#WELP TIME TO WATCH ZEXAL AGAIN-

[peppermint-whiskers]

The progression of every single Yu-Gi-Oh series. Season 1: I'm 12 years old and I have to beat the school bully in a duel so that he stops bullying my friends >:(

Season 3: I HAVE TO BEAT GOD IN A CARD GAME TO SAVE THE WORLD, I HAVE COMMITED MULTIPLE WAR CRIMES, AND ALSO I AM STILL 12

LMAOOOO

My favorite iteration is Zexal, where he has to fight the fucking CHAOS GOD OF CARD GAME DARK MAGIC WHO SEPARATED FROM HIS HOMEWORLD AND ALSO THIS MOTHERFUCKER CHEATS AT CARDS BECAUSE HE'S AN ASSHOLE

[eleanorose123]

WELP I finished my second watch through of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX one week before it's 20 year anniversary (that was unplanned but a happy coincedence) lol I feel like my thoughts and feelings for certain characters changed a lot this time around, and I might make a bigger post about my overall thoughts and feelings about it, but in general, I really gotta appreciate this series for what it is. It is absolutely my second favorite YGO series right behind Zexal, but Zexal wouldn't have been half of what it was if GX wasn't there as a blueprint (if that makes sense)

Out of the four and a half YGO series I have watched (since I stopped midway through Arc V), GX absolutely had the best main cast of characters and such a truly beautiful and heartfelt storyline of maturity. Very glad I could see it all again with somewhat fresh eyes ;w;

also these were my babygirls (regardless of gender), so expect more of them in the future as well as a surprise for the anniversary next week lol

[moldy-mold]

V e r y fair on waiting to watch the last season- honestly the last season is pretty fun! Probably my favorite season of DM, but then again I absolutely adore Atem so I'm probably bias ajsbjsbdbd

Honestly even just Atem's personality Attached to Seto is great, I've never seen two characters So Different and yet So Similar in my LIFE

I fully imagine the two of them having arguments, and Seto gets so into it he just starts Speaking Aloud and forgets they aren't alone, so the gang are just watching like welp he's yelling at nothing again and maybe betting on who has to go interrupt him ajsbsibd

To add on to your previous answer (I'm sorry the idea of Atem chilling with Seto Took Priority over everything else in my brain ausbsidb) -Seto believing in ghosts but still not believing in Magic In General is incredibly on brand, 100% in character, I absolutely love this dumbass he's such an inconvenience to others.

Also, uh, you drawing Seto Like That (he looks adorable btw I Love Him) and then mentioning 'honor' had my brain going exactly one direction, so in short now I will only be able to picture him talking to the others for the first time as this

So thanks for that /j

OH NO I SAID THE H WORD

Lol yeah if I get around to it, there are plenty of funny opportunities to make Seto yell at the air. I saw someone suggest that the other characters think regular mean Seto is the evil spirit and Yami is the real Seto. Hysterical! 🤣

I’ll have to get back to the AU after some Zexal projects and other YGO Asks that I’m drawing (that no one asked for)!

[lily-liegh]

so i totally borrowed this from some ask meme but i really want to answer all the questions and not from any particular fandom but just to, i dunno, talk? so ta da!

