"Any card—so long as it exists—has a power that is needed."
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Hi VRAINS fandom
Tired reminder that any kind of dislike/hate, especially in the form of rant posts, towards a show/ship/character does NOT belong in the MAIN TAGS. It’s some of the most basic fandom courtesy and shouldn’t have to be constantly repeated, but I guess there’ll always be people missing, as well as “missing”, the memo for the sake of clout.
Any kind of opinion you have is completely valid and your reasons matters not; they should be respected nonetheless. But main tags are reserved for content and discussions, not monologues spewing nothing but negativity. Keep that to yourself or cleverly made up tags easy to block.
Also, remember that passion breeds passion, but hate will never cause anything but discomfort and more hate. Focus on the things you love instead. It shouldn’t be hard, it never should’ve been hard.
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have i talked about Ryou and why he’s such a great cast member if not the best cast member
No? Ok
He starts off at the top of Duel Academia and feels like his potential has no where to go that this is all he has until he duels Judai who he instantly sees has infinite potential in
Empowered by Judai’s natural charm and dueling prowess Ryou looks to better himself to live up to his title as the Hell Kaiser which is a sick fuckin name btw this type of name normally wouldn’t work because of how edgy and try hard in the cool dept BUT because of how Ryou is introduced built up and set on this pedestal you instantly respect that title and it doesnt hurt that he has the cyber dragon archetype which regardless of how you feel aesthetically works wonders for his image and the whole respect duel spiel
his title of kaiser is effective, but its not when he’s wearing white and blue its when the black clothes come in and he starts the underground duels to claw his way to the top after his defeat versus Edo
Its a shame we dont get to see more of his struggles but when he comes back during the Genex tournament and Fubuki duels him we see through Fubukis perspective how Ryou has changed and its not that hes lost his respect for duels its the transformation of his potential and how high can he go if Edo was the ceiling on his sky - fubuki instantly understands Ryou does not need saving because this is his conscious choice - Shou versus Ryou in Genex is also a great duel and the struggle of power bond and what it means to them both, and Shou struggling with if or not he is worthy of using power bond
Ryou in the dark world shows us a maturer side of him, we’re used to the sharpness of his design by now and its a huge relief to see him showing up with Edo (somehow they became buddies and that is wholesome thanks) to try and assist Judai after his reign as the supreme king
Its fun to aliken Ryou and Edo to loveable antiheroes in a pro wrestler setting because thats exactly what they are at this point
ANYWAY i digress the main part i want to yell about is Ryou versus Yubel Johan
Ryou starts off all about respecting and having respectful duels when he realises the respect thing isnt all there is if he performs this way it caps his abilities and he will never shine like hes supposed to then he loses himself and his way before finding his path again after his loss in the pro league
At first when Ryou challenges yubel johan everyones thinking hes looking to die because by now theyve set up his heart failure problems and his weakened body but Ryou reveals his plan at the last moment intending to take Yubel down with him so Johan - Johan their initial goal in the first place , the very reason they came back to the dark world could be safe and they could rescue him, completing their mission at the cost of his life
Ryou didnt have to do this, Edo explicitly says he’s indebted to Judai for saving Saiou his friend so he will fight for Judai but Ryou never explains his motive ever until he intends to take Yubel out and maybe that was a split second decision for him and he never planned it but why bother at all of he just wanted to fight an ultimate duelist as his last battle ?
This is because Kaiser Ryou reached his full potential in that moment, the fact hes using the cybers in that duel and not the cyber dark deck enhances this
Versus Yubel Johan Kaiser Ryou shines brightly and has the most respectful duel in all of his duels showcased in GX up until then. Its heroic and self sacrificial even if it didnt work and it’s because he believes full heartedly that Judai is a miracle duelist a one in a million and he is for their generation
Judai was an inspiration to him and his heroism rubbed off on him, yeah he didn’t win but he did it for Judai so he wouldn’t have to lose Johan a second time
Kaiser Ryou is a fuckin beast and i didnt expect him to climb up my list of favourites so quickly hes just good
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I dont care what anyone says, Yuya Sakaki has one of the most compelling and well done Coming of Age arcs ive ever seen in media
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So there’s a survey up on DL right now and I got to the end and, well
wait…
huuuuuh that’s interesting
Duel Links, while having characters from 5D’s onward sounds cool, could you, maybe, give us more for GX before introducing another area. And, maybe STOP babying the DM side for a bit with characters and events?
DM has almost 4x as many unlockable characters than GX and they constantly get events. Maybe, focus on GX side for a bit before thinking about the other spinoffs.
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Okay but Esper Roba saying ‘beep beep beep’ in the Japanese audio is fucking adorable
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On the Essence of Recovery: The Necessity of Arc V’s Unsatisfactory Ending
So, lately, I’ve been rewatching Penguindrum. I’ve also been reading a lot of analyses of Penguindrum, and in turn I’ve been looking up analyses of some of my other favorite surrealist anime, mostly Ikuhara’s work. And remembering how Penguindrum ended, I found myself thinking about how almost all of Ikuhara’s main works end sort of…bittersweet. Progress has been made, but something huge has been lost as well, leaving the end feeling almost unsatisfactory.
And that’s gotten me to thinking about analyzing shows that have similar endings, that aren’t necessarily made to be…well, as dense as that particular brand of anime. Specifically, I’ve been thinking about Arc V, and again about the ending that left a lot of people upset. I was and still am to a point one of those people who was disappointed with how it ended, but looking back at it in hindsight, and especially through the lens of the previously mentioned anime, I wondered if maybe there was something more to the decision than first appeared.
