I actually have to disagree with the forgetable duel explanation with Yuma and Shark. This duel showed not only the viewer but Yuma that the Numbers were not invincible. That with good strategy, anything can be overcome. Yuma had come to depend on his Number monsters to win him the day and this duel even showed how scared Yuma is of losing - so much so that he had promised Tetsuyo that he would NOT use his Numbers only for him to use Hope in the end AND STILL LOSE. Honestly think this one could have been a bit higher on the list because of how it helped cement the idea that nothing is invincible and showed us just how 'small' Yuma is until he became better at being a duelist.
This. Especially because Astral pointed out that the focal point of the loss was Yuma's lack of vision to fully utilise Monster Reborn beyond his own GY; the next duel he takes part in - the one where he tags with Shark against the gang leaders Scorch & Chills - sees him draw Monster Reborn again and this time Yuma makes the optimal play, after Astral reminded him of his previous mistake so he would not repeat it.
I enjoyed that duel when I watched it, but in hindsight I absolutely loved it, and for a very weird reason. In season three, the barons played a very large role, being quickly painted as very powerful duelists. However, with only one exception, that being Nash vs. 4, the numeron code won every duel against someone using barion power (due to it’s association with numeron dragon, I do not consider 107 to be a barion monster). If you think about it, barion vs. barion duels always ended with one using the numeron code, not their barion power, to win the duel. Therefore, the numeron code is even stronger than barion power, and Shark was able to defeat Yuma without any sort of power.
After duelist Kingdom Yugi became the kids games, but since he lost that door with Rebecca technically she holds the crown of being the king of games. But she and Duke Google against vallin wish they both lost in season 4 which makes him the king of games lost. He lost to Joey, Joey lost Mai, Mai lost Raphael, then Raphael lost to Yugi. Which means technically there were 5 other king of games in yugioh
I recommend watching through vrains it’s not bad although some moments feel really rushed and a lot of filler episodes but later on it gets pretty intense
@@Slither.Wing. Vrains with Filler Episodes? In fact, Vrains lacks Filler Episodes to take a breather and be able to create interactions between characters. Vrains is a 100% plot-focused series and every situation in that series is life or death.
@@brunosanto3488 I think by "filler" they mean clip show episodes, which Vrains IS full of. They probably didn't have the time to animate full breather episodes, only the plot important ones, which is why they resorted to reusing clips of the past episodes to fill up their run time, which sadly doesn't have the same effect of getting us more familiar with the characters like a full filler episode does.
As a GX stan I was so happy each time he announced a new spot and it wasn't a GX duel, so they would be at the top. And lezzgooo the Aster victory against Jaden made the top 5.
I don't care for the circumstances surrounding the Raphael duel but I like Raphael's character and the duel itself. I would personally put the Judai/Edo duel above it but agree that it should be one of the top spots. I can't speak for ZeXal and Sevens as I haven't finished them.
And continued into and through Season 4. There is a duel where this is really pointed out when Jaden has to duel Sartourious again (this time without the light) and Sartourious literally tells him: “Do not look at me with those eyes” and Jaden refuses to turn them off. And even at the end when everyone is celebrating he gets paired with Alexis in a tag duel tournament (a tournament Jaden didn’t want to participate in) and Jaden is ignoring Alexis’s tag team tactics and is essentially soloing the entire tournament. All the way until this is shoved in Jadens face and he slowly starts warming up again.
Those are my favorite two duels of the duel monsters series, to be entirely honest. And it is just for how synergetic they are with each other. The first duel is a test for Atem about if he is able to continue and even tho Yugi is the better duelist of the two, he loses in the end. The second duel is a test for Yugi about if he is able to stand on his own and because he embraced himself as his own person, he manages to win.
Thats a weird one I guess. For the majority of the series they are co-protagonists, however, its at that point in the story that Yugi is thematically deemed his own individual, effectively taking his place as the sole protagonist. That is the thematic point of the duel, to separate himself from Atem as a person. So thematically, it doesn't work as a protag loss since Atem steps into a side character position. But technically, if going by the series as a whole, yes a protag loses in that duel.
