Japanese title: The Fearsome Blue-Eyes White Dragon
Japanese airdate: April 18, 2000
English airdate: September 29, 2001
After that bit of exposition, we're taken to Domino High School, where Yugi is teaching Joey how to play Duel Monsters, the hottest card game on the planet. Tea explains the rules to their friend Tristan, while Bakura watches them quietly. Fellow student, corporate CEO (in high school!), and number-one ranked duelist in the world Seto Kaiba isn't interested in their conversation at all—until he hears that Yugi's grandfather, who runs a game shop, owns an extremely rare card. Kaiba decides to check it out for himself.
At the game store, Solomon Muto proudly displays his Blue-Eyes White Dragon, of which only four exist in the world. The card is famed for its unstoppable power as much as its rarity, which makes Seto Kaiba the perfect person to barge in and attempt to obtain it. While he offers the old man a briefcase full of rare cards and as much money as he'd ask for, Solomon refuses — the card was a gift from a dear friend of his. Kaiba leaves in a huff, but still plans to get his hands on the card by any means necessary.
Kaiba orders his men to kidnap Yugi's grandpa under the guise of challenging him to a duel. Solomon does duel Kaiba, but it ends poorly; Yugi only finds out about the preceding events when Kaiba himself calls to tell him his grandfather isn't feeling well. Yugi and his friends rush to KaibaCorp, where they find Solomon has failed to defeat Kaiba and lost the Blue-Eyes. To twist the knife, Kaiba tears the card in two so it can never be used against him. The shock of losing the duel and the card proves too much, but Solomon gives Yugi his deck to teach Kaiba respect for the cards. Yugi's friends agree to take his grandpa to the hospital while he faces Kaiba alone. Before they leave, Tea draws a smiley face on all of their hands as a symbol of their friendship.
Yugi faces Kaiba, and the Millennium Puzzle begins to glow. Now taller, sterner, and much more confident, Yami Yugi is determined to defeat Kaiba and avenge those he's hurt. The Duel begins. Seto toys with him at first before unleashing his own Blue-Eyes White Dragon, surprising Yugi. Soon, all three Blue-Eyes are on the field, and even Yugi's most trusted card, the Dark Magician, has fallen before the dragons. Defeat seems near, but Yugi realizes that the four, seemingly useless cards gathered in his hands are actually parts of a greater puzzle. He draws the last piece of Exodia the Forbidden One, which wins the duel instantly. Kaiba is shocked at losing for the first time in his life. Yami Yugi punishes him with a Mind Crush, meant to expel the darkness within his heart and open his mind to the heart of the cards.
Solomon Muto awakens unharmed, but meanwhile, a mysterious man with a golden eye is told that a kid named Yugi just beat Seto Kaiba in a duel...
This episode contains examples of:
- Adapted Out: In the manga, after Yugi's Winged Dragon takes out Kaiba's Hitotsu-me Giant, Kaiba brings out The Wicked Worm Beast
which, due to the manga's rules regarding attack ties, is just barely beaten by the dragon with no Life Points lost. The anime version omits this part of the duel entirely, skipping straight to the Saggi/Dark Energy combo. - Adaptation Expansion: Yugi's monsters that he uses as defense fodder are shown to include Battle Steer, Torike (which makes a proper manga appearance against Weevil later), and Rude Kaiser.
- Adaptation-Induced Plot Hole:
- Kaiba has no reason for tearing apart the Blue-Eyes White Dragon here other than to be an asshole. In the manga, it was because it was essentially the catalyst for his punishment game, and he was getting some revenge on the card. (That, and his deck already has three Blue-Eyes — three being the upper limit on how many copies of a card a duelist can have in his deck — and he doesn't want anyone else using the fourth one against him.)
- How losing a card game caused Solomon to become physically injured is not really elaborated on or explained in much detail. In the manga it was because the duel arena was inside a small holographic box that replicates the Shadow Game Kaiba and Yugi had played earlier, including a virtual Penalty Game: Experience of Death where Solomon is subjected to the sensation that all the monsters are continually killing him over and over again.
- In the duel proper, Yugi is cornered by Saggi the Dark Clown, whose measly 600 Attack Points were tripled to 1800 by Dark Energy. As a result, Yugi has to place several monsters in Defense Mode until he draws Gaia the Fierce Knight to put down the clown. In this version of the duel, one of the monsters defeated is Battle Steer, which itself has 1800 Attack Points that could have let him tie with Saggi. There's no rule saying that monsters with the same Attack Points can win or lose like in the manga, meaning the later decision to make them defeat each other is likely in effect. While attacking right away would have left Yugi wide open, he could still stall Kaiba out until the next turn, which would allow him to summon another monster for added defense while Battle Steer puts an early end to Saggi's winning streak.
