The world of Duel Monsters is once again evolving with the development of a network called Link Vrains and a new summoning mechanic introduced as Link Summoning. By using this cyberspace, duelists can now create their own avatars and duel their way to glory within a virtual reality.
However, much like the real world, the digital world is not free from war, conflict, and mysteries. Years ago, a hacker organization known as the Knights of Hanoi unleashed an attack on Link Vrains. Led by the anonymous Revolver, their aim was to annihilate the artificial intelligence program known as the Cyberse. After a failed attempt, one of their targets, Ignis, managed to escape and hide the Cyberse somewhere in the network.
Five years later, high school student Yuusaku Fujiki encounters a strange artificial intelligence program while dueling in Link Vrains. Under the guise of his avatar named Playmaker, Yuusaku and his partner in crime, Shouichi Kusanagi, decide to join forces with the peculiar existence. As he seeks the truth behind a mysterious incident of the past, Yuusaku battles against the Knights of Hanoi and SOL Technologies in a race that might alter the fate of the world.
[Written by MAL Rewrite]
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Comentários
YLA55
Out of all the YGO series I have watched, this series would have to be the most UNDERRATED out of the lot. I studied Media when I was in College and Uni, and this anime gets its points almost spot on. The plot twists were very well done, and it was the first time in ages I couldn't predict them. The cinematography was also handled really well. However, I scored it nine out of ten for a few reasons: It does contain quite a few filler episodes, which does feel like the episode is a waste of time to watch. However, once the story gets backon track, it rescues it.
One specific character was unfairly portrayed, which didn't make me root for them as much as I hoped. It's also unfair as their real self is a lovely person.
And finally, some parts of the story near the end seem too quick. I understand there were problems whilst making this anime, but it is still worth the watch.
I personally highly recommend this anime, whether you are aware of the YGO history or not.
Ellenwitch
And so ends another Yugioh series. Though ending shorter than expected. Though really, there wasn't much else you could do with the world they've set up. Which isn't a bad thing really. But it just meant the story wrapped up quicker than expected. As for the show itself? It got me back into Yugioh honestly. But I can see that's not without it's faults still. While I did enjoy it. There were a few things, like with some of the characters, that weren't really that great at all. Let alone the pointless recap episodes. Though thankfully those stopped after the first season. Sooo...Does Vrains hold upas a Yugioh anime? It does. But certainly isn't the best at all. But still an alright series overall.
Keita2014
I've always been a big fan of the Yugioh series. Each iteration managed to improve upon its predecessors in some way or another, while still keeping things "fresh". Yugioh 5D's pushed the envelope with its outrageous concept and it succeeded. Coupled with strong characters and a great storyline, 5D's is easily my favourite of the series. Comparing the later seasons to the earlier ones, it becomes clear that the newer yugioh anime take a similar route to a specific earlier part; especially in the tone, character designs as well as themes. Zexal has its roots in the original DM, ARC V in GX and thisyugioh Vains in 5D's. I was taught not to judge a book by its cover, so I kept an open mind towards Vrains despite my high hopes. Whether people want to overlook it or not is up to the individual, but I believe it fails at many fundamentals for writing a good story. This review will go into details why I feel this way.
Story:
First, let's get this out of the way: Episodes 13, 21, 29, 38, 59, 83 and 103 are recaps which only retell the old story without much new stuff. At most, it has one single new scene splashed at the end to seem not completely purposeless. These points are nothing you don't pick up later and I suggest to just skip these episodes completely.
Now about the actual story: The series is based in a world of the near future where a massive Virtual Reality Network called LINK VRAINS has been established. By using LINK VRAINS, Duels unfold where Duelists change their appearance separate from their real life identities. However, in LINK VRAINS, a mysterious hacker group that hacks via Dueling has appeared: The Knights of Hanoi. Their goal is to destroy a specific Ai known as Cyberse that exists somewhere in the depths of the Network. There is one enemy who stands in their way, Playmaker. His true identity is ordinary high school student Yusaku Fujiki, who wants to find out the truth of an incident that happened in his past.
