Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V

[Hidden Mew]

Yeah, I liked Meiru more when she was more serious. I think she has the best summoning chants and having Ritual monsters is a big plus, I wonder if she will use a new archtype. Her opponent would probably be Yuzu, and jealously over Yuya would probably be the main conflict over the duel. Still if it turns out to be a good duel I would have no complaints, and it would be a bigger plus if she used her skills in telling what things may happen to Yuzu.

Meiru using Ritual monsters and possibly using her fortune telling skills to foreshadow further plot developments for the cast are the only reasons why I'd look forward to her dueling. While it was obvious that she'd develop a crush on Yuya after their duel, it still seems rather unnecessary, if the other one-sided crushes on main leads in previous series were any indication, and it makes her more annoying. She'd probably be annoying if she dueled Yuzu since it would be about Yuya, but foreshadowing something that will happen to Yuzu would make it interesting.

Yeah, and Reiji was the one who gave him the cards too, although with them being new cards made to counter Pendulum monsters made by LDS there wouldn't be any other way for Shingo to get those cards or use the strategy if Reiji didn't make them that way. Still, he utilized their powers well with how he could. There are more Yosenju cards that haven't been revealed, so maybe.

With Shingo being out of the tournament I doubt there would be much of anything to with him, although the new opening showed that Yugo's hair was a bit similar to Shingo's, from the little what we saw, which makes me wonder if Yugo is some alternate Shingo like how Yuto is an alternate Yuya and Ruri is an alternate Yuzu.

Getting the cards from Reiji isn't much of an issue since that would be the only way he'd be able to get Pendulum monsters. Being taught a strategy on top of being handed a deck of rare cards. As for Yugo, I'm not sure if he'll be the alternate Sawatari, but it's hard to say for sure either way given that we haven't seen much of his face. I'm also not sure if the writers are going to make him that important. While he isn't an unnecessary character by any means and I don't think that he'll disappear completely, it also doesn't come off like he's particularly important beyond being a way for Reiji to test Yuya. That could easily change later on, but that's the impression I've gotten from him.

Next week's duel sounds interesting, the Heartland field looks fun and makes me hope they talk about the actual place more. Sora looks like he'll be really condescending, which would probably make Shun be really harsh in his dueling. Considering that Reiji is the host of the tournament, I wonder if he purposefully picked Heartland because of Shun. I'm also pretty sure the match ups are at least handpicked by Reiji instead of randomized, since I find it really hard to believe that Yuya, Yuzu and Gogenzaka got opponents that share conflicts with them randomly, especially Yuya and Shingo in the first round. Shun facing a Fusion user who Reiji had an eye on is probably his doing as well. I doubt Ayu and Reira's duel had anything to do with Reiji, unless he wanted Reira to duel somebody from You Show Duel School to make Yuya aware of Reira, but I don't know why Reiji would want that.

I doubt that Reiji is aware of Gongenzaka's history with Gen, but he might have been aware of Yuzu wanting to duel Masumi given that he was there for his first duel. I'm not sure if Reiji would set up Reira's match like that. I think he most likely set up Yuya's first duel given that he had already used Sawatari as a means to test him before and figured that he could use him to test out their new Pendulum cards as well.

Anyway, I thought that last week's episode was pretty good. Yuya's Trap card to change the names of Sawatari's monsters seemed a bit situational, but I could kind of see why he might have it due to a lot of decks running with a specific archetype. I did like how Yuya was able to avoid the attack by figuring out where the Action Card was beforehand and was able to get it before the direct attack landed on him.

Sawatari wanting the crowd to cheer for him louder just gave the impression that he wanted the spotlight on him more than anything else. Although, I did like how Yuya handled people cheering for someone else to Pendulum summon. It was already clear that he had dealt with that issue, but he was still able to keep focus when the crowd was cheering for someone else to use Pendulum monsters, which I thought was kind of a big deal for Yuya. I did enjoy seeing how both Yuya and Sawatari were able to enjoy providing an entertaining duel and by the end, Sawatari seemed like he wanted to put on a good show instead of seeing more attention for him. I liked how Yuya got the crowd's attention for his last draw. In other duels where he's pushed to a corner, he's more nervous and serious during his last draw, but he was able to have more fun and then try to get the crowd more excited with his draw.

His last card was even more situational, but I could go with it too. Seeing Beast-Eyes again was awesome and it caught Reiji's attention too. It was obvious that Yuya was going to win, but it was a pretty fun match. Yuya and Sawatari were at least on more neutral grounds by the end given that Sawatari wanted to duel him again. I don't know if I'd consider them friends or if they are going for that for down the line like what happened with Judai and Manjoume, but at least Sawatari handled the loss better than I though he would. He's still the least interesting character in the series for me, as well as my least favorite. He can be entertaining to watch given how much of a doofus he can be, but he comes off as too much of a brat to like and not particularly interesting in spite of that. I dislike Sora for similar reasons, but at least being mysterious makes him interesting to watch in spite of being completely selfish and arrogant.

It sounds like Reiji is going to try to mass produce the Pendulum cards now. I still hope that we only see a few characters using Pendulum cards. One of my favorite aspects of this series is how the Pendulum cards, while clearly important, aren't taking up the main focus from all of the other type of cards like Xyz and to a lesser extent Synchro monsters did in the last couple of series. It helps to make the duels refreshing and showcases a more variety of cards, so I hope that they don't get rid of that by having everyone in the cast use Pendulum cards in the future.

 

[HumanDawn]

Getting the cards from Reiji isn't much of an issue since that would be the only way he'd be able to get Pendulum monsters. Being taught a strategy on top of being handed a deck of rare cards.

Figuring out the strategies you could do within an archtype isn't really that hard and is actually pretty easy, the skill is in actually utilizing them effectively during an actual duel. If Shingo was taught a strategy needing cards unrelated to the archtype I'd agree since those tend to be really obscure, but the cards he used were all part of the Yosenju archtype. Reiji telling him the strategy could just be that Reiji wanted that specific strategy used against Yuya to see how he'd confront it.

