#ojama blue

[ygoartreviews]

Ojama Blue

Ojama Blue's super toned, ultra thin body is so fucking funny for absolutely no reason. Why isn't he chubby?? Where is his body mass??? Well... The answer to that second question is probably: "In his giant rectangular head." It's seriously massive and longer than his actual body (I guess that's why he has to be so toned. To hold up his head). I really enjoy that Ojama Blue embraces the more "alien" look of the Ojamas through his narrow, pointed, oval eye shape. The only part of him that's a little unsettling is how realistic his lips look if you zoom in on them, but assuming you don't do that, he's just a funny blue guy. A very confidently posed funny blue guy. I forgot to mention it on Ojama Yellow, but I love the sparkle effects these guys have around them to help enhance their spotlit poses.

Rating: 7/10

[xxthefairywitchxx]

Fake YGO cards go brrrrrrrrrrrr. Meet Ojama, Lady Of The Moon...Or Ojama Mama! Those weird naked little freaks are her sons!

[insomnia-arts]

At long last I've made a new Ojama!

Guess I'll have to take a new family photo soon, but anyway...

PRESENTING OJAMA PINK!

Much like his brothers, he is made of felt with a wire armature and spandex undies! He is completely posable and so grossly cute!!!

To see my other ojamas click the plush tag

[gxweek]

GX Pop-up Cafe celebrating the 20th anniversary of GX on October 6th, featuring new official artwork

Dishes

Drawbread (Golden Egg, Croquette, Yakisoba, Pizza)

Judai's Gotcha! Fried Shrimp Pasta

Underground Duel Ramen

Shou vs. Kenzan! Aniki Donburi

Wicked Canon Curry

Desserts

Manjoume Black Sundae

Manjoume White Sundae

Obelisk Blue Queen, Asuka's Panna Cotta

Time Capsule Pudding

Fubuki 10join Banana Cake

Keep Running Forward! New Journey Tiramisu

Drinks

Elemental Hero Neos (strawberry syrup, yogurt drink)

Ojama King (black sesame milk, strawberry flakes)

Cyber End Dragon (calpis soda, blood orange syrup, blue curacao syrup)

Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon (cola, cranberry syrup, mixed berries)

Cyber Blader (cranberry juice, mint)

Super Vehicroid Jumbo Drill (cafe latte, banana syrup, chocolate)

Ultimate Tyranno (black tea, lemon syrup)

Water Dragon (mojito syrup, sprite, blue pine jelly)

Maiden in Love (yogurt drink)

Ancient Gear Golem (grenadine syrup, curacao syrup, black lemon jelly, club soda)

Destiny Hero Plasma (cassis syrup, berry jelly, club soda)

Rainbow Dragon (ramune syrup, calpis soda)

Fossil Warrior Skull King (brown sugar syrup, soymilk)

Volcanic Doomfire (grenadine syrup, blackcurrant syrup, oolong tea, berries)

Yubel, the Ultimate Nightmare (curacao syrup, grape jelly, calpis soda, pineapple)

[gx-gameon]

You keep fueling my brain rot 🤣 now I'm imagining Chazz spotting Blue Eyes visiting Jaden and not realizing she's there for Jaden and getting hyped because "holy shit Blue Eyes must be here for ME one of the best monsters has chosen the Chazz as It's master!"

Meanwhile Blue Eyes is just "more babies!!!" These are here little ones and she's going to protect them!!

This is wonderful!

Chazz, who has only seen the spirits of weak monsters up until now. The ojamas, the spirits in the well, all of them are weak.

Suddenly he sees Blue Eyes White Dragon, one of the strongest cards and wielded by Seto Kaiba alone just chilling outside his dorm.

“Finally! All my patience has paid off! I am the chosen one!”

Kisara just watches him fondly, another child who can see me. I must talk to Jaden and Seto. We have a new baby. Good Jaden should have a sibling.

[fanfic-lover-girl]

Why I like Manjoume Thunder as a Yugioh rival

Hot take: And why I say 'screw you he is actually one of the best thanks!'

Appearance

Starting off on a silly note: Chazz is very pretty. Like seriously, look at him.

Tbh, sometimes you can mistake him for a girl at certain angles and close-ups :)

Anyway, I like his aristocratic look (dark hair and eyes and pale skin). I think the only rival who comes close to his blue-blood look is Ryouga from Zexal (I have only watched the first four Yugioh shows so you know). However, Ryouga has the tentacle theme going on with his hair which ruins the aesthetic a bit. I think it emphasises the concept of the rival usually being rich and upper class.

Personality

The rivals tend to have similar personality beats. However, I have a soft spot for Manjoume's. I didn't fully understand why until it hit me!

Manjoume Jun is a mix between Kaiba and Joey!

Kaiba's stoicism and self-confidence

With Joey's goofiness, playful nature and resiliency in the face of hardship

Love it! It makes Manjoume stand out among the rivals. You won't see Ryouga, Kaiba, Kaito or the rest rough housing with their rivals the way Manjoume does with Sho and Judai.

I just find Manjoume's personality entertaining. He's fun to watch. Not to say I like Manjoume being treated like a joke so often...but it made him very endearing. He does have a certain charm to him.

Relationship with siblings

Yugioh GX has many faults but I think GX has the best brother dynamics with the Manjoume and Marufuji brothers.

Don't get me wrong: I love the Kaiba brothers. I love how much Seto loved Moki and how the relationship became corrupted after Gozaburo adopted them (re. Seto using Mokuba in his plan to take over Kaiba corp and Seto's other emotional problems). I like how Mokuba steps up in running Kaiba Corp and has his own badass moments and is not some boring helpless damsel in distress like Haruto. Gosh, I despise Haruto and his relationship with Kaito. I found the entire thing such a bother.

