Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters

***Yu-Gi-Oh! (1998)*** is the first anime adaptation of the *Yu-Gi-Oh!* manga series. The series was produced by Toei

   Animation and aired on TV Asahi from April 4 to October 10, 1998.

Due to the mass popularity of the *Duel Monsters* card game, the manga decided to mainly focus on the card game. As a result, this anime was cancelled so that a **second *Yu-Gi-Oh!* anime based on *Duel Monsters*** could be made.

## Plot

50 years before the start of the series, a group of archaeologists in Egypt discover a mysterious treasure called the "Millennium Puzzle" which is said to hold a curse known as the "Shadow Game". All of the archaeologists who found the Puzzle died, the Puzzle itself eventually became owned by a professional gambler and retired archaeologist named Sugoroku Mutou. Sugoroku could never solve the puzzle and concluded that it's impossible to solve, but he decrypted the text on the box holding it, which said *"Whoever solves me will receive my dark knowledge and power"*.

In the present day, Sugoroku's grandson, Yugi Mutou, finds the Puzzle and for some reason has much better luck at solving it than anyone else before, he assumes that the Puzzle will grant a wish to whoever solves. Yugi is a timid young high school boy who loves to play all sorts of games is often bullied around by some of the other students. One day, Yugi is bullied by the Hall Monitor Ushio into paying him lots of money for "bodyguard fees" before he gets defended by class mates Jonouchi and Honda. While Ushio beats up all three of them, Yugi solves the Millennium Puzzle and asks for one wish, *"friends"*. At that moment, an ancient Egyptian spirit that was living within the Puzzle takes over Yugi's body, assuming the form of "Dark Yugi". Dark Yugi challenges Ushio to a Shadow Game and inflicts a Penalty Game on Ushio after winning. The next day, Yugi starts making more friends. Yugi believes that the Puzzle granted his wish so he keeps it as a lucky charm.

Whenever Yugi or any of his friends are threatened by a bully or dangerous person, Dark Yugi emerges to punish the wrong doers with Shadow Games and Penalty Games all while keeping his existence a secret. It isn't long before Yugi and his friends become suspicious of the strange events caused by Dark Yugi, at the same time mysterious beings who can also activate Dark Games using Egyptian magic start appearing and try to take the Millennium Puzzle. Meanwhile professional card game player Seto Kaiba becomes interested in Yugi's strange abilities and becomes obsessed with defeating him in a game.

## Why it Rocks

1. It is quite faithful to the source material, as it follows the story of the manga with a few changes.
2. On that topic, this adaptation of Dark Yugi more accurately represents how he's a morally ambiguous being who can sometimes be just as evil as the antagonists and rarely hesitates to torture his victims with Penalty Games.
	* The Penalty Games can get pretty horrifying at times, like in Episode 4, where an obsessive watch collector who stole a watch from Yugi's friend gets turned into a living watch after having his hand cut off.
3. Unlike the *Duel Monsters* anime, this version actually shows the origin story behind how Pharaoh Atem's soul possessed Yugi Muto's body.
4. Great animation that is near identical to the illustrations of the manga.
5. All of the main characters from the manga are great as they have all of their original personalities (except for Miho Nosaka).
6. The story is amazing. It involves tackling everyday problems, and those who have darkness within inside of them.
7. The voice acting is great.
8. It inspires people who have negative emotions or thoughts to wipe out those thoughts and turn them positive.
9. The *Duel Monsters* card game appears occasionally.
10. All of the Shadow Game scenes with Dark Yugi are awesome.

## Bad Qualities

1. Miho Nosaka was completely flanderized in this anime. In the original manga, she was a shy and quiet student who only showed up in one chapter. In this anime, however, she has become one of the main characters and her personality has been completely changed to that of a huge ditz who can often be selfish and hypocritical.
2. There are filler moments throughout the story.
3. Lots of plot elements were left untouched due to the anime being cancelled after one season.