If I were to describe Yu Gi Oh Go Rush in one sentence, it would be that "It doesn't quite understand who the show is for". The SEVENS' brand of humor is back in full force and is even more prominent than it was in that show. However, while I would argue that it worked to SEVENS' benefit, it works to the detriment of Go Rush. This is because Go Rush is very heavy on the mature themes, high stakes, and slow-burn with explosive-payoff story structure that characterized Gallop era Yu Gi Oh. Meanwhile, SEVENS was at heart a child-like power fantasy about a boy genius and his friends rebelling against "the man" which is a Mega Corp so inept at dealing with a computer virus created by a child that it makes you wonder how they didn't go out of business long before reaching Mega Corp status.
As for the characters, they're a mixed bag. Yudias himself is the one character who can make the SEVENS brand style of humor funny in this show, because unlike the rest of the cast he's a seasoned veteran of war who knows when it's time to be serious, but because of his total lack of knowledge of Earth culture he tends to come off as quirky and often causes awkward situations without meaning to. Yuamu pretty bland to be honest. She's got the 5000 IQ galaxy brain of Yuga from SEVENS but with none of the child-like naivety and single-minded obsession with improving Rush Duels that kept Yuga from being a Gary Stu. Of the main three, Yuhi is either the most insufferable or the most interesting depending on whether the writers are in SEVENS-humor mode or in Gallop era-esque storytelling mode. When he's involved, the SEVENS-style of humor is at its worst (with one exception that we'll get to), but when the writers allow him to have serious character beats, he tends to come across as the most multi-faceted character in the core cast. Manabu, Asaka, and Manya are pretty much identical in characterization to Gakuto, Asana, and Atachi respectively (though Manya doesn't come with the baggage of being a 39-year old single mother constantly thirsting after a 12-year old so that was nice). All three are well-written characters, but that's because they took characters who were already well-written and just copypasted them into a new setting. Boshi and Rovian are alright. I'm indifferent to both of them, though I like Boshi more because I think his gimmick is funnier. As for the last member of the core cast, Yuuna, she is the absolute worst (remember when I said Yuhi wasn't the least funny member of the core cast and we'll get to it? We're getting to it). Literally her one character trait is that she's thirsty for Rovian and thinks her garbage "space poems" are masterful and insightful works of art. This joke is repeated in literally every scene the two share together even though it wasn't funny the first time. And considering Yuuna basically never leaves Rovian's side that's pretty much every scene she's in.
tl;dr 7/10 Mixed Bag. Would only recommend if you're a super die-hard Yu Gi Oh fan like me, and if you didn't like SEVENS you won't like this either.
Tonal whiplash the show
If I were to describe Yu Gi Oh Go Rush in one sentence, it would be that "It doesn't quite understand who the show is for". The SEVENS' brand of humor is back in full force and is even more prominent than it was in that show. However, while I would argue that it worked to SEVENS' benefit, it works to the detriment of Go Rush. This is because Go Rush is very heavy on the mature themes, high stakes, and slow-burn with explosive-payoff story structure that characterized Gallop era Yu Gi Oh. Meanwhile, SEVENS was at heart a child-like power fantasy about a boy genius and his friends rebelling against "the man" which is a Mega Corp so inept at dealing with a computer virus created by a child that it makes you wonder how they didn't go out of business long before reaching Mega Corp status.
As for the characters, they're a mixed bag. Yudias himself is the one character who can make the SEVENS brand style of humor funny in this show, because unlike the rest of the cast he's a seasoned veteran of war who knows when it's time to be serious, but because of his total lack of knowledge of Earth culture he tends to come off as quirky and often causes awkward situations without meaning to. Yuamu pretty bland to be honest. She's got the 5000 IQ galaxy brain of Yuga from SEVENS but with none of the child-like naivety and single-minded obsession with improving Rush Duels that kept Yuga from being a Gary Stu. Of the main three, Yuhi is either the most insufferable or the most interesting depending on whether the writers are in SEVENS-humor mode or in Gallop era-esque storytelling mode. When he's involved, the SEVENS-style of humor is at its worst (with one exception that we'll get to), but when the writers allow him to have serious character beats, he tends to come across as the most multi-faceted character in the core cast. Manabu, Asaka, and Manya are pretty much identical in characterization to Gakuto, Asana, and Atachi respectively (though Manya doesn't come with the baggage of being a 39-year old single mother constantly thirsting after a 12-year old so that was nice). All three are well-written characters, but that's because they took characters who were already well-written and just copypasted them into a new setting. Boshi and Rovian are alright. I'm indifferent to both of them, though I like Boshi more because I think his gimmick is funnier. As for the last member of the core cast, Yuuna, she is the absolute worst (remember when I said Yuhi wasn't the least funny member of the core cast and we'll get to it? We're getting to it). Literally her one character trait is that she's thirsty for Rovian and thinks her garbage "space poems" are masterful and insightful works of art. This joke is repeated in literally every scene the two share together even though it wasn't funny the first time. And considering Yuuna basically never leaves Rovian's side that's pretty much every scene she's in.
tl;dr 7/10 Mixed Bag. Would only recommend if you're a super die-hard Yu Gi Oh fan like me, and if you didn't like SEVENS you won't like this either.