Shadow DX judai said it whenever someone mocked him for summoning a monster with low attack points because no one in the first few seasons even considered that opponents could use effect monsters
Action Cards were just an Epic Fail overall. Yet, the Smile Philosophy was SO FORCED, it was even worse than the Action Cards. What a feat... What did this strategy-game needed? More Luck and also Sport. Yeah, screw you, writers. And the fact that this is not the worst thing but the Smile Philosophy was, is outright Impressive. It felt so forced that i really came to dislike the Smile-Cards. I never use any of them. Oh, it was sooo bad.
[14:15] Yuma did never actually fall into darkness. It was Astral who became evil and forced Yuma to perform the ZeXal Change with him. This led to Astral having full control over Yuma's body while in that state.
I disagree a bit, He wanted revenge in Vector real bad and didn't think like he usually does, though I do believe he is the one who recovers from that stuff the quickest
This is how I've always seen protagonists falling to darkness: the evil surrounding them just gets too overwhelming for them to take on calmly and collectively, to the point where they lose some of their principles and who they really are. Take Yuya for example. He went into beserk mode on multiple occasions because he was overwhelmed by Z-ARC's essence wanting to unleash onto the world, within him. Now in the case of Yuma, although Vector was disguising his evil through his persona of Rei, Yuma still fell for his trap and ultimately betrayed Astral. It may not have seemed like Yuma falling to darkness in the first instance, but he did explicitly show some doubt and unease when making his decisions involving the Barian cards Rei gave him and Astral's precautions. Also, Yuma lost a part of himself when temporarily losing Astral's trust. We all know that this situation escalated even higher when Vector did his reveal, and Astral's heart blackened because of it; that happened to Astral because of Yuma. Astral forced Dark Zexal because of Yuma. So yeah, I believe that Yuma did fall to darkness. Sorry for the late and long comment XD
Poor guy! He really had seen and witnessed so much shi. And if he can still smile and be a happy go lucky guy like he once was in seasons 1-2, then THAT IS BETIND MY UNDERSTANDING
As a kid Judai was my favorite protagonist because he used badass hero deck. Now, as I reached adulthood I continued liking him for different reasons. I (and I believe this is true for many people) can now sympathise with his circumstances of losing child-like innocence, growing up and experiancing harshness of the world.
Jaden will always be my favorite yugioh protagonist. Fun fact: I found out about season 4 of GX right as I was graduating high school, so I ended up watching the rest of the series at the dame age as him, and seeing them graduate from the academy made it even more bittersweet.
That's primarily because Yusei's speeches are backed both by him addressing the traumas/problems/insecurities that people around him are facing AND actions where he gets actual involved in helping his friends work through solutions to their actual issues. (early on where he dueled with those inmates cards was a perfect example where he was demonstrating through actions "yes, what you've invested in that this crooked system has tried to break you into believing is worthless has value and I will use that to manifest tangible change making things better for you, showing that you also have the power to change things") He didn't just give Akiza vague platitudes about what she should or shouldn't value, he took the time to try and understand what weighed on her and make himself to be a friend that she could rely on. Same with Rua and Ruka, same with Crow, and even same with Jack. Also Yusei has been in the trenches, he's been in society's lowest caste, he's had to fight and struggle just to get by in a system we see is literally made to keep him and others like him down. So his actions and words carry more weight as they are informed by that perspective and the personal responsibility he takes to make the future better. Tea is just a cheerleader on the sidelines who has neither the perspective nor the power to affect change in the situations Atem and Yugi face. In fact her powerlessness often makes her an unwitting puppet to the antagonists they face. Where the most she can say is "don't worry about me, I believe in you". Which is nice but doesn't help a whole lot. Even when given a day entirely to help Atem as he struggles with understanding his own identity the message ends up amounting to "friends are important" and "don't give up". She's not a bad friend and her pep talks are nice but there's a big difference between the weight of what she says and does has for her friends and what Yusei has for his.
i'm from brazil and here we also suffer from the 4kids dub, cause when they bring yu gi oh here they usually license the english version, probably because is cheapper than the original one. And that's a shame, because Brazil has a really good bunch of talented voice actors, but even them can't save the mistakes that came from the english version
@AbbyAZK every protagonist has made their own cards during a duel at some point even yuya but the difference is that only protagonist that had acces to action cards is yuya.
AbbyAZK Those eventually stopped. At least I know yusaku did. Action cards are used throughout 90% of arc-v and their effects didn’t particularly follow any rules or patterns. They’re also used more frequently than other methods of making cards since action cards are used in just about every duel in the series.
Absolutely. But I think that's because he couldn't rely on Atem anymore. So he had to figure out how to do things on his own. This was good for his character.
Yusei's my favorite protagonist for different reasons Even when he pulled some protag-bs, they would show a short scene of his thought process on how to use his cards so it didn't always feel like an ass-pull. He had a plan. My favorite protag ace monster, subconsciously made my love for synchros His 1-on-3 comeback Vs Team Unicorn (even though he did win because of cheese) "Yugi beat 3 Egyptian Gods" Yusei beat 3 Nordic Gods so he's got that under his belt His design, i've always liked older protagonists That one time he punched that guard that was in his way
That's true, it's actually my favorite scene were yusei just beat the shit out of the security guard, with his hand to hand, it make sense since your stuck in the satellite in the middle of gang war, your gotta need to learn of survival and street smarts.
Fun fact,Yusei would've lost if animators didnt "Forget" Majestic Stardust Dragon's eff to return to Extra and the end of the turn so he doesnt auto lose basicly.
@@creater-wj6cg He is the most liked protaganist in general besides old people that like yugi the most. If anything he is way to overrated. The only way I see him as reasonable is the end of what happens to Judai. He just didn't lose except through a flashback, and when he would've lost, they said no, let's just make his duel runner randomly break down so he is disqualified and doesn't really lose.
@@YugiohEverything You know, I just realized something..you call the anime Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL, but then you call the fusion between Yuma and Astral, ZEAL....it is kind of weird
I don’t consider yusei a Mary Sue, yusei suffered a lot and was very vulnerable in other ways that wasn’t always dueling. Yusei’s past shows he was a lot more rugged and not as developed due to his upbringing, but when he lost against jack in the flashback yusei was humbled. This is when yusei started to become the yusei we love. He became so much more selfless, much more emotionally understanding, and much more optimistic. This is start of episode 1 yusei. And even during the evens of the series outside of flashbacks, yusei had his struggles. He had to cope with the situation with kiryu as well as morally grey villains, he had to learn how to depend on others rather than take on everything himself, he had to fight the moral dilemma with zone, and also was struggling to find his own path in life which he ended up doing in his final duel using junk warrior. Yusei has his internal struggles and his prognostic and awesome dueling was his way of overcoming them. Another awesome thing about yusei was his deck and mentality, yusei’s whole “Every scrap has value” mentality and junk deck was very inspiring and amazing. Junk warrior is my personal favorite monster in all yugioh besides maybe obelisk. I think each yugioh protagonist offered something great to the table and appealed/related to many values and hearts. My personal list goes yusei, yugi/yami, jaden, yuya, yuma, and then vrains (since I haven’t seen vrains yet)
Yugi: Best thing about him is him finally being out of his shell in the DSOD movie Yami Yugi: Protagonist that started it all, so we're kinda obigated to like him Jaden: My personal favorite, even if he was a bit too edgy in season 4 Yusei: He's good, also 5Ds probably will always have the best series finale imo Yuma: TBD till I finish ZEXAL Yuya: His duels are always fun to watch Yusaku: I love when he lists things to be honest Yuga: Basically the Zack Martin of Yu-Gi-Oh
Yusaku is extremely underrated, he's the most realistic human character of all the 6 series so far. His personality was a perfect depiction of the struggles and long years of rebound it takes for someone with PTSD. CPTSD, especially severe forms like CPTSD can make a person shut themself off from others, and it takes a long time to develop bonds and trust.