As for Yugo, I'm not sure if he'll be the alternate Sawatari, but it's hard to say for sure either way given that we haven't seen much of his face. I'm also not sure if the writers are going to make him that important. While he isn't an unnecessary character by any means and I don't think that he'll disappear completely, it also doesn't come off like he's particularly important beyond being a way for Reiji to test Yuya. That could easily change later on, but that's the impression I've gotten from him.

Unless they have the tournament have a mild break till the next part I find it really hard to include any characters that won't be duelling in the tournament soon.

He's still the least interesting character in the series for me, as well as my least favorite. He can be entertaining to watch given how much of a doofus he can be, but he comes off as too much of a brat to like and not particularly interesting in spite of that. I dislike Sora for similar reasons, but at least being mysterious makes him interesting to watch in spite of being completely selfish and arrogant.

I really fail to see how Sora is completely selfish and arrogant, he's pretty straightforward, blunt and wants attention from time to time but I don't think those are traits that necessarily make a person selfish or arrogant, and compared to other selfish and arrogant Yu-Gi-Oh! characters Sora is pretty tame. I agree he can be rude if you look at him in one way, but in another his actions and mannerisms have come off as justified well and normal to me. I don't know why Sora would be condescending to Shun, but it might have to do with Shun hating Fusion.

 

[Litten]

I liked how the crowd was all like "kawaii!" when Sora used his Fluffal monsters, and I liked how Sora used Yuya's line before Fusion Summoning. Seeing Sora's monsters being attacked my Shun's XYZ monster had me worried for a second, but his smile at the end was awesome. Sora's facial expressions in the next episode look creepy. I'm so hyped.

 

[Amante do Mikuri]

SHIBIRERUUUUUUUUU!!!

I LIKE SOOOO MUCH THIS EPISODE! I really, REALLY, waiting Sora win! BUUUUUUUUUUUUUT, I think Shun win! =/ Waiting ANXIOUS for part 2!

 

[Hidden Mew]

Unless they have the tournament have a mild break till the next part I find it really hard to include any characters that won't be duelling in the tournament soon.

I'm expecting some kind of interruption to the tournament at some point. That would probably the best way to include Yuto and Yugo in this arc, especially if whatever the interruption is ties into the plot, and it could explain why they started off the tournament with matches like Yuzu vs. Masumi and Shun vs. Sora instead of putting them later in the tournament.

I really fail to see how Sora is completely selfish and arrogant, he's pretty straightforward, blunt and wants attention from time to time but I don't think those are traits that necessarily make a person selfish or arrogant, and compared to other selfish and arrogant Yu-Gi-Oh! characters Sora is pretty tame. I agree he can be rude if you look at him in one way, but in another his actions and mannerisms have come off as justified well and normal to me. I don't know why Sora would be condescending to Shun, but it might have to do with Shun hating Fusion.

Sora has come off pretty clearly arrogant. He acts like he's hot stuff, he belittles Masumi and LDS Fusion in general and made Yuzu's duel against Masumi more about his strength than her own because he taught her. I'm well aware that there are other selfish and arrogant characters in this franchise, but Sora's smug attitude just hits that spot for me where it just bothers me too much and it makes him borderline unlikeable. He does have skills since if it wasn't for Pendulum monsters going back to the Extra Deck, he would have defeated Yuya, but that doesn't really make his attitude justified. Even if I could find it justified, I'd still be annoyed by his attitude since he just comes off too smug for my tastes.

Anyway, I thought that last week's episode was pretty good. I liked that Yuya and Yuzu were wondering about Shun being in LDS. Yuzu basically figured out that Masumi's memories were rewritten without realizing it and the LDS trio started to wonder where Shun was from despite knowing him for so long. Hopefully that means that they'll deal with the LDS trio's memories being altered soon. That could lead to some interesting conflict with LDS.

I really don't like Sora, but I have to admit that the contrast being his upbeat attitude and Shun being all serious was hilarious. Reiji knew about Shun's connection to Heartland beforehand and chose the Action Field Spell beforehand. That does make it more likely that he chose at least Yuya's opponent. Despite Heartland being called the city of the future, I don't think that means that Arc-V takes place before Zexal. That wouldn't really make sense due to Pendulum monsters not existing in Zexal. One theory I've heard about this issue elsewhere is that there's a split in the timeline after 5D's. Zexal is the future where Yilaster destroyed Mometnum and Synchros disappeared, while Arc-V is the future where Yilaster was defeated. It's an interesting theory, but I don't quite buy it completely myself. I still don't think that Zexal is connected to any of the other series. The legendary monster statues felt more like easter eggs than anything else to me. Plus, I don't see why Synchros would disappear, especially when Momentum was what destroyed the world in Z-One's timeline. Not to mention the technology in Zexal feels more like a step backwards compared to what we've seen in Arc-V.

Arc-V does fit more with the first three series technology wise due to using Solid Vision again. Creating solid holograms and more emphasis on dueling being a form of entertaining are also definitely where that universe could go towards. Personally, I'm still going with Zexal being in an alternate world and that Yuto and Shun traveled to the Arc-V universe somehow. If there was more solid evidence connecting Zexal to DM and GX and they explained why Synchros didn't appear, or made it clear that Synchros didn't exist, I'd probably have an easier time buying this theory. This is a better idea than everything still being in the same straightforward timeline though.

I was hoping for more specific information from Shun about his homeland, but it still painted a good image of how stressful life had become. Dueling is still primarily entertainment in Miami City, but for Shun and Yuto, dueling has been a way for them to fight and survive, which explains why he was not into being entertaining like Sora was. I loved how he was just not into the Action Duel chant. I figured that Shun wouldn't be into it, but I was curious how they would handle it. The duel itself was off to a pretty nice start. Both duelists started things off slowly with not getting their ace monsters out right off the bat, which was good since it helped to give this match build up for its second half. I was expecting Rise Falcon to do more physical damage to Sora, but since the damage wasn't enough to wipe out his life points, I guess it wouldn't hurt him that much. Sora seems to be going all out in the preview, but I'm still leading towards Shun winning. I don't really think Sora needs to win this match and I can think of a few reasons why Shun should get further in the tournament.

