Yu-Gi-Oh! Season Zero and the classic manga are truly a trip, especially for people who were introduced to the Duel Monsters/2000 anime series first. It’s surreal to see so many beloved characters from a mostly harmless kids’ anime about teenagers obsessed with a children’s card game and magical Egyptian relics be shown around or participating in murder, serial killers, terrorism, attempted rape, and more.
I think we’re all happy that the series was soft rebooted into Duelist/Duel Monsters, but I can’t help but appreciate the absolute bonkers nature of the original manga and Season Zero, and I’m very thankful it exists.
So, thank you, Kazuki Takahashi. You will forever be missed, and your mark on the anime, manga and trading card world will be one I continue to treasure and respect. I may take a few shots at various aspects of your work, but it’s honestly in good fun, and I would never wish for a world without Yu-Gi-Oh in all of its forms.
That being said, we still have to address how Season Zero works as an adaptation.
Let’s discuss the general changes before going beat-by-beat.
Miho Was Added as a Main Character
Probably the most egregious change was making Miho, a one-shot barely there character in the manga, a main character in Season Zero. To what end, I don’t know. I mentioned that it was possible they added her to bring in more female viewers, but I can’t imagine that’s the real reason since this is a shounen show and they don’t tend to care about their female viewers.
They already had their token girl character in Anzu, and that’s typically enough for shounen shows, especially in the 90s. And this was a darker more mature shounen series at first, so they really didn’t have a reason to try to hook in female readers/viewers.
It can’t really be for fanservice either because, honestly, Anzu got more of that.
My best guess is that she was brought on for Honda’s sake. Give him something else to talk about and focus on besides beautification club stuff. Because she mostly only ever seems to impact plots when Honda is also involved in some way, and the beautification club stuff never matters except when Miho is also involved.
I wouldn’t mind Miho’s inclusion in Season Zero so much if she wasn’t so obnoxious. I guess making her obnoxious is better than making her some bland self-insert character, but that doesn’t mean she’s enjoyable to watch.
She’s selfish, manipulative, whiny, stupid, useless, shallow, and she’s always just kinda….there most of the time. Her presence is painfully apparent when you’re reading the manga and watching the series back to back. It’s literally like a fanfiction where they write out entire scenes from a series verbatim and then add something like “And then (OC) made a comment that contributed nothing but reminded the audience that this wasn’t purely a transcript of the original work. This character sure is in this scene now alright.”
The few times she does stuff, she doesn’t actually…..do stuff. She gets a moment to challenge a guy at Capsule Monsters, coming off like maybe she might actually be secretly good at this game to make a cool twist, but no. She’s terrible but also somehow creates the perfect game-winning opening orientation for the pieces so Yami can win.
They tease that she’s good at fighting games, but that only ever matters in one episode, and even then it’s very unclear whether her fighting game skills or Jonouchi’s own fighting skills were the main factor. I can’t help but say it’s Jonouchi’s fighting skills because, again, the only hint prior to that that she may be good at fighting games is that she played one for six seconds and was good at it. But even then she barely knew what she was doing.
The one moment I praised her for in the final arc of the series has her using RPG character skills that allowed her to turn the tides in a challenge. And even then I couldn’t give her full credit because 1) Those are skills for an RPG character, not actual skills she had, 2) She used them completely on accident, and 3) She only chose the useful skills because she’s greedy and wanted to get useless in-game cash – and that was a trait she kinda stole from Jonouchi in the manga.
Miho was never fun, interesting, or compelling to watch in this entire series, and I’m so glad NAS left her behind when they took over the IP for Duel Monsters and beyond.
The Changes Made to Honda
Honda was also not a very prominent character in the original manga, and his role was mostly just “Jonouchi’s other friend who is also basically a diet caffeine-free Jonouchi.” He didn’t have much to him besides that and his lone story of having a crush on Miho (Ribbon-chan) in the manga and trying to confess to her.
Toei decided to bump Honda up to also being a more prominent main character, and in the process they tweaked his personality. While he, somehow, retains aspects of his past thuggishness and friendship with Jonouchi, he’s also now a stick-in-the-mud beautification club member who is a stickler for school rules and cleanliness.
This change is awkward because, again, they do retain his thug past and relationship with Jonouchi while also making him the polar opposite of Jonouchi’s character and never expounding upon what happened to make him change so drastically. However, it’s also a welcome change because it makes Honda stand out more. This change to his personality also doesn’t make him nearly as obnoxious as you’d think such a character would be.
You know what does make him that obnoxious? His obsession with Miho.
