Recap: Feline Frenzy

Hello again. Well, it took a bit to not only find out which Yu-Gi-Oh spinoff I was recapping; but also to work on it. My grandfather, as I’ve pointed out before; hasn’t been in the best shape lately, and there’s also Christmas coming as well as me going back to school in early 2017 (not to mention my 25th birthday as well). Nevertheless, I have finally decided to do an episode of my least favorite sequel series they’ve done so far, Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal. While I may not think very highly of GX, I couldn’t really find that many episodes that I could work with for a good recap. This show, however, is almost synonymous with snark bait among myself and others; so I picked an early episode that could help illustrate my feelings on the matter. Let’s open up “Feline Frenzy” and empty out the cat box of this.

We open on the home of Yuma Tsukomo, where his room is being rifled through by a strange woman in cat ears. Let that sentence be an indicator of how insane this is going to get. Christmas, I miss Eartha Kitt.

The next morning, Yuma’s friends Bronk and Tori wonder why he’s gotten better at Duel Monsters lately. Bronk even insinuates that he’s being helped by an unseen force, which Tori doubts. Lady, your sanitation is handled by what’s essentially a bunch of WALL-E knockoffs! How is that hard for you to believe?

Tori also observes that strange things have been happening nonetheless, such as Yuma’s outfit! One day, he came to class dressed like someone from a heavy metal concert! 

Another day, he came in dressed in a sort of Chinese formal wear!

In yet ANOTHER day, he came in wearing a bee costume!

Today, however, he comes in wearing a tiger-print coat and leather pants with no undershirt: just his pendant and uniform tie! You look like you’re going to go all Magic Mike on us!

Even when Tori shows him what he looks like in the mirror, Yuma is surprised by his getup as well; claiming he just “throws on whatever is on the floor and heads out the door!” That just raises further questions! 

Tori then suggests a makeover so he doesn’t “look like a 70s has-been.” I’m getting more of a vibe of “70s porn star,” to be honest. He looks like he’s trying out for Chippendales behind Patrick Swayze and Chris Farley, bless their souls.

So, Yuma and Tori decide to go shopping and freshen up their wardrobe; unaware that someone is watching them! 

The next day, while Yuma tries to meet Tori at the mall; it turns out she’s been kidnapped by cats! What am I doing with my life that I just typed that sentence?

After reading the ransom note, the kidnapper is actually his classmate Catherine, or “Cat” for short. Oy, this whole card game is going to be nothing but fucking cat jokes, isn’t it? 

Naturally, the first two monsters Catherine summons are Stray Cats. Called it!

Yet, it turns out if two or more monsters are summoned of the Stray Cat card, their opponent can’t attack. I can’t verify this because I haven’t played the TCG in a while (I am looking into some new cards soon); but it’s convenient for the story, so I’ll let it slide.

Even though I’m not a big fan of this anime overall; I will at least admit the animation is nice for the most part. This shot of Astral is kind of weird to me, and is kind of breaking model. 

What's wrong with your face?

Though Yuma is able to defeat one of the Stray Cats, Catherine summons Monster Cat in response! Why does it look like a rejected transformation from Altered Beast?

Rise from your grave!

Yet, the insanity doesn’t end there, because the Utopia summon (just go with it) is a field to frolic through! Well, I’ve seen a lot of weird shit this year; but I can say I never expected to see this. 

Through some miraculous plays, Yuma is somehow able to win the duel and rescue his friend, who was just playing with the cats that kidnapped her! At the risk of having my brain melt out of my ears, I think I should probably wrap this up (certain events today haven’t really helped).

So, we close on Catherine deciding to become Yuma’s friend. You know, you could have just asked him that instead of messing up his wardrobe and kidnapping his other friends! You don’t even have Seto Kaiba’s business skills! I can very well see you growing up to be the “Crazy Cat Lady” from The Simpsons! 

“Feline Frenzy” clearly shows that even among the whole weirdness of the Yu-Gi-Oh canon; it can feel like someone slipped me some catnip in my Surge. Even if the animation is slick and colorful; the duels aren’t really that memorable (I didn’t even show you half of the gobbledygook that went on in this card game), and Yuma as a character is a total moron that often goes against Astral’s advice, in stark contrast to the symbiotic relationship Yugi had with his alter ego, the Pharaoh. The series after this, Arc-V, is an improvement in many ways; and I’m somewhat interested in the prospect of the next series as well as the Dark Side of the Dimensions movie next year (I may recap the 2004 movie, Pyramid of Light next year, wasn’t a big fan of it when I was younger).

Due to circumstances beyond my control, I am going to be switching up what I had planned. While I still want to be done by Christmas eve with my recaps; the one of “The Ice Cave” will be on that date instead, and I will be moving up my look at the dub of the Yo-Kai Watch Christmas special. Since the sales of Bony Spirits and Fleshy Souls seem to have stagnated at 80,000 copies in the US as of this writing; I won’t be doing the second movie until they break 100,000, and I don’t see that happening before Christmas. That will be all for now. See you, space cowboy.