Where I rewatch Yugioh GX, Episode 156
Dec. 30th, 2010 04:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cypsiman2We open with the ending of the previous episode, where almost everyone has been finally returned to Duel Academia, and we are supposed to believe that something beautifully tragic has taken place. And it occurs to me that there is yet another reason why the "Judai forgives Yubel" climax does not work. Because in order for that to happen, Judai had to undergo a complete emotional 180 in an instant. EMOTIONS DO NOT WORK THAT WAY! If you feel really intensely about something, the way Judai did about obliterating Yubel from the face of existence, you can't just turn that off when convenient for the plot. From a psychological and emotional perspective, it is just pure rot.
TITLE SCREEN! JUDAI REVIVED!? A BRAND NEW JOURNEY no god no, his permanent exile was all i had to look forward to, why would you take that from me?
So Judai's profile now has a stamp on it, reading "Missing". We are in Samejima's office, and Chronos is sobbing. Also officially recorded as missing are Ryou, Misawa, and Amon. Despite how Ryou graduated years earlier, while Amon was never a Duel Academia student to begin with. Also, no mention of Echo, so I still hate this show. Chronos says some bullshit about how their sacrifices got them back, and Samejima tries to pontificate in a ponderous way about the "mysteries of Duel Monsters". The only reason why there are ANY FUCKING MYSTERIES, IS BECAUSE THE ANIME KEEPS FUCKING UP THE SIMPLE AND STRAIGHT FORWARD METAPHYSICS OF THE ORIGINAL MANGA! Blah blah blah, and then Samejima says to take the missing student reports and take them to the Abandoned Dorm, where the reports on all the other missing students are. You know, the ones who disappeared in the backstory of season one? You know, that plotline that was pretty much abandoned, even though there were still lots of unanswered questions, questions which were ignored in favor of Alchemy Trivia? Yeah, those students. Chronos does so and leaves, and Samejima claims that the "mystery" will be solved, because that's why Duel Acedemia was founded. Yeah...no, you're not going to solve shit. And now we're over at the Osiris Red dorm, where all the alleged main characters are hanging out. Also, a week has passed. That's pretty random. And of course, despite all the trauma and anguish and torture that everyone's gone through, no one is worse for wear, or even the least bit affected by it. Oh yeah, Fubuki's there too, but I'm just too drained to care, that's what this show does to you, it makes it so you can't appreciate Fubuki and Asuka, and that's just terrible. Oh wait, Shou is still feeling down, and apparently everyone thinks he's in denial about Judai. Because everything is about Judai, even when he's out in Hippy-Space, fighting the evil Hippy Space Rays of Destruction that he already defeated a season ago.
And now Shou runs out in tears, and Manjoume's all "What's his problem?", as though none of them had anything that they would feel similar such anguish about. Oh, hold on a second, Manjoume's said he's suffering alot...no, wait, he's just whining that he lost a good opponent, AKA Judai. Never fucking mind. And it appears that Fubuki did die for keeps and was replaced by a pod person, because there's no way in fucking hell the real Fubuki would say that Judai was the bravest and most talented duelist, ever. Seriously, the last fucking time Fubuki saw Judai, Judai was getting him and his beloved sister killed because he couldn't wait five fucking seconds to not walk into an obvious trap! At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if, on cue, everyone chanting in a droning voice, "Judai is the bravest, kindest, most honorable person I've ever met, and I support him in his candidacy for President of the United States of America." Or however the hell that line from "The Manchurian Candidate" is supposed to go. And now we get the clips for this clipshow episode. First up is Asuka, going on about how Judai never gave in, even though he only had 200 life points and no monster on the field. Blah blah blah, what the hell? He got Asuka "killed", and this is what she remembers? You know what? Fuck it, everyone in that room did die, and they've all been replaced by Pod People, that's the only fucking explanation for this horse shit. Now Kenzan gives his clip, his first and only duel with Judai. You know...it's kind of funny. I just finished Jyuken Sentai Gekiranger, and the Red Ranger of that series is also an excitable idiot like Judai...but unlike Judai, he was raised in the jungle by wild animals, and is a much more pleasant person overall. Plus, he got actual proper character development that wasn't forced, and at the cost of all the other characters! I mention this to establish that the problem with Judai wasn't his archetype, it's that he's a terrible character.
