#never watched arc v never watched zexal

[puzzlepining]

i wanna do another poll cause im rlly curious ab this one

[antihibikase-archive]

Arc V manga plot what the fuck is going ONNNNNNN

[carmarriage]

i chose zexal btw

[acerikus]

Ygo is so funny bc I fell behind with go rush AGES ago (think not long after the episode where yudias got turned back into himself after he got turned into a shirt(????)) but I never unfollowed the tag, so occasionally I just see the most wildly out of context discourse 😂

[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.

[kaiowut99]

Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters GX Episodes 120-121 Subbed (Finalized)

(Previously: Episodes 117-119 Subbed [Finalized])

(Check out my Subbed!GX Stream Masterpost!)

TURN-120: A Battle in a Different World! The Gem Beasts VS Harpie Lady

Upon opening his eyes after his life-or-death bout with Cobra, Judai finds himself in... a desert--a desert in which only the Duel Academia school building stands, making this an odd situation. Well-versed in geology, Jim posits that the Duel Academia has been flung into a different world, the strange circumstances causing disorder among the Duel Academia's students. Things turn for the worse as the Monsters made real in this world come to attack. Johan confronts the Harpie Lady invasion, but...

TURN-121: Survival in the Desert! Johan VS the Antlion

Something has caused Rei to sustain a serious injury. To acquire medicine to treat Rei, Judai and co. head for a submarine that Misawa saw, having to traverse the desert in order to get to where the submarine is. A materialized Titan appears before Judai and the others there, obstructing their way. A battle begins between Titan and Johan, and as Titan materializes his Sand Doodlebug to attack him, Johan responds with his Gem Beasts. However, with Titan summoning a Monster that is at its best in the Desert, Johan is gradually cornered.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Does anyone else have sand in their everywhere

Slight delay aside, episodes 120 and 121 are now up and finalized! With Cobra out of the picture, we shift into a bit of a transition arc as we get more setup for the second half of Season 3, with a little dimension-hopping as our crew gets warped to a Desert world (featuring three suns like the Gravekeepers' world) and come face-to-face with materialized Monsters. I do appreciate how this shakes things up and gives us a setting that's away from the Academia island, and also getting the glorious [yet random] return of Misawa, 5-o'clock shadow and all; 120 effectively serves as setup for how this new world works, as well as finally getting Samejima back [as Chronos notes, he never is around for times like these] with Pegasus coming to join him, and the glowing boy getting his hand on Martin, with 121 showing us more, and also a hint at who might be behind the arm ("This pain... is your love, isn't it?"). Also, materialized Winged Kuriboh is precious.

Animation error-wise, there actually wasn't too much overall! (Which is nice since I can keep it all to one post, lol.) Though that would happen since these don't have too much going on all told. 120 gets two small fixes with the Ojamas-in-bed scene and Sapphire Pegasus's second ATK/DEF counter, while 121 gets a handful of mostly quality-of-watching ones, with one card fix and a couple of on-screen translation edits. Details under the cut below for the interested!

Quick housekeeping: I re-finalized episode 46 after an "I activate an Quick-Play" typo was brought to my attention (a holdover from my "Instant Magic" days--thanks to Lyeat Akiyama over on NAC for the heads-up [pls let me know if you find typos while watching!]), as well as 119 after missing an update to the Program Marketing credit in the ED (Kenrou Utsumi taking over from Machiko Ishii as of 119). The 119 link in 117-119's release post now links to the re-uploaded version, as does 46's in its post; I've updated both links in the Masterpost and will be posting the re-finalized hardsub/script/MKV for 46 and hardsub for 119 on NAC soon as I post these.

Anywho, enjoy! With these done, I'll be getting into the ZEXAL stretch of TFSP for a bit as I revise what I'd already worked on for Yuma's story and then start on the next one, as well as getting my ARC-V "Dub-Uncut" edit for episode 1 finally off my backburner (subsequent episodes shouldn't take that long lol--though it's funny, I wasn't going to sub ARC-V since Crunchyroll's done so, but in revising their subs to use with my DU releases [since I want to release dual-audio versions], I still revised quite a bit like it'd be my own take anyway lol, so I guess I am in some way 🙃). After that, it'll be onto GX 122-123 as we get into the Invasion of the Body-Snatchers Duel Zombies stretch of this arc--stay tuned!

