Editing Yu-Gi-Oh (section)

==The Anime/Manga==
[[Image:Banditkeith.jpg|450px|thumb|right|This is what the rest of the world thinks all people look like... IN AMERICA.]]
Yu-Gi-Oh was clumsily "advertised" by a cartoon for children about adults playing a children's card game, which shared the same name. Made even worse in the West where 4Kids Entertainment americanized the show and badly censoring anything violent, such as banishing characters to ''The Shadow Realm'' instead of dying in the story. However 4Kids was found to have withheld royalties from Konami, [[Fail|leading them to terminate their Yu-Gi-Oh contract and 4Kids' eventual bankruptcy.]]

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'''Season 0''' as fans refer to it was the first anime made for the series based on the early chapters of the manga, notably more darker in tone yet equally as silly compared to the second anime most people are familair with. Yami Yuugi is a well known follower of [[Tzeentch]] (as if the Egyptian gig wasn't enough of a give away). Mostly it was about Yami Yuugi punishing local bullies and scumbags by challenging them to a "Yami No Game", a dark and demented game of Yami's making with a stringent set of rules (dependent on the current challenge) that are meant to test the person's true character. If the person looses a Yami Game, or breaks the rules in any way, he will either kill them or [[Grimdark|give them such realistically horrifying hallucinations that they turn into a gibbering, hapless wreck]]. As an example, Yami once played table hockey with a puck full of nitroglycerin and blew the other guy to bits. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWXTZ8zuuDQ In another game in the anime, he tricked an armed criminal holding his friend hostage into pouring 180 proof vodka all over himself and putting a lighter on his hand]. Subsequent Yamis... well, he IS the King of Games, but his punishments weren't AS horrific so he arguably drifted away from it somewhat, but outside of the DURO MONSTA CARDO scene where he invokes [[Khorne]], he's still in [[JUST AS PLANNED]] territory.
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:Yugi Moto is a [[Neckbeard|lonely high school kid]] with few friends but covets his "treasure" - an ancient Egyptian puzzle inscribed with the message that the one who solves the puzzle will be granted [[Chaos|dark powers.]] Although no one has been able to solve it Yugi is close to completing it after 8 years of trying. One day at school while showing off the puzzle to his classmate Anzu (Tea in English), a bully named Jonouchi (known [[Meme|IN AMERICA]] as Joey) secretly snatches a piece while messing with Yugi and throws it into a river. However this attracts the attention of Ushio, a huge malicious hall monitor, who takes it upon himself to be Yugi's bodyguard and beats Jonouchi and Honda (Tristan) - who Ushio thought was also bullying Yugi - to a pulp. Yugi however intervenes, claiming that they're his friends, which surprises Jonouchi and earns his respect. Ushio shrugs and says Yugi must pay up for his bodyguard services and when Yugi can't pay he beats him as well. Jonouchi retrieves the missing piece from the river, allowing Yugi to complete the puzzle. Immediately the spirit of puzzle [[Daemonhost|possesses Yugi]] and challenges Usio to a Yami Game where they hang from the roof by a single rope they share. When Usio loses he tries to throw Yugi off the building but instead hallucinates himself falling into the river and getting eaten by monsters. Yugi, Joey, Honda, and Anzu now forming a close group of friends - and occasionally a second girl named Miho who existed for 1 chapter in the manga but was added into the cast of the anime.

:Many episodes then follow a similar format, where a bad guy antagonizes Yugi or his friends, Yugi is possessed by the spirit & challenges them to a Yami Game, where they usually try to cheat and suffer the penalty. Famously as mentioned before when an escaped convict holds Yugi's friend Anzu (Tea) at gunpoint in the restaurant she is working at. The possessed Yami Yugi challenges him to a game where they try to kill the other with one finger. The criminal obviously chooses his trigger finger while Yami chooses his thumb, offering to light the gunman's cigarette while he pours himself a shot of vodka. Yami dropping the lighter on his wrist pouring the drink, meaning if he shoots he'll drop the lighter in the vodka he's now spilling all over himself. In the manga he actually does die agaonizingly, while in the anime [[Pretend|he only hallucinates catching fire.]]

