Yu-Gi-Oh! is unlike any other manga. No, really, it is totally unique. It started as one thing, a schoolyard revenge manga with an Egyptian flair, and morphed into the card-game manga that it has become today. The anime just starts with the card game, so many fans never knew about the “Shadow Games” early days. When little Yugi, empowered by his Millennium Puzzle, was sticking it to bullies often in surprisingly violent ways. Let’s go back to the beginning…before the cards!

Right off the bat, the story begins with a classroom bully harassing poor little Yugi by taking his unfinished Millennium Puzzle away. And one of the bullies is Jonouchi a.k.a. Joey Wheeler from the anime! He starts as an outright jerk at the beginning of the story, annoyed at the way Yugi “Talks like a girl.” But when a bigger bully comes along and beats Jonouchi up, Yugi shows real strength by taking a beating to save him. This proves to Jonouchi that Yugi’s not a coward and a great friendship is born.

From there, it doesn’t take long for Yugi to solve the Millennium Puzzle and release his other half—a dark and vengeful badass who is the complete opposite of his normal cheery self. This is when the manga takes off. One he’s released, jerks, hoodlums, criminals and others get what’s coming to them in a variety of creative and outlandish ways.

They’re called “Shadow Games” and they usually involve some kind of dangerous act that kids really, REALLY shouldn’t try at home. Games like stabbing stacks of bills on your hand, playing with bottles of chloroform, and my personal favorite—playing air hockey on a hot griddle with a puck made of ice and a vial of nitroglycerin frozen into the puck. People go insane, get set on fire, explode and more. It’s violent, it’s weird and a lot of fun to read.

At first glance, the art may look a tad simple and cartoonish, but don't be fooled—this is great art. The range of different faces and character designs are impressive to say the least. And more importantly, Takahashi Sensei has his own unique style. The greats of manga usually do. You can look at their art and in one second know it’s theirs. And although we only get a taste in the volume, his monsters are great! They’re gruesome, gross, spiky, scary and overall brilliantly drawn. Oh, and nobody can draw creeps as creepy as Takahashi Sensei can. Some downright inspired designs!

Aside from all this, the Egyptian element of the manga is also a draw. I mean, hello! It’s Egypt! Is there anything cooler than ancient Egypt?! It’s a wonderfully fascinating part of human history and using it as a backdrop in a manga is genius. Just the design elements alone are intriguing, but Takahashi Sensei goes deeper than that and ties the entire story to it.

Takahashi Sensei is also an unabashed gamer, even lamenting in the author’s note about how he doesn’t have time to play table top games anymore. This 3-in-1 comes with a handful of fun games that I’m assuming he created. Some are simple like mazes or spot the differences, but there is one in the back that it a bit more complicated. It’s called Duel Monsters Dice Game, and it’s essentially a board game that spans four pages. You don’t see extras like that in many manga!

To me, the best thing about this manga is seeing Yugi take down one bully after another. Just about everyone gets picked on at school and feels powerless at one time or another, so watching Yugi turn the tables on these jerks is just inherently satisfying. He’s an unlikely SJ hero, but that’s what makes him so appealing. He doesn’t defeat his opponents with fisticuffs, he uses his noggin and skill at games…Shadow Games that is!

Yu-Gi-Oh! 3-in-1 volume 1 is available at Viz.com! 

by Urian Brown