#yuma is a great yugioh protag

[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.

[shitpostingkats]

Can you please please elaborate about the Lore chanel in the yugioh protag's discord?

I am imagining some truly spectacular things that Jaden has extremely casually mentioned and NEVER EXPLAINED

Jaden Yuki absolute KING of casually saying the most wild thing you've ever heard in your entire life ad then moving on like it's nothing. He drives all the younger protagonists crazy, while Yugi and Yusei have just accepted that he is Like This.

The kids pestered Yugi to add the Lore channel just so they have a place to collect all the weird messages he sends. (Occasionally others get immortalized in the Hall of Weird and most of the guys consider it a great honor. Yuma is the proud car carrier of Second Most Bonkers Guy In This GC by messages in the lore channel)

Some notable examples include:

Until Yuya joins there is a ongoing disagreement between Yubel and Jaden on how many dimensions there are. Jaden says its twelve because Eisenstien and Bastion say so and Yubel says its nine because they were in space when the whole split happened. When Yuya joins and tentatively divulges that he saved four dimensions, Jaden ruined a very emotional moment by yelling “I TOLD YOU THERE WERE TWELVE!! :D” Cue everyone shouting "TWELVE???" So now they keep a running list of possible dimensions and Jaden refuses to confirm or deny any of them

Jaden: Was standing next to Chazz at the bus stop n he opened his umbrella n honestly nearly had a heart attack I thought the vampires were back for a second Everyone: Hey Jaden :) what :) do you mean :) "back"??

Shark thinks its really funny to write notes to Yuma in the language of his first life as Nash. One time Yuma posted a picture to show everyone what he has to put up with and Jaden was like “It just says ‘have a nice day, idiot’.” (Nash’s empire was composed of many cultures and languages, Jaden can only barely read it, but his kingdom in his prior life was a few hundred years down the line folded into Nash’s empire and the writing system adopted basically unchanged.)

But it drives everyone insane because one time Yugi was talking about Atem and Jaden went "Psh. I could have been egyptian royalty if I wanted to."

Everyone: ????????!?!? Jaden: You guys know I'm a king, right? Everyone: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!????!

Yuma has his money on closeted immortal, while Yuya's banking on time traveler.

Sometimes the dark world will lose an imprisoned monster and he’ll slide into everyones dms like - Hey - If you see a two story tall sarcophagus man - Chains on the wrists and ankles - Responds to “Exodia the forbidden one” - Lmk

This:

[yall-hate-kids-tourney]

Yuuma Tsukumo (Yugioh Zexal)

Y'all Hate Teens propaganda

cw: character death

"yuma is the 13yo main protagonist of yugioh zexal, the youngest ygo protagonist at the time. the switch from the last ygo protag (fudo yusei in 5Ds), who was far more stoic and also 18yo, to yuma, who is far more energetic and cheerful, lead to many ygo fans calling him too annoying and childish. he is also more inexperienced when it comes to playing the ygo card game, which had people calling him dumb, never mind that him becoming a great duelist is his main character arc.

these complaints shifted when the latter half of the show aired, which was far darker than the beginning of the show and involved many character deaths, including one of yuma's friends literally suffocating to death on the moon. yuma, of course, was upset that all of his friends were dying, especially because he cares a lot about his friendships. he was also betrayed several times by close friends who ended up being a part of / joining the villian group who was killing said friends. but of course, that only had people call yuma an even more annoying crybaby as he cried in almost every episode near the end because, as i said, all of his friends were either dying or betraying him. 

in summary, general ygo fans saw a typical energetic 13yo boy as the protagonist to a show aimed at teenagers, and complained when he acted like a typical 13yo boy and had actual reactions to the traumatic events the show put him through. "

[aliothbuzzsawshark]

why do you think Luke would be a better protagonist? I’m curious. Tbh I’m much the same but I wanna hear your take

Luke is like. An amazing idea for a Yugioh protagonist, or at least the more *dumb* Protags. (Judai, Yuma, Yuya) From his personality, goals, cards, and what he means to the themes of Sevens

     Luke has the personality of a typical shounen anime protagonist. He’s kind, energetic, optimistic, brave, and has a very clear goal. However he has flaws that make him not too perfect or too annoying (both in being to great or too bad) Yuga never really seems like he cares about stuff. He does, but he’s not expressive or puts lots of effort into what he does. Luke meanwhile, puts 1,000% perfect of his everything into what he does. You can tell Wehen he cares, what he’s doing, and most importantly, wouldn’t hide his plans from the audience like Yuga. Both aren’t extremely optimistic, but Luke is a a lot more than Yuga 50% of the time. Luke thinks either everything will work or nothing at all, creating comedy for the audience and a certain surprise to what he’ll do. Meanwhile Yuga will look at a situation, go “oh I know what’s gonna happen here and I’ll fix it” for so many episodes it hurts.

    Furthermore, Yuga’s goal is trying to stop something (Rush Duels getting deleted), not gain. Having a goal of stopping something can cause the audience to get bored. Of course there is exceptions (Yuma and Zexal are pretty good examples of that) but Sevens isn’t one. All but 2 out of 7 antagonists aren’t against Yuga because of Rush Duels (thank you Roa and Swirly) and that is so, so repetitive. Meanwhile, Luke’s goal is gaining the King Of Duels Title, and likely also trying to stop rush duels. This creates a balance between stopping and gaining.

     Luke’s deck is very yugioh. I don’t know how else to describe it. Dragias are really cool dragons and that’s like 35% of all yugioh cards. They even change throughout the series, like how Utopia has various versions to show time and characters. “Yuga’s deck also is very yugioh” Not really. Besides the Sevens Roads he just has spellcasters, and they call back to Yugi/Atem. Luke has dragons, which are as Yugioh as you can get. The most known card is BEWD, not Dark Magician. (Not trying to hate on Dark Magician btw, bewd is just more recognizable)

     Sevens is about going against tradition. Tell me, dear reader, what Yuga does to show this past the first episode. Luke, Tatsuhisa Kamijo, is still somehow better at showing this than Yuga. He stands up with breaking tradition about every time, (every time I can find of, but it’s Sevens so probably not every single time) even with his own family. When he ran the school, he broke the rules and created it how he thought people would like. Whenever he gets ANY position of power, he changes it so people would like it. It’s just that he’s Luke, and he “assumes” people would like him. His entire relationship with his family is about breaking the family tradition and then not supporting him. Comparing to Yuga Ohdo, Luke does everything Yuga could’ve done, but didn’t. Yuga creates the Make Your Own Duel Thingy, but that’s more a plot device than an actual action of breaking the mold for people. Even then, it’s way to late to do it right at the last arc to be anything more than a plot device.