:One day at school Yugi mentions to his friends his grandpa owns the [[FLGS]] and has a rare limited edition card: the Blue Eyes White Dragon. This attracts the attention of the billionaire transfer student Seto Kaiba, who offers to trade an entire suitcase worth of cards for it but Yugi's grandpa refuses. Kaiba manages to trick Yugi to bring the card to school so he can steal it, but Yami Yugi challenges him to a Yami Game of Duel Monsters for it where the monsters in the cards come to life. Kaiba and Yugi trade blows, but Kaiba gains the upper hand with the stolen Blue Eyes White Dragon card. Just before he's about to win though Blue Eyes [[What|refuses to attack and kills itself because Yugi's Grandfather's heart was in the card.]] Kaiba manages to end the duel in a draw, leaving the Blue Eyes card and vowing to defeat Yugi.

:Yugi also meets other people who possess different Millennium Items in the series, including Shadi, a mysterious figure who wields both the Millennium Scales and Key. Able to see into people hearts and control people with his items, Shadi challenges Yugi to a Yami Game to test his worthiness of wielding the Millennium Puzzle. Making Anzu walk onto a plank high up on a building, secured only to ushabti statues that represent Yugi's heart in the game while a single ushabti connects to Shadi's Millenium Key that will free her if he loses. Shadi torments Yami Yugi trying to break his spirit and in turn almost breaks all the statues holding Anzu up, but Yugi keeps his composure, believing in his friends while Shadi doubts his faith. For the final test Shadi summons a phantom of Jonouchi to be Yugi's opponent, but Yami refuses to play against it. Shadi is shocked when the phantom also refuses to play as the real Jonouchi saves Anzu, causing his ushabti to break and lose the game. Shadi admits defeat and leaves, claiming that Yugi is indeed worthy.

:Later in the series Kaiba returns, kidnapping Yugi's grandpa. Challenging Yugi for a rematch if he wants his grandpa back at his new amusement park: Death-T, specifically designed to ''murder'' Yugi and his friends. Kaiba hiring professional hitmen and murderers for the challenges, and several traps that would electrocute, cut, or crush them all to death. After defeating and saving Kaiba's younger brother Mokuba from Death-T, Yami/Yugi learns that Kaiba once cared about [[Timmy|having fun]] but became cruel over time. Mokuba and his brother were once orphans but Seto challenged a chess master and president of KaibaCorp, Gozaburo Kaiba to a chess game with the promise that if they won he'd have to adopt them both - which Gozaburo loses. Furious Gozaburo puts incredible strain on his new adoptive son, making him study advanced subjects and business throughout his childhood. Eventually Seto grew to be a cold and ruthless business tycoon, overthrowing Gozaburo from his own company. Gozaburo congratulates Seto before jumping out of the window of the KaibaCorp building, ingraining the lesson to Seto that [[Grimdark|defeat equals death.]]

:Yugi arrives to face Kaiba, who has installed holograms to simulate their previous Yami Game for their duel. Kaiba summoning [[Powergamer|3 Blue Eyes]] while Yugi only draws weak pieces of a larger monster. Just before he's about to lose Yugi puts his faith in his cards and draws the final piece of [[Meme|the unstoppable Exodia]] winning the game. As penalty Yami Yugi shatters Kaiba's mind, but leaves the pieces in his heart promising Mokuba that if any kindness remains inside Kaiba he can put the pieces back together.

:The second and final Millennium Item user Yugi faces is a fellow classmate, Bakura who wields the Millennium Ring which also holds a spirit inside. However this spirit is cruel and torments both it's opponents and it's host, stealing the souls of those he defeats and putting them into game pieces. Yami Bakura plays a game of [[Dungeons & Dragons|Monster World]] with Yugi and his friends in an attempt to steal the Millennium Puzzle, [[Rocks fall, everyone dies|transferring their souls to their miniatures until there are no players left.]] Yami Yugi then gets up to Yami Bakura's surprise, taking up the dice rolls for everyone for the remainder of the game. The party eventually making it to the end of the dungeon, with the real Bakura sacrificing himself so that they can defeat the final boss. But then [[What|they revive his character in game which brings him back to life in the real world]], ending the series with Bakura making a diorama with all their miniatures.

