Meme: Character Survey
Body and Appearance
1. Describe the character's height and build. Is he heavyset, thin, short, rangy?
An official height was never given, but I’d say he’s about average height for a Japanese teenage boy - fanon seems to claim around 5’8”, so I’ve been going with that. As for build… He’s not exactly very muscular, unlike some members of his canon, but he’s more svelte than anything, really, I’d say.
2. How old is he?
Seventeen.
3. Describe his posture. Does he carry himself well or does he slouch?
He’s very confident in himself, and his posture shows it.
4. How is his health? Is he fit or out of shape? Any illnesses or conditions? Any physical disabilities?
Well, considering that in his first year he climbed glaciers, swam in ice-cold water, and reportedly outran bears in order to collect cards, I’d say he’s fit. He doesn’t seem to have the greatest balance in the world, though, considering the time he fell off the roof…
5. How does he move? Is he clumsy, graceful, tense, fluid?
When he’s dueling? He’s fairly graceful. When he’s walking, as well. Not perfect, certainly (see: falling off the roof), but he’s not tripping over himself constantly. Just sometimes.
6. How attractive is this character physically? How does he perceive himself in the mirror?
He’s rather handsome. Certainly not bad-looking, at any rate. Even if his hair is untamable - it’s untamable in a way that looks good on him. And he likes the way he looks too.
7. Describe his complexion. Dark, light, clear, scarred?
His face is so pale. Like, seriously. Compared to the rest of his canon, his skin is almost ivory or something. Somehow, though, his black hair and coat manage to draw out what little color there is to be had there. (At the same time, he looks terrible in white because of this.)
8. Describe his hair: color, texture, style.
Black. Untamable in a way that manages to make it spiky. It looks good on him.
9. What color are his eyes?
Dark grey.
10. Does the character have any other noteworthy features?
Nothing physical.
11. What are his chief tension centers?
Tension centers? Um… If I’ve got this right, then I’d guess his shoulders and neck?
12. What is the character's wardrobe like? Casual, dressy, utilitarian? Bright colors, pastels, neutrals? Is it varied, or does he have six of the same suit?
Black. He loves his black. Black shirt, black pants, black shoes, his black coat from North School (that he never washes). Sure, he owns other things, but he never wears them. And you’ll never see him in white again. Ever.
13. Do his clothes fit well? Does he seem comfortable in them?
They fit well enough. And he has never had a more comfortable coat in his life.
14. Does he dress the same on the job as he does in his free time? If not, what are the differences?
He wears the same thing all the time until his focus episodes in season 4 but he’s not there yet. It helps that it counts as a school uniform and one is supposed to wear a school uniform at Duel Academy.
15. You knew it was coming: Boxers, briefs or commando?
*checks* …You can barely see it, and I’m… not sure how he managed to tear them off like that without pulling his legs out first, but in 105, it’s confirmed: boxers. ^^
Speech
1. What does this character's voice sound like? High-pitched, deep, hoarse?
He’s gone through puberty. His voice isn’t the deepest ever, but it’s not really high pitched either. He’s also got a slightly nasal quality, in a way…
2. How does he normally speak? Loud, soft, fast, evenly? Does he talk easily, or does he hesitate?
He often speaks rather loudly, and with great charisma. It usually comes out fairly easily, unless it pertains at all to his crush on Asuka, at which point he does stutter a little sometimes…
3. Does the character have a distinct accent or dialect? Any individual quirks of pronunciation? Any, like, you know, verbal tics?
Other than “Manjoume-san da!”? None that I can think of. I mean, he obviously has a Japanese accent for what English is used, but…
4. What language/s does he speak, and with how much fluency?
Japanese is his native language. I’d assume he’s also at least decently fluent in English - if he and his family are going to conquer the world, they need to know the language of business.
5. Does he switch languages or dialects in certain situations?
Not really.
6. Is he a good impromptu speaker, or does he have to think about his words?
He’s very good at impromptu stuff.
7. Is he eloquent or inarticulate? Under what circumstances might this change?
He’s generally eloquent, unless, again, it relates to Asuka.