Vrains plot is easily its biggest problem. It follows a straight line and doesn't take longer ways, even if it should. We go from 1 duel to the next, not showing the impact each individual conflict and event has. Because of that, it feels rushed more often than not and doesn't leave the characters nor the viewer any time to breath. On the other hand, at some points the show feels slow and dragging. The another arc or the first half of the lost memories arc could easily be reduced to half the episodes, but includes unneccessary duels and fanservice with almost no story. And the problem about no story shows itself in almost every big arc. It usually means 10-20 episodes of only duels with pretty much nothing but duels. The entertainment goes down to zero and stays there until something plot- or character related happens, which usually takes a lot of time. That quickly becomes very boring and at some points, watching the recaps instead feels like the right way just because it doesn't consume a lot of time. Unfortunately, the anime isn't able to ever recover from this issue and you can only hope it will ever have something to show besides the duels. Sadly, you lose interest before that moment comes.
And now I got to address the ending arc of the show. Comparing different Yugioh Anime with one other is simply not fair, as it always prevents a neutral view on each individual installment; but there is a point to be made here. The 3 prior yugioh anime went from 146 – 154 episodes, which shows their similar planing and execution over all series. Yugioh Vrains drops in at only 120 episodes, already giving you an idea that something didn't go as planned. In fact, I'd consider only the first 102 episodes to be the actual plot and the last 17 episodes to be the epilogue. That could have worked on its own, if they just wanted to complete the character arcs and give an actual ending to all the main and side characters. But unfortunately, it rather tried to put in an unnessessary longer plot into these episodes too, which prevented the writers from giving each character the respect and time he/she deserves. Some characters even got worse treatment than the first two seasons gave them, which is a shame since the anime certainly had the time to give everyone a satisfying conclusion.
Characters:
The characters are the strong point of the show. I'll separate the main characters and lump together the not so main characters:
Yusaku Fujiki/Playmaker: Yusaku is the Main Character of the anime and a hacker who fights against evil organizations in the Network alongside his Partner Ai. Being written in the typical "OP Badass" Archetype, he doesn't show emptions while being very powerful. This Archetype needs 2 basic things to be able to work: The Character needs negatives, in some way or another, and needs to be an actual character with personality. The first point was made fair enough, with him being social unable to speak normal to others or form real bonds. What the writers forgot though is his personality. Most of the time, he is just a puppet like figure saying the obvious things without anything resembling a human being. It is good to make a character flawed, but leaving out a personality is inexcuseable. Adding to that his lack of development makes him one of the anime's worst characters, which is a shame since protagonists should be the driving force behind the show, not a continuous brake.
Aoi Zaizen/Blue Angel: She is Yusaku's Classmate and an entertainment duelists in the VRAINS known as Blue Angel who gets caught up in the multi-sided war. Aoi is one of the anime's best characters, both in her personality and goals. In the real world, she is a quiet and shy girl with difficulties in private relationships. In the Network World however, she becomes an active, happy and free dueltainer who just does the things she wants to do. This duality is very important, as her differences between her real self and online avatar are drastic and undeniable. This makes her feel alive and relatable, as everyone on the internet nowadays has an avatar where everyone can be whoever everyone wants to be. Unfortunately, Vrains lacks this important theme for most of it's run, as every other character is the same in real life and in game. Her Goals are (without getting into too many spoilers) relatable and basic, making her again more human. They shift multiple times over the series, showing her development as a character and different views on the world around her.
Ai/Dark Ignis: Being a member of the Cyberse, his life is sought after by the Knights of Hanoi. He is your expected partner, or more pet for most of Vrains run. He is often there when action takes place, but doesn't do anything besides looking. And the consequence is, that he feels uninteresting and unneccessary. He does have some important moments, but is mostly just doing things in the shadow, if at all. As the anime continues, he gets more development, a personality other than pure comedy and becomes more realistic and mature. By the end of the series, he is one of the best characters not just in Yugioh Vrains, but in the whole Franchise. It just takes a long time to get there.
