Toppa Bashin – Episode 30

Another day, another Toppa Bashin post.

Actually looking forward to this one, last episode was THAT good.

I certainly hope this generates its own subset of “Episode 29 memes”

Anyway, the big Three-Oh! 21 episodes remain including this one, its so weird being over the halfway point and being closer to the end than when you started.

Granted I have absolutely 0 problems with that given all this show has given me.

Anyway, I can be emotional later, onward!

Ah yes, School Clubs.

I’m not sure if this is normal for Japanese schools but I remember that extracurricular clubs were a requirement in some form.

Though that might just be Vanguard’s spin on Miyaji Academy coming in to bite me in the ass.

Aibou quite likes Bashin’s Middle School appearance, and you know what, I concur. It does look good on him now that he’s opened up the collar.

I don’t actually see a notable difference between Bashin’s Hair here and Bashin’s hair anywhere else, and I am literally staring at images trying to see if there is one.

They didn’t take long racing to the plot of the episode, Club activities.

Skipping Aibou’s breakdown because he somehow goes from “Club” to “Pig Cutlets”.

Clubs typically occur after school and I absolutely abhorred going to them.

I am of the opinion that a student should be allowed to do as they wish with their time after school hours (I do NOT make the exception for homework) and very RELUCTANTLY did after school tasks.

What’s even worse is schools that make it MANDATORY to attend after school sessions or they discipline you, that’s the WORST.

Makes sense, Clubs are completely indifferent with respect to one’s year of learning.

In Primary School (Basically Elementary) I went to both Football Clubs AND Karate Clubs for the duration of my education.

Karate I enjoyed, Football can suck a dick.

I think the only Clubs I actively enjoyed going to were Wednesday Chess Clubs and Friday Japanese Clubs.

Absolutely loved those, my Japanese still isn’t great though, needs refining.

Duolingo won’t save me because context is lost, maybe I’ll do a playthrough of “Learn Japanese to Survive”

So Club joining IS mandatory here, that fuckin’ sucks.

Reading Japanese is for people that know Japanese, I am NOT one of those people.

Also I love the consistent “B” at the end of all of them, are they using the shorthand “Ubu” which is the last syllable of “Club” in their writing?

I like how Smile is just happily chatting to Bashin despite being his mortal enemy.

I suppose it would be weird not to given they already know each other, maybe they’ll even become strange pals.

I’d love to be friends with someone I wanted to punch, if only because they were the only person I knew.

I don’t need to know Japanese to know that says “Battle Spirits Club” scrawled across all 3 choices.

It appears they have a choice system because not everyone can get into one club?

Oh, are Clubs Invite-only? So what if no Club wants to invite you?

Do you just not get a club? What happens?

Them’s fightin’ words. Let Smile join man, he’s a player too above all things even if he’s your enemy.

He DID INDEED beat his ass, but I’m pretty sure strength isn’t the problem here Smile.

Bashin suggests having a match at the Batosupi Club to decide which of them joins.

I suppose that’s one way to exile your enemy from something you both have a mutual interest in.

Yeah there’s really no point honouring that request in any way. That’d be my response as well, with MUCH less suggestion of following through.

We interrupt this program to bring you Aibou dashing through the school for some bizarre reason.

Oh fuck off.

That was RELEVANT!?

Bashin would prefer not to come home to a missing or otherwise dead mouse so he’s off to go fetch the bloody thing.

Learning’s for nerds anyway, I’m pretty sure you can’t just take a break when you feel like it.

Unless he’s off to turn in his application which seems to have the exact SAME thing written on it 3 times.

Bashin somehow pathfinds towards Aibou in a way that has him doing a hundred meter dash right as someone fires the gun to go.

He even sets a new record, but it doesn’t really count because he was already at running speed when he started, that’s bound to give him a headstart.

Bashin quite cleverly clicks that Aibou has added a character to “Bukatsu”

Oh that’s why I got confused, the “Bu” sound comes from the start of “Bukatsu” and Japanese abbreviations use the first few characters.

