# Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters

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) and alternatively subtitled Rulers of the Duel in the United States and Canada, is a Japanese anime series animated by Studio Gallop based on the Yu-Gi-Oh! manga series written by Kazuki Takahashi. It is the second anime adaptation of the manga following the 1998 anime television series produced by Toei Animation. The series revolves around a young high school boy named Yugi Muto who battles opponents in the Duel Monsters card game. The series begins from chapter 60 in volume 7 before loosely adapting the remaining chapters of the original manga by making story changes that conflict with the events of the manga canon.
Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters originally aired in Japan on TV Tokyo from April 2000 to September 2004, running for 224 episodes; A remastered version, highlighting certain duels, began airing in Japan in February 2015. An English-language localization of the anime series was produced by 4Kids Entertainment, and aired in the United States from September 29, 2001, to June 10, 2006, on Kids' WB. Twelve extra episodes, which is American-produced, aired exclusively for the Western audience in mid-late 2006 shortly after the conclusion of the main series.
The series has since spawned its own metaseries. Duel Monsters would be succeeded by Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's, Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal, Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc-V, Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS, Yu-Gi-Oh! Sevens, and Yu-Gi-Oh! Go Rush!!. Three films based on this anime series have also been produced: Pyramid of Light (2004), Bonds Beyond Time (2010) and The Dark Side of Dimensions (2016).

## Plot overview
### Season 1

The story follows Yugi Muto, a boy who completed an ancient Egyptian artifact known as the Millennium Puzzle, which led to him to inherit an alter-ego spirit. After defeating his rival, Seto Kaiba, in a game of Duel Monsters, Yugi is approached by Maximillion Pegasus, the creator of Duel Monsters, who uses the power of another Millennium Item, the Millennium Eye, to kidnap the soul of Yugi's grandfather. Joined by his friends Joey Wheeler (Katsuya Jonouchi), Tristan Taylor (Hiroto Honda), and Téa Gardner (Anzu Mazaki), Yugi enters Pegasus' Duelist Kingdom tournament in order to defeat Pegasus and free his grandfather's soul.

### Season 2

Yugi learns that the spirit dwelling within him is a nameless Pharaoh from ancient Egyptian times, who doesn't remember anything of his past. Yugi enters Kaiba's Battle City tournament in order to obtain the three Egyptian God cards needed to unveil the Pharaoh's past. Along the way, Yugi encounters more Millennium Item wielders, including Marik Ishtar, the wielder of the Millennium Rod, and his elder sister Izhizu Ishtar who possesses the prophesying Millennium Necklace.

### Season 3

The first twenty-four episodes of the season form an original story arc that sees Yugi and his friends get sucked into a virtual world run by Noah, the illegitimate stepbrother of Seto and Mokuba and son of Kaiba's adoptive father, Gozaburo. After returning to the real world, the finals of the Battle City tournament commence.

### Season 4

Produced during the time Millennium World was being written, in a new, original story arc, the Orichalcos drains the power from the Egyptian God cards and begins gathering souls in order to revive the ancient dragon monster serpent, Leviathan. Yugi, Joey and Kaiba are each given a legendary dragon card to fight the Orichalcos and its leader, Dartz.

### Season 5

The final season is equivalent to Millennium World in the manga. However, the first half focuses on anime-original story arcs released during the time the final chapters of the manga were being written.
After the Orichalcos has been eliminated, in another original story arc, Yugi and his friends battle in the KaibaCorp Grand Championship to face off another of Kaiba's rivals, Zigfried. Then, Yugi, his friends, and Solomon travel to Egypt only to be taken to the world of Capsule Monsters.
The latter half of the season sees Ryo Bakura, the owner of the Millennium Ring, overcome by the dark spirit within the Ring. When Yugi and his friends go to Egypt, they find themselves sucked 5,000 years into the past, where Pharaoh must battle Bakura and his evil essence, Zorc the Dark One. After returning to the present day, Yugi and Pharaoh duel each other in the ultimate test.

