Yu☆Gi☆Oh!

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.

Heck, I've been a big player of Yu-Gi-Oh! since the game came out. I never wanted to get hooked on it but I did anyways. Basically, Yu-Gi-Oh is one of those many animes that big named companies makes money off of with collectable cards, toys, and what nots. But before we all came to know the Yu-Gi-Oh! that 4Kids TV showed us on the WB channel every morning, there was a series that started it all way before the Cards were the all so important factor of the show. This was the Original Yu-Gi-Oh thread, to many it's known as the Zero Season.

In Yu-Gi-Oh! we ... meet young little Yugi Moto. Like in the show here he was introduced as a kind and loving friend to Tea (Anzu), Joey (Jonouchi), and Tristan (Honda). There is also another character that was forgotten to be shown as well, Miho Nosaka. Miho is another of Yugi's friends that usually hangs around Tristan or Tea.

Yugi finds the Millennium Puzzle in his families Game Store and decides to build it. The box says "who ever is able to complete this Puzzle will gain the powers of the Dark and one wish will come true". Yugi finishes the Puzzle and wishes for Friendship. Then the dark spirit, Yami, grants him this wish and protects Yugi's friends from dangerous Bullies, Gansters, Rich Snobs, and demented Criminals.

Unlike the Yu-Gi-Oh! you see on TV, this is way different then what I expected. Yami, which we all see as the super good guy is a crazy psycopathic killer in this series. Always playing mind games and then killing his opponent. He is some King of Games. This is one to check out.

Overview: That other Yugioh series, the one you probably didn't see.

First a little background,

If you grew up in the 1990s, you probably saw at least a few episodes of Yugioh, the anime about children playing a poor man's version of Magic the Gathering featuring holographic monsters and rules that seem to change every episode. Yugioh was localized in the US by the infamous and now thankfully defuct company 4kids. All dark plot points involving death and people getting sent to hell were removed, and replaced with references to the "shadow realm". This is similar to early US dubs of Dragonball Z where in every god ... damned episode someone was getting sent to "another dimension". 4kids even made awkward edits where guns were photoshopped out and guards simply pointed at characters, although obviously they were supposed to be holding something.

Finally, the part where I actually review season zero:

However, even the "uncut" version without the overzealous editing of 4kids wasn't that dark. The Yugioh that was popular in the US was intentionally a kid friendly show. This could NEVER be said about the first Yugioh series, also known as season zero. Comparing season zero to the later Yugioh series would be almost like comparing Berserk to Pokemon. Season zero is deliciously dark and morbid, with the main character callously murdering people in nearly every episode. Even if you disliked Yugioh as a kid, season zero will make you chuckle. Card games aren't nearly as important in season zero, and Yami is portrayed as the king of all games in general, not just card games. Almost every episode he challenges some poor soul to a new twisted survival challenge and ends up killing them like fucking Jigsaw. This show is pretty dark and twisted for a shonen genre, but I personally find it hilarious. Watching it is like learning that there was an original version of Disney's Recess that was R rated and dark as hell. Wouldn't you want to at least watch a few episodes for a laugh? The art is mediocre and lacks the polish of the later series, but who doesn't love Kaiba's green hair? No seriously, he has fucking green hair! The soundtrack is actually quite good with an absolutely amazing opening theme by Field of View. The characters and plot are obviously a bit different, but I actually like this version a lot better. If you vaguely remember Yugioh, but won't watch it because, "that's just a baby show", I think season zero might have you laughing and applauding in no time!

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.)

The original Yugioh.

The original stays true to its name YUGIOH= King of Games, Game King. It’s not only about duel monsters but about games.
The main problem is that I didn't understand the games at all.
It was basically advertisement to sell games.

Each episode is basically the same. Yugi or his friends get into trouble and it's up to Yami Yugi to save the day with a shadow game, not necessarily duel monsters, there's a wide variety of games.

All the characters are basically the same as YGO Duel Monsters, however Yugi is more timid, Yami is darker, there's a girl named Miho who is part ... of the group (they decided not to include her in YGO DM), Mokuba is completely different, he's a jerk just like his brother.


To be honest I think the main reason I watched and liked this anime is because I enjoyed YGO DM and I wanted to experience the original. Both the original and the remake can learn from eachother.

Many American Yu-Gi-Oh! fans were surprised when reading the first seven volumes of the manga, seeing how different the tone was compared to the dubbed TV series shown in the US (Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters) and how the stories that were shown in the manga weren't present in the anime. In truth, before the series that most countries outside of Asia would recognize, there was a series produced by Toei that was based on the game-centered first seven volumes of the manga.

