Tu Bian Yingxiong X Episode 7 Discussion

Great episode as always!

Anyone know who is the Xia Qing jp va??

@Setsuna_CC https://myanimelist.net/people/48605/Hina_Suguta

Starting to feel the effects of the faster pacing. I can't say I really bought into the emotional mourning of Shang Chao because we didn't see much of him or how much he meant to Yang Cheng. At least it makes sense now, why Yang couldn't save him.

The Lucky Cyan autotune threw me off at first, but it got better over time. It fits the electricity powers theme. That fight was great. It's interesting how the heros are not only that, but entertainers as well. It ties in well with Yang Cheng doing those plays for the kids. Old E-Soul had more combat experience, but Yang had more entertainer experience. Though it was Uncle Rock that helped most with the entertainment aspect.

I felt bad for Uncle Rock selling his shop to support Yang's fight, but nvm lol. Already could tell he was the same guy who kicked Yang out of the competition and the guy who hired the thugs to kidnap the kid because they had the same voice, but I didn't think he was THAT evil. Now I kinda feel bad for the thug brothers because they were just looking out for each other.

So Yang Cheng won in the end? Was it planned by Uncle Rock? Or did he not know it was Shang Chao there, and actually wanted Yang Cheng dead?

I liked the shot of Yang Cheng holding the sand in his palm and talking about how he's carrying the trust tens of thousands of people, as if the grains of the sand were all the people. Also the juxtaposition of Uncle Rock being wholesome about setting up the lucky confession spot and how it has a great view, to the reveal of him setting everything up in the arc and having a great view from the hero towers in the end. That was some great cinematography/composition to wrap up this arc.

@Yuez Was he unable to save him because he hesitated due to his feelings for Xia and how he believed Shang was getting in the way?

Why does everyone here act like New E-Soul won?

It's actually intentionally left unclear who won. At the end of the fight they say one of them died. They show a fairly unclear silhouette of one man standing. In the final scene, the winner is in his penthouse and it's a new costume entirely. But it's unclear who's under the mask.

In the end credits, the Soul who is falling amongst the debris has a robot arm. Could this mean that Old E-Soul was the winner?

Regardless, the fact that we are directed to be unsure of the winner is actually spooky and interesting. It shows that it didn't really matter, the winner ended up becoming villainous and manipulated at the end of the day.

@eightdollarwater Because for narrative reasons, it makes more sense. Rock talking about the spot in his store to yang and then it changing to the new spot in the hero tower. Yang killing his childhood hero, fully replacing him and then ending up as a puppet for a corp is a nice contrast to Lin Ling's arc. There's nothing interesting about old E soul winning nor being unsure who the winner is when it feels very obvious.

I assume the someone on Twitter you’re talking about is Rin? I’m moots with them if so I need to check their tweets more 😂

It’s @stellarevue

That confrontation needed to happen. Fight was good too. I wish we had gotten to see the conclusion.

I kind of feel bad for the original E-soul, his management really did him dirty by not advising him to do more outreach.

On the other hand the Rock guy ... is the one pulling the strings from the shadows. Wow. I didn't see that coming.

The writing quality seems to be declining, the old e-soul losing to some new kid, despite e soul being the biggest inspiration in his life just deciding on a duel and no conversation between them at all and hardly any proof, its the classic Disney twist villain, the entire e-soul arc was very mediocre the original character being one note aswell.

@pansz
the next arc hero should be the singer that appears in ep 7

@arcanum_imperial

As stated in the show, the original E-Soul is most vulnerable when using his Ult. That's when all his defense are down, so one super charged attack can also knock him out. As we saw, one good punch from Yang Chen shattered his armor & caused blood to spill out.

Yang Chen believed that the original E-Soul was the one who caused Shang Chao's death for several reasons:

• The original E-Soul managers tried to pin the kidnapping on him
  
• The two kidnappers were released, only someone high ranking within the hero orgs can cause this
  
• Uncle Rock was manipulating/pushing him to take this path, notice how the Uncle smirked when Yang Chen declared the challenge
  

Yang Chen, as E-Soul, dosen't have beef with anyone except the original E-Soul for all he knows. And Enlighter had pinned the blame on E-Soul's managers. Which technically isn't false, as it was actually the manager's boss (Uncle Rock) who ordered this.

And we see Yang Chen not hesitating anymore when challenging E-Soul, as hesitation led to Shang Chao's death. Shang Chao was his Uncle Ben moment, only in this case, that conviction was twisted and directed by Uncle Rock to something more nefarious.

And I wouldn't say Uncle Rock is the classic Disney twist villain, as many clues are laid out that the viewers can pick up on. While the classic Disney villains, like Hans, had not hints.

• Despite Uncle Rock saying that he believes in Yang Chen, Yang Chen didn't have any trust value. Never trusted him from the start.
  
• The person who order Pomelo's kidnapping knows who Pomelo and the two kidnappers are. Which from the character we know, are only Yang Chen and Uncle Rock.
  
• The smirking in the foreground as mentioned earlier when Yang Chen declared the challenge
  
• When Xia Qing was trying to talk Yang Chen out of it, we see Uncle Rock standing in the background of Yang Chen, like he's directing him.
  

Now, I personally think that Yang Chen is more on the complex side rather than one-note. But that's just my subjective thoughts though haha.

Edit: And I want to note that, before the social media manipulation effect was in full force. The Original E-Soul was cleaning up the fight easy. Having only taken one severe punch, while Yang Chen was heavily damaged. And we know that heroes in this world are forced to take an action that all their believers want. So original E-Soul using his Ult. could very likely be due to this.

