List of ''Yu-Gi-Oh!'' characters

The Yu-Gi-Oh! series features an extensive cast of characters created by Kazuki Takahashi. The series takes place in a fictional city in Japan called Domino City, in which most of the characters that appear in the series originate. Many plot elements are also influenced by Egypt and Egyptian mythology, and as such, Egyptian characters also appear within the story.

The original manga of Yu-Gi-Oh! tells the tale of Yugi Mutou, a timid young boy who loves all sorts of games, but is often bullied around. One day, he solves an ancient artifact known as the Millennium Puzzle, causing his body to play host to a mysterious spirit with the personality of a gambler. From that moment onwards, whenever Yugi or one of his friends is threatened by those with darkness in their hearts, this "Dark Yugi" shows himself and challenges them to dangerous "Shadow Games" which reveal the true nature of someone's heart, the losers of these contests often being subjected to a dark punishment called a "Penalty Game". As the series progresses, Yugi and his friends (Katsuya Jonouchi, Anzu Mazaki, Hiroto Honda, Miho Nosaka (in the 1998 series), and later Ryo Bakura) learn that this other Yugi inside of his puzzle is actually the spirit of a nameless Pharaoh from Egyptian times who had lost his memories. As Yugi and his companions attempt to help the Pharaoh regain his memories, they find themselves going through many trials as they wager their lives facing off against others that wield the mysterious Millennium Items and the dark power of the Shadow Games.

The Japanese names in Western order (given name before family name) and English manga names are listed first and the English anime names are listed second, when applicable.

Main characters

Yugi Mutou / Yugi Muto (武藤 遊戯, Mutō Yūgi)

Voiced by: Megumi Ogata (1998–1999), Shunsuke Kazama (2000–present) (Japanese); Chuck Powers (Odex), Dan Green (4Kids) (English)

The main protagonist of the story. He wears the Millennium Puzzle (千年パズル, Sennen Pazuru), one of the seven Millennium Items and an ancient Egyptian artifact holding the spirit of an ancient Egyptian pharaoh. He fears the other personality inside him at first; however, as the narrative progresses, he grows a strong bond with his other self and considers his other soul a close and valuable friend. Several defining character moments for him was when he defeats antagonists without Dark Yugi's help in games under bleak circumstances, proving that he is truly worthy of being the Millennium Puzzle's wielder.

Dark Yugi / Yami Yugi (闇遊戯, Yami Yūgi)

Voiced by: Megumi Ogata (1998–1999), Shunsuke Kazama (2000–present) (Japanese); Chuck Powers (Odex), Dan Green (4Kids) (English)

The second personality inhabiting Yugi's body, a 5,000-year-old gambling spirit of an ancient Pharaoh who resides in the Millennium Puzzle. Like his host, he shares a fondness for games and gaming culture, often referred to in the manga as Game King (遊戯王, Yūgiō, King of Games in most English translations).^[1][2] He appears whenever Yugi's in trouble, challenging bullies and criminals to occult judgment games called Shadow Games (闇のゲーム, Yami no Gēmu) and enforces Penalty Games (罰ゲーム, Batsu Gēmu) to enact ironic justice (the default powers of a Millennium Item wielder). A defining character moment for him is when he decides to stop using them after finding out that the Millennium Items contain an evil intelligence.^[3] In the second series anime, Dark Yugi comes off as a lot more merciful as a character because this subplot is written out. As the story progresses to the point where he's more than just a split personality, he becomes more and more independent of Yugi and develops a desire to find out who he is and where he came from.

Even compared to Yugi, he seems to have the most knowledge on gaming and gambling culture within the whole cast. In addition, the original manga's version of Dark Yugi seems to have a somewhat dark sense of humor in his dialogue, even after his decision to stop inflicting Penalty Games. This personality trait is an aspect that is retained in the 1998 TV series. However, in the latter series, Dark Yugi is somewhat more serious and loses much of the dark sense of humor he originally had in the manga.

Yugi and his friends eventually find out that he is the spirit of an ancient Pharaoh who has long forgotten his name. At the end of the manga, it's revealed that his name as Pharaoh was Atem (アテム, Atemu), who sealed his soul into the Puzzle along with the Great God of Evil, Zorc Necrophades. The group is finally able to defeat Zorc and his avatar, Dark Bakura, once and for all in the memory world (which reenacted the Pharaoh's past) and help Atem pass over into the afterlife.

Katsuya Jonouchi / Joey Wheeler (城之内 克也, Jōnouchi Katsuya)

Voiced by: Toshiyuki Morikawa (1998–1999), Hiroki Takahashi (2000–present) (Japanese); Dwayne Tan (Odex), Wayne Grayson (4Kids) (English)

Yugi's close friend. Jonouchi is loyal, heroic, good-natured, brave, funny, friendly, kind-hearted, and loving. When Ushio beats up Jonouchi and Honda, Yugi stands up for them, and it's then that Jonouchi realizes that he was jealous of Yugi's "treasure" all along. Later on that night, he retrieves the last Millennium Puzzle piece and brings it back to Yugi's house, where Yugi completes it and challenges Ushio to the first Shadow Game of the series. Jonouchi is touched by Yugi's behavior towards him and they become loyal friends, forming his own "treasure."

Jonouchi is good at fist fighting and is usually able to take on people bigger than him, such as Bandit Keith (in the second anime, this quality is underplayed). 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. Later on, he develops an interest in the Duel Monsters game, the latest fad at the time. Though unskilled at first, with Yugi's help, he trains for the Duelist Kingdom and Battle City tournaments for his sister; progressively getting better throughout the series to the point where he could be called a match for Dark Yugi. Jonouchi is shown to have a very kind heart, selfless and caring, considerate, and eager willingness to help and save those he deeply cares for and loves, but he also demonstrates a near lack of modesty and can be rather rash at times, making him a source of comic relief. He also, quite ironically, given the series's content, has an extreme fear of ghosts, mummies, and anything else that could be considered 'creepy'. Jonouchi notes that, before he met Yugi, he was never really motivated for anything. As the story progressed, he learned to channel his anger into games instead of his fists.

Anzu Mazaki / Téa Gardner (真崎 杏子, Mazaki Anzu)

Voiced by: Yumi Kakazu (1998–1999), Maki Saitō (2000–present) (Japanese); Alison Lester (Odex), Amy Birnbaum (4Kids) (English)

Yugi's childhood best friend and an extremely supportive girl with a lot of spirit for her friends, who has a crush on Dark Yugi. Anzu is not an avid game-player and her ability is well below that of Yugi, though she exhibits some knowledge of video game RPGs during the Monster World arc. Her dueling ability is decent and she used to defeat Jonouchi in school before he became a seasoned duelist. She is athletic, has a strong school spirit, and secretly worked at a fast food restaurant called Burger World to save money; her secret dream is to attend a dancing school abroad in New York. When Yugi and Jonouchi find out about these secrets when they followed her (thinking she's taking part in Enjo kōsai), she gains a new respect for Jonouchi and her childhood friend, who are more than willing to support her dream and keep her secret.

Hiroto Honda / Tristan Taylor (本田 ヒロト, Honda Hiroto)

Voiced by: Ryōtarō Okiayu (1998–1999), Takayuki Kondō (2000–2001), Hidehiro Kikuchi (2001-present) (Japanese); Brian Zimmerman (Odex), Sam Riegel (4Kids, eps.1-10), Greg Abbey (4Kids, eps.11-224/other media) (English)

Honda, who is in class 1-B at Domino High School, is a boy who became a friend of Yugi, Joenouchi, and Anzu. Later on, he becomes a friend to Bakura as well. In the manga, Honda starts out as Jonouchi's street thug buddy and also (at first) has a crush on Miho Nosaka. In the 1998 anime, he is the head of the school's beautician department. Along with Jonouchi, he was saved from the bully Ushio by Yugi, though he still dislikes Yugi at first. After admitting his love for Miho Nosaka to Jonouchi, he is convinced by him to ask Yugi for his help in writing a love letter to her in the form of a puzzle. When the vain teacher Ms. Chono confiscated the puzzle, threatening to punish Miho if the secret admirer doesn't come clean, Yugi and Jonouchi stood up for him by saying they were the ones who wrote it. Ms. Chono decides to put together the puzzle to find out who the sender is anyway, and Dark Yugi secretly turns it into a Shadow Game, shattering Ms. Chono's pretty face as the Penalty Game. From then on, Honda warms up to Yugi and becomes one of his dearest friends, despite the fact that Miho later turns him down when he asks her out directly.

In the English version of the Duel Monsters anime, his past was heavily edited, to remove the violent fighting bits, and his importance is slightly down-played. In the Duel Monsters anime, he has a large crush on Jonouchi's sister Shizuka and his origin story with Miho is never mentioned. He also has a strong rivalry in the English version with Duke Devlin and regularly competes with him for Serenity's affections.

Ryo Bakura / Bakura (獏良 了, Bakura Ryō)

Voiced by: Tsutomu Kashiwakura (1998), Yō Inoue (2000-2001), Rica Matsumoto (2001-present) (Japanese); Chuck Powers (Odex), Ted Lewis (4Kids) (English)

A transfer student (British in 4Kids' portrayal) who becomes friends with the main group of the story. Like Yugi, he is also interested in games, particularly tabletop role-playing games like Monster World (モンスター・ワールド, Monsutā Wārudo). Bakura, the holder of the Millennium Ring (千年輪, Sennen Ringu), has a dark spirit dwelling inside himself, much like Dark Yugi. Before he is introduced to the story, he was constantly moving schools and isolating himself due to the fact that, every time he played a game with his friends, his friends would end up in a coma. This is revealed to be Dark Bakura inflicting Penalty Games on them, which trapped their souls into RPG miniature figures. Together with Yugi and his friends, they join forces to crush Dark Bakura in a Shadow Game of Monster World. From then on, the normal Bakura joins the main group in many of their conflicts. Despite the danger, Bakura continues to hold onto the Millennium Ring, remaining deeply curious about its history. This, along with his trusting and innocent nature, sometimes brings him into conflict with the others and also allows Dark Bakura to continually possess him without his knowledge. Prior to meeting Yugi and his friends, Bakura's sister, Amane, died in a car accident. (This detail is omitted from the second series.) Bakura misses her very much, and often writes letters to her in heaven. The first animated series also included the character Miho Nosaka, who had a crush on Bakura. In the Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters anime, his role in the group is greatly reduced compared to the manga, as he is mostly being controlled by Dark Bakura and doesn't accompany Yugi and his friends as much as he did in the manga, and is excluded from filler arcs. In addition, he is introduced in the middle of the Duelist Kingdom story as someone they merely knew from school, as opposed to being a close friend, and his love for tabletop role-playing games has been greatly written out.

