Where I rewatch Yugioh GX, Episode 147
So yeah, Judai is dueling one of his most pathetic opponents yet, and the only attempt at any sort of tension is his whining over how he can't use Fusion. I hope you enjoy your manpain, because it looks like this episode will be thick with it.
TITLE SCREEN! A CLASH OF FATE! CYBER-STYLE VS. THE GEM BEASTS boy, the standards for a clash of fate have really declined, haven't they? Yugi vs. Seto at battle city this ain't.
Ojama Yellow goes to peek at Judai's hand and confirms for the peanut gallery that he really does have Fusion, he's just not playing it. Shou goes over Judai's oh-so-terrible manpain again, and then Misawa yells at Judai to stop being so goddamn emo about everything and just kill this throw-away villain so that he can go fight the big bad/real enemy like the script says he has to. Also, notice how Judai isn't the least bit shocked about Misawa being there, despite the fact that he'd been gone for about 16 episodes. And then Judai begins his play, starting by discarding Fusion to activate Revoke Fusion, a card who's existence in Judai's deck we're just supposed to accept. Basically, you discard Fusion, send a Fusion Monster from your Fusion deck to the grave, and then you get to special summon one of the material monsters from your hand, but that monster will go to the grave at the end of your turn. Basically, worthless outside of this situation. So Judai sends Wild Jaggyman to the grave to special summon Edgeman from his hand, and then he follows that up with Hero Mask, sending Featherman from his deck to his grave to have Edgeman's name be treated as Featherman's. Thus, it becomes a valid target for his next card, Feather Shot. He has two monsters on the field, so this lets Judai attack twice, and oh hey, he wins. During all this, Judai goes over what Misawa said about the "real enemy", and inexplicably, they play the single worst track as Judai delivers the finishing blow. It's like the writers are constantly trying to remind us how terrible this show is, which is quite unnecessary. But before Throwaway Leftover Minion dies, he spouts some drivel about how Judai's really a vicious beast instead of conceding that he's one of the shittiest duelists ever, and then dies. And now Judai feels like asking Misawa and Tanya where they've been all this time. Classy.
Apparently they've been at that underground city that Judai and company first arrived at, which is totally safe and somehow never became the target of Judai's genocidal mania. But, Judai demands that Misawa tell him just who the real enemy is and what he's supposed to do about that, so now its time for exposition on why the world is about to come to an end, despite the lack of any sort of buildup towards that conclusion. Misawa takes twelve little rocks on the ground and puts them in a circle. Each rock represents one of the twelve dimensions, and then he piles them all together, signifying how the real enemy seeks to combine them all into one and rule over them all. Also, Misawa has somehow worked out that this is the same person who was behind PROFESSOR COBRA, transported Duel Academia to the alternate dimension, possessed Martin Kanou, and even awoke the Supreme King within Judai...wait, what? 1. Yubel was nowhere to be seen when Judai became the Supreme King, so how the hell could sie have had anything to do with that? 2. Misawa was not around when Judai became the Supreme King, all he's got to work off of there is second-hand hearsay, so what's his basis for saying that Yubel was involved with that? 3. How the hell did Misawa connect Yubel to the 12 dimensions being forced together? Did he just scribble random math equations on the walls until the numbers told him all this? Probably. But yeah, the show's new stance is that Yubel is behind every horrible thing that happened once Judai and company entered this world, so that's the one we're going to have to work with, even if it doesn't make any sense. Judai then wangsts about how its all his fault that Yubel became a devil, which is total bullshit, but then Misawa goes one further and says that nothing that's happened up to this point is Judai's fault, which is equally bullshit. Oh, and Judai is the only one who has the special power to make things right again.
Ah, here we go, now we're REALLY getting into the thick of the bullshit. Judai's all "I don't have a special power", Misawa says that Judai does, that's why Yubel awoke the Supreme King within him, which somehow is supposed to make sense, Judai says that was the Supreme King's power, it wasn't ever his, and then Misawa says that Judai and the Supreme King are two halves of the same whole.
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Remember how back in Supreme King Judai's duel with O'Brien, Judai didn't die even though his life points hit zero? This only made sense under the view that the Supreme King was an external entity that possessed Judai. But now we're told that it isn't, it's just another side of Judai. Which means that the Supreme King dying should have also meant Judai's death. And no, this is nothing like what happened with Yami Malik dying while Malik survived; that was meticulously set up, this is just an inane plot hole.
