Yu-Gi-Oh: The Abridged Series

Yu-Gi-Oh: The Abridged Series (often abbreviated to Yu-Gi-Oh Abridged or simply YTAS) is a humorous and popular fan parody of the Yu-Gi-Oh! Anime as dubbed by 4Kids TV. It is created by an artist known only as LittleKuriboh, who strives to update the series weekly, although this has not always been possible.

Warning: Plot Endings and/or Spoilers Below

Overview
As the name suggests, Yu-Gi-Oh: The Abridged Series is a dramatically shortened down version of the original series, cutting each episode down from twenty minutes, to around four to six minutes. This includes episodes in two parts, which are taken as one episode, although there are exceptions. The characters are all voiced by LittleKuriboh, even the female ones, adding to the parody.

The series frequently makes fun of the original series; for example, the fact that Duel Monsters is a children’s card game, yet is played by teens and adults. It also pokes much fun at the fact that the duels in the first season have many deviations from the rulings in the real-life version of the card game. It also greatly exaggerates the characters' personalities as given by the dub, to comic effect. When the series began, many lines were paraphrased or quoted wholesale from the 4Kids version, such as "Draw your last pathetic card" and "Exodia, Obliterate!" from the first episode; the later series episodes would focus more on jokes from previous episodes.

Another consistant running joke within the series is the fact that all of the characters seem to be aware that they are part of a television program. They frequently talk about cameos, screen time and the plot; in fact, in it, Bakura is apparently only staying with the group to get more appearances and dialogue.

Beginning with the fifth episode, the series would open with a snippet of "Kawaita Sakebi", the theme song from the first series anime. All episodes would end with a scene from the anime juxtaposed with audio from another source:
 * Episode 1: Yugi as Master Shake from Aqua Teen Hunger Force.
 * Episode 2: Téa and Marik as Lois Lane and Lex Luthor in a scene from the Superman Returns trailer.
 * Episode 3: Admiral Ackbar holding out the "Trap Hole" card saying "It's a Trap!"
 * Episode 4: Young Marik being attacked by a snake and Odion quoting Samuel L. Jackson's infamous line from Snakes on a Plane.
 * Episode 5: Yami and Kaiba quoting an exchange between Luke Skywalker and Emperor Palpatine from Return of the Jedi.
 * Episode 6: A dub scene showing Bakura and Marik, but with Bakura repeatedly saying "I don't care".
 * Episode 7: Joey and the Robot Monkey seen in the Virtual World arc, quoting an exchange between Philip J. Fry and Bender from Futurama.
 * Episode 8: Mokuba Kaiba as the N64 kid.
 * Episode 9: Seto Kaiba summons a "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" to the tune of Trogdor from Homestar Runner
 * Episode 10: Téa Gardner dances to Michael Sembello's "Maniac".
 * Episode 11: A humorous quote said by Yugi's voice actor Dan Green during a podcast interview, set to a scene from the Anime.
 * Episode 12: Yugi as Chris Griffin, from "Family Guy", yells at Yami to "Get out of my head!"
 * Episode 13: A pixelated Yugi, Joey and Mai (from the Virtual World arc in the Anime) dance to the victory theme of Final Fantasy VI.
 * Episode 14: Weevil and Rex quote a scene from the dub version of Dragon Ball Z featuring Nappa and Vegeta, parodying the "Over 9000" internet meme.
 * Episode 15: As Marik's minions capture Téa, her cell phone rings with tune "Axel F - Crazy Frog Remix", and an annoyed minion stamps on it, silencing the monotonous song.
 * Episode 16: A scene from Space Ghost: Coast to Coast where Zorak (Yami) claims to be Egyptian.

Characters
As expected in a parody, the characters for the series have similar personalities to their original counterparts; however some aspects are greatly exaggerated, as seen below.

Yugi Moto
Out of all the characters in the series, Yugi’s personality is closest to the original portrayed in the dub, although he tends to be sarcastic from time to time. Extremely selfish, he refuses to give anyone more screentime than him, to the point where some characters' names can't be remembered by others (i.e. Bakura). Also, he doesn’t seem to have forgiven Joey for throwing a piece of his Millennium Puzzle out of the window (as seen in a flashback in Episode 4) and subsequently took his revenge by tormenting him with the Prize money card in Episode 16 (Joey still took the card anyway). As hinted in the original series, Yugi likes Téa Gardner, something she seems to reciprocate, although it should be noted that she doesn't know that Yugi and Yami are not the same person, and seems to be using Yugi to get to Yami, as seen in Yu-Gi-Oh: The Abridged Movie Trailer.

