Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's

Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's (遊☆戯☆王5D's（ファイブディーズ）) is the second main spin-off anime series in the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise. The series aired in Japan between April 2, 2008 and March 30, 2011, following the conclusion of the previous series, Yu-Gi-Oh! GX. In America, most episodes of ''Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's'' were dubbed by 4Kids Entertainment. This series was succeeded by Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal.

The story focuses around characters playing a card game called Duel Monsters. This series introduces Synchro Monsters in the Official Trading Card Game. A new method of dueling with motorcycle-like vehicles called Duel Runners are used, and the duelists engage in games called Turbo Duels. The show is set in the distant future, where the upper class population live in New Domino City and the lower class in a remote island where Domino's sewage is transported, Satellite. Yusei Fudo, the 18 year-old main protagonist, lives in Satellite and makes it his objective to reach his rival Jack Atlas, who lives in Domino. The series focuses on the five Signers, people embodied with a mark of one of the legendary Five Dragons, their conflict with the Dark Signers, and the Three Emperors of Yilaster.

As with the previous two series (Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters and Yu-Gi-Oh! GX), this series was acquired by 4Kids Entertainment for broadcasting in the United States in September 2008. and aired on The CW4Kids, from September 13, 2008 to September 10, 2011, although with many episodes left undubbed. The English language dub premiered on July 24 at San Diego Comic-Con 2008, where the first English dubbed episode was previewed. Like the previous two series, changes have been made to the plot, cards, localized character names. On June 1, 2009, Yu-Gi-Oh 5D's started airing 5 days a week on Cartoon Network. A manga based on the show began serialization in V-Jump Monthly Magazine from August 2009.

Plot
''Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's is set in New Domino City after the events of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX''. Yusei Fudo, an aspiring duelist from Satellite, builds his own Duel Runner, but his best friend Jack Atlas betrays him and steals his vehicle along with his most precious monster, Stardust Dragon. Two years later, Yusei builds another one and sets out to win back his Dragon. Jack has made a name for himself and his monster, Red Dragon Archfiend, in New Domino City. Yusei and Jack face each other in a Turbo Duel, and Yusei is able to regain control of Stardust Dragon. As Stardust and Red Dragon Archfiend battle, a third dragon appears and brings an abrupt end to the fight. This attracts the attention of Rex Goodwin, who reveals to Jack a thousand year old secret, involving the "People of the Stars" (星の民), a pre-Incan civilization, the "Crimson Dragon" (赤き竜), and "Signers" (シグナー), identified by a red birthmark on their arm. Goodwin also reveals that he, Jack, and Yusei are descendants of them and are destined to face the Dark Signers. The Signers head to the Satellite to face these foes.

After the Dark Signers' defeat, New Domino City and Satellite are finally reunited into one prosperous city with the building of the "Daedalus Bridge," an intricate net of roads linking both Satellite and New Domino City with some sections also used for Turbo Duels. Yusei and his friends, now calling themselves "Team 5D's," prepare for the upcoming World Racing Grand Prix (WRGP) tournament. A new threat appears whose main monsters, the "Meklord Emperors," can absorb Synchro Monsters from their opponents to empower themselves. Yusei encounters a fellow competitor, Sherry LeBlanc, who is investigating an organization named "Yliaster," that is reportedly responsible for her parents' deaths. Team 5D's is also joined by a mysterious amnesiac mechanic named Bruno, who teaches Yusei about the secrets of "Accel Synchro" that allows him to bring out an improved version of his Stardust Dragon. The WRGP soon begins, with Team 5D's facing tough opponents before eventually confronting the emperors themselves, who are revealed to be three different incarnations of Aporia, a cyborg sent from the future to destroy New Domino City in order to prevent a great calamity from befalling mankind in the future.

Although Team 5D's defeats Aporia and wins the WRGP, a massive citadel known as the Ark Cradle appears and threatens to crash into New Domino City. Team 5D's climbs aboard it to stop it. Before reaching the core of the fortress, they confront Sherry, who is promised to have her parents returned to her. Bruno recovers his memories and is revealed to be Vizor, another member of Yliaster. Leo awakens his dormant powers and becomes the sixth and final Signer during his duel with Aporia. When the Signers finally duel with Z-one, Yliaster's supreme leader, Yusei borrows his friends' dragons to add them to his deck, and challenges Z-one to a final duel to decide New Domino City's future. Z-one is revealed to be a scientist from the future who assumed Yusei's identity and traveled back in time to prevent the destruction of humanity. Yusei manages to use his friends' cards to summon his strongest monster, "Shooting Quasar Dragon." After Z-one is defeated by Yusei, Z-one decides to entrust the future of mankind to Yusei, and sacrifices himself to save New Domino City from destruction.

A few years pass after the Signers' victory over Yliaster, and the former members of Team 5D's move on with their lives following separate paths. They all part ways, except for Yusei, who decides to stay in New Domino City. The other Signers decide that they will return after fulfilling their dreams. As they ride together one last time, the Crimson Dragon removes their Signer marks, as their mission as Signers is accomplished.

