Where I review season 3 of Yugioh GX as a whole
...Where do I even begin with this wretched excuse for a season? Where do I start with this season that managed to scar my very soul? Well, like with seasons 1 and 2, the technical values are a good springboard. Animation is the same as always, mediocre, nothing to write home about. New character designs aren't as lazy, but still not very good. And we actually get some new music tracks, and they're not half-bad. And with that, I take off the kid gloves, as I take on the Plot, and Characterization.
The plot...oh dear god, the plot. You go talk to any of the more dedicated fans of this series, and there is one word that WILL keep coming up; Deconstruction. It is repeatedly claimed that the plot for Season 3 of Yugioh GX is a "deconstruction", that it shows what it would REALLY be like for someone to be forced to play a children's card game with lives and the safety of the world on the line. This is a wretched and heinous lie, told by people deluded into thinking that faux-cynicism is realism, that wangsty manpain is character depth. Judai's reactions and responses to what happens to him in Season 3 are not a deconstruction, they are not rooted in the sort of psychological realism that "deconstruction" is supposed to be all about. We know this, because the only person in the entire show who was allowed to have even halfway psychologically plausible responses were Amon and Echo; from Asuka to Edo to Ryou to Shou and damn near everyone else besides, none of them are allowed to have realistic responses. None of them are allowed to react in terms of themselves or each other, only in terms of Judai. This is most plainly seen in Hell Kaiser Ryou, who in addition to having the bulk of his character development from Season 2 utterly negated, he responds more strongly to the news that Manjoume "died", a guy he barely knew existed, than he did to Asuka and Fubuki's "deaths", the two people he was absolutely closest too. But rather than hunt Judai down to kill him in vengeance, something we would expect of him and would fully be in character for him, he's instead more concerned with getting Judai to realize that he "needs to stop being scared of his power". The same goes for everyone else, after Judai gets four of his friends "killed"; realistically, no one would give the tiniest little shit about Judai's anguish. Another galling instance is with Jim Crocodile Cook, who was shown to have developed a particular connection with Asuka, yet after she's died, we're subjected to retcon flashbacks, insisting that Judai was his bestest best friend...NO, his "Spiritual Friend". Contrast all this to, say, Neon Genesis Evangelion. Now, that show had some serious flaws, not the least of which being the nervous breakdown that its creator Hideki Anno, experienced after he decided to stop taking his pills...but one thing that show did very well, at least for a while, was deconstructing the Super Giant robot genre. It did this by applying psychological realism to EVERYONE! And there were big chunks of the character dynamics and relationships and histories and development that had NOTHING to do with the main character of Shinji. But in GX, everything is in terms of Judai, and so everything is warped and worthless as any sort of commentary on genre. And the drivel about Season 3 deconstructing the "power of friendship" does not merit a response.
But enough about the alleged "deconstruction", how does the actual plot fare? Well, oddly enough it starts off...better than it has any right to do so, considering that this is still the same show where Jduai dueled a monkey, a fact they inexplicably reference by having the final act of the first arc take place in the Dueling Monkey Lab. It is a mystery. Still, between Professor Satou and PROFESSOR COBRA, we ended up with two strong, compelling villains who do their level best to compensate for the other rampant weaknesses of the show. Unfortunately, this arc is still riddled with plot holes and one scene which just causes my blood to boil in absolute hatred. And this is the best part of the season; once Yubel starts becoming active, the plot enters a downward spiral into ever mounting incoherence and bullshit, as more and more bizarre things happen, not because there's any good reason for them to happen, but because the plot demands that they happen. Why does Yubel possess Martin, as opposed to anyone else? Why does sie attack Rei, instead of turning her into a Duel Zombie? Why the dueling zombies in the first place? What was even the point of grabbing up the Mythic Demons if sie already had a viable Exodia deck? Why the hell would a submarine have medicine to treat a glowing demonic wound? And then the third and final arc, where the characters jump off into another dimension...this is where it really falls apart; prior to this, we are shown very clearly every step of Yubel's plans, and what sie does to achieve hir ends. But, then sie disappears for a good 16 or so episodes, and we're just TOLD that sie was the one behind everything that had happened, even though we are never shown anything like, and the person telling us this, Misawa, has no conceivable way of knowing all this. And yet, what it is said, it becomes true, and no one ever questions it. At all. But in the end, it is the ending where the plot abjectly fails. To sum it up as concisely as possible, Judai fusing with Yubel to "heal hir of hir pain" WAS NOT THE INEVITABLE CONCLUSION! KILLING HIR WAS!
