So last episode was a lovely story about how some animals accomplished fuck all.

I am suspecting this Episode will be the same, while I try to avoid watching ahead in order to fully place my surprise on the page, I unfortunately can’t protect myself from the THUMBNAILS

I guess all I can do is press onward, we’ll EVENTUALLY get to the Plot if I cut away at the crap!

This Episode title is definitely NOT good at staying my worries, A Swimming Pool episode is secondary ONLY to the Beach episode in terms of sheer waste of time.

Is it finally time to actually progress the plot?

That sounds like a loud resounding no.

My guess is that Summer has finally begun after those midterm tests they were taking, and as such they’re enjoying the start of their warm season by going to a Swimming Pool.

Though, judging by this frame the Swimming Pool seems made to look like a localized beach.

Bashin tries to dive in immediately but gets stopped by Striker because Meganeko has yet to arrive.

But apparently we’ve learned nothing from the first few episodes that maybe waiting for Meganeko might be a kind thing to do and she would really appreciate it.

Why is that a rule? The only downside to not stretching is potential muscle soreness post-exercise.

I guess it could count as an injury which the Swimming Pool place would somewhat be liable for, so having lifeguards and signs inform people of their need to stretch is a good way to avoid lawsuits for people who choose not to do it anyway.

I like how they do their stretches and Bashin gives up, but Striker on the other hand continues to exercise.

He’s got muscles coming on at this angle as well.

Guess we won’t have to wait long, Meganeko has arrived, and because this is a series marketed towards young boys (It is a Shounen Anime) there is going to be no shortage of making girls look pretty.

Bashin and Striker react as straight boys tend to, losing their cognitive ability to think clearly when around a pretty girl.

Meganeko initially believes that they’re thinking she’s pretty.

But apparently that would be too obvious, because these 2 only have eyes for My Sunshine.

Also I’m pretty sure that’s kind of weird to be acting like lecherous fans when you are actual friends with the person you’re going nuts over.

That’s a recipe for making things awkward when you next see her, also this is a TV. She might be RIGHT THERE.

And as a Girl who likes boys, Meganeko feels the validation of being seen as pretty by them ripped away from her.

On a more interesting note, I wonder if Contacts are even usable in Swimming Pools.

Apparently not, Meganeko would probably need some kind of goggles, or she could just swim without them, it really depends on how bad her eyesight generally is.

Pool restrictions would likely dictate that animals can’t be in the water, I’m not sure why Nanarin isn’t quite literally losing her shit.

Dogs enjoy swimming… IF they don’t mind getting wet, some Dogs don’t like baths and therefore those dogs don’t like swimming.

But I guess the Cornerstone’s power gives them more human-like awareness than other animals.

No Bashin, you’re not allowed to have fun the same way I do at a beach, Waves are fun to push against, and they’re even more fun when they push against you.

On the upside if nothing interesting happens for a while I can skip some scenes and make this episode shorter.

I don’t understand people that get well into their Swimming Uniform and then just… not swim.

I don’t really understand. Its possible they have swam or its a requirement for the other services in that area but come on, make the most of the money you spent.

So Striker seems to be commenting on how Bashin doesn’t seem too broken up after getting completely and utterly torn to shreds by Jack Knight and his Black Siegfried.

The guy wasn’t even using an optimal deck for it, he ran a Random ass Cost 9 Red card that demanded Tribute among a sea of White Cards.

The only other Red card was Double Hearts if I recall correctly.

Paying full cost for something is… in some cases a bad idea, but its not implausible to tech in 1 Big card if you’re confident the card will stick around after you play it, for J to play DarkDragonEmperor Siegfried at full cost the way he does, he needs 11 core, the 9 he has to pay, the 1 he has to send to the Void for Tribute, and the remaining 1 he needs to maintain DarkDragonEmperor Siegfried.

For that to happen, he has to have had 7 core steps, so waiting 7 turns just to play it if he hasn’t lost any lives. (Losing lives lets it come one turn earlier), and he can’t have any other spirits after playing it once he has his 11 core minimum.

Makes the card a Super-lategame card in J’s deck, which the show abuses by jumping to Turn 30 where J has had around 14-15 Core Steps, leaving him around 18-19 core available at any time, which is more than enough to hard-summon his big black dragon.

I’m apparently not the only person who criticizes Toppa Bashin’s unrealistically long games, in looking for meta history for around this time of the game, I came across a facebook post (shudder) that echoed my sentiments about 20-30 turns to deal even 1 life of damage is extremely unreasonable.

Anyway, game tangent, sorry, back to the episode.

Striker thinks its a good thing that Bashin is completely ay-okay after that beating.

Meganeko seems to think otherwise.

Meganeko, who is far more interested in Bashin than Striker will likely ever be, notices things Striker doesn’t, in this case, she’s been swimming with Bashin before and noting that Bashin is struggling with waves he’d otherwise be able to topple as an indication that his will has, while not being completely smashed, been damaged in some way and that’s manifesting as a drop in his usual stamina. Basically he has less will to “Break through from the front” as it were.

Finally, we’ve left the Swimming Pool, time to have an actual episode that looks at Bashin’s mindset behind all this.

His best friend did just beat his ass, call him worse than a weakling and then dropped him on his backside.

How about we don’t.

We interrupt this Pool-Episode to bring you My Sunshine travelling through a broken residence of some kind to defeat someone.

And it’s apparently J! You’d think something like this would be foreshadowed unless it was a…

…A complete fake out.

“J” here has hair that’s way too long, his jacket is the wrong colour, and he’s not correcting My Sunshine that his name is Jack Knight.

Conclusion: this is not J.

They held up the charade for not even a minute. Producing whoever… this is.

The Wiki does have a page for him, this is Pseudo-J, likely J’s intended Stunt Double.

His voice is a bit off but he’s using J’s mannerisms well, which is pretty jarring considering he seems overly confident yet uses terms like “Boku” which is a more polite way of addressing oneself.

Why do we have 2 Battle Spirits superstars doing… cooking?

This is slowly devolving into comedy levels of ridiculousness.

So their “Take” on J is that he’s so good at Battle Spirits he doesn’t even use Knives for cooking, because he’s become so efficient at wielding Batosupi Cards.

He then declares that he’s going to cut a SUSHI ROLL with a Battle Spirits card.

also look at his FACE.

That’s a captionable face. Someone meme this, please.

Okay he doesn’t unrealistically make a spectacle of it, slicing the Sushi slowly and carefully.

I’m not gonna lie I could really go for some J Sushi right about now.

But I’m fairly sure that Sushi is literally just food-colouring on the Rice there, the texture on the interior is the same as the exterior.

Also you can see that it was all one expert wrap as well, the Sushi folds into the “J”.

Apparently My Sunshine keeps fucking up the line of “Isekai kai Totaru”

How do you fuck up Bashin’s line of all things!?

So this is apparently their attempt at the movie, they wished to have J appear as himself because he was already planned for the film, I wonder what the rules are for playing a real life person in a film?

Cuz in most cases you’d just want them to appear as themselves, which is likely why they wanted to scout J.

But that didn’t pan out because J only wishes to fight Uchuuchouten and nothing else, so they have Pseudo-J here.

Actually the script is surprisingly accurate in a really roundabout way, My Sunshine was causing trouble for her managers because she wasn’t able to face her work head-on and Bashin inspired her to do so.

And it’s no secret that she considers J to be one of her rivals because well, she lost to him in the first battle of the series and became the runner-up, granted, she was Suiren at the time but even so.

Psuedo-J’s apparently a bit of a pushover with an evident interest in My Sunshine, off-set he’s quite overly friendly, almost the exact opposite of J in that regard.

He’s making an earnest effort to try and cheer up My Sunshine though, so despite evidently seeming like the annoying type, being overbearing in his attempt to cheer up My Sunshine, you can’t fault him for trying.

It’s difficult to handle annoying people because the thing that they’re annoying you with is not necessarily a bad thing, which is why it is important that one learns to say no for themselves.

It seems like My Sunshine has it in her head that Pseudo-J is belittling her ability to play Battle Spirits? Not sure where that came from

I really do not respond well to people slowing down their words suggestively. Even though in this case My Sunshine is doing so to be sadistic, not suggestive.

It appears Pseudo-J has a thing for My Sunshine but at this particularly point in time I would find it extremely difficult to find anyone who did not.

Oh yay they translated the sign, apparently My Sunshine has a specific sign even for barring the MANAGER from checking in on her, you know, the only person who otherwise has any authority over what she should do.

I think the earlier Sub got it slightly wrong, as Pseudo-J appears to be learning Battle Spirits as opposed to teaching My Sunshine.

So I’m curious if Pseudo-J entered her room because he wanted to play so he could learn a bit more.

In other news, Meganeko has… gone somewhere with Nanarin, she has a very smooth walking scene over to this door.

Now the subber didn’t actually translate this but because the text is flat Japanese and not slanted in any way, we can actually run it through the Yandex Translator.

And the result ends up being something along the lines of “Other than those involved, No Entry”

Found what?

Ah of course, this is the set/studio that they’re recording at, Meganeko wants to have some girl-talk with My Sunshine.

This is evidently concerning Bashin’s sudden lack of juice when it comes to his activities, but could also be that she’s REALLY jealous of the fact that Bashin likes My Sunshine in a swimsuit better than he likes Meganeko.

Unlikely, but would be funny.

Jesus how the fuck do you mess up the pronunciation for “Defensive Aura”

Then again I guess the Japanese don’t differentiate between R and L in terms of pronunciation which would explain why Psuedo-J is struggling.

This appears to be Pseudo-J’s catchphrase, he’s said it 3 times now in replacement for saying Hi.

Its kind of interesting because its similar to Katekyo Hitman Reborn’s “Ciaossu” which is a mix of Italian and Japanese greeting.

This is technically true.

Nanarin attempts to suggest that Pseudo-J makes a terrible J but it appears Meganeko is using her initial confusion as leverage to get on Pseudo-J’s good side.

It appears that Pseudo-J thinks Meganeko is at least acquainted with J enough to give him some pointers on how he’s speaking.

So she corrects him on how to say “Defensive Aura”, thank fuck.

I could really go for some ImpregnableCereal Oatin right about now.

It’d be better than whatever the fuck this scene is.

Meganeko is getting caught up in Pseudo-J’s enthusiasm.

“Check Mate” sounds like a Vanguard keyword.

Meganeko why the hell are you so happy associating with this idiot?

Okay I am really being a douchenozzle for no reason, the guy knows he’s inexperienced and he’s happily receiving pointers, I should just be happy they’re enjoying themselves shouldn’t I?

…Shouldn’t I?

Nanarin saves me from the pointlessness of this scene by reminding us that there is a plot that needs doing.

Pseudo-J believes that attempting to find My Sunshine would be pointless because she’s “difficult”

Have you tried being less annoying, Pseudo-J? Perhaps you should become a method actor, if only for this role.

For those that don’t know what that is, a Method Actor, attempts to fully convey the emotions that would come about when playing a certain character by fully integrating themselves with that character in their lifestyle.

If I wanted to be J for example I would attempt to fully believe I was J and act as he would, enduring his lifestyle as best I could, so that I could give a more meaningful performance when it came to portray him on screen.

The problem with Method Actors is that a lot of them can take their roles too far, the thing with fictional roles is that they’re onscreen and most of the time, Actors are safe from the character themselves. But Method acting removes that barrier because they taken on the role in places that they absolutely shouldn’t in unregulated circumstances.

Apparently My Sunshine keeps biting her tongue when trying to say the line she keeps falling over.

It appears Pseudo-J is informing Meganeko (who already knows) about My Sunshine’s Suiren persona that he seems woefully unaffiliated with.

Uh oh.

Goodbye Pseudo-J, you were quite literally:

Don’t throw stones when there’s a beehive nearby.

I’m not sure wtf that’s meant to mean, you’re just being divisive between a girl who wears glasses and a girl who wears contacts you fuckwit.

He skeddadles but if you watch the actual show he hits the wall next to the exit first, gets hit by a giant Mjolnir hammer and then runs out with a Barball mask on his head.

My Sunshine putting out more signs to prevent the Manager from entering.

I see we’ve come to the crux of Meganeko’s plan, she wants My Sunshine to talk to Bashin to cheer him up.

Also she keeps tripping by calling her “My Sunshine-shan”, I think she’s trying to say “My Sunshine-san” and “My Sunshine-chan” and getting mixed up.

Um, why not?

Well this is kind of interesting to say the least, we’ve got 3 characters who each have completely different takes on Bashin’s recent behaviour.

Striker believes there straight up isn’t a problem.

Meganeko has noticed a small change in his ability to handle certain situations and as a result believes that there is a problem that needs fixing, and being someone who is quite loyal to Bashin, she wants to see what she can do to help fix the problem.

And My Sunshine seems to agree with Meganeko, BUT feels like its not a problem that requires outside help to solve.

My Sunshine seems to be explaining her position from the perspective of Meganeko’s own situation of being neglected by her peers who play Battle Spirits, purely for being an outsider and not playing.

Okay, so My Sunshine agrees with Meganeko’s point of view but believes that because Bashin’s situation is one similar to a wave, that being it builds up in scale until you can’t handle it anymore, just kind words from someone you know or are inspired by isn’t enough to resolve those problems.

This is why “Find a job you love” is poor advice, it is better to find something you are good at because being required to do something you enjoy doing rather than when you feel like doing it is a good way to kill passion for that job.

I’m getting off-track, My Sunshine is agreeing with Meganeko that My Sunshine has generated incredible skills through having to suffer through a bunch of unrelated stuff for the sake of her enjoyment of singing.

Meganeko asserts that My Sunshine going through those experiences herself is inspiring enough to at least say something to Bashin, claiming that simply not saying anything just because it wouldn’t change anything would be uncaring, and it would at least be good to let him know he’s not being ignored.

So its a “Might not solve the problem but would at least help” kind of deal.

Pink makes an… interesting joke.

He’s suggesting that Meganeko looks a bit too young for her age, I think he’s just commenting that Meganeko is acting extremely mature for what is infact a 12-13 year old middle schooler talking about her Card Game love interest.

Nanarine claps back by suggesting that Pink’s use of the word “Childish” is unfortunate because only Old people use that word.

Get wrecked Lizard-boy.

Given that the pair have a disagreement, if only minor, Meganeko suggests a challenge. Its a bit of a strange situation because they’re not enemies they just have a minor dispute that can be left alone even if they think the other one’s position is valid, its just deciding which one to act upon.

The Battle is not out of necessity, its out of emotion. Who’s feelings are more justified? The cards will decide, etc.

But of course, Meganeko doesn’t want to deal with My Sunshine hiding behind her idol persona. The only way she can be certain that My Sunshine is playing seriously is if she dons the Mask that lets her be herself.

That is a funny concept isn’t it? The fact that My Sunshine can’t be herself when showing her face but can be herself when donning a mask.

Also her Suiren form has changed a little, its no longer got long sleeves but instead has shorter sleeves, this is likely in accordance with Summer.

And for any serious battle, we take it to the Battlefield.

Alright listen this is getting fucking ridiculous, Turn 37!? That’s 18 core steps?! How much core do you want people throwing out!?

So Suiren is going to have 22 Core available on her turn + any lives lost.

3 Lv2 Ponysus, a Lv3 Tanya, Froger and an Arcanabeast-Paira.

Jesus that’s a huge field.

Given that arrangement, on her Spirits is about 15 Core total, she can spend 9 of that core without losing a Spirit, I don’t know what’s in her reserve so she may have more.

So Suiren has 4 Spirits, 2 of them are Lv2 Darkwitches, a Lv2 Top-Supra and a Lv3 Count Wyhl?

We can also see that Meganeko’s Froger and one of her Ponysus are are exhausted.

5 lives? So 22 Core available to you on your turn, 14 of which are on your Spirits.

So you can only spend 8 core before you have to level something down.

I don’t think we’ve seen Historic Battlefield of the Cursed.

These types of Purple cards are nasty, since they allow you to proliferate from your opponent’s attacks. Either you get more cards or they attack you less, Catch-22.

The second effect is less interesting, it basically lets you pay a Core to punish the opponent for blocking once the battle is over.

4 Core out the reserve to play Skulldemon at Lv2, we definitely haven’t seen this.

We’ve seen a unique keyword for many colours up until now, Red has Awaken, Green has Swift, White has Armor, Yellow has Light and Blue has Demolish.

This is the final keyword of the first 6, Curse. Simply put, you can’t safely block a Spirit that is attacking with Curse, even if you have a stronger blocker, your blocker is certain to be destroyed by the Curse effect.

Notably this doesn’t work backwards, you can’t use Curse as a defense… typically.

2 Core out the reserve for Killer Telescope, she’s got 2 core left in the Reserve.

Killer Telescope is a good card to combo with Curse. If your opponent attacks with powerful cards you need to remove, sending a Curse Spirit directly at them can permanently remove those problematic spirits.

I was initially questioning why she didn’t just rely on Darkwitch to do the job immediately but I assume that’s because Darkwitch would immediately lose to the other 2 Ponysus.

The 8000 BP Count Wyhl defeats the exhausted 6000 BP Ponysus.

As a person’s board goes beyond 3 Spirits, the more the likelihood of Wyhl’s effect actually doing something increases.

Since that Ponysus went down, the other 2 Ponysus get exhausted, making them prime targets for Suiren’s Anti-Exhaust strategy.

Suiren’s Nexus allows her to draw 2 cards as 2 Spirits have just been exhausted.

Darkwitch attacks, using its Lv2 effect to destroy an opposing Exhausted Spirit, in this case, another Ponysus.

She blocks the attack with Paira but we get a good shot of Meganeko’s hand here. She’s got Piyon, Valiero and INVISIBLE CLOAK.

BECAUSE EVERYONE RAN AT LEAST 1 OF THESE!

Ah, Meganeko’s trying to defend herself here. Same Tired is a pretty okay-ish answer to Purple’s exhaust strategy, but not perfect because Darkwitch exists.

Suiren’s already attacked once, and she’s got a Darkwitch currently attacking, so she will only have to exhaust one other Spirit to match Meganeko’s currently 3 exhausted spirits.
It’s likely Meganeko is doing this now because she wants to stop the other Darkwitch from activating its effect when attacking.

I’m loving this visual, it makes it really easy to see what’s going on, especially for something that is being written.

Darkwitch and Paira destroy each other as they both have 3000 BP.

Skulldemon attacks, being destroyed after Meganeko blocks it with The Fairy Tanya.

Skulldemon loses with 3000 BP to Tanya’s 4000, but that’s of course going to be of minimal concern when Skulldemon has Curse.

That was quite the deadly turn, Suiren managed to take out 4 of Meganeko’s 6 Spirits as well as draw 4 cards while only losing 2 of her Spirits.

That’s like, what, +6 in Card advantage?

Meganeko’s turn is going to be interesting, she’s lost 2 lives and this is her 19th Core Step, so she’s got 25 Core available, 4 on her Spirits, 21 in her reserve.

Piyon is no cost which doesn’t change her Available Core, and 5 Cost spent to Summon Valiero at Level 2, this leaves her with about 12 Core left in her reserve, 8 on the Spirits.

Meganeko activates Valiero’s effect when summoned and selects Yellow, this lets her add 3 cards back to her hand, all of which are Yellow Magic, and one of which is the Same Tired she used last turn.

That is certainly an odd one, Meganeko now plays a Purple Spirit.

With no reductions on her field, that’s 4 core out of her reserve, and she’s played it at Level 2, 5 core left in the Reserve.

I’m not too surprised that Meganeko, as someone often inspired by My Sunshine, would wield a Purple Spirit.

Its one from BS04, like Skulldemon.

Hellwitch is like a re-appropriated Darkwitch, it has restrictions on what it’s able to destroy with it’s effect but has the capacity to destroy more Spirits.

Its quite a cool card, still looks strange as most of Purple’s Ogre Wizards do but relative to them, its cool.

It seems Suiren wasn’t quite prepared to deal with Meganeko coming out of nowhere with a Purple Spirit.

If you think that’s strange, you should see whats in her hand, she’s got White Magic, and we saw her go Triple Storm Draw in her deckbuilding a few episodes ago.

Hellwitch attack, using its effect to wipe out The Count Wyhl, and taking a life from Suiren (5->4 vs 3)

Ponysus makes another attack, taking another of Suiren’s lives.

And while declaring an attack with Valiero you can see Meganeko reaching for her Invisible cloak.

Which she promptly uses on Froger of all things. I guess it makes sense since its weaker but couldn’t she add it to her hand after using on Valiero and then use it with Froger?

I guess she isn’t worried about Valiero being blocked, it can beat Suiren’s available defender and she can always use it on Piyon afterwards.

Also should note she has to pay for Invisible Cloak, 2 core remaining in the reserve.

Suiren takes a life (3->2 vs 3) and Meganeko returns Invisible Cloak to her hand.

Froger wages an attack this time and Meganeko once again uses Invisible Cloak, this time on Piyon as Froger can already not be blocked.

Suiren has a bajillion options but decides to take Froger from the life, (2->1 vs 3) and gives this comment.

I believe a better question to ask, Suiren, is how the fuck do you have EIGHT cards in your hand and have ZERO answers?

We get interrupted from our fight for Suiren to have a bit of a flashback. It apparently seems to be explaining why she believes that she isn’t able to help Bashin with her words, because she believes that just having support isn’t gonna be enough by itself.

Which is nice and all if you pride yourself on independence but everyone gets by differently.

Suiren draws a card and then plays the card she drew, Danse Macabre.

A Purple Magic from BS04, let’s look at it.

Suddenly, Suiren’s oversized Hand becomes actually useful, now she can shoot cores off her opponent’s spirits by dropping a card for each.

To stop this Piyon, she only needs to discard 1.

Oooh, that’s interesting, Suiren discarded Chaos Draw.

It’s got a neat Battle-boosting effect for +3000 BP, but when used on your Main Step, you can draw a card for every one of your opponent’s exhausted spirits.

Piyon gets btfo’d.

Oh hey, they pulled this off for the first time, just because a Spirit vanished during Flash timing doesn’t mean the Flash Timing is over, you can still continue to play Magic, Meganeko uses this opportunity to play Pure Elixir to refresh her 4 Spirits.

There’s a problem here though, Meganeko should have already been a core down from her reserve and started paying from her Spirits a while ago on the 2nd Invisible cloak, She has no reductions for the Pure Elixir here and so should have done so again.

I guess they want us to assume she core boosted at some point during the match but its hella hard to believe since this is the second time we’ve visually seen them overspend.

By jumping to a later turn and never showing us what went on in the middle, you basically have complete jurisdiction over what cards the players can use because they will always have the core for it, because we don’t know where they got it from.

She had enough Core, Source: “Bro trust me”

Its just unrealistic in the grand scheme of things because you look for an excuse to ignore the restrictions of core for narrative effect when the VERY REAL GAME is often almost ALWAYS restricted by core.

And the reason they have overspent this core is to keep Meganeko’s Spirits at Lv2, its almost like as if they’re just LINING HER UP to get wrecked by Destlord.

Turn 39, I could calculate the core but what would be the point? They’re more than willing to overspend.

Suiren draws a card she apparently forgot to remove from her deck.

BS03’s Magic Number 140, Shining Magic.

Hefty battle boost of +4000 BP, and a Main effect that allows one to recover any Magic card in your Trash.

There’s actually a loop you can use with this, I’ll explain it at the end.

She immediately uses it to recover the Double Draw thats in her Trash.

Paying another 4 core on top of the 8 she just paid to draw 2 cards.

I dunno about you but 12 core for a Draw 2 is not a good idea in most situations.

She then depletes Darkwitch and Top-Supra in order to summon Destlord.

Was that necessary? 19 Core Steps, 4 Core start and 4 lives lost would suggest 27 Core available, with 5 on those 2 Spirits

Paying 12 for the Draw 2 leaves you with 15 core remaining, and 10 is plenty to play a Destlord at full reduction.

All of Meganeko’s LV2 spirits are now exhausted, letting Suiren Draw 3 more cards.

Before following up with 3 DarkPiyons. Another Dark version of a Spirit much like The DarkDragonEmperor Siegfried.

These are Vanillas from BS04, all the information you need about them is in this image, other than that they’re from the Song Bird family.

Suiren throws all 4 at Meganeko, who has only 1 blocker anyway, and takes her out.

If I had a pound for every time she apologized for winning I’d have enough money to buy a drink to wash the salt out of my mouth, its so irritating.

Okay first of all, you altered the My Sunshine Deck to include some Purple cards, the My Sunshine deck was separate to your own.

How the fuck did leftovers from that Deck, infest your Suiren deck!? That’s not how that works! At all!

Its nice that this battle was ended with some sportsmanship but My Sunshine’s victory means that nothing actually changes.

Oh god is Pseudo-J going to slice that huge ass fish with a Batosupi card?

Okay the Leak is whatever, the Sushi I could understand.
But that breaks the laws of physics.

In a show where 13 year olds travel to another world to play Battle Spirits cards that come to life that isn’t saying much but god DAYUM.