     So uh. Yeah. Is that good? Do you want more? I can keep going

[chimerafflesia]

Top 5 YGO characters?

allow me to be annoying real quick 🙏🙏

5. Kite Tenjo the galaxy-eyes master himself. he was actually my original favorite in zexal before shark came in with a steel chair but he's just. so good. he's introduced as a bit of a maniac (per yugioh protocol) but then you learn his character and it's like ohhhh. okay. yeah he can do whatever he wants forever. he has one of the best magical girl transformations in zexal. he duels on the moon. it's insane. also the best big brother in yugioh I'll stand by that. he's just so good.

4. Yuri Arc-V man where do I begin. i've only known this cunt for 2 months but genuinely he became one of my favorite characters the second he was on screen. he's only in roughly 30 eps of the show and i hate it cuz if it was up to me he would've been in All Of Them but i understand. i want him in duel links SO BAD it's not even funny (there is new dialogue alluding to him tho so we are getting there). i love his design sososoos much like it's a top 3 yugioh design for me i fear they cooked too hard. he's purple and hot pink i really can't ask for more.

3. SHARK YUGIOH ZEXAL. what didn't they do with this boy. filled every single character role and did it flawlessly. every moment he's on screen is incredible and his character is so unreal i can't even explain it it's just something that has to be witnessed. his bonds with yuma and rio especially make me sob he's just so wonderful. he's so violently 14 years old as well and it's so so good like the dub also adds to that greatly by giving him the best dialogue (im so biased i love the zexal dub to death) he has a skill in duel links called "You're Getting on My Nerves!" it's so funny. guy who claims to not care actually cares the most alert. shark's character alone is a crazy ass moment in yugioh history to me.

2. Jaden "Get Your Game On" Yuki he is the best yugioh protag of all time i'll die by that. changed the game by breaking the wall and being the first spinoff protag. they just did such a great job with him he's such a joy from the second he's on screen all the way until the end. unbelievably charming and lovable and his interactions with other characters are so good. i'm really biased towards his dub as well because i love how violently early 2000s all his dialogue is. it adds so much to him. my slifer4lifer he's my beloved.

1. BAKURA !!!!!!! i love all the bakuras an insane amount but i am extremely partial to yami bakura. he is my ride or die my best friend we go way back. not only is he my favorite yugioh character he is straight up my favorite character from any media Ever. his design, his character arc, everything about him just drives me absolutely insane. ryou too. god ryou my cinnamon apple. my king with 14 different eye colors. i stayed up until 4:30 am when he came to duel links to play it as soon as he dropped and it's a memory im so fond of. and thief king bakura my God. design kicks ass he kicks ass he deserved so much more than what they gave him and i stand by that. the bakuras just mean so much to me especially yami bakura i love them to death. best white haired bitches ever.

[number-1-kuaidul-fanboy]

Yugioh Best Friends Ranked

So YugiohEverything did this recently and I’ve ranked both the protags and the main girls so I figured, why not? I need something quick and easy to write this morning. Also, since there’s some debate on who counts as the best friend character in each show and I have some notably weird opinions on this, I’ll say right out of the gate which characters I’m including: Joey/Jonouchi, Sho/Syrus, Crow, Shark, Gongenzaka/Gong, Soulburner, and Luke. (Of whom I’m going to use whichever name I’m more to used to using.)

7 Gongenzaka

Honestly, Gongenzaka being the lowest here isn’t a slight against his character at all. There isn’t a bad character from this set to me. Gongenzaka is definitely the weakest but I’ve actually really grown to respect him. I think his style of duelling was really cool, especially the growth of him learning synchro summon despite it being against the traditions he was brought up with. That’s really neat. And the one time he ever did use an action card was against Z-Arc, in an attempt to save his friend, which is a really compelling moment. The only reason he’s the lowest is because I don’t feel like his personality is all that interesting, I definitely like him more for his duelling. He is a very good friend to Yuya though, as I’ve also come to appreciate in my most recent watch of Arc V. So just know, I respect Gongenzaka, I just like these other characters more.

6 Sho Marufuji

Betcha didn’t see this placement coming. I go on and on about how much I love GX and for every other character ranking, GX’s pick would be near the top, if not the top. Sho meanwhile… I do really like him, especially his relationships with Judai and his brother, Ryo and his growth in the series, especially season four but I like the other characters much more.

Still, people dunking on Sho is news to me. People really hate this guy?! Jeez, what did the dub do to him to make him deserve this? (Okay, maybe it is based on the sub but considering how the GX dub is and that it’s one of the more watched dubs, it definitely stands to reason that the dub just screwed him over.)

5 Luke

Luke is a weird one because I feel like he’s probably more like the rival character but out of the main friend group, Yuga undeniably has the closest connection to Luke. So I’ll count him as the best friend. Luke is a lot of people’s favourite character from Sevens and while I do prefer Yuga and Romin, I do enjoy Luke’s dorkiness and even some of his more arrogant moments when they’re done right. It is annoying that he basically never loses but I guess it’s to counteract Yuga, who loses and wins quite evenly. So overall good character.

4 Shark

Yeah, I’m counting Shark as the best friend instead of Bronk. Because Shark is far more prevalent, far more interesting, has more development and purpose in the narrative, and it’s his connection with Yuma that’s given the most focus in the climax of Zexal II. In my mind, Kaito is the rival, he just got screwed by part two. And you know what? I think Shark is a really neat take on the best friend character. He’s definitely Yuma’s friend, and shows that care often, if begrudgingly or in a strange gruff way and that’s really fun and a great counterpoint to Yuma. Also, do I even need to talk about their final duel? Feels out the wazoo.

Honestly though if “main girl” wasn’t a stupid arbitrary category for these shows, I’d argue Kotori is Yuma’s best friend because they actually have a really good platonic dynamic and they make a point of her mere presence boosting Yuma up in the final part of the Barian arc. But for this list, I say and argue Shark.

