Duel Masters Anime

The Duel Masters TV series is the anime adaption of the Duel Masters manga series.


 * See also: List of Characters

Season Listings
English and Japanese Series
 * Season 1
 * Sacred Lands
 * Duel Masters Charge

Japanese-exclusive Series
 * Duel Masters Flash
 * Zero Duel Masters
 * Duel Masters Zero
 * Duel Masters Cross
 * Duel Masters Cross Shock
 * Duel Masters Victory
 * Duel Masters Victory V
 * Duel Masters Victory V3

English-exclusive Series
 * Kaijudo: Rise of the Duel Masters

Duel Masters Movies
 * Duel Masters: Curse of the Death Phoenix
 * Duel Masters: Lunatic God Saga
 * Duel Masters: Blazing Bonds XX

Details
There have been many different anime adaptions, the original anime Duel Masters follows the original storyline of the manga and so does its sequel Duel Masters Charge.

However, the English adaptions of the anime have had many changes compared to the Japanese versions as it was not a proper translation of the Japanese anime. Duel Masters Charge was referred to as "Duel Masters 2.0" for the English dub.

There have been many seasons of the Duel Masters anime, such as the alternate reality CGI franchise which contains Zero Duel Masters, Duel Masters Zero, Duel Masters Cross and Duel Masters Cross Shock. There has also been a movie and a spinoff series called Duel Masters Flash. Duel Masters Cross, and Cross Shock slightly follow the Duel Masters FE manga, a sequel to the original series.

Currently there have been a new season Duel Masters Victory which is also having a follow up season of Duel Masters Victory V. These seasons introduce new characters and a new protagonist Katta who is the follow up of the previous season's protagonist Shobu. These new seasons also have there own new manga series with the same name as the TV Show, they also feature the same characters as well but they feature a slightly different story plot as compare to the ongoing TV show.

Plot
The anime is about a boy named Shobu Kirifuda who plays a game called "Duel Masters" which revolves around the five civilizations (Light, Water, Darkness, Fire, Nature). In the early volumes of the manga series, he plays the Magic: The Gathering card game instead.

In Duel Masters, there are 2 worlds that are featured.

There is the real world of Earth in which the main characters live, as well as the creature world in which the civilizations are at war against each other. By using a fictional martial art called "Kaijudo" (known as the "Duel of Truth" in the Japanese version) the players can bring the monsters to life and appear in their duels.

In the later Victory seasons of the anime, the outer space of the creature world is known as "Pandora Space" and from there has been appearances of different creature races appearing into the real world. Facing these creatures is Katta Kirifuda, Shobu's younger brother.

Season Summaries
In Season 1, the young duelist Shobu Kirifuda battles his way to stardom, in an attempt to follow in his fathers footsteps and become a Kaijudo Master, aided by his mentor Knight, and his friends Rekuta, Sayuki and Mimi he battles against many strong adversaries such as the Reaper duelist Kokujo, leader of the White Soldiers, Hakuoh as well as the Master of the Temple.

In the Sacred Lands, Shobu battles with the power of Amulet Deck Case against the evil organisation P.L.O.O.P. and their plans to use Dark Amulet Deck Case's powers on the creatures from the Creature World in order to take over Earth.

In Duel Masters Charge, 3 years after the events of their Sacred Lands quest, Shobu and his friends Rekuta, Mimi, Hakuoh and George enter the Duel Masters Battle Arena to battle the Black Soldiers. The Black Soldiers are a group of duelists wishing to defeat Hakuoh after failing to join the White Soldiers.

Later in the season the group battles against the villainous Zakira and his organisation of Fua Duelists who wish to obtain the "Great Spirit of Duel Masters" which is distributed into various Awakening Cards which only can be used by a Kaijudo duelists with a pure spirit. Zakira decides to brainwash Hakuoh, turning him into "White" but Shobu and his friends try to stop him and rescue their friend from the grips of Zakira.

In Zero Duel Masters and Duel Masters Zero, Shobu, Mimi, Boy George and Rekuta go to Duel Island in order to train by dueling in the tournament and encounter new enemies and rivals who work under Professor March.

