Customer Reviews

Yu-Gi-Oh! Vol. 1 - The Shadow Games (Uncut)

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

5,000 years ago, the fates of men and kings were decided by deadly games known as "Yami no Game" (aka "The Shadow Games"). There were seven magical items possesed by powerful sorcerors known as the Millienium Items. One of these items, the Sennen (aka "Millienium") Puzzle belonged to an ancient pharoah that went by the name "Yami", which gave him strange and mystical powers. Years later, the puzzle was discovered in ancient Egyptian ruins, and somehow wound up in the hands of ordinary teenage boy Mutou Yugi.

It was completely broken in pieces, and Yugi believed that if he put the puzzle together again, it would grant him his wish. So, he wished for friends, and surprisingly, when Yugi completed the puzzle, it granted that wish through his new friends, Jonouchi, Honda, and Anzu. But the Sennen Puzzle ended up giving Yugi more than he bargained for. Embedded deep within the confines of the puzzle was a dark, ancient spirit that would temporarily take control over Yugi's body, and would challenge those who "trespassed in his soul" to a "Yami no Game." These games were very deadly and the loser would have to face a "Pentaly Game", which revealed the true nature of the players' souls.

Fast-forward to the present time. Yugi and his friends have just gotten hooked on the popular Duel Monsters card game. After defeating president of Kaiba Corp and Duel Monsters champion, Kaiba Seto, Yugi is invited to attend the Duelist Kingdom tournament, hosted by world-famous Pegasus J. Crawford, inventor of the Duel Monstes game himself. Yugi has no choice but to accept this invitation, for Pegasus has kidnapped his grandfather, and the only way for Yugi to rescue him is to defeat Pegasus and win the tournament. Yugi's friends tag along for the journey, and along with his best friend Jonouchi, Yugi must duel his way to the top. All the while discovering secrets about himself and his friends that he never knew about, and learning about the secret deadly magic of the Millienium Items....

Yugioh is a popular shounen anime (cartoons for boys) that began as a humble manga (comic books) series in 1996, written and drawn by Takahashi Kazuki-san. It was seralized in the Shounen Jump magazine and continues to to be published to this date. The series became an instant success, spawning two anime series, dozens of merchandise, and a real-world card game. The first Yugioh anime series, produced by Toei Animation, was first aired on Japanese television in 1996. This series was based on the early chapters of the manga, revolving around the introduction of Yugi and his friends, and revealing how our hero solved the Sennen Puzzle. Unfortunately, this series didn't perform very well in Japan due to its poor voice actors, bizarre animation, and lack of direction, so only 27 episodes were ever produced.

In 1998, a second Yugioh series, completely separate from the first anime was produced, entitled Yugioh: Duel Monsters. This series was based on the later chapters of the manga, revolving around Yugi's life as a champion duelist. This series was much more successful, running for around six seasons and over a hundred episodes. This anime had been adapted into many different languages, with some adaptions being better than others, and some being down right awful. And the DVD that you're looking at now contains episodes one through three of this series. For the first time ever, uncut Yugioh is now commercially available in the U.S. This DVD release not only contains the original Japanese version presented with English subtitles, but also contains a new, uncut English adaption.

While the subtitles on the Japanese langauge track are indeed dubtitles (closed-captions for the English dub), the new dub is so incredibly accurate to the Japanese version that this doesn't present any major problems at all. One thing that is particulary interesting is that the new dub, while uncut and accurately-translated, continues to use the names of the characters from the English edited version, but the Japanese names are included in the subtitles. This is just a bizarre decision, and most fans don't understand why 4Kids didn't just decide to use the Japanese names for the new dub, since they're re-dubbing the entire show, anyway.

The video and audio quality is very good, but the audio is a little lower on the Japanese language track than it is on the English language track. Another interesting thing about these DVDs is that rather than translating the Japanese text in the credits to English like most anime companies do, 4Kids decided to leave the text in Japanese. While this may please most Yugioh otakus, the more casual anime fan would appreciate a set of credits written in English somewhere on the disc, which seems to be completly absent here. Also omitted from the discs are the next episode previews, which may inevitably displease many Yugioh otakus, but all they showed were clips of next week's episode, so the skipping of these previews doesn't de-tract the enjoyment of the show any.

