Yu-Gi-Oh! Sevens Discussion

[Light Lucario]

I thought that this week's episode was okay. It was another clip show episode, which I have mixed feelings about. Timing wise, I think it made more sense to have a recap episode here as opposed to the end of the previous arc. Swirly turning out to be the last Goha sibling and sealing away the memories of most of the main and prominent supporting cast are some pretty huge changes, much more than the whole mystery behind The Lukeman was, so a recap felt a bit more warranted. They also expanded a bit on Swirly's backstory and why he became more violent, so it didn't feel pointless like the first recap was.

It was still a bit frustrating to start what is going to be the last arc of Sevens with a clip show. Considering the relatively short amount of time between their second and third recaps, it does make me wonder if there are more behind the scenes problems than I originally thought. It's not nearly as bad as Vrains was with a new recap episode every eight episodes, but a thirteen episode gap between these two recaps is still questionable.

To be fair, they got through a lot of recaps of the arc pretty quickly and the focus was more on the Goha siblings afterwards, so they were at least able to make a more interesting recap, but relying on the recap formula twice in season two does imply some more production problems. It was also a bit annoying to not see the aftermath of the Luke vs. Swirly. I can understand why they'd want to have more levity after that match, but I wanted to see Yuga react to learning the truth and figuring out a way to save his friends. It also doesn't help that the series already has a limited amount of time left. While it wasn't boring, frustrating or pointless, it still was a bit annoying knowing that the main cast have even less time to potentially get good sendoffs before Go Rush starts.

While the Goha siblings were dressed up like biker gang members, most of their hairs were much more visually pleasing to me, especially Yuka's. The whole concept of a giant super computer on a moon deciding on who becomes the next Goha president was so stupid. Swirly's backstory was a bit interesting. Since he was so young and emotional already, the idea that he internalized the negativity at the dueling center in such an intense manner kind of worked, especially when he would be at a young age where it's extremely easy to absorb good and bad messages like that. My problem was that it kept making me wonder who on earth raised these Goha kids. Swirly looked like he was maybe five or six. It's possible that they were just raised by that one drone, but that seems kind of stupid, even for Sevens. You'd think that they would have a parent or some human guardian at least. Adults barely exist in Sevens, but it just was pushing my suspension of disbelief too much. Swirly was apparently violent for years given when his other siblings confronted him and no adult seemingly existed or attempted to reach out to Swirly in all that time. Swirly did duel Tiger in the past, which might be one reason why she figured out the truth before anyone else. I still hope that they'll explain it whenever Tiger shows up again.

Mimi's speech to the Goha siblings was pretty nice. Admittedly, I think it would have been more effectively if they didn't really feel gimmicky to me. They all felt so one note that it's hard for me to really see them as these kids with vast amounts of potential, especially when most of them have only dueled once. Yuo being the light of hope also felt way too much of a stretch for me. He's been antagonistic ever since the season began, attempted to steal the president position for himself and he's only good now because of Swirly sealing his memories away. Maybe she was talking about how they hope to return his memories back, but I feel like Yuo would have needed to go through more development to make that line work, even if it was just to connect to his deck archetype. It was a nice touch for all of the Goha siblings to represent the six attributes in the game though.

The idea that elementary school kids were chosen to return dueling to kids sounded pretty nice. I'm not sure if that's actually the case when the Goha Corporation was always shown to be controlling, although I'd still argue not a threat at all in spite of that control over the people, but it's a nice sentiment. It really does fit in line with Sevens' tone and general approach to dueling, especially with Yuga's motivation to create Rush Duels in mind. Mimi's desire to become president has always been annoying, but she was happy to make the Goha siblings happier and fixing them food was a motherly thing to do too.

There won't be a new episode next week for New Year's, but it looks like Swirly might be dueling Otes if the preview is any indication. That would be interesting. I was just thinking about Otes and how he hadn't shown up since the start of season two, so it would be interesting to know what he's been up to and what Swirly wants to do with him.

 

[Light Lucario]

I thought that this episode was pretty good. The opening was pretty effective with showing Yuga being sad over both Romin and Gakuto not remembering him and being more formal as a result. I really could have done Kaizo being sad about Romin not remembering him though. That made sense, but it was just so annoying and I think undersold the sadness of Romin not remembering Yuga when that gag too up so much focus. Gakuto being surprised about Yuga calling him by his first name was pretty sad though.

Asana being upset over the modification made to R6 was a bit more frustrating than sad. It made sense why she'd react that way. Without her memories of Yuga and Rush Duels, she wouldn't have any reason to accept modification. It just annoyed me since the conflict itself always felt extremely weak and being reminded of it during her scene just made me roll my eyes a bit. The conflict with the multiple dueling formats also still feels pretty weak. Even with Swirly stirring up that problem further, it just feels so hallow when we can't really see all of these different formats, or even some of them, to understand why this conflict is happening. Just one quick argument between background characters doesn't really cut it. Yuga feeling guilty thinking that it was because of his invention was pretty sad, especially when it fits with his ultimate goal.

Nail going back to his position at Goha Corporation was both sad and a bit frustrating. While we didn't really see much of his efforts after leaving Goha, it seemed like that subplot was going to go somewhere before Swirly sealed away his memories. They may still be able to do something with that by the time the series ends, but it's just sad and annoying that he's back where he started, especially when Sebastian was happy that he was back in his original position.

The plan to use Monster Reborn to restore everyone's memories made sense. It was seemingly the only way to restore memories, but Yuga clearly wasn't into the plan from the start. Swirly going after Otes was interesting. While a part of me thought that he could be a potential last villain, if only because of how mysterious he is and he has been around from the start, the idea that he was just set on returning duels to kids made a lot more sense. I still don't think that the Goha siblings were chosen to return duels to children, but I can definitely believe that was Otes' intention given what little we do know about him and how he was always seemed to be more of a test for duelists than anything else. He was always mysterious, but he didn't really cause any harm. Even trying to destroy Rush Duels during the tournament was mostly as a way to strengthen its programming.

The duel itself was okay. Even though Dark Magician and Dark Magician Girl were used in a earlier duel, it was still kind of neat to see them featured more prominently in a Rush Duel. It was also pretty cool to see Otes use a few Rush Duel upgrades that mirror classic cards from Yugi's deck. The idea that Monster Reborn's ritual is more effective with the deck's most important card was really weird. I guess it kind of fits with how an ace monster would be connected to a person's memories, but it still feels so weird. It might explain why the ritual didn't quite work on Luke. He was using Yuga's deck, so while Sevens Road Magician is important to that deck, it wouldn't have the same effect on Luke as it would with Yuga. A part of me is still kind of hoping that they'll finally explain how Monster Reborn works and that it is more tech based than magic, if only for it to make more sense with the Sevens universe, but that seems less and less likely with each episode.

