C'est La Vie is the most recent in aseriesofCrossoverfanfics between the two spin-offs of Yu-Gi-Oh!, GX and 5D's, whose names are all literary or musical references. A sixth fanfic is in the works, one which parallels the Yu-Gi-Oh! Tenth Anniversary Movie. Said fic has recently been published.The plot is a slightly different take on the plots of 5D's Story Arcs, tailored to a theme more to the author, Genma no Ou's (and by association, he assumes, his fans') liking. It overlaps events and characters from GX in order to add an extra layer of complexity to the story; and given that it is much like any other fic about overly dramatic children's card games, it attempts to entertain by adding new situations while trying to keep everyone in character.C'est La Vie provides examples of:
A God Am I: As with in 5D's, Rex Godwin; but less enthusiastic this time.
Adaptation Induced Plot Hole: The way the story begins shows that it does originally fit in the 5D's timeline up until that point. It also makes it confusing exactly when the two diverge.
Aerith and Bob: Between mixing two series with greatly opposing name themes and adding characters, these fics have this in spades.
Ancient Conspiracy: Placido has been planning his big scheme for an indeterminate amount of time.
And Then John Was a Zombie: The end of Chapter 38 seems to heavily imply that Paradox is Placido, the man he has been fighting since before the story started.
Anime Hair: Yes, in a fanfic. Kyojo has black flames for hair, Taiyou has black and red messed-up hair, Alessandro has pointed dreadlocks...
Bi the Way: Johan admits offhandedly to being bi in Comme Les Fleurs Du Mal. The fans knew it all along.
Back for the Dead: In The New Morning, Professor Cobra returns to complete his goal from before. Or, as it later turn out, to die at the hands of an enraged Rex Godwin.
Badass Biker: Everyone with a D-Wheel. Including GX characters.
Badass Creed: Summoning chants for everything important.
Badass Longcoat: Half the damn cast. Between Jack, Hell Kaiser, cameos like Manjyoume, and OC Kyojo... there must have been a sale on longcoats.
The evil counterpart to this is Alessandro wearing his cloak as a trench coat.
Bald of Evil: Jose averts this in these fics, as instead he has a long ponytail.
Bottomless Magazines: A twist, and one that's played with. The only time the number of cards in a player's Deck comes into question is if one player is running Deck Destruction; otherwise, it seems irrelevant how many cards a player has left, and there will always be some.
Butt Monkey: Arguably Judai. While not mistreated the same way as most examples, most of the unfortunate things in this stopry happen to him.
Cannot Spit It Out: Part of the conflict between Placido and Yusei's group is that Placido's information to them consists of vague comments which make him seem like a Manipulative Bastard (not to say he isn't...)
Chekhov's Gunman: Alessandro, who appears to be a randomly-placed lackey in C'est La-Vie, later turns out to be Lucciano's replacement.
Church Militant: Considering they work for God, Yliaster somewhat come across as these.
Cluster F-Bomb: The f-word is tossed around a fair bit, especially by Crow.
"You know what? Fuck you Judai!" Crow snapped at the red-haired man, shoving him and almost making him drop Kyojo. "Don't give me that fucking teamwork speech after you fucking went and fucking ditched the lot of us just for a fucking shot at fucking Placido! You don't know the first fucking thing about fucking group efforts!"
Combat Pragmatism: Placido. When a guard sees his metal eye, he shoots the guy through the forehead with a laser beam from said eye. Then jumps down the hole like it was nothing.
Crazy-Prepared: Half the cards people run at any given time are about drawing cards.
Yusei pulls a similarly awesome move, summoning 3 Synchro Monsters with 1 combo about 15 chapters earlier.
Arguably, Paradox gets one in the first chapter of Redeem Us. Yusei has already summoned Saviour Star Dragon, on his first turn no less, a card which has spelled doom for countless opponents before; and not only does it do nothing to stop Paradox, he bests it in one turn, with one straight-up attack.
Crowning Moment of Funny: "The fact that one: you don't own a D-Wheel," Crow counted by opening a single finger from his hand and tapping it. Holding out his second finger off that hand, he added, "and two… you're FUCKING DEAD."
Darker and Edgier: At times, these fics can be this in contrast to GX and 5D's.
Defeat By Cameo: Kaiba and Fubuki show up briefly to become victims of Paradox.
Did Not Do the Research: Several sudden changes in the course of the plot appear to be the result of having suddenly discovered relevant information that was not researched to begin with.
Evil Versus Oblivion: Paradox versus Placido, Jose and Lucciano. The latter 3 want to overthrow the Signers to create a better world by eliminating the bad people; Paradox wants to destroy humanity altoegther.
Expy: The characters referred to as "Summoners" are in fact borrowed from the canon of Genma no Ou's friend, Tenebrius, from a story called "Yu-Gi-Oh!Tensei". Beacause of a mistranslation of "Tensei" as "Summoner", when it in fact means "Rebirth". Oops.
Eyepatch of Power: Placido sports one over his right eye when he doesn't wear the conspicuous metal eyepiece. He still has the Infinity Mark on it, however.
Fan Disservice: The end of Comme Les Fleurs Du Mal seems like it will lead into a Lemon, but it doesn't.
Flanderization: Placido's extremist attitude gets more extreme as the story goes on.
"I will strip away the Paradox and show you truth..."
Fridge Logic: Most of the story. The anther has strangely never been called out on it. For a good example, see Refuge in Audacity.
An even better one occurs in Chapter 36. Jack, still recovering from a huge hit, can't feel his legs. He deduces that since his legs are fine, his spine is just shaken up. As soon as everyone goes to mobilize, he's apparently fine enough to use a pedal-operated vehicle that goes in excess of 300 km/h.
