Toppa Bashin – Episode 37

At a glance, the next few episodes don’t really seem all that interesting or plot relevence, but then when starting the next one I was greeted by this:

Now I know she’s NOT talking to me about my Blog posts but I can’t say no to that order.

I must keep striving on to cover EVERY episode!

I guess this is an Aibou-centric episode, then again it could also be as relevant as “Okyou’s Labyrinth” which had exactly 0 to do with Okyou.

Time wise the cast appear to be nearing Summer Break, which means we don’t have to fuck around with school for the end part of this series, thank god.

They do when applying for tests, the only thing they don’t have is Homework.

I don’t want to hear that from a Mouse that has a lifespan of… Hold on.

About 2 years.

…Wait Aibou has literally gone through about a quarter of his life by now! Jesus!

Class! I wonder what is happening. Though they did mention Tests in Batosupi TV so probably that

This appears to be rather basic Maths, Bashin hasn’t filled in ANY of his questions.

No I’m not going to spend the next 10 minutes answering them for you, this is literally piss easy.

If only Bashin had brains, he’d actually be succeeding at this test, and I would hate him just a little bit less.

Smile’s looking rather confident, I wonder if we’ll get a look at his paper?

HIS PALMS ARE SWEATY.
KNEES WEAK
ARMS ARE HEAVY.

Smile “Studying abroad” clearly hasn’t given him any leeway in doing basic math any better than Bashin can.

Also you guys play Battle Spirits and calculate math problems in the Thousands every time?! Why is THIS so hard for you?

The answer is: No.

Aibou notices Bashin’s cards are on the couch.

Also am I seeing things or is that card on the top what I think it is?

It IS, Bashin owns the White X-Rare, The Gigantic Thor, I wonder if this appearance here was meant to be some inclination that Bashin wants to use it in order to deal with Jack Knight, it wouldn’t die to The Dark Siegfried’s Lv3 effect when attacking, and it wouldn’t exhaust when blocking it, but other than that it gets completely trumped BP wise.

Aibou takes this moment to reminisce about Okyou, coming to terms with the reality that if Jack Knight is part of Thousupi Group, the likelihood is that Okyou is a member as well.

Commentator-san is complaining about wage gaps across Jobs on Live Batosupi TV apparently.

Okyou I guess is understandably a bit bored, also she has her own very Pink room.

Yeah that’s pretty fair, when your general purpose is “To be a pet” you probably don’t get to do much.

Especially a Pet well-versed in Battle Spirits knowledge which Jack Knight no longer has any need for.

You don’t have to stay there, the only reason you are is out of loyalty after all.

With everyone at either school or work the animal squad have some free time to kill. And can talk freely with basically no one about.

I don’t want to hear that from a fucking DOG, the literal most PLAYFUL creatures that we can keep as pets.

Aibou thinks the group should do something while the others are doing important human duties.

Aibou actually comes up with a good idea, mounting an attack in order to persuade J to quit the Numbers.

I guess “Because you’re animals given the ability to speak by those chosen by the Cornerstones” isn’t a good enough incentive.

Aibou believes if they can convince Okyou to listen then its likely she would be helpful in rectifying the problem that is Jack Knight.

This Episode is really just going to be 4 domestic animals attacking the Nazo-Otonas isn’t it?

Pink asks a pretty good question, distances for Humans are exponentionally larger for animals.

And they can’t exactly just get a Taxi there.

Only a group of talking animals would trust a talking mouse over literally anyone else.

Smile is continuing to be a failure. His “Ke’s” are very weak.

Bashin on the other hand has decided to resort to the most meme worthy method of deciding an answer, using the Pencil as a randomizer.

Except I’m pretty sure that test sheet didn’t actually have any multiple choice answers so this is kind of worthless.

I’m glad they highlighted that these randomization methods are completely ineffectual when it comes to tests that they aren’t made for and otherwise NON-MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS.

Jumping back to the animal squad, they’re apparently going to try and hi-jack the Speed Star.

I guess Papa Navi is capable of driving the Car remotely? Bus Navi did the same after all.

