Summary
Yu-Gi-Oh! Sevens aimed to simplify the game for children but failed to attract the interest of the original fan base. Yu-Gi-Oh! Hurry up!! brings a fantasy story and attracts both young and older viewers to Rush Duels. Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc-V offered innovative ideas but fell short of expectations, focusing more on fan service.
The Yu-Gi-Oh! The franchise was a staple of 90s anime, ingrained in the minds of most young people who grew up watching similar shows. A world full of magical artifacts, powerful monsters, and intense strategy-based games awaits anyone who chooses to join Yugi and his friends on their adventure . However, the franchise did not end after pharaoh Atem returned to the afterlife.
There have been several other shows in Yu-Gi-Oh! names, each with its own main character, story, and summoning mechanism. However, not all series receive equal love from fans of the franchise. Some have become icons, while others are forced to stay in the shadow of their predecessors.
8 Yu-Gi-Oh! Sevens has tried to simplify the game for a younger audience
92 episodes, broadcast from April 2020 to March 2022
Marketing to a younger audience, sevenis Konami's attempt to simplify the card game Duel Monsters, which had become too confusing for children.. The film tells the story of Yuga, a boy who is frustrated with the many rules and restrictions of the card game. With the help of his friends, he created a new dueling format called Rush Duel, with simpler cards, three monster zones, and three magic/trap zones. With the help of the newly created Deck, Yuga begins his journey to become the best Rush Duel player in the world.
The show's childish nature has caused most Yu-Gi-Oh! The fan base stayed away from the series. The audience it attracted quickly forgot about it due to its clichéd story and unremarkable cast. To make matters worse, the series was released around the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, causing severe production delays. To this day, Sevens is considered by most fans to be the lackluster installment in the series.
7 Yu-Gi-Oh! Hurry up!! There is a miraculous story
103 episodes (ongoing), beginning airing in April 2022
The spiritual successor to Sevens, Go Rush!! is the newest and currently running series in the Yu-Gi-Oh! Franchising. The chapter focuses on Rush Duels, similar to its predecessor, but with a major focus on the fantasy story created for it. When brothers Yuhi and Yuamo encounter the mysterious alien Yudias, their entire lives change forever. This humanoid creature asks for their help when he is sent by his people to find a way to defend himself against an invading force. In Yu-Gi-Oh! fashion, the answer seems to be Rush Duels.
While going in a hurry!! was also marketed to a younger audience, so it did a much better job than its predecessor in attracting older viewers. Yudias is a much more serious and capable duelist, reminding viewers of other main characters like Yugi or Yusei. However, the series never achieved the ratings of the original series, and it did little to popularize Rush Duels and their new rules among OCG players.
Hurry up!! There is no official English version yet.
6 Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc-V had an innovative premise that fell flat too soon
148 episodes, broadcast from April 2014 to March 2017
One of the most experimental and divisive entries in Yu-Gi-Oh! Franchising, Arc-V tells the story of Yuya, a young man who dreams of becoming a Dueltainer. This special type of gladiator performs an action when they fight their opponents, hoping to bring a smile to the world. Yuya's father, the creator of the sport, disappeared several years ago, leaving his son to restore the legacy. However, during Yuya's first professional match, something strange began to happen, which ended with the young man creating a completely new summoning mechanic, the Pendulum Summon.
Arc-V is the first series to introduce a new mechanic, while also introducing other summoning methods from previous chapters. The anime also tries to appeal to older fans by introducing fan-favorite characters who haven't been seen in several years. Despite trying to be a loving tribute to the franchise, the series became a dull adventure, leaving behind an interesting plot in favor of pure fan service. drug. Summons Pendulum was also not well received by players because it was extremely powerful and flexible.
5 Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal has a believable protagonist
73 episodes + 1 special episode, broadcast from April 2011 to September 2012
When a strange and evil force attacks the Spirit World and releases the Number Cards across Earth, a mysterious being is sent to the planet to retrieve them. During this journey, an alien named Astral meets Yuma, a middle school student who enjoys dueling but is terrible at it, making him more relatable to the audience. Forced to join forces, the bickering duo set out to challenge the fighters who have been possessed by the ferocious Number Cards. As they duel, Yuma begins to improve his game and Astral begins to understand what friendship truly means.