This time, My Sunshine actually nails the line here.

Well I suppose Meganeko is conforming to how My Sunshine feels, that Bashin should handle this J issue by himself.

…But Bashin attempted that without a board last time. So how was he going to accomplish riding the wave before?

Wow they were attempting to Surf in a place they weren’t even allowed to Surf anyway?

And that’s the end of the Episode! Another episode in which NOTHING gets moved along, but hey at least we got a lot of feelings detailed in this episode so even though nothing actually progressed we did get to see how everyone felt about the whole situation.

Not that it mattered because Bashin’s “Stamina” appears to be improving.

The Batosupi lecture is just going on about how Suiren and Meganeko’s battles were wars fought with Magic, which is cool but I think a more interesting lecture would be the combo I’m about to detail.

This is an instant deck out loop, its certain to completely empty your opponent’s deck no matter how many cards your opponent has left.

All it requires is a Lv1 Valiero, a Lv2 Mikafar and the 4 Magics depicted, Time Leap, 2 Shining Magics and Magic Hammer.

With Mikafar’s Lv2, your Magic is free, and with Valiero’s on summon effect, Yellow Magic can be recovered.

Magic Hammer can remove 5 cards from the opposing deck.

So you can use Magic Hammer and continually restore it and use it again with Shining Magic, milling 15 cards.

Then, you can use Time Reap to activate Valiero’s effect and restore all uses of Shining Magic.

You then use the first Shining Magic to return Magic Hammer, and the second Shining Magic to return Time Reap.

Rinse, lather and repeat until your opponent’s deck is gone.

And one of the many reasons why Mikafar is banned and Valiero is limited.

Anyway, with that, I’ll see you next time! Buh-bye!

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!

Alright lets get this Kyoto shit out of the way, I’m as ready to see a good fight as any.

Let’s turn this bad day into a funny one.

That’s exactly what I like to hear Episode Title, let’s get ourselves a FIGHT!

Card Sensei is fully bearded now since when we last saw him, god knows what he’s been doing but he looks all wise and shit.

It appears he’s eyeing the construction of a second Isekai World Dome. Perhaps these Domes serve more of a purpose than just being stadiums with which to play Battle Spirits.

It appears we have an argument concerning the idea of a debut match.

I wonder what Nine’s apprehension about it is.

Elliott appears to think that Jack Knight shouldn’t be fighting just yet at this exchange, Or at least that’s the message I’m getting.

Nine’s getting more and more heated about this. I guess his failed encounter with Hayami has his jammies pretty damn rustled.

Either that or he’s trying to avoid Eight saying more than she should.

She’s under the oath of battle so nothing more to do than to piss off I suppose.

Kiano, as he does, expresses that J shouldn’t even be a member of the Numbers Elite to begin with, let alone the discussion of when his debut match should be.

And Nine firmly establishes that the argument was over Jack Knight’s debut match, Nine believing it would be significantly better for the Championship.

Which makes sense, they did big him up, the best time to generate hype would be when he turns up for the Championship rather than an exchange with no stakes.

I see they’ve decided to use a TV replay of the Numbers Elite introduction to catch Card Sensei up on the general situation since his absence.

Okay so we can evidently see that Card Sensei HAS the Blue Cornerstone, so how the fuck does Seven open the gate, without an animal no less?

Even more than that, what’s Card Sensei’s Blue deck like if he owns one? He hasn’t had an opportunity to play before Blue’s release.

Elsewhere in the World, the Batosupi Club have met up with Kyouka, it turns out the “Note of Absence” was not J’s letter for the school it was one they sent to him in response to not attending classes.

He can’t exactly go freely to where his father might be, it’d be a hostile living environment, and that’s not fun for anybody.

Bashin as per usual says its fine because he’s going to try and fight J at the exchange match in order to get through to the muppet.

Sadly I don’t feel like beating him at Card Games is necessarily going to solve his Daddy issues.

Its like 2 spectrums of wrong here, Bashin foolhardedly believing that as long as he continues to make J lose at card games all his problems will magically be solved.

And Smile outright talking fibs about J’s relationship to the cast, he has no ill will against them, he’s merely prioritizing other things at the moment, that doesn’t make them any less his friends.

Of course you’d like to make them believe that because then that increases the likelihood that J doesn’t just back out of your “Let’s take on Uchuuchouten 2-on-1” plan.

See what I mean? There’s a strong suggestion that he wants them to give up.

Surprisingly reasonable response given the situation, the enemy is trying to discourage you, nothing would be better descriptive of such a tactic than to call them a dumbass.

Smile suggests his absences don’t matter because he’s studying abroad.

Em, you can’t be in Japan AND be studying abroad that’s not how that works.

…How? If you have full time education AND you’re studying abroad, you should have like ZERO free time.

Plenty of flexibility my arse.

If they were studying abroad

They wouldn’t be fucking here!

Suddenly, the Cornerstones inexplicably start glowing

Does NO ONE want to question why Terra, Ventus and Aqua have suddenly turned up in my Battle Spirits anime?

I mean they’re doing it for them too, it’s not like your need was a factor.

Okay that’s mean it obviously matters to them but it wouldn’t be the deciding factor between acting and not.

Why am I still in this scene, take me to the BLOODSHED.

I mean, er, card games.

…Wasn’t Hayami going to drive him there?

Come on you can’t tell me that wasn’t HEAVILY implied last episode!

Sawaragi Helicopter WOULD be convenient for travelling to Kyoto, so I guess Kyouka’s using her mighty resources as a Sawaragi.

…A fucking Sawaragi TRAIN.

Christ what next, do they happen to own a country?

It seems they’ve ditched Meganeko and brought the Student Council members with them.

Also I would totally devour that fruit.

Striker freaking dunked that Drink of his.

Glad they didn’t just leave that hanging, I’m sure that couldn’t have been rendered obvious at a later stage.

Should have left her at home, restraint is not the purpose of this trip.

So for the purposes of the exchange match, they’re combining their Teams.

Seems reasonable, but don’t they have a little too many members?

In a different section of the train, Eight and Seven are having a chat about putting off J’s debut match.

Though Eight mentions that the idea also goes against Seven’s debut match.

Which, given Seven didn’t have much of a club til now, makes sense that he hasn’t taken the stage as Galaxy.

Oh, they DID bring Meganeko on this trip, was getting worried there for a second that they ditched half the cast. Good, everyone even marginally relevant is here.

They’ve arrived at the art gallery, and are ready.

Alright let’s get these battles on then, I’m tired of waiting!

OH FUCK OFF-

Oh, nevermind, Card Sensei has chosen now to reveal himself to the others.

Bit of an interesting choice of time to choose but yeah I guess we can do this now of all times.

Like glasses, it’s real easy to fail to recognize someone based on whether or not you are used to their appearance with a beard.

Guragurii on the other hand is a fucking talking turtle, and you don’t see too many of those around, leading Meganeko to recognise her “Master Yellow” and “Great Master”

It appears Card Sensei has re-appeared to take it upon himself to stop J as he feels its his duty to prevent the Cornerstone children from the Nazo-Otonas then I guess?

J’s a Nazo-Otona and the others have Cornerstones which the Nazo-Otonas want, they’re ALREADY involved.

Really grinds my gears when someone pulls the whole “I don’t want you to get involved” when they’re more balls deep into the situation than the PERSON USING THE STATEMENT.

Card Sensei’s been in this game a while so that isn’t the case with him but you can’t separate someone from a situation in which they’re linked by something other than their choice to take action.

Strangely enough, despite “No longer being a Number” they still haven’t obtained a replacement Five.

They instead assigned J the new number of Eleven, and we’ve yet to see a Ten or a Six.

Bashin quite literally just said “J is a number, so unless I beat his ass, he won’t come back”

I’m not sure you’ve quite worked out all the specifics of that plan Bashin.

YES, PLEASE, TAKE ME FROM THE MONOTONY OF THIS FIGHTLESS SCENE!

As they march off, Card Sensei looks at his students and drops this wise-ass line.

That is true, just because you have taught someone does not necessarily mean that they learned anything.

Granted I wonder what Card Sensei is suggesting they “Learned”?

Seems J and Smile get their own booth to watch all the battles from for the exchange match. That’s kind of fun.

Smile comments that as J’s popularity rises, so does the game, and given that J is a White user, those who join because of J and those who have become more partial to J will use White.

It’s a pretty nice comment about how Metas function, since J is a very popular battler who wields White, those who wish to win will also likely make use of White cards knowing that popular J is a White-user.

This gets brought up in a little more depth in a later series but its interesting that they consider the idea of the Metagame and the success of one character affecting what characters use which colours.

Smile of course can’t be fucked to have this conversation, not really caring how his own image affects the Meta.

I guess he’s even too good to watch the battles.

Also Smile’s been drawn much more like his initial appearance this time around than the way he’s usually drawn. His “Zombie” vibe is back in almost full force.

J’s been in many crowds before so he’s likely used to all the attention but Kyouka on the other hand isn’t used to being a participant as opposed to being just a guest or an observer.

The Gang is all here, Two, Three, Four, Nine and Eleven.

But they’re hoping to NOT Debut J’s battle this time around, so I wonder how they plan to do that or what rules the battles will have?

I wish I could read that Japanese, honestly, I assume they’re team names. And that fighting the Numbers Elite requires winning the whole Tournament.

Oh hey, 3 Nazo-Otonas we’ve seen before.

The Curator, Amade Us, and Bashin’s biggest fan because this fucker doesn’t have a name. All we know about him is he just REALLY wants to battle Bashin.

It appears the Team each individually selects who goes first at the same time so who battles who is effectively random.

I have literally no idea what this means, will the Decks they use determine who they go up against? Will they be AWARDED decks to use for the battle?

I dun geddit.

Time to see where our brackets take us-

So couple of interesting things about this bracket, Kyouka’s playing which is already interesting enough by itself, our unnamed Bashin fanboy is called “Maccho”

My Sunshine is the ONLY person on the scoreboard who’s name is spelt with lowercase letters, and the Curator literally has his name listed as fucking KANCHOU… WHICH JUST MEANS CURATOR.

Anyway it appears that the Order Plate selects 3 random members from a team and makes it a best of 3 among all members I suppose.

If they weren’t going to battle here I don’t really know when the next opportunity for them to have their fated match would be.

I get that its a recurring joke but I really do wanna see what a battle between him and Bashin would be like.

Turn… ONE!?

Oh please, PLEASE let it be true…

Bah, they showed us the Turn 1 counter then skipped to Card Sensei BELITTLING Kyouka!

Guragurii believes that she doesn’t “get enough practice” which I find hard to believe given she’s a member of a Batosupi club?

Huh, that’s interesting, 2 new cards.

Well we don’t actually see the levels of the 2 Spirits before anything happens here or even what the board state is. So its entirely possible the White fish card Kyouka is using is capable of beating a Flame-Elk, or this could be a misplay. Flame-Elk has an intriguing effect when summoned, very devastating to Nexus reliant strategies.

Welp, given that the fish is the one spinning off the board we can tell that this was a god-awful misplay.

J is rooting for his Sister as a supportive brother would, lamenting that she’s playing poorly.

And with that, Maccho defeats Kyouka, we didn’t really see any of the fight other than the writers using the scene to show Kyouka as incompetent, which is strange given she’s in the same Batosupi Club as My Sunshine, I find it hard to believe that she would be that far back in terms of ability where she didn’t know a Flame-Elk had more BP than Angelafish.

If its best of 3 like I’m expecting it to be, Bashin’s a shoe in since he already defeated the curator, so its just a matter of whether or not My Sunshine can pull herself together against Amade Us.

To make a long story short, we see none of the battle other than My Sunshine completely destroying the poor bastard.

The same happens with Bashin vs the Curator apparently, we just don’t see much.

It IS best of 3 however, so 3 members are randomly selected from each team.

Is it possible that the Numbers Elite have it rigged to not select J I wonder?

The post victory celebration has Kyouka somewhat notice a black cat roaming about the venue.

Pretty standard fare reasoning, but its not like Queen wouldn’t have considered that.

Its not like they didn’t consider everyone’s feelings, they absolutely did and chose to make the choice they did anyway, simply desiring to return them to where they were isn’t really all that good enough a reason to get them to stop.

That is the million-dollar question, J doesn’t seem to actually be enjoying any part of this, it hasn’t resolved the situation with his Father, it hasn’t improved the relationship with his friends, infact its worsened it, its in direct opposition to his beliefs from the beginning: That King Uchuuchouten is evil, and the only other benefits that we’ve seen that haven’t been rendered useless by the above is that it is a form of protest to his Father, Kiano, and it will lead him to learning more about his Cornerstone.

Queen is of the belief that is what Jack Knight desires however, you wouldn’t exactly support something the way you do if you didn’t believe they wanted it.

Queen just leaves. I wonder what the purpose of the conversation was? It could be that she’s trying to gauge the intent of everyone there in order to keep Jack Knight informed.

Card Sensei heard the whole conversation, though its unlikely he gleaned anything interesting from it, other than Jack Knight isn’t doing this under duress, its out of free will.

Oh hey they 3-0’d them, but should the battle have not ended after the 2nd match? Why bother with the 3rd if its best of 3?

Also the Student Council guy, uh, Manabu had a round as well and came out on top, I wonder what deck he uses.

It appears Kiano has realised an opportunity to get Jack Knight removed from the Numbers, by pitting his son against Bashin.

Its a bit of a complex situation, he’s not the best Dad and he’s really poor at communicating with his son, we can see that, but we also get to see him actively struggle with trying to do the best for him as well.

I hated him deeply earlier, I kind of still do, I don’t have patience for poor parenting. But it is interesting him realizing that he’s out of his depth concerning his son and recognizing that his son has friends that can be relied on to do what he himself is unable to.

It’s a weird dynamic, his the source of all his own problems but he’s also an the odd situation that we know he’s not likely to be an enemy, he’s the most friendly person in this scene.

Nine believes that they won’t even get that far and therefore there isn’t any need to have them send out Jack Knight if it is unnecessary.

In other news, Eight is lost, again, for the umpteenth time.

She doesn’t just need a Car Navi for her giant ass truck, she needs one for life.

…Oh, that’s a situation just WAITING to happen.

It appears that’s what Card Sensei was aiming for I guess. He doesn’t seem to be trying to hide from the Nazo-Otona anymore unless he can gain information.

Then I wonder what his purpose for leaving was? Training? Gathering his thoughts?

Or perhaps he hadn’t actually resolved himself to do what needed to be done until recently.

Eight’s poor ability to sing is a point of endearment between the two of them, this sounds mean but it is his attempt to be cordial.

This is common for couples to jab at each other in place of flirting because when you love someone, you learn to love their flaws as well.

(This is also advice to leave/talk to anyone who’s flaws actively hurt your feelings for someone, rather than help)

To eliminate you. Cue blade slashing noises.

Card Sensei isn’t really fucking around with Eight’s feelings right now, as they’re irrelevant to what his goal is, that being to deal with our Jack Knight problem.

She uses the term “Us” but she isn’t exactly having a good relationship with everyone else, throughout this recent part of the series she’s been talked down to by every member of the Numbers Elite and has actively searched for Card Sensei multiple times. It’s any wonder why she even stays when she isn’t a member of the Numbers Elite Team, is literally only being used to spy on Bashin and his Club, and actively misses Card Sensei, or at least wants to resolve things with him.

So what she really means is “Because you abandoned me“, taking Card Sensei’s place can also be interpretted as an act of defiance.

Card Sensei does click that they needed a replacement Teacher for Bashin and the others because he was away, they graduated his class and wasn’t willing to continue working for them.

Card Sensei tries to appeal to any sentimental side of Eight here, since they’re both Teachers he’s wondering if she’ll come to the same realization he did after being in close proximity to them.

Weird, I wouldn’t be, what does being a “Number” even mean? That your power is recognized by people who only use it to benefit them? You’ve had your ass sorely kicked multiple times by Cornerstone wielders, its any wonder you’re even still a Number at all.

And if you do leave I highly doubt your situation will change very much from the way it is now, other than that you will have a lot more freedoms than you currently enjoy rather than being taunted by Smile every day you walk into class.

We interrupt this Romantic scene to return us back to our regularly scheduled programming involving Card Games.

Maybe we’ll actually have some visuals along with these battles as opposed to just seeing win screens that we’re not sure were earned.

To be honest we COULD calculate the actual chances of J and Bashin being paired up against one another.

The Order Plate selects at random between all the present members, Numbers Elite have 5 and TMSBC+ (Taoru Middle School Batosupi Club Plus) have 6.

The Rub occurs when you have to factor in that J and Bashin can’t be paired with anyone else, meaning you have to multiply 4/5 with 5/6, then multiply 3/4 with 4/5, and THEN multiply 1/3 and 1/4.

And then you also have to do it with situations where Bashin and J are at the start and end and add them together what you have is… moderately more than if it was just at the end but still kinda crazy.

Commentator-san believes that Number Nine will surely battle in this, I wonder what makes him believe that specifically.

Regardless, the pairings are here, and we’re seeing an interesting one, Smile vs Striker.

So, uh, let’s talk Tropey roles for a second, we have a bit of a strange situation but I’m sure there are a collection of Tropes that can accurately capture what’s happening here.

So, in many stories with antagonists you have a Big Bad, in our case that Big Bad is evidently Uchuuchouten, as he’s been said to be for quite a while.

A Trope quite commonly associated with a Big Bad that tends to take backseats for any length of time is “The Dragon”, his Number Two, his sidekick, etcetera.

“The Dragon” referring to just the Villainous Number Two obviously, has a number of subtropes in how that Dragon is handled, in this particular case Number Nine is “The Heavy”, the villain that seems to take the most active role in carrying out Uchuuchouten’s orders by issueing them to other members of the Numbers Elite.

The thing is, as Uchuuchouten has yet to do fuck-all, this also means that Number Nine CAN be interpretted as our Big Bad for the majority of this plotline.

Assuming that Number Nine can fill that role, it becomes painfully obvious that Nine has his own Dragon. Which in this case appears to be Smile as Smile is even more active than any other Nazo-Otona when it comes to carrying out his tasks.

Its also evident that Smile and J are the strongest members of the Numbers Elite, barring anything Nine has up his sleeve.

So, my point is, Smile is our second-hand Dragon, who has been squaring off with J and Bashin since the series fucking began with a one-off loss to Meganeko and proceeding to get wrecked by our badass old man, Card Sensei.

Striker, who is understandably secondary to most of the characters in this show despite being our chosen Green battler, is now being pitted against the character who’s been more of a pain in the ass to J and Bashin than anyone else in the series.

Simply put, based on this scenario, Striker’s going to get fucking destroyed.

The next bout is Elliott vs Meganeko, we know Elliott is most likely to be the WEAKEST member of the Numbers Elite, you really can’t take back Bashin calling him weak before kicking his ass. That’s cemented his role for the rest of the series.

He’s quite wise in terms of people. But in battle his skill is sorely lacking, and Meganeko has been shown to be relatively competent in battling, defeating Eight, Smile and regularly taking on Bashin while ALSO training under Card Sensei.

Elliott will likely lose this one, which will bring us to game 3.

We haven’t actually seen what changes being “Jack Knight” has made to J’s deck, and this is the first time the 2 have actually interacted before then, Bashin is going in not understanding J’s situation and therefore likely isn’t going to get through to him first try because they lack a mutual point of understanding just yet, Bashin isn’t going to have time to understand J’s viewpoint to tackle it at this juncture.

Which may manifest itself in reality, as Jack Knight defeating Bashin.

These are my predictions, lets see if my narrative analysis is reliable.

So apparently the order WAS rigged, and then changed, and not by Nine.

Damn I missed a frame that was actually relevant, lemme go dig it up.

Both Eight AND Three wanted J to go out and fight Bashin, this shot was shown after Kiano made that plea with Nine which Nine quite frankly refused.

Smile had this strange look on his face after examining Bashin’s battle and he apparently changed the order to pit J against Bashin?

I wonder what incentive he’d have had to do that though? He’s wanted to disassociate J from Bashin for a while now, and everyone who’s wanted Bashin to face J has done so from a position of wanting to either respect Bashin’s feelings or free J from the Numbers.

My guess is Smile thinks that if J wins it will drive the nail into the coffin of their relationship and render J unwavering in his current position, as opposed to the doubts he’s been consistently expressing ever since he became Jack Knight.

Starting from Turn 23, on Smile’s turn.

Wait what?

Battle Spirits has never been afraid to make character’s decks samey when it comes to new cards and honestly its one of their strong points.

Smile has a Valiero, which makes sense considering works for the people that award X-Rares, why would he not have a large collection of them?

Either way, bye Striker.

Now we move onto Meganeko’s battle with Elliott.

Jesus, 30 turns. Fuck me.

MachG blocks an attack from Arcanabeast-Paira and is destroyed.

And Elliott is the one who gets beaten this time around.

Really expediting us toward Bashin and Jack Knight’s battle aren’t they?

Nothing like the meeting of 2 friends on the battlefield and not a single look of friendliness in their eyes as they begin to fight to the death!

Well this is just a card game but still, emotionally charged fights are the best.

J’s face is positively enraged holy shit.

I see Bashin sees that J’s answer means nothing has changed because J is unwilling to.

Sweet Jesus Bashin is completely unafraid to call his friends out when they’re actively acting in poor ways, holy shit.

There’s not even an appeal to J’s emotions here, he’s just straight up going “Fine, fuck you then.”

Then what is the purpose of this outward mask you’re putting on? Do you feel the need to completely dissassociate yourself with everything just to obtain knowledge on your Cornerstone?

Turn 27, big jump, also it’s Bashin’s turn.

And the fucking Spirit preview is god damn MASSIVE so I gotta bust out Vassal to save me again.

On Bashin’s field we have THIS.

Lv3 TwinRowdy Diranos
Lv2 DragonicFortress Giga
Lv1 Pikeman Jeffrey
Lv1 Rock-Golem
Lv1 BattlingBeast Rhino-Ceros
Lv1 BattlingBeast Bun-Ffalo

The last THREE are new cards, lets talk about em. Can we also talk about how how FOUR of Bashin’s SIX spirits are fucking BLUE!?

Finally, a Spirit with Demolish , why has it taken us this long to see one!?

For reference, Demolish is the Translated Japanese word “Funsai”, In the English version of the game this Keyword was changed to what most of us know to be “Crush” but we all know how much I try to avoid English Localizations where I can.

Card is pretty simple, its for Blue’s Strategy of decking out, a Cost 3 Spirit that can discard cards, its simple and effective for straightforward strategies.

The BattleBeast Rhino-Ceros is also pretty good for Deck Destruction, with the only limit to the cards it can get rid of entirely depending on how much Core is on it when it dies. Since it doesn’t require the opponent’s contribution in order to engage this effect when destroyed, you could use a card to wipe it off the board yourself for some benefit after throwing massive core on it.

And this guy’s a big vanilla.

Oh wow, Bashin’s upped his Nexus game with The Burning Battlefield.

The Ruby Sun is pretty good but lets talk about The Burning Battlefield since I don’t believe we’ve seen it despite being a card from BS01.

This Nexus is cheap and gives you GOOD bonuses, doesn’t require a super high investment for its Lv2 ability either which is really good.

Everything is stronger when swinging and at Lv2 you can force your opponent to block the attacks you want.

This can be kind of nasty with Rhino-Ceros which we saw earlier.

Anyway, that’s Bashin’s board, let’s have a look at Jack Kni-

oh… um… uh…

I uh, I didn’t think we’d get this far honestly.

So uh, well, Jack Knight has ONE new card among his board.

So uh… Let’s uh…

Talk about it I guess

Updated my little Card Review Template a little more just for some eyecandy, I also included a little something in the corner just for this card since its relevant.

Because THIS is a card… from BS04.

They just dropped it in there like I wouldn’t fucking notice!

Jack Knight’s got access to newer cards now, once again. And that Fenrircannon Mk-II isn’t too shabby, having Armor to both Red and Green, its first effect is left a bit wanting as it only gains BP when blocking Spirits of equivalent Level. However if its at Level 3 its not too bad since battling any Max-Level Spirit will mean it will have 11000 BP, that thing could take down a Siegfried.

And Jack Knight’s got The Diamond Moon at Level 2, with both players wielding Hate Cards against one another its any wonder they can’t find a crack in the other’s defense.

They both STILL have 5 lives.

considering you just artificially started at Turn 27, probably not.

Smile’s got a VERY dark expression on his face holy shit.

Oh Jesus, Bashin plays a 7th Spirit. The IronFist Tiga at Lv3

Its another BS03 Vanilla, the crazy part is that its actually got a relatively decent cost and high BP.

Bashin then follows up with Offensive Aura and attacks with IronFist Tiga

Well dang, now anything that swings will do so for an additional +3000 BP.

BECAUSE of the Burning Battlefield, Jack Knight now has to block the 13000 BP IronFist Tiga with something.

Its a super strong Blue Spirit as well, so it won’t get caught up by The Diamond Moon.

