Episode 001: Yugi's Successor/S1E1: The Next King of Games
The adventure begins! In this post, I'm going to review and compare the subbed and dubbed versions of Yugioh GX episode 1. This episode is of course our pilot, introducing us to the cast of a new generation of duelists.
(Also, happy anniversary to GX! Episode 1 aired October 6, 2004 in Japan.)
Content warnings
This post discusses dub jokes that center around misgendering a character.
Episode Review
We start off with a small difference: in the sub version of episode S1 Judai talks about being late because of the trains, while Jaden just mentions being late. This is a change that gets repeated later.
The encounter with Yugi is largely unchanged, aside from Jaden talking a bit more when considering Winged Kuriboh's card while Judai just contemplates silently before (in either case) realizing he's still gotta run.
In the sub, the practical exams are opened with a neutral narration of the exam process. The dub goes with a "good job to those who made it, and better luck next year for everyone else" announcement leading into Crowler joking about going Duel Monsters Community College instead. Shou didn't originally get dialogue in this segment, but Syrus talks about his nerves and references the Obelisks being already qualified for the school—
And hang on can we go back to Crowler's "Have fun at Duel Monsters Community College!" which implies that community college is an inferior education option compared to high school??? I mean I guess you could read it as "you’ll never get into a Good College if you don’t get into DA" which does fit with the air of elitism but why are you literally comparing tertiary and secondary education like they’re both options for first year high school students I'M AN EDUCATOR DON’T TORMENT ME LIKE THIS 4KIDS!!!
Bastion/Misawa's entrance exam is about the same in either version, aside from more trash talk on his proctor's part in the dub. Manjoume/Chazz's reaction is condescending in either version, but I think his exact lines convey slightly different ideas about his character in sub versus dub:
Manjoume: Nonsense… The bar for these entrance exam duels is just set at a low level. Leaving the academy for this was a waste. The Duel Academia doesn't need two kings - only one.
Chazz: [Bastion]'s a punk. We went to duel prep school for the past three years, we're ready for the academy. These kids don't know what they're getting into, but they'll learn. The hard way. The Chazz Princeton way.
Just from these couple of lines, Manjoume has more of a coldly superior air while Chazz's lines sell him as more of a hotshot. We'll see where this goes in future episodes where he gets more focus.
When Judai enters in the sub Shou and Judai discuss examinee numbers and their correlation to test scores: Misawa was #1 (best among all applicants) while Shou was #119 and Judai #110 (barely squeaking into the practical exams). This is important when Shou mentions that the 100s were the first to be tested and therefore Judai has long passed his testing time, whereas in the dub Jaden just missed a general last call announcement that happened a few minutes earlier. In general the dub omits all the exam logistics (test rank included), which is of interest to me, personally as a fanfic writer who likes Details to play with (from the sub details, you can estimate an upper limit to DA class sizes!) but honestly doesn't really matter in the long run.
When the staff discuss Judai/Jaden's late entry, in the sub they point out "well, it wasn't the student's fault there was a train accident delaying his arrival, he deserves a fair chance" whereas in the dub they just mention "but he was only a little late, just give him a chance!"
This felt like a weird change to me - sure, the train wasn't that plot-relevant, but wasn't it important for arguing the case to give Judai/Jaden a chance? Talking over this thought on Discord, @eleanorose123 suggested that this might be exactly the point:
...that makes Judai responsible in his own right- he wasn't late on his own accord and still made every effort to get there PLUS makes Cronos seem unreasonable when the rest of the staff rightfully argue he should be allowed regardless
but that's not as fun as the idea of a protag being lazy and overslept his big test day
Can't be sure this was actually 4KIDS' intention in cutting all mentions of the train delay and in the long run it isn't all that important, but it certainly is A Choice.
And then...sigh. This next part is where I am in fact gonna be real critical of the dub here, because when the staff discuss Judai/Jaden's late entry a handful of lines in which Chronos checks the late entry's rank and dismisses him for his low scores are replaced by...making fun of Crowler's appearance and jokes about whether his title should be "Mr." or "Mrs." or (as Crowler prefers) "Dr." And like, average PhD behavior (I say as someone working on a doctorate IRL) but uh. Can we fucking not with the misgendering jokes, 4KIDS.
