Yu-Gi-Oh!

I have been watching Yu-Gi-Oh for years and the manga is slightly better but the series is definitely something to watch.

I really like this series for its voice actors -- they are just so outstanding, so much better than most other well known Japanese animations! I couldn't give a higher rate, because the storyline is somewhat average and the painting is up and down from episode to episode.

First, let me just say that if you're a fan of the card game, you probably watch the show anyway. Those who don't play the game should probably pass up this TV series.

(Although I do recommend the first few volumes of the manga (comic) series, through to the first appearance of Pegasus.)

It's worth noting that the Yu-Gi-Oh series airing on TV is in fact the second Yu-Gi-Oh series that was created. This Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Monsters series (known simply as Yu-Gi-Oh on North American TV) was created to push the then-new Konami card game. Thus, the card game is the central theme of the show. If you thought Pokemon was cheesy because it pushed a video game, then you probably wouldn't enjoy this series.

Now... I enjoy the series, and have watched much of it in the original Japanese. If you can get past the 'card game' aspect(and it's been my experience that not many people can), you'll enjoy this series. The English version, aimed more for the younger crowd, has a lot of things changed. (some of the changes were for a good reason) However, a lot of the dialog is (to be bluntly honest) pathetic.

First thing's first.

This show was loved by pretty much every preteen kid in the early 2000s (including myself). Having said that, looking back, the English dub of the show is a bit too pandering and repetitive (and when I say 'a bit', I mean 'excessively') The changes 4Kids Entertainment made to the English dub of Yugioh, at times, are just too silly that they have eventually become memes. No death, no guns, but let's leave in the part about people losing their souls, that's A-OK! At this stage of my life, Yugioh is kind of a guilty pleasure, just because of how over the top it can get. There's a guy on YouTube called LittleKuriboh who makes a living from taking the mick out of the show, for God's sake! When it boils down to it, most of the hinging story threads are really silly. "Let's play a children's card game in order to decide the fate of the world!" "The heart of the cards will guide me!" "The power of friendship will never leave us." And speaking of the last part, talk about emphasizing the friendzone to the nth degree! Tea, the token female of the group harps on about this constantly, but you just know that Yugi harbours feelings for her regardless.

Another point that takes away from the show is the relentless padding and repetition. Card games or "duels" against adversaries are stretched out to 3-4 episodes because flashbacks and inner monologues are shoehorned into the episodes constantly. There are times where I genuinely feel like going "GET ON WITH IT!!" I guess that's just an anime cliché though.

Overall, the premise of Yugioh is ridiculously silly but it still holds a special place in my heart (as cheesy as that sounds). LittleKuriboh's Abridged Series has been a bonus to come out of the show's creation.

While I was growing up watching some episodes of an anime show called Pokemon, which I personally liked as a child, I stumbled upon this on Cartoon Network and to my surprise, and I know all of you are going to hate me for this, but... I really like this show. I personally do. Don't get me wrong. I understand that lots of you hated this for it's English dub, but I think this deserves a lot more recognition for younger kids.

Sure, the voice work is pretty bland and the dialog does get repetitive in each episode, but those flaws are perfectly outmatched by it's epic adventure storyline throughout the show and it has heart to it as well. Even the history of the Egyptian culture is shown perfectly here. The characters are OK, but I think that my favorite characters who came close to steal the show is Yami Yugi, Pegasus, and Bakura. What stands out the most is the nice music and it's lush animation. I also liked the monsters as they looked real just like it's textures. Even the Egyptian textures of the monsters like Dark Magician, Blue Eyes White Dragon, and Exodia, The Forbidden One are perfectly detailed.

Overall, Yugioh isn't a masterpiece of television and anime, but for kids, they have no choice but to enjoy this for all eternity while the movie adaptation, although not nearly as good as this show, was at least watchable.