The only problem is that potential is wasted a bit by not flushing out his backstory. He is still one of the coolest for enduring all that but he needed that backstory
@@samuelvega2970 ur joking. If anybody is overrated its Yuya and Yuma. Even tho Yu-Gi-Oh! is my favourite, Yugi is honestly the least realistic person out of the only good 4 (Yusaku, Judai, Yusei and himself)
@@armaanali4585 overrated=Valued too highly. Yusei and Yusaku are the most overrated characters in the show by the definition of what overrated actually means due to the fact that they are the only characters to never lose a duel on screen. They only lost in the flashback.
@@ShadowRealmZ373 the masked heroes and omni heroes( the generic elemental hero fusions and terrafirma) belonged to the manga. The omni heroes where used by a guy that was his mentor, after he died. After Aster wiped the floor with him using the vision heroes, he decided to make his own deck
yuma went a similar route as judai. his final duel mirrored the first three final duels. dueling his partner while trying to get the fun back in dueling while trying to find the own future
Yusei and Yusaku are really great tacticians. I really like it when Yusei got the card that he needs and then it paves a way and then branches out to the best possible move that he can make.
1. Yusei: An awesome duelist who never stopped believing in his friends or his cards 2. Yugi/Pharaoh: The OG Dream Team who truly earned the title "King of Games" 3. Jaden : Great character development, a happy go lucky guy until later in his series and fun to root for 4. Yusaku/Playmaker: Though his partnership with AI he was able to go on a journey to deal with his past trauma 5. Yuya: His goal was to make people smile though entertainment duels, dependence on action cards hurt his ranking 6. Yuma: Hard to be invested into Yuma early in ZeXal, but if you stick with him he grows a lot later in the show. 7. Yuga: He could move higher but we don't know enough about him yet
While I agree with his placement I actually really liked Yuya because of how he was most similar to Judai. Yuya just want to duel for fun and entertainment but got dragged into an inter dimensional war to save his friend and to have him be the ultimate villain of the series was a welcome twist.
Fact and he d rides zuzu to the point where when he duels he’s thinking about her every time or doing some goofy ass entertainment shit because her or his dad
Me I think yuma is the best because he's development and I'm pretty sure he's the only real equivalent of some dueling like a noobie or someone coming back to yugioh and he just want to make friends with everyone and not had them give up their spirit and he's actually getting taught not tagged out, or yami draw nonsense or etc
Yusei - Very Interesting and good YGO in my opinion. Yuma- Unpopular opinion. But I loved his character growth. The storyline was very interesting, and to see Yuma be a person that lost 10+ times at the beginning, ascend to someone strong and able to win on his own (Vs. Astral), Zexal was a joy to watch for me. Plus Vector was a huge troll. Yusaku - Despite him being stale in personality, the show, his monsters, and being able to push through any situation against strong opponents like Revolver, Bohman and Ai was incredible. I had to give him a bit of credit for that. Judai - He's alright. Probably my second favorite in terms of growth. Atem - He got a bit stale in my opinion all around. I enjoyed watched Kaiba, or Mai, or the antagonists duel more. Yuya - Wasn't for me...Sorry... Yuga - Far too Early.
Yusaku is my most favorite protagonist so far with Yusei in second and Yami Yugi (Atem) in third on my list. I think I like the more serious type of protagonists in this anime the most
I just relate to Yusaku the most. On the outside he's callous and stoic, on the inside he's compassionate. Plus, his design is just really cool to me. I also really liked the double life of "normal awkward kid Yusaku" vs "Digital world vigilante Playmaker." Probably playing Persona 5 when VRAINS first came out had me appreciate that aspect more, lol.
Personally, I felt like Yusaku having quite a few pyrrhic victories stopped him from feeling too overpowered. He may win, but he loses a lot when he does. This is gonna sound weird, but I found him an interesting deconstruction of the normal YGO protag in that while he does change and inspire a lot of people, a lot of the times when he actively attempts to save someone, it doesn't quite work out the way he hopes, and each season ends more bittersweet in the last.
He mind set was what i love about him no card is useless mind set and people say he was mary-sue. I don't think so his like that to keep his father memories. his the most human like mc out of their i think a lot people watch 5ds was sleeping. I always felt like 5ds more for mature audience.
Yuya is by far my favorite because, and I don't think people acknowledge this near enough, he's a shockingly accurate depiction of manic depression. "Smile even in the darkest times" is a message near and dear to my heart because it's effects are real and palpable. A positive outlook helps in nearly every situation. If you believe things can be better, you are better at taking actions to make them better. Yes, it's a placebo, it if it can keep you pressing onward, it affects your real actions and it becomes real. When people talk about his ideology being forced or single-minded, they're missing the point. It doesn't work if you're flippant about it, you need to commit to the act, even if it's painful beneath the surface. Zarc is what happens when malice enters the picture. The drive to compete, the drive to achieve victory and fame at any cost, these toxic motivations for any entertainer. When you have manic depression, that's what it can feel like. Like there's a demon of despair inside you that makes you want to throw away your integrity and just do whatever people expect of you. This inner struggle made real resonated with me a lot. Yuya was damaged from a young age by the disappearance of his father, the man he emulated himself after and idolized. Throughout the series, he loses his normal life, discovers everything about that life and even his own existence was a fragmented echo of a tragedy he doesn't remember committing. He routinely loses and is betrayed by the people he chooses to get close to, has insane burdens placed upon him and has to find a way to maintain his ideology and sanity as it's attacked from all angles. That's compelling shit, and I don't get why nobody else seems to see that. EDIT: I'm not gonna be responding to any replies. I've been arguing this for years, I'm done trying to explain color to the blind.
Because the way they portray that character development is forced and poorly executed. The guy is in the middle of a violent war yet he keeps going on and on about that "smile" crap when it's crystal clear that it's not possible, yet the very obviously evil characters immediately go "I'm happy now" because a clown went around goofing around for 30 seconds.
Bruh ya do know yuya has his own personality. This is the exact same way with his other counterparts. I love this character and hate it. Either way the show was entertaining, it introduced us to a lot of competitive cards as well. So I thank arc v. Yuya may not be the most bad ass, wisest, or greatest of all time. but in all honesty I rather be friends with him than the other protagonist in yugioh. Jaden makes me wanna duel his ass because he reminds me of my friend who also runs HEROS.
@@syckouchiha306 Yuya's personality was a stubborn kiddo going through teen angst and pretending to be cheerful because daddy said so. Not the most likeable.
I’m so glad someone finally put Yusei at the top of the list! He is such a great protagonist! He’s always been my favorite of the yu gi oh protagonists!
Ahhhhhhh, been waiting for this one!!! For me it goes: 1. Judai-like you say, so relatable and I genuinely find inspiring when he overcomes his guilt and depression. 2. Yusei-just badass, but like you say has an everyman vulnerability. Plus, he's a pro at the speeches. 3. Yuma-people can say what they what they want, he has the best growth of any YuGiOh character. When he beats Eliphas, it's the equivalent of if it were YuGi who beat Dartz instead of Atem. 4. Yugi-when he shines (the last several episodes of DM and TDSOD), he's maybe the best YuGiOh character of all, but undeniably just barely does anything the first 200+ episodes. 5. Atem-another badass and has some empowering moments, but I don't feel much development other than realising that doing anything for power is wrong. 6. Playmaker-I really like how visceral Playmaker and I think his traumatic childhood justifies him never losing a duel. However, you don't feel he's changed much at all by the end. 7. Yuya-some great moments, but just pretty much no character development and laughable motives/approach a lot of the time.
Yuma is my favorite character because he does not give up and has a strategy to win duels he has a good relationship with his own friends. Dylan thank you for talking about my favorite character in Yugioh.😄 I also like the other characters from Yugioh because their are the awesome as well.👍
He’s way better than Yuya but Yuya is good but I like Yuma better it I feel bad for his loses in his duel but I want him to be the main protagonist in every Yugioh Spin offs.