Kenzan exclaims that Judai taught him the meaning of life or some shit like that, and then Manjoume tells him to shut up, bullshitting that he used to be King of Duel Academia. Uh, no, you never were. That position was firmly in Ryou's hands. Now, if we were talking about the Manjoume from the Manga...unfortunately, this isn't the manga, which is unfortunately being rushed to an early conclusion. There's an irony there, but I'm not going to say what that is until later. Clip of Manjoume's second duel with Judai, blah blah blah, and for discernible reason, Manjoume wants to eat all the fried shrimp he's so angry. I've heard of comfort food, but that's not what's going on here. Kenzan says that Manjoume's not being an adult, Asuka says that Judai repeatedly defeating Manjoume made him into the wretch that he is, and now Manjoume gets a second clip, this being from his THIRD duel with Judai. More bullshit about how great and one-of-a-kind Judai is, and Manjoume cries out that at least he had Judai cornered one time, no one believes him as this isn't in his Duel Record, but Asuka can confirm this, leaving Kenzan in shock. Yes, because Judai is just such a golden child, the notion of anyone ever defeating him is just so fucking absurd, isn't it?
...
EYECATCH!
And now Asuka reveals what Judai told her back then, a clip of Manjoume's first duel with Judai plays out, and now Manjoume must live with the humiliation. Manjoume is pissed and demands that Judai get his scrawny ass over there so he can shoot him in the face, and now over to Shou, who is moping under a tree. Say, did you notice what we DIDN'T see in all that? That's right, how anyone was affected by what had happened to them! All they can talk about is Judai, and what a great guy he is, and what a great effect he had on them! What, get everyone killed? That never happened, you are a crazy person for saying that! Shou actually gets a flashback to this season, it's when he told off Judai for being such a selfish prick after getting everyone else killed in his duel with Brron. And again, I still can't help but be hilaritized at how the writers seem to believe that the only way anyone could say such mean things to Judai is if they are being magically manipulated. Blah blah blah, I thought that Judai was such a terrible person, it sure was good that Ryou showed up and set me straight...flashback to Ryou spouting his bullshit about how Shou has to watch over Judai instead of hunting him down and killing him for getting Asuka and Fubuki killed like he would have if he'd been in character. Okay, Shou, do you plan on recapping the entire latter half of the season? You do? All right then...clip of Judai killing Jim, clip of O'Brien sacrificing himself to stop Judai from being a genocidal prick, brainless highlight of the gaping plot holes that the Supreme King being a facet of Judai and not a possessing entity and the writers are too stupid to realize it. And now a clip of Ryou dying. Whoo. Clip of Shou going off to watch Judai's final duel with Yubel, which somehow allowed him to find out that almost everyone who'd "died" was still alive, and for the love of god, shut the hell up about how Judai is the only one who can do anything!
Wait, how the hell did Manjoume know about the whole "Judai and the Supreme King must become one" line of bullshit? That makes even less sense than Misawa knowing about it! And now we play back an abridged version of the last couple of episodes, including Judai's absolute bullshit emotional 180 so that the writers can have their precious "Beautiful" ending, and back in the present, Shou sees a shooting star. He makes a wish upon it for Judai to come back, and it almost hits him. Then it crashes near the school, Shou runs towards it, he finds a smoking crater, and when the smoke clears, Judai is standing there. Yeah...Judai says something about it being fried shrimp day, and smiles inanely. Yeah, I guess that one week was all he needed to destroy the already defeated Light of Destruction. Man, what the fuck ever, end episode, end this fucking season.
NEXT TIME! Yes, of course there's a fucking next time! They can still beat this zombie horse some more, goddamnit! Anyway, all the new characters introduced in seasons 2 and 3 take off, except for Kenzan, blah blah blah, and some guy with seaweed hair is being attacked by a cloud of darkness. Riveting. And then Judai comes to his rescue. Not riveting. EPISODE TITLE, A LOOMING THREAT! A MYSTERIOUS VISITOR card of the week is yubel.