While Otes had some good moves to protect Dark Magician and came close to defeating Swirly, he still lost and his memories were sealed away. Swirly laughing once he got Otes into a corner was a bit eye rolling. It's really hard to take a little kid like him talking about character falling into despair seriously. Otes screaming was understandable since at least the other characters still knew where they lived and who they are. Otes has been only this strange mysterious figure, so even he wouldn't remember much about himself. I couldn't really blame Yuga for not wanting to use Monster Reborn. He wouldn't want to seal anyone else's memories away and that might be the cost to restoring everyone else's memories if they had been able to use it.

I figured that they'd destroy the card machine, but I was a bit surprised with Swirly destroying all three copies of Monster Reborn. I understand that it was meant to make them feel more hopeless and full of despair, but I kind of thought that he'd use them to seal away everyone's memories of Rush Duels. I thought that was the point of the whole "Rush Duels be sealed" part of the chant, so I figured that he'd go after Yuga, Luke and the rest of their friends who still have their memories.

While it does put Yuga into a corner where he seemingly has no way to restore his friends memories, it honestly fell like they were trying too hard to convey that. They already couldn't recreate Monster Reborn and getting the copies from Swirly would have been near impossible at best. Destroying the cards themselves just seemed a bit excessive. It felt like they were trying too hard to make the situation look hopeless when it's obvious that they'll find some other way to save everyone. I don't think it's quite a tone shift issue exactly, mainly because I don't think that the tone is dark exactly. It's more serious and there's more on the line than before in the series, but it isn't really dark. I'm also a bit annoyed at how they'll be spending the last few episodes restoring everyone's memories. That isn't a bad setup for the last arc, but I'm just not sure if they can really wrap things up and give the characters closure before the series ends at this rate.

 

[Light Lucario]

I thought that this week's episode was pretty good. Yuga being happy about Monster Reborn being destroyed was understandable. He saw it as an evil card that shouldn't exist, even though I still want to know how the heck it works and why they suddenly decided to introduce magic so late into the game. It is still so weird that an electronic sentient being created from punching a fax machine with Luke's self-insert manga fan fic is more believable than magic existing in this universe.

Although, I kept thinking that Swirly just faked it just to push Yuga and his friends into a corner. He wanted to erase Otes' memories and did that, but I figured that Swirly wanted to erase everyone's memories of Rush Duels, or at least still go after both Yuga and Luke, especially when he still considered Luke to be dangerous. Plus, what would be the point of including that "Rush Duels be sealed" part of the chant if he wasn't trying to erase Rush Duels? Destroying the machine to prevent Yuga from making his own Monster Reborn was reasonable, but it would be near impossible at best for Yuga and his friends to steal Swirly's copies of Monster Reborn, so destroying them just seemed excessive and largely unnecessary. I could just see that being a twist for whenever they encounter Swirly again.

Luke's idea of trying to recreate their memories and putting himself in charge as the director was pretty fitting for him. Trying to cast their remaining friends to play Gakuto and Romin was pretty funny. I so wanted Luke to choose the pigeon to play the drone. Not only would that have fit Luke's character perfectly, but that would be peak Sevens stupidity. Having that one kid pretend to be Roa to get Romin to spy on them was pretty close to that though, especially when Romin just walked away from all of that nonsense.

I kind of liked how they tried to mimic so much of the first episode. It made sense with what they were trying to do, but even the background characters were the same. Yuga going through the same lines and describing his dream is also oddly nostalgic. Gakuto saying that Yuga would have to go to Duel Prison is by far one of the dumbest things this show has ever said. It was one of those moments where I had to pause for a few moments just to laugh at how ridiculous that sounds, which is definitely not the first time that has happened in this series. I understand that it was to show how strict Gakuto is and probably to hint at more of his behavior later on in the episode, but it was just so stupid. As much as I do appreciate that this arc actually has stakes, stuff like the notion of a Duel Prison really takes the wind out of its sails for me.

Of course, their plan to have Sebastian play Otes fell apart too. While they were focused more on just trying to recreate the installment of Rush Duels, they didn't really notice that Gakuto was noticeably different from before, which would mean that he'd likely react differently to the situation. Admittedly, I still have a hard time believing that these different formats on dueling would have made Gakuto react this way. He was focused on following the rules, but he had more of an energetic personality rather than a strict task master. Knowing how he was at the beginning of the series, it's hard to really picture Gakuto turning out this way without developing his friendships with the rest of the cast. I think that the major problem is that the whole issue with multiple dueling formats out there is told to the audience, but not really shown. I can't blame them when they can't really be bothered to showcase that many different dueling formats, but it really makes it harder to take this detail seriously. Plus, Gakuto going on about how Goha Duels are the best for tradition shake just made me roll my eyes.

Rinnosuke's speech was pretty nice and it did inspire the others to go save Nail and Asana. Nail was locked away in his room basically being back to square one, while Asana was willing to destroy their club just because of these modifications. Asana is also back to square one, so she would be upset over these modifications and it does seem a bit more understandable give her backstory, but it still feels like such a non-issue in the first place. Her friends dueling her in an effort to restore her memories would carry a lot more weight if I could remember any of their names. Much like the vast majority of the supporting cast, I can only remember them for their gimmicks and not so much with their names.

The duel started off fairly decently, but they didn't have a lot of time for it. Given Gakuto's behavior change, I assume that the two mysterious characters helping him are somehow more involved with his lost memories. They could be just more ninjas, but they might be more important than that.

I was also surprised that this is a two parter. They've only had two parters to finish arcs, so having one right at the start of an arc was a bit unexpected. Having duels to save Nail and Asana going on at the same time might be a way to rush through this part of the arc, but if they can restore the characters' memories sooner, that might better since they could have a bit more time to give the characters more proper sendoffs. I figured that they'd focus on storing the characters' memories one at a time, but since this is the last arc, it's probably better to not stretch out that conflict. I do wonder what they'll do to eventually restore Romin's memories and Roa's lack of attention is a bit noticeable. Everyone else got a moment or scene to show that they've lost their memories, so I wonder if that's a hint at some twist with Roa.

 

[Light Lucario]

I thought that this week's episode was okay. I wasn't thrilled with how Gakuto's ridiculous outfit and behavior was the first thing that triggered his memories. It was his main character development in the tournament arc and it kind of made more sense with how the episode ended, but it really just took me out of the episode and weakened the emotional impact. None of Gakuto's moments with his friends affected his memories, but his ridiculous outfit and attempt to make himself look more distinguished did. It also didn't help that the dialogue between Ranyze and Rinnosuke was kind of annoying throughout the rest of the episode.

