Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc-V

[Flash Flyer - Sakura]

There's also the fact that Yuya obtained Enlightenment Paladin / Nirvana High during his duels against Shinji/Jack, but do we see them after the Synchro Arc? Nope, they got shafted afterwards. Same goes for Odd-Eyes Raging Dragon; only used during his fights with possessed Serena/Ruri and against Leo Akaba (though I suppose we can say that was Odd-Eyes's Xyz form for Yuya's rage).

 

So yeah, final duel gets a bunch of cards that should've been brought up earlier on; not during the ending; and stuff that got introduced gets shafted and pretty much served as anime plot device. 

[Blake]

I also felt they squandered Yuya's growth at the end. Spoilers for the next bit.

[spoiler=Spoilers]

Yuya's revelation as the reincarnation of an unstoppable duel demon and the resulting buff to his card-ass-pulls and dueling was just... it ruined him, in my opinion. Yuya was established very well as a protagonist with losses and growth and imperfection, but in the final arc he loses so much agency, and especially with the final duels his victories didn't feel like he won because of the culmination of his growth and learnings, but rather that he won because he inherited OP duel powers through his nature as a Zarc piece and through the dimension dragons.

 

Those dragons in particular, they established them as way too good in-universe. It didn't feel like these characters were winning because of skill, it felt like they were winning because they could just ass-pull an Egyptian God on turn 1 and no other characters possessed anything to deal with them. The throw-away duelists, like the Yusho Students in Fusion or the Leo Duel School students in Standard, didn't feel like anything close to competent, and it made the contrast between the main cast and the normies just WAY too stark. It killed suspension of disbelief overall.

 

So, the last duel had a lot of energy, and I enjoyed how they employed action duels well, but nothing about it felt earned; Yuya's win felt hollow, and the resolution just felt way too sudden and way too bullshit.

 

 

I agreed with the rest of your post, and I can even see the logic here... I disagree with it.

 

Yuya is a character who lacked in confidence. He blindly followed the logic of bringing everyone joy, but he never really had confidence in himself or his execution of it, unless he achieved something in doing so. Pendulums, Fusion, Enlightenment, Nirvana, or then there's things like Battle Beast where he manages to move the g

oal to BB instead of himself.

 

You can see this even through the duel with Jack. He's scared of who he is, what he is. He doesn't want to embrace it. But when he accepts who and what he is, he gains the confidence to control and help the parts of him... All four of him. 

 

By commanding them to the degree he did in the last episodes, it shows that he's accepted who he, they are. And he commandsthem with confidence, to the point of sending OEWD in to die just to continue, without so much as flinching.

 

He earned them due to his struggle as a chararcter. He qwent through a lot of miniature versions of the Hero's Journey while also going through a giant one, almost to a tee (Reira subversion here and there). He didn't earn them due to getting better as a player, he earned them due to maturing as a person through acceptance of who and what he is. A reincarnated monster, four boys in one body, the son of a great entertainer, a lonely boy without a father, a struggling entertainer... someone who lost his best friend (and lover), who wants nothing more than to make people safe and happy.

 

His resolve to use the dragons to PROTECT instead of DESTROY was what he needed to earn them, in addition to accepting himself.

 

And I think that thinking these duels are anything BUT ideaology battles doesn't... work. Say what you will about ZeXal, but I think Arc-V did a decent to good job with these, more often than not, and it should have been obvious since Yuya v. Sawatari (Yosen) that this was the case. Bree and I have had no trouble looking past the fact these aren't actual card games due to this.

 

They really aren't games, at all, despite being presented as such. Jack is another great example of this.

 

i'll concede reiji in the final duel tho, that was just stupid, bree thinks the deck is actually stacked as part of the test

 

Xyz got way too much focus.

Yuya should have made Odd-Eyes Wing if not Venom before now.

Yuya gets DRXD in Episode 37, Couldn't he have gotten Clear Wing while he was in Synchro Dimension?

 

For that matter, Reiji was spouting about the next evolution of Pendulums but he didn't combine types until the last duel either.

 

Yuya and Reiji used 3 tailormade ridiculous cards all in a row each to pull out things that shoud have appeared throughout the series, not at the end.

No, Yuya couldn't have.

 

By having one of the boys be an antagonist, it no longer made sense for Yuya to get more than one of them before getting the fourth, as well. Having Yuri absorb Yugo made far more sense, and even if the series had been handled a little bit more smoothly, he realistically wouldn't have had any of them until the epilogue duels, anyway.

 

blame reiji on expensive VA for some reason

 

I mean, Reiji's cards were sheet, but Yuya's were actually dece.

 

evilfusion will be replied to soon

[Maeriberii Haan]

my boy FUSION didn't even get enough screentime in his own dimension

 

what a gigantic waste

[Expelsword]

No, Yuya couldn't have.

By having one of the boys be an antagonist, it no longer made sense for Yuya to get more than one of them before getting the fourth, as well. Having Yuri absorb Yugo made far more sense, and even if the series had been handled a little bit more smoothly, he realistically wouldn't have had any of them until the epilogue duels, anyway.

 

I don't know, with the way Starve Venom was portrayed as the strongest of the dragons (even in terms of ATK), it could have made sense for Yuya to need all three to beat him.

 

Honestly, I think the reason they didn't give Yuya the other dragons earlier is because they were too good. DRXD is tame in comparison.

 

But my biggest problem, absolutely, is the handling of Sawatari. You think he's gonna be like Chazz and actually have character development, and you can see it coming when he has Yosenju and nearly beats Yuya - he doesn't suck anymore!

 

Then he switches decks again, to something the writers clearly had no idea what to do with, as he had, I believe 6 off screen games in a row before jobbing in almost all of his other games.

They gave him character development just to throw it away for no reason.

