Every Yu-Gi-Oh! Series Ranked From Worst to Best

The Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise is a staple of 90s anime, being ingrained in the minds of most young adults who grew up watching similar shows. A world full of magical artifacts, powerful monsters, and intense strategy-based games is what awaits anyone who chooses to join Yugi and his friends in their adventures. Yet, the franchise did not end after the pharaoh Atem returned to the afterlife.

There have been several other shows under the Yu-Gi-Oh! name, each with its own unique protagonists, story, and summoning mechanics. Nonetheless, not all the series have been received with the same amount of love by fans of the franchise. Some have become iconic, while others are forced to stay in the shadow of their predecessors.

8

Yu-Gi-Oh! Sevens Tried to Simplify the Game for a Younger Audience

92 episodes, aired between April 2020 and March 2022

Marketed for a younger audience, Sevens was Konami’s attempt at simplifying the Duel Monsters card game which had become too hard for children to comprehend. The show told the story of Yuga, a young boy bored with the many rules and restrictions of the card game. With the help of his friends, he created a new dueling format named Rush Duel, with simpler cards, three monster zones, and three spell/trap zones. With the help of his newly created Deck, Yuga begins a journey to become the world’s best Rush Duel player.

The childish nature of the show caused most of the original Yu-Gi-Oh! fanbase to distance themselves from the series. The audience it managed to attract quickly forgot about it, due to its cliché story and unremarkable cast. To make matters worse for the series, it was released around the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, causing severe delays to its production. To this day, Sevens is considered the most lackluster entry in the franchise by most fans.

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7

Yu-Gi-Oh! Go Rush!! Has a Fantastical Story

103 episodes (ongoing), started airing in April 2022

A spiritual successor of Sevens, Go Rush!! is the latest and currently running series in the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise. The show focuses on Rush Duels, similarly to its predecessor, but with a major focus on the fantastical story created for it. When the siblings Yuhi and Yuamo encounter the mysterious alien Yudias, their entire lives change forever. The humanoid creature asks for their help, as he is sent by his people to search for a way to defend themselves against an invasive force. In typical Yu-Gi-Oh! fashion, the answer seems to be Rush Duels.

While Go Rush!! is also marketed to younger audiences, it did a much better job than the previous iteration at enticing older viewers. Yudias is a much more serious and competent duelist, reminding viewers of other protagonists like Yugi or Yusei. Nevertheless, the series has never achieved the rating the original show could, and it did not help much in popularizing Rush Duels and their new rules among OCG players.

6

Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc-V Had an Innovative Premise That Got Lost Too Soon

148 episodes, aired between April 2014 and March 2017

One of the most experimental and divisive entries in the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise, Arc-V tells the story of Yuya, a young man who dreams of becoming a Dueltainer. This special kind of duelist performs an act as they battle their opponent, hoping to bring smiles to the world. Yuya’s father, the creator of this sport, went missing several years ago, leaving his son to restore his legacy. However, during Yuya’s first professional duel, something strange begins to happen, ending with the young man having created an entirely new summoning mechanic, the Pendulum Summon.

Arc-V was the first series to introduce a new mechanic, while also showcasing other summoning methods from previous shows. The anime also tried to attract older fans by featuring fan-favorite characters who had not been seen in several years. Despite trying to be a loving tribute to the franchise, the series became a tedious adventure, leaving behind an interesting plot to become purely fanservice. Pendulum Summoning was also not received warmly among players, as it was extremely powerful and versatile.

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5

Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal Had a Relatable Protagonist

73 episodes + 1 special, aired between April 2011 and September 2012

When a strange and evil force attacks the Astral World and releases the Number Cards around Earth, an enigmatic being is set to the planet to recover them. During this journey, the alien named Astral meets Yuma, a middle schooler who loves to duel but is terrible at it, which made him more relatable to audiences. Forced to join forces, the bickering duo begins challenging the duelists who have been possessed by the rampaging Number Cards. As they duel, Yuma begins improving his game and Astral starts comprehending what friendship truly means.

With an interesting plot and the invention of XYZ Summon, Zexal quickly caught the attention of Yu-Gi-Oh! fans all over the globe. Despite Yuma not being as endearing as previous protagonists, audiences warmed up to him by the end of the show, in part thanks to his rapid growth as a duelist. However, Zexal is not without flaws, as the plot slowly becomes too convoluted, and the final villain is generic and forgettable.

