The original Yu-Gi-Oh anime loosely follows the first volumes of the manga, and is considered as being a darker anime than the duel monsters one, released two years after.
The show is not without merits, the scenarios are quite entertaining and they try to keep things fresh, however they do milk some running jokes and formulas (like the attraction between Honda & Miho, the latter being much more present in the anime than in the manga, even though she mostly serves as comic relief and fan service). Some of the characters are indeed more flanderized than their counterparts from the 2000s series, Honda is especially lousy and annoying. The voice acting, being of course only in Japanese, sounds weird when you make the transition from the 2000s series to this one, mostly Yugi who is clearly voiced by a female in this version, Yami/Atem as well who sounds like a sassy teenager, it isn't bad by any means, but it takes some time to get used to. The music is mostly generic, some tracks do stand out though, like Yami's theme when he emerges is always a treat to listen to.
What I like about this anime compared to the more recent one is that the games/duels don't take 3 episodes to end, with the exception of the last arc, in which case it's not much of a problem. As such, the pacing is much better. However, since this is the pre-Duel Monsters era, the card game we're all accustomed to nowadays makes almost absolutely no sense in the 1998 anime (during the 1st season of the Duel Monsters era it was still unpolished, but this is so much worse), it's like a prototype without much rules and filled with Deus Ex Machinas, dueling is probably the worst part of this anime. But still, I like that the stakes are always pretty high, even though sometimes it just doesn't make sense to have some characters being threatened by death.
This series is animated by... ugh... Toei. As a result, the animation and quality of the artwork is probably the worst thing about this anime, being only available on VHS doesn't help. It's incredibly stilted, poor, and it's inferior to the 2000s series in every way. While Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Monsters has aged surprisingly well by today's standards (it's not without flaws, it has badly animated episodes), Yu-Gi-Oh by Toei looks bad and old even by 1998's standards and makes early Sailor Moon look like a masterpiece. The series would indeed be much more bearable with better artwork and animation, the colours look odd as well, being washed out, but I'd blame the VHS quality for that.
It's nothing spectacular, but I think Duel Monsters fans and non- fans alike can give this series a fair shot. This series is only 27 episodes long and isn't linked to the Duel Monsters arcs, so you can watch it as its own thing.
The show is not without merits, the scenarios are quite entertaining and they try to keep things fresh, however they do milk some running jokes and formulas (like the attraction between Honda & Miho, the latter being much more present in the anime than in the manga, even though she mostly serves as comic relief and fan service). Some of the characters are indeed more flanderized than their counterparts from the 2000s series, Honda is especially lousy and annoying. The voice acting, being of course only in Japanese, sounds weird when you make the transition from the 2000s series to this one, mostly Yugi who is clearly voiced by a female in this version, Yami/Atem as well who sounds like a sassy teenager, it isn't bad by any means, but it takes some time to get used to. The music is mostly generic, some tracks do stand out though, like Yami's theme when he emerges is always a treat to listen to.
What I like about this anime compared to the more recent one is that the games/duels don't take 3 episodes to end, with the exception of the last arc, in which case it's not much of a problem. As such, the pacing is much better. However, since this is the pre-Duel Monsters era, the card game we're all accustomed to nowadays makes almost absolutely no sense in the 1998 anime (during the 1st season of the Duel Monsters era it was still unpolished, but this is so much worse), it's like a prototype without much rules and filled with Deus Ex Machinas, dueling is probably the worst part of this anime. But still, I like that the stakes are always pretty high, even though sometimes it just doesn't make sense to have some characters being threatened by death.
This series is animated by... ugh... Toei. As a result, the animation and quality of the artwork is probably the worst thing about this anime, being only available on VHS doesn't help. It's incredibly stilted, poor, and it's inferior to the 2000s series in every way. While Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Monsters has aged surprisingly well by today's standards (it's not without flaws, it has badly animated episodes), Yu-Gi-Oh by Toei looks bad and old even by 1998's standards and makes early Sailor Moon look like a masterpiece. The series would indeed be much more bearable with better artwork and animation, the colours look odd as well, being washed out, but I'd blame the VHS quality for that.
It's nothing spectacular, but I think Duel Monsters fans and non- fans alike can give this series a fair shot. This series is only 27 episodes long and isn't linked to the Duel Monsters arcs, so you can watch it as its own thing.