Yuma was more relatable than jaden for me cause of he was a rookie in the beginning and became a pro in the end which I thought was amazing and the fact he went through other hardship but still come out strong
Yuma acts like real person, who sucks at duelling but get much better later on just like a actually real player, something EVERYONE constantly doesn't realise like you can relate to yuma in one way or another, but who would ever relate to yusei at all.
IMO Jaden was my favorite protagonist cause he was like me as a teen, started of as a goofball, and then eventually became more serious and learnt the world wasn't sunshine and rainbows all the time. Plus he was a badass in season 4 which was cool af. I also think he had the most character development out of all the YGO protagonists, by character development, i don't mean getting better at YGO like yuma, i mean his personality changed so the events he went through felt more real then in other series.
Yusei started out dark though, well, dark-ish. He goes out on a revenge quest to take Jack down a notch or two(to the point he was fine with his younger friend stealing to help him do so), then gets dumped into a random world ending crisis he was in no way prepared for. Yusei probably didn't fall into darkness because he _came_ from it, what with him living in the sector that got exploited for the good of the city next to them. It was the equivilant of living in the slums, so he's probably already seen the worst of what humanity had to offer. At that point, it's either just... Follow along, or try to strike your own way in life. He just happened to be one of the people in the second category who succeeded.
Reminder to you two that Jack offered it back before his duel... Yusei gave it back. In the dub, he wanted to beat Jack for it first, I imagine that it's the same in the original. Revenge doesn't need to be heavy handed, it can be petty too.
@@aliesterus1.023 That's how things work in Yugioh though. Yusei wants to *earn* Stardust Dragon back, and that is to duel. To just take it and turn back would be an insult to all the years he and his friends spent building his Duel Runner and planning to get to Domino City. It's just pride.
@@esteban8471 Then he's avenging his pride. Just because it looks slightly different doesn't make it completely different. Not sure why you're so dead set on making Yusei seem perfect here, having flaws gives a character depth.
@@aliesterus1.023 I'm not saying Yusei is perfect, he isn't, but from my experience watching 5DS I never saw Yusei's quest for Stardust Dragon as revenge. Or at least, not to the same extent as the revenge Yusaku was after. It felt more like him wanting to settle a score with his rival. So maybe it was revenge, just on a *much* smaller scale than Yusaku's.
I fucking love GX, it’s easily my favorite, and Jaden is easily my favorite protagonist, but I do think that Yusei is the coolest and that 5Ds is the best series, while I think the original will always be iconic.
Damn! This vid I feel was a LONG time coming. Here goes (from least to best): #6 - *Yusaku Fujiki*: Unfortunately, I'm not all rainbows and sunshines about this guy. To be frank, I personally thought he was a bad character and protagonist. Yusaku has little to no personality and his character goes practically no where after season 1. VRAINS tried to play up the idea that he built actual, meaningful relationships but that couldn't be further away from the truth; his only REAL established relationships were Kusanagi and Ai (and Revolver; forgot to mention him), whose moments with Yusaku felt so powerful because the anime did a good job building them up. I could honestly go on and on and ON about how much I disliked Yusaku's writing but then this would turn into a whole essay. Yusaku, out of all the protagonists, was the one I felt the MOST strongly about because he had everything required to be a phenomenal protagonist but the writers never used those ideas to their fullest potential and we ended up with a character who's kinda just... there. #5 - *Yugi Moto/Yami Yugi*: I'ma be honest, the only reason I have these two ranked so low is because I don't remember much of their character progressions, so this is more of a placeholder if anything; I need to eventually sit down and watch Duel Monsters, LMAO. But I did like the two and I do agree that Yugi felt like more of a side character rather than the protagonist since Yami did 90% of the work. #4 - *Yuya Sakaki*: Yuya was an alright protagonist. I really enjoyed his bit during the Yuri duel regarding his individuality and whether or not the experiences he were involved in as "Yuya Sakaki" were actually meaningful or just superficial for the sake of resurrecting ZARC and he was a nice kid overall. Him pushing his smile agenda on people isn't cool tho. That's really not the best way to send out a message pal, but hey, you're the protagonist so of course everyone else is cool with it! #3 - *Yuma Tsukumo*: Yuma's SUPER underrated! He has a very solid character progression and is not as bad as people make him out to be. Him becoming a better duelist simply from interacting with the world and people around him was done really well. I also loved his final duel with Shark and the fact he didn't choose to finish him off because he didn't want to succumb to the solution that literally everyone else resorted to: killing those you once called friends, and that ironically got him the win. It really shows a lot about Yuma's character and how he's unwilling to let go of what makes him human. A hidden gem of a guy. PLEASE WATCH ZEXAL AND PRETTY MUCH ALL THE YU-GI-OH! SERIES SUBBED! THE DIFFERENCE IN QUALITY IS STAGGERING AND WHAT FINALLY GOT ME INTO THIS FRANCHISE! XD #2 - *Yusei Fudo*: My dude's a badass... That's the comment... Aight, seriously now, Yusei was great! A perfect example of a character who doesn't necessarily need losses to count as a good character (tho, I count his first duel with Kiryu as a lost because...come on, what else would have happened if his duel runner didn't break down? But I digress). Yusei showed a good chunk of vulnerability throughout season 1 and displayed some pretty nice development when it came to the guilt of what his father did. Although he didn't develop much past that from what I've seen of 5D's so far, he's still an awesome guy whose got your back when you need him, despite his appearance. And again, he's a badass. #1 - *Jaden Yuki*: PROCESS ELIMINATION! IT'S THE YOUNG DAWG - THE GOAT - JADEN! Jaden's such a fun character! Even tho his character didn't change much until season 3, his laid-back and jolly attitude toward things, people, and dueling proved to be always a joy to witness! And when he got those darker moments in season 3, it really hit hard for my man. The one thing he loves out of anything else is used as a tool to hurt, which is reminiscent of how reality can't always be rainbows and sunshines if you dig beneath. Season 4 Jaden was the best Jaden because, for one, HE WAS A FREAKING BADASS, and two, it was a understandable result of what he's been through. Seeing him regain that joy for dueling again was also great, as Jaden saw that despite the darkness hidden beneath, there's always a brilliant, gentle light somewhere within. This is why he's my favorite protagonist of the 6(7). Great vid, Dylan! Looking forward to seeing everyone else's opinions too! 🤗
All the Sevens backlash was nothing but the internet doing its usual knee jerk tantrum throwing over something that isn't the exact same as the original. If you put aside the different character designs Sevens is a usual Yugioh anime, but people went "wAahAH iTTssS ddiDIFfhFHeeHRrreENHNttT!!!"
Yuma's development > Jaden's development Yuma was Jaden done correctly. His development was more consistent and never felt out of nowhere, unlike Jaden in season 3.
Despite the writers messing up Arc V, I still like Yuya a lot. Berserk mode was cool to watch. Vrains never gave me the same "can't wait for next time" vibes as Arc V did. No offense to the people who like Vrains, but I thought it was just a worst 5Ds.
I got it! Best ass pull, plot armour, one off, situational plot device cards that most of are only used once for one single purpose/specific counter and never seen again afterwards: Yuma (looking at you shining draw ex machina and Re-contact universe. Then again, every protagonist has that power to get a new OP specific card or ace monster with almost every duel).
@@chunchunmaru07 What makes Yuma's hardships worse than Jaden's is ironically his selfless nature. Yuma cared for everyone, even his enemies, regardless of their actions. This drive to bond with everyone bites him in the ass especially hard during the Barian Onslaught arc, where all of his closest friends die, some of them sacrificing themselves *for* him like Gilag and Vector. The only character in the entirety of Zexal that Yuma genuinely hated was Don Thousand, and that guy orchestrated so much suffering over centuries.
