All you could wish to know about Yu-Gi-Oh!
... minus card game stuff. That I can't really help you with.
I created this site because I want to have an place where I can put links and general information about the Yu-Gi-Oh series in one place. It's a work in progress, and I'm still thinking of the best way to deal with certain things, so bear with me.
Also: at the moment this is focusing on the original YGO manga/anime and things related to it, but I'll try adding some things related to the other series in the future!
Original Manga
Duel Monsters Foreword
(LINK part 1), (LINK part 2), (Archived LINK)
Short paragraphs by Kazuki Takahashi in the start of every Tankōbon manga volume. Official translation.
Bunkoban Forewords
(LINK), (Archived Link), (Graph from Volume 6)
Longer writing by Kazuki Takahashi in the Bunkoban rerelease of the manga. Translation by the blog Beyond The Mountain Lies A World Of Frills
DUEL ART interview
(LINK), (Archived Link), (LINK Japanese)
Interview with Kazuki Takahashi from the DUEL ART artbook. Official translation.
The Gospel of Truth Guidebook
(LINK Japanese), (LINK Translation)
This is an guidebook for the manga released in 2002, that gives a bunch of information about the characters, Shadow Games and cards. It has a bunch of information that's exclusive to it, like characters' ages, favorite and least favorite foods, heights and weights... Wasn't released in languages besides Japanese and French, but a group of fans on Tumblr made a translation of it.
A sequel to it called Millennium Book was released in 2015, and it has information about things that hadn't happened yet, like the ancient Egyptian characters. I'm still trying to find an translation or scan of it. I do have 1 thing from it though:
Millennium Book DSOD Concept art + Takahashi Interview
(LINK), (Archived LINK)
Beginning part of the Millennium Book, that showcases some concept art for the Dark Side of Dimensions movie that was about to come out, and has some comments about them by Kazuki Takahashi, plus an short interview with him. Translation by shinhoroko on Tumblr.
"The Super Long Interview with Kazuki Takahashi-sensei" Translation
(LINK part 1), (LINK part 2), (LINK part 3); (Archived LINK part 1), (Archived LINK part 2), (Archived LINK part 3)
An interview with Kazuki Takahashi that was published in the Gospel of Truth book. Has some interesting information, particularly about the Kaibas. Translation by Shinhoroko on Livejournal.
Studio Dice
This was Kazuki Takahashi's official personal site in the early 2000s, and it had some exclusive art on it. The archived version is pretty buggy and broken, but you can still find some cool stuff in it.
PS: If you find an page with an notebook on it, use the arrow keys to turn the pages!
Weekly Jump Exhibition Interview
An interview with Kazuki Takahashi for an exhibition related to the Weekly Shonen Jump magazine! Talks about his beginnings as an manga artist, and why he likes the magazine.
Jump Ryu
(LINK youtube), (LINK Facebook), (Archived LINK), ( House Tour with English subs)
Jump Ryu was an biweekly booklet/DVD series that focused in a different manga artist in every issue. The eighth one, released in April 21 2016, focused on Kazuki Takahashi! It features him drawing an full colored illustration of Kaiba and a BEWD live, and a tour of his house.
TIME Magazine Interview
(Original LINK), (Translation LINK), (Archived LINK)
Interview with Kazuki Takahashi from 2001, made by Time Magazine. Some of the questions are pretty typical, but it also has them wondering if the series would be successful in the USA, which is pretty amusing. Translated by Ok-Tower2399 from Reddit.
Studio Dice (translations)
(LINK 1), (LINK 2), (Archive LINK 1), (Archive LINK 2),
Translations of things that Takahashi wrote on the Studio Dice site, some about the series, others about his personal life. Posted and translated on Livejournal by Shinhoroko.
Weekly Shōnen Jump site
This was the page about YGO on the official Weekly Shonen Jump website from the 2000s.
YGO's Table of Contents ranking on the magazine
(LINK)
For context: this site, Jajanken, archives where each issue of the manga published on Weekly Shonen Jump ranked on the popularity polls, where readers tell which chapters they liked the most that week. These can affect what happens next in the manga, and it shows just how more popular the manga became after changing it's focus to the card game, along other things.
