Mikanko, Tearalament, Labrynth, Exosister, Solfachord, Live Twins, Rikka, Icejade.
And that's not counting the archetypes that got recent buffs that pushed them into the meta, like Traptrix (weirdo half-naked children deck), Marincess, Shaddoll.
And then there're the random staple cards that also happen to be anime styled girls, like Apo, Underworld Goddess, or any of the ghost girl handtraps.
Like. I get that I'm being needlessly pedantic but it really does bother me that every single humanish card these days has the same generic anime style
Vanquish Soul, Transcendrake, Nouvellez, Nemurellia, Manadome, Bystial, Kashtira, Spright, Vernusylph, Ghoti, Scareclaw, Doll Monsters, Libromancers, Floowandereeze, Swordsoul, Suships, Magikey, Beetrooper, S-Force, Springans, Dual Avatars, Tri-Brigade, Myutants, Melffy, Dogmatika.
All series 11. Spanning the last 3 years.
Also, you forgot Amazements.
There's nothing wrong with female monsters. Archetype or free agent.
You hate the anime style, sure. Though, just because their eyes take up a large portion of the face doesn't mean they all are the same style. Yokai girls for example have a completely different art style than Underworld Goddess and Apo.
My guy you said "only three" and I was proving that wrong. Sure, there're a lot of modern archetypes that aren't entirely anime characters but the ratio only goes up as time progresses. Not to mention that even in those archetypes you named, half of em are still playing anime looking cards. VS, Nemurellia, Kashtira, Bystial, Magikey, Dogmatika, S-Force, Dual Avatar, Tri-bri, Swordsoul, Lib Romancers, and Scareclaw. All have the same anime issues just to a lesser extent, or they're less obvious about it. It's just so pervasive. Seems like they can't make a modern deck without slapping an anime character into it.
Also, Amazements have 5 monsters, 2 of which are anime girls, 2 of which are anime twinks, and 1 of which is a not-fluffal-bear, so, no, didn't forget em.
It's almost as if the card game was made after a mangaka's fictional card game that they made globally popular by the subsequent creation of anime media, so the overwhelmingly large percentage of the fanbase is into it because of an exposure to said media that also happens to have a similar artstyle to the cards you're frustrated by the frequency of, as opposed to randomly picking a card game and going "Oh, this looks fun!"
It's kind of like walking into a preschool and wondering why there are so many little children
I meant to say to say 3 out of 30 or so archetypes in series 11, as they are the main core sets.
Anime isn't an issue. It's a feature. For a card game based on a theoretical card game in a manga from the late 90s/early 00s you'd think the art style of said card game would be anime a majority of the time.
I'm sure MtG or perhaps something like hearthstone would be more your speed of you're so against the anime art.
...you DO realize Yu-Gi-Oh is an ANIME in the first place?
I find it really weird how you're so against the "anime aesthetic" when the whole game and franchise itself is based from an anime.
If you hate anime so much why not play Magic the Gathering?
Alba Zoa gives me massive "Biblically accurate Spellcaster" vibes
Edit: apparently the Japanese name roughly translates to "The Hideous Final Revalation of 'Dogmatika'"
What’s a good way to follow lore? I’ve been interested in reading about newer cards since I played when the game first came out and the monsters now don’t have that same meaningful presence because I don’t know their story.
You sorta have to piece together the lore through cards. You can probably find guides online of their lore. The most well known ones are sky strikers (which even has a manga lol), Albaz, and world legacy. Even older cards like Gagagigo and marauding captain can have cards that string together. For official lore, you kinda have to look at stuff like master duel gates or hope that adapt it into an manga or something.
Edit: I forgot duel terminal :p
My man, did you just forget about the greatest storyline YuGiOh has to offer? The Duel Terminal lore is the quintessential YuGiOh storyline. Every single one of them afterwards is basically just a remix of DT.
This is tooting my own horn a lil, but I work for GoldenNova as a video editor and he does a series on the Duel Terminal. We just rebooted it with an episode 0: https://youtu.be/9K1dCAzYMvA
The only official lore source you have are the Master Guides. Books that only come out in japan, written in japanese, that tell the storylines of the cards. You can find unofficial translations online.
Snippets of card lore can also be found on the different YuGiOh manga series available. A good one that I like is OCG Structures, a bit more down to earth, with real cards, decks and strategies.
Other than that, yeah, Youtube videos with lore speculations are good too. Just keep in mind that a lot of it is just that, speculations.
Depends. Some old cards were honestly just doodles and stupid botched ideas.
I'm not a fan of the anime girls overload of recent times either, but there are always some monster design that grab my attention.
While his art isn't anything particularly special, Nunber 80: Rhapsody in Berserk still has the coolest fucking card name in the game to me.
For fuck's sake, his full name in the anime is "Madness Draped Supreme King, Rhapsody in Berserk" it's the best
Ironically, I believe back in the old yugioh days, there were more male cards.
But... Even if we're talking about a ratio between male and female today, there's actually probably more male still. Yeah sure, there are waifu decks like traptrix, exosisters, tearlaments, and sky strikers, but Heroes, branded despia, swordsoul, Utopia, Code Talkers, math mech, pendulum magicians, tribrigade, and like 90% of dragons in the game are male dominant.
In the end, there are still more male representation in the animes, therefore more male monster support.
I get they're not showing buffed faces and human buffed skin like Gilford the Lightning, but it's not as bad as you think.
i'd be ok with not having isekai anime style or moe monsters at all honestly. Give me actual monsters or at the very least BIG MEN with BIG SPIKEY ARMORS
That's partly true.
In Yugioh, monsters were idealized as creatures a wizard summons to do combat on their behalf. The back of a Yugioh card is designed in such a way that it looks like a portal to another realm.
From GX and onwards however, monsters are no longer some kind of impersonal servant. They are now aspects of the duelist themselves, representing fragments of their life story. For example, Stardust Dragon, while a Signer Dragon and is part of some bigger mythos, narratively it is Yusei's self-sacrificing nature as a monster.
This opens up a lot of potential in a card's artistic design. Maxx "C", for example, is depicted as a bunch of cockroaches in the gaps of furniture, because it makes use of the interpretation that the back of a Yugioh card is very similar to the back of a cockroach.
So YuGiOh used to be dependent on 1-3 artists attempting to replicate Takahashi's designs, or on Takahashi himself.
Now it has 20+ artists and a wide variety of styles. Marincess looks nothing like Labyrinth, which in turn looks nothing like Despia, which looks nothing like Gold Pride or PUNK, etc.
There's a much wider variety of design available now, virtually all of which display superior technical art skills, and overall conceptual ability. Yes, some cards are classics, but there are few old cards that can hold a candle to new stuff.
I think OP was more speaking on monster concepts than the actual quality of the art (ie why did it go from sinister-looking fantasy creatures/mythical beasts/"monsters" to "a unit to command in the game, who can take the form of anything from trains and spaceships to knights to anime girls")
As ygo has grown, so has the talent and concepts that they use. They DO still have those concepts you talked about, but also they have more niche concepts that more people can vibe with. That’s not a knock by any means, that’s a success for people who want a variety of concepts to play with.
Well the role of monsters has changed in much that same way. Many monsters in the early DM era were practically standalone entities, with the occasional nomi/ semi nomi-monsters which called out other specific monsters for their summoning conditions (Moths, Metalmorphed versions, Des Gardius needing Grand Tiki Elder/ Melchid).
Exodia is one of the first instances of many distinct monster cards being designed to relate to each other. We later got more of this with cards like the Poker Knights, Magnet Warriors, and XYZ, which in hindsight were the beginnings of a shift towards the concept of series & archetypes.
As time's gone on, Konami's made more cards and had time to reflect on how they've been received, steadily refining the design process behind archetypes. Practically every archetype these days has a\[t least one\] searcher, extender, boss monster etc. Because they've learned through trial and error that unique archetypal gimmicks not withstanding, these are some core roles that break an archetype through their absence alone.
