Media Essays: Re-Writing Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc-V Part 1

This is a post I couldn't resist making, especially considering the lengthy essay I wrote dissecting why this show was so bad.

Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc-V is so far the worst Yu-Gi-Oh! anime I've seen to date. I'm sure there might be one worse than this one, but I haven't seen any others outside of the original series, GX, 5D's and this one so I dunno if Zexal, VRAINS, Sevens and any others are any good or not. All I know is that Arc-V is a steaming pile of garbage. The plot is incredibly poorly paced, the characters are either badly handled or pointless to the story, the cast is way too large, the duels are more annoying than enjoyable to watch due to the stupid Action Card gimmick and characters making up crap on the spot in order to win, the villain is a complete moron and it completely fumbled the execution of its otherwise fascinating concept.

When you have a series involving a multiverse war but with Yu-Gi-Oh!, you have no excuse for being as bad as you are. This show should've been amazing, and instead it was aggravating and a complete misfire. Yes, I am aware that the show had a lot of behind-the-scenes issues that hurt the quality of the show, I even acknowledged that in my essay. But regardless of those issues, the finished product is still terrible and it feels like several hours of my life just wasted, and no media should ever make you feel that way.

So in order to make up for that lost time and also to show some mercy to Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc-V, I'm doing a rewrite essay much like I did for Pokémon Horizons Season 3. But in that case, I only rewrote a single season. With THIS project, I'm rewriting the entire series. So without further ado, let's dive in...

The Major Changes

So before the re-write begins, we must go over what will be the biggest changes I'll be making to Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V. This'll help set up how the re-write will be handled going forwards. With that said, what will be the major changes? 1: The protagonist roles are completely switched. Zuzu Boyle will be the main character (as she SHOULD be) and Yuya Sakaki will be a supporting character. I already pointed out in my essay that Zuzu was more like the main character than Yuya was and Zuzu has the most importance to the plot, ergo it makes way more sense for HER to be the main character instead of Yuya. Besides, we have too many male protagonists for Yu-Gi-Oh!, it's about time we had a female main character.

2: Zuzu will NOT be a damsel in distress and she WILL NOT get brainwashed! It's about time we put that thing to bed when it comes to Yu-Gi-Oh! girls. There will only be ONE occasion in the entire series where she and the Bracelet girls will get kidnapped, but that's it. Most of the time, they're holding their own and not needing to be saved.

3: The final duel will be between Zarc and Ray and won't consist of Zarc blatantly BS-ing his way through the duel with effects he's clearly making up on the spot. Oh and on the subject of duels, Action Cards will be gone entirely. No duels will have them.

4: There will be a fifth dimension known as "The Ritual Dimension" in where, of course, everyone Ritual Summons. It will be where the climax of this re-write will take place.

5: Leo Akaba is not the main villain and his scheme isn't stupid. He still seeks to reunite the Bracelet Girls and get Ray back, but his scheme gets hi-jacked by Yuri who decides to use it as a means to reunite his counterparts and reform into Zarc. Yuri is the overarching protagonist this time around.

6: There will be legacy characters from the original Yu-Gi-Oh! series, unlike before where they got left out and the legacy characters will be better handled, unlike before where they were really bad fanservice and felt mostly pointless. The Synchro arc will feature Mai Valentine and the Fusion arc will have a version of Seto Kaiba as one of the villains. Alexis will feature in the Ritual Dimension since that suits her better than being in the Fusion Dimension.

7: The Synchro arc will be DRASTICALLY shortened so the other arcs have time to breathe and better develop their stories.

8: Pendulum Summoning isn't invented out of nowhere like in the series. 5D's didn't need to invent Synchro Summoning out of nowhere in order for its story to work after all, so this show didn't need to do it either. Instead, Pendulum Summoning already exists and it will be established as a summoning method that hasn't had much success until Zuzu and Yuya start winning with it. MUCH better than Yuya inventing it out of nowhere.

Which Characters Will Stay And Which Ones Will Go?

