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Favorite Yu-Gi-Oh spin-off?


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5Ds in my case. 

 

Not including some of the songs that were inserts (Clear Mind, Asu e no Michi, BELIEVE IN NEXUS; all of the following are still on my favorites BTW), the series was awesome. It had a bit of emotional appeal, especially with Rua/Leo dying to protect sister but then reviving as the Signer we'd hoped he'd become, Dark Glass/Vizor and Aporia dying and the YuseixAki moment in the last episode (154). Plus the whole series starts to blend together towards the final arc. And because Ruka is cute, although she rarely duels.

 

GX comes in second although storyline didn't really blend too much. Season 4 was awesome, though 4Kids cut it off to make way for 5Ds. Jaden/Judai is one of the reasons I still play E-HEROs, though in a hybrid form. It is nice to see him mature over the seasons though.

 

ZEXAL is last b/c it's mostly focused on Yuma's character development; he has potential but never seems to show it. He has access to different cards, but somehow he always summons Utopia or another form of him. Not to mention that there's supposed to be 100 Numbers, but they added Fake ones and the Over Hundred series. (The recent comments in the Sub Discussion thread should explain why). Though I do like the series, but Yuma is just too much of a crybaby to take him seriously (not to mention his friends rarely do anything), especially Kotori who only dueled ONCE (and only because she was under the influence of Barian's Force). Heck, the Arclight siblings + Kaito did more than all of them (Tetsuo, Tokunosuke, Kotori, Cathy, Takashi) combined.

 

At least in GX's case, Jaden's friends actually dueled to some extent and more involvement in said plots.

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5D's for me.

 

Zexal comes in close, but both season's beginnings was a tad too dull for me, especially the second, possibly because there seemed to be more single episode duels so early, then I began to drastically love it, although pretty much liked all of the first season.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Still is part of the fist page so, I guess I can still comment here, right?

 

I'll contradict pretty much every post in this thread and pick GX.

Not to be an ass though.

 

5Ds had a lot of obvious plots cut off because of time. That adding how weird the plot got by the end, how Aki became a cheerleader, etc, it was overall enjoyable to follow (subbed), but the flaws it got were pretty annoying ones to me, and I don't think it quite works as well as it could have.

 

I actually liked the first season of ZeXal more than the rest of that gen. The cast looked at least promisingly useful for the future, Yuma's incompetence made me laugh sometimes, there were not so obvious asspulls, there was some phylosophy behind some moves (like the Life-gaining stuff the owner of Number 34 had). The animation was actually better, the Number-hunting concept was actually pretty dark and serious, and I was fully willing to follow an episodic hunt show. After that there were a lot of "negate" effect to counter Utopia and Galaxy Eyes's defensive capabilities, lazy design, dramatic scenes that don't work, and a ton of stuff that now make me not want to watch it at all. Unlike the other gens, this might be the one that I don't go back to watching in the future.

 

GX was pretty crappy story-wise, but the characters were to me the most solid ones any gen has put in display. Chazz has many faces to him, I love how trolly Jaden can sometimes be, Bastion is very memorable IMO. I also concider this the best yugioh dub 4Kids ever did. To be honest, I hated this show when it was the new thing, but looking at it as a comedy, it is pretty enjoyable. Not to mention it has the most varied gameplay from any gen. I've gone back to re-watch some episodes a few times. It has the right amount of "over the top" that other series might have too much of for me. Besides, season 3 is the closest the franchise has ever gone to a world like Duel Terminal's.

 

So for me (just counting sequels) GX > 5Ds >>>> ZeXal.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Okay, so what's your favorite Yu-Gi-Oh spin-off? Is it ZeXal, 5D's...or God forbid, GX.

Personally, mine is ZeXal and then 5D's. Aside from season 4 of GX, the rest was terrible, so I'm going to pretend GX never happened.

