#I’ve watched everything up to vrains

[helpiamlostsomewhereinthegarden]

Skye: I think I'm falling for you

Yusaku: Then get up?

[number-1-kuaidul-fanboy]

Meeting Over Hot Dogs

YGO Rarepair Week Submission

Day 5: First Meeting

Pairing: Jin/Ryoken

Word Count: 789

Description: Ryoken gets his usual hot dog from a less usual source.

“Can I get the usual?” Ryoken didn’t even look Kusanagi in the eye as he addressed him, his hood covering his face as he gazed blankly at the ground. He knew it would seem rude but couldn’t bring himself to care right now.

“The usual?” Ryoken flinched at the sound of an unfamiliar voice. “I’ve never met you, sir.”

Ryoken looked up, sliding his hood off. The person at the counter wasn’t Kusanagi at all: it was his younger sibling Jin, who beyond name and appearance, Ryoken didn’t know whatsoever.

Ryoken blinked. “Where’s your brother?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

“On a supply run,” Jin answered with a shrug. “He figured he could trust me to run the stand for a while on my own. Wait…” Jin paused, suddenly squinting at him. “Do I… know you from somewhere? You… seem kinda familiar.”

Ryoken bit his lip. He hoped Jin wasn’t referring to their technical first meeting: when Lightning had blackmailed Revolver during their duel with Jin’s consciousness, putting their origin’s life on the line to save themself. Surely there was no way Jin could remember that after Lightning took some of their memories away…

“Well, I come here a lot,” Ryoken replied, gazing off into the distance. “Every day when neither Spectre nor I feel like cooking.”

Jin chuckled into their hand. “Ah, so it’s your lazy food.”

“Would it be offensive to you for me to consider it that way?”

Jin shrugged. “Nah, I don’t eat hot dogs, I’m a vegetarian.” They covered their mouth with both hands. “Don’t tell my brother I said that.”

Ryoken’s lip twitched up. “I won’t.”

“So uh…” Jin grabbed a hot dog with a pair of tongs. “What’cha ordering?”

Ryoken sighed, bracing for the inevitable gasp of horror. “An everything hot dog with marshmallows.”

Jin dropped their tongs. They put them aside and smirked a bit. “You’d seriously ruin perfectly good marshmallows like that?”

Ryoken huffed with laughter. Then swiftly covered it with his hand, pretending to clear his throat.

“Yes, I would.”

Jin chuckled as they set a hot dog on the grill. “One marshmallow everything hot dog coming right up.”

Ryoken gazed off into the distance as Jin grilled the hot dog, occasionally flipping and rotating it from time to time.

“Do you duel?” Jin broke the silence to ask.

Ryoken nodded.. “Yes.”

“In Link VRAINS?”

“I’m not telling you my username.”

“Don’t have to. You’re Revolver right?” Ryoken stiffened. Jin seemingly took their silence as a yes as they added, “I’ve watched all your latest duels, you’re very talented.”

“I’m not Revolver,” Ryoken insisted, turning to glare at him.

“I didn’t catch your name,” Jin suddenly put in.

“Ryoken.”

“Yep.” Jin took the hot dog off the grill, sliding it into a bun. “That's the name Yusaku and Chi-Chi said.”

Ryoken raised an eyebrow. “Chi-chi?” he repeated incredulously.

“Shoichi, my big brother.” Jin began topping the hot dog off with shredded cheese and relish as they spoke. “I call him ‘Chi-Chi’ for short. He and Yusaku told me that Revolver’s real life name is Ryoken…” They paused to meet Ryoken’s gaze with a smirk. “And that you’re really cute.”

Ryoken frowned, his face flushing. “You’re not supposed to flirt with your customers, Jin.”

Jin held their hands up. “Sorry, sorry, just telling ya what they told me.”

They returned to silently preparing the hot dog, sprinkling on some jalapeño slices and onions. Then reached for a small bag of marshmallows.

“Which of them said that?” Ryoken asked, shifting awkwardly in his spot.

Jin glanced at him. “Said you were cute?”

“Yeah, which of them said that?”

“Well… Yusaku didn’t say that exactly… His words were something like ‘it’s a shame he’s so annoying because he’s actually kinda pretty’.”

Ryoken huffed, rolling his eyes. Before he could comment though, Jin went on,

“I wouldn’t say you yourself are annoying.” They sprinkled the last of the marshmallows on before wrapping it in paper. “Though your order is really complicated.”

Ryoken chuckled into his hand. “Far from the worst thing I’ve been told about it.”

He took another moment to think about it, mostly about how Jin’s older brother was probably gonna want to kill him for this, as he took out a pen. As Jin handed him his bag, Ryoken tore off a small part of the paper bag. He placed it down against the truck and scrawled out his phone number as legibly as he could while rushing before sliding the paper onto the counter.

Ryoken’s heart palpitated, making him tremble slightly. “See you around.” He walked off with his food before Jin could answer.

Jin stared at the little piece of paper for a moment before smiling. “Heh… Score!”

[borreloadsavagedragon]

Give Kaito essay (for the character meme)

Oh god, I’ll read more this because it’s gonna be a journey and that's also why it took so long gjdaslgk-

And the standard zexal and arc v spoilers warning message-

1. how long have i known about them A LONG time though it didn’t get to like he’s my whole world status until pandemic era-- MalindaChan did her cosplay for him back when I was still a certified Yugiboomer who entertained GX and 5DS because "lol abridged series jokes" and that’s when I first remember seeing his design? I tried watching Zexal briefly when it was actively airing but just couldn’t get far bc Boomer Brain ™, but I remember him being cool but the "Kaiba-likeness but not being Kaiba" Yugiboomer wall couldn't be overcome right away, I had to train my skills Then 2020 happened, I watched Vrains to understand Link Summoning, got SUCKED into it, and was like wow past me was dumb, ALL of the spinoffs are GREAT Zexal reached a hand back out to me when I was kinda struggling with the Vrains community and I'd decided to start writing more spinoff muses with some mutual friends and that's also when I realized I’d be subconsciously collecting Galaxy and Photon monsters since they’re pretty + space themed but also because they were inside of ALL of the Kaiba support sets(because DUH) so it was like,,, well, let’s try that again

Now I’m In Hell And It’s All His Fault Do you think I ENJOY playing Photon competitively? Well yes, but also NO. It means learning new decks is HARD because I can't look at dragons and knights in SPACE.

2. whether or not they’ve ever made me cry Moon duel? W,, what Moon duel,,, I don’t,,, remember any space dueling, ahaha, isn’t that another yugioh, the rush of the go,,,,,,, In all serious though, yes lmao The duel against Zexal when he tells you his reasoning for why he’s the Number Hunter and he looks so broken, that got a solid few tears The flashback of him trying to break Haruto out of the city got some tears  The duel with Chris is also really good show of his character at the root, the thing that gets him back to his feet is the moment Chris even considers Haruto as part of his suffering, g o d The moon duel of course. That’s. That one was brutal. Yeah. 

3. whether or not i have any merchandise/objects with them uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

There’s a wall scroll behind my work desk that sneaks into my Zoom calls, there’s a canvas print he’s on that sits at my work desk, my ita bag has a handful of charms, pins, and buttons for him(still hunting for artists who draw him with merch wink wink)

I guess my Photon tcg deck counts? The tcg is just one big merch machine if you squint enough-

My Book of Moon themed binder is literally just all of my collector Photon and Galaxy/references to Kaito cards + a small page for Miza since Tachyon is a Galaxy Eyes

Do cosplays count? Because I’ve got all but his space suit basically done + his duel disk 

4. what about their personality i like How seriously he takes himself despite literally everything else about his character 

He’s often off to the side with his arms crossed, pouting or frowning, having the cool guy edge lord behavior But also he’s screaming in the rain, jumping through a window on a kite glider he made himself that also doubles as his robo-butler, flying to the whole ass moon because a rock told him to, and beefing 14 yr olds, he’s just a legend 

I also love that he's like... very clear about himself and on how you should treat him. He straight up says he's going to hell for what he's done and just continues to be there because that's how he'll atone because atonement isn't forgiveness, like he's not ours to forgive. Love him so much.

5. what about their backstory makes me emotional Honestly, most of it

Watching Kaito slowly lose his autonomy (his brother whose been his responsibility for what could be read as since birth, his father just becoming a figure head in his life versus an actual parent, Chris walking out on him with no closure until they duel, being watched by and trained under brutal conditions by the government, failed escape attempts, getting lied to and used, etc) and then knowing one of the people who he attributes half of that loss and suffering to is someone he never gets closure against is very hard to watch

Even in Arc V, he loses his entire family in a way that makes him cut ties with every single person left in a desolate city and hunt his enemies down one by one to pay them back for his suffering, and it happened before we finally actually get to see him or hear of him for the first time so god knows the details

He really just gets put through it time and time again, yugioh be nice to that onion challenge

6. the moment of theirs that made me the saddest there was no duel on the moon in yugioh zexal

But actually, Kaito dying is tragic for a few reasons

THEY JUST LET HIS BROTHER WATCH IT HAPPEN? FAKER??? HELLO?

He was... ok with it happening-

He was killed off before the final duel and before he could reunite with Yuma and Ryouga again, and even though he came back as a spirit, it felt like a such a cop out

7. the moment of theirs that made me the happiest The pure look of joy on his face reuniting with his brother after they defeat Vector the first time, it’s so good The first time Prime Photon is summoned, goated, perfect, all boss monsters should be willed into existence like that But also Arc V, Kaito watching Dennis duel Yuya after everything with Zarc and clapping for him is so sweet omg

8. something about them that made me laugh HIS ONE LINERS, yugioh really gives the rivals the best solo lines I swear to god

Ok listen, dub and sun debate aside, I watched both because I’m a mess and need as much Kaito as I can get, but the dub has some heaters and Kaito’s got a few good ones, ESPECIALLY when he's talking to Mizael

The one to Shark, “You’re quite the romanticist”, who the fuck says that out loud to another person Kaito talking to Dennis is also a fever dream, the dub especially is so jarring, I love them

9. my favorite canon outfit of theirs White coat with the gazer tattoo, you can never go wrong with the Photon coat Numeral Hunter is also based, I know that's not like HIS look in any show, but... I HC that would be his Vrains Avatar, he could go to Vrains very easily, Solflare is an exploitable card in his deck

10. my favorite moment with them in canon UUUUGGHHHH CHOOSING ONE IS HARD

Uhhh, episode wise Shark Hunter is prooobably my favorite(for obvious reason but besides those LOL) because it’s such a tone setter for who Kaito is and also I could listen to these two bicker all day long, we really didn’t get nearly enough of their side rivalry as opposed to like Kaiba and Joey or Takeru and Ryoken