The duel was pretty good. As much as I didn't care for the dialogue, Rinnosuke had some good combos and I wasn't expecting them to pull out Fusion. Their new Fusion monster was pretty cool. I liked how all three duels were timed nicely together since they all had their major comeback turn at about the same time. At least Nail and Asana's memories of their time with their friends were what finally brought back their memories. That felt a lot more believable and meaningful given that I could buy into their connections with Yuga. It was also pretty cool how their old ace monsters were being used against them. Rinnosuke could't do that obviously, but it was a nice way for the other characters to fight back.

The flashback to Gakuto's ancestor was kind of weird. I can understand what they were going for. Gakuto's ancestor went against tradition and that allowed for their family style to be born, as well as the end of a war. But it was just far too ridiculous. It is a bit of a difficult balancing act for something to be enjoyably silly and ridiculously silly. Luke seriously considering casting a pidgeon to play a drone or even that same pidgeon joining in on a summoning chant is enjoyably silly. Gakuto's ancestor having a ridiculously stupid dance that makes him famous and ends a war is just going too far. I can see why they wanted to focus on Gakuto's family dueling. That has always been important to him, so rediscovering himself through his family's history does fit Gakuto. It just doesn't really click with me since it's too silly and doesn't have the same kind of emotional impact that his time with his friends would.

I was kind of surprised that Gakuto ended up winning the duel. I thought that he'd have to lose in order for his memories to come back, but he got them back in the middle of the duel instead. His new Fusion monster was pretty cool. I think that having the characters win after regaining their memories was a nice twist. Since I'm not sure if they'll get a chance for another duel before the end of the series, especially Gakuto, giving Nail, Asana and Gakuto a victory is a good way to end potentially their last duels. It was also nice to see Nail and Asana regain their memories. I kind of wish we could have seen more of Nail's duel, if only because I don't know what deck he could have used to defeat his Maximum Card.

While I wasn't thrilled on how Gakuto regained his memories, it was still nice to see him grateful to his friends. Nail and Asana showing up back with their memories was really nice too. Yuga was quite hopeful on how they could bring back what had been lost even without Monster Reborn. I kind of figured that the two students helping Gakuto throughout the duel were those insect ninjas. It's still hard to really take them as serious threats, even with that whole darkness is coming line. I almost forgot about Yuo also lost his memories. He might be slowly regaining them. Since he's just be acting more like a nice little kid, it will be interesting how he reacts whenever he gets his memories back. Based on the preview, it looks like Yuga will be dueling against Roa, which could be interesting. We've seen a bit of Romin since the group lost their memories, but nothing about Roa, so I assume that will be important or come up during the duel.

 

[Light Lucario]

I thought that this week's episode was pretty good. The whole nonsense about these new dueling formats is still really annoying. It's really hard to sell this idea that the conflict is leading more violence when it's still mostly all talk with nothing to really back it up. All they've actually shown thus far are background characters arguing over which format is better and another group of background characters attempting to duel to prove which format is the newest. It's all extremely weak and pathetic.

The idea of duels ceasing to exist because of the system being overloaded did make sense though. I don't think it's a good form of tension of course, but it actually is reasonable given the amount of formats created. Swirly being upset over Gakuto, Nail and Asana regaining their memories makes me wonder if he really did destroy Monster Reborn. It also seemed like his memories or feelings as being part of the group might be coming to the surface.

Otes being the one who handled the system to prevent it from being overloaded also made sense. He wanted to return dueling to the hands of children and his actions have generally encouraged the creation of Rush Duels. Plus, it wasn't an issue in the previous arc where this ridiculous conflict over dueling formats began. I wasn't sure if they'd bring up that Sevens book from earlier in the season, but I wouldn't be surprised if it ties into the ending or the resolution with Swirly. It also seemed like Yuo might have regained his memories after bringing up the book, or at least he's getting closer to them.

I never really cared for Roa's two friends, but it is kind of telling that Getta wanted to keep Roa this way just because it made him happy. To be fair, he did immediately question if doing that was okay. I also honestly got a good laugh from Kaizo flat out saying that the method of how Gakuto got his memories back was stupid. I was not expecting to agree with Kaizo on anything, especially when he goes back to his Romin gag for the rest of the episode, but I appreciated that one brief moment of Kaizo telling the truth. While I think it ultimately did kind of work for Gakuto's character and history in mind, his gag being what restored his memories instead of his connections with his friends was really stupid.

The duel was pretty good. As much as I don't like Roa, his deck has always been pretty cool. He relies heavily on high level monsters, but effects are usually pretty good, most of them have solid designs and it does generally fit with his personality. Yuga had some pretty good combinations too with changing Sevens Road Magician with Sevens Road Witch to prevent himself from losing.

Luke's reaction to the Romin cardboard cutout was both hilarious and kind of sweet. He sounded genuinely concerned if Romin had been trampled on. I don't know why the rest of the cast looked confused until the twins explained it, but Luke definitely needed that explanation. It really showed how Luke is too stupid to live. Luke is an idiot, but he's an idiot who cares about his friends, which helps to make him way more likable than he could have been otherwise for me. Romin going solo would explain why her scenes after losing her memories didn't involve the band. Part of that could have been because they didn't want to reveal the twist with Roa, but she was generally more focused on her own performances than anything else. Roa not really caring about Romin leaving would fit with his personality. The show has claimed that he learned to value his friends more, but the moment Romin leaves the band, Roa puts himself in the center of the poster to hog the spotlight.

Honestly, I was okay with the notion that Luke didn't lose his memories because of how he was using Yuga's deck instead of his own. It was really the only detail about this nonsense with Monster Reborn that I could buy into. But I'm okay with the notion that it didn't work because of his strong connection prior to Rush Duels being installed too. They had only met shortly before, but they still connected and Luke put his faith into Yuga to solve the Duel Puzzle when he already lost all of his chances, so I think it worked. I think it also helps that Yuga and Luke's connection in particular comes off as pretty solid, especially after Luke helped him during the Swirly duel.

