*nervously puts these down like a shaky chihuahua*
ah...hello. So uuuuhhhhh, I have been sent here by @balimaria *wheeeezzee*
I've recently gotten to S4 of GX and got permission to read some fics including one of yours about spaghetti (ver good by the way, I crumple)
I liked it alot and I just...RAH, I wanted some scenes visualized so I doodled some and showed my friend and they sent me here so I could show you them and Imma run for the hills as soon as I hit send XD
(also, this is my 2nd time drawing Chronos. I love that guy but my gosh how do u clucking draw him pffffft)
Oki BYYYEEEEEEEEEE
MAMMA MIA!!!!!
THANK YOU NERVOUS CHIHUAHUA
truly I never would have imagined receiving fanart for a Yugioh GX fic in the year 2026, much less a fic about 1) Chronos, and 2) eating spaghetti. His and Judai's relationship is everything to me and I'm so glad people are still experiencing it two decades later.
BLESSINGS UPON YE AND ALL THE CHRONOS ENJOYERS OF THE WORLD
Yuki Judai. One of the most nuanced characters in the entire franchise. I'd say no other Yugioh has had as stark a focus on its main character, to the point that many people even dislike how much screentime he gets. Which is fair, but ultimately it's what makes the study of GX a study of Judai.
There are many ways to analyze Judai and many things I'd like to say about him, but ultimately, there is one that must take precedence. One that I have not seen a single other person talk about.
Indeed, I am disgusted, appalled by the state of media literacy on this website, that this headcanon was allowed to spread uncontested, and I'm finally putting my foot down. I will no longer stand for this slander.
Of course, this post is about the JUDAI FISH PROPAGANDA.
That's right, if you are out of the loop, I'm sorry to break this news to you about your favorite childhood media. Indeed, vast swaths of the fandom in the year 2026 are under the belief that Yuki Judai of Yugioh GX aka Jaden Yuki aka Shmaden Shmuki, is... a FISHING-LIKER.
Now, you may be thinking, "well everyone is entitled to their own fish opinions. As a fandom, we should be welcoming of all headcanons even if we don't agree with them. Fish can be very personal to some people."
Of course we all want a fandom that's inclusive and welcoming but I'm here to say it can't come at the cost of the COLD HARD FACTS. Because there is no room for FISH INTERPRETATION here.
This is not a Yusei milk situation. This is not another haha heehee moment where one minor character trait is turned into an inside joke and subsumed into the fandom conscious. There are REAL CONSEQUENCES to allowing Fisher Judai to spread rampant.
In this essay, I will show you how fisherman Judai is not only FALSE, but ANTITHETICAL to Judai's character arc, NAY, the entire theme of GX.
Let's get some things straight. Judai is not good at fishing.
In fact, Judai has never caught a fish in GX, despite the 6 or 7 times we see him fishing (depending on how you do the fish math). We only ever see him hook two things:
A tiny-ass crab
Edo's steak
And he still fails to catch either of them.
That's right, if you draw or write Judai catching a fish, you are CONTRADICTING CANON. This boy could not catch anything if his life depended on it (and it did, need I remind you our hero almost starved in the wilderness).
GX's portrayal of Judai being bad at fishing is just as indicative of his character as when it portrays him being bad at schoolwork, or being socially oblivious. It's crucial to Judai's character that he's not good at things outside of dueling.
Shou: I know Aniki is on the island! Because dueling and good health are his only redeeming features. He's helpless at everything else.
Kenzan: Are you mocking my Aniki, saurus?
Misawa: No, I think he's right.
Asuka: I can't really deny it.
We will return to this, but first I must address the obvious counterargument. You're thinking: "Well, you don't need to be good at something to enjoy it. Judai could absolutely suck at fishing but have fun doing it because he's just a fun-loving guy!"
Wrong. Remember that misinterpreting media is a sin and you will burn in hell.
Here is my second argument: Judai does not enjoy fishing. Let us actually look at Judai's attitude when fishing:
Anyone who has gone fishing or played a JRPG could have told you this. It's an activity that rewards patience, that appeals to people who can enjoy long periods of ennui and waiting. Of course Judai would think it's boring.