And then the Moon Duel is like my second favorite duel in the whole franchise, only outclassed by Soba and Revo in Vrains, you really get to see just how strong he is because he's half blind, still actively dying by dueling, and gets his helmet cracked in the vacuum of space, and he's still able to win

Character moment, the duel against Chris comes to mind again because it shows a lot of Kaito to his core, but also Kaito hauling ASS to get Yuma to Astral world to reunite with Astral is iconic, Kaito's always ready to take the plunge when everyone else says not to because he just KNOWS he's right

11. my favorite relationship they have with another character sweats profusely, I said it above somewhere I think- removing shipping from the equation entirely, I REALLY like all of the bff / rival dynamics across all of the shows, I love how well done they are and I fully find them more interesting than the standard protag/rival ones, even with KaiRyo having like the least amount of time dedicated to theirs comparatively. Ryouga and Kaito being treated so similarly by the hands dealt to them to where they'd understand the other one like looking in a mirror and yet they cannot stand each other, I eat that shit up. But also knowing the other person so well that they don't even have to talk and also realizing that person is their one of their only option to success? Give me MORE of that I also really love the foil between Mizael and Kaito a lot, I REALLY wish it got the time it was rumored to get, guess I gotta do everything myself In Arc V, Kaito and Shun's dynamic is really good for the little bit we're allowed the time to see it, Shun being one of the only characters who actually goes back for him after leaving so abruptly between Arc V and Zexal... tugs on the heart strings I also love that Kaito took ONE look at Edo in the safe house and decided to speed run the enemies part of the enemies to lovers arc they were going to have, I wish they could have spoken in canon more, hell GX Edo and Zexal Kaito would also be such an interesting dymamic

12. what i like about the way the fandom portrays them Everyone drawing him like >:D all of the time, keep doing that The white lab coat look too? Like not the Photon one, like a standard white lab coat? Perfect, DO NOT change that

nsfw next but also just how everyone knows he's a bottom no matter which ship it is lmao

13. what i dont like about the way the fandom portrays them that no one talks about him except in “WHO IS YOUR FAVORITE RIVAL” polls fndhxjshxbs

I’m going insane in my thoughts alone over here, I need to convert everyone to watch Zexal

14. what i liked about the way canon portrayed them Ok here we can get heated for a bit because I’ve seen an argument somewhere that Kaito didn’t develop at all from season 1 to 2 of Zexal but he 100000% did and I honestly like how it's done

Season 1 Kaito was purposefully talking to the air Astral could be in to avoid even looking at Yuma because he thought so little of him despite how much clawing to get on the same level as him Yuma did

Season 2 Kaito is jumping in to keep Mizael from killing Yuma without a second thought, he's going to the arctic despite ALL of the protests to build the bridge to Astral

His development is subtle, but it's very there, not to mention he can now stomach being in the same room as Faker, gave Chris a second chance, his dying words to Yuma are all the more apparent how important Yuma became to him Like the ONLY person we should have seen an actual conversation touching on Kaito's actions with WAS Ryouga but... be honest, Ryouga's not accepting that from Kaito, they're both very much people of action and they established their bond through the snark and bickering, that's how they communicate Plus Kaito's also outward about not being a good person, telling Yuma he sold his soul to the devil, telling the gang in the first episodes of Zexal II he's already going to hell because that's what his guilty soul deserves Ryoken and Kaito would be SUCH an interesting duo, I'm just saying

15. what i dont like about the way canon portrayed them Oh boy now here we go LOL

The duel against Mr Heartland. - This one's unbelievably bad for so many reasons, mostly because there’s no universe where Kaito struggles against Heartland of all people in a duel, but also this is the person who’s been THE symbol for most of his trauma and trials up until that point. There is no chance in hell he struggles, gets crippled by him, and has to have Yuma take over. That was and always should have been his duel to win, but Yugioh has the unfortunate "this is a story through the protag's eyes" shonen protag bug at its core (Yuma sweetie you’re lovely and wonderful, it’s literally not your fault) 

Arc V giving him literally no time for their version of Kaito to have a more satisfactory character arc because of how long and bad the Synchro Dimension/Friendship Cup arc was. Just another victim of the Synchro Arc, sighs. The dub also puts this weird and bad attempted joking line about how Kaito doesn't do family and like have you literally watched any of Zexal, you're the whole ass studio Kaito just doesn't feel very Kaito the same way in Arc V, it's very sad, lots of shit you know og Kaito wouldn't let fly that just goes by in Arc V, but different versions, dimensions, stories, etc etc, it's just such a whiplash coming from Zexal where he's just so much more

OCG Structures was a coward and didn’t want to play with dimensional physics because Kaito 110% could find a way into that timeline I haven't read the Zexal manga in full just yet because I wanna collect them all physically so that'll be later- And a little bit for the games since Konami wanted at least one of those to be canon thanks to Vrains world-

Cross Duel literally had you consider killing kids for him but honestly this one is more funny than infuriating, everyone's a worst version of themselves in Cross Duel agjdaslkgj Duel Links is usually pretty good, but since Kaito’s first launch event where he's hunting you down, he’s been very much more like an NPC for the Zexal world events, just seems weird to me, I'm sure that'll get thrown out once Chris' unlock event actually happens coming up here and when Miza gets added... then that digital world won't know WHAT to do

[i-revolve-around-you]

I think it's about time I wrote a proper introduction post

Hey y'all, welcome to my blog! I'm a tumblr veteran but decided to start over on a new account recently. Why? Your guess is as good as mine.

🎵 the basics 🎵

nick ~ 28 ~ he/him ~ bi ~ white author ~ musician ~ gamer ~ nerd multi-fandom/shitposting this blog will be (mostly) SFW, but i still would rather not have minors following me. i just prefer interacting with adults, sorry. it's not personal. my likes, however, will be N/SFW, so be warned

my messages and ask box are always open! feel free to hit me up!

more info (including other links, and a list of fandoms/things i like) under the cut

tags: my ramblings | my face

🤩 a bit more about me 🤩

heya! the name's nick. i've been on tumblr since like...2011 or so? i was really big into it in my college years (2012-2017) but after The Great Tumblr Porn Ban of 2017 I've sorta been drifting in an out. When The Great Twitter Debacle of 2022 happened, I decided to migrate back on a new account so I could start fresh.

this account was immediately suspended because of my side-blog. which was a bit too unsafe for work for tumblr's guidelines ig 🙄 not mentioning that they had just recently updated their policy and everything i was posting was PERFECTLY FINE under them but w/e

so i started another one lmao and that's the one that you're looking at right now! my other account has since been restored but at that point I was already situated over here so like. whatever i guess. lol

i'm currently 28, and bisexual. semi-recently out of the closed as bi, actually. for years i identified as gay, but over time i started realizing "actually...i do kinda like girls?" i still identified as "gay" cuz it was easier than saying "so like i'm bi-sexual but mostly homo-romantic but also maybe potentially demi-sexual but only when it comes to real people?" then around 2020 it just kinda clicked with me, and the label of "bisexual" just felt right

anywho you didn't come here for my full life story. here's just a little bit more about me:

i'm a total nerd. i love video games, playing Yugioh, DND (just starting to get into that one), etc. i'm a writer. i've written several fanfics (some of which i'm really proud of, some of which i'm...less), and have a goal of one day publishing a novel (my main genre is YA contemporary with queer themes and characters). i'm a musician. i actually got my bachelor's degree in music (BA in Music). my main instrument is drums/percussion, but i'm learning a bit of guitar and can play a little bit of piano. i'm also a composer/songwriter, though haven't been writing as much these days. if i write anything cool i'll be sure to post it here!

🎭 the artist formerly known as 🎭

previous account: @excuuuseme-princess other previous urls: musicdork, sincerely-whelmed, futuremehatesme, @nickplayswhat, @spearfeld, among others, probably

🔍 other places to find me 🔎

tumblr sideblog (N/SFW, seriously be warned): @fadingfast1 twitter: @libromancerfire n/sfw twitter (again...be warned): @whatifitspriv tiktok: @libromancer_fireburst ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darkjaden825698

⚔ fandoms/things i like ⚔

Books 📚

Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli

Orphan X series by Gregg Hurwitz

Darius the Great is Not Okay / Darius the Great Deserves Better by Adib Khorram

TV shows 📺

Arrowverse (especially Legend of Tomorrow [r.i.p. 😢])

Doctor Who

Travelers

Manifest

Movies 📽

Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse

Love, Simon

Cartoons/Anime 🍞

Yu-Gi-Oh! (DM, GX, 5Ds, ZeXal, Arc-V, currently watching VRAINS and Sevens, have yet to start Go-Rush)

Code Lyoko*

Video Games 🎮

Resident Evil (played all mainline games, some spinoffs, faves are RE2make, Village, and Revelations 2, Ethan Winters is my husband)

Horizon (Zero Dawn, Forbidden West)

Persona (mostly 3 and 5, still need to finish 4, but Kanji is bae)

Fire Emblem (have played all except FE1, 2, 3, and about halfway through 5 but keep losing interest, Engage was FANTASTIC, but Ike is my favorite character)

Zero Escape (999, VLR, ZTD, Sigma Klim is my husband)

Life is Strange (particularly LiS2, but I love them all)

The Legend of Zelda

Golden Sun*

Music Artists 🎼

Paramore

Neck Deep

The Wonder Years*

Other

Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG

*fandoms/media I was once very involved in, but not as much anymore, still enjoy though fandoms/media i consider to be some of my faves/am very active in will (try and remember to) update as new things become relevant to me lmfaoo

[yamislittleangel55]

It won’t let me post anymore today…but I watched the remainder of the episode…

It’s been three months…And everything has gotten better for everyone!!! I���m surprised Jin FINALLY talked! And everyone has been developing their skills! Go is finally a Pro! Emma and Kengo have built a strong sibling relationship, and it seems Aoi and Shoichi have gotten closer too! The Knights of Hanoi have been hired by the Sol Technologies as the programmers for redemption, and Akira has been promoted to CEO! And it seems Takeru and Kiku became canon! How sweet! XD

HOWEVER! SPOILER!!!

What I’m confused about is at the very very VERY end, we saw Ai as when we first saw him. My theory is because they knew how popular Duel Links was at the time, this was being set up for when Vrains eventually came to Duel Links. And speaking of, NOW I can play Vrains World without being spoiled! I’ve really enjoyed watching this series, and thank you all for interacting through messages and notes! I hope we can stay in touch!

Thank you very much!

THE END

[hereforthecartoons]

An Introduction

My name’s Saga, and I go by she/they pronouns. I’m mainly going to use this blog to post headcannons and such about my personal favorite cartoons. Feel free to rant to me about any of these! I really like finding people with similar interests. 

