Yu-Gi-Oh! (Toei anime)

Yu-Gi-Oh! (Toei anime)
Yu-Gi-Oh!遊☆戯☆王Yūgiō
Genre	Action, Adventure, Gaming
Anime series
Directed by	Hiroyuki Kakudo
Studio	Toei Animation
Network	TV Asahi
Original run	April 4, 1998 — October 10, 1998
No. of episodes	27

Yu-Gi-Oh! (遊☆戯☆王 Yūgiō, lit. "King of Games") is the first anime adaptation of the Yu-Gi-Oh! manga series. The 27-episode series was produced by Toei Animation and aired on TV Asahi from April 4 to October 10, 1998.

While this series is not directly connected to Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (known internationally simply as Yu-Gi-Oh!, produced by Nihon Ad Systems and aired on TV Tokyo), both anime series are based on the Yu-Gi-Oh! manga. To distinguish the two series, some fans refer to this series as "Season Zero"; however, it is a different series entirely, not merely an earlier season of Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters.

This series has never been released in English.

Adaptation

Manga plots were re-written so that they could take up an entire episode's worth of time, and the level of violence was reduced.

Miho Nosaka, who was a minor character in the manga, became a main character in the anime series, joining Yugi Mutou, Katsuya Jonouchi, Anzu Mazaki, and Hiroto Honda. With her expanded role, her personality was also changed; Miho is a "ditz" in the anime, but in the manga she is a shy student librarian. Additionally, Honda is Jonouchi's verbal sparring partner instead of his crony in this anime series.

New characters and plots, such as those relating to the four game masters, were added. While Duel Monsters (Magic and Wizards in the original Japanese manga) is not the sole focus of the anime, it and Seto Kaiba appear more often than they did in the corresponding manga arcs that were adapted. Duel Monsters' rules have been updated to more closely match the rules used in Duelist Kingdom in the manga, even though this anime series did not adapt the Duelist Kingdom arc.

The series ends with the battle between Yugi and Dark Bakura.

Nihon Ad Systems' Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters anime re-adapted the manga in a different way to this series. Voice actors and character designs differ from this series (e.g. Seto Kaiba's hair is brown instead of green).

Shadow Games

In this series, Yami Yugi doesn't challenge people to a duel of Duel Monsters. Instead, he would challenge them to a Shadow Game (Yami no Game), where he would then explain the rules. However, the person in question would cheat and the Doors of Darkness will open, thus Yami Yugi would do a Penalty Game upon the person, and usually whatever they obsess over the most would be their nightmare, such as their makeup falling off and showing their true face or watches fusing to their being. Duel Monsters was not the main point of the show but was played a few times.

Cast

The ending credits of each episode features three pages of voice roles.

• Characters appearing on the first page are listed below as "main".
• Characters appearing on the second page, at least once, are listed below as supporting.
• Characters only appearing on the third page are listed below as minor.

