Alexis Rhodes, known as Asuka Tenjouin in the Japanese version, is a strong female Duelist from the Obelisk Blue dormitory at Duel Academy as well as one of Jaden's closest friends. She usually serves as the only female protagonist in Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, although Blair begins having a slight role as well near the end of the series.
Design
Appearance
Alexis' design incorporates multiple layers of clothing and a wide range of expressions. Depicted here is the Duelist in full Obelisk Blue regalia from front, side, and rear alongside views of her head from different angles.
Full-body shot of Alexis.
Alexis' character design was overseen by Kenichi Hara. Her usual outfit consists of the standard female Obelisk Blue uniform, complete with an optional pair of fingerless gloves. Her dark blond hair is sporadically arranged, with a large portion trailing the upper part of the nape of her neck. She has brown colored eyes. She carries an Academy-issued Duel Disk on her left arm. During her senior year, she carries a Duel Disk with blue trim representing the Obelisk Blue dorm on her left arm.
Personality
Alexis is generally very confident, brave and strong willed, yet she does not follow the crowd nor does she regard herself as better than other people like many of her Obelisk peers, though she does show some respect for them, (like during her duel with Chazz).
Alexis is known well for her beauty, and many male characters throughout the show demonstrate infatuation with her. Because she is the most beautiful girl in Duel Academy while also a great duelist, she has earned the names "Madonna" and Queen of Obelisk Blue. However, unlike Mai Valentine, she is kind, humble and not prideful, and does not intentionally use her looks to her advantage, which most likely attracts the male students to her even more. Syrus, Chazz, Pierre the Gambler, Harrington Rosewood, and Bob Banter have all gotten in duels and dilemmas for her affections. However, she has stated often that she does not want a boyfriend, and therefore has never gone through with anyone's interest in her.
Ironically, as the series progressed she actually developed a crush on Jaden, whom was one of the few males not to show infatuation with her. Her crush on him progressively became more obvious and stronger though she never had the courage to tell him. She finally wanted to confess her feelings to him at the end of episode 162, but notices how clueless Jaden is to her feelings about him, and therefore instead just says she was glad to have met him.
Alexis has put herself in danger to help her friends many times. She has strong confidence in her Dueling skills, but she does not act vain about it, unlike Chazz and Aster, and sometimes Jaden. Alexis also tends to act more quiet and reserved than Jaden's other friends. She tries to stay alongside Jaden and support him in defeating evil throughout the series, but often finds herself in trouble and needing his rescuing.
After Alexis lost her Duel to Chazz and was brainwashed into joining the Society of Light, her personality changed dramatically. She became extremely rude, arrogant and insulting towards Jaden and the others, and she uses more sarcastic comments. She also begins to call Jaden "dork" and "loser" and saying he should "get a new line", and calls Syrus and Hassleberry "dweebs". She talks back to her peers more frequently as well.
Etymology
Her and her brother's surname has been written as "Tenjouin", "Tenjōin", and "Tenjyoin" in Roman characters. Her given name in the Japanese version means "tomorrow's fragrance", and she is called "Tomorrow Girl" by Jim Crocodile Cook. Her English name means "helper" or "defender".
Biography
History
When she was young, she used to duel her brother but normally lost. "Swing of Memories" was used to represent her relationship with her brother. As she grew up, she met Pierre the Gambler. She and the class treated him like family, though he showed his true colors, as he loved gambling. Tired of this, she taught him how to play Duel Monsters and beat him. Being in love with her, he stole her mother's scarf, and used Duel Monsters to gamble as well. Shortly afterwards, Alexis and Atticus Rhodes attended Duel Academy together. Shortly after he disappeared, she tried doing anything she could to find him, but had no luck, resulting in her keeping Atticus' disappearance a secret for a while.
Alexis Rhodes, along with Zane Truesdale and Chazz Princeton, became one of the top students at the Academy. She is regarded as the "Madonna" and "Queen of Obelisk Blue", yet she does not follow the crowd nor does she regard herself as better than other people like many of her Obelisk peers, though she does show some respect for them (like during her duel with Chazz).
Alexis in her childhood.
Seven Stars
Alexis first meets Jaden when she watches his midnight Duel against Chazz in the Obelisk Blue dormitory. Security arrives just as the Duel is about to end, forcing them to stop the Duel and leave. Alexis talks to Jaden afterwards saying she believed it could have gone either way, but Jaden reveals his next draw as "Monster Reborn" which would have let him win. Alexis is shocked and becomes interested in knowing more about Jaden's Dueling skills.