For reference, Papa Navi continually repeats “No, no, I can’t eat anymore”

This is a weird thing to leave in Sleep Mode, honestly.

For what reason would an AI need sleep?

Granted, at this point Papa Navi is probably well acquainted with Aibou and that makes it a tad easier to convince Papa Navi to drive the animals around.

I certainly hope they don’t get there sitting on the bonnet of the car though, that sounds dangerous and unsettling.

Nine is here to deliver Queen’s food…

You’d think they’d pay someone else to feed the Cat, why is Nine doing it?

Then again I suppose it has to be someone aware of her ability to speak, which only the Nazo-Otonas should be. Isekai needs to be kept a secret after all.

So apparently Jack Knight, while taking time away from school is still trying to keep up with his studies, just away from a Public place where people will talk to him, and where My Sunshine and Kyouka have unrestricted access to him to annoy him.

Not wanting to see the Papparazzi that arrives anytime they get to school sounds irritating as well.

So Nine’s philosophy for the Numbers Elite is to treat yourself well and with luxury?

Nine’s been producing extravagent food for Queen it seems.

He seems to have his priorities straight, he knows harming Queen will not help Jack Knight remain focused, and Jack Knight performing under Duress as opposed to free will can cause him to falter.

So he simply provides the same accommodations to both Queen, a simple cat, and Jack Knight, the strongest Number

Though Cats do sometimes want attention from their owners, especially loyal cats. I wonder if Queen feels a bit neglected being away from Jack Knight so long.

I can understand this, extravagent food is amazing, but sometimes.

Sometimes you just want a fuckin’ McDonalds.

I’m fairly sure the guard is watching for people, not animals, it would be a simple matter to go around him because you’re not what he’s looking for.

Plus, Pink can Camoflauge.

Now, we formulate a plan.

Cap suggests he could go it alone.

Aibou’s thought about the door problem, since they can’t open it, suggesting Cap carry them.

Aibou and Pink are fair game for Cap to carry but Cap definitely wouldn’t be able to pull up a whole ass Dog.

Pink says he could probably get inside by himself but no one else can camoflauge like he can.

And Papa Navi says they’ll be fine if they combine their unique abilities as opposed to thinking to make use of any one participant’s talents.

Because of course Papa Navi is the best Dad in the show.

Potentially because being a Number isn’t actually a factor in what school work you have to do?

Dunno you may have wanted to consider that, besides that test was easy, dunno what you’re busting your balls about.

Eight has only just now remembered that she needs to go spy on Bashin and the scene ends.

I’m… not sure what the relevence of this scene was meant to be.

Aibou and the Pets set off to go break in but Papa Navi gives him.. a Deck.

I wasn’t aware Papa Navi was capable of playing Battle Spirits, is that like an add-on you can install?

God I wish I had a programmable AI opponent that was easy to set up, I would fall in love with this game forever because I am a nervous wreck playing against people I do not know!

He’s wearing the Deck like its a fuckin’ backpack.

I guess the first plan is to get Aibou inside through Cap.

Got in through an open vent, this plan is fine, as Nanarin was the only problem.

I guess Pink has another way to get Nanarin inside.

Aibou’s undone the lock from the inside, makes sense, don’t really need a Key from inside the place. Only for outside.

Pink on the other hand is playing with the Guard’s assumptions, good idea!

Pink sneaks passed him directly through the power of CAMOFLAUGE!

And of course, no one is looking out for a Dog breaking in. So they all make it inside, nice.

Now comes the problem, we know Nine is aware of talking animals so this isn’t exactly going to be as easy as first thought.

They got in through exploiting the assumptions that a Guard would make, that any trespassers would be Human.

That won’t work on Nine who is aware of them.

There’s also this, they’re in enemy territory, so they won’t know where to look for anyone or anything.

And of course, an animal’s greatest enemy.

Technology.

Well this is going swimmingly, also that security guard’s face reminds me of something and I can’t put my finger on it.

You can’t hear it because there’s no sound in these blog posts but an alarm has been set off alerting everyone in the building that there is an intruder.