I don’t like to accuse people of being simps, but Honda is the biggest simp for Miho that it is legitimately sad. I don’t know what’s worse. The lengths Honda will go to for the slight chance at some action with Miho or the fact that Miho seems very aware of his feelings and frequently abuses them to manipulate him to do stuff for her.
Sadly, they also retain the fact that Jonouchi and Honda act like they’re close when they’re just…not. I get that there’s something to friendships where taking potshots at each other is just a weird way of showing affection, but Honda and Jonouchi, whether in the classic manga, Season Zero, or the soft reboot, always seem like they have far more legitimately angry or otherwise unfriendly moments between them than they ever have genuinely heartwarming moments.
I’m much more comfortable with Honda being bumped up and made more important to the story than Miho, probably because I’m just used to him being a main character anyway, but I still find it hard to care that he’s there half the time.
….That said, if you twisted my arm….I’d say this version of Honda is more preferable than the 2000!Honda. In the 2000 series, they just kept him the same as he was in the manga, meaning he’s back to being diet caffeine-free Jonouchi – a character whose existence I constantly question and whose most memorable moments in the series involve him being a robot monkey and hitting on his best friend’s sister.
If Honda was just stick-up-ass beautification club member!Honda without the simping over Miho, that would have been more interesting and been a more justified character than “We have Jonouchi at home”!Honda.
The Anime Tones Down the Violence/Dark Themes
This note is basically unavoidable because you can get away with much more in manga than you can in broadcast TV shows. Still, if you’re a fan of the manga, the toned down violence and darker themes of Season Zero may irk you a little bit. Season Zero still has plenty of absolutely messed up nightmarish moments, even ones that aren’t in the manga, so your mileage may vary with how negative of a change this is.
Hanazaki was Completely Omitted from Season Zero
While Hanazaki wasn’t a main character in the manga, he was still a great one. He is basically like Yugi if he had even more problems with self-esteem and was obsessed more with heroes than games. Why Miho got bumped up to main character status while Hanazaki got omitted entirely from Season Zero is beyond me, but it is a loss I still mourn.
Not only would Hanazaki be much more likable and interesting to watch than Miho, but I think he could contribute more as well. In regards to Yugi, their character development could have worked in tandem since they’re so similar. Hanazaki always brings some optimism and joy to the group while they give him confidence and companionship.
Every time we saw Hanazaki, I cheered for him. I have a big soft spot for characters with hero complexes, and Hanazaki is such a sweetheart as well as a brave and loyal friend. It’s a huge bummer that he was never even included as a one-off character.
Created Shizuka
Jonouchi wouldn’t be Jonouchi without Shizuka. It’s hard to believe that Shizuka started off as a Season Zero exclusive character, but she is, and it’s one of the wisest decisions Toei made in creating her. While it’s true that Shizuka doesn’t have much character outside of just being Jounouchi’s sister, either in Season Zero or Duel Monsters, the bond between these two is wonderful, and it’s nice to see Jonouchi’s softer side come out for someone else besides Yugi.
Created Daimon
While not as important, we have a similar situation with Daimon’s creation. Daimon was basically created to act as a mirror to Yugi’s grandpa. He’s Seto’s elderly mentor and is one of the few people who sees the good in him. However, he’s terribly underutilized. Kaiba never has any emotional moment with him in the present, and he’s not even brought up when Kaiba is mind crushed and starts rebuilding the goodness in his heart. He just dies in Yugi’s arms and that’s it for him.
However, I do appreciate the idea behind Daimon, and I like Kaiba having another character to hook into his humanity that isn’t Mokuba, especially since Seto doesn’t seem to care nearly as much about Mokuba in the manga or Season Zero as he does in Duel Monsters. I did feel really bad when he died, but I just wish they had remembered him later on.
Created the Four Shitennou and Made Kaiba a More Recurring Villain
The Shiennou are absolutely pointless and only serve to remind the audience that Kaiba is in the shadows constantly waiting to defeat Yugi. However, I don’t hate their creation or Kaiba’s increased prevalence in Season Zero.
Two of the Shitennou, Ryuichi and Aileen, were entertaining for various reasons on their standalone episodes, and I already mentioned that I appreciated the inclusion of Daimon. Sheldon is really the odd one out here, and even he’s just unmemorable as a character. His episode is the most insane with his nurse puppet. That somehow edged out the fact that Aileen has a frickin’ TIGER and tried to sic it on Anzu.
My main issue here is that Season Zero made all of this buildup to a rematch with Kaiba and they dropped the ball with the end, chopping off various parts of the duel and making it anticlimactic.