Personally I consider Yusei's first duel against Kiryu as a loss. The show treats it as a legitimate loss and would have resulted in Yusei's certain death if his D-Wheel didn't crash, which is ironic because Yusei was actually at the brink of death because of that crash. His friends actually had to get him to surgery to save his life, which in my eyes makes it a much more devastating defeat than just mere game results. And nobody will convince me otherwise. Besides, being unable to continue results in your loss, right Jonouchi?
In my opinion it’s kind of what happened with Lightning. If the writers wanted Lightning to have a loss or draw, they would have wrote it that way. I respect your stance though.
@@davidmac9010 The bit with Lightning was more of a character display. It was meant to show how much of a sore loser Lightning really is and through what lengths he would go through to achieve victory. Legally Lightning lost that duel and would have been disqualified. Everyone knows that. The fact that he had to bend the system and literally screw the rules to keep one LP means that his victory was NOT legit and therefore cannot be treated as such.
@@nexusshark I’m not saying Lightning was going to lose, that was never up for debate. It was whether it was a tie or win. If Lightning lost the duel like you said Revolver would not have “died”. I get it’s a sensitive issue especially around the Yugioh Everything crew however lol, but they counted it as a win so I do as well. Simple math, 1 beats 0. Same as Yusei-Kalin in my opinion. I’m glad they gave him an emotional loss but it’s just too bad the writers never had to moxie to give out a real one (non-flashback).
5ds seemed to have yusei "lose" in the way a wrestling champion will "lose" leading up to a ppv. Like they wont legitimately lose, but there will be a no contest that makes them feel like they lost even though the duel is not technically decided. 5ds actually had yusei win a duel but still lose something at the end making the villain successful even in defeat.
@@davidmac9010 I count it as more than just an emotional loss. Simple game results are not as effective when it comes to life and death situations or cheating. I forgot that the duel was actually ending in a draw, but thanks for reminding me. Lightning didn't beat Revolver due to game mechanics. He cheated and screwed the system to escape a draw. That't why this cannot be considered as a legit win for Lightning. And keep in mind that the show only treats it as a legit win because Lightning was making the rules. The reverse Link Vrains was his world with his rules. Rules that he could bend and break as he saw fit. Accepting Lightning's win as legit is treating his cheating as a legal move. Legally the duel ended in a draw. And I go by what's legal, not just by the numbers.
@@KaoruMzk Yusei starts 5Ds being angry about losing to Jack (and that he's such an asshole traitor) so that loss is *very* important to Yusei's character.
@@Beatbot400 On technicality and only in the anime, yes. Realistically, if his Duel Runner hadn't broken Yusei would have died in that match as he had absolutely nothing for Ccapac Apu in their first game. Or, disappeared I guess, thanks 4Kids In the manga he does lose, as a Duel Runner breaking causing a duel to end is considered a loss for the person whose Runner broke in the manga
He cemented his legacy there, if he didn’t have that moment, we would remember Joey very differently. Amazingly played moment where the main villain of the arc was legitimately quaking in his boots at the hands of a “third rate duelist”
Man I can't disagree with you more calling Shark's win over Yuma a forgettable duel, it was such a great emotional duel and a lot of emotional stakes involved with Yuma struggling with whether to summon a number or not, breaking his promise, Yuma putting his key on the line, and Shark just outplaying him and discovering the numbers' weakness. I really can't believe you put Roku vs Yuma over this, and especially so low on the list
Honestly ZeXal in general gets a lot of shit, but generally I think a lot of Yuma's losses tend to blend together more since he started out not really being a good duelist. Which isn't bad at all imo since it was kinda refreshing to see a protagonist not actually that good at the game and overtime learn and get better.
Also I disagree with your Yuzu vs Yuya duel. Its important to note that Yuya lost that duel fair and square due to a lack of his own skill. Yuya was supposed to show off pendlum summoning only, it was still a competitive match between them, there was no scripting. The only script was that Yuzu was pretending to be the bad guy to spice up the show. When he messed up and loss, that's important because that loss made Yuya get better for his new fan, and want to practice and train so he never lost like that again. He lost, accepted the loss however painful it was, and then trained with Gongenzeka and the others to master pendlum summoning. It wasn't a fluke win on Yuzu's part, she used her effects and stuff to the full extent not holding back.
