Ash VS Yugi is the upcoming 200th episode of Death Battle, featuring Ash Ketchum and Pikachu from the Pokémon series and Yugi Muto and Yami Yugi from the Yu-Gi-Oh! series in a battle between young monster-summoning anime champions.
Interlude
Wiz & Boomstick
by Brandon Yates |
Boomstick: He's Wiz and I'm Boomstick.
Wiz: And it's our job to analyze their weapons, armor, and skills to find out who would win... a Death Battle.
Ash Ketchum
Yugi Muto
Prelude
Death Battle
Results
We cut to the "Winner" card.
Wiz: The winner is...
Original Track
Composition
The track for this fight is "???" by ???.
Title
The title references...
Cover Art
The cover art depicts...
Trivia
Production
- The core connections between Ash Ketchum and Yugi Muto are that they are both young anime heroes who are masters of monsters (Pokémon and Monsters, respectively), which they summon to fight against other summoners' monsters in globally-played sports (Pokémon battles and Duel Monsters, respectively), having won major tournaments (Ash won the Orange League, the Manalo Conference, and the World Coronation Series, while Yugi won Duelist Kingdom, Battle City, the KaibaCorp Grand Prix, and Battle City V2) and achieved royalty-themed champion titles denoting them as the best in their respective worlds (the Pokémon Monarch and the King of Games, respectively) in the process. In addition:
- Both have met their primary battle partners through unusual, if not unwitting, circumstances (Ash received Pikachu from Professor Oak after accidentally waking up late to choose a starter Pokémon, while Yugi merged with Yami Yugi's spirit after solving the Millennium Puzzle), but would nonetheless form an everlasting bond with them and travel together in the hopes of achieving a journey-wide goal (Ash and Pikachu traveled through numerous regions to achieve Ash's dream of becoming a Pokémon Master, while Yugi worked alongside Yami to collect the Millennium Items and recover the latter's memories).
- Throughout their adventures, both have met and traveled with numerous friends and companions, including that of former bullies turned best friends (Gary Oak and Joey Wheeler, respectively), close female peers from childhood (Serena and Téa Gardner, respectively), and intense rivals of rudely arrogant demeanor (Paul and Seto Kaiba, respectively).
- Both have frequently came into conflict with and defeated several villainous organizations (Giovanni's Team Rocket and Marik Ishtar's Rare Hunters being more common and respective examples) who misuse the power of their monsters and often sought to obtain the powers of legendary creatures for their own gain (numerous Legendary and Mythical Pokémon and the Egyptian God monsters, respectively).
- This is also a battle of opposites, as the two have contrasting reputations within their respective fanbases (Ash was usually looked down upon and seen as incompetent by fans due to losing multiple notable Pokémon battles and League Conferences before he won the Manalo Conference and World Coronation Series, while Yugi is highly respected among fans due to his numerous victories in and out of tournaments and a better win-loss ratio compared to Ash).
- Yugi and Yami's English voice actor, Dan Green, has also done multiple voice roles for the Pokémon anime, most notably as Ash's Treecko and Mewtwo, the latter of whom Ash has encountered on several occasions.
- Both of their series were adapted into extremely popular real-world children's card games (the Pokémon Trading Card Game and both the Yu-Gi-Oh! Official Card Game and Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game, respectively).
- Both got their series dubbed by 4Kids Entertainment, which led to them becoming iconic anime of the early 2000s in the West, as well as both characters appearing together in 4Kids' various channel adverts (including one that technically results in Ash attacking Yugi and one where Yugi bests Ash in a duel). Additionally, both were affected by 4Kids' censorship practices, which would become subject to scrutiny and numerous memes years later.
- This episode was confirmed during the Save Death Battle Kickstarter, having been the $375,000 stretch goal reward alongside another unrevealed episode.
Other
- This is the 21st Anime-themed episode, after Zoro VS Erza, Natsu VS Ace, Lucario VS Renamon, Naruto VS Ichigo, Jotaro VS Kenshiro, Roshi VS Jiraiya, Sasuke VS Hiei, Mob VS Tatsumaki, All Might VS Might Guy, Gray VS Esdeath, Beerus VS Sailor Galaxia, Sanji VS Rock Lee, DIO VS Alucard, Madara VS Aizen, Tanjiro VS Jonathan Joestar, Deku VS Asta, Gogeta VS Vegito, Killua VS Misaka, Gojo VS Makima, and Mahito VS Shigaraki.
- This is the third Nintendo VS Hitotsubashi-themed episode, after Kirby VS Majin Buu and Guts VS Dimitri.
- Prior to the episode's announcement, Brandon Yates made a track for this matchup called "Masters of Monsters" as part of his "What If?" commission tracks.
- This makes it the 11th episode that received its own commission track before its release, after Blake VS Mikasa, Goku Black VS Reverse-Flash, Jason Voorhees VS Michael Myers, Guts VS Dimitri, Bill Cipher VS Discord, Frieza VS Megatron, Gojo VS Makima, Galactus VS Unicron, Bowser VS Eggman and Kratos VS Asura, and with the next two being Simon the Digger VS White Lantern and Ruby VS Maka.
- This is the 10th one to be done by Brandon Yates, after Blake VS Mikasa, Goku Black VS Reverse-Flash, Jason Voorhees VS Michael Myers, Guts VS Dimitri, Bill Cipher VS Discord, Frieza VS Megatron, Galactus VS Unicron, Bowser VS Eggman and Kratos VS Asura, and with the next two being Simon the Digger VS White Lantern and Ruby VS Maka.
- This makes it the 11th episode that received its own commission track before its release, after Blake VS Mikasa, Goku Black VS Reverse-Flash, Jason Voorhees VS Michael Myers, Guts VS Dimitri, Bill Cipher VS Discord, Frieza VS Megatron, Gojo VS Makima, Galactus VS Unicron, Bowser VS Eggman and Kratos VS Asura, and with the next two being Simon the Digger VS White Lantern and Ruby VS Maka.