Yu☆Gi☆Oh! Duel Monsters GX

After watching the whole series in just two weeks or so, I will tell you how I felt about this series. I watched the orignal Japanese version, not the English dubbed version (although I've watched some on TV). Yu-Gi-Oh! GX is a sequel of the original Yu-Gi-Oh! series as most would know. The game of Duel Monsters has gotten so popular that there are pro leagues as well as specialized schools to mainly train and teach students to become great duelists. It's an interesting setting and did intrigue me. The story follows after a young boy named Yuki Judai, who just starts to attend an elite Duel Monsters school called, "Duel Academia" The school is divided in three different classes, "Obelisk Blue", "Ra Yellow" and "Osiris Red" (the names should sound familiar for those who watched the original series). It is basically dividing students into their skill levels, Osiris Red being the lowest class, Ra Yellow in the middle and the Obelisk Blue, consisting of the school's best duelists. The series starts off with a lighter tone, just following Judai and his life in school as he makes new friends. But as the story progresses, it does get deeper and more complex. I felt that there were quite a few story elements that seemed forced and didn't make sense, but it was watchable overall. Much like the original series, there's heavy emphasis on friendship. One thing that does get a little annoying is that duelists read their card effects every time they play it and it kind of gets tiresome, but I guess they can't help it since there will always be people who aren't familiar with the cards and their effects. I wasn't super impressed with most of OP and ED songs, but soundtracks were quite good, although I would have liked a little more variety of music during duels. It's like when you hear a certain music starts to play, you know that our hero's pulling off an awesome combo to finish the duel! Art wise, I felt that GX got a slight down grade from the original series. Not a big difference, but I never thought that GX had better animation or art quality. Not the worst, but not too impressive on most parts. However, I never expected it to be amazing since it is a 180 episode series afterall. There are quite a bit of characters in GX and I felt that there were perhaps a little too many. Character developments are there, as it would be crazy to have a 180 episode series without character growths. Some character developments being more natural and subtle than others. The series inserts new characters here and there to keep it interesting, but it felt a bit crowded later on. I mainly watched this because I play the card game myself. It will be much more enjoyable if you play the game. It does gets kind of repetitive, but that could be because I was having a marathon (almost). The TV series is very different from the manga, so give it a read! I personally like the overall feel of the manga more, because the manga has more mature feel to it. Basically, this series is worth a watch for someone who: - plays, or is interested in the card game - wants to kill some time - is looking for something to watch with his/her kid In conclusion, Yu-Gi-Oh! GX was a decent series, but it was never at the level of the original Yu-Gi-Oh! series.

It's best to note that while the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX anime is not the worst anime in existence, it is far from the best. This series puts a couple of blemishes on the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise; in fact, when compared with the manga, it earns the same reaction you'll find from avid Tsukihime fans: "What anime?" The premise of a dueling academy makes a lot of sense when you consider the fact that Yu-Gi-Oh! is about a children's card game. While the importance of a children's card game seems exaggerated in the viewers' eyes, you have to remember that in this animeverse, it -isn't-. Duel Monsters is the most popular--and clearly the most influential--sport of the world. Plus, when you realize the Academia still has the required graduation classes (though you won't see them too much on-screen), you realize that the school is a typical high school--just one with a very specialized "Ivy Leage" program. Still, while the premise doesn't have flaws, the way it was carried out does. The first half of season one made GX seem like a slice-of-life anime, which wouldn't be so much of a problem if the plot was at least consistent rather than having these separated one-shots. Then when GX actually started having substantial plots, it seemed like another series taking itself too seriously. A white hole in space sending proxies to bring about destruction? A deranged hermaphrodite demon seeking her lover? A force of darkness wishing to unify all existence in nothingness? Sorry NAS, not buying it. What probably made these plots worse was that they were arranged in a "What enemy will I face this school year?" fashion. The art was average. It didn't thrill me, but it didn't disgust me either. No more to say on that. Now as for music, that was actually GX's best asset. The OPs and EDs weren't the best, but the OST soundtracks were. They did their job of accenting the situations quite smoothly. If an upbeat song came on, the situation was happy or comical. If a slow and sad song came on, the situation was depressing or dark. And if that one song that raised your spirits came on, you knew the protagonist of the duel was making his comeback. NAS dropped the ball with its characters. Too many characters introduced at a time with too little development reserved for each one. Judai, the main character, was a Gary Stu that didn't get a background story until season three. The background wasn't even good either, turning out to be a contrived DM reincarnation rip-off with pathetically shallow "I need to grow up" development in season four that made him nothing more than an ass. And the other protagonists only got their little development in season one, and were shafted in season three with the appearance of the Academia champions. Still, I found myself enjoying the series while watching it. Much of the bashing GX gets is in hindsight, when the fans start looking back and realize the flaws they overlooked when they first watched it. In the end, the GX anime turned out to be run by a group of people who had no idea what direction they wanted to take the show in; they would rather insert any random and unnecessary bit of occult history and symbolism if it made viewers think they were actually putting any thought into the series. (And let me tell you, GX is riddled with occult stuff if you know how and where to find it.) I suggest that rather than watching this anime you read Kazuki Takahashi and Naoyuki Kageyama's manga adaptation.

