Yugi Muto

Yugi Mutou (武藤 遊戯, Mutō Yūgi; pronounced "Moto" in the English dubbed anime) is a not-so-average teenager, Yugi is pure-hearted and child-like. He lives with his grandfather Sugoroku Mutou (Solomon Muto in the English anime) and mother, although he never speaks of the latter in the English anime and a scene of Yugi talking to his mother in Episode 50, The Mystery Duelist - Part 1 (Challenge from the Past: Horrifying Zera) was cut in the US version. In the Japanese manga, it's explained that Yugi's father is a traveling businessman and Yugi rarely sees him. Yugi is good at games and puzzles, especially Duel Monsters" (Magic and Wizards" in the Japanese version).

His name is Romanized as Yugi Mutou in the English-language manga and Yugi Muto in the English-language anime.

Character design


Yugi's character design was overseen by Kazuki Takahashi. His usual outfit consists of the standard male Domino High uniform complete with a closed buckled collar. His extremely extravagant hair features multiple layers including long blond crocked, pointy locks for his fringe, the rest features a six large spikes colored black with purple rims all along the edges. He wears the Millennium Puzzle on a lace around his neck. In the manga and second series anime, the lace is later replaced with a chain. In the manga (post Volume 7) and in the second series anime, he often wears a KaibaCorp Duel Disk on his left arm.

Character biography
A freshman in Domino High School, Yugi is part of a close-knit group of friends: Katsuya Jonouchi, Hiroto Honda, and Anzu Mazaki. Miho Nosaka, in the first series anime, is also one of Yugi's friends. Yugi's friends often cheer him on from the sidelines, and Jonouchi has dueled at his side. Yugi has been friends with Anzu since childhood and is in love with her. Anzu is in love with both Yugi and the spirit of the Millennium Puzzle to different degrees. In Japanese, the first characters of "Yūgi" and "Jōnouchi" combine to form "Yūjō" (友情), which means "friendship". The "Yu-Jo Friendship" card (the Yu-Jyo (友情 Yūjō) card in the Japanese version) is named after the word and the fellowship between the characters.

Yugi was given the Millennium Puzzle in pieces by his grandfather, Sugoroku Mutou. When he assembled it towards the beginning of the anime and manga, his body became the host for the spirit of a 3,000-year-old (in the English anime, 5,000-year-old) Egyptian Pharaoh, who becomes an alter ego. The pharaoh sacrificed his life and sealed his soul into the Millennium Puzzle to stop the Dark God, Zorc Necrophades, from destroying the world. (In the English anime, the pharaoh was sealed into the puzzle to lock in the Shadow Game's magic, to prevent the destruction of the world.) The pharaoh was known as "Yami Yugi" or "Dark Yugi." During those 5,000 years in the puzzle, the pharaoh forgot everything about him and his past, including his own name.

Yugi invites his friends Jonouchi, Anzu and Honda to come see his grandfather's rare card. Seto Kaiba overhears this and deduces that they are talking about the Blue-Eyes White Dragon. In the first series he switches Sugoroku's Blue-Eyes with a counterfeit but Dark Yugi (Yami Yugi) wins a game of Duel Monsters and places a penalty game on Seto, causing Seto to be trapped in an illusion where Duel Monsters kill him repeatedly, though it is just a sensation of death. Yugi returns the real card to his Grandfather.

In the Duelist Kingdom arc, Kaiba defeats Sugoroku in duel claiming Sugoroku's Blue-Eyes after he refused to sell it. Yugi and his friends catch up Sugoroku has already been defeated and witness Kaiba rip the Blue-Eyes White Dragon in two in front of them. Outraged Yugi challanges Kaiba to a duel. Sugroku gives Yugi his deck to use. While dueling Yugi discovers Kaiba has the other three Blue-Eyes White Dragons in his deck but defeats him using Exodia. After defeating Kaiba, Yugi then becomes the Duel Monsters World Champion.

Pegasus sends Yugi a video inviting him to participate in his Duelist Kingdom tournament. Pegasus appears on the video and duels Yugi on the spot while freezing everyone else in the room. He places a time limit on the duel and wins because he has more Life Points when the time ran out, before Yugi could declare his last attack. As a penalty for his defeat Sugoroku's soul is stolen. Yugi enters the tournament to rescue his grandfather.

