History Fridge / YuGiOh

** Pegasus' favored cards were Toon Monsters, with Relinquished/Thousand-Eyes Restrict being his signature card for Duelist Kingdom. The former are known for being bizarre parodies of their original characters, with unique effects and odd restrictions fitting the odd eccentricities of the creator of Duel Monsters. Relinquished/Thousand-Eyes Restrict, on the other hand, is the true nature of Pegasus for the first arc, showing the deep rot and anguish underneath [[MaskOfSanity his mask of joviality]] and his actions being heavily influenced by the Millenium Eye, and it's a monster dedicated to absorbing the power of others to compensate for its own weakness, much like Pegasus being a mediocre duelist who has to rely on the power of the Shadow Games to get what he wants.

** Joey's favorite cards are Flame Swordsman, a fire-based warrior, and Red-Eyes Black Dragon. The former is representative of Joey's fiery nature and courage, even in spite of being less skilled and powerful as Yugi or Kaiba. The latter Red-Eyes is considered a rare monster with immense potential (according to the Toei Movie) with the right support cards, but is also much weaker than Blue-Eyes. Likewise, Joey is often disregarded by many, but shows his potential as a high ranking duelist, and prefers to use cards that help weaker monsters overcome their deficiencies against naturally stronger ones. His proclivity for gambling cards also highlights his erratic luck and propensity to rely on it against opponents where his card's strength isn't enough.

** Joey's favorite cards are Flame Swordsman, a fire-based warrior, and Red-Eyes Black Dragon, a weaker version of Blue-Eyes stated to have hidden potential (in the Toei movie), both of which are fairly mediocre monsters. Joey may not be as skilled or powerful as Yugi or Kaiba, but has outstanding courage and determination to do something, and uses cards that help weaker monsters overcome their deficiencies against naturally stronger ones. His proclivity for gambling cards also highlights his erratic luck and propensity to rely on it against opponents where his card's strength isn't enough.

** Yugi's favorite card is Dark Magician, a powerful wizard that uses dark magic and relies on support cards. Yugi/Yami has access to shadow powers such as Penalty Game and Mind Crush, and relies on the support of his friends to make it through the impossible. Magicians are also masters of sleight of hand and deception, highlighting how Yugi/Yami's preference for complex tactics to bypass difficult obstacles and opponent's strengths.

** Yugi's favorite card is Dark Magician, a powerful wizard that uses dark magic and relies on support cards. Yugi/Yami has access to shadow powers such as Penalty Game and Mind Crush, and relies on the support of his friends to make it through the impossible.
** Kaiba's favorite card is Blue-Eyes White Dragon, a creature with raw destructive power. Kaiba cares being the best above all else, and wishes absolute victory over others.

* While Kaiba's complete denial of magic in the dub, is annoying, it actually makes sense. Kaiba is a ControlFreak. ''Of course'' he's going to pretend that a powerful force he has absolutely no control over doesn't exist.

** Tea's favored card was the Magician of Faith, and to a lesser extent the Dark Magician Girl in the Virtual World Arc. She was initially one of the more competent duelists out of Yugi's friends (with the exception of Yugi himself), before Joey surpassed her and she was relegated to the sidelines. Magician of Faith ties to how much she holds faith in her friends to succeed, even when things are at their darkest. Likewise, her focus on magician themed monsters and use of Dark Magician Girl ties her to Yugi's character, as well as her budding attraction to both Yugi and the Pharaoh.

[[AC: Battle City Arc]]

* In some of the video games you can have Shadow Games with evil Duelists, where losing kills you. If you win, though, they run off scot-free. Since your opponent called the Shadow Game, losing wouldn't harm them, while winning caused you to take the penalty.
* After all the crazy, life-threatening stuff that ''everybody'' gets into in the anime-exclusive arcs it's not surprising Ryou Bakura stays out of them. His danger-avoiding instincts were good already, since he suggested Yugi to not challenge Kaiba in Duelist Kingdom, that Tea and Tristan get Yugi or Joey's help in their nighttime adventure, and urged them to run from Pegasus's cultists before they were spotted.

