi, hurry up, don’t leave us waiting. We don’t have all day.”

   “Cease.” Playmaker snarled. “I’m thinking.”

   The only thing left that he hadn’t studied to the most minute detail were these two buffoons across from him. They had teamwork on their side, they clearly knew each other - and this world - much better than Playmaker. Duel Links… It really was a mystery to Playmaker, one he was unravelling in the hopes of finding clues to what he was after, the bits and pieces of his partner whom he was sorely missing right about now.

   Though Playmaker wasn’t exactly certain what service Ai could provide for him right about now. Moral support? Sound strategizing and advice? Honestly, what Playmaker needed right now was… a miracle.

   The surroundings of Duel Links glimmered and glowed, even giving puffs of confetti and coloured smoke. It gave the impression of being a string of locations within the same city, all spinning on a plate, one after the other and sometimes, a leap could be made. From one era to another, different people inhabited each platform within the string of locations. Playmaker had hopped, skipped, and surfed through about five previous to where he was now and this place didn’t seem to have bad intentions.

   For the most part, anyway. The wide open skies overhead, the bright yellow bricking of the cityscape, the fountain which performed playfully on the hour every hour. It seemed alien to him but it was almost as if the city itself that he found himself in, as fake and digital as it was, embodied the concept of fun.

   Or at least should have.

   Playmaker just seemed to have taken a wrong turn somewhere and encountered rabble rousers who couldn’t take no for an answer. He wished he could have as well but when push came to shove, he had a habit of not going down until he had at least swung back - and won. A bad habit he couldn’t kick since duelling was so life and death for him.

   It was a shame these clowns - or punks as they probably intended to portray themselves based on their edgy and garish makeup - couldn't leave well enough alone, either.

   Playmaker steeled himself and he was finally ready. He had ruminated to long. It was clearly do or die if he wanted to move on and explore more of this place in peace and privacy.

    “Alright, I dr-”

   “Intrusion Penalty!”

   “Aargh!”

   Playmaker’s declaration was interrupted and he turned his head, instinctively, to where the noise was coming.

   The “intrusion penalty” thing was an electronic voice emitted from all Duel Discs - even his - but the reason for it, Playmaker saw the movement in the corner of his eye. Up on the awning on the side of one of the buildings that this duel was being contained within, he saw a sprightly figure silhouetted against the sun and his stomach dropped.

   Playmaker immediately regretted looking.

   The figure, the person, made a pained expression as electricity visibly shocked him. His posture changed, his chin lifted, his arms were pinned to his side as he endured it and then it was over - and he was unfettered by it.

   He darted down, artfully like an expert in parkour, and joined the duel, Duel Disc brandished and at the ready. His face was confident but marred by the damage he took. Playmaker stole panicked glance after panicked glance.

   What the actual fuck?

   He had tinkered inside and out with his Duel Disc and had never found any function barely resembling a shock collar. He, of all people, would think to check and now, suddenly, it was capable of such barbarism? His whole body churned with anxiety and yet here this guy was, shrugging it off. Mostly. And with a smirk.

   “Still haven’t heard of picking on people your own size, Ishijima?” the Youth taunted one of the opponents.

    Ishijima - the one with the more atrocious eye makeup and a purplish mullet - muttered something under his breath. He seemed almost embarrassed by the appearance of this fourth duellist into the fore.

   “But hey,” he said, “at least you have a friend now. Hi Strong Ishijima’s friend, it’s good to make your acquaintance.”

   At such a taunt, the new Duelist took a sweeping bow. The second opponent clicked his tongue.

   The new Duelist reared back up and glanced cheekily at Playmaker. For the first time, their eyes connected and such a spark, Playmaker was winked at - and could finally get a better look at the jester who was upstaging these clowns he was wrangling. He had glossy red and green hair, like a tomato, olive skin, bright red eyes and age wise… He seemed young for his age but older than Playmaker. Probably. It was hard to gauge in this digital world.

   “I’m pleased to make your acquaintance, too.” he said. “I’m Yuya.”

   Playmaker suppressed a strangled noise. His ears had to be deceiving him. His body was firing on all the wrong cylinders now after being triggered by the electrical disturbance of the Intrusion Penalty.

   But he still managed to mumble his name in reply to Yuya so graciously giving him that.

   “What an unusual name,” Yuya commented and gave Playmaker the once over with his eyes, “you definitely aren’t from around here but I can’t think of where else you’d be from.”

   Playmaker was quiet. He could make neither heads nor tails of such a comment. He felt like he was missing information for that to make sense - or maybe a sense of humour if it was meant to be a joke rather than something foreboding like Playmaker was assuming.

   “Hurry up, Sakaki, it's your turn.” Ishijima growled.

   “No, it's mine?” Playmaker disagreed.

   “Never Royale’d, huh, Playmaker?” Yuya said, overly friendly. “It’s okay, it’s my turn and then it’ll be yours again. It's us versus them now.”

   “Okay, whatever you say.” Playmaker chewed warily on his reply.

   Yuya, however, had no hard feelings as he flung his arms open wide. “My turn!” he announced - and immediately took more damage. He yelled, pained but not so pained he sounded seriously hurt, loud enough to alarm Playmaker but only Playmaker, and then straightened out. “As it is my first turn, I forfeit my draw and lose half of my Life Points per the Intrusion Penalty,” he explained, “but no matter, I have everything I need in my hand to help Playmaker win.”

   What happened next… Playmaker was in disbelief. He had none of his usual words for it but there was no other way to describe it. It was beautiful. Yuya’s duelling was beautiful but also vibrant and vivacious, it was… fun. 

   At the beginning of Yuya’s turning, Playmaker’s hands were trembling. His heart had been racing. He could feel the echo of all the bad things that had ever happened to him during a duel throb within him and yet, despite all that, he was drawn more and more into Yuya’s atmosphere as though enchanted by him. 

   The Pendulum summon…. Playmaker had never seen anything more beautiful, more mesmerising. From the left to the right, the arc flew over his heads and the celestial tunnels opened, allowing to call forth a rainbow battalion of monsters, an eclectic mix of magicians and circus animals.

   Playmaker had never seen such a summon before and likewise, Yuya had never seen Link Monsters before. It was a push and pull more akin to magnets than a tug-of-war, a curiosity which compelled them rather than repelled them.

   “I leave everything in your capable hands, Playmaker.” Yuya said and there it was. That wink again. It was playful and accompanied by a flash of a smile.

   Playmaker’s heart thudded.

   His anxieties had quelled. His once trembling hands had stilled but there was no explanation for his rushing heart, even if its racing didn’t feel bad, instead only peculiar. He had gone from famine to feast, he had all his own resources and then Yuya’s as well entrusted to him. How free. 

   “Thank you.” Playmaker said and he took full advantage of the tee that Yuya had so kindly set up for him.

   Ishijima and his crony were cooked. Playmaker ended them both swiftly and mercilessly. Whether or not it was deserved remained to be seen but the end goal was achieved: both scattered at the finish since it was now more than apparent that the weirdo in the catsuit wasn’t to be messed with.

   Though Yuya didn’t get the cue to leave either.

   He stayed put, shifting his weight to and fro so he could bounce on his heel. He smiled innocently with his hands behind his back.

   “Sooo….” he said. “Are we friends now or what?”

   Playmaker stared him down. He had half a mind to bust out his D-Board and leave but he didn’t. He supposed he owed some sort of appreciation to Yuya or else this scenario may have gone very differently. Even so, he wasn’t the friendly sort. Just blunt.

   “Pardon?”

   “Ouch. Colder reception than I expected.” Yuya feigned being offended, he put his hand behind his head, running his fingers through his hair.

   Playmaker watched him carefully. It didn’t seem like his friendliness was a ruse but who knows. He was also a Duellist of exceptional calibre, too, the sort who didn’t come around often and whose skills had definitely been honed in adversity. Still, Playmaker wasn’t good at handling this kind of extraverted personality.

   Not to mention… He handled the Intrusion Penalty extraordinarily well. Perhaps Playmaker was overestimating the voltage but he could respect, and maybe even envy, just how well Yuya coped with it. Based on that, Playmaker decided that he would regard Yuya as a possible ally over anything else.

   “Sorry. I mean. I’m busy. I didn’t mean to impose on you but I appreciate that you inserted yourself into that scuffle.” Playmaker said.

   “Ooh, you're the awkward type, my bad but you're welcome. It wasn’t a problem at all, I’m always down for putting bullies like Ishijima in their place and I get the feeling… You're not from around here.” Yuya said.

   “Correct. I’m not.” Playmaker said and he bit his lip in thought but quickly decided, he would be daring. “I’m from a place called Den City and I’m not quite sure where I am. Can you help me?”

   “Wow, I’ve never heard of Den City, where’s that?” Yuya asked. “This is Maiami city. Kind of. It's a digital recreation of Maiami City inside a game called Duel Links. It’s pretty fun here, we get to duel to our heart’s content but, uh, weird stuff’s happening lately. Know anything about it?”

   “I’m not sure I can help. I have my own goals, I’m looking for someone.” Playmaker said. 

   “No way, me too.” Yuya said.

   “I imagine we are talking about different… people, however.” Playmaker said.

   “Yeah, obvs.” Yuya said. 

   “I’m looking for my partner, he’s a very dear friend to me.” Playmaker cautiously revealed.

   “I hope you find him.” Yuya said. “Meanwhile, I’m looking for a guy who uses monsters I’ve never heard of, has red hair, and wears latex all over. Reckon you’ve seen him?”

   There it was.

   The third wink.

   Playmaker prided himself on his pattern recognition and the ability to put two and two together. He was many things, including dense, but not so dense that he couldn’t detect when he was being flirted with. Moreover, his own budding sense of admiration for the duellist in front of him was also becoming worrisome.

   Suddenly, Yuya’s intrusion upon the duel seemed a whole lot less like serendipity.

   “A pal of mine in high places said that there’s some kind of anomaly in the Duel Links and you kinda fit the part.” Yuya shrugged but then offered his hand. “If you need a partner in the meantime, I’m available.”

   Nervousness surged through Playmaker as he hesitated ever so briefly. He worried that he was getting his wires crossed, he didn’t mean a partner like that but maybe he did. He also figured he was going to need all the help he could in this strange new world - and one he was making stranger if his presence was causing waves amongst its native denizens, so he accepted.

