Ranking EVERY Yu-Gi-Oh RIVAL!

[@ΑΡΙΣΤΟΤΕΛΗΣΛΑΧΑΝΟΠΟΥΛΟΣ]

Some GX comments: 1. We don't just love Chazz because of the meme. We also love him because of his amazing character development 2. Aster is more of a rival than Zane. Zane didn't even care about Jaden post s1

[@MVangelmx]

Judai never really had a rival, imo

[@mario-oc2if]

The closest thing to a rival was aster Then season 3 happened

[@17-MASY]

@@MVangelmx sad aster noises

[@simpsbelongtothegulags3702]

GX is a school based and in school, you will usually have many rivals

[@LarkManEXE]

S1 Zane was alright: The guy you looked up to to try and surpass. After he went S&M...He became a straight up bad guy. If anything, he helped Syrus more than anyone, though it was still back-handed "I'm still better than you, try harder".

[@heavydonkeykong5190]

I really love Jack's dynamic with Yusei throughout the show. Even during moments when they weren't really being rivals and were just friends with each other.

[@antoniobolden8992]

Same here I liked that bout Jack and Yusei

[@Krimsonkouhai]

Same but Yusaku and Revolver was also pretty Awesome

[@PrevTsukasaRui]

I like the relationship between Kite and Yuma.

[@sharpaycutie2]

The rivalry ended after the dark signer arc tbh cuz he cared about him more as a friend

[@ekinyurekli]

Let’s be honest, some of the protagonists are good or bad, but all of the rivals are great.

[@matteo964]

This is definitely true. Even if i hate arcv one of the few things i am ok with is the rival

[@oliviaandlucy3202]

True, all rivals were awesome, even Chaz who was kind just there for comic relief.

[@a.c.slater7989]

@@oliviaandlucy3202 Chazz in the anime sucks as a duelist but is great as a character

[@_Koyomi_]

Chazz was kind of a joke in the anime but he was a beast in he manga where his ace was Light and Darkness Dragon. He even beat Jaden in the finals of a tournament

[@jcasella78]

Reiji was meh but that has more to do with his lack of screentime

[@shaung.5266]

Kite is my favorite rival. Hes just amazing. Everytime he duels I get chills because I know he about to end someone's whole dueling career. A close second is Chazz. Go dub was pure gold and i could never get enough of Chazz it up

[@Krimsonkouhai]

Yuma did technically beat Kite in the Manga.

[@spiderverse7361]

@@Krimsonkouhai we wish he beat him in the anime so that he can face Arc V Kite

[@PrevTsukasaRui]

Getting chills, eh? Hehehe

[@x-mighty7602]

I love Kaito, but he ain't a rival. He had zero rivalry with Yuma. The only reason why they fought was because of the circumstance.

[@WelahMan]

​@@x-mighty7602What? They had the best rivalry in the series and arguably since Kaiba and Yugi! Yumas whole goal was to try and beat Kite who he viewed as the best duelist he ever faced. He never beat him (not including manga), and Kite was so dynamic when he dueled and everyone respected him. Even after becoming world duel champion Yuma still doesn't view himself as a champion until he defeats kite. Even then he fails to do so. When Yuma gets his first Zexal morph Yuma even fails to defeat kite. They got mad rivalry

[@boredduelist8692]

“As president of KaibaCorp I declare this list invalid!”

[@goldensimp7729]

Beat the Pharaoh first

[@greedow]

@@goldensimp7729 he did. in duelist kingdom. kinda...

[@nicholasmarquez3399]

Bogdan Cerean an win is a win no matter what it took to get that win

[@cozzillagaming1869]

@@nicholasmarquez3399 so... Ryo/Edo/Kaito/Ryuoga/Reiji/Rook- Actually beats the protagonist using skill Jack- defeated Yusei in the past and was considered worthy to be Yusei's final opponent of the series Manjome-dueled Judai the most and actually may have beaten him in their final duel Revolver-was one of only 2 characters in the entirety of Vrains to reduce Yusaku's life to 0, and did it twice. Roa-actually doesn't have a case cuz he did cheat, but at least he fought fairly in the end Kaiba-has to threaten to kill himself to beat Yugi.... Sure a win is a win, but it was a pretty shitty win at that

[@a.c.slater7989]

@@cozzillagaming1869 Did you watch DSOD ? Kaiba was arguably going to beat Yugi who beat Atem to become the new king of games.... and Chazz lost every duel come on now. Kaiba hasnt lost a fair duel yet everyone hes lost to uses some sort of magic hax

[@thatman666]

What I find interesting that throughout Zexal, Shark would find himself walking the dark path many times and Yuma eventually shows up to save him. Shark returns the favor by helping out defeat a common foe and at one time helped Yuma regain his confidence during the hospital duel. When Shark was revealed to be the final villain, Yuma has to go all out just to save his friend (and the world). Overall, appreciated Shark helped on Yuma's character development.

[@x-mighty7602]

Shark isn't a villain. If anything, Astral is more evil than him, since both wanted to destroy a world and killing everyone living on it, but Astral did it because of his duty while Nasch did it for his friends that he failed to protect.

[@Killerqueen2000]

Kaito maybe better rival but Shark better character imo

[@SirNilooo]

Kaiba will forever be the one that stood out the most! Dude built an empire straight outta High School! Aside from him, I think Zane would have to be the next best Yugioh rival! His deck was LEGENDARY! Went out doing what he loved to do best..

[@playmaker4700]

Kaiba absolutely suck

[@Tibainium]

Kaiba: As president of KaibaCorp I declare this list invalid!

[@wargraymon2006]

I was looking for this comment and I was not disappointed 😂😂

[@drunkenpumpkins7401]

Shut up Mokuba

[@WhitedMaskVarré]

Nice copy comment.

[@yusakufujiki4075]

You literally copied the top comment

[@benouzgane2672]

Lol. Kaiba Never legit defeated Yugi either, thus he and Chazz have never defeated their rivals

[@thefonzpart]

A few points: -They did explain why Kaiser came back. It turns out his heart wasn't damaged from the shock collars(which is what we were led to believe when he "died"), it was from his deck wanting to evolve and him not use the same combos card for card every time. That's why Sho/Cyrus was able to duel without hurting himself with the Cyber Style -You're downplaying Kaiba's power and skill, especially if you didn't account for the manga. Yugi could not afford losses in the anime due to how things worked, they couldn't just give Kaiba a win(minus Duelist Kingdom) because that was not the point of their rivalry. Their rivalry was about Kaiba overcoming his issues as a person and getting his heart back. Kaiba was a huge threat the entire show and because it was a life or death, good vs evil duel every time Yugi was not allowed to lose. It wasn't just win ratios but how the duel played and the characters grew -Holding a loss against Pegasus is unfair since literally nobody in the world besides Yugi could stand up to the Millennium Eye. Kaiba also WON against Noah but the same shit he tried to pull against Yugi in Duelist Kingdom happened to him. So if Kaiba's win against Yugi doesn't count, then neither does his "loss" against Noah. -Dartz doesn't count because it was a tag duel and Kaiba sacrificed himself so the TEAM of him and Yugi could win. -"No big wins": ignores the Rare Hunters, overcoming Ishizu cheating with a Millennium Item which was a step up from Pegasus, beat the Jinzo dude, Noah, Joey(who beat Marik), helped Yugi win against Marik(which is another BIG character development moment you missed), beat Pegasus' deck in a rematch, then Allister multiple times, and Siegfried in one of Kaiba's most epic duels. -Atem said in his and Kaiba's last duel there was no difference in skill between them, and that Atem won because Kaiba couldn't overcome his hatred holding him back. -The fact you think Kaiba didn't develop and mention rants about not believing in magic shows you mostly watch Duel Monsters dub, not sub, and ignore the manga that puts things into better context. You also give credit to Reiji for his tech, but completely ignore Kaiba's giant impact on the game with his tech. I just disagree with how you judged the rivals. You seemed to put a big emphasis with win/loss ratios and didn't give Kaiba enough credit just because he can be considered an overrated character and is the Genwunner equivalent of Pokemon. There's a great character there despite the memes and nostalgia

[@sungod9797]

He watches the sub much more, but I agree that the disbelief in the supernatural thing was a dumb point. I agree about all of your other specific points though.

