Memes / Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V

General Memes

• Card games on hippos! Since action dueling is a very dynamic style that involves picking up action cards scattering around the area, in early duels Yuya often relies on summoning silly Perfomopal monsters, like Performopal Hip Hippo to get around on.
  • As of season 2, some have taken to applying one from Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds: Card Games on Motorcycles.
  • It doesn't take long after the fifth OP aired for the fans to fork it into "Card Games on Roller Skates!", after Yuya gets motorized wheels attached to his shoes.
• Yuya's Fusion Summoning Beast-Eyes in episode 26. Due to his stern expression, hands outstretched and the bright light behind him, people have had a field day with calling him "Duel Jesus◊" and the like.
  • This meme would be later expanded due to Yuya's Messianic Archetype tendencies in later seasons.
• Many have taken to calling Yuzu the real protagonist of the series as she was far more involved in the plot than Yuya (someone even made the chart◊) until episode 36, particularly following Yuya's duel with Reiji.
  • A sub-theme of this is referring to the series as a Reverse Harem, and comparing the characters in relation to Yuzu with traditional harem archetypes (Yuya the childhood friend, Yuto the wounded soul, Kurosaki the Aloof Big Brother, Masumi and Olga the lesbian route...). See Launcher of a Thousand Ships above.
  • And then, ironically, this has been replaced with "Will Yuzu get to do anything?" Starting around the Synchro Dimension arc, where she either does things that have no impact on the plot at large or gets repeatedly kidnapped by the respective Big Bads of the arc.
  • "The four Dimensional Lamps" ^ExplanationNear the end of ARC-V, the four Yu-girls were barely used beyond anything other than living plot devices, with their personalities or history almost never being brought up, to the point where people started claiming that you could replace them with lamps with crudely drawn boobs on them and they'd still have the same relevance to the plot.
• It's traditional to refer to practitioners of different Summoning methods as "[x] scum", in reference to the Fantastic Racism going on in the series. This is particularly common with Kurosaki or Sora.
• Everyone in this series is colorblind!^note Despite the difference in their hair color and hair style, everyone except Reiji and Allen often mistakes Yuya and Yuzu for their counterparts.
• XYZ MONSTERS DO NOT POSSESS LEVELS.^note Used in times someone in the anime activates an effect against an Xyz monster relating to their level (Xyz monsters don't have levels, they have ranks) often followed by "then isn't their level 0?!" It's often used as a callback to the original reaction to Xyz monsters not possessing levels and the number of level-related cards that they rendered obsolete.
• Egao.^note Japanese for "Smile" - used repeatedly over the course of the series, most notably as part of Yuto's last words, which the creators won't let us forget.
  • Egao cult. ^ExplanationThis meme is used to describe characters doing a Heel–Face Turn after witnessing Yuya's Entertainment Dueling. Critical viewers tend to use it sarcastically and treat it like a pandemy.
  • Eggo ^ExplanationA derogatory term in regards to the sheer overuse of 'Egao' in both terms and thematics. Often used by detractors of the series and the more Meta-oriented watchers who find 'spreading smiles through dueling' to be ridiculous.
• "But you'll still take the damage!"^ExplanationEffectively the ARC-V version of the "Pot of Greed" meme, this line is shouted by the attacking player whenever the opponent uses a "negate destruction by battle" effect that doesn't negate battle damage, which is exceptionally often. It says a lot about how egregious it was when this was used to END THE SERIES.

