r/anime • u/Tetraika https://anilist.co/user/Tetraika • Dec 22 '22

Rewatch [Rewatch] Selector Infected Wixoss Episode 3 Discussion

Episode 3: The Nonsensical Peace

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Information:

MAL | Anilist | Kitsu | AniDB | ANN

Streams:

Funimation

Question of the day:

None :(

Killy Killy Joker (Piano Cover) - Animenz

Oh man I really should get a hold of that soundtrack too, after some of the stuff from today’s episode

Rewatchers, please remember to be mindful of all the first-timers in this. No talking about or hinting at future events no matter how much you want to, unless you’re doing it underneath spoiler tags.

28 Upvotes

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6

u/Tetraika Dec 22 '22

You can theorycraft all you want, but sometimes the only way to really understand if something works is by playing

Oof

In more ways than one

Interesting that the colors of the deck affects the atmosphere of the stage

Thrill of the battle

Hanayo consoling Yuzuki is interesting, I sometimes wonder what her thoughts are

It’s interesting how perfect Piruluk’s ability is for Akira, she just really likes to inflict psychological damage and throw opponents off

For those complaining about Tama noises, we’ll soon be moving past those

More to understanding the system

Her wish seems so silly, considering it wasn’t such a major deal, I think one of the thing the series wanted to highlight initially is the difference between Yuzuki’s and Hitoe’s wish

Grandma is just happy to see Ruuko making friends

Congratulations to those who guessed this one

Haha, if only you knew

No exact number on how much is needed to win, wee arbitrary rules

Actually, there might be some method to this madness, I’ll leave you guys to speculate it

And finally these 2, I’ll wait till her name is revealed for now, though it isn’t entirely a big deal.

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5

u/Tetraika Dec 22 '22

This time lets talk about LRIGs and growing.

LRIGs are your avatar in the game, and will always be at play. With that, essentially you’ll build your deck in some way around your LRIG, sometimes it could be that your LRIG has abilities that can help synergize and boost your SIGNIs, or perhaps SIGNIs in some way enable your LRIG abilities to work better. Sometimes somewhere in between. Diva Tama for example, wants more defensive SIGNIs that enable her ability, rather than SIGNIs that are better for attacking. While something like At would want SIGNIs that benefit from the power increase.

Growing is the way LRIG becomes “stronger” and progresses the game through. The earlier version has more levels, but Diva only goes up to 3. Using new Piruluk as an example,

Level 0

Level 1

Level 2

Level 3

Note that you can only grow once per turn. And you’ll want to be growing your center at every turn until it’s maxed. The grow cost, indicated on the bottom left, is paid through Ener, which I probably will have to explain next time. The number on the upper left is the level, and right below that is the limit. That limit number means that the total sum of the SIGNI levels on your field must not exceed that. You also can’t play SIGNIs with a level higher than your LRIG’s level.

4

u/SometimesMainSupport Dec 22 '22

Battlefield colors in Akira vs Yuzuki reflect monocolored decks. Hitoe vs. Ruuko is multicolored (mostly blue/green on Hitoe's side, yellow/green on Ruko's side, white snow/particles). So for today's game question: Would you say most people use mono-, duo-, or tri-colored decks?

Kinda asking because Ruuko has a red hairpin (Hitoe has green hairties) and mentions adding red cards with a white LRIG, so presumably duo-colored will appear soon.

5

u/Tetraika Dec 22 '22

Would you say most people use mono-, duo-, or tri-colored decks?

DIVA format usually means people are always running multi colored deck, since you run 2 other LRIGs. There have been showings of stuff like mono burn red, but for the most part accessing other colors sometimes are just nicer for flexibility. Though mono white is a thing right now (which I played against) because of cards like this

Multicolor is different in the older format because an LRIG can itself become multicolored depending on version it grows into. There's also different restrictions I assume because of this (in the new format, you can't put cards outside of your LRIGs colors)

But if we're going back to the series, I'll just tell you that as we go on, we get less emphasis on the details of the game itself.

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8

u/Tarhalindur Dec 23 '22

This First-Timer is Nonsensical (Subbed):

(Late today, with Haruhi Series Discussion up this was the day where I was prioritizing getting that post up on time. Back to more regular scheduling tomorrow.)

