''Yu-Gi-Oh! GX'', also known in Japan as , is an

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

spin-off and

sequel A sequel is a work of literature, film, theatre, television, music or video game that continues the story of, or expands upon, some earlier work. In the common context of a narrative work of fiction, a sequel portrays events set in the same ...

series to the original ''

Yu-Gi-Oh! is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Kazuki Takahashi. It was serialized in Shueisha's ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' magazine between September 1996 and March 2004. The plot follows the story of a boy named Yugi Mutou, w ...

'' anime. It aired in Japan on

TV Tokyo JOTX-DTV (channel 7), branded as and known colloquially as , is a television station headquartered in the Sumitomo Fudosan Roppongi Grand Tower in Roppongi, Minato, Tokyo, Japan, owned and operated by the subsidiary of listed certified b ...

from October 6, 2004 to March 26, 2008, and was succeeded by ''

Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's is the second main spin-off of the ''Yu-Gi-Oh!'' franchise, succeeding ''Yu-Gi-Oh! GX'', in celebration of the 40th anniversary of Weekly Shonen Jump and the 15th anniversary of V Jump. The series aired in Japan from April 2, 2008 to Mar ...

''. ''Yu-Gi-Oh! GX'' follows the exploits of Jaden Yuki (Judai Yuki in the Japanese versions) and his companions as he attends Duel Academia (Duel Academy in the 4Kids version). It was later dubbed in English by

4Kids Entertainment 4Kids Entertainment, Inc. (formerly known as Leisure Concepts, Inc. and later known as 4Licensing Corporation) was an American licensing company. The company was previously also a film and television production company that produced English- dub ...

and a manga spinoff was created by Naoyuki Kageyama. The series was followed by ''

'' in 2008.

Plot

Taking place ten years after the events of ''

'', ''Yu-Gi-Oh! GX'' follows a new generation of duelists including a young boy named Jaden Yuki (Judai Yuki) who attends Duel Academy, a school founded by Seto Kaiba, where aspiring duelists train in the field of Duel Monsters. The academy has an internal ranking system based on the "Egyptian God" cards from Battle City. Obelisk Blue is the highest dorm and is filled with only the best duelists or those who come from elite families. Ra Yellow is the second-highest dorm and is made up of duelists who score and perform well in school and have the potential to be the best. Slifer Red is the lowest dorm and consists of those who do not perform well and need much help to improve. Students are able to graduate to the next dorm if they show improvement. In the universe of ''Yu-Gi-Oh!'', this series focuses on the type of summoning called "Fusion Summon", which the protagonist and many characters perform. For the first year at Duel Academy, Jaden befriends many students such as Syrus Truesdale (Sho Marufuji), Jaden's roommate with low self esteem and Zane's brother, Alexis Rhodes (Asuka Tenjoin), one of the top female duelists and Jaden's love interest, Bastion Misawa (Daichi Misawa), an excellent duelist with an extremely high intellect, Chazz Princeton (Jun Manjoime), one of Jaden's rivals with an elitist personality, and Zane Truesdale (Ryo Marufuji), Jaden's other rival and the best duelist in the school. Together the main cast faced major threats including the Shadow Riders (Seven Stars), who intended to revive the Sacred Beasts, powerful cards that could destroy the world. This group was led by Kagemaru and consisted of Nightshroud (Alexis's brother Atticus possessed by darkness), Camula (a vampire), Tania (an Amazon Warrior), Don Zaloog (a duel spirit), Abydos (an Egyptian pharaoh), Titan (an illusionist) and Amnael (an alchemist who posed as the Slifer Red's dorm advisor, Professor Banner). After the Shadow Riders are defeated, Zane chooses Jaden to duel him in his graduation match which ends in the only draw of the series, after which he passes on the title of top duelist in the school to Jaden. In the second year, Jaden meets Aster Phoenix (Edo Phoenix), a duelling prodigy, and Tyranno Hassleberry, a duelist with a love for the army and dinosaurs. The main cast then face off against the Society of Light, a cult-like organization who infiltrated Duel Academy. They are led by Sartorius, Aster's manager, and intend to brainwash humanity with the powerful "Light of Destruction", a light in space that has the ability to corrupt. It is revealed that when one duels someone from the Society of Light, they also become brainwashed and become one of their members. This caused many of Jaden's friends, namely Chazz, Alexis, and Bastion, to become Jaden's enemy. Jaden learns that he has the ability to talk to Duel Spirits (similar to Yugi Mutou) due to his ability to use the "Gentle Darkness", a force created to balance out the Light of Destruction. He use this to beat Sartorious and free everyone from the influence. In the third year, Duel Academy is transported to another dimension, a desert plane with three suns and resident Duel Monster spirits, ruled by Yubel, a duel monster who was corrupted by the light. Upon returning home, Jaden and a select group of his partners dive back into the alternate dimension to recover their missing companions. After seeing his friends sacrificed, Jaden falls into despair and becomes possessed by the Supreme King, a ruthless and merciless ruler and the original wielder of the Gentle Darkness, which granted him immense power. During his time as the Supreme King, Jaden commits many crimes such as burning down villages, enslaving civilians, and sometimes even executing others. He is later freed of the influence by his friends in a duel, but is left with an immense amount of guilt. It is later revealed that Jaden in fact is the reincarnation of the Supreme King, and the Supreme King's power is a part of him. Jaden faces off against Yubel and learns that Yubel actually was the guardian of the Supreme King who was sworn to always be with him and protect him. Yubel was driven insane by the Light of Destruction and wishes to fuse all dimensions together so she could always be with Jaden. Seeing that Yubel was just trying to fulfil her promise, Jaden decides to use "Super Polymerization" and fuse himself with Yubel to help fulfil that promise and cleanse her of her corruption. In the fourth year, Jaden returns to Duel Academy for his final year. Since he fused himself with Yubel, he has gained her powers as well as her bi-chromatic eyes when he uses her powers. However, since he came back from the alternate dimension, he has become more solitary and distant from his friends as he does not wish to cause trouble for anyone anymore. He also lost his happy-go-lucky personality and his love for duelling; having endured such horrors over the past three years at Duel Academy, his belief that one duels for fun and enjoy yourself has been sapped out of him, and he only duels for survival. Despite this, Jaden is confronted by Nightshroud, the same spirit that possessed Atticus back in his first year, who tells Jaden that he will engulf this world in darkness by feeding off the negative emotions of humanity. Jaden originally fights off his minions until he comes face to face with Nightshroud himself. He duels him and successfully defeats him, freeing everyone of their darkness. Over the year, Jaden had slowly grown closer to his friends once again and began to reclaim his love for duelling, but on his final night, Jaden is going to leave the academy without saying goodbye. He is then stopped by an adult Yugi Mutou who transports him back in time for his 'graduation match' against Yugi Mutou from the past. During this duel, Jaden reflects on his time at Duel Academy and the great friendships he has made along the way. He expresses his gratitude towards Yugi and officially reclaims his old personality and, spurred on by the opportunity to battle one of Yugi's Egyptian God cards (in this case, Slifer the Sky Dragon), his love of duelling once again.

