Where I rewatch Yugioh GX, Episode 165
Ummm, what? Oh, apparently Manjoume was filling out some online application to be sponsored by some corporation for the Pro Dueling League...Manjoume has access to the Manjoume Group's money. He demonstrated this back in season 3, just the previous season. Why would he need to apply for sponsorship like this? In any event, he is rejected, and this is far from the first time this has happened. Blah blah blah, Manjoume goes on about how both Asuka and Shou have "chosen" their future paths through forced and unnatural "character development" episodes, and now he explains why he doesn't just use the Manjoume Group's money; he doesn't want to be dependent on his brothers. So, it's okay to use your brother's money to pick a fight with some guy who rubbed you the wrong way (Amon), but it's not okay to use that money towards a positive, proactive, and productive end. That makes sense! Also, he wants to be able to repay his brother's for all they've done for him...which would consist entirely of being unreasonable, demanding pricks towards him. And Chronos, who was just about to knock on his door, is amazed at Manjoume's "incredible will" and is determined to do his part to help out. Uh huh.
TITLE SCREEN! SHOOT FOR IT! MANJOUME, THE PATH TO A PRO DUELIST the grammar of this episode title seems very confused
And now Judai is fishing on the dock, because this serves to set up a convenient coincidence whereby he sees Manjoume and Chronos heading towards a boat. Manjoume asks Chronos where they're going, and we see Edo get off the boat. He also asks Chronos what this is all about, and Chronos gets down on hands and knees and begs Edo for the favor of a lifetime, let Manjoume become your attendant! Once again, we continue our theme of having people's choices forced upon them while acting like they were freely chosen. Blah blah blah, Manjoume won't go back to the Manjoume Group until he becomes a pro, I have no idea why or where this comes from, and Manjoume tells Chronos to shut the hell up, he never asked him to do any of this. Besides which, Edo is freaking younger than him! But Judai shows up and says he thinks it sounds like fun, and Manjoume would be able to learn all about the Pro World this way. Judai would know, as his grossly irresponsible act of "forgiving" Yubel gives him a great insight into this sort of thing. And now Judai regresses to the level of a third grader and says that Manjoume's not scared, right? Mind you, this is still more mature than he was throughout seasons 1 and 2. And most of three. Really, that's more mature than Judai is now, since he's still an emotionally stunted twit incapable of real human emotional bonds, which is the true mark of immaturity. Blah blah blah, Judai's inanity works to get Manjoume to go along with this inane plot that was forced upon him, and Edo accepts after Judai prods him to do so. Yeah, Judai had nothing to actually do with that scene, but the notion of having anything happen without him is still anathema to the writers.
Now we're in a building in the city, and Manjoume is in an elevator with an older, purple haired woman. No, she is not Misato Katsuragi from Neon Genesis Evangelion, she is Emeralda, Edo's sponsor and member of the Senrigan group. So naturally this is the first we've ever even heard of her, despite spending the better part of season 2 glued to Edo's ass when we weren't glued to Judai's. Anyway, Manjoume will now be taking care of Edo's schedule in her place, so she hands him a bag full of cell phones, saying that he'll figure them out shortly. Do I smell High-larious and impractical hijinks? Anyway, they come into a swanky apartment, so of course Manjoume will be staying in the dinky one in the building next door. So we wasted our time going to this room because...? Next day, Manjoume wakes in a room with a broken skylight, no doubt violating building codes, and in a flashback we learn that Emeralda told Manjoume to wake up by 7 or he'd be in big trouble. He wonders what that was about, the clock hits 7 exactly, and the bag of cell phones starts to ring. Naturally, all the phones are ringing as everyone decides to call at the exact same time. Suuuuuure! Next up, Edo's getting his picture taken for...something, and tells Manjoume to get his White Suit. Naturally, all his suits are white, because that's what real people do, especially wealthy, upper-class people; they wear nothing but the exact same outfit over and over again to make life easier for lazy animators. Also, for some reason Edo has dozens of duel discs. That's not ostentation, that's just wasteful. And now Edo is signing books, or something, and there are 20 trucks worth that Edo has to haul in all by himself. Say, you don't suppose that this episode was written by someone who just had to gripe about how much it sucked back when he was a toady? Nawwwww...
