Fans currently enjoying Yu-Gi-Oh! Go Rush!! should check out some of the best anime like Yu-Gi-Oh! The famous franchise began in 1996 with Kazuki Takahashi’s groundbreaking manga, which led to the first series of the anime and the lastingly popular trading card game. Such a major hit not only spawned sequels, but inspired many more anime.
There are currently eleven Yu-Gi-Oh! anime, the most iconic being the original 2000 Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters. Its exploration of the game and its supernatural elements give the show its strength; the powerful themes of friendship, loyalty, and optimism give it its heart. Naturally, its successors run on the spirit of competition and similar themes.
10 Beyblade’s Anime Promotes Its Own Toy Line
TV Tokyo, based on the manga by Takao Aoki
Tyson Granger’s grandfather would prefer that he run the family dojo, but he approves of the warrior’s zeal with which Tyson battles with his Beyblade. Tyson’s team are determined to conquer the tournament circuit. They soon find themselves the only ones who can defend their sacred bit-beasts and the sport of Beyblade itself.
Its first anime premiered in 2001, just a year after Yu-Gi-Oh!’s anime. Beyblade also became popular through the tie-in game and collectible toys, though it takes more practice for real Beyblade players to let the flashy tops rip. It still goes strong today with sequel series, such as the currently airing Beyblade X.
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9 Fate/Stay night Partners Humans With Ancient Spirits
Ufotable, based on the visual novel series by Type-Moon
When Yugi Muto solves the Millennium Puzzle, he is possessed by the spirit within, a three-thousand-year-old amnesiac Pharaoh. In life, the Pharaoh mastered the game that became Duel Monsters, and he helps Yugi become a better duelist and protects him from increasingly scarier opponents. He wouldn’t be terribly out of place in the Fifth Holy Grail War.
In every war for the wish-granting Holy Grail, the combatants are backed by Heroic Spirits, the souls of legendary figures from across history, from King Arthur to Gilgamesh. Shirou Emiya was trained by his adoptive father, but without Saber, he would be doomed. As Shirou and Saber grow closer, they become competitors to be reckoned with and one of the best battle couples in anime.
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8 Pokémon Trainers Battle To Become Masters
OLM, Inc., based on the video game series by Game Freak and Nintendo
Pokémon was another international smash hit of the late nineties and early 2000s. Most anime fans are familiar with the franchise even if they aren’t strictly into it. Ash Ketchum and his many friends and rivals explore many unique regions building teams of Pokémon. A Trainer who catches every Pokémon and trains them to perfection is a Pokémon Master.
The Pokémon world runs on Pokémon just as much as the Yu-Gi-Oh! world seems to center around Duel Monsters. In addition to the many competitions available to Trainers and Coordinators, Pokémon are also a major part of the workforce: just ask all the Chanseys at the Pokémon Centers and Growlithes in the police! Legendary Pokémon control the elements, time and space, and the fabric of the universe itself.
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7 Hunter X Hunter’s Greed Island Runs On Cards
Madhouse, based on the manga by Yoshihiro Togashi
While Hunter x Hunter may seem very different from Yu-Gi-Oh!, there is one arc in the middle of the show with very significant similarities. To find Gon’s absent father, Ging, he and Killua must enter Greed Island, the Hunters-only virtual reality game that Ging designed in his youth.
Yu-Gi-Oh! joins Duel Monsters with virtual reality many times in the same way. In Greed Island, players use cards to store items, learn spells, and battle other players. The object of the game is to collect all 100 cards, at which point the winner will be able to bring three cards of their choice from the game into the real world.
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6 Chihayafuru’s Card Game Requires Skill And Teamwork
Madhouse, based on the manga by Yuki Suetsugu
Chihaya Ayase spent her life supporting others’ dreams, until finding her own in poetry karuta. She takes naturally to the sport, in which players learn the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu poetry collection and move quickly to match the lines of each poem. Though she isn’t a prodigy like her new friends, she’s determined to become Japan’s Queen of Karuta.
There’s nothing supernatural about karuta, but Chihaya’s journey is no less compelling. Karuta has many variants, but its poetry style has been played for centuries and remains popular among Japanese youth today, partially due to Chihayafuru’s popularity. Chihaya and her teammates master memory, strategy, and teamwork to succeed.
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5 Hikaru No Go’s Hero Has A Spirit Mentor
Pierrot, based on the manga by Yumi Hotta and Takeshi Obata
When he disturbs an old Go board in his grandfather’s attic, Hikaru Shindou awakens the spirit of Fujiwara no Sai. Centuries ago, Sai was the emperor’s Go teacher, and his unfinished business as a ghost is to master the perfect technique. Hikaru could take or leave Go, but he agrees to help Sai finally achieve his dream.