Roa having his memories this entire time would definitely explain a few things. Unlike all of the other characters affected by Monster Reborn, they didn't show what Roa had been doing for the past few episodes. There were plenty of signs throughout this episode where he was reacting to comments that he wouldn't have been able to do that if he really did lose his memories. Both Yuga and Gakuto pointed out that Roa's dueling and even the life points they have left mirrors their first duel. Roa having a bond with Yuga is a lot of a tougher sell for me. Roa knew of Yuga from when they were little kids, but they didn't really know each other until their first duel. It's kind of weird that Roa knowing of Yuga would protect him from Monster Reborn, but Gakuto knowing Yuga at school wouldn't. They were much more casual, which I'm sure is a big difference in their bond compared to how Yuga and Luke met, but I guess Roa's anger towards Yuga could have worked in place of a bond.

I'm not sure why Roa would pretend to lose his memories. It's possible that he wanted to see if the others would actually notice that he didn't lose his memories or he just wanted the band for himself. As unlikely as it is, I do kind of hope that Romin gets a two part duel to restore her memories after they deal with Roa. Technically everyone else so far has gotten a two part duel to restore their memories, even if Nail and Asana's duels were mostly off-screen. A part of me would kind of be okay if it was just a one episode match since they still have a limited amount of time left for the series, but since it would most likely be Romin's last duel of the series, I'd like to see her get a two part match too.

 

[Light Lucario]

I thought that this week's episode was pretty good. The initial theory that Roa pretended to lose his memories to atone for what he did to Romin didn't quite work for me. Not only because Roa never expressed any regret for what he did to her, but the whole Romin was a spy for Roa subplot hasn't been brought up in ages. It just didn't seem like a believable reason for Roa to put on an act. I'm also not really sure if Roa really thought that Romin even being around duels would trigger her memories.

I did like how Roa finally had enough of his act and made it clear that he did remember Yuga by how he called him by his first name. To give Roa some credit, his rationale for this act was a lot better than I expected it to be. He was always upset over Yuga being chosen by Otes when they were little. The idea that he just wanted to start over so that he wouldn't be upset over not being chosen by either Otes or making a solo debut like Romin sounds a lot more fitting. Roa has always had an ego, so wanting to start again in the hopes that these disappointments or frustrations wouldn't bother him is more natural than I expected. Despite how he kept saying throughout the rest of the episode that he was being weak and pathetic, Roa being more emotionally vulnerable instead of acting like the cool guy made him more interesting to me. If he was more honest instead of trying to be flashy all the time, maybe I'd like him. To be fair, I can see why that didn't happen given both Roa's personality and there generally isn't a lot of focus on personal conflicts for the characters to overcome.

Roa overcoming his issue felt a bit too quick and sudden for my tastes. The crowd cheering him on, reassuring that Roa didn't have to start over made sense as a solution for him. It just happened too quickly. Roa went from being more emotionally vulnerable and honest than I think he's ever been to back to his usual flashy cool guy persona in a minute. Maybe if they lingered more on Roa thinking to what the crowd said for a bit longer it would have been a bit more effective.

The duel was pretty good though. There were a lot of good back and fourths between Yuga and Roa. I really thought that Yuga had the duel once he brought out a new Fusion monster, but Roa surviving that attack made it clear that he was going to win. The music during Roa's comeback attack was pretty good. As much as I would have preferred for Yuga to win, if only because I don't like Roa, it made sense for Roa to win. He was already upset over losing to Yuga before, so losing to him again after he was inspired to keep aiming for King of Duels probably wouldn't have worked. Roa overcoming both Maximum and Fusion monsters established his own skills, even though I think everyone being shocked over how a Trap card destroyed Yuga's Maximum card was a bit odd. I also still kind of appreciate how close the duel was and especially how Yuga's duels aren't always guaranteed victories for him. It makes his duels more engaging.

It was also kind of fitting for Roa to say that it was Yuga's turn to chase after him now. Losing to Roa wouldn't bother Yuga as much as another defeat for Roa would. Plus, it gives Roa a potentially good last duel of the series. I really thought that Yuo had regained his memories during that last scene, but just looking things up through his instincts was a bit odd. He is getting closer to regaining his memories though.

 

[zoombie]

A little nip pick but once it was establish Roa was faking losing his memories, I would have added steaks to the duel that if Roa won, Yuga would stay out of Romin's life and not interfere. At least have Yuga say that to him. Even though Roa won the duel, he can just say "do what you want". Or just say he never agreed to that stipulation.

This duels have lacked stakes of late.

 

[Light Lucario]

A little nip pick but once it was establish Roa was faking losing his memories, I would have added steaks to the duel that if Roa won, Yuga would stay out of Romin's life and not interfere. At least have Yuga say that to him. Even though Roa won the duel, he can just say "do what you want". Or just say he never agreed to that stipulation.

I'm not really sure why Roa would want Yuga to agree to a term like that. He was okay with Romin getting her solo debut, but it wasn't because he wanted Romin to succeed exactly. Roa just wanted a fresh start without the disappointment of not being the chosen one like Yuga was with Otes or Romin was with getting her music solo debut. I think that adding in that when the main focus was on Roa's feelings and overcoming his brief personal conflict would have felt a bit too tacked on. Not to mention it would have felt contrived because of course Yuga and his friends are going to reach out to Romin and restore her memories. They've already done that with nearly everyone else, so they wouldn't just leave Romin out. I can understand wanting the duel to have more tension and stakes to make it more engaging, but having stakes thrown into the middle of the match just would have felt too forced.

This duels have lacked stakes of late.

Considering the duels from the previous two episodes were all about restoring three characters' memories, this sounds kind of strange to me. Even the Swirly duel at the end of the previous arc had more stakes than usual given that Luke had to finish the duel for Yuga and the match had an impact that lingered into this arc. More importantly, duels not having stakes hasn't really been a recent issue. The stakes being so low that they're practically non-existent has been a big problem for me throughout all of Sevens. The vast majority of the series can be boiled down to Yuga and his friends protect Rush Duels from the current arc's antagonist. There are just little to no actual stakes involved with the duels in this series. Even the emotional impact of trying to restore their friends' memories falls flat when the setup of Monster Reborn doesn't work at all. This has been one of my biggest issues with Sevens, so I'm not sure how it could be more of an issue with just the recent batch of duels.

 

[zoombie]

I do except Swirly and his cohorts to get reformed at the end, if so, this series would have every antagonist get befriended, and no real evil enemy characters, has that ever happened before in a Yu Gi Oh series?

A departure from the last series you had people use orphan kids and brain wash them. And who could forget 5Ds, some of the antagonists were really messed up. Well I think Zexal tried to reform everyone, though how can forgive Victor is beyond me, and Kite's dad I never really felt sympathy for him no matter how hard the show tried to make him sympathetic.

In Sevens case, non of the antagonist are unforgivable, though that does make them weaker antagonists in a way, there is no villain to really hate.

