The Yu-Gi-Oh! reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Jul-2004 (provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

Yu-Gi-Oh!

Yu-Gi-Oh! (遊戯王, yûgiô in Romaji, Japanese for "King of Games") is a popular Japanese anime and manga franchise that involves characters who play a card game called Magic and Wizards (called "Duel Monsters" in the English anime, but for continuity in this document the card game will be referred to as Magic and Wizards) wherein each player purchases and assembles a deck of "monsters" in order to defeat one another.

The Yu-Gi-Oh! manga, created in 1996 by Kazuki Takahashi, was one of the most popular titles featured in Japan's Weekly Shonen Jump and is nearing the end of its run in the weekly manga anthology. The anime was first broadcast beginning in 1998 on Asahi TV and after 150 episodes, it moved to TV Tokyo and has recently aired the 200th episode. In recent years, both the manga and anime have also been brought to the United States. The manga runs in Viz's Shonen Jump and the anime is broadcast as part of Kids WB, on Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, and in syndication in many other places.

The Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise has since grown to incorporate a real-life version of the card game featured in the anime and manga, a series of video games by Konami, toys, and many other products.

Table of contents

1 Episodes 2 Major Characters 3 Important Terms 4 Merchandise 5 Related topics 6 External links

Episodes

Like many anime shows originally created for the Japanese market, a number of changes were made when Yu-Gi-Oh! was released in the United States. These changes are frequently done to make the series more understandable, and to remove material which might be considered inappropriate for the target audience - young children. The changes to Yu-Gi-Oh! include:

• Americanization of character names
• removing all instances of weapons (like guns and knives, which are often prevalent)
• removing scenes where two or more characters fighting
• removing or obfuscating many references to religion, such as the pentagram
• removing or rewriting scenes where characters are in real danger of death
• removing or editing scenes where monsters undergo some form of violent death (such as being eaten or being stabbed)
• removing scenes where characters make obscene gestures
• editing scenes where a character or duel monster appears nude
• removing assorted sexual innuendo

4Kids Entertainment, the U.S. distributor of the show, has not yet released the first 26 episodes of the Japanese version, which set up the main characters and involved very little Magic and Wizards dueling. The English version began with the second storyline.

Major Characters

(Japanese name in Western order listed first, English Anime name listed second, when applicable.)

• Yugi Mutou (武藤 遊戯 Mutô Yûgi) / Yugi Moto - Yugi is the protagonist of the show and is an expert at playing all sorts of games ("Yûgi" means "game" in Japanese). He is especially deft at playing Magic and Wizards. He carries the Millennium Puzzle, one of the seven ancient Millennium Items, around his neck, which is an ancient Egyptian artifact that carries the spirit of the late pharaoh inside. When under stress or when playing a game, the spirit inside the Millennium Puzzle takes over and is either partially or completely possessed by the 3,000 year old nameless pharoah.

• Dark Yugi (Yami no Yûgi) / Yami Yugi - His real name is Pharaoh Atem (pharaoh Atemu) who saved the world from destruction but gave his life in the process. His soul is trapped in Yugi's Millennium puzzle, which was found by Sugoroku Mutou (Solomon Moto) in Dark Yugi's tomb in Egypt. Yugi was able to solve the puzzle and he released Atem who possessed Yugi's body. Atem calls himself "Dark" ("Yami") becouse he lost memory on his previous life. He entered Duelist's Kingdom and he dueled very good players such as Seto Kaiba and Malik Ishtar (Marik Ishtar). His favourite card is the Dark Magician but he also possesses one of the three Egyptian God Cards.

• Katsuya Jonouchi (城之内 克也 Jôno'uchi Katsuya) / Joey Wheeler - Jonouchi becomes Yugi's best friend. Jounouchi is initially nothing better than a street thug, but Yugi manages to melt some of his tough-guy exterior. He likes playing games too, but is nowhere near as good as Yugi. Something of a hothead, he lets his mouth get him in trouble, more often than not.

• Hiroto Honda (本田 ヒロト) / Tristan Taylor - Honda is another thug who ends up coming around to be Yugi's friend. He doesn't play Magic and Wizards, and rarely plays any of the other games Yugi plays. He is not very important to the overall story.

• Anzu Mazaki (真崎 杏子) / Téa Gardner - Anzu is Yugi's childhood friend. Also not a game-player (although her dueling ability is decent, being able to regularly defeat Jounouchi, her ability is considerably less than that of Yugi), she's sweet and supportive for Yugi, Jonouchi and everyone else. She and Hiroto are basically cheerleaders for Yugi and Jonouchi. Although she is athletic, she is also secretly working at a fast food restaurant, saving money in order to attend school overseas. She is in love with Dark Yugi, but not with the regular Yugi.

• Ryo Bakura (獏良 了 Bakura Ryô) - Bakura is a friend of Yugi, although he is also the holder of the Millennium Ring. Because of this, he also has a dark half, who intends to take all of the Millennium items for his own.

• Seto Kaiba (海馬 瀬人) - Kaiba is one of the first "villains," of sorts, to appear in Yu-Gi-Oh!. He considers himself the best gamer in the world and sees Yugi as a threat to his position. Despite his young age, he also is the President of Kaiba Corporation, the biggest game company in the world (not to mention the most influential in Japan). He is not afraid to flaunt his wealth at all.

• Shizuka Jonouchi (城之内 静香 Jôno'uchi Shizuka) / Serenity Wheeler - Shizuka is Katsuya Jounouchi's little sister. Katsuya enters a tournament to get prize money to finance an eye surgery for Shizuka. She has a crush on Hiroto Honda.

