Blair Flannigan

Blair Flannigan, known in Japan as Rei Saotome (早乙女レイ, Saotome Rei), is an underage student who also happens to be the only girl in the Slifer Red dorm. Initially a minor character appearing in a stand-alone episode during the first season, Blair joins the central cast at the beginning of the third after proving her worth as a duelist.

Her surname in the Japanese version is derived from the name of Ranma Saotome, protagonist of the Ranma ½ franchise, as a joke about her disguising herself as a boy (Ranma was cursed to transform into a girl whenever doused with cold water).

Character biography
Blair is a transfer student who enters Duel Academy during its first year disguised as a boy. She is placed in the Slifer Red dormitory, and guided by Jaden, Syrus, and Chumley. Behind her guise, Blair intended to get closer to Zane, on whom she had a crush. While sneaking around Zane's room in Obelisk Blue, she is caught by Jaden, who discovers her secret and pursues her on the matter late at night after the confrontation. The two duel, and although Blair is defeated, she finally has the opportunity to meet with Zane. He is flattered by her affections, but turns her down, telling her to go home. Being a fifth-grade elementary student (second grade in the English dub), she is forced to leave the school on the technicality that she is too young to stay. As she departs, her feelings shift from Zane to Jaden.

During the second year, Blair returns near the end of the Genex tournament and challenges Zane following his "rebirth," but he declines, and she instead duels with Chazz to claim the champion title of the tournament and officially enter Slifer Red. Despite overwhelming improvement in her skills that allow her to push him into a corner, Chazz is able to claim victory in the end. At that time, an integral part of Blair's personality becomes clearer. Her love interests are constantly changing, as evidenced by her brief admiration of Chazz, which is quickly replaced once more by her infatuation with Jaden. Even though she lost to Chazz, Blair is admitted to Slifer Red, and becomes a member of the central cast at the beginning of the third year. She tries to befriend Marcel during that time, but mostly proves unsuccessful. She commandeers the duelist's room, forcing him to bunk with Jaden. When Duel Academy gets sent to the alternate dimension, she gets attacked by Yubel when she gets near Marcel and comes down with a mysterious illness. Jaden, Jesse, Axel, Jim, and Adrian get medicine from a submarine that Bastion saw. She gets healed by this medicine soon after. After recovering she later sees the Yubel-possessed Marcel dueling Jaden and Jesse. She shows that she cares for Marcel when she demands the spirit release him, which it does, and then throws Marcel at her (Yubel willingly left Marcel because it didn't need him anymore).

Voice/Mannerisms
In the English version, Blair takes on a Brooklyn accent beginning with her reappearance at the second season's conclusion. During her duel with Chazz she also made some egg puns ("that's not yoke", "eggcelent"). In the original version of the series, she refers to herself with "boku," a word for "I" typically spoken by young males, though its use by females is not unheard of. She also refers to Marcel as "Marucchi" in the original version.

Deck
Blair originally played a Maiden in Love Deck, themed on the monster and her ability to distribute Maiden Counters to an opponent's monsters as means of controlling them and turning them against her opponent. As of the second year, she plays an Egg Deck, which charts the aging of monsters like "Mystic Egg" through their individual stages of growth.