With the latest episode of Yu-Gi-Oh! Sevens, the Yu-Gi-Oh! anime franchise has officially hit 1,000 overall episodes since beginning two decades ago.
Yesterday, Dec. 12, Yu-Gi-Oh! Sevens -- the seventh canonical series in the Yu-Gi-Oh! anime franchise -- aired its 28th episode, "Training Camp! Sushi Duel." As many fans have pointed out, and as the official @yugioh_anime Twitter account announced, Sevens Episode 28 marks franchise's 1,000th total episode since Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters premiered in the year 2000.
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— アニメ「遊☆戯☆王」公式 (@yugioh_anime) December 11, 2020
祝！！
アニメ『遊☆戯☆王』シリーズ
1000回放送?✨✨
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明日の放送がアニメ『遊☆戯☆王』シリーズの記念すべき1000回目になります?
いつも応援いただきありがとうございます❗️
明日は一緒に1000回目の放送を楽しみましょう♪#yugioh #遊戯王 pic.twitter.com/NHIkIMz7OI
Based on the manga of the same name by Kazuki Takahashi (which has also spawned a popular trading card game), Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters -- known in some markets as simply Yu-Gi-Oh! -- premiered in 2000, running for a total of 224 episodes. The anime was followed by a number of spinoffs, including Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, which ran for 180 episodes; Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's, which ran for 154 episodes; Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal, which ran for 146 episodes; Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc-V, which ran for 148 episodes; and Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS, which ran for 120 episodes. With the 28th episode of Sevens -- which was originally announced as a celebration of Yu-Gi-Oh!'s 20th anniversary -- the franchise at large has now reached 1,000 episodes and counting.
Notably, this count does not recognize Toei Animation's original Yu-Gi-Oh! anime series, which is colloquially referred to by fans as "Season 0." Based on Takahashi's original Yu-Gi-Oh! manga, Season 0 premiered in Japan in 1998. It ran for 27 episodes (plus a feature film), though was never dubbed into English and is considered non-canon to the rest of the franchise. So, when you do count Season 0, Yu-Gi-Oh! Sevens' premiere episode -- which arrived back in April -- was actually the franchise's 1,000th.
However, the count also does not recognize the 12-episode 2006 anime mini-series Yu-Gi-Oh! Capsule Monsters. This is possibly due to the fact that home media releases have billed it as a feature film, rather than a series. Also, in contrast to Season 0, Capsule Monsters never aired in Japan at all, having been commissioned directly by 4Kids Entertainment (the company behind the original Yu-Gi-Oh! English dubs) exclusively for a western audience.
On top of Yu-Gi-Oh! Season 0, its feature film, the 1,000+ episode canon anime franchise and Capsule Monsters, several other Yu-Gi-Oh! anime films have been made as well. Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie: Pyramid of Light released in 2004, followed by Yu-Gi-Oh!: Bonds Beyond Time in 2010 and Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Dark Side of Dimensions in 2016.
Source: Twitter/@yugioh_anime
