Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc-V

[Sleepy]

So we're just going to sweep the fact that HE HAS CARDIFIED INNOCENT PEOPLE under the fucking rug?!?

 

Have you seen Watchmen? In that movie, the enemy killed thousands of innocent people for his plan to try to achieve something that'd benefit the whole world. Of course his methods were terrible, but what made it note-worthy is that he achieved what he wanted and actually prevented a much greater amount of bloodshed.

 

Look at Shun's actions as going around the same route. He knows what's bad and what isn't, but the Fusion Dimension will do much more damage than he could ever do and if it means preventing that, there's just no time to mourn. Remember he comes from war and is still in it. Maybe he'll get some of what you want when/if/after they deal with the Fusion Dimension, but right now the cause is the drive ultimately.

 

Just in the same way Sora believes in his leader's cause even though he knows atrocities are happening. You can tell it isn't just giving up on people he doesn't care about since he was genuinely Yuya's friend when it didn't compromise his mission. Same principle.

 

What is the idea that you have in mind that you think Shun should be like right now? 
The way Arc V is going, gray characters exist. We've seen instances of enemies that aren't as simple as bad vs good. Yugo vs Yuto was an example. There's sides driven by personal interests over moral issues, and those interests could clash and loses of innocent people can and will probably keep on happening.

 

 

EDIT:
Besides, something tells me cardified =/= dead here.

Sure people treat it as death and there's probably PG reasons and stuff that made this need to find an equivalent to death that isn't death (even though plenty of shows with roughly the same demographic have no trouble mentioning death nowadays.. I know Gumball and Gravity Falls have at the very least). 

Anyways, my guess here is that they cannot turn cards back until they can deal with the Fusion dimension for X reason that might or might not be explained at some point. That begs the question of how did Shun turn people into cards though since no other non-Fusion Dimension character has done so (Yuto and Yugo didn't).

Though for the most part, I think it'll be something like that, which would lighten the "guilt" load a lot there, but at the same time they might as well be dead if the Fusion dimension doesn't go down, in which case, so will be Shun and everybody else so yeah....

[Timeskipper]

This time I disagree with Evilfusion. Shun has cardified (which for now seems to be the equivalent of killing. Maybe somewhere along the line the cast will find a way to reverse it or maybe not, but for what we know now it is the perfect equivalent of death) innocent people just to draw out someone he thought was an enemy because at the time, he believed they were the enemy, or at least his enemy's weakness. As the plot goes along, he'll have to face the fact that they're people like him, and not the sociopathic bastards of the Academia. It's actually not uncommon for war survivors to feel guilty over their actions - even when they were necessary, so even more in Shun's case, since his cardifying people was completely avoidable and caused by a huge misunderstanding.

 

The theme of the show seems to be shaping up to be the contrast between ideals and pragmatism, and as usual, the truth doesn't lie with either. Reiji is being a callous asshole, putting people through unnecessary risks (-2000 LP penalty anyone?) because he's convinced that he knows best. Honestly, I think he won't always. And when he'll get it wrong once (he already has), he might end up losing more than just sacrificeable pawns.

 

As for carded = dead or not, I personally like how for now, we have no idea of whether it's true or not. If they find a way to reverse it, it will come off as a real plot twist because the writers have already proved that they've taken the kiddy gloves off.

[evilfusion]

I currently assume Shun got his card-making technology from defeated Academia Duelists and integrated it into his Disk. And if he seemed to consider that Reiji would be a bargaining chip for a hostage exchange originally, it's logical to think that he assumes there's a way to reverse it, but likely only available to Academia's leader(s).

 

He definitely seems to operate on the assumption that his defeated comrades can be gotten back.

[Fusion X. Denver]

I highly doubt cardified people will die. I won't rule out dying from the series itself, but the tension I felt when people were cardified was akin to being sent away/kidnapped rather than feeling like they were killed. It'd be weird to look back in retrospect and be like, "So this is when Michio actually died? Huh." 

This is a kid's show, we'll know when someone's dead.

[Pchi]

Have you seen Watchmen? In that movie, the enemy killed thousands of innocent people for his plan to try to achieve something that'd benefit the whole world. Of course his methods were terrible, but what made it note-worthy is that he achieved what he wanted and actually prevented a much greater amount of bloodshed.

