Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc-V Season One Talkback

[Light Lucario]

Apparently 4K Media had done the subs themselves up until Episode 49 when they rolled out them onto Crunchyroll. However, starting with Episode 50, Crunchyroll's been doing the subtitles themselves. And yeah, a simulcast would definitely be awesome.

That might explain why there were so many subs available right from the start if 4K Media had worked on them for awhile.

It depends. Obviously if all parties want to make it happen, I could maybe see 4K Media giving it a try. Whether it's in house or having FUNimation manage it. Though, this is all speculation, so I largely don't expect it, but would be a cool thing to happen.

Funimation hasn't been too involved with the franchise since the uncut DVDs. It is a cool idea and I'd be fine with it, but I don't think it's going to happen.

By the way, Joshua over on Twitter mentioned he was emailed by someone at Nick that they'll air the rest of the episodes in May. While I don't expect them to really follow through with that (Nick quickly stopped the double premieres for Arc-V, hence why I'm hesitant on this), but we'll see. Also, I'm not sure what the guy meant by "the rest", unless he's talking the last part of "Season 1"....

If they stop airing episodes after episode 36, then that would leave about twelve episodes left before the end of the first season. I don't know if they could cover that all in May, especially when they don't seem to give out more than just double premieres for the series. Nick can change their schedules extremely fast, especially for Nicktoons, so that alone makes me pretty doubtful that they'll air all of those episodes during that time. Not to mention May is a long time from now and there's absolutely no good reason for them to wait that long when even the second season is already dubbed at this point.

 

[Light Lucario]

Making the Cut: Part Two
Sora and Shay's heated duel hits its boiling point when dark secrets about their hidden history come to light! Could there be something sinister behind Sora's sweet-toothed smile?​

 

[Gold Guy]

This episode was really good. Sora and Shay's back and forth banter was some of the best the show has had so far.

Obviously, Sora was always hiding secrets - but I never expected the twist to be that HE was a villain. The second he got that crazy face the Yu-Gi-Oh! animators love to use, I went "What the?"

It's awkward that the whole audience could hear every word, though, ha ha.

I wonder if that last action card could have helped Sora make a comeback...

 

[Light Lucario]

This episode was really good. Sora and Shay's back and forth banter was some of the best the show has had so far.

Obviously, Sora was always hiding secrets - but I never expected the twist to be that HE was a villain. The second he got that crazy face the Yu-Gi-Oh! animators love to use, I went "What the?"

At this point, it would have been more of a twist if Sora hadn't been secretly a villain. He was so suspicious and there were some odd hints that there was something different about him, like how he dodged the whole where he was from when he first dueled Yuya. Although, Sora's facial expressions during that scene were still a trip to see. It was the crazy villainous expressions that the animators love to throw around. I wasn't expecting them to go quite far.

It's awkward that the whole audience could hear every word, though, ha ha.

I wonder if that last action card could have helped Sora make a comeback...

To be fair, the audience being able to hear conversations in a stadium has always been kind of strange for this franchise.

As for the Action Card, it's possible that it could have helped Sora make a comeback, but that might have been a bit too tricky. He had already used up a few Fusion monsters, including one of his strongest ones, and Shun was already in control of the match. It wouldn't have been impossible, but much like Yuzu's first duel against Masumi, I think it would have been pretty unlikely for Sora to win at that point. He might have been able to hold on a bit longer, but I don't think he woudl have been able to win. Plus, Sora winning wouldn't have made sense for the storyline. The main purposes of this match was to throw in some more hints/foreshadowing through Shun's monologue and for Sora to reveal his true allegiance near the end. Sora's defeat will also play a pretty key role in the next couple of episodes. After all they went through to hype Shun up, they wouldn't have him lose for his second full duel.

