DarkSaiyan and OddNub’s YuGiOh Reboot
Back in February, my buddy @oddnub and I were talking about how we would reboot the YuGiOh anime, and we decided to follow in the footsteps of Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood and pitch a more faithful adaptation of the YuGiOh manga:
Now don’t get me wrong, the anime back in the 2000’s definitely had a big impact and, despite my hate for 4Kids, I do have fond memories of it. However, it’s such a shame that a lot of fans have overlooked such a great manga. What makes YuGiOh stand out from other Shonen titles is the fact that despite not being very action heavy, it’s still an engaging read and a battle of brains can be just as compelling as a battle with fists, maybe even more so.
Some of you are probably wondering what would this new adaptation might look like and I have three main studios in mind for this:
A-1 Pictures are my go to studio for this project. They have a knack for making good fantasy anime, such as Fairy Tail and Seven Deadly Sins, and using animators from those teams can really bring the battles to life in new and epic ways!
Not only that, but A-1 are also the studio responsible for producing Your Lie in April, Anthem of the Heart and the legendary Anohana. All of these are very emotional and hard-hitting stories and can carry over to the heavier moments adapted from the original manga, showing the audiences that this is going to be much different than what they’re used to.
While it would be great to have a more serious look at the story, let’s be honest with ourselves; there’s gonna be a huge demand for new merchandise. Known for also producing the Pokemon anime, OLM Inc seem like the perfect studio and can really capture a nostalgic “Saturday Morning Cartoon” vibe the original had.
Ah, Madhouse. One of the most popular studios among anime fans today. They would be a great studio to handle the YuGiOh reboot. Why? Simple.... horror. Madhouse is no stranger to horror anime, mainly thanks to their sleeper hit of 2014; Parasyte. Not only that, but they’ve also had some solid action series too such as 2011’s Hunter x Hunter and One-Punch Man. If they can combine that horror and hard hitting action, we could be in for a really good time!
Keeping things simple, New YuGiOh would be divided into 7 seasons, each one being 24-25 episodes. The main story arcs are as follows:
Okay, I know that this is gonna sound controversial, but I wouldn’t have Dan Green or Eric Stuart return as either Yugi or Kaiba respectively. Before any of you jump at me, I have a reason. Mainly because I want this reboot to go in a new direction, which is being a more faithful adaptation of the original manga. As such, I don’t want any ties to 4kids being in this show. I want this to be fresh and exciting not just for newcomers but for older fans too.
Dan and Eric are the iconic voice actors for Yugi and Kaiba, I know that. But they shouldn’t be the only ones to voice the characters. Batman has had multiple voices, I think Yugi and Kaiba can have them too.
Anyway, me and Odd had a pretty cool idea where characters with a Yami form would have their voices be completely different, emphasising that there are two separate people inhabiting one body. The voice actors I had in mind are as follows:
Yugi Mutou/Yami Yugi- Colleen Clinkbeard/Bryce Papenbrook
Anzu Mazaki- Cherami Leigh
Jonouchi “Joey” Katsuya- Benjamin Diskin
Hiroto Honda- Kyle McCarley
Sugoroku Mutou- David Lodge
Setō Kaiba- Johnny Yong Bosch
Mokuba Kaiba- Alexis Tipton
Ryuji Otogi- Todd Haberkorn
Mai Kujaku- Erica Lindbeck
Dinosaur Ryuzaki- Newton Pittman
Insector Haga- Robbie Daymond
Bandit Keith Howard- Kyle Hebert
Dox Meikyu- Talesin Jaffe
Maximilion J. Pegasus- Kaiji Tang
Ryo Bakura/Yami Bakura- Josh Keaton/Clancy Brown
Marik Ishtar/Yami Marik- Matthew Mercer/Mark Hamill
Thief King Bakura/Zorc- Ray Chase
There’s only one choice; Yuki Kajiura. I mean, she composed the music for Ufotable’s Fate!!!! What more could you ask for?
And that’s the pitch for our potential YuGiOh reboot. Even though it’s highly unlikely that this would all happen, it was still a fun thought to have. One day, I’m sure we’ll see another YuGiOh series that does adapt the manga more faithfully. Until then, we still have the manga with us right now. Seriously if you haven’t read it yet, do it!
Special thanks to @oddnub for helping me with this. Go check him out, he does some fun, cute artwork as well as some good stories. 👍
