#demon!yuya

[1apple-fox1]

uh so rar au doodle dump- most of these are from like various doodle sessions and includes vrains characters cause i did finally get to them in my writing... which is why its taking me so long to write cause it went from 5 characters to like 9 and im suffering

[villabella12]

Just imagine this: post-arc v, Yuya just awoken from a nightmare (unrelated to most of his experience) and decides to go to the bathroom to wash up his face to forget the nightmare

Midway of washing, his heart pounded intensely and run back to his room. Then, he felt his body in excruciating pain.

Then this is when his draconic form took over as he screams in agony. (To make matters worst he just hosted a sleepover)

[thebladeblaster]

My brain has been connecting some dots

My honest reaction upon reading the panel on the left.

The whole Iruma and Ali connection to Delkira plotline has been giving me serious Yugioh Arc V vibes. Ali also very heavily reminds me of Ai from Yugioh Vrains. Which is…interesting(I’m absolutely terrified for Iruma).

[marisashinx]

Yuya's Eyes

[healeroflightanddark]

Ethereal Embrace, Chapter 3: Innocent

Yuya woke up some time later to find himself in the most luxurious bedroom he’d ever seen. It was like something he might imagine royalty sleeping in. The bed was simply enormous and incredibly comfortable, so much so that Yuya really wanted to just go back to sleep. Then, the memories of what happened before he blacked out came flooding back, and he sat bolt upright.

“Easy, Yuya!” a voice spoke from nearby. Yuya whipped his head around and saw a man with silver-and-green asparagus hair and citrine eyes watching him. He looked eerily similar to Yuya, with the only differences being their height and the fact that Yuya had tomato hair and ruby eyes instead. The man smiled fondly at Yuya. “I’m not going to hurt you. I promise. You’re too precious to hurt.”

“Wh-who are you?” Yuya asked, eyes wide. The man reached out and ruffled his tomato fluff before replying. “My name is Zarc. I’m the Demon King.”

Yuya immediately scooted away. “Why am I here? I didn’t offer my soul! Shouldn’t she have offered her soul?”

“Yes, she should’ve offered her own soul,” Zarc agreed. “But she didn’t. She offered yours. Which makes you an innocent soul, and doomed her own soul to an eternity of suffering. Don’t you worry though, Yuya! Innocent souls like you don’t suffer the way you would if you had offered up your soul. Souls that are offered by someone else get to spend eternity being pampered and spoiled, since it’s not right for you to suffer for someone else’s choices.”

Yuya hesitated, then asked in a small voice, “I don’t suppose I could get my soul back?”

“Nope!” Zarc said, smiling warmly at him. “Even if I did return it to you, it wouldn’t be able to return to your body. As unfortunate as it is, your mortal body is permanently dead. But look on the bright side, anything else your heart desires will be yours! Food, clothes, jewels, money, fame, anything you want you’ll get!”

Yuya sighed, “And I suppose she will get to be the famous singer she wanted to be, living the life of fame and glory and luxury she’s always dreamed of, since she offered my soul in exchange for that…”

At this, Zarc smirked. “Oh, no no, she didn’t offer your soul for all that. She offered your soul in exchange for being a famous singer, that’s all! She didn’t say she wanted glory and luxury, nor did she say how she wanted to become famous. Just that she wanted to be a famous singer. And the twisted mortals that offer other people’s souls don’t normally get exactly what they want. In fact, we demons prefer to put our own twist on their deals.”

Yuya blinked, then frowned. “How, exactly?”

“Well, have you ever heard of the ancient Greek artist Alexios?” Zarc asked. Yuya shook his head, and Zarc smirked. “I didn’t think so. Alexios offered me the soul of my sweet Yuto in exchange for becoming a famous artist in his city-state. I took Yuto’s soul and made Alexios a famous artist, but not in the way he hoped. He became famous, yes, but after some time people found some older artwork that was just similar enough to his for them to come to the conclusion that he had been stealing art instead of making his own. So he became famous in his city-state for plagiarism. Additionally, he’d claimed my sweet Yuto’s artwork as his own, and that came out as well. And to make things even worse for him, I made sure the people would find out that he’d sold the soul of the original artist to become famous, so the people ended up killing Alexios for his despicable acts. Over the next hundred years he ended up being forgotten by all outside of his city-state. He’s still famous in his city-state though, but as a hated figure and a cautionary tale about using immoral methods of becoming famous instead of actually working for fame and earning it. He got what he asked for, but not exactly what he wanted. Plus, as soon as a deal is made where the dealmaker offers someone else’s soul instead of their own, the dealmaker’s soul is unwittingly also given up to the demon, for their morally reprehensible offer.”

