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arcaneranger · 4 years

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Final Thoughts - 2019 Long Shows

Dear Lord. This is where all the good shows went.

2019 was absolutely awful on a season-by-season basis (except for Summer, anyway), but that’s mostly because most of the best shows ran longer than what has become the industry norm of a single season. And indeed, heading into the new decade, we seem to be seeing a major renaissance for two- or split-cour shows, given the massive success seen by shows like My Hero Academia, Food Wars, and Haikyuu!!..particularly in comparison to the new perpetual-runners Black Clover (which, despite running for over two straight years now, is still not the most popular show of Fall 2017 by viewer count on MAL, and sits at a ‘meh’ 7.2), and even worse, Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, which is faring even worse on both counts even though it premiered two whole seasons earlier and the fact that it is the sequel to Naruto.

As a reminder of my rules, the shows on this list may or may not have premiered in 2019, but they finished airing this year. The split-cour rule (stating that I judge any show that “finishes” and then premieres a “new season” within six months) didn’t come into play for any 2018 shows, but it will for Ascendance of a Bookworm and Food Wars this year, at the very least.

With that being said! 25 shows running longer than thirteen episodes finished airing this year after being simulcast, and of those…

I skipped 6:

Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure Part V: Golden Wind, Fairy Tail Final Series, A Certain Magical Index III, Ace Attorney Season 2 and Cardfight Vanguard (2018) because I either dropped or have not finished their previous (also long-running) seasons.

Yu-Gi-Oh VRAINS because the simulcast started late and also it was bad.

I Dropped 8:

Worst Long Show of 2019: The Rising of the Shield Hero

It’s always fun to see that a show you hated from its first episode only gets more and more distasteful afterwards, but it’s less fun when a service you have to promote because they’re the legal option is forced to shove it down your throat because they had a hand in making it and it became a massive hit that your friends don’t see any issue with because the author wrote a story that justifies its hero’s patronage of the slave industry. This is my punishment for watching the whole first season of The Asterisk War before I knew better.

YU-NO: A girl who chants love at the bound of this world

A confusing mess from the word go, this ill-fated adaptation of a visual novel from the nineties seems like it was mostly made to cash in on the popularity of the Science Adventure series, but failed to present itself in a way that made an ounce of sense or looked remotely interesting.

Fairy Gone

Am I really the only one that saw potential here? I mean yes, it ended up a boring slog that didn’t care to move its plot in a meaningful direction, but the first episode was at least cool. I guess Izetta: The Last Witch should have taught me better.

We Never Learn

I know that I’m in the minority in terms of the male demographic for shows like this, but honestly, how are bland harem shows still this easy to market? A copy-pasted protagonist with copy-pasted waifus drag down what could be an interesting setup for a story.

Karakuri Circus

The first episode of this one had me excited, the second and third left me bored to tears and wondering if it would continue to look uglier by the minute. I haven’t seen a three-cour show look this janky since Knight in the Area.

Radiant

Having heard good things about this show from my cohorts, I do feel bad for saying I’ll probably never return to Radiant, but when you have a show that’s notably written by a European author...and it turns out to be a frustratingly standard shounen affair with middling production values, well, you can see my earlier annoyance with Cannon Busters.

Ensemble Stars

This one still gets to me. It almost looked like a male-idol show I would finally be able to get behind, what with its rebellious attitude and oddball setting...that is, until the setting got to be too unbelievable and the show began drowning its audience in side-characters because they had to squeeze every husbando from the mobile game into the story, and it all began to resemble UtaPri a little too much...but without the production value.

Boogiepop and Others

This was a hard drop, honestly. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how I felt four episodes in, before concluding that I was bored and not particularly invested, two things that should never describe the experience of watching a Madhouse show. The fact that this was the project responsible for ruining One Punch Man only made it worse. There’s a slow burn, and then there’s walking away without turning the stove on.

And I Finished 11 (holy crap that’s like three hundred episodes just on their own).

That Time I Was Reincarnated as a Slime (5/10 & 1/10)

I’ll be honest, I had forgotten just how livid I was with the ending (and especially the sad excuse of a recap episode) of Slimesekai, and reading back through my write-up of it, it’s certainly coming back to me. While this year had bigger demons to fight (Shield Hero), the bad taste that Slime left me with hasn’t really faded, and the wasted premise bugs me to this day.

Hinomaru Sumo (7/10)

What Hinomaru lacked in production value, it happily made up for in good execution and earnest heart. I can’t believe this came from the same studio as Conception, Try Knights and 7Seeds, but if they can only get out one good show a year, I’m glad that we got one bringing attention to a sport that many will joke about but few understand, respect and appreciate.

Kono Oto Tomare (7/10)

Speaking of giving love to traditional Japanese culture, here’s a decent-if-unoriginal show about a local high school koto club down on their luck, and the troubled teens coming together under a scrappy protagonist to bring it back to life. Kono Oto Tomare doesn’t have much that you haven’t seen before, but a decently-executed club drama with Your Lie In April-inspired musical performances is more than enough to keep me interested, and since Forest of Piano kinda crashed and burned under the weight of its own self-importance this year, it was nice to have an alternative.

MIX: Meisei Story (8/10)

It’s hard to judge MIX next to the other shows on this list because it’s almost too old-school for its own good, revelling in an eighties storytelling style that didn’t end up jiving with a wide audience this year. But at the same time, its fun character dynamics (and a very good dub from Funimation, despite them saying they’d never touch sports anime again) were very entertaining to watch, even if it didn’t focus as much on the sport it was supposedly about as much as I’d have liked.

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba (8/10)

I fully admit that I’m very salty about the fact that this won Show of the Decade in Funimation’s poll while it was still on and I thought there were hundreds of more deserving shows, but I can’t deny that Demon Slayer was a very enjoyable experience, albeit one that I had notable problems with. That’s not gonna stop me from getting mad when it sweeps the Anime Awards in a few weeks, though.

Fire Force (8/10)

I was very afraid that David Productions wouldn’t be able to match the energy of Studio Bones’ adaptation of Ohkubo’s previous work, Soul Eater, but I was happy to be proven wrong. Even if the last few episodes contained a bit too much infodumping, it was all sandwiched between jaw-dropping fight scenes that proved that the people who make Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure can still handle the reins of a more traditional action show.

Fruits Basket 1st Season (8/10)

I know that my score for this one is a bit lower than others, but I think that Fruits Basket did pretty well in its first season, considering that it was largely spent setting up future storylines and adapting the part of the manga we’d all seen before, but with much higher production value. I’ve been familiar with this part of the story for over a decade, and the scene with Tohru and Kyo (you know the one) still made me cry. Now, we get the real plot going.

Dr Stone (9/10)

A great start to a totally new spin on shounen, Dr Stone gives me hope for survival in the post-Shokugeki world in which we’ll soon live, as a show that wears its research on its sleeve. A complex plot weaving interesting characters in and out of a narrative surrounding a philosophical battle where both sides actually do have fair points (even if one of them is going about it in a pretty cruel manner). More please.

Vinland Saga (9/10)

Once again, a great start to what will hopefully be years of quality storytelling, Vinland Saga made it seem like it was dragging in the middle only to reveal just what its slow burn had been leading up to, with twist-heavy storytelling and a fantastic cast to match the high visual quality of its brutal battles.

Run With the Wind (9/10)

It’s not often that Production I.G. gets to make a complete, fully-realized show anymore, and this one was a glorious reminder of the potential of the studio in the TV space, and a great rebound for the director of Joker Game. It’s gorgeous to look at, the cast is wonderful, and the story is both realistic and idealistic in a satisfying balance. It’s a miserable process to get to the finish line in real life, but sitting back and watching this was nothing but a treat. At least, until a minor fumble at the end.

Best Long Show of 2019: Dororo (9/10)

Speaking of complete stories, Tezuka Productions and MAPPA teamed up for a breathtaking adaptation of an underappreciated Tezuka classic that expands upon the story in exactly the right way to create a thrilling, savage, beautiful masterpiece that focuses a laser-sharp eye into the relationship between two characters in their journey to, literally and figuratively, become complete people. Also, that opening was killer.

And that’s it! That’s the fun list. Next comes the painful one. Stay tuned for the trash heap.

#final thoughts #year end anime list #long 2019 #dororo #demon slayer #Fruits Basket #vinland saga #run with the wind #Dr Stone #rising of the shield hero #fire force #kono oto tomare!#mix meisei story #hinomaru sumo #hinomaru zumou #that time i got reincarnated as a slime #tensura

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the-kings-of-games · 4 years

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GX Month 2020

SUper late and I’m too lazy to do anything (as always), but this seems like fun to think about. So let’s go!

Day 1 (August 31): “Game on!” (It’s Judai/Jaden Yuki’s birthday today! Let’s celebrate!):

Jaden is a great protagonist. I love dumb but OP main characters, especially when they got lucky-go attitudes.

Day 2 (September 1): “Red, Yellow, Blue!” (Ah, the tier system at Duel Academy. Which dorm is your favorite?):

I’m attached to Slifer Red, lol. They got a cat for mascot, what more do I need? Also, they serve tempura for lunch.

Day 3 (September 2): “Rule the School” (These kids might be saving the world, but they’re still students with homework to do and exams to pass. Celebrate the school life today!):

Don’t know what to put here, but I was a terrible student because I didn’t study or do things in a timely manner. Do better than me, kids.

Day 4 (September 3): “Sometimes I Can’t Believe We’re Related” (10Join! Today is all about the iconic brother-sister pair, Fubuki Tenjoin/Atticus Rhodes and Asuka Tenjoin/Alexis Rhodes!):

I love this sibling pair! ^^ Alexis is really cool, and Atticus is so far out of the left field. I really thought Atticus was going to be cool like his sister, or edgy like Zane, but nah, this guy is, like, I just want to support my sister and play this ukulele. They make such a contrasting pair, so it adds to the humor.

Day 5 (September 4): “Pass The Salt” (No story is perfect. So what is something you wish you could have seen in the story of GX?)

I can’t think of anything.

Day 6 (September 5): “Going Down With The Ships!” (You know what I’m talking about. We all have an armada parked in the bay, but there’s that one ship, that one ship, that you would die for. Today is all about OTPs and OT3s!)

I really like Rivalshipping. I don’t really have that many ships for GX. 5D’s and Zexal are more of my jam.

Day 7 (September 6): “Bring the THUNDER” (Ichi! Juu! Hyaku! Sen! Chazz it up! Today the world does in fact revolve around Jun Manjoume/Chazz Princeton.)

HANDS DOWN, one of my two top choices for favorite rival. (Jack’s the other.) My favorite things about Chazz are his name, his energy, and that fact that he’s a baby brother. He’s so cute! ^^ I just want to make fun of him.

Day 8 (September 7): “The Power of Friendship!” (Favorite dynamic duo, two characters you think would have been friends if only they met, how friendship saves the day, or maybe a friendship fail. It’s up to you!):

Chazz and Pharoah, lol. I need Chazz to hold that cat and pet it. Why didn’t he? :’(

Day 9 (September 8): “Born to be Bad” (Inherently evil, brainwashed, misguided, or misunderstood. GX boots a colorful cast of villainy. Who’s your favorite bad guy?):

I haven’t finished season 4 yet, but Nightshroud.

Day 10 (September 9): Free Day/Introductions (Tell us about yourself and your GX experience! Your favorites, why you like it, how you got into it. Or leave the day open to do whatever you want!):

I’m known as kappa. I got Hulu, and Hulu has almost all the YGO series excluding VRAINS and SEVENS which is fine because I also have Crunchyroll and the internet, lol; so, I watched all the YGO series simultaneously, skipping back and forth between series. I did not watch any of them in order. GX was number 5 or 6, but it’s the one series I’m putting off.

Day 11 (September 10): “Cyber Legacy” (No Yu-Gi-Oh! show is complete without a pair of brothers. Today’s stars are Sho Marufuji/Syrus Truesdale and Ryo Marufuji/Zane Truesdale!):

I love these guys! It was great to see them grow and become their own people. ^^ They had, I think, the most realistic relationship.

