, stylized as ''Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V'', is a Japanese

anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...

series animated by

Gallop The canter and gallop are variations on the fastest gait that can be performed by a horse or other equine. The canter is a controlled three-beat gait, while the gallop is a faster, four-beat variation of the same gait. It is a natural gait po ...

. It is the fourth spin-off anime series in the ''

Yu-Gi-Oh! is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Kazuki Takahashi. It was serialized in Shueisha's manga magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' between September 1996 and March 2004, with its chapters collected in 38 volumes. The ...

'' franchise following ''

Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal , stylized as Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL, is a Japanese manga and anime series and the third spin-off of the ''Yu-Gi-Oh!'' franchise, after the preceding ''Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's''. The manga began serialization in Shueisha's ''V Jump'' magazine from Decem ...

''. The series aired in Japan on

TV Tokyo JOTX-DTV (channel 7), branded as is a Japanese television station that serves as the flagship of the TX Network. The series is licensed outside Japan by Konami Cross Media NY and launched internationally in 2015. A

manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...

adaptation by Naohito Miyoshi began serialization in

Shueisha is a Japanese publishing company headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. Shueisha is the largest publishing company in Japan. It was established in 1925 as the entertainment-related publishing division of Japanese publisher Shogakukan. The ...

's ''

V Jump is a Japanese shōnen manga magazine, focusing on manga as well as video games based on popular manga. The magazine's debut was in 1990 by Shueisha under the '' Jump'' line of magazines. History In the early 1990s, Shueisha directed ''Weekly ...

'' magazine in August 2015. The series was succeeded by '' Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS'', which premiered in Japan on May 10, 2017."Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS" Won't Be Dealt in Until May
/ref>

Plot

In Paradise City's You Show Duel School, a second-year middle school student named Yuya Sakaki aspires to become a professional Dueltainer, he believes that Dueling is for fun and should be enjoyed just like his father, who disappeared. Yuya awakens a new power called Pendulum Summoning, which attracted the attention of the Leo Corporation's president, Leo Akaba. Yuya later meets three Duelists who greatly resemble him: The collected Xyz duelist "Yuto" from the Xyz dimension, whom he unknowingly absorbed during the Duel between Yuto and Yugo. The overconfident Synchro duelist "Yugo" from the Synchro dimension, with a similar background with Yusei in Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds. And the sadistic Fusion duelist "Yuri" from the Fusion dimension, who works for the Professor in Duel academy, turning people in to cards. These

look-alike A look-alike, or double, is a person who bears a strong physical resemblance to another person, excluding cases like twins and other instances of Family resemblance (anthropology), family resemblance. Some look-alikes have been notable individua ...

