Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters facts for kids

Yu-Gi-Oh!
Cover of the first DVD volume, featuring the main character Yugi Mutou and the bad guy from the first story, Maximillion Pegasus.
Quick facts for kids 遊☆戯☆王デュエルモンスターズ (Yūgiō Dyueru Monsutāzu)
Genre	Adventure, fantasy, science fiction
Anime television series
Directed by	Kunihisa Sugishima
Produced by	Hidetaka Ikuta Naoki Sasada Noriko Kobayashi
Written by	Junki Takegami (eps 1–121) Atsushi Maekawa (eps 122–144) Shin Yoshida (eps 145–184, 199–224) Akemi Omode (eps 185–198)
Music by	Shinkichi Mitsumune
Studio	Gallop
Licensed by	List AUS Magna Pacific (2003–2012) Roadshow Entertainment (2012–present) NA 4Kids Entertainment (2001–2012) Konami Cross Media NY (2012–present) SEA Odex Medialink UK Manga Entertainment
Network	TXN (TV Tokyo)
English network	List BI Nickelodeon, Nicktoons, Sky 1 CA YTV IE RTÉ Two UK ITV1 (CITV) US The WB (Kids' WB), Cartoon Network, Fox (4Kids TV), The CW (The CW4Kids/Toonzai /Vortexx), Nicktoons
Original run	April 18, 2000 – September 29, 2004
Episodes	224 (List of episodes)
Anime television series
Yu-Gi-Oh! Capsule Monsters
Directed by	Eric Stuart
Produced by	Katia Milani Lloyd Goldfine
Written by	Michael Pecerlello Norman J. Grossfeld
Music by	Gil Talmi
Studio	4Kids Entertainment
Licensed by	NA 4Kids Entertainment (2006–2012) Konami Cross Media NY (2012–present)
Network	US Fox (4Kids TV), Cartoon Network
Original run	September 9, 2006 – November 25, 2006
Episodes	12 (List of episodes)

Yu-Gi-Oh!, known in Japan as Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Japanese: 遊☆戯☆王デュエルモンスターズ, Hepburn: Yūgiō Dyueru Monsutāzu), is a popular Japanese anime TV show. It was made by Studio Gallop and is based on the Yu-Gi-Oh! manga (comic book) series by Kazuki Takahashi.

This show is the second anime version of the manga. The first one was made in 1998 by Toei Animation. This series is all about a high school student named Yugi Mutou who plays a card game called Duel Monsters. The story starts from a later part of the original manga.

Yu-Gi-Oh! first aired in Japan on TV Tokyo from April 2000 to September 2004, with 224 episodes. A special remastered version, showing off certain duels, started in Japan in February 2015. An English version, made by 4Kids Entertainment, was shown in the United States from September 15, 2001, to June 10, 2006, on Kids' WB.

The success of Duel Monsters led to many other Yu-Gi-Oh! shows and movies. These include Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's, Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal, Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc-V, Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS, and Yu-Gi-Oh! Sevens. There's also Yu-Gi-Oh! Capsule Monsters, a short American-made series from 2006. Three animated movies based on the series have also been released: Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie: Pyramid of Light, Yu-Gi-Oh!: Bonds Beyond Time and Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Dark Side of Dimensions.

Exploring the Story of Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters

Season 1: Duelist Kingdom Adventure

The story begins with Yugi Muto, a boy who put together an ancient Egyptian puzzle called the Millennium Puzzle. This puzzle gave him a mysterious spirit. After Yugi beats his rival, Seto Kaiba, in a game of Duel Monsters, the game's creator, Maximillion Pegasus, shows up. Pegasus uses his own Millennium Item, the Millennium Eye, to capture Yugi's grandfather's soul.

Yugi, along with his friends Joey Wheeler, Tristan Taylor, and Téa Gardner, enters Pegasus's Duelist Kingdom tournament. They battle many opponents to defeat Pegasus and save Yugi's grandfather.

Season 2: Battle City and Ancient Secrets

Yugi learns that the spirit inside him is an ancient Egyptian Pharaoh who has lost his memory. To help the Pharaoh remember his past, Yugi enters Kaiba's Battle City tournament. He needs to collect three special Egyptian God cards.

During the tournament, Yugi faces even tougher opponents and discovers more Millennium Items. One of these is the Millennium Rod, held by the mysterious Marik Ishtar.

Season 3: Virtual Worlds and Final Duels

Yugi and his friends get pulled into a virtual world. This world is controlled by Noah, the real son of Kaiba's adoptive father, Gozaburo. After beating Noah and a group of bad former KaibaCorp bosses called the Big Five, their minds return to the real world.