Day 12 (September 11): “But What If We Had Bikes?” (That’s right! It’s time for the GX crew to rev it up on their very own D-Wheels/Duel Runners!):

I CANNOT DRAW. SORRY LMAO

Day 13 (September 12): “And You Are…?” (Got a favorite OC? Or one you’ve been hiding in the closet? Introduce them to the world today!):

I only have a Rivalshipping OC baby. Her name is Mira Princeton, and she has Jaden’s brown hair and Chazz’s dark eyes (with a bit of a golden glow). Since both her parents can see spirits, it’d make sense that she can too, lol. Her companion is Yata-Garasu, a rare card that her mama won at a tournament. She likes pink and flowers. She is very close to Aster and calls him Uncle Aster. She’s four, and most of her life, she knows her dad as the “Slifer slacker but a really good duelist.”

I love her. :)

Day 14 (September 13): “The Perfect Formula” (He duels with the power math and science! Today, show the world that you still remember Daichi/Bastion Misawa!)

Bastion is a funny character. “Everything is science. I’m going to disappear for several months. Don’t forget to forget me,” I think.

Day 15 (September 14): “Insert pun here” (It’s meme day! Recreate your favorites! Make some shitposts! Be the troll you’ve always wanted to be!):

Bastion: SIr, I’m afraid your DNA is backwards.

Jaden: AND?

Day 16 (September 15): “Creation and Destruction” (The Gentle Darkness and the Light of Destruction. The eternal struggle. And also the Darkness that tried to drown the world. Huh. Feels a little unbalanced.):

It’s pretty cool to have darkness and light reverse, and then watch as darkness conflict with itself, lmao. The Light of Destruction would be a chaotic good, and the Gentle Darkness as chaotic neutral. (Don't quote me on that, I don’t do personality quizzes.)

Day 17 (September 16): “Putting the D in Destiny” (Pro duelist by day and crime fighting vigilante by night. Today is Edo/Aster Phoenix’s day!):

He’s great. I like him. He’s the precursor to Declan Akaba’s D/D/D archetype. Maybe not. Can you believe that he actually said “Shmaden Shmuki on national TV???? LMAO

Day 18 (September 17): “In Another Life” (It’s AU day!):

Currently trying to write a fantasy-ish AU in which Jun marries the Supreme King. Trust me, I have no idea what I’m doing.

Day 19 (September 18): “I Was Here Too!” (GX has a vast array of unique characters, some of which we only saw once. Pick a “one shot” character and show them off!):

I really like Princess Rose. She was pretty, and her spirit monsters care for her. I appreciate that.

Day 20 (September 19): Free Day 2/Support Fellow Creators (Show some love for your favorite creators, or leave the day free for whatever you please!):

Literally @ everyone whose work(s) and/or post(s) I’ve reblogged. Keep up the good work!

Day 21 ( September 20): “Prehistoric Predators” (The dino duelist with a fossil in his leg. Today is all about Kenzan Tyranno/Tyranno Hassleberry!):

Dino DNA is so funny; I’m sorry, Hassleberry, but I don’t like dinosaurs. At least you were cute as one.

Day 22 (September 21): “Stop Blowing Holes In My Ship!” (Some ships are popular and some are…not. Today is all about rare pairs and crack ships! Give those underdogs some love!):

Tanya/Bastion is kind of cute. And I guess Chazz/Atticus too. ^^

Day 23 (September 22): “And For Today’s Lesson…” (The teachers at Duel Academy have their work cut out for them, but they still take care of their students. Show the DA staff some love today!):

Fonda Fontaine!

Day 24 (September 23): “Legend of the Seven Gems” (Resurrect the greatest light in history today with Johan/Jesse Anderson and the Crystal Beasts!):

Johan is very cute! I’m so glad they gave him a Southern accent in the dub. ^^ It makes him extra soft and lovable. I can’t believe that Johan/JIm is called Cowboyshipping, but I love that name so much.

Day 25 (September 24): “For The Glory of Academia!” (We got to see Asuka/Alexis and Edo/Aster over in Fusion Dimension, but what about the rest of the cast? Show us some Fusion counterparts today! What are these dorks up to and what part do they play in the war?):

I’m bad at rewriting canon. ^^: Sorry.

Day 26 (September 25): “Dream Team From Overseas” (Austin O’Brien/Axel Brody, Jim “Crocodile” Cook, and Amon/Adrian Gecko. Today is all about them!)

I absolutely love Jim Cook, from him being Australian to having a crocodile as his best friend to getting burned with a mysterious object to cowboy hat. xD

Day 27 (September 26): “Duel Monster Spirit Day!” (The world of GX is full of spirits. Do something fun to celebrate your favorite!):

Mine would be Scapeghost and Rose Garden Maiden!

Day 28 (September 27): “Gold Eyes in The Darkness” (Today’s all about the Supreme King! Unleash the Darkness and create your content!):

I like his aesthetic. I’m into Chazz/Supreme King for sure.

Day 29 (September 28): “Don’t Forget Me!” (Have an underappreciated character you wish you’d seen more of? Give them some love today!):

Miss Dorothy! She’s wonderful, she’s friend shaped.

Day 30 (September 29): Free Day 3 (Share anything. Anything at all. It’s free game.):

The Chazz/Supreme King fic I’m working on: The Supreme King’s Husband (Prologue)

Day 31 (September 30): “Gotcha!”:

Is this a Pokemon reference? O_o

#kappachyun muses #yugioh #yugioh gx

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kuriboo · 4 years

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so here we are, y’all. i’ve finally reached the end of the zexal anime, and, uh, it sure was a ride. a ride from start to finish. i’m gonna write out some final thoughts, if i end up forgetting something i might make another post of this, but, don’t count on it. but, before anything, i do intend to read the zexal manga at some point as well, and when i do, you might see me post some funny or interesting screenshots in this tag too? probably not a lot, i don’t know, i’ve never read the zexal manga either. just be aware that the zexal liveblog might not actually be over.

i know people like to talk in terms of zexal i and zexal ii, but hulu doesn’t split up zexal like that, it’s actually in three seasons? i think i generally know what people are referring to with zexal i and zexal ii(?), but i’m genuinely not sure and the terms feel super weird to me anyway, but just to be safe, i’ll refer to things as the first half and the second half. the first half ends with the duel against dr faker and yuma vs kite, part 2 picks up with...whatever the hell happened after the yuma vs kite duel, which certainly wasn’t a continuation of kite’s character arc, but we won’t worry about that.

with that, uh, let’s go high-five the sky

before starting zexal: i’d pretty much watched all the other yugioh series, and was keeping up with vrains as much as i could as it aired. i saw one episode once, before i started watching the whole thing, that aired on some channel we normally don’t get but got a like free preview weekend of it or something. the episode i saw was the episode where yuma meets the guy who makes the statues, i think. whatever it was, the impression i got from what i saw was: this yugioh protagonist is really bad at card games, whines a lot, and his voice kinda grates on me, and also this protagonist is younger than i was at the time, which tended to lead to more annoying behavior. this kid didn’t want to shut up, man. couldn’t sit through the whole thing

so, this was how i rated zexal against the other yugioh series, keeping in mind that this is a rating of series, and not yugioh protagonists, and noting that the members of the A tier are not in any sort of order and all members have equal ratings:

(sevens is unrated because it’s just barely started.)

(there’s not really much of anything that could top gx, tbh, because gx got me through the hardest time, the hardest year, of my life, and i don’t know where i’d be without it. gx helped save 17 year old me from myself)

now, i’ve finished zexal. i’ve watched every single episode of zexal. it’s important to note that i watched the dub of duel monsters, the dubs of gx and 5ds along with the sub of their non-dubbed final seasons, the dub of zexal, the sub of arc v alongside a stretch of dubbed episodes towards the end, and the sub of vrains along with the dub of the first 20 episodes. i’m aware zexal’s sub was better than the dub, but i generally prefer dubs when possible and also i’m largely comparing it against every other yugioh dub. it’s not an unfair comparison.

so, here is how i now rate zexal against the other yugioh series, keeping in mind the members of the A tier aren’t in any sort of order:

you may have noticed this is the same as the previous rating. that’s correct. zexal was my least favorite yugioh series before i began watching it, and now that i’ve finished, it’s still my least favorite yugioh series. i know for a lot of people, zexal was their favorite yugioh series, but i simply can’t vibe with that. i’m sorry. i’m also aware the dub of zexal is a lot worse than the original. that doesn’t change the fact that i’m mostly rating dubs against each other here (haven’t seen enough of the arc v dub to account for that, but every other series i’m strongly thinking about the dubs). also, i’ll still give zexal credit for that. i’ll excuse some of its bad points as bad dub writing. some.

this chart, though, doesn’t paint a complete picture of how my opinion of zexal has changed. because it has. i like zexal a lot more now than i did before i started really watching it.

we’ll address good points first, so if anyone wants to bail for the bad points to avoid any sort of hurt feelings or anything like that, they can while still reading good stuff. again, i know a lot of yugioh fans’ favorite yugioh series is zexal, and my opinions are directly opposed to that, and again, i’m sorry.

there was some pretty cool new cards in this one, particularly in the numbers side of things. shark drake was cool. i liked all of the arclights’ numbers; honestly, how could i not love dyson sphere or number 69? i’ve forgotten a lot of it by now but there was some cool stuff especially in the first part.

the two best characters in this series, in terms of both writing and personality, were easily astral and shark. astral’s probably my number one, shark’s probably my number two.

astral was definitely great. his observations he kept making about humanity based on yuma was definitely one of the funnier things in the series, and the last duel of the series ending with astral’s last observation was poetic. he talked smack about yuma a lot, and a lot of the time it was pretty well deserved, and that was very cathartic and very good humor. his whole arc where he learns to trust yuma in part 1 and they truly become partners, then yuma meets vector who convinces yuma to keep pretty big secrets from astral, then astral realizes yuma’s been keeping these big secrets from him which is something astral never thought would happen by that point, and astral almost loses himself in that darkness of feeling betrayed and angry and sad, that was all really really good. yuma and astral not not immediately going back to loyal trusting partners and needing time before astral could truly trust yuma again also felt natural and real and i enjoyed it a lot. i like astral’s hairstyle, i like his dub censored ass, i like his whole ghost-like vibe. i don’t appreciate that astral is a nudist, even among the other residents of astral world who all wear actual clothes. i kind of wish astral would wear clothes but i would still want his ass to be censored because it’s hilarious. there is a lot i like about astral. i also just think he’s neat. my easy favorite. cannot go wrong with snarky glowy alien boy.

shark surprised me. i didn’t like him for a fair amount of part 1. he hurt yuma’s feelings a lot and i hated that. but when he started accepting yuma’s repeated attempts at friendship and turned around, i liked him a lot. he’s got purple hair, he plays a guitar (i think electric guitar? might’ve been electric bass), and his development was super interesting. i figured he had some kind of shitty home life that yuma would help him cope with using the power of friendship, but it was quite a bit more than that. he got disqualified from a tournament he desperately wanted to win because of a trick his opponent pulled, eventually evened out and became a pretty cool chill dude, and then it turned out he was like the head emperor of an alien planet that astral had set out to destroy?? he was the leader of a group of people and then blamed himself for their destruction?? he felt torn between his guilt/duty to his people and the new friendships he’d made with yuma and astral?? and he ended up deciding to go back to his alien emperor ways even though it pitted him against his friends which was hard but he had to make it up for the people he’d lost before?? but then he learned don thousand had been manipulating for a long long time and then faced against don thousand at yuma’s side een though he chose to turn his back on that friendship?? he didn’t let some fanfic choose his life for him??? he had shark drake??? there’s a lot of cool shit about shark and he’s got a lot of interesting shit going for him. i love a character that gets me to analyze what’s going on in their mind as they do certain things or make certain choices. i also love me a character who ends up getting/remembering magical powers. sorry shark astral’s in first but i still think shark’s neat too.

byron arclight!!! byron arclight! he’s not on the same level as astral and shark, but mAN i love byron arclight. he was constantly roasting everyone when he appeared and had some of the funniest dialogue in the entire series. anyone he looked at he’d be like “look aliens made me physically look like a child, my sons are taller and look older than me now, i couldn’t possibly give a shit about whatever your deal is.” he got super strong magic powers and used them to kidnap a small child. he became evil and told his sons to be evil with him because he was mad at dr faker, but they all kinda sucked at being evil and decided to be good guys instead by part 2. it’s honestly a shame the arclights didn’t appear in the series, especially part 2 (and especially byron, i’m p sure he appeared the least of the arclights) because i like them all actually. that episode where trey erased yuma’s like most important memories... dyson sphere... quattro telling off shark for dueling poorly while shark was sufferering the effects of POISON... what absolute legends. also byron had number 69.