 

Look at Shun's actions as going around the same route. He knows what's bad and what isn't, but the Fusion Dimension will do much more damage than he could ever do and if it means preventing that, there's just no time to mourn. Remember he comes from war and is still in it. Maybe he'll get some of what you want when/if/after they deal with the Fusion Dimension, but right now the cause is the drive ultimately.

 

Just in the same way Sora believes in his leader's cause even though he knows atrocities are happening. You can tell it isn't just giving up on people he doesn't care about since he was genuinely Yuya's friend when it didn't compromise his mission. Same principle.

 

What is the idea that you have in mind that you think Shun should be like right now? 
The way Arc V is going, gray characters exist. We've seen instances of enemies that aren't as simple as bad vs good. Yugo vs Yuto was an example. There's sides driven by personal interests over moral issues, and those interests could clash and loses of innocent people can and will probably keep on happening.

 

 

EDIT:
Besides, something tells me cardified =/= dead here.

Sure people treat it as death and there's probably PG reasons and stuff that made this need to find an equivalent to death that isn't death (even though plenty of shows with roughly the same demographic have no trouble mentioning death nowadays.. I know Gumball and Gravity Falls have at the very least). 

Anyways, my guess here is that they cannot turn cards back until they can deal with the Fusion dimension for X reason that might or might not be explained at some point. That begs the question of how did Shun turn people into cards though since no other non-Fusion Dimension character has done so (Yuto and Yugo didn't).

Though for the most part, I think it'll be something like that, which would lighten the "guilt" load a lot there, but at the same time they might as well be dead if the Fusion dimension doesn't go down, in which case, so will be Shun and everybody else so yeah....

 

Huh, at the end of Watchmen, it's heavily implied the truth will eventually be revealed through Rorsharch's journal. That was Alan Moore basically telling us extreme measures, even if successful at first, might not be worth it in the long run, and that a solution based on a lie is always tremendously unreliable.

Also, you forget Sora is a self-admitted sadistic bastard who finds pleasure at hunting Xyz users down and carding them just for sport, and that appears to be the standard for Academia soldiers. As much as they like to gloat about their "noble goal", it's clear they care only for themselves in the end, and creating a better world for the other dimension inhabitants doesn't seem to be their priority. The fact that Sora decided to go after Shun first instead of focusing on his true mission speaks volumes about his (lack of) dedication towards Leo's cause.

And the fact that Yuuri was adamant about capturing Yuzu without carding her seems to imply that there's currently no known method for undoing that. No one that he knows, at least, and since he appears to be a high ranking member at Academia, it's unlikely anybody besides Leo himself know how to revert the process. So, as far as we are concerned, those who were carded are functionally dead until further notice.

Also, am I the only one who expects a villain (probably Yuuri or Leo) to rip a soul card at some point in front of Yuuya just to spite him or trigger his berserk mode for some reason?

[Tinkerer]

Question: I don't remember if this was answered earlier in the show or I simply forgot it, but what was Sora originally doing in Standard? We first see him in LDS observing (probably comparing to Academia), but did the show ever give a reason why he was there to begin with?

[~Faytl~]

Question: I don't remember if this was answered earlier in the show or I simply forgot it, but what was Sora originally doing in Standard? We first see him in LDS observing (probably comparing to Academia), but did the show ever give a reason why he was there to begin with?

If I had to guess, ol Leo picked up on the energy created by Yuya's Pendulum Summoning from Academia (just like we see Reiji's goons doing in episode 2). Sora was likely sent to figure out where the hell this summoning energy came from and what it's deal was. We first see Sora at LDS; It's perfectly logical to use LDS as a starting point to try and find out more about this method, as the originator might be there (best duelists in the world at LDS, remember), and Sora might be able to get a crack at Reiji's records, which could be better. Then Sora found Yuya, realizing he was the guy who created Pendulum Summoning, and suckered himself onto him to get a full idea of the summoning method. I've noticed looking back he bitches a lot specifically when Yuya doesn't Pendulum Summon in his duels or uses it in ways Sora has already seen (notice he was happy as a clam when Yuya reset his scales when he dueled Hokuto to combo with Stargazer and when he first saw Odd-Eyes Rebellion Dragon).

