one of those reasons being it's been a very long time since i've watched most of it

and there's a lot of things about the basic worldbuild like the holoscreens and stuff that i don't remember well tbh. so

i actually started last night, but i thought i should probably jot down some of my thoughts while i still remember them

A YOU

idk yet if i'm actually going to watch ALL of it. but definitely all of seasons 1&2, some of season 3, Crash Town, Bommer's stupid nazca lines adventure, and maybe some Arc Cradle are on the docket

hello it's me c:

anyway, episode 1 thoughts:

holy fuck episode 1 is SO GOOOOD i'd forgotten just how damn good it is

it's such a solid first episode. it introduces us to the protag & the main rival and give us a good idea of who they are and what they care about right off the bat

good introduction to the new duel mechanic through both of them dueling

good parallels between both of their duels

good SHORT duels that was always nice

and you find out yuusei & co used to know jack but now jack is in neo domino so what the heck is up with that

just. such a solid first episode. it's so good.

oh also you get a decent sense of the dystopia thing that's going on right away, although that's covered more in ep 2

how the fuck was this show so good right from the first episode

episode 2 - mostly focuses on the worldbuild, like the nature of the relationship between Neo Domino & Satellite

and also Rex Godwin, & how he's been telling Jack he's a very special boy to manipulate & control him

thanks rex

oh also the criminal markers kind of get their first explanation

honestly the first season is so tightly written that on its own is extremely solid...

still wondering how old rally was when he got his bc jfc he has it in those two years ago flashbacks what the actual fuck rex he's a CHILD

THIS IS TRUE

also when jack is angsting about his satellite origins & rex is trying to calm him down or whatever, he says this thing about jack being the only one who's ever escaped satellite to NDC and i'm just over here like

OH YEAH? IS HE/ IS HE, REX/ JACK'S THE ONLY ONE HUH? THERE'S NO ONE ELSE WHO MIGHT BE STANDING IN THIS FUCKING ROOM RIGHT FUCKING NOW

rex godwin lying through his fucking teeth what else is new

honestly, rewatching this knowing all the Things that happen is kind of fun lmao

ep 3 - yuusei escapes satellite through the pipeline, ushio gets in the way. good solid episode, i've always liked this one

i love ushio a lot, even at this point where he's still kind of annoying. bc you cane still see the potential of a decent person underneath and you want him to realize it

also it's so funny that jack's looking up at the moon and his like. yuusei spidey-sense goes off. and he's just. there. waiting. when yuusei arrives in NDC

oh right, jack's house/building is right by the ocean, i wanted to remember that too

ep 4 - ngl i can't watch the bit with Yuusei & jack talking at the beginning without cracking up bc of that one stupid edit of yuusei just being silent the whole time and throwing stardust back and forth AND I CAN'T FIND IT >:c

anyway

one thing i thought while watching it was that yuusei's generally pretty level headed and methodical, but he's actually kind of hotheaded and easy to goad underneath. and then jack said basically the same thing to him lmao

OH ALSO the flashbacks. i wish i knew when the flashbacks were in relation to Team Satisfaction

obviously they're after shit fell apart but i wish we knew HOW SOON after

but also i'm pretty sure team set wasn't a thing when they were writing these episodes and it kind of got retconned in later, which is why things don't. quite match up

also one of yuusei's friend saying they hacked in to a NDC feed and saw d-wheels for the first time there, when it's later established that security had d-wheels to pursue criminals back in the team sat days

although i guess you could argue that Yuusei and Jack knew about them, and Yuusei was just showing them what they were like, but his friends probably never had a run-in with security ever so they might now have seen them

i'd love to know when yuusei made friends with those guys too, though. like. was it during team sat. was it only after. was it during that period when he'd left kiryu but kiryu hadn't brown up the building yet. did he just always know them. shrug emoji

like how crow was kind of always taking care of those kids on the side. and jack was always hanging out in that empty theater on his throne lmao

OH my other thought this episode is that jack is REALLY hamming it up. just so much. and it comes across as him being EXTREMELY insecure lmao.