s originate from other dimensions besides Yuya's Standard Dimension as he and his friends find themselves in the middle of an interdimensional conflict against the Fusion Dimension's Duel Academy, which Yuri attends. Duel Academy is led by Leo's estranged father known as the Professor, who seeks to unite the four dimensions. Leo formed a group of elite duelists called the Lancers (includes Yuya, Zuzu, Moonshadow & Shay) to stop his father, while they build their numbers during their travels to the Synchro and Xyz Dimensions. The Lancers were aware of the Four dimensions and went to the Synchro dimension were they meet Yugo, one of Yuya's look–alikes. Yugo was heavily convinced that Zuzu, Yuya's childhood friend, was his childhood friend, Rin (Rinray), who was kidnapped by the Professor. A threat arose from the head of sector security in the Synchro dimension, the head of sector security was mind controlling all of sector security, but after Yuya defeated Jack they were able to stop it but they ended up in the Xyz dimension were Yuya meets a student of Duel academy who dueled his father but failed to turn him in to a card, Yuya was more convinced that his father was alive. Gradually recognizing a dark presence swelling inside him since absorbing Yuto, Yuya learns he has a strong psychic connection to him, Yugo, and Yuri that occurs whenever their summoned dragons are calling one another. Yuya and his friends also realized that The Professor's seeks to capture Yuya's childhood friend, Zuzu Boyle, and the Lancers' Fusion Dimension member, Celina, as they are identical to the Xyz Dimension's Lulu Obsidian and Rin of the Synchro Dimension who were already captured. Arriving in the Fusion Dimension to save Celina, Zuzu gets captured as well and Yuya found his long lost father and the Lancers infiltrating Duel Academy to save the girls. They found the girls but they were mind controled by parasites created by the Professor. When they confront The Professor, he reveals the four dimensions used to be one world until the day a duelist named Zarc attempted to destroy everything. The Professor intended to stop Zarc with the special En Cards he created. His daughter, Ray, steals the cards and sacrifices herself to defeat Zarc but the Four En cards had an effect that splited the dimension, Zarc & Ray in to four parts: Xyz (dimension), Yuto (Zarc), Lulu (Ray). Fusion (dimension), Yuri (Zarc), Calina (Ray). Synchro (dimension), Yugo (Zarc), Rin (Ray). Standard (dimension), Yuya (Zarc), Zuzu (Ray). The Professor reveals that Zarc is the darkness within Yuya and his counterparts, who are themselves remnants of Zarc's scattered essence, which has been compelling them to absorb each other so Zarc can be reconstituted and exact his revenge. Only Ray, who has been reincarnated as Zuzu and her counterparts, had been subconsciously preventing Zarc's attempts to reawaken prior to The Professor having the girls abducted. The Professor intends to merge them back into his daughter and reunite the 4 dimensions into the Original Dimension using his Arc-V Reactor. However, the reactor is unable to fully restore Ray's physical form as The Professor planned due to lack of life energies, so the Professor decided to send Duel academy the three dimensions to turn people in to cards to power up the Arc-V Reactor. After Yuri dueled Yugo, he won and absorbed Yugo, Zarc capitalized on the turn of events by taking over Yuya's body and having him absorb the willing Yuri to complete his

resurrection Resurrection or anastasis is the concept of coming back to life after death. Reincarnation is a similar process hypothesized by other religions involving the same person or deity returning to another body. The disappearance of a body is anothe ...

. Yuya's friends all proceed to challenge Zarc in a series of two-on-one duels to stop him while reaching out to Yuya. With Ray possessing Leo's son, Riley, to fight Zarc, Yuya manages to regain himself to help Ray defeat Zarc with the En Cards that splits the dimensions once more. When Yuya awakens in the Standard Dimension that has been reborn as the Pendulum Dimension, he had no memory of his experience across the dimensions or of Zuzu until Leo restored his memories and everyone else's with a reenactment of the Arc League Championship. Leo reveals that Riley used a moment in the dimensional divide to transfer Zarc's essence from Yuya into herself to keep the evil spirit from being scattered across the dimensions again. Riley turned into a catatonic infant boy as a consequence of his action. Leo fears that Zarc may eventually take over Riley's body and resume his rampage again. Yuya is told that only he, as Zarc's essence, can stop Zarc for good by using his Dueltaining skills to make Riley smile and pacify the possessing spirit. Yuya proceeds to travel to other dimensions and defeat the other Lancers with Riley watching the footage. On his way, Yuya finds Zuzu and her counterparts still inside the Arc-V Reactor in an inactive state. Though his counterparts help him tame the Four Dragons, Yuya learns he made no progress with Riley. He convinces Leo to let him take the professional duelist test right after he got promoted into Senior class, and Leo became his opponent. Learning who Zarc was in his life, Yuya and his counterparts manage to defeat Leo and pacify their past counterpart. This act awakened Ray, who appears in the Pendulum Dimension and revives as Zuzu, with her counterparts now a part of her, similar to Yuya's case. The two of them are reunited at last, and the four dimensions were connected and the Standard was known as the Pendulum dimension. With the help of Yuto, Yugo & Yuri who were a part of Yuya, Yuya managed to make Riley smile. And the show ends with The Professor meeting his wife in the Pendulum dimension and all dimensions celebrating the victory.

Setting

Standard Dimension

The Standard Dimension, later reborn as the Pendulum Dimension, is the dimension where Paradise City is located. It is the main setting of the first season. Originally only having users of Tribute Summoning, the Standard Dimension now contains all three summoning methods of Fusion, Synchro, and Xyz, introduced to it by Leo Akaba and his Leo Corporation. This dimension is known for its unique Action Dueling, which uses the Real Solid Vision System to give mass to its holograms and allow Duelists to interact with their monsters and the artificially created environment. The Real Solid Vision System is an evolved form of the original Solid Vision System, which only had intangible holograms. After the battle against Zarc, the Standard Dimension was reborn as the Pendulum Dimension where everyone can now use Pendulum Summoning, in addition to all the other types. It's the only dimension to not have versions of past ''Yu-Gi-Oh!'' characters. However, Yusho, Yuya's father, possesses a deck that heavily references Yugi Muto's Dark Magician based deck.

