Where I rewatch Yugioh GX, Episode 26
Jun. 3rd, 2010 09:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cypsiman2So, where were we? Ah right, Manjoume about to be cheated out of a well earned victory, so that he may be imparted with some trite moral lesson by the practically-perfect-in-every-way Judai. Oh joy.
TITLE SCREEN! VS. MANJOUME THUNDER (PART 2) ARMED DRAGON LV 7 i bet armed dragon level seven gets destroyed in like...two turns.
So yeah, Judai activates his trap card Hero Spirits, and since an Elemental Hero was destroyed that turn, Judai takes no damage. Gosh, that was tense, I was so worried that Judai might not pull through. But Manjoume will not be deterred, for he knows that Judai has nothing that can defeat his Armed Dragon Level 7. Manjoume ends his turn, and Judai draws Winged Kuriboh, telling his partner/imaginary friend that he came at a good time. Judai summons Winged Kuriboh in defense position and ends his turn, Manjoume insults Winged Kuriboh, Winged Kuriboh gets mad, and then Ojama Yellow pops up out of nowhere to annoy us all by whining about its brothers, saying that maybe Winged Kuriboh knows where they are, so he wants to be summoned so that he can ask Winged Kuriboh. Manjoume yells at Ojama Yellow to get the hell out of his sight, and then Winged Kuriboh gets on Judai's shoulder and points out Ojama Yellow for him.
You wonder what the audience is making of all this insipid madness, don't you?
Judai asks what Manjoume's got there, and Manjoume flails around in his efforts to get rid of Ojama Yellow, not that I blame him in the least. Finally succeeding in bringing an end to that particular annoyance, Manjoume takes his turn and THAT FUCKING MUSIC CUE FUCK FUCK FUCK! Oh, and Manjoume attacks and destroys Winged Kuriboh, ending his turn. Shou wonders why Manjoume didn't use Armed Dragon Level 7's effect, and Misawa explains that with Winged Kuriboh's effect, Manjoume wasn't going to be able to deal damage that turn anyway. Asuka notes that Judai's luck still hasn't run out, and then Judai plays Pot of Greed to draw two cards, announcing that he's finally drawn the game changing card he was looking for; it is Special Hurricane, and by discarding a card he can destroy all monsters that had been special summoned onto the field. Thus, Armed Dragon Level 7 is destroyed, we get some pointless banter from the peanut gallery, and then to add insult to injury Judai summons Wild Man and attacks Manjoume directly for 1500 points of damage. Oh, and Judai calls Manjoume 'Manjoume Thunder'. I've no idea why.
Samejima acts childish with Ichinose, and Ichinose responds with the same, calling out Manjoume to stand back up. Jun Manjoume's brothers wondery why he's not using the cards they gave him, and Manjoume takes his turn; first, he plays Graveyard in the Fourth Dimension, taking two "level" monsters in his grave and returning them to his deck, choosing Armed Dragon Level 3 and Level 7. Then he summons Armed Dragon Level 3 in defense position and sets a card to end his turn. Ichinose brags, Misawa analyzes, and Manjoume grouses about his brothers. Judai sees Manjoume glaring at his brothers, and then remembers Manjoume wailing about his brothers and the pressure he faced back in the previous episode; you know, when Judai was whining about how he hadn't been given enough time to prepare his hair for TV.
And...now we're getting some weird blank space thing going on with Shou telling Judai that he's just standing there. Is this supposed to be a commentary on Internal Monologues? No, Shou asks if he's having fun, and Judai remembers that dueling is supposed to be about fun, not about winning or losing! Which is why Judai is going to win anyway, thus smashing the aesop of this sad little story into a million little pieces! Isn't trite, cliche Shonen grand? Oh, and you're not supposed to be dueling for others either. You know, I think that some characters from the original series might have some colorful commentary about that...
Another chorus of "Manjoume Thunder" later, and Judai takes his turn, attacking Armed Dragon Level Three with Wildman, but this activates Manjoume's trap card, Grave of Revival, AKA Grave of Enkindling; each player may special summon a monster from their grave in defense position, so Manjoume brings back Armed Dragon Level 5.
And if you're wondering why Manjoume didn't leave Armed Dragon Level 7 in the grave for this effect, that's because Armed Dragon Level 7 can only be summoned by Armed Dragon Level 5's effect. Oh, and the monster summoned by Grave of Revival can't change its battle position. So that's two reasons.