Yes, it was 2005. I was a kid in 2005 with no concept of gender issues beyond "stupid boys don't like it when girls don't wear dresses to formal grade school events." I still knew it was kinda gross and rude. In the year 2025, I feel confident in saying that these jokes were bad to start with and aged terribly on top.
AND THEN IT CONTINUES!!! When Principal Samejima intervenes he gives a little speech about giving everyone a fair shot and how they need all kinds of students at the school, to contrast Chronos's elitism.
In the dub, though, Chancellor Shepard calls Crowler out for rejecting a bunch of kids because they called him Mr./Mrs. which 1) again, gross and 2) frames him as petty more than anything. His response after the phone call is also different:
Chronos: The Duel Academia is an academy for the dueling elite!
Crowler: Doesn't he realize that there are enough talentless monkeys at this academy?
Both these lines are condescending, but Chronos's line emphasizes his elitism and pride in students that meet his standards (the expansion of which comprises his character arc) while Crowler is suggested to think poorly of the school as a whole. Chronos comes off as a haughty elitist; Crowler comes off as petty and hateful.
And to be fair Chronos/Crowler is petty! We see plenty of that in the first half of season 1! But in terms of this first episode, which is meant to introduce our characters and set our expectations for them - I think this slight difference does affect how the viewer is encouraged to view Chronos and the direction of his character.
I kind of joked about this when I first watched but I do think of it as: Chronos is the instructor from my undergrad who decided to gatekeep an entire freshman class because he thought the department was letting in too many students. Crowler is the instructor who told female students to ask their boyfriends for help. They're both shitty, but different types of shitty.
Anyway, let's move on from that. Judai/Jaden and Misawa/Bastion's conversation about "you're number 2 because I'm number 1!" is about the same in both versions.
Chronos's title is Chief General Director of Practical Application in the sub, while Crowler's is Department Chair of Techniques in the dub. This isn't important unless you like obscure worldbuilding details, which I do. When the entrance exam duel starts, Judai's line about "wow you must be expecting a lot from me!" is changed to Jaden...making a joke about Crowler's appearance again.
Sigh.
When the entrance exam duel starts, Chronos has a line about "oh this kid plays heroes, he's a smalltown hero unprepared for the bigger world" while Crowler just mentions he's using his personal deck for this duel. I kinda think this loses a bit in not highlighting the Yugioh Deck Symbolism™ and a bit of a "I see what this kid thinks he is, LOL" Teacher Moment, but I've had other friends suggest it's just that Western audiences would find the use of comic book superheroes more normal than a Japanese audience. Either way, a difference but nothing that impacts much overall.
When Chronos/Crowler looks at Judai/Jaden's hand and chooses a card to banish, Chronos comments "Sure enough, the deck of a dropout boy" while Crowler insults Jaden's experience instead: "Oh yes, I remember some of these from back when I was a naive rookie." Honestly I really like this change because it's more evocative, like Jaden's deck is cobbled together from a child's starter decks. When Crowler ends up banishing Monster Reborn, it made me think of the Yugi/Kaiba starter decks my brother and I shared when we were kids watching the original Yugioh every Saturday.
Manjoume's reaction to the duel is again slightly different: he mentions he thought Judai was special, but oh well he's about to get stomped. Chazz never suggests any interest in Jaden, instead saying that he wishes Crowler would have also stomped all the other examinees.
Asuka's reaction is also stronger in the dub, more critical of Crowler, and Zane is just...huh?
Asuka: I feel sorry for him…Chronos doesn't seem to fancy him.
Kaiser: What a sight. The Dark Ages deck…thanks to #110 here, we might just get to see its legendary rare card.
Alexis: What an elitist snob, bullying some amateur with his very best cards.
Zane: You're too soft, Alexis. I just hope we get to see that legendary rare monster Crowler's had stashed away in that deck of his.
Save the jerkass lines for your brother, Zane, this is your best friend's sister who you meet for clandestine lighthouse brooding.