5Ds is the best one by far. The rivalry between Yusei and Jack was complex and interesting because Jack felt that dueling at a high level was his true purpose not just a means to to prove he was better than Yusei, he had a passion for dueling beyond being Number 1 (unlike Kaiba). They were brothers, than Jack betrayed Yusei and then reunited as partners once again only for the series to conclude with a duel between them. Also the villains (the Goodwin brothers, Aporia, and Z-one) were true tragic villains whose motives were good (wanted to create a Utopian future not just gain power for the sake of power) but the means to achieve these goals (murder and mass destruction) were evil and in the other spin offs the villains were just petty and selfish (case in point Yubel, you hurt me Jaden so I'll hurt you, or Kagemaru I'm old so I'll take the Sacred Beasts for myself), also the 5ds villains had decks that were strategically difficult to defeat (like Aporia's Syncro equipping deck or Z-One's burn/negate battle damage deck), GX or Zexal its just a matter of random luck to defeat those villains (drawing the right card and getting a lucky combo) but in 5ds you had to be incredibly smart and careful to defeat those villains. Also in 5ds I actually cared about the supporting characters (like Crow and Akiza) unlike the idiotic or boring characters in Zexal or GX (like Alexis, Shark, or Syrus).

 

Also I disagree with your assessment of GX, GX is better than Zexal even though has its problems (mainly with its protagonist's lack of original strategy if I could take a drink the amount of times Jaden used polymerization I would need to be hospitalized and easy to defeat villains like Sartorius, and bad/boring supporting characters) but there are many entertaining duels/episodes in the show and even some that had you on the edge of your seat like the third duel between Aster and Jaden or Dark Zane taking on Syrus, or Jim Cook vs the Supreme King. All duels were incredibly close matches that involved really intelligent strategy, I feel like all Zexal is just luck of the draw and more simplistic strategy with even worse writing and characters than GX. 

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My favourite is probably 5D's and then ZeXal (I & II). I actually liked GX, I didn't hate it but some of the episodes were really terrible. My biggest problem with GX was Syrus' (Sho) and Chumley's (Hayato) characters. For me, that was the first (and hopefully last) time in YGO where I truly hated a character (characters in this case). I'm not sure what it was about those two but they just really got on my nerves. (Although, oddly enough, I did like Syrus' character in the GX manga but I completely hated his character in the anime.)

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Didn't even see this topic. With me the problem I have is that you're probably have Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Monsters considered as the original which it isn't. Then again I'm a massive fan of original Yu-Gi-Oh when Duel Monsters/Magic and Wizards didn't contol the game. Taking that as a starting point.

 

Um...I'm on the fence. I've not watched Zexal not do I intend on doing so.

 

If we go anime:

I find bits and pieces I like from both YGO GX and 5Ds. Although I do love the plot in the latter better. DM I don't tend to enjoy as a rule.

 

In terms of manga:

Yu-Gi-Oh! Millennium World was probably my favourite.

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I don't get all the GX hate, it's freaking awesome.

 

Its because Jaden cheats, beyond the norm, he uses stuff that was never there to begin with, and he's wayyy too chilidish until season 4, where he actually grows the **** up. 

Plus, Jaden is like the spock image of "The Illusory Badass". He thinks he's the shit, but nobody really gives a damn.

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Its because Jaden cheats, beyond the norm, he uses stuff that was never there to begin with, and he's wayyy too chilidish until season 4, where he actually grows the **** up. 

Plus, Jaden is like the spock image of "The Illusory Badass". He thinks he's the shit, but nobody really gives a damn.

 

I never really had a problem with Jaden. True, sometimes the way some of his duels ended did feel rather cheap (not sure if the word cheated is actually appropriate, lol) but the same can be said about Yuma.

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You'd probably prefer his manga self more, if I remember right he lost 2 times in 9 volumes (some duels went on for more than 2 chapters), once in a tournament to Manjoume in the final. (Of course Manjoume then got trashed by Ryo very quickly in the very next duel)

 

I wonder if Judai/Jaden was like that, to make the series more like an advert for the game and it's younger fans than the more experienced players/older fans (which was the reason the original film never aired outside of Japan, but it in it's purest form it was an advert really given the main focus was REBD and BEWD). Since the general series did seem alot weaker than the series before (as much as I love Sho and his manga opposite)

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Whats wrong with Jaden having a positive attitude and not letting anyone else drag him down?
Sure, it goes a little far at times, but it beats a whiny loser of a main character.

Also, if it is bad that you think you are awesome when no one else does, how is that a bad thing? Who gives a crap what others think? Don't hold yourself down.

 

Freaking love 5Ds, followed by GX, followed by DM, followed by ZEXAL. Zexal just sucks in so many ways.