yuma’s pretty cool, ended up being a more compelling character than i thought he would be. he’s a sweet kid, he’s annoyed initially by astral’s presence but he still helps astral with his quest to gather all the numbers anyway and he likes astral the more they hang out. that episode where yuma loses his memories because of trey really showed yuma’s pre-series development pretty well. yuma talks a lot and shouts the same few catchphrases a lot and it can get annoying, but there’s a lot more to yuma then that. at his core, he’s actually a pretty scared and lonely kid who doesn’t believe in himself, he looks at his current situation and goes “there’s no way i can win this duel there’s no point i might as well quit”. he’s not inherently upbeat and positive and self-confident like he usually appears. “feel the flow” is his source of strength, it’s what gets him going, gets him to believe in himself and inspires bravery in him. he’s actually one of the strongest people in the show for it, to be honest. his friends are so important to him, he cares about them so much and would do anything for them, even when his friends aren’t acting so friendly to him. even when his friends want conflicting things he tries his best to appease both sides. he becomes a voice of reason a lot in part 2, honestly. he kept voicing my thoughts and things i said throughout the season, which at times was really cathartic honestly. he kept challenging the status quo. why do we HAVE to do this, why can’t we find a compromise for THAT. he’s a good kid. i’m adopting him.

kite in part 1 is a cool Strong Opposition To The Number Hunt guy. he needs a glasses prescription but refuses to do anything about it and dies on the moon for it apparently, which i think is pretty funny of him. since he’s not astral he has to number hunt differently and the way he does it hurts people, but he’s only doing it because if he has all the numbers, then there might be a way to help his little brother who is suffering some big shit. his life literally revolves around his little brother who wants kite to just live his life for himself and be happy and have fun, to which kite replies “i don’t know how to do any of that”. relatable. eventually he realizes his dad is a dick. and beats him up until his dad says okay i’ll be good now. i won’t throw trash at astral world anymore i promise. kite’s hear to kick ass and take names and he runs out of names before he runs out of ass. but he gets new names by the time he runs out of ass so it’s okay. kite does some pretty fun stuff in part 1 and actually gives astral a run for his money which doesn’t happen often in part 1 so that’s pretty fun. also. his name is kite and his brother’s name is heart. dr faker is the worst at names but i’d expect that from someone who’s name is faker. it’s pretty funny, honestly

dumon is great. he’s a nice guy who is always trying to help out his friends. him first meeting shark and them pretty much despising each other and then realizing hmm maybe that other guy isn’t as obnoxious as i thought all before shark even realizes he’s nasch and nasch and dumon are like best friends? top-tier, def funny. after like that first meeting though dumon always came off as a nice guy. i like dumon. also, his dub voice actor voices dub yusaku and i was assigned yusaku by the government so i really appreciate that. he does a good job as yusaku. and honestly a good job at dumon, too. dumon is one of the best voices in the whole show. he’s great. i just think he’s neat

rio!!!! once rio wakes up, she’s great. you can tell like within an episode that she and shark are the kind of siblings that constantly snark at each other but would do literall anything for each other. shark tried to do anything he could to help her before she woke up, and rio stuck by his side no matter what in the barians vs astral conflict. the foreshadowing in that episode where she pretended she was knocked out like the rest of yuma’s friends but she really wasn’t!! within like a week of waking up she reveals shark can’t sleep in the dark and i think that he hates onions. she’s the picture of confidence, and it seems to come more naturally to her than yuma’s forced and learned confidence. she believes in herself for sure, she’s a great duelist and she knows it, she’s got that ice aesthetic that i love, she’s cute... i’m gonna go adopt shark and rio right now. she’s also fiercely protective of her friends. but she’s not afraid to tease them either! and she will do it! she’s unrepentantly herself and i love it.

vector is funny. vector had some great lines in part 2. “ray shadows” was always predictably not what he seemed at first glance but that’s not a bad thing. just because i knew “ray shadows” was bad didn’t make the reveal of him being vector any less satisfying, honestly. that whole sequence of what happened when vector revealed himself was one of my favorite parts of the second half. vector constantly leading yuma into “the ray way” (usually a poor way), then after reealing himself talking about doing things the ray way, absolutely poetic. that reveal causing a huge shift in yuma and astral’s relationship, beautiful. did you just say the b word??? he also had funny lines. most major villains in zexal (byron and vector) were pretty funny honestly. neither of them were the ultimate antagonist which is fine, but probably the best humor in the series to me came from the major villains. it made them less intimidating, maybe, but it made them a lot more enjoyable to watch.

number 96 looked like a dark version of astral, which is essentially what he was, but like, he literally looked like astral. but you know what? while astral’s ass was censored, number 96′s wasn’t censored in the slightest. to this day i don’t understand why but this is so funny to me. 4k media really said astral wasn’t valid but number 96 was.

there’s a lot of good stuff in zexal. and i enjoyed it! at the end of the day, that’s what i care about the most. doesn’t matter as much if something’s good or bad as much as if i’m enjoying it. and i enjoyed quite a bit of zexal.

i did say it was my least favorite yugioh anime currently, however. which means there must be parts of this anime i didn’t like. so let’s get into the aspects of zexal i didn’t like. feel free to bail now if you’re not interested in that. i’m not interested in hurting any feelings or tarnishing anyone’s love for zexal.

yikes

for what it’s worth, i like the first half a lot more than the second half. most of the problems i have with the first half are also present within the second half, but the second half has a lot of unique things i don’t like.

i know i said something doesn’t have to be good to be enjoyable. anyone can enjoy bad things. i enjoy plenty of bad things! look, i watch sword art online!! i’m no stranger to the concept. but a lot of things i didn’t like about zexal were just...too glaring for me to enjoy anway.

let’s start with cards.

i think xyz summoning should’ve been pronounced as x-y-z and not x-eez. i hated it from episode one and i am still holding to that.

i don’t like tori’s whole fairy cheerleader archetype. i don’t like the way they all look. these things were in arc v, too, and given to a slightly better character but i didn’t like these things in arc v and i don’t like these now. arc v gave me something to look forward to when i needed it most, i don’t say many bad things about it. but i hate these things in both series they were featured in. i think that says a lot. it’s the combo of the hair and the eyes. their hair is way too big. their eyes tend to look bad. it’s just not a great look.

the series started off with a very simple set of rules for number cards: number cards come from astral, and there are 100 of them (and only number cards can only destroy other number cards, which is less important here). the first half of zexal stuck to that prett well. the second half of zexal just laughed at the idea of rules and said i’mma break them. characters are suddenly given number cards that go over the number 100. all these characters are barians. and these cards didn’t come from astral. what the heck! you’re breaking rules left and right! and then don thousand comes out with his stupid imaginary number, and then two duels later yuma comes out with his own new number, future number zero. you’re breaking all the rules. you’re breaking all my trust in everything. you’ve stopped pretending there’s any sense of rules entirely and you’ve started making things up as you go. i don’t like that!! especially imaginary number and future number zero had basically no explanation as to where these things come from, how do these characters have these cards? it’s one thing when yuma comes out with a new gagaga card or something, that’s acceptable and makes plenty of sense, but the new number cards don’t. also, don thousand, yuma doesn’t know enough math to know what an imaginary number even is.

astral’s whole deck angers me. astral is one of the most important characters of the series, and you couldn’t bother to give him any non-xyz monsters. his whole deck is spells and traps. you gave tori, who only duels once and isn’t very good at it, her own whole archetype, but you couldn’t bother to think of a single monster to give astral. and even then, the only xyz monsters astral uses are utopia forms, (not including shark drake and galaxy-eyes, who were only brought out to serve as material for a utopia monster. this is the laziest deck in the whole series, and you gave it to a major protagonist. like, the second most important protagonist in the whole series. i get he only duels without yuma once, but dude. i hate this.

i also really don’t like that the only number yuma and astral use most of the time is utopia. i know utopia was the first one they had together and it’s popular and shit. but there are other numbers! other numbers yuma gains! that i would like to see him use! but instead the show just...keeps giving him new forms for utopia? for some reason? at least on one occasion one of yuma’s new forms has like the same exact ability as another number yuma has at the time. it’s infuriating. to me, at least. plenty of other characters only really use one number most of the time the duel, but most other characters only really have that one number and maybe another form of it or maybe two other forms. yuma doesn’t have that excuse. i’m not saying i never want him to use utopia ever. i just like variety. if you’re introducing the idea of collecting a lot of things, i wanna see those things used.

i hate don thousand’s dueling gimmicks most of all. he gets access to the numeron code and uses it to cheat in his duels, even though kite has it and zexal really gave the impression before this point that you needed to obtain the numeron code to use it, but don thousand’s just like, i fused earth and barian world and somehow i can use the numeron code now. ??????? no fucking sense. on top of that, his cards are super unbalanced. i could not stand watching this duel.

i don’t like the literally no excuse given of other characters besides yuma, the arclights maybe, and the barians maybe, the literally no excuse given for other characters suddenly being able to see astral. being able to see astral required either special powers or special circumstances but then at the end of part 1 going in to part 2 characters were just like “i can see astral now!!!” and that was the end of this and this was the stupidest laziest thing ever. dunno if this was a dub-only thing, maybe the sub explained it, but it really bothered me and still does.

i don’t think chaos was explained very well, at least in the dub, and i looked it up later on and know pretty much what it is now but when you introduce new concepts and ideas, please explain them to me or else i feel like there’s literally no rules to the universe and characters are just making things up as they go.

a lot of the time in the second half, astral is written really weirdly and, not as good. especially post-vector reveal. i’m not talking about any stubbornness on astral’s part because that’s who he is. part 2 starts going in and after a while of it already going, astral just comes in and explains things to yuma that astral definitely didn’t know before. i know astral starts out with almost no memories and regains them all throughout the series but i don’t think any of this like came right after astral regained some memory. the numeron code seems to come out of nowhere, and oh, by the way, this thing can rewrite the entire rules of the universe. it’s a race to see who gets the numeron code first! except, uh, kite ends up winning it i think but that ends up literally not mattering because don thousand and astral both finds ways to use it without even having it. so there wasn’t much of a point of a lot of the duels before the don thousand duel, huh. that’s a lot of time wasted. and apparently astral can use the numeron code after regaining all 100 numbers, but. i don’t remember when astral first introduced that fact and when he got all 100 numbers. but it only is relevant after the duel against nasch and astral only makes any attempt to use the numeron code then. i don’t even know how he got the numeron code after that duel anyway. kite had it and he died on the moon. don thousand could use it without actually having it but then he was defeated. was astral always able to use it without actually having it like don thousand? why didn’t he does this before, then? everything related to the numeron code is vague and explained poorly and every time the numeron code comes up someone makes up some new bullshit thing related to the numeron code and i hate it. i hate the stupid numeron code.

back on track with astral. there’s other stuff besides the numeron code he seemed to know about without any real explanation. i do not remember a lot of them. besides the numeron code. i think i repressed the rest of out of annoyance. i think the worst astral was written was right before his duel with yuma. i get that astral intended to use the duel to help yuma and not hurt him. but he could’ve accomplished this without being an entire jackass. yuma’s mourning the loss of friends that he’s also blaming himself for. and then astral decides to resolve that by telling yuma that astral’s gonna go kill a bunch more people and yuma can’t stop him? that’s uh, not helping anything astral. you had other options to get yuma to duel (while yuma was in a state of not wanting to duel ever again) rather than telling yuma more people are about to die. the point of the whole duel was to remind yuma how to have fun in duels. but uh. when you put a bunch of lives at risk like that after a bunch of people just died, that’s not a great way to introduce fun. yuma promised astral to duel against him before astral left earlier on in the series! you had other options! astral acts like he doesn’t have other options but he literally does! there’s stupid stuff like this astral does earlier in the second half but i have forgotten the details. i get astral’s an alien who’s pretty socially awkward and doesn’t get earth people super well, but b the end of the series he certainly should understand them a little better, or at least, he should understand yuma pretty well, after hanging out with yuma literally all the time. it’s stupid! astral’s better than all this! there’s no way this is the fault of dub writing! unless 4k media made entirely new animation for multiple episodes. like. of the entire episode.