In Duel Masters Cross, Shobu and his friends continue their battle against Zakira and his Fua Duelists, rescuing Hakuoh from becoming "White" and trying to stop Zakira from obtaining the power of the "Great Spirit of Duel Masters" and stop him from ever using it for his evil plans.

In Duel Masters Cross Shock, Shobu and his friends finally defeats the remainder of the Fua Duelists and go in to the creature world to stop a new enemy Diabolos from destroying the creature world as well as destroying the human world. Shobu and his friends go on a quest to obtain the legendary cards with the power necessary to stop the Annihilation from happening.

Duel Masters Victory introduces a new protagonist, Katta Kirifuda the brother of Shobu. Katta wants to be become the best duelist in the world but not like his brother but in his own way, and with all of his new friends helping him on his journey. He also considers Dragon Ryu as his rival.

Katta goes on his journey to become a stronger duelist then his rival, and faces new stronger opponents such as Onsen as well a making new friends along the way. He continues to fail to beat his rival and trains to become stronger and face for one final time in the "Duel Carnival Tournament". However, in the tournament Katta watches his rival lose to one of his strongest opponents, Onsen.

Katta then finally found out the truth behind both his rival and his new enemy that they are both from different worlds and are here for the same purpose. Katta finds out that his rival is actually a Hunter race creature who is here because of another creature called Prin Prin, the Eternal. Prin Prin is actually the princess of the Alien race and comes from a different world called "Pandora Space". She is currently in her card form and is being given as a tournament prize. Onsen is revealed to be controlled by an Alien race creature and is in the human world take the princess by force to the "Pandora Space".

Katta after finding this out had a hard time to believe all this but then he finally believes in Ryu when Ryu and his followers transforms into the cards and offer to help defeat Onsen. After a fierce duel, Katta manages to win the tournament, but just after having the prize card, it gets stolen by Katta's own team mate Yohdel who was controlled by Onsen. Onsen had almost escaped with the Alien princess card but Katta catches up to him and challenges his for the one final time. Both of them prepare to face each other for one final time and after a challenging battle Katta manages to defeat him with his Gaial Ore Dragon, the Vainglory card and becomes a hero and champion duelist.

In Duel Masters Victory V, Katta and his friends return into a school setting. They are placed in a class where each student is a duelist. Katta is very popular in the class after becoming the last champion from the "Duel Carnival Tournament" in the last season.

Katta meets a new transfer student name Leo who appears to be very good looking and quite a strong duelist, impressing everyone with his looks and his duels. Due to this newcomer, Katta's popularity has been diverted to Leo.

In a new American series, Kaijudo: Rise of the Duel Masters, a 14-year-old boy discovers a secret world where creatures rule, he must learn the ancient art of Kaijudo to master the arts of the game to protect his world and their own.

Versions by country
The American and Latin American versions of Duel Masters added several things not in the original version included to make it more of a comedy to separate it from other card battling shows on the market. Added to American version were dub-parody jokes about typical anime conventions, such as split-screens and a missing father-figure (in this case, Shobu's father Shori). Frequent references are made throughout the show to pop culture phenomenon, such as when one of the characters, Kyoshiro Kokujo, says "I am dark...I am the night...I am Bat-oh wait, wrong show.". As such, they recur as running gags during the course of the show.

Another common form of humor found in the show is its breaking of the fourth wall. The characters will constantly say things like, "Looks like it's time for a fade-out,", "I hope the writers do better next week."," Why is the camera too close on my face?" or "You know, I like it when they use this scene." While the storyline is technically dramatic, most episodes are punctuated by a comedic storyline mixed in with the serious storyline. Duel Masters also has promotional gimmicks which depart greatly from the traditional fantasy embraced in Magic: The Gathering.

