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A review by millennial_dandy
Yu-Gi-Oh!, Vol. 1: The Millenium Puzzle by Kazuki Takahashi
4.0
Ancient games foretold the future for citizens and kings. As games were played, fate was decided in magical ceremonies. These were called 'The Shadow Games.'
So spake Kazuki Takahashi in volume 1, chapter 1, page 1 of what would become the foundation of the now sprawling Yu-Gi-Oh! empire we have today.
The story begins with Yugi attempting to solve the Millennium Puzzle, an Ancient Egyptian artifact he found on a dusty shelf in his grandfather's shop, home of rare and unusual as well as insanely popular games. Yugi is that shy, awkward kid in your class who's nice to everyone and eager to make friends, but he's just not charismatic or hot enough for anyone to look past his dorky (affectionate) obsession with games (we don't get a character like that until one volume later when we're introduced to Seto Kaiba).
Instead, this quirk makes him a target for school bullies like Joey/Jonouchi and Tristan/Honda, who just can't stand that their classmate enjoys something they think is lame and who's small enough for them to easily kick around. Yugi's seemingly only and best friend Téa/Anzu tries to stand up for him, but Joey/Jonouchi gets the last laugh after stealing a piece of the puzzle and throwing it into the school pool.
Yugi is devastated when he realizes the piece is missing, thinking that if he isn't able to complete the puzzle, his greatest wish: to have true friends (RIP Téa, I guess???) won't come true. You see, Yugi decided at some point that that's what the hieroglyphics on the Millennium Puzzle's box say: 'solve this puzzle and be granted one wish', but his grandfather later reveals the true story behind the puzzle: "It's written in the Book of the Dead that the one who solves that puzzle inherits the guardian of Right and passes judgement on Evil."
Meaning that Grandpa knew the entire time that there was some occult shit going on with the puzzle his like, fourteen-year-old grandson was messing around with. Thanks, Grandpa!
Cutting back to the story. Due to some shenanigans at school, Yugi has accidentally come under the temporary protection of the school's biggest bully, who beats up Joey/Jonouchi and Tristan/Honda then demands Yugi pay him for his services. Yugi is horrified, and not only refuses to pay, but steps in between the bully and Joey/Jonouchi and Tristan/Honda to (fruitlessly) protect them from further harm, claiming they're his friends.
This profoundly impacts Joey/Jonouchi, who is shocked Yugi would consider him a friend after how badly he's treated him (And Joey/Jonouchi is right to find that a little nutty. Kids: your bullies are not secretly your friends. You can have empathy for such people, but you should probably not make it a habit to hang out with people who call you names and steal your stuff). After this incident, Joey/Jonouchi retrieves the puzzle piece he stole and returns it, thus allowing Yugi to complete the Millennium puzzle.
This releases the spirit of the puzzle, hereafter referred to as 'Yami Yugi' for simplicity's sake, and we get our first 'shadow game' where Yami Yugi challenges the big bully to a dangerous game involving taking turns stabbing a stack of money resting on the backs of their hands. The big bully loses, and is subjected to a 'penalty game' that causes him to hallucinate that leaves on the ground are a big pile of money. And this is typical of Yami's 'penalty games': they always play on the vice of the bad guy of the week.
This first volume is a fun introduction to a pretty unique set-up, but it's a far, far cry from what Yu-Gi-Oh! would become even just a few volumes later as an over-arching plot is revealed and developed. None of the stories in volume 1 are interconnected, and the only development beyond Joey/Jonouchi and later Tristan/Honda becoming Yugi's friends is that Téa starts falling in love with the voice of Yami Yugi, though she doesn't put together in this volume that he and Yugi are, for all intents and purposes, the same person.
The art style changes noticeably as the volume progresses, and it's pretty cool to be able to follow Takahashi's development of each character design in real time as you read, but overall, this volume, while it does introduce the basic premise, doesn't have any episode or villain that really stands out, and even the games in this volume are much less creative than they'd become in volume 2.
