Another Warning: This Review Article will contain Spoilers, if you are intrested to be spoiled, you can read it, and ruin your own own fun.
A Third warning: This article is rather using the original names, not dub's.
Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc-V is an anime debuted on April 6, 2014,and ended on March 26, 2017, directed by Katsumi Ono, the anime series attempted to unite all aspects of other anime series and surpassed the audience's expectations to become 'another ZEXAL', that includes.
Fusion Summon: Yu-Gi-Oh!/Yu-Gi-Oh! GX
Synchro Summon:Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's
Xyz Summon: Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL
Pendulum Summon: Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc-V
As for RItual Summon, as much as like it, but it's only showed once on-screen.
Review:
Summary:
In a city called "Miami Paradise", a Young boy called "Yuya Sakaki" who aims at becoming a pro duelist despite the obstacles he has, and he keeps escaping the harsh reality that he keeps getting bullied because of his father disappearance, however, when he created the Pendulum Monsters, things have turned upside down, and changed the course of the characters' lives after revealing that he was part of Zarc along side his counerparts: Yuto, Yugo, Yuri, while Yuzu Hiragi's are Rin, Serena, and Ruri to form Ray, eventually, he reached his goal after the interdimensional war has been terminated, and Zarc's Soul has been purified.
Art Style (8/10)
I'm not really familar with happy and colorful art style, but i won't judge it very much because it's not actually bad at all, and it's rather better than some other animes i've ever seen, however, it's all about budget business attoted to the animators.
Main Cast (7/10)
Initially, the main Cast (Yuya, Yuzu, Noburu Gongenzaka, Shingo Sawatari, Reiji Akaba, Sora Shiunin, and Shun Kurosaki) are introduced one by one, (except the first trio) .
- Yuya Sakkaki, i'm honestly not in favor to his personality, but i'll give him credit for the fact he can be funny at times, and his character development.
- Yuzu Hiragi, At first galance, i thought she would be another Kotori, a (never-dueling-old-friend) however, since episode 29, Yuzu turned up to be an athletic duelist, with a good amount of determination, that lasted until Episode 47,where she ran away from Yuri, knowing that she would be no match for him , the character rises again in her duel with Chojiro Tokumatsu, but she quit dueling when she lost to Sergey Volkov, and stepped out of the show by being a heroine in distress or "Yu-Gi-Oh! Princess Peach", as she was able to hit Jean Michael roger causing him to go comatose, she was unable to defend herself from Serena while she had the chance, i partially blame the staff for not giving her more screen time, but still, the character design ended up a garbage.
- Noburu Gongenzaka: Similar to Yuzu in terms of character development, except he dueled more than her, and he's the most mature character among any other main cast character, the character design was sabotaged to become a "Plot Scapegoat" since heartland arc, stalls for time for Yuya to come and loses, then he made a comeback in the Final Duel Academy Arc after the standard Dimension becoming Pendulum Dimension.
- Shingo Sawatari The only character that remained nearly the same since the show began, I personally was disappointed for not him having won duels on his own, as much as i like the character, also I partially blame the staff for not giving him more screen time.
- Reiji Akaba: The typical calm Seto kaiba counterpart, the first character that breaks the Dragon-Type ace trend, by having a Fiend-Type ace instead, However, i really don't like his character design, i mean, i do like mature character, but not to an extent that he's overly calm (outbursted in few occasions), similar to shingo, there's nothing else for me to talk about.
- Sora Shiunin: In the first galance, i hated this character, knowing it's "an annoying child", until Yuto first appeared, he revealed his true nature for the rest of the arc until the midway of Synchro arc, to form an alliance with the lancers, However, up to episode 124, he merely became another "plot scapegoat" like the rest of the characters.
- Shun Kurosaki:Initially, he appeared as the most badass character, that lasted until the final synchro dimension arc, i mean, he initially went for a quest to save his sister Ruri, who he never met ever again, even after purifying Zarc, not only he became a "plot scapegoat", but also he was smiling while his best friend and his sister are dead (not literally, but they no longer have a body).
Plot (5/10)
The show started a promising start, with an interesting, until the midway and the end of the show, especially when they started "Yu-Gi-Oh! The Dark Side of dimensions" movie the plot drastically went downhill as the series progressed since the arc of Synchro Dimension, unlike the other spin offs, this has a very unique plot of its own, as it started giving each character its own value, but they lost their value for the sake of the plot, since it left loopholes, unsolved quests/issues, unknown fate of some characters.The four dimensions concept is a cool idea, especially when it refers to the old series themselves.
Pros:
- The show has unqiue character base, also, it has broken the trend of other series such as in character development, the cast focus, unlike focusing on the main character for the most part, the other charactcers have their own part of the show.
- The dimension Concept is pretty unique, and outstanding, it also gives the nostalgia feelings,and it shows you each of the previous era that has actually evolved (or destroyed in Heartland's case), also, the Yu Boys and Yu Girls are a direct reference to the other animes.
- Like Yu-Gi-Oh! GX and Bonds Beyond Time movie, Several Legacy Characters have appeared, making the show even more enjoyable and nostalgic, as well with the interaction between the Arc-V main cast and the legacy characters is just amazing.
- The Plot Twist when Yuya protagonist is turned to be the Antagonist Zarc is outstanding, to think that you are trying so hard to fight evil, and you find out you're the evil one yourself is just fantastic.
- I give this credit for making the final duel amazing.
Cons:
- Characters Interaction(s) is terrible at times, for example some good characters interact well with the main cast, then, they are past history.
- Some legacy Characters are just trashed, such as Kaito Tenjo, Asuka Tenjouin, Edo Phoenix, they just came out as filler characters, serve their puropose, then they become scapegoats, i was expecting these charcters would make a huge difference and have more screentime than they had in GX, but alas to be filler characters.
- Plot holes left, such as, how did Yuri became a good person? like he has been evil since the show started, then all of the sudden, be became like, we're with you Yuya, don't worry. How did his redemption happen?
- Zarc and Ray, were the reason the story is based on, I expected Zarc to be strong and offensive, not a coward who gathers a great wall of china and claims to be strong, where's the old Zarc that we saw in the original dimension? As for Ray, She appeared once, and the Deck everyone was expecting, was never seen.
- As usual, Female main characters end up heroines in distress, Yuzu is no exception.
- Like the other animes, Ritual Summon is the least mechanic to get the attention it deserves, i mean, they could have re-invented them, and make them relevant again, but, no.
- The ending is rushed, All the Yu Boys and Girls shipping everyone was anticipating never happened, as Yuzu came back, Yushou came, and challenged Yuya to a duel, and that's it, also Yuzu's revival doesn't make any sense.
7/10
Some things here could have been better, but, they rushed everything, especially when DSOD movie and The new Vrains Spin came out, however, it's still a good anime in the end of the day.
