#watching ygo 5ds notes

[valkyrie-kun]

what she says: i am fine

what she means: 5ds in the 2nd half of the show went from great to good. they did aki and carly mega dirty by halting their interesting arcs and reducing them to a full-blown shonen stereotype yet at the same time did not have the guts to explore their romantic subplots, not even a little bit. in this essay i will -

[jackatlas]

accepting that i am actually a death note girlie and have been all along

[number-1-kuaidul-fanboy]

As much as I have grown to love 5Ds (or at least the first two and final arcs) it still never ceases to baffle me how this is the show that introduced Synchro summon and it just... never explains it. Ever. They don’t take the time to say “oh yeah, a synchro summon is when you combine a tuner monster and a non tuner monster to summon a monster that’s a combination of their levels” until the Dark Signers start using negative level monsters, which is a whole thing on its own. We didn’t even have a visual on the math until EPISODE 65, THE THIRD STORY ARC OF THE SHOW.

[shitpostingkats]

Listen. Listen.

Yusei says himself that getting the Momentum system up and fully realized is for his parents, not for him. And, now that their work has come to fruition, he's stepping away from the project and wondering what to do next. And we know from the flash-forward that he hasn't made a dueling appearance in quite a few years, so it's not like he stopped working at MIDS to focus on fame and glory. Presumably, he doesn't come out of card game retirement unless he wants to, or thinks it will be fun.

He hung up his labcoat and the next thing we see him doing is hosting a backyard barbecue. He wants to have a small and quiet life. Just let him fiddle with his machines and grommets, and he'll be happy.

It also sets up the comedy scene where one day someones car is making a funny noise, so they go into their local mechanic's shop, you know, one of those little mom and pop joints, the owner's sweet, he's reliable. And as he's examining under the hood, the lights in the garage flicker, and he just kind of mutters "Oh yeah, they're probably running maintenance on block B1-17."

"Oh? You know a lot about the city's energy infrastructure?"

A pause.

"I built it."

So I know the general consensus is that, post-series, Yusei continues to work at MIDS, and I like that idea too -- he's certainly smart enough, after all -- but also. I like the idea of him just wanting A Very Quiet Life after everything and going back to being a mechanic. Like, MIDS is obviously a good use of his skills and all, but also he's just a dude who likes to work with this hands and MIDS wouldn't really be that. (Of course MIDS would call him every time something breaks and he would go fix it, but he's not someone who likes being in the spotlight and he would vastly prefer it if they'd just leave him alone.)

Anyway, this post isn't really going anywhere other than to say that Mechanic!Yusei lives rent-free in my head.

[inkblackorchid]

What are your thoughts on the 5DS movie bonds beyond time? Plot characters villain animation and so on

Ahhh, good old BBT. Minor caveat: It's been a hot second since I've seen the movie. But generally speaking, right from the gut? Bit of a mixed bag, this one. Let me address what you asked point by point, though. The tl;dr for anyone who doesn't want a lengthy response: I don't hate it, but outside of making me grin and/or fondly roll my eyes about some fanservice, I'm mostly just ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ about it. I appreciate it for the extremely fun attempt at a for the time pretty ambitious crossover, though.

The longer response, then:

Okay. Okay. Conceptually speaking? This movie is the absolute peak of fanservice. All three protags of all three ygo shows that had come out by that time, all teaming up against a special bad guy, and everyone's allowed to show off their coolest shit? Absolutely bananas. Fuck yeah.

Where the execution is concerned, though... Let me start with the obvious: This thing is too short. It doesn't feel like a proper movie, it feels like your average big plot duel stretched over two episodes. And that's a shame! Because Yugi's there, and so is Jaden, and these two and Yusei get to bounce off each other and I think a lot of people would have eaten it up if we had gotten more of that. Interactions aside, though, the short runtime also makes the plot feel rushed. First Yusei's sad, then things are going to shit, the he's off, then we're suddenly in Venice (what the fuck is Jaden doing in Venice??), then we're in Domino City, then blam, bam, onto the big duel. Can I get some time to breathe and actually enjoy the characters interacting, please?

And speaking of plot! Now, on paper, I don't have an issue with the idea of a guy going back in time to try and get rid of duel monsters. My problem lies more with the fact that the guy in question ties into 5Ds' main plot. And in a not insignificant way, at that. Like, perhaps in a universe where this movie was handled differently, BBT tying into the Iliaster stuff could have been cool as heck, but as it stands, Paradox and his plans feel a little too close to his namesake to me. The guy is almost exclusively relegated to a movie, to outside content of the show that wasn't shown in sequence with the rest of the episodes, yet he's actually one of the major characters of the Ark Cradle arc. And worse yet, said arc only gives us the barest, shittiest recap of who he is and what he wanted. It feels too disconnected from the rest for me, especially considering that Sherry more or less ends up replacing Paradox. And don't even get me started on the batshit implications his quest to kill Pegasus has on the way time travel is handled in 5Ds. The way this movie shows direct, devastating consequences of time being tampered with is a major reason for the headaches the emperors of Iliaster give me, which I've discussed in my Meklord post.

That said. I don't think Paradox, per se, is a bad antagonist. He's got the whole long-suffering shindig the other major players of Iliaster do, too, his design is bonkers in a fun way and of course, the idea of him hijacking protagonist ace monsters with his Malefic shenanigans makes him perfectly hateable. On paper, he's a completely fine antagonist, and I actually think the 3 V 1 duel he has with the protags is pretty fun.

