ADAPTING
YU-GI-OH! FOR THE BIG SCREEN
While the
Yu-Gi-Oh! TV series was originally created
for the Japanese market and later translated
into English for American viewers, Yu-Gi-Oh!
The Movie was developed specifically for
Western audiences based on the overwhelming
success of the franchise in the U.S. “In the
past, we’ve gotten fully-produced episodes of
the TV series from Japan, and we would edit the
story and the music for American audiences,”
Grossfeld explains. “What’s so exciting about
Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie is that we created
everything from scratch, specifically for our
market. So, for the first time, American fans
will see a Yu-Gi-Oh! story that nobody in
the world has seen before.”
In creating the storyline for Yugi’s first big
screen adventure, the Japanese filmmakers and
the American production team faced the challenge
of telling a complete story in less than 90
minutes, while remaining true to the spirit of
the TV show, which tells a story over the course
of a 50-episode season. The movie also needed
to remain consistent with the television series
while also appealing to audience members who
aren’t familiar with the show. “We sought to
create a complete story arc that works within
the Yu-Gi-Oh! universe, but at the same
time stands on its own,” says Pecoriello.
In
addition to crafting a self-contained,
feature-length story for the movie, 4Kids and
their Japanese partners also wanted to raise the
stakes by exploring the dramatic possibilities
inherent in the card game. “Part of our
challenge was how to get the fans invested in
the game in a way that they haven’t been in the
past,” Grossfeld notes, “and how to build the
drama of the card game so that kids can really
put themselves in Yugi’s position.”
Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie will transport fans
to an exciting new dimension when Yugi finds
himself engaged in a heated battle with his
archrival Seto Kaiba, who is fiercely determined
to finally defeat Yugi and claim the title of
King of Games. Suddenly, the imaginary monsters
in the players’ decks become real and the
duelists are thrust into a dangerous realm where
they must fight for their very lives – and the
fate of the world.
“In the show, when one player loses life points,
he’s just losing the duel,” Pecoriello
explains. “But in the film, the hazards of the
game are much more real.”
A
NEW ADVENTURE & A NEW VILLAIN
Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie is a
collaborative production between Nihon Ad
Systems, Japan’s Studio Gallop, the production
company that animates the TV series and Korea’s
Dong Woo Animation, using a combination of
computer generated and hand-drawn images.
Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie deals
largely with the relationship between Yugi, his
alter ego, the Pharaoh, and their longtime rival
Seto Kaiba. “The battle in this movie is
between light and dark, but the theme of the
film also revolves around the light and darkness
of the soul, and how those two powers
relate,” says director and TV series producer
Hidetaka Ikuta.
Yu-Gi-Oh! comic book creator Kazuki
Takahashi adds, “The message of Yu-Gi-Oh!
The Movie is that power isn’t
everything. Working with others is the way to
live.”
Yugi will have to
work with every friend and
Yu-Gi-Oh! playing card he can find to defeat
an all-new, all-powerful villain introduced in
the film: Anubis, the Egyptian creature that
Yugi’s alter ego defeated several millennia
ago. The Pharaoh, whose spirit lives in the
mystical Millenium Puzzle that Yugi wears around
his neck, defeated Anubis thousands of years ago
and was thought to never be heard from again.
But, when Anubis is accidentally reawakened
during an archeological dig, he is hellbent on
conquering the world – and getting revenge on
Yugi in the process.
“I think Anubis is probably scarier than any
other villain we have seen before because he’s
not human,” says Pecoriello of the mummified
monster, who takes on many different forms in
the film.
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