 

As for Shun... Yeah, I agree with Evilfusion here, it's an action that was justified to him at the time. I'd friggin HOPE Reiji has some scientists trying to find a way to reverse it, since getting access to the schematics for it is easy as he has access to Shun's Duel Disk (which I assume Shun jacked from an Academia disk)... unless Shun won't let him screw with his disk, which may be why Reiji wanted Yuto's Duel Disk retrieved, in hopes that he had the mechanism as well.

[Sleepy]

Huh, at the end of Watchmen, it's heavily implied the truth will eventually be revealed through Rorsharch's journal. That was Alan Moore basically telling us extreme measures, even if successful at first, might not be worth it in the long run, and that a solution based on a lie is always tremendously unreliable.

Also, you forget Sora is a self-admitted sadistic bastard who finds pleasure at hunting Xyz users down and carding them just for sport, and that appears to be the standard for Academia soldiers. As much as they like to gloat about their "noble goal", it's clear they care only for themselves in the end, and creating a better world for the other dimension inhabitants doesn't seem to be their priority. The fact that Sora decided to go after Shun first instead of focusing on his true mission speaks volumes about his (lack of) dedication towards Leo's cause.

And the fact that Yuuri was adamant about capturing Yuzu without carding her seems to imply that there's currently no known method for undoing that. No one that he knows, at least, and since he appears to be a high ranking member at Academia, it's unlikely anybody besides Leo himself know how to revert the process. So, as far as we are concerned, those who were carded are functionally dead until further notice.

Also, am I the only one who expects a villain (probably Yuuri or Leo) to rip a soul card at some point in front of Yuuya just to spite him or trigger his berserk mode for some reason?

 

 

The thing is, you are answering under the assumption that in-universe characters know as much as we the viewers do.

Yes it is a tremendously unreliable solution, but once in a while you'll find out about people still trying it, if only because the failure rate is not perfect either.

Once again, it is a war, people do what they can if there is just a small hope of it turning out well in the end. Call it desperate measures.

Shun doesn't necessarily know they can't turn them back. He only knows that they might or might not be able to and wasn't present when Yuuri implied they can't. Not to mention Yuuri is also not given all the info about what he is doing so he might not be as much of a top member as we think, or not even the top members get to know all that's going on. 

The possibility of cardification being reversible is still not completely clear, and that's really all the motivation Shun really needs to go risk the odds and find out in the long run.

 

What was Sora's goal? because if I remember correctly, he was pretty much told to go take care of Shun AKA the remnants of the Xyz resistance. As far as I see it he did just that. Yes he enjoys looking at himself as a hunter getting his prey, but that doesn't mean he's not living up to his orders. What we are witnessing here is similar to what can happen to soldiers at war in real life. Yes they march with good intentions at first, but a lot of things happen that can change people. We hear stories IRL about soldiers committing atrocities during war times. Raping women, assaulting civilians, etc. Fusion dimension soldiers from Arc V have been doing their thing for a while, and I think the principle is the same but adjusted for card game cartoons. 

 

The goal of getting Serena was for the Obelisk Force, not him, and the goal of getting Yuzu was Yuuri's not Sora's either.

[Jord200]

I'm just saying. Sora is probably going to try and get the Academia Pendulums. Hello Death Toy Pendulums......

[Pchi]

The thing is, you are answering under the assumption that in-universe characters know as much as we the viewers do.

Yes it is a tremendously unreliable solution, but once in a while you'll find out about people still trying it, if only because the failure rate is not perfect either.

Once again, it is a war, people do what they can if there is just a small hope of it turning out well in the end. Call it desperate measures.

Shun doesn't necessarily know they can't turn them back. He only knows that they might or might not be able to and wasn't present when Yuuri implied they can't. Not to mention Yuuri is also not given all the info about what he is doing so he might not be as much of a top member as we think, or not even the top members get to know all that's going on. 

The possibility of cardification being reversible is still not completely clear, and that's really all the motivation Shun really needs to go risk the odds and find out in the long run.

