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Where I review season 1 of Yugioh GX as a whole.
Well, I'm going to start off with the technical qualities of the anime, ease myself into this endeavor if you will. Because on the whole, the technical qualities of the anime, the character design, the music, the animation, the settings, the voice acting, it's all solidly mediocre. There's the occasional flash of quality, in the music tracks and the animation of the early episodes, but those are balanced by absolutely shoddy music tracks, especially one that drives me up the wall, and painfully cheap animation elsewhere, so that's a wash. But in a way, it's a good thing that the mediocrity of the technical qualities are so steady, so reliable; imagine if you would that every other episode alternated between crisp, smooth, flowing animation and music, and the scribblings and screeching of toddlers. So, the show manages to dodge that bullet, but unfortunately it leaps into a dozen others in the process. Bullets shot by two merciless criminals named Plot and Characterization.
Plot...can this season really be said to HAVE a plot? I mean, in the first half of the season, there are hints of an undercurrent of a plot, mostly to do with the Abandoned Dorm, but by and large this is dropped and ignored whenever the writers want to spend another episode on "Judai duels a random dude, kicks ass, imparts important life lesson while learning nothing himself", which is all the fucking time. Actual plots don't go away like that. And then we have the second half of the season, after Judai's kicked Manjoume's ass for the third time in a row, when the Seven Star Arc begins...good lord, there are so many plot-holes, if this plot were a blanket you'd be calling the exterminator to deal with the rat infestation you've got. First and foremost, we never find out the fate of the Missing Students from the Abandoned Dorm; it's like, once Fubuki is finally found, no one gives a shit about the rest of the missing students. There's the Items of Darkness; where the fuck did those things come from? Were they from the Ancient Egypt Pastiche place that was never explained? Were the Missing Students boiled into Gold ala the original Millennium Items? Did they come from some other place or source? Fuck if we know, the writers never tell us! And what about those damn Mythic Demons? Where did they come from? Okay, Daitokuji found that one ruin that had those stone tablets depicting the Mythic Demons, the ones that nobody ever commented on, at all...where the fuck were those ruins? Was it some sort of offshoot of Ancient Egypt? Was it connected to the Ancient Egypt Pastiche in any way? No idea, the fucking things were just marketing wanting to put together playable versions of the Egyptian God Cards, that much is obvious. And this is just the tip of the iceberg, there are just so many plot holes, it boggles the mind. The pacing is a mess, the plot is a mess, enough said.
But now for the meat of this post, the characters. I'm not going to bother with the "filler of the week" duelists, except to say that the Dueling Monky, Motegi, and Anacis are just...mind-boggling just by virtue of their existence, and the fact that the writers had to use characters like them to pad out the show, is really just sad. Also, the cameos from the original series were just wasted, you can hear it in the Seiyu's voices, they were just picking up a check, they didn't care, so why should I?
So, Judai. Good fucking god, do I hate Judai. I mean, before starting on this rewatch, I just thought he was bland and annoying, but having to intently keep track of every little detail...it really highlighted for me what a terrible character Judai really is. I mean, he's lazy, he's arrogant, he's full of himself, he's conceited, he's utterly incurious about the world around him, he acts completely entitled, especially in episode 52...and you know, it wouldn't even be nearly so bad if the writers were to acknowledge this, if the writers had meant for Judai to come off as this lazy, conceited twerp who's gotten by entirely by his luck and talent, and he knows this. Instead, the writers portray him as the best thing to happen to the world since Card Games were invented. He's popular, he always wins, everyone thinks he's just amazing, he gets to do pretty much everything on the show, all the bad guys think that he's the most powerful ever...and no fucking character development at all. Fifty-two episodes, and he's exactly the same person that he was to begin with, and we know this because the whole point of episode 52 was that Judai shouldn't try to change himself, shouldn't try to apply himself, he should stay the same idiotic care-free jackass he always was. Just...goddamn, how do you write a character like this?
Shou Marufuji. He's...he largely tries to coast by on his archetype, that of the put-upon little brother who lives in his brother's shadow. Unfortunately, not only does he fail to really develop as a character, it seems that spending so much time with Judai results in him getting an entitlement complex that makes him think he's better than he really is. There's not much to say about him, despite the screentime he gets he hardly does anything. So, yeah.
