In the Yu-Gi-Oh! fandom, card games and fandom ships are Serious Business.
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Yu-Gi-Oh!
- Anzu Mazaki (also known as Téa Gardner in the English dub version), Yugi's childhood friend, not only has the misfortune of being one of the very few girls in the series and being the crusader of The Power of Friendship, but is also involved in a Love Triangle with two of the main male characters (in the same body, but still...). As a result, enraged yaoi shippers depict her as a complete idiot or a homophobic harpy who wants the bishies all to herself. She's usually killed off horribly at the end of the fic.
- Hiroto Honda (also known as Tristan Taylor in the English dub version) is usually the Token Homophobe, especially in Seto Kaiba/Jounouchi (also known as Joey Wheeler in the English dub version) and Yugi/Any male character. How vocal he is about it tends to depend on the level of badassery of the people involved.
- Mai is also sometimes depicted as a sad old slut, usually when the pairing in question is Joey/Kaiba. Or Joey/anybody but her, really. Made even more annoying because Mai explicitly says she's got other priorities than romance - especially in the anime, where she did have the chance to marry a rich action star (a clear Captain Ersatz of Jean Claude Van Damme) but blew him off repeatedly and, when he wouldn't back down, she defeated him in a duel.
- In some Kaiba/Shizuka (also known as Serenity in the English dub version) fics, Joey quickly turns Knight Templar Big Brother when he finds out about their relationship and then cranks it up. This can happen on both sides if Serenity is paired up with Kaiba's little brother, Mokuba, sometimes resulting in Star-Crossed Lovers.
- The opposite also happens sometimes in Joey/Kaiba fics, with Serenity being painted as the bitchy, ungrateful little sister who wants to steal her brother's one true love. And for some reason, she's also portrayed as a bitch in Azureshipper (Seto Kaiba/Anzu) fics out to steal Anzu's true love.
- Yugi Mutou and/or Yami Yugi—despite their status as co-protagonists of this show— can also be the victims of this trope. This happens especially in Seto Kaiba/Anzu fics. If Yugi is the designated victim of DFOS, he would be portrayed as either a weak-willed cuckold unaware of Anzu's cheating with Kaiba or an emotionally neglectful boyfriend (or husband) so Anzu would be allowed to break up or have an affair with Kaiba who is somehow portrayed as a sarcastic but patient and understanding person. If Yami Yugi is the designated victim of DFOS, he would be portrayed as downright abusive so Kaiba would save Anzu from him. This is especially jarring considering the amount of times Yugi/Yami helped Anzu in both canon and filler episodes, and the fact that Anzu basically called out Kaiba for his attempt to guilt Yugi/Yami into throwing away the duel by threatening to commit suicide in Duelist Kingdom arc.
Yu-Gi-Oh! GX
- Asuka Tenjouin/Alexis Rhodes is not only hated and called all manner of bad names for being the token female love interest and Ms. Fanservice in a show filled past the brink with Ho Yay, but for vehemently refusing to get into a relationship with Manjyome/Chazz.
- There's at least one fan that will vilify anyone who so much dares to speak of Judai hooking up with anyone but Asuka, especially if said hook-up is with The Ace Johan/Jesse. With the series over now, it seems they took a third option and had Judai get involved with Yubel.
- Yubel is frequently bashed and vilified far beyond their actual canon obsessions when it comes to Juudai/Asuka fics. Oddly enough, they don't usually get that treatment in Juudai/Johan ones, and it's canon that they are jealous of Johan for having (supposedly) stolen Juudai's love from them.
Yu-Gi-Oh! 5 D's
- Divine. Go to a horde of Yusei/Aki-fangirls, throw in this name and watch what will happen. It's definitely not fun. Despite him dying twice, which also presumably kills off the possibility of a future development of his romance with Aki in the show, the fans just can't stop bashing him and depict him raping, beating and insulting the living daylights out of her. Usually he dies a terrible death at the end of every single one of their fanfictions. In the show, it was not only made pretty clear that he never would have abused her physically nor verbally, but also shown that even if he used her for her powers, he was in fact always very caring and protective, if not gentle towards her.
- Another idea very popular in Yusei/Aki fanfiction was (and still is) Aki turning against Divine as soon as she finds out about his evil motives and wanting him dead, killing him together with Yusei, or at least being happy about her hero Yusei having slayed him for her. This was completely jossed though in episode 42, when Aki actually did find out the truth and said that even if Divine used her for her powers, she still would always be grateful to him for accepting her and even that his existence was invaluable to her. Also she was pretty happy to see him when he returned in episode 60.
- The Jack/Mikage shippers REALLY don't like Carly, and let's not forget how much hate Ushio gets from them. In turn, Jack/Carly shippers hate Mikage for still sticking to her admiration for Jack.
- Some episodes show numerous hints of Crow/Aki. Mention this and Yusei/Aki Fans along with the notorious Crow Haters will shout "Crack Pairing" before you know it.
- Lately, Sherry Le Blanc fell victim to the Yusei/Aki fans' bashing as well due to her increased interaction with Yusei and them sharing some pretty ambiguous moments. A lot of Sherry/Yusei fans bash Aki for Chickification too.
- In fact, Bruno gets this treatment as well. It's common for Jack as well from those wacky Faithshippers. They just kill everyone off while Yusei and Aki skip through fields of flowers and rainbows. Makes Twilight seem good.
Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS
- Ai tends to get this in fanworks where Yusaku is shipped with someone other than him. The importance of his relationship as Yusaku's partner will generally be downplayed, and he'll often be Flanderized into being nothing more than the annoying comic relief character who constantly irritates Yusaku, sometimes involving Yusaku physically assaulting him in response. In other cases, he's simply kept dead after his duel with Yusaku, with no explanation as to why Yusaku didn't even bother trying to look for him like he did in canon. This is, of course, if his existence is even acknowledged at all.
