[gashatfreak]

This was...kind of disappointing.

1.) I'm always up for more Gridon and Bravo shenanigans, so I'm glad we get a tiny glimpse as to what happened to them after the series. But the writing was definitely lazy; I wanted to see a more impactful reunion between them instead of the tired cliche of misunderstanding and brief battle before suddenly making up. At least show that the misunderstanding was resolved by having things explained to Oren!

2.) This whole thing was clearly set up as a commercial for the CSM Sengoku Driver, especially the Charmant Set, or perhaps even just to fill out the Charmant Set to make it into a set. This leaves a bit of a bitter taste in my mouth.

3.) Villain was disappointing. So her plan was to spread the Helheim fruit around the world via Jonouchi. Okay, so I get that he's a famous superstar and all but how exactly would people not notice a strange, mysterious unidentified fruit in shipments or something? Especially a fruit that looks suspiciously like one that suddenly appeared during a worldwide plant invasion seven years back? Also, after the first few mutations from people eating the thing, I'm pretty sure people, Jonouchi included (his silliness often makes us forget he's a genius, I mean he IS a tactician), would immediately figure something's wrong. I can poke so many holes in her plans. Also, what on earth is she? Is she even human (I mean, hello, she can control Helheim vines and open Cracks?!?)? Is she part of the next race that our favorite DJ decided to visit? And she didn't explode in the end so is she actually dead? So much story potential here wasted on a semi-glorified commercial. Here's hoping for a Gaim special in the future.

4.) Lychee Arms. I...no. The suit may have grown on me a tiny bit, but emphasis is on the word tiny. It looks nothing like a lychee. They straight up massacred my favorite fruit. Can't they just repaint Durian Arms instead? It's spiky/bumpy (like a lychee), and it could symbolise Jonouchi's growth into Oren's position. At least make an original weapon for it! Lemon Arms got the Lemon Rapier made for it. Come on people, at least make the weapon somewhat remotely lychee-based so it's less bitter of a pill for me to swallow. At least having Hase's spirit hand it to Jonouchi was a nice touch and shows that they truly cared for each other.

The only good thing I got out of this whole thing was Hells Arms. I often thought that not using Helheim Fruits as an armor motif was a huge wasted opportunity, and I'm glad to finally have that here, even if it's just another repaint of Ringo Arms (although I'll admit they did a good job at making it look like a Helheim Fruit!).