Cartoons

-Ben 10 (I’ve watched everything expect the reboot)

-Generator Rex

-Young Justice (Mainly seasons 1 and 2, I haven’t watched much of s3 yet)

-Teen Titans

-Octonauts

-Max Steel

-TMNT (ive watched most of the animated incarnations expect for the 2007 movie I’ve also read a little of the IDW comics though I haven’t kept up with it in recent times) 

-Detentionaire

-ALTA (i havent watch legend of korra yet)

- The Batman (2004) not many people talk about this one but i like it a lot

-Megaman (Ruby Spears Cartoon)

-Avengers: Earth’s Mightest Heroes

-Spectacular Spiderman

-Xmen evolution

-Spiderman TAS

-Justice League/Justice League Unlimited TAS

-Batman vs TMNT (yes it is good yes i will not shut up about it go watch it right now)

-Marvel’s What If

-Ninjago

-Thomas the Tank Engine (ive watched the classic and cgi;none of the reboot)

-Avengers Assemble

-Sonic Boom

-Transformers (Prime, Animated, Cyberverse, RID 2015, Rescue Bots, Rescue Bots Academy, G1)

-Danny Phantom

Anime

-Megaman Nt Warrior/Rockman.exe

-Bakugan Battle Brawlers

-Pokemon

-Yugioh (Season 0, DM, GX, 5Ds, Zexal, Vrains)

-Detective Conan (probs the least kid friendly on my least besides what if, but its still animated!)

-Sonic X

-Haikyuu (ive read the entire manga but none of the light novels)

-Inazuma 11 (og, go s1, orion)

I’ll add more to this list as I think of more/watch more. Feel free to message/ask me about these!

[sanchoyoscribbles]

Yu-gi-oh! SR! (short for sidereal)

I’ve been talking about wanting to make a ygo fan series for a while on my main and I finally did 🤟 here’s the protagonist and her rival! I’m putting their profiles and the info about the series under the cut because it’s kinda long, even tho I tried to stick to just the basics 💀

⏳ Yunori Aokawa ⏳

⏳Age 22

⏳Deck theme: Wind attributes, lots of winged beasts. Her ace is ‘grand meridian quaver’, an angelic looking monster with a scythe and eight wings. (At some point I’ll come back and design these girls ace monsters for real…)

⏳ Our protagonist! She’s wanted to be a horologist forever and is deeply interested in history; in the future she’s from, a horologist isn’t just someone who studies time, but is someone who directly can observe set points on the timelines.

⏳They do this at a company called ChronoCorp (which is lowkey kinda shady…Yunori doesn’t work there long enough to notice…there’s 20 miles of contracts and NDAs, and you have to pass several hard tests to even be considered to be a new hire, so needless to say, Yunori studied Very Hard) it’s basically just people assigned historical events that were poorly documented to go and transcribe what actually happened, using tech that lets them watch it on hologram screens and pause it (basically a fancy TV…) they aren’t supposed to be able to interact with the events in any way and time travel is not a (publicly) known thing…

⏳On her first week on the job she finds a mysterious ring on her desk with a note with her name on it and assumes it’s a company gift, and while observing, she gets so into watching the duel she leans forward to the screen…and falls in! the ring seems to give her this ability and to have a lot of mystery around it, including it’s origin, and it has a recharge time, so once she’s in a certain time, she’s stuck for a while (not to mention, at the start she has no idea how it works or how to control it…) it’s called the sidereal ring! Yes this is a time travel plot. It’s very self indulgent of me.

⏳I’m not including stuff from arc v, vrains or sevens because I haven’t watched them, so they’re non canon here I guess for now? The series is a 200-300 yrs after zexal!

⏳ Yunori is a very cautious, nervous girl at the start of her adventure, determined she shouldn’t be interfering with history. She’s genre savvy and is convinced she’ll mess up the timeline if she does anything major, but over the course of the series becomes more confident and realizes she’s meant to be at the places she arrives at. She’s a huge history nerd and geeks out over famous duelists also despite having stage fright herself, she loves to see other people duel and loves to duel herself!

🎃Majo Kuromiya 🎃

🎃Age 24

🎃Deck theme: Halloween! Her ace card is a jack-o-lantern dragon called ‘boosilisk the hallowyvern’

🎃The rival character! She started entering duel tournaments in middle school to help her family because they were impoverished at the time, and by high school she was touring on professional duel circuits and had serious money. She very carefully developed and maintained her persona of being a spooky queen who puts on a show of being creepy while dueling, though she does earnestly love creepy cute things!

🎃She used her winnings to start her own company, Hallowed-Evolution. It’s the largest duel monsters costume and cosplay retailer! She’s pretty calculating because she’s been managing the company since she turned 18 to further support her family and handles a lot of PR herself. Although she threw herself into it so wholeheartedly that she never had time to make friends, which her family worries about. She’s so used to putting her persona up that it’s hard for her to make friends because she’s always got her mask up.

🎃Her and Yunori meet because Yunori lands in her time (sometime between 5Ds and zexal?) first, and because she owns her costume company and works with fabrics, she’s like What Is Your Outfit Made of. That’s not a fabric ive seen!!! (It’s Future Fabric™️) and Yunori is miserable at lying. Majo then let’s her stay at her estate trying to pry out details about the future (honestly, her first motives are to get details about the future to try and use that to grow her company…)

🎃 Yunori is a kind of awkward girl thought of as a history otaku back home so she didn’t have friends, and Majo doesn’t have any friends either, so they make a fun duo of Weird Girls and eventually grow together as people and have a full group of friends by the end. But at the start they’re both the same kind of too-focused on work types and learn to relax together 😌

🎃They butt heads a lot because Majo believes if Yunori is here, it means she was meant to be and shouldn’t be so afraid to mess up the timelines. (Majo is right, and smug about it later) Majo is also fascinated by superstitions and the occult and will casually say super morbid things which freaks Yunori out. Also, Majo is desperate to duel Yunori and beat her, because if she can beat someone who has the advantage of future cards and has studied duels as much as Yunori has, she’s convinced that’s the best victory that could be had. She also wants it to be a big showy match, but Yunori is like NO I HAVE TO STAY A SECRET IM NOT EVEN BORN IN THIS TIME YET!!! (They duel several times and yes, eventually on a big stage! Majo helps Yunori get over her stage-fright!)

🎃Majo also supplies Yunori with time-accurate outfits to help her blend in even though she doesn’t think Yunori actually needs to, and comes with her for pretty much all the adventures (Yunori accidentally brings her at first and while Majo is kind of excited to be involved, she’s more worried about her family and who will run her company, but when she gets back she realizes she doesn’t have to do everything alone because her family was reliably running it in her absence!) Her family includes her mother, her grandfather and two younger brothers (one 14 and one 10) and her mother was the one helping run the company for the most part.

If u read all of that thank you 🥺💗 I’m going to try and come back to these girls and develop more of a Plot and some VILLAINS and stuff, along with their ace monster designs…:3c I just thought it’d be fun to have a series that could go from filling in gaps of plot between the already established series, and being historical dramas the next ‘episode’ pfft. Also since vampires were established As Canon in GX I want to include them somehow. Scream Queen Majo VS A Real Vampire. I just wanted to add that 😌

[kuriboo]

Swing of Memories & Favorite Monster/Deck

Hello! Since GX Month and Vrains Month are running at the same time, I’ve decided I’ll be combining the prompts (by date) from each! So you can count this as being for both, I guess! I’m very far behind at this rate but I’ll be doing what I can to get through, even though it’ll take me longer than September to do so!

As part of my efforts to make sure I both write everything I want to for these events and to make sure I go at my own pace (I’m already very behind), I’ve started to go out of order a bit. For Vrains Month this is Day 2: Favorite Monster/Deck! My favorite Deck in Vrains is Blue Angel’s Trickstar deck. And for GX Month this is Day 4: Swing of Memories! I’ve made this a sequel to my Soul Exchange day where I swapped siblings between the Truesdales and the Rhodes, so for this, keep in mind that Atticus and Syrus are brothers.

I’ll post this one on ao3 after I’ve written all the days that take place before this one, but I’ll link the fic itself in the notes. Since this is Soul Exchange related, I’ll also post the link to Soul Exchange in the notes, too!

⁂

Atticus watched the duel fly over his head.

And then he was immediately pushed away by a large group of fans clamoring for attention. They were all shouting about something to do with ‘Charisma Duelists’ and spouting facts and observations he just couldn’t keep up with. Did these ‘Charisma Duelists’ really bring together so many fans? This was a bigger group than the fans Atticus had at Duel Academy.

Someone behind Atticus chuckled. “You seem to be lost. Is this your first duel featuring a Charisma Duelist?”

Atticus spun around to see a girl with lavender hair watching him from the outskirts of the crowd. “Never heard of a Charisma Duelist before today. I just thought I was watching a regular duel, to be honest.”

“Must be scary to get mobbed by the True Blue Crew like that. Charisma Duelists are like idols for dueling, they’re popular and their duels are broadcast even outside Vrains.” She pointed up at one of the duelists flying on hoverboards. “They’re all here for her.”

“I always thought it could be fun to be an idol! My brother and I could star as Sy and Bro-Bro! We could be dueling idols instead, though I’ve still never convinced him.” With a sigh, Atticus looked up at the duelist that was pointed out to him. “Who is she, anyway?”

“Blue Angel.” Atticus could hear some affection in her voice as she said the name. Well, if she was here, she must be a fan, too, so it made sense. “She duels with her Trickstar monsters, and her Trickstars slowly wear you down with effect damage until you’ve got nothing left you can do. She's been on a good win-streak lately and I don’t think she’s about to lose it.”

Atticus squinted; he could just barely make out a couple of Trickstars on Blue Angel’s field. “They’re really pretty. My deck wouldn’t appeal to fans like hers. We use completely different strategies, too. Maybe I should stick to my original plan.”

The girl laughed. “Don’t count yourself out, Vrains could use more Charisma Duelists. If your brother doesn’t want any part in your plans, though, why are you pushing him? You could be a Charisma Duelist all on your own.”

“My brother’s been shy and reserved for years,” Atticus answered. “He hasn’t always been that way. Maybe something like that could help him come out of his shell. It’s my job as an older brother to worry about him. And I just think it’d be more fun together. We’re a built-in team!” It went deeper than that, but Atticus wasn’t going to spill everything to some stranger he just met. A stranger that hadn’t even given him a name.

“Good luck, then. I’m rooting for you.” The girl winked at him. “Just know that if you ever get in a duel with Blue Angel, I’m rooting for her, too.”

Atticus laughed. “I appreciate the support! For now, though, I think I’ll root for Blue Angel, too.”

He couldn’t help it. With Blue Angel’s hair color, it was easy to imagine her as Syrus. He wondered: Did Blue Angel have an older sibling supporting her, too?

[lazyspeedster93]

My History with Yu-Gi-Oh!