With an interesting storyline and the invention of XYZ Summon, Zexal quickly attracted the attention of Yu-Gi-Oh! fans globally. Although Yuma was not as beloved as the previous main characters, the audience became more sympathetic towards him by the end of the series, thanks in part to his rapid development as a fighter. However, Zexal is not without its flaws as the plot gradually becomes too complicatedand the final villain is generic and forgettable.
4 Yu-Gi-Oh! Vrains was a short-lived attempt to revive the franchise
120 episodes, broadcast from May 2017 to September 2019
The final chapter focuses on what is now known as the Master Duel, Yu-Gi-Oh! Vrains follows Yusaku, a stoic genius with amnesia, who infiltrates the world of the wildly popular game Link Vrains to find out who he is and stop the plans of the evil Knights of Hanoi. . Along with a bizarre AI that suddenly appears and merges with his duel disc, he will join forces with some famous Link Vrains fighters to find out the truth behind this game.
Vrains is Konami's attempt to revive the latter brand Arc-V, follows a simple yet engaging plot and introduces a serious and extremely skilled fighter as the main character. During this era, a new summoning mechanic was created, Link Summon, used by some of the most useful and powerful cards in Yu-Gi-Oh!. Despite its initial success, the film gradually declined in quality, was canceled quite quickly and gave viewers a disappointing ending that felt extremely rushed.
3 Yu-Gi-Oh! GX is the best sequel to the original series
180 episodes (Japanese), 155 episodes (English), broadcast from October 2004 to March 2008
Set in the same universe as the original series, GX takes place several years after the ceremonial duel between Atem and Yugi. Jaden Yuki is a talented duelist who hopes to become the next King of Games and surpass the famous Yugi Muto. To accomplish this goal, he enrolls in Kaiba's Dueling Academy, one of the best schools for upcoming professional duelists. As the school year progresses, Jaden will discover the dangerous secrets that Duel Academy Island hides.
GXis considered by most to be a great sequel toDuel with monsters, attempts to recapture the magic that made Yugi's adventures so iconic. Jaden may not be as imposing as Atem, but he is an extremely charismatic and relatable protagonist. The first two seasons had an incredible story with unexpected twists that kept the audience captivated. The final duel between Jaden and Yugi remains one of the most awe-inspiring duels in the series. Unfortunately, the past two seasons were not well received, and season 4 was never dubbed into English, leaving Jaden's story unfinished for American fans.
2 Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's has one of the most talented protagonists
154 episodes + 1 special (Japanese), 123 episodes (English), broadcast from April 2008 to March 2011
Yusei is an orphan who has spent most of his life fending for himself in the unforgiving Satellite City. His greatest desire is to infiltrate the luxurious New Domino City and challenge the best duelist, his old best friend, Jack Atlas. With the help of his trusty Duel Runner, a motorbike with a duel disc on the handle, he will show the people of New Domino City that even those they cast aside for having Less assets have the potential to do great things.
5D's has one of the best main casts in Yu-Gi-Oh! Franchising, with one of the most capable main characters. The story, while a bit cliché at times, remains consistently great for most of the series. 5D's also introduced one of the most famous and iconic monsters, the Synchro Monster. Overall, this film is a great anime, although sadly it remains one of the least known films in the franchise. It was released around the time Yu-Gi-Oh! when a series starts to lose relevance, which is a shame because the series is truly great.
1 Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters is an unbeatable classic
224 episodes, broadcast from April 2000 to September 2004
Kazuki Takahashi's masterpiece is the series that most anime fans think of when Yu-Gi-Oh! mentioned. Duel Monsters explores the story of Yugi Muto, a high school student who enjoys playing card games with his friends. He is the owner of the powerful and coveted Millennium Puzzle, an artifact that holds the soul of a powerful but forgotten pharaoh who defeated the forces of evil in ancient Egypt. . Aided by the pharaoh, Yugi is tasked with defeating the dark creatures who are attempting to bring about a forbidden form of dueling known as the Shadow Games.
Since its release in 2000, Duel Monsters has become a mainstay of Yu-Gi-Oh! Franchising. The adventures of Yugi and his friends are not only iconic but also incredibly well written, still admired by fans across the globe and referenced in many other anime. Yugi and Atem are the faces of the entire series, thanks to their incredible chemistry as partners and their epic duels. Duel Monsters will forever be Yu-Gi-Oh!'s most iconic and beloved anime.