Yu-Gi-Oh! started as a manga by Kazuki Takahashi. It's about a boy named Yugi who likes to play games and solve puzzles. I don't know much about the manga or anime, but from what I gather (because I want to not spoil it for myself), he solves some "Millenium Puzzle" from Ancient Egypt, and becomes possessed by the spirit of a Pharoah who likes to gamble and takes over when Yugi and his friends are in trouble an challenges their enemies to a duel using the card game that wold later be created irl, and the creatures in the cards actually come to life and actually battle in the world of the manga. And that is fcking awsome!!!!!

I wanted to start watching the anime yesterday, but the Official Yu-Gi-Oh! channel on Youtube only has the first five episodes of Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters, which isn't the "real" first season. And I woldn't know where else to watch the seiries. But I've read that the real first season ("Season 0") is like the start of the manga, less focused on the card game that would eventally dominate the franchise, and shows Yugi solving the Millenium puzzle and becoming possessed by the pharoah (I guess his name is Yami, or something). But holy shit, let me tell you. GOD I HATE those villain in the first episodes! GOD are they assholes! Say what you want about the 4Kids dub. I know that between their dialogue and censorship, all 4Kids version of any anime sucks ass, but still they know how to make you hate the villains.

First there's Kiaba, who wanted to take the Blue-Eyes White Dragon card that Yugi's grandpa kept, so he had Yugi's grandpa kidnapped and he dueled the old man, somehow injuring him enough that two of Yugi's friends had to take grandpa to the hospital. But that's not even the worst part, no. Kaiba fucking RIPS UP THE BLUE-EYES WHITE DRAGON! And he said it was so that no one could ever use BEWD against him. But get this, he forced Yugi to duel with him, and he summoned a Blue-Eyes himself! And I was like, what a dick! Because in the beginning, when he overhears Yugi talking about this rare card, and then tries to talk his grandpa into trading that card for a bunch of other rare cards Kaiba has, so I was like, okay maybe this wierdo just really wants a Blue-Eyes in his deck. I mean, from what I can tell, Blue-Eyes White Dragon is Yu-Gi-Oh!'s version of Charizard. It's a dragon, everyone loves dragons, it's very strong, even though it's not THE STRONGEST, even for its time, but it's a classic and easily recognizable to anyone with minimal exposure to its franchise. But then, he summons a SECOND Blue-Eyes, and I was like What the FUCK?! And then, he pulls out ANOTHER Blue-EYes, so he has THREE. FUCKING. BLUE-EYES WHITE DRAGONS. ON THE FIELD AT THE SAME TIME! I was like, Oh, you BASTARD! You're already the world fucking champion in Duel Monsters (apparently), you have three BEWDs, why the FUCK do you care if anyone else has just one? One should be nothing to you! This fucker could have let Yugi's grandpa be. He could have kept the fucking card for himself. But no. He had to destroy this sentimental piece, that Yugi's grandpa problably would never have used in a duel, and probably would have never let even Yugi use in a duel. I mean, that card was so special the old man kept it in a cushioned box. You don't play with cards you store that way! Or at least I wouldn't. I've never played the Pokemon or Yu-Gi-Oh TCGs, or watched them so I wouldn't know. But if I was that protective of a card, I wouldn't take it out to play, that's for damn sure. Well, good thing that Yugi's grandpa had Exodia the Forbidden One in his deck, because that card is apparently broken. Yugi won his duel against Kaiba's three BEWDs with it, even though in a flashback, his grandpa said no one had ever assembled Exodia in a duel before. He made it sound like no had ever had a deck with all five Exodia cards. Well you did, old man. Also now that I think about it, grandpa got his ass kicked, then gave the deck he lost with to Yugi and told him to use it against Kaiba. And grandpa knows from the hospital when Yugi defeats Kaiba. Makes sense.

Then there's Maximilian Pegasus, the creator of Duel Monsters, at least as a widely-played card game. Well, when he hears of Yugi beating Kaiba, he captures Yugi and brings him to the shadow realm to duel. Pegasus wins, and tells Yugi about the history of Duel Monsters as a game played by Egyptian pharoahs called "Shadow Games", and reveals that he wears one of the other Milleniums pieces. Then he returns Yugi to the real world and steal grandpa's soul! WWHHYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!! And to get his grandpa back, Yugi has to go to this island where a bunch of other duelists have been invited by Pegasus to come duel each other for a prize. WHy the fuck does Pegasus want Yugi's grandpa's soul? What the fuck does he want from Yugi?

I fucking swear, the villains in this anime are assholes just for the sake of being assholes. Because the next villain is Weevil, the regional champion from Yugi's area who specializes in Insect monsters. He's also voiced by the guy who voiced Meowth in Pokemon, though Weevil sounds more like the old women in Pokemon, so James Carter Cathcart must have voiced them too. He also voiced Gary and Professor Oak, and Sonic, One Piece, and Kirby characters. Anyway, on the cruise to the island, Weevil asks to see Yugi's Exodia cards, which he throws overboard. Yugi's friend Joey jumped into the ocean to try and get them, but only got two, and its not said which ones he got. But that was pretty stupid anyway, because yeah I'd be devastated if anyone destroyed even the most common card in any of my collections, but they hit water, they're finished, so what's the damn point in trying to rescue them? Anyway, once they get to the island, Weevil lures Yugi into the forest for a duel so that his insect monsters will have an advantage. Honestly, that's one Yugi and his friends for not walking away, and either demanding that Weevil duel somewhere else, or Yugi duel some of the less-notable duelists in order to gain experience. But he still won, so I guess it's good he got the regional champion out of the way. Also there's Mai, who so far isn't a villain, she's just really arrogant and entitled. And definitely a hater. The way she talked to Yugi's friends was insufferable.

So after I found out that was all the YGO Youtube channel had to offer me I decided to play some of the mobile game Master Duel. I'm definitely sticking to the solo missions. For now I'm just doing the training stuff. To be honest, the mechanics of the game are already a lot to get used to, so I hadn't even been paying much attention to the instructions on the cards. So at least for a long time (since I only see myself as a casual game player), I'm only playing, online or irl, with structure decks, and any decks I compile will be more cards I think are cool, or cards that from what I can tell are supposed to work together. For example, if I wanted a deck with Blue-Eyes White Dragon and Azure-Eyes Silver Dragon, I'd make a deck with a bunch of other similarly-named monsters, and any spell or trap cards that mention those mosters in their instructions. And of course I'd need to leave room for cards that are level 4 and below because anything monster that's level 5 or higher needs to be special or tribute summoned, which requires the sacrifice of lower-level monsters. Anyway, I'm good just using structure decks until I get fluent enough in the process of a duel that I don't need to rely on the app to tell me what I need ot do next and all.