   Playmaker returned Yuya’s handshake. His hand was soft but calloused. That pleasantly surprised Playmaker as he shook it, making yet more assumptions about Yuya. About how he kept himself well taken care of despite the athletic hardship he must put himself through for the sake of his duelling. Presumably, Yuya was doing the same thing back to him.

   Yuya looked up at him and flashed him another pearly white smile, “I look forward to duelling with you some more then, Playmaker.”

   “Yeah, me too,” Playmaker murmured and he found himself saying something he never thought he would ever say in his life, “I… I had fun. Even though I wasn’t expecting to.”

   “Glad to hear it.” Yuya chirped.

   Yuya was entirely oblivious to how much gravity such a statement had coming from Playmaker but Playmaker didn’t mind. He couldn’t show all his hand to his partner too soon so shortly after meeting him but if the momentum kept up as they unravel the mysteries which brought them together…. Then who knows?

[pocketsonny]

Moving forwards isn’t a linear road. Sometimes it gets worse before it gets better.

Ryoken sets out to right past wrongs and faces the choices he made along the way. Takeru finds himself seeking him out. What used to tie them together should have been settled but it seems there is still something that keeps them in each other’s paths…and maybe that something will be what brings them even closer.

Meanwhile, Spectre is left no choice but to face his own reality: no mission left to fulfill, no role left to play. But while he stubbornly rejects the notion, he might just form bonds he never expected to.

Ch.23 Summary: Soulburner and Revolver duel amidst a crumbling world.

[arkadiaasks]

Vrains is harmless? The show that said you can get over PTSD if someone tells you to man up? The show that said women deserve to be violated and tortured for standing up for themselves? The show that said in the end, suicide really was the answer? But of course, you can’t stop criticizing Go Rush, where the protagonist is an immigrant and the women have agency.

In all seriousness, please go outside and touch grass. You're clearly inventing an Ark that doesn't exist.

That said...

PTSD and Manning Up

If you mean Soulburner, he and Flame found a way past it, some people are able to process and move on from PTSD, some aren't, some people are able to confront and resolve traumas best by exposure (exposure therapy is a thing but yes I realize this wasn't therapy).

I dunno man, I found Soulburner meming on Blood Shepard to be funny as heck.

Women Being Violated

If you mean Blue Angel, she wasn't the sole character to get bounced, a huge point between her, Go and Soulburner is they were chasing heroics and play acting being the hero, and a huge theme of VRAINS is heroism is a dangerous attitude to have. That having a savior complex is dangerous. That life isn't quite that simple and clean cut.

That people will die and get hurt and suffer badly because of it.

(I have argued multiple times Aoi should of gotten to save Miyu even if it was against Bitchy Dominatrix Sexbot Miyu)

Suicide

Mmmm, the whole point in the ending is the whole set of affairs started by Lightning was classic Greek Tragedy? Ai WANTED any other answer than to kill himself and just walk off into the sunset and be with Yusaku.

It's not saying Suicide is always the answer, it's VRAINS commenting on its focus on fate, destiny and the chain of karma and inevitability, that Ai would cause the end of the world because the last person that meant anything to him emotionally would die to protect him, removing his last chain of sanity.

I think that makes his whole arc, you know, actually interesting, that we have a hero who doesn't want to do wrong, but his own positive traits are tragically what are making him suffer.

Like. That's actually interesting writing?

He's faced with the apocalypse, death, ego death and giving birth to a race of AI, or gay marriage. And that's actually, I dunno, I think it's good writing. You've given a character a tragedy and no real easy answer.

Go Rush!!

I dunno man, I like Yudias, I like the women in the show.

I just think the end of the second arc was poorly managed/rushed feeling and Rovian wasn't given any actual motivations/clear chain of logic to oppose THE LUGH. Which I've said are probably victims of Yudias' actor getting COVID.

I'm critical because I think the rest of the show is pretty good (a little weaker than SEVENS outside of SEVENS' last arc), and it disappoints me that it kinda flopped with Rovian or more clearly telegraphing the Space Treasure, when the rest of the show's pretty okay to banger.

[the-kings-of-games]

@simontheseventh Here's Yūsaku!

How I feel about this character: I like him. Personally, he is mid-favorite in terms of Yūtags; however, I am legally obligated to say that he's one of my favorite Yūtags. As a Flame-assigned kinnie, I have to root for my boy, or else they'll take my kinnie-ship away. QAQ That being said, I think Yūsaku is a very good kid, and it really hurts that he's probably the loneliest of all Yūtags.

A lot of the reasons why I didn't take to Yūsaku much as first is because I'm not very into "trauma and revenge drives me and nothing else" as main characters. He's cool and aloof, and it really isolated Yūsaku and stunted his growth; that is until Ai pushed his way into Yūsaku's life. I liked Yūsaku much more after his confrontation with the Knights of Hanoi and learning the truth. He's softer and much more expressive, and he realizes that there's more to life than revenge and despair, and I think that the people who surrounds him deserve that as much as he does. He's helping out at Cafe Kusanagi and has someone to call a friend. I can see him being the kid he should be.

But then Ai goes "trauma and revenge drives me and nothing else" and Yūsaku pulls a Jaden Yūki (i.e. fucks off without saying goodbye to his friends, or what little he has, lmao). [tired sigh] Can't Yūsaku let himself be happy for once? He should've moved on like the other active Origins when their Iginis disappeared, but he would've differed because his decision to move on would've been his choice.

All the people I ship romantically with this character: Ai because I support my friends' ships. Ryōken is a pretty nice choice too, lmao—they were probably my first VRAINS ship. Takeru because they had that date on a Ferris wheel. u_u

My non-romantic OTP for this character: Kusanagi. Takeru.

My unpopular opinion about this character: Can't think of anything, so I'll just mention that I like how people put Yūsaku and Yūsei together because of their common interests and demeanors—it's very cute. Also, I really like Yūsaku's last name. As a Bleach fan, I have a soft spot for wisteria, lmao.

One thing I wish would happen/had happened with this character in canon: I wish they answered the mystery of WHERE ARE YOUR PARENTS, YOUNG MAN?? QWQ Who left you alone?? Did you run away from home?? QQWQQ

Send me an ask! 👀 I've watched all the series.

[papus-clown-enclosure]

16 more episodes to go and im reintrested again

i should have stuck to my whole “if u start to get bored/spae out bc you watched to many eps in a row, then switch series and pick off where u left off, or watch youtube” but no..i needed to know whats going on

and idk where i went fuck it and keep watching somehwere between season 2-3 of gx, and bc i wasnt emotionally ready to get to yubels shit so soon so im like 5ds lets gooooo, and here i am.....probably

[red-dragon-archfiend]

I think the version of Legacy of the Duelist: Link Evolution on the Switch is embarrassing and Konami should be ashamed of how poor its performance is

[akidachi]

me @ all TMA fans now that the show is over

[image ID// photo of bernie sanders with the text “i am once again asking you to watch Yu-Gi-Oh! gx //end ID]

yes yes i know recomending the cardgame anime spinoff is propably the weirdest thing i could be doing but trust me it has a LOT of thematic smilarities and depending on your reason for liking tma you may very well like gx as well

a quick bullet point list of reasons to watch gx from a tma fans perspective:

explores themes of loss, sacrifice, inhumanity, consequences, depression, the inevetability of fate, spitting in the face of said fate and all that fun stuff

subverting the traditional associations of light and dark as good and evil

“you can still be friends with someone you want to use”

(yes i know that one is more a81 but it applies)

GREAT protagonist character development

completely breaking the protagonist down to their bare essentials throughout the course of the series (but especially during s3)

Canon Typical Guilt Complex

strong supporting cast

characters with supernatural powers

canon non-binary character

on that note

canon nblm character

canon (?) mlnb character

european (?) character that ISNT italian, german, french or brittish for once (a personal pet peeve of mine)

the struggles of growing up and the uncertainty and fear of what the future may hold

and last but not least

the slow series long descent into despair that every ygo spinoff has to some extent but damn if season 3 didnt set a high standard it got dark

all that said i do think i should warn you that wheni say the show gets dark i mean it gets dark. the ygo series overall might shy away from a bit of blood but it is not at all afraid of diving into heavier themes and making you feel it. do not be fooled by the lighthearted nature of the first season it is not afraid to make you cry.

 which seems strange for a show thats seemingly just a childrens cardgame anime but when you take into account that ygo started out as a horror manga, and only switched over to the cardgame structure when the duel monsters arc took off, it makes a lot more sense.

(further talking and content warnings below the cut)

all that said heres a couple content warnings (in no particular order):

child abuse

childhood trauma

emotional and financial abuse

less than stellar family members in general

memory loss

medically induced amnesia (yes these are seperate instances)

themes of suicide

themes of depression and isolation (canon typical Lonely content but its all of gx s4)

unreality / dream logic (kinda. again, s4)

cults

brainwashing, mind control and manipulation

loss of physical and mental autonomy (of a sort)

genocide

implied death of children

confirmed death of children

mentions of real world tragedies (offhand once or twice in s2)

significant mental and emotional torment of the main character

temporary character death

permanent character death

(no neither of these are the typical “shadow realm” ygo deaths im talking about regular dying, and not of the fun and peaceful kind either)

(yes several of these are on screen)

also please not that some of these content warnigns apply to all of, or multiple series of ygo

especially themes of suicide, child abuse, and genocide, all 3 of which are covered in every ygo series on SOME level with varying severity

it may seem tempting to skip straight to season 3, as a lot of the more tma esque content is found there (though s2 goes hard as well in my opinion) i really do recomend watching the show from start to finish, as pretty much all the characters experience some level of character development, and seeing them all change throughout the series is an absolute treat.

also on the dub vs sub debate i really do reccoment watchign GX subbed. not bc dubbed anime are nessecatily bad but bc Dub and Sub GX are practically 2 entirely different shows with the amount of changes 4kids decided to make, as well as season 4 not having a dub at all as 4kids wanted to move on to 5ds instead.