Ryoken Kogami/Revolver: He is the Leader of the Knights of Hanoi and wants to kill the Cyberse. Ryoken is the most developed character in the anime. His character is vastly different from the beginning and end of the show. Besides being gone for 10 – 20 episodes occasionally, he drives the plot forward and is the most active character. Unlike the others though, his character arc constantly develops with every duel he has, which makes him more interesting and deeper.
Takeru Homura/Soulburner: Takeru is a friend and ally of Yusaku who appears first in the second season. He is a self confined and energic teenager who is trapped in his past and wants to be able to move forward. Therefore, he contacts yusaku and follows him to eventually find a way to let his past behind. Takeru is the most relatable and realistic character in the show. We get a lot of backstory and everyday life displayed, which lacks in many other aspects of the anime. His character arc is mostly the same as yusaku's first, but far better executed. The one problem is that he feels too much like a Playmaker 2.0, which lessens our interest and investment in him and feels unoriginal. Besides that, his writing is pretty much flawless.
Villains: The Villains are the strongest points in the whole show. Especially the major antagonists of each season are relatable, well-developed and have a good motive for their action, Going deeper would be a spoiler, but they are certainly the highlight of the anime. Even though not all are great, most of them are.
Other/Minor Characters: The other characters mostly do their job. Some are better than others, but none are very outstanding. They have unique arcs and expand the world building in individual ways. Vrains isn't able to let its characters drop, which later on leads to some duelists just hanging around in the story without any influence or point to it. Instead of writing them out of the story and giving them individual endings during the story, the team made them stay in the plot far longer than needed, which keeps the focus away from our protagonists, as we first have to somehow get these characters out of the picture to let the important characters duel.
Art:
The animation really isn't that breathtaking and only works most of the time. As a long-running anime, you can clearly see how they often had to re-use old animation and backgrounds. There was also the change in directors very early in the series, where there was supposed a huge improvement; apparently, animation wasn't one of them. It works most of the time, and sometimes they show where the budget went into: These moments are usually the summoning- and attack animations during the duels. The animation and Art is good when it counts, but isn't worth pointing out otherwise.
Soundtrack:
Just like the Art, the soundtrack isn't at all breathtaking and only works most of the time. Some of the music that was used was fitting for the themes and atmosphere of the anime, but it normally just appears without any other reason than a "cool moment" or "amazing strategy" being displayed in a duel. It is often enjoyable, but nothing more than that and adds nothing to the series other than having sound at all. And having the same music play over 100+ episodes becomes boring and repetitive either way.
Enjoyment:
There isn't anything else to point out besides the good and bad points that were already mentioned. Vrains was often entertaining, but the huge problems just stuck out during most of it's run.
Overall:
Yugioh Vrains has a few good points, but fails at many basics in story development and character building. My recommendation: If you are already a fan of the other yugioh anime or are interested for any other reason, you might want to check it out and decide to stop or continue after 20 episodes.
Wonted666
Pros(Art)- The art work is distinct in its style and each character is recognizable whether it's by their oddly colored and oddly shaped hair, or their facial features which have a certain level of distinctness with no set face being bad or good. The art is generally vibrant and when the monsters are cg it flows well with the rest of the background. Cons(Art)- At some points the art is warped and the characters look unlike themselves. There is nothing overwhelming or never before seen, but it isn't the worst. Overall(Art)- The art is good just needs a little bit of tinkering in certain places. 2. Pros(Character)- Each character has theirown believable motivations , distinct from others in the cast. Each motivation is influenced by the past as well as the hopes in the future. The plot while having some effect on the characters generally doesn't sway character motivations dramatically after hearing one exchange of words. Furthermore the characters(especially Yusaku) are believable in their trauma, pain, and how they outwardly express it. Lighthearted moments (with Ai mostly) give perspective to the tenuous feelings the cast has within themselves, as well as the others.