 

He could have at least pulled some rare and powerful cards from time to time. Maybe he could sacrifice himself by paying for a Solemn card in a Battle Royale, that lets someone else make a comeback. Maybe he evens the playing field with a Torential Tribute, how about a Ghost Rare MST? Even that would be something.

Breakthrough Skill was his only high value card, and he never played it.

[Blake]

Preface: Have not watched from 118 through 135 or so, though I plan to. May be missing some things here and there, but Bree has watched some of it, and had very few issues with them.
 

Ooh, is this "review last episode/series as whole" time?
 
The thing about Arc-V is that it was extremely AMBITIOUS. They were from the get-go, not only introducing a new Summoning mechanic, but doing so alongside all the previous mechanics, and to make it even nicer, the use of the other mechanics was DIRECTLY tied to the plot, due to the Four Dimensions bit. They had a very interesting and diverse cast, and it looked like there could be some major character development, as Yuya started off the series essentially hiding his very blatant insecurities behind the facade of the fool.
 
My biggest problem with Yuya as a character, though, is that his ideals are...I hesitate to say "stupid", but it's ham-fisted at best. Dueling is for entertainment, to make people smile. A wonderful message, but executed in a horrible way for most of the series, making Yuya's speeches very cringe-worthy and some of his Duels descend into a farce.

The only bad duels for Yuya were Q&A jabroni, Shinji (on Shinji more than Yuya), and possibly Kachidoki. I can't think of one that was a farce, and his speeches were from a layman that wants the world to change, a child. They were supposed to be weaker, which is why they really only worked when they were DEMONSTRATED.
 

Now, I want to compare Yuya to Yuma (Zexal). Yuma tended to shove his feelings down peoples' throats, too, but I always LIKED when Yuma got REALLY passionate about his ideals and made his speeches about the feelings and hopes given to him by his supporters, and bonding through Duels, and his adamant refusal not to give up, because these ideals he got from his father. Maybe some credit can be given to Yuma's VA, because Yuma as a character tended to be obnoxious as hell outside of serious situations (and his amazingly passionate rants)...whereas Yuya BECOMES obnoxious as hell INSIDE serious situations.
 
And that's what bugs me when I think about it. Yuya doesn't really HAVE some incredible passion buried inside him the way that Yuma and Yusei do. When Yusei gets riled up and passionate, he's awesome. When Yuma gets passionate, it's awesome. When Yuya gets passionate...nothing. I can't think of any awesome speeches Yuya ever gave that reflected his passion towards his ideals and Dueling. The only times I can remember Yuya being badass in that sense is when he's in Berserk Mode, because he's much more forceful and intense.

And this is where I think people begin to impose what they want on the series, as opposed to what it actually was.
 
Arc-V is not like 5D's or ZeXal, ironically. It's not about the flashiness of the actions, it's about the desire and intent put into the actions. And this is very clear with Yuya.
 
He doesn't have passion like Yuma or Yusei, but that's because of the insecurities you mentioned. They never leave him, he struggles with them CONSTANTLY. This is very much a coming-of-age story, about the struggles and hardships Yuya faces, and people want it to be a story that's really more than that. It's... not, other than a basic moral of "hate is bad smiles are good mmkay".
 
And, as I touched on, he DEMONSTRATED his passion, instead of giving a speech. You can tell when he's passionate because he's smiling, getting into the groove, and just being fun to watch. He's not trying to use words in those moments, because he isn't a good orator, not at all... He's a fledgling entertainer, so he uses his performer's mask to deliver the message.
 
Referncing Berserk Mode actually makes this more apparent, because it goes back to wanting him to be a Yusei/Yuya. Yuya isn't like them, he's more like Yugi/Atem and late-series Jaden. The amount of love letter moments this series has for DM reinforce this as well, because Yuya is struggling with morality and ideaology, not with physical enemies. This is why he has such a hard time fighting back against even Academia, at times. He struggles with Shinji's rage, Sora and Dennis' betrayal, the loss of Yuzu, Jack and Reiji's condescencion and strength, Crow's different ideals, and so on.
 

Yuya's ideals are TOO idealistic. Whereas Yusei's passion was about protecting everyone, and Yuma was about bonds and never giving up. Yuya's is so bland and abstract by comparison. "Make people smile through Dueling". That's what it boiled down to. A facial expression and a flicker of amusement or enjoyment. It's not inspirational. They do deconstruct this a lot during the series, and near the end, Yuya IS a much more competent entertainer, but I don't really ENJOY watching Yuya during tense times, because he doesn't make the situation more intense and gripping (outside of his Berserk Mode), he usually does the exact opposite.

And this doesn't do it justice, either.
 
It's about smiles, but it's the sort of over simplification an adolescent (he's 14, so) would use. Let's go back to his insecurities again, for me to actually draw a map.
 
His father disappeared when he was 11. He lost any friends he had, other than Yuzu. Gong joined in, but he was still a lonely child, with low self-esteem.
 
He began to emulate his father blindly, despite doubting his ability to do so. To the point of shutting down entirely at times, because of a crippling fear of failure.
 
But then... this magical power called Pendulum appears, just for him. He can use it, he's special, and he feels confident to move forward, once he learns how to use it.
 
... Only to have it stolen from him physically, and later stolen entirely by Reiji. These were huge blows to him, because they made him not special anymore. They made him a normal human being who had to face his flaws again.
 
But! He made a new friend thanks to this power! And he showed lots of care for that friend. He never went on big, shonen-ass rants about why he valued his friends, but he ended up showing a desire to help them, save them, be there for them throughout the series. He couldn't articulate more than "Smiles", but he showed a desire to truly make things right.
 
