Where I rewatch Yugioh GX, Episode 146
Last time, Amon used Exodia's power to kill Edo after sacrificing Echo's life, and then marched off with Exodia to track down Yubel and kill the foul demon and become King of the World. So obviously we're going to focus our attention back on Judai, because our narrative priorities are unbelievably screwed up.
TITLE SCREEN! THE SEALED FUSION misawa sealed fusion once. the writers still asspulled victory for judai anyway.
Umm, now everyone's in the desert. When the hell did that happen? They weren't anywhere near a desert last we saw them, and now they're right in the middle of one. Blah blah blah, Judai's already forgotten all about how pissed he was at Amon for killing Echo and Edo, and is now only thinking about finding Johan again. The fact that no one has even the slightest clue where Johan could be and only the most flimsy basis for thinking that Johan is even alive, Ojama Yellow's highly faulty memory. Shou goes on about Judai's manpain, and Judai walks right into a miniature sand tornado. Needless to say, he doesn't start choking and asphyxiating. Time passes, and Judai has visions of all the friends he's gotten killed because he just had to come here to rescue Johan with absolutely no reason to think he would even end up in the same dimension as Johan. Transition, Judai is buried in sand but is not dead, and...there is a giant door in the middle of the desert. Yeah, sure, they just happen to stumble onto it. Really, that's the only way the plot progresses on this show, people stumble onto the next plot point at random. Judai approaches the door, when Hell Kaiser Ryou tosses his shock collar at the steps to block his way. The physics on this are even wonkier than usual, Ryou demands to know what Judai's thinking, and Judai says that Johan is waiting beyond the door. Does he have any reason at all to think this? Of fucking course not! Will he be proven right? Of fucking course he will! Blah blah blah, Ryou doesn't think that Judai can save Johan in his current condition and that he's just trying to run away, and two major questions will never be answered are raised; one, who the hell is Johan that Ryou would give a shit about him? Yeah, they dueled that one time, big fucking whoop. Second, why the hell does he give a shit about Judai's fighting spirit, since that's exactly what got Fubuki and Asuka killed?
Blah blah blah, magic shock collar breaks all laws of physics, and Ryou says that if Judai wants to get through the door, he has to beat him in a duel. To repeat myself, this is not why Ryou should be dueling Judai. But then again, so long as Ryou kills Judai, it won't matter why he did it. Ryou goes first, and summons Armored Cybern in defense with 2000 defense points, setting a card to end his turn. Judai's turn, he looks at his hand, and when he sees his Fusion card, he starts flashing back to all the people he senselessly killed as the Supreme King. Oh noes, Judai can't play Fusion, how ever will he be able to win? Judai then summons Clayman in attack, and Ryou's all 'are you fucking kidding me?' Yes, that's right Ryou, keep being concerned over Judai's manpain; after all, it is the only thing that is allowed to matter. The fact that he got your two closest friends killed? Completely irrelevant! Then Judai sets three cards, and ends his turn. Noise from the peanut gallery, and Ryou plays Power Bond, summoning Cyber End Dragon with 8000 attack points. Then he equips Armored Cybern to Cyber End Dragon; this doesn't increase its attack power, but by reducing its attack power by 1000, Ryou gets to destroy one card on the opponent's side of the field. First he blows up Clayman. Next, he blows up Judai's face-down Spark Gun. He then explains how if Judai had been able to summon Sparkman, he could have used Spark Gun to switch Armored Cybern to attack position and destroy it, preventing Ryou from using its effect the way he is now. And considering that Judai had Sparkman in his hand, he could have done just that. Next up to be destroyed is Hero Barrier. Ryou says that if Judai had used Sparkman, Judai would then have been able to negate Cyber End Dragon's attack, which would cause him to lose due to Power Bond's drawback. Finally, he blows up Judai's last card as Cyber End Dragon's attack power drops to 4000, and it is Emergency, which Judai could have used to add Sparkman to his hand if he didn't have it already.
