I dislike the anime more and more when I watch the duelist kingdom arc
I hate how they cheapened Mai’s character
got rid of Anzu and Yuugi’s important heart-to-heart
AND WHY DID THEY MAKE UP A DUEL BETWEEN JOU AND YAMI
It really cheapens Yuugi’s reactions during their forced encounter in Battle City. Yuugi had never had to compete with Jou at any point, and that’s what made things so dramatic (aside from being chained to an anchor and all that). He played friendly matches after school and such, but that’s completely different.
The addition of that semifinal duel in DK completely wipes out the importance of the amount of faith Jou had in Yami when Yami stepped up to the plate to bear both of their burdens (and making one hella strategic GREAT CALL at not showing his weakness/lack of will to fight Jou in front of Pegasus). At that point, Jou knew that the only one who could save Shizuka, his precious little sister, was his very best friend. And he was only hesitant at giving away the prize card because he didn’t want to be a burden on his friend - he didn’t doubt Yuugi (or Yami) for even a second.
The anime just made filler drama that wound up being for naught in the end because it literally added nothing to the character interactions/relationships. And they made is pretty OOC, too. Yeck.
I ALSO FORGOT TO ADD how much it screws up Jou’s motivations in Battle City. Jou wanted to fight Yami because he didn’t do that in Duelist Kingdom. In the anime he sorta just. Does it?
Jou wanted to prove to himself that he could be as good as Yuugi, who had done so much for him throughout the course of their friendship. Yuugi, who never gave up on him, who never stopped being kind no matter what people said or did to him, who was always there with an encouraging smile no matter how tough things got (though sometimes this takes a bit of prodding from Yami - Yuugi doesn’t want to abandon people in their times of need, and sometimes that’s a bad thing - in reference to Jou’s duel with Ryuzaki and the first time Yami spoke to Yuugi).
Anyway. Jou’s motivation in Battle City gets screwed over by the addition of that duel. Yeah.