At earliest, I was in kindergarten when I heard about Yugioh for the first time. At that age, my favorite things to do were playing with toys and watching cartoons, and I might have already been watching Pokémon at the time. I don’t remember the exact details of what happened to get to the point of me watching Yugioh for the first time, I just remembered the show kinda competed with Pokémon(even though Digimon seems like the more direct competition to that one) and I actually thought it was the cooler, edgier, more mature alternative to Pokémon(I’m not the only one that did that, right? I hope I wasn’t the only kid that did) If you couldn’t guess by now, I didn’t have much of an attention span as a kid, especially as young as kindergarten, but the more angular and striking visage of Yugioh was definitely something that stuck out among the other kids’ anime about “controlling monsters” we saw when we were kids, even Digimon. However, I didn’t watch the show all that much until a few years later when Yugioh and Pokémon were added to Cartoon Network, and the reason for the gap was because I was just that dumb as a kid that I couldn’t comprehend the concept of changing TV channels.

When it was Cartoon Network, I was obsessed. I eventually found out the Duel Monster cards are real(or more accurately, they made a real-world counterpart to Duel Monsters that’s just dubbed “Yugioh: Trading Card Game”) and it was from McDonald’s Mighty Kids meals of all places that I got my first cards: Fairy’s Gift and Stuffed Animal. I wanted more cards so badly, but McDonald’s only gave so many and I didn’t know how to get more until I started seeing the packs at Walmart with the iconic Blue-Eyes White Dragon set. I didn’t even understand the concept of how trading card games were sold, nor did I know about Magic: The Gathering(I didn’t even know about Pokémon cards, or I just didn’t pay attention again), so you can imagine how disappointed I was that the packet that said “Blue-Eyes White Dragon” didn’t have Blue-Eyes.

This would go on for the rest of my childhood and even adolescence; I opened pack after pack, played the card game with kids from school and summer programs, I played a few of the video games(YGOGX: Duel Academy for GBA I have the most amount, vivid, and fond memories of) and of course I would watch the anime at every opportunity I got. I didn’t catch every episode, but Duel Monsters, GX, and 5Ds I’ve loved throughout my childhood all the way to high school. I watched a little bit of Zexal…and kind of lost interest; I could contribute this to age, but it just didn’t grip me. I would still collect the cards even when I hadn’t had as much time to play the game, and I even tried to catch some episodes of ARC-V online when that started running in Japan. After that, I saw the teasers for Vrains and saw how over-designed the characters and monsters were getting, I unfortunately fell off the franchise for what would go for years. I think this was also around the time the public learned how scumming Konami is and that they canceled Silent Hills and everything, so that was definitely a contributing factor.

Around 2019 I started seeing Yugioh videos from JWittz, and that’s how I learned that the original Yugioh manga wasn’t always about just trading cards or even about monsters, that it was meant to be a gritty and surreal love letter to all forms of gaming from tabletops to video games, gambling, air hockey, DDR, puzzles, toys from yo-yos to Tamagachi, and yes, trading card games. By 2020 I would start reading the manga all the way through, engrossed in how much deeper and more nuanced the original story was at least compared to the Yugioh I had been used to growing up, absolutely loving it that it made me love the franchise more than I ever had…and here I am now.

Out of so many things happening with the turn of the decade, I didn’t imagine Yugioh influencing so much beyond being a cool show promoting a card game. As someone whose biggest interest for most of their life was video games, now having learned about to original purpose of Yugioh and seeing how it represented so many games beyond Duel Monsters, Yugioh is now my all-time favorite concept. That’s why I wanted to make Yugioh Month; I wanted to celebrate Yugioh anyway I can and I want to do something very special for the franchise. Konami and Shueisha are doing more for the franchise’s 25th anniversary than I thought they would, between the Hypland promotion and the supplementary products, but I’m just clad to know whether you celebrate the card game, the shows, or Kazuki Takahashi’s original vision, love for the franchise is just as strong as ever and I hope this can go on for at least another 25 years.

[howaboutalittlehelpneos]

So since I've been saying nothing but good things about Vrains, I feel it's only fair to counterbalance my positivity with negativity that no one asked for. Why? That's just the kind of bitch I am, so here are my problems with Vrains.

So many of the duels in Vrains are heavily favored towards more... How do I say... Plot centered characters. Yusaku, Ryoken, Homura, Lightning, and Bohman have the highest amount of wins in the series, while other supporting characters are left to fall by the wayside. The infuriating thing about it is that they're usually characters that are set up to have intimidating past win records, and you're told that these characters are supposed to be the best at what they do, but they end up losing almost all of their duels.

Because of the fact that some characters are established very solidly in the “they will never/almost never lose” category, any time one of the side characters happens to go up against them, there’s never any real sense of suspense. There’s no room to wonder “Are they going to win this one?” because you already know that no, of course they aren’t, they don’t have enough main character energy to pull off a win. Vrains suffers from the same problem GX did with being heavily centered around their protagonist, and while there are more people aside from just Yusaku winning duels, the fact that he never loses and that his rival only loses three times throughout the whole show kind of makes the problem worse. I like Yusaku, and I think Revolver is okay, but man, it gets kind of tiring seeing Emma and Go and Blood Shepard and Spectre and Aoi and Akira constantly get dunked on any time one of them happens to duel Yusaku/Revolver/Bohman/Lightning.

I’m especially mad about Emma losing all the time despite having one of the best decks in the show, where her only win in all 120 episodes was against Shima. Shima. I love him, but it’s not exactly something to be proud of. It isn’t even like it’s an issue of the writers not being able or willing to let a girl win a duel because they did perfectly fine with Aoi! She had an okay number of wins under her belt, so it’s even more infuriating to me that the only other relevant girl in the show gets to win one (1) duel. Against Shima. God damn it.

This is just a personal gripe, but. Damn it. I wish we’d gotten to see more of Earth and Aqua. They kind of got the Rin and Yugo treatment from Arc-V, where we get to see them together only in flashbacks, Aqua got kidnapped, and Earth was only with her for a few minutes after saving her before he had to push her away so she wouldn’t be in danger (as opposed to just pushing her out a window because of mind control), and then Earth got captured and basically tortured to death. Both of them end up dead by the end of season two, they do not get to come back, and that is the end of them and their love.

On another Ignis related note, Windy. Windy is made out to be this horrible, irredeemable villain for almost the entirety of his screentime, only for them to drop the bomb on us that he was actually never evil to begin with, he was just reprogrammed by Lightning to make him that way. Well, that’s good, right? Now that we know Windy was only acting that way because of his code being altered against his will, we’ll finally get to see what the real Windy is like-

No. We don’t. After Windy has been reverted back to normal, he never says a Word in the few brief moments we get to see him again. The most we get to know is that his real eye color is purple.

And now, since I’ve completed Vrains... The ending with Ai’s existence supposedly causing the end of the world. I take issue with the whole apocalypse setting they tried to show us being brought about because of Ai because they never show us... How. In 5Ds, with Yusei being left alive and going on to become Z-ONE, they actually explain how his desire to save everyone was eroded over time until he came to the conclusion that sacrificing the city to save the entire world was a necessary evil he was now willing to go through. We don’t talk about the plot twist they pulled in that arc, it didn’t happen, don’t know what you’re talking about. With Ai... They don’t give us anything beyond his existence leading to the apocalypse. We never get to see how it got so bad, if it was something Ai himself did, if Ai somehow changed from just wanting to live in peace to wanting killing and violence, all we know is that if he lives, the government comes after him with tanks and blows up the whole city??? Which like. Seems just a Bit excessive to blow up buildings and waste tons of innocent lives just to get to one gay robot. You’d think they’d be more specifically targeting him instead of just laying waste to everything in sight until they eventually kill him. 

If Ai being alive is really going to cause all this hell, to make it believable to the viewer when we’d only ever known Ai to want peace, they’d have to show us some event in the future that caused Ai to change his views on humans being his allies, but they don’t give us any of that. They had the building blocks, but couldn’t stack them up in a way that made that scenario feel plausible. To top everything off, after making Playmaker kill him because of his dangerous existence leading to the end of the world in the future, no for real guys stop laughing, the final episode resurrects Ai at the last second, just showing us a glimpse of him coming back into existence somewhere in the Cyberse, with Playmaker assumedly going out to search for him.

So... All of that was pointless, then? Is the future still going to be a barren hellscape because Ai came back? The whole point of his assisted suicide duel with Playmaker was to make sure he wouldn’t be alive anymore to cause the end of the world, but if you give us this glimpse of him being somehow brought back, then what was the point of everything we just watched? Can Ai exist or can’t he? Fuck me man, I know it was probably just put in to satisfy fans to show us “haha sike he’s not dead, don’t worry”, but if you want the future safety of everyone in this show to hinge on whether or not one person lives or dies, then can you at the very least make up your mind on whether they live or die? FUCK. 

Well... I think that’s about everything I have to say, minus a few smaller personal gripes like “why couldn’t we see Roboppi again” and “for a whole season being dedicated to his safe return, we sure did get to see very little of Jin after he got rescued”. Yeah, I think I got it all out of my system. All in all, I did enjoy Vrains, and I do look forward to going back and watching the whole thing subbed, but... Yeah. You know me. Just gotta complain about the things I love. :P

[brain-jarred]

Prologue, part 2

BREAKING NEWS Interview with Justice of the Meteor Brigade October 24, 1992

 I was lucky enough to catch Justice after the Meteor Brigade’s battle with a mutant bear today, and I kept him long enough to ask for an interview with him about life as a superhero and some questions all of us want to hear answered. You’ve all seen the news lately, and now, it’s time for it to be confirmed. Sitting down in the top floor of an apartment building, I conducted the interview everyone has been waiting for. Here is a sitdown interview with Justice, the leader of the Meteor Brigade. 

Interviewer: Good afternoon, Justice. Thank you for agreeing to this interview—really, it’s more of an honor than I could ever express. Is it difficult leading the Meteor Brigade? With all the monsters you have to fight all the time, I imagine it must be tiring.

 Justice: It’s not as tiring as you’d think! Really, I enjoy it. I get to hang out with my best buds all the time, and really, it’s great! Keeping you guys out of danger is what we live to do.

 Interviewer: I see. I’m glad you all don’t see it as too much of a burden. Have you ever worried you all will fail to defeat the mutant creatures? They look terrifying. 

Justice: There have definitely been some times where I was worried things weren’t going to go as planned, but with that sort of thing, you have to keep your head up and act like nothing bad is going on. The team and I all have our superpowers for a reason, and we’re going to use them. We’re here to protect everyone. That’s our responsibility. 

Interviewer: Scientists as of lately have done more research on the mutant monsters, and they’ve found connections to meteorites that came from space. The properties in the creatures’ blood seems to match those of the meteorites. Would you happen to know anything about this? 

