Jaden Yuki (manga)

Jaden Yuki, known as Judai Yuki in the Japanese version, is a student at Duel Academy and the protagonist of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX. He is a headstrong Duelist who aspires to be a Duelist as great as his mentor, Koyo Hibiki.

Biography
Jaden defeated Vellian Crowler in the Duel Academy entrance exam and was placed in the Slifer Red dormitory.

Jaden heard that the trainee teacher, Mr. Ryuga, had been taking cards from students he defeated, including Syrus Truesdale. Enraged by this, Jaden challenged Ryuga to a Duel, which Crowler sanctioned as the last necessary Duel Ryuga needed to win before becoming a teacher. Unbeknownst to Jaden, Ryuga cheated by using a ring that disabled the Duel Disks ability to read Spell Cards. However Jaden won by combining his Monster and Trap Cards and damaged Ryuga's ring with his final attack.

Jaden was honored to be facing Chazz Princeton, when they were matched up for a skill lesson. Chazz was disgusted by Jaden's comparison of "Winged Kuriboh" to "Light and Darkness Dragon", but soon learned that it was Jaden's Spirit Partner. Chazz attempted to win without his own Spirit Partner, but lost to Jaden's "Winged Kuriboh LV10". Afterwards Jaden caught a glimpse of the Light and Darkness Dragon spirit.

Jaden tried borrowing the Battle City DVD from Alexis Rhodes, only to find she had lent it to somebody else. Bastion Misawa, who had grown jealous of Jaden's card drawing ability and friendship with Alexis, had both the Duelist Kingdom and Battle City DVDs. Bastion challenged Jaden to a Duel, waging a loan of the Duelist Kingdom DVD for Alexis' contact details. Alexis arrived to give Jaden the Battle City DVD shortly before Jaden won. When she heard that Bastion had the Duelist Kingdom DVD, Jaden suggested that she and Bastion share contact details. Despite winning the Duel, Jaden had to allow Alexis to watch the Duelist Kingdom DVD, before he could borrow it.

Being the only student who hadn't voted in the 2004 Miss Duel Academy pageant, Jaden was urged to make to the tiebreaking vote between Seika Kohinata and Alexis. Seika challenged Jaden to a Duel for his vote, but Alexis refused to have someone else make her decisions. Instead Jaden and Alexis dueled under the condition that Alexis could withdraw from the competition if she won and Seika would get Jaden's vote if Jaden won. Although Jaden won, Seika said it wouldn't be right for her to accept Jaden's vote after the fight Alexis put up.

Crowler misinterpreted an exam score sheet and thought Syrus had scored a 0. He also took note of how Jaden hadn't passed a single written exam. As punishment, he arranged a Duel between Jaden and Syrus, where Syrus would be expelled if he lost and Jaden would have his Deck confiscated if he lost. Jaden initially tried to somehow avoid the Duel, but Syrus insisted that he wanted to proudly Duel someone he respected and become stronger. Although Syrus put up a strong fight, Jaden painfully pushed himself to win. Before Crowler could expel Syrus, Midori Hibiki arrived and explained the misunderstanding. She also asked to see Jaden, who really failed the test, to arrange a resit. Jaden took part in the main tournament of the series, where he loses to Chazz in the finals. Although he defeated Chazz earlier, Chazz was able to overcome him in the rematch.

Following his defeat to Chazz, Winged Kuriboh led Jaden to the Abandoned Dorm, where he found Midori Dueling Mackenzie. Seeing Jaden, Midori attempts to comeback from a duel she was going to deliberately lose but is unable to win by that point. After the Duel, Jaden is powerless to save her from succumbing to the shadows. However, Jaden is able to defeat Reggie in a Duel, freeing her from the influence of Tragoedia and reviving Midori. Jaden seemingly ceases to use Koyo's Heroes after this Duel, and instead uses a Deck of his own design containing the "Masked HERO" series, though he does retain "Winged Kuriboh".

His first on-panel use of his new Deck is in a losing effort against Aster Phoenix and his "Vision HERO" monsters. Jaden is later challenged by Adrian Gecko, whom Principal MacKenzie promised to promote to the Pro League should he defeat Jaden. Despite Adrian's use of the Legendary Planet "The Despair Uranus", Jaden ultimately defeats him. Immediately after this, he is confronted by Atticus Rhodes, who is under the full influence of Tragoedia. Jaden antes "Terra Firma" and "Winged Kuriboh" against the restoration of Koyo's health. This backfires, as Atticus defeats him with a combination of "The Suppression Pluto" and "The Eye of Truth". With that loss, Tragoedia absorbs his missing heart from the spirit of Winged Kuriboh, but the spirit narrowly saves Jaden from the Penalty Game beforehand.

Jaden and Chazz confront Tragoedia at the warehouse by the docks, and they Duel as a team against him. Though they gain an early advantage, Tragoedia comes back with a wide array of cards that he designed himself. Pushed into a corner, Chazz leaves Jaden his face-down "Hopeful Future", knowing the outcome of the Duel will be determined on the next turn. Jaden combines "Winged Kuriboh" with "Light and Darkness Dragon" to create "Ma'at", which lends its power to defeat Tragoedia. The spirits of "Winged Kuriboh" and "Light and Darkness Dragon" sacrifice themselves to seal Tragoedia permanently. Years later, after graduation, Jaden faces a revived Koyo for the world title.

Deck
Jaden uses an "Elemental HERO" Deck, different from that of his anime counterpart. The Deck once belonged to Koyo Hibiki, but Jaden had modified it throughout the years. It features a variety of different Fusion Monsters which allow for more flexibility in their Fusion Material Monsters than usual fusions. His ace card is "Elemental HERO Terra Firma".

He later uses a "Masked HERO" Deck, which focuses on swapping out monsters through Transformation Summoning.