The kaiba vs yugi round two. When kaiba threatened to throw himself off the balcony, it wasnt just about him winning. It was also so he could save mokuba from pegasus
I know that 5ds doesn't like to count it for some reason but I really like the first Yusei vs Kalin/Kiryu duel. There's a line in the manga (which I know is technically a different canon but still) that states if your duel runner stops moving during a turbo duel, then you atomatically lose, so Kiryu still technically won that duel, he just arbitrarily decided not to count it as a victory.
No, the characters in-universe considered it a loss and pointed out that the only reason Yusei survived at all was because of his D-Wheel Breaking down.
For those who think Jack never beats Yusei, 5D's starts with Yusei angry with Jack because he was an a-hole and that traitor thing but in the flashback you see how Jack wipes the floor with Yusei's cards
I like to imagine that Yusei was a moderately good duelist but not too overpowered until he loses to Jack the first time and took his suggestion of getting better to heart.
@@GravityFaiz it lit a fire under him to get better and from that point onward Yusei doesnt lose to prove a point that fighting for your friends doesnt make you weak
My favorite has to be Aster beating Jaden. He called Jaden out, he played a pretty mean duel, and left the protagonist in trauma without the protagonist breaking character. Both Jaden and Aster also used similar decks, especially at the beginning of the duel.
Fun fact. Tea has the best winning percentage of any duelist in the first series. She won every duel she participated in. That's a higher winning percentage than Yugi and Kaiba.
I personally consider Kite vs Yuma R1 and Yusei vs Kalin R1 as losses. I mean If kite hadn't had to leave or Yusei hadn't had his d-wheel break they would have lost. Also if Kaiba had used monster reborn on any monster with 1500 or more attack points, instead of a single blue eyes head he would have won without threatening suicide.
@@resttrashtalker1413 personally I viewed it as Kaiba testing Yugis capability to be ruthless, but yeah he kinda did choke. I would've put ultimate dragon in defense mode sense it has three lives in duelist kingdom
You should rank all of the draws that occur in the show, that sounds like a fun video. Didn’t Kaiba threaten to kill himself because he wouldn’t be able to duel Pegasus and rescue his brother if Yugi defeated him? I don’t think it’s just Gozaburo’s influence, especially post-Mind Crush. Also, on an unrelated note I think the background music near the beginning of this video is called Gozaburo Kaiba’s theme or something in the original Japanese OST. It plays right before passionate duelist when Yugi is about to turn around the duel against Kaiba in the battle city semifinals.
1.Reiji vs yuya 2.Katio vs Yuma 3.Edo vs Judai 4.Asuna vs Yuga 5.Rapheal vs Yugi Great duels and help the protagonists to learn and grow from there lost and an honorable mention (Kiryu vs Yusei despite his Lp didn't hit zero he definitely for sure lost when his D wheel crash).
Playmaker never lost to revolver they had a draw twice and revolver lost twice to playmaker. Yusei technically didn't lose to Kalin because his life points never hit zero and the duel had no result due to Yusei falling off his d wheel. It's kinda debatable if it does count as him losing
@Black Luster Soldier - Envoy Of Whatever you're talking about Yusei, he could top deck harder than Atem. Who can say his next card wouldn't have been an asspull that let him make a comeback.
@@KaoruMzk dude he would have lost when the earthbound immortal attacked even the anime suggests in all versions he had nothing left to stop the attack there would be no next turn
@@KaoruMzk what top decking yusei had no cards on the field or in his hand other than stardust and it wasnt his turn, he was gonna lose and i love Yusei but he was gonna lose that duel so hard
Sevens bringing down the the general stakes was a good choice. Vrains went full tilt so fast I never really felt like Playmaker actually gave a shit about playing the game, so much as preventing the apocalypse. At least to me. Like Sevens characters generally feel like they can win or lose and it gets me a lot more invested.
I love how there is no 5D’s since Yusei never lost unless it was that one time with Jack in a flashback and the closest he came to losing was against Kallen but his duel runner broke before the attack could be finished
@@dantemitsoyu977 I still count him losing twice. Cuz in the tournament he was gonna have a deck out loss. But the opponent didn't wanna win that way and gave yusei a free turn. And yusei beat him by using some kind of fusion stardust card.