• Sugoroku Mutou (武藤 双六 Mutô Sugoroku) / Solomon Moto - Sugoroku is Yugi's grandfather. He owns the Kame (Turtle) Game shop. "Sugoroku" is a Japanese game similar to Backgammon.

• Mokuba Kaiba (海馬 モクバ) - Seto Kaiba's younger brother. In the original manga, he was something of a spoiled brat, he is always trying to trick Yugi to get back at him for defeating his older brother. He is another good game player, but not as good as his brother. In the TV show however, he is a kind-hearted boy who is naive to the ways of the world.

• Ryuji Otogi (御伽 龍児 Otogi Ryûji) / Duke Devlin - Otogi is the creator of Dungeon Dice Monsters, and owns a game shop that rivals the Kame Game Shop. Yugi and Otogi became friends when Yugi bested Otogi at his own game, despite not knowing the rules beforehand.

• Pegasus J. Crawford (ペガサス・J・クロフォード) / Maximillion Pegasus - The creator of the game of Magic and Wizards. He is another early antagonist. He possesses the Millennium Eye, and is trying take over the Kaiba Corporation for its Solid Vision technology so he can use it to see his lost love and departed fiancee, Cynthia. (It's somewhat obvious why Pegasus' name was changed in the dub.)

• Mask of Light and Mask of Darkness (光の仮面; 闇の仮面) / Lumis and Umbra - Members of Malik's GHOULS organization, they pride themselves on being an unbeatable tag team.

• Malik Ishtar (マリク・イシュタール) / Marik Ishtar - He is a later antagonist. Malik's family has guarded the tomb of the pharaoh for generations. Malik holds the Millennium Rod and with his GHOULS organization, he wishes to obtain the three God Cards, and with them, unlock the power of the pharaoh for himself. He also has a hidden agenda - to get revenge on the ancient Pharaoh's soul.

• Isis Ishtar (イシズ・イシュタール) / Ishizu Ishtar - The sister of Malik. She became a museum curator in order to lure Yugi and Kaiba in order to save Malik from his darker alter ego.

• Mai Kujaku (孔雀 舞) / Mai Valentine - Mai is a self absorbed woman who likes to buy makeup with her prize money. She once worked as a waitress, lost in life, until finding purpose with Yugi and his friends.

Important Terms

• Millennium Items - Seven magical items originating in ancient Egypt. The items include the Millennium Puzzle, Eye, Ring, Ankh, Rod, Tauk and Scales. Each one has its own special powers, but some (which are more important to the storyline) are known for one or two powers.

• Monster Cards - A type of card in the game Magic and Wizards, this represents a creature or warrior which is summoned during a duel to attack the opposing player and his monsters.

• Magic Cards (also known as Spell Cards) - A type of card that is basically a magic spell, which have various effects, from reviving a monster with Monster Reborn/Raise Dead or to cancel a spell in effect such as De-Spell.

• Trap Cards - A type of card that is usually triggered by an event, such as Negate Attack which is activated during an attack, and as the name implies, negates it.

• God Cards aka Egyptian God Cards - Three all-powerful Magic and Wizards cards created by Pegasus J. Crawford, after the mysterious Shadi shows him an ancient stone carving of the Unnamed Pharaoh (the same one whose spirit is in the Millennium Puzzle) facing an unnamed opponent. They are the God of Obelisk/Obelisk the Tormentor/Oberisuku no Kyo Shin Hei (Immense Divine Soldier of Obelisk), Saint Dragon - God of Osiris/Slifer the Sky Dragon/Oshirisu no Tenkûryû (Saint Dragon of Osiris) and the Sun of God Dragon/Winged Dragon of Ra/Râ no Yoku Shin Ryû (The Winged Divine Dragon Of Ra). When the cards were being made, and the stone carving was being investigated, the three men with Pegasus met with some rather unfortunate fates. These God Cards become a focal point later in the series.

Merchandise

The real-life Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game is based on the fictional Magic and Wizards game played by the primary characters. The main point of note, is that unlike other television shows, books, games and films which have spawned card games (such as those for Pokémon, The Lord of the Rings, Star Trek and Star Wars), the Yu-Gi-Oh! TV shows features the game, and viewers of the show learn the game along with the characters. Related card games include Yugi Mutou's Cards, Seto Kaiba's Cards, Pegasus' Cards and Jounouchi's Cards.

Other collectible games that were originally created as fictitious games for the series but were later turned into real games include Capsule Monster Chess, a sort of pre-Mage Knight collectible miniatures game, and Dungeon Dice Monsters, a dungeon crawl boardgame where the tiles are created by unfolding the faces of 6-sided dice, and which is a variant on an earlier, non-collectible Japanese game called simply Dungeon Dice.

The merchandising of Yu-Gi-Oh! products and games has drawn criticism from adults and anime fans. The original manga did not include Magic and Wizards as a regular plot vehicle for quite a long time. So far in the American manga release in Shonen Jump, there has only been one instance of the game Magic and Wizards. After Yu-Gi-Oh! become popular, Kazuki Takahashi was asked to modify the storyline to feature more of the card game.

Related topics

• List of anime
• List of manga

External links

• http://www.yugioh.com/
• http://www.tv-tokyo.co.jp/yuugiou/ (in Japanese)
• http://www.yugioh-card.com
• Yu-Jyo - A Yu-Gi-Oh! Episode Guide - features TV episode synopses, with a focus on the differences between the American and Japanese versions

This is the "Yu-Gi-Oh!" reference article from the English Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. See also our Disclaimer.