which he is but. the more he hamms it up, the more obvious it is that he's trying to convince himself that yuusei's not a threat and he's the king bc he deserves it yada yada

ep 5 - duel part 2, jack's getting more desperate to win it, yuusei's doing a better job of accounting for jack's intimate knowledge of his deck & strategies & he's also desperate to keep stardust on his side of the field

actually, that's one thing i do really like about this duel. is that they're both extremely familiar with each other and each other's decks. and it's an interesting dynamic

but in particular. /jack/ is especially familiar with /yuusei's/ deck, bc apparently it's basically the same as two years ago

but yuusei isn't so familiar with what jack's doing anymore, bc he's been dueling in the city and adjusting things for two years

OH also. i think it was a interesting choice (in a good way) that they had the protag's ace get summoned for the first time /by someone else/

and also that someone else got to explain the effect and stuff for the first time too. i just think that's neat lmao

anyway, it ends with the crimson dragon showing up to break things up (and also security f u very much rex), and yuusei gets a glowing arm, and that sets off jack's insecurity complex like nothing else. except for what he finds out next episode LMAO

i actually got through ep 8, but i need to go do outside things before i finish writing down my thoughts

i miss u 5Ds...

I gotchu fam

✵a simple fan with simple needs✵

THAT'S THE ONE ngl i had kind of forgotten yuusei actually DOES say stuff in that scene even though like. of course he does

OH RIGHT ALSO yuusei's laptop (and bommer's laptop later) is sooooo huge and clunky it's wild

it's actually really interesting how like. old-fashioned a lot of the tech looks combined with all the holoscreens everywhere

there's this phone on the desk in 4&5 that's a very normal, if kind of 90s-looking, office phone and then you hit a button and boom. holoscreen

very different vibe from the more sleek & futuristic tech in the later series

tbh i think i kind of forgot just how. like. not futuristic a lot of it looks considering the d-wheel & holoscreens & stuff. also i think season 3+ had a slightly different vibe

anyway

ep 6 & 7 - A plot is yuusei getting marked, going to jail, & meeting yanagi & himuro. B plot is jack throwing a fit about his loss & godwin explaining the people of the stars lore

I LOVE YANAGI SO MUCH i wish he could be best friends with III the end

anyway the really important part is the crimson dragon & earthbound god lore AND A REALLY FUN THING HAPPENS THERE

which is that while rex is explaining the earthbound god thing, and they're like. looking down at the nazca lines in his magic holodeck

the one jack looks down at IS THE FUCKING HUMMINGBIRD

THANKS 5DS FOR THAT BIT OF FORESHADOWING WE DIDN'T KNOW WAS FORESHADOWING AT THE TIME

also it's very funny that there's this guy in himuro's group that like. seems to already know all about the artifacts on yanagi's cards and how they're probably kind of hoxes. it's just so funny to me that this guy obviously had an interest in this stuff

yeah the tech in 5ds really helps hammer in that uh
this is within a chunk of years from DM and all that, Ushio exists for a Reason (oh, to be a bug on the wall when they made that choice though)

also that himuro is like. passingly familiar with most of those cards & he's the only one who takes yuusei seriously when he shows he knows what he's doing. BECAUSE HE USED TO BE A PRO. it makes so much sense and it's such a good bit of writing.

re: tech - it's probably also that things went a bit stagnant after zero reversse

like, they've obviously continued working on momentum/dueling/holograms & stuff, but otherwise...there's not a lot of innovation going on

tbh it wouldn't surprise me if rex was holding things back on purpose

kind of like how he was keeping satellite the way it was on purpose

which is why there's a bit of an upgrade after season 2

but yeah. it definitely feels more like it could be only a handful of years after DM/GX than. well, even synchro world in arc v tbh

it does make me wonder what the rest of the world looks like tbh

like. is NDC just this really weird place that everyone else looks askance at like. wtf is even going on over there. or does rex/yliaster have their fingers in everything

bc we know d-wheels exist elsewhere. and they all run on momentum so

and then bommer's over here with a battery powered lamp and a chunky laptop and no electricity in his little hut on the nazca pampa

ep 8 - yuusei gets electrocuted repeatedly, yanagi tells him about the signers, & jack otks the same guy he dueled in episode 1

it's interesting, the difference between what yanagi told yuusei and what rex told jack

bc rex (doesn't use the word 'signer' for one thing0 kiiiind of implies there more than one person chosen by the crimson dragon, but he really heavily implies jack is the important one. bc that's what he thinks jack wants to hear, probably

yanagi outright says there's supposed to be five of them and they're supposed to be a team

just. an interesting contrast. that makes me want to shake rex by his lapels

it's also really obvious it doesn't work bc jack is still thinking about yuusei and how he definitely had a glowing arm, and that definitely make jack slightly less special than rex is trying to convince him of

im always so curious abt the world state post zero reverse man like

show ussss (crashtown and peru do not count)

and LMAO YEAH...

