kanna-chan's cafe

Ok, a little background.

This is the fourth film in the Yu-Gi-Oh franchise to get a theatrical release (if you count the season 0 movie among those releases), and was released in US theaters on January 27, 2017. Unfortunately, I didn't get to see this movie in theaters, because the internet lied to me. It said the movie would be in theaters for two weeks, when it was really in theaters for only two days. TWO DAYS! NEITHER OF WHICH I COULD GO TO!

*ahem*

You can imagine how upset I was.

Anyway, this wasn't based off of anything in the manga (interesting), so there isn't really any background I can give on this. So...onto the general summary, I guess. There will be spoilers in this, so if you haven't seen the movie, go to this site to watch it, and then come back. Just make sure you're willing to make the time commitment. 

Why? 

This movie is TWO HOURS AND TEN MINUTES. I promise, I'm not kidding. Remember how the US release of Pyramid of Light was almost an hour and a half and how the US release of Bonds Beyond Time was only an hour (I think the Japanese version was less than that, I don't remember)? I'm not saying the length is a good or bad thing; I'm saying I'm really surprised by it. We'll get to what I think about the movie overall later.

The story is set six months after the main storyline ended. So six months after Yugi and co. said their goodbyes to Yami Yugi/the Pharaoh/Atem. After Yugi's duel against Atem, the seven Millennium Items (puzzle, ring, rod, eye, necklace, scale, and key) were buried underground, never to be seen again.

Or were they?

In the six months that passed, Seto Kaiba has become obsessed with bringing the Pharaoh back to duel against him and prove that he is the best. Because...that's just how Kaiba is. He observes an excavation from the Kaiba Corp. space station (don't ask, I don't get why Kaiba Corp. has a space station, either) as his employees (and Mokuba) look for the Millennium Puzzle.

After some pointlessness, we see Yugi and co. on the roof of their high school during lunch as they talk about their plans for after graduation.

Wait, what?

They're GRADUATING?

Um...okay...

Anyway, Tea is going to study abroad and become a professional dancer, Joey's plans are...undecided (for the most part), Tristan and Bakura's (oh, yeah, Barkura is in this movie) plans aren't really mentioned, and Yugi's plan is to work at his grandpa's game shop, but also design his own games.

Upon their return to class, they spot a new student who looks familiar, but no one can remember his name. They finally remember the student's name is Aigami, but were unsure of why they couldn't remember his name. Strange. I'd post a picture, but Blogger wants to be a pain and not let me.

After school, Yugi is walking with Joey and Tea and looking through his deck. He reminisces about Atem and grieves over the loss of his Egyptian buddy. This is actually kind of emotional, as we can see that after six months, Yugi is still grieving a loss of someone close to him. Closer than a brother. Even Yugi's friends are dealing with the loss. They're there to help him grieve and deal with the loss of his pal. It's actually kind of touching.

Too bad this is interrupted by Aigami getting the ever loving crap kicked out of him by some bullies. Joey jumps off the bridge (I kid you not) and runs to defend the guy. The bullies, aware of Joey's past gang membership, leave Aigami alone, but instruct him to meet them at the Kaiba Corp. construction site that night alone. Aigami tells Yugi and co. that he's fine, and they all go their separate ways.

The next day (I think it's the next day, it's a little hard to tell how much time goes by in this movie), Yugi and co. are at the mall with--holy frick, what happened to Duke Devlin? I mean, I knew the characters were getting redesigned, but Duke Devlin does NOT look like he used to. I can't really describe it.

Anyway, Yugi is reading an article about how a lot of people are mysteriously disappearing without a trace, and Bakura comments that the person responsible could be watching them right then and there. Tea thinks it's his paranoia of having been surrounded by girls constantly (Bakura thinks it's the accent), so he brushes it off. Aigami watches the group from the level above. Um...creepy, much?

Anyway, as Aigami watches the group, he reflects back on a time from where he was originally from, the Plana Realm. This was a realm above the clouds, where there were seven pillars that each depicted a Millennium Item. Children appear and disappear, while Aigami and his sister, Sera, are constantly present.

Aigami reflects further back to a time when he and Sera were in Egypt. They were alone and thirsty and struggling to stay hydrated. However (and you're going to laugh at this next part), Sera keeps calling Aigami "Diva."

*laughs*

I mean...I'm all for respecting names of different cultures, but if this is the name of our villain, then it's going to be really hard to take him seriously. REALLY hard. When I saw this movie, I couldn't help but laugh every time someone mentioned his name. I mean...Diva? Really? Writers, you had all these names you could choose from, and you went with Diva? What the frick were you thinking? Do you know how hard it is to take a villain with that name seriously?

