Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS/Fridge

Fridge Brilliance

 * During the Knights of Hanoi attack on the Cyberse, they imprisoned all of the AIs except for Ignis. Each of the AIs has a distinct look and color, red, yellow, orange, blue, green, and purple (Ignis). At first this seems to be an easy way to tell them apart... until you remember that Monsters in the Duel Monsters game (with the exception of the Egyptian God Cards) are one of six attributes, with each attribute associated with a color: DARK (purple), EARTH (orange), FIRE (red), LIGHT (yellow), WATER (blue), and WIND (green). Ignis' comment on how the other AIs don't like him suddenly makes a little more sense.
 * Duels during data storms being restricted to Speed Duels could be because the systems can't handle Master Duels when it's currently being flooded with an influx of data, making Speed Duels all the system can handle.
 * After an entire season of "but you'll still take battle damage" in Arc-V, one might think it odd that the Knight of Hanoi brought up the fact that Cracking Dragon cannot be destroyed by battle just before he was about to lose, as that effect will not change the outcome of the duel. A major purpose of Cracking Dragon however is its use as a weapon of terror outside of duels, as it deletes anything it comes into contact with. By destroying it by battle, Yusaku has put it out of commission, if only temporarily.
 * Yusaku's Duel Disk uses physical cards unlike the latest duel Disks, which use digital cards. If Yusaku were to ever have his account deleted, he wouldn't actually lose any of his cards since they're physical objects rather than digital objects. Just one more benefit of using outdated tech for a hacker like Yusaku.
 * His deck isn't the only thing that's old fashioned, he uses cards that share a type instead of an archetype for his deck, just like how most decks and villains of the day were made before Archetypes got card specific support.
 * His physical cards might also be how the Knights of Hanoi haven't managed to 'destroy' them like the rest of their type. In real life digital properties are much easier to remove from circulation (like a licensed game whose rights have expired), while their physical versions are still available and buyable (if without the online features).
 * It's also shown that Yusaku carries around a fake deck as the most notable thing about Playmaker is that he uses an out of date duel disk. Thus, it would not be surprising if he coded his fake cards to be different in the real world than it is in Link Vrains, especially with cards as common as the ones shown.'
 * Go Onizuka's dueling style truly is last generation dueling.
 * The bright colors ans simple shapes of the Orphanage he looks after also resemble the style of Arc-V more than anything shown in Vrains so far.
 * The fact that Yusaku's school focuses on computers explains why he's there despite it being a fancy school and him having little money. Considering his skills as a hacker, it's fairly likely Yusaku got in on scholarship, and a school that focuses on computing would be more likely to give full scholarships to students based on computing skills than an ordinary prep school.
 * In episode 6, Aoi mentions that she's had false friends who only get close to her to try to get a job at SOL tech. SOL Tech is a technology-based company, so it makes sense for students whose specialties are in technology to want a job there specifically. It also explains why Aoi is there- nepotism is very common in Japanese businesses, but in turn it reflects very badly upon the entire family if one of them is unfit for their job.
 * It can be deduced that each character's avatars in Link Vrains are indicitive of each of their personalities.
 * Yusaku's Playmaker avatar is a very simply two colored spiked hair with a cyber suit. Not only does it help show his simplicity, but the design itself is not hard to recreate as shown when Playmaker had to reveal himself to the public against the Knights of Hanoi and there were dozens of Playmaker clones running around in Link Vrains. Thus, as a hacker, if he needed to change accounts, it would not be hard to make an identical avatar.
 * Go Onzuki's avatar is a point for point recreation of his real life self. As a wrestling style celebrity, he needs to be known on and off the Vrains, especially considering the orphanages he visits.
 * Aoi's Blue Angel avatar is a pop idol, similar to an internet celebrity. It is also shown that Blue Angel's personality is more outgoing as opposed to Aoi's more subdued personality in real life and Blue Angel can be seen as Aoi's real self.
 * Revolver's avatar doesn't have visible pupils. Given how he dislikes the nature of lying that he believes the Vrains causes and how eyes are often windows of truth, his eyes are lacking as to represent this.
