Where I rewatch Yugioh GX, Episode 132
Recap of the end of the last episode, and Judai and his crew are now in a rocky, barren wasteland, utterly unlike the one they'd just left behind.
TITLE SCREEN! A LIFE-OR-DEATH DUEL Ah, goody, another source of manpain.
Blah blah blah, people how this place is different from the dimension that Yubel had taken everyone to, and judging from Fubuki's dialogue, he literally was not there when Duel Academia got sucked into the first alternate dimension. Which then begs the question, WHERE THE FUCK WAS HE? WRITERS YOU CAN'T JUST...UGGHHHH! Blah blah blah, and then Shou notices that Judai's already gone off on his own. Also, Misawa is doing equations in the dirt ground. Yeah, Judai's just run off on his own, not bothering to let anyone know what he was doing, absolutely convinced that his one true love Johan has to be in this world somewhere. Unnecessary flashback is unnecessary, and then Judai stumbles his way into a hole. Gosh, if only his friends were there with him, then they could help rescue him! Incidentally, the cavern that Judai fell into has a bunch of lamps on the ceiling. Like a tame version of the Digital World. Fortunately, Judai left nice clear tracks, so it's easy for the others to find him. Boy, it's a good thing Judai won't be suffering the consequences of his Leeroy Jenkins impersonation, amirite? Anyway, Judai continues to wander the caverns, finding railtracks and such along the way. Then some ride in the other direction in a rail cart. Judai is then about to summon a monster for no good reason, when O'Brien pops out of nowhere to stop him. And now back to the rest of the group, which is still hanging out at the starting point. Misawa's going on about his math equations, which are quite extensive, and then he falls into a random hole too. And no one heard his screams. Ah, shades of season two, when no one could hear or see Misawa period. Misawa is now stuck in the same caverns that Judai and O'Brien are in, and someone approaches...the hell? No, that can't be who it seems to be...
Over to Judai and O'Brien, O'Brien wants to find an exit out of these caverns, Judai wants to forge ahead, and O'Brien tells him to stop running off on his own on impulse, they're all in this together. Suddenly, shadowy figure approaches...and mother of fuck, Tanya? Seriously? What the hell is she doing here? Why is she in human form? Wasn't her true form a tiger? Didn't she live in the village of the Amazons or some shit like that? I honestly have no idea why she's here, and I doubt it will ever become clear. Oh, pointless and stupid flashback to Judai and Tanya's incredibly boring and trite little duel that they kept trying to sell to us as hot-blooded and exciting. How quaint. She now drops exposition, explaining that...her world, apparently she's from a different dimension or some shit like that, got sucked into this one. And now they come upon a giant underground city, and Tanya further explains that all of her friends are now being enslaved by the Winged-Beast monsters of the city. Unfortunately, since this isn't Digimon, no one in the audience gives a damn about these alternate dimension monsters and their inane plight. Blah blah blah, a plan of attack is formed, and Judai has to be restrained from rushing in and ruining everything. Also, in all of this, Tanya, hasn't done her cutesy voice once. Small favors indeed. Anyway, they're going to try to destroy the main power system to weaken the Winged-Beast monsters that are enslaving everyone, and one guy stands guard, a Birdman. No, not Harvey Birdman, not even he would take this case. Blah blah blah, Judai says he'll duel the Birdman to distract it so that everyone else can destroy the power station, Tanya says that Judai must not duel, and lots of inane blah blah blah between Judai and Birdman. And finally, Tanya gets out that in this world, when your life points hit zero, you die, no exceptions. Birdman says that he's heard of places where you can duel without dying, and Judai must be from such a place, and once the duel is declared, it can not be stopped for anything. Remember that.
Blah blah blah, something about level not determining worth, it's all really clumsy and ham-fisted, and Birdman duels Judai instead of just killing him where he stands, what with being a monster with wings and claws and shit while Judai is just a scrawny kid. First to go is Birdman, who plays Summon Storm, paying 800 life points to special summon a level four or lower Wind monster from his hand. He special summons Whirlwind Prodigy, and meanwhile O'Brien sneaks off to sabotage the power plant. Whirlwind Prodigy counts as two sacrifices for the summon of a wind attribute monster, so he sacrifices it to summon the level-7 Simorgh, Bird of Divinity, with 2700 attack points. Then Birdman sets a card and activates his permanent spell card Level Tax; from now on, whenever a level 5 or higher monster is summoned to the field, the person who summoned it takes damage equal to that monster's attack power. And now that it's the end phase, Simorgh's effect activates, dealing 1000 points of damage to both players, and Birdman laughs maniacally.
EYECATCH!