Now Edo is meeting with some sleazy looking guy in his apartment, who apparently wants Edo to wear costumes and do magic tricks for some event at Duel Academia. Sleazy is named Mike, and this is not the first time Edo's had to deal with him. Blah blah blah, Edo gets pissy and demands to Manjoume get him some more tea, unfunny hijinks there. And now back at Manjoume's apartment, and Emeralda decided that basic amenities like working lights and windows are something that Manjoume deserves. Also, she has a message from Edo; he is to arrange a ludicrous sum of Duel Monsters cards. Why? I don't know. It's not like Edo uses a huge variety of cards, or dozens of different decks or anything. Indiana Jones style montage of Edo and Manjoume traveling all over the world, and Edo's carrying a valuable card in a suitcase, not one for the likes of Manjoume. Manjoume collapses, begins to gripe, and Emeralda shows up to explain about how great and special Edo is, and that Manjoume never tried to learn from him. I hate it when the writers try to pull this sort of stunt; some random person acts like a selfish, spoiled self-indulgent jack-ass, and yet they are exalted as an exemplar of humanity that we should all aspire to be. Because seriously, what the hell was Edo doing in that whole montage we just saw that Manjoume was supposed to learn from? And now at night, Manjoume sneaks into Edo's apartment to spy on him...or something. Edo is dueling some random guy, and he gives himself a serious handicap, 1000 life points vs. 10,000. And when Edo draws his card, blood drips down from it. Because that's what happens when you spend all day shaking hands. Your hand starts to bleed spontaneously. Also, Edo calls himself a person of ordinary ability who has to work 1000 times harder than anyone else, which is completely and absolutely contrary to everything about Edo's backstory and characterization up to this point. Classic GX for you. Naturally, that bullshit inspires Manjoume to work even harder in the tedious card sorting. Whatever.
EYECATCH!
Well, Manjoume seems to have settled into the groove of being Edo's toady, Edo is curious about this zealous display of competence, and as an added bonus, Manjoume's canceled all of Edo's autograph and handshake sessions so his hand can get better. Uh huh. So now Edo will let Manjoume carry the suitcase with the superimportant card, how magnanimous of him, and a man in an overcoat and fedora watches from a convenient alleyway. Okay, if he isn't friends with a guy in a striped shirt carrying a big bag with a dollar sign on it, I will be sorely disappointed. And now we cut to Judai, Shou, and Kenzan fishing, wondering how Manjoume's doing. Apparently Edo's supposed to show up at Duel Academia tomorrow, and Judai will be his opponent. Huh, I guess they didn't want any risk of excitement or unexpected outcome. Nighttime, Manjoume's finished sorting all those cards, and apparently that suitcase with the super-important card has been stolen. Edo punches Manjoume for that, that card was like Ghost-Rare rarity, man! Emeralda says the "president" wants to see Edo right away, Edo takes off, and Manjoume goes to let Mike know that Edo won't be able to make it. Mike says no can do, the show must go on, so he'll use Manjoume as a substitute. Also, if Manjoume does what Mike says, he'll get lots of laughs. Why that would motivate Manjoume or any other duelist to do what this guy wants, I've no fucking clue. Now we're over at Duel Academia, Judai steps onto stage, and his opponent is Ojamanjoume, Manjoume in a very stupid Ojama Yellow costume. Yeah, I'm calling bullshit on this already, there is no fucking way that Manjoume would agree to that costume for any reason. At all. The very easily amused crowd thinks this is hilarious, Judai questions this but is really blithe about it, and now we cut over to Edo meeting up with the president of the Senrigan group.
