Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS

[~British Soul~]

[spoiler=46]

• I'm so disappointed we didn't see Cyberse Magician in this episode. Booster pack cover cards always appear in the anime, so I'm hoping it'll appear before the next pack, Soul Fusion gets released.

 

 

[spoiler=Response]

I'm also disappointed we didn't get to see Cyberse Magician as well. I'm sure it'll be used at some point, maybe in the next episode, though it may not. The last time a cover card wasn't seen in the anime was Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys from FET. (even though RDA/assault wasn't seen in the main series of 5Ds, it was in the non-canon special, so it technically counts)  

 

 

[Flash Flyer - Sakura]

[spoiler=VRAINS 46]

• Yusaku technically top decked something that literally took advantage of Revolver doing the Extra Link and won. Uh yeah, in real life, Yusaku would be legitimately dead without being able to do that.
  • He did try to copy Mirror Force, but Revolver already knew he'd try. 
• 13 LP? Been a while since we had odd numbers for LP (and I mean numbers that aren't divisible by 5).
• The threat to VRAINS is over for now, but Revolver's going somewhere.
• Ai's free now, so wherever he ends up in the future remains to be seen in Season 2.
• Firewall returns, but doesn't do much and eventually just ends up as Decode Talker fodder (whoopee...)
• Was expecting him to summon Cyberse Magician or something, but guess it goes to Season 2 or that's someone else's card (now who else uses Cyberses besides Yusaku?)

 

 

 

Let's see if those other three can pull their weight (Aoi, Go, Emma) in the next arc.

[Expelsword]

This whole series may as well have been a 3 round Match between Playmaker and Revolver for all the relevance and dueling skill any other character showed in comparison.

[Just Crouton]

pretty good first season overall, recap episodes aside

 

i mean, i wasn't bored to death during duels like the two previous shows, and the animation didn't remind me of robot chicken

 

there was less filler, and less trash supporting characters who wouldn't matter during the main arc

 

i also like that yusaku doesn't use his bosses all the time

 

and whoever does the character designs did an even better job from their work on arc-v

[Astro Dude]

[spoiler Playmaker wanted]

My guess, some Knight remnants made the wanted posters.

 

 

[Thomas★Zero]

Well the Vid for the second op of VRAINS is out now :D

 

 

Also Homura Takeru looks like he's going to be a very likable character.

 

Also from the opening looks like we might get a Firewall upgrade/Link-5 Cyberse Dragon and the Water Code Talker.

 

Edit: Here's the Ending as well and confirms that Soulburner is a Cyberse User with a different Skill called Burning Draw.

 

[Atypical-Abbie]

[spoiler=EP37 AKA Season 2 Episode 1]

Well sheet, they went ahead and did it, they made Link Spells. I think this deserves to be put right away, as it's kind of not something i was expecting, seemed to silly to be a thing, but here we are! So that's pretty cool, and what is also cool is that there seems to be a Cyberse Archetype, which I just mentioned how I wanted to see in the Arch-Lord Palladion thread, so that's fun. Linkuriboh is the new mascot, but AI is also back, so now Yusaku has two mascots? Well, that's fine with me I suppose. A whole lot of new characters were introduces, we barely know any of them, there's who seems to be a CEO, Queen, then there's digital cowboy guy, not sure if he had a name, and a little kid, a glowing guy, and there's also a guy in the intro that seems to become friendly with Yusaku IRL that I don't think was in this episode, did I forget anyone? We'll see what this leads up to, but there's a lot of new characters, and Go, Aoi and Ghost Girl is still around as well, so yeah, the cast is getting huge.

 

 

[Flash Flyer - Sakura]

[spoiler=VRAINS 47]

• New Link VRAINS looks cool though...shame that Yusaku can't go in there because they apparently put $500K on his head for the Ignis. 
• Cyberse World got destroyed.
• I guess this means Kitamura is gone forever (not like we miss that jackass anyway), since Akira got his old job back.
• Speaking of Akira, he apparently heads the bounty hunters that are supposed to capture Yusaku.
• Go and some friends are in charge of it; we learn the other guy, but he doesn't show up. 
• jabroni penguin avatars, but Blood Shepherd (the other guy) kills one of them on-screen. 
• We see Kusanagi's brother, but that Unknown kidnaps his consciousness and Yusaku fights him.
• Trying to make some sense about the Link Spells and stuff at the moment, but at this time, Yusaku's dead meat.

