Yu☆Gi☆Oh! 5D's

Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's is the third in the ongoing Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise, which has captured the attention of many worldwide. It is a long-running series consisting of 154 episodes with various story arcs, much like previous instalments in the franchise. The series consists of protagonist Yusei Fudo, a cool-headed but determined individual who seeks to free himself and others of oppression. He is a social outcast due to living in Satellite, the slums near Neo Domino City, and his eventual victory with friends he made along the way is highly predictable. Much of the story rides on Yusei and his predictable victories in duels, and the rest consistsof usually well-intentioned villains who disagree with Yusei's idealistic view of saving everyone from future dangers who explain the wrongs of his ways of thinking. Of course, they're eventually disposed of. Yusei is joined by many characters from various walks of life on his journey, though they lack dimension. Most characters serve a purpose in the plot, and aren't explored beyond that. Some characters experience development through the actions of Yusei and the world around them, but only becomes noticeable after watching the series for an extended time, especially when they become capable of helping the world and people around them much like Yusei himself. However, many characters face degradation, being later forgotten or turned into comic relief or duel commentators. Execution of the aforementioned concepts is a mixed bag. As with previous Yu-Gi-Oh! series, 5D's boasts some fantastic music, accentuating the highs and lows of the story. Animation, however, is less consistent: it is mostly pleasing to look at, but looks obnoxiously off-model during various episodes. The eye candy is placed where it matters most, namely, during revelations in the plot or otherwise important episodes. With any long-running series, there is the issue of maintaining a feeling of freshness to the content of the show. This is especially difficult with 5D's, a show in a franchise relying on a card game and already preceded with two extended series with a very similar premise. 5D's does a good job of keeping plot points and characters colourful and varied, with a large cast of characters and various story arcs. However, there is very little feeling of continuity between these arcs. Characters and plot points previously important to the story are understandably dropped in favour of newer material. This can occasionally be annoying as many of these characters gain little closure until the very end of the 154 episode series. The long chain of playing card games and explaining it also hampers the experience for some, especially those already familiar with the card effects. Overall, Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's is a fun series to watch if you turn off your mind and sit back, but far too loosely packed to be truly great. Although the idea of "card games on motorcycles" is an oddity, it is presented in a reasonable manner which is entertaining. The 'never give up' attitude of the protagonists, over-the-top flair and overcoming adversity is exciting to watch. If you're after something more serious, pick something else.

Let's talk about Yugioh 5d's. If you've ever heard about the monstrous discrepancy between the Japanese Yu-Gi-Oh anime and the smoothed anime by 4kids (talking about Dual Monsters), well, it's even worse. 5d's is the moment when a real director tried to make something out of the Yu-Gi-Oh franchise by putting it in a futuristic dystopian context. Far away from the age of the Heart of the Cards, the fancy millennium items and championships for titles, the card game in 5D's has become the social norm for settling anything and everything. It's become a kind of ultra-popular, over-mediated sport. The rich own the rare cards anduse them to crush the working class, it's almost Marxist on the edges. Fudo Yusei is one of those oppressed but who manages to get out of his unhappy fate by the sheer force of his talent. We are not talking about just knowing how to play a few cards well and having a lucky draw, this is the first time that we see players actually playing their own deck well rather than each time getting cards out of the script. In short, Yu-Gi-Oh 5d's is not only Yu-Gi-Oh on motorcycles, it's probably the only one in the franchise to have tried to have a deep message, a sustained rhythm, complex characters, symbolic violence that really comes to life (it's about class struggle, sect, suicide, prison, discrimination) and that dares to put a main character already mature but not without evolution. Just making a good anime simply and not just a tool to sell boosters. So there are some flaws that remain eh, there is still magic and destiny lying around. But I sincerely think that given what the anime has to offer, it's worth seeing even for a non fan of the original series and even more so for those who had left it far away thinking that it must have been something close to stupid. 8/10 Story (Deep & intelligent but have some boring or predictable parts) 6/10 Art (Kinda old now) 10/10 Sound (Amazing OST!) 8/10 Character (Some are really great, notably Aki) 9/10 Enjoyment (Well directed) 8/10 Overall (Very Solid) Watch Yu-Gi-Oh 5d's, and in subbed for pity's sake.