Anyway, Manjoume stands out as being the only rival with older brothers (Jack has no siblings but I have always seen him as the big bro in the best friend trio). Manjoume isn't in a position where someone is looking up to him or depending on him to save them. He is out there trying to prove himself and I found the antagonism in his relationship a refreshing dynamic.

A bit of a hot take here but I kind of feel like Manjoume's brothers push his character in a positive direction whereas Mokuba and Haruto push their brothers in a negative direction. Kaito stole people's souls to save his brother (part of why I dislike Haruto but this is not the place for that) and Kaiba pushed to be adopted by Gozaburo and suffered abuse at his hands so that he and Moki could stay together on his terms. Whereas, Manjoume's brothers really kickstart Manjoume's arc to being a better person. I hope that makes sense?

Antithesis to the rival power deck

We all know the rivals have the heavy hitter, power decks. Almost to the point of being OP like Kaito's photon eyes (Kaito is kind of a boring rival IMO. He's badass sure but he only gets truly interesting in his interactions with V and Mizael).

I think Manjoume once again stands apart from the other rivals. Unlike the other rivals, he learnt that there was value in weak cards. To the point where he can say to Ojama Yellow in season 4 that he is the ace of his deck. Not Armed Dragon L10 or VWXYZ-Dragon Catapult Cannon like what you would expect from a normal rival. But this disgusting, annoying 0 attack monster. This monster won his match against Aster and it makes me so happy to see Manjoume's development.

Jack was supposed to have an arc like this where he determined that power was not everything...only to get a stronger version of his ace 😒. Yawn. I really don't like Jack. At all. Well a bit. But mostly I can't stand him.

It makes Manjoume seem more down to earth than Kaiba and the other rivals (except Ryouga, I think his deck is pretty balanced).

Unrecognized Talent

It seems to be an unappreciated fact that Chazz is canonically an extremely talented duelist.

He beat everyone at North Academy with random cards he picked up in the ice. He beat almost everyone at the school and brainwashed them into joining the Society of Light. Yeah, most of these kids are NPCs but it still counts!

It's honestly so unfair that Manjoume was dumped in Slifer. As much as he deserved to be humbled, he never deserved to be in Slifer when there are so many talentless hacks in Obelisk. Plus the other exchange students weren't put in Slifer in season 3! Outrage I tell you! My boy deserved better. It is such a Manjoume power move to stay in Slifer out of spite though lol.

Manjoume's story ending in season 4

Ok, I never really watched season 4 so I don't really know much about the Darkness plotline. But! I do know the story beats for Manjoume.

Besides Ryouga once again, I think Manjoume had the most satisfying story conclusion.

IMO Kaiba's story climaxed in Battle City with some good moments in the Orichalcos arc. I wish Kaiba played a bigger role in the Memory arc.

Jack's story climaxed in the dark signers' arc with Carly. After that, he kind of became a bum. I appreciate him pursuing his duelling career to become king again, this time for real, but it's nothing grand. Although I will say that his final duel with Yusei looked epic.

If I start talking about Shark's story in the Barian emperors' arc, I won't stop gushing so I'll just say that Shark's final duel as Nasch was cheff's kiss. His final speech to Yuma 🤧. To be fair, I wish they explored his Barian background more in the early seasons. It's so unfair how Shark was messed up so much by Barian powers while Rio was immune 🤨

Anyway, I like how in season 4 Manjoume was determined to become a pro duelist on his own to earn his brother's respect. To the point where he endured so much crap as Aster's assistant and suffered so much humiliation as Ojamanjoume. Season 1 Manjoume would never do this. Beating Aster with the school cheering him was a sweet ending to Manjoume's arc. He became a pro duelist without losing himself like Zane and without his brothers' handouts. He proved himself as a man to his brothers. I wished we saw Shoji and Chosaku after the duel in season 1 where Chosaku acknowledged Manjoume's strength. It would have made season 4 even more powerful for Manjoume.

Conclusion

These are just my opinions. I am not saying Chazz is the best Yugioh rival - Seto Kaiba will always be my #1 - but I just wanted to write this appreciation post for Manjoume Thunder who often goes unappreciated as a yugioh rival.

If any Jack or Kaito fans are offended, well...whatever. Kaito is truly overrated and his relationship with Haruto is boring and dull. Jack's character suffers after the signer arc. I really wished he and Carly got together. Sigh, 5ds had some of the best romances and they still never gave us anything at the end.

[cyberdragoninfinity]

👀 would you care to talk about the symbolism of the other yugioh rivals

SMILES. i would love to. i cant speak for revolver or the bridge rivals yet and i havent seen enough arc-v to have a solid grasp on declan's symbolism yet but i will talk a little about the spinoff rivals i do know pretty well

as a sidenote, like. ok so Kaiba's main motifs and 'symbolism' is...well. centered around Blue-Eyes and dragons in general mostly, of course. And he kind of has those weird disease/virus and mild clown motifs that show up a little in his cards, and those are all plenty cool and they work for what seto kaiba needs to be! but imo that doesn't really get nearly as expanded upon either in the show itself or otherwise in official yugioh What Have You, compared to the guys who came later. i didnt have a good spot to say this otherwise so it's going here lol of course thats just my opinion on the matter

Chazz: anyway, so something I notice is explored a bit more with the spinoff rivals is that they'll have these motifs that actually get extended into their archetypes in the actual tcg, and it's so SO cool to see. Chazz/Manjoume has his whole iconic thunder motif of course, and he also gets that little s2 stint with the Society of Light giving him a brief Bright Distressing White motif and BOTH OF THOSE. HAVE BEEN INVOKED WITH ARMED DRAGON LV 10 CARDS

i really especially love Armed Dragon Thunder Lv. 10-- its whole effect is the Manjoume Thunder chant!!! IT'S DOING THE POSE. IT'S SO FUN.