Judai takes 1000 points of damage, but Birdman is untouched; for every spell or trap card you control, you reduce the damage by 500, and since Birdman has a spell card and a face-down card, he takes no damage. O'Brien pauses to look down at Judai, and continues to make his way up. Blah blah blah, Judai can't summon high-level monsters without taking serious injury, this point is horribly belabored, like the writers don't trust us to figure out something this obvious, and Judai fears that he might die. You know, because he's NEVER been in a duel where this was a potential outcome! Anyway, Birdman mocks Judai for being stuck having to rely on low-level monsters, Judai summons Bubbleman in defense, draws two cards with its bullshit effect, and he gets Winged Kuriboh. Then Judai sets two cards to end his turn, sparing him from Simorgh's effect. Birdman's turn, he summons Tornado Bird with 1100 attack points, and then activates Winged Repayment at a cost of 600 life points, which lets him draw one card for every Winged-Beast monster he controls, but he can't activate the cards he drew this turn. Simorgh attacks and destroys the 1200 defense Bubbleman, the 1100 attack Tornado Bird attacks directly, and then Birdman sets two more cards to end his turn. Simorgh's effect activates again to no use, and Birdman goes on about how high-class people manipulate and control low-class people, so Judai never stood a chance to begin with. Subtle. Judai's turn again, he plays Graceful Charity, drawing three and discarding two, and then he summons Grand Mole. Blah blah blah, levels aren't what matters, friendship and bonds is what matters, which would mean something if this weren't one of Judai's imaginary friends. Judai has Grand Mole attack Simorgh, hoping to activate its effect and return both monsters to their respective hands while skipping the damage step, but Birdman activates his permanent trap card, Glory Level Talisman. This is equipped to Simorgh, and so long as Judai doesn't control a higher level monster than Simorgh, he can't target it with spells, traps, or monster effects, and all lower level monsters that attack it have their effects negated and are destroyed.
Blah blah blah, this is all a low-level monster can achieve, and then he activates his next trap, God Burst Attack, also known as Icarus Attack. He sacrifices Tornado Bird to destroy both of Judai's face-down cards. Finally, Explosion Wing, which does 500 points of damage to Judai for every card of his that's been destroyed by an effect this turn. That's three, so he takes 1500 points of damage. And now Judai looks honestly terrified out of his skull. You know, if he'd been doing this long ago, he would have been a much more tolerable character. Unfortunately, since he's been in many different life-or-death duels with huge steaks on the line, never once getting the least bit scared about it, arbitrarily deciding that NOW he's going to react, NOW he's going to be affected by what happens to him...it is hollow, meaningless, empty, and I don't buy it. Blah blah blah, and Judai sets two cards to end his turn, sparing him from being killed by Simorgh's effect, which aside from the first turn has not had any meaningful effect on anything. Birdman's turn, blah blah blah about level determining destiny, Judai declares that he doesn't believe in a person's level deciding their fate, so says the super special sparkly one single-handedly chosen to save the entire universe for no good reason, Birdman attacks, Judai activates his trap card, A Hero Emerges, Birdman says it doesn't matter what gets summoned, and of course it is Winged Kuriboh. Blah blah blah, Judai openly compares his friendship with Johan to his friendship with Winged Kuriboh in an inane to prove his point about how friendship is what really matters, instead exposing how warped his psyche is, and then he activates Transcendent Wings, discarding Neos and Clayman to sacrifice Winged Kuriboh for its level 10 counterpart. Level Tax kicks in, dealing 300 damage to Judai, and then Winged Kuriboh Level 10 sacrifices itself to destroy Simorgh, dealing 2700 points of damage to Birdman and defeating him.
Also, why does Judai have a light blush on his face? It just looks weird. Blah blah blah, both duelists collapse, O'Brien takes out the power plant, and somehow all the lights going out is all the low level monsters needed to beat up the Winged Beasts, and now the show tries to make out that Birdman is a sympathetic figure, that he's just a victim of the system, and begs Judai to change the system and become the Supreme King. Wow, Judai's Marty Stu levels are going to sky rocket. Oh, and then his body vanishes into a million sparkles. Because that's what happens when you die...IN A VIDEO GAME! Oh, and then everyone gets let out, and at some point the rest of the group caught up, though what if anything they were told about what happened, we don't know. Oh, and Misawa will be staying with Tanya, as he needs to refill on exposition to deliver to everyone. Since that's all he's good for. And all Judai can think of is finding Johan, who is as precious to him as a piece of painted cardboard. End Episode.
NEXT TIME! The group comes upon the ruins of a village, Judai thinks Johan may have been here without any rational basis to do so, chases after some kid, and gets into a duel with a monster. EPISODE TITLE, JUDAI VS. SCARR, SCOUT OF DARK WORLD card of the week is winged kuriboh level 10.