Yu☆Gi☆Oh!: Duel Monsters GX is oftenly known as the weakest Yu☆Gi☆Oh! series aside from Zexal, which in my honest opinion is under rating it a lot. The show may have it's flaws but it's actually an outstanding experience for anyone who looks for long running shows with great characters, funny interactions between them and entertaining story since it begins until it ends. The show features a lot of one shot episodes and characters thrown in the "filler" category, which is the first point in trashtalking the show. When the story begins it takes a bit long to get into the first arc so the first 30 or so episodes are the ones that introduce you to the show's premise and characters that stay for the longest, which I found alright since they take all of it's time to be properly introduced in a completely non-boring way. Aside from them, there are a bunch of one shot characters that stand in the bad side for silly yet entertaining reasons that never try to hard to be serious but still is pretty fun to watch. It's an original anime so the fillers will still be considered originals and skipping them will just take out from the experience the enjoyment they give. Even the one shot characters are likeable with many ways they have to express themselves, so no one feels the same as the last one as it goes on. They even come back in a later second season episode which actually give them the credit they deserve and it's a nice touch from the staff to not forget about them. Speaking of characters, during the show each one of the main bunch have their own proper development and mini arcs too, so they are not there just to support the main character (as it was in the original Duel Monsters series) but to acomplish their own goals and make a better experience out of it and in the end you'll just can't help but feel happy for how everything went for them (and miss them like I do...). The second main criticism the series get is regarding the first two main arcs of the story. While it's certainly true that the plot gets impactful and more interesting the last two arcs where "shit hits the fan". The first half tries something completely different as it goes in a light-hearted (with serious moments) slice of life perspective (in a school where people learn to play card games to do something with their lives related to card games, as silly as it sounds it's pretty cool). It takes it's time to build up the world it presents and success because coming back to the point of the characters and their interactions it will always feel fresh and fun to watch. I consider a mistake to watch GX skipping the first half just because the second half is more serious, if it's done like that anyone who starts from season 3 onwards won't feel empathy for the characters, which are the show's strongest point in the experience of the story, so from the get go if you don't like them this animation is not for you and most importantly you will for sure miss a lot of crazy shit during seaons 1 and 2 that'll make you think the writers were in drugs during production. The actual plot though it's not perfect since at some point it foreshadows a lot of stuff that is never explained or brought back again later on, leaving a lot to think about without any answers, but looking for the silliest or serious outcomes will actually feel good. Production values-wise is the most solid of all the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise, the designs for characters, monsters, environment and even duel disks are pretty interesting and the animation lacks mistakes in it (QUALITY). The soundtrack is also likeable since every background music fits perfectly the moment they play, the voice acting and dialogues in the japanese version is also excellent since every character feels natural with their voice actors representing them. Regarding the duels, well, it's Yu-Gi-Oh! so it's a standard so liking and understanding the card game is the first step to like or dislike GX. Opening and Ending songs are also good. In my opinion openings 3 and ending 4 are the best. Overall it really is an enjoyable experience and it's a shame that we will probably never see something GX related again (;_;) So if you like Yu-Gi-Oh! and card games animeys to begin with give GX a shot, it might feel like a hit or miss but if it hits you, you'll feel an eternal void inside of you the moment you see the last minutes of the show and try to move on by watching something else (the cycle of anime).

I have a little confession: Yu-Gi-Oh: Duel Monsters GX wasn't that bad, BUT wasn't that good. Okay, let's begin: 10 years have passed after we broke up from our beloved Yugi, Atem and their friends, here comes a new story about Judai, a dueling dreamer, who is going to a duel academy to learn how to be the best dueler all over the world. Without to notice, Judai meets Yugi on his way to school, when Yugi gives him a luck card: The Winged Kuriboh (Judai calls him at the beginning 'Partner' and after that, the real name). Since then, Judai comes to school and the adventures begin. Until here everything is good and pretty. But the 2 first seasons were unnecessary to me. Why? Because they were such as fillers and boring. The improvement is seen in the 3rd season, when there are good episodes and good new characters (Johan of course ^__^). One more surprising thing is the 4th season, that actually is the main portion, during the previous seasons are the appetizers. But what's the matter? Also on the original Yu-Gi-Oh there was an improvement, But it was since 2nd season. There is a different. Art was very great and very good, such as any anime I love. Quality? Excellent (Although the dub version has a bad quality LOL) Sound? Very good. I am also buzzing the soundtrack any single moment(The dub version sounds like a drag-show). The japanese voices very great and the songs also. Characters? Very great. Judai is so cute, and when he grew up, he was very valued (That's why am I calling him:'Pet-Yugi' XD). Sho sounds twetty, but he was cute. Manjoume? My favourite. Asuka? Very good character. Chronos? was annoying a little. But still, There were many good characters to me. Any character that was a villain at the beginning, has changed to good (Remember Kaiba, Pegasus and Malik?), but in any anime is like that, no? Enjoyment? I told when I reviewed on the story, but I can tell that I stayed because of many great characters, such as Manjoume, Edo, Fubuki and Ryo (My faves+Johan and Jim from 3rd season and up) and that's why I love the 3rd and the 4th seasons of the anime. And overall? If you look for bishies (And shipping xD) and you are a fan of the Yu-Gi-Oh series, Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters is the perfect anime for you! [*NOTE: I related for the original version, not for the foolish dub version]

