Yu-Gi-Oh the manga was great, I thought it would be for kids, but it's nothing like that. In the manga, Yami Yugi is one tough customer, you f#&$ with him, he could kill you. Joey, or Jonouchi, was a bit of a lecher, and a street smart kid, who would get into quite a few brawls. But they were heavily toned down, even in the Japanese version, which is what lead to this trash, and is also why a lot of people feel Yu-Gi-Oh is just for kids. Just about the only character who wasn't toned down that bad was Kaiba. Even worse, the stories focus too much on card games. There's too many of those dang card matches, and since most of them take about 3 episodes each, you have to sit there while they play those stupid games. And the friendship theme is also turned extremely campy for the series. In the two parter, "The Wrath of Rebecca," for example, when the friendship overload came in, I wanted to gag.
BOTTOM LINE: Read the manga, avoid the anime.
BOTTOM LINE: Read the manga, avoid the anime.