Yu-Gi-Oh! first aired in Japan 25 years ago and brothers Aaron and Josh Sarnecky are here to talk about it.
Yu-Gi-Oh! is the second anime adaptation of the manga series by Kazuki Takahashi. While the first anime covers the early arcs, the second focuses on the Duel Monsters portion of the story, hence the Japanese title Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters. The second series is in a separate continuity. It premiered in Japan on April 18, 2000. It ran in the US on Kids’ WB, starting in 2001. The show consists of 224 episodes.
The show follows Yugi Moto (Dan Green), a high school student and the world’s best Duel Monsters player. Duel Monsters is a card game based on magical beasts from ancient Egypt. By completing the Millennium Puzzle, Yugi is imbued with the spirit of Yami (also Green), a pharaoh who save the world thousands of years ago. It is up to Yugi and Yami to save the world again.
Yugi’s friends include Joey (Wayne Grayson), an accomplished duelist, as well as his friends Téa (Amy Birnbaum) and Tristan (Sam Riegel, Greg Abbey). Yugi’s opponents include his archrival Seto Kaiba (Eric Stuart), Maximillian Pegasus (Darren Dunstan), Marik Ishtar (Jonathan Todd Ross), and the demonically possessed Bakura (Ted Lewis).
The series has spawned multiple movies and spinoff series. The Duel Monsters game exists in real life as the Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game.
Aaron and Josh talk about their history with Yu-Gi-Oh! before going into the plot, characters, card game, and notorious changes made in the English dub.
For more anime, you can listen to Josh and Aaron’s podcasts on Kirby: Right Back at Ya! and Spirited Away.
Yu-Gi-Oh! is streaming on Hulu and Crunchyroll
