The Odd 4Kids Dub of YuGiOh

[@windego999]

I think that despite the constant censorship, at least you can say the voice cast did their best with what they were given. We all know how iconic dub Kaiba is.

[@OnigiriStation]

I know a lot of English voice casts catch flak, but I honestly think many do a great job with the scripts and direction they have. It’s not easy to sell such cheesy dialogue, but many perform well despite their circumstances

[@WagwanHappyPappyHapPap]

The US and their views on censorship have done the opposite of their intended goal. It's quite hilarious and the cast should be proud that they did such a fantastic job given the circumstance

[@ChrrolloDI]

Ikr. The fact that people say dubs suck when dub Kaiba rivals his japanese peer is astounding.

[@Lucario1121]

@@OnigiriStation I don't know if this is true or not but even Takahashi himself said that Eric Stuart did a better Kaiba than the Japanese VA did

[@mattwo7]

9:44 Dan Green bullying Dan Green. And then there's the time in 5D's when Yugi tried to arrest Tristan (that bully is actually Tetsu Ushio/Trudge but he wasn't named in Duel Monsters)).

[@dubisbetterthansub5254]

Shadow realm is a great euphemism, honestly. And it’s become a fairly iconic meme, too. I’ve heard UFC fighters and commentators refer to knockouts as being “sent to the shadow realm.”

[@GODDAMNLETMEJOIN]

I don't know why this is so funny to me, but I have a little giggle every time I hear someone say this.

[@corazonfeathers8116]

Ngl that's sick

[@WildDancer101]

Not to mention it sounds like a fate worse than death, something 4Kids inadvertently created.

[@darkjaden-fe]

Honestly, it's so wild to me that the localization team thought that an endless dark abyss where you're mentally tortured for eternity was more comforting than Death(TM)

[@OnigiriStation]

Also seems bad to avoid the subject of death entirely. it’s something we all have to deal with in many ways, but to make a realm of suffering take it’s place? It was a wild choice

[@Yanderewaifu]

@@OnigiriStation im not sure its a realm of suffering, shadow games take place inside the shadow realm and they seem fine aside from stuff associated with the shadow game itself such as your body disappearing as your life points drop. I do admit that its described as such though. From what ive read as well the shadow realm wasnt entirely a western addition. It was inspired by the "world of darkness" that was occasionally mentioned in the jp.

[@m_dwg]

I mean that is the concept of death some of us were raised on anyways

[@dragonicbladex7574]

I find it funny with the bakura scene where he sends those duelists to hell cuz it's like, no no i'm not gonna send you to hell, I'm gonna send you to puuuurple helll, oooo

[@giannixx]

I mean, we in the West are so afraid of real death that we came up with our own fiery version of the Shadow Realm, so I guess it makes sense. Children being exposed to death on tv is bad, but introducing and making them believe that they'll go to hell if they misbehave is fine, all part of the good Christian values one ought to uphold.

[@floettefavors]

7:42 I tend to watch the dub just for gems like these "Joey I don't think we should cook the candy bars" "Back up I know what I'm doing"

[@OnigiriStation]

same! I just had to include that little bit cause it was too good haha

[@maxlancaster-vk6ll]

"My first words were NUTRON BLAST ATTACK"- Seto Kaiba

[@Lesbiwolf92]

I didn't realise it at the time but the reason they mention cooking "candy bars" was so they could pretend the curry and rice they had wasn't actually japanese curry and rice. They basically pulled a jelly donut.

[@thepaintingbanjo8894]

The only 4kids dub saving grace. Still can't excuse them for the travesty that is the old One Piece dub. I dunno if it was 4kids who ever touched the Digimon dubs but those are golden in creativity too for the amount of censorship they needed to keep it TV-Y7. They still Westernized the characters' names but it made sense in conjunction to their OJ japanese names and kept it obvious that _they all live in Japan_, on top of keeping all the religious undertones of the digimon. It really was all just child-friendly Ghost Stories dub back then.

[@cardgamefun5635]

This is a man who nose

[@ssoliver1996]

To be fair, the Shadow Realm was the best change they made. Like I knew about death as a kid it wasn't a scary thing to me. But the fucking Shadow Realm that shit was terrifying cause it felt like a nightmare place that was magical.

[@cosmok-1367]

Kind of ironic how 4Kids wanted to censor death, so instead they created the Shadow realm to replace it, which in turn made it worse because if someone lost a shadow game, rather than dying, they're pretty much tormentented mentally and spirtually in a version of hell. Which is way worse than just straight up death in my opinion.

[@xlro8f853]

Literally a fate worse than death 😂

[@TiltedSquare]

​@@cosmok-1367very similar how during the batman animated series, they thought Joker killing people was too violent and dark, so they made laughing gas where people uncontrollably laugh for who knows how long.

[@briansilva3344]

@@TiltedSquare definitely creative, and wish GX used the Shadow Realm instead of the Stars.

[@spookyspookat5038]

Copium

[@AnotherSWnerd]

The story of how Takahashi dove into the river to save lives was symbolic of how Joey jumps in the river to retrieve yugis puzzle. Both are acts of courage as 1 risks their own well being for the sake of others

[@OnigiriStation]

It’s nice to see when someone tells tales of bravery and they themselves are willing to be as brave. But it’s also quite sad as bravery can only go so far. The ocean is dangerous, even for a proficient swimmer. His courage and stories will live on

[@giannixx]

But Jonnouchi/Joey did that when he realized Yugi was a friend to him. Also later on when he jumped out of the ship to retrieve the Exodia pieces. Takahashi risked his life to save two strangers. That's even more heroic imo.