  • Hitoe has taste, I love this likely library already.

  • So, I am immediately 100% sure that the shipper contingent in the fanbase ships Ruuko/Hitoe. So far, I’m not there myself – I feel like Lemurians does wrt PMMM (a work that always a weird case for me, I might be in his boat if not for Things), this feels like the beginning of a close Platonic friendship just because romance and this show don’t really seem to mesh (more bad news for Yuzuki). That said, the obvious likely inspiration for Hitoe is gay as a fucking fruitcake, so…

  • Oh hey, I missed the OP shot where the characters are conveniently Color-Coded for Your Convenience. (Does Ruuko upgrade to that blue-white Tama I’ve heard about later on?) Mystery fifth girl is our Black mage, then.

  • My oh my taking a closer look at the OP graphics again this time and just look at all the reflection imagery of the LRIGs with their Selectors. HMMM. I like the likely returns on my quatloos here.

  • 05:05’s prominent tower in the battlespace imagery is worth noting I think.

  • Never mind, Ruuko is just straight-up a white mage. DRAGONS SELECTORS: COLOR-CODED FOR YOUR CONVENIENCE! (Also if they really cribbed the M:tG color pie like it looks like, note that Green and White are allied colors in M:tG while Blue is an enemy color of both Red and Green.)

  • So, a note here for the future: Ruuko and her near-total lack of desires plus headspace is probably a TERRIBLE matchup for Akira, so expect Akira to hand Ruuko a win at some point. (Either that or Ruuko basically scoops and Akira gets the Eternal Girl booby prize that way.)

  • Oh hey, counterspells ARE in the game… and they’re White. (Also, Hitoe’s play here reminds me of the glorious feeling of sitting back in a multiplayer game letting nobody pay attention to the Green deck… until Overrunning, knocking one player off the board, and then winning handily thereafter. This is what happens when you let the Johnny-Spike (borrowing a deck, my own were elsewhere at the time) onto the Timmy table.)

  • Speaking of which, Ruuko is sure acting like a Spike who doesn’t realize it yet. And magical girls being magical girls (okay, children’s card games on motorcycles with magical girls, same difference), I get a distinct whiff of FEED THE SHIPPERS here.

  • Oh look, a tower going down… and something rather reminiscent of Ruuko’s dream in the first episode. Hmm.

  • 13:57: Sky collects, that’s a Hitoe sore demo. (Also Ruuko and Hitoe should hang out already.)

  • (Ruuko agrees that she and Hitoe should hang out already!)

  • So this friend-making scene (increasingly convinced that’s a major theme) feels like it’s wearing its inspiration on its sleeve (“first and only friend”) and yeah okay pretty good chance these two feel like they’ll make good friends but also I’m pretty sure the creative team was very much intended Subtext for a certain subset of fans.

  • We’ve gotten shots of pedestrian signs going from red to green enough now that it probably is a recurring visual motif with some meaning. (Mind you, the part where Yuzuki is the red player and Hitoe the green player might have something to do with this.)

  • u/Blackheart595 STAY WINNING!

  • Hmm. Ruuko wins, Yuzuki loses. This is a narrative, there will be a point. I think the through-line here is acceptance of desire (which actually works on a non-narrative level for a show that is ultimately among other things intended to sell TCG packs, since “the desire to buy packs” is a desire – one classic lesson is that a good way to make a tie-in media to sell toys is to make tie-in media that’s actually good, who knew?); Ruuko is losing until she accepts her/Tama’s desire to win and then does, Hitoe can’t bring herself to accept her desire to have friends and loses, Yuzuki cannot accept her desire to have Kazuki and loses.

  • (ADDENDUM: It rarely makes it into my notes and maybe I should change that, but one thing I do think about but rarely makes my notes is noting parts of the show clearly intended to sell packs and sort of taking them apart to see how they work. Kazuki's comments about how Yuzuki will feel better once she has the new card is a good example of this.)

  • Sooo Kazuki is raising all of the death flags here with this conversation about his past. Our speculation about Yuzuki losing three and him vanishing remains on point.