there were multiple times in the second half i didn’t understand character motivations in certain events at all and had to really come up with my own weird headcanons to make sense of it. this is probably largely a result of dub writing.

i wish the arclights were more relevant in the second half. most of all they did was watch things happen. they’re cool and powerful give them something to do.

kite felt extremely pointless in the second half of zexal. he was given a clear character direction to go after the first half and basically abandoned it the second the second half started. he had this pointless rivalry with mizar that only ever felt relevant when they dueled each other on the moon to get the numeron code. kite realizes he needs glasses. he wins the duel. and then he fucking dies somehow. and everyone else gets access to the numeron code. it’s all really stupid and makes no sense. i wouldn’t care about him not being as narratively important as yuma, shark and astral. kite’s not from astral world, kite’s not from barian world, and he doesn’t have any partnership with anyone from either world. at most, he thinks astral’s neat now. but they keep dragging along this stupid rivalry between mizar and kite that literally amounted to “my galaxy-eyes dragon is better than your galaxy-eyes dragon”, these two idiots dueled about it multiple times, and it was just pointless. it ate up too much time. i could feel myself aging. the second half of zexal had enough filler episodes that made me want to tear my hair out without this stuff.

i hate mizar so much. he’s probably my second least favorite character in the series. all mizar EVER does is duel kite over who has a cooler galaxy-eyes dragon, which isn’t even a question because kite’s is cooler and he had it long before mizar ever showed up which at most makes mizar a copier idiot. the most relevant thing mizar does is duel kite on the moon for the numeron code, but i’ve been over that. you could take mizar out without changing much. he’s by far the least interesting barian emperor. mizar is more annoying than kite ever was, and is more annoying than the other barian emperors ever were. and yet mizar lives longer than pretty much every barian emperor except nasch. he got the honor of being written out of existence by don thousand himself. radical. cool. get him out of my sight. i can’t stand him.

there’s a point where there’s a number shown on baby vector. i really wanted to know what was up with that and how it was relevant. this was never explained at all. i’m gonna assume this was don thousand altering vector’s memories or something and move on and never address it again because this show just did and said so many things without explaining any of it whatsoever. this stuff needs established rules and explanations. otherwise it just feels like everythings made up on the fly, it’s all completely random shit with not much planning behind it, that the writers don’t care...it feels insulting. i had this same issue with the infinity stones in the marvel cinematic universe. this is not something i just don’t like because it happened in zexal. i like knowing things.

so if mizar’s my second least favorite, who’s my least favorite character overall? i’ll tell you who

tori fucking meadows.

tori. geez. has there ever been a worse character? yes, mineta from my hero academia exists. but what exactly is tori’s crime? what has she done to make me dislike her so much. well, nothing. ‘nothing?’ yes. she didn’t do anything. but at the same time, she didn’t do anything. my problem with her is she literally does nothing, she barely has any sort of relevance to anything, and she’s annoying. i’m very serious. there’s only two things she’s ever done: she got possessed by a barian emperor to duel against yuma once, and there was that time she challenged yuma to a fashion contest, which was a little entertaining. those are the only things she’s ever done. and yet, somehow, she finds her way into every single episode. it is rare for an episode to go by without her. well, if she’s in so many episodes, surely she must be doing something of importance? nah. her only purpose is to cheer yuma on when he’s discouraged and to get distressed when yuma looks like he’s in a bad spot. this is not a joke. this is not an exaggeration. there are entire episodes where her only dialogue is “(sad voice) Yuma...! Astral...!” i constantly forget she’s there and then the show reminds me she’s there and i get mad because she doesn’t do anything. it’s either be sad about duel going well for yuma, or tori going “yuma you can do it” and yuma going “YEAH YOU’RE RIGHT THANKS TORI”. yeah, she doesn’t even give good motivational speeches, she just says the laziest most generic thing possible, and yuma just cheers himself up anyway because that’s usually what he does anyway. there’s not point to her being there. oh, and she got to be the damsel of distress once to convince yuma to duel. that’s great. lovely. that’s definitely not shady/shifty as hell. all girls are only good for fueling boys’ pain and suffering, right.

but lemme ask this. let’s replace tori with a very pretty lamp for the entire series. how much of the show would change? and honestly? it’d mostly be just like, bits and pieces of three episodes. she’s literally just taking up space. she doesn’t need to duel to be relevant and do meaningful things. maybe she could do more to help yuma convince astral that blowing up barian world is a bad idea, maybe she’s able to come up with the right words where yuma isn’t. maybe she catches on that something’s wrong with shark before shark switches sides, she doesn’t have to convince him not to and i’d rather she didn’t but she can be an uninvolved person to listen and tell shark it’s not an easy choice for sure but she supports him whatever he does and she’s sure whatever he chooses will be the right choice for him. maybe she could get astral some fashionable clothes. i don’t know! she could actually do something! i’m not asking much here i just want her to be something besides a generic love interest (gross) or a generic supporter with generic advice (annoying).

a lot of yuma’s friend group have similar similar issues, but at least they have parts to play. bronk’s probably the best written of the bunch in part 1 before he dissolves into randomly in love with rio taking over his entire life (gross). cathy honestly is better than average too. rio is exempt from this paragraph because she doesn’t spend too much time in the friend group before bailing to her past life which is valid. yuma starts out with only bronk and tori for friends but he gains a lot of friends during the number hunt. most of these friends were possessed by numbers and yuma befriended them afterwards because ultimately his goal is to have fun and make friends by dueling. but they all stick around and don’t not hang out with him and don’t do much after yuma helps them. yuma has way too many friends that he drags around with him everywhere, and then some combination of the arclights, shark, kite, vector, and rio is often there as well. It’s way too many people and no wonder most of them never do anything because often all the things that could be done are taken. Most of these kids need to stop following Yuma everywhere. For the most part, they’re all annoying, too. I really only care for Bronk and Cathy.

i get it. the protagonist always has friends that are ride or die and help them out no matter what. i get it. but there was never this many constantly around, often times they’d switch around each other if anything, and they always all were either relevant to the plot or played good important roles in helping the protagonist, and they always had development. i think the most development any of yuma’s friend group (ignoring brinks negative development) had was cathy’s hatred of dogs getting a bit less intense. flip’s literally a shitty dude who cheats and yuma told him “hey maybe be less shitty next time” a couple of times and flip said “sure” each time but then never put any effort into being better and just kept being shitty towards other people. caswell just...reiterates what’s happening half the time ans starts literally every sentence with “in the end”. all they’re good for is filler and zexal has really bad filler. they’re not good for anything. they should’ve showed up less at least after the heartland tournament arc if not sooner. i get that the whole thing is to show that yuma wants to make friends through duels but this is unnecesasary and eats up time that could be better spent on other characters who actually do things and who actually are relevant and develop and stuff. the protagonist’s friend group was never this annoying before zexal and it never was after zexal either. when they all got sent to barian world and stopped showing up for like ten episodes i almost finally new peace if those ten episodes weren’t like some of the worst content zexal had to offer.

there’s a lot of pointless boring uneventful unnecessary hetero shit all over the show, too. obviously, the whole deal with yuma and tori, while yuma really has no interest in romance at all and tori can’t take a fucking hint and then somehow the last episode decides to make them start dating for some reason. bronk falls for rio (understandable) and then in a filler episode asks for shark’s permission to date her (gross), shark misunderstands what bronk’s asking and is like “if you wanna deal with me or rio you gotta beat yuma in a duel first”, bronk gets it in his head that means yuma likes rio and duels yuma over rio (gross) and this is all supposed to be a funny whole series of events but it’s not funny and it’s kinda gross actually. orbital and lillybot!! yikes!! i don’t like orbital anyway. lillybot is amazing and great. the show decides to assign lillybot female (tori just says lillybot’s a girl and we’re supposed to take tori’s word for it i guess) so obviously the assigned male robot and the assigned female robot have to date, right! they MUST like each other because he was a boy robot, she was a girl robot, can i make it any more obvious. it’s annoying and stupid. they have kids!!! they have kids for some reason!!! why do they have kids!!!!! zexal never interact with me about romance again.

the girls in this show really get the shit end of the stick, huh. i feel really bad for them. obviously we have tori. who was there the whole time but really didn’t do anything except be generically sad or generically positive. cathy’s a little better than that. she has a bit more personality going for her. she likes cats, she makes cat puns, she duels a dog, she did get possessed by a number... she’s got a few things going for her, but she doesn’t do much either. she doesn’t do anything worth noting in the tournament in heartland, she barely does anything of note related to the barian emperors or don thousand. so that’s not much better. rio probably got the best treatment of any of the girls in zexal. she is a major player in the second half of zexal, being one of the barian emperors. she’s got a very strong personality and did plenty of important things. she helped her and her brother deal with the barian emperors before realizing she was one herself, she reclaimed her title of barian emperor and tried to kick vector’s ass. rio and shark brought a lot of life to each other. she revealed her brother’s need to sleep with a nightlight and she was allowed to be good at dueling! but also, she spend the entire first half of the show in a coma. she wasn’t allowed to have any part in the show before astral and the barian emperors did their thing. so in a way, rio also got the worst treatment, too. discounting rio, though, i think the girl who got the worst of it was actually kari.

i know, i know. kari’s an investigator, a journalist! she’s always after a scoop, she’s always looking after yuma, and she deals with old friends/enemies. she’s not just some generic friend like tori, she’s not in a coma like rio! kari’s great! and i love her! but this isn’t just about girls not getting to do things that matter or girls not getting to have personalities. this goes in a bit different direction than that. she wanted to go out and explore with her dad, just like yuma did, but her parents always brushed her aside and made her do more “girly” things because “girls can’t do what yuma and your dad are doing”! she didn’t get a wole lot of agency in her own life. her parents all but told her that yuma was more important than her, that he had this big destiny related to dueling and that all she was good for was watching out for yuma and making sure he was okay because she’s his older sister. and then both her parents disappeared! and she was just left with that! she grew to hate dueling, to push yuma away from it because their parents basically told her yuma would be in danger because of dueling. which is a totally understandable reaction to your parents telling you that out of seemingly nowhere! except the show doesn’t treat it that way. the show puts her in the wrong for not liking dueling! because everyone has to like dueling kari!! how dare you not like card games. how dare you have any interest in anything else. i’m surprised she’s not more bitter towards her parents for this whole fiasco. she just gets slammed into a caretaker role because girls can only be love interests or caretakers! (tori, cathy, and rio were all set up as love interests at least one time or another, while yuma would rather eat another hot dog than deal with that) but honestly, she does her best to do what her parents told her: take care of yuma during his big dangerous dueling destiny. she watches out for him, she tries to steer him clear of the thing that’s supposed to be dangerous for him. and as a journalist she has to be constantly up to date on current events and happenings, so if something happens that might endanger yuma with his big dangerous dueling destiny, kari’ll probably be on of the first people to know about it in all of heartland. that’s not to say that’s not the only reason she took up the profession. she definitely seems passionate about what she does, she takes it seriously, i’m sure she does actually like being a journalist, but it does help with yuma, too. her parents basically forced her life to go exactly one way. and that’s not shown in a bad light against her parents! if anything, the show basically acts like it’s kari’s fault for not being happy about it every second. all this while yuma gets to be whoever he wants to be and do what he wants to do their whole childhood, he gets a lot more freedom than kari for sure. yuma got the childhood kari wanted and she’s not allowed to grieve what she could’ve had. because it’s not just “kari’s parents forced her into a very specific role for her life and gave her no choice in any of it”. that can actually be a really cool thing to explore. i love chazz princeton! kari has plenty in common with chazz! but i don’t like this setup like this. chazz got to be right about being bitter about what his brothers did to him, about breaking away from them and living life the way he wanted to. but making kari’s parents the right ones in this whole situation is just kinda gross and disgusting. if you’re gonna frame it like that don’t bother. cannot stand the “your parents are always right” sort of shit.

speaking of? goddamn i hate kazuma. i hate yuma and kari’s dad. i would say he’s the worst dad in all of yugioh, but he didn’t start an interdimensional war, so we’ll say he’s the second worst dad in all of yugioh. ...if i tie dr kogami with leo, but either way, leo, dr kogami, and kazuma are the top 3.