But enough talk of the plot, lets get to the meat of it all, the characterization. Well, rotten meat in this case.
Judai Yuki...NOW THE WRITERS DECIDE TO TRY AND DEVELOP YOUR CHARACTER!? Such a shame they made such a fucktastic trainwreck out of it. The main problem is that so many of the dangers that he faces and gets so broken up over, are the exact same things that he's faced countless times in the previous two seasons. Suddenly deciding that NOW Judai is getting all torn up and broken down by the strain of it all, when previously he blithely took it all in stride, is just arbitrariness of the highest caliber. And it doesn't help matters much that he ends up getting so many other, better characters killed, that I can't find it in me to give a flying fuck about his "character development". Really, they just do what they did with Hell Kaiser Ryou in the previous season, just more so. Yeah, he's no longer a hyperactive twit prone to chasing after plastic bags drifting in the wind, but what we end up with is no more appealing. At all.
Manjoume, Asuka, Shou, Kenzan, and Fubuki all get lumped together, because they all get the exact same role and development in this season; ABSOLUTELY FUCKING NOTHING! All they get to do is stand around and watch as other, more important characters get to do things. And then they all die, to give Judai something to wangst over. No time is spent on how they feel about their impending deaths, the focus is always and entirely on Judai's feelings about it. Oh...well, technically Shou doesn't die, but considering how he expressly declares that his sole role in the story is to stand around and watch as other people actually do things, he may as well have.
Misawa, he gets brought back to deliver exposition, and is then abandoned in an alternate dimension, where he will be utterly forgotten, as though he never existed in the first place. Also, no mention of the wretched treatment he'd received at the hands of his so-called friends. Because continuity is for losers!
Rei Saotome, a big damn deal is made of her becoming a new main character, and yet all she does is become a gratuitous and unnecessary damsel in distress during the second arc. What a waste.
Hell Kaiser Ryou...what the hell? This was not the same guy we saw at the end of the second season. This was not the callous asshole who cared nothing for anyone else, who casually subjected his little brother to electric shocks that nearly killed him. The writers kept the wardrobe change, but ditched all the unpleasent parts, no doubt because the fandom had already done so in all their fanfic of him. That is a terrible way to write a character. And then he dies, and unlike just about everyone else, he dies for keeps. That was not a beautiful and glorious death, that was a goddamned waste of time and the writers know it.
Edo Phoenix, he's just there as fanservice, particularly as he's suddenly taken to hanging out with Ryou. Again, because there's more than a few inane fans out there who think that they would be hot together, and so all factors of characterization are abandoned in favor of fanservice. It's annoying when they cram Asuka into tiny miniskirts, and it's annoying when characters hang out for no good reason solely for the sake of titillation. At least he got a decent death scene, though even that was marred by his persistent desire to help Judai despite having gotten so many other people killed.
Johan Anderson, AKA Judai version 2.1. It is just so goddamned transparent why he exists, and it disgusts me. I mean, we know NOTHING about Johan as a person! He experiences NO growth or development as a character! Wouldn't you think that he'd be affected in some way after being possessed by Yubel, a psychotic spirit that hated him, and used his body to torment Judai, his soul mate? Apparently not! Fanservice and advertising cards, that's all Johan was good for.
Jim Crocodile Cook, he was actually pretty decent, if you could put aside the stupid and stupid looking crocodile on his back, but then he started going on and on about Judai being his spiritual friend, and we get that bullshit about his Magic McGuffin Eye, and just...ughh, typical GX.
Austin O'Brien...he stole dueling screentime from other characters, he had a dumb gimmick with his Duel Disc...but honestly, he just doesn't make an impression on me, he's just boring.
Amon Garam, next to Asuka and Misawa, he was my favorite. Naturally, the writers hate him and make no bones about it. He was a wonderfully complex, morally ambiguous character with a rich backstory and meaningful goals in life. In a just world, he would have won his duel with Yubel and killed her, and he would have gone on to rule his perfect world, with Echo's spirit always watching over him, protecting him.
