Yu-Gi-Oh! (manga)

Yu-Gi-Oh! is a manga series by Kazuki Takahashi, which the entire Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise originated from.

It was serialized in Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump from 1996 to March 8, 2004. 343 chapters were published. These were reprinted in 38 volumes in the tankoban and 22 in the bunkoban.

The story was initially episodic, with a few exceptions. It focused on the adventures of Yugi Mutou, who would unknowingly become possessed by Dark Yugi and defeat bullies and evildoers, who crossed Yugi and his friends, in dangerous Shadow Games. The plot later focuses more on the card game, Duel Monsters, and stories span over much more chapters. In the final arc, Dark Yugi relives his past life as a Pharaoh through a role-playing game, the Shadow RPG.

The English version is subdivided into three series; Yu-Gi-Oh!, ''Yu-Gi-Oh! Duelist and Yu-Gi-Oh! Millennium World''. A number of minor changes are made, but significantly less than in other English adaptions of Yu-Gi-Oh! media.

Characters
In the tankoban, the following are credited as main characters. The "Count" column indicates the number of volumes where they were classed as a main character. The first volume of the tankoban does not contain a main characters section.

School
The hall monitor Ushio learns that Yugi Mutou is being bullied by Katsuya Jonouchi and Hiroto Honda. Despite Yugi's wishes, Ushio proceeds to beat them up and demands bodyguard fees from Yugi. While under the pressure of what to do, Yugi solves the Millennium Puzzle, causing him to share his body with the spirit Dark Yugi, initially without Yugi's knowledge. When Yugi and his friends, Jonouchi, Honda and Anzu Mazaki are faced with bullies and evildoers, Dark Yugi will often take control and challenge the offenders to Shadow Games he sets up with nearby objects.

Notable opponents Dark Yugi faces, include Shadi, Seto Kaiba and Dark Bakura. Shadi, the owner of the Millennium Key and Scales, sets up the Trial of the Mind Shadow Game, endangering Yugi's friends, to test if Yugi is worthy of the Millennium Puzzle. Seto Kaiba sets up the Death-T theme park to try and kill to Yugis in vengeance for an earlier defeat. It is during Death-T, that Yugi becomes fully aware of Dark Yugi's existence. Dark Bakura possess the body of Yugi's friend Ryo Bakura through the Millennium Ring and faces Dark Yugi in a tabletop role-playing game, Monster World, where the souls of Yugi and his friends ar trapped in the characters Dark Yugi uses.

Duelist Kingdom
Maximillion J. Pegasus, the creator of Duel Monsters and owner of the Millennium Eye, forces the Yugis to participate in his Duelist Kingdom tournament, by trapping the soul of Sugoroku Mutou in a videotape. Yugi splits his Star Chip entry items with Jonouchi, allowing him to participate too to win the prize money to save his sister, Shizuka Kawai, from going blind. Their friends Anzu, Honda and Bakura accompany them too.

In the preliminary stages of the tournament, Dark Yugi and Jonouchi face a number of high-ranking players, dishonest players and the Player Killers, hired by Pegasus. Despite being a beginner, Jonouchi pulls through with support from his friends and coaching from Dark Yugi. They befriend Mai Kujaku, who is initially perceived as their enemy. Mai professes herself in Yugis' debt after Dark Yugi wins her Star Chips back from the Player Killer of Darkness.

Seto Kaiba comes to the Duelist Kingdom island to rescue his brother, Mokuba, who was kidnapped by Pegasus, as part of a plan to takeover KaibaCorp. Pegasus forces Kaiba to Duel Dark Yugi. Desperate to save Mokuba, Kaiba endangers his life and Yugi throws the Duel as Dark Yugi is about to risk Kaiba's life. Kaiba claims half of Yugi's Star Chips and wins a chance to face Pegasus.

After Mai repays her Star Chip debt to Yugi, the two of them, Jonouchi and Keith Howard become the four finalists. Together they watch Kaiba Duel Pegasus and lose, due to Pegasus' mind reading power and see Pegasus trap the souls of Kaiba and Mokuba in "Soul Prison" cards.

