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Zhu Chongba (Yuanzhang)- Radiant Emperor Duology by Shelley Parker-Chan

Luo Binghe- The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu

Vanyel Ashkevron- The Last Herald-Mage series by Mercedes Lackey

Matching ZITS icons anyone?

I‘ve never drawn Zed before and I’m obsessed with how that turned out.

ok i can't talk about VRAINS without talking about the. circumstances surrounding my life while I was watching it. if i may be a bit emotional and Real Talk for a moment. tw talking about loss of a parent, but I started watching vrains in mid-October, a few weeks before my dad would pass away in early November. And then I finished watching it last Sunday, a few days before my family would scatter my dad's ashes at sea on April 24th. And let me tell you it is almost downright hysterical just how About Grief (especially Familial Grief) vrains is. I kept jokingly calling it "truly Such a yugioh to watch for someone whose dad just died"--literally why are there THREE. THREE!!!!! DEAD DAD/PARENT PLOTLINES GOING ON WITH CHARACTERS IN THIS SHOW. THREE!!!! FUCKING GOD LMAO. like it's not the first yugioh to be About grief but jesus mary and joseph the way grief, loss, the idea of preserving the memory of those we love and how they can live on in our hearts forever, the way all of that is so intrinsically baked into vrains and the way it tells its story is A) genuinely so moving and sweet and also B.) ABSOLUTELY INSANE TO EXPERIENCE GIVEN HOW THINGS HAVE BEEN GOING FOR ME THESE LAST FEW MONTHS. SLASH POS. SLASH LOTS OF LOVE

all that to say yugioh vrains is just so "i experienced this piece of media at the exact transitional period of my life where i needed it most," and that's going to be special forever for me. the effect it's already having on me is of a magnitude i can't even fathom yet. it's going to sit with me for years. IT'S GOOD. IT'S REALLY FUCKIN GOOD. This yugioh made me bawl my eyes out like three different times over the way it shares themes of how grief and trauma can puss you to extremes,and how keeping close the bonds we have with each other, even when the people we care about have to go to away, is so so crucial and helps us move forward. There is love and there is loss in every inch of this fucking yugioh and it's incredible, I see why it's such a beloved series. I KNOW NOW. I SEE THE PEAK. I FEEL IT.

I do also absolutely see why it seems like a lot of people hold this as one of if not The most "serious" yugioh. And I get it! It handles some really fuckin grim, heavy topics (most all of them really remarkably well and gracefully!) BUT ALSO. I GOTTA SAY. THIS YUGIOH IS SO FUCKING FUNNY. AND SO GOOFY. AND SO RIDICULOUS. AND THATS AN INTEGRAL PART OF THE EXPERIENCE FOR ME. I watched the dub primarily as I usually do (+ all of s3 subbed and some other eps subbed) but let's be real the original is hilarious too. You get your 18 episodes of Ai being one of the most tragic, miserable saddest yugioh villains of all time but before then and even during it he is so STUPID. SLASH POS. HE'S BOUNCING AROUND BEING AN ANNOYING LITTLE FUNNYMAN LOONEY TUNE AND IT RULES. I WILL NOT STAND FOR VRAINS COMEDY ERASURE. the comedy makes the heavy shit hit even harder!!! FROG AND PIGEON ROCK YOUR WHOLE WORLD.

also, re: the dub. again i know im dubliker3000 im always hyping up the dubs but vrains miiiight be my favorite of all of them, alongside the arc-v dub. YES it didnt translate the end of yusaku and ai's duel maybe the best it could have, but being completely real it's still a perfectly serviceable ending (i actually like the very VERY end of vrains more with the dub version--yusaku reiterating that he'll do whatever it takes to find his friend is SWEET and i LIKE IT) and writing off the whole dub because of it is really silly. it is not NEARLY as bad as the way some people act 😭 there's something really particular about like...the way characters talk and word things in the vrains dub that I just really like. characters joke around a lot of course but they also talk in this very This Feels Like How People Talk IRL way to me and it's so engaging. it's very believable is a way i'd put it. idk maybe it's just that I watch a lot of live action comedy shows but some vrains dub dialogue would slot in so perfectly in one of those and i love that lol ALSO THE DUB PERFORMANCES JUST RULE. DUB WINDY YOURE EVERYTHING TO ME.

OK oh my god im rambling already lmao--let's break it down in my little subsections I like to do in these posts!!