A common mistake I see when people characterize Judai is that he's an endless ray of positivity who loves and finds joy in everything. It reduces him to only his most conspicuous qualities, and he ends up feeling much flatter as a result. If you pay attention to Judai in canon, he actually has many instances of being annoyed or put off by something or someone, or being serious or nervous or pensive, or just generally experiencing the full range of human emotions.
Judai spends a lot of time in seasons 1-2 being upbeat and joyful not because he loves everything, but because he loves dueling, and because GX is a show made to sell children's card games, most of its runtime centers around dueling. When it comes to other things, he tends to actually be pretty disinterested and complain that he'd rather be dueling, such as being forced to play tennis or, as seen above, fishing.
I know most of this fandom don't give a fuck about card games but I can't stress enough that Judai's love of dueling is THE MOST IMPORTANT part of his character. Try me. Nothing else has the encompassing impact that his relationship with dueling does. From start to end, in both plot episodes and filler, it's the throughline that ties together all of GX. All of the other aspects of his character, the themes of heroism and responsibility, his childishness and traumatic awakening into adulthood, the way he connects with and inspires other characters, all of it exists through the lens of his relationship with dueling. His literal catchphrase is "(Gotcha!) That was a fun duel!"
"Ummmm what does this have to do with fishing--" IT HAS EVERYTHING TO DO WITH FISHING
You think you are expanding on Judai's character with your WHIMSICAL fishing headcanons, fun hobbies to show he has a rounded life outside of dueling. But you are missing the crucial information that Judai DOES NOT have a rounded life outside of dueling. That's why Shou says Judai couldn't have left the island; because nobody can conceive of a Judai who isn't a duelist.
The same thing happens when Judai loses dueling for the second time, when dueling becomes inextricable from the feeling of being in life-or-death situations. Without dueling, without the core that makes him who he is, Judai is lost. He doesn't know what to do. He has nothing to do.
That's why we see him fishing: because he has nothing else.
Tell me, is this the face of a guy who is enjoying himself? Checkmate, pro-fishers.
"I don't think this proves anything about what Judai thinks about fishing.🙄Maybe he would be having a better time fishing if he wasn't being plagued by the war trauma." <-- the words of a fool... a CLOWN
Yes, Judai's aloof behavior is also explained by the insane trauma he went through in season 3. But it's interesting that Judai's actual thoughts and feelings about what happened to him are kept deliberately opaque to us. We see him alone, staring into space, but we don't hear his internal thoughts. We can only theorize what's going through Judai's head -- and it's interesting how people will arrive at different interpretations.
But crucially, when the writers do pull back the curtain on Judai's internal state, the lens is always his relationship with dueling. We do not see Judai talk or think about the things he did or that happened to him, other than to say how dueling has changed him and changed for him. And ultimately, the series culminates in a deus ex machina that transports Judai across time and space to reclaim dueling and thus reclaim himself.
Judai: Back then, every duel I fought set my heart racing. Like you said... At some point, I forgot that excitement.
Judai: Since then, I've been through a lot of stuff. I've learned that life isn't always fun and games. Things can be hard and painful, too... Dueling taught me that.
Judai: Yugi, I won't forget the greatest present you've given to me ... The thing you're giving back to me. The thing I lost without realizing. The thing I mustn't forget, no matter how much I grow up. No matter what happens, I'll never forget...
Judai: This feeling of enjoying a duel with all my heart!
There is still more to dive into about themes of season 4 though.
There are several times in season 4 where we see Judai lying in bed or lying down on some grass or generally just in a state of listlessness. These scenes are equivalent to the scenes of him fishing by himself. They are meant to highlight his isolation, his aimlessness, his lack of joy or liveliness.
The real villain of season 4 is not Darkness -- it's stagnation.
Asuka, Shou, Ryou, Manjoume, and Chronos all have their episodes that deal with being stuck in place, before taking a step forward to chase after their futures. Fear of the future, inaction, and stagnation are what Darkness represents, as his victims give up and resign themselves to a nightmare that never changes.
Darkness: Humanity has grown tired... Tired of searching for potential in a future they cannot see. The students of this school are no exception. Deep in their hearts, they fear to enter this dangerous world.
Darkness: They do not wish to believe in their own power, nor to face the outside world's dangers. Their feelings stained their cards black, giving me power. All thou art doing is leading humans toward this ruinous world.
Ultimately, Judai is trapped in the deepest stagnation. He sits around, lacks the motivation to do things, lacks the ability or imagination to create a better future for himself.
