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Nestled right between the ending of Season Zero and the beginning of the 2000 series, Toei released a Yu-Gi-Oh!<\/i> movie based on Season Zero that would be released alongside two other short films for Dr. Slump <\/i>and Digimon<\/i> in Toei\u2019s Anime Fair of 1999.<\/p>\n
I purposefully never even watched LittleKuriboh\u2019s abridged version of this movie because I wanted to go into it with fresh eyes. Now I\u2019m kinda bummed I missed out on the abridged version for so long because this \u2018movie\u2019 is actually pretty lame.<\/p>\n
Please forgive me for the poor quality screencaps. There just isn\u2019t a high quality rip of this movie available.<\/p>\n
The movie starts out in the most poorly lit quiet as hell game store in the world run by a creepy, but well-meaning old lady. A bunch of jerky kids bump into our main character of the movie, Shougo Aoyama. He\u2019s a timid little boy whose dream is to become a great duelist, but he\u2019s never won a game of Duel Monsters ever. After the jerks mock him and leave the store, Shougo buys a booster pack that, to his great shock, contains the incredibly rare Red-Eyes Black Dragon, said to be on the same level as the Blue-Eyes White Dragon.<\/p>\n
Gotta say, I\u2019ve always had a problem accepting the idea that Red-Eyes is \u2018on the same level\u2019 as Blue-Eyes. Maybe in regards to rarity (They never say how many Red-Eyes are in circulation in any version) but not in regards to power.<\/p>\n
To make the comparison even iffier, the storeowner tells Shougo that the Blue-Eyes brings victory, but the Red-Eyes brings out the potential<\/i> for victory in those with the courage to fight. That is such a confusing statement that doesn\u2019t reflect very well on Red-Eyes.<\/p>\n
First of all, Blue-Eyes brings victory? Uh, how many times has Kaiba lost with his Blue-Eyes? Not even just to Yugi, either.<\/p>\n Second of all, the \u201cpotential\u201d for victory? Either that\u2019s insulting to the holder as it implies the potential for victory wasn\u2019t there in the first place, or that\u2019s just a stupid facet of Red-Eyes\u2019 lore. \u201cAh, that\u2019s the legendary Red-Eyes Black Dragon! A card so rare and powerful that you MIGHT be able to win with it in your deck, maybe, I dunno.\u201d<\/p>\n Don\u2019t get me wrong, I love Red-Eyes, probably even more than Blue-Eyes, but the whole situation in regards to Blue-Eyes just never made sense to me.<\/p>\n Just getting this out of the way right now \u2013 Shougo is insanely annoying. He spends almost the entire movie moping about how he can\u2019t duel and he can\u2019t win. He doesn\u2019t even try anymore. And he goes to the Duel Monsters Center to rub it in his bullies\u2019 faces that it\u2019s pointless to duel him because he\u2019d win anyway because he has Red-Eyes and that assures his victory.<\/p>\n Everyone just gawks in awe of the rare card, but he\u2019s totally asking for that thing to get stolen\u2026.I mean\u2026.it does get stolen later, but I mean by his bullies. In a real situation like that, the instant he flaunted that thing I guarantee one of them would just yoink it from him or knock him down and take it.<\/p>\n Trust me, I survived the initial wave of the Pokemon card chaos back in the day. People were getting scammed out of rare cards, myself included, their cards got stolen either directly or out of their backpacks when they weren\u2019t watching them or something, a fight or two broke out because of them, people were crying because of them \u2013 no way in hell Shougo would keep that card more than a few days, especially since he\u2019s being a dick about it.<\/p>\n Shougo could not look more unassuming and weak if he was a baby chipmunk. No one\u2019s going to be stunned into submission by him just having a rare card.<\/p>\n However, the truth is he\u2019s still afraid of actually dueling, now especially<\/i> because he has Red-Eyes. He believes losing with Red-Eyes will be proof that he really doesn\u2019t have what it takes to be a duelist.<\/p>\n I understand all too well the giant gaping black holes of low self-esteem, and I really wouldn\u2019t have much of a problem with Shougo if he actually ended up doing anything to earn his character development. But we\u2019ll get to that later. Until then, he\u2019s just a pain to watch.