Katsuya Jonouchi - Character Biography

Character Biography

16-year old Jonouchi, who is in class 1-B at Domino High School, is a troublemaker and his mouth often gets him into trouble. Jonouchi starts out as a street thug and hangs in Hirutani's gang for long periods of time when he is in middle school. He also used to be a bully for young Yugi. He becomes best friends with Yugi Mutou and the most important to him, who lessens his tough-guy exterior to reveal his true nature. Jonouchi is the key on the series and for yugi' and their friendship is a element of the series as a whole and Yugi has credited his friendship with Jonouchi as one of the main factors that allowed Yugi to become stronger throughout the series. His other two good friends are Hiroto Honda (Tristan Taylor) and Anzu Mazaki (Téa Gardner). In the first series anime, Miho Nosaka is also one of Jonouchi's friends.

In the manga, Jonouchi is poor, due to his father's gambling addictions and alcoholism. Jonouchi goes to repay his father's debts, such as working at multiple jobs (he was one of the few that were permitted to work while going to school) and going on the "Get the Million" game show. Many of his Duel Monsters cards contain a gambling theme, and on occasion, his luck helps him win in the end.

Jonouchi's skill at Duel Monsters is somewhat as good as that of Yugi's, but he still duels as part of a tag team on occasions and he strives to improve his skills. This is a frequent subplot throughout the series, although it was muted somewhat in the English anime, and also he uses many warrior type monsters.

Jonouchi has a sister named Shizuka Kawai (Serenity Wheeler in the English anime; Shizuka Jonouchi in the first series Yu-Gi-Oh! anime). In the Japanese versions of Yu-Gi-Oh!, Shizuka's surname is her mother's maiden name while Jonouchi's is his father's surname. Their parents divorced when Jonouchi was 10. Shizuka was brought away by her mother while Jonouchi lived with his father. In the manga and the Duel Monsters anime, Shizuka started to go blind, so Jonouchi entered the Duelist Kingdom tournament to finance her eye surgery. Jonouchi would come second to Yugi in the event, although Yugi gives him the money to finance the surgery. In the first series anime, Shizuka is chronically ill in the hospital. Therefore Jonouchi ensures that she gets the best care in the hospital.