3 Joey Wheeler

Man, how I’ve grown. Once upon a time, a young man was in quarantine with his younger sibling and, being very bored and needing a distraction, the man agreed to watch a few episodes of this show his sibling liked, of which he’d only ever seen memes of and thought sounded stupid as shit: Yugioh Duel Monsters. On that first watch, the man could not stand Joey, due to his voice, inflated ego, and lack of duelling skills and while the man did grow to respect Joey as a duellist later in the show, he could never bring himself to like his character. Now, two years later, I question what the hell I was thinking because Joey is easily one of the most compelling characters from the original series. Out of everyone on this list, he’s easily the most supportive as a friend. He always has Yugi’s back, up to and including jumping off a cruise ship to save Yugi’s Exodia cards and sacrificing his life for Yugi’s after he breaks free of Marik’s mind control. Heck, he’s willing to die for Mai as well in Battle City and his whole motivation in Duelist Kingdom was to use the prize money to afford his sister’s eye surgery so she wouldn’t go blind. He is such an ideal best friend it’s hard not to respect him, especially my absolute favourite moment of his: surviving the full force of the Winged Dragon of Ra and coming out of it still on his feet. Joey is literally just an average scrappy guy with a deck he threw together and some street smarts and he is duelling on the level of gods. It’s hard not to admire that.

2 Crow

This one and the last one are honestly kind of interchangeable. I like Joey’s role in the narrative better than Crow’s as I will concede that Crow too often took the spotlight away from other characters. This didn’t really annoy me that much outside of WRGP which was just terrible on literally every front and either way. Personality wise however, I do prefer Crow. He is an absolute sweetheart and his backstory was honestly heartwarming, especially that part in the dub where it’s implied he didn’t have a name so one of his first friends named him after one of his cards. I know I’ve brought that up before but it honestly is one of my favourite moments from 5Ds, and Crow is one of my favourite characters in 5Ds. Heck, I even love him in Arc V, despite him being notably more aggressive there. I think it makes sense considering the change to his backstory, which is still really cute, though I will admit his 5Ds backstory is better. I might also be a little biassed because I watched Arc V before 5Ds so Arc V was my first exposure to Crow and I loved him there.

1 Soulburner

Hahahaha, I’m gonna get burned for this one :)

I’m so sorry.

I debated whether I wanted to include Soulburner or Kusanagi on this list because there are good arguments for either of them being the best friend. However, I decided to go with Soulburner since A) I prefer his character and B) 5Ds has been the top pick for one of my lists like this before. So here we go, Soulburner. The adorable sweet dorky bean who sucks at technology in a technology based show and is the one horrifically traumatised character in VRAINS that got proper closure and whose backstory was one of the biggest tearjerker scenes in VRAINS for me and that is saying something considering how much this show made me cry. I really love his dynamic with Yusaku, of being one of the first people Yusaku trusts and of course, Soulburner and Flame are adorable. I love their sassy back and forths and Flame’s death tore me to shreds partially because of just how hard Soulburner took it. Soulburner is just so… outwardly positive and sweet that seeing him break hurts me so deeply, and gets me more invested in his character. I relate to him in a lot of ways, from his little quirks to the way he reacts to those traumatising events he was put through. Also, I didn’t talk about it when I first saw it (because I was still so broken up over Roboppi and was anxious about Ai) but Soulburner vs Revolver is one of the best duels in VRAINS and was a really good resolution to Soulburner’s character arc. So overall, Crow and Joey are probably better best friends but I personally like and relate to Soulburner more so he gets the edge here.

[cyberdragoninfinity]

Oh I think I saw the post u meam and (u can delete/ignore this is its too far from the point and shit) the "The only yusei I like is a depressed one" is so. Idk? Harsh? Hes allowed to ve happy and still be written well, he doesnt need to be shoved onto other peoples sins when the series already has him doing that. He can have an implied decently peaceful life until death. Sometimes! You do so much and oull so much weight that you become something intangible and divine to someone whos never met but still thinks of u! And sometimes its one guy and sometimes its them and the last remnants of the human race out of a desperate love for both!

Idk, just let yusei be like, not suffering 24/7, they forbid him from even entering the WGRP for fun bc ig thats bad to so many characters, let him have a scrap

YEAH. YEAH. god ive been thinkin about this all day, this is so good anon you get it you're Logged In you see the Intent of it all...

again like. if the 'z-one isnt yusei' thing isnt someone's favorite narrative choice, whatever, thats your journey, but every time i see this "well he was ACTUALLY supposed to be yusei from the future for real!!!!" rumormongering i want to groan into my hands, it just feels like this desperate grasping at straws because they really wanted Sick and Twisted Evil Yusei Real and then when that didn't happen they had to make up some grand production conspiracy instead of just taking the "welp, cant win 'em all" with this one and acknowledging that's just not the story the 5D's writers wanted to tell.

i LIKE a good protagonist corruption/evil!protag AU, they're really fun, but you're so right, this sort of Insistence I see when people are like "no, it was GOING to be true, z-one WAS dark and depressed and hopeless future yusei," i just cant wrap my head around it. there's just this sort of miserable harshness to it that i'm not personally very into. (in general i cant really vibe with this idea of "i need my favorite character to constantly be suffering." just really not my thing, ESPECIALLY WITH YUGIOH CHARACTERS??) (also. like. we already did have that. with jaden. and honestly yuma also is fucking Suffering too. it's cool seeing a different spin on things. idfk!!)

i just want to like. grab people really gungho about this thing by the shoulders and ask "why do you want a Yusei who willfully betrays and gets his friends killed SO BADLY? why do you want to see a Yusei who hurts people THIS much?" I feel like it would have just been so jarring and unearned. it doesn't feel like Yusei even in his darkest hours (which imo is part of why Z-one is such an interesting character to me--the concept of someone who thinks if they can wear a fabled hero like a pelt, if he can Become them, then that will fix everything, then They can fix everything. that's so fascinating and fucked up to me!!!! i love thinking about it!!!)

this idea that in the far future Yusei's become this sort of folk hero, this "something intangible and divine" like you said, just from saving the world and doing good and helping people, that's just SO neat and has so much merit and is worth discussing!! and it's unfortunate that you have a Not Insignificant amount of people who just wont even consider the potential narrative weight in it, who are so sore Their Trope of Choice wasn't canon theyre out here weaving madeup production stories to back up their personal disappointment. just. idk. you can give the 5D's writers a lot of rightful flak for stuff in s2, but i do very much think there was great intent from the beginning to have z-one be Just Some Guy who's rotting in a body that isnt his own, and to have him reflect yusei in ways without Actually Just Being Him.