It is a dude with an eyepatch, and apparently the card in the briefcase was the "Final D-Card", and his group spent a lot of money to develop that card. Once again, no one but Industrial Illusions would be able to make the cards, so I've no idea what this guy is talking about. Also, why the hell would Edo be carrying the "Final D-Card" in his briefcase, rather then using it as part of his deck? Oh, right, because otherwise Mr. President couldn't threaten Edo and tell him he's going to have to pay a huge penalty for losing the card. Plot trumps all! Also, Mr. President brings up a live video feed of the duel, and chews Edo out for having Manjoume work for him, Senrigan and Manjoume are big rivals don't you know? No, I didn't, this was never established before. Really, your entire existence was not established properly at all, so this isn't much of a surprise at all. Still, if Manjoume can beat Judai, they'll overlook Edo's "mistakes". I've no idea why, but let's pretend this makes sense so we can move on. The duel begins, Manjoume goes first and summons Ojama Yellow in defense, setting one card to end his turn. Judai's turn, he summons Sparkman, equip with Sparkgun, switches Ojama to attack, and blows it up for 1600 points of damage. But this prompts Manjoume to activate his trap card, Ojamable; this returns Ojama Yellow to his deck, then he gets to draw two cards and discards one. Oh what a shock, he discards Ojamagic, letting him add all three Ojamas from his deck to his hand. Judai ends his turn, Manjoume takes his, and plays Fusion to summon Ojama King. And seriously, why the hell is the crowd so excited over this? Manjoume plays Ojamandala, paying 1000 life points to bring back the ojama brothers, Ojama Delta Hurricane to blow up Judai's field, which would be vaguely impressive if Judai had a decent field, and finally Ojamuscle, sacrificing all three Ojama's to give Ojama King 3000 attack points. Direct attack, and Manjoume sets both cards in his hand to end his turn.
Judai is impressed by how strong Manjoume's become, I roll my eyes, and Manjoume goes on about how his deck is working perfectly and how he's reading Judai's strategy exactly, and apparently we're supposed to believe that all that card sorting helped him memorize all the cards in existence or some such drivel like that. Manjoume's totally convinced he's going to win this unlike the last five times where he was horribly robbed for no good reason, pointless cutaway to eye-patch dude, and now Judai's turn. He plays Oversoul to bring back Sparkman, and now Double Fusion, paying 500 life points to perform two fusion summons. So of course the first fusion is for Flame Wingman, and Manjoume thinks to himself that if he activates Hell Polymer at this time, he can take Flame Wingman from Judai and defeat him. So Mike whispers into Manjoume's ear through his earpiece and says there's no need for him to win, there are more important things in life than winning, like getting laughs. Naturally, Manjoume blows off the worthless fuckwit and activates Hell Polymer so he can win...No, wait, that's what Manjoume would do if he were in character! And he's not in character, as evidenced throughout this entire fucking episode, where he does shit he would never do, even under duress! So yeah, Judai fuses Flame Wingman and Sparkman together for Shining Flare Wingman, and of course Manjoume does not activate his winning trap because letting the rival win, even once, is just not fucking acceptable. Instead, Manjoume activates Ojama Trio, special summoning three Ojama tokens onto Judai's side of the field. So yeah, Judai wins yet another duel, one that was utterly pointless for him and meant a lot for both Manjoume and Edo. Why are we doing this? Because the writers hate us. And the most easily amused crowd in existence is laughing its collective ass off at Manjoume's oh so hilarious antics, and of course even Judai can see how grossly out of character it was for Manjoume to throw a duel, especially one against him, just to get some cheap laughs.
Fuck, when JUDAI CAN POINT OUT THE PLOT HOLES TO YOUR STORY, THAT IS A SAD FUCKING DAY INDEED! It is nighttime, Manjouem arrives at Edo's apartment to find that it has been emptied of everything but Emeralda. She tells him about the inane and nonsensical deal that Mr. Eye-patch made with Edo, Manjoume finds Edo, and Edo says he's fired. And if you are as bored with this inane faux-drama that is allegedly supposed to be teaching Edo about the realities of the Pro-Dueling world, than you have a soul, unlike the writers. End episode.