I have to finish the final arcs in each though, and see the stuff I missed due to various reasons. I grew up with dubbed, you see. I'll have to watch some in Subs, but I prefer dubs. OT: same with DBZ. Its how I grew up before I learned it was called "anime."

Also, I like Synchros better than Xyz due in part to my liking of 5Ds. And it would kill Yuma to play an actual archetype. If its Ga-Go-Do-Zub, then STICK WITH IT, and stop running these crap random monsters.

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Also I disagree with your assessment of GX, GX is better than Zexal even though has its problems (mainly with its protagonist's lack of original strategy if I could take a drink the amount of times Jaden used polymerization I would need to be hospitalized 

GX is better than Zexal, yes. But on the whole Polymerization things, 3 words. 

RANK. UP. MAGIC.

At least Poly has a freaking searcher.

 

Sorry for the double post.


 

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What's with all the hate for Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters? Sure it became the dominant game in the series after the first 8 or so manga volumes, but that's what made YGO so successful (yeah, I know it was kinda successful before that as well, but the card game is what made it famous). For me, that was the YGO anime I grew up with, so it will always hold a special place in my heart. So personally I think it should be counted as part of the original, since it is an official continuation of the series after the events of the "original". If you've read the manga, then you'll know it's part of the same series and written by the same person. I suppose you can also count it as a sequel to the original but is still part of that series. Anyway, isn't this topic about spin-off shows, not sequels? 

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5Ds is the best one by far. The rivalry between Yusei and Jack was complex and interesting because Jack felt that dueling at a high level was his true purpose not just a means to to prove he was better than Yusei, he had a passion for dueling beyond being Number 1 (unlike Kaiba). They were brothers, than Jack betrayed Yusei and then reunited as partners once again only for the series to conclude with a duel between them. Also the villains (the Goodwin brothers, Aporia, and Z-one) were true tragic villains whose motives were good (wanted to create a Utopian future not just gain power for the sake of power) but the means to achieve these goals (murder and mass destruction) were evil and in the other spin offs the villains were just petty and selfish (case in point Yubel, you hurt me Jaden so I'll hurt you, or Kagemaru I'm old so I'll take the Sacred Beasts for myself), also the 5ds villains had decks that were strategically difficult to defeat (like Aporia's Syncro equipping deck or Z-One's burn/negate battle damage deck), GX or Zexal its just a matter of random luck to defeat those villains (drawing the right card and getting a lucky combo) but in 5ds you had to be incredibly smart and careful to defeat those villains. Also in 5ds I actually cared about the supporting characters (like Crow and Akiza) unlike the idiotic or boring characters in Zexal or GX (like Alexis, Shark, or Syrus).

 

Also I disagree with your assessment of GX, GX is better than Zexal even though has its problems (mainly with its protagonist's lack of original strategy if I could take a drink the amount of times Jaden used polymerization I would need to be hospitalized and easy to defeat villains like Sartorius, and bad/boring supporting characters) but there are many entertaining duels/episodes in the show and even some that had you on the edge of your seat like the third duel between Aster and Jaden or Dark Zane taking on Syrus, or Jim Cook vs the Supreme King. All duels were incredibly close matches that involved really intelligent strategy, I feel like all Zexal is just luck of the draw and more simplistic strategy with even worse writing and characters than GX. 


There's nothing wrong with using Polymerization too much though. Jaden's deck is primarily a Fusion deck. It's not like Yuma using too much Utopia since Utopia is just one of many available options Yuma could puff out at all times. While Polymerization is just the main enabler for a variety of monsters.

Also, at least 12 of Jaden's Fusions didn't use Polymerization (contact Fusion replaced it), and cards like Miracle Fusion, Fusion Gate, and Metarmorphosis were all used by Jaden as well. It makes a ton of sense for Jaden to draw into Polymerization often.

 

Just had to point that out specifically. So I'll end this reply here.

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It made it successful, but I enjoyed the variety of different games, I never watched YGO for the duels as such, I watched it for the plot although everything else I watched commonly had a better plot.

I mainly watch YGO for the plot as well, though I often ask myself; "Who watches YGO for the duels nowadays?" though I would like to keep such questions to myself as there are some people who watch it for the duels as well as the plot.

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