[isleepatfiveam]

Rating the Yugioh Protagonist by my dumb standards;

8. Shoma Yusa from the Structures Manga. I count him but I know nothing about him. He's cute but I have no clue about anything about him so he's the bottom.

7. Yusei Fudo from 5Ds. 5Ds is my personal least favorite of the Yugiohs but Yusei is really interesting to me just cause he's so much more mature than the others. Faithshipping is my favorite ship for him.

6. Yugi Muto and Yami Yugi (Atem) from Duel Monsters and DSOD. Yugi and the Pharoah are a great duo but Yugi never got the chance to be the MC until DSOD which he was amazing. Puzzleshipping is my favorite ship from DM.

5. Yuma Tsukumo and Astral from ZEXAL. Yuma can be annoying but his dynamic with Astral is great. They only slightly beat out Yugi and Atem because of their ZEXAL morph and Yuma's deck being more appealing to me. Keyshipping is great.

4. Yusaku Fujiki from VRains. My depressed boi, he needs a hug and some friends. Yusaku and VRains needed more time but from what I've seen of VRains, Yusaku is great. His design beats out Yuma, especially the color pallets. He's also a literal magical girl, no I refuse to belive otherwise. I'm torn between Aiballshipping and Datastormshipping as my VRains OTP.

3. Judai Yuki (Jaden Yuki) from GX. GX is my first series and Judai is...wow from me when I realize that he is legit a war criminal but may have sparked my "evil alter ego to a happy go lucky cutie" kink. I love his Season 4 design and how much as changed from Season 1-3. SPIRITSHIPPING IS MY FAVORITE YUGIOH SHIP.

2. Yuga Oudo(?can't spell) from SEVENS. Yuga is adorable and has a lot of braincells, overall SEVENS subverts at lot of Yugioh troupes and I like that. He's crazy and cooky and made a new Yugioh Format. Sometimes he doesn't even feel like the protag. But I love his design. I have no ships for him and honestly it's probably for the best.

1. Yuya Sakaki from ARC-V. I personally love ARC-V and Yuya is such an interesting character because he is a small part of the story as a whole. He's only a small segment of the big puzzle. I also love his deck, Magicians and Dragons in the Circus. I honestly think of him as Asexual instead of having a ship but otherwise Fruitshipping is the ship for ARC-V.

Thanks for coming to my TED Talk, this is completely subjective and do give me your own opinion.

[lunatic-fandom-space]

Ayyyyyyyyy, its almost two a.m rn but Ive slept about ten hours today bc my life is falling apart babeyyyyyyyy So anyway Im gonna go watch Zexal again but before that, its Prediction Time because I just couldnt resist reading some angsty fanfics and so I have a couple of tidbits (??) that are honestly kinda confusing out of context but Im gonna spin some theories out of em anyway

Ive probably already mentioned this, but I dont think my theory about the Astral World being bad and/or deliberatly creating Astral for great destruction is gonna come true at this point, given that 96 was apparently never a real part of Astral('s memories) (??) but Im still holding out hope bc I would find that much more interesting than the Astral World just being Good yknow. If it doesnt come true Im definitely trying to write a fanfic about that

Barian Redemption Arcs for Everyone Including Vector bc why not

Uhhhhh it looks like we're getting a new Guy that's called like, Eliphas?? Eilphans?? Idk smth like that and I believe hes in some way related to Astral World?? My prediction for him is like, he shows up on earth one day and hes wielding these amazing space powers (theyre like, blue and aesthetically similar to all the stuff we've seen relating to the Astral World or maybe even the Numeron Code) and hes acting all mysterious and dubious and somewhat morally gray and hes like, inconviniencing both our Protags and our Barian Bois and theyre all like "ughhh whos this mystery man inconviniencing us >:(" and then its gonna turn out that hes been playing some sorta 7D chess in order to subtly help our Protags out and maybe also try and get the Barian Bois to 'see the light' or something?? Idk im just kinda throwing that out there

ALSO this Epipen dude is gonna be an Anime Hot Guy and hes gonna have long hair and a cool Mysterious Mask and a matching cloak-cape thingy and maybe like, a scepter-staff thing too for spice idk

Rio is not getting her cool Fucked Up Creachure Form cuz yugioh hates women 😔

Homoerotic Tension between Durbe n Nash (before Vector like, killed him and he turned into my boi Reginald, I mean)

I know I already said this in my last prediction post, but Gilak is gonna like, stop caring about Alito or something and theres gonna be this big dramatic moment where its like "Oh nooooooooo T~T he doesnt care about his fwiend anymore :'(" but then he sees the light and (depending on the situation ofc) saves Alito or does something else, but I cant think of something else right now so thats the only option im giving sry

My boi Reginald is gonna have to deal with some internalized space racism when he finds out hes Barian (did he already find out?? idk man, my memorys shitty and I didnt pay attention in that episode with his past life sry)

SPEAKING OF MY BOI REGINALD (and also Durbe whom I mentioned earlier), theres gonna be some past life/present life tragic relationship stuff going on between them and its gonna be sad

Yumas parents are alive in the Astral World but theyre either in some magic coma or sealed away in a magical space rock and Yuma can only get to them by defeating Don Thousand or something and hes only gonna do that at the very end of the series so I wont have to deal with them, amen

When Yuma and Astral inevitably go to the Astral World, the Numbers Club is gonna stay behind on earth, the only people that are gonna accompany them are Kaito and my boi Reginald and maybe, potentially the Arclights cuz it seems like they might get more important again (judging by the newest opening). Kotori might also come along but shes going to continue to not do anything

So yeah, I think thats it. Zexal Time

[gauchebistro]

Day 1-Favorite series

@ygotober2020

I'll start off by saying I love each series. I've seen every episode from season 0 to Vrains(Need to still watch the last 5ish but I know what happens still). Sevens I started but then it had to go on hiatus and just haven't started back up(Still follow what happens each week though).