While the new English dub is completely uncut (with the expcetion of the names), featuring all of the visual footage and original Japanese background music left entirely in-tact, the new dub still suffers from poor voice acting. All of the familiar voice artists from the English edited version are reprising their roles here, but the acting feels even worse in the uncut dub than in the edited version because it feels like the voice artists are trying almost too hard to match the lip-movement, so it doesn't sound natural. Luckly, the Japanese version is optional here, so Yugioh fans can enjoy the series the way it was meant to be seen.

Contrary to what Funimation is trying to tell you, the dialog and subtitles do not count as extras, and there doesn't seem to be any bonus features on these discs whatsoever, aside from some trailers for other Funimation products. This may prove to be a dissappointment to fans expceting textless opening/ending credits or character profiles, but at least Yugioh fans have the official English subbed version licensed now. The two biggest problems with this DVD release are the unskippable previews at the beginning of the disc, and the fact that Funimation is only releasing three episodes per volume.

While this does make the price of the individual DVDs cheaper (most uncut anime DVDs are $30 each, but the uncut Yugioh DVDs are only $20), in the end this move will make longer series like Yugioh very expensive and difficult to collect, as well as take up excessive space in many anime collector's shelves. Overall though, this DVD release isn't as bad as one would think it is. Yugioh fans have to remember that this is 4Kids' first attempt at releasing subbed anime. There was a time when they wouldn't even acknowledge the fact the shows they were licensing were Japanese, let alone release subbed versions of their titles, and uncut Yugioh was once nothing more than a dream, but now that dream has been realized.

Hopefully, 4Kids will be able to improve the quality of their subbed releases in the future, but the only way they'll be able to do that is if the fans show their support for uncut anime in the U.S. by buying these DVDs. Yugioh otakus, don't let the few errors on this DVD release discourage you from buying it because it's not as bad as you think it is. If you've only seen the English edited version of Yugioh and have been dying to see the Japanese version, don't pass this opporunity up to own it for yourselves.

If you already own a shady subbed copy of uncut Yugioh, you should replace it with the real deal. And if you're a casual anime fan who's been interested in Yugioh for quite some time now, but the English adaption has been discouraging you from checking it out, now is the time for you to invest in this great series. Yugioh is an excellent anime with unique animation, great characters, and an exiciting storyline that doesn't fail to deliver, and what better way to enjoy it, than to experience it the way it was meant to be seen: uncut and unedited. Yugioh is rated TVPG for animated violence, some strong language, adult humor, and brief nudity.

Everything possible to say about these uncut episodes has been said, but there's always room for more. This is the original Yu-Gi-Oh...not an American-edited impostor. Not that the dubbed episodes are that bad, it's just better to see the real deal.

Volumes 1 and 2 give you the pureness of the first six episodes of the original Japanese anime. Too bad it's not "season zero" (The first 27-or-so episodes that run on the storyline of the manga series) but nobody gets everything they want, right? Anyway, I really don't see why 4Kids had to edit it, because nothing is really wrong with it. The so-called "violence" isn't any more or less extreme, and the dialogue actually makes more sense. The changeable things are a given, like the card animation, the brief nudity of the Harpie Lady (soon covered by Cyber Shield), the ONE time when Joey/Jonouchi swears, which I also find wonderfully amusing (unless you count "Darn it" as a profanity, which in that case, he swears 3 times...and you're really uptight[no offense]), and when Tea/Anzu calls Mai a "pheromone hussy" (Which isn't really that bad, but I honestly think "selfish, pompous, bleach-blonde, know-it-all windbag" is more amusing [see American-dub episode 5]). Those things are easily fixed, but 4Kids had to make it even more complicated for themselves and screwed up the whole part where Joey/Jonouchi asks Yugi's Grandpa to teach him how to play Duel Monsters in the second episode. The poster that Grandpa was putting up in the Kame Game Shop was actually a tournament announcement, and the only reason Grandpa was so "iffy" about teaching Joey was because he didn't think Joey was worthy of "the Heart of the Cards."