[@LucyKosaki]

I think what should've been mentioned is that the shadow realm itself is canon and in the manga. But it only applies to very few duels where owners of millenium items initiate a shadow game betting their souls. 4kids just took that concept and applied it to basicly every situation where lifes are on the line, regardless if millenium powers are being used or not.

[@OnigiriStation]

That’s true! I’ve discussed it in the comments with others, but I should’ve put it in the final cut of the video!

[@DOWNBAD_Tay]

Explain.. from watching 95% of the episodes every Saturday most soul for soul games involved at least one yami character..

[@sigiligus]

All I remember is Bakura sent three kids to actual hell.

[@Mekasoundwave]

6:49 The removal of all text from Duel Monsters cards was actually not a change mandated by 4Kids, it was one by the FCC. After the era of 80s toy commercial cartoons, a lot more restrictions were placed on what could and couldn't be shown in children's programming. One of the biggest rules was that if your show was promoting a toy line or merchandise line, you could not have the actual toy appear in the show because that would fully push it into commercial territory. And given that Yu-Gi-Oh is a show about card games that is also trying to sell you the real world equivalent of said card game, that was a problem so they just covered up all the text so there was some level of obfuscation in play. This is also why if you watch any of the movies, the cards have full english text since film has no such regulations. It was also a general policy of 4Kids to remove most Japanese text from shows and NOT translate it to english so that it was easier to sell the shows to non-English, non-Japanese speaking foreign markets. I personally kind of like the no-text look of the cards, it makes them feel more mysterious and mystical while also making all the absurd Calvinball played with the game in Duelist Kingdom a little more plausible.

[@OnigiriStation]

The more you know! Sometimes the most interesting tidbits are in the comments! I'll have to look more into this because that's extremely interesting. I always find companies importing products from radically different cultures fascinating, especially when they hit US laws and culture.

[@Chaotic_H3LL]

I kinda like the no text cards as well, because it plays into when Characters say what the cards do. We all meme the "i activate pot of greed, this card allows me to draw 2 cards" but if the card doesn't have text, explaining what the card does actually makes sense

[@A88mph]

As a kid, before I started to play the TCG, I dreaded the thought of reading the rulebook, as I thought that was the only place where all the card names and effects were. Imagine my surprise when I got the Kaiba Starter deck, and there were words on the cards, but said cards looked different as well.

[@OnigiriStation]

@@A88mph Same boat when I was a kid. I thought I'd have to learn each card's rule and was surprised to see how different the real cards were. I immediately loved them and their style despite being used to the 4kids anime haha

[@OnigiriStation]

@@Chaotic_H3LL It also allowed cards to have whatever rules they needed at the time for the plot haha

[@Bshadowz]

Ahhh YuGiOh the show that ruined me for real world RNG cuse when you believe in “Heart Of The Cards” anything is possible! 🤣

[@OnigiriStation]

When you don’t pray for good RNG because you’re RNJesus. Who needs a well built deck when every next card is the best card? haha

[@magicalnewsmaneditsbumpers4374]

I legit believe that RNG is like stamina you can use it in bursts. I had a round of Mario party where I predicted the exact dice roll I needed, the fact there would be a hidden block on that space, and in addition I would receive the bonus star. All in one go.

[@MeisterdiebKid]

Dont foget friendship! Anything is possible with your friends! 😅

[@Shugunou]

Yugi can just play a 60-card deck (or infinity-card deck because there were no deck limits back then) while we have to play 40-card decks with consistency boosters in order to get the cards we need.

[@Shugunou]

​@magicalnewsmaneditsbumpers4374 It kind of is. I used to find tons of four leaf clovers in my backyard. After that, I had horrible luck for over a decade. But recently, for the first time ever, I found a five leaf clover. I guess my luck just took a while to recover.

[@somedudewithakeyboard5388]

I love how their solution to death being in a kid's show was to replace Dying with being sent to basically Hell Like, if someone dies, a kid growing up in the US(a majority Catholic and/or Christian country) would more than likely tell themselves "they went to Heaven" to soften the impact of a character or person dying. But the Shadow Realm? A dimension where you are tortured and trapped for all eternity? There's no room for "they went to Heaven" that's just straight up "You go to Hell, the end."

[@giannixx]

But that's basically what happens if you don't go to church every Sunday, right? Children better learn early!

[@TKnHappyNess]

"Don't move or we'll shoot you with our invisible guns." - YGOTAS

[@SAINZHALLOW]

Even though I wouldn't say I like it when localizations change elements of an anime, I was fond of the idea of the Shadow Realm. It made it feel like a genuine element of the Yu-gi-oh world, even if it was a stand-in for death.

[@OnigiriStation]

I can agree to that! It’s usage may be silly and downright absurd at times, but it still feels like part of Yugioh’s world. Similar to how in DBZ they used “the next dimension”. But there really is another realm in the Dragon Ball universe after death, so it kind of works by fitting the world!

[@keltonschleyer6367]

Plus the Shadow Real has become an iconic meme ❤

[@ΑΡΙΣΤΟΤΕΛΗΣΛΑΧΑΝΟΠΟΥΛΟΣ]

By far the weirdest censorship was they decision to remove Yugi's mom. Genuinely confused on why they did that.

[@OnigiriStation]

“American children can’t know Yugi has a mom!” Idk why, that is a weird one. I probably should’ve included that in the vid though :p It’s likely on the cutting room floor somewhere haha

[@FrenkTheJoy]

Probably just because she's barely in the show anyway. Makes more sense to cut a character's one scene if you need to trim for time.

[@dustinwilcox5014]

​@@FrenkTheJoyI'd imagine this is why 4Kids cut some extraneous Big the Cat scenes from Sonic X, too.

