Whether you're a fan of the card game itself or you're in it for the story of restoring
an ancient pharaoh's long-lost memories, there are plenty of little details from Yu-Gi-Oh!
that casual fans could have easily missed.
Like many popular anime, Yu-Gi-Oh! started life as a manga, serialized in the popular
manga magazine Weekly Shonen Jump.
In this original manga, creator Kazuki Takahashi had a somewhat different vision for the series
than what appears on screen.
Protagonist Yugi Muto, whose name was changed to Yugi Moto in the English dub, is a bullied
high school student.
His grandfather, who owns a game shop, allows him to attempt to put together an ancient
relic known as the Millennium Puzzle which Yugi, of course, solves.
This should all sound familiar to fans so far.
Where the manga series takes a turn is that the alter ego that possesses Yugi after the
Puzzle's completion isn't an unwaveringly just game master.
Instead, this dark entity doles out vigilante justice against bullies and criminals, going
so far as to permanently disfigure, brainwash, or dispatch them.
These early chapters of the manga don't focus just on the card game "Magic & Wizards," as
it was originally known, but instead rotate between various diverse games of chance and
skill.
When an opponent challenges this dark Yugi, it's a bit like challenging Death to a game
of chess, with impossible stakes and unsavory outcomes.
"Sorry death, you lose!
It was professor Plum!"
This early Yu-Gi-Oh! is much more of a horror series than what it would become later in
its serialization.
The anime series that is most popular in the Western world is not the only Yu-Gi-Oh!
anime.
Before NAS and Studio Gallop had their go at making one of the most popular shonen anime
of the 2000s, Toei Animation produced what has come to be known by some fans as "Season
Zero."
This late-'90s attempt has never had an official English-language release, unfortunately, but
even Western fans are aware of how it differs from what the majority of us know as Yu-Gi-Oh!
Season Zero hews more closely to the manga's original story, exploring those dark themes
of vigilante justice meted out by a cruel and savvy games master.
It also sticks more closely to Takahashi's original art style, which in the early days
was distinguished by his characters' cuter, more rounded features.
Since licensors have gone this long without attempting to bring this anime stateside,
we don't think it's likely to ever find its way into the North American market.
Still, it's a nifty piece of the history of the series and its many iterations.
In the early manga and the original 1998 anime adaptation, there is a brief story about a
character with a penchant for American superheroes.
Hanasaki, a classmate of Yugi's is obsessed with the American superhero comic "Zombire."
Zombire definitely seems to be a bit of a spoof on the character Spawn, and it is clear
from Takahashi's story that he has a good understanding of what the American comics
landscape of the mid-'90s was like.
In fact, he and comics creator Mike Mignola even did an art trade, swapping Yu-Gi-Oh!
and Hellboy mash-up pieces.
More recently, Takahashi has provided the artwork for Japanese-only Marvel comics involving
Spider-Man and Iron Man.
It's clear that Takahashi is a fan of Western comics, and influenced by them as much as
he is by other manga.
Whenever something is translated for a different audience, things end up changing.
However, hardcore Yu-Gi-Oh! fans are often disgruntled about some of the changes that
occurred between the Japanese version of the series and the English adaptation by 4Kids
Entertainment.
The former was intended for a young teenage audience, while 4Kids, naturally, tried to
market it to younger kids.
To start out, the majority of the characters had their names changed from their original
Japanese to more English-friendly names: Jounouchi was changed to Joey, Honda to Tristan, Anzu
to Tea, and so on.
This is a common enough practice when anime is intended for younger audiences, but surely
there are Japanese kids in America who would love to hear names like theirs on their favorite
television programs.
Beyond this, the English adaptation refers to the Millennium Puzzle as 5000 years old,
whereas the original Japanese has it at a more recent 3000 years old.
The opening and closing songs in Japanese are well-written pop songs, but American kids
were rocking out to a high-powered, largely wordless tune.
Perhaps the most shocking change of all is the addition, in English, of something called
the "Shadow Realm."
When Yami Yugi duels opponents and wins, he occasionally sends their minds to a place
referred to by this ominous name.
In the original, however...villains just died.
There was no sugar-coating the outcomes of these duels in Japanese.
"My millenium puzzle protects me from your cowardly assault, but nothing will protect
you from OBLIVION!"
It's easy to get distracted by all the card-playing going on in Yu-Gi-Oh!, but the truth is that
there is a ton of fascinating lore hiding in the background.
Viewers know that the Millennium Puzzle is an ancient artifact with dark powers, and
at the beginning of the series it seems as though it brings out a cool, commanding alter-ego
of Yugi.
As the series progresses, however, it becomes clear that this alter ego is his own person,
albeit one who cannot remember who he is.
Though most of the other Millennium Items contain great dark power, there is only one
other, the Millennium Ring, which also houses a separate entity.
The Ring is worn by Ryo Bakura, a likable and timid young man with a penchant for the
macabre.
When under the influence of the Ring, he becomes an entity known as Yami Bakura, an evil character
who tries to thwart Yugi's efforts at every turn.
As Yugi and Bakura deal with their own dark personalities, it becomes more and more obvious
that they are harboring two individuals who have a long history together.
In the final season, Yami Bakura challenges Yami Yugi to a game set in ancient Egypt,
where the story of their conflict is played out.
The stakes involve Yami Yugi's lost memory...and the fate of the world itself.