Before I go into review-mode, I'd like to point out that this series IS NOT called "season zero", "The Shadow Games/Yami no Game", or ... whatever other crap people are calling it this week. This was done by a different animation company (Toei) and has nothing to do with the series most of us know in the US, aside from having the same source material (Kaiba's hair is green for heaven's sake!). Calling it the "Shadow Games" is redundant because people seem to forget that the WHOLE manga and anime series is centered around Shadow Games. >_>; And "more violent"? Um, yeah. What part of "Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters was dubbed by 4Kids!" don't you understand?

Story - 6

In truth, I enjoyed the first seven volumes of the manga. The first anime series? Well, that's a whole different story. The anime made liberties to the story shown in the manga, most of the time for the worst. A lot of the games that were originally pure genius were altered in the anime or just removed all together. Not to mention, it was comprised of original crap made by Toei and skipped over a lot of the more interesting chapters. I wanted to see the Zombire chapters and the "knife in the mouth" game animated, darn it! They had a lot of material to work with, but Toei decided to screw it up with their oh-so-good fillers.

The basis of the story and the theme is good, which is why I gave it a 6, but the anime was poorly executed, not to mention poorly paced.

Art - 3

The character designers and animators at Toei were smoking something unpleasant when producing this series. Green-haired Kaiba aside, the character designs for all the other characters were needlessly altered from their manga-counterparts and were drawn inconsistently throughout the series. The animation was quite inconsistent in general, and the BRIGHT color palette is a pain in the eyes.

Actually, the opening and ending themes are probably the only half-decent animation work that this series has to offer.

Sound - 6

The best thing I thought Toei did with the anime was the soundtrack, which isn't saying much because it wasn't all that amazing. The opening theme and the ending theme were OK (I especially liked the ending theme the most), but the background music is either a hit-or-miss.

The voice actors were great, but the large gap in tone between Yuugi and Dark Yuugi's voices were quite exaggerated by Megumi Ogata. Still, she made Dark Yuugi sound like a VERY clear-cut badass teenager.

Characters - 6

MOST of the characters retain MOST of their personalities that were shown in the manga. But seeing the alteration to Honda's fairly likable character into a pansy that got beat up in the first episode for no reason, and adding Miho into the story, all I have to say to Toei is...

What the hell were you thinking?!

Enjoyment - 5

If it wasn't for me reading the manga first, I probably would've enjoyed this series more. But I DEFINITELY wouldn't have seen the "lost potential" the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise had if I didn't read the first seven volumes of the manga first... The way the anime was constructed was neither "genius" nor would I see any LITTLE connection this series has to the later series. I probably wouldn't even know what the hell was going on.

Overall - 5

Toei turning something potentially watchable into something quite horrible? That totally never happened before.

If you want a SLIGHTLY more faithful adaptation of the manga, SLIGHTLY better character designs, and SLIGHTLY better animation, watch the second series (Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters, subbed). In truth, the second series isn't all that great either, but it's much better than what this series is hyped out to be in the more idiotic portion of the Yu-Gi-Oh! fandom. Personally, I recommend staying away from the words "Yu-Gi-Oh!" and "anime" put together, all together.

Yu-Gi-Oh is yet another anime that follows the same trend of Pokemon and Digimon. A boy uses fantasy monsters to fight evil and save the world. You know, the usual stuff. Of course, this series has a lot to other for those who are interested in TV shows similar to this.

PROS

The art style is a bit better than other anime shows from the 90's, but you can only do so much with the visuals until the flaws are seen. I think, though, despite this, that the show should be applauded for having as good of visuals as there are.

One thing I always look ... for in anime like this is the uniqueness of the Yu-Gi-Oh creatures themselves. I would say 70% of them look different from one another. Every now and then, though, you will see a Digimon who looks too similar to another Yu-Gi-Oh. Since the majority of the Yu-Gi-Oh creatures look different, I give the uniqueness of the series of monsters a pass.

CONS

The characters in Yu-Gi-Oh are interesting, in some ways. Unfortunately, many of the characters act like others at times, which can be very annoying. I would say that it didn't bother me as a kid because, at the time, I wasn't aware of how stories worked and whatnot. But after a re-watch, it is clear that the writing in this series is not the greatest. Don't be surprised to see villains come up, one after another, who all seem to have one goal and talk in a similar manner to the previous. With that said, this only occurs within some episodes and should not be a goal of catching when it occurs.

