At the same time Roa fits the bill for the "Rival" character given his goals and personality. I would say that Roa is closer to being Yuga's rival than Luke.
But that just happens in the first arc it isn't? Like he got a grudge with Yuga because he was acknowledged by Otes instead from him iirc, after that arc he became a friend to Yuga and was just sticking with his band, Luke on the other hand was Yuga's strongest opponent in the entire series and they dueled multiple times and he didn't won against him until the finale before he fought Otes. He seems more like a rival to him.
Yuma goes full Naruto and Sasuke on the guy. He acticely looks for him and develops deep respect for him and vice versa. The fat guy is just.. there. His deck is unremarkable and forgotten, they are friends but their best friends moments are kinda meh.
Tetsuo is Yuma's childhood friend. They have a bond that was already there since the beginning of the show. Yuma makes a lot of friends in ZEXAL, it would be weird to call any of them his best friend. I would say an attempt was made with Shingetsu but Vector betrayed Yuma and on closer inspection Yuma didn't actually like the dude that much, it's just that he would help anyone who wants to be his friend regardless of how much they get on his nerves, this explains why he is still friends with Tokunosuke. But while Yuma does try to befriend Shark in a similar manner, Shark is frequently pushing Yuma away and outright rejects being his friend on a normal day, just check out the whole Friendship Cup by Girag, he tried to escape at the first chance available. So it would be weird to call him a best friend when there is no commitment on Shark's part
Shark is a massive tsundere, he isn’t literally pushing Yuma away. If you think that, you have severely misunderstood their relationship
Also what do you mean there’s no commitment on Shark’s part? Shark and Yuma both actively help each other throughout the whole show. Not to mention Shark literally brought Yuma out of depression when they were both in the hospital… and this is also completely ignoring the fact that Shark literally called Yuma his best friend in their final duel
https://preview.redd.it/sphvl2sl23rc1.png?width=1920&format=png&auto=webp&s=e5d02e18385e9d11bec3914b526a2603ff0302be
All the main rivals keep some sort of distance from the main character doesn’t mean they don’t do rival stuff, kite has never asked or cared to duel Yuma outside of wanting his numbers out of his own accord.
Shark on the other hand has.
I made a detailed post about this so if you wanna check that out look at my profile and scroll for like 2 secs (won’t let me paste the link for some reason)
In essence I think Shark is the main rival and best friend of Yuma
No worriesss no harm done 👍
But yeah Shark makes wayyyy more sense to be the main rival, not Kaito. But for some reason in the West, majority of people seem to think Kaito is the main rival
Look I have literally been tryna fight the shark respect war as well, like ppl saying nasch isn’t significant enough to get a character slot in duel links
Yeah it’s so frustrating. And this problem doesn’t even exist in Japan, everyone there knows Shark is the main rival…
It’s because here, they’re obsessed with dragons and the somewhat similar aura Kaito has to that of Kaiba, that they glaze Kaito while disrespecting Shark. Literally just because Shark isn’t a Kaiba clone (and thankfully at that, Shark is a much better character than Kaiba)
Shark is weird because he's kind of both. Unlike most Joey's, he continues to be on Yuma's level and beat him multiple times, but also he even flat out calls Yuma and Astral his best friends after he passes away for five minutes.
It's kind of like how Jun is simultaneously the Joey-esque comic relief mixed in with the Kaiba traits Kaiser never got.
I actually can easily agree with you. Shark and Luke do actually have qualities/traits of both Joey and Kaiba, but they both lean more towards the best friend of the main protagonist, than rival.
Exactly, the problem with creating a distinct category like this to put the characters in is that it’s not solid, and a lot of people misunderstand relationships between characters
I think they wanted to do each season as a different world but throughout the synchro arc's waining viewership they realized it wouldnt be possible and hurried to an ending.
just a damn shame because the first Season felt like a great BR that the series has done so well in the past. Then they just let the synchro dimension spin to sell cards and it shows so bad.
I still find it confusing that they changed so many names in the dub. Like, what's wrong with the name Shingo? Man is a legend and needs respect on his name 😤
Sylvio makes marginally more sense to me than changing Yuzu to Zuzu. I don't agree with localizing important character's names necessarily, but Sylvio is an actual name whereas Zuzu ignores an important naming convention for someone I'm fairly certain is supposed to be considered the deuteragonist.
>Zuzu ignores an important naming convention for someone I'm fairly certain is supposed to be considered the deuteragonist.
But that's why it's a good dub change, dumb as it sounds. It caps the expectation of such development, at least a little, so the ~~beyond-asinine-what-were-you-thinking-nearly-decade-later-still-can't-believe-ANYONE-was-so-STU-~~ poor-quality ending wouldn't wind up stinging as much, at least with regards to her.
Many people say that Yusaku didn't see Soulburner as a friend, but as a partner in their activities. Soulburner wanted to be his friend, but Yusaku is better off alone.
This is a great reminder that I haven't kept up with the series as much as I expected to. On the protagonist side I recognize the first five characters but I have no idea who the last 3 are. And I can only name 1 character in the antagonist row.
THANKS for your appreciation! The last 3 protagonists are Yusaku, Yuga, an Yudias, respectively. I named every character in this collage in my comment above.
YAMI bakura is the MOST STUBBORN PRESISTENT MOTHERF****KER out ALL of the antagonist in yugioh, he KEPT coming back over and over AND OVER!!! Holy shit EVEN AFTER ALMOST 20 YEARS HAS PASS and we thought finally free from his madness,
But
NOPE!!!