I mentioned this in the essay, but I feel it bears repeating here. This show had WAY too many characters and way too many of them felt like a waste of space while others should've had expanded roles, but were instead wasted. So before we begin the re-write, which characters will stay and which will go? Sylvio, Iggy, Reed, Pierre, Aura, the Battle Beast, Captain Cutter and Dennis will be completely gone from the re-write. Nothing is lost if these characters are gone. Some might object to Sylvio being gone, and all I can say is...I don't care. The guy should never have been created, all he did was make the Lancers look bad and steal screentime from characters who deserved it way more than he did. I've also decided to ditch Moon Shadow as well since he was kind of a waste of space too. I'll have Lulu Obsidian take his spot instead. As for the Legacy characters, I'm ditching Crow and giving all his scenes to Rin since that I feel is the best way I can get her to fit into this story. Also, so the original Yu-Gi-Oh! series gets some love, I'll be including two characters from that series.

I was going to ditch Frederick, Tate and Allie at first, but I decided that they should stay to establish that the You Show School has students attending and that Zuzu and Yuya have friends to look after. Also we need some way to set up how skilled a duellist Riley is and they do the job well.

As for the characters who will get an expanded role, those will be Kit, Julia, Barrett, the Tyler sisters, Lulu Obsidian and Rin. Kit and Julia will become members of the Lancers in place of Sylvio and Dennis, their motivation being to avenge Dipper after the Fusion Dimension turned him into a card. Barrett and the Tyler sisters will be recurring enemies our heroes have to face and since Zuzu is the main character this time, all four Bracelet girls will get more time to shine. Lulu and Rin will get more story time and won't just be princesses in a tower waiting to be rescued. Sora Perse will also spend more time as a villain once he drops the façade and he'll have more time devoted to his eventual heel-turn, unlike in the show where it essentially happens off-screen. With no Dennis, we can actually focus more on Sora as a villain after the twist is revealed. Making Dennis another spy for the Fusion Dimension just felt redundant because Sora already did that, so it makes more sense for me to just make Sora fulfil the whole role by himself.

So with that out of the way, let's dive into the re-write! The re-write will be divided into arcs and each arc is set in each dimension. Part 1 will cover the Standard arc and Part 2 will cover the Synchro, XYZ, Fusion and Ritual arcs.

Arc 1: The Standard Dimension

The arc begins with Zuzu Boyle and her best friend Yuya Sakaki testing out the You Show School's new ARC-system, a machine that produces realistic and solid holograms to enhance the duelling experience. The test...doesn't go well and the system blows up in everyone's faces. Zuzu feels sceptical about them ever getting the machine to work while Yuya remains confident that they'll figure it out. Zuzu merely remarks that Yuya has much of his father Yusho in him. He never had a defeatist attitude and always tackled life's problems with a smile. Yuya encourages Zuzu to do the same, which she may well have to do since she has an exhibition match with the Sledgehammer coming later that day. Zuzu remains concerned since her dad, Skip Boyle, took on the Sledgehammer and got obliterated. She vows the same won't happen to her and she'll do the school proud. Before she goes, Yuya hands Zuzu a pair of cards. They're his Pendulum cards. He suggests Zuzu take them so she can give the Sledgehammer a duel like he'll never expect.

Later that day, Zuzu and the Sledgehammer meet up in the arena and begin their duel. At first, it seems that the Sledgehammer will win the duel with his Battleguard King looking particularly invincible, Zuzu manages to draw Yuya's Pendulum cards, Stargazer Magician and Timegazer Magician. Having never Pendulum Summoned before, Zuzu thinks back to friendly duels she and Yuya had and thinks she's able to pull it off. Against all odds, she successfully performs a Pendulum summon and is able to pull off a win against the Sledgehammer. While Pendulum summoning has been around for a while in this universe, Zuzu is the first duellist in history to successfully win a major match with it, so this naturally earns her a lot of attention and applause from the audience and other duellists. Yuya congratulates her on pulling it off, but Zuzu doesn't feel like it was her win since she had to rely on Yuya giving her those cards in order to pull it off. Yuya points out it is still her win though as she pulled off that successful Pendulum Summon and with very little coaching from him. As is, Zuzu acknowledges she needs her own Pendulum cards and can't just use Yuya's all the time.