Alright, I’m on track now.

They’re gonna invite the SHIT out of him aren’t they?

Aibou looks like he’s gonna be strangled to death. Look at his FACE.

Gonna be hard to escape all these nutcases inviting him for stuff.

Personally I’ve always wanted to try Kendo, Swords are awesome.

This comes with the great implication that Bashin has an off switch.

Disclaimer: Bashin does not infact, come with an off switch.

If I’m recognizing that text right, that’s the same as what’s written on Smile’s, its Battle Spirits Club written 3 times.

Entirely possible. Especially in a series centred around that card game where its the greatest thing since sliced bread.

They do have it measured here though, its big enough to have entire stadiums dedicated to it but not to have absolutely everyone interested regardless of origin.

Who the hell are these guys?

I could say they look like bullies but they’re evidently designed to look like that.

The edginess of the dude on the right is selling it for me though.

Oh hold on, I believe Japan has RELATIVELY strict rules on appearance, this guy’s got a ‘Fro which I’m pretty sure is not within regulation, which would imply delinquency depending on how this show is going.

But so far they’ve seemed rather progressive, though I could be missing small micro-details that are straight up awful. So maybe this guy’s a fakeout and he’s actually real nice.

“Profitable face”?

I am… not familiar with that designation.

Striker tells Meganeko to leave as she’s in danger, they’re also after him so Meganeko should have no trouble leaving.

Meganeko has trouble with her eyesight, so isn’t suited to be taking on these guys anyway.

It WAS a fakeout, they are nice. See? Progressiveness.

Well I suppose it’s on me for suggesting the show would attempt it, that’s probably indicative of a me problem I need to fix.

Ah, its the Soccer Club. They want Striker for their team.

Unfortunately that’s going to be a problem, Striker literally cannot play Football without destroying his leg.

I… I feel like informing them of your medical condition might be worth a bit more than simply saying “Sorry guys, I’m into CARD GAMES”

I guess he wants to do the game respect by suggesting that he wouldn’t go back even if he had his legs fully functional

I mean about 4 people are about to apply to it, why wouldn’t it exist?

And they have nearly enough people to form a club if it doesn’t yet exist.

The guy gives a “But” after remembering the Batosupi Club?

I am going to assume there’s a massive problem with its existence.

Oh god is this going to be a bit? I really can’t be fucked to sit here watching Bashin play a myriad of sports until someone directs him to the Batosupi Club.

Oh boy and they’re even going with the angle that he’d be AWESOME at Sports if he so chose to go with it.

Ah, do they legitimately have to find the club they want to join and formally apply?

…a Flower-tending club?

Only for Yellow flowers I’d imagine, there are OTHER colours.

To be honest, if that was getting in the way of my DESIRED club I’d freaking put in that level of effort myself.

Also come on he’s good at KENDO as well!?

There’s gotta be a sport he’s BAD at.

He’s informed that the Batosupi Club isn’t there because the Kendo Club is a Sports group.

Also god damn Bashin you’re incredibly strong and agile but you are an idiot!

Meganeko had to bake an ENTIRE FUCKING CAKE just to get to the Battle Spirits club, dayum.

I’m starting to wonder that myself, though that text on the piece of paper on the wall looks mighty familiar.

A quick look around the room indicates that this place isn’t very well maintained, instead used for storage.

Which sucks, you never wanna be storage.

It seems Smile already knew the location of the Battle Spirits club.

They are in the same class, Bashin has no reason to call him “Sempai”

For reference, “Sempai” means “Senior”, the opposite is “Kouhai” which means “Junior”

So Smile’s logic is because he was here first he was therefore a member for longer than Bashin?

I guess he’s just memeing to annoy Bashin, it’s something I’d do.

That’s a girl’s voice, and we only know one girl that goes here and plays Batosupi.

For a moment it looked like Striker and Meganeko came out of a fucking closet because I didn’t see the door closing.