Anyway, I thought that this episode was pretty good. It was cool to see Sora finally use some more Fusion monsters. He's always used Frighfur Bear in his other duels, so this was the first time w e got to see more of his deck, which was pretty neat. Sora's cocky attitude annoys me, but his deck was always cool and I wanted to see more of it. And like in the previous episode, he was doing so while trying to entertain the crowd similar to Yuya's style. Frighfur Leo looked pretty cool and had a pretty handy effect, but Shun was able to defend himself with an Action Card and even pretended Leo from destroying his monster with a Trap card. He was able to destroy Sora's monster with a pretty nice combination of Rise Falcon's ability and another Trap card that prevented Sora from using a Spell or Trap card. Sora was still having fun up to that point, but seeing Shun destroy another one of his monsters and put pressure on him did make him finally go all out.

Sora using another new Fusion monster was pretty neat and the strategy behind Frighfur Sheep made sense. Shun had been using Spells and Traps to protect his monsters, so sealing that off during attacks made sense. He wasn't counting on Shun using a Rank Up Spell card though. Shun's Blaze Falcon looked really cool and had a pretty handy effect as well. defend himself with his monsters' abilities and Action Cards, but Shun kept having the means to counter those strategies. It was a close match and that back and forth kind of vibe made the match more engaging, but that did result in the field spell getting destroyed. Compared to most of the other duels they've shown thus far, this one definitely had more destruction than what the characters are used to seeing in a duel. A duel is more like a performance or a means to entertain the crowd, but this match was more akin to a battlefield. Even Yuya realized that as Shun and Sra were trading blows with each other and destroying the field.

And then there was Sora's reveal. While it was pretty obvious that there was something different about Sora, the execution of that reveal was still pretty good. His facial expressions made him more sinister and serious than he has ever been. Although, I don't think that the dub voice actress really captured that kind of tone to his voice. She wasn't bad, but I feel like her performance didn't carry the same kind of intensity that the Japanese voice actress did for the scene. I think it was just out of her range more than anything else, but it was still a bit of a disappointment. It was still a bit unsettling to see Sora crack a whole lollipop in his mouth while dismissing what he and his friends have done to Shun and his allies.

Frightfur Chimera looked pretty intimidating and it did have a useful effect as well, but Shun wasn't phased by it in the slightest. And I thought that made sense. He was talking about how they were always fighting before and even complained to the Leo School trio about how they didn't have an ironed will to fight like he did. Shun has had experiences with fighting against these kind of duelist who want to attack him and have prepared for the worst scenario possible, such as losing his monsters, as a result of that experience. Revolution Falcon looked pretty cool and had a really powerful effect as well. Yuya's shock over the duel made sense. Dueling has always been a performance and a means to entertain the crowd, but this duel was anything but their traditional idea of entertainment. They really were turning the field into their own battle field with all of the fire and destruction to the buildings. Sora's reaction to getting the Action Card seemed positive, so it's possible that he could have lasted another turn at least if that building didn't land on him, but I don't think he could have won at that point. He might have been able to reduce the damage or prevent the destruction of his monster, but making a completely comeback might have been difficult. Sora had more life points than Shun, but I don't think he had too many cards in his hand at that point and Shun was still in the control at that moment even with fewer life points. I liked how the audience was more shocked over the duel's outcome than just cheering for it. It was a vastly different reaction from the crowd compared to Yuya and Sawatari's duel.

Shun tried to use his Duel Disk to turn Sora into a card. I can understand why he wanted to do that given what Sora said, but that would have been bad for many reasons, one of which would be how terrified the audience would be with a duelist suddenly disappearing like that. Not to mention they could still learn about their enemy through Sora. Sora's reaction to the defeat always bugged me. He was acting so childish. He kept saying that he wouldn't lose to an Xyz user, how he didn't go all out from the start and how their duel isn't over. Sora was blaming Shun, but it was Sora's own fault for not taking the match seriously right from the start. He has no one to blame but himself, which is why I didn't feel too bad for him once he went out cold. It was still a pretty good duel though.

 

[RDG]

ICYMI: From what I've read, after today, Arc-V will be gone from the schedule until May

 

[DonkeyKongSong]

Seriously?! The second season already finished on GO! in Australia in like November I think. It just makes me wish more and more that ARC-V were airing on Disney XD instead of Nicktoons, especially if they decided to do the "roll-em-out-and-binge" method. They'd've blown through the whole first season in seven weeks.

