Predictions and Observations:
On Your Mark, Get Set, DUEL!

Episode Aired: September 13, 2008
This Post Posted: September 16, 2008

I can't believe these are the first words of my first post. Okay, I'm going to try and say this as nicely as I possibly can. One day I'll look back on this day with as much clarity as the first time I caught a glimpse of Battle City, or the day The Next King of Games first premiered, which I still celebrate the anniversary of, but right now I'm bitter and angry and upset. I tried very hard to get the right channel and the right time; at this point I wonder if it even exists. The very people that create this canon treat it like trash, put it on obscure channels, list it wrong, and maybe sometimes don't even show it at all; and it doesn't change a thing, but it sure makes it hard to be a fan. So everyone's clear, I'm watching the only recording of this I could get my hands on, which appears to be a camcorder recording of a video screen that's showing the episode, found on YouTube. I'll study closely, but expect confusion about things that aren't usually very hard to see or hear. I feel like a failure as an expert on this canon and I feel completely degraded to not even be watching the premiere the way it's meant to be seen, or even in any way that actually quite works. I just wanted to clear the air on that, and if anyone from 4kids or any TV station is reading this, this one's for you: no matter how much we love your shows, we can't watch them if you don't make it clear how to find them, and even if a show doesn't seem as popular as it used to be, there are still people like me out there who love it for what it is, and it hurts to be left hanging. I want them to know the next time they want to cut corners that the pride they take in their work and the quality of it is good for more than a paycheck; by their dedication or negligence do we fans watch our show or do what I'm trying to do right now.
Okay, took some searching (I now know the difference between "subbed" and "dubbed" very very well) but I found a video with the actual screen itself on Google Videos. It got uploaded about ten minutes ago, which suggests I'm watching exactly what showed this morning.

KaibaCorp changed its logo...? And, it seems to be a tradition that there's a shot of *a* KaibaCorp building in every first episode.

Is that Valon as Jack, or just someone else with a good cockney accent? It sounded a LOT like Valon's actor, and when I could barely see the screen, I actually thought for a second, well, if any of the original duelists would be up for a turbo-duel, Valon's probably one of the best with such a vehicle. And whoever said, "I'll fire things up." shortly after the opening, it didn't sound much like Jack so it must've been Hunterpace, I guess, sounded like Bakura.

So they did choose Hyperdrive. They put it up to an online vote, and Hyperdrive was a fairly bitter divide over love it and hate it up on the boards, but I liked it. I like it mostly because it describes not the pressure of win-or-lose, but how it feels to just experience the duel and enjoy it, win or lose. "A higher level," is the quote I think of, "All the angles, all the moves. You won't think; you'll just act."

The other possible themes were--
Better Be Better Than Best, which all fans of the Heart pretty much slammed. It goes against the spirit of the canon, and would probably be a good song for creeps you get some of in every canon like Bandit Keith. Now that I don't have to worry anymore about it getting picked as the theme, it's good for a laugh.
Rev It Up, the one I voted for, is just so darn catchy. In retrospect, I also like it because it contains the lines "what you throw away will make me faster, make me better!" and "what you see as weakness makes us strong", and I just love direct-canon references. Those are some core themes, too, I can tell. It also contains the lyric, "Don't underestimate the dragon's tail, what you throw away..." Which reminds me of Yusei warning Trudge not to underestimate the SATELLITES. If the Satellite is the "dragon's tail", would Domino itself be its head? And how would that metaphor show up?
We Ride To Survive, another favorite, which I liked because it was a lot about the energy and connection between two duelists, and the inherent beauty in watching someone do what they were born to do.
We Are the Ones was kind of too fast to understand, but I like it anyway. I like the line "we got technology and the will to fight", 'cause that's really all it takes to start a duel.
Secret of Five was considered, by many, a shoo-in. It wasn't bad, but I had trouble keeping a straight face through the song when all it really said was the title of the show (not quite the right title, actually) and how this time it's serious (like we've never heard that before, lol). One line I liked, though, was "Whatcha gonna do when the future's up to you? You duel!"
Need For Speed is the last one, and at first I thought it was kinda mellow for a duel theme, but I think it may hit the core of the show most soundly, now that I've gotten a glimpse of it. "You can lock me up, you can tie me down, throw away the key; I'm still breakin' outta this one-horse town, yeah, ya can't catch me! Revvin' up, drivin' hard-- put my faith in the cards!" It really expresses the theme of satellites getting out of the slums: "Jack didn't stay. So why should I?" "I see you still think you can outduel Sector Security. It's too bad the rules say you satellites can't carry cards.", but Yusei does, and he can outduel the authority that says he isn't as worthy a duelist as anyone in Domino.