Dark Yugi defeats Mai in the semi finals, with credit to Mai and Yugi for reminding him that a true Duelists strength is in their resolve. Despite a difference in skill, experience and Keith's cheating, Jonouchi manages to beat Keith in the other semi final. Dark Yugi, Jonouchi and Pegasus all consider a final Duel between Dark Yugi and Jonouchi to be unnecessary, due to their common goals, so Pegasus immediately begin their Duel. Yugi comes up with the Mind Shuffle strategy, allowing him and Dark Yugi to defeat Pegasus.

Keeping his word, Pegasus freed the souls he had trapped and gave Dark Yugi the prize money, which he gave to Jonouchi. Pegasus and Croquet explained how Pegasus had come into possession of the Millennium Eye and how the tournament had been an attempt for Pegasus to reunite with his deceased lover Cyndia. Before leaving the island, Pegasus is murdered by Dark Bakura, who steals his Millennium Eye.

Dungeon Dice Monsters
Ryuji Otogi, the creator of Dungeon Dice Monsters transfers to Yugi's school, Domino High. His father, Mr. Clown, had previously lost a game to Yugi's grandfather, Sugoroku. In revenge, he forces Yugi into a game of Dungeon Dice Monsters with Ryuji, with ownership of the Millennium Puzzle on the line. Without help from Dark Yugi, Yugi manages to win with some encouragement from Dark Bakura. Following the game, Yugi reconstructs the Millennium Puzzle inside the burning building, in fear of losing Dark Yugi.

English edition
The manga's first English print was in the Shonen Jump magazine. This published chapters 1 to 59, the entire story before Duelist Kingdom. A while later, it published chapters 279 to 343, the Pharaoh's Memory arc, labeling it Yu-Gi-Oh! Millennium World and resetting the numbering to 1. The entire series was released in tankoban format as Yu-Gi-Oh!, ''Yu-Gi-Oh! Duelist and Yu-Gi-Oh! Millennium World''.
 * Yu-Gi-Oh! contains volumes 1 to 7, chapters 1 to 59.
 * Yu-Gi-Oh! Duelist contains volumes 8 to 31, chapters 60 to 278, but renumbers them as volumes 1 to 24 and chapters 1 to 219.
 * Yu-Gi-Oh! Millennium World contains volumes 32 to 38, chapters 279 to 343.

Unlike most English adaptions of Yu-Gi-Oh! media, the English version uses the Japanese names for the majority of human characters and features significantly less censoring.

Some changes that are made include:
 * A few names are changed; some to suit the English card game or English anime and some due to censorship.
 * The name Magic & Wizards is changed to Duel Monsters in the tankoban, despite being called Magic & Wizards when it was printed in Shonen Jump.
 * Some cards have their real life Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game effect printed on them, rather than a translation of their Japanese manga effect.
 * Mokuba Kaiba, often calls his brother Seto Kaiba, by his surname.
 * The Yu-Gi-Oh! Duelist tankoban features a "Master of the Cards" section at the end of most volumes. This includes a cross-referencing of English and Japanese names for cards appearing in the volume. It also mentions the first page that the card appears on and states if the card does not exist in the Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game. This section, does however contain a few errors.
 * A scene where Jonouchi sticks his middle finger up at Keith is edited to show Jonouchi holding up his fist.

Bunkoban
The Japanese series has been reprinted in bunkoban format. Each volume contains more chapters, hence condensing it into 22 volumes. Each volume contains an afterword by Kazuki Takahashi, a Yu-Gi-Oh! character versions of a Tarot card from the Major Arcana and an explanation of the included Tarot cards.

Some dialogue is cleaned up and made less contradictory. Some scenes are edited, including changing early Egyptian flashbacks to visually match the later Pharaoh's Memory arc and altering Zorc Necrophades' dragon head to wrap around his body instead of point out suggestively.

Volume listings

 * Yu-Gi-Oh!
 * Yu-Gi-Oh! Duelist
 * Yu-Gi-Oh! Millennium World
 * Yu-Gi-Oh! (bunkoban)

Chapter listings

 * Yu-Gi-Oh!
 * Yu-Gi-Oh! Duelist
 * Yu-Gi-Oh! Millennium World