Yugi Muto

Yugi Muto is a not-so-average kid. Yugi is pure-hearted and child-like. He lives with his grandfather Solomon Muto and mother, although he never speaks of the latter in the English anime. In the Japanese manga, it's explained that Yugi's father is a businessman. Yugi is good at games and puzzles, especially "Duel Monsters".

Yugi possesses the Millennium Puzzle, which allows his body to bear host to the spirit of the Puzzle, Yami Yugi. Yugi was initially unaware of his existence and control of Yugi's body would involuntary shift to Yami, when Yugi or his friends are wronged.

Yugi is part of a close-knit group of friends: Joey Wheeler, Tristan Taylor, and Téa Gardner. Miho Nosaka is also one of Yugi's friends in the first series anime. Yugi's friends often cheer him on from the sidelines, and Joey has dueled at his side. Yugi has been friends with Téa since childhood and is in love with her. Téa 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 is named after the word and the fellowship between the characters.

Personality
The character of Yugi in the manga starts as being very short of confidence and being lonely. However, it's shown quite frequently that students are friendly towards him and care a little about him. Anzu is his best friend from childhood but before the manga has never seen Yugi's Millennium Puzzle before, as Yugi hides the Puzzle from everybody at school while he is building it. Yugi is also incredibly trusting of people - despite Jonouchi and Honda bullying him many times, he still believes they are just trying to persuade him to be more manly.

Design


Yugi's character design was overseen by Kazuki Takahashi. His usual outfit consists of the standard male Domino Junior/Senior 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 magenta 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.

When he and Téa took a day together to find out about the Millennium Puzzle, he wore a black linen and several pieces of wrist-chains, along with a pair of leather pants. He is seen wearing the same outfit, except for the chains, when he met Jaden Yuki for the first time.

Early Shadow Games
Yugi was given the Millennium Puzzle in pieces by his grandfather, Solomon Muto.

A school bully called Ushio beats up Jonouchi and Honda. He also beats up Yugi and tells him to bring money or he will cut him with a knife. That night, Yugi solves the Millennium Puzzle.

When he assembled it towards the beginning of the anime and manga, he becomes the Dark Guardian and his body became the host for the spirit of a 3,000-year-old Egyptian Pharaoh, Atem (5,000-year-old in the English anime). The spirit, known as Yami Yugi (Dark Yugi in the manga and Japanese version) becomes similar to an alter ego. During those 3,000 years in the puzzle, the pharaoh forgot everything about him and his past, including his own name.

Dark Yugi defeats Ushio in a Shadow Game and changes back to Yugi, who has no knowledge of what has passed.

At the start of the manga and the first three episodes, it's never suggested that there are two Yugis. The first character to come to this assumption is actually Anzu when she was held hostage in the forth episode. She is blindfolded, but hears the voice of somebody who is confident, and realises that it can't be Yugi.

The second character to see the difference between the two is Shadi who, after entering Yugi's soul room, sees a second room. This is the first hint that the two Yugis are actually different characters in the same body. After losing a game to Dark Yugi, he plays another one which involves Yugi's friends, trying to anger Dark Yugi. Dark Yugi beats him, then changes back in front of Jonouchi and Anzu, drawing more confusion. During the same arc, it is revealed Yugi knows he is having black-outs. He is also hesitant to remove the Puzzle from around his neck.

Death-T
Yugi invites his friends Joey, Téa and Tristan 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 "the other 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.

It is during Death-T, that finally both Yugis are seen as different people; albeit the context staying unrevealed. After Honda is caught in one of Kaiba's games and is presumed dead, Yugi breaks up in the tunnel leading to Death-T4. He then reveals how he is scared of there being another Yugi, and doesn't want to see anybody get hurt because then somebody else will be hurt as well... Jonouchi and Anzu take him to speaking the truth. After the Death-T incident, Dark Yugi also seems to be more open to Yugi - Yugi ends his short epilogue of the arc by saying that he remembers 'all the battles we've fought together.' Jonouchi also regards Dark Yugi taking over as 'changing.'

Later Games
The evidence existing becomes drastically clearer and clearer that Yugi and Dark Yugi are different souls. In the most prominent of these, Yugi is challenged to a Shadow Game by a boy named Imori using Chinese Dragon Cards that were sealed. Yugi loses and, as the rules say it must, 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. Now it is made clear that Dark Yugi and Yugi just live in the same body.

Monster World
Yugi and his friends play a role-playing game of Monster World against Dark Bakura, who then seals the souls of Yugi's friends into the miniatures. Yugi demands that Bakura seal his soul into a figurine as well. In his thoughts he states that even if he can't roll the dice, 'the other me' can. Dark Yugi then meets Yugi for the first time. At this point both characters have changed dramatically from the beginning of the manga - Yugi is more confident and daring, while Dark Yugi's treatment of his foes is softer and his attitude is no longer so arrogant. This is shown in their designs: Yugi's face has matured and sharpened, and he no longer looks awkward when putting on a brave face; Dark Yugi's has softened, his glare is more of weariness than of pride and his eyes are less wild. After this story, both Yugis have a more comfortable relationship with each other and their friends. This bond sets them up for the rest of the volumes.

Duelist Kingdom
In the Duelist Kingdom arc, kaiba kidnapes solomon and forces him to duel him. Kaiba defeats Solomon in Duel claiming Solomon's Blue-Eyes after he refused to trade in and sell it. Yugi and his friends catch up Solomon 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. Solomon 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 Solomon's soul is stolen. Yugi enters the tournament to rescue his grandfather.