“So, then, what’s going to happen to her?” Yuya asked in morbid curiosity, not entirely certain he wanted to know the answer. Zarc patted his head, “Well, I think it would only be fair if someone finds out that she kidnapped and essentially killed you out of jealousy. You’re a very popular singer online, and if word got out that she was responsible for your death because she wanted the life you would’ve had, ohoho! She’ll be famous alright! Famous for the murder of a bright young star! Perhaps she’ll get drunk at a karaoke bar and confess to getting rid of you out of jealousy after singing a song. Maybe she’ll even try to justify herself at the trial, claiming she deserved to be the star you could’ve been more than you did, maybe she’ll try to prove it by singing in court. That’ll technically give her exactly what she asked for, to become a famous singer. It just won’t be what she wanted.”

Yuya blinked, then slowly nodded. “That… actually sounds like justice,” he admitted. “I think I can accept that.”

“Excellent!” Zarc said, smiling at Yuya. “Well, now that that’s settled, why don’t you come with me. I’ll introduce you to the other three Innocent Souls I have!”

[shinigami-striker]

Michael Liscio Jr. | Thursday, 07.04.24

Same voice actor, - featuring Michael Liscio Jr. Happy birthday! 🎂

2014

Clemont - Pokemon The Series XY (2014)/Kalos Quest/Pokemon The Series XYZ (2016-2017)

Inkay - Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS & Wii U (video games)

2016

Yuya Sakaki - Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc V (anime; English dub) (2016-2018)

2019

Inner Demon - Contra: Rouge Corps (vidoe game)

[team-frightfur]

Overmisinterpretation may be my deadly sin but at least it lets me project Arc V onto unrelated songs really easily.

In unrelated news, Amalee's cover of Resonance Soul Eater is the Yuboy friend/ship song of all time.

[murasakinohoshi]

Everyone was shocked, staring at the demon in front of them. They couldn't imagine he was Yuya, the friend they knew and loved. Looked like he wanted and could destroyed anything he saw. Suddenly something - or someone - fell down from nowhere, frowning as if he didn't understand anything.

@frostseraph

[shitpostingkats]

your yugioh discord server au my beloved.

dunno if this already came up, but i tottaly see everyone chatting regulary (esp jaden the spammer-tm), minus yusei. he just lurks and gives a reply every second year/when tagged. </3

Yusei is the lurker who nevertheless responds immediately when tagged. The guy will never hop in and voice his opinion, but the second you @ him he has replied the nanosecond you hit send. He is, however, the biggest organizer of server movie nights, voice chats, and meet-up when multiple members of them are in the same city. This au is set after his series ended, after all. He's already keeping up long distance friendships with Jack, Crow, Akiza, and the twins. He is hardcore about keeping on top of online friendships. Sometimes he'll just pop into the vc while he's working and leave it open while he tinkers.

In ascending order of activity, Yusaku probably chats the second least. This tempered though, by the fact that they are always online. 4am in the morning? Yusaku is there. Yusaku's actually more vocal in the discord than in real life, after years of growing up raised by message boards an forums. If everyone sees it's been like 25 hours since they logged off, someone will shoot a message to Kolter, or they'll just log into vrains and hunt him down like it's the most dangerous game (getting Yusaku to log off and go the fuck to sleep)

Yuya took a while to warm up the the GC, but every day gets more bold with just kicking down the doors of the chat and going off about something or another. Also he's in a minecraft server with all his brothers and the bracelet girls, so if he's online but not responding, it's probably because he's griefing Yuri's dirt house for the third time this week.

Yugi's really active in the chat, a fact that never fails to blow Yuma and Yuya's minds. He'll be at a global release sponsored by every important duel monsters company under the sun, and he'll send pictures of Kaiba caught mid sneeze with the caption 'LOL'. He will be on NATIONAL TV AND TEXTING THE GROUPCHAT. His memes are legendary.

