Toppa Bashin – Episode 22

Your little reviewer is a happy bunny indeed, apparently about a MONTH ago (I am so sorry for not noticing this earlier) the Subber for the Battle Spirits anime footage that I am using for the purposes of this Blog gave their approval of the Blog on the Episode I considered skipping as it served no plot relevant purpose.

As the Subber themselves has requested I do not skip any episodes whatsoever, you can be sure that Battle Spirits will have their reviews in their entirety, at the expense of my declining mental health due to over exposure to Bashin’s idiocy.

Which is slowly coming to light that maybe just anyone holding a Cornerstone seems to have their own unique brand of stupidity.

Don’t do Cornerstones, not even once.

But on that lovely note, I’m happy to begin Battle Spirits Shounen Toppa Bashin! Episode 22!

I didn’t think I’d have to say “NO SHIT SHERLOCK!” before the Episode had even started.

If it wasn’t obvious before captain, it is now!

How come you have to make a thank-you party even though you’re not actually finishing your year yet?

You’ve still got a summer term, dipshits, get emotional then, this seems like a waste of time.

Because unfortunately Bashin, not everyone plays Battle Spirits.

I know it’s Blasphemous of them but you’re an idiot for not realising this.

Not if Meganeko has been working on it, it won’t.

CAPTION THIS.

PLEASE.

And Bashin kinda just deserved that one, smartass trying to budge into the frame with half of his face.

Kind of mean though to include the blurry pics in the Yearbook.

Forgive me if I missed something but you still haven’t had the opportunity to apologise to her yet.

You shouldn’t be talking to her unless it’s to apologise, forget the yearbook, people first.

And Meganeko just FUCKING IGNORES HIM.

YES. THIS IS PRICELESS

BEST. EPISODE. EVER!

Awww that’s just like the worst shit when someone’s ignoring you.

You’re right there, trying to get their attention and they just blank you out.

Then some other fuck calls them over and they respond immediately.

I hate people that do this. I love the fact it’s being done to Bashin.

So the story finally catches up with my thought process and asks Bashin whether or not he’s actually bothered to apologise to the girl.

I can understand being mad at a guy, but considering the gravity of the situation that pissed off Meganeko.

Actively INHIBITING his ability to apologise is the easiest way to make enemies, that’s just dumb.

Why the hell would you do that? Not wanting to make amends is just… God it bothers me!

Of all the things I can ignore about Meganeko on account of her innocence, this is NOT innocent! This is just blatant bitch behaviour!

This is the same shit I’d expect out of a Cornerstone Holder.

No Shit Sherlock!

I… How… What?…

How can you rationalise that as NOT her avoiding you?

That’s right, you can’t…

…Also someone call 911 I think I’m hallucinating, Bashin shouldn’t be realising he said something dumb.

Well isn’t that unfortunate. Though you and I both know it’s because she’s training with Card Sensei, she needs free time for that.

That we can’t attribute to her being a blatant bitch to Bashin.

She can very much still be mad at you.

Because he’s your teacher, and has significantly more experience than you in dealing with women, even IF his luck has run dry.

…Are they keeping the fact that Meganeko is learning Battle Spirits a secret?

Because if THAT is why she’s avoiding Bashin then not good enough.

It doesn’t explain the evidently shitty photos of Bashin in the yearbook, that’s still a super nasty thing to do.

Yes she is.

PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD FINISH THAT SENTENCE BEFORE I GET THE WRONG IDEA.

MY MIND IS NOT AN INNOCENT ONE SO FOR THE SAKE OF THE PURITY OF THE PEOPLE READING THIS BLOG!

GOD.

FUCKING.

DAMMIT.

And now conspiracy theorist Striker has decided that there is something super suspicious going on because Card Sensei is teaching a young girl how to play Card Games…

But of course they’re going to fail to state what they think it is because they want it to be weirder for the older audiences.

Also Striker is TERRIBLE at coming to conclusions, Cap thought his Dad was cheating on his Mother with Number Eight (which admittedly is Cap, but not Striker), then Striker thought Bashin needed Valentines Chocolate… Then there was getting mad at J for doing the exact thing you wanted him to do.

