RIP to the legend Takahashi, my childhood would not have been the same without him

RIP to Kazuki Takahashi. I love YGO and its a part of my life that I will always cherish. Forever. Long live the true King of Games.

The original concept of Yu-Gi-Oh was so much fun would love to see an other manga take on a similar concept

This was easily the most informative and interesting anime-video I've seen in a long time and I'm watching anime stuff all day. Btw, Kaiji can never be mentioned often enough. Someone should just do a long analysis video on Kaiji.

Watching this after hearing the news about Takahashi sensei's untimely passing. He will be missed.

The early 90s OVA adapted the Darby card game very faithfully. The best part of the OVA, outside of the showdown at the end.

I give you props for recognizing the creativity behind the duels in Duelist Kingdom early fights. I thought I was the only one who saw the tabletop rpg elements added to Magic & Wizards to make it more interesting. Also your ability of recognizing the context of many of moments in the series is unmatched in the videos I've seen about Yugioh. Most people talking about the original series and manga always tend to fall in the same typical talk you see from the fandom.

I wish we'd gotten the final arc of Yu-Gi-Oh the way Takahashi intended/not rushed due to health concerns

Mitsume Ga Tooru explains why there's such a disconnect between Japanese and non-Japanese fans when it comes to the first seven volumes/Toei adaptation. Most English speakers LOVE it because they had never seen anything like it, but Japan was unphased because it reminded them of an already existing Tezuka series. That's why they found the card game portion of the series a lot more novel - it was more distinct to them. Fantastic video essay, btw! We need more Yu-Gi-Oh! video essays like it.

Rest in Peace, Takahashi Sensei

R.I.P. kazuki Takahashi

Lack of blood in Zorc's design? I think all the blood just went downstairs

Omigoooood Osamu Tezuka really invented EVERYTHING godfather of manga for sure. Holy crap I never knew about this!!!

Die hard fan of Yu-Gi-Oh! ever since the games, show and TCG released overseas, die hard fan of JoJo even before the modern anime series. Yet I've never noticed the similarities between it. Devilman, Third Eyed One and DNA² being direct influence is so obvious now. I knew about the Legendary Fiend being a reference but that's about it. Great video, incredibly insightful!

21:53 I understand this was supposed to be a joke, but in actuality this is Jounouchi trying to support himself and his drunken, abusive father (which is showcased very briefly in the manga and in the Toei anime. He takes on a part-time job as a newspaper deliverer, which he had to get a sign-off from the school to do because otherwise it's against the rules) so I suspect that's why he doesn't have much money left. Just thought I'd add that tidbit for anyone who wanted to know! Excellent video, by the way! As a longtime fan who's been heavily inspired by it for my own work, it's nice to see the old adage "Nothing is original, everything is borrowed" come to life again in my favorite media. Now I feel compelled to look at some of the inspirational sources (never would have suspect JoJo but at the same time I'm somehow not surprised).

Never knew about that Jojo connection but it makes so much sence, even seeing how every sequel kinda follows jojo way of new characters and setting but with our protagonist sharing the same "name" (Jo and Yu) Makes me wish for a 100% manga adaptation of Yugioh by David Productions, feel like that be absolutelly beautifull.

This is such a great video, but I want to point out one more non-manga influence that I'm surprised you didn't mention - the Hellraiser movies. Kazuki has openly mentioned the influence, and even referred to Red Dragon Archfiend (a card from 5D's that he designed) as "one of his Hellraiser pieces". The other ones would be cards like Jinzo, Dark Necrofear, and pretty much the whole BDSM / torture device aesthetic of Bakura's and Marik's decks. And also, in Hellraiser, a character summons an ancient leather-clad punishment-inflicting demon by solving a Middle-Eastern puzzle, just like how Yugi summons the Pharaoh.

RIP Takahashi, his work was so amazing but he rarely spoke about his inspiration 😢

I don't know how different Dark Yugi is from Tezuka Krillin, but I've read the first volumes of Yugioh and Dark Yugi is an absolute psychopath in those.

