Predictions and Observations:
The New Chazz

The New Chazz is right! Chazz has become a guy to root for and a duelist to be reckoned with! Let me elaborate:

To begin with, now Chazz also has a duel spirit, a monster that really is meant to fight by his side, just like Jaden’s Winged Kuriboh, Yugi’s Dark Magician, Kaiba’s Blue-Eyes, and Belowski’s Mokey Mokey, to name a few.

Chazz keeps speaking of using what you have. This seems to be quite an interesting and benificial change, he says he learned it out on the island, tracking down the cards. He even recognizes this change in himself, saying that the old Chazz would never have put a monster like Giant Rat in his deck.

Chazz’s conscience seems to take the form of Jaden. I wonder why? Could this represent a connection, like we’re talking fate, between Jaden and Chazz? We’re not even talking spiteful comments of Jaden’s part, like how after Mai lost to Joey in Duelist Kingdom she saw his face among the clouds mocking her, or Rex envisioned in early Waking the Dragons Yugi and his friends prancing on piles of cards. The Jaden that speaks to Chazz is entirely in-character.

I actually think that North Academy’s entrance exam is far more sensible than Duel Academy’s. Sure it’s good to be talented at the game, but the truly great duelists are those who put their heart in it, who have the determination to keep going. Firstly they must hunt down the forty cards, then they must use these forty to duel fifty people in a row. Harsh, yes, but it tests duelists’ will and determination as well as their ability to use a good card. Also, unless you want to spend some seriously impossible time tracking down the cards you want, which no sane person would, you need to learn to make the best of what you find no matter what it is. This also makes it a test of flexibility as a duelist, of bonding with your cards even if they’re not the ones you would have wanted, and even a test of fate, luck, and destiny to find random cards out in the freezing chill. It also creates an inseparable bond between duelist and deck because the duelist worked very hard to find and protect his or her cards.

The buildup to a great duel is evident. It reminds me of Face Off, back in Duelist Kingdom, or Clash in the Coliseum, or Fighting for a Friend, or Sinister Secrets. You seriously have a reason to root for both sides. One one hand, we all like Jaden, he rocks, this will show that Zane was right to put faith in him, it’s been building up since Duel Off, that whole climactic duel between Jaden and Bastion and all that that entailed, it all comes down to this. On the other hand, Chazz’s background as a tool of his brothers’ is one to be pitied, but despite his initial spoiled attitude, he showed determination and heart in tracking down those cards that I would have thought impossible of him, he was kind to his fellow person-who-was-locked out, even though it cost him. Chazz has become a force to contend with, for all that he’s still fighting for revenge, and I have, for the real first time since the series began, found a reason to support and root for him also.

North Academy’s Chancellor- What was his name? Oh, yeah, Foster. - seems to be a pretty cool guy. He seems to genuinely care about Chazz’s wellbeing, going through that elaborate charade to get Chazz in and grow him significantly as a duelist. I wonder how he knew that Chazz would have a gift, or how long he’s been searching for the person who is destined to weild Ojama Yellow? Apparently North Academy’s chancellor has powers beyond comprehension as well, or is simply more devious and unfair than it first appears. He either already knew what Chazz was going to do that would bring him to become North Academy’s representative, or he already knew that Jaden would be Duel Academy’s. Let me explain: at the staff meeting in Duel Off I, Sheppard insists that they must put forth a freshman student to match North Academy’s, meaning that they already knew that North Academy had a freshman student, namely Chazz, as its representative. Therefore that meant that North’s chancellor already told them, which could mean any number of things: either he foresaw Chazz’s arrival and also predicted whom Duel Academy would choose to duel meaning he predicted Chazz’s, Sheppard’s, Zane’s, Crowler’s, Bastion’s, and Jaden’s actions and futures and could therefore promise Chazz with certainty a chance to duel Jaden; or possibly that he was lying in saying that Czar was a freshman to give himself an unfair advantage, banking on Sheppard’s good sportsmanship or simply creating the possibility that Duel Academy will go easy on him (likely, because he also seemed to be banking on Chazz’s desire for revenge, which is always a danger sign).

I wonder how Winged Kuriboh will get along with Ojama Yellow?

Okay, that’s all for now (though I’ll come back and proofread and add to this after I have some food, because right now I’m really hungry and my brain is slowing function lol)! What an episode! Tomorrow (or more likely Sunday) I’ll post my posts on the original Yu-Gi-Oh!’s A Reversal of Fortune! Monday’s GX will be School Duel I!!! Here it comes! The biggest rematch GX has yet had! Yaaay! For now, though, I go bye-bye.
-Clio

P.S. I’m not too impressed with Chazz’s version of Jaden’s “That’s game!” Sounds kinda wimpy, “you go bye-bye…”