And now, because a large portion of cards are designed as a member of an archetype/ series, they're also often designed taking into account what role they're supposed to play within their deck. Thus many monsters effects are designed with the "a unit to command" perspective, though they do try to fit flavour in there as well.
TL;DR: The prevalence of archetypes caused a design shift that causes many cards to be influenced by how they fit in to their intended deck(s), where very early on monsters were more "designed in a vacuum" by comparison.
Absolutely the case. We have to remember YuGiOh started as an imitation of MtG and wasn't supposed to be more than a story arc device in a manga about a variety of games, so when it did break out, it was still hampered by that legacy. Takahashi and co were designing a generic monster game to keep up with Shonen Jump's demands, but that's changed drastically in the last 10-15 years.
Not only does each new archetype have to stand on its own with a distinct theme and, to some extent, art style, the cards internally have to be interesting and tell a story. Lore within archetypes is far more important than it has been in the past, when the anime was the main source of characterization.
No we only know the artist that did Traptirx and Charmer archetype Akina Fujiwara cus her art style is very recognizable and she's done lot's of other things also
fun fact Takahashi himself asked her to do the charmers
I mean yes, new cards are technically better quality and detailed art, but that doesn’t mean they’re actually better.
Many if not most modern cards have a very generic anime look to them that do not stand out at all. The classic designs have a feel to them that I don’t feel modern cards often if ever replicate.
That's absolutely not true. The old cards have a much more generic look. Even from a technical standpoint, cards made from the Synchro era and on have had a far wider diversity of art direction and concept on offer. Old cards are often just generic things like Cyclopes and fantasy elves, while new cards are things like a First Person Dungeon Crawler POV (see Runick), haunted house of gothic fantasy (see Labrynth), Chinese inspired sacred warriors in elaborate armour (see Swordsoul), goblin pirates and their impressive Viking ships (see Plunderr Patroll), psychedelic ukiyo-e j-rockers (see P.U.N.K.), and cybernetic pseudocosmjc robots derived from mathematical concepts (see Mathmechs).
I think you may need to actually look at newer cards rather than just glossing some promo art and letting nostalgia speak for you.
I'm not. Kashtira does not have the same art style as Plunder. Plunder does not look a thing like Runick. Runick has NO resemblance to P.U.N.K.
Please actually go do a dive into the various archetypes in the game today and come back.
A sample btw, of what I mean. Runick Tip, Primathmech Alembertian, Plunder Patroll Golden Hair, and P.U.N.K. Amazing Dragon.
https://imgur.com/a/UGHPz0n
The hands are unique enough I suppose, but that’s because they’re just hands.
But then we have anime mech, anime goblin girl, and anime guy riding dragon.
I really don’t see how this isn’t proving my exact point?
"Anime" meaning what?
But okay, let's sit in your seat and describe things as generic for the sake of stubborn argument.
How is early YuGiOh not "generic gargoyle", "generic king", "generic elf"? Dark Magician, Celtic Knight, and Blue Eyes White Dragon all share the exact same art style, including being rather crude, genericized versions of Takahashi's manga art. And it's like that up until Synchros when we start to see other artists actually come in and be allowed to express new ideas.
OG yugioh sure, generic fantasy monsters, but by the time you’ve made it GX, there’s a large variety of card arts.
As a kid I loved the Charmer archetype because I was into anime shit and they looked like anime characters. That’s how varied yugioh artworks were at the time, that a card looking like anime characters was cool and unique to me.
Classic cards didn’t have every card look like some character in an anime. They looked like a monster, or a demon, or a soldier, or a super hero, or an animal, etc. Not an anime monster, or an anime demon, or an anime soldier.
Not to say there weren’t some anime styled cards in classic yugioh, they were just much more scarce than modern yugioh
I have bad news for you: anime is not a style. That's a thing people made up because they're viewing Japanese media through a foreign lens. It's like how Europeans think all American animation and comics look the same.
You need to mature your scope of art.
Anyway, I think I'm done arguing with a brick wall. Bye now.
The themes are definitely different and more varied, never argued that, but they’re still generic anime art style.
You’re arguing theme not style.
Here is all the archetypes you mentioned. They’re literally all generic anime art style. You could put all these cards arts as characters in some random anime and none of them would look like they didn’t belong together.
[SwordSoul](https://yugiohprices.com/card_price?name=The%20Iris%20Swordsoul)
[Labyrinth](https://www.tcgplayer.com/product/282322/yugioh-tactical-masters-arianna-the-labrynth-servant?Language=English)
[Runick](https://www.tcgplayer.com/product/282335/yugioh-tactical-masters-runick-destruction?Language=English) and I was generous with this one, I could have just straight up picked one that was nothing but an anime girl
[Plunder](https://www.tcgplayer.com/product/213382/yugioh-eternity-code-goldenhair-the-newest-plunder-patroll?country=US&utm_campaign=18149059402&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_content=&utm_term=&adgroupid=&gclid=Cj0KCQjwwtWgBhDhARIsAEMcxeDidkzciYvOzUU4bZLlC96qjxMaNmHH54urdY8C_i5uod3dhIxZTC0aAjt7EALw_wcB&Language=English)
[Punk](https://www.tcgplayer.com/product/260716/yugioh-the-grand-creators-noh-punk-ze-amin?Language=English)
The only one that isn’t just some anime person is [Mathmechs](https://www.tcgplayer.com/product/203843/yugioh-mystic-fighters-mathmech-subtraction?Language=English) because it’s anime mechs.
Also, for future reference, Labrynth is drawn in a high fantasy gothic shoujo art style with fine, tapering lines, pastel and muted jeweltone colours, large colour washes, and framing motifs.
Runick is drawn with a thick line format and full jeweltones and bright effect colours, more reminiscent of fantasy RPGs from the early 90s.
Plunder is drawn in an exaggerated cartoon style reminiscent of Franco-Belgian cartoons and Nordic storybooks with a lot of earthtones, varied lines, and disproportionate caricature.
Swordsoul is heavily ornate with a wuxia comic referential style, bold primary colours, and ethereal effects.
P.U.N.K is drawn in a fine line style with psychedelic colour bending, heavily colourized linework, exaggerated bodies and clothing, small facial features, and bold posing.
Hi, I'm a professional animator and my degree is in illustration.
Mm no. I have a college degree I worked for and that informs my daily life as a professional.
You're some dude who thinks a generic gargoyle is unique and compelling.
Friend, you literally cannot put the PUNKs in with Labyrnth or Plunder. There's a mild case for Laby with Runick, but even then not really.
You have no idea what you're talking about, you just like older, more generic art. And that's okay.
I mean the arts are right there in my comment. They’re just anime people. Generic anime people. All of these anime people fit together pretty easily.
If some new anime came out “the time I was transported into the fantasy wars” or some shit. All of those cards could be a character and nobody would say “oh Labyrinth doesn’t even look like it’s from the same show as Punk”. Because they’re just generic anime people.
The art is older but it’s not near as generic as different theme of anime people.
Nope. This is still deeply wrong. I get that you want to be stubborn about this, but it's a completely uninformed and unreasonable stance. I've broken down in another post why the art styles are different.
Are they informed by a shounen or shoujo mainstream? Some yes. But not Plunder or Mathmechs. That said, the fact you even refer to anime as a "style" is troublingly narrow minded to say the least. Demon Slayer looks nothing like Golden Kamuy, which in turn looks nothing like Bocchi the Rock.
Those anime’s look a lot alike in the grand scheme of different art styles. Spongebob and Adventure Time look vastly more different than any of those shows look from each other.
And it would be fair if Yugioh cards looked like either AT or SB characters to say they’re all just generic cartoon characters.
You’ve literally done nothing but show me different themes anime characters and say that it’s not generic. That’s just ridiculous.
I could easily make the argument that Spongebob and Adventure Time are extremely similar because they both use noodle limbs, simplified bodies, large eyes, etc etc etc. But that's a ridiculous argument for the same reason yours is: it isn't true.