Echo, much like her name would suggests, exists almost entirely as a shadow to Amon Garam. Fortunately, since Amon Garam is such a rich and deep character, this still gives her more characterization and purpose than most of the other characters on this show. Plus, people being extremely devoted to one another? It DOES things to me.
Martin. "Waaah, my parents fought and got a divorce, so I don't have any friends!!! Never mind that awesome girl Rei, who's taken an active interest in me for no apparent reason, she doesn't count 'cause she has cooties!" NEXT!
Principal Samejima, you are incompetent and should be fired. The same goes for Professors Chronos and Napoleon.
Daitokuji, why the hell is he still around? All he did was deliver one bit of exposition, which was just a recap of the plot from season 1, so you could just write him out and it wouldn't make a difference. His continued existence only serves to flip off the original series.
And now, onto the villains.
Professor Satou. He came out of absolutely nowhere, but apparently is supposed to have been there right from the beginning. Still, if his episodes hadn't been arbitrarily marred with that bullshit they heaped onto Asuka, his would have easily been on par with the original series. Godspeed you tragic hero, may you reincarnate in a far better franchise.
Giese Hunt...seriously? In the same way that Satou existed to give Judai an opponent who would challenge him both physically and mentally, Giese was to be this for Johan...unfortunately, being that Johan is even more tepid and dull than Judai, Giese is the same. And after his duel, he falls into a plot hole, and is never mentioned again.
PROFESSOR COBRA SHOULD HAVE BEEN THE FINAL VILLAIN, HOAK HOGAN! Much, much, MUCH more compelling and meaningful than Yubel. He is killed, and forgotten, like everyone else who dies on this show.
Yubel. I can not see straight when I have to think about this twit. Let's go over everything that sie did over the course of the season, shall we? First, when Judai was a child, sie attacked all his friends, driving them away and turning him into a pariah, leaving him abjectly miserable. Then sie exploits PROFESSOR COBRA'S grief to get power, and then kills him once he is of no more use to hir. Then sie takes the whole school into another dimension, and turns the student body into hir zombie minions with the intent of feeding on them to the point that they die. Also, sie takes the Mythic Demons, which are allegedly supposed to kill and drain all Duel Spirits, but for some reason that doesn't happen. Then sie arranges for all of Judai's friends to be killed and for him to have a psychotic breakdown resulting in a genocidal rampage. Sie also possesses Johan's body, using him to directly kill Ryou, kills Amon and Echo, and then threatens to destroy all of existence so that Judai will have no choice but to love hir. All this, all for the sake of her psychotic and inexplicable obsession with Judai. Seriously, what the hell is up with that? I mean, with Echo, not only is she not nearly so obsessed with Amon, but there's damn good reason why she loves him so much, to the point where she's willing to sacrifice her life to help him achieve his goals. Judai, on the other hand, is just some stupid kid! All he's got is the writer's insistence that he is ZOMG SO SPECIAL CHOSEN ONE, and that is nothing! And all of that, all the horrible things that Yubel did, all the terrible that sie felt no guilt or regret over, and Judai is supposed forgive her this, because of an alleged past life promise to love hir and only hir? MY BRAIN EXPLODE!
This was supposed to be the good season, the one where there was no filler and things were taken seriously. I spent nothing to watch this, and I was robbed.
And now, the Duel Distribution. This season featured a lot more 2 and 3 part duels, so we end up with only 30 duels. Of those, Judai got 16. Just over half, and his duels were always by far the most important, and he won all of them. That includes the last one, because that's writers wanted it to look, because even though no one's life points hit zero, Judai super-ridiculous super powers out of the deal, so there's no way I'm counting that as a loss on his record. Asuka and Shou both get none, Manjoume gets three, and the only one he wins is against a mook. Kenzan gets one, and he loses that. Johan gets five, and while technically he only loses the first one, his performance is so pathetic and his opponents so weak that his supposed superstar prodigy reputation is just utterly unfulfilled. Edo gets one real duel, loses that. Ryou gets two, one inconclusive, one loss, Amon gets four, wins two. Jim and O'Brien get a few, three or four each, but I don't really care about either of them.
