Wasn’t it revealed they were only killing him because he didn’t respect them or love them and he treated them just as tools. I believe this was shown in season four.
That's what sorta pissed me off about Jaden's ending as a Character Almost Everyone at the end of GX feel accomplished with a satisfying ending while Jaden is just... Going somewhere? To become the king of games which we never knew if he achieved that of not @@HunterStiles651
@@HunterStiles651i don't know, man. I'd say a travelling nomad really fits jaden after GX. It also keeps us wondering as to what he got up to later in life
@@HunterStiles651 Judai traveling to help people was best end for his character. He always wanted to do what he wanted, being selfish to a degree because he didn't find a deeper meaning in his dueling beyond his own satisfaction. Season 3 and 4 completely changed that, so it would've felt weird if he went Pro like his friends.
@@HunterStiles651Well that's the end of Zane's arc. He experiences "perfection" so he can't process someone surpassing him. He spends season 3 trying to recapture that "perfect" feeling, much to his own peril. In season 4, he sees his brother, someone who he had written off as weak, reach heights that he had never dreamed of. Suddenly, something clicks and Zane is able to truly live and dream again. Jaden's arc is still ongoing. He, like many graduates, faces uncertainty. All he knows is that he'll get where he needs to go someday.
Ryo's arc hits so hard because it's so real. Straight A student having trouble navigating the real world, failing and getting overwhelmed by that failure because he never experienced it. His loss to Edo crushed him because he never knew where he went wrong. After all, he was perfect - a falsity everyone at Academia fed him to the point he started believing them. It's tragic that this 18 year old kid with a whole future ahead of him actually believed he has no room for growth. Ryo always felt at his best when he was in Duel Academia and he could not move on from those days even if he tried to. The fact that his duel with Yubel featured only Cyber Dragons is a proof of his hubris. Cyberdarks caused him to have heart attacks and he didn't listen or tried to evolve further. Not because he couldn't but because he believed he reached the summit of his dueling. I really loved his development, but I dislike how it concluded. Ryo giving his deck to Sho and essentially giving up for a while is a bad end to his character. Sure, he said that he'll build a new deck and continue to evolve, but it would've been so much better if we saw that on screen. Tag Force 3 route gave him a better ending. After Sho dueled Makoto, he gave Ryo his deck back. Ryo reflected on all of his actions and inspired by Sho's display, realized that only limits you have are the ones you place on yourself. The story ended with him vowing to always grow stronger with his deck and deciding to open a new Pro League.
crazy thing is, his loss wasn't all that bad. Edo/Aster was undefeated for a long ass time while not using his main deck, which he busted out for the first time against ryo/zane. And zane put up a decent fight against it. So to summarize, he faced the strongest deck (a not seen before deck mind you, while aster would have been familiar with zane's deck from watching his matches) of a guy who was considered best in the league while using weaker decks, and he came close to winning. So his loss wasn't bad at all, he just took it so badly because that was his first true defeat (camula doesn't really count seeing as she used his brother as a hostage)
The reaason zane went in this dark phase is because he was affected by the light Just like jaden was but at a lower scale that would make him doubt his competence Remember sartorious was not sure at some point of the winner but after he touch the deck He became confident about the outcome of the duel
Jaden was affect the same way. But hurt yubel more because the last memory she had in Jaden's psyche was erased because of the light that tortured her.
@@rishabhanand4973and worse to him was the fact that the card he faced he knew rhem from hid DA days, only Aster's had a few new moves. Also, wasnt anybody that lost to Aster - when he used his true deck at least - also lost their passion for dueling? I mean Jaden needed an intervention from aliens to get his groove back
The biggest difference between Zane and Jaden is that Jaden had a support system through his duel spirits and friends who constantly helped pick him up and save him throughout the series: Kaibaman taught him how to face fear under high-pressure situations, the Neo Spacians helped pick him up after he lost the ability to see his cards, and his friends saved him after he went nuts and turned into the supreme king. Zane on the other hand got stuck with Mr. Shroud who put him in a cage and forced him to duel while being tortured. And Sheppard tried to stop Zane from acquiring the cyberdark deck, but by that point, Zane was too far gone. Sheppard should've stepped in way sooner. Zane's story is so relatable because not only did he have to find out that there are other fantastic duelists out there the hard way, but he had to face the music alone, and build himself up from nothing all over again on his own terms.
I feel like after the soul talk with sho/syrus, he should have been the one to beat Camula to show that Zane was right in his assessment that sho needed confidence. He could have asked to borrow Jaden’s key, a sign of his support as well. If they were going to bench Zane, why give the victory to the guy who will have 6 more serious win? The biggest issue with gx is how they shoved Jaden into duels he had no thematic place in. A similar issue happened in the same arc when he dueled Alexis’s brother instead of her.
If only Cyber Dragon Nova were Hell Kaiser's ace instead of Cyberdarks. I mean, look at its design being an amalgamation of Cyber Dragons. It's creepy and implies the fusion was forced upon.
If only Zane was in the lineup for Arc-V, maybe he’d have gotten better justice than who showed up instead. Would also be inspired to see a former Fusion duelist make a move for Xyz, rather than Dennis who used it as a facade.
@@Deathmare235 He also does for what lengths they seemed to go to avoid the actual lead characters as legacy picks. Having Destiny HERO at least implies that HERO is a thing for Fusion Dimension while RDA can be Jack’s Ace even for lack of Stardust or Signers. Cyber Dragons, especially if they were Fusion+XYZ would have been much better. Aster is another underachievers legacy addition. Zane might have reached the highs of returning Jack Atlas who is the benchmark for the concept done properly.
One quick correction: Atem losing to Raphael was not due to the Seal of Orichalcos. In fact him playing the Seal was the only thing that allowed him to survive a few more turns, since he was about to lose cleanly if he DIDN'T play it. The entire point of that duel was adressing Atem's biggest flaw. The one that lead to him almost killing Kaiba: He'd rather use dark magic than actually accept a loss. Something the dub tried to whitewash into "The seal did it." As for it not being canon: It's not canon to the manga timeline, but it IS canon to the anime timeline which the GX anime follows (Pegasus is alive, Season 2 has them use the anime only Virtual World machine, ect)
Which is why I loved the waking the dragons arc Atem lost due to his own hubris The duel had no stakes in it and losing wouldn’t have any effect on Atem’s life except his pride. Pride led to Atem’s downfall, not the Seal.
@@Lunacorva I should have been clearer (edit) and said Orachalcos arc instead of just short handing it. I can see your point, but the reason that it’s “shenanigans” is because of how they got there: Raphael tells Atem that only one of them will survive the duel due to destiny and throws axes to cut off the bridge and force the duel. It also is counter writing to Atem’s character as he had moved past the point of aggressive or last measures after learning to rely on Yugi and Co from the duels with Mai, Pegasus, and stepping down for Yugi to duel Joey at Battle City. The reason why I put non canon is because it is still a filler arc. You can skip that and the Grand Prix and not miss anything that you need to know for the final season. I guess a good way to compare it is to Naruto proper where the series should end after episode 136 or so, but it had 4 more seasons of nothing until Shippuden.
@@Adamame93 Thank you for the reply. It's a bit more complicated than just "Atem learned his lesson once and then never had to learn it again." After all, it's explicitly stated even in the manga that until the final Ceremonial Duel, Atem's greatest challenge is learning how to gracefully accept a true defeat. While Mai made him aware of his arrogance and unwillingness to accept defeat, that didn't mean that part of him dissapeared completely. He accepted help against Pegasus and Joey because Pegasus was blatantly cheating (He was prideful, never stupid) and the goal of the Joey duel was freeing him from Marik. Not just beating him in a duel. With Rafael, the duel quickly became, in Atem's mind, a test of his purity. Unlike in the dub, it was ATEM trying to claim a black and white worldview of "I have no darkness in my soul" and insisting on his purity. Despite Rafael cutting the bridge, that was symbolic more than anything. A way for them to duel without distractions. Not a Marik-style death duel. What really trapped Atem was Yu-Gi-Oh!'s duelist honour code. The setting runs on an appropriately archaic mentality of "If you beat someone in a duel, you have proven your ideaology superior to theirs." very "Trial by Combat"-esque. For Atem, losing in this duel would be to admit that maybe he wasn't the righteous, noble soul he insisted he was. Which, if you consider the early manga in context becomes ESPECIALLY powerful. Was he really a noble hero punishing evil? Or.. were his actions less impure than he told himself they were?
@@Adamame93 That still doesn't make any sense. By that logic, why is GX in itself any diffrent? All this was never in any manga and the DM anime is canon to it instead of the manga.
@@lpfan4491 Not quite what he said. His point was that it's not essential to the overall story of Duel Monsters, nor is it essential to the story of GX.
I've been binge watching your vids and these GX essays are so good, I have to thank you for them. I rarely see other people actually discuss series in this way and they tend to be so superficial for me that I cant watch them. But yours are like if all of us here sat down and watched the show together and get the message but you put it like simple poetry. Thank you.
6:08 “He feels that his deck requires more and travels to what I think are the f-cking Himalayas” That caught me so off guard that was hilarious XD Great video!