And as for the animation, no notes there, honestly. I think BBT has some of the nicest animation of the 5Ds era (and especially like the way Yusei is animated in the movie).

So yeah! The whole thing is a bit hot and cold for me. I know some people love BBT to death, I know some people hate it with a fiery passion, and tbh, I get where both sides are coming from. Ultimately, I'll happily watch it, but there are always at least twenty other 5Ds episodes I'd watch even more happily. BBT is fine.

[divinesayer]

birthdays

series: yugioh 5ds ship: yusei fudo/aki izayoi characters: yusei fudo, aki izayoi, jack atlas rating: t notes: this is the first 5ds fic i have written in literal years so i might be a little rusty. so... apologies for that! but yusei is my love and he deserves a gift. this also serves as the first submission for ygo 5ds week, since that prompt is related to favourite characters and... [gestures vaguely]. please enjoy! originally posted on: 7th july 2022

The sound that followed was somewhat of a laugh, before Yusei thanked him, remarking that they had no time to celebrate with the threat of the Dark Signers looming above them all. Perhaps he had kept it quiet for that reason. | au where Yusei's birthday falls within the dark signer arc

read on ao3 | support me on kofi!

Aki hadn’t exactly intended to listen in on Yusei and Jack’s conversation. She had just been sat nearby, watching the water glisten in Godwin’s fountain, surrounded by the scent of roses and a new sense of belonging - one that wasn’t laced with fear and hatred. But all of these things melted away from her awareness when she heard three simple words from Jack:

“Happy birthday, Yusei.”

The sound that followed was somewhat of a laugh, before Yusei thanked him, remarking that they had no time to celebrate with the threat of the Dark Signers looming above them all. Perhaps he had kept it quiet for that reason, and Aki could only imagine the fuss that Rua would make if he knew (inappropriate even if well-intentioned). She wasn’t supposed to know either, and a voice in her head took great pleasure in guilt tripping her for finding out in the first place. She frowned to herself, keeping her head down, trying desperately to tune the conversation out in favour of the splashing of water.

That wasn’t exactly going to work for long, though, considering they were still talking about it as they came into the clearing, away from her precious roses and towards her. Her cheeks reddened at the sound of his voice - maybe Divine was right about that crush, as much as she hated to admit it - and she soon realised that it was impossible to ignore his presence for long. And Jack being, well, Jack , was quick to realise that she must have heard their conversation. He stomped towards her, squatting in front of her with squinted eyes, eclipsing the Sun with his large frame. He didn’t say anything at first, not until Yusei broke the silence.

“Drop the intimidation act, Jack. It doesn’t work.” There was a slight hum to his voice, and he sat down on the grass by her side, adding in a grumble, “Your fat head’s in the way. Move.”

“You’re lucky it’s your birthday or I’d get you for that.” He heaved a dramatic sigh, moving to sit on the other side of Aki, head turned as to display his apparent huff. Ever a showman, even with such an unimpressed audience. Yusei seemed so used to it that he blanked it entirely, focusing his attention on the redhead, who clearly didn’t know how to approach the situation. Jack had said it in front of her, so surely she could address it, right?

“Happy birthday,” She spoke quietly, voice faint in the wind but picked up by her desired target, who broke into a smile, cheeks tinged pink. She couldn’t help the way her heart thundered in response to that; being the cause of his fluster did more to her internally than anything else ever could. 

“Thank you.” He thought for a moment, clearly trying to formulate his next words. “I didn’t want to be a distraction with everything going on.” Jack made a noise of complaint at that. “It’s not a distraction, we aren’t fucking doing anything right now anyway .”

And as much as Aki hated to admit it, Jack was right. The twins had been inside, Rua giving Ruka pep talks to prepare her for their mission, and Godwin had been entirely missing, though she supposed he did have a city to run. She had been outside in the warmth, and clearly Yusei and Jack had been bickering like they were kids again.

He took no time to pick her reluctant agreement, turning his head to face them so quickly that his earrings hit him in the neck. “You know I’m right. Izayoi agrees, don’t you?” And when she nodded slightly, he grinned in triumph. He clearly loved being right, especially when it meant Yusei wasn’t. “See?” 

He raised a brow, glancing between them with a slight smirk, amusement obvious in the way that he rolled his eyes. “Alright, alright. But you know I don’t like people making a big fuss over me.”

Aki could understand that, and clearly Jack could not, but he begrudgingly agreed with a nod, his gaze settled on his hand which had started absently pulling grass from the soil, probably so he could avoid eye contact. A shaky hand reached out to rest atop it, faint but reassuring. He jumped at the contact, but took her hand in his before she could regret it and pull her hand away.

She didn’t know how to respond, simply keeping her hand in his grip and lifting her eyes to meet those ocean blue eyes. “There’s, um, some really nice cakes inside, Ruka was telling me about them. We could have some as a… Little celebration? If you want?” 

He seemed to think about it, glancing towards the horizon for a moment, before nodding. If they were going to potentially die as a result of their mission, then one last positive moment was worthwhile. “Yeah sure, why not?” He stood, keeping his hold of her hand to help her get up, who then extended the same grace to Jack. He took her hand surprisingly softly to stand, but let go immediately after, while she remained attached to Yusei.