Interviews with Jason Thompson
(Archived LINK 1), (Archived LINK 2)
Some interviews with Jason Thompson, who was the editor on the English release of the manga. Has some interesting notes on the translation.
"So Long, Pokemon; Yu-Gi-Oh Is Coming" by Karen Kaplan and Mark Magnier
(LINK), (Archived LINK)
An article from the Los Angeles Times from may of 2001, introducing Yugioh to americans before the series had been released there, and presenting it as "the next Pokemon".
"Bend the Rules, but Never Break Them: Individual growth and systemic oppression in Yu-Gi-Oh!" by Vrai Kaiser
(LINK), (Archived LINK)
An article from the anime site AnimeFeminist, analysing some of the themes of the manga (like the stuff with abusive parents and some of it's political themes) and the ways it fails a little on certain points. I don't agree with everything in it but still found it a really good read
(also... look, i swear that this is the ONLY article i've found that actually tries to engage with the plot and themes of YGO and not just be like "oh cards games are dumb" or "did you know the manga's darker????", making it the best one by default)
Kazuki's Essentials: Quotes
『和希の素・語録（かずきのすごろく）』, or Kazuki's Essentials: Quotes, was a Japanese fansite focused on archiving almost all interviews by Kazuki Takahashi, and also giving some information on his obscure non-Yu-Gi-Oh manga work! An incredible site that I recommend everyone to check out, even if it is in Japanese.
Mangaka Musings: In Memoriam to Takahashi Sensei
(LINK), (Archived LINK)
Nice words from other authors from Weekly Shonen Jump, on Kazuki Takahashi passing away.
The Toei Anime (aka Season 0)
Official Toei site
(LINK), (Archive LINK)
This is an official page about the anime on the Toei site, with stuff like information on the number of episodes and character bios. Somehow, as of 2026, it's still up!! All in Japanese.
The Automatic Giant (translation)
(LINK), (Archive LINK)
In 1999, there was an Yu-Gi-Oh novel released, written by Katsuhiko Chiba, who also wrote a few episodes of the Toei anime. It is mostly adaptations of stories from the manga (like the first chapter, the first duel with Kaiba and Death T) but the last chapter of the book is an original story, with new cards and an "new villain" in a way. This is an fan translation of it, as the book hasn't been officially released in English.
"The Life and Death of the FIRST Yu-Gi-Oh! Card Game" by TheJWittz
(LINK)
A pretty good video by Youtube channel TheJWittz about Bandai's original take on an adaptation of the cardgame from the manga (known as Carddass because of the machines where you would get them from), and how... strange it was.
(What's that? Didn't i say that there wouldn't be topics about the actual game? .... Well this isn't the TCG or the OCG, so it doesn't count!)
The Studio Gallop Anime (aka Duel Monsters)
Older official Site
(Archived LINK Japanese), (Archived LINK English 1), (Archived LINK English 2)
Some links to older versions of the official YGO site. Yeah, it still exists today, but don't you wanna check out some versions with really old flash animations?
Masahiro Hikokubo Interview
(LINK), (Archive LINK)
This is an interview with Masahiro Hikokubo, who worked on a bunch of the YGO animes and was responsable for planning the duels and trying to get them closer to the OCG. All in Japanese.
Yoshiro Kataoka Interview
(LINK), (Archive LINK)
This is part of an interview with Yoshiro Kataoka, who worked in many different Japanese TV stations, including on the development of the Duel Monsters anime. It talks about the pretty wild way it managed to be made so soon after Season 0 (it kinda involved blackmail?) and also on the casting of Shunsuke Kazama as Yugi, and of Kazuki Takahashi's initial mixed feelings on it. Only avaliable in Japanese.
Shunsuke Kazama Interview
(LINK), (Archive LINK)
An interview with Yugi's voice actor in Duel Monsters, Shunsuke Kazama, with some participation of Kaiba's voice actor, Kenjiro Tsuda. Only avaliable in Japanese.
