"The Profiler", known as "Disclosed Past: The Duel Profiler VS The Black Rose Witch" in the Japanese version, is the twenty-second episode of Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's. It first aired in Japan on August 27, 2008.
The second round of the finals pits Akiza Izinski against Commander Koda. Koda begins his strategy of tormenting Akiza with her record of the past 16 years, in which flashbacks of Akiza's life are shown.
Summary
Prior to the Duel
After Greiger's attempted assault on Rex Goodwin, Goodwin hides his hand behind his back and produces a number of monitors throughout the stadium. He appears on the monitors and ensures the audience that as director of the Public Security Maintenance Bureau, it is his duty to protect them, even if it means his life.
The crowd cheers. Sayer, who stands in the crowd, slightly impressed, notes that Goodwin has just smooth talked his way into calming the situation.
As the security takes Greiger away, he turns to Yusei telling him he must carry out his mission.
Amongst towers of books, Commander Koda looks up details on Akiza on a computer. He holds up his Deck, telling Lazar that all the information on Akiza from the last sixteen years has been compiled into these forty cards. He says that he will expose what they want, and when he does he'll want five times his pay.
Meanwhile in Goodwin's box room, Goodwin asks Jack if he is surprised about his mechanical hand. And tells him that he had lost his arm in an accident.
As Akiza stares at the Black Rose Witch mask, Sayer asks her if she is afraid. Akiza replies that she is going to hurt people again. Sayer places his hand on her shoulder and tells her not to be afraid, she is the future of psychic duelists. He reminds her that he had told her she would part with the mask when she realized her pride and mission. He takes the mask from her, telling her to proudly show her beautiful face and let them know of her existence.
The Duel
The MC calls out the players for the second semi-final. First out is the Duel Entrepreneur, Commander Koda. He declares Akiza as the person whose impact from the first round is still fresh in mind, the Black Rose Witch, Akiza.
Most of the crowd are uneasy with her present. Yanagi on the other hand, infatuated with her powers, says that he'd like to be friends with the witch. Meanwhile Yusei and Tanner, who are in a garage as Yusei works away at his Duel Runner, observe the Duel on a monitor. Tanner asks Yusei what he thinks of the witch. Yusei replies that the Duel will tell.
Akiza goes first and Summons "Violet Witch". Next she activates "Black Garden", engulfing the arena in thorns and roses. Koda accuses her of hiding away in her world. Akiza pauses and ignores him as she sets a card and ends her turn.
As Koda begins his turn he says that he knows why she plays "Black Garden". She wishes to be able to make friends, but this is the attitude her friends and family took. Koda Sets a card in the Spell & Trap Card Zone and ends his turn. He says that the card symbolizes all the people Akiza has met before. He continues that no one wants to be friends with a witch. Akiza stands still, seemingly unaffected by his words. Koda promptly points to her eyes, saying that everyone is afraid of those unwavering eyes that gaze hard at others.
Goodwin is impressed with how the Duel is progressing. He and Lazar explain the nature of Koda's Duels to Jack. He composes his Deck based on studies of his opponent.
Akiza attacks Koda directly with "Violet Witch". The MC points out that as expected the assault has, in reality, also harmed Koda. Koda declares that once again Akiza has hurt others through dueling and calls her a Psychic Duelist. This sparks a reaction from Akiza. Koda continues that three years ago, on May 15, she hurt a classmate using the same card. That was the first instance where she used her powers - at a Duel Academy (in the dub, the classmate is changed to Koda himself, and the Duel Academy that Akiza attended is changed to the one from Yu-Gi-Oh! GX). Since then she was feared by everyone and began to drift away from them. Just like his face-down card. Akiza is surprised and wonders how he could've know about the incident. Koda accuses her powers of being sinful and in need of punishment. he then reveals his face-down card, "Crime and Punishment", which destroys "Violet Witch". Akiza uses its effect to add "Phoenixian Cluster Amaryllis" to her hand. Koda deems this to be another card rich in significance to the past sixteen years. Using the effect of "Crime and Punishment", he Summons "Agent of Hatred" in Defense Position. "Black Garden" halves its ATK and Special Summons a "Rose Token" to Akiza's side of the field. Koda uses the effect of "Agent of Hatred" to regain the LP he lost.
Young Akiza's accident.