He trodded along ahead of them, leaving the pair alone to follow after, significantly slower than him, which Yusei said was due to Jack’s ‘stupidly long legs’. She giggled at that, allowing him to lead her inside. 

She paused in the doorway, tugging on his arm to keep him by her side, before glancing around quickly to ensure nobody else could see. He tilted his head, puzzled, “You okay?” Instead of answering vocally, she moved onto her tiptoes, adrenaline flooding her veins as she pressed her lips against his, softly, briefly, sweetly. When she moved away, brain fuzzy from what she had just done. Before she could explain, he closed the space between them once again, allowing the kiss to linger longer.

He tasted like black coffee and cigarette smoke, with the faint scent of gasoline still desperately clinging to his clothes. All things that she had hated until they became intrinsically tied to him in her head; suddenly they felt like home, and she needed more. 

“Was that my gift?” He stepped away, trying to ignore the calls of his name from down the hall, still faint enough that they had a moment or two of peace before they’d get disrupted.

“Yeah, I… I guess so.” She bit at her bottom lip.

“Well,” He let go of her hand, wrapping his arm instead around her waist, pulling her that little bit closer again, “In that case, thank you very much for the present.” He smiled wide, resting his forehead against hers with his eyes closed, taking in the moment before Jack was in front of them, clearing his throat with a scowl.

“Rua’s gonna finish all the cake if you don’t hurry up, lovebirds.”  His arms crossed across his chest, but he soon found himself smirking a little. He knew there was something there, and Jack was always right.

[zxal]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[cyberdragoninfinity]

hit me with 18 and 26 for the go ask game lest they have been already asked

YESSSS

18. A random headcanon

BUSTIN OUT ANOTHER RANDOM PLATTER FOR EACH SERIES IVE WATCHED

DM: Postcanon Kaiba bros adopt a Siberian Husky his name is Obelisk the Tormentor Kaiba and he is Mokuba's best friend

GX: Chazz is trans and he really just picked "Chazz" as his name it's not even short for anything. he just thought it sounded cool.

5D's: Luna has just absolute peak "does elaborate forum RPs where you play as a Pokemon or a cat or other little animal creature" middle schooler energy. The webs she is weaving....

Zexal: Kite got keratoconus from the Eye Fuckery Incident so postcanon he has to wear special hard contact lens to help with his vision :] (author's note: i have keratoconus...woe! cone shaped corneas be upon ye)

26. Favorite YGO music (aside from openings/endings)

i wish this would play whenever i entered a room. god the dub DM soundtrack did not fuck around i'll say it.

(also on the sub side of things, im so sad i cant find it but i fucking love the track that plays during the Aporia vs. the twins and Jack duel...the one with like. angelic choir singing. makes me a little bit insane.)

shout out as well to the duel links soundtrack which has no right to shred as absolutely hard as it does. why is jack's theme a fucking BANGER!!!!

[shitpostingkats]

Yusei Fudo, Compassion, and Virtues Turned Upside Down

Okay, so I finished watching the Yusei v. Kalin fight, and I have THOUGHTS, so buckle up.

(Quick aside, I watched these episodes both in english and japanese, and, while I love both equally dearly, I’ll be mostly pulling from the og subbed episodes, because 4kids sure censored Yusei’s backstory to the netherworld and back. Again, no complaints to the localizers, who were just trying to do their jobs, but still, it’s a little hard to talk about a scene if half of it’s missing. Cool? Cool.)

I was pleasantly surprised when I started watching 5Ds and found that, unlike you would initially assume from the edgy loner vibes and the gritty aesthetic, Yusei is very much a people person. He has his gang of misfits on satellite that are basically his entire motivation for the first half of the season, then, when he gets thrown in prison, he immediately befriends pretty much everyone in arms reach. Even his enemies aren’t immune to the sheer force that is Yusei’s desire to make allies with any person who makes the mistake of stepping within ten feet of him.

Which, while very standard for a shonen protagonist, I find fascinating. Because the setting and the themes of 5Ds justify that. Almost everyone Yusei pacifies is his fellow man, being similarly manipulated by the city: Tanner, gone cruel and remorseful after being unfairly imprisoned, Grieger, who’s on the side of Goodwin begrudgingly for the sake of the people he cares about, Akiza, who’s being groomed by Sayer to promote his own agenda.

Yusei sees all these people, and reaches out. Says “I am not your enemy.” He is staunchly against any similarly disenfranchised fighting him, because he sees what the larger picture is; the power hungry manipulate the powerless and force them to destroy each other, thus accomplishing no change in the power structures. Inducting your enemies to your friendship squad isn’t just Yusei being a nice guy. It’s him building his revolution. And anyone who is at the top of the caste ladder? He opposes without mercy. GODDANG, that is an example of a trope being used in a story to further the narrative rather than just filling out the bingo card. 

But Yusei’s kindness comes with a pretty major weak point.

It means he views choices as being almost exclusively crafted by the environment, not personal autonomy. 

Yusei forgives Jack so easily, after all, because he justifies it as “Jack had no other choice.” Which isn’t entirely untrue. But Jack left his family, left Yusei, almost killed Rally, and that just?? Doesn’t bother Yusei? Not exactly the healthiest attitude, but they also have bigger problems, and holding a grudge against Jack is not going to help them save the world.

