Yugi is a normal high school student with a love for games of all kinds. Sadly, he's often stuck playing by himself since he's shorter than most guys his age and is often bullied at school. When his grandfather gives him an ancient Egyptian puzzle that is said to grant a wish to the one who can solve it, Yugi knows just what to wish for - friends! But this mysterious puzzle has more in store for our young hero than he could ever have imagined.
North American fans of the anime version of this well-known series might be surprised to learn that this first volume of Yu-Gi-Oh has none of the card games that made it popular. Instead, the protagonist and his opponents take part in various other "games", ending with a punishment to the loser. Generally these games are designed to exploit a weakness in Yugi's opponent (greed, for example) and punish them accordingly, so this volume has a different feel that those that come after it. There is the occasional bit of violence in this volume that you wouldn't find in most of the later volumes, but nothing graphic as this manga is for a teenage audience. The series as a whole deals with themes like friendship in a way that might be slightly clichéd, but the exciting and sometimes life-or-death games in this first installment create a nice balance that make up for the occasional corny friendship speech.
(Although this review is based on the French translation of this manga, the English version is the same save for the language). ( )