WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.560 If I were to ask you to close your eyes and picture 00:00:02.560 --> 00:00:04.879 the single most dominant best -selling trading 00:00:04.879 --> 00:00:07.459 card game in history, what image pops into your 00:00:07.459 --> 00:00:10.800 head? You might think of, you know, magic. The 00:00:10.800 --> 00:00:12.859 Gathering, right. With its wizards and complex 00:00:12.859 --> 00:00:15.199 mana systems. That's a reasonable guess. Or maybe 00:00:15.199 --> 00:00:18.100 you think of Pokemon with Pikachu plastered on 00:00:18.100 --> 00:00:21.219 everything from lunchboxes to like actual airplanes. 00:00:21.379 --> 00:00:25.239 Both very, very reasonable guesses and both incorrect. 00:00:25.440 --> 00:00:26.940 Right. Because if we look at the Guinness World 00:00:26.940 --> 00:00:29.859 Records, there is a Titan. that sits above them 00:00:29.859 --> 00:00:33.479 in terms of raw volume. An absolute titan. A 00:00:33.479 --> 00:00:35.759 franchise that, frankly, I think a lot of people 00:00:35.759 --> 00:00:39.759 dismiss as just a kid's show or a relic of the 00:00:39.759 --> 00:00:42.700 early 2000s. It is a titan that is often underestimated 00:00:42.700 --> 00:00:44.719 precisely because of its commercial success. 00:00:45.060 --> 00:00:47.280 We are, of course, talking about Yu -Gi -Oh! 00:00:47.479 --> 00:00:50.780 And the numbers here are, well, they're difficult 00:00:50.780 --> 00:00:54.000 to wrap your head around. In 2011, Konami officially 00:00:54.000 --> 00:00:55.979 hit the Guinness World Record for the best -selling 00:00:55.979 --> 00:00:59.700 trading card game. And that was with 25 .2 billion 00:00:59.700 --> 00:01:03.719 cards sold. Billion with a B. But that was over 00:01:03.719 --> 00:01:06.400 a decade ago. Right. That's ancient history in 00:01:06.400 --> 00:01:08.680 the gaming world. That number is completely out 00:01:08.680 --> 00:01:12.079 of date. Exactly. The estimates as of 2021 are 00:01:12.079 --> 00:01:14.579 hovering around 35 billion. Let's just pause 00:01:14.579 --> 00:01:17.640 on that for a second. 35 billion cards. It's 00:01:17.640 --> 00:01:20.299 an abstract number. It is. So to put that in 00:01:20.299 --> 00:01:22.719 perspective, if you distributed those evenly 00:01:22.719 --> 00:01:26.260 across the entire population of the planet. Every 00:01:26.260 --> 00:01:28.439 single man, woman and child would be holding 00:01:28.439 --> 00:01:31.120 about four or five cards. That is a staggering 00:01:31.120 --> 00:01:33.200 amount of cardboard. It's just it's unbelievable. 00:01:33.579 --> 00:01:36.719 It really is. And usually when you have a franchise 00:01:36.719 --> 00:01:39.400 this big, something that shifts billions of dollars 00:01:39.400 --> 00:01:42.099 and has that level of global saturation, it's 00:01:42.099 --> 00:01:45.200 the result of a meticulously planned corporate 00:01:45.200 --> 00:01:48.480 strategy. You know, a boardroom full of executives 00:01:48.480 --> 00:01:52.099 in suits deciding to build a multimedia synergy 00:01:52.099 --> 00:01:54.040 engine. You expect it to be engineered. Yes. 00:01:54.079 --> 00:01:56.159 You expect market research. research, focus groups, 00:01:56.280 --> 00:01:58.640 and a five -year plan. But the source material 00:01:58.640 --> 00:02:01.000 we have in front of us today, which comes from 00:02:01.000 --> 00:02:03.019 all of our Wikipedia articles, interviews with 00:02:03.019 --> 00:02:05.359 the creator, editorials, it tells a completely 00:02:05.359 --> 00:02:07.680 different story. A very different story. And 00:02:07.680 --> 00:02:09.180 this is the part that I think is going to surprise 00:02:09.180 --> 00:02:11.020 a lot of people who maybe just remember the cartoon 00:02:11.020 --> 00:02:13.479 from Saturday mornings. Because the reality is 00:02:13.479 --> 00:02:17.460 the creator, Kazuki Takahashi, didn't set out 00:02:17.460 --> 00:02:19.419 to make a card game. No. He didn't even really 00:02:19.419 --> 00:02:21.099 want to make a game manga originally. No, no. 00:02:21.219 --> 00:02:23.340 In fact, if you look at the DNA of the project, 00:02:23.439 --> 00:02:25.439 the original pitch, it wasn't supposed to be 00:02:25.439 --> 00:02:27.439 Pokemon. It was supposed to be Pales from the 00:02:27.439 --> 00:02:30.340 Crypt. He wanted to write horror. Pure psychological 00:02:30.340 --> 00:02:33.539 horror. We are talking about a game of darkness 00:02:33.539 --> 00:02:36.780 anthology. That is the hook that absolutely blew 00:02:36.780 --> 00:02:38.520 my mind when I was reading through these sources. 00:02:38.699 --> 00:02:42.159 You have this franchise famous for duels and 00:02:42.159 --> 00:02:44.719 tournaments and shiny foil cards. It's time to 00:02:44.719 --> 00:02:48.419 do the duel. Exactly. But it was conceived as 00:02:48.419 --> 00:02:52.900 a gritty, dark, psychological horror story about 00:02:52.900 --> 00:02:55.479 moral failings and punishment. A huge disconnect. 00:02:56.060 --> 00:02:58.680 So our mission today for this deep dive is to 00:02:58.680 --> 00:03:01.020 figure out how on earth we got from point A to 00:03:01.020 --> 00:03:03.680 point B. How did a story about a bullied teenager 00:03:03.680 --> 00:03:06.319 solving an ancient puzzle evolve from a dark 00:03:06.319 --> 00:03:10.719 horror anthology into this 35 billion card juggernaut? 00:03:10.990 --> 00:03:13.469 It is a fascinating journey, and along the way, 00:03:13.469 --> 00:03:16.129 we need to unpack the philosophy behind it. Because 00:03:16.129 --> 00:03:18.370 Takahashi wasn't just drawing monsters, he was 00:03:18.370 --> 00:03:20.949 making a very specific commentary on the nature 00:03:20.949 --> 00:03:24.370 of games, the difference between analog and digital 00:03:24.370 --> 00:03:28.370 communication, and the literal meaning of friendship. 00:03:28.729 --> 00:03:30.810 Which is hidden in plain sight, as we'll get 00:03:30.810 --> 00:03:32.689 to. It really is. So let's start at the very 00:03:32.689 --> 00:03:35.949 beginning, the origin story. We are back in 1996. 