Akiza Summons "Phoenixian Seed". "Black Garden" halves its ATK and Special Summons a "Rose Token" to Koda's side of the field. Following this she activates "Rose Flame", inflicting 500 damage to Koda. Koda falls to one knee. His clothes are now slightly tattered from the damage he's been taking. As he gets up, he asks if they are re-enacting the incident from when she was five, the same day she first won a Duel. A flashback shows young Akiza dueling someone, who gets flung into a wall. Young Akiza stands surprised at the situation, with her dragon birthmark glowing. Koda claims, the thrill of winning for the first time awakened the powers which had lied subconsciously within her. Akiza, now slightly distressed, points out that her powers do more than damage that which is around her. They damage people's hearts. And yet they continue to increase. A she speaks flashbacks of her at the Duel Academy are shown.
Before Koda begins his next turn, he calls her a monster and says this world is for humans. Koda plays "Mind Monster", selecting "Black Rose Dragon". "Mind Monster" produces a lump of slime on Kodo's side of the field. The crowd start to utter amongst themselves about his choice. The Slime takes on the form of "Black Rose Dragon", which fires a blast at Akiza. The crowd are pleased to see her take damage. Koda changes his "Rose Token" to Defense Position and ends his turn.
Akiza in her earlier days as the Black Rose Witch.
Akiza draws "Rose Curse". She stares at it thinking to herself, "Even if the wounds on ones body heal, the wounds on their mind will never fade away". Flashbacks show her in a Black Rose Witch attire, with many people running in fear from her. She turns pain into power, she thinks to herself. Still in the flashback, she takes the mask off, before Sayer offers her his hand. He was the man who taught her this. Sayer says that he is from the Arcadia Movement. While it is in no comparison to hers, he has similar powers. Koda snaps her back into reality, asking her what's wrong, doesn't the Arcadia Movement have their hopes in her power.
Lazar notes that he has finally brought Arcadia Movement into this. He describes this organization as a utopia for psychic duelists, fragile monsters that have been organizing actions and rallies in secret.
Akiza announces that she has come here for those who believe in her. She has a power that they need. She sends "Phoenixian Seed" to the Graveyard to Summon "Phoenixian Cluster Amaryllis". "Black Garden" halves its ATK and Summons another "Rose Token" to Koda's field, causing Koda to take another 500 damage from "Rose Flame". "Phoenixian Cluster Amaryllis" attacks the "Rose Token". "Phoenixian Cluster Amaryllis" gets destroyed from its own effect and inflicts 800 damage to Koda, who falls to the ground. The effect of "Agent of Hatred" effect allows Koda to regain some of the LP he just lost. Koda begins to stand up, badly beaten from the attacks. He feels that she is trying to take his life. If his LP hit 0, payment will be the least of his worries. This isn't worth his life, he thinks. Akiza Sets a card and ends her turn. "Phoenixian Cluster Amaryllis" returns to her field, with "Black Garden" halving its ATK and Summoning another Token to Kodo's side of the field, and "Rose Flame" inflicts another 500 damage to Koda.
Koda begins to fear for his life.
Koda Tributes his three Tokens to Special Summon "Mad Profiler", whose ATK gets halved from "Black Garden". A "Rose Token" is Summoned to Akiza's side. Koda begins to fear for his life. The job and money are no longer important to him. He just needs to win and get out quickly. He uses the effect of "Mad Profiler", discarding "Reload" to remove "Black Garden" from play. Its ATK returns to normal. Next he discards "Mind on Air" to remove "Phoenixian Cluster Amaryllis" from play. "Mad Profiler" attacks the Attack Position "Rose Token", but it's not destroyed, however Akiza still takes damage from the attack. The crowd begin to cheer. Koda equips it with "Destruction Insurance". Tanner notes that this means if "Mad Profiler" gets destroyed, Akiza's LP will hit 0 as she will take damage equal to half the ATK of "Mad Profiler". Koda next equips it with "Lightlow Protection". Tanner explains that card's effect to Yusei and that Koda is doing this in response to that monster, "Black Rose Dragon".
Akiza's hair curler falls, leaving her bangs trailing over her face and a menacing aura emanating from her.
