Jun Manjoume

Jun Manjoume
	Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters GX, Yu-Gi-Oh! GX (manga);
Dub Name	Chazz Princeton
First Appearance	Episode 1
Known Relatives	Chosaku Manjoume (older brother),; Shoji Manjoume (older brother)
Signature Card
Seiyuu	Taiki Matsuno
VA	Anthony Salerno

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Jun Manjoume (万丈目準 Manjōme Jun) is the heir to the Manjoume Group, a powerful organization in the world of finance, politics and Duel Monsters. Originally set up as an arrogant duelist from the highly-ranked Obelisk Blue dorm, he is gradually revealed to be a good individual at heart (albeit still a proud and ambitious one). He joins the ranks of Judai Yuki's group fairly early on, following this development in his character.

[edit] Personality

At the start of the series, Manjoume is presented as an elitist student of Obelisk Blue, condescending towards students of Osiris Red and arrogantly confident in his own skill as a duelist. However, this image is soon shattered upon his consecutive losses to both Judai and Misawa, two 'lower-ranked' duelists: soon after, he leaves the Academy without telling anyone else, for unspecified reasons.

It soon becomes fairly clear that the image that he had been presenting before was not his true self.

[edit] Family

Manjoume is the youngest brother of his family, who in turn own a prestigious company known as the 'Manjoume Group'. Chosaku, the eldest, is at the top of the political world; Shoji, the middle brother, is at the top of the economical world. Great expectation was laid on Manjoume to become the top of the dueling world, thus completing their standing in the three main world influences.

Despite tensions concerning family expectations, and despite there seeming to be somewhat of a rift between the brothers- especially after Manjoume's return from North School Academy- Manjoume still shows them respect, and doesn't seem to think badly of them (perhaps only of the family goal). Chosaku, likewise, seems to be more impressed with him after their duel in episode 35, stating that 'he had grown up more than he had thought'.

The family seems to be fairly wealthy: they own at least one (company) helicopter, have the money to broadcast Manjoume's duel to the nation, and are able to purchase apparently-rare cards. They were also able to at least offer the money to buy Duel Academy, for whatever reason.

[edit] Relationships

Judai

His relationship with Judai is, at first, one of antagonism, although he seems to give him credit for defeating Chronos in the entrance exam. Thinking of him as a 'dropout' and looking down at him from his 'superior' rank, he thought he would be an easy opponent- however, he was proved wrong as early as episode 4 when Judai defeated him in the school ranking duels. He left the Academy soon afterwards as his losses to him and Misawa took their impact on him.

However, following his move back to the Academy and demotion to Osiris Red, he seemed to gradually warm up to Judai, and he ultimately chooses to tag along with them willingly- although he retains his former pride and ambition, as well as somewhat of an air of detachment.

He is at least one character who could be considered an antihero to Judai in the series.

Asuka

Manjoume's (romantic) feelings for Asuka were hinted at as early as episode 2, when he blushed upon realising that Asuka had been watching his duel; they were brought out into the open in episode 47, when he challenged her to a love duel over the seven keys.

[edit] Biography

[edit] Seven Stars

Initially, he starts off as a highly ranked and respected duelist of Obelisk Blue, but due to losing duels to both Judai Yuki and then Daichi Misawa (in order to remain at the top, he would have to win against Misawa) respectively, he is demoted to Ra Yellow. In response to what he believes to be an outrage, Manjoume leaves the academy.

Manjoume in his Obelisk Blue uniform

After spending over three months sailing in a boat, Manjoume's boat sinks and he is saved by a masked man who hands him a card. The masked man tells Manjoume that the card is a special card and sends Manjoume onto an island. After walking some distance on the island, Manjoume reaches North School Academy, the rival school of Duel Academy in the Arctic. However, a man in front of the school tells him that he needs 40 cards before he can walk into North School Academy. Therefore, Manjoume searches all over the island for cards and he finally collects 40 cards. When he comes back to the entrance of North School Academy, he decides to give one of the cards to the man in front of the school, and he automatically tries to give the card, Ojama Yellow, he originally got from the masked man. To Manjoume's confusion, Ojama Yellow would not leave Manjoume so he had to give another card to the man in front of the academy.

After fighting 50 students, the masked man comes out and reveals that he is the headmaster of North School Academy (Ichinose), asking Manjoume to stay.

Some episodes later, Manjoume returns as the head of North School Academy to challenge Judai Yuki in the interschool duel: he now has his own Duel Spirit in the form of the Ojama Yellow he obtained from Ichinose. Although he loses, he decides to stay at Duel Academy, handing the title of King back to Edogawa (the previous King of North School Academy): the 'thing that he needs to do' that he cites might be to ultimately defeat Judai. For the remainder of the season, he stays with Judai's group, participating in most of the activities they do. Along with several others, he is also chosen to be a guard over one of the Seven Keys preventing Kagemaru from summoning the Three Demons, and duels the Black Scorpion Graverobber Group as part of his duty. He is also captured in the Macrocosmos by Amnael as he eliminates the key holders, although he is released upon Amnael's defeat by Judai.