 

[Amante do Mikuri]

Sora seems to be going all out in the preview, but I'm still leading towards Shun winning. I don't really think Sora needs to win this match and I can think of a few reasons why Shun should get further in the tournament.

Shun win would be predictable. :/

He will have other moments to make their antagonism show.

 

[HumanDawn]

I'm expecting some kind of interruption to the tournament at some point. That would probably the best way to include Yuto and Yugo in this arc, especially if whatever the interruption is ties into the plot, and it could explain why they started off the tournament with matches like Yuzu vs. Masumi and Shun vs. Sora instead of putting them later in the tournament.

The new Opening makes a big deal over the tournament, even showing off a lot of contestants from other schools. It could maybe just be that in between tournament duels, there would also be other duels not related to the tournament itself, like the duels Yuma had against Gauche, Droite, III and IV as well as the other Numbers possessed characters.

Sora has come off pretty clearly arrogant. He acts like he's hot stuff, he belittles Masumi and LDS Fusion in general and made Yuzu's duel against Masumi more about his strength than her own because he taught her. I'm well aware that there are other selfish and arrogant characters in this franchise, but Sora's smug attitude just hits that spot for me where it just bothers me too much and it makes him borderline unlikeable. He does have skills since if it wasn't for Pendulum monsters going back to the Extra Deck, he would have defeated Yuya, but that doesn't really make his attitude justified. Even if I could find it justified, I'd still be annoyed by his attitude since he just comes off too smug for my tastes.

I don't see the issue with him acting like he's hot stuff, especially when it comes off as justified to me when it's really deserved, and at times needed to teach a lesson like when Shingo and his grunts were about to attack Yuya and his friends again despite Yuya already having beaten Shingo. Masumi belittled Yuzu quite a lot, so I don't see the issue with Sora belittling Masumi back who was just being unnecessarily arrogant and disrespectful to Yuzu and even acting like LDS's Fusions were the best too. I kind of think Sora might even have something against LDS too which could justify him being against it. It's clear he likes his own Fusion a lot and takes a lot of pride in it, but I don't see how that necessarily makes him arrogant and just because he has a lot of pride in it, it doesn't mean Yuzu's strength didn't matter. Him wanting to show off the Fusion capabilities to Shun was probably just to try set up a rivalry between the two with their upcoming duel. He also clearly had faith in Yuzu that she'd be able to win and was really satisfied she won, we don't need him to say it directly, and I think he was even supportive with the others in Yuzu's duel. To me, Sora's smugness is very tame, to the point I don't find it really entertaining. Other Yu-Gi-Oh! characters are a lot more smug, so maybe if Sora was more smug, or maybe if he's tone of voice was altered a bit to make it come off as more smug, I might have find him more entertaining but as it is his personality is ehh. Maybe if we learn more of him we could see a different side of him that could be more entertaining, or maybe even annoying.

Despite Heartland being called the city of the future, I don't think that means that Arc-V takes place before Zexal. That wouldn't really make sense due to Pendulum monsters not existing in Zexal. One theory I've heard about this issue elsewhere is that there's a split in the timeline after 5D's. Zexal is the future where Yilaster destroyed Mometnum and Synchros disappeared, while Arc-V is the future where Yilaster was defeated. It's an interesting theory, but I don't quite buy it completely myself. I still don't think that Zexal is connected to any of the other series. The legendary monster statues felt more like easter eggs than anything else to me. Plus, I don't see why Synchros would disappear, especially when Momentum was what destroyed the world in Z-One's timeline. Not to mention the technology in Zexal feels more like a step backwards compared to what we've seen in Arc-V.

I read that theory. There not being any Synchros in Zexal could just easily be because they were never relevant though. All the villains and protagonists ended up using Xyz, what use would there be for Synchros when the decks and strategies are based around using Xyz? Arc-V established that not every area has access to all summoning methods either, and I don't recall there ever being a moment where a character said that Fusion, Ritual and Xyz were the only special summoning methods. I'm also sure that Arc-V would take place after Zexal, Heartland being called a "Future" city could just be because it's a technologically advanced city, not because it hasn't been made yet. The technology thing could also be because they're in different areas, although if I were in the real world I'd prefer if people used Dual Gazers instead of Solid Vision out in the streets because I could see that being annoying constantly seeing monsters out when those who wish to see them could use Dual Gazers to not bother anyone. Plus the use of Dual Gazers also affects the entire area, so the attack of a monster could leave some impact to the field like damaged ground, which would only occur in fields made from Solid Vision with Field spells. I agree that somehow Zexal could be from some other world or universe, but I don't think there is anything concrete for that just because they're using Dual Gazers and haven't been seen to use Synchros or because there isn't anything that directly links the previous shows when there really wasn't any need then.

 

[Litten]

I was surprised that Shun use RUM cards on his Raid Raptors Xyz monster and it looked like Sora had a chance at a comeback had that falling tower not distracted him when he found an Action Card. It was an amazing duel even if I'm sad that Sora lost, but I heard Reiji say "academia" when referring to Sora, so is he from Duel Academy and the GX world in general? Sora dueling Yuto should be good though.

 

[Revise Librarian]

Sorry if this isn't relevant, but I noticed an interesting coincidence which may or may not be intentional:

Shark/Shun
Rio/Ruri
Kamishiro/Kurosaki

Heck, even the syllables match, depending on your perspective.
Another thing worth noting is that both the Kamishiro twins and the Kurosaki siblings happen to be on the Xyz side of the spectrum, and Shark/Rio were among the select few who could use Rank-Ups in Zexal.

Aaand to top things off, if Yuto was like the protag-type character where he came from, then that would kinda make Shun the rival-type character from the same setting.

 

[Amante do Mikuri]

Sora is a good guy ou bad guy? Doubt... I like this episode, the anime just gets better. Like the monsters, mainly the fusions, and the story is taking a sense.

 

[Hidden Mew]

The new Opening makes a big deal over the tournament, even showing off a lot of contestants from other schools. It could maybe just be that in between tournament duels, there would also be other duels not related to the tournament itself, like the duels Yuma had against Gauche, Droite, III and IV as well as the other Numbers possessed characters.