00:03:37.369 --> 00:03:39.210 Kazuki Takahashi is trying to come up with a 00:03:39.210 --> 00:03:42.710 new series for weekly Shonen Jump. Now, for people 00:03:42.710 --> 00:03:44.610 who don't follow the manga industry, give us 00:03:44.610 --> 00:03:47.889 the context of Jump in the mid -90s. What is 00:03:47.889 --> 00:03:50.930 the landscape? It is the absolute peak, the golden 00:03:50.930 --> 00:03:53.009 era of the battle manga. You have to understand, 00:03:53.150 --> 00:03:55.259 Dragon Ball. The biggest comic in the world at 00:03:55.259 --> 00:03:58.000 the time had just ended or was in the process 00:03:58.000 --> 00:03:59.979 of winding down. Right. So there's a power vacuum. 00:04:00.039 --> 00:04:02.419 A massive one. And the currency of the magazine 00:04:02.419 --> 00:04:05.479 was physical escalation. It was all about power 00:04:05.479 --> 00:04:07.680 levels. Big muscles, energy beams, screaming, 00:04:07.860 --> 00:04:09.419 punching people through mountains. That was the 00:04:09.419 --> 00:04:12.539 formula. Exactly. That was what the teenage boy 00:04:12.539 --> 00:04:14.759 demographic wanted. If you wanted to survive 00:04:14.759 --> 00:04:17.259 and jump, you usually had to have a protagonist 00:04:17.259 --> 00:04:20.980 who could punch really, really hard. So Takahashi 00:04:20.980 --> 00:04:23.980 is a new creator, or at least a creator trying 00:04:23.980 --> 00:04:26.259 to break through. He walks into this room where 00:04:26.259 --> 00:04:28.339 everyone is screaming and fighting. How does 00:04:28.339 --> 00:04:30.689 he plan to stand out? Well, that was his central 00:04:30.689 --> 00:04:33.670 problem. He wanted to do a battle manga. He knew 00:04:33.670 --> 00:04:35.970 that's what the market demanded. But he found 00:04:35.970 --> 00:04:37.709 it really difficult to do something original 00:04:37.709 --> 00:04:40.029 if he stuck to physical violence. He felt the 00:04:40.029 --> 00:04:42.589 well was dry. Completely. He felt the market 00:04:42.589 --> 00:04:45.610 was saturated. If he just drew another guy doing 00:04:45.610 --> 00:04:47.930 karate or shooting energy from his hands, he'd 00:04:47.930 --> 00:04:49.970 be drowned out. It would be a pale imitation 00:04:49.970 --> 00:04:52.730 of what had just come before. Which is a totally 00:04:52.730 --> 00:04:54.629 fair assessment. I mean, how do you top Goku? 00:04:54.730 --> 00:04:57.579 You don't. You don't. So Takahashi imposed a 00:04:57.579 --> 00:04:59.740 limitation on himself, a creative constraint. 00:05:00.240 --> 00:05:03.360 And I love this as a lesson for any creative 00:05:03.360 --> 00:05:05.560 person listening. That's a great story. He decided, 00:05:05.639 --> 00:05:07.939 I will write a battle manga where the main character 00:05:07.939 --> 00:05:11.579 does not hit anybody. That sounds almost paradoxical. 00:05:11.639 --> 00:05:13.319 It's like saying, I'm going to make a cooking 00:05:13.319 --> 00:05:15.920 show, but nobody eats. How do you have a battle 00:05:15.920 --> 00:05:18.740 without hitting? It forced a pivot, a really 00:05:18.740 --> 00:05:21.680 creative one. He struggled with it at first, 00:05:21.819 --> 00:05:24.779 but then the concept of games came to mind. If 00:05:24.779 --> 00:05:27.399 the medium of conflict is a game, you can have 00:05:27.399 --> 00:05:29.019 a battle. You can have a winner and a loser. 00:05:29.220 --> 00:05:31.519 You can have high stakes, tension, sweat and 00:05:31.519 --> 00:05:34.319 tears, but nobody has to throw a punch. And he 00:05:34.319 --> 00:05:36.500 found that easier to work with? Much easier. 00:05:36.970 --> 00:05:39.110 Because games allow for psychological combat. 00:05:39.209 --> 00:05:41.430 It becomes about wits, about strategy, about 00:05:41.430 --> 00:05:44.149 bluffing. It allows the underdog to win through 00:05:44.149 --> 00:05:46.430 cleverness rather than just having a higher power 00:05:46.430 --> 00:05:48.850 level. Which is the perfect setup for the kind 00:05:48.850 --> 00:05:50.949 of character he created. That leads us to our 00:05:50.949 --> 00:05:55.389 protagonist, Yugi Muto. And Yugi is, well, he's 00:05:55.389 --> 00:05:57.610 not your typical action hero, is he? Far from 00:05:57.610 --> 00:06:01.009 it. Especially in 1996, Yugi is introduced as 00:06:01.009 --> 00:06:02.990 the archetype of the weak character. It's tiny. 00:06:03.550 --> 00:06:06.509 He is timid, he's short, he has this crazy spiky 00:06:06.509 --> 00:06:09.269 hair, but he's physically frail, and he is a 00:06:09.269 --> 00:06:11.329 frequent target for bullies he is constantly 00:06:11.329 --> 00:06:13.290 getting picked on. He's the kid who gets his 00:06:13.290 --> 00:06:15.449 lunch money stolen. He's the kid who sits in 00:06:15.449 --> 00:06:17.449 the back of the class hoping nobody notices him. 00:06:17.509 --> 00:06:19.790 He is. He loves games, he loves puzzles, but 00:06:19.790 --> 00:06:23.790 he's isolated. But he has this artifact, this 00:06:23.790 --> 00:06:26.149 one special thing he got from his grandfather, 00:06:26.470 --> 00:06:30.350 the Millennium Puzzle, or the Senen Pazuru. An 00:06:30.350 --> 00:06:34.060 ancient Egyptian artifact. Which, I have to say... 00:06:34.300 --> 00:06:36.500 looks incredibly uncomfortable to wear around 00:06:36.500 --> 00:06:39.220 your neck. It's a giant gold pyramid on a chain. 00:06:39.420 --> 00:06:41.600 It is iconic, though. You see that silhouette, 00:06:41.740 --> 00:06:43.740 you know exactly what it is. Absolutely. And 00:06:43.740 --> 00:06:46.879 Yugi's motivation for solving it is just, it's 00:06:46.879 --> 00:06:49.839 heartbreakingly simple. He spends years, eight 00:06:49.839 --> 00:06:52.120 yims according to the manga, trying to solve 00:06:52.120 --> 00:06:54.279 this three -dimensional puzzle. And usually in 00:06:54.279 --> 00:06:56.240 these stories, the hero wants ultimate power 00:06:56.240 --> 00:06:59.160 or riches or to be the king of the pirates, you 00:06:59.160 --> 00:07:01.800 know, some grand ambition. Right. I want to be 00:07:01.800 --> 00:07:04.439 the best there ever was. Exactly. But Yugi's 00:07:04.439 --> 00:07:06.879 wish is so much smaller and more human. He just 00:07:06.879 --> 00:07:09.500 wants a wish. He solves it hoping for a single, 00:07:09.579 --> 00:07:13.000 simple wish. To make friends. That is such a 00:07:13.000 --> 00:07:15.180 classic, be careful what you wish for setup, 00:07:15.240 --> 00:07:17.540 though. Because he solves the puzzle, and the 00:07:17.540 --> 00:07:20.079 universe says, okay, here you go. But it's not 00:07:20.079 --> 00:07:22.439 exactly a warm and fuzzy outcome initially. No, 00:07:22.439 --> 00:07:25.600 not at all. He becomes the host to a mysterious 00:07:25.600 --> 00:07:28.939 spirit. In the beginning of the manga, this spirit 00:07:28.939 --> 00:07:32.240 is a nameless pharaoh, but his personality is... 00:07:32.589 --> 00:07:34.850 Well, he's a gambler. He's intense. He's dangerous. 