What a perfect title for a great character that teaches you about how life is hard, but that's not what matters, what matters is the will to keep going and finding what you can and want to do.
Something suprsing is that aster and zane never got a rematch especially with how weirdly close they are in later seasons almost like they respect each other now. Probably for the best as I think the only outcome I would like is a draw as it would suck seeing either of them lose again
@@thegreatscribbles960 I think the respect was earned when Ryo did not care for revenge. They may have crossed paths again because they’re pros, but they definitely developed a big brother-little brother relationship.
@Adamame93 I still don't understand why zane didn't rematch him in s2 when they were face to face again. I mean I know he's not looking for "revenge" but zane was obsessed with winning and looking for challenges/strong opponents.. so wouldn't aster be a good choice?
@oscarperez5539 They can't have Aster lose at that point and so does Zane so a rematch that quickly wouldn't be possible. S4 should be a perfect place for a rematch but Zane is already crippled at that point.
@azfarabdullah9638 oh so it's cause either one could've lost and that would mess up the story? Even if it was a tie? Didn't aster lose to jaden already at that time or was that after the zane confrontation?
@@Ulises21500 Aster already lost to Jaden. But if I remembered correctly Aster comments on how much stronger Zane had become during Zane's 1st duel with Jesse in S3 hinting at Zane's already a better duelist at that time. Not to mention when they were gathering information on the Supreme King, Aster were the housekeeper and Zane was the master of the house.
One of the things this makes me think about is cultural differences between Japan and America in regards to characterization, especially during this time period when GX was airing in America; it's always a weird contrast to see how even when a scene can only really go in one direction, the different choices in dialogue can give dramatically different feels to what's going and to a character's characterization
same with dbz in the dub, goku gave a heroic "i am the light in the darkness, i am the hope of the universe" speech, while in the sub he's just "i am the legendary warrior awakened by rage - the super saiyan son goku!"
@@simbadas1234 Right? The former implies Goku has enough awareness to make a very dramatic speech; the latter implies Goku is so angry he's shouting whatever it is that crossed his mind
It caught me when I first watched GX subbed and saw the Fubuki vs Kaiser duel, where in the sub Kaiser stands up to Darkness to get his friend back, while in the dub Zane is telling Atticus "No I'm not brainwashed or forced to be evil, this is just me now."
@@GoneRampant Another good example as the end result implies different priorities: the latter asserting how he changed on his own free will and this is just how he is now while hinting(in a brief moment way) he still cares deep down. In comparison, the former prioritizes how he wants his friend back despite still acting the way he does, which implies (over telling) that despite his behavior, it's merely a new side to Kaiser that he's revealing while still maintaining certain core values (cares about others, albeit in a more rough/rougher manner) It's the same end result of a new attitude that was chosen while deep down still maintaining certain core values but the differing choices creates different reactions/feels
0:56 Slight correction. Atem didn't lose to Rafael because of the Orichalcos, the explanation of it controlling people who use it was something created by 4kids. In the Japanese dub Atem just lost, his first legitimate loss in the series up to that point. That's what made this loss such a powerful moment, not only did Atem succumb to his own fear of losing but he lost a major duel with real stakes. This arc is not officially canon that's true but I can't imagine Yu-Gi-Oh without it, Atems arc to me doesn't feel complete without it.
Kaiser will always be my fav. It's unfortunate he had to learn the hard way that he was a big fish in a little pond, but his development is so good. I love how Judai put it to Sho when they first saw Hell Kaiser dominating opponents, stating that he's probably having some really intense thoughts that they can't begin to imagine. Not only an empathetic take, but it was true; bro had to abandon his whole mantra of respect duel to focus on clinching actual victories instead of just being satisfied with respecting people's strategies. It kinda hits deeper when we recall Cyber End chose Ryo because of his efforts to respect the cards and his opponents, and Ryo had to throw that away to move beyond what seemed to be his peak. I feel like it was significant when he was in the car and asked Cyber End Dragon if it would ascend to new heights with him, instead of making a statement that they would actually do it; its almost like he was wondering if Cyber End would hold him back since it no longer respects his new development, which is totally possible since in GX the cards all had spirits of their own and stuff. I like how you said at the end that Ryo ultimately still ended up looking for potential in duelists all throughout; he never abandoned his old self per se, just modified his goal in a way that was more feasible for what he needed. I guess focusing on respecting his opponent's potential rather than the duel itself allowed for the victories to be more worth something
He reminds me of those popular high school jocks who get told they're the best football player the school has ever seen but are set up for failure because as soon as they are in the national matches they flop because they're not truly the all stars
Zane is a true all-star and not a failure though. He beat everyone except Edo who was more experienced Pro duelist at that point supported by Destiny, also defeated Judai.
This is a very informative retrospective look at Ryo Marufuji's character development throughout Yu-Gi-Oh GX. He really was considered the best duelist of Duel Academy. Even when graduating, Judai could only manage a tie after losing to Ryo in their first duel. It was when Ryo lost to Edo Phoenix that his status as the best in Duel Academy didn't matter. It sadly made sense for Ryo to go down his dark path during season 2. In season 3, Ryo even goes down a different path due to the consequences of the dark path he chose in season 2. He's slowly dying and wants one last duel to truly push his limits. His duel with Yubel will go down in GX as Ryo's best duel and his peak as a duelist. While I'm glad Ryo survived to reach season 4, and his desire to make his own pro league makes sense for his character arc, his best moment will always be his duel with Yubel.
amazing video, love seeing people diving into the character and what they been through and how it is changed but also that those characters can still be who they are. (also LOVE the use of Broken From Shadow The Hedgehog. the lost tracks are amazing) please stay safe and have an amazing day. and hope you get more Subs.
thought he was super cool and felt new aura on the character, turns out there were a good number of lineups, of course everyone is us but we like villains more than heroes, the end result or breakdown of the characters overall impact is secondary to why we placed them into the literally me page everyone is us as a distinguished being and u can see some form of us in them.
I hated what they did with Ryo's character. He had Kaiba levels of "aura", he could have been the most iconic character in the show if handled differently. They did him dirty with only having him play 3 times in the entire first season, and then having Edo embarrassing him, just to turn him back into a powerhouse to then again kneecap him.
Zane, made a lot of sense, life outside school is hard no matter how good you are. Zane took this difficulty bad until he fought back and regained respect and glory. and this hits us when we grow up, while most of us stay average and accept defeat, the likes of Zane fight back and rise. ill stick up to that mindset.
I somehow saw him as Itachi for this Universe - the one, who did choose the dark path, but actually cared for his little brother. It's a shame they did him as they did, while he was just a young adult, like he was what, 18-19 yo at that time
Hell Kaiser is kinda like Nate from Ted Lasso. He made some bad decisions, but he was a fully fledged person with a good side and loved ones through all of it, and that allowed him to come back in a way that didn't undo the harsher person he became, but become a more mature version of it.
It's a shame we never got that Zane Aster rematch especially since he didn't even beat him with the destiny heros. Although if I appreciate they never went in the direction of a 'revenge duel'.
I'm just getting to the Sacred Beasts set of episodes. I have no idea why they sort of made it out like Zane was going to beat Camula, only to have him lose to give Jaden the win. Then they make Bastion into a simp, he loses, and Jaden steals his win, too. Jaden needs to be stopped, he's too powerful!
@@MMDTrxsh without spoiling anything, Camula should have been second to last in the series of duels against the Seven Star Assassins (can’t remember their name in the English dub). It’s a really mixed bag of emotional duels, then a bunch of hijinks, then back to seriousness. Ryo should have dueled the Egyptian Pharaoh (not really a spoiler) and won, then duel Camula and lose for Sho’s sake. That is still fine, but Ryo only duels 3 times in season 1 and we only know he’s great because everyone tells you he is. The writing for season 1 could have been a lot better.
Bro went from Seto Kaiba of the Show to Massive Ls to heart attack and chest pains... And when we thought he's gone and Thanos'd out of existence... He comes back on a wheelchair not explaining how he got brought back to existence.
No. He is. He failed to make it in the pros with his initial value set, later failed that same value set entirely, then failed to make his darker ways work and just straight up almost died.
@@kagemaru3971. He had 10 wins in a row in the pro league. 2 He used his darker ways to teach his brother to not be such a crybaby. 3. He also saved Fubuki from the darkness and later saved Judai by sacrificing himself. And finally in season 4 we see that his dumbass brother can at least go through a duel without shitting himself to death. All in all I count him as a very accomplished person who had a bit too optimistic view of how his life was going to play out.
@@shadowwarrier4416 His brother almost won against him in Season 2. And he only left Obelisk Blue because of how much he cared about Judai. Then got back in again. Sho was similarly held back by his confidence issues.
@@kagemaru397 Syrus didn't almost beat him, Zane from beginning to the end was so confident and never even flinched or worried for once. Besides Syrus prepared entirely anti-deck for his Zane's new deck. Zane was just using underworld deck at that point to test its potential more and more. Do you wanna bet what would happen to Syrus if Zane used his Cyber Heavy Deck?
I always thought yubel should have possessed Chazz(w dark armed dragon) or Zane to face off with jaden for a final face off. Jessie was too new to feel climatic.