Manjoume in his North School outfit

Ironically, he is perhaps the cause of the gate ultimately opening: he gathered all of the keys together when he stole them in order to set up a love duel between himself and Asuka.

[edit] Light of Destruction

Manjoume shows his change of character following his win against Gokkaido, an elite of the Blue dorm: he accepts the (admittedly unexpected) announcement that he is to stay in Osiris Red and gives Gokkaido a speech on how he shouldn't look down on Osiris Red or 'trash' cards. However, he still shows some traces of self-doubt concerning his ability to defeat Judai when he loses to Takuma Saiou and becomes a member of the Society of Light, on the basis that 'he wants to defeat Judai Yuki'.

In the following episodes, he goes on to turn the whole Obelisk Blue Dormitory into the base of the Society of Light, 'Whitewashing' most of the students there. When Asuka challenges him to a duel in an attempt to make him stop, Manjoume manages to predict Asuka's every move and eventually makes Asuka into a member of the Society of Light as well.

Manjoume 'White Thunder'

During this time, he appears to be one of the leading members of the Society, usually leading the group of Whitewashed students, speaking for them or through them on Saiou's behalf, and gaining Misawa as another prominent member. He also travels to Domino City with the Society, although he does not play an important role whilst there. Whilst under Saiou's influence, he appears to be completely obsessed with anything concerning the light, taking any opportunity at all to preach about it, renaming himself 'White Thunder', and even going so far as to throw away his Ojama cards when they begin to appear 'strange' to him.

When the GX Tournament opens, he is a participant, albeit presumably on behalf of the Society of Light. He is shown to be one of the leading duelists participating at one point, and he shows off his earned medallions whilst fighting Gergo, a visiting Pro League Duelist.

Despite this (and Saiou's entrusting of the 'White Knight's' series of cards to him), he shows signs of breaking free of Saiou's control over him, appearing uncertain in a gathering of Society of Light students and beginning to remember what he saw in the Ojama cards. Judai finally confonts him in front of the school after he defeats Gergo, and the two duel, Manjoume using the White Knight's deck and Judai using the Ojamas. Judai eventually breaks through to him, and Manjoume is revived as Manjoume 'Black Thunder'.

He appears to regain his confidence in himself at this point, recognising that 'perfection' isn't a part of himself, and that he is who he is despite that person being 'dirty' with imperfection. He spends the rest of the season attempting to correct his conversion to the Society of Light, making a point of undoing the control over the remaining Society of Light students and helping Judai bring Asuka back around. He eventually defeats Rei in the final duel of the GX Tournament, and becomes the Tournament champion.

[edit] Yubel

Manjoume is first seen attempting to co-ordinate the repainting of the Blue dorm, which he had previously ordered to be painted white as part of the Society of Light's takeover. Upon going back to his Osiris Red house, he discovers that Rei has taken his place there: whilst he is at the Academy for this year, it seems that he will have to continue to share a room with Judai.

He is at the gathering when the visiting students from the different Academies arrive, and is also present when Professor Cobra announces the implementation of the Dis-Belt system. During this period, he takes an interest in one of the visiting students, Amon Garam- and, upon doing some research, concludes that he is the eldest son of the Garam family. Feeling a sense of hostility towards him, he challenges him to a duel suspended on helicopter-held platforms above the lake.

During the duel, he is angered by Amon's accusations that he has been spoiled by being born into a rich family (a contrast to Amon, who was adopted into the Garam family)- however, despite this, he ultimately loses, suffering the draining effects of his Dis-Belt and sinking into the lake. The others are able to retrieve him before he gets into any danger, although he has to spend some time in the infirmary to recover.

Like the rest of Duel Academy, he is taken along to the alternate dimension when Cobra is defeated by Judai, and ends up staying there as a sentry when the others leave to find medicine for Rei. However, as Martin begins to take control of the school, he is eventually turned into a zombie along with the others, and he remains one for the duration of this time. He is only set free when Martin is defeated by Judai (again), and they are returned to their normal dimension.

Judai, however, is depressed by Johan's loss: when Judai makes the decision to go back through the dimensions to search for him, he accompanies him along with the others. During this time, however, he is marked by Brron with the symbol of 'rage', which causes him to express these emotions towards Judai: although the emotions are blown out of proportion they are genuine ones, based on his anger that Judai neglected his other friends on his search for Johan. He is eventually sacrificed as a result of the duel between Judai and Brron.

