Dark Signers Arc vs Barian Onslaught Arc

[Wolfox]

5D's and ZeXaL... two juggernauts in the Yugioh franchise. Both of theme amazing in their own right (though ZeXaL did take a little while to get there). I was thinking the other day "Between the Dark Signer's Arc and the Barian Onslaught arc, which one would be better?"

 

So, Let's find out! Which of these two arcs do you like best?

 

I personally prefer the Dark Signer arc, if anything because Kiryu just steals the show every frame he's animated in this arc. the Fall of the Arcadia Movement, Aki's backstory, Yusei second-guessing himself... it's just that good

[Zarc]

As much as i enjoyed the dark signer arc in 5d's , i have a preference for the barian arc for many reasons : 

 

 

- barian war was much longer and battles were very nice ( not saying that battles in dark signer arc weren't tho ). 

 

- barian characters were more charismatic than dark signers ( i only found Kalin and Carly as a charismatic vilain ) 

 

- finally , and this is probably the most important point to me : there was more suspens in barian war duels. For example , every battles in the signer vs dark signer were won by signers all the time , no suspens at all , each signers defeated his dark signer opponent everytime. While in barian war , first barians striked theirs all theirs opponents , i mean once Nash showed up. I absolutely loved the duels Nash-IV and Mizar-Trey/Quinton. And furthermore , they were duels betweens barians themselfs , which was very interesting ( Vector vs Durbe/Merag and Alito/Girag ). 

 

 

This is only my opinion , i know you Wolfox prefered the dark signer arc and it's perfectly normal as it was very nice 

[Wolfox]

the thing with this question, for me, is that both arcs are, with ease, the best of their respective series. and both are extremely good

[Zarc]

Yliaster arc on 5d's was very good aswell 

[Wolfox]

true.

 

honestly this brings my mind to the debate of ZeXaL vs 5D's.

While ZeXaL's peak have not yet been bested IMO, 5d's was good for most of, if not all the way through. ZeXaL had moments that make 5D's seem lighthearted, but 5d's had a more dark and gloomy feel the whole way through. peaks vs consistancy

[Zarc]

In my opinion 5d's > Zexal , and i think a lot of people are agree with it. Starting with the main protagonist , Yusei is clearly far away above Yuma ( not difficult tho ). Concerning cards , 5d's ones are more interesting , we saw so many things ( dark synchro , earthbound , meklord etc... ) while Zexal is almost only focused on xyz cards ( which are very interesting too , look at galaxy eyes cards ). 

 

Concerning stories , i think they are kinda equal.  As i said previously , i prefered the barian war cause more suspens. In 5d's , Yusei never lost a duel ( he should have lost against his first duel against Kalin but his LP never reached 0 ). That's the main thing i don't like in 5d's , no suspens. On each Yusei's duel you already knew who was gonna win at the end ^^ 

 

 

And finally , i would say that 5d's was more emotional. As we can see as Yusei who grew up with almost nothing and reach the top. And alone , i mean with his friends of course , but not with a spirit to help him on each duel. Or with the " death " of certains characters. 

[Wolfox]

I still say Yusei actually lost that duel to Kiryu, because there was nothing he could have done there. His D-wheel breaking saved his life, but not the duel.

 

But then again, outside of I think 3 duels (maybe fewer) all of Yusei's duels were high-stakes. Like Dark Game stakes. Would he have lost to Ushio once? He's in jail and the series would end. Lost to Aki? Can't get back at Jack. Lost t that bug guy in ep 2? lost his D-wheel and series end.

[Zarc]

Yeah of course , the main duels against vilains , it's perfectly logical. But he could have lost against Antinomy for example during their first duel , no pression on the story. He could have lost against Jack at the end ,  same , no pression , and Jack deserved to beat Yusei just for once..

[Wolfox]

True, Jack does deserve a big win vs Yusei, but then again, seeing Junk Warrior deal that final Scrap Fist never gets old. and his first duel vs Antinome could have been a good loss, but that would probably have made Bruno's death even sadder (like we need that T.T)

[FairFamily]

Well they are quite close but the barian onslaught is slightly better. Nash is my favorite villain and the fact that there were some real casualties made it the better arc.

 

What the dark signer however had, was motivation and personal conflict : characters like carly, misty, bommer, sayer, kiryu all had personal reasons to fight as had the signers. The barians' reasons were like, we are barians or we are mind controlled let's fight. Luckely Nash and vector had some motivation otherwhise the roles would have been switched.

 

The yugioh anime is not about dueling but about conflict, duels are just a way to visualise it.