History Anime / YuGiOhVRAINS

* MesACrowd:
** Playmaker has several impersonators who have the same avatar as him but none of the impostors do a good job impersonating him.
** [[spoiler:Ai's endgame is to create Ai-clones and divide his free will to everyone before spreading them everywhere. Even Ai doesn't know what will happen after activation, only that all of them will experience different experiences to flesh out their personalities.]]

** [[{{MegaCorp}} SOL Technology Inc.]] which are also interested in the [[{{Macguffin}} mysterious AI]] [[ForWantOfANail that Yusaku accidentally acquired]]. It should be noted that they'd rather shut down one of their biggest moneymakers than risk innocent people getting hurt, [[PragmaticVillainy although that could potentially be due to a fear of getting sued and/or bad PR.]] Ony one character (Akira) is [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure reasonable]] out of all the employees as the others care more about their own agendas.

** If [[Anime/YuGiOhArcV Yuya]] is a deconstruction of [[Manga/YuGiOh Yugi]] and the gaming anime heroes, then Yusaku is a deconstruction of the likes of [[Manga/YuGiOh Dark Yugi]], [[Manga/YuGiOh Kaiba]], and [[Anime/YuGiOh5Ds Yusei]]: First, Yusaku is a skilled Duelist similar to Dark Yugi but doesn't share the latter's ideals of Dueling and instead sees it as a grim reminder of his DarkAndTroubledPast. Second, Yusaku is a {{Jerkass}} AntiHero like Kaiba but most of his bitterness and lack of social skills come from the Knights of Hanoi ruining his childhood (resulting in being autistic and having PTSD, and PTED) while Kaiba TookALevelInJerkass due to attempting to get rid of his personal issues over Gozaburo's ideals. And third, Yusaku is mostly TheStoic but what makes him different from Yusei is he's standoffish, [[BrutalHonesty cold-hearted]], and somewhat unpleasant due to being consumed with [[UnstoppableRage rage]] and [[PowerOfHate hatred]] towards the Knights of Hanoi.

''Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS'' is the sixth series in the ''[[Franchise/YuGiOh Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'' franchise. It began airing on May 10, 2017 as part of the spring 2017 anime lineup and concluded on September 25, 2019, spanning a total of 120 episodes. A TV special, ''Yu-Gi-Oh! LABO'', was aired between April 5, 2017 and May 3, 2017 to introduce its characters and setting. It can be legally watched on Website/{{Crunchyroll}} with subtitles [[http://www.crunchyroll.com/yu-gi-oh-vrains here]]. This would be the last ''Yu-Gi-Oh!'' series to be adapted by Gallop, with Studio Bridge taking over for the next series.

** The TransformationSequence of both Playmaker and Soulburner comes in three ways: login sequence, transforming part, and dashing upwards into cyberworld. The same can go with the way transforming part does: bodysuit, belt and finally their hair.

* TransformationTrinket: Duel Disk in this universe could be considered this aside for competing and summoning purpose in duels, as they are the only things that stay with them upon transiting from real world to cyberworld. The design can change such as when Aoi changes from Blue Angel to Blue Girl, but not all characters undergo a physical transformation upon entering LINK VRAINS, so it's completely optional. There are two types: an old type requiring physical cards (which would later constructed into data) to activate and a new type which is voice-activated and has cloud features.

* TransformationTrinket: Duel Disk in this universe could be considered this aside for competing and summoning purpose in duels, but not all characters undergo a physical transformation upon entering LINK VRAINS, so it’s completely optional. There are two types: an old type requiring physical cards (which would later constructed into data) to activate and a new type which is voice-activated and has cloud features.

* GoKartingWithBowser: Ryoken visits Café Nagi a few times to update Yusaku and Kolter on the situation with the Ignis and even gives Yusaku a program to defend himself. It's also a way for them to interact without being detected by Lightning. Emma/Ghost Girl also visits once but didn't know that it was Playmaker's base of operations and that he was sitting beside her.

---> [[spoiler:'''Windy''']]: Hey, that's a villain's dialogue.
---> [[spoiler:'''Lightning''']]:I thought it was logical dialogue.

* EvilSoundsDeep: In the first season, [[BadassBaritone Ryoken's voice]] goes even deeper whenever he's in his Avatar.

** Decode Talker's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLKG06hwQSM&t=127s final attack]] in Episode 46 is a dead ringer for [[LightNovel/FateZero Saber's]] signature [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKfufVb3ZYE&t=78s attack.]]

** Episode 60 deals with Takeru's past and his personal circumstances prior to departing for Den City to join Yusaku.

* OffModel: All over the place thanks to its production troubles, even more so if there is an AnimationBump before it. Examples are Bohman's really wide shoulders in one frame in episode 94 and the entirety of Blue Girl vs Soulburner.

* AmbiguousEnding: The series concludes with little more than a [[TheStinger Stinger]] showing [[spoiler:Ai's supposed revival in his eye form, unaware of what's going on in his surroundings]]. No further context is provided to elaborate what happened until ''VideoGame/YuGiOhDuelLinks''.[[note]]To elaborate, VRAINS World took place after the end of the series.[[/note]]

* AmbiguousEnding: The series concludes with little more than a [[TheStinger Stinger]] showing [[spoiler:Ai's supposed revival in his eye form, unaware of what's going on in his surroundings]]. No further context is provided to elaborate what happened until ''VideoGame/YuGiOhDuelLinks''[[note]]To elaborate, VRAINS World took place after the end of the series.[[/note]].