* In his Duel with Yugi, Rafael shows him how his Guardian cards are worn from how much he's used them. (As the abridged series eloquently points out,) why not sleeve them? Well, then the Duel Disk system probably wouldn't be able to read the cards. This extends to why every character doesn't sleeve their cards.
* Why Kaiba can use Egyptian Gods and not say, Isis? Because he is the reincarnation of the Pharaoh who reigned after Atem and thus is one of the ruler of the Gods.

* Why did Atem go after Summoned Skull in his Duel with Yugi instead of Curse of Dragon? The impetus for this choice was likely the awareness that Yugi was using ''a lot'' of cards that either were not used in a while, or new to him. While minimizing chances of Yugi using a new card was a plus, the worry that Atem was likely worried about was ''Red-Eyes''. With the power of friendship as it is, he was likely worried that Yugi would have borrowed Red-Eyes from Joey for this match, and with Polymerization that would bring out Black Skull Dragon. Such a beast could stop him even with Book of Secret Arts, and Atem did not want to risk such a move.
* Yami Marik using Joyful Doom against Bakura seems really situational, but it's for a situation that could come back to haunt him had he not prepared for it, which he probably learned from his Duel with Mai, the situation being the opponent [[HoistByHisOwnPetard trying to steal Ra from him and defeat him with it]]. While it didn't work when Mai tried it, it would've worked if Yugi or Kaiba had done the same thing due to their connections to the Millennium Items. Kaiba shows later on that he has Lullaby of Obedience, which he tried to use to steal Osiris[=/=]Slifer from Yugi. Also, due to the death-match Marik set up with Yugi and Jounouchi, Marik already knows Yugi has Exchange in his Deck, meaning it is within the realm of possibility for the two of them to just use those cards to steal Ra from him and make it a CurbStompBattle unless he has a countermeasure (Joyful Doom). It's also important to note that Yugi didn't know about Ra's other powers in advance, so for all he knew Ra was just a beatstick that depended on the power of the monsters sacrificed to summon it. Marik's Duel with Jounouchi was the first time he saw God Phoenix, and he didn't see Marik Duel Bakura, so he didn't see One Turn Kill until the middle of their Duel. Marik also isn't as tech-savvy as Kaiba due to his upbringing away from modern society, so he probably didn't think that Kaiba could use satellite technology to scan Ra and read the ancient text to learn its other powers, and thought Kaiba was just as in the dark about Ra's hidden powers as Yugi was.
* During the KC Grand Prix arc, the characters may have been shocked to learn that Zigfried and Leon were siblings, but we, the audience, had a major hint from their Decks. Zigfried uses a Deck based on Norse and Germanic myth. Leon uses a Deck based off of fairy tales, specifically European fairy tales such as those associated with the Brothers Grimm, who were German. Additionally, fairy tales could be somewhat accurately described as smaller-scale mythology, or mythology as large-scale fairy tales, which essentially makes Zigfried's Deck a "grown up" version of Leon's. The mythology also predates the popular versions of the fairy tales by a wide margin, which makes the source materials themselves older/younger in regards to each other, and in the hands of the appropriate Duelists.
* Contrary to popular belief, Weevil actually had two very good reasons for throwing the Exodia pieces away instead of using them himself in Duelist Kingdom. First, they may be powerful, but the steep requirement of needing all of them in your hand for Exodia's effect made them a poor fit for Weevil's Deck, which lacked a draw engine that would be able to use them with any reliability. Second, having them on his person would only put him at greater risk of being disqualified or even arrested, since there would be conclusive proof that he stole them.
* Why was Mai the first of Doma's members to pull a HeelFaceTurn? Unlike Raphael, Alister and Valon, her tragedy wasn't caused by Dartz and unlike Weevil and Rex she wasn't really angry at Yugi and Joey but manipulated into thinking that her problems were their fault. With these two factors, Dartz had a much harder time keeping her loyalty.
* The early transitions between Yugi and Atem involved an elaborate light show and the Puzzle itself crying out "'''[[TransformationNameAnnouncement YU-GI-OHHHHHHHHHHHH]]!'''" This got greatly toned down in later seasons because the two got closer and learned to work together more seamlessly, which made the transition smoother.
* The abridged series points out that Kaiba didn't participate in the Grand Prix because he's too busy running a company in crisis. It goes a little deeper than that: if Kaiba participates, he cannot be allowed to win. The Grand Prix is meant to restore the company’s reputation, and if Kaiba wins, it would be easy for [=KaibaCorp=] to be accused of rigging the match to drum up more publicity. Pegasus and Kaiba could hypothetically get away with winning Duelist Kingdom or Battle City because their real goals were the Millennium Puzzle and the God Cards. And since Kaiba's pride won't allow him to lose on purpose or even plan to lose, the best option is to swallow his pride and duel Yugi another day. Also, assuming that there's prize money, Kaiba snatching the grand prize would look like he cheated to avoid paying. Meanwhile, Duelist Kingdom and Battle City are set up so that while it's assumed that Pegasus and Kaiba win, the runner-ups still get prizes. Pegasus technically isn't a participant in Duelist Kingdom; the winner of the tournament wins a lot of money ''and'' the right to duel Pegasus for whatever they want. Of course, Pegasus intends to put the winner into a coma where they can't cash the check, but he still gave them the check, and since most participants are underage, their families can cash the check instead. Kaiba participates in Battle City, but everyone who makes it to the finals walks away happy because of the rare card ante rule. Since you need six locator cards and start with one, and the minimum number of duels under normal circumstances is three [[note]]Starting with one card, bet one in the first duel and end up with two, bet two in the second duel and end up with four, and bet two in the third duel and end up with six[[/note]], every finalist starts with 3-5 rare cards (Yami Bakura betting one locator card against five is abnormal). People who lose in the quarter finals end up with 2-4 rare cards, people who lost in the semifinals get 3-5 again (assuming that the duel for bronze was unofficial and didn't contain the ante rule, in which case fourth place is 2-4 and third is 4-6), second place gets 5-7, and first place gets 6-8. Plus, the cards came from a pot instead of being provided by Kaiba.
* While Mai and Joey losing to Yami Malik during Battle City due to outside circumstances (being unable to use Ra because it has a text that suddenly needs to read in Egyptian unlike the other two God cards without any indication and conveniently fainting before declaring one last attack respectively) can be chalked up to PlotArmor, there is another reason why only Atem can beat Yami Marik. During their duel, ''he saved the original Marik on top of defeating his dark alter ego!'' Even if they beat him and took Ra, chances are the original guy wouldn't be saved after losing.

