Review: Yu-Gi-Oh GX - Season 1

[@ALostExplorer]

I actually had to look back on some really old emails I exchanged with Farel to get just how long it has been before he actually did this review. The email I got was from 2015, so that's like 8 years. But he's probably been talking about it even before then, so we might be talking about 10 years at least!

[@FarelTheGiraffe]

It all began in 2006, when the show premiered in 2006 on the channels that I watched. I got angry at it, and with the rise of angry reviewers over time, I eventually started to plan getting into reviews myself, and complain about everything that I hated about the series. However I felt like I wasn't ready, so I decided to hold off for now, talking about other shows and games first. A ton of time passed, and by then I gave up on any dream that I had of doing reviews for a living. It was just a hobby I did every now and then. However I knew that the review of YuGiOh GX is something that I teased for too long to not do, and so I finally made the video, or at least one discussing the first season. When you first followed me, I was worried how you'd react to it, given my negativity, but now that it's done, I'm hopeful you did enjoy the video none the less.

[@ALostExplorer]

@@FarelTheGiraffe ​ So that's like 17 years! Time flies! You actually brought up a lot of interesting points that I needed to think over, particularly in regards to the Shadow Riders arc being an attempt to resemble the original Duel Monsters anime. The retrospective on your past and how Jaden stirred some bad memories from school is obviously a very personal take, though my concerns with the character comes from another angle. Honestly I was fine with a teenage protagonist who wanted to have fun and not study (because I was probably like that at that age!) But it's the crazy plot armour that really bugged me something fierce and caused cognitive dissonance. I certainly didn't remember being the best student in school with the sort of work ethic I had! This was when I lost Jaden. Your idea of Jaden losing to more studied classmates and then beating them after hitting the books is a pretty cool one, but what we got was him just steamrolling his problems by just beating opponents who he has no business beating. The one against Bastion, who planned ahead by taking away Jaden's fusion monsters, is especially egregious. If you're looking for a character who actually grew up over the course of the season, I actually think it's Chazz Princeton. Some of his character episodes were easily my favourites. Obviously a lot more to say, but this comment is getting long so I'll stop here. Can't wait for Part 2!

[@FarelTheGiraffe]

@@ALostExplorer Heh, I didn't want to imply that my solution was perfect, but I certainly feel like the show should have changed some elements in order to work better. Him losing every now and then would make his slacker attitude more okay. Or him having real motivation and stakes would make him always winning seem more reasonable. Back in the day, Bastion was my favorite, but I now see why many found him boring and snooty. Chazz was my new favorite. He evolved the most. Of course Season 2 will take all of the characters into different directions, so I'll have more to say then, but that will certainly take a while. I would not expect the video to come out this year, but I promise to take less than 17 years this time, hehe

[@FarelTheGiraffe]

The Second Season video is out. Hope you'll enjoy it as well

[@luxerhusku2609]

Season 1 of GX was pretty much a "Slice of Life" from the first half and I do remember reading that not a lot of fans were happy with that direction, so they gave a plot during the second half of the season to make the show more interesting and DM-like. They mostly talk about the Shadow Riders, how they brought back the Shadow Games, and even put Jaden's friends at risk as well; something you also see in DM, including the Sacred Beasts as GX's Egyptian Gods. It was a weird season when I watched it, but as the show goes on, I was surprised at how weirder it can get. First time watching your video as I am a big YGO fan and I'll say that it's a pretty solid review. Gonna watch your other GX reviews right now! :D

[@FarelTheGiraffe]

Why thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it. I did feel like the premise of the "slice of life" thing could have worked, if they went about it in a slightly different way... but I suppose I'll leave that sort of commentary for when I cover season 4

[@luxerhusku2609]

@@FarelTheGiraffe Oh man, I should have just placed my comment in your latest video as I commented on all of them lol.