@Aggelos Anastasoulakis All he did was cheat. Spectre easily should have won. I forget the exact specifics, it's been like 3 years, but pretty sure he beat spectre by using his own card against him. But when spectre used it, it's side effect destroyed all cards on his field along with his opponents. But when lightning used it, it only destroyed spectres field. I was like what? Similar to when yugi beat the rare hunter by using a trap from his hand.. I call shananigans.
I would've put Atem losing to Rafael as #1. The emotion losing Timaeus and Yugi, the shock of the pharaoh actually losing, Atem giving in to the dark/Orichalcos, sacrificing Dark Magician and Dark Magician Girl, there's just no other duel like it.
"Blindsiding him with a Maximum" Idk, I think using the card game mechanics to win doesn't deserve an asterisk next to her victory. Put some respect on Asana's name here man.
I agree Asana is awesome she deserves more respect & you guys think we'll ever get a female main protagonist? Maybe Yume could be her name because it means dream which at this point it feels like getting a female main protagonist is essentially. Maybe next series we'll get a waifu material main protagonist if we're lucky? So is it weird that Asana is my favorite girl in Se7ens so far? Also speaking of waifus from Yugioh Franchise, do you have any Top 5 or Top 10 choices you want to shout out? I haven't decided on an order personally although I know Aoi Zaizen from Vrains & Akiza Izinski are both high ranking choices for me & I think Asana may possibly be within my Top10 if we're not counting actual not soul prison cards.
I think it was more the fact that even Asana herself admitted it didn't feel fair since Yuga didn't have a maximum and even to her it felt one sided. After her recent duel with Tiger, Asana has proved she is a more than capable duelist as Tiger defeated Rook in a flash back and *nearly* defeated Yuga
@@cozzillagaming1869 I get what you mean, but like, Yuga not having a maximum isn't her fault. Maximums are part of the game, so believing that only Nail could have one is kinda naive. Like, if you challenge someone to a race and it turns out they're actually an olympic sprinter, that's still a legitimate loss, no matter how one-sided it is. You know what I mean?
I think I’d like it if the stakes weren’t always life threatening. That way the protagonist can lose the battle but not the war. Gives way for more development
The "high stakes" formula in Yu-Gi-Oh was pretty poorly handled because of how predictable it is, to be clear. Cardfight Vanguard handles that formula better, and even Bakugan to an extent.
@@carlackersii Me too. Even in Vanguard, there were some friendly losses left and right like Aichi losing like three times to Misaki, granted first time he was a newbie but still. Even in the V Series, Aichi loses to a Psyqualia Zombie Naoki and becomes a Psyqualia Zombie himself, for a series that gets a lot of hate.
While I think zexal was the worst series and Yuma was the worst protagonist, I'm 100% sure Yuma would destroy all the other main yu-gi-oh characters. His 3rd zexal form allows him to draw any card he needs. Even cards that aren't in his deck.
For #6 I think it's strange you didn't mention that the reason he almost killed himself was because he needed to win the duel to save his brother's soul. It wasn't just winning. If it was, he probably would have killed himself after his first loss.
Yusei would have lost 2 duels had he not convinced Team Unicorn's Last member that A Deck Out wasn't a satisfying enough win & gotten lucky that his Duel Runner broke down during his duel with Kalin before he could be defeated by the Earthbound Immortal & sent to the Netherworld. Which let's face it the duel with Kalin really was a loss that he was lucky to survive much like how Rafael was lucky to survive losing when using The Seal of Oricalcos.
@@WaterKirby1994 team unicorn was stupid in how it ended while kiryu he lost from a forfeit. the rematch was stupid because savior dragon was a deus ex machina.
@@scorpionsapprentice3248 I watched the Dub of 5Ds who was Kiryu? I know Aki, Reo, & Ruka are obvious although a lot of the other 5Ds names are harder to guess at. 5Ds was the last Yugioh Series I really watched, although I saw some of Arc V. Zexal was trash, while Vrains never released Stateside.
