''Yu-Gi-Oh!'', known in Japan as and alternatively subtitled ''Rulers of the Duel'' in the United States and Canada, is a Japanese

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

series animated 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 (manga), Touch'' (1985–1987) (production assistance; animated by Group TAC) *''High School! Kim ...

based on the ''

Yu-Gi-Oh! is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Kazuki Takahashi. It was serialized in Shueisha's manga magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' between September 1996 and March 2004, with its chapters collected in 38 volumes. The ...

'' manga series written by

Kazuki Takahashi , known professionally as , was a Japanese manga artist. He is best known as the author of ''Yu-Gi-Oh!'', published in ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from 1996 to 2004. The manga spawned a trading card game of the same name, which holds the Guinness ...

. 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 is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the ''Yu-Gi-Oh!'' manga series created by Kazuki Takahashi. Yugi is introduced as a teenager who is solving an Ancient Egyptian artifact known as the Millennium Puzzle, hoping that it will gr ...

who battles opponents in the '' Duel Monsters'' 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! Duel Monsters'' originally aired in Japan on

TV Tokyo JOTX-DTV (channel 7), branded as is a Japanese television station that serves as the flagship of the TX Network.localization of the anime series was produced by

4Kids Entertainment 4Kids Entertainment, Inc. (formerly known as Leisure Concepts, Inc. and later known as 4Licensing Corporation; stylized as 4K!DS ENTERTAINMENT) was an American licensing company. The company was previously also a film and television production ...

, and aired in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

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

Kids' WB Kids' WB (stylized as Kids' WB!) was an American children's programming block that originally aired on The WB from September 9, 1995, to September 16, 2006, and later on The CW from September 23, 2006, to May 17, 2008. Initially launched as a co ...

. Twelve extra episodes, which is American-produced, aired exclusively for the Western audience in mid-late 2006 shortly after the conclusion of the main series. 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, o ...

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

Yu-Gi-Oh! GX ''Yu-Gi-Oh! GX'', also known in Japan as , is a Japanese anime television series. It is a Spin-off (media), spin-off and sequel to the original ''Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters, Yu-Gi-Oh!'' anime series, which itself is based on the original man ...

'', ''

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 Shōnen Jump'' and the 15th anniversary of '' V Jump''. The series aired from April 2008 to March ...

'', ''

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 Decem ...

'', ''

Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc-V , stylized 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, 2014 ...

'', ''

Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS is a Japanese anime series animated by Gallop. It is the fifth anime spin-off 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 cour ...

'', ''

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 sixth spin-off anime series in the ''Yu-Gi-Oh!'' franchise, following ''Yu-Gi-O ...

'', and ''

Yu-Gi-Oh! Go Rush!! , stylized as ''Yu-Gi-Oh! GO RUSH!!'', is a Japanese anime series animated by Bridge (studio), Bridge. It is the seventh spin-off anime series in the ''Yu-Gi-Oh!'' franchise and an interquel to ''Yu-Gi-Oh! Sevens''. The series aired in Japa ...

''. Three films based on this anime series have also been produced: '' Pyramid of Light'' (2004), '' Bonds Beyond Time'' (2010) and '' The Dark Side of Dimensions'' (2016).

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") 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 personality. Add ...

spirit. After defeating his rival,

Seto Kaiba is a fictional character in the manga ''Yu-Gi-Oh!'' by Kazuki Takahashi. As the majority shareholder and CEO of his own multi-national gaming company, Kaiba Corporation, Kaiba is reputed to be Japan's greatest gamer and aims to become the world's ...

, in a game of Duel Monsters, 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 Egypt Ancient Egypt () was a cradle of civilization concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in Northeast Africa. It emerged from prehistoric Egypt around 3150BC (according to conventional Egyptian chronology), when Upper and Lower E ...

ian 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 illegitimate stepbrother of Seto and Mokuba and son of Kaiba's adoptive father, Gozaburo. After returning to the real world, the finals of the Battle City tournament commence.

Season 4

Produced during the time ''Millennium World'' was being written, in a new, original story arc, the Orichalcos drains the power from the Egyptian God cards and begins gathering souls in order to revive the ancient dragon monster serpent, Leviathan. Yugi, Joey and Kaiba are each given a legendary dragon card to fight the Orichalcos and its leader, Dartz.