thanks rex,

also like. the clear difference between yusei and his clearly refurbished DM era disk salvaged from the trash vs literally every other disk in the canon like. wow. love the visual storytelling here

right??? bc like. it's a big disaster but. it's mostly just a disaster for Domino. it probably didn't affect much other than the NDC area THAT much. other than the fact that NDC is where momentum is i guess

YES yuusei's stuff being the old model vs. everyone else's stuff is soooo good

actually now that i think of it, even that guy in episode 2 with the insect deck. he's from the city, and his disk looks like the city model

interesting that he was allowed to keep it when he got sent to satellite lmao

Yeah...

OH RIGHT THE MOON i forgot and i even had to like. pause the episode about it

yeah so, when yuusei & jack duel, it's a full moon, maybe one day after, but pretty much full.

then we get jack looking out the windows at the moon in ep 8, and it's definitely not full. in fact i think it's a waxing crescent???

so it's been at least two weeks at this point??? it definitely does not seem like two weeks worth of things have happened unless they really just. skipped over a bunch of stuff

like the characters. don't. act like it's been two weeks idk.

ANYWAY yuusei's been locked up for at least two weeks by episode 8 i guess

i have an old possible timeline from back in the old days bookmarked to use as a reference and they do mention that they don't think the moon phases but. idk.

don't think the moon phases are reliable*

man. imagine if we had gotten yusei being stuck in prison for his full 6 month whatever sentence. sime tkips

it was like. a month in the facility & six months of community service or something. but yeah, i was thinking that like. maybe he really did serve out a whole month???

but i think it's more likely that olesia & co were right about it just being a mistake

surprisingly obedient of you, gremlin boy

the passing of time in 5Ds is Such a thing,

hard call on the moon phases. maybe it's real. maybe it's aesthetics.

they'll never tell-

ep 9 - policy brutality, the episode

...and then the juxtaposition between the little dancing guys and that made me crack up god

i find it so funny that yuusei's new cellmate attaches to him like a dog like. immediately.

bringing him in on the secret escape plan. running away in tears when yuusei agrees to duel takasu

like. my man. my dude. you've never met this guy before. why are you THIS upset that he's maybe not going to be able to escape with you

idk yuusei has that effect on guys, i guess

anyway, metaphor for collective action and joining together to revolt against an unjust system and whatnot

i'm just here to see yuusei get electrocuted again tbh

points at yuusei
friendshaped (i guess)

arent we all tho...

ep 10 - police brutality part 2, electric boogaloo

get fucked takasu

when we work together and help our friends, we can take down the system

and then the system says 'fuck you i do what i want' and tries to fuck you over again anyway

such is life

anyway ushio is back, and i did always like that the scar they gave him kind of mimics a criminal marker

oh, this is unrelated to ep 10, it's more general aesthetics again

i love that 5ds has kind of a western-inspired aesthetic, even outside of crash town. tbh, crash town makes a lot of sense in this world in an aesthetic sense

but like, right from the beginning there's the music and a lot of the clothing choices, and then the bar yuusei goes to to order milk. and also satellite has a kind of frontier town sort of vibe at times

and saiga. gestures at saiga

AND ALSO. THE PERUVIAN AESTHETICS. i mean. obviously we'd have those but. i just think they're really neat

ep 11 - saiga's intro. yuusei's stealing his d-wheel back from the cops. let's goooo fight the power

saiga is so great i love him

so saiga tells yuusei his tragic backstory about letting his friend crash and go up in flames, and yuusei just. walks out without saying a word.

i love yuusei so much

ushio's onto his third deck to try to beat yuusei lmao

ngl the riding duels that happen in enclosed spaces frustrate me a bit, bc i'm just sitting here watching them zoom through this building thinking

just how big is this building???