Also, if Judai were willing to play Fusion, he could have summoned Thunder Giant, used its effect to destroy Armored Cybern, and then used Hero Barrier as above. God fucking damnit, did we really need this load of horseshit about how Judai would have totally won if his head had been in the game? Not to mention, what the hell was the card that Ryou had set on his first turn? We'll never know, and that bugs me. Judai falls to his knees in shame as he's forced to face what a worthless waste of flesh he is, Ryou berates Judai for all the wrong reasons, and the peanut gallery realizes that if Ryou attacks, Judai will die. Judai then proceeds to wallow in his manpain about how he'd killed so many with the Fusion card and how he was just so helpless to stop himself, he deserves to die. Well, he got one thing right in all that drivel. Ryou is momentarily shocked, but quickly over that and declares his attack to kill Judai and wipe him from the face of the Earth. But oh noes, Ryou's heart condition flares up! You know, the one that didn't bother him for about half a dozen episodes when he'd been running around and dueling people all over the goddamn place. Yep, you gotta love those plot-sensitive medical conditions. And...then Cyber End Dragon disappears. Yeah, remember how it was repeatedly stressed that once a duel started, it couldn't be stopped until someone was dead? Unsurprisingly, the writers didn't. Ryou grips his chest in pain, says something about facing the ultimate opponent in Judai's place, Shou and Chronos run to Ryou's side, and Judai wanders of in shame like he should. Ryou then claims that his heart condition is a side effect of his duels in the underground league, which makes no sense; if the heart condition was because of dueling in the Underground League, why didn't it show up back in Season Two? Trauma, whether physical, psychological, or both, does not work on a delay that waits until no one is looking.
Blah blah blah, Ryou has Shou run after Judai like that'll make any difference, and Chronos spouts some bullshit about Ryou trying to get Judai to open his eyes and stop wallowing in his manpain. What the hell Ryou's motive to do so is supposed to be in doing so, I don't know. And now we see a tiny little imp thing spying on everyone from behind the door. It flies up to a cliff where it meets up with Judai's leftover minion. Huh, I would have figured the writers would have forgotten all about a throw away character like him. The Minion is fluent in mumbling, and laughs loudly about how he's going to go kill Judai while he can't use fusion. Yeah, if Ryou couldn't overcome the contrivance of the script to kill Judai, what makes this guy think he'll stand a chance?
EYECATCH!
Judai's now randomly out of the desert, and comes upon the burned out husk of a village. He has more flashbacks of meaningless mass murder, whines some more of the horror that his Fusion cards have wrought, as opposed to his brainless idiocy, and not even Winged Kuriboh can console him. And of course, Shou is just standing there and watching all this, not lifting a finger to do a damn thing. Oh hey, have we not gone over Judai's manpain enough? Let's go over it some more, just in case! Judai wanders around for a while, thinking of all the people who've died, most of them at his hands, more walking, and eventually ends up at Brron's fortress, where he got Manjoume, Fubuki, Asuka, and Kenzan killed. He then whines to the heavens, begging the friends he'd gotten killed through his own colossal stupidity to tell him what he should do to repay for all his crimes against humanity. If they could respond, I'm sure there answer would be a resounding "Slit your wrists, you prick." And now the Leftover Minion shows up, riding a tornado, apparently. Boy, it sure was nice of him to wait for Judai to complete his tour of wangst, instead of attacking him earlier, now wasn't it? Blah blah blah, Leftover Minion thinks he'll gain prestige if he kills Judai, as apparently he didn't hear about how Amon had gained Exodia's power and is therefore the next candidate for King of the World. And now Judai thinks that this guy coming to kill him is his friend's response to his whining. Unfortunately, as much as I wish this were true, it isn't. Leftover Minion goes first, and summons Devil Slime Mold, which has 500 attack points. Then he sets a card to end his turn. Blah blah, Judai takes his turn, and oh noes, he draws fusion again. Seriously, Judai, knock off the topdecking, it's getting fucking ridiculous. Judai summons Burst Lady and attacks, Leftover Minion goes over how Judai can't use Fusion, because Judai certainly couldn't have just not drawn it on his first turn, and activates his permanent trap card Level Containment Net.