That's possible too. Although, the new opening doesn't really spoil much more passed the first couple of duels that have already happened, so it's hard to say for sure at this point either way.

I don't see the issue with him acting like he's hot stuff, especially when it comes off as justified to me when it's really deserved, and at times needed to teach a lesson like when Shingo and his grunts were about to attack Yuya and his friends again despite Yuya already having beaten Shingo. Masumi belittled Yuzu quite a lot, so I don't see the issue with Sora belittling Masumi back who was just being unnecessarily arrogant and disrespectful to Yuzu and even acting like LDS's Fusions were the best too. I kind of think Sora might even have something against LDS too which could justify him being against it. It's clear he likes his own Fusion a lot and takes a lot of pride in it, but I don't see how that necessarily makes him arrogant and just because he has a lot of pride in it, it doesn't mean Yuzu's strength didn't matter. Him wanting to show off the Fusion capabilities to Shun was probably just to try set up a rivalry between the two with their upcoming duel. He also clearly had faith in Yuzu that she'd be able to win and was really satisfied she won, we don't need him to say it directly, and I think he was even supportive with the others in Yuzu's duel. To me, Sora's smugness is very tame, to the point I don't find it really entertaining. Other Yu-Gi-Oh! characters are a lot more smug, so maybe if Sora was more smug, or maybe if he's tone of voice was altered a bit to make it come off as more smug, I might have find him more entertaining but as it is his personality is ehh. Maybe if we learn more of him we could see a different side of him that could be more entertaining, or maybe even annoying.

I don't think that attacking Sawatari and his friends was out of his arrogant attitude. I don't recall that being the case at least. As for Masumi, I don't think that she belittle Yuzu nearly as much as Sora does with her and LDS Fusion. She doesn't act all that high and mighty over Yuzu. Sora, on the other hand, does. His smugness is obvious and really off-putting for me. During Yuzu's duel, it wasn't so much as he had faith in Yuzu, but rather had faith in the skills he taught her because he saw her as a reflection of his own power. That's how it came off to me at least. He doesn't come off as particularly supportive to the others as well. He didn't help in the battle against LDS to save You Show, pointed out how Yuya was the only one who won anything when he didn't even bother to help and left during Airu's duel because he wasn't interested in her opponent. Unless something grabs his attention, like say Yuya's Pendulum monsters or seeing Yuzu duel after he taught her how to use a Fusion deck, he doesn't seem particularly interested in being supportive or caring for the others.

I read that theory. There not being any Synchros in Zexal could just easily be because they were never relevant though. All the villains and protagonists ended up using Xyz, what use would there be for Synchros when the decks and strategies are based around using Xyz? Arc-V established that not every area has access to all summoning methods either, and I don't recall there ever being a moment where a character said that Fusion, Ritual and Xyz were the only special summoning methods. I'm also sure that Arc-V would take place after Zexal, Heartland being called a "Future" city could just be because it's a technologically advanced city, not because it hasn't been made yet. The technology thing could also be because they're in different areas, although if I were in the real world I'd prefer if people used Dual Gazers instead of Solid Vision out in the streets because I could see that being annoying constantly seeing monsters out when those who wish to see them could use Dual Gazers to not bother anyone. Plus the use of Dual Gazers also affects the entire area, so the attack of a monster could leave some impact to the field like damaged ground, which would only occur in fields made from Solid Vision with Field spells. I agree that somehow Zexal could be from some other world or universe, but I don't think there is anything concrete for that just because they're using Dual Gazers and haven't been seen to use Synchros or because there isn't anything that directly links the previous shows when there really wasn't any need then.

Even Fusion and Ritual monsters managed to show up in Zexal though. If they had managed to do that, they could have thrown in a Synchro monster appearing at some point instead of being practically all Xyz monsters all the time. There wasn't any indication that Synchro monsters didn't exist in the series itself, but it was rather strange. While I could buy that maybe different areas focused on different kinds of summoning methods, I don't see why that would be the same case with technology, at least as far as how their duel disk systems work. Why bother having AR Vision that requires a D-Gazer to even see the holograms when you have Solid Vision that everyone can see? No one would be forcing people to watch duels if they really didn't want to, so appealing to the people who don't want to see people dueling all the time doesn't really make much sense. Besides that, it seems like it would be kind of dangerous if you duel someplace and then the AR Vision made it look so different that you don't realize that you're about to fall off a bridge, similar to what almost happened to Yuma during his duel against III. The technology seems too much of a step backwards in my opinion.

I was surprised that Shun use RUM cards on his Raid Raptors Xyz monster and it looked like Sora had a chance at a comeback had that falling tower not distracted him when he found an Action Card. It was an amazing duel even if I'm sad that Sora lost, but I heard Reiji say "academia" when referring to Sora, so is he from Duel Academy and the GX world in general? Sora dueling Yuto should be good though.

I don't think Sora had a chance for a comeback by that point. Even if the tower didn't fall on him and the Action Card he found allowed him to survive or avoid the burn damage, Sora had no cards in his hand, none on the field and Shun's Xyz monster still had an overlay unit to potentially activate another ability. I don't think that there was much Sora could do after Shun ranked up his monster again. As for the Academia, I think that's the name for the enemy that Yuto and Shun have been fighting against. I don't know if that's the case, but since Sora said that he and his allies hunt Xyz users and Yuto did ask Sawatari about the Academia before, that might be the case. The GX world would be more like the DM/GX/5D's world since the first three series are established as being in the same universe. I'm not sure if Sora could have come from the GX time period though.

Anyway, I thought that this recent episode was really good. It was a fast-paced duel that was really engaging to watch from beginning to end. While I don't like Sora, I do like his deck and seeing some different Fusion monsters instead of just Destroy Scissor Bear was kind of cool. I liked how as the duel progressed more of his true colors came out. He still tried to keep up his act as the candy eating entertainer, but the more Shun pushed him and prevented his strategies from working, the more upset he got. I also kind of liked how prepared Shun was with dealing with Sora. They already tried way too hard to make him look threatening with how he defeated the LDS trio so quickly, but I thought that this was more effective by comparison. He was still in control and didn't let his emotions show, but that was most likely due to how he had to deal with fighting on a battlefield with his life and the lives of his friends on the line. Shun would have to develop a bit of a poker face in that regard. Plus, as he mentioned, they prepare for the worst case scenarios, which makes sense when duels are a matter of a survival for him rather than just a game or a means of entertainment. That kind of made me like him a bit more, although part of it could have also been just being so satisfied to see Sora lose.

