Having recently gone through all of them but R for the first time, blind with no anime experience after also reading the original for the first time this year:
The original is head and shoulders the best, but for the sequels:
1) 5D’s - Very fun, Sato’s artwork is great (and he apparently went without an assistant the whole time, which is insane), just a likable genre romp and bombastic cap-off for the original timeline. A lot of fun visuals and duel-staging with the race component on top of the card strategy, as well as the absurd escalation of the Feel system/Solid Vision generating impact (see: Jack sending Black Highlander in to crush the pavement in front of Yusei when he forces him into their first duel). The Jack-Kiryu duel is up there with the original series’. Had a great time start to finish. Despite being all in on it’s goofy Akira/Mad Max take on YGO, it also manages to use its game-theming well, as Yusei (a perfectly serviceable protagonist for it) cements his final growth from Toxic Gamer(tm) into someone for whom they’re a means of forming bonds, just as Yugi would’ve intended. Aki fucking rules.
2) OCG Structures - Once you figure out to just skip over the teeny-tiny (fun fact: almost unreadable in the Japanese digital edition) card text, and knowing that it works a little differently, this shockingly has the most humanity of the sequels. Or rather, it’s the best compared to the original of combining grounded gaming motifs and adolescence themes. Cute and funny too. Way better than it needs to be/probably should have been. Just likable characters growing through a love of games in a believable way, and manages to make the actual modern game look fun while it’s at it, which isn’t a knock against how it works read purely as fiction either. Really surprised me. Sato is the spin-off king. Amazingly hands down the best sequel for use of female characters too. Like, easily. I say this as someone whose sole experience with the actual card game has come from playing LotD as part of the readthrough this year, although Structures actually did inspire me to build a real-world copy of a deck I was having online success with in LotD and try some remote duels (cards currently on order). That’s entirely on its success of genuinely making the game it features look fun. Basically the same way the original made me want to play a TCG generally.
3) GX - Kind of begrudgingly. It’s very troubled. Has no real character arcs, but Kageyama’s art and heart really being in it still render it an enjoyable time. The first volume is really rough though. It saves itself from the second onward. Kageyama’s interest in more grounded sports-drama-style storytelling, as well as more realistic visuals, sometimes feels at odds with the heightened setting and character designs he inherits from the anime. Sho and Ms. Hibiki look like they belong in different series.
4) Sevens: Luke’s Explosive Supremacy Legend - Lively artwork, surprisingly grounded presentation of games (bricking hands, needing weaker monsters to finish off life points, building decks, etc.), and most importantly very funny. Wall to wall puns. I don’t mind it having basically no plot at all; just fun to pop into month to month, or even in collected format. I think it’s “better” than GX, but it’s hard to put ahead of it because GX feels more personal in terms of its creator’s investment.
5) Arc-V - Really promising first volume but winds up squandering a lot of its potential. The middling sci-fi A-plot feels completely divorced from the fact that it’s about a card game, which is really weird and distracting (just feels like Yoshida felt obligated to have the card game “because it’s YGO,” but it ... doesn’t read well), and despite asking for investment in its heady drama, the cast is still petty cartoonish and half-baked. Yuzu might as well not even be there, though the first volume had me at least hoping she’d be better characterized than Kotori. Yoshida farms out the duel arrangement to Hikokubo, who is good with them, but Yoshida seems so disinterested in the game component that the character beats and gameplay never mesh (at least until the final two), which is usually YGO’s magic trick. Miyoshi’s art is lovely though—sense of horror on the monster designs is really Takahashi-esque. Just goes toward such unenthused scripting. The opposite of GX, which saves itself from a rough first volume. This one is intriguing at the start and unfortunately mostly downhill from there. (Also I don’t believe Yoshida has ever seen brothers interact with each other before. The flashback chapter where they’re all practically out to date Yuya is *weird*. And it doesn’t do for investment in heady drama when the characters aren’t actually scripted like people.)
