‘’Awakening to a True Name
is a Yu-Gi-Oh! GX fanfic by Firehawk242
on SpaceBattles.com.
“Miranda Yuki” is a Self-Insert who was sent by a Random Omnipotent being to replace Jaden Yuki and given the Dragonmaids that are far ahead of the metagame of the era. Sounds like she’ll have it easy, right? Wrong. You see, Miranda barely knew anything about Yu-Gi-Oh before being forced into the role of a Yu-Gi-Oh protagonist and due to being from a world with no Duel Energy she can’t Destiny Draw like literally everyone else, meaning she’s the only one who can draw poorly. How will this girl deal with the imposter syndrome that comes from replacing a protagonist she assumes is as competent as Yugi without any meta knowledge? Let’s find out.
——
Awakening to a True Name provides the following tropes:
- Adaptational Badass: Due to Miranda being a good teacher, she has led several characters to grow far beyond their canon counterparts, but the biggest example is easily Syrus Truesdale. Not only was he instrumental in beating Miranda and Alexis in their tag duel alongside Zane but by the end of season one he’d already surpassed his older brother and currently has a 2-0 record against Miranda herself.
- Adaptational Heroism: Zane never became Hell Kaiser in this timeline thanks to him trusting Miranda to ask her for much needed advice.
- Adaptational Superpower Change: Well, deck change, but the idea is there.
- Alexis uses a custom archetype called the Skyknightsnote
- Inverted with Zane and Syrus, who unlike in canon didn’t change decks.
- Adaptational Wimp:
- Due to the Story-Breaker Power that is the Dragonmaids, it’d be easier to list the villains who aren’t this to some extent.
- Aster Phoenix also got this treatment, with his canon victory against Zane being a borderline fluke compared to the rest of his duels. His two duels against Miranda? A Curb-Stomp Battle and Curb-Stomp Cushion respectively, with the latter being because Miranda didn’t read her cards properly. The tag duel against Sarina? His only real combination was allowing for an extra trigger of Dragonmaid Sheou, which Miranda didn’t even need for her OTK. His canon duel against The D? An Offscreen Moment of Awesome that Miranda doesn’t even know about. After that was his canon losing streak and him needing to use Destiny Hero Plasma to beat Titan.
Miranda: You bring nothing save your dueling skill, and you are, in my estimation, only the fifth best duelist in this room. Maybe even the sixth. Possibly even lower than that, considering I've never dueled Jim or Adrian. If I needed another duelist, I'd bring Chazz, not youAster: Have you forgotten that I am one of the best professional duelists in the world?Miranda: No. But that says more about your competition than it does about you. You are benched, Aster.- Jesse Anderson is a smaller case. It’s not that he’s portrayed as weaker so much as he doesn’t get the chance to shine since most of his duels were cut due to Miranda revealing the Bio Bands’ true functions. However, Miranda noticed that his deck lacks a true win condition; the same flaw that This Very Wiki cites when describing how he’s not as great as he should be.
- Ambiguous Situation: Just how many changes from canon are the result of Miranda’s actions, alterations by the being who isekaid her or simply things that were already happening offscreen in canon?
- The Anti-Nihilist: As Miranda explained to Alice, her philosophy is that the only things that matter are the things that people choose to care about. This made it easy for her to accept her situation as an isekai protagonist, since she chose not to care that the friends she made in Duel Academy were fictional characters in her original world, and is what allowed her to get through to Alice by proving that there really are people who care.
- Armor-Piercing Question: Miranda might’ve been a bit rude to Zane when confronting him after their duel in Episode 8 but she undeniably pushed him to be a better brother to Syrus, the crux of which being when she asked if he ever forgot what it meant to be a big brother and if he was willing to fix his mistakes while he still could.
- Awesomeness by Analysis: Miranda needed less than a minute to learn that Briar and Beauregard were the Duel Giant and that Don Zaloog was a Duel Spirit planning on stealing the Spirit Keys, to give a couple examples.
- Badass Normal: By the standards of the franchise, Miranda Averting The Magic Poker Equation makes her this. There’s also her fighting off a bunch of mummies in Episode 40.