Mental and Emotional
1. How intelligent is this character? Is he book-smart or street-smart?
I’d say mostly book-smart. I mean, he did well enough to get into Obelisk Blue in his first year (you need to do well on the tests and go to an affiliated middle school for that), and was offered re-promotion to that dorm several times over the course of the series.
2. Does he think on his feet, or does he need time to deliberate?
On his feet. You kind of have to have a knack for that, to do well in duels.
3. Describe the character's thought process. Is he more logical, or more intuitive? Idealistic or practical?
He’s more intuitive and practical than anything, though he does have room for logic too.
4. What kind of education has the character had?
He’s in his third year of high school. He also went to a private middle school, and I’d assume a private elementary school as well, considering his family.
5. What are his areas of expertise? What, if anything, is he interested in learning more about?
Dueling is his main interest, though he appears to have possibly wanted to be a detective when he was little.
6. Is he an introvert or an extrovert?
He’s more introverted, really. Sure, he’s charismatic and involved in the world when he wants to be, but he doesn’t really let others in very often.
7. Describe the character's temperament. Is he even-tempered or does he have mood swings? Cheerful or melancholy? Laid-back or driven?
He’s very driven in his goal to be at the top of the dueling world. He’s also very stubborn. This is a good thing, in that when he fails he just gets back up and tries again until he succeeds, but at the same time it leads to frustration, which leads to a temper. When he’s annoyed, it’s obvious. But at the same time, when he’s happy and excited, he can get quite bubbly.
8. How does he respond to new people or situations? Is he suspicious, relaxed, timid, enthusiastic?
With new people? He’s generally neutral unless they annoy him or can do something for him. With new situations, it depends on whether he can ignore it or not, and whether it has to do with dueling or not. Swept into the Pokémon world? When can he get back please? On the other hand, a mysterious man shows up in the forest and offers him a spot in the Pros if he can beat him? Sign him up! (This can, naturally, be a bad thing.)
9. Is he more likely to act, or to react?
React, usually.
10. Which is his default: fight or flight?
Fight. Especially if dueling is the method of fighting.
11. Describe the character's sense of humor. Does he appreciate jokes? Puns? Gallows humor? Bathroom humor? Pranks?
While he’s not adverse to sarcasm, besides that he doesn’t have the greatest sense of humor in the world. He doesn’t really like pranks or dirty humor or anything like that. (This did not help him to get used to the Ojamas.)
12. Does the character have any diagnosable mental disorders? If yes, how does he deal with them?
Nothing diagnosed.
13. What moments in this character's life have defined him as a person?
Let’s see… there was his trip to North School, which taught him to rely on his own strength and not on his money, there was his revelation that he has the hugest crush in the world on Asuka, and there was his time in the Hikari no Kessha which taught him that it’s okay to ask for help sometimes and that he needs the Ojamas just as much as they need him.
14. What does he fear?
It’s not so much a fear of failure as a fear of failing and, while perhaps having the possibility of trying again, having the chances of success be completely non-existent. It’s one thing to keep trying as long as the eventual success as a, for lack of better term, light at the end of the tunnel. But when that isn’t there…
15. What are his hopes or aspirations?
To become the next King of Games - essentially, to become the most powerful and famous professional duelist in the world.
16. What is something he doesn't want anyone to find out about him?
…I’m not sure. Maybe that he’s capable of being completely overwhelmed and breaking down into tears over it, but Judai saw that…
Relationships
1. Describe this character's relationship with his parents.
My headcanon states: He never knew his parents. The day his mother found out she was pregnant, she and his father got into an argument - his father was shocked at the prospect of having a third kid, especially so long after their second, and had no idea how it happened. (He was even questioning whether the child could be of his blood, even though don’t worry, Jun is a completely legitimate child.) So he wound up going to work before they could make up, and he died in a car crash before he got home. His mother was distraught and fell into a depression, and that combined with her age caused her to die shortly after childbirth.
