Toppa Bashin – Episode 40

Alright here we go, NOW there’s no way than keep us from the Tournament, we’re gonna get a darn good battle and I’m going to LIKE IT.

“The Space between family and team” sounds like this will be a Jack Knight episode, wasn’t expecting us to take him on this early.

Yes, Team Battles have not been a mainstay for Tournament matches at all, infact the concept of Teams in general has not been a thing until this tournament.

Having other formats officially supported can be refreshing for a game.

And of course, we need to cement that Jack Knight and Smile are unstoppable without actually showing why, I don’t think I’ve seen a single ounce of their ability as a tag team.

Nothing like a bit of informing everyone that the 2 teams we actually want to see duke it out with each other are doing well, I’m not sure if there actually ARE any other relevant teams in this sequence, I didn’t see any on the board.

It appears Elliott and Kiano didn’t even bother to turn up for their team’s battle, confident they would win.

Also appears Nine has paired off with Galaxy, interesting combination, I wonder how their teamwork is.

Jack Knight’s sheer overconfidence is as radiant as ever.

Isn’t that a bit risky? I thought the whole idea of pairing off Jack Knight and Smile was that they were to be THE prime combination, Why split them up now?

Which leaves Nine with Elliott.

I don’t like this one bit, somethin’ smells off about this change in order.

Jack Knight also sees the issue, Smile and himself are a “Perfect Tag” as he puts it, so there’s no reason to split them up.

While that is true you’re not giving them any reason to compromise because there isn’t a problem.

Screw his orders, the old man sits on his ass all day and hasn’t had one battle while throwing out orders.

When the guy actually shows himself to be good at battling then I’ll actually give a shit, how about that?

Ah yes but the fucking gargantuan one you’re making right now isn’t.

I feel slightly cheated, I wanted to see that “Perfect Tag” of theirs torn to pieces by the main cast, the audience won’t actually get to see what made their tag so perfect.

This is also quite literally self-sabotage, of all the pairs you could have created you put Jack Knight with his own Father who he quite literally would love nothing more than to pound the everloving shit out of?

This line actually expresses a lot more than it suggests, by claiming he is not “His father” but “Number Three”, he’s indicating that he likely doesn’t like this either. And if he were “His father” and all the problems that came with it, he would probably agree with Jack Knight here.

But since he is acting as “Number Three” of the Numbers Elite, their relationship problems are secondary to the problem right infront of them, and should take a backseat.

I don’t like this anymore than you do buddy, this is a really stupid decision to make, I don’t see any reason, narratively or otherwise to split Jack Knight or Smile up.

I get you want to make drama between Jack Knight and daddy dearest but if you were going to do that then you shouldn’t have painted Smile and Jack Knight as the perfect tag.

So now we’re getting drama instead of seeing how Team Shomen Toppa would deal with the otherwise insurmountable wall.

It appears Bashin and Suiren are having a disagreement on… “Who gets to be the Captain”

Whatever that entails.

Kyouka has arrived to act as the mediator.

…I’m not sure what Bashin yelling “Shomen Toppa” has anything to do with the possibility of you losing a round?

Wait, what? I’m completely losing the plot here, nothing is being explained.

And apparently Suiren takes THAT to mean she’s going to be captain for the next match.

I don’t… I don’t understand what is happening.

I don’t even know what “Being the Captain” means in this situation!

This is a very silly argument, I get the idea but no one is saying anything that makes sense.

Suiren wants to be the Captain because she thinks Bashin has been operating poorly. Bashin is claiming that she has no basis for that claim because they’ve won every match they’ve had with another team.

I think Kyouka brought up the fact that they have lost a round or 2 but won the match anyway which Suiren takes to mean that Bashin does have flaws in his judgement.

And as if to make matters worse, Eight is now missing.

In searching for her, Striker finds her as “Number Eight”, walking with Elliott.

How much spray-tan is she going to go through today, switching between “Eight” and “Masako”?

This is likely going to concern her participation with Team Shomen Toppa.

Why the fuck does it matter? The Tournaments are meant to draw out those who hold Cornerstones aren’t they? Not allowing them to battle would be completely stupid.

That explanation is almost APOCALYPTICALLY cryptic.

She might be able to change her appearance but she can’t change her voice.

This is such a Parental way of solving the problem of 2 children arguing, “Why can’t there be two captains?”

BECAUSE being a Captain likely involves selecting the order, and if both select different orders, which one takes precedence?

Striker thinks this is a JOLLY good idea because they’re paired up.

Well okay then.

Well that was certainly close, she only managed to change her top half-

Wait, her midriff still has the Spray Tan, what the hell?

Welp, that’s another bottle of Spray Tan completely wasted.

