Yu-Gi-Oh! The Dark Side of Dimensions

Yu-Gi-Oh! The Dark Side of Dimensions
Theatrical Release Poster
Directed by	Satoshi Kuwabara
Written by	Kazuki Takahashi
Produced by	Kazuki Takahashi (Executive Producer)
Starring	Shunsuke Kazama Kenjiro Tsuda Hiroki Takahashi Maki Saitō Takayuki Kondo Rica Matsumoto Kento Hayashi
Cinematography	Hiroaki Edamitsu
Music by	Yoshihiro Ike
Production companies	Konami Studio Gallop Nihon Ad Systems
Distributed by	Toei Company (Japan), Screenvision Media (USA), Madman Entertainment (Australia)
Release dates	April 23, 2016 (2016-04-23) (Japan) January 24, 2017 (2017-01-24) (New York City) January 27, 2017 (2017-01-27) (United States) February 1, 2017 (2017-02-01) (United Kingdom) February 2, 2017 (2017-02-02) (Australia)
Running time	131 minutes
Country	Japan
Language	Japanese

Yu-Gi-Oh! The Dark Side of Dimensions is a 2016 Japanese animated film, part of the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise. The film is an original story and features Yugi Muto and Seto Kaiba as its main characters. The film's story is set six months after the events of the original Yu-Gi-Oh! manga in Japan. In English speaking countries, the film's story is set one year after the events of Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters. In celebration of the film and twenty years of the franchise in general, TV Tokyo began airing a remastered digital edition of the 2000–2004 Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters anime in Japan. The film was released in Japan on April 23, 2016 and will be released on January 27, 2017 in the United States and Canada and on February 2, 2017 in Australia. This will be the fourth theatrical release of a Yu-Gi-Oh! film after Yu-Gi-Oh! (1999), Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie: Pyramid of Light, and Yu-Gi-Oh!: Bonds Beyond Time.

Creator Kazuki Takahashi published a new one-shot manga called TRANSCEND GAME in Weekly Shōnen Jump. The two-part prologue story is set between the end of the Yu-Gi-Oh! manga and the beginning of The Dark Side of Dimensions. Part 1 released in the 19th issue on April 11, 2016 and Part 2 released in the 20th issue on April 18, 2016. VIZ Media's digital Weekly Shōnen Jump announced that it will publish Yu-Gi-Oh!: Transcend Game. Part 1 released in the December 19, 2016 issue. Part 2 released in the January 2, 2017 issue.

Dark side of Dimensions is the most praised in the Yu-Gi-Oh! film series, The Film received praise from critics for the relationships between the orignal characters, the Duel battles and serving as a great epilogue to the original series however it met criticism for the poor development of its villian.

Plot

A few years after the departure of the Pharaoh, Yugi Muto and his closest friends are in their final year of High School and are talking about what they will do in the future. Meanwhile, Seto Kaiba has commissioned an excavation to retrieve the disassembled Millennium Puzzle from the ruins of the Millennium chamber. The item had previously housed the soul of his rival, Atem, whom he hopes to revive in order to settle their score. The excavation is interrupted by Diva, who faces Kaiba in a game of Duel Monsters and steals two pieces of the recovered Puzzle. He keeps one fragment and gives the other to his sister Sera who passes it on to Yugi Muto, aware that he was the host of the Pharaoh.

Diva, under the alias "Aigami," forges a "friendship" with Yugi. He takes interest in Yugi's friend Ryo Bakura, whom he believes is responsible for the death of his father-like mentor, Shadi. Using his Quantum Cube, he transports Bakura to another dimension. Bakura apologizes and explains that the evil spirit of the Millennium Ring had been responsible. The two are interrupted by Mani, who has become warped by the evil energies of the Millennium Ring.

Kaiba has a computer rebuild the Millennium Puzzle and discovers the last two pieces are missing. He abducts Aigami and approaches Yugi, so he can have the two take part in the showcasing of his updated Duel Disk virtual reality technology. He intends to duel both Aigami and Yugi, while gambling their pieces of the puzzle. However, Yugi is furious with Aigami over what he did to Bakura and insists he duel him instead, which Kaiba agrees to.

