Yugi Mutou/ Yami (Atem)

Age: 16
Hair: Black with blond streaks
Eye colour: Reddish purple

Being the main character of the show, I assume that you would know who Yugi is, but what sort of bio section would be complete with out a bio of the main character? So I decided to still write a bio for Yugi, but I am keeping this short.

Yugi Mutou, the short kid in class, not exactly the smartest, not exactly the most out standing. He was just a weak, uncourageous kid who was bullied by everyone. With little friends, Yugi was a loner who always seemed to be trying to put together an odd puzzle. Then one day everything changed.

On that day, Yugi Mutou finished the puzzle, suddenly he found himself controlled by an alter ego, a spirit from the puzzle. Instantly, and unknowingly, Yugi became a strong, courageous, taller, and much cooler boy who could stand up for himself. But that was only one part of the changes, when he finished the puzzle he was granted a wish. He wished for good friends. Suddenly the bullies of yesterday became his very best friends. From that day on Joey and Tristan stood by his side. Joined with Tea Gardener, Yugi’s childhood friend his journeys finally begun.

Yugi himself is actually a really kind and gentle person. He would not hurt a soul, and he would not think of revenges. He was friendly to everyone and trusting to everyone. Sometimes he would not stand up for what he believed in, and sometimes he can be a bit naive, but he was kind, and he strongly believed in second chances. He show compassion and sympathy for all.

Yami Yugi was a bit different. He was a lot more strict. He punishes all those messes with him. He is less trusting, and much less kind in general. But like Yugi he is very loyal to his friends, and he would not do anything that would hurt people he likes. He also fights with a code of honour.  Slowly, with Yami Yugi’s help, Yugi slowly build up his self esteem and self confidence. He slowly became stronger.

Yugi have a crush on Tea. The fact is quite obvious even in the beginning of the manga. For the anime it is a bit harder to tell, but there are still hints that Yugi likes Tea. Unfortunately for Yugi, Tea (at least in the beginning of the manga) liked Yami Yugi more. She did eventually likes Yugi as much as Yami Yugi, but that’s another story. The truth is, ironically, Yami Yugi does not like Tea. It makes a small funny Triangle, The triangle dissolves as the story progresses.

Joey Wheeler

Age: 16-17
Hair: Blond
Eye colour: Brown

Joey is very strong-willed, and will do whatever he can for a friend.  one of these close friends is Yugi Motou.

However, he wasn’t always Yugi’s friend.  Joey once used to bully Yugi and even took one part of Yugi’s Millenium Puzzle once. Joey threw the piece out the window and it landed into the ocean.  He retrieved the piece for Yugi, though, once he realized how much it upset Yugi.  They became quick friends after that.

Joey lives with his father, who doesn’t treat him with too much care, appearantly, Joey’s parents are divorced spliting Joey away from his sister, Serenity. Perhaps because Joey feels he never truely taken good care of his sister, he becomes extremely devoted to her. Serenity had bad eyes ever since she was born.  Her eyes kept getting worse as she got older.  So when Joey got the chance to help Serenity out, he went to Duelist Kingdom along with Yugi (with Tea and Tristan, two other close friends) and got the money to pay for Serenity’s operation, since his mother (he doesn’t live with Serenity or his mother) couldn’t afford to.  Joey is very protective of Serenity and would do anything for her.

Joey sometimes act rather rashly. He doesn’t think too much before acting. He acts on impulse and sometimes that gets him in trouble. Lucky for him, he has Yugi, the deep thinker as his friend, who gets Joey out of a lot of trouble…

Joey duels a lot.  His favorite card is the Flame Swordsman.  During Battle City, Joey gave his rarest card (his Red Eyes Black Dragon) to Yugi, but I believe he got it back later on after Battle City from Yugi.