There were a couple things that we couldn't really understand the significance of in the songs (yet) from the episode, that I wanted to mention. The first of course, is the five dragons in "Secret of Five" and the dragon's tail in "Rev It Up"; I already said something about the dragon's tail, and if Domino's one metaphorical dragon, what are the other four (Worldwide branches?), and if it isn't one of the five, what are the five? Is Red Dragon Archfiend one of them? "Secret of Five" mentions that "high octane is the City rule"; in official city turbo duels, is there a minimum speed limit or something? The other things was the "see the sun a'risin" and "feel the sun a-rise..." in Hyperdrive and Rev It Up respectively; what's so special about the sunrise, or was this referring to the final, somewhat stirring scene of the episode, in which Yusei looks out over the sea at the city, sparkling in the sun. BTW, on a somewhat unrelated note, that tells us that the City is east off the coast of the Satellite, and come to think of it, we know (recalling Fighting For a Friend and the sun setting over the ocean) that Domino's coastline is to its west. As a point against my theory that the Satellite is Domino itself, the one we knew, in the future and the City is newly-built.

I was struck by the first scene, intercutting Jack's match with Yusei's test-ride. Along with "Long ago, when the Pyramids were still young..." and "All right! I've got my deck, I've got my gear, and I've got about two minutes to get to the Duel Academy entrance exams before they start!", we now have "Duelists young and old, professional and amateur alike, it's the moment you've been waiting for!" And indeed it was; ironic, that. Intercutting the line "will the competition ever show its face?" with Yusei's ride made us wonder if HE wasn't Jack's opponent, which in some way, he is, because he's working on this runner, testing this chip, among other things, to get at Jack. Jack's got a different opponent, but Yusei's imaginary opponent is Jack himself. In my Comic-Con-camcorder confusion (say, that's catchy), I even wondered if Hunterpace was some sort of pseudonym, and Jack's match was just a flashback of Yusei's, the last time he took on Jack. The next thing I noticed was the handy little exposition about the new rules by the announcer at Jack's match. Tricky, very tricky. The next thing after that that caught my eye was that Jack never even looked at his card before summoning Red Dragon Archfiend. He didn't have to. Why? Then there's Jack's mention that Hunterpace, too, had tangled with him before (this was a rematch) and came from the "junkyard", which probably means the Satellite, just like himself and Yusei. Trudge is actually the only City-duelist we've seen, when in theory satellites aren't even supposed to have cards. And of course, the last thing to mention is the silent scene, when Yusei's engine busts. It contrasts Hunterpace's angry behavior when he loses to Jack; Yusei just looks up at the sky. What is he thinking of? Will we ever know?

Who is Hunterpace? Will we see him again? Why is it that the very first legitimate city duel we saw was between two duelists who almost definitely both came from the Satellite and (in theory) were never supposed to have decks at all? Is Hunterpace some one-ep-wonder we never see again? What happened the last time he dueled Jack, and will we ever need to know?

I think Yusei's voiced by the guy who plays Tristan.

The guy in the helicopter also voices Duke Devlin. It's really interesting to close my eyes and listen to the dialog and hear Duke and Tristan instead of Yusei and the guy in the helicopter.

Nervin mentioned that if they were caught with stolen goods, they'd all be "marked", and seemed to point to Rally's cheek. Later, Tank said that the mark is like a homing device, and it sends a signal to Sector Security, and Rally again indicated that cheek. There was no visible marking, but with such technology there probably wouldn't need to be. Since Nervin mentioned that they WOULD get marked, that means not all of them are already. If I had to guess, I'd say that Yusei and Rally, having been in and out of this "Re-Education Center", are marked, and Tank, Blitz, and Nervin aren't. It's practically certain that Rally is, considering the cheek twitch, though for the record we don't know. But then why would Trudge have needed the acceleration chip to draw them out? If Yusei OR Rally was marked, they wouldn't have needed to bait Rally to find him, unless that tunnel blocks the signal that detects the marks, like it's lead-lined or really thick or something, in which case they'd need to leave out the chip, watch it, and follow Rally the old-fashioned way.