and of course also Chazz is a character very tied to the symbolism of "weak" duel monsters, of "weak" decks, one-star monsters and the Ojamas especially, and that in general is such a fun spin on a yugioh rival. we do a complete 180 from Guy Tied Almost Exclusively to Very Powerful Dragon to Guy So Symbolically Correlated With Weak Monsters He Dresses Up as One in His Last (and one of his best) Duels. peace and love on planet finding strength in the unremarkable

Jack: ok so Jack is an interesting one. He's very symbolically tied to being the 'King' and to underworldly draconic hellfire imagery [which in of itself is really cool, and I think there's some very interesting dichotomy in there with how Jack's tied with a fiery hellish dragon motif but Yusei's tied to a cosmic heavenly dragon motif...i really love Jack and Yusei as narrative counterparts.] But the thing is, in the same vein Jack's tied deeply to Burning Soul-- the issue is 5D's also very clearly puts forward that the Burning Soul iconography is also tied (and in large part originated) with the Legendary Signer...who is. an indigenous brown South American guy.

And they. gave it to one of the arguably whitest Yugioh characters. Erm. 🥴 classic yugioh racially questionable moments !This is what I mean when I say the spinoff rivals have far more interesting symbolism to me--sometimes the interest is out of uhhhh not great narrative handling!! Gives even more to chew on.

Shark: yeah Shark is the one that makes me insane. There's no way to talk about him and his symbolism without getting into deep Zexal Spoilers, so. Be mindful of that. I'm gonna talk about him and Kite under the cut

ok so Shark is like the goddamn yugioh rival symbolism rivalry gold rush. You trip into the Reginald Ryoga "Shark" Kamishiro Kastle motifs and symbolism well and youre falling for ten thousand years. You cant talk about him without having to get into him also being Nasch, and then you have to talk about the Barian Emperors, and that second you get into that is the second you get sandblasted with some of the most insane symbolism yugioh writers have every cooked up.

There is so much goddamn demonology imagery and motif and symbolism jammed into the Barians I will be here all day getting into it. NOT EVEN GETTING INTO THE BUDDHISM INFLUENCE TOO. You cannot convince me that the Barian Emperors aren't supposed to correlate with the Seven Princes of Hell, alongside their deeply implied Seven Deadly Sin symbolism (and the Ursa Major symbolism too of course--it's what they get their names from!) To me I think Nasch is supposed to be tied to Leviathan especially, being an aquatic-based monster, but he could also correlate to Lucifer, playing on the pop cultural idea of Lucifer being the leader of Hell (and in demonology, typically associated with pride...pretty big trait of Shark's!)

That's just me barely scratching the surface with him. He's got the demonology symbolism, and Ursa Major motif, and seven deadly sins symbolism, and the sea predator symbolism and motif, and the royalty symbolism (good god his DUB SURNAME IS FUCKING KASTLE. THE PALER PART OF HIS HAIR LOOKS LIKE A CROWN.) And also all the insane numerology symbolism Zexal is leaking out the ears with. he's the fucking best. Why did they make this 14 year old so jampacked with this shit. it RULES.

Kite: it's so neat that Zexal has two rivals effectively. ANYWAY. Kite doesn't have as much 'oh my god it keeps going. it keeps going. oh holy shit' tier symbolism as whatever going on with Shark but he's got some stuff going on; I think it's especially cool that he and Mizar/Mizael have this "light vs. time" motif going on with their dragons, a Galaxy-Eyes arms race based on the speed of light. In general Kite's really associated with light, in the the very scientific sense, be it the way his jacket turns white when he duels, his Photon-filled deck, HELL even literally the way his eyes get damaged and his vision suffers is arguably tied to it, and it rocks. I feel like Kite is (esp since Zexal is supposed to parallel DM in a lot of ways) really the rival meant to parallel Kaiba the most, even down to having a dragon ace monster based around something bright (white dragon, photon dragon,) but I think they really took the time to expand on that inherent symbolism and show it off in even more ways narratively than we see with Kaiba. it's just cool the more i think about it the more i really like what they did with kite.

[morningdawnknight]

My Duel Academy Life is Wrong as I Expected Chapter 7 - Even If You Write the Correct Answers Down, Nothing Will Change

Fandom: My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU, Yu-Gi-Oh!

Series Summary: Having zero passion for Dueling or even Duel Monsters, Hachiman Hikigaya is the last person you would expect to even attempt to enter the most elite high school for upcoming Pro-Duelists and Card Designers in Japan and yet here he is. Wielding an Ojama Deck, this loser loner is forced to butt into the lives of other students after his dorm Resident Advisor, Professor Hiratsuka Shizuka, forces him to join the Service Club along with Yukino Yukinoshita, the Ice Queen of Obelisk Blue. Together, their clashing personalities and viewpoints must compromise as they attempt to solve problems around Duel Academy Island.

Chapter Summary: Hachiman Hikigaya gets flagged by Professor Shizuka Hiratsuka for his anti-thesis on having a goal in life. Meanwhile, Zaimokuza crashes the Service Club so he can attempt to better understand the inner workings of how lore and card effects work hand in hand.

AO3 Link

Excerpt:

Sighing, I looked through the door. Inside the clubroom, with the windows open as to allow the wind to funnel through, was a chubby man with silver hair tied back in a ponytail with his Slifer Red Duel Disk on and Duel Gazer already set. He was wearing a brown longcoat over his Slifer jacket and– Huh? 

I opened the door.

“What are you doing here?” I asked Zaimokuza.

“Hachiman!” he said, smirking. “I require assistance and the great plunderer we call Tomioka had told me of this existence!”

“Is he, like, your friend?” Yuigahama asked.

“No,” I told her.

“He knows your name,” Yukinoshita said.

“He’s just my roommate,” I told her.