Judai then special summons the monster he discarded for Special Hurricane, Hero Kid, whose effect is then activated; when special summoned for any reason, you may special summon as many Hero Kids from your deck to the field as you like, so now Judai's got three fresh monsters to try and slow Manjoume down. Then he sets a card to end his turn. Manjoume declares that its useless to bring out all those smallfries, since he's going to evolve Armed Dragon Level 5 into Level 7 this turn; Manjoume plays the spell card Level Up, sacrificing Armed Dragon Level 5 to special summon from his deck a monster whose name is on the card, so he brings out Armed Dragon Level 7. More reaction shots from the peanut gallery, Manjoume yells that he won't lose to Judai, that he has to win, and...
EYECATCH!
Manjoume tells Judai that he's not done yet, and equips Armed Dragon Level 7 with Armed Changer, discarding an equip spell card to activate it. Then he attacks and destroys Wild Man for 1300 points of damage, and Armed Changer's effect activates, allowing him to add a monster from his grave to his hand, so long as that monsters attack power is equal to or less than the destroyed monster's attack power. So he takes back Masked Dragon, and discards it for Armed Dragon Level 7's effect, destroying all of judai's Hero Kids. Manjoume laughs madly, proclaiming that Judai can do nothing in the face of his Armed Dragons, and offers to let him surrender before he humiliates himself on National TV; of course, that has already come to pass, and of course, Judai will never surrender, and of course, if there were a drinking game for this show, I'd be dead of Liver Poisoning.
Yes, Judai says he'll make a miracle on his next turn, having already peeked ahead in the script. Then he says he wished he could have faced the real Manjoume, the real Thunder. Yes, Judai's trying to play at being all sympathetic and understanding about Manjoume's pain of being, and its about as convincing as you'd imagine (not at all). Manjoume asks if he thinks he hasn't been dueling for real, and Judai says its like he was fighting someone else, and says that next time they should duel and have more fun. Manjoume is all 'dueling while having fun?' as though this were something deep or remarkable. Boring panning shots, repetition of previously established points, and Judai finally takes his turn; he draws and activates Warrior's Return, taking back Featherman, who he fuses with Burst Lady into Flame Wingman. Manjoume yells at him that that monster will do him no good, that his monsters 2800 attack power can't be defeated by a mere 2100 attack power monster. But Judai says his combo is complete, and after a few more reaction shots, he activates his trap card Miracle Kids; with this, he reduces Armed Dragon Level 7's attack power by 400 for every Hero Kid in his grave, which drops Level 7 down to 1600 attack points. Judai attacks, the feed is cut and replaced with the weather report, and Judai wins another duel.
Woo, that was so incredible, Judai is the best, I want to kiss his feet, yay Judai.
Jun Manjoume's brothers come down to yell at him for screwing up, not allowing any excuses for Judai's ludicrous plot armor, and they demand to know why he didn't use the cards they provided, and Jun admits he wanted to win using his own deck. More yelling, and Judai yells at them to stop, and the Manjoume brothers demand to know who the hell Judai thinks he is, getting into their issues. Judai says that its because they're brothers that they shouldn't fight like that (though quite frankly I can't imagine it being okay for anyone to treat anyone that way, but that's the implicit statement that can be taken from what Judai says), and that they both dueled with all they had. Mean Brothers don't care about the process, only the results, and while Professor Chronos also thinks that results matters, he thinks that something doesn't feel right. A repeat from the mean brothers about how winning and results are everything, and besides which, look at how much money they put into this stupid duel! Judai declares that Manjoume did, against his brothers! He fought against all the pressure they put on him, and he surpassed them.
I don't know how Judai figures that, but he said it, so it must be true. After all, Judai is always right, even when he completely reverses his position on something, he was always right at all times.
Judai continues his spiel about dueling being about more than winning or losing, and Jun Manjoume finally tells him to shut the hell up, he feels pathetic enough as is. All the North Campus people are driven to tears, Jun tells his brothers to go back home, and everyone in the stands back him up. I'm so glad that this scene is so over-the-top and lacking in subtlety or nuance; otherwise I might risk forming an emotional connection to it.