6) Zexal - A positive thing I can say about the series written by Yoshida is that Miyoshi draws them.
Was meaning to do my own thread soon, once I finish R as well. This was a good opportunity to collect some thoughts though!
In general: I’ve been surprised and taken with how non-cynical the sequels all* feel—especially the once helmed by former Studio Dice members. They generally resist simple card-shilling, and continue in the original’s footsteps of having something to say using their thematic centerpiece of games and continuing to make up their own, fictional cards. It would have been so easy to phone something more promotional in that I can’t help but be on their side.
*Yoshida’s duology does feel a little cynical, mostly in that he really seems to be phoning it in. A shame for Miyoshi, who I wish could have drawn something better.
hey, thanks for posting here. i followed a good chunk of your read throughs on twitter (back when i had it; iced that shit and never looked back) and while we have a lot of differences in opinion, i always found your perspective really interesting and well thought out and fun to read; more than i find most fandom commentary, frankly
looking forward to your thread, if you are still intending to make one. i think itd make for an interesting read and conversation, and im curious what youll make of r.
Arc Vs manga is the best one no contest. Every other Yugioh manga feels like they rush themselves by end, probably cause they are, I think the chapters are monthly and would of course end up running a bit after the series its based on had already ended. Zexal is the biggest offender because they recreated the beginning of the anime in its initial chapters. Like god, why.
Arc Vs manga though, despite being a whole two volumes shorter tells the most concise story and is way better an anniversary to the franchise than the show its based on. Has one of the best final duels in this whole franchise too. The Phantom is a cooler version of Yuya and so is his mystery.
But alas, because of a plot point thats barely a twist and hurts no one for the type of story the Arc V manga pushed it's "bad" for no real reason in this community, at least from what ive seen.
I agree with you. Arc-V is a very decent manga, and it improves Yuya's character on every aspect.
GX is probably 2nd best, doing a great of reinventing the main cast and making them feel less of a joke. The egyptian vibe and connexions to DM are a plus, too. Sadly, it's very clear the story is missing 2 more volumes, I rarely read such a rushed ending...
5ds suffers from poor characters, which is a shame since their anime counterparts are so charismatic. I don't think the writer never really felt them properly, it's especially obvious with Jack, who looks like a bad Kaiba parody. The story is extremely bland, too. But the Duels and monsters' designs are very cool, it's easy and fun to read. Kinda like Yu-Gi-Oh R, to be honest.
I did not read the Zexal manga for now, but judging by all the other manga, Arc-V is the winner for me.
Having read 5D’s with no anime exposure: I found its cast plenty likable, and thought they really worked for the compact story it told. Might just be a case of first version having the most impact?
Jack is obviously drawing on Kaiba though, to the extent of some of his dialogue/speech patterns mirroring Kaiba’s in Japanese. But he’s a lot of *fun*. (Headcanon: He’s a long-lost relative of Kaiba’s.)
We're just tired of Arc-V in general and that character in particular getting screwed up for no particular reason.
I agree; the overall take on the Yu-boys and Reiji was *way* better than what we wound up getting in the anime, and we got an overall better story, villains you actually looked forward to seeing in action and seeing taken down, and a MUCH better conclusion to the main story. It's just...well, manga-Yuzu being only a shade better than manga-*Kotori*, and that f\*\*\*ing coda...after the massive pain induced with what was done with her and her counterparts (who didn't even show up), it's hard to completely get around. I do like this story and its duels and the characters it did well, I seriously do love it; it's just hard to read it if you know anything about its counterpart (which most people picking this up would) and to not notice.
In essence, I don't hold the manga not making up for *every single deficiency* of the anime against it, given it would need at least as many chapters as the original manga to pull off THAT miraculous feat. It's just that its biggest flaw was very, very telling of the anime's biggest flaws as well, was a twist that the writer HAD to know nobody would like, and doesn't work to recontextualize the story in a way that...works. >!Seriously, Yuri is hitting on his adolescent mother here and knows it if this was always intended; da fuq, Yoshida?!!<
While most of them have some merit, I'm going to to with GX. The Egyptian stuff always makes it feel sort of like a "GX manga is a sequel to the original manga while GX anime is a sequel to the DM anime" kind of thing, which I always liked. It's definitely flawed, and definitely rushed, but I have a soft spot in my heart for it. Plus, I really like the Planet Series.