** Mai's signature card is the Harpy Lady, a monster that relies heavily on support cards and other monsters to be effective, much like Mai needing to be more willing to accept friendship in order to be better as a person and duelist. Additionally, in legends and symbolism, harpies are considered symbols of obsession, lust and evil. Fittingly, Mai's most common vices in her arcs tend to be related to her obsession to achieve victory at any cost, especially with her cheating in early episodes and her turn to the Orichalcos in the Waking the Dragons Arc, and her complicated relationship with Joey Wheeler.

** Mai's signature card is the Harpy Lady, a monster that relies heavily on support cards and other monsters to be effective, and in legends and symbolism, are considered symbols of obsession, lust and evil. Fittingly, Mai's most common vices in her arcs tend to be related to her obsession to achieve victory at any cost, especially with her cheating in early episodes and her turn to the Orichalcos in the Waking the Dragons Arc, and her complicated relationship with Joey Wheeler.

** Joey's favorite cards are Flame Swordsman, a fire-based warrior, and Red-Eyes Black Dragon, a weaker version of Blue-Eyes stated to have hidden potential (in the Toei movie), both of which are fairly mediocre monsters. Joey may not be as skilled or powerful as Yugi or Kaiba, but has outstanding courage and determination to do something, and uses cards that help weaker monsters overcome naturally stronger ones.

