Yu-Gi-Oh! (Toei anime)
Yu-Gi-Oh! (Toei anime) | |
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Yu-Gi-Oh!遊☆戯☆王Yūgiō | |
Genre | Action, Adventure, Gaming
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Anime series | |
Directed by |
Hiroyuki Kakudo |
Studio | |
Network | |
Original run |
April 4, 1998 — October 10, 1998 |
No. of episodes |
Wikipedia has a page about Yu-Gi-Oh! (Toei anime). |
Yu-Gi-Oh! (遊☆戯☆王 Yūgiō, lit. "Game King" and incorrectly referred to as "Season Zero" by fans) is the first anime adaptation of the Yu-Gi-Oh! manga series. The 27-episode series was produced by Toei Animation and aired on TV Asahi from April 4 to October 10, 1998.
While this series is not directly connected to Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (known internationally simply as Yu-Gi-Oh!, produced by Nihon Ad Systems and aired on TV Tokyo), both anime series are based on the Yu-Gi-Oh! manga.
Manga plots were re-written so that they could take up an entire episode's worth of time. Also, the level of violence was reduced between the manga and the anime. Finally, a minor character in the manga, Miho Nosaka, became a main character in the first series along with Yugi Mutou, Katsuya Jonouchi, Anzu Mazaki, and Hiroto Honda. Characterization was slightly modified. For instance, Miho is a "ditz" in the anime while in the manga she is a shy student librarian. Also, Honda is a cleaning monitor and Jonouchi's verbal sparring partner instead of his crony in Toei's anime.
New characters and plots, such as those relating to the four game masters, were added, and there are more occurrences of Seto Kaiba and Duel Monsters (Magic and Wizards in the original Japanese manga) than in the corresponding manga. Unlike the second series, the card game (Duel Monsters) is not the sole focus of the show. However, the Duel Monsters rules have been updated, becoming more like those used in the Duelist Kingdom, even though this anime never gets to that point. The last episodes of the series focus on the battle between Yugi and Dark Bakura. This series had different voice actors and different character designs than the second series (e.g. Seto Kaiba's hair is green in Toei's anime). The series has not been licensed for an English-language release.
Contents
Yami no Game
In this series, Yami Yugi doesn't challenge people to a duel of Duel Monsters. Instead, he would challenge them to a Shadow Game, or Yami no Game, where he would then explain the rules. However, the person in question would cheat and the Doors of Darkness will open, thus Yami Yugi would do a Penalty Game upon the person, and usually whatever they obsess over the most would be their nightmare, such as their makeup falling off and showing their true face or watches fusing to their being. Duel Monsters was not the main point of the show but was played a few times.
Cast
The ending credits of each episode features three pages of voice roles.
- Characters appearing on the first page are listed below as "main".
- Characters appearing on the second page, at least once, are listed below as supporting.
- Characters only appearing on the third page are listed below as minor.
Episode list
VHS
Trivia
- Despite being his trump card in the NAS anime and manga, Yugi did not play "Dark Magician" in any episodes of this series. However, Yugi is seen using it in the opening theme and finally plays the card in the movie.
- "Dark Magician" is also shown to be owned by another Duelist in Episode 3.
- "Unguard Magic" is the only card shown with English text.
- Character and card designs more closely resemble those from the earlier chapters of the manga. However, coloring choices do not always reflect those seen in the manga, two notable exceptions being Kaiba's green hair and the female Domino High uniform (orange and green in the show as opposed to pink and blue in the manga).
- The design for Noah Kaiba in the third season of NAS anime is likely a reference to Kaiba's appearance in this series, both characters sporting green hair and a white, high-collared outfit.
- Some manga chapters are combined into a single episode (e.g. the three chapters with Hirutani occur in only one episode).
- Some Millennium Items (the Millennium Ring and the Millennium Scales) are not colored singularly gold and add brown accents to certain parts, giving the impression they are not completely made of metal like in the manga.
- Most of the Shadow Games are changed or modified in some way from the manga, either to lessen the level of violence employed by the characters or to better fit the scenario presented in the episode.
- The card backings show stylized "MW" letters for Magic and Wizards even though the characters refer to the game as Duel Monsters, from the beginning.
- Cards are played on a game mat with different areas depicted. All these areas give a 50% power bonus to monsters placed on a complimentary field (e.g. Insect monsters benefit from the Forest field).
- This is similar to the "field power bonus" in the Duelist Kingdom arc in the next series.
- Despite using rules closer to those of the Bandai card game and later manga chapters, a great number of liberties are still taken with regards to how Duel Monsters is played.
- Only a few Duels use Kaiba's virtual reality system to show monsters.
- Others ideas used to show monsters are puppets, Shadow Games, illusions, and images imagined by the Duelists themselves.
- This is the only series in the entire franchise to be animated on cels.