Removed Johji
The best decision Toei made with this series. I think they just didn’t want to animate the little turd (kinda literally) to be honest, and I don’t blame them whatsoever if that’s the case.
The Art
I think Toei did a great job emulating Kazuki Takahashi’s art style, but obviously the manga is going to be much more detailed, especially on the horrific bits, than the anime.
I do like Takahashi’s artstyle, honestly. Sure, it’s absolutely insane sometimes, but that’s what makes it fun. I can honestly say his is an art style that stands out as unique in the anime and manga world. Sure, some panels are ugly and the noses randomly vanish in the earlier chapters, but his style got better quickly, and he definitely has a flair for horror, character design, and monster designs.
That being said, the colors in Season Zero make my corneas self-immolate. Whoever chose the colors for this show, please go to an eye doctor to check if you have eyes because some of the shots in this show have, hands down, the worst coloring I’ve seen in any form of media. It is just awful in some spots.
And lest we forget that they decided to make Kaiba’s hair color bright green for no real reason.
——————————–
With all that in mind, let’s go over the score tallies for each proper comparison entry before we examine the chapters that weren’t adapted and the filler episodes that were added.
Episode 1/Chapter 1 – Winner: Anime
Some aspects of the story and pacing were either a bit or much better in the anime.
Episode 2/Chapter 4 – Winner: Anime
Better exploration and intrigue with Tetsu and Jirou.
Episode 3/Chapters 9-10 – Winner: Manga
Felt like the nice guy act they had Kaiba do was a waste of time. The duel is more confusing and ends in a draw in the anime, which I didn’t agree with and makes little sense later. Even worse animation than normal.
Episode 5/Chapters 13-14 – Winner: Tie
Episode 6/Chapters 15-20 – Winner: Manga
Just a bit sloppier and disjointed due to cramming five chapters worth of the manga into one episode and trying to alter the episode to better suit how Season Zero worked.
Episode 7/Chapter 21 – Winner: Anime
The manga chapter felt incomplete, especially without a Shadow Game, and the anime introducing Hayama as the villain, including a Shadow Game, and allowing Honda and Miho to have a bit of a point worked well in its favor.
Episode 9/Chapters 48-49 – Winner: Manga
Pretty much by default because the anime tried to cram too much of the manga into one episode.
Episode 10/Chapter 7 – Winner: Anime
The story is much more fleshed out, and focusing on Anzu was better than Honda.
Episode 12/Chapter 42 – Winner: Manga
The manga had more emotion to it, and the anime had too much padding with Ryuichi.
Episode 13/Chapter 5 – Winner: Anime
Fixed a lot of problems the manga chapter had and added some nice things, like making Anzu more tolerable.
Episode 14/Chapter 45 – Winner: Anime
The manga version is mind-numbingly annoying and makes Anzu insufferable. She’s still annoying in the anime, but she’s made much more tolerable, and the Shadow Game is much better.
Episode 18/Chapters 46-47 – Winner: Anime
Just slightly better mostly due to making Imori sympathetic.
Episode 21/Chapter 25 (Parts of 27 and 50) – Winner: Anime
Generally done a bit better.
Episode 22/Chapters 27-29 and 31 Winner: Anime
Lack of Johji, but Miho fights to take his place as most annoying character. The duel with Sugoroku is a bit better, and the games in general are just a little better.
Episode 23/Chapters 33, 34, and 35 (Part of 36) – Winner: Manga
The stuff with Mokuba was built up better in the manga, and hourglass stuff is stupid.
Episode 24/Chapters 36-40 – Winner: Manga
Tons of reasons.
Episode 25/Chapters 50-53 – Winner: Manga
Miho’s presence and small details.
Episode 26/Chapters 54-55 – Winner: Anime
The ceiling trap was done better.
Episode 27/Chapters 56-59 – Winner: Tie
Tally
Anime: 10
Manga: 7
Tie: 2
———————————-
The anime is edging out the manga a bit at this point, so let’s see how the 15 non-adapted chapters affect the manga’s score.
Chapter 2: Lying Eyes – This was overall a dumb chapter, but it wasn’t so bad that I feel like docking off points for it, so let’s just leave it neutral.
Chapter 3: Hard Beat! – Pretty decent chapter, and I think I’ll throw it a point just for introducing Hanazaki. +1
Chapter 6: Burning Struggle to the Death – Eh. Neutral.
Chapter 8: The Venomous Man – I think the heartwarming aspect outweighs the dumb, so +1.
