Predictions and Observations:
Welcome to Duel Academy

Okay, today’s set of random comments (please let me know if I’m annoying people):

We met a few new characters and learned a few new things:

Chumley, Jaden and Syrus’ roommate- Doesn’t seem too Chum-ley to begin with, but from the looks of things (the opening credits…), he’ll warm up to them. Why was he napping the whole time, though? Do you think he was sick? Could his irritability be because of that? He seems to have a bit of an inferiority complex and some hard feelings about being one of the “Red Wonders” (as in, they wonder how dueling duds like them got in). What’s his issue with wetting the bed? Why would he bring that up? He also seems to have had a bad experience with Chazz.

The Housing System- One of the most important things we learned was the school’s hierarchy and organization. The best students, or ones with connections, are housed in Obelisk Blue. The middle ones, mostly underclassmen with talent, are in Ra Yellow. Finally, “lousy” duelists like our heroes (personally, I think *Crowler* stuck Jaden there for revenge; either that or it was because he barely passed the written test. Either way, people will think it’s weird that the applicant who beat Crowler’s a Slifer.) are in Slifer Red. I will not go into the issue of classism and grade-ism in schools, though I could go on forever about the stupidity of it. In this school it’s even more blatant than at mine, though. It’s plain from the sight of the students’ living quarters (an outhouse with a deck…) and from the contrast between the three houses’ welcome parties that Obelisks are given most of the attention and money. I will say though that I find it odd the order of the houses, when Ra is easily the greatest of the three Egyptian Gods as we know them; if handled properly (like a truly good duelist would), Slifer is the second powerful; and Obelisk, while mighty, would be the least. What’s with the switcharound? Also, I note that the uniform seems to be red/yellow/blue with white trim for new students, and white with red/yellow/blue for upperclassmen, like Alexis, Zane, and Chumley were wearing. On one hand, it’s good because helpful students like Alexis can pick new guys out of the crowd and help them if they’re lost or anything. On the other, there’s the issue of bullies knowing that you’re a new kid just by looking at your clothes. I also note a connection to the major three duelists, Yugi, Joey, and Kaiba, in attitude, please keep in mind (don’t hurt me!) rather than ability. Kaiba has quite an ego and is a snob when it comes to dueling talent, like most Obelisks. Yugi, sort of between the two extremes, is certainly talented but not a snob at all, like what we know of the Ra Yellow folks (Bastion’s not a snob, he’s just not one for frivolous chatter, and there’s no denying that he’s way better than Chazz…). Joey, no matter how much he rocks, is always seen as the underdog, but he makes up for talent with heart and guts, and there’s more to him than meets the eye.

I personally think Chazz and his two cronies got into Obelisk Blue on connections, because it’s obvious they didn’t on talent (especially the cronies). They seem to be freshmen like Jaden and Syrus, because they were going on about how they did in dueling prep school and how much more qualified they are than anyone else. On the other hand, Chazz seemed to have met Crowler before, and also said that he wished Crowler would treat the rest of the second-rate applicants that way.

I think it was interesting how Syrus compared him and Jaden to the Ancient Pharaoh and guardian Seto. This implies that the whole story of the Ancient Past that we will soon discover in the original Yu-Gi-Oh! has become the stuff of amazing legend and fact in GX. I find it particularly illuminating that Syrus mentioned Seto. Either that, or that’s one bizarre and highly relevant coincidence.
Wonder if he’s right?

Syrus has a problem with his lack of confidence, but I think that Jaden’s just fine with too much. As Henry Ford once put it, something to this effect, think you can, or think you can’t; either way, you’re probably right.

Jaden meets Alexis, Chazz, and his flunkies, whom we already met. We still don’t know the flunkies’ names, but we discovered that Alexis’ full name is Alexis Rhodes.

I get a good feeling about Professor Banner, their RA (term for counselor, basically). We know about him that he cooks well and he’s very easygoing. I think he realizes that red-hot Slifers are more than meets the eye, because he doesn’t treat them as inferiors or seem to resent being there. This is good.

Alexis gets more and more impressed with Jaden. I think she *likes* him. I think it’s being yelled in our ears that she *likes* him; you’d have to be blind, and in that case why watch? Also on the Alexis-romance front, Chazz seems to like her. For him, two words: Dream On. He’s a jerk and she knows it. Zane also seemed to be her current bf, though they could have been just friends.

I can’t help but notice that practically all of the girls are in Obelisk Blue. I think I saw *one* somewhere in the crowd of new students when they received Sheppard’s speech and Jaden was snoring who was wearing red. I guess we just rock.

We saw Sheppard’s face. I think maybe the idea with concealing it in The Next King of Games was to create the nervousness and excitement that is going to a new school and seeing everything new except a few familiar faces (not all nice ones). The principal is shrouded in mystery like that, no matter what you do, until you really get to know the school. Believe me when I say I can relate. I think so far that Sheppard is being very distant. He gave his welcoming address by video, for cryin’ out loud. When our heroes finally do see him in person I believe it will be because of an important occasion.

I noticed Crowler was hanging out at the Obelisk Blue party.

That’s all I thought of! Write back please! -Clio