Synchro Dimension

The Synchro Dimension is a dimension where residents all use Synchro Summoning. It pays homage to ''

Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's is the second main spin-off of the ''Yu-Gi-Oh!'' franchise, succeeding ''Yu-Gi-Oh! GX'', in celebration of the 40th anniversary of ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' and the 15th anniversary of '' V Jump''. The series aired from April 2008 to March ...

''. Its setting is New Domino City (also simply referred to as just "the City"), which serves as the setting of the second season. New Domino City thrives on a free competition society consisting of two classes. The elite class of 1%, the Topsiders, are the upper class society living in wealth, while the poor Commons are the lower class 99% of society living in poverty under the Topsiders' area. Discrimination against Commons is high, and they are treated as the tools for allowing the Tops to live in wealth. In rebellion against their limited freedom, the Commons started to duel while riding Duel Runners, which are motorcycles combined with Duel Disks. These duels later became known as Turbo Duels. New Domino City is ruled by the High Council, which upholds Martial Law and Sector Security who act as police for the Topsiders. To maintain the peace of the city, the High Council holds the yearly Friendship Cup, where Duelists from both the Topsiders and Commons can fairly duel each other on Duel Runners. However, those who lose are sent to an underground garbage refinery with little to no chance of returning to the surface. After Yuya's duel against Jack in the Friendship Cup final match, the High Council retired and the social class system was abolished. Some of the characters from the ''5D's'' series reappear as different dimension counterparts, who are primarily the main characters, Jack Atlas, Crow Hogan, and Lazar, who only appears for one episode when Yuya duels Jack a second time.

Xyz Dimension

The Xyz Dimension is a dimension where its residents all use Xyz Summoning. It pays homage to ''

''. Its setting is Heartland City, which serves as the setting of the first half of the third season. Heartland City was reduced to ruin from the invasion by the Fusion Dimension's Duel Academy with the remaining survivors forming a Resistance group based in the ruined Heartland City becoming their base. Before the invasion, there were two sections of the Heartland Duel School called Spade School and Clover School, where both became the main forces for the Resistance group. The Spade Branch was wiped out in a later assault. Kite Tenjo is one of the main characters of ''Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal'', who makes a reappearance as a different world counterpart from the Zexal series.

Fusion Dimension

The Fusion Dimension is a dimension where its residents all use Fusion Summoning. It pays homage to ''

Yu-Gi-Oh! GX ''Yu-Gi-Oh! GX'', also known in Japan as , is a Japanese anime television series. It is a Spin-off (media), spin-off and sequel to the original ''Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters, Yu-Gi-Oh!'' anime series, which itself is based on the original man ...

''. It serves as the setting of the second half of the third season. When Leo comes to the Fusion Dimension upon regaining his memories, he establishes the militant-based Duel Academy and gathers many strong Duelists from all over the dimension to achieve his goal of hunting down Ray's incarnations. The students of Duel Academy are mostly children who were taken from other families once of age. They are forced to remain on the campus to be trained as child soldiers until the Arc-Area Project is completed. Those who escaped from Duel Academy are branded as traitors and will be turned into cards as punishment. Alexis Rhodes and Aster Phoenix are two of the main characters from GX, who make their reappearance as different counterparts in this dimension.

Original Dimension

The Original Dimension, also known as the United World, was a futuristic utopia, the original form of the Four Dimensions and where the Real Solid Vision System truly originated. When Zarc began his rampage, Ray used the Four Nature Cards her father developed to splinter this reality, dividing Zarc's being and rendering him harmless at the cost of getting herself splintered in the process. Leo's goal is to restore the Original Dimension as a new dimension that he renamed ARC-V, by fusing the four dimensions and merging Zuzu and her counterparts with the ARC-V reactor he had created, which is powered by the life energies of the people who were turned into cards, so his daughter Ray can be reborn. After Ray uses the Nature Cards to split the world back into the four dimensions, Declan reveals the dimensions are still linked by the still active remains of ARC-V serving as wormholes, with Ray's essence still in the reactor core within the Fusion Dimension, until Yuya pacifies Zarc.