NEXT TIME! Blah blah blah, Edo is missing, Judai's sure everything will work out on its own, and Manjoume duels Edo. EPISODE TITLE, ARMED DRAGON VS. DRAGOON D END card of the week is ojama delta hurricane
Why. That's not a question, that's a statement. It is the statement that we all make as the writers make it clear that their blind hatred of Manjoume blinds them to how horrible they really are. Because honestly, unless lives or something even more important are on the line, no "true duelist" would ever throw a match while on the cusp of victory.
TITLE SCREEN! SHOOT FOR IT! MANJOUME, THE PATH TO A PRO DUELIST the grammar of this episode title seems very confused
And now Judai is fishing on the dock, because this serves to set up a convenient coincidence whereby he sees Manjoume and Chronos heading towards a boat. Manjoume asks Chronos where they're going, and we see Edo get off the boat. He also asks Chronos what this is all about, and Chronos gets down on hands and knees and begs Edo for the favor of a lifetime, let Manjoume become your attendant! Once again, we continue our theme of having people's choices forced upon them while acting like they were freely chosen. Blah blah blah, Manjoume won't go back to the Manjoume Group until he becomes a pro, I have no idea why or where this comes from, and Manjoume tells Chronos to shut the hell up, he never asked him to do any of this. Besides which, Edo is freaking younger than him! But Judai shows up and says he thinks it sounds like fun, and Manjoume would be able to learn all about the Pro World this way. Judai would know, as his grossly irresponsible act of "forgiving" Yubel gives him a great insight into this sort of thing. And now Judai regresses to the level of a third grader and says that Manjoume's not scared, right? Mind you, this is still more mature than he was throughout seasons 1 and 2. And most of three. Really, that's more mature than Judai is now, since he's still an emotionally stunted twit incapable of real human emotional bonds, which is the true mark of immaturity. Blah blah blah, Judai's inanity works to get Manjoume to go along with this inane plot that was forced upon him, and Edo accepts after Judai prods him to do so. Yeah, Judai had nothing to actually do with that scene, but the notion of having anything happen without him is still anathema to the writers.
Now we're in a building in the city, and Manjoume is in an elevator with an older, purple haired woman. No, she is not Misato Katsuragi from Neon Genesis Evangelion, she is Emeralda, Edo's sponsor and member of the Senrigan group. So naturally this is the first we've ever even heard of her, despite spending the better part of season 2 glued to Edo's ass when we weren't glued to Judai's. Anyway, Manjoume will now be taking care of Edo's schedule in her place, so she hands him a bag full of cell phones, saying that he'll figure them out shortly. Do I smell High-larious and impractical hijinks? Anyway, they come into a swanky apartment, so of course Manjoume will be staying in the dinky one in the building next door. So we wasted our time going to this room because...? Next day, Manjoume wakes in a room with a broken skylight, no doubt violating building codes, and in a flashback we learn that Emeralda told Manjoume to wake up by 7 or he'd be in big trouble. He wonders what that was about, the clock hits 7 exactly, and the bag of cell phones starts to ring. Naturally, all the phones are ringing as everyone decides to call at the exact same time. Suuuuuure! Next up, Edo's getting his picture taken for...something, and tells Manjoume to get his White Suit. Naturally, all his suits are white, because that's what real people do, especially wealthy, upper-class people; they wear nothing but the exact same outfit over and over again to make life easier for lazy animators. Also, for some reason Edo has dozens of duel discs. That's not ostentation, that's just wasteful. And now Edo is signing books, or something, and there are 20 trucks worth that Edo has to haul in all by himself. Say, you don't suppose that this episode was written by someone who just had to gripe about how much it sucked back when he was a toady? Nawwwww...