Top 5 favourite characters: Fujiki Yuusaku, Hiiragi Yuzu, Celty Sturluson, Hanekawa Tsubasa, Senjougahara Hitagi Other characters you like: (all the other monogatari heroines tbh), Barakamon’s Naru, ciel phantomhive, p much the majority of ygo characters, the kids from the promised neverland Least favourite characters: i dunno, i don’t usually hate a character that i remember lol Otps: heart (dm), sharkbait and aztec (zexal), platonic jublilant and romantic/platonic apple (arc v), datastorm and disaster (vrains) Notps: nothing sticks out, like i think i just forget what i dislike ^^;; Favourite friendships: jubilant from arc v (i will go down with this ship), and i dunno but Barakamon has some wholesome community fluff that i am here for Favourite family: can’t use barakamon again, but um, i’m currently watching mp100 and mob and ritsu have such a nice sibling relationship Favourite season/book/movie: i dare you ask me how many times i’ve seen kuroshitsuji book of circus it’s not even funny i can binge that in one sitting Favourite quotes: aaaa really anything from monogatari, but i really like either Hanekawa’s “I’ll love myself” moment (as she accepts her imperfectionism and challenges her anxiety over being a perfect student/daughter/friend) or Nadeko’s speech on the messiness, embarrasing-ness, and personal-ness of creating art Best musical moment: a place further than the universe has some damn good soundtracks Moment that made you fangirl/boy the hardest: still not over the recent vrains episode, Yuusaku CRIED ;w; When it really disappointed you: i think i just forget stuff i don’t like lol Saddest moment: episode 09 of violet evergarden hands down, i sobbed  Most well done character death: (kaito dying on the moon only bc everyone else magically disappeared but he straight up suffocated and died) Character you wish was still alive: welp i hope kusanagi comes back One thing you hope really happens: the playmaker figma comes soon lol Most shocking twist: finding out in the promised neverland that grace field is underwater, someone did some AMAZING analysis Best animal/creature: the art in made in abyss is downright beautiful and horrifying Favourite location: also made in abyss, but i am weak for the good TPN backgrounds - a weekly manga that looks way too good  Trope you wish they would stop using: eh, but let me tell you i cannot stand dra/gon ma/id for its fanservice and under/age One thing this show/book/film does better than others: barakamon, for an anime based off only parts of its manga, actually works so well bc they used the same characters/moments to launch a slightly different story that very much remained true to the series’ messages/themes, and in the end the anime came across as feeling finished rather than needing a second season that would never come Funniest moments: k poppy and i watched soul eater recently and i forgot how hilarious the excalibur scenes were Actor/Actress you want to join the cast: my fave vas are fukuyama jun and sawashiro miyuki, so i’d love to see more of them ^^ Favourite outfit: love live’s hanayo’s suit! (she’s in the middle)

Do you own any  merch?: a lot of ygo, and then i collect cu-poche magical girls - got the madoka magicas and the ygo magician girl! Most boring plotline: (most boring series ever is ba/mboo bl/ade imo) Most laughably bad moment: poppy and i also watched madoka magica recently and kyubey being shot ... i laughed X.X;; shouldn’t have, but i did ;w; Best flashback/flashfoward if any: fave kuroshitsuji chapter is 131 for so, so many reasons Most layered character: any monogatari heroine, i could write an essay for each of them Most one dimensional character: eh Scariest moment: there were a lot of these in higurashi, take your pick Grossest moment: also lots of gross moments in higurashi, again take your pick Best boy: tachibana makoto, get you a guy who can cook and take care of you Best girl: hanekawa tsubasa Most beautiful scene (scenery/shot wise): kyoani animation is lovely and violet evergarden has to be the most stunning series ever

[quarkie-blog1]

Thoughts on Arc-V

Welp, finally finished it. Now that more than a day has passed, I’ve been able to properly sit down and think about it more carefully. This is just really a ramble of what I found was cool and what was terrible in the series. Some of them were from reading online (with points that I consider valid), others were more of my own observations/opinions. 

While I don’t have very strong opinions, I may be brutally honest...

So let’s start with the beginning, what I found was really awesome about Arc-V. 

1. Yuya’s personality Following the cheerful and naive Yuma, we have Yuya the entertainer. The first thing I had noticed was that his father had also disappeared, like Yuma’s. Yuya does act goofy, but one could easily tell that he was doing it purposefully, to make others get a laugh out of it. For me, this way of speaking and acting intentionally is something I can relate to on a very fundamental level. While the first season shows that it’s not the best solution to simply laugh it off, I was impressed that he did something rather than staying depressed. The other that did make Quarkie like him is that he handles kids well. It’s just that in the previous series you don’t see it too often (Even with Yuma, who was only looking after Haruto for a little while). Yuya was able to make the kids at Yushow school laugh, and he certainly cared very much about Reira. 

2. Entermage/Performapal deck I know a lot of people found it laughable, but I found it refreshing. The previous MCs had decks with warrior/dragon/magician monsters as the majority. (I don’t know about Yusei’s main deck yet, but I’ve been seeing a lot of Junk Warriors and Stardust dragons). Again, it means that Yuya’s ideal wasn’t to show “strong via strength”, but “if it can make people smile”.  The other reason why I liked it was also because it seemed like a troll deck... when people won’t take the circus animals seriously and the odd-eyes pendulum dragon appears next minute. 