*ahem*

Back in the present, someone named Mani appears and tells Aigami that Kaiba found the Millennium Puzzle. Mani tries to talk Aigami (who I shall now be referring to as Diva, even though it's really ridiculous that the writers gave him that name) out of revenge, but Diva isn't having it. Mani teleports away, while Diva teleports to meet Kaiba in Egypt.

At the mall, Kaiba appears on several screens and shows off his new duel disk. It actually looks pretty cool, but a little too techno for my taste. I liked the original duel disks more. And the duel disks used in season 4 of the original Yu-Gi-Oh! by the guys who worked for Dartz. These...what was Kaiba thinking? I mean, it's one thing to take dueling to the next level. They did that in GX (which sucked, but at least the duel disks still looked like duel disks) and 5D's (where they took it to the extreme by attaching them to motorcycles). This is taking dueling to level infinity. They don't even look like duel disks.

Must. Stop. Criticism. There will be plenty of time for that in the rest of the review.

Back in Egypt, Kaiba arrives in his *laughs* Blue-Eyes White Dragon jet (that will never not be funny). Good to see he's still obsessed with that monster. Not that I don't like dragons, but his obsession is a little...much. Now, if the dragon were Critias (see season 4), I wouldn't have as big of a problem. Why? Because the Blue-Eyes White Dragon jet doesn't look like the original Blue-Eyes White Dragon. That, and his obsession is just nuts.

Anyway, all the pieces of the Millennium Puzzle have been unearthed and are in a high-tech security system that will take 30 minutes to deactivate. Kaiba suggests a duel to pass the time and calls out Aiga--I mean, Diva (I still don't get it, but it's so funny) from the shadows.

Diva emerges and is impressed that Kaiba knew his real name. Kaiba asks how Diva got from Domino City to Egypt so fast, but that question goes unanswered, as a mysterious cube that Diva can control appears and tries to disintegrate Kaiba on the spot. Um...dark, much? I mean, this isn't "going to the Shadow Realm" or "your soul is mine" or anything like that. This is, for real, legit, I kid you not, 真的, someone trying to kill another person in a movie produced by 4kids.

I'll let that sink in for a minute.

Okay, it's been a minute. Has that sunk in? Yes? Ok, good. Let's keep going.

This doesn't work, so Kaiba and Aigami duel each other, and--HOLY FRICK WHAT THE FLYING FRICK HAPPENED TO THE BLUE-EYES WHITE DRAGON? It doesn't look ANYTHING like the original! I knew the monsters were going to get new designs, but...this? THIS? I'm not a fan of it. It doesn't look as badass as the original. I mean, I knew the monsters were going to get new designs. I just didn't think they'd look this...meh. I'm dreading to see what the Dark Magician looks like...

Anyway, this is a whole new style of dueling that I'm pretty sure wouldn't fly in tournaments called Dimension Dueling. Monsters can be summoned without sacrifices, the monsters' attack points can be manipulated by going Super Saiyan (technically, the duelist can manipulate their monsters' attack points by infusing their spirit energy to whatever amount, as long as it doesn't exceed the original attack points, but it seriously looks like they're going Super Saiyan), and there are a whole bunch of other things that basically screw the rules, but I'm not going to go into those. Kaiba uses his usual deck, while Diva uses a Cubic deck.

Well, at least they didn't turn the Rubik's cube into a monster, right?

Not funny? Ok, bad joke.

Anyway, the Cubic monsters look really interesting, and you can tell a lot of effort went into their designs. Their effects are pretty awesome, too. And this would be perfect for a villain whose name was Aigami...but his name isn't Aigami, it's Diva. *laughs*

Ok, enough of that. No more Aigami/Diva jokes. Intentionally, at any rate.

The duel is close, and I mean REALLY close. Diva (that will never not be funny) has Kaiba on the ropes, with only 1000 life points. Just as Diva is about to deal the finishing blow, the security system deactivates, and Mokuba takes the pieces of the Millennium Puzzle as a helicopter comes down and lifts the case into the sky, with Mokuba sitting on top. Diva sees this, and teleports on top of the case and reaches through the glass to grab some of the pieces, before Mokuba headbutts him off of the case. Kaiba says he has what he needs and flies away in his jet.

There's...a lot of other stuff that happens, and it's not that it's not pointless, it's more that I don't want it to take up the entire review. I'll cut to the chase:

Yugi duels Diva and wins, causing Diva to disappear. It's then...well...take a wild guess.