Fixes & Edits! (120)

As Manjoume gets up from his Infirmary bed, he pushes the bed sheets down to the foot of the bed, revealing the Ojamas--now materialized--under them. But as the sheets pass over them, there's a quick frame of sheet movement (lasting for three frames) where the sheets are drawn over Ojama Yellow's eyes (partially over his left eye and fully over his right). A quick fix in Sony Vegas by masking Ojama Yellow's eyes from the prior frame on top of the sheets.

As a persistent Harpie Lady comes back for an attack, Johan re-summons Sapphire Pegasus to take her on--but for a quick frame just before his ATK/DEF counter disappears, we can see it start decreasing. A quick fix in Vegas as I masked in the counter from the frame just before to hold it in place (couldn't just hold the frame prior as a whole as the scene started to fade into showing Johan and co. on this last counter frame).

Fixes & Edits! (121)

As Titan asks Johan if he will be his opponent, their split-screen levels up as it becomes a split-screen of their Disks activating, but the split with Titan's starts sliding in a frame before Johan's, causing both to be uneven as they slide in. Fixed in Vegas by masking in Titan's Disk split to start its slide-in with Johan's Disk split.

After the eyecatch, Johan bemoans how his Gem Beasts are at a huge disadvantage on the Desert field effectively in play, before Titan slides in on a split-screen to gloat about how there's nowhere to escape in this world of endless sand--but Johan starts moving for his slide-in a frame early; fixed in Vegas by editing Titan's slide-in for 3-4 frames to time it with Johan's moving. Then, as their split-screen splits to show Cobalt Eagle being summoned by Johan, Johan's split takes a frame longer than Titan's to slide offscreen; fixed in Vegas by just replacing this frame with the following no-split one.

For the hardsub: as Amon sneaks around in the Garam submarine, he finds his bio information on a computer, which he goes on to delete; I set up this edit back when handling his bio in 111 to get it out of the way, applying my translation of his bio to this screen using the CC Power Pin effect in AfterEffects, masking in the edges for blending. (And, of course, edited a dub version for reasons.)

Later, to deal with the Devil Scorpion onslaught, Judai summons Clayman in Defense Mode to hold them off, but the card's reversed as he plays it on his Disk, with its name box facing to the right. Fixed using AfterEffects to apply a correctly facing proxy, masking Judai's fingers onto it and using some motion tracking during the initial rapid blurry zoom-out, while also masking the original card border around it for blending; I then used Vegas to re-zoom the post-rapid-zoom-out fix into the remaining bit of the shot to keep the card consistently edited (since the motion tracking didn't come out perfectly for that part).

After 8-Claws Scorpion's able to take out a face-down Clayman, Johan summons Amethyst Cat and Topaz Tiger to corner and deal with all the Scorpions, but for a quick frame after they're summoned, as they start to split apart from their split-screen, Amethyst's isn't given a border (it gets a border in the frame after). Fixed in Vegas by applying a quick border to her split, masking in part of the following shot of Johan behind the two splits.

For the hardsub: in the preview for 122, as we see Manjoume hanging out in the Food Storage facility, there are posters with Mrs. Tome behind him, saying "Our Food's Important" and "No Stealin' Allowed 🧡"; wanting to translate these in 122 proper--madman that I am as there are about 22-23 total shots I'll be editing--I worked on translating these there first. I worked off the best front-facing shots of them that there were in the episode and made a full translated copy of each poster, repainting Tome as needed to cover up the Japanese text (annoyingly, I couldn't get the border on the heart to blur nicely but oh well), which I then used AfterEffects to Power Pin into place, masking in only the bits with the translated text. Then, for this shot, I used some motion tracking to track the panning across the shot, and then applied that tracked motion to the edit.

Also for the hardsub, the subsequent shot after #6 shows Manjoume with the Ojamas fading in to join him, with the poster on the right behind him; I applied my translation for that poster there, masking in the top tip of Manjoume's hair over the edit as needed.

Also also for the hardsub: during the "Just After This!" preview clip before the best card segment, we see Manjoume prepping his Disk in front of that second poster; I applied my edit to this scene, as well, masking in Manjoume's hair over it, but I also had to take some of the frames and touch them up in Photoshop, since the color of the original text was bleeding into his hair. The poster on the left also appears in the shot as Manjoume plays Tribute to the Dead/Doomed; I applied my edit there as well, masking Manjoume's shoulder over it and dimming it as the shot dims while the light from the card radiates out.