And then I kicked myself for thinking that because Striker’s standing next to a Cabinet.

Refer to the 12th Doctor Gif above.

I mean it wasn’t a race until Smile made it one… after the finish line.

Aibou wonders if it was just them but apparently this club DOES have a 5th member.

Is there a need for this bit having Bashin introduce himself to a god damn mannequin?

Ignoring all that, HERE he is!

He’s a new character.

This guy is called Nanao Watanabe.

Ah sweet “Watanabe”, that’s a recurring Battle Spirits meme that crops up from time to time. What it references is a spoiler however so I’ll wait for it.

He derived his nickname “Seven” from the number present in his name.

I’m just happy to have Smile in this scene.

Apparently the Club used to have over 50% of the student body as members?

Dayum. That’s a popular club, what happened?

Million dollar question.

Um… So was that “Majority of the student body” claim a lie?

Striker’s not finding this very funny.

Bashin of course is trying really hard to get his 2 braincells working but unfortunately one of them has failed.

I adore Striker if only for keeping Bashin relatively on track.

Well we gathered THAT one captain, we’re asking Why.

There’s a story surrounding the club that drives away members?

What is the point of a story if not to be told?

One of them is LITERALLY in this room. Despite not being an adult

Striker takes this moment to tell an absolute fucking lie.

Out of all the instances where a Nazo-Otona has appeared, only about half of those occasions have resulted in an X-Rare being awarded. And only three of those were done so by defeating them.

It can be assumed that Odin, Destlord and Desperado were awarded by defeating Nazo-Otona but it’s never been confirmed nor shown onscreen.

Nine awarded Bashin with Siegfried after his defeat.

Eight awarded Kingtaurus to Striker after her defeat.

And Eight also awarded Bashin with Diranos after she was beaten.

Elliott gave Thor to J only after encountering him following J’s defeat by Smile, that one wasn’t earned.

Every other Nazo-Otona encounter has not yielded an X-Rare, and while its dubious whether or not Smile counts as he doesn’t operate like one, I assume you need to be a Nazo-Otona to be part of Numbers Elite, given you need to be Thousupi Group before then which is where all the Nazo-Otonas come from.

Damn, he likes this game more than Bashin, and Bashin would sell his brain to science for a game of Batosupi, I am confident that’s why he’s so dumb.

…Thousupi Group? Though he seems to reference location.

I suppose wherever Uchuuchouten’s segment of the Battle Spirits Dome is.

He… believes they come from “Mysterious Space”, or “Nazo-Kukan”

Having to go up 13 steps seems like a bait, this is probably some kind of prank that went too far but he didn’t know when to stop.

Bashin is motivated to go to “Nazo-Kukan” but Seven decides he needs to leave upon hearing it.

Yep, this is a prank.

“I put up with an elite member”

Well that’s a suggestion that perhaps the “Seven” doesn’t just get derived from Nanao.

Apparently the Numbers Elite need to be gathered because Seven might have said too much?

I’m telling you this is a prank-

Which would make you therefore a Nazo-Otona.

If “Galaxy” is used in place of the number “Seven” his name becomes “Galaxy Watanabe”

This is a Charisma Battler, Galaxy. A character that not only appears in this but in MANY later series.

He cameos frequently, there are other characters like him but this is the first one. His status is almost always different.

In this particular case, he appears to be Numbers Elite’s Number Seven. Or more specifically, a Nazo-Otona, and from the looks of things he lures members to this location to battle them.

Not sure what part of this would scare them off.

With a name like “Galaxy Seven” it would be hard to NOT assume this was Seven-sempai.

He is basically a Blue Suiren.

…He’s gonna get fucking Isekai’d isn’t he?

Oh? A Glowing blue necklace?

He’s a Cornerstone holder?!

So the Numbers Elite DO have one in their ranks.

It appears Isekai has been darkened for some reason, we have a Night Sky now instead of daytime.

Have you considered, Bashin, for just, a small, TINY moment.