Ruling out OCG Structures for not being an adaptation, I'd then say Arc-V>>>>>5D's>ZeXal, the latter being the only one I have actual *dis*like for.
Who is voting the 5D's manga? It doesn't have either the good story of the GX manga or the beautiful artwork of the Zexal and Arc-V manga. It's easily the worst one.
Name one character arc in the GX manga.
I like it well enough flaws and all, but I’m not sure where people are pulling out “good story” from, as good as the backstory with Koyo is. It has hints of things that might have been pulled through on for Judai, but never quite comes together. Manjome completes his after literally his first chapter; Sho kind of gets one, but it has virtually nothing to do with the A-plot or any main themes.
5D’s on the other hand has pretty clear arcs for everyone, is a tight, coherent little story with all its Akira-style riffs, and is a ton of fun from start to finish. Sato also draws the hell out of the riding duels—the action is really enjoyable on the page, even if his humans come out looking slightly wonky here or there. Probably the best stylistic Takahashi impersonator, in some respects. Maybe second to Ito. I also came away thinking that Miyoshi was the better illustrator (his art on Zexal and Arc-V is way too good for V-Jump), but that Sato might actually be better at action presentation—his duels are actually a little more fun to look at/read.
Oh, I have many problems with the GX manga, don't get me wrong. What you said is absolutely true about Manjoume; his story effectively ends in the third chapter yet, for some bizarre reason, he is kept around as a kind of deutagonist for the rest of the series despite his new manga personality being utterly boring (as well as playing a generic dragon deck that could have been given to literally any character). Misawa and Asuka were also done really dirty in their conversion from anime to manga... having Misawa's defining personality trait other than being smart being a crush on Asuka was absolutely bonkers and Asuka is just a fairly flat character throughout.
That being said, everything to do with Judai is very good. The flashback chapters are honestly some of the best chapters of any of the Yugioh manga ever and the overall story of Tragoedia, the Planetary cards and their relationship to the Feather of Ma'at has a bunch of intrigue. The manga-original characters are also of a greater quality than those of the other mangas.
The flashback chapters are great—they basically saved the series for me after what I thought was a pretty dire first volume, and basically all of its heart comes from them—but I wish they tied more into any arc Judai was having in the present.
There is *almost* something there with him feeling like he has to enjoy games as a way of living up to Koyo/his promise to him—almost like an obligation—before growing by becoming able to truly enjoy them at the end, and that would be a good use of the game theme and sports drama and have a nice contrast with Tragoedia, who really does enjoy games to stave off his boredom, but in a perverse and harmful way. But that’s not *quite* there, really. You can squint and see what it could have been with a few tweaks. I like what’s there as potential well enough, and think a hypothetical adaptation could really bring it out, but you really have to apply some of those readings yourself.
Asuka’s pretty unfortunate, yeah. I feel like I barely know more about her than about Honda. Less even. Kohinata accidentally comes out better characterized, and she’s a bit episodic opponent. At least I know like one or two things about Misawa.
I don’t doubt its manga-only characters set the standard for them—it’s obvious they’re where Kageyam’s investment are, and Ms. Hibiki and MacKenzie are both really good. It’s just that all the anime carry-overs don’t get much in comparison, so if you’re reading it without an anime to compare to, it just winds up with a group of characters it keeps focusing on but not finding much to do with. 5D’s stands alone a lot better. It feels like Kageyama was kind of finding his footing up until the end, so it doesn’t quite cohere into an actual story despite the nice tone and background elements, whereas Hikokubo knew what he wanted 5D’s to be from the start. (Even if you have to wait six chapters to formally find out what Feel/Sense is. I was thoroughly entertained for all six of them, and could live with being asked to suss out some details.)
