Yu☆Gi☆Oh! Movie: Chou Yuugou! Toki wo Koeta Kizuna

It’s time to duel, this time with the protagonists from the first three Yu-Gi-Oh! anime series. But how does this 10th anniversary movie for the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise stack up? As a note, prior to watching this movie I have only seen the first series.

A mysterious figure is traveling through time and causing problems involving the destruction of Duel Monsters and the world, and the three Yu-Gi-Oh! heroes must join together with the magical power of time travel to defeat this new nemesis in an epic card game. It is a simple story, which is fitting of a movie that only spans around 45 minutes, excluding ... the credits. There are various moments in the movie in which I think to myself “What?” or “This makes no sense,” but this is Yu-Gi-Oh!, so a good deal of suspension of disbelief is required.

The heroes of the story are Yugi Mutou, Judai Yuki, and Yusei Fudo. The movie largely portrays Yusei, the hero of Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds, as the most important of the protagonists, and he is given the most screen time of the three characters. This makes sense as the movie first played while the 5Ds series was still airing. The movie assumes that the viewer is already familiar with the characters, though it is still easy to get the basic gist of the characters without watching their respective series. The villain is Paradox, who I found quite dull in all respects aside from his character design, which is absolutely ridiculous yet simultaneously cool. He does not have much of a personality besides being generically “evil” and simply fills the role of the necessary big baddie of the story.

A good portion of the movie consists of a duel, so it is a shame that duel has to be so incredibly bland and uninteresting. It feels like an advertisement for the new “Sin” (“Malefic” in English) cards which are introduced by Paradox. Also, the duel is more of a card showcase than a duel, as the most famous monsters from the first three shows are all brought out onto the field. If it just makes you happy seeing Black Magician and Stardust Dragon on the field together, then good for you. But I feel that the movie’s necessity of having all of these monsters present really restricts the duel from becoming something unpredictable, strategic, and fun.

On the technical side of things, the art is good and the quality is consistent throughout the film. I’m not a big fan of CGI in anime in general, but it is done decently in the movie. With regard to sound, I enjoyed the inclusion of Yugi’s main theme and what I presume to be Judai’s and Yusei’s themes, which played on their respective turns in the duel.

Honestly, this movie is just a slapdash excuse to bring together the Yu-Gi-Oh! main characters. The story is predictable, the duel is not very exciting, and the villain is a bore. I feel like the movie could have done better with a longer running time; at the very least, more detail on Parodox’s plight could have helped his character. Bonds Beyond Time is a fan service movie for Yu-Gi-Oh! fans and hardly anything more. In the end, I’d give it a half-hearted recommendation for fans of any of the first three Yu-Gi-Oh! anime, but no one else.

I swear, i really, REALLY love yu-gi-oh, specially the first one with Yami Yugi.
I've finished this movie right now and i must to say that its good but its not like the pyramid of light. Surely i am saying that because the first time i watch yu-gi-oh it was when i was little. I didnt like Yusei, and he is the main character of this film and that really make me mad.
The plot, "i came from the future and i want to destroy" Ok, DUEL! "we'll win this because you dont decide our future"
Well the all duel is "other function", "other function, etc There ... were a lot of magic card and tramp card counterattacks and i liked that. I have a due, WHAT HAPPENED WITH THE TIME TRAVEL BOY? He died? he've just dissapeared? Where did he go? And, is Yugi more tall? Or is it just me?
Whatever, i liked the movie but im not very impressed.
If i wrote something wrong i am sorry, i'm learning english =D

I found this movie enjoyable. The crossovers were entertaining, but that was the film's only redeeming quality. The plot was weak, and felt like it was thrown together in a hurry. I would only recommend this movie to die-hard YuGiOh fans, as it was sometimes cringeworthy to watch.

The movie's plot is simple and intriguing. A mysterious character from the future travels back in time to kill Pegasus and erase the Duel Monsters card game from history. To prevent this, our three heroes from different series must team up and save their beloved card game. The biggest issue is the numerous plot holes, especially those related ... to time travel. These plot holes were so distracting that they took me out of the story. Overall, the plot was poorly executed and didn't make much sense.

The movie mainly focuses on the Yu-Gi-Oh 5D universe, with a few appearances from characters in the original series and GX. However, the movie could have been more complex if it had included more characters. Unfortunately, the focus was only on four main characters, including the villain, who was one-dimensional and uninteresting. His backstory was almost non-existent, and the reasons for his attack on Pegasus were weak. The main characters were their usual selves, but Jaden felt out of place and randomly thrown in. They constantly made comments about friendship, being best buds, and their love of the children's card game, which became ridiculous. The dialogue was terrible.

Overall, the movie had many problems. Nonetheless, it was entertaining. I wish it were better.