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Yugioh: Duel Monsters (Duelist Kingdom)

» written by hinatasou [Discuss]

Synopsis
Long ago, the Egyptian Pharaohs played a game of great and terrible power. This ‘Yami no Game’ (Dark Game) altered the fate of the entire world. That was until a brave pharaoh sealed this evil force away in seven magical items. Now, a young boy solved the millennium puzzle that was once left hidden for thousands of years. This boy, with both light and darkness in his heart, is known as Yugi, the King of Games…

Review
This review is for season 1 of Duel Monsters, Episodes 1-40, Pegasus’s Duelist Kingdom Tournament, and the following episodes 41-49, the duels against Rebecca and Otogi (english name is Duke Devlin). Miho-chan from the original Yugioh series is missing. Everyone knows or at least has heard about Duelist Kingdom just like everyone has a slight idea as to what Pokemon and Dragon Ball Z are. Jounouchi uses the Time Wizard to acquire the Red Eyes, Mokuba duels for the only time, Kaiba summons his Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon, and Pegasus possesses the dreaded Toon World card.

The Breakdown
Come on, it’s Yugioh for crying out loud! This is what started it all, in America at least.

» The Pros

Duelist Kingdom lays down the foundation for the following series Battle City, Neia's Virtual Zone (Apparently KidsWB couldn't distinguish reality from that which is fake calling this 'Enter the Shadow Realm'), Doma Arc, KC Grand Pre, and the many episodes to come. Right from the get go, the fast paced Episode 1 is the epic duel against Kaiba. Remember that Yugi is using his Grandpa's deck. Now is there a heart of the cards? It is primarily just the luck of the draw. However, each person builds their own deck and develops their own strategies by bringing together the right combination or monster, magic, and trap cards. Yugi had to lose the Exodia cards otherwise it would be a boring series witnessing him win all his duels because of it. Exodia only appeared two other times, against the Rare Hunter in Battle City and Exodia Necross against Kaiba's Father in Neia.

» The Cons

Don't you just hate when kids who think they are all that play the real life card game and site that their reason for performing an illegal move (forfeiting the match, you automatically win and sucks to be them) is because they saw it done in the anime. In Duelist Kingdom there is a no sacrifices rule, meaning you don't have to give up monsters on the field to summon a more powerful one. This was adopted in the Playstation One game Forbidden Memories. In addition there is an elemental system, adapted into the Gameboy Color game Dark Duel Stories and the new Game Boy Advance game Sacred Cards. Basically winged beasts have an advantage over land. Curse of Dragon can change the field to a wasteland and Mystical Elf can power up a Blue Eyes. In the anime they never attacked Life Points directly. They always had to attack a monster until one person either runs out of cards or wins by beating down the other. If Crush Card virus had the same effect in real life as in the show (destroying all monsters with a high attack power), everyone would be using it. There is no such thing as a Living Arrow card because it is too powerful. You never again see Yugi using it in Battle City and onward.

» Animation

8.5

In the english opening sequence, they edited or rather left in black the one riding atop of the Blue Eyes White Dragon (which we all know is Kaiba, who else). How can Yugi's Curse of Dragon stand up to a Blue Eyes anyway? Bakura's shot of his other self in the Japanese opening was wrongfully attached to the Battle City American intro. The blood streaming from Pegasus's eye (Ep 40) was removed in the English. Oh yes, the now famous threatening people with invisible guns. Nicely done KidsWB.

» Sound

8.5

Opening theme Voice, sung by Cloud a male lead, is decent but lies at the bottom of the list compared to the following theme songs Shuffle, Wild Drive, and Warriors. Even the pre-season Yugioh Kawaita Sakebi beats Voice. The American intro is lyricless except for the echoing Yugioh, Your Move, and It's Time to Duel! Reminds me of the FOX's Escaflowne opening where they repeated the word Es-ca-flow-ne. I liked the english Escaflowne intro more than the American Yugioh. The ending Shower of Energy is soft. A rare occasion, Pegasus's voice dub voice (James from Team Rocket of Pokemon) is arguably superior to the Japanese one. The English makes Pegasus seem entirely deceitful while the Japanese voice portrays him as a clown. The Japanese Pegasus ends nearly every line on a high -des. I do like how Pegasus in the Japanese says Kaiba Boy! Hate to break it to you all, but women voice a couple of the male Yugioh characters in the Japanese. They are Bakura, whose voice actor changes for the better in Battle City, and Mokuba. It is a common practice. Much of the background music from Duelist Kingdom carries over to the Battle City series. You may not notice this but track 04 The Sealed Miracle in episode 1 is the same music that plays in Battle City when the God Cards are summoned. Favorite soundtracks are Passionate Duelists, the piano That Which is Drawing Near, Legendary Duel, Hell, Crawling Shadow, and Ending of the Battle because they all dramatize and capture the moment in the series.

» Story

8.0

In the second duel between Kaiba and Yugi the English made it seem as if the virtual duel tray would blast Kaiba off the side of Pegasus's castle if Yugi attacked. In the actual Japanese, Kaiba convinced himself that if he couldn't save Mokuba he would sacrificing his own life, thus suicide. He blindly took a step back for every 100 LP he lost and ended up on the edge. The beginning of episode 41 was cut, how Bakura licked his newly acquired millennium eye and how Kaiba had to give Yugi and his friends an airlift off the island. Episode 12 American was condensed cutting Anzu in Mai's portable shower. Shadi's visit was a direct parallel to the preseason-unaired episode 5, Ancient Egyptian Secret, currently in the US Shonen Jump manga.

» Recommend

7.5

DVD Box Set #1 contains episodes 1-32. However, actually going out to order or purchase the set is probably not necessary seeing how many times KidsWB re-ran the episodes. For hard-core Yugioh anime fans only. Not beneficial strategy wise for the real life card game players. I don't recommend getting the english KidsWB DVDs, published by Funimation, one at a time because they are likely straight rips from the television (edited and without a japanese dialogue option). They only contain a short 3 episodes.

» Other Information

Language: Japanese dialogue with English, Chinese subtitles, or hidden/OFF

Extras: None.

Package: The star of the show Yugi. Enclosed in the hexagram left to right are Kaiba, Pegasus, Anzu (Tea), and Jounouchi (Joey Wheeler - Go Captain Planet!)