Yu-Gi-Oh 5D’s Episode 1 [First Impression]

Welcome to the second edition my coverage on YGO 5DS! Man, coming back to this show really brings me back in time haha! It’s going to be interesting to see how well this series has aged!

5D’s theme revolves around Speed World, Riding Duels and Synchro Summons. D-Wheels (basically fancy motorcycles that enables the user to duel while driving) as used in Riding Duels, where speed counters influences one’s one “speed” and certain speed spells. In the matter of fact, it was the joke of “card-games on motorcycles” that pushed me to watch this series to begin with. Little did I know at the time, 5DS  would be the catalyst for pulling me into the Yu-Gi-Oh! fandom.

The series starts off with introducing our protagonists, Jackass Atlas is the current King and champion of Riding Duel. He was born and raised in Satellite, but was able to rise his way to the top after he not only robbing Yusei’s original D-Wheel, but also his ace monster. Man he is sure a piece of work. He is also incredibly obnoxious, like he didn’t need to rip the mic out of the MC’s hands to loudly boast about how he has yet to use his full power so that the match wouldn’t end too quickly. Even the MC wasn’t impressed.

On the other-side of the spectrum we have Yusei who is pretty much the opposite of Jack. He is an earnest young man of few words. He trusts duelists more than security, and will not stoop down low or even respond to the jeers from the likes of Ushio (or anyone else for that matter), highlighting the maturity of his character right off the bat. While some may be turned off by the lack of… spirit so to speak, Yusei’s quiet personality is something I have always found to be quite appealing because it’s partially what makes him such a mysterious and intriguing character. Oh and he also knows how to build with stuff (ah, the wonderful trend setter of protagonists being tech-savy)! Who doesn’t love a character who knows how to DIY.

Additionally, Yusei doesn’t start off with his ace. Since Jack had stolen it and is out of his hands at the moment. But the great thing about this set up is how it offers the chance for his staple cards like Speed Warrior and his current ace, Junk Warrior to shine. It also adds some sentimental value to it, as Yusei believes every card has value and dislikes those who claim they are useless trash. And speaking of how quiet he is, he and Yuusaku (YGO VRAINS) are probably the two quietest protagonists Yu-Gi-Oh! has ever had (at least to my memory). I would say the two of them probably evenly compete with each other of how little they had spoken in the premiere as well.

Actually speaking of which, even though I am a huge fan of this series, I will admit: 5DS doesn’t exactly have the most memorable premiere beyond the setting the stage of the story, and a big part of that has to do with apparent lack of dialogue. It served more of laying down the foundation of the action that will soon follow in the future episodes, highlighting the jarring contrast of the way of life between two cities, the glamorous world of Neo Domino of the rich and famous, and the shadow of its former self, the slums of Satellite. It also set the sober tone right off the bat, of the discrimination of those who resides in Satellite, and how whoever gets a criminal record will find themselves tagged with an awful yellow marker that will track their every movement. We witnessed how that works when Rally, a kid who already had a marker because of previous history of theft, had security pursue him after he decided to steal a powerful chip to help Yusei improve his D-Wheel. The only reason he was able to escape was because Yusei had jammed the signal and acted as a decoy since his D-Wheel serves as a flashy distraction. But he didn’t do himself any favors by getting on the bad side of a cocky security officer who already had prejudice against him, having assumed he stolen the D-Wheel, when he in fact made it on his own. The things this guy does for his friends.

But that doesn’t make it a bad start. The jarring contrasts of the settings and and a protagonist who had everything stolen from him is enough to pipe one’s curiosity to see how Yusei plans to confront Jack who isn’t about to let anyone drag him back to Satellite.

Overall a slow start, but an intriguing one nonetheless! Also helps Yusei is super handsome. That may or may not have been a factor of my initial interest in this series. I am excited to be revisiting this series all over again, and for those who are checking it out for the first time, I hope you enjoy the ride!

PS: Can we appreciate the soundtrack? I know this is only episode 1, but man when I heard music again, it just reminded me of how much I absolutely LOVEEEE this series soundtrack, its so good. (Except for this first OP, I was not and still not a fan of it).

Possibility of Blogging: Guaranteed

A/N: Hello everyone! Thank you for your patience and for taking the time to vote in the poll!
The final results are in with YGO 5DS emerging victorious with 59% of the votes, and Zexal with 41%!

I had considered picking up Zexal to blog alongside 5DS, but it’s going to have to wait its turn. The first priority is to finish queuing up Heartcatch Precure. Once I complete that, varying on the situation with all the shows I am covering (at the moment, the only one I know coming back on air in July is FKB: Unlimited), I will consider whether it’s something I can do.

Now the fact I have decided to start from the very beginning again probably caught a lot of you by surprise. Originally, I had planned to be more practical and resume where I left off with Episode 114. However it’s been 10 – 12 years since I last watched and covered this series (the first time I watched it was not long after it had started in 2008), so besides the fact I pretty much remember all the major spoilers (because I was obsessed with 5DS for many years even after it finished airing) I have also  grown so much as a writer. And since it has been so long, the more I thought  about how I wanted to do this, about the more I realized it just didn’t feel right to pick up where I left off or write article on each arcs leading up to that point. Additionally, with all my older entries images completely wiped out, this would also enable me to restore 5D’s content through the second edition of its coverage.

Of course I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have my concerns about starting the coverage all over again. It is quite a daunting and ambitious task. Not to mention, it would absolutely suck if I don’t complete the coverage of this series even on my second try! But I have learned a thing or two from my previous attempt, which was in a way quite similar to the current situation we are in right now. Back then, I ambitiously attempt to catch-up to the latest episode before the series ended. Unfortunately despite my effort of releasing 3 – 4 entries/ week, I didn’t make it, and to add insult to injury, not even a year later, I ended up in a 9 months health hiatus, preventing me from completing the coverage.

Another major reason why I have decided to go about it this way was after looking at the season preview for Summer, Fall and Winter 2021. Since I have no idea when things will be back on track, I decided I am just going to adapt to the current situation and do what I want to do. Of course this means I won’t be able to pick up as many new titles as I would like, but it’s a compromise I am willing to make.

RELEASE SCHEDULE: As of next week, YGO 5D’s will be posted *Wednesdays
(*unless the schedule needs to be tweaked accordingly)

While I am actively queuing up Heartcatch Precure entries, I will not be doing the same with 5DS. Instead of racing against the clock or trying to get this done as quickly as possible as I did last time, I am going to take this series one episode per week. I know this means this a commitment that can potentially take me up to 3 years to complete. Some of you may not be the biggest fan of this idea because you probably hoping to see my thoughts on the last arc of the series sooner than later, or probably think writing an overall thought per arc up until that point would have been the better approach— and may even switch to that if I feel this isn’t going to work (I intend to keep all my options on the table), but for now, this is what I decided to do.

Also with Heartcatch being the shorter series, once I finish queuing up that one first, then I would have some more wiggle room to start queuing up 5DS entries at my own pace again, which will help shorten the timeline in the long run.

Once again thank you so much for you interest and I hope we can all have fun revisiting this series together!