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cypsiman2Did you hear that? That shrill high pitched scream of anguish and release? That was the scream of the last vestige of my hope for this series. It is dead now, and the writers have killed it. Their writing is bad and they should feel bad.
Now, rather then start at the beginning of the episode, I'll start at the crowning moment of fail, the second death of what could have been the savior of Yugioh 5D's, Divine. Now, his resurrection in the first place was a plot hole of beyond epic proportions, but considering how in one episode he was able to steal the thunder of all the dark signers, including the only decent ones Ruger and Carly, and show them how this villainy business is really done, I was willing to overlook that.
Alas, it was not meant to be. Not merely do they kill him off after only a single episode after a ludicrously contrived engineered public confession (seriously, when the hell did Yusei set his duel disc to transmit Divine's words to Misty? How the hell would he have even known the code to Misty's duel disc? I'm sure as hell that the writers never put any thought into this, and they should be ashamed for making me do it for them.), but they do so in a way that completely destroys the coherence of the setting.
Think about it; if the Dark Signers can order their Earthbound God to just eat someone they don't like, then why even bother with the duel? Divine certainly didn't with all those fireballs and psychic swords he was tossing about! I mean, one of the great challenges of a series like Yugioh is accounting for the "why don't you just shoot them!" problem, which makes the cavaliar sh!tt!ng all over the effort to explain why dueling is the best way to approach the situation really obnoxious.
And that's not all! By making everything Divine's fault, the writers have denied Aki any real roll in her own character arc. It doesn't matter that Aki won the duel, since all her dignity, integrity, and pride were all blasted away by writers who have had a bitter resentment against women ever since their mothers stopped kissing their boo-boos and told them to suck it up and stop being such pansies.
I mean, really, Mai Kujaku might not have won any duels in the original manga, but Kazuki Takahashi respected her and preserved her dignity; I mean, look at how she is in the manga after she wakes up from Yami Malik's Penalty Game, and you will see someone too awesome to ever be knocked down. Then of course the anime writers got their man-panties in a twist and did their level best to ruin her in DOMA, since the idea of an independent woman terrified them beyond all reason. And yeah, Anzu might not have dueled in the manga, but considering that she was the one who had the foresight to get the cartouche that saved everyone, I'd say that she pulled her weight plenty in that arc alone, not counting all the other vital support she provided throughout the rest of the series. And don't forget Kisara, who saved Priest Seto from his father, as he was too much of a daddy's boy to stand up for himself, so his girlfriend had to do all the hardwork for him. Mana was also pretty kick-ass, going from someone who couldn't even see the spirits at the start and was in the end able to summon the Dark Magician Girl and save Mahad from certain destruction, ultimately enabling everyone else to save the day.
And of course, we can't neglect Isis Ishtar, who was not merely powerful enough to face Kaiba head on and force him to duel beyond his very best, but also orchestrated the entire Battle City tournament to rescue her little brother. And while this is an anime addition, I'll count Shizuka rescuing her brother from drowning; it was cheesy, but still good on her part.
Now, yes, the handling of gender in the original Yugioh had its share of problems, but the idea that Aki having a decent dueling record and a decent deck somehow elevates her above all the original Yugioh ladies...well, you have to be pretty short sighted to think that.
And by the looks of the next episode, the writers will be fully embracing their fear of girls and their icky-yucky girl parts by having a three-on-one duel with only manly men, so they don't have to remember those mean girls back in high school who wouldn't go out with them or bow down to them or stay in the damn kitchen where they belong!
...I think I might have gone on a tangent, but I've made my point.
Now, rather then start at the beginning of the episode, I'll start at the crowning moment of fail, the second death of what could have been the savior of Yugioh 5D's, Divine. Now, his resurrection in the first place was a plot hole of beyond epic proportions, but considering how in one episode he was able to steal the thunder of all the dark signers, including the only decent ones Ruger and Carly, and show them how this villainy business is really done, I was willing to overlook that.