## Localization

In April 2001, 4Kids Entertainment obtained the merchandising and television rights to the series. In its adaptation, character names, settings, and other aspects were changed. The show's visuals and sound effects were replaced, and a new music score was used. In addition to explaining these changes, 4Kids' senior vice president of digital media, Mark Kirk, also explained during an interview with Anime News Network that U.S. television broadcast laws under the FCC dictated that the "Duel Monster" cards in the anime were not allowed to look exactly like the real cards that are sold; otherwise, the show would legally be considered a infomercial rather than an animated television series, and thus the cost to air it during daytime hours would become exponentially higher.
An album containing some tracks from the English dub music entitled Yu-Gi-Oh! Music to Duel By was released on October 29, 2002, on DreamWorks Records on Audio CD and Compact Cassette.
An uncut version, featuring an all-new English dub track and the original Japanese audio, began release in October 2004, in association with Funimation Entertainment. Only three volumes, comprising the first nine episodes, were ever released. 4Kids would later release the uncut Japanese episodes on YouTube in March 2009, but were forced to stop due in August of that same year, due to rights issues.
On March 24, 2011, TV Tokyo and Nihon Ad Systems filed a joint lawsuit against 4Kids, accusing them of underpayments concerning the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchises and allegedly conspiring with Funimation, and have allegedly terminated their licensing deal with them. This led to 4Kids filing for protection under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy code. Although 4Kids had managed to settle the case in March 2012, they ended up selling their rights to the franchise, among other assets, to Konami. Konami currently distributes the series and its spin-offs, in addition to producing English dubs through its renamed subsidiary, 4K Media Inc.

### Streaming

In July 2009, 4Kids announced plans to release the original, Japanese version of the anime series with subtitles on their YouTube channel. However, In August 2009, these episodes were removed due to legal issues with ADK (NAS' parent company) and Shunsuke Kazama, the Japanese voice of Yugi. On July 11, 2015, the Japanese version of the series began streaming on Crunchyroll. The news came over a week after an earlier announcement that streaming of subtitled episodes of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX would begin on August 1, 2015.