[@ΑΡΙΣΤΟΤΕΛΗΣΛΑΧΑΝΟΠΟΥΛΟΣ]

@@FrenkTheJoy Trim for time ? When was that ever a necessity with Yu-Gi-Oh?

[@WinchesterxNL]

Cutting room floor? Don't you mean: The Shadow Realm?

[@13Lion]

I wonder how much fun the Rare hunters had with beating up their own boss in that scene 😂

[@OnigiriStation]

Imagine getting paid to beat up your boss lmao great day at the office today

[@shiratojin]

As a kid, I was absolutely TERRIFIED of Yami Marik, and had a massive crush on regular Marik (he’s dripped out ngl, and he likes putting 50 million ice cubes in one cup of water. Then again that might be where I got my love for ice from..??)

[@THIZzSCO415]

@@shiratojinlol that’s Marik “Sebastian”Ishtar that likes Ice this is just reg Marik Ishtar 😂

[@markcoroneos7811]

Do they even get paid? He has them under mind control

[@Drums_of_Liberation]

​@@THIZzSCO415No that Billy.

[@EliteLoserZR]

I haven't seen the Japanese version of YuGiOh in a while but I think the dub and the original are special in their own ways. I will say I prefer the dub Kaiba because he's so hilariously self aware and over the top in being a greedy company president, and his casual roasting of nearly everyone is also a gem.

[@OnigiriStation]

It’s a fun watch for the campy cheesiness of it! the characters are all so well defined in their odd ways, Kaiba truly being one of the shining gems haha His lines are priceless

[@shaybaybaybaybaymarie]

I love all of Yugioh. The cards, the manga, the anime, the movies, and yes, even the dub. I don’t care if it’s meant to sell me something. It’s something I never knew I absolutely needed!

[@spookyspookat5038]

It's like saying that you love your dog so much you even love it's feces. (by feces I mean the dub)

[@Luipaard005]

The dub directly lead to the creation of YGOTAS, its generated lots of good memes, there's great VAing with Eric Stuart and Dan Green. loving the dub is fine and people who complain about others liking it are lame.

[@shaybaybaybaybaymarie]

@@Luipaard005 Agreed. Dub is great and feels like just another facet of the yugioh franchise.

[@bmwjourdandunngoddess6024]

@@Luipaard005I don’t know why the ppl hate the dub outside of story changing and censorship.

[@samuelbrass4490]

The manga is awesome, and no doubt the best way to experience Yu-Gi-Oh. Especially having grown up with the english dub. Its a trip for sure.

[@OnigiriStation]

The manga was wild! Such a fun and strange read, I really do recommend it!

[@NamruChannel]

The manga is quite unique. Idk how to describe it but it's the kind of artistic work that despite openly acknowledging it's not a masterpiece, I still believe everyone should read it. It's a shame how the manga seems to have been killed by its own success. It was so succesful that it inspired a card game, an anime adaptation (and franchise) that eventually stole the spotlight. Even today a lot of people (including weebs and all kinds of anime fans) look surprised when I tell them Yugioh WAS a manga at first, just like Dragon Ball or One Piece.

[@TheLawliet10]

For me, if I rewatch Yugioh DM it has to be the dub. Yeah it's cheezy, kinda dumb, and it changes a lot, but it's little things like Joey's Brooklyn accent, the jokes that they slid into the dub, hearing Dan Green summoning the Dark Magician, and the fact that the 4 Kids voice cast are all really cool and friendly people who actually go to big events to do in character duels that mix with my nostalgia and make me need to watch the dub. Plus that opening is amazing, the original is great too, but the english op for DM is just this mix of foreboding, magical, and mysterious that hooks you in.

[@OnigiriStation]

the dub is some wacky fun with a memorable intro! I think I liked the manga a lot in general but wherever it’s nostalgia or just the fun, I find myself watching the 4kids dub the most haha

[@rebootnut]

I appreciate them all. But the 4Kids version will always be my favorite. It's the version that got my nephew and I into the card game way back then. Wonderful memories.

[@OnigiriStation]

The nostalgia and getting me into the card game really boost the 4kids dub for me. I couldn’t recommend it to new viewers unless they want a laugh, but it will always have a special place for those who grew up with it! also, nice Reboot avatar!

[@rebootnut]

@@OnigiriStation you’ve been the only one to recognize Bob. Nice! 😄

[@brandonbaggaley2317]

How ironic. Death is too dark, but a realm of perpetual torture is fine.

[@OnigiriStation]

Wild how they dance around death and land at a hellish shadow realm as the answer. Not as kind as the “next dimension” of DBZ

[@newelljoseph5060]

I honestly dug the idea of the Shadow Realm. People dying didn't feel like as big a deal as the concept of an unexplainable world that in my mind sounded like a concept of Hell that you couldn't get out of

[@OnigiriStation]

I thought the idea fit the theme well! I just also thought the implementation like “magic energy disk” saws cutting you into the Shadow Realm or the “Magic Shadow Box” (totally not a bomb) dropping you into the Shadow Realm were quite silly haha

[@darkknight5541]

Especially when you hear how the characters describe it. "A world where monsters will tear your soul to shreds." Chilling.

[@ToaArcan]

I can't deny that, despite all the weirdness, I do love me some of the Dub-isms in Yu-Gi-Oh! Favourites including Literally Everything Kaiba Says.

[@OnigiriStation]

Dub Kaiba is a vast mine of precious gems. The amount of fun that could be had just clipping the wild shit he says could just be it’s own video

[@InvaderWeezle]

The manga is definitely my favorite form of Yu-Gi-Oh. It was the way the I experienced the final arc of the series for the first time, and I was appalled at how much the anime changed from it. Not to mention that Takahashi's art runs circles around the anime most of the time

[@OnigiriStation]

the manga truly was radical and wild, a fun ride from the beginning to end!

