#ceremonial duels

[fanfic-lover-girl]

Yuma & Astral > Yugi & Atem. Fact

As usual, my disclaimer. Yugioh DM and Yugioh Zexal were the only two Yugioh series I watched completely. I watched DM in the dub and Zexal in the sub. If I had known about the sub as a kid, I would have watched DM in sub :'(. But I was not watching the whole series again. I have watched several sub clips though so I have a fair idea of the Yugioh DM sub.

Now that I have listed my credentials...let me start what may be a hot take.

I love both partner pairings though I like Yugi & Atem more just because I was never a huge Astral fan. But objectively, Yuma & Astral are the superior pair when I look at their story arcs.

The problem with Yugi & Atem is that Atem feels more like the main protag than Yugi. It was not until the Memory Arc during the Yugi vs Bakura duel that it hit home that Yugi was meant to be the main protag. Sure, Yugi has his moments but Atem does all the heavy lifting. Yugi and Atem had great teamwork in the Pegasus duel and it was epic to witness. But otherwise, Yugi does not really have any memorable duels until the last arc. Yugi only duels when Atem is unavailable (eg. in the Bandit Keith duel) or for emotional duels (eg. possessed Joey). Atem is the guy who ultimately defeats the main players: Bakura, Pegasus, Kaiba, Marik, and Dartz. Yugi is basically Atem's support guy and is delegated to the background. Which is why I was never a huge fan of their ceremonial duel. It felt totally unearned to me. First, Yugi has the advantage of knowing Atem's deck while Atem has little knowledge of his. Frankly, the ceremonial duel is quite forgettable and underwhelming. The main moments were Yugi defeating the Egyptian gods and that last symbolic move with the Ressurection of the Dead card. I like Yugi but he never felt like the main character of the story. Atem fought all his battles for him. When things got tough, Atem took over and Yugi took the backseat and got all the glory. Yugi deserved better and I wish his title of King of Games felt more earned in the narrative because Yugi is canonically a prodigy gamer too. In the dub, Yami's thoughts while dueling sound like Yugi so it makes it appear that Yugi is contributing. It's a nice touch but hardly enough to compensate, especially since the sub does not have anything like it as well to bolster Yugi.

Now Yuma and Astral. Thank goodness I found the sub. Dub Zexal is annoying to watch. Yuma is one of my fav Yugioh protag. Honestly, a lot of times I have Yuma as my favourite. Yuma's development was incredible and he is unlike the others who were just naturally amazing duelists. Because Yuma started off as a bad duelist, he relied a lot on Astral. However, what makes the dynamic between Yuma and Astral more interesting than Yugi & Atem is that they are separate entities during the duel so we get to see their interactions. So instead of just possessing Yuma's body, we see Astral coaching Yuma and even some amusing situations such as when Astral played reverse psychology on Yuma when the kid was being stubborn and refusing to listen to him. As Yuma became better, he became less dependent on Astral and we even see Astral congratulating Yuma on creative plays that impressed him. Then we see Yuma and Astral as equals when they fuse with the power of Zexal (cool power by the way **squeal**...although it can be too OP lol). Because of this, I always saw Yuma as the main character of the story, despite Astral's amnesia driving the plot. We see Yuma defeat the villains, sometimes without Astral. Yuma's rivals are HIS, not just Astral's. We see Yuma and Astral working together on screen. We see that Yuma and Astral's goals begin to conflict when Yuma befriends the Barians who are the enemies of Astral world. Therefore, Yuma's ceremonial duel with Astral had so much more buildup and was way more climactic. Yuma grew as a duelist to the point where he could defeat his teacher and step up to save the world from his best friend if need be. All with a smile on his face. I don't care what the Zexal haters say! Yuma is such an awesome character, despite being one of the youngest protags.

Both ceremonial duels have heartwarming endings. But I think Yuma and Astral had a better dynamic than Yugi and Atem. Yugi's only moment against a main villain was in the Duelist Kingdom arc but he never got a moment to really shine after that until literally the last minute.

[kaibacorpintern]

yugioh isn't "good" i.e. its hardly a cowboy bebop or NGE or FLCL or mushishi but if anyone was like "it's bad" i'd be like be quiet. kaiba's about to summon obelisk out of the fucking ground

[dreamydelite]

Oh how could I face the faceless days If I should lose you now

[yugiohcardsdaily]

Sealing Ceremony of Katon

"Once per turn: You can banish 1 FIRE monster from your Graveyard to target 1 card in your opponent's Graveyard; banish that target."

[kathairoette]

yo.

I got an announcement to make.

I’m taking a break. Blep.

And no, it doesn’t mean I’m leaving forever haha, but I’m definitely taking a stop from fandom. It’s for a lot of reasons, the kind of small ones that accumulate to something big, until you just go “You know what? We should stop. Let’s just go.”

First is IRL stuff, responsibilities. Things are changing and I need to take some time to focus on it. Second is skill. While I know I’m not bad, I wish I was… better? A common sentiment for artists ofc, but I want to brush up on my fundamentals and really tighten up my skills. My hope’s that when I come back, I can make more things that are interesting and meaningful. That my work can be things that you and I are both interested in.