 

What was Sora's goal? because if I remember correctly, he was pretty much told to go take care of Shun AKA the remnants of the Xyz resistance. As far as I see it he did just that. Yes he enjoys looking at himself as a hunter getting his prey, but that doesn't mean he's not living up to his orders. What we are witnessing here is similar to what can happen to soldiers at war in real life. Yes they march with good intentions at first, but a lot of things happen that can change people. We hear stories IRL about soldiers committing atrocities during war times. Raping women, assaulting civilians, etc. Fusion dimension soldiers from Arc V have been doing their thing for a while, and I think the principle is the same but adjusted for card game cartoons. 

 

The goal of getting Serena was for the Obelisk Force, not him, and the goal of getting Yuzu was Yuuri's not Sora's either.

 

I wasn't ranting about Shun, I just think the example you used was bad :/ 

 

And no, Sora's mission was to retrieve Serena, and he neglected it in order to appease his own ego :/ And even taking what you said into consideration, still doesn't justify how much some people are going easy on him, specially with how much emphasis the series puts into the sadistic tendencies exhibited by the Academia soldiers.

[Sleepy]

I wasn't ranting about Shun, I just think the example you used was bad :/ 

 

And no, Sora's mission was to retrieve Serena, and he neglected it in order to appease his own ego :/ And even taking what you said into consideration, still doesn't justify how much some people are going easy on him, specially with how much emphasis the series puts into the sadistic tendencies exhibited by the Academia soldiers.

 

Being a "bad example" doesn't make it any less real, does it? and the whole point of me commenting on these past 2 pages is pretty much talking about Shun. You might not have been directly referring to it but that's what I was going on about.

 

Yes Sora's character has pride as his biggest priority. That's why he accepted Yuya's second duel and went for Shun before Serena, but that doesn't mean that he was gonna just ignore the other mission either. He did chase Serena and Shun down until the ninjas got in the way and she was still surrounded by people when the last of the Obelisk force failed so he couldn't really get her afterwards. Other than that, who is going easy on him? We don't know if he'll get some sort of punishment for his failure from Leo yet, though yes Yuya and his mom have an idealistic point about Sora which I don't really agree with. I guess they just think that way of Sora because they lived with him for a while, unlike with the rest of the Fusion soldiers they've encountered. 

[evilfusion]

[spoiler= I talk too much]

Hm, I also just realized Sora's original reason for being in Standard was never stated. I thought maybe it got mentioned during his Duel with Yuto, since the forced return activated when his motives were revealed.

 

Except on rewatching that scene, I'm not sure where Sora slipped up. There are several things that COULD have been what triggered the program, but none of them seem particularly damning.

 

Sora at one point outright acknowledged that he was top of the elite class at Academia and was given the special mission, no elaboration. He added that he wouldn't be able to forgive himself for losing to Xyz users because it would tarnish the "honor" of the triumphing Fusion allies vs the Xyz dimension. Then he started his turn, went as far as preparing the Fusion Summon, and mentioned something about the power he's developed at Academia and the strongest Fusion monster. Cue forced return.

 

I don't think Academia knew about the Xyz remnants at the time Sora was deployed. In fact, the Xyz remnants didn't even become active in Standard until after Sora was already there. He was more likely an undercover agent of sorts, perhaps sent to monitor LDS. I doubt the invasion of the Xyz dimension had been spontaneous. There probably had been agents there determining how much of a threat they were before sending in the invasion.

 

The forced return program was probably triggered by Sora admitting to being an Academia Duelist, therefore announcing he's from another dimension that has already conquered the Xyz dimension. Up to that point, Sora has never directly admitted to anything. Even in his first match with Shun, his depraved confession was roundabout. He stated he could win easily, that he didn't have to get so serious, and his friends were the same way. He did state they hunted Shun's people for sport, but again, never said outright that he was from Academia nor referenced the existence of other dimensions.

 

So Sora was probably an undercover agent for Academia, investigating powerful Duelists that could pose a threat. He dodged questions about his origins (Yuya acknowledged this during an exposition scene), and was forced to return when he confirmed he was from Academia. A definite no-no when you're an undercover agent. Even the scene where the Professor is informed of Sora's forced return had him interrupt the briefing with emphasis that Standard was not their enemy.

