The duel has finally come to an end, and Yuusaku managed to emerge victorious, but not without his losses. Kusanagi attempted to save Akira by using the LVSS device, but unfortunately failed. Not wanting to be a source of weakness, Akira took the matter into his own hands, and sacrificed himself so Yuusaku can fight without an ally held hostage.
To be frank, we needed this to happen. We needed Akira to be sacrificed one way or another because we simply could not have Yuusaku win yet another duel without experiencing some form of loss. He was put into a difficult situation where he didn’t want to lose anyone, and was trying to figure out how he can accomplish them all. Recognizing that, Akira took it upon himself to remind him to have conviction, and don’t lose track of the big picture. Even if sacrifices must be made, carry that burden and keep going. Transform that conviction into strength, and don’t let the efforts of those who have fallen be in vain. It was exactly what Yuusaku needed to hear, especially after all the seeds of doubts Spectre had planted throughout the duel. Now he is mad as hell, but he will use that conviction to reach Revolver.
But you know what was also important? Kusanagi experiencing his own failure as well. He is Yuusaku’s only partner, and. tried to play the true Support Role today, but his (imperfect) program wasn’t strong enough to override the Hanoi Knight’s virus that held Akira hostage. As result it wasn’t just Yuusaku who lost Akira, but Kusanagi as well. And based off what we have seen so far, he is not taking it well. For Kusanagi, his strength lies in being a reliable support, and now since his LVSS failed, this also means Yuusaku lacks a means to escape if they are unable to prevent the tower from being completed.
I loved the conditions that was required to win this thing. Yuusaku needed to bait Spectre into attacking him, so he taunted him by jabbing his sore spot of Revolver’s impression on him. Spectre’s mission was to simply stall Yuusaku long enough for the bridge to fall, not to outright defeat him. Spectre’s deadly combo relied on being a tanky nuisance, so when he decided he wanted to personally attack Yuusaku, it ended up imploding his entire strategy. And while Spectre had lost, he too experienced his own losses of having to watch his Mother Tree burn all over again, but it was good to see him remain insane till the very end.
Unfortunately for Yuusaku, time did run out and the bridge is collapsing right under his feet. This might cause him to have to reroute and take a detour, otherwise figure out a way to climb up the rubble. But I also suspect he might use one of those handy devices we’ve seen him use whenever he fell off his board during Speed Duels to fling him up to to the top- but that depends on how far long he was crossing the bridge. But I suppose the bigger question to this situation is how much time does he lose if he has to figure out an alternative route? More time Yuusaku loses, the bigger the time crunch. Honestly I have been starting to have my doubts about Yuusaku successfully stopping Revolver’s plans, but at the same time, I also suspect something will go wrong. It will become a situation neither one of them anticipated, and if anything, it will likely have something to do with Ai.
Speaking of the devil: I do want to address how Ao reacted to Akira’s decision to sacrifice himself. Since Akira been used as a hostage, Ai has been constantly pestering Yuusaku to discard him and how he doesn’t want to die. But now he just witness Akira make a heroic choice. For Ai, this was a shock to him. He never anticipated Akira doing such a thing, nor does he seem to truly understand how or why he did it. All Ai has been doing up till now is selfishly look out for himself, so it will be very interesting to see how Ai will process this event. (On the side note: Ai clinging to Yuusaku’s face was ADORABLE!!!!!!)
And finally, it was so nice to see the animation quality go up again, especially for this episode. I found it to be absolutely breathtaking, especially with Sunavalon Dryatrentiay’s Link 4 form. The cherry blossoms fluttering n the air was sooooooo pretty, that is was almost a bummer to see it be taken out.
Next week, based on the Preview, I am under the impression we are in for a “Recap Episode: Hanoi Knights Edition”, potentially giving us a bit more backstory on the Hanoi Knights, and possibly on Revolver himself. If it is a recap, and it doesn’t add anything new or significant to discuss, I will save it for a double-post with Episode 39. If not, I will cover the episode as scheduled.
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