Téa Gardner

Téa Gardner, known as Anzu Mazaki in the manga and Japanese versions, is a childhood friend of Yugi Muto. Téa does not usually play games with Yugi and his friends, but in the beginning of the anime, she could beat Joey Wheeler in Duel Monsters, and was later shown to be more than competent against others. Téa is also very good at dancing and wants to be a professional dancer when she grows up.

Appearance


Téa's character design was overseen by Kazuki Takahashi.

In the manga, Anzu originally had a conventional, short hairstyle. Her first color image, seen in Duel 1, featured dark brown hair and amber eyes. As Takahashi continued drawing the manga, Anzu gained more feminine and "cute" facial features. Her hair style became longer and less conventional. Color images from Volume 3 and onward portray her hair as a lighter brown color. Sometimes her eyes are blue and sometimes they are reddish brown. By the final volume of the manga, Téa's hair touches her shoulders. The standard female Domino High School uniform, Téa's usual outfit, consists of a pink coat, a white oxford shirt, a blue tie, and a blue pleated skirt.

In the first series anime, her hair and eyes are of a reddish brown color. Her school uniform color differs; her coat is orange and her tie and skirt are green. In the amusement park episode, she wore a light-green bikini.

In the second series anime, she has dark brown hair and blue eyes. On occasions she wore the school uniform colored in the same manner as in the manga. Her brown shoulder-length hair is sectioned into two layers, consisting of a darker shade of brown inner layer, with the outer layer of a lighter shade.

During the first season of the anime, her usual outfit is comprised of a yellow shirt, which flows like a skirt at her thighs, with a pink waistcoat over it, and a blue mini-skirt. A pair of brown knee-high boots completed the rest of her outfit.

In the second and third season, her clothes consists of a light green sleeveless buttoned shirt with yellow collar, pink and blue bracelets, navy shorts with a light blue belt, white thigh-high socks, and blue platform sandals. She also wears a yellow tank-top with the word "SPIRIT" on it (which was removed from the dub) and a red skirt on occasion in the second season. She also wears another set of clothes: yellow tube-top, light pink shorts, black thigh-high socks, red platform sandals, and pink jacket. In the fourth and fifth season she wears a dark sleeveless shirt, a red skirt and a pair of white high-heeled boots.

Personality
At the beginning of the manga, Anzu has a spunky, tomboyish personality and was able to scare away Joey (Jonouchi) and Tristan (Honda) after they bully Yugi. She's very kind hearted, strong willed and supportive.

In the second series anime, she and Tristan are basically cheerleaders for Yugi and Joey. She is known among fans for her "friendship speeches". Téa cares about friendship a lot and keeps the group together. She always stands up for what she believes in and will do anything to help her friends.

Duelist Kingdom
Téa defeats Joey in Duel Monsters five times at school.

Téa draws symbols on her, Yugi, Joey and Tristan's hands to symbolize their friendship before Yugi faces Kaiba, after Kaiba tears up Solomon Muto's "Blue-Eyes White Dragon".

Téa and Tristan sneak onto the boat to Duelist Kingdom to support Yugi and Joey in the tournament. Téa mostly stands on the sidelines giving the boys encouraging speeches.

Yugi and his friends faced Yami Bakura in a Shadow Game of Duel Monsters, where the players are trapped in cards similar to their Monster World pieces. Téa becomes the card "Magician of Faith" in the Duel. As she is upset over Joey's sacrifice, she uses her effect to return "Monster Reborn" to Yami Yugi's hand, which allows him to revive Joey.

Kaiba defeats Yugi in the tournament by standing on the edge of the castle, so Yugi's last attack would knock him off. Yugi relinquishes the Duel to Kaiba. Téa then argues with Kaiba over his strategy. Kaiba explains how Duelists are given one chip and must use it in whatever way allows them to win. Téa argues back that Kaiba only won because he couldn't live without the chip and insist that Yugi won the Duel.