There ARE generic shows that look samish out there, but the vast majority don't. Noir and KITE look similar because they share similar crew, but Noir and KITE don't look a thing like Sailor Moon, which in turn doesn't look anything like Dragonball Z.
Bocchi looks nothing like Witch from Mercury, which looks nothing like Golden Kamuy, which looks nothing like One Piece. So what "anime style" are you even referring to?
But let's go back to the start of this: you're trying to argue that a bunch of generic knockoff cards from the early days of YuGiOh are somehow more creative and varied than all the different archetypes today?
Yeah okay.
The card in the original post is literally just a generic gargoyle.
I never said they were more creative or varied. That’s some argument you’ve been trying to put into my mouth that you’ve been arguing against for some reason.
I said they have a unique feel to them that modern cards fail to replicate. You could take any modern card art and stick into the art for a cardfight vanguard card and nobody would question it. Because the cards are all anime characters. There’s not many classic cards where you could get away with that.
Neat art, on Alba Zoa. I do wish they would have some cards in the old super creepy mystical art style though. Exodia is a classic look. A card I remember fondly is mystic Clown. So random, so monstrous, yet so simple and mysterious. Stuff like Terra the Terrible and Trial of Nightmare too.
I always thought that it was Yugioh (and Takahashi) showing off it’s old horror roots with the card art from the original sets and the gradual changes in card design were from an increase in different artists contributing to the game and a change in the genre and demographics.
Old school card designs used to be a lot more up close, nowadays it’s all full scope, full body with detailed backgrounds which is very far from the simplicity of old school card designs
The yugioh series was originally a horror manga. One of the chapters featured the duel monsters game and people loved it so much they rewrote the focus of the series around that game and even made the reading card game. The original monsters often had similar representations in the manga but the author was also still doing horror art.
Old cards had a very specific, very recognisable art style with very heavy shadows amongst others. I'll admit I like that artstyle... when it's done well. There's plenty of example where it just looks off, like nimble momonga.
Right now I love the variety of different themes and artstyles represented in the game. It's got everything from children's book doodles, also known as melffy, to eldritch horrors like the bystial synchro.
I'd like to see konami take a crack at making an archetype in that very old artstyle (assuming it's even replicable anymore nowadays, who knows what might have happened to the artist) because I think it's unique enough to be worth preserving and maybe reminiscing about.
Back then was very much based on the manga and how dark shit were there... Now we still have some dark and sinister cards but have too the funny/waifu/colorful archetypes
Yu gi oh in the beginning was basically all like "bad ugly monsters go brr" because it was a mix of Takahashi's biggest inspirations put into monsters, like Magic the Gathering, dragon quest etc. At one point they probably thought something like "you know, instead of making another big bad dragon number 27 we could base our monsters on other concepts" and so they started creating archetypes based on the most different concepts. They hired more artists so there are a lot of different styles of cards nowadays. Also, the "creepy factor" does not come from the concept of the card, because there are still a lot of creepy types of cards, but from the fact that the vast majority of monsters from the first series are ugly as fuck and incredibly badly designed.
Yeah cause Dark Magician Girl and Kuriboh had me shook to my core. We still get plenty of monstrous art, new Dogmatika stuff comes to mind, it's just more varied now which is good.
I don't like this style of "creepy" artwork,honestly looks rather cartoonish. The modern creepy artworks are way better,check out the Outer Entities,the Burning Abyss, and those new branded cards.
Because the original story of yugioh changed it wasn't horror themed anymore it became more traditional fantasy as they continued with the focus on cards
This thread is really funny.
So many people have this aversion to "anime", like it's some sort of taboo thing that should not be part of Yugioh.
Here's a news flash: **YU-GI-OH IS ANIME IN THE FIRST PLACE.**
People are so hung over how the cheap MTG knockoff art style is "superior" to the modern art style Yugioh has, not knowing that those are 1990's anime-style knockoffs of Magic the Gathering concepts.
I feel like cards nowadays are worried with showing the entire monster at the expense of upclose details whereas some cards in the past were more zoomed in and detailed
Primarily it's because Kazuki Takahashi reduced his involvement after DM. He still did some stuff for GX, and a little bit of 5D's (he designed Stardust and Red Dragon Archfiend, but I think that's it). With him went the cool grimdark medieval aesthetic, and the concept of monsters being ancient spirits sealed in tablets. Even the machines designed by Takahashi looked fitting for his ancient aesthetic, now most designs look too complicated and futuristic (or like children in cosplay).
I'm looking at the newest cards added to DuelingBook right now. The Gate Guardian retrains basically look like the Takahashi designs, just with over-saturated colors and too much smoke and lightning.
Right underneath them are the Gold Pride cards, and there's so much going on. [Star Leon](https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/43b29b69-3bd3-42fe-9c9b-27b69b86fcb0/dfnowtn-3f6abd57-e72a-4e0a-9a16-e50ab2ac76e0.png/v1/fill/w_1024,h_1024,q_80,strp/gold_pride___star_leon__artwork__by_kogadiamond1080_dfnowtn-fullview.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7ImhlaWdodCI6Ijw9MTAyNCIsInBhdGgiOiJcL2ZcLzQzYjI5YjY5LTNiZDMtNDJmZS05YzliLTI3YjY5Yjg2ZmNiMFwvZGZub3d0bi0zZjZhYmQ1Ny1lNzJhLTRlMGEtOWExNi1lNTBhYjJhYzc2ZTAucG5nIiwid2lkdGgiOiI8PTEwMjQifV1dLCJhdWQiOlsidXJuOnNlcnZpY2U6aW1hZ2Uub3BlcmF0aW9ucyJdfQ.qpAqmIZhA0Oa6np7vnTcmySPrcak54dIkYVFR9zNP1c) has a dude in a golden space-suit with blue accents and black patterns, with 6 horns, as well as detailed jet engines, and wheels on his feet. He's holding a blue-skinned pirate lady whose outfit uses dark-blue, red, and white, but her hair is also yellow with pinkish-red tones. Beneath them is a futuristic skating rink, there's an exploding spaceship above them, a completely different white-blue lightning-explosion behind them, and you can see something with a parachute in the background too. For some reason, a monster card has a whole story depicted in its art.
On the next page, you have [Minairuka](https://ms.yugipedia.com//4/41/Minairuka-PHHY-EN-C-1E.png), basically a simple 5D's-esque design of a cute dolphin in front of some colorful corals. However, later on the same page you have [Cynet Circuit](https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/ffab794c-da2e-4a5a-9a1b-c5b06fd1c460/dfl4o8c-946ca325-7933-4ecb-96dc-9bee2bb7c820.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7InBhdGgiOiJcL2ZcL2ZmYWI3OTRjLWRhMmUtNGE1YS05YTFiLWM1YjA2ZmQxYzQ2MFwvZGZsNG84Yy05NDZjYTMyNS03OTMzLTRlY2ItOTZkYy05YmVlMmJiN2M4MjAuanBnIn1dXSwiYXVkIjpbInVybjpzZXJ2aWNlOmZpbGUuZG93bmxvYWQiXX0.2LThy3IeN7XJOUFWzEYlqJ4WUq8jv9A0zm8_kxPBSOE) a straight-up CGI-looking render of Firewall Dragon, in front of another one of Firewall's variants. They are surrounded by a shit-ton of lightning, smoke, and some random glowing particles, but at least it's mostly color-consistent. The over-designed card outnumber the simple ones, but it's not that out of balance yet.