In attempt to get Jaden expelled, Dr. Crowler plants a fake love note in Jaden's locker from Alexis to meet her at the Obelisk Blue female dorm, which is illegal for males to enter. Syrus Truesdale stumbles upon the note instead and heads to the female dorm hoping to become an item with Alexis believing she loved him, but is discovered by Alexis and her friends. Alexis and her friends correct Syrus that the letter was sent to Jaden, even though it was a fake letter in the first place. Alexis decides to use the situation to test Jaden's Dueling skills by holding Syrus captive unless he agreed to Duel her. She also threatens to expel both of them for crossing into the female dorm if they lost. She puts up a good fight, but in the end Jaden wins but Alexis reveals in her thoughts that she never would have had them expelled anyways if she did win, because she felt the school year would be much more interesting with them, much to Jasmine's dismay.
When Jaden, Syrus and Chumley Huffington go to investigate the Abandoned Dorm at Duel Academy, they meet Alexis there searching for her missing older brother, Atticus. Alexis enters the dorm by herself but gets kidnapped by Crowler's hired mercenary, Titan. In the dub, he claims he sent her to the Shadow Realm. Jaden wins and frees Alexis. He also offers her his help in finding Atticus, but he leaves before she replies.
After this event, Crowler threatens to expel Jaden and Syrus for visiting the abandoned dorm unless they can beat two extremely difficult Duel opponents (the Paradox Brothers) in a Tag Duel. Alexis offers to take Syrus' place because she was there too and Syrus has little confidence in his Dueling skills, but it is refused. She still aids Jaden in preparing Syrus for the Tag Duel and trying to help him believe in himself.
Alexis soon begins to become good friends with Jaden and Syrus after they win the Tag Duel. She begins to accompany them on occasion during their adventures, showing more signs of interest in Jaden. She is also there watching along side Jaden's friends cheering him on during his duels.
However, she still continues spending much of her time searching for clues regarding Atticus' disappearance, with the help of Zane. When Chancellor Sheppard reveals the Shadow Riders' plot to take over the world using the seven Spirit Keys, Alexis is one of the seven chosen to hold the Spirit Keys along with Jaden, Dr. Crowler, Professor Banner, Zane Truesdale, Bastion Misawa and Chazz.
While the seven begin defending their keys against the Shadow Riders, Jaden becomes involved in a Duel with a figure known as Nightshroud. Nightshroud turns out to be Atticus brainwashed after Jaden defeats him, but his memories are gone. Alexis thus searches for a way to recover them and is offered a chance to Duel Titan in return for Atticus' memories being restored. During the duel, she starts to give in to the fact that she may never get Atticus back to normal again, though with Atticus' strong words of courage, she ultimately wins and restores them.
After this, she meets her old "friend" Pierre, who decides to duel him in order to get back her mother's scarf. He was able to gain the upper hand due to his monsters effects, which involved flipping a coin. Alexis realized that if it wasn't for his Second Coin Toss, he would've lost everytime, and then was able to win thanks to Cyber Prima's effect. Pierre revealed that the whole reason why he did this was because he loved Alexis.
Along with the other spirit key keepers except Jaden, Alexis loses her Duel against the final Shadow Rider, Amnael. As a consequence, she is sent to an alternate dimension along with the others who lost where she remains unconscious. Jaden manages to free them by finally defeating Amnael, returning them to Earth.
Chazz comes out about his infatuation with Alexis after Jaden defeats Amnael. Atticus helps Chazz with his crush and he steals all seven spirit keys in order to force Alexis to Duel with him. Although Chazz plays suggestive cards such as "Hidden Wish" and "Love Letter" to show her how much he cares, Alexis wins in the end, stating that she cannot return his feelings, because she's "in love with Dueling". In this Duel Alexis introduces her "Cyber Angel" series, which she uses to defeat Chazz.
Chazz's crush on Alexis continues throughout the series, although after having his free will sapped by Sartorius, his interest fades, until he is rescued by Jaden and returned to his former self.
Alexis in Chazz's imagining of their marriage.
Society of Light
At the beginning of season two, Alexis decides to move into the Slifer Red dorm with Jaden, Syrus, Chazz and Tyranno Hassleberry because Dr. Crowler begins constantly pressuring her into becoming a pop star Duelist with Atticus. So Atticus challenges her to a duel, where if she loses, she and Atticus will become a pop singing group named "Bro-bro and Sissy", if she wins, they will stop pressuring her to become a pop star. She wins, and show cases all of her "Cyber Angels" series. After she tells Atticus to "let go of his dream".
