tbalistreri - 2017-01-13 13:10:40

Arc-V is a whacky combination of all of the series that comes before it, however it takes on a much more serious tone. The drama in the show is balanced well with it’s lighter moments, and the card games are as good as they have always been.
If you’ve only watched DM, you’ll be happy to hear that the duels follow rules much closer to the official game than he old series, but you should watch 5Ds before this show, or all of the other series if you want the full enjoyment of some of the fanservice later.

cheyenne.hamill - 2017-01-10 19:27:55

As an original Yu-Gi-Oh fan who could look past the hatchet job 4Kids did to the series (I mean how are you trying to take someone hostage by pointing at them), I was looking forward to a new series in the universe. I enjoyed GX and 5DS, but for some reason I just can’t seem to get on board with Arc-V. Maybe it’s the characters’ need to make a speech about how amazing action dueling is before before each duel, maybe it’s the feeling I get that the battles keep playing out the same way, or I am just not enjoying the stage actor persona the main character has. I know one thing that detracted my enjoyment and that was the pendulum cards themselves, it just feels like he is cheating because he magically summoned these amazing cards that let him do amazing things that no one else can. Heck, the resolution of the duel in episode six is a prime example of him stumbling his way to victory due to unknown powers of these new cards and not his actual strategy. Sorry but I am going to have to pass.

omraz - 2016-01-29 23:06:42

This series is by far my fav off all the Yugioh, second to 5ds maybe. 

metz.alana - 2015-06-03 08:38:54

*This review was originally written during episode 58, but has since been updated up to episode 111 and will continue to be updated until the series finishes airing*

Yugioh Arc V is an anime that most anime fans wouldn't even consider watching. Why? Well it's part of the yugioh franchise, that's why. Most people will say that the Duel Monsters was the only good series of yugioh, and I can kind of understand why, as they will have probably watched the first few episodes of GX, which has led them to think that everything yugioh related after Duel Monsters it automatically crap. Mix this with people's nostalgia, the fact that the franchise is based on a trading card game and the notorious 4Kids dubs, and now it's not very difficult to see why most have given up with the franchise.

But I am here to tell you that this franchise is really good at times. GX was a slow burn that led to a satisfying second half, even if it was too little, too late. 5DS had one of the stupidest concepts for an anime that I had ever heard, being "Card games on motorcycles!", but if you can get past that, the rest of 5DS does redeem itself massively. Zexal was very mediocre and had an annoying protagonist that was bad at dueling, and even straight up copied plot points from Duel Monsters, but Zexal 2 was one of the most fantastic anime I've ever seen. The first half of it perfected the monster of the week formula and the second half goes full game of thrones on our ass, but not in an annoying and repetitive manner like Akame Ga kill. Enough of that though because I’m here to talk about Arc V, the best yugioh series, closely followed by Zexal 2.

First of all, you do not need to watch any previous Yugioh series’ to understand this one. It explains all of the exposition in a way that is easy to understand but still blends with the world. The story revolves around our new protagonist Yuya Sakaki. He constantly acts like a clown because of when his father left when he was younger. Yuya is challenged by the duel champion Strong Ishijima and Yuya accepts, wanting to prove himself and make his father proud, but one thing leads to another and Yuya discovers a new summoning method, the pendulum summon, during his duel. This attracts several faces such as Sora Shuin’in, Shingo Sawatari and Reiji Akabara, who are all after his new summoning method and want to find out how it works. But all is not as it seems, as the new summoning method may have a dark secret, as a mysterious man who looks identical to Yuya appears and claims that his entire universe is in panic and that the card game has started a multi dimensional war. It’s now up to Yuya and his friends to find out his father's past, find out more about the different summoning methods and even stop a war from taking place.

The story is paced really well and gets a really good balance of duels and story. The story unravels in an intriguing way and there are even a lot of times where I legitimately don’t know what’s going to happen next. The story always keeps you excited and invested at all times, there are a tonne of twists and turns along the way.

The animation is a pretty big step down from yugioh zexal. Overall the art doesn’t look quite as clean and crisp as zexal’s art style. Zexal also used Cgi really well by only using it in a stylistic way and never using it on the actual characters themselves. Arc V is a step down in this regard too as there are a lot of noticeable moments where the characters are Cgi’d. It’s not enough to turn the entire experience sour but it does annoy me and can easily say that this is the biggest downside that Arc V faces. The actual character designs look really good. Each character looks different and recognisable easily so that you don’t get characters confused. The characters designs are also more subtle and easy on the eye compared to Zexal and duel monsters too, at least in the hair department anyway.

The characters are really likeable. Yuya is a great protagonist who has a past and personality that make sense. Most of the characters have a decent amount of character development and there are never any holes or forced plot points in their backstory however there are certainly some moments that are foreshadowing and will almost certainly be explained more later on in the story. Previous series’ like GX and Zexal got bashed by fans because they had annoying protagonists so I was scared that Yuya would fall into this trap, but he instead turned out to be extremely likable and relatable, as well as smart too. He doesn’t just fall into every trap set out and is cautious when he needs to be, unlike yuma, the protagonist from Zexal.

The soundtrack for Arc V is simply amazing. Especially during the duels themselves. They can build up tension, despair,victory and any other emotion that you can think of. A couple of these tracks in particular never fail to pump me up and get invested in the duel. The soundtrack gets you to feel exactly what it wants you to feel and I constantly listen to this soundtrack when I’m not even watching the anime. It’s a flawless OST.

The opening themes are extremely good too. The first opening was one that I didn’t like much at first, but it really grew on me over time and I started to miss it after it changed. The second opening is kickass, the beat is catchy and gets you pumped up for the episode itself. The third opening really stands out as a chilled out opening that can still get you excited for the upcoming episode, but my new favorite opening is the fourth opening "trump card" by cinema staff. The opening is so fast paced, catchy and just an absolutely perfect opening. Opening 5 is pretty great too, but it took a few listens to grow on me.Overall, I love Yugioh arc v and it is by far my favourite currently airing anime. It surpassed my expectations in almost every way with the only thing that it fails to achieve is animation that looks as good as zexals. If you are even remotely interested in yugioh or trading card games at all, then I would absolutely recommend this anime, however you might want to wait until it’s finished airing until you watch it as my biggest problem with the show is having to wait for more episodes.