Mirror Mirror: An analysis of Johan Andersen as a reflection for Yuuki Juudai and Yubel

[heleentje]

Mirror Mirror:

An analysis of Johan Andersen as a reflection for Yuuki Juudai and Yubel, and Yubel’s hatred for him

This essay contains unmarked spoilers for all four Yu-Gi-Oh series. For simplicity’s sake, I will be referring to Yubel with female pronouns. Episode numbers are preceded by DM for Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Monsters, GX for Yu-Gi-Oh GX

Comments

[syntheticpoetic]

I think there are some really interesting points here, especially when you also take into account some of the supports you don't mention (Ryo also compares Judai and Johan in their passionate enthusiasm, even suspecting that Johan has 'the same infinite potential' when dueling him in ep...128 is it? And let's not forget how Johan suddenly goes into rigid high-alert whenever Rainbow Dragon is mentioned--he can be downright unsettling once or twice!). This isn't necessarily to say I agree with everything in here, it's just very well argued

[heleentje]

Hee, thank you! There's a lot I didn't get to mention here (I cut a couple of paragraphs from the first draft for being mostly irrelevant - there was a bit about them having similar appearances, but that's dubious at best)

Good point on that. Johan gets... pushy xD He definitely made himself look like far more of a threat than anyone else, whether he realized that or not (I'm inclined to say no, since Johan's first reflex to anyone being in trouble seems to be 'run towards the danger at high speed and disregard my personal safety'). One of the things I cut was whether Juudai noticed the same similarities or not, hence the rapid bonding, but for that to really work, there would have to be a more tangible connection between Johan and Yubel, which we have no evidence for. Not that I don't have several theories on that - I still want an explanation for that 'Have we met before' line.I kind of wish that I would've been able to add in some Greek mythology... I suppose Rainbow Dragon was a messenger and a harbinger of war, in a sense, but

[syntheticpoetic]

Ahaha, I know exactly how that is. They actually do use the exact same facial lines--you can lay profile shots of them over each other and the only line changes are the eye and hair shapes--but even then, it's hard to say if that's intentional or just Art Crew Of The Day + Generic Anime Face Syndrome

[heleentje]

(ack, late reply, sorry. Busy weekend) Yeah, I noticed that bit, but then again, Ryou has the same hairstyle as Yubel, so I wasn't sure either whether it was intentional or Only Six Faces. Heck, even Bruno has very similar facial structure to the two of them. And I absolutely do not have about three concurrent crack theories running about that, whatever made you think so?Mmm, even with it being Juudai it still seems too fast to me? Or too meaningful, perhaps. Though it might be me fixating on the 'have we met before' line. I agree that they were probably intending to go somewhere with Johan, but had to drop the thread. There are a fair amount of things we just never find out about him: does he have human family? Why was he not on the cruise ship? And one thing that always struck me as odd was in 172, where he sees that Juudai's Fusion card is infected by Darkness, even though no one else had been able to see it before. I want to write it off as being related to seeing spirits, but Manjoume didn't see the Darkness in the cards at the

[syntheticpoetic]

I have at least three crack theories about Johan being someone's time-traveling child so you are totally in good company there, huhrI think part of the reason it went so fast with Judai and Johan though is that it's not JUST Judai--Johan is also very enthusiastic and receptive about the idea of friendship. It's simply a case of two very gregarious people with the same set of hobbies and interests meeting and, naturally from that, becoming friends. The 'have we met before' line IS curious, but unfortunately it's just that: one single, isolated line that's never expanded on or brought up again--again, probably because of some dropped plot thread. But because of that obvious dropped thread, it's really hard to say. I'd also question why it is that Johan seems to know so much about everyone. Rewatching S3 recently, it really struck me how often he'll make random or cryptic remarks about things that really, I can't imagine how he would know since no one else seems to. Johan seeing the dark infection in the cards really didn't strike

[heleentje]

Sadly, yeah. There's a lot we just don't find out about him at all. To be honest, the earlier instance just makes it weirder for me: who or what is he if he's used to seeing auras, something we haven't seen often anywhere in YGO? I mean, Juudai can once he gets full access to the whole good Darkness deal, but where does Johan get it from? This is not the point where I dig out my good Light theories. Really.

Ooh, now I really need to find a copy of the Bible. I know we ought to have one somewhere in the house, but we're not exactly the most religious people ever :p Last time I read the entire thing was when I was eleven, because I was bored.

Chinese Mythology: An Introduction by Anne Birrell is a pretty good book, that stays very close to the source material, IMO (though I may be biased because I wrote my bachelor paper on it). The only disadvantages are that it's fairly disjointed at times, since the source material often only involves a sentence or two, and that it may be geared too specifically to sinologists. We only got the

[laughinghyena]

"(Also, any suggestions for info on mythology in the Americas? That's one area of the world where my knowledge is woefully inadequate)"

Looking at syntheticpoetic's reply, I noticed one story that was left out. Since it's famously known locally where I live in California. And it was also used as inspiration for the sculpture sundial memorial of the Alaska Airlines Flight 261 in Port Hueneme.

It pretty much explains the creation of dolphins from a Rainbow Bridge made connecting the islands to the mainlands. It is interesting to note that a "Sky Snake" is involved with the tale.
The Legend of the Rainbow Bridge

Imagine Neo-Spacian Aqua Dolphin's reaction.

Something else to make note of:
I also know of Coyote and/or Sky Coyote being a semi-creator and protector of humans in the Chumash myths. He is often portrayed as a fool or very wise at times.
And while Coyote is refereed to as a creator in some tribes he is also known for bringing death. Coyote and the Origin of DeathOne Chumash tale is that Coyote and Sun gamble together. When