#5ds gang

[hyperfixatinglove]

I was so happy to see my husband in my dream last night ♥ Me & Yusei tag teamed on some D Wheel tournament in Satellite on some unfinished structure which had some super secret shortcut & I somehow unlocked it & I was riding a D Wheel & me & Ushio had this really intense moment of me trying to pass him and everything in the race

[inkblackorchid]

The set is complete!!!!!

[number-1-kuaidul-fanboy]

What the actual fuck is going on here??????

[thingsdavidlikes]

Ghats Of Varanasi by Maveeran Somasundaram

[samyelbanette]

yusei fudo’s staunch pro violence but anti murder is perhaps the best protag trait. the only reasons he was against kiryu’s plan was a) huge risk of death with no reward and b) murder is wrong. other than that, solid plan.

[teapartypenguin]

Fairy Tale Allusions in Yugioh 5Ds

So I was rewatching 5Ds and Akiza's duel against the knight dude got me thinking about the fairy tale allusions in her design and arc, and thinking about it more got me to realize that 5Ds actually has a lot of loose fairy tale allusions throughout it. So here are just a couple of the ones I noticed:

Akiza in general: Akiza's first duel of the series was already really heavy with the knight vs. witch symbolism. It also got me thinking about the "Princess, Witch, and Prince" theme from Revolutionary Girl Utena. A very basic rundown of what Utena says on it is that people will try to sort women into a box of good (Princess) or bad (Witch) based on how much they conform to the concept of what a girl should be like, a good Princess has to trade independence for protection from a Prince, any girl that doesn’t agree is a Witch. Problem is that no woman is ever just one of those things at a time, and Akiza definitely isn't. She is at first feared for her power, labelled the evil Black Rose Witch, and attempts to find comfort and safety in her "Prince" (Sayer). Only when she meets Yusei and the gang and finds acceptance from them and her parents do we see that she's actually a very kind girl. And even then, she doesn't go trading one Prince for another, she's never as reliant on Yusei as she was with Sayer and maintains her independence. Also just her deck in general carries the theme with fairy tale-like imagery (roses, knights, witches, fairies, and a dragon).

Akiza + Yusei: These two are basically Beauty and the Beast. I am a major faithshipping fan, but even if you take out the romantic aspects, it still fits. Yusei being Beauty and Akiza being the Beast for obvious reasons. The scene with Yusei waking Akiza in the hospital also gives major Sleeping Beauty vibes as well (this scene also owns my soul).

The rose imagery also still fits with both of them.

Yusei: He's Cinderella: he's a poor boy, goes to a ball that he wasn't supposed to go to (Neo Domino), has to leave at midnight (gets arrested), but leaves behind a "glass slipper" (the mark of the Crimson Dragon) that makes it so that the prince (Godwin) can track him down and give him another shot at freedom (not for altruistic purposes of course, but it still fits).

Jack and Carly: Scoopshipping are The Little Mermaid. The mermaid (Carly) falls in love with the prince (Jack), but for certain reasons, they cannot be together. Said mermaid makes a deal, by trading her soul, she gains legs (Dark Signer abilities + duel runner) which allows her a second chance to go after the prince. But the prince rejects her proposal (because she's undead and evil now), and the mermaid concedes. But being unable to hold up her end of the deal, she turns into sea foam and dies (turns into dust and dies).

Leo and Luna: Luna's deck already has a loose fairy forest type theme (and in the manga, has a Fairy Tale archetype). I want to say they're Hansel and Gretel. Has the same beats of two siblings getting lost in the woods (Luna with her spirit world adventure, Leo dueling Devack with "Closed Forest" up). But most of it comes from their duel with Devack, in which Hansel (Leo) stalls the witch (Devack) for as long as possible until Gretel (Luna) can kill the witch by pushing him into the oven (win the duel). You could also say that Luna's arc of freeing Ancient Fairy Dragon has elements of Rapunzel (saving the princess from the witch that locked her up).

Those are at least the ones I noticed. I doubt all of them were intentional but it's interesting when you make the connections. Let me know if there's any I missed because I'm not done with my rewatch yet and don't have anything for Crow. Feel like Team Satisfaction and Neo Domino City have Wizard of Oz parallels, but haven't got enough info to say how yet.

