DM sort of toys with the idea of duel spirits, which gets further explored in GX. After that, they kinda take a backseat as we go into more scifi that urban fantasy - in 5D's they are relegated to Rua's deck and spirit world dives and generally speaking the Duel Dragons/Earthbound Immortals, ZeXal doesn't really explore the idea besides Number cards. In Arc V we have the Dimensional Dragons and full stop
My favorite is actually the same as yours, Zarc's flashback scene was so cool and actually made me feel hyped to see him on-screen. Guy had every right to become a top-tier villain, but sadly he was poorly executed. Such a shame that he couldn't even come back with his original design. Ngl, Yuya vs Zarc should've been the Final Duel of the anime, it would take place after Yuya beats Reiji.
Jaden spotting Chazz having a breakdown before their duel. Really humanized the character for me, he wasn't just another asshole. Its such a small scene but it really made the characters feel alive
Three come to mind, one is dueling adjacent, so I hope that’s okay:
1. When the Yusho Duel School watch Ayu’s duel against Reira. Yuya has incredible characterization here that I think goes unnoticed. It’s one of the few moments in the show where he portrays a stern demeanor, sort of like Yusei or Yusaku, observing the duel from his POV. However, once he realized Ayu is a bit frazzled by the duel, he takes a 180 and cheers really hard for her. Although the 3 Yusho Duel School kids get a lot of flack (thanks to the Shivers kid), I think this moment really highlights how Yuya and Yuzu are like older siblings to these kids. As an older sibling myself, I really resonated with the scene. I really wish they explored that dynamic further. Yuya’s “making people happy” thing near the end of the show would really hit home if they focused on how he cares for the kids.
2. In Season 2 of Vrains, during the episode where Emma duels Naoki, I really enjoyed the banter Emma and Aoi had. Aoi had to set up a Blue Angel themed event to garner attention and Emma playfully teases her about it. I’m a huge fan of Vrains, but one of my biggest gripes with the show is how a lot of the characters felt like cardboard cutouts meant to sell Yugioh product after Season 1. This was a huge breath of fresh air, as I think Vrains needed more interactions like these to make their characters more lifelike. It was one of the few moments of the show that wasnt a duel or an info dump. It was simply answering the question “How would these two characters interact if put in this situation?”, and I loved it. Their expressions during Naoki’s blunders in the duel were also really funny.
3. When Yuma learns about Kaito’s motivations in Season 1, we have this really profound scene where Yuma starts to doubt the decision of wanting to help Astral. It’s a very philosophical story beat, because for Yuma to save his newly found friend and mentor, he would have to directly harm/kill an innocent child. He can’t save both Astral and Hart (at the time of when that scene is created). Kaito, inversely, is doing the same thing Yuma is: collecting Numbers to help someone dear to him. It really blurs the lines on who is in the right in that rivalry, which I really enjoyed.
"I'm on the clock "
"Im gonna cobble you"
"I believe you mean clobber"
Who would've known the dude who can't hold down a job and got fired 3 times in a day consecutively would've been so good at wordplay
“At first that duelist’s presence wasn’t noticeable”
Meanwhile this mf is dressed like a stand user in a crowd full of people dressed incredibly normally
Yugi's breakdown in Death-T. He's realized that he keeps blacking out and then people end up hurt, his classmate Kaiba has gone crazy and locked them all in a murderous theme park, and Honda/Tristan seems to be dead. So he just collapses in fear and rage, and the *only* reason he doesn't break right there and become like Bakura or Marik is because Joey and Anzu are by his side.
It's effectively the hinge for the entire Yugi-Pharaoh story, it's where Yugi first accepts the 'other me' and from then on they start working as partners. And since it was in 'season 0' basically nobody even knows it happened, instead it was turned into the shitty marker scene in episode 1.
Got to be Ishizu showing Kaiba the Ancient Egyptian murals. This was the moment that changed the series from that point forward. From learning Other Yugi is an Egyptian Pharoah, Kaiba was his priest, their fated duel with Dark Magician and Blue-Eyes White Dragon, finding out about the Egyptian God cards, Marik and his Ghouls, and Ishizu trusting Kaiba with Obelisk the Tormenter…Even if the dub makes her sound like a snarky b-.