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'''Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters''' was the main series most remember but is technically the second made. Completely butchered by 4Kids in an attempt to localize and edit it for a much younger audience, the only saving grace being Dan Green's performance as both Yugis. Made more infamous at the start of the series as the card game hadn't been created yet, leading to many cases where characters seem to make up rules on the fly, although by the second season this slowly becomes less of an issue. It's popularity going to spawn off several set of cards, spin-off series, and many, many memes.
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:[[Epic|Long ago, when the pyramids were still young, ancient Egyptian kings played games of great and terrible power. But these Shadow Games caused a war which threatened to destroy the entire world, until a brave and powerful Pharaoh sealed the magic away within the seven mystical Millennium Items. Now, 5,000 years later, a boy named Yugi unlocks the secret of the Millennium Puzzle. He is infused with ancient magical energies, for destiny has chosen him to defend the world from the return of the Shadow Games, just as the brave Pharaoh did, 5,000 years ago.]]

:Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters begins much the same as Season 0, minus the fact that Yugi has already completed the puzzle and made friends with the rest of the cast. While playing Duel Monsters against Joey/Jonouchi, Yugi invites them all to see his Grandfather's rare card, which the rich student Kaiba overhears and follows them to the [[FLGS]]. When his Grandpa shows off the one of a kind Blue Eyes White Dragon, Kaiba rushes in offering to trade or buy it outright, but is turned down. The next day Kaiba challenges Yugi's grandpa for the card and defeating him, [[Troll|only to tear the card in half in front of everyone.]] Yugi transforms into Yami Yugi and challenges Kaiba to a rematch, [[Powergamer|during which Kaiba summons 3 more copies of Blue Eyes.]] Believing in [[Tzeentch|the heart of the cards]] Yugi gathers the last piece of Exodia in his hand winning the duel.

:Word of Kaiba's defeat quickly spreads to the creator of Duel Monsters, Maximillion Pegasus, who sends a [[STC|VHS tape]] to Yugi's house. But when he plays the tape everything suddenly freezes around him as he's thrown into a Shadow Game. [[What|Through the prerecorded video Pegasus reveals he possess the Millennium Eye and challenges Yugi to a duel.]] Yugi manages to almost win [[Bullshit|but runs out of time on the tape before the last attack lands.]] Pegasus technically the victor of the Shadow Game steals his grandpa's soul, taunting Yugi that if he wants his grandpa returned to face him in the tournament on his own personal island.

:Yugi travels to Pegasus's island, fighting against opponents with some wonky rules as the anime came before any actual card game existed yet, but eventually earn their spot in Pegasus' castle. Kaiba making a reappearance to save his younger brother Mokuba who had also been kidnapped by Pegasus in a plot to take over his company. Yugi faces him in a rematch on top of the castle, but refuses to deal the finishing blow as Kaiba threatens to commit suicide if he loses - or fall off from the shockwave of the hologram in the 4Kids dub. Yugi is able to recover and eventually faces Pegasus in the finals. Switching between Yami and normal Yugi to throw off his mind reading powers, before throwing his hairy balls in his eyes to win the duel. Yugi is crowned king of games, but gives Joey/Jonouchi the prize money to pay for his sister's expensive eye surgery and saving his grandfather, Kaiba, and Mokuba.

:Pegasus meanwhile is attacked by another of Yugi's friends, Bakura, who is in possession of the Millennium Ring with it's own dark spirit. Yami Bakura defeats him and [[Grimdark|rips out the Millennium Eye from Pegasus's skull]], stating his desire to posses all the items for his own purposes. In the anime continuity Pegasus survives the attack but the manga has him die from his wound with blood gushing from his empty eye socket. Seemingly having died clutching a card portrait he made of his deceased wife whom he wished to revive using the power of the millennium items.