[orphetoon]

ok yugioh fans who have actually kept up with the series which one of the “”””new”””” ones should i watch

[newspropaganda]

The Yu-Gi-Oh! fandom constantly fails when they don’t gatekeep 5D’s and blame everything on supposed "production problems" that aren’t even real. I could give you countless reasons why ARC-V, GX, Duel Monsters, Zexal, VRAINS, SEVENS, and GO RUSH!! are worse than 5D’s. The real issue is that either you never watched 5D’s, you joined the fandom too late, or you’re clueless. There’s so much wrong with this fandom that I’d love to expose every day, but it feels like a waste. I can’t take anyone in this fandom seriously anymore, nor can I respect them.

You have so much to learn about why 5D’s broke the mold. The duels weren’t just duels; they meant something deeper to the characters and fans. Anything after the Dark Signer arc is still solid, but you continue to hate it. Well, guess what? Battle City is just as "mid" as you say 5D’s is. GX seasons 3 and 4 couldn’t even develop Judai’s friends properly. Zexal II was never good. ARC-V seasons 1 and 3 are its worst arcs, no matter how much you defend them. VRAINS was destroyed by The Dark Side of Dimensions, SEVENS was wrecked by the pandemic, and GO RUSH!! is just silly. It’s hard to respect because it’s made for people who never even watched Yu-Gi-Oh!.

People are so blinded by their own biases that they fall into the stereotype that "Yu-Gi-Oh!'s production quality was never good." That’s like saying the quality of production strips the shows of humanity, making them feel soulless—like how Donald Trump might talk if he dated unattractive women.

How can you even call yourselves a community when you keep blaming 5D’s for everything? That’s the real issue here! You call 5D’s weak because of so-called "production problems." Fine, let’s compare it to the shows I’ve mentioned, and see if it makes you feel as insecure as I do. You stupid Yu-Gi-Oh! fandom.

GX is the worst in terms of production. It came out in 2004, and its animation budget was terrible. It was mostly a Judai Yuki show, with the writers clearly biased toward him, leaving hardly any impact on the other characters. When you rewatch it, you realize how undeveloped his friends were. The whole series was such a mess that Konami decided never to make a show like that again. It was too "episode-of-the-week," the duels were awful, the setting was trash, and it’s only called "GOAT" by the fandom because of lies. It’s mostly remembered for nostalgia.

If people claim 5D’s became like Married with Children during Season 3, then GX was the "Judai Yuki steals your screentime every week" show. Why do you think Judai is so overrated? It’s because he stole all the screentime, not because of the Elemental HERO support, which you fanboys keep using as an excuse. And don’t even get me started on what that Tokusatsu fanboy, Des Shinta, said in his videos.

The Yu-Gi-Oh! fandom will always be nothing more than trash that can’t respect the older shows, because their Gen Z and Alpha fans are too attached to their mainstream BS.

#NoLifeYugiohFans

[fanfic-lover-girl]

The True Yugioh Rivals

I wanted to do a follow up to this post:

In particular, I want to focus on GX and Zexal. Now, Jaden/Judai has 3 rivals that people usually agree on: Manjoume/Chazz, Ryo/Zane and Edo/Aster. For Zexal, Yuma has Shark and Kaito/Kite.

I have seen people argue that Ryo and Kaito are the main rivals, but I disagree. For me, the true rivals in these 2 shows are Manjoume and Shark.

It's been years since I have watched Yugioh so let me try to explain:

Rivalries between peers vs seniors

Shark and Manjoume are Yuma and Judai's peers so the relationship feels more equal. There is more give and take with their rivalries. Sure, Manjoume never beat Judai...but if I recall correctly there were at least two times Majoume could have won but he lost for a reason that grew his character. I am 99% sure Manjoume could have beat Judai as Ojamanjoume but he threw the match as part of his goof act. Judai was super disappointed in him.

Compare this to Kaito and Ryo who are older, more mature duelists. Judai and Ryo tie at the end of season 1 but Judai never beats him (not that I recall). Yuma never beats Kaito on screen. It's a different flavour of rivalry. Kaito and Ryo are better described as measuring sticks to show how far the protag has come or how much further they need to go. Like stepping stones or a pinnacle to aspire to for the protag than a rival.

Time spent with the protagonist

Shark and Manjoume are there from beginning to end. They were the ones who had the first set of duels with the protag (Shark is Yuma's first antagonist similar to how Kaiba was for Yugi/Atem - even the possession theme is the same!). And they had the last set of duels with the protag as well. Shark is Yuma's final boss and the Manjoume and Judai duel had major impact on the tail-end of Manjoume's character arc.

