RANKING EVERY SEASON/ARC in Yu-Gi-Oh!

[@Lanadra]

Yu-Gi-oh in a nuttshell: ''I want revenge against you Kaiba, *insert selfish reason or something Gozaburo did as reason*'' ''I've been waiting 5000 years for my revenge pharaoh.''

[@IPODEWARRIOR17]

Exactly

[@seth9655]

3000 in the Japanese dub

[@Plasmagone]

Well…in the manga atem turned him into a playing card and made him experience death multiple times too the point of insanity

[@JackassBagels]

Yugi/ Atem never wanted revenge Kaiba was always the one trippin 😂

[@emreekinci4258]

Pegasus: Neither

[@Matthew0606X1999]

I honestly feel that Waking the Dragon is one of the best arcs because it shows that Atem isn’t prone to dark mistakes. It actually shows us that he is just as human as Yugi in it. The duel with Rafael was one of the best moments in the series, and how we see Yami Yugi lose that duel thanks to his reckless actions and how he was trying to fight the seal’s influence and ultimately given into its power for one duel. Also throughout that season, we got to see a more vulnerable and human side of Yami Yugi that the other season’s couldn’t quite showcase in the others. Some might disagree with me here, but I felt that we got to see a more personal side of Yami Yugi in waking the dragons.

[@DarkSideOfMirror]

I can definitely agree to that! It's one of my most favorites arcs of Yu-Gi-Oh! I never expected that yami yugi would lose against Raphael. And i agree.. We see a different and more relateable side of him. I just re-watched the season on Japanese :) Btw.. What's you're favorite Yu-Gi-Oh? For me it's definitely the OG show(followed by GX and 5ds). Personally, I enjoyed every arc and didn't even noticed the Filler (unlike naruto) xD Even the "virtual world" arc (least favorite) got some unique ideas. I love how tea is able to defeat a villian and kaiba's character development during the story.

[@UltimateD755]

Battle arc and waking dragon are the best arcs

[@mislavlukacevic6144]

Defintely agree with you, don't know what this guy in the video is yappin about

[@Matthew0606X1999]

@mislavlukacevic6144 glad you liked what i said

[@cheyguy1211]

I always believed Battle City was more about Joey than any other character. His driving motivation to become a True Duelist was great and is what drove Yugi to keep going throughout the tournament at points as well, and he had arguably better motivations and interactions with Marik than Yugi, as while Yugi's duels against Marik possessed villains were all awesome, Joey himself was possessed by Marik and subsequently breaking free of his possession (only person to do so), Joey faced Marik's top henchman Odion and not only discovered he wasn't the real Marik, but ended up winning the duel, jumped in to save Mai and had to deal with her losing the duel, gunning for Marik in the 4 way duel and getting him eliminated first, and finally dueling Marik and almost winning. Add on to that all of his growth throughout the tournament, and you have the build to what is still a greatly talked about finale. Who won between Yugi and Joey. That's why the Joey vs Kaiba duel for 3rd place is the worst duel in the entire series for me. They shit on Joey just to have Kaiba look good after his loss... to Yugi... The King of Games. All of that growth wasted in the Anime.

[@TheAzulmagia]

I disagree on the idea that Battle City was more about Joey given that Atem entered the tournament as a means of soul searching. He literally had to win the tournament in order to reclaim his identity and discover who he was. Joey, meanwhile, was just playing a game that didn't really have any stakes for him until Marik started being a shitbird. It was just a game he wanted to get better at.

[@Prideium9001]

I agree with this because since joey is the comic relief character it is amazing he would even get this development, even if Yugi was duelling for high stakes Joey was duelling those Yugi already fought before, I feel Joey finally surpassed Yugi in terms of duelling during his duel with Marik but then the series shits on Joey by giving Kaiba a win to make up to his loss to Yugi and let’s kaiba continue shitting on him I think the series would have been better if they tied in the duel and Kaiba finally accepted Joey at least then the statement of Joey being the 3rd best duellist in GX won’t be shitted on because of children who can’t face the facts

[@dragonstormx]

Joey still got the moral victory at least. Where I feel Joey should have beaten Kaiba was the Grand Prix arc.

[@armoda1057]

Kaiba beating Joey made sense to me. He already lost to Yugi twice by that time, and his 1 win vs yugi was illegitimate (although so was how Yugi overcame blue eyes ultimate). He lost to Pegasus (because of millenium eye, but still). He didn’t have any substantial wins over main characters in battle city before vs Joey. And despite Joey losing twice in a row in the finals, it’s compensated for by the fact that Joey ostensibly beat Yugi after the tourney.

[@whocaresssssss2974]

Joey is useless,biggest noob ever

[@UtopieKid]

Wait, people don't like season 4? That is by far my favourite. So many great duels and the duel between Yugi and Raphael is actually incredibly memorable

[@myheroandmadaralover2372]

most anime filer arc are very hated my i like noah and kaiba more beucse of well it give kaiba more devolment and shows jest because he running a bissenius dose not mean you get to beat him a duel unless your yugi or pegius on his home truf

[@michaelnally2841]

Yeah I’m in the same camp of walking the dragons. It’s mainly my favorite because I feel it’s the only one where I feel Atem actually develops as a character. Plus it’s the only arc where he genuinely loses a duel. It also held most of my personal favorite duels such as Yugi and Joey’s rematches against Weevil and Rex

[@captainmarvelous1221]

I love waking of the dragons so much literally watch every episode every Saturday morning and atem did develop as an better protagonist for me. Does anyone remember Capsule monsters show?

[@veronicapiccinini7956]

I love Doma Arc. The best anime filler of all times

[@veronicapiccinini7956]

@@michaelnally2841 yeah. In fact, Atem’s character development felt too rushed in the manga. But here we can finally see it

[@thesnesgeek]

Joey vs Judge man was an intersting duel. Also, that was the first time Joey outsmarted someone.

[@yubelzlord9734]

He outsmarted Espa Roba way before.

[@thesnesgeek]

@@yubelzlord9734 Yeah, that's true.

[@rob19ny]

First time? Lol You clearly never saw the Jonouchi vs Bruce Ryu fight.

[@thesnesgeek]

@@rob19ny Okay, he has outsmarted several duelists.

[@Sketchisawesome]

By gambling. Rememember kids luck is not gamble but hamble is a card

[@marcellusxo]

Waking the Dragons is that season that you either really love or hate but I'm on the side that loves this Arc. Raphael is also one of the best characters in all of Yugioh! Such a shame he was only in one season.

[@nexusshark]

To me season 4 didn't lessen the feeling and importance of the finale when Yugi and Atem finally split up. And the reason for that is simple. Orichalcos forced these two apart, but in the wrong way. Atem's soul was supposed to pass on into the afterlife, not forcefully taken away from him. And Yugi's soul wasn't meant to be taken either. And then we of course have the duel between them, which happened prematurely. But that duel served a different purpose and happened under different circumstances. The final duel between them was a ritual where both have to fight with everything they got. Their duel in season 4 had Atem duel Yugi's soul in order to overcome his own demons. One duel was for Yugi's character, while the other was for Atem's character.

[@ryanbarrie9143]

Since i saw it recently, I've viewed it as a character study of the Pharoah, stripping him of his over all importance and his counter balance to see what the strenghts and weaknesses of his character are

[@sharpaycutie2]

Yea , they kinda made that point in duelist kingdom when That guy went into yugi soul/mind and saw he was pure and innocent and child like and the pharaoh was a darker figure.

[@michaelnally2841]

This is actually the only arc I feel Atem actually developed a bit as a character as we see like in his duel his pride and him questioning himself with his own inner demons like when he realized his hubris cost him his friend Yugi. And I don’t care what anyone says this season had some of Dan Green’s best voice acting in the entire show!

