Yu-Gi-Oh! Go Rush!!

Yugioh Go Rush is an odd show, both deliberately but also the circumstances around it. First of all, it was advertised vaguely that no one could tell if it was a sequel or prequel. Then, it having both alien and cryptids theme. Supporting character designs that look like reskins of Sevens characters. The gameplay looks back to basics cause no fusion monsters, just main deck monsters? And once the first episode aired, coming hot off of the amazingness of the last ep of Yugioh Sevens, you can just feel the rough production of Go Rush's first ep and most of its early eps, and itsnot like things were an upwards graph on quality, no we got recap eps. And of course, our protagonist for the first time in franchise history is an alien, and he is a very innocent silly but tall almost superman alien man that you hardly believe that he's a veteran of war. Truly an oddity, that completely describes the entire identity of Yugioh Go Rush for the three years that it ran. Which is amazing, after the uncertainty of how long Sevens would run and thinking Go Rush would also be 2 years, Go Rush was apparently received so well it got extended for a third year. First time that has ever been said about any Yugioh series. Yes, Yugioh Go Rush revels in oddity. And for better and for worst, I say it succeeds. The initial premise of the show is Yudias Velgear gets a prophecy to go to earth with his 8.88 million countrymen to learn Rush Duels to end the war in his galaxy, he meets the Ohdo twins Yuamu and Yuhi and lives with them and joins them in their extraterrestrial investigation business. However what happens between then and episode 151 is one of the wildest stories ever told in Yugioh. But I guess I should say, it does deliver on the initial premise. Kazuki Takahashi would be proud, ending war by making everyone play games instead, and entire galaxy playing card games, what joy. Zwijo is probably one of the greatest Kaiba expys next to Jack. Yudias's relationship with the Ohdo twins are so good. The final duel to decide is one of the best moments in Yugioh ever, it would be a great finale for a series in its own right. But then it keeps going. Because Go Rush knows you know something isn't right with the world of this show. The more they reveal, the more crazy things get. And THEN when you think everything is finally wrapping up nicely, no more Go Rush could happen what more could they possibly do, they announced year 3 at Jump Festa. And Year 3 is a very fascinating season because we finally get original designs divorced from the regular human with a very Sailor Moon-esque evil alien squadron and it so cool, and then comes the part that has a lot of people mixed once that arc ended. Cause love it or not, it becomes pretty clear by the end Go Rush deliberately wrote a story about obsession in all its ugliness. It does not stop. It is deliberately offputting you wonder how exactly its gonna end so much so that for one of the arc finale duels they did something that has so much energy of a Type Moon VN rather than Yugioh. And even though it was a victory, it wasn't an overall positive for Yudias as we step into the final arc. Taking a break to say the Tadano designs are even better than they were in Sevens cause of the upping of aliens and Yuamu especially cause she does look like a Sailor V esque design. Zwijo is an alien ikemen, Tadano got to draw a lot more ikemen for Go Rush. Character wise the Sevens expy characters serve their purpose, the familiar oddity to make the new characters stand out. Nyandestar is great. Epoch I didn't expect a Tiger expy to be just as good as Tiger but she is just as good, very cute. And of course, everyone's favorite Goha Yuna. When it comes to treatment of characters, Id say Go Rush is a little below Sevens, still better than most Yugiohs but one way or another they started doing small annoying things with 1 or 2 characters or in the end dropped a few minor plotpoints to get to the ending. Which is funny cause the last arc has one too many episodes where I was like "They do know the show is ending this arc right?". And there is some slight Yuhi bias as the show goes on, not to say Yuamu doesnt get moments, in fact Yuhi is weaker than Yuamu in the first season that I felt like they were overcompensating in the later arcs. Maybe im getting too obsessed over the details. But yes, obsession becomes a big focus point of Go Rush. Ultimately I was mixed about where it was going, but the moment we got to the final duel, I finally understood. Especially when the final duel has such an insane gimmick, like its so creative and never been done before. And the answer to how Yudias and the twins defeat the final opponent is just beyond amazing, what an iconic finish. No ceremonial duel needed. Which is crazy cause the turning point ep was pretty much a recap ep. Thats how good the final duel was, im not upset about he ep which led to the final duel was a recap ep stretching out 20 minutes to end on the scene that makes the duel happen. Thats how good Bridges writing is. And so for now this seems to be the last Yugioh. And seemingly they knew cause of some imagery drawing from OVERLAP and Yugi and Atem's final duel is used. So for now, that's goodbye to Yugioh anime. What a crazy and ambitious show to end without news of the next show cause I totally want a Yugioh 9. Give us the Rush Duel 5Ds. but I guess that's the message Go Rush want to end off on, don't sweat the future.

GO RUSH's concept has a lot of potential to go far, but due to a lack of proper focus of a clear end-goal, makes the plot hard to follow a lot of the time. A lot of interesting plot points/twists are brought up as the story goes on, usually becoming the big focus of the upcoming arc. However, especially after Season 1, the pacing feels like it's written on an arc-by-arc basis, with some loosely connected strings trying to tie everything together. Individual arcs are not hard to understand, but at some point, trying to connect everything together makes the show hard to recommend to others. GORUSH isn't all bad though. Most of the characters are enjoyable, with significant characters like Yudias, the Ohdo twins, and Maddox getting some solid character developments that keep them from being completely static. The shorter Duels from SEVENS returns, making the Dueling itself much more bearable and enjoyable. In isolation, each individual arc is a fun-enough watch if you don't have anything else to put on. Basically, if you enjoy watching the Duels above all else, I highly recommend this show. Overall, GO RUSH is a show that does a lot of things well, but doesn't tie them up super well. It's definitely overhated for being a RUSH-based show, which could entail things like humor for a younger audience and some iffy writing, but it does manage to be a step up from going where SEVENS is. Personally, GO RUSH is my favorite series, but I do see that it has a bunch of flaws. If you want fun character interactions, enjoy the Dueling aspect of Yu-Gi-Oh!, and don't mind jumping from arc to arc, you should definitely give GO RUSH a try. If you want a show that has more solid writing with an overarching story over the span of the show, maybe watch season 1, though other than that, it probably isn't the show for you.