''Yu-Gi-Oh!'', known in Japan as , is a Japanese

anime is hand-drawn and 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 Japanese, (a term derived from a shortening of ...

series animated by Studio Gallop based on the ''

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 ...

'' manga series written 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 ...

. It is the second anime adaptation of the manga following the 1998 anime television series produced by

Toei Animation () is a Japanese animation studio primarily controlled by its namesake Toei Company. It has produced numerous series, including ''Sally the Witch,'' '' GeGeGe no Kitarō,'' '' Mazinger Z'', '' Galaxy Express 999'', '' Cutie Honey'', '' Dr. Slu ...

. The series revolves around a young high school boy named

Yugi Muto Yūgi is a Japanese given name. It may refer to: People * Yugi Sethu (born 1964), Tamil actor, director and screenwriter Characters Given name * Yugi Mutou, the main character of ''Yu-Gi-Oh!'' * Yugi (''Tenchi Muyo!''), a character in ' ...

who battles opponents in the ''

Duel Monsters The ''Yu-Gi-Oh!'' Trading Card Game is a collectible card game developed and published by Konami. It is based on the fictional game of ''Duel Monsters'' created by manga artist Kazuki Takahashi, which appears in portions of the manga franc ...

'' card game. The series begins from chapter 60 in volume 7 before loosely adapting the remaining chapters of the original manga by making story changes that conflict with the events of the manga canon. ''Yu-Gi-Oh!'' originally 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 certifie ...

from April 2000 to September 2004, running for 224 episodes; A remastered version, highlighting certain duels, began airing in Japan in February 2015. An English-language

localization Localization or localisation may refer to: Biology * Localization of function, locating psychological functions in the brain or nervous system; see Linguistic intelligence * Localization of sensation, ability to tell what part of the body is a ...

of the anime series was produced 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 aired in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

from September 29, 2001, to June 10, 2006, on

Kids' WB Kids' WB (stylized as Kids' WB!) was an American children's programming service and brand of The WB that aired on the network from September 9, 1995, to September 16, 2006. The block moved to The CW (a result of the merger of Time Warner's The W ...

. The series has since spawned its own

metaseries A media franchise, also known as a multimedia franchise, is a collection of related media in which several derivative works have been produced from an original creative work of fiction, such as a film, a work of literature, a television program or ...

. ''Duel Monsters'' would be succeeded by ''

Yu-Gi-Oh! GX ''Yu-Gi-Oh! GX'', also known in Japan as , is an anime spin-off and sequel series to the original ''Yu-Gi-Oh!'' anime. It aired in Japan on TV Tokyo from October 6, 2004 to March 26, 2008, and was succeeded by ''Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's''. ''Yu-Gi- ...

'', ''

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 M ...

'', ''

Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal , stylized as Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL, is a Japanese manga and anime series and the third spin-off of the ''Yu-Gi-Oh!'' franchise, after the preceding ''Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's''. The manga began serialization in Shueisha's '' V Jump'' magazine from Dec ...

'', ''

Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc-V , sylized as ''Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V'', is a Japanese anime series animated by Gallop. It is the fourth spin-off anime series in the ''Yu-Gi-Oh!'' franchise following '' Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal''. The series aired in Japan on TV Tokyo from April 6, 20 ...

'', ''

Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS is a Japanese anime series animated by Gallop. It is the sixth main anime series in the ''Yu-Gi-Oh!'' franchise. The series aired in Japan on TV Tokyo from May 10, 2017 to September 25, 2019. It was simulcast outside of Asia by Crunchyroll ...

'', ''

Yu-Gi-Oh! Sevens , stylized as Yu-Gi-Oh! SEVENƧ, is a Japanese anime series animated by Bridge that aired in Japan on TV Tokyo from April 4, 2020, to March 27, 2022. It is the seventh main anime series in the ''Yu-Gi-Oh!'' franchise, following ''Yu-Gi-Oh! ...

'', and ''

Yu-Gi-Oh! Go Rush!! , stylized as Yu-Gi-Oh! GO RUSH!!, is a Japanese anime series animated by Bridge. It is the eighth main anime series in the '' Yu-Gi-Oh!'' franchise, following ''Yu-Gi-Oh! Sevens''. The series premiered in Japan on April 3, 2022. Plot In ...

''. ''

Yu-Gi-Oh! Capsule Monsters ''Yu-Gi-Oh! Capsule Monsters'' is a 12-episode mini-series commissioned and produced by 4Kids Entertainment in the United States, and animated by Studio Gallop in Japan. The miniseries was produced exclusively for international broadcast, maki ...

