Yu-Gi-Oh cartoon, someone help me get a clue?

[Gnarlo]

I just don't get it.

I like a 30-minute toy advertisement as much as the next person, Transformers, GI Joe, Pokemon, Thundercats, etc.; fun, enjoyable cartoons. But this am I'm getting dressed and Yu-Gi-Oh is on the TV... From what I can tell from the admittedly only one episode I've seen of the show, at least half the show is the two characters throwing cards down on a "duelling arena" and spouting rules at each other. About as exciting as actually being a spectator at a Yu-Gi-Oh or Magic game. Can anyone explain to me what the appeal of the show is to an actual player of the game, since I can't really see anyone else watching it.

It'd be like if Samurai Jack was a D&D cartoon, and evertime he went into combat he and his opponent started spouting lines like "Haha! I rolled a 20, and made my critical threat roll! Now, rolling for damage and multiplying by 3 for my Elven Ninja Uber-Katana, I strike you for 237 points!" "Not so fast, Samurai Jack! You forgot my Gnomish Clockwork Armor of Leetness! Taking off the points for Damage Resistance, and activating my Feat of Boofoo Warrior, you only strike me for 12 points! Haha!"

Can anyone explain this? It seems to be popular, it's on often enough...

 

[diaglo]

some kind of tournament thingie.

no i don't understand either.

 

[WizarDru]

Well, for a start, the comic is, I'm told, much more entertaining. In fact, they don't even start playing the card game until a good deal into the actual story.

However, as to the appeal of the show, there's more going on than what you saw. There are good guys, bad guys and different metaplots. Yes, there is an element of 'just watching someone else play'. For the show's target demographic, that's a plus, not a minus. Mastery of both the game and the inventory is something that appeals greatly to the tween mindset.

The meta-game is what it is more interesting to the show's viewers, and the stakes for the games are cartoon supervillianry. For example, some of the bad guys will kidnap a rival's friends to force him to play, or stage a tournament that could unleash an ancient evil from a shadow world, and so on. It's really not much different in format from, say, Dragonball Z. Just replace martial arts with a card game, and you've got the same deal.

 

[mojo1701]

I just don't get it.

I don't get it either. My 15-year-old brother likes the show. Luckily for me, he was away in Poland when the movie came out .

 

[Scorch]

Well, for a start, the comic is, I'm told, much more entertaining. In fact, they don't even start playing the card game until a good deal into the actual story.

Yeah I can confirm that. I started reading the comic when Shonen Jump started up here in America. I recommend glancing through the first collected volume of the comic at your local book/comic store. The story was more about Yugi acquiring the Millenium Puzzle and getting possessed by his alternate personality who comes out during times of trouble to challenge villains to a bizarre puzzle game. The fun part of the comic was seeing the creator's love of puzzle games being incorporated in the plot. The current story line is about Yugi battling for his friends' souls in an RPG versus a Dungeon Master right out of Chick's worst fever dreams.

The TV series suffers from the same editing that two of Shonen Jump's other shows suffer from when they come over here to America. One Piece and Shaman King are also awesome comics (and funny as heck) if you go into them with the right mind set but it looks like Fox Box is editting the heck out of them. Last Saturday's "premiere" episode of One Piece is actually more like episode 3 from the original Japanese series. Shaman King at least still is showing the story in the right order and the original TV show was already greatly editted from the original comic. In the comic, Faust VIII actually vivisects on of the characters while in the TV show he vaguely menaces him.

Scorch

 

[Mystery Man]

My 9 year old son loves the show.

I've noticed that Yu-Gi-Oh never loses. Ever. He always comes close, but then in the end pulls some card out of his ass that wins the whole thing.

Lucky.

 

[Naxuul]

My 9 year old son loves the show.

I've noticed that Yu-Gi-Oh never loses. Ever. He always comes close, but then in the end pulls some card out of his ass that wins the whole thing.

Lucky.

This actually has a reasoning beyond just 'Deus Ex Machina' in Yu-Gi-Oh. Yugi's puzzle-necklace-magic-paperweight has the power of essentially making him always win at games. Which is why Yugi is a one big cheater... just like half the characters in the show really.

-Naxuul

 

[s/LaSH]

I've noticed that Yu-Gi-Oh never loses. Ever. He always comes close, but then in the end pulls some card out of his ass that wins the whole thing.

He lost once, but that was because Kaiba threatened to (effectively) kill himself if Yugi attacked him (which would have won the game); when Yugi didn't pull off the attack, Kaiba retaliated with his own gameender attack.

That is to say, Yugi can lose when he wants to. The rest of the time, he's a metaphysical cheat from another age.

My approach to the show? I think it's got a little more strategy than others, and as an old Magic geek, I can appreciate a lot of the nuance to it. Sitting on the couch, going 'necro recursion', 'mill deck', etc, is quite fun. Predicting their next move from what we've seen of their decks and themes is fun, too. Maybe it's just a CCG thing...

 

[DungeonmasterCal]

My 9 year old son loves the show.

I've noticed that Yu-Gi-Oh never loses. Ever. He always comes close, but then in the end pulls some card out of his ass that wins the whole thing.

Lucky.

My 11 year old loves the show. We were watching it tonight, and I made a comment that among these infomercials, Yu-Gi-Oh is the worst when it comes to corny dialogue. I thought he was going to throttle me.

At least when he was younger and we watched Pokemon, sometimes the good guys would lose (at the end of Season One Ash lost the Pokemon League Tournament in the final round). My son, 6 at the time, was devastated, but he told me that "Ash lost, but he never gave up." So there was a least SOMEthing redeeming with that show.

 

[Dark Psion]

Around Christmas time, the unedited version of the show will be coming out on DVD, not the "kiddie" version you are seeing now.

Hopefully it will make much more sense.