Thursday, February 28, 2008

Review | Anime | Yu-Gi-Oh!




YU-GI-OH! : The popular card game Duel Monsters dominates Yugi Mutou's world, and with
the powerful cards given to him by his grandfather who owns a shop that sells
the cards, he is able to defeat various opponents. One day, a mysterious man
known as Pegasus sends Yugi a package inviting him to an island where he'll duel
with other Duel Monsters masters for the grand prize. However, Pegasus raises
the stakes by capturing his grandfather's soul to pursuade Yugi to come to the
island. Yugi also harnesses an ancient power that enables him to become a more
matured version of himself, carrying the soul of an Egyptian Pharoah.



If you're looking to bring yourself into the Yu-Gi-Oh world, definitely start with the original. None of this Yu-Gi-Oh! GX stupidity they've half-baked and slapped on TV. They're doing exactly what Pokemon did that lost them both their fame; they've attempted to milk the show for more than its worth and no one cares anymore. At one time, Yu-Gi-Oh was a major hype. Every kid wanted a deck of Yu-Gi-Oh cards, it was all it took to please them. Halloween costumes went out, toys, action figures, kids started buying the mangas. Kids were all over Yu-Gi-Oh until the originals went off TV and the producers attempted to compensate for it by introducing Yu-Gi-Oh! GX. The original characters, including the show's protagonist Yugi Mutou (pronounced 'Moto' in the English dub), are not featured in the new show, and new characters and hundreds of new monsters were introduced. At first, it was an interesting take on a popular show, but the new show itself was too dry to possibly keep the spirit of Yu-Gi-Oh alive any longer.

Though you don't see it in its former glory, Yu-Gi-Oh's flame still burns somewhere in the anime world. The characters are always distinguishable from not only the other characters in the show, but the rest of the anime world, due to their extravagant and unusual hair-dos (particularly the one found on Yugi) which any knowledgeable anime fan will have no problem identifying.

It's definitely a show to bring home to the boys. Since it was brought to American TV for young audiences, you can look into an English dub, but I am unaware that there is any overly questionable material in the Japanese dub. Despite being a good show it does require some patience. The characters love to talk. The show consists of a combination of fantasy and technology which can themselves be found either separately or harmoniously within the monsters the Duelists will activate, which are projected life-sized on the battlefield. Characters are continuously introduced which makes it difficult to keep up with them, but unlike Pokemon where characters are constantly added and replaced for the main band of characters, Yugi's group of closest friends remain the same.


Overall Rating:
/ 5

~~Multimedia~~

Livejournal Avatars

No comments: