Yu-Gi-Oh!

Yu-Gi-Oh!, known in Japan as Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters, is the second adaptation of the manga series produced by Nihon Ad Systems and Gallop. Loosely adapting the manga from volume eight onwards, the series features several differences from the manga and the Toei-produced series that preceded it. It largely focuses on the game of Duel Monsters, tying it in with the real life Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game. The series aired in Japan on TV Tokyo between April 18, 2000 and September 29, 2004.

In 2001, 4Kids Entertainment obtained the merchandising and television rights to the series from Konami, producing an English language version which aired in North America on Kids' WB! between September 29, 2001 and June 10, 2006, also releasing in various countries outside of Japan. The adaptation received many changes from the Japanese version to tailor it for international audiences. These include different names for many characters and monsters, changes to the appearance of the cards to differentiate them from their real-life counterparts and various cuts and edits pertaining to violence, death and religious references to make the series suitable for children.

Yu-Gi-Oh! premiered on Cartoon Network's Toonami block on August 6, 2005^[1], one week after Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie: Pyramid of Light premiered on Toonami. However, the series was short lived on Toonami, lasting only six weeks (episodes 119-124).

Plot[]

Yu-Gi-Oh! tells the tale of Yugi Mutou, a timid young boy who loves all sorts of games, but is often bullied around. One day, he solves an ancient artifact known as the Millennium Puzzle, causing his body to play host to a mysterious spirit. From that moment onwards, whenever Yugi or one of his friends is threatened by those with darkness in their hearts, this "Dark Yugi" shows himself and challenges them to dangerous "Shadow Games" which reveal the true nature of someone's heart.

As the series progresses, Yugi and his friends learn that this other Yugi inside of his puzzle is actually the spirit of a nameless Pharaoh from Egyptian times who had lost his memories. As Yugi and his companions attempt to help the Pharaoh regain his memories, they find themselves going through many trials as they wager their lives facing off against gamers that wield the mysterious Millennium Items and the dark power of the Shadow Games.

Characters[]

Yugi Mutou — The main protagonist of the story. He wears the Millennium Puzzle, one of the seven Millennium Items and an ancient Egyptian artifact holding the spirit of an ancient gambler. When Yugi is playing a game or under stress, he becomes possessed by the 5,000-year-old spirit inside the Millennium Puzzle, known as Dark Yugi, changing his personality to a cold and confident gambler. Initially, Yugi could be described as soft-spoken, timid, meek, and shy, but as the series progresses, his character develops to the point where he has a much bigger presence and becomes more outspoken. He fears the other personality inside him at first, however, as the narrative progresses, he grows a strong bond with his other self and considers his other soul a close and valuable friend.

Yami Yugi — His full name "Atem", is the darker side of Yugi. He is an extremely talented duelist and rivals with Kaiba, another accomplished duelist and business man. In the original manga's few chapters, Yami was brutal, mercilles punisher who made criminals and bullies suffer with cruel "Shadow Games" that he inevitably won, leading to thhe loser suffering a horrid fate of sorts.

Joey Wheeler — Yugi's best friend. Initially nothing more than a street thug and former bully; throwing Yugi's Millennium Puzzle piece into the swimming pool, disgusted at how unmanly he was. When a bully decides to be Yugi's self-imposed bodyguard in order to extort money from him, he beats up Joey and Tristan, Yugi stands up for them, and it's then that Joey realizes that he was jealous of Yugi's "treasure" all along, and later on that night, he retrieves the Millennium Puzzle piece and brings it back to Yugi's house, where Yugi completes it. Joey is touched by Yugi's behavior towards him and they become loyal friends, forming his own "treasure." After this Yugi's grandfather tutors him in how to play Duel Monsters, and he is initially rather unskilled at the game, only making his progress through additional help from Yugi, but he gains a knack for it, and eventually goes on to place second in the Duelist Kingdom Tournament. In the English version of the anime, he has a Brooklyn accent.

