Mirror Mirror: An analysis of Johan Andersen as a reflection for Yuuki Juudai and Yubel

[heleentje]

Mirror Mirror:

 

An analysis of Johan Andersen as a reflection for Yuuki Juudai and Yubel, and Yubel’s hatred for him

 

This essay contains unmarked spoilers for all four Yu-Gi-Oh series. For simplicity’s sake, I will be referring to Yubel with female pronouns. Episode numbers are preceded by DM for Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Monsters, GX for Yu-Gi-Oh GX, 5D’s for Yu-Gi-Oh 5D’s, and ZX for Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal.

 

 

Johan Andersen, the champion of North School, is a mystery. Even though he is the main catalyst for the events of the latter half of season three, very little is actually known about him. He is first mentioned by Amon Garam, as the ‘mystery man’ who should be on board of the cruise ship to Duel Academia but is nowhere to be seen (GX 106). It is never explained why he wasn’t present on the ship, and this isn’t the only question surrounding him. Why did he and Juudai feel like they met before? If Johan is a Chosen One, what is he the Chosen One of? And last but not least, why does Yubel hate him far more than any of Juudai’s older friends? None of these questions are ever answered, but I feel like I can at least take a stab at answering the last one. Johan mirrors certain qualities in both Juudai and Yubel, and precisely because so little is known about him, it makes those mirror aspects stand out all the more. There, to me, lies the reason for Yubel’s hatred.

 

1.Yuuki Juudai

 

Comparisons between Juudai and Johan are unavoidable. They are very similar, and indeed, those similarities are pointed out more than once by several characters.

 

Edo (referring to Juudai and Johan): “Looks like we have another dueling moron.”

- GX 107 –

 

Shou: “Jeez… The similar ones [Juudai and Johan] hang out with each other…”

Juudai/Johan (in unison): “Huh? What’s wrong, Shou?”

- GX 110 -

 

What makes them alike is their passion for dueling, their ability to see duel spirits and the way they consider them as close friends or family. They are both incredibly talented duelists whose lives revolve around the game. Initially, this is far more the case for Johan than for Juudai. Without Duel Monsters, it can be assumed that Johan would have no family. For Juudai, Duel Monsters gives him more friends, a weapon to fight with, and eventually the person he promised to love.

 

Then there’s obsession, a trait they both share with Yubel. Johan’s obsession seems mostly harmless. He wants to find Rainbow Dragon, and when he finally gets the chance to obtain it, he leaves his friends behind to retrieve it, even though they are currently under attack (GX 128-129). While this would be a bad move in any other situation, the characters already know that they’ll need Rainbow Dragon to return to their own dimension. Yet I’m still inclined to call it obsession, since even if Rainbow Dragon hadn’t been necessary for their return, there’s a big chance that he still would have abandoned the rest of the school to get it. However, this all pales in comparison to Juudai, who plunges into danger without a second thought and ends up being responsible for the death of several of his friends because of his obsession with finding Johan. It’s a dangerous obsession, that leads to him losing his grip on himself and becoming a mass-murderer. Here, Johan is the object of Juudai’s obsession, and of course, in the same arc Juudai himself is the object of someone else’s obsession.

 

2.       Yubel

 

Much has been made about the fact that Yubel targeted Johan above any of Juudai’s older friends. At first glance, this is indeed weird. Why does she feel much more threatened by a boy who Juudai has known for about two months than by all the people who he’s known for so much longer? In this section, I want to try to formulate an answer. My position on this matter is as follows: Yubel considered Johan as the biggest threat because he was the one who most resembled her.

 

To explain this, I will touch on various factors, but first I will return to obsession. As mentioned before, obsession is a trait that all the three characters discussed in this essay share. Yubel is obsessed with acquiring Juudai’s love for herself, and spends most of season three trying to eliminate the obstacles she perceives. And the biggest obstacle? Johan.

This too is obsession. She is obsessed with hating Johan, giving them one thing in common already.

 

Another factor is love. Yubel is defined by two things: her love for Juudai, and, stemming from that, her hatred for anyone who tries to come between them. This makes up most of her character for season three. Although the hatred later disappears, her love for Juudai remains a defining characteristic throughout the rest of the series.