'', an American-produced miniseries, aired exclusively in the United States in 2006. Two films based on this anime series have also been produced: '' Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie: Pyramid of Light'' and '' Yu-Gi-Oh!: Bonds Beyond Time''.

Plot overview

Season 1

The story follows

, a boy who completed an ancient Egyptian artifact known as the Millennium Puzzle, which led to him to inherit an

alter-ego An alter ego (Latin for "other I", "doppelgänger") means an alternate self, which is believed to be distinct from a person's normal or true original personality. Finding one's alter ego will require finding one's other self, one with a different ...

spirit. After defeating his rival, Seto Kaiba, in a game of

, Yugi is approached by Maximillion Pegasus, the creator of Duel Monsters, who uses the power of another Millennium Item, the Millennium Eye, to kidnap the soul of Yugi's grandfather. Joined by his friends Joey Wheeler (Katsuya Jonouchi), Tristan Taylor (Hiroto Honda), and Téa Gardner (Anzu Mazaki), Yugi enters Pegasus' Duelist Kingdom tournament in order to defeat Pegasus and free his grandfather's soul.

Season 2

Yugi learns that the spirit dwelling within him is a nameless Pharaoh from ancient Egyptian times, who doesn't remember anything of his past. Yugi enters Kaiba's Battle City tournament in order to obtain the three Egyptian God cards needed to unveil the Pharaoh's past. Along the way, Yugi encounters more Millennium Item wielders, including Marik Ishtar, the wielder of the Millennium Rod, and his elder sister Izhizu Ishtar who possesses the prophesying Millennium Necklace.

Season 3

The first twenty-four episodes of the season form an original story arc that sees Yugi and his friends get sucked into a virtual world run by Noah, the legitimate son of Kaiba's adoptive father, Gozaburo. After returning to the real world, the finals of the Battle City tournament commence.

Season 4

In a new, original story arc, the Order of Orichalcos drains the power from the Egyptian God cards and begins gathering souls in order to revive the ancient dragon, Leviathan. Yugi, Joey and Kaiba are each given a legendary dragon card to fight the Orichalcos and its leader, Dartz.

Season 5

In the final, original story arc, Yugi and his friends battle in the KaibaCorp Grand Championship. The rest of the season sees Ryo Bakura, the owner of the Millennium Ring, overcome by the dark spirit within the Ring. When Yugi and his friends go to Egypt, they find themselves sucked 5,000 years into the past, where Pharaoh must battle Bakura and his evil essence, Zorc the Dark One. After returning to the present day, Yugi and Pharaoh duel each other in the ultimate test.

Localization

In the 4Kids adaptation, character names, settings, and other aspects were changed. The show's visuals and sound effects were replaced, and a new music score was used. In addition to explaining these changes, 4Kids' senior vice president of digital media, Mark Kirk, also explained during an interview with Anime News Network that U.S. television broadcast laws under the

FCC The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdictio ...

dictated that the "Duel Monster" cards in the anime were not allowed to look exactly like the real cards that are sold; otherwise, the show would legally be considered a infomercial rather than an animated television series, and thus the cost to air it during daytime hours would become exponentially higher.

Streaming

In July 2009, 4Kids announced plans to release the original, Japanese version of the anime series with subtitles on their

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and 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 Google, and is the second mo ...

channel. However, In August 2009, these episodes were removed due to legal issues with ADK (

NAS Nas (born 1973) is the stage name of American rapper Nasir Jones. Nas, NaS, or NAS may also refer to: Aviation * Nasair, a low-cost airline carrier and subsidiary based in Eritrea * National Air Services, an airline in Saudi Arabia ** Nas Air ( ...

' parent company) and

Shunsuke Kazama is a Japanese actor and television personality affiliated with Johnny & Associates. Biography In 1997, when Kazama was in his second year of junior high school, he entered Johnny & Associates and started activities as a trainee. He made his de ...

, the Japanese voice of Yugi. On July 11, 2015, the Japanese version of the series began streaming on Crunchyroll. The news came over a week after an earlier announcement that streaming of subtitled episodes of ''

'' would begin on August 1, 2015.

Cast

References

External links

TV Tokyo Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters site
(Japanese)
NASinc. Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters site
(Japanese) * * * {{Toonami Cartoon Network 2000 anime television series debuts Adventure anime and manga Fantasy anime and manga Funimation Gallop (studio) Odex Science fiction anime and manga TV Tokyo original programming Yu-Gi-Oh!-related anime Anime series based on manga Animated television series about teenagers Television shows set in Japan Television shows set in Egypt Television shows set in the United States Television shows set on islands Japanese animated science fiction television series Television series about parallel universes Medialink Television censorship in the United States