Akiza Summons "Twilight Rose Knight" and tunes it with her two "Rose Tokens" to Synchro Summon "Black Rose Dragon". Yusei's arm begins to ache in response to the appearance of the dragon. The audience are slightly scared, but Koda calls Akiza to bring it on, he'll turn the tables. He than calls Akiza a monster, who has been abandoned by her parents. With Akiza greatly upset by this the pin falls from her hair causing long bangs to flow in front of her face, in a similar manner to when she is the Black Rose Witch. Akiza vows that he will not get away with trampling on the feelings of others. Koda sneers and points out that with his Equip Spells and "Hate Agent", he cannot lose.
Akiza activates the effect "Black Rose Dragon", removing "Phoenixian Seed" from play to reduce the ATK of "Mad Profiler" to 0. Koda uses the effect of "Lightlow Protection" to destroy "Black Rose Dragon". Akiza's dragon birthmark begins to glow, confirming her to be a Signer. Lazar points out that Koda has performed his duty after all. Akiza then plays "Rose Curse", explaining how the card works and the damage that Koda will take. She then lets out "Sic him". Rose petals speedily fly around Koda, ripping chunks out of the ground as they do so.
After the petals clear, Koda is left lying in a hole, left as a result of the torn concrete. The MC calls out that an emergency squad is needed there and that Akiza will be in the finals.
Aftermath
Impresed with Akiza's performance, Sayer feels the finals will truly test her powers and since her Duel is against Yusei, she must keep her guard up.
Tanner asks Yusei what he made of Akiza's card. Yusei feels there is rejection and anger in Akiza, but there's still something else lying dormant.
Featured Duel: Akiza Izinski vs. Commander Koda
Turn 1: Akiza
Akiza draws "Violet Witch" and subsequently Normal Summons it (1100/1200) in Attack Position. She then activates "Black Garden". As long as this card is face-up, any monster that is summoned through something other than the effect of "Black Garden" will have its ATK halved while "Black Garden" is face-up and then a Rose Token will be summoned onto the controller's opponent's side of the field in Attack Position. Akiza Sets a card.
Turn 2: Koda
Koda draws a card and subsequently sets it.
Turn 3: Akiza
Akiza draws. "Violet Witch" attacks directly (Koda 4000 → 2900). Koda activates his face-down "Crime and Punishment" to destroy "Violet Witch". Akiza activates the effect of "Violet Witch" to add "Phoenixian Cluster Amaryllis" from her Deck to her hand. Akiza's hand is shown to contain "Doppelganger", "Vengeful Servant", and "Seed of Deception".
At the end of Akiza's Battle Phase, Koda activates the second effect of "Crime and Punishment" to Special Summon "Agent of Hatred" (0/0) in Defense Position. "Black Garden" then Special Summons a Rose Token to Akiza's side of the field (800/800) in Attack Position. Koda then activates the effect of "Agent of Hatred" to increase his LP by the damage he took from the direct attack made by "Violet Witch" (Koda 2900 → 4000).
Akiza Normal Summons "Phoenixian Seed" (800 → 400/0) in Defense Position. "Black Garden" then Special Summons a "Rose Token" to Koda's side of the field (800/800) in Attack Position. Akiza then activates her face-down "Rose Flame", which inflicts 500 damage to Koda due to a Plant-Type monster being Special Summoned to Koda's side of the field (Koda 4000 → 3500).
Turn 4: Koda
Koda draws. He then activates "Mind Monster" and declares "Black Rose Dragon" for its effect. Since "Black Rose Dragon" is in Akiza's Extra Deck, Akiza takes damage equal to half the ATK of "Black Rose Dragon" (Akiza 4000 → 2800). Koda switches his "Rose Token" to Defense Position.
Turn 5: Akiza
Akiza draws "Rose Curse". She then activates the effect of "Phoenixian Seed" to send it to the Graveyard and Special Summon "Phoenixian Cluster Amaryllis" from her hand (2200 → 1100/0) in Attack Position. "Black Garden" then Special Summons a "Rose Token" (800/800) to Koda's side of the field in Attack Position. The effect of "Rose Flame" then activates (Koda 3500 → 3000).
"Phoenixian Cluster Amaryllis" attacks the newly summoned "Rose Token", but the token is not destroyed as "Rose Tokens" can't be destroyed in battle (Koda 3000 → 2700). "Phoenixian Cluster Amaryllis" is destroyed and sent to the Graveyard after damage calculation due to its first effect. The second effect of "Phoenixian Cluster Amaryllis" then activates, inflicting 800 damage to Koda (Koda 2700 → 1900).
