This is going to be a rather harsh review so skip it if you do like the series. Also it contains spoilers for some bits so read at your own risk.
I honestly do not understand how anybody is giving this series above a 5. It is one of the most painfully mediocre anime series I've come across in all my years of watching anime. The second half of 5D's which is a trainwreck compared to the first half is HIGH ART compared to GX. I'll admit I've only watched random bits of the series, but I've watched large chunks across the first three seasons, so
...
I think I've seen enough to be able to judge it. However, if you do like this series, I commend you and am glad you can find some redeeming value in this series.
Characters: 2/10
These characters... Calling them "characters" is too kind. Even calling them cardboard cutouts would be too generous. These are some of the most static, cliche, bland, forgettable characters I've come across in all my years of viewing anime. There is almost no character development to speak of. Even when they DO get development, they tend to act like their development never happened.
The best example of this is Chronos. He starts out as an antagonist then drifts to being a bit of an ally to Judai and co toward the end of the first season. He even ends up being proud of Hayato and recommends him to Industrial Illusions. But by time the second season starts, he's actively trying to destroy the Osiris Red Dorm.
The characters are also inconsistent.
Manjoume is extremely driven, hard-headed, and independent, but during the last bit of the first season, he falls in love with Asuka quite literally out of nowhere. I mean I skipped the first half of the first season, so maybe there was some interest shown before. However, there was absolutely NO indication of that during the previous episodes of the Seven Star Assassin's arc.
The worst part is that the characters are static beyond belief. I watched half of the first season, part of the second, and half of the third, but I saw absolutely no character growth in anybody. Judai was still the same, boring shounen protag he always was. Manjoume was the same joke he always was. Shou remained the same coward he always was. Misawa wasn't even there for half of the third season.
There is no character to growth to speak of. I'm a writer so I know what real character growth look like.
Mostly static characters are not bad in and of themselves. In fact, they can be very interesting. However, when the entire cast is static, that's when there's a problem. None of the characters grow at ALL.
Art/Sound: 5/10
The animation and sound on this series are...mediocre at best. There's nothing that really makes it stand out from other serialized anime.
Story: 2/10
Admittedly, I am not the most qualified person to judge the story since I've seen maybe 20-40% of the series, so I'm going to more use this category to judge the quality of the writing from what I saw.
As you can tell, I thought it was absolutely dreadful. this is one of the most filler-ridden, soulless pieces of garbage I've ever seen. To put into perspective just how trashy this anime is, I started watching at episode 27 and I had NO trouble keeping up with what had happened. I was admittedly a little bit more confused when I jumped over basically all of season two into season three, but I felt like I had lost nothing when I skipped so much. The stories were mostly self-contained enough to not really need too much backstory on what had happened in previous seasons. Even for when season two bled over into three, I jumped in without much of any trouble. I know this was one way to attract viewers as the anime progressed while it was airing, but it's still pretty bad.
The worst part of this series if the FILLER. I know it's to be expected of any long-running show especially in shounen, but that doesn't excuse just how tedious and BORING it is. I admittedly skipped over the majority of season two, but the first ten episodes at least have next to NOTHING related to the plot. The main plot during those episodes focuses around trying to get rid of the Osiris Red dorm. The main plot for the first bit of the seconds season is literally just trying to get rid of one of the dorms.
However, the worst part of the lazy writing is the deus ex machina. It happens three times in the last bit of season 1 and the first bit of season 2. The first one is when they need to get the spirit gates open so they have Manjoume randomly fall in love with Asuka and take the keys. When he loses to her, the gates open and Judai faces Kagemaru. What's supposed to be the first season's climax is a rushed clusterfuck. It takes only about two episodes to resolve which would be fine if it were any good. But no. I don't care if they established the Philosopher's Stone card a few episodes before, but they didn't establish its effects. It grants Judai three wishes for cards he needs and that's how he wins. It's anticlimactic at best and offensively lazy writing at worst. I know they were probably strapped for time, but if you're going to have this duel be the climax, THEN GIVE IT THE PROPER TIME IT NEEDS. DON'T JUST HAVE IT END BECAUSE JUDAI CAN GET WHATEVER HE NEEDS TO BEAT THE BAD GUY. The other example comes in season two when Judai gets his new deck. He's literally just whisked away to a planet to resolve an emotional crisis and is handed the cards he needs to defeat Ed.
The writing seems to get somewhat better in season three since you get the plot moving forward unimpeded without filler for awhile...but then it just stops for a small filler arc with zombie students.
This is where I gave up on the series and couldn't continue due to the painful mediocrity. The story is admittedly interesting, but there's an old adage in writing that holds true here: "Strong characters can carry a weak plot but a strong plot cannot carry weak characters." That is so painfully true in the third season of GX. The plot is interesting but the characters are so one dimensional you just cannot care about them.
Enjoyment: 1/10
If negative scores were a thing on this website, my enjoyment would be in the negatives. This series bored me at best and insulted my intelligence at worst.
I'll go into my personal reasons for watching the series at this point.
I don't remember exactly how or why I started watching 5D's last year, but I did and I absolutely fell in love with it. I'm a test-based roleplayer, so it was inevitable that my main partner and I started messing around in the 5D's universe. My main character is Aki and my muse of her has grown and drifted from canon in some ways. Mine can actively see and interact with the duel spirits in her deck, so I picked up GX since it's the series that delves into them the most.
Needless to say, I gave up before I got through the entirety of the third season.
Is it unfair to compare GX to 5D's? I don't think so, but it's basically apples and oranges. 5D's is a great series with strong character development and interactions (for the most part) with a compelling plot and characters. GX is a mediocre, stale, cliche, cookie-cutter shounen anime that has little to no redeeming value. Even the worst of 5D's is far better than the best of GX. I'd rather watch the Pre-WRGP arc of 5D's which is 90% filler over a ten-episode stretch of GX.
I honestly do not understand how anybody legitimately enjoys this series.
Jan 26, 2016
Yu☆Gi☆Oh! Duel Monsters GX
(Anime)
add
This is going to be a rather harsh review so skip it if you do like the series. Also it contains spoilers for some bits so read at your own risk.
I honestly do not understand how anybody is giving this series above a 5. It is one of the most painfully mediocre anime series I've come across in all my years of watching anime. The second half of 5D's which is a trainwreck compared to the first half is HIGH ART compared to GX. I'll admit I've only watched random bits of the series, but I've watched large chunks across the first three seasons, so ... |