And you know what symbolizes that stagnation?
That's right: FISHING.
FISHING IS THE VILLAIN OF SEASON 4.
Fishing in GX symbolizes boredom, stagnation, and often isolation. The opposite of that -- and what has always pulled Judai out of it -- is dueling, duel spirits, and people. This is what defeats Darkness.
Judai: As long as we have faith in our cards, we'll never be alone. The allies we've fought with, those who cheered us on... We're connected by a bond that can never be severed. Because that's the power hidden inside just one card! It must be there! You must remember all those people you fought, using that card!
Judai: Maybe at the start, it was just some ordinary card... But it's become infused with memories of the joy and sorrow, anger and frustration, you felt every time you fought. It's the reminder of how hard you've worked! That's what it means to have a bond. So believe in your card... Remember the faces of those you used that card to fight!
...
Judai: Thank you, my deck. You are the sum of all the bonds I've built.
That's right... the real dueling was the friends we made along the way.
The evolution of Judai's relationship with dueling is that he goes from thinking dueling is fun, to thinking dueling is a means of exerting power (and therefore also taking responsibility), to finally synthesizing the understanding that dueling is passion, emotion, and human connection. Judai wasn't just having fun through season 1-2, he was communicating with people. You cannot take responsibility for others if you don't care for them. In season 3, his descent into becoming the Supreme King is because he keeps trying to duel on his own, which ultimately leads to his friends being taken from him, leaving him truly alone. But you can never duel on your own, because fundamentally, dueling connects people.
This is why Darkness must infect the cards in order to exert its control. Infecting cards severs people from each other and turns them toward apathy and nihilism. What awakens Manjoume, Shou, and Asuka from their nightmare is their cards and their relationships. Manjoume chooses to keep dueling even if he loses. Shou challenges his opponent to a duel with a smile on his face. And Asuka confronts her students, and encourages them to love dueling.
This is the CARD GAME ANIME. Not the FISHING ANIME.
Dueling is the antithesis of fishing. FISHING IS DARKNESS. DUELING IS FRIENDSHIP.
I hope I have proven once and for all these three key arguments: Judai is not good at fishing. He doesn't like fishing. And for Judai to like fishing, it would go against the entire foundation of GX, for all of its themes and symbols to crumple to dust and become meaningless.
Join me in a better place, with better media analysis... join the side of Anti-Fish Judai.
But Pico, you may be asking. There's one crucial thing you have failed to answer:
Why? Why fishing, out of anything else? Why would they show Judai fishing multiple times if he didn't have some sentiment for it?
The answer is simple:
Judai does not ever fish in season 1. We only start seeing him fish in season 2. Why?
It's because of Kenzan.
Everything falls into place when you realize Kenzan is the one who likes fishing. Kenzan is the only character we see catch a fish.
Kenzan knows how to cook fish and prepare fish. He even came to Duel Academy packing equipment for cooking.
Never mind Kenzan's insane fish cleaning methods.
Kenzan is the one who likes fishing, and when he moves into the Red Dorm, he's the one who instigates Judai and Shou to start fishing. Most of the when we see Judai fishing, it's actually because he's with Kenzan and Shou, and it's because they want to catch fish to EAT, because they're tired of the food served at the red dorm. Judai fishes not because he likes FISHING, but because he likes HIS FRIENDS (and food). The ONLY CONTEXT in which it is permissible for Judai to be fishing and not depressed is with Kenzan.
And if you need further proof, look no further than Kenzan's Tag Force bio:
Do you see, now? Do you see what the Fisher Judai headcanon has led to? They are taking Kenzan's character traits and giving them to Judai, who does not need more character traits he has a whole show's worth of them.
WELL??? DO YOU HATE KENZAN???? DO YOU SUPPORT KENZAN ERASURE????
I rest my case. If you love Tyranno Kenzan, join me on the side of Anti-Fish Yuki Judai. Spread the word. Tag it in your fics. In fact, I hope we can gather every year to reflect on error of our ways, on this very special day.
Yes, I hereby declare April 1st to be Anti-Fish Judai Day
And for the French among us: Happy Poisson d'Avril
18. How about a relationship they have in canon with another character that you admire?
This is probably not the intent of the question, but I like that the writers show that even the people closest to Asuka, her brother and friends like Manjoume, are still guilty of participating in the systemic sexism and objectification that Asuka has to deal with.
