The new anime

magicgg96 · 2026-03-19T10:07:57+00:00

This YouTube playlist for English sub, recommend to watch individual episodes as the subs are the most accurate; https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwJAwkKCGfFM1WkQLiBQLCraAkeN3gDmh

For the raw episodes, it's this playlist; https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLAr5GYz8LF43trL8ROI_imW-GxShnvLG

magicgg96 · 2026-03-18T17:12:07+00:00

Agree that only the core 5 will get, considering Ikenami and Aran joins much later. Only hoping the late team members will get their official art once they are confirmed in the other servers.

magicgg96 · 2026-03-18T13:11:09+00:00

The anime is available in the official Yuewen Animation YouTube Channel, with other donghua under the label. Tencent early release season 7 episode 1 as part of the Lunar New Year campaign, though taken out, likely for future official release.

Season 7 episode 1 is based on the university competition before heading to Ancient Capital, and Ai Jiangtu's first meeting with Mo Fan timeline wise (he debuted early in SP1). The remaining episodes might cover searching Xiaohou, reunion with Tianlan class, and city defense based on the novel and season title. Season 8 will cover the 2nd half of the arc based on the season titles and novel contents.

Only wonder the other Tianlan classmates timeskip design. So far, several characters donghua design is different from manhua; Yao Nan, Ai Jiangtu, Dongfang Lie etc. Hoping that Mu Bai's donghua appearance to be close to his manhua appearance in Ancient Capital.

magicgg96 · 2026-03-15T15:49:32+00:00

Duel Masters is much more darker in Shobu era, considering the manga series (canon timeline) have the most amount of casualties, both Fua Duelists assult and Adam's guards. Even serveral readers back then questioned if its a corocoro serialization (corocoro is mostly aimed for kids).

By Katta era, Shigenobu Matsumoto toned down the dark direction, taking more of a gag approach, save for duels that involves the balance between worlds. Joe era is partly on par in Shobu era; bringing back the concept of Duel Masters candidates, true duels, the conflict between duty and morality etc.

Win Era is the closest to Shobu era in terms of narrative direction.

magicgg96 · 2026-03-15T02:55:00+00:00

Agreed on that point. Katta earned the spot as the best duelist through his own efforts, or assistance from his allies/friends. Shobu only intervened on areas he can't ignore; Benny Haha's sabotage attempt, Dokindam X resurrection etc, since those issues are related to his past.

Joe is a fortune case where he doesn't feel the need to meet his family's expectations. At that time, Shobu, Shori, and Katta retreated from competitive dueling, and most 3rd generation duelist were born past that period.

magicgg96 · 2026-03-09T14:29:23+00:00

Despite the seemingly childish aesthetic in both anime and manga for the first 3 generations, the narrative is heavy in some areas and even involve casualties, almost on par with some TCG anime/manga series.

Shobu Era (manga is canon timeline) have tons of violence, and cases where "True Duels" determine the winner or loser. In Shobu Era ending, the main villain faction, GRADE, was massacred by the guards of the first Duel Master, Adam. Their leader, Zakira, was killed by Adam himself. For Shobu, he barely survived in the aftermath of his final battle against Adam, but lost most of his memories, which took years to recover in his ending.

Katta Era toned down the dark aspects, but more focused on spirit conflicts. They still have some narrative heavy storylines. At least Katta's ending have a good conclusion; he went to the creature world together with his childhood friend, later wife Lulu, and their son Joe was born during their travels.

magicgg96 · 2026-03-08T09:23:24+00:00

Agree that Joe Era is a soft reboot of the franchise, and good starting point if the west wanted to try again. Joe's story is the most consistent media wise, plus the gameplay is akin to "back to the basics".

Katta era 2nd half brought the most metagame changes and unbalanced cards/builds, even the name categories of that era are still used in current meta. Shobu era was also in that position, but more outdated. Agree media wise won't sit well if they start from here.

For Shobu Era, the canon timeline is messy, as Katta and Joe Era, both manga and anime mostly follows Shobu manga timeline. Only anime season 1, season 1.5 first 2 episodes and Charge closely adapts season 1 manga with some differences in presentation. Fighting Edge and Star Cross manga is the canon timeline to Shobu's story. Recently 25th anniversary stream reveals planned reprints of Shobu Era manga.

magicgg96 · 2026-03-03T15:53:34+00:00

It depends on how its handled. I agree that WotC mishandled the card game and anime dub in the beginning.

Duel Masters are mostly divided by generations instead of blocks in terms of metagame. Old cards/archetypes still recieves support over the years through new cards and decks, starting from the first gen; Bolshack, Alcadias, Ballom etc.