Sora apparently being involved with Shun's enemy wasn't that surprising. Sora has been suspicious since the first few episodes of the series and the moment Yuto told Yuzu that their enemies use Fusion, I really expected that he was connected to them somehow. At this point, it would have been a bigger twist if he wasn't hiding his true nature. He does apparently hunt Xyz users as a game and sees them as nothing but playthings for he and his allies to have fun with. I still think that Sora's arrogant attitude is off-putting, but he does have some good skills. Perhaps not as much as he think he does, but he is good and Shun needed to rank up his Rise Falcon twice to beat him, which does show it took at least some more effort for Shun to win here compared to when he faced off against the LDS trio.

Yuya's reaction to Sora's speech was understandable. I don't think that they're particularly good friends, but he would be confused about seeing Sora's true colors showing and that would lead to him wondering if Sora is the person he think he is. Yuya's reaction to the duel becoming more like a battlefield was also understandable. Dueling is suppose to be a form of entertainment to make everyone happy, not something used in a war. Maybe that hints at how Yuya will be connected to the conflict. The way Reiji walked up to Sora after he won almost made me wonder if he was going to put him in a card. I would have been fine with that, but that probably wouldn't have been the best idea with all of the people watching and Reiji wanted to use him as a means to learn more about the Academia. Sora's reaction to the duel really showed more of his arrogant attitude. He didn't want to admit that he lost to, as he put it, Xyz scum and said that the duel wasn't over.

I don't really believe his claim in the preview either in that he would have won if he was completely serious. Sora looked like he was going all out during the second half of the duel and he still lost. Besides that, saying that he would have won if he was playing seriously is a childish and weak excuse for his defeat. If he was actually holding back, then he had no one to blame but himself and crying foul against this defeat because of not going in at full strength is just silly. He was overconfident in his skills and underestimated the skills of his opponent, especially due to how he looks down on Xyz users. Even if he was playing a full strength for a whole other match, I don't think that he would have won, if only because he would have still underestimated Shun and still thought of himself as being better than the plaything he hunts for fun. While I wouldn't be surprised if he defeat Yuto just to show Sora as more of a threat, I would like if he still lost just to give him a taste of humble pie. If he keeps acting like he's better than his opponent right off the bat and overestimating his own ability, then that could make it difficult to win in the future and if he learns that now, maybe he'll become more of a threat without having a stuck-up arrogant attitude to go with it.

 

[HumanDawn]

I don't think that attacking Sawatari and his friends was out of his arrogant attitude. I don't recall that being the case at least. As for Masumi, I don't think that she belittle Yuzu nearly as much as Sora does with her and LDS Fusion. She doesn't act all that high and mighty over Yuzu. Sora, on the other hand, does. His smugness is obvious and really off-putting for me. During Yuzu's duel, it wasn't so much as he had faith in Yuzu, but rather had faith in the skills he taught her because he saw her as a reflection of his own power. That's how it came off to me at least. He doesn't come off as particularly supportive to the others as well. He didn't help in the battle against LDS to save You Show, pointed out how Yuya was the only one who won anything when he didn't even bother to help and left during Airu's duel because he wasn't interested in her opponent. Unless something grabs his attention, like say Yuya's Pendulum monsters or seeing Yuzu duel after he taught her how to use a Fusion deck, he doesn't seem particularly interested in being supportive or caring for the others.

No, but Sora still "defended" the group. I think Masumi belittled Yuzu at least three times, but she did make it clear that she thought she was superior to her and in an arrogant way with flipping her hair and mocking her. I don't see how Sora thinking his Fusion is better than LDS Fusion was arrogant, maybe calling it fake was, but I think that has to do more with how Reiji got access to the summoning method and how it's not as strong as his Sora's own Fusion. I'm not sure I understand how that's a problem, if a teacher thinks you're going to do as great as them, that means they think they taught you really well and have faith that you'll win with what they thought you. I don't understand how thinking your student is being a reflection of your own power is an issue. He doesn't always support the group but he was considered as one of Yuya's support friends by Nico, which I think says something. He probably would have dueled against Yaiba if Gogenzaka didn't want to help so badly, but I agree that he didn't sound really interested in dueling them, but the criticism was fair to show how Yuzu and Gogenzaka really need to improve against LDS and Yuzu and Gogenzaka did try getting better. Regarding Ayu, when Sora left it looked like she would have won. He wasn't interested in Reira's copy method when Ayu looked like it beat it, so I don't see how it would have mattered for Sora to just watch Ayu defeat Reira when he could try catching up on some duels that could potentially help You Show. I don't think Sora is that type of person, and I don't see an issue in him being interested to do what he wants and I don't think it hurts anyone so it's hard to see that as an issue.

Even Fusion and Ritual monsters managed to show up in Zexal though. If they had managed to do that, they could have thrown in a Synchro monster appearing at some point instead of being practically all Xyz monsters all the time. There wasn't any indication that Synchro monsters didn't exist in the series itself, but it was rather strange. While I could buy that maybe different areas focused on different kinds of summoning methods, I don't see why that would be the same case with technology, at least as far as how their duel disk systems work. Why bother having AR Vision that requires a D-Gazer to even see the holograms when you have Solid Vision that everyone can see? No one would be forcing people to watch duels if they really didn't want to, so appealing to the people who don't want to see people dueling all the time doesn't really make much sense. Besides that, it seems like it would be kind of dangerous if you duel someplace and then the AR Vision made it look so different that you don't realize that you're about to fall off a bridge, similar to what almost happened to Yuma during his duel against III. The technology seems too much of a step backwards in my opinion.

