December 20th, 2019:
After another 3 year era of a Yu-Gi-Oh! entry behind us, we sat down - food and drinks in hand - alongside our loved ones. We speculated, expressed our excitement, and laughed in honor of the announcement that would mark the next step of the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise that we all know and loved. This one was special, however, as the recent Yu-Gi-Oh! anime - Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS - was cut short, leaving the only fathomable reason to be for the sake of the next entry.
Finally, after many hours, no, 2-3 patient months, the livestream began and we got our first glimpse at the new
...
7th Yu-Gi-Oh! anime... Little did anyone expect, this singular glimpse would shake the Yu-Gi-Oh! community's very core; moments before 2020 subjected its jaw dropping events onto the world.
Yu-Gi-Oh! SEVENS is by far the most drastic away from form in the history of the franchise. Needless to say, a lot of pessimism was directed toward the announcement. Change is a tricky beast and its nature easily births audience apprehension, especially on hardcore anime and official card game fans. However, we can only forge so many opinions before the official airing; on paper tends to pan out much differently into execution, so how did Yu-Gi-Oh! SEVENS pan out? Judging by my score, you can probably already guess my thoughts on it and I can only provide context to both longtime fans and potential new viewers contemplating spending their time with this product. And with Yu-Gi-Oh! SEVENS filling the void of 2020 anime hiatus, now's the best time to gather our thoughts regarding this entry! Here we go...
Few things to note:
I will be bringing up comparisons between SEVENS and the previous entry, Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS, as some of my thoughts stems from its aftermath. Most importantly though, I want to judge Yu-Gi-Oh! SEVENS on its own merit since while comparisons can be useful tools for understanding, they can downplay one's view of the product by muddying it with biases, which in my opinion is unfair to the product at hand attempting to stand on its own.
Story - 6:
The story of Yu-Gi-Oh! SEVENS is pretty simple. A elementary school boy named Yuga Ohda believes that his home, Goha City, has rules that are far too rigid for anyone to have fun dueling. Rebelling against this, Yuga creates a new style of dueling called "Rush Duels" portraying the complete opposite of the controlling and tight rules wrapped around Goha City's neck by the Goha Corporation. Now, Yuga and his group of friends work to make Rush Dueling a national sensation that'll hopefully break the rigid system placed upon his city.
A fairly simple synopsis, but an interesting premise. The world of Goha City's clearly a dictatorship where EVERYTHING'S being governed and controlled. From school, daily life, daily necessities, and of course, duels. Although we haven't seen all these elements in actions since we're only 5 episodes in - most of which were focused on introducing our cast - you do see some of it at play. For example, kids can't even trade cards without Goha Corporation's supervision... Let me repeat, YOU CAN'T TRADE CARDS WITHOUT GOHA CORPORATION'S SUPERVISION! This is a TRADING card game mind you and while a corporation does control the management of the actual card game, it's never on a personal extent like this. Furthermore, everyone's duel disks are run by accounts and if you get enough penalties, your account will be deleted thus preventing you from ever dueling again and guess who runs it: Goha Corporation. They can even go as far as deactivating the duel disk whenever they want, so already we can see what Yuga's talking about when he says these rules are rigid in the dueling scene.
With Rush Duel's existence, it'll be interesting to see what Goha Corporation will do and what Yuga'll do in return as the battle between them - currently nothing but a small scuffle - escalate into a full blown conflict.
Oh, and um, what are "Rush Duels" you ask? Remember Speed Duels? They're like that except... SCREW THE RULES:
1. You can Normal Summon as many times as you want.
2. During your Draw Phase, you draw until you have 5 cards in hand instead of only drawing 1 (unless you have 5 cards in hand already).
3. There's no Main Phase 2.
4. Rush Duels have their own card pool separate from the actual TCG/OCG.
5. The field has 3 main monster zones and 3 spell/trap card zones.
If you want to know more, look it up, but you can see how "free" this duel format is, ha ha! It does look fun though. The Yu-Gi-Oh! anime always has a knack at making otherwise weak material so inspiringly fun! I'd love to try Rush Duels one day and I hope people gives it a chance instead of leaving it behind on paper.
The reason I gave the story a 6 though is because we're still in the building stages of the anime. As I said prior, most of the episodes were dedicated on introducing our cast, and additionally, subtle world building; so the story hasn't really progressed after the first episode - or at least not drastically - but the elements placed so far can be exploited for many intriguing directions. This has the potential to be great if the writers play their cards right... Pun unintended. ;o
Art - 7:
This was where almost the entire controversy surrounding Yu-Gi-Oh! SEVENS stemmed from: the complete artstyle change. Personally, I was one of the few who didn't have a problem with it. In fact, although overall generic, I like the new artstyle. I find it bright, fun, and it brings out a lot of character (speak of the devil considering what section's coming up). DON'T GET ME WRONG THOUGH! Like everyone else, I prefer the OG artstyle. The iconic Yu-Gi-Oh! artstyle was sharp, had a lot of detail that brought numerous memorable expressions, and of course was unique. Despite all that though, I can't hate this artstyle because it's not even bad to me.
Perhaps it's because I don't have that strong of an attachment to the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise, so the change doesn't affect me on a personal level as it does other people who've been with this franchise for years... Or maybe I'm just very tolerant; it is what it is. 🤷
One thing I'll say though is that the art quality can be inconsistent at times. Like the recent episode had some, to put it nicely, weird shots here and there personally. Plus, the animation can be a bit stiff at times. It's only sometimes though; look at episode 1 and 3 for the best shots and animation you'll ever see from this anime!
Sound - 6:
...Honestly, I don't even remember most of the tracks in SEVENS. Yuga's theme is flames though (I want a copy of this so bad) and the opening's catchy.