The dialogue in the show is a bit of a mess too. It can get really annoying whenever you see a close up of a character's face and they describe what move they think will occur next. To be honest, it can be quite funny, although I know it is supposed to be taken seriously. Obvious events that the viewer knows about will be repeated over and over again. This is a problem with other shows as well, but that doesn't give Yu-Gi-Oh a pass.

OVERALL

Yu-Gi-Oh isn't anything special. I give it a 9, but part of my rating is due to the fact that I loved it as a kid, so obviously that's going to influence my judgment in some form or another. It's not a show you need to seek out, nor is it a show that will have any emotional impact on you (unless for nostalgic reasons). It's an okay show for new viewers and a great show for those coming back to watch it again.

Although, Yu-Gi-Oh! (1998) was never released anywhere except Japan, I consider it to be the best Yu-Gi-Oh! series, and I am a fan of all the series. There aren't any overly drawn out action sequences, lasting only 1-3 episodes at most (and only on 1 or 2 occasions). Whereas, the other series of Yu-Gi-Oh! have very drawn out fights that can become slightly boring if you are not completely enjoying the main plot itself. Plus, it gives that wonderful nostalgic feeling that 90's kids get, when watching a show from that era, even if you had never seen it until now. Not to mention, that ... this show does have more mature undertones, which acts as a good source of comedy for teenagers and young adults. Overall, it is a very good series, and if you do not want to watch Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters, which has over 200 episodes, this show of 27 episodes should interest you.

Yugioh (also known as Yugioh Season 0) is pretty much a prequel to Yugioh Duel Monsters. It's about a shy little boy named Yugi who finds a mysterious Egyptian artifact, which is possessed by a Pharaoh spirit. He is kind of a geek and obsessed with games and toys. Eventually, he and his friends will encounter many bad guys and the Pharaoh always takes over Yugi's body to challenge them to deadly games. Unlike later seasons of Yugioh (which concentrate 100% on the card game) the very first story arc has only very few card duels, but a lot of other interesting methods of battling ... instead (that usually consist of asspulls though).
The story is pretty basic, but I always thought that the whole Egypt thing in Yugioh is kind of unique. The atmosphere is very different from the rest of the series, probably because it's from a different animation studio than Duel Monsters, so the characters look and sound different. Also, the last duel in this anime and the first episode of Duel Monsters kinda overlap, so the transition from Season 0 to DM might be awkward.

TL;DR:
If you never watched Yugioh, you should start with this one and continue with Duel Monsters. If you already know Yugioh, it might be cool for you to see how the plot actually begins or just to see Yugioh in a different style.

Yu Gi Oh

Story/
Let's clear up some confusion. This wasn't the version dubbed by 4kids that you look back on with nostalgic fondness. No, this was the anime BEFORE that. The one that was actually more concerned with adapting the manga source material than selling trading cards.
This Yu-Gi-Oh anime (often called Season 0 because it starts from the beginning) followed the sweet, often bullied Yugi Muto. However, after he solved the millennium puzzle against all odds, and became possessed by a dark entity. This more serious, more confident "Yami Yugi" surfaced whenever normal Yugi came into contact with a cruel human ... being. Yami Yugi would then challenge the evil person to a game. And here's the kicker: rarely did he suggest a game of cards.

Nope, I got to see a whole sundry of games. And not just any games. The games Yami preferred were enchanted shadow games in which the loser was excruciatingly punished. Pretty dark, huh? I found myself really enjoying this aspect of the show. Egypt is known for its many games and "YuGiOh" itself is a pun that translates as "The King of Games" so dealing with activities besides cards really rounds out the story and gives it a bit of spice.

As a brief warning, the story did run out of funding before reaching a satisfying end.

Art/
I'll try not to judge too harshly since this anime was released some time ago. The art, frankly, left much to be desired, but at the same time didn't leave me wanting to gouge my own eyeballs out. The coloring was bright and gave the whole show an extremely cartoonish feel. The style itself was simple, but was decent all the same.

Sound/
I don't mean to this compare too much to Yu-gi-oh: Duel Monsters, but the soundtrack in this didn't hold a candle to the epic soundtrack of the Duel Monsters localization. The opening was entirely average, a happy number that was catchy, but failed to be anything special. The music used for Yami's entrance was upbeat which hardly suited his harsh character. I may be biased in my sound ratings since the English soundtrack used for Duel Monsters was so good (4kid's one glowing achievement) but who can blame me? I was simply disappointed by this Yu-Gi-Oh's music. Deserves a 4-5 rating. Guess I'll be generous. 5 it is.