Kenjiro Tsuda Interviews
(Interview 1 LINK), (Interview 2 LINK), (Interview 1 ARCHIVE LINK), (Interview 2 ARCHIVE LINK)
Some interviews with Seto Kaiba's Japanese voice actor, Kenjiro Tsuda. The first one is from 2016 and only avaliable in Japanese, the second is from 2025 and in English.
Takahiro Kagami on the Joey Wheeler face meme
(LINK), (Archive LINK)
An article about comments by animator and animation director Takahiro Kagami on the origins of the weird faces Joey and Tristan do in the anime, inspired by wrestler Antonio Inoki.
Pyramid of Light Novel (translation)
This is an Japanese novelization of the Pyramid of Light movie, written by Junki Takegami, who also wrote a decent number of episodes of the DM, GX and Vrains, besides doing some work on the Pyramid of Light movie itself.
The novel is notable for giving Anubis and the Pyramid of Light an backstory that connects them with Priest Seto's father, Aknadin/Akhenaden. Was never officially released in English, the version in the links is a fan translation.
The Odex/Singapore dub
This is an alternate English dub of the Duel Monsters anime, being made for the English-speaking asian market, and having some interesting differences from the 4Kids dub: It keeps the localized names, but it's usually less censored, and also keeps the original soundtrack... but it has very few voice actors, and many of the voices are considered even weirder than the ones that 4Kids gave the characters.
At the very least, it gave us totally radical dude Yami Yugi and southern Bakura.
'Yu-Gi-Oh!': Anime Made In... For America by Fred Patten
(LINK), (Archived LINK)
Article on the site Animation World Network from 2004 about the Pyramid of Light movie. Interesting for talking about anime movies in the context of the 2000s.
4Kids Dub
King of Games Promotional VHS Tape
This was an VHS tape that was distributed in the early 2000s in the US by the Toys R Us toy store, made to promote the release of the anime and the cardgame. It has a brief description of the plot, Yugi telling you a little about himself, some very cheesy songs... and in the end Pegasus tries to sell you a bunch of merch.
Something that's notable about these is that here Yugi is voiced by Greg Abbey (most known for voicing Yusei from 5Ds and Tristan for most of the show), while Dan Green is an narrator. Accourding to them in some interviews, that was the original plan for the actual show, but thanks to Abbey getting busy around that time they went with Dan Green instead.
Also, the tape was presented as being an invitation for Duelist Kingdom from Pegasus himself, with it even having a letter from him in it!
Yu-Jyo: A Yu-Gi-Oh Episode Guide
This site was one of the earliest places online to compare and contrast all the changes made in the American dub of the show, and it's still one of the more complete comparisons online.
Yu-Gi-Oh! Uncensored
Another early site about the censorship on the English dub, this one inspired by an Dragon Ball site from around this time. It isn't as detailed as Yu-Jyo.
Music to Duel By
This is a CD that 4Kids released, featuring both songs they used in the English dub of the show, and a few original to it. It's... cheesy, but I find many of them pretty good.
Uncut English Dub
(Archived Link), (Ad for the DVDs)
Here's something rather interesting: Around 2004, 4Kids made an attempt to release DVDs with Uncut and Uncensored versions of a few of their shows! They released ones for Shaman King and Yu-Gi-Oh!, with the YGO ones having a brand new dub using most of the same voice actors from their better known dub, but trying to be more accurate to the original (sometimes in a slighty too literal way) and the original score; they also came with the original Japanese dub subtitled, something not found outide of piracy at that time.
Unfortunately, only 3 DVDs with 9 episodes were released, seemingly because of poor sales (or licensing rights). A fourth DVD was announced, but never released.
Original Broadcast version of episodes 4-5 and 14-15
(Video LINK 1), (Video LINK 2), (Better Quality song 2)
Here's something a little strange: Back when YGO first aired in the US in 2001, episodes 4-5 (the duel against Weevil) and 14-15 (the duel against Panik) were merged together! This was done with a musical montage in both, using songs that never appeared in the show otherwise (though the song from the Weevil duel is in the Music to Duel By CD).
As far as I could find, these edited versions of the episodes were not used in the international dubs that used the 4Kids dub as basis, and they stopped being used since around 2005? (though it seemes like they had the edited version of episode 14 in Hulu for a while??)
