Yu-Gi-Oh Creator’s Animation Reel from Dark Side of Dimensions Surfaces

Yu-Gi-Oh! is going on 20 years, and the franchise is now bigger than ever as it prepares to launch the next iteration of its massively popular anime series. With an anime, films, video games, and a real life trading card game, none of this would be as impactful if not for the stylish artwork of the original series created by Kazuki Takahashi. Takahashi is a creator of many talents, and one recently resurfaced look behind the scenes of the franchise’s huge anniversary film revealed just how talented he is as it showcases one of the animations the famous creator contributed to.

In Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Dark Side of Dimensions, Takahashi contributed a pretty slick animation for the duel between Yugi Moto and Seto Kaiba at the climax of the film as it gives Yugi putting on his duel disk a dynamic new angle. It’s one of the standout animated moments of the film, and it’s quite surprising to see the original creator helped to make it happen.

As pointed out by @Katleho_Tshita on Twitter, Takahashi’s rough cut depicts the moment where Yugi puts on the more advanced duel disk for his duel against Kaiba. This was after a chain of events that followed Kaiba as he tried to get his fateful rematch against the King of Games, so fans were ready for this big duel. This was boosted even further by the film’s incredible animation, and fans will most likely be surprised to see the original creator was involved at such a close capacity. It does make sense considering the film was a sequel to the events of the original series.

Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Dark Side of Dimensions first released in 2016 as a celebration of the franchise’s 20th Anniversary. Taking place six months after the events of the Kazuki Takahashi’s original Yu-Gi-Oh! manga, the film follows Yugi Moto and Seto Kaiba as they try and cope in a world without the Pharaoh Atem when a mysterious, new dark entity challenges the to a deadly shadow game. You can currently find it streaming on Hulu.

As for the original series itself, Yu-Gi-Oh! was originally created by Kazuki Takahashi for Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump magazine, and ran from September 1996 to March 2004. The series follows Yugi Mutou, a young boy who solves an ancient puzzle and is possessed by the spirit of the Egyptian pharoah. Being skilled at deadly games, the Pharoah goes on to create and solve problems for Yugi based on deadly games of chance.