Joey Wheeler

Joey Wheeler, known as Katsuya Jonouchi in the manga and Japanese version, is a Yu-Gi-Oh! character. He is known as Joseph "Joey" Wheeler in the 4Kids English anime and video games as well as the Brazilian and Portuguese version of the manga, and called Joseph "Joey" Katsuya in the Funimation Uncut English Anime. In the Swedish anime his name is Katsuya Jonouchi but they call him Jono. His name is sometimes spelled Katsuya Jyonouchi in the Japanese anime.

Joey started out as a bully, but becoming friends with Yugi Muto changes this. Though occasionally portrayed as comic relief he is essential to the plot and the series' overall theme. He is an enthusiastic duelist, who claims dueling is about fighting to help people you love.

Design


Joey's character design was overseen by Kazuki Takahashi.

In the first seven volumes of the original Yu-Gi-Oh! manga, Joey's hairstyle changes drastically. Originally featuring two large fringes in front of his ears, the hairstyle changes to a sporadically arranged taper-like and unrealistic hairstyle. Joey's first color appearance depicts him with medium brown hair and black eyes. Subsequent appearances lighten the hair color to dirty blond and blond. His eyes are portrayed as brown or hazel.

In the first series anime, Joey's hairstyle does not change, and the sporadic hairstyle colored in a bright blond style is used. His eyes are brown.

In the second series anime he has dirty blond hair in the sporadic hairstyle and dark brown eyes. His usual outfit from the second series anime consists of a long green open jacket with a raised collar, a white T-shirt underneath and blue jeans. Later in the series, his green jacket is replaced with a blue denim one. He often carries a KaibaCorp Duel Disk on his left arm.

Manga biography

 * See: Katsuya Jonouchi in the manga

First series anime biography

 * See: Katsuya Jonouchi in the first series anime

History
Joey and his sister, Serenity Wheeler, were separated when their parents divorced when he was 10. Serenity was brought by her mother while Joey lived with his father.

Joey and Tristan Taylor used to bully Yugi Muto at school. At one point Joey took a piece of Yugi's Millennium Puzzle and threw it into a canal. However when Ushio started beating up Joey and Tristan, Yugi stood up for them, saying they were his friends. Joey was inspired by how Yugi had tried to help him and came to care for Yugi. He retrieved the piece of the puzzle in the canal and gave it to Yugi's grandfather, to give to Yugi.

Joey became friends with Téa Gardner through Yugi.

boobies

Yu-Gi-Oh! GX
Joey is mentioned by name, by Pegasus. Pegasus includes Joey in his top five duelists as number three. Two being Kaiba and one being Yugi.

His name is made referenced in an episode in the English version when Jaden duels a lab chimpanzee, the scientist says the ape's name is Wheeler. The monkey, itself, is also a reference to Joey, since Kaiba dubbed Joey as "The Dueling Monkey".

When Jaden Yuki is taken to the past to duel against the younger Yugi, he picks up a flyer that has a picture of Yugi, Téa, Tristan and Joey.

Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's
In the English version of Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's, someone mentions that Joey has a cousin called Jesse Wheeler, who makes a cameo, shortly before Akiza's debut.

Non-canon appearances

 * See: Joey Wheeler in non-canon

Voice/Mannerisms
In the original Japanese versions of Yu-Gi-Oh!, Joey does not use honorifics, which means he has a "rude" speech pattern. When talking to people he doesn't like, Joey uses the word "teme" (a rude form of "you" in Japanese, often translated as "you bastard") instead of his normal "omae" (a form of "you" that in context is used between friends, but can imply that the person being spoken to has a lower status than the speaker does if used incorrectly), especially to Seto Kaiba, who does not think highly of Joey. The speech pattern translates into the American English anime, in which it is represented by Joey (voiced by Wayne Grayson) speaking with a Brooklyn accent. He refers to himself as "The Godfather of Games" in the movie. In the Southeast Asian English dub, Joey (voiced by Dwayne Tan in this dub) noticeably lacks the Brooklyn accent he has in the American dub.

Trivia

 * It is interesting to note that a large number of Joey's opponents cheat against him.
 * Mai Valentine, his first opponent in Duelist Kingdom, used a "psychic power" to tell what cards she was about to draw, which was really done by spraying her cards with perfumes.
 * Bandit Keith kept his "7 Completed" cards, which he used to power up his "Slot Machine", beneath his wristband so he could power up his "Slot Machine" whenever he chose.
 * The Rare Hunter, Seeker, used marked Exodia cards. He defeated Joey using "Exodia the Forbidden One" before Battle City, taking his "Red-Eyes B. Dragon".
 * Espa Roba used a "psychic power" to tell what cards were in Joey's hand. This was really done by having his brothers watch from the rooftops and tell him what cards Joey had.
 * Weevil Underwood, in addition to throwing Yugi's Exodia cards over the edge of the boat before Duelist Kingdom, had a kid steal Joey's cards and place "Parasite Paracide" in his deck to give Weevil the advantage in the duel by turning the monsters into insect types, and therefore unable to attack due to Weevil's "Insect Barrier".
 * During Joey's duel with Johnson, Johnson used his power to make Joey's "Skull Dice" and "Graceful Dice" land on 1, and during Gamble, he made the coin land on Tails when Joey called Heads.
 * Technically speaking, Joey should have won the duel with Yami Marik, but lost only because he collapsed from losing his energy from the effects of the Shadow Duel, just as he was about to defeat him. Were it not a Shadow Duel, Joey would have won.

Deck
Main article: Joey Wheeler's Decks

Originally, Joey's Deck is comprised of mostly Warrior and Beast-Warrior-Type monsters. He also uses luck based cards like "Question", "Graceful Dice", "Skull Dice", "Roulette Spider" in the series, mostly in the Battle City arc later on using monsters with power special effects such as "Gilford the Lightning" and "Blue Flame Swordsman". His dependency on luck (which works surprisingly well for him) started after he defeated Mai Valentine with "Time Wizard". At the start of Season Four, more of his cards focuses on strategies involving his "Red-Eyes B. Dragon", such as "Knight of Dark Dragons", "Lord of the Red", and "Star Blaster".