Jun Manjoume. I can understand the temptation to want to cut the Rival down to size, but the problem with that is that Manjoume is a much better character than Judai. His duels are much more interesting, his conflict with his brothers makes his character far more meaningful, so all the humiliation that the writers put him through, saddling him with the Ojama Trio and having him go through those insipid 'Detective Manjoume Thunder' sequences, it just comes across as petty revenge on the part of the writers for being a better character than Judai.
Daichi Misawa, good god, what star was Daichi Misawa created under to deserve the treatment he got on this show. I mean, he's smart and confident, but it doesn't come across as conceited, because we see, we SEE, that Misawa works damn hard, he puts together multiple decks and he researches his opponents thoroughly so that he can put together the right strategy with which to face them. And yet, this guy, this guy who has six different decks and puts together a seventh just to use against Judai, is subjected to some of the most heinous abuse that a fictional character has ever received, and that trend, unfortunately, will only get worse with the progression of time. All of this, because he would have made a much, much better main character than Judai.
Asuka Tenjouin, what I wouldn't give for HER to have been the main character! She's cool, she's collected, she is driven. She has a purpose, a goal she actively pursues throughout out the season, and if the writers were to have had some respect for the plot...she is intellectual, though not quite to the extent that Misawa takes it, but it is still something that is emphasized with her. Unfortunately, she is largely wasted; twice she gets thrown into the position of Damsel-in-Distress for no real reason, and more often then not she's just standing there in that ridiculously tiny miniskirt and tight sleeveless shirt of hers. Her purpose is first and foremost fanservice, and you're never allowed to forget it. Plus, of the four duels she gets this season, half of those are against love-sick idiots, so that's a big injustice right there too.
Hayato Maeda is a waste of space. He does nothing, the two episodes he gets are wastes of time, enough said.
Kaiser Ryou, he is just so...bland and boring. Really, he's lucky that he has Asuka and Fubuki around, because by himself, he just has no real personality beyond being the "perfect duelist". Also, he is a lousy big brother, but he did redeem himself a little on that count when he sacrificed himself to make sure that Shou wasn't killed, but he's still responsible for Shou being the way he was in the first place, so he still loses points there.
Fubuki is awesome. Yeah, he's an idiot, but he's a goofy, charming idiot, and it's not at all bizarre to see people want to hang around him and think he's cool, because when he's being especially stupid, people call him on this. Plus, he's very different from the usual big brother you get in anime like this; hell, look at how he interacts with Asuka! He's proud that his sister is beautiful and awesome young woman, and he WANTS her to get together with someone, anyone! Not the least bit over-protective, no-sir-ee bob. It's just such a shame that he gets so little screentime.
Professor Chronos...good god how does this man have a job after the first six episodes? I mean, seriously, that man should have been fired for taking his fixation on expelling Judai to such an unhealthy extent, not the least because he got Asuka involved in his schemes twice, and that's two times too many. Really, it's telling that the writers have to be so over-the-top about Chronos' hatred of Judai, so that he can come off as the bad guy, instead of Judai, who is so lazy and inattentive to his school work that no real Japanese High School would ever have him. And yeah, they give him a few moments where he's a decent person, but it's just not enough.
Principal Samejima is a moron. Right off the bat he inexplicably bends over backwards to let Judai into Duel Academia, despite the fact that there's no reason for how he could even know about what was going on there. And then there's his approach to the whole Missing Student situation, which was too close off the dorm and pretend nothing happened. His conduct during the Seven Stars arc isn't any better, the man is just too damn irresponsible and thoughtless, so his whining about putting too much of a burden on the students just comes off hollow.
Now for the villains, the Seven Stars and Kagemaru.
"Darkness"...he's just a generic villain. Just, there's nothing about him conceptually that's the least bit interesting, and the execution isn't any better. Plus, the writers completely missed the point of having "Darkness" possessing Fubuki; instead of waiting until after Judai defeated "Darkness" (And it really should have been Asuka dueling "Darkness", though you could have them dueling "Darkness" together if you have to have Judai duel) to "reveal" that "Darkness" was possessing Fubuki, they should have just presented that upfront right away. THAT, would not only have been much more dramatic, but it could also have opened up the possibility of fleshing out "Darkness" into something more than just a generic, card-carrying villain, no pun intended. And seriously, "Darkness"? Who the fuck thought that was a good name for a villain? Probably the same guy who came up with Kagemaru.