Alas, it was not meant to be. Not merely do they kill him off after only a single episode after a ludicrously contrived engineered public confession (seriously, when the hell did Yusei set his duel disc to transmit Divine's words to Misty? How the hell would he have even known the code to Misty's duel disc? I'm sure as hell that the writers never put any thought into this, and they should be ashamed for making me do it for them.), but they do so in a way that completely destroys the coherence of the setting.
Think about it; if the Dark Signers can order their Earthbound God to just eat someone they don't like, then why even bother with the duel? Divine certainly didn't with all those fireballs and psychic swords he was tossing about! I mean, one of the great challenges of a series like Yugioh is accounting for the "why don't you just shoot them!" problem, which makes the cavaliar sh!tt!ng all over the effort to explain why dueling is the best way to approach the situation really obnoxious.
And that's not all! By making everything Divine's fault, the writers have denied Aki any real roll in her own character arc. It doesn't matter that Aki won the duel, since all her dignity, integrity, and pride were all blasted away by writers who have had a bitter resentment against women ever since their mothers stopped kissing their boo-boos and told them to suck it up and stop being such pansies.
I mean, really, Mai Kujaku might not have won any duels in the original manga, but Kazuki Takahashi respected her and preserved her dignity; I mean, look at how she is in the manga after she wakes up from Yami Malik's Penalty Game, and you will see someone too awesome to ever be knocked down. Then of course the anime writers got their man-panties in a twist and did their level best to ruin her in DOMA, since the idea of an independent woman terrified them beyond all reason. And yeah, Anzu might not have dueled in the manga, but considering that she was the one who had the foresight to get the cartouche that saved everyone, I'd say that she pulled her weight plenty in that arc alone, not counting all the other vital support she provided throughout the rest of the series. And don't forget Kisara, who saved Priest Seto from his father, as he was too much of a daddy's boy to stand up for himself, so his girlfriend had to do all the hardwork for him. Mana was also pretty kick-ass, going from someone who couldn't even see the spirits at the start and was in the end able to summon the Dark Magician Girl and save Mahad from certain destruction, ultimately enabling everyone else to save the day.
And of course, we can't neglect Isis Ishtar, who was not merely powerful enough to face Kaiba head on and force him to duel beyond his very best, but also orchestrated the entire Battle City tournament to rescue her little brother. And while this is an anime addition, I'll count Shizuka rescuing her brother from drowning; it was cheesy, but still good on her part.
Now, yes, the handling of gender in the original Yugioh had its share of problems, but the idea that Aki having a decent dueling record and a decent deck somehow elevates her above all the original Yugioh ladies...well, you have to be pretty short sighted to think that.
And by the looks of the next episode, the writers will be fully embracing their fear of girls and their icky-yucky girl parts by having a three-on-one duel with only manly men, so they don't have to remember those mean girls back in high school who wouldn't go out with them or bow down to them or stay in the damn kitchen where they belong!
...I think I might have gone on a tangent, but I've made my point.
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no subject
Date: 2009-06-04 03:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-06-04 03:20 am (UTC)But no, it turns out that she has no ideas in her head that weren't first put there by her father figure. Way to go writers, you certainly know how to write them women folk!
So yeah, the original manga wins all over the place. And what are some of the things that you like to do with the dub characters that you don't do with the manga versions, if I may ask?
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Date: 2009-06-04 03:22 am (UTC)I'll get to that when I'm done with talking about the YGO ladiez.
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Date: 2009-06-04 03:30 am (UTC)I swear, Takahashi must be spending his royalties on all the drinks that he can get from what's been done to his story.
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Date: 2009-06-04 03:34 am (UTC)Takahashi... hm well I think he'd like any friends that GX/5D fans made because of their interest in the anime, much like he feels about his own work. But, yeaaaaah from what little of GX I saw, I really think they were missing the heart of the series.