<\/p>\n After this, we get our good ol\u2019 theme song, which is slightly<\/i> different from the theme song in Season Zero. It sounds like they used the same instrumental track but an alternate recording of the vocal track and also didn\u2019t include the main vocals for the part where it says \u201cCome along with me!\u201d Instead, you hear just the faintest<\/i> instance of this like they only kept the reverb.<\/p>\n During the credits, we see the gang at school, then them, sans Anzu, heading to the Duel Monsters Center, which\u2026I guess is a cafe where they have tables set up for dueling, which is really dumb if you ask me. It wouldn\u2019t be that dumb if they didn\u2019t allow the food in the dueling areas, but they do. I can only imagine how many people ruined their cards by spilling drinks and food in there.<\/p>\n Anzu is working there because she needed to find a new job after she quit Burger World way back in episode two.<\/p>\n Yugi is having a duel with Jonouchi, and they start explaining the game to Miho, which is weird because she\u2019s dueled before. In the first Shittenou episode, she had a duel with Yugi and lost, so she must not only have her own cards but she must also have a vague idea of how to play.<\/p>\n As far as I recall, Miho has never played or witnessed another Duel Monsters duel beyond that, though. I thought that had to be wrong given what series she\u2019s in, but nope. That was the only instance of her seeing someone duel. Even in the Death T arc, she leaves before the duel between Yugi and Kaiba starts.<\/p>\n Obviously, this scene is meant to help the audience learn how to play, since the game was in its infancy at this point, so I\u2019m not annoyed by the weirdness with Miho. It\u2019s not like I should expect a great degree of consistency\/continuity anyway.<\/p>\n Also, on that note, everyone say goodbye to Miho. Yup, she only appears here and in the end credits of the movie (Anzu and Honda are also only in this scene and the end credits, but they obviously come back in the 2000 series), so this is the last we ever see of Miho. I\u2019m all torn up about it. By the way, did anyone notice the sun shining brighter and the birds singing along to your humming as you dance in a field of flowers and candy? That happened when I watched the final frame of her fade away. It was weird.<\/p>\n Yugi explains Shougo\u2019s situation to the others because apparently they know each other.<\/p>\n You\u2019ll be absolutely shocked to learn that Kaiba, whose head no longer looks like a fern, is the one who built the Duel Monsters Center. He built it specifically as a \u2018trap\u2019 to spy on local duelists to help him trick Yugi into a duel. I know this because one of his goons specifically said, to Kaiba himself, \u201cYou built this center on purpose to set your trap.\u201d\u2026..I\u2019m very sure Kaiba loves it when people explain the things he did to him.<\/p>\n How this is really a \u2018trap\u2019 is beyond me. He knows where Yugi is, so it can\u2019t be just to get him. He went into action when he heard someone there had a Red-Eyes, but surely he can\u2019t give enough of a crap about Red-Eyes that he\u2019d make a trap to get it. In the 2000 series, I don\u2019t think he ever gives a single thought to Red-Eyes.<\/p>\n This tournament is essentially a very, very, very basic precursor to Battle City. Invitations are sent out to duelists who are either highly skilled or have very rare cards, and there is an ante rule. However, the tournament doesn\u2019t seem to actually be a tournament. When we get to the duels, all it seems to be is the invited duelists dueling Kaiba and only Kaiba. Obviously, they all lose, so was Kaiba just doing this to \u2018covertly\u2019 take people\u2019s rare cards?<\/p>\n The goal of Battle City, if this really was a very rough draft of that, was to find and collect all of the Egyptian God cards. Kaiba didn\u2019t even really want to plan the tournament. Ishizu convinced him to do it.<\/p>\n Also, hello very brief miscolored Rex Raptor cameo!