I know, but just because they appeared it doesn't really mean that Synchro doesn't exist. All it did was establish that there are other summoning methods and that Xyz isn't the only one. They could have, but they could have easily chose not to or because they weren't really needed when they made all relevant and important characters Xyz users who focus mainly on Xyz strategies with Xyz related support cards. The Ritual monster that Kaito summoned was probably because they needed advertisement for the next booster pack which included it. Why would everyone want Solid Vision that everyone can see outside? As much as I would love for the system to be real, I definitely would not like to have it all in my face outside with all the sound pollution and visual pollution it would be making. It's much easier and would solve everyone's issues, never mind the fact there would be people who'd use the visuals of the monsters to distract others and potentially lead to accidents, so I don't see why anyone would pick Solid Vision over AR in real life unless they don't mind bothering people outside. They could have used Solid Vision in tournaments, but I think by that point the Dual Gazers became a toy to sell in real life, although I don't know much about the toy line so I could be wrong. Regardless I guess the system might have just stuck. While nobody would be forcing people to watch the duels, they would still be visual and sound pollution and I could see how they would be tiring to hear and occasionally see. AR vision doesn't really make it that different, the whole field is visualized but it's still the same no matter where you look and go, unless you're talking about the Field Spell, in which case, that area was still dangerous because the shock of dueling could push you off the road, so that's more of a bad area to pick than technological issues. It would have been nice to know more about the system and who made it, but I guess they weren't interested in doing that.

---

I think when Sora said he didn't show all his power, I think he just meant all the different strategies in his deck with other cards that would have more power, and that he just had something stronger than Mad Chimera or maybe some combo that would make it stronger and easily help him beat Shun which he was disappointed in not showing. I agree that he was going all out with the cards he had, but I don't agree that it's necessarily his full power from his entire deck. His defeat was really sad with how badly injured he was, even if he was just being a big asshole to Shun. I'm interested in knowing why Sora is how he is now, or if it has anything to do with some disorder, or being raised this way or if the Academia has something to do with it. I don't think he's necessarily the Vector of the group, since Vector was a big villain and Sora sounds really minor.

The following previews sound interesting, and with Yugo appearing we'll probably have a good idea on what's really going on. His face doesn't really look much similar to Yuya other than the eyes, but it just might be the clothes and facial expressions we haven't seen yet being why.

The Yu-Gi-Oh! DM remaster sounds nice, I wonder if it's the whole series or just the first arc. I just finished rewatching DM this summer and wouldn't mind watching it again in better quality, although I'd probably do that for the first few episodes and if it's not that different I'd stop.

I'm not happy that the new movie is just another DM movie when it already has one and I think the spin offs deserve more, but I'm glad that it's going to be past the finale and not before it, annnd that Yugi will have focus without Atem around.

 

[Litten]

Regarding the latest episode, I'm glad that Yuto used some new monsters including a new Xyz and I'm also glad that he and Yuya have finally met. Sora's dueling skills are slipping though in my opinion.

 

[FANG-TAN]

On the topic of the DM remaster:

Yuugiou Duel Monsters was a (cheaply animated) early 2000's anime series. "Remaster" probably just means "crop the video and saturate the colors"... As Yuugi's Black Magician/Jacob of Toonzone told me on Twitter, they likely don't have the original genga anymore.

Considering it's the 20th anniversary of the manga (not the NAS anime, nor the Toei anime, nor any anime), an entire remake that follows the manga more faithfully like Sailor Moon Crystal (and doesn't skip/alter shit) would be more appropriate. Same thing with the movie:

"In the past Dark Yūgi and Kaiba have clashed many times!! Dark Yūgi, who resides in Yūgi Mutō's body, and Kaiba will have a duel that bets their prides and accepts each other's mutual experience." - Plot of the movie, according to ANN.

That's some NAS-tier plot right there. Dark Yuugi and Kaiba settle their differences... again? Wasn't that the point of their final Battle City game? Dark Yuugi/Pharaoh Atem is supposed to be in the afterlife, so this is clearly intended to take part in the middle of the series. How redundant. Kaiba isn't even that important in the manga aside from Death-T and the only two M&W-focused arcs in the manga. Jonouchi is considered the deuteragonist of the manga, which is pretty clear especially when it's confirmed by Takahashi Kazuki himself. If they really need to a M&W-related plot, why not animate the unseen duel Dark Yuugi and Jonouchi had between the Battle City and Memory World RPG arc?

I'd rather they faithfully animate a theatrical version of the Death-T arc. Or the manga version of the Dragons, Dice & Dungeons arc. Or the manga's version of the Shadow RPG arc, only this time include everything Takahashi Kazuki originally intended to put into the RPG before he was rushed to end the series. That would be a treat to fans who have read the pure, original Yuugiou story. If they don't at least call it "Magic & Wizards" in the actual movie... damn. lol

Like, I don't mind if you're a fan of the DM series. Or a fan of the spin-offs. Like what you like, I might have some sort of opinion regarding your tastes, but whatever. But this is the manga's anniversary, and what they're planning to celebrate it with is pretty underwhelming and near insulting. It's literally all related to the Duel Monsters anime by NAS, which is a radically different story/universe to the original 36-volume manga by Takahashi Kazuki. That anime already HAD its anniversary with that time-travel crossover movie or whatever. As a fan of the manga, I sort of have the right to be slightly bothered.

/endrant

 

[Isaac Gravity]

^What I would give to see Death-T animated. But this would also mean they'd have to completely show what outright monsters both Kaiba brothers were.

Actually, I just want the first seven volumes given proper animation.

 

[Amante do Mikuri]

Sora lose again? zzzzzz

Yuya vs Yuto, so boring...

 

[FANG-TAN]

^What I would give to see Death-T animated. But this would also mean they'd have to completely show what outright monsters both Kaiba brothers were.

Actually, I just want the first seven volumes given proper animation.

Same here. Toei's anime never did those chapters any justice.

I'd love to see a manga-faithful anime of the DDD arc, the Shadow TRPG arc, maybe even manga-faithful Duelist Kingdom, but first and foremost the first three arcs from the first seven volumes with better animation, no skips/filler, and the DM OST. Toei's Death-T in particular was a joke.