Ryo and Kaito don't interact as much with the protag and their friend group and their stories are not as interwoven with the protag as the other two. Ryo and Kaito are introduced later in the protag's story, usually around the time when the hero is beginning to become overconfident. Also, the rivalry stops mattering much after the season they are introduced and they serve their role of knocking the protag down a peg.

The secondary rivals have more meaningful rivalries with other characters

This applies especially to Kaito. Honestly, Kaito has a more impactful rivalry with Chris (V) and Mizael. Honestly, I wish I had more Chris and Kaito scenes! I loved their backstory. Plus the energy of the Mizael and Kaito rivalry was off the charts! Zane has a more interesting storyline like Edo and his brother Sho. I wish there was some more substance in the Fubuki/Atticus and Yusuke friendship. Missed potential there.

Shark has a great story with Thomas/IV and I love their dynamic. But ultimately, his relationship with Yuma is still better. I love IV but he's more Shark's antagonist than rival.

Parallels and foils

What made Atem and Kaiba's rivalry so powerful, especially in the Battle City arc, was how they foiled each other. Atem wants to remember his past, and Kaiba wants to bury his. Atem depends on his friends, and Kaiba pushes people away including his beloved brother. How in season 1 both Kaiba and Yami were willing to do whatever it took to win. Kaiba was willing to commit suicide and Yami cared more about victory than Kaiba's life.

In my opinion, Manjoume and Shark better parallel/foil their protagonists then Kaito and Ryo.

For example, in Manjoume's arc he becomes more carefree and learns to be unashamedly himself as Monajoume Thunder. He stops caring what his brothers think and becomes more sure of himself. He learns the value of relationships and increases his social circle. On the other hand, Judai starts off as child-like and sociable and becomes more burdened after each season. To the point where he is borderline depressed in season 4 and isolates himself from his friends. He begins to feel lost and duelling stops being fun.

Or how Shark starts the story as a disgraced duelist who is at rock bottom. Versus Yuma who starts as a joke duelist and becomes a complete one-man army at the end. How Shark and Yuma are forced to fight on opposing sides in the Barian war due to their obligations to their loved ones. How Shark hides away his emotions to be the leader his Barian emperors need vs Yuma who shines brighter than ever, even willing to die alongside Vector, the same psycho who manipulated him and nearly destroyed his bond with Astral. All with a smile on his face (Yuma is a king, Yuma haters are not welcomed on my blog). How can anyone hate sub Yuma??? Yuma is the embodiment of sunshine!

Emotional moments

In my opinion, there are so many more emotional beats and duels with Manjoume and Shark. Judai and Manjoume joke around with each other, Judai supports Manjoume in several instances for example when it comes to his brothers. And my heart melts when I think about Yuma and Shark. They encourage each other at their lowest moments. Shark has sacrificed himself for Yuma on several occasions. Yuma is always chasing after Shark when Shark is going down a bad path. These two are soulmates, ok? I love their friendship!

Yuma cares more about Shark than Kaito. Judai cares more about Manjoume than Ryo. And vice versa.

Just compare the duels between Yuma/Kaito and Judai/Ryo vs Yuma/Shark and Judai/Manjoume. You know what I mean. Judai and Ryo hardly even interact after season 1!

Personal preference

I am not a huge fan of rivalries where the rival dominates the protag. I prefer more balanced relationships like Yuma/Shark and Yusei/Jack. I also like rivalries like Yami/Kaiba where the protag is slightly better than the rival but the rival keeps him on his toes, pushing him to be better. Where the protag can't treat the rival like a joke. I will admit that the GX rivalry between Manjoume and Judai is a bit disappointing but I am still satisfied overall with Manjoume's journey. Just wished he was treated better as a rival character, someone who could propel Judai's story more. But GX treated all the rival characters like garbage in some fashion.

