Despite many of the Yu-Gi-Oh series being largely disconnected from each other, there is actually one surprising monster that connects most of them together: Kuriboh. The most iconic monsters of the franchise are generally mighty creatures like Dark Magician and Blue-Eyes White Dragon, but these monsters are often too distinctive to be used by multiple characters across different series. This is especially true given the different tones and settings that each anime has.
While all Yu-Gi-Oh series are set in worlds where a card game can determine the fate of the world, beyond that their settings are very different. The original Yu-Gi-Oh is set in the relatively mundane Domino City, but GX shifts the setting to an island school. Later series often shift to more futuristic settings, with 5D’s being set in a cyberpunk version of Domino City and VRAINS taking place in a world that has access to virtual reality technology on the level of Sword Art Online or .Hack//. These different settings carry with them different tones, with series like the underrated Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal being brighter and happier than the darker and grittier 5D’s. With all these different approaches, it makes sense that monsters with a lot of thematic weight in one anime wouldn’t translate well to another.
Kuriboh Connects the Yu-Gi-Oh Franchise Together
In order to connect these disparate series an endlessly adaptable monster like Kuriboh was needed. The fluffball monster was used by Yugi in the first anime to defeat Pegasus and was popular enough to be featured later in the series as well, even becoming Yugi’s Deck Master in the Virtual World arc. At the beginning of Yu-Gi-Oh GX Yugi gave a version of this card called Winged Kuriboh to Jaden and the card’s spirit became one of Jaden’s close companions. The 5D’s anime unfortunately scaled back Kuriboh’s importance, relegating its version, Kuribon, to the deck of a side character, Luna. Zexal on the other hand introduced a whole range of new Kuribohs, from Kurivolt to the much more important Rainbow Kuriboh. While the next series Arc-V didn’t actually feature any Kuribohs in its anime, keeping its version exclusive to its Back to the Future inspired manga, VRAINS revived the trend by featuring two different versions, Linkuriboh and Linguriboh. Even Yu-Gi-Oh Sevens, despite featuring Rush Duels instead of Duel Monsters, has featured a version of Kuriboh called Kuribot.
Easter Eggs like Kuriboh’s various appearances are an important aspect in tying the various Yu-Gi-Oh anime together despite their stark differences. And with Kuriboh’s cute and relatively simple design, the potential variations on the card are endless, making it the perfect card to adapt to fit multiple series. All this has made Kuriboh and its derivatives arguably as iconic as much stronger monsters like Dark Magician, which is somewhat surprising given its unassuming appearance and attack.
The current series in the franchise, Yu-Gi-Oh Go Rush has also featured Kuribot, but hasn’t added any distinctive elements to the archetype besides that. Hopefully as the franchise continues to expand into more series they keep the fun trend of adding new Kuriboh monsters. It would further reinforce the connections between all the Yu-Gi-Oh anime, despite their major differences.