Arc V came during a time when I was a senior in HS and I was looking for a major to follow . I ended up choosing Theatre and found myself relating to Yuya’s idea of making everyone smile . I had similar reasons for wanting to pick up theatre . In my young mind at the time, I believed that making someone smile through a performance even a little bit meant that whatever pain they had could be alleviated in that one moment . It’s just unfortunate to me that Arc V did not do Yuya enough justice and made him somewhat wasted potential . He’s still the protagonist I can relate to the most, even if he’s not my favorite .
agree, I liked when he said " “there is no useless card”" and he demostrated that specially 2 times in the jail, first winning with the deck of yanagi that everybody says was shit and when he ask for cards to each prisoner, he made a deck with random cards and win against a "pegasus" cheater (the guard had cameras seeing all Yusei cards)
My Personal Ranking: 1. Yusei (Hands down one of the best characters. Great character arc. He always felt like a leader and mentor while also learning about his own future. Great maturity in the entire series and why 5D's is my favorite series and the most relatable leotag for me) 2. Jayden (Loved his character arc and his final sacrifice in the end really solidified him for me as a character) 3. Yami/Yugi (I like them for different reasons and I couldn't decide. But the reason I put Yugi so high is because I relate to him in that he needed to step out of Yami's shadow and be his own person) 4. Yuma (I like his full circle character arc, prob the best for a protag in YGO, and how he learned when to duel seriously and when to duel for fun. He felt like what Yuya could've been. I only place him here because sometimes his duels were strange, for lack of a better word) 5.Yusaku (Super realistic and human character and great character interaction/moments and I loved his backstory, even if we didn't get enough details it was still a cool thing. However, I felt he was just too OP/invulnerable) 6. Yuya (Still decent protag but the others just felt more mature. I really like his ideology and actions though. Kinda reminds me of Yugi)
@@lelouchlamperouge3566 yeah me too. The Zexal series showed me the world of dueling. I even wrote the the numbers in how the Numbers were written in school. I was introduced to it maybe 8 or 9 years ago in our television dubbed in our language(they dubbed the original version and changed nothing except what the words would come out of their mouths), when I was in 2nd grade. Then I would buy packs in the market. But it was rearranged so that you have different cards from different archetypes. Then I bought myself a real Elemental Heroes deck(it doesn't include some cards but it was playable without breaking rules), I wan't to get Yuma's deck but it was the only one available. But I lost it how unfortunate. Well atleast I got to duel my friend. I didn't won(in fact I had my LP down to 0 in 5 turns and didn't even wounded his) but it was my first time playing. Anyway if you're still reading should I continue?
Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Yuma also never go dark? Dark Zexal wasn't really him, it was Astral doing dark and taking over . In fact, it was Yuma's compassion that got Astral to snap out of it.
Yuma was sometimes rude, had trust issues, and lost his way or got depressed a few times, but he didn't "go dark" outside of dark zexal and #96 Dark Mist. Yuma did lose trust in Astral at times, and lied a few time to various characters, but usually for a positive reason. There was one time when he snapped at Tori (before duel with the camera guy who takes pictures of people's future). I'm sure there were other times when he annoyed friends and family too but that was a big one. I would say that Yugi Moto and Yusei were much more stable in staying out of darkness. (well except in Yugi Moto's season 4 duel against the Pharaoh)
Yuma will always be my favourite. He’s the most relatable in my opinion and he had the best character development out of them all. And the final duel after the Barian arc where astral blackmails Yuma to duel him just so that he can be reminded of why he duels in the first place really hit me hard for some strange reason as a kid.
I'm not saying that your wrong, but that end of season duel also happened in GX, when Kaiser and Judai dueled for Kaiser's graduation. Not that I'm saying it's bad, but it's not unique in the series. Yuma isn't my lowest, but I can't listen to his voice on English voice.
@@saitouhajime3 Those are two completely different duels lol. The finale of GX Season 1 was early on in GX, after Jaiden had just finished dealing with the sacred beasts. There were no stakes in the duel and they both knew that walking in. Jaiden was just trying to snag a win because he wanted to prove himself. He hadn't learned much of anything, and the duel didn't really represent much change for his character. Yuma's duel, meanwhile, happens as the very final duel of his season, finally facing off against astral, the being who had taught him nearly everything. He went in with high stakes that transformed into an incredible emotional payoff, and yuma demonstrated his growth by performing a shining draw without the Zexal morph, showing that even without the help of Astral and an extradimensional power, he had become, on his own, a "truly powerful duelist".
@@sirkittens5445 Yuma still wasn't really that great of a character for me. I can find him boring, and his "emotional" journey was the most childish thing for me. Astral was just another Atem, and the duel against him was just another Atem vs Yugi finale. Not really that great. You may have liked it, and if so, good for you. It just wasn't a series that was my cup of tea.
@@trogbison1625 That's very true. Astral did end up accepting the evil though, he claimed that he wanted more betrayal and lies so he could gain more power (or something along those lines). Though, I don't think he was made to feel betrayal at all either.
Here's my ranking: 1. Yusei. I rank him on top for basically the same reasons you mentioned. So I don't think I can really add anything new. 2. Yami Yugi. He's a cool protagonist, but the fact that he barely interacted with anyone but Yugi kinda held him back (especially in the early episodes), so it took us a while to really get to know him as a character. Otherwise, I have basically the same points about him as you. 3. Yuya. While the action cards are an issue, it's not something I hold against Yuya's character. That was a gimmick of the show. But he was a protagonist I genuinly felt sad for. I knew that what he tried to do was not realistically achievable (though realism was never YGO's selling point), but I understood where he was coming from and I could tell that he wasn't always sure if his style was in vain or not. Of course it didn't work on everyone, but it did work on others. He basically seperated the redemable characters from the irredemable ones and tried to make the world a better place. His father disappeared, his childhood friend got kidnapped, he had to witness people misuse the thing he loves for destruction, has a huge burdon put on him and then he had to learn that he was basically the reincarnation of a death bringing monster. It's amazing how Yuya managed to stay positive for as long as he did. I could go on, but I have 4 more protagonists to rank. 4. Yuma. He was kinda crazy and my initial impression of him was not a good one, but he actually grew on me. Though my main problem with him was the fact how hyperactive and loud he was compared to other protagonists. The fact that he relied largely on Astral didn't really bother me, since his character arc was about growing as a duelist and Astral helped him become a great duelist. But it was mostly his Kattobingo that kept him going and we've seen what happens if that is taken away from him. He would collapse in fear and despair. That was the moment that solidified him for me as a character and there is no way I could ever hate him. 5. Judai. I don't hate him, but he didn't really do it for me as a character until season 3. He duels for fun and that's admirable. But his character doesn't go beyond that for the most part. He is not a good student at the duel academy and sleeps during class, yet he wins most of his duels, which makes me wonder why he even went to the academy in the first place. He just doesn't have any goal. It's his character arc in the later seasons that actually saved him for me. Also, he had way too many duels. 6. Yugi. The only reason why he's so low on the list is the same as you mentioned. He's just overshadowed by his other self and he barely dueled. However, the movie Dark Side of Dimensions really helped in solidifying his character growth for me and had I seen more of this during the actual show, I would've easily put him near the top 3. But being a vessel for the majority of the story really hurt his character. 7. Yusaku. I can't believe that he actually ended up as my least favourite character, since I did like him initially and I expected him to be somewhere near Yusei, but he isn't. He has a good backstory and he did have an understandable goal in the first season, but after that there just wasn't anything interesting about him anymore. He was kinda bland actually. He was still a cool protagonist and I did like him, but it seemed like the writers didn't know what to do with him post season 1.
