storymasterb
Knight of RPGs
I honestly wouldn't bother. I tried.
To put this bluntly, after the train-wreck which was 5D's Episode 149, I lost all hope Yoshida was even capable of anything good. And he's absolutely proven without a doubt... that I'm right. The Numbers plot may as well have 'monster of the week' stamped on it in big letters, the apparent plot with the villains is Arcadia and Divine rehashed with a new hate target, Yuma is too dumb to be true, Kotori is yet another of Yoshida's cheerleader brigade, Shark is the most ridiculous bully I have ever seen...
I don't need to say more. Silent X is just... damned. It's damned by its writer, its premise and above it it's damned by the sheer fact that everything it has is done better by something else, primarily its rival show, Cardfight! Vanguard. Aichi is a more believeable take on the inexperienced noob player. Kai is a much better take on the acknowledged, skilled rival with the edge that his ace Dragon does not utterly suck. Vanguard does not need supernatural weirdness to engage its viewers, where as Yoshida called on the Numbers... just to give us the Monster of the Week plot normally played by shows like Super Sentai and Kamen Rider, which at least have the dignity to do it well. There's no real feel of suspense because we know Yuma, despite his stupidity, will never lose. The result is set by the premise.
Whereas, Vanguard leaves room for Aichi to lose without the world being destroyed, or random nude alien person fading away. Simply put, I like the simpler, less weird premise, and Vanguard had the amusingness of random stuff tossed into the series where it's hanging lampshades on itself. Episode 4 of Vanguard has the most crowning example of a series acknowledging its own shipping ever. And Episode 14 gave us the crack-tastic premise of Aichi going to a shop reowned for its 'manliness'. It can be fun and entertaining without resorting to dramatics like 'win or the world dies'.
Since this is turning into a 'WHY VANGUARD IS BETTER' post, back on track. Ultimately, Silent X just falls flat. It seems to rely too much on its record-breaking card game and franchise legacy to carry it, but even fan loyalty can't... it just can't... make up for this mockery. Yuma and Astral are Yugi and Yami MK.2, Kotori will no doubt go the same way as Anzu and Aki (Asuka is debatable), the villains are a rehashed Arcadia Movement without the interesting question of whether Divine was a monster or a good person pushed too far, and the special left me needing a good dose of Code Geass and Death Note to convince me not all Japanese anime relied on tomatoes and things too horrific to describe here to try and be interesting. Ah, Geass, thanks for that. And you too, Death Note. If you ever want to watch the special and haven't already, I strongly advise you, don't. It says something that even the Japanese found it appaling and weird.
But generally ZeXal's problem is that it tries to use stuff from before, but it doesn't do it half as well as the original, its protagonist is utterly unbelieveable (even Judai wasn't this impossible to make sense of), and it's written by Shin Yoshida. The last one must be the most damning statement about YGO I have written, but there it is. If you don't believe me, do recall Episode 149 of 5D's and what you believed before it. Yes. Exactly.
If you'll excuse me, I'm off to do more interesting things than rant about ZeXal. Like watch Vanguard. Ah, thank you Akira Ito, for giving my hope in card game anime a nice boost.
To put this bluntly, after the train-wreck which was 5D's Episode 149, I lost all hope Yoshida was even capable of anything good. And he's absolutely proven without a doubt... that I'm right. The Numbers plot may as well have 'monster of the week' stamped on it in big letters, the apparent plot with the villains is Arcadia and Divine rehashed with a new hate target, Yuma is too dumb to be true, Kotori is yet another of Yoshida's cheerleader brigade, Shark is the most ridiculous bully I have ever seen...
I don't need to say more. Silent X is just... damned. It's damned by its writer, its premise and above it it's damned by the sheer fact that everything it has is done better by something else, primarily its rival show, Cardfight! Vanguard. Aichi is a more believeable take on the inexperienced noob player. Kai is a much better take on the acknowledged, skilled rival with the edge that his ace Dragon does not utterly suck. Vanguard does not need supernatural weirdness to engage its viewers, where as Yoshida called on the Numbers... just to give us the Monster of the Week plot normally played by shows like Super Sentai and Kamen Rider, which at least have the dignity to do it well. There's no real feel of suspense because we know Yuma, despite his stupidity, will never lose. The result is set by the premise.
Whereas, Vanguard leaves room for Aichi to lose without the world being destroyed, or random nude alien person fading away. Simply put, I like the simpler, less weird premise, and Vanguard had the amusingness of random stuff tossed into the series where it's hanging lampshades on itself. Episode 4 of Vanguard has the most crowning example of a series acknowledging its own shipping ever. And Episode 14 gave us the crack-tastic premise of Aichi going to a shop reowned for its 'manliness'. It can be fun and entertaining without resorting to dramatics like 'win or the world dies'.
Since this is turning into a 'WHY VANGUARD IS BETTER' post, back on track. Ultimately, Silent X just falls flat. It seems to rely too much on its record-breaking card game and franchise legacy to carry it, but even fan loyalty can't... it just can't... make up for this mockery. Yuma and Astral are Yugi and Yami MK.2, Kotori will no doubt go the same way as Anzu and Aki (Asuka is debatable), the villains are a rehashed Arcadia Movement without the interesting question of whether Divine was a monster or a good person pushed too far, and the special left me needing a good dose of Code Geass and Death Note to convince me not all Japanese anime relied on tomatoes and things too horrific to describe here to try and be interesting. Ah, Geass, thanks for that. And you too, Death Note. If you ever want to watch the special and haven't already, I strongly advise you, don't. It says something that even the Japanese found it appaling and weird.
But generally ZeXal's problem is that it tries to use stuff from before, but it doesn't do it half as well as the original, its protagonist is utterly unbelieveable (even Judai wasn't this impossible to make sense of), and it's written by Shin Yoshida. The last one must be the most damning statement about YGO I have written, but there it is. If you don't believe me, do recall Episode 149 of 5D's and what you believed before it. Yes. Exactly.
If you'll excuse me, I'm off to do more interesting things than rant about ZeXal. Like watch Vanguard. Ah, thank you Akira Ito, for giving my hope in card game anime a nice boost.