[DaveRelph001]

I don't care how old this topic is, it was posted on a Yu-Gi-Oh! forum I frequent regularly, I followed the link and read everything you have to say and the ignorance of most of you astounds me. You're so caught up looking at the negative aesthetic of the game, well nitpicking the aesthetic to be quite honest, that you ignore any and all positivities to the game. Firstly to address an earlier point, complaining about provocative cards like 'Harpie Lady' and characters such as 'Mai Valentine', since very early on when Yu-Gi-Oh! has undergone a fair amount of censorship when translated from Japanese into English, in both the anime and the card game, for example character's outfits have been made less revealing, as have the outfits of cards such as the aforementioned 'Harpie Lady', artworks have been edited to take the horns off of cards to avoid demonic references, card names have been altered to save face when accused of being prejudiced towards religion.

But the main thing that annoys me about the synics on here, is that you completely ignore the values that people can draw from playing the game. I myself grew up a very shy person, didn't make friends easily and was always bullied growing up, but through playing the game I have met some wonderful friends who I treasure very much, my self-confidence and people skills have grown tremendously, my interactions with people are much less nervous and I feel comfortable with myself as a person.

My analytical mind has progressed leaps and bounds, playing the game is often a very tactical process, making reads about cards opponents play face down, predicting what moves they make and making decisive plays using intuition based on what you have deduced. Calculating life points mentally has sharpened my mental arithmetic. The psychology of the game has sharpened my mind and noticing micro-expressions of people to tell what they are thinking is a skill that I have been able to carry over to my relationships with friends in being able to tell when something is wrong and being able to help them out of difficult situations in their lives.

It's all very well people on here taking first glances at things like and judging based on the aesthetic and your first impressions, such as with the anime, you see monsters fighting and assume that it is displaying negativity to influence your children in a negative way, but do you notice how much the anime refers to the importance of notions such as friendship, teamwork, striving to achieve your goals in the face of adversity, the importance of family and the greater good? I'd put a pretty safe bet on saying that you don't. The phrase 'judge not, lest ye be judged yourself' comes to mind here, you judge on first impressions, 'don't judge a book by it's cover', read some of it, do some research and familiarise yourselves with the workings of the game, the morals the anime teaches and what your children, whom you are so eager to protect, can actually learn from the game to influence their lives in positive ways.

Also less of the abuse towards people holding the opposite view to yourself would be a good place for you all to start your re-education, from what I've read, your own morals are pretty dire, yet you block out the external teachings of genuinely worthwhile influences like Yu-Gi-Oh! but what can you yourself be teaching them if you behave so appallingly on a public forum.