Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V

[Albedo]

Did anyone else get a IV vibe from Sawatari? Seriously from his appearance right down to his jerkish mannerisms he is almost just like IV was. It is kind of awesome honestly.

The new episode was cool. Momoko Makiuchi's animation really improved a lot compared to her work in ZEXAL. Yuya finally mastering Pendulum Summoning was nice and seeing that the characters go to normal schools was kind of odd. Well at least that explains why they wear the same uniform sort of. Sawatari was as cool as I expected him to be. Sora's cameo was a bit unexpected since I didn't think he would go to LDS.

It was interesting to see how Yuya's cheerful facade was pretty much broken as soon as Sawatari swapped his Pendulum cards and endangered his friends. It gives us a glimpse of what the real Yuya's attitude is rather then the clown act that we have come to know up to this point. The inclusion of Action Traps really does balance out the Action Duel mechanic in my opinion since it keeps players more on their toes and makes it harder for them to get a helpful card. Sawatari and Akaba's synchronized Pendulum Summon was awesome but I am really hoping that those 3 monsters Sawatari summoned are not the same ones from the opening cause I honestly expected something better.

 

[Niji]

Yuzu was too perfect last week X3 . Anyways, the animation for the field was epic, and so was the music. Heh, and the classroom scene was funny. It's interesting how Yuya's coming off as so much less well-equipped to face these challenges, which I think is more realistic. Before we've had Yugi- with his sense of duty and alter-ego, Judai- with his complete oblivious, Yusei- always being Mr. Cool, and Yuma- the embodiment of Kattobingu. Yuya's the first to really struggle in the beginning. It was funny seeing his clown skills in use, though. His Spidey moves were also beautiful. I can't wait to see more of Shingo!! Such a cocky loon already. Anyone else shipping him with Reiji? How about with Yuya? Who am I kidding- how could you not?! Also, damn Yuzu's got some strong arms.

 

[Hidden Mew]

I thought that this week's episode was pretty good. Yuya mastering Pendulum Summoning was cool. Although, it apparently took him 271 tries to do so. That seems a bit much and it makes me wonder how much of his match with Strong he saw on TV, especially when I think he had both Magicians in his hands during his duel with Yuzu. Considering that this was a brand new mechanic and he was completely unaware of how he did it the last time, it's understandable that it would take him a lot of tries to master it, but it just seemed like a bit too many tries. Maybe it would have feel less strange if the number of attempts was cut in half or something.

In regards to Shingo, I definitely got a IV vibe from him as well. The color in his hair, being perfectly fine with putting people in danger and basically being a huge jerk reminded me of IV. Considering that Reiji is voiced by IV's voice actor, there's a bit of irony in Reiji ordering Shingo during the duel. He's apparently only interested in rare cards, which does make him less interesting as a villain, but his personality does make me look forward to his inevitable defeat. Shingo goes to a really awesome school though. Seriously, the design of the LDS looks fantastic and courses on different forms of monster summons and mechanics of the game sound awesome. I think that there were some Easter Egg references to the past series in some of the course listings, which is a nice bonus. Now that looks like a Dueling School that I'd have fun attending.

I also liked how Yuya was so focused on saving his friends the moment that they were kidnapped. The duel was pretty much an afterthought by comparison, he used his monsters to move around the Field Spell in order to save them and he wasn't trying to be entertaining. Granted, it wouldn't have made sense if he was trying to do that given the situation, but it did show a more serious side of Yuya that we haven't seen too much of yet. It made me wonder how he'll handle his friends being in more dangerous situations as the series progress too, especially when he tries to hide his sadness through his more playful clown act.

I also really liked the Field Spell they used. It was a cool change of scenery compared to the more grassy areas in the last couple of duels, allowed for different movement and put Yuzu and the kids into pretty serious danger given where they were. The inclusion of Action Traps also helps to balance out the concept of Action Cards so that they aren't always going to be helpful to the players. It did make it more obvious how much Yuya relies on Action Cards. I didn't quite pick up on that during his last two duels, but he would summon out a monster without providing any protection for it. That seems a bit too risky, especially when Action Traps could hurt his life points even more. While Yuzu and the kids were being hostages, Yuzu not constantly crying out Yuya's name and trying to help the kids was nice.