I don't mind them taking a one-week break for the Fairly Odd Takeover, because I know they'd want to celebrate Fairly OddParents becoming a Nicktoons exclusive, and I didn't mind them shrinking to single premieres earlier because of LBX, but that's over now. There's no reason for this treatment at this point. In fact, their first break coincided with the LBX finale, which they aired double, but why keep it off after that instead of just taking it off for one week?

 

[Light Lucario]

Seriously?! The second season already finished on GO! in Australia in like November I think. It just makes me wish more and more that ARC-V were airing on Disney XD instead of Nicktoons, especially if they decided to do the "roll-em-out-and-binge" method. They'd've blown through the whole first season in seven weeks.

I don't mind them taking a one-week break for the Fairly Odd Takeover, because I know they'd want to celebrate Fairly OddParents becoming a Nicktoons exclusive, and I didn't mind them shrinking to single premieres earlier because of LBX, but that's over now. There's no reason for this treatment at this point. In fact, their first break coincided with the LBX finale, which they aired double, but why keep it off after that instead of just taking it off for one week?

Yeah, this is just pathetic. There's really no reason for them to treat the series this way when a good chuck of the series has already been dubbed and aired. Disney XD would definitely be a better place for the series now. The binge watching method would actually probably benefit the series quite a bit. It isn't designed for people watching a ton of episodes at a time exactly, but pretty much every episode is important from a story and/or character perspective. There aren't too many episodes even up to where the Japanese version is that I could say that people could skip easily. Having a lot of episodes available ahead of time would potentially help to attract more people since they can watch the series at their own pace without getting confused or losing interest in the show, which they most likely are due to these breaks. I didn't think that they'd treat Arc-V worse than Zexal, but Nicktoons pulled that off. Disney XD has become the place for third party content, which I did not see coming at all, but I so wish that they could just put the series on that channel now. At least they'd actually promote it and give it a decent time slot most likely.

At this point, the only good thing about these long unnecessary breaks is that I'll be able to talk more about the series even when the new series starts in a few months. Granted, I'll be talking about Arc-V forever because I love it immensely, but at least the U.S. airings taking their sweet time means I can focus more on the series and see how other people react to some of the upcoming twists. 4K Media seriously needs to find a better way to release the dub, but at least there are some bright sides to it.

 

[Light Lucario]

Sora's Secret: Part One
While Yuto is looking for answers, Sora is looking to get some revenge! But when these two tangle, Yuya finds out more than he ever expected!

And

Sora's Secret: Part Two
Surprises are in the cards as the battle between Sora and Yuto comes to an unexpected conclusion! But just when Yuya thinks he's seen everything, a new face shows up on the scene that makes Yuya do a triple take!​

 

[ShadowBlinky]

Wow, these last few episodes. I'm speechless. Even more so than usual.

 

[Gold Guy]

These two episodes were pretty good. Lots of exposition, but it was necessary considering that there are apparently three other dimensions.

Duel Academy sure looks different than when I last saw it in GX. Someone did some redecorating.

I like how Yuya just canceled the duel; it's not something you see very often in Yu-Gi-Oh!

Anyway, with all these different dimensions popping up, I'm about ready for some guest stars.

Or, I would be, if NickToons hadn't announced a break...

 

[RDG]

According to zap2it, reruns return next Monday, and on Sundays, the show will be moved to 8:30am, but the damage has already been done.

 

[kanc]

According to zap2it, reruns return next Monday, and on Sundays, the show will be moved to 8:30am, but the damage has already been done.

what do you mean "damage has been done"? you think that next time could get pulled again?

 

[RDG]

what do you mean "damage has been done"? you think that next time could get pulled again?

That, and what @DonkeyKongSong and @LightLucario mentioned above about Nicktoons taking these excessively long breaks

 

[shamir ejaz]

How long will Yu gi oh arc v go on repeats and when will it return with new episodes. Also why is it not showing at it original timeslot sunday 7am.

 

[RDG]

How long will Yu gi oh arc v go on repeats and when will it return with new episodes. Also why is it not showing at it original timeslot sunday 7am.

