Reviews

Apr 26, 2015
Preliminary (20/224 eps)
Overview:

Time for another highly nostalgic review! Today, I will be looking back on Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters, which was very popular during the late 1990s and early 2000s. This was the first Yugioh anime to be widely released outside Japan, but was actually the 2nd anime adaptation of Kazuki Takahashi's original manga. The first anime adaptation actually followed the manga faithfully and was later released as "Season Zero" in the West. Is an anime worse when it doesn't follow the manga? Honestly, the answer depends on what anime you're talking about. The first Hellsing anime was vastly inferior to its manga counterpart, so it was very fortunate that Hellsing Ultimate was made to correct that mistake. However, the Trigun anime was actually far better in my opinion than the original manga. In the case of Yugioh, I would argue that they REALLY should have stuck to the manga.

Plot:

The plot of Yugioh begins by introducing us to our protagonist Yugi Muto. Yugi is a constantly bullied, awkward teen that lives with his grandfather, who owns a store selling various puzzles and games. One day, Yugi manages to solve an ancient Egyptian puzzle and is possessed by the spirit of an ancient Pharaoh, who shares Yugi's body for the rest of the anime. The phrase "Yugioh" means "Game King" so obviously the plot revolves around games, which Yugi happens to be VERY good at, since he grew up in a game store. However, here is where the first major difference occurs between the manga and Duel Monsters. In the manga and Season Zero, both Yugi and the Pharaoh are highly skilled at ALL games, not just the official Yugioh trading card game. The manga version of Yugi could kick your ass in Magic the Gathering, Chess, or Monopoly. It doesn't matter what kind of game because he is the freaking KING OF GAMES. In Duel Monsters, the only game even featured in the entire show is the official trading card game. Why? The manga and Season Zero were made before the existence of the trading card game. The purpose of the manga was to tell a coming of age story in which the power of friendship overcomes obstacles and helps Yugi mature into an adult. The point of Yugioh Duel Monsters however is first and foremost to sell merchandise to kids and act as a giant advertisement for the card game. One of the first cartoons I ever loved was Ninja Turtles in the early 1990s, which also existed primarily to advertise toys to children. However, despite its MANY flaws, Ninja Turtles actually had some things it did well. It had fun and goofy characters, silly but enjoyable voice acting, and was extremely entertaining to young audiences in the late 80s early 90s vs. other cartoons of that time. Blatant and shameless commercialism doesn't automatically make a show worthless, but it has to be something BEYOND just that. Duel Monsters sacrifices the quality of the plot, the development of the characters, and the presentation of the main message all to focus on advertisement.

So if the entire show is watching characters play a trading card game, does it at least advertise the card game effectively? Does it teach young Yugioh players how to build good decks, use good strategy, etc.? HELL NO! Duel Monsters doesn't give a FUCK about the rules or actually teaching kids how to play. Instead it just focuses on shiny explosions and dramatic facial expressions interspersed with pan shots of minor characters doing nothing! Basically like a poor man's version of DBZ. Imagine I wrote my own anime based off a card game I used to play obsessively and was pretty damn good at, Magic the Gathering. The entire show revolves around characters playing Magic, but the MC has the ability to cheat his ass off and summon a creature like Akroma Angel of Wrath on turn 2 without the requisite mana...simply because fuck you! Would anyone watch that? I wouldn't.

Art:

The character designs were pretty cool in the late 1990s if you had never seen an anime before. That was actually one of the main reasons why the show got popular on Kids WB. Anime was a rare novelty for most American viewers when Yugioh came out, so people watched it simply because it looked different and cool. The animation is pretty mediocre since virtually the entire show is characters standing still and contemplating their next move in dramatic fashion. When there IS an explosion or some form of actual movement the animation is OK for its time, but hasn't really aged that well. This is made worse in the US version thanks to 4kids and their ludicrously stupid and often EXTREMELY lazy edits and censorship, which simply make the anime look like crap!


Overall:

Yugioh is a nostalgic anime for plenty of us that grew up in the late 1990s along with Pokemon and Digimon, but honestly this show isn't very good and it never was. If you LOVE the trading card game, you will probably just be frustrated by how badly this show butchers it. If you love anime about friendship and overcoming your awkward teenage years, you are way better off watching Season Zero or reading the original manga. This anime is basically a giant children's advertisement that isn't even a good advertisement! In summary, if you aren't old enough to remember this anime, don't bother digging it up. It isn't worth it.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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