He tends to think things are "Super Special Awesome". For example, when coming to rescue Mai, he shouts "Super Special Awesome Rescue!"

Yami Yugi
Never referred to as Yami, with the exception of the Abridged Movie trailer and by a director for "Yugios" in Episode 5, in the series the spirit of the Millennium Puzzle is apparently gay. He proclaimed to Kaiba's fake ghost in Episode 9, "If you're a ghost, then I'm straight", and Bakura once noticed that his "gaydar" built into his Millennium Ring once pointed to the Millennium Puzzle when he first arrived at Domino High in a flashback in Episode 11.

Like Yugi, he tends to be sarcastic and disbelieving of the plotlines of the episodes, for example, disbelieving that Seto Kaiba came back from the dead just to duel him. He can also be offensive, mocking Kaiba for being an orphan and having a voice similar to "Brock" from Pokémon (in the English dub, Seto Kaiba is voiced by Eric Stuart, who also did the voice for "Brock" in Pokemon).

Although nobody knows his real name, everyone seems to know he's a Pharaoh, from Seto Kaiba to Pegasus, the latter even going so far as to refer to him as "Pharaoh-boy".

Téa Gardner
Téa doesn't seem to lecture as much about friendship as she does in the actual series. Quite the contrary, she quite often degrades her friends, especially Joey. For example, in Episode 5, when Joey stated that seeing he was a main character, he was ensured a place in the finals, Téa rebuked him by informing him that because Joey is a comic relief character, he actually had no chance of winning whatsoever. She seems to be attracted to Yugi, however in the Abridged Movie Trailer, she admitted she was only using Yugi to get to Yami Yugi. She's also a kleptomaniac, having attempted to steal her friends' wallets on two separate occasions.

Due to the fact LittleKuriboh is male, Téa’s voice sounds high pitched and slightly strangled.

Joey Wheeler
Joey is the male personification of a "dumb blonde". In other words, the parody makes him out to be incredibly stupid. For example, while playing Duel Monsters with Yugi in Bakura’s flashback in Episode 11, he exclaimed "Checkmate! I sunk your battleship!". He also apparently hates blonde people (ironic given that he himself is blonde), and he doesn't seem to realise when people are insulting him.

Despite this, however, he seems to be very able at building good decks. In episode 2, Joey’s deck was so good, Yugi decided to steal it and told him that it was rubbish. He entered the Duelist Kingdom tournament in order to win the prize money, just as in the original; unlike the original, however, he wants the money for himself, rather than to fund the operation for Serenity. In Episode 14, when reminded about his sister, he figured he could just use the money to buy a new one.

Tristan Taylor
Like Joey, Tristan provides much of the comedy in the series, mostly due to his clogged sounding voice (In Episode 2, he was apparently voiced by Barney the Dinosaur). For Episode 8 and the first half of Episode 9, he was given a new voice, similar to what happened in the original series; however this new voice was apparently killed by Bakura's "evil side" in Episode 9, and the old one was revived (Yami did it because the old voice was easier to make fun of than the new one). He also claims on two seperate occasions that his voice gives him super-strength, once while fighting Kemo (who then claims his hair lets him defy gravity), and once in a cave while being chased by a giant "boulder." The parody portrays Tristan as childish and sometimes downright stupid, to the point no one takes him seriously.

Episode 8 is dedicated to the memory of "Tristan Taylor's voice" (who allegedly died after running with scissors while drunk).

Ryo Bakura/Yami Bakura
For the first seven episodes, Bakura was apparently stalking the gang in an attempt to become one of the main characters of the show. When he first appeared to the gang officially, he was accompanied by threatening and evil music, implying his apparent intent to become a main character no matter the cost. Most characters refer to him as "limey", due to him having a British accent.

In the abridged series, his father apparently discovered the Millennium Ring while searching for blue hair dye, and fitted it with a gaydar, allowing it to seek out gay people to prevent Bakura's bishounen appearance from being taken advantage of. So far it has pointed to Pegasus’ Castle, Yugi’s Millennium Puzzle, and directed the gang towards "The Paradox Brothers". This has led the others to believe that Bakura is gay himself, something he denies, explaining it away as just being British.