 

It is possible Sora was there to investigate Pendulum Summoning, but I figure it's more that Sora is driven purely by his own interests and entertainment, and was genuinely fascinated by Yuya and Pendulum Summoning, unrelated entirely to his hidden agenda. He was just playing around when he Dueled Yuya the first time, so he probably did it just because it was new and fun, and would allow him to integrate himself among other Duelists to be able to ask questions about Standard and their strongest Duelists without being suspicious as hell.

 

This could also be why Sora is not beyond redemption in Yuya's eyes. Yuya said Sora's smile back then had been genuine. Sora probably really did enjoy Yuya's company and Dueling, since it'd be vastly different from what he was used to in the Fusion Dimension, and Sora seemed to like using Yuya's crowd-pleasing and catchphrase for himself. However, he has since insisted that he and Yuya are not friends anymore, because his loyalty is to the Fusion Dimension. But he got super-excited about Pendulum-Xyz, so it's a hint that Sora can't help but get excited about the surprises Yuya has.

 

Similarly, even when facing Shun, he seemed first shocked, then incredibly amused and entertained by Rank-Up. Very few Xyz Duelists probably have been able to pull something like that, so he loved it. However, Shun constantly maintaining an advantage frustrated him so badly because he kept getting closer to loss, and pride is his fatal flaw.

 

I also doubt that Academia had perfect access to Summon energy detection (unless Reo developed it himself) because otherwise, Sora probably would have been warned not to overuse his high-energy Fusion Summons, whereas when training Yuzu, he went out of his way to Fusion Summon during each Duel, one case explicitly noting afterwards that it hadn't been needed to win that Duel. Reiji even commented on it back then, and only recently revealed to Yuya that he knew it had been Sora all along.

 

On that note, I'm now convinced Reiji was rigging the hell out of the tournament matchups. I already suspected it, but good god, if he knew from the start Sora was from Academia, and Shun was from the Xyz dimension, he definitely had them paired against each other on purpose. And pairing Yuzu and Masumi in a rematch was similarly rigged, since he (probably) knew Yuzu had been taught how to Fusion Summon by an Academia Duelist. And pairing Sawatari with new Pendulum cards against the original Pendulums, not forgetting that Reiji had given Sawatari instructions during Yuya and Sawatari's first Duel.

 

With the whole tournament explicitly to test potential Lancers, the people the main characters were pitted against were just too convenient to not have been rigged. Gogenzaka was paired against a former classmate, who prompted used dirty tricks to mess with Gogenzaka's emotions. Reiji witnessed Gogenzaka's steadfast spirit against Yaiba, and has since criticized Yuya for having unstable emotions. Heck, even round 2 had Yuya face Kachidoki, the polar opposite of his Dueling style.

[/spoiler]

[Timeskipper]

The thing is, you are answering under the assumption that in-universe characters know as much as we the viewers do.
Yes it is a tremendously unreliable solution, but once in a while you'll find out about people still trying it, if only because the failure rate is not perfect either.
Once again, it is a war, people do what they can if there is just a small hope of it turning out well in the end. Call it desperate measures.
Shun doesn't necessarily know they can't turn them back. He only knows that they might or might not be able to and wasn't present when Yuuri implied they can't. Not to mention Yuuri is also not given all the info about what he is doing so he might not be as much of a top member as we think, or not even the top members get to know all that's going on. 
The possibility of cardification being reversible is still not completely clear, and that's really all the motivation Shun really needs to go risk the odds and find out in the long run.
 
What was Sora's goal? because if I remember correctly, he was pretty much told to go take care of Shun AKA the remnants of the Xyz resistance. As far as I see it he did just that. Yes he enjoys looking at himself as a hunter getting his prey, but that doesn't mean he's not living up to his orders. What we are witnessing here is similar to what can happen to soldiers at war in real life. Yes they march with good intentions at first, but a lot of things happen that can change people. We hear stories IRL about soldiers committing atrocities during war times. Raping women, assaulting civilians, etc. Fusion dimension soldiers from Arc V have been doing their thing for a while, and I think the principle is the same but adjusted for card game cartoons. 
 
The goal of getting Serena was for the Obelisk Force, not him, and the goal of getting Yuzu was Yuuri's not Sora's either.