It never aired at 7am, and new-to-U.S. episodes are supposed to return in May. By then, the dub will have entered season 3 elsewhere, and the new Yu-Gi-Oh! series will have started in Japan.

 

[ChibiGoku]

Not to make anyone freak out, but...

Nickelodeon's website updated recently (though this update had been mostly implemented on their beta site) and all traces of Yu-Gi-Oh! have been wiped from their website. Trying to go to the URL gives a 404. During the beta, the Site Map still had it listed, but it also went 404 when you clicked the link.

Definitely not a good sign.

 

[kanc]

Not to make anyone freak out, but...

Nickelodeon's website updated recently (though this update had been mostly implemented on their beta site) and all traces of Yu-Gi-Oh! have been wiped from their website. Trying to go to the URL gives a 404. During the beta, the Site Map still had it listed, but it also went 404 when you clicked the link.

Definitely not a good sign.

@Ghostbuster must have posted on schedule thread just last Wednesday: Not sure why he forgot to post this in this thread. Nickelodeon's website just updated last week

I've just noticed Nick's Yu-Gi-Oh! page has been removed as well. As it's still on Nicktoons, maybe Nick's Miraculous and Yu-Gi-Oh! pages being taken down doesn't mean that Nick are going to stop showing them.

http://www.nick.com/yu-gi-oh/

 

[DonkeyKongSong]

That could be a bad or good sign. Bad because we'll have to wait longer, or good because it may mean Nick/Viacom is letting the license go, giving us a greater chance of seeing it on Disney XD or possibly a Hulu exclusive.

Also, Episodes 37-38 dubbed are already available on iTunes, Amazon, Google Play, etc.

 

[Light Lucario]

what do you mean "damage has been done"? you think that next time could get pulled again?

At the rate they're going with for premieres, we'll be lucky to see Nicktoons get to the second season by the end of this year, despite how all of it has been dubbed and aired in other countries and a new series would have already started airing in Japan. I honestly wonder why they bother to keep airing it when they clearly don't care about the series or letting it develop an audience. Granted, it would already have a rough time just being on Nicktoons and being a spin-off series, as none of them have done well outside of the Japan for various reasons, but the breaks have already ruined whatever chance the dub version had for an audience. Kids aren't going to wait around months for new episodes, especially in this day and age where it's extremely easy to watch whatever you want whenever you want, and this series doesn't really have too many episodes that you could just skip over.

The situation still reminds me a lot about the 5D's dub. I still remember how they took a seven month long break right in the middle of the Dark Signer arc and took it off the lineup for DM reruns. And 4Kids actually controlled that block, so there wasn't a third party like Nicktoons to blame there. It actively ruined the audience for that series as well and I wouldn't be surprised if it contributed to the low ratings the series got before and after the break. I'm not even sure if this is worse than that. Arc V at this point is still in the setting up stage with its storyline, while they were right in the middle of fighting the Dark Signers when the break for 5D's happened. Plus, at least we have legal subs for Arc V, which were just a dream for fans when 5D's was airing. It might just be more frustrating in a way because of how much I love Arc V and while I have quite a few problems with the dub, it is still the best way for people to be exposed to the series. And all of these long breaks aren't going to help give the series more attention in the U.S. at least.

That could be a bad or good sign. Bad because we'll have to wait longer, or good because it may mean Nick/Viacom is letting the license go, giving us a greater chance of seeing it on Disney XD or possibly a Hulu exclusive.

Also, Episodes 37-38 dubbed are already available on iTunes, Amazon, Google Play, etc.

I'm still kind of surprised that the series hasn't been put up on Hulu yet given that all of the other series are available there. They normally only put episodes on iTunes just a bit after they premiere on Nicktoons. That could mean that they'll put more episodes on those websites for the near future or they were put up a bit earlier than expected due to the sudden break.

