Yu☆Gi☆Oh! Duel Monsters

I think the fact that YuGiOh (along with Pokemon) was the first anime I ever watched is enough to give this series a 10. That and the fact that this is one of the very few solid English dubs out there. Great story, plot, ingenius card game (think about it, Kazuki pulled the entire YuGiOh ruleset out of his ass and it's incredible!), along with enjoyable dialogue make this series a 10/10. Honestly, if you've never seen YuGiOh and you're on MyAnimeList to decide if you should watch it, then go ahead and do it. You've been missing out.

Yugioh is an anime about card games, that’s what most people see when they watch it. I’ve heard it called the best worst series ever. What people fail to see is the intense character development that happens over a course of 224 episodes. The series started out with no card games at all. The story is about a kid named Yugi who is shorter than average, insecure, geeky and picked on most of the time. For 8 years he works on a puzzle that his grandfather found in Egypt. Upon finishing it, He is possessed with an ancient spirit who at first appears to have evil intentions. A main key to this story is that this spirit, “yugi’s other self” (yami in English) has no memory of his name or where he came from. Through these battles Yugi matures and becomes a strong, dependant person, gains friends and learns to stick up for himself. It’s amazing when you compare the very last episode yugi to the very first season 0 yugi. Because the series is 200 something episodes, this change is gradual and almost unnoticeable. The characters are unique and easy to warm up to. You’ll end up liking a lot of them and hate to see them leave in the end. The animation varies from episode to episode. While episodes directed by Takahiro Kagami (Death note’s lead animation director for most episodes) look smooth and beautifully drawn, others are complete crap. Also, each artist interprets the characters differently so they change style episode to episode. The music is written by Shinkichi Mitsumune and is the thing I miss the most in the English version. Shinkichi uses a lot of violin in his songs giving the series a melancholic vibe. The soundtrack is memorable and I love listening to it by itself. Some songs are sad and forlorn while others are upbeat and jazzy. I could go on and on just talking about the music. Even though I have a lot of good things to say about this show, it has its down-falls . The card game can get boring and over done and I end up skipping all of them. Sometimes that ends up being a whole episode. Sometimes it feels like it’s not worth it. There are a lot of filler episodes and two filler seasons. The English adaption also leaves a LARGE gap between the uncut viewers and the ones that grew up on the 4kids edited version. I disliked the series when it was showing on TV but loved the Japanese. The changes are that drastic. Some people view this series as childish and down right silly, but they are only looking on the outside. Yugioh has its deep and serious side about how the mind works, human nature and perhaps a bit of schizophrenia. Over all, I never thought I would like yugioh and now it’s my favorite anime. Just look past the silly card game and you WILL love this series too. And please oh please, I beg of you. If you still don't want to give this anime a chance, at least look up the sound duels. They are definitely worth your time.

Not another card driven game! That is what I thought going into this. I had just gotten over my Pokemon and Digimon phase. So upon seeing this I quirked an eyebrow. However I gave it a whirl and watched it, and by god I actually enjoyed it. The characters are so much more dynamic than most of these genre of shows. There is a plot behind all the games (read the manga for more). The most interesting twist to me was the Egyptian background. That intrigued me to no end to see how exactly that would play out. Surprisingly to me it played out nicely, tying the characters together from their pasts to the here and now. There are a few arcs that also stand out above the rest. The first being the Battle City arc, where we first meet Malik Ishtar who is a young Egpytian boy. The Doma (Doom in the dub) arc that present to us Dartz, the King of Atlantis and his ragtag henchmen. The last arc, that deals with the origins of Yami Yuugi is also the best, and the one I am most fond of. Art and animation quality actually go up as the series goes on. The beginning characters didn't always look their best, but as it progressed the characters started to look good as well. So if you are trying to get someone into a card game based show, dip their feet into anime show them this. However, if you want the more serious and true nature of the show watch it subbed.

Now, when I say ‘Yu-Gi-Oh’, the first thing that comes to mind is probably the opening – with Yugi saying ‘It’s time to Duel’ and the D in Duel just echoes off into infinity… After all, silly little card games is all the show’s about right? Ha ha… WRONG. Sixteen year-old Yugi Mutou (I’ll use their Japanese names if you don’t mind) inherits a golden box from his grandfather, inside are pieces that form a puzzle. After eight years of struggle and determination, Yugi finally finishes this puzzle, but unknown to him are the deep secrets locked within it. Including a 3000 year old spirit, who looks just like him, may I add! With the help of his friends – and sometimes even his bitter rivals, Yugi and his spirit friend, who he at the beginning dubs ‘The Other Me’, (Mou Hitori no Boku) go on many journeys, fight many duels and meet countless people that in the end all return back to the place that these fights began. The place that ‘The Other Yugi’ came from. Egypt. Now now… don’t start twitching when I say that. I mean it. When ‘The Other Yugi’ figures out his past life with the help of his friends, it brings them to Egypt. But don’t let me spoil anymore of it for you! You’ll have to watch to find out all the details that happen.

I have one thing to say for anybody who has watched the show in English, or who hasn't watched the show at all: please, please, please, please watch the Japanese version. The differences are astronomical. When I first starting watching Yugioh as a kid, I loved the American version - as I got more into my teenage years and more and more into anime, I started to watch the show in Japanese. That's when I truly fell in love with it! I love the complexities in the characters and the niches in their relationship. While the story is really very good, it's the characters that make the show outstanding.

