GX Duel Memorial Album: Extra Edition

So how did Chaos Sorcerer summon Perfectly Ultimate Great Moth anyways?

A Look Back With Masahiro Hikokubo-san, the Duel Composer!!

“GX” 20th Anniversary Column

Duel Memorial Album

Extra Edition

Duel Composer Masahiro Hikokubo Answers Your Questions Concerning Cards & Duels from “GX” That Were Compiled By V Jump!

Q: What was the most difficult Duel or Deck to come up with during “GX”? Also, please tell us about Duels that you consider the “Best Bouts” or your favorite characters or Decks that felt pleasant to write.

【Difficult Duels】

The most difficult thing was probably Edo’s first Duel in Turn(*) 53. Although it wasn’t shown in the episode, I did also decide on the contents of the packs he opened. This is also the case when cards are shown due to Deck Destruction, but it is more difficult to come up with 40 cards that already exist than just thinking up new ones.

(*) Turn is how the episodes of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX were referred to in Japan. Turn 53 would be episode 53.

The Contents Of Edo’s 8 Packs

Ojama Yellow	Beckoning Light
Big Koala	Opti-Camouflage Armor
Chaos Greed	Monster Gate
Recycle	Goblin Thief
Wild Nature’s Release	Stone Statue of the Aztecs
Soul Tiger	Sealmaster Meisei	Mystical Shine Ball
Ojama Black	The Agent of Wisdom – Mercury	The Unhappy Girl
Soul Absorption	Weapon Change	Gogiga Gagagigo
Chaos End	Earthquake	The Kick Man
Chain Disappearance	Draining Shield	Needle Burrower
Mystical Shine Ball	Metal Armored Bug	Sonic Jammer
Atomic Firefly	Backfire	White Magician Pikeru
Warrior of Zera	Micro Ray	Lady Ninja Yae
Archlord Zerato	Monster Gate	Enemy Controller
The Sanctuary in the Sky	Needle Burrower	Amplifier

【Best Bout Duels】

My best bout…? Hmmm, it’s probably a little different than what you’re looking for, but probably the Duel between Saiou and Prince Ojin. This Duel is meant to be a showcase of Saiou’s true might to Judai and his allies, as well as the audience. I think there are several ways to show a Duelist’s strength. Overwhelming strength via strong Power Cards. It’s even better if that Duelist wins by defeating the opponent’s ace monster. Or even completely turning the tables at the last second. Or having strength like a Pro Wrestler where you take every hit and then win. Apart from those, I think One Turn Kills (One Shot Kills) is one of the most impactful ways to show this off. Initially, we thought Saiou should show his strength by dodging his opponent’s One Turn Kill and then have him perform a One Turn Kill in turn. However, I felt this development would more emphasize Prince Ojin’s inexperience and incompetence at stopping Saiou rather than displaying how strong Saiou was.

Honestly, I think it would have been fine with the right dialogue and stage direction, but I felt it would be too bland and normal of a Duel to properly emphasize the eeriness, unpredictability and mystique inherent to Saiou’s character, so I decided to scrap the Duel I was working on and thought it through. What I reworked it into was that Zero Turn Kill. How was it? Impossible? Unrealistic? If you felt that way, I think it was worth it (ahaha).

【Favorite Characters & Decks】

The ones that immediately come to mind are Chronos and the Marufuji brothers. Maybe it’s because I’m a fan of mecha.

Q: Please tell me, Hikokubo-san, which card from ”GX” you would like as your ace.

I used to use “Ancient Gear Golem” all the time in “Duel Links”. Besides the “Elemental HEROes”, it was the first “GX” original monster I came up with, so I’m very fond of it as a result.

Q: How did the “Sacred Beast” cards come to be, and what was the reason in-universe for them being so incredibly powerful? Also, is there any sort of motif when it comes to their names and effects?

