Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's

'''Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's''' is the latest Yu-Gi-Oh! anime series, that began airing in Japan on April 2, 2008, as the successor to the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX anime.

This series was acquired by 4Kids Entertainment for broadcasting in the United States on Saturday, September 13th 2008.

The world English Premiere of this series was shown at the San Diego Comic Con 2008, on Thursday, July 24th 2008, where the first English dubbed episode was shown.

The Duelist Genesis, Starter Deck 2008 and Duel Terminals are all designed to introduce this new anime series to Yu-Gi-Oh! card game players. This series uses newer game mechanics and mechanics known as the Master Rules. The new Synchro Summoning rule in particular is popular amongst some characters, who often perform a special chant when calling forth the Synchro Monster.

Characters

 * See Category:Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's characters

The character designs are by Shuji Maruyama.

Plot
Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's is set in Domino City some time after the events concerning Yugi Muto and Jaden Yuki. A new form of dueling, "Turbo Duels", now take place on motorcycles called "Duel Runners". While regular dueling still exists, Turbo Duels have become a popular form of entertainment for spectators, who watch them in specially-designed stadiums.

Escape from Satellite
Jack Atlas stole Yusei Fudo's card "Stardust Dragon" along with the first Duel Runner that Yusei made. He then leaves the poorer "Satellite" area of Domino and becomes a "Duel King" in the richer area, called "New Domino City". Yusei tries to meet up with Jack to get back what was stolen from him, fighting the Securities, who try to keep Satellite residents from entering New Domino City. Yusei meets Jack in New Domino and has a Turbo Duel with him. After both players ace monsters "Stardust Dragon" and "Red Dragon Archfiend" clash, a mysterious dragon appears causing the Duel to prematurely end. A group of Secrities then arrive to arrest Yusei.

The Facility
Yusei is sent to the Facility. Here he learns the legend of the Signers. He also fights against unjust treatment of the inmates, particularly by dueling the warden Mr. Armstrong. After defeating Armstrong, Yusei is released. Yusei then takes time to retrieve his confiscated Deck and Duel Runner.

Fortune Cup
The Yliaster group hold the Fortune Cup in the hopes of gathering the Signers. Yusei is forced to enter, for the safety of his captured friends from Satellite. After much twists and turns on the Cup, four Signers are finally gathered through Rex Goodwin and Lazar's plans.

During Yusei and Jack's Duel, the Crimson Dragon reappears. Through the Crimson Dragon their Duel is transported elsewhere along with Luna and Akiza, who are watching. The four of them are witness the past, when the Sky Temple existed. As they pass it, Yusei notices five individuals on top of the Temple who on that time carried the same birthmarks and were Signers back then. And after that they witness the future, where Satellite is being destroyed by a strange force, where on its remains a Spider mark appears. Jack pushes an intense Duel on Yusei in order to win and keep his title, but Yusei once again wins settling his score and being declared as the new King of Turbo Duels.

Dark Signers
After the Fortune Cup ends a new enemy has began to rise up known as the Dark Signers. Both Yusei and Jack have dueled against their brainwashed victims, who bear a spider mark similar to the one seen when they dueled on the Fortune Cup. They became aware that these people are their opposite, as they use both Dark Tuner and Dark Synchro Monsters and posesses birthmarks that represent the evil Nazca Gods sealed within the Lines.

Yusei learns the history and motives of the Dark Signers from Goodwin. They intend to open a gate to the underworld in Satellite. He is then transported back to his hometown in order to save it. Where upon arriving he meets up with his long time friend Crow.

Differences in adaptions
In the Japanese anime, the class system between the upper class residents Neo Domino City and the often rejected residents of Satellite is a recurring theme throughout the series. While the class system exists in the English anime, it is not as severe and much less emphasized. Some dialogue refering to the class system such as "Satellite scum" is replaced. Nerve and Blitz also had their names switched, so now they are Blitz and Nervin respectively.

The English dub adds a part to episodes, where the effects of certain cards are explained.

Like the previous two series, changes have been made to character names and their personalities to make the show suitable for a younger age demographic.

Previous dubs completely edited traces of text due to FCC regulations. This included redesigning the cards to only display Attributes, Level Stars, ATK and DEF values and icons for Spell and Trap Cards. In Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's traces of English text are not removed, but the cards undergo the same redesign as the previous series.

Episodes

 * Season 1

DVD release
Another 28 minute DVD, based on the anime, is to be included in the Yu-Gi-Oh! OCG - Duelist Box.

Music
Japanese opening theme: Kizuna
 * Performer: Kra
 * Album: Kizuna

Japanese ending theme: START
 * Performer: Nakagauchi Masataka
 * Album: START / Sun will shine away

Japanese opening theme 2: Last Train - The New Morning
 * Performer: Knotlamp

Japanese ending theme 2: CROSS GAME
 * Performer: アリス九號 (Alice Nine)

The soundtrack, Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's Sound Duel Vol I features music from the anime.

The 4Kids TV website held an open vote for what should be the theme of the English dubbed version of Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's. Eight one minute songs were playable. The song with the most votes would be chosen to be featured when the dub premiered on CW4Kids on September 13th. The voting was only open to those who had registered an account on the 4Kids.tv website.

Users could vote for one of the following songs.
 * Better be Better than Best
 * Hyper Drive
 * Need for Speed
 * Rev it Up
 * Secret of Five‎
 * We are the Ones
 * We Ride to Survive

English Opening Theme: Hyper Drive