** Mai's signature card is the Harpy Lady.

* Why are so many of the rules and actions taken in the Duelist Kingdom arc so utterly bizarre and nonsensical? Even factoring in EarlyInstallmentWeirdness, even later series have had ancient duels that didn't follow the odd rules at play. The reason is that ''Pegasus'' was the one running the tournament, and of the people there, he was the only one aware of Duel Monsters' origin. As he was directly mimicking them, the elements of the game interacted in ways they would in the Shadow Games, where the monsters and spells and such were physical objects and creatures, as opposed to abstract implementations of the rules. That, and given Pegasus' [[SeeksAnothersResurrection motivation for holding such Shadow Games]], he also might have deliberately fudged the rules to give himself as much of an advantage as possible, given he was otherwise a mediocre duelist at the time. This is also why Yugi (or more importantly, Yami) has the edge in these Duels; he fought in the original Shadow Games and just treats Duel Monsters as a slightly more organized version of them.
** With that in consideration, Kaiba's decision to alter the rules can be seen as a parallel to Pegasus', basically shifting the rules into something that would give him an advantage over Yugi, albeit one that ironically might have resulted in the rules of Duel Monsters to be much closer to how they originally were. It's fitting that, given how much of a ControlFreak Kaiba can be, that his desire to win would result in the game that Pegasus made to be forcefully fitted into a set of rules that better fits ''his'' personal goals.
* Yugi's favorite card is Dark Magician, a powerful wizard that uses dark magic and relies on support cards. Yugi/Yami has access to shadow powers such as Penalty Game and Mind Crush, and relies on the support of his friends to make it through the impossible. Kaiba's favorite card is Blue-Eyes White Dragon, a creature with raw destructive power. Kaiba cares being the best above all else, and wishes absolute victory over others. Joey's favorite cards are Flame Swordsman, a fire-based warrior, and Red-Eyes Black Dragon, a weaker version of Blue-Eyes stated to have hidden potential (in the Toei movie), both of which are fairly mediocre monsters. Joey may not be as skilled or powerful as Yugi or Kaiba, but has outstanding courage and determination to do something, and uses cards that help weaker monsters overcome naturally stronger ones. A neat way to prove that a card can judge a person's character.
* Aside from the Egyptian Gods the series also contains a monster resembling the most common representation of Tiamat, (a Babylonian deity), Five God Dragon. With that knowledge, one would know that there are cards based on deities from other religions in Duel Monsters. Hence why everyone specifies that the god cards they own are in fact Egyptian. The later series run with this; all of the Spirit monsters are based off of the deities of the Shinto religion (Japanese God Cards), and later, there are the Aesir, based off of Odin, Loki, & Thor (Norse God Cards) and the Crimson Dragon aka Quetzalcoatl.
* The original season has the interesting Duel where Yugi has to beat [[BigBad Pegasus]], the guy who ''made the game'', is equipped with a personalized GameBreaker Deck and and a mind-reading eye. But there's a FanFic out there that raises an interesting point, and a comparison to the RealLife game: just because Pegasus made the game, ''it doesn't mean he's the best at it''. Yugi has a combination of strategy, good cards and mystical backup, and Kaiba [[StopHavingFunGuys obsesses over getting the tactical advantage]], but Pegasus is an artist, not a Duelist, and all his unfair advantages only make the playing field level against them.

* WordOfGod states that the Millennium Eye's spirit influenced Pegasus to create Duel Monsters. Consider the fact that in the manga Akhenaden's Spirit outright calls himself Zork. It's obvious that like with the Millennium Ring (once used by the Thief King who once sought revenge against Akhenaden and would thus be tied to him) he sealed a piece of his soul into the Millennium Eye becoming its spirit.
* In the movie, Pegasus insisting on using the old-fashioned Dueling Arena instead of the Duel Disks makes a lot of sense when you remember that the reason Kaiba invented them in the first place was to use against him; it would likely have soured his opinion of them.

* During Duelist Kingdom each opponent with Decks with 1 or more DARK cards gave off impressive strategies that failed due to overspecializing in a specific way. If Yugi had fought someone who combined the strategies of every Deck with a DARK card in Duelist Kingdom (Black Skull Dragon, Dark Sage, Castle of Dark Illusions, Reaper of the Cards, Call of the Haunted, Labyrinth Wall/Wall Shadow combo and Crush Card/Sagi the Dark Clown combo) he would have lost ''badly!'' That was the reason he had so much trouble against Kaiba during their second Duel. Not only was Kaiba not screwing around, but he knew that his strategies were supplements of one another, not something he should rely on. Crush Card Virus was used to cripple Yugi's offensive capabilities, and Kaiba already had the means to power through his defenses. It was only due to creativity and the Heart of the Cards that he managed to turn things around, and even then he had to surrender so as not to kill Kaiba by accident.
* Before Duelist Kingdom, Yugi gave Joey his Time Wizard card. Why did Yugi have Time Wizard in the first place? So he could upgrade his Dark Magician into Dark Sage.