... Then he lost that friend. Sure, he made more, but he lost some of them as well. Some to betrayal, some to "death"... And he had to struggle with his losses, again. I know I posted a big theory post about this a ways back, but it rings true.
 
Yuya has a constant cycle of gaining confidence and comrades, only to lose them again. He has no confidence in himself without them, and it makes it difficult for him to make it through those times. It was clear that he was in a bad place during most of Synchro, with the facility being one of the few times he seemed better. Because he was alone those other times.
 
It's not the same pronounced moral of friendship other series have, but it's still there. It shows how they encourage him, make him feel confident, and how he struggles when he doesn't have that backp, because he is so insecure.
 
It's not just smiles. It's about forming bonds, having fun, and being good people. But he can't articulate that, he's regularly shown to be bad at this. But he can show it through his actions, and those speak louder than words.
 

Story wise...oh boy. Firstly, Arc-V had a ridiculous amount of potential during the first 50 episodes (Sora vs Shun is still BY FAR the best Duel in the series. They never topped it. It's almost literally the only Duel I randomly go and re-watch...but even I think the Duel is only "good" immediately upon Sora Summoning Wheel Saw Lion (and not before that, because Sora imitating Yuya's catchphrases unironically makes me cringe)).
 
It...started to go downhill a little from there, from the beginning of the Synchro Arc, because it seemed to banking too much on the 5Ds nostalgia factor. Like...they literally did 5Ds Story Arc. Yugo (subbing in as the Yusei) gets into a run-in with a police officer for something he didn't really do, but technically is going to get him in trouble regardless, has a Riding Duel.. Ends up winning, losing officer is somewhat disgraced. Unlike Yusei's arc, this is not actually significant in the long-run, other than to have a reason for Security to be hunting down Yuya (same face).
 
Yuya + co get arrested, go to the Facility, break out of the facility. End up forced into a tournament that will fulfill the hidden agenda of the white-haired Security Bureau director, who is totally not a villain. (Am I talking about 5Ds or Arc-V at this point?)
 
The biggest misstep here was the "putting cast in different rooms all the time" bit. So...no chance for characters to shine much. And Sawatari was annoying as hell.

Going to agree with most of this, really. Not much to disagree with.
 

The series picks up a bit near the end of the Friendship Cup arc, due to the plot remembering that Yuya has a berserk mode, and Academia kind of still needs Yuzu. And...unlike the Standard Battle Royale section, TWICE as many Obelisk Force are sent...and they are repelled with absolutely no casualties, confirming that they do, in fact, follow Conservation of Ninjitsu rules, because later in Xyz, a single 3-man unit of them ends up being the most competent and not "absolute ass-holes) Obelisk Force members in the entire show.

Same, really. It's not a shock that we eventually found competent ones, but...

 

Stuff just got rushed near the end, and I don't really want to hold it against the series for that, because once the Professor explained the plot, things got crazy intense and it was awesome. Zarc's Duel DID kind of suck because it was clearly intended to be a "celebration" of all these characters from the different dimensions and seeing them team up against Zarc...but the deck was so stacked in Zarc's favor that it was stupidly unfair, and not in the way that Zone and even Don Thousand were, where the stupid unfairness was entertaining and enjoyable. The unfairness was too "meta", in the sense of "You can't play Yugioh, winning is all that matters". That seemed to have been the point, but because of that, I'd never WANT to go back and rewatch the Zarc gauntlet, whereas Yusei vs Zone and Yuma/Nasch vs Don Thousand are both worth seeing again.

I actually disagree here, but this may be more personal.

 

It's not a celebration of the cast, at all. It's a celebration of who Yuya (and Yuto and Yugo) touched with his life. It's not about the characters themselves, but about who Yuya is, despite what he's become. It's about struggling, clawing, and doing all they can to save him... Like he did for Yuzu, Sora, Reira, and others.

 

I found them enjoyable. With the exception of the sora section and crow, I feel it was very well written, and conveyed the battle well, as they slowly chipped away at saving Yuya, while also being a DM reference.

 

They just really screwed with the rest of the cast. Sora had so much potential after his Duel with Shun, and then they just screwed him over after the Standard Battle Royale. Gave him character development and conflict, sure, but then he got shafted at every turn. He helped beat an Obelisk Force trio, but his play was so long-winded to do it that it wasn't really fun, he beat the Pirate captain, who was legitimately not even being portrayed as a competent threat, and then he got beaten by Yuri...who was inexplicably using the Ancient Gear deck against him, and I don't even know how they GOT to that situation, or why the anime writers think Mad Chimera is GOOD enough to be Sora's ace, because it got REALLY irritating to see how often Sora uses that specific Edge-Imp, that LITERALLY only exists for Mad Chimera.

Agree with all of this.

 

Gogenzaka was badass, but they had him lose almost every Duel.

There's a reason for that, I think. 

 

Sawatari was amusing, became awesome, then became the cast member that nobody actually likes, is portrayed as competent, but is contractually obligated to lose almost every Duel and look like a colossal smug moron. Wait, did Sawatari ever actually win a Duel against a named character? Lost to Yuya, Lost to Yuto, Lost to Yuya again, Beat Obelisk Force, but didn't really contribute to that victory directly, that was more Gogenzaka and Shun, lost to Security, lost to Yugo, lost repeatedly to Academia forces...good god.

I think that's the point, and the in-universe reaction to him doing something to Zarc, albeit unsuccessful, should show the intent.

 

Sawatari is a mix between Chazz and the character people want Yuya to be; Flashy, appealing (when not whining about his dad), special, entertaining. He plays a deck similar to Yuya AND Reiji, after finding his preferred deck, and he's always trying to be the star, trying to be loudmouthed.

 

And he had good scenes, even if he was never a credible threat as a duelist. This goes back to Gong, though...