Standard Dimension

• Sora's Fusion Monsters (Des-toy/Death-toy/Frightfur) resembling the animatronics of Five Nights at Freddy's. Some fans joke about him finding the game funny, being the owner of the pizza place, or the creator of the infamous killer robots.
• Sora's rape faces from episode 34, particularly this one.
• People actually start to use Futoshi's annoying Catchphrase, "shivers"^note The Japanese word is supposed to be "Shibireru!" which can be translated as "I'm excited!" or "my limb goes numb!". However, shivers remains and falls into memetic category since it's the first word used..
• Mieru Hochun's psychic nosebleed has seen a bit of circulation on tumblr in regards to cute boys.◊
• Yuto's name being written as "Ute" on the Versus Character Splash. Many people saw this as ridiculous, and started using it ironically. The spelling also goes for the other Yus - Uya (Yuya), Uge (Yugo), Uze (Yuzu)...and then we got Yugo being written as "Hyugo" and "Hugo" And then Yuri's name become "Juri" and "Joeri".
• Yuya's catch phrase ("The fun has just begun!") is usually said ironically by fans when something traumatic happens, like Sora's Nightmare Face during his duel wih Kurosaki, or Yuya's Superpowered Evil Side appearing. Just look◊.
• Kurosaki's spectacular Dueling record has led to "BUY RAID RAPTORS" becoming something of a call around him. When they're not talking about his obsession with RUUUURIIII.
  • Related to this, we have the "RURI RAPTORS"!
  • Kurosaki falling down a flight of stairs in episode 47.
    • The fandom has started making fun of stairs as Yuya fell down the stairs twice in his duel against Reiji.
  • The introduction of Crow, in conjunction with his own Merchandise-Driven origins and the fact that he immediately (again) became a prominent character who can defeat just about anyone and rarely loses, led to the counter-call of "BUY BLACKWINGS!"
    • Crow's longterm association with shilling cards and habit of showing up right before periods considered Seasonal Rot has led to him becoming associated with Konami, often in terms of him either being a fanboy defender or an agent of them.
• Referring to 8 Youth Division finalists chosen to protect Maiami City from Academia's invasion as Reiji's personal male idol group/boy band.^note They're all stylish pretty boys with unique designs and a cool aura who always make their entrance in a overtly dramatic fashion. Also used derogatorily due to their pitiful performance against Obelisk Force, which makes the fans question if they are not just a music group posing as elite duelists after all
• Related to Reiji's boy band is Reiji's superhero team made up of Yuya, Gongenzaka, Serena, Kurosaki, Sawatari and Tsukikage, based on episode 49 and episode 50's preview, where Reiji states his desire to make them his Lancers. Due to the name, many are comparing the Lancers to the Avengers◊. Some have even taken to photoshopping the Avengers' movie poster with them. Yuya is Captain America, Gongenzaka is the Hulk, Sawatari is Iron Man, Serena is Black Widow, Kurosaki is Thor, Tsukikage is Hawkeye and Reiji is Nick Fury.
• While uncommon, Odd-Eyes is occasionally compared to a chicken more than a dragon thanks to it's overall body structure and how it moves about like a chicken thanks to having no wings like other dragon monsters. Of course, then a possible Synchro form for it was revealed in an upcoming Structure Deck, and not only does it look more avian than draconic, but it also appears to have a crest atop its head. To top it off, it's a FIRE monster, and its artwork depicts its body Wreathed in Flames. Naturally, Mega Ultra Chicken comparisons ensued.
• Fans starting to photoshop Kurosaki running in his Indiana Jones outfit, resulting in pictures that feature him outrunning cars, trains, or running alongside with José.
  • He is later joined by Tsukikage as well.
• Fans mistaking Yuri's ace monster for the incredibly generic card Kaiser Dragon due to its silhouette. They share a few laughs when it is noted how ridiculous that is.
  • Before its official name was revealed, many people on certain parts of the internet had taken to calling Yuri's dragon as "Big Dick Fusion Dragon" thanks to a certain angle of its silhouette in its debut episode◊.
• Referring to Nico Smiley as Hitler or being a Nazi in some fashion, mostly for his design and apparent skeeviness contrasting oddly with his genial personality.