how can kazuma be in the top 3?? with leo and dr kogami?? leo and dr kogami are evil villains!! kazuma’s not a bad guy! he helped give yuma more self-confidence! he wanted peace between astral world and barian world!

first of all, if you skipped the paragraph related to kari, go back and read it. it’s required reading for the “why kazuma sucks” portion of our program tonight. okay good, you read it. here’s more reasons why kazuma’s a pretty sucky dad.

this here is a bullshit man.

kazuma had good intentions, i think. he wanted to be a good dad but intentions don’t really mean a damn thing when you look at the results.

pre-zexal, kazuma tsukumo knew about yuma’s destiny and told kari about it. how did he know this? how did he figure this out? that’s a good question. i have no idea why he knows about yuma’s destiny, or how he knows about it. the wiki just says he “showed great intelligence and foresight”, whatever that means. my best guess is that honestly? once kazuma saw what was happening in astral world, he created yuma’s destiny himself. he gave the key to yuma, and then he fucked with astral’s shit so that astral would meet yuma. yeah, kazuma looked at everything going on and was like “i’ll put it on my 12 year old son to save three worlds at the same time! what could go wrong”, and told kari about it beforehand and was like “lol kari can’t do it she’s a girl so i’ll just decide her entire life for her a different way”

uh, clearly yuma was not emotionally capable of dealing with the shit kazuma pulled him into. yuma was ready to never duel again because dueling killed his friends. and then kazuma talks to astral about the whole thing and is weirdly smug about the whole thing related to yuma’s lost friends and lost love for dueling. so like...was that part of your plan or not? do you give a shit about your son’s feelings regarding your whole plan for his life or not?

after yuma falls into a portal in the hell dimension he ends up being a prisoner on astral world. which was definitely not explained well in the dub. but he and his wife just hang out freely and openly in remote parts of astral world so he sure as shit doesn’t look like a prisoner. and while he’s there he certainly looks like there’s no place he’d rather be. wait, his wife? how did she get in astral world? that’s a good fucking question and i sure would love to know. i guess she’s not allowed to exist outside her relationship with kazuma.

after kazuma is stuck in astral world, everyone thinks he’s dead for a while, but then when everyone finds out he was alive, he’s treated as this all-knowing projection/recorded hologram who is always right about everything. he always has all the answers and if we don’t know what to do about something then kazuma definitely knows! and after he appears to die he can sometimes appear to people somehow, how he can do that is never explained well at least in the dub, and there are arbitrary conditions to it also never explained in the dub. he can appear in the emperor’s key. he only really seems to do this once to have a weird conversation with astral, and then he also...was able to help vetrix make a barrier during yuma and nasch’s duel, somehow? i mean, i get tron’s whole thing, but kazuma, not so much? if he can appear to astral and vetrix why does he never try to connect with yuma? i’m guessing he probably can’t appear to yuma directly but he never tries to leave a message with astral either. he has these arbitrary weird abilities never explained well (in the dub, at least) and it feels like he’s playing calvinball to make himself seem like a hero or something.

honestly, everthing about yuma’s dad being seemingl dead but still alive, creating his son’s destiny and being this vague benevolent being who is always right and is never allowed to be seen in a bad light related to the consequences to his kids for his meddling, it all seems familiar....

that’s right! it all comes back to sonic!! once again i am literally unable to talk about anything without bringing up sonic, i always bring everything back to sonic!!!

i explained this all a lot better a year ago so i will let myself speak i guess

obviously kazuma isn’t as bad of a person as locke the echidna, not nearly as bad, but there’s parallels, anyway.

so if you agree that yuma is the old comics knuckles of yugioh, if you look at the bad dads section of this article (in case you think i wrote it for some reason, which i didn’t, thankskenpenders did) you can understand why locke is a horrible dad, and looking at the similarties pointed out between locke and kazuma (again, locke is a much worse father than kazuma) you can understand more why i hate kazuma.

so, yeah. i can go on and on about all the things i don’t like zexal. the writing is sometimes sexist and lazy, there’s way too many characters hanging out with the protagonist and most of them have nothing to offer. sometimes things just don’t get explained, or are barely explained. it’s a big ol’ game of calvinball sometimes. and i am aware and accept that some of this is the fault of the dub writers. but there’s also a lot of good things i like about zexal! astral, shark, and yuma were all written really well! there were some really cool monsters in this show! there were some moments of good jokes! the show had good messages and a lot of characters had complex motivations you can sympathize with even if you don’t agree with what they’re doing. this show was very good at being yugioh. and it’s a pretty good show in my book. i enjoyed watching it! it just doesn’t happen to be my favorite yugioh. or like. anything but my least faorite yugioh. but that’s okay. really, the most important thing with watching a show isn’t how well it’s written, how good the visuals are, or anything like that, the most important thing is whether you enjoyed it. and i enjoyed it!

i enjoyed watching yugioh zexal.

if you followed me through my journey watching the anime, thank you. i appreciate it.

this isn’t the end of my journey through zexal. i intend to read the manga too, so when i do get to that, if i end up wanting to post any screenshots or anthing i’ll be using the same tag. that’s sure to be an interesting journey as well.

but anyway. if you read this entire post, thank you. this is over 8,000 words long, damn.

#zexal liveblog #long post 235

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gauchebistro · 4 years

Text

1000 episodes of yugioh

With the first 6 series(Not counting season 0 or capsule monsters), total episode count is at 972. Sevens is currently at 11/12 episodes. So just 16/17 episodes left for the 1000th overall episode.

It's been a wild ride, and I'm happy I have been able to be on it up to now. There were times I left, and times I came back. But my love for the series and game is eternal.

As many others, I grew up with the dub of Duel Monsters. Being a child you don't tend to think too much about the dubbing, and obviously they did it right enough to hook people. That being said the dub has had some significant issues during the run, namely skipping two series last bit of episodes. Fortunately, since Zexal they have finished each(Haven't checked on vrains but I'm sure they will finish it too). Other issues become more preference based. Such as voice acting and story changes(Mainly done to make it more kid friendly). At the very least many can find comfort in the hilarious dubbing changes, be it because of the actual jokes or the absurdity of it all.

I didn't start watching subs until 5D's, which ironically I only did because of the dub for that series. Like with GX, they never finished dubbing it. Being invested and wanting to know how it ends I decided to watch the subs. Which opened up a whole new world for me. As for GX, I was able to see weekly pics of each episode while it aired in Japan, do not finishing the dub at the time then wasn't an issue.

5D's itself opened me up. As with many, my first reaction of the series was "card games on motorcycles? The fuck is this?". So I didn't actually watch it right away. It wasn't until they started airing the dub in canada(which was probably a month or so behind the us) that I actually sat down and watched an episode. But the moment I started watching I was hooked and started watching every week again. Now, it might have helped that this was early in the series still, during the time in The Facility. Where the first duel was against either Bolt or the prison guard. Both of which didn't use Speed Dueling and I think the only Synchro was from the guard. Even still, I wasn't put off by Speed Dueling or Synchros when I started seeing them.

Enter Zexal and history repeats. First reaction was "Nope!", and I was back on judging before watching. But it didn't take too long for me to decided to watch it. I think I started when 20th so episode had aired in Japan. So i had 20 episodes to binge, and binge I did. Hooked after the first episode. At that point i realized, maybe I like the series overall and shouldn't just close myself off to it because of petty reasons. And boy am I glad I decided to watch Zexal.

Not only did my love for the anime get renewed permanently, but I also started buying cards again...maybe a bit too many. I also decided to watch all the previous series again(Again season 0), all in subs. So I got to see the entirety of GX for the first time, as well as see the original content for DM. And from Zexal to Vrains, I have basically been watching a new episode each week. And it's been amazing(I do have to still finish Vrains though. Pretty sure I'm at Soulburning vs Revolver take 2, so not many left, also know what happens from then to end, but still want to finish watching, just been putting it off...for a while). Sadly, the anime went on a bit of a break at the end of Vrains(6 months I think?), so I didn't have my weekly dose of yugioh(at least for the show, I have friends that I dueled a bit).

As for the actual game. As I said, I bought a lot of cards...like...a lot. At the time i was working at a dollar store that had 10 card repackaged packs for 1 dollar(plus tax). So I bought a bunch of those. Obviously, they weren't amazing cards but they were from more recent sets(Zexal era), so getting no normal monsters was nice. I did go overboard though. Probably got at least 150 packs in total from there during my time. Which means 1500 cards. Eventually I wanted better cards and at first went to places like walmart(big mistake, cost more), then I found an actual card shop. I still was going overboard though, heck I've been over boarding it for like 5 years now I think. Now I don't know how many cards I actually have but I'm 99% sure it's over 10000 so...yah. I choose to not think about the money. I have decided to cut back this year though(Which actually was easier than I expected, albeit a global pandemic probably did help a bunch). Even still, I have 20 decks I'm focused on right now(Was at least 40 before, probably even 60), so it's still a bit but...I like the cards...I can't help myself.

I could go on and on. Like how watching Zexal helped kept me going in life, or how I love each series and will forever have sold my sold to the card devil. But I'll leave it there.

I plan to continue to watch the series to come and play the game with whatever changes that are made. Seen first few episodes of Sevens and I enjoy it so far, gotta continue though(And finish Vrains!). I am glad there is no new Summon method this time though(Although I want a red type of card(I still don't get why Links were done blue)). I think the game is at a good point with different methods, feel adding new ways to duel is more ideal(Although I'm not interested in Speed Duels or Rush Duels). Regardless, I'm still very much in love with this franchise, probably only being beaten in love by Pokemon but even then it's close. So thanks Yugioh for all the great times :)

P.S. I'm still waiting for a fuckingbwold archetype, even a werewolf archetype would do, or even a series. But Aloof Lupine is a great wolf so thanks for that at least(And Performapal Silver Claw).

#yugioh #gonna do a bunch of posts for 1000th episode

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spiritsncrystals · 5 years

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Yusei Fudo

Oh another!

What i like about them/dislike about them

Now what do I wanna say about yusei..

Tbh i quite like his personality. (atleast where its interesting when shown.) i mean he's not exactly the most emotional. (i don't think I've seen him cry other than brunos death- i can't remember)

I mean also the meaning of his name being in reference to the yusei gear is something i like because (despite saying that the centre gear that keeps everyone turning being duel monsters/speed duels) in a sense to everyone else he's like the center gear that keeps them perusing. He's pretty much the centre gear to team 5ds. Everyone trusts him and he trusts them. And i like to think of it that way (thank ep 80 for the whole gears anonolgy). Tbh what i don't like about him is actually hard to say. If I had to shame anything about him. It'd probably be the fact that he's had only 1 technical loss (via flashback) i personally would've been OK if he lost once or twice more just so people don't consider him a Mary sue bc his almost perfect win loose rate just because having a few losses kind of builds up to the protagonists because they have to find a way to over come them. And it would've been nice to have seen yusei just have a brief period where he goes over where he needs to improve to win but trust me I'm not really someone who tends to moan on that much at all (you can stop your complaining those who do see him as a bit of a Mary sue now. I mean hey Vrains is literally 2 episodes away from ending and yusaku/playmaker has pretty much won all his duels. But don't start shaming him either ok.)

What i like about their appearance

1. The crab hair is good both shape wise and color wise. The black and gold definetly suits him

2. Under the jacket is a tank top and i appreciate tank tops.

3. The WRC outfit 👌🏻

4. Ok yknow that one episode where he bruno and sherry snuk into that place and yusei kinda looked a little like a girl- i appreciate that look too

Do i use dub or sub names for them

It's a "yu in first name" protagonist it's exactly the same either way. So there's honestly no change.

Favourite card they used

Hmm.. Tough choice. Tbh in the anime it's gotta be a tie between stardust dragon and junk berserker or destroyer. But in the manga yknow how yusei wasn't the one with a kuriboh in the anime. Well in the manga he has a kuriboh too. Junkuriboh! I just appreciate him a lot (along with the other manga kuriboh that belonged to the other protagonist who didn't have a kuriboh in the anime)

OTP

It's clearly him and the motorcycle

Ok jokes aside

The top 4 would have to be (in no particular order.)