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Date: 2009-06-04 03:45 am (UTC)Plus, the framing device of one of the clip episodes was Judai talking with his monsters...as opposed to his human friends! I don't think the writers thought the implications of that through...
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Date: 2009-06-04 04:09 am (UTC)I've actually thought about this some.
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Date: 2009-06-04 04:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-06-04 04:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-06-04 04:25 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-06-04 04:26 am (UTC)Though man I should get on the Yuugi+Yami clothing genfic for the lulz.
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Date: 2009-06-04 04:05 am (UTC)The dub threw that away and changed a whole lot. Making them, in some ways, very different characters, if for no other reasons than their movies are completely different. I actually like YnY's changes the most. Like I was profoundly move moved in the dub version of the ceremonial duel because the fact that his relationship with Yugi is, for lack of a better word, gentler. I liked that he was dueling his hardest while still internally pushing Yugi in a way that he didn't in the Japanese version.
Also man dub!Shadow Realm? A place worse than death (LOL 4KIDS THAT BACKFIRED ON YOU WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT IT) makes for some interesting fic in the right hands.
NOW TO GO ON ABOUT THE LADIEZ pt 1
Date: 2009-06-04 03:21 am (UTC)All the girls have a problem not having strong relationships with one another. Which is one thing I did like in the anime - Mai and Shizuka and Anzu and Shizuka were adorable together and there were several slashy scenes between all four of 'em. And I found Rebecca profoundly likable and believable eight year old in the fillers. And Anzu being jealous of her touching her man are some of my favorite Anzu/Yuugi moments in the anime.
Shizuka: It's true that she's very stereotypical in some senses. However, sometime I think people underestimate her strength. Jounouchi drive strength from her not just because she desires to protect her but because of the amount of courage he sees her show and she even calls him on trying to surrender. Some of her fears may not be a really big deal all things considering, but I find them refreshingly normal. She wants to be able to see and is scared that she might not be able to. She's also fourteen. Having her brother inspire her to take off her bandages and than having that act of courage inspire Jounouchi was particularly moving in my opinion. And it also served to move Rishid's character and we get to see Jonouchi+Shizuka and Malik+Rishid's relationship compared. Rishid and Malik, in some ways, are a darker look at what Shizuka and Jonouchi are.
Re: NOW TO GO ON ABOUT THE LADIEZ pt 1
Date: 2009-06-04 03:25 am (UTC)In other news, I look forward to part 2!
Re: NOW TO GO ON ABOUT THE LADIEZ pt 1
Date: 2009-06-04 04:15 am (UTC)Re: NOW TO GO ON ABOUT THE LADIEZ pt 1
Date: 2009-06-04 04:16 am (UTC)Re: NOW TO GO ON ABOUT THE LADIEZ pt 1
Date: 2009-06-04 04:19 am (UTC)Re: NOW TO GO ON ABOUT THE LADIEZ pt 1
Date: 2009-06-04 04:27 am (UTC)Re: NOW TO GO ON ABOUT THE LADIEZ pt 1
Date: 2009-06-04 04:31 am (UTC)Re: NOW TO GO ON ABOUT THE LADIEZ pt 1
Date: 2009-06-04 04:42 am (UTC)Re: NOW TO GO ON ABOUT THE LADIEZ pt 1
Date: 2009-06-04 04:48 am (UTC)NOW TO GO ON ABOUT THE LADIEZ pt 2
Date: 2009-06-04 03:32 am (UTC)She dueled Yami Malik pretty well. In the manga it was pretty badass because she was able to really start to see through some of those shadow games. And lets keep in mind that Yami no Yuugi tricked many a people in the shadow realm and Yuugi himself fainted pretty quickly when they were dueling Pegasus. And no way were Pegasus' duels anywhere near as difficult as Yami Malik's. And Mai stayed awake the entire thing.
