Welcome to Part 3 of Censored Gaming's video series taking a look at how Yu-Gi-Oh Duel
Monsters was censored in the US by English localizers, 4Kids, due to reasons such as
wanting to target a younger audience.
To kick things of this time, it would be good to bring up something mentioned in a previous
video about Yugi's trademark monster, Dark Magician, or as he is known in Japan, Black
Magician.
As the video mentioned Dark Magician didn't just get renamed but also had his original
attack name removed in the dub.
The Japanese attack is called "black magic" and, like his name, this was likely changed
due to references to "black magic" being seen as too taboo for the West,
However, the video pointing out that the first time the attack was used, no substitute name
is given in the English version.
Whilst this is true, in later episodes the English version uses the new attack name "Dark
Magic Attack" instead.
But with that out of the way, let's continue on from last
time with Episode 7, "Sea God Leviathan".
This episode features Yugi's battle with the fisherman duellist Mako Tsunami.
The episode is kicked off with the hungry gang being attracted by the smell of fish
cooking over a fire.
When Joey sees the food, he chases after it and, in the Japanese version, he says that
"it must be a blessing of food from God".
Religious references were usually removed by 4Kids, due to them being seen as potentially
offensive for Western audience.
This could be why, in the English version, he says "We'll eat first and ask questions
later!"
instead.
The shot that introduces Mako was also changed by 4Kids.
As you can see in the Japanese version on the left, Mako's harpoon has a fish impaled
on it, with it still wiggling.
The English version on the right removes all shots of the impaled fish.
As mentioned, religious references were a big source of changes and this sees several
of Mako's monsters renamed in the English version.
The first of these is Devil Kraken, which was changed to Fiend Kraken in the dub.
Sea God Dragon - Leviathan also had its name changed, due to the clear religious reference.
The way this was handled is pretty interesting, as the dub renames it to Kairyu-Shin, which
is how the monster's name is pronounced in Japanese.
This means that, if the viewer was to understand Japanese, they would still hear the original
name.
4Kids also toned down Mako's backstory, which is revealed to involve him as a child at sea
with his father, when a storm strikes their boat.
The Japanese version says that his father went missing, implying that he died, and that
he has to challenge the ocean for his Dad and become the greatest fisherman.
The English version, however, invents a different tale of events, where Mako says that a lifeboat
went missing the same time as his father did and that he still must be alive.
His motivation was then changed to him finding his lost father.
But then lastly for this episode is something brought in Part 2 but this time being handled
in a new way.
Yugi's monster Curse of Dragon, when combined with the spell card Burning Land, uses the
attack "Hell Flame" in the Japanese version, with this even being said in English.
Due to the religious reference, this was renamed to "Burning Land Attack", whereas last time,
it was changed to "Dragon Flame".
Next up is episode 8, "The Stolen Blue-Eyes White Dragon".
The first act of censorship occurs early on in some dialogue said by Pegasus' whilst he's
overseeing the events of the tournament.
In the Japanese version, Pegasus' says that he is drinking the world's finest wine and
eating gorgonzola cheese.
4Kids' change his fondness of wine to the "world's finest fruit juice"
The rest of the episode focuses on a duellist having his cards and star chips stolen, with
the culprit ending up being Kaiba's little brother Mokuba, who Yugi then duels.
In the Japanese version, Tristan is a little more violent when he speaks about finding
out who mugged the duellist - saying that when he finds him, he's going to beat him
up.
The English version removed this reference to violence.
Violence-related edits also make up the rest of this episode's changes, with these revolving
Kaiba being jumped by Pegasus' goons, towards the end of the episode.
When Pegasus' men approach Kaiba's door, you can see that they are holding guns in their
shadow in the Japanese version and these guns were removed by 4Kids.
The men then point their guns at Kaiba in Japan, whilst in 4Kids' version, they simply
point their finger at him.
The 4Kids version on the right then also removes animation showing a gun being fired and Kaiba
blocking the bullet with his briefcase.
Kaiba then jumps out the window to escape and, as you can see, the 4Kids version cuts
out some footage showing Kaiba falling.
And then lastly we have episode 9, "Back from the Dead!
Magical Silk Hat".
This episode is again kicked off by some censorship to Pegasus' fondness of wine, with the English
version on the right adding an apple to the bottle's label to disguise it as fruit juice.
The rest of the episode then focuses on Yugi's battle with ghost Kaiba, who is said to be
Kaiba's spirit following his supposed death.
Now, many lines were changed by 4Kids to tone down the fact that Kaiba is supposedly dead.
The English version still says that Kaiba has passed away and that the duellist is his
ghost, however, in the Japanese version Kaiba being dead will be spoken about much more
frequently and explicitly.
That wasn't all though.
Several lines mentioning hell were also removed, due to 4Kids' feeling that mentioning hell
was too taboo for a kids' TV show.
For example, in the Japanese version, Kaiba sinisterly asks Yugi "Shall we go together
to hell?" and this was replaced with something completely different in the English release.
That's all this time though but Part 4 will be coming soon taking a look at the next episode
and more.
If this is something you're interested in then please make sure to subscribe and leave
a comment below and, until next time, thank you for watching.