"Any card—so long as it exists—has a power that is needed."

atemtime:

So, I just think about this episode a lot, but something kind of just occurred to me. This was obviously supposed to be the cornerstone episode of Manjoume’s character, the first time the audience sees him actually do something nice for someone else, turn a different leaf, etc etc. But going back and watching it, for a character who’s already been established as a spoiled brat who doesn’t feel like he should have to put in effort to be the best, he melts really fast over this guy.

Like, for a show with weird fast-paced episodes like this one, I just kind of overlooked it before. But I feel like it kind of says a lot about his upraising actually. One sentence that seems like it’s on a track that is genuinely caring, and he almost looks floored.

Do you think there’s ever been an adult in his life who expressed that kind of heartfelt concern for his well-being? Like, he immediately doubles back on what we know of him after this and gives away his ticket into the school for this guy. Not to mention in a ‘cool guy way’ that would give him no recognition for it. When, as established before, he just seemed to care about the attention and influence he gained from being the best.

We all know his older brothers treated him like shit, made him feel like he had to have power to have value, forced him into a mold that wasn’t even shaped like him, and whatnot. But even in terms of the interactions we’ve seen with teachers, like. Cronos dropped him right after he failed to beat Judai. The minute he started losing, he was no longer wanted, not even by the adult who previously held him on a pedestal of strength.

No parents are ever mentioned (which eh, it’s yugioh, that could mean literally anything), he has no real friends at this point in the show, and with that attitude, I mean. It’s basically a given that there were other teachers in his upraising who just rolled their eyes over what a brat he was.

So I just think. When this old man he’s never met shows him a hint of kindness, maybe it wasn’t just the first moment we see Manjoume show pity– maybe it was the first moment Manjoume felt cared about, period. 

yugiohz:

look at these gx designs ©️

yugiohz:

my fav trope is arrogant bastard who’s socially much higher than the protagonist but then he experiences a social downfall and now he has to hang out with the protagonist and his cringe gang. plus points if he’s dramatic about it while the others don’t care

nialumin:

You haven’t changed one bit

Enter Saiou! The Tarot Deck of Destiny

(Check out my Subbed!GX Stream Masterpost!)

The mysterious man Saiou appears before Manjoume to duel him.  Saiou uses a very Tarot-style way of battle in which he sets his cards on his table, has Manjoume shuffle his deck, and foretells Manjoume’s fate according to the card he pulls–causing this to become a confrontation between Saiou’s belief in absolute fate and Manjoume’s belief in making his destiny for himself.

A bit over a month later, here’s my finalized subs for episode 61! After Fubuki’s episode last time ended with Judai isolated in his room, Manjoume tries to shake him out of this mental toll he’s taken, but to no avail.  Then Manjoume finds himself facing Saiou as we’re more properly introduced to Ed’s manager and friend, as well as his belief that one can’t escape the destiny they’ve chosen for themselves–and before long, where he failed with Judai, Saiou succeeds with Manjoume in finding a new servant for his… Society of Light? It’s a nicely paced episode, imo; I liked how well Saiou was written here in establishing more about him and foreshadowing Manjoume’s defeat, and hey, Armed Dragon LV10 showed up!

Animation-fix-wise, there’s… actually nothing to report on, which hasn’t happened in a while. 😅 This was just mainly delayed as I wrapped up work on my 5D’s “Dub-Uncut” mini-project 2-4 weeks ago, then I focused on polishing the script for the last week or so. (EDIT, 2022: That was a lie–one fix I came back to apply under the cut!)

Enjoy! Should have this up on NAC in the next day or two.  With this done, I’ll be prepping for 62 as we get Judai suddenly finding himself in Neo Space for some plot; we’ll, uh, see how this goes.

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