@UwUKingPikachu Yes, I know, but unlike the Nice arc, where E-Soul does something to connect the characters, not only to make it cool, but to make it narratively interesting.
But now from E-Soul to Lucky Cyan, she only appeared for a short time, and by doing her standard show, nothing special, they didn't draw attention to get a hype on her, before the arc started.

@GentleGale Let me explain my reasoning further. When I mentioned the 'classic Disney twist villain,' I wasn't saying Uncle Rock wasn't foreshadowed, but more that the trope of a supposedly friendly ally turning out to be the villain felt quite obvious and generic. Beyond that, the whole love triangle involving Yang Chen, Shang Chao, and Xia Qing was personally uninteresting, and it felt like Shang Chao dying was an easy cop-out rather than a resolution. Yang Chen as a character comes across as rather one-note because, whether pre or post-trust value, he consistently makes bad/generic choices. Pre-trust, he thinks he is a loser and acts like a loser, except when mimicking E-Soul for his job or babysitting due to his crush on Xia Qing—a situation he actively sabotages. Obviously he hesitates in saving Shang Chao because he never wanted to do anything with him, he was the rival for his love interest it was Shang Chao that initiated everything, seeing an opportunity and going all-in on Yang Chen. Then, post-trust, he somehow skyrockets in trust value and challenges E-Soul supposedly to avenge Shang Chao. Yet, despite building his entire persona as an E-Soul copy, there's no crisis of faith when he decides E-Soul is to blame, suggesting his admiration was superficial. During the duel itself, he doesn't even mention Shang Chao or show any interest in a conversation with the original E-Soul, the person he supposedly built his identity around. The entire thing about uncle rock buying adds to goad the fans for forcing old e-soul to use a specific move and him planning for a counter for it also feels a bit contrived because if its that easy every villain ever should be doing this constantly, the power system is vague in this universe apparently everyone is glued to their mobiles and everyone is constantly live streaming everything and carrying go pros or someshit (For eg, Firm man getting up instantly rather that it being a slow process) power system aside all of this just felt narratively unsatisfying especially the fact that old e-soul is straight up dead. I do obviously like the artstyle and music and the like its done very well, the nice arc was also pretty enjoyable since the characters felt smart but for this arc everyone except uncle rock has no brains apparently, Old e-soul also being one of them.

@arcanum_imperial

While many of your arguments fair (Like finding the love triangle to be boring), I would like to address a few points here.

For focusing on that it's hesitation. Yang Chen hesitated, not that he allowed Shang Chao to die. For the fraction of a second, he only hesitated, before getting over it and proceed to try and save Shang Chao. Because Shang Chao is his friend and Yang Chen obviously did care for the guy. As I mentioned earlier, this was Yang Chen's Uncle Ben moment.

His death is what caused Yang Chen to have no crisis of faith when going against E-Soul. As he swore to himself that he'll never hesitate again after that moment of hesitation killed Shang Chao.

Uncle Rock was able to manipulate this so easily as he's literally the CEO of one of the top three Hero groups. He's in position to let out two criminals and have the resources to massively influence the public to think in a certain way. Normal villains simply won't have this resource or influence to affect a hero to this degree.

Additionally, this event's been advertised for at least a week now, and it's occurring on E-Soul's 34th anniversary. So it makes sense for many people to watching this event.

Now regarding the original E-Soul, he did have a brain. As he realized that someone was controlling/manipulating this whole event mid-battle. When his producer told him that the public wants him to stop fighting defensively, the first thing E-Soul asked was:


Indicating that he knows something is off. And as noted by the producer, he was fighting defensively the entire battle until forced. Which, at least to me, means that he never wanted to maim and kill Yang Chen from the start.

Next, Yang Chen never talked to E-Soul as, again, he swore to himself he'll never hesitate again. His sole goal was defeating E-Soul there and now to avenge Shang Chao. As for E-Soul, we see from the three episodes that he simply just doesn't care about what others think. Doesn't explain much and mostly keeps to himself. His character doesn't seem like the type to open up and ask questions.

All in all, to me at least, while I'm also disappointed as you are that no conversation between the two occurred, it feels consistent to their characters at that moment in time.

And I think E-Soul's death being unsatisfying is the point of this arc. When listening to E-Soul's theme, Neon Rain, especially when compared to Lin Ling & Nice's themes. It's on the mournful side, like it's lamenting something. We weren't watching the rise of a new hero this arc. We were watching a scheme unfolding by a mastermind for the downfall of an old veteran hero. Who died on the anniversary of many of his friends death: being blamed for a crime he didn't commit, killed by the one he saved, and betrayed by the people who trusted him. All for the sake of profit and fame desired by a manipulator (Uncle Rock).

@Aika ty so much! how did you find out? its not on her page! They should add her role on the list :)

@GentleGale Some very good points especially the one about E-Soul call and there is definitely a theme about hesitation, I suppose on the whole the entire arc is less about E-Soul and Yang chen and more about Uncle rock and seeing the episodes from his Pov might have been more interesting and thrilling even if it would have strayed from the format, I feel like the motive for Uncle Rock is not that clear yet atleast as far as I Understand. And as far as I know the E-Soul arc is in stasis for now and it will shift to the other heroes. I suppose the popularity poll at the end would also be a good barometer of how much people liked the story I would not be surprised if E-Soul ends near the bottom. There is an entire thing about the power system but I feel like that would be much better discussed when we know all about it.

Also rip E-Soul absolutely scammed

I came here for answers.
Didnt Yang die in the result of the fight? The last scene with E-Soul had a suit with a prosthetic arm just like the old E-Soul did. Xia wouldnt cry on the concert otherwise and the animators would show his face if he did survive.