History Anime / YuGiOhGX

** In terms of actual character catchphrases, in the English dub, Jaden Yuki says "That's game" upon winning, and "Get your game on!" whenever he's about to start a duel. In the Japanese original, Judai has the GratuitiousEnglish phrase "Gotcha!" which is said when he wins a duel. [[spoiler:In season 4, after he beats Chronos, the whole school gets in on his catchphrase by yelling and doing the same gesture he usually does to the professor]].

* {{Engrish}}: Jim. Oh God, Jim. All over the place. At least Yubel's VA does a great job correctly pronouncing their German card names - but it's a shame the [[GratuitousGerman German itself is completely ungrammatical]].

* GratuitousEnglish: Jim 'Crocodile' Cook provides enough of it to cover everyone.

* TheCameo: Several of the original series characters, among them Pegasus, Kaiba, the Paradox Brothers, and Yugi's grandfather. Also, Yugi himself in the first episode, although his face isn't seen.
** Then Yugi shows up again both as his faceless older self and his younger self as Jaden's last opponent of the series.
** In Season 1, Jinzo and Dark Magician Girl, regular monsters that were popular in the original series, appear in one-shot episodes as duelists. Dark Magician Girl is carefree and just looking for fun, but Jinzo is a soul-eating villain and the first sign to Jaden that not all Duel Spirits are benevolent.

* CardGames: Duh.
* CatchPhrase: Lampshaded in the dub at least, during Aster and Jaden's third duel, when the former summons Destiny Hero Dogma, Jaden's [[Franchise/ScoobyDoo scooby gang]] reacts with shock, saying things like "Aww, man!" (Syrus), "Great Scott!!" (Bastion), and "Sam Hill!!" (Tyranno). Then Alexis asks why she doesn't have a catchphrase.
** "Great Scott!!" isn't Bastion's catchphrase, but it is ''a'' catchphrase. One of his more common phrases is "Good show."

* CharacterFocus: Switches from Jaden's friends to the [[ForeignExchangeStudent 4 new Transfer Students]] in Season 3.

* ClubStub: A small storyline of Season 2 revolves around the Slifer Red dorm being in danger of demolition with only Jaden and his friends there to defend it.

** Metamorphosis was also banned in 2007. Its final use was in episode 80; it’s final appearance was episode 116.

* RunningGag: In the Japanese version, people forgetting Bastion's in the room.

* ShoutOut: Every single Elemental Hero Jaden uses is based off of a comic book superhero (with Elemental Hero Neos being based off of Manga/{{Guyver}} as the only exception), while almost every single Destiny Hero is based off of a British hero (or, in some cases, hero/villain -- Destiny Hero Double [[strike:{{Du|bNameChange}}de]] Guy, for example, is [[{{Anvilicious}} notably]] based off of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde).

* SpellMyNameWithAnS: The most obvious example is the extended vowel debate that rages in all three ''Yu-Gi-Oh'' shows (Yuki/Yuuki, Judai/Juudai, Tenjoin/Tenjouin, Yusuke/Yuusuke), but GX has a couple of interesting and unusual examples outside of this...
** Is it Johan Andersen, Johan Anderson, or Johann Anderson? All three spellings have been used in official Japanese merchandise or materials, and all three are technically correct spellings, varied by country ("Andersen" is Danish/Norwegian, while "Anderson" is Swedish/English, with "Johann" being the German variation on the Scandinavian "Johan").
*** Also, Johan's name in the Japanese version is written with the katakana ヨハン, with the "ヨ" character being "Yo" instead of "Jo" (ジョ), leading to many instances where Japanese fans write his name as "Yohan", even though "Johan" is the official spelling.

** With every spin-off, a new summoning mechanic would be introduced. While GX did put emphasis on fusion summoning, that mechanic already existed in the game beforehand. Also, while there were characters like Jaden whose deck relied heavily on Fusion Summoning, there were a lot of characters whose decks either barely used the mechanic, or never fusion summoned at all. The only other spin-off that didn't have every character rely on the new-at-the-time summoning mechanic was ''Anime/YuGiOhArcV'', and that was a plot point because [[spoiler:there were multiple dimensions that each had their own summoning mechanic, but didn't have access to the other ones]].