Characters/
The anime's main protagonists were, of course, Yugi and Yami. The other main characters were Jounouchi, Honda, and Anzu who you may know as Joey, Tristian, and Tea. There was also another character by the name of Miho who was a non-reoccurring character in the manga, but still added to the main group in the anime in an attempt to balance the male/female. The characters made for a fairly well-rounded group. With Yugi as the innocent main character, Anzu as the voice of reason and love interest, and Jounouchi and Honda as the tougher, yet comedic friends, I didn't feel like there was much missing. I even felt that Miho was unnecessary, but she didn't ruin the show for me. There were many silly moments concerning both her and Honda which got annoying but not too badly. Finally, I really enjoyed Yami's character. He was sly and harsh, but also caring and gentle when it came to his friends which was a mix of traits that made him so interesting to watch. He was a character who definitely helped hold my attention in watching this show.

Enjoyment/
I think back very positively on this anime. It ended pre-maturely, but it had a great thing going. I could rant forever about how this anime and the original manga were completely better in terms of story than the commonly known Yu-Gi-Oh. Rather than giving up a large part of the story for toy sales, this anime stuck true to what "King of Games" actually means; it was original. The potential of this story was so much greater than what the franchise has become. I won't bore you with a few ranty paragraphs. Perhaps, that's a video or blog for another time.

Overall/
Very nice for an anime released 1998. It gets a 8/10 rating from me and we'll let it go at that.

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.

I just finished rewatching it after 2-3 years and its actually pretty solid.Changed my score from 6 to 8.

As much as I enjoyed duel monsters becuase it is literally my childhood,I gotta say I liked the idea of unique games in each episode.It made the show exciting although there wasn't an actual plot.It's more like bad guy shows up Yami defeats him and gives him hell.

Also it is much much darker than Duel Monsters(especially the 4kids dub version)as this season includes scenes such as Yami burning a criminal or leaving Kaiba paralysed and in a freakin comma.

To end my review as for the music and ... the art:
The art was the same as Duel Monsters and I can say that I enjoyed the OP song and the ED song as well

Now this is an interesting little endeavor I set upon. I originally began to watch Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters because a friend of mine directed me to a site which had download links to subbed episodes (of course, he’s not here at the moment and can’t find it again). Being the strange and organized completist I am, I noticed that the original series created by Toei Animation was only 27 episodes, so I decided to watch that first. Exactly two months to the day later, I finished it…and was left…well, just read on. Just note: I have not read the original manga that the show is ... based on, and I have limited information about it, so forgive me if I make a mistake on something.

Story [4.0]
Although the idea is an interesting one, I think it was poorly executed. It reminds me of a little-know Nickelodeon show called Chalk Zone. I thought it was a neat idea, but the way it was put together was just…odd. However, that is something for another day. The first few episodes I thought were neat, because the game that Yugi’s alter-ego set up for the antagonist of the particular episode were actually rather clever. However, it quickly goes downhill from there. Most of the time, the characters are involved with typical and sometimes odd situations in school that eventually lead to the game at the end. However, the game become so quick, it’s rather hard to enjoy it. Around the middle of the series, Yugi’s friend Anzu discovers Yugi’s secret in an episode that presents a clear danger, a clever game, and more time dedicated to it. That way, it was much better to get into. Some of the challenges in between are also a bit interesting, but there are too many flat, quick ones, and others just leave your head scratching as to how the challenge could have been accomplished. Things pick up at the end, where the final battles against Kaiba and Bakura each span a number of episodes, so it does have a bit of suspense to it, even though it’s entirely predictable. In fact, the final battle against Kaiba will look very familiar if you’ve watched the newer series. Almost to the point where you’ll be utterly bored. The Bakura battle also has similarities to its counterpart, where the main characters are put into the role of combatants with both spirits battling against each other and Bakura’s pure heart being the deciding factor. So, in conclusion. Interesting idea but inconsistent with its highs and lows throughout the series.

Art [4.0]
Well, this is an old show, so you can’t really expect much in the art department. Nothing too dazzling, nothing too spectacular. Just your basic animation. They try to make it dark at times, but nothing ominous comes out of it. Crazy hair is included, of course.

Sound [3.0]
Well…the music just doesn’t work for me. Nothing catchy, nothing stand out. It’s very repetitive. The OP and ED are underwhelming. All synthesized, as far as I can tell.