The rundown of characters so far....
Yusei. Like Jaden before him, Yusei defies conventional explanation within the understanding of the previous shows. So far, the character I've found myself comparing him to most is Axel Brody, another duelist who thinks more than he speaks, because he isn't one to chatter and we rely on the people around him for the important exposition in this episode. I can't put my finger on it, but I like this guy. From the get-go, it's offputting that he seems to have this grudge going against Jack, because if anything holds true it's that dueling for revenge never pays, and I kinda don't want to see Yusei go down, especially since he's the main character. From Trudge, we've heard Yusei described as a "know-it-all", someone who thinks he can outduel authority, a "wise-guy", that his deck is composed of cards that other duelists threw away (more on Yusei's deck and style later; I'm picking that one apart), one who acts first and thinks second. Yusei himself has said that he doesn't rely on just one card, but several, and has faith in his deck as a whole instead of any individual part; he's spoken for all the satellites but certainly for himself in saying that what appears to be weakness in him is actually strength; he cites his experience growing up in the slums of the Satellite as having made him resourceful with his moves. Tank's mentioning Jack's runner in an attempt to cheer him up seems to suggest that Yusei made that runner or had a serious hand in having it be that good, suggesting that Yusei might be an even better mechanic than duelist, and maybe for him it's not just the rider but the runner too. (more on that later, too)
Jack Atlas. The apparent Kaiba of 5D's. Expository dialog suggests or states that he double-crossed Yusei, stole his runner and his best card, and headed for the big leagues in the City, and if he hadn't, Yusei would be where he is now. This in turn suggests that it's Yusei's runner, not Jack's skill, that is responsible for Jack's crazy winning streak. Jack specifically denies this: "Let's get this straight-- it's not the power of the runner, it's the RIDER!" but the guilty often do. Jack seems to know Yusei and his circle pretty well; he knew that if Rally found that chip, Rally would take it straight to Yusei, heedless of the risk. If I had to guess at this point, I'd say that they were once pretty close; to double-cross someone, you have to be on their side, first. But the strange thing is, other than the dishonorable conduct of winning on someone else's merit, Jack seems to be a strong duelist; he knew what card he had drawn without looking, which is often an indication of an affinity with the cards, and his position that it's not about the technology or cards but about the duelist him-or-herself and how they play them seems difficult to disagree with unless you know that he himself is only winning with a little "borrowed" assistance from Yusei. One thing I'm still fuzzy about though is what it is about Jack and Yusei that really sets them apart in how they see the game itself, though the "it's not the runner" line seems to get close to it.
Tank. In appearance and slightly in demeanor, he reminds me a bit of Chumley. Has a bit of a tendency to put his foot in his mouth (hence Blitz's frequent admonitions) but he means well, and his meaning well exceeds his caution, such as when, seeing how excited Yusei is about Rally's chip, suggests that maybe they shouldn't return it after all. I note that he doesn't voice an opinion about Yusei's grudge against Jack, or his plans to leave the Satellite and go after him, while the other three do.
Blitz. Seems to me that this is a guy who looks out for his friends, even when he has to say the thing no one wants to hear. He clicks off the TV as soon as they notice Yusei, and he's the one telling Tank and Nervin to shut up about Jack. That's also about half of what he says, and there's a question of whether what they're saying bugs Yusei as much as Blitz seems to think it does. Tank and especially Rally encourage Yusei to keep the questionable chip, but Blitz argues against it because it puts them in danger, even if they might want to keep it. He advises Yusei to let Jack go because it's not worth risking his freedom. While Yusei draws the police force away, Blitz is the one who takes charge and leads the others away.
Nervin. To remember his name, just think of the word nervous; Nervin is a bit on the twitchy side. He doesn't want to get in trouble, is my first impression.
Rally. I'll candidly admit that I'm not sure if Rally is a boy or a girl, so I'm being careful with my pronouns, and I'm also in the dark on the matter of spelling. It'll sift out. Anyway, Rally seems to be an unofficial younger sibling to Tank, Blitz, Nervin, and especially Yusei. I'm getting a Mokuba vibe in a huge way from Rally; wonder why, lol. But no, seriously, Rally's obvious delight in knowing that his/her find helps Yusei far outweighs any caution against picking up strange chips. Rally is the other extreme from Nervin; he's really cautious, Blitz is less cautious but still against the chip, Tank is nervous but says maybe Yusei should keep it, and Rally is in no doubt that Yusei should keep it. Rally also argues in favor of Yusei's going after Jack. Rally is also mentioned during the duel; from Trudge and Yusei we learn that Yusei and Rally once attended (probably not willingly) a Re-Education Center. Trudge also implies that, while he used Rally to lead him to Yusei, he plans to capture both of them: "And with you and Rally off to the facility, Jack'll have one less thing to worry about." What threat could Rally be to Jack? As a final note, I observe that it was right after Trudge implied a threat to Rally, "I can still remember the scared look on Rally's face. And I can't wait to see it again once your friend is rounded up." that Yusei pulled out his winning move and slammed him. It's canon that Rally isn't Yusei's younger sibling, because Trudge specifically calls Rally Yusei's friend in the same quote, but I'd venture to say it's pretty close to it.
Trudge. So far, most of what we know about Trudge is how he relates to Yusei. Incidentally, we still don't know quite what he was doing at that same center, since he apparently is too old to have been a rowdy street punk at the same time Yusei and Rally were. Maybe he was a security guard there. Trudge also knows Jack, and knows that Jack knows how to get to Yusei. What is the source of Trudge's grudge (lol) against Yusei, that he feels so strongly Yusei should be locked up? And how does that stack up against his concern for his career? Enough that he told his other officers to take a hike so he could deal with Yusei himself, suggesting that this is personal, and that he wants to defeat Yusei in a duel along with being able to do more against him by virtue of having won. But Trudge is most tempted to accept Yusei's challenge by the offer of faking an arrest that would get him promoted. Then again, such an arrest as Yusei proposed would also probably mean Trudge would be able to save face and lock Yusei up for longer; if Yusei said he had stolen the chip, no one could say that this is just the authorities taking out their frustration on an innocent street punk who only MIGHT be troublesome, or cite Trudge's grudge as the reason for Yusei's arrest.