:Shortly after this Kaiba is approached by a woman named Ishizu Ishtar who claims he and Yugi are the reincarnations of ancient Egyptian kings, showing him an ancient stone tablet depicting Kaiba and Yugi dueling. She states her brother Marik possess the Millennium Rod and is after the rest of the Millennium Items and [[Power Nine|3 incredibly powerful God cards:]] Obilisk the Tormentor, [[Meme|Slifer the Executive Producer, and Mega Ultra Chicken]] - who are ironically terrible in the real life card game. Ishizu gives Kaiba Obilisk, managing to save it before her brother took the other two. This prompts Kaiba to hold a city wide tournament to draw out the god cards where the victor takes their opponents rarest card, and also as a chance to challenge Yugi for the championship title.

:The semi finals of this tournament being played on Kaiba's own personal dueling blimp, and the grand finals are played on yet another island. Through exposition and flashbacks Marik's and Ishizu's backstory is revealed during & in between matches. The Ishtar family tasked with guarding the pharaoh's tomb in the Valley of the Kings since ancient times. Marik's father was an old and bitter man because his wife was unable to sire him a son - only giving birth to Ishizu - so they adopted an orphan named Odion (Rashid). Ishizu's mother loved Odion like her own son, but just before he was to come of age she became pregnant. She died giving birth to Marik, leaving all 3 to their father's abuse. Eventually Marik became of age and was went through the tomb-keeper ritual, [[Grimdark|where they carve hieroglyphs onto the back of the child]] - or tattoo them in the 4kids dub. This trauma caused Marik to develop a split personality dubbed Yami Marik, murder his father, and eventually plan to get revenge of the Pharaoh himself as he believe he was the cause of all his misery in life.

:Jonouchi/Joey faces Marik in the semi finals and despite being physically tortured by the pain of the Shadow Game he is about to defeat Marik, but dies just before he declares the finishing attack - or falls into a coma in 4kids' dub. Leaving Yugi and Kaiba have their rematch with the winner battling Marik. Yugi and Kaiba clash fiercely, each summoning their ace monsters and even their respective God cards. Yugi using Joey's Red-Eyes Black Dragon card to turn the tide of the duel and eventually wins the match against Kaiba, taking the second God card and heads to face Yami Marik in the finals.

:Yami Marik concocts a wicked Shadow Game to set the scene of the final duel, where the loser's other half will slowly fade away as they lose points. Taking great glee in torturing both Yugi and the normal Marik with the effects of his God card, taunting both with the fact he was the one who was responsible for the miserable parts of Marik's life. Though Yugi is able sacrifice all his cards to defeat Yami Marik's Winged Dragon of Ra, the result letting the real Marik regain control as Yami Marik had fused with Ra for more power. This left Yami Marik the one to disappear and Yugi & the Pharaoh completely defenseless. Marik however forgives the spirit of the Pharaoh and forfeits the duel as Yami Marik vanishes.

:Now having gathered all 3 god cards, Yugi goes to unlock the pharaoh's memories sealed in the Millennium Puzzle through the previously mentioned stone tablet. Yami Bakura then makes his move, challenging Yami Yugi to a [[Dungeons & Dragons|Dark RPG]] for his Millennium Items, through which the events that happened in Egypt 5,000 years ago are repeated. The goal of Yami Bakura's RPG team (himself, the mummy of Aknadin, and the evil spirit of Zorc) is to repeat the events of 5,000 years ago, releasing Zorc into the modern world. While Yami Yugi's goal is to find a way to stop him, Yugi and his friends on a side quest for the Pharaoh's true name that is the key to defeating Zorc. 