[cyberdragoninfinity]

now five yugiohs in i gotta say i think my favorite Yugioh Friend Group/Main Character Factions are tied between Team 5D's and the Lancers, which is really funny because those really are like the two most opposite groups of guys

like on one hand with T5D's you have Found Family Nascar Racing Team and Pit Crew United in Friendship and Hardship and Ancient Dragon Powers and Bonds That Illuminate the Future. theyre a biker gang. they stopped classism. they'll always be home to each other no matter where its members end up. they fought god and won.

and then meanwhile with the Lancers youve got Hastily Thrown Together Group of Teenagers Tasked With Stopping a Wholeass Dimensional Card Game War. they have zero synergy to speak of. half of them just met TODAY. only like three of them are actually equipped for this task. at least two members are actively slowing down their own progress. maybe half of them actually like each other. their leader came up with this idea when he was 13. their win/lose rate is absolute fucking garbage. half of them got arrested and sent to jail. some of them got arrested more than once. they fought god and like 90% of them Lost Pretty Bad. one of them Was god. another one of them was god, too. they suck so bad. im obsessed with them.

[daydreamerwonderkid]

Laios

Send Me a Character Ask Game

First impression: Wow, a male anime protagonist who genuinely cares about the well-being of his party members and isn't weird at all about his sister. Aight, I'm down!

Impression now: This motherfucker is a fucking clown and I need to fucking study him. I 1000% support all of his rights and wrongs. He deserves everything that happens to him. What a mess. What an icon.

Favorite moment: Tis a spoiler moment, but I completely support his wild af decision to do the most insane fucking shit I've ever seen a protagonist do.

Perfect example of following your dreams at all costs AND still managing to save the day in one of the most disturbing/insane bouts of 5D chess I've ever been privileged to witness.

Idea for a story: I don't have anything concrete in mind, but I think it'd be funny if there was a Dungeon Meshi x Hell's Kitchen/Top Chef crossover. I wanna see the gang compete in a reality cooking competition pfffttt

Favorite relationship: I love his friendship with Marcille so much. It's nice to see a platonic ride or die dynamic. I especially love how even though Laios drives her bonkers, Marcille doesn't belittle him for his interests or wacky plans. She's just as long for the ride as he is.

Favorite headcanon: I'm not sure if I have any headcanons for Laios. I'll have to think about it some more.

[go-go-devil]

Soulsborne asks, 3 and 16 👁️

Since you didn't specify which game, I'll go ahead and answer these for all three of the games I've played!!!

3) What is your favourite boss lore-wise?

DeS: That's honestly a good question, since the bosses of Demon's Souls are my favorite part of the game and all of them have such fascinating lore implications...

My serious answer would be Maiden Astraea just like everyone else because she's just THAT great of the character, but my personal, funnier answer to this will be the Tower Knight, Alfred.

The whole deal with Allant's knights is that their demonic transformations are meant to be mocking perversions of their combat styles, but with him it was literally just "He was a really tall knight who held a really big greatshield and spear, and now he's become so fucking tall he can't escape the room he's stuck in and falls over like a dumbass when someone bites his ankles too hard." Such an elegant way of making a boss so simultaneously imposing and humiliating lmao.

DS1: Fuck that's an even harder choice than for DeS! There are SOOOOOO many interesting bosses in DS1! Hmmmmmmm, mmmmmmmm....

For now I'll say the Bed of Chaos, since her lore is still so fuzzy compared to the other Lords that I've spent many nights tossing and turning in bed trying to figure out what must've happened with Izalith and her attempt to create a new Flame. Honestly I don't buy the whole deal of "she just tried to save the world so Gywn wouldn't have to sacrifice himself uwu" theory I see sometimes, I think this was done for her own sake. I mean she was trying to resurrect the incomplete bodies of Everlasting Dragons! Why else would there be an army of dragon butts guarding the ruins of her kingdom?

But what kind of psychological 5D chess game was she trying to play though? The world will never know, because Miyazaki and the Gang ran out of time finishing Lost Izalith and told us to write the lore for him.

DS2: Definitely Sinh the Slumbering Dragon!

First off I find it fascinating that it's named after a ring from DS1. It gives the impression that either Sinh itself is that ancient of a dragon that it was known of by the original Vinheim sorcerers, or that the ring itself is so old it possibly predates even the land of Vinheim. I also love how it poisoning the Sunken City wasn't even intentional; that damn Yorgh and his damn spear that unleashed the miasma cloud!

Not to mention the use of the term "miasma" is very interesting in that it makes me think of Nito and how he helped kill the everlasting dragons. Perhaps Sinh was struck by the disease but managed to survive and hide out in a cave until it fell into a deep sleep.

16) Who is the most underrated NPC in your opinion?

DeS: Scirvir the Wanderer!