With all that said and done, my fav would have to be Zexal. It gets a lot of shit, and most of it isn't warrant at all. While it could have done some few things differently(Like with any piece of writing), it overall was a great series in mostly every way.

Our protag; Yuma, isn't like the first three, he's not a dueling expert, infact he kind of sucks at the start. But this is a good thing, it's a change of pace, and opens up the potential for growth and is also a better representation of people who just start out with dueling.

Yuma meets Astral in the first episode, his dueling spirit(An obvious nod to Yugi and Atem relationship). This is done differently where Astral is essentially a helper to Yuma instead of taking over completely. They don't get off on the right foot unfortunately but this also opens up potential of growth, and oh boy do they grow a lot together.

The first 20ish episodes is your typical setting and character set up. In it we have Yuma making friends with all sorts of people(and a trash can), he also makes an enemy(Although he's focused on Astral) and rival. The plot is dived into right away, gotta collect 100 Number cards to help Astral. We get our first recurring villian as well as the main villian of the first half of the series. People like to say Zexal starts out slow but a lot happened including growth. Most episodes end up heart warming too which isn't something that lasts especially with part 2 of the series.

Next we have our tournament arc, which of course in yugioh means ulterior motives. The main villian; Dr. Faker, uses the tournament as a means to lure in Number users so his son Kaito can duel and take their Numbers and by extension soul(Kaito does this to help his younger brother). Mr. Heartland is Faker's aid and as mayor of Heartland city he's a good person to have in your pocket. Also Heartland is hilarious to watch. The tournament attracts the other main villian of the first half, Tron with his 3 sons; III, IV, and V, these aren't their real names but they are called as such for most of the series. There is a ton of drama in this tournament without even adding Yuma into the mix, but of course we gotta have him in it as it's important for him and Astral too. Ton of stuff happens, plot twist after plot twist. And is just a great ride(Also they duel on a roller coaster for part of the tournament).

At the end of the first half of the series everything works out, Kaito and Shark are basically Yuma's friends now, Yuma and Astral have a great bond, Faker and Tron are dealt with. Yuma proves he's skilled. Happy ending...for like a day. This also all happens in 73 episodes plus there's more that happens with other characters such as Tron's sons. But either you know this already or should watch the show and find out.

Zexal II is basically amped up, it has similar structure as Zexal with the first bit being set up then the rest of the series your in for a ride. You'll want off this ride because it makes the last one seem like a kids ride. But once you're on you can't get off. So sit back and enjoy, because even 10 years later you'll still think about how great this series was to watch.

So Zexal is my fav and I highly recommend. The plot and characters are just amazing to watch.

[minashaia]

After doing a list for the protagonist, I will do My top 6 rivals this time. Three things before I start;

1- I don’t consider Shark or Kaiser as a rival “ don’t even try to convince me🤣”

2- This is my personal opinion you are can disagree with me but no need for questioning me for my opinion 😂”

3- this list based on them as a character, so things like who was the strongest or best rivalry with his protag are unnecessary “ let’s be honest strong or better duelist isn’t a thing in yugioh since some characters need to lose for plot purposes. As for the rivalry it’s not their fault that protagonists like Yusaku,Yugi or Yuma had partners to duel in their ceremonial duels while Yuya and Yusei didn’t have so they had to duel their rivals”

6- Akaba Reiji; I will describe Reiji by one word “meh” Basically I understand why everyone love him. He is really a great and of the strongest rivals in the franchise alongside Revolver. They are both more strategic duelists and not just summing their strongest monster to win “ looking at You Kaiba” also he is the first rival that started the show respecting his protagonist. But the guy barely appeared in the show for me to care about , didn’t have great duels “ except the ones with Yuya” he doesn’t act like a rival. Simply I know nothing about Reiji , I might dislike Arc v and it’s my least favorite, but I will tell I enjoyed a lot of characters and Reiji was not one of them

5- Jun Manjome, in some way Manjome was unique and most importantly he had personality even if the characters don’t take him seriously as what rival supposed unfortunately. However I do appreciate his character development and growth into a better duelist. The biggest problem with him and petty much half of Gx main cast is that they all were overshadowed by Judai.

4- Seto Kaiba, our classic rival,He has best rivalry with Yugi and their duels are epic. But The biggest problem I have with Kaiba is that he hasn’t his own story arc or a character development. When Noah’s arc starts, Thats supposed to be his moment to shine but no Yugi step in and takes his place. And seriously , he saw people dieing , his soul was taken , went to the past and saw himself?! And he still don’t believe all that?!! Not saying Kaiba didn’t change but not the same way I felt with the first three. He is still an iconic character in the franchise that no one can deny.

3- The king himself Jack Atlas , if ppl watch Zexal because of Shark and Kaito , since they hate Yuma. Then guess what? I was almost close to drop 5ds cause I couldn’t stand or care for Yusie’s character “ that was at the beginning only” but Jack and Aki are one of the reasons why I watched the show. Jack was fantastic in so many way. The way he betrayed his friends and once he lost everything, he started from zero and learned to stand up for himself. Jack grow up and change through out the series , he cares for his friends and others. He has respectful and perfect rivalry with not only the one that he consider as friend but also a brother.

2- Tenjo Kaito , isn’t that enough?! Kaito fits the criteria for perfect rival. Not only that he is awesome, cool, badass and strong . He also has sad backstory. The poor guy suffered from watching his young brother sick and he can’t do anything. And his father abandon him. After that he was forced to hunt the numbers and to take ppl souls. Kaito never know anything about trust, it’s because of Yuma and Astral he started to accept others help. His character’s development was the best among the rivals. And finally he was the only one who never lost a duel against his protagonist.