I could understand the reason 4Kids would have to edit the character's mouths to fit in better suited, faster-speaking dialogue if they would leave it and air it that way it was. Everyone talks really slow, like they're mentally challenged. And sometimes the translations are really weird, like in the Insector Combo (Vol. 2), when Yugi's Beaver Warrior is destroyed, he gasps and goes, "My man!" I found this extremely entertaining, and laughed uncontrollably.

But so far, the best thing that was changed was Pegasus' name, originally Pegasus J. Crawford. WHAT KIND OF NAME IS THAT?!?! He looks more like a Maxamillion Pegasus to me. It sounds a lot more prima-donna-ish, which is really the effect that he's supposed to give off. Crawford just doesn't really fit well for a stuck-up guy like him.

The thing that bothers me most about the English voice-overs is that Mai's voice is not the same as the one they have in the 1st and 2nd seasons. The woman that did Mai's voice doesn't match her...it's just not the same! It sounds like it belongs to an old lady or something. At least the voice change in season 4 matches her a bit better...even though you can tell that it's different.

A couple of exciting bonus features on these DVD's are the original Japanese dialogue (I was kind of hesitant about watching it like this, but I think it makes watching YGO more fun) and the original Japanese theme songs. You can choose to put English subtitles during the songs, but they really kind of take away from the originality, not to mention that they don't make much sense ("...Game cartridges stuck in my room..." "And don't even move your brows..." whatever that means...).

My DVD is kind of screwed up sometimes though...I don't know if it's my DVD player or the DVD, but when I'm on the menu, sometimes the highlighter/selector thing doesn't show up and I have to start the DVD again (and go through all the commercials...which you can't fast-forward through the first half, so basically, you'll be able to memorize the WWF action figure ad at the beginning). If your DVD does this too, you're not alone, and if it doesn't, then my DVD player is just weird.

I hope this review was somewhat helpful, because it took a long time to type. I am so YGO crazy! And if this product still doesn't fit your YGO craving...I also recommend Yu-Gi-Oh! The Complete (American Dub) First Season on DVD, and any of the Yu-Gi-Oh Power of Chaos CD-ROM's (I own Yugi the Destiny and Kaiba the Revenge, I haven't had the time or money to get Joey the Passion), and don't buy the three-episode DVD's of the second season, because 4Kids might come out with another box set (This hasn't been confirmed, but I'd rather wait and save about $40). Have a YGO filled day!

Well, okay, I didn't give my time to read all 24 of the reviews that were already here PLUS I'm a little slow on the up-take (this was actually the first I'd heard about UNCUT YGO DVDs @.@ go me...) BUT, even though I haven't seen these yet, I've read enough about them to know that some of the reviewers here are acting like they got a giant stick up their arse!! Honestly! Funimation is doing us all a great service by releasing a DVD with an UNCUT JAPANESE version of each episode! So the subtitles are a little shakey - so what?! If that REALLY bothers you, go learn Japanese and move to Japan! Then you won't have to deal with the few errors these wonderful people who work hard to give us an actual representation of the dialogue make! Another dumb complaint: "some of the boys are voiced by Japanese women" - I'm sorry, but you're further out of the loop than I am if you think this is "bad". Yugi is a short kid - a little kid, if you will. All little kids who haven't hit puberty yet sound like girls so the Japanese voice the majority of little boys with girls. Oh darn.
Personally, I'll buy these DVDs with my last pennies if it means that I get to hear the ORIGINAL JAPANESE voices of Yugi, Bakura Ryo, and Malik (or Marik, whatever). I'm really tired of hearing Yami no Marik sound like a constipated old man (although I'm quite fond of Bakura's British accent in the dubs =3).
Oh, and Harpie Lady's attire? Oh darn - blue cartoon boobies!! Jeeze, some people...
Ah, the "guns" in the dubs - "I'm gonna poke you!!" Please... I'm gouging my eyes out...
Oh, I don't think a lot of people know this - the Millenium Rod of Marik's? It holds a nifty little blade that HE STABS HIS FATHER WITH. No Shadow Realm for him =3 Bwee~
Okay, I've thrown in my two cents ^-^ Now you may start hating me =3 I still want my Mariku-chan X3

[EDIT] BTW, if you want bad subtitles, try watching Hong Kong bootlegs XD They had Seto as "Zither" for a few episodes - and he's not the only one who got screwed in the translations.