Now Edo is meeting with some sleazy looking guy in his apartment, who apparently wants Edo to wear costumes and do magic tricks for some event at Duel Academia. Sleazy is named Mike, and this is not the first time Edo's had to deal with him. Blah blah blah, Edo gets pissy and demands to Manjoume get him some more tea, unfunny hijinks there. And now back at Manjoume's apartment, and Emeralda decided that basic amenities like working lights and windows are something that Manjoume deserves. Also, she has a message from Edo; he is to arrange a ludicrous sum of Duel Monsters cards. Why? I don't know. It's not like Edo uses a huge variety of cards, or dozens of different decks or anything. Indiana Jones style montage of Edo and Manjoume traveling all over the world, and Edo's carrying a valuable card in a suitcase, not one for the likes of Manjoume. Manjoume collapses, begins to gripe, and Emeralda shows up to explain about how great and special Edo is, and that Manjoume never tried to learn from him. I hate it when the writers try to pull this sort of stunt; some random person acts like a selfish, spoiled self-indulgent jack-ass, and yet they are exalted as an exemplar of humanity that we should all aspire to be. Because seriously, what the hell was Edo doing in that whole montage we just saw that Manjoume was supposed to learn from? And now at night, Manjoume sneaks into Edo's apartment to spy on him...or something. Edo is dueling some random guy, and he gives himself a serious handicap, 1000 life points vs. 10,000. And when Edo draws his card, blood drips down from it. Because that's what happens when you spend all day shaking hands. Your hand starts to bleed spontaneously. Also, Edo calls himself a person of ordinary ability who has to work 1000 times harder than anyone else, which is completely and absolutely contrary to everything about Edo's backstory and characterization up to this point. Classic GX for you. Naturally, that bullshit inspires Manjoume to work even harder in the tedious card sorting. Whatever.
EYECATCH!
Well, Manjoume seems to have settled into the groove of being Edo's toady, Edo is curious about this zealous display of competence, and as an added bonus, Manjoume's canceled all of Edo's autograph and handshake sessions so his hand can get better. Uh huh. So now Edo will let Manjoume carry the suitcase with the superimportant card, how magnanimous of him, and a man in an overcoat and fedora watches from a convenient alleyway. Okay, if he isn't friends with a guy in a striped shirt carrying a big bag with a dollar sign on it, I will be sorely disappointed. And now we cut to Judai, Shou, and Kenzan fishing, wondering how Manjoume's doing. Apparently Edo's supposed to show up at Duel Academia tomorrow, and Judai will be his opponent. Huh, I guess they didn't want any risk of excitement or unexpected outcome. Nighttime, Manjoume's finished sorting all those cards, and apparently that suitcase with the super-important card has been stolen. Edo punches Manjoume for that, that card was like Ghost-Rare rarity, man! Emeralda says the "president" wants to see Edo right away, Edo takes off, and Manjoume goes to let Mike know that Edo won't be able to make it. Mike says no can do, the show must go on, so he'll use Manjoume as a substitute. Also, if Manjoume does what Mike says, he'll get lots of laughs. Why that would motivate Manjoume or any other duelist to do what this guy wants, I've no fucking clue. Now we're over at Duel Academia, Judai steps onto stage, and his opponent is Ojamanjoume, Manjoume in a very stupid Ojama Yellow costume. Yeah, I'm calling bullshit on this already, there is no fucking way that Manjoume would agree to that costume for any reason. At all. The very easily amused crowd thinks this is hilarious, Judai questions this but is really blithe about it, and now we cut over to Edo meeting up with the president of the Senrigan group.