His arc is always one that resonated with me, and I also felt like I’d preferred the “old” Zane who played in Graduation Match up to when he had to face the underground duel. It was tough to see him being negative towards respect play, his brother, and his cards if it could get him closer to victory. It seemed like the show was never very good at thinking the best way to respect an opponent is to go all out. Cyber Dragons were sleek state of the art machines that broke the mold in a lot of ways that fought to keep up throughout the years to follow. Along with HERO, Zane support has understandably been some of the most prevalent after the series had ended. Like many I don’t love the addition of Zane in the fourth season when he could have succumbed to his heart situation, but I do wish he was in Arc-V besides a name written on a chalkboard.
... Okay, I don't get it. Ryo is a prodigy and undefeated in Duel Academy. Then he gets a 10-loss losing streak once he hits the pro leagues. He's ostensibly the best student Duel Academy has to offer. Is this, like, the Alola Region of the Dueling World where they just suck compared to the rest of the world? That doesn't exactly hold up, what with Kaiba being the founder. And then all the students beating the Pros during the GX tournament. Ryo's story is like the embodiment of the writers saying "So he was undefeated in Duel Academy and just loses nonstop once dueling anyone else outside of it?" "That's what we're going with, yeah."
The added context I included about the Light of Destruction affecting duelists that go against Edo clarifies this a bit. So Ryo hits the pros and wins 10 straight. He loses to Edo and is hit with a loss of confidence/willingness to duel. He then loses 10 straight because he sticks to his guns and tries to just duel with respect as opposed to dueling to win. It’s an example of big fish in a small pond. Can that skill set translate to a bigger pond. The answer was no and that’s why he had to struggle and find answers before he could get better.
Always someone better out there. For example, just because you're the best actor/actress in high school, doesn't mean you can run circles around the likes of say Margot Robbie or Kal Penn.
I mean, sure? But I still don't think that tracks the way the storytellers want if that's what they're going for. Dueling with respect is how- ideally- the game would go in the real world, right? The kind of behavior they would want real players to adopt. Kinda like how- in the final duel- Yugi and Atem teach Judai that the moral is Duel for Fun. "So we have this guy and his deal is he duels with total respect for his opponents." "Right." "And then he just gets completely obliterated by some guy." "Okay." "And he goes on a complete downward spiral, becomes an underground duelist sadist monster." "And how does he come back from that to teach that respect and honor are the way to go after all? A duel with Judai?" "Nah. He duels someone who completely just destroys him again, he summons a huge monster, has a heart attack and dies." "Was he about to win?" "No, it was just a big gesture, I guess." "... Kinda useless." "Yeah. But then he comes back, but doesn't do anything- just spends the rest of his screen time in a wheelchair." "... So the lesson we're teaching with him is 'Duel with honor- have your life ruined.' and Judai's story is 'duel for fun, watch all your friends die'." "Yeah." "... What is going on in this anime?"
Kaiser dumping his cards with Power Wall looks disrespectful on paper, but Cyberdark Dragon needs to full pile of discards to function properly. So in a way, he "respected" how that deck worked. Complicated is an understatement.
This is an interesting take on Ryo. And I like that he HAD the potential to be a completely arrogant jerk at the beginning, but was too grounded to go that route. He was competitive and sought power, but cared for his friends and his brother, even if we wasn't always so good with showing that to the latter. Judai only tied with him because he was psyched out. It's obvious that by the end of Season 1, he was stronger than Ryo. Now I almost wonder if his loss to Judai would have affected, or even PREVENTED his turn into Hell Kaiser in Season 2. On the one hand, he went dark (Somewhat, it's more like Robby joining Cobra Kai in S3 and S4 of Cobra Kai.) because he kept losing....but what if he would have had the prospect of facing Judai again keeping him from going dark? This would have been a loss to someone he RESPECTED, instead of a random pro duelist or a bad guy/girl like Tsubaki. IDK..... Samejima.....I partly blame him for how he turned out. He gave Ryo the wrong idea about what it means to be a duelist and put power and dominance before everything. And by proxy, he influenced the rift between the Marafuji brothers that was there for so long and was renewed for a while. I ALSO blame him for Judai's fall into darkness and Duel Academia being endangered in Season 3. He wanted to be the best and have the best and for the same for his students, but he was blind to the points where that becomes a detriment, and he always learned his lesson too late. You would at least almost think Ryo would have been a wake up call for him, and while Ryo DID choose to become Hell Kaiser in the end, (at least in the English Dub) he doesn't take a look at HIMSELF, and HIS contributions to the fall and simply writes it off as him choosing a/the bad path. He doesn't learn in time to stop Yubel, Martin, and Cobra from wreaking havoc on Duel Academia in Season 3. He doesn't even learn from BOTH the times his students go into the other dimension. It's just business as usual in Season 4. And in at least that way, he's worse than Chronos. Even HE in Season 1 knew power and prestige weren't everything. He put himself on the line for the sake of ALL of the Academia's students. INCLUDING the likes of Judai, Sho, and Hayato against Tsubaki. And Napoleon even quits the Academia to patch things up with Martin. But Ryo, as long and painful as the journey was, did what his master couldn't. Looked past their flawed philosophy and became better. On a side note, I wish Edo would have fought Johan that first time instead of Ryo. And they duel in the other dimension only.
Yeah and lets not forget he only lost to Edo and Yubel. Edo defeated Judai as well and Yubel never tasted any defeat. Besides if Yubel didn't use that "advanced Rainbow deck which was a literally cheating deck, Kaiser would destroy her.
@@alperenayman620 yeah, and let's not forget that Edo needed luck at the with his trap card. They had to make Kaiser lose so that they can hype up Edo and develop Kaiser later. When it comes to Yubel, it is simple really, Kaiser lost purely for the sake of plot. He used his weakest deck (Cyber Dragons alone, most of his cards were from S1), while Yubel used some cards that she herself made, like Advanced Dark. Even then they were still about equal, if it wasn't for the plot Kaiser would have won with limiter removal. Prime Hell Kaiser with his Cyberdark + Cyber Dragon deck is most probably the strongest gx duelist.
I find it hilarious that Ryo's last words before passing was directed to Judai. Did he really have nothing to say to his own brother? Sho would not have had any closure if Ryo did not come back later on.
Points for the 4K version like 3 times over because it just makes more sense to give last words to both Jaden AND his brother, he actually dies rather than being censorship-retconned onto a beach and the 5DS dub implies that Syrus took the death(and temporary disappearance of Jaden) in a way where he carried on Zane's legacy and made it to the pros. Seriously no personal offense to anyone liking the original japanese take on things more, but I certainly know where I would cast my vote for a more overall satisfying character ending.
Clicked this video thinking i was gonna see why he was like a bad character or something but honestly i have more respect than i had BEFORE watching the video.
Sho: Come on Big Bro stop hurting yourself you are not like this!!! Hell KAISER!!!: I'm sorry Sho... i was too busy being EDGY TO HEAR YOU!!! Now if you excuse me i've to go to a Linkin Park Concert
For me Hell Kaiser is the best Character the things that happen to him can happen to anyone in the top. he isn't Like the characters that either get brainwashed or he just evil in nature he became Like that. that is Why his death hit so hard he has to be my favorite yu gi oh character of all time just for that
Zane was afraid of aster but was hiding it this is is guy who crushed his confidence and was standing in front of him with not a bit of fear of zane.When aster approached him a part of zane went back to the old zane I'm not trying to say anything bad about zane but he is still a kid and his lose against aster and how it affected him was the closed zane came to being traumatized everyone else on duel academy was afraid to duel zane and aster went looking for him to face a even more powerful zane while aster has his more powerful destiny heroes.Just because zane is hell kaiser does not mean he will win Zanes deck is a reflection of his brutal ways cyber dark deck is brute force but has no defense a mirror force can mess up zane dueling you can see that went he duels jessie the first time zane was destroying jessie but a single trap card kept jessie in the duel.Asters weakness is his monsters low atk points so he has to use spells and traps heavily to stay in the duel aster can still win with cards like d-counter
Yeah he had his own failure which was more realistic than others.... however that doesn't change the fact he was one of the strongest (if not the strongest) duelists in the GX. Edo getting defeated by Manjoume (Chazz) is bigger failure if you ask me :))))
Fortunately his new Cyber Dark Fusion monster reflects his Dark Arc. He abandons everyone and everything including his Cyber end dragon to become unstoppable and reach the top. If Graveyard dump long, in modern Yu-Gi-Oh, was seen as shameful as it used to back in Duel monsters Era. It would mean Ryo has reached an unforgivable level of selfishness to reach the Pinnacle of power and victory.
I don’t want to get nit picky for when it comes to a main character losing without shenanigans. Technically didn’t Atem lose to Yugi before the series end of Duelmonsters in a fair duel? Does that count?
More than a fair fight actually, Yugi had literally everything stacked against him and still won. That is why Anime Yugi can essencially be considered a legend in his own right.
He was so used to being #1 at school. And when stepped into the real world 🌍, he fell apart and became pure evil, desperate, and heartless. Plus, he wasn't a good brother from the beginning. I never did like him. Then I started to HATE him! Now I like to see him lose.