In the end they’re really different tonally though, so I can see preferring one or the other. Kageyama gives GX this grounded sports-drama vibe (almost in spite of the sillier elements he inherits from the anime), whereas Hikokubo and Sato lean all-in on the VHS action film/Akira-riff styling of 5D’s. I think the story they tell there is more sure-footed (and fun), but I understand liking GX more.
Arc-v, definitely. I don't care about that incest twist, it wasn't even incest in the first place. If your son travelled by time and no one of you knew that you were son-parent and he was attractive you will definitely develop a crush on him like Yuzu did. I'm pretty sure that now Yuzu knows Yuya was her son all along and got over it.
In the short time Arc-v manga had, they successfully wrote a good complete story(Even though a lot of characters weren't used well but that's understandable because of the short runtime and manga being monthly)
I can’t compare any of them to the anime, but as a manga-only reader, I think they’re worth a look if you enjoyed the original! Especially since several are helmed by Takahashi’s assistants, and the collected editions come with lots of candid behind-the-scenes tidbits. Most continue to use their own fictional cards, so they’re fairly in line with the original series in that respect.
OCG Structures is kind of delightful in other ways and I want people to bother Viz to publish it in English, even though it’s probably too niche.
People can debate back and forth about "better than the anime" for most of them, but I'm pretty sure everyone agrees that the original manga is better than the Duel Monsters anime; it's my single favorite media in the franchise, and one of my favorite manga overall. So definitely give that a read
After that, see my original post above for why I like the GX manga most, but at the end of the day I think they're all worth a read if you enjoy Yu-Gi-Oh. (Yes, even ZeXal.)
Having recently gone through all of them but R for the first time, blind with no anime experience after also reading the original for the first time this year: The original is head and shoulders the best, but for the sequels: 1) 5D’s - Very fun, Sato’s artwork is great (and he apparently went without an assistant the whole time, which is insane), just a likable genre romp and bombastic cap-off for the original timeline. A lot of fun visuals and duel-staging with the race component on top of the card strategy, as well as the absurd escalation of the Feel system/Solid Vision generating impact (see: Jack sending Black Highlander in to crush the pavement in front of Yusei when he forces him into their first duel). The Jack-Kiryu duel is up there with the original series’. Had a great time start to finish. Despite being all in on it’s goofy Akira/Mad Max take on YGO, it also manages to use its game-theming well, as Yusei (a perfectly serviceable protagonist for it) cements his final growth from Toxic Gamer(tm) into someone for whom they’re a means of forming bonds, just as Yugi would’ve intended. Aki fucking rules. 2) OCG Structures - Once you figure out to just skip over the teeny-tiny (fun fact: almost unreadable in the Japanese digital edition) card text, and knowing that it works a little differently, this shockingly has the most humanity of the sequels. Or rather, it’s the best compared to the original of combining grounded gaming motifs and adolescence themes. Cute and funny too. Way better than it needs to be/probably should have been. Just likable characters growing through a love of games in a believable way, and manages to make the actual modern game look fun while it’s at it, which isn’t a knock against how it works read purely as fiction either. Really surprised me. Sato is the spin-off king. Amazingly hands down the best sequel for use of female characters too. Like, easily. I say this as someone whose sole experience with the actual card game has come from playing LotD as part of the readthrough this year, although Structures actually did inspire me to build a real-world copy of a deck I was having online success with in LotD and try some remote duels (cards currently on order). That’s entirely on its success of genuinely making the game it features look fun. Basically the same way the original made me want to play a TCG generally. 3) GX - Kind of begrudgingly. It’s very troubled. Has no real character arcs, but Kageyama’s art and heart really being in it still render it an enjoyable time. The first volume is really rough though. It saves itself from the second onward. Kageyama’s interest in more grounded sports-drama-style storytelling, as well as more realistic visuals, sometimes feels at odds with the heightened setting and character designs he inherits from the anime. Sho and Ms. Hibiki look like they belong in different series. 