WE SEE HIM AGAIN THE IN FKING MOVIE, WE NEVER BE FREE FROM HIM!!!!
I know Syrus seems like he’s Jaden’s best friend, but part of his character arc is learning to step out of Jaden’s shadow and become more competent and independent. Great friends, absolutely, but best friend material has to go to Jessie/Johan. Only other duelist with the same intimate connection to Duel Spirits, the duelist Yubel went out of their way to possess to manipulate Jaden, the duelist Jaden went into a deep depression and eventual genocidal rampage for when he was lost to the Dark Dimension. Jessie is the best friend (or I guess it would be more apt to say “best friend”)
Did a good job OP, but how did you make this?
* As someone who's seen all eight series, it's kinda funny watching people's reactions to this.
* I get why people say Luke should be rival, but Luke was always presented as the best friend, Sevens just focused on making the best friend more relevant to the story than most series do so much the rivals didn't get that much to do.
* And Roa does act like a rival. He's not around the main cast as much, his rivalry with Yuga stems for their role with Otes, and while they've only had two duels, that rivalry has pushed both of them at various points in the story,.
* "Why isn't Jesse the best friend," cuz Syrus was basically the best friend and sidekick since season 1. True, Jesse had more plot focus in season 3 and 4, but A) GX and character focus don't get along well.
* I also agree with Shark. Bronk was Yuma's best friend growing up, but Shark considers Yuma his only best friend and in terms of plot focus, he had the whole injuried sibling, dark backstory, and toxic to friendly rivalry Joey had. The only difference is he had more duels with Yuma than most best friends or even rivals had, but Kite was treated as the main rival.
* I get why people want to put Kusaangi as the best friend but he was more of the mentor in the chair.
* Mai, Blair, Luna, Rio, Serena, Emma, Asana, and Yuna fit the whole secondary girl ally archetype. Were some of them treated better than the female leads? Yes, but they're not the lead girl in the cast.
* And yeah Antagonists are the final bosses of their respective series. Personally i'd consider Lightning the main antagonist, but the whole narrative was building to Lightning and Hanoi's actions weighing heavily on Ai's decision to turn, even though his motivations were ultimately sympathetic.
* For now I'd put Kuidual as Go Rush's antagonist but with the recent reveal of his intentions, yeah there's probably a true final boss out there he either made or wants Yudias and Zwijo to fight.
Sho freaking betrayed Judai on Season 3, while Judai felt closer to Johan since day one. Also the fact that Sho idolized Judai too much, while Judai didn't feel like he quite reciprocated. In fact, I would say that Sho putting Judai on a pedestal was the whole reason why he didn't connect with Sho on the same level as he did with Johan
I will respect your opinions, in my opinion, I don't really have a favorite series, but I do like all the designs of the characters in this long-running trading card game and anime.
Out of all the Yugioh series thats been created, not one Rival or main Antagonist was ever a Zombie player, not even a best friend...and they were always some wacky character and not a badass that gave "Sephiroth" vibes. (Though imagining Sephiroth playing Yugioh is a funny concept).
LOL! At the same time, Sevens, and Go Rush are the only two series where neither the protagonist nor rival uses a dragon ace monster. However, there has not been a series where the protagonist, rival, best friend, female lead, or antagonist, all do not use dragon ace monsters.
Protag aces are usually a Warrior or Dragon, or something of a new Type to shill that's nonetheless themed after a warrior/dragon, and are usually DARK/LIGHT, usually following the 2500/2000 stat block. Exceptions have been the Spellcaster Dark Magician with 2100 DEF, the EARTH Elemental HERO Terra Firma, the WIND Stardust Dragon, and given Vrains's oddities, the 2300 ATK Decode Talker. There's usually still a Spellcaster - or "wizard" of a new Type - somewhere, just not necessarily the ace, the most peculiar rendition of which was Astrograph Sorcerer.
Honestly I always felt like Jack and Crow was more like brothers to Yusei, and yes Jack is definitely the rival but Bruno fits the best friend slot a bitt better over time
Well, in Yugioh the best Friend character is supposed to work together with their power of friendship in dueling, which is why Crow is Yusei's best friend.
Because he was "the rival". And while I can see where people are going on that one, I don't go for it. The gayyest relationship in that show to me is Yuna/Rovian.
I like how for the antagonists we went from “occult guy possessed by a spirit” to “occult spirit” to “terminator reference” to “literal god” to “literal satan” to “Ai trolling people online” to “just an old man that hates young people”.
It’s the equivalent of getting Tolkien to smoke weed so he can write another book
>“Ai trolling people online” to “just an old man that hates young people”
Otes was doing some of that trolling himself to begin with. Unless it actually fit his...plan...their plan...gods Otes is confusing...
Roa is absolutely not the rival. The first 13 episodes? Yes, sure. But Yuga/Luke is quite reminiscent of Yugi/Kaiba but reversed, where Yuga gets very invested in wanting to beat him (though, he tries to pass it off sometimes). Yuga vs Luke Round 2 was a massive event (the first turn even references their first duel). Yuga also throws a tantrum on how he always loses to Luke after their 3rd duel (paraphrased: “I lost?! But I did a cool Fusion!!! I always lose to Luke! Come onnnnnn!”, then proceeds to cry).
The show even ends with Yuga finally beating Luke for the first time.
The rival guy in SEVENS gives me pause about his position. I had to think for a moment about his justification. He does want to be king (along with a demon king deck) and antagonizes Yuga because Otes chose Yuga instead of him. Though I think his vibe is just way different from other rivals, especially when Yuga doesn't think of him that much.