00:07:35.110 --> 00:07:38.029 And this introduces the concept of henshin. Henshin, 00:07:38.069 --> 00:07:39.870 meaning transformation, right. Like Power Rangers 00:07:39.870 --> 00:07:43.069 or Sailor Moon. Exactly. It's a core trope in 00:07:43.069 --> 00:07:45.949 Japanese fiction for young people. Takahashi 00:07:45.949 --> 00:07:48.470 had this insight that all children dream of henshin, 00:07:48.550 --> 00:07:50.870 of transforming into someone else, someone stronger, 00:07:51.110 --> 00:07:53.509 someone who can handle the problems they can't. 00:07:53.550 --> 00:07:56.170 A more capable version of themselves. Precisely. 00:07:56.170 --> 00:07:58.410 So when Yugi is threatened, or his friends are 00:07:58.410 --> 00:08:01.129 threatened, he transforms. He grows taller, his 00:08:01.129 --> 00:08:03.990 voice deepens, and he becomes Dark Yugi. And 00:08:03.990 --> 00:08:06.930 Dark Yugi is everything regular Yugi isn't. He's 00:08:06.930 --> 00:08:09.490 savvy, he's confident, he's intimidating, and 00:08:09.490 --> 00:08:12.149 he is an invincible games player. But, and this 00:08:12.149 --> 00:08:15.329 is key to the early tone, he is also dangerous. 00:08:15.990 --> 00:08:18.290 This is where the horror roots really, really 00:08:18.290 --> 00:08:20.689 show. This is not the friendly Yugi from the 00:08:20.689 --> 00:08:23.410 TV show we remember. Not at all. In those early 00:08:23.410 --> 00:08:26.740 chapters... The spirit possesses Yugi to challenge 00:08:26.740 --> 00:08:31.240 bullies and antagonists to shadow games or Yaminogomu. 00:08:31.259 --> 00:08:33.940 Now wait, when we say shadow games, I think most 00:08:33.940 --> 00:08:36.840 people imagine card duels with holographic monsters. 00:08:37.759 --> 00:08:39.539 But that's not what we're talking about here, 00:08:39.639 --> 00:08:42.440 is it? Absolutely not. That came much, much later. 00:08:42.539 --> 00:08:46.440 These were variety games. Like what kind of games 00:08:46.440 --> 00:08:48.019 are we talking about? Anything and everything. 00:08:48.179 --> 00:08:50.860 There's one where a greedy TV producer has to 00:08:50.860 --> 00:08:53.679 assemble a 3D block puzzle while his hand is 00:08:53.679 --> 00:08:56.580 being swarmed by visions of spiders. Okay, creepy. 00:08:56.820 --> 00:08:58.580 There's a game with an escaped convict where 00:08:58.580 --> 00:09:00.519 they play a game on a griddle, and if you move 00:09:00.519 --> 00:09:02.799 your hand, you get burned. Oof. There's a game 00:09:02.799 --> 00:09:05.259 involving a scorpion and a shoe. There were games 00:09:05.259 --> 00:09:08.159 involving knives balanced on your hand. The mechanism 00:09:08.159 --> 00:09:10.740 was that the game would reveal the person's true 00:09:10.740 --> 00:09:14.080 nature. So it's a moral test. It's a trial. Precisely. 00:09:14.500 --> 00:09:17.200 Dark Yugi would set up a game where if you played 00:09:17.200 --> 00:09:20.299 fairly, maybe you'd be okay. But the villain 00:09:20.299 --> 00:09:24.139 always tries to cheat. They are greedy or cruel 00:09:24.139 --> 00:09:27.820 or arrogant. And the game is designed to expose 00:09:27.820 --> 00:09:30.600 that fatal flaw. And the consequence wasn't just 00:09:30.600 --> 00:09:32.559 losing the match. It wasn't better luck next 00:09:32.559 --> 00:09:35.379 time. No. The loser suffered a penalty game, 00:09:35.500 --> 00:09:38.559 or batsugamo. Penalty game sounds so innocuous. 00:09:38.580 --> 00:09:40.919 It sounds like you have to do push -ups or something. 00:09:41.059 --> 00:09:43.960 But in the manga, these were terrifying. They 00:09:43.960 --> 00:09:46.100 were psychological torture, essentially. They 00:09:46.100 --> 00:09:48.460 functioned as a moral judgment system. For example, 00:09:48.559 --> 00:09:50.940 there was a character, a school bully, who was 00:09:50.940 --> 00:09:53.240 obsessed with his own appearance. His penalty 00:09:53.240 --> 00:09:55.899 game was that his face literally fell apart like 00:09:55.899 --> 00:09:58.620 a jigsaw puzzle in a mirror. Jeez. There was 00:09:58.620 --> 00:10:00.879 another character, a con artist, who ran a fake 00:10:00.879 --> 00:10:03.379 psychic hotline. His penalty was that he was 00:10:03.379 --> 00:10:05.720 deafened by a ringing phone that only he could 00:10:05.720 --> 00:10:07.980 hear for the rest of his life. So Dark Yugi was 00:10:07.980 --> 00:10:10.360 acting almost like a vengeful spirit, like a 00:10:10.360 --> 00:10:12.559 judge, jury, and executioner for high school 00:10:12.559 --> 00:10:15.779 bullies and local criminals. It was dark, moody, 00:10:15.879 --> 00:10:18.500 and very focused on this idea of karmic judgment. 00:10:18.919 --> 00:10:22.360 It was basically a horror anthology with a gaming 00:10:22.360 --> 00:10:25.799 rapper, a new villain each week, a new twisted 00:10:25.799 --> 00:10:29.309 game, and a new horrifying punishment. Okay, 00:10:29.330 --> 00:10:31.669 so you have this horror -tinged game -of -the 00:10:31.669 --> 00:10:34.389 -week format. But obviously, something changed. 00:10:34.669 --> 00:10:37.389 We don't remember Yu -Gi -Oh! as a series about 00:10:37.389 --> 00:10:39.809 dice games and yo -yos. We remember the cards. 00:10:40.129 --> 00:10:42.850 This is the pivot. And it's a fascinating case 00:10:42.850 --> 00:10:45.529 study in how audience reaction can completely 00:10:45.529 --> 00:10:49.149 hijack a creator's original plan. It wasn't the 00:10:49.149 --> 00:10:51.649 author's decision, really. It was the audience's. 00:10:51.830 --> 00:10:53.950 So take us to the pivot point. What happened? 00:10:54.409 --> 00:10:56.490 Midokahashi introduces a specific game in the 00:10:56.490 --> 00:10:58.769 manga. It was originally called Magic and Wizards. 