Duel Masters

Who's the kid with the spiky hair? (This review is based off the English dub.) Duel Masters is a card game based show that aired on Cartoon Network 2004-2006, at the tail end of the original Yu-Gi-Oh's airing. Yu-Gi-Oh's popularity certainly influenced it being dubbed, but how good a show is it on its own? Even having no interest in card game anime at the time, I ended up watching this as it was airing. The nostalgic cast was what originally caught my ear. There were a lot of familiar and talented VAs who seemed to have fun and do a great job here. But I stayed forthe dub script. Was it a parody? Sort of, depending on how you define parody. This dub still followed the plot and advertised the card game per the original design. Those in charge of the English adaptation perhaps had similar thoughts to who dubbed "Ghost Stories", the dub of which was also released around the same time, that not taking the dub seriously could spice up an otherwise bland show. So they added a lot of humor. Though I haven't seen the original, it's apparent much of it was dub rewrites. Characters regularly break the fourth wall, hang lampshades on anime tropes, engage in unneeded monologues, poke fun at character designs, make pop culture references, and have various other humorous quips and exchanges. Overall, it was pretty amusing, and I kept watching. I was even convinced to check out the card game. However, it became dated pretty soon. Why? In July 2006, the month after the English version ended, LittleKuriboh started posting Yu-Gi-Oh abridged to YouTube. Not only was YGO abridged free and instantly available to anyone with an internet connection, but it had edgier humor and could cut large portions of the long card game sequences. For anyone who wanted card game anime humor, that was where to get it. Even though I liked Duel Masters, watching it after YGO abridged, it dragged. I quickly forgot it, probably along with many others. Now more than a decade later, Duel Masters has also been made available streaming, so I decided to watch it again. I can recognize the same as I did at the time, it's a fairly generic card game anime that doesn't say much or develop its characters much. But it's still fun. The dub specifically is funny, laugh out loud funny at times, and it's also fun to watch Shobu run around and play his card game. It's a light, humorous show, slower paced than anything "abridged" but faster paced than other card game anime. It's relatively short and worth checking out if one likes card game anime and/or silly dubs. Though this rec is regarding this 26-episode dub in particular, not the franchise as a whole. The various anime sequels I haven't seen, and seem impossible to find even to anyone who might want to watch them. The English version after episode 26 is an English language original that seems to lose something as it completely changes the voice cast and tries to write its own story instead of having fun with existing material. Luckily, this show can stand alone.

Duel Masters was a show with soooo much potential. Its the Magic The Gathering version of Yu-Gi-Oh. The plot is interesting. The main characters are likeable. The duels are fun to watch. The monsters look cool. The card game itself is actually well made and fun to play. However the anime feels cheaply made in some areas. Especially the audio quality. Sometimes you can barely hear what some people are saying. The animation is not great. Sometimes straight up terrible.I think whether or not you'd like this anime is dependent on whether or not you find the duel masters card game interesting. Despite the flaws its a show i really liked and wanted to succeed.

Pros: + The battles in the beginning when this card-game concept looked fresh + Kyoshiro Kokujo Cons: - Annoying and uninteresting characters- Repetitive comedy by unlikable characters which make it a drag and pain to watch - Story having no work and is predictable to the max - The battles in the mid and last-half of the show become unwatchable as nothing new is done, new cards which are introduced get overshadowed by the same talk after each move, show reactions after each move, show the crowd after each move, show every single supporting character after each move formula which feels like it's on a loop from the start and they just didn't realize it. - Battle animation being poor (MS Paint level) _________________________________________________________________________ Duel Masters started with an interesting card-game but it became stale as the story progressed because the show failed to do something new to keep you hooked. The same scene is done with the same angle but with different dialogues and characters. The battles in the beginning were superb, but as the show progressed they became a pain because they had the same formula on repeat. Reactions from every character and the crowd after each move while trying to build suspense reaches the breaking point as that's what you've been watching from the start. The story which could have saved this show had no work at all and felt like an add-on. There was an imbalance in the screentime as most of it was given to the battles but the time given to the characters wasn't used to create a strong background for them but instead it was used for comedy (which failed) and chitchat about the next or forgone battle. Focus on battles is what everyone wants but focus on the characters and the story is as important. Duel Masters succeeded with the battles' screentime but failed with the story, characters and keeping the battles fresh. It was evident that the show's primary focus was to introduce a new card-game to the masses which is why the repetitive battles were the primary focus but that cannot be used as an excuse. If there is something positive about Duel Masters then it has to be Kokujo who is the only character to have some detail and a reason to be there in the show. The rest of the cast is given more time but unfortunately none of them becomes interesting enough to be likable and none has a reason to be there. Some "twists" are thrown in out of nowhere which makes the story look even more absurd. What's worse is that the show doesn't evolve, it's like running in a loop giving you a demo of the cardgame. Verdict: What could have been a great anime, Duel Masters fails as a show and ends up being a promotional event for the card game. The characters had no work done, the animation styling was outdated and looked horrible, the comic timing was poor and the characters having no background made everything worse. The show tried to give as much screentime to the battles as possible but that failed because the time given to the characters was wasted. Having 26 episodes, the show's primary focus was to try and show every playing-card playable, that took a toll on the quality of the show as a whole and made a huge impact on the vision of the show. From the beginning and till the end the story and characters do not evolve at all and Duel Masters ends up being a poorly written Yu Gi Oh. Instead of learning from the flaws of the latter, the show failed to even learn from the positives as well. The only positive thing for the show would be nostalgia. Kids who grew up with the show might still end up liking it if they still have the playing-cards. But as an anime it fails to keep you hooked on your seats wanting for more. Instead you want it to end or you want to stop watching because you already know what will happen and it just isn't worth it to use your time bearing the characters and the animation. 4/10

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