They are indeed incredible cards, so I do wonder how they came to be… I wonder if their incredible power is somehow connected to the Spirit Worlds… perhaps? Sorry, I don’t know (ahaha). As for their names? I was trying to think up something connected to alchemy, but ultimately I came up with names that were corruptions of the names of the 4 archangels in order to achieve a more powerful feeling. I think this is pretty obvious and self evident, but their effects are meant to evoke the “Egyptian God Cards”. Their Summoning Method was determined from the start. It was a tribute to the “Egyptian God Cards”… but with a dash of originality.

Q: In a flashback, we saw Judai’s Deck from when he was a child, how did you decide that Deck?

Scenes like that are actually more difficult to brainstorm than actual Duels. You don’t have the luxury of coming up with new cards for casual situations, but you also can’t use cards in a completely slapdash manner. This doesn’t just apply to Judai, but also for other Duelists, you have to ask “What was the first Deck you played with?” “What was a favorite card you picked?” … I think about it so it doesn’t break character too much. However, there is also the practical issue of “Could this card have existed for years?”, and you might find yourself choosing a card after weighing the pros and the cons.

The flashback in TURN-131 includes “Yubel”, “Beaver Warrior”, “Oscillo Hero”, “The Warrior Returning Alive” among others.

Q: Six “Neo-Spacians” appeared for each Attribute, but were there any plans to introduce new “Neo-Spacians”? Also, “Aqua Dolphin” and “Glow Moss” evolved using the Spell Card “NEX” in the show, but did you plan to have any others evolve as well? And did you plan to introduce Fusions of those evolutions and “Neos”?

I didn’t think about those things. If anything, I honestly wanted to increase the variety of Contact Fusions. However, I do think it would be interesting to have more “Neo-Spacians”. As for the Deck, I think that might turn it into a bit of a mess (ahaha). I would have loved to have done more evolutions of the “Neo-Spacians” with “NEX”. I don’t have any specific card ideas, but it’s a shame I couldn’t give you all of them. Sorry “Neo-Spacians”.

Q: Judai often used monsters with generic effects like “Dandylion” & “Card Trooper”, but what was your aim for having them be introduced separately from “HERO?

I wonder if there is a team that supports the “HEROes” starting with “Wroughtweiler” that helps expand the world building for the “Elemental HEROes”? In the second year of the show, I decided to build upon that and thought about the nuances of monsters that live in the world of the HERO, and what kind of special abilities they’d have. So I tried to assign roles to as many different Types as possible.

Q: Did you have any thoughts or plans as to what the unused Decks of the six Attribute Decks that Misawa used would be?

Unfortunately I don’t have anything like that lying about. The concept of Six Attribute Decks came from the scriptwriter side of things, and while I thought it was interesting, I did wonder “Is it okay to set that much up?”, so I mostly decided to think about it each time we had the chance to touch on him.

Q: What kind of monster was the “Ultimate fused god” that Yubel tried to summon during their Duel with Judai? Also, if the Duel had continued, what kind of Duel do you think it would have been?

“The ultimate fused god” that unites the 12 Dimensions into one. I do wonder what kind of monster it would be. I suggested that “We should not give it a proper name in the actual episode as it would work better for the story’s climax, no?” The reason we didn’t say the proper card name was to prevent people from going “I’m actually curious about that!”, but it still nags at people I guess (ahaha). So, I didn’t think about it at the time, but let’s puzzle it out.

First off, how many Levels should it have? Since the Fusion uses monsters from Level 1 to 12 as its materials, maybe 13? Mmm, but then wouldn’t that make it impossible to convert to the “Official Card Game”? And wouldn’t it lessen the impact? Perhaps Level ∞? Mmm… or maybe 0? A Zero in Tennis is Love, and when it comes to Love, that’s definitely “Yubel”! That feels right. And if it’s Level 0, its ATK and DEF should also be 0. And with three 0s, you have “Ain Soph Ohr”(*)! It’s starting to come together.

