4Kids voiced Yu-Gi-Oh! anime are generally known for their efforts to make shows less dark, but their voices for Yu-Gi-Oh! GX actually has the opposite effect. GX is Yu-Gi-Oh! anime and follows young protagonist Jaden Yuki as he attends Duel Academy. Overall, the movie was pretty lighthearted, but the third season got to some dark spots that even the dub couldn’t fully censor.
Part 3 of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX largely takes place in another dimension known as the Duel Monsters Spirit World. In this dimension, monsters are real and dueling will cause the loser to fall apart. The dub calls this “Sent to the Stars” but in reality it’s like dying. The original Yu-Gi-Oh! there is a similar concept that 4Kids translates as being sent to the “Dark Realm”. However, while only some of the main characters from that series were ever sent to the Shadowrealm, in the third installment of GX, most of the main characters were sent to the stars. To save them, Jaden must confront Yubel, a dark figure from his past.
Yu-Gi-Oh! GX’s Voiceover Ending Ironically Makes It Darker Than the Subtitle
Yubel is the mastermind behind most of the suffering in Season 3, lashing out at the world for the sense of betrayal she feels towards Jaden, who sent her into space when he was a child. To save all of his friends, who have been sent to the stars, Jaden must have one final climax with Yubel, in which they deal with most of their personal feelings about each other. This made Jaden realize the immense pain he had caused his opponent, leading him to decide to end the match in the unique way that Yu-Gi-Oh! players can never achieve in real life. When Yubel tries to use the “Super Coincidence” card to merge the twelve dimensions according to their master plan, Jaden activates a counter that allows him to decide what will be merged. He chooses to merge his soul with Yubel’s, ending the match and resurrecting all of his friends. However, in the process, he appears to have died and that’s where Yu-Gi-Oh! GX voiceover ends.
This is an extremely dark and unsatisfying ending, completely different from the original Japanese ending. The Japanese series will continue for a whole season after that, revealing that Jaden didn’t actually die during the merge with Yubel. In the actual ending of the series, Jaden recalls how fun duels can be after having an epic cross-match with Yu-Gi-Oh’s original hero, Yugi. He then roams the world, pledging to use his power over dueling spirits to help people. Ironically, this is much less sad than the ending of the dub.
Localization Yu-Gi-Oh! The 4Kids franchise often tries to remove elements that might be inappropriate or too dark for children, but its ending to GX goes against this goal completely. This makes it one of the most serious and frustrating changes 4Kids has made to one of its dubs, which says a lot with the other changes the company has made. perform. Because of this, fans of Yu-Gi-Oh! gx confused or frustrated by the ending of the dub need to watch episodes of the Japanese version that was never adapted.