 

I think Gong and Sawatari lost because they don't really have any ideals to speak of. "Help Yuya", "Be the star", "Lancer"... That's it. They weren't given proper motivation or ideals, and it cost them duels.

 

I don't neccesarily agree with this tactic, but I can see why and understand it happening. I just think they should have written ideals onto them, instead.

 

I REALLY liked the series...but honestly, I barely remember many Duels that I genuinely enjoyed, especially past the Standard Arc. Zexal had some irritating aspects and recurring trends in their Duels (cough, Hope fetish, cough), but this was only so sinful because of the potential of the premise and how they squandered the hell out of it. Arc-V was BETTER in the Duel department, but it got stagnant a few times because they didn't expand upon it ENOUGH.
 
I don't even want to harp on this much anymore. They had a lot of potential, but rushed several aspects and completely abandoned other plot elements or resolved them too quickly or anti-climactically.

I remember a lot I enjoyed, and most of them are in the first part or very ending, and I'm told anything Yuri is good. I do think this goes back to expecting the duels to be, well... DUELS, though. If you expect there to be non-ideaology battles, it just isn't going to happen, and I feel it adds to the idea of a world based around a CARD GAME, as opposed to taking away from it.

 

also they literally made 65+ ppals in the anime, plus magicians and ED bosses and stuff, they definitely expanded a lot, it's just that a number of those were plot devices/SPIKE EAGLE

 

Hell, Performages have like 20 monsters.

 

I still think it was rushed, but going over it in my head/hearing Bree actually enjoy the majority of the episodes we skipped that she's seen has kinda made me like it more, in retrospect, despite its flaws.

 

EDIT: I also want to mention how Arc-V is a character driven story. Very much so.

 

We're given a world with normal people (yes, Yuya is constantly made out to be normal, even with the qualifiers he has throughout to be special) and a few out of place special people (reijiiii) trying to get through it.

 

The world is funking crazy, but Gong, Yuzu, Shuzo, Yuya, Sora, Shun, and so on.... are characters who aren't unrealistic, but they're changed by what they've experienced, been through. Even in cases where it's just not enjoyable to watch them be realistic, like Shun and Shinji.

 

This is why Reiji failed so hard. They didn't use him enough, and he was more like a boss character than not, with plans out the ass, which makes him stick out like a sore thumb. Not to mention his knowledge of the plot and connection to Leo.

 

The execution wasn't perfect, but the idea is good, and I enjoyed it for what it was.

[Astro Dude]

Lisa Ortiz was in 4 different yugioh series. She was not in this one.

 

SHE'D BETTER VOICE AOI IN VRAINS! It could be perfect for her.

 

[spoiler If I am to be blunt]

Clemont, go back to your inventions you're a horrible Yuya.

 

 

[Flash Flyer - Sakura]

There's no guarantee that Ortiz will be voicing anyone in VRAINS, let alone Aoi (or whatever this gets changed to for dub purposes). What is to say that she chose not to do any dubbing roles this generation? (Also you're the only one in here who even cares about the VA for the dubs)

 

====

Agreed on Reiji needing a lot more screentime than he did, as he really didn't duel that much throughout the entire series (as opposed to the other rivals who actually did stuff).

[Expelsword]

There's no guarantee that Ortiz will be voicing anyone in VRAINS, let alone Aoi (or whatever this gets changed to for dub purposes). What is to say that she chose not to do any dubbing roles this generation? (Also you're the only one in here who even cares about the VA for the dubs)

 

====

Agreed on Reiji needing a lot more screentime than he did, as he really didn't duel that much throughout the entire series (as opposed to the other rivals who actually did stuff).

 

Reiji should have just done everything himself.

Every Lancer other than Yuya turned out to be jobbing trash except Tsukikage, and he was only good for his actual ninja skills, not his dueling skills.

[Brinolovania]

Reiji should have just done everything himself.

Every Lancer other than Yuya turned out to be jobbing trash except Tsukikage, and he was only good for his actual ninja skills, not his dueling skills.

Selena was pretty good. Her only loss (when she was un-branwashed and using her own deck) was against Yugo who had plot armor coming out of his ass. But yeah, it seems like it would've made more sense for Reiji to just sheet on all of Academia himself...

 

Also maybe I missed this earlier in the discussion, but am I only one who thinks the Synchro arc felt really disconnected from the rest of the show? Like, that arc had its own villain (Roger), its own final boss (Jack), even its own cards the protag gets as he learns more (Enlightenment and Nirvana High). They said they were going to look for more allies, but in the end, the only person they brought with them was Crow, and then Jack came by himself later. I can't think of a single thing either of those characters did, outside of Jack's duel with Yuya at the Friendship Cup finals, that another character couldn't have done. The main plot in Synchro didn't even seem to be about Academia. It felt more like it was about Yuya trying to improve his entertainment so he could save the City. Standard, Xyz, and Fusion were all directly connect, but Synchro, for most of it, seemed like the writers just inserted a totally separate, largely irrelevant arc in the middle of a larger story. But then, kinda of contradictorily, the writers added almost no new characters for the Synchro dimension, and only one or two of the new ones were any good. So they were totally relying on characters from outside the dimension, plus Yugo, despite the fact that almost nothing else connected to the world outside Synchro. 

 

Like, you could legitimately have changed a couple characters a little bit and modified a few episodes and tell me the Synchro arc was the first season of a new Yugioh show and I'd probably believe you.

[evilfusion]

I'll concede that Yuya's GROWTH throughout the series was spectacular, and I really did enjoy his Dueling in the last few episodes for the most part. It was true to his origins, but with confidence and he did much better with his phrases and execution than he did in the early show, when his spectacle was him trying too hard to emulate his father.

