Toppa Bashin – Episode 7

Right, so we’ve got our Key players for each main colour.

Here’s hoping that something actually happens this episode instead of all the nothing we’ve had for 6 Episodes.

That is my only prayer going into this… Anyway, let’s go.

…Can’t gauge a thing from this title.

Is this important or not?

Bashin’s going to… some kind of performance?

So Bashin’s on a date with Meganeko? And they’re even watching something together?

That’s… awfully nice.

Yeah, no third wheels on dates, Aibou.

Even Bashin knows that rule…

…Wait how does Bashin know anything about dates?

Okay, I’m officially scared.

Who is this? Because he’s way too perceptive to be Bashin.

And I’m already not interested in this play. Seems like some kind of romance.

I can see why Meganeko would like it.

Meganeko just god damn slap him or something.

I know my Significant Other would kick my ass if I fell asleep during a movie or play.

Ah okay, we’ve got a 10 minute intermission. Thank god I don’t have to actually give a crap about the play.

I assume Bashin’s going to once again reinforce how much of a pillock he is and leave Meganeko on her own.

This man needs to learn how to shut his mouth.

Meganeko get the duct tape.

BASHIN’S MOUTH, AND DUCT TAPE

NAME A BETTER PAIRING RIGHT THIS MINUTE

Don’t worry I’ll wait.

Seems everyone in the damn audience could hear him snore his his ass off.

Man I feel bad for the actors.

So it WASN’T a date?

God… Damn it, and here I thought Bashin was being considerate.

I’ll never make that mistake again, I promise.

…And after an exchange that amounted to basically “What do you have to say for yourself?”, “Nothing sir”

Card Sensei decides disciplining Bashin is too much work and fucks off.

This god damn teacher I swear, we call crap Doctors quacks, can we call Card Sensei the Quack Teacher from now on?

I’ve got it! Quack Sensei!

I can identify with Striker here, there’s always that Battle Spirits “itch” that I need scratching.

At literally all times.

Even when in the middle of playing…

Meganeko is clearly exasperated.

I don’t know whether to support her for boys being boys, or reprimand her for not joining in.

If it weren’t for the fact that the damn thing spoke, I’d find it much cuter that he was doing that.

Okay I’m really confused about why Meganeko buying a Pamphlet was necessary here, could have just cut straight to Aibou on Striker’s hand.

Also Aibou squeaking like a regular mouse is giving me the CUTENESS OVERLOAD.

NO, I MUST BE VIGILANTE, I AM A HATEFUL MAN! I SWEAR!

OH SHIT

SUDDENLY THE PLOT HAS PUNCHED US IN THE FACE.

Warn me next time before you slap me with important shit dammit!

OH GOD THE PLOT JUST KEEPS COMING.

So Striker is a chosen card battler?

But the guy didn’t start card battling til after he’d smashed his own leg, how is he chosen ALREADY!?

Bashin on the other hand got chosen well after he’d been card battling for a while.

WHAT IS THE CRITERIA HERE!?

But isn’t Cap a parrot-

My mind is just free real estate isn’t it?

They can repeat words but I’ve never known a parrot to string together a full on sentence.

You know, just out of nowhere. You’d think Cap would explain this sort of shit.

Cap is precious and deserves pets, just like Aibou.

So Striker’s just going round hunting the chosen battlers?

You know that’s slightly more effective than Bashin just waiting for the plot to happen.

“True card battlers?”

Fuck off, one of you has been playing a while and only got chosen after getting his ass beaten by J.

The other is a complete novice, who Bashin (The “Strongest Taoru card battler”) LOST TO.

True Card Battler my ass.

Could it be the fact that Striker is far more pro-active AND more intelligent?

“I have more money cards than you”

Is Bashin actually bragging about having an X-Rare?

You played it against J, and lost! And he only used a Nexus!

And then you failed to play it against Striker and ALSO lost to his Nexus!

Okay okay, I’ll back down here only on the fact that Bashin has 1 copy of The DragonEmperor Siegfried, and therefore its unlikely he’s going to be able to get it every game.

But if I let up on that fact alone then you can bloody well expect me to tear into every other series later on for being able to play their 1-ofs every god damn game!

Striker’s losing his shit at The DragonEmperor Siegfried.

If he had never seen one before, why in the god damn hell would he be able to recognise what you just showed him?