Yu-gi-oh: Duel Monsters was one of the very first anime titles I got hooked on in high school and the trading card game that it promoted was also something that I was a casual player of during my time in college. Focused on teenager Yugi Moto possessing an Egyptian artifact called the Millennium Puzzle that lets an ancient spirit possess him to take on enemy threats in Duel Monsters games, I mainly was hooked on the series since it offered a more darker alternative to the more popular and light-hearted Pokemon franchise. Looking back on it now though, I have come to realize that Yu-gi-oh has many issues that plague it throughout its 224-episode run. The most obvious issue that comes with the series is that it mostly exists as a promotion for said mentioned trading card game. Before I go into more depth with this issue, I should provide some quick history. Before the card game took off, the Yu-gi-oh manga source material created by Kazuki Takahashi was more focused on the ancient spirit of the Millennium Puzzle punishing evil characters encountered by Yugi and his friends with Penalty Games that inflicted ironic and often lethal punishments on the mentioned evil-doers. There is even a late-1990s anime adaptation of said series that Toei created covering these early parts of the manga. The card game end of the series came about in some episode arcs where Yugi and his friends got into the card game craze and crossed paths with diehard collector and game champion Seto Kaiba. This part of the series grew so popular that Konami started up their own version of the trading card game that continues to be popular to this day and said popularity led Konami to persuade Kazuki Takahashi to change up his title's story direction to focus more on the trading card game. The influence of Duel Monsters' product promotional influence is rather obvious with the good majority of its title focus. In the same vain as Dragon Ball Z does for shounen battle anime, many of Yu-gi-oh's trademark card game duels often drag out for several episodes at a time and characters often get in the annoying habit of shouting out their moves, what the effects of their cards are, bragging that their strategies are flawless, and our heroic characters lucksacking (for non-card game players, lucksacking means luckily drawing the right card needed by chance) far too often when it appears they are down for the count. The mentioned lucksacking often involves the enemy duelist having some overpowered card or strategy that makes whatever our heroic characters are doing having them struggle to stay in the game until the hero conveniently draws just the card(s) they need to turn the tide of the duel. Even with the card game promotion it does, the Yu-gi-oh anime also obviously does not properly follow the rules of the game that you would follow in real life. I will avoid getting into a long-winded rant about what rules are bent by the anime since it is not relevant for the sake of this review. But obviously, the anime will bend things with the rules of the actual game for the sake of plot convenience and advancement. A number of the overpowered cards from the anime when released in a physical format often have their effects altered or nerfed for the sake of gameplay balance in the real-life trading card game. Also, the rules used for playing the game in the anime are often quite different from the actual game and makes the following the anime not the most reliable means of learning to play the card game, especially with the rampant lucksacking and many of the character decks not being tournament caliber. Western players of the card game will obviously notice this with the Duelist Kingdom arc with gimmicks like land stat boosts and no tributes needed to summon higher-level monsters, while anything from Battle City arc and later is played more closely to the current card game rules albeit with lesser Life Points and some additional rules not found in the real-life game. However for those unaware, Duelist Kingdom arc follows an older version of the card game in Japan that is based on gimmicks following similar rules that the arc plays by. Now let us move on to plot and characters. The gist of the plot involves the adventures of Yugi and his friends as they learn more of the origins of the seven Millennium Items, powerful Egyptian artifacts that possess various magical effects, and the ancient spirit that possesses Yugi's Millennium Puzzle. While the anime offers exploration of these story elements at points throughout the series, they are mostly overshadowed at points by the show's large focus on the card game duels and mostly feels like a backdrop to have a reason for the card games to exist at all. The characters do not get much fleshing out either as they mostly follow standard anime archetypes and exist either as cheerleaders supporting Yugi or other characters during their duels or as opponents built up to be threats until they are inevitably defeated by any major character in the series. Pretty much, plot and characters in this series are nothing but a hollow shell for this series to have its trading card game matches. Many Western audiences will also be familiar with the infamous heavy editing done to the series by 4Kids. Obviously, many of the changes done to the series were done to make Yu-gi-oh appropriate and accessible to younger American audiences with character name changes, objectionable content such as violence and nudity being edited or removed, additional spoken lines of dialogue added that are not found in the original Japanese version, and removing any trace of Japanese dialogue found onscreen. Yet at the same time, these changes can make the series even more of a chore to watch through as they can be insulting to the intelligence of viewers. Mentions of the Shadow Realm are, in many instances, used for the series to get around cases where characters are in life-threatening situations or just got killed. Removing all traces of Japanese onscreen dialogue makes things ridiculous during the card game duels since the original version of the series had all the card text for the cards on them, while the 4Kids version only has the card graphics, stats, and level of each card played thus leaving some to wonder how characters could even know the effects of their own cards. But perhaps the most annoying addition to the series was its incessant habit of talking about friendship constantly throughout the series (the Japanese version also did this to a degree, but not as rampant) and made the character of Yugi's gal pal, Anzu (or Tea for viewers of the 4Kids version), a very hated character among many of the show's fanbase since she was the biggest offender of being so needlessly preachy with discussing friendship. Overall, Yu-gi-oh: Duel Monsters pretty much has all the typical flaws you can find with an anime title being a source of product placement with its plot and characters being thinly veiled excuses to promote the trading card game that is a regular sight throughout the series. Unless you are a younger fan who also enjoys the trading card game, I wouldn't even recommend watching through the 224 episodes of this series as there is little memorable to get out of it beyond the game duels.