(on a semi related note if the anti establishment aspects of tma are more your jam youll propably like 5ds, which has themes of poverty, classism, said eat the rich and litterally abolished the police force by the end of the series while also being about playing cardgames on motorcycles at the same time)

(honestly i could propably make a whole post on the central themes of each ygo series they really take a theme and apply it EVERYWHERE)

also a more recent note

if you like tragedy and big sad

WATCH VRAINS

its like 1 tiny detail away from being a tragedy

i knew what was coming and it still wrecked me

[zeravmeta]

honestly looking back with some more perspective and hindsight, the backlash against arc v after the ending is legitimately one of the greatest examples of fandom backlash when the creators didn't cater to their headcanons on how a show should end because what makes it apparent imo is the fact that arc v was never like, vocally or heavily hated during its runtime and while it may have faced criticism there was never the overly crazy reaction that came about with it ending, and whats even more telling is that yugioh was at the height of its popularity during the arc v series run. shit like egaoism or the pingpong dimension or ARENT THEY LEVEL ZERO or YOU STILL TAKE THE DAMAGE or Zarcmas never really cropped up in such a cult following as in fandom jokes before or after for other ygo series' and you Really Had To Be There to see just how big arc v really was (some episode drops legitimately reached top trending), so when the ending dropped and so many peoples specific visions for how the show should end didn't come about, it was literally an overnight explosion of hate and spite to move onto vrains, with some fans siding with vrains and sending hate and other people with arc v and pretty much bullied off the site, and then when vrains wasnt very good and just dropped hard in views and was ended early by that point the fandom had effectively killed itself, which is why people barely talk about sevens because people just jumped off after All That and the art style change was just kind of the perfect out. theres def some other external factors like how the actual card game was horribly crippled by MR4 and such but im kind of amazed that the ygo fandom on tumblr effectively imploded.

[merryfortune]

Spit In Our Cup and Call It Marriage

Written for Multiamory March 2023

Day 11: Wedding

Title: Spit In Our Cup and Call It Marriage

Ship: Lieutenantshipping | Aso/Kyoko/Genome

Fandom: Yu-Gi-Oh! Vrains

Rating: T

Word Count: 1,293

Tags: Pre-Canon, Fluff and Angst, Humour, Bittersweet Ending, Dialogue Heavy, Alcohol

   Kyoko was a little girl once.

   She tried not to think about in her grand old age of what? Twenty-something? Early twenty-something, even.

   But she had been a little girl once and watching the two little boys who were in her charge, more or less, she shared them with two men, she did recall things from her own childhood. She remembered playing with dolls. She remembered playing house. She remembered singing, here comes the bride, to herself and playing wedding all the same as she played with her dolls or played house. She even remembered mixing them all up into the same game because she didn’t have very many friends.

   To watch Ryoken and his… friend reenact the same sort of things as she had, it was bittersweet to say the least.

   It made her heart ache in her chest. Kyoko had once had a dream of the married with two point five kids and a dog and a nice little place to call her own with her husband kind of lifestyle. Now, considering her deeds, she felt as though her right to that dream - or any dream, for that matter - was forfeit.

   After all, it was a dream of scientific evolution that had landed her in this mess. One more wrong move and she would be locked up with the key thrown away. 

   Two point five kids and a dog. Pfft. After what she and her fellow scientists had done, she shouldn’t be allowed within five yards of a child and yet, she was beloved Kyoko-nee-san to two boys. One of which was even the child who should have disqualified her right to being human. Instead he worshipped it.

   She sat back with her two fellow… scientists. She didn’t want to use the p-word or co-p-word with either of them but she did sit back with them. On the lounge, drinking wine from the cask because all three of them were that depressed.

   They could all feel something bubble away under the surface. Things had been quiet. Too quiet. The proceedings of getting Dr. Kogami were coming along smoothly, too. So, there was definitely going to be the precipice of something on the horizon but no one knew what just yet. It was soon to be revealed, perhaps. 

    “Did any of you think life would turn out this way?” Kyoko asked.

   “Of course not.” Aso said.

   “A little.” Genome replied.

   He replied with that just to be contrarian and both Kyoko and Aso could tell he was specifically being contrarian right now. It was in the scrunch of both his nose and his voice. No one in their right mind would think life would ever turn out this way for a fictional character, let alone for actual people and yet. Here they were.

   Three disgraced scientists, contending with the imminent revival of their head scientist. All of them involved in a project which had involved torturing children to create little, tiny beings of artificial intelligence with free will. They were also the current guardian to one boy, the son of their dead but soon to be resurrected boss, and the who knows what to the other boy, one of the children they had experimented upon and was thanking them heartily for it.

   “How did you think life would turn out?” Aso asked. 

   “Not with a bunch of brats, I’ll tell you what. We better be stopping at two.” Genome grumbled.

   “I wanted kids.” Kyoko said. “Not this young, of course, I wanted to establish my career first, be at least thirty before the first tiny tot but…”

   “But yeah.” Aso agreed.

   “So did you want the whole package?” Genome asked. “Picket fence and a puppy? A marriage?”

   “Well… yeah… Kind of comes with the work-life balance modern woman package, one would hope anyway.” Kyoko replied.

   “That’s sweet.” Aso replied.

   “Gag me with a spoon, personally.” Genome blew a raspberry.

   “Hey, don’t make fun of me.” Kyoko glared and she took a hard chug of her wine after that.

   “Exactly.” Aso said. “I… I was married once, actually.”

   “You were?” Genome exclaimed.

   Kyoko was quiet. She had known Aso a little bit longer than Genome, prior to the Incident, whereas Genome had been brought on specifically for the Incident and so, she already knew this story. It always made her feel a little funny given that, well, they were all sleeping together and with each other and in all sorts of combinations to cope. Be it with natural bodily urges and otherwise…

   “Yes, I was married to a woman, once, but she passed away from cancer. We were twenty-one when we tied the knot. Young but she was already on the clock, we both knew. She was gone before either of us turned twenty-five.” Aso explained.

   “Very sad. My condolences.” Genome hollowly replied.

   “Yes, my heart always breaks when you bring it up.” Kyoko added, more genuine and sympathetic in emotion than Genome before her.

   “Enough time has passed, I think.” Aso said. “She will always be important to me but I have my own life to live, I can’t live as though I am dead, too.”

   “You may as well be though… Given our circumstances.” Kyoko murmured.

   “She has a point.” Genome shrugged.

   “We still have lives to live, I promise.” Aso said with wisdom befitting of his years, given he was older than both Kyoko and Genome but in their comparative youth, they were cynics.

   And so, they stared. With dead fish eyes. Aso huffed.

   “Why don’t we all get married?” he huffed. “I think we could do with a little joy. It makes sense given our shared commitments in child raising.”

   “Hey, I said we’re stopping at two, I know for a fact you should be shooting blanks, old man, and I’ll get a vasectomy if need be.” Genome threatened.

   Kyoko laughed, “We don’t need to get married. I’m fine day drinking like this.” 

   “Let’s compromise then.” Aso said but his merry voice then turned grumpy, “No vasectomies needed, and stop calling me old man, your like two years younger than me.”

   Genome laughed hysterically. So long as he was under someone’s skin, he was more than happy.

   “Here, like this, to us.” Aso said.

   He corralled both Kyoko and Genome as he was sitting in the middle cushion of the lounge. He roped his arms around their own and forced them to criss-cross, so they could all drink from each other’s wine glasses. Without even saying so, Kyoko and Genome got the picture.

   They were all drinking the same cheap sangria but for some reason, it tasted sweeter and more meaningful all looped up like this.

   “Now, we’re married.” Aso declared.

   “No take-backsies, I imagine?” Kyoko teased.

   “Too late, I want a divorce.” Genome complained.

   He leaned over hard to spit in Aso’s glass. Aso drank it greedily.

   “Now we’re double married, my friend.” Aso laughed from the bottom of his belly.

   Kyoko giggled, too. She wasn’t sure where this was entirely coming from. Maybe that simpering emotion she had felt before, not just in herself but amongst her adult cohort, too, had finally popped and this was the madness that was ensuing from it. Maybe it was just a result of day drinking and nothing more. 

   Either way, she appreciated the gesture because deep down, she knew her life was over. All their lives were over, despite what Aso claimed. Even his, even he knew it. There was no more life to live considering their crime. They would, forever and always, be the inner sanctum and upper echelon of disgraced scientists under the command and surveillance of Dr. Kogami. They all knew it, they all felt it in precognition, almost, of what was to come with his resurrection.

[kaiowut99]

Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters GX Episodes 65 and 66 Subbed (Finalized)

(Check out my Subbed!GX Stream Masterpost!)

Hell Kaiser Ryou! Chimeratech Overdragon

Since his defeat to Ed in the Pro Leagues, the life in Kaiser Ryou has faded.  But at the invitation of a suspicious promoter, he participates in an underground duel--duels in which, crucially, one risks their life to treat their savage audience to a show.  As Acidic Last Machine Virus causes his Machine-Types like Cyber Dragon to rust, the Kaiser is not only cut off from summoning any Monsters, but it causes him to take damage.  With each drop in his LP, an electric current flows through his body, exciting the spectators...

Judai’s First Dream Duel!

Lost in the forest, Judai’s consciousness starts to fade from hunger, causing him to reminisce about his duels thus far--taking down Instructor Chronos’s Ancient Gear Golem with Flame Wingman during his Entrance Exam, battling the then-Blue elite Manjoume and his V-to-Z Dragon Catapult Cannon shortly after his enrollment, battling Misawa’s seventh deck with the right to represent the Academia on the line, and his first loss in the face of Kaiser Ryou’s Cyber End Dragon...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*crashes onto your TL months late with non-corporate coffee*

And these two are finally up and finalized! Sorry for the wait, if you were looking forward to ‘em--as I mentioned in my post on Sunday, they were pushed back a bit while I did one final lookover on 1-64′s scripts and hardsubs so I could actually call them “finalized.” I’d started to get them out of the way while waiting for some potential editing help, then just decided to finish it after scrapping the last little thing I hoped to work on (I planned to break briefly after 66 to do these re-finalizations anyway, but the timing happened to work out).  More details there.

