I have a question. Is it truly difficult to make a good anniversary? Crisis on Infinite Earths, Forever Red, Yo Son Goku and his Friends Return. Did these stories require much beyond just just refrencesing and bringing in plot points?

OH GOD YES! A good anniversary is a celebration of a franchise. If you don't think things through, your anniversary will suck hard.

Why am I starting on this note? Because Yu Gi Oh Arc V is a disappointing anniversary. Arc V is the fifth series of Yugioh and it wanted to celebrate that with call backs to the previous shows and returning characters.

There are a lot of problems with this. Let's talk about the plot.

The plot of Arc V is that there are four dimensions that are devoted to a specific summoning method. The one of fusion attacks the others and a team tries to stop them.

Alternate dimensions are great for a yugioh series, especially for a milestone like this. It finally explains the continuity and can lend its way to crossovers.

There is one big problem. The dimensions they go to are not the previous shows. The Synchro Dimension is not a follow up to 5DS. It's just that Crow and Jack that there, but not really. You could see it as them being different characters entirely. The XYZ Dimension just has Kite and Heartland. The fusion has Aster and Alexis and Duel academy.

Aside from that NOTHING! Just characters that are not themselves and a call back here and there with a card or two. We see the Crimson Dragon when not Jack summons his ultimate for instance, even though it doesn't exist there for all we know.

Hell, there were tons of things they have done.

For 5DS, they could have shown how all the characters have been since Z-One's defeat. What happened after that Time Skip?

For Zexal, they could have explained what that threat to Astral World Yuma and the others went to fight.

For GX, they could have had something go wrong and Jaden became the Supreme King again and had an army. Hell they reference the Supreme King with Zarc's monsters.

For DM, they could have had the God Cards do something.

Arc V is under the Future's End assumption that a character showing up is enough to mean something. IT'S NOT! You have to write good characterization and in fact many of the returning characters aren't even themselves.

Let's talk about Arc V as a show as a show on it's own now.

The concept of dimensions and different counterparts there is good, but it's only for the Yu-boys and the Bracelet girls. Nothing else. There was so much potential in this premise and they blew it.

The plot of Fusion trying to conquer is mostly ok. The main villain of the Synchro arc is from there and wants to control it himself, the XYZ arc is about the horrors of Fusion's invasion, and we see that many of the FDs citizens are as much victims to the army as everyone else.

That part is good. What's bad is how it's all resolved, it's treated as a mere inconvenience rather than a horrific action. JUST SMILE AND WAVE PEOPLE THAT WILL SOLVE IT! Most of the redemptions were a leap, but you could argue that they weren't total monsters, just people who were given the crap stick.

But here, it's what Steven Universe gets stereotyped as. All problems resolved with smiles and hugs and no real logic.

The final storyline of the series is whether or not they can make a baby smile. That could be resolved with a game of peek-a-boo. Screw resolving your plot threads when you can make a plot of a sitcom.

Let's just get to the villains.

Jean-Michel was a sleazy politician. He was honestly the best villain of the show. He had a good plan and would have won if Yuya hadn't united the Synchro dimension. (Oh yeah, recycled 5DS plot BTW.)

Leo Akaba was kinda stupid. He's goal was to stop Zarc and get his daughter back. Why did he need to invade other dimensions for that? He could have just gone to get the Bracelet girls and killed the Yu boys himself. It's so simple and less death and destruction. For a scientist who could make tangible holograms, he's an idiot.

Yuri was ok. Standard for Yugioh insane villain.

Zarc was there at the end to give the Yu-Boys something to amount to, despite them all being the biggest players in the show. Also he has THE dumbest voice in the english : watch?v=fuZEJ-twHyo&list=LL0Y7JHotLrch4hR-q-MHKYQ&index=33&t=0s He just took the coolness of Arc-V's concept and flushed it down the toilet.

Let's talk about our heroes.

Yuya was basically a non-traumatized Steven Universe. He wanted to be an entertainer like his father and I'll admit the show does good with displaying his insecurities. He had growth in his security, but other than that he doesn't change in the show. Unless you count having three other guys inside you.

Yuzu is probably the biggest disappointment in the entirety of Yugioh. She started off as the best female lead with good growth, then after Synchro she's reduced to a damsel in distress. I feel so bad for her character.

Reiji was different from other rivals. He was more concerned with stopping his father than any real selfish goals. He was the leader of the Lancers and had a cool head. He's probably one of my favorite rivals and he's definitely the best character of the show.

I feel no emotion for not wanting to mention Gongenzaka (He had good development, but wasted in the later seasons.) or the like.

If I were to give a recommendation, I'd say stick to the first hundred episodes and jump ship there.

Now for the negativity to end as we'll log into Yu Gi Oh Vrains.