A lot of people hate that Asuka has three episodes in Season 1 that are about a guy being in love with her. But like... not only does a patriarchal society not go away with one duel, but each situation clearly escalates upon the previous, showing how deeply entrenched it is at every level. Ayanokouji (the tennis guy) is a stranger to her, Mitsuo (the poker guy) is someone she has a past with, Manjoume is her friend currently, and if you include her duel with Fubuki at the beginning of S2, Fubuki is the person she is closest to in her entire life. And he still fails to understand and accept her.
Most media even today won't dare to entertain that the good guys can still be part of the problem. Misogyny only comes in the form of cartoonishly evil caricatures for the good guys to beat up and then never show again. There's nothing wrong with stories like that. But to me, that is not systemic patriarchy.
Asuka and Manjoume are still friends, Asuka still loves her brother. But they are part of the system that forces her into the confines of traditional femininity. That kind of complexity is something I wouldn't expect to see even in shonen today.
23. Favorite picture of this character?
My favorite fanart of Asuka is still this ice skating Asuka from esmiara.
From GX... I like that they let her have these really intense expressions
26. What's something the character has done you can't get over? Be it something funny, bad, good, serious, whatever?
Of course, there is Asuka picking up guys like they are cats. Iconic.
There is also the slap... in which you can clearly see that Judai's left cheek was hit, even though Asuka was using her left hand... so we can only conclude that Asuka didn't actually slap him, but actually just fucking backhanded him across the face LMAO. deserved
@monggay here is your gift for the GX Gift Exchange! I chose your prompt to cross the characters over with modern Yugioh archetypes, so I hope you enjoy Yummy GX! 😋
The Symbolism of Doble Passe - a Tenjoin Asuka analysis
Doble Passe is Asuka's signature card. Not Cyber Blader or Cyber Tutu or any Cyber Angel -- it appears seven times, more than any of those, and like Manjoume and Shou's signature cards, it is the one she draws when Judai calls out to his friends through the Darkness nightmare. It's unique for being the only signature card in the entire series to be a trap card (unless you count Revolver with Mirror Force lmao)
But what is Doble Passe supposed to be, anyway?
A passe is a movement in ballet, and Asuka has multiple ballet-themed cards. So maybe Doble Passe refers to doing a passe twice ("double passe")? But that would be odd to me. Firstly because there's no significance to doing a passe twice; it's just a leg lift, and it's not a notable or flashy ballet move. Secondly, the card art of Doble Passe isn't even depicting a passe. The passe involves forming a triangle with your raised leg.
So my theory is that Doble Passe is actually referencing something else. It's referencing the paso doble.
⇀ Doble Passe, the Dance
To understand, we must look at what Doble Passe does as a card. It cannot be activated until your opponent attacks your monster. It redirects their attack into a direct one, and then your monster gets to attack your opponent directly in return.
It's reactive, only being activateable if your opponent makes the first move. It's reciprocal, consisting of two mirrored actions, one leading and one responding.
It's a dance with your opponent.
Unlike ballet, the paso doble is a ballroom dance. That means it's performed with a partner. It's the most difficult of the five competition ballroom dances, with origins as a military march.
And famously, it's meant to evoke Spanish bullfighting.
(The passe in ballet vs. paso doble, the Latin dance)
Doble Passe is used to redirect your opponent's attack, just like a matador using a red cape to manipulate a bull. Both involve luring in your opponent to perform a reversal, and that's exactly how Asuka uses it.
"idk if it were based on the paso doble wouldn't they have named it that instead of doble passe. i think you're just pulling this out of your ass"
Well, what if I told you the card was named Paso Doble -- in French and Portuguese. It's not likely that the French/Portuguese localizers got insider knowledge from the Japanese writers, but I do think it's telling that they looked at the card and thought it should be named Paso Doble (because, again, Doble Passe is nonsensical).
You are right though that it would be a stretch to say "I guess they just mixed it up and wrote Doble Passe when they actually meant Paso Doble oops!" just based on two localizations and a dueling metaphor.
No, my actual evidence is the Asuka vs. Titan duel, where she duels Titan for his Spirit Key, and he's using a matator-themed deck.