Stuff I Didn't Like: Gotta say, there isn't a Whole lot that I just straight up don't like in vrains, but also. oh my fucking god. why does this series hate women so much DFHGSYDFGY IM SORRRYYY BUT IT'S SO ROUGH. ARC-V HAD THE BAR ON THE FLOOR RE: YUGIOH GIRLS AND SOMETIMES VRAINS JUST STARTS DIGGING.INTO THE BEDROCK. vrains only has like 5 women of note in it and all of them end up experiencing some sort of horrible fate at one time or another (except Hiyami maybe???!? shes too busy wanting to fuck akira i guess) AND IT'S JUST SO..... MAN. the world if VRAINS liked aoiskye more. she's so cool and theyre constantly putting her through the most horrifying experiences imaginable for the entire run of the series. they fucking mind control virus'd her by like episode EIGHT. THEY DID THIS SHIT TO HER

AND DONT GET ME STARTED ON POOR MIYU. FUCKING INSANE THAT THE LOST INCIDENT IMPACTED SIX KIDS BUT ONLY HALF OF THEM GOT TO LIKE. ACTUALLY BE CHARACTERS. JIN FANS NEED FINANCIAL COMPENSATION. big deranged smile...it's fine.... i'll fix it myself...gripping my Windy Kid character concept/design so tight in my fist......

IT'S LIKE. vrains has SUCH cool characters and concepts but you can really feel the pacing crunch on some of them it's a dead horse at this point but this show had 120 episodes and LIKE EIGHT OF THEM ARE RECAP EPISODES. IT'S LIKE YOU CAN FEEL THE STRUGGLE THROUGH THE SCREEN.It is a goddamn MIRACLE that this show made it to air and was cohesive At All with the all the stories of production issues I keep hearing about it.

HM. what else did i actually dislike......oh right lol it's not really a Major general dislike and more me exaggerating as a bit but it's hysterical that multiple people were like "ohhh Spectre's gonna be a Danaguy" and then the second he started dueling I couldnt stand him and wanted to beat him to death with a golf club JHDFHGYUYDF SORRY TO EVERYONE HE'S JUST SO FUNNY TO RAG ON. unfortunately the way he treats skye makes my skin crawl and not even in a cool way. MY FRIEND CALLED HIM "INDUSTRY PLANT DANABAIT" AND SHE'S RIGHT. he's like baby's first yugioh weirdguy. he's a chat-gpt generated danaguy. he's a government danaguy psyop. he's We Have Yuri Arc-V At Home.hes FINE i just like him only in the hyperspecific read i have on his dynamic with revolver. WHY IS HE THE SINGLE MOST INCONSISTENTLY DRAWN YUGIOH CHARACTER. I DONT LIKE LOOKING AT HIM. GET HIM OUT OF MY HOUSE.HORRIBLE WHITE BOY. SLASH NEG

OK. ok. ok. im calm sorry about that aside. ACTUALLY. WAIT. ONE MORE THING i wish with my whole heart that Soltis Ai still sounded like a shrill little funnyguy IT'S SO SAD THAT HE DOESNT!!! IN THE DUB ESPECIALLY!!! I LIKE HIM BUT HE SHOULD BE ON THAT DUB!MARIK SHIT. POUNDS MY FIST ON THE TABLE. ALAS. L for enjoyers of when yugioh characters sound Fucking Annoying 💔

OK IM DONE. THAT LEADS REALLY WELL INTO TALKING ABOUT VRAINS' CAST, THOUGH. SO.....

Favorite Characters: im saying this with so much genuine love in my heart: it's so funny that i had like a solid half dozen people hedging their bets on either Spectre or Ryoken being the vrains guys to Do Me In and then I watched the show and instead I got the needle blown clean off the Danaguy Meter by THESE FUCKING THINGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HOW COME NONE OF THE DEAD DADS IN VRAINS MAD ME CRY NEARLY AS HARD AS FLAME THE LITTLE 🔥🤓☝ FUNNYGUY DID. WHAT'S UP WITH THAT. THIS GUMBY SHIT IS SERIOUS

sniffles. i love the Ignis a perfectly normal amount. im so enamored with their interpersonal complexities. All of their decks are crazy cool. I love their funky elemental noises they make in the sub when theyre moving, I LOVE THEIR DUB VOICES, SO SO MUCH. theyre just so fantastic. everything a goddamn ordeal in area family. bonzi buddy polycule born from traumatized six year olds and their brainwaves.. I love that I spent the entire series wondering what was gonna be the spark that sends Ai over the edge into becoming the s3 villain and the answer literally is "his whole family died and he's going mad with loneliness and grief" YEAH SURE I'LL BE FUCKING NORMAL ABOUT IT!!! WHAT THE FUCKKKKKK. THESE GUYS GONNA HAVE ME SLAMMING MY HEAD INTO THE WALL FOR MONTHS. WHEN I DESIGN SOLTIS FORMS FOR THE OTHER FIVE IT'S OVER FOR YOU GUYS

but of course even among the six of em i WILL play favorites. I have a feeling Flame and Lightning and Ai too maybe will have a delayed effect on me and will have me going insane over the summer but for now let the record show my absolute tippy top fav is MY STUPID FREAKLET ONE-EYED EAR OF CORN.