* While Kaiba's complete denial of magic in the dub, is annoying, it actually makes sense. Kaiba is a ControlFreak. ''Of course'' he's going to pretend that a powerful force he has absolutely no control over doesn't exist.

* The first Duel Yugi has in the second anime is iconic for Yugi Summoning Exodia while Dark Magician is unceremoniously destroyed without much thought, which seems weird since Dark Magician is shown to have a much bigger connection with Yugi and Yami Yugi later on. Then you realize that Yugi, at that point, wasn't playing with his own Deck; he was playing with his ''Grandpa's Deck''. It would make sense why Exodia took center stage; Grandpa Muto's Egyptian counterpart's spirit monster was Exodia, not Dark Magician. The Deck that Yugi took to Duelist Kingdom and onwards was primarily formed from the cards of his Grandfather's Deck he was given in the first episode, but Yugi was already a Duelist before that, so what cards did he have in his own Deck? The childish cards and Silent Swordsman/Magician we first see him use after he is separated from his alter ego and Dueling for himself in the Shadow RPG.

* There was one thing that didn't make sense to this Troper about Pegasus's Deck. Namely, how it played first with Toons but when those were out of the picture, his star cards were actually Relinquished and Thousand-Eyes Restrict. But then, thanks to some new support for Pegasus's monsters, it finally became clear how these two symbolize the creator of the card game! First off, Relinquished is a monster that steals the monsters of his opponents and uses them as a shield. This is how Pegasus tried to get his way, taking people's loved ones and using them as bait. It's name could also even be read as "unleashed", and he's responsible for "unleashing" the threat of Duel Monsters on the world by making the game as seen in later series! Next, we have Thousand-Eyes Restrict. Its effect is the same as Relinquished, but with the bonus that no monsters can change their battle positions or attack. This is befitting to Pegasus's way of dueling, making it so his opponents can't fight back. And even better, what is another way to read "Thousand-Eyes Restrict"? ''Millennium-Eyes Restrict!'' Pegasus's strategy always involves using his opponent's monsters - Dragon Piper, Illusionist Faceless Mage, Doppelganger, and Relinquished. He likes to rub it in that he is their creator and their master. Also, thanks to his mind reading, he knows how his opponent likes to use their cards, and can then use them against them.
** It can also be seen as a representation of how Pegasus has fallen hard since the death of his beloved Cynthia. The Toon monsters can be seen as a representation of his joy for creating, given his history as a painter, and that he was willing to develop the entirety of Duel Monsters (Shadow Games and ulterior motives aside). In that sense, Relinquished and Thousand-Eyes Restrict are the true Pegasus until he was finally defeated; embittered, twisted and completely warped by the death of someone he loved, with [[MaskOfSanity his cheerful and jovial demeanor a mask to hide the rot underneath]]. It's telling that in most of his appearances afterwards, his deck goes back to focusing primarily on Toon Monsters, signifying that he's finally moved on from Cynthia's death and can properly embrace his love of creation once again.

[[AC:Manga/Anime]]

* In the manga, Yami gives Kaiba one of the least harsh Penalty Games in the manga after Kaiba nearly got Yugi and all his friends killed through Death-T. Makes sense as part of the reason Death-T even existed was to get revenge on Yami for the harsher first Penalty Game.

* The manga has a bit of a [[RewatchBonus Reread Bonus]] going on. In the final arc, it is established that everything that has happened so far is the result of the Ancient Egyptians sealing the ''ka'' of criminals into stone slabs, turning them into monsters. Well, since this is part of the cosmology of the series, this means that the darkness in human hearts is still turning into monsters, even in the present day. This explains a lot of previously unexplained things in the series, such as Kaiba's behavior in Death-T (and why the Mind Crush was able to cure his [[AxCrazy Ax Craziness]]), the very existence of Dark Marik, and even the over-the-top behavior of some of the [[MonsterOfTheWeek Bullies of the Week]] from the very beginning of the series. [[note]]In the case of Nagumo, his Penalty Game actually involves ''his soul becoming a monster''.[[/note]] All this time, the darkness in their hearts has been turning their ka into monsters.