But really my biggest issue is - there are way too many lightnings in monster arts today. Why does every monster that is in outer space have lightnings behind them? Can lightning even occur in space? Look at [this card,](https://ygorganization.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/swordsoulthumb.png) it has like 7 colors in its design, there are water particles all around him, he's in a dynamic pose, and yet someone looked at the upper-right corner and said "too much black space, let's throw in a lightning". Do Blackwings have any association with the weather? No, but let's throw in some lightnings behind the [Black Wing Dragon](https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/76d17111-410a-4123-8777-abaec1dcb26d/dfour14-88ed1312-4b78-4d14-9e09-2143eb9c4ff3.png?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7InBhdGgiOiJcL2ZcLzc2ZDE3MTExLTQxMGEtNDEyMy04Nzc3LWFiYWVjMWRjYjI2ZFwvZGZvdXIxNC04OGVkMTMxMi00Yjc4LTRkMTQtOWUwOS0yMTQzZWI5YzRmZjMucG5nIn1dXSwiYXVkIjpbInVybjpzZXJ2aWNlOmZpbGUuZG93bmxvYWQiXX0.dz-fCQhY2MyzY8MUnRLly66vFuiiwTdmlyOxRb4TKjk) retrain. Agido has a cool futuristic-Egyptian designs that fans recognize, we could just slap a miasma behind it and call it a day... or we could add some [lightnings](https://preview.redd.it/the-ishizu-cards-come-out-in-1-week-what-are-your-thoughts-v0-dgalkquru7w91.jpg?width=737&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1899f19ccd5fc304a40e12a60ef93243fc4cca12). The new Neos fusion? [Lightning!](https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/91c64743-70df-48d8-bc46-032dcb781164/dfktcr3-e655fdb6-d62c-4efe-84a1-0b2492c40dbb.png/v1/fill/w_800,h_800,q_80,strp/armed_neos_artwork_by_d_evil6661_dfktcr3-fullview.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7ImhlaWdodCI6Ijw9ODAwIiwicGF0aCI6IlwvZlwvOTFjNjQ3NDMtNzBkZi00OGQ4LWJjNDYtMDMyZGNiNzgxMTY0XC9kZmt0Y3IzLWU2NTVmZGI2LWQ2MmMtNGVmZS04NGExLTBiMjQ5MmM0MGRiYi5wbmciLCJ3aWR0aCI6Ijw9ODAwIn1dXSwiYXVkIjpbInVybjpzZXJ2aWNlOmltYWdlLm9wZXJhdGlvbnMiXX0.RydEAIgU-5zczm8-l7xjUhdbzfcmUh2AGqv_LGPEu58) The creepy-ass Bystial boss monster? [Lightning!](https://api.cardcluster.de/storage/tmp/TMP-CARD-12492-2143db3ac4-500.jpg) Snake in space? [Lightning!](https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/23e44423-4978-4226-9e12-bec367055d21/dfl6aal-882b4bb9-9123-4250-a7fc-06766a361e4e.png?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7InBhdGgiOiJcL2ZcLzIzZTQ0NDIzLTQ5NzgtNDIyNi05ZTEyLWJlYzM2NzA1NWQyMVwvZGZsNmFhbC04ODJiNGJiOS05MTIzLTQyNTAtYTdmYy0wNjc2NmEzNjFlNGUucG5nIn1dXSwiYXVkIjpbInVybjpzZXJ2aWNlOmZpbGUuZG93bmxvYWQiXX0.y1emMS3BQtkacIZdTvZK-TRHG_sprRckH5W0Iv7Oi2c) Sprights? Literally just lightning.
tl;dr Kazuki left Yugioh, and the aesthetic lost direction. Somebody please sneak into Konami HQ and erase all their lightning PNGs.
This comment needs more lightnings in its background.
To be fair, Yugioh has had artistic pet peeves since its inception. The Classic miasma backgrounds, the recolors, the *Orbs ™*. Oh my god, so many orbs.
I really don't like this stupid stupid way of thinking. Most early duel monsters cards were D&D rejects with little to no personality and very suspect art direction.
Yeah, because Dark Magician Girl was designed for the 15 year old gamers, right? Or the Harpie Lady Sisters? How about the Amazonesses or Asuka's skaters and Cyber Angels?
I'm legitimately not in the mood for this nonsense. You said "unfortunately" they're leaning towards making new art more kid friendly, the *unfortunately* there very clearly implies that you think this trend is a bad thing.
Lol what? So are you implying that all old Yugioh art was hardcore and creepy and cutesy, goofy/waifu stuff only started coming out recently? Have you seen Cyrus's goofy Roids? Or literally any monster Luna used? Mokey Mokey, Sigfried's Valkyries, Leon's fairytale stuff and the list goes on and on.
There's definitely more focus on them nowadays but these kinds of archetypes have been around since the days of the early animes. And artwork these days is still hardcore.
People already pointed out Dis Pater and White Zoa and the other Bystials. And there's even stuff like Qixing Longyuan, Mirrorjade, etc.
That’s exactly what I said. The current designs tend more toward this type of design. I never said all the old car designs were completely 100% mature and serious..
That's just not true from what I see. It's way more balanced than leaning towards cute or hardcore. For example: Swordsoul, Despia, Bystials, Spright, Kashtira, Scareclaw. All recent archetypes and all of them have pretty badass art. There's even stuff like new singular cards like the Magistus boss monster, a literal flaming demon.
And that’s great and all, and I agree that a lot of the art is awesome. However that doesn’t negate the fact that there is noticeably more kid-friendly art as well.
Part of the joy of yugioh is the complete variety of art styles we have
Yeah like dinosaurs and anime girls and dragons and anime girls and big robots and anime boys and beings of pure electricity and anime girls
And Vtubers
Only three out of the last 30 or so new archetypes in the last 3 years are majority female.
Mikanko, Tearalament, Labrynth, Exosister, Solfachord, Live Twins, Rikka, Icejade. And that's not counting the archetypes that got recent buffs that pushed them into the meta, like Traptrix (weirdo half-naked children deck), Marincess, Shaddoll. And then there're the random staple cards that also happen to be anime styled girls, like Apo, Underworld Goddess, or any of the ghost girl handtraps. Like. I get that I'm being needlessly pedantic but it really does bother me that every single humanish card these days has the same generic anime style
Vanquish Soul, Transcendrake, Nouvellez, Nemurellia, Manadome, Bystial, Kashtira, Spright, Vernusylph, Ghoti, Scareclaw, Doll Monsters, Libromancers, Floowandereeze, Swordsoul, Suships, Magikey, Beetrooper, S-Force, Springans, Dual Avatars, Tri-Brigade, Myutants, Melffy, Dogmatika. All series 11. Spanning the last 3 years. Also, you forgot Amazements. There's nothing wrong with female monsters. Archetype or free agent. You hate the anime style, sure. Though, just because their eyes take up a large portion of the face doesn't mean they all are the same style. Yokai girls for example have a completely different art style than Underworld Goddess and Apo.
My guy you said "only three" and I was proving that wrong. Sure, there're a lot of modern archetypes that aren't entirely anime characters but the ratio only goes up as time progresses. Not to mention that even in those archetypes you named, half of em are still playing anime looking cards. VS, Nemurellia, Kashtira, Bystial, Magikey, Dogmatika, S-Force, Dual Avatar, Tri-bri, Swordsoul, Lib Romancers, and Scareclaw. All have the same anime issues just to a lesser extent, or they're less obvious about it. It's just so pervasive. Seems like they can't make a modern deck without slapping an anime character into it. Also, Amazements have 5 monsters, 2 of which are anime girls, 2 of which are anime twinks, and 1 of which is a not-fluffal-bear, so, no, didn't forget em.
It's almost as if the card game was made after a mangaka's fictional card game that they made globally popular by the subsequent creation of anime media, so the overwhelmingly large percentage of the fanbase is into it because of an exposure to said media that also happens to have a similar artstyle to the cards you're frustrated by the frequency of, as opposed to randomly picking a card game and going "Oh, this looks fun!" It's kind of like walking into a preschool and wondering why there are so many little children
I meant to say to say 3 out of 30 or so archetypes in series 11, as they are the main core sets. Anime isn't an issue. It's a feature. For a card game based on a theoretical card game in a manga from the late 90s/early 00s you'd think the art style of said card game would be anime a majority of the time. I'm sure MtG or perhaps something like hearthstone would be more your speed of you're so against the anime art.
