Predictions and Observations:
Monkey See, Monkey Duel

Firstly I would like to warn that this may contain slight spoilers, because I read a fact online by accident that pertains strongly to one of the things I will discuss.

Dueling monkeys seem to have a special role in Yu-Gi-Oh! There have been several references or actualities of dueling monkeys:

- The episode in Duelist Kingdom in which Mai arranges for Rex Raptor to duel Joey to get her perfect revenge is entitled, “The Dueling Monkey”
- “How ‘bout it, tough guy? Any of these tykes puny enough for you to take on or d’ya wanna go lookin’ for some three-year-olds? / Oh, come on, be nice. You know that Joey’s just biding his time until he finds a dueling monkey to challenge.” –Tristan and Téa, teasing Joey in The Dueling Monkey
-“I can’t believe you reduced yourself to bein’ Mai’s attack dog! / ‘Least I’m no dueling monkey!” –Joey and Rex trade insults before the match begins in The Dueling Monkey
-“Why don’t you go and find yourself an opponent you can actually beat. Like an infant, or a monkey. / (aside)That monkey thing gets him every time!” –Kaiba lands a severe putdown on Joey, while Tristan comments aside to Yugi, Téa, and Bakura, in The Scars of Defeat
-One of the sixteen duelists of KC Grand Championship was Abe the Monkey Man, who defeated Totani Ialos in the first round, and then lost to Rebecca in the second. From what we see of their duel, the monkey’s the smart one, Abe just wears the duel disk and banters. Rather lame and incoherent banter at that. Rebecca creams him.

It’s actually kind of interesting, the recurring themes like that.

I would just like to note also that I don’t think anyone thinks it’s a coincidence that they named the dueling monkey ‘Wheeler.’ It might just be because the Dueling Monkey incidents mostly came up there related to Joey, and that’s the name the Powers that Translate Yu-Gi-Oh! chose for the monkey. But otherwise, saying it’s not just a coincidence or a clever parallel, I would say that what I read online that was supposed to be a vague and unrevealing summary of the show, that Duel Academy is owned by KaibaCorp, may be true considering the monkey’s name. But why on Earth would KaibaCorp be interested in training monkeys how to duel? This smells of Gozaburo, but I don’t think Kaiba would somehow.

Did you notice that one of the lab guys who tracked down Wheeler looked a lot like one of Chazz’ older brothers?

So we learned that Alexis’ friend, the redhead, is named Jasmine. She was the girl who was none too impressed with Jaden back when we last saw her up close. She was gossiping with Alexis and the other girl and said that Jaden was very disrespectful and uncool for talking back to Crowler in class that day, and she was the one who didn’t want to let Jaden and Sy go after Jaden won the duel and Alexis had to be firm with her. She was also the same person who wondered, shocked, if Alexis was actually falling for Jaden. The other one, the one voiced by the same lady as Serenity, seems to get very sudden and fleeting crushes, first on Bastion, then on Chazz, and she thinks Syrus is cute. She doesn’t have a name yet.

I have discovered a girl in Slifer! Yes, there ARE girls in Slifer! There was a Slifer girl in the background when Sy was telling Jaden that Chazz had left.

What on Earth is a top-secret scientific base that trains monkeys to duel doing on Duel Academy Island? It’s almost as crazy as the D.A.S. (Disciplinary Action Squad). In fact, at first I thought that was the D.A.S.’s base.

Alexis looks out for fellow Obelisks, like she said, but she also looks out for everyone else. We’ve seen her looking out for Zane by being supportive and friendly when he began spending more and more time alone and distant. She was there when Chazz dumped Bastion’s cards into the ocean. She does not hold lesser-ranked students in disdain but helps them whenever she can. She knew that Jaden and Chazz would meet for their midnight duel in the Obelisk arena, and went to head them off and let them know they could get in trouble. The “normally I don’t snitch” comment in Formula for Success hints that she knows a lot of what goes on at the school. The other Obelisk girls look to her for leadership. I actually get the sense that Alexis is not often seen less than commanding and mature, but, as Jasmine so perceptively noted, Jaden brings out a softer side in Alexis. I get the feeling that Alexis keeps a watchful eye out for all the students and knows a lot about what goes on there. After all, she’s lost a brother to the dangers of Duel Academy and would certainly consider it important to keep fellow students out of trouble.

Why did Chazz leave, and will he be back? It’s indeterminable why Chazz left, because in theory he needed to live up to his brothers and be the best, etc. and his own pride wouldn’t let him just back down unless he had been seriously under pressure for a long time and just didn’t care anymore. I doubt we’ve seen the last of him so soon, especially since we’ve seen him in the opening sequence wearing neutral colors. Possibly he left to get some real world experience. But he said he’d be back, which means he has a plan, and I doubt he’d drop out if he was planning to come back as a student…

Why did Banner let Chazz go without trying to stop him? I think he understood something about Chazz that we don’t yet, or perhaps, like Sheppard, trusts students to make their own decisions and determine their own fates. The situation seemed similar to that where Chumley almost left. He felt that it was bad news, but trusted Chumley to make his own choice and made sure he was ready to follow through with it.

There’s definitely more to Banner and Pharaoh than meets the eye! You saw those lab coats take off! He terrified them! Besides, he said all-*too*-innocently that he was just an average teacher, duelist and animal lover. There’s something more to it than that. Then again, it could also have been that he just grabbed their tranquilizer gun. No, it was more than that. And hmmm… keep in mind that Pharaoh is an excellent tracking cat.

Add the ‘ketchup-and-mustard squad’ to the growing list of Dormist insults.

Tomorrow’s episode is…A Spirit Summoned! We’re getting into shadow magic again I think. What about Chazz? Could he be planning something nasty for the school that ‘kicked him around’? Is this Crowler’s latest scheme to get Jaden defeated in a duel and expelled in disgrace? Does something else entirely happen? Does it have anything to do with the Abandoned Dorm or perhaps any familiar faces? We’ll soon know!

For now, this post is over! -Clio