Cons(Character)-
At times, it feels like the character growth attained is lost yet again in an endless cycle(Looking at Go Onizuka- Side note Hate him). Sometime it feels like characters like Aoi, and Ghost Girl didn't need the emphasis they had because it never felt like they influenced the plot or Yusaku as people like Ryoken and Takeru do.
Overall(Character)- Certain characters needed to be cut and others needed expansion, but those that were well developed are honestly easy to understand and very quick to bring out feelings of love and protection(personally that's how I feel ).
Pros(Enjoyment)-
When the duels have weight behind them and are intricate as well as interesting well that's when the enjoyment skyrockets. I also especially love when the characters show flashes of emotions between scenes coinciding with flashbacks(b/c sort of kind or reminds me of the itachi arc[within naruto]) . Like all things it gives more insight into the characters and their situation, because ,otherwise why would they think to remember any of this shit.
Cons(Enjoyment)-
Most episodes aren't spectacular and there's quite a lot of recap. Also, most episodes are generic and some boss battles don't live up to the hype one expects.
Overall(Enjoyment)- When it's good , it's real damn good, when it's bad it's passable but nothing to write home about.
Pros(Sound)-
The OP's and ED's fit the anime so well and are so goddamn catchy, I absolutely adore it!!!
Cons(Sound)-
Too catchy...?
Overall(Sound)-
Pretty damn good :)
Pros(Story)-
Futuristic scientific world plays well with themes story introduces. It makes sense with the development of technology and doesn't feel like its outside the realm of possibility.
Cons(Story)-
Can feel repetitive if watched at a stretch. Sometimes there a lot of loopholes our protagonist can use to get out of sticky situations. Also at times things are over explained like the Ignis but somethings are under explained like how Sol technologies has such a monopoly on Vrains.
Overall(Story)- Yugioh is no unique in its story but its worth watching despite that.
Overall(Overall)- It's an easy show to enjoy that doesn't require much brain power to watch. It's fairly good and the characters are mostly enjoyable.
trainerlyra
Now that the series is over, I can finally give my full review. Honestly, I know this rating seems high, but I truly did get so much emotional impact and enjoyment out of VRAINS. I've been a long time fan of YGO, and for a long, long time, GX was my favorite series. VRAINS has finally dethroned it, which is crazy, but I think people don't give this show enough credit. This is a weekly show designed to sell a card game to you. This is, at it's core, a children's card game ad done really, really well. Everything you get on top of excitingduels and cool character designs to get kids interested is a bonus, in my book, and boy did we get a lot of bonuses.
Spoilers below, but I'll try and keep them at a minimum.
STORY: 7/10
Honestly, I liked it. There were clear, consistent parts they wanted to go off of. I think the final villain was hinted at even in early S1, though most people thought it was a red herring. It was pretty cool to see those motivations and reasons for why he became the final villain be shown in the last few episodes.
S1 was pretty standard, but it was fun. There was nothing really wrong with it. I liked the mystery behind the Ignis and the Hanoi, and I liked how long they kept that going. I thought it was cool that they didn't just reveal everything or show off Hanoi more often, and it added to the intensity when we did see them. The end of S1 is still a big highlight of the series for me, and the finale duel is probably still my favorite of the show. Really good, emotional stuff.
S2 got a bit messier, especially with how hard Konami wanted to push a certain meta deck, but it introduced some cool ideas and plot threads, and by episode 70-ish stuff started picking up again and the rest of the season was actually a great watch. I liked S1 more so as a whole, but S2's last 10 episodes or so were awesome to see play out.
S3, while obviously rushed do to time, was probably the most emotionally impactful, and I really appreciated how hard they tried with how little time they had. Ever character got some cool moments, the story was interesting to follow, even if at first it left you scratching your head, and while it was minimal at times, it played out really well, even if it left a lot of questions unanswered.
