Jaden Yuki

Jaden Yuki, known in the Japanese version as Judai Yuki (遊城十代 Yūki Jūdai), Jaden is a fictional character in the anime series ''Yu-Gi-Oh! GX''. In the English version, Jaden is voiced by Matthew Charles, while KENN in the Japanese version.

A headstrong, fun-loving, and talented duelist, Jaden function as the series' main protagonist.

Character design


Jaden's character design was overseen by Kenichi Harrah. Jaden's usual outfit consists of the standard Slifer Red uniform, unbuttoned. A deck box is strapped above his waistline, largely hidden beneath the lower rim of his jacket. His brown hair is sectioned in two layers, the layer closest to his face a darker shade of brown than the one behind it. His brown eyes are positioned directly beneath the bangs of the layer closest to his face. He carries an Academy-issued Duel Disk on his left hand.

Character biography
Intending to attend Duel Academy (Duel Academia), Jaden bumps into Yugi Mutou on his way to the school's entrance examinations at the beginning of the series. He is given a Winged Kuriboh card by the legendary duelist, but receives a low score on the exam's written component, and is therefore placed in Slifer Red (Osiris Red), the lowest-ranked dormitory, alongside Syrus Truesdale (Sho Marufuji) and Chumley Huffington (Hayato Maeda), who become his new friends. He was once granted entrance into Ra Yellow, but declined the offer as he preferred the "burning fiery spirit and hot passion of red."

Jaden has made several enemies at his school, including Vellian Crowler (Cronos de Medici), whom Jaden defeated in his examination duel. Out of spite, Crowler tried to kick Jaden out of school on many different occasions before finally beginning to respect him. Jaden is an accomplished duelist, having defeated the aforementioned Crowler during his examination duel, Chazz Princeton (Jun Manjoume) in a school-wide duel, and Bastion Misawa (Daichi Misawa) for the representative position. He is also responsible for the defeat of most of the Shadow Riders (Seven Stars), and goes on to pummel a slew of other opponents.

During the second year, Jaden ventured into Neo Space after being defeated in his second duel with Aster Phoenix. There, he learned of the ongoing battle between the forces of darkness and light. With the help of the Neo-Spacians, Jaden adopted the role of the universe's defender wielding the "darkness of justice" against Sartorius (Takuma Saiou) and the Society of Light.The task of rescuing most of his converted friends from the organization's clutches also fell on him.

To prevent his evil side from activating the mind control satellite of Misgarth, Sartorius entrusted Jaden with one of the keys to its control switch. The diviner's evil personality sent numerous duelists after the boy to win it back, but to no avail. He ultimately confronted Jaden himself, demanding the key in exchange for Aster, from whom he had already regained the other key in battle. Jaden agreed, and although Aster was rescued shortly thereafter, both keys were put into the possession of Prince Ojin, who went on to fire the satellite. It was, however, destroyed during the course of their Duel. Sartorius was then defeated, the Light of Destruction purged from his body.

During the third year, Jaden is pursued by the spirit of his favorite card in childhood, Yubel, which was given to him by his father. With his parents always working and away from home, Jaden turned to dueling friends to pass the time, but the sadness associated with his inability to play Yubel properly led the Duel Monster to hospitalize a young duelist named Osamu and scare away the rest of his companions with other misfortunes.

When Duel Academy is returned to the real world, Jaden cannot find Jesse (Johan Andersen) and realizes that Jesse must still be in the other world. He blames himself for Jesse being stuck in the other dimension and goes back to rescue him along with his friends, but they land in a different dimension that the one from before. While looking for Jesse, Jaden loses all of his friends except Syrus to Brron, Mad King of Dark World. The anger in Jaden released by the loss of his friends causes an unexpected change. When Jaden finally wins, Syrus turns on Jaden as he feels that Jaden sacrificed his friends just for himself. Syrus then abandons him and Jim Crocodile Cook and Axel Brodie soon follow, leaving Jaden to mope by himself.

Afterwards, Jaden is in the darkness within his mind, and a strange figure called Haou the Supreme King enters, giving him the chance to redeem himself by becoming evil. Jaden accepts it along with the incomplete Super Fusion card and at that time, Haou possesses him. While under Haou's control, he commits many atrocities that include unrepentent slaughter of duelists in order to complete the Super Fusion and the oppression of several villages. However, as Haou performs these actions, Jaden himself is left in doubt about what he needs in order to be complete not only as a duelist, but as a person. Unfortunately, he turns to Haou for this advice, who only tells him that one can only overcome evil by becoming evil. After Axel Brodie uses the Eye of Orichalcum on Haou during a successful invasion of Haou's castle, Jaden is freed from his possession, but is deeply tormented by the atrocities he committed during his possession.

Manga
In the manga, Jaden played a deck similar to that of his anime counterpart as a child. While in the hospital for breaking one of his bones playing baseball, fellow patient Koyo Hibiki gave the boy his own nature-themed Elemental Hero deck (including Winged Kuriboh), and as a result of the meeting with Koyo and his sister, Midori, Jaden was inspired to become a duelist. From the outset of the manga storyline, he is already a student of Duel Academy, with Koyo's heroes standing by his side.

Voice/Mannerisms
Jaden is known for his catchphrases, most notably "I'll throw down a face-down" when setting cards, "Get your game on" when beginning a Duel, and "That's game" when winning one. In the Japanese version, he uses the phrase ''Gotcha! Tanoshii no duel dattaze!'' which translates into “Gotcha! That was a fun duel!”

Deck
During the first year, Jaden plays a Hero deck composed of Elemental Heroes (abbreviated as "E・Hero" in the Japanese version), Spell and Trap Cards that support them, as well as his "partner" Winged Kuriboh. His deck largely supports Fusion Summoning stronger Elemental Heroes, often using a colorful array of Fusion Summoning Magic cards, which has additional effects besides the aforementioned effect, allowing great flexibility in strategies. All Elemental Heroes fuse in some combination, granting Jaden a myriad of different effects to take advantage of.

After his second duel with Aster, Jaden's entire deck is left blank to his eyes due to Sartorius' powers. With the inability to use his old Hero deck, Jaden received a new one that included some cards he created as a child for a KaibaCorp contest. Once his ability to see his older cards returned, he combined elements from both decks into a single deck, his Neos deck. While this deck still contains many of the cards from his original deck, it also consists of Neo-Spacians and cards that exploit their ability to "Contact Fuse" with Elemental Hero Neos in Guyver-inspired fashion. One of the cards in this variation of his deck, Rallis the Star Bird, is based on an illustration by Kaori Kimura (木村香央里, Kimura Kaori?) submitted for a card illustration contest held earlier during the series.

As the Supreme King, Jaden plays Evil Hero cards, vile incarnations of his regular Elemental Heroes.

4th Deck
This was a special deck Jaden used in his duel with Chazz Princeton to free him from Sartorius' influence.