He's so fucking adorable. I love his uncontrollable stutter and sad eyes (the remake fucked his design and voice up so bad I don't wanna talk about it T_T). I also love how his only goal in this land is for someone to show him the Dragon Bone Smasher sword. He doesn't even wanna own it, all he craves is one look at the thing!

But what makes him more interesting to me is how even someone as nice as him seems to lie to us. Scirvir tells us he can't go find the sword himself because he'll "fair poorly against the demons," but if you find his black phantom in Pure Black World Tendency he's not only one of the toughest phantoms in the game, but also holds the Tailsman of Beasts; the only item in the game that lets you cast sorceries and miracles at the same time.

It makes me wonder... maybe he really wasn't lying about his power and simply didn't try to kill us in Pure White World Tendency because he's a genuinely nice person who honestly believes he's weak. Only for the harsher black world we create to end up helping him discover how good his combat prowess truly is and ends up twisting his morality in the process. Food for thought, since no one else is thinking about him anymore T_T

DS1: If Undead Female Merchant has 1,000,000 fans I'm one of them. If Undead Female Merchant has 1 fan then that's me...

Hands down my favorite merchant in the game! Mostly because of her "Withered Hag ASMR" voice acting and that she's in a very convenient spot + sells materials I'm often in need of (homeward bones, rotten/charcoal pine resins, and arrows most especially), but she also has one of my favorite minor pieces of environmental storytelling in the game with the single humanity she sells.

I always hc'd that it was metaphoric for her willing to give away the last piece of her own "humanity" since she no longer values it; willing to join the madness around her since it ended up being so much more fulfilling than her mortal life ever was. Ironically, it's what helps her remain sane despite being so close to hollowing, even if she becomes suspicious that we don't trust her anymore after she sells it to us.

DS2: STRAID OF OLAPHIS!!!!

At least I THINK he's underrated? I haven't found many people on tumblr drawing art of him nor have I found any lore theories involving him.

Well whatever, he's one of my favorite characters in the game. I love soulsborne NPC's who don't have complex subplots but are still memorable due to their charm alone (i.e. why I loved Oswald so much despite him never changing during the game), and I knew Straid was gonna be great when his reaction to learning that he's been petrified for hundreds of years is to simply laugh it off and go back to business as usual. He also may be one of the few who has the right mindset to keep his memories and sanity intact by choosing to accept the passage of time and move forward with it instead of longing for a nostalgic past, which I respect wholeheartedly!

(And his voice acting is fucking great of course <3)

[redrevateinn]

Why I'm a nerd for a children's trading card game

Yugioh 5Ds was the third generation anime of Yu-Gi-Oh! and my first introduction to the game when I was young. Although it was made to promote the card game of the same name, it did have an unexpected amount of effort put into it for it basically being a massive advertisement. When you think about a show or movie meant to advertise a product, you don’t expect a lot of effort to be put into producing it. While it makes sense to make it as flashy or visually appealing as possible, you don’t need to prioritize having an overly detailed story or deep characters when it’s more important that the audience would be interested enough in what’s happening on the screen and want to checking it out, which is unfortunately something that happened to later generations of the anime. Yugioh 5Ds though was one of the last generations of the game that many fans would agree to have an impressive plot. Its protagonist was much older than the typical high-school boy the last generations had, which resulted in more mature themes than before. 5Ds had messages on the harms of class disparity; the meaning of self-sacrifice; the struggle to defy and surpass the roles society gives us; the death of innocence; and even the importance of having a healthy relationship with people around us, just to name a few. But I really want to talk about the rival character of 5Ds, Jack Atlas, and how his character parallels the main story. To the people that already know the general story, sorry for the incoming ramble, but I want to make people have an understanding of what I’m saying. 