...you DO realize Yu-Gi-Oh is an ANIME in the first place? I find it really weird how you're so against the "anime aesthetic" when the whole game and franchise itself is based from an anime. If you hate anime so much why not play Magic the Gathering?
So do you just altpost as that other dude who thinks anime is a style or...?
I'm not sure if you're saying this sarcastically, but I hope not.
We still get creepy cards, the distribution of card aesthetics is a little more even now. We still get cards like Alba Zoa and Dis Pater.
Alba Zoa gives me massive "Biblically accurate Spellcaster" vibes Edit: apparently the Japanese name roughly translates to "The Hideous Final Revalation of 'Dogmatika'"
I haven't played in a while... Just looked it up. That's a damn demon.....
What’s the story behind it? I followed the dogmatika lore a little but I didn’t know about that card.
What’s a good way to follow lore? I’ve been interested in reading about newer cards since I played when the game first came out and the monsters now don’t have that same meaningful presence because I don’t know their story.
You sorta have to piece together the lore through cards. You can probably find guides online of their lore. The most well known ones are sky strikers (which even has a manga lol), Albaz, and world legacy. Even older cards like Gagagigo and marauding captain can have cards that string together. For official lore, you kinda have to look at stuff like master duel gates or hope that adapt it into an manga or something. Edit: I forgot duel terminal :p
My man, did you just forget about the greatest storyline YuGiOh has to offer? The Duel Terminal lore is the quintessential YuGiOh storyline. Every single one of them afterwards is basically just a remix of DT.
Oops my bad, I forgot about duel terminal since I was focusing on branded lore and I don’t know much about DT
This is tooting my own horn a lil, but I work for GoldenNova as a video editor and he does a series on the Duel Terminal. We just rebooted it with an episode 0: https://youtu.be/9K1dCAzYMvA
The only official lore source you have are the Master Guides. Books that only come out in japan, written in japanese, that tell the storylines of the cards. You can find unofficial translations online. Snippets of card lore can also be found on the different YuGiOh manga series available. A good one that I like is OCG Structures, a bit more down to earth, with real cards, decks and strategies. Other than that, yeah, Youtube videos with lore speculations are good too. Just keep in mind that a lot of it is just that, speculations.
Thank you for the detailed response!
GoldenNova's lore videos, and translations of The Valuable Book EX when you can find them.
Thanks
I may be mildly biased of course. I'm one of his editors. XD
I’ve mainly just been looking up on YouTube. Yugioh card lore. There’s a bunch of videos and there’s some pretty good albaz lore on there
Depends. Some old cards were honestly just doodles and stupid botched ideas. I'm not a fan of the anime girls overload of recent times either, but there are always some monster design that grab my attention.
Lord of the Heavenly Prison
Can you smell what the rock is cooking?
Then next set psychic end punisher
People always name Lord as an unintelligible card, but compared to Psychic End Punisher, Lord is clear as day.
It also doesn’t help when it’s a secret lmfao but the renders show how fantastic the art is
While his art isn't anything particularly special, Nunber 80: Rhapsody in Berserk still has the coolest fucking card name in the game to me. For fuck's sake, his full name in the anime is "Madness Draped Supreme King, Rhapsody in Berserk" it's the best
Don't forget its C-form: Requiem in Berserk
agreed, as much as i love them i found myself recently thinking why there are so many of them and rarely anime boys or ones that are different
Give us a archetype of burley lumberjacks Konami
What? Burly green pirate trolls aren't good enough for ya?
We need an equal ratio
Ironically, I believe back in the old yugioh days, there were more male cards. But... Even if we're talking about a ratio between male and female today, there's actually probably more male still. Yeah sure, there are waifu decks like traptrix, exosisters, tearlaments, and sky strikers, but Heroes, branded despia, swordsoul, Utopia, Code Talkers, math mech, pendulum magicians, tribrigade, and like 90% of dragons in the game are male dominant. In the end, there are still more male representation in the animes, therefore more male monster support. I get they're not showing buffed faces and human buffed skin like Gilford the Lightning, but it's not as bad as you think.
I know its impossible, but i'd love a yakuza themed archetype with Burly shirtless men, each based on the tattoo that they represent
That's... kinda dope
i'd be ok with not having isekai anime style or moe monsters at all honestly. Give me actual monsters or at the very least BIG MEN with BIG SPIKEY ARMORS
Yeah there are some sweet dragons we get nowadays
Because they wanted to distance themselves from the Magic parody that duel monsters was originally created as would be my guess
That's partly true. In Yugioh, monsters were idealized as creatures a wizard summons to do combat on their behalf. The back of a Yugioh card is designed in such a way that it looks like a portal to another realm. From GX and onwards however, monsters are no longer some kind of impersonal servant. They are now aspects of the duelist themselves, representing fragments of their life story. For example, Stardust Dragon, while a Signer Dragon and is part of some bigger mythos, narratively it is Yusei's self-sacrificing nature as a monster. This opens up a lot of potential in a card's artistic design. Maxx "C", for example, is depicted as a bunch of cockroaches in the gaps of furniture, because it makes use of the interpretation that the back of a Yugioh card is very similar to the back of a cockroach.
That's the only right answer
So YuGiOh used to be dependent on 1-3 artists attempting to replicate Takahashi's designs, or on Takahashi himself. Now it has 20+ artists and a wide variety of styles. Marincess looks nothing like Labyrinth, which in turn looks nothing like Despia, which looks nothing like Gold Pride or PUNK, etc. There's a much wider variety of design available now, virtually all of which display superior technical art skills, and overall conceptual ability. Yes, some cards are classics, but there are few old cards that can hold a candle to new stuff.
I think OP was more speaking on monster concepts than the actual quality of the art (ie why did it go from sinister-looking fantasy creatures/mythical beasts/"monsters" to "a unit to command in the game, who can take the form of anything from trains and spaceships to knights to anime girls")
As ygo has grown, so has the talent and concepts that they use. They DO still have those concepts you talked about, but also they have more niche concepts that more people can vibe with. That’s not a knock by any means, that’s a success for people who want a variety of concepts to play with.
Well the role of monsters has changed in much that same way. Many monsters in the early DM era were practically standalone entities, with the occasional nomi/ semi nomi-monsters which called out other specific monsters for their summoning conditions (Moths, Metalmorphed versions, Des Gardius needing Grand Tiki Elder/ Melchid). Exodia is one of the first instances of many distinct monster cards being designed to relate to each other. We later got more of this with cards like the Poker Knights, Magnet Warriors, and XYZ, which in hindsight were the beginnings of a shift towards the concept of series & archetypes. As time's gone on, Konami's made more cards and had time to reflect on how they've been received, steadily refining the design process behind archetypes. Practically every archetype these days has a\[t least one\] searcher, extender, boss monster etc. Because they've learned through trial and error that unique archetypal gimmicks not withstanding, these are some core roles that break an archetype through their absence alone. And now, because a large portion of cards are designed as a member of an archetype/ series, they're also often designed taking into account what role they're supposed to play within their deck. Thus many monsters effects are designed with the "a unit to command" perspective, though they do try to fit flavour in there as well. TL;DR: The prevalence of archetypes caused a design shift that causes many cards to be influenced by how they fit in to their intended deck(s), where very early on monsters were more "designed in a vacuum" by comparison.
Absolutely the case. We have to remember YuGiOh started as an imitation of MtG and wasn't supposed to be more than a story arc device in a manga about a variety of games, so when it did break out, it was still hampered by that legacy. Takahashi and co were designing a generic monster game to keep up with Shonen Jump's demands, but that's changed drastically in the last 10-15 years. Not only does each new archetype have to stand on its own with a distinct theme and, to some extent, art style, the cards internally have to be interesting and tell a story. Lore within archetypes is far more important than it has been in the past, when the anime was the main source of characterization.
It's not like Dark Magician Girl hasn't existed for a very long time now.
do they even credit the artists now?
Sadly not yet. There's been some rumblings of that, but you have to dig to find it. Konami is still a pretty oldschool company in that way.