It wasnt as scary as i imagined. It was the best. Seeing yugioh as it was meant to be seen. And it has a real opening and closing song.

While the uncut versions do have blood and violence, most of that doesn't appear until later in the series, possibly during the Battle City arc. But these dvds are still worth it. Here's some differences:

1.Never-before-seen scenes such as parts of when yugi remembers how he met Joey.

2. Better dialogue. The translation is 96% accurate unlike the Kids WB version's which is only 20% accurate.

3.Still the same voices but they do it better this time.

4. All of the cards are shown uncensored. Unlike the Kids WB version, the harpy lady card doesn't get the digital bikini treatment.

5. It doesn't have that annoying "Yu-gi-oh!!" shout when yugi transforms.

6. Attack names have been changed. For example, Exodia's attack is now called "Hellfire's rage, Exodo flame!".

At my house, we only have basic cable for our TV, so I could not get the WB on my vieweing list. So I did not get a chance to first experience Yu-Gi-Oh! until it aired in November 2002 on Cartoon Network. Needless to say, I loved it. I loved the characters, I loved the game involved, and I loved the Egyptian theme to it all. I was one satisfied 14-year old.

About a year later, however, I learend that many things had been cut or changed in the show to make it appropriate for kids to watch. The original version has a lot more religious references, actual cussing, sexual references and partial monster nudity and violence. For example, in the original version of "First Fight", the Harpie Lady was wearing nothing but spandex pants, and two strips of purple cloth over its chest. For the US version, they fully covered the monster so that it was now wearing an actual shirt. This was a fully reasonable change, as partial nudity would not have sat well with parents.

Unfortunately, not all of the changes (in my opinion) were as reasonable as the one meantioned above. Another change that was made was the removal of guns from all parts of the show. Unfortunately, this left anyone carrying one with the appearance of pointing his/her finger threatingly at another person. I could go on, literally, for days about my other complaints, but for the sake of this review, I won't.

The point is, the version of Yu-Gi-Oh! that was released on the airwaves left a lot to be desired. And, apparently, 4KIDS has now heeded the thousands of complaints, and released the first six episodes completely unedited. No more finger pointing, friendship speeches that have been toned down in the cringe level, and the like. So, when I got this DVD in the mail, I had high hopes for it. Unfortunately, like almost all high expectatations, mine were bound to come back to haunt me.

One of the main advertisements for these DVD's was that the English dub track was going to be completely redone, so that it would now be a perfect match for the Japanese dialog. This excited me a great deal, as I have always been a big believer in well-done dubs, and have always protested about the horrible ones. Unfortunately, this was soon brought crashing down in my mind.

For starters, the dub is NOT completely accurate. They still use the English names, like Joey instead of Jounouchi, and Tea instead of Anzu. But I can forgive them for this, as the show IS still meant for pre-teens. The only thing I could not forgive 4KIDS for is the job that the English voice actors did for the new dialog. The English lines have been greatly slowed down, as if the actor has a stutter, and is trying to mouth every word out clearly. This, apparently, was done so that the new dialog would match the lip movements. It comes across as very cheesy. For a company that has such a great editing department (I mean, look at all the editing they did to the TV version! You couldn't even tell if you didn't already know!) would be able to change the lip movements to match the dialog. I mean, really, I had to switch to the Japanese dialog after a few minutes.

Also, the DVD is very much lacking in the bonus features department. The only features left to be seen on this DVD were audio options, and the previews included. We could have seen a little more in that department.