And then there was that time when you legitimately thought Suiren was an old lady.

Like come on.

You might not be as openly stupid as Bashin but you are certainly far too quick to act on that stupidity.

Oh thank god.

THEN WHY DID YOU INCLUDE THE SHITTY PHOTOS OF BASHIN THEN!?

THAT’S JUST MEAN!

Why would anyone regret learning how to play a Card game?

Like that doesn’t even make sense.

Especially in a Card Game anime.

Oh lovely, so the next few minutes are going to be meaningless to me because they’re using Karuta cards.

I can’t read Japanese and I am sad that I cannot.

…WHAT IN THE NAME OF KINGTAURUS DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH BATTLE SPIRITS…

I can take a good analogy and apply it to the game but this makes absolutely ZERO sense!

Make it understandable for a Beginner my ass, I’ve been interested in this game for YEARS and I don’t know what the fuck that’s supposed to mean.

Apparently neither does the god damn Turtle that somehow managed to teach Card Sensei how to play the game.

And Card Sensei is a fucking Nazo-Otona, and Number FIVE of the Numbers Elite according to Smile!

I have absolutely ZERO idea how this is going to help Meganeko.

Is that what that’s meant to mean?

…I assume the Karuta cards have to follow some kind of rule for them to actually be Karuta cards, just putting that on the Karuta itself seems like it wouldn’t make sense.

I think I can wrap my head around this one but I’ll leave it to the Turtle.

I can agree with this, Purple is VERY low powered, meaning you need to rely on lots of effects to maintain your position.

Because using cards requires using lots of care, going too ham can leave you with no card advantage, and no core with which to defend yourself.

Now we cut to Batosupi TV!

Which probably means we WON’T be talking about Battle Spirits!

Nothing like SUBVERTING YOUR EXPECTATIONS!

cough Suspension! cough

Possibly creeping on some lady like the weirdo he is.

I wouldn’t put it passed him after he hounded the girl’s bathroom for 6 fucking hours.

Tip for lonely guys, don’t choke the damn girl you’re after.

Well that didn’t take very long did it?

Good thing Meganeko is planning a surprise for this lazy cretin.

Bashin gets a ring at the doorbell, thinking it’s Meganeko, he DASHES for it. Hoping to finally apologise.

Nope.. It’s even more surprising. It’s freaking KYOUKA.

What reason does Kyouka have to go all the way to Bashin’s house personally?

Bashin questions Kyouka as to why she came to visit him so early.

Something’s up with J? I’m actually curious. Given that Card Sensei’s Nazo-Otona status has been given focus I imagine Kyouka might be worried about J’s relationship with Micheal Elliott.

Him being lost in deep thought isn’t anything particularly new for him, especially when he doesn’t have a lot of friends.

As for losing his appetite, we can attribute that to puberty…

Buuuuut while I could explain every coincidence concerning J, 2 coincidences that point to a similar conclusion are worth worrying about.

Kyouka came to see if Bashin knew anything about it.

For what purpose would a pretty boy like J need to actually go on a diet? The dude looks like he could be snapped in half if he fell on a curb.

Alright bets are on!

I’m betting that J’s talking to his Dealer, Micheal Elliott about some more CARDSSSSS for J’s evident Battle Spirits addiction.

He’s a rich boy, he can afford it.

Do you reckon “Diamond Moon” could be a street name for some type of drug?

Looky here smartass, but the fact that J kept it a secret, and then didn’t tell Kyouka about it, implies that Kyouka simply “asking about the secret” wouldn’t cause J to divulge it.

See now THIS is a Sister that has thought shit through, props to Kyouka for intelligence.

Basically Kyouka is saying that even IF she knows what it is, it doesn’t necessarily mean she will have the ability to do something about it.

Though I question the assumption as to how Bashin would seemingly have more power over whatever is happening to J than she does, given that she holds power through money in the Sawaragi family.

Why place faith in someone other than your own sister? It’s not like Kyouka and J have a competing relationship with which J would seek to keep something from Kyouka.

Even Okyou’s speech is something Kyouka is aware of, meaning whatever J is locking up won’t be unsealed just because his Rival asked him to…

But he is a cornerstone holder, they’re prone to episodes of stupidity.

