YMMV / Kaijudo

• Alternative Character Interpretation: Nigel Brightmore is either a Well-Intentioned Extremist who truly believes in Kaijudo traditions, or a Jerkass who wants nothing but power and control. Made even more debatable following his Face–Heel Turn.
  • Nigel's views on creatures can either be interpreted as him having a superiority complex or that he is simply mistrustful and resentful of creatures due to having seen the worst from creature kind, such as when Toji lost his leg to a creature after attempting to ride it, and when Master Tiera was betrayed and killed by her creature partner. In addition, the incident with Sasha at the prom seemed to reinforce this, as well. He probably has come to expect the worst from creatures. However, due to his personality, and him usually appearing harsh, it may not seem like it that also maybe where his Control Freak tendencies come from.
  • The fact that he joined a man who represents all the worst aspects of humanity that is motivated purely by his own lust for power and ruling two worlds doesn't help. This is something he acknowledges, but is desperate enough to do for the sake of not having to completely relinquish his beliefs; it has been a point throughout the show that The Choten's way and Kaijudo aren't all that different, simply varying in extremes, he most likely felt that The Choten and his ways were the closest he would now be able to come to Kaijudo. His growing resentment of the kids may also have been the trigger for his action, seeing as how they perverted what he deemed Kaijudo was.
• Arc Fatigue: Over the course of season 2, it's become clearer each episode that Nigel doesn't approve the Choten's methods, and will probably turn against him eventually. Sadly, this doesn't happen until the finale.
• Awesome Music: The intro.
• Creepy Awesome: Most Darkness creatures, especially Alakshmi's Razorkinder Puppet.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Lucy. Even the writers caught on to this one, and made her a recurring character in season 2.
• I Knew It!: Thanks to the early emphasis on Ray's missing dad, Saguru's true identity was, if not completely obvious, at least a confident guess for trope-savvy viewers. Luckily, this didn't make The Reveal any less impactful.
  • Similarly, it became clear quite quickly when Allie's mother came back that she actually was Megaria in disguise, but thankfully the episode didn't waste time on this by having the characters figure it out quickly and the plot move on.
• Iron Woobie: Tatsurion: he was constantly bullied and belittled by the dragon side of his family, with his father never raising a finger and refusing to acknowledge him as his son; the Quillspike side of his family mocked him and gave him a silly nickname, and after he grew up, he ended up a wanted criminal of the whole Fire Civilization, with his dragon sister, Moorna, trying to kill him. Yet don't expect him to even shiver about it.
• Jerkass Woobie: Alakshmi during her Badass Decay moments, especially toward the middle of Heart of Darkness. And she gets even worse in season 2.
  • Carny, of all people, turns out to be one when we find out about his father. Tatsurion was disgusted by how his father treated him.
  • Roaming Bloodmane when he first appeared. He was trapped on this side of the Veil, thought he was the last of his kind, was ruthless to his human prey, and completely distrustful of the Duel Masters. Yet all he'd ever wanted to do was go home.
  • Saguru once he'd gotten all his memories back.
• Moral Event Horizon: Assuming he didn't cross it before, The Choten would have done it when he wiped out Ken Okamoto's memory and used him to do his job in exchange for giving him his memory back piece by piece, for the sole sake of being sadistic.
  • Moorna crossed it by the past when she faked accepting Tatsurion as her brother by inviting him to a hunt, only to lead the hunt on his Quillspike family, for the sole sake of hurting him. Even Brutalus, her own betrothed, was shocked and disgusted by this act when he learnt the truth behind it, and Alakshmi turned against her upon hearing this story.
    Alakshmi: I think you have betrayed enough of us in one day!
• Replacement Scrappy: Fans of the original Duel Masters anime and card game view Kaijudo as such.
• Surprisingly Improved Sequel: On the other side, people who didn't like the original Duel Masters anime or considered it too similar to Yu-Gi-Oh! tend to like this series more, appreciating it tried to be its own thing instead of focusing only in the card game. On IMDb, while the original Duel Masters anime has only a 5.3 score, Kaijudo has a much higher 6.6.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: To say many people wanted Lucy to have more of a role in the series is a bit of an understatement. She only was present for a few story arcs, two of which that weren't even about her!
  • Master Tiera. Who wouldn't want a little more info on how she survived in the creature realm with power-dampening armor?
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: "The Siphon" reveals that the first duel masters back-stabbed the Creature Monarchs, and made it look like they were Always Chaotic Evil monsters that tried to obliterate humanity. Both Chavez and Ray are shocked to discover this, but the only thing that comes from it is Infernus The Immolator lauding Ray on his companionship with creatures. Made worse by the two episodes directly after it, which involve Ray losing his memory.
• Ugly Cute: Certain Darkness creatures like Skull Cutter, and especially Scaradorable of Gloom Hollow (Her name even references this).
• The Woobie: Ray, Gabe, and Allie.
  • Ray because of his Disappeared Dad, his being bullied for his mixed heritage, and his overall nature lending to him not making many "normal" friends. He had no problem not going to the school dance, not that he had a date for it anyway.
  • Gabe for being an overweight nerd (a self-proclaimed nerd at that) who has no friends outside of Ray and Allie and for being constantly picked on at school and by his brothers at home.
  • Allie seems okay at first glance, but she actually has some deep-seated mommy abandonment issues.

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