Anime
''Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's aired on TV Tokyo between April 2, 2008 and March 30, 2011, following the end of the previous series, Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters GX''. As with the previous two series (Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters and Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters GX), this series was acquired by 4Kids Entertainment for broadcasting and began airing in the United States in September 2008. Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's began airing on The CW4Kids, starting on September 13, 2008, and was later moved to Cartoon Network. On May 29, 2010, the series once again began airing in 1-hour episode blocks on The CW4Kids. The series moved over to the Toonzai block on September 18, 2010. The dubbed series ended on September 10, 2011, leaving out several episodes from the Japanese broadcast. Because of this, this is the second Yu-Gi-Oh! series to not have a complete English dub (the first is Yu-Gi-Oh! GX). Changes have been made to the plot and cards, character names have been localized, and violent scenes have been edited. Japanese and English text have been edited out or replaced with unreadable content due to FCC regulations and to make the English dub more marketable across non-English speaking countries, but Japanese cultural differences are left out unedited and used in the English dub.

As 4Kids Entertainment also owns the international distribution rights to the show outside of Asia, the edited American version was then provided to most of the other countries of the world, including most of the countries of Latin America and Europe. The voices were dubbed into the corresponding languages of the various countries, but with the pre-existing edits of the American version, including all edits made to the visuals, the sound effects, and the music. The scripts were also adapted from the revised English scripts. In Germany, however, the dub stopped using the 4Kids version and began adapting the show directly from Japan from episode 65 onward for unknown reasons. While the original voice cast from the first 64 episodes was still used, the show no longer edited quite as much, used the original music (including the original Japanese opening and ending themes), and adapted their scripts directly from the original Japanese scripts rather than from the revised English scripts.

On September 22, 2010, Toonzaki and Hulu uploaded subtitled and dubbed episodes of ''Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's''. These episodes use the English names for the cards instead of the Japanese names. In an Anime News Network interview with Mark Kirk, Senior Vice President of Digital Media for 4Kids Entertainment, Kirk claimed this was due to legal reasons.

Manga
A manga series based on the show written by Sato Masashi began serialization in V-Jump Monthly Magazine from August 21, 2009. Like the manga adaptation of ''Yu-Gi-Oh! GX'', the adaptation features an original storyline, different monsters, and various differences from the anime version. The series has been licensed by Viz Media for North America. Carlo Santos of Anime News Network gave Volume 1 of the English ''Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's'' manga a "D-".

Video games
There are several video games developed by Konami based on the Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's franchise.

''Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's: Wheelie Breakers'' was released on March 26, 2009 and is a racing game for the Wii console in which players can use cards to lower other people's life points and defeat them. Unlike the card game, monsters use Speed Counters to attack their opponents, and players do not lose if their life points hit zero, rather they are unable to continue racing. The Promotional cards are Skull Flame, Burning Skull Head, and Supersonic Skull Flame.

''Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's Stardust Accelerator'' was released on March 26, 2009 and is a game for the Nintendo DS that continues the World Championship series of games. The game uses the World Championship 2009 software, and also features a story mode, in which a duelist tries to get his memory back. The Promotional Cards are Infernity Archfiend, Infernity Dwarf, and Infernity Guardian. ''Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's: Reverse of Arcadia'', also for the Nintendo DS, is also part of the World Championship series. Set during the Dark Signers arc, the player controls a former member of the Enforcers who has been brainwashed by the Arcadia movement. The promotional cards are Stygian Security, Samurai Sword Baron and Stygian Sergeants. ''Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's World Championship 2011: Over the Nexus'', was released on February 24, 2011. The game features over 4,200 cards, and a Puzzle Editor. This game was released in Japan on February 18, 2010, North America on February 23, 2010 and Europe on March 26, 2010.

''Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's Tag Force 4'' was released on September 17, 2009 and is a game for the PSP system, the fourth game in the Tag Force series. The game features the Dark Synchro and Dark Tuner monsters from the 2nd season of the anime. The Promotional Cards are Warm Worm, Worm Bait, and Regret Reborn. This was followed by ''Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's Tag Force 5'', which was released on September 16, 2010 and set during the third season of the anime.

''Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's Decade Duels'' for the Xbox Live Arcade was released on November 3, 2010. and is a game that features online leader boards and voice chat functionality, as well as the ability to buy extra cards via Xbox Live Marketplace. The game was removed from the service in June 2012. It returned as ''Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's Decade Duels Plus'' on November 21, 2012 but it was removed on the same day for unknown reasons. It reappeared again on February 13, 2013.

''Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's Duel Transer (known as Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's Master of the Cards'' in Europe) was released on April 21, 2011 and is a game for the Wii system features over 4,500 cards and Wi-Fi multiplayer. This came came with promotional cards Fighter Ape, Closed Forest, and Roaring Earth and a Duel Scanner accessory which allows players to scan their real world cards into the game.

Notes and references

 * Notes
 * Though "5D's" stands for "5 Dragons", it has been incorrectly quoted as standing for "5 Dimensions" by 4Kids. V-Jump magazine printed an issue explaining the correct interpretation.


 * References