Honestly, Kyouka and Bashin’s relationship is really cute. And Bashin at least TRIES to smarten up when Kyouka is around.

Not only that but Bashin has opened up to the idea of Kyouka becoming his girlfriend last episode by imagining her giving him chocolates.

So it’s not like its an impossible ship…

When a girl you know is being an absolute bitch for seemingly no reason (those pics CANNOT be explained away by Meganeko wanting to surprise Bashin), it’s not a bad idea to change targets neither…

But that’s enough SawaragiShipping.

But you’re aware she’s avoiding Bashin, besides she’s not even home.

No point trying to make it up to a girl who wants nothing to do with you.

Let the problem solve itself.

Oh god this bollocks.

A lot of shows do this to promote a good attitude to the game, but I feel like this same advice really puts too much of an emphasis on “Luck” and causes rage toward the game for not giving them the right draws.

If you want to have the “Determination” to draw a good card from your deck:

Then you also need the knowledge and experience to not put shit cards into it to begin with.

You can’t draw a shit card if you don’t have any.

This is why I have a loving focus on deck building, because feeling like you’re getting that fated card you need can be lived through if your deck is filled with good cards.

This is a crappy exercise if there is actually a Dango filled with Wasabi.

This is creating a situation where there is a Shit card in the deck and you need to avoid drawing it.

If I were heading up this exercise, I would probably claim that all but 1 was Wasabi Dango, but actually they’re all Bean paste Dango.

Then once that exercise was done, I’d explain that you can’t draw badly if your deck only has cards that help it.

Then we could chow on the rest of the Dango without worry.

I’m a genius.

There’s no reason for the both of you to participate in the challenge… Only Meganeko.

Saving you from the boredom of having to watch them eat, Meganeko and Card Sensei both got Bean paste Dango.

Also Meganeko is adorable in this shot after having eaten Bean Paste Dango.

If Card Sensei can either afford, or make Bean Paste Dango I’m surprised he hasn’t managed to impress a woman yet.

Card Sensei asks Guragurii to participate but he’s evidently too worried about eating the Wasabi Dango to do so.

I’m surprised he didn’t go with the easy out of the fact that he’s a Turtle and he shouldn’t really be having Dango as part of his diet.

I can’t hear the show over the sound of NO ONE CAPTIONING THIS FUCKING SHOT!

And now we’re at the Sawaragi residence. Time to see what’s up with J.

But first we’re presented with a lovely shot of a sleeping Okyou.

Also I can NOT tell what Okyou is sleeping on, but it looks like a Laptop from here.

I see regardless of her ability to speak, Okyou is still a cat.

Secluded himself in the Batosupi room to think.

Because you know he couldn’t think in any other room, like his bedroom, nah he secluded himself in the Battle Spirits room, a room specifically designed to accommodate more than one person.

Yeah I’m thinking Bashin’s dumbassery isn’t his fault anymore, damn Cornerstone holders.

I thought he came here to figure out what the hell was up with his boyfriend?

And speaking of which if he was going either play OR do the above, then why isn’t he there?

Thought as much.

Yes, don’t stay next to the person who knows this place like the back of their hand and can direct you to where the Battle Spirits room is.

They eventually come by a really large door.

Not sure why a door that big would be needed for J’s room, I’d like a single door that I could lock, personally.

Okay THIS is just flexing in all manner of ways.

You have to cross a BRIDGE to the bathroom, with a Glass see-through floor, which also contains a WATERFALL and a RIVER with which FISH can live in.

And the fucking Throne itself is made of fucking GOLD.

WHAT NEED DO YOU HAVE FOR A GOLD SHITTER!?

Meanwhile, in the Batosupi Room, J is STARIN’ AT A CARD!

I’m hoping the card in question is relevant in some way.

Oh, it’s the WhiteTiger Huck.

A Card J has been putting to GREAT use.

Well he hasn’t included any Yellow Spirits to reduce it’s Cost really but it’s supported his Nexus combos just fine.

The only Yellow Spirit in his entire White Deck, I wonder what he’s pondering over it for? Is he intending to get new cards or is he stuck on whether or not he wants to use more colours than just the yellow Huck?