Joey is not on very good terms with Seto Kaiba.  We have plenty of proof why.  Seto Kaiba treats Joey as a dog/servant of Yugi Motou. In fact, he doesn’t even consider Joey as a true duellist until Joey almost lost his life duelling Malik in Battle City.  In return… Joey wishes to defeat Seto with his own hands with all his heart… but at the moment he can do nothing except but listen to Yugi, Tea, and Tristan, and ignore Seto completely.

Tristan Taylor

Age: 16-17
Hair: Brown
Eye colour: Brown

Tristan Taylor isn’t exactly what you’d call a main character, because as we all know he doesn’t duel and all he seems to ever do is stand and cheer on his friends along with Tea, and sometimes Otogi, yet he’s not exactly a secondary character… since he is a character from the ‘inner circle’ of Yugi’s gang.

Tristan Taylor is a very loyal and protective friend of Yugi. In this aspect his is very much like Joey.  But unlike Joey, who is stubborn, he is easily influenced.  He would also do anything to help somebody, in this aspect he is sort of like Yugi… But without the magical power from an millennium item, and without the luck which always seem to surround both Yugi and Joey he is, in reality, a character who has the toughest life because he has to live it through like normal people would.

Perhaps the saddest thing is that he is a side kick of a side kick. I know Joey fan girls would probably throw bricks at me for calling Joey a side kick, but if you reallity think about it, he is. Joey is forever the one who would go and save Yugi from harm, and Tristan is the person who would then, in turn, save Joey and Yugi from harm…

Given that sort of role by the artist, it is no surprise that Tristan is not exactly the most exciting character around. He is a static character, who doesn’t really change, except in the beginning when he changed from a bully to Yugi’s friend.

There’s one thing that is mildly interesting about Tristan though – and that is the fact he has a thing for Joey’s sister, Serenity. He gets extremely jealous when ever Otogi talks or touches Serenity in the anime, and sometimes in the manga, who also has a thing for that girl. If you are wondering, Joey does not like the fact that guys are going after his innocent sister.

Tristan’s favorite Duel Monsters card is the Cyber Commander.  Typical of most monster cards in the show, the Cyber Commander is a sucky card that only sort of excels in attack strength. But does it  have a good effect?  Not really.

Tea Gardner

Age: 16-17
Hair: Brown
Eye colour: Blue

“Friendship is a life. Friendship is what makes the world goes around. Friendship is power.” And on she droned.

That is how many American Yugioh fans describe her – the friendship preacher. But I think we should give her a little more credits that that. Especially when no one accuse Yugi as a friendship preacher, even though in reality that’s what he is always talking about.

Tea wants to be a dancer in the future, and she show her talents in her dates with Yami Yugi. She dances pretty well. In any case, Tea is a good friend of Yugi. She has been Yugi’s friend before Joey. Yugi has a crush on Tea, but for a while, Tea only likes Yami Yugi. That sort of resolved in the manga, when she told Yugi that she likes Yami Yugi as well as Yugi because they are both one and the same.

Tea does not have any amazing power, she does not have money, she does not have great duelling skill, but she plays her role well as a girl next door and she is the best friend you can ever have in the world. Tea has no Egyptian past, but she is a good friend nevertheless.

Mai Valentine

Age: 23
Hair colour: Blond
Eye colour: Reddish purple

In the begining, Mai just seemed to be a popular, seductive woman with a lot of confidence in herself. Slowly we realize she is does have a dark side. When she was younger she used to work in casinos and cruise ships, dealing with rich men she described as ‘worthless gamblers.’ She got tired of that life and lost her goal in life. Aside from that, after those days she stopped believing in friendship.

Upon loosing to Joey, Mai changed. She became interested in Joey in his friends, and searched for them on Duelist Kingdom after her battle against Joey. When she knew them better, she began to trust them and they became friends. Mai helped Yugi go into Pegasus’ castle and afterward helped Joey continue his fight with Bandit Keith by giving him a duelist card.