After losing to Kaiba, Yugi no longer has enough Star Chips to enter the tournament finals. Mai offers Yugi her excessive Star Chips. Yugi initially refuses, feeling unworthy. Téa Duels Mai for the Star Chips. Using a combination of Magic Cards, Téa makes her "Shining Friendship" card defeat Mai's "Harpie Lady". Although Mai is able to turn the Duel around, using "Harpie's Feather Duster", she is impressed by Téa's performance and wants to give Yugi the Chips, so she surrenders saying "Harpie Lady" was her best monster and Téa defeated it.

Kemo doesn't allow Téa, Tristan or Bakura to enter the castle, where the finals are held, as they are not finalists, but Mai distracts him, long enough for them to sneak in.

Inside they witness Kaiba and Pegasus Dueling. Pegasus was able to predict Kaiba's moves and easily win. Tristan suspects that Pegasus cheated, so that night he talks with Téa and Bakura on the subject. The three inspect the Duel arena and find a hole that shines moonlight directly at the Duel arena. Tristan spots a tower and the three head towards it. In the tower, they are confronted by Pegasus, who uses his Millennium Eye to transport them to another dimension. They wake up and enter a room, where a Shadow Game between two robed men is taking place while others are chanting. The winning man, Pegasus confronts the three and tries to take Bakura's Millennium Ring. Yami Bakura takes over Bakura's body and sends Téa and Tristan back to their rooms and erases their memories.

During the final rounds, Téa cheers on Yugi and Joey in their Duels. She is unable to watch the end of Yugi's Duel with Pegasus, as Pegasus takes the Duel to the Shadow Realm. Despite this Yugi feels his friends are with him in spirit and manages to defeat Pegasus.

Pegasus disappears after the Duel. The gang proceed to a tower, where they find Pegasus' diary, which Téa reads. She learns that Pegasus had a wife Cecelia, who died and Pegasus was trying to revive her using the Millennium Items and Kaiba Corporation technology.

Téa and her friends are taken home by Seto Kaiba in his helicopter.

Battle City


Yugi asks Téa to go out with Yami. After visiting many shops and attractions, they enter an arcade. Inside Téa beats Johnny Steps in a dance game. Not taking his loss too well, Johnny later catches up with Yugi and Téa and challenges to another game. If she loses she must become his girlfriend. Yami instead challenges Johnny to a game of Duel Monsters. If he wins, Johnny must leave Téa alone. If Johnny wins, Téa must go on a date with him. Yami reveals himself to be Yugi Muto, towards the end of the Duel Johnny recognizes Yugi Muto as the one who beat Pegasus, causing Johnny to surrender and run. Téa stops him to tell him how quitting isn't going to get him far, and he must keep trying to achieve his goals. Afterwards Téa and Yami go to an Ancient Egyptian exhibition to find clues to Yami's past. Here they meet Ishizu Ishtar, who shows Yami some information about his past as a pharaoh and tells him he must enter the Battle City tournament to learn more.

During the preliminary rounds, Téa encourages Joey along the side lines for his Duels, before being captured by the Rare Hunters. Téa is possessed and used to lure the Pharaoh into a Duel with Joey, who is also possessed by Marik Ishtar. The Duel is set up, so the loser would drown. In the anime, Téa is made to sit on a chair under a large crate. A push of a button would kill her, should anyone else interfere. Téa is then released from Marik's control after she explains the provisions to the Duel and helplessly tries to help Joey break free of Marik's control several times while also doing her best to remain brave and cheer Yugi on, despite the fact that her own life was in danger. Mokuba frees her after Joey and Yugi end the Duel in a Draw.

Téa, along with Tristan, Serenity and Duke Devlin proceed to the KaibaCorp blimp to cheer for Yugi, Joey and Mai in the finals. Roland initially refuses to let them board, as they aren't finalists, but Mokuba talks him into letting them on. Despite Joey's objections, all of them take residence in Joey's room for the finals.

Téa cheers for Yugi and Joey, during their quarter-final Duels. When Joey tells Mai, she wasn't in his dream, which his friends appeared in and jokes about it, Téa seizes him after Mai leaves and tells him off.

During this time, Téa is sometimes being controlled by Marik, since Yami Marik took over his body, and he uses her to try to talk to Yami Marik and Ishizu.

Virtual World
As the blimp traveled to the Duel Tower, it was sucked into an underground lair, by Noah Kaiba. Téa, along with Yugi, Joey, Tristan, Duke Devlin, Serenity, Mokuba and Seto Kaiba emerge from the blimp to investigate. Here they are sucked into the Virtual World.

