Yu-Gi-Oh Vrains Episode Reivew: 1- 5

Wait Dueling "C" does episode reviews now?



Yup, because we have nothing else to do we are willing to give VRAINS a try.

To be fair, I did watch Arc-V and thought about giving it an episode review every month. But then I got too distracted and annoyed by the shivering kid that I rather not do a blog post about it since most of the time I am gonna be scolding him anyway. And whoever that created him.

Episode 1

Wow Yusaku has no chill. "Since you are willing to talk to a loner like me means that you yourself are a loner." Gives me the Yusei vibe. Opening scene of the episode makes me feel like I am seeing an Astral type of being all over again. Also, Mr Loner feels like Sawatori all over again lol.

Ooooo, introducing method to introduce the supporting characters. Chrisma duelist feels like a remade Entertainment Duelists.

So Yusaku is being the 'Big Bro' of the series this time.

That nice high-tech hidden hot dog truck though.

Everyone is finding Ignis.... Hmm Ignis = Astral rip-off? Looks like it.

Wow, Yusaku's competency really reminds me of Yusei. (For those that doesn't know, 5D's is my fav series.) So VRAINS anime better be good please.

And wow, surprise surprise. Yusaku is Playmaker. (Reminds me of SAO's Kirito's title as Beater.)
And the male protagonist saves the female.

"We only calculate how to win." Yes, give me a Bastion winning method rather than a Judai"Pot of Greed" top deck and win type of duel please.

Seeing how Playmaker rides the Data Storm wind makes me realise how much I miss 5D's and its Riding Duels. :(

Episode 2
Incoming plot dump on Speed Duels. At least they didn't re-explain the entire Master Duel. I also like how the VRAINs anime ties with the Duel Links duel format. And Ignis is starting to resemble a likable Crow Hogan + Sawatori. In other words, comic relief.

 Cyberse Wizard. Male protagonists really like their spellcaster monsters.

Yes, more competence and OP-ness. Yusaku is observant. And.... there is the famous meme. Double Draw because Pot of Greed is banned.

#ButYouStillTakeDamage
Totally didn't see Ignis' crafty plan coming.

Card creation in the Data Storm. I will take it, better than Yuya's Pendulum card alteration. "Seize the wind, Playmaker" is the new "Riding Duel, Acceleration"

Three again. Three reasons. But fine, we have back story now. And cool BGM on top of that. And.... who wanna bet that the one that gave him hope will end up being his rival/enemy of the series?

#LifePointsDropsDangerouslyTo100
#AreYouSure
#Masaka #ItCannotBe

And Decode Talker debuts.

Episode 3 - 5

Bad guy uses the number three too lol. Everyone is just having three in their dialouges because Speed Duels have 3 Zones.
Data Storm feels like ZeXal/Signer powers of the series.

A.I. - Ai - Eye. Ok i like the puns LOL

Lol the police sirens even resemble those from 5D's Security Patrol.

And we have talking chess pieces again. This bring the TV Trope Smart People Plays Chess to a whole new level. More backstory reveal, and fragmented memories feels so "Atem" in nature.
Go Onizuka sure is narcissistic. And please don't throw this game away Mr Playmaker.

Go Onizuka now feels like Crow (because orphanage) and Gongenzaka(because of the wrestling theme/fighting style). On that note, Gongenzaka will fail so badly at Speed Duels since he duels with his Steadfast Dueling.
Again with the number three,.
Ai's comment on Humans reminds me of Astral Observation numbers.
For the record, I hate the entertainment style lol.
And, another Seize the Wind Playmaker.
Interestingly, the exit log out gates resemble Duel Links' gates.

Conclusion
I have nothing against the opening and closing themes of the anime. My impression of the anime has been fairly well thus far. In a short span of five episodes, it is evident that Yusaku is a different type of protagonist than Yuya was. I like how competent and capable he is depicted to be. This type of MC is what I enjoy the most.

That said however, Link Summoning and its animation is quite boring. Synchro Summoning had circles and lights, with some nice sound effects. Link Summoning had the overlay network and black hole, while Pendulum Summoning had that lengthy needless chant, but at least there was an animation. Link Summoning just feels like reciting a script (characters reciting, not the voice actors) and then filling in the blanks with the Link Markers, requirements and ta-da. Circuit~

The most disappointing one was perhaps the lack of variety on the Summon Chant, which 5D's had plenty of variation and different themes.

The first five episodes wasn't particularly slow in my opinion, and I appreciate how they didn't make a huge hoo-hah or fuss whenever a Link Summon is performed. This happened so many times in Arc-V it became annoying. "Wow he synchro summoned. Wow he synchro summoned after pendulum summoning. This is so out-of-the-world"

Characters were introduced smoothly and developed well in its initial stages. Also, I appreciate how there isn't much cringeworthy scenes. For now Vrains looks good and I hope it only gets better as time passes.