ROSE

To start, watching Duelist Kingdom was quite a pain...I remember wanting to quit MANY times but I'm a little stupid ok. My main motivation for the first 12 episodes was episode 13 and the chance of seeing Ryou and then after that it was Battle City (I hyped Battle City A LOT)

I don't have a lot of exciting memories with DK except for EP.24...I was half asleep for most of that Kaiba/Yugi duel and then Kaiba started walking backwards and I locked in FAST. I believe it took longer for me to sleep that day because I was still processing it...

After that came the fillers and the Otogi intro...the first filler with the Big 5 was fine, I'm not a big Rebecca fan, and the Otogi intro was cool! After that I did not watch an episode until like a month later because I was adamant on starting Battle City on the New Year...

Then the long awaited Battle City came and it did not disappoint!!! From the start I was thrilled and as it progressed it kept on getting better and then I reached the Yugi/Jou duel AND THEN I GOT HIT WITH THE "JOUNOUCHI I LOVE YOU" LINE AND DIED

AND THEN IT GOT BETTER!?!?!? I had so much fun with the Bakura filler and was trying not to scream most of the time because he looked real good! The Mai filler was also pretty entertaining but I just also really love Mai and her relationship with Jou sooo...

Then the semi-finals began and sadly I did not get the best experience for the Yugi/Bakura duel because the headphones I was using were pretty bad + I was really tired that day. While it was still excellent a rewatch is highly needed!!!

After that came the Jou/Rishid duel...I watched it at night after a competition so I was tired but at the same time it went well so I was really proud of myself! The weather was so cold and comfortable + I was eating a nice little cheesecake (these details are important ok!!!)

That duel was genuinely a rollercoaster of emotions I was so proud of Jou and hyped every time Duel of Friendship started playing but at the same time felt so bad for Rishid and then the Marik flashbacks in between...I was genuinely so disgusted and horrified by them...

Then came the Mai/Marik duel...from memory I would say this is my favorite duel even though I know it's pretty different from the manga. I think this duel really made me love and connect with Mai more than ever before because I could see some parts of myself through it...

What made it even more perfect was the fact that it was freezing cold and my mom made the best frijoles charros I have ever tasted. The set up I had with these duels made them into special memories that I will truly never forget!

The Kaiba/Ishizu duel was alright and then we got the full Marik backstory and God was I bawling for the entire family (except for their dad) but mostly Marik because he was just a poor kid...then Y.Baku/Marik duel and ooooo did I have my gun with that lol!

The Noah filler started I finished it in 3 days. While it was REALLY painful to watch at first, the last 8 episodes were special and made me love Noah so much that he is now in my top 10. The Kaiba/Noah turned Yugi/Noah duel by memory is in my top 5 favorite duels honestly. One thing that definitely put me off about this arc was the Big 5 God they were the most annoying characters in the entire show...

Then came the finals and I felt so hyped just watching the duel to select the other duels God I remember being so thrilled throughout those episodes...Jou/Marik was another special duel for me which would also be included in my top 5 and definitely made me love Jou much more...

Kaiba/Y.Yugi semi-final duel genuinely fueled my prideshipping heart A LOT and then the Battle City final was truly the best birthday gift I could ever have after the most stressful week ever...After that I once again did not watch an episode until a month later...and then Doma...

I was pretty excited for the Doma arc but it kinda was just there in the end...I did not care about Dartz, Rafael was ok, I HATED VALON, and liked Amelda a little. Some moments were really good but in the end it was just alright like I didn't even feel that hyped for the ending!

Then Grand Prix...well it was terribly boring and I'll just keep it at that! I honestly just wanted to get to Millennium World as fast as possible (I loky just wanted to see Ryou again lol)

Millennium World was exciting though it had me thrilled 85% of the time and I personally LOVE TKB the last couple of episodes were pretty excited. I genuinely loved the Yugi/Y.Baku duel but I honestly just love to see Yugi's growth throughout the series...

Then the ceremonial duel...oh my dear ceremonial duel...it was so beautiful and I have never felt so proud for Yugi than while I was watching this duel...Ryou may be my favorite ever (there is no changing that) but other than Ryou no one else can beat Yugi! Yugi is truly so strong and for that reason I heavily dislike all of his doubters! The ceremonial duel is also on my top 3 favorite duels ever for being entertaining, sweet, and heartbreaking.

Now a 6/10 sounds really bad for something I really love, in my honest opinion, but it's the truth! It has many flaws and not the best adaptation of the source which is much better! The quality difference between the anime and manga is genuinely not close at all...but I still love it for what it is...

This anime has become really special to me because it is one of the things that kept me going through this very stressful school year! I would always tell myself "survive the week and you'll get to watch Yu-Gi-Oh! episodes..." and it would genuinely motivate me to keep going a lot! They are part of the special journey I went through my junior year and for that I will always love it...

Sadly I think I would only rewatch Battle City and the last 8 Noah episodes maybe Millennium World and the Ceremonial Duel but the quality drop in the art puts me off....

Overall I'm so glad I got that Ryou video which was the main reason I started this journey without it I would have never taken my time to see this beautiful story written by Takahashi....although in the end I'm literally the "she didn't know she was going to get played" image because I entered the anime excited to see Ryou LMAO