At the end of Akiza's Battle Phase, Koda activates the effect of "Agent of Hatred" (Koda 1900 → 2200). Akiza sets a card. On Akiza's End Phase, she activates the third effect of "Phoenixian Cluster Amaryllis" to revive it (2200 → 1100/0) in Defense Position. "Black Garden" then Special Summons a "Rose Token" to Koda's side of the field (800/800) in Attack Position. The effect of "Rose Flame" then activates (Koda 2200 → 1700).
Turn 6: Koda
Koda draws. He then Tributes all his "Rose Tokens" in order to Special Summon "Mad Profiler" (2600 → 1300/1600) in Attack Position. "Black Garden" then Special Summons a "Rose Token" to Akiza's side of the field (800/800) in Attack Position. Koda then activates the effect of "Mad Profiler" to send "Reload" from his hand to the Graveyard and remove "Black Garden" from play ("Phoenixian Cluster Amaryllis": 1100 → 2200/0; "Mad Profiler": 1300 → 2600/1600). Koda then activates the effect of "Mad Profiler" to send "Mind on Air" from his hand to the Graveyard and remove "Phoenixian Cluster Amaryllis" from play.
"Mad Profiler" attacks a "Rose Token", but the "Rose Token" is not destroyed (Akiza 2800 → 1000). Koda then activates "Destruction Insurance" and "Lightlow Protection" and equips both to "Mad Profiler". Due to the effect of "Destruction Insurance", if Akiza destroys "Mad Profiler", she will take damage equal to half the ATK of "Mad Profiler". Due to the effect of "Lightlow Protection", if Akiza changes the ATK of "Mad Profiler" through a card effect, that card will be destroyed.
Turn 7: Akiza
Akiza draws "Twilight Rose Knight" and subsequently Normal Summons it (1000/1000) in Attack Position. She then tunes "Twilight Rose Knight" with her two "Rose Tokens" to Synchro Summon "Black Rose Dragon" (2400/1800) in Attack Position. Akiza activates the second effect of "Black Rose Dragon" to remove from play "Phoenixian Seed" from her Graveyard and reduce the ATK of "Mad Profiler" to 0 until the End Phase ("Mad Profiler": 2600 → 0/1600). The effect of "Lightlow Protection" activates, destroying "Black Rose Dragon". Akiza then activates her face-down "Rose Curse" to inflict damage to Koda equal to the difference between the new ATK and the original ATK of "Mad Profiler" (Koda 1700 → 0).
Differences in adaptations
- In the dub, Koda explained that he was a 3rd-year Obelisk Blue student that had lost to Akiza in the past, who was a Slifer Red student.
- The flames in Akiza's flashback are made purple in the dub.
- In the original, Koda revealed Aki's Psychic Duelist status, and Lazar saying that they're fragile monsters who've been doing rallies in secret. In the dub Lazar was ambitious and said if Akiza was in the organization, perhaps that could lead them to even greater power.
- In the dub, Zigzix has a student loan to pay off.
- In the Japanese version, when Koda was lying on the ground there was no dialogue. This is probably to make it clear he's not dead.
- In the dub, Tanner notes that the "Destruction Insurance" card that Koda owns is a prototype, but also incorrectly refers to LP as "attack points".
Errors
- Before Akiza activated the effect of "Black Rose Dragon", there's a shot of "Agent of Hatred" still having the thorns of "Black Garden" despite the fact it was removed form play by the effect of "Mad Profiler". In the next scene, the thorns disappear however. This was fixed on the Japanese DVD release.
- When "Phoenixian Cluster Amaryllis" attacked Koda's Rose token, Koda lose 300 LP but however his LP is still shown as full.
- In the dub, When Koda activates his equip spells, it shows him to have 4 cards in his hand when he should only have 1.
- When Koda is talking about when Akiza was five it looks like a card is on her shoulder.
- In the English dub, when Akiza summons "Twilight Rose Knight," she erroneously refers to it as "Night Rose Knight."
- In the dub, during the end of turn 5, when Koda gets damaged by the effect of "Rose Flame," for a few frames, you can see the original life point display.
- In the dub, when Akiza plays Phoenixian Seed, she says it doesn't have any ATK to take away but this isn't true given it actually has 800 ATK, even in the anime.
Featured cards
The following cards appeared in this episode. Cards in italics made their debuted here.