Production

''Yu-Gi-Oh! GX'' is produced by

Nihon Ad Systems , NAS for short, is a Japanese anime production and character merchandising company, a wholly owned subsidiary of the advertising agency Asatsu-DK. The "Ad" in its title is an abbreviation for "Animation Development". Along with animation studios ...

and

, and the animation is handled by

Studio Gallop , sometimes credited as , is a Japanese animation studio founded on December 13, 1978, by former Mushi Pro members. Works TV series 1980s *''Touch'' (1985–1987) (production assistance; animated by Group TAC) *''High School! Kimengumi'' (1985 ...

. The series was directed by Hatsuki Tsuji and scripts were prepared by an alternating lineup of writers–Shin Yoshida, Atsushi Maekawa, Akemi Omode, Yasuyuki Suzuki–with music arrangements by Yutaka Minobe. Takuya Hiramitsu is in charge of sound direction, supervised by

Yūji Mitsuya (born October 18, 1954) is a Japanese actor, voice actor, director of audiography, voice director and sound supervisor from Toyohashi, Aichi Prefecture who is affiliated with Combination. He graduated from Meiji University. He is best known for ...

. Character and monster designs are overseen by Kenichi Hara, while Duel layout is overseen by Masahiro Hikokubo. The "GX" in the series' title is short for the term "Generation neXt". "GENEX" was conceived as the series' original title, as can be evidenced in early promotional artwork. It also refers to the GX tournament that takes place between episodes 84 and 104. The program is divided into episodes classified as "turns". The

title sequence A title sequence (also called an opening sequence or intro) is the method by which films or television programmes present their title and key production and cast members, utilizing conceptual visuals and sound (often a opening theme song with visu ...

and

closing credits Closing credits or end credits are a list of the Cast member, cast and Film crew, crew of a particular Film, motion picture, television program, or video game. Where opening credits appear at the beginning of a work, closing credits appear clos ...

are accompanied by lyrics varying over the course of the series, with the former immediately followed by an individual episode's number and title.

