![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cypsiman2Another season, another year, another 52 episodes of pure and utter tripe. There were a few brief glimmers of quality here and there, but honestly, on the whole this season is even worse than season one. The techinical qualities of this season are notably worse; in season one there were some good animation in the early episodes, but here the animation is mediocre all the way through. Also, no new music tracks. At all. That is just epic laziness. Granted, I wouldn't have wanted is going on in 5D's right now, where practically the whole budget is being blown on Masaki Endoh songs, and while he's pretty good, its not nearly enough to compensate for the sheer lack of narrative quality there...but in any event, there is a happy middle ground, where new tracks are composed on a regular basis. Hell, even DOMA, the filler arc from hell, managed to generate some good tracks. And in any event, the plot and characterization have degenerated even further, which I would not have thought possible.
The only good part of the plot is that it actually begins in the first episode and continues all throughout. Unfortunately, the plot is so incredibly thin that the writers keep having to shove in filler to pad the season out to a full 52 episodes. Here, I'm going to list off every episode that is relevant to the plot in any fashion, meaning anything that has to do with The Light of Ruin, The Association of Light, Saiou, Edo, and Judai; 53, 58, 59, 61, 62, 67, 68, 70, 78, 79, 82, 84, 87, 88, 93, 94, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, and 104. That is a total of 25 episodes relevant to the plot, which is probably on par with season one, but its worse here, since rather then getting all the filler out of the way first, they just spread it all throughout, which wrecks the pacing something fierce. Hell Kaiser Ryou is his own separate plot which never actually connects to the main plot, so technically speaking episodes 57, 65, 83, 89, and 95 are all filler. Also, all those "Plot Relevant Episodes"? You could probably cut them in half. Let's see...Edo shows up, Edo comes back to defeat Judai, Saiou has Manjoume brianwashed, Judai gets his Neos Deck, he returns and beats Edo, Manjoume takes over Obelisk Blue and brainwashes Asuka, Judai and Edo learn from Mizuchi what happened to Saiou in the past, Misawa challenges Saiou and is manipulated into throwing the match, Saiou defeats Prince Prince and acquires the alleged means to destroy the world, Judai duels Manjoume and gets him out of the association, Judai duels Asuka and gets her out of the association, Misawa gets himself out of the association, Edo confronts his father's killer, Judai defeats Prince Prince to release him from Saiou's control, and Edo and Judai face off against Saiou; you may have noticed the complete absence of Tyranno Kenzan in that summary, owing to the fact that he was completely useless and utterly irrelevant; also, The Genex tournament was also completely irrelevant, having nothing to do with anything. Going over that, we've got 16 significant events, so we know that we've got a significant chunk of padding even in our plot relevant episodes.
And that's before we even get into discussing the merits of the plot itself! First and foremost, The Association of Light...what was even the point of it? From the perspective of both the Good Saiou and the Evil Saiou, The Association of Light was completely irrelevant to their goals; the Good Saiou wants someone who can stop his evil side from destroying the world, and the Evil Saiou wants to destroy the world. The Association of Light advances neither of these goals; Good Saiou knows that the one who can stop him is either Judai or Edo, so the mass brainwashing is by and large pointless, since he could just as easily generate challenges to test Judai's power to defy his fate without the mass brainwashing. And for Evil Saiou, the only one he needed was Prince Prince, everyone else was completely irrelevant, and Prince Prince only came because he'd somehow heard that Saiou had some sort of connection to the Bloo-D card. This means that the central conflict of the plot, the Association of Light, is completely irrelevant; if Saiou really were so damn Dangerously Genre Savvy, he would have never shown up at all, just gone over to Misgarth to duel Prince Prince, taking the keys, and using them while Judai and company are oblivious and unable to stop him. The Association of Light and all its shenanigans is just one giant display of Genre Blindness on Saiou's part, only existing so that Saiou can announce that he is this season's villain. Which means that in all honesty, there are all of 10 plot relevant events, which on average is one plot relevant event per 5.2 episodes. That is not good, at all. The plot is thus a wretched failure, but how does the characterization fare? Even worse, if such a thing is possible.