One of the first things I thought about Trudge was that it's a bit of a tradition also that the first episode contains the main character challenging a biased, bigoted authority; for Yugi, it was Kaiba, and for Jaden, it was Crowler. Yusei has Trudge. What are the common threads in how the main characters are introduced, is the question I'm asking myself. In facing Kaiba, Yugi showed that he's someone who stands up for his friends and family, he contrasted Kaiba in having faith in the cards' heart while Kaiba cared only for their power, and we were left wondering about his sudden change in confidence and demeanor, which sets the tone for Duelist Kingdom. In facing Crowler, Jaden shows that he is game for just about any duel the world sees fit to throw his way, even one that's all-out unfair, and unlike both Yugi and Yusei, Jaden is a complete newcomer, while Yugi and Yusei both already know people, already have friends and rivals who are introduced as such in these episodes. What I like about The Next King of Games is that we catch glimpses of just about everyone, and each of them have independent opinions about the newcomer, Jaden. Jaden shows his potential in how Winged Kuriboh chose him even over Yugi, and in how he defeated Crowler while barely noticing that he was ever in deep. Now, one of the first things we learn about Yusei is who his enemies are: Jack, and later Trudge. Yusei's world is one in which nothing can be considered safe; to me it seems to me that he accepted the chip from Rally because he might as well and he could deal with trouble if it followed; it wouldn't be the only thing he'd get in trouble for, because he also had his own deck. If Yusei is anything like Yugi and Jaden, he couldn't not duel anyway, which means for him that, as surely as he is a duelist, breaking the rules is the only way to go.

Okay, so to recap, and get this straight, normal dueling still exists, but now there's a field spell called "Speed World" that makes duel runners part of the action. You have to wonder which of those crazy genius card-designers came up with that one. They determine the speed counters, which, I'm still fuzzy on how exactly they affect what moves duelists can make. In a turbo-duel, apparently, the "Speed World" spell is played even before the duel starts, and is considered as essential as activating one's duel disk. I'd imagine that that was a bit of a process; it's still a card, but it serves a function in the duel such that it is activated every single time and everyone has one. Speaking of which, that means that without the "Speed World" field spell, one CANNOT turbo-duel, even if they can duel and even if they have a runner. Do both duelists need a card or just one? They apparently both get played at once, even though traditionally only one field spell is ever in play at once. This also means that other field spells and their effects cannot be part of a turbo-duel (Neo-Space, Clock Tower Prison, Mausoleum of the Emperor, Umi, the Seal of Orichalcos...). Unless, of course, in addition to its special position in a duel, by now it has its own slot separate from the field spell zone, which, don't rule it out. Does "Speed World" count toward the number of cards officially in a duelist's deck? And they said that normal spells take a backseat and speed spells are central in the action. Have we seen a speed spell yet? I'd imagine they differ from other spells in that they can only be played in a turbo-duel and they directly operate with the speed counter and so forth.