Jack Knight elects to give up Odin, It makes sense since Fenrircannon can take on Lv3 Spirits at 11000 BP while Odin is only sitting at about 9000.

A very cool sequence plays out, displaying Tiga ripping Odin to pieces.

Bashin attacks this time with Rock-Golem, he’s REALLY animated in this scene, holy shit.

He follows up with Buster Spear, since Odin is out of the picture, Bashin can get rid of the Diamond Moon with this.

And of course, draw a card.

Seems Bashin pulled an interesting one.

Rock-Golem’s Demolish takes out one of Jack Knight’s cards, only an Icemaiden though, nothing cool

That Lv1 Rock-Golem was coming in at 6000 BP, Thor only barely wins at 8000. A Battle Booster Magic would have toppled that wall.

DragonicFortress Giga attacks, taking one of Jack Knight’s lives (5->4 vs 5)

Apparently Commentator-san believes that Bashin’s choice of attack pattern was unusual.

There seems to be a general consensus that Bashin would have normally continued swinging.

Well, that Level 3 Diranos would have been coming in at 13000 BP which could have beaten either Mjolnir or Fenrircannon, its true, but Jack Knight still has Thor and Bashin definitely would not have won that turn.

Smile notes that TwinRowdy Diranos is just as effective as a blocker, which it will have 10000 BP when doing so unless Jack Knight powers up Thor.

Otherwise Thor can’t attack, its one of Thor’s many weaknesses, its not a particularly strong spirit despite how devastating its multi-attacking abilities can be.

IM SORRY WHAT.

STOP THE SHOW, WHAT!?

We haven’t even seen the last BS03 X-Rare and yet they throw a fucking X-Rare from BS04 at us!

Here it is people, a Jet-Black Siegfried. And the first of a series of cards that become quite common among this Era of Battle Spirits, that is, Darkened versions of existing spirits.

Its got a new family, namely “Dragon Emperor” and is a Tribute Spirit. It is also the first card to have a naturally occurring Double Symbol.

What is Tribute? Well.

For a Tribute Spirit to be played, you must pay an additional cost other than simply just paying its Core, you have to send all the core from a spirit that meets the conditions (in this case, Cost 6 or more) to wherever the Tribute effect tells you to place them, in this case, the Void.

Jack Knight sends ALL the core from Thor to the Void, effectively depleting it and ensuring Thor will no longer be on the field, offered up as a sacrifice to the new Tribute Spirit.

Jack Knight doesn’t do this, sending all 4 core from Thor to the Void, however you’re only ever actually required to send ALL the core it currently has, so Jack Knight can freely level down Thor before playing Dark Siegfried if he wishes to only give up 1 Core.

The huge, evil Siegfried has arrived, this thing is ALSO Cost 9, the highest Costed thing I think we’ve seen so far.

Bashin’s taken aback by the fact that J would willingly offer up Thor, the centerpiece of his strategy to play this new card.

Kyouka comments on the unusualness of Jack Knight using a Red X-Rare over his usual White cards.

Ah, I know what Dragons he’s on about, in BS04, DarkDragonEmperor Siegfried isn’t the only card with a naturally occurring Double Symbol.

There are 6 other Tribute Spirits of the Dragon Emperor Family, which all have naturally occurring Double Symbols, 1 for each colour.

They’re all also vanillas and their Tribute condition requires sending all Core from a Cost 5 or higher spirit to your Trash. Meaning you don’t miss out on Core by sending it to the Void.

I think its cool.

DarkDragonEmperor Siegfried is brought to Level 3, a whopping 12000 BP, that thing squares off with Duke Kingtaurus evely, at 5 core.

Jack Knight plays Attack Shift, if you don’t recall, this card turns “When Block” effects into “When Attack” effects.

Aaaaand there’s a fuck up.

Attack Shift is a strong card but Fenrircannon-MkII is gaining BP through an effect that only occurs if its blocking a spirit of the same Level.

The Japanese Wiki even mentions that its impossible to turn MkII’s Block effect into an Attacking effect because of that description.

You do, Jack Knight is just cheating.

Bashin doesn’t chump block into it thankfully, he takes from the Life. (4 vs 5->4)

Jack Knight now attacks with Dark Siegfried, using its Lv3 effect to blow up any Spirit that isn’t Red and has 4000 BP or less.

that’s not a particularly powerful effect nowadays but in THIS stage of the game that is strong.

The rest of Bashin’s Blue Spirits save Tiga, and Jack Knight’s Mjolnir are wiped out.

Bashin goes to take from the life and Jack Knight informs him of the Double Symbol.

It doesn’t even seem particularly impressive by today’s standards but examining all the cards that came before it there’s VERY little one can do against it.

The only card that comes close is The Duke Kingtaurus and he can only MATCH it.

And none of the X-Rares up until now have such powerful mass-removal, its a walking Flame Tempest on swing that’s even STRONGER.

Bashin takes 2 lives from Dark Siegfried’s attack (4 vs 4->2)

Jack Knight’s gone from being Bashin’s foil to wielding a strictly superior Dragon to Bashin’s Ace.

Its almost mockery at this point, he’s using a Dark, powered up version of the card that defines Bashin.

Its Bashin’s turn and he throws out his own ace. Siegfried.

DarkDragonEmperor Siegfried Makes good ol’ DragonEmperor Siegfried look like a Common.

Even so, with Diranos boosting spirits with Awaken by +1000 and The Burning Battlefield doing the same for Bashin’s attackers, Bashin can get Siegfried to 12000 BP, the same as the DarkDragonEmperor.

That’s another strange thing Battle Spirits did, normally when you have a Dark Counterpart, most shows try to make them as equal as possible, but the Dark Counterpart will usually be stated to be the “Better half” because they’re Evil and unrestrained by morality despite being otherwise functionally the same.

They play with that here, there’s no equality, DarkDragonEmperor Siegfried is, 9 times out of 10, the superior card to its original. But Battle Spirits provides many avenues to win uphill battles which is why that’s not a problem.

I love this game, its so fun.

Bashin attacks with Diranos and Tiga, which Jack Knight takes with his life (4->2 vs 2)

Bashin then follows up with an attack from DragonicFortress Giga

J was prepared for that, having a Silent Wall ready.

Now Bashin will only have Siegfried available to stop the DarkDragonEmperor, and he won’t have any of his attacking boosts making him 1000 BP weaker than The DarkDragonEmperor.

J takes this one from the life as well, (2->1 vs 2)

Turn 30, the Music has a hopeless tone to it, so I’m suspecting Bashin’s going to get his ass wrecked.

Jack Knight plays Double Hearts.

Given Bashin has 2 lives and 1 blocker, the smart play would be to target Fenrircannon MkII so that if either attack gets through, Jack Knight would win.

He gives it to Dark Siegfried though… in the process creating the first instance of a Triple Symbol Spirit.

While cool its kind of unnecessary. But I guess it means Bashin can’t Shadow Potion his way out of-

…Oh, I see what’s going to happen, he’s going to force Siegfried to block the DarkDragonEmperor.

When Siegfried falls, Bashin will gain life, and when he does he’ll refresh DarkDragonEmperor with something like White Potion and win.

Showdown.

Bashin tries to pull the rug from under Jack Knight by raising Siegfried’s BP to 14000 using Buster Phalanx’s Battle boost.

Jack Knight apparently isn’t done using his myriad of White support magic.

Jack Knight is going to exhaust the 8000 BP Fenrircannon-MkII to give its power to Dark Siegfried.

Yeesh, I didn’t think they’d GET BP this high in this series, 20000 BP is crazy high!

Siegfried does not stand a chance against 20000 BP, jesus christ.

Siegfried’s destruction does award Bashin an extra life.

But Jack Knight chose this strategy because he’d planned for that.

Using White Poition to refresh the Triple Symbol Dark Siegfried.

Bashin got freaking walloped.

Okay that’s unfair, he was winning pretty darn hard before the DarkDragonEmperor showed itself, but afterwards that was just all one-sided after the appearance of a singular card.

Suddenly, Jack Knight starts MAN HANDLING Bashin, holy shit!

The hell drove him into such a rage?

I’m curious if its because his feelings toward the Thousand Spirits Group haven’t changed, so Bashin losing to one of it’s members, even himself, is unforgivable.

Kyouka makes a heartfelt plea to Jack Knight to stop kicking the crap out of Bashin.

Personally I’d like him to keep going, both of them need a good kick in the head for all the dumb shit they’ve pulled.

Jack Knight just fucking drops Bashin in response.

Take that ya little shit.

Smile takes this opportunity to gloat, I’m going to guess that his plan succeeded.

…That’s odd, one of the rare times Smile doesn’t Smile.

And this time it wasn’t out of irritation over losing to J, it was in warning to Bashin.

That’s interesting, he’s meeting Bashin’s efforts with anger as well as opposed to his usual demeanor.

Nine is impressed with Jack Knight’s performance.

I do have a slight curiosity about where Jack Knight got his Darkened Siegfried. And we only know one person who has handed out Siegfrieds.

Nine’s reporting to Uchuuchouten about Jack Knight?

I wonder what for? I guess it concerns the Cornerstone.

Okay no, you can’t just try and lighten the mood with THIS kind of realization-

Oh, I got faked out, Card Sensei apparently senses that Kyouka isn’t saying anything that she means.

Ah shit, I don’t do well with tears.

I can be heartless even in the face of great unfairness but god if I see someone cry that’s it I’m gone.

Kyouka’s noticed her own weakness from earlier as well as realizing that everyone used their power to carry out a task for her sake.

So now she wants to be stronger so SHE can defeat Jack Knight.

Considering you got wrecked by Maccho I don’t think you’re at all capable of that.

That’s an odd thing to present Kyouka with, The Blue Cornerstone?

Guragurii awakened to Card Sensei and Card Sensei has the Cornerstone, that makes Card Sensei the Blue Chosen Battler, even though we’ve never seen him use hide nor hair of a Blue card.

Handing it to Kyouka who’s ALSO never used Blue is odd, give it to Seven! He can open Isekai AND uses a Blue Deck with an Iconic Blue X-Rare!

Its only barely reacting to Kyouka’s new Cornerstone.

Does that imply that the strength of the Cornerstone is weakening because of Jack Knight’s choices?

Ah I see where the rage came from. Jack Knight is trying to get stronger so he can defeat Uchuuchouten, he got angry at Bashin for being “weak” because Jack Knight did not feel like he was getting any stronger from the battle.

We like to call this Hubris.

Jack Knight is basically declaring himself the strongest battler, claiming he’s only second to Uchuuchouten and needs to surmount that incredible gap he perceives between himself and Uchuuchouten.

And that’s Episode 36!

I walked in here with sheer bloodlust and you know what I think I fuckin’ got it.

Jack Knight is at the pinnacle of his Heel role, fully immersed in his role as Number Eleven, and the heroes now have to figure out how to topple the strong-ass bastard, as well as figure out how to get Kyouka as strong as everyone else.

Interestingly, when Jack Knight defeated Siegfried using his DarkDragonEmperor, he didn’t announce that he got to draw a card from, as that Spirit can let you Draw a card when it wins a Battle that it was attacking.

Either way, J’s currently got arguably the most threatening card we’ve seen, aside from Mikafar’s brokennness at least.

And still no sign of that mystery X-Rare we missed from BS03, oh well.

The only place we can move is onward, now that we’ve seen Jack Knight quite literally wipe Bashin off the face of Kyoto, we should see how exactly Bashin plans to defeat The DarkDragonEmperor.

Especially since, given the circumstances, it is unlikely Bashin will get his own DarkDragonEmperor to square off with J’s

Either way, it will be interesting to see, see you for the next one!

Welcome back attentive Battlers! I hope you’re ready for another rousing round of whatever the hell this is!

Last episode was our “Training Episode” which saw us awarding Striker with his 2nd X-Rare.

Now Bashin, Striker, and Meganeko (due to a Freeze Frame Bonus) all wield 2 X-Rares. My Sunshine and J (now Jack Knight) have had 2 for a while as well.

So now the only thing left is for some PLOT to occur! Let’s go!

These seems like an Episode that is dual in nature, my first thought is that Jack Knight will get some focus between himself and Kiano, his father while Bashin struggles at basic Math because that is how the Bashin do.

But first we have a rather serious looking Announcer-chan giving an emergency broadcast.

Of course, because Batosupi TV and J are practically joined at the hip, they obviously need to talk about his introduction as a member of the Numbers Elite.

I like the White Aura effect they’ve given him here. Auras are cool.

At the time this show was airing this might have actually been true, Micheal Elliott is an Expy of an actual person named Micheal Elliott who works for Wizards of the Coast. And since at this point cards were still being printed in English and other languages, this isn’t such a crazy statement.

The crazy part is that they have a news channel dedicated to nothing but the game however.

Nowadays, though the game isn’t available in English, it IS available in Korean, and for some bizarre reason. Italian.

Don’t ask me why, I have no freaking idea either.

Batosupi TV believe this is some kind of publicity stunt in order to increase Jack Knight’s popularity.

What’s been a recurring theme through all of this is that in spite of the fact that Jack Knight is acting DIRECTLY in support of Kiano’s own goals, he’s been completely displeased with his son’s affiliation with him.

This episode may shed some light on that.

I’d recognize that broken Japanese anywhere, Elliott’s in the room.

He’s talking about one of Kiano’s “acquaintances” but I’m not quite sure who he’s referring to. Or if he’s even talking to Kiano.

Elliott your apparent ineptitude at this game has been made apparent by the dumbest character in the franchise.

Shouldn’t you be developing a functional strategy rather than just stacking cards and annoying the shit out of Kiano?

Elliott seems to be trying to pass this off as a good thing, notably in an earlier episode he asked Kiano why he was being hostile to J back when he wanted to join them, so Elliott likely does not know the reason why Kiano is receiving this so poorly.

Not that he’s doing this for fun, I don’t think I’ve seen a single genuine smile from him since he became Jack Knight.

Kiano is still dejected, Elliott still appears to be in the dark.

Kiano leaves and Elliott gives this face, perhaps he knows more than he lets on but god knows what the meaning behind that is given that he seemed genuinely confused in an earlier scene, the tone of his voice even matched it.

Huh, interesting depiction of Kiano on his own without his children, this is the first time we’ve seen him interested in ANYTHING to do with his son since the series started.

If you’re trying to rescue Kiano’s apparent complete dismissiveness of his son’s existence by telling the audience “Oh look he really does care!” this only makes us more confused as to why he’s making the decisions he does.

Striker seems understandably confused, and even brings up Bashin’s promise with J that they would defeat King Uchuuchouten together!

Finally we get to have some questions asked.

Bashin has an alarmingly straightforward (and one I like) response.

Yeah if your idiot of a rival is for some reason doing shit that doesn’t make sense given what you know of them, it would make sense to just go find them and ask them.

But given this episode’s title I don’t think we can resolve character tension that easy.

Wow they just straight up pulled a desk onto the roof, got some chairs and are having a round of Battle Spirits.

I can’t identify much on the board but it doesn’t look to be too interesting, I can make out a Rom and a Tanya on Meganeko’s field and Bashin has what I believe to be 2 Goradons and I don’t recognize the last card.

Striker agrees with Bashin’s logic, they can come up with all the conclusions they want but they’re all pointless if asking J is an option.

Bashin resolves himself to go ask once he’s done having his battle with Meganeko.

Before promptly planting his signature X-Rare on the board for Meganeko to deal with.

Meganeko’s FACE, she was not ready for Siegfried.

Striker does ask a pretty interesting question, they don’t actually know J’s current location.

Meganeko to the rescue, apparently the Thousand Spirits Group are holding an Exchange Match at the Sawaragi Art Gallery in Kyoto.

Oh hey that wasn’t a one-off location! We’re actually going back there!

Bashin straight up hauls ass as soon as he hears this though.

The Flyer even had “5/17” plastered on it and they JUST came out of Golden Week.

Bashin is a giant muppet, doubly so because HE LEFT HIS GOD DAMN CARDS THERE.

Bashin, would it NOT be better to explain your J situation, your Mother already knows your fuckin’ Mouse can talk, you might as well spill the beans.

Is this the part where we find out that Bashin’s grades are complete ass because he’s a meathead who couldn’t tell a 3 from the TwinRowdy Diranos?

Oh hey, that’s like the Mock Exams we have in England, we do them in the middle of the year to measure progress.

Bashin of course, is undelighted by anything not in very specifically sized cardboard, fittable into a sleeve, and adorned with a giant white “BS” on the back of it.

Seems pretty standard, its a time-gated restriction in order to enforce study for this specific period of time and will alleviate when the period is over.

No, Harsh would be your parent overseeing every single action you make 2 weeks before the given test to ensure that you are completely devoted to revision and will viciously punish you if you’re even spotted with more than 1 tab or window than you’re supposed to, even if its just music or a window you didn’t even realise was open, accuse you of slacking and punish you even further.

You can tell I’m speaking from experience.

Striker’s own mother prevented him from fixing his deck to get him to focus on studies.

Do you really think parents don’t realise that the best case scenario for a kid’s education to go well?…

…Is for clear and consistent communication between the parents of that child and the teachers that oversee their studies?

Come on, if you ban them from an activity they can feasibly parttake in during school of course they’re going to let the school know.

Talk about bending the power of being an Advisor to your advantage, as the Advisor she basically controls the club activities.

So now he REALLY can’t play Batosupi at school.

This is a fairly good plan, at a place that encourages such play it WOULD be standard to try go there if you were banned at school and at home.

…But stores are of course, capable of having denylists in order to deny service to customers for any reason, something like the request of a Mother to an Ex-babysitter to prevent entry to her child so that he can study for exams would be not out of the realm of possibility.

Oh look, his Mother is out… Wait that’s bad.

Because of course any addicted muppet would see this as an opportunity.

Of course, there is ONE person who can reliably stay at home and isn’t expected to leave the house.

How good were those fucking Mushrooms to make you be THIS harsh on the kid?

And we get a nice little montage of Bashin getting absolutely ass-blasted by Aibou anytime he attempts to so much as look at his Battle Spirits cards.

Batosupi is one hell of a drug.

The withdrawal symptoms are crazy.

Lemme guess. They’re going to go where no one can stop them, Isekai?

Also for FUCK sake! NOW they use the plot device of requiring their animal be nearby in order to open the gate!?

Come on! We’ve SEEN Bashin open it without any such animal! And Seven is capable of opening the gate without one as well!

Nine and Eight fought in Isekai and THEY’RE NOT EVEN CHOSEN.

You can’t arbitrarily introduce plot points and then IGNORE them except when it’s convenient for you!

We scene jump to Kiano again, and the Driver makes the suggestion that he see his family.

Now lets see if Kiano’s the type to fire his Driver for making that suggestion-

REALLY.

REALLY!?

So you’re telling me, that you, S. Kiano Sawaragi, have been neglecting to give your son any kind of attention.

That you actively removed him from your path just because he was in the way of you going to the Thousand Spirits group, that you IGNORED his pleas for you to stay.

That you ignored him ENTIRELY in an attempt to scout Bashin at YOUR OWN SON’S GRADUATION PARTY.

That you chose to be dismissive of all that he is even when he joined the Numbers Elite JUST so he could be closer to you.

You did all that… BECAUSE YOU DIDN’T UNDERSTAND HOW HE FELT!?

A fucking blind-deaf coma patient that just had a lobotomy encased in a sound proof spaceship ORBITING URANUS could see that J literally wants your god damn approval and your failure to so much as just acknowledge that your son even matters to you a tiny bit has induced enough stress in the poor kid that he flat out hates the name you gave him!

You can’t use ignorance as an excuse here!

And he just drives off, yeah piss off.

I’ll give you points for at least not being a total dickwaffle and actually caring somewhat about your son but god DAYUM.

I’m being harsh yes but communication’s a two-way street and one side, well, isn’t communicating. And it ain’t the son.

You’ve been busting his balls over studying, I’m pretty sure he’s practically given up by now.

…Of course playing at Meganeko’s house WOULD make that possible.

The only way to verify would be for Bashin to leave his deck at home just to fully ensure his statement is correct.

In other news, Kiano has been dropped off.

At… Bashin’s Middle School? That’s a wee bit strange?

Apparently he’s as surprised as I am since this isn’t where he wanted to go-

Get wrecked shitlord.

I was not anticipating this, if you were going to drop him off anywhere why would it be Bashin’s school and not his son’s?

When questioned as to why he’s there, Kiano can ONLY answer truthfully, he’s got no bloody clue.

Bashin takes this opportunity to press J’s father for information, pretty good opportunity to do so.

They’re REALLY trying to paint this old fart as sympathetic, I’m not buying it.

Jack Knight leaves his home and notices there are no available drivers.

Only to get Speed Star when he prompts for one. This is an interesting set up, Bashin is chilling with Kiano while Jack Knight spends time with Bashin’s mother.

I wonder what the potential outcomes of this would be, but Hayami is evidently aware of J and his status as Bashin’s friend as well as the news so it’s highly unlikely that she’s oblivious to his current situation.

She’s driven Nazo-Otonas around before so wouldn’t surprise me for her to do so again.

Wait really? J would flat out discard his education (something he’s pretty decent at) all to become a member of the Numbers Elite?

Since Smile and Eight go to school and Elliott is the Principal I’m certain that not attending class is definitely NOT a requirement, he’s choosing to skip class, he’s not being forced to.

Even draped in Black and on the side of the baddies, he’s still a worrywart over his old friends, so it’s not like this change actually generates any antagonism between him and the others, he just hasn’t run anything by them as per usual.

He’s even throwing the guy a compliment. D’awwww

Interesting attempt at reconciling the two of them, she offers J to come over to their house on that day.

Jack Knight is showing his alternative title to be “Big Sad” because he doesn’t actually feel like he should be seeing Bashin.

…That’s kind of interesting, we’ve seen this line twice now.

I see what they’re doing. And it’s kind of cool.

They’re paralleling Bashin’s situation with J with J’s situation with his Father.

Kiano doesn’t believe he should see J because Kiano feels he’s incapable of understanding his son’s feelings.

Where on the other hand, J doesn’t feel he should be seeing Bashin because he betrayed Bashin’s feelings.

The interesting part is that J is the common thread here, he’s doing all this to seek out his father and yet doesn’t recognise he’s in the same position his father is concerning Bashin, he’s got a HUGE opportunity to see things from his father’s point of view now and isn’t presently able to. He’s too busy being on the victim end of one relationship to avoid being the instigator of the other.

WHICH makes the situation with Kiano and Bashin even more interesting, they’re at opposite ends of J and both are having issues with him, Bashin as a victim of J’s betrayal and Kiano as an instigator of J’s dissatisfaction with him.

Through each other, Bashin AND Kiano might get an outside look at their situations with J and potentially have Kiano understand things from J’s point of view through Bashin, and for Bashin to find a way to get through to J by doing the same for Kiano.

This is a WILD ASS guess but I like the parallel being drawn here, even if one is slightly more serious than the other.

I have exactly 0 idea what the fuck this says.

You and Bashin’s situations are not similar. You’re as far apart from each other as can be since you’re at clear OPPOSITE ENDS of the problem.

HE’S FUCKING TRIED!

EPISODE 26’s ENTIRE RUNTIME WAS YOU IGNORING THE FUCK OUT OF HIM, AND THEN WHEN HE ATTEMPTED TO COMMUNICATE TO YOU, YOU TREATED HIM LIKE HE WAS IN THE WAY

HE. FUCKING. TRIED! SEVERAL TIMES!

Then WHY DID YOU NOT SAY IT TO HIS FACE!?

Instead of just being all like “Well if you’ve made your decision I won’t stop you”

Then why the hell did you join!?

There it is, the parallel that strengthens the idea that his and Bashin’s situations are not the same, at least they’re not observing from the same point of view.

Kiano has betrayed J’s expectations, as J has betrayed Bashin’s.

Ah, so we’re now seeing his motivations for joining Thousupi Group, he wanted to create the Battle Spirits system, but I believe part of the deal he had with Elliott was that he would have to become a member of Numbers Elite if he was to gain the funding for it, Thousupi Group is very rich and extremely influential and so the backing of them was likely REQUIRED for the worldwide system to succeed.

He couldn’t communicate any of this to J because likely per his agreements, he couldn’t talk about it, Non-Disclosure Agreement and all that.

He knows its fucked that he has to do it, even though Thousupi Group have their own plans going on but that doesn’t mean J should join him in that hellish world, etc.

Jesus christ if the answer I’ve been screaming this entire time is even BASHIN’S direct conclusion then you know you’re a bad fucking Dad.

YOU HAVEN’T EVEN TRIED!

And secondly, what people want to hear and what people need to hear are VERY OFTEN 2 completely separate things.

And THIRDLY, you’re his Dad, you don’t need his permission or anyone else’s to talk to your son. Restraining Orders and Court Orders notwithstanding.

Bashin’s dad is called “Bashin Touha”

The world “Touha” in japanese means “Travelling on foot”

Apparently Kiano was well-affiliated with Touha, Battling him many times.

