Yu-Gi-Oh! 5DS Season 2 Collection
Released By: Manga Entertainment
Rating: PG
Running Time: 1298 Mins
Audio: English DD 5.1 Japanese DD 2.0
Release Date: 10/10/2016
Reviewed By: Sandra Scholes
While most kids were knee-deep in Pokemon back in the 90s, there were others who were into Yu-Gi-Oh! as the manga taught us that we had an inner strength no one could take from us. Though the story has moved away from young Yugi Mutou, though there are other character who take on the bad guy duelists.
Now Yusei Fudo is the unlucky protagonist of this series whose former friend, Jack Atlas betrayed him by stealing his bike to become the fastest duellist ever and leave the Satellite to get rich and live the life he had always dreamed of. It was easy for him to forget his friend, and even going so far as to appearing as an enemy to beat him again. From an abandoned factory/train station Yusei prepares his bike for another race in the hopes of beating Atlas, but he needs some minor miracle to help him become faster. One of Yusei's friends rushes in to hand him the chip, but no sooner does he use it than the authorities are onto him, and his friends. Yusei can evade being caught, though he has to protect his friends - to do this, he has to duel Trudge, a cop in a race - one that will get him promoted to Sergeant. If he loses, then Yusei is set free and so are his friends.
A lot has changed since the early days of Yu-Gi-Oh!, but some things make a comeback, like Trudge as he had made an appearance in other series of Yu-Gi-Oh! we might remember him from as a cruel bully and one who enjoyed making one of Yusei's friends cry before. It's about time he got his comeuppance, and in these episodes, he just might.
Now duellists ride Duel Runner bikes, slipping their cards into them to summon beasts in order to take enemies head on; no wonder this has become so popular (pulling cards out, the deck secreted inside their arm, they slip them into a special compartment in their bike, where they easily activate them during the duel). It is faster and more interesting as a result, but the matches can be over far too soon. As expected, Yusei and Trudge go way back as they have been duelling since he got taken in a few times before for minor juvenile crimes. Trudge is cocky and cruel and sticks with the bad guys in this anime (Atlas and the Neo Domino City police) and seems unaware of what the big threat to the city and its people is. The reality is, Atlas started out on the Satellite, one of the many who are at the bottom who have to spend their time sifting through the garbage, the "chosen" discard, but unlike Yusei, Atlas cheated his way out of Satellite life, making his own life much more comfortable, as shown by the luxurious balcony scenes in Neo Domino City where he now lives.
The only hope Yusei has is to duel him and beat him if he can take himself away from a life of poverty - he has to keep duelling to make his fortune or die trying. Yu-Gi-Oh! 5DS has a futuristic feel to it with the dystopian underbelly of the city, run down places and smoking industrial buildings versus the sprawling grandeur of Neo Domino City.
This series has the same animated look of the previous ones, though this has the new look CG lighting up the action, duel cards and summoned beasts. The point of the story is can Yusei ever escape his fate at the Satellite, or will he leave there in the promise of a new life?
I believe the fast pace of the action and the differences in the characters give it punch where its needed, but as the second series is left unresolved and some of the episodes left out, it is something fans may be disappointed over if they watched the original series on what was 4KidsTV.
Bonus Material: None.
Summary: Kick-ass roller-coaster of a show that doesn't give you chance to breathe - a real winner of an anime!