ART: 7/10
Not much to say here. Liked the animation better than 5Ds overall, lmao. Some episodes were absolutely stunning, some episodes were pretty lackluster and some frames were occasionally hilarious to look at, but for the most part it was fairly consistent and more than acceptable for a long running weekly series like this.
SOUND: 9/10
The soundtrack was fantastic. First time I've actually bothered buying an anime OST because I enjoy it that much tbh. The EDs were all really good, the OPs, while they barely ever switched them, were also really good even if I got a bit sick of Go Forward by the end of S2. I know some people didn't love it, but I really did. Never got tired of hearing most of the OST, which for a weekly 120-ep series, is definitely a good thing.
CHARACTER: 9/10
Here's where people will definitely start to get angry at me, probably, lmao. A lot of people found Yusaku "boring", but I found him incredibly relatable. Maybe it's because of my own personal experiences, but hey, this is my own personal review. Revolver is the best rival we've seen in a long, long time; best rival in the entire franchise imo. Yes, better than Kaiba. His character development was incredible and it's worth watching the whole series for him alone, even ignoring the rest of the things I loved about it. Their character arcs were great and I think paced very well.
The Ignis, too, were all really interesting and different from each other. It was really cool to see their dynamics with each other and with other characters, and I loved how much thought went into their personalities and how they developed.
The only major complaint I have is with how much they shafted Aoi, but it's YGO, and they always do the girls dirty anyways. I was just glad she kept her own motivations in tact and still could duel pretty well, even if her record wasn't great.
They underutilized the side characters, but when they did appear, they were awesome and super fun to watch, so honestly, it doesn't bother me as much as it could. Spectre is a great example. He was always a delight to watch duel, whenever he did. Each character also felt distinct, even if they were a usual "trope" from YGO, too, which was cool. Soulburner never felt like just a carbon copy of Crow, even though he was obviously emulating him.
ENJOYMENT: 10/10
Yes. I really did enjoy this series this much. I don't know what it was, what kind of crazy combination made me feel this way, but every second I spent watching this anime I am happy I did. Is it the best series ever? No, not by any stretch of the imagination. But I enjoyed it more than most things I watch, anyways.
It was a really, really good ride. It was fun, it kept me hyped, it got me to binge watch 76 episodes in under two weeks to catch up last year, AND got me to finally pick up the TCG. So yeah, I really enjoyed it, and it was a successful advertisement lol.
OVERALL: 9/10
Only reason I'm not rating it a 10/10 is because of the story. They definitely could've done more with the beginning of S1 and S2, but honestly, I'm still so satisfied with what we got. This show is worth your time, even if you only find a few things to really love about it, like Revolver. If you want something a bit more serious like 5Ds, you'll probably like this.
I'm not going to mention the recaps because I'm sure everyone already knows the production issues this series was plagued with. But they honestly gave us a pretty cool show with the time/resources they had, and I'll forever be really happy with it.