[@TheAzulmagia]

"Helped Yugi win against Marik" is a bit generous considering that I don't think his Metal Fiend Tokens even amounted to anything in the end.

[@justaguywhoislost947]

@@TheAzulmagia The card litteraly helped him not getting one shot by Ra's attack and helped summon obelisk who carried Yugi during a good half of the duel ( also I didn't see the anime version of the duel so maybe it wasn't the same )

[@_Koyomi_]

Ishizu _let_ Kaiba win. The only reason she didn't use Blast Held by the Tribute when he summoned Blue-Eyes is because he didn't summon Obelisk like she saw in her vision. He still had less than 2000 Life Points, so she would have won. I agree with your other points though. He also worfed Shark _way_ too hard. Shark _obviously_ gave Yuma trouble in their first duel and every other Duel they had since then. Yuma couldn't even inflict damage to him the second time they dueled. Not only that, but Shark surpasses Kaito by the end of the series.

[@thefonzpart]

plvs_vltra No, you’re ignoring how Blast Held by a Tribute worked in the anime and manga. It did not have its TCG/OCG effect that worked on ANY Tribute Summon monster. Zolga was set with a bomb that went to Obelisk when it was tributed. It was never stated if it would pass past Obelisk and Blue-Eyes did not have the bomb inside it What a ridiculous way to interpet that she let Kaiba win. That was never stated or implied

[@ace-trainer-aj]

Kaiba, Jack Atlas and Kaito are the most badass rivals.

[@alphamarigi]

What about Aster/Edo Phoenix? The dude's archetype was designed to rival Jaden's. The way I see Ryo/Zane is Jaden's season one rival and Phoenix is his season two rival with Chazz/Manjome being his all throughout the series rival who was a secondary rival during the first two seasons.

[@alperenayman620]

You are missing some important points. Yes that's true at the beginning Edo appeared as a rival but ended up just like many characters in the series. Soulburner, Jesse, Bastion many characters from each series could be a great example for that... Edo and Judai's rivalry never got rehashed again just after Judai beats him it was over... we never heard any words could be considered as rivalry from Edo neither Judai when it comes to these two. Later in the series Edo got defeated by Chazz and Gecko and he had nothing do with Jaden anymore. On the other hand Ryo - Zane has never become Jaden's tag duel partner/buddy but someone always shown superior or one step ahead could be even considered mentor, even Jaden and his duels shown as flashbacks when it comes to Jaden's character development. He even had balls to take Possessed Jesse (Yubel) by his own in his terrible condition. Despite he lost his personality due to solely focusing on victory and even he approached everyone in the same manner (he just didn't care whom he's duelling with) he always acknowledged Judai's existence and always remembered how amazing duellist he is. Same goes for Judai/Jaden he praised Kaiser many times in the series and only other person he mentioned like this was Yugi of course... In the end of the 3rd season Judai made Kaiser come back to his senses and Kaiser made Judai prepared for one of biggest duel against Yubel... That is what great rivalry does ... improvement for both of the sides... Excuse me but Aster/Edo' s existence after the second 2 was very questionable.... and it never gave any rivalry vibe

[@_Koyomi_]

@@alperenayman620 Aster was very prevalent in season 3. He even used Plasma to sacrifice himself and save everyone else. Nothing about his role was questionable. Aster and Judai are fools of each other rather than Kaiba-esque rivals

[@alperenayman620]

@@_Koyomi_ I meant his main role in the series not the importance of the character ;) I love him as well

[@x-mighty7602]

​@@alperenayman620Yuma and Kaito also have no rivalry.

[@kastlewind1759]

When Zane said Syrus surpassed him he meant that Syrus performed a move that Zane would not have ever been able to do. But that was only possible due to Syrus's Roid cards and mixing it with the Cyberdarks. But I still consider Zane to be the stronger duelist. That did annoy me a bit.

[@thegreatscribbles960]

Welp sucks for you syrus is now better

[@kastlewind1759]

@@thegreatscribbles960 Hm? If the writers wanted that to be the case then I'm all for it. I just interpreted that Syrus was able to perform a move Zane couldn't but of course Syrus's roid cards had the perfect synergy in order for Syrus to make that play.

[@theweirdo3129]

@@thegreatscribbles960 hah good joke

[@bigfish5544]

I think what he meant was that Shou surpassed him Personality wise, Shou grew up more than Kaiser ever could It was never about the combos or the dueling style or idk what

[@tuliobednarczukpecinemisko5606]

Nice video! I would argue that Seto Kaiba defeating Gozaburo was more important than defeating Noah,especially when he was dueling against a Exodia deck.He managed to overcome two ghost of his past at once.

[@billy6678]

Yea was confused when he didn’t mention Gozaburo at all? Like that was crucial to his development and it was forgotten?

[@brysonmark878]

Kite was the best character in Zexal. Hands Down. He literally lost ONE duel in the whole show, and we all know that was because he had to hold back so he didn't hurt his brother, and because Yuma has protagonist powers and needed to fight Vetrix in the finals. So I honestly don't count that as a loss against him because imo, that just wasn't even fair. Every duel Kite was involved in, I cared about. Literally before watching this video, I JUST finished watching every episode that Kite duels in. He's a phenomenal character and the true galaxy eyes master. What more could you want in the best rival in all of Yugioh?

[@WelahMan]

Ayeeee someone gets it! Even in Zexal morph yuma couldn't defeat him. Supposidly there was a late change in plan as kite was meant to defeat Vetrix and save his brother then face Yuma in the final. But hey never mind. The guy is the goat, also at the end of the series since everyone loses their numbers, and Kites deck remains pretty much unaltered save for 62, by default he's once again the best duelist

[@Rhythm_Haruka46]

Wish he kept hold on 62. It makes sense why, but I love 62. It's such a beautiful and powerful card (not only in the game, but it's such an important card and has an incredible summoning.) Not only that but his link with his dragon is one of the most interesting ties with a card. To the point HE REFUSES TO DESTROY IT.

[@Honest_Mids_Masher]

Post don thousand Yuma and Nasch would easily win considering how easily Don thousand beat Mizael who was Kite's equal

[@ElliotKeaton]

Ah yes, the most important trait in a rival, them being humble... Wut.

[@notinformed7493]

Exactly, not all rivals are supposed to be humble

[@konstantinkostov3357]

Mate, it's his list. Let him do it how he wants.

[@epicyoshi9515]

Pokemon fans thinks differnly

[@thanoseid2883]

Well kaiba’s ego often gets him in trouble

[@fxzzy__]

People look for different things in rival characters. So it's valid if Dylan doesn't like seeing a certain characteristic in them

[@cherrylk4188]

Wym kaiba doesn't have big wins? Kaiba beat joey, gozaburo kaiba, and zigfried. He helped beat dartz, got the kill on lumis and umbra, would've beaten noah if noah didn't use mokubah as a meatshield, won the four-way duel with Yugi, Joey, and Marik, and beat ishizu the psychic Millenium item holder.

[@justanotheremptychannel2472]

Also Duelist Kingdom Yugi was cheating

[@starstuffs39]

agree

[@LadyOcon]

Pegasus was cheating too.