So Kiano has a Sister, fought with Bashin’s Dad often, there’s a generational parallel here.

Bashin does ask for details but Kiano believes that’s a question for Touha, not himself.

Which of course, Bashin exclaims isn’t possible because he’s on an adventure.

Which parallels nicely with the meaning of “Touha”, “Travelling on foot”, which can be interpretted as an Adventure.

I wonder if Kiano is just being supportive, or if he actually knows where Bashin Touha may have gone.

Kiano takes this opportunity to leave, claiming he now has a bit more “courage” to do the thing he was always going to have to do eventually, talk to his fucking son.

At this point, 3 of the 5 members of Numbers Elite don’t want to be Numbers Elite, Smile wants to take down Uchuuchouten, J is the same and Kiano’s doing so out of an agreement.

Elliott and Nine are the only one’s NOT part of the above and only because we have ZERO CLUE what their motivations actually are.

Oh hey, J, Meganeko and Striker did the smart thing and formed a study group.

Studying is much nicer when you have someone to do it with, it REALLY makes it a lot less of a chore.

Bashin’s optimistic, as per usual.

Aibou managed to… break into Meganeko’s house to check if Bashin was lying.

Welp, I suppose that works.

Bashin arrives home late and his Mother has a… well, angry tone about her.

Listen if you’re about to have the talk, then please do it offscreen

Ah, so Hayami’s offering to drive Bashin to Kyoto on that day so he can talk to J directly.

Striker gets to go too, so that’s cool.

You… have no way of verifying that it wasn’t just encouragement though.

When questioned Bashin justifies his reasoning by saying that Kiano and Touha have played a lot together a long time ago,

That’s… That’s not proof.

Hayami seems to take this as encouragement as opposed to actual proof.

But you gotta put on a brave face for the small 12 year old who is unaware of the horrors that is the world just yet.

Small plot tidbit that gets dropped when Bashin asks if Touha is strong.

So Hayami was taught to play the game by Touha.

Bitch she taught YOU how to play, she can’t be THAT bad.

Then again he did fail to get in through the prelims until she taught Striker, but Striker ALSO got High Rankers so she can’t be THAT bad.

Well, I guess we’re gonna scene-jump then-

…Well we jumped scene but that was unexpected… We’re getting new cards thrown at us.

A BS03 Master Rare with the “Dragon” and “Terra Dragon” families, Master Rares tend to take the form of extremely powerful cards or otherwise, non X-Rare bosses, this one isn’t quite up to par but its one of their earlier attempts at making a non X-Rare boss and isn’t meant to hold the power of an X-Rare.

Its got free destruction as part of it’s effect which is kind of interesting as well as being able to boost other spirits that only have a singular core on them, this unfortunately won’t help with cards like Dinohound who need 2 core to exist.

Oh fuck me PLEASE slow down.

The GrandBishop Levia is an interesting choice of destruction Spirit, its Cost 8 but has a pretty good destruction effect, blowing up anything with 3 or less core.

Also the random Spirit recovery when it defeats another Spirit at Level THREE which requires 7 whole core is… a bit costly and likely to never matter, you basically use this as a better DragonicFortress Giga, might have some Purple uses.

Foxin on the other hand just prevents your opponent using Magic more than once, its a good Yellow Counter as half of Yellow’s good plays are Magic Counters, it also means that players can’t dig well through their deck using Magic if they attempt to use cards like Storm Draw or Fourth Draw to draw huge amounts of cards in a single turn.

Godfrey on the other hand just makes you get ALL your Nexuses back, with Storm Draw not on the banlist just yet I can see this being broken REAL quickly, granted its balanced by the fact that this thing only gets its BP boost on BLUE nexuses but when you’re deploying a lot of Nexuses… The boost might not even matter.

Hayami is caught off guard by Diridalus, and then Bashin’s non-Red cards as Bashin seems to be playing a deck of Red and Blue.

We’ve seen Bashin use Non-Red cards with Royal Potion, but we’ve never seen him use Non-Red Spirits.

They explain each of the effects of Diridalus and Levia, which Bashin uses to clear Hayami’s board.

At this moment, he’s attacking with Diridalus.

Bashin then plays ANOTHER new card.

Its a slightly better Flame Dance for a guaranteed one extra cost.

Hayami’s feeling a bit overwhelmed by all the new cards being thrown at her all at once.

…Before going on to play her OWN new cards apparently!

Stop!

I won’t bother with images I’ll just describe what’s happening:

First off, all these cards are from BS03 so Hayami ALSO has new cards.

The StrawberryGirl Strawberi just refreshes a Light Spirit when she’s destroyed at Level 2.

Asc is a vanilla, and Surtr has Red and White Armor at all Levels while having Purple Armor at Level 2.

One day we’ll see Touha’s face, but that day is not this day.

Jack Knight’s chillin’ somewhere in the middle of the night while remembering that Hayami advised him to tell his feelings to Bashin.

Using Bashin’s Catchphrase to steel yourself for what you gotta do.

Seems they’ve selected a real relaxing venue for their chat.

Or so he claims but his last few appearances certainly don’t lend any fucking credence to that idea.

Kyouka and Miyako are apparently spying on the conversation from elsewhere, I guess this conversation really should involve all of them but having them as spectators works fine, they might muddy the waters by being there.

I guess we’re actually doing this, alright, time for the baggage to get unloaded.

Pretty simple, he concedes J’s belief and gives him the suggestion he feels appropriate.

Now we’re hagglin’

J doesn’t want his Dad to be part of Thousupi Group either, we know this given how much he protested his father going to see them and affiliating with Nazo-Otona.

Its a fair request, but uh, pretty sure Kiano’s bound by something other than himself.

You’re not going to get anywhere without making concessions Kiano.

This isn’t a good way of going about it, it only got this bad because you two failed to communicate, failing to let him understand why you’re doing what you’re doing is not going to make this any better.

Anyone who makes any kind of suggestion that even vaguely resembles the line “Do as I say, not as I do” is an idiot. Its not a good way to discipline anybody. J is acting out because Kiano is already appearing to be unreasonable, so J is trusting his own judgment, if you’re not going to even try to seem reasonable then you’ll just get nowhere.

This was pointless.

Kiano attempts another angle of attack, rather than try to concede a reason he doesn’t want to give for joining up with the Nazo-Otonas, he tries to appeal to J’s connections.

Good plan, doubt it will work when you’re the reason he even betrayed them.

The guy went out of his way to change the name he’d be referred to, so unsurprising this was going to occur.

Yadda yadda yadda we get it.

Either way there’s a fundamental problem here. Kiano has reasons for doing what he’s doing but won’t even bother to help J understand them, so J acts against him out of protest.

This situation basically isn’t going to resolve itself because we’ve got 2 parties who won’t concede to the other’s feelings.

So you end up with the STUPID situation of both being part of a group neither likes and each wanting the other one to leave.

J catches his mother and his sister spying on him.

J has a moment where he gets a very emotive expression that’s almost between rage and tears but composes himself and leaves.

Kyouka runs after him of course, being the closest to him out of his family while Miyako goes to check on her husband.

And the subber chose the most effective time to translate what was on the note J had, it was a letter of absence.

J is, or was planning to drop out of school entirely to devote himself to the Numbers Elite I guess? He’s left it here though so gosh knows what that means, either he’s decided to continue going to school or he’s decided against even bothering to notify them.

Not much else happens and we get to the end of the Episode!

Very emotionally compelling this one, or at least it was supposed to be, a lot of this episode’s “problems” can be easily assigned to Kiano just being impossible to reason with when it comes to his son.

The only thing he did differently this time around was actively ask his son to do something, got OBVIOUS push back and then refused to move from his position when J tried to negotiate, how the fuck did this guy secure ANY business deals while being that stubborn?

Just annoying.

Batosupi Lecture has nothing of interest today.

Anyway it appears we’ve gotten a crapton of BS03 stuff thrown out recently, still waiting on that last BS03 X-Rare that we’ve yet to see.

Guess we’ll see it soon-ish, see you next time.

No point starting with an intro, might as well throw in the Episode Title for this week.

“The Treacherous Training Camp Jack”

This suggests to me that SOMEONE is going to hi-jack the Training Camp and put our club in danger, but these titles have fooled me before, god knows what the last one was meant to mean.

Given it’s a yearly activity that occurs on Golden Week I highly doubt its the first.

Seven would have definitely had a few, sure they’d have been by himself but still.

I could seriously do with Bashin and Striker not being them right about now.

OH THANK GOD, KYOUKA, SAVE ME!

So it appears they’ve made it to the same place out of sheer coincidence-

Nah I’m kidding, I’m sure there aren’t THAT many Batosupi Training Caps if there are even more than 1.

Actually yeah, it’s been a real disappointment not seeing Smile take part in the Club activities, you’d think it’d be an interesting opportunity to see him interact with Meganeko and Striker and even Seven more often than he’s done so currently.

But I guess for the sake of giving him a reason to not be around because he is THE ENEMY, MUST DEFEAT, they’ve just been randomly creating excuses to have him not be there.

First of all, get with the program Bashin, it’s JACK KNIGHT now.

And he’s uh.

Doing adult things.

Speaking of which that’s an interesting theme in this show, J appears to be trying to become an adult and do adult things far too fast while most of the cast are trying to enjoy being children as much as they can.

The show really does have a strong moral of “enjoy your childhood while it lasts” vibe.

They drop the news that Jack Knight straight up isn’t a member of the club because he’s too busy playing dress up with his cat.

Oh, there IS more than one, just apparently the other one is in really close proximity?

The one they’re apparently signed up to is at a freaking Buddhist Temple.

Places of worship are… strange, I’ve been to both Churches and Mosques and I don’t really like the air about them.

The people among them are really nice though, and sometimes they serve food, and its usually quite good.

I mean it doesn’t NEED to be a Hotel to be good for training, you can play card games anywhere.

Besides, its a place of worship, that immediately implies good food.

At least to me it does, I might be an exception though.

Well at least he seems sane enough to greet the others.

Time for a number of menial tasks that have absolutely zero to do with Battle Spirits.

Oh just scene jump already I can’t be fucked with this.

Over at the OTHER Batosupi Club, they’ve uh.

Certainly grown in size somewhat since we last saw them, I understand that might be due to the Student Council getting into it as a direct result of Kyouka’s interests AND her amazing grades.

Alright how many black-eyes and hurt feelings can we get before this event ends?

Those seats definitely look comfy, I’m going to assume this “Tournament” is basically going to be a giant Round Robin as thats the easiest way to get the most battle experience between everybody.

Okay slow down this might be a dream come true.

…So a Hot Spring? Or is it just like a segment of showers.

The President of the Student Council must have REALLY liked Manabu if she’s even gotten involved in the Battle Spirits Club.

Whatever tensions occurred in the last episode we saw with them together seem to have been fully resolved and now they appear to be good friends.

With a Student Council vouching for Battle Spirits its no wonder that the Club has so many members now. It must be the popular thing to do in that school now.

Yep, meaningless chores.

Well not meaningless for the Buddhist I guess, considering he’d likely want to keep his place of worship as pristine a condition as possible and is unable to in his old age.

I wonder what’s in that box that is causing it to be so heavy.

Luckily Striker spills it and we get to see.

They’re all Game pieces it seems, Marbles, Shogi, Spinning Tops and other things I don’t recognize.

Eight’s apparent plan for this was for them to develop “teamwork”, by having them help each other with chores so that tasks get done faster and then they can cram in more training?

Battle Spirits is a single player game, with the exception of the Tag Format, there’s very few ways to exhibit their “Teamwork”

I think the best solution to this is for Bashin to go to Isekai.

…Via getting hit by a fucking Truck.

Oh, we’re at the DOME, this is the episode I least expected to get insight on the Nazo-Otonas.

It appears Smile and Jack Knight are practicing their Tag Battling.

Nothing like a fresh sense of Winning. Wish I could see what cards were on the board at least.

Ah, they’ve been doing a number of these, makes sense, its Golden Week, ain’t nobody working, plenty of opponents to take on.

I mean you’re both relatively competent, but I haven’t seen Smile in a Tag setting just yet so I don’t really have an opinion on what he can do alongside Jack Knight.

Jack Knight on the other hand seems to have more mastery over a variety of colours now so who knows what he’s capable of.

Jack Knight is sweating, he isn’t so sure.

I see “Queen” is keeping Jack Knight’s feelings out in the open.

She’s also in on this however, so either she’s trying to help him stay those feelings by pointing out when they show, or she’s having doubts.

You joined a club explicitly to let them gain enough members to enter a Tournament, they’re VERY MUCH your concern.

As we scene switch to Bashin getting assaulted by the old Buddhist.

Violence against Bashin? Yes please.

Meganeko is not having so much luck.

MEGANEKO NO.

Bashin the hungry bastard is setting unrealistic weight loss goals by continuing to remain in shape while eating all the god damn rice.

Also why is he asking for seconds his TABLE IS FULL?

I won’t lie though I’d freaking destroy that Tube of Rice right there.

Our Buddhist, I suppose I should call him “Chief” since that’s how he was referred.

Chief appears to notice something off about Striker of all people.

We haven’t seen Striker do much, especially not since he obtained Kingtaurus, has he even played that dang thing onscreen yet?

Note: He actually has, he flopped using it in Episode 18.

Striker is definitely troubled by something.

Though it could be just Bashin’s continued existence, that certainly troubles me.

Apparently the Chief thinks this is the perfect time to ask a 13-year old boy questions about the world over a crossword.

(The Answer btw: Is apparently Istanbul)

Time for the ol’ “Wiser than he comes off” trope to fully come into play.

Again, you really need to contextualize how “Teamwork” is going to help in this case.

Especially since there’s only 5 of you, 4 without Smile, I’m sure there’s ONE of you who’s gonna fight alone at SOME point.

Striker pouring his heart out and the guy has only just clicked that his crossword puzzle is themed.

The old man has an OldSage Trenton, pretty fitting for him.

Aww yeah, time for cryptic old man lessons that don’t make sense without 20/20 hindsight!

Cue Monologue, this is gonna take awhile.

The old man at this point appears to be explaining foundational things about Battle Spirits, there are many colours, 6 total, of these 6 colours there are cards that separate those among those same colour, Nexus, Magic and Spirit.

I imagine this just translates to “Every card has a purpose”

Spirits are the most obvious thing to build your win condition around but it is certainly not the only thing you can build towards.

This seems to be a really roundabout way of saying that Striker’s currently a bit too narrow-minded to understand what he needs to do just yet

Its fucking Washington D.C. you fucking killjoy.

While snoring is generally a sign that your airways are blocked, if you’re in such a deep sleep that you’re making loud amounts of noise and its not waking you, you’re probably going to sleep all your necessary hours uninterrupted.

Striker’s talk with the Chief has generated a new fire in him to complete those tasks.

You might as well eat breakfast, chill a bit and then do it, at least they’d have a little more energy with which to do it.

But Breakfast is becoming less and less essential in today’s age even though its the most important meal of the day.

I haven’t eaten breakfast on the day of which I’m writing this line, so yeah I’m kind of a hypocrite, but Lunch will be awesome.

Striker goes about assigning tasks, and he assigns the same tasks to everyone else, Meganeko and Bashin will clean the floor of dust and Seven along with Striker will lift.

Apparently with Striker directing their focus to the tasks at hand rather than Battle Spirits, they have better luck.

That lecture earlier was a bit hamfisted so I have absolutely no idea how I’m supposed to parse it.

Though “Every card has meaning” and “Batosupi is like this world” suggests that even tasks that are not Battle Spirits might have an adverse affect on, well, their Battle Spirits.

It appears the old Chief isn’t so easily fooled by appearances, recognizing Eight as Card Sensei’s Girlfriend almost immediately.

Finally, when do we get to the card games?

Striker notices a weird scroll while everyone else hops off for breakfast.

It took me a minute to notice what was wrong with the scroll, but its got an illustration of Flyingmirage on it.

Time for Striker to spill the beans on the drawings.

Nevermind, the Chief has decided that he needs Striker for something before he can say anything about it to anyone else.

Which apparently requires him to fuck off somewhere in the middle of the woods… alone.

This isn’t a recipe for disaster at all, what makes you think that?

Cap seems to insist that there this is troublesome but Striker doesn’t seem to mind too much. I’m not sure about those choice of subs though.

This… looks familiar, and I would not be able to tell you why until we get to Battle Spirits Burning Soul.

Very few times does anyone ask that and actually get an answer, when do we get someone in a dark room going “Is anyone here?” and someone just goes “Oh shit! Sorry, hold on lemme turn on the lights, you want a cup ‘a tea?”

That would be the cave receding into darkness, Cap.

…Or an Altar with a green-ass orb on it that has BEGUN TO GLOW.

And is reacting to J’s Cornerstone apparently.

“Like a Cornerstone” doesn’t accurately describe what it is or does however, the only thing we know about the Cornerstones is that they can take one to Isekai…

Unless you’re a Nazo-Otona who can just go there anyway if Nine and Eight’s battle is any indicator.

I was mulling over these comments for a while, but I feel like the old man might be referring to Striker’s X-Rare, The Duke Kingtaurus.

This guy is apparently yielding ALL of the bad vibes and initially I thought Striker just fucking shut the door on him, I was about to erupt in laughter, but it turns out Striker didn’t do this voluntarily.

Ah, I get it, this is somewhat in the style of Hayami’s consistent Batosupi harassment plan.

“How much strength does the Duke have at its strongest”

He’s asking about the LV3 BP of The Duke Kingtaurus, which as it happens, I know off the top of my head, its 12000!

Granted you have absolutely 0 way of knowing whether or not I looked it up beforehand or not. But I don’t really lose anything whether or not you think I’m lying or not so onward!

They finally figure out he’s talking about Striker’s X-Rare

Striker explains Kingtaurus’ effect when summoned to get to his answer, I love this image of Kingtaurus behind Striker as he reads it out though. Its REALLY cool.

Its almost like the X-Rare is ominously awaiting its use.

Nice, I love riddles. They’re REALLY hard to make though.

This is completely unsurprising, the Chief recognized Eight and Card Sensei has been there before, the likelihood of the old man being a former Nazo-Otona is extremely high

He does claim however that “Right now I’m just an elder” so if he was a Nazo-Otona at one time, he no longer is.

Welp, its evident this is going to turn into a Battle now (Finally), let’s get this over with, Gate Open!

Turn 18, and it is currently Striker’s Turn. So Striker has had 9 Core Steps since starting the game, so he’ll have 13 core available + any lives lost.

Since you only gain Core on your Core Step starting the 2nd turn of the game onward, the formula for how much Core you will have ignoring any Core boosting effects will be Turns/2 + (5 – Number of Lives) if you went second, and you subtract 1 from the Turn counter if you went first as you don’t get a Core step on the first turn.

The board is pretty empty, but neither life being touched means we can reasonably assume Striker has 13 Core available to him on his turn.

Striker deploys The Fruit of Life at Level 2. With no reduction he’s paid 4 core and moved 3 to The Fruit of Life.

Striker now has 6 Core in his Reserve and 9 available core to use.

Well, this just confirms that they’ve given Striker the benefit of the doubt that he’s actually boosted his Core, by my calculation he should have to pay 5 for Trenton leaving him only 1 available Core. He’s levelled this thing up to Level 2 however so I have no way of knowing how much Core he really has.

Striker uses Trenton’s effect to summon a card I do not recognize at present.

At Level 2 no less, well, time to have a look at it.

A “Shellman” family Spirit from BS03, So at Level 2, during Flash Timing, you can pay 1 cost from your Reserve to give any “Shell Insect” in your hand the Swift /High Speed keyword. A Spirit with
Swift can be summoned during Flash Timing as long as all Core used in its payment and its levelling at the time of it’s summon is paid from your Reserve.

I would argue that you need the Core in your Reserve in order to even do that so paying from the reserve doesn’t make it that much easier but the alternative is summoning nothing with a hand of “Shell Insects”

Curiously it can’t give itself Swift with its own ability as its a Shellman, not a Shell Insect.

The only thing worse than a poor hand is an empty one.

Poor hands can be fixed, you’re incapable of playing with an empty hand.

Thankfully Striker’s not in TOO deep shit here, he’ll get a Core and a card every time his life is damaged.

I know I said just last episode that Green does not have a lot of draw and I stand by that statement, most of it comes in the form of effects like The Fruit of Life.

The Level 2 Trenton with 7000 BP attacks.

A Level 3 Scorpede only has 6000 BP, it blocks and is destroyed.

Beatpriest attacks, as the Chief has no blockers, he has to take from the life (5->4)

Apparently he’s listed in the turn order as “Nazo-Otona” so I guess we’ll call him that for now.

The Nazo-Otona plays a MachG followed by The Budding Plain at Level 2.

The Budding Plain lets the Nazo-Otona gain a Core every time he uses a Magic effect, and at Level 2, all of his “Parasite” family cards sitting in his hand get Swift

If you’re wondering why I’ve suddenly started formatting the Keyword like that, its how its written on the card.

MachG attacks.

That was sudden. The old man just drops an X-Rare on us, just like that.

A “Mounted Warrior” Family Green X-Rare from BS03.

This X-Rare, while having lower BP and Cost than The Duke Kingtaurus, has the Swift keyword. Meaning it can appear at anytime, and even worse, when its summoned, it refreshes every Swift Spirit you have.

This means you can make a blinding series of attacks from Swift Spirits your opponent doesn’t expect and then surprise them with Hercules just to do it all over again.

Quite interestingly, it looks EXACTLY like Monoqueiroz Riding a Sleiphorse, lets see if Striker will use his own X-Rare.

He refreshes his attacking MachG, and Striker takes a life. (5->4)

Striker takes another Life from MachG as its able to attack again.

The SavageKnight Hercules now swings.

Striker resigns himself to taking from the Life but that just means he lacks a Flash.

And so the absolute mad Nazo-Otona plays a fucking SECOND Hercules!

They JUST introduced this X-Rare and this crazy bastard’s got TWO of em, talk about half-decent deck building.

Most series suffer from “Sub-Optimal Deckbuilding Syndrome” where the Plot often makes a point of letting us know that a character only has 1 of a given card (which is really inconsistent) and yet the plot continues to rely on situations where if they don’t draw that card, they just flat out lose.

Yu-Gi-Oh! is quite a good example because the decks featured in that series have absolutely ZERO reflection on how decks in that show actually look. Everyone’s bumping highlander.

They are much better about it from about Arc-V onward where the decks seem much more optimized and duelists aren’t shy of using multiple of the same card, but the Main character almost always has an entire deck of 1-ofs which doesn’t help.

Vanguard was a bit better about it, as this applies to ONLY the main character and restricted to ONLY 1 card which he proceeds to seemingly get every damn time, Blaster Blade.

The writers foresaw the problem with continuing to write like that and instead created a card that SEARCHED Blaster Blade very early on in the game so that the Main character could reliably use it every game.

That combo was eventually banned for being way too god damn strong. Figures. But later in the series, I think in Vanguard G, quite literally everyone had a fully optimized deck and no one ran crazy 1-ofs anymore. The exception being one villain but that villain did so in a deck where it was MORE optimal not to run duplicates of the 1-ofs he was running.

Duel Masters hasn’t got many reliable subs but I’m fairly sure its similar to Vanguard in that respect, where the main character has a fully optimized deck and has cards to explicitly get around the problem of his card copies being relatively inaccessible and its EVERYONE ELSE that has well optimized decks, save for villains wielding 1-off cards.

Battle Spirits is very similar to the Vanguard formula, most of the decks are actually pretty well optimized and a lot of card choices that appear in later series will sometimes be very clearly indicative of choices the playerbase actually have made.

Villains will use multiple copies of their ace and the show isn’t afraid to show them doing so. Even main characters will sometimes get multiple copies of their ace IF they have a distinct reason that lets them do so, I will point these out to you when and as they come up. But in the LATEST series, I believe everyone has multiple copies of their aces, even of cards that are supposed to be special in some way, and the show isn’t afraid to use and abuse that to create interesting scenarios.

Its cool, I like the way Battle Spirits handles their show.

All the Swift Spirits are refreshed, Striker takes a life from the attacking Hercules (3->2)

Striker’s got 2 lives, no blockers and the Nazo-Otona has 2 attackers remaining.

That being said, Striker has drawn 3 cards and gained 3 core, in addition to the life lost making 6 core in his reserve at LEAST.

He’s GOT to have a counter

Striker has topdecked into a Silent Wall.

Its your Standard White Magic attack step ender, a common staple in almost every deck even today.

And this is why, sometimes your opponent just combos off but most attack wombo-combos will get stopped by a Silent Wall.

The floor is yours Striker, you have 1 life, make it a damn good one.

I expected him to play something a little more exciting but The MeteoriteArmor Monoqueiroz is still pretty good.

The Night Sky of Isekai is doing its Model a LOT of favours.

That’s more like it, Striker also plays The Duke Kingtaurus.

As Striker controls 3 other Spirits, Kingtaurus gains 3 Core and is levelled up to Level 2.

