History Characters / YuGiOhMainCharacters

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: He does pretty well against Yugi in their anime battle at Duelist Kingdom, but he ultimately loses when he uses the Time Wizard's effect on Yugi's Dark Magician. The Time Wizard usually weakens or destroys the opponent's monsters, but aging the Dark Magician turned it into the Dark Sage, which not only boosted its stats but allowed Yugi to use magic cards on Jonouchi's turn. Yugi didn't have much trouble after that.

%%* CoolBigSis: To Shizuka, Jonouchi's little sister. To Rebecca too in the anime despite their differences.

** She's become even cuter in ''The Dark Side of Dimensions'', and is now sporting Grade A ZettaiRyouiki. The improved animation also allows for some [[JigglePhysics bouncing]].

%%* RescueRomance: With Yugi and Dark Yugi.

* DarkAndTroubledPast: Once upon a time, he was a sweet and friendly boy who loved his little sister. But after his parents divorced, he was unable to see his sister Shizuka who went to live with their mother while he stayed with his father. His father was an alcholic, negligent drunk who wasted his days gambling, leaving the poor boy to fend for himself by taking on part time jobs to keep their house afloat and later learned how to fight to protect himself. At some point, he earned the attention of ambitious gang leader named Hirutani who took him under his wing with the hope of using his fighting skills to strengthen his gang's power. As this happened, Jounouchi was not happy with his situation and hated himself and his life until the day one boy made a wish on a puzzle.

* IconicOutfit: His Air Muscle sneakers that were introduced in chapter 8. He wears it to every outfit, which is justified given that [[ItMakesSenseInContext a lot of people were beaten up because of it, plus the seller who was poisoned by his own scorpion]].

* DarkAndTroubledPast: Once upon a time, he and his sister were forced to seperate when their parents divorced.

* LikesOlderWomen: He has an interest in older women. Along with his ongoing moments with Mai Kujaku, he was briefly infatuated with Shizuka's nurse in Season 0.

* BrooklynRage: Being that his [[WebVideo/YuGiOhTheAbridgedSeries abridged series]] counterpart is the TropeNamer, he exhibits this heavily in the dub. His accent and attitude are typical Brooklyn-ish ones to mimic his rude speech patterns in the original Japanese.

* HeroicBSOD: Goes through one after he became Marik's BrainwashedAndCrazy servant, but a slap from Mai and some encouragement from his sister managed to snap him back to normal.

%%* BashBrothers: With Yugi and Dark Yugi (though to a lesser degree). Being Honda also counts.

* BrainwashedAndCrazy: Marik does this to him at one point, using him to duel Yugi.

* ButtMonkey: Especially in the Grand Championship arc.

* ADayInTheLimelight: The Doma arc is particularly kind to him. Not only is he an AdaptationalBadass, but his conflict with Mai takes center stage, and he gets to share the title of TheChosenOne for once.

%%* DragonKnight: His Lord of Red armor.

* AbusiveParents: His parents divorced when he was young and he was forced to live with his dad, who had a [[TheGamblingAddict gambling]] and [[AlcoholicParent alcohol addict]] and was often emotionally (and implied physically) abusive to Jonouchi. IJonouchi even had to work as a child to help pay for the debts of his father.

* MeaningfulName: Alongside Yugi. Combining the “Yu” from “Yugi” and the “Jo” from “Jonouchi”/“Joey” makes “Yujo”, the Japanese word for “Friendship”. Friendship is a major theme of the story; the way that games bring people together is every bit as important as Yugi’s magic powers. So it’s fitting that the story’s most prominent pair of friends spells the word together. This idea was also used to name the card “YuJo Friendship”, which depicts Yugi and Jonouchi clasping hands.

* ChickMagnet: The manga and Toei anime have him swarmed by fangirls.

* TheAce: Grew to become this. Upon defeating Yami Yugi in the Ceremonial Duel at the end of the ''Duel Monsters'' anime and the manga, he cements his status as TheAce. In the anime continuity, by the time of ''GX's'' final season, he's still the reigning champion of the world and a spiritual version of him gives Judai the fight of his life in a "Graduation Duel" designed to reteach Judai his love for the game.