 

[Light Lucario]

I do except Swirly and his cohorts to get reformed at the end, if so, this series would have every antagonist get befriended, and no real evil enemy characters, has that ever happened before in a Yu Gi Oh series?

I think that the closest was in Zexal since aside from Don Thousand, who wasn't even human, all of the villains there were redeemed.

A departure from the last series you had people use orphan kids and brain wash them. And who could forget 5Ds, some of the antagonists were really messed up. Well I think Zexal tried to reform everyone, though how can forgive Victor is beyond me, and Kite's dad I never really felt sympathy for him no matter how hard the show tried to make him sympathetic.

Even with Revolver's father's actions in mind, the show really tried to glorify him in the later arcs. It's what I like to call the Kaito effect since they did basically the same thing with Dr. Faker. Since they wanted to make Revolver the cool anti-hero rival, they felt the need to downplay his father kidnapping and torturing children, much like making Dr. Faker sympathetic out of nowhere because Kaito was the cool rival. Vector was with the main cast in the epilogue, so they were at least okay with him. Even with everything Vector did, redeeming him still made more sense than what they were doing with Dr. Faker.

In Sevens case, non of the antagonist are unforgivable, though that does make them weaker antagonists in a way, there is no villain to really hate.

It kind of ties back into the lack of conflict and tension. Since pretty much all of the antagonists are kids who aren't doing anything worse than trying to get rid of Rush Duels, they aren't really causing much conflict, so they come off as pretty weak as a result. Aside from Nail and maybe Yuo, none of the antagonists in Sevens are particularly interesting either.

 

[Light Lucario]

I thought that this week's episode was really good. Princess G choosing Romin for a solo debut like that seemed a bit odd, but she clearly had more of a plan in mind given how quickly she realized that Romin forgot about Rush Duels. Plus, she's one of the few reasonable adults in this series. It was weird that losing her memories seemingly made Romin into a better singer though. I can understand why Yuga, Gakuto and Roa didn't want to ruin her debut. Music was always Romin's dream before Rush Duels, but I think that Luke was right in that her smile wasn't real. This solo debut wouldn't really mean anything if she couldn't even share it with her friends. Luke's anger was also understandable. He wanted to help Romin, but felt like he couldn't without affecting her debut, so he didn't know what else to do. The flashbacks through Romin's various moments and duels throughout the series reminded me that it took me a long time to like her duels though.

The setup for Luke to duel against the Newspaper Club leader felt a bit weak, although I think that's mainly because we already saw them duel before. It mainly worked because of how it still focused on Luke's frustration over not having Romin back. He even used her old Duel Disk in place of his own. The duel was quick, but that was fine because I could not care less about these gimmick supporting characters. They're boring as dirt and it's really hard to make a duel engaging when characters are popping in to remind the audience about their gimmicks. Luke realizing that nothing is worth forgetting was a pretty nice moment. Luke is an idiot, but he's an idiot who really cares about his friends and can have surprisingly insightful moments in spite of being so stupid.

The whole fight between dueling groups has always been such a weak excuse for conflict and that definitely didn't change during Romin's debut. They keep claiming that the fighting is getting worse, but all we've seen are arguments between background characters. They were getting loud enough to delay a concert, but that's less violent and more annoying than anything else. It is such a pathetic form of conflict and the way it was resolved didn't help matters either. Luke restoring all of the other gimmick characters' memories off-screen was way better than having them waste time with actually showing those duels. The only reason why the duel worked for me here was because of how it dealt with Luke's frustration over Romin's loss memories and how his anger made it easier for the duel to be over practically instantly. Just telling everyone to stop fighting worked, but it just highlighted how terrible this so caused tension has been from the start if it was that easy to end it.

Romin regaining her memories the moment she saw Luke was actually quite sweet. A part of me kind of wanted them to duel, if only because it would have been amazing for Romin to defeat Luke on-screen, but I also wasn't sure if they'd be willing to have anyone besides Yuga defeat Luke at this point. Romin saw Yuga earlier in this arc and had interacted with Roa off-screen based on his comments, but this was the first time Romin had seen Luke since losing her memories. Remembering everything just from looking at Luke and seeing that he was trying to save her solo debut was really nice. Given how they both reacted to each other, it's easy to believe that Romin and Luke could have romantic feelings for each other, but even without that possibility, I think it works because care about each other as friends. Seeing Luke display a sign of friendship by trying to save her concert kind of works as a way to jog her memory. They didn't have a lot of individual moments together, but Romin was determined to get Luke's trust back after being a spy for Roa and Luke has always cared about his friends.

It was really heartwarming for Romin to call out for her friends and apologize for forgetting everything about them while she was focusing on herself. She obviously had no control over losing her memories, but she would still feel guilty over abandoning her friends. Princess G challenging her to a duel was a bit surprising, but I suspect that she knew something like this would happen given how she said that Romin would be a different person during her solo debut. It also gives Romin an opponent that she could beat, unlike with Luke, and defeating her idol in a Rush Duel would be a good final duel for her too.

The Goha Siblings looking into finding the remaining books and the missing pages was interesting too. It also looked like more of Swirly's memories and/or his feelings from being with Yuga's group are coming more into the surface.

 

[Light Lucario]

I thought that this week's episode was pretty good. The opening scene itself was kind of weird. It was important showing how the Goha siblings got at least one of the Sevens books, but considering how random it still felt to bring back such a minor character and especially how they were both just being gimmick-heavy side characters, it was just kind of an annoying way to start off an episode.

It was pretty obvious that Princess G was trying to push Romin by forcing her into a duel. The idea that she couldn't choose between music or Rush Duels would be kind of weird coming from her since Princess G is a duelist and a musician. That would make her more of a hypocrite if this wasn't an obvious means to help Romin and I was fine with that. While this wasn't a two part duel, the previous episode did lay the foundation for this duel. Princess G deciding on being Romin's producer and especially saying that Romin would be a different person after her solo debut made it clear that she wanted to duel her. It was pretty cool to see Luke giving Romin back her duel disk. Even Princess G had a guitar duel disk.

The duel was pretty good. Admittedly, I wasn't too interested in Princess G's deck. It is similar to Romin's, but aside from Romin's ace monsters, her deck doesn't really do much for me. It definitely isn't bad, but the designs for most of Romin's, and by extension Princess G's, monsters aren't too memorable to me. To be fair, I think this is more of an issue with virtually everyone's deck since plenty of monsters just exist to be tribute fodder. Still, it made sense that Princess G's deck was similar to Romin's, so that was fine.

While it was cool to see Romin's Fusion monster again, I figured that her plan wasn't going to work given she summoned it so soon. Her brief moment of wondering which effect to choose made me wonder if a part of Romin wondered which path she wanted to take. She wouldn't want to abandon her friends or not help them out during this situation, but being told by your idol that you have to make a choice right on stage in front of a lot of people would still be kind of overwhelming. Princess G did have a pretty good strategy to prevent Romin from launching that attack. I didn't expect Princess G to have her own Fusion monster, but it looked pretty cool.

Despite being pushed back into a corner, Romin was still pretty calm. She was able to get the monsters and Fusion card needed back in her hand pretty nicely. Initially, I thought that she just brought out the same Fusion monster that Princess G did and it was in a different color just for the audience to tell them apart, but I didn't pick up that it had a different name. Princess Omega had a pretty cool design and I really like the summoning chant for it. I really liked the symbolism behind Princess Omega. Romin used the same monsters that Princess G did, but was able to make her own Fusion monster. Romin can still benefit from her inspiration of Princess G, but she can go on her own path instead of just simply mirroring her. I think that's a big reason why she has relied on different ace monsters for her past few duels instead of using the card that Princess G gave her, along with how they obviously want to market more cards with Romin. It was a bit different for Romin to summon monsters in defense mode like that, but it allowed for her to make a pretty solid comeback strategy and win the duel. I also appreciated Gakuto for hitting Kaizo so that he wouldn't ruin the moment by being the annoying super fan of Romin that he is.

Obviously, Princess G was happy for Romin to win and wanted to hear what she decided on. Romin would want to still pursue both Rush Duels and music after all this, but it was nice to hear her so excited for using both as her dream.

Romin putting her solo debut on hold was understandable. She clearly loves music, but she couldn't really focus on that with everything else going on right now. It was kind of nice that she still felt compelled to apologize for losing her memories, even though she didn't have any choice in the matter. I thought it was really sweet how Luke basically said that Romin's smile is real now. Given their behavior in the previous episodes and how they were both blushing here, it's pretty obvious that Luke and Romin have crushes on each other. Either that or they just wanted to make the audience read that into the scene. There aren't a lot of pairings in Sevens that I'm really into, but Luke and Romin is kind of cute. They're just eleven year old kids potentially developing romantic feelings for each other, which can be endearing.

I didn't think that they'd get all of the books already, but with how little time the series has left at this point, that was probably for the best. It seemed like Yuo and Swirly were close when they were really little, which might explain some of Yuo's behavior earlier in the season in retrospect. Swirly's memories were really affecting him. He started to say Swirly at one point and was falling to the ground. The bug ninjas will probably catch him, but that was still a pretty huge drop. It does seem like Yuo regained his memories right near the end, or at least is getting even closer.

The special ending song for Romin was really nice. The lyrics were pretty good and fitting for her determination to chase after her dreams. The emphasis on being covered in her colors was a nice way to express Romin's own path and feelings. All things considered, this was a pretty fitting sendoff for Romin. I'm positive that she won't get another duel. I could be wrong, but defeating her idol and being set on making both music and Rush Duels her dreams is a pretty solid last duel for her. It's certainly better than her duel against Mimi in the previous arc. I still wish that Romin got more to do during the series and she still might have more of a role in the upcoming episodes, but I'm glad that she got a good potentially last duel of the series.

 

[zoombie]

This show does not have much if any shipping, but if Luke x Romin is not the direction they are going in, I don't know what is?

 

[Light Lucario]

I thought that this week's episode was okay. Luke recapping what happened only to put himself on a high pedestal was pretty fitting for his character. Considering that Swirly was falling from the skies in the previous episode, it's kind of weird that he was just shown walking around. Obviously they wouldn't have him fall to his death, but given that cliffhanger ending, it's kind of weird that they didn't show how he survived the fall. I also wasn't expecting to see the different robot girls or have them kidnap Swirly.

I figured that Yuo regained his memories, but he was still less antagonistic than expected. The whole story behind the Sevens Road was interesting. It was clearly a parallel to their current situation with Yuga and the Goha siblings fitting the roles of the Seven sages. Otes just acting that he had lost his memories was a neat twist. I was wondering how they'd restore his memories, so now that isn't an issue. Even with Otes kidnapping Swirly and fitting the role of the old man in the legend, I have my doubts that he's actually a villain. It's kind of hard to take it seriously when one of the girls was going back and forth between Otes and Swirly to film the conversation to Yuga's group. It just seemed silly. Plus, he kept his motivation a secret, so this could be another way for him to help strengthen Rush Duels in a more cryptic or underhanded way.

The idea that Otes created Monster Reborn for weak duelists is pretty ridiculous though. I don't know if this confirms that the ritual was more tech based as opposed to being magic, but they certainly don't treat it as such. Nothing about the Monster Reborn plot point makes sense to me. Swirly being so surprised at those happy memories from when he was little does make me wonder if just owning or using Monster Reborn affected him.

While I can understand why everyone was worried about the drones on the moon, it still felt like a weak form of tension given that it's obvious that they aren't going to lose the ability to duel. Using Luke's watch to try to shut down the system made sense, although I thought that they'd go much closer to the system instead of trying to make it work from such a far distance. I liked how both Nail and Asana were able to help out since it showed one of the reasons why it was so important to get their memories back.

Tiger showing up was a bit of a surprise. I still really hope that they'll explain why she knew the truth about Swirly before everyone else did, but she still opened the door for them. Luke getting a defective watch from his grandfather was a bit odd, although he didn't have time to explain more before Luke got upset. It's clear that Luke clearly misses Swirly and was upset over the prospect of not helping him and losing dueling. Tiger going after Luke was pretty blunt, but it would hold a lot more weight if Luke avoiding his family company was more of a constant issue for him. They already established that Luke didn't want to take over the family company earlier in the season, but since it rarely comes up, it doesn't really feel like as big of an issue as it could be.

Tiger being rude to Yuga really got Luke upset. Despite being so stupid and self-centered at times, that moment really showed one of the best aspects of Luke. He really cares about his friends and wouldn't want anyone to insult or belittle them, even when he's so scared of Tiger. Given her attitude, I suspect that Tiger is just putting on an act to get Luke to duel her seriously or something like that. The episode is basically just setup for the duel, but it was fine setup. I'm kind of surprised that they're actually going to explain Luke's watch. I just wrote it off as a gag or a plot device that they wouldn't feel the need to address.

 

[Light Lucario]

I thought that this week's episode was pretty good. The duel was pretty good. Tiger had some good moves and Luke was able to setup some good strategies too. I never really cared much for Tiger's deck. It's unique, but the musical instruments forming part of the monsters never really worked for me. That being said, her new Fusion monster was probably one of her best monsters design wise.