Seto Kaiba (海馬 瀬人, Kaiba Seto)

Voiced by: Hikaru Midorikawa (1998–1999), Kenjirō Tsuda (2000–present, teenager), Kiyomi Yazaki (2000–2004, child) (Japanese); Christian J. Lee (Odex), Eric Stuart (4Kids) (English)

The current President and CEO of the Kaiba Corporation, Kaiba was first introduced as a prodigious, cold-hearted gamer who stopped at nothing to achieve his goals, even resorting to seemingly killing his opponents. He lived a bad childhood because of his good for nothing stepfather. When Kaiba learned that Yugi's grandfather possesses a "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" card, he ends up dueling Yami Yugi and lost while ending up in a coma after Yami used his power to momentarily shatter Kaiba's heart to purge it of his evil. Though reformed, later learning his rival's identity to be Atem, Kaiba retains his arrogance and rivalry with Yugi. While Kaiba leaves the story following the Battle City arc, he appears in the anime adaption as a major character and has been mentioned in sequel Yu-Gi-Oh! GX series as the founder of Duel Academy.

In the movie Dark Side of Dimensions and its prequel manga chapters, revealed to have developed Solid Vision, Kaiba attempt to bring back Atem to settle things between them causes much of the storyline to occur before he departed to the afterlife after Atem. Kaiba uses Blue Eyes deck and his ace monster is Blue Eyes White Dragon.

Mokuba Kaiba (海馬 モクバ, Kaiba Mokuba)

Voiced by: Katsue Miwa (1998), Junko Noda (game), Junko Takeuchi (2000-present) (Japanese); Christian J. Lee (Odex), Tara Sands^[4] (4Kids, 2001-2005, 2017), Caroline Lawson^[4][5] (4Kids, 2005-2006) (English)

Seto Kaiba's younger brother and an expert at Capsule Monster Chess (カプセルモンスターチェス, Kapuseru Monsutā Chesu). In the manga, Mokuba is characterized as a spoiled brat, always trying to trick Yugi Muto to get back at him for defeating his older brother. In the pre-Death-T chapters of the manga, Mokuba tries to defeat Yugi before Kaiba has a chance to, threatening to cut off Yugi's fingers if he wins, and challenges Jonouchi and Yugi to a Russian Roulette Dinner of Death (死の料理・ロシアンルーレット, Shi no Ryōri Roshian Rūretto) and poisons Jonouchi. In Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters, Mokuba is eternally devoted to his brother Seto Kaiba and is constantly by his side. He is not as violent as his manga counterpart, and is not committed to avenge Seto's defeat. He befriends Yugi's group after they rescue him, thus making him the warmer, more sociable one of the two brothers.

Miho Nosaka (anime version) / Melody (video game name) (野坂 ミホ, Nosaka Miho)

Voiced by: Yukana

A one-shot minor character in the manga, who was re-written as a main character for the 1998 Toei anime adaptation. Here, she is a very good friend of Yugi and the best friend of Anzu. This version of Miho is a cheerful, kind, and caring girly girl who loves all things that are cute, her friends, and is one of the school's treasures (according to Honda). Miho tends to talk in third person and has gotten crushes on many of the male cast members throughout the show (particularly ones she deems cool) but is not interested in Honda in any way other than as a friend (whereas he is madly in love with her). Miho has a stubborn side, and whenever her friends are threatened, she will not hesitate to get serious and do whatever she can to protect them like when Warashibe poisons Anzu, Honda, and Jonouchi. While Miho is overall sweet and innocent, she is shown to be smarter than she lets on and has a manipulative side to her and is not above letting her desires be known in front of Honda, who she knows has a huge crush for her. This includes him waiting in line to buy her a collectible watch, waiting in line for perfume, and making it sound like she was considering taking him on a trip with her if he won her a digital pets contest. While this would imply a lack of care for Honda, Miho is shown to love him dearly (just not in a romantic way) as when she thought he'd died she began sobbing uncontrollably and resolved to fight for his sake. When she finds out he is alive, she teams up with Jonouchi to fight against Ryuichi and Aileen who were keeping Honda and Yugi's grandfather captive.

Antagonists

Dark Bakura / Yami Bakura (闇獏良, Yami Bakura)

Voiced by: Tsutomu Kashiwakura (1998), Yō Inoue (2000-2001), Rica Matsumoto (2001-2004) (Japanese); Chuck Powers (Odex), Ted Lewis (4Kids) (English)

A dark spirit dwelling inside of the Millennium Ring, Dark Bakura seeks the Millennium items to open the Door of Darkness, which grants evil power to anyone that opens it. To do so, he takes control over Bakura's body against Bakura's will, since he doesn't have a body of his own. In the beginning of the story, he torments Bakura by taking over his body whenever he played a game with his friends and used Penalty Games to trap their souls into TRPG miniatures for the Monster World game, causing Bakura to constantly transfer schools. With the help of Yugi and Yugi's other self, Jonouchi, Anzu, and Honda (and Miho in the 1998 anime), they were able to temporarily purge Dark Bakura's influence on their friend by defeating the final boss of Monster World, Dark Master Zorc (闇の支配者ダーク・マスターゾーク, Dāku Masutā Zōku). However, later on when the group is seemingly going to be trapped within the labyrinth below Duelist Kingdom, the spirit's voice within the Millennium Ring tricks Bakura into putting it on again, assuring Bakura that his other half will help save his friends and that the dark spirit has undergone a change of heart. With Bakura's friends unaware that he had once again put on the Millennium Ring, Dark Bakura helps Yami Yugi in his game designed to outwit the Meikyuu Brothers' trickery and they head to the surface.

For a while in the manga, it was unknown whether or not Dark Bakura was still a malevolent spirit. On one hand, he occasionally helped Yugi and his friends, trying to gain their uneasy trust and seemed to allow Bakura more free control of his body compared to his earlier treatment of his host (who was still unaware of what transpires whenever his other half took over). On the other hand, unbeknownst to the others, he is shown to be the one that killed Pegasus by tearing the Millennium Eye out of his eye socket and taking it for himself, licking the leftover blood. It's soon clear where his true standing was in the Dungeon Dice Monsters arc: after giving Yugi morale support during the game against Ryuji Otogi and helping him retrieve the pieces of the shattered Millennium Puzzle, Dark Bakura secretly plants a portion of his soul into one of the pieces to uncover the True Door from within, and intends to do anything he can to manipulate everything into place until the day comes where all of the Millnennium Items have gathered together, in preparation for the Shadow Role-Playing Game / Shadow RPG (闇・Ｒ・Ｐ・Ｇロール・プレイング・ゲーム, Yami Ā Pī Jī (Yami Rōru Pureingu Gēmu)), with the ultimate goal of opening the Door of Darkness and unleashing the darkness sealed within the Puzzle. Unbeknownst to Bakura, throughout the later portion of the manga, his other self will occasionally take over his body whenever he sees the chance of furthering his own selfish goals. During the final arc, Dark Bakuta is an entity when the soul of Thief King Bakura (盗賊王バクラ, Tōzoku Ō Bakura) merged with a fragment of the dark god Zorc Necrophades. He is defeated for good when Yami Yugi/Atem summons Horakthy, the Creator of Light to destroy Zorc (in the anime, Dark Bakura became a part of Zorc and was destroyed by Horakthy, while in the manga, his life was linked to Zorc's and was killed when Zorc died).

Maximillion Pegasus / Pegasus J. Crawford (ペガサス・Ｊ・クロフォード, Pegasasu Jei Kurofōdo)

Voiced by: Jiro "Jay" Takasugi (Japanese); Brian Zimmerman (Odex), Darren Dunstan (4Kids) (English)

The eccentric American Chairman of Industrial Illusions (shortened to I²) and the creator of the game Duel Monsters (デュエル モンスターズ, Dyueru Monsutāzu) (originally Magic & Wizards (Ｍ＆Ｗ (マジック＆ウィザーズ), Majikku ando Wizāzu)). He is the wielder of the Millennium Eye (千年眼, ミレニアムアイ, Sennen Gan, Mireniamu Ai). In the original manga, it's his story about meeting Shadi and the supposed "evil intelligence" of the Millennium Items that prompts Yami Yugi's search for the answer of who he is and where he came from. During his final Shadow Game with Yugi/Dark Yugi, he tells them of his discovery of an ancient Egyptian Shadow Game during his travels in the Valley of the Kings, which inspired his creation of Duel Monsters and the creation of card games in general, such as tarot cards. In the second anime, as the creator of the card game Duel Monsters and the discoverer of their ancient Egyptian roots, Pegasus often plays a key role due to his extensive knowledge of the game and its mysterious origins. He has a habit of calling Yugi Mutou "Yugi-boy" and Seto Kaiba "Kaiba-boy". This trend continues in the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX anime, calling Jaden Yuki "Jaden-boy". Interestingly, Pegasus often uses English words interspliced with Japanese, including English words like "goodness gracious!" and "snap!" and using the English pronoun "you" instead of Japanese second-person words. His speech is also unique in terms of pronunciation. In both English and Japanese he tends to elongate vowel sounds, especially near the end of a sentence.

Pegasus quickly establishes himself as the manga's fourth main antagonist (and the second anime adaptation's first main antagonist), challenging Yugi to a Shadow Game in order to force him to come to his tournament Duelist Kingdom (決闘者の王国 (デュエリストキングダム), Dyuerisuto Kingudamu) and face him, taking the soul of his grandfather Sugoroku Mutou as a Penalty Game for losing the timed match to ensure this. Throughout the battles to get to Pegasus's castle, Yugi is seen talking to his grandfather through the use of a camcorder. In the second anime, he traps Sugoroku in a Soul Prison Duel Monsters card. Pegasus also kidnaps Mokuba to convince his brother Seto Kaiba to come as well, later capturing their souls as well. Through a series of flashbacks, Pegasus is revealed to have had a lover, Cecelia / Cyndia (シンディア, Shindia), who died after her 17th birthday (she dies after their marriage in the anime). Although the exact details very from medium to medium, his actions were all carried out in the hopes of resurrecting her. He is eventually defeated in a final game of Duel monsters by Yugi and Dark Yugi at the end of the arc, and is obliged to release his victim's souls. He is murdered soon after by Dark Bakura and his millennium item is taken. In the Duel Monsters anime, he isn't killed by Dark Bakura's attack and later makes brief appearances in later seasons.

Mr. Clown (MRクラウン / 御伽父, Misutā Kuraun / Otogi-chichi)

An antagonist exclusive to the manga. He is the owner of the Black Clown (ブラック・クラウン, Burakku Kuraun) game shop across the street from Sugoroku Mutou's Kame Game shop. Long ago, Mr. Otogi asked Sugoroku Muto, a master gamer, to take him in as a disciple. After a while, they challenged each other for the ownership of the Millennium Puzzle in a Shadow Game called the Devil's Board Game. Mr. Otogi, who lost, aged 50 years in a single night as a Penalty Game. Since then he desired revenge through his son Ryuji (known as Duke Devlin in the English anime). In the anime adaption, his character is excluded entirely. He makes an appearance in The Dark Side of Dimensions, a film set in the manga continuity, where he has opened up a cafe with Ryuji to replace of the burnt down Black Clown shop.