Right, so the show is now suggesting here that beating a Nazo-Otona is infact the only way to acquire an X-Rare card.

A High Ranker Pass? High Rankers are mentioned a lot on the show for some odd reason.

According to the show’s logic from what I know, a High Ranker pass is required to enter fairly high-level tournaments, and acquiring one involves either performing some great feat (Such as defeating a Nazo-Otona) or winning some kind of tournament to acquire one.

Though in this case of course, apparently Bashin hasn’t received a High Ranker pass at all.

This is also the first time I’ve heard of Nazo-Otonas sending out High Ranker Passes to the people that defeat them.

Though Bashin says “yet” so it seems like he was aware that they were meant to.

I was going to comment on the need to get stronger against an opponent who has yet to beat you, but the amount of badass radiating from Striker right now is far too much for me to tear him down now.

So the time warp has jumped us 7 turns into the future, and it’s Bashin’s turn.

Bashin’s field has a Level 1 Eyeburn, a Level 2 Metalburn…

And do my eyes deceive me?

Rokceratops is at LEVEL 3?!

What manner of fuckery is this! They’ve learned to go beyond Level 2! Finally!

Meanwhile the concept of Levels still dumbfounds Striker, who has 2 Beatbeetles and Flyingmirage, all at level 1.

It seems no one’s bothered to attack at all.

Safe is a good way to play anyway, but you won’t win if you don’t attack.

Beatbeetle only has 1000 BP, you can imagine how this is going to go against the Level 3 Rokceratops.

Okay, equal BP, come on anime, don’t fuck this up.

AAAAYYYYY

Round of applause, it’s finally figured out it’s own bloody rules.

Bashin making a full attack here, though Striker seems to be trying to protect his 5 lives.

He’s probably trying to hold out for The Fruit of Life, and to make the most of that you need to have has many lives to lose as possible.

Well that’s basically your entire strategy, get The Fruit of Life, let your opponent hit you.

Win game.

Though Bashin does have a card in his deck to counter that strategy if need be, it’s just a shame he didn’t have it last time.

Well, Striker’s completely set up now, Bashin can’t attack carelessly anymore.

Well, no, J gave The Fruit of Life to one of your brothers who THEN gave it to you.

So your brother gave you that Nexus, not J.

We interrupt this Battle to bring you Meganeko.

Who also has wonderful news apparently.

Also I love how she’s just holding an Egg…

My Sunshine is the prince?

You’d think for an Idol they’d promote her by making her the princess?

Also it’s become a bit of a trope for anime plays to have a female playing the prince, characters specifically tailored for that “female prince” role are one of my favourites.

She isn’t? Then what on earth is she?

I assumed Bashin was just reading off the Pamphlet.

WHAT?

WHY WOULD THEY NEED AN ACTOR

TO PLAY A GOD DAMN EGG!?

SECONDLY! WHY WOULD THEY HAVE A WELL KNOWN IDOL PLAY SUCH A PAINFULLY EMBARRASSING ROLE?

FOR WHAT PURPOSE WAS THIS NECESSARY!?

I would like to know this too Striker, I’m absolutely boggled right now.

Probably about as fast as my head is pounding right now, what the hell did I just witness?…

Sorry, can’t stop a battle once it’s started.

Well, you can but these helmet heads won’t.

LITERALLY NO ONE CARES ABOUT YOUR STUPID EGG!

Meganeko come on you’re not normally one of the dumb ones!

Back to the fight of course.

And Bashin summons a new card! You know the drill boys!

Well, there’s not much to go over, other than you can probably see why Striker’s strategy is about to go down in a curtain of fire.

DELICIOUS

Finally some good fucking DECK IMPROVEMENT

It seems Bashin has finally figured out that Nexuses are his bane, so he’s got a card in there to cover that now.

Get your brothers to give you more copies.

Might help with that.

So a small recap of that turn.

Rokceratops attacked, Flyingmirage blocked and was destroyed.

Metalburn attacked, Beatbeetle blocked and was destroyed.

And unfortunately, Striker had no spirits left to block Dragsaurus, so Striker had to take a life.

That rush was excellent timing, Striker was intending to take lives for his Nexus, but sadly without it, Striker can’t benefit off his own setbacks.

Striker summons a Shockeater at Level 2 and…

Passes…

He exhausted his hand cards to keep up with Bashin, without his Nexus he can’t replenish them.