8) Jaden Yuki: I'm surprised he's liked by so many. In my opinion he was terrible and I was watching japanese version. He started as clueless buffoon, then he randomly transisted into edgy villain. He never truly recovered from that and ended as kind-a emo. Nothing subtle, he was over the top in every iteration. But still, many people like him and I don't know why? Maybe it's because they watched GX while there were kids and it hit their young tastes? I was already adult when found this series so I saw it differently. 7) Yuya Sakaki: Agreed, his play style was forced. It's nothing wrong to be serious when stake is high. Also, he was terrible entertainer (in contrast to Yusho and Dennis, they were great) and won more battles utilizing his rage than giving fun and joy. Oh and Action Cards were so cheap... Yeah, Yusei had Clear Mind and Yuma Shining Draw, but they used them only at the climax while Yuya relied on them. Utilizing power of plot force several times in single episode is simply too much. 6) Yugi Muto: I'm not sure if we should consider him as protagonist. He was the host for Atem's soul, but that's it. He almost never dueled (however tag team with Yami was great) or done anything important (maybe except sacrificing himself in filler) and had no character development. For me he's not even deuteragonist, however I like this kid. He's human side of Atem or his conscience. Great addition to that character, but solo he doesn't exist. 5) Yusaku Fujiki: What can I say? You're right. He's typical Gary Stu. Yeah, he isn't the first protagonist than never lose, but being Gary is not only about win ratio. Playmaker, in contrast to Yusei, almost never shown vulnerability or was cornered. In fact he was almost robot-like... while his AI was more human than he ever was. I know, that was the case, but it doesn't make me like him more. I put him above Yugi because I appreciate the most adult approache since 5D's and he's trully antagonist. 4) Atem: Why? How it's possible I put THE PROTAGONIST so low? Well, i'ts not that I dislike him, it's quite the opposite. I just like the top trio more. Pharoh had great personality, character development and backstory. Only flaw I can point it was that he was cheating. I'm not talking about hearth of cards and drawing perfectly what he need, but about making up rules to the point that it became meme. Everyone remembers attacking the Moon. 3) Astral: Well, if Yugi counts in so does he. I like him, his role, story and character development. He started as withdrawn mentor, but eventually he learnt from his pupil almost as much as he taught him. At the beginning he didn't understand katobingu, but at the end he shared Yuma's joy. He was in many ways similar to Pharoh, yet so different. Crucial distinction is that he never took over the wheel (except that one Dark ZeXal incident) and was real aibo. 2) Yuma Tsukumo: No one expected Yuma that high. I believe it's because many watched first episodes and concluded he doesn't like ZeXal. If only you gave him a chance. For me he was Jaden done right. Simple kid that involved himself in something bigger and that changed his life... but not attitude. He always was kind hearthed and cheerful. 1) Yusei Fudo: One of the most adult and complex protagonists in YGO. He had the perfect score (except flashbacks), but he wasn't perfect. He shown his vurnelabities in many ocassions, had affections and was flesh-and-body human. That's why he's so high and Fujiki so low.
Roman Ch. I dont agree with everything but I do with Yusei choice. That’s why I have failed to enjoy any Yugioh anime series after I finished 5D. It was so good and Yusei was a very good protagonist that any anime would want to have, not just Yugioh’s.
"randomly transisted into edgy villain" Umm did you miss the part where Jaden had to watch his friends be "killed" right in front of him along with getting depression from multiple factors with depression being a thing you can't recover from easily at all.
ShadowRealmZ He is cool and everything for sure, just couldn’t attach to him that much as I did with other protagonists. However ppl acting like Yuskau is the only perfect, winning all the time while Yusei didn’t and getting free pass from all the criticism is a questionable for me?!!!
I kept on waiting for Judai, and all I could think was he surely wouldnt be ranked that high! But you did!! I'm so happy. Judai has always been my favorite protag, and seeing all the love he has been getting more so over the past few years makes me so happy! Loved the video!
Yusei I liked because he rarely lost but also because synchro summoning is my favourite summoning technique and later when I watched the episodes that didn’t make it in English I liked him even more because he was so selfless especially since when the signers went their separate ways (with Jack going on training journey, Crow going pro solo, Akiza becoming a doctor, and Leo and Luna going to live with their parents) Yusei decides to stay in neo domino city so that his friends will always have a home to go back to and even when their Signer marks Go away the bonds he made with his friends will last for an eternity
My personal list maybe : 1. Atem. Really..this guy has a style, personality and charm. The savage side of him trully enjoyable 2. Yugi. His personality and mature dev really good. 3. Jaden & Yuya + Yuma. Yuma's dev is good tho. Yugioh for me is just about fun and excitement thru bluffing & strategies. Atem, Jaden and Yuya's duel are about that. 4. Yusei and Yusaku. I dont really like a cold robot character like them. Yusaku is better..but their portrayal are too strong and boring. Their duel are also boring. Its painful to watch a rigid duel.
@@jemandderreinschheißt I made the mistake of not watching the video before I made my comment, so I was counting Yugi and Pharaoh as one personality. My point was that together they had rage and mercy, fear and courage, hope and despair.
1.Judai - I've always loved Judai since I was a kid and watching the dub, to now watching Season 4 and loving him for almost completely different reasons. I adore how he started out as a kid who loved dueling and wanted to be friends with everyone, only to become jaded due to all the stuff that happens throughout the show and how he processes it only to finally at the end get back the ability to enjoy dueling. It was really inspiring to me back when I was feeling really down and for that, he's probably always going to be my favourite protag. 2.Yuya - I really like Yuya's entertainment dueling. Yes, he relies on Action Cards, but I'm not that bothered since I really like the concept since it stops the writers from having to make ridiculous cards for specific situations all the time. I also commend him on how no matter what was happening with the dimensional war, he never wavered in his belief to make everyone happy and stop the fighting. It's a good message in my opinion that everyone has good in their heart and is able to change if you give them a chance. 3.Yuma - When Zexal first aired, I hated Yuma since I watched the dub and his constant arguing with Astral got irritating. Now that I'm older and re-watched all of Zexal, I love how Yuma develops as a duelist. It's far more realistic and adds a lot more stakes when a protagonist is shown to be able to lose and keeps the viewer guessing unlike some other progonists. Plus, his desire to help people coupled with his refusal to kill Shark and decision to sacrifice himself just so Vector wasn't alone is something I adore about Yuma. 4.Yusaku - Honestly, all Yusaku needs is more of an actual backstory like Takeru and have lost to make him break into the top 3. The fact that he never lost a duel makes all of his duels boring as you already know the outcome before any cards are drawn. His relationship with Ai was great and really well paced for Yu-Gi-Oh and I wish it was explored more in season 3. 5.Atem - Personally, I never related to Atem. In his defence, it's hard to relate to an Egyptian Pharaoh, but even still, I only really liked him in Waking the Dragons after losing Yugi and his grief over his death along with him struggling with the possibility of him being a terrible person in the past. I think he had a lot of growth over the series and moved every plot forward, but I was mainly apathetic to him since I wanted Yugi to take the spotlight more since Yugi should be the main character, not Atem. 6.Yugi - If it wasn't for DSOD, Yugi would be 7th. DSOD is what I wanted Yugi to be like more in the main show. He mainly sat in the back doing nothing while Atem dueled nearly everybody. They waited far too long to have Yugi start dueling important characters. It really should've started after Battle City and they had a great opportunity in Waking the Dragons and the KC Grand Championship arcs to focus in more on him and differenciate his dueling style and in turn show his character progression. DSOD really saved Yugi's character for me with his duel with Kaiba and talking about how he had accepted Atem's departure and had moved on. 7.Yusei - I honestly could not care about Yusei. Not one of his duels had any stakes because he never lost. While Yusaku also never lost, he also never had a duel which wasn't life or death. Yusei has won plenty of duels that he could've lost and have it not affect the plot. Hell the only loss he should've had was made null and void when his D-Wheel crashed in his first duel against Kiryu. I like his character, but I detest it when the show makes a character invincible without any actual reason as to why.