2. Does the character have any siblings? What is/was their relationship like?
He has two older brothers: Chousaku, a very influential politician, and Shouji, a top investment banker (or something like that). They’re… not the closest. They basically raised him, and they’ve always had high expectations, which usually he’s been able to meet. In his first year at Duel Academy, however, he started actually losing (to Judai, mostly, and Misawa once but), and his brothers didn’t like that. He has since then shown them that he can win with his own strength, and as of the end of episode 35 Chousaku, at least, seems to understand this. What many people don’t get, though, is that Manjoume really does want to help his older brothers. He does want to get to the top of the dueling world, and while yes this is mostly to fulfill his own goals, he doesn’t completely shun the family goal as well. He’s just going to do it in a different way than his brothers want. That’s all that differs.
3. Are there other blood relatives to whom he is close? Are there ones he can't stand?
If there are, none are ever mentioned.
4. Are there other, unrelated people whom he considers part of his family? What are his relationships with them?
You’ll have better luck getting a pig to sprout wings and fly laps around the moon than to convince Manjoume to admit it in these words, but to an extent, the Ojamas are sort of family-ish, taking a role that’s kind of between companions and pets. Kind of, anyway. At the very least, they’re always there for each other, even if the Ojamas annoy him to no end. And in the end, isn’t that what family’s about?
5. Who is/was the character's best friend? How did they meet?
…Tough choice. Probably the Tenjoin siblings, Asuka and Fubuki. Asuka he at least knew of vaguely in middle school (according to comments made in episode 2), but they didn’t really actually get to know each other until Duel Academy, and then, mostly after his trip to North School. He only realized that he has a crush on her in episode 47, at which time he actually met met Fubuki (he’d seen him before but never talked to him).
I don’t list Judai because his relationship with Manjoume is more complicated. Not best friend, but certainly not just normal friend. His complicated relationship with Judai is the reason why season 2 happened the way it did, incidentally.
6. Does he have other close friends?
Besides those three, none that are particularly close. I mean, he usually hangs out with Main Characters, which includes Sho and Kenzan, but he’s not really as close with them.
7. Does he make friends easily, or does he have trouble getting along with people?
It’s not that he has trouble getting along with others (unless you flare his temper), but he doesn’t really let people in.
8. Which does he consider more important: family or friends?
Probably friends, considering that he’s not that close with his family.
9. Is the character single, married, divorced, widowed? Has he been married more than once?
Single, though he has an unrequited crush on Asuka. He’s too young to be married.
10. Is he currently in a romantic relationship with someone other than a spouse?
See: unrequited crush on Asuka. But if you’re asking if he’s cheating… no (considering that he isn’t in one to begin with officially), and I don’t think he ever would.
11. Who was his first crush? Who is his latest?
Asuka, and Asuka.
12. What does he look for in a romantic partner?
Well, um… what attracts him to Asuka is her intelligence and personality, and the fact that he feels comfortable around her, so…
13. Does the character have children? Grandchildren? If yes, how does he relate to them? If no, does he want any?
No kids, and it’s too early for him to think of them.
14. Does he have any rivals or enemies?
Judai is his rival, forever. As for enemies… does he have any, specifically? I don’t think so. I mean, he’ll never trust Saiou ever again, but I don’t think that counts as an ‘enemy’…
15. What is the character's sexual orientation? Where does he fall on the Kinsey scale?
I classify him as ‘uninterested with exceptions’. But to put him on that scale, he’d be about a 1, probably. No further than a 3, at any rate, considering his canon crush on Asuka, but there are arguments for him and, say, Fubuki that I could see.
16. How does he feel about sex? How important is it to him?
Not until marriage, and even then, not until both sides are ready. It’s not important to him at all. Really, when he blushes deep red and looks away when Asuka reaches into her shirt - without opening it up and exposing anything, mind you - I don’t think he’s really ready for that kind of thing. (The fandom will occasionally tell you that he’s a sex-obsessed maniac who would have no qualms with becoming a rapist. Those people deserve to go die in a fire.)
17. What are his turn-ons? Turn-offs? Weird bedroom habits?
…Um… I… honestly have no idea, and it’s not something I want to think about, thanks. I don’t even think he would know anyway.