Yugi gives Joey one of his two Star Chips that are required for entry to allow Joey to participate and help him. Yugi meets Weevil Underwood on the ship to the tournament. After showing Weevil his Exodia cards, Weevil tosses them overboard. Joey jumps overboard to recover them. He gets two of the pieces and is then rescued by Yugi. To get back at Weevil, Yugi defeats him in the first Duel of the tournament. Together Yugi and Joey advance to the finals where they eventually duel each other. Joey 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 Cecilia. Pegasus uses his Millennium Eye to read Yami Yugi's mind during the Duel, but Dark Yugi and Yugi continue to switch minds so Pegasus cannot read the other's strategy. Yugi and Dark Yugi defeat Pegasus and rescue Solomon along with Seto and Mokuba Kaiba, whose souls Pegasus had also taken. Yugi gives his prize money to Joey, so he can pay for his sister, Serenity's eye operation.

Legendary Heroes
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. Kaiba then learns that he has another brother named noah who wants to get rid of kaiba because his father loved him more Yugi and Joey entered the virtual world at Mokuba's request where they help Kaiba defeat the Big Five and escape.

Millennium World
Yami Yugi finds out his 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.

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 Atem). The main character of Yu-Gi-Oh GX, Jaden Yuki, bumps into him on the way to the Duel Academy Singups. 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 2)," Pegasus, in one of Aster's flashbacks, mentions Yugi being "Number 1" in his top five duelists, with Kaiba as number 2, Joey number 3, Aster number 4, and Jesse Anderson as number 5. In Episode 113 and 114, Mr. Stein talks about Atem and Thief Bakura while dueling Jaden Yuki.

During Jaden's last year, the person who had gained the most graduation points at the exam would get a copy of Yugi's Deck (excluding the God Cards). Chazz Princeton, Alexis Rhodes and Syrus Truesdale qualified, but turned down the prize in favor of their own decks. During the graduation party, Jaden is led by Winged Kuriboh to the room containing Yugi's deck. Yugi appears there to challenge him, and Jaden is somehow brought to the past to challenge the younger Yugi who still holds the Millennium Puzzle. The two engage in a fierce battle, while Yugi is clearly excited at the Elemental Hero Deck (as they don't exist in that timeline; thus this is the first time he battles against one of them). Through the course of the battle Jaden gets the upper hand and is seemingly about to deal the finishing blow when Atem intervenes. Atem proceeds to summon Slifer The Sky Dragon and seeing that there's no other option, Jaden ends the duel heroicly by calling upon his Elemental Hero Neos to attack Slifer.

Voice
The voices differ slightly between the different series and the English dub, although commonly the voice of Dark Yugi is stronger and more confident than that of Yugi.

In the first series anime, Yugi and Dark Yugi are voiced by Megumi Ogata. Yugi's voice is positively timid, rarely showing any strength and almost always being polite in his speech, using honorifics and "boku" as his personal pronoun. Dark Yugi's voice is much rougher, uses "ore" as his personal pronoun and rarely ever uses honorifics. He also has a catchphrase, saa, geimu no jikan da (It's game time), usually spoken immediately after the change.

In the Japanese version of the second series anime, Yugi and Dark Yugi are voiced by Japanese singer Shunsuke Kazama. Yugi has considerably more confidence than in his previous appearance, but is still very polite. It's harder to distinguish between his voice and Dark Yugi's, but Dark Yugi's tone is considerably sterner and has the same pattern of speech as his previous appearance. This series also established Yugi calling Dark Yugi mou hitori no boku (the other me) and Dark Yugi referring to Yugi as aibou (partner).

In the English version of the second series anime, Yugi and Yami Yugi are voiced by Dan Green. Yugi's voice is high pitched and sometimes strained in more emotional moments, and generally has a friendly tone towards everyone. Yami Yugi's voice, in comparison, is fierce and commanding. In the Singaporean dub of the second series anime, Yugi and Yami Yugi are voiced by Chuck Powers. In this dub, Yugi's voice is soft and slightly high-pitched, while Yami Yugi's voice is near the total opposite. In the Singaporean dub, both Yugi and Yami Yugi speak with a slight drawl. This dub has both Yugi and Yami Yugi calling each other "partner".

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 and Dark monsters. The deck also originally had Exodia in it, which he used in the first episode to defeat Kaiba, but on the ship to the Duelist Kingdom, Weevil Underwood threw them overboard, and even though Joey Wheeler attempted to save them, only two of the five pieces were ever recovered, which were the head and the right arm.

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 or negate the effects of his opponent's Spell Cards and Trap Cards. The rarest card in his Deck (aside from the previously lost Exodia) is "Dark Magician", of which he has only one. (Though during Battle City when challenged by Arkana the winner of that duel would obtain the loser's Dark Magician. Although Yugi won, it's unknown whether he actually took Arkana's Dark Magician but if he did, he never used it.)

As the series progresses he adds more support for his "Dark Magicians", such as "Dark Magic Curtain", "Magical Dimension", "Dark Renewal", "* Sage's Stone" and "Skilled Dark Magician".

During the Dawn of the Duel arc, Yugi uses a LV deck based around "Silent Swordsman" and "Silent Magician". This deck represents the strength Yugi has without the help of Yami Yugi.

When Yugi's Deck goes on tour at Duel Academy, the Copycat duelist Dimitri 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 cards that Yugi has. This Deck is based around the "Dark Magician" and retrained Chaos varients of Yugi's Ritual Monsters.

In Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, when Jaden travels to the past to duel Yugi, the deck Yugi uses is one of his Decks from after Battle City but before the Dawn of the Duel arc.

In Yu-Gi-Oh! R, Yugi uses a Toy Deck, centered around Yugi's childish side, using cards such as Toy Magician and Toy Box. When the game switches over to Yami, more Spellcaster and Warrior-type monsters are included.