Katsuya Jonouchi

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Image:KatsuyaJonouchi.JPG
Katsuya Jonouchi on the bookcover of Yu-Gi-Oh! Duelist Volume 4
Appears in manga:
Yu-Gi-Oh! (Original manga)
Yu-Gi-Oh! R
anime:
Yu-Gi-Oh! (1st series anime)
Yu-Gi-Oh! (Duel Monsters) (2nd series anime)
Yu-Gi-Oh! Capsule Monsters
movie:
Yu-Gi-Oh! (1st movie)
Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie: Pyramid of Light
Debut Yu-Gi-Oh! (original and English manga) Volume 1, Duel 1
Birthday January 25
Deck Luck
Sign Aquarius
Age 16-17 at debut (now 20)
Height 178 cm (about 5 feet and 10 inches)
Weight 62 kg (136.4 pounds)
Blood type O
Favorite food Curry and rice
Least favorite food None in particular
Status at debut Domino High School Freshman
Relations Younger sister: Shizuka Kawai / Jonouchi (Serenity Wheeler
in the English anime)
Seiyū 1st series: Toshiyuki Morikawa
2nd series: Hiroki Takahashi
Voice actor(s) Wayne Grayson (US)
Dwayne Tan [1](Singapore)

Katsuya Jonouchi (城之内 克也 Jōnouchi Katsuya?) is a fictional character in the manga and anime series Yu-Gi-Oh! He is known as Joseph "Joey" Wheeler in the English anime and video games as well as the Brazilian Portuguese version of the manga.

Contents

[edit] Character

16-year old Jonouchi, who is in class 1-B at Domino High School, is a hothead and his mouth get him in trouble often. Jonouchi starts out as a street thug and hangs in Hirutani's gang for long periods of time when he is in middle school. He becomes best friends with Yugi Mutou, who melts his tough-guy exterior to reveal his true nature. Jonouchi's friendship with Yugi is a key element of the series as a whole and Yugi has credited his friendship with Jonouchi as one of the main factors that allowed Yugi to become stronger throughout the series. However, not all of Jonouchi's influence has necessarily been positive. In the manga, he was noted more than once as having loaned Yugi hentai videos (Japanese pornography). His other two good friends are Hiroto Honda (Tristan Taylor) and Anzu Mazaki (Téa Gardner). In the first series anime, Miho Nosaka is also one of Jonouchi's friends.

The pronunciations from the first characters of "Yūgi" and "Jōnouchi" form the word "Yūjō" (友情), which means "friend" or "fellowship". The card, called "Yu-Jo Friendship" (the Japanese Duel Monsters card is "友情 Yu-Jyo") is named after the word and the relationship between the characters, especially Jonouchi and Yugi. It is believed that the English name "Joey" was chosen for a similar effect.

In the original Japanese versions of Yu-Gi-Oh!, Jonouchi does not use honorifics, which means he has a "rude" speech pattern. When talking to people he doesn't like, Jonouchi uses the word "teme" (a rude form of "you" in Japanese, often translated as "you bastard") instead of his normal "omae" (a form of "you" that in context is used between friends, but can imply that the person being spoken to has a lower status than the speaker does if used incorrectly), especially to Seto Kaiba, who does not think highly of Jonouchi. The speech pattern translates into the English anime's Joey Wheeler having a Brooklyn, New York accent. In the movie, he refers to himself as "the Godfather of Games."

In the manga, Jonouchi is poor, due to his father's gambling addictions and alcoholism. Jonouchi goes to great lengths to repay his father's debts, such as working at multiple jobs (he was the "lone paperboy" in middle school, meaning that he was one of the few that were permitted to work while going to school) and going on the "Get the Million" game show. Ironically, many of his Duel Monsters cards contain a gambling theme, and often, his strong luck helps him win in the end.

Jonouchi's skill at Duel Monsters is somewhat near as good as that of Yugi's, but he still duels as part of a tag team on occasions and he strives to improve his skill. This is a frequent subplot throughout the series, although it was muted somewhat in the English anime.

Jonouchi has a sister named Shizuka Kawai (Serenity Wheeler in the English anime; Shizuka Jonouchi in the first series Yu-Gi-Oh! anime). In the Japanese versions of Yu-Gi-Oh!, Shizuka's surname is her mother's maiden name while Jonouchi's is his father's surname. Their parents divorced when Jonouchi was 10. Shizuka was brought away by her mother while Jonouchi lived with his father. In the manga and the Duel Monsters anime, Shizuka started to go blind, so Jonouchi entered the Duelist Kingdom tournament to finance her eye surgery. Jonouchi would come second to Yugi in the event, although Yugi gives him the money to finance the surgery. In the first series anime, Shizuka is chronically ill and in the hospital. Therefore Jonouchi ensures that she gets the best care in the hospital.

Kazuki Takahashi, the author of Yu-Gi-Oh! deemed the relationship between Jonouchi and Mai Kujaku a 'friendship.'

[edit] Names and romanization

In the Japanese version of the anime, Jonouchi's surname is romanized as "Jyonouchi" (As seen on the card Yu-Jyo), while in the English manga, it is almost always romanized as "Jonouchi." It was seen once as "Jônouchi." The uncut anime DVDs also romanize his name as "Jonouchi" (in the Uncut DVDs, he refers to himself as "Katsuya Joey." This is most likely a mistake). Katsuya Jono-Uchi is seen in the French, Dutch, and Italian versions of the manga, while Jonouchi is used in the English, German, Swedish, Spanish, and Norwegian versions. The Indonesian version uses Jounouchi.

Jonouchi's kanji is incorrectly stated on one of Toei's webpages (as 城ノ内克也 [2] when it is 城之内 克也).

[edit] Notable Dueling Cards

Katsuya Jonouchi in the 1st chapter of the manga
Katsuya Jonouchi in the 1st chapter of the manga

Throughout the majority of the series, Jonouchi's deck is mainly composed of Warrior-type monsters. At first it is composed solely of monsters, but after he trains with Sugoroku Mutou, he adds more cards to it. His signature monsters are associated with fire, such as the Flame Swordsman and dark, such as Red-Eyes Black Dragon. During Battle City his Time Wizard becomes central to his deck that evolves to become luck based with cards like Skull Dice and Graceful Dice. After Battle City, Jonouchi maintains his Warrior strategy, powering them up with a variety of Spell and Trap cards. His Jinzo becomes another of his signature cards, as does Scapegoat and Kunai with Chain.

[edit] Trivia

When Jonouchi's first name was supposed to be revealed in Weekly Shonen Jump in 1998, the author of Yu-Gi-Oh!, Kazuki Takahashi, mistakenly wrote "Tomoya" instead of "Katsuya". The error was fixed in the graphic novels. The author admitted the error on the front page in Yu-Gi-Oh! Volume 7.

[edit] References

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