#tredwell

[teapartypenguin]

Team 5Ds reading headcanons

So started thinking about what type of books certain characters would read, and this ended up extending to the rest of the cast. So here are what I've thought of:

Yusei:

Mostly reads nonfiction, such as engineering textbooks and user manuals

Martha's orphanage had a lot of old children's books that she used to teach the kids how to read, but Yusei outgrew them pretty quickly

Was hard to find good textbooks in the Satellite, so growing up, most of them were long out of date. But they helped him learn how to repair scrapped electronics

Often gravitated towards books written by "Dr. Fudo"

Sometimes reads Duel Runner magazines to stay up to date

Akiza has convinced him to try some mystery novels, but he is stupid good at figuring out the mystery halfway through

Favorite fairy tale is The Tale of Princess Kaguya

Jack:

Reads newspapers and dueling magazines, usually with his morning coffee

Looks for articles about himself or written by Carly first

Is very up to date on politics

Growing up, he was the designated storyteller whenever Martha was busy. Yusei was a better reader, but Jack was better at setting the mood and doing the voices

Favorite fairy tale is Jack and the Beanstalk

Akiza:

Was a lonely kid, so read a lot

Reads a bit of everything, but her favorites are mystery novels, poetry, and fashion magazines -Prefers romance as a side plot rather than the main genre

Convinced the group to watch a movie adaptation of a murder mystery she'd read, then Yusei points out an inaccuracy in the train design and Akiza nearly combusts because he was very close to spoiling the twist that exposes the murderer

Sometimes writes poetry, but always burns the notebook when it's filled

Favorite fairy tale is Beauty and the Beast

Crow:

Canonically learned to read from Duel Monsters cards, Martha made sure he caught up when she adopted him

Reads more to his kids than for himself

Has a library card and uses it purely to get requested books for his kids

Sometimes reads comics and graphic novels, but more for the art than story

If he went to school, he'd be the type of kid that watched the movie to write a book report

Favorite fairy tale is The Ugly Duckling

Luna:

Is a big reader, spent a lot of time in hospitals or on bed rest so picked it up

Main genres are fantasy, fairy tales, and folk tales -Likes anything that involves dragons, fae, or witches the most

Also sometimes reads ecology books; knows a lot of obscure insect facts

Her and Leo have library cards and go once a week

Has gotten in trouble for reading in class

Favorite fairy tale is between Rapunzel and Hansel and Gretel

Leo:

Reads almost exclusively comic books and manga (but would be a Percy Jackson kid if it existed) -Favorites are the Elemental Heroes and Neo Spacian comics

Exchanges comics with Crow a lot

His dad would always give him the comic and puzzle pages in the newspaper

Is really good at solving the crosswords and sudoku puzzles

Has also gotten in trouble for reading during class

Collects cutouts from dueling magazines that he likes best, most are of Jack but has a mini collection of Yusei too

Favorite fairy tale is between Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Hansel and Gretel

Carly:

Used to read a lot as a kid, but has less time for it than she'd like as an adult

Mostly reads news articles and magazines, especially dueling magazines, but that's 50% for work -Looks for anything featuring Jack first

Main genre of choice is romance of any kind

Jack once read one of her romance novels while he was hiding out at her place...he regrets it

Used to write a blog for dueling news in college, but stopped when she started working

Is into bullet journaling

Favorite fairy tale is The Little Mermaid

Misty:

Actually doesn't read much fashion magazines, but studied Fashion History in college and often reads books on that

Her main genre of choice is horror, prefers psychological and gothic horror -Listens to audiobooks on long plane rides

Also reads a lot of cooking and baking books, likes trying out new recipes

Used to be an avid follower of Carly's blog

Very sporadic taste

Favorite fairy tale is Swan Lake, her family used to watch the ballet every Christmas

Kalin:

Is not picky, reads out of boredom so will read literally anything that comes his way -Likes educational books the most

Books in Satellite often got burned for warmth, so not a lot of options available

He would dig through the dump for things to sell as a kid, but books weren't worth much so he'd just keep the intact ones

Read a french language textbook once and now can read in fluent french, but his pronunciation is terrible because he's rarely heard it spoken

Would eventually start a library in Crash Town

Doesn't have a favorite fairy tale (it's Cinderella)

Greiger:

Reads a lot of mythology and folk tales

Started with telling the tales to his younger siblings and younger kids in his village, eventually got interested in the mythology of other cultures as well