Johan too is defined by love. When we meet him, we are immediately introduced to the Gem Beasts, who Johan calls his family and evidently loves dearly. It is tempting to say that Johan would not go to the same lengths to protect his loved ones as Yubel did, but I would argue against this. As shown in his duel with Giese (GX 115-116), Johan shows no qualms about confronting anyone who tries to harm his family. While it can be argued that Johan did not know that Giese would die when he lost, he shows no regret over his death either. He shows a very protective kind of love, and it is clear that the Gem Beasts reciprocate this, both towards him and towards each other.

 

Amethyst Cat: “I won’t show any mercy to those who make Johan suffer!”

- GX 107 -

 

Johan: “I won’t forgive you. I’ll defeat you, and take Sapphire Pegasus back!”

- GX 115 -

 

His love for the Gem Beasts, at least at this point, far transcends his loyalty for Juudai. Even though Juudai is suffering from the aftermath of his own duel with professor Satou, and clearly in no shape to be on his own, Johan abandons him straight away when the Gem Beasts are in danger.

 

Closely tied with love is loyalty. Of course, Yubel’s loyalty is immense and crosses the boundaries of several lifetimes. This, at least, Johan cannot compete with. Nevertheless, Johan has shown great loyalty to the Gem Beasts, as outlined above, but also to Juudai, and Yubel is certain to have noticed this. When Juudai faces Yubel in the Desert World, Johan chooses to fight with Juudai to save the rest of the school. His motivations here are probably not entirely selfless: he had, after all, recently acquired Rainbow Dragon and was itching for the chance to use it in a duel. Nevertheless, he is still very loyal to Juudai. When he catches word of the mysterious disappearances at Duel Academia (GX 172) he immediately travels from Europe to Japan. He’s also fully prepared to risk his life for Juudai, not just during the tag duel against Yubel, where losing means becoming a Duel Zombie (GX 129-130), but also in the Battle Royale versus Fujiwara, where the loser is assimilated by Darkness (GX 175-176).

 

Which leads us to the topic of sacrifice. Unlike a lot of typical protagonists in a shounen series, Juudai isn’t very sacrifice-happy. Whereas Yuugi gives up his soul to save the Pharaoh from the Orichalcos seal (DM 158), Yuusei is willing die to reverse the negative Momentum (5D’s 151), and Yuuma takes several hits for Shark during their tag duel (ZX 12), Juudai isn’t all that keen on making grand sacrifices. In fact, right before he fuses with Yubel he even tells Shou that he doesn’t plan on sacrificing himself (GX 155).

 

Shou: “Juudai, you can’t! No matter what happens, you can’t sacrifice yourself for us!”

Juudai: “What? No, it’s not like that. I don’t intend to sacrifice myself for you guys.”

- GX 155 –

 

However, Yubel and Johan are there to pick up the slack for him. They’re both shown to jump at the chance to sacrifice themselves for the good of others. Yubel gives up her human form and chooses to undergo incredibly painful and invasive surgery to protect Juudai. While Johan never goes through such a thing, he does sacrifice himself on two separate occasions. The first time, he stays behind to return Duel Academia and its students to their home dimension (GX 130). While undoubtedly a noble sacrifice, its consequences are severe. His disappearance causes Juudai to become obsessed with finding him, which leads to him eventually committing genocide. Yet Johan isn’t to blame for this, as he probably hadn’t expected to survive, let alone be possessed by Yubel. His goal was to become the bridge between spirits and humans (GX 116), and in a sense he had done so, by bridging the gap between the worlds.

 

Johan: “My goal [is] to become the bridge connecting humans to spirits.”

- GX 116 –

 

Johan: “Rainbow Dragon… Fly! Become everyone’s bridge!”

- GX 130 –

 

A couple of months later, when only Juudai and Johan are left standing against Fujiwara, Johan sacrifices himself again, negating an attack that would finish off Juudai at the cost of his own life points. He does so knowing full well that losing the duel means disappearing from the face of the earth, yet goes ahead with it anyway and gives up his life to protect Juudai’s.

 

The last similarity between them is far less noticeable than the previous ones, yet still noteworthy. Whereas Juudai is the incarnation of Gentle Darkness, both Yubel and Johan are connected to a form of Light. In Yubel’s case this is the Light of Ruin, which possessed her when she was sent into space and drove her mad, leading to her actions in season three.