[@FarelTheGiraffe]

@@luxerhusku2609 hey now, no worries, its nice to get some engagement like this :)

[@bakabunny788]

This comment is more so for those that don't remember GX that well or want to watch it in general; In the episode featuring Damian (the Tarzan wannabe), the opponent he faced in a duel during the flashback, presented as an example of how bad Damian was, had a Jinzo on the field. Jinzo's effect essentially renders all trap cards useless. Damian drew a trap card, leading to his defeat, and the specific trap he drew was Fake Trap. Fake Trap can be effective against cards that target a trap card on your side of the field. This was a decent tech pick, especially considering several cards were released at the time could destroy a trap card if the card they used targeted a trap. In the episode where Syrus was hesitant to use a specific card, Zane was rather rude when he interrupted Syrus's ongoing duel. However, the card Syrus was about to use is called Power Bond. This card allows the fusion summoning of a Machine-Type monster and doubles its Attack Points. The caveat is that at the end of your turn, you take damage equal to its original Attack Points. The monster Syrus intended to Fusion Summon was Steam Gyroid, whose original Attack Points are 2200. At that moment, Syrus's opponent had a face-down Trap Card called Spellbinding Circle. When activated, this card prevents an opponent's chosen monster from changing its battle position or attacking as long as it remains on the field. Considering Syrus had at least 2200 Life Points left, and his brother, in a rather rude yet not very helpful manner, tried to teach him the crucial lesson that knowing how to use a card and knowing when to use it are two very different things. Syrus, had he been more cautious, could have summoned Gyroid in face-down defense position (or face-up defense position, as allowed in the anime), attacked his opponent's Gearfried the Iron Knight with Steamroid, gaining 500 Attack Points during the Damage Step when attacking. This would force his opponent to use Spellbinding Circle to avoid taking damage, allowing Syrus to end his turn. His opponent would then be faced with either sacrificing Gearfried the Iron Knight for a slightly stronger monster than Steamroid, causing Syrus to take at least 600 points of damage, as Steamroid loses 500 Attack Points when being attacked. This strategy would provide Syrus with a resilient wall in Gyroid for at least four more turns, as Gyroid needs to be attacked twice in a turn to be destroyed, or his opponent would have to summon a second monster and attack Steamroid, dealing Syrus 500 points of damage while providing him with a small wall in Gyroid. Syrus could have won if he drew another Steamroid. The placing of the Chumley episode was indeed a little weird, they could have done it after the expulsion match. Okay, regarding the Shadow Riders Arc, first off, the seven spirit keys don't bear the Eye of Wdjat, and Jaden's medallion is not part of them. Additionally, those three legendary cards are so powerful that they can rejuvenate a decrepit, old man. While in reality, they are not classified as Divine-Beast type monsters, in the show, they are depicted as such, and it's shown that all cards can affect the real world to some extent. Secondly, Jaden's Medallion is used only once to prevent his or someone else's soul from being captured and used as leverage to force a loss in the duel where it was activated. Thirdly, while most of the Shadow Riders lack a clear motivation beyond their leader's desire for the Spirit Keys, the opponent Jaden uses his medallion against wants the keys to utilize the Sacred Beast cards for reviving her race, as she is a vampire, and vampires are depicted as real in the series. Fourthly, the reason why not all characters win more duels before losing is elaborated; Crowler loses his duel because the vampire lady spied on everyone's deck organization, knowing in advance which cards they would use. Zane would have won his duel against the same opponent if she hadn't taken Syrus hostage and threatened his soul with a fancy Spell card, compelling Zane to lose to save his brother. Lastly, Tania, Don Zaloog, and Titan (Shadow Riders 3, 4, & 6, respectively) are actually mercenaries. Tania seeks money for supplies