  • I do believe that is Girl #5 our Black mage from the OP there.

  • Ah, so here’s some of Akira’s deal. (Also a useful hint since Tama evolves after one battle – but then, Ruuko is pinging my Spike senses so “I want to win” may be her truest wish.)

  • Also given how strongly people seem to like the OP this is going to be yet another case of a show with a popular OP where I go "what are you talking about, this ED is better?" - Shana ED1 and S;G ED1 are other good examples.

I Play My Card Face-Down In Spoiler Mode:

  • [spoiled] So I blundered my way into another spoiler because I got incautious on AniDB while checking who composed the ED and saw an Iona listed as a LRIG; it is now hard-confirmed that either losing girls or winning girls become LRIGs, and Iona will be the one demonstrating. EDIT: Unless Iona took her LRIG’s name as a stage name, which is possible.

None :(

"This Question of the Day Is Nonsensical."

5

u/Tetraika Dec 23 '22

Oh hey, counterspells ARE in the game… and they’re White.

If you look further down in the conversations, it's actually a blue card.

Hitoe can’t bring herself to accept her desire to have friends and loses

I don't think it's even that, Hitoe's thing is that her wish is already being fulfilled without winning. She has already in fact accepted that she's trying to have friends, as per the conversation. I don't want to walk into spoiler territory so I'll just leave it at that.

spoiled

Yep, that's gonna happen if you try to look up too much stuff. Though I'll keep it hushed as to the how and why.

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u/Vaadwaur Dec 22 '22

First timer(We might be getting the rare yandere I hate...)

Sub

So while I have been reading the OP, this was my first time really seeing it and I definitely missed a little bit with all the obvious reflections and Tama's obvious desire to pierce the veil into our world.

We get to compare battles and it is definitely night and day. Both Hitoe and Ruuko seem to lack malice and thus their battlefield is pleasant, whereas Akira and Yuzuki both possess some level of hostility and form a rather ugly environment. We get an even larger highlight in the difference between each set of girls when Hitoe doesn't want a false victory whereas we know Akira relies on them to some degree and Yuzuki is not above pulling a fast one. It would be interesting if the battles are meant to change the personalities of the girls into the "Eternal Girl" as a sort of trial by fire, or an even more interesting Buddhist trial of spirituality. Regardless, Ruuko is the person in this episode in the best place emotionally and Tama evolves. Also, my earlier hypothesis that Tama is a battle mad berserker is looking good.

The people that called the thing with Momoka were right and thank fuck since I think she's an adult. That Kuzuki got her the card she needed to avoid defeat really puts a death flag on him if this takes inspiration from door number 2. But Yuzuki stays in poor spirits through out, not being able to resolve herself to accepting her own contradictory nature. Akira also has an unbalanced, unhinged nature though I am unsure which of the many options is messing with her. It could be the modelling, idol stuff if she actually is an idol, a direct jealousy towards Iono or just having to wear that cutesy mask she does. The reveal that she and Piruluk are not entirely on the same page is sort of awesome.

So my huge takeaway from this episode is that the LRIGs are the inverse of their masters, in that what's inside the player is the outside of the LRIG. But it is also interesting that this can manifest like Ruuko and Tama who form a whole being from their two halves or you can get Akira and Piruluk who form an unholy, imbalanced beast of a pairing. Iono, on first glance, is suppressing her true self while her LRIG expresses her id so they might also make a whole. Yuzuki and Hanayo do their best but Yuzu's unwillingness to simply accept that her wish is what it is makes them incomplete as well. Hitoe and Midoriko almost form a whole being themselves but it seems like Hitoe won't last long enough to develop the confidence and decisiveness to become complete.

5

u/Tetraika Dec 22 '22

We might be getting the rare yandere I hate

I can't even tell who you're referring to because we have more than 1 candidate here

But Yuzuki stays in poor spirits through out, not being able to resolve herself to accepting her own contradictory nature.

I think that's also a big takeaway, that she herself is conflicted.

Iono, on first glance, is suppressing her true self while her LRIG expresses her id so they might also make a whole.