I'm still not sure what to make of Reiji, but he does have a bit of mystery in regards to how much he knows about Pendulum Summon and he has an air of authority when telling Shingo what to play. Hopefully, he'll be more interesting whenever he faces Yuya. For the first part of a two-part match, it did a pretty good job setting things up.

 

[Garren]

According to V-Jump, Reiji's key-card is named DDD Seihaou Kaiser (Caesar the Conqueror), and he has his own Pendulum Monsters in DD Proud Ogre and Proud Chevalier. Apparently, he also has Entermate Monsters like Yuya, Heitiger and Jinrhino.

Bringing up my own post, I just realized something.

Reiji's main monster is "Caesar".

I bet his deck probably has a "Roman Colosseum Theme", which would fit his Entermate Monsters being a Tiger and Rhino, animals that Gladiators did battle against and such. Unlike Yuya's Entermate Monsters, rather than circus performers and such, they'll be more serious entertainment monsters, the type of entertainment done through battle.

They better have Reiji say "are you not entertained?".

 

[Gard81]

I'm liking Action Duels more and more. Seriously, the one who thought of using monsters to travel the Field was brilliant; I loved how Yuya used both Viper and Amenboat. Sadly, we reached the part where the girl is captured and the main character has to save her (and for additional drama, also add children), had enough of those with Tori, thank you very much.

 

[Garren]

The only downside is it doesn't seem like Action Duels are going to be that advanced, strategically. Reminds me a bit of the original Duelist Kingdom rules, where it was sort of "everything goes."

 

[Isaac Gravity]

Four eps in and I gotta say, I'm really enjoying Arc-V so far. The cast a whole is rather likable and I really enjoy Yuya's character. Hope we see more of Shingo in the future as well.

I really Action Duels ep three and four really took home they can turn into major head games if unprepared.

 

[Hidden Mew]

I thought that last week's episode was pretty good. The duel was engaging to watch and Yuya choosing not to pick up the Action Card in case it was a Trap makes me wonder if he'll try to not rely so much on Action Cards, or at least when he's in a serious situation like he was here. Yuya laughing when he was in a tight spot showed how he does try to downplay his own feelings and in this case, it was probably better to do so just so that Shingo wouldn't make fun of him more. Using Block Spider and that spell card to protect himself was a pretty good move. Getting his Magicians back after Shingo destroyed them and then using them to save his friends was pretty cool.

Yuya's last turn was just glorious fun. It really showed off Yuya's personality, gave an idea on how an Entertainment Duelist works as basically a circus ringleader getting the audience involved a bit, showed that he does enjoy providing entertainment to others, despite how it is a means to cover his sadness, and he messed around with Shingo to make him sweat and run before losing. Considering how much I like Yuya already and how much Shingo deserved to suffer a bit for what he did, that final turn was just fun to watch. I guess that other monsters in Yuya's deck were affected when his magic pendant transformed some of his cards. Either that or they were transformed during one of his attempts to master Pendulum Summoning, but I'm leading more towards the former, if only because it makes a bit more sense to me that his whole deck would be affected at that time. It was also rather fitting that Shingo lost to the same monster he considered trash.

Personally, I'd be fine if Shingo didn't appear again. He just didn't come off like a character I'd like to see more of. He was just a huge jerk and not even an interesting one in my opinion. Granted, there have been other characters in previous series introduced as jerks who were developed later on and for all I know, that could be the case with Shingo. I kind of doubt it considering he wasn't revealed prior to the series' beginning, but I suppose it's still possible. He just wasn't too appealing for me to want to see him again. If they do make him come back, making him more developed would at least make him more interesting, but his stick with wanting rare cards and willing to do anything for them, even to the point of endangering people's lives, makes him seem more villainous, or a one-shot villain. Besides that, seeing him and his friends being beaten up by Sora with nothing more than a lollipop stick is a much more satisfying note to end his character with in my opinion. Sora doing that also left a pretty nice first impression on me, despite how he'll be spending at least the next episode constantly annoying Yuya with his pleas to become his teacher.

