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is a Japanese manga created by Kazuki Takahashi, which has spawned a franchise including multiple anime series, a trading card game, and numerous video games. Most of the incarnations of the franchise involve the fictional card game called Duel Monsters (originally known as Magic & Wizards), wherein each player uses cards in order to defeat one another, on which the Yu-Gi-Oh trading card game is based.
u-Gi-Oh! tells the tale of Yugi Mutou, a shorter-than-normal high school student who was given an ancient Egyptian artifact known as the Millennium Puzzle in pieces by his grandfather.
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Quotations
Joey: to the duelist who had called him a nobody HEY! NOBODY BUT NOBODY CALLS ME A NOBODY YOU BUNCH OF NOBODIES!
Grandpa: Well, as those kids would say, time to kick it old school.
Joey: Hey Kaiba, maybe we should duel sometime.Kaiba: No thanks, I think I will have much more of a challenge playing solitaire.
Joey: I'm bad, you know it! I'm bad, I'll show it!!
Kaiba: If I had a nickel for every time you said the word 'destiny,' I'd be even richer.
Kaiba: Kneel at my feet like the snivelling dog you are!
Encyclopedia
is a Japanese manga created by Kazuki Takahashi, which has spawned a franchise including multiple anime series, a trading card game, and numerous video games. Most of the incarnations of the franchise involve the fictional card game called Duel Monsters (originally known as Magic & Wizards), wherein each player uses cards in order to defeat one another, on which the Yu-Gi-Oh trading card game is based.
Central plots
Yu-Gi-Oh! tells the tale of Yugi Mutou, a shorter-than-normal high school student who was given an ancient Egyptian artifact known as the Millennium Puzzle in pieces by his grandfather. Upon completing the Puzzle, he is possessed by another personality which is later discovered to be a 3,000-year-old spirit (5,000-year-old in the English anime) who forgot everything from his time. As the story goes on, the two of them, together with Yugi's friends, try to find the secret of the Pharaoh's lost memories and his name by way of the card game Duel Monsters (Magic & Wizards in the original Japanese manga and Yu-Gi-Oh! R), which is mirrored in the Shadow Games (Yami no Game in Japanese).
Yu-Gi-Oh! GX follows the story of Jaden Yuki (Judai Yuki in the Japanese version), a young talented duelist who is given the card "Winged Kuriboh" by Yugi before Jaden's admission to Duel Academy (Duel Academia in the Japanese version), an elitist boarding school established by Seto Kaiba. Jaden, receiving low marks in his admission tests, is placed in the Slifer Red dormitory (Osiris Red) reserved for students with the lowest grades. The story goes on as Jaden faces challenges from different students in Duel Academy, and later finds himself entangled in a conflict related to the hidden secrets of the academy.
Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's is set in a distant future where the residents of poverty-stricken Satellite provide the manpower to sustain a utopia called New Domino City (Neo Domino City in the Japanese version), a futuristic version of the city of Domino where the events of the original Yu-Gi-Oh! took place. The story centers around five characters known as Signers, who have birthmarks bearing one part of a monster called the Crimson Dragon which devastated the world in the past.
Characters
The main characters of Yu-Gi-Oh! (all anime, manga and movies except Yu-Gi-Oh! GX and Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's) is Yugi Mutou (Yugi Moto in the English anime), a shy, pure-hearted high school student and gaming expert who possesses an ancient Egyptian relic called the Millennium Puzzle, and the Nameless Pharaoh (Namonaki Pharaoh in Japanese) or Dark Yugi (also known as Yami Yugi, "the other Yugi", and eventually "Atem"; the latter is his real name, revealed only near the end of the series), a darker personality held in the Puzzle. Yugi's best friends, Katsuya Jounouchi (Joey Wheeler), Anzu Mazaki (Téa Gardner), and Hiroto Honda (Tristan Taylor) are also primary characters, as well as Yugi's main rival, Seto Kaiba.
The main character of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX is Jaden Yuki (Judai Yuki in the Japanese versions), an energetic boy who possesses great talents in Duel Monsters and can also communicate with the spirits of certain cards.