No one knows how to quantify Yuma's activity, because there's like a 90% chance most of the messages he sends are him???? But then there's also the possibility that half his messages are Astral feeling chatty, and it's very hard to tell because both of them are equally likely to start a rousing discussion on the morals of dolphins at 3 in the morning. Yugi is the only one who can reliably tell them apart.

And OF COURSE, AT THE TOP OF THE LIST, IT'S YA BOI, YOUR SUPREME MEME KING: JADEN YUKI. *insert airhorn sound effect* Spammer galore. Constantly uploading selfies of him standing in front of some eldritch abomination, or standing on the surface of Jupiter, or some other such equally questionable use of his powers. Liveblogs his annoyance at being made to do demonic paperwork. Makes incomprehensible memes that no one can tell if he's dunking on his henchmen again, or just really, really good at shitposting. He has a channel in the discord just for him where, every day, he just sends a single digit number, and some of the yu-boys are going crazy trying to figure out if it's a code, or some secret eldritch coordinates, or a massive ARG style prank, or what.

Yusei eventually reveals it's how many tries Yubel took to get the days wordle.

[number-1-kuaidul-fanboy]

What are you main thoughts on arc v and what you like and don’t like about it?

*Cries out in agony*

Okay fine I'll talk about Arc V.

So... I don't know/remember if this has necessarily been a trend on Tumblr the way it has been in my Discord circles but uh... I have a habit of referring to Arc V as my least favourite Yugioh series.

Now let me clarify. By "least favourite" I do not and never have meant "worst". I have stated before that I love every current Yugioh series and believe they all have entertainment value.

Arc V is not a bad series. It has a lot of genuine merit that I would be remiss not to talk about.

That being said, my overview is going to be critical so don't like? Don't read.

1 The duels, even if they were starting to get a little too complicated by this point, are very fun and breathe life into match ups I otherwise wouldn't care for. Looking at the Arc V duels purely based on the cards and plays, I'd say they're a step up from the overly boss monster reliant but otherwise decent Zexal duels and leagues above the slog-fest overly complicated combo ridden duels of VRAINS.

2 The first season of this show is legitimately fantastic. It has some occasional whatever filler episodes here and there but overall it sets up the characters and story really well and is just fun and engaging to watch in general.

3 The way this series depicts the horrors of war, and how it's not necessarily a black and white issue. Arc V takes a more nuanced approach to this and shows characters being groomed or brainwashed into the cause on both sides, not just the fusion dimension. Serena, Sora, Dennis, Reira, even Yuri to an extent that the show didn't show too well- they're all just children forced to fight in a horrible war and Serena, Sora, and Dennis in particular have really interesting arcs and such fun personalities that they are among my favourites in the show.

4 The foreshadowing and ultimate payoff of certain elements is really satisfying and on my first viewing, eclipsed a lot of the problems Arc V had. The show truly does feel grand and epic and the ultimate reveal of the backstory, Zarc and Ray's stories, how the dimensions split, all of that is really well done and interesting and definitely the most interesting parts of the show on rewatches. But... speaking of rewatches...

I'll admit, I really loved Arc V when I first saw it and declared it my second favorite Yugioh series at the time, beating out Zexal and DM but not GX. It was when I rewatched Arc V that the cracks showed and... my god were they big cracks.

Rewatching the Synchro dimension arc after finally watching and liking 5Ds made me notice how much of the unique riding/turbo dueling elements were taken out in favor of just regular dueling on motorcycles with the occasional action card. But that's a small issue compared to how terrible the social commentary aspects were in the Synchro arc, even without comparing it to 5Ds.

Oh Shinji how they dropped the ball with you.

I'll try to keep this brief but I think the fact that the Synchro arc demonized protesters is incredibly disgusting. And sure, you can claim that the protesters weren't demonized specifically for rioting but for wanting to oppress the rich but you know what? Making all of the protesters, who had very valid reasons to protest by the way, out to just be trying to oppress the rich is still disgusting and I hate it. The way the narrative presents it, it really feels to me like this arc ends with Yuya ultimately forcing his "never fight, only pacifism" beliefs onto LEGITIMATELY OPPRESSED PEOPLE WHO WERE FIGHTING FOR THEIR RIGHTS only to be told "no no no, just talk to your oppressors instead!" which historically, DOES NOT WORK and is a disgusting message to perpetuate, even if it wasn't what the show intended. And this Yuya problem of forcing his ideals onto others along with his character development going in circles are things that do not go away after this. It's a problem with the entire show after the first season and the reason I don't really like canon Yuya very much.