Eyecatch In broadcasting, a commercial bumper, ident bumper, or break-bumper (often shortened to bump) is a brief announcement, usually two to fifteen seconds in length that can contain a voice over, placed between a pause in the program and its commercia ...

es begin and end commercial breaks halfway through each episode; in the first season, there were two eyecatches per episode, usually showcasing the opponents and their key monsters for a given episode while in later seasons, a single eyecatch appears with only the duelists. After the credits, a preview of the next episode, narrated most frequently by KENN and

Masami Suzuki is a Japanese actress, voice actress and singer from Chigasaki. She is currently affiliated with Aoni Production. She is famous for voice acting roles such as Kaihime/Princess Kai from ''Samurai Warriors'' and ''Warriors Orochi'' series both fro ...

, is made, followed by a brief "Today's Strongest Card" segment.

Media

Anime

The 180-episode series aired in Japan on

between October 6, 2004 and March 26, 2008, and was followed by ''

''. It was subsequently licensed by

and adapted into English, picked up by

Cartoon Network Cartoon Network (often abbreviated as CN) is an American cable television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. It is a part of The Cartoon Network, Inc., a division that also has the broadcasting and production activities of Boomerang, Car ...

and

4KidsTV 4Kids TV (often stylized as 4K!DSTV and formerly known as FoxBox from September 14, 2002 to January 15, 2005) was an American television programming block and Internet-based video on demand children's network operated by 4Kids Entertainment. I ...

in North America. Like previous 4Kids adaptations, several changes were made from the original Japanese version, including the names and personalities of characters, the soundtrack, the sound effects, the appearance of visuals such as Life Point counters, and the appearance of cards. The story and some of the visuals are also edited to remove references to death, blood, violence and religion in order to make the series suitable for a younger audience. Also any written language text, either Japanese or English is erased or replaced with unreadable content. These edits are also used in various localizations of the show in countries outside of Asia where 4Kids had distribution rights. For unknown reasons the US broadcast of the Third season was first delayed from broadcast for two months after the conclusion of the second season, then its airing period Extended to run over the course of 16 months until the end of August 2008. The last episode of the third season and the fourth season in its entirety were not dubbed for unknown reasons (possibly as consequence of the third season's delays), leaving them for many years as Japanese-exclusive; with''

'' beginning to be run in September 2008, three weeks after the US-Broadcast airing of GX season 3's last dubbed episode. Dubbed episodes were uploaded onto 4Kids'

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

page until March 29, 2011, when

and

sued 4Kids and terminated the licensing agreement for the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise. The series is currently licensed by

4K Media Inc. 4K, 4-K or 4k may refer to: * 4000 (number) * Four kibibytes (4 × 1024 bytes, better written 4 KiB) ** 4K disk sector size (Advanced Format) ** 4K demoscene compo, a computer art competition using programs limited to 4 kibibytes ** The Java 4K Ga ...

Hulu Hulu () is an American subscription streaming service majority-owned by The Walt Disney Company, with Comcast's NBCUniversal holding a minority stake. It was launched on October 29, 2007 and it offers a library of films and television serie ...

and

Crunchyroll Crunchyroll is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Sony through a joint venture between Sony Pictures and Sony Music Entertainment Japan's Aniplex. The service primarily distributes films and tel ...

are currently streaming dubbed episodes, with the latter beginning to stream the subtitled Japanese version of the series in August 2015.

Music

;Japanese ;Opening themes :# , Kaisei Josho Harerûya by Jindou (Episodes 1-33) :# "99%" by BOWL (Episodes 34-104) :# , Tiadoroppu by BOWL (Episodes 105-156) :# "Precious Time, Glory Days" by

Psychic Lover are a rock duo consisting of vocalist and guitarist . Originally consisting of six members, YOFFY and IMAJO are the only two who remained for their rise to fame. Much of their work has been featured as opening and closing themes of Japanese tele ...

(Episodes 157-180) :;Ending themes :# , Genkai Batoru by

JAM Project JAM Project ("JAM" standing for "Japan Animationsong Makers") are a Japanese anison band founded on July 19, 2000 by anison singer Ichirou Mizuki. The band is composed of many vocal artists well known in the anime music industry. Aside from the m ...

(Episodes 1-33) :# "Wake up your Heart" by KENN (Episodes 34-104) :# , Taiyou by Bite the Lung (Episodes 105-156) :# "Endless Dream" by Hiroshi Kitadani (Episodes 157-180) ;English # "Get Your Game On" by Alex Walker, Jake Siegler and Matthew Ordek.

Manga

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

spin-off of the series supervised by

Kazuki Takahashi , known professionally as , was a Japanese manga artist. He made his serial manga debut in 1986, and is best known as the author of ''Yu-Gi-Oh!'', published in ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from 1996 to 2004. The manga spawned a popular trading car ...

and written and illustrated by Naoyuki Kageyama began serialization in ''

V Jump is a Japanese shōnen manga magazine, focusing on new manga as well as video games based on popular manga. The magazine's debut was in 1993 by Shueisha under the ''Jump'' line of magazines. History A prototype magazine called '' Hobby's Jump ...

