Jaden Yuki

Jaden Yuki, known as Judai Yuki (遊城十代) in the original Japanese version, is a fictional character and the main protagonist of 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.

In the anime, he is a teenager who attends Duel Academy, a school teaching the fictional game of Duel Monsters founded by Seto Kaiba of the original anime. He is placed in Slifer Red dormitory (the lowest ranking), but during the series he is chosen as one of Duel Academy's best duelists. He later gains the Neo-Spacian and Elemental Hero Neos cards, which become his signature monsters. In the third series, Jaden discovers that his childhood favourite card, Yubel, has turned evil and is being cured by a guest teacher, Professor Viper. Yubel transports Duel Academy to an alternate dimension, where Jaden becomes an evil spirit called the Supreme King. Once healed, he gains the powers of Yubel and the Supreme King.

Synopsis
The Yu-Gi-Oh! GX anime began with Jaden, intending to attend Duel Academy, bumping into the protagonist of the original Yu-Gi-Oh! series, an obscure Yugi Mutou, on his way to the school's entrance examinations, being late and rushing. Yugi gave him a Winged Kuriboh card, which would become Jaden's signature monster during the first season and appear as a spirit guide. As he was late to the exam, an angry teacher, Vellain Crowler, duelled him for the practical entrance match using his own, powerful deck, instead of a school deck. Regardless, Jaden won the duel and was entered into Duel Academy. Jaden receives a low score on the exam's written component, and was therefore placed in Slifer Red, the lowest-ranked dormitory, alongside characters Syrus Truesdale and Chumley Huffington, who become his new friends. Early in the first season and out of spite, Crowler tried to kick Jaden out of school on many different occasions before finally beginning to respect him. However, he remained one of Jaden's rivals. After visiting an Obelisk Blue on-site duel arena by accident, Jaden met Chazz Princeton, an Obelisk Blue student who became Jaden's next rival. Jaden was shown to be an accomplished duelist, defeating the before-mentioned Crowler during his examination duel, Alexis Rhodes, who is hailed as the "Queen of Obelisk Blue", Chazz Princeton in a school-wide duel, and Bastion Misawa for the representative position in an inter-school duel, all three of whom received higher grades than he did and represented the higher-ranked dormitories.

As he was an accomplished duellist, the principal selected Jaden as one of the seven teachers and pupils to guard the Sacred Keys during the "Sacred Beasts" arc. Jaden defended his Sacred Key from the Shadow Riders, who intended to use the Keys to summon the powerful Sacred Beast cards, which were hidden at Duel Academy. Jaden eventually became the owner of the last Sacred Key. As such, he duelled the master of the Shadow Riders. Jaden won the duel and the Sacred Beasts were returned.

In the second season, Duel Academy had a new dormitory form, based on the Society of Light, an organisation of duelists focused on the Light of Destruction, a sentient being from another dimension that possessed a duelist named Sartorius. The Society of Light converted several of Jaden's friends and fellow students, making them worship the Light. Meanwhile, Jaden encountered Aster Phoenix, a duel champion who also used a HERO-themed deck. After losing a duel with him and being unable to see his cards, Jaden ventured into an extraterrestrial realm known as "Neo Space". He met the Neo-Spacians, cards he had designed for a competition as a child. Upon learning of an ongoing fight between the Neo-Spacians and the Light of Destruction, Jaden adopted the role of the universe's defender, wielding the "darkness of justice" against Sartorius and the Society of Light. He was charged with the task of rescuing most of his converted friends from the organization's clutches. Jaden was 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 was pursued by a deranged Yubel whose dedication to its mission had long since warped into a sick obsession with Jaden, where on many occasions it announced that it loved Jaden. After one of his friends, Jesse Andersen, sacrificed himself in order to defeat the deranged spirit, Jaden went on a rescue mission which forced him to confront his own feelings of inferiority and doubt. He succumbed 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 dueled and collected the souls of numerous innocents to complete the Super Polymerization card, but was rescued by Axel Brodie.

Restored to his former self, Jaden confronts Yubel and taps into the power of Supreme King inside him to duel. Yubel then reveals that in a different dimension it was once a human who volunteered to become a monster to protect Jaden's past incarnation as a king until he became an adult, whose alter-ego Supreme King ( Haou in the Japanese original) was destined to wield the power of darkness to keep balance with the Light of Destruction (all references to the Light of Destrction are removed from the 4Kids dub) Jaden, forgiving Yubel, fuses its soul with his soul with Super Polymerization, absorbing its powers and vanishing as the different dimension closes. Yubel is purged of the evil in her body, and the two of them head off to do battle against the Light of Destruction which threatens the universe (it is never revealed if Jaden and Yubel destroyed the Light of Destruction, although Jaden's safe return to Earth suggested that he Yubel did). 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.

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. He is the only duel academy student still enrolled in Slifer Red. 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 Fujiwara, 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 Fujiwara dead. He also has to deal with the reemergence of Nightshroud, whose past may also tie into the mysteries behind Fujiwara and Trueman.