The whole emphasis on Luke facing reality kind of felt weak to me. I understand that Tiger was trying to help push Luke forward and that did work, but it really didn't feel like prominent issue for Luke either. He's always been chasing after his dreams with little to no problem. Asana picked up on how Tiger was more aggressive and she was clearly trying to force Luke to go all out in a duel, but I just don't really believe it was necessary. It felt more like an excuse to get them to duel since Luke never really defeated Tiger before. The Lukeman did, but not the actual Luke. I was practically rooting for Luke since I was getting a bit annoyed with Tiger's whole reality speech. I don't dislike Tiger, but she's never been one of my favorite Sevens characters either. Being so serious makes her the opposite of Luke, which is probably what they were going for, but it also kind of makes her annoying, especially when she's supposed to be twelve.

I also don't think it really helps that she comes off as being strong not because they wanted her to be a strong duelist, but because they wanted to make another characters look more impressive by defeating her. She did defeat Yuga in the previous arc, but even that felt more like setup for this duel in a way. Plus, given that they still never explained how Tiger knew the truth about Swirly, it makes the duel more contrived or forced in a way. Her losses, including this one, aren't bad, and she usually had to lose for story or character reasons, but it still gave off that impression that she's only strong to make other characters look good when they beat her.

Even so, I still really liked how calm and collected Luke was. It was a noticeable difference from how he normally behaves in a duel. Everyone else thought that it was too much on him, but Yuga could tell how Luke really felt. The moment when Luke declared that he'll make his dreams into a reality was really good too. I still don't think he really needed to reaffirm his determination through this duel, but it was an effective moment. I liked seeing Luke as being more calm and determined.

While it was obvious that Luke was going to win, I liked how he pulled it off. Despite how Tiger brushed off his setup for clear victory, Luke had a plan from the start of the duel that led to his victory. As cool as his other dragons and his Fusion monster were, I liked that it came down to his original Dragias ace monster. He wanted to it to give him the courage to face Tiger and that monster allowed him to win the duel, which I thought was a really nice touch.

All of the watches finally activating in order to shut down all of the power in the city was kind of weird. The explanation behind this effect was especially weird too. According to their great grandfather, there's just something in their bloodline that reacts to the material in Gohainum, which practically doesn't explain anything since they don't expand upon it further. It seemed a bit contrived when there was no hint about Tiger or their great grandfather having the same kind of affect on materials like Luke does with his watch. They might as well have said that they wanted to give Luke a special power given how vague it was. At least it wasn't some kind of random magic and Luke really doesn't have a devil inside of him. I kind of figured that Luke was always being dramatic, but having confirmation works. It's still pretty annoying that they don't actually explain why this Gohanium reacts to their bloodline, but I'm glad that it isn't another case of throwing in magic out of nowhere. I'm still really annoyed that we'll probably never know how Tiger knew about Swirly. They did duel when they were both even younger little kids, but really not enough to explain why she knew the truth about Swirly.

Tiger being happy yet frustrated over losing to Luke was a nice moment. It was kind of cute how even Asana got involved in their little play fight. Going up to the moon based on the preview is pretty interesting. Like Romin said, they kind of had to go to the source to deal with this problem.

I already mentioned this in the Go Rush thread, but Sevens will end at episode 92. The series only has three more episodes left and Go Rush will start the week after on April 3rd. It still really doesn't feel like the series is that close to the end. This arc has been mainly focused on giving most of the prominent characters good sendoffs with their last duels, but despite that, it just doesn't feel like they're in the endgame. I think at least part of that is due to Sevens not having much of an overarching storyline. They don't really have a big final bad to deal with and I still wouldn't consider Otes as such. It feels like they could wrap up things well within that time frame, but also feels like it would be a lot to cover in just three episodes at the same time. This arc doesn't feel rushed or like something is missing. It just feels like Sevens was not designed to be a 92 episode series. If it was, then that would really make me question more decisions in retrospect like the length of the arcs and introducing a large number of new characters with each arc.

I definitely expect Yuga vs. Luke somehow to happen. It's possible that they'll pull a Kaito and just have Yuga never defeat Luke. He isn't going to get a rematch with Yuo, but it just seems unlikely to me. The fact that Yuga has lost to Luke three times and was upset over his last two defeats makes me think that they're building up to them having one final duel. Yuma and Kaito's rivalry became non-existent after season one and there was no time to give them another match in the mist of everything else going on. Yuga and Luke don't have a more traditional rivalry like Yuma and Kaito did, but giving them a duel in season two and especially having Yuga lose to Luke in the tournament arc makes me think that they're saving Yuga's victory for the last duel of the series. That's a huge reason why I think Luke has been unbeatable and one reason why it never really bothered me too. They're waiting until the last duel of the series for Yuga to defeat him. Despite Yuga's minimal amounts of duels during the past two arcs, he'll definitely be in the last duel of the series and defeating Luke would be more interesting than defeating Otes again. Plus, a big reason why I think they had Tiger vs. Luke was so that Luke could get one more victory before losing to Yuga. I'm still not sure how or why it would happen, but out of all of the options for a ceremonial duel, Yuga vs. Luke would be much more interesting than Yuga vs. Otes.

 

[zoombie]

I have always believed this, and I have put a pin on that thought for a while, but giving the last duel we have before going to the moon had to do with family, I really believe Otis is the Goha siblings father. I think that is the twists here. I guess we will see.

This series only getting 92 episodes, I wonder how much of the story had to be cut because of Covid hiatus.

 

[Light Lucario]

I have always believed this, and I have put a pin on that thought for a while, but giving the last duel we have before going to the moon had to do with family, I really believe Otis is the Goha siblings father. I think that is the twists here. I guess we will see.

That is an interesting possibility. I could see it happening given the flashbacks Swirly had involved his siblings being happy little kids and Otes knew about those memories too.

This series only getting 92 episodes, I wonder how much of the story had to be cut because of Covid hiatus.

It's hard to say. They had to go on a hiatus twice at the start of the pandemic, which I think was in total about eight to ten weeks. That was close to a full arc, especially for season one where all arcs were thirteen episodes. Sevens isn't particularly story driven, so I don't think it was necessarily a huge loss story wise. It might have prevented them from expanding more on Maximum summoning. I'm sure at least part of that is due to how they were planning on introducing Fusion summoning into Rush Duels too, but it is so weird that they introduced this new summoning method with only a handful of characters using it and even fewer characters still having Maximum cards at this point. It also probably prevented them from introducing a few more characters given that pretty much every arc has done that too. I don't know if they'll ever confirm how the breaks at the start of the pandemic affected the storyline or their production, but having three recap episodes in season two, even at the start of the last arc, was pretty telling. I'm sure it did affect the production to some degree.