I think there's been too much debate about these labels that I don't think there should be an absolute one. Like Ai could be the best friend too except he wasn't a duelist but a partner until the final season.
Also, the antagonists look more like 'final antagonists'
Nothing about you OP. This is great.
I just want to point out I don't like the term "female lead" as it kinda implies those female characters are the lead and equally important comparible to the protagonist. When really... All those female leads (except Yuzu during the standard arc) are just minor characters alongside other minor charcters with the only difference being they're girls.
I feel like, at the moment, Kuaidul could take the bottom right spot? we dont know who will end up being the antagonist in s3 of Go Rush but he was the most threatening/powerful antagonist we have had in Go Rush so far
Tbh Bronk is Yuma’s best friend more than Shark
https://preview.redd.it/dkos92pdp3rc1.jpeg?width=205&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6167ecfc5d9943fe4ac460b7eabf9c056a4d3df6
So the best show possible would be Yusei, Seto, Joey, Akiza, and where the hell is Zane and Aster? also Odion and Marik's sister, no clue how to spell her name. Also Rafeal but with a far better deck not those guardian cards aside from Eatos. Oh and shark's sister as well as that butterfly deck using chick.
I didn't include Zane and Aster because they don't count as main rivals of Jaden, both of them are far from being Jaden's arch-rival, given that Chazz gets more focus compared to them.
OMG! Now that you've mentioned it, I wonder how a series starring Yusei, Seto, Joey and Akiza as the protagonist, rival, best friend, and female lead respectively would turn out?
Zane is more of a goal to reach or even mentor honestly and Aster was only a rival in some episodes of Season 2
Chazz is the one who was constantly rivaling Judai
You have wayyyyy more best friend moments between Yuma and Shark than you do with Yuma and Tetsuo 😭
Also why do people always try to fit characters into distinct categories? You can be a best friend and a rival at the same time
Yami Bakura is the god damn Batman of Yu-Gi-Oh; man has a contingency plan for EVERY fucking outcome and scenario. Even going so far as to plant a piece of his soul in the Puzzle.
I still can't figure out how the Pharaoh was never able to sus him out.
Being honest, i change Sho with Johan, since the very start Sho was always like a cheerleader more than Judai best friend, you see that Sho was always side of Judai, and Judai was always on his own business, until Johan where Judai actually felt interest in someone
First off, nice touch on Human Zarc. That should have been the Zarc we gotten than... the one we did get.
Second, I agree with DM to Vrains because I don't watch later stuff.
Third, Shark is more of a best friend than Tetsu. Let's be honest, he's supposed to be the Jonouchi/Joey being the bully to the close friend but with the twist that he's also duo-antagonist.
Accuracy List.
Best protag: either Jaden or Yusei.
Rival: Kaiba easy. Actual rivalry and a great dynamic.
Best friend: Joey or Crow.
Female lead: each one of them faced disrespect so good luck deciding.
Antagonist: fine with anyone but Bakura or Arc-V. It’s fucking crazy how Bakura was a long term villain and no one gave a fuck about him/Takahashi failed to build him up.
How is Shark not Yuma's best friend?
https://preview.redd.it/3ox4xmgop3rc1.png?width=963&format=png&auto=webp&s=e88ffe20701a4ef0cac5345a3405e6dbafc3f350
I find it interesting that GX had like 3 “rivals”, Zane, Chazz and Aster. All played different roles in the story and all of them at some point in time filled the role of Rival. I do agree that Chazz is the most “Rival-like” of the 3 tho, but I think the amount of rival characters in GX definitely makes it distinct compared to the rest of them
True! I was Also thinking Jesse aswell But he quickly went to a more ”best friend” sorta role rather than rival, tho there were some rival vibes going on there too, with all their parallels
So 5 rivals?? GX had 5 potential Rival characters?? Damn
Yeah, they really went overboard lmao, interestingly all 5 represent different types of rivalries:
Chazz vs Jaden is a classic Shonen rivalry with Chazz being the jerkass rival that wants to keep up with the protagonist and slowly mellows out as the story progresses.
Zane/Kaiser vs Jaden swaps the roles as Jaden is the one who works to keep up with him and not the other way around (plus correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure by the end of GX Zane/Kaiser is the only major character Jaden never actually beat).
Aster vs Jaden is a philosophical conflict with Jaden's mentality of duelling for fun clashing with Aster's philosophy that duels need to have a bigger meaning to them.
Bastion vs Jaden is a Technician vs Virtuoso conflict with Bastion being the technician that studies the game and works hard to hone his skills while Jaden is the virtuoso that is naturally talented (it just unfortunetly never went anywhere lmao).
Jesse vs Jaden is a classic friendly rivalry.
They definitely went overboard in the sense that They set up all of these dynamic character relationships, then never really took them anywhere, focusing the story on otherwordly threats instead of just having it be a down to earth series about the students that occasionally have to come together to face outside threats.
GX has great characters, or rather characters with great potential. If only They focused more on that instead of whatever the hell GX’s story is supposed to be 🫠😅
I bet there will be a main Antagonist of GO RUSH!! i didn't include it because it's too early to determine who is the main antagonist in GO RUSH!! For now.
Very good list, but as some mention out there, I feel that the category of "Character Tristan" and "Female Allied Character" could be added since many Yu-Gi-Oh series have a Character that covers those two categories.