** With every spin-off, a new summoning mechanic would be introduced. While GX did put emphasis on fusion summoning, that mechanic already existed in the game beforehand. Also, while there were characters like Jaden whose deck relied heavily on Fusion Summoning, there were a lot of characters whose decks either barely used the mechanic, or never fusion summoned at all.

** Of all the lead protagonists, Jaden stands out due to how relatively ''plain'' he looks compared to other Yu-Gi-Oh series protagonist. Even though he has AnimeHair, it's nowhere ''near'' as crazy as every other protagonists, and seems downright ''normal'' compared to some of the hair styles in ''Anime/YuGiOhZEXAL''.

* {{Bokukko}}: Rei when she is in disguise, and [[AmbiguousGender Yubel]], who has a female right side of the body but refer to themselves with "boku" and most of everyone else with "kimi".

** Along with the Crystal Beasts, Don Zaloog of the Dark Scorpions is given a Christopher Walken impression.

** [[EldritchAbomination The Light of Destruction]] a malevolent celestial entity. Scientific evidence suggests for billions of years a white hole released a mysterious energy and when it reached Earth it caused several calamities such as dictatorships and wars. Season 2 largely revolves around [[DemonicPossession Sartorius being possessed by the Light]], and later attempting to use a KillSat to wipe out humanity. In Season 3, Yubel was also AxCrazy because they came into contact with the Light. By series end, the Light remains active in the universe. Although a flashback reveals that [[TheChosenOne Jaden is the reincarnation of the Supreme King]] who holds the power of the [[TheSacredDarkness Gentle Darkness]] to extinguish the Light.

* DarkIsEvil: Darkness/Nightshroud, on the other hand is most definitely NOT the above, and HOLY SHIT how.

* DeathIsCheap: Hello, all you people who sent Jaden over the DespairEventHorizon halfway through Season 3. Good to know you were all just [[Anime/DragonBallZ trapped in another dimension]].

** Alexis/Asuka is a self-aware MsFanservice and absolutely loathes it because she wants other people to notice her for her skills and hard work rather than her looks. She also more or less fails to achieve this due to circumstances both in and outside of her control, such as facing off against opponents that so vastly outclass her that she can't do much against them, or just being utterly overshadowed by Jaden/Judai that she struggles to stand out.

** ParentalAbandonment is deconstructed by Jaden. His parents have always been very busy with work, so in their absence with nobody to look after he, he keeps inviting all sorts of people to his house, including significantly older ones (fortunately, his guests turned out not to be dangerous but this could have gone REALLY wrong), and a {{Yandere}} Duel Monster spirit who put all those guests into a coma.

*** The Kaiser, who was the best in the Duel Academy by a mile, when he went pro, he found out he was a NormalFishInATinyPond, and kept losing. Eventually he was pushed to underground duels, where his "manager" broke him and turned him into a BloodKnight.

** Jaden's insistence to keep saving the day and his NoOneGetsLeftBehind mindset devolve into a dangerous obsession that indirectly drags in the rest of his friends into a lot of suffering, because he's incapable of seeing their needs and abilities or realizing they're not just going to stand back while he puts himself in danger.

* DeconReconSwitch: The fourth season starts with Jaden a changed person from the BreakTheCutie events of the previous season, and he appears a much more cynical person for it. As the season ends however, his previous optimistic traits return as he's determined to convince everyone trapped in the World of Darkness they can move past their doubts of either past mistakes or the fear of the future in his duel with [[BigBad Darkness]]. And finally at the very end with his duel with Yugi, after 2 seasons of life and death duels, [[RuleOfFun he rediscovers his passion for dueling again.]]

** Alexis/Asuka is a self-aware MsFanservice and absolutely loathes it because she wants other people to notice her for her skills and hard work rather than her looks. She also more or less fails to achieve this.

** The real Karma Houdini is Kagemaru. He wasn't possessed or controlled by anything. He made all of his own choices out of not wanting to die and what happened to him? Nothing. No punishment except the old age he already suffered from.

* DeconstructorFleet: Hoo boy. The show started the deconstruction long before CerebusSyndrome came in.

