✩ 9-23-21

Yubel ..........................
I'm Going Through it rn (finished episode 155) I'm just gonna copy and paste from my liveblogging in Discord



✩ 9-4-21

I just finished episode 151! Crazy to think that I only have, like, 30 episodes left. I always just thought that GX would last forever, so the fact that I'm not that far off from 5D's is wild to me. These episodes are so emotionally draining, but the payoff is massive. There have been some absolutely killer episodes this season. The Kaiser/Yubel duel was, like, almost hard to watch, but I couldn't tear my eyes away... I know that "this show is really good, you just have to get past 80 episodes" is an absurd thing to say, but that's how I feel about GX haha.

I guess I'm almost done with Season 3, actually. It'll be interesting to see how things are supposed to go back to 'normal' after all of the horrible things that have happened to Judai and everyone else.

✩ 8-22-21

Took a little break, but I watched up to 145 yesterday. I legit forgot that Amon was walking around lmao... I thought he was dead. I forgot that Crowler and Echo got pulled into the alternate dimension, too, so seeing them was kind of a shock.

Jaden's finally snapped out of it, which I'm so glad about, but at what cost... There are some deaths happening that I didn't actually know about. It's really stressful when a duel begins between two characters and you know that one of them is going to die, no questions asked. Normally, villain duels aren't that scary, but this season... all bets are off.

I think the second Yubel arc will happen soon. Scared but excited. I think about them all the time, lol. It'll be nice to finally have answers and closure.

(Also............ I wanna watch Bonds Beyond Time soooo bad. I might just watch it after GX and before 5Ds, haha. I hope there are no 5Ds spoilers in it :sweats:)

✩ 8-7-21

Watched up to episode 140. Whouuff...... only 40 more to go. That sounds really crazy to me. I definitely want to watch more and finish it; I am so close when you really get down to it. But I'm also scared... I know I'll have lots of emotions and I'll need to reset for a while before I start 5Ds, which is totally fine. But also, it's that strange sentiment where I really resist the closer I get to the end of a show. Like, I don't want it to end; I don't want my fixation to drop off; I don't want to immediately get 'into' the next thing and leave these characters and my feelings behind.

I don't think that'll totally happen... I lovvve them and care about them all a lot. And I know I'll love the 5Ds boys too, which is fine! But I always get anxious about things like this. Especially when there's a character I Love Love (Judai). It's hard to quantify but I think he might be in my category of Special Characters, the likes of which there's only... four right now, five maybe. Like, the kinds of characters I'll love forever, who make me feel like everything is going to be ok. I really kind of resisted putting Jaden on this tier because I was scared of being wrong, but it's time to face facts, I was literally thinking of skipping the end of Duel Monsters to get to see him LOL. Anyway, this is just silly and baseless Media Anxiety. I'm definitely slowing down on my episode consumption but I'm making steady headway.

As you may have heard... it'll be Jaden's birthday soon. I want to make him a Winged Kuriboh cake. I have never really tried to do any kind of special cake decoration before, but for him... anything (pleading emoji). I already bought base frosting because it was on sale at work (50 cents baybeyyy) and as the day gets closer I'll buy green and yellow and chocolate frosting. It will probably be sooooo ugly but Jaden eats whatever he can get his hands on so I think it'll be okay, lol. Anywayyyy I think that's all for now. Season 3 continues to be rough, but I am taking it like a champ, even if I do say so myself!!

✩ 8-3-21

A short little update today! I downloaded a ROM of GX Tag Force 2 today... not because I necessarily want to duel with GX era cards all that much, but because I wanted to hang out with Jaden, LMAO. It is very cute so far. I feel like the duels will be pretty grindy, but I'm mostly playing for the little romance friendship aspects of it, so I think it'll be okay.
Pictured above: my boyfriend encourages me to skip class
I will probably play around with it for the next couple days! I need to play minigames and get currency so I can buy him sandwiches and raise his affection lol. Games like this are so cute to me. Anyway, that's all for today! I will explore and buy some more cards later.

✩ 7-31-21

Finished episode 137... I'm having a rough time rn, lmao............

I got to Yubel yesterday and then sat through 6-7 episodes straight today. Augh... this is all of the emotional baggage that I've been dreading since I started the show. Jaden's breakdown against Brron made me really upset... I know it just gets worse from here, too...