First off this was one of the first animes i ever watched.Back then i didn't even know what anime was but it didn't matter to me the only thing i cared about was how it looked and how people at school were playing the card game.So the reasons for liking this anime is because the characters are well developed throughout the show and you get to see different views of the characters and i mean EVERY character for example Yugi (Yami or Atem) is the heroine of the story but we really don't know about his past until later on... Anyway you eventually figure out how his mind (soul) got trapped inside the puzzle and how darker secrets are revealed...Anyway people should watch the Japanese version of this anime because there's alot of content that 4kids took out to show to a younger audience and even the anime has alot of content that the manga doesn't for example...Pegasus actually dies because Bakura pulls out his Millenium Eye and then Bakura licks the blood off the eye.....yeah it's pretty gross i know but it portrays the kind of character Bakura would be like in the future evil and not trustworthy except that his counter part is quite the opposite of him. The art is well made because of the artwork of the monsters and how their attacks reflect the monster.The main characters are well drawn and you got to like Yugi's hair! xD The sound is of a good quality and the voices in the english dubbed version actually match the mouth movement o.o.The voices also sound matched to the character and their personality...even the insane villains. But since it's an english dubbed version from 4kids some voices may seem familiar to you from other shows or animes.For example Kaiba's voice is one of the annoucer guys that says which anime is up next on the 4kids channel..i was loled at that because he says Yugioh is up next... and then his voice is heard a few minutes into the anime xD. So overall the enjoyment is great which is why it is one of the more popular animes in North America. So while you are watching this anime you could get so into it that you might want to try and buy that rare legendary card you see in the show. So overall i'm going to rate this anime an 8/10 because there are too many times when they develop the chracters over and over again...they usually do this during a duel so it gets very annoying because you want to see what cards they are going to play not how sad Tea is because she's afraid that Yugi will lose the duel -_-. So yeah you should also check out the sequels to this anime like Yu-Gi-Oh GX and Yu-Gi-Oh 5D's because it gives a whole different twist to the kinds of characters that the anime Yu-Gi-Oh can develop as well as fantastic artwork to the monsters.

When I first heard of "Yu-Gi-Oh!", I wasn't that interested about it, but when I finally a few episodes, I wanted to know what happened next. Sooner or later, I became a fan. The characters are very driven in their strengths and abilities and it doesn't center around the card game all the time. It centers around the themes of fate vs. destiny and mysteries of one's past. I found most of them quite intriguing and enjoyable to hear and watch. The antagonists are the most interesting since they have their own motives and agendas, so it's a mystery to what their true objective is. The voice actors are amazing and have a lot of talent. I've watched both the English and Japanese versions and have enjoyed both. So, if you want a anime with characters and action, I'd recommend Yu-Gi-Oh!

It's time to d-d-d-d—d-d-d-d-d-d-do a review! *checks that off the overdone memetic references list* Every dubbing company has their golden goose: FUNimation has Dragon Ball Z. ADV Films had Evangelion. Animaze had Cowboy Bebop. 4KIDS had two: Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh!, although it was the latter that defined their dubs. Yu-Gi-Oh! is most well-known for being about card games, although the series originally was just a dark shounen that used games in place of the typical shounen battles. Indeed, “Yu-Gi-Oh!” directly translates to “King of Games!”, and arguably it's kept that title, at least when it comes to game-related anime. The franchise as a whole had been in Japan for a few years before the second anime was brought over by 4KIDS, the first episode airing on Kids' WB just mere weeks after 9/11. What does this have to do with this show? Nothing, really, but I thought the timing was oddly interesting. Kids take comfort in their favorite things, cartoons being one of them, and it was a scary, confusing time for children; I know it was for nine-year-old me, and Kids' WB was one of my escapes. The voice actors had to have at least known of this, so perhaps this could explain the influx in performances, in how this was the best we've heard from them at the time. So tuning in that one Saturday morning and watching the premiere had to be mesmerizing to children from how over-the-top everything was next to the cool monster designs and the Egyptian themes (at least in the beginning), and big hair. Not to mention the friendship and “heart of the cards!” speeches, which had some actual meaning at that time in the anime. And then, with a cry of “Yu-Gi-OHHHHHHHHHH!”, Dan Green climbed his way to stardom, and Yu-Gi-Oh! quickly became a smash hit—while not to the same worldwide phenomenon as it was with Pokémon, it was just as a big name on the playground, even more-so once the merchandise (e.g. the actual card game) was released. It enjoyed that luxury for a few years, but it made the rest of my elementary school years a little bit interesting. STORY: The first episode begins with a narration about how 5,000 years ago (from the original 3,000), a pharaoh sealing away dangerous “shadow games” using Millennium Items, and how a boy named Yugi Muto (well, Moto in the dub) solved the Millennium Puzzle that houses a spirit that now shares his body. But outside of that, it's... hard to pinpoint a story for Duel Monsters as it goes through different changes in narrative with each new arc. The anime picks up where Toei's anime leaves off—somewhat—meaning it completely ignores it ever happened, forcing Yugi's story to be shoved into condensed flashbacks throughout the Duelist Kingdom arc. It's also why Seto Kaiba has a bland brown mullet instead of his vibrant green in the original, though his psychotic nature carried over in the beginning because he still had a hate-boner for Yugi, but since the Death-T arc wasn't included, no one who hasn't read the manga noticed it. Besides, all everyone remembers from the first episode is “Exodia, OBLITERATE!” and Kaiba screaming as his three signature Blue-Eyes White Dragons explode and he gets a mind crush which allowed him to heal his heart over time—somehow, since the anime didn't bother explaining it. But basically, the bare bones of the story is about Yugi Moto and his friends, the delinquents Joey Wheeler and Tristan Taylor, and his best friend and crush Téa Gardner, playing a card game called Duel Monsters in such seriousness against other duelists who range from just wanting to be the best duelist in the Duelist Kingdom or the entire world, to those who legit want to take over the world (or even destroy it in severe cases). They sometimes befriend these duelists such as Mai Valentine, Duke Devlin and Maximillion Pegasus (oops, “spoilers” I guess), or become enemies like with Rex Raptor and Weevil Underwood, two characters who honestly don't have much importance after the Battle City arc, but the Waking the Dragons filler arc tried to give them something. Anyhoo, moving on, the main catalyst for why these duels keep happening, however, is because of the Millennium Items, such as the Millennium Puzzle Yugi has. At first, he was unaware of the spirit, later to be known as Yami Yugi, possessing him in times of need, but eventually, Yugi and his friends come to terms with and get to know Yami more. Duelist Kingdom puts more emphasis on the Duel Monsters card game than with the Millennium Items, but it gradually brings them into the plot and sheds more light on their secrets, what happened in ancient Egypt, and Yami himself. It just takes a good 200 episodes and lots more characters and monsters (such as the Egyptian God cards) to get to that reveal. Needless to say, as interesting as the plot can be, and some arcs are better than others, be prepared to go through some silly bullshit with some occasional good twists (if you call them that nowadays). Hope you like holographic card games and endless prattling on of how cards work in play, because there's enough to drive you mad. CHARACTERS: For a show about card games that was an advertisement for merchandise, the large cast of characters are surprisingly diverse (mostly in design as this show practically popularized anime hair—intentional on the creator's part, funnily enough) and well-remembered, for better or for worse. The main cast seemingly have one-note personalities, but they show hidden sides of themselves through backstory or when they're pushed into a corner during a duel. Yugi, as the main character, has motives and developmental growth as the plot was essentially kicked off (via backstory) because he wanted to make friends, and also to become independent. Yami was essentially his “alter ego”, a way for Yugi to be someone he could never be, but could strive to be (once he stopped using the mind crush penalty game as a direct result from being influenced by Yugi's compassion). However, Kaiba is the one who changes the most. Compare from when he literally hospitalized Yugi's grandfather just to get revenge on Yugi to when he had to team up with Yugi to save the world from destruction (at least twice, but fillers “don't count”)—although this was the result of Yami's mind crush taking effect. Joey gets his fair share of character development, particularly when it comes to being a duelist as he was one of the worst from the start. But with Yugi's help in learning how to make a good deck and strategies, he becomes one of the best duelists in the show, and his duels have the most emotional—to an extent—and meaningful impact as a character. This is due to his determination and eagerness to learn so he could climb to the top in Duelist Kingdom for the sole purpose of getting the prize money to pay for his little sister's eye surgery. As for Tristan and Téa, they can duel, but they're delegated to being cheerleaders instead and they don't get out of that role. Outside of Yugi's circle of friends, we get recurring characters such as Bakura Ryou, Duke, and Mai, though their roles are different depending on the arc. The antagonists are some of the most popular of the series, starting with Maximillion Pegasus who has remained the most well-known to this day, even if it was only because of how charismatic and foppish he is. Each has their own motives for why they went after Yugi, but they all stem from wanting possession of the Millennium Items. Marik Ishtar was the first in which a villain was legitimately threatening (Yami Bakura would take his place later, though he was basically the driving antagonistic force throughout the series), although his presence also was what changed the tone of the series and foreshadowed what was to come. (The Virtual World/Noah filler arc interrupted the dark tone—and the Battle City arc in general—to put space between the anime and manga, but did so by bringing back the Big Five, the executives of KaibaCorp who were defeated in a small anime…