Oh, and Misawa also says that everyone has a Good Side and an Evil Side. Judai's evil side just gives him super powers for no good fucking reason. And everyone just accepts this, like its the natural order of things, and not just a forced and contrived sequence of events and statements meant to push some inane point. And again, what the hell is Misawa's basis for saying any of this? HE HAS NONE! Blah blah blah, Misawa is fed up with Judai being emo, grabs him by the arm, and tells him he needs to take control of the Supreme King's power for their to be real justice, as justice is the sole province of the sparkly chosen hero and forbidden to anyone else. But Judai whines that the Supreme King's power is the power of darkness, he can't use that! Not after spending a whole season being the chosen one of the Gentle Darkness! Good god, does anyone on this show pay even lip-service to continuity? Blah blah blah, it's Judai responsibility to fight for everyone in the entire universe, because the notion of people standing up for themselves is horrifying to the writers. Seriously, there's no reason given why someone like Misawa couldn't fight Yubel, it is simply stated that only Judai can do so. It is just arbitrary protagonist privilege that denies any other character the ability to do a damn thing, despite being far more qualified to do so. And then Shou spouts some drivel about how when Judai and the Supreme King become fused, they will become the real Judai Yuki. This is a load of shit.
And now back over to that giant door in the middle of the desert. Chronos is tending to Ryou, Ryou says he doesn't have much longer, and Chronos says that he has to hold on until they can get back home, he can get medical treatment, he has to live to his fullest until the very end, blah blah blah. Ryou starts to get up, Chronos insists he rests, and Ryou says that the adversary he must face is coming, and then the doors start opening. And who should it be, but Johan in a very stupid bondage PVC/leather/what-the-fuck-ever outfit. I'm sure the shalllow fangirls are enjoying this a lot, which means at least someone is getting something out of this. Also, his eyes are the same shade of orange as one of Yubel's. This is for very obvious reasons which will be explained shortly. At first Chronos is amazed to see Johan, but then Ryou teleports ahead of Chronos and stops him from running to embrace Johan. "Johan" wants to know where Judai is, Ryou does not care for this greeting, asks what the hell "Johan" has been up to all this time, and "Johan" says that all the dimensions will be unified and everyone will become one in the name of "Love". And yeah, I'm not going to wait for the show to stop being coy, Johan has now been possessed by Yubel and has thus become Yohan, the trifecta of my hatred. Ryou says he doesn't care who Yohan really is, he's just going to be his final opponent. Cue Ryou going into a long and tedious speech. Highlights include him saying that Chronos was a great teacher despite all the copious onscreen evidence to the contrary, and going on about how only Judai and Johan could bring him an exciting duel, as apparently counts for Chicken Shit with these writers. Anyway, Yohan has Johan's face and "strength", so that's good enough for Ryou. When the hell did Ryou get a personality transplant with one of his shallow fangirls? Also, flashbacks within flashbacks are quite annoying.
Yohan accepts Ryou's challenge, saying sie'll share some of hir's love with him too, and show that struggle and anguish to Judai, for sorrow, anguish, and pain are the forms of love that Judai taught to hir. Yohan? I'm going to be saying this a lot whenever you open your noise hole, so get used to it. Ahem...SHUT THE HELL UP! NO ONE GIVES A SHIT ABOUT YOUR INANE "PAIN IS LOVE" BULLSHIT! Also, Yohan has a new and very stupid looking duel disc. I've no idea why. Blah blah blah, the duel begins. Yohan goes first and plays the Field Spell Advanced Dark, which is totally not a shameless ripoff of the Seal of Orichalcos from DOMA. Then Yohan summons Advanced Gem Beast Amethyst Cat, which is exactly the same as the regular Amethyst Cat, but with spikes of evil on its body. And then Yohan sets a card to end hir turn. Riveting.
EYECATCH!