although the part where they're closing the gates to force yuusei to change course is fun so. shrug emoji

ep 12 - stealing back the d-wheel part 2.saiga shows up and gets kizuna'd, and yuusei gets electrocuted AGAIN for the third time in four episodes

i know it's kind of a meme, but genuinely the only time early days yuusei says multiple sentences in a row is when he gets to talk about friendship and bonds

and dueling

the part of the duel where they're falling through the elevator shaft is sooo coooool even if it is a rather long elevator shaft lmao

the twins must live rather close to the security storage building for yuusei to have been able to end up crashing right outside their house

did ruka sense yuusei was hurt, or his cards? idk if we got an answer on that. i think it could be either one at this point

ep 13 - TIME FOR TWINS

alksjksjRU'AS JACK ATLAS FIGURINE

AND RED DEMONS

AND THE POSTER

I REMEMBER IT I JUST LOVE IT SO MUCH

WHY DOESN'T JACK HAVE ANY OF HIS OWN ACTION FIGURES HUH

i think this is the most times yuusei's smiled in one episode lmao

ngl i think i used to find rua annoying but now i'm just like. omg he's so precious. ruka's little quips about him are so funny too

rua's just so exited to be interacting with someone new for once ;; and it's a cool older boy with a cool d-wheel ;;

ngl i like that yuusei didn't go easy on him at all. kids definitely appreciate it more when you treat them like equals. even if that does mean an otk lmao

he's just a kid!!! a precious little lad...

he's just a kid ;; who lives alone with his twin sister and never sees his parents or anyone else in person ;;

actually i guess technically they have that one friend with the glasses

also. the fortune cup is for people who were "randomly selected". yep. uh-huh.

shhhhhhhh

hahaha

ep 14 - no dueling in this episode! but Aki shows up and blows some stuff up!

Daimon Area seems to be the Satellite but it's not actually Satellite sort of area of the city

gonna keep that in mind

ep 15 - first episode of the Fortune Cup! Bommer vs. Rua

alkjsksjsks s BOMMER

i love bommer so much alksjksjs

jfc the theatrics on jack's part right at the beginning of this. he's definitely born to be a pro duelist lmao

and then of course, everyone in the stands see's yuusei's face and are all. oh no scary criminal guy boo

and thEN BOMMER. GRABS THE MIC TO BE ALL. WHO CARES HE'S A DUELIST. AND I LOVE HIM <3

i also love the MC. as always he's delightful <3

in this house we love the MC so much, (and also bommer go bommer)

OH RIGHT AND AKUTSU

I HAVEN'T SAID HOW MUCH I LOVE AKUTSU YET

ALKSLKSJS I LOVE HIM soooOOOOOoooOOOO MUCH ALKJSKS

akutsu is my real favorite everyone else can go home

YOURE RIGHT

MMMMMMOOOOMENTUM!!!!

YES

MOOOOooooOOOOOOoooOOOOMENTUM

this is the only spinning emote i have lol

and yet somehow, VERY appropriate,

episodes 13 & 14 are like. my favorite two episodes of anything ever. there's so much good show-not-tell in them

there was SO much story in just, the design, the background,
just
chefs kiss

and you really appreciate it that much more on a rewatch, knowing the details that get unveiled later

13 & 14 are soooo good

i know i didn't have much to say about 14 but it really is so good. the writing is solid, the art & animation are great. it's definitely one of my favorites

it's also kind of a breather episode, in a way? i mean, aki does shit at the end, but other than that it's kind of the calm before the storm of the fortune cup, and i appreciate that

just dudes hanging out for half the episode. good shit

from what i remember, the dub of 14 is super solid too

ep 16 - TIME FOR AKI

the knight guy uses 'waga' as his first person pronoun because of course he fucking does

anyway

I LOVE AKI SHE'S SO COOL WHAT ELSE IS NEW

the way she just stands there without moving when she gets attacked /because the attacks aren't real/ is just. so cool. and another really good bit of writing

everyone else flinches or tries to block attacks bc even though everyone knows it's just a hologram, your brain still gets tricked a bit into wanting to protect yourself

but it's /not real/. nothing is going to actually hurt you. and who knows that better than someone whose power is to make it real and hurt people

it's great. what a good choice from the writers

also alksjkdjs i love her deck so much. i definitely did not appreciate it properly back in the day

her deck is centered around turning the opponents' strengths against itself and/or sapping their strength to make her stronger, and i'M SO HERE FOR IT

ep 17 - yuusei vs. mukuro

honestly there's not much to say about it other than it is a fun watch

and mukuro's channeling kiryu a bit here

and poor akutsu's not getting any signer reading off these guys bc their opponents are too weaksauce lmao