Now before I start the actual meat of this post, let me disclaim that I would be among the first to admit that it’s probably “not that deep.” But there’s the distinct possibility that it is, and regardless of whether my conclusions were intended conclusions, the act of analyzing fiction against one’s own individual interpretation is an important final step in the process of any creative endeavor.
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Pegasus seems to have come to terms with his role in all of this and doesn’t seem to regret it. Well, I mean I’m sure he still feels bad about the horrible things that he did while under the influence of the Eye but he doesn’t regret that he was caught up in this fate because it let him be able to help Yugi and Atem eventually.
This is my favorite scene in the series; it makes me emotional every time.
This is moment we realize one can do unfathomably cruel things, carry the weight of unspeakable tragedy they have committed, and that has been committed against them, and still move on. Be a good force in the world. Stop wallowing. Stop ignoring it. Stop hiding it. Live with it, and live through it, and make something out of it.
Pegasus is proof that adversity builds you, it doesn’t own you.
Pegasus is proof - this scene is proof - that at some point in our lives we will all feel, in the very depths of our soul that once convinced us it was all over, “I made it.”
I made it.
Our pain may not be wrapped up as neatly or conveniently, we may not be content to bear it for the greater good, or to believe that it was for a greater good at all, but it will be worth something. We will be better for it, because we are not ourselves without it. We’re not all fighting to get to the same place, but we are all fighting, and we’ll get there someday.
The reason I love the anime for keeping Pegasus alive goes so far beyond letting him learn to live with loss. Here he is, content, at peace, fulfilled, if only for a handful of moments in his entire lifetime. Here he is not only declaring that he made it, but everyone who touched Yugi’s life and got him to where he is now, made it.
They did that.
They own that.
No matter how off-track life is in their own head, it has been worth so much.
I think of this man dead in the manga, embracing his wife and saying to himself, “I made it.” I think of so many people I’ve known, lost, grieved, who thought death would bring that kind of peace no matter who was waiting, no matter if no one was yet.
And then I look at the anime, I see him staring down at all the full lives people lived because he suffered through her loss, and the growth people lived through despite him trying his damndest, when he was at his worst, to make sure they didn’t.
I see his lips parted and his eye softened with emotion, and his exhale says, “I made it.”
I realize that’s the kind of end we all deserve, not of desperation but of hope.
And I wish there were more series, more characters, I could believe would never damn someone for giving up but would encourage them, always and with their whole heart, to go on.
Choose to go on.
So much yes to all of this! You always put things so beautifully. I’m really glad that the anime kept Pegasus alive so he could have a journey and a moment like this.
(via kaibacorp)
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I just saw this on Reddit today and I wanted to share it here.
When you’re a parent, you have to realize that the child you brought into this world is going to be their own person and you’ll have to start getting into things you may not understand and have ZERO interest in.
However, you damn well better act like you are.
I can still remember the feeling as a kid getting Pokemon Red and it being something I loved so much, so I wanted to share that with my mom. I wanted to show her my team, tell her about the gym leaders I took down, and she just took a glance at the Game Boy color and went “mmhhhmm”.
She gave zero shits when I beat Banjo-Kazooie, a game which was INCREDIBLY hard for grade school me and you can make me have war flashbacks if you so much as say “Rusty Bucket Bay”.
My town in Animal Crossing? Catching rare fish? Who cares?
I liked a cartoon series so much that I wrote little stories about it? “No, I don’t want to read it.”
This type of stuff matters to kids so damn much and she’ll never realize how much it hurt our relationship. It might not seem like a big deal she never sat down and watched me play something like Luigi’s Mansion, but that’s how kids try and bond with their parents.
After constantly being shot down they’ll eventually stop talking to you entirely.
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Yusaku is going to race home so he can quickly grab his duel disk to fight Hanoi and just stumble across his cleaning bot hanging from the case Ignis is in trying to unlock him and they’re all just going to do a double take in embarrassment and Ignis is just gunna be like “Well this is awkward…”
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Tbh for most of Arc V I thought the four dragons were really cool but never had I thought I might have seen them as cute and precious but in light of the last few episodes I just want to pet them and hug them and make them feel appreciated
(via pendulum-sonata)
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Me:
I MISSED YOU EDGEPLANT BOYFIE
HE LOOKS GORGEOUS IN THIS SHOT JFC -
Okay you know, the thing about 144 that gets to me the most is the YGO magic. It’s the Arc-V magic and the power of smiles.
The thing is… I’ve written fix-it fics for Dennis. I’ve read other people’s fix-it fics for Dennis. And we all tried to think of what’s the most realistic healthy closure for him. But like… at most they are bittersweet. All his fics are hella angsty when all we want is for him to be happy. Also the sweeter ones mostly take place at least a year after canon or something.
None of us even dared to imagine him being this happy in canon.
But somehow Arc-V managed to convince us, and his behavior felt consistent with his earlier portrayal. And him becoming a teacher is frankly a more fulfilling role than anything I’ve ever written and FOR ONCE CANON ONE-UPPED ME AND I AM SHAKING MY FIST. WHAT AM I TO WRITE FANFICS ON NOW?
That’s the YGO magic. Blinding optimism. That’s something you don’t see on a lot of shows.
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What makes me really emotional is that Yusho, the person Dennis idolized, is his teacher, and now he’s a teacher himself. <3
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I’d like to take a moment and thank Arc-V for giving Shunzo his own experience in remembering Yuzu that’s apart from Yuya’s. I’ve seen too many shouen animes where by the end of them the only bond that matters to the female protag is her bond for the male protag. Thank you for giving best dad the recognition he deserves and not forgetting Yuzu’s other important bonds.