[@rightinthedome9973]

Great analysis

[@crimsonhero3583]

Despite backslash it recieves sometimes, Waking the Dragons has to be my favorite. I loved Raphael as a character and it was really a shame that he was a filler.

[@mezasepkmn]

Same, but my favorite of the three was Valon.

[@nexusshark]

I agree. Also, I love the climax duel Atem and Kaiba vs Dartz. Atem and Kaiba were a real good team, they didn't waste time to summon their Master Dragon Knight (which we've only seen in that virtual mini arc). And then we of course have Dartz contunue the duel with 0 LP and summon a monster with infinite ATK, forcing Atem to do the same.

[@michaellyle859]

Crimson Hero Zug zug?

[@hellenjane]

I totally agree. Though it was focused around Atem, it was a great way to be knocked down a few pegs before the final journey. Just wished that the beginning of the Battle City said Japan than America when Isis entered Domino, then the flight scene would make more sense in the filler. Also, I also enjoyed Atem's growth too that he got out of the pit he was in.

[@nikraa77]

and the soundtrack was awesome

[@RedBoy747]

The best duel in waking the dragons arc is Joey vs. Valon for it's amazing concept and making the best Red Eyes card: Lord of the Red

[@connorwood9211]

Literal plot armor

[@RedBoy747]

Ha

[@AndreNitroX]

I love the interactive armor cards as well, before that I thought actual fist fighting was impossible in yugioh!

[@verylongman5447]

Yeah but it was a bit strange for a saint seiya fight. I mean they used duel disks and cards but overall i agree.

[@AndreNitroX]

@@verylongman5447 it was just a way to make their duel more awesome

[@michaelpisciarino5348]

1:34 Virtual World 4:56 KC Grand Prix 7:40 Waking The Dragons 12:00 Dawn of the Duel 14:10 Duelist Kingdom 16:48 Battle City

[@UltimateD755]

Battle city and waking dragons are top tier

[@LunarWingCloud]

I totally agree with Joey as MVP in Battle City. He was vital to the pacing of the arc in many spots. He grew a lot as a character, even took on big bads you would think would be left to Yugi/Atem or at least Kaiba. They really drove it home that Joey was just about as important as they were

[@Re3dHunk]

So much nostalgia, I grew up watching the original Yu-Gi-Oh, and I enjoyed every season. Waking the Dragons was one of my favorites though, because Joey got a chance to shine, and Kaiba tag dueled with Atem. I am glad they came out with darkside of dimensions, because we got to see the original characters again.

[@jinxtheunluckypony]

Honestly, Noah’s Arc had some cool ideas. The problem was the execution and placement of the arc. A fantasy themed arc with a twist on how you duel is something I’d love to see the show attempt something like this again.

[@agustinval1508]

Yeah. The virtual world arc cutting off battle city was a terrible choice, i feel the arc would be better recieved if it didnt cut off the best part of the original series

[@mislavlukacevic6144]

Excatly, that season literally revealed Kaiba's backstory to us, if that season didn't exist, Kaiba would be so mysterious

[@oresti9271]

Joey : yugi lost a duel to someone named Raphael and he stole yugis soul Tristan : come on Joey kaiba doesn't believe in those stuff Kaiba : WHAAAAAAAAAAAT YUGI LOST A DUEL TO A STRANGER seriously this part always kills me lol 😂😂

[@hightidekraken]

YUGI LOST!? YUGI GAVE HIS DUEL MONSTERS CHAMPIONSHIP CROWN TO SOME NOBODY?! NO ONE DESERVES THAT TITLE EXCEPT ME!!

[@jehurevo25]

When he yelled “YUGI LOST?!?!?” I was dying lmfao

[@oresti9271]

@@jehurevo25 I know right this part it's hilarious 😂

[@kefkarothsephka7708]

@@hightidekraken rafael wouldve beaten kaiba too.

[@Stefan_Gerards]

Tristan: "whatever, Kaiba doesn't believe in all that magic stuff anyway!" Duke: "yeah, it's all just..... some kind of HoCuS pOcUs MiNdTrIcK!" Joey: "nyehehehe hey that sounds just like him!" Kaiba: "!!!!! YUGI LOST???????"

[@01MrBLA]

I always wonder how things would’ve turned out if they actually animated “yu-Go-oh R” (it was an arc that took place right after battle city). One of duelist that pegasus took care of kidnaps tea and holds her hostage at Kariba corp. It also shows yugi using arcana knight joker, the wicked cards, and kaiba talking about opening up a dueling school.

[@TheAzulmagia]

I'm surprised they've never made a Yu-Gi-Oh! R anime after all this time, especially given how popular the original series is. You'd think it'd be a shoe-in for OVA material or something.

[@XxEmpty_EscapexX693]

Anything that involves kidnapping tea is a big nope. For everybody. Too overdone

[@thisissparta789789]

The only issue is that YGO R relies on Pegasus being killed by Bakura, since the reason Yako Tenma wanted to fight Yugi was because he mistakenly believed Yugi killed Pegasus.

[@blankname2167]

6 - Noah Arc 5- KC Grand Championship 4 - Duelist Kingdom 3 - Waking of the Dragons 2 - Dawn of the Duel 1 - Battle City

[@YugiohEverything]

Nice list! Pretty similar rankings !

[@blankname2167]

@@YugiohEverything thanks Dylan. Cant wait to see the other lists for the other series

[@kappakappakappabitch]

Agreed 100%, though DK and WtD are close.

[@Terriermon1234]

@@kappakappakappabitch capsul monster arc where?

[@RiotDuel_Wisdom_and_Eternity]

I totally agree. Battle city was the heat of traditional yugioh.

[@MrMarinus18]

11:00 I was really reminded of Arcana and how Atem really acted like him. Atem really felt like the villains he usually fights. I do think the waking the dragons also showed that Yugi was not superfluous and actually did have something to teach Atem.

[@puppetmon9687]

That is why I call that play where Atem sacrifices his Dark Magicians as "Pulling an Arkana" which means: "Betray the trust of your sentient monster cards by sacrificing them"

[@kingkusnacht]

Waking the Dragon is my favourite, just slightly ahead of Battle City. I know it's not in the original manga, but I thought it was a lot of fun and having duels to the death increases the stakes. One of the few annoying plotholes throughout the show was that I often thought: what's stopping them from ending the duel and then calling the police or just beating up the villain to save the world. But Waking the Dragon had a good excuse for that since one couldn't just forfeit.

[@UltimateD755]

Nah battle city

[@z1pperintheback657]