The main character of Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds is Satellite resident Yusei Fudo, a genius duelist and Signer on whom the story centers. His rival is another Signer: Jack Atlas, who betrayed Yusei and his friends in order to get out of Satellite. Other important characters are Rex Goodwin, who leads an organization seeking to revive the Crimson Dragon, and Akiza, another Signer and psychic duelist who suffers from a split personality.
The Duel Monsters themselves, as the primary battle agents in the series' card duels, come into play as characters from time to time, especially Kuriboh, Dark Magician, Dark Magician Girl, Jinzo, and the Ojama Trio. Generally, Duel Monsters like the Egyptian God Cards, The Legendary Dragons, the Sacred Beast Cards and the Five Dragons of 5D's are of much greater importance to the various storylines than other Duel Monsters.
Media
Manga
Yu-Gi-Oh!
Running from 1996 to March 8, 2004, the Yu-Gi-Oh! manga created by Kazuki Takahashi was one of the most popular titles featured in Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump. The manga initially focuses on Yugi Mutou, as he uses games designed by Pegasus to fight various villains. Yugi also gets into misadventures with his friends Katsuya Jonouchi, Anzu Mazaki, and Hiroto Honda. The plot starts out as fairly episodic and there are only three instances of Magic and Wizards in the first seven volumes. Starting around the eighth volume, the Duelist Kingdom arc starts and the plot shifts to a Duel Monsters-centered universe.
The editors were Yoshihisa Heishi and Hisao Shimada. Kazuki Takahashi credits Toshimasa Takahashi in the "Special Thanks" column.
The English version of the Yu-Gi-Oh! manga is released in the United States and Canada by VIZ Media in both the Shonen Jump magazine and in individual graphic novels. The original Japanese character names are kept for most of the characters (Yugi, Jonouchi, Anzu, and Honda, for instance), while the English names are used for a few characters (e.g. Maximillion Pegasus) and for the Duel Monsters cards. Published in its original right-to-left format, the manga is largely unedited. The translators of the English manga are (for Volumes 1-7, Duelist 1, and Millennium World) Anita Sengupta and (for Duelist! 2 and beyond) Joe Yamazaki. Some content was revised in later printings of earlier volumes.
Viz released volumes 1 through 7 of the Yu-Gi-Oh! manga under its original title. The Duelist Kingdom and Battle City arcs are released as Yu-Gi-Oh!: Duelist, while the Egypt arc is released as Yu-Gi-Oh! Millennium World. As of the January 2007 issue, the Egypt arc can still be found in Shonen Jump. As of the December 2007 issue, the series has come to a close, after a long five year run in the pages of Shonen Jump, America.
Yu-Gi-Oh! R
Illustrated by Akira Ito, one of the artists who illustrated the original Yu-Gi-Oh! manga, and supervised by Takahashi, Yu-Gi-Oh! R (?????R) is a spin-off of the original Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise, with most of the same characters in a new plotline, which takes place between the Battle City arc and the Egypt arc. The manga was first published in Shueisha's monthly magazine V-Jump on April 21, 2004.
Yu-Gi-Oh! GX
The Yu-Gi-Oh! GX manga series is actually a manga adaptation of the Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters GX (Yu-Gi-Oh! GX in English speaking countries) television. The comic is illustrated by Naoyuki Kageyama.
The Yu-Gi-Oh! GX manga series was released in North America by VIZ starting in August. It is serialized in the manga magazine Shonen Jump. Unlike the other manga serialized in the magazine, one chapter of the manga is printed per issue. Unlike the English-language editions of the original manga series, the English-language Yu-Gi-Oh! GX manga uses the English-language anime names created by 4Kids Entertainment.
Anime
Yu-Gi-Oh!
Produced by Toei Animation, this 27-episode anime is based on Yu-Gi-Oh! manga volumes 1-7, which do not focus much on Magic & Wizards. It is not connected in any way to Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters, another Yu-Gi-Oh! anime series made by Nihon Ad Systems (NAS), but is often referred to as the "first series" to distinguish it from the latter (or, erroneously, as Yu-Gi-Oh! Season/Series 0.) First aired on TV Asahi on April 4, 1998, the series ended its run on October 10, 1998. It is so far the only Yu-Gi-Oh! anime series not to be released outside of Japan.
Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters
Often referred to as simply "Yu-Gi-Oh!" or the "second series" of the Yu-Gi-Oh! anime, Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (?????????????) is the series that introduced Yu-Gi-Oh! to the Western world. Produced by NAS, it was first aired on TV Tokyo on April 18, 2000, and later translated into more than 20 languages and aired in more than 60 countries. Mainly based on Yu-Gi-Oh! manga volume 8 and onward, the series ended its 224-episode run in Japan on September 29, 2004.
There are two English-language versions of the Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters anime: a United States version by 4Kids Entertainment and a South-East Asian version by A.S.N.
On May 8, 2001, 4Kids obtained the U.S. merchandising and television rights to Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters from Konami. They partnered up with Warner Bros. and released their dubbed version of the anime on Kids' WB! on September 29, 2001, under the title of Yu-Gi-Oh!. The English Yu-Gi-Oh! anime is divided into a number of seasons. The show aired from September 29, 2001 to June 10, 2006.
The 4Kids English Yu-Gi-Oh! anime is broadcast on many channels. In the United States it is broadcast on Kids' WB!; in Canada, it is broadcast on YTV; in the United Kingdom it is broadcast on Nickelodeon, CITV (Children's ITV) on Freeview Channel 75, ITV2 and in Australia on Network Ten and Nickelodeon. Like many anime originally created for the Japanese market, a number of changes (including the names of most of the characters) were made when the English Yu-Gi-Oh! anime was released.
During the dubbing process, the broadcast version of Yu-Gi-Oh! was edited and adapted to suit US cultural tastes. On October 19, 2004, 4Kids, in association with FUNimation, released uncut Yu-Gi-Oh! DVDs. These DVDs include the original, unedited Japanese animation and Japanese dialogue tracks with English subtitles, as well as all-new English dubs with translations closer to the original dialogues. Both language tracks use the original Japanese music. Each DVD contains three episodes. After three volumes there were no additional releases.
Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters GX
Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters GX (?????????????GX), often known as "Yu-Gi-Oh! GX", is an anime spin-off of the original Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise, with a new protagonist, Judai Yuki (renamed Jaden Yuki in the U.S. version), and a new plotline that is not based on the original manga, although Yugi made a brief appearance in the first episode. The "GX" in the title stands for "Generation neXt". The series mainly focuses on the life in a school known as Duel Academy. Also produced by NAS, it was first aired on TV Tokyo on October 6, 2004. The series ended its 180-episode run in Japan on March 26, 2008.
Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters GX has an English version, titled Yu-Gi-Oh! GX in North America. Like the second series, it is licensed by 4Kids and has many of the same edits as the second series anime. The names of the main characters and many of the minor characters were changed. Yu-Gi-Oh! GX premiered on Cartoon Network in October 2005.
Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds
Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds (???5Ds), is another anime spin-off of the original Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise, with a new protagonist, Yusei Fudo, and a new plotline revolving on five dragon cards which when brought together revive a beast called the Crimson Dragon. It started airing on TV Tokyo on April 2, 2008, and started airing in the United States on September 13, 2008, once again licensed by 4kids and featuring similar edits.
Yu-Gi-Oh! Capsule Monsters
is a twelve-episode mini-series commissioned, produced, and edited by 4Kids (much like Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie - Pyramid of Light). Set before the end of the second Yu-Gi-Oh! anime series (Yu-Gi-Oh: Duel Monsters) - apparently somewhere in season 5 - Capsule Monsters involves Yugi, Joey (Jonouchi), Téa (Anzu), Tristan (Honda), and Yugi's grandfather Solomon (Sugoroku) being pulled into a world where Duel Monsters are real. They find monster capsules that they can use to summon monsters. It is similar to the Virtual RPG arc in many respects, but it does not seem to have anything to do with the early Capsule Monster Chess game featured in early volumes of the original manga.