[@Chris-tz2um]

Always lovely to see the US cares so much about violence and guns in cartoons, but not in real life.

[@Gigamex2]

17:06 I had no idea they changed Yugi's distraction during the duel with Mai. And from the sounds of it, the dub was way better. Him being afraid of the Spirit in the Puzzle after their battle with Kaiba was a way better character progression than worrying about another duel he wouldn't even get to if he lost this one. Some changes can be good, and even if we don't like all of them from a new adaptation, the original is always there to fall back on.

[@OnigiriStation]

I do agree changes can be good! I sort of liked the original idea of Yugi just being so focused on the end goal that he can’t see the challenge in front of him. I just thought it was odd to change it to be about Yami Yugi. But I suppose it’s more of a lateral move rather than a step back in story telling depending on the viewer, so you have a point!

[@Gigamex2]

@@OnigiriStation To be fair, if I saw the original first, I may have thought it made a lot of sense too if I had all the context. So at the end of the day it's all about the same I suppose. Either way, thanks for the insight!

[@caspianbchalphy]

Honestly, as a kid, the Shadow Realm stuff probably would’ve freaked me out more than the death and maiming stuff. As an adult i’d say the same thing lol.

[@bills-beard]

Such a great and respectful note to end on. He was also famously anti-authoritarian, having done at least one piece of ygo art rallying his fans to vote their conscience at the polls in japans 2019 PM election.

[@leviosdraekion6993]

I will always find it funny how in their attempts to make the show safer for kids they come up with a fate worse than death. In fact, the shadow realm might as well be hell or any equivalent to it. Some sort of alternate realm where your soul goes: check Most likely a nightmarish hellscape: check Suffer eternal torment while there: check

[@OnigiriStation]

Even if you didn’t suffer eternal torment, it would still be this weird lonely void for what could perceivably be forever? Like the phantom zone but somehow edgier. I guess other dimensional imprisonment is okay here. After all, this is the US and we do love our large prisons!

[@degozaru1235]

so sad the creator of yugi is dead... it felt so magical to watch and play yugi as a kid in the 90's, rip

[@HadenDA_sort_of]

That bit about you drawing your own cards as a kid hit me like a truck. I did the exact same thing to the point that I had a whole baggie of paper rectangles with my goofy doodles on them. There was no consistency in size.

[@OnigiriStation]

It makes me so happy to know I wasn’t the only one hahaha I had several decks of my own hand made terrible cards back in the day! And same, all slightly different sizes of rectangles cut out by a young me lmao

[@carlycarmine3858]

You should do this for each of the Yu-Gi-Oh series, there's weird edits in all of them

[@OnigiriStation]

I've never actually seen any of the other series aside from Season 0 and Duel Monsters, so I think that would be a fun idea to dive into! I'd be able to see them fresh for the first time and compare without nostalgia goggles haha

[@carlycarmine3858]

@@OnigiriStation I think you'll like GX, it's pretty good

[@salshinobi]

20:51 When I was a kid i also made cards to play with….me, my brothers and my cousins we all made cards for ourselves out of paper. And also colored it. Good old days.

[@OnigiriStation]

Such great times and memories, always great to hear when others also were so into it they made cards too!

[@devontehuntley6274]

Despite the many changes, this is one of the rare times an edited dub still WORKS because of everything else it brought to the table, good voice acting, good music, memorable theme songs, humor, and still being entertaining. Also, 4Kids got through all of the episodes and didn't cut any out as they would unfortunately do with GX and 5Ds. They also expanded on things better or earlier like with the backstory of the millennium items than the Japanese version did to get a clue of what the true story angle was, which is shocking given how early they were. The original version only debuted a year before they got a hold of the dub so its remarkable how much they knew of the show to add in these details that worked out in the end. You can tell they had more luxury with the violence early on because death was straight out mentioned such as in the first duel between Bakura and Yugi where the characters find themselves as duel monsters. Tristan sees his grave and screams out that he was dead. Also, the Yugi and panik duel where Yugi was threatened to be engulfed with fire....like come on. No bit of that was censored and you even had Tea screaming how he was going to be burnt to a crisp after Yugi won the duel. Speaking of fire, in Season 5 when Zorc is destroying the Egyptian city, 4Kids enhanced the fire to look more deadly and real than in the original version, which many likely did not notice. Take a good look at that if you have a chance. The Ghost Kaiba change was clever and ties back to the first episode and further explores the mystic elements of the show. IT WORKS so the hate on that is ridiculous. Yes, the dub has its faults particularly during fight scenes and with the guns. The skirt thing was always odd to me because Tea was still shown wearing high skirts for them to care about Mai most of the time and Jessie on Pokémon had a high skirt that was never lengthen down so that was weird how other characters weren't given the same luxury. Of course, the dub could have been better. With the dub names and music, the shadow realm aspect, the little tid bits of further backstory thrown in, changes that in fact worked with the show, but with all the guns and fight scenes kept intact and regular duel punishments not involving the shadow realm aspect such as the Lumis and Umbra one which does come off silly, this dub would have SOARED better than maybe even the original show. There are things 4Kids did that truly made the show better I would have not liked to have missed out on, but some of the original story and violence content I wish could have remained. Maybe if the show wasn't being aimed to young kids and was more of a Toonami thing, we could have had that. But hey, the dub was better than what was done with GX and 5Ds which really got the short end of the stick in both dubbing and 4Kids need to not care about the shows enough to finish them. For that huge box set Konami released about ten years back with the dub, I would have had it be a remastered version restoring some of the original violence cut out with added dub lines and sound effects mashed in with the original dub stuff. Not necessarily a redub, but close to an uncut version we would ever get...a more enhanced version if you will. For example, someone posted the original Bandit Keith scene where he is holding a gun at Pegasus but with the dub dialogue and music spliced in. That is what I am talking about, just restoring some of that without necessarily having to redub to make due....something they did try to do but would have been way too much work going through a whole show again. Not sure how Funimation was able to do that so easily with the Dragonball shows, but I would not have wanted to go through a whole show again.