21:46 Clearly adjusted for the differing costs between the Japanese and American healthcare systems

Great research. Most creativity is just a reformation of earlier things. But the inspiration from Tezuka is a bit too close on those panels. No wonder Takahashi doesn't mention these influences! Some of it can be from having to churn out manga at a cruel pace

The Yugioh (Duel Monsters) anime, the game was much more of an actual full game, with all sorts of mechanics and an actual "world" inside the duel rather than being just a simple card game. Which did lead to some absolutely special moments, like the oh so famous attacking the moon bit.

I wasn’t expecting DNA2 to make an appearance here, but when you explained it I could see the connection. They only released two years apart in Jump so it’s not unlikely Takahashi was reading it while trying to break into manga

The amount of research here is staggering! What I'm surprised about though is the VA change for Yo Inoue after duelist kingdom not being brought up. She passed away in 2003 from cancer if i recall correctly and got replaced by Rica Matsumoto. (aka the voice of Ash/Satoshi from pokemon)

5:46 LMAO The Japanese scene was even altered from the manga. Yugi says "Other self... It doesn't matter where you came from. What matters is that I'm glad you're here. You mean a lot to me.. and they all feel the same way! *shows Anzu, Jonouchi, and Honda arguing*" Yami Yugi and Yugi smile at each other. Why did Yugi say this? Because in the manga, when Yami Yugi defeats Pegasus, he tells Pegasus to explain everything or he'll send him to oblivion. Pegasus explains his backstory and tells Yami Yugi that the items have an evil intelligence in them. The next chapter (final chapter of DK) has Yami Yugi questioning who or what he is. Jonouchi says he was surprised Yami Yugi didn't give Pegasus a Penalty Game and that he would have slugged him. Anzu says that Yami Yugi couldn't because that would only prove Pegasus was right. Yami Yugi stops using the power of the power. He still has the death mentality as shown in his manga duel with Pandora. He was going to let him die (Pandora started the Death Game so he should abide by his own rules as the loser) but Yugi took over and saved him several seconds after the saw cut his leg good.

Really insightful vid, tons of anime/manga history. Really gave me an "OOOOOH!" moment when you pointed out that early duel monsters was more akin to tabletop RPGs than the yugioh we know of today(because It was still prototypical) and that makes a TON of sense, especially when you recall capsule monsters, as well as dungeon dice monsters.

after duelist kingdom...Bakura's voice is done by Rica Matsumoto (same voice actress as Ash of pokemon) due to Yo Inoue Dying Prematurely from illness. which IMO Rica matsumoto does a waaaaay better job in grasping the pure evilness of Yami bakura

I.. cant.. believe.. there's still yugioh content I haven't discovered. Well done.

this video rules, thanks so much for making it edit: RIP Takashi...

YuGiOh is also heavily influenced by Doraemon and Mataro ga Kuru. It's mentioned in YGO Duel Art interview. YuGiOh has a heavy concept of darkness and light (mentioned in YGO bunkoban message), and then Doraemon and Mataro ga Kuru were done by the darkness and light of Fujiko Fujio. While Doraemon influenced YGO's themes of daily lives and friendships, Mataro ga Kuru gave the impact of unusual darkness to beat the enemies. Also, while Kazuki was in his 20s, he went for Tezuka Productions background artist interview, but he wasn't chosen (mentioned in old Studio Dice blog, nowadays it's in Twitter that controlled by a bot). He also thought that his art was crappy at the moment lol. I never see him mentioning Tezuka Osamu in any interviews... However, I can sense he's inheriting that manga god's huge part of spirit. He also became a committee member of Tezuka Award in 2010s (mentioned in Japanese Wikipedia), and also the creation of YGO Dark Side of Dimensions involved the members of Tezuka Productions.

i've been a massive fan of ygo and some of the other series you've mentioned in here and i feel silly for not making these connections until now! DNA2 being brought up made me choke on my drink though, i remember watching it in 07 at the height of my ygo phase and thinking junta looked like yugi/yami back then too pffft. great video :D!