Got really interested in Egyptian mythology and Duel Monsters' origins in it

Likes Inca mythology the most (because it's what he grew up on), but couldn't pick a favorite tale if he tried

[aberooski]

when you said “most egregious death cut goes to 5ds” are you talking about Pearson? Or one of the Dark Signer censorships? Like there a couple of options

#mistys kid sibling #or boomers hanging getting cut/village genocide

Oh yeah when I say that I'm talking about Pearson 100%

It has been a little while but from what I remember, up through the Dark Signer arc they do a pretty decent job of leaving a lot of the deaths as heavily implied as possible so that you can still understand and put together that that's what's happening if you're actually paying attention. Like for example, they edit Carly falling into like the shadow realm mist and all,

but they still pretty strongly imply through her conversation with Misty after that whole situation that she died and even that Misty has died as well. They say it without specifically saying it, kinda thing.

And obviously they can't show Greiger being hanged on a saturday morning show the kids watch in America, but they literally show everything except the Spider shooting the web and it wrapping around his neck. Like you see him fall, you see the spider on the ceiling, and you see the little figure of him like bob up and down in the wide shot, like they show almost everything there. And them saying that Misty's brother "went missing" instead of that he died is nothing new, clearly because they did it with Aster's dad and even backpeddled on actually saying Seto and Mokuba's parents died in season 1 to saying they disappeared in season 3.

But the thing with Pearson that makes it the most egregious death censor to me is just how bad the quality of the censoring attempt is. Literally all they did was recolor the garage fire purple and have them claim that he "disappeared in a purple glow" like what the fuck is that? Like y'all ain't fooling anybody for a second with that. 🤦‍♀️

Like it's horrendously bad.

Also shoutout to when the dad falls into the like abyss and dies in the minecart section in Crash Town and when Jack and Crow show up with the authorities at the end they just throw in Jack being like "oh btw kids, they found your dad, he's gonna be a-okay! 😀👍" like no he ain't he died 😭

[watertribe-enya]

ygo5dsmonth/Week 2024 Day 2 - The New Classic

When it comes to clothes the Dark Signer's robes are my favorites. I love the matching cloaks (with the different outfits for each one underneath) and that the colors are aligning with their Earthbound Gods. They even gave out cloaks to their shadow drones, they're very committed to that style

And I could never leave out Godwin and his stupid, fancy bird shirt

I love thos blues. And the collar

As for more normal, everyday clothes, I think some outfits from the games look really good, like Misaki's here, it got just the right amount of bling

The coolest looking D-Wheel is Giganto L...

... red version

And another thing...

Yuzu has the coolest riding suit (I guess it's technically Rin's though)

@ygo5dsmonth-week

[yugioh-rare-pair-poll]

Round 1: Poll 5

Propaganda under the cut

Pairing 1: Gentlegiantshipping (Misty Lola | Misty Tredwell/Bommer | Greiger)

Propaganda: I've had this agenda for several years and now I need to infect other people with it | So me and a friend came up with this pairing for a story and we ended up getting attached to it. But that's besides the point. Bommer and Misty actually have a lot of similarities (losing a younger sibling, revenge plots, etc). Their personalities are also similar.

Pairing 2: Rebirthshipping (Aki Izayoi | Akiza Izinski/Kyosuke

Kiryu | Kalin Kessler)

Propaganda: they're living rent free in my head

Now, let’s keep things civil. This is a silly poll where we can share why we love our overlooked ships. There’s no need to be nasty to prove your point. Bashers will be consumed by the earthen gods.

[mbg159]

What Your Favorite Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds Girl Says About You

[Main Girls Only][DM][GX]

Aki Izayoi/Akiza Izinski (likes the second half of the series): You are pretty chill, and almost definitely a Faithshipper. You’re very fond of doing all kinds of scenarios of their first meeting. You write at least one thing per day appreciating her development. You really, really like the rollerskates episode. Even if it could have been better, you still love Yusei giving her Stardust. You get really sad during the ending, but you know in your heart of hearts that they definitely kissed offscreen.

Aki Izayoi/Akiza Izinski (dislikes the second half of the series): You got the taste of a girl who was straight-up unhinged, and you've been chasing that high ever since. You find bondage jokes incredibly funny. You have at least one very strong opinion about Crow. Despite your feelings on the second half (most of which can be described as "seething"), you have a soft spot for Sherry. To this day, her battle theme still generates a Pavlovian response of swooning tears in you.