[@dinosaurtimeandfunnyvideos]

What about the time where he threatened to kill himself

[@facundoparada8127]

He almost beat Aigami but Aigami runs like a bitch, and he saves little Yugi from Aigami in the last duel, he doesnt have to do that, but after all Kaiba is a nice guy and little Yugi and Atem are the only friends he have

[@Obi-Wan_Kenobi]

I think they ruined Kaiba's development in Battle City. Throughout Duelist Kingdom, you see Kaiba becoming a better person. After that first loss in Episode 1, Kaiba's entire outlook totally changes. He started respecting his cards, his opponents, began to duel for someone other than himself. Kaiba still had an intensity and ruthlessness to achieve his goals, but he became that much more interesting because while he was ruthless, he was dueling to save Mokuba which is an altruistic motivation. He was also working his Yugi (like when they beat the Kaiba fake and won in the digital world) and his character was less about beating Yugi vs getting drawn into unfortunate duels. He even started duding with the Heart of the Cards, it was excellent character development. But then Battle City really altered his character development for the worse. They made it all about his ego and lust for power. That felt completely contrary to the character development he had going through. Kaiba was on pretty good terms with Yugi and friends up until this point but they dialed up his ego, power hunger, and denial of the supernatural to make him more antagonistic to Yugi. It didn't just make his character worse, it made him look illogical. Like Kaiba literally got his soul trapped in a card and he still didn't believe in magic in Battle City. There is no way he wouldn't believe. And Kaiba's best moments in Battle City were when he and Yugi were working together during their tag duel and to reduce Joey and Tea. Here they were bonded by the skill and respect they had as the two best duelist in the world. Kaiba was way more enjoyable as a character here than when arbitrarily denying magic and Marik who was literally trying to take over wold right in front of him. Kaiba's at his best when he duels for a cause other than himself. He's at his best when he respects and works with Yugi but they differ in their methods to achieve those goals. You can still make him more ruthless and standoffish, but you need to respect the character growth Kaiba experienced in Duelist Kingdom that showed him being a better person, like dueling for a cause, respecting his opponent, and believing in the Heart of the Cards.

[@michaelsegal7443]

7:48 Kaiba’s big win was against his step dad which was something he needed to do. That being said Kaiba is not my favorite rival. my favorite rival is Jack. He really was someone who got into both Yusei and Yuya’s Heads and slowly redeemed himself as time went on

[@Fallen_Time]

Yeah good point and I agree with Jack. I think he was the most impressive duelist out of the rivals

[@bigbubble4282]

He scored a big L against Siegfried.

[@williamdarrylntouba7983]

I think 5th just had the best cast in general

[@williamdarrylntouba7983]

Omg autocorrect I meant 5ds

[@pinkpenguin404]

Nice video Dylan! Yugioh always does the rival characters justice. Here's my list: 1. Jack (He developed really well as a character and really pushed not only Yusei, but the story forward) 2. Revolver (He was a pretty yet tragic character. And it feels like he had 2 rivalries [Playmaker in season 1 and Soulburner in season 2-3]. Not to mention his speeches and duels were always fun to watch) 3. Kaito (He has a great rivalry with Yuma and Misael, he really cared about his brother and later on Yuma, and he was an essential character in the story of Zexal) 4. Shark (Might be surprising to see him this high up, but I loved the story his character told and how much he developed as a character. Like really cared about Rio and Yuma and while he may have never beat Yuma, he did always push Yuma to be better. I kind of see him more as the best friend than the rival [sorry Bronk lol]) 5. Kaiba (A classic. His rivalry with Yugi is pretty memorable but he didn't really develop much as a character. He doesn't really care about anyone but Mokuba and himself and him denying his ancient past was kind of annoying [especially in the dub]. But he was still a pretty badass character and his love for his brother is really sweet) 6. Reiji (I never really clicked with Reiji. He's a good and intelligent character, but with the overcrowded Arc-V cast, he didn't really stick out after the first 50 episodes. But he was a good duelist and his duels with Yuya were pretty memorable.) 7. Manjoume (His development through GX is pretty amazing and can be seen through his deck changes, but he felt weak as a rival. He honestly just felt like another one of Judai's friends. But still, he was a pretty good character with a pretty good story arc behind him) (I know I didn't put Ryo or Edo on this list, but Ryo felt like a just season 1 rival and Edo felt like a just season 2 rival. Though they're both pretty good rivals and pushed Judai to be better.) That's my list. I hope whoever read this enjoys it :)

[@mrwildzilla7069]

Bronk doesnt deserve an Apology he is the worst yugioh best friend character and is the worst thing about zexal imo.(loved zexal btw)

[@PrevTsukasaRui]

@@mrwildzilla7069 yeah same here.

[@Fainted_Alif]

Bro neither read manga nor watched the DSOD movie 🤡

[@shmarfle47]

Ryo is my favorite character but man was I sad when I found out how bad the CyberDarks were. He gave up Cyber Dragons for freaking CyberDarks which are considerably worse.

[@jamiewalsh3349]

Zane is a great character. But his transformation into Dark Zane kinda ruined his character.

[@carlackersii]

Kaiba-the OG but annoyingly stubborn Chazz- a lot of fun but not up to snuff 80% of the time Zane- awesome Jack- he’s cool Kite- I think Kite is awesome Reiji- one of the best but woefully underused Revolver- pretty great Aster- a great foil to Jaden Shark- I think he and kite are the best characters in Zexal

[@dariohieras9186]

shark is my favorite rival. there was so much going on about him especially his backstory which he didn‘t know about and it changed everything for him. he gave up everything. he contributed as a duelist, friend and villain. kaito is legendary because he didn‘t dueled yuma in s2. even their s1 duel. yuma with zexal one would have won. it was so close without yuma using it. yuma and shark left kaito in the dust during s2. kaito barely defeated mizael (3rd/4th strongest barian emperor) while nasch defeated vector (2nd strongest barian emperor). he also made yuma develop as character. like in their second duel where he showed him a lesson about numbers or helping him to overcome his despair in the rain duel.

[@thatman666]

Still emotionally scarred knowing Shark was the final boss. When the name No. 101 S.H.Ark Knight referenced who's the owner, I went Luke screaming NOOOOOOO!

[@cichy45]

Agree. I love that one duel between Yuma and Shark when Yuma promises to not use Utupia, then he uses it anyway, but still looses the duel.

[@dariohieras9186]

ThatMan 666 the japanese voice actor even joked about Silent Horus ARK knight

[@mrwildzilla7069]

@@thatman666 he wasnt the final boss. imo that was don 1000 and the duel they had at end of series was like another duel between rivals but this time with high stakes.

[@playmaker4700]

His sister Rio is too cute

[@Yami_Duelist]

Kaiba is definitely the best, hands down!! He's the only one who can screw the rules just because he has money

[@najibzulkafli5820]

My list: 1) Kaiba 2) Revolver & Jack

[@joseluistrejo1859]

"Are you ready to repent?" - Kaito Tenjo

[@Rhythm_Haruka46]

That line gives me CHILLS every time. Savage.

[@DQMaster777]

8. The Chazz - The Ojama jokes are kinda funny but get tiresome after a while. He has a good arc though. 7. Shark - Good development, problem was he didn't really have a reason to be a rival with Yuma 6. Zane - Agree with Dylan on this one, although the darker dueling is still fun to watch 5. Reiji - Calm, cool, collective, D.D.D. what's more to like 4. Kite - Agree once again with Dylan 3. Revolver - Great reason to be a rival for Playmaker, and awesome anti-hero rival, I do wish he got a duel with A.I. though 2. Jack Atlus - One of my favorite 5D's characters, I love Red-Demon's Dragon and his power style, falls off later in show 1. Seto Kaiba - This is for a variety of reasons, but I just love Kaiba as a character, classic rivalry of course and he was willing to help out Yugi at several points.

[@ivanleeskinner]

agreed i think kite/shark and also chazz/zane are both the “rival”. I think rook & roa will be the same situation as well.

[@goldensimp7729]

Heh, first trillogy( DM to 5Ds) had Chazz and Zane, then the second( Zexal to Vrains), and now SEVENS also starts a new series of 3 shows( hopefully) with two rivals

[@jaceprince5385]

I think rook is shark roa is kite

[@TLHGONZO]

Reiji, Kaito, and Jack are by far my favorite rivals. Those three are hard to stack. I have not finished Vrains so it’s hard for me to place Revolver high on my list, despite being a really good rival.