All of this, and also Yuzu's character being destroyed, kills that part of the Synchro arc for me, which is a HUGE part, and the fact that very little actually happens to progress the overall plot for this entire THIRD OF THE SHOW is really frustrating. There's some character development here and there, some arcs being less useless than others, but in terms of major events for the overall story, it really feels like the plot just comes to a screeching halt for most of this arc, with the only things that happen being Serena and Yuzu getting kidnapped, Dennis's betrayal, and Sora's honestly kinda rushed but still decent redemption. So nearly an entire third of the show is both a boring or enraging slog AND doesn't further the overall story I was actually interested in. GREAT.

Also I hate Roget. I don't have any deeper analysis there, I just hate his guts and not in a fun love to hate villain way like Amon from GX. I just hate him and wish he wasn't in this show.

So... the first third of Arc V is great and the second third throws a lot of what made that first third great into the garbage and is so frustrating that I've declared it my most hated Yugioh arc in all eight shows so far. So... where does that leave the final third that most people seem to hate?

...to be honest, I'm in a weird middle ground where I find this final section of Arc V to be both underrated and also not very good. It's... a mixed bag. I have a lot of the same problems with it that most do: the way the show dropped the ball with Reira's arc, Leo Akaba getting off scott-free for being a war-mongering genocidal maniac, the non Yuya and Yuzu yu-boys and bracelet girls becoming irrelevant the way they were by the end, Rin and Ruri getting pretty much nothing but macguffin status, the creepy mind control shit in general, the Battle Beast arc. Just. The stupid ass Battle Beast arc.

Fuck this arc.

And I have some problems that I feel might be unique to me but are major all the same: the legacy characters, especially Asuka and Edo, being poorly written with Asuka overshadowing Yuzu then being sidelined and treated horribly in her duel with Yuri (still one of my most hated duels in the entire franchise) and Edo being incredibly inaccurate to and disingenuous of his character in GX with his arc being incredibly rushed and also feeding into that Yuya problem of insisting "pacifism will resolve everything!" that I mentioned earlier which also logically should not have worked on this version Edo.

Basically, I DESPISE these duels:

And on top of all of that, I don't like the Z-Arc duel. It's got some funny moments in the dub and I like the concept of it but it just goes on for way too long. For how many characters butt into this thing and how obvious it is that none of them are gonna win until Reira steps up (shouldn't have been her, should've been the bracelet girls or actually Ray in some form) it goes on for so damn long and it's just not fun. I feel no desire to rewatch this thing.

Soooo why did I say this arc was a mixed bag when I've had so many negative things to say about it? Honestly, it's just a lot more fun to watch than Synchro arc was. There's more variety in locations, it's not a tournament so the match ups are more surprising and varied, and like I said earlier, the pay off to all the foreshadowing, mostly from the first arc, is really strong. The grander story is back in focus and there are more good character moments sprinkled throughout than there were in Synchro arc. I don't care for Kaito that much in Arc V, or even Zexal II for that matter, but his duels are still fun to watch, I particularly enjoy his duel with Dennis, if just for Dennis.

And while I don't like how overly long the Z-Arc duel is, I still enjoy parts of it and the build up to it is genuinely fantastic. Nearly everything that happens from the Z-Arc backstory up through Yuri vs Yuya and all the duels in between are quite possibly the peak of the entire show. Declan standing up to his shitty father and reinforcing his loyalty to and belief in Yuya is amazing and exactly what Revolver's arc in VRAINS should've been, I love Declan and Riley's duel, Yuri gets to be a fun villain for a while before getting discarded, it's all really great stuff. Maybe it's partially my Declan bias, I really love him, he's my favourite character in the show, but these duels are peak.

