I've been watching the first season of Yu-Gi-Oh! off and on for the last several months. Following my obsession with Pokemon in the late 90s and early 2000s, Yu-Gi-oh! filled that void of childhood fad for me for about a year, during which i got really into the card game and also watching the anime. It was during this time that the first season was airing, and while I wasn't as into it as the cards the anime was based off of, I still remember enjoying the first season or at least what I saw of season 1.
Sadly, not even nostalgia was enough to allow me to enjoy this show, as Yu-Gi-Oh! is honestly one of the worst animes I've ever watched. Not only is the plot extremely basic and stupid, but it doesn't even follow the rules of the card game its based off of. I can forgive the latter, but the fact that the plot is so lame made getting through the 50ish episodes of the first season difficult to say the least.
While watching season 1 realized how many episodes of it I hadn't seen as a kid, probably around half of them actually. On top of that season one oddly doesn't end with Yugi defeating Pegasus in the Duelist Kingdom, but rather several episodes after that when he takes on a little girl and then a guy who plays a dice game that might as well have nothing to do with the Yu-Gi-Oh card game. I'm guessing this might have been the western end of season 1, but still it just seemed very odd to me.
Sadly the only parts of Yu-Gi-Oh I enjoyed were the first few episodes where the characters are introduced and where Yugi defeats Kaiba, as well as a few select battles after that, including the rematch of the aforementioned duel. Sadly not even the nostalgia I had for Yu-Gi-Oh as a kid/teen could allow me to enjoy this show outside of those select moment.
Unfortunately I don't see myself watching anymore Yu-Gi-Oh beyond what I just saw, and sadly I don't imagine I'll ever rewatch any of Yu-Gi-Oh again. There are parts of our childhood and past that are sometimes best left in the last and I can safely say that the Yu-Gi-Oh anime is one of those things.