My final thoughts: Any fans out there who love Yu-Gi-Oh! will love this DVD because of the fact that it has the original music, the original Japanese audio, yadda yadda. But those fans who are fans of the English actors may be a little disappointed.

DVD RATING: 7/10

Motou Yuugi has always been an out-cast in life. That was, until he solved the Millennium Puzzle. With it, he is infused with special powers, transforming him into "the Other Yuugi," an ancient entity, who challenges evil duelers to "Games of Darkness," Miraculous and Magical games in which the loser's life will be taken! After coming home from school, Motou Yuugi and his friends have a run-in with the Duel Monster Champion, Kaiba Seto. It seems that Kaiba is after Yuugi's grandfather's most treasured card, the Blue Eyes White Dragon. He will go at any lengths to get it, even kill Yuugi's grandfather. Yuugi must duel against him to save his grandfather! Later, Motou Yuugi gets a strange video from Pegasus J. Crawford-- the famous creator of Duel Monsters. As it turns out, Pegasus is in possession of another Millennium Item: the Millennium Eye. However, unlike Yuugi, he abuses the Games of Darkness for reasons currently unknown. He kidnaps Yuugi's grandfather and tells him that in order to save him, he must come defeat him at "Duelist Kingdom." Thus, the adventure of Yu-Gi-Oh: Duel Monsters has begun!

*~*~*

As for my actual review, I would have to say that the American Teenage population has completely misjudged the series. We all thought Yu-Gi-Oh was another version of Pokemon-stupid, pathetic, and a first class merchandise distributor. I was like them, for a time. That was, until I got my hands on the `original' series of Yu-Gi-Oh. The un-cut version is completely different from the Four Kids edited version. While the other one was designed to fit younger viewers, the un-cut version will surely inspire anyone who is beyond the age of twelve. This product is rated PG-13 for mild language, blood and gore, religious implications, death, some scary moments and human sacrifice. Of course, the version I currently own is the Anime Video "AV" series-, which has poorly manufactured subtitles and some cut-off episodes. These professional episodes are well done-however, I know very little regarding the English track. I have little faith that the English track will be any good (after seeing the actor's most recent job-the Yu-Gi-Oh Movie 2004)-but I have some hope. I am willing to give them a shot at it.

This is the original uncut Japanese version of the show. In turn all the episodes are in subtitlesbut this allows for the original Japanese voiceovers to do there job. Besides the fact that it is in Japanese other differences between this and its American conterpart include the character names, card names, dialoge, and the violence/gore level. The character names are all different they were changed in the American version to apeal to the audience. The card names are mostly basic differences because of the transilation from Japanese to Chinese then to English. Two examples are Green eyes white dragon instead of Blue eyes white dragon, also the Dark magician was named Black sorceror. The english dialoge is 90% different then th original Japanese. This was done to make it geared to a yonger audience. These differeneces include simple things like in the American Yugi would say to Joey "Your going to win" the japanese says "You better not lose". The most noticable diffrence is the violence and gore. In the American version blood and gore is totaly absent but in the japanese it is quite prevelent for instance one scene totaly redone for the American version was When Marik sent his parents to the shadow realm. The original shows him stabing his parents with millennium rod. The uncut versions gore and violence makes this inapropriat for some of the original American audience specifically the young ones. The diffeneces form the Japaneese to the American in turn change the show so drastically that the general audience who will buy this changes. These changes in my eyes make the show much better and buying it here will save you some money because from what i have noticed is that anime is generally more expensive than other movies, but that also might be my bad luck. Thanks for reading my review.