Sho is dealing with so much right now. His dreams about Judai really broke me... and Ryo's small sort of knowing smile, when they were talking, and he said "Judai must have left a much bigger hole in your heart than I did." Ryo knows they'll never be that close as brothers... probably even if he had more time left. He can feel that he's going to pass soon. Even then, he doesn't want to say anything to Sho...

I know Yubel will come back... maybe at the end of this Supreme King arc. I don't know much of what happens here... I just know it's bad. I don't think Chazz and Asuka and the other two are really dead forever, but... they're dead for the moment, and Jaden believes that they're really truly gone, which is why he's just... broken down now, and the Supreme King can influence him...

I'm taking a break for now... I might watch more tonight or tomorrow. Lots of thoughts... I know Jaden's making a lot of poor decisions this season, but I love him so much... I can't help but feel torn apart about all of this happening to him... I know it's not all about him, but I want him to be happy... to love himself... to be content to accept the love from his friends. Oof... Yugioh hurts, you guys.

✩ 7-23-21

Making lots of progress. I think I'm on episode 127 now. Ohhhhh my God, I've been so invested that I have just been blowing through the show like crazy. Season three is legit so fucking good compared to everything else, it's better than almost the entirety of Duel Monsters honestly. Everything is actually relevant to the ongoing story and I'm loving it. Every single one of the new characters is really interesting, and there's such this like, overwhelmingly palpable sense of despair... it's not something I enjoy, but it's so impressive and engaging.

Yubel makes me really upset, though I clearly don't have the whole story yet. Everything they do and say is so heartwrenching and I know the later episodes will hit me really hard. He just loves Judai so much and it's very hard for me not to cling onto characters that are motivated by pure love. I know Yubel does terrible things and I will never say that those things were okay but I know he's a character that's going to own my heart. He already pretty much does.

If I can make myself slow down while watching I will try to take some more screenshots, since I haven't done that for, like, 40 episodes lol. RIP.

✩ 7-18-21

I haven't been updating this blog as much as I expected this week, but that's only because I decided to finally sit down and just consume a whole bunch of episodes in one day! I was really dragging my feet when it came to finishing season two, because I knew that once I got into season three, things were going to start going downhill for everyone... that being said, I finally passed episode 104 and got into the meat of things! In fact, I think I watched a solid 9-10 episodes in just one day...?! The excitement of seeing new characters propelled me forward, lol!!

The end of S2 was like... kind of weird and anticlimactic, but I think that's just because they threw in a whole bunch of convoluted stuff at the last second without taking a lot of time to build up to it during the season. There were a lot of filler episodes that could have been put to better use developing the Evil Death Laser And Also There Are Evil Aliens subplot rather than frog ladies and video game godfathers. I did really like the (small) glimpses we got into Edo and Saio's relationship, and I wish there was more of that... same thing with his step-father. That reveal was still impactful because I care about Edo and his well-being, but from a writing standpoint it should not have worked at all, lol. There were still some cool scenes in the tail end of the season, but it felt very flat and last minute overall.

ANYWAY! On to season three! I wanted to see Johan so bad, and he has not disappointed so far! His voice really caught me off guard, but I'm sure I'll get used to it eventually, like I did with Sho's voice. He's so sweet!! He and Jaden get along great (of course), and I'm amazed at just how similar they are. Jim also won me over immediately, as I knew he would. I like his deck a lot! Stealing monsters from Kenzan's graveyard was a really cool gimmick, although I have to say, I don't know how well that'll work for him when he faces someone with a deck that doesn't align with his.

Amon is interesting so far. The only thing I knew about him previously was that one dub clip of him saying "before you chazz me", so I didn't really know what to expect from him, but I think he's got good intentions compared to Cobra, who is almost definitely using all the duel energy to bring back his dead son. Which, honestly, is a pretty good intention if I've ever seen one, but killing other children to accomplish it is not very epic of him!!!!

O'brien (or Austin? I've been calling him Austin in my head, but I guess everyone just calls him O'brien) is interesting, too. I know he's coming from a background that kind of lends his personality to parallell Hell Kaiser Ryo, where losing means death and there's no room for error, but I still kind of lost it when he tells Jaden "This isn't a game for children!" Like, king, you are LITERALLY a yugioh character...!! You PLAY games for children!! But that being said, I like that we got development for him immediately upon finishing the first duel. Hopefully he won't get benched for the sake of other characters before he can make some real progress and become everyone's friend. :)

I really like season three so far!! Thinking about the inevitable tragedies that are coming soon makes my stomach twist up, so I'm just gonna try to enjoy the fun duels that build up to the main plot, and then take it easy for the rest of the season... That probably sounds pretty silly, but I love Jaden a lot, and having a vague idea of what's in store for him really makes me sick. I had to pause the second episode when Yubel popped up for a second... I wasn't expecting them so early, even if it was just foreshadowing. I think I'm really going to enjoy season three, but it'll have to be one of those things that I take slowly, or I'll risk getting so upset that I drop it and never finish it. (Like SBR in Jojo, lol.) Anyway, that's what I've been up to this week. I watched up to the first episode of the Amon vs Chazz duel. Excited (?) to see how it turns out!