Character [4.0]
Not much to say about characters, either, except the following points. The decision to make Miho a main character was a bad idea. Far too ditzy and with that whiny/cute image that I find more annoying than cute. Yet, of course, she manages to be quite useful and extremely lucky near the end. Kaiba is a good villain, but it seems like he is just too power-hungry and willing to prove his own greatness. His younger brother Mokuba probably could have had more screen, but he spends pretty much all his time gloating about how he’s going to defeat Yugi that his worries about how his brother had become ruthless in his endeavors seems so…awkward. The Egyptian guy at the very beginning (didn’t care enough to know his name) should have been used more instead of having Kaiba every three or four episodes. And Bakura appears a bit too late. It’s more like he arrives, disappears, and reappears at the very end of the series to confront the protagonists. However, I did enjoy how we got to know more about the character and how he turned from the innocent person into the possessed monster. Something that I haven’t seen in the other series. Then again, that starts pretty much after this one…ish.

Oh, yeah. More Miho rant. Maybe it’s just me, but how do you fall in love with a guy after only seeing him for one freakin’ second and completely changing plans because of that. I’m willing to bet that girls really aren’t that way.

Enjoyment [3.0]
If you watch the Duel Monsters part of this series, this one is going to be very much less enjoyable. For those who are new, you can probably only watch the first few and last six episodes and get pretty much the backstory that you need to take into Duel Monsters. There are few interesting moments, and those usually come at either end, with a few exceptions in the middle. Most of the time, I began to zone out, as the story was not deep enough to get me interested. No touching, emotional movements, either. Also, you may have heard people spoofing Yu-Gi-Oh!’s use of friendship as a major factor in plot advancement. While the end is interesting, the use of this friendship gets used to such a cheesy level, you may begin to appreciate those efforts from Duel Monsters. Oh, and mentioning things that happen after the next episode…not a good idea, especially if mentioned more than once on the way there.

Overall
If you’ve begun to watch ahead of this series, don’t look back at this. You will not need it to understand everything. If you must watch it, you’re in for a long and droning saga, even though it’s only 27 episodes. In short, pass if you can and/or don’t care.

Yu-Gi-Oh! 0 was indeed an anime that surprised me, I loved the duel monsters edition to the series, and so I thought that this original adaption might dissapoint me, guess If I was wrong. I litterately struggled to keep myself from finishing this anime in one go. I will be writing a spoilerless review.

Yu-Gi-Oh! 0 is the very first original anime in the following Yu-Gi-Oh! series. This anime was the first one made, however due to this anime containing several elements not to appropriate for children it was never aired outside of japan. I can also see why, many of these elements were far from ... for something you should show in a G rated series, However this is an anime you wouldn't want to miss out on.

Indeed, This anime was nothing like I had expected it to be. When you see the other versions you mostly see the series as a anime mostly revolving about cardgames, however here in this version you really get to see why Yugi turns out to be the king of games in the end. That's right, in this season it isn't just the duel monsters game in which they play in this version of the series..

Yugi is your average boy, In most of his life he has been struggling feeling that he isn't enough appreciated in the field of friendship. There is nothing he longs for anymore than for some true friends that he can lean on, Upon being given a uncompleted millenium puzzle and being convinced that upon finishing it he will be able to get one wish fulfilled. As he finished the puzzle after eight years of struggle he'll find his friends, However unknowingly that they were there by his side all along. However as he completed the puzzle, he seem to begin having these wierd gaps in him memory of which he can't remember anything. Follow Yugi and his friends, when they battle people who does unfair deeds. What is truly the true power of friendship?..

I was also positively surprised to find that this edition to the series actually had some romance in it. However, what surprised me the most about this anime, was its OST. I loved every song in the series and I constantly wanted to listen to the songs.

This is an anime you wouldn't want to miss out on, Trust me. This anime, also the darkest edition to the Yu-Gi-Oh! series, will keep you watching all the way through. You will not regret watching this anime.

Well what can i say about this series is that was very good.
The series has little to no changes based on the manga only the inclusion of one character (Miho) besides that not many changes ocurred
Is practically the Yugi Oh that we knew and loved my recomendation for people is that first read the manga after that you will notices that there isn't much of a change and wasn't boring since everything changed with each episode it wasn't like duel monsters that was duel and duel and duel and duel to the point it became boring while duel monster had better animation it wasn't ... nearly as entertaining as this one.