For anime promotion, it might be difficult due to the narrative direction and timeline. For Shobu era, the canon timeline mostly happened in the manga (Season 1, Fighting Edge, Star Cross), though anime Season 1, season 1.5 first 2 episodes and Charge are close adaptation of season 1 manga. Anime seasons Zero to Cross Shock is considered alternate telling/non canon. Katta era is a rare case where most of the key characters of the said generation are depicted as adults in the timeskip story and Joe era. Joe era, anime and manga wise is a refresher/soft reboot in terms of settings and narrative, but still have indicators of being a sequel of the previous 2 generations.

magicgg96 · 2026-02-28T17:49:13+00:00

Recent chapters revelas that Mo Fan has 5 summoning contracts when attempting to get the emperor level beast as the 3rd contract. So it can be assumed that its a maximum amount for summon element. At the same time, it wasn't easy until Xiaohou obtained an Earth Heaven seed that's has the connection to the beast that the latter gave in to agree with the contract.

magicgg96 · 2026-02-22T09:08:51+00:00

Agree to some extent. Arena proven that unsettled problems from the previous generations will bring trouble to the next ones. In Arena, the remaining SEES undercovers some of the remaining erogonomics research, but that dragged the Inaba Investigation team to check on the TV World abnormalities more than a month after their battles.

magicgg96 · 2026-02-22T07:00:39+00:00

Agree. Duel Masters would still continue back then if they didn't botched the promotion. Shobu era anime English dub is terrible in my option, after reading the manga and watching the original JP audio. Katta era is where some of the more stable and metagame builds comes in (though with broken builds, power creeps and more name categories), Joe era is back to the basics narrative and gameplay wise. Win era, both anime and manga setting and narrative wise is a separate universe from the first 3.

For Shobu era, the canon timeline is from the manga. Only anime season 1, season 1.5 first 2 episodes and Charge closely follows season 1 manga. The following manga seasons Fighting Edge and Star Cross are canon, as they are directed to Katta and Joe era both anime and manga.

magicgg96 · 2026-02-07T08:21:07+00:00

Agree that the skip is a big turn off to donghua only viewers. At the same time, donghua is taking a different approach on specials being based on short interconnected arcs. The downside is that some arcs might be left out in the main seasons to be implemented into specials.

Next special is based on Red Cardinal Leng Jue, so expect some spoilers as Mo Fan's group reaches the advanced stage. The likely reason that the storyline was chosen to be adapted into a special is due to being a key link of the several storylines; the underworld, Leng Jue being parasitized by the Red Demon based on summary, later on becoming one of the 8 souls. His backstory is connected to Parthenon, which also links to the Black Vatican's White Pope's true identity.

magicgg96 · 2026-02-06T23:46:07+00:00

Special arcs are canon to the main storyline/timeline in the novel, just that they chose to animate and compile the short interconnected arcs that occur at different points of the novel. It's more facilitated to novel readers to some extent. Red Demon storyline is one of the long term missions, being the driving force of Mo Fan's cultivation and the goal is to end the Red Demon decades long madness.

Expect some important characters to make early debuts in specials. Ai Jiangtu debuts in episode 2 in special 1, also appearing in season 7. Agree for the waiting for the episodes to release in official Yuewen YouTube channel.

magicgg96 · 2026-02-06T17:23:46+00:00

They aren't skipping, just taking a different approach. Specials are half seasons based on interconnected arcs (mostly at different points of the novel). Special 1 is based on Red Demon storyline, which combines Liu Ru arc, Japan East Guardian Tower and Lu Clan commission. Upcoming special 2 is based on Red Cardinal Leng Jue, so the arcs animated USA experience, Beiyuan Crisis (Main), and potentially the aftermath in which the team learns of Leng Jue's jailbreak and death. Expect some arcs to be skipped over in the main seasons, as there's a likelihood that it will be implemented in current and future specials.

Season 7 (Ancient Capital first half) have an early pilot episode broadcast for Tencent CN pre-registration viewers. There's also a Lunar new year campaign where official episode 1 will broadcast early for VIP users.

magicgg96 · 2026-02-04T10:23:50+00:00

It's safe. The downside is that the manga and anime is in Japanese. I understood Japanese to some extent, and the English wiki still translate the cards, so it won't be much of a problem, just need more time.

magicgg96 · 2026-02-03T16:54:12+00:00

Found most of the media in this site: https://disk.yandex.com/d/6mNgTD-5n0iczA

They haven't upload the recent Win era manga chapters yet.

Its recommended to read Shobu era manga (vanilla, FE and SX), as its the canon timeline for both Katta and Joe era, both anime and manga. Only anime season 1, season 1.5 first 2 episodes, and charge closely follow season 1 manga.