6000 BP is pretty bold, Kingtaurus isn’t very strong when its not at maximum Level.

Ouch, thats Nasty, a 2 Cost 2 Reduction Green Magic in Wild Power, with the Nazo-Otona’s board he can basically play this card for free.

And it’ll boost a Hercules’ normally base 5000 BP to 7000 BP letting it beat over Kingtaurus.

If Striker somehow plays a card to get Kingtaurus OVER that though, he’ll be able to slash a life thanks to Kingtaurus’ LV2 effect.

Monoqueiroz grants +2000 BP to all Spirits you control on the turn it’s played. That includes Spirits played AFTER it is summoned.

Therefore, Kingtaurus has 8000 BP, not 6000

I will say, while I haven’t been paying too much attention to the Music in this series, the track that plays here is REALLY cool.

Kingtaurus nabs a life from the Nazo-Otona (4->3)

Monoqueiroz attacks and literally bisects the opposing MachG.

Striker has 2 attackers, the Nazo-Otona has 3 lives and an available blocker, not sure how this will go.

Striker attacks with both Trenton and Beatpriest, which the Nazo-Otona takes from the life.

I don’t recognise THIS card either.

Oh, they make a weaker version of this later, but Flock Recovery lets you refresh 3 Spirits that have a family you declare, for 4 core that’s basically, well, a SavageKnight Hercules-level refresh.

For reference, The Duke Kingtaurus has 2 families, the “Shell Insect” family (Kouchuu) and the Blade Beast Family (Kenjuu)

Striker very accurately states “Kouchuu” here, so this “Beetle” family refers to “Shell Insects”

This enables The Duke Kingtaurus to refresh, the Nazo-Otona now has a problem, he has 1 life and 1 available blocker in Hercules which is weaker than Kingtaurus who will snatch a life if it wins a battle.

So the Nazo-Otona has 2 choices, he can take a life and die, or lose his X-Rare and die.

If he tries to take a 3rd option by preventing Hercules’ defeat, Monoqueiroz can still attack as it is ALSO of the “Shell Insect” family.

I won’t lie they really outdid themselves with the visuals on this episode, ever since last episode, cards have been looking REAL fuckin’ pretty when animated, they really stepped up their game.

And this level of animation is NOTHING compared to their later series, I promise you.

And the Nazo-Otona reveals himself to be the Chief Buddhist, a surprise to no one.

“To rely on friends, you must look, listen and accept”?

It appears Striker’s concern over their Teamwork has been answered by making himself malleable enough to be able to vibe with them at any given moment, and if he can go with their flow he can guide it.

Or something like that.

Everything the old man described in his “Life is a game” analogy makes sense except for that last line.

And as is the well-established and inverse-proportionally-well-enforced rule of Nazo-Otonas, Striker has been awarded a copy of The SavageKnight Hercules for defeating a Nazo-Otona.

How he will refactor this into his game plan I have no clue because Striker uses Swift very sparingly (I gave up using the black boxes, I’ll maintain them for effects or for direct mentions of the keyword but not for regular speaking)

Eight immediately realizes what’s occurred, given her foreknowledge of the old man being a Nazo-Otona.

Meganeko visits Eight and Eight seems to lament her status as a poor advisor.

But Meganeko is a polite girl and doesn’t fling shit where it doesn’t belong.

But we don’t actually see WHAT she came to Eight for, she doesn’t say anything beyond that.

Oh? News? I wonder what they have to dump on us at this late stage in the episode?

This news is being delivered by Nine as opposed to Uchuuchouten, though I wonder if Uchuuchouten only speaks as the Tournament begins.

He’s right but I don’t like the sound of where this is going…

So those of the Thousand Spirits Group will be stronger when they next appear in the Tournament, or so they’re announcing.

Is this an official announcement of Numbers Elite? Nine and Eight were called by their numbers when they participated in their last tournaments.

He’s actually introducing the members, that means I get to talk EXTRA SHIT about them.

How Elliott made the cut into the Numbers Elite is fucking BEYOND me after he got called out for being weak by BASHIN of all people and then got completely destroyed by him.

We haven’t seen Kiano much in action, our only indication of his level of ability is that he sponsors teams and was able to catch J by surprise through using Blue, though J would have lost anyway in that circumstance, so I suppose he can take on J head on and still come out on top?

Smile has been a rampant victim of The Worf Effect (being shown to be strong and then beaten repeatedly to show how strong everyone else is) but slowly recovered after quite soundly defeating Bashin in their last bout.

REALLY maximizing the absolute, pure, un-adulterated EDGE of Jack Knight here, I fucking love it.

Face-Heel Turn, Evil Costume Switch, Evil Wears Black!

I know I’m just spitting out tropes I’m recognizing but I freaking LOVE them!

So it appears, of the Numbers Elite, these are the 5 that they’re going with for the Tournament, Elliott, Kiano, Smile, Nine, and Jack Knight.

Eight is indisposed as Team Bashin’s advisor, and Seven is a member of that Team. Card Sensei has been missing since he took his trip so they definitely can’t use him.

That makes this set of the Numbers Elite basically the only remaining members besides Uchuuchouten who never shows himself personally.

With that announcement, the episode is OFFICIALLY over!

You know the drill, time to take a look at our Batosupi Lecture section.

And as expected, they’re talking about the New Green X-Rare from BS03, The SavageKnight Hercules.

Its an okay X-Rare but its one of those X-Rares that really need to go into a certain deck, as it’s effect is only powerful if you’re using cards that have Swift printed on the card that aren’t himself.

It’s entirely possible for this card to just be a really big Vanilla that comes out of nowhere if the rest of your deck has no Swift cards. Granted Swift cards are not hard to come by and some are actually quite effective due to their simplicity, like MachG.

Quite hilariously, I mentioned earlier its a combination in design of 2 other cards, and even more hilariously, it doesn’t actually directly synergize with EITHER of those cards.

And also with this SavageKnight Hercules, we’ve seen exactly 3 of the X-Rares released in BS03, there is one more as we only get 4 X-Rares per pack until BS06.

And we’ve seen every X-Rare so far up until now. Which means we might be able to see that last BS03 X-Rare very VERY soon.

Until then, I’ll see you next time!

We had no battles last episode, anything concerning that is better left on that post.

I’m itching for card games, onward!

This title… Makes absolutely 0 fucking sense. I have no idea what this is meant to mean or what it entails and I’m definitely not going to bother repeating it.

And thus the Episode ended.

Welp, we’ll see you guys next time, buh-bye

A new card.

And not just ANY card, Meganeko’s finally got her FIRST X-RARE.

The ArcAngelia Valiero huh, they’re straight up showing us the effect right away and everything, guess we can review it.

A Cost 8 Yellow X-Rare from BS03 and a member of the “Divine Spirit” family, Valiero has more in common with a Kamen Rider in terms of appearance than an Angel.

When summoned you can recover all Magic of either Yellow or Green in your Trash. Bit limited in scope but getting ALL of them is pretty nutty.

And at higher levels it has the “Light” ability, letting you recover all Magic you use while Valiero is attacking as long as she survives the battle.

Strong card, even today probably, given it’s Limited to 1 Copy per deck.

It seems Eight is lost.

You know, looking where you’re fucking going might actually help with getting a sense of direction.

Also NO! THE CARD!

This is going to be a depressing episode, I hate when people lose important cards.

This is exchange is completely overshadowed by my stress at the location of Valiero at this moment in time.

Also the cast refer to her as Masako-sensei? I’m not sure why I’m bothering with giving that my attention, we all know I’m gonna call her Eight.

Meganeko is visibly searching for her missing card, that’s uh… Not a good sign.

A card drops from Eight’s person, which Meganeko locates.

Eight notes that she has dropped a card but finds a DIFFERENT one.

I feel like there’s going to be a nasty switcheroo.

Could people please look at their cards, she’s holding a Valiero there.

Unless they’re BOTH Valieros… But that would be a coincidence.

But was it a Valiero?

We still haven’t confirmed that Meganeko’s card is ALSO Valiero.

I guess we’ll never know until we see a battle.

Instead we’re taken to the Batosupi Club which has Seven explaining the Tournament system.

And we have these suckers too busy wondering what happened to Meganeko to care about tournaments, you can actually hear Seven in the background still speaking.

Nothing actually happens in this scene other than this curiosity though

It appears that altercation with Meganeko in addition to her getting lost delayed Eight somewhat in getting to what appears to be some supplementary music lessons, or a Nazo-Otona meeting.

Though Smile practically SLAMS the Piano, that’d piss me off.

Smile has been taunting Eight almost the entirety of their unified screentime, so this antagonism seems relatively familiar. Smile and Eight’s shared history with Card Sensei, and their Shared hatred of him doesn’t seem to be making them any closer to each other.

Eight’s done with Smile’s shit.

Though Smile cracks a… well, smile when she decides he’s not worth the trouble.

He’s evil, so you’re not meant to take Smile’s statements to heart, but I feel the need to note since most also follow his logic.

if someone has stopped being worth the effort and attention you put into them and you decide to walk away. You are not a coward, you’re simply re-assessing your energy output and cutting off bad investments. Nobody is entitled to your time like Battle Spirits Toppa Bashin feels entitled to mine.

Card Sensei appears to almost be a trigger-word (phrase?) for Eight at this point.

I guess Smile is pointing out the strange similarities in Card Sensei’s and Eight’s situations despite Eight’s apparent dislike of him. Card Sensei posed as a Teacher in order to watch over Bashin, and now Eight is doing the same.

Though Card Sensei appeared to do so under orders from Uchuuchouten and Eight is doing it under orders from Nine.

This is nice that she seems all broken up about being compared to Card Sensei and all but if you’re watching the show, Smile has at the Piano and he’s actually pretty darn good at it.

Meganeko finally arrives and Bashin seems dejected about the fact that it’s Golden Week after today or something

For those not versed in Japanese Culture, Golden Week is what Japanese residents call a strange phenomena, that being the 29th of April, 3rd, 4th and 5th days of May all having Public Holidays, and all happen within the same 7 days.

The 29th of April is Showa day, honouring the Birthday of Emperor Showa.

The 3rd of May is Constitutional Memorial Day. Which celebrates the Consitution of Japan

The 5th is Children’s Day, which is kinda like Father’s or Mother’s day but for Children.

And the 4th of May is Greenery Day, which I shit you not, only exists because of a Rule Japan has in that if there is a day between 2 Public Holidays, that day ALSO becomes a Public Holiday.

Not sure why Bashin’s complaining though, No school.

Though no School means no Batosupi Club.

One track mind…

Ah yes, can’t have a Tournament Arc without a Training montage.

Seven has a list of the Batosupi Club’s yearly events, Batosupi Training Camp takes place during Golden Week, probably because Batosupi is a game and people are actually kinda wanting to play it during days of vacation.

Girl you don’t even know the FORMAT for the Team Tournament, you can’t improve teamwork in areas you don’t know.

The group haul ass to the Batosupi centre and are greeted by an unfamiliar lady, rather than their usual guy.

That guy was apparently called “Baito-kun”

…Maybe it’s just my brain just keen on the idea of interesting characters but I’m SEVERELY doubting they actually changed the old person’s gender midway

Nah, that recognition indicates different person, but they’ve got the same name apparently. They’re both “Baito”

She’s Bashin’s Baby-Sitter, that explains how Speed Star was able to earn them monies while being a single mother.

Oh they actually give a timespan for how long Bashin has been into Battle Spirits, which appears to have been 3 years.

Man, 3 years on BASE SET? And then they move 2 sets in under a year?

Whoever’s marketing this game has problems. Though that could be indicated by the fact that Elliott appears to have unrestricted access to the Card Pool

Apparently Meganeko has met Baito-san before.

This is a nice reunion but we literally have NEVER seen this lady before, why does this matter?

Okay listen Baito-san, whatever you say next determines whether or not this series is officially no longer innocent.

You’re safe, for now.

Whoa, Meganeko is like 20/10 on Emotional maturity stage. She isn’t embarrassed by the idea of being Bashin’s Girlfriend she’s TANTALIZED by it.

And given how well Baito-san and Meganeko get on, it appears it is not a matter of if, only when.

Apparently Baito-kun has left the cast a message because they are regulars to the store.

…How did we get “Baito-kun” from “Murai Rokuroda”

Also “Murai Rokuroda” is a fucking BADASS name, what the hell?

Post-Edit: It appears “Baito” literally means “Worker”, so they don’t have the same name they’re being called by their employment status.

Uh oh, that’s bad, Baito-kun has been recruited to the Thousand Spirits Group. That makes him a potential enemy, and effectively a Nazo-Otona.

He’s even aiming for the Numbers Elite!? I sense this going very badly.

Bashin KNOWS because he was TOLD by J that the Thousand Spirits Group are not good people, yet he freaking CONGRATULATES Baito-kun and then expresses JEALOUSY.

“He’s joining the enemy!”

“Is he playing Card Games?”

“Yeah?”

“Good for him, I wish I was in his shoes”

“Bashin he’s the enemy!”

“What? Nooooooo”

At some point, the topic of an “Advisor” comes up, which apparently is pronounced similarly to “Common” which Bashin confuses for a “Common card”

Now we’re on something I’m familiar with, even in English schools, all school clubs need a member of staff to oversee them before they can be considered official.

Unfortunately the Battle Spirits club has no advisors.

Aaaand because the club is a part of that school, and therefore all activities that occur as part of that club become school activities.

The School will be liable for anything that happens to the children ON those school activities, allowing the kid’s parents to recover damages etc, all because they didn’t even so much as have a member of staff overseeing that activity.

So now the race is on to find a Teacher who is willing to oversee the Battle Spirits club activities, luckily Meganeko DID just run into one who had a Battle Spirits card, and even though she’s expressed no desire to play (officially) she might be involved enough with the game to be willing to oversee their activities.

From an audience point of view this is awesome because we know Eight is ALL about Battle Spirits making their plan much more likely to work, the rub is going to be the proximity Eight has with the Club and Smile making it harder for her to maintain her cover.

Meganeko brings up “Masako-Sensei”, namely Eight.

But explains the Rub that just because her charm is a Battle Spirits Card doesn’t mean she’s well versed enough in the game to want to be involved.

Meganeko is questioned on how she knows Eight has the charm and remembers that she wanted to show them all her new X-Rare

and Finally, NOW of all times, do they display that she has apparently mixed up her X-Rare with whatever Eight’s “Charm” was.

I didn’t show it because I don’t want you guys to lose interest in the review over THE FEELS but Meganeko is visibly tearing up when she realizes she’s lost her X-Rare and has had it replaced with what appears to be a random ass Magic card from BS02.

…Shall we have a look?

Its quite a hefty Cost at 3 core with max reductions, but in essence, instead of higher BP wins, its higher level wins (with equal being mutually assured destruction). For whatever reason the English version stuck in an ADDITIONAL effect that meant that any effect that occurred as a result of a Spirit being destroyed couldn’t activate, which is a wee bit strange.

The other thing the English version did is change the BP to MATCH the Level of the Spirit, rather than have the battle be decided by level, which is, well, wrong. The reason this is distinct is because Angel Voice is meant to change how the rules of battle are determined, which means any Spirits immune to effects, like say a card with Yellow Armor can’t dodge this with immunity.

On the English reading of this card’s text, using this on a card with Immunity would very well make it so the Immune card always wins which isn’t how the card works.

OH BOY A DECK SHOT. I absolutely ADORE these because it always makes me want to note down what’s in then. This isn’t a complete shot but we can see quite a few cool things here.

In Meganeko’s Deck at present there are:

2x Time Leap (I am NOT calling it Time Reap)
3x Additional Color
2x The BalloonMan Barball
1x The Fairy Tanya
2x Royal Potion
2x Arcanabeast-Ken
1x Piyon
1x Magic Book (Its Limited
3x Rom
3x Pom
and 2x Trickster

Let’s review the cards we haven’t seen used, given we likely will continue to not see them.

Time Leap, a Yellow Magic from BS02, is quite simple, it lets you repeat the on-summon effects of any Spirit. Granted its Cost 5 so its better used later in the game on more powerful effects rather than early ones. Silly things you can do with this involve using it on, say, The ArcAngelia Mikafar in order to re-use her Magic searching ability, and under The ArcAngelia Mikafar the card is free.

Another introductory Magic from BS02, Additional Color, does exactly what it says on the tin. It gives a Spirit an additional Color

For the time, cards like this that granted additional Colors also altered their Symbols, which means Additional Color can be used on a Spirit to not only let it fulfill requirements for effects specifying Color but also to allow it to be used as reduction for other cards of different colours.

I think its not until about 49 sets later that we see a card who treats itself as a different colour without changing the symbol its assigned with.

Magic Book is interesting for 2 reasons, the first being that in our current game, it’s limited, you can only use 1. The second because it mentions a new zone we’ve yet to see used, the “Removed Zone”

The “Removed Zone” is misleading however and is a poor translation for what the Zone actually is, in Japanese its referred to as the “Opened Zone” which is less misleading.

The “Opened Zone” is an area that kind of acts like a second hand, you are free to play cards from it as normal as if they were in your hand, but cards in your Opened Zone are not treated as being in your hand, and even then, some cards have things they cannot do while in the Opened Zone that they would otherwise be able to in your Hand. The Opened Zone is named such as it is “Open knowledge”, your opponent is free to inspect the cards in your opened zone, except in very specific cases where they are face down, but we are unlikely to see that this early.

The last one is Trickster, a recurring name across Battle Spirits and is a card that keeps getting retrains. This is the first incarnation of the card and has a very simple but powerful ability, it recovers Magic out of the Trash. Any one you like.

You can use this if your deck relies on using Magic repeatedly to get by, or likes to set up strong counter Magic.

But in any case, onward!

Meganeko suddenly remembers where she dropped her card.

And comes to the conclusion that Angel Voice belongs to Masako-sensei. Only took you a bit, if you’d actually LOOKED at the card you picked up you’d have avoided ALL of this.

From this view of the deck however more cards come into view, Meganeko’s got a Dream Ribbon which is standard White Removal, she also has a Storm Draw which we’ve yet to see.

But before we talk about Storm Draw, the BITCH HAS AN ARCANGELIA MIKAFAR!

Everyone and their MOTHER has this freaking Yellow X-Rare apparently.

Anyway, Storm Draw.

You’re probably looking at this and going “Oh hey, its like Graceful Charity from Yu-Gi-Oh!” and you’d be exactly right, it is absolutely Graceful Charity.

But no you’re not running this nowadays, because its Banned.

A Cost 2 Draw 3 Dump 2 is way too cheap, and lets you cycle through your Deck FAR too fast for it to EVER be reasonable in today’s game, that’s ridiculous. Decks only need 1 Green Symbol on the board to benefit fully off this card, and even if they don’t, 2 cost for it is hella worth it.

They made a slightly WEAKER version of this card only a little while later in the game’s SECOND Structure Deck, and the card is STILL an automatic 3-of in every Deck of that colour! The only reason they won’t run that version of the card, is because they’re probably using a much more niche version of the Draw X Dump X-1 card specific to that deck, its that out of hand.

And at present, we’re on BS03, the only cards that get limited around this time-ish are Mikafar and Evil Aura, so Meganeko can happily run 3 o’ these.

The other weird thing about Storm Draw is that Green is seldom a Draw colour, a Colour that isn’t known for drawing has the literal most powerful Draw Magic in the game.

Back to the plot, The club are trying to get to Eight so they can ask her to be an advisor but don’t have much luck finding her.

Seven, not being known for having very good social skills, suggests they get some Blackmail as a Plan B.

This sparks an idea within Meganeko and she runs off to spot Eight.

It won’t be hard to guess what it is.

Well, that was fast, what’s our new plan?

Yeah that’s about the long and short of the problem, if it ain’t Eight, it ain’t great.

But you can always count on Meganeko to have an additional sentimental reason, just to tug at the Heartstrings a little harder.

Eight believes that Meganeko is talking about her status as a Nazo-Otona, but Meganeko is talking about LUUUURRRVE.

Simple as, “If I win, do as I say plz, kthnxbai”

Oh? What’s the change in condition?

I’m guessing this “Condition” concerns the rest of the club, and the club aren’t very good at passing their Stealth checks.

Spec into Dex more often you morons!

As Eight is currently under the guise of a Teacher, she’s likely upheld her disguise right down to not even carrying 40 cards to be used on her.

So a condition like borrowing someone else’s deck, is entirely logical.

Bashin is the first to step up, offering Eight his own deck.

There’s no way you’re outpiloting Bashin anyhow, regardless of how strong the deck is.

It looks like Eight is planning to make use of Valiero in Bashin’s Deck.

Valiero’s a Cost 8 Yellow card with only Yellow Reduction as an option, I’m unsure as to how you’re going to be able to use it in Bashin’s effectively all-Red Deck.

Then again, Bashin did mention throwing in a couple other colours not too long ago.

Sweet jesus on a popsicle, TURN 35!?

They’re planning to make some seriously inconsistent and costly plays, Turn 35 is 17 Core gained by both players on Core Step alone, that means on their own turn provided none have been sent to the Void or gained, they have 4 + 17 = 21 Core available + any lives lost! That is EXCESSIVE.

Meganeko has 2 LV2 Arcanabeast-Paira, nothing we’ve yet to see before. Her Life is 5 but its not shown.

Eight has Dinohound and Orcaria, both LV1, still nothing we’ve yet to see.

Her Life is also 5 but its mentioned, not shown.

How the fuck did we get to Turn 35 without a single life being lost? What?

Both are at 4000 BP, Dinohound’s LV1 vs Arcanabeast-Paira’s LV2.

This would indicate a draw.

Unless of course Meganeko does this.

I’m kind of surprised, I didn’t think they’d toss this out so early. Now Arcanabeast-Paira is the victory as it has a higher level.

Buh bye Dinohound, no one will miss you.

As Arcanabeast-Paira is LV2, it’s keyword Light is now active, allowing Meganeko to add her used card back to her hand.

Card Sensei’s turn, she’s drawn Valiero.

This is basically just a shiny brick, there’s very little value in playing it, even if she’s able to.

Oh, that’s surprising, we get a Nexus in Bashin’s deck NOT debuted by him! Eight deploys The Middle of Hard Battle.

Its a Cost 5 Nexus, and at only 2 reductions its not cheap to play at all.

The other thing is that the first effect is VERY specific, it just blows up anything with 1000 BP when your opponent begins their Attack step, and its easy to play around.

That second effect though is kind of interesting, if its your Attack step and your Awaken Spirit beats out another Spirit, you can also blow up anything that has equal BP.

It’s a… fairly bad card, I think its best use would be to try and trick your opponent into varying their board’s levels so you can bait them into something else but a Cost 5 2 Reduction Nexus with 3 Core required for that Level 2? Ehhhh.

The only standard use it has is letting you deal with the same problem twice if you beat the first one with an Awaken Spirit.

My guess is Eight is going to play Valiero, and use Great Link to grant it the Awaken Keyword.

So Eight Levels up Middle of Hard Battle to Level 2, Levels up Orcaria to Level 2, and then plays a Level 3 Lizardedge?

I don’t see any other cards on her field, she should have played the Lizardedge first as its literally free reduction.

And then plays The ArcAngelia Valiero.

I will say though, the Graphics for some of the later-ish cards are really good. Valiero looks EXCEPTIONALLY good in this series compared to quite literally anything else.

I wonder if this was this show’s method of being a tease with it’s effect, Eight notes she can’t use the effect in a Deck of Pure Red.

I have no idea why she’s calling attention to the Red cards in her hand when the effect targets cards in your Trash.

Welp, I got the name wrong but what I meant I got right, the card is Spirit Link, not Great Link, Eight plays it using Lizardedge’s 2 core to pay its cost (she has 3 Red reduction so that’s pretty nice)

Valiero uses its newly given Awaken property to take 2 core from Orcaria.

I’m not quite sure what the necessity of that was, given that Valiero was already winning this battle.

Oh actually, I’m stupid, its because Meganeko has Angel Voice in hand, so she’s prepping for it.

The first Arcanabeast-Paira gets freaking VAPORIZED.

The second one is destroyed thanks to Eight’s Nexus.

Oh right, there was also that, Valiero’s Light lets Eight return Spirit Link to her hand to continue making use of Bashin’s Awaken targeting effects.

Orcaria and Lizardedge attack, taking 2 of Meganeko’s lives, leaving her with 3.

Meganeko doesn’t do much on her own turn, just plays 2 LV3 Fairy Tanya’s and calls it a turn.

This is pretty good defense with the Angel Voice in her hand.

She’s movin’ in for the kill, she’s playing Lizardman and Skeleton-Jaw

And she also levels up Lizardedge to LV3.

I was going to comment on how out of place Valiero looks among these Red Spirits but she actually doesn’t look out of place.

She is a VERY pretty looking Spirit, I love it.

Eight declares her victory pre-emptively, she’s got 5 attackers against Meganeko’s 2 Blockers and she has 3 lives and an Angel Voice which doesn’t help.