Reiji is still in the background, but he knew that Pendulum monsters in the Pendulum Zone were most likely treated as Spell Cards. His design and character description information make him look like a really blatant attempt at creating their own Kaiba, but I do like the mysterious vibe they're going with him. At least it makes something about him stand out, aside from his ridiculously long and awesome scarf, helps to create more mystery regarding Pendulum Monsters by making the audience wonder how much he knows about it and provide a bit of buildup for his inevitable duel with Yuya, especially with how he's been keeping an eye on him since his duel with Strong and ordered Shingo a bit during this duel.

 

[Garren]

No episode this week, it was moved to the 11th due to a Table Tennis Tournament.

 

[Litten]

The fourth ARC-V episode was okay I guess, although Yuya's victory seemed really convenient. I disliked his Shining Draw-esque thing, but liked that Sora joined his little group.

 

[Hidden Mew]

No episode this week, it was moved to the 11th due to a Table Tennis Tournament.

That's a huge bummer. I was looking forward to watching the new episode, but another week won't be too bad.

The fourth ARC-V episode was okay I guess, although Yuya's victory seemed really convenient. I disliked his Shining Draw-esque thing, but liked that Sora joined his little group.

That draw doesn't really make me think of Shining Draw. It's more like just a melodramatic draw when Yuya is backed into a corner to me to grab the cards he needs through sheer luck.

 

[Garren]

New Episode Summaries!

Episode 7
反逆の逆鱗 ダーク・リベリオン・エクシーズ・ドラゴン Hangyaku no Gekirin: Daaku Riberion Ekushiizu Doragon (The Imperial Wrath of Treason: Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon)
Sawatari plans his revenge after getting his hands on some new cards. Yuzu decides to stop him. But, standing before the two of them is…

Episode 8
遊勝塾の危機!!LDS襲来 Yuushou Jyuku no Kiki!! LDS Shuurai (You Show Duel School!! LDS Invasion)
Sawatari ends up severely injured due to the Duel, and word of the incident reaches Akaba Reiji, President of Leo Corporation. And a report reaches Reiji’s mother, Himika…

Episode 9
星々の裁き！ エクシーズ使い「志島北斗」 Hoshiboshi no Sabaki! Ekushiizu Tsukai “Shijima Hokuto” (Judgment of the Stars! The Xyz User “Shijima Hokuto”)
In order to erase the shame of the criminals behind the “Sawatari Attack” incident, Duels between LDS and You Show Duel School begins. Yuya’s opponent is the LDS’s Xyz Course Rep: Hokuto.

Episode 10
秘石の騎士！ 融合使い「光津真澄」 Hiseki no Kishi! Yuugou Tsukai “Kotsu Masumi” (The Knight of the Secret Stone! Fusion User “Kotsu Masumi”)

Nice we're getting Xyz instead of seeing it disappear like Synchro did in Zexal. I imagine judging by Episode 10, Yuya's gonna face an opponent from LDS that focuses on each Special Summoning style.

More Shingo too! The fact he's "injured" and Episode 7 makes it seem as if someone does this to him makes it sound likely he'll eventually switch sides.

 

[PyroPokeman]

New Episode Summaries!

Episode 7
反逆の逆鱗 ダーク・リベリオン・エクシーズ・ドラゴン Hangyaku no Gekirin: Daaku Riberion Ekushiizu Doragon (The Imperial Wrath of Treason: Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon)
Sawatari plans his revenge after getting his hands on some new cards. Yuzu decides to stop him. But, standing before the two of them is…

Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon............

1. I have to laugh because I am thinking of Black Rebellion from Code Geass, and notice my avatar.

2. So, we are getting a bunch of "Something Something" Summon Dragons for each summoning? And if so, I guess they are all supotse to be suport of the summoning type, based on what Odd Eyes Pendulum Dragon does.