So long as it is on the field, Level-4 or lower monsters can't attack, blah blah blah, Judai's deck without fusion is nothing but weak scrap, more blah blah blah, and Leftover Minion takes his turn. He activates Devil Slime Mold's effect; during the standby phase, you can pay 500 life points to special summon another Devil Slime Mold. He pays the cost twice to special summon two more, and if you think he's going to sacrifice all three to summon some crazy huge powerful monster, prepare to be sorely disappointed. First, he has to sacrifice one to keep Level Containment Net on the field. Then he sacrifices a second Devil Slime Mold to summon the Level 6 Twin Headed Beast. It has 1700 attack points, and its effect is that it can attack twice. If not for Giese, that inane twit that Johan dueled early on in the season, this would be the worst Sacrifice Summon monster ever. And Leftover Minion thinks that he'll become Supreme King? Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha no. In any event, Leftover Minion attacks twice, destroying Burst Lady and leaving Judai with just 1800 life points. Oh noes, how on Earth will Judai ever be able to overcome such a fearsome opponent without Fusion? Why, with this bullshit card he just drew, Revoke Fusion! But that's going to have to wait, as Judai starts off by summoning Wildman, who's attack can't be contained by Level Containment Net, but its attack power is still lower than Twin Headed Beasts, a real accomplishment I should add, and...Misawa shows up literally out of nowhere. Oh, and Tanya's still with him. Umm, how the hell did he get there? How the hell did he know to go there? Do the writers think we are as stupid and unquestioning as they are? Anyway, Misawa's heard all about the whole "Supreme King Judai" thing, and it is not the least bit surprising that he's totally blase about how Judai got all his friends killed, instead noting that Judai's got no fighting spirit left.
Blah blah blah, Tanya says he's not the same from when they'd dueled back in season one, and Shou tells them all about Judai's precious manpain over the Fusion card, which leaves Misawa and Tanya in shock. Judai, not able to use Fusion? That's much more horrifying and unnatural than Judai getting all of his friends killed, that's for damn sure! Blah blah blah, if Judai could play Fusion, he could summon Wild Jaggyman and win, but oh noes, more Post Traumatic Stress Disorder flashbacks, he just can't play Fusion. End episode.
NEXT TIME! Judai's duel continues, he'll asspull a victory without using Fusion, and Ryou is dueling Johan, who's wearing a bondage outfit for the sole purpose of titling shallow fangirls who don't give a shit about narrative quality. EPISODE TITLE, A CLASH OF FATE! CYBER STYLE VS. THE GEM BEASTS card of the week is armored cybern
What an indulgent load of tripe. And the fact that there are so many who think all this obnoxious manpain wangsting constitutes good writing just fills me with an intense sense of loathing.
TITLE SCREEN! THE SEALED FUSION misawa sealed fusion once. the writers still asspulled victory for judai anyway.
Umm, now everyone's in the desert. When the hell did that happen? They weren't anywhere near a desert last we saw them, and now they're right in the middle of one. Blah blah blah, Judai's already forgotten all about how pissed he was at Amon for killing Echo and Edo, and is now only thinking about finding Johan again. The fact that no one has even the slightest clue where Johan could be and only the most flimsy basis for thinking that Johan is even alive, Ojama Yellow's highly faulty memory. Shou goes on about Judai's manpain, and Judai walks right into a miniature sand tornado. Needless to say, he doesn't start choking and asphyxiating. Time passes, and Judai has visions of all the friends he's gotten killed because he just had to come here to rescue Johan with absolutely no reason to think he would even end up in the same dimension as Johan. Transition, Judai is buried in sand but is not dead, and...there is a giant door in the middle of the desert. Yeah, sure, they just happen to stumble onto it. Really, that's the only way the plot progresses on this show, people stumble onto the next plot point at random. Judai approaches the door, when Hell Kaiser Ryou tosses his shock collar at the steps to block his way. The physics on this are even wonkier than usual, Ryou demands to know what Judai's thinking, and Judai says that Johan is waiting beyond the door. Does he have any reason at all to think this? Of fucking course not! Will he be proven right? Of fucking course he will! Blah blah blah, Ryou doesn't think that Judai can save Johan in his current condition and that he's just trying to run away, and two major questions will never be answered are raised; one, who the hell is Johan that Ryou would give a shit about him? Yeah, they dueled that one time, big fucking whoop. Second, why the hell does he give a shit about Judai's fighting spirit, since that's exactly what got Fubuki and Asuka killed?