As a character Zane was cool! as a duelist he wasn't good at all, a one trick pony that Aster exposed far too late for him to grow and become better. Luckily Jaden was able to grow and adapt after losing to Aster and surpass even Aster, but it was clear Zane didn't know how to duel only how to perform a meta deck's handful of comboes. Even if he misplayed horribly on purpose in the first duel against Jaden to see if Jaden could punish his mistakes and to show his brother that everyone makes mistakes it's fine, you learn from setbacks(not that he would have knew that at that time) and over coming challenges is what dueling is about ect. Assuming he played horrible on purpose and still won to prove a point and try to claim that no matter what I can adapt and overcome any problem so do your worst. It still doesn't help his case as a duelist because Aster playing the same deck exposed that no, he couldn't adapt and over come it, if Jaden was capable of punishing or taking advantage of his misplays Jaden would have beaten him decisively, but Jaden wasn't at that point. In there second duel Zane does his best and Jaden draws him meaning at that moment in time Zane had not grown from there first duel, but Jaden had and by a noiceable amount. They both lose to Aster, but they each react to it differently. Zane was beaten so badly that it shatter his whole world view and who he was as a person. Jaden literally could not read his own cards becoming very relatable to the fanbase, but recovered and even surpassed Aster a pro player while still at DA. Let that sink in, Jaden in season two defeated a duelist that Zane couldn't beat and most likely knew full well he had no chance of ever beating. keep in mind Aster wasn't even playing his destiny heroes when he had Zane look like a child. Zane was that meta deck player that has no real substance and can easily be beaten by a starter deck if it is played by a decent to good player. If you took every character's deck from them and gave them all starter decks it would be clear and very easy to rank every character's ability as a duelist.
@@fakename2890 I partially agree with what you’re saying. Ryo definitely thought he didn’t have much more room for growth after he perfected his deck. After he includes new cards and the cyber darks, he becomes so much more flexible in his dueling that he can punish mistakes or cut through his opponent’s board. The duel against Yubel/Dark Yohan shows how adaptable he is. But to get to that point, he needed to be torn down. That’s the reason he doesn’t have revenge in mind when he runs into Edo again.
Only using a meta deck with a handful of combos is EXTREMELY disingenuous. Jaden tied Zane because the narrative called for it. Every duel Zane took part in he was FAR superior not because of his deck, but his mentality and deep understanding of the game. Just as a real duelist. Yeah he got bested by aster at first. But that’s one duel while you’re throwing away all the others. Out smarting and predicting an ancient vampire, mopping the floor with his own teacher, summoning every single one of his cyber dragons and variants against yubel. In the manga, he figured out the rulings of Chazz’s light and darkness dragon to the point where he looped the negate over and OTK’d him despite Chazz summoning his 3 most powerful monsters. I’m sorry man I disagree with everything you said. His deck only seems meta because jadens deck is so laughably bad in the earlier seasons.
Which has me asking again. How would things have gone, if Judai hadn't gotten psyched out and beaten him in Season 1 like he was likely going to anyway?
I am saying it again Crow>zane Crow is the real Chad here he cares about different people than himself He rather dies for the poor to live and he has a great deck btw he was supposed to be a dark signer because of the final monster of rex goodwin Now if someone still thinks crow is the real g in arc v he sacrifices himself so that the rest of xuyas friends can continue to break trough crow was basically saving i think Jack was it or yuya or gong from getting turned into a card Wich is really great Let's not forget that he's the only one who wants to help the poor people of satilite Wich is why he wants to create the bridge
Love Zane's arc cause it's too real. He strongly believed that "respect" in duel was all that matter throughout his life, while also always winning or close drawing in school. Never having experienced a true defeat, he thought it wouldn't matter if he lost as long as he kept his faith in "respecting your opponent" to heart. After graduating, he rose to fame and was on the rise to become a top pro, only to be defeated by Edo in humiliating way. He had the taste of his true defeat in his life then. The fans turned away, the crowd cheered for the fall of a rising star, and no one cared about "respect duel" that he believed in. Confused about his feelings, he kept losing on purpose all the way down to minor league to convince himself that he doesn't care about the outcome as long as he kept his respect. But the world didn't care about respect, and it certainly didn't care about losers. All it mattered in the world of pro is to win and to put on a show for the crowd by shoving the opponents' heads into the ground. After sponsors dropped him and he fell all the way down to underground duel ring, he finally broke out of his shell and admitted that winning is just simply better than losing. Fr tho, fk Syrus that little $hit for preventing Edo vs Hell Kaiser rematch.
That's why i hate those silly transfer students from season 3. They stole the time of main characters like sho (Syrus) who should have had development in season 3, to make season 4 (his duel against the Jinzo guy) more believable and not feel rushed. Screw jesse, Axel and Jim🤬
@Diamondr11Blue It felt like a good death (A culmination of his downfall beginning with him losing to Aster) and it reminds me (In a sense) of DC bringing back Barry Allen during Final Crisis. That one in particular because of something sad. HE LET DR MANHATTAN CREATE THE NEW 52 TIMELINE! If he stayed dead Flashpoint never would've happened. And Dr Manhattan never would've been able to steal history from the DC universe (Apparently influenced by the Great Darkness. But still). I would cite my source but I think my comment would get flagged for doing so.
![Seungmin "그렇게, 천천히, 우리(As we are)" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/kAzmhLHePqU/mqdefault.jpg)
Man imagine traveling a mountain for cards that aren't just bad but slowly kill you
Wasn’t it revealed they were only killing him because he didn’t respect them or love them and he treated them just as tools. I believe this was shown in season four.
@@Nagatem pretty sure his brother used them and was successful though I might be remembering wrong.
and cards that are worse than the ones you currently have
yoshida writing in a nutshell
Zane was always the character I connected with the most and that last scene in this video nearly broke me again. In a good way.
Zane is the literal definition of "peaked in high school". He tasted failure once after graduating and it broke him.
He's still doing miles better than Judai, to be fair. Chairman of a new Pro League vs a literal Wandering Hobo.
That's what sorta pissed me off about Jaden's ending as a Character
Almost Everyone at the end of GX feel accomplished with a satisfying ending while Jaden is just... Going somewhere? To become the king of games which we never knew if he achieved that of not
@@HunterStiles651
@@HunterStiles651i don't know, man. I'd say a travelling nomad really fits jaden after GX. It also keeps us wondering as to what he got up to later in life
@@HunterStiles651 Judai traveling to help people was best end for his character. He always wanted to do what he wanted, being selfish to a degree because he didn't find a deeper meaning in his dueling beyond his own satisfaction. Season 3 and 4 completely changed that, so it would've felt weird if he went Pro like his friends.
@@HunterStiles651Well that's the end of Zane's arc. He experiences "perfection" so he can't process someone surpassing him. He spends season 3 trying to recapture that "perfect" feeling, much to his own peril.
In season 4, he sees his brother, someone who he had written off as weak, reach heights that he had never dreamed of. Suddenly, something clicks and Zane is able to truly live and dream again.
Jaden's arc is still ongoing. He, like many graduates, faces uncertainty. All he knows is that he'll get where he needs to go someday.
Ryo's arc hits so hard because it's so real. Straight A student having trouble navigating the real world, failing and getting overwhelmed by that failure because he never experienced it.
His loss to Edo crushed him because he never knew where he went wrong. After all, he was perfect - a falsity everyone at Academia fed him to the point he started believing them. It's tragic that this 18 year old kid with a whole future ahead of him actually believed he has no room for growth.
Ryo always felt at his best when he was in Duel Academia and he could not move on from those days even if he tried to. The fact that his duel with Yubel featured only Cyber Dragons is a proof of his hubris.
Cyberdarks caused him to have heart attacks and he didn't listen or tried to evolve further. Not because he couldn't but because he believed he reached the summit of his dueling.
I really loved his development, but I dislike how it concluded. Ryo giving his deck to Sho and essentially giving up for a while is a bad end to his character. Sure, he said that he'll build a new deck and continue to evolve, but it would've been so much better if we saw that on screen.
Tag Force 3 route gave him a better ending. After Sho dueled Makoto, he gave Ryo his deck back. Ryo reflected on all of his actions and inspired by Sho's display, realized that only limits you have are the ones you place on yourself. The story ended with him vowing to always grow stronger with his deck and deciding to open a new Pro League.
I prefer the anime ending for him. More open to interpretation.
crazy thing is, his loss wasn't all that bad. Edo/Aster was undefeated for a long ass time while not using his main deck, which he busted out for the first time against ryo/zane. And zane put up a decent fight against it. So to summarize, he faced the strongest deck (a not seen before deck mind you, while aster would have been familiar with zane's deck from watching his matches) of a guy who was considered best in the league while using weaker decks, and he came close to winning. So his loss wasn't bad at all, he just took it so badly because that was his first true defeat (camula doesn't really count seeing as she used his brother as a hostage)
The reaason zane went in this dark phase is because he was affected by the light
Just like jaden was but at a lower scale that would make him doubt his competence
Remember sartorious was not sure at some point of the winner but after he touch the deck
He became confident about the outcome of the duel
Jaden was affect the same way. But hurt yubel more because the last memory she had in Jaden's psyche was erased because of the light that tortured her.
