Vrvrvrvrains for the meme! If you haven’t seen it, then arc v!
[I’ve been watching it and while I have been enjoying myself so far, I’ve had no reason to be passionate about it yet, so... I’ll be doing both :D
❤ Favorite Male: Yuusaku. Him not being a whiny idealist, but instead cynical and not having any of the bullshit of the hypocrites trying to talk over his head and paint him as a poor pure victim as they try to force their ideals on him (read: Akira) makes him the first YGO protag I’ve liked after Other Yuugi, which... doesn’t mean that Konami can’t still screw him up completely. He’s really refreshing and I'm also glad he didn’t turn out to be the pathetic awwwwwkward loser (who, deep down, is just a poor pure cinnamon roll child) a lot of YGO fans wanted him to be before Vrains started to air- people who are now disappointed and writing one Yuusaku hate post after another lol Most importantly, though, I am really grateful how respectfully the writers handled his backstory.
❤ Favorite Female: Aoi. I’ve been having a couple of issues with her writing - all of which are related to Akira, whom she just completely outshines and the ‘idealized YGO sibling’ trope is just very unfitting for these two imo, but... All in all, she is absolutely GLORIOUS. I love the differences between her online and offline self, she is capable without the need for cringey ‘feminist goddess’ tropes, and her archetype is to DIE for!! I really love her brand of entertainment dueling too - as unlike Yuuya, she is very open about being selfish and doesn’t try to paint herself as the purest and most selfless martyr when she simply wants some ego-stroking (unlike Yuuya).❤ Favorite Pairing: Yuusaku/Aoi. The official name of this ship sucks, so I won’t be using, but goooooooooooosh, this protag x main girl ship could become even better than Faithshipping used to be in the first half of 5D’s O.O I just... really want them to interact more - especially outside Link Vrains. And form a meaningful bond! That being said, while Yuusaku/Aoi IS my fave Vrains ship, I’m not nearly as passionate about is as I am about any of my fave Arc-V ships ^^’ It is just... while the setting is interesting and everything, what will always be missing for me is the context of a war story and child soldiers lol❤ Least Favorite Character: Akira. He’s a disgusting hypocrite and incredibly pathetic - and to make it worse, an immense letdown too, given how my immediate reaction to first seeing his design was “OMGGG, GENETICALLY ENGINEERED HOSTAGE LOVE CHILD!!! Pleaselethimbelikehisfatherspleaselethimbelikehisfathers O.O” Well... no wonder Shun and Reiji disposed of him in a different anime when their experiment turned out to be a disgraceful failure lol❤ who’s most like me: I cannot relate to any character on a deeper level (which is also part of the reason for my lack of passion about Vrains so far), but I suppose I’m somewhere between Yuusaku and Aoi....ish, though again, not really lol❤ most attractive: I was going to say Akira but EEEEEK, NO! >.< But nah, Yuusaku in his Playmaker form cause his eyes are super prettyful <3❤ three more characters that I like: I don’t have any ^^’ The rest of the cast has been pretty lackluster to be so far tbh ^^’
❤ Favorite Male: It’s a tie between Reiji and Shun, though only before Konami forced the writing staff to butcher them. Their minds are absolutely beautiful, their pre-retconning selves BOTH had the most intriguing kinds of backstories with a LOT of potential, and their cards, too, used to be super badass and rich in meta at the same time.
Reiji is the very best intelligent INTP character I’ve ever seen (there are... few portrayals of INTPs that are not disgraceful tbh), his way of dealing with the entirety of his pre-retconning family is outright fascinating, and I just LOVE how Reiji, despite being an INTP rather than an INTJ, is actually the biggest asshole of all YGO rivals, and he’s still being dignified about it and maintaining an air of politeness. His subtle jabs at mentally feeble and hypocritical Yuuya, too, are too glorious to be true, and I still can’t believe people still interpret his words as genuine praise and admiration.
And Shun... gooooosh, the subtlety of the way his intelligence used to be written never fails to make me pause and marvel, and the same applies to the way it is clear that Shun is the one to control his anger and wield it as a weapon, rather than being controlled by it, which is what is usually being done with characters of a similar type. And how prideful he is as he’s fighting a hopeless losing battle for three years makes me want to cry for and admire him at the same time.
Also, they are handsome - drop dead gorgeous, to be exact, and their perfect voices are going to be my death one day O.O
But... yeah, I love these two characters more than my own life, and they both deserve so much better than what they’ve been getting from Konami and their awful fanbases alike TT__TT❤ Favorite Female: ...If I can only choose from canon, then Serena - up until her half-assed ‘redemption’, with the addition of some later scenes that were still good. But if I can be self-indulgent too... I really love the idea of a Kurosaki Ruri worthy of Shun and written in the tone of season one, in which Arc-V was still completely set up as a war story. Canon Ruri, though... I want that abomination to burn and 90% of her deck pisses me off and makes me cringe too.❤ Favorite Pairing: H-O-S-T-A-G-E-S-H-I-P-P-I-N-G. One day, I will make a more detailed post about why this ship is too good to be true and why it would not only fix all flaws in the writing of both characters, but also make them shine in the best way possible by exploring their strengths and flaws alike AND showing off the full extent of their minds’ beauty.To make it short, though, these two could learn so much from one another, provide one another with what they’ve been deprived of, and have the most fulfilling and mentally stimulating discussions. And Shun and Reiji are 110% mindmates too.Also, it is a very aesthetically pleasing and ‘hot’ ship *cough*❤ Least Favorite Character: It’s a tie between Yuuya and Ray. Yuuya... I wouldn’t even mind him, did the writing not change all laws of the universe to make the fate of four dimensions depend on his fragile mental state though blatant retconning, deny the validity of everyone else’s values, views, and needs, and reduce every other character to a mindless plot device with the sole purpose of worshipping him. It is... stomach-churning tbh, and there is absolutely nothing meta about each of his flaws being glorified as he’s depicted as The Most Selfless Martyr eveeeeeeeer. He was pretty well-written in season one, though, interesting as a character and also remarkably refreshing, but... urgh, his writing should’ve continued on the path of him having to adapt to his circumstances rather than the entire universe being retconned for the sake of Yuuya getting away with and being worshipped for remaining stagnant and delusional.As for Ray, her asspull existence that I will never acknowledge is an insult to 10+ characters, my faves included, and the main reasons for her introduction were to 1) Make Reiji and Shun’s battle about YUUYA instead 2) Deprive the bracelet girls of their agency and purpose beyond being plot devices and damsels because oversimplification rooooocks XX___XX3) Turn Leo, who was originally set up as a capable MAIN villain into a poor pure misled cinnamon roll and a pathetic grieving father, making absolutely everything Shun and Reiji fought for, endured, and sacrifice amount to absolutely nothing and that... is insultingTo add insult to injury, the fanon version of her is even worse as she’s without fail a blatant self-insert and/or a gross SJW feminist power fantasy - and she is always used to degrade the more complex characters, who were meant to exist from day one, even further- especially Reiji and the other bracelet girls. So yeah, keep that asspull plot device away from me >.<
❤ who’s most like me: Reiji and Shun; I’ve never related to a fictional character to this extent, and season one of Arc-V gave me two of them - just to take them from me later in the worst fashion possible❤ most attractive: Again, it’s a tie between Shun and Reiji. They are both so handsome it should be illegal O.O❤ three more characters that I like: Yuuto, Yuuri, and Rin
Thank you sooo much for sending me this! <3I really enjoyed being able to rant again after such a long time!]