[@TheBleachj16]

I actually liked that Kaiser's story was about him being a big fish in a small pond and he had to learn there were people better than him and embrace it. The problem was the show drops it and he comes back in season 3 not nearly as crazy as he was during the GX tournament. He gets a great duel with Yubel as a great sendoff and then randomly comes back. Because his heart stopping didn't kill him I guess. I do think if you say Edo was season specific then so was Kaiser. After he graduates him and Judai aren't really connected.

[@photonman0018]

#1 kaito: my favorite character in Yu-Gi-Oh overall. His Deck is awesome and he always cared for brother, his death against mizar was so sad. #2 revolver: his start as an antagonist was super interesting, rokkets are awesome and the vs soulburner duel is one of my favorites. #3 jack; his attitude was always awesome to me since I'm a pretty arrogant person myself, his Deck was rad and his character development was great. #4 reiji: I wish he got more screentime. He always was super awesome by creating the lancers and helping them go through dimensions, D/D/D is my second favorite deck too. #5 chazz: do I need to say anything here? #6 kaiba: he was a great character, cocky.. arrogant, CEO of a massive company. His ancient Egypt storyline was great, I just like the other ones more. Shark and Kaiser are great too, I just never considered them rivals.

[@tarashima2682]

Oh dear, I understand the difficulty of making this list, the rivals in YGO are, as you say, extremely well-written, not to mention entertaining, characters. I haven't finished all the spinoffs so I don't have much to go after when comes to agreeing with your list or not. I haven't come long enough in Zexal to have a proper opinion about Kaito, but he intrigues me and I know more people than you really like him and seeing as he ranked no1 on your list, I'm excited to continue my watch. I've never personally seen Kaiser as the rival™ (and I certainly don't approve of how he treated Shou) but I don't really see Edo as one either. I don't blame people for dubbing them as rival characters, though, they do have characteristics that define a YGO rival. So the list I can make today, and might get changed in the future, is: 7. Reiji (I have just reached s3 of Arc-V so my view on Reiji isn't exactly clear ^^;;; ) 6. Kaito (again, need to watch more of Zexal and seeing people being passionate about him makes me happy) 5. Shark 4. Manjoume 3. Seto Kaiba 2. Jack Atlas 1. Revolver Great list as always, Dylan. You did well ♥

[@Za_Lup]

Well, this is probably the top list that surprised me the most xD And really it looks nothing like mine, but that is part of the fun! 8 - Kaito (guy never really clicked with me, but yeah, he was one of the best things in Zexal) 7 - Shark (this guy is my favorite thing from Zexal. Still salty about that duel he lost in the tournament, but he was pretty cool as a character and his rivalry with IV was great) 6 - Edo Phoenix (for me this guy is more of a rival than Manjoume, and he was great. He almost beat Judai with a E-HERO deck he never used and then proceeded to defeat him later. Respect) 5 - Akaba Reiji (a.k.a Hipster Kaiba. This guy was amazing, was an incredible chessmaster of the plot, and was simply a nice good guy. He just needed a few more duels, or maybe defeating Zarc) 4 - THE KINGU JACK ATLAS (Oh boy I love Jack! Such an incredible character, with incredible duels. He just had that weird thing with Carly with no real closure harm his character a little. And well, he never defeated Yusei outside of that flashback. But to me, it was him who actually makes Yusei a better duelist with his speech there) 3 - Hell Kaiser Ryo (This is the complete opposite of Dylan. Ryo skyrocketed for me when he became Hell Kaiser. His duels became so much fun for me and I loved every single second of his screentime. Never lost to Judai. The true GX rival IMO) 2 - Revolver (Holy crap this guy is in a different level to me. He was an incredibly written and developed character who single handedly elevated VRAINS quality for me. An amazing deep, relatable and just enjoyable character, probably the most mature and intelligent of the cast. One of the best characters in the 20 years of YGO! Sadly he never defeated PM because of the plot armor, but he was incredible) 1 - Seto Kaiba (the definitive quintessential rival of YGO! Kaiba is one of the most complex characters of the series, even his character arc in Waking the Dragons was amazing. He does have some few minimal hints of development throughout the show when he begins to care about other people and not only his brother. But he has a lot of things going for him. The fact that he wants to leave his past behind, atone for his father's sins, fulfill his very selfless dream of KaibaLand, develop trust in his deck and open his mind to the supernatural. He great. He needed a big win, yes, but he was amazing and well, at least he defeats Siegfried in the filler arc) xD If anyone read all this, thank you xD An amazing idea and great video, Dylan! Hope you're doing great!

[@lpfan4491]

Oh yeah, edo/aster exists....so I guess one could say that GX has 3 rivals? The show definitly had a lack of focus on what it wanted to do lol.

[@chapterblaq]

I enjoy how you switch between the Sub and Dub names casually. Classy af.

[@ivanbluecool]

Favorite rival is jack as the whole of 5ds you see yusie and jack mention they want to have a rematch and jack is basically the second main character compared to the others. Also to prepare to battle he Beats everyone and also gets a love story as well. Next would be kaito being good enough to not lose to Yuma and super powerful. Kaiba would be next as I do love his fire to try to beat Yugi and overall great story. Revolver was really good in the early part and loved how they hyped up the battle overall was so great seeing vrains even with the lackluster end. Zane was fine to see but messy in later series going up or down. Reiji and chazz are about even. Chazz is fun and all while reiji I really love his deck. Extra would add Yuri above revolver as Yuri is a mirror yuya as he never lost much aside yuya and the build up to both them being assisted by a spirit alt was amazing overall.

[@d-heroforte8037]

One of my favorite concepts of the Yu-Gi-Oh franchise is definitely the rivals. Ryoga/Shark is my favorite character in the franchise (shockingly) But, I agree as a rival, Kaito was a much better rival. Awesome list man! RIP my boys Edo and Shingo lol XD

[@bryankutchens7495]

I would rank the rivals based on how much they did for the plot, protagonists, and how good they dueled. 10. Kallen - Made yusei contemplate where he stood in the world. And the lines yusei was willing to cross for his goals. Technically only person who beat yusei. 9. Chazz - Chazz it up! 8. Aster - Beat Jaden allowing Jaden to evolve his cards and get elemental hero Neos. 7. Shark - Reason the show started with Yuma getting astral and utopia. Had some great duels, helped yuma beat don thousand. 6. Zane - After Jaden beat crowler, Jaden thought he was hot shit. Zane put him in his place. Gave one of the best duels, him vs yubel jesse. 5. Jack 5ds - Whole reason yusei left the slums and went to the city. Helped yusei after losing against Kallen. Helped yusei beat most of the villains. 4. Kaiba - Made yugi and joey get way stronger as duelists. Caused battle city, helped fight marik. Yugi vs kaiba 3rd duel still one of the best duels ever. 3. Jack from arc 5 - Dueled yuya the most. Taught him what it means to be a real duelist. Helped yuya learn to have fun with dueling again. Saved him when he was gonna lose against the gladiator beasts guy. 2. Kite - Made yuma get zexal powers. Major reason for yumas growth as a duelist. Gave his life to save the planet. Had time stopping powers, which was very confusing. 1. Declan - Gave yuya something to reach for. Reason for most of the plot. 100% win record for like the first 120 episodes. Taught yuya how to evolve pendulums, which yuya based his style on for the rest of the show.

[@phantom9831]

Kite able to use the chaos control without any reason was confusing and funny as fuck

[@PrevTsukasaRui]

Hey, get this.Before I watched this I never watched Kaito's death scene. And I agree that its heartbreaking and that duel against Mizar was amazing. And Prime Photon Dragon. Beautiful.