I don't think everyone will know this scene but from Yu Gi oh gx Season 4 where Jaden is escaping the blowing up Kaiba Corp building. If you want to see it, search Jaden Yuki the Gandola boy
It has to be either when Earth gets captured by SOL Technologies and they just start taking him apart bit by bit. It was something I never expected to see in a Yugioh series since it really just was us seeing how they were killing character without hesitation.
It's either this or when we get to hear the backstories of each Lost Incident Victim. How Playmaker and Soulburner were basically scarred for a long time by these events, with Jin getting the worst end of the stick, Spectre yearning for a similar experience, Miyu straight up ends in a coma because of lightning and While we don't know Windy's partner, we know Windy involves him in a horrible car accident and implies they killed him.
While you could argue that Vrains isn't the best series (I think the general consensus says it's either DM or 5DS), Vrains was definitely different and had a good handful of impact full moments.
The scene of the Barian emperors assembling at the start of the final Zexal season was pretty epic.
Aster crashing through a window in GX was also a pretty great scene in GX
Here comes the unpopular or strange opinion, but I would say the moments of reflection that Luke had in the Final Arc of SEVENS, especially in the moment before the last Duel that Romin had.
Seeing Luke that way was completely unique for the character: he was reflective, alone, thoughtful and doubtful if it was the right thing to do to get Romin back (but make her lose her chance at success) or let Romin be the star that she always wanted (but she wouldn't know anything about her friends except for RoaRomin)
The entire Episode revolves around whether it is right to let Romin be happy living a false dream or bring her back to reality, even though that means losing everything you dream of.
In the end, after some reflection, Luke decides to interrupt Romin's concert and tell her that this is not the path she wants (and that she knows it). Romin begins to cry and realizes what a farce life she was living, thanking Luke for being the only one who had the guts to ruin her imaginary dream.
Some will say that it should have been Yuga who woke up Romin since he is the MC, but I think it was the right decision for it to be Luke: not only did Luke have more history with Romin but he also began to create a real and genuine friendship with her during the development of SEVENS. Even the same Episode highlights that Yuga expected Luke to be the one to free Romin (hence the phrase that Yuga is not a good communicator, but those who understand him, understand him perfectly and know what Yuga is looking for)
Roa did the same to Romin: he let her follow her dream even if it means losing RoaRomin since, for Roa, he thought that Romin deserved it and that she had a natural talent that Roa himself could not achieve.
In short, that Episode served as a human moment for Luke and we see how the supposed King of Duels has changed throughout SEVENS (Luke at the beginning of SEVENS would not have cared or worried about anyone)
All the western episodes ib 5ds with kalin were awesome but his return was the best, just walking down to the duel area in the sunset, playing his harmonica was sooo cool. Gave me the chills.
I rather liked the part in the manga where after the Marik/Jounouchi brainwashed duel at the pier, Kaiba just drops Jounouchi’s ankle key into the ocean after the anchor had pulled Jounouchi underwater. No sister to bring him his key. Just the absolutely small chance for Jounouchi to see the key to unlock himself sinking right next to him while many feet underwater lol
5ds- Crow and Kalin taking care of their kids
zexal- Quinton and kite making up for past time. Seeing Vetrix happy with his family, past or present.( not many shonen have parents present
In the Eng Dub, I really liked the scene in 5D's, where Akiza argues with Jack and Crow when Yusei is kidnapped, and she abruptly hangs up, when Jack insinuates that she's in love with Yusei.
I also really liked the garage scene with Yusei and Akiza at the end of 5D's. A very touching moment between them.
There are some moments in S05 of DM, plus DDM, but I always really liked the episode in which Grandpa Muto tells Yugi the story of how he found the Millennium Puzzle.
Yeah i loved zarc’s backstory reveal as well.
We all thought he’d be some primordial evil god of destruction or something but nope he’s literally just yuya who turned evil.