Meganeko’s demeanor when battling is extremely Cold notably. I think this is a result of now being the only time we can see her eyes but its better conveyed here than through her Glasses or her Suiren-style shades.

Eight warns Meganeko that if Meganeko attempts to use Angel Voice, Spirit Link will make it a draw.

That’s a new card… Even for me.

Divine Chain is a card from BS01, Base Set. Its a Cost 3 Magic that if you use it, for a Given Battle, the opponent cannot respond with cards in their hand.

It effectively locks them out of Flash Timing as long as the card comes out of their hand.

This doesn’t stop Opened Zone cards coming in but Eight likely has none of those, the nasty part as well is since Meganeko is the defending player, she’s allowed to Flash first, meaning there was no opportunity for Eight to use Spirit Link except her Main Step, which she’s not inclined to do because Valiero’s effect won’t let her get it back that way.

Meganeko then follows up with Angel Voice.

Since Eight can’t use any cards in her hand, Valiero has no hope in hell of surviving.

Byeeeee beautiful Spirit, you will be missed.

Its true, a full attack still wins her the game.

Meganeko blocks Lizardedge’s attack with The Fairy Tanya.

Meganeko uses one of the cards we SAW in her deck but I actually confused that card for another one and it isn’t the first time I’ve done this.

The card I thought was Additional Color was actually this, Same Tired.

Its a simple card, and actually relatively okay in a lot of strange scenarios.

But put simply, your opponent must have the same number of exhausted spirits as you yourself do.

Defeating Valiero was crucial to Meganeko’s survival, as now Meganeko has 2 exhausted spirits, her 2 Tanyas while only Lizardedge is exhausted on Eight’s field. That means she needs to exhaust 1 other spirit.

But losing even 1 attack means she can’t win.

Orcaria is the obvious choice here, both Skeleton-Jaw and Lizardman have effects that make it difficult for them to block.

Lizardman can’t block anything weaker than itself, and Skeleton-Jaw straight up can’t block.

So of course, Skeleton-Jaw being unable to block means you might as well attack, Eight ends her turn after snatching a life from Meganeko.

Meganeko still has a bit of an uphill battle here, she has 5 lives to tear out from Eight.

Piyon, Pom and 2 Froger with her 2 Tanyas means Meganeko has enough attacks to barely win.

Lizardman’s negative effect comes back to bite him in the butt, and with the only card remaining in Eight’s hand being Spirit Link… As J would say, “Checkmate”

I love the very swift visual of all of Eight’s lives getting blown up in quick sequence.

Losing a card is upsetting, if I lost a card I’d love for somebody to give it back to me, even under these circumstances.

Maybe the Girl can use her OWN X-Rare this time.

Like so far its been Mikafar central, Meganeko having an X-Rare unique to her is nice, its just a shame the first user was quite literally Eight.

But then again… Wait a sec.

Oh shit, with the exception of Siegfried, all onscreen awarded X-Rares have been wielded by Eight and have been earned by defeating her with them, this is a really convoluted, almost “spiritual” way of having Meganeko earn her X-Rare onscreen from Eight.

Okay that’s kinda cool.

We call that: Someone letting themselves get a little too heated.

And also Bashin’s Quarter braincell working really hard to come to the completely wrong conclusion all over again.

I mean it was pretty garbage this episode, barely any Awaken Spirits besides those done through Spirit Link, The Middle of Hard Battle is REALLY shit.

Lizardman and Skeleton-Jaw are base set trash that have no business sitting in this current version of the deck.

Meganeko promises not to let anyone know Eight’s secret, while beginning to explain it.

…I can see why Meganeko would think that was a damning secret. Being Tone Deaf effectively bars you from most music-opportunities, though something something Beethoven was deaf?

But that would explain why Smile is doing supplementary lessons with her, it could be that Smile is actually EXTREMELY GOOD at Piano and does well in those lessons to give the idea that she’s actually good at being a Music Teacher.

But its hard to tell if its true or not based on everyone’s reactions.

Oh hey, at least now its confirmed that they were dating.

To be honest, he could have MEANT that he enjoyed listening to you sing, but if it was sarcasm, it’s still a nice gift.

I’m not sure how I feel about the purpose of that episode being to set up the training montage that’s meant to be the prelude to the upcoming Tournament Arc 33 episodes in, it really feels like I’m just waiting for things to happen as opposed to things actually happening.

Regardless we did get to review a hell of a ton of cards thanks to the opportunities provided, gotta take what you get after all.

The Batosupi Lecture today uses Valiero as our Card of the Day. And in addition, has a focus on her Light keyword.

Wasn’t shown in this episode but Light notably restores ALL spells used in that battle, not just a single one, so even entire Magic combos can be returned to your hand for future use from only one Light effect, and if you mount an attack formation consisting of Light, only your opponent destroying the battling spirit has any chance of stopping you restoring all that Magic back, the only downside is since you’re using so much Magic, you’ll have to pay a lot of cost for it.

Not really a problem with Toppa Bashin, which regularly skips to when players have a large abundance of core, annoying. Its much less prevalent in later series and honestly I much prefer them as their Battles have a little more quality.

In any case, I’ll see you for the next one! Ta-ta.

Back to the grind!

We got the formation of Tonari’s Battle Spirits Club, so now we’re getting closer to the eventual Tournament Arc we’re expecting to get.

Unless of course we get a Hayami-centric episode?…

This is “A Letter from the Speed Star” apparently. I’m curious to see how they intend to make a Hayami episode interesting when her main claim to fame is being Bashin’s Mother.

Perhaps we’ll see Bashin’s Dad?

It appears Hayami is chillin’

Ah is this one of those scenes where a person talks to their lost love as if they were here?

I get these are meant to be like endearing or showing how much a character likes another or its an “I miss you” kind of thing. Its meant to be a cute moment, I get it.

But I am probably the most odd-member out of the audience because this shit bores me to TEARS. Watching it does nothing for me because if I want romance I’ll get it from my partner (who I love very much)

Slightly mini-Bashin, showing ALL the struggles Hayami has with being a single mother.

And Bashin’s Dad is crazily cut out of this picture so we don’t see him.

Why? We’ve yet to see a character that Hayami actually recognizes, if thats the case then its highly likely that whatever the appearance of this guy is, it’ll be entirely new.

To be honest Hayami adopted those words as well so its no surprise they ended up getting passed on to Bashin.

Ah yes, the ol’ “Popping out for Milk” trick.

The game was already pretty deep with the sheer amount of freedom you have when building a deck. We’re only scratching the surface of it with this show.

As one of my friends once said, “There’s like a bajillion cards! Pick your favourite 40!”

Hayami just tryna ask her son how his day went and the ungrateful shitlord just asks for food.

Dodged the image but today is apparently Sunday, Hayami wants to use her free time to talk to her son, which is fair.

“This is the face… that didn’t listen to a WORD you JUST said”

The Master – Doctor Who

I guess Hayami’s going to be all alone for this episode.

I’m not particularly interested in the Bashin family as a whole, Bashin’s annoying af and his deck isn’t particularly interesting (except the moments where it has some form of cohesive strategy which isn’t often)

and Hayami doesn’t battle, I don’t really have many reasons to be interested.

Is this like… The anniversary of the day Bashin’s father left? 19th of April?

Tomorrow’s 4/20.

Good plan, Deck Destruction has no specific counters at present, thus one needs to be able to win fast. Which is also appropriate at Gunslingers.

Poor plan, you had 2 cards left in Deck when Titus hit you with a 10 card Discard, your deck could have had 48 cards and you’d have still lost.

Secondly, increasing the number of cards in your Deck is a real good way to make your deck EXTREMELY inconsistent.

That will make your ability to win slower, not faster, and Blue will only need a couple more swings than usual to completely wipe you out of cards anyway.

Why does your Pet care more about your mother than you do?

Depends on the parent, in Hayami’s case she’s done nothing to warrant your distaste for her conversation, so yes it is weird.

Its kind of strange hearing Hayami call Bashin “Toppa”.

Like I get that’s his name but EVERYONE calls Bashin by his family name and the one character who doesn’t is his Mother.

His parents gave him his name so I guess its appropriate they’d want to use it but still.

Bashin is currently too young to be aware of other people’s states of mind, so he’s going to do what any other middle schooler of his age would do.

And refuse. Because he’s got uh. “Better things to do”

like winning at card games.

Port Cutlet sounds tasty, I have never tasted Eel before, if anyone has please describe to me how it tastes.

And if you say it tastes like chicken I’ll belt you.

Okay maybe its just how my family responded when situations like this came about. But while you might be able to get out of going shopping as its entirely pointless for someone who isn’t interested to go. Dinner is a social event. And as MUCH as I like eating alone more than anything else, the person who makes the food in the house, namely Hayami, is the ONLY person who gets to decide when you eat, so you can’t refuse Bashin, if she says you’re having Dinner with her you’re fucking doing it.

“Dinner is for pansies, Card games are more important”

I’m going to strangle this kid.

Now if I was Bashin’s parent I’d talk his ear off him for being a fucking ungrateful little shit and THAT would be a good reason to ban him from Card Games if its going to cause him to neglect BASIC THINGS HE HAS TO DO.

Oh, Bashin mentions a Magic that has yet to be used, I won’t review it until it does however. Since I believe we’ll see it used at some point in this series.

If your Boyfriend was just like Bashin then you picked a real shit Boyfriend I’m not gonna lie.

Animals are receptive to emotion if they are typically affectionate. And may visit you if you’re feeling sad.

Animals are NOT receptive to the loud crashing sound of smashing a plate.

Its safe to say Hayami is NOT having a good day.

I’m suspecting this will be either some kind of loredump episode or something else is going to occur.

Hayami takes this opportunity to go be the Speed Star and have a drive.

I feel like this is probably the easiest way to get into an accident, besides Driving Under Influence.

Says more about the Pilot than the Combos.

I guess he isn’t sure about mixing Red and Blue so he’s going to try a different colour combination?

Well if you weren’t so rude to her earlier maybe she wouldn’t have wanted to take that drive.

Bashin finds a letter for him, left by Hayami.

What?! No!

He was being dismissive he wasn’t saying he didn’t NEED you! This is a very drastic overreaction!

Children need parents! A 12-13 year old kid doesn’t have enough life experience to cook properly for themselves!

And she took the Pets! Dick move!

Aibou wants to help Bashin improve his game but he has declared that there is OFFICIALLY.

Something more important than card games.

And Card Games are the only reason this Mouse has the ability to speak, so that’s uh, saying something!

Aibou decides to ask Papa Navi what Hayami’s problem is today.

The date was circled, I sincerely doubt that is the only reason.

I know that sometimes Parents find it difficult to come to terms with the idea that their Child may no longer need them after having raised them for so long but other Parents can have the opposite problem where they WANT their Child to grow up and they simply aren’t.

Oh come on!

Now you’re just contradicting me for the sake of contradicting me.

Fuck you, it can be 2 things at once, I’m not wrong!

I wonder if it will have ANY discernable differences to how it is usually.

I see Bashin uses the picture frame as kind of like his “Vessel” for trying to communicate his thoughts and feelings to his father.

Bashin is given pause on the way out for some reason.

Oh you cannot be fucking serious, you fucking KNEW what that meant!?

And simply CHOSE TO BE AN IDIOT!?

Bashin literally looked at his IQ and went “I don’t need that.”

This is the densest child I’ve ever seen, I’ve met NINE YEAR OLDS who are more perceptive than this shithead.

Nine, the Nazo-Otona most interested in the Card Battler “Bashin Toppa” has now encountered Hayami.

…He’s trying to flirt with her.

This CANNOT be the reason why he’s been interested in Bashin this whole time is it? That would be REALLY weird.

Hayami did not respond well to the flirting and tried to hop away but got grabbed by Nine.

Relationship advice: Do not, EVER interrupt someone as they are attempting to leave, if they did not feel safe before, they are VERY likely not to feel safe after being prevented from leaving.

Out in the rain is the best place for ANYONE to be, lovely lady or otherwise.

Don’t be tellin’ me I can’t sit in the rain and enjoy it Nine. Come on we had a CONNECTION.

There’s a word for this, I can’t… I can’t quite put my finger on it, something that accurately describes my reaction to this, its on the tip of my tongue…

Oh I know! CRINGE.

Aibou is about as happy about Nine laying his hands on her as I am, which is to say, not at all, as one shouldn’t be.

He’s being forceful, which works in some situations but its also incredibly easy to make someone feel unsafe which can make the situation WORSE.

But she married someone who acts just like Bashin so maybe Hayami responds well to forceful.

Aibou is completely opposed to the idea that Hayami would fall in love with Nine.

I am… not.

Generally letting your spouse raise your child on their own and not even bothering to send any form of communication back to them is all they need to not bother with you and find a new source for their affections, the only person you can blame for that is yourself.

“How would he have resolved that if he couldn’t send anything back, Ace?”

He could have not left.

Yeah, good on you for uh… forgetting that.

You certainly didn’t fucking act like it a couple minutes ago. I am NOT sympathetic.

I hope he gets lost and passes out so we can make room for someone with a better head on his shoulders.

And for anyone who tells me his “Heart is in the right place”, why the fuck does it keep falling out of place and have to be POPPED BACK INTO PLACE when its convenient for Bashin to do so?

His Heart is hanging out of the “Right place” by a thread that consists purely of the rest of the brain cells left in this idiot’s head.

WHICH ISN’T MANY.

And in this tense moment, Hayami’s stomach grumbles.

Oh right, she basically watched Bashin eat Lunch, she didn’t eat herself and just went straight to washing up.

I’m sorry but does Nine own a YACHT!?

Nine, you’re polite for apologizing for asking something that might be personal behaviour.

But you are an idiot for assuming she was dieting just because she hadn’t eaten today.

People go without eating for several reasons.

Maybe she’s dieting because of a personal belief, beauty is not the only reason one diets.

Hayami thinks his flirting is now funny as opposed to weird.

I suppose that’s progress, you already got her into your boat.

“The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach… The same can also be said for literally everyone else”

Nine just has… on-hand dresses… on his Yacht?

So either he’s done this before and this isn’t the first lady or Nine’s got a hobby I’d like to see.

See, the question is, IS Nine aware of Hayami’s lineage, or is this a coincidence and Nine’s just a womanizer?

And if he is, is his aim Bashin or Hayami? Becoming Bashin’s step-father would certainly let him observe the boy much closer but it could also be that he’s jumped the middleman and got lucky enough to not have to go through Bashin to get to his Mother.

Lotsa questions.

Slow your roll Aibou, let’s see where this leads before we start pointing fingers.

So Bashin’s FIRST instinct upon looking for his Mother was to go to the Batosupi Centre ANYWAY and ask the people who have likely been there the whole day if they’ve seen his Mother who was just blown off for the sake of Battle Spirits?

Is your head on straight?

Aibou somehow makes it into the kitchen and god dammit the Anime Food trope strikes again.

Please don’t tell me we’re about to have a Rat-dropping situation, or half eaten food-

It appears Aibou is trying to prevent Nine from swaying Hayami by sabotaging the food.

Except Hayami’s actually hungry, this is probably NOT the thing you want to attack.

And Aibou goes back to exploring, and finds the ultimate prize, Mushrooms.

Guess we’re going to have to wait TWICE as long for the food.

Here’s the thing, Mice getting into a Yacht is probably the most UNLIKELY thing to occur, there’s an entire AQUATIC SEPARATION to consider.

So while yes there’s the immediate problem of a Mouse in the Kitchen, which is… bad.

Does no one wanna question how a Mouse actually got in when there’s not a lot of ways for them to do that?

Time to ruin the food EVEN MORE by chasing a mouse.

Why did they even bother taking that to them to see if they wanted it? It was obvious it wasn’t gonna go well.

…So is Nine calling himself Cruel in this instance?

And this isn’t really a good time to be flirting

Oh, Nine pulls out a Foger card. Nothing to see here folks, its just a Cost 0 Vanilla.

WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT EVEN SUPPOSED TO MEAN?! I’M SURE IT DIDN’T MAKE SENSE THE FIRST TWO TIMES YOU TRIED IT.

Nine, your Attack Step is over, pack your bags and promptly piss off of with this attempt at using Batosupi to flirt.

These lines are getting REAL poetic, but I’m guessing Hayami’s saying she’s waiting for someone.

I’m not going to blame the subber for this translation, but I will point out that what Nine says he doesn’t refer to “A Cursed Vagrant”

He says “Ho-Ro-Sha Lolo”

Which is the name of a Batosupi card by the name of The Wanderer Lolo, unfortunately I will not show you this card’s effects as its effect text contains things we’ve yet to see introduced, but for now.

But given the images I use are in Full Japanese, we should have no problems at least talking about its stats. This a good time to talk about cards and their colours. Cards are not restricted to a single colour, no sirree, they can have a myriad of colours all at once, and can even ohld multiple colours of reduction as Wanderer Lolo shows here.

This card with its stats can provide one of EVERY type of reduction at once, and if it were capable of attacking (its effects do not allow it to) it could take 6 lives at once.

This card doesn’t appear for a good while, the reason its mentioned here is because I believe the Wanderer Lolo is mentioned in Battle Spirits Lore, he creates the “Otherworld Observation Records” in the BS lore, which is probably why Nine is able to refer to him.

I’ve lost them, they’re speaking their own language.

I am either too immature to understand what the absolute deep-fried fuck they are on about or they are actually talking gibberish.

Okay Nine says something that actually makes sense now. So it appears that Hayami has somewhat expressed that she’s waiting for, well, somebody (Bashin’s Dad)

And Nine has asserted that perhaps all that pain she’s gone through was “Fate” and that his appearance is meant to be to her benefit, or basically, they were fated to meet AFTER her Husband left her.

Maybe your feet will make more sense than your mouth.

It has just occurred to me that Hayami’s marriage complicates things a bit if she was planning to move on to a new lover, considering she would need to find some way of terminating her current marriage without her Husband’s presence before she could, say, marry Nine.

But then again she could also go “Sod marriage” and just have a lover, don’t always need to tie the knot if you don’t feel the need to.

I guess given the shot shifted to Bashin, she’s more upset by his insensitivity on this day as opposed to her Husband’s disappearance.

Nine doesn’t seem too concerned about Hayami using Bashin’s catchphrase of “Shomen Toppa”. So is he aware of her identity?

Oh no, he’s not thinking straight, he sounds irritated that she’s so fondly talking about a past love and child.

No wonder he didn’t catch it.

NINE THIS IS NOT THE MOVE, NOT THE PLAY, THIS WAS NOT THE SIGNAL TO GO IN FOR A KISS.

Aibou manages to interrupt it by killing their ears.

Hayami finds the idea that Aibou might have ruined Nine’s… not very well calculated date absolutely hilarious.

You are literally the exact opposite of the person who got into her pants captain, you are the furthest from an appropriate man for her.

While I DON’T doubt that given you’re rich enough to own a Yacht and several personal members of staff who maintain you needs.

That doesn’t suddenly make you appropriate for her, that just makes you ripe for gold-digging.

Nine was apparently about as prepared to eat Eel as I was hearing that it was something she was skilled at making, apparently.

How’d you figure that one out captain? Its not like he tried to KISS you or anything!

Though she doesn’t seem too bothered by it, I guess she’s keeping her options open incase her Husband turns out to be long gone?

Or she just isn’t the type of person to be particularly bothered that someone she enjoys being around for platonic reasons wants to get into her pants.

And we get Nine’s name! Kyuusaku Kujou.

His given name has “Kyuu” in it… NINE.

And he shares a surname with a certain delinquent with a specific power to stop time.

It’s no relation I know, but I do think its funny.

He WAS aware that she was Bashin’s mother, the question is whether or not he found out halfway or before he met her.

Either way he didn’t seem too bothered that the kid he was curious about was happened to be the son of the woman he caught in the rain, so I’m going to go out on a limb and say that he knew in advance.

Interesting that he would be willing to become Bashin’s Stepfather, but I guess he was already trying to nurture his growth.

And as we say in the business. “The Jig is up”

So in other words, Bashin and Aibou are quite literally TOO LOUD to be secretive.

To quote Duke Devlin from Littlekuriboh’s abridged series.

“Awww you’re BOTH idiots!”

Duke Devlin – Yu-Gi-Oh! The Abridged Series

RIP eating, its not on the agenda today.

I see he still hasn’t found out where his mother is.

You left a stupid Middle schooler at home all by himself with a cryptic letter with no indication of when you’d get the hell home and you didn’t think the first thing he’d do was race out and look for his MUM?

Bashin left a letter for her, which is nice and cute and all but this may indicate that you have a Son that isn’t exactly getting home until he finds you.

Bashin conveniently gets home shortly after she does, either that or he gave up and just hoped she would get home, hence the letter.

And for his apology and his adorable letter, he gets a big ol’ hug from his Mum.

Hugs are nice, but this feels like an ending, and… we haven’t gotten any card games yet.

And they finally went shopping, and there’s a bunch of shoppers preparing to do irreparable damage to those shirts they’re pulling out that are on sale.

I’m not sure why she wants that small one, its too small for her and Bashin wouldn’t be caught DEAD in that colour.

You have shown us this picture frame MULTIPLE times this episode! At least give us the dignity of seeing the darn guy’s FACE.

Yep, I guess not.

Well, we learned a couple things that might not really be all that relevant, Nine’s name which is entirely pointless to his character other than that he now has something we can call him besides Nine (spoiler: We won’t)

Nine’s in love with Bashin’s Mother, which will probably never come into play again but may explain his motivation to see Bashin grow.

And Aibou’s ability to speak is now common knowledge to his Mother which might not have MUCH relevance.

Other than that, that seemed like a bit of a waste, it was episode-long drama that was resolved at the end of it with the only REAL change being that Hayami is now in a better position to advise Bashin alongside Aibou, I don’t think that was worth 30 minutes of my time. Or the 3 hours it took to write this Blog post.

I wonder what the Batosupi Lecture will cover when there is no Batosupi.

Why is it that the coolest concept of Colour mixing always crops up in Episodes that are COMPLETELY FUCKING POINTLESS

I think I’m cursed.

Anyway they DO actually show off the Blue card Bashin mentioned here, Construction.

So I guess we’ll review it, to get this taste of uselessness out of my mouth.

A Costly Magic, with a simple but powerful effect. It takes all Red, Green or Blue Nexuses in your Trash and deploys them all.

And for reference, yes, Self-milling is actually a thing Blue is capable of doing to a very limited degree, but more specifically, getting cards into the Trash costs much less than putting them on the field.

With Construction, a loaded Trash of Nexuses becomes a crapton of free cards.

Nowadays Deploying out of the Trash is an ability available on quite a fair many Blue Spirits and many of them couldn’t care less what the colour would be.

So this situational and costly Magic has been generally phased out of use, I’m not sure it has too many uses with our current card pool either.

Oh, no there is one card in BS03 that it can combo really well with, BUT I’ll wait for that card to be used before I review it.

And its not THAT amazing since it’s a 6 core combo with max reductions on both cards.

Anyway, I’m itching for CARDS and the Episode preview looks like we’re going to get them, so I’ll see you on the next one!

Toodles!

So I was raring to go with this episode as this seems to be the second half of our team-forming subplot, given we need to see what happens involving J, Kyouka and My Sunshine.

What I was not expecting was fucking KAMEN RIDER DECADE to greet me during the opening.

It appears to be some kind of Collaboration among many different TV shows.

Since it won’t get discussed given Collaborations are not shown in the show for OBVIOUS reasons, Kamen Rider tends to be a common representation in Battle Spirits for their Collab Boosters, other IPs that have ended up in Battle Spirits include Ultraman, Kaiju films, Digimon, Aikatsu and even Evangelion.

I’m not familiar with this one but I BELIEVE based on my 2-seconds of googling that this is Love Momozono from Pretty Cure.

Shinken Red from Samurai Sentai Shinkenger

And finally someone actually from the show, its someone portraying Galaxy Watanabe.

It appears to have popped up on whatever footage shomentoppa ended up watching, but I still found it kinda amusing.

Alright, so far so good, the Episode title appears to be doing me some favours. The only place we know that has a strong student council presence is J’s school

YES, SO FAR SO GOOD, ITS J’S SCHOOL.

Though I’m not sure how My Sunsine managed to smooth over with the Student Council to let them record a day in the life of My Sunshine in Middle School, especially considering that they were quite literally driven off by them as the Principal AND Chairman have banned recording on school property.

That isn’t a recipe for bullying whatsoever, your test scores SHOULD be kept private if you want them to be.

What are they trying to do? Shame students into doing well?

Threats are the worst form of motivation for anything besides retaliation.

My Sunshine did SO poorly on her test results that they PUBLICALLY DISPLAYED that she has to take EXTRA LESSONS in order to catch up to the rest of the student body.

Again, you can’t shame a person into success! That’s not a viable course of action! Motivation should not be sourced from fear it should be sourced from excitement!

If she’s also making a movie then it’s painfully obvious why she’s falling behind in school, you can’t be in full-time education as WELL as doing hours doing your actual job.