I’m surprised yusei vs kalin wasn’t on here, but I guess you could argue yusei didn’t technically lose, his d-wheel just broke. But the fact that he almost died would’ve counted for me as a top spot
Yeah by all rights Yusei lost to Kalin/Kiryu. There was literally nothing he could do in response to the Earthbound Immortal’s direct attack. Just because the runner broke down at the very VERY last second before the already declared attack completed shouldn’t protect him from it counting as a loss
5) Yuga vs Asana (completely blindsided again) 4) Yuya vs Reiji (reiji showed who’s boss) 3) Yugi vs Rafael (shocking but “rock”) 2) Yuma vs Kaito (yuma still gotta grow) 1) Judai vs Edo (man went card games blind)
@@randomprofile5853 Here's the deal, a Control strategy that's working as intended would stop all the opponent's plays by turn 3-4. Sure, they can't just OTK immediately, but at that point the opponent would just surrender, specially in a tournament setting where time is more important.
Seeing this reminded me that there were duels that the protagonists should have lost, but ended up winning and/or being without conclusion. Two in GX alone being the Season 3 duel against Ryo when Judai was gearing up to fight Yubel, and against Manjome in Season 4, where Manjome was instructed to throw the duel by his manager. Seeing a rival genuinely win a duel against the protagonist is a very rare thing in Yu-Gi-Oh!, and I always wish Manjome had won that duel.
Arc V is underrated because of the action cards, but regardless it has the greatest soundtracks I've ever heard in the entire Yu Gi Oh, also Akaba Reji (hopefully I've not butchered his name) is one of my favourite characters in all the series.
You should read the yu-gi-oh arc 5 manga. Completely different from anime. Yuya is a terrorist and akaba is basically batman trying to stop him. Easily best yu-gi-oh manga.
I generally agree with this (for the duels in shows I saw the entirety of) though I would make one major change. I would move Kaito versus Yuma to the top slot. The main reason being it's one of if not the ONLY duel the protagonist loses where that loss is followed by a positive moment. I felt it was a critical moment in Yuma's character, where he has this awesome duel with one of his main rivals, a character who he's wanted to beat for a while, and not only does he lose, which was a surprise, but the duel reinforces their bond and friendship anyway. It's an amazing moment which really solidifies Yuma's ideal that dueling creates bonds between people. And it's the only time in the entire franchise (that I know of) where the protagonist manages to get that point across in a duel that they lose, despite it being a theme in every show (except maybe VRAINS). It was also a great duel for Kaito, as it was the first time we see Kaito duel purely for fun. And even though he makes a point that dueling isn't about fun for him, he can't quite shake off Yuma's positive attitude. While Kaito had been in the process of a heel face turn, this duel solidifies him as a protagonist and heroic character going into the second half of the show. One could argue, in fact, that this duel resolves Yuma and Kaito's rivalry as they never duel again and are, essentially, on good terms for the entire rest of the series.
I hate that nobody ever counts the Kalin duel just because the fanboys want an excuse to give Yusei a perfect record. So what if Yusei fell off his duel runner and his counter didn't get to go to zero? He still got destroyed by that Earthbound Immortal and there was nothing he could do anymore. The game was over. The only reason they had to end it that way was because Yusei obviously needed to be around and he couldn't do that if he got absorbed and lost in that thing thanks to the dueling conditions.
What if Jack and Crow teamed up to take down Kiryu? In the anime, when a Dark Signer and his Earthbound God are defeated in a duel, everyone they captured is set free. So Yusei theoretically could have lost legit and then Jack and Crow would team up to beat Kiryu and free Yusei, bringing him back into the fight. Regardless, I do count this as a loss for Yusei and I believe it would rank as a top 3 protag loss if it were legit.
@@cameraredeye3115 I don't know how they could have done this differently tbh. That's why I hate situations like this where they don't know how to make a win "work" without some kind of negative consequence to the plot. And I just hate the idea of a character never being able to lose.
Yusei and Yusaku are the protagonists of Yu-Gi-Oh who have hardly lost any duel. Yuma is currently the protagonist who has lost the most in duels (either as a joke or serious)
That’s usually due to the writers putting the characters in duels that are too high stakes. All of vrains had the threat of Ai getting taken if yusaku lost, and 5ds had duels where they characters could die if they lost, or they were in a tournament where losing would defeat the purpose of the arc. Arc V and GX struck a good balance since fewer duels were high stakes. It’s a difficult balance to keep since the only way to make these duels exciting, especially to a younger audience who probably don’t understand the rules, is with a loss condition. And on the other hand, people who are older and understand the game will take their enjoyment from seeing interesting strategies rather than whatever plot bullshit is going on.