- Arc Words: The Power of Friendship and "Heart of the Cards" both play a big [otherworldly] role in helping Yugi and Yami's Determination throughout the series. When they begin to doubt, their duel with Kaiba starts to affect them negatively. By trusting the deck Yugi's grandpa built and the trust in their friends, they can stand a chance.
- The Cameo: Bakura and Mokuba cameo in this episode.
- Cliffhanger: The episode ends with Pegasus being told of Kaiba's loss, kickstarting Duelist Kingdom.
- Compressed Adaptation: It's a loose, compressed version of Kaiba's introductory arc and Death-T from the manga.
- Impossible Task: Summoning Exodia The Forbidden One is not quite impossible, but for all intents and purposes it might as well be. The monster is divided into five cards (each one quite rare, making it very hard to gather all five into one's deck) and, in order to summon him, all five must be in a duelist's hand to use at once. This makes using other cards difficult because of the max card limit in one's hand. However, if the duelist has those five, they can summon Exodia for an instant win. So, you can understand the look on Kaiba's face when Yugi brings him out, as he has never once witnessed this feat before in his career.
- Instant-Win Condition: No matter what happens, if a duelist summons Exodia: The Forbidden One, they automatically win. Yugi was able to accomplish this, much to Kaiba's disbelief.
- Let's Get Dangerous!: Yugi for the first (and certainly not the last) time.
- Here it is in the original English dub:Kaiba: Are you ready to play, runt?
Yugi: Playtime is over, Kaiba!
(Yugi's Millennium Puzzle glows, enveloping Yugi in a column of light)
Yugi/Yami: YU-GI-OOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHH!!!!
(the column of light disappears, revealing Yami Yugi)
Kaiba: (gasps) What the—!?
Yami Yugi: Now, Kaiba, prepare yourself, because it's time to duel! - And here it is in the uncut English dub:Kaiba: Virtual system on!
(Yugi's Millennium Puzzle glows, transforming Yugi into Yami Yugi)
Kaiba: (gasps) What!?
Yami Yugi: I'll beat you, Kaiba. I put my grandfather's deck on it.
- Here it is in the original English dub:
- Near-Villain Victory: Something that happens just about every duel, granted, but Yugi facing down all three Blue-Eyes with no monsters even remotely in their weight class is still a real nail-biter after so many years. It probably helps that this is the first duel of the show and this trope has yet to become standard.
- Oh, Crap!: Kaiba's reaction when Yugi summons Exodia the Forbidden One, which one-shots his Blue-Eyes White Dragons.
- Here it is in the original English dub:Kaiba: Draw your last pathetic card so I can end this, Yugi.
Yugi: My grandpa's deck has no pathetic cards, Kaiba, but it does contain... the unstoppable Exodia!
Kaiba: AAH! IMPOSSIBLE!
Yugi: I have assembled all five special cards! All five pieces of the puzzle!
(Exodia emerges, dwarfing the three Blue-Eyes White Dragons)
Kaiba: Exodia! I-It's not possible! No-one's ever been able to call him!
Yugi: EXODIA... OBLITERATE!!!
(Exodia fires an energy blast that vaporizes all three Blue-Eyes) - And here it is in the uncut English dub:Kaiba: Hah! Did you finally lose hope and decide to pull any card?
Yugi: Not quite! I have my hope right here in my hand! The card I pulled... is Exodia the Forbidden One!
Kaiba: AAH! What the—!?
Yugi: I've assembled all the five needed cards!
(Exodia emerges, dwarfing the three Blue-Eyes White Dragons)
Kaiba: NO WAY! IT'S... IT'S EXODIA! YOU'RE SAYING YOU PERFORMED A MIRACLE?!
Yugi: HELLFIRE'S RAGE! EXODO FLAME!!!
(Exodia fires an energy blast that vaporizes all three Blue-Eyes)
- Here it is in the original English dub:
- Screw the Money, I Have Rules!: Yugi's grandpa won't give up his Blue-Eyes for anything. Not for its power or even its value, but because It Was a Gift from a friend.
- Tempting Fate: Kaiba believes Yugi is one card away from defeat. And it was... for Kaiba.
- Wave-Motion Gun: Exodia's attack one-shots three Blue-Eyes at once.
- Here is is in the original English dub:Yugi: EXODIA... OBLITERATE!!!
- And here it is in the uncut English dub:Yugi: HELLFIRE'S RAGE! EXODO FLAME!!!
- Here is is in the original English dub:
