Where I rewatch Yugioh GX, Episode 164
So, over at the hospital that didn't exist until last episode, Judai visits Shou, who is praying that Ryou will get better. Don't worry, if the writers couldn't stick to having him stay dead after what happened to him in season 3, they're not going to kill him off now. Ayuakawa shows up, says Ryou is doing okay and Judai should focus on being at Shou's side, and he supposes he ought to actually be there for oldest and closest friend. His best friend, if you will. Of course, Judai's idea of being there for Shou is to sit in the corner where Shou can't even see him. Yuugi and Jounouchi, these two fucking aren't. And apparently he disappears before Shou even gets to see him. Writers, I know it's far, far too late at this point, but if you could start having what your characters say and what your characters do actually align at some point, that would be marvelous.
TITLE SCREEN! THE INHERITED CYBERDARK DRAGON this would be the same cyberdark dragon that was supposed to be sealed and never ever used in the first place, right? one wonders why samejima doesn't confiscate it while ryou is as weak as a kitten...
Shou and Ryou, and it's as tedious and hollow as you've come to expect from them. Blah blah blah, Shou has to tell us that they're brothers so that we can understand the feelings that the scene is supposed to convey, tedious back and forth is tedious, and Ryou acknowledges that his duel with Yubel was everything he ever wanted out of a duel, which is why he wasted his time just now with Bob. Oh, but his deck still wants to duel! You know Ryou, there's medication you can take for that sort of thing. It's nothing to be ashamed of, neurological diseases are still physical diseases and as such are not a sign of moral failure on your part. The things you did in seasons 2 and 3 though? Those were signs of moral failure on your part, so I don't feel sorry for you at all. Blah blah blah, Shou swears he will free Ryou from his evil mean badwrong deck, and he runs off with it. He practices with it by the coast, and suddenly a photo-negative effect is applied to the screen. The terrible cheapness of this effect brings Shou to his knees, who complains about how every time he draws a card from the deck, it hurts him. Then he takes the deck out of his duel disc, and is shocked that the pain stops. Suddenly, Shou realizes something, flashes back to Ryou's duels throughout season 2, and for some reason he thinks that it takes great resolve to use the Cyber-Dark deck, regardless of the cost to the body. Given the bug-fuck insane world in which Shou lives in, this comes terrifyingly close to making sense. So Shou forces himself to practice with his brother's deck into the night, and we cut to Bob. He makes generic threats to Shou. I don't care. Now back to Shou, who has collapsed in exhaustion. Apparently his efforts are for naught, and now Judai feels like showing up to be there for his best friend. And he brought food. So that's one point in favor of being a good friend, as opposed to ten billion against.
Blah blah blah, we get a lot of very boring and tedious drivel about what it takes to get a deck to respond to you, Judai continuing to act like decks and cards are real people that one can talk to, and then he outright tells Shou that he should make a new deck based on Ryou's deck. And Shou ends up with the Gold Egg bread. I do not give a fuck. Night falls, Shou arrives at the beach to confront Bob, tedious pre-duel banter follows, and the duel begins. Shou's opening move, he summons Cyber Phoenix in attack, and then sets three cards. Bob's turn, he summons Psycho Returner, it attacks directly, but Shou activates Power Wall. Unlike his brother, he's not a complete drama queen, and so sends the cards from his deck to the grave like a normal person. Next spell, Psychic Wave, because repeating the previous duel almost verbatim is so awesome, am I right or am I right? Naturally, Shou activates Fusion Guard, and what a bloody shock, it is Cyber End Dragon who gets sent to the grave. And now it's time for DNA Erasure Sorcery for great repetition. Bob sets a card, and ends his turn. Shou notes how lazy the writers are in recreating the exact same situation from the previous duel, and yes, his third card is Samsara Dogma, same as what Ryou was going to use before he fainted. Shou activates it, and then plays Cyberdark Impact, letting him take the Cyberdarks that he'd sent to the grave with Power Wall and return them to his deck to summon Cyberdark Dragon. And thanks to Samsara Dogma, he can have Cyberdark Dragon equip Cyber End, but that's when Bob sacrifices Returner for Crush Card Virus, destroying Cyberdark Dragon and any other monster with 1500 attack or more in his hand or that he draws for the next three turns. So first Bob was ripping off Yami Malik, and now he's ripping off Seto Kaiba. Well, that's what you get when your scraping the bottom of the barrel for ideas.