“The Young use it to play and the Old use it to earn” sounds like a really capitalistic way of looking at it. Also extremely enraging because I love this game despite being an adult.

Adults should not get used to the idea that they are not allowed to enjoy things that children have the capacity to enjoy.

Elliott re-raises the initial problem, Eight has committed an offence against Thousupi Group.

Very rare moment that we actually get to see Eight’s eyes.

Quite interestingly, she’s actually quite beautiful with her glasses off.

But back on topic, apparently being a Teacher has implored her to ask how much she’s actually enjoyed Battle Spirits for herself, since she’s been using it to support the Nazo-Otonas all this time.

Elliott has a bit of a think about it and comes to some sort of conclusion that the reason he believes she joined them is different to the reason she actually did so.

It appears that there was a misunderstanding? Let’s see if I can put this together.

Eight joining Team Shomen Toppa was seen as a betrayal by the Nazo-Otonas because they believed she was lending them their strength in order to support them against Thousupi Group.

However, Eight is explaining that she didn’t do it because she was actively rebelling against the group, she did it because Battle Spirits is enjoyable for children and she wanted to protect their entry to let them enjoy it further. As well as enjoy the game herself.

Hence, she’s not betraying the group, she’s simply acting in her own interests.

And I’m one of them, sat here in my little room wondering why the fuck you haven’t thrown a battle at me yet.

It appears Jack Knight and Kiano are still doing well despite the fact that they haven’t composed the “Perfect Tag” like Jack Knight and Smile would.

Seems once Bashin clears out the Mutsugo Brothers (whoever they are) there will only be the Finals, leaving Numbers Elite to face off against Shomen Toppa.

After their Tag match together, Striker apparently sees Eight drop something.

I certainly hope that wasn’t the letter from Elliott. Because that would make things REAL awkward.

Oh, Striker used that as an opportunity to call out Elliott? And not Eight?

This is a very “You know too much” situation.

Striker having caught onto Elliott’s vague letter is a problem because it likely means they might be able to take advantage of Eight’s status as a Nazo-Otona.

Ah yes, the 5th Amendment: The Right to Silence, the ultimate defense of the American. The ability to plead silence when asked to give testimony that may be considered incriminating.

There’s that recurring theme again, seeing the events in terms of “Adults” and “Children”

There’s a recurring theme of the cast, the “Children” being left in the dark about situations that concern them purely because they are children, and Adults continuing to dismiss them, again, because they are children.

The antagonists all share a very “Children have no business involving themselves in Adult matters”, its the core of the debate between J and his father as well. J AND Striker in this situation are trying very hard to understand why certain things are happening and at every turn, Adults are telling them they have no business knowing because they are not yet Adults.

So J, in his case, is given no other option than to force himself to grow up, and forcibly cements himself in his Father’s world, he becomes an “Adult”, and even earlier in this episode he’s treated as a child because he’s been forced to Team up with his father and is offerred no explanation than “Their leader said so”, even being an Adult doesn’t allow him to do as he likes as he’s still offered no explanations for the things he is forced to do.

Its an interesting theme, I wonder what the moral is meant to be.

There it is again, Elliott’s dismissal of Striker, because he’s a Child.

Elliott bets the Truth about Eight on a Battle, as one does in Card Game anime.

This is interesting when thinking about the earlier themeing, Elliott said “Batosupi is not only for Children”, this makes Battle Spirits as a game, a medium by which Children are on the same level as Adults.

It appears we’re getting another out-of-tournament battle, this time it’s Striker vs Elliott.

It appears Striker has 0 Spirits, and only 2 cards in his hand, that’s… pretty bad.

And while I would hazard to say Elliott is using White, he’s only got Fenrircannon Mk-II

And Elliott has been known to throw out off-colour spirits like crazy anyway.

We’re not shown the lives.

Striker plays 2 copies of The Fruit of Life and levels them up, before passing.

He’s in need of resources, so this isn’t a bad way to get them, but without a good look at his lives its hard to tell if its a good move.

Well we can at least confidently say Elliott is using a White Deck this time around, he plays the new BS04 White Vanilla, Berserker-Magnum, its Cost 2 and a member of the “Machine” family.

He also follows up with another new card, The Valkyrie-Hildr.

A new Cost 6 White Spirit from BS04, its unaffected by Spirits or Spells, and refreshes whenever your life is damaged. It’s quite an okay defensive card considering it can block every other attack.

Striker takes lives from attacks from Fenrircannon Mk-II and Berserker-Magnum, awarding him 4 additional core and 4 extra cards.

We also learn that he had full life, and now he’s on 3, still haven’t seen Elliott’s.