Ruka/Luna: Your soul aches every day for her wasted potential. You started reading the manga the moment you saw scans of how it did her. You were very surprised when Ancient Fairy Dragon got banned. You have edited characters to be wearing flower crowns at least once. You’re still not quite sure what to think about her brother, but you definitely wish Life Stream had showed up earlier. You spent eighty episodes waiting for a followup for the end of Ep. 67, and are still waiting.

Carly Nagisa/Carly Carmine: You are a Scoopshipper, with no questions asked. You were utterly horrified when you found out about the cult thing (even if your source may have been somewhat inaccurate). You refuse to rewatch the second half of the series, and have devoted lengthy fanfics to what really happened afterward. You aren’t sure if you like nerds or goths, and you’re glad you don’t have to choose. You have tried to do Fortune Fairy-based readings in real life.

Misty Lola/Misty Tredwell: You may be into Isolationshipping or you may be into Omenshipping, but regardless of where you fall, you are certain she loves women. You saw that bit where she cradles Carly’s face and went “god, that girl is lucky.” Your favorite part of the whole DS arc was when she has Ccaryhua swallow Divine whole. You are very, very angry she’s not in Duel Links yet. (Like, I wrote this in 2021 originally, and she's still not in it? What?)

Sherry LeBlanc: You actually don’t hate the second half, but it’s largely due to her. You have either watched Revolutionary Girl Utena, or have been told several times that you should watch it. You may not be a Roseknightshipper, but you definitely have an LGBT headcanon. You have mixed feelings about how her arc ended, and would have preferred if the entire season was just her running around kicking stuff.

Martha: You hate every single other parent in every other series because you have seen her episodes and beheld a standard none have yet lived up to. She takes no shit, she's a rain of sunlight in a land of misery, she sacrifices herself tragically. Why the fuck did she barely appear after Dark Signers? You just want to talk to the person who made that decision, you say while loading a shotgun.

Mikage Sagiri/Mina Simington: You may be a Careshipper whose favorite arc is Fortune Cup, or an Ushio/Mikage shipper whose favorite arc is Dark Signers. Either way, you just really, really like office ladies, okay? You either think she's cute, relate to her beleaguered nature, or both. Also, did you know there's no ship name for Ushio/Mikage? I didn't until recently, but you definitely do.

Stephanie: Man, you picked the biggest third wheel in the entire franchise and a woman who only appears in the second half to be your fave, huh? That takes a lot of guts. And to my immense surprise, despite her entire existence being "waitress" and "one-note obsession with Jack Atlas", you have decided your OTP with her is Carly. Rock on, Stephanie fans, you make the world brighter.

Misaki: You decided to go dumpster-diving in the video games and found a gem. You understand that the only thing that could have made Bruno's arc better is if he was also Rei Ayanami. The bit at the end where she finally smiles melted your heart like butter in the sunrise. You insist Watts are underrated. You sadly know deep down that there's a reason the only female Yliaster member is non-canon.

[bestygogirl]

BEST YGO GIRL: Round 3, Group C

Match 4

please use this as an opportunity to say why you like a character, not why you don't.

Propaganda under the cut!

Misty Lola

misty lola is such a girl boss. we stan reptile type ygo characters in this house!!! misty recruits an innocent into her evil death cult and is still not in the wrong. just wants revenge for her little brother and gets results done. forgive and forget? no! lizard death god eat that bastard!

Isis Ishtar

gorgeous, very caring sister, strong duelist, and the only woman to ever make Seto Kaiba squirm

anyways. not only as mentioned above is she the first woman to make kaiba squirm, but she was by all means going to beat him if not for the millennium rod's millennium interference. yami marik admits that she's a strong duelist with a strategy that's been working for literal years-- and given that she's not like, a professional duelist, thats pretty impressive

she also recently got some really cool meta bumps and let me point out that an "ishizu deck" now includes obelisk the tormentor-- which we knew she had prior to giving it to kaiba, but i think it only solidifies my opinion that she very much could wield an Egyptian God Card, an exclusive little club for top tier duelists

as a character she presents herself with an amazing amount of poise and grace, shes compassionate and kind and stays with mai and serenity even though she only just met them. shes struggling through living the past 5 years of her life drowning in guilt for her family's tragedy just because she wanted to make her little brother happy and shadi is a fucking liar. shes foretold her own death and marches towards it grimly but with so much love in her heart. and even then shes 20 years old and holds an important position in the egyptian government that typically requires a doctorate degree AND has been dealing with mariks off-and-on bullshit entirely by her lonesome. she also likes to flex her fortunetelling a little which is awesome i think she should do that more that scene where she tells the guy exactly how the stele is being transported was so everything

speaking of shes got such an attitude. "is it your destiny to waste my time?" iconic. never seen before will never be seen again. watch the duel between her va and joeys its so fucking funny

shes excult. shes doesnt flinch in the face of god nor death. seto kaiba and yami marik respect her. shes so sad and so sweet and battle city couldnt have happened without her.

