"Any card—so long as it exists—has a power that is needed."

sliferthewhydidigeta:

shinhoroko:

Interviewer: Out of the many duels, which is the best bout by your account, Takahashi-sensei?
Takahashi: Hmmm…that’s a tough choice, but if I had to pick one, I would say the duel between Yugi and the puppet controlled by Malik. For one, it’s Malik’s first duel, and for two, it introduced a God Card, so I had to portray the God’s absolute strength and Yugi’s sense of absolute hopelessness. That’s why I wanted to make to so it’d be impossible to beat it through an orthodox strategy with simple attacks. So, I came up with the idea of an infinite loop from a combo using the opposition’s own card against them. He would never win in attack power, but by using his opponent’s own strategy against him, he shot for another victory condition, the Deck Out. That duel was fun because you saw an unfathomable force, unbeatable by regular means, in the way of a God Card go head-to-head with the hero’s cunning and tact.

Interviewer: Please tell us a little something about the concept behind the arc revolving around the Pharaoh’s Memories, the Egypt Arc.
Takahashi: The groundwork told the story of how the different personality taking stay in Yugi Mutou’s mind was that of an Ancient Egyptian Pharaoh, so I put emphasis to explain the reason throughly through the course of the story. I had to recall all the other foreshadowing that had unfolded as well, such as the mystery of the Millennium Items and Yugi and Kaiba’s fate. However, with Ancient Egypt being the setting for the story, the involvement with the more popular card game elements diminished, and I drew those chapters knowing full-well we would be reaching the climax of the story…

The Egypt Arc ended up being about the RPG of Darkness devised by Bakura, but I had invisioned telling the true history and not just a game. If it had gone that way, I had plans to make it a three way struggle with Dark Yugi, the Pharoah, the Great Dark Priest and the Priest Seth, but since it’d end up to grandiose, that’s the story it became. Making you ponder whether they were in the game world in the middle of the story or if they’re in the real world is twist worthy of the Yu-Gi-Oh manga as well, in my opinion. Although, in the bunkoban (pocket-size reprint) versions, I filled in the scenes I thought may have lacked some luster.

Interviewer: Please tell us a little something about the cover illustration of this book, The Millennium Book.
Takahashi: The cover is going to be specially processed, so Yugi and Kaiba that are in the front in a more distinguishable set of hues while Dark Yugi in the back is in a paler set of colors with a rougher touch, giving off the impression that Yugi and Kaiba in the front and Dark Yugi in the back are in different dimensions. In addition to that, being that this is an after-story set-up illustration, Kaiba is donning a new Duel Disk. Also take note that Yugi has nothing hanging around his neck as well!

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER KAZUKI TAKAHASHI TALKS ABOUT YU-GI-OH THE MOVIE

Interviewer: Please tell us your impression about hearing of plans for a new movie.
Takahashi: In my mind, Yu-Gi-Oh as a body of work was over, so when I was approached with talks of a movie, it never really clicked. I thought to myself that it’s been too long and people have already forgotten about the original manga, heck, even I’m starting to forget it nowadays! (Laughs) I was convinced by the producer, and, well, once I thought about it, I gave him my answer…. Still, thinking about it in a broad regard, there are parts that haven’t completely faded away that I could see, and I figured that I could show how much the characters have grown since the end, so I humbly participated in the project.

Interviewer: Where there any troubles in completing the screenplay?
Takahashi: In a full-feature production, you have to make a story that fits in a frame of two hours. Once you do that, you have to start narrowing down when each character will appear and that can be pretty difficult. At first, just focusing on Kaiba filled a whole two hours worth of story, and once Yugi came into the mix, the timeline got even more egregiously long…(Laughs) And since that was a no-go, it took about a whole year just to slim down thirty minutes worth of story. That being said, I believe it’s shaping up to be quite a deep story!

Interviewer: There’s a mysterious young man depicted on the movie poster, it seems…
Takahashi: There’s a mysterious youth showing up as the antagonist this time around, but I’m not allowed to say much about him just yet. (Laughs) Although, I believe he’ll shape up to be an individualistic presence unlike any seen before.

Caption: The new character with a personality able to rival that of Yugi and Kaiba.

Interviewer: What would you say is the theme for Yu-Gi-Oh the Movie?
Takahashi: I have my own theme for this work, but I feel like it’s best left for the viewing audience to decide on their own. It’s taking elements from the original Yu-Gi-Oh manga, so it’ll be a lot darker of a story!

Interviewer: Please tell us what to look out for in Yu-Gi-Oh the Movie.
Takahashi: Seeing how this is following the events of the original manga, I really want people to see how the characters look matured. It’s been a long time since I’ve draw Yugi for use in character development in a movie, but his looks are so much more manly now that it’s even thrown me for a loop! As for Kaiba, he’s the same as always. (Laughs) But I believe that he’s evolved and matured in his own way. Look forward to it!

Also, I’ve designed a lot of monsters this time around, not just Blue Eyes, but…oh, if I say any more the producer will have my head, so…(Laughs) This first full-feature film will live up to every Yu-Gi-Oh fans’ expectations, so I hope that you all get to see the film in theaters!

Source: http://tieba.baidu.com/p/3908089597?pn=2

(via blueeyeswhitegarden)