WhiteWolfKiba
I'm a longtime fan of this franchise and honestly Vrains might be my favorite season of Yugioh (I'll have to rewatch 5Ds and compare). The best way I can describe the setting for Vrains is "Tron meets Yugioh" where our characters enter this cyber space and duel with avatars while (of course) zipping around on hoverboards. Ever since 5Ds our characters can't stand still while dueling!! What makes Vrains so good? Well, for me it comes down to one word: the pacing. In so many Yugioh shows we have early episodes chock full of boring filler like that quiz duel in Arc V, but noneof that is here in Vrains. If anything, the pacing was a bit too fast, as we have our hero facing off against the 1st arc villain around episode 12! I appreciate it so much that they cut the bullshit and just gave us story arc after story arc that MATTERED! The first arc I'd say was the best as Playmaker faces Revolver and his Knights of Hanoi. Revolver is easily one of my favorite Yugioh villains. The second arc with Bohman and his little brother kind of sucked, mostly because Bohman was such a weak villain. However, this arc was still important as it led into a huge development in the third and final arc. What a twist! Without fully giving it away, I'll just say that something happens that causes a main character we thought was a good guy for like 100 episodes to switch sides and become the final boss!? I've never seen something like this in anime in general, let alone a Yugioh anime!? My only complaint is the show ended prematurely due to its faster pacing. It reached its natural conclusion about 30 episodes earlier than past Yugioh shows and I wish we could've had MORE! Sure, this show isn't perfect, it's still based on a trading card game, but I think if you give Vrains a chance it will really surprise you. 8/10
jpmc
Every Yugioh series is based on something that occured way back in the past. This one is no different, but it does it better. Vrains is all about setling things with the past. Lost Jiken is what gonna move not just the MC, but all the villains in the series. Playmaker, and Soulburner later too, seeks justice, Revolver seeks to attone the sins of his father. The second season brings some discussions about Artifical Inteligence and freewill, the importance of the limits of our free will. The last part of Vrains unite both and brings the meaning of life. Playmaker beliving in no absolute truth,but in the human bounds as the substance of life (what is true, but doesnt make sense at all). Ai seeks the ultimate meaning in life, "If there is no final answer, than is better not to live". Revolver belives in the ultimate meaning, the afterlife, and i belive that this is the meaning of the last scene.
3miL
(This review may contain slight spoilers) Story: Yu☆Gi☆Oh! VRAINS is the 6th and so far, the final spin-off, (or sequel if you can fit it in the timeline) of the entire Yu☆Gi☆Oh! franchise. It's original and modern since it mixes old school (card games) with the modern world (VR and AI). It kind of reminds me of SAO except this is way better. Unlike the previous anniversary series Arc-V, this anime does not necessarily focus much on references but it is quite subtle via Playmaker's Ace Monsters. In comparison to how bad it was for me during Zexal and Arc-V's time, Vrains actually tried and sort of succeededin being acceptably good. It's not 5D's but I would argue that some of its recap episodes are bearable compared to how boring it was for me during 5D's Yliaster saga. The last arc did feel quite rushed but it was my favorite out of all three
Now, about the recap episodes, there's only 7 in total. That's nothing compared to the big shounen out there and while most of them happened in the first 70 episodes (which may piss some people off who is already on the way to the second arc) personally I didn't see it as something that bad, especially if you're looking at them AFTER the series has ended
Art
I really liked it! Despite the absence of Pendulum Summoning, the remake of the artworks of each of the Summoning mechanics is superb, with Synchro being my favorite. Sadly this is the last animation by Gallop, so we won't see much anymore unless they make another iteration and goes back I guess
Sound
When it comes to all the Yugioh series, I would say that either GX or Arc-V has the best song but what Vrains offers in exchange is, excuse my lack of a better term but "mature feeling" to some of its songs, particularly "Writing Life" I also liked how the first OP was sung by the same guy who sung the first OP of Jojo's. Yugioh and Jojos have some subtle (or maybe obvious?) things in common and those who see it appreciate it better
Character
Arc-V almost made it to making another "Aki" via the bracelet girls, particularly Serena but sort of failed by the Academia arc. In Vrains' case, while GG and Aoi were cool on the first arc, like with the previous iterations they slowly lost general importance and have sunken down to cannon fodder for the villains before they were defeated by Yusaku, I also sort of disliked Soulburner because he's too much of a Shounen main protagonist. Hell he's even voiced by Kaji Yuki, that pretty much says everything. Onizuka, Zaizen and almost everybody else is meh. I did like Lightning and Blood Shepherd though. Bohman's ok.
But by the end, the separation of Ai and Yusaku (noting to Yugi and Atem, Yuma and Astral's) separation was pure nostalgia and summarizes the themes of the franchise entirely (Sorry Judai and Yubel)
Enjoyment/Overall
Need I say more? I love it. Go watch it and experience it instead of relying on "critics" and numbers.