Also yuyas actions cards I enjoyed them more than creating you own zexal weapon like Yuma did Also imagine being in a stadium and you see places of your imagination and then you see a kid jumping around using his monster field effects and so on to find the action cards it would be so fun and that would inspire you to do it that was yuyas goal to make everyone happy and enjoy dueling like he did (and maybe steel some spotlight from his father but nvm😄)
Nice list thought I would swap Yusei and Yusaku place he didn't do it for me he was too Bland kinda wish Soulburner was the protagonist and not him but still nice list
@@jamesholden5587 And you can like him! I don't see what you like about him, but don't take my opinion seriously, because my favourite character is Yuma, and that makes me invalid haha what do you think about Yuga though? I kinda like him
Yuma totally has to be the best, his character development is 100% the best, no debate, and he was a joy to watch with his optimistic outlook and kiddish personality.
@@themarshian5124 His character started in season 2 lol u learn about him in s1 and it builts up like im not even tryin to say it my opinion , its pure facts lol.You can have in yiur opinion and i respect it if u prefer Yuma and his character development , dont call out facts though.
Great video! Loved your explanations for your picks. Though you'll probably need to update it after Sevens. My list: 1. Judai (For the reasons you stated in your video and because he was such a fun character) 2. Yuma (Watching his dueling skills increase and his bond with Astral blossom was a treat to watch in Zexal) 3. Yusaku (Watching him overcome his trauma, make peace with himself, and bond with Ai over the course of the series is why I love Yusaku) 4. Yugi/Atem (I grouped them together since they shared a spotlight and it felt like they were integral to each other's development. They were an iconic pair and one you felt like you could get behind) 5. Yusei (He's a great character. I just enjoyed the other protagonists more) 6. Yuya (He's a sweet kid, but his entertainment dueling was kind of forced and he had unrealistic expectations of the world)
My top 1 Yami (atem) (The character of who brought most people to Yu-Gi-Oh! Kool, collected mysterious only downside orichalcos arc) 2 yusai (badass personality and brings out the most of duels but little too much of the bond between him and Bruno) 3 jaden (season 4 jaden tops almost everything in yugioh but didn’t like the start of jaden) 4 Yugi (cause every duel he fought including dsod was amazing too light hearted) 5 yusaku (too op but loved he learns every summing except pendulum) 6 yuya ( loved how develops all summing extra deck methods but h8 action duels ) 7 yuma (took awhile to get into but was good in the end)
It's the series main writer's fault actually since he doesn't have experience to write original stuff he was just the kind that can adapt a manga's story only and an assistant writer like with hunter x hunter 2011
My favorite has always been and always will be Judai. There is just something so tragically beautiful of being reborn as an innocent child before that innocence gets torn down as he has to fight against the Light for billions of years. No one else will ever be able to compete with that.
1. Jaden: He had the best character development out of all of them. he went from happy to depressed and I liked how even when he regained his passion for dueling at the end, he wasn't the same happy person he was at the start of the series. Instead of instantly being happy again, he is transitioning towards happiness. 2. Yuma: Honestly Jaden and Yuma are both 1 and 2. I don't know who I like more. I like how Yuma started off bad at dueling and became better as the series progressed. I also liked how he could see the good in everybody. An example of this is when he tried to save Vector. 3. Yusaku: What I love about Yusaku is how real his character feels. He's a victim of the lost incident. He gets tortured for 6 months without being able to talk to anyone. He is focused on getting revenge on the Knights of Hanoi for what they put him through and he cannot make friends because the Lost Incident made him closed off to people. He shows moments of acknowledging friendship such as the end of season 1 but he reverts back to his normal self because it takes time to heal from the suffering he went through. We see his pain when he has to fight Kusanagi and then later has to fight AI. AI was someone who he did not trust at the start but in the end Yusaku cries after defeating AI and tries to find away to bring back AI no matter what. We see that Yusaku really cares about the people close to him and it's true that Yusaku did not become open with everyone but its realistic that he did not become happy after the constant suffering of losing people. 4. Yugi: There is not much to say about Yugi because he does not really do a lot in the show but I like his personality. He was just a kid who wanted friends and wanted to have fun. I also like moments such as where he stops Yami from killing Kaiba and where he surrenders against Rebecca. His dueling ability in season 5 also shows us that he wasn't simply idle in the other seasons. He was spectating Yami duel and helped out at times to become an even greater duelist. 5. Yami Yugi: Yami Yugi's transition from a duelist that would do anything to win to a respectable duelist was good. Season 4 did a great job at showing that he could lose himself and he learned his lesson when yugi's soul was taken. In season 5 we get to see Yami Yugi's life as a pharoah but they did not show a lot which is why he is so low on the list. Also there is not much to him other than the fact that he was pharoah. We don't get to see much of what he did during his lifetime so he is not as relatable as some of the other protags. 6. Yuya: Yuya was great in the beginning. I liked how he wanted to be an entertainment duelist and make people smile but he took the "smile" thing way too far. If there is a dimensional war and people close to you have died, you shouldn't be happy about it. Also I agree with the over reliance on action cards. It made watching Yuya way less fun. 7. Yusei: This is probably a very controversial pick but he felt the most bland to me. The reason why I think he has the "Mary Sue" title is because he is good at EVERYTHING. He is good at dueling, he can make a motorcycle out of pieces of junk and he is honorable and kind to everyone. This is fine but they never explain how he became like this. It would've been nice if we saw flashbacks of him struggling to build a motorcycle or other scenes of him showing emotions of anxiety or stress living in satellite but we only got a few still shots of his time at satellite plus team satisfaction. Overall when you look at Yusei at the beginning of 5ds and him at the end, it doesnt feel like has changed. He does have his few speeches of friendship where he opens up about his feelings but then he reverts to his old self (basically like Yusaku but in Yusaku's case its justified because he went through a lot of trauma) I do really like Yusei's development during the Kiryu part though.
S1 Yusei was great, S2 Yusei felt OP then necessary. I do like manga Yusei, aside from turning to the dark side and playing a Kuriboh, he reflected on before a time he striven to be the best that people isolated him because of it. Because of a nobody named Sect, Yusei changed his ways.
My biggest problem with Yusei was that throughout the entire show he was never in wrong a single time. He was essentially perfect on all counts. It’s natural for people to make mistakes and be flawed in some way. I understand that some people tend to gravitate towards the cool/stoic characters that are more mature but he was always so far from likable for me personally.
Yugi never was a bad duelist. He always was a good duelist but he just never had the courage to perform under pressure. It's why I do somewhat like the Kaiba corp tournament arc. Because it's Yugi having to be the king of games and dealing with the stress. Also I love the interactions he has with Yami Yugi as now they are completely used to each other. One of my favorite comedic moments is where Atem is in a very awkward social situation and he basically switches to get out of it. I especially love his 4kids line "Oh yeah, well that's real mature pharaoh". I like seeing them interact like that.
Yusei's whole shtick of honorability and kindness is basically born out of guilt, his duel with Rudger reveals that he lives knowing that he's inherently responsible for the deaths of thousands of people, including people close to Jack and Crow. He feels like he constantly has to repay them for their perceived kindness of associating with him. Being able to let his friends go their own ways at the end of the series shows he himself is willing to live too, as his own person beyond atoning for his father.
You obviously dont know what a Mary-sue trully is. Yusei was never overpraised, he had one of the hardest life in all of yu-gi-oh history, show weakness, his hated by a good bunch of people at the start of the series beside the villain, and his power were never pull out of anywhere (Unlike Jaden with his super-poly and Yuma with his shining draw *cough*). Like Yuma he can see the good in everybody, and like Judai he progressed toward happiness. The only difference in term of character grow is that he didn't start out as a annoying happy-go-lucky teenager, and that is not enough to make him a MS.