3. FINALLY!!! Son other summoning types.

Things are looking better as these previews come in. Arc V is looking..........well, more entertaining by the episode.

 

[Litten]

ARC-V episode five was decent in my opinion, although Sora got on my nerves really quickly because of his Yuya stalking. His monsters were interesting though; I'm glad that his deck is fusion based.

 

[Hidden Mew]

Those new previews sound pretty good. Yuzu dueling again this early on in the series is a really good sign in my opinion. Hopefully that means that she'll be more active during the course of the series, or at least that there's a better chance for that to happen given that he has a second duel not even ten episodes into the series. The whole conflict between the two schools sounds like it could be quite interesting, especially with Reiji's mother getting involved. I was not expecting that to happen. I would have sooner thought that his father would be involved just to combine more with the obvious attempt to make their own Kaiba even more apparent. Having his mother be brought into the situation is much more potentially interesting. I think that Shingo could be possibly faking an injury just to get Yuya's school in trouble. He was already planning on getting his revenge for his defeat and he's already shown that he can put on an act to trap his opponents. That would explain why more students could be after them. Personally, I wouldn't want to see Shingo changing sides. I think that he fits more as a minor villain, like Haga, than as a jerk friend to the main character.

I also like that we're still going to see other forms of summoning after this current duel. Although, I'm a bit disappointed that Xyz monsters are showing up before Synchros. Considering that Zexal just ended not too long ago and that series was spamming Xyz monsters left and right practically nonstop, I thought that they would save that kind of monster for last. I think that a Ritual Monster was used once during Zexal, but they haven't shown Synchros in the anime since 5D's ended. It would have been nice to see Synchros first, but hopefully they'll be used in episode eleven or twelve, depending on if they want to show Ritual Monsters first.

As for this week's episode, I thought it was pretty good. Sora also became annoying for me pretty quickly with how he was stalking Yuya, but I think that was the intent. Even though it's suppose to be comical, or at least I think it was suppose to be, they do showcase just how bad Sora's behavior is. He was constantly bugging Yuya, never giving him a moment to relax, somehow found out where he lived and just wouldn't take no for an answer. Even after Yuya brought up the good point on how Sora couldn't perform a Pendulum Summon without Pendulum cards, he didn't stop. Sora just expected to get what he wanted because that always seems to be the case if his cute act with everyone else working like a charm was any indication. Even with the cute act, his design doesn't really give me a cute vibe. Not only was his behavior just completely out of line, but it didn't really make sense given what deck he uses. Even if Sora could perform a Pendulum Summon, he would probably need to make a new deck, which I couldn't see him doing.

The duel itself had a pretty decent start. The candyland field was kind of fun and Yuya running into things was pretty funny. I'm still not quite sure how I feel about Action Cards, but I do like how they show that it isn't quite easy to get to the cards through Sora. Yuya seems to have pretty good luck, but he's also constantly moving around on the field once the duel starts in order to find Action Cards. The Fusion Summon was pretty cool and Sora having a Fusion based deck is pretty nice too. It gives me hope that all of the main characters will specialize in different kind of forms of monster summoning. I also liked how his monsters kind of reflected his personality. Sora's monsters at first look traditionally cute and could distract everyone besides Yuya, similar to his cute act. But once he fused his monsters together, he was more serious and could be more like his true self.

 

[Litten]

Episode six was tedious imo, but at least Yuya's victory wasn't as contrived this time and Sora put in a good effort. I wish he had revealed where he learned how to Fusion Summon.

 

[Hidden Mew]

I thought that this week's episode was pretty good. Despite Sora being annoying and rude, he actually is a pretty good duelist. He was able to counter Timegazer's effect by using a second Trap card, destroyed Hippo to make it more difficult for Yuya to pick up Action Cards, as well power up his Scissor Bear, threw Yuya off his guard by being more serious in general and was so close to winning the duel. If Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon didn't go the Extra Deck instead of the Graveyard, Sora would have won. I was disappointed that he didn't apologize for his actions in the previous episodes. His behavior with stalking Yuya and not taking no for an answer was really out of line. I don't mind the idea of Sora wanting to be instant friends with Yuya, but at least apologizing for what he did would have made that less annoying. I guess they wanted to end the episode on a more comical note.