as she travels the world looking for a husband, Don Zaloog, being a thief, likely desires the money, and Titan seeks revenge after Jaden defeated him in a Shadow Game at the Abandoned Dorm. Here is how I would have had the duels go in the Shadow Riders arc, Jaden duels Atticus (Win for Jaden), Crowler duels Titan as Jaden is still in recovery from his duel against Atticus and Titan blames Crowler for dueling Jaden and getting trapped in the Shadow Realm after losing (Win for Crowler), Alexis duels Abidos the Third (win for Alexis as Abidos's deck is equated to a starter deck in strength by Syrus), Alexis duels Camula the vampire lady (win for Camula as she cheated), Zane duels Camula (win for Camula as she cheated and took Syrus hostage), Crowler duels Camula angry his students have had their souls stolen/been severely hurt from these shadow games (win for Camula as she cheated), The Chazz duels Camula next after having gotten the medallion from Jaden (win for The Chazz as Chazz has a deck with a Main Deck boss monster that can destroy all face-up monsters the opponent controls, and two Extra Deck boss monsters, one of which banishes one card per turn and changes battle positions on attack, and another that makes it so that the opponent only has two monster card zones, along with using some unusual tactics such as using 0 Attack Point monsters regularly), Bastion duels Don Zaloog after Chazz outs Don as a fake detective (win for Bastion as Bastion generally has good strategies), Bastion duels Tania (win for Tania as Bastion threw the match after he fell in love with her), The Chazz duels Tania (win for The Chazz), Alexis, Crowler, Bastion, Zane duel against Prof. Banner/Amnael to keep him from The Chazz and Jaden (win for Pro. Banner/Amnael as he knows their strategies in and out), The Chazz duels against Prof. Banner/Amnael while Jaden is watching and does a good job against Prof. Banner/Amnael but still loses (win for Prof. Banner/Amnael), and finally Jaden against Prof. Banner/Amnael (win for Jaden). Finally the Duel against Kagemaru, honestly the only thing I would have done is change how Kagemaru got the Spirit Keys in the first place. Kagemaru didn't bring Abidos back to life himself, he awoke Abidos to fulfill his duties to the shadows, meaning that Abidos was in a kind of suspended animation probably from some kind of deal with an eldritch entity during his time as a Pharaoh. Duel monster spirits always were important, they just didn't get a lot of screen time until Jaden needed help when he was starting to feel pressured from having to save the world, and more than likely the connection on Duel Academy Island is stronger than most places, barring Egypt, and the benefit to keeping the Sacred Beast cards was to keep them out of villainous hands in a remote location and have top tier duelists there to keep them under lock and key, Kagemaru didn't go for them until he had enough Shadow Riders to duel these top tier duelists in Shadow Games in order to get them to turn young again after gathering enough energy. Kaiba owns the school and remember this is a sequel to the anime version of the original Yu-Gi-Oh, were Kaiba accepted that Magic was real and that Duel Monster cards were far more dangerous than most think, so coming across these three would have instantly rung a lot of alarm bells. The reason why the cards started going blank was that the spirits residing in the cards all around the world were essentially being absorbed by the three Sacred Beasts. The "stupid filler" as you call them was there to establish the characters and what they're going through as well as not just throw people into the heavy stuff all at once, though I will admit that some of the conflicts in them could have been resolved by other people than Jaden. I'm surprised that you didn't talk about the references to Judeo-Christian Alchemy as there is a lot in GX especially season 1, and it's been theorized by fans that the Sacred Beast cards were actually copied from the three Egyptian God cards so that the Jewish slaves could escape, hence why in universe they look so similar. Edit: spacing for the first sentence and some additional points I forgot to type down. Second Edit: getting rid of some repeated words in a sentence and finishing up my point for the "stupid filler".