Téa Gardner — Yugi's childhood friend, an extremely supportive girl with a lot of spirit for her friends. Téa is not an avid game-player and her ability is well below that of Yugi, though she exhibits some knowledge of video game RPGs during the Monster World arc. Her dueling ability is decent and she used to defeat Joey in school before he became a seasoned duelist. She is athletic, has a strong school spirit, and her secret dream is to attend a dancing school abroad in New York. She secretly harbors feelings for both Yugi and Yami Yugi, and struggles internally on which one she truly loves.

Tristan Taylor — A friend of Yugi, Joey, Tea, Miho, and Bakura. He does not play Duel Monsters that often. He along with Tea often support their friends from the sidelines while they duel.

Seto Kaiba — Or just commonly referred to as Kaiba, is the majority shareholder and CEO of his own multi-national gaming company, KaibaCorp, who aims to become the world's greatest player of Duel Monsters. To accomplish this goal, he must defeat his arch-rival, Yugi Muto. Kaiba is largely considered an anti-hero, as his motives are usually ego-centric and his relationships with the protagonists are antagonistic, but in several cases his actions are towards a good cause. He is the older brother of Mokuba.

Voice Cast[]

Character	English Voice Actor	Japanese Voice Actor
Yugi Mutou / Yami Yugi / Pharaoh Atem	Dan Green	Shunsuke Kazama
Joey Wheeler	Wayne Grayson	Hiroki Takahashi
Seto Kaiba / Priest Seto	Eric Stuart	Kenjirō Tsuda
Téa Gardner	Amy Birnbaum	Maki Saito
Tristan Taylor	Sam Riegel (ep. 1-10) Greg Abbey (ep. 11-224)	Takayuki Kondo (ep. 1-51) Hidehiro Kikuchi (ep. 53-224)
Bakura / Yami Bakura	Ted Lewis	You Inoue (ep. 12-41) Rica Matsumoto (ep. 50-224)
Mokuba Kaiba	Tara Jayne (ep. 1-184) Caroline Lawson (ep. 185-224)	Junko Takeuchi
Solomon Mutou / Shimon Muran	Maddie Blaustein	Tadashi Miyazawa
Mai Valentine	Megan Hollingshead (ep. 3-144) Bella Hudson (ep. 151-173)	Haruhi Terada
Weevil Underwood	Jimmy Zoppi	Urara Takano
Rex Raptor	Sam Riegel (ep. 2-144) Sebastian Arcelus (ep. 145-187) Anthony Salerno (ep. 188-224)	Kin Fujii (ep. 2-59) Yūichi Nakamura (ep. 131-224)
Mako Tsunami	Andrew Rannells	Daisuke Namikawa
Panik	David Moo	Holly Kaneko
Bonz	Amy Birnbaum	Masami Suzuki
Sid	Eric Stuart	Eiji Takemoto
Zygor	Maddie Blaustein	Norihisa Mori
Bandit Keith	Ted Lewis	Hajime Komada
Para	Wayne Grayson	Takashi Matsuyama
Dox	Marc Thompson	Hitoshi Nishimura
Croquet	Ted Lewis	Yoshikazu Nagano
Kemo	Eric Stuart	Masahiro Okazaki
Maximillion Pegasus	Darren Dunstan	Jiro Takasugi
Shadi	Wayne Grayson	Nozomu Sasaki
Rebecca Hawkins	Kerry Williams	Kaori Takagami
Arthur Hawkins	Mike Pollock	Saburo Kodaka
Duke Devlin	Marc Thompson	Ryou Naito
Serenity Wheeler	Lisa Ortiz	Mika Sakenobe
Johnny Steps	Matthew Charles	Hideki Konda
Espa Roba	Sebastian Arcelus	Maiko Itō
Seeker	David Wills	—
Arkana	Sam Riegel	Takehito Koyasu
Strings	Jonathan Todd Ross	—
Umbra (Mask of Darkness)	Matthew Charles	Koji Ishi
Lumis (Mask of Light)	Jimmy Zoppi	Yū Mizushima
Ishizu Ishtar / Isis	Karen Neil	Sumi Shimamoto
Odion Ishtar	David Brimmer	Konta
Marik Ishtar / Yami Marik	Jonathan Todd Ross	Tetsuya Iwanaga
Gansley	Eric Stuart (ep. 1-45) Marc Thompson (ep. 98 - 121)	Nobuyuki Saitō (ep. 1-45) Shintaro Sonooka (ep. 98 - 121)
Crump	Mike Pollock	Satoshi Tsuruoka (ep. 1-45) Ryōsuke Ōtani (ep. 98-121)
Johnson	Wayne Grayson (ep. 1-45) Andrew Paul (ep. 98-121)	Shinichi Yashiro
Nezbitt	David Wills	Hiroomi Sugino
Leichter	Sean Schemmel	Eiji Takemoto (ep. 1-45) Hisashi Izumi (ep. 98-121)
Noah Kaiba	Andrew Rannells	Chisa Yokoyama
Gozaburo Kaiba	David Wills	Tetsuo Komura
Gurimo	Mike Pollock	James Onoda
Valon	Marc Thompson	Takeshi Maeda
Rafael	Marc Thompson	Yoshihisa Kawahara
Alister	Ted Lewis	Yukinara Iemura
Dartz	Wayne Grayson	Yuu Emaou
Vivian Wong	Caren Manuel	Rie Tanaka
Balfry Ginger	Sam Regal	Mika Ishibashi
Abe the Monkey Man	Adam Blaustein	Mikio Katsuyama
Dr. Richard Goat	Ted Lewis	Kazuma Takeo
Paul McGregor	Wayne Grayson	Shinobu Matsumoto
Totani Ialos	Scottie Ray	—
Sergei Ivanoff	Marc Diraison	Hiroshi Kikkawa
Shane Jordan	Pete Capella	—
Fortune Salim	John Stocker	Mito Jilli
Ethan Shark	David Wills	—
Jafar Shin	—	Togo Igawa
Leon von Schroeder	Andrew Rannells	Seiko Noguchi
Zigfried von Schroeder	Pete Zarustica	Eisuke Tsuda
Priest Shada	Michael Alston Baley	Nozomu Sasaki
Priest Karim	Marc Diraison	Masahito Kawanago
Kisara	Caroline Lawson	Rie Nakagawa
Bobasa	Sean Schemmel	Yū Mizushima
Hasan	Brian Haley	—
Mana	Bella Hudson	Yuki Nakao
Mahad	Michael Sinterniklaas	Kazunari Kojima
Aknadin	Pete Zarustica	Hitoshi Bifu
Aknamkanon	Marc Thompson	Kobiyama Youichi
Zorc the Dark One	Mike Pollock	Yoshitaka Kaidu