She’d be better off getting homeschooled so that she at least gets an education because her career is already perfectly set.

Ah, My Sunshine is now officially announcing that she’s a Battler, and her movie is thematically designed AROUND the game.

This is a good, tactical plan, her main fanbase generally consists of Battlers but the few who are NOT battlers will want to learn to battle and those who ARE battlers will be even more engrossed with her.

It may bottleneck newcomers who weren’t fans of her at all given that they have the barrier of Battle Spirits to overcome before they can get engrossed in what she does but she’s clearly doing this for her, specifically to allow her to play Battle Spirits in her My Sunshine persona without arousing suspicion after her saying she didn’t like it on LIVE FUCKING TV.

See that’s the thing Announcer-chan.

She was ALWAYS a comrade.

It gives her an excuse to do this as well, its slowly joining her Suiren and My Sunshine personas together just that small bit.

Slowly but surely her two egos are becoming one.

So, will they pull a Yu-Gi-Oh! Vrains and give her a Dummy deck or will she proudly yield her own deck?

She ACTUALLY reaches for her own deck but Announcer-chan seems to identify a completely different one.

My Sunshine’s face is one of apparent “Wait wut?”

It appears this deck consists of Yellow Spirits, which are very well known for being cute.

My Sunshine DID express disliking the cards because they weren’t cute, so Yellow providing a large ball of cuteness among its ranks probably helps a ton.

It seems the Manager has involved himself in this somehow, he’s provided My Sunshine with a deck of cute spirits not knowing that she is actually invested with her own deck.

Which also means that she’s likely going to have to play with a Deck she is not comfortable with.

She’s just rollin’ with it, personally I wouldn’t mind in her position, Battle Spirits is a wide game, I like to play with as many different decks as I possibly can.

Okay this shot is AMAZING for several reasons, firstly, her persona is slipping, her voice notably shifts in pitch to match her Suiren personality, and even worse, the naturally occurring hearts in her eyes have become copies of Suiren’s glasses.

She’s got a passionate spirit, its probably really easy for her to get wrapped up in the heat of the moment because of how much she enjoys battling.

Pink saves the day, muzzling her to prevent her yielding even more of her Suiren persona, and more specifically, maintaining her cute idol persona.

Force of habit is probably the easiest way to give yourself away.

And to piss me off when its something you actively fail to pay attention to.

Waaaaait.

Oohhhhh I see what’s happened here. Her last expression of distaste was not poor mood handling, its because her Manager BARRED her from liking it officially.

So when she had to talk about it in that moment on TV she was berated by the Manager because she expressly went much harsher than she was supposed to on the game which likely drove away some of her Batosupi fans. It certainly sent Bashin on a tirade.

This is likely an “Oh shit” moment from the Manager because they explicitly had an argument about this exact fucking thing and now he’s just made the entire event redundant.

Colour purists. They do exist, and you simply have to respect them.

Because their investment in singular colours means they likely have much more experience within that colour than anyone gallavanting about across colours like indecisive schmucks (Like me!)

And therefore they are good sources of information, cherish them.

I wonder, The Manager appears to be very much aware of My Sunshine’s status as a Battler and her preference for Purple cards.

He just seems to be trying to cater her TV-Battler persona towards what he thinks is the cutest for an idol.

My Sunshine reluctantly agrees to use the Deck the Manager created for her.

Besides Eight who seems to have an on and off relationship with Purple and Green there are no other straight Purple users though, did we seriously need a THIRD Yellow main?

Kyouka pops up to chat with My Sunshine and My Sunshine directs her to the test score rankings.

Based on the fact that the surnames are written first and are the exact same, J is in 2nd, and Kyouka is in first, interesting how they use J’s shortened name rather than his given name of “Juri”

Must have been a special request that was honoured.

Really? The Manager wanted J for the movie?

Okay that’s not TOO farfetched in reality, Celebrity Actors are quite common.

Hell at time of writing we have Chris Pratt playing Mario for the MARIO MOVIE.

The Manager is… losing his nerve around J. Is he a fan? Or perhaps is he scared of the wealthy and powerful Sawaragi family of which J is the male heir?

Calm down, you’re talking to a literal middle schooler.

J does not seem too interested. Which is fair, he’s got other things to worry about.

Appeal to desire, good start.

Until you get fact-checked by Kyouka apparently.

Excuse me, I meant fact-wrecked.

He’s trying, he really is trying to appeal to the tiny middle schooler that is J.

Unfortunately you cannot promise a girl to a person who is ALREADY drowning in harems.

…He’s a CELEBRITY ALREADY.

Fact-wrecked x3

To be honest I would have a hard time figuring out what WOULD convince J to participate in the Movie, especially considering that he already has the world at his fingertips, and the only thing he doesn’t have is a way to destroy Thousupi Group.

And well, Movies aren’t going to be much help in that department.

My Sunshine’s sympathies are apparently non-existent, deciding to settle for small chatter instead.

Why does Japanese education enforce 1 Extra-curricular club? Let the people have their free time if they want it, god.

But also J’s lack of interest to join a club seems to imply that there isn’t a club he wants to join…

But he said he would join a Batosupi club if he were to join one.

Does that imply that there isn’t in fact a Batosupi club?

Your principal tried to open a UNIVERSITY DEDICATED TO THE FUCKING GAME HOW DID THEY MANAGE THAT!?

Hell hath no fury like a Card Battler denied Card Games.

I do love the directness though. She realizes there isn’t a club for what she wants to do so she just goes to fucking RAIL THE PRINCIPAL FOR IT.

So how are these guys the villains again if they’re getting halfway threatened by a mildly inconvenienced middle schooler?

While you’re at it do you mind dissolving Thousupi Group and giving us the keys to defeat Uchuuchouten? Thanks.

I somewhat expected these losers to get involved, it WAS in the Episode title after all.

But also, I’m PRETTY sure the Student Council can’t overrule the PRINCIPAL of the school!

I assume the Principal is like England’s Head Teachers, basically what they say goes. A Student Council shouldn’t be able to overrule them on that.

Upon My Sunshine asking “Who the hell are you guys?” apparently the President’s Bitch-boy decides to give her a whole-ass WRITTEN INTRODUCTION.

So her name is Setsuko… Though I assume this show will refer to her by Kirishima-san or something.

Wasn’t Kyouka Number 1 on the Test Score tables though?

And J was just under her.

So she’s nowhere near Number 1 right?

Imagine being brown-nosed all the way to being the president of the student council?

Ah yes, the number one trigger-line for anyone who has devoted themselves to the art of study.

How dare one make the suggestion that there could be anything worth your time besides preparing for the future.

Some people prepare for their futures so religiously that they basically never live for their present out of the idea that they will be able to live the rest of their present when they’re done.

But one is never “Done” with life, so might as well take what enjoyment is offered to you, when it is offered to you.

Let’s see here:

1. Being rude to the Principal by insisting he “Be quiet” during a talk in which he is the MOST qualified to give his opinion.
2. Attempting to assert your authority in order to bar the formation of a Club even the PRINCIPAL agrees with.
3. Doing so in order to benefit what you and ONLY you believe to be good for the school without consulting anyone else.

I’d call this woman’s parents and potentially have her put in detention for such an infraction.

I would say expel but thinking critically it is minor in the grand scheme of things, but she definitely would get at LEAST a reprimand, and given she’s Student Council president she’d at least think twice before trying to overrule staff again.

No but having the Principal’s consent does.

I guess we’re just ignoring the fact that the guy who RUNS THE FUCKING SCHOOL IS ON BOARD WITH THIS, YOU LITERALLY DO NOT MATTER.

Where is your Disciplinary Committee so we can kick the shit out of the lot of you?

We call that determination, but I’d REALLY prefer the Appeal to Authority plan.

“Only if I say so” is a really hard bar to clear, do not EVER appoint ANYONE to a position of power who employs their “Word as law” so frequently and meaninglessly. That is a privilege that is only designed to be used in extreme situations, like people being unreasonable.

It’s a Club for Fun, let them have it, its not going to hurt you.

I’m pretty sure joining a Club is mandatory irregardless of how you feel about it.

My Sunshine did say it was “the Rule”

Something else that requires more urgent attention than Clubs?

You all probably are wondering how I’m going to tear into this one.

And the answer is: I’m not.

I agree wholeheartedly with J’s situation here, he has significantly more problems that require his immediate attention, breaking a few school rules and setting some personal activities aside for the sake of dealing with those issues is definitely the more mature thing to do.

That on the other hand ISN’T particularly mature and you should really stop making a habit of it.

Apologizing for something someone has told you to stop doing, and then continuing to do it is probably the most frustrating thing ever.

Of course in J’s case he kind of doesn’t have their thoughts on his mind, he’s too busy lost in his own.

He’s still a muppet.

J can’t bring himself to face Bashin even after the promise he made to take on Uchuuchouten with him?

…Waaaait is this concerning his alliance with Smile?

Bashin is quite literally IN A CLUB with the fucker, I really don’t think he’s going to mind.

For the record, that sign says “Welcome! Let’s play Batosupi with My Sunshine”

Kyouka questions My Sunshine taking on her Suiren persona for the sake of this plan to get Students invested in Battle Spirits.

Except Suiren isn’t a Student here, and the sign says “My Sunshine.”

Even Kyouka agrees.

I feel like the downsides to this might be that Yellow Deck your Manager unfortunately made for you.

Unfortunately all the Students start demanding a Live instead of Battle Spirits.

There’s even a Mic prepared, she doesn’t seem to have been anticipating this.

That timing was way too precise… I smell sabotage.

At least that is what it looks like at the moment you walked in, yes.

The Students who all came to see My Sunshine do a Live literally up and leave.

It doesn’t appear like she can use her Idol influence to get people into Battle Spirits as the game is directly conflicting with those who don’t play AND enjoy her music.

It was a good plan, it was just woefully uninformed.

Of course, only Kyouka would manage to nab that much interest in a short time.

You failed to anticipate how the body would react given My Sunshine up until now has been a singer, not a battler, people are bound to get the wrong idea.

I’m… having Vanguard flashbacks, I am PRETTY sure an Idol trying to start a club but has clashes with the Student Council happened there.

Slight sub-mistake, this is Tonari, not Toaru. (They are stupidly similar names)

Secondly, if we’re talking about what’s appropriate for Tonari Middle, then removing you from that Student Council President position would be a good start.

Kyouka, I dunno how I feel about you weaponizing your appearance like that.

Like good on you for doing it but holy shit lady.

Also is it REALLY just that? A 6-people requirement?

Yes, failing to divulge the rules of the school to those trying to conform to it is really shitty and you should be dragged down from your presidential position by your god damn socks.

Jesus christ lady do your Mum and Dad still wipe your arse when you go to the toilet? How the hell do you get this pompous?

Welp, that’s now 5, so now you just need J.

The Kid in the middle apparently has a “Goradon” collection, he just really likes Goradons.

You have to take what you can get, collectors can still be lovers of the game too.

To be honest I did have a hard time identifying what this was meant to be.

But it turns out this girl collects Master Rares.

Which given that X-Rares are only given out by Nazo-Otonas, this girl actually has the strongest collection of cards available, she’s awesome and actually could be pretty strong if she managed to turn those into a deck.

Our odd one out has a Beatbeetle collection.

You have got to be kidding me.

My Sunshine offers to show them her deck, but otherwise wants to try battling them.

Awww geez.

Every bone in my body wants to wreak havoc on Card Collectors but you can’t knock them, they’re good for supply and buying cards. I understand the need to have a Card Collection and not having the need to Battle but come on cap’n.

Lady don’t you fucking start, do not even for a SECOND insinuate that Battlers have a knack for treating their cards poorly.

Yes, some people suck but we SLEEVE THEM FOR A REASON.

It’s not for identification, ITS FOR PROTECTION.

Invitation to what?

Yeah invoking the “Chairman can do X” on his Son who abhors him isn’t going to be the best plan of action.

Okay so this isn’t concerning the movie, what is J getting at here?

His Dad is also in the room, so.

A Power up to WHAT!?

Why are you all being so cryptic?

What are these “Adult affairs” that you’re on about!?

That’s EXTREMELY ominous.

Judging by the seriousness of the conversation, Elliott’s apparent opposition to it, and his J’s apparent suggestion that Kiano doesn’t want him part of whatever it is he’s joining.

J is trying to become a Nazo-Otona in order to understand where his Cornerstone comes into play.

Kiano, as per usual, being the exact opposite of supportive. Praise his decision! Oppose it! Show SOME INVESTMENT into your child’s life that isn’t just cold indifference!

Elliott is also confused, was I on the money about the request?

Ayyyy.

It appears Kiano doesn’t want J as a member of the Numbers Elite for some reason.

I wonder if its literally like “Well I’m not strong enough to beat it so maybe if I be an asshole to my son enough he’ll get strong enough to take us all down even with me assisting the enemy” or some dumb shit like that.

Or perhaps he thinks what he’s doing is wrong anyway and doesn’t want J dirtying his hands by getting involved in it.

Both issues are solvable by just… fighting for the right side to begin with.

J’s looks resigned to his fate, “Oh god girls are dragging me off again”

The way your eyebrows are positioned makes that sound way less benevolent than it is.

Why?

I think you’re being overly dismissive here J, I understand your Dad is being distant but like holy shit Kyouka of all people is in the same boat as well and is nowhere near as broken up about it as you are, lighten up.

If the Club is Mandatory, no.

If the Club is optional, probably?

First of all that LITERALLY has NOTHING to do with ANYTHING.

Second of all, yeah thank FUCK J didn’t see that, he didn’t have to suffer through those 30 minutes of uselessness.

You wanna know who did? ME!

And as with all things, there is only one way to settle any given problem.

You clear off a table, shuffle your deck and play some god damn CARD GAMES.

Your face is not threatening in the slightest, you are quite literally completely designed to be as adorably cute as possible.

Gee wiz Lizard! Maybe its because she’s NOT ON GOD DAMN CAMERA!

J changing the terms from “He’ll help” to “He’ll discuss helping”

When people do this sort of thing, you can expect them to be as irredeemably uncooperative as possible.

REALLY.

He just pulls off his Uniform to reveal his caped form beneath.

Are they literally just doing that for-

LAZY FUCKS.

And My Sunshine didn’t get to do a “Gate Open” chant!

I applauded them for redoing Bashin’s sequence but then they lazed out on J’s and My Sunshine’s? Come oooon.

It appears Isekai changing from day to night is some indication of… something.

…Oh no.

Well I WAS curious to see what the hell was gonna be in it so I’m not even mad!

J’s got a Level 2 Dualcannon-Bell and a Level 2 Mjolnir on his board, pretty tame.

My Sunshine’s got a whopping FIVE Spirits on her board though.

The ones we know are the LV2 Frogger, the LV2 Pom and the LV1 Piyon.

There are 2 new Spirits here however, both from BS03.

The Cool Dragon looking thing at Level 3 is this, The Arcanabeast-Paira of the Magician Family.

It even has a keyword we’ve yet to see, Light.

Translated as “Brilliance” in the English came, Light is a keyword where while the card is attacking, every Magic you used during that battle comes back to your end once the battle ends.

Basically, while you pay cost for your Magic during their attacks and so on and so forth, if the Spirit survives the battle, you effectively haven’t committed to giving up that card and can freely use it again.

E.g. A Flame Tempest I used to clear my opponent of Blockers can now be used to defend myself against my opponent’s counterattack.

The Text is greyed out because those are effects inherent to the “Light” keyword, much like Crush has its own, and such.

The Second effect is less impressive, but it does give Paira a sizeable BP for a Cost 4. +2000 to all “Arcana” monsters means that LV3 Paira is sitting at 7000 BP.

Gnarly.

The other card, Ponysus, which I assume is meant to be a Pony-Pegasus, is MUCH less exciting as it is a Vanilla from the Imaginary Beast family, its a Cost 5 and its max BP is 6k. Paira is actually BEATING it in power.

Both of them hold 5 lives at present.

Dualcannon-Bell blocks an attack made by Piyon, causing Piyon to be destroyed.

I’m going to guess she made that silly play to goad J into making a block.

J isn’t screwing around, he blocks Ponysus with a Defensive Aura boosted Mjolnir, that’s an 8000 BP Mjolnir vs a 6000 BP Ponysus.

Ponysus gets DUNKED.

This is a real “Please stop” moment. J not letting anything through and My Sunshine has twice the Spirits.

J blocks Frogger with Dualcannon-Bell and the animation involves Dualcannon-Bell taking out a fucking BOMB after catching Frogger’s line, and attaching the bomb to it.

Frogger then EATS the bomb and fucking DIES.

ALRIGHT. WAS NOT PREPARED FOR THAT ONE.

My Sunshine makes a mistake by attacking with Arcanabeast-Paira, thinking she has enough BP to topple Mjolnir but forgetting that Defensive Aura lasts the whole turn.

So even Paira’s boosted 7000 BP doesn’t match against Mjolnir’s 8000.

More LV2’s for J’s legion.

He really is just throwing out spirits though, this is all stuff we’ve seen and I really don’t see anything interesting to talk about

Pom blocks one of the Mjolnirs and gets flattened.

Sphereroid snatches a life from My Sunshine, J then ends his turn.

A little cautious but I guess he can’t just straight up win from here.

My Sunshine returns to form by playing 2 Hellscorpio and a new card, The Count Wyhl at Level 3.

6 Core for level 3, WHEW, especially considering My Sunshine just played 2 Purple Spirits to provide the reduction for it!

8000 BP is pretty strong, and if Wyhl defeats a Spirit during the controller’s attack step, anything with a matching level gets exhausted. Its in a similar vein to how Destlord punishes LV2 spirits.

Your Deck is still kind of weird for having Yellow and Purple that don’t really mesh here but hey, being competent with half your deck is better than being competent with none of it.

More new cards. This one is called “Weakness”

This one is also from BS03, it reduces an opposing Spirit to 1 Core if used on your Main Step, and otherwise provides a generic battle boost.

All of J’s Spirits are level 2 though, wouldn’t you WANT it that way for Wyhl’s effect?

Oh, that’s big brain, I completely brainfarted on the fact that Mjolnir needs 2 core to maintain because that’s completely rare nowadays.

The Count Wyhl attacks, blocked by Dualcannon-Bell who is then destroyed.

J’s only remaining blocker, Mjolnir, is exhausted by Wyhl’s effect.

Hellscorpio attacks, J has to take from the life (5->4) and My Sunshine leaves it at that.

J response is to just drop Thor at Level 3, as he does.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen him NOT play it at that Level.

Thor swings and Hellscorpio gets hit by the banhammer (it blocked)

I guess My Sunshine is blocking here to make sure J doesn’t suddenly get in range to just kill her, keeping her lives high.

She comments J doesn’t have enough Armed Machines to start his “Combo” but he CAN still get an extra attack.

Though if that’s what he wanted he would have attacked with Mjolnir first…

“There’s more than one way to skin a cat, or in this case, Summon a Dragon!”

Zane Truesdale – Yu-Gi-Oh! GX

She’s desperate, she’s conveniently forgetting J’s other refresh magic.

Yeah, like that one.

Now the ol’ White God of Thunder is ready to swing his hammer again, AND he’s got enough for 4 attacks.

Checkmate?

Nailed it.

No Club for you lady, besides, J’s on a “join the enemy” mission.

Always the best part of playing for variety, you get to do so much fun stuff, limiting yourself to one colour is one thing I could never do.

Kyouka makes a last ditch effort to make that battle entirely meaningless by appealing to his interest in playing against different decks.

Actually no one promised SHIT to you if you won. They could tie your ass down and it’d be entirely within the deal they made.

You have fun with that, personally I can’t think of another 4 characters that would be interesting enough to actually form this club.

J thinks Isekai’s appearance is a sign of things to come, a bad omen.

I’d say “For what” but given how cryptic the Nazo-Otonas have been with information, its likely he’s just not planning to sit around and find out.

“I already can’t refuse to use anything other than white at this point”?

Does J feel like his reliance on White-only cards is limiting him? And that he’s willing to tap into other colours to gain strength? Or is this just worded weirdly in the sense that he has no time and therefore has to use the White cards he currently has?

Dangit, I wanted an answer.

On an upside, the other 3 came back and are actually playing.

Oh, I remember, lets see if I can’t fish it out-

Oh, nevermind, thanks show.

It was an interesting and endearing statement but didn’t hold much weight on its own considering they’re cards.

How… How does one do that?

Well, let me consider cases where “Main deck” has been used in this series, there IS one other instance which referred to a specific type of card, and Battle Spirits has no “Extra Deck” like features.

So its possible that “Goradon Main” just means that Goradon is the main card and the rest of the deck supports that.

Yeah, especially if the rest of the deck are ALSO weenies.

Every card has a use, even if the card isn’t particularly good at that use or the use is incredibly niche, one should never ignore a card’s use, and I implore everyone to try put each and every card to use if they can.

They are indeed down one.

I dunno, how long do you plan on being a bitch?

Under the list of things that fall under “something proper” I think annoying the shit out of you until you tear your hair out in frustration sounds like something that’d be in there.

SEE. THERE IS NO BENEFIT TO THE STUPID SCOREBOARD EXCEPT TO SHAME LOWER STUDENTS.

She’s LITERALLY number 1.

Why has it taken the entire episode to bring forth this information when we literally saw it written on a fucking wall at the beginning of the episode?

Oh wow, Kyouka using her appearance to sway him actually had a much bigger effect than anticipated.

Oh shut the fuck up about studying. You literally need a cabin boy just to fucking CONCENTRATE on studying!

Secondly, they have 6 members! Its over! You can’t start making new protests after they made your one and ONLY condition!

Don’t indulge her!

By WHAT MARGIN!? SET A BAR!

Or how about this, have some god damn humility and TAKE THE GOD DAMN CHOCOLATE COVERED GLACIER CHERRY-TOPPED L

OH GO TO HELL!

Wait does she genuinely believe that Battle Spirits can improve one’s grades?

No!

Like I’m fairly sure due to the fact that all questions you get are RANDOM, there’s a small percentage of Grades you literally can’t get, at a certain position at the top of the ranking the difference in Grades are practically negligible!

At least maybe the President might learn that she can actually have some free time not spent studying.

Scene skipping to something that makes me wanna pull my hair out a little less, J is standing outside Uchuuchouten’s door.

J’s pulled an Evil wardrobe switch, he’s traded out his usual white clothing for a black variant, and has changed his name to “Jack Knight”

This seems a bit out of left field considering he was so ready to defeat his father earlier, but it appears this might be a result of wanting to be closer to his father regardless of the cirmcumstances surrounding why his Dad is being such a distant punkass.

So he wants to be a member of the Numbers Elite, he wants to see what his Dad sees.

This just… looks a bit silly but at least the Cat is loyal. So now we have “Jack Knight” and “Queen”

Though he didn’t mention his father as a motivation earlier and he was already thinking about this. So perhaps this has more to do with wanting to learn about the Cornerstone and what to do with it. So he’s directly going to the person who wants its power the most, Uchuuchouten.

It appears the number he’s been assigned by Uchuuchouten is “Eleven”

The only 2-digit number amongst the Elites so far.

Ah, is the Numbers Elite grading meant to reference Poker?

That would explain the existence of a lack of “One”

That would instead be the Ace, which can be 1 OR 11, that would evidently be Uchuuchouten. Though it appears that the show might be suggesting Uchuuchouten is the “King” as he’s never given a number.

And 11 refers to Face cards, or cards beyond 10. Jack Knight wishes to serve his “King” (whom he perceives to be Uchuuchouten) and is aided by “Queen” basically making all the Face cards taken up.

Based on that theory, the only Numbers we’ve yet to see now are Six, and Ten.

So Numbers Elite can be identified by their rings? Do all of them have this?

This is good, it puts Smile and Jack Knight in close proximity to each other enabling them to communicate easier, and J will likely have access to stronger cards thanks to this.

I’m still foggy on what the plan is here but I’m sure we’ll learn the details later.

And that’s the episode!

What a doozy, we got a new villain, and it’s the main rival, that isn’t going to generate some beautiful drama between Bashin and the new “Jack Knight”, not at all!

It does feel a bit forced though, or perhaps its just handled badly?

Elliott and Smile spend a large part of the series seeming like they’re trying to coax J into the Numbers Elite, but then J’s father turns up and everything gets a bit foggy.

Across all of this, J shows no actual inclination to join until Smile gets wrecked by him.

J gets his ass beat by his father, and Kiano proceeds to continue telling him nothing.

Smile reaches the pinnacle of his losing streak to J and J agrees that its okay to join forces if he’s aiming to defeat Uchuuchouten.

And then barely a few episodes later J decides he wants to join Numbers Elite which his father seems to be hostile towards the idea.

And then J expresses a desire to be “used by a King” and learn more about his Cornerstone and to that end he joins up with Uchuuchouten and the Numbers Elite.

his motivations kept sort of switching and previous motivations were not mentioned by him whatsoever so its hard to keep track on WHY he’s doing this, but I suppose across all that he’s got 3 main digestable ones.