 

 

 

I do like the new opening and ending themes, so...this should be good.

 

---

 

[spoiler=About Link Spells for Custom Cards users]

Once we find out a bit more about them, they can be posted in Experimental Cards. Give it at least a week.

 

For the time being, I guess you can use Free Cards for that to test the waters, but let's see.

 

 

[~British Soul~]

[spoiler=Thoughts on VRAINS 47]
- Ai returns to Cyberse World after 5 years to find that it's pretty much a wasteland, then again I didn't think it'd be all tickety-boo upon his return anyway. Ai discovers Linkuriboh trapped and asks what happened, though he couldn't understand what it was saying.
- OP: From the opening, it seems that Homura has an old style duel disk like Yusaku. It also shows the three Hanoi Lieutenants, Spectre and Revolver for what it's worth, so they'll likely appear at some point in this arc. Finally it shows a silhouetted dragon that we'll see at a later date and the Water Code Talker who's an archer and the wings can be comparable to the pigtails of the blue Ignis. I'm also looking forward to the interactions between Linkuriboh and Roboppy if the OP is anything to go by.
​- Roboppy laments that it has been 3 months since Ai left, at least the timeskip has been established.
​- Aoi visits the hot dog stand and says that she never thanked Yusaku for finding her when she unconscious a while back (after being turned into data). She later informs Yusaku that he'll probs not get customers, likely due to New Link Vrains.
- New Link Vrains certainly has more colour to it than its predecessor from the first arc, and it has more facilities like stores, so that's neat.
- It seems that the ban on Speed Duels has been lifted (I forgot there was one to be fair) and there's even restoration functions for Speed Duels making them safer
- Ghost Girl is surprised that Playmaker has a bounty on his head (the reward; 500K is quite decent), at least the reason why was established early on*
​- Akira has been reinstated as Security Manager (at least they got rid of Kitamura, good riddance I say) and Akira's former staff have been reassigned.
- *Queen mentions that because the Ignis weren't present on Cyberse World, it's only natural to re-capture the Ignis from Playmaker otherwise SOL's operations won't improve. (I thought prior to watching that some new faction put a bounty on Playmaker, but guess it's just SOL) She also mentions that if Akira is unable to capture the Ignis, he'll end up like his former staff.
- Go has become one of Akira's bounty hunters. I didn't think he'd be working under that capacity (considering the last time Akira asked Go for his services)
- Naoki/Brave Max (I forgot that was his name for a moment) notes that Ghost Girl is beautiful and perhaps not so IRL (How wrong he is) and claims he'll beat down the bounty hunters, though if his performance last arc is anything to go by, I doubt it.
​- We see a new guy whose name is Blood Shephard who is able to kill avatars (Those Penguins were dicks anyway). We learn that he is also a bounty hunter hired by SOL. His design looks pretty cool at least.
​- Ghost Girl mentions that she doesn't intend on becoming a bounty hunter because she owes Playmaker
- Kusangi visits Jin and offers Jin to live with him, however a "glowing guy" steals Jin's consciousness, though from his duel board (that was shown in the OP) we know that its identity is Bowman.
- Playmaker arrives in New Link Vrains and everyone know about it. Of course just as Playmaker says that he no longer has an Ignis, Ai turns up with Linkuriboh, who is added to Playmaker's deck. Ai also gets BS off Playmaker's back by conjuring a data storm.
​- Apparently trades can be made after duels in New Link Vrains, K.
​- Playmaker notes that "Mr Unknown" (Bowman) uses Cyberse and Ai notes that he might have something to do with the destruction of Cyberse World.
​- So Link Spells are a thing. (I would be more surprised by this, but a discord notif appeared on my screen (mentioning Link Spells) moments before watching so it took away some of the surprise) It'll be interesting to see more of them.
- ED: At least the ending shows that Playmaker will summon Cyberse Magician at some point, likely in the next episode. The ending theme isn't bad though to be fair.