 

Yuya WAS a likable, good character, especially considering the premise and how the plot messed with his life and ideals. When I think about it much more, I DO like Yuya as a character, even if he isn't quite what I normally expect and want from a Yugioh protagonist. His uniqueness in a sense was a plus. I guess my only real major issue was how his "Entertainment" tended to be really cringe-worthy at times, and when combined with how the later arcs were clearly rushing (Xyz and Fusion and how his entertainment made Academia forces change sides), it hurt his credibility by breaking my suspension of disbelief. So maybe I'm being too hard on his character due to how the rushed story arcs mishandled his entertainment philosophy.

 

It never really bothered me, compared to others here, that Yuya didn't get Clear Wing or Starve Venom earlier. They were hyping up the idea of Yugo being a rival to the other Yus, starting with the misunderstanding and recurring conflict between Yugo and Yuto, due to the actual involvement of Yuri, suggesting that Yugo vs Yuri was a big event to come. And obviously, Yuri has to win that Duel, because Yugo is not the main protagonist, and Yuri has been hyped as a MAJOR threat without us actually seeing him do much on-screen, such as Roger being terrified at the mere THOUGHT of Yuri being sent to the Synchro Dimension. And since Yuri won, he's the one who gets Clear Wing.

 

I think part of the Synchro Dimension Arc's disconnect is because the writers were probably informed late into the production of the Synchro Arc plotline that they had to trim content, and that's why Xyz and Fusion had to be rushed. It's likely that the Amazoness Duelists and Edo were going to be more significant plot characters in the Xyz Dimension Arc had they not been pushed for early completion, and Kaito would have been given a bit more proper development before becoming an ally as well. Then they could have gone to Academia together.

 

Even the BB arc made logical story sense in the grander scale, but was rushed. The Academia student soldiers weren't REALLY aware of the severity of what they were being involved in. The "top students" that were pitted against the Lancers started freaking out when their peers were being carded. And this was like...a very intense simulation, not even "REAL" war. This would have instilled the seed of doubt among the others and made it more reasonable for Yuya's ideals to come through. That was probably the story intent of that section, and it just was handled badly due to time constraints.

 

Against Zarc, I DID like the idea of the gauntlet, but maybe it's more the way Zarc's effects were handled as being essentially lockdown effects, rather than just a collection of really powerful abilities that let him overpower everyone. I mused at one point that his effects being "unfun" and ridiculously win-focused was deliberate, based on Crow's comments about it, but whatever.

[Sleepy]

I don't know how legit my complaints are because from the second Yuya vs Aster duel all the way to the professor's explanation of Zarc, I skipped. I also understand that networks don't really approve a series for 100+ episodes in a secured fashion. They usually would only go by about 12-episode "season" bundles or if proven successful by confirmation of 2 or 3 of these bundles at a time. Arc V could have easily turned out to have been screwed up by its network's agenda and it could very well be the reason we are getting this month-long hiatus before VRAINS. If that has screwed up the narrative of even shorter shows in the past (looking at you Avatar, Legend of Korra), how could it not do it to long-running ones like Yugioh?

 

I think when they make a series in the future they pre-prepare shorter versions of their drafts preemptively in the case of future contingencies. Changing things in a more improvised manner can make the new version messy. I know 5Ds was meant to have more episodes and Arc V clearly needed more time on all archs past the Synchro Dimension (and less time in the Synchro dimension, why did they do that for?). Writing on shorter notice while the series itself is still running did work for them during GX since that one I remember meant to permanently replace Yugi's cast after Kazuki Takahashi decided to end DM and not make Yugi the next Ash Ketchum, so he gave them Jaden as the new Token protagonist. However, the aimless slice of life flow started to drop the series' popularity so they had to introduce a plot. Shadow Riders were pretty out of nowhere and Sartorius' arch was meant to be a movie initially, but we eventually got Yubel's season so at least things worked out.

 

Yuya in Arc V has a few struggles I am bothered with.

 

First, their "Champion" token for the introduction duel. All non-pro duelists throughout the series duel better than Strong Ichijima by a longshot. He especially is laughably weak when you compare him to even Yuya's dad's duel who he pretended to beat. Yet he was champion for 3 years. Really this is telling us he was still the best active pro duelist during that long. I don't think "beat the champion" is a good premise for the first duel anymore. That first duel in any series is always a tutorial so that downgrades the tittle of champion. Plus, Strong just brushed himself aside after his loss never to be heard of again, and I'm pretty sure the bulky guy in the poster of VRAINS is gonna be something similar to this. Yugi vs Kaiba have clear parallels here down to the asspull win-condition, but Atem was already skillful at games and confident (even though the basic gameplay of the time doesn't let it shine much) and both get steadily better as the game evolves with them. 

Vanguard had another example of a better introductory duel. Kai vs Aichi had Kai be very strong while main character Aichi just had his cool ace and was otherwise a beginner. Even though Kai is a serious rival he gradually explained the rules as he went along. This even served to show Kai wasn't just the typical badass rival with a killjoy attitude but rather somebody passionate and serious.

 

In Arc V, the contrast is way too big in power level. They kind of want to show that at the beginning more or less the average duelist will Tribute Summon a Level 7 using 2 monsters. Even the champion does it and a lancer from the previous generation has Perfectly Ultimate Great Moth as its ace, and they specifically say these lancers are better than just the students who run Constellars or X Sabers. Then most of the main cast and villains everywhere have what I could only describe as unfairly superior cards compared to the rest. Pretty much two different games there. Makes the world feel smaller, like only those directly tied to the plot will get to be strong enough.

 

 

I am not really satisfied with the final outcome of the counterparts. They are suddenly all OK with it. Yugo had a specific dream and life, but now he's gonna have to live Yuya's dream instead, and even though the 4 are combined into 1 again, Zarc is not there but rather in Reira's body. Then Yuri, Yuri just became good all of a sudden. That is a plot that should have been shown. He was pretty much irredeemable.