take the scenario from Terminator + tons of mindless violence + card games on motorcycles (that are surprisingly good) + a badass protagonist: Welcome to 5ds! 5ds revitalized the game when it needed it most. Konami created new types of cards (synchros) and introduced them through an anime so good that people actually got over the fact that Konami was creating new rules again (The same tactic was repeated quite successfully with Arc V and completely failed with Zexal). The duels suddenly became A LOT faster and more enjoyable and the game that was going downhill until then suddenly stepped up. For starters FINALLY we're through with"school children protagonists". Yusei was already 18 when the show started, had already trouble with cops and was basically living in a giant scrapyard/post-apocalyptic city. Literally from the first minutes of the anime all you can say is "wow, is this really yugioh?!". Obviously the super-added levels of violence meant that 4kids butchered the anime even more than usual in the dub, making it utterly unwatchable, but that's hardly the original's fault. And staying on the "violence makes good" theme, lets talk about emotional violence as well. Aki, the show's female lead is quite clearly a girl with a LOT of problems and torn between her loyalties, from the start to the end. On the one hand she wants to go with the protagonist... Mostly because she just fancies him, on the other she wants to stay with her boss, who she also fancies (kinda, and also kinda sees him as a fatherly figure, honestly it's a pretty interesting subplot). And the main reason she can't choose is that in 5ds, there is no clearly evil character. Obviously the protagonist is good, but there is no character you can clearly call an "one-sided villain", including her boss. On one hand that makes for a much more mature plot, on other it doesn't allow for the sheer evil badassness that Vector was (read my zexal II review). In fact even the last main villain of the anime, the big bad behind it all, STILL isn't evil. Misguided maybe, yes, but he only had the best of intentions (you know, unlike the motherfu%$ing Vector and the others). The protagonist, Yusei, best of all, never jokes, almost never smiles and is in fact from start to finish dead serious about everything. The fact that he can outrun security (constantly), beat the crap out of everyone (no, I don't mean in a card game, I mean literally, beat the crap out of people), build 2 whole motorcycles from scrap and understand physics (without ever going to school mind you) makes him a total boss. After him comes Jack Atlas, the second male lead, who gets almost equal screentime, and is a fan-favourite due to his dueling style and unparalleled ego. He makes for an amazing antagonist and surprisingly well-written character (and is in fact the only character in the anime to get more chicks than Yusei). Lets be honest here, EVERYONE who has seen 5ds was hyped every time that "Red Demon's Dragon" was summoned. (Come on, you can even recite the summoning chant) The plot starts from post-apocalyptic future, goes to "suck my Aztec d$%^" and ends up Terminator (down to the last detail). While pretty light on twists there are a few that really make for interesting story (for example who the final opponents of the second and final Arcs were). Most of the anime is delightfully dark, with purple and dark blue being the primarly used colors. (As far as I can remember you almost never see the sun in the first Arcs). When it comes to animation and OSTes 5ds was way above the antagonism. In fact when it came out, I quite honestly thought it had the best OST in anime after Bleach (Fairy Tail hadn't come out yet). The animation has a unique dark style to it that really makes the anime enjoyable and you asking for more. It doesn't matter if you didn't like yugioh in general, at least the first 8-9 episodes of this one are a must-watch.

5D's, my favorite show of all time. This show is a beautiful work of art, with some of the most real characters I have ever experienced. However, between Dark Signers and Pre-WRPG there is a huge shift, however I personally adore season 2 for there depiction of the main threat of the series, Yliaster. -Art- The art is beautiful, and the monsters are some of the most beautiful we've gotten yet. The Signer Dragon's complexity could make them hard to look at if your use to the original, but once adjusted they are some of the best designed monsters in the franchise. The Earthbound Immortals couldbe considered simple, and they are simplified black versions of the Nazca Line the represent with a different color line vairty across them, but they somehow manage to still look amazingly badass. The Machine Emperors are just sheer eye candy to anyone a fan of machines in general, and the characters still have gravity-defying hair, making certain characters(ESPICALLY APORIA) a pain to draw. -Sound- The Voice Acting is sheer beautiful, from the sexy voices of Yusei Fudo and Aporia to just the plain awesome voice work that is given to Lucciano. However the music is where it really shines. Almost all OSTs are amazing, including Yusei's theme, Lucciano/Skiel's theme, Light and Dark, Placido's theme and many MANY others. However the openings, endings and inserts are where they just BOMB IT. 5D's and GX are the only shows were I love every single opening and ending, and my god, do they not disappoint. Future Colors, Cross Game, Start, Last Train, Going my Way!!, Believe in Nexus, Freedom, -OZONE-, Close to You and Kizuna are the best songs in the entire franchise by far, and we have the all holy insert song sung by freaking Masaaki Endoh known as Clear Mind. -Characters- I will admit I have a crush on Placido to the point where it's kinda scary and sad, but the characters feel so real. Yusei and Jack are by far the best Yugi/Kaiba duo yet, and the entire major rest of the list excluding the characters from Secruity and Satellite are amazing. Rua, Ruka, and Lucciano are by far the best children characters in this franchise along with Arc-V's Sora, and damn does Z-One troll everyone. There's even a character exclusive to the spinoff Bonds Beyond Time who gets mentioned, and well, just watch the freaking show. -Enjoyment- I have never enjoyed a show this much. Every episode, even the filler, was good in some way. My personal favorite episodes are 105-110(the Placido VS Yusei mini-arc as I like to call it). But just, watch it. -Overall- This franchise is amazing, and this series is a treat from beyond heaven. If you like anime in general, WATCH YU-GI-OH! 5D'S RIGHT NOW.

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