A tumultuous period in the early history of the Yu-Gi-Oh! anime franchise saw Toei Animation attempting to cancel the series, only to be countered by a drastic measure from Weekly Shonen Jump: the threat of revoking Dragon Ball's secondary usage rights.
According to Yoshiro Kataoka, a production planner involved with anime such as Hunter x Hunter, the original 1998 Yu-Gi-Oh! anime adaptation, produced by TV Asahi and Toei Animation, was not performing well. Despite its struggles in Japan, the manga had begun to gain significant traction, prompting publisher Shueisha to desire a continuation of the anime.
Kataoka recounted that during a 1999 meeting, Toei Animation expressed no intention of producing a second season and was unwilling to relinquish the anime rights to another company. In response, Kazuhiko Torishima, then editor-in-chief of Weekly Shonen Jump, issued an ultimatum. "Are you sure you want to say that?" Kataoka recalled Torishima saying. "If that’s how you want to play ball, then here’s my trump card: I’ll revoke all secondary usage rights for Dragon Ball."
At the time, Dragon Ball was experiencing immense international popularity, particularly its Dragon Ball Z iteration which aired in North America for an extended period. Faced with the potential loss of rights for the highly successful Dragon Ball franchise, Toei Animation relented.
This resolution paved the way for the TV Tokyo-produced Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters anime. The original 27-episode Toei anime, which never received an English dub and is often referred to by fans as "Yu-Gi-Oh! Season 0," remains available to watch on YouTube.