The gang encounter Noah and the Big Five, all of whom seek revenge on Seto Kaiba and require a body to return to the real world. They then get separated, and Téa ends up being chased by a gang of Hitotsu-Me Giants. She manages to escape, but passes out. While she's unconscious, Téa has a dream where she and Yugi went to see a show about Dark Magician Girl. She is woken up by a penguin, who leads her across the Virtual World to a temple. Inside she meets Crump of the Big Five, who has taken the form of Nightmare Penguin.

Crump imposes a Duel and takes her to an icy region, where both players stand on opposite icebergs in freezing water. Téa is made assemble a Deck, by selecting from a monitor of cards appearing before her. remembering her dream she chooses "Dark Magician Girl" as her own Deck Master, while "Nightmare Penguin" is Crump's.

As Téa's Life Points lower, she becomes engulfed in ice. Dark Magician Girl helps her during the Duel. Towards the end of the Duel, Téa was almost completely engulfed in ice. Using her Deck Master's effect and "Sage's Stone" to Special Summon "Dark Magician" from Yugi's Deck, Téa is able to defeat Crump as she attacks him with both Magicians.

After the Duel, Téa is released from the ice and passes out. Yugi who had witnessed the last few moments of the Duel helps her to regain consciousness and, after Téa hugs him out of relief, offers her his coat to keep her warm. The two proceed to the courtroom, where Joey is Dueling Johnson.

Afterwards everyone meets up with each other, while Tristan is trapped as a robot monkey because he lost a Duel. A few Duels happen between Kaiba and Leichter, Yugi (Yami) and Joey between all the Big 5 members, Kaiba and Noah which changes to Yugi (Yami) and Noah. After this Duel Gozaburo shows up. Then, they all try to escape with Noah's help, but he tricks them, eventually taking over Mokuba's body and getting out into the real world, first wanting to trap their minds in the virtual world. However, he then had a change of heart and realized he was wrong, and helped them out instead. When they were all out, they got back to Battle City.

Back to Battle City
Battle City continues right after the Virtual World. They arrive at KaibaCorp Island where the Battle City finals begin at Duel Tower. Téa supports Yugi and Joey in the battle royal to determine who faces who in the semi-finals.

Téa cheers for Joey in his semi-final against Marik and rushes to his aid after he collapses.

As Yugi prepares to face Kaiba, Téa informs Yami that she would rather he didn't Duel, as she is afraid of what might happen to him, but Yami tells her he need to Duel Kaiba to Duel Marik so he can save the world and she understands and lets him go. She stays back with everyone to try and help Joey but is still cheering Yugi on.

Near the end of Yugi and Kaiba's Duel Joey wakes up and at first doesn't remember anything but slowly does. Then he asks Téa if Yugi started the Duel yet.She tells him he did and Joey wants to go immediately. Just then the doctors show up,but Joey demands to go and Téa tells him not to because so many people got hurt and he was just in critical condition. Joey says he made a promise to Yugi and he has to be there for him which reminds her of what Yami told her before his Duel. Then Joey, Téa and Tristan go to the Duel Tower just in time to see the ending of Yugi's Duel.

Since Yugi won he moves onto the finals to Duel Yami Marik but first Joey challenges Kaiba to a Duel to see who gets third place. Before the Duel starts Marik takes over Téa body so he can go talk to Ishizu. He then tells Ishizu that he needs to confront Yami Marik and runs off to the Duel Tower to do so. Yami Marik is already up there trying to figure out what happened during Yugi and Kaiba's Duel he gets annoyed and throws the rod, which lands near Téa. She picks it up and is holding it up at Yami Marik while Marik is talking to him. Yami Marik ends up getting the rod back, and he tries to get rid of Marik with the rod. Then Ishizu comes up just in time to stop him. Marik then tells Ishizu to forget about him and stops taking control of Téa. She is knocked out for a while, and Yami comes up to find out what happened to Téa and starts talking to Yami Marik, and he eventually leaves. Yami then talks to Ishizu about what was going on, and Téa wakes up not knowing what happened. Yugi decides to not tell her that Marik was taking control of her. They go back down to see how Joey's Duel was going and he tell then that he lost so they get ready for Yugi's Duel with Marik.