Similarly to Chihayafuru, Hikaru no Go gave Go a popularity boost in real life, paralleling Hikaru discovering his own passion for the game. Like the unknown Yugi gaining notoriety after his victory over the champion Kaiba, Hikaru almost immediately beats the Go world’s rising star Akira Touya under Sai’s direction. Akira is shocked and confused at how this rookie beat him, and as Hikaru gets serious about Go, they develop a strong rivalry.
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4 Kaiji: Ultimate Survivor Throws Gamblers Into Life-Or-Death Games
Madhouse, based on the manga by Nobuyuki Fukumoto
Kaiji Itou is perpetually down on his luck, and his gambling habit isn’t exactly helping. When he provokes the yakuza, he is offered a choice: a life of hard labor, or a chance to win freedom aboard a gambling cruise ship. Kaiji chooses the latter, but discovers that his life is in even more danger here.
In the most serious duels in Yu-Gi-Oh!, losing has fatal consequences: the English dub’s invention of the Shadow Realm to censor death threatens characters with a fate worse than death. Kaiji and company need skill and a lot of luck to survive. They gamble with their lives on some of the best fantasy games in anime, such as an exaggerated rock-paper-scissors played with cards and star tokens.
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3 Cardfight!! Vanguard Revolves Around Trading Cards
TMS Entertainment, based on the franchise owned by Bushiroad.
Aichi Sendou collects Cardfight Vanguard cards with a passion, but is too shy to learn how to actually play the game with others. Then the powerful player Toshiki Kai pushes him to come out of his shell. Determined to one day be strong enough to fight Kai, Aichi throws himself into becoming the best Cardfight Vanguard player.
Over eight seasons, Cardfight!! Vanguard falls into the same pattern as many shows that followed in Yu-Gi-Oh!’s wake. Aichi first aims to reach the top of the Cardfight Vanguard world, but soon discover that there’s more to that world than he knew. Characters move from challenging tournaments to confronting supernatural threats to their world.
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2 Bakugan Battle Brawlers Partners Humans With Monster Spirits
TMS Entertainment, based on the franchise owned by Sega Toys and Spin Masters
In Yu-Gi-Oh!, the strongest duelists have a special connection to a certain card and the Monster within, such as Seto Kaiba’s lifelong love affair with the Blue-Eyes White Dragon. When Dan Kuso and friends create Bakugan Brawling, they wind up not just masters of the game, but chosen by sentient Bakugan as partners in the fight to save their world and Earth.
While actual Bakugan are spherical figures a Brawler throws to summon, cards are essential to the game. Gate Cards form the battlefield, and like Yu-Gi-Oh!’s Trap and Field Spell Cards, can quickly turn the tide of battle when their effects are revealed. Different types of Gate Card power up Bakugan or give them advantages based on their Element.
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1 Duel Masters’ Strongest Heroes Summon Real Monsters
ACGT Inc./Studio Hibari, based on the manga by Shigenobu Matsumoto
Shobu Kirifuda uses his father Shori’s powerful deck to become a champion of Duel Masters. Since first getting a taste of Kaijudo, an ascended level of Duel Masters play that brings summoned monsters to life, he’s chased it fiercely. Like his father, Shobu is determined to be the best in the game.
Duel Masters started as a corporate cash grab when the company behind Magic: The Gathering saw Yu-Gi-Oh!’s success and rushed to ride its coattails. However, with the anime’s popularity, the franchise found a devoted following of its own. The English dub was especially beloved for the humor it added to the show in translation.
Yu-Gi-Oh
- Summary:
- Yu-Gi-Oh! is a multimedia franchise that started with a manga series serialized between 1996 to 2004. It was written and illustrated by Kazuki Takahashi. The popularity of the series led it to become a franchise that has spawned into several anime adaptations, movies, novels, trading card games, video games and retail items such as shirts.The main protagonist of the series is a boy named Yugi Mutou who loves games but was often bullied because of his physical build. He successfully solves the Millenium Puzzle, which unlocks a spirit that takes over his body whenever Yugi and the people he cares about are threatened. The spirit who takes over his body then challenges the dark spirits to card game duels.Yugi and friends find out that the spirit is an ancient Egyptian Pharaoh who lost all memory of his past life. They go through an adventure filled with Duel Monster battles as Yugi and his friends decide to help the Pharaoh remember who he is.Takahashi originally wanted to create horror manga series because he wanted to produce a battle story that does not involve physical encounters. He ended up with a story that still revolves around battles but done through trading card games.A spin-off manga series titled Yu-Gi-Oh! R was published between 2004 and 2007 with Akira Ito as the Illustrator with Takahashi working closely with him. There are two anime adaptations of the series to date titled Yu-Gi-Oh! and Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters respectively. The former first aired in 1998 with 27 episodes and the latter in 2000 with 224 episodes. A 12-episode miniseries spinoff titled Yu-Gi-Oh! Capsule Monsters also aired between September and November 2006.A novel adaptation written by Katsuhiko Chiba was published in September 1999. Other book adaptations also followed along with four movies, various video games and card games. The franchise also includes items such as clothes, bags, school supplies, caps, eating utensils and the likes.