You want to know something funny? You want to know something that's just fucking hilarious? 4Kids never dubbed this episode. Seriously. Anyone watching the dub, the last thing they see is Judai disappearing forever, and Shou sobbing his heart out. They also did not dub the final season, which incidentally was cut short, most likely to make room for 5Ds. That's going to be...special.
TITLE SCREEN! JUDAI REVIVED!? A BRAND NEW JOURNEY no god no, his permanent exile was all i had to look forward to, why would you take that from me?
So Judai's profile now has a stamp on it, reading "Missing". We are in Samejima's office, and Chronos is sobbing. Also officially recorded as missing are Ryou, Misawa, and Amon. Despite how Ryou graduated years earlier, while Amon was never a Duel Academia student to begin with. Also, no mention of Echo, so I still hate this show. Chronos says some bullshit about how their sacrifices got them back, and Samejima tries to pontificate in a ponderous way about the "mysteries of Duel Monsters". The only reason why there are ANY FUCKING MYSTERIES, IS BECAUSE THE ANIME KEEPS FUCKING UP THE SIMPLE AND STRAIGHT FORWARD METAPHYSICS OF THE ORIGINAL MANGA! Blah blah blah, and then Samejima says to take the missing student reports and take them to the Abandoned Dorm, where the reports on all the other missing students are. You know, the ones who disappeared in the backstory of season one? You know, that plotline that was pretty much abandoned, even though there were still lots of unanswered questions, questions which were ignored in favor of Alchemy Trivia? Yeah, those students. Chronos does so and leaves, and Samejima claims that the "mystery" will be solved, because that's why Duel Acedemia was founded. Yeah...no, you're not going to solve shit. And now we're over at the Osiris Red dorm, where all the alleged main characters are hanging out. Also, a week has passed. That's pretty random. And of course, despite all the trauma and anguish and torture that everyone's gone through, no one is worse for wear, or even the least bit affected by it. Oh yeah, Fubuki's there too, but I'm just too drained to care, that's what this show does to you, it makes it so you can't appreciate Fubuki and Asuka, and that's just terrible. Oh wait, Shou is still feeling down, and apparently everyone thinks he's in denial about Judai. Because everything is about Judai, even when he's out in Hippy-Space, fighting the evil Hippy Space Rays of Destruction that he already defeated a season ago.
And now Shou runs out in tears, and Manjoume's all "What's his problem?", as though none of them had anything that they would feel similar such anguish about. Oh, hold on a second, Manjoume's said he's suffering alot...no, wait, he's just whining that he lost a good opponent, AKA Judai. Never fucking mind. And it appears that Fubuki did die for keeps and was replaced by a pod person, because there's no way in fucking hell the real Fubuki would say that Judai was the bravest and most talented duelist, ever. Seriously, the last fucking time Fubuki saw Judai, Judai was getting him and his beloved sister killed because he couldn't wait five fucking seconds to not walk into an obvious trap! At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if, on cue, everyone chanting in a droning voice, "Judai is the bravest, kindest, most honorable person I've ever met, and I support him in his candidacy for President of the United States of America." Or however the hell that line from "The Manchurian Candidate" is supposed to go. And now we get the clips for this clipshow episode. First up is Asuka, going on about how Judai never gave in, even though he only had 200 life points and no monster on the field. Blah blah blah, what the hell? He got Asuka "killed", and this is what she remembers? You know what? Fuck it, everyone in that room did die, and they've all been replaced by Pod People, that's the only fucking explanation for this horse shit. Now Kenzan gives his clip, his first and only duel with Judai. You know...it's kind of funny. I just finished Jyuken Sentai Gekiranger, and the Red Ranger of that series is also an excitable idiot like Judai...but unlike Judai, he was raised in the jungle by wild animals, and is a much more pleasant person overall. Plus, he got actual proper character development that wasn't forced, and at the cost of all the other characters! I mention this to establish that the problem with Judai wasn't his archetype, it's that he's a terrible character.
