Yu-Gi-Oh (Toei Version)
遊☆戯☆王
Some people call this Season Zero as a matter of convenience, but this is a completely different series made by different companies that have nothing to do with Duel Monsters and the other Yu-Gi-Oh anime series.
Yuugi-oh = Literally is Japanese for "King of Games".
Ran from April 4, 1998 to October 10. (27 episodes)
March 6, 1999 Yu-Gi-Oh the Movie came to theaters. It was a triple feature with the Digimon Adventures movie and the Dr. Slump movie.
Plot
Tenth grader Mutou Yuugi is an average teenager that's shy and bullied often. This changes when he solves the Millenium Puzzle and awakens the power of an ancient pharoah that passes judgment on villains using the power of the Shadow Games (Yami no Game).
Characters
- Mutou Yuugi (武藤 遊戯)
- Seiyuu: Ogata Megumi 緒方恵美
- An average tenth grader who dislikes sports and prefer games. When he solves the Millenium Puzzle, he awakens his alter-ego, Yami Yuugi, who punishes villains in the malcious shadow games. Yami Yuugi, in contrast to the normal Yuugi, is much more cruel and punishes his opponents and villains in Shadow Games, often severly damaging them whether if it's physically or mentally when they lose the game and must suffer Yuugi's punishment game of fate.
- Jounouchi Katsuya (城之内 克也)
- Seiyuu: Morikawa Toshiyuki
- A bully who has trouble with his family. He befriended Honda before the beginning of the series. As a bully, he would often push Yuugi around and even went as far as throwing a piece of Yuugi's Millenium Puzzle into the pool. However, when Jounouchi and Honda were bullied by Ushio, who claimed to be Yuugi's bodyguard, Yuugi protects both Jounouchi and Honda, which made Jounouchi realize that Yuugi truly cared about him and returned the last missing piece of the Millenium Puzzle to Yuugi.
- Honda Hiroto (本田 ヒロト)
- Seiyuu: Okiyaru Ryotaro 置鮎龍太郎
- A guy that's obsessed with his postition as a custodian. Honda is one of Jounouchi's friend, although he is not as violent as Jounouchi. He has a crush on Nosaka Miho and would constantly try to win her heart.
- Mazaki Anzu (真崎 杏子)
- Seiyuu: Kakazu Yumi かかずゆみ
- One of Yuugi's childhood friend. Anzu often stands up for Yuugi when he's picked on by bullies. She also works as an employee at Burger World, where she was once even held hostage before Yami Yuugi was able to save her, although Anzu was blindfolded and thus wasn't able to recognize him. Afterwards, Anzu began to develop feeling for the man who saved her and eventually finds out that it was Yuugi when she was trapped in a ferris wheel with a bomb-maker trying to blow up gondolas with a game.
- Nosaka Miho (野坂 ミホ)
- Seiyuu: Nogami Yukana 野上ゆかな
- A supporting character of the cast. Miho is often acting like a ditz and refers to herself in third-person. Honda is madly in love with her, although Miho doesn't seem to feel the same way about Honda.
- Mutou Sugoroku (武藤 双六)
- Seiyuu: Aono Takeshi 青野武 (Sugoroku is the name of a child's dice game)
Kaiba Seto 海馬 瀬人
- Seiyuu Midorikawa Hikaru 緑川光
Kaiba Mokuba 海馬 モクバ
- Seiyuu: 三輪勝恵
Bakura Ryou 獏良 了
- Seiyuu: Kashiwakura Tsutomu 柏倉つとむ
Shadi シャーディー：塩沢兼人
- Seiyuu: Shiozawa Kaneto
Trivia
This series is an adaptation of the manga of the same name, which ran in Weekly Shonen Jump in Japan from 1996 to 2004. It converted storylines from the first volume up to the seventh (with some parts from the eighth volume). However, the anime took some liberties. There are significant differences between the original manga series and the anime. Manga plots were re-written so that they could take up an entire episode time. Also, the level of violence was reduced between the manga and the anime. Finally, a minor character in the manga, Nosaka Miho, joined the cast of main characters in the anime.
This was the first anime adaptation for the Yu-Gi-Oh! manga series. There are other adaptations - Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (known simply as Yu-Gi-Oh! in the U.S.) and it's spinoffs Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters GX and Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds were made by a separate animation company, Studio Dais, and are officially unrelated. However, they do share a few plot points, and most of the details from the original manga that were ignored or condensed in the other series are explained in more detail in this one.