This wasn't on my short list to review but with the tragic passing of Kazuki Takahashi today, I feel we should look at the work that made him a household name.
Ignoring a portion of Yu-Gi-Oh zero, the anime starts with the card game Duel Monsters, Yugi is the resident expert, able to transform into a more confident, taller and cooler persona when actually playing the game curtesy of his necklace, the Millennium Puzzle, this draws attention from many different villains including rich business mogul Seto Kaiba, Duel Monsters creator Pegasus, the thief Bakura and the rare hunters led by Marik Ishtar, Yugi quickly gets drawn into a card game thousands of years in the making as his confident persona reveals himself as the great Egyptian Pharoah Atemu.
Everything from god cards, millennium artifacts and the very souls of everyone involved, Yugi and friends embark on a card game adventure you'll never forget. It's time to duel!
Adventure is the right word for this behemoth of an anime, I don't think any other toy anime went this far into the lore that Yu-Gi-Oh did. The early episodes didn't quite gather the rule set for the card game until Battle City which was the anime at it's strongest, it was weakest when it had to think of filler arcs such as the Orichalcos and virtual world arcs.
Very much like Beyblade, it embraces the absurdity of it's cheese and creates an experience you won't forget.
4kids did dub this but it's actually their best dub especially Dan Green as Atemu and Eric Stuart as Kaiba, although Pegasus is wonderfully camp, Bakura incredibly sinister and Joey oddly Brooklyn; it's any wonder the franchise has become so meme worthy in recent years.
Final Verdict: What started as a violent manga about an ancient Egyptian gambler became one of the best loved card game franchises of all time and it wouldn't have been possible without the genius of Kazuki Takahashi the true King of Games.
Rest in Peace.
Now for a bizarre look into the origins of a certain children's card game.
Yugi Muto is a kid who likes any sort of games; board games, puzzle games, card games, even toy games but being short and fairly weak he doesn't have the most pleasant time in school constantly being bullied. That is until he solves an Egyptian artefact known as the millennium puzzle which transforms his persona into the King of Games, a confident gambler who challenges foes to games of severe consequences ranging from Death to being trapped in an endless illusion but with great power comes more evil foes as more well known regulars Kaiba and Bakura are among a list of rogues wanting a piece of the King of Games.
One thing you can never accuse Yu-Gi-Oh of being is having poor visuals yet season 0 is really hard to look at art wise, it looks almost amateur compared to even Season 1 of the series. Visuals aside I like the high stakes games and the consequences faced by each villain along with numerous creative ways of playing these games and the lack of restraint in each punishment, I almost wish this was still the series I had now, there is a simplistic charm to season 0 that future seasons lack with alot of baggage tied to whatever destiny the current series protagonist has to deal with, as for this series it's always a treat to see what solution Yugi comes up with to break out of his predicament and the cycle repeats frequently each with varying stakes and threat levels, it even made Mokuba a genuine threat.
Definitely no dub as it's likely disowned by the current license holders but if I was to base it on the character's dub in the first season it would have some painful dialogue to work with.
Final Verdict: It really is hard to watch with such a painful art style but offers a unique experience the other seasons lack.
Now a show that started as a joke.
Future Domino City has changed drastically with a clear divide between rich and poor, as the series begins, resident jerk ass Jack Atlas defeats his friend Yusei and takes his Stardust Dragon, moving up in the world and leaving Yusei in the slums of Satelite. In this future, duels are fought on duel runners, a type of futuristic motorcycle with duels taking place on race circuits and roads hence the card games on motorcycles tagline created by LittleKuriboh. As Yusei fights his way into Neo Domino City, it soon becomes apparent that he may have a connection with a mysterious Crimson Dragon which starts attracting attention from various enemy factions.
It's a silly premise with more edge than it deserves but it surprisingly works. Gone is the power of friendship and heart of the cards, gone is the goofball protagonist turned badass duelist, the theme here is, "I'm getting my Dragon back by any means necessary"
Okay 4kids couldn't keep their influence away but it feels like they took a step back to allow the series to play out as intended. There's plenty to like and is on par in quality with the Yugi Muto era.
The sub wil always be superior but the dub was at least good and cast perfectly even if Jack Atlas' accent is somewhat suspect.
Final Verdict: I like this version of Yu-Gi-Oh, it gives it's edgy full colour palette the right setting without feeling dated or trying too hard, this despite sounding like an absolute joke.
Post number 11 takes us back to anime as we look at not one but two Yu-Gi-Oh films.
Pyramid of Light
Okay, okay since this is Yu-Gi-Oh, any special or movie is going to boil down to defeat the bad guy in a card game, there's not much else to say on plot on this film or the other one. Pyramid of Light's villain is Anubis, an Egyptian god who seeks revenge on the Pharaoh for his imprisonment so his plan is to implant a card in the deck of Pegasus, Duel Monsters Creator designed to combat the Egyptian God Cards so when sore loser Seto Kaiba comes to collect this card he will use it against Yugi, but said card steals the souls of his friends leaving Atemu to duel Kaiba and eventually Anubis who takes over the battle, Yugi then uses the actual card Pegasus created to fight the Egyptian God Cards to defeat Anubis.
This film is cheesy, but that's only because 4Kids is so over the top with it's voice acting, everything else has been done to death before, Seto Kaiba vs Yugi? This has happened several times already and it's tiresome, it also barely gives any substance to the villain apart from look like an imposing figure so overall this is pretty bad and it's far too long of a film for what is essentially an extended anime episode.
Bonds Beyond Time
Again it's another defeat the villain in a card game but this time it features the leads of all three of the current Yu-Gi-Oh series at time of release. The villain this time is the unoriginally named Paradox who's causing havoc across time by stealing cards and trying to eliminate the game of duel monsters by killing the original creator thereby erasing the future. There are so many plot holes in this so lets list them.