ep 18 & 19 - Ruka vs. that one really creepy guy

alksksjs ruka's power is fucking psyqualia

IT'S PSYQUALIA EVEN THE WAY RUA DESCRIBED HOW SHE BUILT HER DECK IS JUST PSYQUALIA

actually, it would be more accurate to say that psyqualia is just ruka's power but vanguard bc cfv didn't come up until like. two or three years after this but still

professor frank's deck/dueling style is incredibly ruthless damn

the shift from him being calm on the outside to crazed when they're in ruka's "subconscious" is also such a nice touch

also like. i get that ruka is the one with the power to save the duel monster spirits world BUT SHE'S ONLY THREE JFC ANCIENT FAIRY CALM DOWN

maybe we should not be asking a THREE-YEAR-OLD to remain permanently unconscious & in the spirit world?????

we shouldn't even be asking an 11-year-old that either but at least she's no long THREE

also HEY SURPRISE DEMAK CAMEO

oh, and rex had this weird electronic interference going on with one of the holoscreens while he's like. gesturing threateningly at it...i wonder if that's his robotic arm. idr which arm that was

pour one out for the demak backstory we coulda had...

i'm still so frustrated we never learn like. anything about him

we got nothingggg man

I can never be 100% sure of what's true and what isn't about the various story decisions in 5Ds but truly wild if buy blackwings really was to blame in this case-

the kiryu in my head cares about demak

who else is gonna bother rudger with him

i feel like it wouldn't have even been that hard to give him like. an inkling of backstory either? just explain why /he's/ the one who's using the minus monkeys to destroy the duel spirit world

as opposed to idk literally anyone else. why /demak/

i found an old headcanon post of mine, and the backstory i gave him was like. negative-ruka, basically. he could also hear spirits, but the ones who found him were the bad ones, & it only caused him problems

ta-da. one sentence backstory that actually gives him a reason to be the one fighting ruka

i had a demak account on LJ i never used called ineedcharacter haha. i think i was hoping he might show up again after season 2 but no dice :c

suppoooosedly there was a note somewhere that he was a deliberate sacrifice for the purpose of becoming a Dark Signer? like, from Peru? but idk the sources on that wheeze

anti-ruka seemed like the likely intent though

oh, i had him being from peru too lol

i mean, being an anti-ruka would make narrative sense. given his whole minus theme

also cusillu and ancient fairy probably have a personal beef or something

YEAH like it would fit
how was their duel so long without giving us infooooo sob

bc ruka spent the whole thing in the duel spirit world and demak's in like. three minutes of it

ep 20 & 21 - SPEAKING OF PEOPLE FROM PERU

BOMMER <3333333333

tbh i watched some of both these eps recently. the bommer backstory parts lmao

he's just such a good guy ;;

it makes it all the more tragic when he becomes a DS later ;;

he's spent the whole tournament being so personable and friendly to yuusei while they're watching other people's duels, and he has zero doubt yuusei would try to cheat, & they bond over their hometowns, and just really love bommer so much ;;

sassing jack is also a+

trying to attack godwin on his unnecessarily humongous d-wheel is also a++

also, idk why i didn't think of it sooner, but he definitely built that d-wheel himself, right? and the one in the flashbacks. he seems to be kind of techy, since he could hack the stadium AV system

another thing he & yuusei could've bonded over ;;

oh and i think rex's robo hand and the hand he was using to do weird stuff to the holoscreen are different hands so. idk. it might've just been for effect

zero doubt yuusei WOULDN'T try to cheat* i know i typo all the time but that one kind of matters haha ha...

ep 22 - Aki vs. the profiler dude

i decided i could probably watch one more episode today, since it's not a two parter

aki... :ccc

anyway i just really love her deck. it's one of the few that seems really thought out and cohesive

also, first mention of the arcadia movement

divine... >>>>>:c

i'm glad you get eaten later

woke up to this and went hunting down that plurk I made about potential parallels between ruka and demak

found it

@emexceedschangezearu - /[5d's] while driving home f...

