Synopsis
It has been 10 years since the conclusion of the Egyptian Memory Arc. The threat of Yami Bakura and Dark Master Zork was stopped by the hands of Yugi and his friends. Pharaoh Atemu’s soul has at last been laid to rest. But evil still lurks in the shadows…
Yuki Judai, age fifteen, the one who succeeds the will of Yugi, applies to an elite duel monsters school called Duel Academia, founded by none other than Seto Kaiba. There, new friendships are formed, and new challenges await as he strives to become the number one duelist.
Review
Yugioh GX is the sequel to Yugioh Duel Monsters. Some say that Yugioh GX is the second season to the Duel Monster series even though Duel Monsters can be broken up into its component parts: Duelist Kingdom, Battle City, Noa arc, Doma (American title: Waking the Dragons), KC Grand Prix, and Egyptian Memory arc. It first aired in Japan October 6, 2004 and I have been watching it ever since. The initials GX can stand for Generation-X or Generation Next (*cough* Dragon Ball GT). What distinguishes the GX series from its predecessors is that Yugi is not the protagonist, although he makes a brief cameo in the first episode. Yugi’s trademark is the Black Magician, while Yuki Judai uses an elemental hero deck where nearly all of his monster cards are fusible. He is by no means the invincible King of Duels because he does lose on occasion. However, he does manage to pull off the same miracle wins in similar fashion to Yugi just without the spiky hair.
TV-Toyko’s Japanese website is located at http://www.tv-tokyo.co.jp/anime/yugioh/. The Official U.S. website is http://www.yugioh.com/gx.php. To my amazement, the producers were careful this time around to be faithful to the Japanese names of the characters (NOT TRUE ANYMORE SEE UPDATE). In the first Duel Monsters series, many of the character names were overhauled. Joey (Captain Planet) Wheeler’s original name was Jounouchi Kazuya. Tea Gardner was Anzu Mazaki. Tristin Taylor was Honda Hiroto. Duke Devlin was changed from Otogi Ryuji. Yami was used instead of Atemu (No, Yami is not the Pharaoh’s real name!! - Battle City dub reference and critical mistake). Rishid was replaced by Odion. Shizuka was transformed into Serenity. Inspector Kaga became Weevil Underwood and Ryusaki Rex Raptor. Finally, Alister as opposed to Amelda (Doma arc). I still doubt they will be addressing the main character as Judai like in the Japanese version. My prediction is that in the American version they will call him Yuki to be synonymous with Yugi, a difference of only one letter. We’ll have to wait and see if Cronos-sensei still has his accent (Se?ħor Judai!). They did change the God Card names of the dormitories to the American versions notably Osiris Red to Slifer (the last name of the ever so prideful Roger Slifer, a comic book writer and producer).
**News Update 8/5/05** If you check the American website you’ll see that they changed the names of the entire GX cast. Cronos = Dr. Crowller! In what subject did he earn his Ph.D? Manjoume = Chazz Princeton! WTF??? What about his nickname Manjoume Thunda? Chazz Thunder? Thunder Chazz? As I predicted, they kept Yuki to correspond with Yugi.
The Breakdown
Yugioh GX is for those who haven’t had enough of Yugioh. I leave you boys with this final image of Asuka. Chao!~
» The Pros
Both Duel Monster series featured strong female duelists. In the first Duel Monsters you have Mai, Rebecca, and Isis. Serenity and Anzu (Tea) don't count. Vivian is borderline. In Yugioh GX you have Asuka, Camilla, and Tanya.
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» The Cons
I want to start by refuting some claims about Yugi's cameo appearance in episode 1. Some people say that it was an older version of little Yugi. My theory is that it was Atemu's lingering spirit that gave Judai his lucky winged Kuribo cardo (purgatory perhaps or possibly that he is still watching over the lives of little Yugi and his comrades). My evidence is that fact that the Japanese voice actor for Atemu played the cameo's voice instead of little Yugi's VA. Also, the cameo Yugi has the same height as Atemu. Little Yugi was short and I don't believe that he would have had that much of a growth spurt in 10 years time. Now then...from a girl's standpoint the overall minus of any yaoi themes in Yugioh GX is a definite con (Atemu x little Yugi).