 

Yubel: “There were many different waves in space.”

Juudai: “The cards I made took on the righteous dark waves of the Neospacians, and were given new powers.”

Yubel: “Yes. But a much more powerful and ominous wave of Light befell my capsule and granted me power.”

- GX 153 -

 

In Johan’s case, the connection is much less obvious… That is, until you look at his deck. The Gem Beasts symbolize the seven traditionally accepted colors of the rainbow, and when light hits raindrops, the light refracts to form a rainbow.

As mentioned above, Johan’s wish is to become the bridge that connects spirits and humans. In history and mythology, rainbows have often symbolized bridges, and one of the most famous rainbow bridges is Bifröst, the bridge that connects Asgard, the realm of the Norse gods, and Midgard, where the humans live. The bridge is guarded by Heimdall, described in the Edda as ‘the white As’ (‘As’ here refers to the Æsir, the best-known group of Norse gods).^[1] Since it is commonly accepted that North School lies in Scandinavia, and Bifröst features heavily in Norse mythology, this gives rise to some interesting parallels. Yubel and Johan are both connected to a form of Light, which places them opposite to Juudai. However, whereas Yubel gets possessed by the Light of Ruin, Juudai’s natural enemy, Johan’s rainbow seems to symbolize a far more benign version of light. This makes them similar, but also opposite to each other.

 

3.       Conclusion

 

What does this tell us? While Juudai and Johan are very similar at first glance, most of those similarities seem centered around Duel Monsters, and Yubel and Johan actually share some qualities that Juudai does not possess. In fact, in some respects they are opposites of Juudai. Since Yubel spends most of season three watching Juudai, and Juudai spends most of his time with Johan, she may very well have spotted the similarities between them. In conclusion: even though Juudai and Johan only met a few weeks previously, Yubel still considers him far more of a threat than any of Juudai’s older friends. The similarities between them make him very dangerous to her. After all, if Juudai can love her, he can also love someone who resembles her. Therefore Johan Andersen, far more than anyone else, gains her hatred by being a reflection of Yubel herself.

---

[1] The Prose Edda, written down by Snorri Sturluson in the 13^th century, contains some of the best known Norse mythological stories. For this essay, I used a translation by Anthony Faulkes, published in 1987 by The Everyman Library.

 

Comments

[syntheticpoetic.livejournal.com]

I think there are some really interesting points here, especially when you also take into account some of the supports you don't mention (Ryo also compares Judai and Johan in their passionate enthusiasm, even suspecting that Johan has 'the same infinite potential' when dueling him in ep...128 is it? And let's not forget how Johan suddenly goes into rigid high-alert whenever Rainbow Dragon is mentioned--he can be downright unsettling once or twice!). This isn't necessarily to say I agree with everything in here, it's just very well argued!

I think that part of Yubel's particular assault on Johan is also driven by the fact that he's the one of Judai's friends who doesn't succumb to 'basic' and 'general' attacks. People like Shou and Manjoume, who one would naturally expect to be closer to Judai and therefore more threatening, are nonetheless brought to heel by mere zombie minions. In that way, they're not something Yubel had to focus on directly him/herself, and they at no point appeared to be getting between him/her and Judai. Furthermore, of the survivors when Judai finally challenged Yubel, only Johan jumped into the fight. This means that of all of Judai's friends, only Johan ever directly confronted Yubel, and Johan did so while declaring himself a close of Judai's. In this way, he made himself a much more direct threat on several levels in one fell swoop, and I think that's a large part of the reason Yubel focuses so much hatred on him: he directly, and forcibly, DID put himself between them, and Judai accepted it. The message of 'I reject you and substitute this European guy' is an easy extrapolation from there.

