And I guess by your logic that any two characters that have a deep love for each other are automatically romantically involved like Yugi+Atem, Yugi+Jounouci, Shark+Rio, Mokuba+Seto, etc. *sarcasm*
I'm glad they scrapped it. Judai Asuka is a s**t pairing with no chemistry and barely anything in common shipped mostly by dumb manchildren who just think, "Duh-duh! Main male and main female characters, so we must ship them!" It's just main character entitlement syndrome usually.
If their intention was judaixasuka then they are terrible at writing/developing things all their "moments" were absurd self insert troupes with no real reason/background
Ryo and Asuka friendship developed from asuka's brother and at the same time ryo best friend going missing
Manjoume was a si mp that tried to make a relationship appear by improving as a duelist and person.
Judai just spawned.
I like Ryo with her. Although it kind of ruined it with her telling him she sees him as a brother. Agree about Manjoume. Overall, I think Edo was the real missed opportunity, though. He was the closest Asuka came to showing signs of real physical attraction for, and he has the most in common with her. And he's the only one from GX in Arc-V with her.
The writers of Arc V sure have a bias against GX considering the unfair treatment it got. Ryo doesn't even appear aside from a cameo. Also, Edo and Asuka got screwed over.