Not the best, but we respect the origins of our King of Games.
So spake Kazuki Takahashi in volume 1, chapter 1, page 1 of what would become the foundation of the now sprawling Yu-Gi-Oh! empire we have today.
The story begins with Yugi attempting to solve the Millennium Puzzle, an Ancient Egyptian artifact he found on a dusty shelf in his grandfather's shop, home of rare and unusual as well as insanely popular games. Yugi is that shy, awkward kid in your class who's nice to everyone and eager to make friends, but he's just not charismatic or hot enough for anyone to look past his dorky (affectionate) obsession with games (we don't get a character like that until one volume later when we're introduced to Seto Kaiba).
Instead, this quirk makes him a target for school bullies like Joey/Jonouchi and Tristan/Honda, who just can't stand that their classmate enjoys something they think is lame and who's small enough for them to easily kick around. Yugi's seemingly only and best friend Téa/Anzu tries to stand up for him, but Joey/Jonouchi gets the last laugh after stealing a piece of the puzzle and throwing it into the school pool.
Yugi is devastated when he realizes the piece is missing, thinking that if he isn't able to complete the puzzle, his greatest wish: to have true friends (RIP Téa, I guess???) won't come true. You see, Yugi decided at some point that that's what the hieroglyphics on the Millennium Puzzle's box say: 'solve this puzzle and be granted one wish', but his grandfather later reveals the true story behind the puzzle: "It's written in the Book of the Dead that the one who solves that puzzle inherits the guardian of Right and passes judgement on Evil."
Meaning that Grandpa knew the entire time that there was some occult shit going on with the puzzle his like, fourteen-year-old grandson was messing around with. Thanks, Grandpa!
Cutting back to the story. Due to some shenanigans at school, Yugi has accidentally come under the temporary protection of the school's biggest bully, who beats up Joey/Jonouchi and Tristan/Honda then demands Yugi pay him for his services. Yugi is horrified, and not only refuses to pay, but steps in between the bully and Joey/Jonouchi and Tristan/Honda to (fruitlessly) protect them from further harm, claiming they're his friends.
This profoundly impacts Joey/Jonouchi, who is shocked Yugi would consider him a friend after how badly he's treated him (And Joey/Jonouchi is right to find that a little nutty. Kids: your bullies are not secretly your friends. You can have empathy for such people, but you should probably not make it a habit to hang out with people who call you names and steal your stuff). After this incident, Joey/Jonouchi retrieves the puzzle piece he stole and returns it, thus allowing Yugi to complete the Millennium puzzle.
This releases the spirit of the puzzle, hereafter referred to as 'Yami Yugi' for simplicity's sake, and we get our first 'shadow game' where Yami Yugi challenges the big bully to a dangerous game involving taking turns stabbing a stack of money resting on the backs of their hands. The big bully loses, and is subjected to a 'penalty game' that causes him to hallucinate that leaves on the ground are a big pile of money. And this is typical of Yami's 'penalty games': they always play on the vice of the bad guy of the week.
This first volume is a fun introduction to a pretty unique set-up, but it's a far, far cry from what Yu-Gi-Oh! would become even just a few volumes later as an over-arching plot is revealed and developed. None of the stories in volume 1 are interconnected, and the only development beyond Joey/Jonouchi and later Tristan/Honda becoming Yugi's friends is that Téa starts falling in love with the voice of Yami Yugi, though she doesn't put together in this volume that he and Yugi are, for all intents and purposes, the same person.
The art style changes noticeably as the volume progresses, and it's pretty cool to be able to follow Takahashi's development of each character design in real time as you read, but overall, this volume, while it does introduce the basic premise, doesn't have any episode or villain that really stands out, and even the games in this volume are much less creative than they'd become in volume 2.
Not the best, but we respect the origins of our King of Games.