I absolutely adore this anime. I remember being 8 years old and rushing home from school to watch my VHS Yu-Gi-Oh! episodes that my mother borrowed for me from the library. I got teased for being a girl and liking this show. Actually, I still do! :) Story - A teenage boy named Yugi Mutou solves the Millennium Puzzle, which is an ancient Egyptian artifact. The puzzle is possessed by the spirit of an ancient pharaoh (Atem, Yu-Gi-Oh!, King of Games, etc.) The pharaoh remembers nothing of his past, besides the fact that he previously resided in Egypt. Yugi's grandfather owns a game shop, so he gets his deck of cards from him. The show is basically about a card game (or Duel Monsters). Yugi wants to help the spirit figure out the truth of his past, so he goes on a quest to find all 7 Millennium items and 3 very powerful cards called the Egyptian God Cards. Along the way, he travels with his group of best friends, defeats great duelists, and even makes some enemies too. Art - I really like the art in this anime. I think it fits very well with the series. The character designs are very unique, particularly Yugi's. You couldn't mistake that crazy, spiky, multicolored hair for any other anime character, after all. The monster designs are pretty cool, especially the dragon ones. They look pretty awesome, but a lot of others are cool too. The God Cards look pretty badass, even if the Winged Dragon of Ra is a mega ultra chicken (YGOTAS reference! :P) Sound - I love all of the openings and endings for YGO. Even the 4Kids one is good. The voice acting is awesome too, and this goes for the English dubbed version as well! It's pretty rare that I actually like the dub as much as the original Japanese version. The background music fits very well with the scenes as well. Character - The characters in this show are great. Yugi's friends are awesome. I think one of the best characters is Seto Kaiba; he's a really cool rival. He may act like a total douche, but I think on the inside he knows that he and Yugi are friends. Anzu/Tea is kind of pathetic, and I think she was only added so that there would be a female in the main cast. But still, it wouldn't be the same without her. Jonouchi/Joey pretty much won most of the time because of sheer luck, but he still developed a lot throughout the series and by the end of the series he learned a lot. Honda/Tristan? Well, I have no idea what his purpose was. I guess to make Yugi look better. But still, like Anzu, it wouldn't be the same without him. As feminine as they were, Pegasus, Marik/Malik, Dartz, and Yami Bakura were badass villains. Of course, I'm sure you could tell by my username, but Mai is my personal favorite character. :P Even if she didn't win a single card game on screen. Enjoyment - I enjoyed every last second of this anime. Sure, you could argue that there's too many card games and not enough character development, but it is for a younger audience. When I was little, I didn't notice anything wrong besides the fact that Yugi always wins. I enjoyed this anime so much, that I teared up when I watched the last episode. Luckily, I soon discovered GX so I wasn't as depressed. Basically, this is a very fun anime and I highly recommend it to anyone. Overall - As you've probably gathered from my review, this is one of my favorite anime of all time and I love it to bits and pieces. It may be just because of nostalgia, but still, it's definitely worth your time.

