Recap: The Heart of the Cards

That theme song: a mixture of Egyptian tribal music and modern dance music. We're entering the 2000s, now; as my From Humble Beginnings marathon continues with my look at the first episode of Yu-Gi-Oh, "The Heart of the Cards!"

Here's something surprising: I actually was not into this series when it first came out. I was in the Pokémon/Dragon Ball crowd. My first reaction was: "This won't get anywhere. It can't possibly catch on!" As I've learned before, and I still am, I can often be very wrong about what becomes popular. Sure enough, roughly a year or two later; I ate my words, started watching, and started getting the cards (I got the Kaiba deck for my 11th birthday).

We open on Domino high school, where we see Yugi Mutou, and his friend, Joey Wheeler playing Duel Monsters. I know the premise is silly, but that's maybe why I was so put off by it at first; and why so many found it so interesting. I've mentioned before the same can be said for the medium of anime itself. That said, I have found that the original Yu-Gi-Oh resides with me and so many because it has a character dynamic that few of the sequel series and almost none of the show's imitators could match. Check my thoughts on Duel Masters if you don't believe me; and I still don't think very highly of it now as I did when I was 12.

Tristan bothers Joey before he gets shoved away. Téa then says that they have been playing for hours. Yugi is teaching Joey the nuances of the game. Also, I'm going to try to keep the Little Kuriboh jokes to a minimum whenever I cover Yu-Gi-Oh episodes; but he does raise a good point: how are they getting any schoolwork done if they've been playing cards for hours? And why aren't the teachers doing anything? Anyway, let's keep going.

Also, the cards look significantly different than they would in real life. In Japan, where the laws about the line between content and advertising are looser, they can show game-accurate cards. In the US, the FCC would not allow this, and thus the change came. This is also why newcomer Cardfight Vanguard went the route of making a YouTube channel instead, which doesn't have the same rules.

Anyway, Yugi wins. Then, he mentions that he gets most of his cards from his grandfather at the game shop. Everyone decides to go, especially when Yugi mentions a rare card that his grandpa has.

Seto Kaiba catches wind of this and decides to go over there, wondering if it's the card he's been looking for.

Yugi takes his friends to the shop, and they ask to see the card. It's the Blue-Eyes White Dragon. A very rare card, and one of the most iconic monsters of the franchise. I'm looking for some packs from that set Konami just released that brought it back.

Joey then asks to see some other cards. I know the feeling. Even though the sequel series have been divisive among fans; the cards have remained consistent bestsellers.

Kaiba then enters the shop. His presence in this scene, the way he behaves; the way others point out he's in charge of Kaiba Corp: he is one of the big examples of the ensemble darkhorse in the franchise. While Kazuki Takahashi originally intended both Kaiba and Duel Monsters to be only one-shot additions in the manga; they both proved so popular with fans that they later made more appearances before becoming permanent parts of the franchise.

Right off the bat, they suggest playing with him, but Kaiba is not impressed with them as he's the reigning Duel Monsters champion. Joey, not intimidated by this; then suggests a fight instead. This is a relatively accurate rendition of the manga version of Kaiba; where thinks little of Yugi and his friends and treats them with great animosity. At one point in the manga (released in the US as Yu-Gi-Oh Duelist), he outright says he's disgusted by their friendship. By the time of the Battle City arc, he softens and helps Yugi and his friends in key moments. Having a sort of brush with death does tend to make you change your outlook on life.

Then, he notices the Blue-Eyes White Dragon and opens his suitcase. He then offers to trade Yugi's grandfather every card inside for the Blue-Eyes. Yugi's friends are astonished at this, and further astonished with his grandfather refuses. Kaiba then offers to buy the card. Kaiba, as president and CEO of Kaiba Corp; is one of the richest people in Japan. So, it's understandable that he could afford all these cards.

Yugi's grandfather then says he was given the card by a friend; and he treats the card as he would that friend, and simply cannot part with it. Yugi concurs that his grandfather would feel the same about a common card. I agree with that. Most of my cards are tied to certain times and places in which I got them and played with them. Kaiba then leaves.