 

[Hidden Mew]

On the topic of the DM remaster:

Yuugiou Duel Monsters was a (cheaply animated) early 2000's anime series. "Remaster" probably just means "crop the video and saturate the colors"... As Yuugi's Black Magician/Jacob of Toonzone told me on Twitter, they likely don't have the original genga anymore.

Considering it's the 20th anniversary of the manga (not the NAS anime, nor the Toei anime, nor any anime), an entire remake that follows the manga more faithfully like Sailor Moon Crystal (and doesn't skip/alter shit) would be more appropriate. Same thing with the movie:

Giving a more faithful adaptation of the manga was be awesome. I still haven't read all of the Duelist or Memory World volumes, but I did like what I read and seeing a more faithful adaptation of it would be great, especially if we could get legal subs for it without any of the red tape mess that surrounds DM. Unfortunately, I doubt that will happen since that would require a lot of money and for better or for worse, the franchise has focused more on marketing new cards through the spin-off series than anything else. A more faithful adaptation would be really great though.

"In the past Dark Yūgi and Kaiba have clashed many times!! Dark Yūgi, who resides in Yūgi Mutō's body, and Kaiba will have a duel that bets their prides and accepts each other's mutual experience." - Plot of the movie, according to ANN.

That's some NAS-tier plot right there. Dark Yuugi and Kaiba settle their differences... again? Wasn't that the point of their final Battle City game? Dark Yuugi/Pharaoh Atem is supposed to be in the afterlife, so this is clearly intended to take part in the middle of the series. How redundant. Kaiba isn't even that important in the manga aside from Death-T and the only two M&W-focused arcs in the manga. Jonouchi is considered the deuteragonist of the manga, which is pretty clear especially when it's confirmed by Takahashi Kazuki himself. If they really need to a M&W-related plot, why not animate the unseen duel Dark Yuugi and Jonouchi had between the Battle City and Memory World RPG arc?

I'd rather they faithfully animate a theatrical version of the Death-T arc. Or the manga version of the Dragons, Dice & Dungeons arc. Or the manga's version of the Shadow RPG arc, only this time include everything Takahashi Kazuki originally intended to put into the RPG before he was rushed to end the series. That would be a treat to fans who have read the pure, original Yuugiou story. If they don't at least call it "Magic & Wizards" in the actual movie... damn. lol

I know that was included in the article for the movie on Anime News Network, but I don't think that I'd put much stock into that plot detail for the movie. For starters, I haven't seen any sign of that anywhere else where I talk about the movie, including another site that has a few people able to do translations. Plus, the picture of Yugi and Kaiba seems to heavily contradict that plot. While it hasn't been outright confirmed yet, the fact that Yugi isn't wearing the puzzle implies that the movie is set post-Ceremonial Duel. While I suspect that Atem will still make some kind of appearance in the movie, they chose to market Yugi next to Kaiba instead of Atem, which is also rather telling since they almost always use Atem when promoting DM-related stuff. If the plot is about Atem and Kaiba settling their differences, then why isn't he included with Kaiba on the poster instead? Besides that, the movie isn't going to be out until 2016, so I don't think that they would reveal the plot just yet. All we know for sure right now is that the movie will be an original DM story and that Yugi and Kaiba are the stars.

Like, I don't mind if you're a fan of the DM series. Or a fan of the spin-offs. Like what you like, I might have some sort of opinion regarding your tastes, but whatever. But this is the manga's anniversary, and what they're planning to celebrate it with is pretty underwhelming and near insulting. It's literally all related to the Duel Monsters anime by NAS, which is a radically different story/universe to the original 36-volume manga by Takahashi Kazuki. That anime already HAD its anniversary with that time-travel crossover movie or whatever. As a fan of the manga, I sort of have the right to be slightly bothered.

/endrant

I don't think it was necessary to include that opinion about one's tastes. That just came off as unnecessarily rude/snobbish. I don't have a problem if you don't like DM or the spin-off series, but judging someone's tastes because that they do like them is pretty mean. I could understand being bothered by what they're planning to do with the movie if there was any actual credibility to that plot detail, but there isn't as far as I know.

As for the movie news itself, I think it sounds pretty cool. While it would have been nice if one of the spin-off series got more attention, I kind of prefer focusing on just one series instead of another crossover movie. I love Bonds Beyond Time, but they were barely able to make having three protagonists in a movie work with that short runtime. They wouldn't be able to do that with now five protagonists. Besides that, I always liked the idea of a DM movie or OVA set post-Ceremonial Duel, which this does seem to be given the lack of a puzzle for Yugi.

Sora lose again? zzzzzz

Yuya vs Yuto, so boring...

Except that Sora didn't lose. He could have lost if Yuto went all out against him, but he didn't. He's still dueling in the preview, so it isn't like Yuya stepped in to take his place. It's more like he joined in the duel to make a battle royal instead of just a one-on-one match. Even if it was just Yuya vs. Yuto, I honestly don't see how that would be boring. We'd get a better idea of their connection and/or why Yuzu's bracelet keeps them separated. Not to mention Yuto hasn't even dueled that much, so we'd at least get some new cards out of his deck.

Anyway, I thought that last week's episode was pretty good. I was expecting Sora to just run into Yuto while searching for Shun instead of Yuto coming up to find out anything about Ruri. Since the Xyz users who are defeated are put into cards and Shun was able to do that with LDS members, I guess that means that sealing people into cards isn't an exclusive power to the Academia. I like that Yuya, Yuzu and Gongenzaka were trying to figure out what was going on with what they know. Yuya being more involved with the plot is great and I'm also surrised that Gongenzaka was clued in. Maybe that means he'll play an important role in this conflict too. It was kind of strange that Yuzu claimed that she didn't doubt Yuya before when they first claimed that he attacked Sawatari since that was obviously the case. Plus, she mentioned how she thought Yuya was dressing in a costume, which doesn't really make sense either. Yuya can dress up in a costume, but it would be to entertain people. He wouldn't go out to attack someone, even someone like Sawatari.

