Once again, a duelist with wild hair and a name that starts with "Yu" plays his final card, triumphing over ancient evils and bitter rivals alike. He stands solitary but not alone, armed with with little more than an unbeatable deck and an unbreakable bond with his friends. And, this time around...a motorcycle? Well, technically a Duel Runner, but essentially the same. Let's take a look at this unique spin on the card-battling theme and what made it so much fun. 

The Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's manga opens in the Satellite slums with Sect, the main character Yusei's insect-loving best friend, making a wish to the Skeleton Knight. Rumors circulating throughout Satellite hold that this mysterious undead Turbo duelist will grant rare and powerful monsters to worthy duelists; since Yusei just gave Sect a proper curb-stomping, the diminutive underdog's willing to try just about anything. Too bad that the Skeleton Knight's very real, very choosy about who's worthy, and very, very happy to wager souls in his Turbo Duels. After Yusei manages to save Sect (barely!), the Knight departs with a sinister promise.  Sensing the power of the evil spirit, the equally-ominous Commissioner Rex Goodwin sends his adopted son Jack Atlas, a.k.a. the reigning King of Duelists in New Domino City, to ambush Yusei and find out whether he's indeed received the Skull Knight's power.

Even so, Yusei soon discovers Goodwin's hand in in his affairs once his assistant, the harlequin-looking Lazar, extends his own invitation to the upcoming tournament: the D1 Grand Prix... Meanwhile, psychic duelist Akiza Izinski awaits the chance to prove herself during her own rematch against Jack, along with sinister Leo and Luna and a whole bunch of other duelists looking to make it big. But little do they know that their games are merely playing into the hands (so to speak) of forces more ancient than any suspect...be warned, for there be dragons!

Like Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, Zexal and ARC-V, Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's takes place in an alternate continuity universe. Characters' names and designs are much the same, and the whole "heroic urchins and punks in the slums vs. villains and rivals from the big, scary, elitist city (IN THE FUTURE!)" thing is still there. Each of the protagonists gets a magical dragon that propels the plot forward and gives them the tools to fight against the surrounding evil forces.

And... that's where the similarities end! The mythology is completely different, as are character backstories and even some of the story's core mechanics. The sub-plot with Ener-D and Yusei's parents, for instance, doesn't figure into the story at all—it's Yusei's future, not his past, that gets the focus here. Akiza also starts off a lot more mellow and friendly since, in this version, her being a psychic duelist doesn't come with uncontrollable reality-warping powers. The Dragons (which are specifically "Duel Dragons" rather than "Signer Dragons") are different and their powers act in converse to their anime counterparts. For instance, Stardust Dragon (a Signer Dragon) sacrifices itself to negate an effect that destroys cards on the field, only to rise again at the turn's end; Stardust Spark Dragon (a Duel Dragon) instead protects one card from one destruction without sacrificing itself at all.

In this latest incarnation of Yu-Gi-Oh!, there's a new ability called "Duelist Sense," which manifests Solid Vision holograms through speed, distance, timing and, of course, heroic willpower. A skilled duelist can make their holograms shred each others' Duel Runners. Glad they don't have these in real life, I'd end up as a pink smear on the pavement before I even got the chance to play Swords of Revealing Light!

Art-wise, I'd say that out of all the non-Takahashi Yu-Gi-Oh! manga, Masashi Sato's artwork is the most faithful to the original style. Little things like the choice of proportions, certain uses of speedlines, screentones and so forth really evoke the original material in ways that the other spin-off series don't. I'm looking forward to seeing what else he does in the future!

You can pick up the whole series digitally or in print at Viz.com! 

by Chris Turner