It is a dude with an eyepatch, and apparently the card in the briefcase was the "Final D-Card", and his group spent a lot of money to develop that card. Once again, no one but Industrial Illusions would be able to make the cards, so I've no idea what this guy is talking about. Also, why the hell would Edo be carrying the "Final D-Card" in his briefcase, rather then using it as part of his deck? Oh, right, because otherwise Mr. President couldn't threaten Edo and tell him he's going to have to pay a huge penalty for losing the card. Plot trumps all! Also, Mr. President brings up a live video feed of the duel, and chews Edo out for having Manjoume work for him, Senrigan and Manjoume are big rivals don't you know? No, I didn't, this was never established before. Really, your entire existence was not established properly at all, so this isn't much of a surprise at all. Still, if Manjoume can beat Judai, they'll overlook Edo's "mistakes". I've no idea why, but let's pretend this makes sense so we can move on. The duel begins, Manjoume goes first and summons Ojama Yellow in defense, setting one card to end his turn. Judai's turn, he summons Sparkman, equip with Sparkgun, switches Ojama to attack, and blows it up for 1600 points of damage. But this prompts Manjoume to activate his trap card, Ojamable; this returns Ojama Yellow to his deck, then he gets to draw two cards and discards one. Oh what a shock, he discards Ojamagic, letting him add all three Ojamas from his deck to his hand. Judai ends his turn, Manjoume takes his, and plays Fusion to summon Ojama King. And seriously, why the hell is the crowd so excited over this? Manjoume plays Ojamandala, paying 1000 life points to bring back the ojama brothers, Ojama Delta Hurricane to blow up Judai's field, which would be vaguely impressive if Judai had a decent field, and finally Ojamuscle, sacrificing all three Ojama's to give Ojama King 3000 attack points. Direct attack, and Manjoume sets both cards in his hand to end his turn.
Judai is impressed by how strong Manjoume's become, I roll my eyes, and Manjoume goes on about how his deck is working perfectly and how he's reading Judai's strategy exactly, and apparently we're supposed to believe that all that card sorting helped him memorize all the cards in existence or some such drivel like that. Manjoume's totally convinced he's going to win this unlike the last five times where he was horribly robbed for no good reason, pointless cutaway to eye-patch dude, and now Judai's turn. He plays Oversoul to bring back Sparkman, and now Double Fusion, paying 500 life points to perform two fusion summons. So of course the first fusion is for Flame Wingman, and Manjoume thinks to himself that if he activates Hell Polymer at this time, he can take Flame Wingman from Judai and defeat him. So Mike whispers into Manjoume's ear through his earpiece and says there's no need for him to win, there are more important things in life than winning, like getting laughs. Naturally, Manjoume blows off the worthless fuckwit and activates Hell Polymer so he can win...No, wait, that's what Manjoume would do if he were in character! And he's not in character, as evidenced throughout this entire fucking episode, where he does shit he would never do, even under duress! So yeah, Judai fuses Flame Wingman and Sparkman together for Shining Flare Wingman, and of course Manjoume does not activate his winning trap because letting the rival win, even once, is just not fucking acceptable. Instead, Manjoume activates Ojama Trio, special summoning three Ojama tokens onto Judai's side of the field. So yeah, Judai wins yet another duel, one that was utterly pointless for him and meant a lot for both Manjoume and Edo. Why are we doing this? Because the writers hate us. And the most easily amused crowd in existence is laughing its collective ass off at Manjoume's oh so hilarious antics, and of course even Judai can see how grossly out of character it was for Manjoume to throw a duel, especially one against him, just to get some cheap laughs.
Fuck, when JUDAI CAN POINT OUT THE PLOT HOLES TO YOUR STORY, THAT IS A SAD FUCKING DAY INDEED! It is nighttime, Manjouem arrives at Edo's apartment to find that it has been emptied of everything but Emeralda. She tells him about the inane and nonsensical deal that Mr. Eye-patch made with Edo, Manjoume finds Edo, and Edo says he's fired. And if you are as bored with this inane faux-drama that is allegedly supposed to be teaching Edo about the realities of the Pro-Dueling world, than you have a soul, unlike the writers. End episode.
NEXT TIME! Blah blah blah, Edo is missing, Judai's sure everything will work out on its own, and Manjoume duels Edo. EPISODE TITLE, ARMED DRAGON VS. DRAGOON D END card of the week is ojama delta hurricane
Why. That's not a question, that's a statement. It is the statement that we all make as the writers make it clear that their blind hatred of Manjoume blinds them to how horrible they really are. Because honestly, unless lives or something even more important are on the line, no "true duelist" would ever throw a match while on the cusp of victory.