Justice: I do, actually. That’s something Vrain has told us about. Vrain is an alien from outer space, you know. Those meteorites are very powerful, actually. They’re what gave the Meteor Brigade superheroes our superpowers, and they’re also, unfortunately, what’s mutating these creatures. I

Interviewer: A double-edged sword. We were very lucky that you all had your own encounters with the meteorites, or else our city would probably be destroyed.

 Justice: I don’t like to imagine that! I’m very grateful that the team and I found the meteorites, too. Protecting you guys may be a full-time job, but it’s very rewarding, and the team has all learned so much since we formed three years ago. Learned enough that I’m able to be here with you answering questions. 

Interviewer: It is a privilege. You all have been named public heroes, celebrated in the streets, spoken to schools and at conferences…we’re all very lucky you encountered those meteorites. Do you think the power of those meteorites could be harnessed by other humans like you all? Except for Vrain, of course. 

Justice: Well…I don’t doubt it could be…

------

BREAKING NEWS Billionaire Investments Allow for Anyone to be a Superhero November 29, 1993 

Due to recent groundbreaking developments, contributions from a local billionaire and a team of eager scientists have led to a new possibility that will let the Meteor Brigade fight alone no longer— harnessing the power of the mysterious powerful meteorites that gave the Meteor Brigade members their power, scientists have created a way for anyone to become a superhero, no matter who you are. 

“It really is an incredible feat,” the man in charge of it all, who chose to remain anonymous, told me when I asked for comment. “Upon the formation of the Meteor Brigade, I was asking myself the question. Why? Where did they come from? Why are they so powerful? I’ve been following the team closely, learning all I can about them, and now I understand. Those mysterious meteorites contain DNA-altering molecules that empower anything they touch, and it works most effectively on humanesque creatures. 

That’s the reason why all of these mutant animals keep attacking our city. Those molecules work differently on those animals. They’re not like us humans. And now, any human that wants to be as powerful as a member of the Meteor Brigade can become one at little cost. Anyone can be a superhero! It’s a child’s dream come true.” The billionaire’s dream has already produced results. I’ve seen people jumping abnormally high, super-climbers, and more running around the city. They even help fight against the mutants that try to attack. I watched the Meteor Brigade attack a mutant cat recently with the help of at least five new heroes—they all looked like civilians, but they had super abilities. 

I could see that the Meteor Brigade seemed to be faltering a little bit. Understandably, they must be stunned by the new additions to their protection of the city. After the battle, when the large, mutated cat was lying on the ground, defeated, I saw the heroes all descend to flat ground. The new heroes all gave each other high-fives and laughed gleefully, looking very prideful in their assistance with the battle. The Meteor Brigade, however, all huddled together in one big clump, all eyeing the new heroes closely. We haven’t heard much from the Meteor Brigade about the new research and heroes, so I took this opportunity to try to find their thoughts.

 I tried to request commentary from Justice after the battle, but, unfortunately, he leapt away from me rapidly after giving me a strange look. I wouldn’t be surprised if soon, every single person in the city has superpowers. Perhaps we all could become a new era of the Meteor Brigade ourselves with these new, incredible abilities, and it’s all thanks to the billionaire and his investments in such a complex field of research. With the new heroes, the world will have even more protection against the strange, mutated creatures that plague our city. Now, any human, regardless of where they came from, can be the hero they dreamed of being when they were a child. Let’s all save the world together, but this time, as superheroes.

----------------------------------------

BREAKING NEWS President Ruthson, dead! A tragedy befalls the nation. January 1st, 1994.

It is with a heavy heart we must announce the death of our nation’s leader, President John Ruthson. He was murdered last night, at exactly midnight. The new superheroes that had helped the meteor brigade have betrayed us, led by the no longer anonymous Billionaire beneficiary, Lincoln Little.  What's worse, they are being headed by their own leader, who has sought to call himself “Superego.” This real life super villain broke into our office early this morning, and demanded an interview be published, or else our brave reporters would be killed. Viewer’s discretion is advised in the following interview.

Interviewer: So why? Why did you murder the president? Superego: It wasn't a murder. It was an execution. But I will tell you the reason he had to die. I will tell you now. Our goal as the utopians is to usher in well...a utopia. *Chuckles* It's simple, really. The president, and his cabinet, the jury, every secretary, every government worker, and their allies, are standing in the way of that. Interviewer: So you…”executed” them.

Superego: Yes. Interviewer: Just what kind of utopia are you trying to create? Superego: democracy is a sham. It works well enough on a small scale, but on a national level? No. It's too slow, too inefficient. It only serves to stop the natural course of evolution. To put it bluntly, and perhaps in a way that fails to capture its beauty, we seek totalitarianism. One ruler, who knows what to do, what best course of action to take the nation. Now, a normal human has flaws, they make mistakes. But a superhuman? Well- A superhuman would make the perfect leader. If we can just find out how to give one the perfect combination of powers, a perfect leader could be born, and would lead our species into the next step of evolution. Interviewer: (it was at this point i was too horrified to say anything.) Superego: I will be taking my leave then. (I was disturbed at how gently he said these words, almost shamefully)

And with that the interview ended. I will leave you all with one final warning. If you are a politician, seek shelter immediately, the goals of the utopians are no doubt to take over the world, and their first step is the murder of every single goverment worker and politician.

And for everyone else...be safe, and may god be with us all.

-----

BREAKING NEWS Thousands dead! January 27th, 1994

Over the past month, thousands of politicians, government officials, and workers have turned up dead. From small town mayors, to the supreme court. Every official who has worked at the white house is dead, killed by the 10 superhumans who make up the utopians. The meteor brigade has tried to protect them, but unfortunately, they failed to save them. A dark age has descended upon the USA, and other countries are reporting their politicians dead as well. We had no time to conduct a full interview with the meteor brigade, as they are busy protecting who is left, but we did manage to get a few words from justice. “Everyone...everything is looking dark right now. And I know it all seems hopeless, but we are going to get through this. We may have failed to protect those who have died, we may have our backs against the wall, but I can see that the utopians are getting reckless. They think that you, the people, are weak. They think they can just push you around. They can't. I know that even if their plan succeeds, even if they manage to take over the world, you will not stand by. You will not watch as they slaughter freedom. You will fight back, even without powers. Because, because everyone is a hero, and everyone has the power to save the world.” Thank you Justice. 

Thank you meteor brigade. We must have hope.

BREAKING NEWS

Justice has died.

January 30th, 1994 Justice, also known as Quincey James Vonyant, died yesterday at the age of twenty four years. 

There are no words to describe the light that we as the people have lost. No words can describe how utterly horrific his death was. He was murdered by Superego, and his body was found under rubble, headless and mangled. He died saving the mayor of Wichita, kansas. His twin sister, Clairity, who has revealed her civilian identity to be Clair Lily Vonyant, gave a few words at his funeral today. She asked that they not be printed, to which we obliged. Quincey’s funeral was short, for fear that it would be attacked by the utopians. He now rests in Southwillow graveyard. 

Quincey Vonyant was a bright young man, full of life, full of bravery and courage. He was saddled with the duty of protecting the world at only 19 years old, barely an adult. And yet despite his young age, managed to do it with grace and with a smile. He gave up his pursuit of going to college and becoming a doctor in order to be a hero fulltime. 

He had a beautiful heart, and loved kids. He often read to them at public libraries across the world. But despite all these good traits, it is important to remember that despite all his powers, his public image, and his heart, he was human, like us. He wasn't just a perfect person with no flaws or sorrows, he had them. I knew him well, speaking to him and interviewing him often has that effect. I lost a friend. And the world has lost a hero.

But we must remember his last words given to the press, and words he said often. Anyone can be a hero. And it's at times like this, we must rise to the challenge that the world has thrown at us. We can't give into despair, we must honor his memory, and hold onto hope.

BREAKING NEWS: Superego and utopians defeated, and the end of the meteor brigade.

February 17th

In a field out in Nebraska, Clarity avenged her brother and the thousands of people that superego killed. There was snow on the ground as I looked on at the catatonic body of Superego. He was not killed, but his brain was utterly shattered. I think we can all safely say good riddance. He will never use his mind to hurt others again.

[higuchimon]

[fanfic] In The Arms of Love:  Chapter 6 [end]

Story: In The Arms of Love||Title: Snowballs Ship: Yuusaku x Ai Chapters: 6-6||Words: 1,621||Total: 9,711 Genre: Romance||Rated: G Challenges: Diversity Writing: YGO VRAINS/Sevens: H10, 6 chapters; Hugsaku Week 2021, day #6, N/A Notes: This takes place post-canon. Ai and all the other Ignis have returned and have spiffy SOLtis bodies of their very own. Summary: Yuusaku needs lots of hugs and Ai is there to make sure they all happen.

Ai knew that his skin was artificial, probably grown in a vat or spun in some other fashion. But he could feel everything that touched him, perhaps to even greater detail than humans could.

So he definitely felt Yuusaku’s warm lips pressed against his own. He wrapped an arm around Yuusaku’s neck and leaned into the kiss, hearing the murmurs and whispers of all the people watching them and making certain they saw him kiss Yuusaku very clearly.

When he pulled back, it was more due to the potential for Yuusaku’s lack of air than his own. If that were the issue, he could have kept on kissing forever. But Yuusaku needed to breathe.

Yuusaku’s eyes sparkled at him, his cheeks faintly flushed, and he had his own arms around Ai’s neck. He breathed in a little but said nothing. Ai wasn’t at all sure if anything needed to be said.

Ai could do untold numbers of calculations in the space of seconds. He could figure out the most complex of duels in heartbeats and work out projections in almost no time at all.

And even with all of that, he still didn’t understand what was going on as Yuusaku’s arms slid from around his neck, and a few seconds later, something cold dropped down the back of his sweater. A heartbeat – even when he didn’t have a heart to beat – passed before it dawned on him what it was.

“Yuusaku-chan!” He spluttered. He’d never thought that Yuusaku of all people would try something like that!

Quick as he could, he scooped up a handful of snow and stepped back, tossing it at Yuusaku. His Origin – and his boyfriend – ducked out of the way, though he didn’t quite escape. Snow splattered along his chest, and Yuusaku started to reach for more snow of his own.

“If you’re going to do that, boys, you should take it elsewhere,” one of the older people advised them. “This area’s for skating.”

Yuusaku stood up a breath later, snow still in his gloved hand. “All right,” he murmured, and held out his free hand towards Ai. Ai considered not taking it but the prospect of a snowball fight against Yuusaku was far too tempting.

He accepted the outstretched hand and together the two of them headed away. He heard a soft sigh of breath from one of the watching people and a whisper of, “They’re so handsome. And so lucky.”

They have no idea of how right they are. Ai preened as they walked, enjoying the sensation of Yuusaku’s hand in his. He tightened his grip a fraction, enough so Yuusaku looked at him, and smiled.