@@rishabhanand4973and worse to him was the fact that the card he faced he knew rhem from hid DA days, only Aster's had a few new moves.
Also, wasnt anybody that lost to Aster - when he used his true deck at least - also lost their passion for dueling?
I mean Jaden needed an intervention from aliens to get his groove back
The biggest difference between Zane and Jaden is that Jaden had a support system through his duel spirits and friends who constantly helped pick him up and save him throughout the series: Kaibaman taught him how to face fear under high-pressure situations, the Neo Spacians helped pick him up after he lost the ability to see his cards, and his friends saved him after he went nuts and turned into the supreme king.
Zane on the other hand got stuck with Mr. Shroud who put him in a cage and forced him to duel while being tortured. And Sheppard tried to stop Zane from acquiring the cyberdark deck, but by that point, Zane was too far gone. Sheppard should've stepped in way sooner.
Zane's story is so relatable because not only did he have to find out that there are other fantastic duelists out there the hard way, but he had to face the music alone, and build himself up from nothing all over again on his own terms.
Yeah. Samejima failed him. And the others. What makes it worse is that he never learns his lesson unlike Ryo.
Dinosaur guy kamikaze'd to save Jaden from himself. You can't be a more dedicated friend then that.
@@rorrim0 Kenzan. Yeah, he was a real one.
Thats why im the one who deserve the cyber legacy 🫠
@@xxdeathgunxx8842 ?
“As long as I feel the shine of this moment, I won’t go quietly into deaths darkness” is a crazy hard line
"I won't go gently into that good night."
I did not know I needed the Shadow the Hedgehog paired with Zane until I saw this video. Goated theme song
His friend atticus is sonic
I hate that Camula duel.
Such a cheap way for the writers to bench Ryu and focus on Judai.
True. Zane should have defeated Camula.
Jaden really did not need to beat 5/7 Shadows Riders AND their boss.
Okay you read the fucking manga, nobody cares and nobody in America is using those names
I feel like after the soul talk with sho/syrus, he should have been the one to beat Camula to show that Zane was right in his assessment that sho needed confidence. He could have asked to borrow Jaden’s key, a sign of his support as well. If they were going to bench Zane, why give the victory to the guy who will have 6 more serious win?
The biggest issue with gx is how they shoved Jaden into duels he had no thematic place in. A similar issue happened in the same arc when he dueled Alexis’s brother instead of her.
Tbf, zane legit would steamroll them all, boss included
If only Cyber Dragon Nova were Hell Kaiser's ace instead of Cyberdarks. I mean, look at its design being an amalgamation of Cyber Dragons. It's creepy and implies the fusion was forced upon.
yeah if only they thought about an xyz monster like a decade sooner
If only Zane was in the lineup for Arc-V, maybe he’d have gotten better justice than who showed up instead.
Would also be inspired to see a former Fusion duelist make a move for Xyz, rather than Dennis who used it as a facade.
@@runningoncylinders3829also Zane makes way more sense as the duel academy representative than aster
@@Deathmare235 He also does for what lengths they seemed to go to avoid the actual lead characters as legacy picks. Having Destiny HERO at least implies that HERO is a thing for Fusion Dimension while RDA can be Jack’s Ace even for lack of Stardust or Signers. Cyber Dragons, especially if they were Fusion+XYZ would have been much better. Aster is another underachievers legacy addition. Zane might have reached the highs of returning Jack Atlas who is the benchmark for the concept done properly.
@@runningoncylinders3829 wish he made it
Zane is such an interesting character. Definitely a highlight of GX.
One quick correction: Atem losing to Raphael was not due to the Seal of Orichalcos. In fact him playing the Seal was the only thing that allowed him to survive a few more turns, since he was about to lose cleanly if he DIDN'T play it. The entire point of that duel was adressing Atem's biggest flaw. The one that lead to him almost killing Kaiba: He'd rather use dark magic than actually accept a loss. Something the dub tried to whitewash into "The seal did it."
As for it not being canon: It's not canon to the manga timeline, but it IS canon to the anime timeline which the GX anime follows (Pegasus is alive, Season 2 has them use the anime only Virtual World machine, ect)
Which is why I loved the waking the dragons arc
Atem lost due to his own hubris
The duel had no stakes in it and losing wouldn’t have any effect on Atem’s life except his pride. Pride led to Atem’s downfall, not the Seal.
@@Lunacorva I should have been clearer (edit) and said Orachalcos arc instead of just short handing it. I can see your point, but the reason that it’s “shenanigans” is because of how they got there: Raphael tells Atem that only one of them will survive the duel due to destiny and throws axes to cut off the bridge and force the duel. It also is counter writing to Atem’s character as he had moved past the point of aggressive or last measures after learning to rely on Yugi and Co from the duels with Mai, Pegasus, and stepping down for Yugi to duel Joey at Battle City.
The reason why I put non canon is because it is still a filler arc. You can skip that and the Grand Prix and not miss anything that you need to know for the final season. I guess a good way to compare it is to Naruto proper where the series should end after episode 136 or so, but it had 4 more seasons of nothing until Shippuden.
@@Adamame93 Thank you for the reply.
It's a bit more complicated than just "Atem learned his lesson once and then never had to learn it again." After all, it's explicitly stated even in the manga that until the final Ceremonial Duel, Atem's greatest challenge is learning how to gracefully accept a true defeat. While Mai made him aware of his arrogance and unwillingness to accept defeat, that didn't mean that part of him dissapeared completely. He accepted help against Pegasus and Joey because Pegasus was blatantly cheating (He was prideful, never stupid) and the goal of the Joey duel was freeing him from Marik. Not just beating him in a duel.
With Rafael, the duel quickly became, in Atem's mind, a test of his purity. Unlike in the dub, it was ATEM trying to claim a black and white worldview of "I have no darkness in my soul" and insisting on his purity. Despite Rafael cutting the bridge, that was symbolic more than anything. A way for them to duel without distractions. Not a Marik-style death duel. What really trapped Atem was Yu-Gi-Oh!'s duelist honour code. The setting runs on an appropriately archaic mentality of "If you beat someone in a duel, you have proven your ideaology superior to theirs." very "Trial by Combat"-esque.
For Atem, losing in this duel would be to admit that maybe he wasn't the righteous, noble soul he insisted he was. Which, if you consider the early manga in context becomes ESPECIALLY powerful. Was he really a noble hero punishing evil? Or.. were his actions less impure than he told himself they were?
@@Adamame93 That still doesn't make any sense. By that logic, why is GX in itself any diffrent? All this was never in any manga and the DM anime is canon to it instead of the manga.
@@lpfan4491 Not quite what he said. His point was that it's not essential to the overall story of Duel Monsters, nor is it essential to the story of GX.
I've been binge watching your vids and these GX essays are so good, I have to thank you for them. I rarely see other people actually discuss series in this way and they tend to be so superficial for me that I cant watch them. But yours are like if all of us here sat down and watched the show together and get the message but you put it like simple poetry. Thank you.
6:08 “He feels that his deck requires more and travels to what I think are the f-cking Himalayas”
That caught me so off guard that was hilarious XD
Great video!
"Where he trained in the cyber dojo and was taught in arts of cyber dragon "
What a perfect title for a great character that teaches you about how life is hard, but that's not what matters, what matters is the will to keep going and finding what you can and want to do.
Ive been loving all of your essay videos on GX. You are making me want to rewatch GX :`)
Cyber end dragon X power bond was such a hax and seamless strategy early on
Something suprsing is that aster and zane never got a rematch especially with how weirdly close they are in later seasons almost like they respect each other now. Probably for the best as I think the only outcome I would like is a draw as it would suck seeing either of them lose again
@@thegreatscribbles960 I think the respect was earned when Ryo did not care for revenge. They may have crossed paths again because they’re pros, but they definitely developed a big brother-little brother relationship.
@Adamame93 I still don't understand why zane didn't rematch him in s2 when they were face to face again. I mean I know he's not looking for "revenge" but zane was obsessed with winning and looking for challenges/strong opponents.. so wouldn't aster be a good choice?
@oscarperez5539 They can't have Aster lose at that point and so does Zane so a rematch that quickly wouldn't be possible. S4 should be a perfect place for a rematch but Zane is already crippled at that point.
@azfarabdullah9638 oh so it's cause either one could've lost and that would mess up the story? Even if it was a tie? Didn't aster lose to jaden already at that time or was that after the zane confrontation?
@@Ulises21500 Aster already lost to Jaden. But if I remembered correctly Aster comments on how much stronger Zane had become during Zane's 1st duel with Jesse in S3 hinting at Zane's already a better duelist at that time. Not to mention when they were gathering information on the Supreme King, Aster were the housekeeper and Zane was the master of the house.