- Beyond Redemption: Miranda’s standards for killing someone could be described as this, such as her calm explanation of why she killed Viper.
- The Chess Master: …let’s just say that Miranda made an absolute fool out of Evil Sartorius.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Episode 1 has Miranda OTK Crowler before she can even summon Ancient Gear Golem and she doesn’t stop using the Dragonmaids to make mincemeat out of her foes.
- Curb-Stomp Cushion: Miranda’s first duel against Zane and second duel against Aster went this way.
- Cutting the Knot: Due to not being a native of a world where Duels Decide Everything, Miranda is perfectly willing to solve problems without a duel. Tanya and Alice were simply talked into performing a Heel–Face Turn but there’s also her killing Viper.
- Deadpan Snarker: Miranda is the Only Sane Woman who constantly Lampshades how ridiculous and/or stupid people are this way.
- Deal with the Devil: Thankfully Subverted. Yubel nearly tricked Miranda into making a deal that would’ve led to her complete victory but Bastion arrived just in time to stop it.
- Deliberate Values Dissonance: In the 2020s Crowler would be pleased that Miranda asked his pronouns but unfortunately for her he was clearly angry. Naturally Miranda Lampshaded this in her internal dialogue.
- Disappointed by the Motive: Countless villains get this treatment from Miranda. If they’re lucky she’ll deconstruct their motive so they’ll pull a Heel–Face Turn but if they’ve already caused too much harm for redemption… expect a “The Reason You Suck” Speech that tears into just how bad their motive is, likely followed by her killing them.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Averted. Miranda always goes out of her way to ensure that nobody gets a punishment that doesn’t fit their crime, to the point she’s willing to risk her life to save people she fully intends to go to prison.
- Empowered Badass Normal: Miranda learned magic midway through season 2 to prepare for threats, to say nothing of the infinite power of the Nexus of Infinity. And by the standards of the franchise her gradually gaining the ability to Destiny Draw also counts.
- Enraged by Idiocy: Miranda’s reaction to learning that Lucien Grimley made a Deal with the Devil just to win a tournament with Slash Draw? Saving him from his own stupidity and giving him some dueling advice, then punching him in the face and giving a “The Reason You Suck” Speech that left him a “broken man.”
- Entertainingly Wrong:
- Miranda really thinks that Jaden is as smart as Yugi. Until she met him at least.
- Miranda’s reaction to meeting Alexis? Automatically assume that she’s the canon love interest for Jaden.
- Exact Words: Part of Miranda’s “The Reason You Suck” Speech to Viper was pointing out that she lost her family shortly before enrolling in Duel Academy, since she was forced to leave them behind after being isekaid.
- Feminine Women Can Cook: Inverted, as Miranda has proven to be quite the chef despite being the very definition of a Tomboy.
- Gamer Chick: Because she didn’t grow up with Duel Monsters like the rest of the cast, much of Miranda’s skill in it could be credited to her general experience with gaming. She was an avid player of Magic: The Gathering before being isekaid and much of “Miranda’s Convention Adventures” bonus episode was dedicated to showcasing her skill at various games that she was implied to be playing for the first time in years, if not decades, dominating the competition at Injurious Games, Silent Death Astro Smash, HeroClix, BattleTech and more. She also picked on up the rules of Dungeon Dice Monsters pretty quickly, though for obvious reasons she didn’t stand a chance in her exhibition match against a tournament champion.
- Alexis has shades of this too, as her very first game of Magic was a victory against Miranda despite the massive difference in experience. This is despite Miranda’s match against the first tournament champion being treated as a Foregone Conclusion due to said experience.
- The Ghost: Jaden, due to Miranda having effectively replaced him. At least until Yubel brings an alternate universe one to them.
- Good Is Not Nice: Unlike Jaden, Miranda is perfectly willing to take the most violent approach when solving a problem. Many opponents that Jaden invited a Heel–Face Turn in were simply beaten into submission and she didn’t hesitate to kill Viper when she had the chance. Heck, even when she does inspire a Heel–Face Turn it tends to be accidental (Kagemaru and Aster) or involve a “The Reason You Suck” Speech.
- Subverted with Miranda’s interactions with Alice, who she calmly talked things out with and promised to pass on her deck to someone who would use it.
