Jaden Yuki

Jaden Yuki
Yu-Gi-Oh! GX character
Jaden Yuki
First appearance	Anime: Yu-Gi-Oh! GX Episode 1 Manga: Yu-Gi-Oh! GX Chapter 1
Voiced by	Older: KENN Younger: Mariko Nagahama (Japanese) Matthew Charles (English)
Profile
Age	15 at his debut; currently 18
Known relatives	Father(unknown) Mother(unknown)

Jaden Yuki, known as Judai Yuki (遊城十代, Yūki Jūdai^?) in the original Japanese language version, is a fictional character in the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX anime and manga series. His name is meant to be a pun in Japanese, as "jūdai" is the word for "teenager". In the English version, Jaden is voiced by Matthew Charles, while KENN (older) and Mariko Nagahama (younger) take the role in the Japanese version. The series' main protagonist, Jaden was originally portrayed as a carefree and talented fun-loving duelist with good instincts throughout the first three seasons. However, at the end of the third season and the subsequent fourth season, Jaden discovers his past incarnation as a king with an evil alter-personality destined to wield the power of darkness, and becomes more serious and brooding as a result. After some time with this personality, his friend Alexis Rhodes gets to recover Jaden to his normal and enthusiastic personality, however, he is more serious than the last 2 years.

Character design

Jaden's design incorporates multiple layers of clothing and a wide range of expressions. Depicted here is the duelist in full Slifer Red regalia from front, side, and rear alongside views of his head from different angles.

Jaden's character design was overseen by Kenichi Hara.^[1] His usual outfit consists of the standard Slifer Red uniform, unbuttoned. A deck box is strapped above his waistline, largely hidden beneath the lower rim of his jacket. His brown hair is sectioned in two layers, the layer closest to his face a darker shade of brown than the one behind it. His brown eyes are positioned directly beneath the bangs of the layer closest to his face. He carries an Academy-issued Duel Disk on his left hand. In the fourth season, Jaden's Slifer Red uniform changes shape subtly. His black undershirt has a higher collar, his jeans are of a darker color, the collar of his uniform jacket is larger, and the bottom of the jacket is longer and flares outwards. In addition, Jaden now uses a red Second Generation Academy Duel Disk. Jaden's hair style also changes to reflect his fusing with Yubel.

Fictional character biography

The Yu-Gi-Oh! GX anime begins with Jaden, intending to attend Duel Academy, bumping into protagonist of the original Yu-Gi-Oh! series, Yugi Mutou, on his way to the school's entrance examinations, being late and rushing. Yugi gives him a Winged Kuriboh card. Jaden receives a low score on the exam's written component, and is therefore placed in Slifer Red, the lowest-ranked dormitory, alongside characters Syrus Truesdale and Chumley Huffington, who become his new friends. Jaden makes several enemies at the Academy, including Vellian Crowler, whom Jaden defeats in his examination duel. Out of spite, Crowler tries to kick Jaden out of school on many different occasions before finally beginning to respect him. Jaden is shown to be an accomplished duelist, defeating the aforementioned Crowler during his examination duel, Chazz Princeton in a school-wide duel, and Bastion Misawa for the representative position in an inter-school duel. He also defeats most of the Shadow Riders. In the second season, Jaden ventures into an extraterrestrial realm known as "Neo Space" after being defeated in his second Duel with Aster Phoenix and losing the ability to see his cards. There he learns of the ongoing battle between the forces of darkness and light. With the help of the resident Neo-Spacians, Jaden adopts the role of the universe's defender, wielding the "darkness of justice" against Sartorius and the Society of Light.^[2] He is charged with the task of rescuing most of his converted friends from the organization's clutches. Jaden is also entrusted one of the keys to the mind control satellite of Misgarth by Sartorius' good personality, and proceeds to purge the Light of Destruction from the diviner's body. In the third season, Jaden is pursued by a deranged Yubel whose dedication to its mission had long since warped into a sick obsession with Jaden. After one of his friends, Jesse Andersen, sacrifices himself in order to defeat the deranged spirit, Jaden goes on a rescue mission which forces him to confront his own feelings of inferiority and doubt. He succumbs to them, temporarily straying off the path of a hero by becoming the ruthless ruler of the third alternate dimension, the Supreme King. As Supreme King, Jaden duels and collects the souls of numerous innocents to complete the Super Fusion card, but is defeated by Axel Brodie.