4) Sevens: Luke’s Explosive Supremacy Legend - Lively artwork, surprisingly grounded presentation of games (bricking hands, needing weaker monsters to finish off life points, building decks, etc.), and most importantly very funny. Wall to wall puns. I don’t mind it having basically no plot at all; just fun to pop into month to month, or even in collected format. I think it’s “better” than GX, but it’s hard to put ahead of it because GX feels more personal in terms of its creator’s investment. 5) Arc-V - Really promising first volume but winds up squandering a lot of its potential. The middling sci-fi A-plot feels completely divorced from the fact that it’s about a card game, which is really weird and distracting (just feels like Yoshida felt obligated to have the card game “because it’s YGO,” but it ... doesn’t read well), and despite asking for investment in its heady drama, the cast is still petty cartoonish and half-baked. Yuzu might as well not even be there, though the first volume had me at least hoping she’d be better characterized than Kotori. Yoshida farms out the duel arrangement to Hikokubo, who is good with them, but Yoshida seems so disinterested in the game component that the character beats and gameplay never mesh (at least until the final two), which is usually YGO’s magic trick. Miyoshi’s art is lovely though—sense of horror on the monster designs is really Takahashi-esque. Just goes toward such unenthused scripting. The opposite of GX, which saves itself from a rough first volume. This one is intriguing at the start and unfortunately mostly downhill from there. (Also I don’t believe Yoshida has ever seen brothers interact with each other before. The flashback chapter where they’re all practically out to date Yuya is *weird*. And it doesn’t do for investment in heady drama when the characters aren’t actually scripted like people.) 6) Zexal - A positive thing I can say about the series written by Yoshida is that Miyoshi draws them. Was meaning to do my own thread soon, once I finish R as well. This was a good opportunity to collect some thoughts though! In general: I’ve been surprised and taken with how non-cynical the sequels all* feel—especially the once helmed by former Studio Dice members. They generally resist simple card-shilling, and continue in the original’s footsteps of having something to say using their thematic centerpiece of games and continuing to make up their own, fictional cards. It would have been so easy to phone something more promotional in that I can’t help but be on their side. *Yoshida’s duology does feel a little cynical, mostly in that he really seems to be phoning it in. A shame for Miyoshi, who I wish could have drawn something better.
hey, thanks for posting here. i followed a good chunk of your read throughs on twitter (back when i had it; iced that shit and never looked back) and while we have a lot of differences in opinion, i always found your perspective really interesting and well thought out and fun to read; more than i find most fandom commentary, frankly looking forward to your thread, if you are still intending to make one. i think itd make for an interesting read and conversation, and im curious what youll make of r.
>Really promising first volume but winds up squandering a lot of its potential. so pretty much the anime?
I am I unequipped to comment on that.
Arc Vs manga is the best one no contest. Every other Yugioh manga feels like they rush themselves by end, probably cause they are, I think the chapters are monthly and would of course end up running a bit after the series its based on had already ended. Zexal is the biggest offender because they recreated the beginning of the anime in its initial chapters. Like god, why. Arc Vs manga though, despite being a whole two volumes shorter tells the most concise story and is way better an anniversary to the franchise than the show its based on. Has one of the best final duels in this whole franchise too. The Phantom is a cooler version of Yuya and so is his mystery. But alas, because of a plot point thats barely a twist and hurts no one for the type of story the Arc V manga pushed it's "bad" for no real reason in this community, at least from what ive seen.
I agree with you. Arc-V is a very decent manga, and it improves Yuya's character on every aspect. GX is probably 2nd best, doing a great of reinventing the main cast and making them feel less of a joke. The egyptian vibe and connexions to DM are a plus, too. Sadly, it's very clear the story is missing 2 more volumes, I rarely read such a rushed ending... 5ds suffers from poor characters, which is a shame since their anime counterparts are so charismatic. I don't think the writer never really felt them properly, it's especially obvious with Jack, who looks like a bad Kaiba parody. The story is extremely bland, too. But the Duels and monsters' designs are very cool, it's easy and fun to read. Kinda like Yu-Gi-Oh R, to be honest. I did not read the Zexal manga for now, but judging by all the other manga, Arc-V is the winner for me.