Striker responds to Valkyrie-Hildr’s attack with MachG.

But still chooses to take from the life. (3->2)

That’s a clever move, he’s still accruing resources, but by putting Swift Spirits on the board on the last attack, their core will return to Striker’s reserve when his turn begins, and he’ll have more reductions available.

Striker plays 2 more new cards. Machfly and BlackMachG.

Both are Parasite Vanillas, Machfly is from BS03 while BlackMachG is from BS04.

Striker then deploys The Budding Plain, this will enable Striker to gain Core anytime he plays a Magic during the Attack Step.

Striker then plays The Duke Kingtaurus, allowing him to gain 3 extra core as he has 3 extra spirits.

This would matter more if we actually knew how much Core Striker was working with but we don’t, at the very least, Striker doesn’t need additional investment bringing it to Lv2

The Duke Kingtaurus is sent out to attack.

Elliott takes from the life. Showing us both sides had full life during the Board preview. (5->4 vs 2)

Because Striker damaged Elliott’s life, Hildr’s Lv2 effect kicks in, refreshing it.

Undeterred, Striker sends Machfly to attack, which is promptly defeated by Hildr.

Striker attacks again with MachG which Elliott takes from the life. (4->3 vs 2)

Hildr is once again refreshed as Elliott lost a life.

Yep, throwing in BlackMachG would just be suicide.

I guess “Soccer Boy” devolved into “Sugar Boy”

This is our missing X-Rare we didn’t get to see from BS03, surprised we saw 2 BS04 X-Rares before we saw this but hey, stranger things have occurred.

This card’s quite the sheer pain in the ass, its a difficult card to keep at Lv3 due to its 8 core investment but when it does its nasty.

Its a Spirit that reinforces your board, your White Spirits get stronger when blocking, and at higher levels, they even become immune to effects. Red, Purple and Green are already quite nasty since that prevents most removal and even exhausting as an option, and then you bring it to Lv3 and it adds Blue and Yellow to the mix, meaning you can’t even use those effects to interact with it.

Making the only option to deal with it through effects, being White.

Its not seen nowadays, its fairly weak for its cost and effect, most Spirits of that cost need to have a higher BP output, but its universal armor is quite a nasty prospect, if you figure out a way to give it White Armor then the card becomes Invincible unless you fight it head on.

In Striker’s defense, he does come up with a good plan to block with his last Spirit and use Same Tired to force 2 more of Elliott’s spirits into an exhausted state.

The problem is… Mam-Morl is ALREADY Lv3, Non-White Effects no longer work.

As much of a villain as Elliott is, he always looks like he’s having fun, even when he’s getting his ass beat.

In this case though, he’s getting to showcase another of the effects that the game he created has (He is considered to be the game’s creator in this series which is kinda whack)

Well White effects but on his turn, basically yes.

Berserker-Magnum loses to BlackMachG, its still pretty bad though, Striker has no Blockers and Elliott has 3 Spirits that are invincibile to non-White Magic.

Valkyrie-Hildr attacks, taking a life from Striker.

Fenrircannon aims for game. You had a good run Striker-

WAHT!?

OKAY I WASN’T EXPECTING THAT, THAT WAS COOL, THE SAVAGEKNIGHT HERCULES CAME OUT OF NOWHERE AND BLOCKED!

That was lucky, but the more interesting part is the OTHER card he drew, White removal magic!

Fenrircannon is vaporized by Hercules’ Block.

Now this is cool, that was really cool, one of the few times this show has actually made me feel awesome.

MachG is also refreshed as The SavageKnight Hercules refreshes all Swift Spirits when it’s summoned.

This means with only Mam-Morl to attack with Elliott can’t win.

Oh, we get to hear more about this “Adults business” shtick, I’m actually invested to see where this is going.

Striker’s earned that with that last play he did, using The SavageKnight Hercules as a wall.

Striker concedes the idea that perhaps it WAS an adult situation and that Striker shouldn’t really be involved in it.

I’m not really sure what Striker’s point here is in terms of a moral with the show’s overall themeing.

I RECKON its that even if its an “Adult situation”, one shouldn’t remain ignorant when it involves their friends.

Striker bounces The IceBeast Mam-Morl to Elliott’s hand, now Striker just has to worry about Hildr.

Striker then deploys a Yellow card, The Spiral Tower. Making Elliott’s Spells cost 1 more to play.

Its not shown well onscreen but he levels it up to Lv2, which will prevent Elliott from using Magic unless all cost is paid from the reserve.

Striker then uses Poison Mist, that’s a new one.

A Purple Magic from BS03, Poison Mist lets one send any Cores from their Reserve to the Trash to move the same number from the opponent’s Reserve to the Trash.