We cut to Judai and company making their way through the desert, and despite the lack of any landmarks, stars, or other navigational tools, they have no difficulty finding their way back to the random giant doorway in the middle of the desert. When they arrive, they see that Hell Kaiser Ryou is dueling someone, though I don't know how the hell they can, and they run to get a closer look. Now we cut to Ryou taking his turn, blah blah blah about Yohan's strategy, and of course Ryou special summons Cyber Dragon. And that's when Judai and company arrive. Blah blah blah, they see that Ryou's opponent is Yohan, Ojama Yellow is shocked to see that Johan is alive after all, Shou yells at him that he's the one who said he saw Johan in the first place, and then Ojama Yellow drops the plot thread, as it was completely pointless to begin with. And now Ryou declares his attack. Amethyst Cat is placed in Yohan's spell/trap zone, and his life points are untouched. Yohan explains that this is because of Advanced Dark; whenever an Advanced Gem Beast is destroyed by battle, he can send an Advanded Gem Beast from his hand or deck to the grave to reduce the damage to zero, so Cobalt Eagle is in the grave now. Then Ryou sets a card, and ends his turn. Misawa asks Chronos to catch them all up on what the hell's going on, lots of blah blah blah as no one has any real clue what the hell's going on, and then Judai yells at Ryou to stop the duel before one of them is dead. Ryou says he'll do no such thing, Yohan makes a very stupid face at Judai, and takes hir turn. Sie summons Advanced Gem Beast Sapphire Pegasus, using its effect to place to send Ruby Carbuncle from hir deck to the spell/trap zone, and then activates its anime effect to special summon it along with Amethyst Cat. Then sie plays M-Force, increasing Sapphire Pegasus's attack power by 500 points until the end of the turn. Sie has Sapphire Pegasus attack Cyber Dragon, and then Ryou activates his trap card Attack Reflector Unit, sacrificing his Cyber Dragon for Cyber Barrier Dragon.
It has 2800 defense points, so Yohan cancels hir attack, but sie then uses Amethyst Cat's effect to cut its attack in half to attack directly, so Ryou takes 600 points of damage. And then Yohan sets a card to end hir turn. Ryou's overreacting quite a bit to a meager 600 points of damage, but I suppose we're supposed to attribute that to his heart condition. Noise from the peanut gallery, and then Judai yells at "Johan" to stop the duel before Ryou dies. Yohan then opens hir noise hole again to make noise about how Judai taught hir that pain and anguish are love, SHUT THE HELL UP, and Judai finally realizes that Yubel has possessed Johan. Judai then says he'll take over for Ryou to face Yohan, but Ryou refuses. He blathers about how he feels more fulfilled now than ever before, Asuka comforts her brother in the afterlife as Ryou continues to break Fubuki's heart, and then Ryou takes his turn. He draws fusion, switches Cyber Barrier Dragon to attack, and plays fusion to summon Cyber Twin Dragon. We can also see that Ryou also has De-Fusion in his hand, so we know what he's going to do during his battle phase. He has Cyber Twin attack Sapphire Pegasus, Yohan sends Emerald Turtle to the grave to reduce damage to zero while Sapphire Pegasus ends up in hir spell/trap zone, Ryou attacks again with Cyber Twin, targeting Amethyst Cat. Peanut gallery makes a lot of noise and is just generally stupid, Yohan sends Amber Mammoth to the grave to reduce damage to zero, Cyber Barrier attacks Ruby Carbuncle, Yohan sends Topaz Tiger to the grave, and then Ryou plays De-Fusion. Now he's got two fresh Cyber Dragons ready to attack, and Yohan has no monsters on the field and has run out of Gem Beasts to send to the grave. He attacks, Yohan drops to 1900 life points, Ryou declares his final attack, and the writers decide to be a bunch of cokcs and end the episode before Yohan activates the trap that will prolong the duel, and conversely, our suffering.
NEXT TIME! The duel continues to the shock of absolutely no one in the audience, Judai spouts bullshit about how Ryou is leaving eternal proof that he lived by dueling some random nobody in the middle of nowhere with absolutely no way to get word back to earth or to get anyone there to even give a shit. Brilliant plan there, Ryou. You're sure you wouldn't rather kill Judai for having gotten Asuka and Fubuki killed? EPISODE TITLE, THE ULTIMATE DRAGON SHOWDOWN! CYBER END VS. RAINBOW DARK card of the week is cyber twin dragon.