Yami's Duel with Yami Marik begins and everyone is worried on how this Duel will turn out. Téa is cheering Yugi on the whole time but is worried because Yami Marik was able to stop Slifer the Sky Dragon and make a copy of Obelisk the Tormentor. Also every time Yami loses life points Yugi is slowly being sent to the shadow realm and the same with the good Marik every time Yami Marik loses life points. During the Duel Marik took over Téa again, this time so he could try and help Yami win the Duel but he eventually went back into his own body, leaving Téa confused about what just happened. She quickly got over that and focused on the Duel. Then Odion shows up which gives Marik the strength to take over Yami Marik for a little while so Yami could win the Duel. Even though the Duel was finally over, Kaiba said they should get off the island because he was going to blow it up. Everyone went on the blimp, Mai was awake and they found Bakura but they noticed Kaiba and Mokuba weren't there so they went to go look for them but couldn't find them. So all of them went on the helicopter to go and they all seen Kaiba and Mokuba leave on a jet of their own.

They got back to Domino City and said goodbye to Marik, Ishizu, Odion, Duke, and Mai. The following day Téa was showing Serenity around town and remembering everything that happened during Battle City. Serenity eventually has to leave. Téa is sad at first, but Serenity tells her that it's ok and that they will always be friends. After Serenity leaves Téa is thinking about how she's not ready to say goodbye to Yugi and realizes that she should just enjoy the time she has left with him. Then she catches up with Yami.

Waking the Dragons
Téa is on the roof of the school wondering why Yugi left early. Joey and Tristan come up; they're wondering the same thing. They end up finding Yugi at the museum. Later they find out that someone stole the Egyptian God Cards. Yugi has a Duel with Gurimo, which is where they learn about the Seal of Orichalcos.

The next day they run into Rebecca, and she calls Yugi her boyfriend, which Téa doesn't like. She takes them to see Professor Hawkins,who starts talking about how the monsters coming to life could have something to do with Atlantis. After that, everyone heads home.

Later they're all at Yugi's house. Yugi gets a package from Pegasus with a video. Pegasus asks Yugi to come and see him right away. The next day they go on a private jet then in a limo. The limo breaks down so they have to walk for a while, Téa is able to get a driver to stop and give them a ride to Industrial Illusions.

Later on, they are on a train to Florida, but the train splits apart, separating Téa and Yami from Joey and Tristan. Most of the time Téa is trying to help Pharaoh from being upset about Yugi while she herself is also upset. After a while they just focus on finding Joey and Tristan. They are reunited later when Kaiba's plane crashes and then they are all taken back by Kaiba's helicopter to try and stop Dartz.

Kaiba's company was taken over by Dartz. Joey runs off to Duel Valon and Mai. While Joey Duels, Tristan, Téa, and the Pharaoh go to look for him, but when they find him he already lost his soul.

After Pharaoh's Duel with Rafael the gang goes to Dartz in Kaiba's helicopter. Kaiba and the Pharaoh Duel Dartz; after Kaiba loses the Duel the Pharaoh continues while Téa, Tristan, and Mokuba are unconscious.

The Duel is won by the Pharaoh. Yugi, Kaiba, and Joey come back and Mokuba, Tristan, and Téa wake up. Seeing Yugi back they have a group hug. Then they're off to finish off Dartz. Téa wishes Yugi good luck as he, along with Joey and Kaiba, have their final battle with Dartz.

Grand Championship
Téa does not have a prominent role in the Grand Championship arc, but as always she is Yugi and Joey's cheerleader throughout their duels. Téa also meets and despises Vivian, because of her love for Yugi. She also develops a habit of saying the line "I need some female friends!" whenever the others start getting on her nerves.

Yu-Gi-Oh! R
In Yu-Gi-Oh! R, Téa is abducted by Yako Tenma. Her soul is trapped in a card, and she is connected to a machine. The goal was to put Pegasus' soul in her body, but the plan failed.