Also, apart from the stupid aspects of the ending that I already discussed, the last eight episodes are just. Genuinely good in my eyes? People say they bring the plot to a screeching halt but to me, those episodes are an epilogue, and a pretty good one for the characters the show kept around. I unequivocally like the way Dennis's arc wraps up. I like Shun's duel with Yuya. Shun having to accept his sister and best friend are gone but finding happiness in knowing they do still live on in a way is pretty much the only good thing to come out of forcefully fusing the Yu-boys and bracelet girls. Also Jack and Yuya having a goddamn interdimensional turbo duel is still one of the coolest concepts for a duel EVER. And Declan vs Yuya right after it is a really fun duel with a very good emotional core. Still absolutely LOVE that moment of Yuya understanding and sympathizing with Z-Arc. All these parts are a great way to wrap up the series, even if a lot of the stuff around it isn't.

It's definitely an arc, and show for that matter, of peaks and valleys and sadly, a lot of those valleys really aren't worth trudging through to get to the peaks for me. Arc V, to a more major extent than 5Ds, is the kind of show that I don't feel compelled rewatch in its entirety, just the parts I really like (or need to rewatch for writing reasons or something).

So overall I do like Arc V but it is the Yugioh series I have the most problems with.

[1apple-fox1]

i want to draw more rar stuff in general cause im like  thinking about it lots and it lets me visualize scenes

tbh id draw yuto way more if i could draw his hair better... since the main characters other than yuya and yuzu are the three from the xyz dimension and they have a lot of funny convos (non shippy ones just kinda like bffs)

[villabella12]

I wanted to hear everyone's demon! Yuya headcanons (like the canon thing not the fanon-) bcus the concept of a protag going full on monster form is my favorite trope and I wanted to hear how they deal with it

[puroresu-musings]

NJPW WRESTLE KINGDOM 18 in Tokyo Dome Review (Jan 4th, 2024)

New Japan Rambo **

IWGP Jr. Tag Team Championship - Clark Connors & Drilla Moloney vs. TJP & Francesco Akira ***1/4

NJPW World TV Championship - Zack Sabre Jr. (c) vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi ****

Yota Tsuji vs. Yuya Uemura ***1/2

Shota Umino & Kaito Kiyomiya vs. EVIL & Ren Narita ***1/4

NEVER Openweight Championship - Shingo Takagi (c) vs. Tama Tonga ****1/2

IWGP Tag Team & STRONG Openweight Tag Championship Double Title Match - Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI vs. El Phantasmo & Hikuleo ***3/4+

IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship - Hiromu Takahashi (c) vs. El Desperado ****1/4

Inaugural IWGP Global Championship Match - Will Ospreay vs. Jon Moxley vs. David Finlay ****1/2

Kazuchika Okada vs. Bryan Danielson *****

IWGP World Heavyweight Championship - SANADA (c) vs. Tetsuya Naito ****1/4

Photos.

This show ruled. Full disclosure, I've fallen behind with NJPW in the last couple of years, and only really get to fully see the major shows, so going in this looked like a solid little card on paper, so my expectations weren't exactly sky high. However, the New Japan crew knocked it out of the park with an excellent, Show of the Year contender. Things started as they always do: The annual "cram everyone humanly possible onto the card" Rambo. We all know what to expect here, and this was better than a lot of previous offerings, but the surprise appearance of Fujita "Jr" Hayato in this years really raised it up for me, as I'm always super pleased to see him back in the ring after all he's been through. Takashi Iizuka turning up was also a nice surprise (absence makes the heart grow fonder, and all that), and it was a kick to be transported back to 2013 with him mercilessly going after poor Shimpei Nogami on commentary. The ending though was very deja vu, as I could have sworn some incredibly similar variant of this was the outcome last year. The final four of Great-O-Khan, Taiji Ishimori, YOH and Toru Yano advanced to face off for the KOPW Title tomorrow.