Synchro Dimension

• Tokumatsu's "ENJOY!" and "KOIKOIKOIKOI" have become very popular on Reddit. Just mentioning Cardians, Tokumatsu or the even word "enjoy" sparks responses.
• Due to the Lancers rather spotty win record, "Being Lancers is suffering".
• Due to the massive amount of ship tease between the respective Yuyas' and their Yuzus', many are joking that ARC-V is the straightest Yu-Gi-Oh! show yet.
• Reiji's line "All According to Plan."^note "Keikaku doori" in Japanese, a term more widely used in Yu-Gi-Oh! subreddit And now Jean Michel Roget has used this line.
  • You know that this has become a meme when one of the voice actors from Final Fantasy VII: Machinabridged defaults to it in one of the bloopers.^note Admittedly it could also be coincidence...
  • Mocking/insulting Reiji's skills at prediction and manipulation has gotten to be a big one, since it's all he does in the Synchro arc. Either he's predicted everything that's happened in the Synchro Arc with impossible accuracy, or he's a poser who only pretends to be in control when everything is going to hell.
• After episode 77, it has become a meme between artists in the fandom to draw Yuzu as a Dark Signer. It started on Twitter and then entered Pixiv and Tumblr.^note This originated as a reference to Carly's death and subsequent conversion to Dark Signer.
  • Some artists have even gone as far as to draw all the Bracelet Girls as Dark Signers.
• "Are they still in the Synchro Dimension?" ^ExplanationA paraphrasing of the "Are they still on Namek?" meme from Dragon Ball, referencing how the Synchro Dimension arc has easily eclipsed any other arc so far in length.
• Whenever Yuri enters an episode, new image reaction memes are born, in no part thanks to his wide range of facial expressions throughout the◊ series◊. Really, Yuri can qualify as a Fountain of Memes thanks to being the series Memetic Psychopath. Who else would give this casual of a smile just before attempting to card someone?
• Kurosaki carrying a ghetto blaster in episode 90 has also become a meme.
• Roget's Villainous Breakdown in episode 94 quickly caught off with the fandom, thanks to his Japanese VA's show-stopping performance and Roget's facial reactions to what's going on. In particular, his "SEEEEEEERRGEEEEEEEEEY!!!" line quickly become one of the most memorable moments in the show so far, and is wildly regarded as a Moment of Awesome for Roget's VA because of how high and enraged he managed to make it sound. Similarly, jokes about his VA needing a cough drop afterwards are common as well.
• Ping-Pong on Motorcycles / Ping-Pong Dimension ^ExplanationRight as the show came up on the first episode of the Synchro arc's climactic rematch between Yuya and Jack, the whole thing gets delayed for another week so that the channel could air... a ping-pong tournament. To say fans of the show were not amused would be an understatement. A few wry fanartists even took to drawing the rematch as a◊ ping-pong◊ match.◊ in fact this starts a tren that whenever an episode is rumored to be cancelled (and it's because of a sports tournament, people will say that "an evil *insert name of sports here* dimension is invading".
• Neo New. ^Explanation Originally from Sawatari's self-proclaimed title in his second duel with Yuya, the fandom uses it to describe reinvented characters, such as ARC-V Jack's Scarlight Red Dragon Archfiend.
• UTSUKUSHII. ^Explanation Sergey's catchphrase, which means "beautiful", and is often used during fandom's favorite moments.
• HITOTSU NI.^ExplanationBefore having official term which is now called "awakening", this was the temporary name fans used to refer what happened to the dragon boys based on the phrase they repeatedly said in episode 92. The line is often used to refer to the event of that episode or to describe the hypothetical fusion of the four boys even after the term is out ("Hitotsu ni" means "become one").
• Yūgō jane! Yūgo da!^note Lit. translated as "It's not Fusion! It's Yugo!", a Running Gag where due to Yugo's name sounding nearly identical to the Japanese word for "fusion", he'll either get mistaken for a Fusion Summoning user, or become upset if the word "Fusion" is said in his presence. Over time, fans start calling him "Fusion" and others react like this. It's gotten to the point where just bringing up the word "Fusion" with respect to the card game will likely prompt someone to interrupt with this line (which is, of course, a large part of the joke in the actual series).

