Episode 16
Man episode 16 was boring. I found it incredibly difficult to watch. There really wasn’t much to it until the last two minutes of the episode, where we finally get more interesting development when they introduced Neil, and his “Garden of Providence” (which I will elaborate on in just a bit). The kids traced the Kaizo-Imposter back to the famous A.I. Restaurant, and thanks to Mimi (who was on her way for a Goha Banquet), they were able to get inside. However Rook being a pig got them into trouble when they couldn’t pay for the food since the 66yen promotion ended. So they end up in the kitchen (which shockingly, had no A.I. doing the dishes…) while the one who got them into that position in the first place goes off elsewhere, avoiding his responsibilities as per usual. But as we know already, Romin is a complete klutz in the Kitchen, and that includes doing the dishes. She ends up accidentally breaking the dishes and her only way out of paying for it is through a duel.
At that point, my interest was waning, and unfortunately the duel really didn’t do anything to spice things up. Instead it did the opposite. There were two things that bothered me: One, I just wasn’t enjoying the “wash” puns as much as I would have liked to. The more I heard it the more I grew tired of it. I am starting to wonder if maybe this series needs to take a break from puns for a while, because it seems they go for it at every opportunity, and it’s starting to lose its charm (or maybe it was simply because I didn’t find these puns particularly amusing in any sort of way). And the second thing that I killed the interest in the duel was the fact Romin’s opponent cheated right off from the very start of their match. Look I don’t mind when the opponents cheats so as long as they make the match a lot more interesting and the protagonist overcomes it and defeat them. But I found this one to be… shallow, I guess? It really didn’t add anything to the opponent, especially since we are unlikely to ever see him again.
Although I didn’t enjoy this episode, there were some things I enjoyed. I liked how quickly everyone noticed the dude was cheating, I loved that Yuuga straight-up called him out on it, and Rook used his bizarre powers to destroy the mechanism that enabled him to cheat in the first place. And of course, I am thankful Romin was able to overcome it and win, all while showing yet another trigger that makes her go crazy during a duel (lost of patience and unable to cry). And of course best of all, Rook finally decided to forgive Romin for betraying them. In fact, I liked that it took a few episodes before Rook did. While it wasn’t as dramatic as some circumstance we have seen before, it doesn’t change the fact that it did hurt him and he wasn’t ready to trust her again just yet.
Episode 17
This week’s episode… was okay. First it started off with diving straight into Neil’s backstory, and have Neil challenge Yuuga to beat a series of duelists leading up to his central control room. If he succeeds, he will return Kaizo’s data back, if he loses six times, then Neil will delete both Yuuga’s and his friends’ duel accounts.
Their first opponent is a Cat Duelist Neoyama Schrodinger. Rook decides to fight in Yuuga’s steed but quickly finds himself dealing with A Cat Duelist Neoyama Schrodinger who messed with his head using ‘Schrodinger’s Cat’. It was quite hilarious to see Yuuga troll Rook when he asked if Yuuga would still allow him to become King. Boy did he play his heart like a fiddle.
With Rook participating in Yuuga’s steed, it seems this challenge isn’t specifically limited to Yuuga only. However I am curious to see whether Mimi will end up participating as a member of their “team”. Otherwise, apart from her spying she really has no further purpose of being with them right now. We also see Roa in the preview, so it’s possible he may end up joining the party as well.
Then we have Neil. As mentioned earlier, it started with a bang and honestly I was stunned. I can’t even… it is just crazy, and maybe too crazy. Neil is eleven years old genius programmer, duelist. At the age of three, he hacked the space satellites’ networks and sent them all crashing down onto Earth. Naturally all I could think of was, “WHAT THE FUCK? DID HE JUST SEND A SATELLITE CRASHING INTO THE CITY AT THE AGE OF THREE?! IS HE INSANE? OF COURSE HIS PARENTS WERE TERRIFIED. HE ALMOST BOMBED THE CITY FOR ENTERTAINMENT! WHY IN THE WORLD DID GOHA RECRUIT HIM AND GIVE HIM ALL THIS POWER?!” (Albeit, he was three years old and probably didn’t know what he just did…. But if he did… that would be terrifying.)
Yes, that’s right. Goha Corporation scouted a freaking child, appointed him to work in an underground lair beneath the beneath the city, and then granted him complete authority over the regulations of duels around the world.
…I… I can’t even wrap my head around that. Is this an overkill? It is definitely an overkill, but considering they seem to be super invested in the idea of these elementary kids all doing crazy things (and even created an adult (Mimi) to look like one one too), I suppose it’s should be expected at this point. This could also explain a lot of the bullshit rules we have been seeing involving trades, inflexible rules and and an overall killjoy for those who want to experiment and try something new.