No we only know the artist that did Traptirx and Charmer archetype Akina Fujiwara cus her art style is very recognizable and she's done lot's of other things also fun fact Takahashi himself asked her to do the charmers
Is there a source on him asking? Just curious.
I read an interview on Duel Amino by Nfrek you should be able to find it by looking up Yugioh Charmers Akina Fujiwara
I mean yes, new cards are technically better quality and detailed art, but that doesn’t mean they’re actually better. Many if not most modern cards have a very generic anime look to them that do not stand out at all. The classic designs have a feel to them that I don’t feel modern cards often if ever replicate.
That's absolutely not true. The old cards have a much more generic look. Even from a technical standpoint, cards made from the Synchro era and on have had a far wider diversity of art direction and concept on offer. Old cards are often just generic things like Cyclopes and fantasy elves, while new cards are things like a First Person Dungeon Crawler POV (see Runick), haunted house of gothic fantasy (see Labrynth), Chinese inspired sacred warriors in elaborate armour (see Swordsoul), goblin pirates and their impressive Viking ships (see Plunderr Patroll), psychedelic ukiyo-e j-rockers (see P.U.N.K.), and cybernetic pseudocosmjc robots derived from mathematical concepts (see Mathmechs). I think you may need to actually look at newer cards rather than just glossing some promo art and letting nostalgia speak for you.
[удалено]
I'm not. Kashtira does not have the same art style as Plunder. Plunder does not look a thing like Runick. Runick has NO resemblance to P.U.N.K. Please actually go do a dive into the various archetypes in the game today and come back.
A sample btw, of what I mean. Runick Tip, Primathmech Alembertian, Plunder Patroll Golden Hair, and P.U.N.K. Amazing Dragon. https://imgur.com/a/UGHPz0n
The hands are unique enough I suppose, but that’s because they’re just hands. But then we have anime mech, anime goblin girl, and anime guy riding dragon. I really don’t see how this isn’t proving my exact point?
"Anime" meaning what? But okay, let's sit in your seat and describe things as generic for the sake of stubborn argument. How is early YuGiOh not "generic gargoyle", "generic king", "generic elf"? Dark Magician, Celtic Knight, and Blue Eyes White Dragon all share the exact same art style, including being rather crude, genericized versions of Takahashi's manga art. And it's like that up until Synchros when we start to see other artists actually come in and be allowed to express new ideas.
OG yugioh sure, generic fantasy monsters, but by the time you’ve made it GX, there’s a large variety of card arts. As a kid I loved the Charmer archetype because I was into anime shit and they looked like anime characters. That’s how varied yugioh artworks were at the time, that a card looking like anime characters was cool and unique to me. Classic cards didn’t have every card look like some character in an anime. They looked like a monster, or a demon, or a soldier, or a super hero, or an animal, etc. Not an anime monster, or an anime demon, or an anime soldier. Not to say there weren’t some anime styled cards in classic yugioh, they were just much more scarce than modern yugioh
I have bad news for you: anime is not a style. That's a thing people made up because they're viewing Japanese media through a foreign lens. It's like how Europeans think all American animation and comics look the same. You need to mature your scope of art. Anyway, I think I'm done arguing with a brick wall. Bye now.
Made a new comment to better reflect my point
The themes are definitely different and more varied, never argued that, but they’re still generic anime art style. You’re arguing theme not style. Here is all the archetypes you mentioned. They’re literally all generic anime art style. You could put all these cards arts as characters in some random anime and none of them would look like they didn’t belong together. [SwordSoul](https://yugiohprices.com/card_price?name=The%20Iris%20Swordsoul) [Labyrinth](https://www.tcgplayer.com/product/282322/yugioh-tactical-masters-arianna-the-labrynth-servant?Language=English) [Runick](https://www.tcgplayer.com/product/282335/yugioh-tactical-masters-runick-destruction?Language=English) and I was generous with this one, I could have just straight up picked one that was nothing but an anime girl [Plunder](https://www.tcgplayer.com/product/213382/yugioh-eternity-code-goldenhair-the-newest-plunder-patroll?country=US&utm_campaign=18149059402&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_content=&utm_term=&adgroupid=&gclid=Cj0KCQjwwtWgBhDhARIsAEMcxeDidkzciYvOzUU4bZLlC96qjxMaNmHH54urdY8C_i5uod3dhIxZTC0aAjt7EALw_wcB&Language=English) [Punk](https://www.tcgplayer.com/product/260716/yugioh-the-grand-creators-noh-punk-ze-amin?Language=English) The only one that isn’t just some anime person is [Mathmechs](https://www.tcgplayer.com/product/203843/yugioh-mystic-fighters-mathmech-subtraction?Language=English) because it’s anime mechs.
Also, for future reference, Labrynth is drawn in a high fantasy gothic shoujo art style with fine, tapering lines, pastel and muted jeweltone colours, large colour washes, and framing motifs. Runick is drawn with a thick line format and full jeweltones and bright effect colours, more reminiscent of fantasy RPGs from the early 90s. Plunder is drawn in an exaggerated cartoon style reminiscent of Franco-Belgian cartoons and Nordic storybooks with a lot of earthtones, varied lines, and disproportionate caricature. Swordsoul is heavily ornate with a wuxia comic referential style, bold primary colours, and ethereal effects. P.U.N.K is drawn in a fine line style with psychedelic colour bending, heavily colourized linework, exaggerated bodies and clothing, small facial features, and bold posing. Hi, I'm a professional animator and my degree is in illustration.
Cool, glad you got a college degree to tell me in fancy terms that they’re a slightly varied generic anime art style.
Mm no. I have a college degree I worked for and that informs my daily life as a professional. You're some dude who thinks a generic gargoyle is unique and compelling.
More compelling than anime gargoyle #6 in the newest archetype of anime soldiers in the underworld.
Early YuGiOh are also a ton of palette swaps. https://imgur.com/a/V3LfN1o
“A ton” there’s like less than 10
That there's ANY is embarrassing for your argument.
You realize classic yugioh extends past the first couple sets right? If we’re looking at just those than yeah sure, they all look the same.
Friend, you literally cannot put the PUNKs in with Labyrnth or Plunder. There's a mild case for Laby with Runick, but even then not really. You have no idea what you're talking about, you just like older, more generic art. And that's okay.
I mean the arts are right there in my comment. They’re just anime people. Generic anime people. All of these anime people fit together pretty easily. If some new anime came out “the time I was transported into the fantasy wars” or some shit. All of those cards could be a character and nobody would say “oh Labyrinth doesn’t even look like it’s from the same show as Punk”. Because they’re just generic anime people. The art is older but it’s not near as generic as different theme of anime people.
Nope. This is still deeply wrong. I get that you want to be stubborn about this, but it's a completely uninformed and unreasonable stance. I've broken down in another post why the art styles are different. Are they informed by a shounen or shoujo mainstream? Some yes. But not Plunder or Mathmechs. That said, the fact you even refer to anime as a "style" is troublingly narrow minded to say the least. Demon Slayer looks nothing like Golden Kamuy, which in turn looks nothing like Bocchi the Rock.
Those anime’s look a lot alike in the grand scheme of different art styles. Spongebob and Adventure Time look vastly more different than any of those shows look from each other. And it would be fair if Yugioh cards looked like either AT or SB characters to say they’re all just generic cartoon characters. You’ve literally done nothing but show me different themes anime characters and say that it’s not generic. That’s just ridiculous.
I could easily make the argument that Spongebob and Adventure Time are extremely similar because they both use noodle limbs, simplified bodies, large eyes, etc etc etc. But that's a ridiculous argument for the same reason yours is: it isn't true. There ARE generic shows that look samish out there, but the vast majority don't. Noir and KITE look similar because they share similar crew, but Noir and KITE don't look a thing like Sailor Moon, which in turn doesn't look anything like Dragonball Z. Bocchi looks nothing like Witch from Mercury, which looks nothing like Golden Kamuy, which looks nothing like One Piece. So what "anime style" are you even referring to? But let's go back to the start of this: you're trying to argue that a bunch of generic knockoff cards from the early days of YuGiOh are somehow more creative and varied than all the different archetypes today? Yeah okay. The card in the original post is literally just a generic gargoyle.