Later on, she's able to find some Pendulum cards, and they happen to be Melodious themed too. Excited, she and Yuya stage a duel with each other to test them out. The duel is close, but Yuya manages to emerge victorious. Zuzu isn't surprised since he's better at Pendulum summoning than she is, but Yuya compliments Zuzu on being a fast learner. In any case, both of them have given the younger kids a good show and You Show School now finds itself with more students wanting to sign up for it, including a trio of friends named Tate, Allie and Frederick. Skip is overwhelmed, but otherwise grateful that his daughter and her friend have garnered more interest in his school. Unfortunately, it also gathers...unwanted attention.

The Leo Institute of Duelling (LID for short) catches wind of the rising popularity of You Show and especially how Zuzu managed to win her exhibition match with a method of summoning that has otherwise had no real success in the past. The institute invites Zuzu and Yuya to attend and Zuzu is made to duel against one of their students, an XYZ duellist named Dipper O'rion. Zuzu manages to win with relative ease, impressing a mysterious young boy named Sora Perse in the process and he decides to join You Show. Much like in the original, Zuzu duels against Sora just as Yuya did and Zuzu manages to win.

However, Dipper isn't too happy about his loss to Zuzu and he plots with his friends Julia Krystal and Kit Blade to pay her back. Catching wind of this, Zuzu accepts Dipper's proposal and the two duel again. However, as it gets underway, the duel is suddenly interrupted by two mysterious people in masks who intrude on the duel. As they get involved, Zuzu and Dipper see that they're also XYZ duellists and their style of duelling is different and more dangerous as they seem to do real damage. Dipper is trounced when one of them summons a mysterious monster known as Dark Rebellion XYZ Dragon and after the match is over, Zuzu sees to her utter amazement that the strangers bear a striking resemblance to herself and Yuya. The strangers tell Zuzu to forget she ever saw them and they promptly disappear. Julia and Kit accuse Zuzu of orchestrating this attack, but Zuzu denies having anything to do with them. The three LID students refuse to listen and demand Zuzu pay, so the next day Henrietta Akaba (the mother of Declan Akaba) comes to You Show School with a proposition: if You Show can win best two-out-of-three against her students, then You Show will remain as it is and the incident will be forgotten about. If not, You Show will belong to LID.

The first duel is against Zuzu and Julia. Thanks to her Pendulum Summoning, Zuzu narrowly scrapes a win, but Yuya isn't so lucky against Dipper. Gong and Kit duel to a draw and so Henrietta gets Declan and Zuzu to duel together in order to break the tie. Declan amazes everybody by performing every summoning technique out there, including Pendulum summoning. However, like in the original, the duel is interrupted before there can be a winner. After the experience, Zuzu and Yuya declare that in order to save their school, both need to master more summoning techniques. Both take lessons from Sora in Fusion Summoning while Gong is taught by Kit how to Synchro Summon. Unlike in the original, there are episodes devoted to these plots and they're not skipped over in favour of filler duels. The duels with Reed, Pierre and Aura are completely dropped.

During a session between Zuzu and Sora, Zuzu ends up being confronted by Julia. She thinks this is about her losing to her, but Julia's actually angered about the disappearance of Professor Marco, a teacher she's close to. She demands Zuzu tell her where the masked duellist is, but Zuzu has no idea. However, the masked duellist and his associate show up, and they have a third associate with them. The third one, who's name is revealed to be Shay, wants to duel Julia as she's LID, but his comrades, who are named Yuto and Lulu, stop him from attacking Julia. Zuzu once again is weirded out by the fact there's a girl who looks like her and a boy who looks like Yuya. As Yuya comes near, Zuzu's bracelet causes the three mystery duellists to disappear. This weirds Zuzu out even further as that's never happened before. Overwhelmed, Zuzu breaks down in tears, wondering what's even happening anymore.