Yugi vs. Kaiba. Like we didn't see that coming. The two duel for the two remaining pieces of the Millennium Puzzle, and Yugi completes the puzzle. Nothing happens. Kaiba, however, refuses to accept that the Pharaoh is really gone for good.

The two continue to duel, and we see a bunch of lame monsters that got renamed and redesigned and don't look all that great. Even the Dark Magician doesn't look all that impressive. I mean, I get that the monsters were all redesigned for the anniversary, and their anniversary editions are being used, but...they don't look good. I mean, maybe they look good on the actual cards (I wouldn't know, I don't have the anniversary editions of the Blue-Eyes White Dragon or the Dark Magician), but in terms of animation, they don't look good.

Anyway, just as Yugi is about to deliver the finishing blow, he and Kaiba hear people screaming as people start disappearing from the audience. Diva returns, now affected by the evil of the Millennium Ring, and...ok, he actually looks pretty terrifying. Diva infused with the evil of the Millennium Ring actually looks pretty cool, and like a villain people would be able to take seriously. Look at this thing:

The duel has now become a Shadow Game, only this time, the duelists' bodies fade away as life points are lost. Again: dark, much? I mean...4kids...

Ok, save it for later.

Diva has reached a point in the duel where he can choose who he wants to defeat, and he chooses Yugi. However, Kaiba redirects the attack to himself, and he disappears. Before he disappears, he asks Yugi to call on the Pharaoh. Yugi puts on the Puzzle, the duel goes on, and eventually, Yugi's body can't take anymore. He can't draw his next card. Just as he collapses, he's suddenly engulfed in a beam of golden light, as Atem, dressed in Yugi's school uniform, appears. He defeats Diva, whose body returns to normal upon defeat.

The audience reappears and we see an unspoken moment between Yugi and Atem, before we cut back. Yugi tells his friends about how he saw Atem, and this piques Kaiba's interest. He acknowledges Yugi as a competent duelist, and Yugi thanks Kaiba for believing in him.

We then get the epilogue during the credits: Yugi gave the graduation speech, Tea left to go study abroad, Joey and Tristain...who knows, and then we get a post-credits scene.

In this scene, Kaiba is in space with a replica of the cube that belonged to Diva. Mokuba warns Kaiba that what he's attempting is dangerous and that the replica hasn't been fully tested yet. The safety precautions have not been ensured. Kaiba says that Mokuba is in charge before he activates the replica of the cube and is transported to the afterlife, where he sees Atem. Atem confidently smiles and they duel.

Rating: um...please don't hate me for this...7.5/10

Why: As we all know, I love Yu-Gi-Oh! as much as the next person. But this movie dragged on. And on. And on. AND ON. I feel like the writers just didn't know where to end the movie.

The redesigns of the monsters look AWFUL. I get that they're supposed to look different, but in terms of the animation, they don't look that great. I mean, the Blue-Eyes White Dragon and the Dark Magician, two of the most iconic monsters in the series, just don't look that impressive. 

And speaking of things that aren't impressive...did the writers just get lazy when they came up with some of the names for the monsters? I mean...Apple Magician Girl? Lemon Magician Girl? Marshmacaron? Seriously?!

And speaking of ridiculous names: like I said before, I'm all for respecting names of different cultures. But if your villain goes by the name "Diva," and uses a more villainous alias, like "Aigami," it's going to be pretty hard to take the villain seriously. The only time I actually took Diva seriously was when he was infused with the evil of the Millennium Ring. Other than that, though, that's it.

The animation in general is pretty good, and the storyline executes itself well, even though it goes on FOREVER. I wasn't bored watching the movie by any means, but some movies get to a point where you can't help but want them to end after an hour or an hour and a half.

As for 4kids...this was probably the darkest thing I have ever seen them produce. I mean, I don't think they cut anything out from the original Japanese (of course, I would have to see the original Japanese to find out if they did or not). We had death scenes, torture scenes...things you wouldn't normally get in a 4kids production. I was impressed that 4kids even went this route. Were they trying to appeal to an older demographic? Because if they were, it worked. 

The nostalgia factor was definitely there, because they got all the original voice actors to come back. We had Dan Green, Wayne Grayson, Eric Stuart, etc. all come back to voice their characters. I can't help but wonder...what if Marik came back into the picture for this movie? I know Jonathan Todd Ross has retired from voice acting, but I think it would have been interesting to see Marik return in some form. He'd certainly make a better villain than Diva, that's for sure.

Well, that's my review of Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Dark Side of Dimensions. Hope you enjoyed it!