Sora at first was likely sent to find out about Pendulum Summon or to spy on LDS, we don't know, but if Leo sent him just to take care of a few remnants, why would he have ditched LDS for You Show? LDS was the one being targeted, and he would've had it much easier to find Shun and Yuto if he joined LDS.

When he was sent back, his goal was to capture Selena. He was the commander of the division of the Obelisk Force sent with him.

As for Shun and the whole carding debate, I don't think that Shun's was more like a desperate ploy rather than an actual plan. Either he meant to take Reiji without carding him, or carding him and hoping that Leo Akaba had the technology to de-card him or the idea of rescuing his son (who Shun didn't know that Leo didn't give a f*** about) would spur him to look for a way to de-card people.
Point is, so far carding has been treated like death in the show, and there is serious indication that there is no way to reverse it - that the characters know. It's completely possible that this will change in the future, but it's also possible that it won't.

[Sleepy]

Sora at first was likely sent to find out about Pendulum Summon or to spy on LDS, we don't know, but if Leo sent him just to take care of a few remnants, why would he have ditched LDS for You Show? LDS was the one being targeted, and he would've had it much easier to find Shun and Yuto if he joined LDS.

When he was sent back, his goal was to capture Selena. He was the commander of the division of the Obelisk Force sent with him.

As for Shun and the whole carding debate, I don't think that Shun's was more like a desperate ploy rather than an actual plan. Either he meant to take Reiji without carding him, or carding him and hoping that Leo Akaba had the technology to de-card him or the idea of rescuing his son (who Shun didn't know that Leo didn't give a f*** about) would spur him to look for a way to de-card people.
Point is, so far carding has been treated like death in the show, and there is serious indication that there is no way to reverse it - that the characters know. It's completely possible that this will change in the future, but it's also possible that it won't.

 

Shun's actions can be desperate and still be solidly planned, and I don't think I ever referred to Sora's original reason to be in Standard before Yuya met him, but this answer got me a thinking of a few things.

 

Sora took a few liberties based on that he probably thought he already know the level of both the Obelisk Force and the Standard duelists and said "meh, I can go do my thing and they'll take care of this on their own". That will probably cost him depending on how Leo reacts. His team failed at all 3 goals. They didn't capture Yuzu, they didn't bring back Serena, and they didn't finish off the last Xyz remnant even if they beat him in a duel. I could list a bunch of scenarios but I don't know enough about Leo to really predict it. It could range from scolding Sora, to telling him the truth to motivate him and send him back, to be so impacted by this failure that he'd get rid of Sora's position or something worse potentially causing Sora to start the somewhat predictable change of band he could have in the future (from how much emphasis Yuya puts on bringing him back)... I kind of expect the last one to not happen because it'd be pretty bad to do something that'd lose a member that pledges loyalty to him... Darth Vader did it often in Star Wars by killing the captains in his ship so.. IDK.

 

 

Oh right, of course they won't make any of their soldiers able to undo cardification. If Shun stealing that technology is what allowed him to do it, then they'd risk having de-cardification stolen as well. They'd rather suffer loses on their side than risking the other band jumping back up in numbers.

I wonder why the professor would scold Yuuri if he had cardified Yuzu. It still might or might not be reversible. It could mean it took a lot of work to undo it at all, or that it took a lot of work to do it on a specific target (because I half expect a moment of all cardified people going back to normal at a single time down the road). It could also mean they can't at all.

 

Then other than death's somewhat of an equivalent, what does being turned into a card imply? If they had gotten Yuzu, they would have her regardless of the form, so I'm guessing rather than total sacrifices that just need to be there, something is required of them.

[Timeskipper]

We could debate about this for as long as we want, but sadly this doesn't change the fact that we have no way of knowing. One thing's for sure, though: if there IS a way to reverse cardification, the only one who could know of it is Leo Akaba, possibly because he invented the process (or reverse-engineered some ancient magitech. This IS Yu Gi Oh, after all). As long as everyone else is concerned, cardification is just like death. Only, with less blood and entrails.

 

That said, Leo does have the look of a stereotypical villain who might go Darth Vader on Sora's ass, but he did spare Sora for at least his first failure, letting him off with just what is likely to be a memory wipe or some conditioning, and actually promoting him after that. We don't know how he will react to his second failure, though...