Kalin, however, is a whole other kettle of worms.

Now, what’s important about analyzing *sigh* “Team Satisfaction”, (I’m sure it’s much more poetic in japanese, and quite honestly, ‘The Enforcers’ is equally stupid.) is that the boys involved are young. Like, “I know this is an anime but holy shit you’re telling me they beat up every gang in the city by age sixteen?” young. And Kalin is stated, several times, to be the one thing that made Yusei, Crow, and Jacks’ lives less shitty.

Being on the team gave them security, safety, and the feeling like they had the power to change things. So of course they’re gonna be loyal to the guy who made it happen. That’s the first person (besides Martha, we are not going to ignore Martha) who made them feel safe. Kalin was probably the first friend their own age the three of them made besides each other. And Yusei isn’t going to give that up. 

When Kalin returns, years later, as a dark signer, Yusei immediately tries his old routine of cutting through all the manipulations and convincing his opponent to give up the fight. He is ready to forgive this person who is threatening to douse him in hellfire.

Contrast that with Jack and Crow’s reactions, however. 

Not exactly the look you give someone you’re happy to see back from the dead. Sure, he’s evil now, but Yusei’s done the Redeem and Recruit before, why would they be so worried? I mean, this is basically the first time we’ve seen Jack anything but prim and unflappable, and he looks terrified. Why-

Oh.

They remember being on the receiving end of that aggression. I mean, look at Jack’s expression there. He doesn’t even look surprised when he has to hold Kalin back. This might not be the first time he’s seen Kalin act like this. As we see through flashbacks, Kalin grew increasingly unstable throughout his tenure as leader of the team, starting as calm and aloof, to almost reveling in the fights him and the others dish out. 

For Crow, however, this is the straw that breaks the camel’s back, and his leader laying hands on him is what pushes him to leave this abusive family.

And Jack follows.

Just. Just think about that, for a second

They are both turning their backs on the only safety, family, and protection they have. At this point, they’ve personally beat up every punk in Satellite, so it’s not like they can join a new gang. In fact, they’ve made enemies everywhere, probably half the city is out for their blood. And they are (I reiterate), seventeen at the most. 

But Yusei, in his own words, “Couldn’t abandon Kalin.”

Because Yusei sees the good in everyone. And he’s hella loyal. He would never turn his back on a friend. Heck, even when he does leave Kalin, he explicitly does so, not for his own safety, but because he thinks it will keep Kalin from putting himself in harm's way.

Even after this exchange.

Dear god, there is a lot to unpack here, but the show basically shows us, multiple times, that Kalin does not plan to survive his battle with the sector security. Referring to it as ‘Team Satisfaction’s final stand’ and berating them for trying to flee and survive rather than standing and getting killed. That is some OH BOY behavior right there, and a situation with basically no good options. But Yusei doesn’t seem to even recognize Kalin’s flagrantly self-destructive behavior, doesn’t understand that Kalin has long passed the point of reason, and, heartbreakingly, still thinks Kalin is someone deserving of selflessness.

I think it’s interesting to note, that Jack and Crow are both shown to have some very protective big brother instincts. Jack is, post class-traitor-arc, basically shown to the audience being handed back his Good Guy status by stepping in to save the orphanage kids. And Crow, of course, adopts any child left unattended for more than five minutes. Both seem to have this deep rooted impulse to protect, especially vulnerable kids, which makes sense, seeing how they were raised by Martha and how community-driven satellite culture tends to be.

So it makes sense, if, given the instability of their ringleader, both strove to protect Yusei from the full brunt of his nastiness. Like I said, Jack hardly seems surprised when Kalin goes to hit Crow, and both, upon seeing him return from the dead, are openly terrified. 

It’s not out of the question that they play a part in why Yusei wears such rose colored glasses.

But even Yusei knows about Kalin’s final deterioration. He was the only one around for those final months, and they all were there the night he made his attack on security. And yet, still, despite knowing full well the things Kalin has done in the past, Yusei doesn’t even truly believe Kalin wants to hurt him.

Even now, years later, Yusei is still trying to excuse Kalin’s behavior by saying he isn’t in his right mind, he doesn’t know what he’s doing. Which is a mindset often seen in children of abusive families. And again, we see him willing to assign blame to the city, to the system, to anything else that influenced them, before he thinks to see the person he’s fighting as having a choice in the matter.

The entire arc with Kalin, in both his duels, the show builds up to the reveal of how exactly Yusei “betrayed” Kalin. Of what exactly happened on that final, fateful, night. We even get flashes of it, teased in their first battle. But here’s the interesting thing.

The first clips we see don’t match the later reveal.

(Okay, yes, this is clearly them showing the flashback before they’ve fully nailed down Kalin’s backstory, or an animation inconsistency, or even the studio getting notes after the first duel to “dial it back a bit”. But when writing overly detailed essays analyzing Yugioh, you take what you can get and you RUN WITH IT. YOU FLEE. YOU DO NOT LET THEM CATCH YOU.)

The two major discrepancies are the amount of blood covering both Kalin and the officer, as well as the cops showing up when Yusei is fighting Kalin on the ground, rather than himself willingly surrendering to them. And in the first round of flashbacks, everything is black and white, grainy, with all the sound muffled except for the rain. Implying this could be that night, as Yusei remembers it. Blurred by time and the effects of trauma. 

