Yugioh has really had a solid run as a franchise. It still gets new shows, manga, video games, etc. It has taken the world by storm and this is one of the more recent iterations. Usually the manga takes a different path than the anime in order to keep things fresh but this time they really diverged. See, the manga switches the main character and also makes this more of a gag series instead of a super serious one. It works out well enough though as a solid title. The approach does mean that it never really had a chance to be great but it was entertaining and at the end of the day that is the important thing.

The manga starts by introducing us to Luke. Luke is someone who has always wanted to prove himself as one of the all time elites when it comes to dueling. The guy may lack a lot of common sense and tends to get his words mixed up but on the duel floor there is nobody who can match him. That’s when he finds out about the “Kings”. If Luke can defeat all of them then he will have proven that he is the ultimate duelist king. It would be absolutely hype if he can prove this to the world and so he heads off to fight all of them. Can he possibly win though?

The manga is fairly short with only around 20 chapters or so. Generally each chapter is one duel although the last duel is 3 chapters and at least one of the others was 2 chapters long. So you can see how there isn’t a whole lot of time here for character interactions or really anything outside of the duels themselves. That works out well enough I’d say. Obviously I would have liked the series to have gone on for longer though as a longer running series would have let the manga really come into its own.

Part of why I’d be confident in a longer version to keep on being funny is because the writing was really solid. It’s a gag manga that has carefully constructed jokes and the characters end up being really likable. At the end of the day that’s all I really need. Of course the duels themselves are also really good and in general it is hard to mess those up. I like Yugioh a whole lot and so watching it is a lot of fun as I get to really understand the cast and see them in action. Even if the duels have to be a bit shorter, it’s fun to see the turns going by.

The manga will live or die based on how much you enjoy the main character Luke. For what it’s worth, I think he is an exceptional main character. His nonstop confidence makes him easy to root for and he’s also just a nice guy. He’s easy to get along with and while he may be completely delusional, it’s never in a mean way. You can count on this guy and his skills really are intense. It is hard to go undefeated in Yugioh because all it takes is a bad hand an you would be doomed. In one duel Luke even does have a bad hand to start with and nearly loses as a result. The series really takes you through the different angles that can happen in a match.

Luke may be crazy, but it’s not in an annoying way. In a lesser series they could have easily messed this up but Yugioh really manages to stay funny all the way through. All of the gags are on point even the subtle ones like his own friends rooting for him to get his first loss. A little petty if you ask me, but still humorous all the same.

The artwork is also surprisingly good at times. For the most part it is a step below the other Yugioh manga titles of course but there are times where the art will randomly get serious and then things really start popping. It shows how the artist would have handled this if the series was going for a more serious tone. All in all, the series has a lot of tonal variety as a whole and that’s always impressive to see.

As for Yuga, he may not be the main character this time around but he still gets a good role. He’s always around doing his best to support Luke. The guy seems to be the only one who can always understand Luke and likewise Luke can tell when something’s up with Yuga. Their bond is subtle but effective. They really make for good friends. The rest of the characters are mainly just around for their duels.

The duels are all fun but it does mean that basically every character is the definition of a one shot character. Even characters like Roman who are always in the background would be fairly unmemorable by the end of your adventure. It’s why you probably get the most out of this if you watched the show because then you recognize all of the characters and you can get a real kick out of that. In some ways that is one of the really fun parts. If you read the manga alone and never actually saw the anime then I doubt any of the characters would really stand out. It’s not their fault, it’s just a consequence of the medium itself.

At least you can’t say that the series ever drags on. It goes by really fast and if I was limited to only a handful of chapters I would probably use a similar strategy. Getting in as many duels with as many opponents just makes the most sense in trying to craft a fun story. The final duel being 3 chapters long also helped you feel the scale of it. The end of the story is even a bit on the emotional side. Yeah this series knew how to balance the tones well.

Overall, This was definitely a pretty fun series. It may not have been ambitious or anything like that but it was fun to see the old characters again. Luke was the standout character in the show so making him the full main character was probably a smart decision. I would have easily kept on reading for many chapters even with this duel of the week styled approach. Each chapter will have you cracking a grin and at the end of the day how can you beat that right? You probably won’t remember a lot about this manga a few years down the road but you will remember that you had a good time. Now we’ll see if the next Yugioh manga can top this one or if it’s just going to fade into its shadow.

Overall 7/10