Thus, this years reviews of Yugioh GX comes to a close. Tomorrow is a new year, and it brings with it a thankfully cut-down, though still epically terrible season. I've made it this far, so I may as well finish it off.
The plot...oh dear god, the plot. You go talk to any of the more dedicated fans of this series, and there is one word that WILL keep coming up; Deconstruction. It is repeatedly claimed that the plot for Season 3 of Yugioh GX is a "deconstruction", that it shows what it would REALLY be like for someone to be forced to play a children's card game with lives and the safety of the world on the line. This is a wretched and heinous lie, told by people deluded into thinking that faux-cynicism is realism, that wangsty manpain is character depth. Judai's reactions and responses to what happens to him in Season 3 are not a deconstruction, they are not rooted in the sort of psychological realism that "deconstruction" is supposed to be all about. We know this, because the only person in the entire show who was allowed to have even halfway psychologically plausible responses were Amon and Echo; from Asuka to Edo to Ryou to Shou and damn near everyone else besides, none of them are allowed to have realistic responses. None of them are allowed to react in terms of themselves or each other, only in terms of Judai. This is most plainly seen in Hell Kaiser Ryou, who in addition to having the bulk of his character development from Season 2 utterly negated, he responds more strongly to the news that Manjoume "died", a guy he barely knew existed, than he did to Asuka and Fubuki's "deaths", the two people he was absolutely closest too. But rather than hunt Judai down to kill him in vengeance, something we would expect of him and would fully be in character for him, he's instead more concerned with getting Judai to realize that he "needs to stop being scared of his power". The same goes for everyone else, after Judai gets four of his friends "killed"; realistically, no one would give the tiniest little shit about Judai's anguish. Another galling instance is with Jim Crocodile Cook, who was shown to have developed a particular connection with Asuka, yet after she's died, we're subjected to retcon flashbacks, insisting that Judai was his bestest best friend...NO, his "Spiritual Friend". Contrast all this to, say, Neon Genesis Evangelion. Now, that show had some serious flaws, not the least of which being the nervous breakdown that its creator Hideki Anno, experienced after he decided to stop taking his pills...but one thing that show did very well, at least for a while, was deconstructing the Super Giant robot genre. It did this by applying psychological realism to EVERYONE! And there were big chunks of the character dynamics and relationships and histories and development that had NOTHING to do with the main character of Shinji. But in GX, everything is in terms of Judai, and so everything is warped and worthless as any sort of commentary on genre. And the drivel about Season 3 deconstructing the "power of friendship" does not merit a response.
But enough about the alleged "deconstruction", how does the actual plot fare? Well, oddly enough it starts off...better than it has any right to do so, considering that this is still the same show where Jduai dueled a monkey, a fact they inexplicably reference by having the final act of the first arc take place in the Dueling Monkey Lab. It is a mystery. Still, between Professor Satou and PROFESSOR COBRA, we ended up with two strong, compelling villains who do their level best to compensate for the other rampant weaknesses of the show. Unfortunately, this arc is still riddled with plot holes and one scene which just causes my blood to boil in absolute hatred. And this is the best part of the season; once Yubel starts becoming active, the plot enters a downward spiral into ever mounting incoherence and bullshit, as more and more bizarre things happen, not because there's any good reason for them to happen, but because the plot demands that they happen. Why does Yubel possess Martin, as opposed to anyone else? Why does sie attack Rei, instead of turning her into a Duel Zombie? Why the dueling zombies in the first place? What was even the point of grabbing up the Mythic Demons if sie already had a viable Exodia deck? Why the hell would a submarine have medicine to treat a glowing demonic wound? And then the third and final arc, where the characters jump off into another dimension...this is where it really falls apart; prior to this, we are shown very clearly every step of Yubel's plans, and what sie does to achieve hir ends. But, then sie disappears for a good 16 or so episodes, and we're just TOLD that sie was the one behind everything that had happened, even though we are never shown anything like, and the person telling us this, Misawa, has no conceivable way of knowing all this. And yet, what it is said, it becomes true, and no one ever questions it. At all. But in the end, it is the ending where the plot abjectly fails. To sum it up as concisely as possible, Judai fusing with Yubel to "heal hir of hir pain" WAS NOT THE INEVITABLE CONCLUSION! KILLING HIR WAS!