Safe to say Striker’s a slight case of screwed.

Bashin adds a Rokceratops and a Goradon to his field.

Welp, with 5 Spirits, and Striker’s 1 Blocker, Bashin’s got this.

Oh, an interruption? Or are they just going to ignore it?

Oh, Bashin’s gonna try finish it here, alrighty.

As I said before, Bashin with his 5 spirits is just enough to take out all of Striker’s Life.

Bashin wins!

And this time it wasn’t plot armor winning him that game, that Dragsaurus play won him that one.

Has this guy just never lost a football match or something?

Like did your foot just NEVER act up during an important football game?

Come on man, this can’t be your FIRST loss at ANYTHING.

Or rather, Bashin was too dumb to realise how to deal with it the first 2 times he ran into a problematic Nexus.

Yeah, you’re late for My Sunshine… Being an egg..

I still haven’t quite come to terms with that yet…

And the doors are locked.

Wait do they lock doors in theatres? That seems a tad odd.

That sounds like a hostage situation.

Striker has a good head on his shoulders, but if they made a habit of locking 1 door they’d have probably locked all of them.

There’s nothing…

I can say to describe how dumbfounded I am that this is even happening.

…IS THE PRINCE IN LOVE WITH THE EGG!?

WHAT IS HAPPENING!?

This Manager I swear to God.

Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

My Sunshine’s friend’s friend who is actually just My Sunshine herself.

Nope, not at all.

That did not take long.

I guess they’re on the ball this time after the previous time people got backstage.

This is a surprisingly casual Police Officer.

“Ah, you guys are in places you shouldn’t right?”

Please don’t tell me that lie worked…

…

MY GOD DAMN SIDES!

THAT’S FUNNY

Oh, I needed that…

Holy moly… Alright, back to the show.

They didn’t get away with it this time. Better luck next time.

So instead they try a different route… by going up?

How are they going to watch the show from several floors up?

No Bashin, you just don’t think.

Sometimes I wonder that too Striker.

Why are you even bothering, you could have just talked to a member of staff to unlock the doors for you…

That’d be giving credence to the idea that you won’t let us down.

And I have a policy of not lying to myself.

No time for that now, someone’s in trouble!

…Is that another Police officer?

How did he even get in that situation? Did the window Panel fall from under him? But how did he end up feet up?

Questions for later…

The dude is upside down on the top floor of a building, possibly staring down a really huge height, and you’re busy contemplating what the hell is going on.

HELP HIM!

Well, they got him out.

Let’s just hope they’re not in another unauthorised area.

It’s another unauthorised area isn’t it?

Oh, apparently they’re as confused as he is. No problem then.

You’re being awfully defensive about it.

What?

…WHAT?

Where the hell did that come from!?

I’m so fucking done.

HOW ARE YOU SUPPOSED TO TELL!?

AND WHY DOES HE JUST GO ALONG WITH IT!?

So what are Nazo-Otonas under some sort of rule to just IMMEDIATELY make it obvious that they’re Nazo-Otonas or something?

THEY AREN’T IDENTIFIABLE AT ALL, HOW DO YOU TELL!?

So Aibou IS necessary to release the gate to Isekai?

Jesus they’re not very good at explaining this sort of thing.

Also wouldn’t Bashin opening the gate mean he’s the one battling?

Welp, Colour me confused.

So Striker’s the one battling the Nazo-Otona? And Bashin’s just watching?

That’s the million dollar question, Striker.

So Bashin is just chopped liver when it comes to this battle basically.

Aibou should still be there though, he’s the one who opened the gate no?

Or do the pets not go with them when they open the gate to Isekai?

I see you aren’t worried for Bashin’s well-being at all.

Sure, okay.

Once again, starting from Turn 7.

What is the Turns from 7-9 just the magic number for when the battles get going?

So Striker has no Spirits, and the Nazo-Otona has:

A Level 2 Icemaiden
A Level 2 Baby-Loki
And Fenrircannon.

And it’s Striker’s turn.

Also on a sidenote, seems the Nazo-Otona is playing a White deck. No danger of a Dragsaurus suddenly burning up Striker’s Nexus this time.

Striker deploying good ol’ The Fruit of Life.

Again, the Nazo-Otona is a White user, so I don’t see how he’ll be able to get rid of the Nexus this time.

Why are you surprised? This is the 3rd person to use one.