[@phantom9831]

N°62 Is one of the coolest monsters that i've seen hands down, and Kaito one of the best duellist, the true Galaxy eyes dragon master

[@zeke7200]

Honestly you would need to watch the japanese version of Kaiba to see the difference

[@starstuffs39]

totally agree

[@jordonfletcher8166]

He's watched DM subbed.

[@yassinhafez1337]

Or the Manga were he broke time and space to continue his rivalry with atem

[@katkat5705]

Yh, on the dark side of dimensions you can't find more rival than that

[@Mekartur]

I was just about to say that. Kaiba is portraited much worse than he actually is in the dub.

[@xcmet]

7:29, "Kaiba never had a big character win"? I strongly disagree here. Examples being Kaiba defeating his father, Gozaburo, the main villain in the virtual world arc, by defeating Exodia Necross, and Kaiba defeating Zigfried, a rival to his company, and the main villian of the KC grand championship arc. Both villans in those arcs served as Kiaba's personal nemesis, which were HUGE big wins as they were also the toughest duelist in those arcs as well. . Also both Noah and Pegasus cheated when dueling Kaiba, which is understandable since they knew they couldn't beat Kiaba fairly in a duel. In addition, Kaiba was the last person in Domino city who survived Truemans Attack in the Yugioh GX series. Dont how a youtuber such as yourself who dubs himself " Yugioh Everything" would miss something obvious. You gave a poor argument to why Kiaba deserved to be in that spot and it felt like your personal bias to not liking Kiaba's demanor was your reason instead reasonable facts. . Also, I recommend you watch the japanese sub version of Yugioh, as Kaiba's perosna is depicted slightly different than the english dub as he gains respect for Yugi and Joey and even is optmisitc towards the supernatural. . In my opinion, a good rival is one that plays a significant role in the story by not only being a foil to the main protagonist but also having an impact in the story. All of which Kiaba did as he either played a center part in the story arc, of was the main focus. .. Which some of the rivals in your top list did not have, especially, declan, 9:25 who as you mentioned, didn't duel enough and was forgotten at times. But I guess because he (Declan) has a calm demeanor he's a good rival in your book. Peace

[@WhitedMaskVarré]

My eyes disagrees to read this.

[@Sniffyy]

If we disregard people who literally cheated, Kaiba only has 2 legit losses.

[@DTran-je1sn]

Good points! Besides, Kaiba founded Duel Academy and his own company, carried out Ener-D research and is by far (one of) the most iconic character in the all franchise!

[@lordradiance2530]

Ziegfried and the guy from the virtual world arc are literally from the most forgotten arcs of all of OG yugioh, literally nobody cares about those arcs. Compared to every other rival except manjoume. Jack beat aporia, who had just given yusei the fight of his life. Kaito beat mizael, who was probably the most well known barian emperor who wasnt vector. Revolver would have beat lightning, who had been built up since the start of the ignis arc, had lightning not literally cheated super fucking hard. All these “big wins” you name with kaiba are generally against characters that are unmemorable and dont matter.

[@playmaker4700]

Kaiba is just a complete joke. Absolutely suck

[@stardustamvs]

Holy Jesus, I felt a shift in cosmic energy when Dylan said, “He never beat Yugi.” I fell over a little trying to stand up.

[@NeroPiroman]

Likewise

[@sloanewalker42]

Well, he did beat Yugi in Duelist Kingdom, but only because he threatened suicide. But still, a win is a win.

[@justanotheremptychannel2472]

@@sloanewalker42 Yugi was cheating, I would do the same

[@sloanewalker42]

Just Another Empty Channel I know. Me too.

[@risemystic_]

@@justanotheremptychannel2472 i mean... blue eyes ultimate dragon was rotten!?!?!? WTF!?!?

[@silveratlas2706]

I know I'm late, but I'll still give my thoughts. Honestly I really liked every rival. I'm excluding Sevens and Go Rush from the list. 8)Manjome Thunder I liked him, but he never came off as an imposing duelist like basically every other rival. Also, I'm not the biggest fan of where his character went throughout GX. He is fine. 7)Ryo Marufuji Good rival, but he became a bit too edgy down the line, it was cool when I was 13 but now not so much. Cyber Dragons are cool tho. 6)Seto Kaiba While he certainly is iconic, rewatching the og series I got the impression that he really doesn't have a lot of depth under his flashy style. Also it really feels like the main plot doesn't involve him that much and he is just doing his things until the end of the arcs. He is still really funny tho. 5)Akaba Reiji I really like Reiji, but the ending of arc v doesn't help him at all and he disappears from the show too many times, so he doesn't have a lot of screentime. D/D/D are awesome. 4)Ryoga Kamishiro While he really doesn't feel like a rival except for the very beginning and the last arc, the last arc of Zeal is the best in the series by a country mile and in part is thanks to him. 3)Jack Atlas He definitely is the fan favorite, for good reasons,after all the name of my account comes from him. Really great rival overall, but he falls off a bit in the later part of the show. 2)Kite Tenjo Man, what a rival. Always enhancing a scene just by being in it, and he is the start of Zeal being peak yu gi oh so of course he is great. I still remember how sad I was when he died on the Moon. 😢 Absolutely awesome. 1)Revolver Dude,this guy is just the best. Probably the second character with the most development and depth in the franchise behind only Yuma. He has the most menacing voice I've ever heard, thank God for Shunsuke Takeuchi's performance. An imposing and intimidating presence. He is the hottest character in the franchise (pause). He has my favorite archetype in the whole series. He is deeply involved in the plot and owns every scene he is in. Even tho he doesn't duel that much, it's infinitely less bothersome than with Reiji. His duels are some of the most fun and enjoyable in the series. The speech in his last duel is the deepest dialogue in the whole franchise. All his dialogue is top tier to be fair. He is just...... Everything I want in a rival. God he is so perfect. Let me know your thoughts. Ps. I don't know if Luke counts as the rival for sevens, but if he does then he is between Rio and Kaiba. See ya👋

[@ashelygordon669]

It’s definitely hard due to the fact that rivals in the YGO franchise makes the show lively and really interesting to watch, not to mention that there were times that any character surpassed the main protagonist at some point but the development in a rival is just as important in the show like the main character is but, if I had to pick one, it would be Jack Altas but Reiji comes as close second and don’t get me wrong, Reiji(Declan) is a great duelist but if he had more duels within the show, he would of been higher. As for Jack, he was always an interesting character to watch regardless if he was in 5ds or Arc V and his development, monsters, duels and his idealism were impressive, not to mention that he played a “mentor” role to the Arc V protagonist, very nice !!!

[@jayd.doubledubs]

Revolver, Declan, Kaiba, Kaito, Zane, Shark, Jack, & Chazz. 5ds was the the first ygo anime I finished and it really hurts putting Jack so low

[@Bulzeeb15]

Jack's early obsession with winning and subsequent humbling reminds me a lot of Miles Edgeworth's character from the Ace Attorney series

[@3ternalHours]

Kaito was my favourite of all time. I was confident he'd make top four but I didn't think he'd edge out Jack in your opinion. The rollercoaster of trying to guess where you'd place him was intense. Great vid.

[@vetri99tsukuya20]

Nasch is the one who should've been on the thumbnail for zexal not Kite. My ranking: 1. Kaiba 2. Nasch 3. Chazz(including manga) 4. Revolver 5. Edo(he counts as Jaden's rival for s2) 6. Kite 7. Ryo(wasn't much of a rival since it was really a goal for jaden for only one season) 8. Sawatari(he was severely mistreated by the arc v writers but his duel with Yuya in the tourney was fantastic) 9. Jack(he was a complete joke tbh when he wasn't dueling Yusei post dark-signers) 10. Reiji(most of the time it didn't even feel Yuya even had a rival even though Reiji was very well written)

[@ijustmice]

nice and not to mention! in terms of making a grand entrance into the series for the audience, big kudos definitely to the gun man and the garlic clove man! kaito's whistling theme still slaps

[@masterduelistky8595]

I really like the other characters as well, but Jack is my favorite rival. He will always be my king.