Beliefs
1. Do you know your character's astrological (zodiac of choice) sign? How well does he fit type?
GX characters don’t have canon birthdays. For my own reasons, I’ve always thought of him as possibly having a December birthday, which would make him a Sagittarius. (Late December, to put him on the line with Capricorn, would make sense for his personality.) And since he’d have to be 17 in October of 2006, that would put him as born in 1988, making him a Dragon. Which… also fits.
2. Is this character religious, spiritual, both, or neither? How important are these elements in his life?
Spirits exist. This much he knows for a fact, and has (somewhat grudgingly) accepted as a fact of his life. But Manjoume and religion… yeah, even if he was before his second year at Duel Academy, I think he’s more or less stopped by now.
3. Does this character have a personal code of morals or ethics? If so, how did that begin? What would it take to compromise it?
Not really? He tries to at least do the right thing for the most part, but if he’s stressed out, he’ll do whatever it takes to accomplish what he wants to do. (He stole someone’s deck and threw it in the river once. That was before he went to North School, so I doubt he’d do it now, but.)
4. How does he regard beliefs that differ from his? Is he tolerant, intolerant, curious, indifferent?
At this point in his life, if he ran into a religious fanatic who started going on about stuff, he’d probably force them to shut up and go away. With people who don’t believe that spirits exist, he’d probably stay indifferent unless they got too much on his nerves.
5. What prejudices does he hold? Are they irrational or does he have a good reason for them?
He doesn’t tend to change his opinion of someone after they’ve made a first impression (or at least it’s very hard to change it), but aside from that, not that I can think of…
Daily Life
1. What is the character's financial situation? Is he rich, poor, comfortable, in debt?
His family is rich. Like, extremely rich. So he can do whatever he wants and not have to worry about how much it’s going to cost. Over time, though, he’s grown to get a lot of what he wants through hard work (though he’ll still toss x amount of money into, say, renovating Osiris Red and creating a private suite just for him).
2. What is his social status? Has this changed over time, and if so, how has the change affected him?
You’re not going to get around the fact that his family is just that influential in his world. But at school… he started out as one of the snobby rich kids, then he got demoted to Osiris Red and was treated as lower than dirt for a while, and then he worked his butt off and is now hailed as one of the strongest duelists in the school despite choosing not to live at Obelisk again. This has been both a product of and a catalyst for him growing up a lot over the past couple years.
3. Where does he live? House, apartment, trailer? Is his home his castle or just a place to crash? What condition is it in? Does he share it with others?
At Duel Academy, he lives at Osiris Red - he isn’t staying in the one he had built (it was stolen from him), but in one of the regular rooms. He’s learned to live with it, even if he’d rather live somewhere else. My headcanon states that his family’s place is a large-ish mansion with several servants and a garden that their mother put her heart into before her death and that’s still taken care of by the gardeners to this day.
4. Besides the basic necessities, what does he spend his money on?
Oh, new cards here, renovations to Osiris Red there…
5. What does he do for a living? Is he good at it? Does he enjoy it, or would he rather be doing something else?
He’s a student right now. But when he graduates, he intends to be a professional duelist, which he would enjoy.
6. What are his interests or hobbies? How does he spend his free time?
Playing card games.
7. What are his eating habits? Does he skip meals, eat out, drink alcohol, avoid certain foods?
I think he’s fairly normal when it comes to eating. He wouldn’t skip meals. He prefers more luxurious foods, but has gotten used to eating ‘lesser’ things. The only thing he won’t eat is carrots.
Associations
Which of the following do you associate with the character, or which is his favorite:
1. Color? Black.
2. Smell? Damp air during a storm.
3. Time of day? Evening.
4. Season? Summer, if only because that’s when most storms are.
5. Book? …I don’t know.
6. Music? More regal-sounding classical stuff, probably.
7. Place? …I don’t know. Duel Academy?
8. Substance? …Um… I suppose cards would count…
9. Plant? …Maybe a cactus.
10. Animal? Phoenixes.
END
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