 * Ema's Ghost Girl avatar is very similar to Playmaker's in which it's a simple design only swiching her lavender hair for grey and giving her a mask, obvious choices being a hacker and a mercenary. It also highlights her more playful nature playing up her more mysterious aspects making her somewhat of a tease as well.
 * Lonely Brave/Brave Max is a bulky, over-designed, armor-like suit with a large B in the chestplate and includes a helmet with a visor and a hover board on his back. This shows his obvious desire to become a hero of VRAINS much like Playmaker. The hover board is there for speed duels, but his inexperience shows in this regard as every other duelist will just spawn one when they need it.
 * Akira's avatar is similar as Go Onizuka in that it's a point for point recreation of his real life self. Considering he was a high ranking official of SOL Tech who sometimes must log into Link VRAINS, it is likely that his avatar is exactly the same as his real life self so that his colleagues and workers can recognize him while he is in Link VRAINS. This symbolizes just how much focus he puts on his work, to the point where he neglect Aoi at times.
 * The cards Playmaker draws from the Data Storm tend to have symbolic meanings during the duels he gets them.
 * Decode Talker: to "Decode" is to reveal. Playmaker used Decode Talker to reveal Cracking Dragon's weakness, as well as revealed Playmaker's Skill.
 * Link Bumper: Playmaker admitted to enjoying his duel with Go, and the "bumping" is his desire to not let the duel end too soon.
 * Encode Talker: To encode is to place within. Blue Angel's duel disk had a virus inside it, causing her freak out. Encode Talker being LIGHT could be a reference to purifications.
 * Firewall Dragon: firewalls defend against viruses. The Knights of Hanoi are trying to destroy a virtual reality, like how viruses destroy computer data.
 * Xcode Talker: Not exactly sure on this one....
 * Vector Square Archfiend: Vector Square looks far more demonic and evil despite (presumably) being a cyberse. Yusaku is attempting to gather information from ten years ago, and this card could possibly mean that information isn't pleasant.
 * Fittingly for a man whose deck is based around triangles and the number 3, it takes three episodes for Playmaker to defeat Akira.
 * Playstyle-wise, Yusaku does not rely too much on his supposed ace monster Firewall Dragon as opposed to other protagonists. It makes sense as he has no real connection to the card itself and the monster itself is not important plot-wise, Dark Magician is implied to be Mahad, Neos was a monster Judai created, Stardust Dragon is one of the Signer Dragons, Utopia is a Number Card, and Odd-Eyes is a Dimension Dragon. Firewall Dragon was simply a monster that Yusaku simply pulled out of the Data Storm, and like his deck, is just another weapon for his revenge.
 * Why does Baira have a Giant Germ card in her deck despite the overall mummy/virus theme? Well what spreads viruses but germs? Plus the famous Virus card, Crush Card Virus, requires a 1000 or weaker dark monster to spread it, and that is what Giant Germ is quite good at.
 * Faust using an insect type deck to seal off Playmaker's Link Summoning is reminiscent of computer bugs that can crash computer program(s), which Playmaker's Cyberse deck comprises of.
 * Kitamura's incompetence is put into a hilarious and telling light when he faced off against Spectre when his offer of alliance was declined. Spectre uses a stall deck based on replenishing his life points after attacks and effect damage. So Kitamura managed to lose that quickly.....to a stall deck.
 * Compared to the other duelists, Yusaku uses a lot fewer duplicates of his cards in his deck, with only Bitron running multiple copies. Given the statements about Cyberse being nearly extinct, Yusaku likely doesn't have enough of them to run multiple copies like GO, Blue Angel, and Revolver can, among everyone else including Naoki Shima.

Fridge Horror

 * When Ignis disconnected the Cyberse from the rest of the network, what happened to the other AIs that were trapped?
 * Yusaku no longer enjoys dueling and mostly uses it as a weapon to fight the Knights of Hanoi. He's exactly the kind of person who needs the help of the previous protagonist, Yuya, the most and yet, will never meet him outside of non-canon specials.
 * After Aoi's brainwashing in Episode 7, one must wonder if any of the other Knights Of Hanoi joined that way.
 * If Yusaku didn't know that Aoi is Blue Angel, how long would she have been unconscious on the rooftop with no medical care?
 * We aren't told exactly who Yusaku's opponent were. What if the six abducted children were made duel each other, starving the losers?