Ok So Arc-V which was supposed to be the show that proved anyone who said "they should have stopped after DM/GX/5DS" wrong only for it to crash and burn in a way that still baffles me in how they managed to fuck it up to this day. Why am I telling you about Arc-V when I already wrote a review about it because VRAINS's cardinal sin is how hard it tries to OVERCORRECT what went wrong with Arc-V. So LET'S CREATE A HYBRID OF THE WORST ASPECTS OF BOTH ATTACK ON TITAN(I am so glad that things show/manga's.final arc FINALLY made people realize how terrible that show always was) AND SWORD ART ONLINE. Yusaku is an unlikable asshole whose motivated primarily by MUH REVENGE But the way they handle his backstory (Which is admittedly pretty fucked up) is that he was just pissed he only got to drink juice boxes as a kid. However, that's not the big problem with him the big problem is he's NEVER ALLOWED TO BE WRONG ABOUT ANYTHING AND NEVER LOSES the way to write an unlikeable protagonist is to show his flaws as they are and have him improve which tbf they kinda do here IN THE LAST 15 EPISODES WHEN THE DAMAGE HAS ALREADY MORE THAN BEEN DONE. I'd rather have Yuma (who Yugioh fans treat as if he were the antichrist because dae shonen protag) because at least we're supposed to see his flaws as what they are. Go's motivations change literally every goddamn episode to the point where he might as well have been a new character at times. Takeru can best be summed up as "hey we got Eren Yager's JPN VA let's jackknife Go/Aoi's entire characters". Oh and the ACTUAL Worse part about this show, so Arc-V's biggest problem was good ideas with AWFUL execution, this show on the other hand's biggest issue is how it has good ideas in theory that never go anywhere the biggest example of this by far is how it horribly mishandles Aoi Zaizen, She was everything this show needed a likable character whose motives weren't horribly hamfisted and they actually make sense but no she's given the bitch status EVERY GODDAMN CHANCE THEY GET TO THE POINT WHERE THE WRITERS LITERALLY MAKE A GODDAMN JOKE IN THE FINALE. AI is just a cheerleader until the final arc (Which admittedly handles him well) albeit he is the one character who I've mentioned thus far that never pissed me off. The last important character is a man named Ryoken "Revolver" Kogami who much like Aoi a tragedy not because he's horribly mishandled but because he REALLY deserved to be in a much better show, his motives make sense, they for the most part aren't horribly hamfisted(Although that's kinda the point when they are), his character progression is very well done, and while he isn't the most likable guy right away AT THE VERY LEAST THEY ACTUALLY SHOW HIM AS BEING IN THE WRONG ABOUT THE THINGS HE IS and unlike Aoi, he is actually allowed to do shit. In fact, I ACTUALLY FELT ENGAGED whenever he did stuff if he were the protagonist this show would have been SO MUCH BETTER. TL DR the only two characters that keep this from being unwatchable are Aoi/Ryoken(before anyone says Emma/Akira Emma really is just 9/10 times there to explain stuff, and Akira is just an extension of Aoi both could have been cool if they actually did shit though). Onto the actual plot the stakes are always so high to the point where Yusaku is literally NEVER ALLOWED TO LOSE so it basically means there are no stakes because no matter how threatening a villain may seem Yusaku is just gonna BS his way to winning no matter WHAT HAPPENS. The villains other than Revolver/a few of season 2's villains/season 3's villains (who I CANNOT MENTION Without spoiling anything) sucked Bohman might be the worst villain in any show I've had seen because his goals change constantly and then he just becomes a generic doomsday villain whose powers literally become doing whatever the plot fucking needs him too have that duel. Basically, this show's big problem is whenever it could do anything interesting it chose to play it safe.
EDIT: I advised you to never Watch Zexal/Arc-V dubbed. I'm happy to say this show's dub is while not amazing, isn't completely unwatchable unless you just want to Laugh at it either. Most of the people in the cast actually sound like they gave a shit what they're doing/know what they're talking about (unless the character isn't supposed to know) there are. a few dab jokes but in the original it was a reference to Showa era Kamen Riders/Super Sentai so that would have likely gone by international Kids's heads. Other than some hilariously bad name changes it doesn't most importantly actively make the show your watching worse than it already is(it doesn't make it BETTER but none of the problems with the dub are exclusive to it alone there isn't as much stuff lost in translation in this and Arc-V's dubs) but at least you can tell there are people actually trying this time around)