Judai Yuki, Golden Child, savior of the entire universe...how I loathe thee. Not only does Judai not develop at all as a character, he actually manages to regress. In Season One, whenever any of his friends are in danger or in need of help, he is quick to respond. But this season, he loses three of his closest friends to a brainwashing cult, and does not do anything about this until they come after him. And in the case of Misawa, he doesn't even spare him a second thought after episode 82, where he looks so horrified at the results callous assholery. Also, Judai spends a lot more time talking to his deck, and his deck has started talking back. This bodes poorly.
Edo Phoenix, the "Anti-Hero" to Judai's "Hero". I put that in quotes, because really, there's no real difference between him and Judai, and neither are heroic, not even in the Ancient Greek sense of one who does great things without regard to the moral value of those actions. Sure, he's "smarter" than Judai, and he doesn't keep going on about fun and things being interesting, so he's a bit more tolerable than Judai, but rather then being productive with any of this, he instead spends most of his time being smug and better-than-thou then actually doing anything to progress in his stated goals. Also, reminiscent of Judai, the only reason he's able to confront his father's killer, is because DD decided apropos of nothing to challenge Edo. If he hadn't decided to call Edo and invite him in for that duel, he'd still be out there, killing random schmucks for shits and giggles. Edo, you could have been better then Judai, but you just aren't, not when it comes to the important issues.
Shou Marufuji, he allegedly gets a lot of character development, but unfortunately, changing the color of your coat does not count as character development. He was hideously obnoxious for most of this season, owning in no small part to his hideously painful conflict with Kenzan. Even setting that aside though, his development is directly tied into Ryou's character arc, and since their bond is a gross example of an informed attribute, this development is hollow and without meaning, by and large jammed in at the last second in episode 95.
Jun Manjoume, you poor, poor bastard. He spends about half the season brainwashed, and does nothing of note after being returned to normal. In episode 61, the motivating force that allowed Saiou to take over Manjoume's mind was Manjoume's overpowering desire to defeat Judai...which would be why he waits until episode 87 to make good on this desire. Also, I suppose that him throwing the match in epiosde 88 is supposed to signify that he's gotten over his need to beat Judai...but that's just disingenuous, since there's absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to beat Judai. So yeah, Manjoume gets no development, does not grow as a person, and is still a pathetic punchline.
Daichi Misawa...it hurts me, so much, just THINKING, about what happened with him in this season. He gets left out of multiple episodes, is ignored and insulted by people who are supposedly his friends, and is then saddled with approval-issues which were not evident until the episode where they were introduced, which wouldn't even be possible if not for all his friends spontaneously deciding to ignore and snub him. And then he gets shoved on a Bus and leaves the show, and nobody cares. For fuck's sake, Hayato got a more emotional send-off, both times, and he was just empty space!
Asuka Tenjouin, like Daichi Misawa, is subject to hideous abuse. The pinacle of this is in episode 70, where she gets effortlessly smacked around by Manjoume and is brainwashed. Also, note how unlike Manjoume and Misawa, no time is spent on establishing Asuka's motives that are exploited for her to join the Association of Light. This is because have no interest in Asuka as a character, and so they don't even bother. Also, note how after episode 65, the writers manage to completely forget her bond with Ryou, which is in all honesty much stronger then either Fubuki's or Shou's. I guess that's the price she pays for having a vagina instead of a penis.
Tyranno Kenzan...he is so much worse then Hayato. Like Hayato, he is completely useless, accomplishing nothing. Seriously, even in the finale when he astrally projects into a space tyrannosaurus rex, all he does is get bailed out by Glow Neos. Unlike Hayato, he is incredibly obnoxious, has a hideous personality, and has the second-most inane backstory in the entire series. The first-most inane is Judai's, but that will be covered in Season Three.
Hell Kaiser Ryou...even though his entire character arc was motivated by marketing wanting to push certain cards on the audience, it still could have been worthwhile if they'd not been stupid and let Shou beat him in episode 95. As is, his character is unfulfilled, which makes his time in this season a complete waste.
Fubuki barely gets to be in this season at all. He doesn't grow much as a person, but unlike so many others, that's because he doesn't need to, he's wonderful as he is, and it would be nice if the writers were to remember their good characters instead of their bad ones. Though I do have to question his wisdom in keeping the Devil in his back pocket. It just seems a suspect decision, that's all.