He does not appear for much of the season after that, only returning in spiritual form to assure Shou that the sacrifices made during that duel were merely transported to another dimension. He is revived eventually, however, and safely returned to the Academy. About as disturbed at Judai's disappearance as the others, he waits for Judai to return along with them as the season ends.

[edit] Darkness

Manjoume does not participate as much in the main events of this arc as in previous seasons. Although he is hypnotised by Fujiwara, and although he also takes part in the Pair Duel Tournament (trying and failing to be partners with Asuka), any mention of him in the season mostly revolves around his aspirations for the future- namely, his desire to become a pro duelist.

He is determined to do this without any help from his brothers, both for the sake of his pride and in order to repay all that they have done for him. At first, he is rejected by all of the pro leagues- however, after Chronos de Medici learns of Manjoume's story, Chronos asks Edo Phoenix to become Manjoume's mentor.

Following this, Manjoume becomes an aide to Edo, assisting him in any way possible in order to further his own experience of the professional dueling world. During this time, he is shocked to find that Edo- despite being considered a genius- has to undergo harsh training regimes. This makes him take his job as Edo's assistant more seriously, something that the latter appreciates.

After several months, Edo trusts him enough to leave a briefcase with an important card in his care. After cleaning out the storage room, however, Manjoume cannot find it. Due to this incident, he has to take Edo's place in a duel against Judai. As Edo meets with the Senrigan Group chairman concerning the lost card (the last D card created by that group), Manjoume duels Judai in an Ojama Yellow suit, appearing to be there more for the purpose of the crowd's amusement than a good duel.

He eventually loses: as it turns out that Edo had made a deal with the chairman that he would leave the world of pro dueling if Manjoume lost, this results in Edo's downfall as well. He fires Manjoume before walking away.

Manjoume continues to attempt to clear a path into the professional world despite this, although he is somewhat manipulated by Mike, the television director who set up his duel against Judai in the first place. He duels as OjaManjoume, dressed in an Ojama Yellow suit: although popular, he never seems to show his true strength in dueling.

Whilst this is happening, Emeralda- Edo's sponsor- approaches him with evidence that Mike was, in fact, the reason that the card went missing. It also turns out that Mike is not acting in Manjoume's best interests: he has set up a duel between he and Edo in order for Manjoume to lose on purpose, with the intention of providing the crowd with entertainment. Angry at both revelations, Manjoume enlists Judai's help in retreiving the card before going forward to the duel.

He stalls for time in an attempt to allow Judai to find the card- however, it becomes apparent that Mike is in fact keeping it on his person. Once Judai reveals this- after both Manjoume and Edo have been driven into a corner whilst playing a 'false' game- Edo's retirement from professional dueling is cancelled, removing at least one shadow over the duel.

Finally, Judai encourages Manjoume to show his true strength to the crowd; Manjoume, throwing off the Ojama Yellow suit and stating that his moniker is 'Manjoume Thunder', not 'OjaManjoume', finally manages to defeat Edo in a real duel. Edo tells him that he will repay this debt in the professional world before walking away, and Manjoume- relieved- leads the crowd in his Manjoume Thunder chant. Following this, Manjoume gets several offers from various pro leagues, showing that he eventually managed to secure his future path with his own skill.

Before he can pursue this, however, he is caught up in the power of Darkness threatening the school. He, along with most of the Academy, is defeated by Mr T. (in the guise of Sorano), thus being erased from everyone's memory and being sucked into a world of personal Darkness. His situation is that he is stuck in an impossible position towards the end of a professional duel, with the same hand, the same amount of life points, and the same card being drawn at the start of each turn. Each time he can do nothing but lose, and each time the situation starts over from the beginning.

Due to the pressure of loss- presumably stemming, again, from his feelings of underconfidence concerning his skill as a duelist- he eventually resorts to cheating (drawing the card below the one on the top from his deck) in his dark vision, and wonders if he has been released from the endless cycle as he is swallowed by the Darkness creeping up on him.

He is ultimately saved by Judai, as the former confronts the form of Darkness for the final time. Judai urges him not to be afraid of the future that he hasn't walked yet, and Manjoume- encouraged- decides to accept the loss, as he reassures himself that he can always climb his way up from the bottom again, as he has done before. This frees him from his dark world, and he is returned to it along with the others in time to see Darkness defeated and the world returned to normal.

At the graduation ceremony, he is revealed to be in the top three duelists present: however, he refuses the prize (a replica of Yugi's deck) as he believes his current deck to be the most important to him. He admires Asuka's dress, comments on Judai's irresponsibility for not being there, and seems sure along with the others that they will meet again. At the series end, he appears to have a bright future ahead of him in the professional dueling world.

[edit] Manga