J does what all “Cool Rivals” do in anime and somehow have a 6th sense for someone turning up despite giving no indication of their presence.

And they’re ALWAYS right. Alright let’s see who this is-

-But apparently we won’t get to see that because they’ve placed a stupidly odd scene cut to Meganeko’s Dango drawing exercise.

Why even put that there? At least show us who J was sensing and give us a little more OMINOUS instead of just telling us someone was there, and then scene switching.

Fuck sake.

Well at least Meganeko is enjoying herself.

I suppose that’s one good thing that’s happened this episode.

And Card Sensei finally loses the completely pointless Dango drawing match.

As if it had any actual relevance to actual Battle Spirits strategy, all this time they could have been actually playing the dang card game.

…What? The Mindset?

Smells like a waste of time.

ALL THIS TIME AND MEGANEKO HADN’T BEEN GIVEN A DECK TO PLAY YET.

GOOD GOD!

Card Sensei is a Quack Sensei, even when teaching Battle Spirits.

It’s pretty obvious which one Meganeko is going to choose.

The Foreshadowing from Episode 7 hinted at this.

If you don’t remember what that was, I’ve actually hunted it down for you.

This statement was made when Meganeko was describing My Sunshine’s appearance after hatching from that Egg.

I suppose while we’re here, we might as well deal with the subject matter that is this unrecognisable card.

A Cost 4 Yellow Spirit from BS02, belonging to the Fairy Family.

At Level 2, if you control a combination of 3 Yellow Spirits or Yellow Nexuses when your opponent blocks, the blocker is treated as Level 1.

After revising some of the basics of Battle Spirits through a helpful English Tutorial that Discord Server I’m part of was in, I had finally discovered what Yellow’s actual style of play is, or at least the best way to describe it.

Given that Meganeko is picking Yellow, I might as well go over it. Yellow is the “Gimmick” Colour.

I was always having issues pin-pointing what Yellow’s strategy was, but “Gimmick” describes it perfectly, as Yellow does a lot of things that seemingly don’t correlate.

This “Combination of 3 Yellow Spirits or Nexuses” wording here is one of the early Gimmicks of Yellow. There are quite a few cards that request a specific combination of 3 Yellow Spirits or Nexuses in order to trigger an effect.

Card Sensei seems rather taken aback by Meganeko’s decision.

I wonder if it has to do with Smile?

As someone who has taught players to play the game myself, I can tell you that I have a big track record of teaching players who end up using Purple.

3 out of the 4 players I have attempted to Teach have used Purple decks, I’m going to have to re-teach one of them and I’m dreading it due to their already established affiliation with the damn colour.

Yes that has everything to do with why I have an aversion to Purple decks.

If the scene switch wasn’t a blatant indicator, Smile is that very student I’m guessing, given that Card Sensei hasn’t got a meaningfully established relationship with any other Nazo-Otona.

It seems Smile has been nagging J about something, and J has been lost in thought trying to give an answer.

That’s the problem with nagging, typically if you do it enough the person you’re asking will decide that the annoyance isn’t worth what they’re being offered, and refuse.

This seems to be a common line in Japanese anime, the “I don’t hate that” line.

It’s become a trope, if only exclusive to Japanese media.

Smile has suddenly disappeared, that was quick.

I wonder if J will try to shoo him away before Smile reveals himself…

That’s pretty cold-

God now I’m agreeing with Smile, look what you made me do?

Shouldn’t you be dealing with the more pressing matter of why Bashin is even in your house without your knowledge? You practically took a Helicopter ride when he sent a love letter to Kyouka JUST to fight him.

Not concerned why Kyouka might be bringing a boy home? No?

Infact how the hell did Smile get in there undetected? Kyouka is outright afraid of Smile.

Seems Smile didn’t get far. I’m still curious as to what he was offering J though.

Finally! Time to get some fuckin’ BACKSTORY!

I think this is the first time we’re actually getting decent backstory on one of the characters, especially since this is a series with an already established world, and a previous set of events that we have yet to know about.

I didn’t think it would take us 22 episodes to get this far but oh well, we’re here now.

“Was”

Interesting choice of words there. You were reporting to Uchuuchouten, so we know this particular part is a lie. The rest we know though, because Smile told us when he spoke to you.