Professor Chronos, he stood up for Osiris Red that one time. Big fucking whoop, he's still a wretched administrator and should have been fired the moment Samejima came back in episode 84. Also, while he was busy being Temporary Principal, who the hell was doing his old job? Hello? Writers, this is the sort of thing you need to account for!
Vice Principal Napoleon...why does he even exist? We went through season one without a Vice Principal, so what made the writers decide that we needed one now? And why did he have to be an obnoxious, offensive french stereotype? Do the writers really think that racist humor is that funny? Well, they seem to think that sexism and anti-intellectualism is just fine and dandy, so yeah, they probably do.
Professor Daitokuji, why do you still exist? No, I'm serious, how the hell can an intangible soul be swallowed by a perfectly normal cat? At this point, this is just spitting in the face of the ending of the original series, where it was made expressly clear that the spirits of the dead do not belong in the world of the living. Atem's excuse was that he gave up his name to seal a primal demon of darkness born of the blood sacrfice of the 99 citizens of Kul Elna, and once that was done, it was imperative that he make his way back to the afterlife, post-haste. Daitokuji has no such pressing business, and the only thing he did this season could have just as easily been done by Winged Kuriboh, so there's just no excuse for this. At all.
Principal Samejima, you spectacularly incompetent twit. Why would you think it was a good idea to leave Duel Academia in the hands of Professor Chronos? Also, great job on the Genex Tournament, you completely failed to actually draw in the guy who had the Bloo-D card in the first place, making the whole tournament completely pointless. Also, what were you on when you hired Napoleon?
And now the villains; only four of them this time, but unfortunately, this is not a case of quality over quantity.
First to show up is our Big Bad for the season, Takuma Saiou. He's better then Kagemaru, but that's not saying anything at all. He plays out like a mix between Malik and Dartz from the original anime, riffing off of Dartz's scheme and Malik's backstory. Unfortunately, despite all his screentime, his characterization is incredibely spotty and I never get a true sense of what Saiou's motives are, why he's forming a cult, any of that stuff. Really, he has no actual motivation as a villain, and if not for his excellent voicework, he'd be utterly forgettable. As it is, his plot fails, and since he's the driving force behind it, he fails too.
Next up is his sister, Mizuchi. She is basically a rip-off of Isis Ishtar, only with everything interesting stripped out. Also, what was the point of those mooks she had, the ones with those weird elemental powers? Where did they come from, where did they get those powers, how did Mizuchi find them, and why was she so eager to get rid of them?
Third to show up is Prince Prince. He somehow has sole discretionary control over a satellite which we are told can destroy the entire world, and yet when we see it in action, it could at best destroy a single city, if that, before the nations of the world knocked it out of orbit and then deposed the prince and the rest of the royal family of the made-up kingdom of Misgarth. And really, he was lonely because he had to sleep in his own bed? That's just pathetic.
Finally, DD. No subtlety or nuance here, he's just evil for the sake of being evil, even before he was possessed by Evil Cosmic Hippy Space Radiation. A nice character design and good voice acting can only go so far, and even then, they don't go that far.
Thus, we have season two, a thin premise stretched too far, with its central plot device being almost utterly irrelevant to how it develops.
Now for the Duel Distribution; over the course of this season, we have 43 duels. Of those, Judai gets 19 of them, just a hair over 44%, and he wins all but one of those duels. And while quantitatively this is less then what he got in Season One, unlike then he takes all but one of the plot significant duels for himself. Edo Phoenix gets 7 duels, three against Judai, one alongside Judai, and he wins five duels altogether. Jun Manjoume, he gets 6 duels, two of which he loses, one against Judai. Tyranno Kenzan gets five duels, one against Judai, and he wins all of one duel. Hell Kaiser Ryou gets five duels, one against Shou, and wins all but one. Saiou gets five duels, loses one. Shou Marufuji gets 4 duels, wins two of those, one against Kenzan, one alongside Kenzan. Asuka Tenjouin also gets four duels, winning two, one against Judai. Fubuki gets two, one against Asuka, one against Hell Kaiser Ryou, he loses both. Chronos and Napoleon collectively get two duels, one against and one together, and they both lose both duels because they are both wretched failures. DD gets two duels, wins one. Principal Samejima gets one duel, loses. Misawa gets one duel against Manjoume, and throws that for incredibly stupid reasons. As you see, if you take Edo, Manjoume, and Kenzan, you still don't equal the number of duels Judai gets. So that's still wretched.