But leaving that aside, here we have a pretty popular episode in Hell Kaiser Ryou’s debut, as he’s pushed to the brink by Mad Dog Inukai after Monkey Monkey Mountain Saruyama invites him to his first underground duel. They do a really good job of portraying Ryou as having lost his mojo post-Ed, showing a realistic view of what the big leagues in sports are like when that happens to you and you lose out on sponsorships/etc, and so when he gets cornered and Saruyama drills into him how he never once thought of winning since that duel, wanting to just stick with his respectful dueling, a spark lights up in him and... well, RIP Mad Dog. (Also, s/o to Takeshi Maeda for really selling Ryou’s shift in mindset by the end, and to his dub VA for sounding similarly good, imo.)

66 is probably less popular in comparison, treating us to our first clipshow of the series, though 66 episodes in isn’t a bad time (could be worse, VRAINS jk).  It’s endearing enough, though--kinda nice seeing SAL again; Judai’s hunger-induced visions give us Chronos, Misawa, and Manjoume making monkey noises; and the duels featured were important for Judai early on.  I also like the bit of new animation as vision!Ryou follows up with Judai about respecting his opponents; goes with what I’d noticed before about Judai adding his Fusion Undone/De-Fusion strategy to his own dueling after losing to him. (also Judai making a signpost sweatdrop from his aloofness pls)

Part of the initial delay with these were the footage fixes I wanted to work on, as well as a couple visual translations here/there which were fun to work on.  Really want to thank @paradoxi-kay for their great work as always in helping to translate the cover of the copy of Duel Magazine that Judai comes across early in 65, and starting the one on Shou’s copy that I finished up.  List of everything worked on below the cut, as usual, if you’re curious.

Enjoy, folks! I’ve gotten some work started on 67 already, and my plan is to try and work on some double releases to make up a bit of time, lol.  I’ll be posting these two on NAC in the next couple of days along with the re-finalized hardsubs and scripts/DVDRips; while I work on getting 67 and 68 done, I’ll also start some work on prepping softsub MKVs (also to go up on NAC) for everything I’ve fully finalized, since it’s been a while on that front.

Fixes/Edits! (65)

As Judai wanders in the forest early in the episode, he comes across a stack of old Duel Magazines; the front cover shows Ryou and is an issue from his winning streak days before his more recent loss to Ed.  Thanks to @paradoxi-kay​‘s great work in typesetting my translation onto the cover I blanked (which I detailed here), you’ll see it in English in the hardsub above.  The translation was first applied to the close-up of the cover that comes after #2 below, and then I took the translated cover and made it its own image that I put into the earlier shot as Judai approaches it while they’re all still tied up (detailed here).  The text reads, “Exclusive!! Kaiser Ryou Marufuji / Breaking down his Cyber Dragon deck!!! / In this issue: / -Duelists Du Jour / -Pro League Battle Data! / -Reader-Submitted Best Duels! / -Strategic Attack Decks by Type!” (Really appreciated Kay’s input on “Du Jour” because my original translation for that, “Duelists Who Are All the Rage,” wasn’t as catchy, lol.)

As Judai picks up one of the older Duel Magazines and flips it open, we see on the back cover an ad featuring the three Phantasms--it’s actually an in-show ad for Shadows of Infinity (since the episode aired around the time the pack came out in Japan); I detailed the process in blanking and translating it here (shared above).  The ad reads, "The Three Phantasms Descend!" featuring Uria and Raviel’s names on their images.

As we go to the Red dorm as Shou narrates about the Kaiser’s slump, we see a magazine page describing what happened to him since his loss to Ed; I covered my blanking/translating this in the link shared in #2.

We then see that it’s Shou reading the page from his own copy of Duel Magazine, this one more recent than Judai’s featuring Ed on the cover, though it features the same SOI/Phantasms ad on its back cover (now showing Hamon and its name as well).  Like with Judai’s issue, I used the Japanese cover and the dub’s edit as reference to just redraw Ed and Diamondguy enough to remove Ed’s name; Kay had started the translation placement and I finished it up.  For the SOI ad, like with #2, I added in the dub’s edit in pieces, tweaking it to match the original image more (since they again oddly edited the text out or redrew Uria/et al weirdly to do so).  We do now see more of the ad which shows that the trio’s names are on each of them, the English of which I added.

As Asuka snatches the magazine from Shou to work on cheering him up, to be consistent, I also worked in these cover translations to the magazine as she lifts then curls it up, using the dub’s blanked Phantasms edit as a base that I touched up a bit while adding back the Japanese cards.  Detailed more in #2′s link.  (We now also see that the ad reads on, “New! Shadow of Infinity - On Sale November 11th [2005]!”; the IRL booster pack came out in Japan on Nov. 17th, 2005, a few weeks before 65 aired.)

Asuka then lifts the curled-up magazine into view in a close-up, with the SOI/Phantasms ad visible which I also applied my translations above to as needed, using the dub’s blank edit as a base that I redrew parts of to touch up and match the Japanese image more.  Detailed more in #2′s link.

As Ryou meets Monkey Saruyama, he introduces himself by handing out his business card reading, "Saruyama Promotion - Representative Monkey Saruyama;" as detailed in #2′s link, I cleaned it up using Photoshop’s Clone Tool, then slapped the translation on using Calibri as the font.

As Ryou contemplates attacking Acid Slime with his Cyber Dragon and Mad Dog Inukai taunts him, as Mad Dog then slides in on a split-screen to “clear his doubts,” there’s a quick frame as Inukai takes over the screen where there’s a gap between his pecs and the split-screen edge.  I fixed it by just drawing in the rest of his chest in Photoshop to fill his side of the split-screen.

As Inukai starts his turn and activates his Contingency Fee Magic Card, there’s a frame where, as he’s sliding his hand with the card into the shot, the card itself slides ahead in his hand before his hand does; as a result, you can see a bit of the background just under the card before his hand catches up to the card in the next frame.  I fixed this by just duplicating the first frame here over it in Vegas.

Two here--first, after Ryou has his Proto Cyber Dragon attack Clone Slime, as Inukai begins to explain its effect, there’s a quick frame before the shot goes from a close-up to a slow zoom as he moves where his neck vanishes (new meme format go); I fixed this by just duplicating the previous frame in Vegas, while also correcting one of his looping lip-flap frames so that the scar on his chin is above the shading under his lip.  Then, as Inukai goes into Clone Slime’s effect and the shot slowly zooms out, we see Clone Slime on his Disk in Attack Mode when it’s in Defense Mode right now; fixed it by placing a proxy in Defense in AfterEffects for a frame, then re-keyframing that frame to the zoom-out in Vegas to put it in place.

After Acid Slime slips out of Inukai’s Cemetery as Clone Slime’s effect activates, Inukai moves to grab it before the two Slimes switch out, but Clone Slime’s still in Attack Mode on his Disk; fixed by placing the Defense-Mode proxy over it in AE, then moving it as he moves his Disk and applying a brief brightness increase as the light from Clone Slime being replaced with Acid Slime grazes it.

As Proto Cyber Dragon’s attack approaches Acid Slime in a quick shot, the card under it in Defense Mode is reversed (the name box should face to the left to match how it’s placed on his Disk); fixed by first applying the correctly-facing proxy in AfterEffects and moving it as the shot moves, then masking Acid Slime back in over it, along with the light coming from the attack as it starts to shine over its card.

As Ryou explains Overload Fusion’s effect, just before it starts to zoom out as he then chooses the six Monsters he’ll fuse, there are a few frames I noticed where Ryou’s whooshing hair throughout this shot suddenly stops whooshing; I fixed it by just masking in his whooshing hair from the previous frames for a few.

As Ryou taunts Inukai about how his Acidic Last Machine Virus will bother him no more, Inukai starts to slide in on a split-screen, but until his split-screen has fully slid in, there’s no border on its edge; I fixed it in Vegas by first masking out the border once it’s fully slid in, then moving it in another video layer with his split-screen for those nine frames.

As Ryou explains Chimeratech Overdragon’s multiple attacks, we see it reversed on his Disk; fixed by slapping on the correctly-facing proxy in AfterEffects, then re-keyframing it to the slow zoom in Vegas for the 94 frames it zooms out in (phew).

One error that I hoped to fix but scrapped happens as Chimeratech Overdragon’s first attack closes in on Inukai’s Multiple Slime, where we see a Defense-Mode card under it despite it being in Attack Mode the way Inukai summoned it (and since he then takes damage from the attack); couldn’t quite figure out how to light up the floor I’d redrawn under it with the ensuing explosion, and had sought a bit of help to get it right but ultimately that fell through. (Incidentally, not only did the dub not catch this as they dubified its card, but they reversed the card, at that, lol.)

Fixes/Edits! (66)

(Note: These are all flashback-related, and I detailed most of them [including a few new ones] in my post from Sunday that I linked just under the summaries; I went on to apply the fixes I’d applied in 66 to the respective episodes, so I’ll be brief here.  Reinserted fixes from a while back are in italics.)

(Episode 1 Flashback) I reinserted the fix I did to replace the blank Normal Monster on Judai’s Disk in Flame Wingman’s spot with its card as Antique Gear Golem crashes onto Chronos.  [Ep. 1 Flashback End]

(Episode 22 Flashback) As Misawa attacks with Litmus Death Swordsman to start his flashback, I reinserted the fix I did to detail the blank cards on his Disk with Diamond Dragon and Litmus Death.

As Misawa finishes explaining Wingbeat of Giant Dragon’s effect and it zooms out to Litmus Death, I reinserted my fix to his reversed card on Misawa’s Disk to flip it right-side-up.

Reinserted my fix to the repeat of #3 as Skyscraper fades.

Reinserted my fix to another repeat as Misawa explains Spirit Barrier’s effect.

R-R-Reinserted my fix to the r-r-repeat again as we see Misawa’s Disk while Judai explains Cyclone Boomerang’s effect (gotta love reused animation!) [Ep. 22 Flashback End]

(Episode 4 Flashback) As Judai prods Manjoume into choosing a card from his hand for A Hero Appears’s effect, I fixed Manjoume’s blazer looking semi-faded for a frame on his split-screen.

As Judai’s LP take a hit from V-to-Z destroying Burstlady, I fixed the four frames where the upper part of his Disk is missing the little bottom part that extends out a bit and Judai’s vanishing Disk wrist grip.

A bit complex, but I fixed Judai’s briefly-still-missing-then-vanishing-again wrist grip, the shading near his Cemetery slot, Judai’s arm becoming part of his Disk, and his wrist grip suddenly consuming his whole wrist. (Detailed in that Sunday post)

Reinserted my fix to the Attack-Mode Winged Kuriboh on Judai’s Disk to put it in Defense Mode as he discards two to activate Evolutionary/Transcendent Wings.

