This review is spoiler free. 220https://ms.yugipedia.com//thumb/0/0d/YF01PromoEN.png/1200pxYF01PromoEN.png This is the third YuGiOh manga I have reviewed and with each iteration the duel monsters legacy is dragged further and further through the mud. While the original mangahttps://anilist.co/manga/30054/YuGiOh/ still stands the test of time proving not only to be the template for the franchise but an exceptionally wellcrafted battle shonen in its own right its first two spinoffs the GXhttps://anilist.co/manga/33041/YuGiOhGX/ and 5Ds manga are poor imitations riddled with issues only to be enjoyed by diehard fans. In all fairness to GX it was not a particularly ambitious manga: with its humble setting solid duels and wellwritten protagonist it could at least offer a generally positive experience for most readers despite its shortcomings. Unfortunately the same cannot be said of 5Ds. This manga was brimming with potential whether it be through the new dueling format creating the possibility for more nuanced duels the futuristic setting offering a unique environment never before seen in the franchise or the strong cast of characters handed to it from the animehttps://anilist.co/anime/3972/YuGiOh5Ds/ there were lots of concepts at play that could genuinely innovate upon the franchise but the manga fails to capitalize on any of them. The manga was supervised by Kazuki Takahashihttps://anilist.co/staff/96913/KazukiTakahashi himself with the art being delegated to his former assistant Masashi Satouhttps://anilist.co/staff/113725/MasashiSatou. The story however was written by Masahiro Hikokubohttps://anilist.co/staff/113723/MasahiroHikokubo who to my knowledge has never written a manga before this but would later be involved in the duel composition for future anime series such as ARCVhttps://anilist.co/anime/20552/YuGiOhARCV/ VRAINShttps://anilist.co/anime/98231/YuGiOhVRAINS/ and Go Rushhttps://anilist.co/anime/142842/YuGiOhGoRush/. Much like the GX manga which concluded four years prior the 5Ds manga is a completely different entity than its anime counterpart. Debuting in the August 21 2009 edition of VJump magazine over a year after the animes release the manga would run for a total of 66 chapters plus two bonus chapters ending on April 5 2015. Given that I will avoid any comparisons to the 5Ds anime and rather treat 5Ds as another entry in the YuGiOh manga continuity. My principal concern then is not whether the anime or manga is better as in my opinion that is a onesided answer but how the 5Ds manga builds upon the foundation of the earlier entries and where it falls short. 220https://i.ur.com/LmWsG15.jpg YuGiOh 5Ds Chapter 1 The manga opens with a duel between Yusei and his close friend Sect. In typical YuGiOh fashion Yusei emerges victorious. Immediately following the duel Sect performs a superstitious ceremony called the sunset salute intending to summon the skeleton knight a mythical creature who supposedly offers a rare card to whomever meets it. Yusei shrugs off the knight as an urban legend when all of a sudden a huge structure is erected from the earth and atop it the skeleton knight now holding sect hostage. This prompts Yusei to duel the mythical creature. While Yusei is able to squeeze out the win over the knight Sect remains in critical condition forcing Yusei to rush him to the hospital. Unfortunately his journey is interrupted by none other than Jack Atlas who was sent to the Satellite to duel Yusei by his adoptive father Rex Godwin. For what it is worth this is a pretty solid duel both in terms of how it plays out practically that is the duel composition and narratively that is its role in the overall plot. On the one hand it works as a good introduction to the concept of sense as it does not outright explain it but demonstrates its power generating curiosity on behalf of the reader and on the other hand the outcome of this duel Yuseis defeat will serve as the defining moment in determining Yuseis motivations for the remainder of the series: to become strong enough to defeat Jack. On the whole 5Ds has a decent start. At the very least it is void of those preliminary issues I have criticized the GX manga for namely it shows most duels in their entirety some minor duels happen off screen but that is totally fine and it advances at a reasonably steady pace. Further it also borrows a page out of GXs book by humbling its protagonist early on: although Yusei is initially heralded as the strongest in all the Satellite his status as unbeatable is quickly revoked when Jack enters the scene just four chapters in. This prevents duels from feeling onesided as there is precedent for Yusei losing. 220https://i.ur.com/6dkNC5m.png YuGiOh 5Ds Chapter 15 With such a strong opening one might be left questioning my initial remarks concerning the quality of the series. Well unfortunately my praises for this manga end with the first volume. It certainly introduces a whole slew of ideas which could make for a great YuGiOh manga but as I previously mentioned it fails to capitalize on any of them. For one with the advent of turbo duels the manga introduces two new winconditions for duels: in addition to reducing ones opponents life points to zero one can now also 1 render their opponents duel runner immobile or 2 reach the finish line first. One would think that with all these new conditions Hikokubo could find more unique ways to keep duels interesting perhaps by coming up with more unique interactions between cards and duel runners or by integrating the futuristic environment into the racing aspect allowing duelists to discover or create shortcuts to the finish line. Unfortunately most of the duels simply play out as if the duel runners are not there. While there are a handful of instances in which one duelist will cutoff another or hit a jump over some terrain the turbo aspect of the duels are highly neglected. To make matters worse the general quality of the duels are a cut below what was found in the GX manga which should come as a surprise to anyone who followed the TCG meta since the card game had become exponentially more complex by the time the 5Ds manga came out. Another major issue with 5Ds is that following the initial set up with the skeleton knight the manga continues into yet another tournament arc the fifth one in the manga continuity. Although the there is nothing inherently wrong with using a tournament structure the franchise has become oversaturated with them. Had 5Ds been more effective at utilizing its other win conditions it would have at least made the tournament more engaging but forcing readers to experience another series of uninteresting duels between characters they do not care about is criminal at this point. Moreover the actual execution of the tournament is rather sloppy. The first rounds are nothing more than random duels. Thats right: there isnt even a tournament bracket just random fights. Admittedly the second stage becomes slightly more interesting with duelists having to collect some number of star tickets whose levels add up to twelve. The problem however is that despite this more involved premise the execution is practically the same: duelists moving from location to location dueling one another. 220https://i.ur.com/v4LkEWp.png YuGiOh 5Ds Chapter 26 Related to the execution of the plot one aspect that 5Ds had going for it was the age of its cast: unlike past YuGiOh series 5Ds is not set in a school setting but instead features a cast of adults. This should in theory allow Hikokubo to explore more mature themes through complex interpersonal drama but in reality the reader is met with relatively shallow motives and generic conclusions. In fact three of the main character arcs can be reduced to I need to become stronger to defeat the person who hurt my pride: Sect Akiza and even Yusei. In each instance the individual is humbled by some other duelist chases after some external source of power but ultimately discovers that true power comes from within and it is this realization that makes one strong. There are slight variations in how each individual comes to this conclusion but the execution is very onedimensional. This lack of depth amplifies the problems with the tournament structure as by contrast with Battle City or GX the reader is not invested in the duelists and that taken together with the generally less exciting duels makes for a much less engaging experience. 220https://i.ur.com/vjqfzj3.jpg YuGiOh 5Ds Chapter 7 Although there are a handful of other minor grievances I could express towards 5Ds how the ancient past subplot is just a lazy reskin of the original manga or how silly the concept of sense is I believe I have expressed my main criticisms. In short my frustration with 5Ds can be summarized thus: it is not a bad manga in the strict sense but rather sets itself up to be something good and fumbles at every possible opportunity leaving readers with the most boring and safe YuGiOh story imaginable. In this way it is the combination of its lost potential and generic execution that makes reading this especially painful even as a hardcore YuGiOh fan. For that reason I think my score of 6/10 is quite generous.