[Pchi]

Being a "bad example" doesn't make it any less real, does it? and the whole point of me commenting on these past 2 pages is pretty much talking about Shun. You might not have been directly referring to it but that's what I was going on about.

 

Yes Sora's character has pride as his biggest priority. That's why he accepted Yuya's second duel and went for Shun before Serena, but that doesn't mean that he was gonna just ignore the other mission either. He did chase Serena and Shun down until the ninjas got in the way and she was still surrounded by people when the last of the Obelisk force failed so he couldn't really get her afterwards. Other than that, who is going easy on him? We don't know if he'll get some sort of punishment for his failure from Leo yet, though yes Yuya and his mom have an idealistic point about Sora which I don't really agree with. I guess they just think that way of Sora because they lived with him for a while, unlike with the rest of the Fusion soldiers they've encountered. 

 

About the "going easy on him" part, I was referring to the overtly indulgent treatment some fans give him, conveniently forgetting about him being an unrepentant war criminal in favor of painting him merely as a poor misguided little boy, even if that it's true to some extent. What bugs me the most is that's fairly common in anime for the creators themselves to display the same attitude. I remember about ZeXal's IV case, where they went out of their way to show how much of a sadistic, uncaring, remorseless bastard he was, only to try to make him look better by giving him some woobie points through Tron's lack of concern towards him, and then make him act completely out of character by saving Rio and feeling bad about the part he played at his father's plan to ruin Shark's life by almost taking hers. I say if the writers want to redeem a character so much, don't make them act like the biggest jerk to ever step on Earth beforehand; it doesn't make him turning to the good side more heartwarming, only more jarring, at least to me.

I don't know if that has something to do with differences between Japanese and Western culture, but it still annoys me to no end. In that regard, as flawed as DBZ was compared to its sucessors, at least Toriyama did a good job at portraying Vegeta's heel-face turn, which took many years full of highs and lows to be finally completed.

[evilfusion]

About the "going easy on him" part, I was referring to the overtly indulgent treatment some fans give him, conveniently forgetting about him being an unrepentant war criminal in favor of painting him merely as a poor misguided little boy, even if that it's true to some extent. What bugs me the most is that's fairly common in anime for the creators themselves to display the same attitude. I remember about ZeXal's IV case, where they went out of their way to show how much of a sadistic, uncaring, remorseless bastard he was, only to try to make him look better by giving him some woobie points through Tron's lack of concern towards him, and then make him act completely out of character by saving Rio and feeling bad about the part he played at his father's plan to ruin Shark's life by almost taking hers. I say if the writers want to redeem a character so much, don't make them act like the biggest jerk to ever step on Earth beforehand; it doesn't make him turning to the good side more heartwarming, only more jarring, at least to me.

I don't know if that has something to do with differences between Japanese and Western culture, but it still annoys me to no end. In that regard, as flawed as DBZ was compared to its sucessors, at least Toriyama did a good job at portraying Vegeta's heel-face turn, which took many years full of highs and lows to be finally completed.

 

IV was a terrible example of a character being redeemed, but only in terms of the actual moment of redemption. His sadistic side was pretty much anger and frustration boiling over or being vented in twisted ways. His breakdown during the Duel with Shark wasn't that bad...but after losing, his personality shift at that time was so jarring that it hurt. And his misplay was so terribly written and executed that it pisses me off even now. The concept of him misplaying is fine. The way they made the misplay so mind-bogglingly reckless and illogical was not. I insist a better misplay would have been him attacking with Scissor Arms, only for Shark's monster to have too much DEF, because IV wanted to win by attacking directly with his 3000 ATK No.40, which would have fit his Dueling personality of wanting to inflict as much pain and damage as possible, even if it's unnecessary (such as direct attacking with Giant Killer when his opponents' LP was 0 already).

 

In Zexal II, his redeemed character was much better. But just after losing, it was too jarring.

 

As for how Reo might react to the team's failures...he actually seems to be pretty level-headed and intelligent from the brief glimpses we've seen of him. He's stern and commands a lot of fear and respect, but it doesn't seem like to type to lash out in anger. At least not yet. Yuri's failure still could offer some interesting information, such as how the bracelet had the power to teleport him out of the dimension entirely. Failing to get Serena could still inform him of her whereabouts and the fact she's almost certainly sided AGAINST them now. Unlike the others, Sora wasn't defeated in this mission. He returned willingly, as a tactical retreat. This is probably more commendable than outright failure, and he also DID defeat the Xyz remnant, but Serena interfered with the capture. This is a significant difference in situation. I really don't foresee Sora getting too much backlash at all.

