Yu-Gi-Oh!

OK, I'll admit it...I am a sucker for the "30 min. commercials". I have been ever since I was a kid back in the, uh, 80's. I would go out and buy all the brand-new cool Transformers featured in the cartoon. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles?...I was there. I am every toy manufacturers' ... dream. Yu-Gi-Oh is the continuation of my bizarre fascination with cartoons.

What's so great about this cartoon. Honestly, I can't say what it is I like. OK, I lied. I absolutely love the duels! I'm not a huge Anime fan, so that really does nothing for me. The constant babbling about "friendship" and "love" I can certainly do without. Not that those are bad things, and it's good that kids are taught these values while being brainwashed into buying the game, but it can be *awfully* sugary-sweet, especially when you're, um, <mumble> twenty-eight </mumble>. But I really enjoy the duels and it makes me want to go out and buy the cards and play with other people. Unfortunately, I have no friends, and my wife doesn't have any interest in dueling me. Fortunately, there's Game Boy Advance. I was given Dark Duel Stories for Christmas and recently bought Eternal Duelist Soul...both great games, though EDS is definitely closer to the original game than DDS. The point being, this tv show is really nothing more than an avenue for advertising their games...and I love it!

Now, what I'd like to see is how well Yugi fairs against someone who has some really nasty cards in their deck....how would he handle having Raigeki and Dark Hole being smacked down on his Dark Magician and Summoned Skull????

It took me a while, but I finally got my hands on originals! All that was cut out; all the unanswered questions, all the cute sight gags and jokes! Why?! Okay, maybe a little mature for the American standard of what a cartoon is supposed to be, but... all they did to it here is turn it into a 20 minute commercial for the game! Come on people! There is so much more to the story! How Yugi met Joun... (cringe) Joey, and Hon... (double cringe) Tristan. How he got the puzzle. How Joey got the Red Eyes in the first place. Where Mai really comes from, why she _really_ duels... I'm not going to answer any of these for you, you just have to find it yourself. I don't know the policy for leaving urls here, otherwise I would tell you >

Yu-Gi-Oh! not only entertains with a wide range of animated monsters and clever strategies but also takes us into a world where those who battle for for the ones they love and for honor DO stand a chance against the powerful and corrupt. As the series continues so does the story gain in depth and interest dispelling any scepticism that can be experienced watching the first few episodes alone (which are really a gentle introduction into how the duel monsters realm works).

The year was 1999. The 90s were making their final rounds in television, spewing out franchise after franchise to weather the storm of the 2000s. But out of all the shows created in these times, only two have withstood the test of time: Pokemon, and Yu-Gi-Oh.

But why was Yu-Gi-Oh so successful? I mean, it was just a card game, right? There were plenty of other franchises that existed to sell toys: Transformers, G.I. Joe, Pokemon, Star Wars (you know, the prequels), etc. So what made Yu-Gi-Oh any different? Because, dear friend, while other shows' merchandise remained simple merchandise, Yu-Gi-Oh took a Japanese card game and turned it into A BATTLE OF GOD-LIKE ENTITIES, HERE TO RECLAIM THE WORLD THEY RULED SO LONG AGO.

Seriously, if you knew the card game, then you knew NOTHING about the show. It managed to tie this simple game to Egyptian rituals, malevolent spirits, dark magic, action, peril, souls being bound to items of immeasurable power... Does this bone-chilling stuff sound ANYTHING like a children's card game to you?

That's not to say that the show is dark; most of the time it's quite upbeat and focuses on the card game. But when the dark powers appear before us, you can FEEL the grandiose nature of their presence OOZING out of the screen. You can feel the fact that there are greater forces at work at all times; always lurking in the shadows, always calculating their next move, and the only ones that stand between us and their demented plans are Yugi Moto and company.

Now, I know a lot of people like to complain about how 4Kids took out a lot of the violence, the nudity, the use of guns in certain scenes, and... Honestly, I'm glad they did. This show doesn't NEED violence; it doesn't need a lot of the more adult content that the Japanese include in their kids shows. By taking a lot of those elements out, they made the show more about what it SHOULD focus on: the mysticism and the card game. Putting in guns, violence and other "questionable" content only serves to bring the show closer to reality, the exact opposite of magic. Yes, the first few episodes are pretty dumbed down and the first arc holds little basis in the actual rules of the game. But once it got past that stage, it turned into a really fun, really enjoyable experience, with the exception of some painfully obvious censorship here and there.

So if you love magic, mystery, secrets, dark realms of evil power, and 2D animation that still holds up today, check out this incredible show. It is AWESOME, man!

...I have some nagging thoughts I just have to write down for the whole world to see! Okay, so lately the whole Kidnapped-Grandfather plot has been ditched in favor of a story with this mind-absorbing villain who wants three Egyptian God Cards. These cards are supposedly unstoppable, although according to this show the hero can't lose so that statement is up for debate. And it's become increasingly noticeable that the show spends 50% of its running time explaining things THAT'S IT ALREADY DISCUSSED AT LENGTH. For example:

Villain: With this card, I'll be able to add 1000 Attack Points to my dragon with every turn! My monster will soon become invincible, as its Attack Points will eventually surpass those of your puny magician!

(commercial break)

Villain: Why don't you give up, Yu-Gi? There is no way you can beat my dragon, as with each turn it gains an additional 1000 Attack Points, making it utterly unbeatable! Bwa ha ha! You might as well turn in your (insert name of mystical object here) right now and save yourself the embarrasment! HOW CAN YOUR MINISCULE MAGICIAN POSSIBLE CONTEND WITH THE MIGHT OF MY MIGHTY DRAGON, SINCE MY CREATURE BECOMES MORE AND MORE POWERFUL WITH EACH PROGRESSIVE TURN? It's madness to pursue this battle! Bwa ha ha!

Hero: (looks perplexed)

Villain: Make your move, fool! For this battle will soon be over!!!

(commercial break)

And it goes on like that until someone actually does do something. I love how the villains just KNOW they can win, but Yu-Gi always manages to yank the right card out of his deck by believing in "the heart of the cards." Yeah, you know what? I call it luck, Yu-Gi m'boy. Seriously, if it weren't for the cool character designs and my morbid sense of curiosity, I would have given up on this show a while back. But darn me if I don't tune in every blasted afternoon!!!

Sigh...pray for me, my friends.