Oh, and when Psycho Returner is sent to the grave, Bob gets to summon Android Psycho Shocker from the grave, so out comes that classic from the original series, Jinzo! It's effect activates, all traps become useless, Shou switches Cyber Phoenix to defense, and Bob makes noise.
EYECATCH!
Oh, and now Judai and Ryou are there to watch the duel. What, bring in other mutual friends to watch too? Son, I don't think you understand how character focus/development episodes work. Then again, neither do these writers, so that point stands. Blah blah blah, Ryou thinks Shou is dueling by his deck, Judai says he isn't, and now it's Bob's turn. Oh hey, there's Drillago. Well, we've just about played all the exact same cards as in the previous episode, let's see if we can't score 1 for 1, shall we? Oh, but now Bob does something new; he sacrifices Psycho Shocker for Psycho Lord! It is a tedious waste of cardboard, possessing a meager 200 attack point advantage on the original Jinzo. Oh, and in addition to negating trap cards, it can blow them up for 300 points of damage a piece. Ryou makes noise, Psycho Lord destroys Cyber Phoenix, Shou gets to draw a card with its effect, Drillago attacks directly, and then Psycho Lord blows up Samsara Dogma for 300 points of damage. Shou's turn, he draws, he has to reveal his card, and it is a spell card. Shou then ends his turn, doing nothing. Bob laughs, takes his turn, attacks directly with Psycho Lord, but Shou has Kiteroid in the grave, and once per duel he can have it negate an attack from the grave. And Ryou is shocked, that wasn't in the Cyberdark deck! Bob then attacks directly with Drillago, leaving Shou with just 500 life points, and then he plays the permanent spell card Trap Request. During each standby phase, he can choose a trap card from Shou's deck and force him to set it, and if that trap gets removed from the field, he'll take 1000 points of damage. Blah blah blah, Shou is doomed, Bob ends his turn. Blah blah blah, Bob continues to be a one-dimensional cardboard cutout, and Shou swears that this duel isn't just for his brother. He draws a card, and oh, when he looks at it, he thinks to himself that this is the duel where he will surpass his brother.
Of course it is, I say as I pat Shou on the head in the most condescending fashion possible. We then get Chibi Shou running after Chibi Ryou, and I cannot find it in me to care enough to even mock this trite drivel. Oh, back in the real world he suddenly notices Judai and Ryou, Bob yells at Shou over how his monster, Dragonroid, has over 1500 attack points so into the grave it goes, and Shou declares that the deck is finally working for him. Shou then plays Remove Bomb, removing from play the top five cards of his deck and dealing 300 damage for each monster so removed. Oh, and what a shock, all three Cyberdarks are there. So Bob takes 900 damage, Shou plays Spell Economics so he doesn't have to pay life points to activate spell cards, now Dimension Fusion, letting him special summon all three Cyberdarks to the field since they were removed from play. And finally, Power Bond to bring back Cyberdark Dragon with 2000 attack points. Ryou is shocked at Shou pulling that combo with his deck, Shou goes on about how Judai told him to talk to his deck, and apparently just your standard issue keep on growing blather. Oh, and what a shock, when in the grave, Dragonroid counts as a Dragon monster. How tediously predictable. Ultimately, Cyberdark Dragon's attack power is 5800, and I have to kind of laugh here. I mean, the idea is supposed to be that Shou is surpassing his brother, yet Ryou routinely summoned far bigger, badder monsters than that in each and every one of his duels. Fuck, for all we know Ryou was going to win against Bob anyway, and it's not like Bob was this great and powerful opponent in the first place. But in any event, Psycho Lord is blown up for 3200 points of damage, so Bob loses. And Ryou applauds, which almost makes up for that time he nearly killed Shou, and by almost I mean not at all. And apparently Judai ran off for no good reason.
Blah blah blah, Shou wants to give the deck back, Ryou says its Shou's now, he needs to make a new, evolving deck for himself. You know, the implication here seems to be that Ryou wasn't "evolving" his deck like his Cyberdarks wanted him to, but...well, all throughout season 3, he kept playing all new cards and monsters and strategies. So, the idea that Ryou was stagnant is of course a complete load that the writers pulled out of their asses, much the same with damn near everything else on this show. Blah blah blah, something about Shou and Ryou wanting to create a new Pro League or something, they'll keep on growing together, Ryou will chase after Shou now, Shou is moved to tears, and Judai was watching from in hiding, because he's a creeper like that. End episode.
