Yu-Gi-Oh was not the earliest collectible card game, nor was it the most popular one.
In the Yu-Gi-Oh manga, the cards themselves were only a very small part of the whole. The story contained many different kinds of games, almost like an early form of an "infinite games" genre. Besides cards, there were all sorts of other games. It was only later, after the card game became popular, that the series shifted entirely to card duels, discarding most of the earlier settings.
That was why it was called Yu-Gi-Oh.
But now, things were obviously different.
Kazuki Takahashi—also known as Takahashi Kazuki—was currently at Atlus, drawing card illustrations.
Early in the morning, after showering, washing his hair, changing clothes, and even styling his hair a bit, Takahashi Kazuki stepped into the elevator of the Mitsui Building.
For a brief moment, he felt a little dazed.
Honestly, how had a manga artist ended up commuting to work in the CBD?
What, did he draw some kind of blockbuster manga?
Don't worry about it. In any case, he had won Shogakukan's Best Newcomer Award.
Watching the Atlus staff bustle around, Takahashi Kazuki had no idea what they were busy with. Since he couldn't understand it anyway, he stopped paying attention and focused on drawing card art.
Tetsu Kobayashi had given him a set of simple requirements—monster styles, various magic cards, trap cards, and so on.
At this rate, for at least a year or two, he probably wouldn't be doing anything other than drawing card illustrations.
But Takahashi Kazuki didn't mind at all. In fact, he was enjoying it.
On one hand, he was getting paid. On the other, he suddenly realized that he actually liked this kind of work.
It felt as though what flowed from the tip of his pen wasn't just card art, but an entirely different world.
A world ruled by him.
Before he knew it, noon arrived. Just as Takahashi Kazuki was about to head downstairs to find something to eat, Yuji Naka came over.
"What are you having for lunch?"
"Huh?"
"I'm asking what you want for lunch. We're ordering together later. Someone will deliver it."
Takahashi Kazuki hesitated. "I don't work at Atlus."
Yuji Naka replied, "But you've got a desk, and you've been sitting here all morning."
Takahashi Kazuki nodded. "I'm working here, but I don't work for Atlus."
Yuji Naka was completely confused by this logic and simply spread his hands.
"Fine, whatever. We're ordering together anyway."
Tetsu Kobayashi, of course, wasn't at Atlus. At that moment, he was meeting with Haruki Kadokawa.
Tetsu Kobayashi had already shown Kadokawa the rules of the Yu-Gi-Oh card game.
The man in the pink suit and floral tie read through the rules again and again before looking up at Tetsu Kobayashi.
"So what you're saying is that this gameplay will be licensed to the Kadokawa publishing group, and we'll also be allowed to produce related manga, anime, or other works. But Atlus will retain all rights to the cards under the name 'Yu-Gi-Oh,' and will take a share of the profits."
Tetsu Kobayashi nodded. "Sounds reasonable, doesn't it?"
"Reasonable my—"
Kadokawa stopped himself mid-sentence.
"So basically, Kadokawa handles promotion, takes care of everything from printing to distribution, and even when we develop anime and manga, we still have to ask Atlus for authorization. Then what am I, just a hired hand?"
Tetsu Kobayashi spread his hands. "Come on, Brother Kadokawa. You have to look at the benefits behind it. Look."
He grabbed a whiteboard nearby and began writing at lightning speed.
"First, card packs. If players want cards, they have to buy physical packs. Each pack might contain a dozen or so cards, but not all of them will be what the player wants. Often, a pack only contains cards from a single series."
"To get the cards they need, players will have to buy different packs and keep drawing. One pack might not cost much, but what about ten packs? Twenty?"
"Once players have collected enough cards and gained experience dueling friends, you can organize official or regional card tournaments."
Kadokawa suddenly spoke up. "Like esports tournaments."
Tetsu Kobayashi nodded. "Except esports tournaments have been running at a loss for two years."
The first year was sponsored by Sega, the second by Bandai. Both were essentially pure sponsorships with no real revenue, and the small amount of ticket sales barely covered labor costs.
But Tetsu Kobayashi knew very well that some things were investments in the future.
Esports tournaments themselves didn't make money, but as attention-grabbing spectacles, they were extremely important. They brought indirect income, and once brand value was established, the tournaments themselves could eventually become profitable.
Kadokawa Haruki looked thoughtful and raised a hand. "Go on."
Tetsu Kobayashi didn't mind his aloof attitude and continued.
"Although the Yu-Gi-Oh card game isn't complicated, it still needs some tutorials. That's where manga and anime come in as supporting promotions. To create this hook, you can directly tell a story like this."
"In the world of duels, there exists a rare set of cards called the Blue-Eyes White Dragon, possessing the highest-tier combat power among all cards. The protagonist's family owns one of them. At the beginning of the story, the antagonist breaks into the house and destroys that Blue-Eyes White Dragon, so he can become the only person in the world who owns one."
Tetsu Kobayashi roughly outlined the plot of the Yu-Gi-Oh anime.
Since the manga included other games besides card duels, its content differed from the anime. Here, Tetsu Kobayashi directly used the anime setting.
Compared to the then-mainstream Japanese animation style of heavy world-building and grand narratives, Yu-Gi-Oh, as a work of the new millennium, emphasized small-scale storytelling and personal conflict.
The very first episode presented a high-stakes situation.
The Blue-Eyes White Dragon—only four existed in the world—but all of them had been acquired and destroyed by President Kaiba. Now, only one Blue-Eyes White Dragon remained in the entire world. At that moment, the protagonist Yugi Muto chose to challenge President Kaiba to a duel.
Never mind whether Yugi printed cards on the spot—under these conditions, the duel itself naturally carried immense appeal.
After Tetsu Kobayashi finished, Kadokawa Haruki clasped his hands together and slapped them sharply.
"I don't even know what to say about you. Something that didn't sound interesting at all suddenly feels completely different when you explain it. By the way, what's the name of that dueling president?"
Tetsu Kobayashi replied, "Seto Kaiba."
Kadokawa Haruki said, "Isn't his surname Kadokawa?"
Tetsu Kobayashi: …
This was bad.
The moment he heard that, Tetsu Kobayashi knew something had gone wrong.
Kadokawa Haruki was extremely narcissistic. He claimed to be the reincarnation of Takeda Shingen and worshiped the creed of Wind, Forest, Fire, and Mountain. Now that he had heard of a character like Seto Kaiba, things immediately felt dangerous.
"Sorry about that, President Kaiba," Tetsu Kobayashi silently mourned. "Looks like you'll be renamed President Kadokawa in the future."
"Kadokawa or Kaiba, it doesn't matter," Kadokawa Haruki said, leaning back calmly. "In any case, with Kadokawa Shoten's scale, there shouldn't be any problem with the follow-up development."
"That's true," he continued. "So now, let's talk about profits."
How much money would be made, and who would get how much—those details were about due to be defined.
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