(Strap in--this post turned into a mini-thesis): I understand if you didn't like the retcon regarding Atlantis in SSN4, but I personally loved it. I always hated tying down the mythos to specifically Ancient Egypt and the events related to Zorc's creation. Don't get me wrong--it's a fine origin story for Yami, Bakura, and the Items, but for the magic linked to these monsters overall? This was an opportunity that significantly widened the storytelling possibilities far past just Yami's character arc--which *is* ultimately what happened, both for better and worse. Like, if this magic they were using was so potent, why did it never appear in human history before-or-since? Why are monsters made from the souls of ancient Egyptian pickpockets forming into turtles with modern-day rail catapults (and don't tell me that was Pegasus' artistic flourish--the black-and-yellow-striping is on the stupid rock tablet)? No, the explanation with Atlantis made a *lot* more sense to me: the magic associated with this card game is older than the Pyramids, older than Atlantis--it's as old as creation itself, and it's something that ancient civilizations of this world have been tapping into since the dawn of time. Dartz talks up the Orichalcos as being a much more potent magic than the magic of the Items (and probably believed it), but the truth is that the god cards and the Puzzle bested the Leviathan in the end, so we can chalk up that as despair-inducing taunting between rival forms of magic with different origin points. This is all something that's ultimately confirmed by Darkness/Nightshade, as he refers to Duel Monsters (and all associated gaming that features similar monsters in this world) as the "origin of this world," describing the creation story as being a duality between light and darkness formed back-to-back, like the faces of a card. Therefore, it would be accurate to describe the basic rules of this game (which can fluctuate to taking on slightly different rulesets but retain similar mechanics and imagery) as something tied in to the very fabric of this reality, not unlike the laws of physics. However, this power abides not by the laws of the physical plane, but rather, the human imagination. This explains why Duel Monsters, when summoned for really-realz, can do things like hover in midair or take down whole armies with tanks--they're bound by their *own* set of rules (the game and metaphysics), and can just ignore a lot of the Earth-plane's physical rules. And because of the Crimson Dragon, it's also fair to assume that these things can exist out-of-sync with our timescale, and thus transcend natural chronological order (thus, why you can have an ancient order of monks in freakin' Tibet who dedicated themselves to futuristic robot dragons). Duel monsters are, simply put, the power of metaphysical constructs from across the whole of human time (tulpas, if you wanna get technical) made manifest through a magic that forms one of the central pillars on which the reality of this whole multiverse-schema rests. And none of these wide-reaching, imaginative implications would have been possible if it had all been tied down to the origin of the Items. The stuff with the Earthbound gods, the Norse pantheon, even the stupid Supreme King origin story--none of that would have been possible, because they would have had to somehow tie all of those incredible instances back to Yami somehow. Look, if you *just* want a story that keeps the magic as a way to prop up Yami's underlying character themes, the original manga is there for you. But I think that time has shown that the inclusion of the backstory for the Orichalcos, Dartz, and yes, even Atlantis, opened way more doors than it closed for the anime.

[@pichugamer5275]

@ULGROTHA Pretty sure Arc V exists in its own continuity, considering how different it is and how there are alternate versions of a bunch of characters.

[@rexdrake6981]

you have too much time on your hands

[@z1pperintheback657]

@@rexdrake6981 Don't be that guy.

[@rynobehnke8289]

I thing its at least worth mentioning that even in the original story the Millennium Item's were created by a Ritual from a Book that predates Ancient Egypt so even ignoring future series is the Idea that this black magic predates the time of the Pharao already part of the main story.

[@finalfrontier001]

@@rynobehnke8289 exactlt so they were not re-writing in Doma Arc

[@Spiritprime91]

Waking the Dragons/Doma is my honest favourite because of not just Yami going through major character development and learning the importance of losing, but the idea of eventually him and Yugi one day having to split apart and go their separate ways one day just makes it all the more heart-wrenching. Those two will one day separate, but destiny would not allow it just yet because it was not their time.

[@UltimateD755]

Battle city

[@Gannon373]

As much as I love Battle City, I feel like the Joey vs Marik duel actually hurts the arc a lot. Because as awesome as that duel is, the reality is that Joey clearly beat Marik, and so from that point on Marik seems far less threatening as an antagonist. Why should we feel any tension when Yugi duels Marik when he's already been beaten by the comic relief/sidekick character? If Joey can beat Marik, then obviously Yugi can too, so that duel just doesn't work for me as a climax, and it robs Joey of a deserved victory and rematch against Yugi.

[@zeaferjones1404]

I agree it ruined the Yugi vs Marik duel because the whole time Marik is outsmarting the Pharaoh I was thinking, "well Joey wouldn't have fell for that trick" or "maybe you should have Joey duel for you." I think what the anime tried to do was hype up Raw by making Marik look like a bad duelist that relied on a great card. However I don't think it worked that way because I was less impressed with Raw because of how Marik would almost always lose. The Mai duel didn't help either since he pretty much lost that duel too.

[@danielramsey6141]

@@zeaferjones1404 "Ra" Damn auto-correct.

[@danielramsey6141]

That's Just it! There was Never any Doubt when it came to Yugi Beating Marik! Almost being Pre-ordained after Joey narrowly beating him after he stood back up and summoned his monster to attack him! Hell, the Duel Between Joey and Kaiba was more suspenseful. But back to Yugi's duel. Its another Shadow game like the one with Pegasus before, and Yet there have been Fillar Arc before where Yugi is basically the Last Guy with the Winning hand Unless you count some of the Events around Kaiba, who is Just as competent, if not more than Ready to beat opponents that He can handle unless its VR Gods, People Wielding Ancient Items, an Immortal Duelist, or even an Entity of Darkness like Zorc Necro!

[@danielramsey6141]

@@zeaferjones1404 Honestly, That's mainly Yami Marik, as he seems to be the only guy upping the risk factor since he's a Sado-Masochist! Basically willing to inflict Self-harm for his own satisfaction while pushing his opponents to their limits.

[@bigfish5544]

Without it being a shadow game, Marik would have won. He only summoned Ra to kill Jonouchi, not to make his life points hit 0. So without it being a shadow game, Marik would never have summoned Ra from the grave, and would have more likely summoned something like Lava golem to finish jonouchi or Plasma eel to protect himself. Also, he said he was actually holding back the entirety of the duel because he thought jonouchi was a terrible duelist. The greatest mistake of Marik in this duel was to have underestimated Jonouchi, because otherwise he would have more than probably won. On the other hand, Kaiba admitted he had less than 20% chance to beat Marik according to his calculations, and Marik already beat Bakura in a duel fair and square. So I don't think that affected the season at all, in fact, it only made it better because of how good this duel was

[@maytalacedo2942]

I personaly will always love waking the dragons arc. Best arc I ever watch.

[@XxEmpty_EscapexX693]

Omg i've seen you everywhere and once again, you make a point that i completely agree with (it's kind of scary)

[@maytalacedo2942]

@@XxEmpty_EscapexX693 didn't I see your comment on messed up origins comments? I don't mean that in a weird way but I notice your subscriber name.

[@andrewjames7438]

That’s your best arc? You need to be sent to the shadow realm.

[@maytalacedo2942]

@@andrewjames7438 really man? We're going there? Really?

[@andrewjames7438]

@@maytalacedo2942 the best arc is clearly dungeon dice monsters.

[@SmurfsAndRaspberries]

My personal favorites from 1 - 7(including YGO CM) 1: Millennium Arc 2: Duelist Kingdom 3: Waking Of The Dragons 4: Capsules Monsters 5: Battle City 6: Battle City Finalies 7: Noah's Arc

[@TMXFroZeN]

1: Battle City - First Hype God cards, then Hype Yami's past, then Hype Marik aka best villain, then Hype Yami Marik aka villain best, In short, Hype everything, and best duels. 2: Lost Memory World - I just like the Ancient Egypt aspect and the few duel there were, are some of the best. Thief King Bakura is sexy as heck and younger Grandpa was dope! 3: Waking the Dragons - Overall very good. The only thing I didn't care about that much was Dartz, but Rafael was such an badass with awesome backstory. 4: Virual World - I just really enjoy Noah's character and it was great to learn more about Kaiba's past, since not much is revealed about it in the animé otherwise. 5: Duelist Kingdom - Pegasus pretty much carried the whole first season. But I really hated the duels... 6: Grand Prix Tournament - Some really good duels in there, but I really couldn't get into any of the new characters. No real story progression either. But really. Battle City was such a great season. Nearly every duel was really awesome and every new character was interesting. The story progression was in such good/balanced pace with so much questions answered and so much revealed about Yami. The Hype was non-stop. =)

[@Terriermon1234]

capsul monster arc where?