This series deserves a remake with the animation style shown on Dark Side of Dimensions specially with anzu since she got changed for duel monster same as Yugi grandpa

i watched this, because people like to hype it up as the "yu gi oh, but darker" but it's really not, it's super goofy, yeah yami lights up a dude on the second episode,but other than that, nothing really happen, this show really feels like it doesn't have a plot at all, kaiba appears from time to time, the egyptian dude was cool i guess. i'm writing this after watched the 17th episode, but i don't think anything interesting it's gonna happen to make me go crazy, and to change my mind about the rating.

The animation it's super limited, you can see that ... there´s an intent to make some of the shots more interesting, but most of the time, this anime feels ugly and boring to watch.

the characters, yugi it's a crybaby, he feels the same on episode 17, as he felt on episode 1, there's no change at all, the only thing that changed it's that he has a group of friends now, that's all, most of the conflict gets resolved by yami, so yugi doesn't learn or does anything. Jounouchi and honda, are ok, honda kinda has one joke that likes to tell anytime he's on screen, and gets old, really fast, Miho it's as onedimensional as you can get, then there's anzu, that feels like a real character, she and yami are the highlight of the show, at least for me.

it's a boring show,there's scenes that are kinda funny outta context, so there's that.

So you think you know YuGiOh? Likely, you started out watching the YGO Duel Monsters dub on TV, then watched the Japanese version and saw how much stuff had been left out in order to make the series more kid friendly for the US. Having done that, you might think you have the whole story.

What if I told you that there was another series, totally different from DM, even though it's set in Domino and has the exact same characters? You'd say I'm either lying or crazy! I don't blame you.

However, this series does in fact exist! In 1998, two years before DM was adapted ... into an anime, the studio Toei adapted the first set of YGO manga into an anime, known simply as YuGiOh, sometimes called Season Zero or Shadow/Dark Games by avid watchers.

Everyone is there: Yugi, Jounouchi, Honda, Anzu, Kaiba, etc. But they are SO DIFFERENT! Little Yugi is this wussy little kid with a high pitched voice who can't get through an episode without being beaten up. Jounouchi actually starts out as something of a bully to Yugi! Honda is a neat freak who's part of the Beautification Squad because he wasn't elected class president, and Anzu's pretty much the same!

The biggest difference though is Yami Yugi. I won't spoil anything, but I will say he is totally off the chain! You mess with Yugi and friends, you incur Yami Yugi's wrath and risk your life and sanity!

So if you think you know, YuGiOh, I challenge you to check this series out. Deemed too dark for younger viewers, it was never dubbed or licensed in the USA, but can be seen on YouTube and many other anime streaming sites.

Give it a try!

(Breakdown of my ratings below)

Colloquially known as Yu-Gi-Oh! Season 0, this show loosely follows the plot of the original Yu-Gi-Oh! manga, which was actually a horror series that focused on villain-of-the-week stories and all manner of games, not just Duel Monsters. Yami Yugi is a dark, imposing figure here, who doles out punishment games to anyone who wrongs him, shattering their psyche and leaving them a shadow of their former selves.

Your enjoyment of this show will almost entirely hinge on your feelings towards the rest of the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise. If you love Yu-Gi-Oh!, there's probably at least some entertainment to be gained from this ... show for you. To someone like me, who's been a Yu-Gi-Oh! fan their whole life, it's incredibly charming. If you hate Yu-Gi-Oh!, you probably won't enjoy this. The tone is different, there's less focus on The Power Of Friendship, but it's still very clearly a Kazuki Takahashi production, so if you simply can't stomach the way he writes, then this show isn't for you. Still, if you like darker shows and games of all kinds(from cards to puzzles, all the way to laser tag) and don't mind watching something that's a little rough around the edges, Season 0 is a little hidden gem that stands on its own two feet just fine without any propping up form the later seasons.

STORY: 7
Not much cohesion from episode to episode, mostly content to tell standalone stories that can frequently venture into the realm of the ridiculous, it's hardly a masterpiece of modern storytelling, but I find myself interested and intrigued by each new game, the motivations of the antagonists, and how Yami will defeat them. Kazuki Takahashi's passion for all games shows, and it makes for a show that manages(to me, at least) to be somehow endearing and dark all at once.

If you're a person that loves dark media, though, be warned that it isn't really that dark to a seasoned veteran. Despite more adult themes and horror-esque elements, it still manages to be mostly kid-friendly, even though it's not made for children.

ART: 5
It's okay. It serves the purpose. You probably won't be confused by what's happening on screen, so it manages to convey that much. It very much looks like a cheap anime from the era. I like the color choices they make and it can definitely have nostalgic appeal to you stylistically, which bumped it up from a 4 to a 5 for me, but I'd be lying if I tried to claim any more than that.

