7 Ways Yu-Gi-Oh’s Censorship Made the Anime Better Than the Original

Yu-Gi-Oh! is an anime that has had a rough go at it during its earliest stages as it was highly adapted and changed for a United States audience, but there are quite a few ways that its censorship and alterations actually made it much better of an experience than the original Japanese version. Yu-Gi-Oh! was one of the many anime brought to Western audiences through 4Kids Entertainment, and that studio ended up being notorious with fans for how much it changed from the original Japanese version. Not all change is bad when it comes to this anime, however.

Because while fans are still quick to point out how ridiculous some of the censorship seen in Yu-Gi-Oh! compared to its much darker take in the original Japanese version of the anime, there are actually seven ways in which these changes ended up being an improvement over the original. Arguably, Yu-Gi-Oh! was able to become much more iconic to fans in the United States thanks to seven of these most notable censorship changes in particular.

7). Less Perverts

One of the more cultural elements of humor that anime had in its earlier days didn’t quite translate the same way to American audiences. That was the outwardly perverted characteristics of some of its characters, and that was thankfully sanded down in the English dub. Yugi’s grandpa, for example, is one such character that often hit on younger women, and while that’s a common anime trope, it was thankfully removed from this series. That also includes other seedier elements like a pervert who was threatening Tea, turned into a “mugger” in the dub version instead. It’s all the better for not having this stuff with it.

6). Yugi’s Mom Disappears

It might seem like a wild idea to argue for the erasure of an entire character, but it ended up working out in Yu-Gi-Oh‘s favor. Fans might not realize that Yugi had a mother in the original Japanese version of the anime, and she has a few scant appearances before disappearing due to irrelevance. The 4Kids version ended up just cutting out that awkward phase by just removing her entirely, and honestly nothing of true value was lost. We all just kind of accepted Yugi as someone who just had his grandfather and friends, and never really questioned it later. Wiping out a character without any impact ended up being a big improvement.

5). Finger Guns

Before moving on to the more serious adjustments and removals, we have to address one of the goofiest yet iconic changes for the 4Kids Entertainment release. The biggest bit of censorship was to remove all sense of real world death and danger, and that included the use of guns. Guns were removed from the dub version, and instead were replaced by characters just angrily pointing. It’s such a dumb idea that it goes all the way back around to be great again, and you really don’t miss the guns when everything else is settled through children’s card games.

4). Dark Energy Discs

Speaking of real world violence, during the Battle City tournament Yugi had a duel against Arkana (whose named was also changed from the Japanese original for some reason) where in the original version, the loser would have their legs cut off with sharp buzz saws. In the censored version, these saws were instead replaced by “Dark Energy Discs” that had a blue glow and would send the loser to the Shadow Realm. Ultimately it didn’t really matter as Yugi saved Arkana before he was struck by the discs at the end of the duel, but this is just once again one of those hilarious changes that’s so stupid that it goes back around to being fun again.

3). Mai Isn’t Tortured By Marik

This one is a bit controversial in that its arguable that the uncensored version is much more brutal than the censored take, but the American version just didn’t need to go that far. In Mai’s duel against Marik during Battle City, at one point she was cursed to suffer all of the physical damage that her monsters did. This resulted in her monsters getting strapped into deadly contraptions, and Mai herself was tortured. But honestly, it’s just not necessary to go that far.

The censored version instead offers a much darker kind of fate as rather than physical damage, Mai’s soul and mind steadily took hits. She lost memories with each loss of her life points, and it had the same result at the end of it all. It’s just that we didn’t need to see Mai going through literal torture for the sake of a card game.

2). Skipping “Season 0”

One of the smartest decisions that 4Kids Entertainment made was just ignoring an entire phase of Kazuki Takahashi’s Yu-Gi-Oh! story entirely. There was a completely different anime adaptation of the series long before Yugi and the others started playing card games, and it introduced the pharaoh as a dark spirit within the Millennium Puzzle that would challenge criminals and other no gooders to death games of various kinds.

It’s a much more intense take on the franchise before Takahashi started to incorporate the card game even more, and is pretty slow in comparison. If the English dub started with this instead, and censored the series even more, then there’s no way it would have been the mega hit that it became. It was just a smart move to brush this entire show under the rug entirely.

1). The Shadow Realm Replaces Death

But out of all the censorship choices that 4Kids made for Yu-Gi-Oh’s English dub release, there’s no greater one than the addition of the Shadow Realm. It’s become such a part of the series’ identity that fans might be surprised that it was entirely made up for the censored release. As part of that shift away from referencing anything that has to do with real violence or death, those who lost their games instead got sent to a mysterious “Shadow Realm.”

Characters would just outright die in the original version, and it’s why no one ever explores the Shadow Realm in any real capacity. No one ever comes back, and it’s because they were killed in that original version. But thanks to the Shadow Realm, Yu-Gi-Oh was able to have its own unique identity with its own kind of notable stakes. Something seemed bigger when it was your soul on the line, and Yu-Gi-Oh wouldn’t be where it is today without this bit of censorship.

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