If a bunch of 12 year olds can wrap their heads around a Nexus I’m sure you can.

Striker ends with just the Nexus.

That’s a little dangerous, now the Nazo-Otona just has to play 2 Spirits to win.

The Nazo-Otona plays a Dualcannon-Bell at Level 1.

Now to see what his next Spirit is.

He’s going to roll with just this?

If Striker has 5 lives then the Nazo-Otona is just playing into his hands.

He was aware of the Nexus, come on now.

The Nazo-Otona being the dumbass he is, swings with ALL his Spirits and Brings Striker to 1 life.

I just… How can you be this stupid?

I guess they can’t call it plot armour but artificial stupidity isn’t much of a replacement.

8 Core total thanks to the Life going to the reserve AND the Nexus effect giving him an extra.

But why did he feel the need to say he had “4 cards in each hand?”

Could he not just say he had 8 cards in hand? Like come on now.

So Striker decides to blow his load and drop 3 Beatbeetles, a Flyingmirage AND a Shockeater.

That Nazo-Otona is playing White though… I’m expecting a Silent Wall.

Time for the weenie rush.

Oh…

Oh that’s bad…

No wonder he all-inned, he had this card.

Dang, apparently the Wiki quality isn’t as good as the others, oh well.

Pure Elixir let’s you refresh all your Spirits, but to ensure that the refresh isn’t used for attacking, they’ve applied a restriction that the refreshed spirits can’t attack.

And it’s Cost 3, you can use this in basically any deck, not just White.

Bye Flyingmirage.

You will not be missed.

Okay I am seriously getting tired of people getting flustered and swinging when it would be safer to back off.

And now they’ll all be refreshed on his turn.

And you have no blockers, when you would have had 4 had you just not thrown your cards away.

You muffin.

It’s the Nazo-Otonas turn and he’s preparing to win.

Dualcannon-Bell attacks and Striker blocks with Shockeater.

Unfortunately, Striker now has no spirits with which to block. And the Nazo-Otona has 3 more.

And Icemaiden takes the game.

And for the same reason too! This calls for a Deck edit!

I am… Confused…

But it seems like Bashin is going to fight now.

But the Nazo-Otona just said that you couldn’t see the battle, how did you know he lost?

Turn 13, Breaking the camel’s back with this one.

This is the latest turn jump yet.

No level markers, so I assume these are all at Level 2.

But the show is known for being inconsistent with this kinda shit so who knows.

Bashin’s levelling up all his Spirits to Level 2.

No clue why he’s giving 4 core to Metalburn when it only needs 3 to be at Level 2.

MARKER VISUALS

CLARITY IS GOLDEN!

Skeleton-Jaw and Metalburn swing and take 2 lives. The Nazo-Otona is on the edge now.

GOOD

NO NEED TO NEEDLESSLY ATTACK WHEN YOUR OPPONENT CAN BLOCK YOU!

Is this so hard a concept to understand?…

And it’s a blast from the past, the Nazo-Otona deploys Diamond Moon.

If you remember, if any of your spirits battle an opposing Red Spirit, that Red spirit gets destroyed at the end of the battle, regardless of the result.

Bashin, like the lemming he is, charged into it and lost his X-Rare. Let’s hope that Dragsaurus comes in handy this time.

The Nazo-Otona levels up Dualcannon-Bell and ends his turn.

Well, he could attack but Bashin has a blocking Goradon, and I assume Bashin has enough lives to live through it.

The Nazo-Otona can’t be careless with his 1 life, I’m curious if he has a Pure Elixir in hand.

Its one of the Red colour’s specialities! Draw magic!

…This kid needs help.

Bashin LEVELS DOWN his Spirits.

This means he’s about to make a big play.

So by my calculations. Dualcannon-Bell and Skeleton-Jaw should live.

Battle Spirits roasting in an open fire~

Nexuses beware!

Dragsaurus has arrived to kick ass and destroy nexuses!

And he’s all out of ass!

What’s not shown in this image is that the Diamond Moon just kinda spins off his field like “Later bitch!”

And Bashin swings with his remaining spirits for game!

That’s 1 more X-Rare for Bashin I guess. And Striker still has 0.

That’s just catering to your main character now, come on.

But Bashin is demanding a High Ranker Pass instead? I suppose it would make up for him not getting one from the last Nazo-Otona.

Not even going to ask for an X-Rare.