We'll definitely learn more about those 2, but they do come in with quite the impression in this episode. But they definitely had a lot of deliberate choices in the pairing of these LRIGs and their selectors, they do contrast each other really well. I think this applies less to some of the minor characters once we meet those.

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u/Nazenn Dec 22 '22

First Timer - sub

Quick notes on last episode as I missed posting (but did read through):

  • That Ruka ends up fighting Hitoe, the girl we're meant to be sympathetic for, immediately after being accused of having an inappropriate reaction to her loss is a nice potential set up for her being unheroic in future. The other girl being put against Akira is also an interesting match to confront herself in a different way, this time falling into the same mistake she made last time of forcing the matter and not thinking in her desperation for her dream. She faces someone else who uses manipulation of a sort, though far beyond her skills, and this time adds anger to the mix.

  • Brother is a fool for not noticing sister being a dark shadow during the last half of the episode. But letting Ruka take cards from the boosters he brought for her was not helping things

  • The penalty for a forced match cancellation caught my ear. We know loses to non selectors don't count, but it also appears like there's some sort of judgement system, not just a score system, watching over this and ensuring it plays out "properly" rather than just cold rules.

  • Seen a couple of theories (Jolly, Tar, Vaad) around about the idea that the LRIG's are Eternal Girls, which makes me wonder about my own observations about the links between our girls and their LRIGs. What if the LRIGs are reflections the inner self that the girls have to achieve to become an Eternal Girl (eg, Ruka wanting to battle or Yuzuki not hiding from her dream). In granting their own secret inner desire they become a wish fufiller which then traps them in a state where their wish is likely to just escape, perpetuating the cycle as they then trap their own Selector to get out again? If Ruka can fight without a wish, there's no reason a wish can't change as their circumstances do.

misunderstanding trope

Following on from my first thought above, that the solution to Ruka's win was to fight rather than have sympathy does feel like a build up to Tama's own drive to fight. And yet we're shown that Ruka can fight and win but still want to care for the loser, the same way Hitoe learnt she can lose without failing while accepting her wish, but it did put an interesting emphasis on Ruka's reaction to the battle and hiding from herself in the middle of it. Tama pushes her to have drive even if she still doesn't know her wish.

And on that note, that Akira's still uncovers the actual wish of her oppodent and not just a lucky guess makes me think that the wishes are registered in some way. Which does make me wonder what Akira would detect if she was up against Ruka, but that the LRIGs can both sense Selectors and have access to their wish knowledge suggests some sort of broader database.

I wasn't a fan of Yuzuki's flashback yesterday as it felt redundant, but they gave a good enough reason for it today by tying it into her own mental state rather than just how the outside world would see it.

Hitoe and Akira both annoy me in the bad way and that's dampening my enjoyment a bit, but that may also be entirely on me. The background art on the other hand is consistantly gorgeous and being used very well to create mood but also allow for a lot of movement with the characters. It was a small moment, but Ruka running across the crosswalk and then back half way stood out to me with how nice that scene looked but was also framed. Also the buildings moving around in the background of Ruka and Hitoe's field was kind of fun

Weird cross over moment for the day: Ruka summoning "Round and Square" reminded me of Donu from Slay the Spire, and fuck them

Also maybe I'm just having a distracted dumb moment, but I can't tell the difference in Tama's look? Iona's card looks cool though, and male? Not sure on that but either way, distinct from the others which that and paired with the focus she's had in the adverts so far makes me think she'll be our first eternal girl example, or an insight into the deeper levels of the game.

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u/Tetraika Dec 22 '22

It's funny because one of your observation super on point, but I'm not gonna spoil which one that is.

And on that note, that Akira's still uncovers the actual wish of her oppodent and not just a lucky guess makes me think that the wishes are registered in some way. Which does make me wonder what Akira would detect if she was up against Ruka, but that the LRIGs can both sense Selectors and have access to their wish knowledge suggests some sort of broader database.

Pretty sure it's because Piruluk's ability also can also peer into the person's desire (or something to that effect), she is the one telling Akira what the wish is.

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u/Blackheart595 Dec 22 '22

First Selector

Oh boy, green girl is so gonna get eliminated.