Wretched, wretched, wretched. I don't care if Judai's Leeroy Jenkins antics are supposed to be seen as a bad thing, it is incredibly annoying to watch and deal with. And it will get worse.
TITLE SCREEN! A LIFE-OR-DEATH DUEL Ah, goody, another source of manpain.
Blah blah blah, people how this place is different from the dimension that Yubel had taken everyone to, and judging from Fubuki's dialogue, he literally was not there when Duel Academia got sucked into the first alternate dimension. Which then begs the question, WHERE THE FUCK WAS HE? WRITERS YOU CAN'T JUST...UGGHHHH! Blah blah blah, and then Shou notices that Judai's already gone off on his own. Also, Misawa is doing equations in the dirt ground. Yeah, Judai's just run off on his own, not bothering to let anyone know what he was doing, absolutely convinced that his one true love Johan has to be in this world somewhere. Unnecessary flashback is unnecessary, and then Judai stumbles his way into a hole. Gosh, if only his friends were there with him, then they could help rescue him! Incidentally, the cavern that Judai fell into has a bunch of lamps on the ceiling. Like a tame version of the Digital World. Fortunately, Judai left nice clear tracks, so it's easy for the others to find him. Boy, it's a good thing Judai won't be suffering the consequences of his Leeroy Jenkins impersonation, amirite? Anyway, Judai continues to wander the caverns, finding railtracks and such along the way. Then some ride in the other direction in a rail cart. Judai is then about to summon a monster for no good reason, when O'Brien pops out of nowhere to stop him. And now back to the rest of the group, which is still hanging out at the starting point. Misawa's going on about his math equations, which are quite extensive, and then he falls into a random hole too. And no one heard his screams. Ah, shades of season two, when no one could hear or see Misawa period. Misawa is now stuck in the same caverns that Judai and O'Brien are in, and someone approaches...the hell? No, that can't be who it seems to be...
Over to Judai and O'Brien, O'Brien wants to find an exit out of these caverns, Judai wants to forge ahead, and O'Brien tells him to stop running off on his own on impulse, they're all in this together. Suddenly, shadowy figure approaches...and mother of fuck, Tanya? Seriously? What the hell is she doing here? Why is she in human form? Wasn't her true form a tiger? Didn't she live in the village of the Amazons or some shit like that? I honestly have no idea why she's here, and I doubt it will ever become clear. Oh, pointless and stupid flashback to Judai and Tanya's incredibly boring and trite little duel that they kept trying to sell to us as hot-blooded and exciting. How quaint. She now drops exposition, explaining that...her world, apparently she's from a different dimension or some shit like that, got sucked into this one. And now they come upon a giant underground city, and Tanya further explains that all of her friends are now being enslaved by the Winged-Beast monsters of the city. Unfortunately, since this isn't Digimon, no one in the audience gives a damn about these alternate dimension monsters and their inane plight. Blah blah blah, a plan of attack is formed, and Judai has to be restrained from rushing in and ruining everything. Also, in all of this, Tanya, hasn't done her cutesy voice once. Small favors indeed. Anyway, they're going to try to destroy the main power system to weaken the Winged-Beast monsters that are enslaving everyone, and one guy stands guard, a Birdman. No, not Harvey Birdman, not even he would take this case. Blah blah blah, Judai says he'll duel the Birdman to distract it so that everyone else can destroy the power station, Tanya says that Judai must not duel, and lots of inane blah blah blah between Judai and Birdman. And finally, Tanya gets out that in this world, when your life points hit zero, you die, no exceptions. Birdman says that he's heard of places where you can duel without dying, and Judai must be from such a place, and once the duel is declared, it can not be stopped for anything. Remember that.
Blah blah blah, something about level not determining worth, it's all really clumsy and ham-fisted, and Birdman duels Judai instead of just killing him where he stands, what with being a monster with wings and claws and shit while Judai is just a scrawny kid. First to go is Birdman, who plays Summon Storm, paying 800 life points to special summon a level four or lower Wind monster from his hand. He special summons Whirlwind Prodigy, and meanwhile O'Brien sneaks off to sabotage the power plant. Whirlwind Prodigy counts as two sacrifices for the summon of a wind attribute monster, so he sacrifices it to summon the level-7 Simorgh, Bird of Divinity, with 2700 attack points. Then Birdman sets a card and activates his permanent spell card Level Tax; from now on, whenever a level 5 or higher monster is summoned to the field, the person who summoned it takes damage equal to that monster's attack power. And now that it's the end phase, Simorgh's effect activates, dealing 1000 points of damage to both players, and Birdman laughs maniacally.
EYECATCH!