Kenzan exclaims that Judai taught him the meaning of life or some shit like that, and then Manjoume tells him to shut up, bullshitting that he used to be King of Duel Academia. Uh, no, you never were. That position was firmly in Ryou's hands. Now, if we were talking about the Manjoume from the Manga...unfortunately, this isn't the manga, which is unfortunately being rushed to an early conclusion. There's an irony there, but I'm not going to say what that is until later. Clip of Manjoume's second duel with Judai, blah blah blah, and for discernible reason, Manjoume wants to eat all the fried shrimp he's so angry. I've heard of comfort food, but that's not what's going on here. Kenzan says that Manjoume's not being an adult, Asuka says that Judai repeatedly defeating Manjoume made him into the wretch that he is, and now Manjoume gets a second clip, this being from his THIRD duel with Judai. More bullshit about how great and one-of-a-kind Judai is, and Manjoume cries out that at least he had Judai cornered one time, no one believes him as this isn't in his Duel Record, but Asuka can confirm this, leaving Kenzan in shock. Yes, because Judai is just such a golden child, the notion of anyone ever defeating him is just so fucking absurd, isn't it?
...
EYECATCH!
And now Asuka reveals what Judai told her back then, a clip of Manjoume's first duel with Judai plays out, and now Manjoume must live with the humiliation. Manjoume is pissed and demands that Judai get his scrawny ass over there so he can shoot him in the face, and now over to Shou, who is moping under a tree. Say, did you notice what we DIDN'T see in all that? That's right, how anyone was affected by what had happened to them! All they can talk about is Judai, and what a great guy he is, and what a great effect he had on them! What, get everyone killed? That never happened, you are a crazy person for saying that! Shou actually gets a flashback to this season, it's when he told off Judai for being such a selfish prick after getting everyone else killed in his duel with Brron. And again, I still can't help but be hilaritized at how the writers seem to believe that the only way anyone could say such mean things to Judai is if they are being magically manipulated. Blah blah blah, I thought that Judai was such a terrible person, it sure was good that Ryou showed up and set me straight...flashback to Ryou spouting his bullshit about how Shou has to watch over Judai instead of hunting him down and killing him for getting Asuka and Fubuki killed like he would have if he'd been in character. Okay, Shou, do you plan on recapping the entire latter half of the season? You do? All right then...clip of Judai killing Jim, clip of O'Brien sacrificing himself to stop Judai from being a genocidal prick, brainless highlight of the gaping plot holes that the Supreme King being a facet of Judai and not a possessing entity and the writers are too stupid to realize it. And now a clip of Ryou dying. Whoo. Clip of Shou going off to watch Judai's final duel with Yubel, which somehow allowed him to find out that almost everyone who'd "died" was still alive, and for the love of god, shut the hell up about how Judai is the only one who can do anything!
Wait, how the hell did Manjoume know about the whole "Judai and the Supreme King must become one" line of bullshit? That makes even less sense than Misawa knowing about it! And now we play back an abridged version of the last couple of episodes, including Judai's absolute bullshit emotional 180 so that the writers can have their precious "Beautiful" ending, and back in the present, Shou sees a shooting star. He makes a wish upon it for Judai to come back, and it almost hits him. Then it crashes near the school, Shou runs towards it, he finds a smoking crater, and when the smoke clears, Judai is standing there. Yeah...Judai says something about it being fried shrimp day, and smiles inanely. Yeah, I guess that one week was all he needed to destroy the already defeated Light of Destruction. Man, what the fuck ever, end episode, end this fucking season.
NEXT TIME! Yes, of course there's a fucking next time! They can still beat this zombie horse some more, goddamnit! Anyway, all the new characters introduced in seasons 2 and 3 take off, except for Kenzan, blah blah blah, and some guy with seaweed hair is being attacked by a cloud of darkness. Riveting. And then Judai comes to his rescue. Not riveting. EPISODE TITLE, A LOOMING THREAT! A MYSTERIOUS VISITOR card of the week is yubel.
You want to know something funny? You want to know something that's just fucking hilarious? 4Kids never dubbed this episode. Seriously. Anyone watching the dub, the last thing they see is Judai disappearing forever, and Shou sobbing his heart out. They also did not dub the final season, which incidentally was cut short, most likely to make room for 5Ds. That's going to be...special.