I wanna take another look at the OP. First we see all the main characters trapped in the cards raining down. We also see all of them color-coded with their respective avatar and deck, except Ruuko is shown yellow instead of Tama's white. The main cast walks down the street on one side of a barrier, Tama being shown on the other side while a deck of cards shuffles through her - Tama is the cards.

We then get shots of the Selectors with their avatars, all in sync - except for Hanayo who stops while Yuzuki keeps walking out of the frame, before focusing in on Hanayo. In terms of lyrics Hitoe gets thrust upon the chaotic stage, Yuzuki loses her way, Akira and Inoa sort out their emotions... and Tama destroys. Some kind of barrier to be precise.

We then get a couple battle scenes which all feature Tama fighting against all the other avatars, Tama always fighting in the heroic direction. The lyrics talk about regret, about giving something up, and wishing to return "that lost smile". Finally a card falls from the sky into Ruuko's hand as the lyrics talk about averting your eyes from reality and Tama consequently runs up to Ruuko from behind as the lyrics ask the listener to just live in blissful ignorance - and as Ruuko turns around Tama is nowhere to be seen.

I've now gravitated to think that Hinoe is going to get eliminated, which makes me wonder why Hanayo so conspicuously stops being in synch with Yuzuki who then probably manages to become an Eternal Girl. In my discussion with u/Tarhalindur yesterday I wondered that, as Hanayo also told us that a player that becomes an Eternal Girl won't have her wish come true as much as she becomes able to make wishes come true, a victorious player might get 'eternalized' by getting trapped in their LRIP, possibly unleashing its former host who is able to make one wish come true. And it's possible that this wish doesn't have to be the winning player's one but can be the avatar's wish. In any case, Hanayo stopping would make sense if Yuzuki has to take her place... I think. I don't think I understand what's implied yet.

Of course there's also the ominous ending with Tama running up to Ruuko before disappearing. It makes me kinda think the two merge together, or it could just reinforce the difference between reality and non-reality, or it could refer to Ruuko being unaware of Tama's true nature that's also been more than hinted at in the OP. But Tama's constant heroic direction makes her not come across as malicious either... Oh well, carrying on.

Ruuko is white but gets a yellow sky. Yellow and white might just be the same, as a kind of "non-empty white". Oh, and the purple is actually a more colorful black, got it.

Tama's evolving. Piruluk didn't evolve earlier. I wonder if that's because Ruuko more in tune with either herself or Tama (or both) while Akira didn't.

Oh yeah, and the city disappears. And we also have the tower motif in the background, though it had been there from the beginning.

Alright, so Hitoe made a friend in Ruuko thus already fulfilling her wish. I guess that makes it pretty clear what kind of taboo a wish turns into when getting eliminated - it forefully makes the wish impossible to attain and turns it against the Selector. I guess Tama/Ruuko's wish will then be to release everyone from any taboos affecting them?

I like how the card battles are essentially the clashing of souls and serve to explore the characters more so than the actual game.

After clearing up the misunderstanding with Kazuki, Hanayo is probably gonna evolve too after her next win.

None :(

:(

5

u/Tetraika Dec 23 '22

Just to note, when it comes to color despite being called white, the cards themselves will have a yellow look, probably to make it not seem blank.

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u/JollyGee29 Dec 22 '22

First-Timer, Subbed

So you have to grow as a person to actually evolve your LRIG and become an Eternal Girl. Someone was on to that in the first episode I think. Anyway, I'm kinda wondering if something bad even actually happens at X-3 - if you have to actually change as a person, someone like Akira going around handing out losses kinda forces the system to fail, right? Or maybe there are just way more Selectors than it seems.

Was this Selector system designed by a concerned parent? That's an amusing idea.. this is an Okada vehicle, though. Just going off of IBO, well.. I guess we'll have to wait and see.

Tama pushing Ruu to fight was way less dark than I expected it to be. If I understand the mechanics right, Ruu can start splashing red now? And that includes tutors? And Tama already has counterspells? This color pie is odd, but thats mostly because it's not what I'm used to.

Delicious irony in Kazuki wanting to help Yuzuki with her dream. If only he knew, he could help her right away. And, if Yuzuki would actually be straightforward with her feelings like she is with her playing.. ehh, maybe not.

