#now onto Alice in Despairland and quiz duel mania

[kaiowut99]

Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters GX Episodes 77-79 Subbed (Finalized)

(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.

Fixes/Edits! (77)

As Judai summons Sparkman and declares his attack against Mine Golem, he shows up in a split-screen that expands to show him speaking, but as it shrinks after his line, the top of the split-screen starts to shrink a frame earlier than the bottom half.  I fixed this by just holding the frame before in Sony Vegas so that both halves start shrinking together.

After the eyecatch, as Iwamaru summons Granmarg, he talks about activating his Monster Effect, but his mouth is just flapping for the rest of the shot after it’s summoned, out of sync with the pause in between his “I summon Granmarg!” and “Granmarg’s Monster Effect activates!” I fixed this in Vegas by masking his closed mouth over his face when the pause happens, and then again once his second line ends.

After Granmarg destroys Sparkman, as Judai takes damage dropping his LP to 1400, there’s a quick frame just before the LP counter disappears where the “4″ vanishes.  Fixed in Vegas by just masking in the “4″ from the Granmarg ATK counter from scene #2 at just the right color cycle in the counter, vertically repositioning it slightly. 

After Tempester takes Granmarg down and Iwamaru takes damage, he activates Guidance to Ore’s effect to bring out another Granmarg, but there’s a somewhat-repeat of #2 where Iwamaru’s mouth is flapping for his line before he actually says it, causing his lips to stop flapping a second or two before his line ends.  Fixed in Vegas by masking in and repositioning his open mouth flaps over his closed mouth in duration with his line, then doing the same with his closed mouth over his open mouth in line with the pause before his line starts.

After powering up Neos with Flare Scarab through Common Soul’s effect, Judai has Neos attack Demiurge EMA, but there are blank rectangles where Neos and Flare Scarab should be on his Disk as Neos jumps off.  Fixed in AfterEffects by just slapping Neos and Flare Scarab proxies on in their place.

TRANSLATION NOTES! (78 & 79)

Mainly about Mizuchi’s Spirit Monsters, called “Shikigami” in Japanese; shikigami are “beings from Japanese folklore,” the belief for which comes from Onmyōdō, a divination system most recently emphasizing “magic and religious services, such as warding off evil for preventing natural disasters and epidemics and for the productiveness of grain, as well as curses against opponents.” “According to the tradition of Onmyōdō, shikigami are a symbol of the onmyōji's [practitioner’s] power because onmyōji can freely use shikigami with magical powers.” Also, shikigami “are said to be invisible most of the time, but they can be made visible by binding them into small, folded and artfully cut paper manikins.” (This latter part also comes into play with the Spirit/Shikigami Token Mizuchi summons onto Judai’s field in 79.) [Wikipedia: Shikigami | Onmyōdō; a bit more of them here, too.] I decided to opt for the “TCG” translation as “Spirit” (ie, “Silver Spirit Ukyo/Sakyo, Magic Mirror Spirit Nayuta/Asogi”) for simplicity’s sake.

Fixes/Edits! (78)

After Judai and Ed go into the virtual reality building, as Judai demands to know where Shou and Kenzan are, the room suddenly lights up--but as Judai turns to shield his eyes, there’s a quick two-movement-frame (five frames altogether) animation error where Judai’s head’s previous position is sort of glued there as he moves.  Fixed in Photoshop by painting out the leftovers for both movement frames, then throwing them into Vegas to add into the video.

After Judai and Ed see Shou and Kenzan in their new bodies, the shot in which Judai says, “Kenzan! Shou! What’s going on?” starts with Judai’s mouth missing on his face.  Fixed in Vegas by just masking in his closed mouth from a bit later in the shot, since he moves back to his initial position there.

As Mizuchi #1 summons her Silver Spirit Ukyo, there are two movement frames (six frames total) during the slow zoom-out as she places the card on her Disk where her mouth vanishes.  Fixed by first masking in her closed lips from the frame just before, then doing so on the second movement frame and zooming it out slightly as the zoom-out starts.