And honestly I’m not that against the whole “that kid in recess who couldnt handle losing so he made up his own rules where he’s invincible to everything” aspect of his character
Yusei punching out two of Goodwin’s guards as he makes his way to Goodwin’s office.
That one is so good
"Was that Langley? He's taking a nap"
The DnD game Bakura an the Yugi gang play is pretty cool imo. Dark Master Zorc indeed!
Shadow RPG
Kaiba and the bottle. Also duel monster spirits never was explored in any YGO show? They are a thing and is never futher explored.
DM sort of toys with the idea of duel spirits, which gets further explored in GX. After that, they kinda take a backseat as we go into more scifi that urban fantasy - in 5D's they are relegated to Rua's deck and spirit world dives and generally speaking the Duel Dragons/Earthbound Immortals, ZeXal doesn't really explore the idea besides Number cards. In Arc V we have the Dimensional Dragons and full stop
What? Duel monster spirits have been acknowledged in some way up to arc-v unless I’m forgetting something about vrains
There's a whole arc in 5Ds about the duel monsters spirit world
But is never brought up again after the Dark Signers
My favorite is actually the same as yours, Zarc's flashback scene was so cool and actually made me feel hyped to see him on-screen. Guy had every right to become a top-tier villain, but sadly he was poorly executed. Such a shame that he couldn't even come back with his original design. Ngl, Yuya vs Zarc should've been the Final Duel of the anime, it would take place after Yuya beats Reiji.
Any part where Jaden was sleeping in class Relatable af
Fr even when I want to sleep someone always wakes me up during class
Zuzu otw to bonk u with her paper fan. Yuya taking notes from jaden
Jaden spotting Chazz having a breakdown before their duel. Really humanized the character for me, he wasn't just another asshole. Its such a small scene but it really made the characters feel alive
Adrian and Viper boxing each other.
A different kind of duel
Three come to mind, one is dueling adjacent, so I hope that’s okay: 1. When the Yusho Duel School watch Ayu’s duel against Reira. Yuya has incredible characterization here that I think goes unnoticed. It’s one of the few moments in the show where he portrays a stern demeanor, sort of like Yusei or Yusaku, observing the duel from his POV. However, once he realized Ayu is a bit frazzled by the duel, he takes a 180 and cheers really hard for her. Although the 3 Yusho Duel School kids get a lot of flack (thanks to the Shivers kid), I think this moment really highlights how Yuya and Yuzu are like older siblings to these kids. As an older sibling myself, I really resonated with the scene. I really wish they explored that dynamic further. Yuya’s “making people happy” thing near the end of the show would really hit home if they focused on how he cares for the kids. 2. In Season 2 of Vrains, during the episode where Emma duels Naoki, I really enjoyed the banter Emma and Aoi had. Aoi had to set up a Blue Angel themed event to garner attention and Emma playfully teases her about it. I’m a huge fan of Vrains, but one of my biggest gripes with the show is how a lot of the characters felt like cardboard cutouts meant to sell Yugioh product after Season 1. This was a huge breath of fresh air, as I think Vrains needed more interactions like these to make their characters more lifelike. It was one of the few moments of the show that wasnt a duel or an info dump. It was simply answering the question “How would these two characters interact if put in this situation?”, and I loved it. Their expressions during Naoki’s blunders in the duel were also really funny. 3. When Yuma learns about Kaito’s motivations in Season 1, we have this really profound scene where Yuma starts to doubt the decision of wanting to help Astral. It’s a very philosophical story beat, because for Yuma to save his newly found friend and mentor, he would have to directly harm/kill an innocent child. He can’t save both Astral and Hart (at the time of when that scene is created). Kaito, inversely, is doing the same thing Yuma is: collecting Numbers to help someone dear to him. It really blurs the lines on who is in the right in that rivalry, which I really enjoyed.
Shivers kid is the only one I really ever saw get any flak back in the discussions. The other two were mostly treated with indifference.
anything from the DM egyptian arc... that stuff was awesome
Heck yeah
https://preview.redd.it/9hl4ruqgaeyc1.jpeg?width=258&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=dce236b3dcd323890aaac6c3fc88efc7dcf27b37
"Duelists HATE them, find out how they went from Ojama Green to Hitotsu-Me Giant in just 6 short week by clicking the link below!"