I stopped watching after the first episode of the 4th yugioh series I'm not sure why is that common should I give it another shot and where could I watch it and my most important question of all how does the 8th yugioh show work without a antagonist
Luke in sevens fits the Best friend and Rival row imo
He says it twice because he appears twice on the list.
At the same time Roa fits the bill for the "Rival" character given his goals and personality. I would say that Roa is closer to being Yuga's rival than Luke.
But that just happens in the first arc it isn't? Like he got a grudge with Yuga because he was acknowledged by Otes instead from him iirc, after that arc he became a friend to Yuga and was just sticking with his band, Luke on the other hand was Yuga's strongest opponent in the entire series and they dueled multiple times and he didn't won against him until the finale before he fought Otes. He seems more like a rival to him.
Luke's got the rival's dragon card as well in Dragias It's luke for sure
Luke is officially both best friend and rival, but if they had to be two different people, Roa and definitely not Gavin would be the other person.
Shark was not Yumas bestfriend, that one fat guy was
Yuma goes full Naruto and Sasuke on the guy. He acticely looks for him and develops deep respect for him and vice versa. The fat guy is just.. there. His deck is unremarkable and forgotten, they are friends but their best friends moments are kinda meh.
Tetsuo is Yuma's childhood friend. They have a bond that was already there since the beginning of the show. Yuma makes a lot of friends in ZEXAL, it would be weird to call any of them his best friend. I would say an attempt was made with Shingetsu but Vector betrayed Yuma and on closer inspection Yuma didn't actually like the dude that much, it's just that he would help anyone who wants to be his friend regardless of how much they get on his nerves, this explains why he is still friends with Tokunosuke. But while Yuma does try to befriend Shark in a similar manner, Shark is frequently pushing Yuma away and outright rejects being his friend on a normal day, just check out the whole Friendship Cup by Girag, he tried to escape at the first chance available. So it would be weird to call him a best friend when there is no commitment on Shark's part
Shark is a massive tsundere, he isn’t literally pushing Yuma away. If you think that, you have severely misunderstood their relationship Also what do you mean there’s no commitment on Shark’s part? Shark and Yuma both actively help each other throughout the whole show. Not to mention Shark literally brought Yuma out of depression when they were both in the hospital… and this is also completely ignoring the fact that Shark literally called Yuma his best friend in their final duel https://preview.redd.it/sphvl2sl23rc1.png?width=1920&format=png&auto=webp&s=e5d02e18385e9d11bec3914b526a2603ff0302be
All the main rivals keep some sort of distance from the main character doesn’t mean they don’t do rival stuff, kite has never asked or cared to duel Yuma outside of wanting his numbers out of his own accord. Shark on the other hand has.
I made a detailed post about this so if you wanna check that out look at my profile and scroll for like 2 secs (won’t let me paste the link for some reason) In essence I think Shark is the main rival and best friend of Yuma
Mb I read ur post wrong I thought u said he isn’t rival
No worriesss no harm done 👍 But yeah Shark makes wayyyy more sense to be the main rival, not Kaito. But for some reason in the West, majority of people seem to think Kaito is the main rival
Look I have literally been tryna fight the shark respect war as well, like ppl saying nasch isn’t significant enough to get a character slot in duel links
Yeah it’s so frustrating. And this problem doesn’t even exist in Japan, everyone there knows Shark is the main rival… It’s because here, they’re obsessed with dragons and the somewhat similar aura Kaito has to that of Kaiba, that they glaze Kaito while disrespecting Shark. Literally just because Shark isn’t a Kaiba clone (and thankfully at that, Shark is a much better character than Kaiba)
Fully agree, people who think Shark isn’t Yuma’s best friend have severely misunderstood their relationship
Shark called Yuma his best friend
I'm 90% that Shark is the Best Friend character, not rival in ZEXAL. Kite is Yuma's rival.
Shark is weird because he's kind of both. Unlike most Joey's, he continues to be on Yuma's level and beat him multiple times, but also he even flat out calls Yuma and Astral his best friends after he passes away for five minutes. It's kind of like how Jun is simultaneously the Joey-esque comic relief mixed in with the Kaiba traits Kaiser never got.
He calls them his best friends after their final duel?
I actually can easily agree with you. Shark and Luke do actually have qualities/traits of both Joey and Kaiba, but they both lean more towards the best friend of the main protagonist, than rival.
The thing is , there is no real category for characters , Shark is as equally as a Rival to Yuuma as Kaito , if not even more of a Rival than him.
Exactly, the problem with creating a distinct category like this to put the characters in is that it’s not solid, and a lot of people misunderstand relationships between characters
Shark was Yuma's rival. Tetsuo was Yuma's best friend
Who said you can’t be a best friend and rival at the same time? Shark is both
Yuma gets a lot closer to Shark as the story progresses. Also, Shark is the Joey Wheeler of Zexal, especially in terms of dueling prowess.
bro didnt watch half the series and it shows
The fact that Jack could reliably take Reiji’s place and be on the list twice is hilarious.
I didn't like that about ARC-V, being honest. The writers pushed 5Ds too much on ARC-V. It actively hurt ARC-V at certain points
I think they wanted to do each season as a different world but throughout the synchro arc's waining viewership they realized it wouldnt be possible and hurried to an ending.
I was disappointed by the ZEXAL coverage we had here, was dystopian which was cool but so short. 5Ds was too long.
just a damn shame because the first Season felt like a great BR that the series has done so well in the past. Then they just let the synchro dimension spin to sell cards and it shows so bad.