I am curious about where he comes from though. Sora said that where he comes from, everyone uses Fusion Monsters, but they seem to be pretty rare in Miami City if LDS just recently started lectures on Fusion summons. I imagine that Synchros and Xyzs are more much common Extra Deck Special Summon here, if only for being easier and faster to perform. Since they're keeping it a secret, I wonder if where ever Sora comes from ties into the plot.

Yuya getting emotional over Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon being destroyed threw me off guard. It didn't seem too melodramatic, but it was sudden. Although, the more I thought about it, the more it kind of made sense, or at least I understood it more. They've already established that Yuya is pretty sensitive and just hides his pain well enough. It's possible that Yuya originally got Odd-Eyes Dragon, prior to it becoming a Pendulum Monster, from his father, so there would be a personal connection there. The magic from the Pendant created the Pendulum cards, which could have furthered any connection he had to his father through his cards. This was the first time Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon was destroyed too. It was destroyed during the duel with Strong before it became a Pendulum Monsters, so seeing that it could be destroyed might have really affected him. He was already dealing with how anyone can Pendulum Summon with Pendulum cards after seeing Shingo do it in his last duel, instead of feeling that he was the only one who could after struggling to master it, so seeing that Pendulum Monsters can be destroyed like regular monsters might have been too much of an emotional shock for him. Yuzu also said something about how Odd-Eyes symbolizes the Pendulum Summon that Yuya created, so that would be another reason why seeing it being destroyed would affect him. It could have used a bit more information, like confirming if Odd-Eyes Dragon was a card from his father, to maybe make it feel less sudden, but thinking about it more makes the reaction more understandable.

But that laughter sounded so forced, painful and hallow. Every time his father's advice comes up, the more unhealthy it really sounds and Yuya laughing to hide his pain doesn't help matters either. The message behind his father's advice is basically to encourage not to become overwhelmed with sadness and try to keep happy in order keep moving forward, which is nice and all, but literally laughing whenever you feel like crying is really unhealthy. Crying is a healthy way to express emotion and sadness and brushing aside those kinds of emotions is not helpful. They're most likely going to show how unhealthy that is through Yuya if that scene is any indication. I can already imagine something really terrible happening to him or his friends that will just emotionally break him. He'll try to laugh it off like usual, but then his laughter will break down into sobs and maybe no one will know the difference at first. Watching him deal with something like that is going to be so painful. We're only six episodes into the series and Yuya hiding his tears through his goggles and laughing off his pain is already way too sad. I did like how they used the flashback of little Yuya losing and finding his Pendulum pendant with losing and finding Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon.

At least he started acting a bit more genuinely happy during his last turn. While being a performer is most likely a part of how he hides his pain, it does feel like he genuinely enjoys being an Entertainment Duelist. Yuya was so lucky that Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon went into the Extra Deck and that he could summon it again. I guess it made sense he'd try that out given that it wasn't in the Graveyard. Yuya's combination with Cheerleader Mole was also pretty nice and showed a good last minute victory that worked fairly well.

There is a bit more preview information for the next episode:

Spoiler

Apparently, Yuzu isn't the one dueling the mysterious duelist. It's going to be Shingo. While that is a bit of a disappointment, it's probably for the best. If she had dueled him, she could have been injured too, which would have been far worse than just losing the duel. I have seen pictures of the mysterious duelist and he kind of looks like Yuya, which would explain why people think that he hurt Shingo. Although, he's apparently injured due to an Xyz monster and Yuya doesn't have one of those. I believe he said something about not having anything in his Extra Deck before finding Odd-Eyes there. Yuzu still duels in episode ten, so at least we still won't have to wait too long for her to get a second duel. Plus, she still gets credits for actually confronting Shingo, so that sounds pretty cool.

 

[Garren]

Episode 7 is already out.

Sawatari is totally gonna become the Manjyome character.