I can tell you put a lot of effort into this and I really enjoyed every minute of it. Normally videos this long are a slog but you kept me interested and transitioned very well both visually and through your narration to keep me a person with crippling attention span problems interested. Well done! :)

It says Osiris on the card in Jojo...which is Slifer's true name

I know more about this franchise and it's history than... any human being probably SHOULD, but even I learned a thing or two from this I hadn't ever heard before. That's insanely impressive, kudos.

that is the best video on yugioh ever and the fact that joey has a drug problem is icing on the cake

I'm an all time yugioh fan, and I managed to learn more from your video than in my last 10 years of weird hairstyled-card game addiction. This was a honestly amazing video, and I couldn't agree more withe everything that you said

The glaring rip is Duel Monsters just being Magic the Gathering but Japanese.

I've always found early Yu-Gi-Oh to be very reminiscent of JoJo Part 4, Diamond Is Unbreakable. Mostly the overall vibe, but also Yugi reminds me of Koichi and Terunosuke Minamoto looks like a Yu-Gi-Oh character.

I just finished watching YuGiOh in it's entirety last month (haven't seen the show since the 4kids days) so this video was perfect timing. This was so informative and well done overall I'm kind of shocked at how much I took from it. Nice job!

Honestly man your content is so informative and it talks about things that are reliably unknown in the west thanks for all the hard work making these videos

Yugioh has always mentioned Jojo's Influence to its overall narrative, right down to ' my other self' being a part of the story early. Its incredible to see the other influences of Yugioh as many gaming manga like Kaiji are fantastic stories in their own right.

Great video. I was a first gen western Yu Gi Oh fan back in 2001 when it was first broadcast on Kids WB. I kinda stopped caring about it a few years later, got into heavier anime titles like Big 0 and the Gundam franchise. Around '04 I discovered the manga and was blown away by how dark it was as opposed to something made to sell trading cards. I'm 28 now and recently have kinda been revisiting it. I discovered there are hidden depths to it and your video really highlights some of them.

I don't know where I heard it but I heard one of he's influences on yu gi oh is hell boy comic

While Yu-Gi-Oh the anime and the card game need no introduction, very few people know how different the manga is. The manga being more than just Duel Monster is foreign to many. Good call with the recap.

Good video. I occasionally stumble upon podcasts that discuss YuGiOh as yet another Pokemon clone and it's nice to see something with more thought put into it.

>ay-mon Please be a Key and Peele reference

I was also thinking "The 3 Eyed One" was an influence on Jojo, particularly part 4 Morioh, and the 90's anime "3x3 Eyes" is almost a reboot of it.

This was super informative and it made me want to read both the Yu-Gi-Oh and Kaiji manga. Great stuff all around man. Keep the good work ❤️

7:36 To add on to the VA trivia, from Battle City onwards, Bakura is voiced by Rica Matsumoto, the Japanese voice of long-running Pokémon protagonist Ash Ketchum. This change was made due to unfortunate circumstances. Inoue was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2001, and later passed away in 2003.

I'm so so happy that someone made a video talking about this topic. Very nice!

Fantastic video! It's funny how so few videos go into YGOs influences like you do

When I first clicked this, I wasn't expecting it to be interesting. But, _hoo boy_ you proved me wrong within 4 minutes. How well you managed to figured out the similarities and compile them is hella amazing and enthralling. I'm now interested in reading/watching every reference you mentioned.

It's funny; I knew about every title that was referenced but never put the pieces together quite like you did. Almost like assembling a complicated puzzle....(cue dramatic music)

Fantastic video, I loved how it was presented so concisely and I learned a lot about animes I had never heard of before, or some I had only been aware of but didn't know much detail about.

Amazing video as always, love how in depth they are, I love Yu-Gi-Oh but didn't know the parallels or direct inspirations of so many other series.