* The shadow games that occurred in the early manga series always ended with Yugi's opponent doing something needlessly villainous to try and win, which would only work against them. It seemed farfetched at first that every guy Yugi Dueled would be so inclined to cheat when they could easily win on fair terms, but then the ''Millennium World'' arc revealed that the Pharaoh's soul wasn't the only spirit inside the Millennium Puzzle. Zork Necrophades, the embodiment of cruelty and destruction was also sealed in the puzzle. Every shadow game has been a recreation of their original feud.

[[folder: General]]

* Why are so many of the rules and actions taken in the Duelist Kingdom arc so utterly bizarre and nonsensical? Even factoring in EarlyInstallmentWeirdness, even later series have had ancient duels that didn't follow the odd rules at play. The reason is possibly that ''Pegasus'' had intentionally made the rules as bizarre as possible in part due to the influence of the Millenium Eye, which made them more aligned with how ancient ''Shadow Games'' might have panned out. That, and given Pegasus' [[SeeksAnothersResurrection motivation for holding such Shadow Games]], he also might have deliberately fudged the rules to give himself as much of an advantage as possible, given he was otherwise a mediocre duelist at the time.

* Why does Season 1 have so many more {{Ass Pull}}s than any other? Because it was the one most closely related to the original Shadow Games (not counting the Games themselves in season 5). Pegasus was the one running the tournament, and of the people there, he was the only one aware of Duel Monsters' origin. As he was directly mimicking them, the elements of the game interacted in ways they would in the Shadow Games, where the monsters and spells and such were physical objects and creatures, as opposed to abstract implementations of the rules. This is also why Yugi (or more importantly, Yami) has the edge in these Duels; he fought in the original Shadow Games and just treats Duel Monsters as a slightly more organized version of them. It's also no surprise that a ControlFreak like Kaiba would be the one to standardize the rules.

* Why are so many of the rules and actions taken in the Duelist Kingdom arc so utterly bizarre and nonsensical? Even factoring in EarlyInstallmentWeirdness, even later series have had ancient duels that didn't follow the odd rules at play. The reason is possibly that ''Pegasus'' had intentionally made the rules as bizarre as possible in part due to the influence of the Millenium Eye, who might have tried to make them more aligned with how ancient ''Shadow Games'' might have panned out, where the monsters were actual spirits and the rules might not have been as clearly defined. that, and given Pegasus' [[SeeksAnothersResurrection motivation for holding such Shadow Games]], he might have deliberately fudged the rules to give himself as much of an advantage as possible, given he was otherwise a mediocre duelist at the time.

[[AC:FridgeBrilliance]]

[[AC: General]]

[[AC:Yu-Gi-Oh!]]

[[AC:FridgeHorror]]

* The Shadow Game where Yami Bakura trapped the Pharaoh's friends in their favorite cards. Tristan and Joey are ''actually in the card Graveyard'' (they eventually end on the field of the Shadow Game again thanks to Monster Reborn, Tea actually subconsciously triggering her Magician of Faith's Flip Effect to basically revive Joey as Yami had already revived Tristan with it). Now, think about the actual monsters getting destroyed, and being sent there during a Shadow Game.

* The monsters are *usually* mere holograms, but show more than enough clarity of what's happening around them to seem sentient. For example, Pandora/Arkana's Dark Magician acted genuinely horrified and scared of his user [[NightmareFuel literally stripping his soul from him]] to use his Ectoplasmer magic card. While sacrificing monsters is a heavy part of the game, it doesn't seem so incredulous that people are genuinely attached to their cards, and don't want them to be destroyed.

* There is a ''Franchise/YuGiOh'' card called [[http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Fire_Kraken Fire Kraken]], which is [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin a paradoxically fire-elemental squid/octopus thing]]. It's a pun on "firecracker."

* Many Egyptian deities are part human, part animal, with the convention being animal heads and human bodies. With that in mind, take another look at [[http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/yugioh/images/9/90/Kaibaman-SDBE-EN-C-1E.png/revision/latest?cb=20150420180055 Kaibaman's design.]]