This soon changes when Chazz becomes brainwashed into the Society of Light by Sartorius. Chazz begins Dueling Obelisk Blues to brainwash them into following Sartorius as well, and succeeds by using his powerful "White Veil" card that Sartorius gave him. Thus, Alexis feels it's her responsibility as an Obelisk Blue to Duel Chazz and win against him so she could restore him as well as the other Obelisk Blues back to normal, despite Atticus' warnings. During the duel, she starts doubting her dueling skills because Chazz is outsmarting all of her moves and guesses, thus meeting the same fate as her fellow elites.
Alexis as member of the Society of Light.
Although she remains brainwashed by Sartorius for the majority of season two, she finally begins to show some resistance by refusing to play the "White Veil" card given to her by Sartorius during her Duel against Maitre' D in the Genex Tournament. During that Duel, Chazz, Syrus and Jaden (who are watching) also point out that she is standing up for Obelisk Blues despite that she was now under Sartorious' control in the Society of Light, perhaps suggesting she was trying to break free. Additionally, she vaguely begins to remember the times when she and Jaden were friends when Sartorius orders her to Duel Jaden for his satellite key. However, Sartorius notices this and thus strips Alexis of her mind completely, rendering her a lifeless and empty puppet.
During her Duel with Jaden to get the key for Sartorius, Jaden tries to break Sartorius' control on her and remind her of their friendship by playing cards that Atticus and Chazz would often use ("Swing of Memories" and "Ojama Black", respectively). However, she does not listen to anything Jaden tries convincing her of because her mind was completely stripped by Sartorius, thus she had no memories either. Jaden still manages to win which restores her mind back to normal. Upon being returned, she has no memory of ever entering the Society of Light or being brainwashed but notices that she and Jaden were in a Duel. She asks Jaden who won and Jaden lies saying she did, most likely because Jaden felt bad for her after all she had been through.
Dimension World
During season three, Alexis accompanies Jaden, Syrus, Axel Brodie, Jim Crocodile Cook, Jesse Anderson and Hassleberry in solving the mystery behind the new professor, Viper's, new bio bands that appear to be sucking the energy from Dueling students. When Viper finally collects enough energy to transport Duel Academy to a different dimension, she aids Jaden, Axel, Bastion, Jim, Jesse and Hassleberry in fending off the rest of the school, who have been transformed by Yubel into Duel Ghouls.
Yubel is eventually driven from Marcel and the school returned to Duel Academy island but Jesse was left behind. Alexis joins Atticus, Jaden, Chazz, Bastion, Jim, Axel, Hassleberry and Syrus in finding him by going through a dimensional warp, but are transported to a different dimension than before this time. Jaden desperately searches for Jesse after arriving, regardless of the village elder whom they meet's warning not to search at night but to wait for day, as night is when the evil Duel Monster Spirits strike. The others feel it is their responsibility as a team to follow him as well.
However, Jaden becomes so obsessed with finding Jesse that he doesn't notice when Alexis, Atticus, Chazz and Hassleberry all fall behind. The four begin to think that Jaden doesn't care about them anymore and decide not to follow. They are eventually captured by Brron, Mad King of Dark World, and sacrificed by him to create the "Super Polymerization" card. Before Alexis is sacrificed, she sadly says while her emotions are amplified by the spell on her "I thought we were friends. Guess not. It's sad to know that..."
It is later discovered by Bastion that they are not dead, but simply transported to an alternate, lifeless and cold dimension. Jaden would still be able to rescue them if he defeats Yubel in a Duel. Jaden instead decides to make up for all the wrongs he did, to Yubel and his friends, by fusing his spirit with Yubel's so they could be together again. This consequently restored the dimensions' balance to normal, releasing his friends.
Darkness
During the fourth season, Alexis finds Jaden's new and serious personality to be abrasive and sullen, especially when he tried interrogating Atticus despite her brother's troubled state in the hospital, and claims Jaden had changed. She especially gets mad when Jaden coerces her injured brother into a Duel using the Nightshroud mask, until she discovers it was Atticus' idea. In general, Alexis and Jaden's friendship seems to have become strained in season four. Alexis once tries to make amends with him, saying they are still friends despite what occurred in the alternate dimension, also inviting him to the Duel Academy party. Jaden simply says he may go ("only if I want to") then walks away.