also her parallels with kaiba are what motivate kaiba to give yugi the card he needed to beat marik.

kaiba, in duelist kingdom, was ready to jump off a ledge if yugi didnt let him through to face pegasus while trying to save mokuba out of sheer desperation to save his little brother. he KNOWS what that dedication feels like and the iron kind of will you need to have to make that kind of gamble. isis is being so fucking legit with what shes saying and he respects that and her judgement enough to change his mind and not only watch the duel, but give yugi a card that eventually helps him win, even if he has no real confidence in the odds. but theres a CHANCE, which is the same thing he taught her when he beat her in a duel. the layers its her faith that moves him to act. which is so crazy

anyway vote isis shes my best friend forever and a real rep for all the 20 year olds who honest to god did not sign up for this bullshit

[coles-repository]

Three years ago, in November of 2020. I made a joke comic using png's from the Tag Force games & Duel Links. Initially meant to be an in joke between me and my friends. It's turned into a 3 plus year epic, after I was galvanized by the mods of the Yugioh subreddit who deleted a post of the 1st issue for being "Low Effort".

This is the Epic Yugioh Web Comic, Issues 1 through 10. Unnoticed by Twitter, constantly downvoted on Imgur. This 300 plus issue series now resides her on Tumblr if for no other reason than to preserve my work.

Because while by all metrics we can measure, this comic is meaningless. I Give it Meaning by the simple Act of Creating it.

[goatedtoasts]

my piece for the Breath Mints fanwork exchange for Valrus, along with some drawings of our new era players :)

[moradadabeleza]

Peter Gowland

Teasing look by Judy Tredwell.

[underratedygocharactersfight]

ROUND 1 SIDE B MATCH 1 MISTY LOLA/TREDWELL MODEL AND MEMBER OF THE DARKSIGNERS VS NUMBER 96 BLACK/DARK MIST CHAOTIC COUNTERPART TO ASTRAL

[shitpostingkats]

Yu-Gi-Oh Review Roundup: 5Ds!

Favorite main character: Yusei Fudo

My favorite protagonist of the main three, by a country mile. Even with Jaden’s surprising season 3 growth and complexity, Yusei just. Hits different.

I attempted to put my finger on why for the majority of the series. Perhaps it’s the fact that for once, all of yugioh traditional protag tropes are finally in a character that harmonizes with them. Redeeming minor antagonists feels important, because it’s about the bigger picture dystopia, and the powerful elite at the very top who are the real enemy. And Yusei sees that. It’s less about him just being a swell guy who forgives easily, and more that he refuses to fight his fellow man. He’s kind, not in the vaguely heroic tell-don’t-show kind of way, but in the fact that he knows the trash collector by name. He genuinely believes in the good of humanity, and you sees that in how he just talks to people.

He also has the benefit of a stellar supporting cast that feels the most tight-knit of the first three shows. DM and GX had friend groups. 5Ds is about a family. One that cohabitates together, and works together, and banters with some of the most realistic sibling dialogue of the franchise. And, as the series takes pains to point out, Yusei is the one at the center of it, that he is the gear that makes this complex web all fit together. The found family vibes are excellent, in the same way a scrappy spaceship crew of morally dubious crooks is a family.

His deck archetype reflects this aspect; taking small and disparate monsters and bringing them together to make something truly menacing. Scrap and outcasts, Yusei collects them all. Every aspect of his character eventually boils down to a selfless desire to help people, from the traits that make him a protagonist, to his personality, to even what kind of cards he plays. But it’s a simple, believable kindness, one that grounds him and makes him feel real.

He is my autistic son and I love him so much.

Favorite antagonist: Kalin Kessler

An antagonist I seriously debated including in my reviews, even shied away from discussing as I watched through the series. Not because he is poorly written, in fact, far from it, but because his inclusion and character arc in this kids show I was watching for fun felt... well, a little uncomfortable, for me personally.