In the English Dungeon Dice Monsters video game, he is given the name Sindin the Clown.

Marik Ishtar / Yami Marik (マリク・イシュタール / 闇マリク, Mariku Ishutāru / Yami Mariku)

Voiced by: Tetsuya Iwanaga (adult), Akiko Kimura (child) (Japanese); Taaz Gill/Brian Zimmerman (Odex), Jonathan Todd Ross (4Kids) (English)

The heir to a clan of tombkeepers and the younger brother of Ishizu Ishtar. Marik's hatred of the nameless Pharaoh compels him to disregard his duties and turn to a life of crime, as well as developing a split personality, during his childhood after he underwent the tombkeeper's initiation ritual (which burned a key to the Pharaoh's memory on his back with a hot dagger) and was forever destined for a confined life in the darkness apart from the rest of the world. After breaking one of the laws of their clan, his dark personality emerged and brutally murdered his father (sent him to the Shadow Realm in the English anime); however his adoptive older brother Rishid (known as Odion in the English version of the anime adaptation) managed to seal his dark side away, leaving him with no memory of his actions. He believed that the Pharaoh had his father murdered and became obsessed with killing the Pharaoh to avenge his father and put an end to the suffering of his clan, never knowing about the murder or his other personality. To this end, he created the rare hunters, a gang of thieves who stole and collected rare Duel Monsters cards, and used his millennium item, the Millennium Rod, to manipulate people. Although he was originally innocent and kind as a child, he became very cruel and uncaring; killing his servants when they displeased him and developing a love for torturing people.

Dark Marik eventually is able to reemerge and take control of the normal Marik's body later on in the story and replaces him as the main antagonist. Dark Marik proves to be even more vicious than the original Marik. While the real Marik enjoyed violence and cruelty, he would only use it when he was angry or when it would further his own desires, but his dark side would attack anyone who crossed his path and would prolong their suffering for as long as possible; in the manga and Japanese Duel Monsters anime, he explicitly stated that he liked killing people because it was "fun" and "was the only thing that bought him Happiness". He only cares for his own survival and actively tries to kill the normal Marik so he can have sole possession of their body. He also dislikes Rishid for sealing him away and actively tries to kill him, although he is unable to for a multitude of reasons. While he is connected to the Millennium Rod, Dark Marik differs from Dark Yugi and Dark Bakura in that he is an inhuman entity born from Marik Ishtar's pain and despair and can exist on his own without a host. (He explains that Dark Yugi would cease to exist if Yugi were destroyed, but the normal Marik's destruction wouldn't affect him.) Although not explicitly stated, it is hinted in the manga that he manipulated Marik into committing some of his later crimes, as he told Dark Yugi that he "took away" Marik's guilt for the things he did. Following Marik's surrender against Yugi, Dark Marik is destroyed.

Priest Akhenaden (神官アクナディン, Shinkan Akunadin)

Voiced by: Hitoshi Bifu (#201-212), Kōji Ishii (#213-214) (Japanese); Pete Zarustica (English)

The guardian of the Millennium Eye and the brother of King Ahknemkhanen. As they grew up, he was secretly jealous of his brother's position as pharaoh, considering himself the true power behind the throne. Using the Shadow Alchemy inscribed in the Millennium Spellbook / Millennium Tome (千年魔術書, Sennen Majutsu Sho), he ordered the massacre at the village of Kul Elna, using their blood and melting their corpses into gold so he could create the Millennium Items to defend his brother's kingdom, keeping the slaughter a secret and brainwashing his soldiers in order to keep it that way. To protect his family from anyone seeking revenge, he abandoned his wife and his son, Seto. Seto later entered Pharaoh Atem's court as a priest, but Akhenaden kept their relationship a secret. Seeing how his son had flourished after he abandoned him, Akhenaden's desire became to see Seto achieve power. Through Zorc's influence within his Millennium Eye, he is slowly convinced that he needed to kill the Pharaoh and make a contract with Zorc to become the High Priest of Darkness (闇の大神官, Yami no Daishinkan).

In the manga, Akhenaden's soul is merged with Zorc's and sealed inside the Millennium Puzzle along with Atem, and released during the final arc. His mummy is then used as a second player on Dark Bakura's side of the Shadow RPG, influencing his own playing piece as the game's recreation of the events went on. When Atem wins the game, the mummy's skull is split in half, indicating that Zorc's soul has been vanquished for good. In the second anime series, when Dark Bakura planted a portion of his soul into his Millennium Eye, Akhenaden's mind became corrupted. He would later collected the remaining items he created (in place of Dark Bakura who still uses freeze hourglass awhile) and granted him a power from Zorc by transforming into the High Priest of Darkness (Great Shadow Magus in the English dub). He would later sealed the White Dragon just before he was killed by his own son Seto. As his soul would enter Seto's mind to kill the Pharaoh, this was stopped and killed for good by Kisara in her White Dragon form (Akhenaden was sent to the Shadow Realm afterwards). The purified soul of Akhenaden is later seen alongside his brother on the other side of the door to the afterlife when Atem walks through it.

Zorc Necrophades (大邪神 ゾーク・ネクロファデス, Dai Jashin Zōku Nekurofadesu)

A destroyer of worlds that was born from the darkness in humans' hearts (in the English anime dub, he is the creator of the Shadow Realm). He is summoned by Akhenaden by the power of the Millennium Items and attacks the kingdom, dispatching Atem's advisers. In the Memory World, an RPG-style Shadow Game that Dark Bakura has set up based on ancient Egypt, Zorc is the game's final boss and has three Ba gauges, and if Dark Yugi loses the Shadow RPG, Dark Bakura would gain the ultimate powers of darkness and Zorc would effectively be summoned once again. However, with the help of Yugi and his other dear friends, Atem defeats him and stops him from being resurrected, also freeing Bakura from the Millennium Ring once and for all. Dark Bakura was an entity made of both Zorc and Thief King Bakura's souls, and in the manga there is also an entity made of both Zorc and Priest Akhenaden's souls who calls himself Zorc Necrophades, High Priest of Darkness.

Minor antagonists

Death-T (DEATH-T（死のテーマパーク）, Theme Park of Death)

A deranged theme park created by Seto Kaiba in attempt to kill Yugi Mutou using deadly games, and hiring deadly opponents. These events do not happen in the second series anime.

Laser Tag Assassins

Three professional mercenaries hired by Kaiba. Being offered ¥10,000 each for killing Yugi and his friends in the Shooting Stardust (シューティング・スターダスト, Shūtingu Sutādasuto) game, they were determined and were equipped with guns that fired real lasers that can cause fatal electric shocks, while Yugi and his friends were given toy guns.

Johnny Gale (ジョニー・ゲイル, Jonī Geiru)

A former Green Beret commander, who specialized in guerrilla warfare.

Bob Mcguire (ボブ・マクガイア, Bobu Makugaia)

A former SWAT team leader and specialized in long distance sniping.

Name unknown / Mysterious Assassin (謎のアサシン, Nazo no Asashin)

A former hitman that succeeded in killing of all his targets when he was hired by KaibaCorp.^[6]

Kaiba Manor Butler (manga)/ Daimon (anime) / Hobson (海馬邸執事 / 大門, Kaiba Tei Shitsuji)

Voiced by: Ryūji Saikachi (1998), Jin Nishimura (2000) (Japanese); Ted Lewis (English)

The guide of the Horror Zone in Death T-2. Before the grand opening of Kaiba Land, he welcomed Yugi Mutou and Katsuya Jonouchi to Kaiba Manor. He, along with other servants, greet them and Mokuba when they arrived. Mokuba got him to prepare six meals, including two poisoned ones for his rigged game of Russian Roulette Dinner with Yugi and Jonouchi. When the game backfired and Mokuba was poisoned, the butler came to his aid.

Chopman (チョップマン, Choppuman)

A serial killer that is in one of the traps at Death-T and is exclusive to the manga. One summer, at a camp near Domino Lake, Chopman murdered ten boy scouts who had been staying there, in a single night. He chopped their bodies into unrecognizable pieces. The news of the murders had all of Domino City in fear. The suspect came to be known as "The Chopman", but was not captured and remained at large.^[7]

Mr. Crocketts / Croquet (クロケッツ, Misutā Kurokettsu)

Voiced by: Yoshikazu Nagano (Japanese); Ted Lewis (English)

The right-hand man and butler of Pegasus. In the manga, he is taken hostage by Seto Kaiba, who punches him and holds Crocketts at gunpoint in the guestroom, threatening to snap Crocketts' neck in his briefcase if Pegasus doesn't show himself.

Saruwatari / Kemo (猿渡, Saruwatari)

Voiced by: Masahiro Okazaki (Japanese); Brian Zimmerman (Odex), Eric Stuart (4Kids) (English)

A character who is first shown working for the Kaiba Brothers as one of their private bodyguards during the Death-T arc. In actuality, he was working for Industrial Illusions the whole time, gathering information from within KaibaCorp and giving it to Pegasus. Saruwatari reappears in the Yu-Gi-Oh! R spin-off manga and makes an appearance in the 1999 movie, where he kidnaps unwilling invitees to Kaiba's tournament. Jonouchi stops him from forcing Shougo Aoyama to enter.

Player Killers / Eliminators (プレイヤーキラー, Pureiyā Kirā)

Duelusts hired by Pegasus to challenge the contestants to duels and take their Star Chips, in order to ensure that the gamers on his island do not succeed in making it to the finals of Duelist Kingdom, and therefore making Pegasus the number one duelist in the world fit to be KaibaCorp's new CEO.

Ventriloquist of the Dead (死者の腹話術師, Shisha no Fukuwajutsūshi)

The first Player Killer that Yugi and his friends encounter is the hired by Saruwatari, whose primary job is to defeat Yugi. He controls a puppet that resembles Kaiba and uses his stolen deck. After being defeated, Dark Yugi inflicts the Penalty Game "Puppet Illusion" on him, trapping him in a illusion where a puppet of himself is attacking him.

Ghost Kaiba / Mimic of Doom (死の物真似師, Shinomono Maneshi)

Voiced by: Tony Hirota (Japanese); Eric Stuart (disguise), Wayne Grayson (true form) (English).

An obese shape-shifter hired to defeat Yugi. He replaces the manga's Ventriloquist of the Dead in the Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters anime. Upon defeat, he vanishes after Dark Yugi uses a Mind Crush. In the English dub, he is the evil side of Seto Kaiba's heart that Dark Yugi banished to the Shadow Realm in the first episode.

