Yu-Gi-Oh Cosplay Prepares to Duel With Mai

Yu-Gi-Oh received an anime adaptation to coincide with the popular card game that continues to this day, with each season exploring new stories, and/or universes, that focus on the dueling game that will often incorporate the supernatural, the extraterrestrial, and games of life and death. With the anime starting off with Duel Monsters, some of the most classic characters of the anime series got their start in Yugi Moto’s journey, with one cosplayer focusing on the anti-hero known as Mai Valentine.

Yu-Gi-Oh: Duel Monsters introduced Mai Valentine as a fellow duelist as a part of the Duelist Kingdom arc, one of the earliest storylines of the series that saw Yugi and his friends navigating an island in an effort to defeat the main antagonist known as Pegasus. Mai herself as a duelist would routinely rely on her favorite card, “Harpie Lady”, to score her wins that had helped propel her career and reputation in the dueling universe. When the first series came to an end, so did Mai’s role in the series, though despite Yugi and his supporting cast handing off the baton, Yu-Gi-Oh has continued to find success in the anime medium with its current series, Yu-Gi-Oh Go Rush introducing wild new concepts to the series.

It’s Time To Duel

Instagram Cosplayer Meesiamp shared this pitch-perfect take on, arguably, the most popular female duelist of Yu-Gi-Oh’s first storyline, with Mai not appearing in subsequent storylines but certainly carving out a place for herself amongst the many duelists of the series: 

When Duel Monsters came to an end, Mai didn’t receive a grand finale in her journey, mostly leaving Yugi and company to find her place as a duelist, though she was referred to in the sequel series that would arise following the initial arc. With nostalgia continuing to be a big part of pop culture, it will be interesting to see if we’ll ever get a return to the story of Yugi Moto and company in the anime’s future or if Yu-Gi-Oh will continue to chart unexplored territory for its anime duelists.

What do you think of this new take on one of Yu-Gi-Oh’s most popular duelists? Feel free to let us know in the comments or hit me up directly on Twitter @EVComedy to talk all things comics, anime, and the world of duelists.