:The cast witnessing what led up to the cataclysm that almost ended the world, such as the Priest Aknadin falling to Zorc's influence, Kaiba's ancestor Priest Seto falling in love with a peasant woman named Kisara; who contained the powerful Blue Eyes White Dragon spirit, and the royal palace's clash with the King of Thieves Bakura. Eventually revealing that the Millennium Items [[Grimdark|were created by mixing the flesh, blood and bones of 99 human sacrifices with gold]], but that one boy survived the slaughter and became the Thief King Bakura. In the past Thief Bakura returned to seek his revenge and took the 7 Millennium Items to summon forth a demon of darkness called Zorc Necrophades. However the pharaoh sacrificed himself to seal the memory of him and Zorc into the Millennium Puzzle. Unknown to him however both Thief King Bakura and Zorc had sealed part of their soul into the Millennium Ring: creating the modern day Yami Bakura.

:The Pharaoh puts up his best fight, but he is unable to stop Zorc from being summoned once again. Zorc is let loose, setting Egypt into chaos with the goal of killing the Pharaoh in the game world to escape into the modern world. Aknadin then pulls a Darth Vader on Seto, revealing he was both his father and the King's brother (making Yugi and Kaiba cousins) and planned for Seto to rule as the new Pharaoh under Zorc. Seto rejects his offer and defeats him, but Kisara sacrifices herself to save Seto from an attack. In grief (and secretly possessed by his father's evil spirit) Seto battled the Pharoah, the scene becoming the visage on the stone tablet. Seto ending defeating the Pharaoh, but Kisara's spirit reincarnated in the Blue Eyes White Dragon frees him from his father's control. Now united, their combined forces battle Zorc, but are easily defeated with not even [[Meme|The Unstoppable Exodia]] managing to last long against him. But just as all seems lost, Yugi defeats Yami Marik on his own and discovers the Pharoah's true name Bakura kept hidden - Atem. Atem now empowered combines the God cards into Holactie the Creator of Light, which swiftly obliterates Zorc. Erasing him and Yami Bakura from the Earth for good while in the real world Aknadin's mummy crumbles to dust and Bakura is freed for good.

:While everyone is happy that Atem has regained his memories, he must now pass on since his mission is complete - having to be defeated in a duel by Yugi in the Valley of the Kings to ascend to the afterlife unlocked by the Millennium Items. Yugi nor any of his friends wanting him to have to leave, but Yugi resolves to give his all in their duel. Being able to prove his growth from the start of their adventures in their duel, even destroying the 3 god cards at the same time, before finally defeating Atem. Though everyone is saddened by the Atem's departure they promise that he will live on in the memories they shared. Atem silently bidding them farewell as he walks into a literal door to the afterlife as the tomb starts to collapse, the Millennium Items falling into the abyss as everyone escapes. Ending the series by saying that their own stories are just getting started.

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'''Yu-Gi-Oh! Abridged''' as previously mentioned offhandedly near the top of the page, is an abridged series of the second anime. An affectionate parody that "dubbed" episodes of the series into non-canon humor, it's so popular that enough imitators of it focusing on other media entirely happened for the "Abridged series"-style of fan parodies to be considered a genre on its own. Also, there's even ''more'' memes from it than the actual show. Perhaps the most widespread joke spawned by the series is the use of the phrase "children's card game(s)" to underscore how silly everything revolving around card games is and how everyone takes it ''way'' too seriously. Not only has this has gained use within the larger fandom, it has quickly entered use to refer to other [[Card Game]]s. Other jokes of note are Seto's utterance "Screw the rules! I have money!", and 5ds as "Cardgames on motorcycles".