One of the things this makes me think about is cultural differences between Japan and America in regards to characterization, especially during this time period when GX was airing in America; it's always a weird contrast to see how even when a scene can only really go in one direction, the different choices in dialogue can give dramatically different feels to what's going and to a character's characterization
same with dbz
in the dub, goku gave a heroic "i am the light in the darkness, i am the hope of the universe" speech, while in the sub he's just "i am the legendary warrior awakened by rage - the super saiyan son goku!"
@@simbadas1234 Right? The former implies Goku has enough awareness to make a very dramatic speech; the latter implies Goku is so angry he's shouting whatever it is that crossed his mind
It caught me when I first watched GX subbed and saw the Fubuki vs Kaiser duel, where in the sub Kaiser stands up to Darkness to get his friend back, while in the dub Zane is telling Atticus "No I'm not brainwashed or forced to be evil, this is just me now."
@@GoneRampant Another good example as the end result implies different priorities: the latter asserting how he changed on his own free will and this is just how he is now while hinting(in a brief moment way) he still cares deep down.
In comparison, the former prioritizes how he wants his friend back despite still acting the way he does, which implies (over telling) that despite his behavior, it's merely a new side to Kaiser that he's revealing while still maintaining certain core values (cares about others, albeit in a more rough/rougher manner)
It's the same end result of a new attitude that was chosen while deep down still maintaining certain core values but the differing choices creates different reactions/feels
@@KXDragon6389 Like Robby in S3/S4 of Cobra Kai.
These are great video essays. Thanks for making a great show
Best character in the entire 6 generations.
0:56 Slight correction. Atem didn't lose to Rafael because of the Orichalcos, the explanation of it controlling people who use it was something created by 4kids. In the Japanese dub Atem just lost, his first legitimate loss in the series up to that point. That's what made this loss such a powerful moment, not only did Atem succumb to his own fear of losing but he lost a major duel with real stakes. This arc is not officially canon that's true but I can't imagine Yu-Gi-Oh without it, Atems arc to me doesn't feel complete without it.
Zane loved electricity so much he got a heart attack
zane's arc is such a mood 💀
I fucking love Zane Trusedale and the Cyber Dragons
Essentially, he was gassed up, ended up failing, found a new path, had a heart attack, and passed the torch to the next generation.
What a wild ride.
He's kaiba without money
Kaiser will always be my fav. It's unfortunate he had to learn the hard way that he was a big fish in a little pond, but his development is so good. I love how Judai put it to Sho when they first saw Hell Kaiser dominating opponents, stating that he's probably having some really intense thoughts that they can't begin to imagine. Not only an empathetic take, but it was true; bro had to abandon his whole mantra of respect duel to focus on clinching actual victories instead of just being satisfied with respecting people's strategies. It kinda hits deeper when we recall Cyber End chose Ryo because of his efforts to respect the cards and his opponents, and Ryo had to throw that away to move beyond what seemed to be his peak. I feel like it was significant when he was in the car and asked Cyber End Dragon if it would ascend to new heights with him, instead of making a statement that they would actually do it; its almost like he was wondering if Cyber End would hold him back since it no longer respects his new development, which is totally possible since in GX the cards all had spirits of their own and stuff. I like how you said at the end that Ryo ultimately still ended up looking for potential in duelists all throughout; he never abandoned his old self per se, just modified his goal in a way that was more feasible for what he needed. I guess focusing on respecting his opponent's potential rather than the duel itself allowed for the victories to be more worth something
"I won't go gently into that good night" - Hell Kaiser
He reminds me of those popular high school jocks who get told they're the best football player the school has ever seen but are set up for failure because as soon as they are in the national matches they flop because they're not truly the all stars
Zane is a true all-star and not a failure though. He beat everyone except Edo who was more experienced Pro duelist at that point supported by Destiny, also defeated Judai.
This is a very informative retrospective look at Ryo Marufuji's character development throughout Yu-Gi-Oh GX. He really was considered the best duelist of Duel Academy. Even when graduating, Judai could only manage a tie after losing to Ryo in their first duel. It was when Ryo lost to Edo Phoenix that his status as the best in Duel Academy didn't matter. It sadly made sense for Ryo to go down his dark path during season 2. In season 3, Ryo even goes down a different path due to the consequences of the dark path he chose in season 2. He's slowly dying and wants one last duel to truly push his limits. His duel with Yubel will go down in GX as Ryo's best duel and his peak as a duelist. While I'm glad Ryo survived to reach season 4, and his desire to make his own pro league makes sense for his character arc, his best moment will always be his duel with Yubel.
Judai could have won then, but he psyched himself out. Ryo more or less got lucky he wasn't firing on all cylinders that day.
Zane was and always will be the duelist that stood out the most in GX the ONLY one Jaden didn’t beat. The 🐐
amazing video, love seeing people diving into the character and what they been through and how it is changed but also that those characters can still be who they are. (also LOVE the use of Broken From Shadow The Hedgehog. the lost tracks are amazing) please stay safe and have an amazing day. and hope you get more Subs.
thought he was super cool and felt new aura on the character, turns out there were a good number of lineups, of course everyone is us but we like villains more than heroes, the end result or breakdown of the characters overall impact is secondary to why we placed them into the literally me page everyone is us as a distinguished being and u can see some form of us in them.
*nen
I hated what they did with Ryo's character. He had Kaiba levels of "aura", he could have been the most iconic character in the show if handled differently. They did him dirty with only having him play 3 times in the entire first season, and then having Edo embarrassing him, just to turn him back into a powerhouse to then again kneecap him.
Zane, made a lot of sense, life outside school is hard no matter how good you are.
Zane took this difficulty bad until he fought back and regained respect and glory.
and this hits us when we grow up, while most of us stay average and accept defeat, the likes of Zane fight back and rise.
ill stick up to that mindset.
7:24 Zane thought he looked so cool,imagine him picking up his cards afterwards. 😂😂😂
As eye grabbing as the title is, the content & analysis disproves it.😂 Good job!
@@idongesitusen5764 I gotta play the algorithm game as a smaller channel 😂 thanks!
Depends on how you look at it.
Goated video and PERFECTLY choosen ending.
I somehow saw him as Itachi for this Universe - the one, who did choose the dark path, but actually cared for his little brother. It's a shame they did him as they did, while he was just a young adult, like he was what, 18-19 yo at that time
Hell Kaiser is kinda like Nate from Ted Lasso. He made some bad decisions, but he was a fully fledged person with a good side and loved ones through all of it, and that allowed him to come back in a way that didn't undo the harsher person he became, but become a more mature version of it.
He literally fell from grace
It's a shame we never got that Zane Aster rematch especially since he didn't even beat him with the destiny heros. Although if I appreciate they never went in the direction of a 'revenge duel'.
I'm just getting to the Sacred Beasts set of episodes. I have no idea why they sort of made it out like Zane was going to beat Camula, only to have him lose to give Jaden the win. Then they make Bastion into a simp, he loses, and Jaden steals his win, too.
Jaden needs to be stopped, he's too powerful!
@@MMDTrxsh without spoiling anything, Camula should have been second to last in the series of duels against the Seven Star Assassins (can’t remember their name in the English dub). It’s a really mixed bag of emotional duels, then a bunch of hijinks, then back to seriousness.
Ryo should have dueled the Egyptian Pharaoh (not really a spoiler) and won, then duel Camula and lose for Sho’s sake. That is still fine, but Ryo only duels 3 times in season 1 and we only know he’s great because everyone tells you he is. The writing for season 1 could have been a lot better.
I hated the fact Jaden got to duel and won basically all the duels against the 7 instead of giving others to shine
He's one in the manga too.
Top 10 strongest GX Duelists
1/2/3. - prime Hell Kaiser/Yubel/S4 Judai
4. Darkness
5. Fujiwara
6. Amon
7. O'Brian
8. Johan
9. Saiou
10. Trueman
Bro went from Seto Kaiba of the Show to Massive Ls to heart attack and chest pains... And when we thought he's gone and Thanos'd out of existence... He comes back on a wheelchair not explaining how he got brought back to existence.
So he is not a failure. Got it.
No. He is. He failed to make it in the pros with his initial value set, later failed that same value set entirely, then failed to make his darker ways work and just straight up almost died.
@@kagemaru3971. He had 10 wins in a row in the pro league. 2 He used his darker ways to teach his brother to not be such a crybaby. 3. He also saved Fubuki from the darkness and later saved Judai by sacrificing himself. And finally in season 4 we see that his dumbass brother can at least go through a duel without shitting himself to death. All in all I count him as a very accomplished person who had a bit too optimistic view of how his life was going to play out.
@@shadowwarrier4416 His brother almost won against him in Season 2. And he only left Obelisk Blue because of how much he cared about Judai. Then got back in again. Sho was similarly held back by his confidence issues.
@@kagemaru397 If only almost winning or being in Obelisk Blue counted for something.
@@kagemaru397 Syrus didn't almost beat him, Zane from beginning to the end was so confident and never even flinched or worried for once. Besides Syrus prepared entirely anti-deck for his Zane's new deck. Zane was just using underworld deck at that point to test its potential more and more. Do you wanna bet what would happen to Syrus if Zane used his Cyber Heavy Deck?
Ngl Hell kaiser is the best gx character and one of the best in the whole franchise
I always thought yubel should have possessed Chazz(w dark armed dragon) or Zane to face off with jaden for a final face off. Jessie was too new to feel climatic.