But enough talk of the plot, lets get to the meat of it all, the characterization. Well, rotten meat in this case.
Judai Yuki...NOW THE WRITERS DECIDE TO TRY AND DEVELOP YOUR CHARACTER!? Such a shame they made such a fucktastic trainwreck out of it. The main problem is that so many of the dangers that he faces and gets so broken up over, are the exact same things that he's faced countless times in the previous two seasons. Suddenly deciding that NOW Judai is getting all torn up and broken down by the strain of it all, when previously he blithely took it all in stride, is just arbitrariness of the highest caliber. And it doesn't help matters much that he ends up getting so many other, better characters killed, that I can't find it in me to give a flying fuck about his "character development". Really, they just do what they did with Hell Kaiser Ryou in the previous season, just more so. Yeah, he's no longer a hyperactive twit prone to chasing after plastic bags drifting in the wind, but what we end up with is no more appealing. At all.
Manjoume, Asuka, Shou, Kenzan, and Fubuki all get lumped together, because they all get the exact same role and development in this season; ABSOLUTELY FUCKING NOTHING! All they get to do is stand around and watch as other, more important characters get to do things. And then they all die, to give Judai something to wangst over. No time is spent on how they feel about their impending deaths, the focus is always and entirely on Judai's feelings about it. Oh...well, technically Shou doesn't die, but considering how he expressly declares that his sole role in the story is to stand around and watch as other people actually do things, he may as well have.
Misawa, he gets brought back to deliver exposition, and is then abandoned in an alternate dimension, where he will be utterly forgotten, as though he never existed in the first place. Also, no mention of the wretched treatment he'd received at the hands of his so-called friends. Because continuity is for losers!
Rei Saotome, a big damn deal is made of her becoming a new main character, and yet all she does is become a gratuitous and unnecessary damsel in distress during the second arc. What a waste.
Hell Kaiser Ryou...what the hell? This was not the same guy we saw at the end of the second season. This was not the callous asshole who cared nothing for anyone else, who casually subjected his little brother to electric shocks that nearly killed him. The writers kept the wardrobe change, but ditched all the unpleasent parts, no doubt because the fandom had already done so in all their fanfic of him. That is a terrible way to write a character. And then he dies, and unlike just about everyone else, he dies for keeps. That was not a beautiful and glorious death, that was a goddamned waste of time and the writers know it.
Edo Phoenix, he's just there as fanservice, particularly as he's suddenly taken to hanging out with Ryou. Again, because there's more than a few inane fans out there who think that they would be hot together, and so all factors of characterization are abandoned in favor of fanservice. It's annoying when they cram Asuka into tiny miniskirts, and it's annoying when characters hang out for no good reason solely for the sake of titillation. At least he got a decent death scene, though even that was marred by his persistent desire to help Judai despite having gotten so many other people killed.
Johan Anderson, AKA Judai version 2.1. It is just so goddamned transparent why he exists, and it disgusts me. I mean, we know NOTHING about Johan as a person! He experiences NO growth or development as a character! Wouldn't you think that he'd be affected in some way after being possessed by Yubel, a psychotic spirit that hated him, and used his body to torment Judai, his soul mate? Apparently not! Fanservice and advertising cards, that's all Johan was good for.
Jim Crocodile Cook, he was actually pretty decent, if you could put aside the stupid and stupid looking crocodile on his back, but then he started going on and on about Judai being his spiritual friend, and we get that bullshit about his Magic McGuffin Eye, and just...ughh, typical GX.
Austin O'Brien...he stole dueling screentime from other characters, he had a dumb gimmick with his Duel Disc...but honestly, he just doesn't make an impression on me, he's just boring.
Amon Garam, next to Asuka and Misawa, he was my favorite. Naturally, the writers hate him and make no bones about it. He was a wonderfully complex, morally ambiguous character with a rich backstory and meaningful goals in life. In a just world, he would have won his duel with Yubel and killed her, and he would have gone on to rule his perfect world, with Echo's spirit always watching over him, protecting him.