- Incompatible Orientation: Subverted with Alexis, who Miranda assumed was straight due to being in a much earlier setting but ultimately was perfectly fine dating her.
- Internal Reveal: In Episode 15 Miranda explains to Alexis that she’s from another world as part of being open to [[Official Couple her girlfriend]] and to the rest of the heroes in Episode 50 after Saying Too Much when dueling Kagemaru.
- "It" Is Dehumanizing: Miranda doesn’t know Yubel’s gender nor does she care. As far as she’s concerned, “it” and “that thing” are perfectly good ways to address her hated foe.
- Killed Off for Real: Miranda won’t hesitate to kill those who are truly Beyond Redemption, as Viper found out the hard way.
- "Kiss the Cook" Apron: Miranda donned one in Episode 23/24 when cooking for her friends.
- Lampshade Hanging: A good portion of Miranda’s dialogue is this.
- Magikarp Power: A reoccurring theme of Miranda’s decks is that she uses monsters that start out weak but explode in power during the duel.
- Averted with her alternate universe counterpart, who apparently uses a Skill Drain Beatdown deck. Justified, since it’s implied that they’re just a kid.
- The Magic Poker Equation: It’s a Yu-Gi-Oh fanfic so this is a given. Unusually, Miranda actually Averts this by being given randomized hands and loses her first duel against Alexis due to bricking. Naturally she Lampshades when someone else has a particularly good draw.
- Later on Miranda sometimes plays this straight when there are supernatural stakes, but even then it’s Downplayed since she still clearly needs to duel like an IRL player to not brick.
- No Sympathy: Kagemaru and Viper got a “The Reason You Suck” Speech from Miranda after trying to elicit sympathy for her.
- "Not Making This Up" Disclaimer: When Miranda gets a particularly good opening hand Firehawk has to confirm that yes, that it really was random.
- Official Couple: Miranda and Alexis.
- Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Every canon duel that was unchanged is either rendered this or Take Our Word for It.
- One-Woman Army: Miranda spent Episode 40 fighting off Abidos’s army of mummies while looking for her friends, needing only a minute to cut a dozen or so mummies to dust[[note]]Albeit were noted to be “fragile.”, and was being confident that she could keep fighting them off for hours.
- Only Sane Woman: Miranda Yuki, which she constantly Lampshades.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Miranda realizes that she went too far in berating Jaden when Syrus calls her out with a glare.
- Out-Gambitted:
- Miranda made an absolute fool out of Evil Sartorius, complete with an Evil Laugh at how little he’d accomplished.
- Yubel spent most of season 3 leading Miranda by the nose and would’ve gotten a complete victory if it wasn’t for Bastion stopping Miranda from making a Deal with the Devil.
- Pet the Dog:
- Miranda went out of her way to ensure that Alice would find an owner who’d treat her right, entirely Subverting her typical reaction to one episode villains.
- After freeing Chazz from the Light, Miranda let him keep a Genex Medal so he could participate in the tournament as himself. She was also the first to congratulate him when he won the tournament by beating her.
- Railroading: Due to the Firehawk
writing as she watches the show, she’s sometimes has to make things go the way they did in canon in a… forceful manner. - “The Reason You Suck” Speech: Miranda has a habit of giving these to people who draw her ire.
- Red Baron: As the Red Queen and later the Red Witch, Miranda is very close to a literal example. Then come season three and she gets a new title: The Nexus of Infinity.
- Take Our Word for It: Early on the duels that Miranda didn’t take part in were relegated to this (such as Crowler vs Tanya) but eventually it was just the ones that were unchanged from canon.
- Unusual Chapter Numbers: The chapters (besides “Bonus Episodes”) are named after which episodes of GX they adapt, with some outright having multiple numbers in their name. This is sometimes taken a step further when a group of episodes are adapted into separate chapters, starting with “Episodes 61-70” being split into three parts.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: Miranda’s relationship with Chazz boils down to this after his Character Development. Sure, she loves messing with him and (unlike with Alexis) didn’t hold back when freeing him from the Light, but Camula and Mike learned the hard way that she will not tolerate people hurting him.