In 5Ds, Jack was born in the Satellite, a slum island away from the mainland that was also literally the mainland’s garbage dump. Although he grew up an orphan, Jack was ambitious and the show made a point that, even though he was a lone-wolf kind of character in his teenage years, he still found connections with the main protagonist – Yusei – and other side characters. As the group grew up, they ended up making a gang to overthrow gangs harming other people from the Satellite and shared dreams of leaving the Satellite and making a name for themselves. Eventually, Jack would receive an offer to leave the Satellite and join the mainland’s professional league – because, yes, this is a card game anime, so it has to be important somehow – if he would steal the protagonist’s most important card and Duel Runner. In 5Ds, Duel Runners were the core of the game, and is what turned a simple card game to a high-speed sport. Although anyone could Duel, no one in the Satellite could compete with the mainland if they didn’t have a Duel Runner. And even though Jack knew that the Duel Runner was the result of years of work, he didn’t hesitate to betray his old friend and take his future into his own hands. Jack would go on to become the “Duel King” in the mainland, dominating his opponents with shows of his absolute power and unmatched skill at the game. His philosophy where power is everything and that only the strong could reach their goals drove him to obtain power however he could; either by devoting his entire strategy and performance around his signature card – as if he was relying only on himself – like he did in the first half of the story, or by relying on the strength of others to help him become even stronger like he did in the second. Jack Atlas, to me, is a character that tasted powerlessness in his childhood and despised it so much that he would spend as much of his life as possible in the pursuit to become strong. Jack so desperately wanted power that he would turn on his closest companions if it meant he could build an entirely new image of himself where he is completely different – a King so skillful that he could defeat any opponent before him – to what he once was. It makes his defeats to Yusei almost tragic, especially when Yusei’s Junk Deck is canonically made from cards he found in the trash that the mainland sends to the Satellite. Jack, in all his constant attempts to discard his former identity and become someone that had power, is humbled by the trash he wanted to escape from. 

5Ds, with all its messages and how its antagonists challenge the protagonists, is a story about cooperation and connection. It’s a story where anyone with the united strength of their comrades could surpass their fate and become better versions of themselves, and I think Jack is the story’s example of what happens to those that try to do the same on their own. Although Jack managed to last on his own for a while, his win streak would finally end when Yusei made it to the mainland, and it can be argued that Jack could not win every plot-important Duel that followed for the rest of the anime without relying on those around him, whether literally by Dueling in a team or figuratively by changing his Deck to include different strategies than pure offense. It paints an image that no one can succeed on their own and everyone should welcome trusting in others to obtain their goals. This way, we will always have a chance to become better people than who we used to be. 

[hyperfixatinglove]

Part of me wants AU where me & Ushio meet before he gets fucked over by Atem & we have this kinda complicated "hate your guts bc your actions but i still like you" because his hall monitor tyranny

Bigger part of me is averse to it because it's "i can fix you" instead of canon "you fixed yourself with inspiration (yusei) and example (me)" and I adore the latter

@blazingstarship

[inkblackorchid]

I know the show plays most of the sequence where Rally and the others push Yusei's broken runner all the way to Martha's for laughs, but honestly? I think it says a lot about Yusei as a person that pretty much all his friends are completely ride-or-die, with the Satellite quartet even going so far as to ditch all their cards at a moment's notice just to save Yusei's runner when push comes to shove, especially when you think about how much value cards have in yugioh. I'm just saying, that's a kind of loyalty I don't think many people could inspire.

[number-1-kuaidul-fanboy]

Does the Yugiohs goes to space?

DM: No space content. Lame 0/10

GX: Judai spends one episode on an alien planet and comes back with a deck full of aliens. They also fight a satellite in space at the end of season 2 and best boy Judai once sent his enby dragon partner to space once. Slightly scarce but decent space content. 6/10

5Ds: City falls from the sky and a motorcycle flies but neither to or from space :( 1/10

Zexal: Alien from space is always at the protag's side from episode 1! And the second season is all about even more aliens, complete with an epic journey through space to fight some aliens on another planet. Very good space content 8/10

Arc V: Exactly one scene where a monster attacks from space like a satellite. 2/10

VRAINS: Still no space. I'm getting bluespaced. 0/10

Sevens: The program for rush duels is a robot on the moon that's very plot relevant in the season 1 finale and throughout season 2. The Goha 6 also come down from space at the beginning of season 2 after attending school in space for a while. The final duel also takes place entirely in space after the main gang built a rocket to space and powered it with explosive curry. Awesome space content. 8/10

Go Rush: Entire show takes place in space and includes so many aliens! 10/10 Best space show.

[webtoon-related-tournaments]

Kouji:

Nasty little hacker man who helps the gang out when they get cyber scammed (for money) he can smell money on people and he has purple hair

Medea:

Schemer who got her father executed as a move in the 5D chess game she is playing against the crown prince to get to the throne.

[team5ds]

i think what ultimately is my biggest gripe with the 5ds ending splitting up the gang is if we go with "this is a children's show" framing, what's the message here? your friends will split up and leave and you'll be alone & also the marks that bound you together will disappear forever? like. this is a children's show, innit? are we trying to give children depression here

[moldy-mold]

the gang is back together for duel wednesdays and we started YGO 5Ds

YOOOO IT ROCKS

i don't understand it but it rocks