Aoi Zaizen works as a Charisma Duelist under the alias Blue Angel in LINK VRAINS. In order to gain recognition from her brother, Akira Zaizen, she publicly challenged Playmaker to a Duel in LINK VRAINS. However, Playmaker did not respond to her challenge. Instead, the one who appeared before her is Specter, who has disguised as her fan!
This episode contains the following tropes:
- Blatant Lies: Akira, pursued by the media, feigns ignorance that he was responsible for setting up a Duel between GO and Playmaker.
- Cannot Talk to Women: Shoichi and Ai claim this about Yusaku, though it's really more like No Social Skills.
- Cassandra Truth: Playmaker initially refuses to believe that a Knight of Hanoi has once again invaded Link VRAINS, until Ignis reveals that Blue Angel fell under the influence of Hanoi.
- The Corruption: Specter bestows the Dark Angel card on Blue Angel, which also affects the AI on her Duel Disk, in which it responds rudely to Ignis.
- Crazy-Prepared: Yusaku keeps another deck handy just in case other duelists want to look at it and blow his cover as Playmaker.
- Honey Trap: Yusaku attempts to be a platonic version by befriending Aoi, but Aoi is very used to false friends. Naturally, Shoichi and Ai keep teasing him about "talking to girls" and "picking up chicks."
- Never Trust a Trailer: The synopsis makes it sound like Blue Angel is going to fall for Specter's lies. She calls him out on it right away, and he only claims to be a fan as a way of commenting on her skills- ie that he thinks she might be able to defeat Playmaker.
- Right for the Wrong Reasons: Aoi assumes Yusaku wants to get close to her because of her brother. She's right, but she thinks he's trying to get a job or new tech, whereas Yusaku was aiming for espionage.
- Rule of Three: Yusaku's reasons for refusing to Duel Blue Angel:
- His original motivation for approaching Aoi is to get a lead on his stolen memories.
- He only fights Knights of Hanoi.
- Blue Angel is not a Knight of Hanoi.
- Thousand-Yard Stare: Aoi gives a few that are kinda creepy. Only in the real world, of course.