His arc is always one that resonated with me, and I also felt like I’d preferred the “old” Zane who played in Graduation Match up to when he had to face the underground duel. It was tough to see him being negative towards respect play, his brother, and his cards if it could get him closer to victory. It seemed like the show was never very good at thinking the best way to respect an opponent is to go all out. Cyber Dragons were sleek state of the art machines that broke the mold in a lot of ways that fought to keep up throughout the years to follow. Along with HERO, Zane support has understandably been some of the most prevalent after the series had ended. Like many I don’t love the addition of Zane in the fourth season when he could have succumbed to his heart situation, but I do wish he was in Arc-V besides a name written on a chalkboard.
... Okay, I don't get it.
Ryo is a prodigy and undefeated in Duel Academy.
Then he gets a 10-loss losing streak once he hits the pro leagues.
He's ostensibly the best student Duel Academy has to offer.
Is this, like, the Alola Region of the Dueling World where they just suck compared to the rest of the world? That doesn't exactly hold up, what with Kaiba being the founder. And then all the students beating the Pros during the GX tournament.
Ryo's story is like the embodiment of the writers saying
"So he was undefeated in Duel Academy and just loses nonstop once dueling anyone else outside of it?"
"That's what we're going with, yeah."
The added context I included about the Light of Destruction affecting duelists that go against Edo clarifies this a bit. So Ryo hits the pros and wins 10 straight. He loses to Edo and is hit with a loss of confidence/willingness to duel. He then loses 10 straight because he sticks to his guns and tries to just duel with respect as opposed to dueling to win. It’s an example of big fish in a small pond. Can that skill set translate to a bigger pond. The answer was no and that’s why he had to struggle and find answers before he could get better.
Always someone better out there. For example, just because you're the best actor/actress in high school, doesn't mean you can run circles around the likes of say Margot Robbie or Kal Penn.
I mean, sure? But I still don't think that tracks the way the storytellers want if that's what they're going for.
Dueling with respect is how- ideally- the game would go in the real world, right? The kind of behavior they would want real players to adopt. Kinda like how- in the final duel- Yugi and Atem teach Judai that the moral is Duel for Fun.
"So we have this guy and his deal is he duels with total respect for his opponents."
"Right."
"And then he just gets completely obliterated by some guy."
"Okay."
"And he goes on a complete downward spiral, becomes an underground duelist sadist monster."
"And how does he come back from that to teach that respect and honor are the way to go after all? A duel with Judai?"
"Nah. He duels someone who completely just destroys him again, he summons a huge monster, has a heart attack and dies."
"Was he about to win?"
"No, it was just a big gesture, I guess."
"... Kinda useless."
"Yeah. But then he comes back, but doesn't do anything- just spends the rest of his screen time in a wheelchair."
"... So the lesson we're teaching with him is 'Duel with honor- have your life ruined.' and Judai's story is 'duel for fun, watch all your friends die'."
"Yeah."
"... What is going on in this anime?"
Kaiser dumping his cards with Power Wall looks disrespectful on paper, but Cyberdark Dragon needs to full pile of discards to function properly. So in a way, he "respected" how that deck worked.
Complicated is an understatement.
This is an interesting take on Ryo. And I like that he HAD the potential to be a completely arrogant jerk at the beginning, but was too grounded to go that route. He was competitive and sought power, but cared for his friends and his brother, even if we wasn't always so good with showing that to the latter.
Judai only tied with him because he was psyched out. It's obvious that by the end of Season 1, he was stronger than Ryo. Now I almost wonder if his loss to Judai would have affected, or even PREVENTED his turn into Hell Kaiser in Season 2. On the one hand, he went dark (Somewhat, it's more like Robby joining Cobra Kai in S3 and S4 of Cobra Kai.) because he kept losing....but what if he would have had the prospect of facing Judai again keeping him from going dark? This would have been a loss to someone he RESPECTED, instead of a random pro duelist or a bad guy/girl like Tsubaki. IDK.....
Samejima.....I partly blame him for how he turned out. He gave Ryo the wrong idea about what it means to be a duelist and put power and dominance before everything. And by proxy, he influenced the rift between the Marafuji brothers that was there for so long and was renewed for a while. I ALSO blame him for Judai's fall into darkness and Duel Academia being endangered in Season 3. He wanted to be the best and have the best and for the same for his students, but he was blind to the points where that becomes a detriment, and he always learned his lesson too late. You would at least almost think Ryo would have been a wake up call for him, and while Ryo DID choose to become Hell Kaiser in the end, (at least in the English Dub) he doesn't take a look at HIMSELF, and HIS contributions to the fall and simply writes it off as him choosing a/the bad path. He doesn't learn in time to stop Yubel, Martin, and Cobra from wreaking havoc on Duel Academia in Season 3. He doesn't even learn from BOTH the times his students go into the other dimension. It's just business as usual in Season 4. And in at least that way, he's worse than Chronos. Even HE in Season 1 knew power and prestige weren't everything. He put himself on the line for the sake of ALL of the Academia's students. INCLUDING the likes of Judai, Sho, and Hayato against Tsubaki. And Napoleon even quits the Academia to patch things up with Martin.
But Ryo, as long and painful as the journey was, did what his master couldn't. Looked past their flawed philosophy and became better. On a side note, I wish Edo would have fought Johan that first time instead of Ryo. And they duel in the other dimension only.
Prime Hell Kaiser (late S2 and early S3) is arguably the strongest in Gx, he is in top 3 in any case. Only forced plot and nerfs could beat him..
Who are the next two strongest.
@@kagemaru397 Yubel and S4 Judai
Yeah and lets not forget he only lost to Edo and Yubel. Edo defeated Judai as well and Yubel never tasted any defeat. Besides if Yubel didn't use that "advanced Rainbow deck which was a literally cheating deck, Kaiser would destroy her.
@@alperenayman620 yeah, and let's not forget that Edo needed luck at the with his trap card. They had to make Kaiser lose so that they can hype up Edo and develop Kaiser later. When it comes to Yubel, it is simple really, Kaiser lost purely for the sake of plot. He used his weakest deck (Cyber Dragons alone, most of his cards were from S1), while Yubel used some cards that she herself made, like Advanced Dark. Even then they were still about equal, if it wasn't for the plot Kaiser would have won with limiter removal. Prime Hell Kaiser with his Cyberdark + Cyber Dragon deck is most probably the strongest gx duelist.
@rokocvjetanovic Plus in verse, he was dying and getting away from his darker tendencies at that point.
I find it hilarious that Ryo's last words before passing was directed to Judai. Did he really have nothing to say to his own brother? Sho would not have had any closure if Ryo did not come back later on.
@@reflera603 to be fair, I would have made sure to address the dude that could save all 12 dimensions from collapsing too lol
Points for the 4K version like 3 times over because it just makes more sense to give last words to both Jaden AND his brother, he actually dies rather than being censorship-retconned onto a beach and the 5DS dub implies that Syrus took the death(and temporary disappearance of Jaden) in a way where he carried on Zane's legacy and made it to the pros.
Seriously no personal offense to anyone liking the original japanese take on things more, but I certainly know where I would cast my vote for a more overall satisfying character ending.
I’ve never heard anyone call GX lame until now, it’s so fun and dark!!
I’ve heard it mostly from fans of the original anime 😅
I think the other spin offs have taken the heat of gx lately but back then it used to get alot of flak
GX is a guilty pleasure season (next to Arc-V). It just tries to do so much for something that's slice of life.
Dark doesnt mean good. GX change of tone in season 3 was not well handled, as opposed to Zexal
@@gijane2cantwaittoseeyou203 it was well handled, way better than Zexal. Good doesn’t have to be dark but GX just happens to be both.
It'd be more suitable to use duel links or GX video game osts in this than MD. Good nostalgic pairing you know.
Great kaiser review
Clicked this video thinking i was gonna see why he was like a bad character or something but honestly i have more respect than i had BEFORE watching the video.
man this man game me a great mindset
Sho: Come on Big Bro stop hurting yourself you are not like this!!!
Hell KAISER!!!: I'm sorry Sho... i was too busy being EDGY TO HEAR YOU!!! Now if you excuse me i've to go to a Linkin Park Concert
For me Hell Kaiser is the best Character the things that happen to him can happen to anyone in the top. he isn't Like the characters that either get brainwashed or he just evil in nature he became Like that. that is Why his death hit so hard he has to be my favorite yu gi oh character of all time just for that
You need to respect this legend
It stinks the way he went out but we got the Cyber Dark archetype
Zane was afraid of aster but was hiding it this is is guy who crushed his confidence and was standing in front of him with not a bit of fear of zane.When aster approached him a part of zane went back to the old zane I'm not trying to say anything bad about zane but he is still a kid and his lose against aster and how it affected him was the closed zane came to being traumatized everyone else on duel academy was afraid to duel zane and aster went looking for him to face a even more powerful zane while aster has his more powerful destiny heroes.Just because zane is hell kaiser does not mean he will win Zanes deck is a reflection of his brutal ways cyber dark deck is brute force but has no defense a mirror force can mess up zane dueling you can see that went he duels jessie the first time zane was destroying jessie but a single trap card kept jessie in the duel.Asters weakness is his monsters low atk points so he has to use spells and traps heavily to stay in the duel aster can still win with cards like d-counter
Yeah he had his own failure which was more realistic than others.... however that doesn't change the fact he was one of the strongest (if not the strongest) duelists in the GX. Edo getting defeated by Manjoume (Chazz) is bigger failure if you ask me :))))
Fortunately his new Cyber Dark Fusion monster reflects his Dark Arc. He abandons everyone and everything including his Cyber end dragon to become unstoppable and reach the top. If Graveyard dump long, in modern Yu-Gi-Oh, was seen as shameful as it used to back in Duel monsters Era. It would mean Ryo has reached an unforgivable level of selfishness to reach the Pinnacle of power and victory.
