Did You Catch Yu-Gi-Oh's Nod to Dragon Ball Back in the Day?

Yu-Gi-Oh is not a franchise you can easily forget, but it does include a couple of easter eggs [...]

By Nick Valdez

Yu-Gi-Oh is not a franchise you can easily forget, but it does include a couple of easter eggs which you might have forgotten. That is to be expected after more than 20 years of content, but one fan was able to comb through the manga recently to pick up any references they might have missed the first time around. As it turns out, plenty of fans have totally forgotten that Dragon Ball was all but name dropped in the manga adaptation of Yu-Gi-Oh season zero, and fans are loving Kazuki Takahashi's loving shout out to Son Goku and company.

As noted by doriandiaconu on Reddit, a small conversation between Yugi and Tea early on in the series has Yugi fondly looking over the pieces of the Millennium Puzzle. Yugi mentions the legend of putting the puzzle together leading to a granted wish of any kind, and off-handedly mentions how it's like the Dragon Balls -- which also grant a wish of any sort when all gathered together.

The manga and anime releases for the franchise have a number of differences between the two mediums, and it's most true for the early bits of the series. Takahashi originally began the manga in a much more sinister tone, with aggressive endings to the death games. So while the anime initially adapted these adventures, it didn't quite take off around the world until the card game was introduced.

Reading Yu-Gi-Oh Season 0 manga when suddenly...it's nice to see authors giving props to each other from r/dbz

Even after Duel Monsters was introduced to the manga, Takahashi still kept that original dark spirit alive for much of the events in the series. Some scenes were still toned down in the eventual anime adaptation, so curious anime fans looking into the manga for the first time will find many more small surprises and differences like this! It's a completely different series than what you would expect at first!

Have you ever checked out Kazuki Takahashi's original Yu-Gi-Oh manga before? Did you know that there was a completely different season before Duel Monsters was introduced and brought the anime to the United States? What are your favorite duels from the franchise as a whole? What changes have you noticed? Let us know your thoughts in the comments or talk to me directly about all things anime and other cool things @Valdezology on Twitter!

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