As for the attack from Ra - no one could have taken that blow except the Pharaoh. That's a bit of main character syndrome.
I think her most impressively shown duel that showed off Mai as a really strong character that Takahashi respected was her duel with Yam no Yuugi. Takahashi set her up as a strong and proud person - not unlike Yami no Yuugi himself. Even though she and Jounouchi had UST, she never really lost her edge. In fact, one reason she wanted to duel in Battle City was because she felt it would be the best way to show her feelings to Jounouchi.
As for the actual duel with YnY she was awesome. Yeah YnY was off his game because he was nervous about Pegasus and how he lost to Kaiba shook him to the core. But that doesn't change the fact she was pulling no stops and her strategy was pretty awesome. It also showed her growth as a character that she started to rely on other things besides her Harpy Lady. In Duelist Kingdom the main growth she went through (not unlike Kaiba) is the Power of Friendship (tm).
And for all YnY really does love his friends and by Duelist Kingdom already shown a fairly strong and unique relationship with Anzu and Jounouchi as his own identity and not just as Yuugi - it was pretty much only Mai who could snap him out of his daze. Mai had to lose and she had to face herself to become a better duelist and a stronger person.
And Yami no Yuugi had to have the courage to lose and face his own flaws in order to become a stronger person and a better duelist. No one else in the cast could have given him that because at that time. Not even Kaiba - it's not until Battle City that he begins to actually understand the power of unity and friendship.
Re: NOW TO GO ON ABOUT THE LADIEZ pt 2
Date: 2009-06-04 03:41 am (UTC)Re: NOW TO GO ON ABOUT THE LADIEZ pt 2
Date: 2009-06-04 03:47 am (UTC)I think it was because it wasn't quite a life-or-death thing. Yeah, if Mai won, YnY would have lost a chance to duel Pegasus (but there could have still been other ways to do so) so the focus was different. This wasn't life or death or fighting for other people, but it was actually about YnY. It wasn't even much about Yuugi at all - Jounouchi had already snapped Yuugi out of his daze.
no subject
Date: 2009-06-04 03:44 am (UTC)And well she was also a side character. I do think that her kicking Malik's ass and Yami no Malik being impressed with her duel and even calling her scary was enough to establish her as a strong duelist. And when it came to the actual duel with Kaiba, she would have won if Kaiba hadn't gotten his act together and trusted his heart and Blue Eyes White dragon instead of an all powerful God. And even though he did win, she really gave him a run for his money. And she was decidedly unimpressed with Kabia was like USUALLY I DON'T TAKE GENDER INTO ACCOUNT, BUT I'LL LET YOU SURRENDER.
Another important factor to take into account that she isn't a Duelist, not like Yuugi, Jonouchi, Mai or Kaiba are. This isn't a bad thing, as I'll get into with Anzu. What she wants is to recover her brother. This isn't without a problem as female-female relationships aren't represented enough, but it's her brother.
As for what she did for her brother, well you mentioned that. She manipulated Kaiba into throwing Battle City. More than when Yami Malik came out and she was sure there was no real hope left she still kept fighting. And losing her duel with Kaiba was actually a victory for her because she started to see that fate isn't everything - that sometimes you can and should take fate by your own hands and make your own destiny.
In other words, she had agency as a character and learned things on her own. And she helped drive the plot. And helped develop both Kaiba and YnY's character, not to mention her brother(s). It may have been the Rod and Yuugi-tachi slowly chipping through his shield to accept friendship and unity, but it was confronting Isis that actually pushed him start to trust himself and start making real positive steps in his development as a person. While, no, it didn't have to be Isis, and sometimes that's the strongest type of development of all.
no subject
Date: 2009-06-04 03:47 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-06-04 04:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-06-04 04:00 am (UTC)She was probably the first person to really see YnY as a person in his own right outside of Yuugi (but that is more complicated for issues not the point of this comment) - but what's interesting is that was a pretty complex manner. She had a crush on him and was sometimes careless about Yuugi's feelings and could often be selfish about it. Though not completely, she also realizes how much YnY means to Yuugi and realized part of the reason she didn't want YnY to realize his past is because she knew it would hurt Yuugi. This shows amazing compassion on her part, and bravery when she bit the bullet and told YnY what he needed to hear to do the right thing.