[@MrDrawingboard1]

Thanks for making this video Dylan. Keep doing what your doing Personally I'd rank the rivals 8. Chazz 7. Kaiba 6. Shark 5. Zane 4. Reiji 3.Jack 2. Revolver 1. Kite

[@darkxyzelena]

I think I love Revolver and Reiji the most. They're the most focused and calm with a cool aura

[@demonfigs3309]

I consider Manjome/Chazz as the Rival of GX and Kaito/Kite as the Rival of Zexal since like Kaiba, Jack, Reiji/Declan and Revolver/Varis they have a 3000 ATK monster Kaiba: Blue-Eyes White Dragon Manjome/Chazz: Armed Dragon LV10 Jack: Red Dragon Archfiend Kaito/Kite: Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon Reiji/Declan: A Crystal with a Face aka D/D/D Doom King Armageddon Revolver/Varis: Borreload Dragon (He has too many 3000 ATK monsters so I just went with the one I think he used the most and it has 3 alternate forms in Borreload eXcharge Dragon, Savage Dragon and Furious Dragon)

[@daniel193012]

Aww poor Shingo didn't even make the list lol XD

[@penguintigerking102]

He was the best lol

[@sougotokiwa8439]

Know he'll tell his father on us all...lol

[@shenanigans8353]

In regards to what you said about edo/aster in fairness ryo/zane only duels judai/jaden in one arc aswell because I wouldn't really count them only getting to ryo's second turn before it being left undecided in ep 146 .

[@oresti9271]

My rank 1 kaiba Reiji jack revolver (seriously I can't decide between them so both of them are number 1 for me) 2 the Chazz 3 Kaito 4 Zane 5 shark

[@x-mighty7602]

Shark lost because he was at his lowest point emotionally. He was depressed. His sister was in coma and he was disonoered as a cheater. Also, he underestimated Yuma.

[@anthonythomas305]

Great rankings, Dylan Here's my rankings: 8. Chazz/Majoume 7. Zane/Hell Kaiser Ryo 6. Shark 5. Revolver/Varis 4. Reiji 3. Kaiba 2. Jack 1. Kite

[@babysinclairfan]

Great video as a always dylan! For me it's: 1. Kaiba 2. Kite 3. Chazz 4. Jack 5. Aster 6. Shark 7. Varis 8. Zane 9. Declan I threw Aster in there because he was the main rival in season 2

[@ruairiedwards8616]

1. Revolver 2. Kite Tenjo 3. Jack Atlas 4. Step Kaiba 5. Zane Truesdale 6. Declan Akaba 7. Shark 8. Chazz

[@ooofthedegenerate]

Invalid the chazz is above everyone

[@Cado1493]

This the one💯

[@zojirushi1]

Ruairi Edwards step Kaiba lol

[@titanenwurz-uwutopia]

Blue eyes white Kaiba the 2nd Paranormal space Kaiba Kaiba on motorcycles Step Kaiba More Kaiba than Kaiba Kaiba Hipster Kaiba Secondary paranormal space Kaiba Kawaii Kaiba

[@ruairiedwards8616]

Zo Jirushi sometimes I mistype my spelling. “Seto Kaiba”

[@Exoneos]

11:50 My fav theme song of all Yu-Gi-Oh! series

[@DerpyHiro]

Honestly I don't remember the rivals that well so Im partially going to go off how much I like their decks but here's my list from what I remember: 8. Zane: I just remember his character getting a weird conclusion (If I rememeber correctly he just dies at the end of GX?) He never got a redemption arc 7. Kite: Honestly I just can't remember Kite well I don't know what it is but i can barely remember anything about him. The only thing I really liked about him from memory is the final battle with Mizael on the moon. 6. Revolver: For some reason Revolver just felt stale to me; I don't know what it is. His opinion on the Ignis and final battle with Soulburner is cool though. Also I like that one scene where we see him as a kid happier and he thinks back to when times were more simple. I don't like his dueling though I find it boring to watch 5. Jack: Jack's development was good but kind of like with Kite I just can't remember his character well. I loved his duel with Aporia because he was selfless but like Revolver I find his dueling to be really boring 4. Kaiba: Similar to you Kaiba always thinking he's the best makes no sense because he's clearly not. It would make a lot of sense if his confidence went down but fro some reason it just never did. That annoyed me about Kaiba's character but I did have fun watching his duels from what I can remember. 3. Chazz: Chazz felt more real to me than all of the rivals. he wasn't there just to be a badass; he had his comedic moments and he lost a lot. Even though he lost a lot of duels, he also won a lot making his duels unpredicatble. Also i don't remember his final duel against Jaden but if he was going to win then its not his fault the duel got interrupted. I would count that as a legit win. 2. Shark: I just remember loving Shark during the Barian arc. The Barians are some of my favourtie characters in Yugioh and the dillema he had in the Barian arc made him such a good character because we could see how he cared about the Barians but all his friends on Earth as well. 1. Akaba Reiji: Best design imo, even though he barely dueled, all his duels were really entertaining to watch. Unlike a lot of the other rival characters, this guy really felt like he was the strongest in his universe but unlike the others I don't remember him bragging about how good he was 24/7 I like how he was actively playing apart in the plot trying to stop the dimensional war and his laugh at the end is just meme worthy

[@dusan7696]

love how all the rivals are done for me kaito wins it from how he wanted to help his brother to his role in the show at the end of the day for me a good character is how thay are done not power

[@Harrison1010]

@14:10 - I was never a fan of Yu-Gi-Ih! Zexal until I seen Kite on duel links and on the episodes... ....he is now my favourite all time rival Yu-Gi-Oh! character

[@teamfmreborn7045]

7:28 actually Kaiba technically did defeat Yugi but only failed due to a plot armour math error during pyramid of light when totaling up the attack point gain for blue eyes shinning dragon they missed out paladin of white dragon

[@doylemuhammad9823]

After he was mind crushed, kaiba never did math the same again

[@infernoseph6867]

Chazz is probably my favorite character in all of yugioh. Yeah i love him for the meme too but his development is amazing and I grew to love his personality as the show went on

[@oresti9271]

Well I just saw the duel between kaiba and Noah and according to yugi kaiba would have won that duel but he decided to attack with blue eyes just to save Mokuba from being brainwashed by Noah so kaiba technically lost in pervous for Mokuba

[@flamehunter001]

I think the whole plot twist of Shark actually being the leader of the Barians might have been Yugioh reworking the idea of Crow being the leader and Final Dark signer, since both are shown as the "best friend" character of sorts, and both lead an antagonist group consisting of 7 members

[@kiki42719]

The rivals are THE BEST characters in yugioh I have Kaiba and Jack as the top two, the others are very hard to separate but I would put the GX guys last

[@OshawottLuke]

Oh, you uploaded this video on my birthday, July 7th (7/7). And right now there are 777 comments, that's an interesting coincidence. The sad part is that you put Manjoume in the last spot, and I even thought he could be on the podium or something when I entered this video hahaha.

[@tristindurocher-batley4780]

True Kite would have beaten Yuma in their first duel however the only reason Yuma (and Astral) lived to tell the tale was because Hart passed out from excessively using his power Kite in the first half of zexal was willing to do anything for his little brother even pushing himself using his photon mode to the point he was barely able to save himself let alone his brother plus the only time Kite lost as far as I remember from the zexal era was to Vetrix in the world duel carnival Not only did Kite perish in that scene Orbital 7 died as well and that was one of many reasons Kite died on the moon and both him and Orbital had to be revived by Astral

[@x-mighty7602]

9:37 Reiji was standing there in the council for 3 days (20+ eps).