<\/p>\n By the way, if we\u2019re following Season Zero continuity (and Kaiba does say Yugi is the only person to force him into a draw, which only happened in Season Zero) then\u2026.are they ignoring Death T? Because not only did Yugi beat him there but that should have made Kaiba a cabbage for several weeks\/months.<\/p>\n Yugi is obviously invited, but so is Shougo despite not really dueling much and never having won a single match.<\/p>\n Jonouchi is upset because he didn\u2019t get invited, but he\u2019s not really any better than Shougo at this point. The main difference between the two of them is their spirits. Jonouchi knows he\u2019s a beginner who only knows the basics and fights to improve while Shougo basically just rolls over and gives up.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t say this to be mean to Shougo. Jonouchi is vocally annoyed by Shougo and his attitude. He knows he\u2019s a beginner too, but he thinks Shougo flaunting his Red-Eyes and acting like that makes him a great duelist who doesn\u2019t need to actually duel is pathetic.<\/p>\n Very shortly after Shougo gets invited, he\u2019s spotted getting kidnapped by one of Kaiba\u2019s goons. He\u2019s trying to force him into partaking in the tournament since Shougo has seemingly declined attending. Jonouchi rushes in to attack the thug while Yugi and Shougo get away and hide in an alley.<\/p>\n After a heart-to-heart with Yugi, another of Kaiba\u2019s thugs arrives and beats the crap out of Shougo and Yugi. He takes Shougo\u2019s Red-Eyes card and Yugi\u2019s Puzzle to hold them hostage to force them into attending the tournament.<\/p>\n Jonouchi finds them and runs off to find the thug to get their stuff back. When Yugi and Shougo catch up to Jonouchi, they find that he\u2019s badly beaten. He managed to get Red-Eyes back, even though it has some blood stains on it now, but not Yugi\u2019s Puzzle.<\/p>\n Yugi is enraged by what Kaiba has done, so he decides to take Kaiba\u2019s bait and go duel him. Jonouchi convinces Shougo to go watch the duel with him because it\u2019s the least he can do considering Yugi is partially dueling for his sake.<\/p>\n When Yugi enters the arena, Kaiba gives him his Puzzle back so he can bring out Yami, and brought out he shall be.<\/p>\n Jonouchi also knows of Yugi\u2019s \u201cother face\u201d so\u2026..they\u2019re not ignoring the Death T arc? I\u2019m so confused.<\/p>\n Kaiba also reveals that they\u2019re going to be dueling with holograms again, but with what look like proto-duel disks. And these are somehow even more nonsensical than the very first \u2018frisbee\u2019 duel disks you see in the 2000 series.<\/p>\n They do attach disks to their arms, but they really just seem to have the purpose of holding their decks. In order to create the holograms\u2026..they\u2026throw their cards up in the air and they come down as giant holograms?\u2026.<\/p>\n What\u2019s even weirder is, when they want to add a card to the hand already displayed in front of them, they throw them to the floor. How? Why? What even?<\/p>\n Also, their Life Points are displayed as green bars behind them. I would LOVE some numbers, but screw me right? You never ever get a numerical LP count in this entire duel. Enjoy.<\/p>\n There are ten bars, but how much is each bar worth? 100? 200? 300? What? 100 wouldn\u2019t make sense given how much they\u2019d seemingly lose over the duel without losing entirely. Maybe 200 to make 2000, which is a common baseline for early YGO? It\u2019s impossible to tell, though.<\/p>\n The duel starts, and Yami\u2019s up first. He summons Curse of Dragon.<\/p>\n Kaiba responds by playing Dark Zoora in defense mode with 2100 DEF.<\/p>\n Yugi plays Pulse of the Land, which gives Curse of Dragon 300 ATK points \u2013 enough to defeat Dark Zoora.<\/p>\n Kaiba summons Battle Ox in attack mode because he\u2019s a moron, and Yugi attacks and destroys it, which should mean Kaiba\u2019s at 1400 LP if they started with 2000 LP. Kaiba actually says \u201cHow dare you damage my Life Points?\u201d How dare you be a champion when you make plays a toddler wouldn\u2019t make?<\/p>\n Anyway, it\u2019s Blue-Eyes time, and Curse of Dragon gets destroyed, which should mean Yugi\u2019s now at 1300 LP if they started with 2000.