A peculiar petition is making the rounds right now among anime fans and the Japanese side of Twitter, claiming that Yugioh must be recognized as an official Olympics sport, but what if it already was all along?

Yugioh Olympics sports petition explained

As pointed out by CBR, YouTube and content creator Xiran Jay Zhao started a Change.org petition about recognizing the Yugioh Trading Card Game as an official sports competition of the Olympics. Japanese news site Livedoor News reshared the CBR story and petition, making Yugioh trend on JP Twitter this July 30. With over 25,000 retweets and 45,000 likes.

The petition explains it's an "absolute injustice" the Yugioh TCG isn't already a legitimate sport at the Olympics. Citing the players need incredible dexterity and endurance to draw their cards and handle long sessions.

Needless to say, this is an elaborate joke, but think about it for a second, what if playing Yugioh was a sport? Not the card game itself, but acting as if you're part of the anime. Imitating Yami Yugi's gestures, Seto Kaiba's laugh, lengthily explaining what you're doing, and of course, not following the rules. In fact, several content creators in Japan and beyond, have been "playing" Yugioh this way for decades.

What if the Yu-Gi-Oh! anime was real?

Over on Niconico, the "Japanese YouTube", you can find many videos of Yugioh cosplayers playing children's board games and party games in the most exaggerated way possible. Sometimes even imitating the Japanese voices incredibly well, and including the anime's OST for maximum drama. Wouldn't it be cool to have all these Yugioh comedians actually face off against each other (not necessarily at the Olympics) to decide who's the best at this beautiful art?

One of my personal favorites is this video embeded above of a Yugi cosplayer imitating the voice of Shunsuke Kazama... while playing games such as Pop-up Pirate and Jenga. There's a second part where a Kaiba cosplayer shows up as well.

Meanwhile, you have the Cooking Obelisk the Tormentor videos from Japanese YouTuber Amakudari. He ingeniously recreates iconic Yugioh Duel Monsters cards and combos from the anime through cooking. All while imitating both Yugi and Kaiba's voices. Some of his videos are actually subbed in English too. Be sure to activate the Closed Captions.

As for a slightly tamer look of what a real Yugioh duel could look like in real life, we have this video from Amazing LP. Note the incredible attention to detail, like including the anime's eye catch screen.

If you've never watched Yugioh in Japanese with subs, keep in mind it's a completely different show. The western version of the early series was not only heavily censored but also had completly different OSTs and sound effects.

If you ever plan to get into the Yugioh anime, you should definitely watch at least Duel Monsters, GX, and 5D's subbed to understand what makes it so amazing. Don't forget,you can always catch me on Twitter @A_iyane07 if you need someone to discuss Yugioh with.