Xyz Dimension

• The reveal of Asuka joining the series caused some fans to use her picture in her white uniform, since she was Brainwashed and Crazy in season 2, fitting to the Ax-Crazy behaviour of Academia students. This became ironic, since it has turned out that she is not an antagonist.
• Similarly, the reveal of Edo Phoenix caused fans to re-use the jokes with the letter D.
• The preview talks about a character all by him/herself, all by him/herself. ^ExplanationThe preview descriptions for a lot of ARC-V episodes often have the phrase "'x characater' does 'y', all by him/herself." This even includes instances where it would be redundant, such as a character disappearing "all by him/herself", or a character being kidnapped, "all by him/herself." Naturally, most English speaking fans have started poking fun at this.
• Dark Rebellion's EGAO face.^ExplanationFrom episode 108. Thanks to the way Yuya manages to win, the end result was Dark Rebellion Dragon getting into a bright and colorful rocket, blasting off into the sky with a giant grin on its face. It's just as ridiculous as it sounds, yet was still awesome regardless. Needless to say, though, Dark Rebellion's giant grin still took off in the fandom regardless.
• Yuya checked an opponent's card effect. No one has any excuses now. ^ExplanationIn an exceptionally rare move for a Yu-Gi-Oh! anime character, in episode 108, Yuya makes the shocking move to actually check the full effects of one of his opponents cards ^note Quiet Life to be exact before making a play. Naturally, with the fact that the characters can check opponent's face-up cards in the anime, it's become a common phrase that no one has any excuse to be caught by surprise by a cards full effect anymore.
• The show won't go on.^ExplanationSaid after Dennis cards himself instead of rejoining the Lancers.
• Yuto is really inside him! ^Explanation Ruri says this exact line in Episode 129. While it makes sense in context (Yuto is spiritually bound to Yuya like how Atem was bound to Yugi, and she has just realised this fact due to Yuya summoning Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon), outside of context it's extremely suspect and abusable.
• Spunk Yes!^ExplanationClips of the Tyler Sisters' more "interesting" lines from the dub, specifically the ones uploaded by YouTuber Ruggington, managed to show up in a lot of people's recommendations in mid 2019 thanks to YT's nonsensical algorithm. These quickly turned into a Fountain of Memes , with "Spunk Yes", "Totes", and "Like, for realsies!" being the most popular phrases. It's worth noting that most of these come from Grace specifically. Notably, the line "Spunk yes!" is often quoted out of context as a standalone expression; the full line from Gloria is "Spunk, yes, but the intellect is clearly lacking." in reply to Grace noting that "[Allan's] got some spunk".

Fusion Dimension

• Merry Christmas! Here, have Satan! ^note  Zarc's non-flashback debut happens to fall on Christmas.
  • Zarcmas ^ExplanationZarc's become synonymous with Christmas, to the point where it's recognized as his very own holiday. There are carols, blogs, comics and art dedicated to celebrating Zarcmas.

Manga

• Yuzu is Yuya's mom. ^note The Bittersweet Ending of the manga concludes with Yuzu encountering a young Yusho Sakaki after Yuya promised that they'd meet again. This combined with Yugo, Yuto, and Yuri recognizing Yuzu earlier led to many people assuming that Yuzu was actually Yuya's mom (it's not definitively stated either way) and took off given their usual romantic pairing. The Jump Victory Carnival 2019 official guidebook confirms that Yuzu is indeed the mother of Yuya and his siblings.

Meta

• Crossing over with Digimon Universe: App Monsters. Due to that show's protagonist looking like Yuya, tons of jokes sprung up about Yuya taking the dimension-hopping game into another franchise. The fact that Universe has added a pink-haired heroine with twintails, makes it even more obvious.
  • Similarly, in the wake of the infamous bait and switch concerning the Kalos league, the resulting salt it ended up generating in the Pokemon fandom has somehow gotten people comparing Alain and Yuya. ^ExplanationYuya and Alain share the same voice actors and Alain's main motivation for entering the league was because Team Flare promised to revive Mairin's Chespin, and specifically mentioned he wanted to bring back Manon's "egao". (He didn't literally say "egao", but a different word for "smile".)

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