Zane Truesdale

Zane Truesdale, known in Japan as Ryo Marufuji (丸藤亮, Marufuji Ryō), is the top duelist of Duel Academy in Jaden's first year, Zane serves as one of Jaden's rivals during the series' first season, though he takes a more brutal approach to dueling after experiencing a transformation of mind in the second.

In the English dubs, Zane is voiced by Scottie Ray, while Tsuyoshi Maeda takes the role in the Japanese version.

Character design


Zane's character design was overseen by Kenichi Hara. His first season outfit (left) consists of the standard Obelisk Blue uniform with a more pronounced collar, tighter-bound sleeves, and pointed rims coming out the costume's lower back. His blue hair is sectioned in three layers, his blue eyes positioned directly beneath the bangs of the layer closest to his face. He carries an Academy-issued Duel Disk on his left hand.

Zane's second outfit consists of a black overcoat with white trimmings and sharp edges. The letter "R" is centered on his belt buckle, drawn from the first letter of his name in the Japanese version. (This feature has been occasionally removed from the English version.) Zane's facial expressions also elicit more angered and/or sadistic nuances than those of his previous design.

Character biography
17-year old Zane Truesdale is the stronger older brother of Syrus who stays in the Obelisk Blue dormitory at Duel Academy along with Alexis and Chazz. Zane is highly respected, and a duel with him is reserved only for the elite. He is also close friends with Alexis and her brother, Atticus. In the original version of the series, he is nicknamed "Kaiser Ryo" (カイザー亮 Kaizā Ryō).

When Syrus was younger, he almost used the card Power Bond without thinking during a duel. He was stopped by Zane who revealed that if he used it, he would have lost the duel at the end of his turn because of the card's drawback. Paying off Syrus' opponent to end the duel, Zane sealed the card, stating that his brother could only use it when he was truly ready. Syrus, believing himself to be a disgrace to his older brother, did not unseal the card until much later after his friend Jaden faced off against Zane.

Zane was selected by Camula, the second member of the Shadow Riders, as a victim of her shadow duel. Though he easily overpowered her, the vampire forced him into an intentional loss by offering his brother's soul as payment for her "Illusion Gate" card. As a result, he was turned into a doll for a short period of time, before Jaden managed to defeat Camula.

Zane is one of three people to have ever defeated Jaden in a duel thus far, the others being Kaibaman and Aster. He later faces Jaden in a rematch, choosing him as his opponent for his ceremonial graduation duel. The duel ends in a tie after Zane and Jaden use a variety of cards to raise their monsters' attack strengths to astronomical levels, but ended up taking damage equal to both monsters' attack points. Zane goes on to compete in Duel Pro League after his graduation.



A fan favorite in the Pro League, he suffers his first true loss at the hands of Aster Phoenix, who continuously tells him that his defeat is "predetermined by destiny." The duel that the two engage in marks the first time Zane takes damage from "Power Bond". The battle takes its toll; from then on, Zane finds himself perpetually trapped in a losing streak. He is approached by Mr. Shroud, a promoter who offers him the chance to redeem himself, and although reluctant at first, Zane ultimately accepts.

Hell Kaiser Ryo aka Dark Zane
Zane is pitted against Mad Dog in the "Underground Duel," a competition in front of a shady audience wherein both contestants are sealed inside a cage and forced to wear electrodes that shock them each time life points are depleted. Zane again finds himself on the losing end, but realizes that his former philosophy of respecting the opponent above the desire to win has limits towards the end of the game. Frustrated and desperate, he resorts to cruelty and aggression and summons the "Chimeratech Overdragon", which wins the duel, and practically destroys the dueling ring in the process. As the smoke clears, Shroud is amazed (he calls Ryo a "monster" in the Japanese version). The next time Zane is seen, he proves his strength to the dueling world once more. He is now addressed as "Hell Kaiser Ryo" (ヘルカイザー亮, Heru Kaizā Ryō) in the Japanese version. He has donned a dark outfit, and a personality to match.



Zane returns to the Pro League and goes on a new winning streak, and many of his opponents are left seriously injured at the hands of his monster's attacks. In episode 83, Zane travels into the mountains after firing his promoter to confront Sheppard in the dojo where he was brought up dueling, hoping to acquire the forbidden Underworld, known in Japan as Cyber-Style Reverse (サイバー流裏, Saibā Ryū Ura) Deck that existed opposite of his own "Cyber Dragon" deck. Though Sheppard manages to keep Zane at bay with his "Cyber Ogre" and various methods of manipulating his opponent's monsters, he is defeated by his own "Cyber Ogre 2" when Zane betrays his "Cyber End Dragon". Zane takes his prize, but Sheppard believes that he will regain the respect he once held for others during the Genex tournament, and thus gives him a medal that will allow him to participate.