SOUND: 6
I never noticed anything explicitly bad about the sound design of the show. I think it's a solid 5 in that it wasn't bad and didn't detract from the show at all, but I really like the opening theme so I decided to be generous and bump this score up as well.

CHARACTER: 7
This and the enjoyment section are probably my strongest biases. The characters, if you're looking at this as a standalone product, probably aren't that great. But I love, love, LOVE season 0's Katsuya Jounouchi. I love how he's a shitty little delinquent punk, I love the decision to make his father an abusive drunk(not a spoiler, revealed fairly early on and mostly only mentioned in passing. It serves its purpose of explaining how Jou-kun became who he is, though). I also love this series's darker Yami, how tough Anzu is, and Honda is just a little better fleshed out to me. If you've never watched Yu-Gi-Oh! and decide to watch season 0 and nothing else, the characters would maybe be a 5. Possibly even 4, since the focus being on VOTW doesn't always leave time for the characters to grow all that much. Returning fans, though, will most likely find these takes on beloved characters refreshing and interesting.

ENJOYMENT: 9
It's just fun! It doesn't actually take itself all that seriously, the villains can actually get pretty out-of-the-box, Kazuki Takahashi managed to find obscure games that I've still yet to see gain any exposure, making their involvement in the show really shine, and it doesn't drag on and on like other seasons of Yu-Gi-Oh!. If you dislike Yu-Gi-Oh! because of its length, this is sort of like a darker, more condensed version with a slightly different focus. If you just don't like Yu-Gi-Oh! at all, you'll probably get a lot less enjoyment out of it than I did, but I loved it from start to finish.

OVERALL: 7
All around a fairly appealing and fun little romp through the darker side of the meadow. Well, slightly darker. Shaded, maybe. Like, under a tree or something. Still, it's appealing and short and worth your time if you're interested in it.

I've decided to nostalgia trip a little bit on Yu Gi Oh! duel monsters, a show I grew up watching after school and realized that I did not ever see the actual first season (King of Games otherwise known as Season Zero). Likely for good reason, if this "King of games" season was what I was first exposed to of the franchise, I'd have a hard time believing the Duel Monsters season would be worth watching because at times this show was laughable.

With all the censorship 4kids had done on the franchise I can't even imagine how they would even present this up to their ... standards. Yugi gets beat up seemingly every second episode among other tricky subject matter to get around. I also feel like the card games profit would have suffered initially just because of the nature of this show was again laughable, and I was surprised to see how little the duel monsters game was played. Every time I felt it was leaning towards what I was familiar with seeing of the franchise, it just went completely off the board and lost any resemblance of what it was I grew up with then back on, then off the board again like "what am I watching?". It's also chalked full of morality plot points, very... good behavior beats out bad behavior, but I want to say a different brand than in the Duel Monsters season, then again I don't remember Duel Monsters super well but that's just what I felt I was seeing, putting out a good message as most shows do when they first gain airtime.

Out of the 27 episodes I maybe got 8 or so episodes that I did find quality enjoyment in, especially the last 3. Otherwise I found it hard to believe I was watching Yu Gi Oh because of how different it was, sometimes shockingly so. I was happy seeing Yugi's friendship origins, which is mainly why I wanted to see in the first place. From what I grew up with they seemed generally unimportant aside from morale support and a duel here and there, but this season is where I felt they played a huge role and I got to see their relationship with Yugi in more depth. I'd consider it worth watching for that alone. Also, if you're a Kaiba fan, there is quality insight to his character as well. Glad they changed his hair to how it is in the Duel Monsters season.

I doubt I'll ever return to this season (or series once I eventually finish Duel Monsters) and could easily have given this season a 5. To me it's not a bad show, but I can't really call it an especially good one either. I don't see it as anything lower than a 5.

If anything, watch it to see just how different it used to be, if you want to see Yugi's friendships origin, for a laugh or to be dumbfounded by it. It is by no means unenjoyable. I'm looking forward to seeing season 1 (Duel Monsters) again without censorship and hopefully be entertained with it for awhile.

Watch this show only for the novelty of it being the OG series for Yugioh. I wouldn't recommend this show for someone who isn't already a fan of Yugioh Duel Monsters because in all honesty if you are looking for a great story or great characters or amazing art and sound this isn't the show for you. I would recommend this show for anyone who likes Yugioh Duel monsters to basically see it all started and the inspiration for some of the fights in duel monsters such as the first duel with kaiba to even the final arc of the show. This show is worthwhile ... for that reason alone. I would also probably someone who likes older 90s shounen as there is a lot of comparisons to be made with the older shounen and this show with some of the battles and the tropes having the feel of older shounen.