Blah blah blah, magic shock collar breaks all laws of physics, and Ryou says that if Judai wants to get through the door, he has to beat him in a duel. To repeat myself, this is not why Ryou should be dueling Judai. But then again, so long as Ryou kills Judai, it won't matter why he did it. Ryou goes first, and summons Armored Cybern in defense with 2000 defense points, setting a card to end his turn. Judai's turn, he looks at his hand, and when he sees his Fusion card, he starts flashing back to all the people he senselessly killed as the Supreme King. Oh noes, Judai can't play Fusion, how ever will he be able to win? Judai then summons Clayman in attack, and Ryou's all 'are you fucking kidding me?' Yes, that's right Ryou, keep being concerned over Judai's manpain; after all, it is the only thing that is allowed to matter. The fact that he got your two closest friends killed? Completely irrelevant! Then Judai sets three cards, and ends his turn. Noise from the peanut gallery, and Ryou plays Power Bond, summoning Cyber End Dragon with 8000 attack points. Then he equips Armored Cybern to Cyber End Dragon; this doesn't increase its attack power, but by reducing its attack power by 1000, Ryou gets to destroy one card on the opponent's side of the field. First he blows up Clayman. Next, he blows up Judai's face-down Spark Gun. He then explains how if Judai had been able to summon Sparkman, he could have used Spark Gun to switch Armored Cybern to attack position and destroy it, preventing Ryou from using its effect the way he is now. And considering that Judai had Sparkman in his hand, he could have done just that. Next up to be destroyed is Hero Barrier. Ryou says that if Judai had used Sparkman, Judai would then have been able to negate Cyber End Dragon's attack, which would cause him to lose due to Power Bond's drawback. Finally, he blows up Judai's last card as Cyber End Dragon's attack power drops to 4000, and it is Emergency, which Judai could have used to add Sparkman to his hand if he didn't have it already.
Also, if Judai were willing to play Fusion, he could have summoned Thunder Giant, used its effect to destroy Armored Cybern, and then used Hero Barrier as above. God fucking damnit, did we really need this load of horseshit about how Judai would have totally won if his head had been in the game? Not to mention, what the hell was the card that Ryou had set on his first turn? We'll never know, and that bugs me. Judai falls to his knees in shame as he's forced to face what a worthless waste of flesh he is, Ryou berates Judai for all the wrong reasons, and the peanut gallery realizes that if Ryou attacks, Judai will die. Judai then proceeds to wallow in his manpain about how he'd killed so many with the Fusion card and how he was just so helpless to stop himself, he deserves to die. Well, he got one thing right in all that drivel. Ryou is momentarily shocked, but quickly over that and declares his attack to kill Judai and wipe him from the face of the Earth. But oh noes, Ryou's heart condition flares up! You know, the one that didn't bother him for about half a dozen episodes when he'd been running around and dueling people all over the goddamn place. Yep, you gotta love those plot-sensitive medical conditions. And...then Cyber End Dragon disappears. Yeah, remember how it was repeatedly stressed that once a duel started, it couldn't be stopped until someone was dead? Unsurprisingly, the writers didn't. Ryou grips his chest in pain, says something about facing the ultimate opponent in Judai's place, Shou and Chronos run to Ryou's side, and Judai wanders of in shame like he should. Ryou then claims that his heart condition is a side effect of his duels in the underground league, which makes no sense; if the heart condition was because of dueling in the Underground League, why didn't it show up back in Season Two? Trauma, whether physical, psychological, or both, does not work on a delay that waits until no one is looking.
Blah blah blah, Ryou has Shou run after Judai like that'll make any difference, and Chronos spouts some bullshit about Ryou trying to get Judai to open his eyes and stop wallowing in his manpain. What the hell Ryou's motive to do so is supposed to be in doing so, I don't know. And now we see a tiny little imp thing spying on everyone from behind the door. It flies up to a cliff where it meets up with Judai's leftover minion. Huh, I would have figured the writers would have forgotten all about a throw away character like him. The Minion is fluent in mumbling, and laughs loudly about how he's going to go kill Judai while he can't use fusion. Yeah, if Ryou couldn't overcome the contrivance of the script to kill Judai, what makes this guy think he'll stand a chance?
EYECATCH!
