Yu-Gi-Oh The Abridged Series is a very interesting (not to mention funny) piece of metafiction. It breaks the fourth wall, leans on it, and most importantly, it has it around. Unlike a lot of other Abridged Serieses, Yu-Gi-Oh The Abridged Series is unique in that it has fairly good continuity and actually takes on the job of introducing, explaining, (and of course, Lampshade Hanging) plot elements and characters, without assuming the audience knows it.
Indeed, Yu-Gi-Oh The Abridged Series upholds its title as an abridging of Yu-Gi-Oh, not only by being the maintainer of plot, but of characters. Sure, the characters are exaggerated, but I view it as more of a concentration of the characterizations of the characters in the original series in order to get across what you would feel about the personality of the characters in a longer amount of time. Indeed, note that this Abridged Series rarely straight-out derails characters, or at least, rarely derails them completely (Sure, Zorc might have the personality of a small child, but is still focused on destroying the world, and has a vague relationship with the (one of the) dark Bakura(e).) Indeed, as with Zorc, or Rebecca's teddy bear, when there was no personality to begin with, he injects personalities of his own crafting, which in some ways makes it an improvement over the original series' characterization.
The Fourth Wall Ping Pong is also indeed an important factor in the Willing Suspension Of Disbelief. When the plot and characters pretty much make sense, there is a fourth wall. When the plot is wonky and the characters have odd motivation or are acting OOC, there is no fourth wall for the series' plot, and the characters (who are still real) find it as weird as you do. The characters are more believable because they act like real people interacting with the odd plot. This cleverly makes it so that the work's believability is always maintained by, ironically, breaking the fourth wall.
Yu-Gi-Oh The Abridged Series is the pioneer of this sort of metafiction (Fourth Wall Ping Pong playing serieses) along with the shows on That Guy With The Glasses, the Protectors Of The Plot Continuum, and of course, TV Tropes. Regardless of what type of metafiction this is, I love it a lot. It takes my favorite childhood show and makes it okay to love again using humour. How can you not like that?
Fascinating game of Fourth Wall Ping Pong.
Yu-Gi-Oh The Abridged Series is a very interesting (not to mention funny) piece of metafiction. It breaks the fourth wall, leans on it, and most importantly, it has it around. Unlike a lot of other Abridged Serieses, Yu-Gi-Oh The Abridged Series is unique in that it has fairly good continuity and actually takes on the job of introducing, explaining, (and of course, Lampshade Hanging) plot elements and characters, without assuming the audience knows it.
Indeed, Yu-Gi-Oh The Abridged Series upholds its title as an abridging of Yu-Gi-Oh, not only by being the maintainer of plot, but of characters. Sure, the characters are exaggerated, but I view it as more of a concentration of the characterizations of the characters in the original series in order to get across what you would feel about the personality of the characters in a longer amount of time. Indeed, note that this Abridged Series rarely straight-out derails characters, or at least, rarely derails them completely (Sure, Zorc might have the personality of a small child, but is still focused on destroying the world, and has a vague relationship with the (one of the) dark Bakura(e).) Indeed, as with Zorc, or Rebecca's teddy bear, when there was no personality to begin with, he injects personalities of his own crafting, which in some ways makes it an improvement over the original series' characterization.
The Fourth Wall Ping Pong is also indeed an important factor in the Willing Suspension Of Disbelief. When the plot and characters pretty much make sense, there is a fourth wall. When the plot is wonky and the characters have odd motivation or are acting OOC, there is no fourth wall for the series' plot, and the characters (who are still real) find it as weird as you do. The characters are more believable because they act like real people interacting with the odd plot. This cleverly makes it so that the work's believability is always maintained by, ironically, breaking the fourth wall.
Yu-Gi-Oh The Abridged Series is the pioneer of this sort of metafiction (Fourth Wall Ping Pong playing serieses) along with the shows on That Guy With The Glasses, the Protectors Of The Plot Continuum, and of course, TV Tropes. Regardless of what type of metafiction this is, I love it a lot. It takes my favorite childhood show and makes it okay to love again using humour. How can you not like that?