I still love Yuya a lot simply bc his entire concept was the most interesting, behind Jaden and Yusaku. The fact that he was a twisted duelist and that the hints and questions were all there during the whole anime was really cool, but unfortunately it became an investment towards him as a plot device and his role rather than as a main character. For Yusaku, I will forever be salty towards Soul Burner (even though to some degree, I still love him too) for practically stealing Yusaku's trauma arc. He was the one who had more insight and struggle into the traumas of the kidnappings, so much that his emotional involvement with the main rival Revolver was so much more emphasised. If Soul Burner just never existed, or at least wasn't one of the kidnapped kids, having his entire character arc passed onto Yusaku would have made him PERFECT. It would allow for more vulnerability from Yusaku, even if he was serious most of the time, if he had those PTSD moments, which would allow for us to know more about his experiences and flesh out his background. His emotional conflict with Revolver would just be brilliant since their connection was such a cornerstone of the plot in the first season before fizzling out entirely because of Soul Burner. Since he was first trying to find whoever that boy was, one of his biggest goals in the first season, not realising he was an enemy, so after finding that out, their clashes and eventual resolution would be chef's kiss material. It's SUCH a shame this didn't happen, he would easily be the best protagonists, probably besting out Yusei and Jaden for having both that competence and likeability as a serious character and that interesting, dark backstory and character development respectively.
Here's my ranking of the Protagonists: 1. Judai 2. Yuma 3. Yusei 4. Yami Yugi 5. Little Yugi 6. Yuya 7. Yusaku Best: Judai has always been my favorite, he's relatable, he has imo the best character development out of all the main yugioh MCs and revolutionized the beauty that is Fusion Summoning. Sure it was in Gen 1 but it was in infancy and didn't produce alot of great monsters, plus Judai deck was amazing. Starts off with just his E-Heroes, then Season 2 comes around and gets his Neo Spacians and mixes the two together, plus he gets his main ace monster, Neos. Judai grew from a innocent kid to a mature adult. Season 3 really showed us a side of Judai we didn't really see in the previous two seasons and Season 4 is here his character came full circle. He and Sho(Syrus in dub) got amazing development throughout GX. Worse: Yusaku was never really a favorite of mine sadly. He had the seriousness of Yusei when it came to getting shit done, but that's where the similarity ends. He does gradually open up more but by the time he does the show is basically near over. Combine that with how short VRains was. We didn't get to see him open up alot. Yeah, Ai's death did score him with some emotional points, points he was lacking for the first 119 episodes but by then it was too late to save his character. He's smart and skilled and his Cyberse deck is amazing(if not annoying to face). Personally, Soulburner should've been the MC, I LOVED his personality.
My list here lines up with the video for many of the same reasons. You're 100% right, Yusei is just the man. IMO 5D's had the overall strongest cast in the franchise. Also Aki Izayoi is 100% best girl.
Judai has one thing over all the other protagonists: He never cheated. Every other protagonist at one point or another cheated often by getting plot specific cards in the middle of the duel then use them to win. Judai never did that one single time, all of his wins were legitimate. Yusaku could've been one of the best protagonists but he became a static character after season 1.
Judai had plot armor overly specific cards but he didn't cheat to obtain them, whenever he got a new Neo Spacian he got them before the duel not during.
1. Yugi Moto: His development throughout the story is amazing and he as a character was a nice balance of fun and serious. Also he is a great round character 2. Atem: One of the coolest characters in the series. A great contrast between him and Yugi. The only thing holding him back is that he as a character was developed through Yugi so I can't use it as a plus for him. 3. Yusei Fudo: He is such a great guy. He is the paragon of Yugioh and I have to respect his instincts to always sacrifice for the sake of others. 4. Yusaku Fujiki: His personality and development in the story were one of the highlights of the series 5. Judai Yuki: His development in S3 and S4 were the most interesting parts of his character 6. Yuma Tsukumo: He was cool in the second half but he was just too annoying for me. 7. Yuya Sakaki: Hate him. Couldn't stand his personality or his duels.
Top 2 is debatable, its for sure Judai or Yusei objectively .Now from your commets on Yusaku the Yusei being 1st doesn't make sense considering he lost 2 times 1 being i the part lol.Anyway my list: 1.Judai Yuki 2.Yusei Fudo 3.Yami Yugi 4.Yuma Tsukumo 5.Yusaku Fujiki 6.Yugi Muto 7.Yuya Sakaki
My personal opinion. 1. Jaden - interesting, cheerful ,funny and most developed yugioh protagonist ever. 2. Atem- my personal favorite and most badass protagonist of entire yugioh.Just like Jaden i never got bored of watching him. 3. Yusei- though he was too much boring and overrated that i barely able to finish 5ds but still has many good points and at least have proper emotion and less annoying among last 4 protagonst since gx. 4.Yugi - Though he improved a lot and show developement ,his too much forgiveness was annoying and in front of atem he got overshadowed. Reason he is at no 4 because he only duel 6-7 timesl in entire series(including DSOD) as himself( without Atems help). 5.Yuma- one of the most annoying but still developed protagonist.Same as yugi too much forgiveness and just spamming utopia in every duel annoyed me so much. 6.Yusaku- Just like yusei he is too much boring but atleast yusei was bearable however yusaku rarely show any emotion and only reason i watch him because of his cool deck which is best deck among all protagonist. 7.Yuga -just started but seems fun protagonist. 8.Yuya- worst protagonist of all time 1000 timea annoying than yuma. His egao completely ruin arc v for . He is the only person in entire arc v i never like.
I'm still catching up, but from what I had already seen for me it's like 1. Yusaku - i was never bothered by the lack of information concerning his family, i think the lost incident was more than enough "good backstory" for him, and honestly, he showed vulnerability plenty of times. when he lost his shit at Akira, the entire Kusanagi duel, when he saw Soulburner lose, Revolver being his entire giant blind spot, the entire last season, especially the Ai duel... honestly, vulnerabilty is NOT just losing in card games, and you seem to understand it with Yusei so why are you so harsh on Yusaku about it? Also I just one (1) bitter revenge child. 2. Yuma - if we are talking about characters who can save others from the dark side? really? Yuma is the king of that shit. He yanked Astral back from corruption (dark Zexal wasn't his dark side. it was Astral in full control. it's unfair to blame that corruption on him when he was actively fighting it and trying to get Astral to his senses), he made Eliphas' elitist ass change his mind, he decided to befriend Kaito and the Arclights even when they were out for his (and Astral's) soul, and doing so he managed to redeem them! Even Tron and Faker who did a lot of dirt, he took steps to be better after facing Yuma. How many times did he have to yank Shark back from the darkness? Even Alit and Gilag befriended him, and Mizael also called him the future. And the most obvious one: Vector. Like... could any of the other protags have saved Vector? Because I don't think so. And yet. I'm only baffled Yuma didn't adopt Don Thousand as his weird uncle or something. 3. Yusei - i like Yusei! I love how stoic and guarded he looks but in reality he has a heart of gold. I love this mechanic gremlin former gang member badass, and I won't stop loving him. He is fantastic. But there is just so much more about the other two ahead that I absolutely adore that's why he is last out of the three of them for me. And I still love him a lot! If I were to rank 5ds characters he would be quite high up. I adore him. (still quite early in DM manga to feel comfortable ranking the Yugis (and it's been forever since I watched parts of the anime thats why im reading the manga), too early for Yuga, and didnt watch GX and Arc V yet)
I agree. Yusaku has mainly a hard time showing his emotions and goes back and forth. He doesn't even look what the mesaages of the others say, he just jumps over to them. In reality he cares a lot. Kusanagi feels like family and Ai like closest family, ofc he would have the most development with them. And even tho it wasn't mentioned directly, I feel like the main point was that he wanted somebody to care about him as much as he did about others and that he was never loved before. Does it matter whether he was a orphan or his parents just didn't give a fuck? It would've been interesting to know, but I don't feel like it's that hard to figure out. There are several clues showing that. Everybody other than a few unimportant sidecharacters (Shima, Soltech workers) has family or friends in some form from the beginning. Ai says he knows how Yusaku felt back then during the incident and at this point Ai has nobody other than Yusaku at the end, just like Yusaku only had Ryoken's voice at the end of the incident who told him help is soon coming. The other victims minus spectre had family and friends to think about. Spectre is different but also found friends and a purpose in the knights and Ryoken. So, as the last episodes tells us Ai loved Yusaku. Very obsessively from what we've seen. And this was his wish. Don't get me wrong, it would've been ok to see him surprisingly lose to the Ai copy at the end and see what happens. But can't we all imagine that? And I feel like it would've interfered with the rest of the plot too. He would've been absent and then? He would eventually come back.. Yet again. Ai would have a few thoughts... But uhm... I don't think it would've changed too much. That said, there could've been a few more things like in 5Ds where there is some bullshit plot convenience that makes him technically lose but at the same time not lose Ai or something. I think Vrains lacked this in General. But... I agree. I don't see how it would've fit. I feel like this would be a great idea for a future crossover. All the dimensions overlay and are a big place now. The protags are missing Yuga and try to fight the big bad and lose together... THEN Yusaku is completely lost in his darkness and has worse night terrors, doesn't talk or eat anymore. He has a dream of Ai and Ai tries to comfort him and tells him he's always with him. Yusaku is sad as he felt through Link sense that Ai must still be there but he couldn't find him and Ai tells him they will probably meet again, he has to look closer and will figure it out. Later they meet again and Ai helps him overcoming this. That would be nice. And yeah. Yusaku doesn't know how to communicate but especially Ryoken is a blind spot. He's actually very kind at heart, just very socially awkward.