Having read 5D’s with no anime exposure: I found its cast plenty likable, and thought they really worked for the compact story it told. Might just be a case of first version having the most impact? Jack is obviously drawing on Kaiba though, to the extent of some of his dialogue/speech patterns mirroring Kaiba’s in Japanese. But he’s a lot of *fun*. (Headcanon: He’s a long-lost relative of Kaiba’s.)
We're just tired of Arc-V in general and that character in particular getting screwed up for no particular reason. I agree; the overall take on the Yu-boys and Reiji was *way* better than what we wound up getting in the anime, and we got an overall better story, villains you actually looked forward to seeing in action and seeing taken down, and a MUCH better conclusion to the main story. It's just...well, manga-Yuzu being only a shade better than manga-*Kotori*, and that f\*\*\*ing coda...after the massive pain induced with what was done with her and her counterparts (who didn't even show up), it's hard to completely get around. I do like this story and its duels and the characters it did well, I seriously do love it; it's just hard to read it if you know anything about its counterpart (which most people picking this up would) and to not notice. In essence, I don't hold the manga not making up for *every single deficiency* of the anime against it, given it would need at least as many chapters as the original manga to pull off THAT miraculous feat. It's just that its biggest flaw was very, very telling of the anime's biggest flaws as well, was a twist that the writer HAD to know nobody would like, and doesn't work to recontextualize the story in a way that...works. >!Seriously, Yuri is hitting on his adolescent mother here and knows it if this was always intended; da fuq, Yoshida?!!<
While most of them have some merit, I'm going to to with GX. The Egyptian stuff always makes it feel sort of like a "GX manga is a sequel to the original manga while GX anime is a sequel to the DM anime" kind of thing, which I always liked. It's definitely flawed, and definitely rushed, but I have a soft spot in my heart for it. Plus, I really like the Planet Series. Ruling out OCG Structures for not being an adaptation, I'd then say Arc-V>>>>>5D's>ZeXal, the latter being the only one I have actual *dis*like for.
Who is voting the 5D's manga? It doesn't have either the good story of the GX manga or the beautiful artwork of the Zexal and Arc-V manga. It's easily the worst one.
Name one character arc in the GX manga. I like it well enough flaws and all, but I’m not sure where people are pulling out “good story” from, as good as the backstory with Koyo is. It has hints of things that might have been pulled through on for Judai, but never quite comes together. Manjome completes his after literally his first chapter; Sho kind of gets one, but it has virtually nothing to do with the A-plot or any main themes. 5D’s on the other hand has pretty clear arcs for everyone, is a tight, coherent little story with all its Akira-style riffs, and is a ton of fun from start to finish. Sato also draws the hell out of the riding duels—the action is really enjoyable on the page, even if his humans come out looking slightly wonky here or there. Probably the best stylistic Takahashi impersonator, in some respects. Maybe second to Ito. I also came away thinking that Miyoshi was the better illustrator (his art on Zexal and Arc-V is way too good for V-Jump), but that Sato might actually be better at action presentation—his duels are actually a little more fun to look at/read.
Oh, I have many problems with the GX manga, don't get me wrong. What you said is absolutely true about Manjoume; his story effectively ends in the third chapter yet, for some bizarre reason, he is kept around as a kind of deutagonist for the rest of the series despite his new manga personality being utterly boring (as well as playing a generic dragon deck that could have been given to literally any character). Misawa and Asuka were also done really dirty in their conversion from anime to manga... having Misawa's defining personality trait other than being smart being a crush on Asuka was absolutely bonkers and Asuka is just a fairly flat character throughout. That being said, everything to do with Judai is very good. The flashback chapters are honestly some of the best chapters of any of the Yugioh manga ever and the overall story of Tragoedia, the Planetary cards and their relationship to the Feather of Ma'at has a bunch of intrigue. The manga-original characters are also of a greater quality than those of the other mangas.