Camula the Vampire...why a vampire? Why? Revealing that there are, or were, vampires in the Yugioh world, just raises all kinds of questions that are never answered. Just...where did the vampires come from? How was their existence covered up? Does this mean that there are werewolves and other random monsters out there? All this does is to reduce the coherence of the setting considerably, and to no appreciable gain against just having Camula be a regular human with a vampire fixation. And of course, after taking down Chronos and Camula, she's defeated by Judai. So that's the second of the Seven Stars that Judai gets to beat. At least she managed to be threatening and have a motive, even if that motive made no fucking sense.
Tanya the Amazon...the fucking hell was...if she's really a tiger and her human form is the product of an Item of Darkness, than why is she trying to get a HUMAN groom? Is the Amazon tribe she's from real, or are they all tigers, or...what? Writers, this is shit that you need to explain! Plus, she keeps doing that stupid thing where she randomly switches to an exaggerated childish mode of speech, it's just really fucking annoying, especially considering how the rest of her time she has a decent personality. And of course, her real purpose is to humiliate and emasculate Misawa, and then be defeated by Judai.
Don Zaloog and the Black Scorpion Graverobbers...they're not so much characters as they are punchlines to a terrible joke, and that joke is on the viewing audience. Seriously, if all these guys are supposed to have been spending years preparing for the heist, than why the fuck are they so incompetent? Why the fuck were they even chosen by Kagemaru? Nothing about them makes even the least little bit of sense, they're just there to advertise their cards, and it blows that these are the guys that Manjoume gets to fight. Honestly, they don't even qualify as villains.
Abidos the Third...his entire existence is just a giant middle finger to the original series. I mean, not all Pharaohs are the same, some were better than others, but the notion that Priest Seto's court was at some point succeeded by this loser, this...fucking excuse of a vehicle for an obnoxious aesop...it just fucking drives me up the wall. And again, who goes through the trouble of raising someone from the dead, like it's not even something the least bit difficult, when they are easily worse than your average FILLER OF THE WEEK DUELIST? And of course, he's just a vehicle for Judai to advertise some new cards of his. Not even the over-the-top subtext saves him from being a giant pile of fail.
Titan. He was originally introduced as yet another Duelist of the Week who was a bit more challenging than the others, took a whole two-parter to beat him, and while he did start off as a charlatan, he somehow ended up tapping into the Dark Powers that the Abandoned Dorm was connected to, and then he gets brought out by Kagemaru to be the next member of the Seven Stars. As a member of the Seven Stars, he actually manages to be an entirely effective villain; he's a regular, ordinary human tapping into Dark Powers, his duel against Asuka manages to be tense, as there's something real at stake, and his return to the World of Darkness is given the appropriate mood this time around. As such, I regard Titan as the only decent villain this season has. And that is just so fucking sad, isn't it?
Amnael, AKA Professor Daitokuji. The writing for him is just confused. The writers want him to be a double-agent, someone who's working for the bad-guy but is really a good guy trying to sabotage the bad guy, but there's just one fucking problem with that; they never explain why the fuck he had Fubuki sent to the World of Darkness, nor for that matter what he did with all the other Missing Students. Without an accounting for that detail, it is impossible to buy the notion that he was really just trying to prepare Judai for battle against Kagemaru. Plus, it's not even clear why he has to be so circuitous and deceptive about it all; I mean, what would Kagemaru do if Daitokuji exposed his scheme, show up in his giant robot thing and start challenging random people to duels? Yeah, that'd go over well. Plus, that obnoxious bit where he's all "LOL Science sucks, alchemy rules!" drops him down to about negative infinity. seriously, there were so many questions he could have answered, and instead all he did was show off his alchemy trivia and needlessly reinforce that Judai is the biggest stu that ever did stu. Also, it was total bullshit that Daitokuji was able to beat Asuka and Manjoume so easily, we saw his deck, it was decent enough, but not so OHMYGOD powerful as to be able to crush two well established duelists like mooks. Honestly...
