Aster Phoenix

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Aster Phoenix, known as Edo Phoenix (エド・フェニックス, Edo Fenikkusu^?) in the original Japanese language version, is a fictional character in the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX anime series. His name is meant to be a pun in Japanese, as phoenixes were commonly depicted in art during the Edo period of Japan.^[1] In the English version, Aster is voiced by Pete Zarustica, while Akira Ishida (older) and Asako Yoshida (younger) take the role in the Japanese version.

A professional duelist firmly believing in destiny, Aster is introduced during the series' second season as a new rival to Jaden Yuki, similar in the cards he uses, but differing vastly in his code of ethics and sense of justice.

[edit] Character design

Aster's design incorporates multiple layers of clothing and a wide range of expressions. Depicted here is the duelist in full regalia from front, side, and rear alongside views of his head from different angles.

Aster's character design was overseen by Kenichi Hara.^[2] His usual outfit consists of silver formal wear with button-up sleeves, a black shirt underneath with matching shoes, and a loosely-fitting necktie. His grey hair is sectioned in two layers, his bangs forming one layer and the rest the other. His blue eyes are positioned between the layer closest to his face. He carries an Academy-issued Duel Disk on his left hand.

[edit] Personality

In the English version, Aster's speech is similar to that of a baseball player, while his original series counterpart replaces certain Japanese words with anglicisms, the most common being his substitution of the word "bochi" (墓地) with its English equivalent, "cemetery". In addition, he yells "Come on!" when summoning his monsters during Duels. Aster is a pro-athlete, and excels at skiing, skydiving, skysurfing, and surfing. While no mention of it is made in the English adaptation, the Japanese version further indicates that he is a Ph.D. in two undisclosed subjects. It is also metioned that Aster has a photographic memory and high IQ.

Personality-wise, he is well-mannered with good intentions, but can often be blinded to the reality of a given situation due to his stubborn attitude and pessimistic outlook. He pursues his goals despite risks and overwhelming odds, and felt that the burden of avenging his father and reclaiming the Destiny Hero stolen from him was one to be shouldered alone. Because his father was taken from him while he was still young, he had a dependency on father figures such as Sartorius or The D. In some instances, this proved to be a weakness of Aster's, as the two men exploited him with mere words. Since his father's disappearance, Aster also held a fear of the state of his "time," afraid that he had not truly advanced anywhere as a person following the life-changing event.^[3] As such, the trust he places in his Destiny Heroes became symbolic of his desire to control his own future.

[edit] Biography

In the timeline of the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX anime, Aster has been searching for the person responsible for the kidnapping (murder in the Japanese version) of his father (a card designer for Industrial Illusions) and theft of a single card when he was younger for years, intent on becoming the greatest duelist in order to rid the world of crime.^[4] From this event, Aster received the true monsters of his deck, the Destiny Heroes, which were his father's legacy, left to him so that he could pursue justice, or so he believed.

He first met Jaden Yuki at Duel Academy at the beginning of the second year, enrolling as a new student. At that time, he opened several packs of cards in order to quickly build a deck for use against Jaden. Per his manager, Sartorius' prediction, he loses the match, but goes on to defeat Zane Truesdale in the Duel Pro League using his Elemental Hero monsters.^[5] He subsequently challenges Jaden to another Duel, and unbeknownst to Aster, Sartorius sneaks a portion of his spiritual energy into his deck prior to the Duel in order to claim Jaden's fate, but ends up temporarily blinding him to his cards instead due to the boy's power to defy his prediction.

Aster decides to participate in the GX tournament with the goal of finding his father's assailant and the stolen "Ultimate Destiny Card," Destiny Hero - Plasma, and upon discovering that his legal guardian, The D, is the culprit behind his father's disappearance, duels him aboard his yacht. The D targeted his father because he was certain that obtaining the Ultimate Destiny Card would make him a successful duelist in the unforgiving Pro League. The night The D broke into the Phoenix household, he was caught by Aster's father, and the corrupted Destiny Card, sensing the evil in his heart, overpowered him and had him dispose of its creator.^[3] After the incident, The D took the role of Aster's guardian to avoid suspicion.

Despite being pushed into a corner by The D's formidable skills, Aster unleashes Destiny Hero - Dark Angel, a card specifically designed to combat the Ultimate Destiny Card, which was left to him by his father. Before The D is defeated, however, Aster speaks briefly with his father, whose soul had been trapped within Plasma's body. His, father's spirit at rest, Aster escapes via helicopter with the purified Ultimate Destiny Card, while The D is consumed by the flames of the resulting explosion.

Aster then breaks into the Obelisk Blue dormitory and corners Sartorius in the Society of Light's private duel field. As a child, he promised his friend that he would save him from his destiny of becoming a destroyer, but was not certain how he would do so when the time came. He considers giving up the key to the mind control satellite of the kingdom of Misgarth that was handed to him by Sartorius' good personality, but Jaden intervenes and tells him its true purpose. Recognizing the present Sartorius as an impostor posing as his lost companion, Aster wagers the key in a Duel. Eventually, the good-hearted Sartorius appears before him, and the two offer one another support, but even their destiny-surpassing friendship is not enough to hold back defeat.

At the beginning of the third year, Aster stops by Duel Academy briefly to relay information he learned from Maximillion Pegasus regarding the Crystal Beast cards of newcomer Jesse Andersen. In the past, after winning a tournament sponsored by Industrial Illusions, Aster was told by Pegasus that the Crystal Beasts had chosen Jesse as their master while he was attending the European competition in which the boy was a participant. The awarding of the cards to him at the end of the tournament was thus unavoidable, regardless of how rare and valuable they were.

Along with Dr. Eisenstein, Aster makes contact with Jaden and company, telling them that the Rainbow Dragon card is needed in order to transport Duel Academy back to its normal place. After Duel Academy is restored to its proper place, he and Zane find Jaden and the others trying to open the fourth dimension to search for Jesse, who is stuck in the alternate dimension. However, they get too close and are sucked into the dimension as well. He and Zane are separated from the others and later assist in the effort to liberate Jaden when he is under the control of a being called the "Supreme King". When Adrian Gecko teleports him and the others to another alternate dimension, he duels Adrian after seeing him cruelly treat Echo, but is defeated and eliminated when Adrian releases Exodia the Forbidden One. He returns unharmed after Jaden's duel against Yubel.

In the fourth season, Aster appears to coach Chazz Princeton on becoming a professional duelist, however, after he passes through an autograph session, he breaks his hand. Chazz, whom had Aster's ultimate D card in charge due to his hurt hand, gets it stolen, so Aster can't participate in an exhibition match against Duel Academy representative Jaden. Chazz takes his place and is about to win to Jaden; however, his representative tells him to throw the match. After this, Aster is forced to quit the Pro League. After the culprit of the crime is discovered, Aster receives the ultimate "D" card, Destiny End Dragoon while dueling Chazz in an exhibition match, and returns to the Pro League. However, Chazz manages to defeat both the card and Aster.

[edit] Deck

Aster originally played an Archlord deck constructed with cards from eight booster packs (featuring cards from the Ancient Sanctuary expansion of the actual card game). His true deck, however, is a Hero deck, initially composed of Elemental Heroes and Destiny Heroes, though the former series was eventually phased out. His Destiny Heroes (based on British anti-heroes) each possess abilities pertaining to time or the passage of time, ranging from the displacement of his opponent's monsters into the future to the halving of his opponent's Life Points within a turn. References to British culture are present throughout his deck, including mentions of the HMS Dreadnought, Dogma, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, the Palace of Westminster, and tea time.

[edit] References