[@DanDek]

1. Jack, my favorite character in al of YGO 2. Revolver, my 2nd favorite character in all of YGO 3. Kaiba, awesome awesome character (its Kaiba, enough said) 4. Kaito, awesome character 5. Ryo, because of s2 en s4 he isn't one of my favorites 6. Reiji, didnt feel like a 'rival' to me, more some end boss/ leader like thing. And he dueled not enough 7. Shark, was more like a Joey to me 8. Chazz, what is said in the video

[@pierogitozycie8426]

You motivated me for creating my own ranking. 8. Chazz - Yeah, sadly he's more of a meme than a rival. Also his win/loss ratio isn't that great, especially in first season. And last, but not least, he didn't have any big moment. Princeston mostly defeats randoms, often nameless. The only high tier player he beat was Aster Phoenix, but there was no stake. Just some sparring in the last season. 7. Seto Kaiba - You're seeing it right, I've put the most iconic YGO rival so low. It's because I cannot stand him. He was stuborn as hell and it hurts to see him still refusing to acknowledge that supernatural phenomena are real after losing his soul for like three times. Also his attitude toward Yugi and the gang was all over the place. They helped him many times, but no, he still dislkikes them and acts as a superior player that Pharoh. Regardless he lost to him many times and the only win he gain through suicide threat. I believe this terrible person didn't get his character development until the very last season. 6. Zane Truesdale - What a misopportunity. He started as a really great rival, but screenwriters for some reasons though that would be a great idea to make him grimdark edgelord obsessed with winning. And then he ended up on a wheelchair, because playing childrens card game is more aggravating than strenght sports on doping. And his lame brother became his successor? And was stated to be better than him? But... but Syrus didn't have any big moment. 5. Declan Akaba - OK, from this point on are rivals that I personally like. So why Reiji is so low? Because he had great potential, but it was wasted. When I first saw him, I believed he'll be Kaiba done right, but sadly no. He had played few duels and didn't have a big impact on the story. 4. Shark - He's surely a great character with neat development and I really like him, but as a rival he's below average. He dueled Yuma a lot, but nothing comes out of it. They werent' motivating each other to become better players. 3. Revolver - There is a huge gap between top 3 and the rest of rivals and getting here means that you're a great character in every way. And that's how I can sum up Varis. He has a great backstory that interconnects him with Playmaker and the whole intrigue. Also it was quite fresh to make him somewhat of an enemy. Also he's a great and challanging duelist. 2. Jack Atlas - Personally my favorite, he have a great charisma, big moment, wonderful relationships and awesome character development. From a grumpy champion that believes he's better than everybody else to kind teamplayer. The only negative thing I can say is that he lost few times in a bad style. 1. Kaito Tenjo - Obvious winner. Idea for this character was pure gold. He was introduced as frightful number hunter and later we acknowledged that he have his own goals and motives which made him somewhat a second protagonist. Also he's the only rival that seems to be better than the actual hero from the beginning to the end.

[@ninjacrafted]

What about Aster Phoenix

[@cheshireazurlane1174]

Guess he doesnt count as rival sadly.......

[@sungod9797]

Do another best protagonists! As for this video, I respect the fact that you were consistent in how you ranked them, even putting more popular characters far below less popular ones. However, I’d still switch Kaiba and Reiji and maybe consider switching Kaito and Jack (despite the latter’s much inferior record, he was more important)

[@williamhowe1]

I've always thought GX had 3 rival characters.

[@JanizMakudomaru]

I remember when zexal was running and i kinda forgot about it for the first amount of eps but then when I remembered it it was the ep Kite came in and I kept watching it to the end. But I will always be a Jack Atlas stan.

[@crimsonhero3583]

*The Chazz* at bottom of the list? That's blasphemy.

[@machina5]

Well he's the only garbage on a list of well written characters, so yeah.

[@fernansanchez6331]

This list needs to Chazz it up.

[@juanreynaldo1041]

@@machina5 He's a well written character too. Disappointing rival ≠ bad character.

[@hightidekraken]

CHAZZ IT UP!!! CHAZZ IT UP!!!

[@mrwildzilla7069]

Hes really good but hes against the goats

[@noctis-samamakkusu5576]

Really enjoy this list, good job! The only thing I can disagree is Kaiba, his manga and DSOD versions are sooo good, I would undoubtedly put him at Nro. 1 for that.-

[@g.2658]

There is one thing I do not understand You are reluctant to count Kaiba winning against Yugi in Duelist Kingdom because he forced Yugi into letting him win, then why aren't you doing the same to Shark? Shark definitely threw the match in the tournament, because Yuma was unable to make a choice. Also there is at least one other duel (one after Mizael's debut on top of the hospital) where it is also likely that he either let Yuma win, or he simply pushed Yuma into victory. It's not about ranking or who you like more or less, but I'm confused because it kinda feels like a double standard. A win is either a win, or we should consider ALL duels' circumstances too. I do not understand you saying a rival should be pushing the protagonist, and implying Shark didn't do that. Shark arguably was one of the rivals who was there from the beginning to the end, and consistently pushed Yuma to his limits. Also your reasons for not counting Edo because he didn't duel Judai outside of S2 is also funny, seeing as Ryoken or Kaito didn't duel Yusaku or Yuma outside of their respective first seasons either. Like... it would be nice to see some consistency? By this logic you could have counted Bohman as Yusaku's season 2 rival, as he had the exact same amount of duels against Yusaku that Revolver did. I don't really have anything to say about the ranking itself, because it is mainly your opinion and I respect that, but the inconsistencies kinda bug me. I wish you would just simply say "look guys I just simply emotionally connect to this character more", because I get you are trying to explain your reasons but you just kind of end up contradicting yourself, I think. EDIT: I just realised. You ranked Manjoume and Shark that low for not having many wins against the protagonists but... Ryoken never beaten Yusaku either. Jack only beaten Yusei in a flashback duel which we don't even know literally anything about we only saw the last turn. So...

[@azfarabdullah9638]

I agree with all of your points but regarding Edo he really didn't have any rivalry with Judai even in season 2. The only reason he duels with Judai is because of Saiou's instruction. He also accepted his lost to Judai and never wanted a rematch which shows he never views Judai as a rival.

[@g.2658]

@@azfarabdullah9638 That's fair. I really just brought up Edo referring to Dylan's own reasoning.

[@ComunCoutinho]

1) Shark 2) Manjoume 3) Kaiba 4) Revolver 5) Edo 6) Reiji 7) Kaito 8) Jack 9) Kaiser

[@markmagician2471]

Wasn't Aster another rival of Jaden's they both played HERO decks.

[@aidanovoa3295]

I could have sworn you already did a video about this, guess I was wrong. Good list btw :)

[@aidanovoa3295]

Also, i think Shark is a great rival, but he is more of a better friend to Yuma whereas Kaito is the better rival overall in ZEXAL

[@juanreynaldo1041]

Chazz/Manjoume may not be a great rival, but overall he's certainly a better character than most of them.

[@crimsonhero3583]

His development is really great.

[@Blizz3112]

I agree with that... Manjyoume is so likeable at the end of the series...

[@azfarabdullah9638]

Manjoume beat Edo and should have beaten Judai in season 4 so he's really a good duelist by GX standard. Not to mention Edo is already the best duelist in Pro League during season 4.

[@goobfazz2478]

yea you right

[@Goldsbro]

Man this is an old video but I had a thought regarding the moment where Zane says Syrus surpassed him. Maybe he may not have referred to Syrus in pure skill, but he surpassed him as the better person. Zane goes through this whole arc of falling from grace and becoming so obsessed with victory he almost kills his brother. Meanwhile, Syrus was a good kid pretty much the entirety of GX and finally comes into his own after basically getting dunked on all series.

[@cichy45]

Solid list, but I totally disagree about Shark being so low. His relation with Yuma is how a good rivalry should be - they both push each other to improve as people and as duelists to go higher together. After Shark's raise to Barian it became the conflict of their respective ideologies as Nasch wanted to fight for Barian World. The emotional turmoil in that final arc was insane. Kaito was ok, but after season 1 he basically stopped being Yuma's rival.

[@DragonClaw95.]