4Kids Anti-Drug PSA
(Video LINK 1), (Video LINK 2, (Image LINK 1), (Image LINK 2), (Article Link)
In 2003 4Kids licensed the Yu-Gi-Oh cast for an anti-drug campaign called "Honor: My Anti-Drug". It featured a few stickers with 4 characters and their alleged reason for not using drugs, and an... infamous flash animation PSA, with Dan Green even voicing Yami Yugi in it.
4Kids Flashback Podcast
(Site Link), (Playlist Link)
This is a podcast all about interviewing people who worked for 4Kids in the past, from voice actors to editors to the script writers! Not every episode is focused on YGO obviously, but you'll find some interesting information related to it in there!
Jonathan Todd Ross Interview
(LINK)
An interview with Marik and Yami Marik's English voice actor, Jonathan Todd Ross, in the Ozymandias Project podcast. It has him talking a little about his career, some of his opinions about YGO, and him reading Percy Bysshe Shelley's Ozymandias poem as Marik!
Scripted Duels
(Playlist 1), (Playlist 2)
Something interesting that happens sometimes is that, to promote new cards, some of the English voice actors are brought over to tournaments to do an scripted duel in-character against each other! They have cool interactions between the characters, sometimes even with characters from different shows!
The Lawsuit
(Article 1), (Archived Article 1), (Article 2), (Archived Article 2), (Article 3), (Archived Article 3), (Article 4), (Archived Article 4), (Article 5), (Archived Article 5)
Yeah, ever wondered why 4Kids doesn't really exist anymore? It's kinda complicated, but a big part was that they got sued by TV Tokyo and Nihon Ad Systems after they learned of a deal they had with Funimation. These articles go more in-depth into that, and also about 4Kids filing for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy... twice.
Capsule Monsters
First sightings on Livejournal
(Archive LINK), (Source)
So, this needs a bit of context: This show was first broadcast in the USA in September 9, 2006... but before that, the irish TV channel The Den played the first few episodes from January to February in early 2006, seemingly by accident as the channel had played some Duel Monsters episodes before other markets before.
The Livejournal user angryhamster ended up catching one of these early Capsule Monsters showings and posted about it on the Playthedamncard group, surprising all the other fans as these were completely new episodes never seen before!
Yu-Gi-Oh ALEX
(LINK), (Archived LINK)
Despite being worked on by Studio Gallop and Nihon Ad Systems, who also worked on the Duel Monsters anime, Capsule Monsters never got an release in Japan... But something that has fascinated fans for years now is that the official Studio Gallop site lists the show as "遊戯王 ALEX", or "Yu-Gi-Oh ALEX", an completely original name.
Could this mean that the show was planned to have an japanese release, and this would be it's localized name? ... Probably not, but it's still interesting.
Yu-Gi-Oh GX
GX Sub/Dub Comparisons
(Tumblr LINK), (Reddit LINK)
A series of posts showcasing of the changes made in the English dub of GX, made by DrWatsonia/seventhdoctor. Still ongoing.
Interview with KENN and Taiki Matsuno
(LINK), (Archive LINK)
An interview with two of the Japanese voice actors for GX: KENN, who voices Judai/Jaden Yuki, and Taiki Matsuno, who voices Jun Manjoume/Chazz Princeton. Only avaliable in Japanese.
Yu-Gi-Oh 5Ds
English Opening Song Contest
(Youtube LINK), (Archived LINK)
Before 5Ds' English dub was released, in 2008, 4Kids made a contest where people could choose the opening that the show's English dub would have. In the end, Hyperdrive won.
The strangest is probably "Better be Better than Best", which seems to be in Jack Atlas' point of view?? It's pretty catchy though.
Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal
Original/Lost Zexal English dub
(Video LINK 1), (Video LINK 2), (Article LINK), (Archived Article LINK)
Here's a weird one: As Zexal got released around the time that the 4Kids lawsuit took place, and that it was thought they would lose the YGO license, the dubbing company Bang Zoom Entertainment got hired to make the Zexal dub. It went foward for a while, but eventually the lawsuit was resolved and 4Kids ended up making their own English dub, making this alternate dub lost media. It is notable for having Johnny Yong Bosch as Yuma.