The three monsters he uses, Matador Fiend, Picador Fiend, and Banderillero Fiend refer to the three types of toreros in a bullfight, and his field spell Dark Arena forces Asuka to attack while he chooses the target of her attacks, forcing her into the role of the cornered bull. Throughout the duel, he taunts and goads her, using her brother's memories and role as Darkness to psychologically exploit her. Her victory over Titan in the end represents the triumph of the bull; or rather, her triumph as the more skilled matador.
There is more to the paso doble as it relates to Asuka, though. The paso doble, like all ballroom dances, is a dance with strict gender roles.
One view of ballroom: The man is strong and powerful. He decides what steps the couple will take at what time, dictating direction and timing. The woman responds to the man and does whatever he leads, and her job is to be beautiful and expressive.
(Source: Gender Roles and Ballroom Dance, ballroommind)
Strong boundaries are implicitly (and at times explicitly) constructed around what is normal behavior for men and women.
(Source: Sexism in Ballroom Dancing, Joel Torgeson)
In the paso doble, the man plays the "active" role as the matador. But the woman is not actually the bull. The woman is supposed to play the part of the matador's cape; she's a passive object, and to do the dance well, it's supposed to look like the man is "in control of" the woman. If you watch the paso doble in action here, you can see how the woman's movements flow as an extension of the man's.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: the context of sexism in Duel Monsters and in the GX world at large is essential to Asuka's character. In that post, some people assumed I was criticizing GX for its "bad female writing." No, there are definitely things to criticize about Yugioh writers writing women, but depicting the GX world as one where women are only seen as objects of desire isn't one of them. That's just the world we actually live in. That's what Asuka has to deal with, too. It doesn't have to be to your taste, but there is value in showing how she defies what that world expects of her.
This is why the paso doble is doubly significant for Asuka, because when she uses Doble Passe, she gets to "reclaim" the active role in the dance. She gets to be the one asserting control, the one who manipulates her opponent. She gets to be the matador, traditionally a deeply masculine role, using her monster and life points as the cape.
⇀ Doble Passe, the Art
I'd also like to take the time now to talk about Doble Passe's card art. It doesn't show a passe, or a paso doble either, but I still find the art striking. A woman dances alone on a stage, isolated in a spotlight. Despite the only light source coming directly from above, her shadow is split into three.
I think this art strongly represents how Asuka is trapped within the cage of society's expectations for women. Something I didn't notice until looking closely at the card art is that the woman wears a mask with a smile painted on it. Throughout the series, Asuka is shown to be self-conscious of how she is perceived and emotionally guarded as a result, likely due to being held up on a pedestal as the "Queen of Obelisk Blue." Other characters repeatedly comment on her femininity and lack of romantic interests.
This is what means to be a woman in the world of GX, in the world of dueling. You can't get away from the gaze of other people, whether it's fellow women who idolize you, or the men who only view you as a potential girlfriend. So you have to put on a show for them, and hide your true feelings under a mask.
I'd also like to bring back the duel with Titan as an example of how light is often associated with Asuka (see also Prima Light, which she uses to evolve Cyber Tutu).
Asuka: Cyber Blader is not a monster who'd lose her light to a mere dark duel. A true prima donna brings her own light to the stage when she dances.
This is a cool shonen moment in the context of that duel (which I think is really good and nobody talks about), but if you're certified insane about Asuka like me, I think you can interpret it as how she wants to be seen as a duelist instead of just a woman. To be seen not because of a spotlight that she didn't ask for, but because of her own light that she created.
⇀ Doble Passe, the Card
I'm not done because I will talk about Tenjoin Asuka into eternity. Now we can talk about how Doble Passe is used by Asuka as a duelist.
GX is very conscious about how it uses cards to embody the characters who use them. Manjoume's Ojamas are a parallel to him -- cards that everyone looks down on, but become strong in defiance of expectations. Power Bond is a card that carries a great risk, requiring the user to respect the opponent's skills; it's used to illustrate both Shou and Ryou's opposite character arcs (I could also write a whole analysis about this).
Doble Passe is card which requires you to sacrifice your own life points for a chance to launch a direct attack against your opponent. It's a card that requires you to stare down your opponent's attack and deliberately put yourself in front of it, just for a chance to reverse the situation. It's an aggressive, risky card that you have to have the guts to activate.
(Unique dialogue in Duel Links for activating Doble Passe)
Something else notable about this card is that it sucks ass.