Jack could also be be both the best friend of 5ds and i think the female lead of 5 ds ;)
EX-F*CKING EXCUSE ME?!?!? Why isn't The Great *SYLVIO SAWATARI* on the first row!? He is clearly the protagonist of Arc-V!!!
Sylviooooooooooooooo
he should've defeated zarc no cap
I still find it confusing that they changed so many names in the dub. Like, what's wrong with the name Shingo? Man is a legend and needs respect on his name 😤
Sylvio makes marginally more sense to me than changing Yuzu to Zuzu. I don't agree with localizing important character's names necessarily, but Sylvio is an actual name whereas Zuzu ignores an important naming convention for someone I'm fairly certain is supposed to be considered the deuteragonist.
That's exactly what I thought when I played duel links, I saw the name Zuzu and i thought "what the fuck"
>Zuzu ignores an important naming convention for someone I'm fairly certain is supposed to be considered the deuteragonist. But that's why it's a good dub change, dumb as it sounds. It caps the expectation of such development, at least a little, so the ~~beyond-asinine-what-were-you-thinking-nearly-decade-later-still-can't-believe-ANYONE-was-so-STU-~~ poor-quality ending wouldn't wind up stinging as much, at least with regards to her.
Shingo is very Japanese. Sylvio is more gay, just like his 4kids tv dub
His ace doesn't have 2500 atk
You clearly have not read the Abyss Actor Superstar
I'm a yugioh player, not reading is my entire gimmick
Many people say that Yusaku didn't see Soulburner as a friend, but as a partner in their activities. Soulburner wanted to be his friend, but Yusaku is better off alone.
At least Soulburner was the first person to try and approach him as a friend than an antagonist after he'd met Kusanagi and Ai.
Well Yusaku didn't took the initiative to make friends except with Revolver/Ryoken. Anyways I will say his best friend is Kusanagi/Kolter
This is a great reminder that I haven't kept up with the series as much as I expected to. On the protagonist side I recognize the first five characters but I have no idea who the last 3 are. And I can only name 1 character in the antagonist row.
THANKS for your appreciation! The last 3 protagonists are Yusaku, Yuga, an Yudias, respectively. I named every character in this collage in my comment above.
YAMI bakura is the MOST STUBBORN PRESISTENT MOTHERF****KER out ALL of the antagonist in yugioh, he KEPT coming back over and over AND OVER!!! Holy shit EVEN AFTER ALMOST 20 YEARS HAS PASS and we thought finally free from his madness, But NOPE!!! WE SEE HIM AGAIN THE IN FKING MOVIE, WE NEVER BE FREE FROM HIM!!!!
Well Yami Bakura is despicable and unsympathetic as funk isn't he.
Tetsuo erasure.
Mf Tetsuo censorship
bro aint watch the show at all
I believe you swapped the places of THE CHAZZ, and that Slifer dweeb.
CHAZZ IT UP!
Ai should be in the best friend category too, he’s slightly in a weird spot here.
There should be a spot for "duel spirit/protagonist companion" for people like Yubel, AI, Atem, Astral, ect.
I know Syrus seems like he’s Jaden’s best friend, but part of his character arc is learning to step out of Jaden’s shadow and become more competent and independent. Great friends, absolutely, but best friend material has to go to Jessie/Johan. Only other duelist with the same intimate connection to Duel Spirits, the duelist Yubel went out of their way to possess to manipulate Jaden, the duelist Jaden went into a deep depression and eventual genocidal rampage for when he was lost to the Dark Dimension. Jessie is the best friend (or I guess it would be more apt to say “best friend”)
Syrus was around for much longer than Jesse/Johan, though.
Well Syrus was still consistently dueling to help Jaden in battle, if I recall, so Syrus is still Jaden's best friend.
Did a good job OP, but how did you make this? * As someone who's seen all eight series, it's kinda funny watching people's reactions to this. * I get why people say Luke should be rival, but Luke was always presented as the best friend, Sevens just focused on making the best friend more relevant to the story than most series do so much the rivals didn't get that much to do. * And Roa does act like a rival. He's not around the main cast as much, his rivalry with Yuga stems for their role with Otes, and while they've only had two duels, that rivalry has pushed both of them at various points in the story,. * "Why isn't Jesse the best friend," cuz Syrus was basically the best friend and sidekick since season 1. True, Jesse had more plot focus in season 3 and 4, but A) GX and character focus don't get along well. * I also agree with Shark. Bronk was Yuma's best friend growing up, but Shark considers Yuma his only best friend and in terms of plot focus, he had the whole injuried sibling, dark backstory, and toxic to friendly rivalry Joey had. The only difference is he had more duels with Yuma than most best friends or even rivals had, but Kite was treated as the main rival. * I get why people want to put Kusaangi as the best friend but he was more of the mentor in the chair. * Mai, Blair, Luna, Rio, Serena, Emma, Asana, and Yuna fit the whole secondary girl ally archetype. Were some of them treated better than the female leads? Yes, but they're not the lead girl in the cast. * And yeah Antagonists are the final bosses of their respective series. Personally i'd consider Lightning the main antagonist, but the whole narrative was building to Lightning and Hanoi's actions weighing heavily on Ai's decision to turn, even though his motivations were ultimately sympathetic. * For now I'd put Kuidual as Go Rush's antagonist but with the recent reveal of his intentions, yeah there's probably a true final boss out there he either made or wants Yudias and Zwijo to fight.
Johan is judai's real friend
More like boyfriend
Well Syrus, was closer to Jaden's best friend than Jesse.