And now, last and certainly least, Chairman Kagemaru. First of all, what the fuck is he Chariman of? Can't be Kaiba Corp, can't be Industrial Illusions, can't be Duel Academia itself, why would anyone bring in such a feebly old man who can barely breathe to do anything...not to mention that his evil scheme makes no sense, at all. And yet, despite the fact that he manages to put the whole world in serious danger, we're just supposed to automatically forgive him, just because he wanted to be young again? Bull Fucking Shit, like I give a damn that some old geezer wants to be young again. Dude, everyone gets old, that's called life! Seto Kaiba, Pegasus, Malik, Thief King Bakura, they had proper motivations for their villainy, but Kagemaru? Boo, fucking, whoo, grow up you old geezer. Honestly, that this guy is the big bad for this season, is the biggest joke of all.
So yeah, that was Season 1 of Yugioh GX overall. In a nutshell, there was a decent enough premise buried underneath the bullshit, but between the lack of effort and just throwing in shit without regard to whether it makes any sense or is even consistent within the same episode, it just didn't stand a chance.
And as a little bonus, lets finish the breakdown of the duel distribution that I started at Episode 26. As you might recall, Judai got 18 out of 22 duels, with Manjoume and Misawa sharing one duel against each other, Manjoume getting two more duels in a single episode, and Hayato getting one duel. So how does the second half of Season 1 compare to the first? Well, there were 20 complete duels shown in the second half, I'm not counting Amnael's "Duels" against Asuka and Manjoume, since we didn't get to see those from beginning to end. Of the 20 duels, Judai got to be in 11, and while that isn't as stark as the first half, consider that Judai only loses once and ties once, still giving him 9 wins, and most of those against opponents that first beat someone else before going against him. Chrnos gets two duels, one against Hayato, and he wins the one against Hayato, Kaiser Ryou gets one aside from the one against Judai, and he's forced to throw that one due to outside circumstances, Manjoume gets three duels and wins two of them, losing the one against Asuka, Misawa gets one duel and is horribly cheated out of the victory that was rightfully his, And Asuka gets two other duels aside from the one against Manjoume, which I counted earlier. In short, Manjoume and Asuka share the second most duels in this half of the season, and that's only five duels altogether! That is just fucking ridiculous.
And now I'm going to take a break before moving on to Season 2, if only so that my brain might be able to recover from this ordeal.
Plot...can this season really be said to HAVE a plot? I mean, in the first half of the season, there are hints of an undercurrent of a plot, mostly to do with the Abandoned Dorm, but by and large this is dropped and ignored whenever the writers want to spend another episode on "Judai duels a random dude, kicks ass, imparts important life lesson while learning nothing himself", which is all the fucking time. Actual plots don't go away like that. And then we have the second half of the season, after Judai's kicked Manjoume's ass for the third time in a row, when the Seven Star Arc begins...good lord, there are so many plot-holes, if this plot were a blanket you'd be calling the exterminator to deal with the rat infestation you've got. First and foremost, we never find out the fate of the Missing Students from the Abandoned Dorm; it's like, once Fubuki is finally found, no one gives a shit about the rest of the missing students. There's the Items of Darkness; where the fuck did those things come from? Were they from the Ancient Egypt Pastiche place that was never explained? Were the Missing Students boiled into Gold ala the original Millennium Items? Did they come from some other place or source? Fuck if we know, the writers never tell us! And what about those damn Mythic Demons? Where did they come from? Okay, Daitokuji found that one ruin that had those stone tablets depicting the Mythic Demons, the ones that nobody ever commented on, at all...where the fuck were those ruins? Was it some sort of offshoot of Ancient Egypt? Was it connected to the Ancient Egypt Pastiche in any way? No idea, the fucking things were just marketing wanting to put together playable versions of the Egyptian God Cards, that much is obvious. And this is just the tip of the iceberg, there are just so many plot holes, it boggles the mind. The pacing is a mess, the plot is a mess, enough said.