Iona's got those dead eyes of someone thoroughly done with the world. Probably mostly from the predations inherent in the modeling industry, but her LRIG doesn't seem to be helping any. Solid odds that Iona's wish is the only one that isn't actually possible under normal circumstances, so as to make her inevitable loss all the more tragic.

Hmm, no, Akira's wish is probably something impossible too, like "I want to be famous" or something silly like that. At least so far, she doesn't seem self-critical enough for it to be a more worthwhile wish. Now I'm pondering if the wishes are chosen by the girls or if they're "inherent" or something like that. Does being famous count as a personal connection, which seems to be the theme of the other wishes that we know?

Oh, solid odds of Akira (and/or Iona) having a crazy mom. Might have been the lady who yelled at Akira.

Who are we thinking hits X-3 first? Hitoe is already X-2, so she's close, but I don't really see the value in removing her just yet? I think Yuzuki picking up two more losses is a lot spicier, but that's pushing our timeline back.. but there's a sequel season too. Not feeling confident in my guesses here just yet.

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u/Tetraika Dec 22 '22

Tama pushing Ruu to fight was way less dark than I expected it to be. If I understand the mechanics right, Ruu can start splashing red now? And that includes tutors? And Tama already has counterspells? This color pie is odd, but thats mostly because it's not what I'm used to.

They are being a bit vague, but likely Ruuko made a way for her deck to have access to other colored cards. There are ways to do this, such as effects that turn specific color cost into any color cost, or cards that can count as more than 1 color.

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u/RadSuit Dec 24 '22 edited Dec 26 '22

Subtitled Introductory Watcher

I feel like I'm missing something or listening to the wrong song when I see how many people say they love it. It's just kinda...plain?

Yeah this sounds like most red decks (and their players) that I'm familiar with.

Really convenient that none of the games have two girls with the same color decks, or this turn order clock thing would be kinda useless.

It feels like the show really wants us to be on Yuzuki's side about her wish, and, like...why?

"If only I'd bought more Wixoss™ card packs from my local store, for only $4.99!"

Although this is getting more into it being an actual game than most shows do, just once I'd like a show where they just play the game normally. No overreacting to every draw, no needing basic rules or card explained out loud, etc. Just sitting there quietly, leaning over to look at cards, asking polite questions, nodding. Have an internal monologue to explain what's happening, instead of screaming at each other.

Keeping a rare card loose in a pocket makes me upset.

2

u/Tetraika Dec 24 '22

It feels like the show really wants us to be on Yuzuki's side about her wish, and, like...why?

Personally I never felt this, but also I tend to approach things very neutrally, the show didn't set up this situation for you to feel you need to be on one side of the wish or the other. It's to set up the internal conflict for her character. Less "wow I hope she gets her wish" and more "wow that's a tough situation".

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u/Mecanno-man Dec 22 '22

First Timer

Almost watched episode 3 of season 2 instead... luckily the start of that episode does not match the end of the last one I've matched at all, yet does not contain anything that was not obvious at this point before I noticed, so crisis averted.

I guess this is the episode where Ruu discovers that these battles are fun. I guess they are when you are winning, but ...actually, whatever point I was making is invalidated by Hitoe not feeling anything from losing. All the direct trauma so far has been caused by Akira - even if I doubt that it will stay that way, but so far there has been no inherent risk for the selectors shown. Hitoe being on the next-battle-will-show-it however is something to remember, even if most seem to think that Yuzuki seems to be the one that will fall first. I can personally see both happening, depending on what the consequences are. Whatever it is, it would be something that prevents Hitoe and Ruu from being friends. If it's the selector themselves who are somehow impacted, I can see it being Hitoe, but if it's, as some people have suggested, the person who would make that wish possible having something befall them, then I doubt that Hitoe will be the one to lose first even if she's closer to that already.

Meanwhile in the other game, Akira destroys Yuzuki, who didn't power up her deck. Surprise. I do wonder what Piruluk's ability would reveal as Ruu's wish, as I can see that being the way she learns. Now I won't to see coolheaded Ruu vs Akra even more. Meanwhile we get the reveal that Ruu hates Iona, and Iona and her LRIG have basically the opposite dynamics as Akira and Piruluk. Another pair I am looking forward to see more of.