 

 

Well the Vid for the second op of VRAINS is out now :D

Also Homura Takeru looks like he's going to be a very likable character.

I agree. I certainly like the design of his avi for Link Vrains, and his ace looks pretty cool as well.

 

[spoiler Playmaker wanted]

My guess, some Knight remnants made the wanted posters.

 

 

[spoiler=Response]

To be fair, I thought it'd be some new faction that put a bounty on Playmaker's head, but astonishingly it was just SOL.

 

 

[Flash Flyer - Sakura]

[spoiler=VRAINS 48]

• We find out that the Unknown avatar is legitimately Bowman, but apparently he has amnesia or doesn't recall what he did to Jin.
• More Flow Drives (including WATER one)
• Yusaku summons ANOTHER Code Talker and triple attacks to win.
• Cyberse Magician makes appearance, and everyone is shocked that Yusaku summoned a Ritual Monster (he's the only protag besides Yugi to even do it, so...)
  • Also referencing Dark Magician much?
• Ai tries to devour Bowman's info, but Haru put anti-Ignis software and sent some randos to stop him. 
• Homura/Soulburner appears and says "I'll handle the randoms; you deal with Bowman". This should be fun.
• At beginning of episode, Flame appears and says something on the lines of "don't get me involved with that airhead". So...assume that he still thinks Ai is trash for being lazy.

 

Uh yeah, because of a certain user who is colloquially called "Flame" here, in the context of this thread, it does mean the Ignis / Soulburner's AI.

 

 

[~British Soul~]

[spoiler=Thoughts on VRAINS 48]

- When Soulburner notices Ai, Flame remarks "don't associate me with that airhead" which suggests that he still thinks Ai is lazy that was touched upon in the last arc

- Playmaker summons Cyberse Magician and Haru is surprised by this as his data didn't include a Ritual Cyberse (Though I'm not surprised Cyberse Wizard was used as one of the tributes given Magician is Wizard's evolved form.

- After Cyberse Wizard inflicts damage to Bowman, his true form reveals itself and claims to have no recollection of what had happened or who he is. Haru reminds him that he needs to regain their memories.

- It becomes apparent that Bowman's deck is about changing his opponent's monsters' attributes for direct attacks.

- Playmaker gets the WATER Code Talker from a data storm (of course it'd be that) and it conveniently has a multi-attack effect to counter Covered Hydradrive's effect

- Ai tries to eat Bowman's data, but Haru had a anti-Ignis program in place and then sends a couple of randos to seize the Ignis

- Soulburner appears before Playmaker and says he'll deal with the randos whilst Playmaker deals with Bowman/Haru  

 

 

[Atypical-Abbie]

[spoiler=EP49]

So, another new mechanic, Reincarnation Link Summons, I am not sure I got it right, but something to do with using the same card to get another Link Monster out, which is an odd thing which I'm not sure how useful would be IRL, I guess you can use it to re-set to another zone, an reset effects and other stuff, and doing that does seem to produce a new kind of effect for them, which is kind of neat. I gotta read the Field's effect though, the wikia doesn't have it right now, so not sure how that works.

 

Additionally, another two Cyberse Archetypes, and I got no clue what their names refer to whatsoever, Salamangreat and D-Scale, maybe a pun on the scales of a fish and "descale", meaning "to remove the hard deposit formed by chemicals in water from (a kettle, pipe, etc)", though not sure how that had anything to do with them moving around.

 

Salamangreat has no meaning to me, I saw in the reddit post something about salamanders representing fire in alchemy or something, though the monsters themselves are not salamanders, so not sure what that's about.

 

As for the episode itself, it's a dueling episode mostly, we get a little bit of what kind of person this Soulburner is, seems like he he's kind of the opposite of Playmaker, where his sidekick is the one actually being good, and he's just riding along, they have an odd relationship. The BitBoot being a combination that cheats the system of Skills and does it twice, which is just the stupidest thing ever, but sure do it twice why not, and they can use the Link Spells too, which is interesting. Their Deck is more interesting to me personally than Soulburner's, even if he does have a new mechanic as well.