The cheerleaders' uniforms look a lot like Obelisk Blue girls. Coincidence or not, who knows, but it stuck out at me.

This is probably a dumb question, but... how do they not crash? Actually, in thinking it over, I noticed that Jack didn't look at his card before playing it and already knew what it was. Is it so ridiculous a notion that at this point in duel history, duelists have progressed beyond the affinity with the cards that was unique to Jaden and his circle, on to full-on will-based card prediction like Atem and Yugi were doing in the Final Duel, and made even that phenomenon mundane and a matter of course? After all, it's hard enough just to not crash, without glancing at your cards as well. I'm just starting to learn to drive, and I've had it impressed upon me quite forcefully that a distracted driver is a very very dangerous thing; take a moment to appreciate the ridiculous amount of skill, intuition, and sheer talent it takes to fight a turbo-duel, let alone win. So, is it so far-fetched to ask if all duelists have reached the point where they, like only the very gifted duelists before them, no longer need to look at what they draw?

#8WX86007 is probably either Yusei or Rally; no way to tell more than that. Do all the satellites have a number, or just the ones who are marked, or just the ones who have been in and out of such things as this "Re-Education Center" we kept hearing about?

One of the most important things I've noticed is that in conventional dueling, the duelist has one factor of the duel that they lovingly prepare, that's an expression of themselves, his or her deck. In turbo-dueling, they have two: their deck AND their runner. I'm trying to grasp the connotation of Jack stealing Yusei's runner; is it just as dirty a move as messing with another duelist's deck? Moreover, Tank's remark about Yusei's other runner suggests that Yusei's skill made that runner a cut above the rest; do most duelists put the effort into their runners themselves, much as they would assemble their own decks, or is that much unique to Yusei? If Jack stole Yusei's runner, that suggests that either he had none of his own (don't rule it out; he came from the Satellite, too, according to Yusei) or that Yusei's was special, he knew it, and in that case he probably wouldn't modify it because he hasn't the skill himself to improve on Yusei's work and might even break the thing. Either way, Jack's first statement on his view of dueling (lines which are always important) downplays the runner he stole. This means either he's guilty and in denial, or that he had no runner of his own and he actually just believes that, which, considering how much effort Yusei seems to put into his runner and how much talent he has with the mechanical portion of this, may be a position Yusei would disagree with.
I also note, in examining the connotation of runners, that they take the position of one's duel disk. In traditional dueling, the duel disks were all quite interchangeable; in GX they got a bit fancier, but that was still just icing. In turbo-dueling, the duelist is also responsible for the condition of his or her duel disk, as it were, and that actually becomes a factor. Before, if your duel disk wasn't working well, you couldn't duel. Again I'm reminded of Axel, whose duel disk was multi-functioned, and who actually took it apart and re-assembled it (apparently) during the dusty dimension episodes, to ensure it was just as prepared as the rest of him.
Still, Jack's position would seem the equivalent of saying that it isn't the cards that matter, it's the duelist, which most of us would agree with; and we certainly wouldn't agree with the flip side, it's not the duelist that matters, but the cards, which in turn says the best duelists are the ones with the most powerful cards, which, in the spirit of this canon, is not true. However, a duelist to whom his or her cards are only tools, to whom it isn't the cards that matter but the duelist alone, would also stand to get taken down a peg in this canon. But the runner is the third factor; what does it bring to this discussion of the balance of importance between the duelist themselves and their gear?