1. I'm pretty sure Pegasus would train successors or at the very least foresaw something like this happening so he could at least keep his company going long after retirement or the possibility of another incident like with the Millenium Eye being stolen which so nearly killed him.
2. It's implied that there was meant to be more to Paradox's mission if Yusei's nightmare was anything to go by, may have given the villain more credit.
3. Judai doesn't recognize Yugi in person despite meeting him at the start of the GX series even though both he and Yusei have at least heard of him or know of him by reputation.
4. This is Yusei's story more than the others.
5. Yusei could've won that duel on his own, there's enough bull**** going on in the actual duel to pull off that kind of stunt.
6. Since when could Yusei time travel?
7. Since all Paradox's cards were stolen shouldn't Yugi have worried about what happened to Joey and Kaiba when Blue Eyes and Red Eyes were summoned by him?
You can tell this film was a rush job and a quick cash in, again I state that Yusei could've duelled Paradox on his own, having Judai and Yugi alongside him was basically fan bait. Also Paradox is one of those hypocritical villains. He wants Duel Monsters destroyed for good but is using Duel Monsters to accomplish that, much like a certain Pokemon villain team.
To the movie's credit it sets the right tone but it's still executed poorly much like the rest of the film.
Final Verdict: Yu-Gi-Oh doesn't hold up well in film format as the concept of the story in most episodes is character A duelling character B and having a slightly bigger earth shattering duel fit into such a small time frame doesn't make the film any bigger compared to the series. Pyramid of Light is cheesy with a tired plot that's been done a thousand times already while Bonds Beyond Time is a hack job littered with plot holes and too short of a feature to make the great big duel between Paradox and the Protagonists effective.
So overall both films are crap.
Last year I did my Top Ten list on Worst dubbed anime performances, this sort of follows on from that but this time lets look at the character performances that really sucked. I'll also name the Voice Actor behind each character.
Please note that this list isn't a reflection of the Voice Actor themselves as most of them would have done better work.
Now lets begin.
Dishonorable Mentions
James from Pokemon voiced by Ted Lewis
Ted Lewis is better known for Giovanni and Tracey, however he didn't get a very good shot at James in the first few episodes of the original series as his acting range doesn't suit comic relief too well but seeing as the casting was replaced quickly he misses this list.
Hikaru Shidou from Magic Knight Rayearth voiced by Julie Maddalena
I just found the voice irritating, which thankfully was resolved in the OVA through change of casting. Saying that it's not a big enough criticism to go on the list.
Gourry Gabriev from Slayers voiced by Eric Stuart
Eric Stuart didn't start his portrayal of Gourry very well but because he improved over time he's escaped this list.
10. Italy from Hetalia voiced by Todd Haberkorn
Pulling off an accent is tough especially when you have to cover such a broad range of them and poor Todd Haberkorn cannot do Italian.
9. Tenma Tsukamoto from School Rumble voiced by Luci Christian
Luci Christian has done loads of voices really well, so what does she bring to Tenma from School Rumble, her Kaname Chidori voice. This does not suit Tenma seeing as her Japanese voice is much lighter in tone, I usually don't mind a change in tone between translations but Tenma's voice put me off the dub.
8. Kintaro Oe from Golden Boy voiced by Doug Smith
Another case of change for the worst, as Kintaro's voice became stupid for the dub, a poor direction to go for the character. I've already mentioned how bad the dub was anyway, I won't go through it anymore.
7. Ryoko from Tenchi Muyo OVA voiced by Mona Marshall
When Tenchi Muyo's cast returned, Ryoko's original dub voice didn't and instead they picked Mona Marshall, a voice better suited for tomboys and young boys rather than a sassy space pirate. That was not a smart choice, this led to Tenchi Muyo's downfall and since then the series has not been popular in the west.
6. Anthy Himemiya from Utena voiced by Sharon Becker
Utena is a notoriously bad dub to begin with but made worst when you come to an important character like Anthy. In short, she's too quiet and too flat sounding yet her design is meant to be striking enough to be backed up by an equally thought inspiring voice and yet it didn't happen and like the rest of the series, fell flat.
5. Angel Daisy from Wedding Peach voiced by Heather Kafka
Wedding Peach sadly was another train wreck of a dub and poor Angel Daisy suffered as a result, completely wrong voice casting was the blame for this one. If the dub is going to be bad anyway at least make the characters sound right.
4. Canal Volfield from Lost Universe voiced by Jessica Schwartz
Lost Universe is part of ADV Films forgotten dubs series, which remain forgotten for a reason but by virtue of Nozomi entertainment some of them came back. Sadly the old dub remained and Canal's voice is not only irritating but the entire performance is flat. Made even worst when you consider that Jessica Schwartz does have good range when putting on an accent.
3. Sai Nanohana from Jubei-Chan voiced by Byron Close
The Jubei-Chan dub lacked emotion which is something a lot of actors failed to accomplish in this series but nothing could top Sai Nanohana's voice, the performance was so bad that the series stopped being threatening and just became laughable.
2. Yuma Tsukumo from Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal voiced by Eli Jay
I've not known any performance to be the epiphany of failure like Yuma Tsukumo, this is the lowest Yu-Gi-Oh have ever sunk.
1. Miaka Yuuki from Fushigi Yugi voiced by Bridget Hoffman
Bridget Hoffman is a veteran actress and is really good at some roles but all it took to ruin Miaka Yuuki was the very first lines of dialogue, that took 40 seconds, it doesn't get any better from there. Just goes to show that there are just some roles you can't always get right.
