"Why the Hell Am I Popular?" Asks Anime Character

In a recent episode of the "Yu-Gi Oh!" animated television program, Japanese anime icon and dueling card shark Yugi Muto broke rank with his fellow co-stars and candidly asked the show's television audience for reasoning behind his popularity.

"Why the hell am I so popular?" the diminutive character asked whilst facing cameras during a dueling sequence on the show. Muto then proceeded to fling his deck of dueling cards on the grass before continuing.

"I can't believe people actually watch this," Muto sneered as his friends Tea, Tristan, and Joey looked on in dumbstruck surprise and uneasiness, "All we do is yell something, fling a card, and monsters come out of the cards. Such a crap premise."

Muto shook free indignantly from a comforting pat on the back from sidekick Joey Wheeler (a.k.a. Katsuya Jinouchi) before stomping off of the set of the show. Muto's entourage as well as two titanic and toothy dueling beasts stood in silence for several seconds before television networks cut to commercial breaks.

Theories concerning the reasons behind Muto's outburst have been varied. Tea Gardner (a.k.a. Anzu Mazaki), longtime friend of the dueler, replied that she had noticed a change in Muto over the course of the fifth season of the syndicated anime program. "He just wasn't the same. He seemed bored with it all, like this was something he didn't get enjoyment from anymore."

Muto's contract with Warner Brothers still binds him to another season with the cartoon program, and quitting would constitute a breach of that contract. Muto was unavailable for questioning and his whereabouts are currently unknown.