* AnimeHair: His spiky, tri-colored hair is among the most famous examples of the style, to the point where it's the trope page's image.

* BashBrothers: With Yami Yugi and Jonouchi.

* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: Defeats the Egyptian God Cards with a deck mostly comprised of Toy themed monsters, becoming the first and only character in the original series to defeat a God Card monster in a head-to-head brawl.

* TheKirk: Shares this with Yami Yugi.
* KingOfGames: In fact, that's the title of the series, which is the TropeNamer.

* SuperpoweredEvilSide: Definitely in the early manga (and Toei anime). Though Yami Yugi wasn't evil at the time, he was pretty ruthless in his delivery of justice, and the normal Yugi was quiet back then, not even remembering any of the events. During Killer-T arc, the Millennium Puzzle's negative influence nearly took him over during his HeroicBSOD, before snapping back to reality. This actually foreshadows Pegasus' explanation that all the Millennium Items have an evil intelligence (Zorc Necophades) that can negatively control their item bearers.

Yugi's best friend, who comes from a broken family heavy with debt and in turn, grew up as a punk with no real motivations. Until he met Yugi, that is. He suffered a poor upbringing, with his parents divorcing and living with his alcoholic father, while his beloved sister Shizuka lived with their mother. He used to be a thug and even hung out with a gang led by Diesel for a while. After becoming friends with Yugi, he became more righteous and would do anything to protect his friends or innocent people being taken advantage of. Though not exactly the best gamer in Domino, he develops a better liking to them thanks to Yugi, and he's managed to use his strong points to help Yugi come through in earlier story lines. As the series progresses, he grows a passion for the card game "Duel Monsters", learning how to channel his anger through cards instead of fists. Jonouchi is an underdog duelist who begins as a nobody and ends up becoming one of the best duelists in the world. Hot-headed and comical, Jonouchi's evolution from inexperienced newbie to a world-class duelist carries throughout the run of the series.

* AbusiveParents: Specifically his [[AlcoholicParent alcoholic dad]].

* BashBrothers: With Yugi and Dark Yugi (though to a lesser degree). Being Honda also counts.

* DragonKnight: His Lord of Red armor.

%%* BareMidriffsAreFeminine: Many of her outfits show her stomach.

* BlackMagicianGirl: When the protagonists are turned into game characters, Anzu typically becomes a wizard of some kind. She's also been turned directly into the literal Black Magician Girl herself. During the ''Virtual World/Gozaburo'' arc, her Duel Monsters play style and theme puts more emphasis on spell-caster creatures with high attack values (e.g. Gemini Elf, Maha Vailo, and Dark Magician Girl), the polar opposite to the light themed, fairy creatures she played with prior.

* ChildhoodFriendRomance: She's also his main love interest.

* CoolBigSis: To Shizuka, Jonouchi's little sister. To Rebecca too in the anime despite their differences.

** The manga and Toei anime include a [[BeachEpisode Water Park Episode]], showing off Anzu in a bikini and Yugi being visibly flustered by how shapely she is. The anime makes a big deal of this by having the camera {{pan}} up on her body, then showing Yugi blushing and nervous. Seemingly inspired by this, the Duel Artbook has a piece showing Yugi daydreaming about Anzu in a black bikini.

* OnlySaneWoman: She usually provides the sensitive, rational thinking to the group.

* RescueRomance: With Yugi and Dark Yugi.

* TinyGuyHugeGirl: The tall to both Yugi and Dark Yugi's tiny guy. Less so "tall" and more "taller than the under average Yugi" causing this to be [[DownplayedTrope downplayed]].

* TheFriendsWhoNeverHang: In the manga, he's principally something of a comedic double act with Jonouchi, which is played up in the anime. He rarely is seen hanging independently with Yugi, Bakura, or Anzu, even though Yugi and Jonouchi get plenty of page time alone together, and Yugi and Anzu as well.

