The social commentary in Yu-Gi-Oh! and similar works: my thoughts

[ReloadPsi]

Anyone who's watched Yu-Gi-Oh! at least once will have been mystified by either one thing or the other (or both) whether they were fans or not: the amount of trash talk that goes on in an otherwise mundane trading card game, or how seriously Joe Public takes the whole game throughout the course of the story.

But then something hit me. Isn't that exactly what we in our society do with out national sport? So many people make fun of Yu-Gi-Oh! for having characters who go around beating each other up to get a rare card off someone, or poking fun at anyone who doesn't know how to activate the Black Luster Ritual card, but is that any different to the way non-football fans in England get alienated from their peers? Is the fighting over rare cards (or using them to destroy the world) any different to football hooliganism? And is this "passion" that football fans in my country yammer on about any different to the passion of those attending Duel Monsters tournaments that they so love to call sad?

Plenty of football fans gave me a lot of crap in school for liking Pokemon, which again in its own respective fictional universe was serious business, when in the end it's nothing more than a game, a pastime in either realm.

My conclusion is thus: Yu-Gi-Oh! has an underlying message saying "Look at yourself! You're making such a big deal out of a simple competition between two sides, then making fun of others for being the same! God you're selective! Beware you sneaks! Hooligans! Hypocrites!"

Discuss.

[Roto13]

I think anything that can be construed as an underlying message in YGO is purely accidental. :P It's basically a show made to sell trading cards to children.

[Momiji]

Which came first, the cards or the show? xD

[ReloadPsi]

Which came first, the cards or the show? xD

The manga, then the cards (by accident), then the show.

Basically the game "Duel Monsters" appeared in the manga, back when the manga was about a mysterious ancient egyptian spirit who would challenge criminals to "Shadow Games" which would often result in them accidentally killing themselves. Duel Monsters was just a simple game with monsters and a few supporting cards, but then they got loads of calls asking about the game and they realised they had a potential hit on their hands; it was only supposed to feature in two volumes but ended up spinning off a whole new franchise.

I think anything that can be construed as an underlying message in YGO is purely accidental. :P It's basically a show made to sell trading cards to children.

Well really I'm just being like one of those Star Wars nerds who tries to compare episode III with the politics of the time. Probably is just coincidental, but the thought amuses me nonetheless.

[Avarice-ness]

I've never heard of YuGiOh being spoke about as being... deep. XD

Seriously though, I can only watch the abridged series because it speaks the truth.

It's not about just people playing a card game to get rare cards, or about showing humanity how we look at the petty things.

It's about Teens and Adults playing a childrens card game and winning.

On the note of selling things though..

There was a like... 35 year old guy walking around the mall wearing Yugi's Puzzle piece necklace thing around his neck with like a YuGiOh Cell phone holder on his big non-matching belt.

I'm pretty sure that that guy, is the reason for YuGiOh. YuGiOh and it's profucts are telling us to NOT BE THAT GUY.