YEAAAAAH

oh nice

i think you could combine the two ideas pretty easily. like, demak was picked specifically bc he could hear card spirits or something

anyway, i'm gonna have to remember that. i really like that idea

it gives me ideas lmao

ep 23 - Yuusei vs. Aki part 1

oh arcadia movement. oh divine.

gotta love those cult vibes

or rather, it just actually is a cult. i mean /gestures at literally everything divine ever says to aki jfc

anyway how the fuck does divine know about the crimson dragon. if that ever gets explained, i don't remember it

for that matter, i've felt this entire rewatch that an awful lot of people know about the crimson dragon & the signers, actually. rex is just handing that information out to anyone who works for him even a little bit, it seems

just tossing that lore out like candy

he is tho!!! i know it's implied that alot of those guys are like. lower Yliaster guys but on the other hand...takasu? is takasu of all people really part of yliaster? you guys need better standards

anyway, yuusei's VA is really great at making those whimpering pained noises 10/10 would watch again

ep 24 - Yuusei vs. Aki part 2

oh, when yuusei summons stardust, the mc says he's never seen it before. so thnx for that confirmation that even though Jack had it, he never summoned it in those two years

i really love this duel tbh. even if it does make me want to strangle divine

i like that it's kind of subdued right at the end. the crowd isn't cheering, and their jeering gets faded out, and there isn't really any music

it doesn't really feel like a victory, bc i'm sure yuusei didn't really feel like it was one. good choice

ep 25 - Yuusei vs. Jack LET'S GOOOO

ok way to much happens in this episode i can't wait until the end to comment on it

i love that yuusei's like. ok this duel is going to be a bad idea actually you guys should get out of here. he's a smart lad

sadly, jaeger is a step ahead. bc of course he is. <3

EVERY TIME YUUSEI DECKS THOSE GUARDS I CHEER

LOVE A PROTAG WHO CAN AND WILL FIGHT YOU WITH HIS FISTS

ACTUALLY I CHEER EVERY TIME ANY OF TEAM SAT GET VIOLENT. THEY ARE STREET TOUGHS AND I LOVE THEM <3

USHIOOOOOO ;; he's such a good guy underneath. trying to keep everyone safe. ;;

LOVE THAT JACK REVEALS THAT HE'S NOT A COMPLETE IDIOT AND HE'S KNOWN GODWIN HAS BEEN MANIPULATING HIM THIS WHOLE TIME

god i love jack's old outfit <3333 his present day one is a downgrade tbh

what does jack even do all day, sitting in that throne in the dark

i do appreciate that jack told yuusei the truth about why he was backstabbing them before he stole their stuff and ran off

also that he obviuosly didn't like that godwin was keeping their friends captive to manipulate yuusei, but like. what is he supposed to do about it until this point? also, he wants to duel yuusei /so/ bad, he can't do anything to compromise that lmao

and conquering other dueling teams

unfortunately, there's no one left to conquer

clenches fist

ITS THE GOOD SHITTTTT

and yeah lmao at that point what else is he gonna do

ep 26 - Yuusei vs Jack part 2 LAST EPISODE OF SEASON 1 YEAH

ALKSJSKJS JAEGER BEING LIKE. YOU KNOW MAYBE USHIO HAD A POINT ABOUT THIS BEING DANGEROUS? MAYBE WE SHOULDN'T KEEP GOING BC PEOPLE MIGHT GET HURT?

DAMN SHOWING HE ACTUALLY HAS A HEART THIS EARLY HUH

LOVE THAT FOR HIM

jaeger took the assignment seriously. rex just wanted power

this duel is like a chess match it's kind of fun

i thought we got new signer stuff in this episode, but not really? other than i guess if two signers are fighting and it annoys the crimson dragon enough, they have to go duel in the time out zone lol

oh this was the reveal of godwin having the arm in a jar, that was it

anyway, i love jack so much

it doesn't matter if this duel is insanely dangerous and we might die I'M GOING TO KEEP DUELING UNTIL MY LAST BREATH

AND PROBABLY EVEN AFTER THAT

PEOPLE DON'T STAY DEAD IN THIS SHOW

anyway, i think i'm going to make a new plurk for season 2, so this one doesn't get /too/ long

do i have any overall season 1 thoughts....? idk. it's just so solid. it's definitely still one of the better seasons of ygo period

i love zexal so much, but i don't think a single season is as solid as 1 or 2 of 5Ds. it's more that the show overall was generally more solid all the way through

it's very fast pased, and in some ways i think that's a detriment, bc you only get so much time with each character. but the writing is so good, you still learn a lot about each character even from those little bits and pieces

whenever I like
imagine
what we couldve seen from 5Ds if the *didn't have the background issues they had? like

that'd be so much power,
it's unfathomable like, ok there's a chance it WOULDN'T have stuck the landing but when you see how solid 1 and 2 were, even with the other problems that came up???