“Just your roommate?” Zaimokuza said before bellowing out a feigned chuckle. “Hachiman and I are not merely roommates, our destinies are inexplicably intertwined! Just as Monk of the Tenyi gathers his strength from Tenyi Spirit – Adhara, so too I gain my strength from Hachiman. ‘Why?’ or ‘How?’ you might ask. Well, the answer is quite simple: we are the reincarnations of the great god Hachiman and the legendary shogun Zaimokuza!”

“Is this like that pharaoh and priest thing?” Yuigahama asked.

“No,” I told her. “It’s a simple case of chuunibyou.”

“Chuunibyou?” Yukinoshita asked.

“Chuunibyou, also known as Eighth Grader Syndrome, is when a person has delusions of grandeur,” I explained. “They believe they are the main character of some kind of urban fantasy light novel, so to speak. In fact, Zaimokuza has it easy. I have a friend of a friend who had it worse.”

“Worse?” Yukinoshita looked at me. “How could something be possibly worse than that?”

I cleared my throat. “In the beginning, the universe was created by three syncretic deities of chaos, order, and void. These three deities fought for dominance and the resulting clash created the wor– That was close! I almost gave out lore.”

[purplekoop]

Things I Love #2: WATCH OJAMAJO DOREMI.

Okay so. context.

A while back, way earlier this year if memory serves correctly, my friend Dyna (y'know from the streams) found a peculiar song in the girl idol band rhythm game they like. Upon investigating, they learned that was an official cover of the theme song for a 1999 magical girl anime with a very niche cult following here in the states. They looked into it further, watched a video explaining why the show is so great, saw it for themselves, and after becoming thoroughly obsessed, convinced me somehow to watch the entire 200+ episode run with them.

And it. was.

Worth it.

I say it without an ATOM of hyperbole that this is genuinely one of the best shows I've ever seen. Like. Seriously, no bits no laughs no nothing, this silly little pastel-colored show is utterly phenomenal in more ways that I can do it justice. It's genuinely that good. It's hilarious, it's intense, and it made me cry and intensely hilarious number of times. It's legitimately a show that makes me happier to be alive when I think about it.

And one of the main cast members looks like this for the majority of the show.

...Okay maybe it deserves a little more context.

So, okay, plot summary:

Doremi (the pink one) is a silly, short-tempered, and chronically unlucky grade schooler who kind of sucks at... most things, to be frank. And one thing she sucks at that actually bothers her is her inability to muster up the courage to one day confess to a boy she likes. Logically, the only way she'd be able to confess is if she had magic, so she's also obsessed with witches, and one day becoming a witch herself. (Good news for her incoming.)

One day, she goes to a mysterious old house, and finds an equally mysterious woman inside with a cat. Just kind of, y'know, as a hunch. She accuses the woman of being a witch, which causes her to spontaneously turn into the green creature seen above.

This is Majo Rika, a genuine article but short-tempered witch, and the cat is secretly her fairy companion Lala. When a witch's identity is found out by a human, they get cursed into being a silly little creature known as a Witch Frog, and the only way to turn back into their original form is for the human who found them out to become a witch themself, and then use their magic to turn the witch frog back to normal. This, very conveniently, means Doremi now has to become a Witch Apprentice, learn magic, pass the apprentice exams, and eventually earn the honor of becoming a full witch herself.

Along the way, some of Doremi's friends get caught up in the secret, including her childhood friend Hazuki, the soft-spoken sweetheart (and my favorite of the apprentices but quite not my favorite character outright), and the new transfer student Aiko, the cool-headed tomboy who rocks the blue. Together, they all train to be witch apprentices, learning under Majo Rika, and working at her house, which is turned into a magical crafts shop, the Maho Dou. A few more witch apprentices join them along the way, but aside from them they have to keep their witchy business a secret from everyone else.

Now that we've established the basics, I think I'll continue the tradition of posting the show's theme song in each of these. Doremi has a 4-ish season run, with each season getting its own OP in standard anime fare, but I think the first and most iconic opening, Ojamajo Carnival, should suffice:

Oh yeah, might help to explain what "Ojamajo" means. It's a pun that roughly means "bothersome witch", since "Majo" is "Witch" and "Ojama" means "bothersome" or "annoying." So the title would more directly be "Bothersome Witch Doremi" but literally everyone prefers "Ojamajo" so. yeah.

Anyways, theme song shows a lot about the show that's great.

For one is the art style, which I'd say is "pleasant" in the most intensely delightful sense of the word. The designs themselves are all nice, soft, and delightful, with hardly a sharp corner in sight and a real sense of childlike whimsy permeating through it all. The general color palette and style of the show also just has a nostalgic fuzziness, even after the show's technical quality improves over its 4 year run. And the animation I adored as soon as episode 1, with characters frequently deforming to goofy faces and round nub hands right out of Animal Crossing. Hey, I don't blame them, I wouldn't wanna draw full hands for over 200 episodes either.

Another thing is the soundtrack. I don't know what terms to describe its genre, but beyond just the bombastic opening, with its cheery violin, twangy guitar, and overall exuberant joy, the soundtrack for each episode is also full of bangers. There's upbeat jazz to stir up excitement for energetic scenes, pleasant standard background tracks, and even some unexpectedly tense tracks for some dramatic scenes. This is also a show that will make you cry, and that includes even just from the ending themes. Here's season 1's:

That plays during an episode and I become a sopping mess without fail. Gets me every time.