Well there are some card game anime protags who lose a lot like Dan Kuso from Bakugan or Aichi Sendou from Cardfight Vanguard. In fact Dan loses like 15 times in total and Aichi gets his ass kicked about half of the time, despite both shows being dark at times with high stakes. Just a side note tho.
My 5 favorites are (In order from 5th to first) Shark vs Yuma, Reiji vs Yuya, Yuzu vs Yuya, Jack vs Yuya and Kaito vs Yuma, with my honourable mention being Yusei vs Kalin I haven't gotten around to GX, I'm watching 5d's at the moment, I grew up with Arc V and have watched Zexal twice
Nail catching Yuga off-guard with the first Maximum Summon and literally one-shotting him should have been top 3 on this list tbh. Why? Because this moment seemingly came out of nowhere and was a massive WTF for everyone watching. And I love it.
Yusei clearly lost the first time he duelled Kalin. If his duel runner hadn't broken down his life points would have hit zero and he would have died. If he hadn't been the protagonist, those things would have happened for sure. Plus they could have easily shown Yusei lose at least one non-shadow duel. They did that with the other protagonists, so why not Yusei as well? I liked 5D's but my biggest problem with it was they only showed him lose (with no interruptions like his runner breaking down) in a flashback, which doesn't really count. Losing duels from time to time allows the protagonists to develop as characters and as duellists and therefore makes the shows better. So I'm not sure why they wouldn't do that with Yusei.
I’m late to the party, and I completely get why people would disagree with me, but I would have put Yuya Vs. Jack at number 18. Yuya was about to beat Jack on the second turn, and then Jack played an action spell, completely just ignoring Stargazer Magician’s pendulum ability. Then, Yuya attacks again, and Jack plays a trap, this time completely ignoring Timegazer’s effect. Yuya should have dethrone the king on his very first turn, but the script writers just decided that pendulum effects no longer exist.
Just a heads up, Ryo has a duel with Judai in Season 3. Its nowhere near as good as the first two duels, as Judai was traumatized by what he did and completely misplays. Its the set up to the best duel in GX between Ryo and Johan
If Johan was playing seriously i.e dueling to defeat Judai rather than help him, then yeah Judai would've lost that duel. But they stopped once Johan used Rainbow Dragon because its light purified the infected Polymerization & snapped Judai out of the darkness-induced hallucination so at that point there was no reason for them to keep going.
While I find the Yugi vs Raphael duel interesting, I think it’s not that good of a match personally. I would put it closer to 5 or 6. Also, after rewatching the JP version of the Doma arc… I’m legitimately questioning if The Oricalchos has connections to the Light of Destruction and the Gentle Darkness. Any thoughts or theories on it? (Based on Dartz’ explanation of where the Oricalchos comes from)
Not sure how it went in the original Japanese script, but my favorite part of the Yugi vs Kaiba round 2 duel was when Anzu/Tea called out Kaiba for his battle tactics and then says a few things that cut Kaiba deep...pretty cathartic after Kaiba stooped to committing suicide to win
Really? I remember being 10 and being like, 'Bitch. shut the fuck up.' She knows nothing about Kaiba, his family and what he went through. She was judging him? He put EVERYTHING on the line to save his brother. His legacy didn't matter. The company didn't matter. The money didn't matter. He was going to save Mokuba or he was going to actually die trying. And if he didn't do EVERYTHING he could and things turned out badly, Kaiba never would have been able to forgive himself. Not after everything that happened in his life. Mokuba is a child and is also all Kaiba has. I am not saying Solomon should die, but he is an older gentleman. And Yugi has a lot of love in his life. Kaiba and Mokuba are all each other have. Tea doesn't know shit from the pea having a car accident in her cavernous head.
Yusei is my fav yugioh protagonist ever, but there are duels in the show he should've lost, and I kinda wanna count those even if plot armor made him win.