## Cast

Major cast :
| Role | Japanese | Japanese | English | English | English |
| Role | Japanese | Japanese | 4Kids Entertainment (2001-2006) | 4Kids Entertainment (2001-2006) | Voiceovers Unlimited (2001-2002) |
| Yugi Mutou/ Yami Yugi | Shunsuke Kazama | Shunsuke Kazama | Jay Snyder | Jay Snyder | Chuck Powers |
| Katsuya Jounouchi | Hiroki Takahashi | Hiroki Takahashi | Joey Wheeler | Joey Wheeler | Joey Wheeler |
| Katsuya Jounouchi | Hiroki Takahashi | Hiroki Takahashi | Vinnie Penna | Vinnie Penna | Dwayne Tan |
| Anzu Mazaki | Maki Saitou | Maki Saitou | Tea Gardner | Tea Gardner | Tea Gardner |
| Anzu Mazaki | Maki Saitou | Maki Saitou | Amy Birnabum | Amy Birnabum | Alison Lester |
| Hiroto Honda | 1-51 | Takayuki Kondou | Tristan Taylor | Tristan Taylor | Tristan Taylor |
| Hiroto Honda | 1-51 | Takayuki Kondou | 1-10 | Sam Riegel | Brian Zimmerman |
| Hiroto Honda | 52-224 | Hidehiro Kikuchi | 11-224; uncut | Greg Abbey | Brian Zimmerman |
| Seto Kaiba | Kenjirou Tsuda | Kenjirou Tsuda | Eric Stuart | Eric Stuart | Christian Lee |
| Mokuba Kaiba | Junko Takeuchi | Junko Takeuchi | 1-184 | Tara Sands | Christian Lee |
| Mokuba Kaiba | Junko Takeuchi | Junko Takeuchi | 185-224 | Carrie Keranen | Christian Lee |
| Ryou Bakura/ Yami Bakura | 1-40 | You Inoue | Ted Lewis | Ted Lewis | Chuck Powers |
| Ryou Bakura/ Yami Bakura | 41-224 | Rica Matsumoto | Ted Lewis | Ted Lewis | Chuck Powers |
| Suguroku Mutou | Tadashi Miyazawa | Tadashi Miyazawa | Solomon Mutou | Solomon Mutou | Solomon Mutou |
| Suguroku Mutou | Tadashi Miyazawa | Tadashi Miyazawa | Maddie Blaustein | Maddie Blaustein | Chuck Powers |
| Pegasus J. Crawford | Jirou Jay Takasugi | Jirou Jay Takasugi | Maximillion Pegasus | Maximillion Pegasus | Maximillion Pegasus |
| Pegasus J. Crawford | Jirou Jay Takasugi | Jirou Jay Takasugi | Darren Dunstan | Darren Dunstan | Brian Zimmerman |
| Mai Kujaku | Haruhi Nanao | Haruhi Nanao | Mai Valentine | Mai Valentine | Mai Valentine |
| Mai Kujaku | Haruhi Nanao | Haruhi Nanao | 1-144 | Megan Hollingshead | Alison Lester |
| Mai Kujaku | Haruhi Nanao | Haruhi Nanao | 145-224 | Erica Schroeder | Alison Lester |
| Mai Kujaku | Haruhi Nanao | Haruhi Nanao | uncut | Kathleen Delaney | Alison Lester |
| Shizuka Kawai | Mika Sakenobe | Mika Sakenobe | Serenity Wheeler | Serenity Wheeler | Serenity Wheeler |
| Shizuka Kawai | Mika Sakenobe | Mika Sakenobe | Lisa Ortiz | Lisa Ortiz | Alison Lester |
| Dinosaur Ryuuzaki | 2-59 | Kin Fujii | Rex Raptor | Rex Raptor | Rex Raptor |
| Dinosaur Ryuuzaki | 2-59 | Kin Fujii | 1-144 | Sam Riegel | Brian Zimmerman Christian Lee |
| Dinosaur Ryuuzaki | 131-224 | Yuichi Nakamura | 145-184 | Sebastian Arcelus | Brian Zimmerman Christian Lee |
| Dinosaur Ryuuzaki | 131-224 | Yuichi Nakamura | 185-224 | Tony Salerno | Brian Zimmerman Christian Lee |
| Insector Haga | Urara Takano | Urara Takano | Weevil Underwood | Weevil Underwood | Weevil Underwood |
| Insector Haga | Urara Takano | Urara Takano | James Carter Cathcart | James Carter Cathcart | Brian Zimmerman |
| Ryouta Kajiki | Daisuke Namikawa | Daisuke Namikawa | Mako Tsunami | Mako Tsunami | Mako Tsunami |
| Ryouta Kajiki | Daisuke Namikawa | Daisuke Namikawa | Andrew Rannells | Andrew Rannells | Dwayne Tan |
| "Bandit" Keith Howard | Hajime Komada | Hajime Komada | Ted Lewis | Ted Lewis | Brian Zimmerman Christian Lee |
| Shadi | Nozomu Sasaki | Nozomu Sasaki | Vinnie Penna | Vinnie Penna | Brian Zimmerman Chuck Powers |
| Rebecca Hawkins | Kaori Tagami | Kaori Tagami | Kerry Williams | Kerry Williams | Alison Lester |
| Arthur Hawkins | Saburou Kodaka | Saburou Kodaka | Mike Pollock | Mike Pollock | Chuck Powers |
| Ryuji Otogi | Ryou Naitou | Ryou Naitou | Duke Devlin | Duke Devlin | Duke Devlin |
| Ryuji Otogi | Ryou Naitou | Ryou Naitou | Marc Thompson | Marc Thompson | |
| Ishizu Ishtar | Sumi Shimamoto | Sumi Shimamoto | Nell Balaban | Nell Balaban | Alison Lester |
| Marik Ishtar | Tetsuya Iwanaga | Tetsuya Iwanaga | Jonathan Todd Ross | Jonathan Todd Ross | Christian Lee |
| Rishid Ishtar | Konta | Konta | Odion Ishtar | Odion Ishtar | Odion Ishtar |
| Rishid Ishtar | Konta | Konta | J. David Brimmer | J. David Brimmer | Brian Zimmerman |
| Noa Kaiba | Chisa Yokoyama | Chisa Yokoyama | Andrew Rannells | Andrew Rannells | Taaz Gill |
| Gozaburou Kaiba | Tetsuo Komura | Tetsuo Komura | 98-184 | Richard Will | Chuck Powers |
| Gozaburou Kaiba | Tetsuo Komura | Tetsuo Komura | 185-224 | Ted Lewis | Chuck Powers |
| Saruwatari | Masahiro Okazaki | Masahiro Okazaki | Kemo | Kemo | Kemo |
| Saruwatari | Masahiro Okazaki | Masahiro Okazaki | Eric Stuart | Eric Stuart | Brian Zimmerman |
| Isono | Masami Iwasaki | Masami Iwasaki | Roland | Roland | Roland |
| Isono | Masami Iwasaki | Masami Iwasaki | 1-127; 149-224 | David Wills | Brian Zimmerman Chuck Powers |
| Isono | Masami Iwasaki | Masami Iwasaki | 128-148 | Vinnie Penna | Brian Zimmerman Chuck Powers |
| Dartz | Yuu Emao | Yuu Emao | Vinnie Penna | Vinnie Penna | |