[@hightidekraken]

Darkblitz that was a spinoff series

[@hightidekraken]

I only really disagree on Marik being the best villain lol. Also on you hating the DK duels as I thought a lot of them were fun and wacky (in a fun way) because they weren’t restricted to IRL rules

[@hectorortiz2689]

the lost memory world was the worst arc

[@hightidekraken]

I like triggering people I like it because Bakura FINALLY the main villain and was a badass the whole time

[@Za_Lup]

6: Noah's Arc. It definitely had some cool ideas and it was great for Kaiba but it was too long for its own good. 5: Duelist Kingdom: Nothing bad here, but the rules... It's kind of hard being really invested in the duels. Still great, and Yugi vs Jonouchi is probably the best not-manga duel. 4- KB Grand Prix: Don't get me wrong, I love it, but it's just not as good as the rest. Siegfried vs Kaiba is still one of my favorite Kaiba duels. 3- Millennium Arc: YGO! with no duels? What is this, Season 0? Love it for being so unique and original. And it just great revealing all the backstory. 2- Battle City: Do I have to say anything? It's almost a perfect arc. I'm just gonna say this: the battle royale is greatly underrated. Love Jonouchi here. 1- Waking the Dragons: For me it's just awesome. The MUSIC omg, it has several of my favorite YGO songs of all time. The three dragons were a blast to watch. It's just really really good for me and I loved it from start to finish. DORO MONSTA KADDO

[@Hewhowantstoknow]

www.d-e-f-i-n-i-t-e-l-y.com/

[@Za_Lup]

@@Hewhowantstoknow The phone's a bitch, man

[@ute_yuto4906]

My personal favorite is Legendary Dragons arc Duelist Kingdom Battle City Noah Virtual arc Season 5 tournament Millennium lost memory

[@YugiohEverything]

Nice! I know you love your Season 4!

[@ute_yuto4906]

Also season 4 arguments were brilliantly done. I didn't go that far In depth to look at the flaws

[@tvguyultra4448]

I agree

[@Terriermon1234]

capsul monster arc where?

[@maple1234567890321]

same

[@MrMarinus18]

2:55 I do think Crump was a notable exception. I really like his English voice and his obsession with Pinguins.

[@LowReedExpert1]

He had the best/worst backstory ever "Ever since I was a child I loved counting!"

[@lloydbagby8355]

Him and lector I can't stand Johnson or Nesbit witch is funny given inlove machines and gangly memorable jest meh compare to lector and crump

[@MrMarinus18]

@@LowReedExpert1 I don't think that is that bad. A child would be very much into such simple things to distract himself. I actually think it fits his original Japanese backstory better as his parents would always be fighting. So counting would be a great way for him to block that. Also Crump was by FAR the best animated.

[@Hacksaw_HIM_Thuggin]

Waking Dragons had to be the best, the Pharaoh lost and had to redeem himself again. Prolly my favorite season along with GX season 4

[@AndreNitroX]

Why are heroes more interesting when they fail!?

[@oresti9271]

@@AndreNitroX because you never will expect that to happen

[@AndreNitroX]

@@oresti9271 true. what a twist

[@jantheking7028]

Dude stop the cap, we all know that the marik arc is the best. Followed by the memory recollection arc.

[@tizzleftw5117]

@@jantheking7028 nah. Waking the Dragons is best. No contest.

[@MelodicQuest]

Pegasus is still my favorite villian from the original series. His knowledge of ancient magic combined with being the creator of the Duel Monsters card game made him a very intimidating adversary.

[@atonlort5666]

My top would look like this: 1) Season 0 . Yes i'm counting this one, story wise this was an awesome start to the series. You get to see how the original game of duel monsters started, and you get to learn atem's dark character and why he almost killed people in later seasons to win games and why he is called the king of games. 2) A tie with waking the dragons and battle city. Both have their cons and pros but one thing is certain both have memorable duels and characters. Since some people are unsure of waking the dragons i will pots a few reasons. Characters with memorable back story, awesome duels, raphael vs yugi, joey vs valon, kaiba and yugi vs darks, and the first mask-fusion style cards in the game. It also exploited Yami's dark side which was a good throw back to season 0. 3)season 6 , or down of the duel. This is the moment where the author managed to put his vision and his love for rpg games into yugioh. One of the best stories in yugioh and a memorable ending. 4)season 1, battle kingdom. 5)season 5 the one with zegfried. To me this season felt more like a step backwards. The thing that i liked was the duel between yugi and lion, where yugi maanged to achieve a win with only 1 card left in his deck vs a guy who had a spell cards that was made to be impossible to be removed from the field. 6) virtual world arc. this arc was more annoying imo. it trully felt like a filler arc that was just placed there to drag on the final phase of battle city. The only thing i liked this arc was Joey's character progression.

[@geraldcleveland6207]

@AtoN LorT season 6?

[@corky24teen]

My favorite season will always be Waking the Dragons.

[@colx1191]

Ah yes the wanking the dragons, setos favourite

[@XxEmpty_EscapexX693]

Same, honestly

[@Hunter-pt4zy]

I really loved the overall story telling on Waking the Dragons. Just great duels all around, next to Battle City and Pegasus tournament, felt very YGO. I never liked the final season much simply due to the fact there wasn't really any duels besides Yugi vs Bakura and Yugi vs Atem, while still enjoyable, just didn't feel like YGO to me. The Grand Championship was also just a much needed change of pace for me. It felt very down to earth to just have a nice tournament that did not result in people's souls or the world being destroyed.

[@Hunter-pt4zy]

@@benouzgane1929 By last duel, are you talking about the boss duel between Bakura and Yugi (which was awesome) or the ceremonial duel between Atem and Yugi (which was really cool, but felt _too_ scripted imo), or do you mean the finale duel on the grand championship. Either way, I loved all of them, I just wish the last part of the show had more duels.

[@lfovah1287]

Same here too, that arc is badass

[@BlackFurryNight]

My favorite were both Noah's arc and the Walking the Dragons Arc. Noah's Arc just for Lector vs Kaiba because of Lector's deckmaster Jinzo and his control deck. Walking the Dragons with Raphael vs Yugi and Yugi losing.

[@hightidekraken]

Oh I adore the Bakura v Bonz duel! Then again I love anything that involves Bakura but Bakura just wrecking Bonz and then sending them to hell/Shadow Realm for shits and giggles is badass

[@HappyTheThird]

6. KC grand prix- I really think it should have been a left out. Sure I liked it a bit but I really don’t think it was necessarily. I really did like it and I think that Yugi and Yami not dueling was a good idea. And I did love The duels! And his fashion! I really did like it but I don’t really think it’s that good so that’s why it’s number 6 5. Waking the Dragons- Some people r gonna hate me for this, let me start with pros. I think DOMA was amazing! Darts was such a great villain and I liked him a lot! I also think it has great parts like Yami losing and that overkill! And also I loved the way Yami had to defeat the darkness in his heart. And Rafael! RAFAEL WAS AN AMAZING DESIGNED CHARACTER AND A GREAT PLANNED CHARACTER! FROM THE STORY TO THE SAD LIFE HE WENT THOUGH IT WAS GREAT! But I HATED how they changed the ENTIRE history we knew! And that’s why it’s number 5 4. Duelist Kingdom- I liked it! And I did like Pegasus. The whole thing was good and it was well done! But I didn’t really like it that much. That’s why it’s number 4 3. Noah Arc- I Loved this arc! I loved everything about it! But the thing I loved most about it was Kaiba’s story! Being a orphan and having a hard life as a child was a good! I loved how he put his brother first and showed love to his family, also defeating his father and getting out of his shadow! But I didn’t like the big 5 and I really didn’t like any of the duels except for the last one. I really didn’t like it. That’s why it’s number 3 2. Battle City- STARTING WITH PROS! MARIK! Marik. Marik. Marik. Marik. Were do I start with him. He did everything right! I loved it! From the story, to the character, head to toe. He was amazing! I LOVED LOVED LOVED HIM! He is my second favorite villain! Yami got a chance to get answers! Also the new rules! I loved it! I loved the arc and liked everything about it! But it’s not number 1. That’s why it’s number 2 1. Dawn of the Duel- Omg where do I begin? I really enjoyed the whole thing! Yami getting his memories back, the intensity, the backstory of Yami, his father’s past, the villain, the last few episodes, the list goes on! This was all about Yugi and Atem. The final battle was so intense and full of emotion! AND BAKURA! HE WAS A LIVING LEGEND IN THIS ACR! IT WAS HIS TIME TO SHINE AND HE MADE THE BEST IF IT! I LOVED EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS ARC! And that’s why it’s number 1 (Please no hate I know that most people won’t agree with my list, but I’m human too and I have my own opinion thanks for reading 🙂🖤)