Gainax Ending: Best of Times, Worst of Times ends with nobody really knowing what's happened.
C'est La-Vie does this even worse.
Gecko Ending: Slightly with The New Morning, since the effects are the same (minus the questionable fates of a few characters). C'est La-Vie, however, is entirely out there from anime continuity, and leaves an ending that leads into the Tenth Anniversary fanfic and leaves several more characters' fates in purgatory.
Genius Bonus: Yusei apparently understands that time is the 4th Dimension.
Gnosticism: References get more and more frequent in later Chapters, to the point that it becomes a main theme of the story.
Gratuitous French: A conversation between Judai and "Sherry" in French.
Gratuitous Japanese: It's described that although the story is in English, the characters are usually speaking Japanese.
Gratuitous Spanish: Placido utters the Spanish "excelente" at one point, and Alessandro has a habit of calling Placido "El Capitan".
Grey and Gray Morality: Every antagonist believes that they are doing the right thing, and that the protagonists are doing what they believe is right but are fighting for the wrong side.
Hammer Space: Hell Kaiser somehow fits the whole World of Darkness inside the Bootleg.
This becomes somewhat of a Chekhov's Skill in C'est La-Vie, where he uses this technique to take the patients of a hospital to the World of Darkness... because it's better than being killed.
Hoist by His Own Petard: Placido's sabotaging Paradox's use of the Old Momentum results in his plan going terribly wrong when it explodes and warps Judai, Yugi and Yusei straight into the clutches of Paradox.
Ho Yay: Several characters relationships come scross this way, but Judai/Yusei and Taiyou/Kyojo are the strongest.
I Am Not Shazam: Before an official name existed for the Three Emperors of Yliaster, they were referred to as "Infinity" as though that were the name of their organization.
Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Placido, in Chapter 39, talks about how Yusei and Judai's dialogue may seem to their audience. In context, the audience is The Gods, but it really seems like a Take That to the entire franchise.
Marty Stu: Averted. While the author has introduced characters, they haven't hijacked the plot.
More than Mind Control: Placido is possessed by the God several times later in the story, acting as a conduit between him and humans.
Near Villain Victory: Placido comes within a few seconds of winning in C'est La-Vie.
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Judai taking Yusei's place in Best of Times Worst of Times results in Yusei temporarily losing his Signer Mark, letting the Drak Signers have at him.
Plot Hole: Attempts at averting it are made by the author, who tries to explain literally everything at some point or another.
Random Events Plot: Even with a back story, C'est La-Vie comes across as this at times.
Real Life Writes the Plot: Several Decks used in ths series include themes of real-world Tournament winners: X-Sabers, Lightsworn, etc. This is even lampshaded by Kyojo.
later, it's revealed that the Apocalypse was caused by war between the United States and North Korea.
Retcon: Several as a result of Redeem Us in our Solemn Hour, including the changing of ZONE into Ylaidus, and the changing of The End of the World as We Know It from biological warfare to machine warfare hijacked by God.
The Reveal: Godwin is revealed to be the enemy part way through his final battle; big brother got it wrong.
Robotic Reveal: Other than Placido, Alessandro is revealed to have many mechanical parts, and Lucciano is revealed as a Robot.
Rouge Angles of Satin: "Placido" is at one point accidentally referred to as "Placid". The spelling also randomly changes from American to Canadian standard, resulting in a lot of random name changes.
"–When this card inflicts Battle Damage, make the ATK of 1 face-up monster 0, and it cannot change its ballet position."
Rule Of Cool: Come on, speaking Japanese with a Texan accent. That really can only come from this trope.
Many of the moves made by characters. For example, Taiyou's Five Synchro Move.
Running Gag: Crow swearing with the twins around, then cupping his mouth as though it will fix something. Dropped very quickly.
Chapter 37 also includes a reference to the Illuminati. While this is an actual group, it simply screams Angels and Demons. Come to think of it, the Religious Conspiracy motif of that chapter also coincides with The Da Vinci Code.
"Next, due to the effect of Core Releaser," Placido explained, holding his hand as though to receive a card. "Do not forget the effect of Core Releaser;
Timey Wimey Ball: The GX characters and 5D's characters are explained to not have aged evenly because Zero Reverse somehow messed with the flow of time in the Neo Domino area. Riiight...
Translation Convention: The author makes it clear that the characters are actually speaking Japanese, even if the story itself is in English.
Tron Lines: Placido gets these emanating from his face whenever God takes over.
Tsundere: A rare male example in Alessandro. He can go from polite to rude to hostile really for no reason at all.
Villainous Breakdown: Paradox seems to have started one at the end of Chapter 38 of C'est La-Vie.
The Virus: Accorrding to Paradox's flashback, one is responsible for the end of the world.
What an Idiot: Taiyou. Despite being an incredibly intelligent and skilled apprentice of the Magician Deity, he doesn't fell it necessary to hell his allies that he gave Placido the three most powerful beings he ever came across for safe keeping.
What Happened to the Mouse?: Several characters randomly go missing by C'est La-Vie and never return. Not really explained why.
As of the start of Redeem Us, Paradox's outfit is slightly different, with no idea how it got that way; and his mental conversation with Placido has long since ended, leaving no indication how it ended.
Wham Chapter: A few, but C'est La-Vie's Chapter 34 stands out. Not only does Paradox defeat Kyojo, the guy who mentored Jack, but Placido trashes Jack, Kiryu and Kyojo.
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