Main
Character	Voice actor	Episodes
Yugi Mutou / Dark Yugi	Megumi Ogata	1–27
Katsuya Jonouchi	Toshiyuki Morikawa	1–16, 18–27
Anzu Mazaki	Yumi Kakazu	1–27
Hiroto Honda	Ryotaro Okiayu	1–16, 18–27
Miho Nosaka	Yukana Nogami	1–16, 18–27
Supporting
Character	Voice actor	Episodes
Sugoroku Mutou	Takeshi Aono	1–5, 10, 11, 15, 17, 18, 22, 24
Ushio	Ryuzaburo Otomo	1
Tetsuo Sasaki	Nobuyuki Hiyama	2
Jiro the Jorogumo	Mahito Oba	2
Chief inspector	Hideyuki Umezu	2
	Hiroshi Ito	14
Seto Kaiba	Hikaru Midorikawa	3, 8, 12, 15, 17, 20–24
	Chie Sato (childhood)	20
Shotaro Akaboshi	Bin Shimada	4
Shadi	Kaneto Shiozawa	5, 6
Curator Kanekura	Shin Aomori	5
Professor Yoshimori	Akio Nojima	5, 6
Haiyama	Daisuke Sakaguchi	7
Kujirada	Shozo Iizuka	7
Ridley Sheldon	Chikao Otsuka	8
Hirutani	Koji Ishi	9
Mayumi	Yuko Sumitomo	10
Ms. Chono	Masako Katsuki	10, 12
Warashibe	Nobuo Tobita	11
Ryuichi Fuwa	Ryo Horikawa	12, 24
Kokurano	Shigeru Chiba	13
Kokurano groupie	Emi Uwagawa	13
Kokurano groupie	Maki Yagita	13
Continuous Bomber	Ryusei Nakao	14
Risa Kageyama	Wakana Yamazaki	15
Kekeru Goyu	Banjo Ginga	16
Shizuka Jonouchi	Michiko Neya	16
Miyuki Sakurai	Yuri Amano	16
Aileen Rao	Miina Tominaga	17, 24
Imori	Megumi Urawa	18
Kaoruko Himekoji	Yumi Toma	19
Student Council Chairman	Kozo Shioya	19
Ryo Bakura / Dark Bakura	Tsutomu Kashiwakura	19, 21–27
Mokuba Kaiba	Katsue Miwa	19, 20, 21, 23, 24
Daimon	Ryuji Saikachi	20
Dragon	Nobuyuki Hiyama	21
Dark Master Zorc	Shozo Iizuka	25–27
Minor
Character	Voice actor	Episodes
Leader	Takashi Nagasako	1
Group member	Tamotsu Nishiwaki	1
Group member	Masaya Takatsuka	1
Schoolboy	Jin Domon	1
Schoolgirl	Saori Kaneda	1
Schoolgirl	Rika Komatsu	1
Schoolgirl	Sayuri Fujita	1
Boss-like man	Hisao Egawa	2
TV announcer	Nobuhiko Kazama	2
Radio announcer	Yoshiyuki Kono	2
Professor-like man	Naoki Imamura	2
Housewife	Airi Yoshida	2
Homeroom teacher	Tetsu Inada	3, 8, 12, 21
Bodyguard	Naoki Imamura	3
Schoolboy	Horie Yasuaki	3
Mother	Mizogami Makiko	4
Clock store clerk	Yoshiyuki Kono	4
Youth	Domon Hitoshi	4
Game room clerk	Nobuhiko Kazama	4
Old woman	Niki Shizumi	4
Foreigner	Naoki Imamura	5
Teacher	Tamotsu Nishiwaki	6
Teacher	Yoshiyuki Kono	7
Father	Naoki Imamura	7
Honda's mother	Niki Shizumi	7
Schoolgirl	Saori Kaneda	7
Schoolgirl	Kanako Okada	7
School nurse	Michie Tomizawa	8, 11
Jonouchi's father	Tetsu Inada	9
Master	Tomohisa Aso	9
Delinquent	Yoshiyuki Kono	9
Other school leader	Naoki Imamura	9
Student	Tamotsu Nishiwaki	9
Vice-principal	Masaharu Sato	10
Teacher	Nobuhiko Kazama	10
Schoolboy	Kazuya Nakai	10
Schoolboy	Atsushi Kisaichi	10
Schoolboy	Naoki Imamura	10
Schoolgirl	Kanako Okada	10
Schoolgirl	Miki Otani	10
Elementary school student	Miki Otani	11
Chairman	Yoshiyuki Kono	12
Shop manager	Naoki Imamura	12
Official	Jin Domon	12
Student	Naoki Kinoshita	12
Child	Junko Noda	12
Child	Miki Otani	12
Schoolboy	Naoki Imamura	13
Schoolboy	Naoki Kinoshita	13
Schoolboy	Hiroaki Miura	13
Schoolgirl	Miki Otani	13
Schoolgirl	Chieko Atarashi	13
Official	Jin Domon	14
Ticket cashier	Yuko Tachibana	14
Policeman	Naoki Imamura	14
Policeman	Hiroo Kobayashi	14
Policeman	Naoki Kinoshita	14
Office lady	Miki Otani	14
Office lady	Sayoko Kawaguchi	14
Kageyama sister B	Emi Uwagawa	15
Kageyama sister C	Konomi Maeda	15
Shop assistant	Hiroo Kobayashi	15
Old man	Tamotsu Nishiwaki	16
Student	Naoki Imamura	16
Nurse	Sayoko Kawaguchi	16
Nurse	Chieko Atarashi	16
Hirata	Atsushi Kisaichi	17
Reporter	Jin Domon	17
Reporter	Naoki Imamura	17
Reporter	Tsuyoshi Takishita	17
Reporter	Sayoko Kawaguchi	17
Reporter	Chieko Atarashi	17
Aristocrat	Naoki Imamura	18
Student	Jin Domon	18
Man	Tsuyoshi Takishita	18
Schoolgirl	Chieko Atarashi	18
Schoolgirl	Miwa Yasuda	18
Kaoruko bodyguard	Konomi Maeda	19
Kaoruko bodyguard	Rika Komatsu	19
Officer	Hiroshi Kamiya	19
Schoolboy	Naoki Imamura	19
Schoolboy	Jin Domon	19
Schoolgirl	Akemi Misaki	19
Gozaburo Kaiba	Unsho Ishizuka	20
High executive	Naoki Imamura	20
Doctor	Tamotsu Nishiwaki	20
Man with glasses	Jin Domon	20
Subordinate	Masaya Takatsuka	20
Grade school student	Yukari Hikida	21
Grade school student	Junko Noda	21
Schoolgirl	Kanako Okada	21
Schoolgirl	Rika Komatsu	21
Red	Hisao Egawa	22
Black	Masaharu Sato	22
Blue	Hiromi Nishikawa	22
Female announcer	Emi Uwagawa	22
Black-suited man	Tsuyoshi Takishita	22
Boy	Akemi Misaki	22
Computer	Kanako Okada	22
Spectator	Tsuyoshi Takishita	23
Spectator	Munehiro Tokita	23
Spectator	Hiroaki Miura	23
Mr. Karita	Masato Hirano	25, 27
Pokii	Konomi Maeda	25–27
Pao	Masaya Takatsuka	26
Monster	Tsuyoshi Takishita	26

