Add to List

I think the fact that YuGiOh (along with Pokemon) was the first anime I ever watched is enough to give this series a 10. That and the fact that this is one of the very few solid English dubs out there.
Great story, plot, ingenius card game (think about it, Kazuki pulled the entire YuGiOh ruleset out of his ass and it's incredible!), along with enjoyable dialogue make this series a 10/10. Honestly, if you've never seen YuGiOh and you're on MyAnimeList to decide if you should watch it, then go ahead and do it. You've been missing out.

I, probably like many others, watched Yu-Gi-Oh: The Abridged Series without ever watching much of the original show. Since TAS is hilarious, I assumed the original show was just another bad kid's show. Something made me decide to watch it a while ago. I then realized the error of my ways. This is not a kid's show by any means. It is a show for men.
Story: 7/10
While the story is not perfect by any means, it's about fucking card games what do you expect? I'd give it a 10/10 but only women care about stories so an 7/10 is the highest score I can give here. To further explain, the only anime stories I would score above an 8 are Rainbow (10/10) and all Gundam series (9/10) except for G Gundam (it's for children.) So, do not be disheartened by the 7/10 story.
Art: 9/10
Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters has given us some of the best character designs in anime history. Beyond anime history, the history of the universe. Hell, before seeing this show my favorite fictional character design was George Washington. But even Washington's design pales in comparison to those of characters like Bandit Keith, Yami, Tristan, Mako Tsunami, Pegasus, Bakura, and last but not least, Chemo. Yes the guy with the huge hair's name is Chemo. As in chemotherapy. Unfortunately, I had to dock a point from the art score due to the fact that there are female characters in the show. I still have not been able to figure this one out. The only explanation I can think of is that they wanted a blond female with large breasts to appeal to terrible baka gaijins.
Sound: 7/10
This literally has the best American voice track in any anime. Maybe you think Hellsing has a good dub. Maybe Baccano! Maybe Yu Yu Hakusho. If you think any of those dubs are good, you are wrong. It has been scientifically proven that the original Nippon voices are always superior except in the case of Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters. Dan Green gives an Oscar-worthy performance as both Yugi and Yami. Yami's voice is the best though. I want to have sex with his voice and so does every other good American. Also, this does not make me gay. Wanting to have sex with Dan Green's voice is about as gay as Char Aznable and Garma Zabi showering together. AKA not gay at all. I had to subtract one point due to Marik sounding like a woman.
As for the music, it is by no means bad. The American opening theme is pretty good. In the end though, I had to take away two points since spoilers the Star Spangled Banner never plays. I literally shed manly tears upon finishing the last episode when I found this out.
Character: 10/10
Easy 10/10 here. Every character is well written and serves a purpose. Even the female characters serve the purpose of making the male characters look better. I thought Yugi was going to be lame at first but he's actually pretty badass. His alter ego, Yami, is the best character in the show. Seto Kaiba is arguably the deepest character in all of fiction. They made him even better in the dub too since he wasn't nearly as big of a douche in the original Nippon version. Joey Wheeler is great. Just try not crying manly tears as you see him struggle to save his sister. Bandit Keith... enough said. Tristan Taylor exists just to add another manly character to the cast. He never plays a card game (except in filler,) but he takes on bodyguards, hits on a blind chick, rides a motorcycle, and sneaks around a castle wearing a suit of armor. Oh yeah and he does all this when he's 10 FUCKING YEARS OLD.
I'm not even scratching the surface of the great cast. Just writing about them doesn't do them justice.
Enjoyment: 8/10
The most enjoyable part of the series is easily the card games. I was just on the edge of my seat waiting to see how Yami will cheat next. There are a few flaws, though. One of which are the awful duels with female characters. Thankfully, I don't think any of these are longer than one episode and spoilers Mai Valentine never wins a duel. Still, I had to dock one point for these. The other point lost was for the Yami backstory arc. This was so boring that I had to skip it. Upon finishing the series, a friend of mine told me I cheated since I didn't watch most of this arc. My response? 'Yeah, just like Yami.' This brings me to the end and true focus of this review.
Overall: 8/10
This anime is by no means perfect. (It's not Rainbow.) It is still a great show. I laughed (at the females dueling,) I cried (manly tears,) and most importantly, I learned a lesson. That lesson is that cheating is good. I'd been raised to think that cheating was bad. Unfortunately for me, I didn't watch this until I was in college. If I had watched this when I was a kid, I could be cheating my way through an Ivy League school right now.
To expand on the last paragraph, achieving your goals through any means necessary is the way to go. When Yami dueled Panik, a guy who went around Duelist Kingdom bullying females at night, did he forgive him? Hell no, he bullied him right back and sent him to the Shadow Realm aka he fucking killed his ass.
Please, watch this show. If you ever have offspring, first, hang your head in shame. Raising children is not a man's job. Though, if you insist on raising a child, make them watch this show.
I hope you enjoyed reading my review and please say it was helpful because if you don't, Bro would be ashamed. read more

