The AL4 Electric Boogaloo arc finally kicks off with an episode that is all about a character that most casual viewers are probably more used to seeing with the G Series cast rather than OG in the form of Koji Ibuki. His was an interesting case as he was originally a villain exclusive to the Manga that migrated into anime canon where his character arc proceeded to change dramatically compared to how the rest of the Manga played out. Thus it's going to take a bit for me (and alot of us) to come to terms with the fact that Ibuki is actually an antagonist right now and will be one for the foreseeable future.
Suiko: (This gives me an idea for a FF.net submission...)
Following the events of last week we see Ibuki mock Aichi and ward off Naoki's attack before apologizing after Misaki called him out. Upon telling this story to Kai and Miwa they reveal that he's someone they knew and their "Vanguard" in the same vein that Aichi is to the rest of the people in Card Capital at the moment (Misaki, Kamui, Naoki, Shingo and so on). We cut back to Ibuki encountering Tetsu and Suiko with the former admitting he's had people watch him closely while he went about defeating all of the low to mid tier players at Fukuhara. We also learn that Ibuki has only recently started playing Vanguard again after quitting a long while ago and furthermore people who fight him lose any interest in the game afterwards. Tetsu throws down the gauntlet and Ibuki agrees to fight him and with this we get to see the official anime debut of Deletors outside of a Movie setting (and that one moment we saw G Ibuki fight Shadow Ibuki during the finale of GZ).
My lord how much would this IMR sell for?
While this is going on we see Suiko manifest a glyph on her forehead that is similar to the one Takuto has which I suspect allows him to see the fight in some capacity. We also have Tetsu going wtf over Ibuki's Eldritch Abominations before a timely cutaway to Kai and Miwa because let's not actually showcase wave 2 Dark Irregulars or how Link Joker will function in the Vanguard Reboot. Admittedly this is a follow up to the beginning of the episode where Kai turned down Morikawa's invitation to participate in the Vanguard Koshien which Miwa pokes fun at him regretting the decision before the subject of Ibuki comes up. Turns out that he was the one that taught the two how to play Vanguard and it was through him that Kai got the Blaster Blade that eventually went to Aichi. The three of them had a grand old time until Kai had to move away and Miwa fell out of contact with the two of them and after hearing from Aichi how Ibuki is acting now there's something not right going on here.
This is not the Gundam I imagined Setsuna becoming.
Tetsu is still creeped out by all these weird alien dudes as he rides to King of Masks, Dantarian whose effects we don't see much of other than some level of field buffing. He makes a charge but Ibuki is able to pull through it (while also showing us that Link Joker's triggers in this set are the generic ones that appeared in Fateful Star Messiah and Sovereign Star Dragon) but Tetsu is less than impressed at what he's been fighting so far. Then Ibuki turns on his PSY-Qualia, rides Docking Deleor, Greion and Deletes Tetsu's Vanguard. Oh god they really did bring back the Delete mechanic and it's in a Force Clan. Takuto is also gobsmacked as how it works is the same as before, the opponent's Vanguard loses all power and it's effects are negated as Ibuki goes on the offensive and flips triggers to blow Tetsu out because why would you no guard a PSY-Qualia user after seeing Ren in action!?
Tetsu obviously loses here to the shock of everyone watching and asks Ibuki wtf is his deck to which he gets a "pfft, I dunno."
Seems legit.
Ibuki says it's thanks to Deletors he can play Vanguard again even though he hates it and leaves while Tetsu comes to the realization that his connection with the cards has been severed much like the people before him.
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