But frankly, I don’t know how I feel about this. I am certainly curious about what they plan to do with Neil’s character. Considering his outrageous backstory, I suspect that whatever is going to follow this event, it is going to be the thing we’re all waiting for: some real action to get the plot pursuing the title as the King of Duels. After-all, Otis even showed up in front of this kid, telling him that his days of fun (controlling the rules) are over, and a new King of Duels will be born. Sure enough, Yuuga and his Rush Duel came into the picture and despite his efforts, he was unable to remove Rush Duels from the system.
Now that they have introduced us to the character who is supposed to be the “current” King, there is certainly room for some cool development… that is, only if they decide to really go all in for it. The problem is they haven’t exactly given us a reason to believe they will do that just yet. As it stands, the focus is on comedy, the puns, (something they really need to dial back on, it loses its charm if play with it too frequently), so I have been progressively reducing my hopes and expectations for something more serious to come along.
That being said, with the way these episodes are playing out, I think it is safe to say I will probably releasing double-posts for the majority, if not for the remaining episodes of this “Garden of Providence” arc. And as per usual, I will leave a notice in the comment section of the most recent entry of this series if I am going to release a double-post. (In rare exceptions, I may do triple posts, under circumstances I absolutely do not have enough to say).
Next time, it seems Roa may be joining the party. It would be nice to see him actually impress us after such a disappointing debut.
I don’t think the series will enter into “serious territory” until Goha Corp starts to take a more active role against Yuga and his friends, which may not be for awhile. While the buildup to the plot is rather slow going, I’m sure the payoff will be well worth the wait.
In any case, I’m kinda enjoying the episodes we’ve been getting so far, as they seem to be more character focused than plot focused, if that makes any sense, as we get moments that help make the characters stand out and not just blend into the background until they get an episode focused on them. That’s something that SEVENS has done pretty well compared to previous Yu-Gi-Oh series, bar maybe Arc-V’s first season. It kinda reminds me of how the Cardfight Vanguard anime started out; focusing on developing the characters while slowly getting them involved with the plot.
And the duels, while the last few may have seemed boring to you, they weren’t really all that bad. Nothing groundbreaking, but I’d say they were kinda mellow in a way. Maybe if you don’t let the overused puns detract you from the duels and just go with the flow, you may enjoy them a little, or at least tolerate them.
With that out of the way, I’m really looking forward to seeing how this arc will play out. With there being five opponents left and Roa will be facing off against one of them, who I think is the drummer from his band, it’s likely that all of Yuga’s friends will get a shot to duel, which may include Mimi, especially if Yuga asks her to help out, or if she’ll have her own reasons for doing so, but if she does take part, it might help her in changing her opinion about Yuga and Rush Duels.
What I’m hoping we will finally see more focus on the plot. Thankfully, it does look like they are slowly but steadily going in that direction now that we have learned about Otis’ connection with Neil, and how he gave him a heads up Duels will change with a new King.
It will be interesting to see if Mimi really does end up participating. It would be pretty funny if she ends up getting a call to be their opponent again! HAHA!
Agree, what this series is doing well is putting a spotlight on all of the main characters, and rather equally so, and that’s something to appreciate.
I’m quite angry at Rook in ep 16. How dare he so casually retorted with a smile of what Romin had done in that situation. This and that is an entirely different thing. This is clearly his fault, but yet he shows no sign of guilt whatsoever. And maybe you didn’t notice, but the episode is full of number 6. 66 yen promo, 6 seconds, 666.666 yen debt, and not forgetting Rook’s so-called signature Devil, this clearly referring to Satan whose number is 666. XD
Neil is no doubt a lunatic. Goha Corp is either bold or crazy to hire someone like him. I have nothing more to say about Neil. Rook once again provided comical moments in the Duel, entertaining me. And the appearance of another Odd-Eyes Monster! It even resembled Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon! ARC-V referrence! And yeah, also Blue-Eyes and Red-Eyes cats.
From the preview, I’m guessing Roa performing some song in the middle of a Duel to reach his opponent’s heart. He actually has the time to sing while duelling. The confidence! XD
Yup, Rook was definitely a petty brat in Episode 16.
At this point I am half expecting the CEO of Goha Corp to be a child too. ^^;;; We already seen how the costumes work in this series
You know what Thrust Dragon Bunker Strike actually reminded me of? A more fancier and modernized version of of Lua’s Power Tool Dragon! XD (Or maybe it’s just me LMAO) The cats were freaking adorable though.