In this duel, at least, I noticed that there were no spectators. Usually that's a red flag; other duels in which a duelist fights without any friendly spectators include Fate of the Pharaoh; No Pain, No Game; Turning the Page; and Fighting For a Friend; it generally means that the duelist we're rooting for is in for serious trouble, with no one there to cheer them on or keep them from getting psyched out. However, to me it seems that, unless the spectators can also move very, very fast, a lot of duels in 5D's would be no-spectator. I'm already noticing that the computers (probably a feature of the runners) are taking over from the duelist-spectator I mentioned a little while back, the one spectator who really can follow what's going on and explain it to us and the other spectators, such as Bakura in Best of Friends, Best of Duelists; Bastion in Tag Team Trial; and (why I mentioned it recently) SYRUS of all people in The Power Within.

What card did Jack take from Yusei? Is it the Red Dragon Archfiend?

The City and the Satellite seem to be another form of social inequality in the dueling world. My first thought was that it was Duel Academy's dormism run wild on the world for however many years between GX and 5D's. It also occurs to me that Domino City itself looks a lot more futuristic than when we last saw it, while the Satellite looks like an abandoned shell of a once-busy town; is it possible that the Domino City we know and love from Battle City and the Light Brigade arc is now the Satellite? I went back and looked at the scene-setting shots; the street under which Yusei is doing his test-ride does look like a street from downtown Domino as we know it, with a giant crack splitting the asphalt such that light shines through. Was the original Domino abandoned due to some catastrophic natural disaster, an earthquake? There's also smoke coming up from various tall stacks, suggesting that there are old-fashioned factories there; do satellites who have managed to get themselves into trouble end up working in them as a debt to society or all that jazz?

Satellites of different kinds are kind of a popular theme in the YGO canon, much like motorcycles; Kaiba crashes one into the I2 mainframe ("Virus software won't stop this!"), and uses others to keep tabs on the duel disks. Lector's strategy in "Settling the Score" involves satellite cards, as does Prince Ojin's in GX Year 2. The whole Gx Tournament centers, partially, around the mind-control satellite, and at the beginning of Year 3, Hassleberry requests that they avoid "...talk of satellites, OR the word destiny..." after all the hijinks last year. Now, however, we've got a different kind of Satellite, which would be synonymous to poor and unkempt suburb, slum, auxiliary town that contains undesirable people. However, if I'm right and the satellite is Domino, that suggests an interesting history resulting in a new town of Domino and the old one becoming a haven for street punks, troublemakers, and poor, though apparently not too many of them. Or maybe just few enough that they all have plenty of space. Continuing to look at shots of the scenery, I'll put it out there: is the highway that Trudge chases Yusei down the same one on which Mai drives out after Battle City ("I have to admit, Joey really surprised me. When I met him, he was an okay duelist with a big mouth...")?

I was struck by Trudge's assertion that Yusei's deck is made of cards that other duelists threw away, and trash will always be just trash. 'Cause of course, it's not about the cards. We have yet to know why, but Yusei and his friends are essentially society's equivalent of garbage. To say that Trudge is right is to say that Yusei, too, will always be trash and nothing more, and also to say that Jack was a fluke, and no one else from the satellite can fight their way to the top. And if Yusei wins with this deck, it says what Yusei told Trudge: "Don't underestimate us satellites OR our decks, 'cause what you see as weakness is what truly makes us strong." Like Yugi (in Duelist Kingdom when everyone still thought he was a ridiculously lucky, shy little kid) and Jaden before him, Yusei is an underdog who is about to confound all convention and prejudice to rise to the top, and not even lose his heart to do it. The discussion about Yusei's runner above is also part of this, but I already said everything in that discussion. Also, as an afterthought, not all of Yusei's cards were thrown away; Yusei won Vision Wind off of Trudge.
I also wanted to say, given my theory that Yusei's ride is more than just a runner to him, that I find it surprising he wasn't, at least, speeding ahead of Trudge; he spent the whole duel behind, with Trudge a nose ahead. But that's the way it goes; the hero always has to appear to be losing until he pulls it out at the last minute. Still. Yusei's runner would unquestionably be better than most of the competition; his other runner got the world champ his title.

So what's this Reeducation Center? I'd imagine it sort of being the 5D's-era-and-world equivalent of Juvenile Hall, and that's about all I got for now. We know it probably has security (Trudge was there), has a curfew, and... actually, what stuck out at me was that Trudge commented that Yusei still thought he could outduel authority, and mentioned that Yusei won Vision Wind off of HIM his last day at the Center. Was Yusei's victory why it was his last day? And, if he was not only a satellite but a satellite essentially in prison, how on Earth did he have a deck to duel with? Was that match a regular duel or a turbo-duel? Regular-regular (entirely believable, just cards), more-regular (how on Earth did he get a duel disk?), or turbo-duel (where on Earth would they have held it without getting caught?)? Or, alternately, is the Center how he became a satellite?