Sometime later, Zuzu and Yuya complete their training with Sora and are now able to Fusion Summon as well as Pendulum Summon. Gong Strong is also now able to Synchro Summon. The three friends along with Tate, Allie and Frederick all enter the Arc League Championship Tournament in order to show off their skills and to show the world what You Show Duel School can teach everyone. Declan oversees the tournament, looking out for potential "Lancers" for his army against an oncoming threat.

Before the tournament happens though, Zuzu runs into Yuto and Lulu again and Shay duels against Dipper, Julia and Kit all at once. Just like in the original version, he beats all three of them single-handedly. Meanwhile, Yuto and Lulu try to convince Zuzu not to participate in the tournament as she's only making herself a target. Zuzu demands to know what they mean by "target", but they're suddenly warped away before they can explain themselves. Yuya arrives, missing them by seconds yet again. Zuzu can only wonder how deep this rabbit hole goes.

She ignores the warnings of the strangers and goes anyway. At the tournament, she, Yuya and Gong all win their duels against Julia, Dipper and Kit respectively while Allie gets trounced by a mysterious kid named Riley. And before you ask, Julia gives Zuzu Crystal Rose just like in the original version. At first, it seems as if things are going well for You Show. But then the mysterious Shay ends up duelling against Sora. Before the duel begins, Zuzu leaves the audience to fetch some soda for herself and Yuya. However, she gets snatched by someone sneaking up behind her and clamping a hand around her mouth. She's taken into a closet and locked inside with her kidnapper. Zuzu angrily demands to know what the meaning of this is, and to her surprise, the kidnapper...

...is Lulu.

Now the two are somewhere private and Yuya and Yuto are away from each other so she can't get warped away again, Lulu explains everything to Zuzu. Simultaneously, Shay also explains to Sora what their deal is. Their home, the XYZ Dimension, was razed by the Fusion Dimension and they turned several people into cards. Not only did they cause a lot death and destruction, but the Fusion Dimension attempted to abduct Yuto and kill Lulu. Since then, the two and Shay have been fighting against the Fusion Dimension and they're here now in the Standard Dimension because they're afraid that the Fusion Dimension will invade and come for Zuzu and Yuya. Zuzu doesn't understand why anyone would want to kill her. Lulu doesn't get it either, but she has a feeling there's a connection between them, especially since they look identical. Lulu begs Zuzu to get out of here now and out of the public limelight or else she'll make herself a target for when the Fusion Dimension invades. Zuzu refuses, saying she won't let some creeps from another world come for her or Yuya.

Meanwhile, Shay and Sora's duel hits its climax and Sora's true colours are revealed. His personality changes completely, displaying a cruel and sadistic demeanour that he lacked before, freaking Yuya and Gong out. Unknown to Sora, Lulu's Duel Disk is linked to Shay's, so Zuzu overhears how the duel ends and she too is shocked by Sora's change in attitude. Lulu reveals to Zuzu that the boy she thought was a friend is actually a spy for the Fusion Dimension and that was another reason why she had to get Zuzu somewhere private, to get her away from Sora before he could try and kill her. Shay defeats Sora and Sora is taken to the medical ward to get better. After that, Zuzu catches up with Yuya and Gong again and tells them everything Lulu told her. Yuya and Gong can't believe what they're hearing, but considering Shay pretty much said everything Lulu said to Zuzu, they feel these two people can't both be telling the same lie and Sora's change in attitude also adds credence to their story. For her own safety, Zuzu agrees to stay away from Sora. However, Sora breaks out of hospital and comes looking for Shay, completely forgetting about his actual mission. Instead, he runs into Yuto and smugly proclaims "At least I can go back home with one mission completed!". The two duel and despite Yuto's best attempts, he is unfortunately defeated and Sora warps him away to the Fusion Dimension, leaving Lulu and Shay devastated at the loss of their friend and boyfriend respectively.