WINDY HAD ME BY THE THROAT FROM HIS DEBUT EPISODE. HE'S PLAYING DANA BINGO TO FUCKING WIN. what do you mean he talks with the insane winding cadence of a donald trump speech at 1.75x speed in the dub and nobody has noticed this before. what do you mean he got his original personality mangled and reprogrammed into a violent dangerous little freak. what do you MEAN he almost DIES and loses an eye from a computer virus. WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE COMMITTED A VEHICULAR MURDER. WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE COMES BACK AS A HORRIFYING GOO MONSTER JUST TO TRY AND KILL SOMEONE ONLY TO DIE HORRIBLY ONCE AND FOR ALL AND ALL OF THAT WAS LIKE THREE MINUTES IN THE MIDDLE OF AN UNRELATED EPISODE!!!!!!!!!!! EVERYTHING ABOUT HIM IS INSANE. AND FOR MEEEEEEEEEEEE I LOVE YOU WINDYYYY 🌽🌽🌽🌽🌪️🌪️🌪️🌪️

ANYWAY. ANYWAY. ASIDE FROM THE MICROSOFT CLIPPY GANG vrains cast is so fuckin solid, man, it's hard for me to pick top favs from the non-goober cast. It's mega basic but I love Soulburner, I'm a sucker for fire-motif characters, he's just a sweet kid and his dynamic with Flame makes me cry my eyes out. AND I LOVE YUSAKU TOO one of my biggest fears going into vrains was that i wasnt gonna click with him as a yutag, since he isn't as Big Personalityed as guys like Jaden or Yuya, and I also was on the fence about him based on his dinks lines, but actually seeing him in show? god hes so fucking COOL. HE WAS SO BRAVE AND SO LOYAL AND SO AUTISTIC AND SO WONDERFULLY WRITTEN. you couldnt ask for a better protag with this show!!!! Or a better rival, ryokenvarisrevolverGUN does kick ass on like every level.

I also love the amount of VRAINS characters who are either A.) Just Some Guy, B.) Some Grownass Adult With a Job, or C.) Both. it's fucking awesome. Kolter and Akira and Emma are some of the realest ones alive. Shiima is so FUNNYYYYYY. and well nobody else likes him but I think Blood Shepherd is fucking hysterical and his aura is off the charts. Grownass 30something cowboy AND he's got crazy sibling drama. Don't worry Kenneth I'LL like you (also that's my dad's name, another little insane thing in the 'vrains came to me when i needed it most' jar)

ough im not even gonna bother ranking my top 5 characters in this show yet. i need to mull on it more. I WILL say special shout out to Bohman and Harlin/Hal because theyre going to make me fucking insane if I think about them anymore. AND THEY WERE EVEN YUGIOH SIBLINGS. GOOD GOD.

Favorite Season/Arc:.MOOOOMMMMMMM IT HAPPENED AGAIN.

like. it's so funny to me that the shit that happened with 5ds when i watched it (enjoyed the first season, but the second half/season made me absolutely frothing rabid dog crazy) happened AGAIN with vrains. I DONT KNOW WHY. I CANT EVEN FIGURE OUT WHAT IT IS THAT MADE SEASON 1 NOT CLICK AS MUCH FOR ME!!! i liked it a lot, it's absolutely some of the best yugioh, it has one of my all time fav duels in it!!! but then. well. season 2 rolls up and just starts kicking my ass right out the gate. AND THEN SEASON 3 ALSO STARTS KICKING MY ASS. AND THEN IM DEAD ON THE FLOOR.

seriously props to this beleaguered production team, they really make those last 17 episodes BITE. .the grief IS endless and you WILL feel it. I wish the season could have been longer to really explore some of the intricacies floating around in there more, maybe do some more stuff with the other higherups at Soltec/those fucking shareholders, but man they really make the most of the hand theyve been dealt.

