The opening to Yu-Gi-Oh! A series that pretty much killed the Kids WB and helped bring a lot of anime over to the west alongside Pokemon. It is a show that spawned a trading card game and is going on twenty years strong now as a growing franchise with now five television series.
Long ago when the Pyramids were still young, Egyptian Kings played a game of great and terrible power. But these Shadow games erupted in a war that threatened to destroy the entire world until a brave and powerful Pharaoh locked the magic away. Imprisoning it within the mystical millennium items. Now five thousand years later a boy named Yugi unlocked the secret of the Millennium puzzle, he is infused with ancient magical energy for destiny has chosen him to defend the world from the return of the Shadow Games just as the brave Pharaoh did five thousand years ago.
But let’s take a look at the plot of Yu-Gi-Oh! and why it’s one of my personal favorites with over two hundred and twenty-four episodes that Yu-Gi-Oh! has to offer. You get a look at the series and story as a whole about what Kazuki Takahashi has wanted to tell and that is a story about friendship. Believing in others and believing in ones self has always been the core principle of the series and believing in it itself is the principle and core for the franchise as they say in the show believe in the heart of the cards.
The story of Yu-Gi-Oh! starts out with a boy named Yugi and how he is constantly being bullied at school until one day he sees two people getting hurt and he stands up for them and gets beaten instead. It was that selfless act that showed 
Jounochi (Joey Wheeler) and Honda (Tristan Taylor) what a friend truly is and the pair became inseparable to the power where Joey even risked his own life at times to try and help Yugi and they all learned of the Pharaoh sleeping within Yugi’s soul and went so far as to help him regain his long lost name and memories in them traveling to Egypt.
In the story, you learn that Joey was a street punk who has a sister and he grew up basically on the streets but always wanted what’s best for his sister, Yugi grew up without a father and a mother who almost never is mentioned in the western version of the show living with his uncle so it’s easy to see why he ended up in gaming. Soon after Yugi starts teaching Joey how to duel and the rest until he is met with the harsh reality of being having to deal with a CEO at his local school who also happens to be his classmate that we only see once in the entire series at the school.
It’s then that the story takes a kick-off when Yugi face’s off with Seto Kaiba after he left Yugi’s uncle severely injured from a card game and also he tore up a Blue-Eyes White Dragon that there were only four of in the entire world. During the duel, Yugi is pushed into a tight spot where the belief in his friends and himself unlocks the power to do the impossible and summon Exodia and it’s this core concept that pushes the series forth.
Believing in the people who love and care about you unlocks a person’s inner potential to break their limits and overcome adversity.
The series continues on and they are soon met by another rich CEO named Pegasus J. Crawford who wants to use the millennium items to revive his dead fiance and also take over Kaiba’s corporation. But is soon stopped by Yugi and his friends the journey afterward involves Yugi & Co learning about the Pharaoh and they begin trying to find a way to help him as the friendship they share with Yugi they also share with him.
This leads us to the battle city and skipping the leviathan arc all the way to Ancient Egypt where they fight in a world comprised of the Pharaoh’s old memories but also for the sake of all reality as an evil spirit is trying to bring the return of the Shadow Games back and devour the world for an ancient evil known as Zork or as we who like the show call him Dragon Dick.
But during the whole bout for reality, Yugi & Co stand up for their friend and create a miracle by believing and saving him and all of reality which then prompts the most heartbreaking scene in the entire show and the end of the first series.
The story for Yu-Gi-Oh! is great although, with a few plot holes scattered throughout the series, it’s still a show that holds a place in my heart. I myself have made a lot of good friends from playing the game and met some others because of the show and it speaks volumes at how people can make friends over the simplest things and in the end that is really what is about; making friends.
An autistic gamer with opinions on games who also enjoys making dumb videos on the internet!