Arc-V started out with some promise during season 1, many likable characters, the Main Female Lead Yuzu having a big role rather than being a Faux Action Girl or simple Fanservice, the return of old Archetypes, and many Deconstructions to series staples making it an interesting story. However, once the Synchro Arc came around, they dropped the ball. As much as I love Jack and Crow, they and the other Legacy Characters didn't need to be in the limelight for so long. The fact this season occurred in the midst of Yu-Gi-Oh! The Dark Side of Dimensions production meant many writers and animators were lost, which clearly shows. What should have been a 25 episode arc took up an entire season, which in turn ate into the time needed for Heartland and Academia. This lead to too quick Redemption Stories, superfluous characters taking the screen time of more important characters (Looking at you Shinji Weber), and unsatisfactory payoffs. Not helping matters also is the shafting of both Yuzu and her equally capable, if not more so, counterpart Serena, the wasting of Rin, and to a lesser extent, Ruri, the wasted potential of Sawatari, Gongenzaka, and Tsukikage, the inclusion of the much reviled Captain Solo, Battle Beast, and Parasite Doctor arcs, and the anti-climax of a Finale Duel against Zarc. And don't get me started on the ending. Production Issues ultimately screwed this series over.
Despite all this though, I will defend Arc-V a bit. Despite having a horrid run, Arc-V remains my favorite of the series due to one factor: the plethora of likable characters. Arc-V may have Loads and Loads of Characters, but most of those characters I really like. All of the Lancers (Including Sora, Crow, Yuya and Serena, excluding Reiji), all of the Resistance (Including Yuto, Ruri, Shun, and Kaito), the Tyler Sisters, Tokumatsu, Yugo, Yuri, Rin, Yuzu, the LDS Trio, I look back at this series and remember them fondly. Even if some of them had wasted potential, I still care for them each. Plus, hey, there's always fanfics.
Arc-V had potential, but dropped the ball thanks to production issues and poor decisions made as a result of that.
The Series that Dropped the Ball Hard, yet is still somehow my favorite.
Arc-V started out with some promise during season 1, many likable characters, the Main Female Lead Yuzu having a big role rather than being a Faux Action Girl or simple Fanservice, the return of old Archetypes, and many Deconstructions to series staples making it an interesting story. However, once the Synchro Arc came around, they dropped the ball. As much as I love Jack and Crow, they and the other Legacy Characters didn't need to be in the limelight for so long. The fact this season occurred in the midst of Yu-Gi-Oh! The Dark Side of Dimensions production meant many writers and animators were lost, which clearly shows. What should have been a 25 episode arc took up an entire season, which in turn ate into the time needed for Heartland and Academia. This lead to too quick Redemption Stories, superfluous characters taking the screen time of more important characters (Looking at you Shinji Weber), and unsatisfactory payoffs. Not helping matters also is the shafting of both Yuzu and her equally capable, if not more so, counterpart Serena, the wasting of Rin, and to a lesser extent, Ruri, the wasted potential of Sawatari, Gongenzaka, and Tsukikage, the inclusion of the much reviled Captain Solo, Battle Beast, and Parasite Doctor arcs, and the anti-climax of a Finale Duel against Zarc. And don't get me started on the ending. Production Issues ultimately screwed this series over.
Despite all this though, I will defend Arc-V a bit. Despite having a horrid run, Arc-V remains my favorite of the series due to one factor: the plethora of likable characters. Arc-V may have Loads and Loads of Characters, but most of those characters I really like. All of the Lancers (Including Sora, Crow, Yuya and Serena, excluding Reiji), all of the Resistance (Including Yuto, Ruri, Shun, and Kaito), the Tyler Sisters, Tokumatsu, Yugo, Yuri, Rin, Yuzu, the LDS Trio, I look back at this series and remember them fondly. Even if some of them had wasted potential, I still care for them each. Plus, hey, there's always fanfics.
Arc-V had potential, but dropped the ball thanks to production issues and poor decisions made as a result of that.