Gallery[]

Yu-Gi-Oh! - Toonami Promo

Yu-Gi-Oh! - Toonami Intro

Episodes[]

Season	Episodes	Toonami Premiere	Toonami Finale
1	49	Unaired
2	48	Unaired
3	47	August 6, 2005	Unaired
4	40	Unaired
5	52	Unaired

All episodes of the series have been released on DVD and Blu Ray in the United States. Also, All five seasons of Yu-Gi-Oh! are now available for free streaming on the official site, yugioh.com.

Broadcast History[]

Japan (TV Tokyo) — April 18, 2000 - September 29, 2004
United States (The WB) — September 29, 2001^[3] - November 26, 2006
United States (Cartoon Network) — November 4, 2002^[4] - 2005
United States (Fox) — November 4, 2006^[5] - 2007
United States (The CW) — September 5, 2009^[6] - 2010
Canada (YTV) — 2001 - November 20, 2006
United Kingdom (Nickelodeon) — 2002^[3] - 2006
France (Canal J) — 2002^[3] - 2006
Latin America (Nickelodeon) — 2002^[3] - 2007

Toonami Broadcast History[]

The series had a short-lived run on Cartoon Network's Toonami block from August 6, 2005 to September 10, 2005. Only episodes 119-124 of the series were shown on Toonami before it was replaced in the lineup.