Yu-Gi-Oh! is an amazing franchise that fuses mythological elements with monster trading card duels to create a fantastical shonen anime that’s graced screens since April of 2000. In this anime, high school student Yugi Mutou solved the Millennium Puzzle and was granted a wish that allows for him to connect with another Yugi whenever he needs assistance.
With a rating of PG-13, it's hard to imagine that Yu-Gi-Oh! would contain content that would need to be censored outside of Japan. However, there are several episodes that had to be censored for distinct reasons.
10 Dark Magician Girl’s Chest Had To Be Digitally Diminished
Dark Magician Girl is a monster card that became quite popular not only in the anime but also in the real-life trading card game. Her appearance was extremely cute, adorable, and doll-like, which is a stark contrast with Dark Magician, her male counterpart. In Japan, Dark Magician Girl had the body and physical appearance of someone much older than she appears. To make her more age-appropriate outside of Japan, her chest size was reduced.
9 The Shadow Realm Doesn’t Actually Exist In The Subbed Version
The existence of the Shadow Realm and what it represented was quite scary as it’s a place that people could be sent to to suffer. This was an unpleasant concept as it meant that a soul could be ripped from someone’s body and sent to this place to be tortured for eternity... and this is the censored version. In the Japanese version of Yu-Gi-Oh!, the Shadow Realm doesn’t exist. When a character's mind had been destroyed from losing a game, they would ostensibly die. But this was deemed too harsh for Western audiences.
8 Guns Had To Be Removed And Were Replaced With Interesting Alternatives
With the implications of guns and how they’ve been misused across the world, the Japanese version of this Yu-Gi-Oh! had to be censored. In some cases, guns were edited out completely. However, in other situations, the scenes were modified.
During the flashback in Episode 199 where Solomon Muto was much younger, one of the guides leading him through the Pharaoh’s tomb shot him in the back. In the dubbed version, the guide used a slingshot to knock Solomon off balance. In other instances, finger guns were used to replace real guns.
7 Arkana’s Blades Were Removed And Replaced By Energy Disks
In the Battle City story arc, Yugi and his friends had a run-in with Marik’s team of Rare Hunters, a group of duelists who steal rare cards from their opponents. One of these hunters was a man named Arkana, who was severely disfigured because of his dangerous tricks. When Marik promised Arkana that he could heal his face if he could defeat Yugi in a duel, he couldn’t resist the opportunity.
In the Japanese version of this episode, the loser of the duel would have their legs sawed off, which is incredibly sadistic and graphic. However, Yugi did end up saving Arkana and prevented this from happening. In the dubbed version, these saws were turned into energy disks that when touched, would send the person to the Shadow Realm where their soul would be tortured for eternity.
6 Dark Magician Girl’s Pentagram Was Removed For Religious Reasons
Any form of children’s media that portrays something different from the country's dominant religion is usually banned, restricted, or altered in some way. This was the case for a piece of Dark Magician Girl’s clothing. In the Japanese version of Yu-Gi-Oh!, Dark Magician Girl had a pentagram etched in the red gem on the front of her outfit. As this was a Wiccan symbol, it had to be removed completely in the dubbed version.
5 Mai Was Tortured In A Horrible Fashion By Marik In The Original
Marik, being the main antagonist in the Battle City arc, lived up to his cruel and uncaring nature time and time again. But his offenses were lessened greatly in the dubbed version of this anime. Originally, Marik’s deck was filled with torture cards, which were a no-go in the Western world and were altered.
In addition, when Mai became trapped in his hourglass, it was known that she would be tortured for all of eternity by Marik and the Mind Insects that would consume her. In the dubbed version, however, Mai’s torture involved Mai watching her friends forget about her, which was a more age-appropriate alternative to the darker Japanese version.
4 The Harpy Ladies Had An Entirely Different Wardrobe
Harpies are beautiful and seductive half-human, half-bird monsters that, in legend, are agents of justice who capture and torture their guilty victims. In most respects, the subbed version kept to this lore regarding Harpies when creating the Harpie monster cards. When summoned by Mai, they wore extraordinarily little clothing, were well-endowed, and exuded sexual charm.
All of these were reasons why the subbed version of the harpies wasn’t deemed age-appropriate and had to be altered. In the dubbed version, the harpies' outfits became more of a bodysuit than the barely-there outfits shown in the subbed version. They also removed the gold armor chest plates that had rather suggestive pointed tips.
3 Yami Bakura’s Destiny Board Was Originally A Ouija Board
Similar to the removal of Dark Magician Girl’s pentagram, Yami Bakura’s ouija board also had to be altered due to its dark nature and religious reasons. This board, which can be seen in Episode 83, is used in a duel against Yugi. This episode was quite dark and sinister and deemed inappropriate for young audiences. In the dubbed version, they renamed it from “Ouija Board” to “Destiny Board.” They also changed what word was spelled out using the board. Instead of it being “DEATH,” they changed it in the dubbed version to say “FINAL,” which was thought to be less dark and ominous.
2 Yugi’s Grandfather Wasn’t As Wholesome As He Is In The Censored Version
In the dubbed version, Yugi’s grandfather, Solomon Muto, was seen as a smart, kind, caring, and wholesome man that ran the Kame Game shop where Yugi and his friends liked to hang out after school. He was a great provider and role model for Yugi.
However, this wasn’t entirely the case in the subbed version. In this version, Solomon had the typical traits of an elderly man in anime. He was pervy in both comments and gestures and made several sexual remarks that weren’t appropriate for younger audiences. This is why his behavior and attitude were censored in the dubbed version.
1 Brutal, Gory, And Violent Cards Were Modified Or Edited Out
With the Duel Monsters game being based on a much darker, sinister, and harsher version of Duel Monsters played by the Ancient Egyptians, many of the cards were quite gory and violent, while others depicted varying levels of brutality. These types of cards were portrayed in the subbed version of Yu-Gi-Oh!. But as they depicted extreme levels of violence and gore, they were deemed inappropriate for younger audiences outside of Japan.
In the dubbed version, these monsters were either edited out completely or modified to match the artwork on the real-word cards that had to be changed to be less violent and gory.