STORY
In the not-so-distant future, Goha City is governed by its largest corporation, “Goha Corp”, everything from schooling, to Dueling rules, to much of daily life.
Ōdō Yūga who attends Goha 7th Elementary School, is a 5th grader who develops inventions every day that he calls “Roads”. Yūga, who thinks the way Duels are run by adults are way too rigid and uncool, decides to change this world which is too cramped for kids, comes up with a new rule set everyone can enjoy, and battles with his road “Rush Duel” while believing in his creations.
In the days that follow, Rook in the next class over hears the rumor of a “King of Duels”. Investigating this with Yūga, they run into a mysterious person standing before an important monument… …
In order to be recognized as a King of Duels, you’ve gotta win Duels within a limited time!
“The Road I Dreamed Up, “Rush Duels” Can Do It!”
The story of Yuga and Rook, two young boys about to overturn the world of rigid unfun Duels with a new style is about to begin!!
And so, the seventh installment of the Yu-Gi-Oh! anime series has finally revealed during the Jump Fiesta today, along with many info about the upcoming changes.
Good to have the Fusion, Synchro and Xyz Monsters summonable from the Extra Deck to the Main Monster Zones once again, no needing of Link Monsters.
What got us hyped more and most is of course, the info about the seventh Yu-Gi-Oh! series, which is titled Yu-Gi-Oh! SEVENS (遊☆戯☆王ＳＥＶＥＮＳ).
The reaction and reception of fans for this newcomer were the same as for all installments, for now, SEVENS wasn't very well-received by fans, in fact, it's so far the worst-received Yu-Gi-Oh! installment at first of all times.
I understand how is it so. But still, I'll review in a good light.
• Name
Yu-Gi-Oh! SEVENS, an eponymous name since this is the seventh installment. As the protagonist is akin to a creator, the number seven couldn't be more appropriate due to the seven days of creation.
The name of the protagonist, Ōdō Yūga (王道 遊我) is very well-thought. The name means "royal road, my game", befitting to the setting of Yūga to be a self-center creator of his own rules, which he calls them "Roads".
• Art
The anime art styles has apparently changed to one unlike those of Yu-Gi-Oh!, simplified, which seen by fans as the lack of budget on the production side. The truth is that the animation studio has changed from Studio Gallop to Studio Bridge. Studio Bridge animated animes such as Cardfight!! Vanguard G: Z, which explains how similar the art style is to those of the Vanguard series. Without the flairs of Studio Gallop, the life-long Yu-Gi-Oh! animation studio until now, SEVENS seemingly loses the very vibe of being a Yu-Gi-Oh! anime.
• Design
The logo design of SEVENS is said to be a teaser logo, a placeholder for the time being. The completed logo is probably going to have the number "7" as the motif in the middle along with the "Yu-Gi-Oh! text design.
The character designs of SEVENS are decent that the characters revealed so far are vivid and pleasing to the eyes. However, the common designs failed to appeal to most fans. Moreover, many find it hard to accept how the characters are now more children than ever.
The monster designs for now is not so pleasant, for one, "Sevens Road Magician" looks preposterous, the out-of-proportion figure and the shady face doesn't hold up at all. Let's hope there will be a true ace monster for Yūga, the one with 2500 attack stat. "Blue Eyes White Dragon" being remade and summoned by a random character has sparked an outrage among fans, viewed as dishonoring the legacy.
The Duel Disk design is commendable for its creative convertible feature, capable of changing from five card slots to three, resembling the number "7" in the process.
• Concept
This time, there was no new summoning method being introduced along with the anime, instead new rules of Dueling were introduced.
Like its predecessors, SEVENS introduced a different forms of Dueling known as "Rush Duel". Unlike its predecessors however is that this Rush Duel will be released for real but different from OCG Standard Duel.
This is an extensive effort by KONAMI to commercialize to the child demographic, understandably, the present game has became too complicated for the kids to catch up, thus a whole new game got made up for them.
To play Rush Duel, one will have to use the Rush Duel cards, cards with whole new layout inscribed with "Rush Duel" at the center bottom of the lore text box.
The Rush Duel card layout is decent, while many averse to it, there are also those who find them acceptable. Many changes were made, the art box got expanded, allowing the card illustration to be viewed in greater details, and alignment for the Level and Stats has moved to below the art box, the Level is now straightforward with a number instead of multiple stars to be counted, and the text font also changed to that of square style, which satisfyingly homogenized proportions are well-suited to digital and technological theme of the contemporary Yu-Gi-Oh!.
For an eleven years old kid to accomplish this Road, aside from making the Rush Duel cards, he must have also modified the Duel Disk to fit for the Rush Duel format, all of these seemingly implausible. Let's hope that there will be proper explanation on how a child achieving all these, without the overlook of Goha Corp.
CONCLUSION
In the end, one will have buy to play, KONAMI being Komoney at its best. I'll not be investing in these Rush Duel, perhaps at most collecting some copies of the Rush Duel cards, I have a hunch that these Rush Duel cards will be sort of obsolete after SEVENS era ended, like the way Link Monsters ended up aftermath of VRAINS era.
I'll still give the SEVENS anime a go, it has its potential, intriguing point that the protagonist is a game changer, literally.