What a load. Tons of manpain, and tons of exposition trying to establish points that are in direct contradiction to what we were shown. And yes, it will get worse.
TITLE SCREEN! A CLASH OF FATE! CYBER-STYLE VS. THE GEM BEASTS boy, the standards for a clash of fate have really declined, haven't they? Yugi vs. Seto at battle city this ain't.
Ojama Yellow goes to peek at Judai's hand and confirms for the peanut gallery that he really does have Fusion, he's just not playing it. Shou goes over Judai's oh-so-terrible manpain again, and then Misawa yells at Judai to stop being so goddamn emo about everything and just kill this throw-away villain so that he can go fight the big bad/real enemy like the script says he has to. Also, notice how Judai isn't the least bit shocked about Misawa being there, despite the fact that he'd been gone for about 16 episodes. And then Judai begins his play, starting by discarding Fusion to activate Revoke Fusion, a card who's existence in Judai's deck we're just supposed to accept. Basically, you discard Fusion, send a Fusion Monster from your Fusion deck to the grave, and then you get to special summon one of the material monsters from your hand, but that monster will go to the grave at the end of your turn. Basically, worthless outside of this situation. So Judai sends Wild Jaggyman to the grave to special summon Edgeman from his hand, and then he follows that up with Hero Mask, sending Featherman from his deck to his grave to have Edgeman's name be treated as Featherman's. Thus, it becomes a valid target for his next card, Feather Shot. He has two monsters on the field, so this lets Judai attack twice, and oh hey, he wins. During all this, Judai goes over what Misawa said about the "real enemy", and inexplicably, they play the single worst track as Judai delivers the finishing blow. It's like the writers are constantly trying to remind us how terrible this show is, which is quite unnecessary. But before Throwaway Leftover Minion dies, he spouts some drivel about how Judai's really a vicious beast instead of conceding that he's one of the shittiest duelists ever, and then dies. And now Judai feels like asking Misawa and Tanya where they've been all this time. Classy.
Apparently they've been at that underground city that Judai and company first arrived at, which is totally safe and somehow never became the target of Judai's genocidal mania. But, Judai demands that Misawa tell him just who the real enemy is and what he's supposed to do about that, so now its time for exposition on why the world is about to come to an end, despite the lack of any sort of buildup towards that conclusion. Misawa takes twelve little rocks on the ground and puts them in a circle. Each rock represents one of the twelve dimensions, and then he piles them all together, signifying how the real enemy seeks to combine them all into one and rule over them all. Also, Misawa has somehow worked out that this is the same person who was behind PROFESSOR COBRA, transported Duel Academia to the alternate dimension, possessed Martin Kanou, and even awoke the Supreme King within Judai...wait, what? 1. Yubel was nowhere to be seen when Judai became the Supreme King, so how the hell could sie have had anything to do with that? 2. Misawa was not around when Judai became the Supreme King, all he's got to work off of there is second-hand hearsay, so what's his basis for saying that Yubel was involved with that? 3. How the hell did Misawa connect Yubel to the 12 dimensions being forced together? Did he just scribble random math equations on the walls until the numbers told him all this? Probably. But yeah, the show's new stance is that Yubel is behind every horrible thing that happened once Judai and company entered this world, so that's the one we're going to have to work with, even if it doesn't make any sense. Judai then wangsts about how its all his fault that Yubel became a devil, which is total bullshit, but then Misawa goes one further and says that nothing that's happened up to this point is Judai's fault, which is equally bullshit. Oh, and Judai is the only one who has the special power to make things right again.
Ah, here we go, now we're REALLY getting into the thick of the bullshit. Judai's all "I don't have a special power", Misawa says that Judai does, that's why Yubel awoke the Supreme King within him, which somehow is supposed to make sense, Judai says that was the Supreme King's power, it wasn't ever his, and then Misawa says that Judai and the Supreme King are two halves of the same whole.
...
...
...
Remember how back in Supreme King Judai's duel with O'Brien, Judai didn't die even though his life points hit zero? This only made sense under the view that the Supreme King was an external entity that possessed Judai. But now we're told that it isn't, it's just another side of Judai. Which means that the Supreme King dying should have also meant Judai's death. And no, this is nothing like what happened with Yami Malik dying while Malik survived; that was meticulously set up, this is just an inane plot hole.
