Editing Yu-Gi-Oh! (section)

==Development==
In the initial planning stages of the manga, Takahashi had wanted to draw a horror manga.<ref>{{cite book|author=Takahashi, Kazuki|author-link=Kazuki Takahashi|title=Foreword|series=Yu-Gi-Oh!: Millennium World|date=January 2, 2007|publisher=[[Viz Media]]|isbn=978-1-4215-0694-4|page=1|volume=5}}</ref> Although the end result was a manga about games, some horror elements influenced certain aspects of the story. Takahashi decided to use "battle" as his primary theme. Since there had been so much "fighting" manga, he found it difficult to come up with something original. He decided to create a fighting manga where the main character does not hit anybody, but also struggled with that limitation. When the word "game" came to mind, he found it much easier to work with.<ref>{{cite book|author=Takahashi, Kazuki|author-link=Kazuki Takahashi|title=Foreword|series=Yu-Gi-Oh! Duelist|date=October 10, 2005|publisher=[[Viz Media]]|isbn=978-1-4215-0052-2|page=1|volume=9}}</ref>

When an interviewer asked Takahashi if he tried to introduce younger readers to real life gaming culture referenced in the series, Takahashi explained that he simply included "stuff he played and enjoyed", and that it may have introduced readers to role-playing games and other games. He added that he created some of the games seen in the series, stressing the importance of "communication between people" that is often present in tabletop role-playing games but absent in solitary video games and especially over the Internet, where quality communication is near impossible.<ref name="SJVolume2Issue8InterviewPage140">{{cite journal|title=Interview: Kazuki Takahashi (part 2)|journal=[[Shonen Jump (magazine)|Shonen Jump]]|date=August 2004|volume=2|issue=8|page=140|publisher=[[Viz Media]]}}</ref>

Takahashi had always been interested in games, claiming to have been obsessed as a child and remained interested in them as an adult. In a game, he considered the player to become a hero. He decided to base the ''Yu-Gi-Oh!'' series around such games and used this idea as the premise; Yugi was a weak childish boy, who became a hero when he played games. With friendship being one of the major themes of ''Yu-Gi-Oh!'', he based the names of the two major characters "Yūgi" and "Jōnouchi" on the Japanese word ''yūjō'', which means "friendship". Henshin, the ability to turn into something or someone else, is something Takahashi believed all children dreamed of. He considered Yugi's "henshin" Dark Yugi, a savvy, invincible games player, to be a big appeal to children.<ref>{{Cite magazine|last=Cullen|first=Lisa Takeuchi|date=December 18, 2002|title='I've Always Been Obsessed With Games'|url=http://www.time.com/time/interactive/multimedia/takahashi_int/frameset.exclude.html|url-status=dead|magazine=[[Time Asia]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020702174238/http://www.time.com/time/interactive/multimedia/takahashi_int/frameset.exclude.html|archive-date=July 2, 2002|access-date=November 13, 2018|quote=In a game, the player becomes the hero. [...] The main character, Yugi, is a weak and childish boy who becomes a hero when he plays games. [...] As far as the manga story goes, I think all kids dream of henshin [...] if you combine the "yu" in Yugi and the "jo" in Jounouchi [...] Yujo translates to friendship in English, [...]}}</ref>

Takahashi said that the card game held the strongest influence in the manga, because it "happened to evoke the most response" from readers. Prior to that point, Takahashi did not plan to make the story about cards.<ref name="SJVolume2Issue9InterviewPage8">{{cite journal|title=Yugi's Early Days – An Exclusive Interview with Kazuki Takahashi!|url=https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/DhgAAOSwBbVi~8Es/s-l1600.webp|journal=[[Shonen Jump (magazine)|Shonen Jump]]|date=September 2004|volume=2|issue=9|page=8|publisher=[[Viz Media]]|archive-date=September 14, 2024|access-date=September 14, 2024|archive-url=https://archive.today/20240914211849/https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/DhgAAOSwBbVi~8Es/s-l1600.webp|url-status=bot: unknown}}</ref>