This was all pretty interesting Nice to hear all these different things that and could have inspired for Yu-Gi-Oh 😄

4:32 - 4:41 I have to correct you on this (and I don't know how you messed this up if you read the manga when the anime changed the events and removed important scenes) because Yami Yugi does have a STRONG motivation for saving Sugoroku. The chapter after Pegasus sealed Sugoroku in the video, Yugi and co. were at school. Yugi says he's ok while he says his other self isn't because he can sense what he's feeling. Yugi guesses that it's because Yami Yugi lost to Pegasus. While everyone is talking, Yugi gets up randomly and starts walking away until Anzu asks whats up. Yugi says Yami Yugi wants to be alone for a while. Next scene on the roof shows Yami Yugi grabbing the fence and yelling Pegasus in anger. Yami Yugi says that it's his fault Sugoroku is like that (stuck in the video). He punches the fence then resolves himself that he will beat Pegasus and save Sugoroku. After that, he was on a mission to save Sugoroku and no one was going to stop him. Yami Yugi had the strongest motivation out of all the characters. That's why he envisioned Sugoroku and attacked Kaiba because if he doesn't he can't save Sugoroku. There wasn't a chance to think of alternative aside from winning because his mind is only processing that if he loses this game then its game over. Luckily for Yami Yugi, Mai owed him for saving her against the Player Killer and gave him her extra star chips. But no one saw that coming. At this point in the story, Yami Yugi thought he was Yugi and vice versa (Note: This is why Anzu was fine with kissing normal Yugi even though she loves Yami Yugi), hence why he calls Sugoroku grandpa. Obviously, Yugi wants to save his grandpa, so his goal and Yami Yugi's goal were always going to be the same no matter what. The difference is Yami Yugi has the stronger motivation and his way of doing it is different from Yugi's. Yugi would rather take the L than let Yami Yugi, who was on a mission, to win and kill Kaiba.

Love your research on this series

Super happy to see a video from you about Yu-Gi-Oh

What a rollercoaster ride of info! Love it! Great work!

Awesome video! I love how much research went into this beyond the standard details people usually talk about. I think "The Inspirations Behind [Popular Japanese Media Franchise]" could make for a great series if this is the standard of quality.

That is some amazing research. Loved every second of the video, dude. :D

Excellent job on the video! I loved how you really researched into some of the series like Tezuka's which I haven't heard of. Also, thanks for pointing out the dub and sub comparisons because it happens so much. When companies localize shows, they tend to rewrite and cut dialogue out and sometimes make scenes completely different or confusing. This was also done with Beyblade and Bakugan.

Amazing analysis! 👏

Such a good video! Fantastic job and very informative. Also for someone whose favorite tournament arc is Duelist Kingdom, 22:00 - 22:58 felt sooo good to hear!

I'd love to see a reboot of the first season but follow the full dark concepts of the original manga. There are HUGEEEEE differences and characterizations.

This is such amazing research, Worth a KZfaq recommendation that is for sure.

Now I know why I love Jo-Jo so much! Crazy how a lot of this video's info was just sitting in my subconscious!

A very enjoyable video. Was super interesting to see these connections being made. I've never read or watched Kaiji but I kinda feel like it now.

Very interesting theories! In particular I like the design references and inspirations. I wish Takahashi would be more open towards his inspirations. His monster designs are still a big riddle to be tackled. Ever since I've known YuGiOh I've been wondering how Takahashi came up with so many (seemingly) original and creative designs for the cards. The facts that 1) the card game wasn't even a focus of the early manga and 2) that the internet wasn't the great, endless source of inspiration that it has become now, make debates on card design even more fascinating. Most likely the answer lies in the (popular) visual culture of the 80s and 90s in Japan, but for me that's an unknown territory. Some keys could also lie in the pre-modern Japanese culture, where monsters are very much present. I would love to see someone with that knowledge analyzing the card artwork aspect. I doubt that a Japanese manga artist of the 90s could have seen much of obscure western art. However through my exposure to it, I think I have some theories on the source of inspiration for Relinquished and Thousand-Eyes Restrict that I would like to share with anyone interested. :)

This was a great break down. There's always an influence somewhere. But it seemed Takahashi-sensei was about "those odds". Making deals with the devil and deals you just can't lose. But the thing that shocked me was how DNA2 was tossed in there. I was like how is this gonna fit?