I actually started watching Yu-Gi-Oh! After having seen the GX edition to the series. The reason for this was actually, Yu-Gi-Oh! didn't air on tv here exept for GX.. But I loved it anyways and that made me check out this anime. And I Must say I am rather pleased and glad I took my time to watch this. What's mere fun turns into a nightmare in this classic Yu-Gi-Oh! Anime. A Cardgame unidentical to any others.. Duel Monsters is the new cardgame created and probably the most popular one ever as there are held contests and tournaments about it. Yugi Muto is just your average boy, Until one day he recieves a puzzle from his grandpa whom contained something noone would have expected.. The soul of the ancient egyptian pharaoh. But what's more, He can't seem to have any memories or recall anything about his past. Dreams turn into nightmares as this tale about Friendship, Heartbreak and Monsters unfolds.. As the show goes on it will come with new twists and ordeals along the way, Yu-Gi-Oh! Is one of that kind of anime who can keep you watching all night. It pulls you inn so you won't be able to stop watching. New friends, New Enemies and New Places to go.. The show will build out in ways noone would have seen coming as you get longer into the show. Not to much romance but there are some mildly.. I found the show rather addicting and I was almost too fond of it as the show left me crying my eyes out more than once in the show. Do you think its time to watch an anime about a cardgame like no other? Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters is the anime for you.. ''-Believe in the Heart of the Cards''

Despite it being an anime about games, it has one of the most compelling stories, and some of the best character development I've ever seen in an anime. I mean seriously, watching the series again, and having a taste of what their lives where like before the series (Toei's version), I've found that each character has so much significance in the story, and every little detail, like the decks they use, reflect both their character's personality, and the overall arch of the story. And aside from saving the world from ancient magic and supernatural like that, The series invokes a quest for self-actualization, inspired by Yugi's wish for friends. It's almost criminal that 4Kids dubbed this series, because they delivered such beautiful moments between characters so poorly that it ruins the emotion displayed in it. And Yugi's voice cracks where pretty hilarious. Dan Green, what happened in those Episodes? The actual animation can range from being really great, to being... really, really poor. Some episodes actually gave This is one of the few that actually made me cry a bit when it got closer to the end. And that's saying something, coming from me. And if you watched from beginning to end, I think you would, too. The only thing I truly disliked was that the main villain of the series (SPOILERS) didn't have a lot of build up, despite him being there throughout the whole series. I knew Bakura's ring was evil, but somehow he felt so minor until right at the end. That being said, he has grown to be the most intimidating villain I have ever seen in an anime. Overall, Yu-Gi-Oh! is a fantastically solid series, and even though the english OPs are fun to watch, I wish I could have watched the original Japanese. But either way, the fantastic story overpowers the cheesiness.

I think most people / otaku would be lying if they said they have not enjoyed at least one mainstream Americanized anime show. Yu-Gi-Oh! In my personal opinion was one of the better translations and it has obviously done pretty well with merchandise and stuff. As a side note the actual game duel monsters is actually very good and I have played a few of the older tag force PSP games. At this point in time I have seen ALL of the original series and am on the last season of GX (which is also half decent but not better than the this). Animation The animation is pretty good, as most fanboys probably noticed 4kids did some heavy editing on Yu-Gi-Oh! as the original Japanese version includes guns, knives and even blood! Character designs can often stand out erratically, from Yugi’s hairstyle, to Marik’s evil face. Monster card designs are pretty damn cool I must admit, some monsters just look real dangerous (slifer the sky dragon) and others look ridiculously pathetic (karibo) but its all appropriate. Sound Yu-Gi-Oh! Has some VERY humorous dialogue from various characters (Kaiba for example) which are provided by a good cast of English voice actors, this is the main reason why I think Yu-Gi-Oh! did so well in the western part of the world, it all comes together fluently and easy to understand even during technical battle explanations. The English Opening “YOUR MOVE” was quite catchy as well. Story Yu-Gi-Oh! Had quite a good story to build from as an adventure type. You had a kid with a double personality which was actually a spirit looking for the millennium items and his own identity, These items could only be obtained by having a shadow duel and (depending on which version you want to believe the original Jap or 4kids) if you lose you basically die. LOL The card game incorporated into the series (duel monsters) was one made of a combination including strategy, power, good luck and lol “the heart of the cards”. Almost each episode contained duels with various monsters and magic powers which in some cases where cool as hell (Some cards could actually send you to hell-like places lol). It was very interesting to watch and at times humorous. To think a card called toon baby dragon could beat black luster soldier haha thats Yu-Gi-Oh! For ya! Character Characters range from good guys to bad guys and there is hardly any between. I found most of the good guys where boring except kiba. It was mostly the bad guys and the duels they provided what made the characters good. I mean Marik & Bakura were pure evil but their threats to peoples lives just made them more interesting. Pegasus was a joker, Kaiba was harsh and Joey Wheeler was just dumb lucky. Enjoyment I will say I thoroughly enjoyed watching Yu-Gi-Oh! As I felt it was very entertaining, had a half decent story and had an excellent in-Game idea, unlike many other LAME Americanized Japanese anime e.g. monster rancher, beyblade etc. I felt Yu-Gi-Oh! actually made a good mark on the anime scene IMHO. Yes it had its downsides and it got korny at times but overall it was enjoyable and I saw some excellent / complex battles that actually made sense and could be played on a console with friends in real life. Value Value I believe is 50/50 because I feel like other people would either like Yu-Gi-Oh! or hate it so I would have to let the viewer decide. Personally I think it is a good value series ESPICALLY for young adults & kids alike. Planet Tyro Rating: High Solid B planettyro.com