As Judai swings his arm around telling Winged Kuriboh LV10 to “send [V-to-Z’s] energy right back” at Manjoume, I reinserted my fix to put its Defense-Mode card in the spot on his Disk colored like the Monster Zone it’s on for a few frames.

A bit complex again recycling the Judai shot in #9, but I fixed his again-vanishing Disk wrist grip and half-Disk arm, his wrist grip suddenly consuming his whole wrist again, and his yet-again-vanished wrist grip, miscolored undershirt, and his half-Disk elbow while restoring some previous detail to his Disk. (Detailed in that Sunday post)

As Judai summons Featherman–to Shou and Chronos’s surprise–and has him lunge at Manjoume for the finisher, I reinserted my fix to keep the black faraway box that is Featherman on his Disk both as those two slide in on split-screens and as they slide back out. [Ep. 4 Flashback End]

(Episode 8 Flashback) I reinserted my fix to remove Featherman from Judai’s Disk as his LP drop from Cyber Dragon destroying it.

Reinserted my fix to a repeat of #14 as Judai’s excited about Ryou’s Time Capsule.

As Judai draws for his turn, I added a Fusion card over the dark-orange rectangle briefly in his hand as he draws it.

After Judai’s first hit on him, I fixed the error as Ryou Special-Summons another Cyber Dragon as a Monster in face-down Defense Mode on his second Monster Zone (detailed in that Sunday post).

Reinserted my fix adding Cyber Twin Dragon to Ryou’s Disk over a yellow rectangle.

As the screen zooms in on Judai after Ryou declares Cyber Twin’s attack, I added Thunder Giant to Judai’s third Monster Zone, then reinserted my previous fix adding it as it zooms back out while Judai uses A Hero Appears.

Reinserted my fix adding a few quick lip flaps to Judai as he says, “Partner,” out loud.

As Judai thinks about how Evolutionary Wings would evolve his Winged Kuriboh and we then see Bubbleman on his field, I added a missing Bubbleman card to his Disk.

Right after #21, I revised my previous fix to replace the Defense-Mode Mudballman on his Disk with an Attack-Mode Bubbleman, after I accidentally put it in Defense Mode before.

As Ryou grabs Power Bond from his hand before activating it, I reinserted my fix adding Ryou’s two missing Cyber Dragons to his Disk and then one over the blank Normal Monster card in his left hand.

As Ryou slips Power Bond into his Disk, I reinserted my fix adding those two missing Cyber Dragons onto his Disk.  [Ep. 8 Flashback End]

For the Ep. 67 preview, I added my translation of the notice left on the Red dorm by Napoleon which I’ll be using in the episode proper.

[pocketsonny]

Moving forwards isn't a linear road. Sometimes it gets worse before it gets better.

Ryoken sets out to right past wrongs and faces the choices he made along the way. Takeru finds himself seeking him out. What used to tie them together should have been settled but it seems there is still something that keeps them in each other's paths...and maybe that something will be what brings them even closer.

Meanwhile, Spectre is left no choice but to face his own reality: no mission left to fulfill, no role left to play. But while he stubbornly rejects the notion, he might just form bonds he never expected to.

Ch.22 Summary: Soulburner logs in and is met with a sight he didn't expect. He meets Revolver…and Revolver.

[arkadiaasks]

If you were in charge of making a Yugioh anime centered around the Master Duel format, how would you go about making it telegenic while both not simplifying existing cards and making sure that any anime original cards are in line with what would be required to be good in the real world? While still having all other summoning methods intact and given equal billing to any new summoning methods.

I wouldn't.

I'd make the cards really bad and let Konami sort it out. This was one of the smart moves of ARC-V and late game ZEXAL.

Cards really should have one, one and a half effects at most just to avoid too many interlocking effects, and shouldn't combo that hard into each other, TV show wise.

VRAINS was a mistake because everything had 5 effects and interlocked like a giant Big Ben Clock full of gears.

Unless it's for BIG episodes, your Duels should be one episode long. Brevity is the Soul of Wit.

[higuchimon]

[fanfic] Never Forget, Never Forgive

 Shun didn't want to wake up.  Waking up meant he'd have to face the reality that right now, he was asleep, and what he saw wasn't real.  Could never be real again.  Sometimes he wondered if it had never been real at all...

But he kept his eyes closed, and stared at the glorious form of Heartland City as it spread out before him, with Ruri on one side and Yuuto on the other, the sunlight warm on them all, the sound of happy laughter rippling all around.  Just as it had been before - before -

No.  He didn't want to remember that.  He wanted to stay exactly where he was, and stare into their faces, seeing them.  Seeing Yuuto's smile, feel Yuuto's fingers on his hand, hear Ruri's laughter, see her sitting across from him while they had a good meal.  He wanted to see Ruri's cascade of hair, the flash of Yuuto's eyes, and so much more that he knew if he woke up, he'd never see again.

Yuuya wasn't the same.  Neither was Yuzu.  They were close - so close that it hurt his heart just to look at them sometimes - but they weren't the same. 

What made it even worse sometimes was that bastard who'd kidnapped his sister was right there inside of Yuuya too and no one else seemed to care.

Shun found he was staring up above his bed now, the dreams having dissipated, replaced by the low level rage that sang along his veins.  He pressed his lips together and thought about trying to go back to sleep. 

Not worth it,  he decided.  Ever since the invasion, once he woke up, he stayed awake.  He'd probably get up later, but he would stay awake now.

This small apartment where he lived now wasn't one that he'd known before the invasion.  He'd thought more than once about moving permanently to either the Standard - Pendulum dimension or Synchro.  There were people in either one who would be willing to help him.  Even Yuuya might. Though Shun had to admit, he had no idea how much of Yuuto still existed in there and what whatever was left might think of his decision to leave the city.

Perhaps he wouldn't tell them at all.  Heartland was almost rebuilt.  Lives were being put back together - the ones that could be.  Fewer and fewer Fusion soldiers were seen in the streets, and most of those looked ashamed of themselves if he met their eyes.  Good.  The sooner none of them befouled Heartland anymore, the better. 

Only when the light outside grew bright enough did Shun roll to his feet and start getting ready to exist again. It wasn't a thing he enjoyed but it was something he knew he had to do. 

He’d not forgotten the thought of leaving, finding somewhere to start anew, where almost anywhere he went or looked wouldn't remind him of what had happened and those he'd lost, and how those who'd taken them all from him got away with it now that they claimed to be willing to laugh and enjoy themselves.  The fact that some of them even could laugh after what they'd done...

The question of where to go remained unanswered.  What could he do when he got there?  No real idea.  But he thought he'd figure it out, sooner or later.

He had heard good things about Den City, though…

The End

Notes: Yes, that is a hint of a potential future Arc-V/Vrains crossover. Just imagine what kind of Ignis someone like Shun could inspire. I have Thoughts and Plans.

Also, Shun losing his sister and best friend and being told “be happy! They’re inside of these other people! Why should you be upset about this?” is not at all my favorite part of Arc-V.

[3w-writer-with-wings]

10 Most Powerful Scenes in Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS

10) Three things

Starting with probably the most well known quote in VRAINS – three things. It would’ve been probably ranked higher if it was not that repetitive and its impact wasn’t scattered to many different scenes, but it is still a very powerful scene regardless. Yusaku was just an innocent six-year-old child who loved to play a card game and yet that same game was turned against him in the cruellest way possible. Suddenly he had to duel for survival and suffered for each defeat. For half a year, Yusaku was trapped in a never-ending nightmare that didn’t seem to stop until he heard Ryouken’s voice. These few sentences gave Yusaku hope to hold on just a while longer and he started using them as his coping mechanism, even years after the Lost Incident. Like Yusaku said it himself, it felt like the life stopped moving for him and despite therapy he could no longer lived his life like others. Thinking of three things to move forward was the only thing that helped him out and knowing there might be someone else still trapped there made him more determined to find out the truth. Since he used this coping mechanism outside duelling, it may also suggest that three things speech is the only thing that kept him from turning into an empty shell like Jin.  

Another thing that makes this scene so powerful is Ryouken’s side of it. Just like Yusaku, he was also just a child who loved the game and most certainly just wanted to play a game with a new friend. It is still unknown if Ryouken was aware of what will happen to children, but it is most likely that he genuinely meant no harm. True his father brainwashed him with his ideas of work for “greater good”, but Ryouken knew it was wrong. He could only report the incident to police and push the memories of it away and yet he reached out to one of the children just before he did. Later it was only further proved just how guilty Ryouken felt and always had a soft spot for the victims. Neither Vyra nor Faust had the courage to report the incident, but Ryouken, a mere eight-year-old child had. Despite his father’s brainwashing, he acted on his own and continued to do so until all the victims were fully safe.

9)      Ai saves Yusaku

From the start of the series, Ai wasn’t a typical partner character like Atem or Astral since he was mostly goofing off and wasn’t really useful when it came to duelling. However, in this scene, Ai shows for the very first time just how powerful he really is and even Yusaku is left speechless at Ai’s abilities. Ai even tells him to shut up back and letting him know that he is far too in this duel to just give up. He even refers to him as his partner and shows he is willing to risk his life for him all the same way. Considering Ai was already using Yusaku as his personal weapon against Knights of Hanoi at the time, this may be the first time he actually started seeing Yusaku as his own person and not just as the tool in his plan. Ai has always been sneaky and successfully covered up his true colours, though in this single scene, he genuinely looks concerned about Yusaku.  

8)      Hope for the future

Hopeful and optimistic scenes are very rare in VRAINS and this is just one of many reasons why this one was included. Shortly after Earth’s death and Go’s decline, Yusaku blames himself for what happened and is again unsure about what they should do. Fortunately, Takeru, Ai and Flame are there to cheer him up and despite the approaching battle, Yusaku is hopeful for the future. Compared to how he used to be, when he told Akira that he can no longer live normally and that he sees no future, this is a major change. Yu-Gi-Oh! protagonists have always been optimistic and even if it was impossible, they believed in themselves and in their actions. Yusaku has always been bold and realistic, so seeing him hopeful and thinking about future in his own realistic terms made it that more impactful. He even smiled several times and ensured both Ai and Flame that they have a plan to keep them safe and if it won’t work, they’ll just think of another one. Watching this scene for the first time really made you feel that despite the hardships, this show will have a happy ending and for a while it really felt that way. Knowing how VRAINS will end this scene may also hint that this is when Ai truly started thinking of Yusaku as his true friend. Ai has been moulding Yusaku into Playmaker from the start and when his so called weapon acknowledged him as a living being and promised to do everything he can to keep him safe – that’s likely when Ai began to realize just how much is Yusaku willing to do for him.