That it might be fucking Isekai!?

I see Galaxy is trying to drive Bashin to beat him in exchange for Nazo-Otona information.

Or so he will after 21 turns of shit we won’t see.

Bashin’s got a pretty weak field in Goradon, Lizardedge and Eyeburn.

At least the Eyeburn is at Level 2.

And he’s got 5 lives.

Galaxy has 3 Spirits of his own, 2 of them new and shown here, being The Berserker Troll, The BearMan Beard

And the last one is good ol’ Jeffrey.

Lets have a look at these cards shall we?

Sidenote,

Here they are, the crazy things.

So crazy they’re JUST FREAKING VANILLAS

Whats interesting about The Berserker Troll specifically is that it power creeps Eyeburn EVER so slightly by having a high Level 1 BP, an extra reduction but the same Level 2 BP and Core cost requirement.

The BearMan Beard gets beaten out by the Berserker Troll with the same core on it but becomes a Hercules-Geo at Level 3 with 8000 BP at 8 core.

Except Hercules-Geo only needed 5 core.

BearMan Beard is terrible.

Dang, Bashin really hitting the nostalgia on this one, he put LIZARDMAN back into his deck.

Which he is now summoning.

New Green Magic from BS03, Potion Berry, its rather simple, it gives you a Core from the Void that gets played on a Spirit.

With 3 Green reduction its most effective in green as its 1 core for 1 core meaning you don’t have any net loss in core for the turn while you gain a core for the rest of the game.

Bashin using this in his Red deck is kinda strange since he’s paying 4 core for the thing.

All to bring Lizardman to level 2 which he could have done anyway.

I guess the +1 core for the rest of the game is nice but I’m just not seeing the utility when there are better cards he could be using and just managing his core better.

Bashin takes a swing with Lizardman.

Galaxy is REALLY animated when playing, its a breath of fresh air really.

Defensive Aura huh, welp.

Checking back through the field preview, BearMan Beard is only 3000 BP at Level 1 which its currently at, this brings BearMan Beard to 6000 BP which matches Lizardman’s 6000 BP

So a draw.

Or… not?

Or.. yes?

listen if you’re going to make a battle a freaking Draw at least make it LOOK like a draw instead of showing one side clearly winning.

Bashin attacks with Goradon which prompts a block from Berserker Troll, who wipes it out.

That… seems a bit silly.

And Pikeman Jeffrey is destroyed blocking an attack from Eyeburn.

That’s… even SILLIER.

Troll has 6000 BP which matches Eyeburn and Pikeman Jeffrey has 5000 BP which DWARFS Goradon at any level!

He should have Jeffrey blocked into Goradon and Troll blocked into Eyeburn, he’d have 1 Spirit left either way but Bashin would lose Eyeburn as well.

That was a little silly.

Galaxy then takes a life from Lizardedge’s attack.

So Bashin’s made a full attack here, no blockers. Actually its quite safe, he has 5 lives and Galaxy only has one spirit.

I get that he’s adjusting his glasses but he’s also flipping Bashin off.

Um, isn’t using stuff outside the game illegal-

He was simply checking the cards left in Bashin’s Deck.

There is only one reason why a player concerns themselves with the number of cards left in a Player’s deck, and well, its evident Galaxy is a Blue Player.

If you recall I explained Blue’s key traits, this is one of them.

Galaxy name drops the next card he’ll draw. That’s a real easy way to get called out for cheating if you get it right, and cheating if you get it wrong but the prediction making your opponent play around it anyway.

Ah he’s doing the whole “Destiny Draw” thing, there’s no music or special effect so this seems like its just another draw…

The card he draws just turns out to be a Jeffrey.

He has not played a Single card that holds an effect. Kind of interesting.

Seems we’ll see Blue’s special trait anyway! Here we go!

A Blue Magic from BS03, and the first card we see of Blue’s special trait, Deck Destruction.

This Cost 4 Magic has a standard battle boost effect incase its useless on your Main Step, but when used on the Main Step, it Discards 5 cards from the opposing deck.