 

 

Yuya had a few opponents that he never really surpassed. Serena's bodyguard was owning him, but here comes Sergey to conveniently rescue Yuya. Serena's bodyguard never shows up again as far as I've seen. Then Sergey proceeds to beat Yuya too, and then he dies after Jack's duel. Yuya pretty much beat everybody else he dueled against, except for maybe Aster and Reiji on each respective first duel.

 

 

Action duels give me a hard time wanting to go re-watch some of these. I also know of a couple kids out there that liked making a deck and testing out against characters in the anime. Around 10-ish years ago I had a habit of trying to have my decks survive against Crowler's first game. Though now in Arc V everything is more chaotic with the plot giving the characters however many more cards as they need. Yuya much of the time plays his strategies naked, as he just seems to trust whatever Action Card he gets will help him out, as opposed to what other previous series did where traps and defensive tactics were thought out into the deck. Action duels is not something I really enjoyed, plus it clashed with Riding Duels and they decided to off Speed Spells because they wanted Action Cards to be used. It would have made more sense for them to be adapted to the place they travel to, not having the environment adapt to their needs. Yes I know Reiji helped prepare the event with the Synchro dimension bosses but still.

 

 

Yuzu could have been the best female lead but the world and plot was built around her being a damsel in distress most of the time. I expected her (well... Ray) to at least get a final duel with Zarc but even those bits she was struggling to get even a body and only played the Spells and went away as every other duelist paved the way with loses that set her up. Which was also cheap on the other duelists. I would have preferred if, for example, Zarc's Pendulum strategy involved gradually using each of the 4 dragons and have his opponents face a back and forth with each, getting to beat part of the strategy in the process, and have Zarc (the card) come out afterwards. I think I had the same complaint in ZeXal with Nach just swarming with CNumbers and skipping proper summon and gradual growth as the duel progresses, or how Don Thousand just asspulled OG Numbers 1-4 like that because he had bigger bosses the writers wanted to quickly get to. Guess it reflects the IRL game nowadays where you need to really start on turn 1 or you are creamed....

 

 

I had more thoughts on this but I'm gonna be late for work if I write anymore, so I'll leave it like this for now. Not gonna edit this, just gonna make another comment when I need to xD

[Just Crouton]

[spoiler=Wall of post-series rambling]

Didn't like the show that much.

 

The art style is gorgeous, and the character designs are far superior to Zexal, but the show was kind of boring. I tuned out partway into Synchro arc, then didn't pick it up again until near the end of Fusion arc.

 

Recently, I've been watching episodes of DM (mostly Battle City and Doma) and GX on YouTube, and find myself watching the same duels over and over, something I sadly can't say about Arc-V's duels.

 

That's the thing about DM and GX. Yugi vs. Kaiba in Battle City is arguably the greatest protagonist vs. rival showdown in the show's history, one of the big reasons being that Life Points were never used to create tension. It focused on what really set Yugi and Kaiba apart, with Yugi utilizing weak monsters with Spells and Traps, and Kaiba consistently maintaining enough damage on board to wipe Yugi out. Yugi had 1000 more LP than Kaiba for large a portion of the duel (3000 LP vs. Kaiba's LP), but Kaiba was always the one on the offensive, constantly stopping Yugi's attacks and forcing Yugi to rely on unorthodox tactics to save his monsters.

 

All of this was helped with a diverse, energetic soundtrack to set the mood at critical moments of this battle between 2 spiky-haired weirdos dramatically reading pieces of paper at each other, occasionally preaching about how totally rad friendship is.

 

It also helped that the characters described their monster effects in a way that gave these monsters personality. Raphael took Dreadscythe's effect text "If this card would be destroyed, you must discard 1 card instead (this is not optional)" and described it something to the effect of "Dreadscythe's ability forces me to sacrifice a card from my hand, and I don't have a choice. This is Dreadscythe's will." It really made the monsters feel like characters.

 

Which is what made Arc-V frustrating. The duels are so goddamn boring. These characters literally read the cards in an dull, mechanical way that makes their monsters, which stand around and do nothing until told to move (yes, I know this is standard in every series,) feel like pieces of paper that stand around and do nothing until told to move. This was made more painful with a dull-as-hell soundtrack that makes 3 minute scenes where the characters stand like gargoyles and read walls of text feel like 10 agonizing minutes ("White Hot Fighting Spirit" is probably the only BGM that ever got my blood pumping.)

 

Then they introduced the Action Duel gimmick, and do the bare minimum with it. The point was to interact with the monsters and the surroundings, yet the monsters stand idle until the player does something instead of interacting with the surroundings. The players run around...at a speed barely above walking...and it's boring barring that one legitimately good duel where that martial arts guy was using the Action Duel to beat the crap out of Yuya.

 

Action Duels would look amazing if they placed more emphasis on the characters physical talents, Yuya and Yuzu being skilled acrobats, other characters being martial artists, ninjas, dancers, whatever, with their monsters designed with secondary modes to support the characters doing cool sheet.

 

The CGI was far less offensive compared to Zexal, although I wish they used stronger sound effects when things blew up so I could actually feel the loud, explosive impact caused by the colorful anime nonsense on screen. I see the impact, but feel nothing.

 

I liked the Synchro arc, in concept at least. Watching the Synchro arc on and off, it's really what 5D's should've been. In GX, the world was kind of naturally heading towards what the Synchro dimension was like, a cruel world where losing a card game means losing everything. GX did show that life post-Duel Academy was going to suck, (though that could just be life post-high school.)