That had been Ai’s first kiss. As far as he knew, it had also been Yuusaku’s. A tiny flicker of worry tripped in his programming.

“Yuusaku,” he murmured, keeping his voice low so that no one else they passed could hear him. “The kiss – you didn’t mind, did you? It wasn’t – with a human.”

Yuusaku regarded him, eyes narrowed. “If I wanted it to be with a human, there are humans I could have kissed.”

Ai wasn’t going to argue that. He doubted that Yuusaku would have, because even now he wasn’t the most social of creatures, but there were plenty of people who would have happily volunteered to do the honors if Yuusaku ever expressed the desire for such a kiss.

And Yuusaku had wanted him for that kiss. Had kissed him. Granted, it had been Ai who started the kiss, but Yuusaku hadn’t complained or protested or tried to avoid it. He’d returned it.

Ai knew that he weighed far too much actually walk on air. He’d read of such descriptions and he knew they weren’t meant to describe reality. But the farther they walked together hand in hand, the deeper that it sank into him that they’d not merely ice skated together but they’d kissed and were off to have some private fun with snowballs together, the more certain he was if he looked down, he would see his shoes floating a good distance above the snow.

Perhaps he would try that the next time they visited Vrains. It would be interesting, to say the least.

But for now Ai spied a long stretch of snow ahead of them, raw and pure, untouched by anything save a few birds. In less cold times it probably was something like a parking lot or perhaps a meadow. Now it was a source for snowballs and fun and Ai looked forward to both of those.

He turned to Yuusaku, wanting to say something, and was quickly reminded that Yuusaku had carried that snow all the way from the skating rink as it splattered over his chest. He brushed it away and did his very best glower – he practiced expressions a lot while Yuusaku slept. He never knew when he might need them.

“You-” Ai didn’t even have words. Instead, he scooped up the nearest handful of snow that he could and lobbed it at Yuusaku, who darted out of the way, finding a hiding place for himself behind some thick bushes.

Ai located a copse of his own to shelter behind and the two of them took turns tossing packed snow at one another. With more distance between them now, Yuusaku’s snowballs didn’t hit very well. He was a programming prodigy but getting fresh air and exercise hadn’t been on his personal to-do list for quite some time. Ai didn’t have to worry about that. He had superior hand-eye co-ordination simply by virtue of what he was, so the vast majority of his snowballs hit exactly what he aimed for.

The snowball fight only ended when Yuusaku finally sagged against the bushes he hid behind and waved one hand at Ai.

“That’s enough for now,” he said, working hard to catch his breath. Ai wasn’t going to argue. He’d had more than enough fun like this already.

He brushed his hands clean of snow and made his way over to Yuusaku, checking the time as he did. “We’ve got reservations at a good restaurant soon anyway. You’re hungry, aren’t you?” He regarded Yuusaku sternly. “For something that’s not just hot dogs.”

Yuusaku offered a small smile. “A little,” he admitted, taking Ai’s hand and coming to his feet. “Which restaurant?”

“Ember Days,” Ai said with a very satisfied grin. “They serve some excellent tempura.”

Yuusaku looked a little intrigued by that. Ai knew that on those rare occasions when he didn’t eat at Cafe Nagi, he mainly picked up ramen from random shops along the way home. Tempura wasn’t something he was all that used to. Ai looked forward to seeing his reaction to it.

“What else have you planned for today?” Yuusaku asked as Ai began to brush the snow off of him. He tried to raise his hands to do it himself but Ai wasn’t going to let that happen. He could get to the parts that Yuusaku couldn’t.

“Well, we’ve done just about everything,” Ai admitted. “You got your presents and we went ice skating and snowball fighting and now we’re going to eat.”

Yuusaku regarded him. “How do you eat, anyway?”

“It’s complicated,” Ai admitted. “I don’t really need to, you know.” He shrugged. “I sort of mash it up in my mouth and then it goes here.” He touched his stomach area. “I’ve got a place in here to keep it away from my circuitry and later I can empty out the box. It’s not too different from what humans do.”

Yuusaku looked a lot more fascinated than Ai had thought he would be. “Do you taste anything?”

“Not quite. I’m working on developing that, though. I have a few ideas.” It would take some effort and he thought he could work it out best in Link Vrains. He didn’t think it was necessary for his own satisfaction but it would make emulating humans just that much easier. He didn’t want to be human but he knew life for Yuusaku would be so much easier if he could blend in that well.

Ai dismissed the entire conversation with a flick of one hand, wishing that he had his cape to make the appropriate dramatic swoop with, before he wrapped his fingers around Yuusaku’s and gently pressed their fingers together. He might not be able to taste, but he could feel, and he enjoyed the feeling of Yuusaku’s hand in his.

“Come on. It’s almost time for our meal. We don’t want to be late.”

Hand in hand, they started for the nearest pathway that led to the restaurant. Ai kept on enjoying the sensation of Yuusaku’s hand in his and he thought Yuusaku enjoyed this as well. He thought about giving Yuusaku another hug but the problem with that was he would have to release Yuusaku’s hand and he didn’t really want to do that.

“Why are you doing all this?” Yuusaku murmured as the restaurant came into view ahead of them. Ai snorted at the question.

“Don’t you know? I haven’t exactly been hiding it.”

Yuusaku let out a small laugh. Ai savored the sound of it. Yuusaku laughing was a rare and precious treasure.

“Would you even know how to hide anything if you wanted to?”

Ai considered that, even as they were escorted inside the restaurant and seated at a quiet spot out of the way. Then he shrugged the tiniest bit, grinning.

“Why hide when it’s the absolute truth?” And he leaned over to brush his lips gently over the side of Yuusaku’s ear, whispering, “I love you.”

What made the night even better was that Yuusaku leaned closer to him and whispered those same words back to him.

The End

Notes: So that’s all of it! This chapter was prompted by a request from SilvorMoon, to have Yuusaku and Ai hold hands.

[merryfortune]

Blue since the day we parted

Written for 100ships on Dreamwidth

Prompt: #13 Blue

Ship: Ai/Shoichi/Yusaku

Fandom: Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS

Word Count: 1,745

Rating: T

Warnings: Choose Not to Warn

Tags: Canon Compliant, Angst with a Happy Ending, Missing Scene Fic

   A tear glistened in the corner of Playmaker’s eye as he reached out into that cloudy, blue sky and touched Ai, plucking him from the digital space.

   Ai convulsed inside his hand. Just an eyeball. Reconstructed, refigured, recantered and then he remembered. Playmaker’s heart lurched with worry as he cradled Ai, standing into the wind and letting it roll off him as he waited for Ai to say something. To do something. Anything. And then a tear to match the ones dripping slowly down the side of Playmaker’s face welled up on the rubber duct of Ai’s entire eyeball.

   “Yusaku…?” he murmured. “Yusaku! Yusaku! My Yusaku!”

   “Y-Yeah, it's me, Ai.” Playmaker beamed and Ai was happy that such a wide smile would be his first memory in this refreshed, new world.

   “I thought… I thought I was a goner.” Ai mumbled, grateful to be alive but grim in his certainty that he was very much not so supposed to be alive.

   “You know me,” Playmaker shrugged, “once I decide something, it becomes my purpose. Be it for three months or ten years, I just get absorbed in that one singular desire. Looking for you, piecing you back together, that was my one desire this time.”

   “And I bet it was just as destructive for you than if was just plain ol’ revenge.” Ai replied.

   Playmaker didn’t have a verbal response to that but the guilty look on his face spoke volumes. Ai nodded in his hands, moving himself up and down against Playmaker’s palms.

   “I thought as much.” Ai mumbled. “You never really change and yet…?”

   It, too, was written all over Playmaker’s face just as much as the guilt of having pushed aside so many of his connections just so he could reconnect to this one. Playmaker found it worth it though. Unbelievably worth it. He kept smiling, even if his initial grin had shrunken in on itself and steeped with guilt.

   “I can’t help it, your right,” Playmaker replied, murmuring, “Ai means to love people but I feel like I can only do it when I have…”

   “Ai?” Ai piped up hopefully.

   “Yeah, exactly.” Playmaker told him.

   “Oh, you incorrigible…!” Ai complained and he seemed rather cranky in Playmaker’s hands now, frowning and pouting but then he let up on it. “I love you, too. Thank you for bringing me back, for having hope.”

   “My pleasure.” Playmaker replied.

   “So, what now?” asked Ai. “Am I going to be stuck like this forever? My handsome visages? Gone, perished, truly a fate worse than death.”

   “I’ve got that all figured out,” Playmaker assured Ai, “So let’s log-out.” He shifted slightly and an admittance followed, “There’s someone else I really want back now, though, as well. Its kind of co-linked to getting your body back, too.”

   Ai had a sneaking suspicion that he knew what that meant so he perked up immediately, “Let’s get to it then, Playmaker! Seize the wind, already!”

   Playmaker laughed and it was such a lovely sound to Ai. It was unrehearsed and croaky but it was laughter nonetheless. They logged out together shortly afterwards. A cavalcade of pale blue data turning into sparkling shards of data before disappearing entirely.

   When they resurfaced, the location was not where Ai expected. He was still in the palm of Yusaku’s hands as he ventured out of a dark niche where his Link VRAINS rig was set up. It was familiar but it wasn’t home - or at least Yusaku’s apartment, even if it had never really felt like home until the end, when it was more about the emotions imbued in the walls than the walls themselves.

   Looking around, the first thing Ai saw, through the guards of Yusaku’s fingers, was the ocean. It was about midday, early afternoon, and the ocean was sparkling. It was a rich azure through the silver railing and the framing of the huge doorway into this building that Yusaku had made his next hovel. Ai realised where they were; they were at the site of their final showdown, if not a warehouse or two either.

   Ai wriggled in Yusaku’s hands so he could look up to him, “What happened to the apartment?” he asked. “Wh-Where’s Roboppy’s shell?”

   “Somewhere safe, don’t worry,” Yusaku replied and then he shrugged, his gaze grew distant, “I’m not sure what happened to the apartment. Landlord never tried to contact me when I bailed, I left behind whatever I couldn’t bring with me so I could stay here. It was easier than trying to move all your stockpiles there. Mightn’t be the most luxurious of places but its quiet here.”

   “Yeah, nothing more soothing than the sounds of construction.” Ai complained because he knew, for one, that he could hear the sound of jackhammers somewhere along the industrial pier.

   “Okay, serene.” Yusaku corrected himself.

   “But if there’s people around… how are you…?” Ai’s voice trailed off.

   “It’s not easy but I’ve managed alright to hide out undetected. I think the workers enjoy having a ghost around. So long as it doesn’t touch anything important, they don’t care if some electricity is pilfered.” Yusaku said but he brightened up, returned his gaze to Ai. “But now that we’re together again, let’s try and find somewhere really nice to live, yeah?”