So when Yusei sees Kalin standing over the cop, about to beat his skull in, it’s jarring. It’s violent. It’s his brain seeing the scene in front of him as the worst thing it could possibly be, and burned in his memory, embellished with extra gore because, in his panic, that’s all Yusei could see.

The police cars pulling up when he’s fighting with Kalin could be just the effects of his memory of the night already being so muddled, events blurring together from shock. But, let’s twist the knife a little, shall we? 

What’s that scene look like in the “true” flashback?

The cops are replaced with Jack and Crow, stumbling upon the scene. If you’ll allow me a bit of poetic license, I think this is because, to Yusei, his brothers showing up and seeing him, turned on their leader, is exactly as condemning as being caught red-handed by the enforcers. 

Loyalty is everything to Yusei, his ability to be kind and understanding, to never turn his back on people who are struggling. And he’s just turned on the person he swore to never abandon, is stooping to violence against a brother in arms. That runs counter to everything about who he is. And the two people witnessing it are basically the closest thing he has left to someone whose authority he respects. The two people who can punish him, by shunning him for this criminal offense.

(Again, I don’t think Yusei has fully conceptualized that they left because Kalin was deteriorating and lashing out. I don’t think he even fully has a reason for it. But from his warped perspective, he betrays Kalin, and then Jack and Crow avoid him. And he is truly alone, because of him finally snapping and turning on his family. Perhaps, looking back, he thinks their departure the first time around is justified by how they had to abandon him a second time.)

So Yusei has just, in his eyes, done the ultimate sin, of betraying the trust of someone who he resolved to stand by. What can he do next?

He says “Take care of Kalin.” Get him help. Stand by him and help him through this where I failed to. Then, he tries to hand himself over. A redemption through sacrifice. 

But that doesn’t work out, and Yusei is left behind. The family splits up. Jack, seemingly embittered by all this tragedy he’s had to put up with, pulls his own betrayal. Crow is in and out of prison. And Yusei…. 

Yusei tries to rebuild a family for himself, and tries to be as kind and understanding as he can, to anyone who cracks under the pressures the city piles on them.

So when Kalin comes back, when Yusei’s been holding all this guilt inside him for years, when one of the very events that caused Yusei to throw himself into aggressively remaining empathetic in the face of hatred, comes back to haunt him, at least he finally gets to try again. He gets to finally apologize, and stand by Kalin through the tough times.

And gets told that, if he’d been truly loyal to the end, he would have died that night.

It finally hits Yusei that his own selflessness almost got him killed.

There’s a pretty cool post from a couple years ago about how character flaws shouldn’t be some last minute add-on to a character. That a good, three dimensional fatal flaw is simply the natural continuation of a trait; Trust that leads to gullibility, determination that leads to stubbornness, ferocity that turns to power-hungry.

Yusei’s fatal flaw is compassion.

He is utterly willing to reach out a hand to anyone, even those actively trying to oppose him. That he’s kind, and forgives easily, even if they haven’t yet shown willingness to grow. 

If he had been like Crow and Jack, if he’d cut his losses and run, he wouldn’t have to feel this guilt, this responsibility, to Kalin’s ultimate demise. If he was selfish, he wouldn’t always be looking for the best in people, and Kalin’s downward spiral wouldn’t catch him by surprise. Maybe he wouldn’t have been alone after that night.

But, I cannot emphasize enough:

Yusei is not wrong to be kind.

His ability to empathize is what propels his goals forward, what finally gets him his revolution. It’s not a fault to overcome, and it’s what makes him, both as a person and as a hero.

It just also means that he can have faults, same as anyone else.

And Kalin is the perfect example. That Kalin could hurt him so deeply, because of the trust Yusei placed in him. But also, Yusei is the only one that would be so compassionate, who’d believe so blindly, that Kalin could heal himself. The very bleeding heart that got him cut open in the first place is what he uses to see redemption in Kalin, one of the very people who was a catalyst to his morals. 

Yusei is kind because he was once hurt, and he was hurt because he was once kind.

And that makes him feel very, very human.

[valkyrie-kun]

watching ygo 5ds notes (not really): - DUB -

i was sending my friend some comedy golds from the dub (who'd never seen ygo but is considering watching it because of how funny it is alone (unintentionally)) and my observations are:

fav thing: crow's smoker voice + jack "accent" (consistency, anyone??), like i am dead every time they interact

aki's voice next to japanese VA is so...honestly, i hate it (the bar is too high!), and Erica had much better performances

what they did to yusei's personality is a crime :( essential part of his personality is how gentle he is, but all of a sudden he is a sarcastic hood (more realistic considering his ubringing, but still, it does not suit him)

[chronomally]

"We fight the gangs and what better gang to fight than the cops?" Kalin gets it

[number-1-kuaidul-fanboy]

It just occurred to me that I have consistently and completely separately compared two Yugioh protagonists to bunnies: Yusei and Yudias.