But now for the meat of this post, the characters. I'm not going to bother with the "filler of the week" duelists, except to say that the Dueling Monky, Motegi, and Anacis are just...mind-boggling just by virtue of their existence, and the fact that the writers had to use characters like them to pad out the show, is really just sad. Also, the cameos from the original series were just wasted, you can hear it in the Seiyu's voices, they were just picking up a check, they didn't care, so why should I?
So, Judai. Good fucking god, do I hate Judai. I mean, before starting on this rewatch, I just thought he was bland and annoying, but having to intently keep track of every little detail...it really highlighted for me what a terrible character Judai really is. I mean, he's lazy, he's arrogant, he's full of himself, he's conceited, he's utterly incurious about the world around him, he acts completely entitled, especially in episode 52...and you know, it wouldn't even be nearly so bad if the writers were to acknowledge this, if the writers had meant for Judai to come off as this lazy, conceited twerp who's gotten by entirely by his luck and talent, and he knows this. Instead, the writers portray him as the best thing to happen to the world since Card Games were invented. He's popular, he always wins, everyone thinks he's just amazing, he gets to do pretty much everything on the show, all the bad guys think that he's the most powerful ever...and no fucking character development at all. Fifty-two episodes, and he's exactly the same person that he was to begin with, and we know this because the whole point of episode 52 was that Judai shouldn't try to change himself, shouldn't try to apply himself, he should stay the same idiotic care-free jackass he always was. Just...goddamn, how do you write a character like this?
Shou Marufuji. He's...he largely tries to coast by on his archetype, that of the put-upon little brother who lives in his brother's shadow. Unfortunately, not only does he fail to really develop as a character, it seems that spending so much time with Judai results in him getting an entitlement complex that makes him think he's better than he really is. There's not much to say about him, despite the screentime he gets he hardly does anything. So, yeah.
Jun Manjoume. I can understand the temptation to want to cut the Rival down to size, but the problem with that is that Manjoume is a much better character than Judai. His duels are much more interesting, his conflict with his brothers makes his character far more meaningful, so all the humiliation that the writers put him through, saddling him with the Ojama Trio and having him go through those insipid 'Detective Manjoume Thunder' sequences, it just comes across as petty revenge on the part of the writers for being a better character than Judai.
Daichi Misawa, good god, what star was Daichi Misawa created under to deserve the treatment he got on this show. I mean, he's smart and confident, but it doesn't come across as conceited, because we see, we SEE, that Misawa works damn hard, he puts together multiple decks and he researches his opponents thoroughly so that he can put together the right strategy with which to face them. And yet, this guy, this guy who has six different decks and puts together a seventh just to use against Judai, is subjected to some of the most heinous abuse that a fictional character has ever received, and that trend, unfortunately, will only get worse with the progression of time. All of this, because he would have made a much, much better main character than Judai.
Asuka Tenjouin, what I wouldn't give for HER to have been the main character! She's cool, she's collected, she is driven. She has a purpose, a goal she actively pursues throughout out the season, and if the writers were to have had some respect for the plot...she is intellectual, though not quite to the extent that Misawa takes it, but it is still something that is emphasized with her. Unfortunately, she is largely wasted; twice she gets thrown into the position of Damsel-in-Distress for no real reason, and more often then not she's just standing there in that ridiculously tiny miniskirt and tight sleeveless shirt of hers. Her purpose is first and foremost fanservice, and you're never allowed to forget it. Plus, of the four duels she gets this season, half of those are against love-sick idiots, so that's a big injustice right there too.
Hayato Maeda is a waste of space. He does nothing, the two episodes he gets are wastes of time, enough said.
Kaiser Ryou, he is just so...bland and boring. Really, he's lucky that he has Asuka and Fubuki around, because by himself, he just has no real personality beyond being the "perfect duelist". Also, he is a lousy big brother, but he did redeem himself a little on that count when he sacrificed himself to make sure that Shou wasn't killed, but he's still responsible for Shou being the way he was in the first place, so he still loses points there.