The other big thing is arguably the show's biggest strength: its cast. While I won't go in-depth on the main cast, both for the sake of spoilers and because people have done that better than me already, I will give the show its due respect for its more broad cast. As the intro implies, the girls' entire class are notable side characters. While a good number of episodes focus on magical trials and hijinks, the majority of the show actually has the girls encounter a problem their classmates are facing, and then secretly use magic to help solve that problem. It's a formula that not only keeps things fresh with making different side characters the spotlight of an episode, but also rewards following along as the show progresses. Even the most obscure background classmates (save for I think ONE exception) will be the focus of an episode, and remember how Doremi and the gang helped them out. You can even see characters from past episodes in almost every group shot, and get to go "oh hey it's that kid!" in a really satisfying way. It really helps add to the childhood feel of the show, since... yeah, back then, your classmates were the stars of each day's adventures, and even if you weren't close friends you still knew their names would hang out every day. The teachers are also great characters in their own rights, again hearkening back to elementary days where teachers really were there for you. The cast isn't limited to the classroom though. The girls' families often factor into their more personal episode plots as well. And the magical side of things has its own small recurring cast. Witches actually reside in, another dimension known as the Witch World, a pastel-colored world with a striking visual appeal of its own right, and is also home to a cast of additional witch characters that get introduced over the course of the show.

Of course, the only important one is the underhanded saleswitch who barges into the Maho Dou with a smile and a song:

Dela.

Yeah no she's the best character and nothing's changing that.

Not kidding about her song by the way:

Literally every single time she appears, she sings a unique (shorter) version of this song to announce her arrival. It's fantastic.

So yeah, that's the basics of what makes this show great, but like... again, this show is insane, and there is SO much more I could say but won't, I'd rather people just experience it for themselves.

Which... brings us to how you experience this show yourself.

I should explain first that Doremi didn't take off in the west. Unlike her home country, which still has a dedicated fanbase who remembers the show fondly, English-speaking countries were stuck with...

*dramatic lightning crash*

the 4kids dub.

The dub, otherwise known as Magical DoReMi, is widely considered to be a downgrade from the original by fans. Look up the opening compared to the original and you'll see what I mean. Though the quality is one thing, the real way 4kids screwed the show over was by greatly limiting its airtime due to it being "another boring girl show", kneecapping its potential popularity severely. They only ever dubbed the first season, and the second half of that was limited to an online-only release if I remember right.

Now, while the show itself was a relatively failure over here, apparently toy sales didn't do too bad actually. And I know that specifically, because when I told my partner I was watching Doremi, they went "Wait WHAT" and proceeded to show me pictures of their childhood Doremi toys. Apparently they even came with a bonus DVD, though only for one episode. My friend Seven also had Doremi toys and a bonus DVD of that one episode too, so uh... small world, huh?

But yeah, with this in mind, it shouldn't be surprising that Doremi has such a limited english-speaking fanbase, and thus should be even less surprising that there is no official way to watch the show here. There is no newer dub of the whole show, and no official subtitles. I managed to watch the show thanks to the efforts of fanmade subs, and though there's some unfortunate dated language early on, it's otherwise an extremely commendable effort that I can't thank enough for making it possible. As for how to access this subbed version... I mean come on, if you're reading this, you're an adult on the internet, you can figure out how. I know pity for corporations is comically low on this site but if you need help feeling better about it, remember that there is no way to officially watch the show as an english speaker. If they do make official subs and stream the show somewhere, I'll let you know, but that seems extremely unlikely.

As for what you watch then, Doremi has 4 main seasons of roughly 50 episodes each, and then one weird bonus season. Each season after the first one has a subtitle: season 2 is Ojamajo Doremi Sharp, 3 is Motto, and 4 is Dokkan. There's also Naisho, a shorter set of about 17 episodes that takes place during the same time as Motto, but was made years after the main show originally ended. I watched episodes of Naisho sprinkled in with my watchthrough of Motto, but there's also merit to watching it in release order, at least the final episode. There are also two episode-length "movies" that take place about midway through a couple seasons: one for Sharp, and one for Motto. Finally, made for the 20th anniversary back in 2020, there's the feature-length film "Looking for Ojamajo Doremi", which was the final thing of the show I watched, and just finished tonight actually. It's not directly in the same "canon" as the show itself, but I highly recommend it as a great finale to a watchthrough of the show as a whole.

It's a long ride, but it's worth it. I genuinely wouldn't skip any episodes, as again, even minor characters are worth remembering for later. It's not a show with "filler", because what you're there for is a simple and relaxing slice of life style show that takes it easy to appreciate the mundane joys of just being nice and helping others. Plus, it makes the absolutely fantastic gut punch of a finale all the more worth it.

I really can't say enough about this show. It's genuinely better than I can put into words. If you have the time (and a soul) then please, PLEAAAASE consider giving it a watch, I swear it's worth it.

So that's this Things I Love. Not sure what the next one will be actually. These won't all be shows, so maybe expect a game next? Could also be a show that I'm due to finish a watch or rewatch of too, like a certain other show where a weird girl stumbles into a witch and her creature companion, and then learns to be a witch herself. We'll see though. In the meantime, uhhh... Rabbids? I think I was talking about Rabbids for some reason.

[mahoushoujoumonster-x]

// okay i know I have said some of this before but hear me out R.E. KaibaLand, happiest place on Earth:

KaibaLand stages overrun by the magician squads, where DMG and other waifu-type monsters are literally like Idols, with intricate stage work to maintain the magic illusions.

The woman who plays the Maiden With Eyes Of Blue sings soulful jazz in one of those small bars tucked away that you need a season pass to know about.

The Ojamas will do the most awkward and weird dance-offs with children and scream their way through the parades.

The Elemental Hero teams actually do turf wars with other monsters in their little sections, and ‘protect’ guests from the fiends and whatnot like heroes do.

The favourite part of the day is the drone holographic night show, which often has various dragons soaring through the sky majestically.

Every so often when Earthquakes happen, parts of the theme park will quickly be adapted to show ‘evidence’ that Exodia is trying to break free from his prison.