00:10:58.889 --> 00:11:00.970 Which is a pretty on -the -nose reference to 00:11:00.970 --> 00:11:04.009 Magic, The Gathering. Oh, 100%. Takahashi was 00:11:04.009 --> 00:11:06.190 a fan of the game. Later, of course, in the story, 00:11:06.230 --> 00:11:08.190 it became known as Duel Monsters. But initially, 00:11:08.350 --> 00:11:10.289 it was just supposed to be another game in the 00:11:10.289 --> 00:11:12.490 rotation. Just one more story arc. A two -chapter 00:11:12.490 --> 00:11:14.929 arc, maybe. Just something for Yugi to play against 00:11:14.929 --> 00:11:17.149 his new rival, Seto Kaiba. He never intended 00:11:17.149 --> 00:11:19.769 for it to be the main focus. The reaction was 00:11:19.769 --> 00:11:23.580 explosive. Utterly explosive. Takahashi noted 00:11:23.580 --> 00:11:26.639 in interviews that this specific story evoked 00:11:26.639 --> 00:11:29.419 the strongest response from readers. The mailbag 00:11:29.419 --> 00:11:32.370 started overflowing. Exactly. The editorial office 00:11:32.370 --> 00:11:34.429 at Shonen Jump started getting tons of letters, 00:11:34.570 --> 00:11:36.610 kids writing in, where can I buy these cards? 00:11:36.710 --> 00:11:38.809 How do I play this game? We want more of this. 00:11:38.970 --> 00:11:40.970 They weren't asking about the dice games or the 00:11:40.970 --> 00:11:43.370 scorpion game. They wanted the monsters. It's 00:11:43.370 --> 00:11:45.490 amazing to think that if the readers had reacted 00:11:45.490 --> 00:11:48.370 strongly to, say, a chapter about a cursed board 00:11:48.370 --> 00:11:50.789 game, we might be living in a totally different 00:11:50.789 --> 00:11:53.070 timeline where Yu -Gi -Oh! is a Jumanji -style 00:11:53.070 --> 00:11:56.340 franchise. We might be. Takahashi explicitly 00:11:56.340 --> 00:11:59.179 said that prior to that reader response, he had 00:11:59.179 --> 00:12:00.960 not planned to make the story revolve around 00:12:00.960 --> 00:12:03.419 cards. He wanted to keep doing different games. 00:12:03.639 --> 00:12:06.340 But the popularity was undeniable. The editors, 00:12:06.440 --> 00:12:08.740 being smart business people, likely went to him 00:12:08.740 --> 00:12:11.019 and said, Takahashi -san, the readers have spoken. 00:12:11.200 --> 00:12:14.860 Draw more cards. And so the focus shifted. The 00:12:14.860 --> 00:12:17.139 horror elements didn't disappear entirely, but 00:12:17.139 --> 00:12:19.179 they took a backseat to the mechanics and strategy 00:12:19.179 --> 00:12:22.279 of Duel Monsters. The game became the engine 00:12:22.279 --> 00:12:24.960 of the plot, not just a one -off gimmick. But 00:12:24.960 --> 00:12:27.120 I want to unpack the philosophy here a bit, because 00:12:27.120 --> 00:12:29.159 Takahashi wasn't just throwing games at the wall. 00:12:29.279 --> 00:12:32.500 He had a very specific view on why games matter. 00:12:32.740 --> 00:12:36.000 Yeah, let's dig into that. Because in the 90s, 00:12:36.000 --> 00:12:38.659 video games are exploding. The PlayStation is 00:12:38.659 --> 00:12:42.100 out. The Nintendo 64 is coming. Everyone is going 00:12:42.100 --> 00:12:45.220 digital. And Takahashi, in a way, went the other 00:12:45.220 --> 00:12:47.899 way. He described himself as being obsessed with 00:12:47.899 --> 00:12:50.080 games since childhood, but he emphasized the 00:12:50.080 --> 00:12:53.019 importance of communication between people. He 00:12:53.019 --> 00:12:56.299 specifically favored analog, tabletop, role -playing 00:12:56.299 --> 00:12:58.639 games, Dungeons and Dragons, things like that. 00:12:58.700 --> 00:13:01.000 Face -to -face. Face -to -face. He actually deliberately 00:13:01.000 --> 00:13:04.320 contrasted his vision with solitary video games. 00:13:04.500 --> 00:13:07.120 He felt that in video games, or even games played 00:13:07.120 --> 00:13:09.419 over the internet, which was in its infancy then, 00:13:09.539 --> 00:13:12.200 quality communication is near impossible. Wow. 00:13:12.299 --> 00:13:14.840 Well, that's a hot take, especially considering 00:13:14.840 --> 00:13:16.980 how big online gaming is now with Discord and 00:13:16.980 --> 00:13:19.620 everything. But I see what he means. What do 00:13:19.620 --> 00:13:21.460 you think he meant by that? Well, when you're 00:13:21.460 --> 00:13:23.539 sitting across the table from someone holding 00:13:23.539 --> 00:13:26.720 cards, there's a physical connection. You're 00:13:26.720 --> 00:13:28.460 reading their face. You're watching their hands. 00:13:28.480 --> 00:13:30.519 You're touching the same pieces. There's a presence. 00:13:31.179 --> 00:13:34.720 There is friction. There is presence. Takahashi 00:13:34.720 --> 00:13:37.620 believed that the player becomes a hero in a 00:13:37.620 --> 00:13:40.480 game because they have agency. But that agency 00:13:40.480 --> 00:13:43.200 is most meaningful when it is tested against 00:13:43.200 --> 00:13:46.279 another human being sitting right there. Not 00:13:46.279 --> 00:13:49.539 an AI, not a username on a screen. It's interesting 00:13:49.539 --> 00:13:52.480 because Yugi is a character who struggles to 00:13:52.480 --> 00:13:55.259 communicate in real life. He's shy. He gets flustered. 00:13:55.360 --> 00:13:57.679 But give him a deck of cards and suddenly he 00:13:57.679 --> 00:13:59.980 has a language. He can speak fluently. He can 00:13:59.980 --> 00:14:03.139 express himself. Exactly. The game becomes the 00:14:03.139 --> 00:14:05.570 bridge. The medium for that communication he 00:14:05.570 --> 00:14:08.230 craved. And that desire for connection, for friendship, 00:14:08.370 --> 00:14:11.370 isn't just a theme. It is woven into the very 00:14:11.370 --> 00:14:13.330 linguistics of the show. Okay, let's get into 00:14:13.330 --> 00:14:15.230 the names. Because this is one of those things 00:14:15.230 --> 00:14:17.549 that once you see it, you can't unsee it. But 00:14:17.549 --> 00:14:19.309 if you don't speak Japanese, you'd never ever 00:14:19.309 --> 00:14:21.789 know it was there. It's a linguistic Easter egg 00:14:21.789 --> 00:14:24.230 that spells out the show's central thesis. It's 00:14:24.230 --> 00:14:27.980 brilliant. So, lay it out for us. Okay. So, look 00:14:27.980 --> 00:14:30.679 at the two main best friends in the series. You 00:14:30.679 --> 00:14:33.659 have our hero, Yugi Mutu, and you have his best 00:14:33.659 --> 00:14:36.259 friend, Katsuya Jinuchi, who Western fans will 00:14:36.259 --> 00:14:38.960 know as Joey Wheeler. Yugi and Joey, the iconic 00:14:38.960 --> 00:14:41.700 duo. Okay. In Japanese, the word for friendship 00:14:41.700 --> 00:14:46.279 is yuju. Yuji. Okay, I'm with you. Now, visualize 00:14:46.279 --> 00:14:48.460 the characters that Kanji used to write that 00:14:48.460 --> 00:14:51.279 word. Takahashi took the first character of Yugi's 00:14:51.279 --> 00:14:53.860 name, which is read as yu, and the first character 00:14:53.860 --> 00:14:56.190 of Jinuchi's name, which is read as ju. Wait, 00:14:56.250 --> 00:14:58.389 no way. If you put their names side by side, 00:14:58.490 --> 00:15:00.590 Yu -Gi and Shu -Chi, the first parts of their 00:15:00.590 --> 00:15:04.490 names literally spell friendship. Yu -Ju. That 00:15:04.490 --> 00:15:06.710 is hiding in plain sight. I absolutely love that. 00:15:06.830 --> 00:15:08.889 It's like their bond is etched into their very 00:15:08.889 --> 00:15:10.909 identity. It's not just that they are friends. 