Today I want to talk about Duel Masters. Specifically: The Duel Masters anime from the early 2000s.
For those who don't know: Duel Masters is kind of the little brother of Magic: The Gathering. It was also made by Hasbro and there is a lot of fascinating history between the games. You can listen to Maro talk about it here.
The thing about the anime is that it is a parody dub that gets more unhinged as it goes on. Feels like watching an abridged series on YouTube.
For some reason the official localization team was allowed to do a parody dub instead of a faithful adaptation that takes itself way too seriously for its own good. As a result the official version of the English Duel Masters dub (which was shown on childrens' TV programs in the early 2000s!) is closer to Yu-Gi-Oh! Abridged than Yu-Gi-Oh! (which would be the most obvious comparison).
I mean it: they didn't just go for some light dialogue changes. No, they cut tedious, tropey dialogue, inserted pop-culture references, added some 4th-wall breaking jokes about common tropes in shows like this and sometimes even heavily edited the footage for comedic effect. There is a scene where they put a bad disco filter over the video and make a character sing karaoke. Seriously, I can't convey how weird this gets at times. The only thing separating it from an abridged series you'd find on YouTube in the 2010s is probably the lack of swearwords. And that's not really the kind of thing you'd miss anyway.
It gets even more unhinged in the final season. I assume they knew the English version wouldn't be continued since the TCG failed to catch on in the west, so they just went all out. There is a scene pretty late into the series where two characters are dueling and one of them summons a creature, but the wrong summoning animation plays. The characters then complain about the editor they hired on Craigslist. Again: this was meant for children's television. Not the internet.
A lot of jokes went way over my head as a child and I took it super seriously, but rewatching it with a friend last year had me howling with laughter at times. Maybe it's not your sense of humor, but if you like silly anime parodies, I urge you to check it out.
Also, if you speak German, I recommend you watch that version. The localization team did a great job of adapting the jokes and the voice actors really leaned into it. Can't speak for other European versions, but maybe there is something there too. :D
Here is a random assortment of my favourite characters to pay tribute and hopefully whet your appetite:
First we have best girl Mimi, Kokujo, an edgelord and Matrix-aficionado and Jimmy Three-Horns from Iowa.
Yumama, who had her name changed from Yu Fua just so the dub could make "yo momma" jokes and EXTREME BUCKETMAN.
Knight, one of the most pathetic mentor figures I have seen in all of anime (I love him for it) and Dr. Root with his weird crow-mouth (peak or rather "beak" character design).
And finally Tom & Stu (might be the same guy, depending on the localization).
Alright, got that off my chest. Hope this was interesting to you. :)
I usually stick to posting (pixel) art, but I really wanted to share this with the world.
