Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, Volume 1 Book

I have never watched the GX anime, so going into this one with only the knowledge of the original Yugioh series.
This sequel series takes place years after the gang separated the Pharoh from Yugi...instead, focuses on Jaden Yuki, a student at the Duel Academy. The Academy is broken into 3 dorms, the powerhouse Obelisk Blue Dorm, the book smart Yellow Ra Dorm, and the trouble-making Red Slifer Dorm. Jaden is a Red. But Jaden wants to be the next King of Duelists so although he's deemed a slacker in school he wins every duel he is in. He plays with Elemental Heroes and seems to have a solid strategy that relies rather heavily on the Heart of the Cards. He even warms the GX version of Kaiba, a Blue named Chazz who had buried his best card. This series also claims that there are a few cards that have "souls" and of course Chazz has one and Jaden has one.

This was kind of a cute introduction. I like the characters, Alexis in particular is not a girly-girl, instead just wants to be known as a Duelist instead of just a girl. Bastian is kind of the Honda character, very goofy but also a bit of brawn. I like the gender ambiguous Dr. Crowler although their motivation for kicking Syrus and Jaden out is also fairly vague. I thought this volume could have been stronger with a cohesive plot, instead each chapter was its own storyline that was seeming unconnected other than establishing friendships. And while we know Yugi would always pull some ex-machina card to win the duel in an extravagant fashion, Jaden literally plays the same cards in basically the same order every duel and somehow still manages to win. At least Yugi had different support for his Dark Magician trick.

I'm hoping the next volume gives some more solid story because I do enjoy the characters so far. And I know the GX anime is some of my friends favorite in the Yugioh franchise. We'll see!

A very good story that differs from the anime in multiple ways which I love