Judai takes 1000 points of damage, but Birdman is untouched; for every spell or trap card you control, you reduce the damage by 500, and since Birdman has a spell card and a face-down card, he takes no damage. O'Brien pauses to look down at Judai, and continues to make his way up. Blah blah blah, Judai can't summon high-level monsters without taking serious injury, this point is horribly belabored, like the writers don't trust us to figure out something this obvious, and Judai fears that he might die. You know, because he's NEVER been in a duel where this was a potential outcome! Anyway, Birdman mocks Judai for being stuck having to rely on low-level monsters, Judai summons Bubbleman in defense, draws two cards with its bullshit effect, and he gets Winged Kuriboh. Then Judai sets two cards to end his turn, sparing him from Simorgh's effect. Birdman's turn, he summons Tornado Bird with 1100 attack points, and then activates Winged Repayment at a cost of 600 life points, which lets him draw one card for every Winged-Beast monster he controls, but he can't activate the cards he drew this turn. Simorgh attacks and destroys the 1200 defense Bubbleman, the 1100 attack Tornado Bird attacks directly, and then Birdman sets two more cards to end his turn. Simorgh's effect activates again to no use, and Birdman goes on about how high-class people manipulate and control low-class people, so Judai never stood a chance to begin with. Subtle. Judai's turn again, he plays Graceful Charity, drawing three and discarding two, and then he summons Grand Mole. Blah blah blah, levels aren't what matters, friendship and bonds is what matters, which would mean something if this weren't one of Judai's imaginary friends. Judai has Grand Mole attack Simorgh, hoping to activate its effect and return both monsters to their respective hands while skipping the damage step, but Birdman activates his permanent trap card, Glory Level Talisman. This is equipped to Simorgh, and so long as Judai doesn't control a higher level monster than Simorgh, he can't target it with spells, traps, or monster effects, and all lower level monsters that attack it have their effects negated and are destroyed.
Blah blah blah, this is all a low-level monster can achieve, and then he activates his next trap, God Burst Attack, also known as Icarus Attack. He sacrifices Tornado Bird to destroy both of Judai's face-down cards. Finally, Explosion Wing, which does 500 points of damage to Judai for every card of his that's been destroyed by an effect this turn. That's three, so he takes 1500 points of damage. And now Judai looks honestly terrified out of his skull. You know, if he'd been doing this long ago, he would have been a much more tolerable character. Unfortunately, since he's been in many different life-or-death duels with huge steaks on the line, never once getting the least bit scared about it, arbitrarily deciding that NOW he's going to react, NOW he's going to be affected by what happens to him...it is hollow, meaningless, empty, and I don't buy it. Blah blah blah, and Judai sets two cards to end his turn, sparing him from being killed by Simorgh's effect, which aside from the first turn has not had any meaningful effect on anything. Birdman's turn, blah blah blah about level determining destiny, Judai declares that he doesn't believe in a person's level deciding their fate, so says the super special sparkly one single-handedly chosen to save the entire universe for no good reason, Birdman attacks, Judai activates his trap card, A Hero Emerges, Birdman says it doesn't matter what gets summoned, and of course it is Winged Kuriboh. Blah blah blah, Judai openly compares his friendship with Johan to his friendship with Winged Kuriboh in an inane to prove his point about how friendship is what really matters, instead exposing how warped his psyche is, and then he activates Transcendent Wings, discarding Neos and Clayman to sacrifice Winged Kuriboh for its level 10 counterpart. Level Tax kicks in, dealing 300 damage to Judai, and then Winged Kuriboh Level 10 sacrifices itself to destroy Simorgh, dealing 2700 points of damage to Birdman and defeating him.
Also, why does Judai have a light blush on his face? It just looks weird. Blah blah blah, both duelists collapse, O'Brien takes out the power plant, and somehow all the lights going out is all the low level monsters needed to beat up the Winged Beasts, and now the show tries to make out that Birdman is a sympathetic figure, that he's just a victim of the system, and begs Judai to change the system and become the Supreme King. Wow, Judai's Marty Stu levels are going to sky rocket. Oh, and then his body vanishes into a million sparkles. Because that's what happens when you die...IN A VIDEO GAME! Oh, and then everyone gets let out, and at some point the rest of the group caught up, though what if anything they were told about what happened, we don't know. Oh, and Misawa will be staying with Tanya, as he needs to refill on exposition to deliver to everyone. Since that's all he's good for. And all Judai can think of is finding Johan, who is as precious to him as a piece of painted cardboard. End Episode.
NEXT TIME! The group comes upon the ruins of a village, Judai thinks Johan may have been here without any rational basis to do so, chases after some kid, and gets into a duel with a monster. EPISODE TITLE, JUDAI VS. SCARR, SCOUT OF DARK WORLD card of the week is winged kuriboh level 10.
Wretched, wretched, wretched. I don't care if Judai's Leeroy Jenkins antics are supposed to be seen as a bad thing, it is incredibly annoying to watch and deal with. And it will get worse.