Yugioh is an anime about card games, that’s what most people see when they watch it. I’ve heard it called the best worst series ever. What people fail to see is the intense character development that happens over a course of 224 episodes. The series started out with no card games at all. The story is about a kid named Yugi who is shorter than average, insecure, geeky and picked on most of the time. For 8 years he works on a puzzle that his grandfather found in Egypt. Upon finishing it, He is possessed with an ancient spirit who at first appears to have evil intentions. A main key to this story is that this spirit, “yugi’s other self” (yami in English) has no memory of his name or where he came from. Through these battles Yugi matures and becomes a strong, dependant person, gains friends and learns to stick up for himself. It’s amazing when you compare the very last episode yugi to the very first season 0 yugi. Because the series is 200 something episodes, this change is gradual and almost unnoticeable.
The characters are unique and easy to warm up to. You’ll end up liking a lot of them and hate to see them leave in the end.
The animation varies from episode to episode. While episodes directed by Takahiro Kagami (Death note’s lead animation director for most episodes) look smooth and beautifully drawn, others are complete crap. Also, each artist interprets the characters differently so they change style episode to episode.
The music is written by Shinkichi Mitsumune and is the thing I miss the most in the English version. Shinkichi uses a lot of violin in his songs giving the series a melancholic vibe. The soundtrack is memorable and I love listening to it by itself. Some songs are sad and forlorn while others are upbeat and jazzy. I could go on and on just talking about the music.
Even though I have a lot of good things to say about this show, it has its down-falls . The card game can get boring and over done and I end up skipping all of them. Sometimes that ends up being a whole episode. Sometimes it feels like it’s not worth it. There are a lot of filler episodes and two filler seasons.
The English adaption also leaves a LARGE gap between the uncut viewers and the ones that grew up on the 4kids edited version. I disliked the series when it was showing on TV but loved the Japanese. The changes are that drastic.
Some people view this series as childish and down right silly, but they are only looking on the outside. Yugioh has its deep and serious side about how the mind works, human nature and perhaps a bit of schizophrenia.
Over all, I never thought I would like yugioh and now it’s my favorite anime. Just look past the silly card game and you WILL love this series too.
And please oh please, I beg of you. If you still don't want to give this anime a chance, at least look up the sound duels. They are definitely worth your time. read more

Not another card driven game! That is what I thought going into this. I had just gotten over my Pokemon and Digimon phase. So upon seeing this I quirked an eyebrow. However I gave it a whirl and watched it, and by god I actually enjoyed it. The characters are so much more dynamic than most of these genre of shows. There is a plot behind all the games (read the manga for more). The most interesting twist to me was the Egyptian background. That intrigued me to no end to see how exactly that would play out. Surprisingly to me it played out nicely, tying the characters together from their pasts to the here and now.
There are a few arcs that also stand out above the rest. The first being the Battle City arc, where we first meet Malik Ishtar who is a young Egpytian boy. The Doma (Doom in the dub) arc that present to us Dartz, the King of Atlantis and his ragtag henchmen. The last arc, that deals with the origins of Yami Yuugi is also the best, and the one I am most fond of.
Art and animation quality actually go up as the series goes on. The beginning characters didn't always look their best, but as it progressed the characters started to look good as well. So if you are trying to get someone into a card game based show, dip their feet into anime show them this. However, if you want the more serious and true nature of the show watch it subbed. read more