[@FarelTheGiraffe]

ok, I apologize

[@bakabunny788]

@@FarelTheGiraffe hey man it's okay, you just need to do multiple watchings as it kind of feels like you only watched the episodes once, I do admit you have some points, but hey, we all make mistakes. Funnily enough I was making a comment on your second GX video when I saw your reply.

[@FarelTheGiraffe]

@@bakabunny788I'm bad at this, and should stop doing it. I just want to finish GX covering in my poor and unproffessional way and be done with this. I will no longer torture people

[@bakabunny788]

@@FarelTheGiraffe Hey man it's not bad, you just needed to do the seasons in parts instead of doing an entire season in one video, I see a lot of people make the mistakes you did in the for their first review, the main problem is that Yu-Gi-Oh GX season 1 is one that needs extensive covering and if you wanted to keep the video to thirty minutes go over certain situations in detail, and explain why you would do something different if they don't reach the thirty minute mark. I see potential in you, you actually can be a good reviewer as you touch on things that some don't even touch, just look at what is going on in the show and try to think like the characters do in the situation on screen. And you are not torturing people.

[@crossnasch2222]

4:19 He contemplates during his duels against main antagonists and wayward allies.

[@FarelTheGiraffe]

This was early on in the video. I made it clear by the structure, that I only start speaking about those parts later. Also the tone and way I speak about things there was supposed to be simplified to illustrate how I felt back in the day when getting into the show for the first time, when I was still just a dumb teenager. I had looked around online, and this first-impression is not something that I'm alone on, and with how my video concludes, and what I say, I feel like one shouldn't be too mad at my phrasing.

[@crossnasch2222]

@@FarelTheGiraffe What do you think of the idea of The Society of Light being exclusively aliens with a few parasites like in Arc-V?

[@FarelTheGiraffe]

@@crossnasch2222 I have not watched Arc-V , so I can't make comparisons. I made a video on Season 2 just now, and I don't really feel like the alien thing works. Upon reflection, despite what I claim in the video, some of the Arcana monsters do look like aliens, but I still stand by the connection not being that strong, and it was most likely only done , because of Jaden's Neo Space monsters being aliens themselves, and this would create a connection.

[@georgschwingerchen39]

Good job

[@FarelTheGiraffe]

Oh geee, thank you very much ^_^

[@thesnesgeek]

Do you think Alexis dueling against the Paradox brothers to protect Jaden and Cyrus would work?

[@FarelTheGiraffe]

.... Emmm not sure how that would work.... Jaden is willing to duel, and everything is mostly about Cyrus'es arc of believing in himself. Plus , they're a duo , surely picked to play against a duo of people. I cannot see that happening

[@thesnesgeek]

@@FarelTheGiraffe Good point, that makes sense

[@firepuppies4086]

Ya know.. it may make sense that he seems so, non chalant at first considering....well his ghost story kind of hints some serious stuff that happens later.

[@FarelTheGiraffe]

Well, true, but that feels like stuff in hindsight. It's certainly retconned, and wasn't planned in advance. I'll talk more about that when I get to talk about Season 3

[@firepuppies4086]

@@FarelTheGiraffe true, but considering the Kaibaman episode there was always some degree of notable inner doubt behind him. In his every day school life, he's a chill guy... But by the end of the season when he's see people practically die in front of him after failing to win a card game... The second of said people throwing to save his brother who was dragged into it by force? And I don't think his main "Love interests" being named Asuka and Rei while he has to stop beings named after biblical angels from screwing everything up... The details may have been retconned but there was always some intent behind his story being darker

[@FarelTheGiraffe]

@@firepuppies4086 Look, I might talk more about it when the video for season 3 comes out. Still, I cannot guarantee that I'll be as positive on Jaden's portrayal in the end as you are, but that doesn't make either of our viewpoints more or less valid. Undeniably you seem to like the show, whereas I came from a position of hating it, and now being willing to acknowledge that it had its positive qualities. I don't think I can ever truly love it and like everything about it. I can't go 180 on it.

[@brodyot94]

Hey! I host a podcast called Fandoms where I interview people about whatever they're a fan of. Would love to have you on and talk yu-gi-oh

[@FarelTheGiraffe]

Oh goodness. I feel very honored to be receiving this sort of offer, however I must ask some questions: 1) Where is your podcast exactly? I can't find much info on it 2) I must note that while I made these 2 videos, my extent of being in the YuGiOh fandom is somewhat limited. I only truly played the PSP games, which was long ago. And I didn't follow the show beyond ZeXal. In terms of being an active member of a fandom, I'd be more suited for one about Furries or the SaGa series of video games (although the latter is likely way too obscure for consideration). Would this be a problem?

[@DigiRangerScott]

I'd be interested. Plenty of topics to choose from

[@FarelTheGiraffe]

@@DigiRangerScott Heh, why thank you. But I haven't heard anything since, so I'm not sure this will lead to anything

[@chrisdonovan9872]

Rare hunters are basicly the same

[@FarelTheGiraffe]

....................... the same as what? ...... if you're responding to something I've said in the video, then without a timestamp, I have no clue what you're referring to. It's been over a year. I don't remember every sentence that I said in the review.

[@MegaCesa99]

Lol

[@FarelTheGiraffe]

I'll assume this is good