unorthodoxviews

Either you like Yugioh or you don't, but VRAINS is easily one of the best seasons of Yugioh. (I don't like Yugioh seasons 4, 5, and 7, so I am selective in which ones I view as well made.) The dueling is consistent to the old style while being new, and the exploration of concepts such as artificial intelligence (AI) with free will and the nature of technology in society makes it interesting to watch. It is in a sense a view into our potential future -- people being infected with computer viruses, virtual reality becoming a state of life inhibited by people for many hours a day, and AI that's potentially superior to humans running around uncontrolled. The character development of some of VRAINS's characters is also notable. One character fuses with AI and becomes a dueling freak at the cost of some of his sanity. As people will implant computers in themselves and combine with machines more, that's also a window into the next decades. Another character with good development is Revolver -- at various points in the anime he is both a good and bad character, a duality that was fun to watch unfold. Additionally, when this anime was airing, I didn't look forward to many things in life, but I definitely did look forward to when Yugioh VRAINS came out on Wednesdays. All in all, despite a few flaws (such as what my recollection says is a plot error in one of Revolver's duels), it was cool to watch a continuation of one of the first anime series I watched (Yugioh) combined with an exploration of technological concepts that will become more present in advanced societies.