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Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Monsters was so popular, they released a spin-off sequel show called '''Yu-Gi-Oh GX''', about children attending a university that teaches students how to play a children's card game (really). This bad premise is made worse by being from an era where card design quality was rock bottom, giving main characters terrible decks ''and'' plot armor at the same time, leading to some really stupid duels. The main character's plot armor is such that he loses three times in the entire anime (Yugi lost more than that before the end of Duelist Kingdom!), one of those to Seto Kaiba's literal self-insert character, and another to a professional. Even the US dubbers noticed how stupid this series was, and would write dialog that mocked the franchise, making [http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2bml9_is-littlekuriboh-writing-for-yu-gi_fun#.Ub5g-_k3uSo some parts] of the show look like an Abridged parody. It's also infamous for randomly getting really good in the 3rd season. (You can skip most of the first season.) For real though, the Supreme King plot was awesome.
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:Sometime after the first series, Seto Kaiba created a university specifically centered around teaching children how to play the card game on a volcanic island. GX follows Jaden Yuki who narrowly misses the entrance exams to Duel Academy after bumping into Yugi from the Duel Monster series, who gives him [[Troll|rare]] Winged Kuriboh card. Jaden is given an opportunity to take the exam against one of the top professors and his Ancient Gear deck, Professor Crowler (or Chronos in the sub). Jaden is berated both in the duel and out by Crowler, but Jaden states that he is having fun dueling him. In the end Jaden manages to win and is accepted into Duel Academy as promised, albeit at the lowest hierarchy - the Slifer Red dorm. Although he quickly makes friends with several students such as Syrus and Chumley in Slifer Red, Bastion Misawa in the middlemost dorm; Ra Yellow, and Chazz Princeton & Alexis Rhodes in the top dorm Obelisk Blue. Each dorm named after their titular Egyptian god cards, [[Troll|Kaiba apparently placing his at the top and Yugi's at the bottom.]] Slifer's students living in a cramped and dirty apartment, Ra being a more normal dormitory, and Obelisk's essentially a luxurious mansion.

:The earliest season is notoriously bad, with many episodic, nonsensical plots [[What|such as a monkey being forced to learn to duel by scientists, a student being kept underground because when he duels he makes other people <s>high</s> sleepy when he duels them, and the group threatening to be murdered by Duel Monster spirits]] - and a semi serious subplot of several students going missing, one being Alexis's brother, and being covered up by Duel Academy. One of the ''few'' good decisions 4kids made when dubbing over the series was adding in dialogue making fun of the series itself it borders on being it's own Abridged Series. However they still did their usual over the top censoring on anything violent and other dumb localization changes like giving children adult voices and grown men the voice of prepubescent kids.

:Outside of Professor Crowler spending a few episodes trying to expel Jaden as revenge for embarrassing him, the only other stand out characters are [[Edgelord|Zane Truesdale]] - Syrus's older brother who called him weak for [[What|being afraid to play a card]] - and Tyranno Hassleberry who's entire deck and character is dinosaur themed because [[What|as a kid he had a dinosaur fossil grafted onto his broken leg after an accident.]]

:The main conflict of the season begins when the principal of Duel Academy approaches the cast and reveals that [[What|Duel Academy is merely a front to seal 3 powerful <s>not god cards</s> Sacred Beast cards underneath with seven spirit keys.]] He then gives each a key and says seven "shadow riders" will come to try and take them to unleash the Sacred Beasts. The shadow riders turn out to be mostly joke characters that are defeated the episode they are introduced. The only losses being against the vampire Camula because Syrus's soul would be sacrificed if she lost her duel against Zane, and Bastion lost his duel against a [[Musclegirl|Amazon]] who turned out to be a [[Furry|cat]] after she was defeated by Jaden in the episode immediately after. Despite beating everyone they couldn't end the arc without a climactic battle so the show makes Chazz steal the seven spirit keys to ask Alexis out on a date because <s>Sonic the Hedgehog</s> her brother told him it was a good idea. The one behind the plot turns out to be the chairman of Duel Academy, who steals the keys from Chazz and reveals he wants to use the power of the Sacred Beasts to obtain eternal youth. Jaden challenges him to save the world and defeats him after a tough duel, telling him he doesn't need [[Chaos|the powers of evil god cards]] to feel young - [[Fail|only to break his frail spine after giving him a hug.]]

:After graduating from Duel Academy in the second season Zane goes into the pro leagues, only to get humiliated by a duelist named Aster Phoenix who also uses a HERO deck like Jaden. Becoming a hasbeen, Zane goes into the [[Edgy|underground dueling scene where duelists fight in a steel cage and wear shock collars that electrocute them when they take damage.]] The main antagonist this time is Sartorius, a fortune teller who can "control destiny" through his Arcana Force cards (by predicting their coin flip effects) and mind controlling people he defeats in a duel to join his Society of Light. As a side job apparently he manages Aster Phoenix in the pro duel leagues and asks him to defeat Jaden so that he will be mind controlled. Aster actually defeats Jaden, but instead of being mind controlled he is left unable to see his cards. 

