Our episode begins with Ren's group approaching Takuto with the intent to fight but that gets sidestepped for a bit as we get some more exposition. Some of it is stuff that we've already heard with the whole "Cray is real" part but Ren like the rest of us watching this season doesn't give a shit and wants to know who Takuto is exactly which leads to them having a Cardfight which if I may add was something that we never got to see in the original. Admittedly Ren probably would have lost that one since Glendios' Omega Locks would have fucked him royally but still I'll give this season credit for showing us matchups we never got to see with the original. More's the pity considering how inferior the writing and look of this show is.
What the hell is with Misaki's face!? She looks derpy not dastardly!
Aichi fills everyone in on what's going on while commenting that he hopes that Ren will become their teammate which Misaki agrees with but Kourin argues that this isn't what he wants but what Takuto wants. Acihi rebuts this by saying she's also Takuto's teammate as well and asks her to work for his sake as well which pisses Naoki straight off while his general attitude creeps out the rest. Misaki tells Aichi that the fight is about to begin and we cut to both players standing up their Vanguards with Takuto debuting a new type of Link Joker archetype: Starhulk (formerly known as Star-Corpse among the playerbase). You thought Omega Glendios was a cheeky final boss deck? This deck literally says "hold my beer" as it's entire gimmick is based on mind fucking your opponent.
The two trade early game blows while Takuto continues to exposition about the Concert Master and the link between Vanguard and Cray with the stuff we've heard before. Cardfights influence the world of Cray itself and all that jazz that led to Shiranui going full psychopath in the original timeline. He adds that the introduction of PSY-Qualia users and their fights have made these infuences much more powerful than usual to the point of throwing the balance of power on Cray out of whack. Tetsu then asks if the former Takuto was the Concert Master then who is this guy that is trying to control fighters as zombies and he gets the answer of "a different Takuto possessing the same body." He goes onto say that like humans riding units in the game that he is riding the person that is Takuto Tatsunagi...which I think is a reference to Diffriding from Vanguard G or maybe it's not a reference at all! While he's saying this there's a totally not ominous looking shadow appearing behind him that makes me thing that the thing possessing Takuto's body is Brandt itself diffriding him. The fight continues as Ren and Takuto both flip heals on the latter's G2 ride while Tetsu can't help but notice that something about the Starhulk units he's seeing is unnatural compared to the other cards he's seen including Ibuki's Deletors.
"MY EDGE IS MAXIMUMER!"
Takuto says that those were his advanced guard and even if Ibuki doesn't realize he is being used as such (last episode however we know that he knows) both he and Zombie Aichi will help him accomplish his goals. Which are what by the way? We're at roughly 4 episodes left in this season and we still don't know what the major antagonist wants to do! He's taking control of fighters and then...profit? Normally these things are established when there's 10 or less episodes left in a season (see the Tower of Hanoi arc from Vrains).
Ren says what Takuto's been doing makes him sick and he rides Phantom Blaster Dragon while shitting out a board and turning on his PSY-Qualia. Takuto PG's his Vanguard attack but Ren uses his plothax to flip double crits for his other unit which manages to land a hit to put the damage to 5-2 in his favour. Takuto isn't bothered by this at all and even remarks that as a PSY-Qualia user that Ren must surely be beloved by his units...which is what will lead to his undoing as he rides his own avatar; Wandering Starhulk Ruler, Brandt.
Eh. Star Corpse sounded cooler.
Brandt has been a card that was the topic of much debate on what he would do in this continuity as his original ability involved reversing trigger effects and something like that was so out there as a concept at the time. Would the new version of Brandt keep this effect or would they go a step further and have him reverse Imaginary Gift effects? Welp the answer is he's kept the Trigger reverse effect which given how Standard Format is so swingy based on Triggers could lead to some nasty shit in the future. In the context of the anime this is also pretty obscene as the main characters are notorious for trigger sacking to win close fights and in this case Ren used his PSY-Qualia to rip a 5th damage heal that under the effects of Brandt dealt him a 6th damage instead. Ren gets blasted by this and even Kai feels it from across the city as Takuto explains what happens while turning our favourite red head into a zombie.
We call that "Nostalgia pandering."
Takuto then goes on to answer my question from earlier and more or less says that now that he has the strongest fighters as zombies (and no more use for the Called Walkers) he can move onto his end goal of having Brandt take over Planet Cray itself much to the shock of everyone.
Okay but what else. You're going to rule the world of the card game itself. That still doesn't actually do anything from the perspective of the real world. There's no actual danger to Earth and unless Cray falling to Brandt has some real world ramifications this is an overall lame plan. The rest of the world literally does not give a shit about all of this!
Anyway Naoki challenges Takuto but he says Aichi will be his opponent instead but changes his mind once Ibuki arrives.
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