00:15:11.029 --> 00:15:13.330 Their names are friendship. It is, and it's not 00:15:13.330 --> 00:15:15.350 just a clever pun. It's a statement of intent. 00:15:16.129 --> 00:15:17.669 Takahashi is telling us from the very beginning 00:15:17.669 --> 00:15:19.250 that these two characters are the definition 00:15:19.250 --> 00:15:22.120 of the concept. Without Janucci, Yu -Gi is incomplete. 00:15:22.519 --> 00:15:25.299 Without Yu -Gi, Janucci is lost. Their power 00:15:25.299 --> 00:15:27.340 comes from their bond. That actually adds a lot 00:15:27.340 --> 00:15:29.519 of weight to the title of the show, too. Yu -Gi 00:15:29.519 --> 00:15:32.039 -Oh. I always just assumed it meant, oh, look, 00:15:32.139 --> 00:15:34.440 it's Yu -Gi, or maybe a sound you make when you 00:15:34.440 --> 00:15:38.000 win a game. No, it's much denser than that. It's 00:15:38.000 --> 00:15:40.740 a fantastic piece of wordplay. Yu -Gi translates 00:15:40.740 --> 00:15:44.279 to Game King, but it's a triple entendre. A triple. 00:15:44.340 --> 00:15:45.740 Okay, break it down for me. I'm ready. All right, 00:15:45.779 --> 00:15:48.700 first layer, the simplest one. Yu -Gi is the 00:15:48.700 --> 00:15:51.769 protagonist's name. So on a basic level, it's 00:15:51.769 --> 00:15:55.330 the story of Yugi. Layer two. Yugi is also the 00:15:55.330 --> 00:15:57.649 Japanese noun for game, so the title translates 00:15:57.649 --> 00:16:00.090 literally to king of games. Okay, that makes 00:16:00.090 --> 00:16:02.149 sense. And layer three. What's the third one? 00:16:02.470 --> 00:16:05.850 Yugi, or game king, is the title held by the 00:16:05.850 --> 00:16:08.570 second personality, the invincible game master 00:16:08.570 --> 00:16:11.590 spirit inside the puzzle. So every time you say 00:16:11.590 --> 00:16:13.870 the title, you are referencing the boy, the activity, 00:16:14.070 --> 00:16:17.139 and the entity simultaneously. That is so satisfying. 00:16:17.340 --> 00:16:19.419 It feels like solving a little puzzle just understanding 00:16:19.419 --> 00:16:21.580 the title. It has this incredible density to 00:16:21.580 --> 00:16:25.120 it. And it reinforces the positive message Takahashi 00:16:25.120 --> 00:16:28.000 wanted to convey. He explicitly stated in interviews 00:16:28.000 --> 00:16:30.159 that the message of the series is that every 00:16:30.159 --> 00:16:33.980 person has a strong hidden part, essentially 00:16:33.980 --> 00:16:37.460 human potential. The dark Yugi inside all of 00:16:37.460 --> 00:16:40.440 us, so to speak. In a way, yes. He believed that 00:16:40.440 --> 00:16:42.779 hardship triggers this hidden part, but only 00:16:42.779 --> 00:16:44.720 if one believes in themselves and, crucially, 00:16:44.860 --> 00:16:48.080 their friends. That's the yuju element. You can't 00:16:48.080 --> 00:16:51.740 do it alone. It's not just about summoning the 00:16:51.740 --> 00:16:53.500 biggest monster. It's about having the heart 00:16:53.500 --> 00:16:55.659 of the cards, which is really just a metaphor 00:16:55.659 --> 00:16:57.440 for believing in yourself and the people who 00:16:57.440 --> 00:16:59.820 support you. Precisely. Now, we have to talk 00:16:59.820 --> 00:17:01.440 about something that I think confuses a lot of 00:17:01.440 --> 00:17:03.779 casual fans, especially those of us who grew 00:17:03.779 --> 00:17:06.130 up watching the anime in the West. We talked 00:17:06.130 --> 00:17:08.130 about the horror origins, the penalty games, 00:17:08.369 --> 00:17:11.390 the psychological torture. But if you watch the 00:17:11.390 --> 00:17:15.170 cartoon on Saturday morning on Kids WB, you probably 00:17:15.170 --> 00:17:17.650 didn't see much horror. No, you did not. You 00:17:17.650 --> 00:17:19.470 saw a lot of people pointing aggressively and 00:17:19.470 --> 00:17:22.609 talking about the shadow realm. Ah, yes. The 00:17:22.609 --> 00:17:25.609 infamous shadow realm. This is one of the most 00:17:25.609 --> 00:17:28.450 famous or maybe infamous examples of localization 00:17:28.450 --> 00:17:32.130 changing the fundamental lore of a series. So 00:17:32.130 --> 00:17:34.839 let's just clear the air once and for all. Does 00:17:34.839 --> 00:17:37.099 the Shadow Realm exist in the original Japanese 00:17:37.099 --> 00:17:41.519 version? No. Not in the way Western viewers understand 00:17:41.519 --> 00:17:43.759 it at all. It's a complete fabrication. So what 00:17:43.759 --> 00:17:45.240 happened in the original? In the original Japanese 00:17:45.240 --> 00:17:47.819 source material, characters died. They just died. 00:17:48.019 --> 00:17:51.299 They were killed, sometimes quite brutally, or 00:17:51.299 --> 00:17:53.839 they were mind crushed, which was a psychic death, 00:17:54.039 --> 00:17:56.680 or they were literally stabbed. The shadow realm 00:17:56.680 --> 00:17:59.140 was a construct created by the localization team 00:17:59.140 --> 00:18:01.680 for kids entertainment to replace any and all 00:18:01.680 --> 00:18:04.420 mentions of death, murder, and violence. Because 00:18:04.420 --> 00:18:06.519 you can't show death on Saturday morning cartoons 00:18:06.519 --> 00:18:08.950 in the U .S. The censors would have a field day. 00:18:09.089 --> 00:18:11.509 Exactly. Broadcast standards are very strict 00:18:11.509 --> 00:18:14.490 for children's programming. So instead of Merrick 00:18:14.490 --> 00:18:16.490 is going to kill you, it became Merrick is going 00:18:16.490 --> 00:18:18.990 to send you to the shadow realm. Which honestly 00:18:18.990 --> 00:18:22.250 sounds almost scarier. Like, death is final. 