Functionally, it's kind of just a much worse version of Magic Cylinder. 90% of the time you'd expect it to be a bad tradeoff; typically you attack a monster which has less attack points than your monster, so by turning both into direct attacks, you're taking more damage than your opponent.
But what Yuginerds fail to realize is that everyone's deck in GX fucking sucks and the point of Yugioh is using cards to deliver a story. Narratively, Doble Passe is not a bad card but an unwieldy one. Asuka is shown as incredibly skilled because she manages to use Doble Passe and always walk away in a winning position, and each time she does, it makes a lasting impression on every person watching. It's hard to capture via screenshot, but trust me when I say that every time she uses it there's a pan to the audience making one/all of these faces: 😰😳😱
Here you can see what I'm talking about in the manga as well, even though manga Asuka uses a completely different deck.
Here are all the ways Asuka uses Doble Passe to swing the advantage to her side:
Activating it when Etoile Cyber is attacked, which becomes stronger when attacking directly
Activating it when a monster like Grand Mole attacks, which is usually attacking monsters stronger than itself due to its effect
Activating it to preserve her monster so that it can be used next turn
Activating it to force a tie when winning is out of reach
Activating it when her opponent's life is already low, so that she can end the duel there and then
What GX communicates is that in Asuka's hands, Doble Passe is not only an aggressively gutsy card, but also a deeply skillful and calculating one.
Asuka is the character in GX who loves dueling the most, aside from Judai, and I will die on this hill. While other characters' relationships to Duel Monsters stem from their need to prove themselves (Manjoume, Shou, Misawa) or their connection to their cards (Edo, Johan, Kenzan), Asuka has a love of the game that matches Judai's, to the point that during her duel with Manjoume she tells him that she's in love with dueling itself. I only see this coming up during shipping arguments, and few people actually engaging with it.
I cannot understate that in almost every single one of Asuka's duels, the writers go out of their way to demonstrate how Asuka not only uses, but values strategy. To Asuka, the beauty of Duel Monsters is in the battle of minds. GX repeatedly shows how it bothers her when duelists don't respect the depth, strategy, and sanctity of Duel Monsters.
She's repeatedly bothered by characters like Judai or Taizan (the drawbread guy) who duel using luck or instinct instead of strategy. She criticizes characters who duel using the strength of others instead of their own minds (which is relevant to her arc in Season 2). And she's annoyed when characters like Manjoume or the other guys who want to date her use dueling in a way that betrays the spirit of dueling, such as how Manjoume in both his duels with Asuka makes plays that symbolize how he loves her, but which make no sense from a gameplay perspective, such as playing a card that gives her a card.
This is heavily emphasized in her duel with Mitsuo, who is not even a duelist but a poker player, and shows a complete disregard for the point of the game even as he believes he'll easily beat the top students at the school.
Asuka: You still don't understand? Back then, I wanted to show you how much fun a duel could be, how much depth it could have, how important it was to plan tactics and probabilities from start to end.
[…]
Asuka: You have no skill at gambling.
Mitsuo: You risked all or nothing too! You're just like me!
Asuka: No, I'm not. I used strategy to reduce your probability of getting it right. Don't lump me in with some phony gambler who never thinks of anything, leaving things up to chance, until he eventually wins.
This ties in quite well to her Darkness nightmare in season 4, where she is a teacher who's unable to connect to her students and teach them how fun dueling can be. I know there are people who dislike Asuka becoming a teacher, and I will write another meta post one day about the controversy of Asuka's Darkness nightmare and what it actually means, but just for this post I wanted to say that it's already been shown in GX how Asuka loves dueling and wants to share that with others.
And what reminds her of that is hearing Judai's voice, who loves dueling as much as her, and drawing her signature card, which represents what dueling means to her: Doble Passe.
⇀ Doble Passe, after Word of God
I've been working on this post for a few months now, most of it was written a while ago, but what got me to finish it is new information that came out with the GX Duel Memorial Album, an infobook that released recently that contains new commentary directly from the GX writers. I haven't been able to read the whole thing yet, but you bet when I saw this translation of Asuka's section I clicked on it immediately. Paraphrased:
Q. Can you tell us how you came up with Asuka’s Deck? Also, was there anything you were conscious of when composing Asuka’s Duels?
