On January 13th, Viz Media, the largest licensor and distributor of manga and anime in North America, has announced the launch of a new omnibus of the popular game and TV series Yu-Gi-Oh! By Kazuki Takahashi. Viz Media will publish Takahashi’s entire 38 volume fantasy epic manga into 13 quarterly 3-in-1 volumes.
Before the card games and anime series, Yu-Gi-Oh was a manga that ran in the weekly Shonen Jump magazine in 1996 following the young Yugi Mutou, a timid, 10th grader game fanatic. One day Yugi solves an ancient artifact known as the Millenium puzzle, causing his body to play host to a mysterious spirit, a master gambler from the age of the Pharaoh’s known as Yu-Gi-Oh. Now Yugi and the King of games must battle through opponents that threaten Yugi’s and his friends’ lives by playing the deadly Shadow games. The series will begin with the fated meet of Seto Kaiba, a young world master of the trading card game and Yugi’s rival. Kaiba discovers that Yugi’s grandfather has the rare and powerful card The Blue Eyes White Dragon, and will stop at no means to attain it. Let the Shadow games begin!
The new manga series will hit the shelves beginning February 3rd under the Shonen Jump imprint. Volume 1 will be rated “T” for teens with an MSRP of 14.99 U.S./16.99 CAD.
“This new omnibus is a great way to dive into all the action of the original YU-GI-OH! manga series for the very first time, or revisit it in a whole new way – undivided and in its entirety,” says Erica Yee, Editor. “YU-GI-OH! remains the Number 1 trading card game property in the world, and the popularity of the property has also spawned several top-rated anime series, bestselling video games, and a vast array of action figures and other collectables. We look forward to even more fans discovering this tremendous manga series with the new 3-in-1 editions.”
Thi Lathi Chao is a graduate from Vancouver Fine Arts College and reports for Good e-Reader on all of the latest anime and manga news. In her off hours, she is enamored with playing games, drawing and writing short stories.