The main show started in style with the prerequisite Jr Tag Title Match, which featured TJP debuting his new demon gimmick, The Aswang, because he was locked in a casket when last we saw him, you see. My English feed froze at the opening bell on the Aswang mask for ages, and by the time I'd gotten back onto the Japanese feed, I'd missed like three minutes of this, there were brawls all over ringside, The Aswang was wearing a dog collar, and Moloney was bleeding. The final 5 or so minutes I did see were pretty damn good though, so that's what my rating is based on. TJP got this win for him and Akira after he blew the dreaded Dokukiri into Drilla's face, then Catch 22 hit the double knees to regain the titles at 9:38. Next up, President Tanahashi put an end to the 365 day TV Title reign of ZSJ in an excellent 8:53 sprint. These guys always have excellent matches together, and this was no exception. They worked a fast-paced thriller, which boiled down to them hitting a sequence of cradle reversals, before Tana counter a Zack Victory Roll into one of his own, and won the belt to a big pop. President Ace thanked everyone for coming in the post match, and wished us all a Happy New Year. Godly.

Career rivals Tsuji and Uemura had their first non-Young Lion outing on a major show next. This was a very good little match, I've always been high on both guys since they were rookies, and I firmly believe they have incredibly bright futures in New Japan, and are destined to be focal points in the years to come. Even though I do wish they'd do more with Yota. The guy came in super hot, with a ton of hype, and now he's kinda just floundering in the mid-card. And more mid-carders is most certainly not something this company needs! They always have really good matches, so add this one to that list, which ended at just under 11 minutes, when Uemura got the much needed win with his beautiful Deadbolt suplex. Fellow future superstar Shota Umino drove into Tokyo Dome on a motorbike to start his and partner, NOAH "Ace" Kiyomiya's tag match against HoT goons EVIL and Ren Narita next. This was going along really nicely, the three young guys all looked great, and the crowd were very much into, until the standard shenanigans started, which lead to a fairly abrupt finish, which saw Narita deck Umino with a steel plated push-up bar, then score the pin with his Double Cross finish at the 7 minute mark.

The fifth bout saw company MVP Shingo defend the NEVER Title against Tama Tonga in a hard-hitting war, which was by far the best match on the show up to this point. The near 30K in attendance were going crazy for this as they hit all their big spots, massive Lariats and Gun Stun counters. After Takagi scored a great near fall with Made in Japan, Tama went to the Bullet Club well, hitting a Gun Stun, Bloody Sunday AND a Styles Clash, before putting Shingo away with the DSD at 13:46 to claim his 4th NEVER Championship. Excellent stuff here, though seemingly Tama announced afterwards that he's finishing up with the company at the end of the month, so him winning is an... interesting decision. The double Tag Title match followed, which was a rematch of the Tag League Final between Bishamon and GoD. This was another great match, a fun sprint which saw the STRONG Champions win both sets of belts after ELP hit Goto with CRIII, and Hikuleo came off the top with a massive, but very unattractive, Big Splash to win the belts in 9:47. Just before this match, Nic Nemeth (the former Dolph Ziggler) and his brother Ryan turned up to sit at ringside. I think we all know there's some kind of angle coming here.

Speaking of career rivals, Hiromu and Despy faced off for the Jr. Heavy Title in the next bout. We've seen many versions of this match in recent history, and they're pretty much always excellent, so this fit that mould no doubt. Things started hot as Despy hit Hiromu with a Tope con Giro as he made his entrance, and they worked 100 mph from there. The challenger worked over the champions leg to set up the Numero Dos, but it wasn't to be. The finish saw Desperado escape the Hiromu Roll, then hit a Jay Driller, kept a hold and nailed Takahashi with a second Pinche Loco to win the strap at the 14:21 mark to end another great outing. We crowned an inaugural IWGP Global champion next, as Ospreay, Moxley and Finlay had a wild Triple Threat Match. This started with Mox and Ospreay agreeing to work together for the first 5 minutes in order to take out Finlay, then turn their attention on each other, before BC War Dogs Alex Coughlin and Gabe Kidd ran in. The babyfaces rallied a comeback though, which saw Ospreay put the invaders through tables with a Swanton Bomb to the outside, and Moxley took a post bump and gigged himself. Which I'm sure will shock many. The finishing stretch was insanely hot as Mox kicked at one from a Hidden Blade, but was put down with Stormbreaker, only for Finlay to hit Ospreay with his new Overkill finish, which is essentially a Brainbuster into a Go 2 Sleep, to become the inaugural Global champion in 22:17. In the post match, Finlay got into a shoving match and pull-apart with Nic Nemeth at ringside, which culminated in Nemeth chasing him to the back. So that looks to be Finlay's first title programme. Finlay going over was 100% the right call, with Ospreay leaving as a full-timer, they need to start making some top guys, and he's a good place to start.