This is good synergy with Striker’s Green Deck, as he gains a lot of Core, leaving him almost always in excess of core compared to his opponent, Elliott’s reserve is likely completely dried of Core, so Elliott can’t respond with Magic.

Good moral, a bit simplistic but its a good moral.

BlackMachG attacks, dropping Elliot to 2 lives (3->2 vs 1)

Hildr is refreshed.

I believe we’ve reviewed this card before, it lets one destroy a Spirit in order to gain cores in your Reserve equal to that Spirit’s cost, this card is Banned currently because it enables one to accrue more Core than they spent on it very easily.

Striker uses it to rid himself of BlackMachG, giving him 3 additional Core in his reserve.

He then uses that core to additionally follow up with Offensive Aura.

Kingtaurus only has 6000 BP at Level 2, it loses to Hildr’s Lv2 at 7000 BP, as such, the boost is necessary to overcome Hildr.

And since Hildr was defeated by Kingtaurus, Elliott loses one additional life (2->1 vs 1)

The SavageKnight Hercules attacks for Elliott’s last life, going full fucking Jedi.

And that’s a win for Striker.

The game was a bit tilted into Striker’s favour there by exploiting the draws but at the very least they broke the formula of “New X-Rare means that person wins”

Striker’s getting some pretty heavy praise from Elliott but you did promise him information if he was able to defeat you.

Striker didn’t forget either, good, that would have been really annoying.

Striker has a mini flash of images from his past interactions with Number Eight.

Elliott explains to Striker that, at least for this Tournament, Eight isn’t participating out of any ulterior motive and genuinely wants to help them.

Wow I guess the only tournament match we will actually be seeing is Shomen Toppa vs Numbers Elite.

Strangely enough BOTH Striker and Elliott sighed when they won, which is a bit strange considering Elliott should be considering them to be in his way.

Ah, I forgot that the Nazo-Otonas were aware that My Sunshine and Suiren were the same person, and as such Elliott wanted them to succeed otherwise My Sunshine likely would not have done a live in her state.

So Elliott’s a closet My Sunshien fan, because of course he is.

Huh, so for the Finals they changed up the rules, now only half the Team gets to play, and they will have three individual battles.

I guess this solves the problem of Jack Knight being held back by Kiano, and makes the “Perfect Tag” problem slightly irrelevant as the last match was never going to be Tags anyway.

And it also lets Bashin get proper revenge on Jack Knight as they lost in a 1v1 battle, winning only through a Tag wouldn’t be very meaningful.

Alright, I’m satisfied with this.

Geez, can a guy not have a battle with an overarching enemy who’s also the creator of Battle Spirits in peace?

What if he just really needed to use the bathroom?

Yeah you should think about fixing that problem, being My Sunshine is really causing you more issues than it solves.

But can’t knock someone for enjoying singing, I like singing too though I’m much less good at it.

Elliott suddenly announces that he’s withdrawing from the final round, this is fine given that he’s not actually required to play.

I guess Striker managed to get through to him in some way.

I really hate when there’s a Team setting and like one member of the team is like “I’m all that’s necessary”

It’s fucking PsyQualia Aichi all over again from Vanguard’s first season, its a 3v3 game, you need 2 wins!

At best you are 50% of what’s necessary! You need someone at LEAST your level!

I have no idea what this is meant to mean in the context of all Elliott has been doing until now. Next Era for what?

But of course we’ll get ZERO explanation because that’s the end of the episode!

We’re finally going to see Shomen Toppa vs Numbers Elite in the next one and if I’m honest I really cannot wait to see it!

This episode once again hits home the separation between “Adults” and “Children” and what Children should be doing and what Adults should be doing.

I believe there’s an indication, at least in this show, that for Adults there is a time to be a Child, and for a Child, there is a time to be an Adult, and what that actually means is something explored in this show.

I’d need a whole essay to completely go in depth but that’s the messaging I’m getting at least.

And of course our card of the day appears to be The IceBeast Mam-Morl.

Its definitely not a card used recently now, as I said earlier its power and cost are not worth it, and though its Armor abilities are quite useful, there are new card types that don’t fall under typical Armor that can blindside regular Armor. Allowing Mam-Morl to just get completely run over by those newer card types. It’s family, “Giant Beast” is also not a well supported Family in the recent game, and as such there isn’t a family-centric deck it can fit nicely into.

The card suffers from it’s High Investment, unsupported family and outdated effect, which is why its not used as a focal point for any reason in today’s Metagame.

That being said, all cards have a use, and Battle Spirits is the type of game where any card can see use and be useful, so don’t hestitate to play with cards like this if you like them.

With that, I’ll take my leave, see you next time for Episode 41!