Yu-Gi-Oh! Season 0
For western audiences, the Yu-Gi-Oh! series that many grew up with was produced by 4Kids Entertainment and began airing in 2001.
This 4Kids iteration was actually an abridged and censored version of the Japanese series, Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters, produced by Studio Gallop in 2000. However, even this Japanese series was itself the product of significant censorship of the true original Yu-Gi-Oh! series. Yu-Gi-Oh! began with the dark and overly violent series affectionately dubbed ‘season 0’.
Produced by Toei Animation in 1998, this 27-episodes series was the first iteration of Yu-Gi-Oh! to air on Japanese TV and was never released outside Japan. With prolific violence, sexual harassment, and a protagonist (Yugi, through his dark alter ego, Yami) who often left his opponents mentally traumatised or physcially handicapped, it’s easy to see why both Japanese and American production companies didn’t adapt much of its content. Despite its maturity, ‘season 0’ still inspired a 30-minute movie, numerous video games and the earliest version of the Yu-Gi-Oh! trading cards (produced by Bandai, now produced by Konami).
A significant influence on ‘season 0’s darker content is Kazuki Takahashi’s original 1996 Yu-Gi-Oh! Manga (Weekly Shonen Jump). A clear contrast between 4Kids, ‘season 0’ and the manga is the portrayal of Yugi / Yami. In the 4Kids series, Yugi sends his more villainous opponents to “the shadow realm”, a concept created by 4Kids to skirt around the topic of death.
The 1995 anime movie was directed by Mamoru Oshii who gave the film his own style.
The movie adaptation closely follows the manga while being both darker and serious. The personalities of the characters are also slightly different. The main difference in character is that of Major Kusanagi. In the manga, she is quite vibrant and wild while in the anime movie she is being slightly emotionless and “puppet-like” [this of course makes sense within the plot line].
In ‘season 0’ Yugi forces his opponents to experience the sensation of dying, usually in ways that relate to their wrongdoing (for example, a villain who is often smoking is mentally imprisoned in the belief that he is burning alive). However, in the manga these villains are very literally killed by Yugi and his friends, with the aforementioned villain not imagining he’s burning alive, but literally being burned alive by Yugi and his friends who leave, satisfied with their victory. While ‘season 0’ was never released outside of Japan, it exists online, dubbed by avids fans for all to reel in shock at.
