kaiowut99:

(Previously: Episodes 75 and 76 Subbed [Finalized])

(Check out my Subbed!GX Stream Masterpost!)

77: The Four Fearsome Monarchs! Demiurge EMA

Unchosen by Saiou’s little sister Mizuchi to take part in things, Iwamaru seeks to defeat Judai out of desperation.  Just as they’re at a loss due to not knowing Judai by face, they come across the Red dorm’s camp area, where Judai and Iwamaru get on well despite not knowing who the other really is–but just as they try to have a friendly duel, they each realize that the other is someone they don’t like.  With Granmarg the Earth Monarch (ATK/ 2400) as the base, Iwamaru combines the power of the four Monarchs to summon Demiurge EMA, whose ATK rises to 4900…

78: The Mightiest Tag Team?! Judai & Ed (Part 1)

Led by Mizuchi, Judai and Ed enter a virtual space, where an unusual Tag Duel between them begins, Mizuchi using a mirror to call forth a double.  Judai and Ed have their own goals–Judai wanting to save Shou and Kenzan, and Ed wanting to prove that he’s number one–and their teamwork takes a hit.  Sacred Barrier – Mirror Bind endlessly reflects Monsters–much like opposing mirrors–and it destroys Judai and Ed’s Monsters.  And then, there is the Full Moon Mirror on the field, which projects a full moon that slowly and eerily wanes with each Monster destroyed…

79: The Mightiest Tag Team?! Judai & Ed (Part 2)

Judai and Ed’s unusual Tag Duel with Mizuchi continues.  Mizuchi tributes her two Magic Mirror Spirits to summon her invincible Deity of Darkness – Dark God (ATK/ 3000), which can’t be destroyed in battle.  In addition, she reflects it in the opposing mirrors of her Infinite Demon Mirror Field Magic, gathering 10 Dark Gods on her field.  Ed has braced himself for a loss, while Judai still has a burning fighting spirit.  He summons a new Neo-Spacian, Black Panther…

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honoumaru deserved better

And after a bit of a delay in working on these […has it really been four months lol whoops], 77-79 are all finished and finalized! Come along and wrap up our mini-arc in Domino Town with this triple release, as we first meet Iwamaru, desperate to hold onto the power Mizuchi granted him which made him a dueling threat–of course, as Judai points out, what fun is it to take that shortcut over improving your own skills? Then, in 78, Judai and Ed are sent into a digital world (no, not that one), where they’re greeted by Saiou’s little sister Mizuchi, aiming to see which of the two will impact Saiou’s own fate the most; thrown into a Tag Duel together, will Judai and Ed be able to put their remaining differences aside and work together? I did enjoy 78 and 79 for this, as it picks up from the more respectful moment they had after their last duel in 68; Ed sees how Judai’s insistent on there being a way to turn things around, and Judai’s challenged by Ed to think bigger about his strategy.  We’re also told, of course, that Saiou’s currently being manipulated by a force that came from the card Ed’s dad created that he was killed over, which sets off a key plot thread we’ll be following for the rest of the season.

In terms of animation fixes and whatnot, there were… a bunch of errors I picked up and wanted to fix; 77 and 79 had a handful or so that weren’t too bad, but 78, for how nice and detailed the episode looks art/animation-wise, bore the brunt of it, with about 17 of them, lol.  Those along with the aforementioned editing accounted for much of the delay, as I also wanted to preserve the unique preview in 79 that we got of 80 from the TV airing during the “Today’s Best Card Just After This!” scene near the end, which seemed to be cut from episode 80 proper before it aired (and Alice goes on to be totally different from the portrayal there); special thanks to @popflythesky​ for all of their help in editing many of the frames from one of the seven clips in the bit (the panning shot of Misawa as he then turns to see Alice in his window) which I then worked into the footage–you can see more about the process around all that in this post.  Also, special thanks to Hit-hitsu-suji on DeviantArt for the ripped/touched-up Alice card artwork that I used to recreate the card on Misawa’s computer screen and the panning shot on the artwork.  More details on the fixes and all that below the cut, as well, along with a quick Translation Note on Mizuchi’s deck.

(Given recent news, I also want to spend a quick second here on Mr. Kazuki Takahashi’s passing, without whom I wouldn’t be nearly as invested in this franchise, or find such value in it even as a now-32-year-old.  I said more about it here, but suffice it to say, Takahashi’s impact on each of us who found a lot of inspiration in his art and work can’t be understated, and I hope he rests in power and peace knowing what a legacy he’s left behind as his original story led to a massive cultural mainstay.  In a way, it’s kind of bittersweetly nice that my delays on these episodes timed this release the way they have, since this Domino mini-arc was in part inspired by the Yu-Gi-Oh! VS GX movie he had thought about but never worked on; I always wanted more details about how that would’ve gone.  Rest in power, king.)

Enjoy, folks! These should be up on NAC in a day or two.  With these now done, I think I’ll want to do a few double-releases just to make up for a little lost time, though since I did give myself a vacation from work this week for my birthday (this past Sunday 😄), I’ll probably start more dedicated work on 80 and 81 next week. we’ll see if i do something for it It’ll be fun revisiting the Alice duel and definitely the Quiz episode–actually haven’t watched that one in a while, but it was always a favorite, haha.

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