[@ripleyandweeds1288]

My favorite example of how the anime and then the 4Kids dub toned down the violence of the original manga is Yami Bakura's duel with Bonz. In the 4Kids dub he sends Bonz and his two flunkies to the shadow realm when they lose, in the original anime he sends them to Hell, in the manga he just straight up fucking kills them. Also the fact that both the original anime and 4Kids dub just completely ignore the part of Marik's backstory where his father was skinned alive, which is the most understandable admission if I'm being honest.

[@setteplays]

My favorite is definitely the manga. Takahashi-san is a huge inspiration for me and I love his tribute to all things gaming in general and Yami Yugi's no nonsense power fantasy behavior. The characters, messages and heart of the story were always my favorite part. But who doesn't like a quick duel monster match.

[@OnigiriStation]

I hadn’t read the manga until fairly recently but I was blown away at how different it was. It was a surprisingly fun read! He really crafted a culture in gaming via YuGiOh, one that reaches beyond the card game

[@setteplays]

@@OnigiriStation I love how insane and crazy some characters were. Like when Mokuba tried to poison Yugi and Joey using a food roulette. And then Yami Yugi just went and made the kid eat poison after breaking glass right in front of him with his huge ass war crime of a pendant.

[@AnAverageGoblin]

I find 4Kids localizations/dubs incredibly interesting because it seems like they used to be a lot more fair with what they cut/changed, but as the years went on it got more or more low quality and exaggerated when it came to edits and voice acting.

[@DragonmasterSK]

I just returned to Yu-Gi-Oh a few weeks ago. It's given me so much and I thank God for Takahashi's work. My life is Definitely better because of Yu-Gi-Oh. I've learned very important life lessons and become a better person because of it. Right now I'm on a quest for retro Yu-Gi-Oh and I'm collecting Japanese and Duel Monsters era stuff. If I get back to uploading videos I'll be more than glad to share them with you guys. I loved your video, thank you

[@OnigiriStation]

Growing up with it certainly made an impact on my life, it’s just something I never thought about until I made the video! Collecting retro cards sounds fun but difficult! I wish you luck in your endeavors! also, thank you! It took a lot of time but I’m always happy to hear when people enjoy one of my works :D

[@DragonmasterSK]

@@OnigiriStation Definitely. You won me over. Keep it up, my friend

[@cynshie]

Really interesting and well-researched video, thanks for making it. Enjoyed the personal touch as well and the tribute to the manga creator

[@OnigiriStation]

Thank you! I’m happy to hear you enjoyed it, it feels good to hear when the work pays off :D

[@TDM1138]

Another great video! I remember discovering Season 0 one night with a friend after we’d just bought theme decks to play on a trip we were about to leave on. Must’ve been 2007, and I was late into my teenage years, but after watching a fair bit it was kind of surreal to see how different it was, and comparing it to the US version it came off especially dark.

[@OnigiriStation]

Similar story here! A friend told me about some strange "proto yugioh" that was "crazy violent" a long time ago. It was a shocking discovery at the time but now it feels so tame haha

[@MrEffectfilms]

Duel Monsters Sub is my preferred way to enjoy the series.

[@pengwin_]

The Manga has a real "The Spectre" feel to it with how the Dark yugi delivers just deserts to evil people.

[@marthflores3515]

I had literal fear of going into the shadow realm that it wasnt even funny

[@OnigiriStation]

They tried to remove death and instead instilled a new fear >.>

[@vendoth]

An eternity of torment and torture that even death will not save you from. Was always something that made me think the "Bad guys" really were dam sadistic. Forever suffering no escape.

[@TheDanishGuyReviews]

18:40 The bottle on the far left appear to have become a block of cheese. And the steam from the curry-gravyboat is thicker so it obscures the drunken redness of the man on the left of the heart-eyes guy.

[@shinydino]

I grew up playing the card game (not very well) and watching the 4Kids anime dub, but I also rented Yu-Gi-Oh! manga from my local library and even own some of them to this day. I remember being fascinated with the lack of Duel Monsters in some of the earlier books as well as the Marik vs. Bakura duel in Battle City. I was never sure what to think of the pre-DM stuff like the Death T arc because it had no equivalent in the anime or anywhere else on shelves. I think younger me just assumed that it was an alternate universe or something. Man, those books bring back memories of when Tamagotchi was still popular. Ancient times.

[@OnigiriStation]

Nostalgia is one hell of a drug, isn’t it? But it’s always fun to look back at youthful memories and remember how our eyes used to see the world and how we enjoyed it. I remember trying to reconcile manga vs anime back then while cleaning my Tamagotchi’s poop haha

[@DagothUrAmaranth]

People tend to ignore the mangas a lot for Yugioh. Considering how dark they are. The DM Manga is basically a what-if there was almost no restrictions, so was Yugioh R's and DsoD's spinoffs, GX, 5DS, Zexal, etc. It's the what-if Yugioh was dark that people seem to want, yet never look into. And when many do, they normally do like them.

[@sazjnk95]

So, I may be a little late to the party, but on the censorship of Spy-C-Spy in addition to everything you mentioned, they also re-drew over the one boob in frame on the woman in green, just to remove a little bit of skin color showing as well!

