Combining tournaments, gods, card games, and gravity-defying hairdos, Kazuki Takahashi’s Yu-Gi-Oh! manga began serialisation in 1996 and has since become a wildly popular franchise, encompassing TV, films, video games, and, of course, a real version of the ‘Duel Monsters’ TCG it revolves around.
In Yu-Gi-Oh!, Duel Monsters originated in ancient Egypt and featured actual, summonable creatures. In the future, those creatures are made ‘real’ via technology, creating a thrilling spectator sport in which competitors vie for the King of Games title. However, that’s only the jumping-off point for Yu-Gi-Oh!, a series that’s as mystical as it is futuristic, and as much about the power of friendship as it is about trips to the Shadow Realm. Here’s how to watch every TV show and movie, in order.
Yu-Gi-Oh! (1998)
Closely adapted from the early chapters of Takahashi’s manga, the first Yu-Gi-Oh! anime series introduces doe-eyed protagonist Yugi Moto, his group of tight-knit school friends, and rival Seto Kaiba, a prodigious young CEO who lives for drama. The story begins with Yugi solving a mysterious artefact called the Millennium Puzzle, becoming possessed by his dark reflection, ‘Yami Yugi,’ and unwittingly unleashing the Dark Games.
These games are akin to gambling one’s life in Saw-like challenges rather than the more kid-friendly TCG they later become. This darker version of the show wasn’t broadcast outside of Japan, though it has been translated, dubbed, and distributed by fans as ‘Season 0.’ A short tie-in film was released in 1999.
Yu-Gi-Oh!: Duel Monsters (2000-2004)
If you’re already familiar with Yu-Gi-Oh!, Duel Monsters is the version of the TV anime that likely first comes to mind. This iteration picks up where the source material for the previous series left off, but is essentially a remake that sands down the manga’s harder edges and puts the card game at the centre.
More Millennium Items are scattered throughout the story, key to unlocking the game’s historic past in ancient Egypt and opening the door to more possessive spirits, like Yami is to Yugi. Its English localisation was victim to laughable censorship (ahem, finger guns), but this has only made Duel Monsters more ironically iconic. A spinoff miniseries, Capsule Monsters, was released in 2006, set halfway through the final season.
Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie: Pyramid of Light (2004)
The first feature-length Yu-Gi-Oh! movie, Pyramid of Light delves deeper into the ancient Egyptian origins of Duel Monsters and how they continue to affect the present. The god Anubis manipulates Kaiba’s obsession with defeating Yugi, leading to a Shadow Game against his old enemy Pharaoh Atem (Yami) that could destroy the world.
Unlike the Pokémon or Digimon films, Pyramid of Light isn’t very accessible to the uninitiated, and its critical consensus scores elsewhere woefully reflect that. For fans, it’s a nice addendum to Duel Monsters; for everyone else, not worth the card the monsters are printed on.
Yu-Gi-Oh! GX (2004-2008)
Much like Digimon Adventure 02, GX is a fondly remembered yet still underrated follow-up. It picks up a decade after Duel Monsters’ ending at Kaiba’s Duel Academy, where cocky new protagonist Jaden Yuki is set to pick up Yugi’s torch as the future King of Games. There, he climbs the school ranks, learns about the new Fusion Summoning mechanic, and even travels to another dimension.
Jaden’s airheadedness may grate at first, but he gradually matures with the show, even becoming weighted down by the darkening main story in its final season. GX also gives him his own Kaiba in Chaz, who is more of an eccentric edgelord than a Machiavellian genius, but still dorkily endearing. CHAZ IT UP! CHAZ IT UP!
Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D’s (2008-2011)
You may know 5D’s as ‘Yu-Gi-Oh! with motorbikes’ because going even farther into the series’ future, duels at this point involve Synchro Monsters atop Duel Runners; Yusei Fudo is the new Yugi and his former friend-turned-enemy, Jack Atlas, the new Kaiba. It’s a silly-sounding idea on paper that’s low-key the coolest thing to ever happen to the franchise in practice.
Moreover, 5D’s has surprising thematic depth – set in a futuristic version of the original series’ Domino City, the population of which is split by socio-economic status thanks to an earthquake. This includes Yusei and Jack, who use duelling as a means to move up in the world. Division vs camaraderie has always been at Yu-Gi-Oh!’s core – in 5D’s, the theme is at its most potent.
Yu-Gi-Oh!: Bonds Beyond Time (2010)
Making good use of 5D’s’ Duel Runner time travel mechanics, Bonds Beyond Time marks the tenth anniversary of the Yu-Gi-Oh! anime’s international debut by bringing Yugi, Jaden and Yusei together to battle a mysterious duellist known as Paradox, who is stealing Duel Monster cards from across time to alter the future.
With a by-the-numbers plot engineered around simply getting the three legendary duellists in the same room, the film is pure fan service entertainment. As was in vogue in the 2010s, it also had a limited 3D release in cinemas.
Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal (2011-2014)
Zexal is the first Yu-Gi-Oh! series to not take place in or travel to Domino City, set in Heartland City instead. There, aspiring duellist Yuma Tsukumo meets the amnesiac spirit Astral, who needs help piecing his lost memories together from disparate Xyz Monsters that can possess people. Duelling has also become more immersive, carried out in augmented reality using AR headsets.