Player Killer of Darkness / PaniK (「闇」のプレイヤーキラー, "Yami" no Pureiyā Kirā)

Voiced by: Holly Kaneko (Japanese); David Moo (English)

The second Player Killer that the group encounters, who steals Mai's star chips. When Dark Yugi intends to bet his own life to even out stakes in order to win back Mai's star chips, this Player Killer ties a noose around Dark Yugi's neck, threatening to kill him once he wins. Because of this, Dark Yugi turns the duel into a Shadow Game, at one point, claiming he would win in five more turns. During the duel, Dark Yugi showed the Player Killer illusions of the impending Penalty Game, in which the Player Killer was walking up the gallows' stairs each turn closer to the five turn limit Dark Yugi claimed that he would win within. Once the Player Killer loses the Shadow Game, Dark Yugi inflicts the "Darkness of Naraku" Penalty Game on him, where the Player Killer imagines himself being hung from the gallows and galling into the abyss. In the anime, the penalty of the game is changed so that fire is shot at the loser. When the Player Killer attempts to do this to Dark Yugi even after losing, Dark Yugi's magic shields him from harm. He then performs a Mind Crush on the Player Killer. Mai's star chips are then returned to her.

Paradox Brothers (迷宮兄弟, Meikyū Kyōdai)

Voiced by: Takashi Matsuyama (Mei) (Japanese); Brian Zimmerman (Odex), Sam Riegel (Para, #19), Jerry Lobozzo (Para, #20-21) (English)

Voiced by: Hitoshi Nishimura (Kyu) (Japanese); Brian Zimmerman (Odex), Marc Thompson (Dox) (English))

The last set of Player Killers the group meet is within the underground maze of Duelist Kingdom who challenge Yugi and Jonouchi to a tag-battle game, a hybrid of Duel Monsters and a maze game. After losing, the group needed to choose the correct path, or else they would be stuck in the underground labyrinth for eternity. In reality, both doors are correct and the brothers are able to change the correct door at will. Their trickery is outed by Dark Yugi's Labyrinth Coin (迷宮コイン, Meikyū Koin) game, with the aid of Dark Bakura in the manga, and the groups heads on out to the surface.

Ghouls / Rare Hunters (グールズ, Gūruzu)

A group of card thieves that serve Marik, referred to as "Ghouls of the Gaming Underworld" by Dark Yugi and Kaiba. By stealing and selling rare cards from duelists worldwide, the Ghouls provide Marik with a large supply of minions, rare cards and money. Numerous members of the Ghouls are shown, including the unnamed card shop owner and various other unnamed duelists.

Rare Hunters / Seeker (レアハンター, Reahantā)

Voiced by: David Wills

The first Ghoul who was informed by the card shop owner that gave Jonouchi his Duel Disk that Jonouchi owned the rare Red-Eyes Black Dragon. He uses a deck that only focuses on making a complete hand of counterfeit Exodia cards. After Dark Yugi manages to destroy his strategy and therefore win the entire duel, Marik uses his Millennium Rod to take over Rare Hunter's mind to introduce himself to Yugi, presumably killing Rare Hunter after.

Pandora / Arkana (パンドラ, Pandora)

Voiced by: Takehito Koyasu (Japanese); Brian Zimmerman (Odex), Sam Riegel (4Kids) (English)

The second Ghoul, who challenged Dark Yugi to a death game, in which their legs are shackled and buzzsaws threaten to saw off the loser's legs once their life points reach 0 (in the English anime, the loser will be sent to the Shadow Realm). He is defeated by Yugi's Dark Magician Girl and as punishment, Marik probes his mind while he is unconscious to stir memories of the deaths of his mother and lover so that he commits suicide when he wakes up.

Pantomimer / Strings (パントマイマー, Pantomaimā)

The third Ghoul, who first appeared before Bakura, Anzu, and Yugi's grandfather standing stationary in the park. Bakura tries to get his attention, stating in his head that he doesn't feel any life from him, as if he was a doll. He is later used a puppet by Marik to try and kill Yugi before Marik himself arrives in Battle City.

Mask of Light / Lumis (光の仮面, Hikari no Kamen)

Voiced by: Yū Mizushima (Japanese); Brian Zimmerman (Odex), Jimmy Zoppi (English)

The last set of Ghouls who challenge Dark Yugi and Kaiba to a tag-team death game where the loser sets off a bomb near their side of the glass ceiling, falling 13 stories to their death (in the English anime, the loser will be sent to the Shadow Realm). Unbeknownst to Dark Yugi and Kaiba, they are equipped with parachutes.

Mask of Darkness / Umbra (闇の仮面, Yami no Kamen)

Voiced by: Kōji Ishii (Japanese); Chuck Powers (Odex), Matthew Charles (English))

The last set of Ghouls who challenge Dark Yugi and Kaiba to a tag-team death game where the loser sets off a bomb near their side of the glass ceiling, falling 13 stories to their death (in the English anime, the loser will be sent to the Shadow Realm). Unbeknownst to Dark Yugi and Kaiba, they are equipped with parachutes.

Filler antagonists

Gozaburo Kaiba (海馬 剛三郎, Kaiba Gōzaburō)

Voiced by: Unsho Ishizuka (1998), Tetsuo Komura (2002) (Japanese); Chuck Powers (Odex), David Willis (4Kids) (English)

A rich, selfish, cold-hearted, uncaring and power-hungry tyrannical and powerful business man who is the adoptive father of Seto and Mokuba Kaiba. Gozaburo is the original founder and CEO of Kaiba Corporation, which initially began as a successful arms manufacturer, and a world famous chess champion. It was this particular skill that Seto appealed to when Gozaburo visited the orphanage where he and Mokuba were living, as he challenged Gozaburo to a game of chess, with the stakes being the adoption of the two brothers. Seto won by cheating, and Gozaburo adopted Seto and Mokuba, but proved a cruel father, forcing Seto to spend all his time studying in order to groom him as his new heir. Gozaburo's plans backfired, however, when he gave Seto a 2% share of Kaiba Corporation stock as a test, challenging him to pay back ten times the amount within a year. Seto managed to acquire the money within a single day, and together with the board of director, secured majority control of the company stocks, overthrowing Gozaburo and installing himself as the new CEO. Gozaburo commits suicide by defenestration upon being dethroned. In the first anime adaptation, he instead suffers a heart attack. In the Duel Monsters anime adaptation, his story is greatly altered, making him the major antagonist of one of the anime's filler arcs.

Noah Kaiba (海馬 乃亜, Kaiba Noa)

Voiced by: Chisa Yokoyama (Japanese); Taaz Gill (Odex), Andrew Rannells (4Kids) (English)

Gozaburo Kaiba's biological son, and Seto and Mokuba's stepbrother. He kidnaps Yugi and co. and traps them in his Virtual World. As the heir to Kaiba Corporation, Noah's father makes him study heavily in the arts and academic subjects, but unlike Seto Kaiba, Noah enjoys it and is eager to please his father. When Noah is approximately ten years old, he is in a car accident and is fatally injured. In the hope of saving his son, Gozaburo Kaiba uploads Noah's soul onto a supercomputer just before Seto is adopted.

Dartz (ダーツ, Dātsu)

Voiced by: Yū Emao (Japanese); Wayne Grayson (English)

The former King of Atlantis and the head of the organization Paradius. After being forced to kill his wife who had been turned into a monster by the orichalcos, Dartz was himself corrupted, turning his right eye green. Dartz led the forces of the Orichalcos against his father, daughter and the forces of the Dominion of the Beasts, but was defeated. Dartz then spent the next ten thousand years collecting souls to revive the Leviathan, which he felt could be easily revived using the soul of Atem.

Rafael (ラフェール, Rafēru)

Voiced by: Yoshihisa Kawahara (Japanese); Marc Thompson (English)

The strongest of Dartz's henchmen and is the duelist meant to defeat Atem and Yugi Mutou. Rafael once had a family that was killed while on an ocean cruise, leaving him stranded on an island (in the English version, the family was still alive, but have completely forgotten about him). With only his dueling deck to keep him company, Raphael developed a deep bond with them before he was rescued.

Alister / Amelda (アメルダ, Ameruda)

Voiced by: Yukinara Iemura (Japanese); Ted Lewis (English)

Dartz's second henchman. Amelda lived in a town in the middle of a war as a child, leading a resistance group with his brother after their parents disappear (killed in the original). In the English dub, his brother disappeared (killed in the original) after their home town was attacked by soldiers armed by Gozaburo Kaiba, and Alister later sought revenge on his adopted son Seto.

Valon (ヴァロン, Varon)

Voiced by: Takeshi Maeda (Japanese); Marc Thompson (English)

Dartz's third henchman. Abandoned at a young age, Valon was cared for by a nun at a church and protected him from a local street gang. However, when the nun was killed in a fire and the church burned down, Valon assaulted the gang and was sent to juvenile prison (In the English Dub, Valon was sent there for an unspecified crime and the entire event at the church was completely omitted). In the English dub Valon finds and develops feelings for Mai, and seeks to defeat Jonouchi for previously defeating her and destroying her sense of worth as a duelist.

Zigfried von Schroeder / Siegfried von Schroeder (ジークフリード・フォン・シュレイダー, Jīkufurīdo fon Shureidā)

(Voiced by: Eisuke Tsuda (Japanese); Pete Zaraustica (English)

the CEO of Schroeder Corp, a long-time rival to the Kaiba family and Kaiba Corporation. When Siegfried and Seto Kaiba become heads of their respective family companies, both of them attempt to create holographic systems for Duel Monsters. Both succeed, with Siegfried's invention being the Holographic Duel Box Room System, but Kaiba markets and patents his first, leaving Siegfried to fall into ruin. He actively attempted to destroy Kaiba Corp for many years afterwards. After discovering that his younger brother Leon was secretly a successful duelist, he took an interest in him for the first time and manipulated him to use his talents to destroy Kaiba. Siegfried joins the KC Grand Prix to discredit Kaiba and claim revenge. Although Siegfried uses a variety of computer viruses to attempt to destroy Kaiba Corporation's computer systems, Kaiba is able to halt them all and expels Siegfried from the tournament. When his brother faces Yugi in the finals, he further attempts to use him to destroy Kaiba Corp, but once again fails, as his brother didn't want to beat anyone by cheating. After his failure, as he is kneeling on the ground sobbing, Leon approaches his brother and forgives him and promises to help rebuild their family's company and Siegfried embraces him, finally able to have a real relationship with his little brother.

