| “ | Get your game on! | „ |
| ~ Jaden Yuki's catchphrase. |
Jaden Yuki (Judai Yuki in the original), is the protagonist of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, serving as the franchise's second protagonist, as well being one of the three protagonists featured in the Bonds Beyond Time movie.
Jaden is able to see Card Spirits, and because of that he has a very deep bond with his cards, especially with Winged Kuriboh, and his ace monster later in the series Elemental Hero Neos, as well as a passion for Duel Monsters, he runs a very fusion-heavy deck, which is a staple for the GX era.
His Good Ranking[]
What Makes Him Admirable?[]
In General[]
- Much like other Yu-Gi-Oh! protagonists, Judai is a magnetic hero, which means he attracts lots of friends during the course of his journey.
- He develops a very strong bond with Johan/Jesse Anderson, one of the 4 exchange students introduced in season 3, to the point he's willing to sacrifice everything to save him.
- As noted above, Judai has a very strong bond with his cards due to being able to see card spirits, which makes him very protective and loyal to them, treating them as his companions.
- He's generally a very nice and friendly person, even in season 4 where he gets noticeably more aloof and emotionless, it's mostly because he doesn't want to put his friends in danger.
- In the Bonds Beyond Time movie, he teams up with Yugi Muto and Yusei Fudo to defeat Paradox, a villain from the future that travelled back to the past to prevent the Duel Monsters from being created.
Season 1[]
- Right on the second episode he already estabilishes himself as someone who isn't afraid of a challenge as he takes on Jun Majourne/Chazz Princeton, one of the highest-ranking Obelisk Blue students of the academy on a duel to prove the worth of Slifer Reds after he said they weren't worthy of being there.
- He defeats Asuka Tenjoin/Alexis Rhodes in a duel to protect his roommate Sho/Syrus after he was tricked by Professor Crowler into entering the Girls' Dorm, something that could get him expelled (although Asuka later revealed to her friends that she never actually had any intention to denounce Sho and get him expelled, she just wanted to duel Judai).
- He's pretty much a big brother figure to Sho, playing a key role in him becoming more confident on himself as the show goes on, and assuring everything would be okay in their tag duel against the Paradox Brothers, which if they lost they would get expelled from the academy.
- He also plays a big role in the development of his other roommate, Hayato/Chumley as he inspires him to get better with the duel monsters, eventually finally graduating from the academy.
- He also plays a huge role in the already mentioned Chazz, who after being forced to join the Slifer Red dorm, becomes a lot more humble while also learning the value of weaker cards like the Ojamas, who become a core part of his deck later on.
- In episode 13 he rescues Jasmine, one of Asuka's friends after she was kidnapped by a monkey called Wheeler, defeating him on a duel. It's worth mentioning that after he defeated Wheeler he refused to hand him back to the lab he had escaped, instead letting him be free on the woods.
- In episode 14 he defeats Jinzo, an evil spirit that sacrificed two students to manifest himself and was going to take an Obelisk Blue student called Torrey as his third sacrifice so he could go back to life, if Judai won the duel (which he did) Jinzo would free the 3 students, while if he lost he agreed he would become the third sacrifice instead of Torrey.
- During the Shadow Riders arc, Judai defeats more Shadow Riders than any of the other chosen duelists, beating Darkness/Nightshroud, Abidos the Third, Camula, Tania and Amnael.
- During his (first) duel with Darkness, he saves Sho and Hayato from being burned in the lava after beating him, and ends up freeing Fubuki/Atticus, Asuka's missing brother that was being brainwashed by Darkness.
- During his duel with Abidos he encourages him to have fun while dueling while offering to teach him how to play properly, despite Abidos being an enemy.
- He was chosen by Kagemaru (the one behind the Shadow Riders) to duel against him, and eventually ends up defeating him, putting an end to his plan of awakening the Sacred Beasts, had he suceeded with that, it would lead to a catastrophe, with cards around the world being sucked as sacrifice for the Sacred Beasts.
Season 2[]
- Right at the beginning of the season he helps to redeem Kenzan/Hassleberry, a Ra Yellow bully that took Sho's duel disk after defeating him in a duel.