He's knowledgeable about all games. In Duel Monsters, he mostly uses the same deck as his alter-ego. Towards the end of the series, he makes an original deck that focuses on monsters that are individually weak [[ThePowerOfFriendship but have powerful synergistic effects]]. This deck's trump cards are Valkyrion the Magna Warrior, Stronghold the Moving Fortress, Gandora The Dragon of Destruction, Silent Swordsman [=LV0=] and Silent Magician [=LV0=]. In the anime, his favorite cards are Dark Magician and Maha Vailo.

* TheAce: Grew to become this. Upon defeating Yami Yugi in the Ceremonial Duel at the end of the ''Duel Monsters'' anime and the manga, he cements his status as TheAce.

* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: Defeats the Egyptian God Cards with a deck mostly comprised of Toy themed monsters.

* TheDreaded: Gandora the Dragon of Destruction played this role amongst all the monster cards in Yugi's deck at the end of the series, thanks to its ability to remove from play every other card on the field. The first time it's summoned against Dark Bakura, Dark Bakura is all but terrified by its appearance, and for a good reason. For the rest of the series, Gandora's summoning is basically used as a sign that Yugi is going for a game-winning play, regardless of how successful it is at resolving its effect, [[spoiler:best illustrated during the Ceremonial Duel when Yugi expected Atem to use Mirror Force as a counterplay to Gandora, only to reveal it's to force Atem to use Monster Reborn as a last resort.]]

* FatalFlaw: Endurance. Namely, his ''lack'' of it. He becomes a better duelist than the Pharaoh at the end of the series, to the point where he was legitimately about to beat ''Kaiba'' by himself before Aigami intervened in ''Anime/YuGiOhTheDarkSideOfDimensions''. However, that doesn't change the fact that he's still [[PatheticallyWeak physically a really scrawny teenager]]. Whenever a duel features {{Synchronization}} between the player and their monsters or requires the players own stamina to summon them, Yugi ends up passing out halfway through the duel. He ended up passing out during the Shadow Game with Pegasus due to the strain, [[spoiler:and similarly ended up passing out when facing the Millennium Ring possessed Aigami in a Shadow Game.]]

* IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: In the manga, he's aware that Anzu has feelings for Yami Yugi during ''Duelist Kingdom''. Somewhat subverted in that Anzu tells him that it doesn't matter because "Yugi is Yugi".

She only rarely plays games in the manga, but seems to have knowledge in at least video game role-playing games. In the anime, on the rare occasions she plays Duel Monsters, she uses a rather cutesy deck. Her favorite card in the anime is Magician of Faith.

* AdaptationalBadass: In the original Japanese, she knew what she was doing when picking her deck before her duel with Otaki, just that she didn't have much confidence. In the dub, she apparently picked an amateurish deck with little synergy between the cards, meaning, logically, she'd have to have more skill than in the original to win despite that.

* UnwantedHarem: On his first day of being the new kid in Yugi's school, all the girls in his class already fall head over heels for him. He actually doesn't like the attention all that much. As soon as he met Miho in the first series anime, he turned and walked away because of how she started fangirling around him. From his reactions, this isn't the first time that he's attracted females.

* BookDumb: Jonouchi's a bad student, largely because conventional schooling just isn't designed for him. That being said, it's downplayed as he graduates from Domino High School at the end of ''The Dark Side of Dimensions''.

* CallingYourAttacks: When Marik uses Lava Golem, summoning it to Jonouchi's side of the field, he tells Jonouchi that its attack is called "Golem Volcano".Jonouchi insists that since it's on his side of the field, he'll name the attacks, and hits Marik with a "Jonouchi Fire" instead, with a caption box saying the name was coined by Jonouchi.