The Battle City tournament finals then begin. Yugi defeats both Kaiba and Marik, finally getting all three Egyptian God cards.

Season 4: The Orichalcos Threat

A group called the Order of Orichalcos takes the power from the Egyptian God cards. They start collecting souls to bring back an ancient dragon named Leviathan. Yugi, Joey, and Kaiba each receive a legendary dragon card to fight the Orichalcos.

The Pharaoh faces Dartz, the leader of the Orichalcos, to free all the stolen souls, including those of Yugi, Joey, Kaiba, and Pegasus.

Season 5: The Pharaoh's Last Battle

Yugi and his friends compete in the KaibaCorp Grand Championship, which Yugi wins. They all finally go home. Meanwhile, Ryo Bakura, who owns the Millennium Ring, is taken over by a dark spirit inside the Ring. This spirit starts collecting all the Millennium Items.

Yugi and his friends travel to Egypt. There, Yugi places the Egyptian God cards in front of an ancient stone tablet. He is then pulled 5,000 years into the past, to the time of the Pharaoh. The Pharaoh and the dark spirit of Bakura battle, and the Pharaoh learns more about his life in ancient Egypt. Finally, Yugi and the Pharaoh discover the Pharaoh's true name, Atem. They summon the three Egyptian Gods to defeat Bakura's evil, returning them to the present day.

With all the Millennium Items gathered, Yugi and Atem have one final duel. Yugi defeats the spirit so that Atem can finally move on to the afterlife.

How the Anime Differs from the Manga

The Duel Monsters anime starts where an earlier Yu-Gi-Oh! TV series (from 1998) left off. However, there are some key differences from the original manga and the first anime:

• The Duel Monsters anime mostly focuses on the Duel Monsters card game. The manga had other games and challenges.
• Many duels were added to the anime that weren't in the manga. This often changed parts of the story to fit the new duels.
• Some parts of the story that were a bit scary or intense in the manga were made less intense for TV.
• The anime added three extra story arcs that were not in the manga:
  • Virtual World (24 episodes, part of Season 3)
  • Waking the Dragons (40 episodes, Season 4)
  • Kaiba Grand Championship (14 episodes, part of Season 5)

English Versions of Yu-Gi-Oh!

The English Yu-Gi-Oh! logo

There are two main English versions of the Duel Monsters anime. One was made by 4Kids Entertainment for countries like the U.S., Canada, and the UK. The other was made by Odex for Southeast Asia. Both versions made changes from the original Japanese anime, mostly to the content.

The United States Version

In the 4Kids Entertainment version, many Japanese names were changed to sound more American. For example, Hiroto Honda became Tristan Taylor, and Katsuya Jonouchi became Joey Wheeler. Even though the show takes place in Japan originally, the setting was changed to the United States.

The original Japanese music and sound effects were replaced with new ones. The opening and ending songs were also changed.

The look of the cards in the show was changed. They only showed the monster art, not how the real-life cards look. This was done because of TV rules in the U.S. If the cards looked exactly like the real ones, the show might be seen as an advertisement, which would cost a lot more to broadcast. However, some of the Yu-Gi-Oh! movies kept the original card designs because they don't have the same TV rules.

Even with these changes, some Japanese things were left in the English version. For example, Japanese coins, books read from right to left, and cars driving on the left side of the road can still be seen.

Watching Online

In July 2015, episodes of the series with English subtitles became available on Crunchyroll.

Meet the Voices: Yu-Gi-Oh! Cast

How the Card Game Works in the Show

The Duel Monsters anime is mostly about the card game. However, the rules in the show are often different from the rules of the real-life Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game.

Early in the anime, a simpler version of the rules is used. For example, monsters are summoned without needing to sacrifice other monsters. Also, players can't directly attack their opponent's life points. Only one monster could attack per turn, and some monsters were stronger or weaker against others based on their type.

Later in the series, especially during the Battle City story, the rules become more like the real-life game. However, there are still some differences. For instance, in the anime, Fusion monsters couldn't attack right away when summoned, which isn't a rule in the real game.

Sometimes, duels in the show have special events that can only happen because the monsters and field are holograms. This makes the duels look very exciting and dramatic, even if they couldn't happen in a real card game.

Many cards were made just for the anime. These include unique cards tied to the story, like the fairy tale cards in the Grand Championship arc. Some cards, like Dark Magician and Blue-Eyes White Dragon, are shown as super rare in the anime, but they are not as rare in the real game.

See also

In Spanish: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duelo de Monstruos para niños