Yugioh GX is a strange and confounding show. It has one of, if not the best casts in the Yugioh franchise, but it heavily underitilizes or derails most of them. It has perhaps the most likable, fleshed out, and developed protagonist in the franchise but at the cost of a lot of characters the show doesn’t know what to do with. It has some of the most conceptually interesting and narratively sound arcs in all of Yugioh, but one of them is rushed while the other has an ending that almost killed its season outright. GX has a lot of potential that finds itself capitalized on brilliantly at times, but the show is just an inconsistent mess. That being said, this is easily the best Yugioh anime, at least in context of the original timeline. Unlike Duel Monsters, GX doesn’t treat you like a moron while padding itself out to oblivion with characters whose existences become increasingly confounding as the show’s nonexistent sense of logic somehow takes a nosedive for the sake of establishing threats for the main protagonist to beat over. Unlike 5D’s, it wasn’t the subject of a complete shift in focus, causing the entire show to devolve into a jumbled mess of bastardized characters, intentional as well as accidental retcons, and nonsensical plot-points. In spite of all of this, GX has generally been seen as inferior to both. In fact, prior to Zexal’s miserable first season and all other Yugioh series that followed, GX was seen as the black sheep of the franchise. Even after Zexal II supposedly redeemed its series and the later entries found their reputations dwindling sometime after coming out, GX has always lived in the shadow of Duel Monsters and 5D’s. Why? Outside of the initially dismal reaction to the fun cheese dub which has gained a lot of fondness in the 2010s, it’s still puzzling as to why GX is looked at as the middling step-child in the original trilogy. While getting a definitive answer may be impossible, asserting the notion that GX is perhaps the best series in a lackluster franchise by virtue of being semi-decent is something at least someone might find worth doing as we examine some of the highs and lows of this strange, erratic entry. The first thing to dive into is the cast, which is both GX’s greatest strength and biggest weakness. Main character Judai, as well as other characters such as Manjoume and Chronos are incredibly likable and well-developed characters. That’s actually kind of the problem, though. They are pretty much the only characters that get used well on a remotely consistent basis outside of some of the ones introduced in season 3. In terms of the major characters introduced in the first half of the series, most of them find themselves largely relegated to the sidelines, or get absolutely derailed after the first season. A great example of the former is Asuka, who largely loses relevance in the series after her season 1 plot of trying to find her brother. She’s certainly a formidable duelist, and she even has a few instrumental wins in the first season, but by the second half of the show, she barely gets to duel anymore and only has a couple of single-episode arcs and showings. It’s telling that her only bearing on the main plots of seasons 3 and 4 amount to her essentially being assimilated around the halfway mark of those two respective seasons after dueling once...each. As for an example of the latter without touching on the broken mess of spoilers that is Kaiser, we have Daichi Misawa. Good lord in Heaven, what happened to one of the strongest characters and friendliest rivals of season 1? After being one of the few decent duelists in the first half of season one, they decided to play more into his “science” gimmick while making him a joke for the rest of the first and second seasons, culminating in his only significant on-screen duels amounting to losses and questionable forfeits as he randomly becomes insecure about being seen as weak. By season 3, he isn’t even dueling anymore, though the once friendly rival to Judai at least has his own interesting plot revolving one of the antagonists from season 1 who beat him. There are several other characters that suffer from these bad writing decisions. Judai’s sidekick of sorts, Shou, goes from a wimpy loser struggling to prove himself in the first season to a whiny coward who picks on freshmen just because season 2 decided to be the worst. The season 2 mainstays, Edo and Tyranno, have miserable introductory seasons, as the former has an annoying revenge plot, and the latter’s on again off again bickering with Shou over who gets to be Judai’s sidepiece is perhaps the most insufferable character dynamic in the franchise. However, a lot of these characters either barely matter in the latter half anyway, or become genuinely endearing once they find their own new personality traits, character dynamics, and big moments such as Tyranno nuking an entire wave of zombie students with a meteor attack just so his friends can reach season 3’s main antagonist. That’s the thing about GX. Whenever it knows how to develop a character well, it can produce some of the best characters in the franchise. Judai’s development is the best of any character in the series, as his fears over losing his friends to some of the more supernatural and dangerous aspects of dueling are weaponized in later seasons to great effect. He’s already a likable character at the start, with how his jovial, laid-back attitude eventually contrasts with his greatest fears. However, seeing how far the series goes to both break and reshape him while a bit flawed in some cases, is absolutely harrowing. They’re the main draw of seasons 3 and 4, as the darker tone of the series takes hold and legitimately sympathetic or at least interesting antagonists bring out the worst of Judai before he and his friends can overcome it. The show actually conveyed the messages of not giving into your greatest fears in life quite well, as those who do either give up on life, or become a more desperate, depressed, and inconsiderate version of themselves whose actions and failures haunt them at every turn. On a less cerebral note, there’s still Manjoume and Chronos. Out of the major side characters established since the beginning, they’re the only two who don’t get derailed or underutilized. Manjoume’s eventual development from the most abrasive elitist to a somehow more AND less egotistical powerhouse clown is honestly astonishing. While they perhaps could have done a bit more with him in later seasons, the dichotomy between his egotistical and borderline tsundere clown side growing simultaneously while sandpapering his more abrasive edges is a treat. He steals the show almost every time he’s on screen throughout his entire journey. As for Chronos, him learning to be less of an elitist professor who hates all of the students on the lower rung is equally compelling. Watching him slowly go from constantly trying to expel Judai to putting his line and career on the line for his students multiple times, makes for some of the most impactful scenes of each season. His final duel with Judai makes for the best, most compelling duel in the entire series as Chronos’ arc comes to a heartwarming close. There are other entertaining characters with their own arcs and gimmicks, such as Austin O’Brien’s militant and crafty nature leading to a compelling mini-arc and some of the third season’s funniest moments, and Jim Cook’s devotion to friendship being so powerful that he legitimately has a mystical item related to it and an alligator as his partner. However, we’ll be here all day if we go over every aspect of GX’s strangely inconsistent character writing. A cast of characters makes up the bulk of a series’ heart and soul, but the story that drives them along is similarly important...and often weak in this case The first half of the first arc is largely devoted to hilariously absurd, albeit inconsistent episodic plots, as well as a few minor character a…

The tightrope between absurdity and existentialism. The setting is not what it appears to be. The series has remained fascinating to me for many years, despite its status as a tie-in to a trading card game. The expectations going in are low, but the show dazzled me as a younger man for its surprising depth of character writing and the journey of the characters. GX is absurd, but also unafraid to go to dark places. It's about growing up, the meaning of games, the pain of adolescence, and the Jungian shadow. Judai is at first an annoying main character. Blithe, casually arrogant, undisciplined. But there is also an innocence to him that is in equal measure endearing and disturbing. There is something "off" about him, and as we learn more of his past in the later seasons, it all starts to make sense. His character is a microcosm for the series as a whole - boyish playfulness and youthful exuberance masking inner darkness, shadows bubbling madly beneath the surface. Minute by minute, the youthful ideals are stripped away and the child is thrust into adulthood. The side characters suffer from the problem most shonen side characters do - lack of plot important battles and victories. But what they lack in those they make up for with strong character arcs. Manjoume is a great twist on the usual "shonen rival" archetype, Shou is a similarly unique take on the "insecure shy best friend" cliche, Ryo and the "aloof big brother". All of them deconstruct the usual templates. The character writing is pound for pound superior to Yugioh Duel Monsters, and that is a FACT. The technical aspects of the show are fine. The animation is generally good, with peaks and valleys seen in all long running series. Japanese soundtrack is decent, Sad Duel is a great track. The openings and endings are very good, except for the first OP and ED, which are booty in my opinion. 99% is both melancholy and hopeful, Precious Time Glory Days is a rousing anthem. The dub is hilarious, and cheesy enough to capture the more absurd elements of the show. It surpasses cringe and leaps headlong into meme territory. It fails utterly at the serious moments though, and the sub is overall the superior product by leaps and bounds. This series stands apart from Yugioh Duel Monsters, there is a serious argument to be made for it being better. Those who call it a knockoff are ignorant and fail (or refuse to) see the series' merits. The depth is there - choose to see it! I will defend this series any day any time.