In one scene, when Bakura asks everyone to show their favorite cards, Bakura pulls out a card with the picture of "Sephiroth" (specifically, a picture from a scene in the movie Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children). This implies that Bakura is evil, and may or may not be Yami Bakura in disguise; however, this evidence is inconclusive.

Like Bakura, Yami Bakura wants to be the main character of the show; unlike Bakura however, who just wants to be the main character, Yami Bakura wants to turn it into his own series, entitled "Zorc & Pals", a sitcom styled show with a laugh reel. When defeated by Yugi in a shadow game, Yami Bakura says that he will be become a main character, "even if it takes another 200 bloody episodes." This actually is in reference to Thief Bakura being the arc villain of the memory world, which happens in almost 200 episodes from that point in the series.

Seto Kaiba
As in the original series, Kaiba is sarcastic, offensive, and all around not very nice, and this was just for Episode 1. He apparently likes to "screw the rules" due to his large fortune (one of his most popular phrases from the series is "Screw the rules, I have money!", and later on "Screw the rules, I have green hair." Also, during the Christmas Special he told his workers, "Screw the Yules, I have money!"), and apparently had a very depressing childhood after he fired his parents, seeing as he had no money, and therefore couldn’t screw the rules.

He disappears for several episodes due the fact he was written out of the show, but returns to help Yugi defeat his "ghost" in Episode 6 (although unlike the original, he isn’t much help at all). He may also be addicted to drugs that affect his memory; in episode 11 he thinks he used to have green hair when he first dueled Yugi (using clips from the first Japanese series.) He also styles himself as a "l33t hax0r", apparently having learned all his hacking skills from watching old episodes of Star Trek.

Four different people (namely Solomon Muto, Bakura, Tristan Taylor and his own Computer system) think he needs to get laid.

Mokuba Kaiba
According to Seto, Mokuba tends to be kidnapped on a weekly basis (a recent montage of these kidnappings brought the total up to over two thousand). So frequent are his kidnappings, that Kaiba doesn't run to his rescue anymore, preferring to just walk briskly. Most of the characters who know Mokuba just assume that seeing he’s been kidnapped so many times he’s just used to it, quite to the contrary (Mokuba: "It feels like I’m dying inside!")

Mai Valentine
She has a voice which affects a drag queen and has cleavage which is the focus of much of the male members of the cast, especially Joey; even she seems to be obsessed with them, as she cries out "My breasts are in danger!" when she is attacked. Mai and Téa also have a running rivalry, since currently they are the only two female cast members that are regularly shown. She has terrible handwriting.

Maximillion Pegasus
In Kaiba's own words, "Pegasus is ruthless. Camp, but ruthless". Although he hasn’t been seen often so far, from what has been seen this description is accurate. He seems to have a liking for the Spice Girls movie (one of his henchmen complains of seeing the film over and over again). Judging by the fact Bakura’s gaydar pointed towards his castle it’s possible he is actually gay, as well as being extremely camp. In episode 16, however, he remarks that he "can't have people thinking (he's) straight", for reasons unknown.

Kemo
The most seen of Pegasus’s henchmen. Although he is known as "The Nameless Henchman" in the series, for writing purposes his original dubbed name is used. Kemo has a tendency to yell "Attention Duelists!" every time he starts a conversation, even if there’s only one other person with him. (When Kaiba asked why he does this, he replied angrily it was simply what he does.) He has a crush on Mai Valentine.

Another of Kemo's traits is referring to his hair in some form or another, usually related to what he is actually doing. For example, in Episode 6 when attacking a duelist he shouts "Attention Duelists! My hair is assaulting you!" Also in Episode 6, he claimed that his hair allowed him to defy gravity. And in another episode he told Kaiba that "My hair is definitely not leading you into a trap!"

Kemo has also apparently taken child-grabbing classes, and on occasion he refers to them, such as in Episode 13, he attempts to attack Kaiba, but Kaiba notices him, and stops the attack. Kemo then said that his child-grabbing classes were a waste of money.

Bandit Keith
Like Mai with her breasts and Kemo with his hair, Bandit Keith is obsessed with America. Throughout his appearances, he will usually finish almost every sentence with the words "In America", usually after a brief pause (for example, "This can't be happening!... in America!") His favourite film is Pearl Harbor, which he somehow related to Yugi and Kaiba’s rooftop duel in episode 14, saying that "Ben Affleck would be ashamed.... in America!" when Yugi lost. He used to hang around with three other goons, who were also from America, but they mysteriously disappeared after Episode 12. (In the original anime, they were beaten up by Keith and had their star chips stolen from them.)