Thank you so much for this wonderful and insightful video! I didn't know of this other series that served as an inspiration for Yu-Gi-Oh.. Great stuff! Also, I like that you are using the original names and everything, it's so much better to hear as a fan who really loves the manga and everything! You've got yourself a subscriber 😇👍

Excellent video. I expected a dub reference galore, but instead was pleasantly surprised with a well thought out content 👍🏼

Love your channel, it changed me this past few months thanks alot

First time watching your video and already I'm impressed with the amount of research you've done! You had to read Season 0 and watch all the anime and then provide your comparison. Subscribed!

the third eye guy is the final boss of the ASTRO boy game and a character in black Jack manga

Thanks for all the new stuff i need to see now! I was looking for something to watch and this nailed it Sometimes i do wish i lived in a world where yu gi oh wasnt just duel monsters.

This is interesting that stuff like this which is too obvious that it isn’t brought up in Japan, is explained in English overseas. As a Japanese kid back then it was pretty obvious to me too that YuGiOh was inspired by Mitsume Ga Toru. I recall Even my Japanese dad noticing the similarities.

This was outrageously well done!!!

This was really interesting thanks!

Incredible research that you did, I never would have imagined the influence of those other mangas

24:15 - seems ironic that a Japanese cartoon would be about the problem of future over-population, given the nation's future would go the opposite direction

The battle with Darby is easily one of my favorite fights in Jojo so far. Stuff like this and many moments in the series Ultimate Survivor Kaiji show that you can make a high stakes battle without a single punch being thrown. Glad to see you actually did mention Kaiji. It's great. Wish they had continued the anime. Wonderful video man!

Excellent video as always. I've seen Kaiji multiple times, read the manga, and I never made the YGO connection even though the star chips are RIGHT. THERE.

Yu-Gi-Oh!'s Duelist Kingdom field rules are likely influenced by one of the earlier Japanese TCGs, Monster Collector / MonColle. This is a commonly held belief by those who are knowledgeable about Japanese TCG's pre-YGO OCG. Really interesting video. I knew about the Jojo references, but the rest was news to me. :)

My respect for gaming would never happen without Kazuki Takahashi. I like to image him leaving this world the same way as Dark Yugi with a thumbs up.

I like how you noted all the subtle details about Yugioh's characterization and the animes it took inspiration from.👍

This was really well done

When Duel Monsters started out it really was trying to be JJBA with card games. It felt a lot like some kind of wizard battle but with this aspect of luck and having a deck to draw from to make it more believable that things could happen in the way they would.

rest in peace Kazuki Takahashi.

Awesome video!

Great video man i love your content, please continue Cyborg 009 videos i love those alot.

8:43 I know you said you weren't going to talk about GX but there's a character literally named Amon (Adrian Gecko in the dub) who goes insane after obtaining the spirit of Exodia in the third alternate universe, Exodia being an insanely powerful demonic being that was sealed away.

Also the Famicom Tooru game is absolutely fantastic, a late era FC title with great graphics and tight controls

Well this video just gave me a bunch of manga and anime I need to check out. I had actually gotten bored of Jojo but now that I know what's coming up in part three I might continue it.

Takahashi said he requested 5Ds to have motorcycles because he liked Akira.

Tezuka has a huge impact on the manga industry so I'm not shocked

As a young wannabe manga artist myself, i just love and be thrilled to hear other successful manga artists inspiration, even on my story I'm looking at most of my inspiration on what makes me want to make the comic and story But also even though i wasn't into yu gi oh a lot i just love to hear more about the art and artist on this just love hearing more successful people

Kazuki Takahashi's art in recent years has taken a very Araki-vibe (take a look at the bunkoban release covers) as well, its clear Jojo and Araki was a very big influence on him in general

great video, I loved it