- He plays a big role in Edo/Aster's development, as he slowly becomes less anti-heroic and a lot more kinder through the course of the season.
- He defeats Franz, a man who had stolen a copy of the Egyptian God Card, The Winged Dragon of Ra, using the god card against its will, something Judai quickly realizes as Franz uses a confining spell to keep it locked.
- During his trip to Domino City, he frees Solomon Yugi (Yugi's grandfather) after he was kidnapped by bandits hired by the Society of Light, to which Solomon notes he has the same spirit as Yugi, he also encourages the bandits to have fun while dueling, just like with Abidos.
- He agrees to help the Ojamas to free Chazz from the Society of Light's influence after he had been brainwashed by them, and eventually gets him to snap out of it.
- He also frees Asuka from the influence of the Society of Light after she had also been brainwashed by them.
- He defeats Sartorius, the leader of the Society of Light, who was actually being possessed by an evil entity called the Light of Destruction.
- He stops the Light of Destruction, had the entity succeeded in their plan it would lead to mass extermination of the population of Earth.
Seasons 3[]
- He duels Brodie/O'Brien, one of the 4 exchange students introduced in season 3, who had kidnapped Sho and treated to throw him off a cliff, in order to save Sho.
- He helps Johan to defeat Trapper, a mercenary who is able to see card spirits and enjoys torturing them, and was hired by Professor Cobra to drain the most duel energy he can from Johan.
- Once the academy ends up being tele transported to the Dimension World by a monster called Yubel, he and Johan team up to defeat Marcel, a Ra Yellow student that was being possessed by Yubel to bring the academy back to the regular dimension. However once he realizes Johan ended up being left behind in the process and taken by Yubel, he does everything he can to bring him back.
- He was horrified by his own actions as The Supreme King, and never actually forgave himself to the point he didn't want to keep fighting out of fear to cause more destruction, until Ryo/Zane snaps him out of this mindset.
- He eventually manages to free Johan from Yubel's possession.
- Forgive Yubel and fused his soul with them using Super Polymerization allow Yubel wish to be reuinte with Jaden forever to come true. Both of them fly away to fight the Light of Destruction one last time. Before return to Duel Academy at final episode of season 3.
Season 4[]
- In season 4 he defeats Trueman, one of the returning Darkness' messengers, who vowed to destroy anyone who tries to deduce his agenda.
- In season 4, Judai teams up with Johan and O'Brien to defeat Darkness, who this time was causing students to go missing, and possessed Fujiwara, another student who had gone missing.
What Makes Him Inconsistent?[]
- One of Judai's flaws is that he's a big slacker and doesn't put a lot of effort in class. While this is hardly a corrupting factor, season 3 deconstructs it further, showing that his rise to becoming the top duelist of the academy led to other students following his example and slacking as well, while this isn't his fault as he didn't realize that, it shows he isn't exactly a role model.
- Has annoyed Chazz contently making the former dislike him.
- He recklessly ends up endangering his friends and the academy by going back to the Dimension World to save Johan.
- During season 3, the traumatic events he was forced to endure in the Dimension World eventually led to him letting his darkest thoughts take control and become the Supreme King, which led to him becoming a tyrant and even committing genocide. While he eventually snaps out of it (as shown above), and the Supreme King being portrayed as a different split personality of Judai rather than Judai himself, it shows he's too corruptible to be Pure Good or even Near Pure Good, and led to other characters (including Sho) to lose some respect for him.
- As noted above, he becomes a lot more aloof and jaded in season 4 after the events of season 3, and while this is done mostly to protect his friends as he believes it might be too dangerous for them to get close to him again, he still loses his optimism and most of his joy in dueling, adopting a much more ruthless and no-non sense style of play, and leaving the academy without saying goodbye to anyone after graduating.
Trivia[]
- So far Jaden is the only Yu-Gi-Oh! protagonist to be Inconsistently Admirable.
External Links[]
- Jaden Yuki on the Heroes Wiki
- Jaden Yuki on the Yu-Gi-Oh! Wiki