GX was one of those shows I watched as a kid, but never finished. I watched the first half of the first season when I was younger, but no more than that until I was older.
Although even if I did watch it all when I was young, I would have been disappointed. Why? Because the dub decided to stop at the end of season three. Why did they do that? So they could get straight to 5Ds….and then they stopped before the last season there too. At least Zexal and Arc-V got to finish their dubs.
But enough about companies being stupid. What's my thoughts on GX?
I think it's good. Not as good as DM, but an enjoyable show.
Now unlike DM, GX has less of a continuous story. It's more seasonal. First a plot of a dude trying to get some items to gain youth, then a cult, followed by a plot of a Yandere Monster, and finally a demon of darkness. What I'm saying is that GX has less of an ongoing plot between arcs. There are some elements that carry over. Like the Darkness stuff and Yubel, but other than that, not much.
I really like the concept of GX. A duel school that is divided into different classes based on the God Cards. I also love that Kaiba was the founder of the school. As though Dueling means THAT much to him.
"Mr. Kaiba. We have to cut off some funding. I recommend the Duel School."
"No."
"But Mr. Kaiba. We-"
Kaiba cut him off by pulling a gun, "I said no."
The plots are pretty interesting. The weakest is probably the arc with Kagumaru, but it got more interesting as it went on. If you want to know where I think the show peaked. It's probably the Yubel and Supreme King stuff.
Those arcs are very good and enjoyable with great character work.
Let's talk villains.
Kagumaru wasn't a bad villain, but he wasn't very interesting. I felt for his motive to be young, but there's not much outside of that.
Sartorius was better. His possession was a bit weak, but I count him as the villain because it's easier to type than Light of Destruction. He had a good plan and was intimidating. He was good.
Yubel was the peak of the villains. She had a good backstory, was the most intimidating of the villains, and had good plans. She probably would have won if it wasn't for Jaden having Rainbow Dragon.
Darkness was just there at the end. Moving on.
Onto our heroes.
Jaden was outgoing, chill, and friendly. He pretty much stayed that way till about S4, where he lost his passion for dueling after having to duel for his life so much. Which I liked. I also liked how he had to learn to enjoy dueling to work with Alexis.
Alexis was better than Anzu in that she dueled. However, she didn't really get to contribute much to the plots. She beats Titan, she gets possessed after losing to Chazz, she ditches Jaden after the Jesse stuff, and she helps him get his love of dueling back. That's basically it. She's sidelined everywhere else or it's just filler.
Syrus was a fun companion and his growth to a very skilled duelist. Unfortunately, I think he does less plot wise than Alexis. I can't really think of anything he did that advanced things.
Chumley was there. BYEEEE!
Chazz was pretty much the Kaiba of the show. He was a rich, egotistical asshole. However, he was different from Kaiba in a few ways. His relationship with his brothers was bad, he was more open about wanting people to acknowledge his 'greatness', and he goes through the wringer. He was more fun to watch due to the wringers he was put through.
Tyranno was also there. He had growth, but he was otherwise not important.
Yeah. That's GX's biggest flaw. Most of the characters don't do anything important. The plot is pretty much carried by Jaden, the guest character of that arc, or the villains. Which is not good writing. When most of the characters are useless, it's just a waste of time to focus on them or their arcs. It works when there isn't a serious plot going on, but most of the characters don't matter.
I don't care what anyone says. GX's english theme is awesome!
GX's has it's problems, but overall it is an enjoyable watch with character growth. It's just that the arcs can be a bit samey with characters that don't contribute much.
I also hate to say that GX doesn't really use it's premise very well. While there are filler episodes that focus on some of the classes, the fact that there is a school doesn't really matter after Season one. There are school events and the ending is graduation, but those are it.
If you took Duel Academy out of the series, the big storylines wouldn't really change. It could just be a city and it would mostly be the same.
GX has flaws, but it isn't bad. It's just wasted potential with its premise. I still enjoyed it despite that.
This one was a bit more detailed than I planned it. Maybe when I get more speed with 5DS, this will move a little faster.