NEXT TIME! Judai is fishing, I suffer flashbacks to season 2, and apparently we're going to focus on Manjoume now. EPISODE TITLE, SHOOT FOR IT! MANJOUME, THE PATH TO A PRO DUELIST card of the week is psycho lord
So, in order for Shou to surpass his brother, he needs to crib off his deck as opposed to developing his own? That's GX for you!
TITLE SCREEN! THE INHERITED CYBERDARK DRAGON this would be the same cyberdark dragon that was supposed to be sealed and never ever used in the first place, right? one wonders why samejima doesn't confiscate it while ryou is as weak as a kitten...
Shou and Ryou, and it's as tedious and hollow as you've come to expect from them. Blah blah blah, Shou has to tell us that they're brothers so that we can understand the feelings that the scene is supposed to convey, tedious back and forth is tedious, and Ryou acknowledges that his duel with Yubel was everything he ever wanted out of a duel, which is why he wasted his time just now with Bob. Oh, but his deck still wants to duel! You know Ryou, there's medication you can take for that sort of thing. It's nothing to be ashamed of, neurological diseases are still physical diseases and as such are not a sign of moral failure on your part. The things you did in seasons 2 and 3 though? Those were signs of moral failure on your part, so I don't feel sorry for you at all. Blah blah blah, Shou swears he will free Ryou from his evil mean badwrong deck, and he runs off with it. He practices with it by the coast, and suddenly a photo-negative effect is applied to the screen. The terrible cheapness of this effect brings Shou to his knees, who complains about how every time he draws a card from the deck, it hurts him. Then he takes the deck out of his duel disc, and is shocked that the pain stops. Suddenly, Shou realizes something, flashes back to Ryou's duels throughout season 2, and for some reason he thinks that it takes great resolve to use the Cyber-Dark deck, regardless of the cost to the body. Given the bug-fuck insane world in which Shou lives in, this comes terrifyingly close to making sense. So Shou forces himself to practice with his brother's deck into the night, and we cut to Bob. He makes generic threats to Shou. I don't care. Now back to Shou, who has collapsed in exhaustion. Apparently his efforts are for naught, and now Judai feels like showing up to be there for his best friend. And he brought food. So that's one point in favor of being a good friend, as opposed to ten billion against.
Blah blah blah, we get a lot of very boring and tedious drivel about what it takes to get a deck to respond to you, Judai continuing to act like decks and cards are real people that one can talk to, and then he outright tells Shou that he should make a new deck based on Ryou's deck. And Shou ends up with the Gold Egg bread. I do not give a fuck. Night falls, Shou arrives at the beach to confront Bob, tedious pre-duel banter follows, and the duel begins. Shou's opening move, he summons Cyber Phoenix in attack, and then sets three cards. Bob's turn, he summons Psycho Returner, it attacks directly, but Shou activates Power Wall. Unlike his brother, he's not a complete drama queen, and so sends the cards from his deck to the grave like a normal person. Next spell, Psychic Wave, because repeating the previous duel almost verbatim is so awesome, am I right or am I right? Naturally, Shou activates Fusion Guard, and what a bloody shock, it is Cyber End Dragon who gets sent to the grave. And now it's time for DNA Erasure Sorcery for great repetition. Bob sets a card, and ends his turn. Shou notes how lazy the writers are in recreating the exact same situation from the previous duel, and yes, his third card is Samsara Dogma, same as what Ryou was going to use before he fainted. Shou activates it, and then plays Cyberdark Impact, letting him take the Cyberdarks that he'd sent to the grave with Power Wall and return them to his deck to summon Cyberdark Dragon. And thanks to Samsara Dogma, he can have Cyberdark Dragon equip Cyber End, but that's when Bob sacrifices Returner for Crush Card Virus, destroying Cyberdark Dragon and any other monster with 1500 attack or more in his hand or that he draws for the next three turns. So first Bob was ripping off Yami Malik, and now he's ripping off Seto Kaiba. Well, that's what you get when your scraping the bottom of the barrel for ideas.
Oh, and when Psycho Returner is sent to the grave, Bob gets to summon Android Psycho Shocker from the grave, so out comes that classic from the original series, Jinzo! It's effect activates, all traps become useless, Shou switches Cyber Phoenix to defense, and Bob makes noise.
EYECATCH!