I wonder if we could fit “Ultimate Fused God” into the name…? Mmm, no. I feel like in respect to what was originally intended, it should not be in the card’s name. But if you’re thinking about including support cards… … Well I’ve gone off track a bit. A Level 0 “Yubel” would be like a single point, no? And if it’s a “Yubel”, it’s got to have that German language element. And since Yubel said it would unite the 12 Dimensions of the Universe together, it should have some cosmic flavor… Hrm, I guess it would look something like this when you put everything above together.

Yubel – Das Liebe Singularitater
ATK 0 DEF 0 Level 0 DARK Fiend

“Liebe” is Love, of course. “Singularitater” is a bit heavy handed, but it gives a sort of personification to the word “Singularity”. In Japanese it would be something like 愛の特異点者 (Ai no Tokuitensha)? Would “Love Awakener” sound kinda lousy? But you can’t  leave out Singularity… so 愛の特異点に立つ者 (Ai no Tokuiten ni Tatsumono) … that sounds about on the same level as the previous “Yubel”, I think?

Let’s put a word in front of “Yubel” to make it look special… “Super Yubel”, “God Yubel”… but we need more German instead of Kanji… I remember hearing that divinity in German is “Gottheit”. Maybe that’d work out?

Gottheit Yubel – Das Liebe Singularitater
ATK 0 DEF 0 Level 0 DARK Fiend

In Japanese it would be 神ユベルー愛の特異点に立つ者 (Shin Yubel – Ai no Tokuiten ni Tatsumono). The length of the card’s name has a charm to it (ahaha). But back to the rest of the question, what would happen if the Duel continued? I think it’s a bit tacky to talk about it, so let’s leave it to your imagination.

(*) Ain Soph Ohr is Hebrew for “Limitless Light”, and to dumb down a very very complex series of theological arguments and speculations, is the idea in the Kabbalah that God as the Godhead radiates pure infinite divine ‘light’ in their most true form and emanation.

Q: The “Destiny HEROes” used by Edo were introduced as another group of “HEROes” to serve as counterparts to the “Elemental HEROes” used by Judai. Could you tell us about the background behind them?

Edo’s Deck initially was going to be a combination of “Elemental HERO” with different illustrations along with Fusion Monsters that used the same materials, like “Phoenix Enforcer” that differed from Judai’s. “Wouldn’t this be a good addition for Elemental HERO strategies?”.

But as we kept delving deeper into Edo’s character, we added the character concept that he was looking for the ultimate “D” card that was a clue to finding the person who murdered his father. That’s an idea that one of the scriptwriters, Yoshida Shin-san, came up with. As a result “Destiny HEROes” were born. It wasn’t intended when Edo first appeared, but I think it turned out to be a surprise with really good timing, ultimately.

Q: Hell Johan vs Hell Kaiser (Turn-147 & 148) and Hell Johan vs Amon (Turn-149 & 150) were spectacular. Please tell me about any interesting stories or thoughts you had during the production of those Duels.

Thank you so very much for the compliment. The screenwriter for those episodes Yasuyuki Suzuki-san who said he wanted to write the scripts for the Hell Kaiser two-parter because of how passionate he was for the character. The outcome of the Duel originally had a different plan: Johan refused to accept Hell Kaiser losing due to the damage of “Power Bond”, preventing it, but Ryo overturns this prevention, and the Duel would play out otherwise… … But it ended up being a bit of a useless addition. I think the final draft ended up being the best version.

The battle against “Amon”, “Yubel” would have ended up appearing before “Exodia” and “The Sacred Beasts”, but that was a bit too extravagant of a development. Reviewing my old materials, it appears Yubel was supposed to be powered up in stages. Their name was originally “Yubel -The First Chronicle-” and in the final draft, it became “Yubel”, but it would have made it obvious there would be a “Second” and probably a “Third”, so it was for the best. (ahaha).

Q: Is there anything you kept in mind about the cards characters used and how they played them?