Mai seems to like Joey, despite their age differences. This is quite obvious in the anime. There are seriously episode that just screams Joey/Mai coupling, for example that episode when Mai had to duel that guy who uses Ninja cards… No offends, but if that does not tell you how much Mai likes Joey what does? The manga also share some some Mai/Joey moments with the anime, you can see that when Mai was dueling Malik and she was hurt. Who came to her rescue? Joey! And who was the one who received the message from Malik about what would happen to Mai if no one defeats him in 24 hours? Joey! And who was crying when Mai pulled a death act with Bakura after she recovered? Joey!.

Mai is sort of evil right now in the ‘Doom Arc’ in the anime. But I am sure she will turn around again sometime later. Mai is still one of my favorite female character though. I don’t care what she does. Sure, she is no living Isis with power to see the future, but she is a very seductive, effective, and smart young woman.

Mai never showed up again in the manga series after Battle City. She showed up a few times during the anime though.

Seto Kaiba

Age: 16-17
Hair colour: Brown
Eye colour: Blue

Seto Kaiba is the rich and powerful owner the Kaiba Corporation. He is probably the smartest character in the whole Yugioh series, given that he is the genius behind all of the Duel Monster Duelling holographic technology. In the anime he is also good at hacking. He is very passionate about computer and technology and spends more time with his machines than with actually humans (in the anime he talked to his computer). He loves Duel Monster and is an expert duellist. However, he is rather cold towards people. The first time we meet Seto in the second season of Yugioh (the one that is showing in America) is at Domino High School in the first episode, he is in the same class as Yugi and his friends. Why Seto actually goes to school in the first place is a mystery to me. I certainly wouldn’t if I am that smart already.

Seto Kaiba not a nice person in the beginning of the show. In the first episode he did everything in his power (and not all of those actions are noble ones) to get his hand on the fourth Blue Eye White Dragon cards (there are only four BEWD card in the world and he is already the proud owner of the first three). After kidnapping Yugi’s grandfather, he beat the poor old man in a duel and grabbed the Blue Eye White Dragon card. In front of everyone he ripped the valuable card in two*. Anyway, for some reason Yugi’s grandfather fell into a coma. Seto challenged Yugi to a duel. Yami Yugi came out of the millennium puzzle and battle Seto instead. At the end Yami Yugi won using the power of the Exodia (I think it was a very cheap way to win to tell you the truth). Yami Yugi basically used mind crush on Seto (the dub put it, he banished the evil in his heart or something but never believe in the dub) and left (in the manga Seto was sent into a coma like state upon his defeat). From that moment on Yugi (actually more like Yami Yugi) and Seto are rivals.

At this point I would like to point out that Seto does have a heart and that he wasn’t always this cold. In flash backs Seto was always smiling and his eyes were actually kind looking. Apparently, his parents both died when he was still a young boy (his mother died giving birth to Mokuba when he was five and his father died in a car crash three years later). He was later sent to an orphanage along with his brother when his relatives abandoned them (Seto was still smileying when he was in the orphanage). Many adults wanted to adopt Seto because he was a child prodigy but he refused to go without his little brother (isn’t that so touching). Later on this rich man called Gozaburo Kaiba adopted the two siblings because Seto defeated him in a chess game (in the anime they said it was because he looked like Gozaburo’s deceased son, but as the whole Noa arc doesn’t exist in the manga people can argue about that). Seto is then altered by Gozaburo’s ruthless ways. Gozaburo made him study a lot of stuff to train him as his successor. After that Seto himself became ruthless and he actually began to be mean to his little brother. It succeeded, Seto did became Gozaburo’s successor after the corporate giants sided with Seto instead of Goazaburo (in the manga Gozaburo pushed himself out of the window, in the anime season one he had a heart attack).

He hated Gozaburo a lot, so he destroyed the old Kaiba Corp. (a company dedicated to making weapons for war) and turned it into a game company. However, after meeting Yugi, Seto’s relationship with Mokuba became good again. They are so close that they would sacrifice their life for each other (gosh I wish my brother and I share the same bond). Mokuba is the only person Seto actually trust and love. He is also Seto’s only family.