[nettleshuttle]

so, welcome to my ted talk! today’s topic: an attempt to put together all my thoughts on chazz in an at least slightly coherent manner

honestly, there’s a lot of these — as of now, he’s one of my favorite characters from the whole ygo series and definitely among the ones i find most interesting, although gx itself does him pretty dirty most od the time (more on that later). when i encountered him first in the show, i was actually kinda surprised/disappointed to see him established as the main rival figure — i mean, really, he was supposed to take over after kaiba? that bland, stuck-up, good-for-nothing guy? but then his later arcs really captivated me, up to the point where i was crying during his society of light duel against jaden and i begun to really appreciate him, so i guess here we are; as i’m still not over much of his character, i’m going to try to break down my favorite/the most important parts of it and see what comes out of it. if you’re still reading that, feel warned that you’re up for a long-ass post

first of all: a definite cornerstone of everything that chazz has going on, so the “talented, successful, arrogant, popular dueling ace” to “ridiculed drop-out underachieving ojama user” pipeline. needless to say, i really love this whole idea, as it’s frankly a take on gifted kid burnout, not handling expectations, not handling not handling stuff and a meaningful self-restoration after all that. it may be difficult to trace, because chazz remains arrogant throughout, but he’s going through a lot of personal growth — and quite realistic at that. the “hitting rock bottom” which he talks about (or bottom of the barrel, as it’s for some reason also being translated) seems ridiculous for a guy who’s, like, on the second most privileged place in life possible. yet, he really feels like he’s lost everything after the downfall he’d taken — and that’s exactly how such stuff works. the even better part that comes from it? as he plainly says, what osiris red really taught him is how little he knew about life. he never hit “rock bottom”, even though it felt like it — but he learned to scramble up and pull himself together after whatever fall it was, which, alone, makes him (and the other osiris reds, i infer) more broad-minded, more aware and stronger than all the obelisk blue elites which have never tasted defeat. that’s a very epic take and a very needed one, if you ask me — just like using a zero-atk hopeless ojama deck rather than some powerhouse of a card set as some blue eyes 2.0 doesn’t make him weaker than any duelist playing the latter, because he knows both and still chose the former. because that’s what suits him, that’s who he is — and although he lost all the pride he once had, he found much more of it on his own later. actually, the pathetic-dignified dichotomy works really well for him — he uses the ojamas, which elicit little more than a snicker from any respectable duelist, but he’s proud because he plays using them and nothing else, like when he deliberately nerfed his deck to sole 0-atks before dueling his older brother. he’s definitely struggling a lot; losing, falling back to his old self, fixating on the need to get revenge on jaden, losing again, scrambling up somehow, getting brainwashed, losing some more, but in all that, he’s getting somewhere — painstakingly and, at times, without any recognition of what he’s doing, but he’s improving in his own way and he is so much stronger and prouder than all who look down on him, all who are what he once had been, before all the losing and the struggling and the pathetic stuff. and i think that’s just great. besides, all of this — the desperation, jealousy, fear, weakness, confusion — make him come off as so much more human than characters like (with all due respect) jaden or jesse and make his development feel so realistic and rewarding.

some more on the decks he uses; i like the way he is shown to juggle multiple archetypes, ranging from armed dragon, to VWXZ dragon catapult, to ojamas — i talked about it a bit already, but i also think him not sticking to a single deck is a good way of showing how he’s in the process of developing all the time. trying out different things, mixing them, getting ridiculous combinations, going for them anyway, going back to some previous stuff, mixing that in too — that’s a real nice metaphor for how finding out stuff about yourself works, developing the optimal ways of doing things that suit you, your own ways of combating your own problems. of course, the three ojamas are a laughingstock next to kaiba’s three blue eyes (or tbh pretty much any other ace monster), but they’re the best representation of what i had laid out in the previous paragraph — i often think about his promotion duel, where the obelisk blue guy chazz faced was so disappointed seeing the ojamas, kept saying how they were a disgrace and how he had looked up to chazz in earlier times, but now considers him just an underachiever and a loser. the way how chazz almost spitefully uses the ojamas to win never ceases to make me happy because he’s making a statement of doing things his own damn way. even if they’re less efficient, weaker, anything, even if he actually loses the duel as a result (like the society of light one against jaden) because, ultimately, there are so much more important things — like when ed said that chazz needs to defeat a certain monster rather than win the game, which was a perfectly accurate summing up. losing with the ojamas is better than winning with anything else because the ojamas are his — and i find it really heartwarming, somehow.

then what does it all actually lead to? character growth is nice when it’s conclusive. what do we actually get for chazz? i mentioned that gx does him dirty and i will stick to it to my dying breath — his development could have been handled so much better (especially his relationship with jaden; even asuka got a more satisfying ending in that aspect) if the show didn’t use him as a scapegoat each time some shit needed to be stirred up or a duel needed to be lost. still, there are some really rewarding scenes to his character — most have to do with the popularity and renown he had enjoyed, then lost, then got back tenfold. “manjoume thunder!” being chanted and yelled and cheered comes off as a rolling joke more than anything else, especially along with the 1-10-100-1000 countdown (count-up?), but it’s actually much needed too — they really should let him have some of the recognition and applause. he deserves it. the empowerment coming from those scenes is great and the cringer it is, the greater it gets, because, come on, that’s chazz we’re talking about, right? his career as a pro duelist has much to do with it and i’m so glad each time i see it developed in post-canon fanfics — with his ojama deck, weird attitude and drop-out reputation, he’s not cut out to be a pro. not talent, not any gift, definitely not destiny — but, in a strange way, there’s nothing that would suit him more. he’s made for the dueling arena, for the spectators and the publicity, but he’s choosing to enter the pro world in his own way, with his own ojama deck, his own ojama yellow ace and the rest of his own identity — and that’s good enough to best ed phoenix, the guy who beat kaiser’s ass into the dirt, because that’s precisely where chazz’s strength comes from. and even if he used a more optimal deck, if he stayed in obelisk blue or god-knows-what, i like to think (and am quite certain) that he never would have gotten that far. so yeah, that would be a great ending for chazz, all in all, if his relationship with jaden wasn’t left practically unaddressed, which was definitely not the way it should have been treated — but even though i love this ship with all my heart and could ramble on it literally without end, maybe it’s best to leave that for some other (indefinite) time. the whole thing is, of course, a very crucial part of chazz’s character, but i think there a limit to amount of gx rambling anyone can feasibly process and i’ve surpassed it some time ago already. also i’m not even mentioning the whole thing with asuka because, try as i might, i fail to see any real reason or purpose for it, apart from some cheap comic relief stunt pulled by the creators. so no.