Concerning vulnerability.. Can we also talk about the duel with Spectre, who relies more on his psychological shenanigans than actual skill and really confused Yusaku for a moment (lol and Lightning... And Blue Angel) because "his sense of justice is both his strength and weakness" and he couldn't see others getting hurt because of him?
I agree! and, I find it rare to see someone who likes the more serious characters like Yusei and Yusaku also like Yuma. Their like, polar opposites (and most of the time, people will bash Yuma and praise the almighty Yusei, Jaden and Yugi haha. I've got no problems with those characters, just so you know).
Great Video Dylan! I wish more people could be more open like you did with the points you brought up about Yuma. I felt the same with how different he was as a protagonist, but he definitely grew on me over time and he's actually on my top three protagonists. Now, I wanted to point out that usually for the top Protagonist/Rival/Best Friend/Female Lead, 5Ds is usually if not all the time chosen for the respective category (Yusei for Protagonist and Aki for Female Lead). However, the Rival and Best Friend characters aren't always as definitively won by 5Ds, so I want to propose that as two possible future videos: Ranking every rival and Ranking every Best Friend character. Those would be awesome to see; really love watching your videos - keep it up!
Vetri99 TSUKUYA That’s the problem when a character is either way too well developed in the start or achieves all their goals very early, they feel like their just there.
@@adamquenano8563 true not to mention how the majority of yusei's dialogue during the grand prix/last arc was just saying so-and-so's name when they were dueling/talking to him not even contributing to the conversation mostly
Yuyas one of my favourite but that’s a lot more because I know and love Performapals magicians so much I’m able to create the combos Yuya needs to win and I get hyped when he makes the same moves but I love it even more when he doesn’t and I learn a new combo I never thought of.I also love his making others smile more then yourself ideology.And his descent into Z-Arc was great and well done.His manga counterpart is so cool and gives me more Judai in BBT/GX season 4 vibes then Yuya in Arc-V.Maybe it could also be that Arc-V and Pendulum was what I grew up on.Maybe it’s cause I saw it 6 times start to end.But Yuyas my favourite.And I run a Performapal/Magican/Dimension Dragons/Utopia???!?.I find Utopia and Utopia ray just close out my extra deck. Judais my second favourite for all the reasons you said.
10. Yuga's creation of Rush Duels is incredibly amazing, and his antics remind me of the other two protagonists, Yuma and Yuya. 9. Yuma is such an optimistic person, and he never lets it define him, no matter what anyone says. 8. Like Yuma, Yuya is also optimistic and funny. His phrase of making people smile with his dueling may seem simplistic to some, but I find it sweet and heartwarming. He went through a war, and while he lost his own smile throughout Season 3, his friends helped attain it back. 7. I first thought Yusaku would never grow out of being aloof and cold, but he did, and his backstory is extremely tragic to me. The writers gave Yusaku some emotion at the end, with (spoilers) Ai's disappearance, but I just felt the moment was bittersweet for the almost ending of Yugioh VRAINS. 6. Yusei is stoic and calm, and while I adored that, I'm glad he finally realized that it's okay to let your feelings go sometimes. And his relationship with Aki gave me the giggles. I have a good feeling that their ship is gonna go far someday. 5. He's not a protagonist, but I really admire how far Joey has come in Duel Monsters. He's the kind of friend you can always depend on to have your back in any situation, no matter what. Joey may not be the smartest duelist, but he also has a heart of gold, in my eyes, and everyone else's. 4. He's not a protagonist either, but Tristan had some crazy character development in the anime. While he still may be a bit goofy, he's also level-headed in times that it's needed. And he's always ready to fight by one's side, pretty much sticking with them till the very end of times. 3. Jaden is kind and laid-back, a person you can always count on, like Joey. This guy went through a lot and never lost a single nerve, touching my heartstrings so much. While Jaden also isn't the smartest sometimes and only thinks about dueling, the one thing he never seems to give up on is his friends. 2. Yami Yugi is extremely badass when he fights alongside Yugi. There was some character development in Season 1 where, unlike Yami Bakura, who only thought of the gang as foolish mortals, Yami thought of them as his friends. And yes, in Season 5, he felt guilt over Yugi's soul being taken, but another duel with Oricalcos Yugi helped him get some closure on that. And when Yugi was brought back, it made it even better to see them reunited again. 1. Last but not least, little Yugi Moto. Some think he's cheating and always relying on Yami for the dueling, but you guys have to remember, Yugi literally got bullied by the people he called his friends, (well, I'm not really sure about Tea though) and until the Pharaoh came around, he had no friends at all. That is why I love the Yami/Yugi duo. Despite the messes they get into and the pieces they pick up, they still find a way to win, no matter what situation happens. And yes, I love the Duel Monsters gang. Even after they've had disagreements, they never stop being friends and fighting by each other's side. This is my list of the Yugioh protagonists that I love. Thank you all for coming to my Ted Talk.💛💜
(Note, the yusei gary/mary stu statement is meant to fit yusei's character POST dark signer arc) #1=Atem(manga) #2=Jaden #3=Yugi(manga) #4=Yusei #5=Yuma #6=Yusaku #7=Yuga(cus i thought yuya didn't even deserve a placing among the yugioh protags LMFAO)
@ULGROTHA i haven't read the gx/5ds mangas yet so i based my list off of the anime versions of gx/5ds and i love atem/yugi in the manga a whole lot better than their anime versions
You have to do a update video when Sevens ends with Yuga, anyways here are my rankings: 1.Yuma(to me he fell like the most developed protagonist starting really weak but in the end being an amazing duelist) 2.Yusei(Yeah he is kinda invincible, but he is just cool as a character, he never felt boring to me unline Yusaku in some cases) 3.Yugi/Yami(The OG he is good but not the best) 4.Judai(I like that he is the most chill protagonist, and his development in general was good but I just like the ones above more) 5.Yusaku(He was too bland for me at most moments, but his moments with Ai, Kusanagi and Soulburner were good) 6.Yuya(Too much EGAO stuff, othrwise he is fine I guess, but nothing really stands out about him imo.
Yuya, from a character perspective, is my favorite ygo protagonist. Thing is, while I do like all 6, stoic characters don't really do it for me. I think that lowest one my list is yusaku (gonna wait for backlash there), yes he was traumatized, and I'm not making light of his issues, he just doesn't click with me. Yuya, on the other hand, is trying his best to make everyone happy, completely foregoing his own sometimes, and he grows as the show goes on and slowly (read: slowly) grows up and learns from the past. And while he was in an inter-dimensional war, after the yuri duel, when reiji/Declan told yuya to not to worry about entertainment and focus on victory was the catalyst for z-arc's revival. Z-arc even said that is what helped him take yuya over