:Jaden is depressed by this until he is abducted by an [[Furry|alien dolphin]] who explains that [[Pretend|The "Gentle" Darkness is the force of good and The Light of Destruction is evil]] and possessing Sartorius. Jaden remembers who the dolphin is, as a child he entered a card design contest hosted by Seto Kaiba [[What|where the winning designs would be turned into cards and sent into space to teach aliens dueling.]] Jaden finds his Neo Spacian cards and thus his sight and drive to duel is restored. Meanwhile back at Duel Academy the Genex tournament is beginning, which Sartorius uses the opportunity to mind control a random prince who just happened to attend this card game tournament with the launch codes to [[Exterminatus|an orbital laser]] that the possessed Sartorius will use to destroy the world (or mind control it in the dub). Although Sartorius's good half is able to regain control briefly and gives possession of the two keys needed to activate it to Jaden and Aster.

:At the final battle Jaden confronts Sartorius who has taken Aster captive after he tried to stop him, placing him in a scale that will drop him into a vat of lava unless Jaden hands over the keys. Jaden does so [[Troll|but then Sartorius has the mind controlled prince take the keys and activate the satellite]] despite Hassleberry's best efforts to stop him. [[What|Enraged, Hassleberry's inner dinosaur awakens as an astral projection and is joined by the spirit of Jaden's Elemental HERO Neos as the two fly off into space to destroy the satellite before it fires.]] Jaden is able to defy Sartorius's divinations and defeats him just as the satellite is destroyed, freeing everyone mind controlled including Sartorius.

:In the 3rd season Duel Academy hosts the Disclosure Duel tournament (shortened to Des Duels as a pun on ''Death Duels'') ran by [[Goge Vandire|a guy with the most evil sounding name ever, Thelonious Viper,]] under the guise to weed out duelists with weak fighting spirits. In actuality the bracelets they wear feeds off their duel energy to the point they either collapse or die from exhaustion, and sends their energy to the disembodied arm of a strange being in a tank. During the tournament Jaden becomes fast friends with Jesse Anderson and others from different schools. They eventually discover the truth behind the Des Duels thanks to a duelist named Adrian Gecko who had been investigating Viper, and they plan their counter attack.

:The group successfully overload the bands and head to Viper's hidden base, although Adrian secretly went ahead to confront Viper. They both take off their shirts and throw down fists instead of cards, though just before Adrian deals the finishing blow he's paralyzed by the demon in the tank with visions of his younger self [[Grimdark|contemplating killing his infant brother.]] Afterwards Viper duels Jaden with his venom deck, but Jaden manages to make a comeback and defeat Viper. The demon then appears as a glowing apparition aside from it's arm, as it had promised Viper to let him see his son who had died in a car accident in exchange for helping it recover. It does just that, giving Viper a vision of his deceased son and making him [[Grimdark|walk off the roof and fall to his death]], only for the demon to reveal it knows Jaden before teleporting the entire school to another dimension.

:The students find themselves trapped in a world where duel monsters are real, and also Bastion who the writers actually forgot about midway through season 2. Meanwhile the demon slowly accumulates it's power, possessing the body of one of the children and using the bio bands still around the students wrists. Once they're completely drained of energy they rise up as "duel zombies" and wander to battle more students. Jaden and co battle their way through the horde while Bastion works up a plan to bring them back to their world. Eventually Jaden and Jesse face the possessed student by the demon who reveals itself to be named Yubel and again taunts Jaden that they'll make him suffer like he made them - though he has no idea what she means. In the end Jesse sacrifices himself to save Jaden just as the school and students are transported back to Earth.

:Depressed that Jesse is gone, but believing he's still alive in the duel monster dimension somewhere, Jaden plans to leave on his own to look for him. However is friends stop him, saying they want to join him on his. They enter a portal to other dimension and quickly find both weak monsters and humans being oppressed and enslaved. While battling the boss monster in a duel to free the slaves Jaden learns that being defeated in a duel actually means dying. He's shaken by this but decides to keep this fact to himself, reasoning that he will be the only putting his life on the line and won't lose any more friends. He then loses all his friends.