I need more analysis videos !
A strong character makes me want to watch the show now
the fact that u said the names wrong im not watchin the rest of this vdeo lmfao
My favorite character
They are lucky that cyber infinity program was not yet invented at that time
I really want to watch this but I don't think I can take a 15 minute loop of the Master Duel music in the background
@@elisabethpoland2967 good thing it’s not a 15 minute loop 😌
Zane 💙🖤
What is the song played in the 2nd half of the video?
@@michaelrose5255 I’ve got all the songs I used in the video in the description.
I don’t want to get nit picky for when it comes to a main character losing without shenanigans. Technically didn’t Atem lose to Yugi before the series end of Duelmonsters in a fair duel? Does that count?
He did. Yugi earned that win.
More than a fair fight actually, Yugi had literally everything stacked against him and still won. That is why Anime Yugi can essencially be considered a legend in his own right.
@@lpfan4491 And is in GX. He probably gets credit for Atem's feats on top of that.
Zane: " Don't you ever call me failure. If the show would of gave me far better cards I wouldn't of lost."
Leave that man alone, he was suffering chest pains due to card games
Had interest then lost it all. We grew up watching this stuff dubbed. Just use the English names
He was so used to being #1 at school. And when stepped into the real world 🌍, he fell apart and became pure evil, desperate, and heartless. Plus, he wasn't a good brother from the beginning. I never did like him. Then I started to HATE him! Now I like to see him lose.
He wasn't pure evil, just harsh and power hungry.
Therefore, evil @@kagemaru397
Also, advice...if you're going to call all the characters by JP, don't title the video with EN Characters.
It Didn't Stop Konami from Printing Tons of Cyber Support...
Where is my Cyber Orge Support
I watched GX twice, in sub and dub, but only now do I actually feel like I understand his character in seasons 2 and 3 thanks to this video.
They let him down the script let ZANE DOWN!!!!
As a character Zane was cool! as a duelist he wasn't good at all, a one trick pony that Aster exposed far too late for him to grow and become better. Luckily Jaden was able to grow and adapt after losing to Aster and surpass even Aster, but it was clear Zane didn't know how to duel only how to perform a meta deck's handful of comboes. Even if he misplayed horribly on purpose in the first duel against Jaden to see if Jaden could punish his mistakes and to show his brother that everyone makes mistakes it's fine, you learn from setbacks(not that he would have knew that at that time) and over coming challenges is what dueling is about ect. Assuming he played horrible on purpose and still won to prove a point and try to claim that no matter what I can adapt and overcome any problem so do your worst. It still doesn't help his case as a duelist because Aster playing the same deck exposed that no, he couldn't adapt and over come it, if Jaden was capable of punishing or taking advantage of his misplays Jaden would have beaten him decisively, but Jaden wasn't at that point. In there second duel Zane does his best and Jaden draws him meaning at that moment in time Zane had not grown from there first duel, but Jaden had and by a noiceable amount. They both lose to Aster, but they each react to it differently. Zane was beaten so badly that it shatter his whole world view and who he was as a person. Jaden literally could not read his own cards becoming very relatable to the fanbase, but recovered and even surpassed Aster a pro player while still at DA. Let that sink in, Jaden in season two defeated a duelist that Zane couldn't beat and most likely knew full well he had no chance of ever beating. keep in mind Aster wasn't even playing his destiny heroes when he had Zane look like a child. Zane was that meta deck player that has no real substance and can easily be beaten by a starter deck if it is played by a decent to good player. If you took every character's deck from them and gave them all starter decks it would be clear and very easy to rank every character's ability as a duelist.
@@fakename2890 I partially agree with what you’re saying. Ryo definitely thought he didn’t have much more room for growth after he perfected his deck. After he includes new cards and the cyber darks, he becomes so much more flexible in his dueling that he can punish mistakes or cut through his opponent’s board. The duel against Yubel/Dark Yohan shows how adaptable he is. But to get to that point, he needed to be torn down. That’s the reason he doesn’t have revenge in mind when he runs into Edo again.
Only using a meta deck with a handful of combos is EXTREMELY disingenuous. Jaden tied Zane because the narrative called for it. Every duel Zane took part in he was FAR superior not because of his deck, but his mentality and deep understanding of the game. Just as a real duelist. Yeah he got bested by aster at first. But that’s one duel while you’re throwing away all the others. Out smarting and predicting an ancient vampire, mopping the floor with his own teacher, summoning every single one of his cyber dragons and variants against yubel. In the manga, he figured out the rulings of Chazz’s light and darkness dragon to the point where he looped the negate over and OTK’d him despite Chazz summoning his 3 most powerful monsters. I’m sorry man I disagree with everything you said. His deck only seems meta because jadens deck is so laughably bad in the earlier seasons.
Speaking of "Meta deck" in the anime is really dense, honestly.
He is an amazing Duelist, even yubel respects this guy's Dueling ability
Which has me asking again. How would things have gone, if Judai hadn't gotten psyched out and beaten him in Season 1 like he was likely going to anyway?
6:15 What's wrong with that sentence?
I am saying it again
Crow>zane
Crow is the real Chad here he cares about different people than himself
He rather dies for the poor to live and he has a great deck btw he was supposed to be a dark signer because of the final monster of rex goodwin
Now if someone still thinks crow is the real g in arc v he sacrifices himself so that the rest of xuyas friends can continue to break trough crow was basically saving i think Jack was it or yuya or gong from getting turned into a card Wich is really great
Let's not forget that he's the only one who wants to help the poor people of satilite Wich is why he wants to create the bridge
Love Zane's arc cause it's too real. He strongly believed that "respect" in duel was all that matter throughout his life, while also always winning or close drawing in school. Never having experienced a true defeat, he thought it wouldn't matter if he lost as long as he kept his faith in "respecting your opponent" to heart. After graduating, he rose to fame and was on the rise to become a top pro, only to be defeated by Edo in humiliating way. He had the taste of his true defeat in his life then. The fans turned away, the crowd cheered for the fall of a rising star, and no one cared about "respect duel" that he believed in. Confused about his feelings, he kept losing on purpose all the way down to minor league to convince himself that he doesn't care about the outcome as long as he kept his respect. But the world didn't care about respect, and it certainly didn't care about losers. All it mattered in the world of pro is to win and to put on a show for the crowd by shoving the opponents' heads into the ground. After sponsors dropped him and he fell all the way down to underground duel ring, he finally broke out of his shell and admitted that winning is just simply better than losing.
Fr tho, fk Syrus that little $hit for preventing Edo vs Hell Kaiser rematch.
That's why i hate those silly transfer students from season 3. They stole the time of main characters like sho (Syrus) who should have had development in season 3, to make season 4 (his duel against the Jinzo guy) more believable and not feel rushed. Screw jesse, Axel and Jim🤬
And the fact Jesse literally replaces Sho as Jaden’s best friend
Still think Zane coming back in season 4 was a mistake. He had a good death. Why go & undo it?
Whay
@Diamondr11Blue It felt like a good death (A culmination of his downfall beginning with him losing to Aster) and it reminds me (In a sense) of DC bringing back Barry Allen during Final Crisis. That one in particular because of something sad.
HE LET DR MANHATTAN CREATE THE NEW 52 TIMELINE! If he stayed dead Flashpoint never would've happened. And Dr Manhattan never would've been able to steal history from the DC universe (Apparently influenced by the Great Darkness. But still). I would cite my source but I think my comment would get flagged for doing so.
Bro peaked too soon
So this makes Zane a failure...how?
Why are people giving Zane Trousdale a bunch of crap the guys awesome sure he lost 10 games but it’s not compared to his skill
canon or not, atem lost to raph fair and square. he got greedy, selfishly sacrificed his monsters and paid the price
6:11 what was lame about this?
I was waiting the entire time for you to suddenly critize the dub and how it ruined Ryu's journey... but that never came. How strange.
@@ThePariahDark I never saw GX dubbed. My only experience with it was watching the sub in 2023.
you are a trying youtuber with 3k subs,people in glass houses should not throw stones
remember when he straight up died in the 4kids version? and cause there is no final season he never came back? yeah very kid friendly
Great content
Zane is why I will never like Aster Phoenix. He was a prick for no reason.
Failure, huh? Maybe they're right about that.
Dark zane is so badass
He needs his own series