Like almost everyone I’m now looking for something good to watch on TV and with me getting back into Yugioh I thought I’d try watching some of them again. I also decided to write my opinions on the first episodes of each as it’s something to do.
The original Yugioh starts with a deep voice telling us about a destiny to save somebody and defeat a shadow realm. A dark beginning providing the viewer with tension, mystery and drawing them in. This is followed by a fairly dynamic theme tune which fits with the tone already set. We then meet Yugi in a school playing a card game with his friend and another boy listens in. We meet Yugi’s Grandpa and hear about his rare card. Soon the boy from class has placed Grandpa in some danger which means the inexperienced Yugi must duel the champion to get justice for his Grandpa. This introduces one antagonist and in the last few seconds we get a glimpse of the main series antagonist. The first episode shows that belief in yourself and your friends will help you through anything. It also establishes some basic rules to the card game. To this day is one of the few programmes from my childhood that I can go back to and find interesting no matter what my age. I highly recommend watching all the episodes because this series is seriously good and there’s some good movies too.
Yugioh GX starts as we follow a new protagonist on his way to school or at least the application stage. The opening theme starts and it seems a lot more childish than the original Yugioh, I wasn’t sucked in by any deep narrative or interesting speeches and the only curiosity I found was that Jaden (the new protagonist) runs into Yugi and is given a card which “bonds” with him. The rest of the episode introduces some new characters and cards but most characters come across as silly like the strange Dr Crowler who seems to be the antagonist going forward, not once did he seem serious or intimidating like the proper Yugioh antagonists. I couldn’t find any stake in the show as a viewer, Jaden wanted to be famous and he just came across as cocky and not a caring underdog like Yugi who had real issues to deal with. I watched the next two episodes to see if there was anything to get me interested but I probably won’t watch more.
Yugioh 5Ds starts with a duel of the reigning champion except he’s also driving a motorcycle for some reason. Someone else is driving through the sewer vowing revenge against the champion. The title credits start and they seem a bit childish like the GX series but the intro has made things interesting, now I want to know what’s happened between these characters. As the episode goes on we learn that the sewer man is Yusei, our protagonist and he was betrayed by Jack, the antagonist, the champion and the man who stole his best card and motorcycle. The story is established, there’s tension and history between these characters and Yusei has a decent motive. The viewer learns of a dystopian city where segregation happens and some people are marked which allows the police to track them down, police that are influenced by the antagonist’s decisions. A new style of monster is introduced when a synchro summon is used late in the episode. I’ve never seen this series before but I’ll probably watch more of it as it has had a strong start.
There’s a few more series left for me to look at and I’ll write about my impressions of them when I get around to it.
LBcreative 