Another thing I disagree with is Shark's dueling record against Yuma. Sure, Shark lost against Yuma 4 times, but 2 of those duels were instances where Shark would've won the duel, but lost on purpose. So, realistically speaking, Shark kind of beat Yuma 3 times in a way. Another thing that kind of gets underlooked is that during the entirety of Zexal, the only two people that are able to beat Shark are Yuma and Kaito.

[@ashketchumoldman1993]

Here's my list. 1. Reji 2.Ryoken 3.Kite 4.Shark 5. Zane. 6. Kiaba 7.Chazz 8.Jack

[@VladaBB]

Aaaaahh,yea.Zane,the guy who always opens 2 or 3 Cyber dragons,poly or power bond and called skillful...

[@katkat5705]

My fav rivals are Kite and Kaiba, both of them were focusing on pharaoh and astral, they never cared ab yugi and yuma ngl, I always thought they both were quite similar

[@jayd.doubledubs]

Shark lost to Yuma in the 2nd episode. Didn't Kaiba, Jack, and Declan lose to the main protagonist in their first duels?

[@titanenwurz-uwutopia]

Kaiba did. Not sure about Jack, but if you count the flashback, we can see how Yusei once lost to him first. Declan didn't, it was no result as far as I remember. He showed Yuya his new self-made Pendulum cards. He likely would've won but I think they were interrupted.

[@floricel_112]

@@titanenwurz-uwutopia heh...his name is Declan in the dub

[@floricel_112]

First on screen duel with Jack is a DNF (would have been Yusei's win) after a flashback where it shows Yusei losing to Jack

[@titanenwurz-uwutopia]

@@floricel_112 Dub names are generally... something .. lol.

[@paulvarus859]

Yuma wasn't that good at the time so it's embarrassing

[@TSfish94]

My top 3 would be Reiji, Jack, and Kaiba. Although he never beat him, anytime you saw Kaiba duel, you knew you were in for a treat. Plus his hate boner for Yugi is almost inspiring in a weird way. I haven’t seen enough of jack in 5Ds so most of my opinion comes from ARC-V, but he always pushes the other character (yusei/yuya) to their limits and sometimes kicks their ass in the process. Plus he’s such a well rounded character. Despite not doing much, Reiji’s a character I enjoy watching when he does duel and I believe he’s pretty much everything Kaiba could’ve been. Strong duelist, big tech, intelligent, and a whole slew of BDE monsters. That and the fact yuya had to go beyond his limits to finally beat him.

[@MrEffectfilms]

I have to say I think you place to much weight on the rivals win/loss ratio, especially with Kaiba. Yugi and Kaibas rivalry worked because the two worked to better one another, not just because they were on even skill level, Yugi helped Kaiba get over his selfishness and does become more humble throughout the show (unless you're watching the dub) while Kaiba helped Yugi push himself and become better with each duel they had. Kaiba's character was basically ruined in the dub, season 1 was fine but from season 2 onward he literally has no depth nor development at all but in the Japanese version he's arguably the most developed character in the show. I say this as someone who used to hate Kaiba a lot as a kid, before I watch Yu-Gi-Oh subbed I hated him so much because he was just mean to everyone for no reason, whereas in the sub there was a reason for every bit of animosity he showed towards anyone (this is especially noticeable with his relationship with Joey). Rivals shouldn't be defined by how often they win but by how each match, win or lose, affects them going forward, they also shouldn't be expected to be exactly what we may want at all times. Kaiser started out humble and easy going because his arc was (much like Jaden) about losing himself and becoming a darker person and learning to rise above that, it's basically a metaphor for growing up, appropriate since the main setting is a school filled with teenagers.

[@phonepup06]

Really interesting list, Dylan! I know people have ranked on the quality of the rivalry itself. But I prefer this list , ranking the actual character.

[@NeroPiroman]

Kaiba defeated ziegfried, and pegasus in their second duel

[@dragonknight1560]

I mean the only reason why I came back to Zexal was Kaito. Just his intro his menacing and badass. Galaxy-Eyes is still a dragon that has the title of Xyz Killer and can handle any threat, even to today's meta and is still a fan favorite Archetype to play... good ranking and I agree, Manjoume is bottom last and Kaito is legendary.

[@dancostello4872]

Jack is my favourite character in the franchise so to see him above a certain overrated rich-boy is sooo satisfying 👌

[@yuseifudo7987]

I love all of the 6 rivals as well as the 6 protagonist but I don't know where to rank them honestly but you know its been a fun ride but if I were to rank it: 1. Ryoken/Revolver he went in being a badass and out being a badass and being able to accept the consequences of the lost incident and the death of his father hit him hard but able to move on and being happy except getting his fusion card and having 28 episodes left I could tell you we might have seen a duel between Playmaker and Revolver round 5. 2. Kaito the second guy to beat a main protagonist yuma who we all agree sucks so much but by the time the series progress he becomes better and cares for his friends and family so much his death still hit me hard the last episode between yuma and astral was amazing if there were to be a yugioh zexal movie then it should be yuma vs kaito one more time. 3. Jack Atlas the king what can I say his power deck is unbelievable the first guy to beat yusei I ain't counting the duel between yusei and kalin this guy showed me that he had to betray his home and friends because he wanted to be a king dueled yusei and if not the best yugioh series in my opinion the last duel between these were amazing if there was a 5DS movie then we might get yusei vs jack round 6. 4. Zane/Ryo I like his character but how they implemented syrus surpassing zane isn't the best way for me honestly bec for me zane was always the rival of jaden since he was the first one to beat Jaden I love his Cyber deck style then went rogue and wanted to win so much if there was movie of GX then I will say Zane vs Jaden one more time. 5. Reiji he was if not calm and collected and smart if they just use him right then he would have been dueling more instead of just watching and then losing to zarc. 6. Kaiba one of the if not the best rivals in the yugioh franchise wanted to duel atem again and even went to the afterlife to duel the pharoah and if there were another movie then we should see Kaiba vs Atem one more time.

[@drearydoll9430]

*A tier* 1. Shark 2. Reiji Akaba 3. Kaito Tenjo 4. Jack Atlas 5. Revolver *B tier* 6. Edo Phoenix *C tier* 7. Ryo Marufuji 8. Seto Kaiba 9. Chazz the Chad Thundercock

[@No-lb6kg]

I can't stop laughing at no 9 XD

[@ooofthedegenerate]

My Ranking 1.kiteo 2.revolver 3.shark 4.(unironically)The chazz 5.edo 6.rook(I personal consider rook the rivals) 7.akaba reji 8.jack 9.ryo 10.kiaba(the only bad rival) senes roa we have seen roa I would put him at 5

[@joshuawright4254]

Seto Kaiba is the best,during the entire series he literally held a whole grudge about wanting to beat yugi.And even in some of the movies he still had that feeling.

[@Gabster17]

I thought Yuri would've counted as a rival, so I'm a bit surprised he wasnt anywhere on the list. But I like the video regardless

[@predaplantuser2742]

Maybe on an antagonist's list.

[@fudouakio4759]

Nah, not compared to Reiji, he was more close antagonist role

[@grovesy333]

Yuri is actually my favourite villain

[@predaplantuser2742]

@@grovesy333 mine also😁

[@grovesy333]

Predaplant User He’s funny and cruel reminds me of the joker in a way because he’s unpredictable

[@typhondst3363]

I really think that overall Zexal had the best rival characters. Shark may not have lost to Yuma many times, but a number of those loses were for Yuma's own good, the hospital duel in particular comes to mind. It's also a complete bias of mine, but big brother/younger sister stories just hit the hardest, and between his duel alongside Quattro and being forced to watch Vector's duel with Marin and Simon, it definitely made him a contender for my favorite Zexal character. The other contender is definitely Kite for all the reasons listed here and for having probably my favorite "tables turn" moment in all of Yugioh with the Neo Galaxy-Eyes summon against Trey and Quattro.