A Kaiba Corporation themed online shop is set to open soon, which will sell exclusive Yu-Gi-Oh! merchandise.
The new shop is designed to look like an official site for the Kaiba Corporation, the fictional company headed up by the family of Yugi's arrogant rival, Seto Kaiba. The store will open on Sept. 30, the 25th anniversary of Yu-Gi-Oh!'s original debut, and will stay open for one year. The shop's selection of goods will change every season, with each season focused on one of the first four arcs of the series' story: Duelist Kingdom, Battle City, Pharaoh’s Memories, and Ceremonial Battle. The store's first set of merchandise will include a set of 25th anniversary pins, Yu-Gi-Oh! themed boxer shorts and posters of the most iconic cards from the show, which of course includes Kaiba's Blue Eyes White Dragon. The previously announced Kaiba briefcase, which is an accurate recreation of the characters briefcase from the anime and includes all 61 cards from his original deck, will also be available from the store.
Yu-Gi-Oh! originally debuted in 1996 with a Weekly Shonen Jump manga by Kazuki Takahashi. The series tells the story of Yugi Mutou, a timid but kind young boy who solves the Millenium Puzzle, an ancient artifact that causes him to become possessed by the spirit of a pharaoh that's obsessed with gambling and games of chance. The series introduced the Duel Monsters card game, which was later adapted into a real-world trading card game and series of video games by Konami, a Japanese video game company that was once known for producing hit franchises such as Castlevania, Contra and Metal Gear Solid.
Despite the original source material featuring a surprising amount of violence and death, a localized and heavily edited version of the series' anime adaptation made its way to Saturday morning programming blocks for kids in the United States and Canada during the late '90s and early '00s, where it and its trading card game were originally marketed as a rival franchise to Nintendo's Pokemon and Bandai's Digimon. The popularity of the franchise has persisted for the last quarter of century, with the anime and manga both receiving several spinoff and sequel series, and Konami continuing to release new expansions and video games for the trading card game.
The original Yu-Gi-Oh! anime is available for streaming on Netflix, Crunchyroll and Hulu. Episodes from several of the anime's sequel and spinoff series can also be streamed directly from the official Yu-Gi-Oh! website.
Source: Yu-Gi-Oh! Official Website, Kaiba Corp.
