Yu-Gi-Oh GX was the first main spin-off of the Yu-Gi-Oh franchise and introduced fans to a whole new world of characters and storylines, and would prove to be the first of quite a few spin-offs.
Set around ten years after the main show, the card games have become such a serious business that an entire Duel Academy has been built around them. Focusing initially on the students of the school, audiences became introduced to new arcs as villains seek to harness the powers of the cards and take over the world.
Yu-Gi-Oh GX gave fans a lot to enjoy, but there are other times when even the most hardened fan would admit that things weren't handled the way they should have been. Let's take a look at reasons why fans loved this incarnation of the franchise, and why they didn't, together. And remember, as we're looking at how the story unfolds, for better or for worse, spoilers abound.
10 Why We Love It: The Clever Character Designs
It's clear a lot of imagination and effort was put into the character designs of this series. Jaden Yuki, also known as Judai Yuki, has hair that somehow looks both natural, what with his different shades of brown hair, and animesque, making him look like a Kuriboh in human form, all at the same time, which really takes a creative hand.
Even returning characters from the previous series got more unique designs. When Yugi Moto made a brief reappearance, he was given a more muscular design, a break from the typical anime hero.
9 Why We Don't: All That Filler
Filler isn't always a bad thing...it can lead to memorable moments and can show just how creative a show can get. And it's always nice to get a break from a formula. But there are times when this show relied a little too much on it, making the actual plot come out of nowhere.
The first main antagonist to appear in the series, Nightshroud, also known as Darkness, doesn't really make an appearance until episode 29, which is rather late for the first season.
8 Why We Love It: The Clever References
The writing could be really clever when it wanted to be. For example, the three Sacred Beasts, "Uria", "Hamon" and "Raviel," get their names from Judeo-Christian angels.
Alchemy is a recurring theme throughout the series, from the regular theme of three suns, an alchemical symbol, to each of the arcs representing a different part of the alchemical process (the black/putrefying, white/purifying, yellow/awakening, and red/completion stages.)
7 Why We Don't: How Dark It Could Get
Sometimes, a show going into a darker and edgier direction shows that the writers want to take the story in a serious direction and want to subvert the audience's expectations. But this isn't always a good thing.
By season 3, when characters start dying left and right, and characters changing personalities, a lof of fans were wondering if they were still watching the same show. The fact that certain dead characters turned out to just be stuck in another dimension the whole time showed even the writers knew there were limits with how dark the show should be.
6 Why We Love It: The Anti-Heroes
Some characters were really only "bad guys" in the context of being rivals toward Jaden or the other protagonists, but many of them actually proved to be pretty popular with fans.
Some of these characters included Zane Truesdale, also known as Ryo Marufuji, and Chazz Princeton, also known as Jun Manjoume, ended up becoming some of the series' most popular and were eventually fleshed out into being anti-heroes in the show. And a lot of fans ended up rooting for Chazz to have some wins now and again.
5 Why We Don't: Annoying Cards
An important theme in the series seems to be for people to be themselves, especially when it comes to cards. Good characters either refuse to use other people's decks when tempted or learn the hard way not to mimic other people's styles. But then there are the times when things get a little too personalized.
Chumley, also known as Hayato Maeda, having an entire deck revolving around koalas and other marsupials makes even the most casual fan wonder if he shouldn't learn to diversify.
4 Why We Love It: Fun Background Characters
A lot of the characters that appeared in the show made quite an impression. Characters like Jim "Crocodile" Cook, Austin O'Brien (also known as Axel Brodie), and Tyranno Kenzan became popular enough that some fans wanted them to appear much sooner than they originally did.
At the very least, some of these characters brought about hilarious and memorable memes.
3 Why We Don't: Writing Off Characters
Chumley was one of the main characters at the start of the series and was one of Jaden's best friends. There was even an episode dedicated to him staying at the school even if he wasn't the best student, all because of the power of friendship. Then he leaves the school to become a card designer. Asuka, also known as Alexis, was Jaden's love interest and even she starts getting less focus at points in the series in favor of other characters.
At some point, you have to wonder what was the point of introducing characters if the show wasn't going to do much with them in the first place.
2 Why We Love It: The Character Growth
While the series can get criticism for how dark it could get, especially towards the later seasons, some of the ways the characters grow and change throughout the story has been seen as a positive thing. As mentioned, a lot of "villains" end up becoming sympathetic anti-heroes, but even some of the main characters go through this.
Jaden, while becoming dark enough to arguably become something of a villain, despite being the main character, ends up becoming much more pragmatic and responsible as a result of his journey, even if a little bit of his original characterization shows up now and again.
1 Why We Don't: The Rushed Plots
While the series has sometimes been criticized for relying a little too much on filler, the series can also have the opposite problem, especially towards the end. Characters get introduced with stories that could have taken up arcs, only to get things resolved in the same episode. Jaden solves problems that could have involved his friends, but ends up doing it all on his own. Some storylines end up getting so rushed that they were never properly resolved.
This got especially seemed problematic towards the end of the series and was likely due to the fact that the newer Yu-Gi-Oh shows were starting development and needed to get a little promotion.