Yu-Gi-Oh, mais conhecido por, truco das trevas, o 21 do cão ou ,para os mais íntimos, "baralho do djabo" (apelido carinhoso dado por GIlberto Barros) foi um dos animes mais populares do Brasil e queridos da minha infância (ps. Volta PlayTV o mundo era melhor quando você existia). Guardo memórias muito boas desse anime! OBRIGADO YUGI, OBRIGADO POR TRAPACEAR FRIAMENTE EM TODOS OS DUELOS, MUITO OBRIGADO POR ENVELHECER O MAGO NEGRO E TRANSFORMÁ-LO NA PORRA DO SÁBIO NEGRO!! OBRIGADO DO JOEY POR SER UM BOBÃO OBRIGADO TRISTAN POR VIRAR UM MACACO ROBÔ OBRIGADO THEA POR SER UMA CHATA OBRIGADO BAKURA POR SER UM EMO OBRIGADO MOKUBA POR SER UM INSUPORTÁVEL e finalmente...........OBRIGADO KAIBA, E SIM, VOCÊ PODE VER UMA CARTA SIM! Descane em paz Mestre Takahashi.

I finally got around to watching this series and I got to say I enjoyed it. sure there were times when your were pulling your hair because of a useless side plot but hey what anime doesn't have that. I loved the way the ancient Egyptian culture was shown. and I loved the character's, some of them were useless, like Taya did literally nothing the entire show. and Tristan was funny most of the time but he did pretty much nothing too. This is one of those rare shows where I would recommend the 4kids dub. Although some very noticeable editing is in place such as guys pointing their fingers at somebody ( clearly a gun was there before) and some other things. yugi and yami yugi is voiced by dan green and it is a perfect fit as well as eric stuart as seto kaiba ( and what a character he is) I almost cried at the end of the series and I highly recommend the watch.

Like many others of my generation, I've been on a nostalgic Yugioh craze since learning about the new movie that was just released in April this year. While Yugioh will always hold a special place in my heart due to the impact it had on my childhood years, I have purposefully re-watched all 224 episodes of this show with a critical eye and sadly cannot bring myself to give it a higher score. Unfortunately, Yugioh is a prime example of an amazing premise that suffers from poor execution. (Also of note, my review will refer to the dub names/situations- although I am aware of the changes that 4kids made to the original sub...) Warning, this WILL be a LONG REVIEW for a LONG anime Story: (7) It hurts me to give a score this low to an anime that could have easily deserved a 9 or 10 for its ingenious premise: incorporating ancient Egypt (when do we ever see this?!) into our modern-day 21st century society. Additionally, the whole system of the Duel Monsters card game is incredibly creative! It's hard to believe that one guy is behind all the different monster, spell, and trap cards. *It's important to remember that, in this original Yugioh series, the mangaka Kazuki Takahashi was still trying to figure out the exact rules of the card game that he was essentially creating from scratch at this point in time...so of course it would seem like the characters are cheating because the rules of the actual TCG changed only AFTER the story of Yugioh was complete.* Also of note, while the dub contains egregious amounts of censoring out violence, I do think that 4kids made a smart move by including the shadow realm. Others may disagree with me, but having to spend an eternity with your mind trapped in a terrifying place sounds like a much harsher punishment than just *death*. Despite all these promising plot devices, it's impossible to overlook the many facets of the story that are underdeveloped due to much of the background development of our two main characters getting skipped over. This development is extremely important because this particular story only works well if it ultimately centers around both Yuugi and his alter-ego, Yami's, character development. Because this is an adaptation, I wish to look at what the story could have been if it had stayed truer to the manga. *SPOILERS IN THIS NEXT SECTION* I do recognize that this adaptation bears no connection to the Toei Yugioh adaptation (also known as season 0) and that the subtitle of the title is DUEL MONSTERS...so of course it would center on the Duel Monsters card game..but I still honestly believe Studio Pierrot missed out because of the decision to leave out the early "school" days arc in which Yuugi was still a timid boy who was bullied at school and the spirit inside the puzzle was a psychopathic sadist akin to a serial killer. Instead the whole anime starts off with Yuugi already surrounded by friends with no signs of a troubled social life. Also, it would have added so much to the overall plotline if just ONE EPISODE was included early on that explained exactly how Yuugi met his two best bros, Joey and Tristan, in the manga. Studio Pierrot tried to hide bits and pieces of this in the middle of the series (like episode 70ish) of how Yuugi stood up for Joey and Tristan, his two most prominent bullies, when they were getting pummeled by an even bigger bully. Unfortunately many viewers probably won't even reach this point of the show because, due to the way this studio handles this adaptation, the overall premise of Yugioh seems like your typical shounen show in which the main protagonist starts off as a confident kid who is more than ready to accept the call to save the world. Yuugi is supposed to be set apart from the typical shounen genre hero! I will expand on this and pacing more under the character section. *END OF SPOILERS* Finally, the pacing of the show varies from good to extremely poor. The pacing of each episode can seem a little slow/drawn out. Generally the duels could have finished about 10-20 minutes earlier if the characters cut out all their trash-talking...but it's something that can be overlooked when remembering that these characters are competing in tournaments akin to your typical video game or sports match that can't be complete without the trash talk. The pacing for each season and the series as a whole does a pretty good job for your typical shounen series of building up the suspense to the last big villain duels. The pacing within the seasons of Duelist Kingdom and Battle City grabbed the viewers' attention well. My only gripe is that the Virtual World filler arc occurred right between the Battle City semi-finals and finals which totally threw off the pacing and suspense of the main plotline. Art: (6) I'll cover the good first: the character designs are outstanding! Kazuki Takahashi, the mangaka, did an excellent job making these characters STAND OUT from the rest of the anime/manga crowd, and I appreciate the fact that the animation studio chose to stay as close to his original designs as possible. Additionally, the overall bright color palette highlights all the different monster designs and the "shounen-ness" well... BUT, THIS DOES NOT EXCUSE THE INCONSISTENCIES BETWEEN EPISODES. Yes, I do realize that this aired from 2000 to 2004. Yes, I do realize that this is a long-running show which leaves more room for error/inconsistencies between the animation quality of episodes. BUT, the character designs should not change as often as they do!! In many episodes, the characters look much more bishie, the heights of characters fall all over the place, and OHGAWD, can we talk about Yuugi's hair?!? His hair, by nature, is incredibly extravagant... but it's not that huge! In many episodes it makes up HALF OF HIS ALREADY SHORT HEIGHT. -.- The lack of communication and accountability on Studio Pierrot's part regarding consistency when they asked other studios to animate certain episodes turned out to be an unfortunate oversight. Some episodes look excellent and could fit in right with the shows that are currently airing. Others are animated so poorly that the faces in the background look like sad little blobs with horribly deformed eyes. Sound: (7) In regards to the dub: while cheesy with the stuttering (D-x9-Duels!), the opening theme is pretty epic. The ominous melody does prepare viewers to watch a pretty dark (children's) show. The motif within the last 10 seconds of the opening reappears often in the show as the "heroic" theme and becomes very memorable. In general, the American soundtrack really likes to utilize horns, the typical heroic instrument. In all honesty, many songs of the OST sound pretty generic on their own, but they do highlight the characters/certain situations well (i.e. Pegasus' theme, the theme of the Egyptian god cards, Seal of Orichalcos, etc.) In regards to the sub: the pretty upbeat openings and endings highlight the positivity of Yuugi, our true main character, and his coming-of-age journey with his friends incredibly well. The heavy use of strings in this OST successfully highlights the much more melancholic vibe/atmosphere of the original Japanese characterizations of Yuugi and Yami. Unfortunately, many of the songs do end up sounding quite similar to each other because of the heavy-use of strings. Overall though, the soundtracks of both the dub and sub fit the respective tone of the series they hope to portray- American: heroic and Japanese more humanistic, melancholic. Characters: (8) The characters of Yugioh make the show truly memorable. I appreciate that Yuugi's group of friends really breaks the typical high school stereotype. Unlike other shounen shows that don't even take place in a setting similar to our mundane real world lives, the friendship dynamic of Yuugi, Joey, Tristan, and Tea are a breath of fresh air. Yuugi begins as your typical geeky/nerdy kid who loves games, and somehow becomes best friends wi…

