Téa Gardner

Anzu Mazaki, known as Téa Gardner in the English-language anime and video games, is a childhood friend of Yugi. Téa does not usually play games with Yugi and his friends, but in the beginning of the show, she can beat Joey in Duel Monsters, while she herself is not that strong a player. She is also very good at dancing and wants to be a professional dancer when she grows up.

Character design


Téa's character design was overseen by Kazuki Takahashi.

In the manga, Téa originally beared a conventional, short hairstyle. Her first color image, seen in Volume 1, Chapter 1, featured dark brown hair and brown eyes. As Takahashi continued drawing the manga, Téa 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 colored blue, while sometimes her eyes are colored 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 second series anime, she has dark brown hair and blue eyes. Her usual outfit from the second series anime consists of the school uniform colored in the same manner as in the original manga. Her brown shoulder length hair is sectioned into two layers, consisting of a darker shade of brown inner layer, with the outer layer a lighter shade.

Character biography
While Téa is athletic, she holds jobs to save money in order to attend a dance school in New York City. In the beginning of the series, she is revealed to be working at "Burger World." This scene was shown in a flashback in Episode 22, Face Off - Part 1 (The Destined Duel, Yugi vs. Kaiba). By Volume 4 in the manga, Téa is fired from that job for punching a customer who pinched her buttocks. She gets a job at KaibaCorp afterwards and encounters her friends at KaibaLand. In the Toei anime, Honda and Miho also work at Burger World to support Téa. When Burger World went out of business, the two started working for a beef bowl restaurant.

In the manga and the first series anime, Téa is held hostage at Burger World by Prisoner number 777, who demanded cigarettes and vodka. Dark Yugi challenges him to a Shadow Game, which stipulated that each person can move only one finger. Yugi tricks the prisoner into a situation where if he fired the gun at him, he would set himself on fire, allowing him to free Téa. In the manga, the prisoner sets himself on fire anyway when his cigarette drops from his mouth; while in the anime, he drops the gun and removes the lighter from his hand, prompting Yugi to give him a penalty game; the prisoner imagines himself set on fire. Since the prisoner was the manager of the restaurant, Burger World was closed down afterwards. The manga has been officially translated into English, but the first series of the anime has not been officially translated.

In the ''Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters'' anime (which was translated for a North American release), after Yugi's friends find out she worked at the restaurant, she receives a note in her locker. In the Japanese version of this anime, the note, written on the back of a photograph showing her working at the restaurant, threatened that the school will be told that she has an after school job (not allowed except in certain situations) if she doesn't come to the gym after school. When Téa shows up, she finds the gym teacher with a camera videotaping her body; it is implied that he was the one who wrote the note.

In the English version, the note, which had a picture of dancing shoes, stated that the warehouse was a good place to take dancing lessons, and the man Téa encounters is a mugger instead of her gym teacher. Yugi appears and jumps the man. Tea bites the man's arm, and she is knocked unconscious against a wall. Dark Yugi, also known as Yami Yugi, challenges the man to a game where whoever draws a better Duel Monsters card wins. Yugi's Dark Magician defeats the man's Curse of Dragon. In both the Japanese and English version, the man is a victim to a Mind Crush.In the second series of the anime, Téa has been a duel monster twice, being "Magician of Faith" and "Dark Magician Girl".

Téa in the manga
In the manga, especially in the beginning, Téa has a spunky, tomboyish personality and was able to scare away Joey and Tristan after they bully Yugi. She's very kind hearted, strong willed and supportive. She can also be seen in some parts of the series as a quick-tempered, pushy, mischievous, and somewhat bratty girl who likes doing everything her friends do. In the second series anime, she and Tristan, while keeping their personalities somewhat the same, are basically cheerleaders for Yugi and Joey. She is known among fans for her "friendship speeches", as she makes one in the majority of the episodes she appears in.

In Volume 3 of the manga, Shadi seeking to challenge Dark Yugi "redecorates" Téa's soul room so she is a doll without memories or a voice. In the Shadow Game, Téa is suspended on a bridge of life supported by 3 ushetbi. If the bridge were to become unstable because of the ushetbi breaking Téa would fall to her death. Yami Yugi however is able to defeat Shadi and return Téa to normal. (If a person who was "redecorated" is touched by the Millennium Key they return to normal.)

Téa's romance with the Yugis
Téa is in love with Yugi, but is uncertain if it is Dark Yugi (Yami Yugi) or regular Yugi that she loves more. Even though she has been friends with Yugi since childhood she is unaware that he is in love with her. The story of Téa's affection for Yugi differs from medium to medium and is a hot debate topic among the fans. Dark Yugi leaves to put his spirit to rest, so it is obvious that she and Dark Yugi aren't destined to be together.

In a manga chapter (Duel 45: 13 O'clock Terror!), when on a date with Yugi, Téa is so perturbed at him apparently ignoring her that she goes to extreme measures and plays a little joke on Yugi. She makes Yugi fearful for her safety by going onto 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" (Dark Yugi), not knowing that she placed herself in danger of being blown up for real. She is rescued by Dark Yugi, so her ploy succeeds in the end.

In the manga and the anime for much of the series, Téa believes that Dark Yugi is a more mature personality of regular Yugi. While at Duelist Kingdom, Yugi tells Téa that he "knows" that she prefers Dark Yugi. When he offers to switch out with Dark Yugi to give them time alone, Téa stops Yugi and tells him that there's no need because Yugi and Dark Yugi are both Yugi, so there's no need for him to change, as she cares for both "personalities". It is only later on in the series when Yugi is in the hospital after trying to save Dark Yugi that she finally accepts the fact that Yugi and Dark Yugi are two separate people. This then causes confusion as to who Téa is really in love with: Yugi or Dark Yugi. The last references to this in the anime are during the final duel, when Anzu wishes Atem to be victorious so she does not have to say goodbye to him. She also does have feelings toward the original Yugi as it is shown in many episodes when Rebecca Hawkins hugs Yugi, Téa appears upset.

Deck
Téa uses a deck full of mostly fairy cards, but in the "Virtual Realm" arc, she played with a Deck mostly made of Spellcasters. She Duels once in the manga and six times during the course of the second anime series (three of which were off-screen).