omg i knooow

tbh i think the thing that hurt it the most was the tournaments. 5Ds is at its best when the duels are short or even non-existant

and i say that as someone who likes the duels lmao

FOR REAL THOUGH

the short duels make me think of commentary on how fast an actual combat moment tends to be fjfjfnf

but like. as much as i love the fortune cup, i don't think i love it as much as the first half of season 1

YES and it works with the card games on motorcycles thing

GOTTA GO FAST

tbh that's my favorite thing about the yuusei/jack duel in 25/26. every turn is so short, and they're just hurling attacks at each other. it has a buttload of turns, but it moves pretty fast

also, it didn't start until halfway through 25, so it's really only one and half episodes

pretty much all of the two parters are like that

also i'm so into the religious/culty stuff & the dystopian police state worldbuild, and there's not nearly as much emphasis on those after season 2 :c

which is a shame, bc those are also 5Ds strong points :c

fuck there's this bit right when yuusei & aki's duel is starting, where everyone is yelling at aki and saying their scared and shit. and rua's like, why doesn't everyone leave then???? and himuro's like, well humans can be kind of sadistic and shit sometimes

and it's just. such great commentary

also the parallels between aki getting booed bc of her powers & yuusei getting booed bc of his marker aksjlskajks

only he wasn't getting booed that time bc every hates aki more than they want to see a satellite criminal fail

OH the other thing i like about S1 is that NOT EVERYONE USES SYNCHROS

and it seems like it's definitely not rare for someone to not use synchros, bc so many people get surprised when someone pulls out a synchro

it's interesting that it seems like kind of a special thing

yeah like tournaments are a weak spot, but. fortune cup specifically is so well written BECAUSE its never forgotten that the tournament is a means to an end for multiple sides. duels are brief and every turn has meaning, and not a single victory feels like one. except maybe yusei vs mukuro, and thats the one plot-irrelevant duel in the tournament

the sheer level of unsettling vibes around the season ending on yuseis victory announcement is peak. there's so much dread even though the visuals are celebratory. it just feels so awkwardly cut off and thats by design

but yeah. zexal is my favorite overall series, but my favorite season is 5ds season 1 for exactly the same reasons you stated. I have a lot of feelings about it

For sure it's like

If we could just. Have season 1 and 2 in isolation? We'd probably all be sitting here going '5Ds was the best series OF ALL TIME'

unfortunately, for all the charms of the ah, following season...welp

5ds season 1 also has a special place in my heart because its how I got littlest bro into ygo

he saw the end of episode 5 when the crimson dragon first showed itself and he was like. woah??? what???

and we've been card game buddies ever since

(he's better at the game than me now....)

emexceedschangezearu: yep yep the fortune cup is unsettling all the way through, except for maybe mukuro's duel and maybe rua's, and that's because no one is here to have fun (except for mukuro and rua lmao). and i like that it ends on that note too. yuusei won it, but he's not having fun. there's not really anything to celebrate about.

jack's hurt and everything sucks

i also like that, even though there is a bunch of cheering at the end of 26, 27 starts out with a bunch of people in the crowd booing him for being from satellite. so even in that respect, it doesn't feel like there's much to celebrate

i feel like, in a lot of shows, you'd have everyone in the crowd realize the error of their ways once this guy from satellite won and it'd be this heartwarming moment of NDC & Satellite coming together etc etc, and i've always appreciated that 5Ds didn't do that.

it's way more realistic that's there's be a bunch of people who'd think 'oh so he's a cheater' rather than 'i guess satellite isn't so bad after all', especially since no one actually /saw/ him win it, they just saw that a result had happened

psychelocks: honestly, my second favorite character doesn't even show up until the end of the WRGP, so S3+ is worth it just for that lmao. but yeah, i have my issues with the second half, but i never /disliked/ it

tbh i'm hoping i'll like it better this time around. although i'm still not sure how much i'm going to end up rewatching of that part

also, tbh, those couple of episodes when the arc cradle first shows up and they're all trying to decide what to do are right up there with S1+2 imo.

i mean. /gestures at jaeger's character development alksjs HE'S SUCH A GOOD GUY

yeah the only person celebrating at the end of the fortune cup is godwin and Everyone Disliked That.

lmao yes