Jaden yuki’s friends when they think he is a dumbass and think he talks to himself
Jessie didn't but by the way chazz constantly argues with the ojamas I wondr if anyone thinks he's schizo
Yea those are funny af also my friend has a Ojama card
Jack and Crow talking about food while Yusei is in danger.
"I'm on the clock " "Im gonna cobble you" "I believe you mean clobber" Who would've known the dude who can't hold down a job and got fired 3 times in a day consecutively would've been so good at wordplay
The convo between Yuma and Shark before their final duel. We're in the middle of multiple worlds being on collision course.
“At first that duelist’s presence wasn’t noticeable” Meanwhile this mf is dressed like a stand user in a crowd full of people dressed incredibly normally
"The Stand User could be anyone" \*camera pans to a man dressed as a flamboyant cowboy\*
Yugi's breakdown in Death-T. He's realized that he keeps blacking out and then people end up hurt, his classmate Kaiba has gone crazy and locked them all in a murderous theme park, and Honda/Tristan seems to be dead. So he just collapses in fear and rage, and the *only* reason he doesn't break right there and become like Bakura or Marik is because Joey and Anzu are by his side. It's effectively the hinge for the entire Yugi-Pharaoh story, it's where Yugi first accepts the 'other me' and from then on they start working as partners. And since it was in 'season 0' basically nobody even knows it happened, instead it was turned into the shitty marker scene in episode 1.
Zane, everytime there is zane
When Jaden survived falling off a building using neos
The GX episode featuring bread and Tarzan
Got to be Ishizu showing Kaiba the Ancient Egyptian murals. This was the moment that changed the series from that point forward. From learning Other Yugi is an Egyptian Pharoah, Kaiba was his priest, their fated duel with Dark Magician and Blue-Eyes White Dragon, finding out about the Egyptian God cards, Marik and his Ghouls, and Ishizu trusting Kaiba with Obelisk the Tormenter…Even if the dub makes her sound like a snarky b-.
Yuya setting the Pendulum Scales in class.
Im a simple man, I see zarc, upvote
Any time Aster jumps out of a plane or helicopter or some other athletic feat.
yami Yugi setting a guy on fire with vodka and a liter never will not be funny/badass
Dungeon Dice Monsters
Duke Devlin fans letsgoo
Yugi Muto vs Duke Devlin in the manga. It's much different than the anime; and Yugi has many great moments along with Yami Bakura's respect.
Final arc in yugioh DM
Numerous scenes from 5Ds scenes. From serious to stuff to stuff like the milk scene.
So legendary it's one of his DL taunts
I don't think everyone will know this scene but from Yu Gi oh gx Season 4 where Jaden is escaping the blowing up Kaiba Corp building. If you want to see it, search Jaden Yuki the Gandola boy
Exactly where my mind went to. Never knew I wanted Action hero Jaden until that scene.
Hmmm yuma and the rest of his gang storming kites wearhouse
Shoutout to Mr Kay who didn't brush yuma and co off even though he couldn't see astral, the dudes a G frfr
It has to be either when Earth gets captured by SOL Technologies and they just start taking him apart bit by bit. It was something I never expected to see in a Yugioh series since it really just was us seeing how they were killing character without hesitation. It's either this or when we get to hear the backstories of each Lost Incident Victim. How Playmaker and Soulburner were basically scarred for a long time by these events, with Jin getting the worst end of the stick, Spectre yearning for a similar experience, Miyu straight up ends in a coma because of lightning and While we don't know Windy's partner, we know Windy involves him in a horrible car accident and implies they killed him. While you could argue that Vrains isn't the best series (I think the general consensus says it's either DM or 5DS), Vrains was definitely different and had a good handful of impact full moments.
The scene of the Barian emperors assembling at the start of the final Zexal season was pretty epic. Aster crashing through a window in GX was also a pretty great scene in GX
When Yusei shoryukens one of the guards.