Later on the season, Jaden goes in a hurry to Domino City because Axel Brodie told him that it was empty, and that it might be a Trueman action. Jaden, however, gets there too late, and has to face Trueman, who had taken control of Axel. After Jaden is cornered by Trueman, Sartorius saved him and had a duel with him. Jaden later dueled Jesse, but due to the "Arcana Force 0: The Fool" card Sartorius had placed in Jaden's deck tainting his Polymerization card, Jaden believed he was facing Trueman. He eventually faces the real Nightshroud in a duel, and with the aid of Neos, the Neo-Spacians, and Yubel, manages to win. Now, on his Graduation Day, Jaden is challenged by the present-day Yugi, who indirectly takes him to the past for a true Graduation Duel against a younger Yugi.

Jaden duels against Yugi until the Pharaoh Atem takes over Yugi's body and summons Slifer the Sky Dragon. Jaden in return sends Neos into battle with the God Card. During his duel with Yugi and Atem, Jaden remembers the fun in dueling. It then pans to the desert. Jaden thanks Yugi for reminding him that dueling is fun. In the end, he is shown in a desert where he finds Pharaoh and the ghost of Professor Banner in his bag, who felt it would be fun to travel with Jaden than to stay at Duel Academy. Jaden also finds a letter left for him in his bag from his friends, wishing him well and expressing hopes of seeing him again someday. Jaden, with Banner and Pharoah following, runs off into the distance, towards the upcoming adventures.

In addition, in Yu-Gi-Oh!: Bonds Beyond Time he works together with Yugi and Yusei by meeting with them through the powers of Yubel and The Supreme King. Jaden appears after Paradox steals Cyber End Dragon from Syrus and Rainbow Dragon from Jesse and begins to attack Venice. Though Jaden is able to defend himself with Elemental Hero Neos, Paradox soon attack Jaden and Neos with Stardust Dragon, a monster from the future, and overpowers Jaden. Before the final attack can connect, though, the Crimson Dragon appears and blocks the attack before disappearing and reveals that Yusei Fudo has followed the Crimson Dragon back in time to Jaden's time. Paradox soon takes his leave as Jaden explains to Yusei what Paradox's true intentions are: He plans to kill Pegasus around the time he was creating Duel Monsters, thus preventing the events of all 3 series from ever occurring and causing a time paradox. Using Crimson Dragon's powers, the 2 travel farther back in time to Yugi's time-era, only to be too late as Paradox has already come and gone, presumably killing Pegasus and Solomon Mutou, Yugi's grandpa, as well as stealing one of Seto Kaiba's Blue Eyes White Dragons and Joey Wheeler's Red Eyes Black Dragon. Yusei and Jaden manage to convince a grieving Yugi Mutou to help them stop Paradox and travel back to 30 minutes before Paradox's attack on Yugi's time. They manage to intercept Paradox and plea for him to stop, but to no avail. A 3-on-1 duel then begins, with Yugi, Jaden and Yusei sharing 4000 life points.

Though only having 1 turn in the duel, Jaden shows his mastery of fusion as he summons a new fusion monster, Elemental Hero Neos Knight, by fusing his Neos with Yusei's Junk Gardna and destroying Paradox's Sin Cyber End Dragon and Sin Rainbow Dragon. He and Yami Yugi also manage to convince Yusei, who loses faith in their victory after the summoning of Sin Truth Dragon, prepares to forfeit, instead to continue on and fight. He and Yami Yugi are able to give Stardust Dragon the power to defeat Sin Truth Dragon and defeat Paradox. Following their victory, all the damage Paradox caused to the timeline is repaired and our heroes return to their respective timelines with Yusei promising to protect the future and meet him and Yugi again.

Deck
During the first year, Jaden plays an Elemental HERO deck composed of the eponymous series of monsters, Spell and Trap Cards and that support them, as well as his "partner" Winged Kuriboh which he received from Yugi. 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 was based on the various Fusions that were created through combination of the Elemental Hero cards. As the series progresses, it was revealed that every Elemental Hero had a Fusion of some sort with another, giving the card Polymerization premier importance in Jaden's deck (Bastian once sealing it in order to exploit the flaw in Jaden's deck, his reliance on stronger fusion monsters). He also has several other fusion based cards such as the Field Spell Fusion Gate and the Spell Miracle Fusion just in case Polymerization isn't available to him. The majority of his other cards supplement his Elemental Hero monsters, such as the Field Spell, Skyscraper, and these cards had allowed Jaden to emerge victorious even in dire situations.

After his second duel with Aster, Jaden's entire deck was left blank to his eyes due to Sartorius's 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 thus giving him another alternate way to fuse as it does not require Polymerization or another fusion based Spell Card.

One of the cards in this variation of his deck, Rallis the Star Bird, was based on an illustration by Kaori Kimura (木村香央里) 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.

After returning to normal, Jaden regained his Neos deck and after fusing his soul with Yubel's, its card was added to it. Yubel can be fused with Neos to create Jaden's most powerful Duel Monster, Neos Wiseman. His last new fusion monster shown is Divine Neos, a combination of all the Neo-Spacians and Neos himself. He used this powerful Fusion Monster in his duel against Nightshroud (Darkness).

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 was already a student of Duel Academy, with Koyo's heroes standing by his side, which are more natural elements. His key card in the manga was Elemental Hero Terra Firma (known as Elemental Hero The Earth in the Japanese version), which was also one of a kind Planet series. He also had a lot of Alternative Fusion cards for situations where he can't normally use Polymerization.

In the Yu-Gi-Oh! 3D: Bonds Beyond Time, Jaden introduces a new fusion monster, Elemental HERO Neos Knight, which gains attack points equal to half the attack points of the warrior-type that fuses with Elemental Hero Neos.