First of all, I came here, not to talk about the story, but to get rid of this burden after watch this series I have a lots of comments about this one I am a Yu-gi-oh fan, and I am the type of person who likes to see all series I got really disapointed, unfortunately I saw this GX series in 3 languages, the first season I've downloaded in the original language (JAP) and I started to like it, but around 50th or 60th episodes, I couldn't find in Japanese, and downloaded Portuguese Version, which kinda sucks Around 80th's I had the bad luck to encounter the disgusting version of Cartoon Network and 4Kids, which made me hate GX series It's all wrong in English series, the duel card format, the soundtrack, the voices and their accents, the fuckin' american lame jokes that completely ruined the Anime scene Well, I would love to see this one all in Japanese, but I couldn't find, so... life sucks, and that's why I scored as a 4 After this experience, I am completely against DUBBED versions And one more thing, sorry the bad english

Please note before you read this, the scores i gave it were all 10's. I'll explain in detail shortly Yu-Gi-Oh!, as we all know it , is a super successful card game show, and downright franchise. Most of the content that spill's out of its universe, is made purely, for cash. The original series people will argue, is the same. And they are right, but here's how I look at it. So fucking what? As a child, me and the kids my age were absorbed into this show and its card game. I was about maybe around 9 when GX came out, and as a kid I could not see the huge flaws that make up this show. We loved it so much, all these franchises, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Pokemon. Hell, maybe even some Digimon. These things, make up what I liked to do as a kid with friends and alone. And at the age of 16, I am secure enough to say I fucking love this show. Not that i would watch it or play the card game, Hell no I'm no fucking loser, but i love the memories and I still have a tremendous respect for this show. It's all horrible, or it's all good. Does not matter. The story is shit. We have no development and all their is for characters are Archtypes. But that's OK. The dissection is redundant at this point! It was more about the cards then the actual show. But still this show had our tiny brains absorbed into this spikey haired, over the top, repetitive show! But at least it was consistent! If i had to pick most show's that game out now, or this, THIS in a fucking heartbeat. No not Angel Beats, Shoo weeaboo. We basically got our dumb protagonist Jayden, who only losses when it suits the plot accordingly, our evil pedophile DR who wants to take him down, A stuck up rival who has a Ojama complex, a chick who does not want to show us her titties, a pussy for a best friend, Fat albert if he was a white Koala, and a strain of side characters that have more meaning than some. This show sounds like shit! But when we were kid's we could let that all go and take it simply for what it was. Any review criticizing this show for its countless flaws is redundant. The only thing that matters to rate this show, No, this universe, is how it affected YOU. Fuck character and art and sound (Get your game on) YOU are what this show is about. Now take all your cards from you closet, or if you sold them remember the times, and just take a gander at yourself. This to people who grew up with any franchise, That IS YOU. Take it or leave it.

Perhaps the only case of anime where the dub actually did a better job than the original, and we're talking 4kids here. Set approximately 10 years after the original ended, we meet Jaden, a student who enrolls in the famous Duel Academy, that trains people to becomes pros. Since it's a yugioh anime that's not Arc V (or 5ds) you can already guess that there isn't much in terms of character development, backstory etc etc. Jaden is nothing short of a hyperactive cheerful clown who has the occasional kinda-badass moments, and then we have the background cast of Alexis, Bastian, Chazz, Cyrus and a few others, though you will only remember Chazz since he's in almost as many episodes as Jaden (they're rivals... kindof... Usually it's Chazz making a fool of himself and then dueling Jaden for insertstreetfighterlogichere). The villains will settle for nothing less than world domination (minus the 3rd arc villain who... Lets not spoil it, she is pretty unique though), and will stop at nothing to destroy their opponents... That is to say minus the rules of a duel that more ofter than not they have no reason to play. But this is yugioh, all conflict is solved with card games. Now for the duels themselves, definitely an improvement from the original. Pretty much everyone uses fusions, or otherwise will end up using fusions. The only exceptions are the occasional one-episode villain using a lockdown burn deck, and the final bosses of each arc. The duels are from start to finish intents, starting the long tradition of the yugioh anime (&game) of changing who has the upper hand per turn. Obviously this manages to keeps the tensions up and give you quite a spectacle. And this is where the highlight of the dub comes in, for once 4Kids puns&insults are not AS horrible as you would expect. Surely there are a lot of retarded lines along the way, but certain catchprases like "Game On" will definitely make an impression to you. Another thing that 4kids did right was replace the (mediocre at best) original soundtrack with various techno themes that REALLY get you going (seriously, kudos for that). The voice acting isn't half bad either, with various characters other than Jaden managing to make an impression, especially when it comes to villains. Satorius (the second season's villain) especially had some amazing voice acting done for his part, which is also the reason the second season (Light of Destruction) is bound to be your favourite of the four. Honestly there is not much to say about GX, I suggest watching the dub as far as it goes, for the awesome music (and kinda barable puns) if not for nothing else, and then continuing to the final season with the original, since 4kids decided not to dub it due to overly diabolical themes (despite the series actually going well in terms of viewers). Game on!

