History YMMV / YuGiOhArcV

** Ren becomes the first ever ''Yu-Gi-Oh!'' villain who is a literal CharClone (ie. TheAce, enigmatic, wears a mask), mainly for being AffablyEvil, a NobleDemon, and a good example of writing an ''ARC-V'' villain. It also helps that he's very competent enough to [[spoiler:pull a successful XanatosGambit on Yugo in their first Duel]]. He also brings a massive twist [[spoiler:once we see his face, showing he looks like an ''older Yugo''.]]

* ContestedSequel: Some love the series for its likable cast, plot, mythology gags and writing, but it has garnered much negative reactions in no small part due to SeasonalRot, [[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter mishandled casts]] and legacy characters, wasted character potency, and its BrokenBase ending.

* FandomRivalry: Like all ''Yu-Gi-Oh!'' series, there is rivalry between the fandoms of the other series over which is the best. But it comes the most from the ''ZEXAL'' fandom, as ''ARC-V'' comes right after it and ''ZEXAL'' is already hotly contested.

** The entire alternate dimension concept had the fanbase speculating madly on what could explain the dimensions being based on past ''Yu-Gi-Oh!'' spin-offs; alternate timelines, ForWantOfANail alternate histories, etc. In the end, there was no explanation and the other dimensions being based on the past spin-offs is apparently just for the RuleOfCool. In addition, with the possible exception of Standard, there was no dimension based on the original ''Duel Monsters'' that started it all, and no characters from that series appeared or were even mentioned.

** Chojiro Tokumatsu's nickname is changed from Enjoy Chojiro to Hero Chojiro. While his Japanese nickname does fit his life philosophy, it sounds [[GratuitousEnglish awkward]] and {{Anvilicious}} in English. On the other hand, "Hero" sounds catchier and flows better, not only because of the rhyme, but also because it's a homophone with the Japanese name Hiro.

** While the legacy characters are a divisive issue overall for international audiences, Jack Atlas tended to face the ''least'' disdain out of the five in the West. This is decidedly ''not'' the case in Japan, where he was outright hated due to being seen as emblematic of the series', and more specifically Katsumi Ono's, [[CreatorsPet favoritism]] towards ''5D's''. One Japanese wiki in particular went as far as to delete all traces of Jack's involvement in ''ARC-V'' on his character page, an edit that remains to this day.

* FranchiseOriginalSin: While ''Franchise/YuGiOh'' has never had the best writing for its female cast, pre-existing issues with agency, a hyper-reliance on mind controlling female leads, competence in Duels and/or story relevance all came to a head with ''Arc-V,'' as the second half of the series drastically under-wrote Yuzu and Serena, the female leads, and stripped them of agency and duels- particularly during the Fusion Dimension arc as all of the Bracelet Girls were [[spoiler:brainwashed by the Doktor and made to fight the Lancers, with the usage of the Fusion Parasites being seen as borderline fetishistic, and resulting in Ruri and Rin getting very little screentime as themselves with both of their only duels coming from when they were already brainwashed.]] Asuka/Alexis returning from ''GX'' also became a lightning rod of backlash due to her largely existing to [[spoiler:lose to Yuri in a duel where he deliberately handicapped himself and used a deck that was card-for-card the basis of a Structure Deck that released soon after in Japan.]]

** Possibly overlapping with HarsherInHindsight depending on how seriously you take the real life metagame: back when the series debuted, the idea of a Fusion Dimension being a tyrannical force oppressing the Xyz Dimension led to no end of jokes from professional players, given that at the time the series was airing, Fusion Summoning in the ''actual'' card game was desperately clinging to relevance with a scarce few competitive archetypes like Shaddolls, whereas Xyz Monsters had their ''ZEXAL''-era stranglehold on the meta further strengthened after Pendulum Summoning made the spamming of same-level material easier than ever before. Flash forward to 2022, and [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Tearlaments Tearlaments]], a Fusion archetype, would become quite possibly '''''the''''' most powerful decks- and [[HighTierScrappy one of the most despised]]- in the history of the metagame, absolutely destroying deck diversity and leading to a Tier Zero format lasting more than '''nine months'''. (For extra irony, they would later be supplemented by [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Kashtira Kashtira]], an ''Xyz'' archetype.)

** Yuzu is often shipped with [[ChildhoodFriends Yuya]] and his counterparts, to the point that she has her own harem. She is also commonly shipped with [[LesYay Masumi]] and [[ScrewYourself Serena]]. Minor ships with Kurosaki (which is somewhat [[{{Squick}} Squicky]] since her Xyz counterpart is his ''sister''), [[CrackShip Reiji]], Sawatari, [[FriendlyEnemy Halil]], [[ShipsThatPassInTheNight Olga]] and [[MemeticMolester Dennis]] are also there.
** There's a ton of art and fics for Yuya, too. The most common targets for him are [[ScrewYourself Yuto]] (especially after their fusion), [[ShipsThatPassInTheNight Kurosaki]], [[ChildhoodFriendRomance Yuzu]], his bromantic foil [[HoYay Gongenzaka]], the tried-and-true hero/rival ships with Reiji and Sawatari, [[TheMole Den]][[DracoInLeatherPants nis]], and [[CargoShip his -gazer Magicians]]. Thankfully, both Yuya and Yuzu are type 2 launcher due to their young age.

