Yu-Gi-Oh! The Dark Side of Dimensions

'Yu-Gi-Oh! The Dark Side of Dimensions' is an upcoming 2016 film, slated for release in Japan on April 23, 2016 and at unspecified later dates that year worldwide. The film is an original story and features Yugi Muto and Seto Kaiba as its main characters. The film's story is set after the events of the original manga.

In celebration of the film and franchise in general, TV Tokyo began airing a remastered digital edition of the 2000–2004 Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters anime in Japan. In addition, two special manga chapters authored by Kazuki Takahashi are set to release in April 11 and April 18 in the Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine, which serve as a link between the end of the manga series and the film.

Plot
One year after the events of the original series, an older Yugi Muto, Joey Wheeler, Tristan Taylor, Duke Devlin, Téa Gardner and Bakura have all returned to their everyday lives. However, a mysterious, new student arrives by the name of Aigami, who appears to have an unusual interest in Yugi.

Things become even more disturbing as people being vanishing under mysterious circumstances. Yugi will Duel against Seto Kaiba; one-on-one and fragments of the Millennium Puzzle are recovered from the ruins of the Millennium Stone. Kaiba encounters one of the fragments and decides to return it Yugi, who is shocked but grateful that he and his friends are once again being guided by the Millennium Puzzle. However, another evil threat will not allow Yugi to succeed. This evil still recognizes Yugi as "the vessel of the Pharaoh" and is determined to eliminate him once and for all. Will Yugi be able to stand up to this new adversary without the aid of the Pharaoh?

Design
A number of the characters and elements are given redesigns by Kazuki Takahashi, as well as new ones being introduced.

Characters
 * Yugi Muto: He was drawn to look more mature and to show he inherited Pharaoh Atem's courage and strength.
 * Seto Kaiba: His expressions are closer to the more sinister look that he had when he was first introduced.
 * Joey Wheeler: Joey's expression reflects the maturity he gained from his battles in the original story. As a favorite of Takahashi, he paid particular attention to giving him a nice face.
 * Tristan Taylor: Tristan has a much calmer expression.
 * Téa Gardner: Téa continued her career as a dancer after the original story. Takahashi considered this to be Téa at her cutest.
 * Ryo Bakura: Takahashi considered Bakura to be the most mysterious and consequently the least changed out of the major characters. He, however, now has a smoother haircut and a long shirt underneath.

Cards
 * "Dark Magician". "Dark Magician" looks similar to it did in Duel Art. Originally, "Dark Magician" was more blue and purple than black. This was because in manga, a completely black character weighs the page down and can be difficult to deal with, but this is not a concern in movies.
 * New "Blue-Eyes": When designing monsters, Takahashi felt adding a lot of lines can make them look cool at the cost of quality, and that simple designs are most beautiful. However, as he was dealing with animation, lighting and other effects would bring out the differences, so he designed this "Blue-Eyes" with a style not used before.

Items
 * Duel Disk: The new Duel Disk, developed by Kaiba Corporation, creates Solid Vision holograms from images in the user's brain.

Production
The film was announced in the West before it was in Japan. 4K Media revealed the film's existence on the official Yu-Gi-Oh! website. They teased that the movie was already in development in Japan and that they were shopping for a distributor in all non-Asian territories.

In Japan, the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper's MAiDiGiTV streamed a video teasing the film, alongside a recap of the history of the near-twenty year franchise. Here, it was revealed that the film would feature Yugi Muto and Seto Kaiba as its main protagonists.

Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump also unveiled a synopsis of the movie: "In the past, Yami Yugi and Kaiba have clashed many times! Yami Yugi, who resides in Yugi Muto's body, and Kaiba will have a Duel that bets their prides and accepts each other's mutual experience."

The forty-seventh issue of Weekly Shonen Jump unveiled two new monsters that will be played by Yugi, "Lemon Magician Girl" and "Apple Magician Girl", and specified that "Dark Magician Girl" will also be appearing. In addition, a new "Kuriboh"-like monster was shown that resembles a matryoshka.

July 2015
The film's teaser trailer was first shown in a panel featuring Kazuki Takahashi at San Diego Comic-Con 2015. It was later uploaded to the official yugioh.com YouTube channel.

The trailer credits Kazuki Takahashi for the story, script, character design and as executive producer.

It features the following scenes:
 * A close up of the Millennium Puzzle being worn by someone
 * Aigami standing before a stone pillar
 * Tristan, Joey, Bakura and Téa standing among a crowd of people looking up anxiously
 * Yugi and Kaiba beginning a Duel, while wearing new Duel Disk equipment
 * Doors opening to a room, where Seto Kaiba stands
 * Yugi walking forward, with the sound of his footsteps echoing (Only his feet are shown.)
 * The scene changes to show Yugi, or Yami Yugi due to his apparel, from a higher level still walking forward; he is wearing his Domino High coat as a cape and has one of the pharaoh's gold armbands on each respective upper arm.

The following text appears on screen throughout the trailer:

Japanese
 * "It's been 20 years since the series began"
 * "After episode"
 * "A completely new work with an original story"
 * "is finally beginning."
 * "2016 Golden Week. A new legend starts here."