   “Yeah.” Ai excitedly replied.

   “So let’s get you into your not-meat suit.” Yusaku said. “I don’t have all the means to give you back your Ignis body but take your pick of SOLtiS bodies.”

   Yusaku drifted through the vast, freezing warehouse like it was his home, showing Ai to one of the many stashes of cold, lifeless bodies that belonged to them. As eerie as it was to have so many empty SOLtiS androids around, Ai jumped into one enthusiastically. He wormed and wriggled his way into their shell and the eyeball became a beating heart. Yusaku watched, breathless, as a dressed and ready Ai appeared before him in the form of his dashing persona as a human.

   Whilst Ai may have been groggy and vague at first upon revival, he was really in the swing of things now as he popped up on his two legs like he was born to walk. Yusaku smiled gently whilst Ai stretched out all his nuts and bolts, making sure his limbs hadn’t rusted and got as close to limber as a robot could be and at the very end, made a very satisfied sigh.

   “Alright, what’s next?” Ai asked.

   “I think you know,” Yusaku said and though his heart thudded in his chest, a beg not to, he reached out to take Ai’s hand, “let’s go.”

   “Of course, partner.” Ai replied affectionately.

   Their fingers intertwined and linked together and then they were off with the wind. Not forever, obviously, Yusaku wanted to circle back later to grab Roboppy and a few other things that would be difficult to replace retroactively but for now, he and Ai were really putting the blues of the warehouse behind them both. And they both knew where they were headed on the interim, following the winding, concrete paths that allied themselves with the ocean so down below at the base of the steep cliffs here.

   When they arrived where they wanted to go, they still arrived looking like they ought to be dead. A corpse and a ghost: neither sure which was which but it was worth it.

   Cafe Nagi’s van was set up to the side of the Stardust Road. The last of the lunch time rush customers were trickling in and out, a waiter with a fluffy ponytail darting around them, fetching them refreshments and the like who paused to stare, puzzled, as his brother abandoned his post behind the grill.

   Yusaku smiled, tears in his eyes again that turned his smile creaky and all the more sincere, “Hey Kusanagi,” he said as Shoichi rushed towards him and Ai with a disbelieving smile, “I-I’ve missed you.”

   Before Yusaku knew it, he was swept up in a big bear hug from Shoichi. His arms surged around Yusaku’s scrawny frame and were so warm, Yusaku couldn’t have been more thankful for it. He buried his wet face into Shoichi’s chest and wrapped his arms around Shoichi’s waist. He felt so cared for as Shoichi’s hand cradled the back of his head, his fingers in his blue hair - and Ai, Ai was involving himself in this hug one way or another, too. Trying to reach both Yusaku and Shoichi but Shoichi was hogging Yusaku but Ai didn’t mind.

   “Never - and I mean never - do that to me again.” Shoichi growled. He was angry and sad and happy and relieved all at once. All that really broke through the barrage of emotions that he felt was love.

   “I promise.” Yusaku replied. He hugged back tighter. “I absolutely promise, I - I don’t want to be separated from you or Ai ever again, both of you are my precious partners.”

   “I believe you, Yusaku.” Shoichi consoled him. His head shifted to the left slightly, “And I mean it, Ai, I’m glad to see your back as well. I don’t want you running off either.”

   “It’s good to see you again, too, hot dog man.” Ai mumbled very fondly and with something of a tint of sadness. “And trust me,” he added, “there’s nowhere I’d rather be right now with you two.”

   “Same.” Yusaku mumbled.

   “I’m glad,” Shoichi replied softly and though he didn’t want to, he loosened his embrace of Yusaku so he could see his face properly, his cheeks were red and he looked dishevelled, there were bags under his eyes, “Yusaku? Ai?” Shoichi murmured.

   “Yeah?” Yusaku mumbled.

   Shoichi tilted his head to the side slightly, “Do you want to come live with me?” he asked. “Me and Jin?”

   “I’d love to.” Yusaku replied.

   “Me too.” Ai added on.

   Yusaku hugged Shoichi again. He couldn’t wait to move in with Shoichi and together they could get Ai his little Ignis body back too. It was all happening and Yusaku couldn’t be happier. He had been so depressed and angry since Ai died. Everything else became a blur to him. Lifeless, miserable. He didn’t want that anymore or ever again. So, he was determined to never let go of either Ai or Shoichi ever again and then, like an armory, the legendary spear and shield to pierce and protect and their tentacle monster too, they could go forward and progress. Reconnect and co-link. That’s all Yusaku wanted.

[borreloadsavagedragon]

alright tell all of us your thoughts about kaito :)

I did not forget… I have just been con crunching but now I’m free to become the worse

Minor Zexal and Arc V spoiling ahoy

How I feel about this character:

Oh no you’ve opened a floodgate… welcome to oversharing hour with Jay

I’m very normal about Kaito, just ignore the two full cosplays + the EVA foam Orbital work in progress I have mapped out, the wall scroll that’s at my work computer, my ita pin bag, and the fact that I’ve done everything I can to make his deck competitive viable and god dammit am I still trying please print this deck a god damn banger starter, Konami, I can’t keep doing this without your help-

Short story but I used to be suuuuper YGO Vrains favoring from 2020 into early 2022, but I found myself drifting from it because one can only tolerate so much subtweeting and catty behavior over personal preferences, and I’d never really finished Zexal before, just has a half baked idea how it ends, like I watched a chunk of it when it first aired but never finished and proceeded to forgot most of it, so I picked it back up after deciding to pick up Kaito to write in an RP server with some friends because I remembered liking him and… well I didn’t stand a chance when I got back to him fjdhdhd

I deeply relate to the theme of self-inflicted loneliness because it’s easier to be by yourself, just getting walked out on, left in the dark, or even being shafted for reasons out of my own control, I really get that

Also taking on too much if it means the people you love will be ok even if the ending result is you’re not ok, where he is after his Duel with Yuma at the end of Zexal I and getting to repair all of those relationships he was damaged by is where I want to get to in life

Bonus fact that’s minor spoilers for another spin off, but I’m… not a huge fan of his portrayal in Arc V, I like that he’s there and acknowledge that it’s a different Kaito and I love all Kaito Tenjos as they exist, including the Structures Cosplayer, but… yeah, not a fan, I’m a big fan of showing vs telling and Arc V to me feels like it’s ALL telling for all of its supporting cast most of the time

All the people I ship romantically

The better question is who I don’t honestly because that list is far smaller, but if I had to pick favorites I’m very partial to Ryouga, Mizael, and Edo-

Something about rivals to lovers resonates with my very being, even if Edo is less of a rival and more of an enemy until Arc V does it’s usual-

I’ve written for Challenge and AntiHero both already actually, my docs is 99% Challenge Wips that are slowly coming along tbh, and GalaxyMaster takes more time to write since most of those are… you know what I’m getting at LOL

I stg Gallop's one mission was to make Kaito Tenjo a dating sim protagonist because I have no other excuse for why they gave him so many boyfriends and even girlfriends across Zexal and Arc V, Yugioh’s surprising most eligible bachelor

My non-romantic OTP

nervous laughter

Chris.

I like to think of them more as divorcees who are just fine staying apart

Also gestures vaguely at the first answer

My unpopular opinion

I don’t know if I have many tbh, besides disliking Arc V’s rendition of him / not liking mentor at all lol— Like maybe how I genuinely believe he’s the strongest rival bc his record was the best even after he was put up against forces behind human understand and was even considered dying majority of the time of Zexal while remaining arguably mostly human, Zexal’s wack

One thing I wish would happen/had happened with this character in canon

Oh my god, the duel I hate the most in all of YGO is Kaito’s duel against Heartland because not letting Kaito win against someone who’s become representative of the garbage he was put through is SO UNSATISFYING

Yuma coming in and finishing it up is symbolic in its own right because of the importance of bonds, but to me that was and always should have been Kaito’s moment, let Yuma and Astral show up literally any other time and I’m fine with it

ALSO WE DON'T GET THE RYOUGA AND KAITO GRUDGE MATCH, though Kaito solos everytime, I’m so sorry Ryouga

[shidoukanae]

YGO! Questionnaire

Tagged by @cipher-wise​

Favorite series:

My favorite series based on what I watched and enjoyed would have to be Arc-V!!! It's honestly the series that got me to adore YGO when previously I'd seen YGO as, and I chilidishly quote, "uncool". Everything about Arc-V is pretty much wonderful: Yuya's presence as a "everyone MUST be happy" kind of character in a plot that discusses themes of war, revenge, and despair is absolutely refreshing (especially when Yuya's ideals of happiness are stripped from him and made a mockery of by, *coughs* one of my favorite characters in the franchise *coughs*). 

I love how the four Yuu boys are a wonderful combination of "protagonists" (/anatagonists) and how they each play off of each other's weaknesses and strengths, often acting as mirrors to each other in their individual dimensions while having amazing interactions (Yugo and Yuri, anyone? Yuri and Yuya?).

I admire how the endgame plot is a perversion of Yuya's ideals: he gets what he wants, showering happiness upon all, but that "happiness" is corrupted into the notion of entertainment. While Yuya seeks to provide people with smiles and laughter, to give them hope to work together through tough times and to stay strong in the face of adversity, his "counterparts" in the endgame are really good at acting as Yuya's mirror: showing that his style of performing can also be used to appease the bloodthirst of one's own self and that happiness can be corrupted into self-deserving power.

...Hard to put that into exact words without spoiling a lot of things but, gosh, let's just say that Yuri and ____ are the perfect mirrors to Yuya in terms of what his entertainment dueling style is meant to be.

The plot over all is pretty good! I won't lie and say it stands strong all the way throughout the story but the first half is amazing and there are some pretty strong episodes in the second half (Yugo and Rin, the parasite episodes in general, Yuri Yuri YURI). I can definitely say that the humor is there, the characters are amazing (if nothing else, watch for the Yuu Boys, the Bracelet Gals, and Shun versus Sora!!) and having come into the show around episode 104, I was pleasantly surprised by the trip Arc-V brought me and how it played with its protagonist, giving him hope, kicking him down, and toying with his mind - just like the way a warzone might to any idealistic individual.

In terms of other series, I like VRAINS but only up to like episode 19 (or the end of the Data Bank arc). It had potential and I kept hoping it would get better but the plot was constantly floundering, there are plot holes abundant (sewer monsters, ugh), character development is inconsistent not to mention very shallow, VRAINS has some of the best side characters but they're kicked to the curb by a bland protagonist and a villain that could've been so much cooler but they made him a sympathetic mess.

...I have a lot of gripes with VRAINS but, if it were to ever be rewritten with clear goalposts and plot twists in mind (not to mention development on ideas like Charisma Duelists because at the end of the show I still have not a fucking clue what a Charisma Duelists is or was) I would say it has potential to become my favorite series but Arc-V clearly beats it for me in every category lmao.

