Yugioh GX is a strange and confounding show. It has one of if not the best casts in the Yugioh franchise but it heavily underitilizes or derails most of them. It has perhaps the most likable fleshed out and developed protagonist in the franchise but at the cost of a lot of characters the show doesnt know what to do with. It has some of the most conceptually interesting and narratively sound arcs in all of Yugioh but one of them is rushed while the other has an ending that almost killed its season outright. GX has a lot of potential that finds itself capitalized on brilliantly at times but the show is just an inconsistent mess. That being said this is easily the best Yugioh anime at least in context of the original timeline. Unlike Duel Monsters GX doesnt treat you like a moron while padding itself out to oblivion with characters whose existences become increasingly confounding as the shows nonexistent sense of logic somehow takes a nosedive for the sake of establishing threats for the main protagonist to beat over. Unlike 5Ds it wasnt the subject of a complete shift in focus following reallife scandals causing the entire show to devolve into a jumbled mess of bastardized characters intentional as well as accidental retcons and nonsensical plotpoints. In spite of all of this GX has generally been seen as inferior to both. In fact prior to Zexals miserable first season and all other Yugioh series that followed GX was seen as the black sheep of the franchise. Even after Zexal II supposedly redeemed its series and the later entries found their reputations dwindling sometime after coming out GX has always lived in the shadow of Duel Monsters and 5Ds. Why? Outside of the initially dismal reaction to the fun cheese dub which has gained a lot of fondness in the 2010s its still puzzling as to why GX is looked at as the middling stepchild in the original trilogy. While getting a definitive answer may be impossible asserting the notion that GX is perhaps the best series in a lackluster franchise by virtue of being semidecent is something at least someone might find worth doing as we examine some of the highs and lows of this strange erratic entry. The first thing to dive into is the cast which is both GXs greatest strength and biggest weakness. Main character Judai as well as other characters such as Manjoume and Chronos are incredibly likable and welldeveloped characters. Thats actually kind of the problem though. They are pretty much the only characters that get used well on a remotely consistent basis outside of some of the ones introduced in season 3. In terms of the major characters introduced in the first half of the series most of them find themselves largely relegated to the sidelines or get absolutely derailed after the first season. A great example of the former is Asuka who largely loses relevance in the series after her season 1 plot of trying to find her brother. Shes certainly a formidable duelist and she even has a few instrumental wins in the first season but by the second half of the show she barely gets to duel anymore and only has a couple of singleepisode arcs and showings. Its telling that her only bearing on the main plots of seasons 3 and 4 amount to her essentially being assimilated around the halfway mark of those two respective seasons after dueling once...each. As for an example of the latter without touching on the broken mess of spoilers that is Kaiser we have Daichi Misawa. Good lord in Heaven what happened to one of the strongest characters and friendliest rivals of season 1? After being one of the few decent duelists in the first half of season one they decided to play more into his science gimmick while making him a joke for the rest of the first and second seasons culminating in his only significant onscreen duels amounting to losses and questionable forfeits as he randomly becomes insecure about being seen as weak. By season 3 he isnt even dueling anymore though the once friendly rival to Judai at least has his own interesting plot revolving one of the antagonists from season 1 who beat him. There are several other characters that suffer from these bad writing decisions. Judais sidekick of sorts Shou goes from a wimpy loser struggling to prove himself in the first season to a whiny coward who picks on freshmen just because season 2 decided to be the worst. The season 2 mainstays Edo and Tyranno have miserable introductory seasons as the former has an annoying revenge plot and the latters on again off again bickering with Shou over who gets to be Judais sidepiece is perhaps the most insufferable character dynamic in the franchise. However a lot of these characters either barely matter in the latter half anyway or become genuinely endearing once they find their own new personality traits character dynamics and big moments such as Tyranno nuking an entire wave of zombie students with a meteor attack just so his friends can reach season 3s main antagonist. Thats the thing about GX. Whenever it knows how to develop a character well it can produce some of the best characters in the franchise. Judais development is the best of any character in the series as his fears over losing his friends to some of the more supernatural and dangerous aspects of dueling are weaponized in later seasons to great effect. Hes already a likable character at the start with how his jovial laidback attitude eventually contrasts with his greatest fears. However seeing how far the series goes to both break and reshape him while a bit flawed in some cases is absolutely harrowing. Theyre the main draw of seasons 3 and 4 as the darker tone of the series takes hold and legitimately sympathetic or at least interesting antagonists bring out the worst of Judai before he and his friends can overcome it. The show actually conveyed the messages of not giving into your greatest fears in life quite well as those who do either give up on life or become a more desperate depressed and inconsiderate version of themselves whose