Yeah ok, people are entitled to their opinions, but honestly, I’ve even seen voice actors say that about VRAINS and Yusaku in particular, and it’s. It’s so ridiculous.

You don’t care about the main protag? So, since YOU don’t care and VRAINS doesn’t cater to YOUR specific character preferences, VRAINS is doing a poor job? 

yeah ok. 

I acknowledge VRAINS has got some serious flaws, especially when it comes to pacing and in terms of who gets screentime (tho, tbh, I’m not sad to see Go getting nonexistent screentime, but that’s just me), but I’m really not seeing where VRAINS isn’t trying to make Yusaku not such a one-dimensional character in real time??? 

also I’d love to know which YGO series didn’t have glaring serious flaws in terms of character development and screentime.

 I mean, Yusaku might not have the typical character development route of other YGO main protags, but you know what? At least he has one. As beloved as Yusei Fudo is among the YGO community - including the people making these accusations about Yusaku and VRAINS - I really can’t think of a single moment in 5D’s where Yusei actually developed on-screen as a character. 

“But, the Dark Signers arc?”

Right, but did that development stick after that arc? It didn’t.  

Then there was the whole “dueling for fun” thing Yusei started in S2, which would be fine … except that happened in BBT and not in the actual 5D’s anime. And it’s the only time you could see a real change in Yusei’s character. Which didn’t really stick around for long either. 

The only time you really see development for Yusei that actually sticks is in flashbacks for events that occurred long before the events of 5D’s even started. Which. Doesn’t really say a whole lot. 

So, there ya have it. A developmentless Yusei. But, the dude isn’t perceived as an asshole by the masses, so Yusei having no development is a-okay!

(disclaimer: listen, I love Yusei with all my being. But I can’t just ignore he got like … zero consistent development tho lmao) 

Meanwhile, we have Yusaku who’s dealing with his trauma from the Lost Incident and he starts off as someone who’s like “ALL HANOI KNIGHTS WILL PERISH,” and was seriously one-track minded and didn’t see dueling as fun.

But then he captures Ai and finds out his sworn enemy is actually the guy who saved him BUT ALSO the guy who indirectly started the Lost Incident for him. Which demands Yusaku to confront who he is as a person and what he wants to achieve. 

Arguably, Yusaku’s still going through this process, but AT LEAST WITH VRAINS, you can visibly see the progression. Maybe it’s not clear-cut like people would want (since the masses don’t want to think THAT hard when it comes to fictional characters), but it’s sure as hell more obvious AND it’s proved to be actually effective with Yusaku than the fake development 5D’s tried to shove in for Yusei. *shrug* 

As far as Yusaku’s trauma is concerned in addition to his struggle with how the hell he’s supposed to view others, ok, so it’s not a struggle not everyone can identify with. 

But, just because you can’t identify with Yusaku’s struggle to even the slightest extent doesn’t mean VRAINS is doing a piss-poor job at making you care about him. Maybe that’s just a personal problem. 

Not that I’m saying VRAINS’ portrayal of mental health and recovery is perfect … ‘cause it ain’t lmao. But, in a world that still thinks talking of mental health is inappropriate, the fact it’s mentioned is extremely important. 

(”But Arc V did a much better job!” lmao yeah I know) 

I know there’s this view that “well if the series doesn’t have a likable main character, it’s garbage” people love to hold, but honestly, having a view like that only gets you so far lmao. 

anyway.

tl;dr: vrains is trying to make yusaku more likable and people don’t see that b/c it’s not overly obvious and they don’t like it ‘cause they don’t want to think it through. But, Yusaku’s gotten more development that’s stuck with him in 60ish episodes of VRAINS than Yusei did in 154 episodes of 5D’s and Yusei’s only getting a pass ‘cause people can stomach his character type.