Considering the Keyword mentioned on DragonSlayBlade Guy, Crush, can only discard a maximum of 3 cards if the Spirit even reaches Level 3, this is a pretty sizeable mill, with Bashin at only 20 cards left, that’s a quarter of his deck.

And a common problem fighting against Blue, sometimes you lose the cards you need.

Also really? Skeleton-Jaw is still in this deck?

Red and Purple have ways of retrieving their cards out of the Trash so its not the end of the world if one you’re not wanting there makes it in.

Oh you sweet, summer child.

With Bashin’s Draw that’s 14 cards left in deck.

I like how Double drawing into Bashin’s X-Rare has become SUCH a meme he even calls it a Special Move.

12 cards remaining.

Geez, Siegfried AND Seventh Crimson? Those are some DRAWS.

That’s a pretty beefy customer.

Bashin’s got 3 spirits now, while Galaxy still has 2. With Galaxy at 2 lives Bashin will need to get another Spirit.

Or simply remove Galaxy’s

Wasn’t it like 3 or 4 Episodes where you admonished Amade Us for doing LITERALLY this?

I hope SOMEONE out there is still keeping track of the fuckup tally because I’m PRETTY sure that BearMan Beard should NOT be there after blocking Lizardman and Bashin commenting on the FUCKING DRAW.

Also why the hell does it have 3 cores on it, it doesn’t even get to Level 2 that way.

Come ooooon.

Regardless of this fact, all of Galaxy’s Spirits have been vaporized.

Oh, right, that is a point.

Every incarnation of Galaxy Watanabe often addresses things that are good or bad as “Sexy” or “Not Sexy”

Its his quirk.

I’ll tell you what IS Sexy though, ending the attack step.

So it’s a Blue deck supported by White Magic.

Galaxy takes from the life, Bashin’s turn is forcibly brought to an end thanks to Silent Wall.

Galaxy draws and actually gets the card he said he’d draw.

Here it is! Our very first BLUE X-Rare.

Here it is, our Blue X-Rare from the “Fighting Spirit” and “Soldier” Families. Some of its effects we’ll even get to see right away. One good look at this thing is enough to see that it’s good for one thing and one thing only, Deck Destruction.

Only other things of note is its relatively low power given its cost, which is generally fine when compared to things like Desperado I suppose, its effect is ridiculously powerful after all.

But this thing at Max level loses to a Max level Siegfried in a straight fight, just think its interesting.

I should probably also note, this is one of my friend’s favorite cards If I’m remembering correctly. If it isn’t he’s going to hit me.

Huh, Bashin actually runs a 2nd Seventh Crimson. That’s interesting.

That aside, with these 2 cards gone, Bashin only has 2 cards left in his deck.

Oh hey, another new card, and this one’s being used in a Combo I actually love.

For the entire turn, you can target attack opposing exhausted Spirits.

This is strong with Titus, because it means he can forcibly trigger his Level 2 effect.

Titus target attacks Lizardedge.

A Tiny Lizardedge is no match for an X-Rare after all.

He runs Bashin out of the rest of his deck.

It turns out I haven’t really explained the significance of this have I? Though if you’ve played any kind of card game you’ve likely seen this kind of win condition before.

Battle Spirits has 2 main ways for a player to lose a game, either you have 0 Life at any point during the game, or you have 0 cards in your deck during Your Start Step

Other games handle this a bit strangely, Vanguard makes you lose automatically the very second your deck runs out of cards, and Yu-Gi-Oh! ONLY loses you the game if you have no cards in your deck at a moment that you are required to draw.

It’s quite an annoying way to lose because decks that focus around it can really unbalance the game. Bashin had 5 lives meaning Galaxy didn’t have to really wage any attacks and endanger himself, instead defending using White Magic and chilling when he couldn’t destroy Bashin’s deck, the only reason he even swung is because Titus’ LV2 effect mandates that he did so.