3. Female characters (mostly Yuzu and Serena) The best of the female characters in Yugioh were never able to beat the main character in any duel. Now enters Yuzu, who does so in episode 2. Furthermore, they had given her duels and moments where she develops her dueling. I don’t know about Akiza but this is not seen in the others. Serena’s duelling seems more consistent but you see how her views on Academia change as she is with the Lancers, and how she forms a bond with the other Lancers.  I’d like to take this time to address about Rin and Ruri being “neglected”. I do not know if it really was necessary to have all counterparts having more even screentime, but I was happy enough if there was just one or two properly developed females. Or maybe some just like Ruri or Rin more. 

4. Synchro arc This was where things were most interesting to me. Yes, it was another tournament, but the situation isn’t as safe for our characters anymore. I enjoyed all of the duels, and don’t consider them a waste of time. When the Lancers were up, I could compare their dueling to season 1. I think Serena and Shun’s had the most difference. I wouldn’t have gotten as attached to all the Lancers if it wasn’t for the Synchro arc. On top of that, Yuzu had continued to demonstrate the fruits of her hard work in dueling.  The Lancers had also struggled with the values of the society in this foreign world. Particularly Yuya, and he had to climb up his way so that he can be heard. I found this rather realistic. I do suspect that other than because he had no name Jack Atlas was more critical of him not being honest to himself. 

@homura-bakura had also made an interesting take on Yuya’s egao, and how that develops throughout the series. You can read it here, and I believe that the Synchro arc had significant influences. 

5. Pendulum summoning Like before, a new series meant making summoning monsters quicker. In a similar manner: - When synchro summon came out, you can special summon a monster without waiting for the polymerization card - When XYZ summon came out, you don’t need to wait for that tuner card to come out.  In this case, you can summon several monsters at a time, no tributing needed either. Oh, and your monsters don’t go to the grave if defeated in battle.  I imagine at the beginning there was perhaps rage about this, but there was encouragement and hype also for the other types of summons. By incorporating the dimension wars and summons, they were able to show a wide variety of duels of different styles. In Arc-V, there were specific duels that could easily show that pendulum summoners could still be utterly destroyed.  

6. The music Kotaro Nakagawa was the one who composed the music, the same one who arranged the music for Code Geass. Obviously I wasn’t let down. 

7. The themes Very early on, we’re shown about there’s something lurking in the background. And we come to know about the tension between the dimensions. I found this clash of ideals between different dimensions/societies rather interesting. It’s not just with the differing views about carding people in the series, but also how to resolve conflict as well. There are a lot of people (mostly from the XYZ dimension that believe in defeating enemies and carding them back is the method, while Yuya and his friends simply want to stop them). The stakes are really high, which realy adds more onto the challenge of how is Yuya going to achieve by “bringing smiles to everyone”? The other theme of course is “the other self”, which is common in all Yugioh series. I found it interesting at first how all four MC counterparts already had physical forms, but they were linked by the same conciousness when they are in a desperate duel, or brought together. 

There’s other things that made me really like it, but those were the main ones. Now in terms of the things that I can’t help but notice was terrible... this is in no particular order. 

1. Action cards and Tag Duels For me this isn’t absolutely bad, it was just something I wasn’t too fond of. I have heard that many Japanese fans were also not happy about how the tag duels were handled? I’m not saying that they were a bad idea, but rather it felt there was more plot armour incorporated at times. This could just be me though... 

2. Animation quality Admittedly I watched the Synchro arc and everything else after finishing Zexal. So... it was disappointing seeing the animation wasn’t as consistent. I mentioned before, I suspect that it seemed likely because of the DSOD being in development at the same time. This honestly saddens me. 

3. Yuya’s personality Yep, I like Yuya’s personality, and I do like some of his flaws incorporated in, but there are some that seem a really strange to me. Namely, when Yuya feels like a bit of a hypocrite to me. From Synchro arc, he begins to tell others the importance of smiles (perhaps he started in the previous tournament but I don’t quite recall as much). While he has good intentions, he hasn’t been doing much of a good job with maintaining his own smile as compared to season 1. Particularly when he goes into berserk mode by Roger tampering with his helmet. I guess you could argue that it was showing that Yuya’s previous method of laughing things off isn’t working, but I find it questionable that they would make him seem like a hypocrite. (Also I guess I just didn’t like this flaw in general, but that’s my own opinion, it just doesn’t sit well with me since I don’t feel like it ever got properly addressed). 

