Yu-Gi-Oh! Sevens, stylized as Yu-Gi-Oh! SEVENS, is a Japanese anime series animated by Bridge. It is the sixth spin-off anime series in the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise, following Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS, and commemorates the 20th anniversary of the Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters anime series. The series premiered in Japan on TV Tokyo on April 4, 2020.
Synopsis
The anime takes place in the futuristic town of Gōha and stars Yūga Ōdō, a fifth-grade, elementary school student, who loves both inventions and dueling. Feeling that the current rules of the Duel Monsterscard game are too stifling, Yūga successfully manages to install a new set of rules of his own creation known as "Rush Duel", allowing for more fast-paced and frantic duelling. The series follows Yūga and his friends as they show off the delights of Rush Duels while under the watchful eye of the Goha Corporation that oversees the city.
Yu-Gi-Oh! Sevens was first announced as a then-untitled new anime series in the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise on July 21, 2019. The series will mark the second studio turnover in franchise history with Bridge taking over as head studio in animation production from Gallop, which oversaw every television series and films in the franchise beginning with Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters in 2000. The series is being directed by Nobuhiro Kondo with screenplay by Toshimitsu Takeuchi and character designs by Kazuko Tadano and Hiromi Matsushita. It began airing in Japan on April 4, 2020 on TV Tokyo. On April 28, 2020, it was announced that after episode 5, the remaining episodes would be delayed for five weeks due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. On July 10, 2020, it was announced it will be delayed again due to the aforementioned pandemic and will resume on August 8, 2020.
With the introduction of Yu-Gi-Oh! Sevens, it introduced new gameplay elements to the Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game. Effective April 1, 2020, it is now possible again to summon Fusion, Synchro, or Xyz monsters directly to the Main Monster zones without a required Link arrow pointing to it. Pendulum and Link monsters however retain their previous rules. No new type of cards were introduced to the main card game. Instead, a new format separate from the main game known as Rush Duels was introduced in a vein similar to Speed Duels. However, unlike Speed Duels, Rush Duels come with its own special rules. Normal Summoning is unlimited, though Tribute Summon rules for Level 5 or higher monsters still apply. All card effects are a "hard" once per turn, meaning a certain card's effect can only be used once during that turn. There are special satisfactions required for the player to fulfill before card effects can be used. Players can only use cards designed for Rush Duels, which have a special frame and a "RUSH DUEL" tag at the bottom of the card. Cards based on monsters from the main card game are known as "Legend Cards". Each player is only allowed one copy of one Legend Card in their deck.