Anzu's feelings to both Yuugi's is pretty complicated because of the implications that she likes them both romantically. It's confusing enough to like your best friend, but when you bring in an alter ego... She got plenty of development as love interest. And she goes through just as much an internal crisis as Yuugi when she realized that YnY would have to go on eventually - she also shows some agency in questioning Isis about where YnY would end up.
But that wasn't the whole of it. Yuugiou's focus was on friendship. And was actually the most important aspect of her relationship with both Yuugi's - and everyone else. There's a striking amount of balance between her being active by defending Yuugi, drawing that happy face on everyone's hand, telling off Jounouchi for being a jerk etc and also being generally supportive like being there for YnY when he was struggling with what he wanted to do and telling Yuugi that he was fine just the way he was.
She's also pretty flawed. She can be petty and jealous and sometimes she gets caught up in things and becomes pretty thoughtless. She grows up some, but she never loses these flaws completely. I actually like that - it makes her feel like a more rounded person. She'll continue to mature as she grows, but I also think she's continue to have some inclinations towards her flaws like most of us do. She's not alone in that department, Jounouchi and Yuugi are always struggling with the self-esteem issues, for instance.
no subject
Date: 2009-06-04 04:07 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-06-04 04:13 am (UTC)I also like that she's not girly at all but likes wearing skirts. It's just a little interesting quirk I found adorable.
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Date: 2009-06-04 04:20 am (UTC)And hey, if real men wear pink, then real women wear dresses! Or skirts...or something.
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Date: 2009-06-04 04:22 am (UTC)It's more that I like the twist of a tomboy who doesn't wear jeans and shirts and seems most comfortable in skirts.
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Date: 2009-06-04 04:30 am (UTC)Well I would imagine that they'd be easier to dance in, as they wouldn't restrict movement as much as a pair of jeans would. Not that I would have any experience to go on, of course.
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Date: 2009-06-04 04:33 am (UTC)When I took ballet I always danced in my ballet uniform thing. Someone should draw Anzu in one. *coughs*
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Date: 2009-06-04 04:45 am (UTC)Hey, if I could draw past a stick figure, I would do so!
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Date: 2009-06-04 04:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-06-04 04:24 am (UTC)I JUST WANT TO SAY THAT MADE ME SNORT OUT LOUD.
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Date: 2009-06-04 04:28 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-06-04 04:37 am (UTC)And, in the anime, she had plenty of agency. And it must have been hard since all her loved ones were dying left and right.
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Date: 2009-06-04 04:48 am (UTC)In her introduction in the Manga, she gains 500 attack power for every Dark Magician in the grave, bringing her attack power in that duel to 3000. But in the anime and the real card game, she only gets 300 per Dark Magician in the grave. WTF!!! Were the anime people scared, or did they not get how this kept her from properly inheriting his power or what???
It's subtle, but it's there.
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Date: 2009-06-04 04:50 am (UTC)Also speaking of numbers why did the dub change it to 5,000 years instead of 3,000? It just seemed like such a random change. O_o
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Date: 2009-06-04 04:54 am (UTC)http://soranu.deviantart.com/art/Bathrooms-Provoke-Thought-88963929 (this is just for the cute...and a little pervy, I'll admit.)
As for the 3000 to 5000 years thing, the only explanation that I can come up with is that the manga initially talked about the history of gaming going back 5000 years ago, and apparently 4Kids took that too literally.
no subject
Date: 2009-06-04 04:56 am (UTC)That's probably true. I didn't even think of that! I was pondering that change, it was just so weird.