'' on December 17, 2005. The chapters have been collected and published in nine ''

tankōbon is the Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or cultur ...

'' volumes by

Shueisha (lit. "Gathering of Intellect Publishing Co., Ltd.") is a Japanese company headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. The company was established in 1925 as the entertainment-related publishing division of Japanese publisher Shogakukan. The foll ...

starting on November 2, 2006. The manga is licensed for English language release by

Viz Media VIZ Media LLC is an American manga publisher, anime distributor and entertainment company headquartered in San Francisco, California. It was founded in 1986 as VIZ LLC. In 2005, VIZ LLC and ShoPro Entertainment merged to form the current VIZ M ...

, which serialized the first 37 chapters in its '' Shonen Jump'' manga anthology. The remaining chapters were published straight to graphic novel, beginning with volume 5. The plot of the manga is completely different from the anime and is more of a continuation to the original ''Yu-Gi-Oh!'' series with Shadow Games and the Millennium Items playing a major role within the story. There are also new monsters and changes to some of the characters' personalities. Unlike the original ''Yu-Gi-Oh!'' manga, all the names used in the English version of the manga are taken from the dubbed anime. A one-shot of the GX manga was released on June 21, 2014 in the August issue of ''V Jump''. The one-shot was written and illustrated by Naoyuki Kageyama. An English version of this chapter was released on December 29, 2014 by ''Weekly Shonen Jump''.

Video games

Several video games based on ''Yu-Gi-Oh! GX'' have been developed and published by

Konami , is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company, video game and entertainment company headquartered in Chūō, Tokyo, Chūō, Tokyo, it also produces and distributes trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, pachinko machin ...

. Two games were released for

Game Boy Advance The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console developed, manufactured and marketed by Nintendo as the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, in North America on June 11, 2001, in the PAL region on June 22, 2 ...

; ''Yu-Gi-Oh! Ultimate Masters: World Championship Tournament 2006'', and ''Yu-Gi-Oh! GX Duel Academy.'' Three games have been released for

Nintendo DS The is a handheld game console produced by Nintendo, released globally across 2004 and 2005. The DS, an initialism for "Developers' System" or "Dual Screen", introduced distinctive new features to handheld games: two LCD screens working in tan ...

; ''Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters GX Spirit Caller'', ''Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters World Championship 2007'' and ''Yu-Gi-Oh! World Championship 2008''. A fourth title, ''Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters GX Card Almanac'', is not actually a game, but a catalog of cards up to 2007. The ''Tag Force'' series has appeared on the

PlayStation Portable The PlayStation Portable (PSP) is a handheld game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 12, 2004, in North America on March 24, 2005, and in PAL regions on September 1, 2005, ...

, which adds the ability to form tag team duels, with the first three games in the series being based on the ''GX'' series (subsequent games are based on ''

''). The titles are ''Yu-Gi-Oh! GX Tag Force'', ''Yu-Gi-Oh! GX Tag Force 2'' and ''Yu-Gi-Oh! GX Tag Force 3''. The first game was also ported to

PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia on 3 ...

as ''Yu-Gi-Oh! GX: Tag Force Evolution''. So far, ''Tag Force 3'' has not been released in North America. It was however, released in Europe, and its follow up, ''Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's Tag Force 4'', has been released in all regions including North America.

Magazine

In 2007, Eaglemoss productions signed a deal to release a magazine based upon the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX franchise named Yu-Gi-Oh! GX Ultimate Guide. This series of issues (Priced as 99p for Issue 1, £1.99 for Issues 2 to 60 and £4.99 for the Mini Monsters Special Issue) ran from 2007 to 2009 and totalled 61 issues. Each fortnight a collectable would be included in the form a medal (Academy character or duel monster), a Triang (2x shiny or 1x Holographic) or a miniature monster which would stand on its own platform. In Issue 2 a tin was provided to keep medals and Triangs in, along with a further 2 collectable file folders to hold the comics in later issues.

Other media

The artist Inu Mayuge wrote a ''Yu-Gi-Oh! GX'' parody titled , posted in ''

'' on June 25, 2009.''V Jump''. June 25, 2009. 237-243

References

External links

*
TV Tokyo ''Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters GX'' page

NASinc.
* {{Series in V Jump 2004 anime television series debuts 2005 manga Adventure anime and manga Anime spin-offs Comics based on television series Funimation Gallop (studio) Science fiction anime and manga Card games in anime and manga Shōnen manga Shueisha manga Shueisha franchises Toonami TV Tokyo original programming Yu-Gi-Oh! Yu-Gi-Oh!-related anime Viz Media manga Animated television series about teenagers Television series about parallel universes