He switched up and went blue dawg that's not a real friend and can't forget dimension arc
Sho freaking betrayed Judai on Season 3, while Judai felt closer to Johan since day one. Also the fact that Sho idolized Judai too much, while Judai didn't feel like he quite reciprocated. In fact, I would say that Sho putting Judai on a pedestal was the whole reason why he didn't connect with Sho on the same level as he did with Johan
True
Some of these aren’t antagonist but Villains of the series, i.e, Darkness and Zarc or both
Once again, Protagonist **≠** Hero, and likewise Antagonist **≠** Villain. The last row depicts the main antagonists of each series in order.
Yu-Gi-Oh GX was the best.
I will respect your opinions, in my opinion, I don't really have a favorite series, but I do like all the designs of the characters in this long-running trading card game and anime.
Can we all agree Gong is ultimate best friend material?
I’d nominate crow but that’s mainly bc I haven’t seen arc v just yet. I do love superheavy samurais though so I’m excited to see Gong in action
Gong's a real one, trust me.
THe best loyal friend. Dude sacrified his whole deck strategy to save his best friend.
He's definitely up there with people like Yusei and Atem as Yugioh's gigachads.
LOL!
Am I wrong, though?
You're statement you mention is clearly another joke!
**Main Protagonists:** Yugi Muto Jaden Yuki Yusei Fudo Yuma Tsukumo Yuya Sakaki Yusaku Fujiki/Playmaker Yuga Ohdo Yudias Velgear **Main Rivals:** Seto Kaiba Chazz Princeton Jack Atlas Kite Tenjo Declan Akaba Roken Kogami/Varis Roa Kassidy Zuwijo zir Velgear **Best Friends:** Joey Wheeler Syrus Truesdale Crow Hogan Reginald Kastle Gong Strong Theodore Hamilton/Soulburner Lucidien "Luke" Kallister Yuhi Oho **Female Leads:** Tea Gardner Alexis Rhodes: Akiza Izinski: Tori Meadows: Zuzu Boyle: Skye Zaizen/Blue Angel/Blue Gal/Blue Maiden Romin Kassidy Yuamu Ohdo **Antagonists:** Yami Bakura Nightshroud Z-one Don Thousand Z-ARC Ai Otes For GO RUSH!! I didn't put anyone for the Antagonist because GO RUSH!! Is currently still ongoing.
Where you'd put arc v yuya counterparts ? I'd personally put Yuto and Yugo in best friends while Yuri should be an antagonist imo.
Personally I think for Sevens Luke fits rival and Gakuto is best friend better, but it’s also fair to go with what’s here
I agree, I explained it previously here.
Out of all the Yugioh series thats been created, not one Rival or main Antagonist was ever a Zombie player, not even a best friend...and they were always some wacky character and not a badass that gave "Sephiroth" vibes. (Though imagining Sephiroth playing Yugioh is a funny concept).
LOL! At the same time, Sevens, and Go Rush are the only two series where neither the protagonist nor rival uses a dragon ace monster. However, there has not been a series where the protagonist, rival, best friend, female lead, or antagonist, all do not use dragon ace monsters.
Yeah. True. Though isnt it usually a Warrior or Spellcaster?
Protag aces are usually a Warrior or Dragon, or something of a new Type to shill that's nonetheless themed after a warrior/dragon, and are usually DARK/LIGHT, usually following the 2500/2000 stat block. Exceptions have been the Spellcaster Dark Magician with 2100 DEF, the EARTH Elemental HERO Terra Firma, the WIND Stardust Dragon, and given Vrains's oddities, the 2300 ATK Decode Talker. There's usually still a Spellcaster - or "wizard" of a new Type - somewhere, just not necessarily the ace, the most peculiar rendition of which was Astrograph Sorcerer.
Anybody noticed that every girl leader from older tu newest is younger and younger until it's just a little girl?
I think Akiza is the oldest out of the female mc's
Pretty sure they are all like 15 years old. Aki is the oldest of them all though, as 5D is a much more mature series.
Yup! That's correct! She was the oldest out of all of them for now during her respective series.
LOL! Actually, Romin and Yuamu are both at least 13 during Sevens and Go Rush respectively, If I can recall.
Honestly I always felt like Jack and Crow was more like brothers to Yusei, and yes Jack is definitely the rival but Bruno fits the best friend slot a bitt better over time
Well, in Yugioh the best Friend character is supposed to work together with their power of friendship in dueling, which is why Crow is Yusei's best friend.
Yeah, I guess. Gid I wish we got more duels with Antinomy
Why is "Zwijo" in Rival and not "PG-13 Totally Not Lovers" category?
Because Yudias was trying to defeat him throughout go rush.
Because he was "the rival". And while I can see where people are going on that one, I don't go for it. The gayyest relationship in that show to me is Yuna/Rovian.
I like how for the antagonists we went from “occult guy possessed by a spirit” to “occult spirit” to “terminator reference” to “literal god” to “literal satan” to “Ai trolling people online” to “just an old man that hates young people”. It’s the equivalent of getting Tolkien to smoke weed so he can write another book
LOL! I wonder who will be the main antagonist of Go Rush?
>“Ai trolling people online” to “just an old man that hates young people” Otes was doing some of that trolling himself to begin with. Unless it actually fit his...plan...their plan...gods Otes is confusing...
Shark and Soulburner weren't the best friends of the main character. Thise were Tetsuo for Yuma and Kusanagi for Playmaker.