Yugi gives Jonouchi one of his two star chips that are required for entry to allow Jonouchi to participate and help him. Yugi meets Insector Haga (Weevil Underwood) on the ship to the tournament. After showing Haga his Exodia cards, Haga tosses them overboard. Jonouchi jumps overboard to recover them. He gets two of the pieces and is then rescued by Yugi. To get back at Haga, Yugi defeats him in the first duel of the tournament. Together Yugi and Jonouchi advance to the finals where they eventually duel each other. Jonouchi uses all he learned from Yugi, but is still defeated. Yugi then advances to the finals where he duels Pegasus. He learns of Pegasus motive to steal his Millennium Puzzle to try revive his deceased wife Cecelia (Cyndia). Pegasus uses his Millennium Eye to read Yami Yugi's mind during the duel, but Yami and Yugi continue to switch minds so Pegasus cannot read the other's strategy. Yugi and Yami Yugi defeat Pegasus and rescue Sugoroku along with Seto and Mokuba Kaiba, whoes souls Pegasus had also taken. Yugi gives his prize money to Jonouchi, so he can pay for his sister, Shizuka Kawai's (Serenity Wheeler) eye operation.

Afterwards, in an anime-only mini-arc, Kaiba's mind gets trapped in the "Virtual World" by "The Big Five" while testing out a virtual reality machine that he created. Yugi and Katsuya Jonouchi entered the virtual world at Mokuba's request where they help Kaiba defeat the Big Five and escape.

Yami finds outhis name is Atem in Episode 219, In the Name of the Pharaoh. "Atemu" is actually a variant of the name of the Sun god "Atum". After finding out his real name, he is told by Ishizu Ishtar that in order for his spirit to be freed and return to where he belongs, he must be defeated in a Duel in the tomb where the Millennium Items are held. Yugi decides to duel his other half. The two put up a good fight, but in the end, Yugi manages to defeat all three Egyptian God Cards and win the duel. The pharaoh then returns to the spirit world and the Millennium Items are sealed up.

Yugi in the Manga
In the manga Yugi is first forced to pay a bodyguard fee to Ushio for "protecting" him. Later Dark Yugi challenges him to a Shadow Game and wins. In Vol. 6 of the manga a boy named Nezumi leads him and Jonouchi to where Hirutani's gang is hiding. In an effort to force Jonouchi to re-join his gang, Hirutani's members attach a small hook to Yugi's Millennium Puzzle the hook attached to a chain which would eventually strangle him. However, Joey unhooks him safely and the 2 team up to defeat Ushio's gang. Earlier in Vol. 6 Yugi is challenged to a Shadow Game by a boy named Imori using Chinese Dragon cards. Yugi loses and his soul is sucked into the soul-eating jar. However he seizes the puzzle just in time and Dark Yugi challenges him to a re-match defeating Imori and setting the captured Yugi's soul free while at the same time imprisoning Imori's.

Appearance in "Yu-Gi-Oh! GX"
In Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, Yugi appears in the first episode with only half of his face shown. He, Seto Kaiba, and Joey Wheeler have become "legendary duelists." Yugi is older, taller, and has a lower voice in both the Japanese and English versions (resembling Atemu). The main character of Yu-Gi-Oh GX, Jaden Yuki, bumps into him on the way to the Duel Academy. Yugi gives Jaden the "Winged Kuriboh" card. This scene is different in the English and Japanese versions; in the English version, Yugi speaks with Yami's voice saying he feels the card belongs with Jaden, whereas in the Japanese version he says he believes the card is lucky.

Yugi's deck goes on display in the episodes "The King of Copycats" Part 1 and Part 2.

In "Rah! Rah! Ra!", Pegasus compares Jaden's confronting of Frantz, a card creator at Industrial Illusions who stole a copy of the The Winged Dragon of Ra to Yugi. Atem then makes a small appearance as Pegasus is envisioning him in Jaden's place.

In "Jewel of a Duel (Part 1)", Pegasus, in one of Aster's flashbacks, mentions Yugi being "Number 1" in his top five duelists.

Deck
Yugi's deck is most famous for his Dark Magician. Yugi's deck probably has the most variety and balance of any other character's deck in the series, and is sometimes referred to as a Strategy deck. His original deck mostly composed of low level Earth monsters and Dark monsters. During the Battle City Arc, he keeps the theme of having Earth and Dark monsters with dangerous effects. His Magnet Warriors become a major part of his deck, as does his Dark Magician Girl. His deck from Battle City onward focuses more not only on his Dark Magician, but also on his manipulation of his Spell Cards that are designed to destroy and/or negate the effects of his opponent's Spell and Trap Cards.

When Yugi's deck goes on tour at the Academy, the Copycat duelist Dimitri (Kagurazaka) steals it and copies Yugi's voice, mannerisms and dueling style. While Dimitri copies Yugi's moves very well, he loses because he lacks the bond with the deck that Yugi has. This deck is based around the Dark Magician and retrained Chaos varients of Yugi's Ritual Monsters.