Shouji and Chousaku take off in their helicopters, and then Manjoume says he won't be going back to the North Campus; he has something left to do at Duel Academia (Murder Judai in his sleep), and returns the title of King back to Edogawa, the big muscle dude whose ass he kicked two episodes ago. Oh, and Professor Chronos announces the big awards ceremony, and to present the prize is Ms. Duel Academia...who is of course Ms. Tome in a Chinese dress and lipstick. You know, I actually enjoy all the young people being grossed out by this, especially Judai; their suffering brings me joy. Oh, and the 'prize'? She gives Samejima a kiss on the cheek.
A kiss on the cheek. You almost want to think that there's supposed to be some sort of parody or satire or commentary going on here, but nope, its just another inept effort at comedy.
Ichinose wails, tells Manjoume to become stronger for next year, and all the North Campus people take off in their submarine. Oh, and in his rush Ichinose forgot to take back the Armed Dragons, and for some reason he can't just turn the damn submarine around, grab them, and resume leaving...why? No explanation! Oh, and have I mentioned how there are no women in the entirety of the North Campus? Real egalitarians they are. And even though this 'event' is supposed to take place every year, it will never happen again for the rest of the series. BECAUSE CONTINUITY IS FOR LOSERS!
Oh, and because Manjoume was absent for three months, he's automatically demoted down to Osiris Red. Manjoume whines, Judai is an idiot, everyone does the big "1, 10, 100, 1000, Manjoume Thunder!" chant, and only now, after my desire to stab Judai in the face 10,000 times has reached its greatest heights yet, does the episode end.
NEXT TIME! A field trip in Daitokuji's class, and Judai ends up in a place with three suns. Okay...Oh, and everyone is wrapped up like mummys and Judai has duel a dude to save them all. Just like always. EPISODE TITLE, OUR EXTRACURRICULAR CLASS IS A DUEL OF DARKNESS!? (PART 1)
You know, I wouldn't mind the whole 'having fun is the important thing' moral anywhere near so much if Judai were to actually LOSE on a regular basis! I mean, he's lost once to Kaiser Ryou, but that's really just a token loss witlessly thrown in so the writers can say that Judai isn't perfect. They are wrong of course. And since we're heading into the actual 'plot' plot of the season, lets tally something up; over the course of these 26 episodes, there have been 22 duels. Of those 22, Judai has been in 18, and as mentioned above, he's only lost one. Only Misawa, Manjoume, and Hayato got to duel outside of dueling Judai, which is just fucking pathetic. And it won't get any better from here on out. Trust me, the inclusion of "plot" will change nothing of importance.
TITLE SCREEN! VS. MANJOUME THUNDER (PART 2) ARMED DRAGON LV 7 i bet armed dragon level seven gets destroyed in like...two turns.
So yeah, Judai activates his trap card Hero Spirits, and since an Elemental Hero was destroyed that turn, Judai takes no damage. Gosh, that was tense, I was so worried that Judai might not pull through. But Manjoume will not be deterred, for he knows that Judai has nothing that can defeat his Armed Dragon Level 7. Manjoume ends his turn, and Judai draws Winged Kuriboh, telling his partner/imaginary friend that he came at a good time. Judai summons Winged Kuriboh in defense position and ends his turn, Manjoume insults Winged Kuriboh, Winged Kuriboh gets mad, and then Ojama Yellow pops up out of nowhere to annoy us all by whining about its brothers, saying that maybe Winged Kuriboh knows where they are, so he wants to be summoned so that he can ask Winged Kuriboh. Manjoume yells at Ojama Yellow to get the hell out of his sight, and then Winged Kuriboh gets on Judai's shoulder and points out Ojama Yellow for him.
You wonder what the audience is making of all this insipid madness, don't you?
Judai asks what Manjoume's got there, and Manjoume flails around in his efforts to get rid of Ojama Yellow, not that I blame him in the least. Finally succeeding in bringing an end to that particular annoyance, Manjoume takes his turn and THAT FUCKING MUSIC CUE FUCK FUCK FUCK! Oh, and Manjoume attacks and destroys Winged Kuriboh, ending his turn. Shou wonders why Manjoume didn't use Armed Dragon Level 7's effect, and Misawa explains that with Winged Kuriboh's effect, Manjoume wasn't going to be able to deal damage that turn anyway. Asuka notes that Judai's luck still hasn't run out, and then Judai plays Pot of Greed to draw two cards, announcing that he's finally drawn the game changing card he was looking for; it is Special Hurricane, and by discarding a card he can destroy all monsters that had been special summoned onto the field. Thus, Armed Dragon Level 7 is destroyed, we get some pointless banter from the peanut gallery, and then to add insult to injury Judai summons Wild Man and attacks Manjoume directly for 1500 points of damage. Oh, and Judai calls Manjoume 'Manjoume Thunder'. I've no idea why.