This is my first time righting a review for an anime, but I will explain this as thoroughly as possible. I watched this in Sub because 4 Kids did a terrible job. Yu-Gi-Oh! GX follows a time period after that of the original Yugioh and we follow Yuki Judai, who is on his way to an elite school for duelists "Duel Academia" , as he progresses his success often grabs the attention others negatively, much like the original series with Yugi and Kaiba. If you watch the beginning your going to feel like this show is one of those normal high-school settings just with the addition of dueling, however as you progress things become much more intense. The first two seasons in a way are created for Judai to develop himself and for that reason they are the worst seasons of the series. Once you get to season 3 that's when the true enjoyment starts to kick in. This is the period of time where Judai has to use everything he learned from his time to solve situations that are extremely difficult for him. Not only does the intensity grow but he starts to make decisions that can cause grief and sadness to those around him. If you are looking at this series and thinking should I watch it or not, here is my recommendation to you, if you want to go through the complete character development and all the experiences he has watch it from the beginning. If you want to get right into the juicy part of this start watching at the start of the 3rd season which I believe starts at episode 105. The reason I believe this is fine is because major characters of the story come into play right into this episode and the plot starts to pick up from the slow pacing that was occuring before that. The soundtracks for GX were good but nothing too special, the best opening imo being the third one. However the sound matches in the setting always in a good way to give the viewer the idea of what is about to occur. Overall, GX was the deepest and most enjoying of the Yugioh series, the reason being the hardships that Judai had to go through, and how he overcame his situation. Also his emotions and the way he reacted when things did not go his way becomes a very enjoyable thing to watch. I would highly recommend this anime to anyone who is a fan of duel monsters and rate it the highest out of any of the series over the original as well.

This is going to be a rather harsh review so skip it if you do like the series. Also it contains spoilers for some bits so read at your own risk. I honestly do not understand how anybody is giving this series above a 5. It is one of the most painfully mediocre anime series I've come across in all my years of watching anime. The second half of 5D's which is a trainwreck compared to the first half is HIGH ART compared to GX. I'll admit I've only watched random bits of the series, but I've watched large chunks across the first three seasons, so I think I've seen enough to be able to judge it. However, if you do like this series, I commend you and am glad you can find some redeeming value in this series. Characters: 2/10 These characters... Calling them "characters" is too kind. Even calling them cardboard cutouts would be too generous. These are some of the most static, cliche, bland, forgettable characters I've come across in all my years of viewing anime. There is almost no character development to speak of. Even when they DO get development, they tend to act like their development never happened. The best example of this is Chronos. He starts out as an antagonist then drifts to being a bit of an ally to Judai and co toward the end of the first season. He even ends up being proud of Hayato and recommends him to Industrial Illusions. But by time the second season starts, he's actively trying to destroy the Osiris Red Dorm. The characters are also inconsistent. Manjoume is extremely driven, hard-headed, and independent, but during the last bit of the first season, he falls in love with Asuka quite literally out of nowhere. I mean I skipped the first half of the first season, so maybe there was some interest shown before. However, there was absolutely NO indication of that during the previous episodes of the Seven Star Assassin's arc. The worst part is that the characters are static beyond belief. I watched half of the first season, part of the second, and half of the third, but I saw absolutely no character growth in anybody. Judai was still the same, boring shounen protag he always was. Manjoume was the same joke he always was. Shou remained the same coward he always was. Misawa wasn't even there for half of the third season. There is no character to growth to speak of. I'm a writer so I know what real character growth look like. Mostly static characters are not bad in and of themselves. In fact, they can be very interesting. However, when the entire cast is static, that's when there's a problem. None of the characters grow at ALL. Art/Sound: 5/10 The animation and sound on this series are...mediocre at best. There's nothing that really makes it stand out from other serialized anime. Story: 2/10 Admittedly, I am not the most qualified person to judge the story since I've seen maybe 20-40% of the series, so I'm going to more use this category to judge the quality of the writing from what I saw. As you can tell, I thought it was absolutely dreadful. this is one of the most filler-ridden, soulless pieces of garbage I've ever seen. To put into perspective just how trashy this anime is, I started watching at episode 27 and I had NO trouble keeping up with what had happened. I was admittedly a little bit more confused when I jumped over basically all of season two into season three, but I felt like I had lost nothing when I skipped so much. The stories were mostly self-contained enough to not really need too much backstory on what had happened in previous seasons. Even for when season two bled over into three, I jumped in without much of any trouble. I know this was one way to attract viewers as the anime progressed while it was airing, but it's still pretty bad. The worst part of this series if the FILLER. I know it's to be expected of any long-running show especially in shounen, but that doesn't excuse just how tedious and BORING it is. I admittedly skipped over the majority of season two, but the first ten episodes at least have next to NOTHING related to the plot. The main plot during those episodes focuses around trying to get rid of the Osiris Red dorm. The main plot for the first bit of the seconds season is literally just trying to get rid of one of the dorms. However, the worst part of the lazy writing is the deus ex machina. It happens three times in the last bit of season 1 and the first bit of season 2. The first one is when they need to get the spirit gates open so they have Manjoume randomly fall in love with Asuka and take the keys. When he loses to her, the gates open and Judai faces Kagemaru. What's supposed to be the first season's climax is a rushed clusterfuck. It takes only about two episodes to resolve which would be fine if it were any good. But no. I don't care if they established the Philosopher's Stone card a few episodes before, but they didn't establish its effects. It grants Judai three wishes for cards he needs and that's how he wins. It's anticlimactic at best and offensively lazy writing at worst. I know they were probably strapped for time, but if you're going to have this duel be the climax, THEN GIVE IT THE PROPER TIME IT NEEDS. DON'T JUST HAVE IT END BECAUSE JUDAI CAN GET WHATEVER HE NEEDS TO BEAT THE BAD GUY. The other example comes in season two when Judai gets his new deck. He's literally just whisked away to a planet to resolve an emotional crisis and is handed the cards he needs to defeat Ed. The writing seems to get somewhat better in season three since you get the plot moving forward unimpeded without filler for awhile...but then it just stops for a small filler arc with zombie students. This is where I gave up on the series and couldn't continue due to the painful mediocrity. The story is admittedly interesting, but there's an old adage in writing that holds true here: "Strong characters can carry a weak plot but a strong plot cannot carry weak characters." That is so painfully true in the third season of GX. The plot is interesting but the characters are so one dimensional you just cannot care about them. Enjoyment: 1/10 If negative scores were a thing on this website, my enjoyment would be in the negatives. This series bored me at best and insulted my intelligence at worst. I'll go into my personal reasons for watching the series at this point. I don't remember exactly how or why I started watching 5D's last year, but I did and I absolutely fell in love with it. I'm a test-based roleplayer, so it was inevitable that my main partner and I started messing around in the 5D's universe. My main character is Aki and my muse of her has grown and drifted from canon in some ways. Mine can actively see and interact with the duel spirits in her deck, so I picked up GX since it's the series that delves into them the most. Needless to say, I gave up before I got through the entirety of the third season. Is it unfair to compare GX to 5D's? I don't think so, but it's basically apples and oranges. 5D's is a great series with strong character development and interactions (for the most part) with a compelling plot and characters. GX is a mediocre, stale, cliche, cookie-cutter shounen anime that has little to no redeeming value. Even the worst of 5D's is far better than the best of GX. I'd rather watch the Pre-WRGP arc of 5D's which is 90% filler over a ten-episode stretch of GX. I honestly do not understand how anybody legitimately enjoys this series.