 

 

[Flash Flyer - Sakura]

[spoiler=VRAINS 49]

• We got Soulburner and BitBoot using Cyberses this match (and the latter so happens to combine themselves into one without any noticeable differences).
  • Zaizen can't find their cards in the database, so...he wonders if Soulburner was involved in the incident. (Probably yes)
• Reincarnation Link Summoning seems cool though, but how they'll work out IRL remains to be seen. (Also if people complain about the mechanic)
• Yeah, Bit and Boot being two people (technically) allows them to use the Skill twice, and they have Judgment Arrows again. Makes you wonder if we'll ever see other Link Spells. 
• Soulburner's skill isn't too bad, but yeah, you're killing youself further for draw power. 
• Bit and Boot literally get burned up after they lose.
• Bohman and Haru escape from Yusaku.
  • IDK, I'm tempted to consider Haru as one of the new antagonists this season (if Revolver isn't taking a major role this time). We shall see.

 

 

[~British Soul~]

[spoiler=Thoughts on VRAINS 49]

- Bit and Boot combine themselves into one entity. At least the duel won't be as messy if it was 2 on 1.

- When BitBoot used their skill to place Judgment Arrows onto the board, Flame mentions that the enemy who destroyed Cyberse also used Link Spells and Cyberse-type, and their skill prevents the destruction of the card placed on the board (Of course).

- We knew that Soulburner's deck was going to be Cyberse, but I didn't think D-Scale would be as well, nevertheless they aren't present in the SOL database, and Akira wonders if Soulburner was also involved in the Lost Incident.

- The Salamangreats look interesting (I certainly liked the look of the ace monster from when it was shown in the opening/ending), and there's scope for combos to be had as we get more of them. That being said, the D-Scale's mechanic of moving zones is interesting as well, but Soulburner's cards appeal to me more.

- And of course since they're two peeps in one body, Bit/Boot cheat the system by using the skill again to place Judgment Arrows back on the board.

- D-Scale Chaff is somewhat situational, but they "attempted" to lock down Soulburner. That aside it is neat to see someone with Monster Reincarnation again. It's been 6 years since we last saw that card in the anime (For reference; the last time was when it was shown in Droite's hand in Zexal ep38) 

- So Soulburner's skill (who we knew the name of since 47) drops your LP to 100 to draw more cards, but at the end of the duel, Soulburner found that using it is hard on him. I do think there'll be an instance where he uses the skill and then loses like the following turn or something.

- Reincarnation Link Summoning, sounds like an interesting mechanic (using an existing Link to make one with the same name), and Souburner mentions that this is Link Summoning's new potential. I thought something like that would happen eventually, but how that'll translate or be received IRL remains to be seen. As long as they don't go silly with it though.

- Soulburner's victory was to be expected. I didn't think he was gonna lose in his first on-screen duel.

- When Bit/Boot were telling each other that they're, the first thing that came to mind (for some stupid reason, I don't know why) was that scene from A Bug's Life where the pillbugs were saying "you're fired" to each other. Anywho Haru fires them both and they... burn up.

- Haru/Bowman sod off into the restricted area telling Plamaker that something unbelievable will happen soon, and since they buggered off illegally, the defense alarm goes off and Soulburner advises Playmaker to log out as he does so.

 

 

[Expelsword]

Burning Draw seems like a terrible skill overall, he must be packing a lot of life gain cards.

[Flash Flyer - Sakura]

[spoiler=VRAINS 50]

• Takeru apparently knows everyone's identities in VRAINS from their RL personalities.
• Yusaku asks "who the hell are you", and things get settled when introduced to Flame (the AI). Note, if I have to reference that other guy by this name here, you'll see the @ symbol, so...
• We see where Bowman and Haru went off to, and why they got Jin's consciousness. The former needed prompting to show respect and then lost his memories again. (So...yeah)
• The person who attacked Cyberse and Jin is the same in both cases. 
• So while Yusaku dealt with Hanoi/Revolver, this new enemy was already attacking Cyberse World. 
• Go and Blood Shepherd don't like each other much, but Zaizen expected that.