Character - 9:
The section I've been looking forward to, hoo boy!
THE CHARACTERS ARE GREAT! I love the main cast's dynamic with each other and they exude so much energy that it always brings a smile on my face! And despite being younger than me, I can somewhat relate to them and understand them for the most part, so that's nice! I also like how the characters interact with the world, using social media to advertise Rush Duels for example. It's an easy relatable feature showcasing the knowledge of the young and how tuned they are to modern technology, and the anime always does those interactions in both clever and funny ways.
Now's the best time to start bringing up the VRAINS comparisons. I did plan on making a VRAINS review as well... but I accidentally X'd out of the page where I wrote it and didn't feel like rewriting it all (trust me, IT WAS A LOT), so I'll give a short version of my thoughts now:
VRAINS was a mixed bag. I still enjoyed it, but the anime had its problems which I couldn't overlook. One major complaint I have are the characters. They all had great introductions and backstories, but most of them didn't follow up very well, to the point that a lot of them ended up... stale? There were good ones, definitely (Ai, Takeru, and pretty much all the main villains - Revolver being the best, imo), however there were those who got development but never gained any pay off (Aoi), or were just characters I didn't find interesting nor good (Yusaku and Go). This is because VRAINS focused way more on the story, which while appreciated, didn't flesh out the characters required well; they felt more like chess pieces than actual people.
Yu-Gi-Oh! SEVENS' the complete opposite, though. All the characters have engaging personalities and dynamics, making them a breath of fresh air after coming off a no nonsense anime like VRAINS. Characters are created to carry a plot and if they aren't engaging or interesting, that's a major hit on the plot itself. VRAINS' characters fortunately were decent enough to keep my interest alongside a genuinely intriguing plot line, but the cast definitely could have used more improvements.
Oh well. At least I can appreciate SEVENS' cast because of this. On that note, I'll tell you what I think about each of our main four characters:
Yuga Ohda: I like him. So far he's a pretty fun protagonist with admirable determination and motivation. He has the fun-loving, laid-back attitude of Jaden and the brains plus tech savvy nature of Yusei and Yusaku. He's genuinely a smart kid and has made some cunning moves across the first five episodes, making him much more interesting as a character. It's also cool he created a freaking whole new dueling format! Get one up'd, Yuya!
Rook (Tatsuhisa Kamijro) - You wouldn't think so at first glance, but this dude's hilarious! Rook's the highly confidant and self proclaimed "#1 Duelist of Goha 7th Elementary". He wishes to use Rush Duels to achieve his own large ambitions - larger than Yuga's I'd argue! Those larger ambitions are... usually used for comedic moments; did I tell you how great the comedy in this entry is, ha ha! Rook's not merely a joke character either. He puts his money where his mouth is and has an interesting ability which I won't delve into for the sake of spoilers, but uh... his watch is hella sus. NOT A SPOILER; JUST A PREDICTION!
Romin Kirishima - The must have Yu-Gi-Oh! heroine of the group. Romin's a girl with a constant, mysterious aura surrounding her. She claims she's not interested in dueling, but some signs says otherwise. There's also other aspects and actions she's done suggesting she may have a bigger role in the plot, which makes her an interesting character off the bat. Other than the mystery, she's known for being a guitarist in a band called "Roaromin" who has found much success for herself. Yes, we all know what happens with Yu-Gi-Oh! girls, but remember this is written by a different writing team within a different studio, so there's a small speck of hope for Romin to shine brighter than her predecessors. We'll have to wait and see, but she's so far my favorite character! Her episode's also my favorite so far.
Gakuto Sogetsu - The uptight and disciplined student council president of Goha 7th Elementary. Usually these character types try their damnest to stay out of trouble and keep the hero in line before inevitably getting dragged into their shenanigans, which is kinda still true for Gakuto but also not really. Gakuto doesn't really try that hard to escape Yuga's shenanigans and seems to genuinely find Rush Duels engaging early on, making him a more fun character and different from his archetype. He's also really funny! His character's so dramatic that I can't help but laugh! He surprisingly became my favorite character after the first episode due to the scenes he stole with his personality and I love it! He has dropped in favoritism for me though since I got to the know the other three better and Gakuto so far hasn't matched what I thought made him so great in episode 1. Still, he's so far a pretty good character and not a one note archetype you expect him to be.
Overall, I seriously love the characters here and am excited to go on this 2-3 year journey with them!
Enjoyment - 10:
If it wasn't obvious, I absolutely love this anime! It has a lot of heart and personality, and genuinely has engaged me throughout all the five episodes using both its characters and duels. I'm all for this ride! ... But of course I'm not stupid.
I know there's still a chance for this entry to flop. I originally felt the same way with VRAINS as I found its beginning very strong, intriguing, and different from past Yu-Gi-Oh! entries, but unfortunately, I must say it fell flat on its face one too many times... But nothing will get solved with pessimism. I'll enjoy this anime for what it is, likely until its ending. It has hooked me so far and has the potential to be something great!
I know it's different, but different doesn't always equal bad.
Overall:
Yu-Gi-Oh! SEVENS thus far is such a treat! The characters are fun, it looks good for the most part, and the story has a lot of potential going for it. There are some flaws. As said, the art and animation can be inconsistent, but only sometimes and doesn't hinder the experience for me.
Despite its appearance, this is still Yu-Gi-Oh!, guys - in all its fun-loving glory. I hope anyone reading this will consider giving it a chance. Those who already have, I hope you stick around, and if you don't, that's okay; nothing's made for everyone.
I can't wait for SEVENS' return and see the vision Studio Bridge has for this entry!
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