:While searching for Jesse, the group besides Jaden and Syrus get captured - and Bastion who stayed behind with his [[furry]] [[musclegirl|amazon]] gf, presumably until the end of the series. Jaden challenges their leader, the monster Brron, Mad King of Dark World to let his friends go. Instead during their duel Brron sacrifices each of Jaden's friends in front of him as they succumb to a curse placed on them by Brron. The end goal being to bring forth a powerful card: Super Polymerization. However, this only causes Jaden to succumb to his inner darkness, ruthlessly defeating Brron in an OTK and seemingly enjoying taking revenge unlike his usual laid back demeanor. This shocks Syrus who had been watching, the curse still embedded in Syrus taking effect as he tells Jaden he never wants to hang around someone so cruel and leaves. This pushes Jaden over the edge now that he's lost everyone close to him, submerging into a darker persona. 

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The third spin-off, '''Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's''', where angsty emo teenagers play a children's card game on motorcycles, in a setting that's some sort of attempt at dystopian [[cyberpunk]]. Seriously, that's actually the premise. Not terrible. Surprisingly interesting and edgy at times. The dub is mediocre compared to the subbed, as 4kids of course excised the more "mature" parts from their localization. This is the show that introduced Synchro monsters to the game.
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:Card games on motorcycles

:Season 2 onwards of 5D unfortunately suffer from problems caused by outside events. A voice actress being involved in a cult forced the erasure of the series signature occultism. Meanwhile, the sudden popularity (due to being broken) of Blackwings resulted in a minor antagonist being rewritten into a main character.

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This was followed by '''Yu-Gi-Oh! ZeXal''', which is basically [[anime|Naruto]] with card games instead of ninjas, set in an alternate universe from 5Ds where Synchros don't exist. Xyz monsters were invented here. It gets better after the Barians are introduced.
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:Get set to get decked

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Next up was '''Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc-V''', which seemed to have remembered the other series and summoning methods existed, but the promise the show had got butchered once they traveled to the Synchro dimension, a world similar to that of 5D's... and then literally shot itself it the foot with what could be considered the most nonsenical twist in all of anime. 
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:But you'll still take the damage!
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The final series produced by Studio Gallop beginning with Duel Monsters, '''Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS''' (which stands for Virtual Reality Artificial Intelligence Network System) introduces Link monsters. Its villains, the Knights of Hanoi, are basically [[Anonymous]] with a technomagical supercharge whose goal is to wipe out a race of AI at all costs believing them to be a threat to humanity. The protagonist is an antihero seeking revenge on The Knights of Hanoi for cruel experiment he was put through as a child. While the signature cards of previous protagonists were OK at best or (for Stardust Dragon) merely a good staple rather than a deck center, here the protagonist's signature card Firewall Dragon was stupidly OP and a cause of loads of degenerate infinite loops. Konami desperately tried to ban every other card in the loops to avoid banning such a prominent card before they eventually had to give up and ban it. 
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:Seize the wind!

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'''Yu-Gi-Oh! Sevens''' is currently the most recent series of the franchise, being the seventh series overall. Causing a lot of [[Butthurt]] over the new art style and direction to a far younger audience. Following the new protagonist Yuga Ohdo, an elementary schooler who's sick of [[Rules lawyer|all of the rules and restrictions]] placed on dueling, [[Pretend|deciding to make up his own Rush Duel rules.]] The Goha Corp being the antagonists in this world having control over not just dueling, but also influence over people's daily lives.
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:Future Card Buddyfight

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===Manga without anime counterpart===
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'''Yu-Gi-Oh! OCG Structures''' actually sticks to the real rules of the game and doesn't introduce new cards as the plot demands. It stars Shoma Yusa and his older sister Ageha Yusa. Its side characters have actually appeared in one the video game ''Saikyo Card Battle''. 
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???
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