The Yu-Gi-Oh! manga series and films have a huge fanbase both in Japan and here. I have to admit to finding this intricate mythology pretty opaque and the Venn overlap with gaming – a part which devotees find so exciting – is for me baffling. This film starts after the end of the last series; once again, the central character is Yugi Moto, a high-school kid who has an ability to play the ancient game called Millennium Puzzle, whose most profound occult secrets are currently being excavated, a game that gives him access to compelling avatar personalities within him. His enemy or rival, Seto Kaiba, is now CEO of his own gaming corporation. The game intersects with the narrative. As must be obvious to real connoisseurs, I am hardly a natural consumer fit with this franchise. It may well play with fans, but will in all probability make no converts.