00:18:22.390 --> 00:18:24.869 But being sent to a purple dimension of eternal 00:18:24.869 --> 00:18:27.589 purple fog and purgatory for all time? That sounds 00:18:27.589 --> 00:18:31.019 horrific. It inadvertently created a fate worse 00:18:31.019 --> 00:18:34.240 than death for many viewers. It became this legendary 00:18:34.240 --> 00:18:37.539 meme because of how often they used it as a catch 00:18:37.539 --> 00:18:40.220 -all solution to skirt around violence. Right, 00:18:40.240 --> 00:18:41.940 like, oh, those saw blades aren't going to cut 00:18:41.940 --> 00:18:44.059 you in half. They're going to send your mind 00:18:44.059 --> 00:18:46.279 to the shadow realm. Or a character points a 00:18:46.279 --> 00:18:48.940 gun, and in the dub, they edit the gun out, so 00:18:48.940 --> 00:18:50.980 he's just pointing his finger menacingly and 00:18:50.980 --> 00:18:52.680 threatening to send you to the shadow realm. 00:18:52.799 --> 00:18:55.740 The invisible guns, yes. But this highlights 00:18:55.740 --> 00:18:58.599 the massive divide between the manga, in the 00:18:58.599 --> 00:19:01.220 anime particularly the western release of the 00:19:01.220 --> 00:19:03.500 anime it does and we have to give credit to the 00:19:03.500 --> 00:19:05.359 manga publishers here because they went a different 00:19:05.359 --> 00:19:08.140 route the manga was published in english by viz 00:19:08.140 --> 00:19:11.119 media and usually when you have a big anime hit 00:19:11.119 --> 00:19:13.700 the manga publisher tries to match the tone to 00:19:13.700 --> 00:19:15.960 keep the branding consistent right you want the 00:19:15.960 --> 00:19:18.619 kid who watches the show to buy the book and 00:19:18.619 --> 00:19:20.779 feel like it's the same world, the same experience. 00:19:21.000 --> 00:19:23.299 But Jason Thompson, who was the English editor 00:19:23.299 --> 00:19:25.920 for the manga, noted that the series was unexpectedly 00:19:25.920 --> 00:19:29.180 dark and moody. He saw the horror roots, and 00:19:29.180 --> 00:19:32.259 Viz made a conscious decision. They decided to 00:19:32.259 --> 00:19:35.140 keep the violence and gore intact. Really? So 00:19:35.140 --> 00:19:37.039 the manga readers in the U .S. were getting the 00:19:37.039 --> 00:19:39.660 full horror experience, the penalty games, the 00:19:39.660 --> 00:19:42.319 deaths. They were. Thompson explained the reasoning, 00:19:42.400 --> 00:19:45.000 and it's fascinating. He said the series was 00:19:45.000 --> 00:19:48.029 perceived as... too mainstream for the hardcore 00:19:48.029 --> 00:19:50.230 scanlation community what does that mean the 00:19:50.230 --> 00:19:53.450 really serious manga fans the purists they thought 00:19:53.450 --> 00:19:55.990 yugioh was just a toy commercial so they ignored 00:19:55.990 --> 00:19:58.690 it This gave the official editors surprising 00:19:58.690 --> 00:20:02.069 leeway. They weren't being scrutinized by a vocal 00:20:02.069 --> 00:20:05.289 online fan base demanding perfect accuracy, and 00:20:05.289 --> 00:20:06.950 the parents weren't really reading the books 00:20:06.950 --> 00:20:09.309 carefully, so they just kept the grit. That's 00:20:09.309 --> 00:20:10.789 amazing. They slipped it right past everyone. 00:20:10.910 --> 00:20:14.009 They did. And I love the story about Takahashi's 00:20:14.009 --> 00:20:17.029 reaction to this divergence. It says so much. 00:20:17.170 --> 00:20:19.920 Yeah. When editors from the U .S. told Takahashi 00:20:19.920 --> 00:20:22.799 that American readers were surprised, even shocked, 00:20:23.019 --> 00:20:26.000 by the violent stories in the early volumes because 00:20:26.000 --> 00:20:28.079 those stories weren't in the Duel Monsters anime 00:20:28.079 --> 00:20:31.420 everyone was watching on TV, he just laughed. 00:20:31.500 --> 00:20:33.380 He just laughed. Laughed and agreed and said 00:20:33.380 --> 00:20:36.220 something like, the story is quite violent, isn't 00:20:36.220 --> 00:20:38.619 it? That is fantastic. Yeah. He's just like, 00:20:38.660 --> 00:20:41.859 yeah, I drew it. I know. He wasn't ashamed of 00:20:41.859 --> 00:20:43.839 it or trying to hide it. That was his vision. 00:20:44.119 --> 00:20:47.240 It created this really unique cultural divergence. 00:20:47.599 --> 00:20:49.980 If you read the manga, you were reading a dark 00:20:49.980 --> 00:20:52.359 fantasy story with an obsession with death and 00:20:52.359 --> 00:20:54.640 what comes after it. If you watched the anime 00:20:54.640 --> 00:20:57.359 in the U .S., you were watching a sanitized, 00:20:57.400 --> 00:20:59.700 albeit high -stakes, adventure about card tournaments 00:20:59.700 --> 00:21:02.859 and a vague purple dimension. Two very different 00:21:02.859 --> 00:21:05.180 experiences under the same brand name. Speaking 00:21:05.180 --> 00:21:07.720 of the anime, the franchise didn't just stop 00:21:07.720 --> 00:21:10.180 with Yugi. I mean, it sprawled. It became this 00:21:10.180 --> 00:21:12.940 massive, multi -generational thing. And I think 00:21:12.940 --> 00:21:14.650 we need to... verify the timeline because there's 00:21:14.650 --> 00:21:17.589 a lost season involved that many people still 00:21:17.589 --> 00:21:20.509 don't know about. There is. Most Western fans 00:21:20.509 --> 00:21:24.549 know Yu -Gi -Oh! Dual Monsters, produced by Nass 00:21:24.549 --> 00:21:27.369 and Gallop, which started in 2000. That's the 00:21:27.369 --> 00:21:29.349 Yu -Gi with the cards, the one four kids dubbed. 00:21:29.609 --> 00:21:32.690 That's the one. But before that, in 1998, a different 00:21:32.690 --> 00:21:35.789 studio, Toei Animation, produced a series simply 00:21:35.789 --> 00:21:38.970 called Yu -Gi -Oh. This is what fans call Season 00:21:38.970 --> 00:21:41.869 Zero. Correct. It's often called Season Zero. 00:21:41.930 --> 00:21:46.049 And it adapted those early pre -card game manga 00:21:46.049 --> 00:21:49.049 chapters, the horror anthology stuff. So the 00:21:49.049 --> 00:21:51.630 penalty games were in that one. Yes. It was much 00:21:51.630 --> 00:21:53.809 darker, the animation style was different, more 00:21:53.809 --> 00:21:56.170 stylized and gritty, and it focused on the variety. 00:21:56.299 --> 00:21:58.680 games. It never aired in the West, which is why 00:21:58.680 --> 00:22:00.819 it has this legendary, almost mythical status 00:22:00.819 --> 00:22:03.440 among hardcore fans. So for a long time, it was 00:22:03.440 --> 00:22:05.640 this urban legend. Did you know there's a version 00:22:05.640 --> 00:22:08.240 where Yugi sets a guy on fire with his mind? 00:22:08.380 --> 00:22:11.319 Exactly. But after Duel Monsters took off, the 00:22:11.319 --> 00:22:13.359 franchise became a machine. It just kept going. 