Differences between Japanese and English Versions
The "Sacred Lands"/"P.L.O.O.P." storyline is not based on the manga and was created specifically for the American market. The Japanese version has a separate second season entitled "Duel Masters Charge", which is based on the manga. Duel Masters Charge was eventually produced for the American market as "Duel Masters 2.0", although only the 1st half of the season was aired. The rest of the season was only aired in Japan

As a whole, the Japanese version is more serious than the American version. While the Japanese version seems to rely more on visual and situational humor, the American version tends to use much more verbal humor. Also, while the Japanese version is mostly a traditional card-game show with much humor, the American version is a flat-out parody of the genre. In fact, the American version is not a true translation, but is instead a "parody dub". The American version also has different music and sound effects than that of the original Japanese version.

Eventually, a Japanese third season premiered in Japan entitled "Shinseiki Duel Masters Flash", followed by "Zero Duel Masters" and "Duel Masters Zero" (separate from "Zero Duel Masters"). "Duel Masters Cross" was the 6th season shown, lasting 100 episodes.Then the 7th season, "Duel Masters Cross Shock" which has also finished airing in Japan with 51 total episode and one special episode including in it. Currently since 2011 2nd April " Duel Masters Victory" has been airing with already up to 22 episodes aired in Japan However, the American version of the anime has ended, and future seasons after "Sacred Lands"/"P.L.O.O.P." will not be translated. But now they are planing to relaunch Duel Masters as "Kaijudo Rise Of The Duel Masters" in America and international market as well.

Differences between Japanese and Korean Versions
The Korean version of Duel Masters is called Duel Legend. They do not have a corresponding manga series alongside the anime, but do the same episodes in the Season 1 and Sacred Lands seasons. After those seasons a "Duel Legend 2" season started, featuring the same episodes as "Duel Masters Charge". A "Duel Legend Zero" season followed and contained all episodes from "Zero Duel Masters" and "Duel Masters Zero". "Duel Legend Cross" also featured the same episodes shown in "Duel Masters Cross".

The next season "Duel Legend Shock" aired at the same time a "Duel Legend Cross". "Duel Legend Shock" had the same episodes as "Duel Masters Cross Shock". All five of these "Duel Legend" seasons are in Korean.

In Korea the Duel Legend cards have a different appearance. While they feature the same artwork and effect as their Japanese counterparts, they instead feature a white card frame, Korean text, and a unique card numbering system. The card backing also features the "Duel Legend" logo. Duel Legend is produced by Sonokong, a Korean toy, game and entertainment company. However, their technical license is still owned by Takara Tomy and Hasbro.

Duel Masters Facts

 * The name "Duel Masters" is often believed to be a pun on "Duel Monsters" (the name used in the second series anime and English manga for a card game (also known as Magic & Wizards - that name is a pun off of "Magic: The Gathering") in the Yu-Gi-Oh! manga and anime series.) It actually takes its name from Magic: The Gathering, which had Duel Masters as its codename early in development. Yu-Gi-Oh! is even briefly referred to, when Shobu speaks of "Yugi Muto" that one show with the "Egyptian guy with spiky hair".
 * The first release of the first 6 volumes of the manga series featured the card game of Magic: The Gathering. In these volumes, the story featured the same characters and general plot revolving around Shobu, with only slight differences from its anime counterpart. It was not until the 7th volume of this manga that the game of Duel Masters was introduced, with Shobu being given a pre-built deck in order to duel against Hakuoh.
 * The first English-language season of the TV series was produced by Plastic Cow Productions. The second season that was created for the American market was produced by Elastic Media Corp. The third season was produced by Howling Cat Productions (featuring some of the former Saban Entertainment VA's, such as Brian Beacock, Philece Sampler, and Wendee Lee. In the UK, Duel Masters airs on Toonami and used to air on five. In the US and Australia, it aired on Cartoon Network.
 * Japanese dialogue also plays a part in duels. A player declares "Ikuzo" to challenge another player. The challenged then chooses to accept with "Koi". "Hai" literally means "yes" in Japanese. "Ike" is a command to attack, and "Todomeda" is similar to calling "checkmate" and end the battle.

Official External Links
Each of the following websites are in Japanese.
 * Duel Masters Official Anime Website
 * Shinseiki Duel Masters Flash
 * Duel Masters Official website
 * Duel Masters Official Manga and Comics website
 * Duel Masters Official Anime Movie website
 * Duel Masters Gate
 * Duel Masters Dash TV