This is the list of characters in the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX animated series. The official English anime and the English manga by VIZ Media have changed the names of the characters.
Main characters
The main protagonist of the series. An energetic, passionate and optimistic boy who comes to Duel Academy to learn to become the new King of Games, he is a talented duelist who beats some of the toughest duelists, including Professor Crowler and Chazz Princeton/Jun Manjoume. Despite his excellence in dueling, he is placed in the Slifer Red dormitory due to his below average grades and general disinterest in anything that is not duel-related.
In the first season, Jaden's excellence in dueling leads him to become one of the Spirit Key holders, a responsibility given to the best duelists in the school to guard the Spirit Keys from the Shadow Riders who seek to resurrect the Sacred Beasts. In the second season, Jaden fights against the Society of Light, a cult like organization that seeks to brainwash the world, and is revealed to possess Gentle Darkness, a power that was created to balance out the light. The Gentle Darkness also gives Jaden special powers such as the ability to communicate with Duel Spirits, most often with Winged Kuriboh, a card he received from Yugi Muto on the day of his entrance exam. In the third season, Jaden and his friends are transported to an alternate dimension where duel monsters are real. While there, Jaden falls into despair after seeing his friends sacrificed and becomes possessed by the Supreme King, a ruthless and merciless ruler and the original wielder of the Gentle Darkness. After being released from his possession, Jaden learns that he is the reincarnation of the Supreme King and that Yubel, a duel Monster that was the Supreme King's guardian and the mastermind behind the alternate dimension, is bound to the Supreme King by prophecy. In order to fulfill the prophecy and cleanse Yubel of her corruption caused by the light, Jaden decides to fuse himself with Yubel, gaining the powers of both the Supreme King and Yubel and possessing the ability to bring duel monsters to life, see visions of the future, resist supernatural powers such as hypnosis, and generate wind. He is described as someone who is "not human." Afterwards, Jaden's original happy and easygoing personality turns serious and aloof, as he no longer finds dueling fun and wishes to only duel when he needs to, and finds himself trying to distance himself from others after bearing guilt for the misfortunes his friends and others endured. In the fourth season, Jaden battles against Nightshroud, who preys on people's negative emotions and wishes to engulf humanity into his Darkness Realm, and begins to return to his old personality with the help of his friends and Yugi Mutou, who he gets to duel.
He specializes in using Fusion Monsters, his main deck being the Elemental Heroes, monsters based on comic superheroes with his signature being "Elemental Hero Flame Wingman." Jaden later switches decks to a "Neo-Spacian"-based one, monsters based on alien creatures drawn by Jaden when he was younger which use contact fusion, fusion without the need of a fusion card, to fuse "Elemental Hero Neos", his new signature card, and create a new Fusion monster. He later combines the two decks together.
Jaden's roommate and friend at Duel Academy. He often doubts himself, living in the shadow of his older brother Zane, but has shown himself to be a talented duelist, managing to rise in the ranks from Slifer Red to Ra Yellow to Obelisk Blue. He battles using a Vehicroid deck which consists of monsters related to machinery or vehicles. His deck also possesses "Power Bond", a powerful fusion card given to him by Zane which he initially was scared of.
A portly student who is described as large and intimidating, like a bear, but is lazy and "has the energy of a sloth". He had to repeat his freshman year, but becomes more confident with Jaden's encouragement. He is associated with Silfer Red, but later leaves Duel Academy in order to work at Industrial Illusions as a card designer. He uses a beast deck based on Australia.
A duelist associated with Ra Yellow and is regarded as a dueling genius, having the top grades of his freshman applicant class. His strength is in studying and preparing for different situations, relying on rational methods. He possesses six carefully calculated decks for each Monster attribute; he claims that a single carelessly added card can throw off their balance. He is good friends with Jaden despite their very different personalities and is seen to view Jaden as a worthy rival. Bastion's decks are all based around a single attribute and usually contain monsters, spells, and traps related to Science or Math such as "Water Dragon" or "Magnet Warrior".
A freshman duelist who ranks in the Obelisk Blue and one of Jaden's rivals. He is elitist, thinking that low-scoring duelists such as Jaden should be kicked out. It is revealed early in the first season that his elitism stems from his older brothers, who rule over the political and financial worlds and urge him to become a great duelist in order to have their family reign over the dueling world. After becoming estranged with his brothers, Chazz decides to pursue a career in dueling without their help. Initially hating Jaden, he comes to respect and befriend Jaden, seeing him as his rival, and develops a crush on Alexis (Asuka). He initially uses a power based deck, focusing on powerful monsters such as the Armed Dragons. Later on, he becomes able to see duel spirits and starts using the Ojama Trio, a trio of brothers with zero attack points but several uses. His self-imposed nickname in the English version is "The Chazz" while his Japanese nickname is "Manjoume Thunder," derived from the phrase . Chazz's deck has changed the most out of the duelists. He initially played with a "Chthonian" deck which consisted of dark fiends, which changes to a "VWXYZ" deck and later an "Armed Dragon" deck. Chazz then forms a bond with the "Ojama Trio" and changes his deck to be Ojama based. He later combines all the decks together to make his final and permanent deck.