00:22:13.440 --> 00:22:16.240 It evolved into Yu -Gi -Oh! GX, which is set 00:22:16.240 --> 00:22:18.680 in a duel academy. Sort of Hogwarts for card 00:22:18.680 --> 00:22:21.039 players. A bit more lighthearted. Very. Then 00:22:21.039 --> 00:22:23.339 you got Yu -Gi -Oh! 5Ds, which is famous for. 00:22:23.539 --> 00:22:26.299 Oh. Card games on motorcycles. Last card games 00:22:26.299 --> 00:22:29.180 on motorcycles. But there is a logic to the madness. 00:22:29.700 --> 00:22:32.180 With each new anime series, the physical card 00:22:32.180 --> 00:22:34.460 game needed to evolve. Konami needed to sell 00:22:34.460 --> 00:22:37.460 new cards. Right. The new mechanic. So 5Ds introduced 00:22:37.460 --> 00:22:40.079 synchro summoning, which is a much faster, more 00:22:40.079 --> 00:22:42.619 combo -heavy mechanic. To match the speed of 00:22:42.619 --> 00:22:44.559 the mechanic, they set the anime on motorcycles. 00:22:44.980 --> 00:22:47.759 They called them dual runners. The action had 00:22:47.759 --> 00:22:50.569 to feel fast. It's a brilliant feedback loop. 00:22:50.670 --> 00:22:52.809 The anime sells the cards. The cards need new 00:22:52.809 --> 00:22:55.730 rules to stay fresh. The new rules inspire a 00:22:55.730 --> 00:22:58.150 brand new anime setting. And it kept going. You 00:22:58.150 --> 00:23:00.849 had Zexal with its XIZ summoning, Ark V, which 00:23:00.849 --> 00:23:03.230 brought everything together, Verains, which took 00:23:03.230 --> 00:23:06.460 place in a virtual reality world. All the way 00:23:06.460 --> 00:23:09.299 up to the current series, Go Rush. It's a constantly 00:23:09.299 --> 00:23:11.680 evolving beast. And within this sprawl, there 00:23:11.680 --> 00:23:13.839 are some really obscure oddities that are worth 00:23:13.839 --> 00:23:16.180 mentioning, things that even dedicated fans might 00:23:16.180 --> 00:23:18.700 have missed. For example, there was a novel adaptation 00:23:18.700 --> 00:23:23.299 way back in 1999. A novel, like text only, no 00:23:23.299 --> 00:23:25.980 pictures. A standard paperback novel. And it 00:23:25.980 --> 00:23:28.160 features a story that isn't in the manga or any 00:23:28.160 --> 00:23:30.940 of the animes. It involves a cyber kaiba. Cyber 00:23:30.940 --> 00:23:34.799 kaiba, like a robot. Pretty much. It's a computer 00:23:34.799 --> 00:23:37.440 -controlled Android version of Yugi's rival, 00:23:37.680 --> 00:23:40.880 Seto Kaiba, using all of Kaiba's memories and 00:23:40.880 --> 00:23:43.420 dueling strategies. That is so perfectly extra 00:23:43.420 --> 00:23:45.680 for Kaiba. Of course, he'd have a robot duplicate. 00:23:46.000 --> 00:23:48.420 Right. And in the novel, they play a variation 00:23:48.420 --> 00:23:50.180 of the card game that has a special condition 00:23:50.180 --> 00:23:53.220 called the Bingo Rule. The Bingo Rule. That sounds 00:23:53.220 --> 00:23:57.079 strangely casual for a high -stakes duel. Before 00:23:57.079 --> 00:24:01.140 you sank my blue eyes white dragon. It was actually 00:24:01.140 --> 00:24:03.759 quite tactical. It prevented players from using 00:24:03.759 --> 00:24:06.319 specific cards in their deck if certain bingo 00:24:06.319 --> 00:24:09.059 numbers were hit on a board. It added this layer 00:24:09.059 --> 00:24:12.000 of restriction and luck. It's a deep cut, but 00:24:12.000 --> 00:24:14.279 it shows how the creators were constantly experimenting 00:24:14.279 --> 00:24:16.740 with the mechanics of the game, even in weird 00:24:16.740 --> 00:24:19.319 one -off text formats. They were treating the 00:24:19.319 --> 00:24:21.220 card game engine as something they could mod 00:24:21.220 --> 00:24:23.819 and tweak endlessly. I love those little nuggets. 00:24:24.019 --> 00:24:26.839 It just shows how deep the lore goes. But let's 00:24:26.839 --> 00:24:28.680 zoom out to the real world again. We talked about 00:24:28.680 --> 00:24:32.599 the 35 billion cards sold. But the cultural impact 00:24:32.599 --> 00:24:35.779 goes way beyond just the sales figures. Absolutely. 00:24:35.859 --> 00:24:39.000 The manga itself sold over 40 million copies. 00:24:39.200 --> 00:24:41.960 At its peak, it was one of the highest grossing 00:24:41.960 --> 00:24:44.559 media franchises of all time when you factor 00:24:44.559 --> 00:24:47.720 in cards, games, and merchandise. And it basically 00:24:47.720 --> 00:24:50.059 propped up the English version of Shonen Jump 00:24:50.059 --> 00:24:53.549 for a while. It really did. In 2002, the American 00:24:53.549 --> 00:24:55.970 Shonen Jump magazine received the Comic Product 00:24:55.970 --> 00:24:58.490 of the Year award. And the citation specifically 00:24:58.490 --> 00:25:01.210 mentioned the manga's ability to successfully 00:25:01.210 --> 00:25:05.049 connect to the TV show and the CCG, the collectible 00:25:05.049 --> 00:25:07.529 card game. It was the perfect storm of multimedia 00:25:07.529 --> 00:25:09.829 synergy. You read the book to get the strategy. 00:25:09.950 --> 00:25:12.490 You watch the show to see the drama. You buy 00:25:12.490 --> 00:25:15.140 the cards to be the hero. But the impact extends 00:25:15.140 --> 00:25:17.819 to internet culture in a way few other anime 00:25:17.819 --> 00:25:20.000 have. I mean, we absolutely have to talk about 00:25:20.000 --> 00:25:21.779 the Abridged series. Oh, absolutely. If you were 00:25:21.779 --> 00:25:23.619 on YouTube in 2006, you couldn't avoid it. It 00:25:23.619 --> 00:25:26.319 was foundational. In 2006, a creator named Martin 00:25:26.319 --> 00:25:29.059 Billany, known online as Little Kuribo, uploaded 00:25:29.059 --> 00:25:32.240 Yu -Gi -Oh!, the Abridged series. It was a parody 00:25:32.240 --> 00:25:34.759 that condensed the episodes into short 5 -10 00:25:34.759 --> 00:25:37.460 minute videos and dubbed over them with hilarious 00:25:37.460 --> 00:25:40.119 self -aware dialogue. And it wasn't just a funny 00:25:40.119 --> 00:25:43.000 video. It literally started a genre. A whole 00:25:43.000 --> 00:25:45.640 subculture on the internet. It did. It sparked 00:25:45.640 --> 00:25:48.380 a massive trend in anime communities. Suddenly 00:25:48.380 --> 00:25:50.420 everyone was making abridged versions of Dragon 00:25:50.420 --> 00:25:53.619 Ball Z, Naruto, Hellsing, everything. It changed 00:25:53.619 --> 00:25:56.099 the way fans engaged with the content. It made 00:25:56.099 --> 00:25:58.880 them participate in it. Yes. It turned the show 00:25:58.880 --> 00:26:02.240 into a shared joke, a community experience. The 00:26:02.240 --> 00:26:04.579 lines from the abridged series became more famous 00:26:04.579 --> 00:26:06.640 than the actual lines from the dub for a lot 00:26:06.640 --> 00:26:09.799 of people. My hair gives me superpowers. Screw 00:26:09.799 --> 00:26:12.089 the rules, I have money. And it proved that the 00:26:12.089 --> 00:26:14.950 fan base had a deep love for this series, but 00:26:14.950 --> 00:26:17.789 also some humor about its ridiculousness. I mean, 00:26:17.809 --> 00:26:19.430 they're playing card games to save the world. 