 

Zarc's character reminded me of GX, and how it subtly criticized its, and later show's premises about societies obsessed with, or built around a single popular cardgame. Basically, it would suck. Societal pressure wearing down duelists, seen with Zane's downward spiral into Hell Kaiser, and Mr. Stein's growing health problems eventually causing the audience to turn on him, and forcing him to retire. Yuya becoming Zarc after his friends cheered him on to win was the first time in the franchise I ever thought "damn. That was a good twist."

 

Yuya's the best protagonist the show has ever had, mainly because The Chazz wasn't the star of GX. Except I don't care about him. Never clicked with me. Not an issue with character development or whatever. I just don't care much for a character whose goal is to make people smile. Personally, I would've preferred more a Dick Grayson-type, where he's a showman breaking away from a father he used to look up to in order to find himself while chasing redheads (speaking of Dick, Battlewasp guy always looked like a Frankensteining of Yusei and Nightwing's second costume to me.)

 

If I had complaints about Yuya, his character design would've been better if he either ditched the jacket, or wore it normally outside of duels like Yugi. The jacket-cape looked kind of clunky when Yuya did more athletic stuff. Minor stuff.

 

I'd jabroni about the lack of The Chazz (and Bastion...and Axel...,) but considering that Arc-V's gags never made me smile, I should probably be grateful he wasn't here.

 

 

 

[Bringerofcake]

Gonna spill my thought in no cohesive order:

 

 

I also think Action Duels were severely underutilized. Hell, one of the reasons the Sora/Shun duel is so fondly remembered is that the ACTUAL FIELD KO'S SORA. I mean hell with how much emphasis Synchro had on Riding Duels, we could have seen a lot more liberty with how they were played. I'm pretty sure the only reason Cross Over was a thing was internal consistency, as despite the field being in play there were only a few instances where people would actually move and utilize the battlefield to its potential instead of "whoops here's a conveniently placed action card".

 

And that's how I thought Arc V would actually go: Yuya (and the rest of Standard I suppose) shows people that dueling can be more entertaining than people standing around yelling card text at each other. It certainly could have been built more toward that goal, utilized the gimmick of the show (aside from Pendulum), and like Machismo above me said, showcased the characters' distinctions. The first Kachidoki duel is actually one of my favorites, because Kachidoki himself is actually fighting and involving the players in the game, as well as the monster fights.

 

And then the show just stops remembering that action duels are a thing after a while, using it as a means to make plot device cards without actually making plot device cards.

 

I honestly didn't have that much of an issue with the legacy characters, except that they didn't commit as fully as they should have. let's look:

GX:

Rival guy: Edo

Best friend guy: Askuka (I mean I know it's supposed to be sho, but he wasn't serious enough???)

 

5D's:
Rival guy: Jack

Best friend guy: Crow

 

Zexal

Rival guy: Kaito

Best friend guy: ?????

 

Maybe it was problems in negotiations, or maybe Ono just didn't like him, or maybe he got cut along with half the season for Xyz, or maybe he lost a poll, but I was personally irritated by the lack of Shark in the Xyz Arc. It seemed like a perfect fit, especially with how dark his storyline gets in Zexal 2.

 

I didn't like the final duel one bit. Both players kept using cheat cards to summon bosses, and in Reiji's case they were wholly unnecessary and uninspired (both the summoning cards and the bosses themselves). And while the touch of forcing Reiji to ACTUALLY ACTION DUEL was nice, to me it played out similarly to the end of the battle royale with Gongenzaka, complete with all the tension the writers expected there to be and there really wasn't.

 

A lot of my other thought can be summed up in "wasted potential", but I'm happy to discuss individual points.

[Sleepy]

Ideally, I would have liked a more consistent "best friend and rival" set of cameos.

GX would ideally have Chazz + Jessie. Aster was beaten by Chazz at the end of the series and Zane became more of a couch after having Syrus inherit all his Cyber cards. Then Jessie would maybe compete with Syrus but Syrus was such a late bloomer of a duelist and wasn't directly involved with Jaden's duels on the second half so those are my picks.

 

Jack + Crow sounds about right for 5Ds.

Kaito sounds about right for ZeXal, but the lack of Shark was glaring to me. Then again, Shark was directly more involved with the Numbers than Kaito was so it'd be harder to detach him from and put him into a universe where Numbers don't seem to exist.

Joey + Kaiba also lacked just to make it a real homage to all previous series.

 

Then again, I'm actually glad they didn't bring out all these characters. The cameos were half-baked IMO. It felt more like a disservice to the ones that did show up. Best treated one was Jack.

 

I'm undecided on if I would rather have them go all the way with these, or not at all.

 

It would have been cool to have them really travel to the worlds of the other shows. Do Riding Duels with Speed World 2 on, name the Crimson Dragon with its Signer Dragons and shout out BURNING SOUL. Face against Numbers and their BS no-battle destruction clause and their S and/or C evolutions. Then again, it is Yuya's series so every big thing from all other series would wind up losing to Zarc so I'd probably rather not.

[Blake]

ftr jack was treated like sheet

 

he got screentime, but he was written to be a funking jabroni almost all of it, without any reason behind it

 

rip dark signer arc jack

[Sleepy]

Yeah he was the best treated cameo but that doesn't really make it good. I would have rather seen a full on cross-over series or have Arc V not touch them.

I like the little support cards like Red Resonator or Distopian Guy, but all in all, I liked Arc V much better before they started jumping into other dimensions. 

[Astro Dude]

In my opinion, a disappointing end, to a disappointing anime.

[~British Soul~]

It would have been cool to have them really travel to the worlds of the other shows. Do Riding Duels with Speed World 2 on, name the Crimson Dragon with its Signer Dragons and shout out BURNING SOUL.

Technically, the Crimson Dragon was mentioned by name whenever Jack summoned Tyrant.

[Sleepy]

Technically, the Crimson Dragon was mentioned by name whenever Jack summoned Tyrant.