 

 

[~British Soul~]

[spoiler=Thoughts on VRAINS 50]

- A new bloke resets Bowman's memories instead of restoring them after acquiring Jin's data. He also mentions that Playmaker will eventually find the place where they are, and thus need to prepare.

- Roboppi is happy that Ai has returned (as he promised to make her smarter) and starts a rivalry with Linkuriboh, as expected from the OP.

- The "3 things" shtick returns. It was only a matter of time before Yusaku did that again

- Takeru apparently knows the identities of everyone in Link VRAINS and Flame reveals he contacted Ai (behind Takeru's back using high level code), hence why Yusaku recognised him. 

- Flame decides to use a ferris wheel for a serious conversation so no one can eavesdrop. (My first thoughts was Pokémon Black & White where N uses the ferris wheel to tell the player he's the king of Team Plasma) Flame mentions that they should've built one in Cyberse World, whilst Ai replies that he simply wanted to ride it.

- Flame mentions that Ignis created tech superior to the humans and they discussed whether or not to share it, but of course we are reminded of what Kogami tried to do; proving that humans could be an enemy of AI and vice versa.

- It is revealed that the enemy who attacked Cyberse World (destroying Ai's shitty program) attacked whilst Playmaker/Ai fought the Hanoi

- As Akira thought, Go and Blood Shephard don't like each other.

 - Blood Shephard mentions that he doesn't get people who share their face on the net, saying it's a demerit. (This guy clearly doesn't use facebook/twitter, probs because he has no friends, though he doesn't seem like the kind who needs allies)

- Whilst Kusanagi was analysing where the enemy escaped into, he finds an unknown program that is revealed to be an Ignis program (specifically Wind attribute. Anywho Yusaku say that they need to explore it.

- Ghost Girl reaches out saying that a gate opened up that SOL "hadn't identified", whilst Ai thinks it's a trap especially since Akira is the source and he has Bounty Hunters. I did find it amusing when Ai was the only one who was against going.

- Kusangai gives Yusaku/Takeru a trap evasion program (taught to him by Ghost Girl) that has a communication feature and a single use escape function.

- As expected, the Bounty Hunters follow Playmaker/Soulburner through the gate.

 

 

[Flash Flyer - Sakura]

[spoiler=VRAINS 051]

• Go vs Soulburner; okay, at least Go is having screentime.
• He's seen as a hero, but in standard overzealous report fashion, they only give a sheet about Playmaker and not about Go (who actually helped with sheet). In a sense, he hates Playmaker for using him as a stepping stone. 
• Dino wrestlers? Well, it's still his style for the most part. Also the Link 3 has a lot of ATK, can boost further and materials aren't as hard to summon as World Scars (comparatively).
• Go is lucky that Capoeiraptor cannot be killed while in Attack Position, also Dino World Wrestling prevents opponent from capitalizing on it having 0 DEF.
• Soulburner looks up to Go for giving him hope, but right now, he isn't the same. 

 

 

 

Now to slowly wait for the guys on Wikia to edit the pages.

[~British Soul~]

[spoiler=Thoughts on VRAINS 51]

- To try and trap Playmaker, Akira sets a further trap (that Go's lackeys get caught up in) but later backpedals after finding out about Soulburner and his Inis, though he still wants to observe him/Playmaker.

- Go mentions that because of Playmaker essentially making him a stepping stone, he threw away his status as a charisma duelist and cannot get back his pride and take a step forward until he defeats him, and despite being a hero, the press cared more about Playmaker than him.

- Like I said in the TCG thread, I'm not surprised Go changed decks. Seeing as he threw away his status as a charisma duelist, it makes sense that he scrapped his Gouki deck as that was connected to said status. Of course with a new deck, comes a new skill; in this case activating his field spell from le deck.

 - And said field spell certainly synergises with Capoeiraptor, preventing it from dying

- In a flashback, Go learns that Playmaker was involved in the Lost Incident and that Akira believes that the secret of his power is because of his persistence/determination as for Playmaker, a duel means the same as living.

- Soulburner mentions that he looked up to Go in the past, but now criticises him for being SOL's pet dog.

