The
Japanese intellectual property created by
Bandai and
Konami that out Pokemoned Pokemon, and is now
hopping the pond to America, to the delight of gaming kiddies and trend followers
from New York to L.A.
The kanji from the title roughly translates to The King of Games. Action centers around highschool freshman and gaming geek, Yugi Mutou, who lives in the gaming store run by his grandfather, Sugoroku Mutou. One day, grandpa gives Yugi the magical Millennium Puzzle, which, when solved, transforms young Yugi into Yami Yugi, The King of Games mentioned in the title, ala Sailor Moon. As The King of Games, Yugi cannot lose, and enjoys taunting his opponents and besting them according to whatever lop-sided rules they try to use against him.
Yugi faces two basic problems. First, as the veritable fastest gun in the West, everybody wants to take a shot at beating him. Second, Shadi, the Ancient Egyptian spirit of justice, who looks for The Seven Millennium Items (such as the Millennium Puzzle) that were stolen from ancient tombs.
The show revolves around people dueling with the card game Duel Monsters, a game that is rumoured to be based on an ancient Egyptian form of divination called the Shadow Game. Really, that's about it. Yugi gathers a collection of allies, mostly of the street-punk-with-a-heart-of-gold variety and runs around beating the rich and egotistical.