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» Animation
8.0 |
Asuka looks like a cross of Joey and Kaiba. Daichi looks like Raphael (Doma). Hayato's design is in between Santa and a lumberjack. Manjoume Thunda appears sinister. The brothers Sho and Ryo Marufuji parallel Mokuba and Kaiba. Ryo, the older brother, wields the Cyber Dragon that can fuse into the three-headed Cyber End Dragon, not as strong as Kaiba's Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon, but with the magic card Power Boundo it can double it's attack power to 8000. One person steals Yugi's Black Magician deck on exhibit and duels Judai. Kuribo + Multiply is used correctly in terms of the official card game rulings. A couple of the villains from Duel Monsters make their return in the GX series. The Paradox Brothers unleash the Gate Guardian against Sho and Judai in a tag team duel. Psycho Shocker (Jinzo), one of the Kaiba's former corporate executives in charge of the weapons division from the Noa arc, escapes from the virtual world during a thunderstorm to duel Judai. Kaiba makes cameo appearances. Kaiba-man and his blue eyes white dragon are a true force to be reckoned with (what was Pegasus smoking when he made the Kaiba-man card. LOL! Actually, in Duel Monsters 8 for Gameboy Advance, Kaiba thought of Kaiba-man himself in order to entertain the children of Domino. He dresses up as Kaiba-man in order to retell his adventures in the virtual world, Noa arc.) Kaiba-man = Seto Kaiba when he dueled Judai is open to debate. |
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» Sound
7.5 |
The first OP theme Kaisei Josho Hallelujah by Jindou is rejoicing. It's a new Yugioh series, yea! You have to bear with it until episode 34 where it switches to the second OP theme 99% by Bowl. Bowl is a good song, a relief from Kaisei Josho Hallelujah at least. Nonetheless, Warriors and Overlap are by far the best Yugioh OP themes. You can sample the English dub OP theme at http://www.yugioh.com/gx.php?type=video which features clips straight from the first Japanese OP and EN sequences. It's a rockish theme. We Stand Together! and I'm Believin' are better than the overused It's Time to Du-Duel!! Have to give the producer some credit for taking the time to put lyrics for Yugioh GX. A side note, Cronos's remarks about Judai (Drop out boy!) remind me of how Pegasus pestered Kaiba (Kaiba-boy). Seven Stars duelist Tanya, the tiger woman, seems to be the same as Kenshin's Japanese VA Suzukaze Mayo who also did the voice of Dartz in Doma. Ryo's VA is the same as Varon also in Doma. Yuki Judai is voiced by Kenichirou Ohashi (Kenn) who sings the vocals for the Japanese rock band The NaB's. He sings the second EN theme Wake Up Your Heart. |
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» Story
7.5 |
The GX series has a pokemon feel to it. Duels rarely span more than a single episode. Judai's victory line is 'Gotcha!' In the preceding Yugioh series, Yugi's goal was to get his memory back on top of winning. The GX series seems to be going around in circles with school functions until around episode 29 when the Seven Stars saga begins. The Yami no Duel element is reintroduced where losing duels means losing your soul. There are even new anti-God cards called the 3 Legendary Demon Emperor cards. GX is shows from the point of view of Judai and his friends. There are no enemy cut scenes as in Duel Monsters of Pegasus ranting and Marik scheming behind everyone's back before they figured out who he was. Sho seems to have a Black Magician Girl fetish ^_^ |
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» Recommend
8.0 |
DVD set 1 comes with episodes 1-13. The GX series is for diehard Yugioh fans only. I can only imagine how edited the American version will be. Good to have the original Japanese version for comparison analysis. In a versus battle, the characters from the first Yugioh Duel Monsters series can easily defeat their Yugioh GX counter parts. Judai would stand no chance against Yugi. Kaiba's Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon > Ryo's Cyber End Dragon. Pegasus's Toon World > Cronos's Antique Gear deck. Any of Bakura's decks (DEATH not FINAL as in the U.S., Diabound, or Dark Necrofear/Dark Sanctuary) > seven stars duelist Camilla's Vampire deck. Mai's Harpie Lady Deck > Asuka. |
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» Other Information
Language: Japanese dialogue with optional English or Chinese subtitles
Extras: None
Package: The star of the show, Yuki Judai, with the newly updated duel disk |