Oh, and Misawa also says that everyone has a Good Side and an Evil Side. Judai's evil side just gives him super powers for no good fucking reason. And everyone just accepts this, like its the natural order of things, and not just a forced and contrived sequence of events and statements meant to push some inane point. And again, what the hell is Misawa's basis for saying any of this? HE HAS NONE! Blah blah blah, Misawa is fed up with Judai being emo, grabs him by the arm, and tells him he needs to take control of the Supreme King's power for their to be real justice, as justice is the sole province of the sparkly chosen hero and forbidden to anyone else. But Judai whines that the Supreme King's power is the power of darkness, he can't use that! Not after spending a whole season being the chosen one of the Gentle Darkness! Good god, does anyone on this show pay even lip-service to continuity? Blah blah blah, it's Judai responsibility to fight for everyone in the entire universe, because the notion of people standing up for themselves is horrifying to the writers. Seriously, there's no reason given why someone like Misawa couldn't fight Yubel, it is simply stated that only Judai can do so. It is just arbitrary protagonist privilege that denies any other character the ability to do a damn thing, despite being far more qualified to do so. And then Shou spouts some drivel about how when Judai and the Supreme King become fused, they will become the real Judai Yuki. This is a load of shit.
And now back over to that giant door in the middle of the desert. Chronos is tending to Ryou, Ryou says he doesn't have much longer, and Chronos says that he has to hold on until they can get back home, he can get medical treatment, he has to live to his fullest until the very end, blah blah blah. Ryou starts to get up, Chronos insists he rests, and Ryou says that the adversary he must face is coming, and then the doors start opening. And who should it be, but Johan in a very stupid bondage PVC/leather/what-the-fuck-ever outfit. I'm sure the shalllow fangirls are enjoying this a lot, which means at least someone is getting something out of this. Also, his eyes are the same shade of orange as one of Yubel's. This is for very obvious reasons which will be explained shortly. At first Chronos is amazed to see Johan, but then Ryou teleports ahead of Chronos and stops him from running to embrace Johan. "Johan" wants to know where Judai is, Ryou does not care for this greeting, asks what the hell "Johan" has been up to all this time, and "Johan" says that all the dimensions will be unified and everyone will become one in the name of "Love". And yeah, I'm not going to wait for the show to stop being coy, Johan has now been possessed by Yubel and has thus become Yohan, the trifecta of my hatred. Ryou says he doesn't care who Yohan really is, he's just going to be his final opponent. Cue Ryou going into a long and tedious speech. Highlights include him saying that Chronos was a great teacher despite all the copious onscreen evidence to the contrary, and going on about how only Judai and Johan could bring him an exciting duel, as apparently counts for Chicken Shit with these writers. Anyway, Yohan has Johan's face and "strength", so that's good enough for Ryou. When the hell did Ryou get a personality transplant with one of his shallow fangirls? Also, flashbacks within flashbacks are quite annoying.
Yohan accepts Ryou's challenge, saying sie'll share some of hir's love with him too, and show that struggle and anguish to Judai, for sorrow, anguish, and pain are the forms of love that Judai taught to hir. Yohan? I'm going to be saying this a lot whenever you open your noise hole, so get used to it. Ahem...SHUT THE HELL UP! NO ONE GIVES A SHIT ABOUT YOUR INANE "PAIN IS LOVE" BULLSHIT! Also, Yohan has a new and very stupid looking duel disc. I've no idea why. Blah blah blah, the duel begins. Yohan goes first and plays the Field Spell Advanced Dark, which is totally not a shameless ripoff of the Seal of Orichalcos from DOMA. Then Yohan summons Advanced Gem Beast Amethyst Cat, which is exactly the same as the regular Amethyst Cat, but with spikes of evil on its body. And then Yohan sets a card to end hir turn. Riveting.
EYECATCH!
