The first Yu-Gi-Oh! anime featured a variety of great and emotional duels, but the final match of the series, pitching Yugi against the Pharaoh, is easily its best and most tragic. This is somewhat surprising as often shōnen series fail to actually deliver a satisfying ending when they last as long as Yu-Gi-Oh! did, but it is a testament to the constant growth of its main characters that the climax of their arcs delivered such a powerful duel.
While Yu-Gi-Oh! has a large cast of fun and likable characters, the central focus of the show is generally on Yugi and his dark alter ego the Pharaoh. While these two may look the same, they are actually two different souls, one being a meek high school boy and the other being the reincarnated spirit of an ancient pharaoh. Inhabiting the same body, the two naturally learn from each other over the course of the series, with the Pharaoh learning to become less brutal from Yugi and Yugi learning to become more confident from the Pharaoh. The two also form a strong bond that they must shatter in the anime's final duel.
Yu-Gi-Oh!'s Final Duel Emotionally Finishes Yugi And Atem's Journeys
After learning the Pharaoh's true name, Atem, and defeating the ultimate evil Zorc, Yugi and his friends are able to finally let the Pharaoh's spirit on from this world. However, in order to do that, Yugi must defeat the Pharaoh in a duel. Their duel is easily the best in the series, with each countering the other’s plays at every point in some truly impressive ways. In the duel, the Pharaoh also manages to summon out pretty much all of his iconic and powerful monsters, from all 3 Egyptian Gods to the Dark Magician. Yugi manages to defeat all of these threats in turn and wins the game ultimately by predicting the exact final play the Pharaoh would make to defeat him. However, Yugi’s victory means that he will have to say goodbye to his best friend forever.
This tension between Yugi’s desire to win and his sadness over having to say goodbye to the Pharaoh is what makes this duel the most riveting in the entire anime. Their duel itself is in many ways an encapsulation of their time spent together, with each player using their knowledge of the other’s strategies to give themselves an edge. Yugi even displays his great growth as a duelist by cleverly defeating all the Egyptian Gods in one turn, a feat even Kaiba thought was impossible. As for the Pharaoh, the duel shows that Yugi has grown to a point where he no longer needs him, allowing Atem to on to his final reward peacefully.
The Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise has no shortage of incredible duels across its many series, even if not all of them made it into Yu-Gi-Oh!'s English dub. However, the duel between Yugi and Atem hits an emotional peak that few others attain, while also featuring incredible gameplay to boot. This is what makes Yugi vs. the Pharaoh easily the best of the duels in its own anime and potentially even the best and most emotional duel in the entire Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise.
