Syrus Truesdale

Syrus Truesdale, known in Japan as Sho Marufuji (丸藤翔, Marufuji Shō), is a former Slifer Red, then Ra Yellow, and now Obelisk Blue student as well as Jaden's best friend. A decent duelist, though hindered by a great deal of self doubt, Syrus' journey toward strengthening himself provides sharp contrast to protagonist Jaden's active determination. Syrus is often a "comic relief" character, partially due him being very nervous a large portion of the time, in a sharp contrast to Jaden's optimistic nature.

Character design


Syrus' character design was overseen by Kenichi Hara. His usual outfit consists of the standard Duel Academy uniform with alternating colors over the course of the series. The designs for all three uniforms worn by Syrus are identical in basic makeup. With his red uniform, a yellow shirt is hidden underneath the jacket, whereas with his yellow uniform, this is reversed. With his blue uniform, the shirt is black, and the collar has buttons not present in his other incarnations. The blue uniform also has fins in the back similar to his brother's outfit also not on his other uniforms. His blue hair (of a lighter tint than his brother's) is sectioned in three layers, his grey eyes positioned between the three bangs closest to his face and behind a pair of round-lensed glasses. He carries an Academy-issued Duel Disk on his left hand.

Character biography
Syrus is considered to be the "weaker" younger brother of Zane Truesdale who attends Duel Academy, originally residing in the Slifer Red dormitory along with Chumley Huffington and Jaden Yuki.

Syrus has made progress as a duelist throughout the series. From the onset, he faced Jaden in preparation for a tag duel, but, priding himself on finding a way to outdo his roommate, overlooked the abilities of his own cards. It was for this same reason that Zane forbade him from using the Power Bond card, for Syrus was unable to cope with its potential drawback.

During the second season, Syrus is given an opportunity to advance to Ra Yellow, should he be able to defeat Missy. Feeling that he should not shoulder his brother's legacy, Syrus gives his Power Bond card to Chazz to pass to Jaden before the start of the duel (reclaims it afterwards).

In episode 55, Syrus develops a rivalry with Tyranno over which of the two is better suited to being Jaden's best friend (in the Japanese version, it is over who has the right to call him "big brother"). They constantly argue and fight, prompting their repetitive separation by Alexis. By episode 64, their rivalry comes to a temporary halt, when the two duel to settle matters once and for all. Before the last blow is dealt, Tyranno discovers that Syrus went without food or sleep to search for Jaden, who had gone missing since his defeat at the hands of Aster. Seeing Syrus' devotion to their friend, he chose not to activate his "Jurassic Impact" card, which would have wiped both players out simultaneously.

During the field trip to Domino City, Syrus teams up with Tyranno in a duel against the first duo of the Light Brigade, Frost and Thunder. Although the two are pinned down by their opponents, who tuned their decks specifically to combat their cards, they end up pooling their efforts to combine their monsters into "Super Vehicroid Rex Union". Despite their teamwork, however, Frost ends the duel by wiping out all players but himself, and promptly drags them to his master's lair, from where they are transported to KaibaLand as bait for Jaden and Aster by order of Sarina.

As he observes his brother's actions following his "rebirth," Syrus notes Zane's newfound disrespect for his own cards and opponents. He dismisses the barbaric persona, refusing to believe that his brother has sunk so low. Determined to bring his brother back to his senses, Syrus acknowledges the inevitability that the two of them will face one another. During the Genex tournament, Syrus and Zane duel, they are hooked up to electrodes, just as Zane and Mad Dog were in the Underground Duel. Despite his best efforts and Jaden's secret move to place Power Bond back into his deck, Syrus loses, but he does not give up in hoping that his brother can be returned to his former self.

Shortly after the beginning of the third year at Duel Academy, Syrus advances to Obelisk Blue. As a result of Disclosure Duels being called for by Viper, Syrus becomes self-conscious of his worthiness to wear the outfit of the elites, and sets out to prove himself. In the Japanese version, he also wishes to adopt his brother's discarded title, and thus merit the name of "Kaiser Sho" (カイザー翔, Kaizā Shō). Inspired by Jaden's match with Axel Brodie, however, he decides to remain in Ra Yellow, and sets aside his goal for the future. (In the English Version he quits the Obelisk Blue dorm stating that Blue wasn't his color and he left Blue to protect Jaden.) After the Academy is transported to the other world, Syrus becomes one of the zombified students along with Chazz.