Mmm, I wish I had been better about expressing things like playing habits and personal quirks better. I generally couldn’t think of any other way other than expressing those things by comparing them to others or other ideas that end up being fairly bland… But that’s ultimately an excuse. There’s plenty of depth you can do with expressing Duels. Of course, the one thing I was always conscious of was choosing cards that matched the characters!

Q: Cards such as “Illusion Gate” and “Sabatiel – The Philosopher’s Stone” are considered extremely powerful cards within the show, what is the most important thing to keep in mind when introducing cards like them into a work?

The first thing to keep in mind is the purpose of such cards is to make the viewer or reader go “That’s impossible!”, “That’s unfair!” or “It’s a miracle”! The effect of the card is clearly bonkers and bogus, but it needs to be stated in story by the cast so the audience can share the sentiment. I also personally make notes in addition to my regular Duel documentation, but when creating the scenario, I check with the writers to ensure the dialogue expresses this, so it’s made clear in story.

Q: Did generic draw cards, such as “Pot of Greed”, getting placed on the Forbidden section of Forbidden & Limited List while the show was running have an influence on the way you wrote Duels? Was the introduction of theme specific draw cards like “Fifth Hope” and “Destiny Draw” a result of this?

Yes, indeed, it did. It all depends on when the information comes out, but generally I was reluctant to continue using cards in the anime that viewers couldn’t use, so I gradually let them rotate out of use. As for theme-specific draw cards… I think I was concerned about making Decks look more appealing and interesting. Powerful generic cards are easy for viewers to understand, so it’s fine to use them for various tactics, but if everyone is using the same card it is also a bit of a problem because Decks lose a sense of individual flavor.

Q: I was impressed by the use of actual combos in the anime, such as “Future Fusion” + “Five-Headed Dragon” in TURN-160 and “Royal Decree” + “Horus the Black Flame Dragon”, but is there anything you (had to) keep in mind when using them in the anime?

I tried to choose cards and combos that were popular when we were producing episodes… But I had no choice but to hope and pray they won’t be obsolete by the time the episode actually aired (ahaha).

Q: In the last episode, the Duel between Judai and Yugi was not shown to its conclusion, but what do you think would have been the outcome?

What do you think it would have been? (ahaha) But since “GX” was set in a school, there was a general nuance to the writing that defeat was not the end of one’s story, and that defeat is also a source of growth. If you think about it with that mindset, regardless of the outcome of that Duel, it would be a source of new growth. I think that was the result. That’s why I think we had a Duel happen between two people who would have never Dueled one another in the first place.

Q: In TURN-143, there were several Duels in the Otherworld, but the exact details were omitted, I know, but there was a scene where Chaos Sorcerer brought out “Perfectly Ultimate Great Moth” against Hell Kaiser, which has been something of a hot topic among fans. Do you have any idea how he managed that?

This might be a bit convenient, but I what I had scripted was Chaos Sorcerer used a anime original Spell Card called 成長魔法 Seichou Mahou (Growth Magic) twice.

成長魔法 Seichou Mahou (Growth Magic) *
Normal Spell Card
If you control “Petit Moth” equipped with “Cocoon of Evolution”: Move the turn count of that “Cocoon of Evolution” forward by 3 turns.

Note: This might be a play on growth hormones (成長ホルモン)

Q: Please tell me how Saotome Rei, when she reappeared in Year 2, had her Deck switched from “Maiden in Love” to “Mystic”.

Saotome Rei grew up, you know?

Q:Among the “Neos” Contact Fusion Monsters, such as “Flare Neos” and “Magma Neos”, it seemed like effects that increase ATK were useful for the Duel composition. What types of effects (I assume ATK Gain and Draw-related effects) are useful in Duel composition?

It’s true that effects that allow you to draw or gain ATK are very useful. However, in the case of the “Neos” Fusions, I needed to consider variations, so I wondered “If it’s a FIRE monster, should I give it an ATK gain effect or a burn effect?”. I guess it’s not like I intentionally gave them an effect assuming it would be useful, so much as situations where they could be used kept coming up later on.

