Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc-V

This page is dedicated to Kazuki Takahashi (1961-2022).

'Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc-V' (遊☆戯☆王ＡＲＣ－Ｖ, Yūgiō Āku Faibu, "Arc Five"), sylized as ''Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V'', is a Japanese anime series animated by Gallop. It is the fourth spin-off anime series in the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise following ''Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal''. The series aired in Japan on TV Tokyo from April 6, 2014 to March 26, 2017. The series is licensed outside Japan by Konami Cross Media NY and launched internationally in 2015. A manga adaptation by Naohito Miyoshi began serialization in Shueisha's V Jump magazine in August 2015.

The series was succeeded by ''Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS'', which premiered in Japan on May 10, 2017.

Plot
In Paradise City's You Show Duel School, a second-year middle school student named Yuya Sakaki aspires to become a professional Dueltainer. Yuya awakens a new power called Pendulum Summoning, which attracted the attention of the Leo Corporation's president, Declan Akaba. Yuya later meets three Duelists who greatly resemble him: The collected Xyz duelist Yuto whom he unknowingly absorbed, the overconfident Synchro duelist Yugo, and the sadistic Fusion duelist Yuri. These look-alikes originate from other dimensions besides Yuya's Standard Dimension as he and his friends find themselves in the middle of an interdimensional conflict against the Fusion Dimension's Duel Academy, which Yuri attends. Duel Academy is led by Declan's estranged father, Leo Akaba, who seeks to unite the four dimensions. Declan formed a group of elite duelists called the Lancers to stop his father, while they build their numbers during their travels to the Synchro and Xyz Dimensions.

