Yu-Gi-Oh! GX Season 3 improves upon Season 2, and avoids committing that season’s mistakes. The random weird duelist of the week episodes that made up such a large part of Season 2‘s episode count are all but gone.
Season 3 also has more for people – who don’t happen to be Jaden Yuki – to do. There are four new main characters introduced in this season (not counting the villains), and they all have an important part to play in the story. Unlike previous seasons it doesn’t feel like Jaiden is the only person who gets to win a duel that is important to progressing the plot. Sadly older characters get pushed aside in favour of newer ones. Aster Phoenix and Hassleberry just about stay relevant, but Cyrus is pretty much relegated to the same level as Tristan from the original show.
The show also takes advantage of multiple antagonists that run alongside the main villain. Each of these characters get a few episodes to be the main threat that the heroes face. This means that the season has several mini arcs that build up one larger story. It stops the show from feeling like it is dragging on, or that the story is simply running in place. Unfortunately the pay off is affected by dubbing issues. For whatever reason 4Kids never bothered to dub the final episode of Yu-Gi-Oh GX Season 3, or any of Season 4. The ending that this leaves fans who watch the dub with isn’t terrible, but it is very abrupt, and it leaves a lot of unanswered questions.
Perhaps more so than any other season of GX this one makes efforts to gives its characters story arcs, particularly Jaiden. The arc does experience some set up, and the show does bother to dwell on how Jaden’s experiences affect him, but it doesn’t quite work. It needs to be more specific on what lead to Jaiden changing. Later on he dwells over his actions with a particular card, but it isn’t one the audience ever saw him use in the way he now regrets.
Yu-Gi-Oh! GX Season 3 is an improvement on what came before. It spends more time with its cast, the villains are more than standard Yu-Gi-Oh fare, and for the most part none of the episodes feel like filler. This season even goes towards giving its characters more depth, and working on their flaws. However it still doesn’t do as much as it could, and sometimes the cheesy humour feels a little empty.
All things considered Season 3 is better than its previous seasons but you will get more out of it if you already enjoyed what those seasons had to offer.
YU-GI-OH! GX SEASON 3 / CERT: PG / DIRECTOR: HATSUKI TSUJI / WRITERS: VARIOUS / STARRING: VINNIE PENNA, TONY SALERNO, KANAKO IRIE, MATT CHARLES, SEAN SCHEMMEL / RELEASE DATE: 8TH MAY 2017