Erm his name is jaden (yes I know in the sub its Judai) but it fucking pisses me off when people fucking do this just call them by the dub names Edit:ignore this
@@Medinacrystalheart The manga considers Yusei vs Kiryu a loss for Yusei, and even in the anime it was only a DNF on technicality. That attack would have beaten (and, let's be honest, KILLED) Yusei had his D-Wheel not broken
I think it should be a mandatory rule that each Yugioh anime protagonist should lose at each once. That is one thing about Yusei and Yusaku that I do not like about them. Gives them a Gary Sue ish flair about them.
The problem with giving a protagonist a loss or two lies in the fact that the stakes are way too high that the protagonist cannot make up for at all naturally. Like if Yusaku loses, Ai gets captured. If Yusei wins, he literally dies, If Yuma loses, he loses Astral, etc... That formula was poorly made. Compare this to Bakugan. In Bakugan Season 1, when a Bakugan loses a battle, it "dies" and gets sent to the Doom Dimension. Dan loses to a filler guy named Ryo, and the stakes were so high. Masqurade sends Dan to the Doom Dimension after crushing him. Take this comparison of a good example of high stakes done right (in my opinion at least).
Where is Yusei losing to Kalin when he was a Dark signer? Dont see it on the list tho it's a official lost. Yeah he fell off bike but he was officially gonna lose anyway
I agree with the number 1 and 2 picks and I get it, those 2 duels really are packed with various emotions and excellent back and forth moves from them. Reiji and Kaito are solid duelists that makes you not always bet on the main protagonists winning. Love this list! Excellent job as always!
Yusei's Duel Runner broke down just before Kalin's Earthbound Immortal landed the attack. But you could say that it was a unofficial loss for Yusei but officially it was a no result duel.
Nice video! I love watching them :) My favourite is Kaiba vs Yuugi round 2. As you said, there is a lot of emotions and we see the effect of Gozaburo on Kaiba. But it is also an important moment in the Yuugi / Other Yuugi's relationship. Yuugi starts realising he can't keep pretending the Other Yuugi doesn't exist and he starts facing 'this problem' head on. I'm also pretty sure Anzu stops being stupidly in love with the Other Yuugi at about that time and gets more and more interested in Yuugi. The Other Yuugi himself has to face his greatest fear which is losing and this loss has effects on him during the nexts two or three episodes. All in all, one of my favourite duels from DM because of the character development that we get from it.
The whole duel is kind of an acid trip for yudai... Uhm... This was an acid trip? Not the duel against the guy with the sleep-powers? Or the duel against the talking monkey? Or the duel against the ginzo-spirit? Or the duel against that guy who could draw what he wanted and did not use exodia? Or the fursion with an antagonist? Or when his classmate fell for an tigress? Or the duel against a soul-sucking-vampire-lady? Or the time they got hunted by duel-zombies? I would add also the dueal in an active volcano, but that seems to normal. A duel in an active vulcano was normal in GX...
I kinda dislike it that there was no way for Yusaku to lose since they made a point that Ai would be gone if he did, made it hard to care about his duels when you know he was unable to lose
Bit of a problem in Zexal too; most of the time (all?) a new Number was up for grabs, Astral's life was on the line. Sensing a pattern with the head writer...
I never liked how Kaiba had to threaten suicide in that duel in order to win. It would have been way more effective if Kaiba won legitimately. Firstly, he already won the duel in canon, so winning legitimately wouldn't take any steps back. It would have put some necessary doubt into both Yugi and Yami's minds. If they lost to Kaiba and Pegasus beat Kaiba, what are they to do against Pegasus? I never liked how Yugi never really 'LOST' without some circumstantial disbenefit. This duel would have been perfect for Kaiba to win because Kaiba had no bad intent this time. He wasn't fighting for pride, he was fighting to save someone the same way to Yugi. It would have worked well to Kaiba's character even, saying that he can't really win against Yugi when he duels for revenge or pride, but he can when he duels for the sake of someone he cares about. (Another reason he should have won against Noah too). With all the things Atem tells Kaiba with dueling with anger and hate, Kaiba never really wins when he duels for the sake of saving someone, which is dumb as the show insists that's the way to duel and you get some sort of power-up by fighting for what's right.