[lumeha]

You know what let's leave it to the masses, I'm on holiday next month, which YGO show I should watch because damn it I'm still planning on watching all of them

Currently rewatching DM with a friend and look I'm not rewatching GX or 5Ds without AT LEAST watching another show before

I might even try to find the french dub, you never know (probably not)

[cyberdragoninfinity]

saw your arc-v livepostings on twitter n' your z-one/aporia posts and now i really wanna get into the show and into ygo in general. do you have any recommendations on where to start so that it won't be too confusing for a poor sap such as i if you can? please and thank you (:

WAHHH IM HONORED THAT MY SILLY POSTING HAS INSPIRED YA TO CHECK OUT YUGIOH!! ;w;

yugioh really is something truly special and an absolute blast to really dig into, but it IS a very big franchise.... forgive me for being a bit inexperienced at giving recommendations, but I shall do my best!! here's some pointers that I think could be helpful if ya wanna get into the show(s) (not getting into the mangas too much on this, for the sake of brevity LOL) (the spinoff mangas are fun reads, though!)

ok so the thing with yugioh is there are Eight Different 'Main' Yugioh Series (and a few little stray other series but we ain talkin bout those right now)--my recommendations are focusing on the first five series, since those the ones i've seen (though ive heard glowing reviews for VRAINS and Sevens and you could certainly go check either of those out if you wanted to! You don't really need to know anything about the plots of the other series to follow those stories)

as a yugioh fan i am of course obligated to recommend Duel Monsters as a starter. It's the OG, just absolute Yugioh at its most tried and true Yugioh, it Is that good, the dub and sub are both classics--but IF i am being my most honest true self, if my arc-v postin and zoneporia chattering have got ya ygo hooked then I would recc maybe taking a gander at one of the spinoff series first instead ;3

(In general what's cool about yugioh is you can basically pick up any of the series as your 'first' ygo experience to start with and have a great time with it! I know tons of people who've all started with different series/only are invested in 1-2 series,Theyre all made to be their own self-contained plots, and there's really something for everyone among 'em! you could honestly just read wiki blurbs on each series and go with whatever one sounds most interesting to you, and that's a fine start right there.) (though sometimes youll see characters from one series show up in another one, the Entire Storyline isnt Hinged on that--i.e. a bunch of alternate version GX/5D's/Zexal characters show up in ARC-V, but you dont need to have seen all those series to watch arc-v or follow its plot.) also idgaf what anyone says, the dubs are just as wonderful a watch as the subs are when it comes to ygos--you have to deal with some scene censorship or dialogue changes, but to me it doesn't really impede the experience. (in fact I almost want to recommend the dubs MORE for someone just starting to get into yugioh--it can be easier to follow the duels sometimes. AND a lot of the dubs are free on Youtube!!)

ANYWAY Z-one and Aporia are from Yugioh 5D's!! The, Last twenty episodes or so. Of 5D's. 🥴 <--the suffering nicherfaverrrr. So if you want to meet them properly you Do unfortunately have to be in for the long haul (i am of course biased and will say: Worth It.) 5D's is all around fantastic though; it has its slow spots, but the duels get crazy fun on those damn motorcycles, so even if you do buckle in for the All of It you'll have a good time--there are some chunks in the second half of the show that never got dubbed though (sad!) which is just something to keep in mind.

RE: Arc-V! since youve seen me tweetin about it, I will say, the first 50 episodes or so of it, that first season, does make for a really great crash course intro to yugioh and its worlds/how dueling works, since it touches upon all the main types of summoning as part of its plot, and talks about how they work. You get to learn about them as the characters do, which is really cool! My main hesitance from suggesting it 100% as a starter series is that it gets. fucking Bonkers. like characters from the other series showing up aside there is just So Much Going On in Arc-V At Any Given Point. IT CAN BE A BIT OVERWHELMING. AND APPARENTLY ITS ENDING IS. NOT VERY GOOD. which might not be very fun for a first time ygo experience 😭BUT BY ALL MEANS GIVE IT A WHIRL IF YOU'RE INTERESTED. I'm having fun with it at least, hehehe.

OK HONESTLY. HONESTLY. I think if I have one good recommendation to take away from all of this: watch Zexal. Zexal is a fantastic starter yugioh, I can't recommend giving it a go enough. Yuma as a protagonist starts out dogshit at the game and gets better over the course of the series, and that really helps the viewer follow along with the card game and start to understand it at a nice pace without getting confused over all the finer points of it. It does a really nice job of explaining how things work imo! It's also just, a gorgeous show. It's one of the most beautiful cartoons ive ever seen art direction wise. It's so kind and so fun and goes hard as hell and the characters are so full of love and personality. AND THE WHOLE DUB IS FREE ON YOUTUBE. BTW. BONUS.