I also think it's interesting that one of the other most famous 'rainbow as bridge' mythologies is Greek--tying in neatly to 'Caesar's Tablet' which contained Rainbow Dragon. and then there's Peru with the 'rainbow serpent' as bridge, and power conduit, with the black and white faces, but I think that has less to do with Johan as a character than it does with the Chavin references in the series so disregard

[heleentje.livejournal.com]

Hee, thank you! There's a lot I didn't get to mention here (I cut a couple of paragraphs from the first draft for being mostly irrelevant - there was a bit about them having similar appearances, but that's dubious at best)

Good point on that. Johan gets... pushy xD He definitely made himself look like far more of a threat than anyone else, whether he realized that or not (I'm inclined to say no, since Johan's first reflex to anyone being in trouble seems to be 'run towards the danger at high speed and disregard my personal safety'). One of the things I cut was whether Juudai noticed the same similarities or not, hence the rapid bonding, but for that to really work, there would have to be a more tangible connection between Johan and Yubel, which we have no evidence for. Not that I don't have several theories on that - I still want an explanation for that 'Have we met before' line.

I kind of wish that I would've been able to add in some Greek mythology... I suppose Rainbow Dragon was a messenger and a harbinger of war, in a sense, but it didn't seem to fit too well. Out of curiosity, have you ever read 'The Rainbow Bridge' by Raymond Lee and Alistair Frazer? It's a mostly general book on rainbows in several branches of science, but it did include a rather nice chapter on rainbows in world mythology. I found it a bit too general at times, but it gave a pretty nice overview. (Also, any suggestions for info on mythology in the Americas? That's one area of the world where my knowledge is woefully inadequate)

[syntheticpoetic.livejournal.com]

Ahaha, I know exactly how that is. They actually do use the exact same facial lines--you can lay profile shots of them over each other and the only line changes are the eye and hair shapes--but even then, it's hard to say if that's intentional or just Art Crew Of The Day + Generic Anime Face Syndrome.

Johan does tell us that fighting is how he solves his problems (in the doodlebug ep, isn't it?), even when it's not the best of ideas. So I think even if he had realized he was painting a target on his forehead he still would have gone barreling in guns blazing. Though, I would say that Judai's rapid bonding with him was just about Judai being Judai. You've gotta remember way back to the first episode--he clicks with Misawa and Shou instantly. And even if that were just to be brushed off as him being friendly, he picks back up with Misawa immediately at the school with no real indication of them having had any other time to hang out. He makes friends very fast with pretty much everyone, barring just a few exceptions, which I think is part of why I've always felt that the early parts of everyone's surprise at Judai and Johan bonding so fast, at least, were a little forced. But you're right about the recognition line. There are a lot of moments in Johan's character that make me feel like they were forced to drop a plot thread with him

Well here's another interesting one I've always noticed, though not from the Americas: Biblical. The way Rainbow Dragon is put together, all the stones are set around it's face, right? Well, the only actual place in the Bible that rainbows appear (the Noah story it's just a 'promise' across the sky; 'rainbow' isn't actually used in the original Hebrew text) is in the New Testament, in the Book of Revelations. The angels who act as harbingers/messengers of the apocalypse have rainbows about their faces. Bear in mind they're also the type of angel that is traditionally depicted as serpents, and the WOAH factor is huge! Especially if you tie Johan to the Light, given that Saiou and his cultists were dropping sometimes-not-even-thinly-veiled Biblical references and paraphrasings throughout season 2 (and the tree-of-life-shaped 'world' card). Since season 3 is basically the fruition of Light!Saiou's prophecy of Judai bringing a terrible End of Days...

A lot of the rainbow myths I know from the Americas are in South America, but I do know some 'American Indian' ones too. Come to think of it, there's at least one that involves a bunch of animals coming together to make the first rainbow. They shot two arrows into the clouds and all sang until the songs lifted two young spiders into heaven, where they begged the creator to bring spring back, and he was so touched by their teamwork and sincerity that he not only made it spring, but made their silk-and-arrow bridge to the sky a rainbow, and made sure their webs would fill with rainbows every morning. It's a cool little story. And then of course there's the 'Rainbow Crow' story. Generally though you're probably going to find the best information by looking up the mythology of the individual cultures and finding the rainbow myths in there than in books of general mythology, which will usually just be, as you said, really general.

[heleentje.livejournal.com]

(ack, late reply, sorry. Busy weekend) Yeah, I noticed that bit, but then again, Ryou has the same hairstyle as Yubel, so I wasn't sure either whether it was intentional or Only Six Faces. Heck, even Bruno has very similar facial structure to the two of them. And I absolutely do not have about three concurrent crack theories running about that, whatever made you think so?