Kingcrabshipping

Faithshipping

Toolshipping

Synchroshipping

NOTP

Not sure if anyone even does ship it but i definitely wouldn't be a fan of if someone shipped him and z-one (it's not a selfship because zone isn't really yusei he's just someone who happened to clone himself to look like yusei.) i just wouldn't see it working

Also the twins are definitely not an option.

OT3

Kindredshipping i mentioned this before when i did judai so the logic is exactly the same here.

Idk if this ship exists but i think yusei x jack x bruno would be an interesting premise.

Yusei x atem x yusaku. I've seen people ship yusei with yusaku and im just curious to how 3 people with more a less similar wavelengths would be together

BBT shipping (self explanatory) . Im half joking here.

Favourite scene they were in

Im kinda all over the place with how much I've watched of 5ds but i quite like the scene when whilst yusei and bruno were working on making a new engine for the WRC and they talk about the revolutionary that yusei's dad Dr. Fudo set with speed duels and that and how they talk about yusei being named after the yusei particle year and then the whole thing about the center gear being duel monster n that. I just find it an interesting analysis. And kinda cute.

Least favourite scene they were in

Can we just talk about what the Heck was up with his motorcycle from 71-2 and then bbt bc apparently back in ep 71-2 it could only fit one and so aki had to perch on the back. Meanwhile in bbt there's now room for judai to fit on it as well- I mean it just seems strange that's all I'll say to it

Would i fuck marry or kill them?

Excuse me he can fuck his motorcycle

Marry whoever he wants

And probably kill Godwin or some other major ass.

So that's not my decision.

I'd just either hug him or shake his hand or something.

#Yugioh 5ds #Ygo 5ds #5ds #Yusei fudo #I mean who wouldn't say about the motorcycle.

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3w-writer-with-wings · 5 years

Note

Maybe Judai for the ask thing? (ㆁᴗㆁ✿) if that hasn't been done of course ^^

Why I like them/why I don’t

To be honest I didn’t like Judai that much at first. He was cute but other than that he was just an average overpowered character to me and his outgoing persona didn’t really help. The first time I watched GX it was in my native language dub and Judai happened to have the same voice as a character from another show that was extremely annoying, so I wasn’t that fond of him at all. Around the end of the first season, the airing stopped and I continued with English dub and while he was slightly likeable with a different voice I still didn’t like his character at all. But then season 3 happened… and it changed my mind. He felt like an entirely different person and the plot finally started getting interesting. It was like the new season made him start taking things seriously and with each new episode, it felt like he slowly started revealing his true self. And at that point, it finally started making sense why he was so happy and outgoing the first two seasons - he was lonely as a child and card games was the only thing that made him happy, so it makes sense that once he got accepted to school all about card games where he met new friends made him all excited. This was already hinted once in season 2, after his loss to Edo where he could no longer see cards and was convinced he has nothing else to do in Duel Academy so he just left. From all protagonists, Judai has by far the most unique development and from where VRAINS is now, Yusaku is likely to follow Judai’s journey of self-discovery. In a way, both of them are complex characters that are dealing with their breaking points in their own way.

One other thing that I really love about Judai is his ability to talk with Duel Spirits. There have been several characters in other series with the same ability, but no one had as much focus as Judai had. I absolutely loved his connection to Yubel, about how obsessed she became with him to the point of hurting other people and how much she wanted to protect him at the same time. The fact that Judai uses Super Fusion in order to merge them together was a really nice conclusion and in a way, it symbolized the fact that Judai matured.

What I like about their appearance

The fact how normal he looks compared to other protagonists XD. Like seriously all protagonists are either embodiment of rainbows (Yuya and Yuma) or edginess (Yugi, Yusei, Yusaku) and Judai is just an ordinary teenager in a simple school uniform and a puffy hairdo that looks like a Kuriboh.

Do I prefer their dub names or original names?

Judai and Jaden sound very similar so I tend to switch them depending on the situation because some of my friends are not familiar with his original name. In my fanfics I use his original name most of the time, but honestly, both versions sound okay and are not that different compared to some other dub names.

OTP

Spiritshipping all the way! Judai X Johan is not only my favourite GX OTP but my second favourite OTP of all Yugioh series! (they are just a little behind Keyshipping and Puzzleshipping). From the first episode where Johan showed up when Ruby and Winged Kuriboh played together and when Judai welcomed Johan to the Duel Academy, I knew there was something special about to happen. And boy was I not ready for this! The way those two dorks interacted with each other, how others described Johan as “Judai with a southern accent” and just every scene where they showed up together - it was a blessing! And when Judai went to look for him and how he sank deeper and deeper in depression while trying to find him was absolutely heartbreaking. And when Johan came back and Judai was instantly better was just so wholesome to watch. In my headcanon they really are more than friends, they just don’t show it that obviously and I’m completely fine with it. Their personal lives shouldn’t interfere with the plot and deep down I believe that they settled down once Judai returned from his travels. In my perfect reality, they founded a school for people who can also talk with the Duel Spirits and the two of them help others control their abilities.

NOTP

I’m not really sure about Fusionshipping… It just doesn’t feel like a ship at all. I already hate Ryou’s overall character since really, he duels just for power. To him, Judai is not even a rival, just a mere opponent that might pique his interest if he is strong enough. Even in the show, he appeared only when the plot demanded him to do so and had little to none motivations other than power. I completely lost respect for him when he said he wanted to duel Supreme King aka. Judai’s alter ego ALL WHILE JUDAI WAS UNCONSCIOUS AND SUFFERING FROM TRAUMA INDUCED FEVER JUST A FEW METERS AWAY FROM HIM. Like dude chill out, not everything is about power. I was so glad Edo called him out on it cuz seriously this dude would be the worst possible boyfriend. It was even worse when he tried to “help” Judai overcome his trauma cuz really he had zero empathy to help someone as traumatized as Judai. If those two were to date, it would either be over fast or would result in a really unhealthy relationship.

OT3

Competitorshipping or Jun X Judai X Johan is actually something I didn’t know I liked. I do ship Judai with both Jun and Johan, but I’ve never really seen all three of them together. This all changed when I got a request as a secret santa to make a story with three of them as a functioning relationship. I wanted to change a request at first since I’m not keen on writing threesomes, but the more I thought about it more I thought it could work. So in my story, I made Jun and Judai into childhood friends that befriend a transfer student Johan and together they become roommates during their college years. After graduation, they separate for a few years, Judai travelling overseas to pursue his career in acting and coming book illustrating, Jun marrying and getting a son and Johan opening his own clinic. Eventually, they all live together again since Judai gets a new job nearby and Jun divorces and gets custody of his son. Johan and Judai help him raise his son and the story continues with Johan and Judai adopting a child (my OC). If you’re interested you can read it here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16790146/chapters/39405268 I still have three more chapters to go. While I was writing it, I realized just how much the three of them interact in the anime, especially with all bonding over the fact that they can talk to Duel Spirits. It’s a relationship that could as well work and I’m sure they feel the same way about it.

The favourite card they use

It might be useless, but Winged Kuriboh is by far my favourite monster in the whole GX. It’s simple but gives away just enough nostalgia to make it work. I love how much Judai interacts with it and in a way Winged Kuriboh is his constant companion, providing him comfort whenever it can. I also love how it used to belong to Yugi and was given to Judai because “something was telling him it belongs with him” like Yugi could hear its voice. In my headcanon, Yugi knew Judai was a reincarnation of the Supreme King and gave him Winged Kuriboh so the spirit could help him control his power. Winged Kuriboh is not just a spirit, it is Judai’s partner.

The favourite moment they were in

When Judai merged with Yubel it was like Judai made a huge step in his life. For the first two seasons, he approached his problems with confidence and a grin on his face. He was having fun, not really thinking about his actions. This was all a mask to run away from his past of loneliness and fear. With season 3 the past finally caught up with him and he was forced to face it. Yubel wanted him back after she was discarded and Judai knew it, afraid she would find him again. After seeing his friends fading away, succumbing to Supreme’s King power and being scared of using Fusion, Judai is literally lost of what is he supposed to do. In the end, he finally faces Yubel, claiming all responsibility on himself. It may seem like Judai succumbed to his yandere stalker when he played Super Fusion, but from what I’ve seen it, he did it as a way to apologize. It’s true that it was his parents who sent Yubel to space and he couldn’t do anything about it, but for someone who has a superhero deck, this was Judai’s heroic sacrifice. He was scared and unsure of what could happen, but in that single moment, he made a very mature decision. He knew Yubel would only stop once the two of them are together again and he did it so his friends would be saved. This was when he truly acted as a hero, giving everything up to save someone who has been putting him in so many dangerous situations, because when he forgave Yubel he was ready for the true battle.

Least favourite moment

A basically entire first and second season when he acted like the way overpowered character. I know this was necessary for his later character development, but some episodic plotlines and duels were just plain stupid and completely unnecessary considering how many of them were there already.

Would I fuck, marry or kill them

How about if he adopts my child OC? XD Yeah I would definitely marry this dork. He is sweet, childish and full of energy and at the same time he is mature and knows how to handle the situation. In my slice-of-life headcanon he is an actor and comic book artist, living with his partner Johan and together they raise their shy adoptive son. I think he would make a great dad and would be great with kids in general, like organizing birthday parties, babysitting and having art workshops with children.

(Here’s Judai with my OC from my fanfic Safe in Your Arms ;) I used several references for this drawing )

#Judai Yuki #yugioh gx #yugioh series #Spiritshipping #johan andersen #chazz princeton #jaden yuki #the child on the drawing is my OC that shows up in multiple fanfics of mine #look for Hunter13Hawkie on AO3 and Safe in Your Arms #I drew the sketch #I'll color it soon

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playmakiing · 5 years

Text

@rxvclver // bounced from X.

| ϟ | The weeks following the Tower of Hanoi’s fall felt quick in comparison to the ten years prior. Time was faster, each day passing by quickly. Before his brother delivered the news of his captor’s demise, time crawled by ever so slowly, each day blurring together until all that was left was a void of despair. Jin had been trapped in the confinements of his own mind for a little over a decade, but to hear of hope? A light had begun to shine in his life, a trickle peeking through the dark. Meeting Playmaker--Yuusaku Fujiki--while an awkward experience for the both of them, was also an enlightening moment. While similar in their shared trauma and the aftermath of it, there had been one stark difference--Yuusaku took his anger and pain and weaponized it against his foe. Jin. . .turned away from it all and refused to come out for ten whole years. He would forever be grateful to the other teen for showing him a glimmer of hope, but part of him had wondered if his life would ever have any meaning.

And one day it did. After Jin began to move and talk again, Shoichi had quietly left behind the younger’s old duel disk during one of his visits to the rehabilitation center. Nothing was said about the item, but for hours each day since, Jin would hold the duel disk and stare at it. The loudest part of him said he should never duel again, dueling was scary and only going to inflict more pain on him. Yet there was a spark inside of him that gently urged him forward, telling him to face his fears and stand on his own two feet. Surely it was time for him to protect himself and not rely on others to do it for him?

Then he appeared. One evening as he gazed down at his duel disk, it began to glow brightly, and the next thing Jin knew, his Ignis had appeared before him. The younger Kusanagi hadn’t met Yuusaku’s Ignis, but he heard the tales of him--a goofball in a sense, sometimes cryptic but a vital part in defeating the Knights of Hanoi. So to see his own. . .it was a shining encounter. The Light Ignis--later to be dubbed Lightning--was calm and collective, seeking out Jin because he wished to learn more about humanity and its future. At first, Jin hides Lightning’s existence from his doctors and Shoichi, not wanting to raise any suspicions or concern, relatively. Yet a strong bond formed rapidly between the Origin and the Ignis, and it resulted in a great improvement in Jin’s recovery. It wasn’t long before he was given the all-clear to return home, but before Jin could introduce his brother to his new partner, disaster had struck in the virtual world of LINK VRAINS--a mysterious attacker was destroying parts of the network and the logged-in duelists were in danger. Shoichi had left in a hurry ( presumably to go to his truck to hack into the system ), and Lightning had persuaded Jin to log in. Despite him not being a duelist, the Light Ignis spoke of sensing something off in the network and wanted to investigate it for himself. With the added comment of being able to assist his older brother, Jin logged into LINK VRAINS.