Nine comes in to see what the fuss is about, seeing that the “Animals” are the intruders.

Queen is also attentively watching the commotion.

Back to this shit again, Bashin’s also in the same state as Smile, with Meganeko asking how it went.

It was a test, Meganeko, Tests are always bad.

Meganeko clicks that Bashin didn’t do very well and tries to re-assure him with the fact that she did fine.

Oh they dropped this in at some point this episode or last episode I don’t remember but it was like a single line or something that didn’t seem relevent.

In Japan, Clubs seem (at least according to anime) “graded” using the average of all the participant’s grades. If the average grade of all members of a club falls below a passing grade, the Club basically gets abolished as its considered that the students will require more time dedicated to study in order to do well.

So Bashin, Striker and Meganeko have to do well on their tests in order to maintain that average.

Bashin has a letter in his cubby hole (is that what you call it?)

His locker, cubby hole sounds weird.

An interesting point that can be made here while Meganeko is getting openly flustered about the possibility of Bashin having admirerers other than herself.

Meganeko’s become a lot bolder since she got involved in Battle Spirits and inserted her contacts, her usual clueless and general silence have completely vanished and her personality in middle school is a lot more expressive and more direct.

Such that’s she wasn’t embarrassed by the idea that someone knew she wanted to be Bashin’s girlfriend but was simply happy with the idea of it, and openly expressing rage infront of her love interest that he may have received a Love letter.

Its in such small jumps that you barely even notice but if you compare this Meganeko to earlier episodes she’s almost completely different.

Oh hey, it’s Bashin’s High Ranker pass.

I wonder which Nazo-Otona’s defeat earned him that, he defeated so many last time.

I’m skipping MOST of the pointless chase as they don’t really add much to the overarching plot.

Nine is confident they can’t get away as they have access to the cameras in the hallways.

Only for them to start going out one by one.

I’m guessing that this is some interference from Okyou?

I was wrong apparently, Cap’s just become a genius.

Also these are some old fashioned cameras, new age cameras are like a full 180 degrees view, they’re top down and shielded by glass, it’d be hard for a bird to break them.

After another small few minutes of pointless running they find Okyou.

Sorry, Queen. I must remember to use the names they’re currently going by for the sake of actually being up to date.

Well that’s easy, her legal fucking owner and the person she’s most loyal to betrayed Bashin, why else would she have done it?

Yeah I didn’t think it was gonna be this easy.

You thought it was difficult to get reason through Jack Knight’s skull? It’s gonna be DOUBLY hard getting his loyal cat to leave his side for any reason.

Aibou decides enough is enough and thus the Mouse challenges a Cat… To a game of HUMAN cards.

This is going to be awkward to watch isn’t it?

Why is Nine getting so distressed? Does he want to stop them reaching Jack Knight? Or does he want them captured? He hasn’t quite let on what exactly it is he wants.

Oh hey, the Animals are going to fight in one of those play areas J debuted a long time ago.

So you’re necessary (when the plot feels like it) to go to Isekai, but you can’t actually open the gate to Isekai and play there yourselves?

What?

Show I do not trust you for an absolute SECOND that you’re going to stick to this Turn 1.

He’s a Mouse, the fuck do you want him to do? Grow in size?

Aibou plays a Rokceratops at Lv1.

Pretty standard opening move, he’s got 2 core left so he can follow it up with another low cost spirit if he has one.

More animals complaining that he’s slow af.

Why don’t you get up there and help him then, shitlord?

That’s… an interesting play?

Aibou summons Metalburn, but with only 2 core he’ll have to lose the core from his Rokceratops to keep it on the field.

But if the idea was “get a strong spirit” he could have moved the 2 core from his reserve to Rokceratops and raised it to Level 3.

That would give Rokceratops 4000 BP.

Metalburn on the other hand his going to make him lose Rokceratops, AND have a weaker Spirit, its not a good move.

You do it would just require you to do something relatively dumb to do it.

I’m not sure you’ll fair any better Queen, you ARE a cat.