Film antagonists

Anubis (アヌビス, Anubisu)

Voiced by: Kōji Ishii (Japanese); Scottie Ray (English)

The main antagonist of Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie: Pyramid of Light, who was sealed inside the titular artifact. He wants revenge on Yami Yugi and awakens after Yugi Muto solves the Millennium Puzzle. Pharaoh Atem had defeated Anubis a long time ago, yet Anubis reappears to face Yugi Muto. Anubis possesses the cards Andro Sphinx and Sphinx Teleia, which can be merged into Theinen the Great Sphinx. In the Japanese version of the movie, Anubis wants revenge by using the King of Light (Kaiba) to defeat the King of Darkness (Yami Yugi) in order to revive Anubis, the King of Destruction, and then use Kaiba to become the new king and rule the world. However his plan is cut short by Yugi and he is finally killed by Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon.

Paradox (パラドックス, Paradokkusu)

Voiced by: Atsushi Tamura (Japanese); Sean Schemmel (English)

The main antagonist of Yu-Gi-Oh! 3D: Bonds Beyond Time. He is a Turbo Duelist who travels across time and space to destroy the history of Duel Monsters in order to save his own time, but ends up causing more damage to the time-line than expected. He faces Yugi Muto, Jaden Yuki and Yusei Fudo in a duel and is defeated by them, saving their timelines. He also appears in a flashback in Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's.

Aigami (藍神, Aigami)

Voiced by: Kento Hayashi (Japanese); Daniel J. Edwards (English)

The antagonist of Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Dark Side of Dimensions, a film that serves as an epilogue to the manga continuity. Aigami lived in Egypt with his sister, Sera, and with Mani. They were connected to Shadi, as Shadi had played a mentor-like role in their lives. In the Shrine of the Underworld. Shadi taught them about the Millennium Items, that three of the items were prone to evil, three represented justice, and the seventh (the Millennium Puzzle) contained both justice and evil. Shadi considered Aigami to be of the same level as the person who is destined to solve the Millennium Puzzle. Shadi told them that when the seven items are gathered toegther, a door to a better world would be opened and that the three of them could enter that world, because they had been chosen. Aigami was given the Quantum Cube (量子キューブ, Ryōshi Kyūbu) by Shadi before Shadi was killed by Dark Bakura. Using the mystical artifacts's great power, Aigami can transport people to an alternate dimension, where they will gradually dissolve into nothingness or he can use it to erase people directly.

In the present day, he altered the memories of everyone in Domino City, implanting the notion that he was a new student at Domino High School. He plans to kill Seto Kaiba and Yugi Mutou to save the dimension he comes from, and also wants revenge on Ryo Bakura, whom he blamed for Shadi's death.

Recurring characters

Sugoroku Mutou / Solomon Muto (武藤 双六, Mutō Sugoroku)

Voiced by: Takeshi Aono (1998), Tadashi Miyazawa (2000-present) (Japanese); Chuck Powers (Odex), Maddie Blaustein (4Kids), Marc Diraison (4Kids, ep. 199), Wayne Grayson (Movie) (English)

The grandfather of Yugi Muto, who gave him his famous Millennium Puzzle as a present, which he had recovered from the tomb of Pharaoh Atem in his youth. He was once a gaming master who traveled all over the world to try all sorts of games and win them all, vowing that if he ever lost a game, he'd "open up a game shop, wear overalls, and collect years instead of chips". In the present, he's an overall-wearing old man who owns a game shop called Kame Game, where Yugi and his friends get several of the games they play. In the second series anime adaptation, he taught Katsuya Jonouchi how to play the Duel Monsters card game. Similar to his grandson, his fondness for games is evident even in his name: "Sugoroku" is a Japanese game similar to Backgammon. Sugoroku is the reincarnation of Ancient Egyptian vizier, Siamun Muran, right-hand man to the Pharaoh Atem.

Ryuji Otogi / Duke Devlin (御伽 龍児, Otogi Ryūji)

Voiced by: Ryō Naitō (Japanese); Marc Thompson (English)

A talented game inventor and is also the creator of Dungeon Dice Monsters (ダンジョンダイスモンスターズ, Danjon Daisu Monsutāzu) (anime and English manga) or Dragons, Dice, & Dungeons (D·D·D(ドラゴン・ダイス・＆(アンド)ダンジョンズ), Doragon Daisu ando Danjonzu) (Japanese manga). According to his father, Mr. Otogi (or better known as "Mr. Clown"), Ryuji was born and raised as a brilliant games player in order to fulfill his father's revenge on Sugoroku Mutou. Sugoroku had defeated Mr. Otogi in a Shadow Game called the Devil's Board Game, causing him to age 50 years in one night as a Penalty Game. Ryuji was transferred to Domino High School, where Yugi Mutou (Sugoroku's grandson) goes to school. His father used this as an opportunity for Ryuji to defeat Yugi in a series of games and fulfill the family's revenge, taking the Millennium Puzzle for himself.^[2] Unfortunately for Mr. Clown, Ryuji ends up being moved by the games he had with Yugi and cannot bring himself to hate him, ultimately rejecting his father's revenge and eventually joining Yugi's circle of friends. He is somewhat serious and quiet, but also level headed and very intelligent.

In the second anime, the influence of Ryuji's father is omitted entirely and Ryuji's personality is rewritten. Instead, it is explained that Ryuji befriended Pegasus, who became fond of Dungeon Dice Monsters (ダンジョンダイスモンスターズ, Danjon Daisu Monsutāzu)), and wanted to help him market the game. Following his defeat by Yugi, Ryuji's idol is no longer interested in their earlier deal. Angry and bitter, he blames Yugi and believes he cheated in his match against Pegasus. After learning the truth, he befriends Yugi and the others and will often join them on their adventures. Despite his arrogance and being one of the more negative, sarcastic members of the group, he is still fairly smart and level headed. His personality often causes conflict with Honda, especially over Shizuka, who they both have a crush on in the anime.

Shadi (シャーディー, Shādī)

Voiced by: Kaneto Shiozawa (1998), Nozomu Sasaki (2000-2004) (Japanese); Brian Zimmerman/Chuck Powers (Odex), Wayne Grayson (4Kids) (English)

The first Millennium Item wielder to cause trouble for Yugi and his friends in the series. He holds the Millennium Key / Millennium Ankh (千年錠, Sennen Jō), which allowed him to peer into the inner souls of humans and gave him the ability to rearrange their personality as he pleased, and the Millennium Scales (千年秤, Sennen Bakari), which had the power to weigh the evil in a person's heart in the same vein as Anubis' "Weighing of the Heart" trials in Egyptian mythology, using the feather of Ma'at. His origin differs between mediums. In the final story arc, it is revealed that he is a spirit from the afterlife, bound to the Millennium Stone and constantly reincarnating to guard it until the Pharaoh returns. The physical body of his current incarnation was destroyed by Dark Bakura several years ago.

Ishizu Ishtar (イシズ・イシュタール, Ishizu Ishutāru)

Voiced by: Sumi Shimamoto (adult), Sakura Nogawa (child) (Japanese); Alison Lester (Odex), Karen Neill (4Kids) (English)

Marik's elder sister. Ishizu became a museum curator in order to lure Yugi Muto and Seto Kaiba to her in order to keep Marik from fulfilling his goals. To aid her, she holds the Millennium Necklace / Millennium Tauk (千年首飾り, Sennen Tauku) that has the power to foresee events in the near future. Despite her brother's betrayal of their family, she still loves him very much and believes that there is still good in his heart. she continued to seek a way to return him to the person he used to be, even as he became more cruel. She is committed to her family's destiny to serve the pharaoh, as she believes that he is the only one with the power to stop Marik.

Rishid Ishtar / Odion Ishtar (リシド・イシュタール, Rishido Ishutāru)

Voiced by: KONTA (Japanese); Brian Zimmerman (Odex), Michael Alston Baley (4Kids) (English)

Marik's adoptive brother and the second-in-command of the Ghouls. Abandoned as a child, Rishid was taken in by Marik's mother prior to his birth. However, his father never accepted him as a suitable heir and treated him as a servant rather than a son. Despite this, Rishid had always desire to become a true part of the family and an heir to the tombkeeper clan. When Marik was born, his mother told him to take care of his younger brother and Rishid stood by Marik's side, even when he turned to a life of evil. Marik and Rishid were close siblings, but Rishid always harbored a resentment for him as the true heir to the tombkeeper's clan and legitimate son of his parents. When Marik was bitten by a cobra and became ill, their father beat Rishid, furious he allowed Marik to be harmed, and ordered that he not leave Marik's bedside until he recovered. Rishid takes a dagger to Marik's room with the intent to kill him in his sleep (this is edited out in the dub, along with Rishid's resentment for Marik). Marik awakens and murmurs "brother", causing Rishid to drop the weapon in shock: Marik sees Rishid as his brother, despite the fact they are not blood related. When Marik admitted that he was terrified of being forced to take the initiation ritual, he tried unsuccessfully to stop their father from forcing it on him. When that failed, he scarred his own face with a dagger in order to share the pain and prove his loyalty to their family. When Marik unknowingly developed his dark split personality, Rishid was the only one who could restrain Dark Marik and protected Marik from ever knowing about the existence of his dark side and the crimes it had committed. Once, after he helped Marik and Ishizu sneak outside, his father attempted to kill him for betraying them. When Marik returned and witnessed this, his anger allowed Dark Marik to take over and murder his father (or send him to the Shadow Realm, in the English anime) but Rishid was still alive and was able to calm Marik down and make his dark side disappear again, lying to him that Shadi (who appeared afterwards) had killed him under orders from the Pharaoh to protect him from the truth.

Mai Kujaku / Mai Valentine (孔雀 舞, Kujaku Mai)

Voiced by: Haruhi Terada (Japanese); Alison Lester (Odex), Megan Hollingshead (4Kids, eps. 2-144), Bella Hudson (4Kids, eps. 145-181), Kathleen Delaney (4Kids, uncut) (English)

An attractive woman who spent most of her life alone. While working as a blackjack dealer on a cruise ship, she developed a cynical attitude towards people and showed no shame in manipulating men, who displayed foolish infatuation towards her and previously used her "Aroma Tactics" to easily beat them in card games. Although she made a lot of money doing this, it caused her to hate people more until she got sick of her job and quit. She became a powerful, successful duelist thanks to her Harpie-themed deck. However, Mai had no true friends, and dueled simply for pride and monetary gain, but also entered the Duelist Kingdom tournament to find the things she used to cherish. When Mai joins the Duelist Kingdom tournament to seek the prize money, she meets Yugi Mutou and his friends and steadily forges a true friendship with them after they rescue her Star Chips from the Player Killer of Darkness to help her stay in the tournament. Mai subsequently faces Yugi in the semi-finals, but ultimately chooses to surrender to him when she decides she could not win, telling him that some losses only serve to make people stronger. In the second anime, she was raised in a wealthy household, but was barely acknowledged by her relatives.

