Yu☆Gi☆Oh!

Bullies often target someone frail and weak—someone exactly like Yuugi Mutou. His beautiful childhood friend, Anzu Mazaki, is always there to stand up for him, but he can't depend on her forever. Katsuya Jonouchi, who is almost always accompanied by his verbal sparring partner Hiroto Honda, doesn't seem like a bad person either, despite always bringing Yuugi trouble. But most of all, Yuugi wishes for a true friend who understands him and would never betray him.

Yuugi treasures his Millennium Puzzle, an ancient Egyptian artifact that was brought into his grandfather's game shop. Believing that solving the puzzle will grant him his wish, he completes the puzzle, unleashing a new personality within him—the soul of the "King of Games."

Dark, twisted, strong, and reliable, the new personality named Yami Yuugi is the exact opposite of Yuugi. Upon any injustice toward him, Yami Yuugi takes over Yuugi's body and forces the opponent into a "Shadow Game." The stakes are high as whoever loses shall have a taste of the darkness that resides within their own heart.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Yami Yuugi Main

Ogata, Megumi Japanese

Kaiba, Seto Main

Midorikawa, Hikaru Japanese

Jounouchi, Katsuya Main

Morikawa, Toshiyuki Japanese

Mutou, Yuugi Main

Ogata, Megumi Japanese

Mazaki, Anzu Main

Kakazu, Yumi Japanese

Honda, Hiroto Main

Okiayu, Ryoutarou Japanese

Nosaka, Miho Main

Yukana Japanese

Yami Bakura Supporting

Kashiwakura, Tsutomu Japanese

Bakura, Ryou Supporting

Kashiwakura, Tsutomu Japanese

Kaiba, Mokuba Supporting

Miwa, Katsue Japanese

Kaji, Atsushi Producer

Kakudou, Hiroyuki Director, Episode Director, Storyboard

Sugishima, Kunihisa Director

Ikeda, Youko Episode Director, Storyboard, Assistant Director

Reviews

Jun 9, 2008

wowa

Recommended

First of all, this series is a LOT different from "Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters". While the card game was certainly present in this series, it wasn't nearly as important.

There are a lot of changes from this to Duel Monsters. Mokuba's character is 100% different, Kaiba is somehow more of a jerk, Yugi is tinier and he gets beat up one per episode. And Yami challenges people to shadow games, which end in insanity or death.

The episodes are really predictable, for the most part. One of the main characters is picked on, Yami challenges them to a shadow game and wins, the episode ends. Even so, ... it's fun to watch, because the bad guys always get what they deserve. And you get to see some real action as opposed to half an hour of children's card games. Also Joey crossdresses.

I would recommend this show to both fans and haters of Duel Monsters. If you liked the other series, you'll really like this one because it fills in a lot of missing information. If you hate the other series, then you'll probably like this because of the action and actual plot.

The art is okay and the sound track is nothing special (except for the song that plays when Yami is being awesome). I gave it a ten for enjoyment because...I LOVED this show. I'm such a geek, I know, but really, I had a lot of fun watching this. Hopefully you will too.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Oct 20, 2015

lawlmartz

Mixed Feelings

Children's Card Games Saga Part I: A Long Time Ago In A Galaxy Far Away, Where Everyone Has Crazy Hair

Well, it's been a long time since I did a nostalgia review, and it took me so long to finish this series due to being unable to find synced audio and video versions of the show, I feel like I can be nostalgic about this show now. (Seriously, I had to quit watching this show for 6 months)

Anyway- so back in 1998, Yugioh was born. Not the 4Kids Yugioh I grew up watching in the early 2000s, but the version that nobody in the US ever ... saw- what we know as Season 0. Though it sports the Yugioh name, this show and Yugioh Duel Monsters are almost nothing alike- though you can see where many of the ideas for Duel Monsters came from in this- an homage of sorts for the Japanese audience who did see this. This one, though, is not really a kid's show.


Artwork and Animation: 4

The art is very 90s, and fairly low budget at that. Honestly, it's kind of ugly to watch, but I mean, what has Toei ever made that was very visually appealing in the first place? They're not exactly the paragon of animation quality. The quality drops noticeably in the last 3 episodes- even with the chibi stuff they were using to mask how rough it looked.

Never fear- Yugi's physics breaking hairstyle/head parasite is always in great form, as is Jounouchi/Joey's... hair... thing.

Basically, this show looks like a Phillips CD-I game.


Sound and Voice Acting: 4

No complaints about the voice acting, other than Yukana, the voice of Miho, is annoying as heck. Sorry C2- but you sound like a live hamster being put through a meat grinder combined with screeching children.

Now, what IS odious about the sound is the uber-recycled generic porno style hip hop muzak that plays in the background of scene setting and as insert music. You hear that, this 80s dance synth cut, and these two "spooky" sounding clips that loop every 3 seconds approximately 46 times each per episode. I think including the OP and ED, there were a total of maybe 6 pieces of music used in the show. Re-re-re-re repetitive.

It's just a shame that Dan Green never got to dub this Yugi.


Characters: 7

The same kids we know and love, but with the addition of Miho, and a few changes in personality:

Yugi gets beat up like once every other episode, and close to the end of the series actually gets his azz beat in an arcade by a guy that knows Hokuto Shin Ken! ATATATATA and everything! He's pretty much a pathetic woobie, but he makes up for it by being caring and determined to help people, I guess? *mumbles something about Heart of the Cards*

Yami Yugi on the other hand, either drives someone insane by breaking their mind with magic, sends them to the hospital due to the dangerous game they play (and lose), or just straight up kills them! He takes absolutely no crap in this series, and is keeping the mental health facilities and hospitals full of patients.