THIS ENDED UP SO LONG SORRY tl;dr you can pretty much start with whatever yugioh sounds most interesting to you personally as your first series and you won't be missing any critical lore! Also Zexal is one of the best, consistently good and really easy to pick up. I think if you could only ever watch one yugioh make it that one.

also this is a less a recommendation and more just "little things about watching yugioh to keep in mind" but: don't let the card game aspect intimidate ya too much! the show really does it's best to explain how cards work and keeps it engaging; it's a show geared towards kids so of course it tries to keep things pretty easy to follow along, game-wise (also do not listen to the 'The Duels Arent Important' Crowd they are Wrong. yugioh is a sports anime but the sport is a card game. that's the crux of its storytelling. and it's genuinely really cool!!!) And if you're interested in giving the game itself a whirl, Duel Links is pretty beginner friendly imo!

I HOPE THATS AT LEAST SOMEWHAT HELPFUL the trials and tribulations of recommending where to start with a franchise that boasts some 1000+ episodes across 8 series is mighty but that should give ya some sort of idea!! whatever you end up going with I hope you have a ton of fun! YUGIOHHHH

[zxal]

hey im interested in getting into ygo do u have any recs or recommended orders of reading/watching theres a lot from the looks of it on anilist so i was wondering about your preferences o:

ANON I ABSOLUTELY DOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! I'm only about halfway through the sequels (i just started arc-v) so I'm not like the most knowledgable person in the world but I can give you my personal recs. COME CLOSER!!!!!

First of all, every yugioh series is totally independent from each other (sort of - gx is set directly after dm and leans on its worldbuilding quite a bit, and 5ds takes place in the same universe as well though a bit further in the future, but you can watch them on their own with no problem) so if there's one in particular that grabs you there's nothing stopping you from jumping straight to it - that being said I've been watching all of the anime in release order (ygo dm -> gx -> 5ds -> zexal -> arc-v (i am here) -> vrains -> sevens -> go rush) and I've been enjoying it a lot. I also wouldn't recommend watching arc-v in particular without having watched the ones before it as it probably won't really have any impact for you. Now for specific recommendations (in order) !!!! SORRY THIS GOT REALLY LONG.

yugioh manga - START HERE !!!!! the original story by kazuki takahashi. high school boy inherits an ancient magical artifact containing a spirit that's really, really good at playing games (and inflicting psychological torment on bullies). I have to give it a warning for some shonen-typical creepiness towards female characters in the early chapters, but it's REALLY worth reading and it's a story that's so near and dear to my heart. this is the fastest and easiest way to start loving yugioh. Its worth noting that the original ygo manga is the ONLY manga (afaik) that tells the same story as its anime + i haven't read any of the others aside from a little bit of the gx manga, so the rest of my recs are anime-only

(optional) yugioh season 0 / 1998 / toei - a one-season anime based on the early manga chapters. if you like the horror vibes of the manga you'll enjoy this a lot. really fun 90s animation with a killer soundtrack, but generally not considered """canon"""

yugioh duel monsters - this is the one most people watched as a kid. it's an adaptation of the manga, but with most of the early chapters cut out so as to get straight to the card games + some extra arcs added in. this is most people's favorites and the most popular! you can also watch this in lieu of the manga, but you will be missing a LOT of the early story or experiencing it in condensed form (and the plot of ygo dm is already patchy At Best).

yugioh gx - direct anime sequel to ygo dm. boy goes to gamer school to become the next king of games + high school shenanigans ensue. gx is a really charming, goofy romp with a super lighthearted s1, an interesting s2 and a shockingly engrossing s3. s4 (the last 25 episodes or so) never got dubbed in english so if you're a dub enjoyer like me you'll have to switch to subs to get the full story

yugioh 5ds - direct sequel to gx, though further in the future than gx was to dm. card games on motorcycles are real and so is class warfare and the surveillance state. iirc this is the only yugioh anime that was rated 4+ - it has a slightly more mature tone but there's still plenty of lighthearted fun to be had. Really strong s1 with a second season that falls off a little bit, at least to me, but is still absolutely worth watching. s2 is missing a number of episodes in the english dub, so again if you're a dub enjoyer you will find yourself quite confused by the end. its probably worth watching s2 entirely sub-only (something i still need to do)

yugioh zexal - the first of the sequels that is possibly set in a different universe entirely (or just the really distant future). middle school boy gets a magic necklace from his dad that has an alien inside. zexal is a lot of peoples favorites and now that I've watched it I GET IT. Really strong story + pacing from beginning to end and a really endearing cast of characters. It's silly and goofy and fun but DAMN DOES IT COHERE.