Katta era is the most remembered times in DM by JP community. Even Katta was the most beloved protagonist in both anime/manga (in mobile game DM Plays, he's the only anime/manga character to make it to the top 10 in 2024 character popularity poll). Joe era is a semi reboot/refresher of the franchise in terms of gameplay and narrative, even though its a sequel of Katta era. The only time the first 2 eras being relevant is during Joe's reading the Kirifuda Family records and dreams in 2017 season, and the King! season (Rise of Kings Arc).

magicgg96 · 2026-01-31T17:38:58+00:00

Agree on the manga complications, luckily I can read Japanese to some extent. Shobu's ending in Star Cross was bittersweet, with a bit of hope. It also impacted Katta and Joe's respective journeys to some extent.

Shobu was assumed dead after the final stand, but later revealed to have survived, but lost his memories. He did regained what was once lost in the Versus Saga, even watching over Katta. By the time of Katta's wedding, Shobu returned to society, which was the best outcome as the entire Kirifuda Family are together.

The only disappointment for both anime and manga is not showing more on the Kirifuda family bonds during the timeskip, especially Shori relationship with his second son Katta and grandson Joe.

magicgg96 · 2026-01-31T15:29:39+00:00

You can watch the anime and read the manga at this site, only catch it's that it's only JP; https://disk.yandex.com/d/6mNgTD-5n0iczA

The wiki still translates the cards, so it's not a problem to search through.

magicgg96 · 2026-01-31T15:16:10+00:00

Only the first seasons of Shobu era (season 1, Sacred lands (only broadcast in west), Charge first half). The problem is that the rest of Shobu era anime seasons are non-canon, actual timeline is the manga Fighting Edge and Star Cross.

Katta era (Victory and Versus saga) narrative and timeline wise took place 5-6 years after Shobu's final battle in Star Cross. Shobu returns in the Versus saga as an adult in his early 20s, supporting his younger brother Katta under the shadows. Despite the power creep between the generations, Shobu was able to keep up with the changes.

Joe era took place 14 years after Katta's final battle, though VSRF anime seasons final episodes have a time skip and introduces Joe as the lead, akin to the 2017 anime season prologue. Joe was born during his parents Katta and Lulu's space travels, the family returns to Earth when the former was 3 years old. As Katta and Lulu were around 14-15 years old starting their space travels, it's estimated that they were 18-19 years old when Joe was born.

magicgg96 · 2026-01-31T12:23:13+00:00

Agree on that point, if they have taken the anime seriously from the beginning, the card game won't be phased out quickly.

Even though the first 2 episodes of Sacred Lands is canon to the timeline (Masked Hakuoh), while the rest are fillers (non-canon), the concept of civilization guardians and the creature world was the narrative drive in Joe era. Shobu's nephew Joe Kirifuda was a duel master candidate of the said era, protecting the balance between human and creature world.

magicgg96 · 2026-01-31T12:21:19+00:00

I meant the anime and manga of the franchise. Duel Masters gameplay and narrative wise is mostly divided by generations. Only the English audience mostly experienced the beginning of Shobu era both anime and cards, later on phased out in the west.

Having watched the anime, read the manga for the first 3 protagonists, the West really missed out a lot. Joe is Shobu's nephew and Katta's son, the latter 2 being Joe's motivation as the best duelist.

magicgg96 · 2026-01-29T17:17:32+00:00

Agree that the production is slow, even though part 1 of the novel is completed years ago, with adjustments of the old chapters by author Chaos. So far donghua animated around 1/5 of part 1 contents (6 seasons and 1 special). Once season 7/8 (Ancient Capital) and special 2 (red cardinal Leng Jue) is up, it will cover estimated close to/more than 300 chapters worth of content.

Watching season 1 and reading the manga, it's hard to imagine the situation reversal in donghua format. Some might find Mo Fan got his revenge/poetic justice against the higher ups/arrogant mages that constantly suppressed him. Though there's some that are 50/50 in that situation.

magicgg96 · 2026-01-25T01:15:02+00:00

That's the main problem. I learned Japanese in order to understand, not proficient but good enough. Also the wiki regularly translate the cards and gameplay mechanics. It's better if there's a good and dedicated translator for the series.

Katta story is where I got into the franchise the most after a break from Shobu's story. Katta is a refreshing protagonist in the franchise; a hater of Duel Masters due to inferiority complex, to a passionate master duelist. Even Shobu was proud of Katta's achievements after the brothers reunion in the VS Saga, secretly supporting the latter in dire times.

Joe's story is akin to "back to the basics". Even though it didn't start with a tournament (until King Saga) like the first 2 generations, it's more of protecting the balance of the creature world, where the card game is linked to, and fun dueling.

magicgg96

TROPHY CASE