After Ed summons Diehardguy, as he sets a card to end his turn, Diehardguy is missing on his Disk.  Fixed in AfterEffects by applying a proxy to his Disk’s second Monster Zone on the four movement frames, then slowly zooming it out along with the shot in Vegas.

Immediately after #4, Mizuchi #1 starts her second turn and draws, but the Ukyo on her Disk is reversed with the effect box facing her.  Fixed by first making an Ukyo proxy which I then applied in AfterEffects, first on one frame of the rapid zoom to Mizuchi, then on the other frames as she moves her Disk.  Then in Vegas, I repositioned the former and applied a Gaussian Blur as needed to blend it into the shot.

Shortly after #5, as Mizuchi #1 activates her drawn Mirror Route Magic Card, there’re a quick few frames where Ukyo is missing on her Disk.  Fixed by applying the proxy on her Disk’s fourth Monster Zone in AfterEffects.

After being attacked by Ukyo, as Judai starts his turn with Fusion, there are two frames in which the Featherman on his Disk is in Attack Mode, despite being played in Defense; fixed by first blanking the Zone in Photoshop, then applying a Defense-Mode proxy in AfterEffects.

After Judai uses Elemental Mirage to bring back his E-Heroes, Ed activates his Destiny Mirage out of not wanting Judai to upstage him--so much so that he apparently grows two mouths! Fixed this error in Photoshop for a frame by repainting Ed’s hair, then threw that into Vegas and repositioned it after also recreating the background behind his hair from a later few frames in the scene.

After the two Mizuchis assess Ed’s Doomguy attack against Sakyo, the split-screen they share starts to split, but there’s a quick frame where there isn’t a border around Mizuchi #2′s split.  Fixed in Vegas by just masking and duplicating the one on #1′s split and repositioning it accordingly.

Shortly after #9, Mizuchi #1 draws for her turn, and see she draws Ukyo--even though 1) she already has Ukyo out, and 2) the very next shot is a close-up of her Magic Mirror Spirit Nayuta in her hand, lol.  Made a Nayuta proxy and fixed it in AfterEffects by putting it in Ukyo’s place, masking in her hand on top of it.

After Judai’s hit by Nayuta and starts his turn, he gets ready to play another Fusion, but there’s a double shadow going on with his bottom lip when his mouth is doing a half-open flap, with the top shadow being the one used when his mouth is closed.  Fixed in Photoshop by just covering up the top shadow directly under his mouth for that half-open flap, and then applying it to the video in Vegas.

Hit with the idea to avoid another Mirror Bind hit with Fusion Undone, as he uses it intending to separate Necroid Shaman, 1) there’s a quick frame where the card moves up slightly in Judai’s hand without him moving, and 2) there’s another quick frame where the card’s right border mostly vanishes before coming back the frame after.  Fixed each in Vegas by 1) holding the prior frame’s card in place over the slight jitter, and 2) taking the frame after with the full card and zooming it into place over the frame where said border was slightly missing.

Once Necroid Shaman is split, there’s a rapid zoom-out shot where we see Edgeman on Judai’s field joined by Necrodarkman and Wildman, but their cards on his Disk are orange rectangles.  Fixed in AfterEffects by first applying Necrodarkman and Wildman’s proxies accordingly in the first frame of the shot, which I then took into Vegas and re-zoomed accordingly before holding them in place once the zoom-out ended, masking Wildman’s ATK counter over his card when it comes up.

After both Mizuchis assess Judai’s own merits, Mizuchi #2 starts to declare her turn, but she starts to move in her half of the split-screen a frame before Mizuchi #1′s above her starts to slide out.  Fixed in Vegas by just holding the previous frame so that both splits move simultaneously.