* Season one was fun to watch, and it would be fun to play between friends, but it would be a nightmare for the developers. On the programming end, every match would require an advanced physics simulator that allows for magic, and takes into account properties like the moon's gravity for a card that doesn't even mention gravity. Every time you add a new card, you'd have to go back and edit every other card so they'd interact properly. Bug testing would be a nightmare, especially with extremely rare cards like Exodia (although there could be 'test purpose only' cards that would get you instantly banned in a real duel). On the tournament end, you might not be able to prove if you won by glitch or legal move. Also, miniaturizing the technology from large arenas to duel disks would also restrict valuable computing power.

* While Mai and Joey losing to Yami Malik during Battle City due to outside circumstances (being unable to use Ra because it has a text that suddenly needs to read in Egyptian unlike the other two God cards without any indication and conveniently fainting before declaring one last attack respectively) can be chalked up to PlotArmor, there is another reason why only Atem can beat Yami Malik. During their duel, ''he saved the original Malik on top of defeating his dark alter ego!'' Even if they beat him and took Ra, chances are the original guy wouldn't be saved after losing.

* Bakura is ridiculously underweight at 5'9" and 114 pounds. Since the evil spirit of the Ring treats his host with callous disregard at best and actively injures Bakura several times, not to mention Bakura has been shown eating lots of food yet never gaining weight, it's heavily implied that the spirit doesn't care to eat unless it's unavoidable.

* Despite being a pretty upbeat series, you can't help but get pretty nervous when you think about the mental health of many of the characters after much of the crap they are put through.

* The heroes' ace monsters: Yugi's trump card, Dark Magician, has 2500 ATK and 2100 DEF. Jaden's Elemental HERO Neos has 2500 ATK and 2000 DEF. Yusei's Stardust Dragon has 2500 ATK and 2000 DEF. Their rival's ace monsters: Kaiba's trump card, Blue-Eyes White Dragon, has 3000 ATK and 2500 DEF. Chazz's Armed Dragon LV 10 has 3000 ATK and 2000 DEF. Jack's Red Dragon Archfiend has 3000 ATK and 2500 DEF.

* The Shadow Game where Yami Bakura trapped the Pharaoh's friends in their favorite cards. Tristan and Joey are ''actually in the card Graveyard''. Now, think about the actual monsters getting destroyed, and being sent there during a Shadow Game.

* The heroes' ace monsters: Yugi's trump card, Dark Magician, has 2500 ATK and 2100 DEF. Jaden's Neos has 2500 ATK and 2000 DEF. Yusei's Stardust Dragon has 2500 ATK and 2000 DEF. Their rival's ace monsters: Kaiba's trump card, Blue-Eyes White Dragon, has 3000 ATK and 2500 DEF. Chazz's Armed Dragon LV 10 has 3000 ATK and 2000 DEF. Jack's Red Dragon Archfiend has 3000 ATK and 2500 DEF.

* Yugi's trump card, Dark Magician, has 2500 ATK and 2100 DEF. Jaden's Neos has 2500 ATK and 2000 DEF. Yusei's Stardust Dragon has 2500 ATK and 2000 DEF. Kaiba's trump card, Blue-Eyes White Dragon, has 3000 ATK and 2500 DEF, Chazz's Armed Dragon LV 10 has 3000 ATK and 2000 DEF. Jack's Red Dragon Archfiend has 3000 ATK and 2500 DEF.

* Yugi's trump card Dark Magician has 2500 ATK and 2100 DEF. Jaden's, Neos, has 2500 ATK and DEF 2000. Yusei's, Stardust Dragon, has 2500 ATK and 2000 DEF. Kaiba's trump card, Blue-Eyes White Dragon, has 3000 ATK and 2500 DEF, and Jack's, Red Dragon Archfiend, has 3000 ATK and 2500 DEF.

* Bakura using Dark Necrofear takes on a whole new significance once you know his backstory. It's a mother whose child turns into a monstrous, powerful possessing spirit (he even describes it as a "spirit of vengeance") when she's destroyed. DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything Heck, how he describes his Battle City Occult Deck has significance considering his backstory. "As more monsters go into the Graveyard, my Deck grows stronger!" [[spoiler: The Kul Ena Massacre had killed everyone except Bakura, which resulted in him getting a monstrously powerful Ka which can in turn eat other Kas to become even MORE powerful! In short, he has grown monstrously strong from the deaths of others.]]

* What happened to Noah's mother after his accident? She was shown grieving over him but is never seen or mentioned afterwards.