Though it seems like even the Numbers Elite think you “Ran away” from them, despite your reporting to Uchuuchouten.

The Thousupi Group is trying to create a Team of “Perfect Card Battlers”?

I wonder if that’s why some Nazo-Otona has an interest in different Battlers?

It would certainly explain why Micheal Elliott was making a University, and trying to involve the Cornerstone holders, especially J.

It would also explain Eight’s interest in Striker, and Nine’s interest in Bashin.

Surprised no Nazo-Otona has made express interest in Suiren though, except for that one guy disguised as a security guard.

Sounds a bit like his newer pupil though, no offense to Meganeko for being soft.

Nice to know that Card Sensei has a nack for teaching small, weak-spirited and frail students.

That’s certainly a cause for alarm if anything.

Considering the EXTREMELY thick black lines covering the hair and the way it’s stylized kinda looking like a set of Bananas, I’m assuming that’s Smile.

I’m sorry but Card Sensei looks so bloody out of place with a thick beard.

Like what the hell is that? I thought he was just failing to grow one, but apparently he just did a shit job of properly shaving it.

Did the hair on his head not want to follow through?

…They’re playing Battle Spirits upside down.

Holy moly I do not to imagine how painful the blood rushing to their heads must feel.

Smile actually looks really cool here, I’m kind of sad that he turned evil, he has a really nice design in this shot.

HOW BLOODY TALL ARE THOSE DECKS!?

For the record, Battle Spirits has no card limit, you can legally play tall towers of decks like this one.

…However most Tournaments will disqualify you if you bring a deck that you cannot adequately randomise, so whether or not you can shuffle this monstrosity is another story entirely.

But you would have lost before you even got 10% through the deck… You only have 5 lives in a game, if it was a Battle of Endurance then you’d need to have artificially increased the life count to stupid levels.

YO WHAT THE FUCK? TURN 999!?

HOW THE HELL YOU GONNA PLAY A GAME OF 1000 TURNS!…

Okay okay, lets say a turn takes 1 minute, reasonably to go through each step, resolve effects and play your hand, attack, etcetera…

1000 Turns is 1000 Minutes.

That is 16 hours.

THERE ARE ONLY 24 HOURS IN A DAY.

THEY WERE, FROM THE MOMENT THEY GOT UP, BATTLING NONSTOP UNTIL THEY WOULD HAVE TO GO BACK TO SLEEP AGAIN (assuming 8 hours for sleep)

JESUS CHRIST.

I love Battle Spirits but not even I could play it so unreasonably much in the SAME GAME.

Card Sensei loses the match against Smile.

…First of all that’s god damn creepy, are you telling me he got that Smile then and NEVER lost it?

Secondly, “Your weakness is your kindness” did not age well since having his ass kicked by Bashin.

After Thousupi Group took great care in training these Card Battlers to become “Perfect” Card Battlers, you’d think he wouldn’t be able to actually leave Thousupi Group, or they’d have some kind of task for him?

Nope, they just let him disappear because why the fuck not? So much for all that effort.

I’d say something horrible like “Not that absurd if you know anything about America” but I’ll let the Americans off for today.

So, to summarise.

Card Sensei was part of a plan to create a “Perfect” Card Battler, so they took already strong Battlers and put them to training, each under their own Numbers Elite.

Number Four, aka Smile was a powerful Battler but a Kind Soul, but after completing Card Sensei’s training, Smile saw kindness as a weakness, went to America, and then was rumoured to have died.

Feeling guilt over the way Smile turned out, Card Sensei quit being a Number.

…So why are all the Numbers giving him shit for running away!? His student could have died and he didn’t even know about it until Smile came back. God they’re assholes.

Doesn’t explain the talking turtle unfortunately. I’m still a little bit boggled over whether or not Card Sensei is a Cornerstone holder.

And now we’re all caught up, Smile is Card Sensei’s Meganeko-gone-wrong.

So, Card Sensei is probably worried that Meganeko’s selection of Yellow might cause Meganeko to turn into a second Smile.

Card Sensei improving his mood with “That was then and this is now”

We can all use a little pick-me-up from time to time, I’m glad Card Sensei recognises that the circumstances are different here.

