Yu-Gi-Oh!

Yu-Gi-Oh! (遊☆戯☆王 Yūgiō, Japanese for "King of Game") is a popular Japanese anime and manga franchise from Kazuki Takahashi that mainly involves characters who play a card game called Duel Monsters (originally called Magic & Wizards in the manga. See the section "Card game" below for different names of the game) wherein each player purchases and assembles a Deck of Monster, Spell, and Trap Cards in order to defeat one another.

It began as a manga in Japan in 1996, the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise has since grown to an immensely successful global brand, spawning various manga and anime series, a real-life version of the card game featured in the story, Video Games, toys, and many other products.

Composition
The Yu-Gi-Oh! universe consists of four manga series, five anime series (Yu-Gi-Oh![season 0], Yu-Gi-Oh!, Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's and Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL), and three movies (Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie [Japanese only release], Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie: Pyramid of Light, Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie: Bonds Beyond Time.)

Yu-Gi-Oh! (original manga)
''Main article: Yu-Gi-Oh! manga

The Yu-Gi-Oh! (遊☆戯☆王, Yūgiō?) manga ran from 1996 to March 8, 2004. It was created by Kazuki Takahashi, and was one of the most popular titles featured in Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump. The manga initially focuses on Yugi Mutou, as he uses games designed by Pegasus to fight various villains. Yugi also gets into misadventures with his friends Katsuya Jonouchi, Anzu Mazaki and Hiroto Honda. The plot starts out fairly episodic and includes only three instances of Magic and Wizards in the first seven volumes. In the eighth volume, the Duelist Kingdom arc starts, making the plot shift to a Duel Monsters-centered universe.

The editors were Yoshihisa Heishi and Hisao Shimada. Kazuki Takahashi credits Toshimasa Takahashi in the "Special Thanks" column.

The English version of the Yu-Gi-Oh! manga is released in the United States and Canada by Viz Media in both the Shonen Jump magazine and in individual graphic novels. The original Japanese character names are kept for most of the characters (Yugi, Jonouchi, Anzu, and Honda, for instance), while the English names are used for a minor number of characters (e.g. Maximillion Pegasus) and for the Duel Monsters cards. It is published in its original right-to-left format, and the manga is largely unedited.

The translators of the English manga are Anita Sengupta (for volumes 1-7, and Duelist 1) and Joe Yamazaki (for Duelist 2-24 and Millennium World). Some content was revised in later printings of earlier volumes.

Viz released volumes 1 through 7 of the Yu-Gi-Oh! manga under its original title. The Duelist Kingdom and Battle City arcs are released under the title; Yu-Gi-Oh!: Duelist, while the Egypt arc is released as Yu-Gi-Oh! Millennium World. As of the December 2007 issue, the series has come to a close, after a long five year run in the pages of Shonen Jump, America.

Yu-Gi-Oh! R
Main article: Yu-Gi-Oh! R

Yu-Gi-Oh R (遊☆戯☆王 R, Yūgiō Āru?) is illustrated by Akira Ito, one of the artists who illustrated the original Yu-Gi-Oh! manga, and supervised by Takahashi. Yu-Gi-Oh! R is a spin-off of the original Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise, with most of the same characters in a new plotline (which takes place between the Battle City story arc and the Millenium World story arc). The manga was first published in Shueisha's monthly magazine V-Jump on April 21, 2004.

Yu-Gi-Oh! GX
Main article: Yu-Gi-Oh! GX (manga)

The Yu-Gi-Oh! GX (遊☆戯☆王 GX, Yūgiō Jī Ekkusu?) manga series is a manga adaptation of the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX television series. The comic is illustrated by Naoyuki Kageyama and differs from the anime, featuring new storylines and monsters, as well as some personality changes in some of the characters.