Well here is a flashback to my childhood. When I was younger, I had the cards, played the card game, and tried to watch the show rather religiously. Now as I have gotten older, the first series to me is the best out of them all. It was simple during that time, no pendulum summons, no ‘playing on motorcycles’ and so on. I will try hard not to spoil anything but it is really hard not to when the whole show is based Tournament style. To talk about the story, one must first remember I watch English dubs, so this will all be based on the English dub that I know has been changed around because of 4Kids… which means I am also looking at the second anime. Yes, there were two Anime (this surprised me as well when I was looking it up) There is an anime that was before the one we all know and love. The second thing to remember is that in the world this show is based off of, Dual Monsters is based off of an Egyptian game played thousands of years ago. A lot of which means HUGE SPOILERS that will make the story have no sense until those spoilers are brought up within the show. Basic just of the show is Yugi is (I think) a middle school boy who one day gets a strange puzzle from his Grandfather to put together. He actually does figure it out and is made the host of a mysterious spirit from Egyptian times who was within the puzzle. From there, every time him and his friends are in trouble, this spirit comes out and duals the person bothering them. That’s basic just of this series as there are a bunch of ‘arcs’ in it. The first arc is Yugi’s Grandfather being kidnapped by Pegasus… excuse me, just Yugi’s Grandfather’s soul if you want to get technical. This means Yugi and his friends end up going to Pegasus’ Island to Battle in the Duelist Kingdom. The second arc is the Battle City Arc where Kaiba learns of three powerful god cards and wants to take them for himself so Yugi and the gang end up dueling in that. The Third Arc was basically Dual Monsters with Dice which didn’t last too long, followed by Legendary Heroes which was an arc that took place within a virtual game. That Is all the arcs I remember at least and who stood out. So that’s the arcs, what about the characters? Let’s start out with our main character, Yugi. Yugi Muto is a very young looking, kind hearted child who loves games and puzzles. It’s a little hard to talk about him as there are pretty much two sides to him, the normal young and sweet boy and the spirit that lives within the millennium Puzzle. The two blend so well at times that I do consider them one and the same at least till later on in the series. The sad part is that there isn’t much else I could talk about for Yugi. He doesn’t stand out when you look at the fact he is the main character and the one the show is named after. His father is not really talked about really, he lives with his Grandfather managing the family game store, but other then that there isn’t much else. His friends are a bit more interesting in personality like Joey. Joey Wheeler is one of Yugi’s best friends, but even the show didn’t start out that way really. It started out with Joey and Tristan bullying Yugi which ended up with Joey somehow. Throughout the whole series, Joey grows from a smart ass troublemaker type kid to a more responsible and loyal friend. Yugi pretty much stays the same but this growth is what really makes Joey stand out over Yugi. Next is Tea. Tea feels much like a token female in the group. She is cheerful, down to earth, and acts like a mother figure when the group needs a shoulder to lean on. Unfortunately, they also made her a stereotype of a girl in at least the 4kids aspect, becoming jealous of other women and in how she talks sometimes. I’m not sure if she is like that in the Japanese version, but there was always something off about her and the way she was betrayed as the weakest of the group. Tristan sadly feels like the oddball out. I don’t think I remember any time that they centered on him or gave him a chance to stand out. If they did, he really didn’t catch my attention at all during then. Where Tea is the weakest in terms of strength while dueling, Tristan is weakest in terms of just overall personality. The artwork of this show is really spiky. This is one of those very interesting shows with the overly unrealistic hair style. I do not know how much gel each of those characters use, but I do vote that Yugi uses more then anyone. The show started out rather natural with school boy and girl outfits and normal looking clothing, but as the show goes on it gets more and more punk rocker style. They add chains after chains on them, the belts get a bit thicker, and even Tea started to show off her midrift. The bodies of the characters are normally all very skinny with pretty long legs and arms although its not as crazy as shows like xxxHolic. The lip sink starts out not that good and then gets better with time but considering it was 4Kids who dubbed the show, I chalk it up to them. So, onto the English voices… This was done by 4kids so how was it? Actually, I don’t think they did half bad. It didn’t make me bleed out my ears, the voices at least sounded reasonable for the people who were talking and even the accents of some of the side characters didn’t bug me. I think the most that bothered me was the script and how dumbed down they had made it. It is really clear how they tried to make the show more American then Japanese and sometimes their ‘teen lingo’ seemed dated. Otherwise, its actually one of the very few that they didn’t butcher. So what exactly could I say about this? Well, its nostalgia plan and simple. It’s a children’s show and it will always be a children’s show show unless they come out with a new dub for it without cuts. Don’t let the fact that 4Kids had a hand in the show turn you away from at least trying the show.

