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// On :Monday, February 22, 2016
Hey guys, kanna here.
Boy, oh boy, has it been a while. I've had a lot going on, some of which included not knowing which anime to review after giving Attack on Titan Part 2: End of the World the trashing it deserved. I needed something that could restore my sanity, and that of my readers. Because both parts of the live action Attack on Titan were AWFUL.
Then, who else but Whalley commented on my Facebook saying I should review Bonds Beyond Time, the tenth anniversary movie for Yu-Gi-Oh!. It later occurred to me: there's a new Yu-Gi-Oh! movie coming out in Japan in about two months to celebrate the franchise's 20th anniversary. That movie being simply known as Yu-Gi-Oh! The Dark Side of Dimensions. Not much is known about this movie, but if you want to see a subtitled trailer, feel free to watch it:
Anyway, I recently started re-watching Yu-Gi-Oh!, and I'm at my all-time favorite season from the original series, "Waking the Dragons" (aka Season 4). Dartz is such a badass villain with badass henchpeople and he's quite possibly the best written villain in the entire series...next to Yami Bakura, at any rate (although...Yami Marik was pretty terrifying in Season 2, and I had trouble keeping up with three Bakuras running around). But that's not until the second half of Season 5, and I'm getting ahead of myself.
So, because I started re-watching Yu-Gi-Oh! (and yes, that's really how the title is stylized...go sue the people who put an exclamation mark at the end of the title if you have a problem) and Whalley suggested I review Bonds Beyond Time, here we go!
So, as you probably guessed, this movie had a different title in Japan. That title was actually a little better than the English one, but the English title is still pretty good. In Japan, the film was called 10th Anniversary Yu-Gi-Oh! Movie: Super Fusion! Bonds that Transcended Time. Yeah...you could say they were a little exclamation-point-happy. It's like being trigger-happy, but with exclamation points.
The movie was first announced in Shueisha's magazine as a short film that would be screened at the Jump Super Anime Tour to celebrate the tenth anniversary of Yu-Gi-Oh! anime series. It was later revealed in the November issue of V-Jump magazine that the movie would be released in 3-D. The interesting thing, however, was that the film's imagery was originally produced in 2-D, and later converted to 3-D by a company called Qtec. I haven't seen the film in 3-D (I missed the theatrical release), but from what I've been told, the 3-D was really emphasized in a couple of scenes.
Here's another fun fact: all the voice actors from 5Ds, GX, and the original series all returned to reprise their roles. So we had Greg Abbey as Yusei Fudo, Dan Green as Yugi Muto/Yami Yugi (yes, he voiced both of them for those who didn't know), and Matthew Charles as Jaden Yuki. There were other returning cast members, but their characters only appear for a couple minutes throughout the film (seriously, I think we saw about a minute and a half of Pegasus, and maybe about two or three minutes of some of the other characters from 5Ds, save for Jack and Crow). This is interesting, because for those of you who don't know, most of us thought that Dan Green had retired after the death of his wife, who died from complications of childbirth (RIP Michal Friedman). But now it looks like he's back to his career.
And before you ask, I'll be reviewing the dubbed version of this. While the subbed version was great and everything, most of us grew up watching Yu-Gi-Oh! in English. The subbed version was great, and the voice actors did a terrific job with their roles, but for the sake of nostalgia, I'm reviewing the English dubbed version. I might make a few references to the abridged version of this (thank you LittleKuriboh, ShadyVox, and TheAzureCrow for such a hilarious version of this movie), but we'll have to see as the review goes on. It's time to duel, so get your game on and let's rev it up!
Our movie opens up in Yusei's era, in New Domino City. Yusei is pondering the state of the city when Crow and Jack show up and decide that they should all go for a ride on their duel runners. For those who don't know what a duel runner is, it's a fancy motorcycle that you play card games on. You know, card games on motor--oh, crap...
Thank you, Jack.