7)      Earth’s execution

 This scene is probably among one of the most heart-breaking ones as it is among surprising ones as well. Villain very rarely wins in Yu-Gi-Oh! and when they do, it’s a big deal. Earth wasn’t around for long but when he was, he appeared as a very nice, caring and socially awkward Ignis. He was likely also the only Ignis besides Ai that expressed love towards someone and he was willing to do anything to keep Aqua safe. What makes his death that much sadder is that he was captured by Go who was by this point a mere shadow of what he used to be. Both Go and Earth were victims of SOL’s greed and ended up as their tools. SOL did absolutely everything to ensure Earth was not a living being, using scientific expressions reserved for objects and not stopping even when he screamed he is his own person and cried his eyes out when forgetting about Aqua. Another powerful comparison was between Akira’s and Queen’s reaction to it. Akira couldn’t watch while Queen smirked and likely only thought of next step which later turned out to be creation of their own Ignis and putting Earth’s data in Go’s implant.

Other Ignis also felt Earth’s death, along with his own origin. Specter has always appeared to be someone who was entirely devoted to Ryouken’s plans and would do anything to destroy Ignis, despite being connected to one. After Earth’s death he felt like a part of him was gone and he even shed a tear and looked disturbed when seeing Go being fused with Earth’s data. Deep down Specter felt the bond between him and his Ignis and when Earth was no more, he likely felt the same pain as when his beloved tree was cut down.

6)      Yusaku defeats Kusanagi

 The duel between Yusaku and Kusanagi was anticipated from the start since it wouldn’t be a Yu-Gi-Oh! if it didn’t include an emotional clash between two best friends. What made this duel that more emotional is that Yusaku and Kusanagi seemingly did not have that best friend dynamic that so many protagonists before them had. They treated each other more like caring co-workers and even Yusaku stated many times that Kusanagi was his acquaintance and not a friend. Many times it also appeared like Kusanagi saw Yusaku as Jin and was doing all of this for his little brother and would likely choose Jin over Yusaku.  Still there were many moments where Kusanagi showed legit concern over Yusaku and apologized many times for involving him into this. As for Yusaku, he appeared to be more or less stoic about it, showing little emotion, which made it hard to tell just what kind of relationship he really has with Kusanagi, not to mention he always used very polite mannerism towards him which was his surname and –san. Compared to Takeru, whom he refer to simply by his first name, that was pretty polite though then again, Yusaku didn’t mind Takeru nor Kusanagi calling him by his first name either.

It was clear that the reason why they kept their relationship strictly professional was because Kusanagi knew there will be a time where he might need to put Jin over Yusaku and yet he still cared about him. Yusaku also did not want to involve anyone since he knew what he was doing was dangerous and even Kusanagi needed a while before he became a part of his team. Lightning knew well about their bond and did not hesitate to use it against them in the cruellest way possible. Even though Kusanagi played along and tried to make it as convincing as possible he was likely breaking inside. It also does not help that the scene where Kusanagi deals multiple damage to Yusaku looks strangely identical to the Lost Incident flashbacks where Yusaku was electrocuted many times. The duel came to a point where Yusaku couldn’t fight Kusanagi and that’s when it was clear that he also cares about him. The flashback to the promise further proved that this duel was something they anticipated and were ready, but what truly makes this scene so heart breaking is when Yusaku outright cries out after dealing the final blow to his friend. It was clear that Yusaku was ready for something like this, but at the same time he didn’t understand just what this meant for him. It truly broke him and another reason why this was so impactful is that duel was a mirror image to Lost Incident. They again took something that Yusaku loved and turned it against him until he was broken to the core. Only this time, there was no Ryouken who could tell him to think of three things in order to go forward.

5)      “You know nothing about me!”

When VRAINS started, no one really had a clue what it will be about besides hover boards and duels in virtual reality. By episode 2 the first hint of Lost Incident was shown and by that point it was clear VRAINS is going to be a lot more complex and dark to previous shows. We all wanted to learn just what exactly happened to Yusaku and what the truth he was so desperate to uncover was. By episode nineteen he is finally close to that truth, but Akira stands in his way, claiming he knows all about what happened and that Yusaku should let Akira handle this. We learn that there were six children who were kidnapped and held captive for months until they were rescued. Akira compared that experience with his own when he lost everything and had to do shady jobs in order to provide for himself and Aoi. He expected Yusaku to accept his help and move on with his life, but instead of that Akira is met by absolute rage. Yusaku and Kusanagi both appeared to be rather cool and collected people, however seeing how Akira was treating everything so lightly made their blood boil and shouted all of their frustrations out. This was followed by Yusaku’s raw description of just what was happening from the point of view of someone who actually experienced this and not someone who merely reported it. It was nowhere as simple as Akira described it and learning that Yusaku still suffers from PTSD and night terrors rightfully justifies his rage. Like Yusaku put it, he tried to move on countless times and did everything he could to forget the pain, but he just couldn’t. Learning the truth was the only cure he knew would help and seeing someone brush it off just like that was incredibly insensitive and gave him all the right to be as mad as he was.

4)      Yusaku doesn’t want to fight anymore

 It is rare to see Yu-Gi-Oh! protagonist to give up and for someone like Yusaku who will do anything to reach his goal, it was absolutely heart breaking to see him give up. This was the second time he was broken apart, only this time he had no one to give him hope. Yusaku has been fighting his whole life and tried to distance himself from others because he knew that he wouldn’t be able to take it if he were to lose them or if something happened to them. He even was getting better at socialising and trusting others more which is why this scene is so sad. Just when he was seemingly experiencing bits of normal life, Lost Incident happened again and this time it took away his friend. He was outright defeated at that point and despite protecting Kusanagi from Lightning’s badmouthing, Yusaku just couldn’t take it anymore. The pain of loss was so great that he simply shut down. In a way it is similar to when Yuma lost Astral and cooped himself in the room for days, refusing to eat or talk with his friends. And honestly can you blame him? This started out as merely quest to learn more about Lost Incident and over the time it turned into fighting with cyber terrorists, protecting thousands of people and dealing with homicidal AIs. Like suffering from PTSD and night terrors, Yusaku had even more responsibility pinned on him and it is understandable that after such ordeal he could not take it anymore. It was only thanks to Kusanagi’s voice that he found the last of his strength in order to defeat Bowman once and for all.

  3)      “If losing a friend means your heart breaks, then are you trying to break my heart?”

Now this single quote may as well break your heart. Yusaku and Ai might’ve started off as an odd pair that regularly annoyed each other, but with more episodes, deeper their relationship became. Ai has always appeared to be this happy-go-lucky goofball and that turned out to be a mask. Not only to cover up his true motives for siding with Playmaker, but his own personality as well. When he was cracking jokes, he was really just covering up the fact that he has been torn apart and hiding in network for years in order to protect his friends. Yusaku was his only hope and even though he has been manipulating him to the very end, Ai grew attached to him and especially after losing other Ignis, he felt alone and guilty. What makes this scene so powerful is that Yusaku tells Ai loud and clear that he is his friend and losing him would as painful as when Ai lost his fellow Ignis. A couple episodes ago Ai said there is only one person he fully trusts with his feelings and this person turned out to be no other than Yusaku. Ai also revealed that he was using Yusaku as his weapon and yet Yusaku still referred to him as his friend. This entire duel was probably the first time the two of them were completely honest with each other and out of all sentences they exchanged, this one was the most heart wrenching.

2)      Revolver's helmet breaks

 Like Yusaku, Ryouken has also been moulded into Revolver, the man in charge of cyber terrorist organization known as Knights of Hanoi.  His father who brainwashed him with his ideas to a point when he was willing to blow up himself with the rest of the network has created his entire identity and Ryouken had little to no say in it. Despite closely following the orders, part of Ryouken still rebelled since he wanted to uncover Playmaker’s identity and the fact that he managed to do it behind his father’s back proves that he wasn’t completely loyal to his father. He always had that tiny bit of conscience that made him report the Lost Incident and learn about the victims. After his father’s death he both felt free and lost, so it was a good thing he took some time off to clear his thoughts. He had time to learn everything about the victims and the case of Windy’s child was likely one of the many reasons he decided to outright eliminate all Ignis. And once that was done, the only thing he was left with were sins of his father. He was even ready to surrender himself to authorities and go to jail if that would help Takeru and other victims to move on. They settled this with a duel and when Ryouken lost, his helmet broke, symbolically freeing him from his burden. Takeru didn’t want him to go to jail for crimes he didn’t commit and rather wanted him to be a rightful Knight of Hanoi – the one who protects network and others so Lost Incident may never happen again.

1)      Ai means »to love people«

 Yu-Gi-Oh! series tend to give their characters rather meaningful names, like how Yugi means “game”, how Yugi’s and Juninchi’s first two letters form a word “friendship” and even in SEVENS, Yuga Oudo translates to “seventh road” which symbolizes Yuga’s wish to invent things for better future. The second Yusaku named Ai, I knew his name will be important part of the story. I already knew Ai means “love” and considering how much emphasis’ series put on relationship between protagonist and his partner, I assumed it will be important someday. VRAINS told a story of an AI who was torn from his world and friends and ripped apart, driven by revenge and goal to get back. In order to achieve his goal, he manipulated a traumatized boy into becoming a weapon he needed, successfully using him until the very end. What he did not expect is that the person he carefully moulded into a tool for his plans would become his closest friend so when he was slowly fading away in Yusaku’s arms and heard what his name meant… that’s when it hit hard in the feels. Ai was an AI with free will, born from the pain and misery that Yusaku had to endure for long months. He was programmed to think freely and yet the fate has drawn him back to his origin, slowly understanding just how much he needs Yusaku and how much Yusaku needs him. Even though there was a way for them to be together, he understood the pain Yusaku has been feeling his entire life, the pain of being used and knowing Yusaku cared about him to the point of protecting him with his life, it was clear there was only one other way. Not wanting to hurt him anymore, Ai sacrificed himself for his partner and once he learned the meaning of his name, he faded away with smile.

What he did was the ultimate act of love for his partner.

[arcaneranger]

Final Thoughts - 2019 Long Shows

Dear Lord. This is where all the good shows went.

2019 was absolutely awful on a season-by-season basis (except for Summer, anyway), but that’s mostly because most of the best shows ran longer than what has become the industry norm of a single season. And indeed, heading into the new decade, we seem to be seeing a major renaissance for two- or split-cour shows, given the massive success seen by shows like My Hero Academia, Food Wars, and Haikyuu!!..particularly in comparison to the new perpetual-runners Black Clover (which, despite running for over two straight years now, is still not the most popular show of Fall 2017 by viewer count on MAL, and sits at a ‘meh’ 7.2), and even worse, Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, which is faring even worse on both counts even though it premiered two whole seasons earlier and the fact that it is the sequel to Naruto.

As a reminder of my rules, the shows on this list may or may not have premiered in 2019, but they finished airing this year. The split-cour rule (stating that I judge any show that “finishes” and then premieres a “new season” within six months) didn’t come into play for any 2018 shows, but it will for Ascendance of a Bookworm and Food Wars this year, at the very least.

With that being said! 25 shows running longer than thirteen episodes finished airing this year after being simulcast, and of those…

I skipped 6:

Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure Part V: Golden Wind, Fairy Tail Final Series, A Certain Magical Index III, Ace Attorney Season 2 and Cardfight Vanguard (2018) because I either dropped or have not finished their previous (also long-running) seasons.

Yu-Gi-Oh VRAINS because the simulcast started late and also it was bad.

I Dropped 8:

Worst Long Show of 2019: The Rising of the Shield Hero

It’s always fun to see that a show you hated from its first episode only gets more and more distasteful afterwards, but it’s less fun when a service you have to promote because they’re the legal option is forced to shove it down your throat because they had a hand in making it and it became a massive hit that your friends don’t see any issue with because the author wrote a story that justifies its hero’s patronage of the slave industry. This is my punishment for watching the whole first season of The Asterisk War before I knew better.

YU-NO: A girl who chants love at the bound of this world

A confusing mess from the word go, this ill-fated adaptation of a visual novel from the nineties seems like it was mostly made to cash in on the popularity of the Science Adventure series, but failed to present itself in a way that made an ounce of sense or looked remotely interesting.

Fairy Gone

Am I really the only one that saw potential here? I mean yes, it ended up a boring slog that didn’t care to move its plot in a meaningful direction, but the first episode was at least cool. I guess Izetta: The Last Witch should have taught me better.

We Never Learn

I know that I’m in the minority in terms of the male demographic for shows like this, but honestly, how are bland harem shows still this easy to market? A copy-pasted protagonist with copy-pasted waifus drag down what could be an interesting setup for a story. 

Karakuri Circus

The first episode of this one had me excited, the second and third left me bored to tears and wondering if it would continue to look uglier by the minute. I haven’t seen a three-cour show look this janky since Knight in the Area.

Radiant

Having heard good things about this show from my cohorts, I do feel bad for saying I’ll probably never return to Radiant, but when you have a show that’s notably written by a European author...and it turns out to be a frustratingly standard shounen affair with middling production values, well, you can see my earlier annoyance with Cannon Busters.

Ensemble Stars

This one still gets to me. It almost looked like a male-idol show I would finally be able to get behind, what with its rebellious attitude and oddball setting...that is, until the setting got to be too unbelievable and the show began drowning its audience in side-characters because they had to squeeze every husbando from the mobile game into the story, and it all began to resemble UtaPri a little too much...but without the production value.

Boogiepop and Others

This was a hard drop, honestly. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how I felt four episodes in, before concluding that I was bored and not particularly invested, two things that should never describe the experience of watching a Madhouse show. The fact that this was the project responsible for ruining One Punch Man only made it worse. There’s a slow burn, and then there’s walking away without turning the stove on.

And I Finished 11 (holy crap that’s like three hundred episodes just on their own).

That Time I Was Reincarnated as a Slime (5/10 & 1/10)

I’ll be honest, I had forgotten just how livid I was with the ending (and especially the sad excuse of a recap episode) of Slimesekai, and reading back through my write-up of it, it’s certainly coming back to me. While this year had bigger demons to fight (Shield Hero), the bad taste that Slime left me with hasn’t really faded, and the wasted premise bugs me to this day.

Hinomaru Sumo (7/10)

What Hinomaru lacked in production value, it happily made up for in good execution and earnest heart. I can’t believe this came from the same studio as Conception, Try Knights and 7Seeds, but if they can only get out one good show a year, I’m glad that we got one bringing attention to a sport that many will joke about but few understand, respect and appreciate.

Kono Oto Tomare (7/10)

Speaking of giving love to traditional Japanese culture, here’s a decent-if-unoriginal show about a local high school koto club down on their luck, and the troubled teens coming together under a scrappy protagonist to bring it back to life. Kono Oto Tomare doesn’t have much that you haven’t seen before, but a decently-executed club drama with Your Lie In April-inspired musical performances is more than enough to keep me interested, and since Forest of Piano kinda crashed and burned under the weight of its own self-importance this year, it was nice to have an alternative.

MIX: Meisei Story (8/10)

It’s hard to judge MIX next to the other shows on this list because it’s almost too old-school for its own good, revelling in an eighties storytelling style that didn’t end up jiving with a wide audience this year. But at the same time, its fun character dynamics (and a very good dub from Funimation, despite them saying they’d never touch sports anime again) were very entertaining to watch, even if it didn’t focus as much on the sport it was supposedly about as much as I’d have liked.

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba (8/10)

I fully admit that I’m very salty about the fact that this won Show of the Decade in Funimation’s poll while it was still on and I thought there were hundreds of more deserving shows, but I can’t deny that Demon Slayer was a very enjoyable experience, albeit one that I had notable problems with. That’s not gonna stop me from getting mad when it sweeps the Anime Awards in a few weeks, though.

Fire Force (8/10)

I was very afraid that David Productions wouldn’t be able to match the energy of Studio Bones’ adaptation of Ohkubo’s previous work, Soul Eater, but I was happy to be proven wrong. Even if the last few episodes contained a bit too much infodumping, it was all sandwiched between jaw-dropping fight scenes that proved that the people who make Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure can still handle the reins of a more traditional action show.

Fruits Basket 1st Season (8/10)

I know that my score for this one is a bit lower than others, but I think that Fruits Basket did pretty well in its first season, considering that it was largely spent setting up future storylines and adapting the part of the manga we’d all seen before, but with much higher production value. I’ve been familiar with this part of the story for over a decade, and the scene with Tohru and Kyo (you know the one) still made me cry. Now, we get the real plot going.

Dr Stone (9/10)

A great start to a totally new spin on shounen, Dr Stone gives me hope for survival in the post-Shokugeki world in which we’ll soon live, as a show that wears its research on its sleeve. A complex plot weaving interesting characters in and out of a narrative surrounding a philosophical battle where both sides actually do have fair points (even if one of them is going about it in a pretty cruel manner). More please.

Vinland Saga (9/10)

Once again, a great start to what will hopefully be years of quality storytelling, Vinland Saga made it seem like it was dragging in the middle only to reveal just what its slow burn had been leading up to, with twist-heavy storytelling and a fantastic cast to match the high visual quality of its brutal battles.

Run With the Wind (9/10)

It’s not often that Production I.G. gets to make a complete, fully-realized show anymore, and this one was a glorious reminder of the potential of the studio in the TV space, and a great rebound for the director of Joker Game. It’s gorgeous to look at, the cast is wonderful, and the story is both realistic and idealistic in a satisfying balance. It’s a miserable process to get to the finish line in real life, but sitting back and watching this was nothing but a treat. At least, until a minor fumble at the end.

Best Long Show of 2019: Dororo (9/10)

Speaking of complete stories, Tezuka Productions and MAPPA teamed up for a breathtaking adaptation of an underappreciated Tezuka classic that expands upon the story in exactly the right way to create a thrilling, savage, beautiful masterpiece that focuses a laser-sharp eye into the relationship between two characters in their journey to, literally and figuratively, become complete people. Also, that opening was killer.

And that’s it! That’s the fun list. Next comes the painful one. Stay tuned for the trash heap.

[kuriboo]

Hugsaku 2021

Bonus/Final: Memories | Loss | Missing a Friend 

For Hugsaku 2021, I’ve been writing a continuous story with the prompts from each day. The general story is: Yusaku ends up in Heartland with no idea how he got there and Yuma decides try to help Yusaku get home. If you’d like to read the story so far, it’s available in either my previous posts or on ao3. I’ll link to the story on ao3 in the notes.

I ended up having two completely different directions I wanted to write based on the day 6 prompts, and ended up writing two chapters for it as a result. This is the second one, and the last part of what I’ve written for hugsaku. I’ve really enjoyed this event, both writing for it and seeing what other people have done! Thanks for everything

Final Word Count: 16,586

⁂

Yusaku woke up, and immediately realized something was different. 

He wasn’t in Yuma’s room. In a panic, Yusaku looked around the room he was in now. The last thing he remembered was talking to Yuma last night, falling asleep in his sleeping bag as usual. But there was no sleeping bag anywhere on the floor here, and the walks were a completely different color than Yuma’s room.

The walls weren’t white, though.

As he looked around, Yusaku realized that he recognized this room. It wasn’t in Yuma’s house, or anywhere in Heartland. This was the back room he used to log into Vrains sometimes. In his apartment. In Den City.

“Now I’m back here again,” Yusaku said quietly to himself. “How did I get here? What happened?”

He went over the facts in his mind.

When he arrived in Heartland, he had no idea how he got there. He’d lost his memory of what happened before that. That had left him with no idea of what exactly happened. Now, he didn’t know what happened, either, but he had a clearer picture of what had happened this time, before arriving in Den City. He’d been asleep.