* LikeYouWouldReallyDoIt: Even for the AnyoneCanDie status of the series, no one in the audience buy that [[spoiler:Yuzu will die in episode 77]] given her importance to the series MythArc.

** Kurosaki is the second character compared to Batman. He and his Raidraptor Xyz Monsters are Memetic Badasses, the latter for either their effects or the way how they attack. Kurosaki's badassery has only been taken up to eleven after he's beaten up several squads of guards, including many that are twice his size, and by that we mean both with his fists ''and'' in duels.

** Surprisingly, the Lancers as a whole started to gain this reputation, thanks to their shoddy win rates since they formed and how they haven't accomplished much of anything towards their goals so far. The only ones who managed to skim by this were Kurosaki and Serena, but even then, thanks to [[IWorkAlone their attitudes]], some still point out how they're not exactly a well oiled machine, either. A majority of them getting locked up in prison near the start of the Synchro Dimension season doesn't help, either. While some argue it helps prevent an InvincibleHero situation, others still can't help but mock the fact that these people are suppose to end a dimension war.
** The [[Anime/YuGiOhGX Fusion Dimension]] legacy characters suffer the worst portrayal. Edo has a very poor track record (at best, he forced a draw in his first duel with Yuya just before the latter would have won) and is viewed as one of the more forced cases of Academia soldiers “[[HeelFaceTurn converting to egao]]”. Asuka technically has a better track record from beating a trio of {{Mooks}} in her debut, but [[spoiler:later loses to Yuri essentially advertising the Machine Dragon Re-Volt Structure Deck without even having the dignity of going down to his ace Starve Venom]], and was generally the most inconsequential legacy character for the story. A particular case of this is Dusktopia, Edo's apparent final ace monster, which quickly became widely mocked for its lackluster effects, losing the Duel it was summoned in, and a gaudy design that seems [[https://i.imgur.com/E2DdxgD.png meant to reference]] ''5D's'', of all things.

** Kurosaki, jokingly, is often seen as this due to how much suffering the poor guy goes through. The final image of him smiling is often captioned as him smiling through the pain.

** Odd-Eyes Rebellion Dragon's design is near incomprehensible. It's some kind of mechanical dragon... ''thing'' that appears to be wearing armor of some kind, and has giant arse orbs jetting from it's shoulders, and some kind of clamp like hands that have holes in the palms that look like they're for shooting missiles or something. Despite the crazy all over the place design though, this does ''not'' stop it from being [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome insanely awesome when it hits the field]], both in universe and in the real life card game.

* SalvagedStory: Both the anime and the manga have very controversial endings, but thankfully, the former is addressed in the form of ''VideoGame/YuGiOhDuelLinks'', which continues from the ending of the anime. Notably it [[spoiler:separates the Yu boys from Yuya, with the implication that the same will happen to the Bracelet Girls, too. Characters who didn't interact with each other are now able to meet in the world of Duel Links. Kurosaki is given a more realistic opportunity to grieve his losses, but he's now given a new hope after being finally reunited with Yuto again. Konami releasing a purified version of Supreme King Dragon Z-ARC also adds speculation to a possible redemption story for Zarc, who is already heavily implied to return within the ''Duel Links'' storyline proper.]]

** This version of Edo is usually seen an insult to his ''[[Anime/YuGiOhGX GX]]'' counterpart by the fanbase, mainly for being "Edo InNameOnly", lack of competence, and poor characterization. This might've something to do with the writers' intense hate towards ''GX'', as the fanbase claimed and suggested.

** On the card front, Yuya's Pendulum Magicians are popular for being well-designed monsters and for being the best cards in Yuya's deck. In terms of the actual gameplay, once they became a viable archetype, they immediately become one of the most played decks online, forming part of a Tier 0 format alongside Performanges.

** Part of the reason for Dennis's colder reception by the fanbase is this- he was the third character in a row after Bruno/Antinomy and Rei/Vector to play the "secret double agent who gets exposed and outs himself" role, but while both of the prior characters were made imposing and offered a dangerous challenge to the protagonist (and meaningfully advanced their characters), Dennis is taken care of by Shun and his betrayal has minimal impact on Yuya.

* MagnificentBastard: [[HeroKiller Yuri]] is Leo Akaba's right hand man and most dangerous subordinate. Realizing that he shares a face with [[Characters/YuGiOhArcVYuyaCounterparts three other characters]], he instigates a fight between Yuto and Yugo to indirectly rid himself of one of his future enemies. When he's sent to the Standard Dimension to capture Yuzu, Yuri is shown to not need any help to be feared by others. Eventually gaining the chance to duel Yugo, he defeats and absorbs him, [[VictorGainsLosersPowers obtaining]] his Clear Wing Synchro Dragon. Despite losing to Yuya afterwards, Yuri succeeds in resurrecting Zarc, exactly as he planned. Upon being freed from Zarc's influence, he decides to help the heroes defeat him and bring happiness to everyone. Overcoming all setbacks throughout the series, Yuri stands above all schemers within the narrative in terms of success, style, and improvising.

** Yuto and Yugo's hatred for one another is generally HarsherInHindsight... except for the fact that their decks (Phantom Knights and Speedroids) actually mesh quite well together.