Anyway, they're just riding along on their duel runners when this guy in a mask shows up on a rather strange looking duel runner and challenges them to a duel. One thing to note about this guy is his hair. Honestly, look at it! You could swear he was related to Dartz in some way if you saw Season 4 of the original Yu-Gi-Oh!! Maybe Dartz is his great-great-great grandfather or something? I mean, here's a picture of Dartz:
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| Dartz |
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| Masked guy |
Back to the review.
Yusei summons his signature monster, Stardust Dragon, but the masked guy manages to use some sort of weird method to seal the card in a blank one that he has. And then he just...disappears. Back at an old clock shop. Yusei, Crow, and Jack read an article that says that Pegasus is dead and dragons appeared and were destroying a good part of Europe.
To make matters worse, the three of them also discover that New Domino City is vanishing because of the change in history. The Crimson Dragon appears and gives Yusei's duel runner the ability to travel through time. So, off he goes, staying within the speed limit of 88 MPH (see what I did there?), into the past to save the future.
We then cut to Jaden's era, where we see Jaden evading attacks from a bunch of stolen monsters somewhere in Venice, Italy. Stardust Dragon is among the monsters attacking Venice, and it's here where we get my favorite line from the Abridged movie. Just go to 10:32 in the video and watch until about 10:57.
No offense to anyone from Venice, of course. And clearly, Jaden either hasn't seen The Human Centipede (I haven't, but I saw the trailers, and...ugh) or opened a textbook.
Anyway, Jaden is trying to evade the attacks as best as he can, before the masked guy basically tells him to "perish." And no, that's not a joke. They actually used the word perish in a 4Kids movie. Um...is 4Kids upping their game or something? Granted, I haven't seen any Yu-Gi-Oh! spin-offs past 5Ds, so I have no idea. But in a kids movie, especially one produced by 4Kids...wow. Just wow.
Back to the point. As the masked guy prepares to kill Jaden, Jaden is saved by Yusei and the Crimson Dragon. After saving Jaden, the guy taunts Yusei and Jaden before disappearing...again. Is he Houdini or something? This guy has all kinds of escape tricks.
So Jaden and Yusei finally have their proper introductions, and Jaden finds out that not only is Jaden from the future, but that Yusei has a gift that, like Jaden, connects him to the world of duel monster spirits. Yusei learns that Jaden was pursuing the guy because some of his classmates at Duel Academy (yes, a school that teaches kids how to play card games...exactly as it sounds) had reported that some of their cards had gone missing. Yusei and Jaden realize that history is being changed, as the city of Venice (or what's left of it) disintegrates around them.
We then go even further back in time to the King of Games himself, Yugi Muto's era. Yugi is with his grandpa and he's wearing the Millennium Puzzle (so...I have no idea where this takes place in terms of continuity, but it would have to be before the second half of Season 5) at a tournament where Pegasus is supposed to make an appearance. However, Pegasus's grand entrance is cut short when monsters start attacking Domino City. A building falls on top of Pegasus, killing him. Yugi's grandpa is also killed (well, we're kinda left to assume that one), as well as several people.
Yugi survived, however, and just as he's about to confront the masked guy, he's picked up (literally) by Jaden, Yusei, and the Crimson Dragon. They're all taken back thirty minutes before Pegasus was killed. Yusei and Jaden explain that they're from the future and manage to get Yugi on their side to fight against the masked guy.
And it's here where we get a slight (well, more than slight) continuity problem. See, the fourth season of GX never got dubbed, so fans of the series who wanted to continue watching had to watch the original Japanese. Those who didn't continue were left with...basically nothing after the third season, and there were quite a few plot holes as a result, since the fourth season in the US and other English-speaking countries was replaced with the airing of 5Ds. So you never got any information about how Jaden merged with Yubel, or what their connection really was, unless you saw Season 4 in the original Japanese.
Yubel creates a distraction to get people to run away and (hopefully) avert the disaster about to occur. Yusei, Jaden, and Yugi could only be so lucky. The masked man appears and after a bit of trash talking, the masked man introduces himself as Paradox as he takes off his mask. He says that the world would be a better place without duel monsters, as it apparently led to a world where the planet became ravaged and lifeless. Paradox couldn't bear to look at it through his own eyes, so he took to wearing a mask.