Dawn of the Duel
Téa, Tristan and Joey accompanied Yugi to Egypt so they could help the Pharaoh figured out his memories. She also had noticeably had a change in clothing, and was now wearing white heels, a red skirt and a black sleeveless top. The Pharaoh presented the Egyptian God cards to the Tablet of Lost Memories, and was pulled into the Shadow RPG, where he would find out his memories. However, after discovering that Yami Bakura followed him, the gang went after Yami. Later, Tea figured out that the key to stopping Bakura was to tell the Pharaoh his real name, as it was also the key to unlocking his memory. The gang was betrayed by Tristan, who was possessed by Bakura and almost killed, but jumped to a cliff and saved themselves. Tea pulled Yugi up, who was hanging onto Joey and then both her and Yugi saved Joey. When they found Tristan, he revealed that he had been possessed by Bakura and dueled Yugi. Tea noted that Yugi had to duel without Yami. Yugi still won, though. When they found Yami, they gave him his name by thinking of the symbols and putting them on a necklace-like item. Yami then remembered who he was a revealed that his true name was Atem. Atem was then able to summon The Creator of Light to destroy Zorc Necrophades. The gang then returned to the real world.

Yu-Gi-Oh! GX
Téa is never mentioned in Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, but for a brief moment, she can be seen on a flier that Jaden Yuki picks up, along with Yugi, Joey, Tristan and Kaiba.

Non-canon appearances

 * See: Téa Gardner in non-canon

Romance with Yugi and Yami
Téa is deeply in love with Yugi, but is uncertain if it is Yami Yugi (Dark Yugi) or regular Yugi that she loves more. Even though in the manga and first series anime she has been friends with Yugi since childhood she is unaware that he is in love with her.

During the first chapter in the manga, she hung out with Yugi instead of playing basketball like the rest of the girls. In another manga chapter (Duel 45: 13 O'clock Terror!), when on a date with Yugi, Téa tries to bring out Yami (thinking that if she goes to extreme measures and plays a joke on Yugi, he will change into Yami). She makes Yugi fearful for her safety by going on a Ferris Wheel when it was known that a bomber was in the park; she was "pretending" to be in danger so she could "make the Yugi she wants to appear", not knowing that she placed herself in danger of being blown up for real. She is rescued by Yami Yugi, so her ploy succeeds in the end.

In the manga and the anime for much of the series, Téa believes that Yami Yugi is a more mature personality of regular Yugi. While at Duelist Kingdom, Yugi tells Téa that he "knows" that she prefers Yami Yugi. When he offers to switch out with Yami Yugi to give them time alone, Téa stops Yugi and tells him that there's no need because Yugi and Yami Yugi are both Yugi, so there's no need for him to change, as she really cares for both "personalities". It is only later on in the series when Yugi is in the hospital after trying to save Yami Yugi that she finally accepts the fact that Yugi and Yami Yugi are two separate people, but in the second series anime she knows they are two different people. This, then, causes confusion as to who Téa is really in love with: Yugi or Yami Yugi. The last references to this in the anime are during the final Duel, when Téa wishes Atem to be victorious so she does not have to say goodbye to him, but also roots for Yugi without even realizing it. She also does have romantic feelings toward the original Yugi as it is shown in many episodes when Rebecca Hawkins hugs Yugi, Téa appears upset; though this is before she accepts that Yugi and Yami are separate personalities. Téa has also hugged Yugi on two occasions during the second series anime - Once during the Virtual World Arc, after she beats Crump in a duel after being nearly encased in ice and Yugi comes to her aid; and again during the Waking the Dragons Arc after Yami Yugi defeats Dartz and Yugi's soul is returned to his body along with Kaiba's and Joey's. Both of these cases occur during anime-only arcs in the story as neither the Virtual World arc or the Waking the Dragons arc are present in the manga.

Decks
Téa uses a Deck full of mostly Fairy cards, but in the Virtual World arc, she played with a Deck mostly made of Spellcasters. Like Mai Valentine, most of her monsters are female-related. She combines her Spell Cards with Monster Cards to boost the overall strength of her monsters and she uses Trap Cards like "Waboku" and "Mirror Force" to protect her monsters from harm. She Duels once in the manga and six times during the course of the second anime series (four of which were off-screen).