[akidachi]

me @ all TMA fans now that the show is over

[image ID// photo of bernie sanders with the text “i am once again asking you to watch Yu-Gi-Oh! gx //end ID]

yes yes i know recomending the cardgame anime spinoff is propably the weirdest thing i could be doing but trust me it has a LOT of thematic smilarities and depending on your reason for liking tma you may very well like gx as well

a quick bullet point list of reasons to watch gx from a tma fans perspective:

explores themes of loss, sacrifice, inhumanity, consequences, depression, the inevetability of fate, spitting in the face of said fate and all that fun stuff

subverting the traditional associations of light and dark as good and evil

“you can still be friends with someone you want to use”

(yes i know that one is more a81 but it applies)

GREAT protagonist character development

completely breaking the protagonist down to their bare essentials throughout the course of the series (but especially during s3)

Canon Typical Guilt Complex

strong supporting cast

characters with supernatural powers

canon non-binary character

on that note

canon nblm character

canon (?) mlnb character

european (?) character that ISNT italian, german, french or brittish for once (a personal pet peeve of mine)

the struggles of growing up and the uncertainty and fear of what the future may hold

and last but not least

the slow series long descent into despair that every ygo spinoff has to some extent but damn if season 3 didnt set a high standard it got dark

all that said i do think i should warn you that wheni say the show gets dark i mean it gets dark. the ygo series overall might shy away from a bit of blood but it is not at all afraid of diving into heavier themes and making you feel it. do not be fooled by the lighthearted nature of the first season it is not afraid to make you cry.

 which seems strange for a show thats seemingly just a childrens cardgame anime but when you take into account that ygo started out as a horror manga, and only switched over to the cardgame structure when the duel monsters arc took off, it makes a lot more sense.

(further talking and content warnings below the cut)

all that said heres a couple content warnings (in no particular order):

child abuse

childhood trauma

emotional and financial abuse

less than stellar family members in general

memory loss

medically induced amnesia (yes these are seperate instances)

themes of suicide

themes of depression and isolation (canon typical Lonely content but its all of gx s4)

unreality / dream logic (kinda. again, s4)

cults

brainwashing, mind control and manipulation

loss of physical and mental autonomy (of a sort)

genocide

implied death of children

confirmed death of children

mentions of real world tragedies (offhand once or twice in s2)

significant mental and emotional torment of the main character

temporary character death

permanent character death

(no neither of these are the typical “shadow realm” ygo deaths im talking about regular dying, and not of the fun and peaceful kind either)

(yes several of these are on screen)

also please not that some of these content warnigns apply to all of, or multiple series of ygo

especially themes of suicide, child abuse, and genocide, all 3 of which are covered in every ygo series on SOME level with varying severity

it may seem tempting to skip straight to season 3, as a lot of the more tma esque content is found there (though s2 goes hard as well in my opinion) i really do recomend watching the show from start to finish, as pretty much all the characters experience some level of character development, and seeing them all change throughout the series is an absolute treat.

also on the dub vs sub debate i really do reccoment watchign GX subbed. not bc dubbed anime are nessecatily bad but bc Dub and Sub GX are practically 2 entirely different shows with the amount of changes 4kids decided to make, as well as season 4 not having a dub at all as 4kids wanted to move on to 5ds instead.

(on a semi related note if the anti establishment aspects of tma are more your jam youll propably like 5ds, which has themes of poverty, classism, said eat the rich and litterally abolished the police force by the end of the series while also being about playing cardgames on motorcycles at the same time)

(honestly i could propably make a whole post on the central themes of each ygo series they really take a theme and apply it EVERYWHERE)

also a more recent note

if you like tragedy and big sad

WATCH VRAINS

its like 1 tiny detail away from being a tragedy

i knew what was coming and it still wrecked me

[cloudstation]

thoughts on ygo gx

Ok so for reference in this post when I'm talking about YGO GX I'm talking about the subbed version because that's the only one I've seen and I know the dub varies pretty greatly.

There's also going to be some comparing and contrasting to the original series because I’ve only seen the original and GX so that’s the only thing I have to compare it to. If I had any significant knowledge of the series that come after (like 5ds, zexal, etc.) I would pull from that as well, but I haven’t gotten around to those yet. Forgive me if I’ve got the details wrong, I haven’t watched GX in a minute.

So, GX as a series starts as a villain of the week scenario, basically every episode Judai must duel someone who we will probably never see again. Which in hindsight, is sort of a confusing choice from a writing standpoint because the anime (that GX is a direct spin off of) didn’t really follow that format, it was almost always about a certain story arc. The YGO manga started out as villain of the week as well, but the anime cut those parts out almost entirely and there's several things in GX that make it clear that it is based on the anime only.

That said, I do not mind that format at all! I loved the early YGO manga and I enjoyed most of early GX as well. The only thing I will say is that I did get bored with some episodes after a little while of watching when 1.) the stakes are usually pretty low and 2.) you know we are never going to see this antagonist ever again. I think that would’ve been a great time to build up Judai’s rivalry with Manjoume more and I think giving Judai one consistent rival to focus on could have done a little to keep the momentum of the show going.

Speaking of rivals, Judai doesn’t really have one clear rival the way Yugi does. Manjoume is supposed to be his rival, but as the show goes on he starts taking a backseat to other characters like Edo and Kaiser. At one point even Misawa. It doesn’t help that Manjoume also becomes the butt of a few jokes about not being a very good duelist and his main goal in the end is more about being a successful pro duelist rather than being better than Judai. Do not get me wrong, Kaiba’s record against Yugi was not exactly inspiring, but it was his insane dedication and off the wall strategies that makes it so you think he actually has a chance of winning. And I don’t think Manjoume should have been more like Kaiba, I just wished he wasn’t shoved in the “comic relief” box because it would have been more interesting in my opinion to have him and Judai be neck and neck. I think you still could have even done the thing where Manjoume is begrudgingly friends with Judai by the end and it would have all worked out fine.