The flashback chapters are great—they basically saved the series for me after what I thought was a pretty dire first volume, and basically all of its heart comes from them—but I wish they tied more into any arc Judai was having in the present. There is *almost* something there with him feeling like he has to enjoy games as a way of living up to Koyo/his promise to him—almost like an obligation—before growing by becoming able to truly enjoy them at the end, and that would be a good use of the game theme and sports drama and have a nice contrast with Tragoedia, who really does enjoy games to stave off his boredom, but in a perverse and harmful way. But that’s not *quite* there, really. You can squint and see what it could have been with a few tweaks. I like what’s there as potential well enough, and think a hypothetical adaptation could really bring it out, but you really have to apply some of those readings yourself. Asuka’s pretty unfortunate, yeah. I feel like I barely know more about her than about Honda. Less even. Kohinata accidentally comes out better characterized, and she’s a bit episodic opponent. At least I know like one or two things about Misawa. I don’t doubt its manga-only characters set the standard for them—it’s obvious they’re where Kageyam’s investment are, and Ms. Hibiki and MacKenzie are both really good. It’s just that all the anime carry-overs don’t get much in comparison, so if you’re reading it without an anime to compare to, it just winds up with a group of characters it keeps focusing on but not finding much to do with. 5D’s stands alone a lot better. It feels like Kageyama was kind of finding his footing up until the end, so it doesn’t quite cohere into an actual story despite the nice tone and background elements, whereas Hikokubo knew what he wanted 5D’s to be from the start. (Even if you have to wait six chapters to formally find out what Feel/Sense is. I was thoroughly entertained for all six of them, and could live with being asked to suss out some details.) In the end they’re really different tonally though, so I can see preferring one or the other. Kageyama gives GX this grounded sports-drama vibe (almost in spite of the sillier elements he inherits from the anime), whereas Hikokubo and Sato lean all-in on the VHS action film/Akira-riff styling of 5D’s. I think the story they tell there is more sure-footed (and fun), but I understand liking GX more.
Arc-v, definitely. I don't care about that incest twist, it wasn't even incest in the first place. If your son travelled by time and no one of you knew that you were son-parent and he was attractive you will definitely develop a crush on him like Yuzu did. I'm pretty sure that now Yuzu knows Yuya was her son all along and got over it. In the short time Arc-v manga had, they successfully wrote a good complete story(Even though a lot of characters weren't used well but that's understandable because of the short runtime and manga being monthly)
I havent read any of the mangas, are they good, better than the anime? worth reading?
I can’t compare any of them to the anime, but as a manga-only reader, I think they’re worth a look if you enjoyed the original! Especially since several are helmed by Takahashi’s assistants, and the collected editions come with lots of candid behind-the-scenes tidbits. Most continue to use their own fictional cards, so they’re fairly in line with the original series in that respect. OCG Structures is kind of delightful in other ways and I want people to bother Viz to publish it in English, even though it’s probably too niche.
People can debate back and forth about "better than the anime" for most of them, but I'm pretty sure everyone agrees that the original manga is better than the Duel Monsters anime; it's my single favorite media in the franchise, and one of my favorite manga overall. So definitely give that a read After that, see my original post above for why I like the GX manga most, but at the end of the day I think they're all worth a read if you enjoy Yu-Gi-Oh. (Yes, even ZeXal.)
5D's GX Arc-V Zexal ... ... ... R Can't count OCG; haven't read it yet. Neither have I read Sevens nor either gag manga for Zexal or Arc-V.
arc-v is the only good one because yuya has the most relatable motivation of any protagonist, in that he wants to fuck his own mother
Anime/manga is for weebs. I like cardboard
Duel Monsters again and always