It was obvious that Sora would still want to go after Shun, but it made him look like such an arrogant idiot. He just couldn't accept that he lost to Shun and wanted to keep fighting because of his pride. He didn't learn anything from his defeat. He was overconfident in his skills and underestimated Shun because he looks down on Xyz users. Trying to claim that the duel wasn't over and that he would win if he went all out still made him look childish. Besides that, being overconfident and underestimating one's opponent is just a recipe for disaster. Sora obviously hasn't learn that, so chasing after Yuto to find Shun just makes him look stupid. I think he's become my new least favorite character in the series. His arrogant attitude is making him so annoying and it really doesn't help that he keeps looking down on Xyz users.

The duel started off pretty well. It was nice to see some new cards for Yuto and I liked that he didn't go all out against Sora. It made sense given that he's always been less aggressive than Shun. He doesn't care about crushing his enemy. He just wants the information he needs to help his friends. Plus, Sora needs to realize that he isn't automatically better than Xyz users. Shun was able to beat him and Yuto could have finished him off in the first turn, so he's not as good as he keeps claiming. At this point, it's much easier to side with the Resistance over Academia. Neither are completely good, as Shun was willing to attack innocent people to potentially save his sister and Yuto became more okay with destroying all Fusion users if that meant freeing the people in the cards, but the Resistance fighters, from what we've seen at least, are more morally gray and have a much better reason for fighting than the Academia does. I wouldn't be surprised if they try to make the Academia, and by extension Sora, more sympathetic later on, but based on Yuto and Shun's information and Sora's attitude, hunting down people just for kicks doesn't make them look good.

It was nice to see Yuya and Yuto finally being able to meet. Even with Sora's unappealing attitude, I don't mind that Yuya stepped in to stop the fighting. He's still probably confused about Sora's true nature. He also still considers Sora a friend, even though I never thought that their friendship was particularly strong, and he wouldn't just stand around while someone is hurt through dueling. That was his biggest problem with the last duel since the Action Field was turned into a battlefield that just scared everyone, which is pretty much the opposite of Yuya's idea of dueling. Plus, I took his decision to jump into the duel more as a desire to stop the fighting in general rather than simply tag teaming with Sora. If he knew about Sora looking down on Xyz users and hunting them for the fun of it, he wouldn't accept that kind of behavior either and would tell Sora to stop as well. That's one reason why I hope that his attitude towards Sora changes in the next couple of episodes. He might still consider him a friend, even though I'd prefer if he didn't, but Yuya not feeling exactly the same about Sora after learning his true nature and confronting him about what he has done would kind of work too.

 

[FANG-TAN]

I don't think it was necessary to include that opinion about one's tastes. That just came off as unnecessarily rude/snobbish.


I don't have a problem if you don't like DM or the spin-off series, but judging someone's tastes because that they do like them is pretty mean. I could understand being bothered by what they're planning to do with the movie if there was any actual credibility to that plot detail, but there isn't as far as I know.

Just for the record, it wasn't meant to be mean. What I was getting at was that no matter what I think of anyone's tastes (good, bad, anything), that's just my opinion - their taste in itself is an opinion, and its theirs and theirs alone and there's nothing I can do to change that. That will always be subjective. Most importantly, it was to establish that my hmph to the movie news isn't particularly out of any radical distaste for the anime/spin-offs or its fans, but rather out of objectivity for what the 20th anniversary is. Heck, me liking the manga could be considered "shit taste" to someone else, for example, but it doesn't change the fact that this anniversary is for the manga, rather than the NAS anime series which already had its own anniversary. If that makes any sense (some people are saying "Well, this should be an Arc-V movie instead!" when Arc-V has zilch to do with the original manga).

So far from just the news, it sounds pretty DM-ish (Kaiba seems to be glorified as the deuteragonist rather than Jonouchi, and manga-wise there shouldn't be any rivalry between Kaiba or any of the Yugi's, especially post-Battle City), which turns me off. We'll see when 2016 comes. First impressions from the news and first impressions from the actual movie may differ quite a bit.

 

[Hidden Mew]

Just for the record, it wasn't meant to be mean. What I was getting at was that no matter what I think of anyone's tastes (good, bad, anything), that's just my opinion - their taste in itself is an opinion, and its theirs and theirs alone and there's nothing I can do to change that. That will always be subjective. Most importantly, it was to establish that my hmph to the movie news isn't particularly out of any radical distaste for the anime/spin-offs or its fans, but rather out of objectivity for what the 20th anniversary is. Heck, me liking the manga could be considered "shit taste" to someone else, for example, but it doesn't change the fact that this anniversary is for the manga, rather than the NAS anime series which already had its own anniversary. If that makes any sense (some people are saying "Well, this should be an Arc-V movie instead!" when Arc-V has zilch to do with the original manga).

It still came off as an unnecessary comment and could easily be taken as looking down on people for liking DM and/or the spin-offs. What you think of others' tastes is your opinion, but that doesn't mean that it can't be rude or hurtful if you imply that people have bad tastes for liking these shows. I can understand being upset over releasing the movie for the anniversary of the manga, but I think that could have been covered without making a comment about other people's tastes. Just saying that people like whatever they want and then going into how this movie is set for the 20th anniversary of the manga would have been a better choice in my opinion.

So far from just the news, it sounds pretty DM-ish (Kaiba seems to be glorified as the deuteragonist rather than Jonouchi, and manga-wise there shouldn't be any rivalry between Kaiba or any of the Yugi's, especially post-Battle City), which turns me off. We'll see when 2016 comes. First impressions from the news and first impressions from the actual movie may differ quite a bit.

While the movie is going to focus on Yugi and Kaiba, I suspect that Jonouchi will have some role in the movie too. He's one of the more popular DM characters and I really doubt that they'll only have two characters from the original DM cast involved in the movie. I don't mind the idea of a rivalry between Kaiba and Yugi. Kaiba's rivalry was always more with Atem rather than Yugi, so seeing those two duel would be different and we'd get to see more of Yugi's skills after the Ceremonial Duel. I liked how the ending was open-ended with Yugi just beginning his own story, but seeing more of his strength post-Ceremonial Duel would be nice. Even when his strength is mentioned in the spin-off series, they always focus on Duelist Kingdom and Battle City more than anything else. I agree that first impressions of the news and first impression of the actual movie can be different though.