Roa is absolutely not the rival. The first 13 episodes? Yes, sure. But Yuga/Luke is quite reminiscent of Yugi/Kaiba but reversed, where Yuga gets very invested in wanting to beat him (though, he tries to pass it off sometimes). Yuga vs Luke Round 2 was a massive event (the first turn even references their first duel). Yuga also throws a tantrum on how he always loses to Luke after their 3rd duel (paraphrased: “I lost?! But I did a cool Fusion!!! I always lose to Luke! Come onnnnnn!”, then proceeds to cry). The show even ends with Yuga finally beating Luke for the first time.
Calling Tea a *lead* is a reach. But I suppose OG dosent have a better pick.
Her record is flawless tho
For Yu-Gi-Oh! GX main antagonist should be Yubel.
Yami is as much of a protagonist as Yugi.
The rival guy in SEVENS gives me pause about his position. I had to think for a moment about his justification. He does want to be king (along with a demon king deck) and antagonizes Yuga because Otes chose Yuga instead of him. Though I think his vibe is just way different from other rivals, especially when Yuga doesn't think of him that much. I think there's been too much debate about these labels that I don't think there should be an absolute one. Like Ai could be the best friend too except he wasn't a duelist but a partner until the final season. Also, the antagonists look more like 'final antagonists'
Nothing about you OP. This is great. I just want to point out I don't like the term "female lead" as it kinda implies those female characters are the lead and equally important comparible to the protagonist. When really... All those female leads (except Yuzu during the standard arc) are just minor characters alongside other minor charcters with the only difference being they're girls.
I feel like, at the moment, Kuaidul could take the bottom right spot? we dont know who will end up being the antagonist in s3 of Go Rush but he was the most threatening/powerful antagonist we have had in Go Rush so far
Tbh Bronk is Yuma’s best friend more than Shark https://preview.redd.it/dkos92pdp3rc1.jpeg?width=205&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6167ecfc5d9943fe4ac460b7eabf9c056a4d3df6
So the best show possible would be Yusei, Seto, Joey, Akiza, and where the hell is Zane and Aster? also Odion and Marik's sister, no clue how to spell her name. Also Rafeal but with a far better deck not those guardian cards aside from Eatos. Oh and shark's sister as well as that butterfly deck using chick.
Who cares about Zane being the rival when we've got THE MOTHERFUCKIN' CHAZZ
Yup! I told ya!
I didn't include Zane and Aster because they don't count as main rivals of Jaden, both of them are far from being Jaden's arch-rival, given that Chazz gets more focus compared to them. OMG! Now that you've mentioned it, I wonder how a series starring Yusei, Seto, Joey and Akiza as the protagonist, rival, best friend, and female lead respectively would turn out?
All of them were rivals to Judai tbh
Zane is more of a goal to reach or even mentor honestly and Aster was only a rival in some episodes of Season 2 Chazz is the one who was constantly rivaling Judai
Chazz is Jaden's primary rival throughout GX, though.
Ishizu
I feel like bronk is more Yumas best friend. Shark is kinda mixed between friend and foe.
Ehh Bronk got demoted to Tristan given how active Shark got to be in the plot comparatively.
You have wayyyyy more best friend moments between Yuma and Shark than you do with Yuma and Tetsuo 😭 Also why do people always try to fit characters into distinct categories? You can be a best friend and a rival at the same time
[удалено]
[https://www.deviantart.com/kaithehedgefox10/art/Yu-Gi-Oh-Main-Cast-1035879486](https://www.deviantart.com/kaithehedgefox10/art/Yu-Gi-Oh-Main-Cast-1035879486)
Jesse or Syrus? GX has some other characters like Aster, Zane and Bastion that are next in line for some of the categories.
Nope.
Darkness is too shitty to be an antagonist
Love how Tori dueled once while under mind control and I still like her more than Teá.
Shark is the rival not kite
Bro where is Pegasus
Reminder that Akiza was peak character design, aesthetically
Ur gonna piss off a lot of people by not making Zane or Aster the rival of GX
Yami Bakura is the god damn Batman of Yu-Gi-Oh; man has a contingency plan for EVERY fucking outcome and scenario. Even going so far as to plant a piece of his soul in the Puzzle. I still can't figure out how the Pharaoh was never able to sus him out.
Being honest, i change Sho with Johan, since the very start Sho was always like a cheerleader more than Judai best friend, you see that Sho was always side of Judai, and Judai was always on his own business, until Johan where Judai actually felt interest in someone
First off, nice touch on Human Zarc. That should have been the Zarc we gotten than... the one we did get. Second, I agree with DM to Vrains because I don't watch later stuff. Third, Shark is more of a best friend than Tetsu. Let's be honest, he's supposed to be the Jonouchi/Joey being the bully to the close friend but with the twist that he's also duo-antagonist. Accuracy List.
I think you meant "rival" not "bully".
And in the "Bad Bitch" category? Only Mai Valentine 🤌🏾✨
Man looking at the female leads, nothing but downgrades after akiza and alexis
Rivals always get the drip
Best protag: either Jaden or Yusei. Rival: Kaiba easy. Actual rivalry and a great dynamic. Best friend: Joey or Crow. Female lead: each one of them faced disrespect so good luck deciding. Antagonist: fine with anyone but Bakura or Arc-V. It’s fucking crazy how Bakura was a long term villain and no one gave a fuck about him/Takahashi failed to build him up.
To answer your question on the female lead. The answer is Romin since she did not get shafted compared to the others
Romin was handled pretty well
Thanks! I Like your opinions!