[@OnigiriStation]

I don’t think anyone pointed that out yet! I believe you’re the first in comments to notice unless I didn’t see someone else say it or forgot (which is a possibility haha)

[@virtualdark2295]

Back when I dueled Bandit Keith in Capsule Monsters, I enjoyed using his Barrel dragon. I was able to learn what kind of person he is when I first saw him in the original yugioh anime.

[@ntsazazel]

The Woman in green on the side of the Spy-C-Spy card also seems to have had a minor wardrobe change

[@OnigiriStation]

good eye! I didn’t notice!

[@chocoboko123]

Sometimes I actually enjoy the dub's weird, random dialogue changes with no clear purpose. Often in place of straight up exposition theyll have the characters joke around or make jabs at each other instead, which actually kind of makes them feel more like high school buddies instead of kingdom hearts characters talking about friendship. One particular odd change though was the part in season 2 where Yugi talks to Yami after Keith (controlled by Marik) steals the puzzle. In the original, Yugi asks Yami about who he is, and they have a conversation where Yami says he wants to stay with Yugi forever. Its an extremely sweet and touching scene that develops their relationship. But in the dub they changed it to Yugi wondering who Marik is and what he wants.

[@bleedingroze]

4Kids Yugioh helped give us littlekuriboh’s Yugioh Abridged so totally worth it.

[@mattwo7]

12:27 Hey remember in the 1951 animated adaptation of Alice in Wonderland when the Queen of Hearts wanted Alice beheaded? The time when Bambi's mom got shot and killed? The time when Scar murdered Mufasta and then tried to do it again to Simba? Gaston gathered an angry mob to kill The Beast and had a gun. Clayton had a gun and wanted to kill the gorillas. Percival C. McLeach from Rescuers Down Under was a straight up poacher, also with a gun. The pilgrims wanted to murder the Powhatan tribe and vice versa. The pilgrims had guns. Also Frodo lusted for Esmeralda and blamed gypsy magic for it (Sloth) and decided to murder (Wrath) the gypsies (with fire! Hellfire! By fire be purged!) because he wanted her to be his alone but she didn't want him (Pride, Greed, Gluttony, Envy and Lust).

[@RicardoCon94]

I'm surprised you didn't mentioned the very short lived uncut dub of Duel Monsters. It had its own interesting stuff in there like keeping a mix of the English and Japanese names with most of the English dub voice actors reprising their roles. There has only been 9 episodes available to the public in 3 DVDs but there may have been 3 or 6 more episodes locked away as the 4th dvd had box art but never came out with a 5th dvd planned to come out that same year.

[@Tomarrak]

Marik and Ishizu both explained that the spirit of the puzzle is an ancient pharaoh during battle city, so another thing the dub improved upon was the gang refers to the other Yugi as "the pharaoh" while the Japanese still calls him Yami Yugi up to the final season.

[@orvillewright9246]

I like both the manga and the Dub. I love the Dub, partly doe to nostalgia, but partly because I quite like the concept of the shadow realm. To young me, it was just as series and just as scary as death. And because they set up the shadow realm and treated it the same as if someone was dying, young me treated it as if it were the same thing. Plus, the shadow realm, I think makes the story make more sense. If a character comes back from the dead because a curse is broke, it makes sense that they were trapped in a hell like dimension of fear and torment. I think it actually helps make the show's world make more sense. I also like the manga, because it's so different from the dub. I also think that the characters and world that they were trying to sell me has given me more good in my life then they card. Even franchises meet to sell toys can also tell good stories. This is once such example. Pokémon is another. And I know in the case of Pokémon, there was and probably still tones of passion behind the product. I think it would not be as bad if the people selling cards were selling cards because they loved the produce, and not money. I do not know if this is true of them or not, but it would be better if it was.

[@OnigiriStation]

I do think the shadow realm fits the world well as a theme, I just think some of the ways they shoehorned it in was quite silly. (like the rooftop bomb). But like you said, when you’re young you don’t notice! it’s very dire and the story engrosses you. On the other point, I’m sure many that work at Konami and the assorted studios that produces games and anime are a mix of people who care and don’t, but the nihilist in me always assumes those at the top have money in mind. But it’s not so bad and it gave me yugioh regardless! So I see it as a win.

[@orvillewright9246]

@@OnigiriStation Thanks for the response. You are right, the roof bombs are silly. I Felt I should respond to the nihilist in you. It can cause just as much damage as what it fights. Be careful and use it wisely. Thanks for the video.

[@jackduggan6138]

Surprisingly in GX, when Exodia is being summoned and shown, they use the pentagram.

[@OnigiriStation]

I’ve never seen GX! maybe they got over the religious issues by then? :p

[@fubu72]

JP Keith: Gun DUB Keith: Hand MANGA Keith: Hand is Gun going full circle there

[@EvelynVioletEverlight]

“Originally was going to be a horror manga” That explains so much lol, some of the stuff in that manga was hardcore, from knife fights in alleyways to being chased by weird chainsaw massacre-esque monsters

[@OnigiriStation]

in some ways, it still is a horror story haha

[@insertusername9755]

Gx dub is closer to abridged:" why dont I have a catchphrase?' " I am just a funny side character"

[@OnigiriStation]

if anything, this makes me want to watch it more!

[@eternal8song]

I watched the dub as a kid but when I read the manga in high school it changed my brain chemistry for good. I LOVE the manga. I still

[@pendafen7405]

23:55 to this day that panel of those two clowns Jou & Honda makes me laugh "WHO'S THE BULLY🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬" "that would be us....😔"

[@kaiser1one]

Honestly, I liked the Shadow Realm initially. A dimension that Millennium Item users could send people to where everything about the Duel Monsters game they're playing becomes real; that's awesome. It's when it started becoming a alt for death when it got stupid.