“A time limit, perhaps? Or maybe some condition had to be met for…”

Neither of those options sounded very likely to Yusaku, but they were at least ideas. Before he speculated much further, however, he should probably get out of this room. Change his clothes out of the smelly school uniform he’d been wearing the entire day before. Get something to eat.

He pulled his hoodie on without even looking at the calendar. Yusaku didn’t care if it was a school day; he should deserve to skip just one day to figure out what was going on, what had happened to him, readjust to his normal schedule and normal life. And as for food, well, there was nothing Yusaku was craving more than a hot dog right now.

Once he left his room, he ran into Roboppy, who was happy and excited to see him. He made sure to explain that he wasn’t going to disappear again and would definitely return later that day before leaving his apartment.

As he left, he pulled his hood over his head and shoved his hands into his pockets.

Going out to get a hot dog was actually a multipurpose trip. Yusaku could figure out what happened to him later. Right now, he had to remember he was also Playmaker. He needed to check on the state of the world, figure out what was going on both inside and outside of Vrains. He couldn’t recklessly show himself to the world again before that. And if anyone would be able to help him figure that out again, it would be his partner in crime.

Cafe Nom was open for business. As Yusaku entered the line, though he noticed a sign on the vehicle announcing open hours were temporarily reduced. That made Yusaku frown. Had something happened to Jin, or had Kolter actually been closing Cafe Nom early because Yusaku had been missing?

Normally Kolter was friendly with his customers. He got to know the regulars pretty well and chatted with everyone as he prepared their orders. But as the line move ahead, Yusaku could tell something was off. Kolter was quieter than usual. He seemed distracted.

When Yusaku reached the front of the line, no one was behind him.

“One hotdog, please.”

Yusaku’s voice seem to catch Kolter’s attention. He looked up, entirely focused now. “...Yusaku? Is that…”

Yusaku pulled his hood down, and Kolter told him to get inside the truck. As Yusaku walked around to the door, Kolter closed up Cafe Nom for the day.

“You’re back!!” Kolter wrapped Yusaku into a tight hug. “I missed you, buddy, I was really worried. It’s really good to see you again.”

Yusaku felt choked up. He’d done his best while in Heartland not to let himself get caught in homesickness, but now it was hitting him how much he’d missed Kolter. Kolter, Cafe Nom, and this truck felt just as much like home if not more to Yusaku than his actual apartment these days. His eyes stung; he did his best not to let them water. Yusaku didn’t mind this hug at all. He hugged Kolter back. “I missed you, too. I’m sorry I disappeared.”

“You didn’t do anything. Don’t apologize.” Kolter let Yusaku go. He was smiling. “All that matters is you’re back now.”

“Come on, don’t Ai get a hug, too?”

Yusaku looked away from Kolter. There was a duel disk sitting in one of the chairs next to the hidden computer. He assumed it was Kolter’s. Ai was sitting on the duel disk. He voice sounded annoyed, but he seemed to have perked up at the sight of Yusaku. The annoyance didn’t translate to his body language at all.

“You’re too small for hugs.” Yusaku rolled his eyes, but he couldn’t keep the smile off his face. “Besides, I don’t like hugs.”

“Liar! I saw you hug hot dog guy. If you didn’t like hugs you wouldn’t hug!”

“Hot dog guy…?” Kolter asked himself quietly.

“I had to get used to hugs while I was gone, that’s all,” Yusaku told Ai. “It was difficult, but I was able to handle it until I came back.”

“You don’t seem very upset about it.”

“Shut up. I’ll mute you.”

“I’m not in your duel disk, you can’t do that.”

“Wait, back up. What happened to you after you disappeared?” Kolter asked. He examined Yusaku’s face. “You don’t seem like you’re hurt or anything like that.”

“No, I’m okay.” Yusaku explained it all to Kolter. Heartland, which was in another world. The Number cards, powerful XYZ monsters that held parts of Astral’s memory and took control of duelists. Astral and Number 96. Kari, her grandmother, Tori, Bronk. Yuma. How Yuma gave him a place to stay, helped him look for a way home, how Yusaku helped Yuma look for monsters, the one time Yusaku dueled in order to save Yuma.

“Well, if you were in another world, I guess that explains why you disappeared from our end,” Kolter said. “That’s really strange, though. I never thought about there being like, another dimension besides our own, very similar to ours but still pretty different.”

“I never did either, before this all happened. But what exactly did happen?” Yusaku asked. “I don’t remember anything that happened before I showed up in Heartland. Do you know how I got there?”

“I saw what happened before you disappeared. It’s just a guess, but I can show you.” Kolter brought out the computer and navigated through its files until he found a specific video. “I saved this recording after I realized I couldn’t find you. You were at your apartment when I noticed something strange was happening in Vrains, so I called you. You logged in from your apartment to investigate.”

Kolter fast-forwarded through a good portion of the video, eventually stopping to play it.

“You should be close to it,” Kolter’s voice crackled on the computer. “Do you see anything?”

“I haven’t noticed anything so far,” Yusaku heard his own voice say. There was Playmaker on his hoverboard. “Wait, what’s that?”

Seconds after Playmaker noticed it, something huge showed on the screen. It looked like an extremely elaborate door that was closed.

“Is that a door?” Kolter’s voice asked.

Then, Yusaku heard a voice he hadn’t heard before. Yet, something about it sounded familiar. “Whoever opens this door will obtain a new power, but know with such a reward comes great risk. In exchange, they will lose what they appreciate the most.”

Ai, from the recording, laughed nervously. “That’s not ominous at all.”

Yusaku watched himself hover in place near the door. He was looking closely at it, but still maintaining enough of a distance to fee safe. What exactly was that door?

“I don’t like the sound of that,” Kolter’s voice said. “A great risk? Lose what you appreciate most? That doesn’t sound worth whatever that new power is. We can’t afford to lose anything right now.”

“But we can’t afford to lose our mission, either,” Playmaker pointed out. “A new power could help with that. Finding the Cyberse deck was risky, but we still pursued it. We did that together, but this should be something I do alone, if I’m going to do it.”

“Alone?”

“You have a lot to lose. Both of you do. I won’t ask you to make that choice. But I have nothing left to lose. What could be taken from me? I don’t know if my power is enough as is to achieve our goals. If this can help, it’s worth it.”

“I’m really not sure about this,” Kolter’s voice warned. “Something will still be taken from you. I know I can’t stop you, but—“

“I’ve already made up my mind. Ai, go somewhere you know you’ll be safe.”

Yusaku watched himself put a hand against the door and look down at his duel disk. Ai didn’t seem happy about this either. But after a moment, he disappeared. Then Yusaku saw himself open the door and hover through it, and then the door closed behind him.

The recording ended there, aimed at the closed doors.

Kolter, the present day Kolter, exited out of the recording. “You never came back out of the door, and after a while the door disappeared. Ai came to me and we hoped you’d just logged out. We couldn’t find you anywhere in Vrains. But days passed and you didn’t come back here, you weren’t in school. We weren’t sure what to think, we…” Kolter looked down at his hands. He seemed unable to look at Yusaku.

“It looked like, when I went through the door, what I lost was myself,” Yusaku said quietly.

Kolter breathed in sharply. “I… We couldn’t lose you, not now. I tried looking for you outside of Vrains, too, I kept looking, but you just weren’t anywhere. It makes sense now, though.”

“What did I lose, though?” Yusaku asked himself. “What I appreciate most…”

“Oh, let me guess, let me guess!” Ai had stayed quiet up to this point. When Yusaku wasn’t looking, Ai must have reentered Yusaku’s duel disk, since he was there now. “Your life in Den City? Vrains? Being Playmaker? Your cards? Oh, was it me?”

Yusaku ignored him. “What did I lose, and what did I gain? Why did I come back now?”

“You were supposed to gain a new power, so maybe it’s possible you went to that dimension to claim it, and came back once you got it?” Kolter suggested.

“I got it! I got it!” Ai rose a hand in the air. “You learned the value of friendship! And what you lost was us! We’re what you value you most! Aww, Yusaku, I didn’t know you cared so much.”

Yusaku glanced at his deck, still firmly in his duel disk. “I’m not sure about that.”

“You did open up to at least someone in that place, though, and I’m glad you were able to.” Kolter looked up at Yusaku. “He sounds like a good friend. What was his name again? Yuma?”

“Yeah…” Yusaku sighed. “He’s good at being a friend. He helped me a lot, anyway, and he barely knew who I was. He’s the kind of person that deserves good friends.”

“Hey, everyone does,” Kolter told him. “But it sounds like he does. From the sounds of it, I don’t think he’ll ever forget you. You helped him too, you know.”

“I won’t forget him, either. He’d be hard to forget. He barely knew what his cards did, he was annoying and obnoxious, and he kept ignoring what people told him.” Yusaku’s mouth turned up into a fond smile. “And he kept trying to cheer me up, and he never gave up, even when the odds were against him.”

From Yuma complaining to Astral about trying to offer help in a duel, to Yuma promising Yusaku they’d figure out how to get him home, to Yuma trying and failing to read a book, to Yuma under 96’s control and still believing in Yusaku’s ability to win the duel even when the situation looked bad. Yusaku had a lot of unforgettable memories of Yuma. He could still hear Yuma in his head, telling Yuma to feel the flow and not give up.

Of course, he had lots of unforgettable memories with the people here that he cared about, too.

It felt easier, now, to admit to himself that he did care about them.

“Is it weird that I miss him?” Yusaku asked himself quietly.

“I’ve missed my friends before.” Ai was uncharacteristically somber. “Even when we were worlds apart. I don’t think it’s weird at all.”

“Of course it’s not weird. It doesn’t matter how far apart you are. I’m sure he misses you, too,” Kolter said. “But I’m glad you came back. We missed you, buddy.”

Yusaku’s eyes felt itchy. He blinked a few times.” I did, too.”

Kolter brought Yusaku into another hug, this one more gentle. Yusaku leaned into it. Ai reached up to put a hand against Yusaku’s face.

He really was happy to be back with his team. That didn’t mean he couldn’t miss the people he met in the other world, though.

Yuma, his family, and his friends were still out there somewhere, living their own lives, and Yusaku would never stop thinking about them. He was sure that they wouldn’t stop thinking of him, either.

That’s what friendship was, he knew that now. No matter how far apart, they’d always still be a part of each other.