Why It Sucks V Times

 * 1) The main problem with the show is an attempt to celebrate its anniversary of the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise but failed at its execution.
 * 2) It rehashed the cliched "disappeared father" plot thread from Zexal and a lesser extent to GX.
 * 3) The main protagonists (Yugi Muto, Jaden Yuki, Yusei Fudo, and Yuma Tsukumo) from the first 4 series do not appear along with the side characters (like Chancellor Shephard, Reginald "Shark" Kastle, Chazz Princeton, Jesse Anderson, Bastion Misawa, Carly Carmine, Dextra, Nistro, Zane and Syrus Truesdale, Akiza Izinski, and etc.).
 * 4) * Aside from them, pretty much all the legacy characters that do appear barring Jack Atlas from 5D's have no influence on the plot and could be removed with the plot remaining the same. Speaking for the legacy characters, they barely have any connection to other series's they appeared in.
 * 5) **Crow Hogan's arc is just a rehash of his arc from Yu-Gi-Oh 5D's.
 * 6) **Kaito's/Kite Tenjo's story arc makes no sense. Why would he'd be so opposed to the actions of the XYZ resistance, if they were actually trying to save everyone from being carded?!
 * 7) **Asuka Tenjoin's/Alexis Rhodes' arc of her setting up the Fusion Dimension version of YouShow Duel School to cover up the presence of Yuya Sasaki's father, Yusho while simultaneously training a resistance to fight against members of Duel Academia is extremely rushed, not being able to play out properly. Her phobia of Fusion monsters made no sense either.
 * 8) **Edo/Aster Phoenix is a shadow of his former GX self, as he is outright villainous (but not purely evil) without any remorse or sense of honor when it comes to hurting people in dueling is right by Dr. Leo Akaba, something that this Edo/Aster wouldn't even dare to do in GX.
 * 9) The Action Cards became more annoying as they messed up Turbo Duels while also frequently allowing for a cop-out win of a character that would be impossible otherwise.
 * 10) The characters are underused and underdeveloped compared to the previous shows.
 * 11) Seasons 2 and 3 have poor pacing riddled with pointless filler in order to pad out the length of every episode.
 * 12) The second season also basically rehashes the Fortune Cup arc from Yu-Gi-Oh 5D's.
 * 13) The third and final season was the absolute nadir of the series where it's story was extremely rushed due to it cramming two originally season-long arcs into the runtime of one season. In it, it's just Yuya and the gang finding the bracelet girls.
 * 14) Even for Yuya's EGAO/Smile philosophy, it became absolutely unbearable to watch. So, the Xyz arc was rushed as the duel with Zarc was badly dragged out with no real stakes, and the epilogue was just cringeworthy filler (Dueling just to make A BABY SMILE?! Complete nonsense!).
 * 15) The plot holes are especially apparent here and Yuzu/Zuzu did not duel at all. The alternate counterparts of Yuya and Yuzu were reduced to glorified plot fodder.
 * 16) Some facial expression can feel monotoned when they jump up for no reason (either they feel depressed or not)
 * 17) Some annoying characters, such as:
 * 18) * The three YouShow kids in season 1, but especially Frederick.
 * 19) * Battle Beast, during the Fusion arc, was just a bad ripoff of a similar, but somewhat decent character better than him from the Synchro arc (Sergey). He is much more whiny and rampant.
 * 20) * Zarc is by far the worst main antagonist in the franchise so far, according to fandom consensus. His motivations (sadistically "entertaining" everyone) was just wreaking havoc all over the world, which is all too common of a motif for a villain.
 * 21) *Jean-Michel Roger is another example of over-the-top villainy with nonsensical plans. He is portrayed as a psychotic, delusional duelist who mind controls the aforementioned Sergey to win duels, wants to topple Leo Akaba, take over the world, and pretty much nothing else. He ends falling to a dimensional portal making his fate and purpose utterly pointless, but he is better off the being the main villain than Zarc and Dr. Leo Akaba.
 * 22) The villains are completely underused:
 * 23) *Sora, a fan favorite during the first and second season for his cute appearance and fanatical hatred of Yuto, Shun/Shay and the other XYZ dimension characters is wasted during season 3 after redeeming himself in Yuya's eyes, doing pretty much nothing but losing to ZARC when his turn comes.
 * 24) *Yuri, another fan favorite character for similar reasons to Sora and one of the four Yu-boys similarly gets wasted after his duel with Yuya in season 3, not even getting the chance to properly redeem himself, and staying stuck in Yuya's body after ZARC gets defeated.
 * 25) *A few minor villains, most notably the Tyler Sisters, similarly go underused during season 3.
 * 26) *Dr Leo Akaba himself is pretty much thrown under the rug once ZARC appears, with the reason of him kidnapping the Bracelet Girls making absolutely no sense whatsoever. He could've just asked them to come to him if he already wanted her older daughter, Ray/Rei to be revived. When Yuzu was revived, Leo shows no emotion at all or even realize that Ray/Rei is inside of Yuzu’s soul.
 * 27) Plenty of unanswered questions that were resolved after the series ended:
 * 28) It gives zero explanation of how Zarc got the "Supreme King" Deck, and how was it created.
 * 29) How did Sergey or Jean-Michel Roger found the "Earthbound Immortal" cards since the Dark Signers were supposed to be disbanded and gone for good in the 5D's universe (not the Synchro Dimension, that’s separate to that).
 * 30) What happened to Jean-Michel Roger after he went into the dimensional portal?

Redeeming Qualities

 * 1) Again, Daisuke Namikawa does give a good performance as Leo.
 * 2) The first season is considered to be the best part of Arc-V with an interesting plot and mostly bearable characters. Zuzu is a well written female lead and the antagonists seem downright terrifying.
 * 3) The plot is fairly original for the franchise.
 * 4) The next main show, VRAINS, significantly improved on this show's flaws despite having production issues of it's own.
 * 5) Leo Akaba does learn the error of his ways on finding his older daughter.
 * 6) It is a decent improvement to Zexal.
 * 7) Despite the first four main protagonists (Yugi, Jaden, Yusei and Yuma) not appearing in this show, they did appear in the special version of the third opening.