actions and failures haunt them at every turn. On a less cerebral note theres still Manjoume and Chronos. Out of the major side characters established since the beginning theyre the only two who dont get derailed or underutilized. Manjoumes eventual development from the most abrasive elitist to a somehow more AND less egotistical powerhouse clown is honestly astonishing. While they perhaps could have done a bit more with him in later seasons the dichotomy between his egotistical and borderline tsundere clown side growing simultaneously while sandpapering his more abrasive edges is a treat. He steals the show almost every time hes on screen throughout his entire journey. As for Chronos him learning to be less of an elitist professor who hates all of the students on the lower rung is equally compelling. Watching him slowly go from constantly trying to expel Judai to putting his line and career on the line for his students multiple times makes for some of the most impactful scenes of each season. His final duel with Judai makes for the best most compelling duel in the entire series as Chronos arc comes to a heartwarming close. There are other entertaining characters with their own arcs and gimmicks such as Austin OBriens militant and crafty nature leading to a compelling miniarc and some of the third seasons funniest moments and Jim Cooks devotion to friendship being so powerful that he legitimately has a mystical item related to it and an alligator as his partner. However well be here all day if we go over every aspect of GXs strangely inconsistent character writing. A cast of characters makes up the bulk of a series heart and soul but the story that drives them along is similarly important...and often weak in this case The first half of the first arc is largely devoted to hilariously absurd albeit inconsistent episodic plots as well as a few minor character arcs. This is where a lot of the shows charm is found as the characters interact with the strange setting of their duel academy with hijinks ensuing. Chazzs gloriously bizarre conquest in preparation for the midseason finale is the best part of the first 26 episodes. The second half of that season is a rather weak stop several bad guys from doing bad things for immortality and world domination plot. The only interesting aspect of the arc is how Judai starts fearing the weight of the consequences that comes from losing whenever things get serious and therefore has to learn to overcome that. There are contrivances and several odd filler episodes interpurced with the somewhat more serious arc which makes the narrative of S1 even weaker. At least the show goes through a beautiful transition period in the last few episodes of the season to send off some of its side characters. The second season/arc is even more drawnout as the first half largely has sequences of Judai bumbling through a forest two of his classmates bickering back and forth on who gets to be his sidepiece and several filler duel episodes of inconsistent quality. The idea of someone slowly brainwashing the students is somewhat neat as is the idea that Edo is looking for his fathers killer. Its just that the former is dragged out for too long and the latter isnt really fleshed out or interesting here. The absurd nature of how Chazz launches a counter campaign later on and how Judai and his friends combat a deadly satellite are the only things of interest this time around beyond how some of the eclectic characters from the first seasons more bonkers sliceoflife half wreck shop here as Chronos who tried to end Judais education in S1 gets multiple opportunities to stick his neck out for his students and occupation. The later seasons take on far darker storylines meant to utterly break Judai so that S4 can restore him into a more mature version of his old self. The execution of these ideas is a bit inconsistent relying on breaking the rules of the game to defeat certain antagonists or just flatout using lore to absolve the third seasons main antagonist of all of their atrocities because apparently its Judais fault anyway. However some of the previously derailed or lackluster characters get significantly better portrayals with characterdefining scenes and the new cast members get their own fun arcs. Additionally things such as Judais temporary downfall after throwing his friends lives in danger just to rescue a new person close to him and some of the apparent character deaths are standout moments of the series. Season 4 would then expand upon these ideas with the darkness consuming all into collective consciousness plotline and how his depression and guilt over both what he put his friends through in S3 and everything that has ever transpired over the 3 years theyve been at the duel academy. It does take a while to get there as the show has to retroactively ruin one of the best deaths in the franchise. Despite that and how some rather important characters that would make perfect sense to feature more frequently are largely absent this is still the best season for what it does with Judai and how thematically resonant and emotionally impactful it is. The middle episodes have some of the most resonant duels and storylines in the series with Manjoume and Chronoss final moments of relevance.This is sadly where all relevance for most characters not named Judai come to an end but at least some of them go out on a high note before getting sucked into the final plot of the show. The way its presented with the evil light from S2 being defeated and now S4 evil uncaring darkness taking over so it can also be defeated is hokey but theres a lot that gets said here. The latter half of Season 4 becomes one of the best human instrumentality storylines for how it showcases what its like for the characters trapped in misery and the collective consciousness as theyre pressured into giving in letting their lives go once and for all as they escape into the temporal abyss to end their cycle of failure and misery. Its