(Most of) Chapters 11-12: The Cruel Gang – Great set of chapters that hit strong emotional highs. While some stuff was adapted in the anime, most of this arc was cut, so I’m giving it +2
Chapters 22-23: American Hero – Some odd and dumb aspects, but overall a really sweet mini-arc that focuses on Hanazaki. +2
Chapter 24: Capsule Monster Chess! – This chapter is bonkers, but possibly for the wrong reasons. Mokuba is an absolute sociopath here, which is oddly fun to watch, but it also makes it near impossible to sympathize with him later, which will be necessary. Neutral.
Chapter 26: Deadly Russian Roulette – Another entertaining instance of Psychokuba, and the poisoned hamburger is iconic, but it’s mostly an unnecessary chapter that isn’t quite entertaining enough to get it the point. Neutral.
Chapter 30: Don’t Make a Sound! – So appallingly bad between the hentai-esque sexual assault of Anzu to Johji shitting on someone, I’m giving this a -2.
Chapter 32: Chainsaw Deathmatch – This chapter is so ridiculously insane that I want to give it a +1 just for the insanity alone, but I feel like Johji’s presence here and the vibe of being a bit TOO insane knock it down enough for me to keep it neutral.
Chapter 41: Let’s Find Love!! – While Anzu’s not necessarily at her worst here, she’s still pretty annoying, and it’s still a bad chapter loaded with poor writing. Yugi being a sweetheart doesn’t save this one, sorry. -1
Chapters 43-44: Monster Fighter – Decent story with the only real question mark being why this was a two-parter instead of a one chapter. Because of that, I’ll split the difference and only give it a +1.
Tally
Anime: 10
Manga: 11
Tie: 2
—————————————–
The anime needs at least one point to tie and two points to win, so let’s see how the eight filler episodes fared.
Episode 4: Theft! The Legendary Super Rare Watch – Oh boy, Miho being obnoxious and Honda being a pathetic simp. The cool Shadow Game imagery does not save this episode from the crap heap. -1
Episode 8: The Four Game Masters Finally Move Out – The absolutely insane and fun moments do not cancel out the utter confusion and annoying Miho and Hondaness that plague this episode. I don’t dislike it enough to mark it down, though, so neutral.
Episode 11: The Rumored CapuMon’s New Arrival – It being a bad episode already earns it a -1, but I’m docking another point because it’s a Miho-centric episode. -1
Episode 15: Scary Woman! Can’t Transform! – Boring, but not bad enough for me to feel like docking off a point. Neutral.
Episode 16: Sudden Turnaround! Threat of the Doctor’s Gown – Jonouchi with a crush, Shizuka’s introduction, and Yami/Yugi badassedly kicking ass in Jonouchi’s name? +1
Episode 17: Close Match! A Model’s Invitation – An awesomely hilarious tiger reveal and funny animation don’t prop this episode up to move it beyond neutral.
Episode 19: Big Melee! Popularity Contest – Sorry, Bakura. Your random appearance in this episode can’t save it from the -2 I’m going to give it for being a Miho episode and just a bad episode overall. This is the only episode out of the series I told viewers to skip outright.
Episode 20: It Appears! The Most Powerful Ultimate Trump Card – Daimon’s inclusion as well as him being a cybernetic zombie are just good enough for me to give this a +1
Final Tally
Anime: 8
Manga: 11
Tie: 2
Overall Winner: Manga
Congratulations, manga! You have beaten out your anime counterpart. To Toei’s credit, though, it’s still a pretty good adaptation, but it just made a few too many blunders to beat out the original classic manga.
If you have the means, I do recommend reading the classic manga and watching Season Zero. No matter if you’re already a fan of the Yu-Gi-Oh series post-soft reboot or not, it’s a ball of utter insanity that offers plenty of fun and moments of friendship. Some of the bleaker and more miserable tones are off-putting, but if you can wade through all that to get to the fun stuff, it never holds back.
The classic manga is available in print. There is a Japanese-exclusive VHS set of Season Zero, but it’s incredibly rare, and even just one tape will run you between $100-200 (and there are seven tapes in total). There’s a higher-quality fan retouched version available on the Internet Archive that, of course, was released after I had already finished most of this review series. I used that source for my screencaps in this post, and it looks pretty damn good for what it’s worth. It even has soft English subtitles, so if you’re interested in watching it that’s probably your best course of action.
Well, that’s another AniManga Clash in the bag. I am planning on doing Duelist vs. Duel Monsters (IE – the Duelist part of the manga vs. the Duel Monsters 2000 anime) but I have too many other projects I need to knock out before I take on another one. I look forward to doing it in the future, though.
If you enjoy my work and would like to help support my blog, please consider donating at my Ko-Fi page. Thank you! ♥