As Ed has Doubleguy attack directly, Mizuchi #2 activates Soul Mirror to bring Ukyo back, but the Ukyo on her Disk is in Attack Mode; we see in the next shot that she summoned it in Defense.  Fixed by first blanking the zone in Photoshop, then applying a Defense-Mode proxy in AfterEffects, which I then zoomed out with the shot in Vegas, masking in the light from Ukyo’s summoning above it.

After Ed notices that the moon is missing, he ends his turn with a face-down card, but his mouth vanishes halfway through his line--once the zoom-out ends as the card shows up on his field--before coming back as he ends his line.  Fixed in Vegas by just masking in his closed mouth over the frames he’s missing his mouth in.

Immediately after #16, Judai asks Ed what he’s worrying about, but there’s a quick frame as Ed starts to slide in on a split-screen where it’s just the background behind him on that split; he appears in the next frame.  Fixed by taking a cue from the recap of this scene in 79 and holding Judai over this first slide-in frame so that the slide-in starts with Ed visible.

As both Mizuchis split-screen about the time now being right for... something, there’s a quick frame where the bottom Mizuchi’s split-screen border is inches away from her.  Fixed in Vegas by first duplicating that border and moving it into place, then masking in the top Mizuchi over the original border to cover it up.

Fixes/Edits! (79)

Reprised fix #16 from 78 over the same clip in 79′s brief recap of 78.

Reprised fix #18 from 78 over the same clip in 79′s brief recap of 78.

As Mizuchi #2 orders her Dark God of Darkness to attack Judai and Ed’s Monsters, the Dark God on her Disk is an orange rectangle; fixed by making a proxy in Photoshop, and then just slapped it on in AfterEffects before she moves her Disk and puts it out of view as the shot zooms out.

As Shou and Kenzan are surprised that Mizuchi #2 isn’t attacking directly, Kenzan’s dino-body seems to glitch out a little as he suddenly has two heads--likely an error with animation/art layers.  Fixed in Vegas surprisingly simply: since this was a shot mostly recycled from earlier when they think Judai and Ed will lose and cry about being a dino and car forever, it meant I could just mask Kenzan’s head and upper body from that shot into this one.  Sometimes, recycled animation helps!

After Ed’s Dashguy offense, the Mizuchis take some damage, but as Judai and Ed are surprised to see that her Dark God is still there, there’s a quick frame where their split-screen starts to split and it’s just the field background behind it; in the very next frame, we see the impact from the attack still going on the Mizuchis’ field.  Fixed in Vegas by just masking away the middle behind their split-screen so that their split-screen would be above a frame of the attack impact.

As the Mizuchis acknowledge that Infinite Demon Mirror will destroy all the Dark God Tokens out upon Dark God’s destruction, Mizuchi #2′s side of their split-screen starts to split away a frame before #1′s does.  Fixed in Vegas by just holding their split over that early-move frame so that they move simultaneously.

As mentioned above/this post/the other posts related to it under my #subbing%20rambling tag, I wanted to preserve the preview clip of episode 80 that played over episode 79′s ending sponsor bit in the TV airing, which was done successfully with @popflythesky’s help! 🙏🏽 As part of that, the DVDRip I’ll be posting on NAC will have the clip as originally aired, just with the middle edited to remove the sponsor text, but for the hardsub, along with that and needing more solid sidebars for the English “Just After This!” text to be placed on, I also translated the text on Misawa’s computer about the Alice card.

#GX #yugioh gx #yugioh #ygo #ygo gx #yu-gi-oh gx #Judai Yuki #Mizuchi Saiou #Iwamaru #Ed Phoenix #poor Honoumaru gets cut for time lol #all in all pretty good mini-arc with how it helps Shou/Kenzan and Judai/Ed's dynamics #shame Mizuchi never duels again her deck was interesting #[pre-Dark God at least] #now onto Alice in Despairland and quiz duel mania #should be fun #[also side-note i think it's neat that Judai's Theme is used nearly identically #for the Black Panther scene in 105's flashback as it is here lol] #my subs