<\/p>\n Yugi summons Dark Magician, which kinda already accentuates the whole \u201cRed-Eyes isn\u2019t terribly powerful\u201d thing I was talking about earlier. Dark Magician obviously can\u2019t beat Blue-Eyes, but he does have a trick up his sleeve (heheh). He uses the Magical Hats to conceal Dark Magician and a trap card.<\/p>\n Kaiba attacks the rightmost hat and hits the trap card. The trap card in question is Curse of the Dark Cross Star, which I THINK is a precursor to Spellbinding Circle? If it is, then Blue-Eyes\u2019 ATK points get reduced by 700. Dark Magician attacks, which should leave Kaiba with 1200 LP.<\/p>\n He reminds Yugi that he has three Blue-Eyes and somehow always manages to have at least one on-hand, so yeah, bye Dark Magician. Yugi\u2019s LP now should be 800.<\/p>\n Yugi throws out a defense monster, and Kaiba reveals he has the other two Blue-Eyes and a Monster Reborn card to bring the three dragons back out together. But that\u2019s not all. He uses the magic card Evil Chains to chain all of the Blue-Eyes together to increase their ATK power. By how much? Are you asking for numbers<\/i>? *slap* That\u2019s not allowed in Season Zero world! TO THE BRIG WITH YOU!<\/p>\n Yugi keeps throwing out monsters in defense mode to stall while he tries to come up with a plan. On one of his turns, he draws the Red-Eyes Black Dragon. Jonouchi had slipped it into his deck when he and Shougo spilled all of their cards on the ground right before Yugi went to duel Kaiba. He did that because he couldn\u2019t bear to watch Shougo act like he\u2019s a duelist without actually fighting.<\/p>\n Yeah, Shougo\u2019s big character development moment is basically just cheering on Yugi to use his card because that somehow means he\u2019s fighting. I really don\u2019t get it. Is the logic that believing in Yugi is equivalent to believing in himself? That\u2019s pretty weak. I really have to wonder if the Death T arc really did happen because that was very public, and Yugi defeated Kaiba back then even without Red-Eyes. It\u2019d actually be very easy to believe in Yugi if you knew he won Death T, but the continuity is messing with my head.<\/p>\n I get that Yugi overcoming such terrible odds and managing to pull out a win is inspiring, but it\u2019s still not something Shougo is doing nor is it something we haven\u2019t see Yugi do before.<\/p>\n Shougo\u2019s fighting spirit is also the only thing on the line with this duel. Yugi has Red-Eyes and the Puzzle back. There\u2019s really no reason, besides teaching Kaiba a lesson, for this duel to even need to be won. I guess he kinda has to if the ante rule is in effect (Kaiba was not shown taking anyone\u2019s cards after they lost earlier so I dunno) so he doesn\u2019t lose any rare cards (Is Exodia still in his deck? Is he still using his grandpa\u2019s cards?) but nothing is mentioned about it during the battle.<\/p>\n Yugi calls upon Summoned Skull, another more-powerful-than-Red-Eyes card, in defense mode, which\u2026.makes it less powerful than Red-Eyes, admittedly, and obviously gets blown away.<\/p>\n Yugi is actively refusing to play Red-Eyes until Shougo fights for it. Jonouchi tells Shougo that he\u2019s a lot like that card right now. He has his back to the enemy, and he needs to have courage to face the enemy and find victory.<\/p>\n Yugi summons Meteor Dragon in defense mode, but Kaiba decides to finally put Yugi\u2019s string of defense to an end by using Stop Defense, forcing Meteor Dragon into attack mode. For some reason, this means Kaiba has to forfeit attacking for one turn, so Yugi has one turn to figure out what to do or else he\u2019ll lose.<\/p>\n Shougo finally proclaims that he\u2019ll fight, making Jonouchi gasp because, my word, it sure is shocking to get up the courage to cheer.<\/p>\n Shougo yells \u201cGo my Red-Eyes Black Dragon!\u201d which gives Yugi the go-ahead to complete his plan. He summons Red-Eyes and uses Polymerization, our first glimpse of it in the series, with Meteor Dragon (So, wait, his plan relied on Meteor Dragon? But he put him in defense mode and summoned him, leaving him vulnerable to being destroyed?) to create Meteor Black Dragon, even though they never say what it is.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/fiddletwix.wordpress.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/screenshot-2025-03-28-223929.png\")
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