Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS - Episode 027

"Naoki Shima the Fighter"

The Brave Battler dabs in celebration.
Names
Japanese name Japanese 闘（たたか）う男（おとこ）、島（しま）直（なお）樹（き） Base 闘う男、島直樹 Furigana たたかうおとこ、しまなおき Rōmaji Tatakau Otoko, Shima Naoki Translated Naoki Shima the Fighter
Series
Series	Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS
Number	27
Season	1
Music
Japanese OP	"With The Wind"
Japanese ED	"Writing Life"
English OP & ED	"Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS Main Theme"
Staff
Screenplay	Mitsutaka Hirota
Director	Yusuke Onoda
Storyboard	Eran
Animation director	Yukio Okano Akiko Toyota Yuji Kaneko
Air dates
Japanese	November 15, 2017
English	December 1, 2018
Chronology
Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS episodes (season 1)
Previous	"Diagnosis: Deletion"
Next	"Bugging Out"
Cards
Japanese gallery

"The Brave Battler", known as "Naoki Shima the Fighter" in the Japanese version, is the twenty-seventh episode of the Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS anime. It first aired in Japan on November 15, 2017, became available with official subtitles via Crunchyroll on the same day, and aired in Canada on December 1, 2018.

As the Deleted phenomenon begins to affect the real world, everyone begins to panic, and LINK VRAINS is put on high alert. Due to something, Naoki Shima decides to fight against the Knights of Hanoi...

Featured Duel: The Brave Battler vs. Knight of Hanoi

The Duel is conducted as a Master Duel.

Turn 1: Knight of Hanoi
The Knight's hand contains "Steelswarm Hercules", "Hand Destruction", and three copies of "Steelswarm Mantis". The Brave Battler's hand contains three copies of "Green Baboon, Defender of the Forest" and two copies of "Yellow Baboon, Archer of the Forest". The Knight activates the Quick-Play Spell "Hand Destruction", making each player send two cards from their hand to the GY, then draw two cards. The Knight sends two copies of "Steelswarm Mantis" to his GY and draws "A Feather of the Phoenix" and "Soul Charge", while The Brave Battler sends two copies of "Green Baboon" to his GY and draws "Yellow Baboon" and "Wild Nature's Release". The Knight activates the Spell "A Feather of the Phoenix", discarding a card, then targeting a card in his GY to return it to the top of his Deck. He discards "Mantis", then targets and returns "Hand Destruction" to the top of his Deck. The Knight activates the Spell "Soul Charge", targeting any number of monsters in his GY and Special Summoning them, then losing 1000 LP for each monster Special Summoned by this effect, but the Knight cannot conduct his Battle Phase this turn. He targets and Special Summons three copies of "Steelswarm Mantis" (2200/0) (The Knight: 4000 → 1000 LP). The Knight Tributes three copies of "Mantis" to Tribute Summon "Steelswarm Hercules" (3200/0).

Turn 2: The Brave Battler
The Brave Battler draws and subsequently Normal Summons "Cyberse Wizard" (1800/800). The Brave Battler activates the effect of "Cyberse Wizard", targeting the Knight's Attack Position monster and changing it to Defense Position, then for the rest of this turn, The Brave Battler's monsters cannot attack, except to attack that monster, and if his Cyberse monster attacks a Defense Position monster, it inflicts piercing battle damage to the Knight. He targets "Steelswarm Hercules". "Cyberse Wizard" attacks and destroys "Steelswarm Hercules" (The Knight: 1000 → 0 LP).

Featured cards

The following cards appeared in this episode. Cards in italics debuted here.

Flashback
Monster Cards Effect Monsters Cyberse Wizard

Differences in adaptations

Cyberse Wizard in the dub

• When the data of "Cyberse Wizard" is downloaded into Shima's Duel Disk, the card properties and effect text were changed into random codes in the dub.

In other languages

Language	Title
German	Naoki Shima, der Kämpfer
Italian	Il Combattente Coraggioso
Portuguese	Naoki Shima, o Lutador
Spanish	Naoki Shima, el hombre que pelea