Anime Yu-Gi-Oh! (1998)

[Ikagura]

Before the more popular Duel Monsters anime from 2000 there was an anime by Toei Animation that did the early manga (the 59 firsts chapters in 7 volumes) which focused mostly on games as a whole rather than the card game itself.

I'm personally more fan of the early manga so I was more interested in watching it. Despite the toning down for some scenes and some uninteresting filler episodes and the omission of some from the manga it was an overall good experience. I also liked how they've made Miho Nosaka, a minor character in the manga (for like one chapter), a main one who's part of the team (thus turning them into a super sentai like one with five members).

I also appreciate the opening done by Field of View who did the Dragon Ball GT one

In 1999 there was a movie but I don't think it was canon, the first episode of the 2000 anime directly follows the last from the '98 series like the manga.

 

[TruxtonTatsujin TruxtonTatsujin]

Yeah early Yu-Gi-Oh is pretty based.
I still enjoy the card game part though.
The toei series has only seen a VHS release so all the rips you'll find online are fairly low quality. I pray for a Blu-ray one day.

 

[X y b e r - S k u ll]

As I get older, I do find myself being more interested in the really early parts of Yu-Gi-Oh. Obviously I don't hate the card game aspect and what the series became, even if I'm not that interested in it anymore and haven't been for years, but I do often wonder what Takahashi had in mind for the series if the shift to exclusively focusing on Duel Monsters never happened.

 

[gastd]

Yeah, I like it too that was a good series. I liked Yugioh GX even better.

 

[Evaccaneer Doom]

Couldn’t have brought it up at a better time, I started it last night

 

[solnK!]

As much as I love the card game universe I gotta admit that this ideas on the early yu gi oh days are way cooler and interesting

 

[suzunami]

Anyone here watched Vrains? I love the original and everything up to Zexal. (Dropped Arc V but may come back to it someday)

 

[Ikagura]

I still enjoy the card game part though.

Oh don't worry, I don't hate Duel Monster at all.

People mock Duelist Kingdom for having Yami Yugi making up rules but what made it interesting is how it's basically a life-sized version of the Monster World Arc mixed with some Battle Royale element and I think that since the rules weren't set is why there are some silly stuff (such as the golem attacking the moon which was its own magic card).

If that followed the TGC rules it would've been much less interesting. Shame that the anime hasn't kept the "battle blocks" like the one Kaiba was in during the Death-T arc but maybe this would've been less impressive on TV than on a manga.

I'm digressing a bit from the topic's main subject but I also liked Kaiji specifically because it's a Seinen version of early Yugioh (games that can end up in death with the hero finding a strategy to win and his opponents get punished in one way or another).

The toei series has only seen a VHS release so all the rips you'll find online are fairly low quality. I pray for a Blu-ray one day.

Sad that there's not even a DVD release since those are still being used. I've found a nice fansub on Youtube and I am fine with a VHS rip but the original masters deserve to be in HD at least.

but I do often wonder what Takahashi had in mind for the series if the shift to exclusively focusing on Duel Monsters never happened.

Well, my small prediction is that the manga wouldn't have lasted as long (I think the overall plot was done) so the last arc would've come faster.

Which reminds me that I'll have to read the end of the Battle City and the final arc of the manga.

 

[Not_Red]

I watched the entire DM, GX, 5D's and Arc-V animes, I still follow new releases and the meta for the TCG. For those interested very soon they will release full art cards over here for some of the most popular monsters.

I honestly do believe in the sentence, you never quit Yugioh and just take really long breaks.

 

[diet_orange]

Early Yu-Gi-Oh! means on thing to me; Zombire

 

[SoThankful]

I was really into it for a while, and I still have my cards and games from that time. I barely watched the anime, and for some reason I just can’t go back to it, even though I don’t fully understand why. There’s still an open spot in my heart for it, so we’ll see.

 

[Zeo]

It was always a nice moment when Yami decided to take Yugi place just to play his "game" with the character of the week

Not to mention he was a lot more scary. Something that goes well for an ancient spirit in a cursed object

But then, children card games took over and everything got toned down

Still, the manga is a good read

 

[Nickakyoin]

How many of us got exposed with the series for the first time with these beauties? Then the anime got aired on TV. I was more on the passive side and never got through the whole series (it's still 200+ episode only for the first series). But I fully respect this franchise and what meant. I did watched 2 movies, the very first and last one that both aired at cinema.

I got "hobby shamed" so much during middle school from one single shitty bully. I regret so much to have torn many cards from my collection out of desperation.

 

[Waffles's iconWaffles]

I remember waking up at 10 AM (on Saturdays!) to watch it.

I didn't miss a single episode from Duel Kingdom and up until the end of Battle City, then GX started and it just didn't feel like something I should be watching anymore (even though I tried giving it a chance... Kinda like Pokemon Advance, actually).