At the party, Alexis begins to doubt that Jaden will ever come as time goes by, and also that things will ever be right between them again. As she is about to leave, Jaden finally shows up, and Hassleberry pairs them as a Tag Duel for the Tag Duel tournament assuming they chose each other. Though they win all of their Duels, Alexis begins to get angry because Jaden continues to ignore her cards and only thinks of his own.
During the final Tag Duel against Blair Flannigan and Hassleberry, Alexis agrees to switch partners and become Hassleberry's partner when Blaire plays "Partner Change" because she continues getting more frustrated with Jaden's disregard to her feelings and cards. Alexis eventually decides to destroy "Partner Change" and become Jaden's partner again after Jaden compliments Alexis. Alexis uses Jaden and her cards combined to finally win the Tag Duel. Afterwards, Jaden and Alexis have a talk alone, repairing their friendship. Alexis also wants to tell Jaden that she loved him, though she decides to keep it a secret because he seemed to still think of her just as a good friend and acted clueless about her feelings towards him. It is also through this last duel with Jaden that Alexis makes up her mind to study abroad at the Duel College in North America.
Alexis at the Graduation Party.
Later, Trueman begins to invade Duel Academy and send the Duelists he defeats into the World of Darkness. Alexis is one of the last students standing, along with Atticus, Mindy and Jasmine. She is eventually Dueled and defeated too, and she and her deck are engulfed in darkness just as Jaden arrives.
In the World of Darkness, Alexis greatly begins to doubt her abilities in her teaching career at Duel Academy. She has nightmares where the students continue to mock her and insist on how awful of a teacher she is, as well as refuses to attend classes. Like the other students, she eventually becomes completely swallowed up in the darkness of her thoughts, until Jaden's words of light inspire her and return her to Duel Academy.
At the Graduation Ceremony, she gave a heart warming speech at Graduation about how no matter how tough something is, we can always overcome it with friends by our side. During the party, she, Jesse and Axel have a conversation outside, confident that they will see Jaden again. In the future, it is most possible that she is now teaching at Duel Academy, as she stated that as everyone will move on and "flutter away", she says that she will not be left behind too, allowing herself to move on from the past and heading towards the future.
Manga
Alexis in the manga.
Alexis' manga-counterpart is the same as her anime-counterpart in terms of ranking, strength, and motivation. She longs to be viewed as a Duelist by her peers, rather than simply a female.
Relationships
Jaden Yuki
Many fans believe that Alexis has a crush on Jaden, which was first evident at the beginning of the series because of Jaden's Dueling skills, she became flustered about him, even challenging him to a Duel, much to Jasmine's dismay.[1] She was willing to follow him wherever he went, even if it lead to a series of unfortunate events, Jaden was still there to help her. She was also there to cheer him on during his Duels, and tried cheering him up when things were bad.[3][4] At times when Jaden put himself in danger, she would always get angered for his reckless actions.
During the Dimension World arc onwards, their relationship became more complicated because of Jaden's obsession with finding Jesse. She wanted to support him and have faith in him although the others began doubting him. As Jaden's obsession got worse, she eventually came to agree with the others that all Jaden cared about now was Jesse, and she and his other friends were insignificant to him. As she was being sacrificed, she sadly said while her negative emotions were being amplified by a spell "I thought we were friends. Guess not. It's sad to know that...".[5]
In season 4, their relationship has generally grown apart, due to Jaden's new personality.[6] But they were able to turn things around during the Duel Academy's Tag Duel tournament as Jaden started acting like his old self again.[7]
Alexis' interest in Jaden is shown more explicitly in the English version; in the original, Asuka never shows romantic interest towards anyone, which leads to her brother's repeated attempts to get her to notice someone. But in season 1, Alexis was shown staring, smiling at Jaden after he mocked Crowler. In episode 161 when she's seen thinking about him, and more strongly indicated in the next episode on two occasions. The first is when she's clearly frustrated with Jaden getting along with Blair during the pair Duel, and later after she tells him about her decision based on his influence; she just says she was glad she met him, but has a lot of trouble assembling her words, and blushes while she's speaking.