And to both of their astonishment, the assailant was none other than Playmaker, the former hero of the digital world. Quick investigating revealed that the true mastermind was Ai, the Dark Ignis, and he had hacked his Origin to turn him into an obedient servant. The events following this attack fell like dominos, and far too quickly for Jin’s liking. After spending so much time in an endless sea of nothing, to have his whole life flipped upside down in a matter of hours? It was terrifying, to say the least.

While not a hacker and his overall dueling skills improving at a decent pace, Jin spent most of his free time sitting in whatever courtyard Cafe Nagi had access to, watching the world go by and assisting his brother with customers. Revolver--or Ryoken Kogami, whichever name he preferred--dropped by often; an ueasy alliance had been made between all involving parties, and he wasn’t sure what to think of it. This guy was the leader of the Knights of Hanoi, and while he wasn’t the mastermind behind his trauma, Revolver still owned up to it in a way. He was confusing and scary, but Jin couldn’t help but watch him. Something about Ryoken intrigued him, and he couldn’t put his finger on it. So when Ryoken’s body began to collapse in front of him, dark circles under his eyes from exhaustion, Jin instinctively reached out to catch him, arms wrapping around the other and he fell to one knee to support them both; his arms were still relatively weak, but it was better than letting the other hit the concrete at full force.

The moment his hands made contact, however, something bizarre occurred. The scenery around them shifted suddenly, and Jin found himself leaning against a railing as the starless night sky loomed overhead. In the distance laid another outstretched city, the lights dimly shining. The Satellite. . .the shambles of a former city where the people consider lesser and unworthy lived. Where he used to live. Whenever he happened to pass by this outlook, Jin couldn’t help but stare across the bay at his former home.

❝ I have had to tell him as well, but it’s dangerous to look over there for long. If anyone was to see you, they would suspect you. ❞

An airy chuckle passes by his lips, but Jin adverts his gaze to look behind him; even in the darkness of the night, Ryoken’s figure was all too bright and easy to see. Perhaps it was the stark white hair that glowed under the faint moonlight? ❝ What would they do if they knew? Kill me just like how they killed him? ❞

The gentle smirk on the older man’s face faded at the snide comment, and he sighed. ❝ Jin, you know I won’t let that happen, okay? What happened then was a tragedy, and I swear I won’t let either of you get hurt by this corrupt authority. ❞

Turning fully away from the railing, Jin steps towards his partner, not embracing him yet but slipping his hands into Ryoken’s, intertwining their fingers delicately. They fit together so perfectly, sometimes he couldn’t believe how fate brought them together. ❝ I know that, but I can’t help but hate this city for what they did. Why do we have to suffer so some hoity-toity rich people live life without a care in the world? ❞

Ryoken sighs as he presses a kiss to his boyfriend’s forehead, his voice low as he replies. ❝ I don’t know, but we can only work towards finding a solution. One day, Jin, we’ll find a way. ❞

As soon as the vision materialized around him, it was gone in an instant. Jin blinked owlishly, his attention back on the man in his arms--which are about to fail on him any moment.

❝ H-Huh? I don’t. . .what just happened? ❞

#❖ nothing left to save me | rxvclver ❖#guest muse | jin kusanagi #v; as long as you're with me there's no place i'd rather be | soulmate au #❖ corrupted data infects all | hacked verse ❖

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hell-howling-a-blog · 6 years

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I’ve been mulling this idea over for about a week now and lately I’ve been thinking that I might put this blog on semi-hiatus at least until the dub of Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS releases. I don’t really have any intention of seriously following the dub myself but I know that some people are waiting to watch it and would prefer to avoid spoilers, a choice which is perfectly understandable and I respect completely. While I try not to make any promises, this is by no means a goodbye to this blog. Lately, I’ve just been kind of swamped as it is on my other blog and I’ve got two other blogs idea on the backburner but like I said, this definitely isn’t goodbye and I’ll be back soon. Hopefully you also enjoy the dub! I can be found over at my other blog or I’m more than happy to add some of you on Discord. Thank you for understanding.

#( ooc; logging off. )

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skittymon · 6 years

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So after some encouragement from twitter, I’ve decided to write down my feelings about the Yusaku/Revolver rivalry, since their second duel is coming up, and I don’t have the highest exceptions in it, except that were bound to learn more about the Lost Incident, and Ignis.

Also to keep it fair I’ll be analyzing the past rivals only up to their second duel, with the exception of GX. That being said let’s dive in.

I’ll be basing rivals and their rivalries based off three points:

1. Their motivation to win.

2. Their effect on the protagonist, or vise versa.

3. Their threat as a rival.

Off the bat Revolver does hold for point three: he’s the leader of a terrorist group, however as a rival Revolver lost most of his treat, at least to me, after losing to Yusaku. Of course other rivals have as well, but I respect them more as a rival and character than Revolver. Let’s go over previous rivals.

To get the easy ones out of the way: Reiji and Kaito.

While both of their first duels against their protagonists ended inclusive, it’s very clear Reiji and Kaito would have both won their duel. Which is amazing considering protagonists is ygo are usually unbeatable. So their threat as a rival stands.

Not only that, their motivation which we learn well before their second duel against the protagonists is phenomenal: Reiji’s discover his father started an interdimensional war and wants to stop it, he’s a rival to Yuya to push him further to evolve him and his dueling so Yuya can become a powerful Lancer. Kaito wants to save his little brother who is suffering and gets off on pain now. He antagonizes Yuma and Astral because they hold the number cards that can save Haruto.

Finally, their effect on the protagonists. After Yuma and Astral’s duel the two are afraid, of losing and disappearing and I’m pretty sure after that Yuma goes to the Duel Temple, I may be mistaken. Yuya, learning other people can use Pendulum Summoning, shuts down once again and it takes a duel with Shuzo to pull out of it.

So both Kaito and Reiji are phenomenal rivals, the best if I might say.

And while both did win their duel against Yuma and Yuya the second time, those duels happen at later points (ep 72 (i think) and ep 51 of Zxl and A5 respectively) which is later than the presumably ep 34-36 range that the second duel of Yusaku and Revolver will take place, so these points were ignored will giving Kaito and Reiji their checks.

Next, Jack, since his first (on screen) duel with Yusei ended inclusive as well. However, according to Jack, Yusei would have won their duel had it continued.

So instead of effecting Yusei, the inclusive duel effects Jack and causes him to struggle and wonder if he is worthy of being King. So their rivalry passes the second check.

Now motivation, Jack’s motivation prior to their first is to find a better life than the shitty one he had in the satellite. He achieves this goal and vows to never look back. But when Yusei, his past, comes after him he strives to beat to prove that he’s better than Yusei, the satellite, that he’s better than garbage. So point one checks.

Point three for all the rivals from now one is gonna be iffy because they lose against the protagonist, and that to me, makes them not a threat. But for Jack, he didn’t technically lose, and as the final boss for the fortune cup and seeing his resolve to beat Yusei makes it hard to willingly want him to lose.

Next we have the interesting case of Manjoume, who sadly has never beaten Judai. Revolver has a good chance of being on this boat too considering than chances of Yusaku losing the duel with everything at stake is slim to none. But what makes Manjoume such a good rival in my book?

Let’s take a look at point two first: effect on protagonist or vise versa. Honestly, to me, Manjoume doesn’t make a difference on Judai, the only ones to do so are Ryou and Edo, but ho boy does Judai make an impact on him.

After losing his credibility from being defeated by a Osiris Red, Manjoume loses practically everything, favor from his teachers, his ‘friends’ and I’m pretty its at this point he loses respect from his brothers. So what does he do? He builds himself back up.

That episode where Manjoume is outside South Academy, looking for cards and climbing to the top has to be my favorite in season 1. Hell Judai was my favorite protag before Yuya came along and damn did I want him to lose so Manjoume’s efforts could pay off - point one checks out.

A well written ‘loser’ who may have never beaten his rival but damn do I want him to. 2/3 points to him, I understand why people would claim Ryou or Edo are Judai’s true rivals.

Finally we have Kaiba and Shark the two who lost their first duel against their rival, but won the rematch.

Now, only Shark actually won out of skill (granted season ones rules are bullshit), but I’m 80% sure Yuma was over confident in that match, I don’t remember. But lets look at the lead up to those duels since that’s where we are in Vr.

I’m gonna be honest and say I hated Kaiba for the longest time. He’s an asshole and at like six years old destroying someones property is the worst thing someone can do. But once Mokuba was introduced? I felt bad for the guy. HELL, he had to see Mokuba’s unmoving body - HIS ONLY FAMILY THAT LIKES AND HE GIVES A FLYING FUCK ABOUT.

Sadly I have to leave out the AMAZING second duel of their and what Kaiba does to be fair but I will say that point two checks out with Yugi after that duel.

But what about point three? Kaiba lost to Yugi before. HOWEVER, that won was practically bs as Yugi had managed to summon the one monster that legally causes automatic win, which was now lost. That win had nothing to do with either of their skills, just luck and what cards they happen to have. Without Exodia, Kaiba has a solid chance to defeat Yugi and with the title of World Champion (at least in the dub) Kaiba is very much a real threat. 2/3 points.

Now Shark. Shark is interesting in the fact he doesn’t have a point one at this moment in zxl, thats his entire arc. He doesn’t know what to do with himself so he turns to the thug life. This downward spiral started because he lost to Yuma. And Yuma was able to his journey to becoming a better duelist because of his first duel with Shark. Both influence each other greatly - just in opposite ways. Point two stays.

Now point three is very meh because with Astral’s help, Yuma can win probably easily but at this time in zxl Yuma and Astral relationship is...rocky with Yuma blatantly refusing Astral’s help. But seeing how Shark is even worse off than Yuma his threat as a rival doesn’t stick that well.

1/3 points however that’s intended in the story and Shark turns this around after their second duel.

Now how does Revolver stack up against the previous rivals?

I already stated he doesn’t have a threat as a rival and I mean it. ‘He has a powerful new card!’ Yea okay but....look what happens if Yusaku loses:

-Ema stays dead forever

-A bunch of other people will die

-Yusaku would have failed to protect the LINK VRAINS thus breaking his promise to that little boy and god forbid if a protag can’t keep a promise

-No more speed duels which is the series gimmick

-The actual end of the digital age thus no more duel besides table duels and no will watch episode of that

so I hardly doubt Yusaku will lose with all that’s at stake. At most Yusaku wins and Revolver somehow manages to take Ignis from his somehow.

So...no threat. In verse yes, but people watching? lmao hell no.

Point two, effects on the protagonist or vise versa.

....

I got nothing.

Besides getting information from one another (Yusaku learning more about the Lost Incident and Revolver discovering his one of the six kids) from their first duel to know they haven’t effected each other.

Yusaku didn’t stop the KoH, in fact more hooligans apparently joined based on the Another Incidents. No one in the KoH questioned Revolver’s authority despite losing to the guy who causing them the most problems.

The only thing that might pass is that Yusaku and Ignis’ relationship deepened but consider there’s a good chance Ignis is going to betray him I guess not. Oh and Firewall Dragon showed up, yea (not counting that as influencing since Yusaku could have potentially grab Firewall from any data storm).

So no point two.

Finally point one, what is Revolver’s reason for wanting to beat Yusaku?

Well that’s easy, he wants Ignis!

Why?

Because he’ll destroy the world as we know it!

How?

Uhhhh...

It is really worth putting society back to an era without technology?

Maybe...?

Yes, most likely we’ll learn the answers during the duel but that why I brought ulp the previous rivals. At this point, before any of the other rivals second duel against the protag we have learned:

Kaiba is dueling to save his little brother who’s soul was taken and has seen his lifeless body

Manjoume is dueling to get his respect back after we have seen him fall to the pits and valiantly brought himself back up

Jack is dueling to prove he is King, it’s his destiny, and that he’s more than satellite trash and he won’t go back there.

Shark doesn’t have purpose and Yuma has to throw himself out there to save Shark from ruining his own life.

Kaito is dueling to save his little brother who screams in terror and helps destroy an entire world.

Reiji is dueling to stop his father’s plan and to help bring peace back to the dimensions.

So while Revolver’s motives are noble, there’s not a lot of backbone to them. Does he feel guilty that his father’s project caused this? I know those professor people Faust and Ava did but does he?

I feel like I don’t know Revolver at all. I know about him, but I don’t know any of his emotions and that just makes him feel like a level boss for Yusaku to defeat, not his rival for the show.