The Yu-Gi-Oh! GX manga series was released in North America by Viz Media. It has been serialized in the manga magazine Shonen Jump, beginning in January 2007. Unlike the other manga serialized in the magazine, one chapter of the manga is printed per issue. Unlike the English-language editions of the original manga series, the English-language Yu-Gi-Oh! GX manga uses the English-language anime names created by 4Kids Entertainment. The GX episodes are rated 11+.

Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's
Main article: Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's manga

A Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's (遊☆戯☆王 5D's, Yūgiō Faibu Dīzu?) manga began serialization in V-Jump Monthly Magazine from August 2009. It is written by Masahiro Hikokubo and Satou Masashi and, like the GX manga, will feature different storylines and monsters.

Yu-Gi-Oh! (first series anime)


Yu-Gi-Oh is produced by Toei Animation, as a 27-episode anime, based on Yu-Gi-Oh! manga volumes 1-7, volumes which do not focus much on Magic & Wizards, nor is it connected in any way to Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters; another Yu-Gi-Oh! anime series made by Nihon Ad Systems (NAS), but is often referred to as the "first series" to distinguish it from the latter (or, erroneously, as Yu-Gi-Oh! Season/Series 0.) The show first aired on TV Asahi on April 4, 1998, and ended its run on October 10, 1998. This show was never shown outside Japan, presumbly due to the amount of violence involved in the series.

Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (second series anime)


"Yu-Gi-Oh!", known in Japan as Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (遊☆戯☆王 デュエルモンスターズ, Yūgiō Dyueru Monsutāzu?), is the series that introduced Yu-Gi-Oh! to the Western world. It was produced by NAS, and was first aired on TV Tokyo on April 18, 2000. It was later translated into more than 20 languages, airing in more than 60 countries. The series is mainly based on Yu-Gi-Oh! manga volume 8 (except that it has some of the content of volumes 4 and 5, albeit watered down and shortened) and onward, and ended its 224-episode run in Japan on September 29, 2004.

There are two English-language versions of the Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters anime: a United States version by 4Kids Entertainment and a South-East Asian version by A.S.N.

On May 8, 2001, 4Kids obtained the U.S. merchandising and television rights to Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters from Konami. They partnered up with Warner Bros. and released their dubbed version of the anime on Kids' WB! on September 29, 2001, under the title of Yu-Gi-Oh!. The English Yu-Gi-Oh! anime is divided into a number of seasons. The show aired from September 29, 2001 through June 10, 2006.

Broadcasts The 4Kids English Yu-Gi-Oh! anime is broadcast on many channels. In the United States, it is broadcast on Kids' WB!. In Canada, it is broadcast on YTV. In the United Kingdom it is broadcast on Nickelodeon, CITV (Children's ITV) on Freeview Channel 72, ITV2, ITV4, and in Australia on Network Ten and Nickelodeon. Like many anime originally created for the Japanese market, a number of changes (including the names of most of the characters) were made when the English Yu-Gi-Oh! anime was released.

During the dubbing process, the broadcast version of Yu-Gi-Oh! was edited and adapted to suit US cultural tastes. On October 19, 2004, 4Kids (in association with FUNimation) released uncut Yu-Gi-Oh! DVDs. These DVDs include the original, unedited Japanese animation and Japanese dialogue tracks with English subtitles, as well as all-new English dubs with translations closer to the original dialogues. Both language tracks use the original Japanese music. Each DVD contains three episodes; and there was a total of 3 DVDs released for a total of 9 episodes. The fourth DVD, called "Yu-Gi-Oh! Uncut Vol. #04: Red-Eyes Black Dragon DVD" (and containing episodes 10-12), was already dubbed and completed; ready to be sold and scheduled for release on May 4, 2005, but was never officially released. A 5th DVD containing episodes 13-15 was also mentioned around the time of the announcement of the fourth DVD (and before the indefinite delay/cancellation) but it is unknown if the DVD was merely planned for release or was actually completed and ready for release like the 4th DVD was. For a few months the release date(s)