How do Yugioh GX/5D/Zexal compare to the original show?

I like duels when it seems to be natural.

The duel between Sawatari and Yuya. Yuya busted out a card that he never used before (and he hasn't used against since) that is designed solely to counter Sawatari's card. That was a really scripted duel.

5Ds, I enjoyed but the side characters really get shafted after the Dark Signers arc. I was hoping for upgraded forms for the other dragons besides Yusei/Jack but there was none.

Zexal isn't bad and I really liked the first arc (second arc I don't like as much though).

Arc-V I like Arc-V's story but honestly the duels are really scripted IMO.

In terms of favorite, my favorite is GX. I read that a lot of people say GX doesn't seem to focus on a point but that's why I like it.

GX is basically YGO without being serious "but" still being serious "when it counts". If anyone watched YGO Abridged and see how they make fun of the fact the characters all solve serious issues through card games, GX takes that concept and makes it actually kind of reasonable.

In GX, I liked that all the characters were dueling just for fun but when things got serious, the transition made more sense than other series that bases their conflict through card games. I like Arc-V's story but it still is silly that everything is done through card games (and also by players that forget cards like Skill Drain or Magical Cylinder, exist and would easily win most of their duels).

GX did great with the side characters. The 3rd season was basically all characters besides Jaden/Judai (until the end) getting to shine. That's why I appreciate GX. I love side characters. Carly, Masumi, etc, I want to see them duel but they kind of get shafted in their series (we'll see with Arc-V but it seems Yuya (and his counterparts) and maybe Shun only get to win).

Sure everyone but Jaden/Judai basically lose but they all get their moments (the duel between Yubel vs Adrian/Amon is really great for example... Exodia vs Sacred Beasts). Finally GX had some dark moments. Viper/Cobra had a positive motivations (saving an infant he found). At the end, Yubel tricked him to fall off a platform and he died. That's a dark moment in YGO just because it's really messed up thing to do to someone with positive intentions (and unlike others, he doesn't get revived or died with dignity; I mean Z-One and Aporia died but they died with dignity and knew that Yusei is carrying on the future they want; Viper/Cobra got screwed really hard as a villain with a "somewhat" positive motive; sure he used the kids but he didn't seem to intend to kill any of them, just needed their energy).

Finally in terms of story, GX is my favorite because it has interesting and unique presentations of things.

For example

Spoiler.

And of course, the reverse of the situation where Spoiler

So the reason I like it, is because it adds perspective. In real life, you can be jerks to people and not know it. Or someone may seem like a jerk or maybe not. GX added perspective (the other series have more straight forward good vs bad or "well intended good" bad guys stories).

In 5Ds, it's basically good guy Yusei vs well intended (but extreme) good guy (but bad guy) Z-one.

Though I don't mind that. The main problem I have with 5Ds is that there are lots of cool characters... but they never really get to shine. Yusei (after Dark Signers) is basically the sole good guy. Everyone else gets shafted or gets owned so Yusei can come and win for them (I mean in GX, side characters got owned but at least they got new monsters like Destiny Hero Plasma or Destiny End Dragoon or Exodius; no one except Jack got new cool monsters in 5Ds).

I was hoping to see Carly duel again but nope. Yusei when he did something cool (fusion summon), never used it again (to be fair, I understand why that from a story point, he wanted to show how Synchros are fine and using Fusions would hurt his point but still... I'd like to see him use anything other than Shooting Star Dragon for the majority of 5Ds).

In Zexal, I actually really liked the first arc (I think Tron is one of the best villains of the series simply because he's a victim of someone doing something for their family, except the person was being kind of a jerk for sacrificing "the world for their family", so Tron wants to get back at them; it's important to note most Real Life dictators loved their family but sacrificed the world, so I like how Zexal touched upon this subject) but the second arc I don't like as much.

Arc-V I like the story because in every series so far, there has been a bad guy that gets sacrificed and not cared for. If in Arc-V, Yuya really does care about everyone (including no named bad guys), then I'll probably rate the story highly. However, we'll have to see.

One problem I have with Arc-V is (IMO) I think the duels are the worse and most scripted.

If anyone has Arc-V Tag Force Special (or look up on youtube, like Yuzu vs Rio for example), that's how duels should look like in real life (without any one time and never seen again "Card Ex Machina" (Yuya vs Sawatari is one of the biggest offenders of a Card Ex Machina) or crazy "I can summon all my ace monsters in the first turn, every time" (majority of the duels)). In Arc-V, the duels are just so scripted that I can't say I really enjoy them (I do enjoy the story though, just not the duels).

I enjoy the stories but I mostly watch YGO for the duels and to see what new cards will be coming out.

I'll be honest and say I don't understand why people label as 5D's or Arc-V as dark. I enjoy YGO as much as anyone else but trying to label things as realistic or dark doesn't make the series better. It's good for what it is (YGO abridged wouldn't exist if there wasn't so many things in YGO you can make fun of or can't take seriously). I mean take DBZ for example, it's the one of the most popular and well known anime and most people (even young kids) have watched it (or did when it aired). DBZ is still way darker than most of YGO (YGO does have some mind screw things, most notably in the original and season 4 of GX but it still doesn't get nearly as dark as even DBZ.)

I respect all the series for what they are but 5Ds is by no means dark. I'll be honest and say that I notice almost every time that 5Ds is mentioned as being dark, it's used to hate on another series or try to glorify 5Ds as some sort of deep show.

I see people over glorifying things. People try to bring up things to show that 5Ds is Dark (Carly fell and she stay dead or Aporia, died... while Viper/Cobra tried to save his adopted son but walked off a cliff and died or basically season 4 of GX was kind of messed up all around). Duel Monsters is probably still the darkest series IMO actually (I mean in GX and beyond, people seemed sane but in Duel Monsters, it was nothing but insane people and their card game shenanigans).

If people inside of anime circles are hesitant of watching 5Ds or any YGO show to praise it, then people outside of anime are definitely not going to watch 5Ds and say it's some deep or dark show. It's fairly generic. Heck, even some seasons of Power Rangers (which is really an embraces itself as a kid show type of show) has darker stories than all of YGO (the anime at least, I know the manga is dark and crazy at times).

I can appreciate it when people like a show for what it is but I just wanted to point out what I've seen on various YGO forums. Even the reddit episodes of Arc-V are kind of (IMO) over glorifying the show as something more than it is.

Saying Arc-V deals with tragedies like war and stuff is like saying the same for Power Rangers; first you don't get to see the gruesomeness of war because there are barely any bloody moments, and second is that the majority of good guys never actually die in any YGO series.

I notice most people talk about how deep 5Ds or Arc-v only in YGO circles. First of all, I mentioned before that all 5 series so far has dealt with something serious (Zexal's Tron was great, GX had a ton of stuff, Duel Monsters was just crazy).

Most people are exaggerating a bit and over glorifying their show a bit. GX is my favorite but I like it for reasons within the YGO universe and card game (I like the duels of GX because they are fast paced with a variety of cards used, and they did a good job with side characters).

Just my thoughts on YGO discussions. I also wanted to point this out since sometimes YGO discussions can be kind of silly (fans complained to the director of Zexal and hated on him on twitter, and he said "if you don't like, don't watch" (which is a fair answer to the non-constructive hate tweets he got), and then he got a bad rep for that and that's why he closed his twitter account). It started out as him asking what are people's favorite characters, then some JP twitter user tried to shame him for promoting his own show on his own twitter, then he said "if you don't like, don't watch", then pitchforks came for him (even though it was a reasonable response to a trivial hate tweet) and he had to close his twitter account.

/r/yugioh Thread