So dude, for me of course, gets a soft 1/3.

So year here you go. I hope after this hyped up duel I’ll learn to like Revolver more cause haha he’s kinda disappointing to me atm.

#skitty rambles #vr damn it #sorry but had to get that off my chest #congrats if you read it all and I hope i made sense #and tell me if I made any grammar errors I'm very bad at everything

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kuriboo · 5 years

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so. yugioh vrains is over. the last episode has aired.and with that in mind, with three seasons of this show, i’ve still got a lot of feelings about this show. especially that last episode. so i guess this is sort of the final thoughts and feelings post about yugioh vrains. not the last post in general about yugioh vrains. just the big opinions post, i guess, because there’s a lot.

yugioh vrains was good

yugioh vrains was very good. i liked it a lot. and me liking it a lot is the only criteria here for whether i’ll say it’s good or bad. i liked it! so it’s good.

i’m also very thankful that vrains has broken a curse yugioh has been suffering for awhile now. we’re talking about the dub. and no, i don’t really care that much that the dub censored some bullets, i think it’s funny, but i don’t care otherwise. this is just about general dub quality. zexal’s dub was bad. written bad quite a bit of the time, and a lot of the voice acting was just, not good. arc v, i can’t speak for the writing, because i only have seen like ten episodes of it, which is to be fair more than most people on this website, but the voice acting in arc v is atrocious, it’s worse than zexal. i’ve seen 20 episodes of the vrains dub, and look, i know. i know arc v’s main villain sounded like iago from fucking aladdin, i know that dub yusaku is voiced by someone who did voicework in zexal. but in 20 episodes of vrains, there wasn’t a single voice i didn’t like. the voice acting in vrains is good. and the dub is written well! it’s actually funny! i think i actually laughed more with the vrains dub than the sub for those 20 episodes. you know how the zexal dub tried to be funny every episode but it was just obnoxious? vrains was actually funny. the jokes are actually good. it’s been awhile since yugioh’s been dubbed well, and it was refreshing. the only thing i don’t like about the dub is that it only airs in canada and it’s impossible to watch in like any way online. i’m not done watching the dub btw eventually i’ll be able to watch more and i will watch more and i’ll be back here in this tag. if nothing else, i’m hoping it joins the other yugiohs on hulu or something when the dub’s done in like, two years. and if there’s a vrains manga i’ll definitely read it but like. shrugs on that.

the show’s got big megaman battle network, code lyoko, and the world ends with you vibes. i’m not saying this to knock vrains or anything. i love vrains. but if you like any of those games/shows, and you haven’t given vrains a chance, even if you haven’t watched any other yugioh series, i highly recommend it. the card games in vrains were very secondary to the story itself, and i think that went a long ways here, it worked well.

so like, how was vrains, how did i feel about it

season one...season one was really good. in hindsight, season one had some good foreshadowing for season three. season one was probably my favorite season, though, but not by much. season one showed yusaku in school the most and i actually loved all the school scenes. revolver’s a really cool and interesting character, and while i’m glad he stopped being a villain after season one and went the sort of anti-hero route, revolver did make a really good villain. uncovering the mystery of the lost incident was fun. a lot of people guessed early on that revolver was both the person yusaku was trying to take down and the person he was trying to save, way before yusaku himself figured it out, but that wasn’t a bad thing at all. i’m pretty sure the show wanted the audience to figure it out before our protagonist, and the reward itself felt pretty rewarding. revolver has cool dragons, yusaku got a cool dragon, ai got insulted a lot, kusanagi was there, definitely a solid season.

season two was easily my least favorite season. bohman and blood shepherd kinda ruined it for me. thoguh, to be fair, blood shepherd didn’t do much. he gave us an excuse to get some takeru flashback, which we could’ve gotten through other means, and he sort of revealed judgement arrows and helped everyone be able to prepare for it, but like, anyone could do that. i hate blood shepherd a lot, but he’s easy for me to forget. i forgot him between episodes a lot, actually, and when he’d show up i’d have to be like, oh that asshole exists. bohman was worse because he was the main antagonist of season two. and he shouldn’t have been. bohman wasn’t a good villain imo! i feel like he wasn’t written super well. i can sort of make him work out in my head, but i don’t like him, and he kept just pulling ideas out that seemingly came from nowhere. he’d make these leaps that were hard for me to follow, and this was after lightning stopped messing with his memories. and since bohman was the main antagonist and because i really didn’t like him, it made it hard for me to enjoy season two. there were other good things in season two. takeru joined the scene in this season, and i love takeru a lot. i require apologies from everyone who didn’t trust my man takeru. lightning was a really good villain (lightning should’ve been the main antagonist imo), was very interesting, and i liked lightning a lot. and hell, haru was alright! i kinda wish they did more with haru. season two wasn’t bad by any means. we also saw the story of how kusanagi and yusaku met in season 2, and those were some of my favorite episodes of the season, along with the yusaku vs kusanagi duel. the story and message was good (though that doesn’t boost it up a ton given season 3 had the same messages) but honestly i just really don’t like bohman.

season 3 is very close to being my favorite season. this is the season of the protagonist having to face against their partner. it happens in like, any yugioh where the protagonist has a partner. vrains didn’t disappoint on that front. this season felt short! season two felt like it dragged on forever and season three felt short. it didn’t necessarily feel like it needed to be longer, when it ended, though. i just wish the show wasn’t over lmao. everyone got baited super hard like episode 1 when everyone thought queen would be the next antagonist after lightning + bohman and then she super wasn’t, which was kinda funny. most of hte time this season i was just yelling at ai to tell me the truth. i loved roboppy and ai this season. and im SO sad about what happened to them!! ai and roboppy were written really well, they made really good villains. i’ll definitely be making more posts about ai in the future. and also, that epilogue though!!! i didn’t get into it when i watched bc i was in a hurry, but!!! jin looks really happy, i love his haircut! and kusanagi is keeping the hot dog truck open so that yusaku still has a place to come home to! im gonna cry!!!! the knights of hanoi are all super good now and i love them. akira’s the ceo of sol!!! it’s what he deserves!!!!! and the whole takeru + kiku scene was really nice. everyone was screaming about that ship being canon now, which i guess it is? i didn’t read it as romantic, i read it as “kiku is a little scared about everything with vrains and takeru is helping her feel safe and secure, like, making sure she doesn’t fall off his hoverboard and shit”. i honestly read it more as takeru still being gay for yusaku while thinking about how cool yusaku is lmao. but i know yusaku + takeru will never be canon, i never thought it would be, and knowing yugioh, takeru + kiku im sure is supposed to be canon so like. it’s not a bad ship. i’m surprised how many people i see like that ship? but it’s just not for me i guess. im happy for yall who wanted this though. and that last scene!!!! we saw ai!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i’ll save thoughts on that another time i guess, including yusaku post that time skip.

i liked shima a lot this series. i honestly wish there was more of him lmao. i mostly wanted more yusaku + shima interaction, not in terms of shima finding out yusaku was playmaker, i just wanted the two of them to bond more. i wanted to see more of them being friends (read: shima forcing his friendship on yusaku and yusaku reluctantly goes along with it but actually likes it more as time goes on). and i wish we got to see takeru in the duel club at least once. takeru and yusaku both going to one meeting and yusaku sleeps through it and takeru is pumped and like taking notes and shit and shima is just like how can yusaku sleep through it this is the best!!!

aoi....i have mixed feelings on. i liked her a lot in season one, and i liked her a lot in half of season two. i really don’t like the blue maiden avatar (i did like blue girl!), and i preferred the trickstars over marincesses. i did enjoy her figuring out yusaku was playmaker though, that was a fun scene. i like aoi a lot still, love that girl, but after a point i stopped liking what they were doing with her.

they did ghost gal dirty. ghost gal was GREAT in season one. i loved her. and then they gave her a brother, her brother was shit, and everything about ghost gal got thrown out the window so that her character could revolve only around her shit brother. i feel so bad for her. i mean, i kinda get it? this whole thing’s about bonds, a lot of the bonds focused on were familial bonds (either in the blood family or found family sense, there was both). but ghost gal was already developing a sort of family-ish bond with akira and aoi by that point. i never felt like she needed anything else. she still could’ve done cool things in seasons two and three without having a shitstain forced into her life.

im madly in love with kusanagi and if anyone says a single bad thing about him i will stomp you to death with my hooves

i’m running out of people to talk about here i can’t avoid it anymore i’ll talk about blood shepherd now. i hate him. i hate him. he’s an idiot. i’ve yelled about this before and i’ll do it again. some shit happened to him because of malfunctioning ai or whatever. cool. great. now he has a grudge against all ai. that makes no sense. if im playing basketball and i get hit in the head by a basketball (by accident) am i gonna blame the basketball? no, i’ll either blame the person who threw it or myself for not noticing it and letting myself get hit. if i sprain my wrist playing volleyball am i gonna get mad at the volleyball? no, i’m mad at myself for messing up and playing in a way that caused that injury. if i get in a car accident because my car brake stops working, am i going to blame the car itself? maybe a little, but not as much as either the manufacturer or, if i recently had work done on the brake, the mechanic i visited. see, these things are all inanimate objects with no malicious intent or free will. since vrains is one of those shows, it may sound cruel comparing an AI to a car or a basketball. but the ignis (all generations, we’ll include pandor and bohman and haru in here for simplicitiy’s sake) are a special case. the ignis specifically stand out because they were made with free will. other artificial intelligence does not have that. it cannot have malicious intent. artificial intelligence cannot do anything it is not programmed to be able to do. it cannot hurt or kill someone, unless it is either programmed to have that function, or you’re looking at an ignis. and blood shepherd KNOWS THIS, because he became a hacker, and even REPROGRAMMED AN AI THAT WASNT SUPPOSED TO LIE TO LIE FOR HIM. along the way, he would’ve had to learn that somewhere. an ai malfunctioned and caused blood shepherd and his mom to get in a car accident. the ai itself isn’t to blame for that! that’s the fault of whoever made it!! or if the car was hacked to cause that problem, it’s the car manufacturer’s fault! you blame those people!!! and if blood shepherd went after those groups it’d be fine! instead he goes after artificial intelligences because he’s the biggest fucking idiot the world has ever seen. this does not make sense, even in the vrains universe, because again, the ignis are the only ai with free will and who can make their own decisions. any other ai cannot do something like this on purpose. the solution is to make ai better, not get rid of them. the solution is to improve security. not get rid of ai. at this point ai is so ingrained in society that you’re not gonna accomplish that anyway. oh, and i hate blood shepherd for what he did to ghost gal’s character. other than that, he was cool for two episodes before we learned his bullshit backstory, and he hasn’t done a single thing i liked since except he died twice, and i liked those parts. i fucking HATE blood shepherd. easily one of the worst yugioh characters ever. i could rant on about bohman, too, but im tired.

i don’t have bad things to say about a lot of characters. yusaku, kusanagi, jin, ai, roboppy, revolver, lightning, aqua, akira, earth, go onizuka, windy, i don’t really have bad things to say about them now that the series is over. i liked them a lot!!! they were really good.

i guess the bottom line of this is, i wish yugioh treated its girls and its “joke characters” or “comic relief characters” better. and i wish bohman and blood shepherd didn’t exist, or were executed better. other than that, very solid.

if you were curious about my preferred ships here, yusaku + takeru is the best ship this show has to offer and it’s a shame more people don’t like it, and miyu + aoi is really good. anything else is like, okay, but i don’t love it. the show’s most popular ships are fine but not for me. yusaku + ryoken is okay but doesn’t really work in universe for me, i don’t love it but it’s fine, and it’s aight in a like real au setting. i don’t think there’s any ships i don’t really like, not like, other than the obvious. but these two are the best.

all in all, vrains was really good. this show helped me through some real bad times, and will continue to do so as bad times continue. i love it lots, it holds a special place in my heart, and im glad i was able to watch it. im excited for whatever yugioh has to offer next, especially following this, because vrains is definitely one of my favorite yugioh series over all. it was a lot of fun and made me suffer and cry a lot and it was just...a good time. please watch it if you haven’t. thanks for going on this journey with me. i’ll probably end up talking more about bigger characters like yusaku and ryoken and takeru and kusanagi and ai more in different posts. ive talked enough here already

#vrains liveblog #long post 235

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