Serenity Wheeler
Since she isn't featured predominantly in the first season, Serenity hasn't appeared much in The Abridged Series. What screen time she has had however, has shown her to have a high pitched-sounding voice, similar to Gollum from The Lord of the Rings. According to Episode 3, the doctors have spent so much time trying to figure out what's wrong with her voice, that they forgot to treat her eyesight. In flashbacks, Joey often calls her a dumb broad (in reference to his Brooklyn accent).

According to one of the aforementioned flashbacks, Joey revealed that their parents separated after he tried to teach her how to drive, though in the original anime, she was being driven away. When Yugi referred to her in Episode 12, Joey assumed he was talking about the Joss Whedon movie of the same name. As well as this incident, Joey has frequently ignored his sister's eye operation as the main reason he joined Duelist Kingdom, normally saying he only participated for the prize money, and responding to comments about his sisters eye operation with "What operation?" or "What sister?".

Weevil Underwood and Rex Raptor
Rex and Weevil appear several times in the first few episodes. They're an obvious parody of Beavis and Butt-head. Both tend to laugh stupidly at regular intervals, as well as try to make sexual innuendos out of everything they say ("You said region!"). All in all, they're both incredibly idiotic, which, considering how unintelligent they are in the dub, only adds to the parody's humour. Weevil also repeats the word "fire!" in various episodes, possibly a reference to the fact that all uses of the word "fire" were eventually banned on the show "Beavis and Butt-head".

Marik Ishtar
Thus far, he has only appeared in the Yu-Gi-Oh Christmas Carol, and only as Yami Marik. He speaks in a sneering modulated voice, and he appears to be able to control minds (or at least believes himself able to), and calls Kaiba "Binky boy" and "Mind slave". He also has a habit of being totaly unable to hide his true intentions from people, such as by asking Seto Kaiba to come to him so he can stab him. He trys to hide this by saying he wanted to hug him instead.

Yu-Gi-Oh: The Abridged Series - Movie Trailer
Although he hasn't actually dubbed the film, LittleKuriboh has produced a trailer for an abridged version of Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie: Pyramid of Light, using the same techniques used in the series. The trailer features all the cast, including Bakura as "Sir Not-Appearing-In-This-Film" with Requiem for a Dream used as a backing track. It also features Anubis as "The Big Bad", whose two-toned voice might be mimicking the Goa'uld from Stargate. John Denver's song, "Leaving on a Jet Plane", was also heard accompanied by Kaiba’s take off scenes from the film.

Imposters
In light of the popularity of "The Abridged Series", several fake accounts have recently cropped up, most actually insulting LittleKuriboh and his work. Some, like "SexyKuriboh", devote their entire accounts to demeaning The Abridged Series, whereas some make bad episodes that LittleKuriboh hasn’t created yet. This was especially true around the creation of Episode 13, where LittleKuriboh was having trouble fitting the series into his life. This led to several fake versions of the episode, many falsely stating that LittleKuriboh himself had asked that they do the episodes for him. This was not true. In order to ensure people do not fall for these bad imitations, LittleKuriboh has asked that people subscribe to his account on YouTube in order to actually know when new episodes air.

The episodes as of late have been delayed due to LittleKuriboh trying his best to maintain a life but also keep the fans happy. Some have found the wait to be unbareable, but with each new episode new hope is brought for the next which will surely follow. Word has been said of a possible movie parody to follow up with said trailer, but when this may or may not be taking place, is still under-wraps.

Trivia

 * 89.3% of viewers vote "Kemo" as their favorite character.
 * "Attention, Duelists" has been used in 22,000 and counting signatures on various forums.
 * "The Abridged Series" points out many areas for fun (adding to the parody) in the original Yu-Gi-Oh anime that made no sense, like when Joey Wheeler (in the anime) jumped ship to save Yugi's cards. The Abridged Series brought this to light, re-dubbing Joey's voice to say "Must risk life for cards!" obviously playing a pun on that fact.
 * Several jokes are also made at the fact that the first season's card games deviate greatly from the rules in the real life card game. For example, in the first episode, Yami complained that Kaiba "summoned a bunch of monsters in one turn" to which Kaiba famously replied "Screw the rules, I have money".