Yugi defeats Aigami, resulting in Bakura's return to reality, and while dueling Kaiba, Yugi re-completes the Millennium Puzzle to demonstrate that the spirit of Atem is no longer inside it. Aigami becomes corrupted by the incredible evil powers of the Millennium Ring and duels both Yugi and Kaiba. Kaiba sacrifices himself during the Duel and makes a final plea for Yugi to call forth Atem. Yugi succeeds in doing so, and he and Atem defeat Aigami with ease. Atem and the Millennium Puzzle then fade away, and Kaiba and Bakura return to reality.

The film concludes with Yugi and his best friends seeing Tea off at the airport as she goes off to pursue her lifelong dream of becoming a professional ballet dancer in New York City while Kaiba uses his technology in conjunction with the Quantum Cube to transport his consciousness to the Netherworld, where he approaches Pharaoh Atem, sitting on his throne who responds with a confident smile.

Cast

Character	Voice actor (Japanese)	Voice actor (English)
Yugi Mutou/Yugi Muto	Shunsuke Kazama	Dan Green
Seto Kaiba	Kenjiro Tsuda	Eric Stuart
Katsuya Jōnouchi/Joey Wheeler	Hiroki Takahashi	Wayne Grayson
Anzu Mazaki/Tea Gardner	Maki Saitō	Amy Birnbaum
Hiroto Honda/Tristan Taylor	Takayuki Kondo	Greg Abbey
Ryo Bakura/Bakura Ryou	Rica Matsumoto	Ted Lewis
Mokuba Kaiba	Junko Takeuchi	Tara Sands
Ryuji Otogi/Duke Devlin	Ryō Naitō	Marc Thompson
Aigami	Kento Hayashi	Daniel J. Edwards
Sugoroku Mutō/Solomon Muto	Tadashi Miyazawa	Wayne Grayson
Ryō Bakura's Father	Kazuhiro Yamaji	Ted Lewis
Sera	Kana Hanazawa	Laurie Hymes
Mani	Satoshi Hino	Tamir Cousins
Kudaragi	Kendo Kobayashi	Billy Bob Thompson
Little Girl / School Girl / Tourist Woman	Natsuki Kitakata	Alyson Leigh Rosenfeld

Production

The film was announced in the West before it was in Japan. 4K Media revealed the film's existence on the official Yu-Gi-Oh! website. They teased that the movie was already in development in Japan and that they were shopping for a distributor in all non-Asian territories.

In Japan, the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper's MAiDiGiTV streamed a video teasing the film, alongside a recap of the history of the near-twenty year franchise. Here, it was revealed that the film would feature Yugi Muto and Seto Kaiba as its main protagonists.

Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump also unveiled a synopsis of the movie: "In the past, Yami Yugi and Kaiba have clashed many times!! Yami Yūgi, who resides in Yugi Muto's body, and Kaiba will have a Duel that bets their prides and accepts each other's mutual experience."

The voice actors of Seto Kaiba and Yugi Muto will be returning to their original roles in the movie - Shunsuke Kazama voicing for Yugi, and Kenjiro Tsuda for Seto Kaiba. Both characters also received slight redesigns, alongside their signature cards, "Dark Magician" and "Blue-Eyes White Dragon", respectively.

The September 2015 issue of V Jump magazine revealed that Joey Wheeler, Tristan Taylor, Téa Gardner, and Ryo Bakura will appear in the film.

The film's teaser trailer was first shown in a panel featuring Kazuki Takahashi at San Diego Comic-Con 2015. It was later uploaded to the official yugioh.com YouTube channel.

When the trade name of the company was changed from Konami Corporation to Konami Holdings Corporation on October 1, 2015, Konami Corporation was no longer the production company of Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Dark Side of Dimensions.

The official Yu-Gi-Oh! The Dark Side of Dimensions film website announced that theaters in Japan will begin screening the film in 4DX and MX4D in fall 2016. The 4DX and MX4D version of the movie will be screened in theaters on September 24, 2016.

The film will release on DVD and Blu-ray on March 8, 2017 in Japan. The Yu-Gi-Oh! Transcend Game manga will be bundled with the release.

Reception

The Dark Side of Dimensions opened on 137 theaters and debuted at #6 in the Japanese box office charts, earning 133,010,600 yen(about $1,200,000) in its first weekend. The film earned over 800,000,000 yen(about $7,500,000) after its screenings ended. During its 4DX and MX4D screenings, the film has earned 1,000,000,000 yen(about US $9,000,000).

External links

• yugioh20th.com Yu-Gi-Oh! The Dark Side of Dimensions (Japanese)