Fubuki is awesome. Yeah, he's an idiot, but he's a goofy, charming idiot, and it's not at all bizarre to see people want to hang around him and think he's cool, because when he's being especially stupid, people call him on this. Plus, he's very different from the usual big brother you get in anime like this; hell, look at how he interacts with Asuka! He's proud that his sister is beautiful and awesome young woman, and he WANTS her to get together with someone, anyone! Not the least bit over-protective, no-sir-ee bob. It's just such a shame that he gets so little screentime.
Professor Chronos...good god how does this man have a job after the first six episodes? I mean, seriously, that man should have been fired for taking his fixation on expelling Judai to such an unhealthy extent, not the least because he got Asuka involved in his schemes twice, and that's two times too many. Really, it's telling that the writers have to be so over-the-top about Chronos' hatred of Judai, so that he can come off as the bad guy, instead of Judai, who is so lazy and inattentive to his school work that no real Japanese High School would ever have him. And yeah, they give him a few moments where he's a decent person, but it's just not enough.
Principal Samejima is a moron. Right off the bat he inexplicably bends over backwards to let Judai into Duel Academia, despite the fact that there's no reason for how he could even know about what was going on there. And then there's his approach to the whole Missing Student situation, which was too close off the dorm and pretend nothing happened. His conduct during the Seven Stars arc isn't any better, the man is just too damn irresponsible and thoughtless, so his whining about putting too much of a burden on the students just comes off hollow.
Now for the villains, the Seven Stars and Kagemaru.
"Darkness"...he's just a generic villain. Just, there's nothing about him conceptually that's the least bit interesting, and the execution isn't any better. Plus, the writers completely missed the point of having "Darkness" possessing Fubuki; instead of waiting until after Judai defeated "Darkness" (And it really should have been Asuka dueling "Darkness", though you could have them dueling "Darkness" together if you have to have Judai duel) to "reveal" that "Darkness" was possessing Fubuki, they should have just presented that upfront right away. THAT, would not only have been much more dramatic, but it could also have opened up the possibility of fleshing out "Darkness" into something more than just a generic, card-carrying villain, no pun intended. And seriously, "Darkness"? Who the fuck thought that was a good name for a villain? Probably the same guy who came up with Kagemaru.
Camula the Vampire...why a vampire? Why? Revealing that there are, or were, vampires in the Yugioh world, just raises all kinds of questions that are never answered. Just...where did the vampires come from? How was their existence covered up? Does this mean that there are werewolves and other random monsters out there? All this does is to reduce the coherence of the setting considerably, and to no appreciable gain against just having Camula be a regular human with a vampire fixation. And of course, after taking down Chronos and Camula, she's defeated by Judai. So that's the second of the Seven Stars that Judai gets to beat. At least she managed to be threatening and have a motive, even if that motive made no fucking sense.
Tanya the Amazon...the fucking hell was...if she's really a tiger and her human form is the product of an Item of Darkness, than why is she trying to get a HUMAN groom? Is the Amazon tribe she's from real, or are they all tigers, or...what? Writers, this is shit that you need to explain! Plus, she keeps doing that stupid thing where she randomly switches to an exaggerated childish mode of speech, it's just really fucking annoying, especially considering how the rest of her time she has a decent personality. And of course, her real purpose is to humiliate and emasculate Misawa, and then be defeated by Judai.
Don Zaloog and the Black Scorpion Graverobbers...they're not so much characters as they are punchlines to a terrible joke, and that joke is on the viewing audience. Seriously, if all these guys are supposed to have been spending years preparing for the heist, than why the fuck are they so incompetent? Why the fuck were they even chosen by Kagemaru? Nothing about them makes even the least little bit of sense, they're just there to advertise their cards, and it blows that these are the guys that Manjoume gets to fight. Honestly, they don't even qualify as villains.
Abidos the Third...his entire existence is just a giant middle finger to the original series. I mean, not all Pharaohs are the same, some were better than others, but the notion that Priest Seto's court was at some point succeeded by this loser, this...fucking excuse of a vehicle for an obnoxious aesop...it just fucking drives me up the wall. And again, who goes through the trouble of raising someone from the dead, like it's not even something the least bit difficult, when they are easily worse than your average FILLER OF THE WEEK DUELIST? And of course, he's just a vehicle for Judai to advertise some new cards of his. Not even the over-the-top subtext saves him from being a giant pile of fail.
