Predictions and Observations:
Sibling Rivalry

Well I sure do feel dumb. How could I forget, in listing siblings yesterday, about Slade and Jagger Princeton?

There is now canon evidence that Duel Academy is, in fact, owned by KaibaCorp. I had read it from the website, but I hadn’t believed it. This brings up many interesting questions, including one posed by my sister: who, then, owns North Academy? Our best guess is SchroederCorp, since despite lack of open hostility since the KC Grand Championship, they would no doubt still be competing.

I noticed that, similar to how we never see Yugi’s face in The Next King of Games, Kaiba is silhouetted in this episode.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Chazz has the knack of attracting the oddest familiars. Duel spirits seem to flock to him like moths to a flame, much to his dismay, but whether he enjoys it or not, he doesn’t turn them away and you couldn’t really ask for a deck with more heart. I have the feeling that Chazz will continue to struggle between powerful cards and cards he cares about, like his decision to use his North Academy deck as opposed to the ones Slade and Jagger offered him. This was such another direct confrontation in which Chazz’s weak cards with heart defeated the same cards that he was offered before. As much as he might dislike it, his own plain cards are ten times better than any rare cards he could replace them with. Hopefully, he’ll come to know that.

Kaiba knew that Slade and Jagger wouldn’t win. He said it was because they have a lot to learn about world domination (I literally laughed myself hoarse, no exaggeration), but it’s more than just that. World domination skills, in most cases (though perhaps not in Kaiba’s…) have little to do with dueling. But he knew that Chazz could defeat them, even with the handicap. Why? What has Kaiba learned in these past who-knows-how-many-years-between-the-original-and-GX? He seemed to be about the same as ever, though it would be hard to tell.

Go, Jaden, standing up for Chazz like that! Though (like the situation of a certain other amazing pair of duelists we know) Chazz will never admit it and doesn’t like it, Jaden is his friend. I think that it’s because Jaden saw Chazz stretched to the brink, saw him triumph and discover what true dueling is, during School Duel. I’m very much reminded of the events of Face Off and Champion vs. Creator in Duelist Kingdom, in which Yugi similarly saw Kaiba as a human being when he was stretched to his limits and beyond facing Pegasus, and saw Kaiba place his faith in his cards during his final duel. It doesn’t matter that either Kaiba or Chazz lost; they showed what they’re made of, and these tremendous ordeals for them likely were responsible for Yugi and Jaden respectively becoming their staunch allies. And that’s one of the many reasons Pegasus was a tool of destiny, also; without him, Yugi and Kaiba would have probably remained foes.

“Oh, just something about the fate of Duel Academy.” At first I thought Jaden meant that the keykeepers were meeting with Sheppard to plan strategy or something. It’s no wonder Jaden says that so casually…

If Duel Academy was built partially to protect the Sacred Beast Cards, then if it had gotten shut down who would have guarded them?

I think another issue Chazz contends with is his unique place in the school and the acceptance of his peers. I mean, he ran away because he felt that he had become a laughingstock, and found North Academy, who accepted him, but somehow decided to return to Duel Academy after their show of understanding in School Duel II. Maybe he had expected to succeed there and wanted to succeed there, and felt that things were changing and he could come back and start over. But he really *did* start over—in Slifer, to his distaste. Now, as his brown blazer represents, he occupies a unique position in the school hierarchy. He’s technically a Slifer, though he detests his Dorm; he knows a good portion of the Obelisks, having lived there for a good almost half the school year, and they’re probably not really sure what “label” to put on him. Meanwhile, the entire school considers themselves somewhat above and separate from a student who arrived mid-year (it’s a thing: at the beginning of a school year, students at the same level become a group, whether consciously or not, and receive a jumble of names and personalities for the most part grouped together and put aside because they’re impossible to keep straight, and any newcomers are just conspicuous; because they’re introduced individually, everyone knows their name; because they’re a new face, everyone watches them to see what they might be like. They’re scrutinized more than students who have been there all along). I noticed that part, really, when one of the students muttering about Chazz said “we should have never let him back here.” Moreover, his dueling talents have improved, though even we don’t really know how much, making him yet another unknown in such an elitist school.
Speaking of which, I also kinda noticed that Jaden’s commanding more respect from his peers; when he stood up for Chazz, no one laughed or said anything.

It looks like Zane’s recovered. Remember, last time we saw him he was still knocked out after being captured. I was worried we might have another hospital-restricted-Jaden on our hands, because you could bet that Zane wouldn’t like being too weak to duel either!

Now we’re pretty sure which one is Slade and which one’s Jagger, but I’m still having trouble pinning down which one is chasing the domination of business, and which one focusing on politics. If I had to guess, I’d say Slade was politics, because he does most of the talking for the two of them, and a politician is more likely to be outgoing.

Why did Slade and Jagger target Duel Academy, rather than just getting their revenge on Chazz? We saw (after they left) that Chazz had sort of grown attached to Duel Academy and wanted to remain, but they never saw that…unless they found out. Maybe it was just a lucky guess?

I noticed Belowski’s Happy Lover joining in the crowd of duel spirits in Chazz’s dorm room; unless now Chazz has that card too?

I think Chazz’s duel spirits *will* become his family. Ordered around by Slade and Jagger, Chazz hasn’t really had much of one…until now. I have a feeling that there’s something symbolic or deep about that, but it seems to escape me. All I know is it gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling to think of Chazz finally having people…well, things…that like him for who he is no matter what, and I just realized that that was what I had been trying to say about Ojama Yellow but couldn’t name.

I hope I made sense and didn’t get *too* off-track. Pretty sure, as usual, that I missed something, but tomorrow is Duel Distractions I. ‘Til then, that’s all! -Clio