Later, when Jaden and company venture into an alternate dimension to rescue Jesse, Syrus is the only one of Jaden's friends who isn't sacrificed by Brron. After Jaden wins, he verbally attacks Jaden saying he wants nothing to do with him. While seperated from the others, Syrus decides to act as an observer, but later reunites with Aster and Zane when Jaden is freed from his possession. After Zane loses to a Yubel-possessed Jesse, Syrus watches Zane die and fade into particles of light before breaking down in tears.

In season 4 Syrus advanced to Obelisk Blue again. Later Syrus attempts to finish Zane's Duel with Izimu Makoto after Zane becomes too weak to Duel, but immediatly regrets his decision later as he begins to develop the same heart issues as Zane because of his use of the Cyberdark Deck. However, Syrus manages to overcome his problems and defeat Izimu, thus inheriting Zane's Cyber Dragon Deck later on and promises to improve it. Even with his new deck though, he could not defeat Trueman and was thus erased from existence. During Atticus's duel with Nightshroud, he is shown duelling dressed as Hell Kaiser Sho with a suit similar to his brother's dark outfit.

Manga


In the manga, Syrus is a much better duelist than his anime counterpart. He still refers to Jaden as bro (he is questioned by Jaden, Alexis and Bastion about this but is interrupted before he can answer). He doesn't take self doubt caused by his brother as hard in the anime as in the manga and is bold enough to go all out in his duel with Jaden. Although it is unknown if other characters in the manga view him as such, but Bastion Misawa views Syrus as Jaden's lackey. This thought is revealed (not to other characters) after Bastion finds out Syrus has Alexis' cell phone number.

Voice/Mannerisms
Syrus is easily captivated by any woman, real or otherwise, who happens to catch his eye. However, these feelings are superficial as he often moves from one crush to another. Like some of the prominent male characters, he has a "card crush" on "Thunder Nyan Nyan". His main crush is the Monster Spirit of "Dark Magician Girl".

In the original version, he ends the majority of his sentences with "suu" (an elision of "desu"). Furthermore, he calls Judai "Aniki," meaning "big brother," while referring to him as "Bro" in the English-language manga. In the third season of the original anime, however, Syrus starts to call Jaden by his first name because of Jaden's selfish actions during his duel against Brron, Mad King of Dark World that led to the deaths of Chazz, Alexis, Hassleberry and Atticus. For these actions he begins taking on the self-appointed role as an observer of the season's events. However by the end of the third season and the beginning of the fourth his faith in Jaden is restored and he begins to call him "big brother," again.

Starting with the third season of the dub, Syrus is able to break the fourth wall. This is shown when he says he's just there for amusement and would never move the plot along, when Jesse and Tyranno are ignoring him when he's tied up, he says "I know I'm not the star but come on, a little respect people" and that he carried Jaden's water for three episodes. He's even admitted that he doesn't move the plot along, and complains that nobody listens to him. Another instance is when they start discussing where Wheeler originally was worked on; Syrus says "Man, that was a weird episode!" Syrus hasn't broken the fourth wall in a while.

Deck
Syrus plays a Vehicroid Deck, composed of cartoon-like versions of real vehicles. Syrus' Vehicroids are generally lacking in terms of martial strength, but he supplements them through other cards and often combines them to form stronger cards. In addition, his Vehicroids have the benefit of possessing abilities that cover most strategic maneuvers.

Starting with the second year, Syrus begins using cards that focus on negating an opponent's attacks and shutting down their strategies. When he Duels his brother, Zane comments that Syrus has filled his Deck with cards that protect his Life Points. His skill as a duelist also greatly increases between the first two seasons, as he starts to become more self-confident and mature. After his Duel with Izimu he inherits Zane's Cyber Dragon Deck, combining it with his former Vehicroid Deck, creating a new Cyberoid Deck.

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