#kaibros shenanigans

[millenni-em-tauk]

1 of 2 belated birthday comics for Mokuba!! Inspired by prompts from my beloved friends over at the DPOD server ❤️ Please be on the lookout for #2 shortly :)

[the-cryptographer]

The first series ygo arcs according to me. Manga and DM canon. According to me. aka not the ultimate truth.

Season Zero

Pros: school life shenanigans. mah boi Jounouchi is at his most character development-y. mah boi Seto is at his most psychotic. someone else’s boi Atem is a hilariously shitty vigilante. stupidly aesthetic edgy.

Cons: Jouji. villains are dumb. and you’re dumb for liking this shit, DeLurk.

Comments: God Tier, tbh.

Duellist Kingdom

Pros: best Mai arc. best Kaiba arc with best payoff for ‘to lose is to die’. solid Jounouchi arc. solid Jounouchi arc where he’s terrified of zombies. duels are quick and cathartic. minor duellists are at their best. island funtimes. sneaking around Pegasus’s property. THE ENDING OF THE ARC IN THE MANGA!!!

Cons: idk, Paradox Brothers?

Comments: also God Tier, tbh.

Legendary Heroes

Pros: Yuugi, Jounouchi, Mai, and Mokuba go on fantasy RPG adventures. Mokuba is a manipulative little shit. we learn that Seto is shit at delegating power within his company. also Yuugi, Jounouchi, Mai, and Mokuba go on fantasy RPG adventures.

Cons: everything is rushed and contrived and stupid. if you start to question why and how Yuugi, Jounouchi, Mai, and Mokuba go on fantasy RPG adventures, the whole thing unravels into a ball of coal.

Comments: it’s still fun af and nothing can stop it from being fun af.

Dungeon Dice Monsters

Pros: Otogi.

Cons: the anime version was shit. but also the anime version had some cool Otogi-Pegasus connections that I wish were in the manga despite myself. so you can’t win.

Comments: i love Otogi, you can’t understand.

Battle City

Pros: ISHTAR SIBLINGS. no, for reals, Malik is the best villain, and the Ishtars have be best sibling drama. had the best duel in the series (trustship duel). Jou-Malik duel was also pretty quality. Bonz v Y!Bakura. Y!Bakura v Y!Malik. plot relevant. Yuugi says he loves Jounouchi. Kaiba grows up a little (and also talks shit about Jou for dying). Pinnacle Shizuka. Dark Necrofear.  Atem goes on a fail-date with Anzu.

Cons: longest, most draggy arc with so many low, low, boring af moments. full of boring, shitty Jou duels. slightly-less-full of boring, shitty Atem duels. Mai gets put in a coma. Jounouchi has literally nothing interesting to do until Mai gets put in a coma. ableism. misogyny. boredom.

Comments: best parts of the series and worst parts of the series combine to make Frankenstein’s monster of ‘i can’t stop watching’.

Noa’s Arc

Pros: Kaibros drama. Noa is an amazing little bitch. sci-fi adventures. Anzu and Dark Magican Girl team up. peak crushshipping love and drama and Honda is a jackass and Shizuka is amazing. we get to learn more about the Big 5, and at least half of them are interesting.

Cons: brought up a bunch of Kaibros drama that then got dropped prematurely. didn’t bring enough mind-fucky drama to the table. also WHY IS GOUZABUROU SORT OF ALIVE, GFDI, GOOD JOB UNDERMINING THE BASIS FOR SETO’S BELIEFS, ANIME, GDI.

Comments: still worth it, tbh.

DOMA

Pros: interesting (if highly inexpert) exploration of Mai’s PTSD, her self-imposed distance from others, her misogynistic self-hatred, and her need for validation from the stupid fuckboys in her life - all of which Battle City brought up and then fumbled terribly. ROAD TRIP IN AMURICA. Otogi and Rebecca are now pals. Rebecca and the Kaibas are now pals. Rebecca hacks things. Kaiba refuses to help and then ends up helping anyhow. Honda is still the best mom friend to Jou and everyone. Amelda, Rafael, and Valon are all interesting and have interesting conflicts going on. shrimpshipping hell. Atem gets some interesting character moments.

Cons: Atem gets some interesting character moments that don’t fit into how the rest of his arc has played out AT ALL. Dartz. Atlantis. stupid Legendary Dragon cards. DARTZ. ATLANTIS. there is no end to my hatred for how Dartz ended up being used to undermine the problems Amelda had with Kaiba.

Comments: similar to Battle City in my contrasting love and hate with its structure. but less plot relevant.

Grand Prix

Pros: Vivian. Jou & Mokuba moments. Jou & Grandpa moments.

Cons: everything else.

Comments: I shouldn’t even like Vivian as much as I do but, what can I say, I love Miss Sinophobic Stereotype apparently.

Capsule Monsters

Pros: Melon Club(?) Jounouchi in a Red Eyes costume(?)

Cons: ???

Comments: yeah, I haven’t watched this yet.

Millennium World

Pros: magical Ancient Egypt setting - woohoo! new members of the cast are fun. Yuugi got to duel. cartouche & true name magic. more Monster World tabletop fun in the manga.

Cons: new members of the cast are underdeveloped. rushed as fuck. Set and Kisara relationship is terribly written. Thief King Bakura’s valid complaints about genocide and the ruling class get thrown out the window. Zorc is the most boring ultimate evil.

Comments: series goes downhill as it continues according to me apparently.

Darkside of Dimensions

Comments: I’m tired of this post now. Big pros are Yuugi and Kaiba duel and the portrayal of grief. Big cons are throwing Anzu’s experience under the bus and introducing Ishtar siblings ripoffs (Mani is okay). Everything Kaiba did was in-character. That is all.