Media

Anime

''Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc V'' was first announced in December 2013 in

's ''

Weekly Shonen Jump Weekly refers to a repeating event happening once a week Weekly, The Weekly, or variations, may also refer to: News media * ''Weekly'' (news magazine), an English-language national news magazine published in Mauritius *Weekly newspaper, any news ...

'' magazine. The anime series aired on

TV Tokyo JOTX-DTV (channel 7), branded as is a Japanese television station that serves as the flagship of the TX Network.Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal , stylized as Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL, is a Japanese manga and anime series and the third spin-off of the ''Yu-Gi-Oh!'' franchise, after the preceding ''Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's''. The manga began serialization in Shueisha's ''V Jump'' magazine from Decem ...

'' in its initial time slot. 4K Media Inc. acquired the series outside of Japan and planned to release the series internationally in 2015 with an edited English language dub that is strictly aimed at elementary school aged students between 6 and 10 years in all countries that air the show from 4K Media. The 4K version had its debut on March 12, 2015 in Germany, Austria and Switzerland as part of the ''Yep!'' anime/cartoon block on

ProSieben Maxx ProSieben Maxx (, "ProSeven Maxx") is a German free-to-air channel owned by ProSiebenSat.1, being the sixth overall. History On 30 July 2013 ProSieben Maxx received a DVB-T broadcasting licence for the region of Munich. On 13 August 2013, th ...

. In North America, a localized English adaptation began airing on Canada's

Teletoon Cartoon Network (formerly Teletoon) is a Canadian English-language discretionary specialty channel owned by Corus Entertainment. The channel primarily broadcasts animated series aimed at children and teenagers. It was launched on October 17 ...

on July 24, 2015, and

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (nicknamed Nick) is an American pay television channel and the flagship property of the Nickelodeon Group, a sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on April 1, 1979, as the first ca ...

and

Nicktoons Nicktoons is the brand name used by Nickelodeon for their original animated series. All Nicktoons are produced partly at the Nickelodeon Animation Studio and list Nickelodeon's parent company (Paramount Global) in their copyright bylines. Since ...

in the United States on September 19, 2015, and February 21, 2016, respectively.

Manga

one-shot illustrated by Naohito Miyoshi was published in the July 2014 issue of

's ''

'' magazine released on May 21, 2014. An English version was released on May 26, 2014 on ''Weekly Shonen Jump''. A full adaptation by Miyoshi began serialization in ''V Jump'' on August 21, 2015. It began publication in English by

Viz Media Viz Media, LLC is an American entertainment company headquartered in San Francisco, California, focused on publishing manga, and distribution and licensing Japanese anime, films, and television series. The company was founded in 1986 as Viz, ...

in its digital ''Shonen Jump'' on August 24, 2015. A spin-off manga by Akihiro Tomonaga titled was serialized in ''

Saikyō Jump is a Japanese monthly Shōnen manga, ''shōnen'' manga magazine published by Shueisha. The magazine was started on December 3, 2010 with three completely original titles and seven spin-off (media), spin-off manga from series in ''Weekly Shōnen J ...

'' between April 3, 2015 and August 3, 2017 and was collected in two volumes.

Music

There are four official soundtracks released by

Marvelous Entertainment (MMV) was a multinational corporation that produced animation, music, video games and television series. MMV is known for its involvement in the Story of Seasons (series), ''Story of Seasons'' series. They merged with AQ Interactive in 2011 an ...