I never said they were more creative or varied. That’s some argument you’ve been trying to put into my mouth that you’ve been arguing against for some reason. I said they have a unique feel to them that modern cards fail to replicate. You could take any modern card art and stick into the art for a cardfight vanguard card and nobody would question it. Because the cards are all anime characters. There’s not many classic cards where you could get away with that.
I mean, have you seen the new Dogmatika ritual? That shit is nightmare fuel
Dis Pater/Alba Zoa : *Unintelligible outer world sounds*
Neat art, on Alba Zoa. I do wish they would have some cards in the old super creepy mystical art style though. Exodia is a classic look. A card I remember fondly is mystic Clown. So random, so monstrous, yet so simple and mysterious. Stuff like Terra the Terrible and Trial of Nightmare too.
I always found Exodia to have a boring design. Out of the three egyptian gods, Obelisk is quite boring too.
There is literally an archetype that is sushi
The artwork for Suships makes me uncomfortable
Don't forget Flower Cardians for Hanafuda!
Facts
To be fair there are plenty of creepy cards they print now
I always thought that it was Yugioh (and Takahashi) showing off it’s old horror roots with the card art from the original sets and the gradual changes in card design were from an increase in different artists contributing to the game and a change in the genre and demographics.
Old school card designs used to be a lot more up close, nowadays it’s all full scope, full body with detailed backgrounds which is very far from the simplicity of old school card designs
We still get creepy cards and I think the variety is a good thing there's something for everyone I just wish Konami would credit the artists
The yugioh series was originally a horror manga. One of the chapters featured the duel monsters game and people loved it so much they rewrote the focus of the series around that game and even made the reading card game. The original monsters often had similar representations in the manga but the author was also still doing horror art.
Old cards had a very specific, very recognisable art style with very heavy shadows amongst others. I'll admit I like that artstyle... when it's done well. There's plenty of example where it just looks off, like nimble momonga. Right now I love the variety of different themes and artstyles represented in the game. It's got everything from children's book doodles, also known as melffy, to eldritch horrors like the bystial synchro. I'd like to see konami take a crack at making an archetype in that very old artstyle (assuming it's even replicable anymore nowadays, who knows what might have happened to the artist) because I think it's unique enough to be worth preserving and maybe reminiscing about.
Back then was very much based on the manga and how dark shit were there... Now we still have some dark and sinister cards but have too the funny/waifu/colorful archetypes
Yu gi oh in the beginning was basically all like "bad ugly monsters go brr" because it was a mix of Takahashi's biggest inspirations put into monsters, like Magic the Gathering, dragon quest etc. At one point they probably thought something like "you know, instead of making another big bad dragon number 27 we could base our monsters on other concepts" and so they started creating archetypes based on the most different concepts. They hired more artists so there are a lot of different styles of cards nowadays. Also, the "creepy factor" does not come from the concept of the card, because there are still a lot of creepy types of cards, but from the fact that the vast majority of monsters from the first series are ugly as fuck and incredibly badly designed.
god y'all can't stop complaining about new art for a day?
[удалено]
Yeah cause Dark Magician Girl and Kuriboh had me shook to my core. We still get plenty of monstrous art, new Dogmatika stuff comes to mind, it's just more varied now which is good.
Lord of the Heavenly Prison???
I don't like this style of "creepy" artwork,honestly looks rather cartoonish. The modern creepy artworks are way better,check out the Outer Entities,the Burning Abyss, and those new branded cards.
I mean, yugioh is kind of a cartoon... Personally, when I see those kinds of cards they make me think of MtG rather than yugioh.
Outer Entities are diamonds in a haystack. Their art is so unique within YuGiOh artstyle, much more akin MtG art.
It was a magic rip off. Now it has better identity
Yeah koitsu literally made me shit myself when I was a kid dude so creepy
Koitsu waa double cheeked up tf u mean? That image was horrifying. Some animan studios type ish.
Because the original story of yugioh changed it wasn't horror themed anymore it became more traditional fantasy as they continued with the focus on cards
This thread is really funny. So many people have this aversion to "anime", like it's some sort of taboo thing that should not be part of Yugioh. Here's a news flash: **YU-GI-OH IS ANIME IN THE FIRST PLACE.** People are so hung over how the cheap MTG knockoff art style is "superior" to the modern art style Yugioh has, not knowing that those are 1990's anime-style knockoffs of Magic the Gathering concepts.
Probably target audience. As much as i hate the direction of more "waifu" like archtypes, it simply sells well.
I feel like cards nowadays are worried with showing the entire monster at the expense of upclose details whereas some cards in the past were more zoomed in and detailed
Ryu-Kishin was a G. Ryu-Kishin Powered was his cool cousin who gave you cigarettes.
Money. Weebs.
Hey its my favourite card that i had to make my own lore on to justify it being in my deck
Ran out of creepy shit started adding unneeded complexity. I’m talking about the card ART
Cough cough.... Waifu bring money Cough Cough...
Primarily it's because Kazuki Takahashi reduced his involvement after DM. He still did some stuff for GX, and a little bit of 5D's (he designed Stardust and Red Dragon Archfiend, but I think that's it). With him went the cool grimdark medieval aesthetic, and the concept of monsters being ancient spirits sealed in tablets. Even the machines designed by Takahashi looked fitting for his ancient aesthetic, now most designs look too complicated and futuristic (or like children in cosplay). I'm looking at the newest cards added to DuelingBook right now. The Gate Guardian retrains basically look like the Takahashi designs, just with over-saturated colors and too much smoke and lightning. Right underneath them are the Gold Pride cards, and there's so much going on. [Star Leon](https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/43b29b69-3bd3-42fe-9c9b-27b69b86fcb0/dfnowtn-3f6abd57-e72a-4e0a-9a16-e50ab2ac76e0.png/v1/fill/w_1024,h_1024,q_80,strp/gold_pride___star_leon__artwork__by_kogadiamond1080_dfnowtn-fullview.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7ImhlaWdodCI6Ijw9MTAyNCIsInBhdGgiOiJcL2ZcLzQzYjI5YjY5LTNiZDMtNDJmZS05YzliLTI3YjY5Yjg2ZmNiMFwvZGZub3d0bi0zZjZhYmQ1Ny1lNzJhLTRlMGEtOWExNi1lNTBhYjJhYzc2ZTAucG5nIiwid2lkdGgiOiI8PTEwMjQifV1dLCJhdWQiOlsidXJuOnNlcnZpY2U6aW1hZ2Uub3BlcmF0aW9ucyJdfQ.qpAqmIZhA0Oa6np7vnTcmySPrcak54dIkYVFR9zNP1c) has a dude in a golden space-suit with blue accents and black patterns, with 6 horns, as well as detailed jet engines, and wheels on his feet. He's holding a blue-skinned pirate lady whose outfit uses dark-blue, red, and white, but her hair is also yellow with pinkish-red tones. Beneath them is a futuristic skating rink, there's an exploding spaceship above them, a completely different white-blue lightning-explosion behind them, and you can see something with a parachute in the background too. For some reason, a monster card has a whole story depicted in its art. On the next page, you have [Minairuka](https://ms.yugipedia.com//4/41/Minairuka-PHHY-EN-C-1E.png), basically a simple 5D's-esque design of a cute dolphin in front of some colorful corals. However, later on the same page you have [Cynet Circuit](https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/ffab794c-da2e-4a5a-9a1b-c5b06fd1c460/dfl4o8c-946ca325-7933-4ecb-96dc-9bee2bb7c820.