Oh, and now Judai and Ryou are there to watch the duel. What, bring in other mutual friends to watch too? Son, I don't think you understand how character focus/development episodes work. Then again, neither do these writers, so that point stands. Blah blah blah, Ryou thinks Shou is dueling by his deck, Judai says he isn't, and now it's Bob's turn. Oh hey, there's Drillago. Well, we've just about played all the exact same cards as in the previous episode, let's see if we can't score 1 for 1, shall we? Oh, but now Bob does something new; he sacrifices Psycho Shocker for Psycho Lord! It is a tedious waste of cardboard, possessing a meager 200 attack point advantage on the original Jinzo. Oh, and in addition to negating trap cards, it can blow them up for 300 points of damage a piece. Ryou makes noise, Psycho Lord destroys Cyber Phoenix, Shou gets to draw a card with its effect, Drillago attacks directly, and then Psycho Lord blows up Samsara Dogma for 300 points of damage. Shou's turn, he draws, he has to reveal his card, and it is a spell card. Shou then ends his turn, doing nothing. Bob laughs, takes his turn, attacks directly with Psycho Lord, but Shou has Kiteroid in the grave, and once per duel he can have it negate an attack from the grave. And Ryou is shocked, that wasn't in the Cyberdark deck! Bob then attacks directly with Drillago, leaving Shou with just 500 life points, and then he plays the permanent spell card Trap Request. During each standby phase, he can choose a trap card from Shou's deck and force him to set it, and if that trap gets removed from the field, he'll take 1000 points of damage. Blah blah blah, Shou is doomed, Bob ends his turn. Blah blah blah, Bob continues to be a one-dimensional cardboard cutout, and Shou swears that this duel isn't just for his brother. He draws a card, and oh, when he looks at it, he thinks to himself that this is the duel where he will surpass his brother.
Of course it is, I say as I pat Shou on the head in the most condescending fashion possible. We then get Chibi Shou running after Chibi Ryou, and I cannot find it in me to care enough to even mock this trite drivel. Oh, back in the real world he suddenly notices Judai and Ryou, Bob yells at Shou over how his monster, Dragonroid, has over 1500 attack points so into the grave it goes, and Shou declares that the deck is finally working for him. Shou then plays Remove Bomb, removing from play the top five cards of his deck and dealing 300 damage for each monster so removed. Oh, and what a shock, all three Cyberdarks are there. So Bob takes 900 damage, Shou plays Spell Economics so he doesn't have to pay life points to activate spell cards, now Dimension Fusion, letting him special summon all three Cyberdarks to the field since they were removed from play. And finally, Power Bond to bring back Cyberdark Dragon with 2000 attack points. Ryou is shocked at Shou pulling that combo with his deck, Shou goes on about how Judai told him to talk to his deck, and apparently just your standard issue keep on growing blather. Oh, and what a shock, when in the grave, Dragonroid counts as a Dragon monster. How tediously predictable. Ultimately, Cyberdark Dragon's attack power is 5800, and I have to kind of laugh here. I mean, the idea is supposed to be that Shou is surpassing his brother, yet Ryou routinely summoned far bigger, badder monsters than that in each and every one of his duels. Fuck, for all we know Ryou was going to win against Bob anyway, and it's not like Bob was this great and powerful opponent in the first place. But in any event, Psycho Lord is blown up for 3200 points of damage, so Bob loses. And Ryou applauds, which almost makes up for that time he nearly killed Shou, and by almost I mean not at all. And apparently Judai ran off for no good reason.
Blah blah blah, Shou wants to give the deck back, Ryou says its Shou's now, he needs to make a new, evolving deck for himself. You know, the implication here seems to be that Ryou wasn't "evolving" his deck like his Cyberdarks wanted him to, but...well, all throughout season 3, he kept playing all new cards and monsters and strategies. So, the idea that Ryou was stagnant is of course a complete load that the writers pulled out of their asses, much the same with damn near everything else on this show. Blah blah blah, something about Shou and Ryou wanting to create a new Pro League or something, they'll keep on growing together, Ryou will chase after Shou now, Shou is moved to tears, and Judai was watching from in hiding, because he's a creeper like that. End episode.
NEXT TIME! Judai is fishing, I suffer flashbacks to season 2, and apparently we're going to focus on Manjoume now. EPISODE TITLE, SHOOT FOR IT! MANJOUME, THE PATH TO A PRO DUELIST card of the week is psycho lord
So, in order for Shou to surpass his brother, he needs to crib off his deck as opposed to developing his own? That's GX for you!