Suicide is a very serious topic, after all. What had me taken aback was two things: The very existence of a blatantly depressed and suicidal character in a childrens’ cartoon, and the unsettling realism of it. It is shocking. It is upsetting. Most surprisingly of all, it is so effective as a piece of storytelling, that I had to include it, despite the severity of the subject.

Still, allow me to give warning I would have appreciated in regards to Kalin Kessler: tw for discussions of suicide, depression, and self harm. If you want to skip that, scroll past this section. Kalin discussion ends at ‘Favorite side character’

Kalin, more than any other character in the show, is a living showcase of the severe damage caused by New Domino to the residents of Satellite. Disenfranchised since birth, constantly assaulted and belittled by those in power, before trying to take back some sliver of control and lashing out at the very world that oppressed him. Whereas Yusei builds his revolution through recruitment of the fellow man, Kalin’s degrading mental state does not afford him the luxury of allies. Instead, he seeks to topple the society through high grade explosives.

And that’s just the start of Kalin’s story.

His actual screentime is taken up by what occurs after his death. After dying in prison, he is recruited into a crew of undead cultists, all similarly wronged by society. Each of the dark signers correlates to each of the signers pasts, a sin they must grapple with and accept. And Kalin’s is by far the most personal. After getting not one, but two whole turbo duels against Yusei, Kalin is defeated. Yusei comes to grips with their complicated pasts, the dark signers are destroyed, and the world is saved.

These shows tend to feature a lot of antagonists getting redeemed and giving up their evil ways. Kalin’s arc in Crash Town goes the extra mile and shows what happens in between steps A and B.

Though no longer an explicit enemy by the time he makes his reappearance, Crashtown Kalin is still grappling with the things he did while operating under that label. In a way that’d kinda hard to argue with. I mean, that did happen. People were killed.

This is what gives Kalin’s depression and self-destruction such a painfully realistic despair. In media, it is often hard to portray the real helplessness of depression. Since we, as the audience, have a near omnipotent perspective and are usually a step removed from the actual situation, answers to existential questions seem obvious. You can’t really see what has the character so down in the dumps, because, to you, the answer of ‘just get over it’ seems so obvious.

“Was it really okay for us to take the life of THOMAS PUPPYKILLER, the inventor of KILLING PUPPIES?”

The audience isn’t likely to sympathize when your protagonist spends an episode angsting about that, even if coldhearted murder is a thing that most of us would legitimately have a hard time grappling with.

Real mental illness isn’t like that. It’s complex, stubborn, and makes choices feel nonexistent. Sometimes, it doesn’t even matter if an situation has an objectively correct answer, the mind will spin its tightening circles regardless. Which just feeds into itself, as one feels ever increasing panic at being unable to handle choices. It is a self consuming ouroboros, one that can make you feel isolated, numb, and powerless.

Kalin’s situation doesn’t have an objectively correct answer. He has committed several wrongdoings that hurt innocent people, for genuinely evil purposes. It’s not something that can just be made all better with a slap on the wrist and a positive mental attitude.

As someone with depression, the Crashtown arc was almost painful for me to watch. Like I’ve said, I usually love a good fictional character with fictional depression, but Kalin was just. One too few layers of abstraction for me. He felt almost too real, standing on the edge of his self inflicted punishment, Yusei screaming at him to just want to live, goddamn it, and staring out at a field of reminders for why he thinks he doesn’t deserve to.

But again, just as gut achingly realistic his descent into suicidal ideation was, so too is his stubborn climb out of it. As he spends more time with the kids of a fellow Crashtown miner, they come to rely on him for protection. So he lives to protect them. And then, shockingly (to him), they actually come to care for him. Kalin may not be able to live for himself, but he gradually comes to terms with the idea that that’s okay. That he can live for this person the kids see in him, because despite what his worst impulses tell him, he is still capable of being loved, even after all he’s done.

Sometimes, when you can’t even fathom the idea of loving yourself, in your darkest hours, it takes an equal amount of strength to accept being loved. And that, in itself, is a reason to keep on living.

Favorite side character: Martha

How many times in an action show is the main character grievously injured, down for the count with a sense of finality, when we cut to them, swathed in bandages, lying in a hospital bed. The doctor or nurse sternly tells them to get bedrest, and a parental character nags them with all sorts of “You could have died! You are grounded!” that our main character rolls their eyes through. Then, next scene, they’re sneaking out the window, right back off to saving the world, fractured wrist be damned?