Samejima acts childish with Ichinose, and Ichinose responds with the same, calling out Manjoume to stand back up. Jun Manjoume's brothers wondery why he's not using the cards they gave him, and Manjoume takes his turn; first, he plays Graveyard in the Fourth Dimension, taking two "level" monsters in his grave and returning them to his deck, choosing Armed Dragon Level 3 and Level 7. Then he summons Armed Dragon Level 3 in defense position and sets a card to end his turn. Ichinose brags, Misawa analyzes, and Manjoume grouses about his brothers. Judai sees Manjoume glaring at his brothers, and then remembers Manjoume wailing about his brothers and the pressure he faced back in the previous episode; you know, when Judai was whining about how he hadn't been given enough time to prepare his hair for TV.
And...now we're getting some weird blank space thing going on with Shou telling Judai that he's just standing there. Is this supposed to be a commentary on Internal Monologues? No, Shou asks if he's having fun, and Judai remembers that dueling is supposed to be about fun, not about winning or losing! Which is why Judai is going to win anyway, thus smashing the aesop of this sad little story into a million little pieces! Isn't trite, cliche Shonen grand? Oh, and you're not supposed to be dueling for others either. You know, I think that some characters from the original series might have some colorful commentary about that...
Another chorus of "Manjoume Thunder" later, and Judai takes his turn, attacking Armed Dragon Level Three with Wildman, but this activates Manjoume's trap card, Grave of Revival, AKA Grave of Enkindling; each player may special summon a monster from their grave in defense position, so Manjoume brings back Armed Dragon Level 5.
And if you're wondering why Manjoume didn't leave Armed Dragon Level 7 in the grave for this effect, that's because Armed Dragon Level 7 can only be summoned by Armed Dragon Level 5's effect. Oh, and the monster summoned by Grave of Revival can't change its battle position. So that's two reasons.
Judai then special summons the monster he discarded for Special Hurricane, Hero Kid, whose effect is then activated; when special summoned for any reason, you may special summon as many Hero Kids from your deck to the field as you like, so now Judai's got three fresh monsters to try and slow Manjoume down. Then he sets a card to end his turn. Manjoume declares that its useless to bring out all those smallfries, since he's going to evolve Armed Dragon Level 5 into Level 7 this turn; Manjoume plays the spell card Level Up, sacrificing Armed Dragon Level 5 to special summon from his deck a monster whose name is on the card, so he brings out Armed Dragon Level 7. More reaction shots from the peanut gallery, Manjoume yells that he won't lose to Judai, that he has to win, and...
EYECATCH!
Manjoume tells Judai that he's not done yet, and equips Armed Dragon Level 7 with Armed Changer, discarding an equip spell card to activate it. Then he attacks and destroys Wild Man for 1300 points of damage, and Armed Changer's effect activates, allowing him to add a monster from his grave to his hand, so long as that monsters attack power is equal to or less than the destroyed monster's attack power. So he takes back Masked Dragon, and discards it for Armed Dragon Level 7's effect, destroying all of judai's Hero Kids. Manjoume laughs madly, proclaiming that Judai can do nothing in the face of his Armed Dragons, and offers to let him surrender before he humiliates himself on National TV; of course, that has already come to pass, and of course, Judai will never surrender, and of course, if there were a drinking game for this show, I'd be dead of Liver Poisoning.
Yes, Judai says he'll make a miracle on his next turn, having already peeked ahead in the script. Then he says he wished he could have faced the real Manjoume, the real Thunder. Yes, Judai's trying to play at being all sympathetic and understanding about Manjoume's pain of being, and its about as convincing as you'd imagine (not at all). Manjoume asks if he thinks he hasn't been dueling for real, and Judai says its like he was fighting someone else, and says that next time they should duel and have more fun. Manjoume is all 'dueling while having fun?' as though this were something deep or remarkable. Boring panning shots, repetition of previously established points, and Judai finally takes his turn; he draws and activates Warrior's Return, taking back Featherman, who he fuses with Burst Lady into Flame Wingman. Manjoume yells at him that that monster will do him no good, that his monsters 2800 attack power can't be defeated by a mere 2100 attack power monster. But Judai says his combo is complete, and after a few more reaction shots, he activates his trap card Miracle Kids; with this, he reduces Armed Dragon Level 7's attack power by 400 for every Hero Kid in his grave, which drops Level 7 down to 1600 attack points. Judai attacks, the feed is cut and replaced with the weather report, and Judai wins another duel.