The characters though are the best thing about GX. I think they are very lovable, at least the versions of them in my head. Just wish they had more to do in the first 2 seasons or in Johan’s case, introduced earlier. Judai himself is SUCH a great character when the show finally gives him a chance to show it. There are so many parallels to him and Jounouchi (one of my favorite characters period) that it absolutely KILLS me the earlier episodes weren’t more engaging.

Which brings me to my biggest problem with GX: the actual plot of GX doesn’t really start kicking in until season 3 which is [checks notes] 105 EPISODES IN. Maybe I’m remembering it wrong, but it really did not feel like that much had happened until season 3. I think a large part of that is that Judai didn’t experience a whole lot of character growth during the first 2 seasons. The whole Supreme King plot is a direct result of Kazuki Takahashi thinking that Judai had not grown enough “to beat someone like Yami Marik.” Its like the writers were scrambling for things for Judai to go through that would actually test who he is as a person and they threw everything at the fan all at once. And it worked tbh I was glued to season 3, there were so many interesting things happening AND they gave Judai a friend (Johan) who was a really good match for him and they clicked together really well. Which makes it all the more interesting when they take Johan away and put him in this terrible situation and make Judai deal with it.

My only real problem with season 3 is the way the situation with Yubel is handled. I’ve seen a lot of people say that its romantic that Yubel and Judai fuse at the end and I just could not disagree more. Yes they were in love in a past life I get it. But 2 things: 1.) Yubel says that the love Judai felt for them in their past life now belongs to Johan 2.) After all the torment and grief Yubel put Judai and his friends through, for them to fuse at the end being seen as anything, but self sacrifice on Judai’s part is kind of a slap in the face. I really don’t care about why Yubel did those things, it doesn’t excuse it in my opinion.

That said I will always have a fondness for GX because I love the characters, I just wished they were used more efficiently. Wish we got to seem go through even MORE situations. I want to see how they react when they are pushed to their limit and how they get through it. I think that’s when Judai especially shines. I think the POTENTIAL that GX has is the most frustrating part and I wish they had acted on it more. For now though I will simply be imagining my own version of GX and probably making some art.

[sanchoyoscribbles]

Yu-gi-oh! SR! (short for sidereal)

I’ve been talking about wanting to make a ygo fan series for a while on my main and I finally did 🤟 here’s the protagonist and her rival! I’m putting their profiles and the info about the series under the cut because it’s kinda long, even tho I tried to stick to just the basics 💀

⏳ Yunori Aokawa ⏳

⏳Age 22

⏳Deck theme: Wind attributes, lots of winged beasts. Her ace is ‘grand meridian quaver’, an angelic looking monster with a scythe and eight wings. (At some point I’ll come back and design these girls ace monsters for real…)

⏳ Our protagonist! She’s wanted to be a horologist forever and is deeply interested in history; in the future she’s from, a horologist isn’t just someone who studies time, but is someone who directly can observe set points on the timelines.

⏳They do this at a company called ChronoCorp (which is lowkey kinda shady…Yunori doesn’t work there long enough to notice…there’s 20 miles of contracts and NDAs, and you have to pass several hard tests to even be considered to be a new hire, so needless to say, Yunori studied Very Hard) it’s basically just people assigned historical events that were poorly documented to go and transcribe what actually happened, using tech that lets them watch it on hologram screens and pause it (basically a fancy TV…) they aren’t supposed to be able to interact with the events in any way and time travel is not a (publicly) known thing…

⏳On her first week on the job she finds a mysterious ring on her desk with a note with her name on it and assumes it’s a company gift, and while observing, she gets so into watching the duel she leans forward to the screen…and falls in! the ring seems to give her this ability and to have a lot of mystery around it, including it’s origin, and it has a recharge time, so once she’s in a certain time, she’s stuck for a while (not to mention, at the start she has no idea how it works or how to control it…) it’s called the sidereal ring! Yes this is a time travel plot. It’s very self indulgent of me.

⏳I’m not including stuff from arc v, vrains or sevens because I haven’t watched them, so they’re non canon here I guess for now? The series is a 200-300 yrs after zexal!

⏳ Yunori is a very cautious, nervous girl at the start of her adventure, determined she shouldn’t be interfering with history. She’s genre savvy and is convinced she’ll mess up the timeline if she does anything major, but over the course of the series becomes more confident and realizes she’s meant to be at the places she arrives at. She’s a huge history nerd and geeks out over famous duelists also despite having stage fright herself, she loves to see other people duel and loves to duel herself!

🎃Majo Kuromiya 🎃

🎃Age 24

🎃Deck theme: Halloween! Her ace card is a jack-o-lantern dragon called ‘boosilisk the hallowyvern’

🎃The rival character! She started entering duel tournaments in middle school to help her family because they were impoverished at the time, and by high school she was touring on professional duel circuits and had serious money. She very carefully developed and maintained her persona of being a spooky queen who puts on a show of being creepy while dueling, though she does earnestly love creepy cute things!