* AmbiguousEnding: The series concludes with little more than a [[TheStinger Stinger]] showing [[spoiler:Ai's supposed revival in his eye form, unaware of what's going on in his surroundings]]. No further context is provided to elaborate what happened.

** This is the first series where the female lead barely shows interest in the main protagonist nor there any romantic moments in the show, barring [[spoiler: [[HoYay Ai's canonical confession]]]]

** [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Lastly, there is no]] TournamentArc, manga adaptation, protagonist/rival team up, or any Battle Royals/Tag Teams[[note]] If you don't count Soulburner vs. [=BitBoot=], where Bit and Boot merged into one, or Blue Maiden and Akira vs Ai, which was more of a 2 vs. 1.[[/note]]. However, while the Mirror LINK VRAINS Duels aren't explicitly a tournament arc, they effectively function as one.

** Spectre DemotedToExtra is because his voice actor is unable to record his lines in season 3.

* SecretIdentity: Nobody know's who Playmaker really is since Yusaku erases all his login information and he rarely interacts with anyone outside of [[HeterosexualLifePartner Kusanagi]], [[FriendlyEnemy Revolver]], and Takeru. Akira and Aoi only learn his identity after a hundred episodes later.

*** The English dub injects a lot of ship tease for Yusaku and Aoi, with Yusaku saving her, then stammering that she's not that special. Ghost Gal is even a Shipper on Deck for the two, teasing Aoi that she's eager to see Playmaker again on their mission to find the Ignis.

* UnflinchingWalk: After [[spoiler:breaking out Baira from prison]]], the Knights of Hanoi walk away from an explosion in the transition to their VRAINS avatar in episode 59.

* VillainTakesAnInterest: In his own words, Revolver admits he became obsessed with finding Playmaker's identity after he realizes that it's the same kid he saved ten years ago.

** Revolver develops this with Playmaker, initially dismissing him as one of the Knight of Hanoi's many enemies to becoming more interested once he learned his connection with the Lost Incident project. Playmaker is the only duelist around who could conceivably match him in a fair duel and sees him as a necessary ally against [[spoiler:Lightning and Bohman. He forbade Faust from touching him and Soulburner in the real world to keep things fair and even gave his Borreload Furious Dragon as a farewell gesture.]]

** Soulburner impresses Bohman that he's willing to remember him after their duel, and is disgusted with how [[spoiler:Windy, and to a certain extent, Lightning]] sullied their duel.

* DarkerAndEdgier: Yusaku is the first main character in the franchise who started out as a {{Jerkass}} AntiHero instead of a HotBlooded IdiotHero or an AllLovingHero, using ''Duel Monsters'' as weapons for his quest of {{Revenge}}. The same applies to the series itself too, as the entire premise explores {{Escapism}}, {{Ambiguous Disorder}}s, cybercrime, and the dark side of online gaming. Unusually enough the dub actually embraces this - the openings which are standard for a Shonen anime (i.e. optimistic and upbeat) are replaced with a cinematic, dissonant opening meant to invoke tension and the humor isn't dialled up as much as was the standard for previous dubs. It gets taken even further for the Dub, as while words like "death" or "die" aren't used, the implications are still there. And in one case, the term "no longer of this world" is used [[spoiler: because Windy's origin is [[DeathByAdaptation actually killed in the Dub]]]].

** If [[Anime/YuGiOhArcV Yuya]] is a deconstruction of [[Manga/YuGiOh Yugi]] and the gaming anime heroes, then Yusaku is a deconstruction of the likes of [[Manga/YuGiOh Dark Yugi]], [[Manga/YuGiOh Kaiba]], and [[Anime/YuGiOh5Ds Yusei]]: First, Yusaku is a skilled Duelist similar to Dark Yugi but doesn't share the latter's ideals of Dueling and instead sees it as a grim reminder of his DarkAndTroubledPast. Second, Yusaku is a {{Jerkass}} AntiHero like Kaiba but most of his bitterness and lack of social skills come from the Knights of Hanoi ruining his childhood (resulting in him suffering with [[AmbiguousDisorder ASD, PTSD, and PTED]]) while Kaiba TookALevelInJerkass due to attempting to get rid of his personal issues over Gozaburo's ideals. And third, Yusaku is mostly TheStoic but what makes him different from Yusei is he's standoffish, [[BrutalHonesty cold-hearted]], and somewhat unpleasant due to being consumed with [[UnstoppableRage rage]] and [[PowerOfHate hatred]] towards the Knights of Hanoi.

''Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS'' is the sixth series in the ''[[Franchise/YuGiOh Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'' franchise. It began airing on May 10, 2017 as part of the Spring2017Anime lineup and concluded on September 25, 2019, spanning a total of 120 episodes. A TV special, ''Yu-Gi-Oh! LABO'', was aired between April 5, 2017 and May 3, 2017 to introduce its characters and setting. It can be legally watched on Website/{{Crunchyroll}} with subtitles [[http://www.crunchyroll.com/yu-gi-oh-vrains here]]. This would be the last ''Yu-Gi-Oh!'' series to be adapted by Gallop, with Studio Bridge taking over for the next series.