#standby phase

[deck-shuffler]

Now if you would consult the graph-

[deck-shuffler]

A round of applause for God's Favorite Princess!

original

[deck-shuffler]

[Duel Academia Reunion]

There's gonna be an event for Yugioh Gx's Season 1 cast on February! I heard it's gonna be a ticketed event though so I doubt there will be streams. Seeing them all together here is making me so emotional!!

[deck-shuffler]

Now that the Gx duel guide confirmed that the writers basically threw ideas into the dart board and went with it, I'm feeling both vindicated and frustrated at the same time.

Vindicated because I was right about Johan being half-baked to the point that I needed to mix both his anime self and manga self to make him a Whole Guy to me. Put that guy back into the OVEN-

Frustrated because he could've been more!! I don't even know much of his past!! Kinda messed up that I know more about Amon than Johan-

Anyways, the Tag Force games really do be that "We're sorry characters, please have this piece of lore for your characterization" kind of games. I say this lovingly, I really do care about these blorbos......

[deck-shuffler]

Johan Anderson, Yubel, and his Idealized Dreams

"My dream was to save the world through my Dueling. But since this world is already at peace, I don't need to save anyone. So instead, I'll Duel to UNITE everyone! And unite this world! And this is the light that will unite us!" -Johan, quoted from Duel Links

_______________________________________________________

I would like to dedicate this post in talking about Johan's dream of uniting humans and duel spirits because oh my god it keeps eating my brain for the past few days!! Like have you ever wondered how his experience with Yubel would've affected him in ways he didn't expect? How his principles get challenged by this one encounter that hurt him and his beloved Crystal Beasts? What would his approach be the next time he encounters another hostile rogue spirit?

With the help of Lace ( @seventhdoctor ), we tried to hammer down Johan's character to test him and his understanding of his own ideals… and making inferences based from the crumbs the anime has shown (which… isn't a lot tbh, Johan does not learn of Yubel being fused with Judai in S4)

(Image of me and Lace in the drawing board)

For reference of quoted statements, my words are colored blue and Lace's is purple.

Let's address the Amber Mammoth in the room… Johan got over Yubel too quickly. Or rather, it wasn't shown on-screen how he was able to process all of what happened during his possession. Not only was he made prisoner, but his own body and his spirit family were used to hurt his new friends. Did those actions not bother him at all?? How did he process it? Perhaps Yubel would give him a hint regarding the weight of his goal.

Please take note once again that canonically, it is not explicitly shown/stated that Johan has been made aware of Judai and Yubel's fusion… at least on screen. But since we're hypothesizing a plausible future, let's assume that Johan did learn of their soul union one way or another…

Whether Judai would directly tell him or not, he would still see it the way it is… that the spirit that tormented him and his family now shares the same soul with the person closest to him. In a sense, that's akin to a literal manifestation of his life's dream. Human and duel spirit uniting… as one? Now that Judai and Yubel have forgiven each other, then he should too… but that's easier said than that if we're being realistic.

"He lives in an idealized world..... or rather he dreams of an idealized world. Charming to some, naive to others." "And that's why he deserves an arc to challenge that. I think it's the only way he can ever hope to get along with Yubel too TBH. Understanding why Judai fused with Yubel involves acknowledging that Yubel's situation wasn't black and white - they did everything they're accused of but they're equal parts victim and villain in a way that Johan's dreams never accounted for. And I think if he runs across equally dangerous cases, he has to understand why Yubel deserves compassion to understand why (for example) a spirit that's currently chewing on a guy's corpse also deserves it."

Yugioh Gx is a shounen card game anime that focuses on solving problems through the power of friendship. I'm aware that people praise this show for being queer in writing, but this is first and foremost the "Friendship Genre", so let's put the lenses here for a bit. There is no problem with the idea of Johan and Yubel making amends, hold hands, and setting their diferences aside. In fact, that's the end goal of this rambling! Pretty in-line with what he wants to happen. However, that also means taking into account those who are more difficult to sympathize with by other people.

Yubel fits in this criteria. Yes, they did that, they're not innocent. But Judai's promise to them, the years of separation, and the Light of Destruction's influence over them also played a part in their decisions. Judai can tell Johan that Yubel had reasons and make it work between all three of them, but the latter does not have the same level of understanding of Yubel as the former. They simply have two different perspectives and memories in regards to them, and while Johan can just nod along and call it a day, it wouldn't be an easy thing to accept especially with 8 other spirits involved.

"I think Johan probably has to have his own reckoning when it comes to the idea that there are more spirits like Yubel out there. You could call it his own trial of adulthood, reconciling his ideals and philosophy with the reality of the world the same way everyone else had to do." "I NEED THIS MAN'S PRINCIPLES TO BE SHAKEN!"

Throughout the anime, duel spirits have been repeatedly shown to be helpful to the protagonists. Winged Kuriboh, Neo Spacians, Honest… even the Ojamas! They're often portrayed as companions to their duelists, their partner through thick and thin. They formed that sort of bond that Johan had in mind in regards to the path of unification. That's not always the cause, though.

Now here's the fun part: Yubel's not the only duel spirit that has shown aggression! There are definitely other duel spirits out there that have shown hostility towards humans (like the vengeful Doll Chimera). But for this discussion, let's focus on a more notable example.