Videogames
Old Konami Site
An official Japanese site about all the early YGO videogames! Has some information on most of the ones released until that point, plus some cool renders, could be useful.
"I Tried Solving a 20-YEAR-OLD Yu-Gi-Oh Mystery" and "This Yu-Gi-Oh Game was Hiding Something" by semaJ Ch
(Part 1 LINK ), (Part 2 LINK )
Two videos from the Youtuber "semaJ Ch" about the game Duelist of the Roses, and the mystery of it's weird password system, explaining why they are so different from the other YGO games and finsing out where people had found the few that were avaliable online for many years.
Fandom
Shipping Masterlist
The Yu-Gi-Oh fandom has, for a good while now, used an specific type of shipping name that uses an word related to the characters' relationship + the word shipping, probably inspired by the Pokémon fandom, that uses the same naming scheme for their pairings.
Because of that, many have created lists to catalog as many of the names as they can. Here are a few examples:
(MASTERLIST on Tumblr), (SHIP SEARCH on Neocities)
Yu-Gi-Oh The Abridged Series
(Playlist LINK), (Archive LINK)
This is a very popular parody series of the Duel Monsters anime, created by Bea "Little Kuriboh" Billany in 2006, and still ongoing. It started the trend of the "abridged" parody series that were very popular in the 2000s and 2010s, and also a lot of memes associated with the YGO series.
Note that, as something that began in 2006, it has many dated elements in it (as in jokes that haven't aged that well... and also really old memes). Keep this in mind if you decide to watch it from the start.
Below are a few other things related to the Abridged series:
- LINK to a Playlist with other YGOTAS videos (parodies of the movies, other skits, songs, etc.);
- Archived LINK to the old YGOTAS site;
- Archived LINK to LittleKuriboh's page on the old Team Four Stars website
MADs
MAD is a word used to refer to a bunch of different fan videos made in Japan, that would be similar to our AMV or Youtube Poops. They often use clips of different popular shows and splice them up to make song parodies, or just funny videos; there are also Tegaki MADs, meaning Hand-drawn MADs, which reanimate something over (often anime openings/endings or memes) with others characters.
They are usually posted on the site Nico Nico Douga, and the Yu-Gi-Oh series are a very popular source for them, with a lot of memes being created thanks to them like Kaiba using the Enemy Controller card.
I've made a playlist with some examples of YGO MADs I found on Youtube, mostly ones with subtitles, but there are some that are still only in Japanese:
Time To Duel
This is a fanfilm released in 2005! It's... probably not the most sofisticated fanfilm out there, but it's fun, and clearly made with love. For some reason, also avaliable on Tubi and Prime Video on some areas.
In the name of the pharaoh/Ravegrl
( LINK), ( Archived LINK)
This is a YGO related blog that had been updating since 2007, and has all kinds of things, from interviews to news to links of where to watch the shows. If you enjoyed this site, you'll probably find this page interesting. Unfortunately went down in early 2026, but a lot of it can still be found on the Wayback Machine.
- Archived LINK to a compilation of titles and first paragraphs of many of the articles from the site, going back until 2017.
OTHER
Early YGO timeline
(LINK), (Archived LINK)
Post by MisterBadGuy159 on Reddit going over an timeline of the early YGO days, where the manga was when certain games and anime were released and how the different kinds of media influenced one another.
Other Works by Kazuki Takahashi
For the past few years, I've made some research into some of Takahashi's more obscure works. Here are some things related to it:
- Essay on my research on his works from before Yu-Gi-Oh that I posted on Tumblr;
- Abridged version of this essay that I posted on Bluesky;
- LINK to an full volume of Tennenshoku Danji BURAY, an longer serialized manga he wrote on Shonen Jump before YGO
- LINK to Kazuki Takahashi's profile on "Weekly Jump Multi World", an event to celebrate Shonen Jump's 25 aniversary, that included some information about him and his works up until that point (Archived LINK)