Judai's now randomly out of the desert, and comes upon the burned out husk of a village. He has more flashbacks of meaningless mass murder, whines some more of the horror that his Fusion cards have wrought, as opposed to his brainless idiocy, and not even Winged Kuriboh can console him. And of course, Shou is just standing there and watching all this, not lifting a finger to do a damn thing. Oh hey, have we not gone over Judai's manpain enough? Let's go over it some more, just in case! Judai wanders around for a while, thinking of all the people who've died, most of them at his hands, more walking, and eventually ends up at Brron's fortress, where he got Manjoume, Fubuki, Asuka, and Kenzan killed. He then whines to the heavens, begging the friends he'd gotten killed through his own colossal stupidity to tell him what he should do to repay for all his crimes against humanity. If they could respond, I'm sure there answer would be a resounding "Slit your wrists, you prick." And now the Leftover Minion shows up, riding a tornado, apparently. Boy, it sure was nice of him to wait for Judai to complete his tour of wangst, instead of attacking him earlier, now wasn't it? Blah blah blah, Leftover Minion thinks he'll gain prestige if he kills Judai, as apparently he didn't hear about how Amon had gained Exodia's power and is therefore the next candidate for King of the World. And now Judai thinks that this guy coming to kill him is his friend's response to his whining. Unfortunately, as much as I wish this were true, it isn't. Leftover Minion goes first, and summons Devil Slime Mold, which has 500 attack points. Then he sets a card to end his turn. Blah blah, Judai takes his turn, and oh noes, he draws fusion again. Seriously, Judai, knock off the topdecking, it's getting fucking ridiculous. Judai summons Burst Lady and attacks, Leftover Minion goes over how Judai can't use Fusion, because Judai certainly couldn't have just not drawn it on his first turn, and activates his permanent trap card Level Containment Net.
So long as it is on the field, Level-4 or lower monsters can't attack, blah blah blah, Judai's deck without fusion is nothing but weak scrap, more blah blah blah, and Leftover Minion takes his turn. He activates Devil Slime Mold's effect; during the standby phase, you can pay 500 life points to special summon another Devil Slime Mold. He pays the cost twice to special summon two more, and if you think he's going to sacrifice all three to summon some crazy huge powerful monster, prepare to be sorely disappointed. First, he has to sacrifice one to keep Level Containment Net on the field. Then he sacrifices a second Devil Slime Mold to summon the Level 6 Twin Headed Beast. It has 1700 attack points, and its effect is that it can attack twice. If not for Giese, that inane twit that Johan dueled early on in the season, this would be the worst Sacrifice Summon monster ever. And Leftover Minion thinks that he'll become Supreme King? Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha no. In any event, Leftover Minion attacks twice, destroying Burst Lady and leaving Judai with just 1800 life points. Oh noes, how on Earth will Judai ever be able to overcome such a fearsome opponent without Fusion? Why, with this bullshit card he just drew, Revoke Fusion! But that's going to have to wait, as Judai starts off by summoning Wildman, who's attack can't be contained by Level Containment Net, but its attack power is still lower than Twin Headed Beasts, a real accomplishment I should add, and...Misawa shows up literally out of nowhere. Oh, and Tanya's still with him. Umm, how the hell did he get there? How the hell did he know to go there? Do the writers think we are as stupid and unquestioning as they are? Anyway, Misawa's heard all about the whole "Supreme King Judai" thing, and it is not the least bit surprising that he's totally blase about how Judai got all his friends killed, instead noting that Judai's got no fighting spirit left.
Blah blah blah, Tanya says he's not the same from when they'd dueled back in season one, and Shou tells them all about Judai's precious manpain over the Fusion card, which leaves Misawa and Tanya in shock. Judai, not able to use Fusion? That's much more horrifying and unnatural than Judai getting all of his friends killed, that's for damn sure! Blah blah blah, if Judai could play Fusion, he could summon Wild Jaggyman and win, but oh noes, more Post Traumatic Stress Disorder flashbacks, he just can't play Fusion. End episode.
NEXT TIME! Judai's duel continues, he'll asspull a victory without using Fusion, and Ryou is dueling Johan, who's wearing a bondage outfit for the sole purpose of titling shallow fangirls who don't give a shit about narrative quality. EPISODE TITLE, A CLASH OF FATE! CYBER STYLE VS. THE GEM BEASTS card of the week is armored cybern
What an indulgent load of tripe. And the fact that there are so many who think all this obnoxious manpain wangsting constitutes good writing just fills me with an intense sense of loathing.