…I…

Hold on a second.

YOU BROUGHT UP THIS CONVERSATION YOU DUMB TURTLE!

ANY LOST TIME IS YOUR FAULT!

Nice, so Meganeko is going to Battle Card Sensei.

…WHAT?

I thought they were just going to play here! They’re going to take Meganeko to Isekai world!?

Meganeko has no Cornerstone, nor any talking animal, so this seems a bit odd to show her Isekai World when she has no reason to know about it.

They called them “Cornerstones” earlier in the Sub, I’ll switch to Keystones for my vocabulary if they consistently start calling them Keystones from now on.

Card Sensei’s Keystone is rather pretty.

And it’s Blue.

Which makes him special, since Blue is not one of the 5 main colours at present.

And Aesthetically, Blue is my favourite Colour. So this is a really nice animation to look at.

As for those who can’t handle bright blue, I feel sorry for you.

Also Card Sensei’s pose is just… ridiculous.

But also, this confirms that Card Sensei is a Chosen Card Battler… Who is ALSO a Nazo-Otona.

That is odd.

I wonder if Uchuuchouten knew about that, J’s Cornerstone never went off in response to Card Sensei, and Okyou, while normally able to tell when a Battler has been chosen, hasn’t mentioned Card Sensei at all.

There is something precious about Meganeko losing her shit over being in Isekai World.

Also I have a very good question, where the FUCK is the board meant to be? I see no place big enough for a Battle Spirits board.

Anyway, we’re hopping right to Turn 8 of MEGANEKO’S FIRST FIGHT!

This is the best Episode and none of you can convince me otherwise.

Meganeko has Rom, Arcanabeast-Ken and The Fairy Tanya on her field, all at Level 1.

Meganeko again, losing her shit over her spirits.

Absolutely precious.

Card Sensei seems to be keeping up his Mixed Colour Strategies with Beatbeetle and Dinohound.

Also you can tell the budget shifted immensely, the quality of Dinohound’s appearance just destroys Beatbeetle’s Cartoony look.

It’s just occurred to me that Card Sensei nor Meganeko will have any X-Rares this match…

Gawwwwd So booooriiiiing.

But I will review it with gusto because it’s Meganeko’s first!

Typically yes, Technically no.

There are several reasons why you might want to take lives or you might want to block, simply having less life than your opponent isn’t enough to determine who is winning.

The fact that Life cores go to the Reserve when they are lost is not only there to add sort of a “comeback mechanic” to Battle Spirits, but it’s also there to ensure that the reasons the opposing player would take a life are ambiguous.

Meganeko attacks with Rom and Card Sensei blocks with Beetbeatle, Rom ploughs through it.

Meganeko then makes an attack with Arcanabeast-Ken.

And Card Sensei takes from the life.

Isn’t that odd?

Dinohound has more BP than Arcanabeast-Ken, and wasn’t exhausted.

So it’s odd that Sensei would choose to take a life rather than blocking the easy to block Arcanabeast-Ken.

The same applies to Rom, it was at Level 1, and it’s weaker than Dinohound.

So either Sensei is letting Meganeko win, or he’s gathering core for something.

Meganeko seems as confused as I am that Card Sensei didn’t block those attacks.

As a person who hates putting himself into fights he can’t win, I wouldn’t have attacked at all without a way to deal with Dinohound.

Card Sensei plays Berserker-Gun, Flyingmirage and Shockeater to his field.

I see Card Sensei’s colour soup this time seems to consist of Green, Red and White.

Card Sensei attacks with Berserker-Gun, which Meganeko blocks with The Fairy Tanya.

Since they have equal BP, it’s mutually assured destruction.

Another odd move, Sensei didn’t attack with a card that had higher BP than Meganeko’s only refreshed Spirit, that was a waste.

And Sensei just ends his turn.

Yeah I see what’s happening here, he’s not doing his best to encourage Meganeko.

This is a really bad way of doing it. The best way to get someone into the game is to orchestrate it so that they win, yes, people like to think they are good at something from the get go.

But actively making bad plays just to do that is obvious to the person you’re teaching, and really insulting as well.