The next day of the tournament begins and Zuzu, Yuya and Gong get back in the swing of things, however Zuzu isn't so sure if she should carry on after everything Lulu and Shay have revealed. Yuya declares that they have to go on and if the Fusion Dimension try anything funny, they'll fight back just as Shay and Lulu have. Inspired, Zuzu agrees to carry on. She, Yuya and Gong win some more matches before suddenly, all hell breaks loose. The Fusion Dimension invades and Obelisk Force card a lot of innocent people and duellists. Sora and Shay have a rematch and Zuzu, Yuya and Gong are forced to fight against Obelisk Force. Lulu also fights against Obelisk Force. At one point, she and Zuzu team up to face off a pair of twin sisters named Gloria and Grace Tyler, both of whom are here to kill Zuzu and Lulu. At the same time, Declan comes across two people named Celina and Barrett. Celina has carded Dipper and Barrett is accompanying her. Declan defeats Barrett and sends him packing. Celina doesn't care as she doesn't want him hanging over her shoulder. She tells Declan she has a job to do and Declan demands to know what that job is. Celina replies:

"To kill a girl named Zuzu Boyle, who resides in this dimension!"

She tells Declan that Zuzu has been labelled a threat to the multiverse that must be eradicated, same for two other girls name Lulu Obsidian and Rin. Declan tells Celina that she's misinformed and that Zuzu is no danger at all. If she doesn't believe him, she can see for herself that it's Obelisk Force who are the real threat. Celina sees Obelisk Force's cruelty first hand and when she sees Zuzu, Yuya and Gong heroically standing up against them, she finds herself moved by the heroic actions of Zuzu and friends and shocked that Obelisk Force would be so cruel. At first, it seems everything is going well for our heroes. The Tyler sisters are defeated, Sora is also defeated and Obelisk Force is beginning to lose ground. But then...

Yuri enters the field. He declares that he's the one in charge and makes two demands: Yuya Sakaki is to come with him and that Zuzu Boyle is to be executed. Both Zuzu and Yuya refuse to back down and challenge him. Yuri smugly declares that he'll floor them both with his toxic tactics. However, Celina intervenes, demanding to know the truth behind everything. Yuri only shows disappointment that Celina couldn't be swayed after all and declares he'll kill her too. However, a mysterious blue and yellow haired boy on a Duel Runner appears from nowhere and declares that he's going to make Yuri pay for what he's done. Yuya balks, amazed that this boy looks a lot like him just like how Yuri resembles him too. However, Zuzu's bracelet glows again and the boy and Yuri are warped away. Unfortunately, Yuya had his hands on the boy's Duel Runner at the time he vanished, so he vanishes with him, shocking Zuzu and leaving her devastated that her best friend has gone. The invasion is over, but Yuya is gone, many people have been carded and Zuzu feels that this is only the beginning.

After everything is cleared up, Declan explains the situation to everybody. The Fusion Dimension is going around looking for boys who resemble Yuya and girls who resemble Zuzu and kidnapping the former while trying to kill the other. Nobody knows why that is, but that is why they must come together in order to stop these attackers. Declan also suspects the Fusion Dimension is behind the disappearance of his father, Leo Akaba. He declares that Zuzu, Gong, Shay and Lulu have demonstrated the duelling skills necessary to join his elite strike force, The Lancers. They also each have an important reason to want to join up too: Zuzu wants to rescue Yuya, Gong wants to back Zuzu up and also rescue Yuya, Shay and Lulu want to get Yuto back and also avenge their dimension's destruction. Julia and Kit demand to join the team too, wanting revenge for what happened to Dipper. Celina also wants to be a Lancer, wanting to pay the Fusion Dimension back for deceiving her this whole time. Declan accepts the offers and the team head off to the Synchro Dimension in order to recruit more Lancers and find Yuya...

To be continued in Part 2...