4. Side characters (Part I) - Kaito Tenjo, Edo Phoenix & Jack Atlas I haven’t watched much of Jack Atlas, so I won’t talk about him too much. My issue is not that “Arc-V versions made them OOC”, since if I was to write a fanfiction it’d probably be even worse... In Arc V, they are like alternative selves in a parrallel universe but with the same name. Unfortunately, Kaito and Edo were introduced when there were obvious pacing problems. Edo’s abrupt change to accept that “duels can make you happy” was something of a problem ongoing since early Yugioh, but I felt the need to mention it anyway. (Yes I see this issue at times even in Zexal...). However, I can completely understand the issue with Kaito Tenjo. In the context of ignoring what Zexal Kaito, Arc-V Kaito seemed to be acting OOC. How did he suddenly decide to help Yuya and the others when they were surrounded by the Obelisk force? What made him become more accepting of people from the fusion dimension? The questions were still not answered... I know that these three (and Crow, and Asuka, etc) are to be considered side characters and we shouldn’t be too invested in them, but this is creating a plot hole....

5. Side characters (Part II) - Asuka & Sora Sora was a character we see since the first few episodes of Arc-V. I admit that I might have gotten a tad too excited to see his cute but also scary persona. When he had left the Standard dimension there was an unfinished duel against Yuya left hanging. The next time we see him again in Synchro arc, he seems too agreeable with helping Yuya? I legit thought that he was perhaps faking everything, but by the time we reached the 100 episode it didn’t seem like the case. In which this leaves another question, what made Sora do that? Now with Asuka, I don’t mind her having less screen time as with all of the previous gen characters. However, I just question what was her purpose in the duel against Yuri. Maybe they ran out of time, but I was a bit confused when I saw Yuri holding a card. It was then I realised that the duel didn’t even take place at all on-screen. 

6. The last arc: Episodes 141-148 - Responses from the characters By this time, I had low expectations already, since I had a feeling it would be hard to salvage everything after the dip from episode 100ish. However, I felt that there were a lot of questions that could have been addressed. How did the Lancers feel about Yuya being Zarc? What about Reira? (Do they still think of Reira as being too young?) What made Reiji’s mother suddenly care about Reira a lot more? Shun was obviously devastated about Ruri and Yuto not coming back at first. How the heck did he come to the conclusion “Oh, I should accept the duel with Yuya because it’s alll I have left”?  The story really falls apart here.. Overall, I felt that there were a lot of people becoming happy a tad too quickly, and there was no one questioning Yuya’s identity. I know that duels are more important (and it seems that the japanese audience sees them as just as important as plot), but surely some could have already been incorporated in?

7. The counterparts This isn’t a complaint about how they’re all inside Yuzu and Yuya now. It’s not the happiest ending, since they were the most loved side characters in Arc-V but it is oddly realistic. The problem is that it really doesn’t leave much of an impact. (The closest I can relate to is when Atem left for good in DM, but they had spent episodes building towards that) I’ve mentioned that things were really glossed over already, and once again Yuya seemed to have accepted too quickly when Yuri suddenly was talking to him. On second thought, since when did Yuri become so encouraging?

Final thoughts: 

Did I enjoy Arc-V? Yes. I loved the characters and the music. I was very focused on each duel. However, at the back of my head, my alternative self would always go “HAH....” at the end of several episodes. 

There were many things I don’t think were executed well. Whilst I wasn’t raging or angry, there were a lot of unanswered questions in the end. (I don’t expect them to be answered, since it seems like it’s left to our own interpretation and imagination now). EDIT: Yes, I know it is a kids’ show on card games, but it seems that towards the end it wasn’t getting good reception even in Japan (based on Nico nico video rankings. Whether it was due to trolls I don’t know, but glossing over duels didn’t help). 

Seeing the fanfiction section yesterday, I see that people are going be creating stuff to fill in these gaps we are left with at the end of the series. (Either due to rage, or wanting more out of it). Whatever the case is, I think all readers/viewers should be additionally appreciative of others making something to give you maybe a version that should have you more satisfied with. 

That was a long ramble... thanks for reading, and it was enjoyable being in the Arc-V fandom.