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NEWS: Yu-Gi-Oh! Franchise Gets New Anime Series in 2020 for 20th Anniversary

I don't really see the point. Duel Monsters does follow the story of the manga outside the very beginning of the manga. But after that, the story is more or less the same and the anime covers the rest of the manga. There's no real need for reboot.

The problem with a reboot is the TCG. The game has evolved so much since the original show, that I don't see Konami shedding that many gameplay mechanics. You're probably going to get a rewrite that accommodates these changes.

Skipping the Death-T arc arguably alters Kaiba's motivations for wanting to defeat Yugi so badly. The Duel Monsters anime also made some changes to the manga like keeping characters who die in the manga alive in the anime even in the sub, toning down some of the more brutal scenes in the manga even in the subbed anime, and softening Jonouchi's gangster background, completely rewriting the Dungeon Dice monsters arc, and adding a lot of goofy filler in. The Duel Monsters anime isn't really a bad adaptation and I enjoy it a lot but I think Yugioh could benefit from a more faithful reboot, especially with fans of the original now being older.

I feel like it comes down to how a reboot tackles the violence of the manga. If a reboot was just as violent as the manga (Yami and Jonouchi setting people on fire, Marik driving Arkana/Pandora to suicide, Marik's torture porn monsters, etc.), then I imagine it would be the one Yugioh series 4K Media/Konami Cross Media would pass on dubbing. But if a reboot waters it down similar to what DM/other reboots like Sailor Moon Crystal have done, then we're likely stuck with another 4Kids caliber dub.

Sadly I feel like the latter option is the more likely one.

I doubt that will be a factor. DM had plenty of content that they just skipped over in the dub. There was still suicides, deaths, and people being tortured in the anime. There's not much they can't photoshop out or re-arrange scenes to get around. Dubs have gotten pretty good at doing that.

Kind of bizarre to think 4Kids dubs were actually slightly less censored than the modern Yu-Gi-Oh dubs. Censors are more strict now, I guess.

I’d love a remake of the original series without filler.

I'm aware, but I don't think you realize the level of differences we're talking about here. Just take the Mai vs Marik duel for example. Dub had a fairly easy time editing it, since the anime changed it to Mai losing her memories when her monsters were destroyed. But the manga version is a lot more violent. She gets slashed in the chest (complete with blood squirting out), Marik's head falls off, Mai gets electrocuted while a monster drills into her skull at the same time, the loser of the duel gets devoured by flesh-eating insects, etc. Could a dub hypothetically edit all of this? Sure, but the result would be akin to 4Kids infamous One Piece dub. And that's not even getting into the things harder to work around, like Jonouchi fighting against a Leatherface-esque serial killer in Death-T.

It would probably do more to revitalize the franchise than most of the spin off AU shows have been doing and I say this as someone who has been enjoying Vrains.

The problem with a reboot is the TCG. The game has evolved so much since the original show, that I don't see Konami shedding that many gameplay mechanics. You're probably going to get a rewrite that accommodates these changes.

Ironically I think the 4Kids dub would be even more censored if it aired today. They often just airbrushed Mai's cleavage away so she had no boobs and lengthened her's and Anzu's skirt in only a few select scenes. But the later YGO series went super hard on bare skin. Every episode of Zexal they photoshopped all the girls skirts and shorts down to their knees and in ARC-V they gave Yuzu full stockings instead of zettairyouiki. Apparently legs are too taboo now for television. Kind of bizarre to think 4Kids dubs were actually slightly less censored than the modern Yu-Gi-Oh dubs. Censors are more strict now, I guess.