 Katsuya Jonouchi (Joey Wheeler) Katsuya Jonouchi (城之内 克也 Jōnouchi Katsuya) is a fictional character in the manga and anime series Yu-Gi-Oh!. He is known in the English anime and English video games as Joseph "Joey" Wheeler. In the Japanese version of the anime, his surname is romanized as "Jyonouchi", while in the English manga, it is almost always romanized as "Jonouchi", but is seen once as "Jônouchi".
16-year old Jonouchi, who is in class 1-B at Domino High School, is a hothead and lets his mouth get him in trouble oftentimes. 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 becomes best friends with Yugi Mutou (Yugi Moto in the English anime), who melts his tough-guy exterior to reveal his true nature. 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. The pronunciations from the first characters of "Yūgi" and "Jōnouchi" form the word "Yūjō" (友情), which means "friend" or "fellowship". The Japanese Duel Monsters card "友情 Yu-Jyo" (the Friendship card in English) is named after the word and the relationship between the characters, especially Jonouchi and Yugi.
In the original Japanese versions of Yu-Gi-Oh!, Jonouchi does not use honorifics, which means he has a "rude" speech pattern. When talking to people he doesn't like, Jonouchi uses the word temee (a rude form of "you" in Japanese) instead of his normal omae (a form of "you" that in that context is used between friends, but can be imply that the person being spoken to has a lower status than the speaker does if used incorrectly), especially to Seto Kaiba, who does not think highly of him. The speech pattern translates into the English anime's Joey Wheeler having a Brooklyn, New York accent. (See Wikibooks:Japanese:Pronouns)
Katsuya Jonouchi in the 1st chapter of the manga In the manga, Jonouchi is poor, due to his father's gambling addictions and alcoholism. Jonouchi goes to great lengths to repay his father's debts, such as working at multiple jobs (he was the "lone paperboy" in middle school) and going on the "Get the Million" game show. Ironically, many of the Duel Monsters cards he has contains a gambling theme, and it is often through luck that he wins in the end.
Jonouchi's skill at Duel Monsters is nowhere near 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 skill. This is a frequent subplot throughout the series, although it was muted somewhat in the English anime.
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 a Duel Monsters tournament to finance her eye surgery. Yugi wins that tournament and gives him the money to finance the surgery. In the first series anime, Shizuka is chronically ill and in the hospital. Therefore Jonouchi ensures that she gets the best care in the hospital.
In North America, the Joey Starter Deck (SDJ) includes his most notable Duel Monsters card, Red-Eyes Black Dragon.
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