Shortly thereafter, Atticus duels Zane under the impression that his friend has fallen to the dark side, much like himself when he was taken in by the Shadow Riders, using the deck of Nightshroud to symbolize his belief that, just as he was able to break free from the darkness that had corrupted him, so too could Zane. Using his new deck, Zane easily dispatches his opponent, causing the dark power of Nightshroud to once again envelop Atticus as he loses faith in his friend's salvation. Zane, however, tells him upon his defeat that there is no darkness in his heart, and that his only wish is to achieve victory through unrelenting force and the accumulation of power. In turn, the monster that others perceive him to have become has merely been born of his inability to cope with failure.

In episode 95, Zane approaches Aster Phoenix for a second duel. Syrus, however, intervenes and demands to be his opponent instead. Similar to his previous duel with Inukai, both players wear electrodes, subject to the intense physical punishment of the "Hell Duel." It becomes clear that, in his current mindset, Zane spares no one; he is cold, ruthless, and sadistic, regardless of whom his opponents are, and enjoys seeing others suffer. Despite Syrus' efforts to defeat his brother, Zane trounces him by returning his "Cyberdark Dragon" back to its three original fusion components. He then makes his exit, stating that if there is anything he respects at all anymore, it is only victory itself. He appears again in episode 102 following a brief run-in with the disguised Blair, giving her his tournament medal as he is no longer interested in participating, and leaves Duel Academy Island.

He is not seen again until midway through the third year, when he returns to duel Jesse to supply the energy necessary for the awakening of Rainbow Dragon card. Later, after hearing about Yubel, he designates it as its final opponent. Soon after, along with Aster Phoenix, he sees Jaden and company off on their journey to rescue Jesse in the different dimension, only to get sucked in as well with Aster. By this time, prolonged usage of electrodes has left him with fatal heart conditions.

While in the alternate dimension, along with Aster, he helps Jim and Axel in their effort to defeat Haou the Supreme King after he possesses Jaden. After this task, he decides to restore a traumatized Jaden back to his old self, but is unsuccessful as he didn't understand the extent of the trauma. He decides to duel a Yubel-possessed Jesse in order to fulfill his dying wish of being immortalized, but is ultimately defeated and dies from his heart conditions. However, he manages to grant his wish by making his "Cyber End Dragon" an eternal symbol of his skill and strength. Zane's performance in the duel and last words along with the wisdom of the others allows Jaden to put his problems aside so he may face Yubel. He is later discovered to be alive, and held prisoner with everyone else who died in the Duel Spirit world in an alternate dimension by Yubel.

Under unexplained circumstances, he returns to Duel Academy after washing up, unconsious, on the beach. His heart is still in bad shape, but he is put under the care of his brother to recover. It is revealed that his heart condition was caused not by the electrodes but by his Cyberdark Deck. He later duels Izimu Makoto, a practicer of the Psycho-Style, who has made it his goal to destroy all those who use the Cyber-Style. The duel takes its toll on Zane, as he becomes so weak he cannot even reach to his own deck to surrender. Syrus attempts to do it for him, then announces that his brother will not surrender, but will merely pull out of the duel. Syrus then takes Zane's Duel Disk to finish the duel himself, but instantly comes to regret his decision as he starts to suffer the same heart problems as Zane. After Syrus' duel with Izimu he inherits his Cyber Dragon Deck to Syrus and says he will start over with a new deck.

Manga
In the manga, Zane was studying in America until recently returning to Duel Academy with two American duelists, David Rabb and Reggie MacKenzie, in tow. It remains to be seen if he plays the same deck he did in the anime, although in one clip from the manga, we see Zane superimposed over "Cyber End Dragon" in a website article.

Voice/Mannerisms
Personality-wise, Zane is calm and collected, with a deep respect for his opponents and his own cards. He feels that the connection between a duelist and his opponent, as well as the duelist himself and his deck, makes victory meaningful. His dubbed personality is much harsher than his Japanese counterpart, which is surprising.

Following his duel in the underground against Mad Dog, his personality is much more harsher, crueler, and sadistic; as he enjoys watching his opponents suffer. In the dubbed version, he even rants about how the world is made of hurt, and that people either get hurt, or control the hurt, and those who control the hurt inflict it upon the weak.

While in the different dimension, Zane's personality seems to revert back to his previous dignified and respectful manner, but with a philosophical view added in, most likely arising from the acceptance of his fate after realizing he will die from his heart problems resulting from the prolonged use of electrodes. (It was originally believed to be the electrodes that were the cause of Zane's heart problems but it was later revealed the cause of his heart problems was the use of his Cyberdark deck. However how his heart problems occured from the deck are up for debate.)

Deck
During the first year, Zane plays a Cyber Dragon Deck, representing yang, the bright and active force in the universe. Zane was an expert at combining his Cyber Dragons into their two Fusion forms, "Cyber Twin Dragon" and "Cyber End Dragon", and could consistently strengthen them to very high levels with "Power Bond" and "Limiter Removal".

After visiting Sheppard in the mountains during the second year, he took the Underworld Deck, representing the dark and passive yin, that was sealed away in his former teacher's dojo. He combined cards from both decks into a single deck, but continued to disrespect his "Cyber Dragons", throwing away all related cards into his Graveyard to strengthen his new servants, living mechanisms of torture known as the "Cyberdarks". Unfortunately, the drawback from using this deck was causing heart problems for Zane.