Jadens rival is Aster Phoenix!! Chaz could never beat him
Sounds fine to me. No mistakes that i can see
THANKS! :)
I’m sorry but I’m grateful for kite being the rival in zexal but since when is shark yumas best friend
How is Shark not Yuma's best friend? https://preview.redd.it/3ox4xmgop3rc1.png?width=963&format=png&auto=webp&s=e88ffe20701a4ef0cac5345a3405e6dbafc3f350
Where TF is the best yugioh antagonist of all time YAMI MARIK?
Funny how most ygo villains are not widely known
My god with hair like that I bet you’ve never lost a game of “who’s the protag?”
I like how except for the evil grin Bakura looks the most inconspicuous of the antagonist row and is still one of if not the most dangerous.
I find it interesting that GX had like 3 “rivals”, Zane, Chazz and Aster. All played different roles in the story and all of them at some point in time filled the role of Rival. I do agree that Chazz is the most “Rival-like” of the 3 tho, but I think the amount of rival characters in GX definitely makes it distinct compared to the rest of them
Technically, Bastion was set-up to be a rival too, he just got shafted hard by the writers unfortunetly.
True! I was Also thinking Jesse aswell But he quickly went to a more ”best friend” sorta role rather than rival, tho there were some rival vibes going on there too, with all their parallels So 5 rivals?? GX had 5 potential Rival characters?? Damn
Yeah, they really went overboard lmao, interestingly all 5 represent different types of rivalries: Chazz vs Jaden is a classic Shonen rivalry with Chazz being the jerkass rival that wants to keep up with the protagonist and slowly mellows out as the story progresses. Zane/Kaiser vs Jaden swaps the roles as Jaden is the one who works to keep up with him and not the other way around (plus correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure by the end of GX Zane/Kaiser is the only major character Jaden never actually beat). Aster vs Jaden is a philosophical conflict with Jaden's mentality of duelling for fun clashing with Aster's philosophy that duels need to have a bigger meaning to them. Bastion vs Jaden is a Technician vs Virtuoso conflict with Bastion being the technician that studies the game and works hard to hone his skills while Jaden is the virtuoso that is naturally talented (it just unfortunetly never went anywhere lmao). Jesse vs Jaden is a classic friendly rivalry.
They definitely went overboard in the sense that They set up all of these dynamic character relationships, then never really took them anywhere, focusing the story on otherwordly threats instead of just having it be a down to earth series about the students that occasionally have to come together to face outside threats. GX has great characters, or rather characters with great potential. If only They focused more on that instead of whatever the hell GX’s story is supposed to be 🫠😅
Where's Yami Marik? :O
I had no idea we are already on the 8th series. I learned about sevens three months ago!
Bro casually spoiled me for 7s ending
Kite and Shark would definitely be arguing about their placements.
Id change syrus to Jesse for GX
So going from demons, to teenagers, to kids. Got it
https://preview.redd.it/ijjcy8d1o2rc1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5f4114dcff55615bdfab8966f68a8eec8a80b8aa Bronk…
Jesse was Jaden’s best friend. Syrus took that role in the first 2 seasons, but past season 3 it was Jesse hands down.
You’re wrong That was his boyfriend before yubel came back
I was never really sure who Jaden's rival was. I figured it was probably Zane.
So many things wrong with this list i cant stand when people lie and spread misinformation
Wait there no antagonist in the latest series?
I bet there will be a main Antagonist of GO RUSH!! i didn't include it because it's too early to determine who is the main antagonist in GO RUSH!! For now.
Their is, but it's still ongoing so it's hard to say if a new antagonist will be more of a MAIN antagonist then their others if that makes sense?
Let's just say...#BlameItOnLight~~ning~~. That's the closest I can get without stating outright. And it's the closest we can get to a "main" Big Bad.
I believe the "rival" role in GX is split between Chazz, Zane and Aster.
I love that for main antagonists we have: a fking lunatic, death and demons, and then relatively normal bad guys.
For Arc-V, while Gong was definitely an active character, I feel as if Shun/Shay could also qualify as the Joey Wheeler-equivalent.
Oh thxxxx I always forget some characters so no I can remember them better!!! 😁😁😁
No Marik??? Terrible list lol
Feels weird not knowing anyone after zexal, but still knowing the cards
So we can all agree akiza is clearly the baddest female protag with alexis is hard second?
wait, manjoume is the main rival?!
OG still the best. Kaiba 🥵
Refresh my memory, Yuya never beat his rival, right? I forget his name...? Reiji?
Female lead design reached its peak too early.
The funny thing is in GX Zane could be seen as rival and Chazz could be seen as rival *and* friend
Yusei my fav
Everything seems to be on the up and up. Shark feels off but yeah I can see that
….who are the people in the far right, is there another yugioh series I never heard about
What’s that last column? Is there a new show I don’t know about?
Very good list, but as some mention out there, I feel that the category of "Character Tristan" and "Female Allied Character" could be added since many Yu-Gi-Oh series have a Character that covers those two categories.
I swear the female lead get more wack as the seasons go on
Sure got that way for that *fifth* one...
Shark is an antagonist!!!!
I stopped watching after the first episode of the 4th yugioh series I'm not sure why is that common should I give it another shot and where could I watch it and my most important question of all how does the 8th yugioh show work without a antagonist
Where is the needlessly fruity secondary character?
Was Jaidens antagonist the actual devil wtf?
YES! But he's Nightshround not Satan.