Predictions and Observations:
The Maiden in Love

First, I’ll add this to my list of six episodes named after cards (The Legendary Great Moth, Shining Friendship, The Ties of Friendship, Obelisk the Tormentor, Legendary Fisherman I, Legendary Fisherman II). Wow- unless I’m very much mistaken this is the first one since first-round Battle City!

What is there between Alexis and Zane? They’re not bf and gf, this we know, because now both have actually *said* that they have no interest in such things. Alexis in ‘Courting Alexis,’ when Mindy and Jasmine tried to hook her up with Harrison, and Zane just now, when he said that the only thing he’s in love with right now is dueling.

What’s with Syrus and Chumley’s…er…romance with cards? I’ll just leave it at, ‘weird.’

We got a decent aerial shot of Duel Academy; the pier where the ships to and from Duel Academy are and where Zane and Alexis have been known to hang out (“Wow, a damp, cold pier in the middle of the night. You sure haven’t forgotten how to show a girl a good time.”) is on a smaller island near Duel Academy, separated from the main school by that nifty bridge. Right across from it is the main building.

I counted the students assembled for Sheppard’s address. There were six teachers, and a total of approximately sixty students: about 26 Slifers, 14 Ras, and 20 Obelisks. Since I could, I also decided to tally up the number of Freshmen in ‘Welcome to Duel Academy.’ There were about thirty, but I only counted 10 Ras, 7 Slifers, and 7 Obelisks. Four were too hard to see. This refutes how common Chumley said being put anywhere else to start with is; there are *more* Obelisk freshmen even though only students with connections or upperclassmen with good grades go there; Bastion got the highest score, and he began in Ra like Chumley outlined. Then again, dueling prep school and planning for the desirability of Duel Academy would make it likely that several students who start there would be on some sort of fast-track from the prep school, like Chazz may have been. That’s only a theory, but I have plenty of experience with snobby private schools.

Will we be hearing more about this inter-school competition coming up? Personally, my money’s on Zane also, but this may mean that Jaden and Zane are set for a rematch for the position.

So there’s another dueling school of equal standing, North Academy. However, Duel Academy seems very prestigious, considering the rigorous entrance exams, family pressure to get in (Chumley’s dad and Chazz’s brothers come to mind), and the fact that Blair said specifically that Zane said she could someday get into Duel Academy, suggesting to us that it’s a very great honor to get in.

So if my assumptions about the uniforms are right, Zane has some friends who are in a considerably lower grade. I had sort of wondered how, since it’s shown, in this episode especially, that he keeps to himself. Maybe it was just because Blair was about, but Zane seemed really, really, well, ‘leave me alone,’ in this episode.

Alexis clearly seems to know a thing or two about romance. Then again, I’ve hardly had a crush in my life, and I know and understand what she said, but she seemed to really mean it and speak from experience.

Blair says that she’ll be back after she finishes grade school and middle school, meaning that (1) there still *is* such a thing as normal school, and (2) Duel Academy is now officially, canonly an HS. That makes Jaden, Syrus, and the other freshmen thirteen or fourteen, Zane fifteen or sixteen (In Duel and Unusual Punishment, Alexis says that he’s a “third-year Obelisk Blue”), and if my uniform formula is right, Alexis somewhere in that ballpark as well along with Jasmine and Mindy…

Okay, that does it. I now officially have a project to do over the five-day weekend! I am going to go through every GX episode I have recorded, take notes, and report back. I am getting sick of not being solid on these! I’m an ep-guider, and I should be way more solid on these than I am! I had to go look up on my recording that Zane was a third-year Obelisk. Speaking of which, Alexis sounded like she spoke from experience when she said that he was as good as his reputation. They’ve probably dueled often, as friends, fellow Obelisks, and top duelists of the school. Also, I’m still thinking about why Alexis told Jaden to go get him. I think it may just be that she doesn’t think Zane will give Jaden a match, so she’s like, if you can get him to duel you, go ahead. I WILL do a special post with what I find out. It won’t be a total marathon, because a bunch I was forced to get rid of, but I think it’ll help with these predictions.
Until then…

Voices: I recognized a few. The Maiden in Love, I believe, was played by the same voice actress who plays Serenity and now Mindy. I’m pretty sure that Eric Stuart, the actor who voices Kaiba, played Avion. Afraid I couldn’t place Sparkman or Burstinatrix.

There’s a Spark-woman? Wonder if we’ll ever see her?

Zane seems to confide a lot in Alexis. He told her about catching Jaden snooping around, and I wondered why. The scene seemed to be just for his telling her that. She also knew all about Syrus, and we were hinted to that she had been told why Zane was keeping a distance, because she asked him, “So, what do you think?” in, um, For the Sake of Syrus. She joked about his having ‘not forgotten how to show a girl a good time.’ Does this imply that they were once a couple but now they’re just friends? I would say it’s a good possibility.

What would Chumley have been chewing with his mouth open during a school assembly?

Okay, good night, I have homework to do (dumb English class…), tomorrow’s episode will be Duel Off I. That’s all for now, folks! -Clio