Also you said that he was a Nazo-Otona in police clothing, he wouldn’t have any keys to the theatre.

The Officer questions why he’d need to open the door but Bashin says that he couldn’t “Push from the front” to open it.

This reaction… Noooo it can’t be.

Don’t tell me it was a-

IT WAS

IT WAS A FUCKING PULL DOOR!

I’M SO MAD!

DAMMIT SHOW STOP TAKING RESIDENCE IN MY BRAIN.

THAT’S MY LINE! HOW! HOW MUCH PAIN FOR A SIMPLE PULL DOOR!?

noooooo….

Noooooooooo….

NOOOOOOOO…..

…When is the end of this Episode? I don’t want to be here any longer than I have to be.

a Nazo-Otona with no X-Rare or even a High Ranker, and here I thought we’d be progressing the plot…

What a depressing day.

DON’T APPLAUD THAT MEGANEKO!

This anime is on drugs I swear…

You’re a little late numbskulls.

But it’s fine, you missed the literal worst play in existence.

I didn’t.

Go fuck yourself.

There was… nothing there to be glad about.

…Meganeko you are the light in the life that is this blog at this very moment.

For those of you who’ve seen this before! Say it with me now!

FORESHADOWING!

I’ll certainly be recovering tomorrow after this disaster.

Cuz I got 43 more of this disaster to do and I’m sure as hell not going to be okay after the end of it if THIS is the quality of show I’m being given.

My Sunshine has changed to Suiren.

Oh, the Nazo-Otona is familiar with Suiren?

YOU JUST SAID THE HIGH RANKER THING WASN’T YOUR DISCRETION!

WHAT THE ACTUAL HELL MAN!?

Sigh

Right, let me wrap my head around this, the Nazo-Otona knows Suiren by name, so my guess is that this Nazo-Otona was beaten by Suiren, and was the Nazo-Otona that awarded her with Desperado.

So the Nazo-Otona that Bashin defeated should be the one that gives Bashin the High Ranker Pass.

Also that Pass is marked “No. 002”, who’s the first?

…Probably J.

And Suiren put a bullet through my theory.

So the High Ranker passes are by delivery specifically, Nazo-Otonas have to go round to deliver it.

So there are Nazo-Otonas designed for High Ranker delivery and Nazo-Otonas designed for X-Rare giveaways.

Gotcha.

At least Suiren is taking this as light-hearted as she should be. Still waiting for the moment where this stops being just a game.

OH THANK GOD

Now I can crawl into bed as soon as I do this episode review.

Okay, while I will definitely complain to absolute HIGH HEAVEN that this episode was a pile of garbage, it did patch up the rough spots with some lovely foreshadowing.

We’re now noticing an odd system with the Nazo-Otonas, some are assigned to grant High Ranker Passes to those who have defeated at least one, but it doesn’t need to be the same Nazo-Otona.

And we got shown some development from Bashin, who lost to Nexuses not just once but TWICE.

Now his deck including Dragsaurus shows some great improvement on his part.

Striker on the other hand is coming to terms with being a beginner and having only a single strategy to rely on, and looks like he’ll be desperately searching for Nazo-Otonas so that he can get an X-Rare and improve on his deck.

Some good stuff right now. What’s our Card of the day?

Ah of course, Dragsaurus.

Nexuses are extremely powerful, for 2 reasons.

1. They have powerful effects that remain in effect for as long as they are around.
2. Like their effects, their symbols also stick around too, providing near permanent reduction.

Red isn’t just a colour designed around power, destruction is another of it’s specialities.

And that doesn’t just apply to spirits either, nothing is safe, hence why you have certain spirits like Dragsaurus designed to annihilate Nexuses. They’re good cards to use for the time, and until recently.

Sadly, the current card pool (as of time of writing) doesn’t allow us to get rid of the type of Nexuses we are dealing with, so while Nexus destruction effects would have been valuable before, they’re near useless now. Some regular Nexuses are used in conjunction with our current “Invincible” Nexus types, so the odd Nexus destroyer isn’t bad to have as long as it’s not the only thing that card is needed for.

Anyway, other than that, the rest of this episode was pretty irritating, lots of foreshadowing sure, but the plot itself hasn’t quite progressed unlike the decks of this Episode.

Here’s hoping something happens soon. Because sweet jesus I did not start this today so I could rant about an Egg.

Til then, see you guys later.