1- if there’s only one rival that can beat all of them it’s my gun boy REVOLVER/KOGAMI RYOKEN. Why Revolver is the best character?! Very complex and well developed. This guy was just 8 years old boy who loved dueling ,laying on the flowers looking at the sky being in peaceful world. However his asshole father decided to ruin his entire childhood and life by making him part of his shitty project. His father asked him to bring one of the children to his home ,listening to their crying and screaming, he decided to be the voice for one of them then save them from their suffering and be a hero, unfortunately this is where his life with guilt begins. for 10 years he was manipulated by his father’s beliefs and followed him even it takes to hurt ppl or sacrificing lives like what he did back in season1 he was basically behind his father’s mask aka hiding like criminal. After his father’s out of the picture Revolver starts to choose his own ways to deal with things he no longer wants to hurt ppl in real world only things needs to be done in LV . He was mad for what happened to Windy’s partner, for Lightning attacking unconscious PM , worried about Spectre and let Sb unleash his anger, pushed him to over come his trauma and stopped his attack for Jin. Basically Revolver went from antagonist who hide his face like criminal, was following his father’s path, to an antihero who still holds to his fathers’ wishes but in his own way without hurting ppl. To true knight who now will protect ppl and the network. The way they wrote him with balancing his story and character without taking his personality or making him change all of sudden or act out of his character it was pleasant to watch him I will miss him so much.

[fanfic-lover-girl]

The True Yugioh Rivals

I wanted to do a follow up to this post:

In particular, I want to focus on GX and Zexal. Now, Jaden/Judai has 3 rivals that people usually agree on: Manjoume/Chazz, Ryo/Zane and Edo/Aster. For Zexal, Yuma has Shark and Kaito/Kite.

I have seen people argue that Ryo and Kaito are the main rivals, but I disagree. For me, the true rivals in these 2 shows are Manjoume and Shark.

It's been years since I have watched Yugioh so let me try to explain:

Rivalries between peers vs seniors

Shark and Manjoume are Yuma and Judai's peers so the relationship feels more equal. There is more give and take with their rivalries. Sure, Manjoume never beat Judai...but if I recall correctly there were at least two times Majoume could have won but he lost for a reason that grew his character. I am 99% sure Manjoume could have beat Judai as Ojamanjoume but he threw the match as part of his goof act. Judai was super disappointed in him.

Compare this to Kaito and Ryo who are older, more mature duelists. Judai and Ryo tie at the end of season 1 but Judai never beats him (not that I recall). Yuma never beats Kaito on screen. It's a different flavour of rivalry. Kaito and Ryo are better described as measuring sticks to show how far the protag has come or how much further they need to go. Like stepping stones or a pinnacle to aspire to for the protag than a rival.

Time spent with the protagonist

Shark and Manjoume are there from beginning to end. They were the ones who had the first set of duels with the protag (Shark is Yuma's first antagonist similar to how Kaiba was for Yugi/Atem - even the possession theme is the same!). And they had the last set of duels with the protag as well. Shark is Yuma's final boss and the Manjoume and Judai duel had major impact on the tail-end of Manjoume's character arc.

Ryo and Kaito don't interact as much with the protag and their friend group and their stories are not as interwoven with the protag as the other two. Ryo and Kaito are introduced later in the protag's story, usually around the time when the hero is beginning to become overconfident. Also, the rivalry stops mattering much after the season they are introduced and they serve their role of knocking the protag down a peg.

The secondary rivals have more meaningful rivalries with other characters

This applies especially to Kaito. Honestly, Kaito has a more impactful rivalry with Chris (V) and Mizael. Honestly, I wish I had more Chris and Kaito scenes! I loved their backstory. Plus the energy of the Mizael and Kaito rivalry was off the charts! Zane has a more interesting storyline like Edo and his brother Sho. I wish there was some more substance in the Fubuki/Atticus and Yusuke friendship. Missed potential there.

Shark has a great story with Thomas/IV and I love their dynamic. But ultimately, his relationship with Yuma is still better. I love IV but he's more Shark's antagonist than rival.

Parallels and foils

What made Atem and Kaiba's rivalry so powerful, especially in the Battle City arc, was how they foiled each other. Atem wants to remember his past, and Kaiba wants to bury his. Atem depends on his friends, and Kaiba pushes people away including his beloved brother. How in season 1 both Kaiba and Yami were willing to do whatever it took to win. Kaiba was willing to commit suicide and Yami cared more about victory than Kaiba's life.

In my opinion, Manjoume and Shark better parallel/foil their protagonists then Kaito and Ryo.

For example, in Manjoume's arc he becomes more carefree and learns to be unashamedly himself as Monajoume Thunder. He stops caring what his brothers think and becomes more sure of himself. He learns the value of relationships and increases his social circle. On the other hand, Judai starts off as child-like and sociable and becomes more burdened after each season. To the point where he is borderline depressed in season 4 and isolates himself from his friends. He begins to feel lost and duelling stops being fun.

Or how Shark starts the story as a disgraced duelist who is at rock bottom. Versus Yuma who starts as a joke duelist and becomes a complete one-man army at the end. How Shark and Yuma are forced to fight on opposing sides in the Barian war due to their obligations to their loved ones. How Shark hides away his emotions to be the leader his Barian emperors need vs Yuma who shines brighter than ever, even willing to die alongside Vector, the same psycho who manipulated him and nearly destroyed his bond with Astral. All with a smile on his face (Yuma is a king, Yuma haters are not welcomed on my blog). How can anyone hate sub Yuma??? Yuma is the embodiment of sunshine!

Emotional moments

In my opinion, there are so many more emotional beats and duels with Manjoume and Shark. Judai and Manjoume joke around with each other, Judai supports Manjoume in several instances for example when it comes to his brothers. And my heart melts when I think about Yuma and Shark. They encourage each other at their lowest moments. Shark has sacrificed himself for Yuma on several occasions. Yuma is always chasing after Shark when Shark is going down a bad path. These two are soulmates, ok? I love their friendship!

Yuma cares more about Shark than Kaito. Judai cares more about Manjoume than Ryo. And vice versa.

Just compare the duels between Yuma/Kaito and Judai/Ryo vs Yuma/Shark and Judai/Manjoume. You know what I mean. Judai and Ryo hardly even interact after season 1!

Personal preference

I am not a huge fan of rivalries where the rival dominates the protag. I prefer more balanced relationships like Yuma/Shark and Yusei/Jack. I also like rivalries like Yami/Kaiba where the protag is slightly better than the rival but the rival keeps him on his toes, pushing him to be better. Where the protag can't treat the rival like a joke. I will admit that the GX rivalry between Manjoume and Judai is a bit disappointing but I am still satisfied overall with Manjoume's journey. Just wished he was treated better as a rival character, someone who could propel Judai's story more. But GX treated all the rival characters like garbage in some fashion.