When Yusei Fudo gets into a motorcycle crash and ends up with internal bleeding, but stubbornly tries to jump back into the action, his mom says “No.”

And this works.

This proves that Martha is singlehandedly the most powerful anime mother in all of yugioh, possibly in all of shonen television.

Her other feats of strength include being the backbone of her community, whacking police officers with wooden spoons, and being the mother of Jack Atlas. 

What works about Martha is the same thing that works about the rest of 5Ds Neo Domino citizens: their recurrence. Martha shows up again and again as the series progresses. She’s not some throwaway absent mother, the boys regularly visit her, there’s an entire sidestory in the finale surrounding her and the orphanage kids. She’s one of the characters that gives a face to Domino City, someone to remind the viewer that this city is made up of real people. 

With Yusei and Martha side-by-side, it’s easy to see where he gets his compulsive need to rehabilitate strays from. Like her son, Martha is consistently the one to reach out her hand to those in need, which gives us a strong sense of the legacy that Satellite has given him. There’s a very sweet subplot early in the Dark Signer arc where Trudge has to stay the night at Martha’s orphanage. Rather than being the uncivilized street rats he expected, he finds that Satellite is populated by a very protective community, and Martha leads him around, showing him the damage done to them by New Domino and how, despite all that, the majority of people living there just choose to be kind. It's one of the humanizing touches showing the breaking down of prejudices that makes early 5Ds feel very revolutionary. 

Also, there’s something very funny to me about the 2-4 episode lull where the plot is raging on in the background but Yusei’s just hanging out at home because his mom grounded him.

Favorite duel: Yusei vs Kalin, Jack vs Carly, Akiza vs Misty

Yup!!!! I’m copping out!

Let me explain why.

Each of these favorite duels of mine has been increasing progress on the part of the writing. The Yami vs. Yugi fight first proved that it can make real story out of big main character fights. The Yubel vs. Zane fight proved the same principles could be applied to secondary characters. Their next milestone?

Proving that you can have multiple compelling fights, back-to-back-to-back.

The tournament structure is one yugioh is going to return to for the rest of its life. And, while the Dark Signers arc is not a tournament, per se, it functions like one: sequential fights against an ensemble cast of opponents versus an extended array of protagonists, each quirky and personal, each with advancement into the “finals” on the line, and, most importantly, each taking place one after the other.

And, what surprised me is that I was on the edge of my seat for damn near all of them.

There’s never a release of tension, between duels, but neither is there an escalation. The energy of the show is allowed to ramp up to darn near its maximum, and then just. Stay there. For episodes on end. That is one heck of a feat, and one that will be vital for yugioh continuing to improve in later series.

It’s also wonderful that every one of the three duels is truly excellent, each wrapping up some character arc in both actionable and thematic ways. Yusei finally puts his oldest ghost to rest. Jack has a genuine human connection for the first time in years, and then owns up to the consequences of not being there for them, in much the same way he had to reconcile with Yusei, taking responsibility and turning down ego inflating power. And the Misty fight might be the least personal, but its still a thing to behold, Akiza coming to terms with the harm Arcadia caused and overcoming the trauma of her unwitting participation in it.

(Also, Sayer gets punched in the face.)

I just feel such a pride for this franchise, watching the writing grow with every installment. The shows on their own may be a bit of a mixed bag, but taken as a whole, there is some concrete, real improvements in its execution.

And that deserves to be celebrated.

Favorite arc: The Fortune Cup

Is The Dark Signers the single greatest arc in 5Ds? Probably. It is not my favorite, though. My favorite is the very first of the series. The introduction to this world.

And it is for that very reason that I adore the Fortune Cup arc so much. The world it paints in just a handful of episodes is truly stunning. The backgrounds are hazy and painterly, the satire the thickest it will ever be, and everything just has the right amount of grit to make it feel proper old school cyberpunk, instead of totally sleek and with LEDs every two square inches. The premise is equally well crafted. The conflict between New Domino and Satellite in stark relief, and we truly get a sense for how tough Yusei and his friends have it. While it’s certainly a choice to drop the themes of classism and xenophobia in the later seasons, and one I can easily see why it was made, I still have to admire the sheer depth added to the world by its inclusion.