After the inventiveness, character development, and wackiness of the previous series, Zexal struggles to stand out from the pack, feeling more like the franchise coasting on a tried and tested formula than innovating with it. Despite not being a fan favourite, it did have a direct follow-up: Zexal II.
Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc-V (2014-2017)
Things get a bit messy in Arc-V as far as Yu-Gi-Oh! worldbuilding goes. The series is set in Paradise City in the Pendulum Dimension (based on the new Pendulum method of summoning monsters), which is explained to be distinct from the dimensions featured in previous series and their unique summoning styles, like Synchro and Fusion.
If this sounds like a weirdly convoluted way to explain card game mechanics in-world, it’s because it is. However, like in Bonds of Time, it’s another alluring gimmick for fans that pulls on numerous franchise history threads: protagonist Yuya attends a duellist school, has a rivalry with a business mogul, and powerful lookalikes help him duel.
Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Dark Side of Dimensions (2016)
Marking the 20th anniversary of Yu-Gi-Oh!, it was only fitting that The Dark Side of Dimensions bring audiences back to the core rivalry between Yugi and Kaiba. Taking place shortly after the end of Duel Monsters, Kaiba seeks to reassemble the Millennium Puzzle and finally defeat Pharaoh Atem. He’s intercepted by two siblings looking for revenge on Yugi and his friends for tragic events that transpired in the series.
Once again, this is a spinoff film best understood and enjoyed by existing fans. Seeing Yugi and Kaiba square off once more, and in newer, cinematic animation quality, is a real nostalgic treat.
Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS (2017-2019)
Having explored reincarnation, other dimensions, and augmented reality, Yu-Gi-Oh! dives fully into virtual reality for VRAINS – or ‘Virtual Reality Artificial Intelligence Network System.’ The title refers to the VR world that protagonist Yusaku and the duellists of Den City battle in, using the new Link Summoning system.
Yusaku is also a hacker whose persona, ‘The Playmaker,’ has become infamous for duelling the destructive, masked hacking group, The Knights of Hanoi. Hacking in Yu-Gi-Oh!, by the way, is done via – what else? – duelling. This Matrix-esque spin is an interesting one, though, like Arc-V, it falls victim to an overly complex story.
Yu-Gi-Oh! Sevens (2020-2022)
Another 20th anniversary project, this time for the Duel Monsters anime specifically, Sevens introduces the young, inventive protagonist, Yuga, who wants to popularise a more fast-paced method of duelling that he christens ‘Rush Duels.’
Though this iteration is aimed at a younger audience, it still has a surprisingly politicised underpinning: the setting, Goha City, is controlled by a mega-conglomerate, which Yuga incidentally rebels against on behalf of the city’s restless kids with his radical new duelling style. Its target demographic also makes Sevens more streamlined and accessible than previous shows, not to mention much shorter with fewer than 100 episodes.
Yu-Gi-Oh! Go Rush!! (2022-2025)
Despite airing after it, Go Rush!! is a prequel to Sevens, taking place a couple of hundred years prior. It still revolves around Rush Duelling, as the title references, as well as adding interstellar travel and aliens to the mix. How does first contact go down on Yu-Gi-Oh!’s version of Earth? Duelling – the answer is always duelling.
Continuing the more light-hearted and simpler narrative of Sevens, Go Rush!! is more of a mixed bag than its predecessor when it comes to humour and stakes, and likely won’t be many people’s favourite iterations of the show in spite of literally broadening its worldbuilding horizons.
Yu-Gi-Oh! Card Game The Chronicles (2025-)
The most recent Yu-Gi-Oh! series at the time of writing is Card Game The Chronicles, an ONA (Original Net Animation) based on a spinoff manga that is a total departure from everything that has come before. If you’re familiar with the cards featured in the show, you’ll know of the strange and deep lore contained in their flavour text. Essentially, there’s a world within a world in Yu-Gi-Oh!, and Chronicles finally does what fans have been crying out for years and capitalises on this.
Each short episode plays out some of the stories from the cards, told from the POV of the character(s) featured on them. Naturally, it feels very different from your average Yu-Gi-Oh! series, and probably best consumed as a novel extra by fans.
Detailed 'Yu-Gi-Oh!' Watch Order
- Yu-Gi-Oh!, TV series (1998)
- Yu-Gi-Oh!, film (1999)
- Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (2000-2004)
- Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie: Pyramid of Light (2004)
- Yu-Gi-Oh! GX (2004-2008)
- Yu-Gi-Oh! Capsule Monsters (2006)
- Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D’s (2008-2011)
- Yu-Gi-Oh!: Bonds Beyond Time (2010)
- Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal (2011-2012)
- Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal II (2012-2014)
- Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc-V (2014-2017)
- Yu-Gi-Oh! The Dark Side of Dimensions (2016)
- Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS (2017-2019)
- Yu-Gi-Oh! Sevens (2020-2022)
- Yu-Gi-Oh! Go Rush!! (2022-2025)
- Yu-Gi-Oh! Card Game The Chronicles (2025-)
Where to Watch More 'Yu-Gi-Oh!' Movies and Shows Online
To discover more about TV shows and movies currently streaming in the UK, check out the JustWatch streaming guide! You can filter your search by streaming service, genre, price, age rating, and score. Be sure to build your watchlist and receive helpful notifications on what to watch next based on your preferences!
