noah.hoppe - 2017-04-05 13:46:27

AMAZING! MUST WATCH

hettinger.leora - 2015-03-09 16:49:22

In my own individual library, I gave this show a pretty high score for my personal enjoyment and how the fandom and my friends have made it so wonderful.  That aside, looking at the show with a bit more objectivity, some parts can be a bit hard to get through.

Story
The problem with Yu-Gi-Oh! is that the stories in each arc are interesting, but the card games take so long to get through, that it can get lost between duels.  In addition to some of the duels being very long, there are three filler arcs that most fans skip over entirely.  When Yu-Gi-Oh! is recommended to someone on a time crunch, generally, people are told to watch Duelist Kingdom, Battle City, and Memory World.  Virtual World, Doma, and Grand Prix are usually skipped, and not without good reason.  If you have time to watch them, some of the storylines can be fairly interesting (if you can get through the card games).  Generally, though, there's a lot of filler leading up to the big reveals and interesting aspects of each season.

In terms of the Duels, some of them can be interesting, and some are just plain boring (as can be expected of such a long series revolving around card games).  The duels that are interesting are very interesting, and Duel Monsters is one of the few series where the opponents are the ones that have the deus-ex-machina cards rather than the protagonists.  However, some of the duels just stretch on forever, and aren't interesting at all.  Sometimes, it's just better to watch the series with someone who's already seen it to know which episodes and duels to skip and which are worth watching.

Animation
The animation is pretty standard fare for a long-running 90's shounen.  It gets better and better as the series goes on through the Doma arc, until Memory World is reached.  From there, the animation takes a sharp drop (which is unfortunate, considering how important the arc is and how interesting it is).  If only the animation didn't drop so much during the final arc, it would have had sharp, somewhat stylized animation that is true to the manga.

Character
Sans a few of the character, they tend to be, unfortunately, rather flat.  The fun of the characters tends to come from interacting with the fandom, piecing things together, and generally making them your own.  Some characters have wonderful depth, such as Malik and Jounouchi, but a lot of times, further development is pushed back for the sake of card games.  They all have general personalities, but only a few have fleshed out backstories.

Enjoyment
Personally, I find a lot of enjoyment with this series.  It's a lot of fun to watch with friends and laugh about some of the ridiculous aspects, and when an arc is interesting, it's hard to get out of it.  Watching it with other people, both critical and fans, is a lot of fun (and a few drinking games can come out of it).  Watching it alone depends how into the series and characters one is, but if you'll commit to the series (or at least the parts of the series fans are generally encouraged to watch), even some of the card games will be fun.

Overall
Overall, enjoyment will come down to a few factors.  There's nostalgia, group enjoyment, and how much one enjoys card games.  While, personally, I found quite a bit of enjoyment, objectively, it might be a lot harder for people to get into it and really consider it one of their favourite series.

If you're a fan of long-running shounen, card games, or faux Egyptian history, this is a  good series to dip your toes into.  If you're all right with skipping around, it can also be fun.  However, it's not for everyone.  If you like it, though, chances are you'll really like it.

urunte - 2015-02-18 15:20:02

Good for a young audience but lacks the story-line to appeal to anyone over 10. Season 1 &  Season 5 from Ep. 25 are worth wathching though