Movies
Known simply as Yu-Gi-Oh! , this first movie of Yu-Gi-Oh! has been released only in Japan. A 30-minute movie produced by Toei Animation, it was first shown in theaters on March 6, 1999. Its characters are from the first series Yu-Gi-Oh! anime.
The movie is about a boy named Shogo who is too timid to duel even after he got a powerful rare card, the legendary Red-Eyes Black Dragon, in his Deck. Yugi tries to bring Shogo's courage out in a duel with Seto Kaiba, who has his eyes on Shogo's rare card.
Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie: Pyramid of Light , often referred to as simply Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie, was first released in North America on August 13, 2004. The movie was developed specifically for Western audiences by 4Kids based on the overwhelming success of the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise in the U.S. Its characters are from the second series Yu-Gi-Oh! anime. In the movie, Yugi faces Anubis, his arch-rival from his time.
The extended uncut Japanese version of the movie premiered in special screenings in Japan on November 3, 2004 and normal theaters on Christmas Eve, 2004, under the title Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters: Pyramid of Light. The movie was then aired on TV Tokyo on January 2, 2005.
Attendees of the movie during its premiere (U.S. or Japan) got 1 of 4 free Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game cards. The cards were Pyramid of Light, Sorcerer of Dark Magic, Blue Eyes Shining Dragon, and Watapon. The Home Video Release also gave out one of the Free Cards with an offer to get all 4 by mail, though the promotion ended December 2004. In Australia, New Zealand, Germany and the United Kingdom free promotional cards were also given out, however they were given out at all screenings of the movie, and not just the premiere.
Trading Card Game
Media and release information
Games
Production
Takahashi said that the card game held the strongest influence in the manga because it "happened to evoke the most response" from readers. Prior to that point Takahashi did not plan to make the series about a card game.
When an interviewer asked Takahashi if he tried to introduce younger readers to real life gaming culture referenced in the series, Takahashi responded by saying that he simply included "stuff I played and enjoyed" and that may have introduced readers to role-playing games and other games; Takahashi added that he created some of the games seen in the series. The author stressed the importance of "communication between people," often present in tabletop role playing games and not present in solitary video games. Takahashi added that he feels that quality communication is not possible over the Internet.
Takahashi said that the "positive message" for readers of the series is that each person has a "strong hidden part" (like "human potential") within himself or herself, and when one finds hardship, the "hidden part" can emerge if one believes in him/herself and in his/her friends. Takahashi added that this is "a pretty consistent theme."
In 2004 interview the editors of the United States Shonen Jump mentioned that Americans were surprised when reading the stories in Volumes 1 through 7, as they had not appeared on television as a part of the second anime series. Takahashi added "The story is quite violent, isn't it? [laughs]"
Reception
John Jakala of Anime News Network reviewed the Yu-Gi-Oh! manga in 2003 as part of reviewing the U.S. Shonen Jump. Jakala said that while the commercials for the second series anime made the anime appear "unexpectedly dark and moody," the comic "is unexpectedly dark and moody." Jakala added that at one moment the series "reminded me of Neil Gaiman's work: Yugi finds himself drawn into a magical world of ancient forces where there are definite rules that must be obeyed." Jakala concluded that the fact the series uses games as plot devices "opens up a lot of story possibilities" and that he feared that the series had the potential to "simply devolve into a tie-in for the popular card game." In December 2002, Shonen Jump received the ICv2 Award for "Comic Product of the Year" due to its unprecedented sales numbers and its successfully connecting comics to both the television medium and the Yu-Gi-Oh! collectible card game – one of the top CCG games of the year. In August from 2008, TV Tokyo reported that card game series has sold over $18 billion worldwide.
External links
Japanese
- (?????????? Yugio Dottokomu)
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- (requires Flash)
English
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- at Internet Archive
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- Yu-Gi-Oh! anime series guide.
- provide basic information and press releases about the Yu-Gi-Oh! manga, with links to other Yu-Gi-Oh!-related entries in the encyclopedia.
- at Wikia
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