[shitpostingkats]

Hi yes I need you to know that your analysis on Jaden and Yusei (June 16, 2022, idk if you’ve done multiple on them but that’s the one I’m talking about) is the realest thing I have EVER read and you’re so right and you should say it MUCH louder that is the greatest take op it’s amazing and I’m screaming /pos

Jaden is my favorite character like,,,, ever, and you have nailed him I’m going bonkers

Another thing, I love your Groupchat AU but you have made me become aware that there is???? Another???? YGO show????? I was like who on God’s Green Earth is Yudias and then Google attacked me with information. I still remember. When Vrains was new. To me Vrains is still new. It came out 6 years ago. I feel old. I am not okay. I have yet to acknowledge the existence of Sevens and will continue to do so with Go Rush. Oh I got off-topic, whoops-

Anyways, love your Groupchat AU but I saw the one part with the Eldritch language that Jaden and Yuya are both fluent in and I humbly request more of their dynamic???

I had an epiphany last night, they’re so similar I’m actually losing my mind. All I can think about is that one audio of Batman and that girl on the swings and it’s like “They got their weapon, I got cheated out of my childhood” “I know what that’s like.” “You do don’t you?” Tell me that’s not them I am dying /pos

Much love <3

Oh my gosh, thank you! <3

Jaden and Yusei, my beloved blorbit. The painfully monstrous and the painfully human. The narrative foils of all time. Jaden Yuki, the creatchur autism boi of all time. <3 I need to write about them more.

I know what you mean about the new shows. I'm still a ways off from watching them, but I still want to remember they exist but keep forgetting. What do you means vrains is six years old??? (<- was not even a yugioh fan when vrains was airing) You're telling me there's probably going to be new one after that??? That the days start coming and they don't stop coming?????

Shoutouts to the sevens and go rush fans. They are the mightiest of soldiers. I know nothing about their shows but I'm hesitantly penciling them into the groupchat au anyways because I have seen maybe three clips but I know this funny little alien guy is near and dear to my heart.

Obviously there's a bit of a shift between Vrains and the Sevens era, being made for new audiences, a little tone shifting (which we LOVE, because any franchise that stays the same forever is no bueno.) and that makes it easy to group the first six shows into one group. But I also think there's a fascinating dialogue between shows 1-3 and shows 4-6. I didn't realize it until I was a good way into Arc-V, but each of the second trilogy protagonists sorta reflects the first three.

With Yuma and Yugi, it's very purposeful, a stated "return to form" with the chipper kid and his ghost companion who lives in his special necklace. And when I was gushing over Yusei in 5Ds, I got a lot of people saying "Man, you're going to love Yusaku." They're both the rbf hacker protags who fight the government. Lots to love.

But Jaden and Yuya????? Did not imagine I would come out of Arc-V going "omg they're foils. They're the same story through a different lens. They need to TALK to eachother and bond over their shared experiences."

Even leaving out my pet theory of "Zarc Was An Incarnation Of Jaden In The Original Timeline", they're just so. *clenches fist* The childhood trauma of being a weird kids and masking with an overly bubbly personality only to learn the great anger they've been trying to hide is powerful enough to rip apart reality and they're secretly harbingers of destruction.

By the end of GX, I think Jaden has wonderfully come to term with that. By the end of Arc-V, I think Yuya hasn't.

Their dynamic in the gc AU is very much to me Yuya is still struggling with Z-arc stuff, but not saying anything about it because that'd be weird, so he just kinda frets about it until he hits a breaking point and Jaden gets to offer his advice on dealing with all this.

I am so interested in exploring this that it actually got me started writing fic again,,, which I haven't done in like a year, so wish me luck. I'll keep y'all updated :)

Angst aside, they're also just. One braincell between them. Theatre kid and guy who has never once acted natural in his entire life. Kid making a scene at a Waffle House while his friend slowly eats the entire menu and offers suggestions. Jaden is a pokemon fan and Yuya is a kingdom hearts girlie, I've decided this, and they takes turns infodumping to each other. Jaden summons duel spirits so Yuya can ride around on Hiphippo even when he's not dueling. They trade funny things they've heard their dragons say. They're eldritch and inhuman and best friends, your honor.

[skittymon]

🔥

The rivals in the latter seasons of yugioh are better than the earlier ones.

Like yea r*oken is stupid as hell and Jack is great (in the first half of 5ds) all the later rivals have goals outside of beating the main protag (which one of the reasons why season 2 jack is bad)

Kaito doesn’t care about Yuma until the world is in danger and he needs astral

Reiji only wanted to duel Yuya to get pendulum cards, get yuya head on straight, and help Reira.

Even r*oken has shit he’s doing without wanting to duel yus*ku until he has to (I think haven’t watch the series since like ep 28)

Everyone just likes the first three cause they’re og and extra as hell

[iliadus]

headcanon/development questions › What’s something your muse has done, in canon or in a thread, that just makes you Love ThemTM?  › @nulltune​ 

lynn this is an iliaster lovemail blog lmao there’s so much that i could say that makes me love the iliaster crew ... this is just going to be me wordvomiting about the iliaster, you brought this upon yourself. 

in general, the entire group thematically focuses on hope and despair, and usually hope overcoming despair in some form or another. for a quick rundown for anyone following this blog who is unfamiliar with yugioh 5ds (and thanks then for following just because this is a Knight Classic(tm) ), the iliaster is a group of four dudes who are the last survivors of the human race after a horrific apocalypse, and despite everyone else being dead, they decide “hey let’s save the world anyway, even if this is actually supremely pointless because there are 4 of us but we gotta try and not give up” which is actually really admirable. sure, there’s also the poor coping of “after we die lets be revived as robots” but ok i digress...