yugioh arc-v - the first of the sequels that is DEFINITELY set in a different universe entirely. this is the one I'm watching currently so i don't have much to say about it yet GET BACK TO ME ON THIS ONE. this one boy's dream is to become the greatest clown who ever lived (tragic) (inspiring)

INHALES LOUDLY. that was probably more info than you wanted BUT I HOPE THAT HELPED AT LEAST A LITTLE BIT? again I recommend reading the original ygo manga first and i think that will give you a good idea of whether you are down with the yugioh silliness or not. It's important to remember that this is a very silly anime series about card games but like. As long as you can buy into the worldbuilding and accept that this is just How Things Are in the world of ygo, it's suuuuuuuch a fun world to sink your teeth into.

[team-frightfur]

Revelations from Zexal blind watch. The way action cards scatter and sound in arc V is a zexal reference.

Edit: kotori’s skirt is too short for the ass shot in that ending, Zexal...

Edit 2: i disagree with Astral’s feet.

Edit 3: I very agree with Yuma. He’s like, a complete dumbass, awful duellist, but like in an endearing way. Stupid golden retriever. If Yugo was a protag. I’ve never been more happy than when he topdecked so hard he landed on his back and broke his spine, only to leap 10 ft in the air. My child he’s mine now.

Edit 4:

They want to climb onto plants and eat leaves. Im love them.

Edit 5: the cars shutting down after the cyberterrorism attack implies that they’re all teslas. This is a dystopia worse than both Satellite and the Commons.

Edit 6: Show at strongest when Yuma and Astral are being funny. Show at weakest when its focusing on shitty monster of the week storylines and people who don’t matter.

Edit 7: Astral every single day of his life: Oh god I’m gonna die. Please Yuma. Please Yuma I don’t want to die. Yuma Please.

Edit 8: Sora’s intro is a zexal reference lmao.

Peak Comedy.

[scratchface]

5-minute thoughts on every ygo show?

Duel Monsters: The OG, which we must respect. Lots of incredibly interesting concepts packed into a fun series overflowing with style, but holy shit, it does not hold up without twelve shots of nostalgia blurring your vision. There's lots of great, iconic moments that will live on in people's hearts forever, but for every minute of Peak Television, there's thirty more of boring B plots and nonsensical plot writing. Battle City deserves to be remembered fondly, but it was consistently downhill from there.

Favorite character: the Spirit/Bakura. Always a delight to have on screen, elevated every scene he was in, even at the series' wonkiest.

GX: My original favorite! GX is a wild ride of highs, lows, and absurdity. The non-plot essential episodes here are a lot more fun than those of DM, and it made great use of the inherent absurdity of the setting (boarding school for learning a children's cardgame) to go completely bananas. It is a lot of fun to rewatch season two and three, which are packed with fun side characters, crazy antics, and of course, Judai's endless charisma. While far from perfect, every time I revisit it, I can't help but think the whole series is incredibly charming.

Favorite character: Judai. Special mention to O'Brien and Jim, though—they're my special little guys.

5Ds: The one I don't know too well, because I don't remember much of it and I've never managed to rewatch more than a few episodes at a time before dropping it. Everyone always praises it, but I just can't get into it. Zero appeal to me. Yusei seems cool, I guess.

Favorite character: Aki

Zexal: The best one. Like, objectively—yeah, I know, I refused to accept that at first too! I didn't want Zexal to be the best YGO either! But it is! It just is! I've rewatched it many times, thinking, "this time, with a more critical eye, I will realize its not that good!" but NO, it is that good—hell, I think it actually gets better every time you watch it! Which is crazy, 'cause so many of the first ~30 episodes are so so bad. But then it just gets better with every storyline! I could go on for hours about how much I love Zexal now; the setting, the cast, the plot. What seemed like a conflict between aliens actually turning out to be a war between heaven and hell was the sickest plot twist of all time.

Favorite character: Shark/Nasch, no contest. But shout out to everyone else too: Zexal has by far the best cast of any of the YGOs.

Arc-V: The disappointment. The opposite of Zexal. While Zexal starts with its weakest batch of episodes, Arc-V starts with its strongest, and its all downhill from there. So many duels in the first 50 episodes are just incredible, and there's so much intrigue, and every episode left you wondering. And then it just...struggles and flails its way to the end. Very little of ending is in anyway satisfying. If I think about it too much I get frustrated.