Season 5

The final season is equivalent to ''Millennium World'' in the manga. However, the first half focuses on anime-original story arcs released during the time the final chapters of the manga were being written. After the Orichalcos has been eliminated, in another original story arc, Yugi and his friends battle in the KaibaCorp Grand Championship to face off another of Kaiba's rivals, Zigfried. Then, Yugi, his friends, and Solomon travel to Egypt only to be taken to the world of Capsule Monsters. The latter half 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 April 2001,

obtained the merchandising and television rights to the series. In its adaptation, character names, settings, and other aspects were changed. The show's visuals and

sound effects A sound effect (or audio effect) is an artificially created or enhanced sound, or sound process used to emphasize artistic or other content of films, television shows, live performance, animation, video games, music, or other media. In m ...

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 Anime News Network (ANN) is a news website that reports on the status of anime, manga, video games, Japanese popular music and other related cultures within North America, Australia, Southeast Asia and Japan. The website offers reviews and ot ...

that U.S. television broadcast laws under the

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

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 An infomercial is a form of television commercial that resembles regular TV programming yet is intended to promote or sell a product, service or idea. It generally includes a toll-free telephone number or website. Most often used as a form of di ...

rather than an animated television series, and thus the cost to air it during daytime hours would become exponentially higher. An album containing some tracks from the English dub music entitled ''Yu-Gi-Oh! Music to Duel By'' was released on October 29, 2002, on

DreamWorks Records DreamWorks Records (often referred in copyright notices as SKG Music, LLC) was an American record label founded in 1996 by David Geffen, Mo Ostin, his son Michael Ostin and Lenny Waronker as a subsidiary of DreamWorks Pictures. The label opera ...

Audio CD Compact Disc Digital Audio (CDDA or CD-DA), also known as Digital Audio Compact Disc or simply as Audio CD, is the standard format for audio compact discs. The standard is defined in the '' Red Book'' technical specifications, which is why t ...

and

Compact Cassette The Compact Cassette, also commonly called a cassette tape, audio cassette, or simply tape or cassette, is an analog magnetic tape recording format for audio recording and playback. Invented by Lou Ottens and his team at the Dutch company ...

. An uncut version, featuring an all-new English dub track and the original Japanese audio, began release in October 2004, in association with

Funimation Entertainment Crunchyroll, LLC is an American entertainment company based in Coppell, Texas. It currently operates the anime-focused eponymous over-the-top subscription video on-demand streaming service. The company was founded as Funimation in May 1 ...

. Only three volumes, comprising the first nine episodes, were ever released. 4Kids would later release the uncut Japanese episodes on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

in March 2009, but were forced to stop due in August of that same year, due to rights issues. On March 24, 2011,

TV Tokyo JOTX-DTV (channel 7), branded as is a Japanese television station that serves as the flagship of the TX Network.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 Sony Pictures ...

filed a joint

lawsuit A lawsuit is a proceeding by one or more parties (the plaintiff or claimant) against one or more parties (the defendant) in a civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today ...

against 4Kids, accusing them of underpayments concerning the ''Yu-Gi-Oh!'' franchises and allegedly conspiring with Funimation, and have allegedly terminated their licensing deal with them. This led to 4Kids filing for protection under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy code. Although 4Kids had managed to settle the case in March 2012, they ended up selling their rights to the franchise, among other assets, to

Konami , commonly known as Konami, , is a Japanese multinational entertainment company and video game developer and video game publisher, publisher headquartered in Chūō, Tokyo, Chūō, Tokyo. The company also produces and distributes trading card ...

. Konami currently distributes the series and its spin-offs, in addition to producing English dubs through its renamed subsidiary, 4K Media Inc.

Streaming

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

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 (S ...

' parent company) and

Shunsuke Kazama is a Japanese actor and television personality. Career 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 debut on stage that same year in a Shon ...

, the Japanese voice of Yugi. On July 11, 2015, the Japanese version of the series began streaming on

Crunchyroll Crunchyroll is an American Video on demand#Subscription models, subscription video on-demand Over-the-top media service, over-the-top Streaming media, streaming service owned by Sony, Sony Group Corporation. The service primarily distributes fi ...

. 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) * * * {{Gallop (studio) 2000 anime television series debuts Adventure anime and manga Anime series based on manga Fantasy anime and manga Funimation Gallop (studio) Japanese animated science fiction television series Medialink Odex Science fiction anime and manga Television censorship in the United States Television series about parallel universes Television shows set in ancient Egypt Television shows set in Japan Animated television series set in the United States Television shows set on islands TV Tokyo original programming Works set in the 11th century BC Yu-Gi-Oh!-related anime