Semi final time, and a true dream match next as Okada faced Danielson in a match I'd spent a good decade fantasy booking. After their slightly disappointing first encounter at Forbidden Door in June, due in no small part by Dragon legit breaking his arm during it, they came out with a lot to prove. And they certainly didn't disappoint this time as they had a superb wrestling encounter based around aggression and emotion. As anyone who's been watching Danielson since the ROH days can attest, when Bryan has a grudge with someone (Morishima, Nigel), he goes all out with the intensity, and it usually produces classics. The pacing, the limb-work, the storytelling, the drama... everything about this was essentially perfect. After Okada broke Danielson's arm in their previous match, Dragon obsessively set out to do the same here. And it lead to his downfall. The American Dragon was coming into this one with a fractured orbital bone, so Okada worked over that for a while too. Okada kicked out of a Busaiku Knee, Danielson locked on the same arm submission he tapped Okada out with at Forbidden Door, but The Rainmaker made the ropes. Dragon then stomped his f'n head in and locked in the LeBell Lock, only for Okada to hit a Rainmaker, but he was in too much pain from his devastated right arm, and couldn't make the cover. Danielson hit a big head kick and another Busaiku Knee, but rather than go for the cover, he elected to do the "Yes!" gimmick in the corner, and try another knee, but Okada hit an Emerald Flowsion, a Landslide, then another Rainmaker to fall on top of Dragon, and score the surprise win at the 23:24 (which it felt half of, by the way). This was a masterpiece, and I was legitimately shocked when the three count came. I could have watched this for an hour, it left me very much wanting a rubber match, and this is easily the best match of 2024 so far. They bowed to each other and shook hands in the post match.

The Keiji Muto fan club imploded in the main event as former LIJ stablemates Naito and SANADA (who was even dressed like Muto circa 1995), battled for the World Title. This was an excellent match, one that I didn't have a massive amount of interested in going into this show, but they had a really great clash. It's worth mentioning that something happened to SANADA here, I don't know if it was the biceps injury he's been dealing with since G1, or if he seperated his shoulder or something, but he was in noticeable discomfort through this, and it let to some wonky botches near the finish. They tried multiple times to do a Destino counter, but they couldn't pull it off. SANADA hit Dead Fall for the double down, then an Asai DDT, but Naito escaped a second Dead Fall attempt, and went for Valentia, but SANADA countered into an O'Connor Roll for a super close near fall. A Shining Wizard followed, but Naito turned another Dead Fall attempt into one of his own, finally hit Valentia, then finished the champion off with Destino to win his first World title at 25:42. It's worth pointing out that they clashed heads on the way down on the Destino, and Naito got busted open pretty bad over his eye. With Naito having finally won again in the main event of Tokyo Dome, he was about to Finish His Story, when EVIL and Dick Togo, of all people, ran-in in an attempt to ruin things like KENTA did in 2020. However, they hadn't bargained on SANADA, who nailed his former tag partner with a Shining Wizard, and Naito sent Dick packing with a low dropkick. SANADA then let Naito finish the story a decade in the making, and do his "De-Ja-Pon!!!" roll call to end the show and send everyone home happy. Whilst I applaud NJPW for giving SANADA a go, or just giving ANYONE NEW a shot at the top of the card (it's been very Groundhog Day for a long time up there, and this is something I've been encouraging since NAito at WK8!), I don't think it payed off liked they'd hoped. SANADA is a very good worker, and amazing athlete, but he's just missing something that would make him that major star. Which is obviously something Naito has in abundance, so I'm very pleased he got his big win here, as it was pretty much last chance saloon.

This was a tremendous card, not quite as good as last year's, I don't think, but still great, great stuff and well worth checking out. Especially the Okada/Danielson match!

NDT

[marisashinx]

Yuya's strength

[cyberdragoninfinity]

A while ago, you did a thread on Yugioh rival symbolism, but it was early enough in your Arc-V watch that you didn't have anything major to say on Reiji/Declan. Now that you've experienced Arc-V in full, what do you think about Declan and his symbolism?