[@michaelnally2841]

Yeah honestly the KC Grand Prix the only duels I liked in that arc where Kaiba vs Zegfried and Joey vs Solomon I kinda liked Joey got to duel the one who taught him the game and I wish that was Joey’s final duel in the show.

[@fruitlion8]

So....... I actually liked Noah's arc. No pun intended. The duels were pretty darn unique. Tea vs a creepy penguin, Joey without luck on his side, Serenity and Tristan teaming up. Even if it is filler and Noah himself is not too interesting, the duels were fun. Shout out to my favourite duel immediately after this arc, the 4 way duel.

[@Sisidiehebwi]

Yah it’s good it just really badly placed I feel like it should have been like a movie or a whole season dedicated to it

[@michaelnally2841]

Personally Noah’s duels and Kaiba vs Gozaburo were my favorite duels in this arc

[@ci7210]

Same. Also more Kaiba backstory

[@sanddry738]

I really enjoyed the Waking the Dragons/DOMA Arc most because of how it felt like it was more about the characters and what they went through. One of the most satisfying moments with Weevil/Haga getting destroyed and Duels like Raphael and Dartz was my favorite. Weirdly enough while the virtual world arc I expected to completely hate, I really loved some of the duals. Maybe it’s because the damage “felt real” and there was more expressions. But most of the duals were bland too unfortunately.

[@ryanzephyr3417]

One final scene from the DOMA arc that was awesome was when Kaiba summoned Beud in the duel with Yugi against Dartz. I just loved that animation on that summon and know that I'm not alone because I constantly see it used in fantasy duels

[@TheMaddogmvf]

Great list! For me, personally, Duelist Kingdom is my favorite arc of all time because the story they told was SO GOOD. I overlook the rules aspect of it because the characters & story are what drives the arc, with the game being secondary. Yugi vs Pegasus may be my favorite duel of all time because there were so many excellent character moments during it 👏👏👏👏

[@nightrocker1343]

Also I loved the four way duel between Joey, Marik, Yugi, and Kaiba. When Joey does the reversal to knock Marik out of the duel cause he knew Kaiba would attack him. It was amazing.

[@MrMarinus18]

13:00 To me one weird thing is the Seto storyline. In battle city it's incredibly hyped up and made a really big deal but during the dawn of duel arc it's really just a sub-plot. Seto never seriously doubts his loyalty and never seriously tries to oppose the status quo.

[@MrMarinus18]

10:45 The gods were cool but they were very unwieldy. I actually really liked the legendary dragons as they traded in raw power with versatility. I really liked seeing just how the characters were able to use them.

[@rhyleygrant5660]

Waking the dragon my favorite arc

[@Bestroyer348]

Waking the dragons is my second favorite beaten by dawn of the duel

[@hufflepup6636]

Battle city is one of my favorites I liked waking the dragons, I can remember my reaction to the Atem vs Raphel duel when I first saw it. When Raphel played exchange with one other card in his hand I knew what was coming. It really explored Atem's main flaw: win in at all costs no matter what the circumstances, something touched on during DK in Atem V. Kiba 2.

[@TheHmd11]

Battel city is the best arc in the whole animes arcs

[@welshlout3400]

1. Battle City 2. Pharaoh’s Memories/Ceremonial Duel 3. Duelist Kingdom 4. Waking the Dragons 5. Domino City Battles (the 9-10 episode run at the end of season 1) 6. Virtual World 7. KC Grand Prix Yeah, the 3 smaller story arcs at the end of season 1 need some kind of representation on the list in my opinion, and though they don’t seem the most obvious fit together as a unified story arc, I understand that the events that take place in these 3 arcs together are roughly analogous to how the Dungeon Dice Monsters story plays out in the manga, which fittingly is the arc immediately following Duelist Kingdom. ...Also I wanted a way to put a space between Waking the Dragons and the other fillers...

[@x-mighty7602]

For Me: 6: KC Tournent 5: Virtual World 4: Doma 3: Duelist Kingdom 2: Battle City 1: Dawn of the Duel

[@x-mighty7602]

KC Tournament Favourite Duel: Kaiba VS Ziegfried Virtual World Favourite Duel: Kaiba VS Noah Doma Favourite Duel: Yugi VS Raphael (First Duel) Duelist Kingdom Favourite Duel: Yugi VS Jounouchi Battle City Favourite Duel: Jounouchi VS Malik Dawn of The Duel Favourite Duel: Yugi VS Atem

[@KevGuitarWarrior]

I've never finished the DM anime. Growing up, I have only seen Duelist Kingdom and Battle City. Never saw the end of battle city. I'm watching the DM anime now and I am up to the Waking the dragons arc. I can see why a lot of people dont enjoy it. The only duel I enjoyed 100% was Valon vs Joey. Something different in Yugioh where they fight each other with their armor cards

[@giovanniorellana2200]

That thumbnail is awesome, also my favorite Arc is Battle City for being more balanced and mostly accurate to the card game!

[@Rairiky]

Glad to know I'm not the only one having waking the dragon high! Have been rewatching the series, and while battle city is the most memorable arc probably in the franchise(somehow I knew by memory almost every duel haha), the change in tone and style in waking the dragon was surprising, the lvl of difficulty went up several points(discounting the intro duel, only Joey should have beat its 1st opponent, and the rest were HARD), and all the main characters were given true challenges to overcome, plus the villains, except dartz which is ok, were excellent, with great backstories, true sense of empathy and intelligence,and every duel felt like a thematic and ideological battle between equals, not a crazy guy vs a hero, especially Raphael vs yami. As a bonus, the dragon cards were waaaaaay ahead of its time, with cool artwork, creative uses, and very unique to this day

[@Varaydein]

I loveed Jinzo/Lecktor in Noah Arc. Kabia on a motorcycle 🔥🔥🔥

[@MrSonicHedgehog]

So he even inspired the ways of dueling in 5D's? 😆

[@BenjaeTV]

Battle City will always be my personal favourite just because of all the Nostalgia and good memories I connect with it. Used to watch it all the time after school

[@Akechi_The_Phantom_Detective]

Awesome video Dylan. For the record I do really like Season 4 for actually trying to do something different. I feel it did a better job experimenting with the Pharoah's inner darkness arc than Duelist Kingdom did and I'll even say for a character like Mai this was probably her strongest arc and I even like Raphael even if the motives for most of the cast were... a complete mess.

[@Shadowgaming908770]

Yeah, I'm one of the season 4 lovers. I just loved the orichalcos cards and wish more of them were in the TCG.

[@kassygo1375]

I think dawn of the duel arc is my favorite! How can ya not love Bakura as the main villain!