00:26:19.470 --> 00:26:21.589 You have to laugh a little. But the love is genuine. 00:26:21.950 --> 00:26:24.269 The parody comes from a place of deep affection. 00:26:25.009 --> 00:26:27.730 And we see that affection surfacing even today, 00:26:27.869 --> 00:26:31.490 decades later on the world stage. Which brings 00:26:31.490 --> 00:26:35.690 us to the 2024 Olympics. Yes. Noah Lyles. I was 00:26:35.690 --> 00:26:37.829 so excited when this happened. U .S. track and 00:26:37.829 --> 00:26:40.400 field athlete. The fastest man in the world at 00:26:40.400 --> 00:26:42.460 that moment. And right before one of his biggest 00:26:42.460 --> 00:26:45.839 races, he's on camera and he pulls out Yu -Gi 00:26:45.839 --> 00:26:48.400 -Oh cards from his uniform. He pulled out a blue 00:26:48.400 --> 00:26:51.259 eyes white dragon. And for another race, he showed 00:26:51.259 --> 00:26:53.720 Exodia the forbidden one, just casually flashing 00:26:53.720 --> 00:26:55.839 them to the camera. That was such a moment. You 00:26:55.839 --> 00:26:58.319 have this world class athlete on the biggest 00:26:58.319 --> 00:27:00.940 stage on Earth, millions, maybe billions of people 00:27:00.940 --> 00:27:03.599 watching. And he is basically saying, I am a 00:27:03.599 --> 00:27:06.180 duelist. He's channeling that power. It proves 00:27:06.180 --> 00:27:09.440 that the generation that grew up. with Yugi, 00:27:09.539 --> 00:27:11.519 the kids who bought those starter decks in 2002 00:27:11.519 --> 00:27:15.059 at Toys R Us, are now the adults shaping the 00:27:15.059 --> 00:27:17.339 world. They're Olympians, they're creators, they're 00:27:17.339 --> 00:27:20.339 business leaders. The franchise has permeated 00:27:20.339 --> 00:27:22.240 the culture in a way that I don't think anyone, 00:27:22.359 --> 00:27:25.180 especially not Takahashi back in 1996, could 00:27:25.180 --> 00:27:27.819 have ever predicted. It's no longer a niche hobby. 00:27:28.019 --> 00:27:30.220 It is part of the cultural fabric of a generation. 00:27:30.380 --> 00:27:32.660 It's a shared language. So let's bring this all 00:27:32.660 --> 00:27:34.180 home. Let's try to tie it all together. What 00:27:34.180 --> 00:27:36.710 does this all mean? We've gone from a horror 00:27:36.710 --> 00:27:40.450 manga about a bullied kid to 35 billion cards, 00:27:40.490 --> 00:27:44.509 from shadow games involving scorpions to Olympic 00:27:44.509 --> 00:27:46.630 shoutouts. I think it comes back to that core 00:27:46.630 --> 00:27:49.309 tension we discussed earlier. Takahashi's desire 00:27:49.309 --> 00:27:52.349 for connection, he started by creating a hero 00:27:52.349 --> 00:27:55.569 who couldn't hit anyone. A hero who had to talk 00:27:55.569 --> 00:27:59.079 to strategize. Right. He created a world where 00:27:59.079 --> 00:28:02.579 conflicts are resolved through games, where understanding 00:28:02.579 --> 00:28:05.299 your opponent is the key to victory. And where 00:28:05.299 --> 00:28:08.279 friendship isn't just a cheesy line you say before 00:28:08.279 --> 00:28:11.200 the final attack, but the literal name of the 00:28:11.200 --> 00:28:14.240 heroes. Exactly. The Shadow Games judged people 00:28:14.240 --> 00:28:17.180 for their cruelty, for their greed, for their 00:28:17.180 --> 00:28:20.460 lack of humanity. The card game, Duel Monsters, 00:28:20.460 --> 00:28:23.240 gave people a structured way to interact, to 00:28:23.240 --> 00:28:26.579 be heroes in a world with rules. It was a safe 00:28:26.579 --> 00:28:28.660 - safer way to have that conflict. It's a balance 00:28:28.660 --> 00:28:31.579 of judgment and potential. The darkness of the 00:28:31.579 --> 00:28:34.059 penalty game versus the light of the hidden potential 00:28:34.059 --> 00:28:36.940 that Takahashi believed is inside all of us. 00:28:37.039 --> 00:28:39.400 And that hidden potential is the takeaway Takahashi 00:28:39.400 --> 00:28:41.319 wanted us to have, that when we are backed into 00:28:41.319 --> 00:28:43.640 a corner, when we're bullied or feel weak, we 00:28:43.640 --> 00:28:46.059 can transform. We can become the game king of 00:28:46.059 --> 00:28:48.259 our own lives, but we need our friends to help 00:28:48.259 --> 00:28:51.000 us do it. That's a powerful thought. And here's 00:28:51.000 --> 00:28:52.859 something else to chew on as we wrap up this 00:28:52.859 --> 00:28:56.019 deep dive. Takahashi originally turned to games 00:28:56.019 --> 00:28:58.559 because he wanted to show a hero who battles 00:28:58.559 --> 00:29:01.400 without hitting a form of conflict that requires 00:29:01.400 --> 00:29:05.119 presence and intellect. In a world that is increasingly 00:29:05.119 --> 00:29:08.299 dominated by digital isolation, where we are 00:29:08.299 --> 00:29:10.660 more connected through screens than ever, but 00:29:10.660 --> 00:29:13.960 often feel more alone, is the enduring success 00:29:13.960 --> 00:29:17.529 of Yu -Gi -Oh! proof that we are actually craving 00:29:17.529 --> 00:29:20.269 that face -to -face communication that Takahashi 00:29:20.269 --> 00:29:23.190 insisted on. It's a really valid question. Are 00:29:23.190 --> 00:29:25.710 we buying the cards because we want to win, or 00:29:25.710 --> 00:29:27.529 are we buying them because we want an excuse 00:29:27.529 --> 00:29:29.829 to sit across the table from someone, look them 00:29:29.829 --> 00:29:31.849 in the eye, and share a physical space for an 00:29:31.849 --> 00:29:34.569 hour? Maybe the real magic isn't in summoning 00:29:34.569 --> 00:29:36.470 the Egyptian gods or the blue -eyed white dragon. 00:29:36.549 --> 00:29:39.210 Maybe the magic is just having a reason to gather. 00:29:39.390 --> 00:29:41.710 The game is the bridge. The game is the bridge. 00:29:41.869 --> 00:29:44.160 Something to think about. Go find the hidden 00:29:44.160 --> 00:29:46.839 part within yourself today. Thanks for listening.