Echo, much like her name would suggests, exists almost entirely as a shadow to Amon Garam. Fortunately, since Amon Garam is such a rich and deep character, this still gives her more characterization and purpose than most of the other characters on this show. Plus, people being extremely devoted to one another? It DOES things to me.
Martin. "Waaah, my parents fought and got a divorce, so I don't have any friends!!! Never mind that awesome girl Rei, who's taken an active interest in me for no apparent reason, she doesn't count 'cause she has cooties!" NEXT!
Principal Samejima, you are incompetent and should be fired. The same goes for Professors Chronos and Napoleon.
Daitokuji, why the hell is he still around? All he did was deliver one bit of exposition, which was just a recap of the plot from season 1, so you could just write him out and it wouldn't make a difference. His continued existence only serves to flip off the original series.
And now, onto the villains.
Professor Satou. He came out of absolutely nowhere, but apparently is supposed to have been there right from the beginning. Still, if his episodes hadn't been arbitrarily marred with that bullshit they heaped onto Asuka, his would have easily been on par with the original series. Godspeed you tragic hero, may you reincarnate in a far better franchise.
Giese Hunt...seriously? In the same way that Satou existed to give Judai an opponent who would challenge him both physically and mentally, Giese was to be this for Johan...unfortunately, being that Johan is even more tepid and dull than Judai, Giese is the same. And after his duel, he falls into a plot hole, and is never mentioned again.
PROFESSOR COBRA SHOULD HAVE BEEN THE FINAL VILLAIN, HOAK HOGAN! Much, much, MUCH more compelling and meaningful than Yubel. He is killed, and forgotten, like everyone else who dies on this show.
Yubel. I can not see straight when I have to think about this twit. Let's go over everything that sie did over the course of the season, shall we? First, when Judai was a child, sie attacked all his friends, driving them away and turning him into a pariah, leaving him abjectly miserable. Then sie exploits PROFESSOR COBRA'S grief to get power, and then kills him once he is of no more use to hir. Then sie takes the whole school into another dimension, and turns the student body into hir zombie minions with the intent of feeding on them to the point that they die. Also, sie takes the Mythic Demons, which are allegedly supposed to kill and drain all Duel Spirits, but for some reason that doesn't happen. Then sie arranges for all of Judai's friends to be killed and for him to have a psychotic breakdown resulting in a genocidal rampage. Sie also possesses Johan's body, using him to directly kill Ryou, kills Amon and Echo, and then threatens to destroy all of existence so that Judai will have no choice but to love hir. All this, all for the sake of her psychotic and inexplicable obsession with Judai. Seriously, what the hell is up with that? I mean, with Echo, not only is she not nearly so obsessed with Amon, but there's damn good reason why she loves him so much, to the point where she's willing to sacrifice her life to help him achieve his goals. Judai, on the other hand, is just some stupid kid! All he's got is the writer's insistence that he is ZOMG SO SPECIAL CHOSEN ONE, and that is nothing! And all of that, all the horrible things that Yubel did, all the terrible that sie felt no guilt or regret over, and Judai is supposed forgive her this, because of an alleged past life promise to love hir and only hir? MY BRAIN EXPLODE!
This was supposed to be the good season, the one where there was no filler and things were taken seriously. I spent nothing to watch this, and I was robbed.
And now, the Duel Distribution. This season featured a lot more 2 and 3 part duels, so we end up with only 30 duels. Of those, Judai got 16. Just over half, and his duels were always by far the most important, and he won all of them. That includes the last one, because that's writers wanted it to look, because even though no one's life points hit zero, Judai super-ridiculous super powers out of the deal, so there's no way I'm counting that as a loss on his record. Asuka and Shou both get none, Manjoume gets three, and the only one he wins is against a mook. Kenzan gets one, and he loses that. Johan gets five, and while technically he only loses the first one, his performance is so pathetic and his opponents so weak that his supposed superstar prodigy reputation is just utterly unfulfilled. Edo gets one real duel, loses that. Ryou gets two, one inconclusive, one loss, Amon gets four, wins two. Jim and O'Brien get a few, three or four each, but I don't really care about either of them.
Thus, this years reviews of Yugioh GX comes to a close. Tomorrow is a new year, and it brings with it a thankfully cut-down, though still epically terrible season. I've made it this far, so I may as well finish it off.