Episode list

Main article: Yu-Gi-Oh! (Toei anime) episode listing

VHS

Main article: Yu-Gi-Oh! (Toei anime) VHS listing

Trivia

• Despite being his trump card in the NAS anime and manga, Yugi did not play "Dark Magician" in any episodes of this series. However, Yugi is seen using it in the opening theme and finally plays the card in the movie.
  • "Dark Magician" is also shown to be owned by another Duelist in Episode 3.
• "Unguard Magic" is the only card shown with English text.
• Character and card designs more closely resemble those from the earlier chapters of the manga. However, coloring choices do not always reflect those seen in the manga, two notable exceptions being Kaiba's green hair and the female Domino High uniform (orange and green in the show as opposed to pink and blue in the manga).
• The design for Noah Kaiba in the third season of NAS anime is likely a reference to Kaiba's appearance in this series, both characters sporting green hair and a white, high-collared outfit.
• Some manga chapters are combined into a single episode (e.g. the three chapters with Hirutani occur in only one episode).
• Some Millennium Items (the Millennium Ring and the Millennium Scales) are not colored singularly gold and add brown accents to certain parts, giving the impression they are not completely made of metal like in the manga.
• Most of the Shadow Games are changed or modified in some way from the manga, either to lessen the level of violence employed by the characters or to better fit the scenario presented in the episode.
• The card backings show stylized "MW" letters for Magic and Wizards even though the characters refer to the game as Duel Monsters, from the beginning.
• Cards are played on a game mat with different areas depicted. All these areas give a 50% power bonus to monsters placed on a complimentary field (e.g. Insect monsters benefit from the Forest field).
  • This is similar to the "field power bonus" in the Duelist Kingdom arc in the next series.
• Despite using rules closer to those of the Bandai card game and later manga chapters, a great number of liberties are still taken with regards to how Duel Monsters is played.
• Only a few Duels use Kaiba's virtual reality system to show monsters.
  • Others ideas used to show monsters are puppets, Shadow Games, illusions, and images imagined by the Duelists themselves.