long story short — chazz is a great character, realistic and relatable (i should stop calling myself out), with a development that is really uplifting when you really consider it, made even better by some very epic scenes that he wholly deserves. arguably, i’d also call him the best ygo rival figure, but since that’s easily debatable, i’m not going into that too much. and, of course, thanks for coming to my ted talk (sorry, i’ve always wanted to finish an essay post that way <33)

[ygoartreviews]

This can be based off any card art or their anime appearance (if applicable). Or just how you feel about them in your heart

[puzzledmemories]

Muses

Yugi Muto

Age: 16-18+ Birthday: 06/04 Pronouns: he/him Sexuality: panromantic asexual

The chosen vessel of the Nameless Pharaoh. Please don't call him that, he'll insist he's not anyone special. Yugi's just your average high schooler! He didn't have many friends until one day, after putting together the Millennium Puzzle, he wished for friends. Now Yugi's got the best group of friends a guy could ever wish for! Oh, and he keeps running into trouble related to card games and magic.

Yami/Atem

Age: 16-18+ Birthday: 06/02 Pronouns: he/him Sexuality: demiromantic asexual

The Nameless Pharaoh. Stuck in the Millennium Puzzle for so long, he lost all his memories and became a vengeful spirit. With the power of shadow games at his disposal, he did everything in his power to protect Yugi. Staying by Yugi's side, he came to learn about friendship. Together, as equals, Yugi helped him search for his lost memories. Oh, and he keeps running into trouble related to card games and magic.

Ryou Bakura

Age: 16-18+ Birthday: 09/02 Pronouns: he/they Sexuality: panromantic asexual

Once upon a time, Ryou came into possession of the Millennium Ring, though he'd rather not tell you how. In turn, the ring began possessing him. The spirit of the Millennium Ring had its own goals and plans, and it determined Ryou was the perfect host. Eventually, he came to meet Yugi and Yugi's friends. This group of friends continued to extend friendship to Ryou, no matter what the spirit of the ring used Ryou to do. Once rid of the Millennium Ring and its spirit, Ryou has tried to move on and finally live a normal life. When he runs into trouble, it usually involves card games and magic.

Jun Manjoume

Age: 18+ Birthday: 08/01 Pronouns: he/him Sexuality: biromantic asexual

Jun was born to the Manjoume family; a very wealthy, very powerful family within the GX universe. As a result, Jun developed a very arrogant attitude towards thepeople around him. Jun started out at Duel Academia as an Obelisk Blue, the highest scoring dorm in the school. Jun treated the other students around him as beneath him, especially if they were from the Yellow or Red dorms. The Manjoume family's ambitions for Jun were for Jun to control the world of dueling. These ambitions, however, were continuously thwarted by other duelists in the school defeating him in duels, especially one Judai Yuki. Humiliated and frustrated, Jun briefly transfers schools, where he learns to duel with whatever cards he can find, rather than just his perfectly crafted deck. Jun rises to the top of his new school and takes on Judai in a battle between their schools. Jun is once again defeated, humiliated, and disowned by his family on live national television. Jun decided from there to transfer back to Duel Academia, though becoming a transfer student places him down in the Red dorm, instead of where he started at Blue. Jun crafts a new dueling style based around cards most might consider to be weak due to poor stats, his main strategies revolving around the Ojama Brothers and the Armed Dragon series. From there, Jun gets involved in adventures that are each wilder than the last, until he eventually graduates. By the time he graduates, Jun achieves his goal of becoming a professional duelist. Since originally transferring schools, Jun has been able to see Duel Spirits, the spirits of monsters from the game known as Duel Monsters.

Johan Andersen

Age: 18+ Birthday: 06/11 Pronouns: he/they Sexuality: panromantic asexual

Much of Johan's life before his third year of high school is shrouded in mystery. Johan has been able to see Duel Spirits, the sprities of monsters from the game known as Duel Monsters, for a long time, if not his entire life. Johan is a duelist acknowledged by Pegasus himself as one of the best. After winning a tournament, Johan was gifted the Crystal Beast deck by Pegasus, who could tell the Crystal Beasts had chosen him as their duelist. After acquiring the Crystal Beasts, Johan begins to search for the ace of his deck which has not yet been found and turned into a card: Rainbow Dragon. During his third year of high school, Johan transfers to Duel Academia. Soon after, the school is sent to an entirely different dimension where Duel Spirits hold far more power. Pegasus, during this time, finds Rainbow Dragon and turns it into a card for Johan. Through the power of technology, Rainbow Dragon is sent to Johan. Rainbow Dragon has the power to transport people between dimensions, so Johan makes use of the card to send Duel Academia and its students back to their original dimension. The adventure is far from over for Johan, however; he is left behind in the process, and the Duel Spirit that originally transported Duel Academia to the dimension where Johan is now left at their mercy...

Post-Canon, Johan's canon career is left a mystery. However, I will operate on my own headcanons for Johan for this. Johan works for Solomon Muto at his game shop for a time while taking a break from dueling after graduating Duel Academia. Some time later on, Johan returns to dueling and becomes a professional duelist.