Jaden manifesting Yubel's power, represented by Yubel's eyes.

Restored to his former self, Jaden confronts Yubel and taps into the power of Supreme King inside him to duel. Yubel then reveals she was once a human who volunteered to become a monster to protect Jaden's past incarnation as a king, whose alter-ego Supreme King was destined to wield the power of darkness to keep balance with the Light of Destruction. Jaden, eventually forgiving Yubel, fuses her soul with his soul, absorbing her powers and vanishing as the different dimension closes. Jaden returns to the original world after a wish on a falling star by Syrus results in Jaden crashing back to Duel Academy inside a meteor.^[3] In the fourth season, Jaden has been fused with Yubel's soul, and its power occasionally manifests in the form of bichromatic eyes. He is also more serious and brooding, much to the confusion of the other members of the main cast. Jaden decides to leave Duel Academy, not wishing to put his friends in danger of a threat he feels gaining in strength. However, both Sartorius and Kagemaru attempt to convince him otherwise, believing that he is needed on the island to prevent a growing danger in the near future. This seems to be well-advised, as before their meeting, Jaden already confronts a mysterious Obelisk Blue student by name of Yusuke Fujihara, who can hypnotize people and set fires with his eyes, as well as a new darkness-controlling antagonist (or set of antagonists, as multiple copies of him are shown in the end of episode 158), Trueman, who seems to want both Jaden and Fujihara dead. He also has to deal with the reemergence of Nightshroud, whose past may also tie into the mysteries behind Fujihara and Trueman. Jaden is also memorable for his catchphrases, most notably "I'll throw down a facedown" when setting cards, "Get your game on" when beginning a Duel, and "That's game" when winning one. In the Japanese version, he uses the phrase "Gotcha".

Deck

During the first year, Jaden plays an Elemental Hero deck composed of the eponymous series of monsters, Spell and Trap Cards that support them, as well as his "partner" Winged Kuriboh. The design of cards in the Elemental Hero series is of American comic book origin, while the design of cards in the Neo-Spacian series is of Japanese origin. Jaden's strategy is based on the various Fusions that are created through combinations of the Elemental Hero cards. As the series progress, it is revealed that every Elemental Hero has a Fusion of some sort with another, giving the card Polymerization premier importance in Jaden's deck. The majority of his other cards supplement his Elemental Hero monsters, such as the Field Spell, Skyscraper, and these cards have allowed Jaden to emerge victorious even in dire situations. Occasionally he uses Winged Kuriboh, a monster that reminds viewers of Yugi's original deck. After his second duel with Aster, Jaden's entire deck is left blank to his eyes due to Sartorius' powers. With the inability to use his old Hero deck, Jaden received a new one that included some cards he created as a child for a KaibaCorp contest. Once his ability to see his older cards returned, he combined elements from both decks into a single deck, his Neos deck. While this deck still contains many of the cards from his original deck, it also consists of Neo-Spacians and cards that exploit their ability to "Contact Fuse" with Elemental Hero Neos in Guyver-inspired fashion. One of the cards in this variation of his deck, Rallis the Star Bird, is based on an illustration by Kaori Kimura (木村香央里, Kimura Kaori^?) submitted for a card illustration contest held earlier during the series. As the Supreme King, Jaden plays Evil Hero cards, vile incarnations of his regular Elemental Heroes. As opposed to the combo-oriented style of his normal Elemental Heroes, Jaden's Evil Heroes rely on straightforward tactics such as monster destruction and overwhelming opponents with powerful Fusion monsters. In the manga, Jaden played a deck similar to that of his anime counterpart as a child. While in the hospital for breaking one of his bones playing baseball, fellow patient Koyo Hibiki gave the boy his own nature-themed Elemental Hero deck (including Winged Kuriboh), and as a result of the meeting with Koyo and his sister, Midori, Jaden was inspired to become a duelist. From the outset of the manga storyline, he is already a student of Duel Academy, with Koyo's heroes standing by his side.

References