Enter: Cyberdarks

So how do we rock Johan's core to put his principles to the test? How about we throw him towards a certain group of parasitic freaks…

"The concept of Johan training the Cyberdarks so they could get used to the outside world >>>>>>>>> Not that this would make them less dangerous. They're still aggressive spirits." "Like feral cats that got adopted." "I think wild cats are a better comparison since they're still wild cats and can still kill despite being domesticated?" "Oh yeah, that's good."

If Johan would be put into a trial, one that would either prove his resolve or break them, the closest spirits to give him a window to hell would be the Cyberdarks. Now that they're under control by their current duelist (Sho), things would be in a more controled environment (maybe). But why would they be suitable to test Johan? Time to put it into perspective.

You, known for you aggressive nature, have been locked up in a closed dark room because you've been proven to be dangerous. Outside, you could probably hear your noble half living a better life than you. They get to be free to roam the world with the duelist they chose while you sit there in your dark void, waiting. You and your other half have different natures, but both of you wanted the same thing… to evolve. So why do they get to do so and you don't?

One day, you saw the doors open. A duelist finally sought for you! But what he's chasing after isn't the thing that you truly wanted, although you've been itching to stretch your claws for a while. You get to participate in duels, lashing out to your opponents to make up for lost time. But eventually, your duelist gradually shifted back to their old strategy and began to stagnate. You don't want to stagnate, thus you communicated your discontent in the way you know works… pain.

......unironically. Yubel would understand the Cyberdarks better in that moment than Johan or the Gem Beasts."

It's need to be said that training, or let alone bonding, with them is not simple. Sho made it look easy, given he had to do so within a day, but that's because he did what Judai has told him and that was to listen to them. He heard them out and gave them enough patience and respect to learn what they really wanted all along, which could be said the same for Judai towards Yubel. One could say that communication is the best way to discern what's in one's mind, which is no shocker to be honest.

Okay but hear me out on this one… if Johan can see them beyond surface level, it would be a step further into helping him process want happened in regards to Yubel. If he can bond with known dangerous spirits, and learn how they can interact with humans without straight up killing them (see, Ryo), then he would reach a better understanding of their circumstance. And in turn, clearing the doubts in his heart about Judai's choice. Wouldn't that actually be great?? To come back stronger than ever with a more tempered view of your objective??

"And you could argue that this is where Shou and his ideals of respect come in! If you can respect your brother while he's actively electrocuting you, you can respect a rogue spirit."

I think it's crazy that both Sho and Johan are great characters once they're separate from Judai. It's insane, actually. Moreso for Johan. You get too deep into his being and then you realize that there's so much more to explore about him. And I've seen others try to make him work with Yubel and I respect that deeply… but I'd also like to examine what happens between Point A to Point B which I don't see a lot because Yubel is a piece of work of a character, honestly.

Another thing to consider is that they're not the only dangerous spirit out there, and Johan would need to prepare himself for that. He got his crystal beasts with him though and they will always have his back! Diamonds form under pressure!!

There's so much more that I'd like to talk about regarding this, but all this stems from my desire to get into Johan's being. I also don't want this to be too long and don't want to use this post to push crystalshipping agenda, so I'm gonna leave it like this and go "It would be really fun if Johan could punch Yubel at least once".

[deck-shuffler]

Things that I got/understood from the Gx Duel Guide (so far):

They were meant to revert Ryo back to his pristine Kaiser self, but throughout the production they thought that Hell Kaiser is more interesting to write.

They made a previously-known point more blatantly clear: they put whatever concept/story beat is interesting and fun at the time. That explains the tennis duel-

Yubel exists to literally wreck Judai because he's too happy-go-lucky.

They didn't expect the Ojamas to be Manjoume's spirit minions but here we are-

Sho is meant to represent the audience?? Or at least he exists as an observer to Judai's growth??

They officially call Yubel-possessed Johan as "Hell Johan".

Edo and Saiou got brother-zoned? "Historians say that they were really good friends. They were close, like brothers!" or whatever they say these days-

Didn't see full-colored refs of Edo, but there were sketches of Kenzan. Also, Ojin's mother has a ref... somehow???

Oh also Saiou's table has a reference. So is Judai's resignation letter or something from S4. And a reference of how Rei tied her hair up in S1 when she was in disguise.

There should be more but I'm just waiting for translation. There could be some errors with the info I got too, so sorry in advance about that!

[deck-shuffler]

Good news! ACGGOODS finally added a site-wide search bar!

Bad news! It's not reliable in looking for YGO merch!

So I'll be making a list of people who sell YGO merch in their shops for my own convenience! You won't be needing an account to window shop I believe, so feel free to take a look around too.

Viviraptor

Conbini Club

Maxed Fumi

Xenvita

Wind-master13

Laffitine

22crust

WrenFair

CharredToast

07LOCUS

ITSASHOPTIME

Eleanorose123

gotchastore

TheTictactician

Smoogy Store

NanceLilSpace

iyliss

puppyfiend

Chipi's burrow

curiostrix

Drink's Fridge

SOLOBODOR

morrigh

Kuroi's Thunder Store

And if you got some time to spare, feel free to visit mine as well!

This list is subjected to change, so perhaps I could find all of them! Please check the website out, you might find something you'd like!

[deck-shuffler]

Faces of a man facing the wrath of a little brother

you can guess what's the upcoming episode in the Gx Remaster.