This was my favorite anime as a teenager, but now it isn't. The aspect of Yugioh that I loved were the characters like Seto Kaiba,Yami Marik,Spirit of the Ring/Thief King. The problem with this anime is that(other than Tea in season 1) they play and talk during a card game and but the story of basically every season is good. You could just skip to episode 199(The Egyptian Season) its the best arc of the series

It was a good show. Yu-Gi-Oh was one of the anime I used to grow up watching anime like Yu-Gi-Oh, Pokemon, Beyblade and Dragonball Z. What made this anime most exciting was the Trading Card Game they played, which was huge at the time with kids who were my age. The characters had great personalities and they were one of a kind in their own part of the plot. Seto Kaiba was a great rival for Yugi (I don't think they could have made anyone better) and the best bad guy of the entire series was YamiMarik from seasons 2 and 3. The best episodes of Yu-Gi-Oh were the Battle City finals and the Virtual World in Season 3 Enter The Shadow Realm. Although the duels were good the only thing that would turn you down about them was the fact that they were long and repetitive. Still nothing is perfect and there is always going to be something you don't enjoy about a film or a TV series. There are specific episodes in the series that they managed to fit a whole duel into one episode (which was very good and entertaining if you think they were entertaining enough). I have seen the sequels to Yu-Gi-Oh like GX and 5D's. These ones as such are alright but none can compare to the original. If you can follow Yu-Gi-Oh I think that it can be a great anime to make FanFictions on, and for watching the series I would recommend it mainly to kids between the ages of 10 and 13. It can be enjoyable to watch if you still enjoy the card game though. Hope my review helps anyone who was considering watching this anime.

I think I'm on the right season, but apologies if not. Another mini review by Waldy565 :D - just two more shows to review now, Pani Poni Dash and Gurren Lagann. So, I went into this anime with expectations set low, after all, I'd grown up in a generation where you were a Pokemon fan, a Yu-Gi-Oh fan or a Digimon fan, and me and my friends were massive Pokemon fans. (And still are). I did have a friend however who was in to Yu-Gi-Oh, so I had dabbled in the game, but all the stats flew by me when I was a kid, I enjoyed the simplicity of Pokemon much more, and it took over, but I gave the anime the benefit of the doubt, and decided to take a look...Ugh... The voice acting is what first hit me. It's not terrible... Well, OK, what I mean is it possibly tries to be cheesy, but in a funny way, and falls flat on it's face. They're all lines like: "Hang in there!", "You can do it!" etc. I mean, that dialogue isn't too bad, and the script wouldn't be half as bad if it was done decentley, I mean, you have a gritty antagonist, a "almost about to die" grandfather, a girl who says things like "You should be ashamed of yourself"... but I digress... The animation is also what caught me. It's also not the worst I've seen, but it's been done a lot better. To be generous, there's no clipping or any mistake like that that would completely jar the experience, but what did jar it for me was the lip synchronization. It was terrible! Long words were spoke, and the characters mouth would just move into an "o" shape and back, without rhyme or rhythm. Sure, this happens on stuff like Pokemon as well, but Pokemon's still going strong and attracting fans almost every day, and everyone knows Pikachu over Blue Eyes White Dragon (but DAYUM does that card bring back nostalgia memories haha!) Overall, Yu-Gi-Oh is OK for what it is, an anime based off the card game. Generic characters that you can't really get attached too? Hell yes. A story that jumps all over the damn place? You got it. But it does a good job at promoting the series, and some of the card battles are awesome. To give it a JeremyJahms (search him up on Youtube) review, this is a good time... with alcohol ;)