Tomorrow, I'll be leaping right into Season 3, because I don't want to drag this out any longer than I already have.
The only good part of the plot is that it actually begins in the first episode and continues all throughout. Unfortunately, the plot is so incredibly thin that the writers keep having to shove in filler to pad the season out to a full 52 episodes. Here, I'm going to list off every episode that is relevant to the plot in any fashion, meaning anything that has to do with The Light of Ruin, The Association of Light, Saiou, Edo, and Judai; 53, 58, 59, 61, 62, 67, 68, 70, 78, 79, 82, 84, 87, 88, 93, 94, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, and 104. That is a total of 25 episodes relevant to the plot, which is probably on par with season one, but its worse here, since rather then getting all the filler out of the way first, they just spread it all throughout, which wrecks the pacing something fierce. Hell Kaiser Ryou is his own separate plot which never actually connects to the main plot, so technically speaking episodes 57, 65, 83, 89, and 95 are all filler. Also, all those "Plot Relevant Episodes"? You could probably cut them in half. Let's see...Edo shows up, Edo comes back to defeat Judai, Saiou has Manjoume brianwashed, Judai gets his Neos Deck, he returns and beats Edo, Manjoume takes over Obelisk Blue and brainwashes Asuka, Judai and Edo learn from Mizuchi what happened to Saiou in the past, Misawa challenges Saiou and is manipulated into throwing the match, Saiou defeats Prince Prince and acquires the alleged means to destroy the world, Judai duels Manjoume and gets him out of the association, Judai duels Asuka and gets her out of the association, Misawa gets himself out of the association, Edo confronts his father's killer, Judai defeats Prince Prince to release him from Saiou's control, and Edo and Judai face off against Saiou; you may have noticed the complete absence of Tyranno Kenzan in that summary, owing to the fact that he was completely useless and utterly irrelevant; also, The Genex tournament was also completely irrelevant, having nothing to do with anything. Going over that, we've got 16 significant events, so we know that we've got a significant chunk of padding even in our plot relevant episodes.
And that's before we even get into discussing the merits of the plot itself! First and foremost, The Association of Light...what was even the point of it? From the perspective of both the Good Saiou and the Evil Saiou, The Association of Light was completely irrelevant to their goals; the Good Saiou wants someone who can stop his evil side from destroying the world, and the Evil Saiou wants to destroy the world. The Association of Light advances neither of these goals; Good Saiou knows that the one who can stop him is either Judai or Edo, so the mass brainwashing is by and large pointless, since he could just as easily generate challenges to test Judai's power to defy his fate without the mass brainwashing. And for Evil Saiou, the only one he needed was Prince Prince, everyone else was completely irrelevant, and Prince Prince only came because he'd somehow heard that Saiou had some sort of connection to the Bloo-D card. This means that the central conflict of the plot, the Association of Light, is completely irrelevant; if Saiou really were so damn Dangerously Genre Savvy, he would have never shown up at all, just gone over to Misgarth to duel Prince Prince, taking the keys, and using them while Judai and company are oblivious and unable to stop him. The Association of Light and all its shenanigans is just one giant display of Genre Blindness on Saiou's part, only existing so that Saiou can announce that he is this season's villain. Which means that in all honesty, there are all of 10 plot relevant events, which on average is one plot relevant event per 5.2 episodes. That is not good, at all. The plot is thus a wretched failure, but how does the characterization fare? Even worse, if such a thing is possible.
Judai Yuki, Golden Child, savior of the entire universe...how I loathe thee. Not only does Judai not develop at all as a character, he actually manages to regress. In Season One, whenever any of his friends are in danger or in need of help, he is quick to respond. But this season, he loses three of his closest friends to a brainwashing cult, and does not do anything about this until they come after him. And in the case of Misawa, he doesn't even spare him a second thought after episode 82, where he looks so horrified at the results callous assholery. Also, Judai spends a lot more time talking to his deck, and his deck has started talking back. This bodes poorly.