Meganeko’s picked up the problem though, which is good, it means that she’s recognising optimal attack patterns.

Meganeko plays Piyon.

Meganeko attacks again with Rom, Card Sensei blocks with Flyingmirage, his weakest spirit.

With 2 other Spirits that could easily beat Rom no less.

Waaaaaait.

Are you telling me Smile ended up the way he did? And defeated Card Sensei in that 999 Turn battle?…

Because Card Sensei LET him win!?

And Smile noticed!?

Meganeko is a Strong independent Card Battler who don’t need no free wins.

Card Sensei plays Eyeburn, Bat-Bat and Skulldevil.

Apparently we’ve got Purple as well.

He then brings Shockeater and Skulldevil to Level 2, meaning Shockeater has 4000 BP and Skulldevil has 3000.

Card Sensei then deploys The Ancient Fault. All of Sensei’s Cost 2 Spirits will gain +2000 BP while attacking.

And Card Sensei FINALLY moves his god damn Dinohound.

It only took several turns of NOT USING IT.

Meganeko Blocks, turning Arcanabeast-Ken into Roastedchic-Ken.

Meganeko laments the fact that only Piyon is able to Block at present.

Meganeko loses 2 lives due to the attacks of Shockeater and Eyeburn.

I mean 6000 BP isn’t breaking the barrier of how strong a Spirit can get, calm down.

It IS strong enough to take down a Level 1 DragonEmperor Siegfried and that’s an X-Rare so it’s nothing to scoff at either.

Meganeko plays The MelodyBird Crewc.

I wonder if she’ll use it’s effect to turn it and Piyon (as well as any Song Birds in her hand) into a family of her choice?

Apparently not, welp there goes that plan.

Now that Sensei has suddenly shifted into MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE

Meganeko seems to be having a hard time with the sudden onslaught of Stronger than usual spirits.

Eyeburn’s been brought up to Level 2, it’s got a pretty strong Level 2 BP of 6000, meaning with the Ancient Fault it’s going to have 8000 BP.

That’s pretty tough for a Cost 2 Spirit at least.

Dinohound burns away Piyon.

Shockeater and Eyeburn each attack again, bringing Meganeko down to only a single life.

That card?

Well now you have my ATTENTION!

Apparently Meganeko knows she has a card in this deck that can come back from this sticky situation she’s in. Card Sensei is 2 lives ahead and has Bat-Bat and Skulldevil reserved for blocking.

Meganeko only has Crewc and Rom, so I’m curious.

Ooooo… It’s a Nexus!

Now I’m even more curious, I’ll go over it’s effects when she plays it.

Meganeko adds The Fairy Tanya to her field.

I’m guessing this will be our card of the day, but you know what? Screw it.

Another Mishap with the Japanese Card being of Low Quality, so I’m going with this, Apologies.

At all Levels, this Nexus makes it so any effect that affects Both players or the cards on their field only affects one side, and you get to pick.

And at Level 2, any effect you use to draw yourself cards lets you double that number.

These are both pretty gimmicky effects but they’re pretty powerful if you can find the right effect to use them on, let’s see what other card Meganeko has to combo with this.

This card is awfully specific, hence the 4 reductions on it’s 5 cost.

Under normal circumstances this would cause it so Meganeko’s Fairy Tanya and Piyon and Card Sensei’s Bat-Bat and Skulldevil unable to attack or Block…

But these are hardly normal circumstances.

Meganeko activates the effect of The Sealed Spellbook, causing Heavy Gate to only affect Card Sensei’s side of the board.

And Meganeko takes the game!

Round of applause for our newly born Card Battler! I’ll be rooting for her literally every episode from now on!

Now we just need to get her an X-Rare and we’re all set, given the rest of the gang have one.

And she’s friendly to her Spirits too! Well isn’t that just lovely!

#MeganekoForMainCharacter.

I could totally do with this right about now I won’t lie, I’m sick to death of Bashin’s idiocy…

This completely undoes the bitch move of Meganeko including crappy photos of Bashin, he deserved it anyway.

Well I’m pretty sure that was the plan anyway, you did say you wanted to surprise Bashin at a Tournament, not immediately after learning.