Rua (Yugioh 5D's)

Age: 11-13+ Birthday: 06/20 Pronouns: he/him (wants to know if he can eat those) Sexuality: grayromantic asexual

Rua's very excited to be here! Rua loves to duel! He doesn't have any special powers like his sister, Ruka, and for most of the time that the Crimson Dragon is part of his life, he doesn't know he's a Signer. That doesn't keep him down, though! Rua loves to hang out with his friends, duel, and have fun! Despite his own lack of powers, he's used to magic in his life. Between his sister and his friends having magic powers, he's accepted it as something real and natural.

Rio Kamishiro

Alias: Merag Age: 14+ Birthday: 11/02 Pronouns: she/her Sexuality: panromantic asexual (Please note: Rio's birthdate was randomly generated.) Rio is the twin sister of Ryoga "Shark" Kamishiro. Rio was critically injured in a fire at a younger age, and fell into a coma until after the World Duel Carnival. After Rio recovered, she quickly developed a reputation of her own around school; behind her cute appearance stood a queen of ice who excelled in her own right. Rio can perform well in not just duels, but any sport. She's well aware of her brother's negative reputation, and knows she has to be strong for both of them, and so she can't be used against him. However, Rio has another identity: one of the Seven Barian Emperors, Rio is also known as Merag. For the sake of Barian World, Merag and her brother, Nash, turned against their friends. After the defeat of Don Thousand, Rio returned to her human life.

Yuma Tsukumo

Age: 13+ Birthday: 08/16 Pronouns: he/they Sexuality: panromantic asexual

(WIP)

Ryoga "Shark" Kirishima

Alias: Nasch Age: 14+ Birthday: 11/02 Pronouns: he/him Sexuality: none of your business

(Please note: Nasch's birthday was randomly generated.)

(WIP)

Yuri (Yugioh Arc V)

Age: 14 Birthday: 01/22 Pronouns: he/him Sexuality: grayromantic asexual

(Please note: Yuri's birthdate was randomly generated.)

Yuri is but a piece of the duelist formerly known as Zarc, who was forced into four separate people by four certain cards. When Zarc was split in four, the world as we know it was split in four as well, creating four separate dimensions. Yuri lives in the Fusion Dimension and attends Duel Academy. Yuri is a very strong duelist who the school's leader, Leo, entrusts special missions to. At the same time, however, Leo knows the duelist Yuri once was as Zarc, and ultimately, doesn't trust Yuri. Yuri relishes in the chance to instill fear and pain into his enemies.

Yusaku Fujiki (Vrains)

Age: 16 Birthday: 10/13 Pronouns: he/they Sexuality: biromantic asexual

Ten years ago, six children were kidnapped as part of the Lost Incident. For six months, these children were forced to duel without end, and any losses were punished by torture, until the children were found and freed. Ones of these children was named Yusaku Fujiki. Ten years after the fact, Yusaku still feels trapped in that incident. He feels he needs answers, and his answers lead him to a virtual dueling world called Link Vrains. Yusaku's a loner who isn't out to make friends, but but he can' stop himself from helping out people in need.

[ygo-monster-type-tournament]

ROUND 2c HAS STARTED!

Matchups:

Blue-Eyes vs. Sunavalon Fossil vs. Code Talker Purrely vs. Dragon Ruler Ancient Gear vs. Armed Dragon Excutie vs. Music Princess The☆ vs. Magistus A.I. vs. Ojama CAN:D vs. Volcanic

[raccoonskoodilypoopdungeon]

My Duel Academy Life is Wrong as I Expected Chapter 4 - Our Differences Caused Dissonance Forcing Me to Learn True Irritation

Fandom: My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU, Yu-Gi-Oh!

Series Summary: Having zero passion for Dueling or even Duel Monsters, Hachiman Hikigaya is the last person you would expect to even attempt to enter the most elite high school for upcoming Pro-Duelists and Card Designers in Japan and yet here he is. Wielding an Ojama Deck, this loser loner is forced to butt into the lives of other students after his dorm Resident Advisor, Professor Hiratsuka Shizuka, forces him to join the Service Club along with Yukino Yukinoshita, the Ice Queen of Obelisk Blue. Together, their clashing personalities and viewpoints must compromise as they attempt to solve problems around Duel Academy Island.

Chapter Summary: After interrupting their Duel, the Slifer Red Dorm Resident Advisor, Shizuku Hiratsuka, forces Hachiman Hikigaya and Yukinoshita Yukino to form the Service Club. Here, they must solve the problems students across Duel Academy Island bring. But two people trapped in a classroom everyday? How will they navigate this romantic comedy situation?

AO3 Link

Excerpt:

Looking at the most beautiful girl in Duel Academy sitting by the windowsill and reading a book, you quickly realised the romantic comedy set up you were in. However, instead of making your heart race all it did was make your stomach gurgle.

You were already quite accustomed to scenarios that would make an ordinary individual fall head over heels with a person. To the point, in fact, that you already knew the obvious romantic comedy traps. 

Case in point: the romantic comedy scenario you had found myself in. The setting sun bathed the room in a warm, orange hue as the open window let in a warm spring breeze that contained cherry petals. For all intents and purposes this was the exact same situation you found yourself in when confessing to Orimoto. In the end she told you she wanted to start as friends and, from then until the Duel Academy Senior High School Practical Admission Test, you two hadn't spoken even a single word.

“Under the cherry blossoms / strangers are not / really strangers” is a haiku written by Issa Kobayashi. To you, a youth with no experience, it was a symbol of hope that the mood set would bridge the gap between you two. However, you realise, as you gained experience, Issa Kobayashi, being a Busshist priest, must have meant the erasure of desire. In this sense, strangers are not really strangers because they have forgone the need to bridge the gap. After all, a stranger is only a state of being when you care about, when you have the desire to, form such a connection. Thus, Q.E.D., ergo, in summary, people are only interested when the other person is undeniably attractive and when there’s an advantage to be had.

Undoubtedly, the best course of action when presented with such a situation is to be hated. In this way, one has no desire and since desire is the root of all suffering, there would be no suffering.