allegorical suicide and only the most damaged person is left to fight it off as he weighs off his guilt and depression thanks to his friendss attempts to reinvigorate his passion as well as the responsibility he knows he has to those he cares about. This is the perfect capstone to Judais arc and why in spite of the somewhat iffy and inconsistent execution that makes it hard to appreciate in the moment the plotline is perhaps the richest of the series. Its what allows the finale to truly feel earned and impactful. The final aspects to mention are the shows audiovisuals. Much like Duel Monsters the music in GX is great albeit often overplayed in the first two seasons. Yutaka Minobe became the composer for the franchise from GX to Zexal. While this OST doesnt have the grandiosity or sheer emotional weight of a lot of the Duel Monsters tracks done by Utena composer Shinkichi Mitsume there are still plenty of energetic chill and beautiful tracks to choose from. Majoumes theme is a somewhat mysterious yet somewhat lax piece Fierce Attack goes harder than perhaps any track from the show and Duelist is a personal favorite for how perfectly it encompasses the bittersweet nature of season 4. Other great tracks include Wicked Grudge Sad Duel/Supreme King theme Judais theme and Beyond the Sorrow. Judai and Supreme Kings themes in particular are perhaps the most iconic pieces in the entire show as the former is a satisfying yet laidback piece thats sure to incite a mix of hype and a willingness to groove while the latter is as fierce and downtrodden as Jaden grew to be in the third quarter of S3. The later seasons did get a ton of newer often darker tracks more befitting of the grimmer tone which is part of why the OST did not feel as repetitive in the shows latter half. Its a good thing too as several of these tracks are outstanding. The lineup of OPs and EDs is perhaps the most consistent in the franchise with the only real dud being the first OP. Personal favorites include Teardrop by BOWL Precious Time Glory Days by Psychic Lover and Endless Dream by Hiroshi Kitadani OP 3 OP 4 ED 4. Teardrop is a beautifully somber song that speaks about opening up and letting out ones sorrows from the perspective of someone they saved and therefore are devoted to and seem to be directed at Jaden as he goes through primarily negative development in that season. Precious Time Glory Days is a lot more hopeful and energetic aware of the sorrows that took place but still being a fun and optimistic song in spite of everything just as Jaden grew to be by the end of S4. Endless Dream is a beautiful and somewhat bittersweet piece that opens up with a serene sequence as Jaden sleeps on a field of grass in broad daylight. It truly conveys the bittersweet nature of the final season as everyone moves on and gives it one last go with smiles on their faces. Lastly the visuals are...about as mediocre as youd expect from a Yugioh series. The franchise was never one to be sought after for sakuga or anything compared to most longrunning shounen anime. This could mean that the series would focus more on detailed artwork and generally decent presentation. However thats not exactly the case either. Studio Gallop returned to work on this show and there are a few minor improvements as well as unique issues. Starting with the positives there do seem to be more moments compared to Duel Monsters where important summons or attacks result in explosive sakuga cuts. The artwork is more consistently onmodel than Duel Monsters though oddities do still pop up here and there. While the characters are more consistently on model there are still moments where they look particularly awkward from lower angles. The character and monster designs are often more pleasant as well at least until the later seasons decided edgy BDSMesque designs were the new hip thing for a lot of antagonist decks and boss monsters. The characters also get to have more visual interactions with the game as field spells crumble around and affect them and monsters get a bit more dynamic with their engagements. The early seasons in particular often look worse when characters arent dueling as there are moments where character models very blatantly and awkwardly bounce around snap or hover from one part of the screen to the next as a substitute for animating any actual flight or walking. Any CG is thankfully limited to the occasional ugly game effect and a couple of episodes that use ugly water effects compared to DMs occasional grotesque CGI background. This would change forever once 5Ds rolled in so its good to appreciate whats here in Duel Monsters and GX before the franchise became CGI hell. Still its hard not to say that the series fares a little better than Duel Monsters which notoriously went through some rough patches in certain filler arcs. Both are largely still slideshows though. Its sad that the best of the original YGO trilogy is a depressingly inconsistent mess. There is a lot to like about GX such as its cast of characters the bizarre yet lax nature of the early episodes and the stories the later seasons told. It has perhaps the most wellwritten and defined protagonist in the franchise and tells a rather important message via one of the only decent postEva collective consciousness/human instrumentality plots. However the show largely sidelines or derails most of its otherwise stellar cast and a lot of ideas are fumbled in the most critical moments like the insultingly awful conclusion to season 3. For everything fascinating or great about the show something stupid counterbalances. Yugioh GX isnt not the easiest thing to recommend but if you want a decent nostalgia trip feel free to watch some of season 1 in dub form and switch to sub at your leisure until it becomes the only way to properly appreciate S3 or even watch S4. Your mileage will certainly vary with the first two seasons but if you make it to the end you might get a lot more out of it emotionally and thematically than youd expect.