Yu-Gi-Oh! Complete Edition, review of the first two volumes
Yu-Gi-Oh! Complete Edition
The editorial history of the Yu-Gi-Oh! in Italy it was rather troubled: published for the first time in 2000 (when the phenomenon of the anime had not yet been born, much less that of the collectible card game), it was suspended in the twelfth volume due to poor sales, and then resumed months later. Subsequently, the publication was resumed again along with a reprint and between a series of periodicity changes and the other, the manga officially ended in July 2011. Now, thanks to Panini, fans of Kazuki Takahashi's work have the opportunity to own a full-bodied and complete edition in this Yu-Gi-Oh! Complete Edition, consisting of 13 volumes, each containing three issues of the original series, which will tell all the stories of Yugi Muto and associates.
How different is manga from anime
This too did not guarantee strong sales in the west of the manga, precisely because what was most interesting was when the protagonists tried their hand at "Magic and Wizards" (renamed in the anime " Duel Monsters “), or the famous card game in which the two contenders challenge each other with monsters, spells and traps, drawing them from their deck of cards. The narrative arc called "Kingdom of the Duelists", in fact, will start only from chapter 60, or from the eighth original volume.
Hence, the use of a card game was so successful that Takahashi was almost forced to change the his original idea, to dedicate an entire narrative arc to Magic and Wizards, but always keeping the “game” as the main focus. Just think that the editorial staff of Shonen Jump, the magazine on which the chapters of Yu-Gi-Oh! was literally flooded with letters and requests from fans clamoring for much more information about Duel Monsters and if a real release of the game was planned!
How the volumes are structured
The entire Yu-Gi-Oh! Complete Edition consists of a total of 13 volumes, each containing three issues of the original series (with the exception of the last one which will contain only two, as there were 38 in total) and an average of about twenty chapters each.They are quite bulky, but still quite easy to read, as the format of the original tankobon has been kept. Furthermore, no improvements have been made regarding drawings, translations or anything else, nor have colored pages been added specifically for this edition, as already happened for, for example, the Dragon Ball - Perfect Edition, or the new edition of Le Bizzarre Adventures. by Jojo.
It was not, therefore, a real re-edition job, but more like a collection of all the volumes published previously, without adding extras or anything else. Which is not necessarily a bad thing, mind you, but maybe we could have taken the opportunity to collect interviews, testimonies and anecdotes about the creation of the manga itself, with some extra appendixes at the end of the reading.
Is it worth the money?
The question that many might ask is: is it worth spending a whopping € 14.90 for each volume? The answer is: it depends. Surely the quality / price ratio is definitely advantageous, since each volume, we remind you, contains three traditional volumes of the original Yu-Gi-Oh! Manga, while maintaining the format in size (not in thickness, of course) and adding an overlay - blanket absent in the first versions.Secondly there is the convenience of having the entire collection in a single format, as well as being able to obtain it in a relatively short time, compared to the wait they had to "Suffer" the longtime fans to have the entire series completed (remember, as mentioned before, that the first print took 11 years to be fully completed).
However, it may not be a reading for everyone, but mainly aimed at fans of the collectible card game and those looking for an unpretentious reading, as the "slowness" of the first chapters makes itself felt and not everyone could appreciate this type of narration. not horizontal, but purely self-contained in each chapter, as well as very different from the anime that was broadcast on Mediaset.