In the 4Kids version, Mai's past as a blackjack dealer was omitted and both she and her Harpie Ladies' appearance were censored to remove sexual references. Her 4Kids name is a reference to "my valentine".

Shizuka Kawai / Serenity Wheeler (川井 静香, Kawai Shizuka) / ;Shizuka Jōnouchi (城之内 静香, Jōnouchi Shizuka)^[8]

Voiced by: Michiko Neya (1998), Mika Sakenobe (2000-2004) (Japanese); Alison Lester (Odex), Lisa Ortiz (4Kids) (English)

The little sister of Katsuya Jonouchi, separated from him when their parents divorced and her mother took custody of her. When Shizuka was diagnosed with the steady onset of blindness, Jonouchi entered the Duelist Kingdom tournament and successfully obtained the prize money to secure the operation that would save her eyesight.

Rebecca Hawkins / Rebecca Hopkins (レベッカ・ホプキンス, Rebekka Hopukinsu)

Voiced by: Kaori Tagami (Japanese); Alison Lester (Odex), Kerry Williams (4Kids) (English)

A character created exclusively for Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters. She is the bratty 8-year-old (12 in the Japanese version) granddaughter of a friend of Sugoroku Mutou, believing Sugoroku stole the Blue-Eyes White Dragon card from him. Dueling Sugoroku's grandson Yugi to get it back, Rebecca and Yugi play a game identical to the one Sugoroku played with Rebecca's grandfather years ago. After Yugi surrenders, Sugoroku explains that Seto Kaiba tore her Blue-Eyes White Dragon in half after beating him in a duel. After learning the truth, Rebecca apologizes to Sugoroku for thinking he tore it instead. Yugi then hands Rebecca the "Ties of Friendship" card that he won at Duelist Kingdom as a token of his acceptance of her forgiveness for her foolishness. She later appears as one of the contestants for the KC Grand Prix. By this time, she has given up the teddy bear she carried around with her, in addition to growing out her hair and getting glasses. She is also shown to be quite intelligent, as she has already enrolled in college, but is still immature and self-centered. She has been shown to have a large, undisguised crush on Yugi, as shown by how she always wants to hold his hand and calls him her 'darling', which often makes Anzu unhappy, although the two are still good friends regardless.

Millennium World

During the Millennium World story arc, Dark Yugi journeys into his lost memories and meets old acquaintances from Ancient Egypt as NPCs (non player characters) within Dark Bakura's ultimate tabletop role-playing game, the Shadow RPG (闇のＲ・Ｐ・Ｇ, Yami no Ā Pī Jī), a campaign based on the past. The Six High Priests (六神官, Roku Shinkan) protect the seven Millennium Items with their lives and have to swear eternal loyalty to the Pharaoh, Atem (serving as the player character of Dark Yugi, Atem's spirit in modern times). In the age where Shadow Games were used to determine a person's fate, these Priests used the Millennium Items and sorcery to pull out and seal human souls (Ka), which take the form of Monsters Spirits, into stone slabs to do battle; usually from criminals and those who pilfer from the tombs of the Pharaohs. Within the RPG, each characters' health and magic were represented by their Ba Gauge.

Priest Seto (神官セト, Shinkan Seto)

Voiced by: Kenjirō Tsuda (adult), Kiyomi Yazawa (child) (Japanese); Eric Stuart (English)

One of the seven High Priests that guard the Millennium Items and is the holder of the Millennium Rod, Seto is both Atem's cousin and a past life of Seto Kaiba. While he possesses Kaiba's basic attitude, Seto bear a great loyalty and friendship to Atem. Before the Battle City arc, a tablet showing Priest Seto fighting Pharaoh Atem was on display at the Domino City Museum, with Blue-Eyes White Dragon fighting against the Pharaoh's Dark Magician. During Battle City, Kaiba continuously has vivid visions of his past life as Seto. Priest Seto appears as an NPC in the Shadow RPG, aligned to Yami Yugi's side of the board.

Priest Mahado / Mahad (神官マハード, Shinkan Mahādo)

Voiced by: Kazunari Kojima (adult), Kenji Iwama (child) (Japanese); Michael Sinterniklaas (English)

A loyal High Priest of Pharaoh Atem's court and appears as an NPC within Dark Bakura's Shadow RPG, the previous of the Millennium Ring before losing it to Thief King Bakura in a Shadow Game. He states that he had sensed an evil intelligence within the Millennium Ring, which it absorbed from the previous priest who wore it. His Monster Spirit Ka is Illusion Magician / Magus of Illusion (幻想の魔術師, Gensō no Majutsushi), later merging with it become Atem's ace monster Dark Magician.

Priest Isis (神官アイシス, Shinkan Aishisu)

Voiced by: Sumi Shimamoto (Japanese); Karen Neill (English)

A loyal priestess that serves Pharaoh Atem in Ancient Egypt and wields the Millennium Necklace, Isis is revealed to be Ishizu Ishtar's previous life. She is named after the Egyptian goddess Isis.

Priest Karim (神官カリム, Shinkan Karimu)

Voiced by: Masahito Kawanago (Japanese); Sean Schemmel (English)

One of the six High Priests that served under Pharaoh Atem in Ancient Egypt 3,000 years ago during his reign (5,000 years ago in the English anime), and was the owner of the Millennium Scales at the time. He appears as an NPC aligned with Yami Yugi in the Shadow RPG.

Priest Shada (神官シャダ, Shinkan Shada)

Voiced by: Nozomu Sasaki (Japanese); Michael Alston Baley (English)

One of the six priests that guarded Pharaoh Atem 3,000 years ago and appears as an NPC in the Shadow RPG. He is the keeper of the Millennium Key during Atem's reign. He appears to have a friendship with Priest Seto, and although he was relunctant, Shada aided Seto in his criminal hunt for Monster Spirit Ka with his Millennium Key. He later dies after pushing Atem out of the way of a lightning bolt caused by Zorc Necrophades, having his Ba Gauge wiped out (in the English version of the second anime, he is sent to the Shadow Realm). After his death, Siamun, his predecessor, took back the Millennium Key in order to call forth Exodia the Forbidden One. Although he is the wielder of the Millennium Key and has a similar name to Shadi, the two are not related in any way.

Siamun Muran / Shimon (シモン・ムーラン, Shimon Mūran)

Voiced by: Tadashi Miyazawa (Japanese); Maddie Blaustein (English)

A vizier of Pharaoh Atem. He resembles Yugi's modern day grandpa, Sugoroku Mutou. He was originally one of the Pharaoh Akhenamkhanen's original guardians and was the former keeper of the Millennium Key, the predecessor to Shada.

Mana (マナ, Mana)

Voiced by: Yuki Nakao (Japanese); Bella Hudson (English)

A childhood friend of Atem and studies magic under Mahad as his apprentice. She is a light-hearted, open, playful and caring girl, who shares a deep bond between her master and Atem. The anime shows all three were childhood friends. She appears in the Millennium World arc as an NPC during Dark Bakura's Shadow RPG game. Her Ka is the Dark Magician Girl. In the second anime, she can see Atem's friends from the present and initially mistakes Yugi for Atem.

Kisara (キサラ, Kisara)

Voiced by: Rie Nakagawa (Japanese); Carrie Keranen^[5] (English)

The keeper of the Blue Eyes White Dragon Monster Spirit in the Millennium World arc. Her pale appearance is unusual, and she is mentioned as being from a "foreign country" in the Japanese anime. In the second series anime adaptation, it's stated that as children, Priest Seto saved Kisara from slave traders, and she repaid him by unconsciously releasing her inner dragon spirit after the traders set fire to his village and killed his mother. Years later (their first meeting in the manga), Seto again stumbles across Kisara being stoned because of her pale white skin, deep blue eyes and snow white hair. Shada senses the immeasurably strong strength and power within her — which he deems "equal to that of the [Egyptian] Gods" — and Seto takes her back to the palace, where he recognizes her as the girl he once saved some years ago. Kazuki Takahashi has said that he originally planned for the story to have much further explored the strong romantic relationship between Seto and Kisara, but in order to meet a deadline these details had to be cut. According to Takahashi, Priest Seto's strong romantic feelings for Kisara are the main basis behind Kaiba's modern-day unusually strong obsession with the Blue-Eyes White Dragon card.^[9]

Bobasa (ボバサ, Bobasa)

Voiced by: Yū Mizushima (Japanese); Sean Schemmel (English)

In the manga, he is a member of an Egyptian tombkeeper clan that protects the Millennium Items under the command of Shadi. He has Shadi's Millennium Scale as well as his Millennium Key. Bobasa protects the items by placing them on his abnormally-shaped chest and locking his clothes. He then swallows the key, and is able to regurgitate it at will. He accompanied Yugi and his friends into the Millennium Puzzle's maze, a continuation of the Labyrinth Treasure Hunt from the early manga, in order to find the true door to the king's memory. He later enters the Memory World with Yugi and his friends and becomes an NPC in the Shadow RPG. In the manga, it is revealed that he is actually Hasan, which in turn, means that he is actually Shadi.

In the Duel Monsters anime version, his role and character are completely altered. Bobasa appears as a comic relief NPC that inhabits the Shadow RPG. He is a key switch that can lead the player to where the Pharaoh's name is if the player gives him enough food to eat. It is never fully explained to who and what he actually is, but it's implied that he could have been a genie or some other supernatural entity because he said that now that he's full, he can "grant your wish." When he finally took them to the Pharaoh's tomb, he vanished and seemed to know a lot more about the situation then he was first implied to. Unlike the manga, Bobasa is not an alternate identity of Shadi.

Other characters

Ushio (牛尾)

(Voiced by: Ryuzaburo Otomo (1998), Yūji Kishi (2000) (Japanese); Dan Green (English))

A hall monitor at Domino High School who offers a paid bully protection service to Yugi after he is bullied by Jonouchi and Honda. Although Yugi refuses, denying that he has been bullied, Ushio beats up Jonouchi and Honda and demands that Yugi pay him a fee of 20,000 yen. Ushio ends up being the first victim of Dark Yugi's Shadow Games, suffering a Penalty Gamed upon defeat that causes him to become insane, thinking that garbage and leaves are money.