A beautiful and talented duelist who is regarded as the queen of the Obelisk Blue, but unlike many of the other Blue members, is not elitist and quickly takes interest in Jaden. She does not follow the crowd or regard herself as better than other people like some students in the dormitory, but has a stern pride as an Obelisk Blue duelist. Alexis is shown to be good friends with Zane Trusdale, as he was close friends with her brother Atticus until his disappearance and helped her search for clues surrounding his disappearance, until it is revealed that he joined the Shadow Riders under the control of Nightshroud.Yu-Gi-Oh! GX. Episode #30. April 27, 2005. She is shown to be headstrong and independent as well as a good friend of Jaden, later revealed to have a crush on Jaden, which it is unknown if he reciprocates, and is aware of Chazz's crush on her. Alexis plays a "Cyber Girl" deck which consists of cards related to sports such as "Etoile Cyber" and "Cyber Blader." She later adds in Cyber Angel cards, ritual-based monsters based on the spirits and gods of Asian mythology.
A third-year Obelisk Blue student and the king of Duel Academy, nicknamed "Kaiser" in the Japanese version. He is the older brother of Syrus. He is the top duelist at the school and has reportedly never lost to someone on purpose, serving as one of Jaden's friendly rivals in the first season and the only student who has beaten Jaden in a duel. He is also good friends with Alexis and Atticus and helped her search for clues surrounding Atticus' disappearance. Since he is the top duelist, he was given the honor of choosing his partner in the graduation duel. He chooses Jaden and passes the title of top duelist to Jaden before leaving Duel Academy and joining the Pro-Dueling League. Originally a star in the Pro-Dueling League, he loses a duel against Aster Phoenix and slowly loses his winning streak and reputation. Looking for a chance to redeem himself, he begins dueling underground, which uses shock collars to punish losses, and develops a more aggressive and violent personality earning him the name "Hell Kaiser" in the Japanese version. While in the alternate dimension, Zane teams up with Aster to stop Yubel, but in his final battle, his heart gives out due to the shock collar, with his final wish being to let the Cyber End Dragon be his symbol and for Jaden to overcome his darkness. He is later revealed to have survived, but is in a weakened state. He uses a Cyber Dragon deck which consists primarily of different Cyber Dragons, with his signature being "Cyber End Dragon." He later acquires the Cyberdark deck to reflect his new personality, with his signature being "Cyberdark Dragon." He later combines these two decks, with Cyber End Dragon becoming his signature once again.
First appearing in "The Maiden in Love", Blair Flannigan is a young girl who enrolls into Duel Academy disguised as a boy in hopes of getting close to Zane Truesdale, her crush. After being caught by Jaden while sneaking into Zane's dorm room, he defeats her in a duel and confesses her love to Zane, but is politely rejected due to her being in fifth grade. Afterwards, she leaves Duel Academy and turns her affections to Jaden, promising to return to Duel Academy and enroll when she is older. In "The Hands of Justice (Part 2)", she returns to Duel Academy in the midst of the GX Tournament to duel Zane, but is again rejected and is given his GX medal. Dueling Chazz in the final match, she is defeated but is accepted into Duel Academy after proving her worth as a duelist. Blair uses a deck of girls to sway her opponent's male monsters in the first season and later uses a deck of "Egg" monsters when she is reintroduced in the third season and enters Duel Academy now that she is old enough.
A duelist who enrolls in Jaden's school during the second season and is grouped with Ra Yellow. He has a muscular physique and plays a Dinosaur deck. When he was younger, following an accident while hunting for fossils, scientists implanted a dinosaur bone in his leg. Hassleberry uses a Dinosaur Evolution deck.
Recurring characters
A new student hailing from East Academy who enters Duel Academy in the third year. He carries a digi-recorder and is often seen taking notes on it. For most of his life, he has always put the needs of others ahead of himself. He was adopted by the Gecko family and was supposed to be the future heir until his brother was born; since then, he has devoted his time to help him despite getting less attention and being looked down upon. Adrian gets sent to another dimension by Yubel and tries to become king. He first duels using a cloud type deck, then obtains the full power of Exodia by sacrificing his childhood friend Echo and defeats Aster Phoenix in season 3. After losing a duel to Jesse possessed by Yubel, he gets sent to the stars and does not come back. Echo's spirit later aids Adrian in his duel against Jesse when he is possessed by Yubel, but ends up being used by Yubel only to regain his power when she feeds on the darkness in his soul and uses it to defeat Adrian. Following the Other Dimension arc, the other characters return to their own dimension, with the exception of Bastion, who chose to stay there, with Echo and Adrian's fates being unknown.
A talented professional duelist who enters Duel Academy as a freshman during the second season. When he was young, his father was mysteriously killed (kidnapped in the dub) and he was taken in by Sartorius, being used as a pawn in his plans. Similar to Jaden's Elemental Hero deck, Aster uses a Destiny Hero deck, symbolizing his desire for vengeance.