And before you ask, yes, it is hypocritical that he's using duel monsters to wipe out the game. And yes, he is aware that what he's doing is not only destroying duel monsters, but people, too.
So we get the signature catchphrases, and the last half hour of the movie is basically the three of them dueling against Paradox. And, since this is a 4Kids movie, the good guys win. History is restored to the way it should be, all the cities are restored, and everyone who died came back to life as if nothing happened. Yusei vows to protect the future in the hope that he will meet Yugi and Jaden again.
So...rating:
9 out of 10.
Why: First off, as far as anniversary movies go, this was AMAZING. You had the three protagonists of Yu-Gi-Oh!, Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, and Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds all teaming up for an epic fight. You even had TEN WHOLE MINUTES of background explaining who the protagonists were. The interesting part is that those ten minutes WERE NOT in the original Japanese. That bit was 100% 4Kids.
The voice acting is amazing, the animation is pretty cool, and from what I heard, the 3-D was pretty cool in the scenes with the duel runners and when the monsters appeared. However, in the words of LittleKuriboh:
"We at Yu-Gi-Oh! Abridged would like to apologize for the lack of 3-D content in this movie. However, we would like to think that this is totally justified since 3-D is bulls**t and adds absolutely nothing to the cinema experience. So please, enjoy your 2-D movie, because it's cheaper and much less obnoxious."
The writing is good, except for one aspect: WHERE THE FLYING FRICK DID THE CRIMSON DRAGON GET THE POWER TO TRAVEL THROUGH TIME? This is NEVER explained. And even if it was, why couldn't it take Yusei back in time to see his parents? For the love of crap, even the Abridged movie referenced this! It was never explained or talked about again. I feel they could have gone into much more detail.
Not only that, but...Paradox kind of came out of nowhere. For those of you who saw Yu-Gi-Oh: The Movie, remember Anubis? We at least had some exposition and some foreshadowing. Here? We had none of that. Paradox just kinda came out of left field. We didn't have exposition or foreshadowing.
Also, why wasn't Kaiba in this movie? We didn't get so much as a CAMEO from the guy. I mean, come on. We couldn't have 30 seconds of Kaiba, and you gave us about a minute and a half of PEGASUS? I just don't get it! I mean, it would have been kinda funny if Jaden bumped into Kaiba and mentioned Duel Academy. Or if Yusei nearly ran over Kaiba with his motorcycle while playing card...crap, not again...
Thank you, Jack.
This next part isn't so much a complaint as it is an observation. While some critics have said that the film was good, even possibly better than the original Japanese, the general consensus was that if you weren't a fan of Yu-Gi-Oh! growing up, or weren't currently a fan, then you were going to have a hard time appreciating the movie.
And...I have to agree. I grew up with Yu-Gi-Oh!. I still have my cards and have friends who I play the game with. I even used to have an Orichalcos duel disk (no idea what happened to it after all these years, I think I may have given it away, because at the time, I didn't have friends to play the game with). And while I like to pretend most of GX never happened (let's just say it's not my favorite spin-off), I will say that I am, to this day, still a fan of Yu-Gi-Oh!. I wouldn't be re-watching the fourth season if I wasn't. Do I think the film is a masterpiece? Not necessarily. Do I think it's good as far as nostalgia goes? Oh, G-d, yes.
Now, with the new film to celebrate the franchise's 20th anniversary coming out this April in Japan and getting an international release, I think fans who grew up with Yu-Gi-Oh! are going to have an easier time enjoying the film. The nostalgia factor is definitely going to be there, we just have to wait for it.
And it might be a bit redundant from Pyramid of Light, what with Yugi facing off against Kaiba (again), but there's a new villain in the picture, and instead of Yami Yugi vs. Kaiba, it's Yugi vs. Kaiba. And I think that is going to be very interesting to see. Plus, the film is set five years after the main storyline, so Yami Yugi won't really be in the picture much, if at all. I'm looking forward to The Dark Side of Dimensions, and hope you all are, too!
Well, that's it for this week's Anime Monday! Stay tuned for...I'm not sure yet, but stay tuned for it! ~k