Q. I would like to hear any stories you have to share about the Duel Composition for Turn-41 (Asuka VS Titan). Also, the effect of “Cyber Blader” which changes on the number of monsters your opponent controls, remains rare and impressive even today.
A: Asuka is the lone girl in the regular cast who is an Obelisk Blue Honor student, so I tried to give her a Deck that gave the impression of her being a strong female character. That led me to giving her a motif based around female athletes. I tried to think of how to reflect the strength of hard-working female athletes in sports with her Deck. Technically ballet dancers aren’t athletes, but due to a certain movie I saw when I was in school, I always saw them as more like fighters (ahaha).
When thinking of new motifs, I research various materials. When doing this, I come across a lot of words I don’t know. That’s one of the joys of this job. The research I do reflects not only in the cards and Decks, but in the names of attacks and effects. “Cyber Blader”‘s effect names are derived from ballet terms: “Pas de Deux”, “Pas de Trois” and “Pas de Quatre”, which mean “Two people dancing”, “Three people dancing” and “Four people dancing” respectively.
This terminology lead me to the idea of “Could ballet dancing could be recreated through monsters battling?”, and resulted in a tricky monster whose effects change depending on the number of monsters.
As a result of coming up with this effect, I feel like the direction of Asuka’s personality and character and the structure of her Duels ended up being decided. I think I was able to differentiate her from other students by having her use tricky effects, and use her Duels to show not only her fierceness and strength but her intellectual nature.
This has a lot of W's for Asuka-heads like me, and shows clearly the thought and intention behind Asuka's character.
I love how it confirms that Asuka's deck is based off female athletes. Yugioh is certainly guilty of giving its female characters the Girl Deck, and I won't say Asuka's doesn't fit the bill. But while before, it may have been ambiguous as to whether Asuka's deck was based on athletes, or """girly""" more traditionally feminine ballerinas and dancers, this shows that from the start, the intention was to represent Asuka with strong female athletes, showing her hard-working and competitive nature, and ballerinas happened to be included just because the writer thinks of ballet dancers as fighters and athletes.
And I cannot emphasize enough that ballerinas and dancers are athletes, even if they aren't in the Olympics. The line between competitive dance and performance sport like gymnastics and ice skating is thin. Ballet is more competitive and physically taxing than many sports in the Olympics.
This also can be clearly related to Asuka's love of dueling, which is not only a sport, but THE sport in GX. And this article also confirms the intentionality behind Asuka's characterization as an intellectual fighter, who specifically uses tricky effects to get the upper hand. Another W for me.
This article does not, however, confirm that Doble Passe is based on the paso doble. I know what you're thinking: OWNED. TYPICAL TUMBLR OVERTHINKER.
Yes, I think it's likely that if Doble Passe was based on the paso doble they would have mentioned it here. The second asker does specifically mention Asuka vs. Titan so if the matador connection was intentional, they probably would have brought it up there (tho that second asker is so real and we are on the same wavelength… thank u for asking the real questions)
But I understood that it was something of a long shot in the first place. I've always had a pretty cynical outlook on how GX came together, by which I mean I think that the writers were flying by the seats of their pants and made things up as they went.
Personally though, I dislike the fandom mentality that media analysis means peeling something apart and going "THIS is what the writers meant," "THIS is why the writers included this part," "THIS is why the writers are actually geniuses for foreshadowing this or making this elaborate connection." As if the only way your interpretation can have meaning is if it was intended by the writer.
Not that I don't understand the urge to defend your ideas by citing the source material. I just wish people would take credit for their own creativity.
If it is just a coincidence that Asuka happens to duel someone with a matador-themed deck, it doesn't mean that the duel didn't actually mean anything. It means that rather than the writers being the one who created that meaning, I'm the one who created it, and I will take credit for it. Yes, I am just making stuff up, because making things is the definition of creativity.
Interpreting a piece of media is an act of creation. Through analysis, you and the original writers become co-creators. That's what media theory is.
Of course, there's value in citing the source material and in analyzing the writers' intention. But I wish people would understand that this shouldn't be in pursuit of the Absolute One Correct Interpretation, but because like any piece of art, making elaborate connections makes your art more beautiful. What you think the writers are doing: you're doing it.
Anyway, if you made it all the way through: I LOVE YOU TENJOIN ASUKA!!!!!!!!!!! This will not be the last time I talk about her.
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