 

[Hidden Mew]

I thought that this week's episode was pretty good. Shingo definitely reminded me of Manjoume with a hint of Fubuki with that opening. Although, I'm kind of hoping that they don't try to develop him like they did with Manjoume. Keeping him as a comedic minor jerk villain kind of sounds like it would be more entertaining. He didn't show any signs of changing his ways after his defeat from Yuya since his attitude stayed the same, ignored the fact that he did have Pendulum monsters and was still willing to do whatever means necessary to beat him. His defeat by the Dark Duelist was worse with the defeat being much more one-sided and being injured adds more salt to that wound most likely. That defeat could shake him up enough to realize he needs to change, but the next few episodes could show signs if that happens. That could make him a more interesting character, but I don't know if I'd be necessarily in favor of that in this case.

Yuzu was awesome in this episode. I don't even mind that she didn't get a chance to duel Shingo. She was already just being full of spunk and determination by not letting Shingo go into a hammy melodramatic speech before dueling. Even when the Dark Duelist came in, she was still determined to face Shingo and she got on his case for butting in when she thought he was playing poorly. Now that's how to make a good female character without making her duel. Plus, she wanted to protect Yuya like how he protected her and the other kids before, so that was kind of sweet.

I'm also quite curious about the Dark Duelist. He seemed to know Yuzu given his reaction to first seeing her and how he was determined to protect her. He also does look quite a bit like Yuya. Tthe regular duel he had with Shingo created more real and dangerous damage too. He already had an LDS pin, but was asking Shingo about it and his connection to the academia. One of the more popular theories I've heard about is that he's some alternate reality version of Yuya or is Yuzu and Yuya's future son that comes from terrible future. I'm more of a fan of the first theory, if only because the second one sounds a bit too much like a fan fiction idea to me, but they both sound potentially interesting. I also wonder if Yuzu's bracelet glowing was because of something the Dark Duelist did to escape or if it's actually a special item too.

The duel itself was okay. It still feels way too early to showcase an Xyz monster given how Zexal just ended not too long ago and everyone spammed Xyz monsters left and right. At least Xyz Dragon had a cool design. Although, apparently Xyz summons are so advanced that only elite students at LDS can take the courses fore electives. That's just seriously weird. Out of all of the special monster summon methods, Xyz monsters would probably be the easiest ones to perform. The others require either having the right cards in your hands, primarily Fusion and Ritual monsters, or doing basic additions like with Synchro monsters. With Xyz monsters, you just need to have two or more monsters with the same levels. That can be more difficult for high Rank Xyz monsters, but Rank three or four should extremely easy to do. I guess all forms of summoning that aren't Advanced Summons are considered a big deal in Arc-V's world. I could understand that for Fusion summon since that's probably outdated compared to something like Synchros or Xyzs, but apparently that includes even Xyz monsters. I wonder what the reaction will be when they finally show a Synchro monster and later on a Ritual monster.

Shingo running a different deck further showed him as the Manjoume of the series. I actually thought that Shingo was impaled with that last card. That would have really injured him and would have justified LDS taking more action against You Show, especially when this duel did happen off of their campus, but in retrospect, that probably would have been too dark and a spear through the stomach might have killed him too. While Yuya is my favorite character in this series, I kind of like how they could make an episode this good where he doesn't appear that much. It gives some attention to other characters and does make the audience wonder what the connection is between him and the Dark Duelist. We know that they aren't the same person, at least not exactly, since Yuya was away from the area during the entire time the duel was taking place, which I imagine that the other students at his school will bring up when Yuya is accused of attacking Shingo, but not having them both on screen together at the same time still creates a nice sense of mystery.

 

[Garren]

For some reason I keep thinking GX with Sora and Not!Yuuya. A place where Fusions are the mainstream, and an "Academia"?

Would love if Arc-V ends up tying into all the previous stories somehow.

Also the card Not!Yuuya used in this episode, the Phantomveil Knight, is already confirmed to be in the next OCG set. Seems they've changed it from a Spell "Monster" to a Trap "Monster" though. Hope Arc-V is good with making all the cards real as opposed to like GX where we're just now getting many cards used by major characters even.