Yusei mentioned that Trudge was the bottom of his class at the Academy; does he mean Duel Academy, police academy, or something else (Worldwide branches?). Would they, in that day and age, teach police how to duel? Wouldn't put it past them.

I've said about all I wanted to about the theme of trash in the discussion about Trudge's comment about Yusei's deck, but the other theme I noticed was freedom: "Don't risk your freedom for some wheels and a card!" "My Junk Warrior's going to make sure me n' Rally stay free!" "I knew we shoulda locked you up when you were a kid!"

"Don't underestimate us satellites OR our decks, 'cause what you see as weakness is what truly makes us strong." That has the ring of very, very important to it. And also, just how many rogue satellite duelists ARE there? Any who are would have to be pretty good, because they defend their freedom to carry a deck, much as Yusei did here; if any of them lost, they wouldn't be on the streets at all, is my guess. But as I'm fond of ranting, a duel disk and deck are concrete symbols in the Yugiohverse of the power to stand up for yourself and for what you care about, to make your voice heard, and to connect with other duelists on a deeper level ("In a duel the truth always comes out!") and a duelist is someone who does just that.

Why is Yusei going to Domino now? Will he go find Blitz, Rally, Tank, and Nervin first? What about this turn of events made up his mind to go to Domino? Is it that the chip passed its test-drive with flying colors? Is it his defeat of Trudge that's inspired him to keep going and take it to Jack? But I want to observe, as a final note, that at the beginning of the episode, he said "I'm comin' for ya, Jack", and at the end, it was "Get ready, Domino City. I'm coming." Not Jack, at the moment; Domino, and the challenge to take a stand against other people who think the satellites are just trash.

I've covered most of what I wanted to say about it already, but for the record, for posterity, when Yusei called the shining city in the distance by its name, I typed as a note for expanding on in this post: "It IS Domino... hot damn."

Having discovered YGO just after Battle City (summer of 2004; my introduction was reruns of the second afternoon of Battle City and all the flashbacks thereof), the main thing I find myself comparing this episode to is "The Next King of Games", and I find that, while Jaden didn't know anybody and was meeting everybody for the first time, Yusei knew everybody, even Jack and Trudge, and there was a lot of backstory already there. The first time we catch any glimpse of Jaden's backstory is "The Shadow Duelist I", in which he tells Syrus and Chumley about how he would wake up in the middle of the night as a little kid and hear mumbling coming from his deck. Jaden's past becomes very important, but not until first the Neo-Spacians, then Yubel show up. A lot of the expository dialog is in the form of reminders: "Nervin, zip it, wouldja...he don't wanna hear about how amazing Jack Atlas was." "Let's review the rules of engagement..." "But Jack also took Yusei's best card, remember, Nervin?!" "And YOU remember Jack's in the City, and the people over there don't take too kindly to those of us from the Satellite." "Remember me, Yusei? It's been a long time since the Center..." "I see you still think you can outduel Sector Security." "I heard you were at the bottom of your class at the Academy..." "Still a wise-guy, I see." "You always were a know-it-all." "Still using the same old deck, I see!" "It reminds me of the time you tried to break curfew with Rally..." and so on. In GX, some people could do that ("We went to duel prep school for three years, we're ready for this!" "Come on, give it a rest, Zane..." "Wouldn't want a repeat of what happened last year (gaaah!) Where you cut a third of our student applicants for...calling you "mister", or "missus", whatever."), but they could only wonder about Jaden. "He's so confident. D'you think he's really that good?" "He's staring down that legendary rare monster like he doesn't have a care in the world! I guess youth and inexperience have their benefits after all...". Jaden has been returning to his past, with the re-surfacing of Yubel; will Yusei get over his grudge and look to the future?

Next episode is called "Creepy Crawlies", and apparently we meet our 5D's equivalent of Weevil or Missy. That's about all we know for now.

That's all, folks! -Clio

READ A TRANSCRIPT OF THIS EPISODE HERE