Most of the rest of the duel is minor changes: Judai's reaction to Ancient Gear Golem in the sub is "whoa, the rumors were right" and in the dub it's "I always wanted to face one of these" which might have the slightest of implications about how well Chronos's deck is known. Chronos and Judai's exchange after Ancient Gear Golem destroys Featherman is mostly the same, except for some reason Crowler makes a comment about Jaden having insulted his deck when Jaden's last line actually praised Crowler himself. I don't know what that was about.
Personally I think the biggest loss among these slight line changes is the fact that the dub omits the fact that Flame Wingman is Judai's favorite card - Jaden just announces Flame Wingman with "There he is!" In the sub he frequently refers to it in "my favorite card/monster" in English to really highlight his love for the card, and this is consistent throughout the series (until season 4, where instead it's "my favorite hero"; discussing why this might be would be spoilers beyond season 1).
Judai calling Flame Wingman his favorite is a significant enough part of his character that "Favorite" (link contains implicit spoilers beyond season 1) becomes the bridging archetype for all his other archetypes. I'm not saying that 4KIDS should have looked ahead 13+ years and known this would happen, but I am saying that by writing this detail out that little bit of character lore gets lost and I personally thought it was a pretty charming point to lose.
Another minor loss among these slight line changes is Judai's line about Skyscraper: "See, my Heroes have a battle arena as heroic as they are!" In the dub he just mentions "yeah, I know Flame Wingman has lower attack than Ancient Gear Golem, and that's why I have THIS." The dub line doesn't lose any meaning, but it's much less cool IMO.
Judai's signature "Gotcha! That was a fun duel" catchphrase gets changed to "That's game!" and a joke about passing the test. The rest of the episode is about the same between both versions.
And that's game! Gotcha!
Spoiler Zone
When the principal calls to intervene towards giving Judai a shot, in the sub Chronos specifically calls out "why are you sticking your neck out for this kid?" I think this is kinda neat foreshadowing for season 3 in 130 episodes except for the fact that…they almost certainly had not planned the Yubel arc at this point, LOL. So technically the fact that the dub changes that particular line isn't a huge loss, but I think it's still worth mentioning.
Final Thoughts
There aren't many major changes to this episode, but various small ones. I think the characterization/framing changes to Chronos/Crowler are by far the most significant. Which isn't to say they're huge - in both versions, he's arrogant and looks down upon Judai/Jaden as someone who won't amount to anything - but they do set up slightly different expectations for his character.
Chronos de Medici is a primary overarching antagonist for the first half of S1 and later gets his own character arc addressing his elitism and showing he does care about his students, first when facing the powers of darkness and later growing into a more openly caring professor. How similar - or different - is Dr. Vellian Crowler? There's a couple dozen more episodes to see the answer.
Also...just, as much as I don't want to start harping on a handful of lines, the Crowler gender jokes do give me a bad taste for what I otherwise consider a mostly solid episode of the dub. I'm not looking forward to more of them.
(And yes I know the sub makes its own jokes about Chronos' appearance, but they don't center around misgendering him.)
I also have An Eye on how they're characterizing Chazz in comparison to Manjoume, but we'll see how that shakes out in future episodes!
In the link below you will find ~6200 full hd, 1920x1080 unedited and unsorted screecaps of the first episode of the Crown of Kings (Korona Królów) TV show.
Do you think there would have been changes in Arnav's character had he met Khushi much earlier in his life? Would he have toned down to somewhat like the Arnav we saw in EJ.
And yeah thank you for taking time from your busy life to answer our questions.
Hello!
I think Khushi's influence on Arnav, if it'd come earlier, had the potential to change his character in the direction of who he became in Ek Jashn. However, I think it's also important to consider whether Arnav would've been open to the change earlier.
The first episode of the serial introduces us to a man righting a childhood wrong by buying Sheesh Mahal from his Chacha. Arguably, Arnav wouldn't have been open to Khushi's influence before he'd achieved this goal -- the serial made a pretty big deal of the way he closed his eyes on one chapter of his life and opened them to the next.
The Meeting of the Worthy is about to take place by private invitation
of only the most prestigious city heroes.
Each of the players has, somehow, come across an invitation--
and they are certainly no heroes, let alone Worthy
(whatever that means).
Everything goes wrong in unexpected ways as one of the players asks,
“Is he, like, dead-dead?” in this debut double episode.
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