Anyway, I thought that these couple of episodes were pretty good. Sora was pretty lucky in that hologram wore off just before the building hit him during the duel. I liked that Yuzu told Yuya and Gongenzaka more about what she has seen with Yuto. Although, she was clearly having doubts about Yuya before. It's not like she really thought that he would hurt someone, but seeing someone who looks exactly like your best friend would shake you up a bit, especially when Yuya and Yuto do look identical to each other. Even Sora thought that Yuto was Yuya when he first saw him in the hospital. Plus, I like that Gongenzaka was becoming more involved rather than standing in the background, even though his dub voice and dialogue makes him way more annoying than he ever was to me in the original version.

And Sora continued to be annoying with being so narrowly focused on battling Shun again. Like I said before, claiming that he lost because he wasn't giving his full strength from the beginning is a weak and childish excuse. He was the one who underestimated his opponent and put more focus on just entertaining the crowd. Sora was trying to mimic Yuya's entertainment dueling before and he was getting the crowd excited, but performing for the audience isn't the same thing as not going at full strength. Yuya does try his best to win his duels and gives his full strength, but he also tries to put an entertainment spin on his duels to make them more of a performance. You can entertain the crowd and give your full strength at the same time, which I don't think Sora fully understood here. He has no one to blame but himself for his defeat, so his attitude just made him more frustrating for me here.

Yuto did run quite fast to avoid the guards in the hospital. Sora was so focused on getting his revenge that he didn't even consider how the others were feeling about him being in the hospital. Shun wanting to go down there would have made sense, but Reiji was too focused on not making a scene. Admittedly, that does make sense and Shun does have a history of attacking people too, but it would have helped them out if Shun was there. Although, events could have played out differently and then the series could have been altered significantly as a result too.

The duel with Yuto and Sora was pretty neat. We got to see more of Yuto's cards and even another Xyz monster, so that was cool. I really liked that Yuto could have won faster if he wanted to. Not only did that show how Sora's confidence and narrow minded focus on getting revenge was affecting his dueling skills, but it showed more of Yuto's personality. Instead of rushing towards his own victory, he wanted to avoid confrontation and just get the information he wanted about Ruri, or Lulu as she's called in the dub. He did the same thing when he confronted Sawatari and only continued the duel when he kept trying to win. He is less aggressive compared to Shun, even though he was still okay with Shun confronting the Leo Duel School trio before. Also, Yuto's dub voice sounds way too gruff. That has always been the case, but it's especially bad for these next few episodes.

Yuya's determination to jump in and help Sora was nice. Granted, I don't really feel much of a friendship between the two of them right now, mainly from Sora's point of view, but part of the issue is how they've spent more time emphasizing Sora's relationship with Yuzu more than the one with Yuya. You can tell that he at least admires his dueling style, but that could easily be taken as liking the idea behind entertainment dueling more than liking Yuya as a person, especially when he has shown multiple times that unless something interests him, then he doesn't care about it. He can be rather self-centered like that. Still, I can see why Yuya would consider Sora a friend at least given his personality and from his perspective, he thought that a friend was in danger and wanted to protect him.

The second episode was pretty good too. Odd Eyes confronting Dark Rebellion and especially the sensation that Yuya was feeling are pretty key plot points. It was also clear that Yuto felt that same sensation given his expression and having his hand on his heart. Yuto was able to prevent Yuya from attacking, but all that did was make Sora more upset about Yuya jumping in. While I was fine with Yuya's reasoning to help Sora, I was also glad that he didn't forget what Sora said during his duel with Shun or just brush it off so easily because he sees him as a friend. You can still consider someone a friend without having blind trust in them.

Not only did Yuya finally meet Yuto, but he learned about the existences of other dimensions and that both Sora and Yuto are from different dimensions. There was quite a bit of foreshadowing for those reveals. There was always something mysterious about Sora and there were high Fusion summoning readings around the time he was qualifying for the tournament. Yuto was nothing but the mysterious Yuya lookalike and Shun's speech also gave the impression that he was from a different world. I do remember fans speculating that Yuto could have been from the future and he looked so much like Yuya because he was Yuya and Yuzu's future son, but that was before Ruri was brought up. Sora having so much pride in that he wouldn't want to be defeated by Xyz scum as he puts it does fit with his personality and he might have been able to do some serious damage if he wasn't forced back to Duel Academia. It always felt weird in that he was brought back the moment he revealed that he was a spy, but with his cover blown, he wouldn't be able to finish the special mission.