The Fortune Cup also introduces us the idea of Yusei Fudo. Some of my favorite moments of his character happen in this part: His duel with a decried artifact deck to prove there’s no such thing as a useless card, his fight against the warden using a deck pieced together by all his fellow inmates, the spectacularly moving first match against Akiza. All bangers. All show off so perfectly what Yusei stands for. In fact, it’s so quintessential that, for the final fight of the series, the writing returns to its roots, and has Yusei end the series with the exact same thrown-away monsters he started it with.

It’s fucking perfect.

Greatest strengths of the series:

Themes. Hands down, themes.

I made a whole post about the omnipresent themes of past, present, and future here. I won’t rehash it all here, so instead I’ll just gush about how wonderfully those motifs resonate with the message of the show.

While not as blatant as its predecessor, 5Ds wrestles with, and subverts, its very tropes for the sake of telling an impactful story.

From the audiences’ perspective, everything about 5Ds, from the world, to the characters, to the villains, smacks of a classic doomed story. There are literal prophecies in play telling of mass destruction and death. The very last survivors of humanity time travel back just to tell our heroes “The future is dark.” Every qualified being with magical omnipotence speaks of a cycle, of inevitability. Yusei will die. The world will be cruel. The battle between light and darkness will continue ad infinitum.

5Ds blends two genres: dystopic cyberpunk and prophesied heroics. Two genres where it is very easy to tell the story of a tragedy, because things are predestined; things are unchangeable. Most of the time, when there’s a tragic bend to these, the story instead becomes about what our characters can do with their limited narrative. Short, brilliant, and kind lives that burn out, yet nonetheless, make a bright spot on their history: the heroes forestall the cycle for one more millennia. The revolutionary goes down in a blaze of glory that will inspire others.

And, with the magic elements of 5Ds representing the past, while the more sci-fi parts represent the future, the theme of time is as present as ever.

A more realistic, unwilling to break the tropes kind of story might choose to focus on the present. That yeah, things may have sucked and the future may be uncertain, but at least we have the now. And while 5Ds certainly has its fair share of celebrating the moment, it is not content to merely linger in it.

Yusei and New Domino are not bound by the narrative to be tragedies. Despite everything, despite literal travelers from the future showing up and saying “This will end in tears.” Despite being doomed by the narrative two times over, bound by the past, condemned by the present, and damned by the future:

Choose optimism.

The idea that you're insufficient, that it’s not enough, having clear and direct confirmation that you are going to fail. Keep moving forward anyway because. The hope that the world can change enough through just your own refusal to despair. The idea that tomorrow will suck, 100%, but you keep going because, what if it doesn't?

Betting on a loaded dice because it doesn't matter the odds, because the number you call out defines who you are. The choice to be alive, to be human, to feel joy, is the tiniest, most laughably naive decision you can make in a doomed world.

But, by choosing it, you refuse to die. And the world might change with you.

Weakest points:

When I first made a template for these reviews, I expected each of them to contain unique entries for almost every category; after all, each of these shows is so different, such wonderfully different flavors, that surely I could say something different about every one and still have room to spare.

Right?

If there’s one section I worry I’m repeating myself, it’s this one. While each of the ygo shows so far have given a plethora of characters and plots to praise, different strengths and visuals to unpack, in one place, it’s stayed frustratingly uniform: Its flaws.

Yes, there’s the tragic case of localization, as you inevitably always hear when it comes to the first three shows. I’m one of the staunchest dub defenders of them all. I love these shows to death, if that isn’t already obvious for the fact that I’ve spent literal pages discussing them in my imaginary lecture hall called the internet. If anything, I’m thrilled that so much of this show is available to me in the way that it is. While you might not expect it of me, I actually struggle quite a bit with reading and processing words. Until I started on my current adhd medication, watching anime subtitled wasn’t just a chore to me: it was straight up impossible.

The uncompleted dubs of GX and 5Ds are a bummer. The tone of the narrative sometimes grappling with itself is a bummer. The unaired final season of 5Ds that I was happily watching on Crunchyroll until someone decided to put a decade old show behind a paywall when I had nine freaking episodes left- sorry, still a little salty.

I find the discussion around the localized yugioh a tired caveat, but a frustratingly endemic one. What better way to summarize the arc of the first trilogy, than a compelling story, left unfinished, by the sheer damning fact that, simply put, the industry was still figuring itself out?