1. He and Smile wish to defeat Uchuuchouten.
2. His Father is a member of Numbers Elite and J wishes to be closer to him.
3. Uchuuchouten wants the Cornerstones, and J is in the dark about how to use them, he can learn how to wield his Cornerstone if he stays close to the person who does know how to use them.

Its a bit of a mess considering they usually stick with one reason or so without bringing up others so it does seem a bit strange.

Anyway, Batosupi lecture has nothing interesting, so I guess I’ll see you all for the next one! Buh-bye!

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!

Just… Just get me to the Plot, Please!

Last episode was kind of terrible, we got a lot of background about some more members of J’s family but otherwise the only thing that changed was J’s willingness to team up with Smile.

Which is cool and all but we’re not going to see the effects of that change for a while.

Hayami’s taking pictures of Bashin’s new uniform.

It really doesn’t mesh well with his hair but at least he looks a little better than he does in his normal attire.

This is probably easier but less fun to draw.

Hayami’s apparently taking the pictures to preserve Bashin’s first day of middle school to show his missing Father whenever he returns.

That is an interesting point, we don’t actually know what Bashin’s feelings towards his missing father are, or if he even has any memories of him.

At least as far as we know from this, Bashin is either being considerate of Hayami and co-operating for her sake, or likes what he does know of his father enough to go through with anything that’s for him.

Hah, you can see my play button, but its fine cuz its on a Camera it barely looks out of place.

Its a bit jarring not seeing our usual characters in their colour-coded clothing.

Meganeko’s face looks a bit rounder here, I am unsure if thats due to the lack of glasses or if she’s legitimately been drawn differently.

Meganeko and Bashin go to the same school, so there’s no reason for Bashin NOT to stop off by Meganeko’s as usual.

I believe I remember seeing a video of some sort that gave the claim that many Japanese shows take place in schools because schools in Japan are seen as the peak of life, being the most interesting.

I disagree but I’m not here to have that discussion, I’m also biased since I’m out of school and LOVING IT.

Striker’s here too, onward!

Bashin has been separated from the Peanut gallery, this does mean that we’ll likely see less classroom scenes given that Bashin will be on his own.

In the distance, Bashin spots a Smile

And he RACES OFF AFTER HIM.

Bashin’s really on top of this enemy elimination thing, he just won’t let up where there is a Nazo-Otona.

Aibou pops out to provide absolutely nothing but commentary on the fact that Smile was just there.

Bashin gets caught by what appears to be a Teacher.

Welp, there goes our fun morning Smile hunt, instead we’ve got CLASSES to get to.

Also is it me or does that Teacher look familiar?

I guess I must slowly come to terms with the fact that I am getting matched braincell for braincell by a middle schooler.

It appears the reason we recognized her is because this is actually Eight, without all her Gal makeup and hair dye she looks almost completely different, her Shades are also missing and she’s not bumping that Punkish look.

Eight is not having any of Smile’s bullshit however.

Sucks that you don’t get to chill with your buds right the way through class, but school ain’t for chillin’, its for learnin’

Well we DO know of one person who was later than Bashin.

Eight-er, Inogashira-sensei arrives and sees that everyone, minus Smile is on time.

I guess she really doesn’t give 2 shits about Smile’s learning.

Though Smile doesn’t seem the type to care about school either

I didn’t think “Smile was so Shy he got the shits” was a joke this show would be entertaining.

This is of course, assuming that the missing classmate is Smile.

Who knows, it could be J for all we know.

Yeesh, imagine being prepared to spy on a 12-13 year old kid for the better part of a Year.

That’s certainly an investment I wouldn’t wanna put in.

Ay, the missing “Neighbour” IS Smile.

This is a strange situation, Smile is basically Bashin’s sworn enemy given they have a goal in common: J.

So being promoted to an educational position where you literally could not be closer together in proximity is kinda crazy.

I wanna see Smile try to copy Bashin’s homework.

Awww SHIT.

Smile and Bashin are gonna throw hands after school.

I feel like a kid again.

Toaru is the school Bashin goes to, Tonari is what appears to be J’s school.

Announcer-chan confirms that both J AND My Sunshine are attending this one, and if J is enrolled here its likely Kyouka is also here.

We’ve got a nice and even 3-3 split between schools. That’s kind of cool.

It appears someone takes issue with Batosupi TV’s existence.

While I would normally sympathise, bitch, bring on the disciplinary committee or piss off.

The rules that apply to students are different to the rules that apply to the general public, HOWEVER, the girl does have a point.

Filming near schools is a BIG security risk and children can’t really consent to, well, anything because they’re not adults yet. So schools typically tend to be pretty strict when it comes to any kind of filming.

Well duh, if collecting the imaging of the students’ likeness then the collection of their data would be under lock and key as well.

So you can parse the message being sent to you but can’t take the hint?

Also why is a bunch of Students here telling you this? Why aren’t the TEACHERS here to wreck your shit?

I would like to meet this new principal and chairman, they seem like reasonable people.

Also literally EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM besides cap’n Teal Hair over there has glasses.

Like at all? That’s a LITTLE bit unreasonable but seems realistic enough.

THEN WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU ENFORCING IT!?

God I hate these kinda students, they fly up to a level where they have control for the purposes of being the authority but then don’t even bother to look into the rules they’re enforcing.

They’d get told off for showing off their nuts to everybody so instead they just settle for exerting their authority.

In which case, back to my original statement, you’re gonna need a disciplinary committee or you can fuck off my screen.

We interrupt this confrontation to bring you a Bishounen Batosupi TV literally won’t shut the fuck up about.

My Sunshine is… exasperated by dodging the papparazzi?

Quiet entrances are the best, I hate having to push passed people to enter somewhere. It sucks.

Ah, so the Manager actually used his brain and decided to use J as a decoy in order to get My Sunshine in with as little trouble as possible.

Except that apparently didn’t work given a butt-ton of them just appeared out of nowhere.

I suppose that explains why Commentator-san was missing, he was lying in wait to ambush the Idol-

…That sounded better in my head.

My Sunshine is havin’ NONE OF IT.

Good on you girl.

I would also stick to the rooftop during Lunch time and find a better exit for after school…

From what I know about Journalism, effective Journalism only works if you’re unafraid to make people uncomfortable. Which sucks, unless its against dickheads who are evidently deserving of being called out for the stuff they do.

My Sunshine is not one of those people.

Ay, Kyouka managed to nail Class Rep on her first day, good start!

Oh shit we actually ARE going to meet them, I’m curious to see who these muppets are.

Oh… They meant of the school, not the council.

Suddenly the need to stay recordings makes a lot more sense.

But my question is who is the Chairman and who is the Principal?

Given Elliott was trying to take students to University in America, I assume he’s the Principal?

Nailed it.

Okay could you stop having a modesty comparing contest and one of you just FUCKING SPEAK!

We all know you both suck.

Who the hell is going to call you “Little Brother”?

My Sunshine settles in the seat behind J’s, wanting to greet Kyouka as it appears she’s her classmate.

Well that’s interesting, is J in another class of his own? That would mean J and Bashin are alone, and Bashin’s got an enemy to square off with, I’m not sure there are any characters who could be the equivalent to J.

Though in this case, Elliott and “Chairman Kiano” suffice enough as they’re systemic controllers of the school.

I have no idea, Elliott came to school, as the principal, dressed as ELVIS.

…As the Chairman AND The Principal.

Did they hand over the keys to their house as well? Maybe lent them their dog or a small loan of a million dollars?

Oh hey they brought that little tidbit up, I wonder how this school might facilitate Batosupi University in America.

He’s now a member? I wonder what Number they assigned him.

So far we know of Nine who lacks a name.

Inogashira-Sensei? (I’m literally guessing) is Eight.

We haven’t seen a Seven or a Six.

Five was Card Sensei.

Four is Smile.

We haven’t seen a Three.

And Micheal Elliott is Two, And we don’t know of the existence of whoever One is. That is if Uchuuchouten doesn’t count as One.

Yeah it’s pretty hard to fight a war when you’ve got math homework due next week.

I’m not sure the Chairman has even BEGUN speaking yet, all I could hear for the longest time was Elliott’s broken Japanese.

Which is by far the best AND worst thing this show has to offer.

Well ain’t that an adorable request.

Would be a shame if My Sunshine said no.

Spoiler: She does not, in fact, say no.

Imagine your principal is so bad you hop into their office for a personal complaint on the FIRST DAY.

This is a strange clapback from Elliott, I guess he was expecting Kiano’s presence to be intimidating and it’s just had the opposite effect, just made J angrier.

J droppin’ the classic “WHY DO YOU EXIST!?”

Elliott, quite cleverly dodges the question.

Also what if J quits Batosupi? Pretty sure your plan gets fucked in that occasion no?

This line doesn’t make a whole lot of sense on its own, let’s hope to sweet god he elaborates in a way that the Subber can actually understand wtf he’s saying.

That… doesn’t really explain much at all.

Oh, they BOUGHT their way in, that makes WAYYYY more sense. I thought this was just a “conekkshuns!” issue but apparently Thousupi Group have money to throw around.

Assuming it wasn’t Kiano that bought it, that would mean the school belongs to J.

If he didn’t answer the last five thousand times you asked him why the hell are you asking him even MORE forcefully?

He IS the Principal, he CAN expel you!

I mean you DID just tell him to piss off…

I know that usually isn’t meant to work but still.

J wasn’t done badmouthing Daddy dearest but before he can go to give him ANOTHER earful, he’s stopped by Elliott.

Is Elliott trying to tell J that he SHOULD fear his Father’s Heart?

What the hell is his Dad gonna do exactly?

…Well actually that is a point, there is a myriad of things he could do but he’s evidently being held back by what minimal care he has for his son.

Is Elliott suggesting J not push that button?

J’s decided throwing hands (cards?) is the best way to go about this.

Nothing like butting heads with the Principal on your first day.

I understand that cards are a significantly less violent way of dealing with disputes in this show but the idea of a Principal saying the equivalent of “Come on then you little shit” to a student is hilarious.

I’ll take what I can get, at least its not a ridiculous turn 20.

J’s alone with a Dualcannon-Bell

And Elliott has a Level 2 Dinohound, a Level 2 Barball, and a NEW OldSage Trenton!

It’s not from BS03 but we haven’t seen OldSage Trenton before, time to see what’s in store for this Spirit from BS02.

The OldSage Trenton is a Cost 6 Spirit from BS02, When summoned you can play a Green spirit from your hand for absolutely free as long as it doesn’t use any (When Summoned) effects. And at Level 2 you get a Core if it snatches a life from the opponent.

That first effect is kind of gnarly, but I suppose its appeased by the fact that there are only 2 Green X-Rares available at this point in time, and BOTH have very powerful effects when summoned.

So you’re mainly gonna wanna use this on Green cards that have high cost, low reduction and powerful effects that don’t occur on summon.

I can’t think of many examples from the sets we have available…

Here’s one, its a pretty loose one but this card has low reductions and a relatively high cost, I reckon this would work as a good target for Trenton.

So, let me get this straight.

J has 1 Dualcannon-Bell, and 1 White Spirit with 2 lives remaining in a deck of 99% White cards barring 1 Yellow card.

And Elliott has some how maintained all his lives, and throughout has managed to get a Cost 2 Red spirit that demands 2 core to not die, a Cost 6 Yellow Spirit and a Cost 6 Green Spirit on the board?

Has he just been dropping big beefy cards or something or has J just drawn poorly?

Alright calm down Elliott, chill tf out.

And J plays… a Yellow Nexus.

That was.. not what I was expecting.

Did I say 99% besides the 1? I meant 98% besides the 2.

This card is new, what we doin’?

A new card from BS03, a Yellow Nexus no less.

The Child’s Room at Midnight.

Basically it protects your Spirits that don’t hold Printed effects (such as The Sacred Mjolnir and Dualcannon-Bell) from being defeated by LV1 and LV3 Spirits.

This kind of does let you block while safely maintaining field presence, reductions and anything else you’d need for a strategy but the limitation of it being only on Spirits that don’t hold a printed effect makes the range of uses very thin.

It is, Huck is one thing given it directly supports White but this one doesn’t, plus its a Nexus. J is tapping into more Yellow cards to boost his strategy.

I wonder if Smile has anything to do with this shift.

Given the set up the only thing that changed J’s situation here is that Dualcannon-Bell won’t die after it blocks, but J is still on thin ice here.

And that’s ONLY if Elliott levels his spirits up or down, currently they’re all Level 2. Besides Trenton.

Elliott levels down Dinohound and Barball.

Elliott has so far shown absolutely 0 consistent strategy among all the decks he has used. So whatever his “Surprise” is ought to be actually surprising.

Ah, that counts, a Blue Spirit. One J has lost to before.

By absolutely no virtue of its traits mind you.

It seems J is quite shaken by Blue Spirits, in spite of the fact that it was Invisible Cloak that kicked his ass, not anything inherent to Blue.

DragonSlayBlade Guy snatches a Life from J.

Interestingly, Elliott controls a Red Spirit in Dinohound, but there are no Crush spirits so his effect STILL doesn’t matter.

Dualcannon-Bell is defeated, blocking an attack from Barball, and is depicted being destroyed.

Of course, Barball is level 1, so we know what that means.

Dualcannon-Bell is ressurected by the Yellow Nexus.

I’m still not sure how this helps J, he’s got 1 life, no blockers and Elliott has 2 attackers.

I was expecting something a little more intricate than just “eh lets drop some magic to cover the problem” but this works.

Dualcannon-Bell survives another battle with Trenton.

J needs one more refresh to survive Dinohound’s attack.

It only required an out of place Nexus, an otherwise useless Spirit and 2 cards out of your hand but you did it!

J’s apparently drawn a card he wasn’t anticipating.

And I was apparently not ready for it either! J’s using a RED card!?

Quite simply, draw til 4, surprisingly better in decks that don’t have ways of consistently powering their hand… Like White come to think of it.

That temporary BP boost just ensures the card isn’t a brick.

I haven’t seen much of a hand out of J but he draws 3 cards so he must still have a card left in hand.

And J decides to go ham with Icemaiden, Sphereroid, The Sacred Mjolnir and Gran-Dolbalkan.

That was lucky, 3 of those could be played for No cost and only needed maintenance, Gran-Dolbalkan was played for 1 cost.

Notably, Icemaiden is yet another card J owns that has no effect, I believe that can reasonably benefit from The Child’s Room in Midnight as well.

All of which attack and snatch all of Elliott’s lives.

I believe we prefer the term “Come-from-behind Victory”

We for some reason scene-cut from the end of that battle to Bashin squaring off with Smile.

Smile feels the need to clarify that he DOES NOT, I repeat, DOES NOT: Have the shits.

I don’t think I believe him.

I dunno Bashin, was it your plan to be an obnoxious main character?

The answer to both these questions is obviously no, but Smile thinks that their pairing in the same class is a problem.

Good thing Aibou is here, speaking of which did they retcon the need for the animals to open the gate? Okyou wasn’t present where J was at.

I’m guessing they retconned it given the number of places it wouldn’t make sense to have an animal in, while simultaeniously having a myriad of those place be places where conflict can occur.

Like school.

Also notably, they redid Bashin’s entire animation sequence in his new clothing.

Effort, you love to see it.

Interestingly the field set up is being told from the perspective of Smile.

Bashin only has a Level 3 Siegfried.

And Smile has 2 Frogger, which are new cards I’m pretty sure.

It’s a Vanilla, so its got relatively decent-ish BP values for what it is, with a monstrously high 6000 BP (For a cost 2) at level 3, it DOES require 7 core but still.

Both players are sitting at 4 lives.

Smile seems to have gotten his energy and confidence back after that talk with J if he’s happily taking on Bashin again.

We’re about to see his Key Spirit, Cerru-Berus.

Which he summons at Level 2.

Oh, he’s actually summoning this now, The BlackTiger Kuron.

And he’s EVEN USING THE EFFECT.

Gosh I wonder what Purple Nexus Smile would want to make use of in his deck?

The Swamp of Drain Life ay?

That’s a Nexus from the Base Set.

For a Cost 5 Nexus with only 2 reduction I kind of expected it to have a better effect, shows me over-estimating cards from the first set.

That first effect’s utility is entirely avoidable, sending all cores from the opposing reserve to the Trash means that they lose core they could use to counter but in battle spirits, nothing stops you from simply moving that core to your Spirits beforehand and just paying from there.

The Second effect requires THREE core to be invested in the Nexus before it triggers, and all it does is Exhaust a spirit when you start your turn.

This isn’t a very good Nexus, my bet is Bashin is going to run headfirst into the first effect like a Loon.

Granted this could be Smile playing 5D chess and trying to get Bashin to level up Powerful Spirits he can then exhaust or steal with Cerru-Berus.

Smile attacks with Kuron and it does a Five Nights at Freddies Jumpscare complete with a Sound effect and snatches one of Bashin’s lives (Life: 4 -> 3)

Bashin decides to play 2 RiseDragon Balmung’s at Level 2.

Hm, a Board of Awaken Spirits, there’s a Nexus that would be good with this.

Specifically that Nexus.

And that just makes it betterrrrr.

Now all of Bashin’s Spirits will refresh on Smile’s start step.

I’m not sure what part of this is “Like J” but I guess Bashin making heavy reliance on a Nexus to support his overarching strategy makes sense?

Siegfried attacks, taking a Life (Smile’s life: 4->3)

Bashin then attacks with a Rise Dragon Balmung, using Awaken to use Siegfried’s Core to bring it to Level 3.

Smile loses another life.

Bashin does the same with the second Balmung, using Awaken to bring it to level 3 during Flash timing.

Smile once again takes from the life (Smile’s Life: 2->1)

Smile starts his turn trying to use The Swamp of Drain Life’s effect.

Bashin is aware of the now 2-set old card however and has no core in his reserve to lose, ain’t that fun?

Plateau of Duel also refreshes all of Bashin’s Spirits.

Jesus, Smile hasn’t even drawn a card and 3 effects have gone off.

HellDog Cerru-Berus steals a Cost 6 Spirit from Bashin, there’s only 1 Target.

Something about Smile wielding a Red Dragon just feels right.

That’s a card I do not recognize.

Oh that’s… That’s an interestingly strong Nexus Combo.

If its not immediately obvious what Smile has done here, he’s created an interesting Catch-22 with the 2 Nexuses he has.

On Smile’s start step, Swamp of Drain Life will Trash all the core in Bashin’s Reserve, Bashin can avoid this problem through moving all the Core to his Spirits, that isn’t an issue.

But The Spiral Tower’s Level 2 effect means that Bashin can’t use Magic on Smile’s Attack Step unless the entire cost is paid from his reserve.

Bashin can’t move core to his Reserve in preparation because he’ll lose it to Smile’s Swamp of Drain Life and be unable to use Magic, he can’t keep them on his spirits because otherwise he’ll be unable to use Magic.

In other words, Bashin can’t use Magic on Smile’s turn, Period. And that’s the MAIN way to counter in this current state of the game.

Oh god, what ELSE has he got available?

Nothing like an ArcAngelia Mikafar to resupply Smile’s hand with Magic he can use for free, as if just to twist the knife.

He’s revealing six, let’s count:

Mikafar, Cerru-Berus, Kuron, 2 Frogger and the Spiral Tower. That adds up.

He’s got some interesting cards he hasn’t played here.

Arcanadoll-Pan can exhaust a spirit on summon.

The Pentan looking card in the Top-right is The Kaiser Empereur, a member of the series which lets you drop opposing Nexuses to Level 1.

The Angelia Virchu which gives all Spirits in your hand an additional yellow cost reduction.

And Chauw, which responds well to core-gain effects, gaining an extra Core when Core is gained from the Void on itself, or the Reserve at level 2.

The other 2 are cards we’ve seen before, Double Draw and White Potion, which are Magic Smile will get to add to his hand.

Huh, he didn’t instantly play the Double Draw, curious, I guess he feels like he’s going to win in spite of it but why take the chance?

Kuron gets blasted by a Balmung.

Frogger eats another block from the other Balmung, now Bashin has no refreshed spirits to block with.

The Hella banned to the point of no return Yellow X-Rare snatches a life from Bashin (3->2)

Smile chooses the BEST words, every time.

This is way of declaring an attack with Siegfried.

Smile also uses the White Potion in his hand to refresh Mikafar.

I was kind of expecting him to try and refresh Siegfried with it but hey it makes no difference, he still wins.

Now that’s just cruel, Smile taunts Bashin into using a Magic.

Bashin even went as far as to use J’s card, Silent Wall.

I should comment about this, its rather common for decks to use at least some form of defensive White Magic regardless of what colour deck you’re using simply because White Magic is just so gosh darn effective at surviving.

Sure Bashin can’t get a reduction for this for the life of him but preparing just 4 core in advance with the intent to use it on the opposing turn is not that hard with careful play.

Reduction is the most daunting reason a person may not wish to use a card but sometimes you can afford to run an off-colour card if you think you can make good use of it’s effect.

Like how Smile is using Swamp of Drain Life, or how J used Fourth Draw.

Smile explains his Nexus Combo to Bashin, specifically that it’s designed to prevent Magic counterattacks.

He’s just… SO… COOL!

Bashin literally can’t respond, so Mikafar takes his last life.

Damn, that was pretty good, that was a GOOD Battle!

Hell yeah it was, I actually enjoyed that.

To the winner go the shit-talking license.

Smile makes an excellent and irrefutable point, if he was planning to be in close proximity to ANYONE it would have been J, and he would have attended Tonari instead of Toaru.

Aibou believes Smile, but also believes that because Bashin holds a Cornerstone and Smile is a member of the Numbers Elite, they were eventually going to find each other anyway and do battle.

Cool as that is you may have wanted to save that speech for BEFORE Bashin got his ass royally kicked.

Bashin isn’t convinced however, he asks why he should believe Smile.

I like how his answer is just “Bashin, I literally don’t give a SHIT about you.”

Smile gives a nice and cryptic answer to that one, lovely case of the audience possibly knowing more than the characters.

J wants to follow Smile because they both want to defeat Uchuuchouten together.

Bashin and the other Cornerstone holders should really sympathise with that, but if it came out that Smile was aiming for Uchuuchouten’s throat it’d blow his cover and the benefits he reaps for being a member of the Numbers Elite.

So its in his best interest to keep battling the Cornerstone Holders, growing stronger, and trying to attain J for the purposes of recruiting him into the Numbers Elite when in actuality they’re plotting to defeat Uchuuchouten and bring down Thousupi Group.

The Plot is slowly coming together.

Nine introduces himself and I guess some others to a painting of Uchuuchouten.

So far I can only make out 5 of them. Nine, Smile (Four), Kiano (???), Eight, and Elliott (Two)

That is an EXTREMELY elaborate password.

Was “NumbersElite9842” not good enough?

Hey look, in Cards, the Ace is either 1 or 11. I could totally be being welcomed here-

J did say they wanted to extract the Spirits for some reason, I guess reigning over Isekai World was what that purpose was for.

Also how are we only getting a plotdump of a villainous motivation TWENTY NINE EPISODES IN.

GOD FUCKING DAMMIT MAN.

So Battle Spirits by itself isn’t enough to take over Isekai?

How the hell will a Red Shine help with this?

Well given we’ve had several tournaments in them I’d be surprised if they weren’t.

“All are linked and will bring forth a battle where Spirits possess infinite Power”

So the Battles can be used as a power source?

Wait, so Kiano Sawaragi is Number Three.

How does the numbering work?

If we go in descending order then that means Kiano is “Three” due to the most recent member, Smile, being “Four”

But that would imply Nine is the least recent member, and doesn’t account for Elliott who’s got “Two”

It could be that the Numbers Elite were predicted in advance and were simply recruited according to that prediction.

Checking the Wiki, it appears there isn’t a concrete method to designating who gets what Number, Numbers can be recycled and new Numbers can be created.

so basically, “Just roll with it”

Well… That was ominous.

I dunno about you guys but I thoroughly enjoyed that Episode, THAT is a darn good episode.

There was plot progression, a good battle, an intricate and interesting Nexus Combo, Smile’s being un-Worfed, the Main character got his ass beat. J slowly devolving into using a Mix of colours like Smile.

A freaking villainous PLOT DUMP that summarises their basic plan and the formal addition of J’s father as a Numbers Elite.

Its good, I loved it.

The Batosupi Lecture covers the Combo between The Swamp of Drain Life and The Spiral Tower.

More like a “Combo of the day” rather than a “Card of the Day”

But you know what, screw that.

Just to show how much I appreciated that episode, I threw this awful thing together.

The new Extreme League Season was out at the time of writing and they displayed all the participant decklists like this, so I scrapped together SOMETHING resembling a strategy consisting of cards Smile used and threw it into a template I made designed to be similar.

The Decklist doesn’t have much thought put into it other than “Hey these are cards Smile used and were good lets try make it work with this strategy”

It was more to show off the Template than anything else.

In any case, I have a bed I need to get to, so I’ll see you guys all later!

See you in the next one!