✩ 7-11-21

I watched a whole bunch of episodes over the last week! I have now officially seen 99 episodes of GX. Once I hit 104, I'll be done with season two - and then I get to see Johan and all the other new characters!!! There were a lot of good episodes in this bunch and a lot of screenshot opportunities I missed, but I mostly wanted to binge a bunch and get to S2 as quickly as possible, so I decided I could always come back later and screenshot when I get a little further into the show.

I went to locals today, and I bought a copy of Crystal Beast Ruby Carbuncle and Shining Flare Wingman :) I want to have a special area of my binder or my fave card box with a bunch of Jaden's cards... I also bought Dandylion the other day for the same reason! I also traded with somebody and I got Ayers Rock Sunrise, the card that Hayato made for the contest that got him his job at Industrial Illusions!!

✩ 7-3-21

Made a lot of progress today!! Watched all the way up to episode 85. The quiz duel in 81 was really silly and fun tbh! Misawa vs Manjoume really hurt, seeing Saio manipulate Misawa so effortlessly, and for him to just give up... it echoes the rough Saio v. Manjoume duel from earlier this season. And immediately after was Ryo going back to his dojo and fighting the headmaster... sure the idea of a card-based dojo is kind of dumb, but if you ignore that, then this episode was pretty hard to watch too. When Ryo destroyed Cyber End without any remorse... :'( it really shows that he's a different kind of person now. I hope someone snaps him out of it...

✩ 6-29-21

I just finished episode 80! So that means I have.... exactly 100 episodes of GX left, I think. Ough.... I know sad stuff is going to start happening soon! I don't want that! I want the plot to advance, but what price am I willing to pay!!!!!!!!!

The little Mizuchi arc was pretty interesting, but it seemed like it got resolved with no answers LOL... she just turned into a computer... which, good for her!! but it seemed rlly random haha. it's GX, i guess i shouldn't have been expecting much more than that. Edo and Judai make a pretty swell team though! Edo's this close to just liking Judai, I can feel it! But he has to finish his own character arc before they can be friends. sigh!!

Another great Kenzan ep w/ episode 80!!!!!!!!!!!! My dino boyfriend............... he's so cute <3 The writers for s2 gave him sooooo much content i'm so happy hehe. rawr!!!

anyway i can't wait to see what happens next!!!!!! unless its sad. then i don't want it!!!

100 episodes to go!!!!!!!!!!!!!

✩ 6-24-21

rewatched the first four episodes of s2 with my friend last night... i lov kenzan so much....... he just really is absolutely perfect right from the first time we see him. he is without flaw

and today i watched 74 and 75! i'm probably going to watch more later too! i took a whole bunch of screenshots because ,, sho/kenzan tag duel,, aughhhhh i love them so much!!!!! this is probably a big Character Development Moment TM for them, i can't wait... and seeing everyone go to domino city was really cool!!! a comment on episode 75 said that apparently there was early talks of a crossover movie and this little arc was leftover from it. idk if thats true but its cool if it is!

✩ 6-21-21

watched episodes 70-73 today! the manjoume/asuka duel in episode 70 was honestly really hype. manjoume revealing his whole hand was such a bde move and it actually made him really intimidating, which is a side we haven't seen from him since way back at the beginning of season one. that duel was actually way more tense than i expected, and i didn't think asuka would actually lose... the society of light actually seems pretty scary now!!

there were some cute jaden moments (pleading)... two episodes in a row he had to count on his fingers to keep track of life points >_< my darling boy. all brain cells focused on cool monsters instead of counting

episode 73 said kenzan rights!!! u love to see it!!!!!! i love when he gets his dino eyes and he goes "rawr >:3" so i liked that episode a lot. god i love yugioh so MUCH !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i want to watch more tonite but thats just bc im crazy. aaaaaaaaaaaaa go crazy go stupid