🎃She used her winnings to start her own company, Hallowed-Evolution. It’s the largest duel monsters costume and cosplay retailer! She’s pretty calculating because she’s been managing the company since she turned 18 to further support her family and handles a lot of PR herself. Although she threw herself into it so wholeheartedly that she never had time to make friends, which her family worries about. She’s so used to putting her persona up that it’s hard for her to make friends because she’s always got her mask up.

🎃Her and Yunori meet because Yunori lands in her time (sometime between 5Ds and zexal?) first, and because she owns her costume company and works with fabrics, she’s like What Is Your Outfit Made of. That’s not a fabric ive seen!!! (It’s Future Fabric™️) and Yunori is miserable at lying. Majo then let’s her stay at her estate trying to pry out details about the future (honestly, her first motives are to get details about the future to try and use that to grow her company…)

🎃 Yunori is a kind of awkward girl thought of as a history otaku back home so she didn’t have friends, and Majo doesn’t have any friends either, so they make a fun duo of Weird Girls and eventually grow together as people and have a full group of friends by the end. But at the start they’re both the same kind of too-focused on work types and learn to relax together 😌

🎃They butt heads a lot because Majo believes if Yunori is here, it means she was meant to be and shouldn’t be so afraid to mess up the timelines. (Majo is right, and smug about it later) Majo is also fascinated by superstitions and the occult and will casually say super morbid things which freaks Yunori out. Also, Majo is desperate to duel Yunori and beat her, because if she can beat someone who has the advantage of future cards and has studied duels as much as Yunori has, she’s convinced that’s the best victory that could be had. She also wants it to be a big showy match, but Yunori is like NO I HAVE TO STAY A SECRET IM NOT EVEN BORN IN THIS TIME YET!!! (They duel several times and yes, eventually on a big stage! Majo helps Yunori get over her stage-fright!)

🎃Majo also supplies Yunori with time-accurate outfits to help her blend in even though she doesn’t think Yunori actually needs to, and comes with her for pretty much all the adventures (Yunori accidentally brings her at first and while Majo is kind of excited to be involved, she’s more worried about her family and who will run her company, but when she gets back she realizes she doesn’t have to do everything alone because her family was reliably running it in her absence!) Her family includes her mother, her grandfather and two younger brothers (one 14 and one 10) and her mother was the one helping run the company for the most part.

If u read all of that thank you 🥺💗 I’m going to try and come back to these girls and develop more of a Plot and some VILLAINS and stuff, along with their ace monster designs…:3c I just thought it’d be fun to have a series that could go from filling in gaps of plot between the already established series, and being historical dramas the next ‘episode’ pfft. Also since vampires were established As Canon in GX I want to include them somehow. Scream Queen Majo VS A Real Vampire. I just wanted to add that 😌

[stardustsynchro]

Introduction

Arise.

Raise hell.

Leave.

Nope, not gonna raise hell on 2022 that soon :)

 Hi. My name is Stardust Synchro and I'm 5d’s wacky fanatic.

Just a quick introduction to my self. I am a 25 year old european kid who lives up in mountens but is actualy a city and more trees, so might aswell give my take on what i post.

I post news, i post updates on yugioh cards, i post duels and my collection of anime/toku merchandise. I am not married because i am happy being single. I post anything i like personality, my favorite deck is Chaos Synchro OTK and I love Yu-Gi-Oh 5D’s to death.

No seriously this shit is awesome. I've watched anime for years and rarely does a series get me this hyped up. Why the hell do I like it so much? I'm not entirely sure myself. All I can say is that it appeals to a lot of my favorite genres.

Anyway, so what's up with this blog? Well, I'm posting not just card games but information around ANYTHING ygo from sources i got, keep in mind not all sources are mine, but from YGORGANIZATION who i love that group so much.

I will try to keep my blog active to find its original souce, but keep in mind i won’t update it in the near future due to work so i got plenty of time to set up.

I am currently covering news on Yu-Gi-Oh Go Rush and Pokemon Gen9 so expect that soon.

P.S: Just a few rules in case....

- Don’t ask me about what my name is, seriosly don’t ask me.

- Don’t start war with me over ‘’which’’ anime in YGO is better, because that is a block warning, can’t take drama anymore seriously i hate this debate most because Reddit makes me sick over there and Twitter of course. This is why I want to not ask questions of this calibur, its too much for me even for my taste. Just to make it clear: I like all series.

- My sources on news are my topic and opinion, i will respect anyone who found them and credit them first because i credit anyone if they want me to do so.

- Don’t bash my taste in 5D’S (Note: If you send me death treats in between my offline house to sleep hours while i am at work, that is a block) Why? Because i got death treats at one point about people hating on me for liking 5D’s over the post-Dark Singer arc like Crash Town or heck WRGP when i clearly love that arc more than early 5D’s. Respect my wishes and let me be, otherewise this is not the blog for you. No, we don’t spread false lies about 5D’s production or will confrim it due to various reasons we stay clearly away from Reddit, Twitter and most Yugitubers. Because no one, or anyone is ever gonna supple any REAL evidance to that production. 

- I have health problems, don’t ask me too much questions like what is my opinion on mainstream anime that is really gonna make me upsate :/

- Please don’t ask me anything person about why i joined Tumblr, it was my thought and mine alone, because otherwise its back that hellhole site Twitter.

Anyway, thank for your time and thank you to all who enjoy my blog.I am pleased to meet everyone!