The most true criticism one can level against yugioh, at least of the shows I have seen so far, is that everything it does, other shows have done better. Each show in unique, bringing something fresh and exciting to the formula, yet never quite innovating enough to be something great.

Supernatural partnership, deconstruction of shonen tropes, bleak and fantastical worlds taken to illogical extremes; all of these are things that exist in other anime that focuses on them more directly. Usually with tighter writing. I found the shared duality of Yugi and Yami to be the most intriguing part of DM, yet it got frustratingly little time in the spotlight. Why not just watch one of the thousand and one ghostly mystery anime featuring a dynamic duo at its center? GX asks what we do when handed ultimate power and rulership over reality, but does it manage to say anything more profound on the human consciousness than say, Madoka Magica?

What mark does 5Ds have to leave on the worn road of cyberpunk, that staples like Ghost in the Shell and Akira haven’t already long cemented in place?

Why watch Yu-gi-oh?

I would argue, there’s one thing yugioh does better than almost any tv show I’ve seen.

Sincerity.

Watch yugioh for its earnestness. Its sheer commitment to its ideas, even if some of them never land. Because in this day and age, its hard to find any story as genuine, as packed full of obvious love, as this silly card game show.

Watch yugioh for its sincerity.

And because of the super cool dragons.

Most yugioh moment:

Crow letting everyone search for a missing Yusei for half an hour before thinking to mention he was kidnapped for ransom, because, in his words: “He didn’t want anyone to worry!”

[anomaly-beans-draws]

The ball’s not gonna bite ya! Just hit the ball Jesse!

[yugiohspride]

Bonus Sapphic Post 1

Sherry, Misty, and Rio: Sapphic

Okay to use, credit optional, no DNI, just don't be a dick

[frost-felon]

Feel free to make your case in the replies and reblogs. "Wasted" is here in the most general sense, so be as general or specific in your answer as you'd like; this can apply for more than just how they were used in the Dark Signer Arc itself.

[yugioh-rare-pair-poll]

Round 1: Poll 3

Propaganda under the cut

Pairing 1: Blueroseshipping (Bruno/Aki Izayoi | Akiza Izinski)

Propaganda: because i love pain and unrequited love

Pairing 2: Omenshipping (Carly Nagisa | Carly Carmine

/Misty Lola | Misty Tredwell)

Propaganda: Dark Signer lesbians are best lesbians

Now, let’s keep things civil. This is a silly poll where we can share why we love our overlooked ships. There’s no need to be nasty to prove your point. Bashers will be consumed by the earthen gods.

[inkblackorchid]

Hi. This is not a new fic. (Sorry, it's still in the works, but rest assured, it's coming!) But after talking about it off-handedly for literal months, I finally, finally went back and cleaned up the duel in Mirror. Since parts of it were genuinely pretty sloppy, some of the edits ended up being bigger than expected, so there's some new stuff that wasn't there before! Rest assured, the plot has stayed the same, though, Aki and Sherry just got a few spicy, new lines. (And I also used this opportunity to clean up a few, stray spelling errors and also sprinkle in some stuff to thematically tie this fic even tighter into the series.)

So! If you ever wanted to give this story another go (or just wanted to read a very snarky Aki VS Sherry solo duel as a sort of prelude to their canon finale duel), here you go!

Summary: Several months after seeing Divine for the last time, Aki reflects on how she's spent that time trying to fully learn to control her powers—without him. Her judgement ends up not being in her favour, and now, with the start of the WRGP just a few days away, she worries something will go terribly wrong. As she ruminates on what to do, she encounters not one, but two unexpected, but familiar people who give her a lot to think about while she tries to prepare for the match against Team Unicorn. Sequel to To Bloom or To Wilt and Chase the Sunlight. Set directly before episode 98.

And that stupid hairpiece. The power inhibitor she still couldn’t rid herself of, however much she hated the very sight of it at this point, the familiar weight still tight against her head, as usual. Right in that moment, she wanted to tear it out of her hair, to throw it away, see if she could toss it hard enough to break it completely as she did so. She wanted to cut her bangs, her hair, hack it all off just to see whether it would calm the ugly feelings inside her, whether it would bring her freedom. Years of always requesting the same cut, of habitually rolling up her hair around the hairpiece, of straightening her bangs after, satisfied when everything sat just the way Divine had suggested it should. She wanted to tear it all out, burn it away, maybe shear it off. The obvious, visual reminder of how much Divine had influenced her made her sick.