ZTV Director (ＺＴＶディレクター, Zetto Tī Vi direkutā)

A minor villain exclusive to the original manga, appearing in the second chapter.^[10]

Tomoya Hanasaki (花咲 友也, Hanasaki Tomoya)

A friend of Yugi in the early chapters of the manga, and does not appear in either anime series. He becomes friends with Yugi after Dark Yugi defeats Sozoji, who until that point was bullying him, in a Shadow Game. Tomoya is obsessed with the American superhero, Zombire (ゾンバイア, Zonbaia). Before the start of the series, Hanasaki spent some time in hospital. When his father comes to visit, he gave Tomoya a Zombire figure, telling him that this is Zombire and he is the strongest hero in America. Holding the figure, Hanasaki saays he feels stronger too. His father is delighted to hear this and promised to bring him more Zombire toys and figures every time he came home from America.^[11]

Sozoji (騒象寺, Sōzōji)

A karaoke player who tries to get people to listen to his horrid singing. He is a minor villain exclusive to the original manga. Sozoji forced Yugi and Tomoya Hanasaki to sell tickets to his All Night Solo Live Show. When Yugi discovers that Hanasaki has also asked to sell tickets, Yugi offers to take charge of selling all the tickets so only one of them would have to suffer. Sozoji discovers the exchange and beats-up Hanasaki. Yugi arrives at the show, not having sold any tickets. Sozoji then forces Yugi to listen to his music at a deafening volume and brings out Hanasaki, who was badly beaten, as the audience for the next act.

Prisoner Number 777 (囚人ナンバー７７７, Shūjin nanbā 777)

Voiced by: Mahito Ōba

A convict who escaped from Domino City Jail with a stolen handgun after killing a guard. In the first series anime, he is called Jiro the Spider (女郎蜘蛛のジロウ, Jorōgumo no Jirō) and is actually the manager of the Burger World restaurant (differing in appearance with his manga counterpart), framing Tetsu Sasaki.

Tetsuo Sasaki (ササキテツオ, Sasaki Tetsuo)

Voiced by: Nobuyuki Hiyama

A character from the 1998 anime and acommon thief who resembles the manga's Prisoner Number 777. He is framed by Jiro the Spider for killing a guard with a stolen handgun.

Kokurano (孤蔵野, Kokurano)

Voiced by: Shigeru Chiba

A character that appears in the manga and 1998 anime. He is a self-proclaimed psychic in Class 1-A of Domino High School. Kokurano predicted a fellow student's house would catch fire. The prediction came true 3 weeks later, causing Kokurano to become famous at school. In actuality, Kokurano himself had set the student's house on fire. In the first anime, Kokurano has a slight dislike for Miho Nosaka because she will not get a prediction from him, for, in his words, she "mocks life with her complete innocence".

Goro Inogashira (猪頭 吾郎, Inogashira Gorō)

A minor villain exclusive to the original manga. He was the senior class D festival committee president of Domino City High.

Miho Nosaka (野坂 ミホ, Nosaka Miho)

A classmate of Yugi and his friends, the shy student librarian of the school, nicknamed "Ribbon" for the yellow ribbon she wears in her hair. She has only a small role in the original manga, where Hiroto Honda has a crush on her and attempts to pass a love note to her in the form of a jigsaw puzzle. The puzzle is intercepted by the evil wicked teacher Miss Chono, but her attempts to embarrass Honda are foiled by Dark Yugi. Unfortunately, when Honda asks Miho out directly, she turns him down flat. Despite this, Honda becomes friends with Yugi, eventually joining the group.

Ms. Chono (蝶野先生, Chōno-sensei)

Voiced by: Masako Katsuki

An evil teacher, and a mean and nasty villain from the manga and first series anime. She is known as the "Expelling Witch" (退学魔女, Taigaku Majo), since she expelled fifteen students over the course of six months, thus earning her the nickname. Her beautiful appearance is due to the immensely thick layer of make-up she wears, which covers her true, ugly face. She also enjoys dating, but the part she likes the best was to dump the men to see them cry and she actually considers it to be a hobby.

Junky Scorpion Owner (ジャンキースコーピオンのオーナー, Jankī Sukōpion no Ōnā)

A minor villain exclusive to the manga. He was a character who tried to con Jonouchi out of a pair of Air Muscle shoes he bought. After Yugi Mutou found out about the owner's con, he changed to Dark Yugi and confronted the owner. The owner did not want Yugi to leave the store, knowing his secret, so he hid his scorpion in one of the shoes as he gave it back, hoping to poison Dark Yugi.

Hirutani (蛭谷, Hirutani)

Voiced by: Shin Aomori

A leader of a gang of extortion committing teenage thugs from Rintama High School and an old associate of Jonouchi. During middle school, Hirutani hung out with Katsuya Jonouchi as part of a gang, who would spend their time picking fights with gangs from other schools, even high schools. After middle school, Hirutani went to Rintama High School, while Jonouchi went to Domino High School.^[12]

Kanakura (金倉, Kanakura)

The curator of Domino City Museum, who exhibited the Millennium Puzzle after Yugi Muto agrees to let him exhibit it for one day.

Professor Yoshimori (吉森博士, Yoshimori-hakase)

Voiced by: Akio Nojima

A Domino University professor who is into archaeology and a friend of Sugoroku Mutou. Yoshimori has a wife and son, but neglected them in favor of his work.^[13] In the 1998 series, he does not take part in Shadi's Shadow Game, and is instead thrown out of the museum window and hospitalized.

Kujirada (鯨田, Kujirada, known as Beluga in the English DDM video game)

Voiced by: Shōzō Iizuka

A snobby classmate of Yugi's at Domino High School in the manga and 1998 anime. He causes trouble with his aggressive Digital Pet (デジタル・ペット, Dejitaru petto), named Devil Master in the 1998 series. In the 1998 series, Kujirada was bullied and manipulated by Haiyama. After losing to Honda's Digital Pet, Haiyama punishes Kujirada by whipping him. Dark Yugi saves Honda, Miho, and Kujirada by challenging Haiyama to a Digital Pet Shadow Game.

Haiyama (灰山, Hayama)

Voiced by: Daisuke Sakaguchi

Kujirada's bully in the 1998 series.

Dragon 1 / Street Fighter (ストリートファイター, Sutorīto Faitā)

Voiced by: Nobuyuki Hiyama

A boy who beat up Yugi over a losing streak of Virtual VS with both of them using the character of Bruce Ryu (based on their favorite martial artist, Bruce Lee), stealing his Millennium Puzzle. Jonouchi found out what happened afterwards and chased down the street fighter to get back the Puzzle.

Johji (ジョージ, Jōji)

A manga-exclusive character, who is Honda's baby nephew, the son of his big sister.^[6] A big fan of Seto Kaiba, he forces Honda to take him to the opening of Kaiba, where Honda witnesses Yugi's grandfather being dealt an artificial Penalty Game by Kaiba and decides to accompany Yugi in Kaiba's Death-T challenge. Johji is recognizable for wearing a duck costume. The baby, an admirer of Kaiba, is lecherous towards Anzu and other females which is played for comedy relief, and spews curse words at times. He calls Honda by his given name, Hiroto, and seems to dislike him and his male friends. He accompanies the group during the Death-T arc and actually proves to be somewhat helpful in a couple of Kaiba's deadly attractions, if not a bit treacherous and a burden.

Tsuruoka (鶴岡, Tsuruoka)

The guidance counselor of Domino High School and a minor villain exclusive to the manga. He tends to abuse his position as a teacher to be unfair to the students. Tsuruoka mocked the low achievement test grades of Yugi, Jonouchi, and Honda to their peers as punishment for playing the Achievement Test Bingo Game while having low test scores. Tsuruoka then snatched the Lovely Two (ラブリー二号, Raburī Ni-gō) keychain Anzu had given to Yugi as a gift, from Yugi's pocket, citing that students are not allowed to bring games to school.

ZTV Producer (ＺＴＶプロデューサー, Zetto Tī Vi Purodyūsā)

A selfish corrupt executive of the television studio, ZTV. He takes advantage of underprivileged people to boost ratings and cheats his way out of giving away prize money. He was a producer of the TV game show, 100 Million Yen!! Game Get Show (１００万円！！ゲームＤＥゲット・ショー, Hyaku Man-en! Gēmu DE Getto shō, Get a Million Yen Show). He was pleased to find out that Katsuya Jonouchi, who was poor and trying to pay off his father's gambling debts, would be on the show. He thought that the audience would love to see a poor person struggling, and would love it even more to see him fail at the last minute. He and a technician tried to rig the final stage of the game, to prevent Jonouchi winning the prize money. This was to be done by pressing a button, which would prevent the wheel in the final game from stopping on the ¥1,000,000 section. The button was colored red to distinguish it from the other buttons on the switchboard. Dark Yugi's attempt to punish him ends up backfiring and Jonouchi didn't get the prize money regardless.

Koji Nagumo (名蜘蛛 コージ, Nagumo Kōji)

Voiced by: Shin Tomita (Japanese); Matthew Charles (English)

A minor villain first appearing in the original manga. In the manga, Nagumo asks Yugi to play Monster Fighter (モンスター・ファイター, Monsutā Faitā) with him while at Domino High School. While playing, Nagumo hits Yugi and takes his gun and monster, Alti. Nagumo tries selling Alti and other Monster Fighter figures and guns he's collected for ¥30,000 each. Dark Yugi comes into his store and fights Nagumo and his Wild Spider with Katsuya Jonocuhi's monster, Killer Emaada (which the normal Yugi had asked to borrow before handing control over to Dark Yugi). As the game was a Shadow Game, Nagumo's face was cracked in the first set, which went to Dark Yugi; the Shadow Game dictated that the players, instead of the monsters, get damaged in the game. In the second set, Nagumo cheats by kicking Dark Yugi in the side. Enraged, Dark Yugi raised the Shadow Game's mode to "level three". When Nagumo tries to cheat again, his legs are held down by all of the monsters, including his own, and Nagumo saw, to his horror, the monster on his field was his own soul, composed of the Wild Spider's body, but his own face. Dark Yugi then dealt the death blow, piercing the representation of Nagumo's soul, purging it of the darkness.^[14][14] He also competes in the Battle City tournament, but his time in the tournament is short as he is decimated by Kaiba's God Card.

Playing Card Bomber (English manga) / Continuous Bomber (連続爆弾魔, Renzoku Bakudanma) (1998 anime) / Trump Bomber (トランプ爆弾魔, Toranpu Bakudan Ma) (Japanese manga)

Voiced by: Ryūsei Nakao

A nickname for a man who sets off a string of bombs in Domino. The bomber's third attack at the Domino Mall kills eight people. His fourth bomb threat puts Anzu's life in danger. In the manga, Dark Yugi saves her life by playing Clock Solitaire (時計（クロック）カード・ゲーム, Kurokku kādo gēmu)^[15] without getting four threes. Afterwards, Dark Yugi reveals where the bomber was to the chief of police, leading to his arrest.^[16]

Imori Hajime (井守 はじめ, Hajime Imori)

Voiced by: Megumi Urawa

A student at Domino High School. Withdrawn and somewhat shy, Imori is then revealed to be anti-social and selfishly vindicated (akin to being Yugi's own evil counterpart), eventually uncovering the secrets of Yugi's Millennium Puzzle. He decides to usurp Yugi Muto from his position of the "guardian of darkness" by challenging Yugi to a game of Dragon Cards (龍札（ドラゴン・カード）, Doragon Kādo), a forbidden Chinese Shadow Game, which his grandfather found while in Manchuria in World War II.