First of all, I would like to say that I hate everyone who's written a review before me. Not to be mean, I just do. My parents are insanely strict, so when they saw these reviews, they wouldn't let me buy the DVD. But, being the obsessive YGO (Yu-Gi-Oh) fan that I am, I had to see them. I was lucky enough to have a friend who had these DVD's and she let me borrow them.
I watched them all (this one and the Insector Haga) a bunch of times, and well, it made me mad. My goodness people! They aren't bad at all. It says right on the DVD that they're only rated PG.
Here are the only `inappropriate' things that I found:
1) Some attacks have the word `hell' in it. (i.e. Hellfire inferno)
2) Joey says damn it (which I found wonderfully amusing)
3) It's true, the Harpie Lady doesn't exactly have a top on, but she has like, some kind of boa over her so you really don't see much of anything. Not to mention, she's covered by Mai's armor in a couple of turns.
4) (this isn't really bad, but...) Téa calls Mai a hussy and Joey calls Mai a babe... more jokes along those lines.
THE HORROR!
It's nowhere near as bad as you people said it'd be. (Most real changes weren't made until well into the show)

Well, bad or not, these DVD's are totally awesome. Although just about anyone can sit down with these DVD's and get a good two hours of entertainment, it can only truly be appreciated by a true YGO fan. The actual dialogue of the scenes is much better. Two of the episodes in the Insector Haga were combined into one before shown in the US, so there's like, double the input on this one. Not to mention, there are a lot of scenes that you've probably never seen before.

Another great thing about the DVD - you finally here the Japanese theme song. It's rockin'. The song at the credits --- well, you can't win them all. It's a shame, but the songs end up losing a LOT in the translation. You're better off if you don't read the lyrics, because they sound pretty cool.
As and F.Y.I - I believe the theme song is about his obsession of cards, and as for the song at the credits? I couldn't tell you. Either we missed something big in Season 0 (In case you didn't know, `season 0' refers to the 27 episodes that occurred in the `first season' of the show... It was canceled before it's finish. There are no plans to bring it to America), or the lyrics just lost all meaning in the translation. I'd be glad to hear the meaning if anyone knows it.

I do have some complaints concerning the English dub, though. Since they didn't dub anything, the characters mouth movements don't always fit. But instead of just letting the characters mouth pointlessly (like you'll see in the old King Kong movies and such - which sadly enough would have been the better choice here), they have the characters say the words slowly - giving it the effect that there stuttering. And in some cases (which I find much worse), they add pointless words that make it sound utterly idiotic. I know I'm making a mountain of a mole hill here, but it bothers me. For example, in Japan, they answer the phone by saying `moshi-moshi'. That's all good and well, but it doesn't have the same amount of syllables as `hello.' So instead they answer the phone and slowly say, "Yes, hello?" Silly, I know, but it annoys me.
And then in some cases, stuff loses something in the translation, and then they add filler words, and you end up with something utterly ridiculous. Joey in particular got some doozies, which were made all the worse by his Brooklyn accent. For example:
Joey - It aggravated me to see ya being so introverted.
Joey - It makes me upset that there's nothing more we can do to help Yugi.
It's just a pain.
Oh, and for regular viewers of the show - you'll notice that Mai's voice has recently changed. Megan Hollingshead (old Mai) moved to LA. The newer voice is something like a southern drawl. It's terrible to watch. Thankfully, this voice is not used in Uncut. Unfortunately, it's still not Megan - but it's entirely tolerable.
Yeah, watch the DVD's in their dubbed form - but make sure you check out the Japanese with subs as well.

Regardless of any problems these DVD's may have - they're a must buy to a YGO fan. So what are you waitin' for? Order them, already! Enjoy!

When I first heard about the Yu-Gi-Oh! Uncut DVDs, I had to get them. So, I bought them from here and waited for them to come in the mail. When the package came, I ripped open the box, and opened the DVD. I put it in the DVD player and started to watch them.

The first difference I saw was the theme song. It was a japenese song. The song was better than the English Duelist Kingdom song. The second thing I saw was that the cards are in japenese. I think the cards look cooler, but it doesn't matter. Next, I noticed that the characters talk slow. They also had to fill in words. For example, when Yugi answered the phone, he said, "Yes, hello?" You wouldn't say that when you answer the phone. They had to fill in words to match the syllables. One more difference is the language is more harsh. There is not a lot of cursing at all. I think there was only one curse in all three episodes. Tea also said stupid, what they had to take out of the English version.

Overall, I have to give this 5 stars. It was excellent. Every die-hard Yu-Gi-Oh! fan must watch this!