[@DDuelista]

The vivian vs atem duel was the worst

[@ΠαναγιώτηςΓεωργίου-ε3π]

Darkest*

[@PendulumBlade]

I only remember that duel exists is cause thats the last time we see Dark Paladin

[@azaleacolburn]

I love the manga of dawn of the duel WAY more than the anime!

[@katakanatabro2048]

I honestly just loved Season 5 in general. Including the KC arc. Idk what it is it just gives me so much joy.

[@theultimategamer95]

#WakingTheDragonsWasNotFiller Anyways, imo: Battle City > Waking the Dragons > Duelist Kingdom > Dawn of the Duel > That mini tournament arc > Noah's arc

[@XxEmpty_EscapexX693]

Agreed dude.

[@felictyafton9456]

Battle City always holds a special place in my heart, simply because it was the arc that truly shaped Yu-Gi-Oh into what it was. That said, Duelist Kingdom and Waking the Dragons are my 2 and 3.

[@bob74h67]

Doma arc was intresting and shows the development of yami's relationship with yugi and dartz was a reflection to yami if he never turned to the goodside as yami was just as evil in his past and learned to move past it and dartz oricalcos powers are a reflection of the milllium powers he uses Ceremonial battle was a amazing arc and a amazing way to sendoff to this great season easliy a number 1 and the zorc vs exodia battle is so awesome and learning the orgin of these characters is a amazing to watch thoughout the episodes and it becomes so rewarding to see these orgins as you have wait so long and duelist kingdom is great sequel to death t otherwise its ok and brings a rise to a great series but otherwise clhehe villian with a sadistic view on the world and the hell he puts the cast though in show its even worse in the manga for a fact redeeming never happened and they ignore everything he has done in later events which is nitpick but it does ruin his character for me Kc tournament has ok did not have as you said the weevil and rex vs zigfried duel wad intresting along with seeing minor characters like rebecca sreentime which is one the reasons i personally love the vitral world arc it gives focus to characters honda and shizuka and development it brings kaiba and adds to his character is very enjoyable to see and the steaks it brings as well like honda dieing before the kaiba noah duel to show things can happen and marik being a badass on noahs ship destroying robots doors and just causing chaos to unfold was a pressure to watch in battle and vitral world as well the quarky nature of duelist was funny it had a weird sense of its tone which is cool but just not was not as good as others so as of now i think Memory world - Battle city - Doma - duelist kingdom - Kc tournament Doma is just a bit better for its themes and characterized of its minons Rafeal was more of a character than any rare hunter Pandora maybe buts pushing his quantity alot

[@AnimeGirl4891]

I remember watching the last episode of Yugioh and crying. The Pharaoh going to the afterlife is just heartbreaking

[@Reikosamaa]

Oh that Joey vs Marik duel :3 still my myst favorite and its still sad that Joey didn't won. but well story and stuff, can happen.

[@angelheart1701]

I really liked the Noah arc for the attention it gave the side characters. Tea, Tristain, Duke, and Serenity do not get near enough battles, especially considering how enough they appear on screen doing nothing. It was so satisfying to see their decks and dueling styles.

[@spoopyskeleton4823]

Literally nobody: Every villian in season four:I ACTIVATE THE SEAL OF ORICHALCOS

[@wyomingptt]

I remember as a kid being so into the Battle City Finals and then waking up early (early for me...) one Saturday to see the episode where the blimp gets captured by Noah, and the slow, horrible realization that this wasn't going to be a minor diversion but a whole season. Not that it was bad in retrospect, but at the time it caused me to completely abandon the show until GX started.

[@YugiohEverything]

HAHAHAHA that's amazing. And yeah that's what a really bad arc can do, at least the horrible timing of a filler arc

[@z-one5941]

My list: 1) Battle City (Yami Marik is one of the best villains in the entire franchise) 2) Duelist Kingdom (It would be #1 if this arc had some actual rules. XD Plus, Pegasus such a great villain!) 3) Dawn of the Duel 4) Kaiba tournament arc (it was enjoyable to watch although it is a filler) 5) Waking the Dragons (I don't say the arc is bad ... I just didn't enjoy it) 6) Noah virtual arc (I didn't like it at all. It was kinda ... boring ) Oh, and one question: Are you going to make "Top 10 ZEXAL duels"?

[@YugiohEverything]

Great list Z-One! Pretty identical to mine, and yes! My goal is to get that out before the end of 2018!

[@JohnDoe-wl5xm]

fuck dude he sure is

[@ace-trainer-aj]

@@YugiohEverything Calling it now, Trey/III and Quattro/IV vs Kaito and Yuma will be one of them!

[@jamesholden5587]

Who the hell is pegasusis? Lol😄😄😄

[@z-one5941]

@@jamesholden5587 Oops 😂😂

[@wakilhamidi3377]

Season 4 Its either Yami Joey Valon or Mai Yu-Gi-Oh! everything:Rapheal

[@bigfish5544]

Rafael was the best of season 4 though

[@wisdomlord2096]

Waking of the dragons is the best arc

[@mr.knightthedetective7435]

Waking the Dragons is my favorite Yu-Gi-Oh ark because it's a better version of Dawn of the Duel. Don't get me wrong, DoD was good but only in adventure journey aspect, WD had a better gimmick (Seal of Orichalcos) and a better 'Final Boss Evil Monster' (Great Leviathan). Thought Dartz did take a back seat during the whole season he more then enough paid for it when he dueled Yugi, Kaiba and Joey all at once and having Duel Monsters originating from Atlantis was actually a great idea because they thoroughly explained the origins and either way Duel Monsters originating from Ancient Egypt never really made sense to me for some reason. The highlights of Waking the Dragons for me was Seal of Orichalcos gimmick, badass theme that went with it and Pharaoh losing to Raphael which shook the entire fandom to the core

[@typicalasian3376]

For my rankings, it's: 1) Battle City 2) Waking the Dragons 3) Duelist Kingdom 4) The final arc 5) Kaiba tournament 6) Virtual World

[@YugiohEverything]

Nice list! Definitely similar to mine

[@DannyHsn]

You put the filler episode on top wtf is wrong you are you brain dead

[@Terriermon1234]

capsul monster arc where?

[@wildchild6583]

Danyaal Hussain is there a problem with that

[@DannyHsn]

Not battle city i mean walking the dragons I wasted my time watching that when it was completely filler they even made yugi lose in one of the episodes which makes people think he's not the king of games when it was a FUCKING filler episode little things like this piss me off now tell me have you got a problem with when I said you put a filler episode at top tell me have you got a fucking problem choose your words wisely or I'll make sure you pay

[@finalfrontier001]

Waking the Dragons is the best arc with mature writing that beats the rest of the arcs. People actually dying and character development and character progression was insane.

[@hedgehoghibari]

This is a little unrelated but are you planning on a behind the scenes look at arc v? After rewatching it feels that the xyz arc was very rushed and was curious if there were some production problems like in 5ds.

[@joshualowe959]

13:50 Yugi & Yami were both MVPS. Yugi became more independent as his character & Yami got all his memories back, defeated Zorc & saved the world.

[@markelcrawford8258]

To be fair on it changing the Orgins of yugioh. Yugioh zexal also changed the orgins

[@tsunax1400]

So did GX and 5ds to an extent

[@lpfan4491]

what new origin did zexal and 5ds give us?(and no,i dont count the numbermonsters in this.the whole "there is more outside this world" thing was already teasered by the card that created the universe/numeron code in gx

[@tsunax1400]

@@lpfan4491 5ds had the whole 'people of the stars' who worshipped the crimson dragon or whatever. The signer dragons fought the earthbound immortals in the past too. Not sure exactly what you mean by the GX thing

[@lpfan4491]

nightshroud mentioned a card that existed before the world did

[@tsunax1400]

@@lpfan4491 Oh ok. Must've forgotten that

[@hazbaska1]

There's TOO much memorability in the battle city arc that every duel is one you cannot miss -- so much great voice acting, artistic choice in the animators and card design, and just an amazing presence of greatly written characters and development of said characters. Like Karina comes from his defeat with a method to take down the god cards, I was " HOOOOO SHIT, Karina is a real G" -- and they were all smooth duels too -- plenty of tension and dramatic effect were made perfectly! Probably the duel with most emotions were the ones involving Joey. The music choice and watching the growth of a duelist who barely had any idea how to build a deck back In The beginning: everyone was rooting for him!!