"Are you saying that everything we do affects the events of the past?
ARE YOU?!"
When the majority of people think of Yu-Gi-Oh!, they remember the series that is centered
solely on Yugi and his friends.
But even though the initial viewers grew up and moved on to other franchises, the success
of the series and its real-world trading card game inspired a slew of spinoffs.
Each new iteration keeps the central theme of dueling with cards, but adds its own spin
or unique monster types to keep the action fresh and the audience involved.
The first of these spinoffs, Yu-Gi-Oh!
GX, follows Judai Yuki, called Jaden Yuki in English, as he makes his way through the
prestigious Duel Academy.
As a connection to the first series, the school was founded by the original series' antagonist,
the hyper-rich super-genius Seto Kaiba.
Since viewers seemed to enjoy that, four more series followed in quick succession: Yu-Gi-Oh!
5D's, Yu-Gi-Oh!
Zexal, Yu-Gi-Oh!
Arc-V, and Yu-Gi-Oh!
VRAINS.
With each new installation comes a further focus on the intersection of dueling and tech,
a theme which has been part of the series ever since Seto Kaiba stepped onto the scene
with his Duel Disks.
There is also a new, as of yet unnamed, spinoff series set to premiere in 2020, four years
after VRAINS hit TV, and it's anybody's guess as to how the gameplay will evolve from its
most recent digital-world makeover.
As we now know, Yu-Gi-Oh!
hasn't always been about the card game, despite what the merchandising team wants you to think.
Even though the most popular anime series focuses significantly on the cards and their
lore and creation, tabletop roleplaying games also play a significant role in the plot itself.
In the manga, the shy new kid on the block, Bakura, invites Yugi and his friends over
to play a game of Monster World, a sort of in-series version of Dungeons & Dragons.
During this game, the spirit of the Millennium Ring takes hold of Bakura, changing the stakes
so that any false move sees one of the players sealed inside their individual game piece
unless Yugi can break them out.
This storyline was pretty violent, which was probably why it was adapted for the Season
Zero anime but never made it into the later adaptations.
Plus, as we mentioned earlier, the final season of the original series saw Yami Bakura as
game master once again, taking Yami Yugi on a trip down ancient memory lane in a tabletop
campaign called Memory World.
Most people, especially kids, don't really think twice about how their anime gets to
them.
The fact is, there's a lot of time, negotiation, and work that goes into acquiring the rights
to air an anime in another country, plus all the work that goes into voice acting and making
the series presentable to a new audience.
And sometimes, there are issues that arise as a result of licensing.
In 2011, American licensing company 4Kids Entertainment was sued by TV Tokyo and Nihon
Ad Systems for breach of contract.
The conflict arose around 4Kids withholding funds from the licensors that they earned
through deals with companies like Funimation and Cartoon Network.
4Kids ended up filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy following this suit and then claimed to have
bounced back from it in 2012.
However, they filed again in 2016.
Fortunately, 4Kids legal troubles hasn't stopped Yu-Gi-Oh from being available to stream.
The series is available through streaming on Funimation's website, as well as through
Crunchyroll, Netflix, and Hulu.
Unsurprisingly, dueling in the real world doesn't quite match up with dueling as it's
represented in the anime.
For one thing, while we call them Yu-Gi-Oh!
cards, the characters in-show refer to their decks as Duel Monsters cards.
And in both the manga, and all of the anime iterations of the series, the rules of Duel
Monsters are pretty fast and loose.
In order to make a playable game, more structured rules have been set for those of us playing
along at home.
Another key difference is the cards themselves, however.
Everyone recognizes the Dark Magician or Blue-Eyes White Dragon cards, but there are a handful
of cards from the series that either never made it into the physical realm, or are no
longer usable when playing by competition rules.
Despite its frequent use, and explanation, in the series, the spell card Pot of Greed
is no longer acceptable in a real-life match.
Bakura's favorite card, Change of Heart, is also a no-go, unfortunately.
If you want to use these in a real match, well…
"And this time you don't stand a ghost of a chance."
Using all your allowance on Yu-Gi-Oh!
cards as a kid was a common enough experience.
But as we age, it becomes less viable to spend money that way, never mind finding the time
and friends with which to duel.
Luckily, there are other means of engaging with the series that can be enjoyed at any
age, and within any budget.
Like all successful anime series, Yu-Gi-Oh! has spawned several video games.
Many of these games haven't made it out of Japan, but there are a few which have.
The first was Yu-Gi-Oh!
Dark Duel Stories for the Game Boy Color, which pitted the player against characters
from the series in order to progress and acquire new cards, pretty straightforward.
Yu-Gi-Oh!
Duelists of the Roses, however, takes a different tack.
In this game, players chose the side of the House of Lancaster or the House of York and
duel in a plot that is loosely based on the real-world War of the Roses.
The gameplay unfolds on a playing map that has different terrain, helping or hindering
certain monsters in those areas.
This game expands upon what fans know from the series to create a new challenge.
Of course, games and game systems cost money, but most people have a phone or tablet these
days.
With those devices, you can download the official Konami app Yu-Gi-Oh!
Duel Links, which allows players to duel characters or real players from across the world in real
time, keeping the spirit of one-on-one matches alive.
In other words, it's always:
"It's time to d-d-d-d-d-duel!"
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