I don't get why everyone says Yugioh GX sucks so much, I prefer it more than the other three. Probably because of the dub. But this series was amazing and heart-felt and I don't regret watching it. Okay, first off the story. The first season is what drew me to the series because of the light-hearted themes in it. At one point, things kinda got serious but nonetheless it still had its comic relief. The story was kind of scattered though. It wasn't until around later did it finally get into it's actual plot, not that I had a problem with. The second season was the same thing but with a different plot. The third season started off light hearted but then later on we see a much more meaningful plot that leads on into season four. I loved that. Not even the duels turned me off. In fact, it had me on the edge of my seat. And I'm a girl. :P The art was really nice. But at some points they didn't color it right. Like for example, they had once colored Judai/Jaden's eyes grey and they forgot to shade in the orange-brownish patch at the top of his head. Anyways, the art was really well done and not lazy at all. The Soundtrack was really good but I prefer the yugioh. The music really matched the scene that was playing and it really added to the mood. Also I fell in love with the season two ending - Wake Up Your Heart by KENN (Judai's voice actor) and the season three opening - Teardrop by BOWL. Another thing I really like about this series is the characters, especially Judai. The other protagonists for the other yugioh series (not sure about Yuma) have a sort of win-or-die attitude and have been slapped or punched for being so...ahem..."EMOtional"(once again not sure about Yuma). But not Judai. Well, before season four but still. Judai would probably get slapped for being so naïve or stupid. He had a happy-go-lucky air around him that draws people to him like moths to a light. Even when he lost, he still had his happy air. However, at the start of season four, Judai had undergone a major character change, which in other words he matured with a twist. And I also love his "twin" Johan/Jesse. I wished he came in around season one so he could get more screen time and character development. I really enjoyed watching this series and re-watching my favorite moments over and over. I recommend this show to those who like Yugioh and school-based animes. Even if you dont, still just watch it, you wont regret it. Forget what everyone else is saying about how this show sucks. Overall, I give this show a 10. As I said before, you will not regret watching this show and the duels are just as amazing. But if you want the full enjoyment of this show, watch the japanese version like I did.

This isn't a perfect series, it has it's ups and downs, the first season suffers a lot from introducing a lot of characters and no real over all plot, though that improves in the second and third season. What the show does have that I love is some really nice themes, and doesn't seem to suffer from 1 card syndrome like other yugioh's I've watched, where the main char only ever uses the same card every fight to win. His deck is varied with enough surprises and new editions, along with everyone else. What I do like is how every characters deck has it's own theme and feel to it that progresses for the most part as the series goes on. We see a evolution in most of the characters deck's and themselves. I really enjoyed this one over all, recently having watched the third season I had skipped before, and found it enjoyable, despite being darker then previous stuff. I would suggest checking it out if you love the card game, or just like the anime in general, I originally was concerned about the theme of a school wasn't sure if there would be enough there, but while the first season like I said had some of that issue, it got better over all, and still enjoyed the first season.

Yu-Gi-Oh GX, how I love you so! I don't know why this is one of the most hated Yu-Gi-Oh series, because in my opinion, it's the best! I'm not quite sure why, but perhaps it's my nostalgia for it. Of course, the original Yu-Gi-Oh is a VERY close second to this for me, but for some reason this kind of just takes the cake. Let me give this a quick review. Story: 6 It's Yu-Gi-Oh. Don't expect a deep plot obviously, because there won't be one. It's about people playing a children's card game for fun and to be the best, but there are also a lot of villains that appear that have the power to steal souls! It's not bad, but it's silly, don't you think? That's why I give the story a 6, which is fair. But surprisingly, there actually are some pretty damn deep moments within the anime, some of which could maybe even make me cry! Art: 8 The art is very nice to look at. There are some continuity errors at times with the wrong card being displayed on the duel disk, but nobody really cares about that, anyway, right? Regardless, the art style is nice but it's nothing groundbreaking. Sound: 9 The OST is actually really good! The intro is really catchy, and a lot of the music that plays in really serious and dark moments is VERY creepy and cool! It definitely really adds to the theme of the show! Character: 9 Probably Yu-Gi-Oh GX's best trait are the characters. It has a very lovable main character with many lovable side characters, and some really cool and interesting villains! I think that the characters are the reason why I prefer this to the original. I just think that they were a bit better for some reason. Enjoyment: 9 I'll always keep coming back to this anime and watching some of the epic duels. The show can be hilarious at times, and overall it's just a lot of fun to watch! Maybe not so much if you didn't grow up watching it though. If you watched the original Yu-Gi-Oh as a child and didn't watch this, and you tried watching this, you probably wouldn't like it at all, because it's quite a lot different and more light-hearted. Overall: 9 This isn't a deep psychological anime or anything, and it does have quite a few continuity errors, but those can be ignored. For example, a lot of the card effects differ from how they work in real life, along with some of the game mechanics. Also, there are some instances when Jaden only uses a card once or twice, and then it's never seen from again. It makes you wonder where it went! But yeah, definitely watch it if you love the Yu-Gi-Oh series in general, because you're missing out if you skipped over this. Seriously, it's great. Quirky, funny, cool, and overall just a great anime!