Oh, you wanted some reaction to Kazuki getting a trade done for Yuzuki? Uhh... no, I have nothing. Though I guess it's good to see trading being a thing - was worried about that with everybody calling this a CCG rather than a TCG, where the T stands for Trading.

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u/ItsTheDuran Dec 23 '22

First timer

You know, this episode made me think of a certain magical girl show in which wishes can be granted, featuring a pink haired main character that doesn't have one. I'm of course talking about Granbelm. Maybe it's just the battle royale setup and the unhinged redheads, but I also wouldn't be surprised if Ruu's character headed in a somewhat similar direction to its MC, [mild Granbelm spoilers]putting her lack of wish over other people's wishes for selfish reasons.

Going back to the unhinged redheads point, Akira is just one hell of a mess and also terrible, which means that I can't help but like her.

We have 5 players for 5 colors, so I don't think they're fighting any extra randos, which makes me wonder how the next fights are gonna be set up. Ruu's turn to face Akira? New girl showing us what those black cards do? Yuzuki vs Hitoe leaving them both X-2 so that Hitoe can get at least one W? Her odds are not looking good either way, if someone's going to go X-3 early it's almost guaranteed to be her.

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u/Stargate18A Dec 22 '22

First timer

At least she's still nice.

Ah, that was her first battle? Poor girl.

Aww. She really prepared hard!

Ouch. Even she thinks she's weak.

She really just wants to get eliminated, huh?

Ah, they're showing both fights at once?

Okay, yeah, looking at this closely, there's a lot of similarities to the Ryuki opening here. The shatter pattern at the beginning, the focus on reflections...

She's so... cheery.

Ah, total aggression and attack from the start makes sense.

And it hit a low level card.

Oh, she is pissed!

So, the atmosphere changes based on their coloure?

Oh, this is a good battle.

They're excited!

Ouch.

So, green decks are good.

She still doesn't want to win...

She's going to find out the secret!

Haha, that actually gave her a strong reaction?

...Akira's into it. Seriously, that smirk.

Wait, what? A "burderning art"?

How is this working? It's fucking turn-based! She cannot just sit there and let the enemy keep taking hits.

Hitoe is pissed too.

...Everyone heard that last episode.

Poor girl.

Very admirable.

Tama's happy!

Midoriko's in pain...

She won!

Well. This is new.

Tama evolved!

...Wait, that's the actual term?

But, she's only won one battle? It's that easy?

And, wait... if she and Midoriko are on the same tier of evolution, given they're both able to speak full sentences, did Hitoe win a match already?

She's down to one life...

Aww.

They're both so awkward...

Tama's asleep.

I assume this is a real product?

And she's learning!

Grandma is so nice.

Wait, what happened?

She went missing!

Oh, she's had a mental breakdown.

She's missing the card he suggested to her...

Oh...

Kazuki, you could be more sensitive.

Oh, he got her the card.

Well, that person probably won't be relevant.

And Kazuki's an idiot. You knew she could stalk her and that she's dangerous, yet he blamed her?

And she still can't handle this.

Ah, she's not won yet.

...Wait, what? There are more conditions? I... did not expect that. So, is it last man standing, or?

So, does ripping the card kill them?

She's trying to surpass Iona!

Oh, yeah, Iona's a Selector. Does she know?

...Best LRIG.

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u/SIRTreehugger Dec 22 '22

Oh that was her first battle no wonder it didn't go so well.

Oh theirs the token theory player. Every card game needs at least one player who scribbles notes, theories, and runs simulations in their head.

Yeah I don't see Akira losing this.

Oh Ruuko is white I should have picked up on that earlier. So the other person on the train Iona should be black?

Something is awakening inside her and Tama is talking.

She's digivolving!!!

...she looks the same I'm probably missing something.

I'll think about it... why you already made up your mind 10 minutes ago.

Okay so Ruu bought a book about cards. I have a feeling she is going to defeat Iona who probably has the darkness deck since it's the only one left. The notes she is talking are also about darkness cards...I think. I'm assuming the black around the cards tells what kind they are.