The next day, Yugi and his friends return to the game shop to look for more cards, but his grandfather isn't there! Yugi answers the phone and discovers that Kaiba has kidnapped him! 

They reach Kaiba Corp, and are astonished at how Kaiba has defeated Yugi's grandfather. Kaiba sneers that his experience was too much for him, and then destroys the Blue-Eyes! This is a very effective method of getting an antagonist against the viewer: to have them harm someone close to them and destroy a cherished item belonging to them.

Yugi is outraged at this; and is encouraged by his friends to duel Kaiba in his grandfather's stead while they take him to the hospital.

Téa then draws a symbol on their hands in magic marker, to symbolize their friendship. Even if they can't be there in body, they can just think of that mark and they'll be there in spirit.

Joey agrees to stay with Yugi as he duels, while Tristan and Téa take Yugi's grandfather to the hospital. I never noticed this before; but why is Tristan carrying Yugi's grandfather to the ambulance? I remember the manga this episode was loosely based on did show that they had paramedics on the scene. 

So, as it were, "it's time to duel," as the Millennium Puzzle awakens the spirit of the Pharaoh inside. When this happens, Yugi grows taller, his voice gets deeper and more confident; and he suddenly changes from his school uniform to a fitted costume. Now that is showmanship.

Kaiba leads with the Hitotsu-me (One-Eye) Giant; and the Duel Field summons the card's image as a 3D hologram. Bear in mind that I wasn't able to take screencaps of the entire duel; but you are definitely seeing how different these designs are. I notice that even though most of the stories for the sequel series are now done by assistants; Takahashi does provide monster designs for both the show and the cards.

As the duel continues, Yugi is eventually overwhelmed by 3 Blue-Eyes White Dragons. While I haven't seen the anime's explanation for how Kaiba got them in a while; the manga mentions that Kaiba is implied to have resorted to extortion, organized crime; and even driving his adoptive father Gozaburo to suicide. I can imagine Seto Kaiba would be a really good alias for a mafia informant or corporate whistleblower.

Yugi wins the duel by summoning Exodia, and I am sorry that I was not able to screencap him. A shame, because I love his design even today. 

We end on Maximillion Pegasus being informed that Kaiba has been defeated by Yugi; setting up the rest of the season's story arc.

So, that's "The Heart of the Cards." How does it hold up against its sequel series and imitators? I can say that it does quite well. The character dynamic, even at this early stage; shows how tight-knit Yugi and his friends are. It also shows how effectively the Pharaoh can raise Yugi's confidence as well as his gaming skill. The way they were able to work as one helped make them some of the most effective character groups in anime. The designs of the monsters are very creative as well. Giants, dragons, wizards, samurai, robots: everything in dreams and nightmares can be turned into a very good design. Even though it takes the show a bit to understand how the card game is actually played (I noticed that it took a bit for Pokémon to adhere more to the mechanics of the games as well; with Pokémon Origins outright lifting its battle style from the gameplay); it does do a good job at showing how competitive Duel Monsters is. As the series goes on; it's quickly established that it's a game where people will spend thousands on rare cards; people will play at every age level and background that can afford a deck and the occasional booster pack, televised coverage regularly garners ratings on par with the Super Bowl; and yes, organized crime is not above fixing matches or extorting cards from other players. This is further exemplified in the sequel series; which I'm looking into covering in 2014. They all have material to work with; I just need to watch some more episodes to determine which ones. That; and I also need to find some that I can easily do and coordinate with my school schedule and personal life. Generally; the show is more tightly-serialized than Pokémon; with multi-part episodes and continuing storylines being commonplace throughout the franchise. There are cliffhangers, twists and turns; and elements you won't understand if you miss an episode that's crucial to the plot. All in all, I can say it holds up after all this time. 

That's all for now. I managed to finish one of my midterm projects; and I'm almost done with another. I'm going to have to change up some of the projects I had planned to compensate; but next time, my From Humble Beginnings marathon concludes with my look at the very first episode of Dragon Ball!