This means Decks centred on Deck Destruction can have a tendency to be a lot safer than usual as they have no need to attack if they’ve got no way of taking cards out of your deck, ignoring the Life almost completely.

But in Battle Spirits, losing lives is a valid strategy to gain resource, so your opponent turtling and being behind in lives 9/10 means they’ve got more resources at their disposal to discard your deck with while you’re stuck gaining 1 core a turn without any effects to supplement it.

It can be hard to fight at times.

As Bashin has no cards in his deck, Galaxy Seven is the Winner.

Oh ye of too much faith.

Bashin doesn’t seem too bummed out about getting decked out though, which is generally not the reaction most have to getting the equivalent of a non-standard game over.

Understandable confusion from those in this series, Blue didn’t come out until VERY RECENTLY so Deck destruction was not really a viable strategy.

Meganeko, the most studious of the 3, not only knew what the strategy was but what type of deck has it.

Card Sensei has Guragurii who evidently has the Blue stone that allows animals to speak, it is possible Meganeko encountered Blue cards from him, though he’d have had them WELL before they were meant to exist since Kiano Sawaragi outright stated Blue cards were new when he played them against J.

Her notebook contains NOTES on the Blue attribute apparently.

While I would disagree that Blue is entirely deck destruction, for now their only X-Rare is Titus so its definitely their most viable strategy.

That is basically true, if you rely on low lives to get by you’re going to have a myriad of problems against Blue Deck Destruction.

It’s an extremely unfortunate truth however and I absolutely hate it, makes me want to rage against the wall and try smack Deck Destruction with a Deck that requires low lives to function just to find a crack in it.

Seven returns, but seems to have a breakdown believing they will leave because he won.

Captain I don’t think the Students left because you beat them, I believe they may have left because you took them to a completely different fucking dimension.

Bashin being someone who actually ENJOYS the game regardless of whether he’s winning or losing isn’t one of those people, probably helps he’s a Cornerstone holder who’s been to Isekai before so the experience wasn’t too traumatizing.

Jesus what kind of players did this guy have as part of his club?

Nothing to really comment on here, they’re wrapping up this little subplot by having everyone join the club.

It appears they’re short a member for a tournament team as it needs to consist of a certain number people?

And so far they only have 4. How many do they NEED?

In an… extremely ODD turn of events, Smile is joining, which means despite being a villain he’s going to participate in Battles with the heroes.

I LOVE IT.

So I guess teams consist of 5 people? Are they first to 3 wins or something like that?

Its also confusing cuz I don’t know if he means they need an EXTRA 6th member.

It appears Isekai being night time is slightly relevant for some reason, Meganeko believes the change in the time of day is indicative of… something.

Meganeko suggests the idea that Seven is the Nazo-Otona… Despite not being an “Otona”

Striker comments on Blue’s properties, and well, yes.

So let’s review the 1 word descriptions I gave for each colour one final time.

Red was Aggression
Purple, Oppression
Green, Proliferation
White, Retaliation
Yellow, Confusion, Disruption also works.
And finally, Blue, Destruction.

Blue is all about aiming for some kind of destruction, the Deck, the Life, their Spirits, all are fair game for Blue.

And how exactly do you propose they defend their decks 3 sets in right on the cusp of Blue’s release?

There aren’t any Anti-Deck destruction cards just yet that I am presently aware of.

Being aware of whether or not a card CAN destroy your deck would be more useful.

I don’t need a “To be continued” slide for you guys to know that’s the end of the episode.

I’m kind of interested to see what kind of Team J forms with his school, given that the literal Principal and Chairman are against him.

To be honest that might be a topic that will get discussed next episode considering this seemed like a preparational one, gathering the cast for the next set of events rather than throwing too many curveballs into the mix.

Batosupi Lecture here talks about Deck Destruction as a concept and how you can win with it, I don’t think anything here can really be discussed that hasn’t been talked about already so I think I’ll leave it for now.

I’ll see you all next time!