[@SpearMKW]

quick idea, will you rank all arcs from all series together after doing them all seperately, similar to how you did with the OPs/EDs? i liked how that video included both individual and combined rankings

[@YugiohEverything]

Oh I like that idea a lot! Yeah maybe I will do that when VRAINS ends! By the time I get all of these completed, VR will probably be near the end of its run

[@jemman2314]

6 - kc grand championship 5 - waking dragons 4 - dawn of the duel 3 - noah arc 2 - duelist kingdom 1 - battle city

[@TheBayernstar94]

6. Grand Championchip = The ,,villains" in this mini arc were just cancer bad. It was also pretty boring. Not much to say about it. 5. Noah Arc = Really disliked noah as a character. Also it stopped us from getting to the battle city final, which was pretty frustrating. Still a few good duels. 4. Dawn of the Duel = It was ok, but it doesnt had this classic duels anymore. It basically has nothing to do eith the card game, since you can just summon monsters as you please. 3. Duellist Kingdom = Really nostalgic. Was overall a great arc, but the rules of the duels were a bit weird in this first season. 2. Waking the Dragons = Great arc with amazing villains and great duels. Also a pretty dark atmosphere throughout the entire season. 1. Battle City = The best arc ever. SO MANY amazing duels, introducing the gods, marik was the best villain, getting better with every episode.

[@ΠαναγιώτηςΓεωργίου-ε3π]

Pegasus is better than marik

[@MrPizzaSUS]

i personally love season 4. it is probably the best season. the duel between Joey and that one british guy forgot his name not gonna lie, but that was easily one of the best duels of the series.

[@wodahexe8400]

Manga vs Anime: Dungeon Dice Monsters Discussion, please.

[@zayjay26]

Honestly Valen from the Waking The Dragons arc was one of my fave characters he was dope

[@akalink77]

6 - KC Grand Championship (This season was simply useless. I just wanted it to end and get back to the series's core plot. Lame villain, bad character designs, dumb things were at stake... etc) 5- Noah Arc (Bad timing with this season. It had potential but aired at an awkward time -- i think it's supposed to serve as a Prequel to the movie, so that could explain the weird timing... but at the very least, this season had a unique playstyle and characters you actually cared for; unlike the KCGC...) 4 - Waking the Dragons (Loved the twists but was a bit forgettable as a whole. There was also too much rambling, The villain was "meh" , Mai's betrayal/new personality was too out of place, and the ditching of the GodCards was a bit anticlimactic. The end duel was cool, had some good side/main characters and side duels.) 3 - Dawn of the Duel (Was so hyped The series Finally arrived back to it's core plot. It Was very exciting seeing Marik and the others. Though, the execution of those returning characters was a bit disappointing... The climax with Bakura got a bit ridiculous and hard to follow at times but the Atem V YuGi was the saving grace. On the other hand, it all ended seemingly so quickly at the last couple minutes of the last ep... it felt like something still needed to be done or said, but it was just an awkward remark and then the credits rolled. I feel like it needed a bit more for a season that ends pretty much the core YuGiOh series.) 2 - Duelist Kingdom (Great season, satisfying end duel and fantastic intro dual! Was more memorable than most seasons -- had a cool villain and had a lot less senseless rambling.) 1 - Battle City (Need I explain??) 0 - The Abridged Series ( *I KNOW WHAT THE "G" STANDS FOR IN "YuGiOh 5 G's"! ... DONT WATCH IT!!* ) ? - Season Zero ("OHHHH... The forbidden season...") (I Never watched it lol)

[@jamesfitzgerald8267]

Well "season 0" wasn't actually connected to Duel Monsters in any way, it was just the first adaptation of the manga while Toei had the rights, Duel Monsters is a separate adaptation, I recommend watching it though, it's on KZbin with subs, it's a lot darker than Duel Monsters and is definitely entertaining.

[@Tibainium]

I would rank mine: 1) Battle City 2) Duelist Kingdom 3) Waking the Dragons 4) Dawn of the Duel 5) KC Grand Championship 6) Virtual World As for the spinoff arcs I really liked season 0, but not so much for Capsule Monsters.

[@PhulaTrox]

Mine would be, 6) Virtual World (really, really boring, horrible placement, and it ruins Kaiba's motivation for Dueling Yami in Battle City since Kaiba wanted to surpass Gozaburo, but here he is, already having surpassed Gozaburo). 5) Waking the Dragons (ridiculously contrived, illogical, and unnecessary to make it so that Dartz influenced the Doma members' backstories, the final Duel with Dartz was filled with what might be the most contrived bs in the entire series, it ruins the Ancient Egyptian mystical feel of Duel Monsters, and Yami's arc was unnecessary since his issue with winning was already dealt with in Duelist Kingdom; this also isn't even mentioning the flimsy logic behind Rafel's accusations of Atem being evil). 4) Grand Championship (fun and laid back, it's a nice breather arc and Kaiba vs Zigfried was awesome). 3) Duelist Kingdom (nice story, but the anime had to cram in way too much because of there being no season 0 chapters, also the Duels were stupid for reasons I don't think I have to explain). 2) Battle City (phenomenal Duels, phenomenal characters, I love Bakura's and Marik's dynamic, I love the added lore to the series, I love all the character development; there's way too much I love about this). 1) Dawn of the Duel (amazing ancient Egyptian stuff, I adore Thief King Bakura and his conflict with Atem, the ka battles are absolutely amazing, and Ceremonial Battle is quite possibly the best Duel in the series and is an absolutely phenomenal ending; although I vastly prefer the manga's Pharaoh's Memories segment of Dawn of the Duel).

[@MrMarinus18]

My favorite of the dragon's arc is without a doubt Joey versus Valon. It's just such a manly fight with two characters who give it everything they've got.

[@brianford4914]

For me it goes 1: Battle City Arc (great duels, great story and had my favorite villain (Yami Marik)) 2: Duelist Kingdom Arc (good start to the show high stakes am but still throws me off with the less decribed rules) 3: Kaiba Grand Prix (It may be filler bit I loved Ziegfried and Leon, it also was a nice change of pace from the other arcs being so serious and world ending, also it was cool to see Yugi take a backseat) 4: Dawn of the Duel (good end to the series but I didn't like it as much as the manga and it was kinda confusing at parts in the anime, but the Yugi vs Bakura duel and the ceremonial duel really got me to love the arc over the bottom two) 5: Waking the Dragons (good development for the Pharaoh and the seal of Orichalcos and the dragons was a really cool card and concept, Dartz was still cool but unlike you I didn't like Dartz three lackeys) 6: Virtual World (I legit hate it I when I rewatched Yugioh I kept sleeping through this arc because I found it so boring)

[@an-dre4087]

Am I the only one who just skipped the noah's arc completely to get to the semi finals of the battle city tournament. Edit: Spelling

[@vent9409]

you didn't watch yugioh on tv when there was no netflix and you had to wait 1 week for every episode. you don't know suffering

[@MrMarinus18]

3:25 I really love that duel. I enjoy those very unusual duels where the protagonists are fighting with some kind of handicap. That duel had that absolutely. With Serenity not even knowing the basics and Tristan being more concerned about Serenity than actually making smart plays. Duke had to carry the duel almost all by himself while having to protect them.