z-one is the leader(?) of the iliaster, the only one who remains a human being (although he arguably gains immortality), and honestly he’s sorta intense. to the point he decides “hey let me actually make myself into a Hero Of Legend (fudo yusei) and then go around and try to Save People”, like bro you threw away your original identity because you love humanity so much and that??? imagine loving humanity that much, as maladaptive as it is- and for a while, it works!!! the message z-one gives out to people is that they should learn to help each other instead of basically being everyone on their own team. he teaches compassion between people, and the sad part is the only reason that shit didn’t WORK is because the momentum cores around the world were already too far gone to properly respond, and also he was one dude on a bike, he couldn’t make it to everyone in time. but he tried, and he kept trying even when he thought saving everyone was impossible, this dude gathered survivors and was like “ok we have to fix this anyway”

antinomy is truly a gem, he gets the most screentime of the iliaster, because he joins team 5ds. godbless his soul. his mission from z-one was to help team 5ds get their shit together. he teaches yusei all the Cool Tricks(tm) read: accel synchro and clear mind, and shocker he’s the member of the main cast with the two sides (antinomy / bruno) instead of the protagonist (this breaking the trend of yugi-atem, judai-yubel, yusei .... is just yusei, yuma-astral, yuuya is 4 people lmao, 5ds just skipped the protag with a Second Half trend and slapped that on supporting cast members and im all here for that). antinomy itself is a word that essentially means conflict between two ideals- notably antinomy as z-one’s friend vs bruno as yusei’s friend. anyway, antinomy is arguably my favorite because honestly you can’t not love bruno. 

aporia also gets a fair amount of screentime, and if any story in the iliaster really hammers home the hope vs despair, it’s aporia’s. facing three fundamental trauma points in his life, aporia gets to have 4 new bodies, lucciano, placido, and josé- yeah they’re named for the three great tenors in opera and i’m SO here for that. lucciano is the embodiment of aporia’s childhood, where he lost his parents to the machine emperor genocide “despair for losing the ones who loved me”. placido is aporia’s adult years, and in this time he lost the person who was the love of his life, “despair for losing the ones that i love”. josé is aporia’s elder years, where he wandered the earth seemingly as the last living person “despair for no longer needing love”, all of that is SUPER intense. anyway, aporia is sent back in three bodies to destroy the momentum in neo domino, and that goes bad and fast forward to a very intense duel against jack, rua, and ruka- jack tells aporia “it isn’t despair that keeps you going, but hope! you have hope for the future because you trust z-one...” and there’s more but that’s not the point. aporia ultimately gives his life trying to prove to z-one that team 5ds is basically the hope that the iliaster has been looking for, and damn if that doesn’t get me every time. 

paradox is the member we know the least about, because while he’s mentioned as a member of the iliaster, he’s used as the main antagonist of bonds beyond time, which doesn’t give us any of his backstory other than how he mentions that he’s from the ruined future and he’s trying to just Delete Duel Monsters because he thinks that’s the problem. thanks to duel links, it’s shown that paradox is well aware of the missions of his friends, and while disagreeing with the methods, holds respect for them and is willing to see if their method proves more effective than his own. from the duel links event, paradox’s ending includes: 

Yusei: You wanted to prevent the future from destruction. There’s nothing wrong in believing that. But your method of solving it - that’s where you went wrong. But we’ll heed your warning. Paradox, I promise to you that I will stop the future from being destroyed! 

Paradox: This is the power to change the future...Z-ONE...Aporia...Antinomy... Even you believe in them...Goodbye...To you three legendary duelists... 

f in the chat for paradox dying Again, actually all of the iliaster faces Death again (except Z-ONE who only dies once), but the point is that i love the iliaster because they’re well thought through and there’s some deep life lessons in there and it’s hard to articulate properly but sometimes we need characters like the iliaster to just ... exist, y’know? thanks for coming to my tedtalk

[cyberdragoninfinity]

I Send you a double character because they must not be separated : Yuma and Astral

YEEEEEAHHH

favorite thing about them: For Yuma! I,, fucking love that this kid is kind of a loser. LIKE FOR A YUGIOH PROTAG THATS SUCH A COOL THING TO SEE it helps play up this idea that you can grow and get better at dueling and that anyone can be a great duelist if they work at it! Let us see our protagonist lose sometimes!!! It's a good thing!!!! He's just such a believable middle schooler to me. For Astral! I love just how deadpan he is, I've always loved "alien/nonhuman entity comes to earth and has to learn earth things" and Astral's just so great with that. He's so FUNNY. I love watching him learn about the power of friendship it rules!!!!

least favorite thing about them: im going to be real, I can't actually think of anything really concrete for this for yuma or astral?? I just like 'em. I wasn't expecting to be this into either of them but I've ended up really enjoying their characters!!

favorite line: I can't think of one for Astral off the top of my head but I'm very excited to see if anything in the zexal 2 dub goes as hard as Yuma yelling at Vetrix and telling him "you think they [the Arclight brothers] owed you their lives because they're your kids, but youre wrong!" because jesus FUCK i still think about that.

brOTP: each other of course!!!! Not particularly engaged with them in a romantic context (as i said when I talked about Trey, in general I just don't particularly care much about shipping younger teen characters) but platonic soulmates let's fuckin GOOOO!!!!! I do also in general love Yuma's little friend gaggle it feels like such a middle school weirdkid friend group ;___;

OTP: See above. sidenote idk who people even ship Astral with otherwise?!?!? Dark Mist maybe??? sure alright

nOTP: Not a fan of Kite/Yuma. Yuma is 13. Be normal please.

random headcanon: For Yuma, I think he would be really good at running cross country (didn't his sub VA outrun a horse once?? yeah.) For Astral, I think he would really like ASMR. Like if Yuma showed him ASMR videos that would be it, he'd be all about it. He'd be listening to them constantly and putting Yuma to sleep in the middle of the afternoon.

unpopular opinion: i love dub yuma to bits this kid is a bouncy little doofus and he's funny and GREAT. I actually dont think I've seen enough Zexal to have an unpopular opinion about Astral? Maybe once I'm more fully done with the series.

song i associate with them: I WISH I HAD ONE ;__; i dont rly have any zexal character songs just cuz these guys havent finished simmering in my brain yet. much like with trey im sure i'll find one for either of these guys eventually

favorite picture of them: IT'S IMPOSSIBLE TO PICK ONE FAV PIC OF YUMA THEY MADE THIS KID SO EXPRESSIVE!!!! every time he makes a goofy face is my favorite. so instead heres one of my fav pics of (zexal) yuma and astral together

it really feels like the platonic ideal of their personalities, this image.