As some who appreciates good pacing and superb character development, until today, I'm not sure why most of the Yu-Gi-Oh fanbase dubs this spin-off the worst of them all. Story 9/10 Developed story. You heard, right: developed story. An EXTREMELY developed story. GX starts as something typical and absurd but don't let that happiness fool because this series is far from it. GX is deep - much, much deeper than you could have ever imagined from a series like this. The plot is really something that constricts your heart little by little, season by season, until you can't take it anymore and just cry in frustration. You probably heard the words "wait until season three," when you hear about GX, and you most certainly heard right. GX is a slow-paced, well-developed series that bore majority of its watchers... which you shouldn't be! I'll admit that the first few episodes may seem like fillers, but that's okay! Skip them if you have to! But I will guarantee you that you WILL go back to those missed episodes to better understand the characters. Like every highschool anime, the graduation will tear you up. Oh, and bonus! The ending's a big, big bonus. Character 10/10 I know what you're thinking: for the one Yu-Gi-Oh series everyone seems to hate, it's impossible to give it a 10 at anything. And I. Just. Don't. Get. It. The characters? Fully fleshed out. Every single one of them. I especially enjoyed Judai, Jun and Sho. These three - and all the other - they start as something very uninteresting, superficial and bland. but as the show progresses, you see them change, evolve little by little. You won't notice it at first, but (and this is why I said you'll go back on the first few episodes after finishing the series) rewatch season one after and you'll see how different they all are. If there's anything that GX flaunts the most, it's character development. The true development really lies with Judai - he's different. Unexpectedly different. But that's all I'm saying regarding that. Bonus: Strong female leads. Leads. Plural. Art 7/10 There's nothing notably special about it, but points for an anime with a ton of creatures with full 2D animation. Sound 8/10 I rated it high, but there's not much to say about it. Like every good anime, its bg music and OSTs are a big, big treat. And is definitely your biggest hint as to how... different... the season is going to be. Overall, I can't really say anything without spoiling too much: only that if you were a big fan of the original and is reluctant to try any of the spin-offs; GX is a good start! A fan of amazeballs characters and development? GX. Do you sometimes feel that Yu-Gi-Oh's becoming a patriarchy? Go back to GX. This blessed, balanced show has all the things you need to be a good show.

Right, so before I write anything, I'd like to say one thing: Before you watch this Anime, you need to get past the fact that pretty much 70-80% of people who have watched the original will say that GX is terrible. Obviously reviews are very much subjective; I am writing my opinion of the show here, and other people's views may differ. This is just my view. Okay, so GX is obviously the follow-on series to Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters, and is set just after the events of the first series. STORY: 7/10 It follows a new protagonist, Jaden/Judai Yuki, in his adventures at Duel Academy, a school where students are sorted into different three houses depending on their skills as a duelist and their time at the academy, and study Duel Monsters essentially. Now off the bat you're probably thinking 'This is the corniest thing I've ever heard', but don't let that deter you! GX, past the first few episodes and admittedly getting past a few irritating characters, is quite a strong series with a good story and overall very enjoyable. At first the story follows Jaden and his friends mostly getting into all sorts of trouble at school, mostly centered around his rival, Chazz Princeton, and a professor at the school Vellian Crowler who is determined to expel Jaden by all means necessary. However, past the first few episodes the story begins to darken slightly, as the protagonists are faced with a threat to the school and the dueling world itself. It's down to the protagonists to save the dueling world as they know it. I would be more specific as to what this threat is, but that'd ruin the plot. One problem admittedly with the story is that initially it does take a while to get into this interesting plot line mentioned above, and this time beforehand could be enough to convince the viewer that this show is really bad. But I would heavily suggest sticking with it, because it does get better. ART: 6/10 The artwork in the show is very similar to that of Duel Monsters, and for an anime that was produced in the early 2000's, I'd say it's quality is pretty fair. At times it's obviously a bit shoddy, but otherwise it's rather decent animation and artwork quality, and it doesn't tend to give you a headache like other animes out there. SOUNDTRACK: 8/10 This might just be me, but I couldn't get enough of the OP. The lyrics admittedly, are INCREDIBLY corny, but the music in the opening is just very up-beat and lively, and it sets the tone for the whole of the series really; light-hearted for the most part. And the music within duels is very true to most animes in the way it tells you what's about to happen. There are various soundtracks which scream 'THE PROTAGONIST IS ABOUT TO WIN', in which you prepare yourself for some epic combo which you could only dream of pulling off in reality, that is if you have any interest in the card game. What is disappointing, however, is that I can't find any of the soundtracks anywhere on the internet. CHARACTERS: 6/10 I myself will admit, there are a fair few characters in GX which you just can't stand, and it varies for a lot of people. My favourite character is Chazz, mainly because I find it hilarious how overwhelmingly cocky he is, and his deck is pretty funny also. But additionally he has a fair bit of character development; playing the anti-hero for the most part, he goes from being an enemy of Jaden's to an ally, and from there swaps roles rather frequently sometimes; and it turns out that he's not so much of a bad person as you'd think. However I understand that a few people probably find Chazz incredibly irritating, just as I find Chumley incredibly annoying, which is why I rate the characters 6/10; while you will love some characters, you will not be able to tolerate others at all. OVERALL: 7/10 This anime's intended audience is obviously with the younger children, but honestly it can be enjoyed by just about any anime fan I'd say, even if they have no interest in the card game itself. A fair warning though: this anime does contain a fair amount of 'the power of friendship', so if you're one of those people who is physically ill every time you hear some longwinded speech of how he's come so far because of his supporting friends, then I wouldn't recommend any Yu-Gi-Oh! series to be brutally honest. If you honestly don't mind about the friendship power however, then I would recommend this anime if you want something to watch. It's got an engaging story, mostly enjoyable characters, and some of the soundtracks will stick in your head like glue.