In the dub, Alexis' affections toward Jaden can be traced as early on as episode 3. Her dormmate, Jasmine wondered if Alexis was "falling for that Slifer", the "Slifer" being referred to as Jaden. In the Japanese version, Alexis merely refers to Jaden as "interesting". Alexis consistently will respond to another female showing interest in Jaden. For example, in episode 106 when Blair give Jaden a flirty wink, she is clearly not pleased this is also present in the original version. Similarly, in dubbed episode 37, Chazz remarks that Tania might be Jaden's "type" after all. Alexis then vehemently denies this, retorting, "...no way Jaden would ever date that thing". The notion is furthered when Jaden and Syrus Duel the Paradox Brothers. Alexis tells Bastion that she "is happy that Jaden gets to stay at the Academy." Bastion corrects her by assuming that she meant Jaden and Syrus, and presumably figures out that Alexis has a crush on Jaden when Alexis tries to change the subject. A similar situation also ensues when Mindy, Alexis' good friend and roommate, exclaims that she would never let a Slifer Red stay on campus. In episode 15, things take a turn when Harrington Rosewood challenges Jaden to a Duel with the prize of being Alexis' fiancé. Despite Jaden winning the Duel, his naiveté allows Alexis to downplay the role to one of friendship in the English version, stating, "...it means friend, at least for now, big guy."; in the Japanese version, Asuka instead calls Judai an idiot for not knowing the definition of the word "fiancé". Another example of Alexis' affection towards Jaden is in episode 42 after Jaden wins against the Dark Magician Girl. Everyone else is mad at Jaden for winning and Jaden says "It's not easy being the bad guy." Alexis then replies "Aw, sometimes the girls like the bad guys," but then quickly tries to cover it up. In addition, after Jaden nearly gets killed in his Duel with a Duel Monster Spirit in the alternate dimension, Alexis later confronts him personally and is mad at him for unnecessarily putting himself at risk of dying. However, while Alexis is controlled by Sartorius she shows a great deal of dislike for Jaden, referring to him as a "dork" and "loser" multiple times.
On the other hand, Jaden shows some slight affection for Alexis in the original Japanese for the first few episodes. For example, in episode 2, Alexis warns them that Chazz and his friends were all just a bunch of jerks. Jaden asks if Alexis was worried about him because she fell in love with him at first sight, causing her to giggle. In the dub as well, they would occasionally flirt. In episode 3, after she destroys one of his monsters, Alexis asks if he was impressed. Jaden replies cheekily, "Impressed? I think I'm in love." Alexis replies with, "You're sweet."
Bastion Misawa
In the manga, Alexis doesn't display any particular romantic feelings for Jaden, but is the object of Bastion Misawa's affections. Throughout the manga, Bastion shows a lot of interest in Alexis, becoming extremely fidgety and often nervous when she is around. He is noted as being shy with Alexis, and lacks the courage to ask her for her cell phone number. Alexis is also possibly more flirtatious in the manga, since Syrus Truesdale is quoted as calling her a "siren."
Deck
Alexis plays a "Cyber Girl" Deck consisting of female Warrior Type monsters based on sports. The key card of her Deck is "Cyber Blader", a Fusion monsters that activates one of three effects depending on how many monsters her opponent controls. She further supports "Cyber Blader" with "Fusion Recovery" and "Fusion Weapon".
Near the end of Season 1, Alexis shown to have incorporated the "Cyber Angel" series of Ritual Monsters into her Deck, based on the Seven Lucky Gods of Japanese mythology. Alexis continues to use her "Cyber Girl" cards but focuses more on the "Cyber Angels", supporting them with "Fulfillment of the Contract" and "Ritual Sanctuary".
Under the influence of Sartorius and the Society of Light, Alexis uses a "White Night" Deck, centered on ice-themed monsters. This Deck focuses on "freezing" an opponent's field to restrict their usage of Spell and Trap cards while overwhelming their monsters with "White Night Queen" and "White Night Dragon".
In the manga, Alexis uses an ice-themed Deck, based on the distribution of Ice Counters to immobilize and weaken enemy monsters.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Yu-Gi-Oh! GX episode 3: "A Duel in Love"
- ↑ Yu-Gi-Oh! GX episode 60: "Pop Goes the Duel"
- ↑ Yu-Gi-Oh! GX episode 43: "Hearts Are Wild"
- ↑ Yu-Gi-Oh! GX episode 131: "All for One"
- ↑ Yu-Gi-Oh! GX episode 136: "Turning the Page, Part 2"
- ↑ Yu-Gi-Oh! GX episode 159: "The Truth About Darkness! Judai VS Fubuki"
- ↑ Yu-Gi-Oh! GX episode 162: "Judai VS Asuka! A Set Card Full of Hidden Feelings"
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