* FatalFlaw: Endurance. Namely, his ''lack'' of it. Even though he becomes a better duelist than the Pharaoh at the end of the series, to the point where he was legitimately about to beat ''Kaiba'' by himself before Aigami intervened in ''Anime/YuGiOhTheDarkSideOfDimensions''. However, that doesn't change the fact that he's still [[PatheticallyWeak physically a really scrawny teenager]]. Whenever a duel features {{Synchronization}} between the player and their monsters or requires the players own stamina to summon them, Yugi ends up passing out halfway through the duel. He ended up passing out during the Shadow Game with Pegasus due to the strain, [[spoiler:and similarly ended up passing out when facing the Millennium Ring possessed Aigami in a Shadow Game.]]

** The manga and Toei anime include a [[BeachEpisode Water Park Episode]], showing off Anzu in a bikini and Yugi being visibly flustered by how shapely she is. The anime makes a big deal of this by having the camera pan up on her body, then showing Yugi blushing and nervous. Seemingly inspired by this, the Duel Artbook has a piece showing Yugi daydreaming about Anzu in a black bikini.

* NonActionProtagonist: * Yugi was conceived as the antithesis of a typical shonen hero of the time; he is a pacifist whose alter ego Yami Yugi defeats opponents in games, while his buddy Jonouchi handles any physical fights that might arise.

* LastEpisodeNewCharacter: His final Duel Monsters deck has some of these to contrast with his cards that came back for the finale. New monsters in his deck the Silent Swordsmen, Silent Magicians and the Gadgets.

* CoolLoser: He's fairly attractive, friendly, and a pretty badass duelist, and yet is constantly the target of bullying and mean-spirited jokes from professional duelists and enemies, as well as Kaiba.

* DumbassHasAPoint: He's not exactly the brightest bulb in school, but he's not wrong with being unforgiven of Kaiba's actions during the Death-T Arc. While Joey does understand the "[[FreudianExcuse reasons]]'' from Mokuba's recount of Gozabura's abuse, Kaiba's not the ''only'' one who had to grow up with an abusive father, and, unlike Kaiba's wealthy upbringing upon adoption, Joey had to spend his childhood in poverty trying to pay back his father's gambling debts, separated from his younger sister, and HadToBeSharp when dealing with plenty of delinquents that would pick a fight with him. Yet, despite all those hardships, Joey only became a bully toward Yugi and never used violence against him, meaning that Kaiba's extreme actions in Death-T and his belief of "games being synonymous with life and death" have [[FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse no excuses]].

* DeconstructedCharacterArchetype: In the early manga, Jonouchi has many traits that befit the StockShonenHero archetype that's codified by the introduction of Goku (Hotblooded, BookDumb, good at fighting, etc.). However, none of these traits help him out in a setting taking place in 1990s Japan, where he's just seen as a {{Delinquent}} and combined with his DarkAndTroubledPast leads him into bullying Yugi until he gets better later on.

* {{Bishonen}}: As of ''Dark Side of Dimensions'', he's taken a level in bishonen during the TimeSkip. In the anime continuity, by the time GX begins, he's just as bishonen as his predecessor Atem, and even more muscular.

* {{Bishonen}}: Applies to all adaptations, but in the Toei anime, an episode title even calls him a bishonen.

* SignatureMon: Flame Swordsman was originally this for him, although Time Wizard arguably was more of a Signature Card than any of his other early monsters. He does develop a deep connection with Red-Eyes Black Dragon, which he won from Ryuzaki (thanks to Time Wizard). Losing Red-Eyes to the Rare Hunter was a massive blow for him, and his CharacterDevelopment is about him trying to become a better duelist worthy of wielding Red-Eyes, which he needs to win back from Yugi (who won it from said Rare Hunter). The presence of Red-Eyes allows Jonouchi to fight off Marik's brainwashing, and Yami Yugi and Kaiba acknowledge Red-Eyes as his "Soul Card". The anime expands on this, where Jonouchi gets more opportunities to use Red-Eyes,

* SuperpoweredEvilSide: Definitely in the early manga (and Toei anime). Though Yami Yugi wasn't evil at the time, he was pretty ruthless in his delivery of justice, and the normal Yugi was quiet back then, not even remembering any of the events.