** HardWorkHardlyWorks is also deconstructed with Jaden. Sure, he is a BookDumb carefree guy who is very talented at dueling. That on its own is not a bad thing; the problem is that this tactic works ''only for Jaden''; as a particularly disgruntled professor points out, all other students picked up on Judai being the best while doing no studying whatsoever, and decided to copy his attitude even though they themselves do not have the kind of talent that Jades does. It's shown in a flashback that attendance for certain classes has dropped to zero. The teacher basically accuses Judan of causing the drop in dedication from everybody else.

* SatelliteFamilyMember: Jun Manjoume/Chazz Princeton's brothers, who look to control the world with their family's finances and influence, and the two looking for Jun to control the world using Duel Monsters. They however only make these appearances during Manjoume's character arcs in Season 1, with Jun trying to step out of their shadows. As such, they are only seen as Jun's antagonistic brothers, and are never really seen again after the first season, with Jun seeking to become a respected duelist in his own right without needing his family influence.

* BigBadWannabe: Chazz's brothers, which is lampshaded by Kaiba in the dub after they lose to Chazz in the duel for ownership of Duel Academy -- while Chazz was using a deck with only monsters of 500 or less attack points.
-->'''Kaiba''': Of course he won. Did you really think I would give Duel Academy to [his brothers]? They have a lot to learn about world domination...

*** Phoenix became a dueling champion specifically to find clues behind his father's death/disappearance, as the man used to design duel monsters.

** ParentalAbandonment is deconstructed by Jaden.

*** Jaden, who is a near InvincibleHero, ends up shouldering too kuch responsibility, finds himself in a situation beyond his control while unwilling to accept help, and eventually reaches the DespairEventHorizon. In season 4, while still technically the best duelist around - and he knows it - he has lost all love for it, his humour, and is afraid to form or maintain personal relationships.

** Alexis deconstructs PatientChildhoodLoveInterest; she never dared to admit her feelings for Jaden to herself, much less to ''him''.

* AscendedExtra: Blair originally appears as one-off character in Season 1, faking her identity to get into Duel Academy so she could meet Zane. She returns in Season 3 as an legitimate student, making her a recurring cast member.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: The DuelsDecideEverything aspect of the franchise is deconstructed in this series. Everything from the fate of the world to a girl’s affections are decided by this card game. In the Society of Light arc, this is turned on its head when Jaden tries to challenge Sartorious to a duel so he doesn’t TakeOverTheWorld. But his EvilPlan was put together in such a way that he doesn’t actually have to duel Jaden at any point. So? He respectfully declines the challenge because he’d basically already won. The only reason he ends up dueling Jaden is due to outside circumstances forcing him to.

* LuckyTranslation: One-shot character Anger Mask uses, as his key monster, a card called "Ikari no Anchor Knight", an armored warrior that fights with anchors as a VisualPun on the word "ikari" which can mean both "anchor" and "anger". The pun works almost as well in English, where "anchor" and "anger" are near-homophones.

* GeckoEnding: The English dub ends one episode short of the end of Season 3 and insinuates that Jaden sacrificed himself to stop Yubel. Given where Season 4 went, some argue that this is a better ending.

%%* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: Please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

* AdaptationalGenderIdentity: Yubel is depicted as non-binary in the Japanese version, but in a couple of dubs, they are referred as a female.

%%* AxCrazy: Yubel, until the end of the third season.

** And after ''that'', a new love interest comes in the form of [[{{Hermaphrodite}} Yubel]]. They are the {{Yandere}} StalkerWithACrush Veronica to both Johan's and Asuka's Betty. Interestingly, Yubel never considers Asuka a threat, but they are murderously jealous of Johan, even asking Judai if he prefers him over them.

* ClingyJealousGirl: Yubel. Technically a [[AmbiguousGender nonbinary]], but still fits, and Jaden's attempts to have them get over it just make it worse.

* CuteLittleFangs: Yubel.

** ParentalAbandonment is deconstructed by Jaden, who ended up forming a relationship with an extremely dangerous {{Yandere}} duel spirit in their absence. This trope also caused the PoorCommunicationKills trope that lead to a series of events that caused said spirit to go insane.

** Alexis deconstructs PatientChildhoodLoveInterest; she never dared to admit her feelings for Jaden to herself, much less to ''him'', and by the time she acknowledged it, he had already pushed everyone including her away and is in a stable, soul-bonded relationship with Yubel.