but yeah Season 2 is my favorite im so fucking sorry i promise im not setting out to latch onto the least enjoyed parts of a yugioh every time they just keep cramming all the danabait back here. every introduced character this season I'm hooting and hollering over. Theyre getting thick in the weeds of what it means to be alive and it rules. Windy blast. Lightning is building Jesus Christ in Garry's Mod and well I simply can't be normal about it. That stretch from ep 68 to ep 80 or so is like the most insaneo dana psyche blast in a yugioh since the Ark Cradle. The Yellow Dog Run. They Killed Earth and Crafted His Corpse Onto Gore's Brain. OH WELL OK!!!! Also the season finale made me cry so goddamn hard. bobcat (grief themes) got you.

Favorite Duel: This is actually a hard question; I always like thinking about my favorite dues in a ygo beyond just my first favorite, but with VRAINS' it starts to get tough to single out individual duels I like beyond. Two In Particular.

First up, i fucking LOVE the Playmaker vs. Akira duel in season 1. This is, gun to my head, absolutely my favorite vrains duel. The setting's cool, the monsters are cool (Tindangles one of the sickest archetypes I've ever SEEN), you get clobbered by the Lost Incident lore and Yusaku gets MAD mad and it goes hard as hell. AND THAT SHIT YUSAKU DOES. WHERE HE SPECIFICALLY LETS THE DUEL PLAY OUT LONGER THAN HE NEEDED TO JUST TO KEEP THE MONSTERS REPRESENTATIVE OF AKIRA AND SKYE'S BOND OUT OF THE GY. MAKES ME CRAZYYYYYYY thats one of the most moving things ive ever seen in a yugioh duel!!!! i dont ever wanna hear people say yusaku doesnt care about people EVER AGAIN!!!

And secondly, to absolutely nobody's surprise, the Revolver vs. Windy duel makes me start spinning around and barking and doing flips and shit. It's got EVERYTHING. Windy being a little freaklet, his crazy ass airships, Revolver rolling up in his kickass s2 fit and busting out a GODDAMN SYNCHRO SUMMON!!!! WINDY ALMOST DYING IN ONE OF THE MOST HORRIFIC CIRCUMSTANCES IVE SEEN IN A YUGIOH. WINDY AND LIGHTNING'S WEIRD GAY THING THATS MAYBE BURNING A HOLE IN MY BRAIN A LITTLE. THEY MADE THIS ONE IN A LAB TO BLOW UP MY BRAIN. it's also just a really fun duel, I love that they keep passing Magic Cylinder back and forth like a blunt. Borreload Savage Dragon also shreds harder than hell we all know but I'll say it again.

Beyond those, it's like... I genuinely really enjoy most All of the other duels in the show (except like. some of the filler duels and the times poor Skye loses -___- MOST OF THE TIME FOR NO GODDAMN REASON. her duel with bohman can stay because it does crack my skull in a little but it's on THIN FUCKING ICE!!!!) They're just really fun to watch, stuff like the Speed Duels adds an engaging new dimension to how duels unfold and tons of decks in VRAINS are just Fuckin' Cool. Runner-up duels I would maybe slot into my favorites tier include the absolutely agonizing (/pos) Kolter vs Playmaker duel, Revolver vs. Soulburner (DUEL THAT MADE ME CRY BIG AND A LOT) and uhhhh Soulburner vs Bohman........ . .. .... it's not a Good duel like. like At All. but Random Windy Event in the middle of it was so catastrophic to my ecosystem it earns my favor ❤

Other Miscellaneous VRAINS Gushing and Howling: UGH. GOD. IT'S JUST REALLY GOOD. IT'S REALLY GOOD AND IT MADE ME CRY SO MUCH MORE THAN I EVER EXPECTED IT TO. I'd always been a bit wary that VRAINS wasnt gonna do much for me in the grand scheme of yugiohs--i cant even say why??!? maybe just me being stubborn??!??! EITHER WAY. ANYWAY. it took a minute for it to really catch me in its claws but it GRABBED ME. AND DID NOT LET GO. after arc-v it is fucking crazy to see a yugioh that actually Delivers and Earns its themes and messages. EVERY TIME THE YUGIOH IS ABOUT THE BONDS WE HAVE WITH EACH OTHER I FEEL IT IN MY CHEST. BUT THIS TIME ESPECIALLY. TRULY ALL WE HAVE IS OUR LOVED ONES. EVEN WHEN THEYRE GONE, THEYRE NEVER GONE FOREVER

