OOC: Application Information - Personality, Appearance, Etc.
Personality: At the core, Judai is a typical extroverted teenage boy, if not slightly out of touch with the rest of the world at times. He loves school life and getting to hang out with his friends, but enjoys schoolwork far less. He doesn’t quite have charisma like some do, but with his friendly attitude and dueling skill he tends to attract friends and the attention of others. He relishes having fun and good times, especially when dueling is involved. Dueling is one of Judai’s main interests, and it makes up a large part of his life. Friends are also very important to him. Judai values them highly, and hates to let bad things happen to those he cares about. Upon finding out in the Dark World dimension that those who lost a duel died, he began taking on as many duels as he needed to himself, stating, “I won’t let them die. I will not let any of my friends die!”
Embracing his Haou side and fusing with Yubel caused a change in his personality later on. Judai still likes to have fun, but when it's time for serious matters he gets down to business, and he can be more ruthless than he used to be. Despite that, while Judai has gotten smarter and more perceptive since he was fifteen he’s still not always the brightest person, especially where Duel Monsters isn’t concerned. In terms of romance and love-related issues, for example, he’s pretty oblivious and probably wouldn’t be able to figure out if somebody had a crush on him unless they went right out and said it to his face. He isn’t an expert at understanding how others feel, either, especially when he’s dealing with his own issues. This is only enforced by the events in other dimensions. Since fusing with Yubel, he’s become more serious and sometimes less friendly to others, often concerned more with what he sees as problems. That may lead to real problem, because when Judai gets down he’s prone to serious moping and withdrawnness.
That manner is Judai’s current state upon entering the Tower, still guilty over having killed the Gravekeeper’s Chief. He feels out of place at the Academy, as if he doesn’t belong there after what happened. He knows that there’s still things he should do-looking to stop the light of destruction for good, going to class, keeping in contact with his friends-but feels an inhibition of sorts. He’s begun caring less about what he should do and what used to interest him, and has shrugged off those trying to approach and help him. Not wanting to go over what happened or let his friends know what he’s done, he tries to avoid talking about the events in the world of darkness but often ends up mulling over it by himself anyway.
Appearance: Judai is on the thin side, though not obviously so. He has brown hair that poofs out and ends in a sort of untidy taper at the back of his head. Thick bangs reaching to about an inch above his shoulders on the sides frame his face. He normally has brown eyes, but when using Yubel’s power they become heterochromatic, his left eye turning greenish-blue and his right eye turning orange (these having been the colors of Yubel’s eyes).
In everyday life, he wears the Duel Academy Osiris uniform: a black shirt underneath a long, red jacket with white around the collar and the middle of the upper torso outlined by a darker red, sporting a tall collar and an outwards flare at the bottom. His pants are gray with black cuffs, and his boots are red and black. He often wears his Academy Duel Disk, a large device worn on the arm that has been upgraded since his return to the Academy to include new red highlights, matching his dorm color (Osiris being red). Though he doesn’t wear it anymore, Judai still carries around the medallion he earned half of while in Sara’s dimension.
Abilities: From a young age, Judai has been able to see, hear, understand, and otherwise interact with the spirits of Duel Monsters cards, Winged Kuriboh being his partner spirit.
Fusing with Yubel has given Judai many new abilities. When using Yubel’s power, he is now able to absorb monster spirits if they are willing. Using cards and his Duel Disk, he can materialize Duel Monsters in real life even when it would normally be a hologram and use the effects of cards, within limits-he could summon a corporeal Elemental Hero Neos, but if he tried to play Skyscraper, which transforms the dueling field into a holographic rendition of a dark city, only the holograms would kick in and the actual environment would remain the same. This generates a small amount duel energy, and when he’s gathered enough of it Judai is able to open a temporary portal between one dimension and another, though he can’t control which dimension the rip leads to. (This isn’t applicable while in the Tower, for obvious reasons.)
Yubel’s powers also protect Judai from brainwashing, hypnotism, and other direct mental manipulations using supernatural means, though he is still able to be tricked, lied to, and messed with via mind games using words, actions, and other such methods. He now has a sixth sense for trouble and what or who is trouble. (Note: The extents of this sixth sense aren’t yet clear, but the mun is interpreting the canon statement “I can recognize the ones who try to use Duel Monsters in a bad way” as meaning it only applies when Duel Monsters are involved.) In times of serious danger and trouble, he may have brief visions of the present, showing him the trouble.
Strengths: Judai’s strengths lay most in his ability to play Duel Monsters. He can play either of two different decks, or a combination of both: the Elemental Heroes, a group of superheroes reminiscent of American comics, and the Neo Spacians he created when young, which resemble animals or plants from Earth (Aqua Dolphin the walking dolphin, Dandelion the dandelion/lion mix, and so on). Both decks rely on fusion for maximum effectiveness. The Elemental Heroes require fusion cards such as Polymerization to fuse into new, stronger heroes, while the Neo Spacians bypass the need for fusion cards with Contact Fusion, only requiring the right combination of monsters on the field. The Yubel card is also included in his deck.
Judai’s dueling is augmented by his luck and drawing ability: his ability to pick just the right thing at just the right moment. In his second year, a student from North Academy once described his (and another student’s) drawing abilities as “inhuman.” This drawing skill applies not only to dueling, but also to other things like picking the prized tamagopan (golden egg bread) out of a bin of identically wrapped packages.
Judai maintains a close bond of trust and friendship with his cards, not just limited to Winged Kuriboh. He is in good physical condition, and though he prefers dueling he is still quite enthusiastic when it comes to sports and other physical activity.
Weaknesses: Judai sometimes has difficulty relating to the thoughts and feelings of others. When it comes to his friends he has a strong sense of protectiveness, even a stubborn streak, but when he believes issues aren’t his business or if he’s caught up in his own problems Judai may not be so sympathetic. This, in combination with what is at times a one-track mind, makes bad situation worse for him.
When Judai gets depressed, he gets deep into it. Drastic solutions are often called for: staring down a Blue Eyes White Dragon in his first year, leaving the Academy and ending up in Neos Space the next year, and going off to other dimensions in his third year to search for Johan after feeling guilt over leaving Johan behind. As in those acts, Judai is prone to impulsiveness and has been criticized before about rushing into things, disregarding others and thinking only of himself.
Miscellaneous Notes:
Random facts:
- Judai likes to draw. He's no expert artist, but doodles whatever crosses his mind on any paper available if he's bored.
- Reading comic books (manga, American, whatever) has been a hobby of his since he was little.
- Post-Yubel but pre-Academy, Judai actually wasn't the most popular of kids, partly thanks to occasional lingering rumors of being "weird" after what Yubel did. Going to the Academy, he was starting off with a clean slate.
- Judai's not a bad cook, out of necessity. Growing up with his parents always out working, he had to find a way to make food for himself; later on, while traveling dimensions, he had to get food somehow. He's lax and flexible with his recipes, having improvised much of his cooking mostly based on watching others cook.
Other Links:
Janime - information and episode summaries
Card list on Janime
Wikipedia article (on the original Judai)