Edo Phoenix, the "Anti-Hero" to Judai's "Hero". I put that in quotes, because really, there's no real difference between him and Judai, and neither are heroic, not even in the Ancient Greek sense of one who does great things without regard to the moral value of those actions. Sure, he's "smarter" than Judai, and he doesn't keep going on about fun and things being interesting, so he's a bit more tolerable than Judai, but rather then being productive with any of this, he instead spends most of his time being smug and better-than-thou then actually doing anything to progress in his stated goals. Also, reminiscent of Judai, the only reason he's able to confront his father's killer, is because DD decided apropos of nothing to challenge Edo. If he hadn't decided to call Edo and invite him in for that duel, he'd still be out there, killing random schmucks for shits and giggles. Edo, you could have been better then Judai, but you just aren't, not when it comes to the important issues.
Shou Marufuji, he allegedly gets a lot of character development, but unfortunately, changing the color of your coat does not count as character development. He was hideously obnoxious for most of this season, owning in no small part to his hideously painful conflict with Kenzan. Even setting that aside though, his development is directly tied into Ryou's character arc, and since their bond is a gross example of an informed attribute, this development is hollow and without meaning, by and large jammed in at the last second in episode 95.
Jun Manjoume, you poor, poor bastard. He spends about half the season brainwashed, and does nothing of note after being returned to normal. In episode 61, the motivating force that allowed Saiou to take over Manjoume's mind was Manjoume's overpowering desire to defeat Judai...which would be why he waits until episode 87 to make good on this desire. Also, I suppose that him throwing the match in epiosde 88 is supposed to signify that he's gotten over his need to beat Judai...but that's just disingenuous, since there's absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to beat Judai. So yeah, Manjoume gets no development, does not grow as a person, and is still a pathetic punchline.
Daichi Misawa...it hurts me, so much, just THINKING, about what happened with him in this season. He gets left out of multiple episodes, is ignored and insulted by people who are supposedly his friends, and is then saddled with approval-issues which were not evident until the episode where they were introduced, which wouldn't even be possible if not for all his friends spontaneously deciding to ignore and snub him. And then he gets shoved on a Bus and leaves the show, and nobody cares. For fuck's sake, Hayato got a more emotional send-off, both times, and he was just empty space!
Asuka Tenjouin, like Daichi Misawa, is subject to hideous abuse. The pinacle of this is in episode 70, where she gets effortlessly smacked around by Manjoume and is brainwashed. Also, note how unlike Manjoume and Misawa, no time is spent on establishing Asuka's motives that are exploited for her to join the Association of Light. This is because have no interest in Asuka as a character, and so they don't even bother. Also, note how after episode 65, the writers manage to completely forget her bond with Ryou, which is in all honesty much stronger then either Fubuki's or Shou's. I guess that's the price she pays for having a vagina instead of a penis.
Tyranno Kenzan...he is so much worse then Hayato. Like Hayato, he is completely useless, accomplishing nothing. Seriously, even in the finale when he astrally projects into a space tyrannosaurus rex, all he does is get bailed out by Glow Neos. Unlike Hayato, he is incredibly obnoxious, has a hideous personality, and has the second-most inane backstory in the entire series. The first-most inane is Judai's, but that will be covered in Season Three.
Hell Kaiser Ryou...even though his entire character arc was motivated by marketing wanting to push certain cards on the audience, it still could have been worthwhile if they'd not been stupid and let Shou beat him in episode 95. As is, his character is unfulfilled, which makes his time in this season a complete waste.
Fubuki barely gets to be in this season at all. He doesn't grow much as a person, but unlike so many others, that's because he doesn't need to, he's wonderful as he is, and it would be nice if the writers were to remember their good characters instead of their bad ones. Though I do have to question his wisdom in keeping the Devil in his back pocket. It just seems a suspect decision, that's all.
Professor Chronos, he stood up for Osiris Red that one time. Big fucking whoop, he's still a wretched administrator and should have been fired the moment Samejima came back in episode 84. Also, while he was busy being Temporary Principal, who the hell was doing his old job? Hello? Writers, this is the sort of thing you need to account for!