Favorite character: Sora! Sora does so much of the heavy lifting in keeping the plot of this series moving when everyone else seems determined to bring it to a screeching halt and nobody gives him enough credit for that.

Vrains: Ah, Vrains. If Arc-V started strong and ended by dragging its own corpse over the finish line, Vrains was struggling to keep its head above water from the start. Its an almost impressive blend of fantastic main characters with great depth (Yusaku, Ryoken, Ai) and the worst supporting cast you've ever seen. What characters weren't bad from conception get fumbled horribly at every opportunity. And yet, the conflict of the first season remains incredibly compelling. Yusaku and Ryoken's relationship remains one of the most fascinating I've seen in fiction. Unfortunately, its blatantly clear that the writers didn't have a plan. Big 'first draft' vibes. Could have been drastically improved if the writers had, you know, allowed the other Origins and Ignis to do things instead of giving Aoi three costume changes.

Favorite character: Yusaku. Love him.

[johnnyd2]

Day 9: Light Across the Aether  Arc V Month 2023

Day 9: Light Across the Aether 

@arcvmonth​

CW Language

Figured I would reply to this with a certain other earlier moment involving Shun/Shay.

THIS! This one moment from Episode 34,represented the exact point where Arc V turned from “standard fair” to “Amazing Tier!” (at least until Synchro arc and the production issues kneecapped it later onwards). Of course I am referring to Shun’s SECOND RUM in the same duel to evolve and Summon Revolution FalconThe music, “Evolving Falcon” is perhaps one of, if not right the most epic piece of Yugioh Music and is right up there with “Fang of Critias” as one of the all time greats to go with this GOAT of a scene!

This music is the tip of how awesome this one duel finisher is! For one, Sora finally snapping and revealing his true colors (at least until Synchro Dimension rolled it back XP). This is when the role of the other dimensions got real. Shit got serious yo! Shun and Raidraptors quickly flew (pun intended lol) to the top of my favorite Arc V character list. Granted thats probably the Zexal/Xyz “Scum” fan within me speaking. But still.

I kept on replaying this scene on YT over and over JUST to hear this treat to my ears. (At least until we finally got it on the 3rd and sadly last Sound Duel for Arc V).

And Shun’s speech and oath to get Ruri/Lulu back, accompanied by the buildup to the main part of this music. Then the track bursting in response to a SECOND Rankup Magic from Shun (in the same episode none the less!) It is a true beauty to watch

Seeing Sora get nuked and crushed is satisfying, yet shocking. Sora and his “pals” never showed mercy to Kurosaki’s Xyz Comrades. Neither did Shun. Hell he probably wouldve carded Sora right then and there had it not been for Reiji leashing ihim in.

Everything that happens from that point on. The escalation of the stakes of Arc V’s dimension hopping storyline. The impending threat of Academia and the Obelisk Force. It all starts with this Act of Rebellion.

cheesy yes. But i love this episode

thank you for reading.

[number-1-kuaidul-fanboy]

My current all series ranking (Before Go Rush Season 3 drops later today)

1 GX 9/10 (Do I really need to explain this one? It's the Judai Yuki show. Judai Yuki is my all time favourite Yugioh character. Enough said.)

2 VRAINS 8/10 (Exciting and interesting with great lore and the duels have grown on me but its theming issues hold it back for me.)

3 Zexal 8/10 (Interchangeable with VRAINS. The central dynamic carries this one. It's entertaining and endearing and makes even the non epic plotlines fun to watch.)

4 Sevens 8/10 (Doesn't quite hit the highs of other series but is overall consistent as what it lacks in overarching plot it makes up for in charm, wit, and character.)

5 Go Rush (Currently ongoing so this could change. At the moment though, the highs are peak Yugioh and the lows are better than the lows of the series I put below it.)

6 5Ds 7/10 (The ultimate peaks and valleys show. The highs are peak Yugioh amazing and the lows are "forcing an abuse victim to forgive her abuser" bad.)

7 DM 7/10 (Mostly dry cast and overly long duels make me not as interested in this one but the general fun silliness, great final arcs and characters I do like still make it good overall.)

8 Arc V 6/10 (Went to shit in Synchro and never fully recovered for me, though there was still the occasional great episode/character.)

9 Season 0 (I haven't finished this one but while there's nothing inherently wrong with it, it's at the bottom by default because it's just not the kind of show I generally like and really hasn't hooked me.)