 

[zoombie]

That is an interesting possibility. I could see it happening given the flashbacks Swirly had involved his siblings being happy little kids and Otes knew about those memories too.


It's hard to say. They had to go on a hiatus twice at the start of the pandemic, which I think was in total about eight to ten weeks. That was close to a full arc, especially for season one where all arcs were thirteen episodes. Sevens isn't particularly story driven, so I don't think it was necessarily a huge loss story wise. It might have prevented them from expanding more on Maximum summoning. I'm sure at least part of that is due to how they were planning on introducing Fusion summoning into Rush Duels too, but it is so weird that they introduced this new summoning method with only a handful of characters using it and even fewer characters still having Maximum cards at this point. It also probably prevented them from introducing a few more characters given that pretty much every arc has done that too. I don't know if they'll ever confirm how the breaks at the start of the pandemic affected the storyline or their production, but having three recap episodes in season two, even at the start of the last arc, was pretty telling. I'm sure it did affect the production to some degree.

Well things are a little rushed with is understandable, and this idea would be an example. If my theory of Otis being the Goha kids father is correct, maybe in a the epilogue Mimi marries him. In this current arc she has been spending a lot of time with the other 5 siblings (especially found her interaction with the youngest one the one that was the villain a couple arcs and lost his memories kind of motherly) and bonded with them a bit. Could all that have been setting something up.

Maybe after mask comes off, love at first sight, and than a wedding.

 

[Light Lucario]

Well things are a little rushed with is understandable, and this idea would be an example. If my theory of Otis being the Goha kids father is correct, maybe in a the epilogue Mimi marries him. In this current arc she has been spending a lot of time with the other 5 siblings (especially found her interaction with the youngest one the one that was the villain a couple arcs and lost his memories kind of motherly) and bonded with them a bit. Could all that have been setting something up.

Maybe after mask comes off, love at first sight, and than a wedding.

Aside from Nail and Asana's duels being mostly off screen, the arc doesn't really feel rushed to me. It just doesn't feel like this was designed to be the last arc, even with the amount of sendoffs for these last few duels.

I don't know if I'd want to see Otes and Mimi married. She is an adult woman, but it would still be kind of weird when she looks like a ten year old and Otes is ridiculously tall. I don't really think that they need her to marry Otes to be more of a motherly figure for the Goha siblings, but I also don't really care much for the Goha siblings in general, so devoting a good chuck of time of the possible epilogue to their family doesn't really do much for me.

 

[Light Lucario]

I thought that this week's episode was pretty good. An old fashion space ship getting them to the moon was unique. The whole concept that it could only be piloted by seven people in sync with each other felt a bit contrived, but Sevens has always emphasized the number seven. I was way more caught off guard by the fact that Romin and Roa actually have parents. They're probably going to remain in off-screen land, but it's so weird that they haven't been mentioned up to this point, especially when Roa has always been alone in his huge apartment. It's even weirder that the adults are all okay with letting kids go into space. Luke and Tiger's great grandfather was at least worried about their safety and Yuga's Mom wanted him to come back safely too, but it just really made this universe feel weirder when going into space is treated more like a field trip for the parents. It also made me wonder where are the adults in this series.

I did like Asana's scene with the Goha siblings. As much as I didn't care for her being stuck in the past conflict, it was nice to see her more relaxed and focused on the future, even when talking to Goha presidents. The Goha siblings confronting Swirly was also interesting. He kept saying swirl, so that might have been a natural speech tic for Swirly even when he was little, much like how one of his brothers keeps saying Tuna all the time. The bug ninjas just leaving feels like a bit of an anticlimactic way to deal with them. Given that this will be at least a two part duel, I don't think that they'll be dealt with.

Honestly, the whole subplot with Swirly feels like it will suffer the most from this being the last arc. After they spent so much time on the whole Yuga is the last Goha sibling red herring and hyped up Swirly once he was revealed, he's kind of just pushed off to the side as they try to restore everyone's memories. They still might be able to do something effective with Swirly, especially when they have been hinting at his own memories returning for awhile, and his siblings leaving Swirly to figure out what road to take might lead to something, but I feel like they really needed to give Swirly at least another arc to flesh him out more and do more with his subplot.

Romin's bad curry pushing the space ship into orbit is so incredibly stupid, but it does fit with Sevens' overall tone. I'm not sure if the fact that they've established how powerfully bad Romin's curry is throughout the series makes this development better or worse. It still isn't the worse gag for Romin, but it was still pretty stupid. Their brief moment of not working together in the spaceship was funny, particularly with Luke trying to open a window to help Yuga. That is also on brand for Luke's stupidity.

The giant Otes robot was a bit of a surprise. Given all of the focus on the robot drones lately, I actually forgot about the Rush Duel Robot itself. The Goha siblings giving them the power to control the parts of the robot was pretty neat. It was a nice callback to the first episode where Yuga had a dream with a similar kind of setup. It was still weird for their space ship to go right into the robot and connect with it though.

The duel itself was pretty good. I actually forgot about Otes creating the Sevens Road archetype. He's been more associated with DM nostalgia archetypes than anything else. Yuga having his friends' ace monsters was a nice touch. It helped to make this feel more like a climactic final duel, along with all of the buildup to their moon trip. It reminded me of Yusei using the Signer Dragons against Z-ONE. Although, a part of me thinks it was done mainly to showcase these monsters one more time since Otes is going to be using more Sevens Road cards. Plus, I'm not sure how well most of those cards really work for Yuga's deck, but it was still a nice touch.

Yuga vs. Otes still isn't quite my ideal setup for a potential last duel of the series, but like I mentioned before, it does give off a full circle vibe. That was the first duel of the series and now it might be the last. Plus, having giant mecha robots dueling in space is so ridiculous that it becomes cool again. A part of me is also hoping/expecting Yuga vs. Luke for the last episode somehow, but that does seem less likely. I doubt that they can make Yuga vs. Otes last for three episodes, but that is possible. Luke remaining undefeated wouldn't make the series worse or make me dislike Luke, but it would be kind of surprising. It's one thing for the protagonist to be undefeated, but Luke is the best friend/rival character of the group. His duels didn't really have anything major on the line to the point where he couldn't afford to lose either. Aside from the tournament match against Yuga, there just wasn't a time where losing would have meant anything for Luke. It just seems like there wouldn't be any point to have Luke keep winning if they weren't planning on Yuga eventually defeating him.