I feel that Anzu would back me up regarding the latest episode of Yugioh 5D's
Did you hear that? That shrill high pitched scream of anguish and release? That was the scream of the last vestige of my hope for this series. It is dead now, and the writers have killed it. Their writing is bad and they should feel bad.
Now, rather then start at the beginning of the episode, I'll start at the crowning moment of fail, the second death of what could have been the savior of Yugioh 5D's, Divine. Now, his resurrection in the first place was a plot hole of beyond epic proportions, but considering how in one episode he was able to steal the thunder of all the dark signers, including the only decent ones Ruger and Carly, and show them how this villainy business is really done, I was willing to overlook that.
Alas, it was not meant to be. Not merely do they kill him off after only a single episode after a ludicrously contrived engineered public confession (seriously, when the hell did Yusei set his duel disc to transmit Divine's words to Misty? How the hell would he have even known the code to Misty's duel disc? I'm sure as hell that the writers never put any thought into this, and they should be ashamed for making me do it for them.), but they do so in a way that completely destroys the coherence of the setting.
Think about it; if the Dark Signers can order their Earthbound God to just eat someone they don't like, then why even bother with the duel? Divine certainly didn't with all those fireballs and psychic swords he was tossing about! I mean, one of the great challenges of a series like Yugioh is accounting for the "why don't you just shoot them!" problem, which makes the cavaliar sh!tt!ng all over the effort to explain why dueling is the best way to approach the situation really obnoxious.
And that's not all! By making everything Divine's fault, the writers have denied Aki any real roll in her own character arc. It doesn't matter that Aki won the duel, since all her dignity, integrity, and pride were all blasted away by writers who have had a bitter resentment against women ever since their mothers stopped kissing their boo-boos and told them to suck it up and stop being such pansies.
I mean, really, Mai Kujaku might not have won any duels in the original manga, but Kazuki Takahashi respected her and preserved her dignity; I mean, look at how she is in the manga after she wakes up from Yami Malik's Penalty Game, and you will see someone too awesome to ever be knocked down. Then of course the anime writers got their man-panties in a twist and did their level best to ruin her in DOMA, since the idea of an independent woman terrified them beyond all reason. And yeah, Anzu might not have dueled in the manga, but considering that she was the one who had the foresight to get the cartouche that saved everyone, I'd say that she pulled her weight plenty in that arc alone, not counting all the other vital support she provided throughout the rest of the series. And don't forget Kisara, who saved Priest Seto from his father, as he was too much of a daddy's boy to stand up for himself, so his girlfriend had to do all the hardwork for him. Mana was also pretty kick-ass, going from someone who couldn't even see the spirits at the start and was in the end able to summon the Dark Magician Girl and save Mahad from certain destruction, ultimately enabling everyone else to save the day.
And of course, we can't neglect Isis Ishtar, who was not merely powerful enough to face Kaiba head on and force him to duel beyond his very best, but also orchestrated the entire Battle City tournament to rescue her little brother. And while this is an anime addition, I'll count Shizuka rescuing her brother from drowning; it was cheesy, but still good on her part.
Now, yes, the handling of gender in the original Yugioh had its share of problems, but the idea that Aki having a decent dueling record and a decent deck somehow elevates her above all the original Yugioh ladies...well, you have to be pretty short sighted to think that.
And by the looks of the next episode, the writers will be fully embracing their fear of girls and their icky-yucky girl parts by having a three-on-one duel with only manly men, so they don't have to remember those mean girls back in high school who wouldn't go out with them or bow down to them or stay in the damn kitchen where they belong!
...I think I might have gone on a tangent, but I've made my point.
Now, rather then start at the beginning of the episode, I'll start at the crowning moment of fail, the second death of what could have been the savior of Yugioh 5D's, Divine. Now, his resurrection in the first place was a plot hole of beyond epic proportions, but considering how in one episode he was able to steal the thunder of all the dark signers, including the only decent ones Ruger and Carly, and show them how this villainy business is really done, I was willing to overlook that.
Alas, it was not meant to be. Not merely do they kill him off after only a single episode after a ludicrously contrived engineered public confession (seriously, when the hell did Yusei set his duel disc to transmit Divine's words to Misty? How the hell would he have even known the code to Misty's duel disc? I'm sure as hell that the writers never put any thought into this, and they should be ashamed for making me do it for them.), but they do so in a way that completely destroys the coherence of the setting.
Think about it; if the Dark Signers can order their Earthbound God to just eat someone they don't like, then why even bother with the duel? Divine certainly didn't with all those fireballs and psychic swords he was tossing about! I mean, one of the great challenges of a series like Yugioh is accounting for the "why don't you just shoot them!" problem, which makes the cavaliar sh!tt!ng all over the effort to explain why dueling is the best way to approach the situation really obnoxious.
And that's not all! By making everything Divine's fault, the writers have denied Aki any real roll in her own character arc. It doesn't matter that Aki won the duel, since all her dignity, integrity, and pride were all blasted away by writers who have had a bitter resentment against women ever since their mothers stopped kissing their boo-boos and told them to suck it up and stop being such pansies.
I mean, really, Mai Kujaku might not have won any duels in the original manga, but Kazuki Takahashi respected her and preserved her dignity; I mean, look at how she is in the manga after she wakes up from Yami Malik's Penalty Game, and you will see someone too awesome to ever be knocked down. Then of course the anime writers got their man-panties in a twist and did their level best to ruin her in DOMA, since the idea of an independent woman terrified them beyond all reason. And yeah, Anzu might not have dueled in the manga, but considering that she was the one who had the foresight to get the cartouche that saved everyone, I'd say that she pulled her weight plenty in that arc alone, not counting all the other vital support she provided throughout the rest of the series. And don't forget Kisara, who saved Priest Seto from his father, as he was too much of a daddy's boy to stand up for himself, so his girlfriend had to do all the hardwork for him. Mana was also pretty kick-ass, going from someone who couldn't even see the spirits at the start and was in the end able to summon the Dark Magician Girl and save Mahad from certain destruction, ultimately enabling everyone else to save the day.
And of course, we can't neglect Isis Ishtar, who was not merely powerful enough to face Kaiba head on and force him to duel beyond his very best, but also orchestrated the entire Battle City tournament to rescue her little brother. And while this is an anime addition, I'll count Shizuka rescuing her brother from drowning; it was cheesy, but still good on her part.
Now, yes, the handling of gender in the original Yugioh had its share of problems, but the idea that Aki having a decent dueling record and a decent deck somehow elevates her above all the original Yugioh ladies...well, you have to be pretty short sighted to think that.
And by the looks of the next episode, the writers will be fully embracing their fear of girls and their icky-yucky girl parts by having a three-on-one duel with only manly men, so they don't have to remember those mean girls back in high school who wouldn't go out with them or bow down to them or stay in the damn kitchen where they belong!
...I think I might have gone on a tangent, but I've made my point.