Vice Principal Napoleon...why does he even exist? We went through season one without a Vice Principal, so what made the writers decide that we needed one now? And why did he have to be an obnoxious, offensive french stereotype? Do the writers really think that racist humor is that funny? Well, they seem to think that sexism and anti-intellectualism is just fine and dandy, so yeah, they probably do.
Professor Daitokuji, why do you still exist? No, I'm serious, how the hell can an intangible soul be swallowed by a perfectly normal cat? At this point, this is just spitting in the face of the ending of the original series, where it was made expressly clear that the spirits of the dead do not belong in the world of the living. Atem's excuse was that he gave up his name to seal a primal demon of darkness born of the blood sacrfice of the 99 citizens of Kul Elna, and once that was done, it was imperative that he make his way back to the afterlife, post-haste. Daitokuji has no such pressing business, and the only thing he did this season could have just as easily been done by Winged Kuriboh, so there's just no excuse for this. At all.
Principal Samejima, you spectacularly incompetent twit. Why would you think it was a good idea to leave Duel Academia in the hands of Professor Chronos? Also, great job on the Genex Tournament, you completely failed to actually draw in the guy who had the Bloo-D card in the first place, making the whole tournament completely pointless. Also, what were you on when you hired Napoleon?
And now the villains; only four of them this time, but unfortunately, this is not a case of quality over quantity.
First to show up is our Big Bad for the season, Takuma Saiou. He's better then Kagemaru, but that's not saying anything at all. He plays out like a mix between Malik and Dartz from the original anime, riffing off of Dartz's scheme and Malik's backstory. Unfortunately, despite all his screentime, his characterization is incredibely spotty and I never get a true sense of what Saiou's motives are, why he's forming a cult, any of that stuff. Really, he has no actual motivation as a villain, and if not for his excellent voicework, he'd be utterly forgettable. As it is, his plot fails, and since he's the driving force behind it, he fails too.
Next up is his sister, Mizuchi. She is basically a rip-off of Isis Ishtar, only with everything interesting stripped out. Also, what was the point of those mooks she had, the ones with those weird elemental powers? Where did they come from, where did they get those powers, how did Mizuchi find them, and why was she so eager to get rid of them?
Third to show up is Prince Prince. He somehow has sole discretionary control over a satellite which we are told can destroy the entire world, and yet when we see it in action, it could at best destroy a single city, if that, before the nations of the world knocked it out of orbit and then deposed the prince and the rest of the royal family of the made-up kingdom of Misgarth. And really, he was lonely because he had to sleep in his own bed? That's just pathetic.
Finally, DD. No subtlety or nuance here, he's just evil for the sake of being evil, even before he was possessed by Evil Cosmic Hippy Space Radiation. A nice character design and good voice acting can only go so far, and even then, they don't go that far.
Thus, we have season two, a thin premise stretched too far, with its central plot device being almost utterly irrelevant to how it develops.
Now for the Duel Distribution; over the course of this season, we have 43 duels. Of those, Judai gets 19 of them, just a hair over 44%, and he wins all but one of those duels. And while quantitatively this is less then what he got in Season One, unlike then he takes all but one of the plot significant duels for himself. Edo Phoenix gets 7 duels, three against Judai, one alongside Judai, and he wins five duels altogether. Jun Manjoume, he gets 6 duels, two of which he loses, one against Judai. Tyranno Kenzan gets five duels, one against Judai, and he wins all of one duel. Hell Kaiser Ryou gets five duels, one against Shou, and wins all but one. Saiou gets five duels, loses one. Shou Marufuji gets 4 duels, wins two of those, one against Kenzan, one alongside Kenzan. Asuka Tenjouin also gets four duels, winning two, one against Judai. Fubuki gets two, one against Asuka, one against Hell Kaiser Ryou, he loses both. Chronos and Napoleon collectively get two duels, one against and one together, and they both lose both duels because they are both wretched failures. DD gets two duels, wins one. Principal Samejima gets one duel, loses. Misawa gets one duel against Manjoume, and throws that for incredibly stupid reasons. As you see, if you take Edo, Manjoume, and Kenzan, you still don't equal the number of duels Judai gets. So that's still wretched.
Tomorrow, I'll be leaping right into Season 3, because I don't want to drag this out any longer than I already have.