[@alexandergodwin4432]

I think no matter whether your a fan or not, wehther you play the card game or not or whether you've watched only the original series or the spin offs too...we all agree technically without mariks shadow game that joey won that duel. like you said he had marik beat

[@spartanq7781]

I hated that ever since I first saw it. Joey/Jonuichi got blue balled hard. It annoys how Marik wins by some bull. He beat Mai only because she didn't know how to read the words on Ra. He beat Joey only because of his unfair stipulations. Also Ra is ridiculously overpowered in the anime. Ironically in real life though it is the worst one imo.

[@lpfan4491]

yeah, it is kinda crap how joey actually managed to beat him, but "ya cannot save the world mah boi, we need more drama" and then we just have the very drawn out duel between yami marik and atem that was only won through ripping off that one duel between atem and yami bakura in season1

[@RypticVODS]

I paused as soon as you listed your tiers and drew up my own list. Aside from your 5th and 6th arcs(which are a toss up anyway imo), we both had the same results. I didn't exactly list my best/worst duels or MVP's per-say, but agreed with 99% of what you had to say! If I had to list MVP's for 1 and 2, Joey would snag that spot for both. Great content!

[@PathBeyondTheDark]

Also, manga canon is ambiguous but the anime canon implies Joey defeats Atem since he has his Red Eyes in the Doma Arc. One would assume KoG title was retained by Atem for whatever reason until Raphael defeated him. OR if you want to have a little fun with it, Joey was the KoG until Mai defeated him, then Raphael dons it after defeating her, and Atem re-attains it when Raphael loses to him. Either or.

[@UUSER142]

My ranking: 1.Battle city - The tension with Yami Bakura inside the Puzzle, Introduction of Marik and the egyptian god cards and cool battles 2.Battle Tower - cool battles, clash of the egyptian god cards 3.Waking The Dragons - New threat, strong moments, interesting plot and Dartz was hard as hell 4.Duelist Kingdom - the beginning, nice battles 5.Virtual world - pretty lame but introduce some new style of duels and reveal more about Kaiba history 6.KC - Grand tournament - one of the weakest seasons. but still has some nice duels like Zigfriez vs Weevil and Rex, Zigfried vs Joey, and Zigfried vs Seto Kaiba 7.Pharo memories - Horrible! instead of focusing on the present and making a flash backs to the past it mainly focus on the past and barley effect the present. I hate Thief Bakura design and the past stories in the desert land. suddenly Yami bakura forgot about the power of Yami Yugi he was planning to steal and return to hunt for the 7 Items. stupid! at least we learn that Yami Bakura is Zorc but even that can't save this horrible season.

[@slevinchannel7589]

I love how People completly ignore the Facts when defending the Yugioh Anime, especially the First Season. 'It was just the First Season, and the Rulebook wasnt completly Finished yet!" Yeah, no, this argument is actually a valid argument, but they managed to break though that all by themselves. They set up Rules and break it in the very same Episode - this cannot be explained by anything else than Laziness on Max Level. And the funniest FACT: IT NEVER STOPPED. It didnt stopped with Season 1. Here, Evidence: kzbin.info/www/bejne/qWOpmnaKmZakrpo Overall, you can just tell that they lie when saying the Fanbase is important to them or whatever.

[@CyberseGreninja]

My list is 6. Dawn of the duel 5. Noah arc 4. Duel Monsters 3. Grand Championship 2. Battle City 1. Doma arc

[@nekipeh7373]

12:58 My God, even Alexander the Great was better antagonist than this xD

[@VestigeOfFate]

My favourite antagonist by far is Bakura. He was lurking in the background the whole time. He’s the threat at the end. He was there throughout. He had an fantastic origin as Thief Bakura (easily my favourite arc as the origins of everything are literally shown before us!), and Bakura had the most epic flashback scene in Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Dark of Dimensions movie with “Shin” and his fate. So ominous. Love his character, though Marik is definitely my second favourite. Bakura’s build up to be the antagonist of the series from seemingly humble beginnings was, put simply, masterful.

[@hightidekraken]

100% agree

[@JPARnum1]

I'm gonna say it. Marik Sucks. Absolutely trash Villain. He was essentially a child with a weapon. He lost all of his duels. He foolishly lost Slifer. He beat Joey on a technicality when he was clearly out played. Both Mai and Bakura took away Ra from him but only lost because they couldn't control it. He was never a threat just a child that couldn't win a card game. Honestly Odion was the better Marik. To make matters worse he didn't even win his own locator cards to participate in battle city. He had no business being on that blimp because he could not duel to save his life. Edit: Odion even lost his duel because of Marik.

[@ManuGarLe]

Lol Never thought of it that way. But you, my friend, are totally right!!! I loved the fact he teamed up with Bakura, tho... no one seems to talk about it! Even Little Kuriboh's parody of Marik and Bakura (Florence) make this season shine even more for me =D

[@YTChannel420]

Mariks the best villain in yugioh

[@nickname3745]

You mean MELVIN

[@stalkerzhs1864]

In the japanese version, during Marik's battle with Mai, yugi asks Marik his motives and marik replies "I just wanna watch the world burn"

[@connorwood9211]

Are we on about normal Marik or Yami Marik? Either way they were terrible Normal just gets written out with no final duel(despite it being teased in the opening), lost his only duel as Strings and was the reason Odion lost. He didn't really do anything himself, just relying on others to do his work. Yami had no real motivations and would have lost all his duels had it not been for random plot devices. I.e. Ra needing a chant, coming up with abilities that weren't even written or N.Marik wasn't aware of and only beating Joey due to a technicality.

[@nickvictoryfire4896]

My list 1-Battle City 2-Waking the Dragons 3-Dawn of the Duel 4-Kaiba tournament arc 5-Duelist Kingdom 6- Noah virtual arc and some small arcs where great too.in yugioh. would be cool if we got a new series of yugioh after the movie & so many cards getting printed from old decks from Yugioh (original)series. great vid man & great ranking

[@YugiohEverything]

Awesome list Nick!

[@JadenOmega]

My favorite Arc, duel, MVP(s), and Least favorite duel of duel monsters. 6. KC Grnd Prix - Kaiba vs Ziegfried - Leon - Yugi vs duel bot 5. Virtual World Arc - Seto Kaiba & Atem vs Noah - Mokuba - Tristan, Duke and Serenity vs Nezbitt 4. Dawn of the duel arc - Yugi vs Atem - Atem (Of course) - Kaiba vs Bakura 3. Waking the dragons - Atem vs Raphael (Round 1 & 2) - Atem & Raphael - Mai vs Pegasus (Im not sure if this counts but I'm putting it anyway.) 2. Duelist Kingdom - Yugi vs Pegasus (Round 2) - Pegasus - Mai vs Tea 1. Battle City - Yugi vs Kaiba - Atem, Marik, and Joey - Yugi and Kaiba vs Lumis and Umbra (Round 2)

[@joshualowe959]

16:50 YES! I agree. Battle City was the best arc was the stakes were high, the punishments for losing duels were severe, the rewards for winning duels were satisfying. The introduction of the Egyptian Gods was perfect. Kaiba tested Obelisk against Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon, an Exodia duelist was there to make the Egyptian Gods look more powerful, Yugi facing Slifer and defeating it, Mai taking Marik's Winged Dragon of Ra card, but she didn't know the chant so Marik recited it and defeated Mai. The winners of battle City duels got the rarest card from the loser's deck. In the end, Yugi obtained all three Egyptian God Cards. Yugi won slider from Marik/Strings, won Obelisk from Kaiba & won Ra from Marik himself.