Yu☆Gi☆Oh!

Alternative Titles

Synonyms: Game King, Yugioh, King of Games, Yu-Gi-Oh! First Series, Yu-Gi-Oh! Serie Zero, Yugi-Oh, Yuugiou, Yu-Gi-Oh Season 0

Japanese: 遊☆戯☆王

More titles

Information

Type: TV

Episodes: 27

Status: Finished Airing

Aired: Apr 4, 1998 to Oct 10, 1998

Premiered: Spring 1998

Broadcast: Saturdays at 18:00 (JST)

Producers: TV Asahi

Licensors: None found, add some

Studios: Toei Animation

Source: Manga

Genres: Action, Comedy, Fantasy

Theme: Strategy Game

Demographic: Shounen

Duration: 24 min. per ep.

Rating: PG-13 - Teens 13 or older

Statistics

Score: 7.24¹ (scored by 141,464 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #3118²

² based on the top anime page. Please note that 'Not yet aired' and 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #991

Members: 245,714

Favorites: 1,259

Available At

Official Site

Resources

AniDB

ANN

Streaming Platforms

Crunchyroll

Netflix

May be unavailable in your region.

7.24

Ranked #3118Popularity #991Members 245,714

Spring 1998TVToei Animation

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Episodes: /27

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Synopsis

Bullies often target someone frail and weak—someone exactly like Yuugi Mutou. His beautiful childhood friend, Anzu Mazaki, is always there to stand up for him, but he can't depend on her forever. Katsuya Jonouchi, who is almost always accompanied by his verbal sparring partner Hiroto Honda, doesn't seem like a bad person either, despite always bringing Yuugi trouble. But most of all, Yuugi wishes for a true friend who understands him and would never betray him.

Yuugi treasures his Millennium Puzzle, an ancient Egyptian artifact that was brought into his grandfather's game shop. Believing that solving the puzzle will grant him his wish, he completes the puzzle, unleashing a new personality within him—the soul of the "King of Games."

Dark, twisted, strong, and reliable, the new personality named Yami Yuugi is the exact opposite of Yuugi. Upon any injustice toward him, Yami Yuugi takes over Yuugi's body and forces the opponent into a "Shadow Game." The stakes are high as whoever loses shall have a taste of the darkness that resides within their own heart.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Background

Yu☆Gi☆Oh! loosely adapts the first 59 chapters of the source manga while adding original events and characters not present in the manga.

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Related Anime

Adaptation:	Yu☆Gi☆Oh!
Sequel:	Yu☆Gi☆Oh! Duel Monsters, Yu☆Gi☆Oh! (Movie)
Other:	Yu-Gi-Oh! Card Game: The Chronicles

More characters

Characters & Voice Actors

Yami Yuugi

Main

Ogata, Megumi
Japanese

Kaiba, Seto

Main

Midorikawa, Hikaru
Japanese

Jounouchi, Katsuya

Main

Morikawa, Toshiyuki
Japanese

Mutou, Yuugi

Main

Ogata, Megumi
Japanese

Mazaki, Anzu

Main

Kakazu, Yumi
Japanese

Honda, Hiroto

Main

Okiayu, Ryoutarou
Japanese

Nosaka, Miho

Main

Yukana
Japanese

Yami Bakura

Supporting

Kashiwakura, Tsutomu
Japanese

Bakura, Ryou

Supporting

Kashiwakura, Tsutomu
Japanese

Kaiba, Mokuba

Supporting

Miwa, Katsue
Japanese

More staff

Staff

Kakudou, Hiroyuki

Director, Episode Director, Storyboard

Sugishima, Kunihisa

Director

Hosoda, Masahiro

Episode Director

Ikeda, Youko

Episode Director, Storyboard, Assistant Director

Edit

Opening Theme

"Kawaita Sakebi" by Field of View

Edit

Ending Theme

"Ashita Moshi Kimi ga Kowaretemo" by WANDS

Reviews

Apr 24, 2023

IneptWiz

Recommended

I remember watching this in high school and having fond memories of it, one night just binging it with a buddy who'd stayed the night.

It's rough around the edges and it's a bit different than the rest of the Yugioh series: being the OG it's a lot darker in tone which adds to the appeal. The focus in general is less on the card game itself and more on the Millennium Puzzle and everything else having to do with it. In addition, the characters are slightly different than if one has come into this from having watched any of the others in terms of ...

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Jul 9, 2022

AnimeSrk

Mixed Feelings

It was a decent season of Yu-Gi-oh!, from here on onward Yu-Gi-Oh starts. Disappointed that there were not many duel battles in the series, but other types of games were introduced a lot during the season. The character development was decent, art style and animation was also decent as it aired in the 90s. I liked some episodes and others were also decent, I enjoyed the MC and his friends. This series aside gaming shows us the importance of friendship.
What I liked about the series is the MC and the duel game which is played and his smartness also.
I give this series 6/10.

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May 18, 2017

KillerSci-fi

Not Recommended

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.

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Yu☆Gi☆Oh!

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Related Anime

Characters & Voice Actors

Yami Yuugi

Kaiba, Seto

Jounouchi, Katsuya

Mutou, Yuugi

Mazaki, Anzu

Honda, Hiroto

Nosaka, Miho

Yami Bakura

Bakura, Ryou

Kaiba, Mokuba

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Ending Theme

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Yu☆Gi☆Oh!

Alternative Titles

Information

Statistics

Available At

Resources

Streaming Platforms

Synopsis

Background

Visit MALxJapan MALxJapan -More than just anime-

Related Anime

Characters & Voice Actors

Staff

Opening Theme

Ending Theme

Reviews

Interest Stacks

Recommendations

Recent News

Recent Forum Discussion

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