Second is my experience in fandom for the last few months. I’ve been doing this for a while, 6-7 years-ish. And it’s sort of lost the magic for me? Sometimes it feels as if what I made had no real impact at all: That all my work’s good for is a quick scroll through and that’s it. It’s how social media works, esp fandom’s, but it’s also kind of painful, you know? And I grew quite lonely because of it, and seeing other people cheer on one another so vividly, publicly or privately or otherwise, felt very saddening. I don’t think I’ve ever felt jealousy like that until now.

So I kinda need to leave pfft. Such thoughts aren’t good for me, and I never want to think bad of fellow fans. But before I truly did, I got to know some people. They were kind and willing to play with me, and so my heart did not hurt so much anymore. And all you people who do come around here too! Whether its from @kathairoscloset or here, you remind me that it’s not as bad as it seems, that you are interested in seeing what I’ll do. It’s important, and I wish I could hear some of your voices even more. But I appreciate it, I really do! Thank you.

I hope that when I come back, I can be a better person and artist than what I was yesterday. I want to, I really do. And I hope you all stay good people too! Here’s to a better year, I wish you all the best.

[chronologically-challenged]

Yugioh sifloop AU.....

[teatitty]

Manga Kaiba is so out of shape that boy would walk up a hill for 20 steps and start wheezing for breath meanwhile Joey is strolling past him whistling a jaunty tune no problem

[millenniumcomics]

Hairs growing whisper the meaning of patience. Haircuts scream the definition of loss.

For fawningbruises

I thought about this for a bit, but in the end decided I should gift this fanfiction to fawningbruises. First of all, because her work Hanging the Sun to Hold the Earth Up was so inspiring to me, and probably one of the reasons I decided I wanted to publish fanfictions in english. Secondly, because I was feeling so stupid writing this story about Atem wanting to cut his hair until I saw this: Fawningbruises | Tumblr and everything suddenly seemed fine and possible and right. She totally had the tail idea first. Or maybe not, maybe we shared it somewhere in between. Anyways, I want her to know art calls art. Hers is good art.

This story takes place on the boat to the Valley of Kings, the day before the Ceremonial Battle.

Of course, the gorgeous art is from her. Thank you.

[millenniummmbop]

something something yugi's choker something something the girl with the green ribbon

[ygobattleroyale]

Left Side, Round 1:

Yugi Mutou v.s. Yami Yugi/Atem

[x-atlas-x]

you know what bothers me to this day? the fact that in the manga, yugi stands on the left and atem on the right during the ceremonial duel; however, they’re switched around in the show- but in dsod, they’re back to the original positions from the manga?

[animaginaryartblog]

[Image ID: a sequence of three digital paintings of Yugi Muto and Atem from Yu-Gi-Oh!. All are set in space, in front of a starry background. Purple-tinted light leaks in from the left, like sunlight filtering down from the surface of water.

Yugi wears a sleek blue jumpsuit with a black belt, boots, and gloves. Around his wrists are silver cuffs with several glowing buttons and screens. Atem wears his usual outfit - white sandals, a white tunic, a flowing cape, and a gold belt and crown. A swirl of black kohl underlines his eyes. The eye on his crown glows softly.

In the first painting, Yugi and Atem face each other as they float in space, Yugi on the left and Atem on the right. Yugi holds the Millennium Puzzle's box in his hands, face set with determination as he looks at Atem. Opposite him, Atem looks back with narrowed eyes, arm raised in front of him as if preparing to defend himself.

In the next painting, Yugi launches forward, tackling Atem in a hug. Atem's eyes are wide and his mouth open in surprise, his arms extended as he tries to catch his balance.

In the final painting, Atem wraps his arms around Yugi, eyes closed as he hugs him tightly. /end ID]

version of this but with Atem's canon design and no helmet on Yugi, because why not?

Don't tag as ship.

[shinayashipper]

My heart cannot handle how much Yugi Craves for Kaiba's Approval (as his Rival). Maybe Yugi's adamant "I only wanted to play in official tournaments if it's against Kaiba fair & square" as a kind of- to make up for the Guilt he felt after driving Kaiba into a coma (Death-T), and then it kinda evolved into like "Watch me, Kaiba-kun, I can Beat you too!!" Like he wants Kaiba to **See Him**!! One of Yugi's Biggest Motivation is to face Kaiba again and again in Duels- he's the one who's Very Much into that Rivalry Thing 😂

[yugiohcardsdaily]

Sealing Ceremony of Suiton

"Once per turn: You can send 1 WATER monster from your hand to the GY, then target 1 card in your opponent's GY; banish that target."

[kaibacorpintern]

i love swimming in post-DSOD "atem comes back" fluffy domestic shenanigans prideshipping fanart and fics

[pleuvoire]

SHISHA SOSEEEEEEEEEEIIIIIIIIIIIII