I liked that Yuya was worried about Sora and was still skeptical about the whole different dimensions thing. That does sound too ridiculous for anyone to believe right off the bat. I also liked that both Yuya and Yuto agreed to not duel any further. There wasn't a reason after Sora left, but it showed how neither one of them wanted to continue the conflict either. Yuto gave Yuya the chance to keep attacking him and Yuya responded by cancelling the duel.

There are other dimensions in this series and the main conflict is about Duel Academy starting a dimensional war. They're called Academia in the original version and I'm more used to referring the group that way, but I don't have a problem with Duel Academy. Academia is clearly already a nod to GX and calling them Duel Academy makes that reference clearer for people more familiar with the dubs anyway. Plus, it also helps that we have seen different Duel Academies before. Even 5D's had their own Duel Academy if I recall correctly, so it's less likely for people to think that this is the same Duel Academy as we saw in GX. I was surprised that they seemed to avoid referring to Heartland by name during Yuto's explanation though. They already had Shun react to the Neo Heartland Field Spell before, they made the GX reference clearer by saying Duel Academy and kids watching the show would have more likely seen Zexal more than GX, which would have made them recognize Heartland even faster than Duel Academia potentially. Plus, Yuto calling the people there his people seemed a bit odd to me. I think it's because it gives the impression that the people in other dimensions are different races, but they really aren't. Still, it's true that Heartland was seemingly happy before Duel Academy attacked, turned their dimension into a war zone and turned people into cards.

And because there's a Fusion and Xyz dimension, there's also a Synchro dimension. With these dimensions, duelists can only use those monsters from different summoning types, but Yuya's world is different since people can use all different kinds of summoning methods here. That's why it's the Standard dimension. It seems to exist in the middle of these different dimensions and thus would have access to the different summoning methods as a result. Reiji became much more emotional and angry than we're used to seeing after mentioning his father.

I really like this main conflict because of how much it clashes with Yuya's ideals. Even his reaction to this revelation showed that he doesn't want duels to be used as a means of war. For him, dueling is about entertaining the crowd and making people smile. It's idealistic as can be, but it fits with his personality and his goal, so it works. Plus, they clearly meant for the main conflict to clash with Yuya's personality and ideals. He can't even stand the idea of dueling being used for fighting and that shocked Yuto. And then the mysterious duelist on his D-Wheel showed up and they lost the footage from the security camera. I didn't see as much of a similarity between the other duelist and Yuya at first, but I think it's due to a combination of his hair and the animation quality for some of his earlier appearances. He'll have more expressions that show how similar he looks to Yuya later.

I thought that they got up to at least the conclusion to this confrontation, but I mixed up the episodes. It's kind of a shame to take a break on a cliffhanger like that, but that would have happened regardless. This is a better stopping point than their previous break, if only because we'll be able to jump back into the tournament after the premieres start up again, but it's still pretty bad when this is still pretty major details for the storyline. Yuya just met Yuto, found out about the existence of other dimensions, that there is a dimensional war going on and that there's another person who looks like him. This isn't really the time to take another hiatus, but Nicktoons has already made their decision. Hopefully fans can watch episodes via iTunes or 4K Media will find another place to air the series.

 

[ChibiGoku]

So... Got some concerning news:

Starting February 20th, Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc-V is gone from the day time slots. This includes the Sunday morning slot. The remaining slots that are airing it, as of this time, are the 5AMish runs on Sunday and Monday.

This is subject to change, as always, but something else I noticed...

Remember the disappearing Yu-Gi-Oh! sub page on Nickelodeon? How it would 404? Well, it doesn't 404 or anymore, and... now just directs to the main page. It's also not something automatic for non-existent pages. I accidentally typed yugioh instead of yu-gi-oh and got a 404. The latter now directs you to the main page.

I think its pretty clear what Nickelodeon's stance on this show is...

God, what a freaking mess...