Following up the original yugioh series, we have yugioh GX. Now if you are looking for something to top the original, this is sadly not it. While pretty fun to watch the story lacks a lot from the original yugioh which has a pretty deep story, GX offers a more childish and fun story to watch. Story 5/10: Jaden goes to a dueling school and just goes threw seperate arcs. It is a simple story and not very in depth. Fun to watch, nothing more. Art 7/10: The art in yugioh GX is average, the monsters look alright but some are made childish, too childish and annoying. Sound 9/10: Music is very catchy, game on get your game on! Character 7/10: Most of the characters develop throughout the anime and there are some hilarious characters in the pack, although also some annoying ones. Kid show, variety isn't massive. Enjoyment 9/10: It's a very fun series to watch but nothing that will change your life. Overall 6/10: Watch it for fun if you're bored but don't expect much. I recommend watching original yugioh instead its better or the abridged series, even better than that.

I grow up watching yugioh dm and yugioh gx , and I am a big yugioh fan , but when trying to watch the og dm yugioh anime , it was painful , I wanted to see fun duels and not a terrible story , which is what yugioh gx delivers me , it is a fun entertaining show , when it come to the duels , each character has their own theme when it comes to decks , and the best part about the series is the "filler" characters , such as belowski and bonapart , their deck as very fun , i wish there was more deck like those in real life , I might be bias because i was addicted to the yugioh gx tag force series which made me feel like i lived in the duel academy , but i enjoyed the duels very much , but the reason this show is not a masterpiece for me is because , in S3 they started to focuse more on the "story" if you can even call it that , i didn't care for any of it , i just wanted fun duels , while other season did attempt to make a story , it was minor , and there were more duels and fillers duels that there were "plot" episodes , and even the plot episode were focused more on having fun than telling a boring uninteresting story , but s3 just ruined all of it , there were even episode where there is no duels which my gripe with the yugioh dm , another mino complaint i have with the show , is the lack of care in the details , the world makes no sense , why are there dormitories to begin with , why is there no female slifer or ra dormitories , why don't people pay attention to the trap cards , why do character act like they are gonna loose when they know they won't , because they have a trap card set down , and worst of all , why did they have to put that silly joke of bastion being forgotten. I might seem like i have more bad things to say than good things , but thats because i suck at explaining why i like thing but im great at hating i guess lol.

I honestly don't care what people say to this even if you watched the Eng dub and full of censorship, this anime will still be my childhood. (Eng dub = bad) I've come to realize that in the later seasons the show has more to offer rather than just dueling, and it grounded itself by inserting consequence and growth toward the main character which he struggled at first which caused psychological trauma and an unforeseen shift to narrative which I think separates itself from the first yugioh The First half of the 1st season was a slice of life kind of yugioh but the 2nd half got to the main story The 2nd season are mixed with filler episodes and the main story episodes The 3rd season didn't fool around and gave filler episodes and went straight to the mature side of the story which is why this is the best season and it focused on Judei Yuki character development The 4th season gave the side characters some development and it finishes with Yugi vs Judei Also that droplet of romance in that one episode gets me all the time

Yu-Gi-Oh! GX had big shoes to fill, being the second series (and a sequel in-universe to) the iconic first season of duel monsters. It took a lot of risks to create its own identity as opposed to going the Pokemon route and recycling the characters and plot while changing the setting, which can be alienating to people who grew up on DM and likely led to its polarizing reception at the time. On the surface, GX feels like somewhat of an affectionate parody of the original, especially in the dub. The first episodes of the first season take the premise of yugioh and largely play it for comedy, as it slowly edges into darker waters and deconstructs both the premise of the original show as while as the characters it built up over several seasons. While the shift in tone can feel very sudden, the show generally handles it well. The best part of GX is definitely its characters. Most of the characters are designed to appear to be like the original cast of characters, but with a twist. The main rival acts like Kaiba at first, but the rivalry is never serious and he quickly develops his own character. The token girl of the cast actually gets to be a strong duelist, although this unfortunately isn't shown too much. In general, the characters in this show are fantastic, but the supporting cast doesn't get to advance the plot too much despite the scores of character development. Standouts include Jaden/Judai, Zane/Ryo, and Dr. Crowler, but most of the main recurring cast qualifies. While it's difficult to say why without spoiling, the four seasons/arcs are all solid in their own ways. The first season takes a while to get going, but each of the antagonists of the arc are fun in their own way, be it comedic, threatening, or something else, and this season more than any other shows off the wide range of characters in the show as duelists, with multiple supporting characters landing plot-important wins and multiple duels. The second season is paced much better, with the story starting almost immediately and being woven into the smaller acts of the season, growing until it becomes too big to ignore in-universe and leading to some fantastic moments. The supporting cast continues to grow both in number and development, with several episodes apiece for most of them. The third season is where the show takes a different turn. It spends the first two seasons building up its cast of characters and plot conventions, and then spends an entire season deconstructing them, especially the lead character. It's very dark, and the tone shift can be quite jarring, but it's well worth the ride once you adjust. The villain of this season can be pretty divisive, but is overall enjoyable, as are the rest of the new characters with the standout being Johan/Jesse. The final season, which was never dubbed, is extremely difficult to talk about without spoiling anything. You'll either love it or you'll hate it, but overall I personally loved it. While the sub is obviously the best choice, the dub for the first two seasons isn't bad and fits with the more light-hearted nature of the show at that point quite well. And lastly, if you care about lgbt+ representation/subtext, there's a canonically intersex character, and in the sub the main character's orientation is speculated on in universe, with a ton of (barely) subtext that the dub downplayed but didn't remove. Overall, Yugioh GX is different. Very different from the original, and if you don't like it, that's fine. But if you stick around to watch it you'll find a show that's just as good as, if not better than the original.