OHHH GOOD QUESTION!! god i love declan so much. i feel like i still need to Really Ruminate on him to fully grip all of the potential symbolism he's got but there's definitely some stuff I'm already locked on that I really like.

I dont think I realized until someone pointed it out that the Akabas all have a card suite motif but it rules so hard; Declan's definitely got such a kickass design especially with that in ind... the diamond earrings, his bangs, the red in his color palette. It's subtle, it's tasteful, I really like it. I like that his character goes hand in hand with what the Diamond suite tends to symbolize too (progress, prosperity, career advancement--diamonds are also apparently associated with the element of air sometimes too, which is insanely funny considering Declan's scarf that can achieve flight in the manga (?!??!).)

In general it's really funny to me that Declan kind of has this "business and corporate hierarchy" motif, with the diamond symbolism and also that thing where D/D/Ds have like corporate titles and are just as much about the landscape of business as they are about Sickass Demons. And I think it's fun how even though Declan is a businessman first and foremost, he isn't really like.... a corrupt businessman, especially not in the way businessmen in yugioh can be. i could write an essay and a half about how declan is such a genuinely caring person but that's it's own story for another time. He's crafted his wealth and business connections into a weapon to fight his father and his deck also weaponizes contracts and businessmen to destroy opponent, it's a cool parallel.

GOD SO MUCH OF THIS IS JUST "WHY DO D/D/DS HAVE LIKE 8 MOTIFS GOING ON WITH THEM" but like practically all of them relate back to Declan as a character in some way! It's so cool! Cuz you have these Different Dimension Demons, but theyre all named after ancient kings and warriors and great scientists, and Declan in general has such a vast Medieval Warrior King/Prince/Royalty type symbolism. The Lancers are his knights right down to the logo. He assumes the 'throne' (LID Presidency) after his father fucks off to Evil Duel Academy. He fights a goddamn dragon (Zarc). Hell even the paler grey in his hair looks very crown like. It's making me a little sicko mode to think about especially through the lens of viewing Arc-V itself as a creation myth or a fairy tale. BUT THAT AGAIN IS ANOTHER KETTLE OF FISH.

hang on wtf is the symbolism of the King of Diamonds, actually

OH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ALRIGHT!!!!! YEA THAT'S DECLAN BABEYYYY

hey haha also i didn't know Akaba means 'red horse.' hahah which horseman was that again

AH.

also. one more thing. does make me a bit ill thinking about how his deck is entirely Fiends and he uses them to spar with Yuya (who of course has devil motifs whether he wants them or not)....something in there maybe....blinks wet eyes

[healeroflightanddark]

Ethereal Embrace, Chapter 6: Castle Arena

Yuya was simply fascinated as Zarc led him inside his Colosseum-style castle. It was just as incredible within the castle walls as it was from the outside. Inside there were grand entryways leading into various chambers, royal quarters, banquet halls, and training areas for knights. The interiors were adorned with frescoes, mosaics, and tapestries that reflected the castle’s grandeur and historical inspiration. Large windows and openings allowed natural light to flood the interior, creating a bright and airy atmosphere.

But Zarc’s favorite part of his castle was the arena at its heart. It was often used for games, performances, and tournaments. The arena floor was made of packed earth and stone, surrounded by seating for spectators. The seating rose in tiers, allowing for a large audience to gather. Each tier was designed with stone benches and marble seats, reminiscent of the Colosseum’s seating arrangement. The arena’s roof was open to the sky, with an elaborate retractable canopy to cover events in inclement weather.

Yuya gasped when he saw the arena. It was simply amazing! It was exactly the kind of place he’d always dreamed of performing in. He looked around in awe, hardly able to believe he was actually in a place like this. For a moment he honestly thought he was dreaming. A quick pinch to his arm confirmed that he was, in fact, not dreaming.

Zarc chuckled, realizing exactly what was going through Yuya’s head. “You like my arena?” he asked, wrapping an arm around Yuya’s shoulder and pulling him close. Yuya nodded, unable to find the words to express how much he liked the arena. Zarc chuckled again and said, “Good, because you’ll be here a lot. After all, you’re a singer, you need a proper place to perform!”

Yuya looked at him with wide eyes. Performing in such an incredible arena would be an absolute dream!