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4

Yu-Gi-Oh! Vrains Was a Short-Lived Attempt to Revitalize the Franchise

120 episodes, aired between May 2017 and September 2019

The last show to focus on what is now known as Master Duel, Yu-Gi-Oh! Vrains follows Yusaku, a stoic genius with amnesia who has infiltrated the world of the massively popular game Link Vrains to find out who he is and stop the plans of the evil Knights of Hanoi. Accompanied by a bizarre AI that appeared out of nowhere and merged with his duel disk, he will join forces with several popular Link Vrains duelists to find out what the truth behind this game is.

Vrains was Konami’s attempt at revitalizing the franchise after Arc-V, following a simple but intriguing plot and introducing a serious and extremely skilled duelist as the protagonist. During this era, a new summoning mechanic was created, Link Summoning, used by some of the most useful and powerful cards in Yu-Gi-Oh!. Despite its initial success, the show slowly began falling in quality, being canceled rather quickly, and giving viewers a disappointing ending that felt extremely rushed.

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3

Yu-Gi-Oh! GX Was the Best Follow-Up to the Original Series

180 episodes (Japanese), 155 episodes (English), aired between October 2004 and March 2008

Set in the same universe as the original series, GX occurs several years after the ceremonial duel between Atem and Yugi. Jaden Yuki is a talented duelist who wishes to become the next King of Games and surpass the famous Yugi Muto. To accomplish this objective, he enrolls in Kaiba’s Duel Academy, one of the best schools for upcoming Pro-Duelists. As the school year progresses, Jaden will uncover the dangerous secrets that Duel Academy Island hides.

GX is considered by most to be an amazing sequel to Duel Monsters, managing to recapture the magic that made Yugi’s adventure so iconic. Jaden may not be as imposing as Atem, but he is an extremely charismatic and relatable protagonist. The first two seasons had an incredible story with unexpected twists that kept the audience engaged. The last duel between Jaden and Yugi is still one of the most awe-inspiring duels in the franchise. Lamentably, the last two seasons were not as well received, and season 4 was never dubbed into English, leaving Jaden’s story unfinished for American fans.

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2

Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D’s Has One of the Most Competent Protagonists

154 episodes + 1 special (Japanese), 123 episodes (English), aired between April 2008 and March 2011

Yusei is an orphan who has spent most of his life fending for himself in the unforgivable Satellite City. His biggest desire is to infiltrate into the opulent New Domino City and challenge the best duelist, his former best friend Jack Atlas. With the help of his trusted Duel Runner, a motorcycle with a duel disk attached to its handle, he will show the people of New Domino City that even those whom they discarded for having less are capable of great things.

5D’s has one of the best main casts in all the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise, with one of the most competent protagonists. The story, while a bit cliché at times, stays consistently great for the majority of the series. 5D’s also introduced one of the most popular and iconic monsters, the Synchro Monsters. The show is an amazing anime as a whole, although it lamentably remains one of the least-known entries in the franchise. It was released around the time that Yu-Gi-Oh! as a franchise began losing relevance, which is a shame, as the series is truly amazing.

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1

Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters Is the Unbeatable Classic

224 episodes, aired between April 2000 and September 2004

Kazuki Takahashi’s masterpiece is the series that most anime fans think about when Yu-Gi-Oh! is mentioned. Duel Monsters explores the story of Yugi Muto, a high school student who loves to play the titular card game with his friends. He is the owner of the powerful and coveted Millennium Puzzle, an ancient artifact that holds the soul of a powerful but forgotten pharaoh who defeated the forces of evil during Ancient Egyptian times. Aided by the pharaoh, Yugi is tasked with defeating the dark beings who are trying to bring back a forbidden type of duel known as Shadow Games.

Since its release in the year 2000, Duel Monsters has stood as the backbone of the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise. The adventures of Yugi and his friends are not only iconic but also extraordinarily well-written, still being talked about by fans all over the globe, and being referenced in various other anime. Yugi and Atem are the faces of the entire franchise, thanks to their incredible chemistry as partners and their epic duels. Duel Monsters will forever remain as Yu-Gi-Oh!’s most beloved and emblematic anime.

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