Woo, that was so incredible, Judai is the best, I want to kiss his feet, yay Judai.
Jun Manjoume's brothers come down to yell at him for screwing up, not allowing any excuses for Judai's ludicrous plot armor, and they demand to know why he didn't use the cards they provided, and Jun admits he wanted to win using his own deck. More yelling, and Judai yells at them to stop, and the Manjoume brothers demand to know who the hell Judai thinks he is, getting into their issues. Judai says that its because they're brothers that they shouldn't fight like that (though quite frankly I can't imagine it being okay for anyone to treat anyone that way, but that's the implicit statement that can be taken from what Judai says), and that they both dueled with all they had. Mean Brothers don't care about the process, only the results, and while Professor Chronos also thinks that results matters, he thinks that something doesn't feel right. A repeat from the mean brothers about how winning and results are everything, and besides which, look at how much money they put into this stupid duel! Judai declares that Manjoume did, against his brothers! He fought against all the pressure they put on him, and he surpassed them.
I don't know how Judai figures that, but he said it, so it must be true. After all, Judai is always right, even when he completely reverses his position on something, he was always right at all times.
Judai continues his spiel about dueling being about more than winning or losing, and Jun Manjoume finally tells him to shut the hell up, he feels pathetic enough as is. All the North Campus people are driven to tears, Jun tells his brothers to go back home, and everyone in the stands back him up. I'm so glad that this scene is so over-the-top and lacking in subtlety or nuance; otherwise I might risk forming an emotional connection to it.
Shouji and Chousaku take off in their helicopters, and then Manjoume says he won't be going back to the North Campus; he has something left to do at Duel Academia (Murder Judai in his sleep), and returns the title of King back to Edogawa, the big muscle dude whose ass he kicked two episodes ago. Oh, and Professor Chronos announces the big awards ceremony, and to present the prize is Ms. Duel Academia...who is of course Ms. Tome in a Chinese dress and lipstick. You know, I actually enjoy all the young people being grossed out by this, especially Judai; their suffering brings me joy. Oh, and the 'prize'? She gives Samejima a kiss on the cheek.
A kiss on the cheek. You almost want to think that there's supposed to be some sort of parody or satire or commentary going on here, but nope, its just another inept effort at comedy.
Ichinose wails, tells Manjoume to become stronger for next year, and all the North Campus people take off in their submarine. Oh, and in his rush Ichinose forgot to take back the Armed Dragons, and for some reason he can't just turn the damn submarine around, grab them, and resume leaving...why? No explanation! Oh, and have I mentioned how there are no women in the entirety of the North Campus? Real egalitarians they are. And even though this 'event' is supposed to take place every year, it will never happen again for the rest of the series. BECAUSE CONTINUITY IS FOR LOSERS!
Oh, and because Manjoume was absent for three months, he's automatically demoted down to Osiris Red. Manjoume whines, Judai is an idiot, everyone does the big "1, 10, 100, 1000, Manjoume Thunder!" chant, and only now, after my desire to stab Judai in the face 10,000 times has reached its greatest heights yet, does the episode end.
NEXT TIME! A field trip in Daitokuji's class, and Judai ends up in a place with three suns. Okay...Oh, and everyone is wrapped up like mummys and Judai has duel a dude to save them all. Just like always. EPISODE TITLE, OUR EXTRACURRICULAR CLASS IS A DUEL OF DARKNESS!? (PART 1)
You know, I wouldn't mind the whole 'having fun is the important thing' moral anywhere near so much if Judai were to actually LOSE on a regular basis! I mean, he's lost once to Kaiser Ryou, but that's really just a token loss witlessly thrown in so the writers can say that Judai isn't perfect. They are wrong of course. And since we're heading into the actual 'plot' plot of the season, lets tally something up; over the course of these 26 episodes, there have been 22 duels. Of those 22, Judai has been in 18, and as mentioned above, he's only lost one. Only Misawa, Manjoume, and Hayato got to duel outside of dueling Judai, which is just fucking pathetic. And it won't get any better from here on out. Trust me, the inclusion of "plot" will change nothing of importance.