 

Odds are, Reo will use this time to assess the situation in Standard, possibly accessing the memories of the Obelisk Force or Sora again to be sure of details. He will probably continue to focus on a potential invasion of the Synchro Dimension, and maybe try to track down where Yuzu went. He definitely knows things the other Academia members do not, such as the significance of the Yuzu lookalikes, and he hasn't given this information to Sora OR Yuri.

[Pchi]

Odds are, Reo will use this time to assess the situation in Standard, possibly accessing the memories of the Obelisk Force or Sora again to be sure of details. He will probably continue to focus on a potential invasion of the Synchro Dimension, and maybe try to track down where Yuzu went. He definitely knows things the other Academia members do not, such as the significance of the Yuzu lookalikes, and he hasn't given this information to Sora OR Yuri.

 

Speaking of which, what did happen to the Obelisk Force members? Did they return to their dimension, or were they taken as prisoners by LDS?

[~British Soul~]

That's one thing I've been wondering as well. I assume they went back to their own dimension following their defeat but at this point, we cannot be sure.

 

Le RAW: http://www.anime4you.net/watch/yu-gi-oh-arc-v-episode-53.html

 

EDIT: Changed the link now that anime4you has the episode

[mshends]

[spoiler=funny pic from today episode]

(Odd-eyes, whatever happen to you..)

 

(Fat kid is being creppy, as always)

 

[/spoiler]

[Hallohallo]

[spoiler='Episode 53']*Go! Odd-Eyes Egao Dragon! Those eyes. I wanna see how Odd-Eyes Rebellion Dragon would look while Smile World is in effect.
*It was kinda predicted that Yuya would receive "Smile World" from his mom. It's Yuya's job to make people smile in duels after all.
*The crew cheering for Yuya to bring back Yuzu! And make Sora smile. Even though I understood only a bit, it was still a touching moment. Especially those baby Yuzu flashbacks.
*It seems Gongenzaka had a rough time unlike Yuya.
*Lancers finally prepare to move to Academia, but Reiji announced that they'll be going to Synchro Dimension, but of course Shun dislikes the idea and wants to save Ruri as fast as possible.
*Serena calmed Shun down a bit and finally told everyone that Yuzu wasn't captured by Academia, but transported to Synchro Dimension.
*I didn't really understand the talk about duel disks and Xyz dimension. Did they get an ability to make real damage while dueling?
*The Ghost of Yuto appeared before Shun and said that Yuya is nakama!
*So they used a card to transport to Synchro dimension. Eh, I was expecting more exciting way of teleportation, but I guess this is fine.
*Nico Smiley already acting like a third father to Yuya.

---

*Now we'll be seeing Yugo and Yuzu in action for a couple of episodes.

I liked this episode, because some misunderstandings were explained to Lancers. [/spoiler]

[~British Soul~]

Yay for talky, plot advancement episodes

 

[spoiler=Thoughts on 53 RAW]

- Youko was quite inspiring in this episode, reminding Yuya how fun duelling was.

 - Yuya then responded by OTKing Youko the following turn.

- Yuya received Smile World as a means of spreading smiles  through duelling.

- Gongenzaka's dad must've gave Gongenzaka a rough time that night.

- When it was revealed that they'd be heading to the Synchro Dimension, Shun unsurprisingly disliked the decision as he wanted to save Ruri ASAP.

- Yuya finally finds out that Yuzu is in the Synchro Dimension when Serena mentioned it.

- The Lancers using an effectless spell card to get to the Synchro Dimension is similar to 5Ds when Team Ragnarok used Rainbow Bridge Bifrost so that Team 5Ds can get to the Ark Cradle.

[/spoiler]

[Blake]

[mshends]

So....

Fusion Dimension: Academia
Xyz Dimension: Resistance
Synchro Dimension: City

ARC...I wonder what the V means then?

[Progenitor]

Uh

 

It's obviously Velociraptor.

Duh