A better candidate for a main character than Bashin…

Oh wait she already was.

I can understand why that would be pretty annoying. While I do also hate secrets (hence why I never keep any unless they’re not mine to tell), there are just some things people would rather not talk about.

You’re doing a shit job of it.

And so are your friends.

There is an ENTIRE group of people who know of it’s existence that aren’t Keystone Holders.

MEGANEKO knows about it despite being neither a chosen battler or a Keystone holder.

If it bothers you that he’s out late on his own at a friend’s house then either prevent him from leaving the house while you’re not home or give him a fucking phone so you can call him you muppet.

Becoming really hard to ascertain where Bashin inherited his stupidity.

None of which pertain to Isekai whatsoever.

Which means you are more than able to explain to your mother the nature of the situation that caused you to be late coming home.

Yes.

Yes they are, avoid keeping them if you can.

And definitely don’t pester someone to talk or tell you something they don’t want to talk or tell you about.

Because that only prompts them to keep things to themselves more.

Something Something reporting to King Uchuuchouten despite not being a Nazo-Otona?

That was too easy, you need to test my knowledge more dammit show.

…Wait what?!

But wait, the other Numbers don’t know that, which means the only person who knows about it is King Uchuuchouten, Yourself, and Guragurii.

And from the sounds of it, you were SUPER averse to having to Battle your students.

I don’t think you could really call that a Nazo-Otona but I suppose if you’re still affiliated with Uchuuchouten then regardless of whether it’s against your will or not, you’ll be recognised as one.

And that’s the episode!

We only got 1 Battle this time around, this time featuring the “Gimmick” Aspect of Yellow.

Because of Yellow’s very gimmicky nature, it features a lot of combo oriented plays, mixing those odd features together or running similar features en-masse to confuse your opponent.

As for the plot itself, we’ve finally got the lowdown on the bulk of Card Sensei’s past, However there are some points we don’t know about, for example why Number Eight hates Card Sensei so much.

Meganeko has finally become a Card Battler after 22 episodes. And now we’ve also got more than 1 Yellow Battler, so I sense there’s going to be a deep-seated rivalry between Meganeko and Smile, given that they’re both students of Card Sensei, and they use the same colour.

While they did go over the fact that J is supposedly keeping a secret from everyone, and it has to do with some kind of request by Smile, we haven’t exactly figured out what it is, and most of that segment seemed to be entirely padding concerning Kyouka’s Visit to Bashin and Bashin going ALL the way over to J’s house just to be shoo’d out. Not really all that great.

As for Meganeko’s “Surprise”, the Episode Preview seems to tell us that the Tournament in question where Meganeko intends to surprise Bashin will infact be next episode, so we won’t have to wait all that long to see how that will pan out.

It also seems that while J has been happily accepting the new Card Gifts from Elliott and Smile, he’s not at all willing to work with the Nazo-Otonas in question.

So at least he’s still on the Good guy’s side, though Smile did say he could see that he was wittling J down. I’m curious about the context if J actually makes a face-heel turn.

That pretty much covers the review really, I was dying to see Meganeko play a Card game, so I’m a happy bunny.

As for our card of the day…

Nailed it.

Of course, we’ve already given the card some review, so there’s no point going over it again. It is important to note though that Yellow is extremely varied in it’s capacity to do things, it’s got the ability to do an absolute lot, hence why it is the “Gimmick” Colour.

It is good at a lot of things but not specifically prevalent in any one thing (Though the combination of those “many things” can really catch your opponent off guard if he is prepared for one thing and not another)

Though while some of you may be willing to cite examples to refute me, Battle Spirits is a game where there is ALWAYS a deck that subverts the things you would expect out of that colour.

While most “Gimmick” Decks don’t usually top as a result of that gimmick having simple counters, Yellow Gimmicks are actually really strong, and in fact they were indeed meta enough at a given Era to not only get 1 but 2 of the cards in that deck limited… And 2 Eras later ANOTHER Yellow card got limited afterward.

Normally Gimmicks aren’t something you’d want to fear as long as you have a plan for it, but Yellow Gimmicks are outright scary when you have one that can start crazy combos.

Anyway, that’s our review for Episode 22! I’ll see you guys next Episode!