Then how do you help Bashin with his Deck if you don’t fucking help him playtest? The guy’s got his OWN Gigantic Thor? Can’t you compose a secondary deck of 40 cards for the purposes of increasing YOUR skill AND helping Bashin playtest?

Also, Queen has a Pure Elixir in her opening hand, that’s kinda cool.

The play is technically legal for the core he has available and he’s already planted the card on the board, therefore most people in a tournament setting would ask him to complete his play as is, even if it were to get rid of some of his own cards.

I take back what I said about Queen, Aibou is fucking doomed if he’s not aware of that much.

No wonder Bashin argues with you concerning advice, you can’t even play!

Okay I’m being harsh, there are multiple kinds of players who can get invested in any TCG. There are Battlers, Deckbuilders and Collecters. There’s probably more but they can be argued to fall under any of those 3 types. A player can also fall under multiple types at once.

Aibou seems to be one of the Deckbuilder types, he’s aware of what cards might function in a deck and what combos could possibly be made available given a specific selection of cards, but he has basically 0 ability to battle by himself.

As Aibou has no more Core, there are no more plays he can actually make. So his turn is indeed over.

As Queen gets a Core Step, she has 5 core available for her turn and 5 cards in hand.

Ah, she makes a very similar play to Aibou, except she actually has the core to facilitate it, Berserker-Gun and Fenrircannon.

Metalburn is still an available blocker but it has matching BP to Fenrircannon, Queen could very well attack here if she so wanted.

Aibou could block but he’d have no Symbols and would need to repiece his formation, granted he could also then attack as Queen would only have the Berserker-Gun.

Given Berserker-Gun isn’t a reliable blocker on its own, I would probably end my turn here.

…Yes Aibou, that’s what the Core Step is for.

While true, I don’t think there’s many good reasons to-

I take it back there was NO reason to attack with Berserker-Gun!

I guess Queen was trying to bait the block so she could get at the Life.

There are several ways this turn could have played out just from these 3 Spirits.

Berserker-Gun attacks and Baits the block so Fenrircannon gets the Life.

Aibou could not block Berserker-Gun to fend off an attack from Fenrircannon, but at that point Queen could very easily just end her turn and she’d have gotten a free life from mind games alone.

She could have also gone with Fenrircannon first and gotten a free life that way, if Aibou blocks then he might just lose the Life anyway if Berserker-Gun swings as both Fenrircannon and Metalburn would destroy each other.

THIS IS WHY WE START FROM TURN 1 PEOPLE!

With no Blockers, Aibou takes a life.

Aibou’s a Life out and a Core Step in, so he has 6 available core to use for this turn, Metalburn is holding 1 of them.

Queen has no blockers as she full attacked earlier, so he’s free to go in guns blazing.

He throws out Goradon, a Cost 0, and Eyeburn, a Cost 2 with all 1 of its reductions fulfilled.

Both are Level 1. And he’s only paid for Eyeburn, so that makes 2 core left in his reserve, and 1 on each of his spirits.

He could level up his Metalburn here to bring it to 4000 BP in order to stave off another attack from Fenrircannon.

Goradon and Eyeburn attack, taking 2 lives from Queen.

Now Queen has 2 core in her reserve, and a reduction from Fenrircannon, she’s more than capable of using that Pure Elixir in her hand if Aibou attacks with Metalburn.

Its effect when blocking will give it +1000 BP which will win over Metalburn, which Aibou could have totally avoided by levelling it up!

Aibou wages an attack with Metalburn and Queen responds with Pure Elixir, as predicted.

She refreshes Fenrircannon and blocks the Metalburn, as she should.

Its a free 1-for-1 trade, Pure Elixir for the Metalburn.

Like clockwork.

And now Aibou has no Blockers and only just barely got the lead on Queen in life.

The Score is fucking 3-4 and its turn 4, how the hell do you get to Turn FUCKING 30 with FIVE LIVES A SIDE?!

Okyou’s 2 lives out and this is her 2nd turn going second.

Fenrircannon holds 1 Core, so she has 7 Core in her reserve.

Adding an Icemaiden and a Berserker-Gun to the board I see.