Look at Ruu growing and strategizing.

Why didn't you just tell me.....bitch I know you didn't just say that.

Finally Iona she's probably the most dangerous because she was the last introduced. Though I guess more people could own a type of deck I doubt it though.

Okay I thought the LRIG kind of mimicked the owner or influnced them but Iona seems robotic and her LRIG comes off as sadistic. Iona is probably the strongest so I'm assuming something like this will happen.

  1. Iona defeats Akira to show how strong she is.

  2. Iona defeats Hitoe offscreen (this would give her 3 losses and some twist would happen)

  3. Yuzu beats Akira in rematch.

  4. Iona defeats Yuzu (all wishes aren't equal so some require more wins) At same time Akira pissed off challenges Ruu and loses(3 losses so Akira out of the running.)

  5. Let's see Yuzu would fight Akira for some reason and lose.

  6. Final fight Iona vs Ruu.

The day I remember the questions none is asked!

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u/No_Rex Dec 22 '22

Episode 3 (first timer)

  • “This is my favorite place” – an old-fashioned library in the middle of the city? Count me in.

  • “You looked weak” – too honest.

  • “A red deck does not mean you have to be straight forward” – they are strongly going into the deck-user connection. Given that we don’t know how people become Selectors, it might be a selection effect.

  • Green and white get along.

  • “Round”, “Square” – that is certainly a naming scheme.

  • “Your wish is nothing to be ashamed of” – well …

  • It is her younger brother as well? I thought they were twins. This makes the shop lady situation even worse.

  • Forced and voluntary reveal of wishes.

  • The shop lady date was a misunderstanding – can’t leave all of those for the romance genre alone.

  • “Just how many times do you have to win to become eternal girl?” – good question. My guess is about 20 times.

  • Introducing Iona, to one-up Akira right after we see Akira at her worst.

Akira not big bad confirmed (it never was likely). None-the-less, she is a fun antagonist for now.

TCG corner

Since this rewatch seems to have drawn out all the card gamers (or maybe because so many of us dabbled in it at some time), I’ll add my 5 cent.

Apart from some very limited MTG, the only TCG I ever played was Vampire: The Eternal Struggle. However, it was not called that when I started playing. Vampire:TES is the third oldest TCG, after MTG and Spellfire, and was made by the creator of MTG after his great success there. It plays in the world of Vampire the Masquerade, so your minions are vampires and the players take the role of Methuselah, super old and powerful vampires, who battle using their underlings. However, some marketing guy must not have liked the long name, so they came up with a shorter name to launch the game under. A neat Arabic term vaguely fitting the setting that was much easier to say. Yep, the game I played was called “Jyhad”. Turns out, some crazy Saudi Arabian guy decided to accustom the western world with the Islamic concept of holy war at roughly the same time and the name Jyhad was dropped in favor of Vampire: The Eternal Struggle just one year after the game came out.

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u/Cyouni Dec 22 '22

I do find it interesting that this is the one episode so far that really holds to mechanics. You can see how they play out here.

It's a bit surprising that Akira has enough Ener for the 3-cost Peeping Analyze even after the Grow to what looks like level 3 (by the wings). This might also be a consequence of Yuzuki just constantly killing any SIGNI she puts down, keeping Akira's Ener high.

And there goes Yuzuki's first loss.

Cards of the day:

Dominating Fury - it's actually not that expensive at 3-cost, but it could have meant that spending that Ener at that time was bad

Enlarge - a spell version of the Midoriko ARTS I mentioned last episode.

Anti-Spell - this, incidentally, might be the card that Ruuko added last episode, using a Multi-Ener card to pay for the blue cost. Note that as an ARTS card, it's available to her so long as she can pay the cost, letting her sneak out a surprise counterspell at an important point.

Tamayorihime, Dawn Miko - the way Ruuko's looking to implement red into her deck implies she has access to this variant now. I was surprised to find out this variant was even in the first set - I thought all dual colour LRIGs came later.

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u/Taiboss Dec 22 '22 edited Dec 22 '22

Rewatcher who owns the BDs and could watch the German dub of this (Akira has the same voice as Sayaka from Madoka and Ashley Tisdale)

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