Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (season 1)
The first season of Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters, based on the manga by Kazuki Takahashi, premiered in Japan on April 18, 2000, and concluded on April 3, 2001, on TV Tokyo. An English adaptation of the series was made and premiered in the United States on September 29, 2001, and concluded on November 9, 2002, on Kids' WB. It was renamed Yu-Gi-Oh!, due to the fact that the first Yu-Gi-Oh! TV series was never released outside Japan. The season was directed by Kunihisa Sugishima, and written by Junki Takegami, Masashi Sogo, and Shin Yoshida. The original version features vocals from Shunsuke Kazama, Hiroki Takahashi, Hidehiro Kikuchi, Maki Saito and Kenjiro Tsuda as the main characters. The English adaptation features vocals from Amy Birnbaum, Frank Frankson, Wayne Grayson, Dan Green, Chuck Powers, Sam Regal, Eric Stuart and Dwayne Tan as the main characters.
It follows Yugi Mutou, a timid, kind-hearted boy, who embarks on a journey with his friends - Katsuya Jonouchi, Hiroto Honda, and Anzu Mazaki - to Duelist Kingdom, a tournament on the island of the same name, to free his grandfather, Sugoroku
from imprisonment by Pegasus J. Crawford - the season's main antagonist. While on the journey, he begins to learn more about the seven Millennium items, including his own Millennium Puzzle, in which contains a 5,000-year-old spirit that takes over when he duels or when he is pressured. Katsuya enters the contest with Yugi in order to obtain the prize money to pay for his young sister, Shizuka's eye operation. At first an inexperienced duelist, he works his way up to the tournament's top tier with Yugi. It also tells the story of Seto Kaiba - a ruthless, skilled duelist and company owner — who was ranked as the top duelist until Yugi defeated him. Plagued by his defeat, his company's image suffers and his young brother, Mokuba gets kidnapped, forcing him to travel to Duelist Kingdom to retrieve him from the same imprisonment Yugi's grandfather faces. The last ten episodes deal with the aftermath of Yugi's duel with Pegasus, featuring two episode sagas: "Legendary Heroes" and "Dungeon Dice Monsters".
Between September 24, 2002 and February 22, 2005, Funimation Productions released twenty DVD sets for the season: twelve sets containing three episodes, three containing four episodes, one with two episodes, one containing all forty-nine episodes and the last three containing uncut versions of the first nine episodes. All DVDs were encoded in Region 1.
The first season of Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters was formerly licensed by 4Kids Entertainment in North America, and other English-speaking territories and countries, and was formerly distributed by FUNimation Entertainment, LTD. on Region 1 home video and formerly distributed by Warner Bros. Television Animation through North American TV rights, when it aired on Kids’ WB! and Cartoon Network. It is now licensed and distributed by 4K Media.
Cast and characters
Japanese
Regular
- as Hiroto Honda
- Hiroki Takahashi as Katsuya Jonouchi
- Kenjiro Tsuda as Seto Kaiba
- Maki Saitoh as Anzu Mazaki
- Shunsuke Kazama as Yugi Moto/Yami Yugi
Recurring
- as Keith Howard
- Haruhi Terada as Mai Kujaku
- as Pegasus J. Crawford
- Junkoh Takeuchi as Mokuba Kaiba
- You Inoue as Ryou Bakura/Yami Bakura
- Tadashi Miyazawa as Sugoroku Mutou
- Urara Takano as Insector Haga
- Yuuichi Nakamura as Dinosaur Ryuzaki
Guest stars
- Daisuke Namikawa as Ryouta Kajiki
- Eiji Takemoto as Takaido
- as Killer Player
- as Rebecca Hopkins
- Masami Suzuki as Ghost Kotsuzuka
- as Shizuka Kawai
- as Satake
- Ryo Naitou as Ryuji Otoga
English
Regular
- Amy Birnbaum as Téa Gardner
- Sam Riegal as Tristan Taylor
- Wayne Grayson as Joey Wheeler
- Dan Green as Yugi Moto/Yami Yugi
- John Campbell as Tristan Taylor
- Eric Stuart as Seto Kaiba
Recurring
- Maddie Blaustein as Solomon Moto
- Darren Dunstan as Maximillion Pegasus
- Megan Hollingshead as Mai Valentine
- Tara Jayne as Mokuba Kaiba
- Ted Lewis as Bakura Ryou, "Bandit" Keith Howard, Croquet
- Sam Riegal as Rex Raptor
- Jimmy Zoppi as Weevil Underwood
- Andrew Rannells as Mako Tsunami
Guest stars
- Amy Birnbaum as Bonz
- Maddie Blaustein as Zygor
- David Moo as PaniK
- Lisa Ortiz as Serenity Wheeler
- Marc Thompson as Duke Devlin
- Kerry Williams as Rebecca Hawkins
- Eric Stuart as Kemo, Sid
- Mike Pollock as Arthur Hawkins
Episodes
DVD releases
The first ten DVD volumes, as well as volumes 12 and 13, contain 3 episodes each. Volumes 11, 15, and 16 contain four episodes each and the fourteenth volume contains two episodes. The first volume was released on September 24, 2002. The complete first season set was released on August 10, 2004.| Volume | Discs | Episodes | Region 1 release |
| 1: The Heart of the Cards | 1 | 3 | September 24, 2002 |
| 2: Into the Hornet's Nest | 1 | 3 | September 24, 2002 |
| 3: Attack from the Deep | 1 | 3 | November 5, 2002 |
| 4: Give Up the Ghost | 1 | 3 | November 5, 2002 |
| 5: Evil Spirit of the Ring | 1 | 3 | January 14, 2003 |
| 6: The Scars of Defeat | 1 | 3 | January 14, 2003 |
| 7: Double Trouble Duel | 1 | 3 | March 18, 2003 |
| 8: Face Off | 1 | 3 | March 18, 2003 |
| 9: Champion vs. Creator | 1 | 3 | May 6, 2003 |
| 10: Duel Identity | 1 | 3 | May 6, 2003 |
| 11: Best of Friends, Best of Duelists | 1 | 4 | July 22, 2003 |
| 12: Match of the Millennium, Part 1 | 1 | 3 | August 19, 2003 |
| 13: Match of the Millennium, Part 2 | 1 | 3 | September 16, 2003 |
| 14: Legendary Heroes | 1 | 2 | October 14, 2003 |
| 15: Ties of Friendship | 1 | 4 | October 14, 2003 |
| 16: DungeonDice Monsters | 1 | 4 | November 18, 2003 |
| Complete First Season | 6 | 49 | August 10, 2004 |
| 1: The Shadow Games | 1 | 3 | October 19, 2004 |
| 2: The Insector Combo | 1 | 3 | October 19, 2004 |
| 3: Stolen: Blue-Eyes White Dragon | 1 | 3 | February 22, 2005 |