[@Cardlimits]

the yugi vs mai one always gets me. I guess it was more or less a life lesson to never even reveal the idea of disrespecting your opponent by not thinking of the game during. but honestly I think the lesson would have helped tremendously today.

[@OnigiriStation]

It was a weird random plot change wasn’t it? Instead we have a world of people who took the worst aspects of Seto Kaiba and made it their personality :p

[@Cardlimits]

@@OnigiriStation another one during possess Joey vs yugi kaiba stated his tournament banned burn spells. Along with those cards and raigeki being fake as well

[@jmace2424]

“Pegasus J Crawford” is so much less fabulous than “Maximillian Pegasus” 🤣

[@OnigiriStation]

Feels too normal rich guy and not the flamboyant over the top rich guy that Maximillian Pegasus is

[@masam9700]

I get WHY they censored the guns, but even as a kid I was just like "huh...kind of odd that he's just pointing at em like that"

[@Luipaard005]

I grew up with the dub, it hit me at just the right time at 11 years old. I won't repeat what everyone else said so I'll just second the sentiment. I also think that the dub leading to the creation of YGOTAS is an underrated aspect of it, because YGOTAS is the direct cause of YGO's longevity in the English speaking world. Little Kuriboh has a story about being called by a Konami rep to tell him that card sales had skyrocketed after the first few episodes went viral. TAS is one of the reasons why we talk about YGO today. What I find interesting about it is the fan culture that grew around YGO. We knew there were edits but we didn't understand what they were. There were fansubs of the episodes but they were poorly translated and you need backstory from season 0 and/or the manga to fully "get" what's happening. (I started watching fansubs around the Noah filler.) This resulted in a lot of fascinating misunderstandings to become tropes in fanworks (like referring to Yugi as a "hikari" with lots angel imagery). These became their own driving force in the fandom. We ended up creating a lot of edgy content that was a lot more hardcore than the actual source material because we assumed that it was more brutal than it was.

[@AnAverageGoblin]

too bad LittleKuriboh is a complete jackoff that defends bad localization practices (I.E, inserting pop culture, bad humor, and forcing changes)

[@thesnesgeek]

What does even have your mind banished to the Shadow realm even do? Do you just become a husk?

[@AdmarilDarius]

I have to say that Dub Yu-Gi-Oh! is my favourite. If it isn't goofy, it just doesn't scratch the itch.

[@OnigiriStation]

I do love a goofy show, it’s nice to enjoy the silliness sometimes

[@Uber_Rush]

i've never carded too much about yugioh but the english dub holds a bit of significances for me because it was something me and my brother liked when it was airing

[@ThriftyFangirl]

On the first “spot the difference” card, the girl mostly out of frame on the right also had her low-cut dress raised a little

[@OnigiriStation]

whoa, good eye! I didn’t notice that one!

[@whetherlemon8845]

I hope in the future they do a redub with everything uncensored if that is ever possible

[@TheMetalwolf77777]

Some of the card changes I think are better, like I have no idea what monster reborn is but that is such a cool idea for a necklace and design

[@kylespevak6781]

On the subject of Shadow realm I was actually more scared of pain and the dying than the actual concept of death as a kid. As an adult I'm scared of death but not necessarily dying

[@LocksAndChains]

Was I the only kid not afraid of eventual death? And is the concept of an eternal shadow realm not inherently more terrifying?

[@garitinos]

To be fair, I would be more afraid of a place of eternal torment where i never die than straight up death

[@BeatAces]

One interesting thing with using bebop as the pure emotion story is that it's a sunrise anime, it's still got it's greenlight as a way to sell model kits of anime space ships. But there was people there that also had that story that needed to be let out. A trojan horse. A ship that you care about because of the people inside

[@kateturner8169]

For all the insanity, edits, camp, etc - i actually still love it. It's got a little place in my heart where my inner child lives.

[@Teifling]

Honestly, excusing the bad uses of it(Loomis and Umbra being the most egregious) the idea of the Shadow Realm was terrifying. Having your mind/soul ripped to a parallel hell while your body either goes comatose, is a zombie, or is "you" but possessed sounded like nightmare fuel.

[@SuperGameFan77]

Another reason the design of the cards were changed was because they looked like real cards. The US has laws regarding depictions of toys in media since the 80. So while yes the show was an advertisement they couldn't directly advertise the card game.

[@OnigiriStation]

That’s true! It would have been classified differently had it shown actual product! I should’ve said that but things get lost in the sauce of editing and creation I suppose

[@sunnybhai1904]

This was a fantastic little doc about the show. Thanks for sharing! Was not prepared for the handsomeness at the end of the video.

[@OnigiriStation]

Thank you, that's very kind of you! haha I always love making stuff but I'm always nervous putting my works and face out there

[@BluishGreenPro]

I remember being surprised at how much better the writing was in the Japanese version of Yu-Gi-Oh versus the English dub; for a show I couldn’t watch any more because I felt like I was growing out of it, I had fun watching a few more seasons in Japanese

[@OnigiriStation]

It’s hard because they had to write down to kids in the 4kids dub. I feel they underestimated kids ability to understand nuance and violence. I enjoyed it as a child but the older I became the more ludicrous the 4kids version became. But the Japanese subs stayed at teen level and it just works for all ages in Japan and translates decently for older viewers outside Japan. A weird cultural exchange there

[@EgyptianDragon1]

Yu-gi-oh still is one of my all time favorite series with the manga honestly just sitting at the top of my list for what media for it is best, though I’ve collected all I could of the dvds for the anime almost twice over along with the recent movies! I’ve even convinced people to read it and changed their minds entirely from disliking the series to liking it with that recommendation alone! I truly adore the story Takahashi wrote and his art was a huge influence on my own artistic journey for drawing human characters and stylization, along with a push to always keep improving

[@Gwynhyvr]

i grew up watching a lot of 4Kids. didn't realize until over a decade later how severely sanitized it was...