. * The first, ''Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc-V Sound Duel 1'' was released on August 20, 2014. * The second, ''Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc-V Sound Duel 2'' was released on January 20, 2015. * The third, ''Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc-V Sound Duel 3'' was released on June 24, 2015. * The fourth and final, ''Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc-V Sound Duel 4'' was released on March 28, 2018. ;Opening themes *"Believe✕Believe" by Bullet Train (超特急) (Eps. 1-30) *"Burn!" by Bullet Train (超特急) (Eps. 31-49) *"UNLEASH" (ハナテ, HANATE) by Gekidan Niagara (劇団ナイアガラ) (Eps. 50-75) *"Trump Card" (切り札, Kirifuda) by Cinema Staff (Eps. 76-98) *"LIGHT OF HOPE" (キボウノヒカリ, KIBOU NO HIKARI) by Unknown Number!!! (Eps. 99-124) *"Pendulum Beat!" by SUPER★DRAGON (Eps. 125–147) ;Ending themes *"One Step" by P★Cute (Eps. 1-30) *"Future fighter!" by Yuya Sakaki (CV: Kenshō Ono) and Reiji Akaba (CV:

Yoshimasa Hosoya is a Japanese voice actor and narrator. Career After attending Tokyo Announce Gakuin Performing Arts College and Mausu Promotion Actor Training Center, he joined Mausu Promotion. He is currently a freelancer. Among his many roles, he voiced S ...

) (Eps. 31-49) *"ARC of Smile!" by BOYS AND MEN (Eps. 50-75) *"Speaking" by Mrs. GREEN APPLE (Eps. 76-98) *"Vision" (ビジョン, Bijon) by Kuso linkai (空想委員会) (Eps. 99-124) *"Dashing Pendulum" (疾走ペンデュラム, Shissou Pendyuramu) by M!LK (Eps. 125–147) ;English opening theme *"Can you Feel the Power" by Max Surla, Ali Theodore, Sarai Howard, Jordan Yaeger and Sergio Cabral (Eps. 1-147)

Trading Card Game

''Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc-V'' added new game elements to the ''Yu-Gi-Oh!'' Trading Card Game. Following the release of Starter Deck 2014, Master Rule 3 came into effect, and introduced Pendulum Monsters to the trading card game. A hybrid of Monster and Spell, they can either be summoned conventionally, or "activated" in the newly added Pendulum Zones as Spell Cards, with their own separate effect. On the Pendulum Scale, the cards have a "Scale" a number that if there are two Pendulum Cards on both zones, the player can perform a new type of summon. Known as Pendulum Summoning, one per turn, the player is allowed to simultaneously Special Summon an unlimited amount of monsters from their hand (or face-up from their Extra Deck) to the field provided their Levels are in between (and not equal to) the Scales of the cards on the Pendulum Zone. With the release of the New Master Rules that were rolled out with the premiere of '' Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS'', Pendulum Monsters from the Extra Deck can now only be summoned into either the Extra Monster Zone or under a Link Arrow. If a Pendulum Monster is destroyed or tributed while on the field, they do not go to the graveyard and instead go face-up into the Extra Deck, where the player can re-Pendulum Summon them at their next opportunity. If Pendulum Monsters are used as Xyz Material for an Xyz monster and they are removed via an Xyz Monster's effect, they go into the graveyard. As for competitive rules, the player that goes first can no longer draw on their first Draw Phase. Both players can now control a Field Spell simultaneously and apply both Field Spell rules to the game.

Video game

A video game based on the series, ''Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc-V Tag Force Special'' was released in Japan on January 22, 2015. The game was released for the PSP as a downloadable title only.

Reception

The series ranked 64th in the Tokyo Anime Award Festival in Top 90 TV Anime 2016 category with 729 votes and ranked 250 in NHK Best 400 Anime of All Times to air on its channel. However, the series was received poorly on Japanese streaming site

Niconico , known before 2012 as , is a Japanese video sharing service based in Tokyo, Japan. "Niconico" or "nikoniko" is the Japanese sound symbolism, Japanese ideophone for smiling. As of 2021, Niconico is the 34th most-visited website in Japan, accordi ...

, taking all spots in the Top 10 Worst Rated Episodes.

References

External links

Official website
* {{Gallop (studio) 2014 anime television series debuts 2014 manga Adventure anime and manga Anime spin-offs Fiction about augmented reality Comics based on television series Crossover anime and manga Fantasy anime and manga Gallop (studio) Medialink Anime and manga about parallel universes Shōnen manga Shueisha franchises Shueisha manga TV Tokyo original programming Yu-Gi-Oh! Yu-Gi-Oh!-related anime Viz Media manga