English
 * "The End of the Story..."
 * "Was Only the Beginning"
 * "It's Time to Duel!"
 * "The Legend Continues"
 * "2016"

The "Yu-Gi-Oh! Theme" is played at the end of the English trailer.

December 2015
The trailer features the following scenes:
 * Archival footage from the anime, showing Atem passing through the door to the afterlife, while his friends watch.
 * Yugi and Téa walking past a flight of stairs
 * Joey holding Tristan in a headlock, while Tristan chokes on a sub sandwich
 * Bakura greeting someone, while surrounded by female classmates, one of whom is offering him a gift
 * Téa, Duke, Tristan, Yugi and Bakura, in civilian clothing, at a table by a food vendor, gazing uncertainly at something that is happening off screen. This is the first disclosure of Téa's ponytail haircut
 * Aigami wearing a Domino High School uniform
 * A Stonehenge-like structure on a plateau above the clouds, with a pyramid structure in the background
 * A crowd of children with glowing eyes
 * Aigami holding out his hand, while a levitating, rotating cube materializes above it
 * Someone taking a lone piece of the Millennium Puzzle from a box
 * Yugi wearing the headpiece of the new Duel Disk technology
 * Kaiba looking at the Millennium Puzzle
 * Aigami's forehead beginning to glow as the camera pans in
 * Yugi and Kaiba in a stadium for a Duel; Kaiba activates the head piece of his Duel Disk and Summons his "Blue-Eyes" card, a "DLS-Dimension Gauge" shows stats ATK: 2500, Spirit: 100, Duelist: Seto Kaiba, Yugi draws a card and Summons "Dark Magician"

The following dialogue is spoken:
 * YUGI: "After that battle, we set off to walk through our own worlds."
 * NARRATOR: "Settled back into their lives, a mysterious boy appears before Yugi and the others... and history will now be written anew."
 * YUGI: "We are guided again by the Millennium Puzzle."
 * KAIBA: "It has been a while. I've grown tired of waiting for this day!"
 * YUGI: "Here I go Kaiba! It is my turn!"
 * NARRATOR: "Yu-Gi-Oh! The Dark Side of Dimensions! In theaters April 23, 2016."

March 2016 (Japanese)
The trailer features some scenes from the previous trailers and some new footage. New footage is in bold.
 * Archaeologists excavating the Shrine of the Millennium Stone, after its collapse, following the Ceremonial Battle
 * A few scattered pieces of the Millennium Puzzle found among the ruin.
 * Aigami, standing before a pillar
 * Kaiba, staring at the Millennium Puzzle fragment
 * Yugi, looking down at the Deck of cards in his hand and then holding the Deck against his chest in remebrance to his closest and dearest friend. 
 * Téa, Duke, Tristan, Yugi and Bakura, at a table by a food vendor, gazing at something
 * Aigami, sitting by a window, while wearing a Domino High School uniform
 * Yugi telling someone Aigami's name, after being asked
 * Aigami standing on a roof, looking over a city, while it rains
 * A crowd of children with glowing yellow eyes.
 * Joey, standing in a street, worriedly exclaiming "This place is..."
 * Yugi, Joey and Téa meeting Aigami under a bridge and Aigami informing them that "all of them have gone missing"
 * Mani, with a hood partially covering his face
 * Sera, stating that Yugi is the only person in the world chosen as "the vessel for the Pharaoh's spirit."
 * Yugi, setting the Millennium Puzzle on the ground, while standing opposite Aigami in a KaibaCorp arena, while Kaiba watches them. Sera's dialogue continues to play into this scene.
 * Kaiba, with his Duel Disk readied, saying that he is giving back the Puzzle
 * Someone taking a lone piece of the Millennium Puzzle from a box
 * Aigami holding out his hand, while a levitating, rotating box materializes above it. While doing so, he says "Allow me to show you into our realm for a Duel across the dimensions." The box finishes materializing as he speaks..
 * A tower with hieroglyphs being erected
 * Aigami holding the card, "Houkai Spawn Vijam", while declaring that he is about to send "the Pharaoh's vessel, Yugi Muto", across the dimensions
 * Yugi drawing a card from his Duel Disk and vowing to get back his friends.
 * Yugi Summoning "Dark Magician"
 * Kaiba asks if Yugi expected such power to work against him. A virtual "Blue-Eyes" card then forms in his hand. He Summons three "Blue-Eyes" cards, asserting that he shall make his opponent regret challenging him, and then fuses the three dragons.
 * Kaiba reading the eyepiece for his Duel Disk, in preparation of a Duel with Yugi
 * Yugi, also wearing the eyepiece of a Duel Disk

Featured cards
A poster for the film shows virtual projections of cards held by Kaiba, including three cards with the artwork of "Blue-Eyes Alternative White Dragon", but with the names, "BLUEEYESWDRG", "OBRZK of GIANT[...]" and "BLUEEYESAL[...]", seemingly referencing "Blue-Eyes White Dragon", "Obelisk the Tormentor" ("Giant God Soldier of Obelisk") and "Blue-Eyes Alternative White Dragon" respectively.