As you might imagine being defeated by Yugi defeated Seto (Seto was one of the top duellist in the world). Yugi’s victory overthrows every concept that Seto believes in about Duel Monster. Seto has always thought that Duel Monster is all about powerful cards but as the show goes on him slowly (but maturely) began to believe in the heart of the cards. In the anime he left Kaiba Corp. for a short time to recover, but that gave the Big Five some time to make a plan to take over Kaiba Crop with Pegasus (in the manga he just woke up from his coma and found out Pegasus kidnapped his brother). The plan involved kidnapping Mokuba and killing Seto. Seto found out went to Duellist Kingdom to find his little brother. When he found Pegasus, being the unstable person that Pegasus generally is, decided to trap Mokuba in a soul card. Seto and Pegasus duelled, Pegasus won because he has his millennium eye and his toon world monsters. Pegasus took Seto’s soul too. Yugi was able of save everyone later.

As I said before, Seto does not believe in friendship, however, as he spends more and more time with Yugi and his friends, he began to learn about the advantage of working together. I am sure Seto would hate to admit it, but he did helped Yugi and his friends out quite a few times as the show goes on (of course Yugi and his friends help him out quite a few times too).

Seto is the owner of the God Card of Obelisk. Isis gave the card to Seto. Seto can actually control his god card, which is a mystery in itself because only people with some kind of ancient Egypt power can control the card and Seto does not have a millennium item. It ended up that Seto is the reincarnation of the old owner of the Millennium Rod. He used to be an ancient Egypt high priest. His memory of that period of time was completely wiped out like all other characters. I believe there are strange connections between Seto and Isis, however, I have no way of knowing for sure because Yugioh has yet to end in Japan.

Seto was defeated again by Yugi during the Battle City Arc. Of course, every fan in Yugioh expected that all along because, after all, Yugi is the main character. After the defeat Seto was forced to give up his God card to Yugi. Which Yugi needed desperately if he wanted to have any chances to beat Malik’s all mighty God card Ra. After a chat with Isis, Seto also gave Yugi a card call Devil Sanctuary to raise Yugi’s chance of beating Malik by more than twenty percent. That card will probably play a great part in winning the duel for Yugi.

Mokuba Kaiba

Age: 12
Hair: Black (the only Japanese characters in the show who did not dyed his hair =)
Eye colour: Blue

Sharing an extremely strong bonds with his older brother, the siblings are probably willing to sacrifice themselves for each other. Mokuba tries his best to please his older brother. In the beginning of the manga series, Seto was rather cold towards him, but later on during Duellist Kingdom the brothers relationship was fixed up. In the show, Mokuba is just a minor character but if it wasn’t for him, Yugi and his friends might have been brutally hurt by Seto. What I am saying is that Mokuba is the conscience and the voice of reason in Seto. Mokuba is also the reason why Seto went through all those trouble going to Duellist Kingdom.

I suppose, in many aspect Mokuba can also be seen as a “damsel in distress” sort of character waiting to be rescue and easy to be captured. I do believe he is more than that; however, I think he is a rather strong kid who act on his believes. He is not as innocent as many fans like to say he is, but he is still a kind character. His view on friendship is rather pessimistic at first due to his brother’s influences, but after meeting Yugi I think his views changed.

Although even in the manga, Mokuba is still just a minor character, he often acts as a door to Seto’s past. It was because of him that Yugi and his friends found out about Gozaburo. Seto’s characteristic would not allow him to tell the world about his past shadows, so the artist needs to create a character like Mokuba to tell the story instead.

By the end of Battle City Mokuba considers Yugi as a friend. But worried that he might offend a brother, who I suspect he almost view as a father, he seldom act upon the friendship. At critical time though, he would speak up. At the end of Battle City, when Yugi was about to fight Malik, Mokuba begged his brother not to set a bomb on the island. His brother refused his request but promised their safety. Mokuba then made Seto promise that when Battle City ends his hatred for Yugi would also disappear.

In conclusion, Mokuba is just an extremely cute kid who loves his brother and loves his friends.

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