^i liked both the dub and sub of the last episode in equal measure but i WILL say the sub one made me cry more. the montage of all the families and friendships in this damn show got me good

I definitely think I watched the last season of VRAINS a Particularly insane way (dub first, then immediately followed by 1.8x-2x speed sub version) but honestly it was the perfect way for me to experience it and i'm not kidding--VRAINS' dub AND sub compliment each other, both bring their own little details to the table that for s3 just help paint this even more nuanced, complex picture of the Absolutely Endless Abyss of Grief and Sadness Happening in There. Should you watch yugioh this way? PROBABLY NOT. BUT ALSO IF YOU CRAZY LIKE ME GO FOR IT IT MAY DO SOMETHING TO YOU !

ouughgh also ALSO!!!! i LOVE just how true it is that duel links VRAINS world really does pick up where the show leaves off, and i cant WAIT to go back and reread vrains world events now that I know the characters and the story better. IT'S SO CRAZY COOL THAT DUEL LINKS INHERENTLY CARRIES THE TORCH OF VRAINS THEMES OF MEMORIES, HOW THEY LITERALLY CAN MAKE THE DEAD LIVE AGAIN. GUGHGH IT MAKES MY DUEL LINKS LORE SCHOLAR ASS GO BANANASSSSS

also when they put windy and lightning in dinks im gonna be SO annoying thats a threat and a promise<33

just. AUGH. MAN. VRAINS!!!! im so so glad i watched this when i did, maybe i'm booboo the fool finding genuine comfort and solace in the funny card game children's cartoon but between this and the yuri duel links event yugioh has really been helping hold my psyche together in the wake of losing my dad. vrains is POTENT and I fucking love it. Those showrunners were apparently going through all the levels of Dante's hell trying to bring this show to life and for all their struggles the end result pops off pretty fuckin hard. I'm so excited for it to sink further into my bloodstream in the coming months. The grief may be endless but so is the love. I cannot fucking believe they had to put the Funny Roomba Robot down like a sick dog and well we just all have to be cool with it. sniff. it's fine.

I love your Yugioh VRAINS..... I love Yusaku and Kolter's friendship, I love the goofy dub sandwich vs. taco hotdog running gag, it feels just SO 'stupid unfunny bit two friends would take to the grave' and it's perfect. I love Ryoken's absolutely hilarious character trait that he keeps running fucking boomer traps that havent been relevant since 2006. I love his deck full of the fucking ugliest dragons I've ever seen in my life. slash POS. I love the Gore, everything about him, what if the Rock played a fuckign trading card game--it's fucked up what happened to him in s2 but i DO admit 'they stitched a dead Ignis into his brain chip' Makes Me a Little Sick in the Head, SO. YOU WIN THIS ROUND YUGIOH. I LOVE GOUKIS. I LOVE DINOWRESTLERS. I LOVE STORMRIDERS. I love love LOVE how absolutely raw as hell extra deck summons go in this series, ESPECIALLY the legacy mechanics--Synchro and Xyz summons in this hype me the FUCK up!!! I love how ridiculously cartoonishly evil Soltec is, I wish we got to see them more as an antagonistic force. At least got Queen tho. RIP Magnum Cuntquake i wont forget you.

I love Ai and Yusaku's dynamic, I love that Ai just Says Shit and yusaku doesnt say a goddamn thing. Ai might be my favorite 'yutag duel partner' character, thinking about it.... what can i say i love a character who's nonstop annoying AND sad :,) I love all the different flavors of Yugioh Siblings we get in this one, with halfsiblings and stepsiblings and 'regular' siblings and more--I like them all!!! I love that technically like half the action in this show takes place inside a hot dog food truck. I love the data storms, fuck it, ride the cyberspace tornado and pull a duel monster out of it NOW!!!! I love Ryoken's stupid yacht that becomes a key location in season 2. I love the Harlin vs Blue Maiden duel episode for just completely smashing my kneecaps in with this fucked up and miserable AI 'family.' I love Flame's insistence on sharing the meaning of his name literally every possible opportunity he can get. I love all the different ways characters announce that they're creating their circuit when link summoning. I love the back half of the Yusaku vs. Bohman duel, when Flame tells Ai the Ignis will live on in his heart and Darkfluid gets summoned and me well I'm just a puddle of tears on the floor.

ok I'm officially outta steam I can barely read my screen <-- *doesnt have her contacts in* thank you for everything VRAINS you are in fact peak. ask your parent's permission before going online and meeting a little elemental booger made from your trauma. peace on earth my final message GOODBYE.