So having finally watched the latest episode something hit me. Early on we were considering similarities between the City and Academia. That perhaps the reason it was so easy for Jean to take over and why Dennis and Serena never seemed to show any concern about the state of Synchro. But looking back at it, they are very different, highlighted nicely by Shinji’s rants.
In the City, losers are discarded and their voices ignored. Shinji seemed to imply no one would even help Yuzu (although whether Dennis and Yuzu getting attention was just because they were important or because they were hurt is up in the air) just because she’d lost.
Compare that to how Academia has treated its losers (excluding Serena). Barret and Sora have both lost and instead of being cast aside, they keep their rank. They could have been punished but we don’t know. But we do know Sora was sent out in charge of the Obelisk force and given a second chance. And now so is Barret. And despite seemingly not knowing Dennis, Sora’s apparent first thought on learning he was Academia and lost, even not knowing Synchro’s situation with the Council and Security, was to save Dennis from capture and send him home for help. The Professor confirms Dennis has reported in and Yuuri, after failing to capture Yuzu, is being sent out again.
It paints a pretty obvious picture that Academia doesn’t in fact abandon its losers and instead builds them up and sends them out for a chance at redeeming themselves. And this is the problem the City has. I have no doubt Academia is competitive and everyone is trying to get up in the ranks. But Academia has managed to breed loyalty, The City only breeds distrust and rebellion as we see with Shinji. The City has only taught the Commons that the only way to get what you want is to tear others down and step over others. That losing is unacceptable if you want to get anywhere. Academia (quite rightly as a school) allows for mistakes and seeks to fix them .
In a sense, the City gets along by pushing down losers, Academia gets by raising up winners.
You have Reira with his club on his sweater. Diamond on LDS. Heartland has the Heart. Nothing for Spades so far I think, probably end up coming from Academia. And of course, the mastermind behind it all…Yusho with his monster that has them all.