That said, if I had to name one effect that is very useful for Duel composition? It would be effects that reduce damage to 0. Since Duels must be presented as entertainment, draw and stat modification effects are useful effects for changing the situation, but what you’re doing tends to end up creating a rather plain picture. Instead, I would say that an effect that can create a sense of suspense in a battle between monsters is far more useful in the Duel composition for an anime. Of course, it’s no fun if the game flow pattern is the same every Duel, so the second time it’s used, do so early on, or maybe later on use such an effect as a bargaining chip.

Q: In the “Destroy Deck Destruction!” Duel in TURN-72, the way Judai won was so interesting and still leaves an impression on me. I would love to know how the Duel Composition for this Duel came about!

Thank you so very much! Since this story was about a Pro Duelist coming to the Academia, I wanted to upgrade him one or two notches over the Duelists at the school. I thought it would be best if they had an alias such as “User of “so-and-such Deck” or “so-and-such Combo”… which ended up with me suggesting Deck Destruction. How do you counter a Deck Destruction Combo on top of that? What would be the most exciting and surprising development? I then immediately concluded it should be the sort of Duel where the schemer ends up hoisted by his own petard. I love those kinds of Duels.

Q: Recently, more and more scenes from the anime have appeared in the “Official Card Game”, but could you please let me know if there was a card that made you go “I never thought this scene would be made into a card!”!

“Seriously!?” was my thought when I saw “Drawbread”. I wonder if they’ll make dialogue like “Thank you, my Deck”? (ahaha) *

* A line said by Tachibana Ikkaku in TURN-91 of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX

Q: I absolutely adore “Vennominaga the Deity of Poisonous Snakes”! “Vennominaga” was a rather powerful monster at the time with rather interesting effects, but I thought about it and realized Yubel, who was pulling Cobra’s strings, if they Dueled Cobra, Cobra wouldn’t be able to attack or use its Special Win Condition effect, making it impossible for him to win. Could it be you designed the effect of “Yubel” first and reverse-engineered from it to make “Vennominaga”? I’d love to hear any stories about “Vennominaga”!

Oh! You’re sharp! That’s right! I’m glad you noticed!! From the very beginning I… I didn’t… I’m sorry, so sorry. As you probably noticed, I made “Vennominaga” based on the name of its user: Cobra. A powerful ominous ‘evil god’ monster along with Special Win Conditions, are luxuries. I liked the effect of using “Poison” in a certain card game that will remain nameless, so it was very easy to come up with its effect. If it weren’t for the fact this was a boss battle, I might have allowed the Special Victory, but I think by letting Cobra overwhelm Judai over three episodes, I was able to create an impactful card. These kinds of boss-grade monsters are shown off in two ways: One that flexes its strength and you ask “How can I defeat this?” and the other is it appears at the back end of the Duel which makes you go “Oy oy, can that really be beaten?!”, and I think Vennominaga perfectly fits as the latter. I’m glad you like the card so much!

Q: What were some of the changes you made to the Duel composition in “GX” over time? I noticed “Turns become longer” and “The number of effects that activate in the Graveyard increase” as trends.

As you pointed out, things changed a lot. We gradually raised the bar of what could happen, such as combos, Deck themes, or Special Win Conditions. I think it’s inevitable the game play and effects will grow more complex over the years. Anyone would get bored of doing the same thing over and over. This might be a little off-topic, but at the time, I realized that Marufuji Sho was important to the series, as he serves as a fixed-point observer of Judai’s growth over time. By having him around, you can talk about how Judai grows and changes, while feeling grounded and realistic. Isn’t it lousy when you know something but the characters in the story don’t? Dueling is the same way, by having a character you’ve been watching all the time talk about things, it allows the story to talk about it from the same perspective as the audience. So, I think I kept saying Sho was an important character when reading over the episode scripts (ahaha).

Source: Yu-Gi-Oh! GX Anime Complete Guide