Yu-Gi-Oh and Morals

The anime craze has crossed our Ocean and landed with force on our air waves. The terms Yu-Gi-Oh Pokemon Naruto and Digimon are common in our children's vocabulary, but how appropriate are they? Some of the themes from these shows are very adult related, and for this reason they have been moved to later show times, like Cartoon Networks adult swim. Although steps have been taken to protect our children through editing processes and such a lot still slips through the cracks. One such show airing on Cartoon Network, Fox, and a few other channels is Yu-Gi-Oh and Yu-Gi-Oh-GX.

The basic plot of the show takes you on a journey with a group of children as they battle one another with cards in a game known as "Duel Monsters" however these cards are based on monsters from ancient Egypt and with the power of seven magical items these duels can turn ugly. Now at first glance you may say this is an interesting story and seems harmless, but if you dig deeper you'll find some very questionable things.

Shadow games are battles conducted between characters who put their souls on the line as a price for loosing a duel. And some of these monsters they summon come right from your worst nightmares. They have names like, Bazoo, the Soul eater, Trial of Hell (later edited to be Trial of Nightmare), Souleater, Servant of Catabolism, and depict gruesome and hideous things. It is not unusual to see depictions of Death, torture and black magic on the cards, and that's just the tip of the iceberg.

If a duel is lost with a soul on the line, the loser dies. In the American version, they become "banished to the shadow realm" but the original context of the show is quite a bit darker. Many times dismemberment is portrayed as you loose part of your body as you start losing the duel. Children wander around the word, with no adult supervision trying to start or stop the apocalypse from occurring; all the while our own children watch and absorb all of this bit by bit.

The violence and dark magic aspect of the show is bad enough but then we take a look at the cards portrayed in the show and in the real card game. Most are just disgusting, showing worms, brains, rotting flesh, all the good stuff, but a small percent have other kinds of artwork. Some are funny and comical, but many of the female characters are drawn very provocatively. Way too much skin is exposed, even after Konami edits the cards for English distribution. Don't be surprised if you find a copy of Dark Magician girl under your teen's bed.

The woman have dresses that are really low cut. Dark Magician Girl has some major cleavage showing, and even full nude pictures are drawn on the uncut Japanese versions of some cards. Harpies Lady was shown originally shown in the US with nothing more then a very very thin strap covering her very busty chest, if you get a chance and want to see what I'm talking about check out Google's image search.

The show has received a rating of Y7, but it should be more like 14+. The situations that the characters face and the underlying themes are way too involved for a younger audience. If your children do watch this show and you allow them to do so I would advise you have a family discussion about some of the themes the show promotes.