Takahashi said that the "positive message" for readers of the series is that each person has a "strong hidden part" (like "human potential") within himself or herself, and when one finds hardship, the "hidden part" can emerge if one believes in him/herself and in his/her friends. Takahashi added that this is "a pretty consistent theme."<ref name="SJVolume2Issue9InterviewPage8" />

The editor of the English version, [[Jason Thompson (writer)|Jason Thompson]], said that the licensing of the ''Yu-Gi-Oh!'' manga had not been entirely coordinated, so Viz decided to use many of the original character names and to "keep it more or less violent and gory". Thompson said that the manga "was almost unchanged from the Japanese original". Because the core fanbase of the series was, according to Thompson, "8-year-old boys (and a few incredible fangirls)", and because the series had little interest from "hardcore, Japanese-speaking fans, the kind who run [[scanlation]] sites and post on messageboards" as the series was perceived to be "too mainstream", the Viz editors allowed Thompson "a surprising amount of leeway with the translation".<ref name="Comixologyinterview">{{Cite web|last=Thompson|first=Jason|date=May 22, 2008|title=To All the Manga I've Edited Before|url=https://pulllist.comixology.com/articles/63/To-All-the-Manga-Ive-Edited-Before|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208065514/https://pulllist.comixology.com/articles/63/To-All-the-Manga-Ive-Edited-Before|archive-date=2015-12-08|access-date=2024-09-14|website=[[ComiXology]]}}</ref> In a 2004 interview, the editors of the United States ''Shonen Jump'' mentioned that Americans were surprised when reading the stories in the first seven volumes, as they had not appeared on television as a part of the ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters]]'' anime. Takahashi added "The story is quite violent, isn't it? ''[laughs]''"<ref name="SJVolume2Issue9InterviewPage8" />

The English language release by 4Kids has been subject to censorship to make it more appropriate for children; for example, mentions of death or violence were replaced by references to "being sent to the Shadow Realm".<ref>{{Cite web|last=Dornemann|first=Emlyn|date=March 18, 2019|title=Anime Censorship in the 90s and Early 2000s {{!}} Comic Book Legal Defense Fund|url=http://cbldf.org/2019/03/anime-censorship-in-the-early-2000s/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191204200236/http://cbldf.org/2019/03/anime-censorship-in-the-early-2000s/|archive-date=December 4, 2019|access-date=December 8, 2019|website=CBLDF}}</ref>

The Japanese title, {{Nihongo||遊戯王|Yūgiō}}, stylized as {{Nihongo|"Yu-Gi-Oh!"|遊☆戯☆王}}, translates into English as "Game King". {{Nihongo||遊戯|Yūgi}} is also the name of the protagonist, while ''Yūgiō'' is also the title the second personality inhabiting his body holds as an invincible game master. Additionally, the character names "Yūgi" and "[[List of Yu-Gi-Oh! characters#Katsuya Jonouchi|Jōnouchi]]" are based on the word {{Nihongo||友情|yūjō|"friendship"}}.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/house-of-1000-manga/2013-07-25|title=Jason Thompson's House of 1000 Manga - Yu-Gi-Oh!|last=Thompson|first=Jason|website=[[Anime News Network]]|date=July 25, 2013|access-date=July 13, 2022|quote=Even Jonouchi, a tough guy in school who's Yugi's future best friend, teases him in the first chapter before eventually his bromantic heart melts and they become best buddies. (The yu from Yugi and the jô from Jonouchi equals yujô, "friendship".|archive-date=May 31, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220531201104/https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/house-of-1000-manga/2013-07-25|url-status=live}}</ref> ''Yūjō'' is pointed out by Jōnouchi to Yūgi at the end of the first manga chapter, as "something visible yet invisible" (what's visible is the two of them, what's invisible is their friendship), as a way to tell Yūgi that he wants to be his friend. The pun was represented with a [[Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game|''Yu-Gi-Oh!'' Trading Card Game]] card titled {{Nihongo|"''Yūjō Yu-jyo''"|友情 YU-JYO||"Yu-Jo Friendship"}}.