 

 

[Atypical-Abbie]

[spoiler=EP52] Oh, Salamangreat has Ritual Monsters. Wasn't expecting that, but that is a pretty good sign that they'll start introducting more methods, as Yusako also has started using Ritual Monsters, and now an Archetype even has them. We also learn about Soulburner's back story a little bit, he's apparently from another town and his parents died trying to find him in the Lost Incident.

 

 

[Astro Dude]

[spoiler=EP52] Oh, Salamangreat has Ritual Monsters. Wasn't expecting that, but that is a pretty good sign that they'll start introducting more methods, as Yusako also has started using Ritual Monsters, and now an Archetype even has them. We also learn about Soulburner's back story a little bit, he's apparently from another town and his parents died trying to find him in the Lost Incident.

 

 

 

[spoiler=Reply]

And the dub will dum that down, when it does air.

 

 

[Flash Flyer - Sakura]

[spoiler=VRAINS 52]

• Soulburner has Ritual Monsters now, so...guess that's one way to fix their inherent problems. Though given the Wikia, the writers apparently made an error because Falco wasn't in the GY this episode, and shouldn't have been possible.
  • Then again, I cannot blame them because they're probably doing a ton of other animes and likely forgot. If Eagle were Level 6 and had less ATK, then it'd be legal because you have Mia as a valid target. 
  • Or he somehow dumped another copy into GY; I need to go look.
• Go is still salty as funk from losing again.
• Takeru is from another town and his parents got into accident while searching for him. Well, that's dark enough.
  • Similar to Yusaku, time stopped for him, but it just meant he wasn't doing things 100% and well, not dry ass like Yusaku.
•  Yusaku gets found out by Blood Shepherd and sheet happens.

 

 

[~British Soul~]

[spoiler=Thoughts on VRAINS 52]

- Because she was worried that Akira would be demoted if he failed, Hayami decides to be a dick and interfere by shooting blasts at Soulburner (who initially accused Go of doing it until Go blocked a blast voluntarily), but is later caught by Akira who warns her not to interfere. (I imagine she'll get a warning or something off-screen as Akira did say to come to the office afterwards)

- We learn that Takeru is from another town and his parents died whilst trying to look fro him. In addition, he chatted about how time also stopped for him and how he once hated everything and did things half-heartedly as a result of said incident

- During the duel, Go remarks about how in the past he'd have a clash with ace monsters for entertainment, but now he wants to go for guaranteed wins (again, with him discarding his old self, it makes sense that his mentality changes). 

- Salamangreats also have a Ritual, that certainly surprised me to say the least, but it is neat that since Playmaker used a Ritual other summoning methods can be fair game.

- After losing, Go says that "Noone can always win" and "when you lose, the true you is revealed", (I can see that tbf. And again quoting Kouji Ibuki from CFV; in a fight, a person's true nature is revealed) ofc Flame thinks that he's a sore loser

- Meanwhile Playmaker is found by Blood Shepherd 

 

 

[Flash Flyer - Sakura]

[spoiler=VRAINS 53]

• Playmaker is forced to duel against Blood Shepherd, who keeps shooting at them.
• Ai, would it kill you to shut up? (Then again, you got lied to by B/S's AI)
  • So remind me, what was that thing that Dr. Kogami and Revolver said about AI? That they were capable of lying and could be a threat to humanity. 
• B/S summons a ton of Tokens, then Link Summons a few times. However, aside from their stats and markers (plus summon reqs), we don't know about their effects.
  • But he avoided getting OTK'd by Shootingcode + Clock Wyvern due to Capture Drone. (I mean, I guess Yusaku can still use Shootingcode for FUSION material, but what are the odds he'll get one in the near future?)
• Backstory into why Ghost Girl knows B/S (and understands the risk of searching for the AI).
• Aoi gets a new outfit and name for this mission. 

 

 

[Astro Dude]

[spoiler possible scenario]

What if Yusaku challenges Queen to a duel and Queen loses?

 

There would be a scene where Queen lies unconscious and a SOL technologies employee is about to wake her up but then...

 

King: "NO! Queen has failed one time too many. From now on, I will personally deal with Yusaku Fujiki."