Jounouchi/Joey and Honda/Tristan are basically the same in this series- ruffian goons who torture Yugi in the beginning, befriend him, and then never leave his side except to be screwups for the sake of comedy. Jounouchi does beat the snot out of quite a few people in the show though. Honda's sole character trait is that he's absolutely infatuated with the airheaded dimwit Miho, who pays him absolutely no attention.

The biggest difference in character from Yugioh '98 to Duel Monsters is Anzu/Tea though. In DM, she's just a useless side character who takes the role of cheerleader and annoyance, but in '98, she's a legitimately likable and useful leading lady. She has a lot more self assertiveness and confidence in this series, and makes herself useful throughout. There's also a romance subplot, that, while it doesn't go much of anywhere, it still adds another facet to a character I think everyone at the least didn't care about, and at most outright hated in Duel Monsters.

Lastly, there's Miho- the blue haired, flirtatious, greedy, and vapid ditz who exists solely to balance out the Dude:Chick ratio in the series and be incredibly irritating. (I'm told she appears in literally one chapter in the manga, so her inclusion in the show is a mystery to everyone, including the writers.)


Story: 6

Where the Duel Monsters show was created basically as a gigantic advertisement for Children's Card Games™, Yugioh 1998 follows the mid-90s manga of the same name, with most of the same characters we came to know in Duel Monsters.

The main difference in the show is that Yami Yugi- the ancient king of games whose soul resides in the Millennium Puzzle pendant that Yugi wears- is not only proficient at Children's Card Games™ (AKA Duel Monsters), but essentially any and all games of chance. The show is almost entirely episodic, with two arcs coming at the very end, but in each episode, Yugi manages to find himself in trouble with someone or another, and then talks them into playing a game of chance- whether it's playing cards, riddles and word games, or more often, games involving life and death. The show has quite a bit of violence, including Yami Yugi driving people insane/sending them to the hospital, and includes actual weapon wielding baddies, including guns.

The second to last arc of the show even has Yugi and friends playing a game called "Death T", which is just a ripoff of "The Running Man" game show (from the 1987 Arnie classic!) put on by Kaiba! He has them placed in a giant arena and forced to fight through different stages, including Lazer Tag with actual electricity, a riddle game where the gang nearly gets crushed by a spiked steamroller, another where blocks fall from the ceiling tetris style, and games against the Kaiba Brothers.

There are a lot of setpieces and ideas used again later in Duel Monsters viewers will recognize like Kaibaland/ battle city duels and Capsule Monsters (Dungeon Dice Monsters). Many of the monsters from the other, non Duel Monsters games played in the show also make appearances later as Yugioh cards.
Yami Bakura and Yami Yugi play a Dungeons and Dragons game where the gang's bodies transform into their game figures (in Duel Monsters, their favorite cards) and they have to play to keep their souls.
There's also a virtual reality duel, and a mirror of Yugi and Kaiba's duel from the beginning of DM. Oh, and soul stealing. A lot of soul stealing.


Enjoyment and Overall: 8, 6

I enjoyed a lot of the dated references in Yugioh- (Tamagotchis FTW!) and general 90s-ness of the show. It was also cool to see Yami Yugi in a totally different form- making people go crazy/sending them to hell/etc and the inclusion of guns, violence, and the threat of violence, like with the bomber in the theme park who actually followed through and blew up both a building and two parts of a ride!

I enjoyed watching this little departure from the Yugioh I loved as a kid. It's definitely a fun little extra for someone who doesn't want to slog through 200 something episodes of Duel Monsters, but still feel like they're going on another adventure with the gang. (GX/5Ds/Zexal don't exist. That's schlock for another day.)

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Sep 14, 2011

ktulu007

Not Recommended

The premise of Yugioh is that a young High School boy solves an ancient Egyptian puzzle that unleashes another self within his mind. This other self challenges those who do evil to karmic games and destroys their minds when they cheat. The story is laughably bad. The games are different in virtually every episode so they constantly have to take time out of the action to explain the rules for the episode. Add that to the fact that the other Yugi frequently wins through pure BS, I mean the power of friendship, and you get a story that's so stupid and cheesy it feels like ... an old B-movie. To Yugioh's credit there are some really funny moments, although most of them are unintentionally hilarious as a result of how bad the anime is.

The characters are what really hut the anime. Most of the main cast is composed of complete twits. There's ordinary Yugi who acts like a small child. Jonouchi Katsuya, who's your typical thug with a decent heart. Honda, who is very bland and never shuts up about being a beautification department member and Miho, who is useless. The only characters who are somewhat interesting are Yugi's other self, Bakura and Anzu. Since they actually get some depth. The antagonists are all pretty typical as well.

The art is atrocious. Everything's done in bright neon colours that can get painful to look at sometimes. There are also a lot of art errors. This makes Hitsuji no Uta look really professional.

The voice work is actually pretty well done. Ogata Megumi, Shiozawa Kaneto and Midorikawa Hikaru are especially good. The music is also very good so sound is one thing they did right.

The yuri factor is a 2/10. Miho shows some homoeroticism towards Anzu, but Miho also spends a lot of time chasing guys and Anzu doesn't show a lot of interest in her so those moments don't amount to anything.

My final rating for Yugioh is a 3.5/10. It's bad, but it's bad in a way that's pretty entertaining. It's sort of like Adam West's Batman. It's bad, but it's also fun to watch. So, even though it is bad, I actually do suggest watching it, if you enjoy media that's bad in an entertaining way. In fact you should get some friends together and snark it. Just don't marathon it because the art really is so bad that it's hard on the eyes.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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