Titan. He was originally introduced as yet another Duelist of the Week who was a bit more challenging than the others, took a whole two-parter to beat him, and while he did start off as a charlatan, he somehow ended up tapping into the Dark Powers that the Abandoned Dorm was connected to, and then he gets brought out by Kagemaru to be the next member of the Seven Stars. As a member of the Seven Stars, he actually manages to be an entirely effective villain; he's a regular, ordinary human tapping into Dark Powers, his duel against Asuka manages to be tense, as there's something real at stake, and his return to the World of Darkness is given the appropriate mood this time around. As such, I regard Titan as the only decent villain this season has. And that is just so fucking sad, isn't it?
Amnael, AKA Professor Daitokuji. The writing for him is just confused. The writers want him to be a double-agent, someone who's working for the bad-guy but is really a good guy trying to sabotage the bad guy, but there's just one fucking problem with that; they never explain why the fuck he had Fubuki sent to the World of Darkness, nor for that matter what he did with all the other Missing Students. Without an accounting for that detail, it is impossible to buy the notion that he was really just trying to prepare Judai for battle against Kagemaru. Plus, it's not even clear why he has to be so circuitous and deceptive about it all; I mean, what would Kagemaru do if Daitokuji exposed his scheme, show up in his giant robot thing and start challenging random people to duels? Yeah, that'd go over well. Plus, that obnoxious bit where he's all "LOL Science sucks, alchemy rules!" drops him down to about negative infinity. seriously, there were so many questions he could have answered, and instead all he did was show off his alchemy trivia and needlessly reinforce that Judai is the biggest stu that ever did stu. Also, it was total bullshit that Daitokuji was able to beat Asuka and Manjoume so easily, we saw his deck, it was decent enough, but not so OHMYGOD powerful as to be able to crush two well established duelists like mooks. Honestly...
And now, last and certainly least, Chairman Kagemaru. First of all, what the fuck is he Chariman of? Can't be Kaiba Corp, can't be Industrial Illusions, can't be Duel Academia itself, why would anyone bring in such a feebly old man who can barely breathe to do anything...not to mention that his evil scheme makes no sense, at all. And yet, despite the fact that he manages to put the whole world in serious danger, we're just supposed to automatically forgive him, just because he wanted to be young again? Bull Fucking Shit, like I give a damn that some old geezer wants to be young again. Dude, everyone gets old, that's called life! Seto Kaiba, Pegasus, Malik, Thief King Bakura, they had proper motivations for their villainy, but Kagemaru? Boo, fucking, whoo, grow up you old geezer. Honestly, that this guy is the big bad for this season, is the biggest joke of all.
So yeah, that was Season 1 of Yugioh GX overall. In a nutshell, there was a decent enough premise buried underneath the bullshit, but between the lack of effort and just throwing in shit without regard to whether it makes any sense or is even consistent within the same episode, it just didn't stand a chance.
And as a little bonus, lets finish the breakdown of the duel distribution that I started at Episode 26. As you might recall, Judai got 18 out of 22 duels, with Manjoume and Misawa sharing one duel against each other, Manjoume getting two more duels in a single episode, and Hayato getting one duel. So how does the second half of Season 1 compare to the first? Well, there were 20 complete duels shown in the second half, I'm not counting Amnael's "Duels" against Asuka and Manjoume, since we didn't get to see those from beginning to end. Of the 20 duels, Judai got to be in 11, and while that isn't as stark as the first half, consider that Judai only loses once and ties once, still giving him 9 wins, and most of those against opponents that first beat someone else before going against him. Chrnos gets two duels, one against Hayato, and he wins the one against Hayato, Kaiser Ryou gets one aside from the one against Judai, and he's forced to throw that one due to outside circumstances, Manjoume gets three duels and wins two of them, losing the one against Asuka, Misawa gets one duel and is horribly cheated out of the victory that was rightfully his, And Asuka gets two other duels aside from the one against Manjoume, which I counted earlier. In short, Manjoume and Asuka share the second most duels in this half of the season, and that's only five duels altogether! That is just fucking ridiculous.
And now I'm going to take a break before moving on to Season 2, if only so that my brain might be able to recover from this ordeal.