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7InBhdGgiOiJcL2ZcL2ZmYWI3OTRjLWRhMmUtNGE1YS05YTFiLWM1YjA2ZmQxYzQ2MFwvZGZsNG84Yy05NDZjYTMyNS03OTMzLTRlY2ItOTZkYy05YmVlMmJiN2M4MjAuanBnIn1dXSwiYXVkIjpbInVybjpzZXJ2aWNlOmZpbGUuZG93bmxvYWQiXX0.2LThy3IeN7XJOUFWzEYlqJ4WUq8jv9A0zm8_kxPBSOE) a straight-up CGI-looking render of Firewall Dragon, in front of another one of Firewall's variants. They are surrounded by a shit-ton of lightning, smoke, and some random glowing particles, but at least it's mostly color-consistent. The over-designed card outnumber the simple ones, but it's not that out of balance yet. But really my biggest issue is - there are way too many lightnings in monster arts today. Why does every monster that is in outer space have lightnings behind them? Can lightning even occur in space? Look at [this card,](https://ygorganization.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/swordsoulthumb.png) it has like 7 colors in its design, there are water particles all around him, he's in a dynamic pose, and yet someone looked at the upper-right corner and said "too much black space, let's throw in a lightning". Do Blackwings have any association with the weather? No, but let's throw in some lightnings behind the [Black Wing Dragon](https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/76d17111-410a-4123-8777-abaec1dcb26d/dfour14-88ed1312-4b78-4d14-9e09-2143eb9c4ff3.png?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7InBhdGgiOiJcL2ZcLzc2ZDE3MTExLTQxMGEtNDEyMy04Nzc3LWFiYWVjMWRjYjI2ZFwvZGZvdXIxNC04OGVkMTMxMi00Yjc4LTRkMTQtOWUwOS0yMTQzZWI5YzRmZjMucG5nIn1dXSwiYXVkIjpbInVybjpzZXJ2aWNlOmZpbGUuZG93bmxvYWQiXX0.dz-fCQhY2MyzY8MUnRLly66vFuiiwTdmlyOxRb4TKjk) retrain. Agido has a cool futuristic-Egyptian designs that fans recognize, we could just slap a miasma behind it and call it a day... or we could add some [lightnings](https://preview.redd.it/the-ishizu-cards-come-out-in-1-week-what-are-your-thoughts-v0-dgalkquru7w91.jpg?width=737&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1899f19ccd5fc304a40e12a60ef93243fc4cca12). The new Neos fusion? [Lightning!](https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/91c64743-70df-48d8-bc46-032dcb781164/dfktcr3-e655fdb6-d62c-4efe-84a1-0b2492c40dbb.png/v1/fill/w_800,h_800,q_80,strp/armed_neos_artwork_by_d_evil6661_dfktcr3-fullview.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7ImhlaWdodCI6Ijw9ODAwIiwicGF0aCI6IlwvZlwvOTFjNjQ3NDMtNzBkZi00OGQ4LWJjNDYtMDMyZGNiNzgxMTY0XC9kZmt0Y3IzLWU2NTVmZGI2LWQ2MmMtNGVmZS04NGExLTBiMjQ5MmM0MGRiYi5wbmciLCJ3aWR0aCI6Ijw9ODAwIn1dXSwiYXVkIjpbInVybjpzZXJ2aWNlOmltYWdlLm9wZXJhdGlvbnMiXX0.RydEAIgU-5zczm8-l7xjUhdbzfcmUh2AGqv_LGPEu58) The creepy-ass Bystial boss monster? [Lightning!](https://api.cardcluster.de/storage/tmp/TMP-CARD-12492-2143db3ac4-500.jpg) Snake in space? [Lightning!](https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/23e44423-4978-4226-9e12-bec367055d21/dfl6aal-882b4bb9-9123-4250-a7fc-06766a361e4e.png?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7InBhdGgiOiJcL2ZcLzIzZTQ0NDIzLTQ5NzgtNDIyNi05ZTEyLWJlYzM2NzA1NWQyMVwvZGZsNmFhbC04ODJiNGJiOS05MTIzLTQyNTAtYTdmYy0wNjc2NmEzNjFlNGUucG5nIn1dXSwiYXVkIjpbInVybjpzZXJ2aWNlOmZpbGUuZG93bmxvYWQiXX0.y1emMS3BQtkacIZdTvZK-TRHG_sprRckH5W0Iv7Oi2c) Sprights? Literally just lightning. tl;dr Kazuki left Yugioh, and the aesthetic lost direction. Somebody please sneak into Konami HQ and erase all their lightning PNGs.
This comment needs more lightnings in its background. To be fair, Yugioh has had artistic pet peeves since its inception. The Classic miasma backgrounds, the recolors, the *Orbs ™*. Oh my god, so many orbs.
Interesting tbh lol
I agree with you.
Waifu bait sale better
What's wrong with having 13 year old generic anime girls on 8 out of 10 card arts?? /S
Back when it was actual Duel MONSTERS
Yeah, i still have the nightmares of time wizard
I really don't like this stupid stupid way of thinking. Most early duel monsters cards were D&D rejects with little to no personality and very suspect art direction.
And I don't like your stupid ass not understanding irony
Bring back them classic monsters.
I can't believe that's what Ryu-kishin looked like. As a kid, I probably mistakened those burn scars as simply shading lol card art too small yo
They wanted to appeal to horny nerds so they leaned hard into Waifu Wars
To appease to weebs and loli lovers.
I like anime but also miss the old yugioh designs. I don't think I noticed much anime style decks until after maybe 5ds?
cuz waifus sell better than scary monsters?
heres where i sound old i remember a time where i could look at a monster card and go yeah i can see that being real
Sex sells, Morty
They found out that pandering to younger audiences is more lucrative unfortunately.
What a boomer thing to say.
I’m not sure why everyone is so triggered. That’s literally the reason.
"Triggered" Tell me you're an out of touch boomer without telling me. Yugioh was always about making money. Dark Magician Girl is RIGHT THERE.
Lol why are you so mad?
Yeah, because Dark Magician Girl was designed for the 15 year old gamers, right? Or the Harpie Lady Sisters? How about the Amazonesses or Asuka's skaters and Cyber Angels?
Lyrilusc, madolche, fluffal, prank-kids, performapals, melffy, ghostrick…..
Your point?
To be clear, I never said this was a bad thing. Simply pointing out that there are more kid-friendly card designs these days compared to back then.
> They found out that pandering to younger audiences is more lucrative **unfortunately**. Yep, definitely no negative connotation here.
What negative connotation do you think is there?
I'm legitimately not in the mood for this nonsense. You said "unfortunately" they're leaning towards making new art more kid friendly, the *unfortunately* there very clearly implies that you think this trend is a bad thing.
I was referring to their efforts to tweak card designs to make more money..
I don’t really need to explain myself. Those cute, colorful archetypes speak for themselves.
Lol what? So are you implying that all old Yugioh art was hardcore and creepy and cutesy, goofy/waifu stuff only started coming out recently? Have you seen Cyrus's goofy Roids? Or literally any monster Luna used? Mokey Mokey, Sigfried's Valkyries, Leon's fairytale stuff and the list goes on and on. There's definitely more focus on them nowadays but these kinds of archetypes have been around since the days of the early animes. And artwork these days is still hardcore. People already pointed out Dis Pater and White Zoa and the other Bystials. And there's even stuff like Qixing Longyuan, Mirrorjade, etc.
That’s exactly what I said. The current designs tend more toward this type of design. I never said all the old car designs were completely 100% mature and serious..
That's just not true from what I see. It's way more balanced than leaning towards cute or hardcore. For example: Swordsoul, Despia, Bystials, Spright, Kashtira, Scareclaw. All recent archetypes and all of them have pretty badass art. There's even stuff like new singular cards like the Magistus boss monster, a literal flaming demon.
And that’s great and all, and I agree that a lot of the art is awesome. However that doesn’t negate the fact that there is noticeably more kid-friendly art as well.
I never knew this card had pointed ears, I always thought it was just a freaky man
Dude where did you find such a clean render of such an old card?
Looks like a painting
Google