#you can tell I like her cuz I'm calling her Anzu

[number-1-kuaidul-fanboy]

Not quite sure how I feel about season 0 yet

I’ve definitely enjoyed the first three episodes. Retrospectively, parts of it work really well as a prequel to the original Yugioh series. Like Joey/Jonouchi (might go back and forth on their names since I watched DM in dub) going from a bully to a friend to Yugi and Yugi completing the puzzle, two things that were only ever mentioned in DM. It was neat actually seeing those events onscreen. I know they weren’t in DM because they didn’t want to be too derivative of this series and that’s totally fair but it still made DM feel incomplete in some places.

Apart from the “prequel-y” bits though, this has a very different feel from the rest of Yugioh. So far at least, it’s very episodic. The pilot gives some set ups and the next two episodes (and seemingly the next one based on its preview) are really loosely connected filler stories following these characters, with the occasional horror vibe when Yami Yugi shows up. Every episode so far has followed the same “some guy beats up weak Yugi so Yami Yugi appears in the last few minutes to punish them with a shadow game” narrative. Which is fine, it’s just entertaining enough to keep my attention for a couple episodes at a time while I eat. Season 0 feels different from every other Yugioh series but as a result, it lacks the charm of the other Yugioh series, at least for me.

It has its own merits though. Like its characters, some of which are superior to their depictions in DM.

Okay not all of them. I still don’t really like Honda (never have) and Miho comes off as kind of manipulative but the others are all pretty good. I like Jonouchi’s more gruff yet still loyal persona in this show, that could just be a sub vs dub thing to be fair but I quite liked it. He’s about on par with his DM self. Yugi Muto meanwhile gets a lot more screentime in this series than he does in DM and as a result, I actually like him right off the bat, unlike DM where it took me much longer to care about either of the Yugis. Yami Yugi...

...is not as twisted in this as I was lead to believe he was, at least at the point I’ve seen. His voice and design are honestly more weird than creepy which I will admit does disappoint me a bit. I do like how he feels much more like a legit alter ego to Yugi in this than he did in DM, where he was definitely his own person. That worked in its own right but I really like the whole “Jekyll and Hyde” vibe Yugi and Yami have in season 0, as though he’s actually a darker personality originating from within Yugi. Not sure if that’s what they’re going for yet but I enjoy it.

And my favourite season 0 character so far is Anzu.

No you ain’t trippin, season 0 Anzu is the best interpretation of this character I’ve seen. Dark Side of Dimensions is a distant second place in this regard since it showed her achieving her dream by leaving to study dancing in America (the only bit of character she had that wasn’t related to her relationships in DM) and in episode 2 of season 0, she’s willing to break school rules and get a part time job to raise money for that dream. You go girl. She’s also just generally more enjoyable. I don’t know, the writing here makes her come off as more sassy and no nonsense rather than DM where she just felt... for lack of a better term, like a stereotypical nag. Also, she and Yugi are actually kind of cute in season 0. I like the scene where she sticks up for Yugi when he’s being bullied and Yugi just looks so incredibly happy to see her:

And this one where he excitedly talks to her about the puzzle:

They actually seem like genuine friends in this series, a fact that never really came through in DM for me because of how little screentime Yugi got compared to Atem. Anzu’s character revolved around him way too much in DM  and while that could still become a problem in season 0 (in fact it almost definitely will considering the pattern of DM-VRAINS) but I’m glad that for the first few episodes at least, Anzu was allowed to have more of a personality. And she and Yugi have much easier chemistry.

It’s a decent show so far I’d say. If it had been my introduction to Yugioh, I almost definitely wouldn’t have gotten as into it as I have but looking back on it as a “prequel” or the series’ roots in general makes it kind of interesting.