Zexal’s also really good too!!! I don’t get all the hate behind it because it’s actually really interesting and engaging (also IV’s definition of fanservice is literally the only type of fanservice I will ever accept) and I think I’ve even cried a couple of times during the course of the plot which is like,,, shocking considering it’s not a show I thought I’d cry over (I cried in Arc-V too but goddamn does tiny Yuya just want to make you tear up lmao). This show is really good emotionally and it’s literally so stupid how Kaito carries a lot of the early and middle game of the show yet most of the meat of the plot doesn’t begin to unravel until the second season.

Also, if you ever want to watch a show of 100+ episodes that is so masterfully written that there is foreshadowing for stuff in like episode 130+ on EPISODE ONE, please watch this. Literally there are so many hints of what is going to happen in the future in the early episodes and you won’t really be able to tell what those hints are until you’ve finished the show but goddamn when you go back and rewatch things it does indeed feel amazing how much foreshadowing they threaded into the show without you ever knowing...(please don’t search for spoilers if you intend to watch this. I went into the show knowing some spoilers tho not all and, while I was still pleased by what I watched, I honestly can agree the show is A Lot Better without knowing ANYTHING)

Favorite Protagonist: Yuya. For sure, out of all the series, Yuya. 

He’s a refreshing protagonist, especially considering he shines in a world of war and despair. He’s also someone who you empathize with right at the start and want to hope in, especially since he is the “happiness” in a word of “madness” and “sorrow”. He’s not someone out to save the world (not really, anyways), but his actions touch on the lives of others anyways, giving people in a hope in a world that is otherwise cruel and heartless. Also, it really helps that he’s able to pull you into his world of “egaos”, making you believe in him and root for him despite how cheesy his ideals may or may not sound.

Also love how, despite being the centerpiece of “happiness”, Yuya isn’t allowed to always be happy :> Not spoiling plot related things but if you like protagonists going off the rails insane at times, Yuya’s definitely a fun protagonist for that!!!

Favorite Rival:

Kaito Tenjou!!! Literally the best rival in the series that I’ve seen. Everything about him is literally perfect ngl. From the way he’s chillingly introduced, with the spine-tingling whistles and cruel, almost merciless nature, to the way he slowly becomes sympathetic while also remaining a terrifying presence whenever he appears...I love him????

Favorite BFF:

Does Shoichi count? Because like...he’s Yusaku’s closest friend and ally in the series and I generally don’t pay attention to the other BFF’s in the other series (or at least, the ones I can recall bc I know in Zexal that Yuma has a whole group of friends lmao).

But I like Shoichi!! He cares about Yusaku a lot, is pretty damn cool as a sidekick hacker, his sideplot with his brother was actually honestly endearing and I loved the mystery about him. His early-game jokes w/ Ai to tease Yusaku were also a good laugh.

Favorite GFF: 

Not a girl friend forever for the main protagonist (although she like...lowkey confessed to him...though that plot really never went anywhere so I still don’t know what the fuck THAT was about) but,,, Ema Bessho,,

If y’all knew me back in my peak YGO days when VRAINS was airing,,, this gal was and STILL is my favorite girl of the YGO series. Even though she was pretty much done dirty imo I still love her (even despite considering she’s been made a damsel-in-distress at least three times, she’s only ever won one duel on-screen despite being supposedly good at dueling, ngl they could’ve done so much more with her but tbh she’s mostly just an asset to solve problems at whim and barely gets character development/does nothing but watch and spectate stuff late-game).

Even though she’s like...the unfortunate side character who’s probably meant to be more fanservice than interesting, in the first 19 episodes (and even the Revolver vs. her fight as well as the one time she meets Aoi IRL early-game) made her out to be a lot cooler and complex than she ended up being. I mean,,, a hacker gal who’s self-serving, cynical, and cold-hearted taking on the tasks of her (potentially ex) boyfriend while being really nice to his sister to the point she baffles even herself,,, we could’ve had a really unique and cool character to play around with here but instead we got...cool-ass character with potential to be something more reduced to a spectator with nothing better to do than idolize the main protagonist and have a plot with her brother that honestly detracted from her character more than it added to it imo.

Also Ema could’ve been a female Yuri but,,, nope,,, they decided she was better as a background piece instead TwT

Favorite Villain: Yuri.

Literally Yuri.

I could choose the leather jacket w/ fluff boi in a certain series because hot damn was that guy convincing AF that he wasn’t an evil psychopath (and even while knowing that he was, I still got fooled into thinking he was a good guy somehow omg) however,,, I’ve always held a love for Yuri and the way he’s been portrayed.

Despite ALWAYS being the bad guy, the show has always made this purple fucker into the most entertaining character on-screen. He even beats Yuya sometimes in terms of how entertaining he is - that’s literally how good he is,,

Also his facial expressions are amazing, he’s a VERY VALID threat to the main cast (and his creeper levels are not only off the charts but literally called out by the main female protagonist herself lmao), and he acts as the perfect foil to Yuya, battling not to entertain others but to entertain himself.

Also, he likes killing people.

No this is not a joke.

He literally likes killing people. And is pretty sadistic about it, too.

(^^^^ for those who don’t get the joke, “Fusion” is pronounced “Yuugo” which sounds similar to “Yugo” which is what,,, Yuri is making fun of,,, more context is needed of course but this is a Great Running Gag)

Favorite card:

I don’t know if it actually exists as an actual card but...that crystal dragon from the YGO movie with the glass pyramid. Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon...it’s really pretty...I love it...

Favorite Episode:

I’m...too lazy to search for names of these episodes but I can give brief summaries of them,,, because I can’t choose,,,

Arc-V: Shun vs. Sora (ALL episodes). Hot damn if you have never watched YGO but want to try and see for yourself why people like it: WATCH THESE EPISODES. I can’t explain how amazing these episodes are and, while I admit jumping straight into them might have you missing out on some important context (such as who Shun is or why Sora’s battle tactics lead to revelation) it’s honestly an amazing fight regardless. The battle starts off plain enough - there’s obvious tension, it seems like a typical fight of a battle royale, etc. - my god does the battle ramp up in emotional tension and promptly kick you in the gut with not only how blindsided you’ve been, but it also showcases just how cruel these “entertainment duels” can really get.

Any episode with Yuri. Literally any episode he’s in. 

I think this is like...episode 8 of VRAINS...but whenever it is that Akira hires Ema to find the reason why Aoi just...straight up got knocked into a coma. Literally this is my favorite episode when it comes to Ema. The way she makes fun of Akira even while aware of his situation,,, her cruel selfishness and desire for money bubbling to the surface, the way she confesses how she can’t be trusted willingly and still asks Akira why he’s hiring her,,, god I love this episode in terms of what Ema could’ve always been.

Episode 13 (/14?) of Zexal!!! This is the episode Kaito appears and when the show REALLY picks up. Kaito is a fun bastard of a rival and tbh I don’t think I’ll ever stop getting chills of him walking in, debris frozen in time all around him, as he approaches his victim, whistling an eerie children’s tune as he gets ready to close in for the kill,,,,

Favorite Deck to Use:

I don’t...really play the game itself but...I have used a couple of decks and I guess you can say I really love Raid Raptors??? First of all, those warbirds make really fun sounds I love ‘em in the anime but they’re also just fun to use in general (even tho I used a,,, very basic deck for them,,, I love them still).

Fusion, Ritual, Synchro, XYZ, Pendulum or Link:

XYZ bc it’s really the only summoning method I’m used to lol :P. Also XYZ loyalist I guess???? 

Years in fandom: roughly five to six years iirc? I mean, I was a fan of the early day YGO and watched it as a kid but not active enough to be in the fandom for it lmao. Also not in the fandom atm because Sevens lost my attention (it’s a good show!!! I’m just unfortunately more a fan of things with serious plots and darker themes and it’s hard for me to stomach slice-of-life shows that don’t focus on a mature and engaging plot). However, Arc-V and Zexal holds a special place in my heart (as does VRAINS, begrudgingly) and so I occasionally find myself wandering back to these shows like right now,,, 

[incorrect-vrains-quotes]

I agree. Yusaku does deserve a nice idyllic lifestyle. Poor boys been through enough. I will apologize in advance because I have a lot of questions but I'm pacing myself so I don't overwhelm you all at once. So I actually finished watching vrains yesterday and the ending is left ambiguous (can't decide if I like it or not), while yusaku was going on his self journey, where do you think he went or what he did?

I don’t mind at all, I do appreciate you staggering them, I tend to get overwhelmed if I get too many asks at once..... and ooh boy this is a doozy of a question and Yusaku absolutely went on a self journey. He wouldn’t have been a good protagonist otherwise haha

so the two big, completed character arcs I saw in Vrains, was Yusaku’s and Go Onizuka’s.

Go’s was the journey of hubris. The man at the top losing everything, being raked through the coals and coming out with regrets, it’s the story of Oedipus Rex and many other stories. Its a very classic and universal story; Yusaku had a journey of similar precedent: one of the cycle.

Yusaku returns from whence he came but something was different. He started out, very much in his shell and in his own little world which he is trying to keep tiny and neat (exiled of uninvolved people). We see sparks of his fury (vs Akira) and we’ve seen how he tried his best to stand on his own even though it was obvious he had a great partner in Kusanagi (the flashback episode of how they met). He dubbed Ai with the greatest honour: Ai means to love people and I think by this point, Yusaku doesn’t only just love Ai, he has a love for everyone he’s met and helped him to put to rest his revenge as vengeance rarely gives us the catharsis we hunger for (or however that Harley Quinn quote goes...)

Between episode 1 and episode 120, he’s made friends (Ai, Shoichi, Takeru), he’s smiled and he’s laughed (that one duel with Revolver comes to mind; something involving Go, too), he’s wanted to give it all up (vs Kusanagi); he’s made plans for the future (the “proposal” he has with Revolver). He’s mellowed out in a sense, too, I think.

In the final episode, he has returned to his world but not. The whole theme of the final episode was burgeoning connection, creating and linking out to other worlds. Everyone is waiting for Yusaku to return at his own pace. Even people who he would have exiled from his world at the beginning of the series. That’s huge for him. 

and here’s where I link my musing on Go’s journey to Yusaku. They both have a sort of “blank”. The sort of time where they are raked through the coals and are softened for it; Go returning to his former self but without The Hubris and Yusaku returns to his former self but without the Unnconnectedness. 

but I’ve got one more musing that I will add even though my more coherent thoughts end above: 

In terms of theme and duel style and connecting these two elements of the story, I think Vrains is one of the heaviest hitters in the franchise. Link Monsters rely on those connections to bring forth greater powers and that is very much reflected in Vrains. Humans are just like Link Monsters, wouldn’t you say?

so yeah