The story is mostly episodic with a villain of the week type of scenario however some of the battles take more than one episode to finish such as the last two arcs. For the most part this works in the shows favor as it allows characters to appear with there own wacky motive to then be mind crushed by yami yugi by the end of the episode in a unique take on a game (note: not just card games like in duel monsters). These games can range from Dungeons and Dragon irl to laser tag to even a couple of puzzle games. This is honestly the best part of the show, the games are very creative with a neat rule set, and the solution to these yami games are always as inventive as the games themselves so these battles are the highlight of the show and usually the episode as well. However what comes after is kinda disappointing, nothing. We usually don't get any kind of check to what happens to most of these characters after losing a yami game save for one or two people and even then it's pretty minor. I really didn't like this part of the show because it's a huge unexplored aspect of the show that could have made the whole victory feel more important or at least more helpful like one of gen characters who we actually do see after she losses still acts pretty much the same as before but this time is kinda psychologically forced (note: I don't think the show ever elaborated on the fact of it being an illusion or real, which also could have been an interesting aspect to explore) to act a certain way. The story other than that is otherwise pretty generic with a lot of elements taken from older shounen like the whole 4 heavenly deva of high school trope that we hear about but never actually seen aside from kill la kill and this show apparently. While at times people tend to say that this show is darker than Duel Monsters I have to respectfully disagree and put forth the notion that most of the time this show is even more childish than Duel Monsters in terms of well everything actually. I would rate this show a 5 in the story category but I feel the unexplored aspects of the show kinda hinder this show to be able to have this score. While it can be a slog to watch 27 episodes of the same formula of villain being a villain, yugi challenges the villain to a game, wins and mindcrush repeat but I feel the uniqueness of the games kinda help make them less of a slog to go through even though it took me more than 2 months to finish this show so....

Art is single handily the worst aspect of this show. It looks bad even by standards of the time period it came out in. It looks bad even by the standard of shows made 20 years before this one and that is only a slight exaggeration. The colors used in the show quite honestly look like something I could have drawn in with crayons or something. Art design is otherwise generic and lackluster aside from the choice of coloring (such as kaibas hair) I previously mentioned. Character design is actually pretty decent and while I have not read the original manga this show is based on it looks pretty similar at a cursory glance but I could be wrong though. This is not a show you'll watch for the pretty colors ever let's just put it that way so I'm under no disillusion that this show deserves anything less than a two as everything about the shows art is below average and downright dreadful.

Sound is also not really that good to be very honest. The soundtrack tends to repeat the same 4 songs throughout the show and the only one I actually liked was the yami yugi theme. That song matched the overall feel the show was trying to go for and is one of those songs that will get you hyped but even then it's not really a song I'll listen on repeat like Jojo or anything like that. Rest of the songs do set the mood rather well but that probably has something to do with the fact the only 3 moods you really need to set in this show is this villain is villainous, school life and get hyped yami yugi is here. While the sound is not as bad as the art it's still pretty bad with repetition of the soundtrack which really kills the mood and one decent song that I liked.

Characters are their own bag of mess. Most are relegated to the villain of the week type characters I already mentioned which basically means they are very one note and offer no reason for them being major grade A dicks all the time like for a lot of these villains I'm stuck wondering how are these people having a job like the doctor in one of the episodes. Main cast isn't any better tbh for some reason there is a character that isn't in Duel Monsters except she really is less relevant to the plot than tea (or anzu if you prefer). She and Honda (Tristan) were honestly really annoying characters throughout the entire series. They were completely unlikable with Miho and her overall shallow mindset and Honda trying to get in her pants and miho completely ignoring him. This joke got old even before it happened! That's how bad it is and it's repeated throughout the entire show. Rest of the main characters tend to act as they do in Duel Monsters, with only joey getting some minor development. So overall the characters are not the best.

As much as I've been harping on the show so far I actually enjoyed it quite a lot. As I've said previously you won't like the show if you didn't like Duel Monsters and luckily I really like Duel Monsters. It's nice to see the characters I've enjoyed in a different light (except Honda he cucked and sucked this version) and it's nice to see a different interpretation of the yami games. The games were always a fun watch minus like one that I felt the answer came a bit too easily but other than that it's a very fun watch. While I did enjoy the show a lot I still think this is an overall bad show that failed in a lot of crucial aspects whether it be the plot, characters, art and lackluster sound that I honestly wish were done as bad as what happened.