Nezumi (根津見, Nezumi)

A boy with buckteeth that uses a sob story about him getting hit by yo-yos in a robbery to lure Yugi and Jonouchi to Hirutani. Nezumi tells Jonouchi that three gang members ambushed him, beat him up, and stole his yo-yo. Out of anger, Jonouchi asks Nezumi to lead him to the gangsters. Yugi and Jonouchi travel to Hirutani's abandoned warehouse, where scores of gang members ambush the two boys. Nezumi runs away when Yugi and Jonouchi manage to defeat the gang members. He only appears in the manga.

Mr. Karita (刈田先生, Karita-sensei)

Voiced by: Masato Hirano

A P.E. teacher who harasses Ryo Bakura on his first day at Domino High School. Karita saw him walking through the hallways with an (unwanted) group of girls. He angrily pulled Bakura aside and recognized him as the new student, who has caused problems in his last school. Insistent on disciplining him, he yelled at Bakura that this school has rules and seized him by the hair, saying that boys with long hair is against the rules. He ordered Bakura to have his hair shaved for the next day if he wants to be treated as a student, and walked off laughing.^[17]

Insector Haga / Weevil Underwood (インセクター羽蛾, Insekutā Haga)

Voiced by: Urara Takano (Japanese); Brian Zimmerman (Odex), Jimmy Zoppi (4Kids) (English)

The Japanese champion of Duel Monsters, known for his deck of mainly insect-type monsters and insect-related magic and trap cards. Haga is not above cheating to ensure his strategies work; he befriended Yugi only to throw his Exodia cards into the oceans and put a Paracitic Insect card in Jonouchi's deck to ensure his Insect Barrier would work.

Dinosaur Ryuzaki / Rex Raptor (ダイナソウ竜崎, Dainasō Ryūzaki)

Voiced by: Kin Fujii (2000-2001), Yuichi Nakamura (2002-2004) (Japanese); Brian Zimmerman/Christian J. Lee (Odex), Sam Regal (4Kids, eps. 1-144), Sebastian Arcelus (4Kids, eps. 145-187), Anthony Salerno (4Kids, eps. 188-224) (English)

The runner-up of the Japanese Duel Monsters tournament, and seems to be acquainted with the champion, Insector Haga. His nickname is derived from his fondness for dinosaur-themed deck of cards. However, Ryuzaki is defeated by Jonouchi in the Duelist Kingdom tournament and has his Red-Eyes Black Dragon, a card that would become a trademark for Jonouchi, taken as a result of a gamble. Rex makes a brief reappearance in the Battle City arc, having been defeated by the pseudo psychic, Espa Roba, warning Jonouchi not to duel him.

Ryota Kajiki / Mako Tsunami (梶木 漁太, Kajiki Ryōta)

Voiced by: Daisuke Namikawa (Japanese); Dwayne Tan (Odex), Andrew Rannells (4Kids) (English)

An ocean-themed duelist appearing both in the Duelist Kingdom and Battle City arcs. Introduced in the Duelist Kingdom arc, he duels Dark Yugi and is defeated. In Battle City, he duels Katsuya Jonouchi, and his backstory is further expanded. It is revealed that Ryota's father was a great fisherman that was lost at sea. Ryota Kajiki is the first opponent of Dark Yugi who challenges him game with no ill intentions. In the English anime, Mako Tsunami believes his father is alive and duels to raise money to fund a trip to search for him; in the manga and Japanese second anime, Ryota Kajiki duels in his father's memory. Jonouchi defeats Ryota in their duel. Then Ryota gives Jonouchi two of his cards, Floating Whale Fortress and The Legendary Fisherman, a card which resembles his deceased father.

Keith Howard (キース・ハワード, Kīsu Hawādo)

Voiced by: Hajime Komada (Japanese); Brian Zimmerman/Christian J. Lee (Odex), Ted Lewis (4Kids) (English)

Nicknamed as Bandit Keith, is an American Duel Monsters champion and a "Card Professor", hunting big prizes at tournaments.^[18] Keith first appears as one of many entries in the Duelist Kingdom arc of the anime/manga. In flashbacks, it is revealed that he was once the champion of Duel Monsters in America, until he dueled Pegasus at the American Championship tournament (taking place some time before the Death-T arc of the manga). Keith, shocked and humiliated at being defeated, became depressed over the defeat and seeks to defeat Pegasus and reclaim his lost glory. It's through Pegasus' match with Keith that Kaiba found out about Pegasus' ability to read minds. After he cheats in his duel against Jonouchi in the Duelist Kingdom semi-finals, Pegasus inflicts the "Hand and Gun" Penalty Game on him, turning his hand into a gun and forcing him to play Russian Roulette, effectively killing Keith. In the anime, Pegasus instead sends him through a trap door into the ocean. He survives when he is picked up by Marik Ishtar's ship, with Marik then controlling his mind and using him in his first attempt to defeat Yugi and take the Millennium Puzzle.

Ghost Kozuka / Bonz (ゴースト骨塚, Gōsuto Kotsuzuka)

Voiced by: Masami Suzuki (Japanese); Chuck Powers (Odex), Amy Birnbaum (4Kids) (English)

A contestant in Duelist Kingdom who worked for Bandit Keith. Keith was responsible for giving Kozuka some cards to enhance his zombie deck in order to duel Jonouchi in Duelist Kingdom's caverns, which housed the corpses of World War II troops. Ultimately, Kozuka loses to Jonouchi. Following this loss, after sealing Yugi and his friends in a cave, he has his Star Chips stolen by Bandit Keith and presumably is sent off the island. He returns during Battle City later in the story, but is defeated and presumably killed by Dark Bakura in a Shadow Game (Kozuka is sent to Hell by Dark Bakura in Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters).

Step Johnny / Johnny Steps (ステップ・ジョニー, Suteppu Jonī)

Voiced by: Hideki Konda (Japanese); Matthew Charles (English)

A dancer, who challenged Anzu to a game of Super Dancer (スーパ・ダンサー, Sūpa Dansā), similar to Dance Dance Revolution, during her "date" with Dark Yugi. In the manga, Johnny challenged Anzu to the dance battle game. Although Dark Yugi told Anzu that this gamer isn't worth her time, she refused to back down from a challenge and went up against Johnny. Johnny said he'd go easy on her because she's hot, and said she'd have to go on a date with him if he loses. Anzu refuses, but plays anyway and defeats him. In the Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters anime, this story is expanded by having Johnny insist on going on a date with him after the encounter in the arcade, ending up in a Duel Monsters duel with Dark Yugi.

Esper Roba / Espa Roba (エスパー絽場, Esupā Roba)

Voiced by: Maiko Itō (Japanese); Sebastian Arcelus (English)

One of the contestants in Battle City who claimed to have ESP. In reality, he is a fraud who uses his younger brothers to spy on and reply back to him the cards in his opponent's hand, thus allowing him to 'predict' the opponent's strategies almost before they perform them. The psychic front was to build an impression of an unbeatable duelist and thus deflect any abuse usually heaped upon Esper Roba and his brothers; they were heavily bullied due to being carnival folk before. Despite his cheating ways, he is a strong duelist. However, Jonouchi manages to beat him, receiving his best card as an ante, Jinzo / Artificial Human Psycho Shocker (人造人間－サイコ・ショッカー, Jinzō Ningen Saiko Shokkā).

Ahmet (アメット, Ametto)

one of the two men hired to help Sugoroku Mutou through the Pharaoh's tomb, the Shrine of the Shadow Games, back in the early 1960s. In the tomb, Sugoroku soon realized that the traps were like a game. Multiple statues armed with swords slide by on the high catwalk. To cross, a person needed to walk across left footed, and if they ran on both legs, the statues would kill them. Unfortunately, the two brothers were right footed. Ahmet makes it to safety, while his brother panicked and started running. The statues soon stabbed his brother with their swords, causing him to fall to his death (in the English dub, he fell into a Shadow Pit and became trapped in the Shadow Realm). Ahmet pulled a gun on Sugoroku, blaming him for his brother's death, and threatened to shoot if they didn't continue. They soon made it to the treasure, where only those of courageous hearts may pass. Ahmet shoots Sugoroku, causing him to fall and grab onto one of the catwalk's ledges. Ahmet walked over to the Millennium Puzzle, but proved to have a heart of a coward, and a monster appeared and devoured him alive as a Penalty Game.

Mushara (マッシャーラー, Musshārā)

one of the two men hired to help Sugoroku Mutou through the Pharaoh's tomb, the Shrine of the Shadow Games, back in the early 1960s. In the tomb, Sugoroku realized that the traps were like a game. Multiple statues armed with swords slide by on the high catwalk. To cross, a person needed to walk across left footed, and if they if ran on both legs the statues would kill them. Unfortunately, the two brothers are right footed. His brother Ahmet makes it to safety, but Mushara panicked and started running. The statues stabbed Mushara with their swords, causing him to fall to his death. In the English dub, he fell into a Shadow Pit and became trapped in the Shadow Realm.

Shogo Aoyama (青山 翔吾, Aoyama Shōgo)

Voiced by: Eiko Yamada

A character who appears in the 1999 movie as one of the main protagonists. He was a boy who didn't play games with his friends because he was afraid of losing, and was regularly bullied by a group of three boys. One day, at a card shop, he opens a card pack containing the rare "Red-Eyes Black Dragon" card. However, he is too timid to pull a winning streak, and once he gets the Red-Eyes, he resorts to simply intimidating people with it so they will not duel him.

Arthur Hawkins / Arthur Hopkins (アーサー・ホプキンス, Āsā Hopukinsu)

Voiced by: Saburo Kodaka (Japanese); Chuck Powers (Odex), Mike Pollock (4Kids) (English)

A character that only appears in Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters and the grandfather of Rebecca Hawkins. He appears to be based on Sugoroku's American gaming friend that gave him the Blue-Eyes White Dragon card, who only appears in a photo and is unnamed in the original manga.

Leon von Schroeder / Leonhart von Schroeder (レオンハルト・フォン・シュレイダー, Reonharuto fon Shureidā)

Voiced by: Seiko Noguchi (Japanese); Andrew Rannells (English)

A character created exclusively for the KC Grand Champion filler arc of Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters. He is Siegfried von Schroeder's younger brother. While Siegfried ran Schroeder Corporation, Leonhart took up Duel Monsters and dueled in several tournaments under the alias of Leon Wilson (レオン・ウィルソン, Reon Wiruson) to avoid his family.

References

External links

• Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters cast (遊 戯 王 声 優 情 報) (in Japanese)
• Yu-Gi-Oh! characters
• List of Yu-Gi-Oh! characters