We cut to Judai and company making their way through the desert, and despite the lack of any landmarks, stars, or other navigational tools, they have no difficulty finding their way back to the random giant doorway in the middle of the desert. When they arrive, they see that Hell Kaiser Ryou is dueling someone, though I don't know how the hell they can, and they run to get a closer look. Now we cut to Ryou taking his turn, blah blah blah about Yohan's strategy, and of course Ryou special summons Cyber Dragon. And that's when Judai and company arrive. Blah blah blah, they see that Ryou's opponent is Yohan, Ojama Yellow is shocked to see that Johan is alive after all, Shou yells at him that he's the one who said he saw Johan in the first place, and then Ojama Yellow drops the plot thread, as it was completely pointless to begin with. And now Ryou declares his attack. Amethyst Cat is placed in Yohan's spell/trap zone, and his life points are untouched. Yohan explains that this is because of Advanced Dark; whenever an Advanced Gem Beast is destroyed by battle, he can send an Advanded Gem Beast from his hand or deck to the grave to reduce the damage to zero, so Cobalt Eagle is in the grave now. Then Ryou sets a card, and ends his turn. Misawa asks Chronos to catch them all up on what the hell's going on, lots of blah blah blah as no one has any real clue what the hell's going on, and then Judai yells at Ryou to stop the duel before one of them is dead. Ryou says he'll do no such thing, Yohan makes a very stupid face at Judai, and takes hir turn. Sie summons Advanced Gem Beast Sapphire Pegasus, using its effect to place to send Ruby Carbuncle from hir deck to the spell/trap zone, and then activates its anime effect to special summon it along with Amethyst Cat. Then sie plays M-Force, increasing Sapphire Pegasus's attack power by 500 points until the end of the turn. Sie has Sapphire Pegasus attack Cyber Dragon, and then Ryou activates his trap card Attack Reflector Unit, sacrificing his Cyber Dragon for Cyber Barrier Dragon.
It has 2800 defense points, so Yohan cancels hir attack, but sie then uses Amethyst Cat's effect to cut its attack in half to attack directly, so Ryou takes 600 points of damage. And then Yohan sets a card to end hir turn. Ryou's overreacting quite a bit to a meager 600 points of damage, but I suppose we're supposed to attribute that to his heart condition. Noise from the peanut gallery, and then Judai yells at "Johan" to stop the duel before Ryou dies. Yohan then opens hir noise hole again to make noise about how Judai taught hir that pain and anguish are love, SHUT THE HELL UP, and Judai finally realizes that Yubel has possessed Johan. Judai then says he'll take over for Ryou to face Yohan, but Ryou refuses. He blathers about how he feels more fulfilled now than ever before, Asuka comforts her brother in the afterlife as Ryou continues to break Fubuki's heart, and then Ryou takes his turn. He draws fusion, switches Cyber Barrier Dragon to attack, and plays fusion to summon Cyber Twin Dragon. We can also see that Ryou also has De-Fusion in his hand, so we know what he's going to do during his battle phase. He has Cyber Twin attack Sapphire Pegasus, Yohan sends Emerald Turtle to the grave to reduce damage to zero while Sapphire Pegasus ends up in hir spell/trap zone, Ryou attacks again with Cyber Twin, targeting Amethyst Cat. Peanut gallery makes a lot of noise and is just generally stupid, Yohan sends Amber Mammoth to the grave to reduce damage to zero, Cyber Barrier attacks Ruby Carbuncle, Yohan sends Topaz Tiger to the grave, and then Ryou plays De-Fusion. Now he's got two fresh Cyber Dragons ready to attack, and Yohan has no monsters on the field and has run out of Gem Beasts to send to the grave. He attacks, Yohan drops to 1900 life points, Ryou declares his final attack, and the writers decide to be a bunch of cokcs and end the episode before Yohan activates the trap that will prolong the duel, and conversely, our suffering.
NEXT TIME! The duel continues to the shock of absolutely no one in the audience, Judai spouts bullshit about how Ryou is leaving eternal proof that he lived by dueling some random nobody in the middle of nowhere with absolutely no way to get word back to earth or to get anyone there to even give a shit. Brilliant plan there, Ryou. You're sure you wouldn't rather kill Judai for having gotten Asuka and Fubuki killed? EPISODE TITLE, THE ULTIMATE DRAGON SHOWDOWN! CYBER END VS. RAINBOW DARK card of the week is cyber twin dragon.
What a load. Tons of manpain, and tons of exposition trying to establish points that are in direct contradiction to what we were shown. And yes, it will get worse.