 

He did? I'd need to re-watch those scenes. Sounds like if they did, it just got all like "not my problem broh" xD

Reminded me of the abridged movie dialogue of Yusei and the Crimson Dragon lol.

"You can time travel too? Can you take me back in time to see my parents?"

"Nooooo.... That would be a lame use of my powers!"

Maybe what happened is that in this reincarnation of signers not all of them are around....

 

 

- - - - -

 

 

*cough*

Something that's been bothering me is that they said the dimensions are now together again, but it's kind of abstract...

We never really saw clearly what the original dimension's world was like. I mean, we see a little bit but not the world itself.

Now that they are all fused, we are pretty much only shown Miami being the same as ever.

 

I originally was hoping for a finale in which the Yu boys and the girls remained separate and where their locations changed from dimensionally located to geographically located close-by (which would ironically make them more of a pain to travel to). Then we'd see the life of the boys and girls back in their place, with an overview of how those locations evolved ever since the lancers passed by. Even if they used a ton of still frames it would have been great IMO. Then have the last scenes be something along the lines of Reiji or maybe Yusho making a new tournament in which all the boys and girls are partaking on, showing they can now safely be together without need of the bracelets to pull them away.

 

^The show didn't exactly line up with that at all, but that's what I was hoping for halfway into the series.

Instead what we got was "all the Yus get to live Yuya's dream without any hint of their personalities in him. He's still just Yuya and they are fine with that".

 

Reiji's bosses at the end were alright, but something I think is a very glaring flaw of Reiji's (which ties with the issue of his expensive VA causing fewer scenes with him on) is that his last duel's bosses just happened. There needed to be duels for him where he got to unlock those powers individually so that they would have more weight at that last duel when played together.... 

[~British Soul~]

He did? I'd need to re-watch those scenes. Sounds like if they did, it just got all like "not my problem broh" xD

Reminded me of the abridged movie dialogue of Yusei and the Crimson Dragon lol.

"You can time travel too? Can you take me back in time to see my parents?"

"Nooooo.... That would be a lame use of my powers!"

I also remember the Crimson Dragon in saying the abridged movie that if Yusei went over 88mph, he'd be violating the speed limit, lel.

(I will say this though; when Jack summoned Tyrant in the dub, the Crimson Dragon is not mentioned)

[Flash Flyer - Sakura]

@Sleepy: For reference, the Crimson Dragon is referenced in Tyrant's summon chant. 
 
赤き竜の魂に触れ (Akakiryū no tamashī ni fure, "touch the soul of the Crimson Dragon"). That, and you should see the Crimson Dragon flying behind RDA-Scarlight when it's being Double Tuned (unless that got taken out of the dub).

 

Not exactly an explicit reference, but it's there.

 

*cough*

Something that's been bothering me is that they said the dimensions are now together again, but it's kind of abstract...

We never really saw clearly what the original dimension's world was like. I mean, we see a little bit but not the world itself.

Now that they are all fused, we are pretty much only shown Miami being the same as ever.

 

I originally was hoping for a finale in which the Yu boys and the girls remained separate and where their locations changed from dimensionally located to geographically located close-by (which would ironically make them more of a pain to travel to). Then we'd see the life of the boys and girls back in their place, with an overview of how those locations evolved ever since the lancers passed by. Even if they used a ton of still frames it would have been great IMO. Then have the last scenes be something along the lines of Reiji or maybe Yusho making a new tournament in which all the boys and girls are partaking on, showing they can now safely be together without need of the bracelets to pull them away.

 

^The show didn't exactly line up with that at all, but that's what I was hoping for halfway into the series.

Instead what we got was "all the Yus get to live Yuya's dream without any hint of their personalities in him. He's still just Yuya and they are fine with that".

 

Reiji's bosses at the end were alright, but something I think is a very glaring flaw of Reiji's (which ties with the issue of his expensive VA causing fewer scenes with him on) is that his last duel's bosses just happened. There needed to be duels for him where he got to unlock those powers individually so that they would have more weight at that last duel when played together.... 

 

Yeah, they essentially wrote off the other Yus and bracelet girls for Yuya and Yuzu to remain as their combined forms at the end; latter of whom did NOTHING for the remaining half of the series. Would've been nice to have them re-split apart. Let's face it, Serena did more than Yuzu ever did on-screen. 

 

Can agree that Reiji needed to duel more as to build up the fact he's a pro, but he got very minimal screentime fighting. 

 

====

Problem with this series:

• Too many characters to develop (Rin and Ruri didn't get a proper duel; as in dueling without being under the influence). Some of the cameos were OK, but others, meh.
  • Yusho only got one proper duel and Yuri kicked his ass hard later (but I suppose he at least did something). Other than that, where the hell was he for half of the show?
  • Yuzu started off good, but then got killed by Sergey and never again dueled. (Then again, Kotori was worse off by comparison)
• Expanded Synchro arc (I'm not really complaining about this) that cut into the Xyz/Fusion arcs being properly developed.
• Yuya's entertainment turning certain duels into literal circuses (and somehow the entire Academia is supposed to be persuaded after one duel)
  • I'm talking about the Battle Beast duel in this case; had promise, but you know what happens. (That, and what he did against the Tyler sisters and Aster)
  • Before someone decides to go after me for criticizing Yuya, yes, I know that he was supposed to be finding where he belongs in this world (and that it's his thing), but the fact remains that he needs to know when it's appropriate to turn the duel into a performance (and some instances were certainly not that). 
• Anime-level crap that will never be feasible in actual matches during the final episode (see Reiji spamming evolved Armageddons and Yuya with stuff that really should've come up earlier on). 
• Yuya got two new Synchros against Jack, but does he ever use them again? No.