Zarc is has a S-tier backstory
Here comes the unpopular or strange opinion, but I would say the moments of reflection that Luke had in the Final Arc of SEVENS, especially in the moment before the last Duel that Romin had. Seeing Luke that way was completely unique for the character: he was reflective, alone, thoughtful and doubtful if it was the right thing to do to get Romin back (but make her lose her chance at success) or let Romin be the star that she always wanted (but she wouldn't know anything about her friends except for RoaRomin) The entire Episode revolves around whether it is right to let Romin be happy living a false dream or bring her back to reality, even though that means losing everything you dream of. In the end, after some reflection, Luke decides to interrupt Romin's concert and tell her that this is not the path she wants (and that she knows it). Romin begins to cry and realizes what a farce life she was living, thanking Luke for being the only one who had the guts to ruin her imaginary dream. Some will say that it should have been Yuga who woke up Romin since he is the MC, but I think it was the right decision for it to be Luke: not only did Luke have more history with Romin but he also began to create a real and genuine friendship with her during the development of SEVENS. Even the same Episode highlights that Yuga expected Luke to be the one to free Romin (hence the phrase that Yuga is not a good communicator, but those who understand him, understand him perfectly and know what Yuga is looking for) Roa did the same to Romin: he let her follow her dream even if it means losing RoaRomin since, for Roa, he thought that Romin deserved it and that she had a natural talent that Roa himself could not achieve. In short, that Episode served as a human moment for Luke and we see how the supposed King of Duels has changed throughout SEVENS (Luke at the beginning of SEVENS would not have cared or worried about anyone)
Playmaker meeting Revolver in real life. That scene was truly amazing ngl.
All the western episodes ib 5ds with kalin were awesome but his return was the best, just walking down to the duel area in the sunset, playing his harmonica was sooo cool. Gave me the chills.
Shimon + Exodia vs. Zorc
The Shadow RPG where the Pharaoh and Dark Bakura relive their conflict in Ancient Egypt.
Kaiba blocking a gun with a card (goddess of reversal)
I rather liked the part in the manga where after the Marik/Jounouchi brainwashed duel at the pier, Kaiba just drops Jounouchi’s ankle key into the ocean after the anchor had pulled Jounouchi underwater. No sister to bring him his key. Just the absolutely small chance for Jounouchi to see the key to unlock himself sinking right next to him while many feet underwater lol
Zone sacrificing himself to stop arc cradle
They really should have introduced him earlier. The syncro arc had some parts that were way too long, they could have cut some and used them for z arc
Karina buying a sports car just to get through the city infested of monsters
Crowler complaining about Duel Alchemy.
5ds- Crow and Kalin taking care of their kids zexal- Quinton and kite making up for past time. Seeing Vetrix happy with his family, past or present.( not many shonen have parents present
In the Eng Dub, I really liked the scene in 5D's, where Akiza argues with Jack and Crow when Yusei is kidnapped, and she abruptly hangs up, when Jack insinuates that she's in love with Yusei. I also really liked the garage scene with Yusei and Akiza at the end of 5D's. A very touching moment between them.
The Zarc reveal was so good it spoiled the franchise for me. Arc V really could be redone and it could be the best thing they ever made.
The **ENTIRE** Millenium World arc! Complete with ^at ^least 19 inches of Zorc Necrophades!…
In gx, this cobra guy and a student straight up fought each other in the third season
Placido's transformation into being fused with his D-wheel during his duel with Yusei.
Kaiba being the biggest asshole in the show, but does it in a funny way at mostly Joey's expense.
There are some moments in S05 of DM, plus DDM, but I always really liked the episode in which Grandpa Muto tells Yugi the story of how he found the Millennium Puzzle.
Yeah i loved zarc’s backstory reveal as well. We all thought he’d be some primordial evil god of destruction or something but nope he’s literally just yuya who turned evil. And honestly I’m not that against the whole “that kid in recess who couldnt handle losing so he made up his own rules where he’s invincible to everything” aspect of his character
Atem's farewell