[@OnigiriStation]

Their market was kids, so they warped whatever properties they had to fit. Some worked out better than others, poor One Piece haha Hard to sell alcohol, guns, and piracy. Easier to sell a fun magical card game

[@Gwynhyvr]

very, very true. my mind was blown when i saw One Piece subbed, rather than dubbed

[@Tomarrak]

17:04 to expand on this the 4kids dub actually fleshed out Yugi far more than the Japanese series. In the dub whenever Atem took over to duel his inner monologue is Yugi's voice, adding a huge level of compassion, that in the finale Atem comments upon saying that he gained compassion from Yugi because of this. In the Japanese version the inner monologue is simply Atem unless you see Yugi's spirit beside him to communicate.

[@JackDblade]

RIP Kazuki Takahashi. The only card game I keep up regularly. Yugi is one hell of a Shonen protagonist. The dark Yugi is his confident personality he lacks. I find that everyone has their Yami Yugi and he comes out winning. That's Yami Yugi.

[@scootinand]

18:56 as cool and dark as the original Exodia looks, I think this may be one case where the artwork may be an upgrade. The Spellbinding Circle is more elaborate than a run of the mill pentagram, and the fact that it uses lore from within the cards makes it feel more cohesive to the world within the cards

[@zerorock41]

I've said this before, when death is consistently used as a failure state for the heroes, the idea of death loses most of it's impact. Death is a joke in fictional media for good reason. So the changing of death into magical punishments didn't really do anything to hurt Yu-Gi-Oh or GX I felt. If anything, it made those very rare times where actual death or injury much more shocking or scary. Yugi vs possessed Joey with the loser being sent to the bottom of the sea? Much scarier after 2 whole seasons of "Sent to the Shadow Realm". Same with GX and the character who has an ONSCREEN HEART ATTACK!

[@troin3925]

13:03 I love how they added an extra “ouch” to this scene to make it look like he survived. It turns it into a comedic moment.

[@OnigiriStation]

I feel like they had to add it to meet their criteria for children but also realized it was really fucking funny. So much of the 4kids dub is just too funny to not be on purpose haha

[@СтоянСтоянов-ы9р]

​@@OnigiriStationBro why when yami is in his thoughts he talked like yugi?

[@wildbard4112]

I absolutely love the dub. It has great voice acting and hilarious lines

[@MattressStore-dh8bs]

“We lost Takahashi while he was trying to be the hero that he had always written about” got me choked up.

[@KaeMcSpadden]

Considering the heavy censorship, I didn’t think the voice acting was that bad with what they had to work with.

[@dwainsimmons3447]

This is way better than the DIC/Cloverway dub of Sailor Moon.

[@sagittariusseiya8310]

YES! YES! YES!

[@SpunkMcKullins]

Slight correction regarding the cards: They were altered in US markets due to the 1990 Children's Television Act outlawing television shows aimed at children age 12 and under with the primary purpose of advertising real toys and products.

[@FrenkTheJoy]

I can't remember the specifics, but I saw someone point out that the shadow realm change actually fixed something with the original show that was kind of stupid in one episode. Also to be honest the shadow realm was scarier than death. Like, if you die then you die, but being trapped in a shadowy wasteland where you're constantly being hunted by monsters and you gradually forget your identity? That's scary. I was more afraid of Bakura than of Pegasus' finger-wielding goons.

[@OnigiriStation]

I actually like the shadow realm concept and think it fits the vibe! I just think the usage is kind of silly sometimes like the saws and sky scraper drop haha

[@newsystembad]

There's a quote, from the game _Darkest Dungeon_ of all places, that always comes to mind when I hear about those like Takahashi, people who died trying to do the right thing and help others even if it cost them dearly. When battling the final boss, if you choose a Houndmaster as the target of the boss' one-hit-kill, he'll reassure his dog with the words, _"Steady, girl. When we're called, we answer."_ I'm not a brave person, I love being alive, and I'll cling to life with everything I have until the very end. But I hope that if I'm called, like Takahashi, I can answer.

[@LoiValdes]

Man, as a kid I didn't realize how stupid some of the dialogue are in the dub. 16:22 is just stupid

[@OnigiriStation]

You just accept things as they are when you're young! In some ways, growing up sucks because you see how stupid things truly are lol

[@kevinsiver4780]

These localization oddities videos are excellent. If you do decide to more this year, you should do one on Cardcaptor Sakura and how Nelvana broke it.

[@OnigiriStation]

I remember watching card captors as a kid! Recently I tried rewatching it and was blown away by how different it was from what I remember. I didn’t know it was made by Nelvana, never even heard of them! I’ll have to look more into it!

[@kevinsiver4780]

@@OnigiriStation Yeah, they changed a ton of stuff for the American localization. A lot of those changes were very controversial and for good reason.

[@SansINess53]

The arabic version of yugi oh gets a plus for getting the mai vs yugi battle right.

[@dakotastein9499]

Imagine working for marik only for him to command you to beat the hell out of him.

[@kimjongoof5000]

I also want to mention that the English dub of Yu-Gi-Oh also replaced a lot of the Japanese sound effects with western sound effects. My guess is to make the show feel less alien to viewers by adding sound effects western audiences are familiar with in cartoons like TMNT and Scooby Doo

[@songsan807]

I and my kids loved the Yugioh USA version. Some of the episodes are cheesy due to the censorship. We did collect the cards and still have them. During that time it was the golden era for me.

[@OnigiriStation]

It’s a fun show and hobby to bond over! The cards have always been pretty cool and I still enjoy collecting them haha