A core for each, and a core paid for Berserker-Gun, 4 Core left in the reserve.

She COULD actually level up Icemaiden and Berserker-Gun as well, they need only 2 core to have their levels raised which is exactly what’s left in Queen’s reserve.

Fenrircannon and Berserker-Gun attack, as Aibou has left himself without Blockers, he has to take from the life.

Aibou deploys The Burning Battlefield at Level 2, thats a 3 core investment, 1 in the Trash and 2 to Level it.

4 Core left in reserve.

The Burning Battlefield is going to be real nice dealing with that Lv1 Icemaiden, its sure to be defeated this turn now.

Aibou summons The RiseDragon Balmung! Not a bad spirit. He doesn’t have nearly enough Core to level it though.

Uh. What?

That’s… a new card from BS04, I wasn’t anticipating that, and it happily uses the last 2 core in Aibou’s reserve.

Its a card you pre-emptively use on your Main Step, but it grants all “Winged Dragon”, “Dragon” and “Ancient Dragon” the ability to instantly refresh if they defeat a Spirit.

Aibou currently has Eyeburn and The RiseDragon Balmung, which are Winged Dragons, if they win a battle they’ll refresh.

And Aibou’s got The Burning Battlefield, meaning Queen has to block the attack.

With 3 Lives remaining, Queen’s about to lose.

Icemaiden blocks an attack from Balmung and is defeated

Thanks to Dragons’ Rush, Balmung is refreshed.

Aibou does a full attack and defeats Queen.

Well, that was an interesting way to display a Battle starting FROM THE VERY BEGINNING and seeing the End without a single skip.

I like Dragons’ Rush, its a type of Magic that is exactly my style.

While they can’t locate the animals through the cameras as they’re useless, they have been alerted that the Battle System was in use, giving them an idea as to where they are.

To be fair, she doesn’t have to do anything given that she didn’t actually agree to anything.

Doesn’t actually matter as Nine has identified their location and brought EXTRA GUARDS.

Queen in a strange turn of events leaps on top of Nine’s face as a distraction.

I guess she feels the need to offer them something in exchange for their victory, otherwise it’d be pretty hollow.

I mean that’s cool and all but then what’s the point of this episode?

Oh come on at least get CAPTURED or something, change the status quo a little!

This is to be expected, if you want to prevent an escapee from leaving you add extra guards to the exits.

Though nothing gets a crowd of people to disperse like a car fucking driving through them.

You’d think a Car Navi would have some kind of non-overridable programming that would prevent them taking illegal actions like this.

Like being confined to a road or something.

And off they go, to completely return to their lives and make this episode seem like it didn’t happen.

Nothing like electing NOT to tell Bashin about your visit to the Isekai Dome.

As if to hit the point home as to how little the rest of this episode will matter.

This is rather obvious for an observation given the type of anime this is, but man they’re REALLY glossing over the fact that Bashin just had a super-important test, because you know, we need to talk about Card Games.

Oh nevermind, Aibou finally bothers to actually ask how well Bashin did.

Nothing quite makes me feel cheated as a member of the audience than to have an entire episode’s drama predicated on the fact that he needed to study for his test only for him to fucking fail it anyway.

Like what was the point? You might as well have just not had the test ever come into play plot-wise, its just wasted screentime.

I believe, and feel free to correct me if I’m wrong, but tests in Japan are scored out of 100, a passing grade is considered to be having an average of about 40.

Its similar to like Universities, in my University, you were fine if you simply passed, which required you earned at least 40% of marks across all graded material. But it wouldn’t get you a very good degree.

Amazing degrees (1:1) were awarded at 70%,
Good degrees (2:1) are awarded at 60% and falling below that I believe gives you a 2:2 grade which tends to be a degree that is functionally useless.

And that’s all we got.

Why do I feel like we just wasted our time? Even though we got a battle and everything, sweet jesus. We haven’t learned anything particularly unique besides basically how everyone did in school which would be a nice detail if it weren’t so entirely irrelevant!

Ah well, at least its over, onward towards the next episode, of which there are now only 13 left.

See you then!