* DefiedTrope: When Jaden faces down Yubel, he admits that there's no point giving Yubel what we call a KirkSummation. (For the record, Kirk Summations practically never work even when they are given...). Yubel is also surprised they can't get a reaction from Jaden as they continue to taunt him.

** Yubel's left chest [[https://funnypictures3.fjcdn.com/comments/Blank+_201675d9ad79671bd8ab60a8a7207c40.jpg is also censored]] in the dub. The worst part is that there is no need for censoring in the first place, because they are a hermaphrodite monster and their left chest is male. But the dub would rather have a full-blown woman loving Judai, and admittedly, it would be easier to deal with the MoralGuardians that way.

* EvenTheGuysWantHim: Jaden/Judai has quite a bunch of male admirers, from Sho and Kenzan with the whole "aniki" business, Johan who appears in season 3 and acts as if they have been married for a long time, even Manjoume at times and Judai became an OfficialCouple with the [[{{Hermaphrodite}} half-female, half-male]] Yubel in the end. But it's not surprising considering the show only has two female characters that even begin to qualify as "main characters."

** Jaden's soul fusion with Yubel at the end of Season 3.

* HeterosexualLifePartners: Jaden and Jesse, Jaden and Syrus. [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation Maybe]].
** Jaden and Syrus count, though.

** And another from Yubel, talking to Jaden about Jesse, in Episode 154: "You truly prefer that boy over me? Even the love you gave me is his now?" Bonus points for Yubel being a hermaphrodite whose gender in their past life was fairly ambiguous.

* KarmaHoudini: After spending a season manipulating, torturing, possessing, and killing people (and turning the guy they love completely batshit insane), Yubel... gets the guy for all eternity. Which was what they were after the entire time, since all they really wanted was for him to honor his promise to love only them for all time.
** Though his crimes don't even begin to compare to Yubel, Franz from Season 2 Episode 33 counts. He stole a copy of the Winged Dragon of Ra and hospitalized three people and Pegasus still let him keep his job.

* MomentKiller: Jaden/Alexis shippers were dealt a hard blow in the fourth season when Alexis managed to combine reasons # 3 and # 4 and use them on herself.
* MurderTheHypotenuse: A variation. Yubel doesn't ''murder'' Jesse, they just possess him after they fear that [[HomoeroticSubtext all of Jaden's love has transferred from them to him.]]

* ParentalAbandonment: Chumley's father is the only one we ever see or hear mentioned in the series; the other closest thing to a parental unit the main cast has is Chazz's much older (and politically and industrially successful) brothers. In fact, it was Jaden's ParentalAbandonment that gave rise to the seeds of his obsession with dueling. That led to Yubel being overprotective of him whenever he lost and then he sent them into space in a hopeful attempt to get them the powers of the Gentle Darkness.

* PsychoExGirlfriend: Yubel, although the "girlfriend" part is [[AmbiguousGender questionable]]. You don't get much more psycho than ''threatening to destroy all of existence'' to get your significant other to start paying attention to you again.

** Yubel's name may be a Japanese pronunciation of the German "juwel" (pronounced "you-vell," with b/v pronounced the same in Japanese), meaning "jewel" or "gem". By itself it's nothing, but it's pretty funny when you consider that they consider the owner of the Gem Beast deck to be their greatest romantic competition.

* {{Reincarnation}}: Jaden gets a glimpse of his and Yubel's past lives during their final duel.

** Yubel's name is not Japanese in origin, and because their name is only ever spelled onscreen in katakana, the question isn't the spelling of their name so much as ''the name itself.'' "Yubel" could be the Japanese pronunciation of the German "juwel" (pronounced "you-vel"), meaning "jewel" or "gem," or a correct pronunciation of the Swedish "jubel," meaning "joyful." Nobody actually knows.

%%* StalkerWithACrush: Yubel, and how.

* TheMasochismTango: What Yubel believes love is.
** Episodes 153-155. Quote: "Now we'll be wrapped in the same pain... and love..."
** Before that, Yubel-possessed Jesse vs. Jaden: "Come, my beloved Jaden, let us ''hurt'' one another!" [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything Said while wearing bondage-esque armor, no less.]]

* TriangRelations: Possible Type Seven. Yubel loves Jaden, Jaden loves Yubel, Jesse appears to have something of an interest in Jaden, and Jaden has enough of an interest in Jesse for Yubel to assume the boys have become lovers in their absence.