Mmm, even with it being Juudai it still seems too fast to me? Or too meaningful, perhaps. Though it might be me fixating on the 'have we met before' line. I agree that they were probably intending to go somewhere with Johan, but had to drop the thread. There are a fair amount of things we just never find out about him: does he have human family? Why was he not on the cruise ship? And one thing that always struck me as odd was in 172, where he sees that Juudai's Fusion card is infected by Darkness, even though no one else had been able to see it before. I want to write it off as being related to seeing spirits, but Manjoume didn't see the Darkness in the cards at the start of the season.

Oooh, I wouldn't have made that connection! (It's seriously been too long since I read the Bible). I might need to rewatch seasons two and three with that in mind. It certainly wouldn't surprise me, since the 'promise' meaning wouldn't be at all far-fetched in this situation.

Right now I'm mostly focusing on Chinese mythology, which sadly doesn't feature much in the way of rainbows (or, for that matter, a coherent narrative). It's easy to find info on the cultures that wrote down their myths, but since a lot of them didn't, for various reasons, I'm always a bit wary of books that purport to give a complete overview (I'm still headdesking over the one that decided that Pan Gu and Pan Hu were the same being, despite one being a cosmic representation of chaos and the other a dog). Also that's a sweet story! Which culture is that from?

[syntheticpoetic.livejournal.com]

I have at least three crack theories about Johan being someone's time-traveling child so you are totally in good company there, huhr

I think part of the reason it went so fast with Judai and Johan though is that it's not JUST Judai--Johan is also very enthusiastic and receptive about the idea of friendship. It's simply a case of two very gregarious people with the same set of hobbies and interests meeting and, naturally from that, becoming friends. The 'have we met before' line IS curious, but unfortunately it's just that: one single, isolated line that's never expanded on or brought up again--again, probably because of some dropped plot thread. But because of that obvious dropped thread, it's really hard to say. I'd also question why it is that Johan seems to know so much about everyone. Rewatching S3 recently, it really struck me how often he'll make random or cryptic remarks about things that really, I can't imagine how he would know since no one else seems to. Johan seeing the dark infection in the cards really didn't strike me as that odd though. Manjoume and Judai have always been very geared towards just seeing the spirits, it's true, but Johan is established a bit more to see 'auras' and things like that: during Judai's duel with Cobra, it's true he needs Ruby's help to see the dark miasma on Cobra and his cards, but he also expresses surprise that he SHOULD need help, going 'wow, this must be a big deal if EVEN I can't see it'. That's not the exact line, but the shocked 'even I can't see' is part of it, and it implies that he's used to being able to see and detect these things on his own.

Haha. I think I'm one of the few people who immediately picks up on the biblical and judeochristian clusterbombs that get tossed around, but once you start realizing they're there, they become REALLY hard to miss. Good times! But yeah, there are about fifteen 'signs of the apocalypse' specifically mentioned in the Bible that rear their heads in GX, and one of the rather spectacular ones is definitely the serpent with the rainbow around its face showing up periodically as both reference, goal, and actual presence in the season with a fair number of near-apocalypse brushes...and of course which leads into the big world-ender guns of S4.

Chinese mythology has always fascinated me! I used to be really big into it when I was younger, but material was so hard to find back then Chinese alchemy remains a vast and tempting mystery to me as well. And yeah, no source is going to be completely reliable...especially since you consider that even within a 'single' culture, there can be massive regional differences in any given myth, story, or figure, even between a couple of settlements within that culture, or a couple of generations. Oral traditions and cultures were living, breathing things that changed almost constantly.
The story I just shared was...uh...oh hell, northern California, let me think...uh...Achomawi, I think. I'm pretty sure. It's one of the variations on the Pit River tribe, anyway.

[heleentje.livejournal.com]

Sadly, yeah. There's a lot we just don't find out about him at all. To be honest, the earlier instance just makes it weirder for me: who or what is he if he's used to seeing auras, something we haven't seen often anywhere in YGO? I mean, Juudai can once he gets full access to the whole good Darkness deal, but where does Johan get it from? This is not the point where I dig out my good Light theories. Really.

Ooh, now I really need to find a copy of the Bible. I know we ought to have one somewhere in the house, but we're not exactly the most religious people ever :p Last time I read the entire thing was when I was eleven, because I was bored.

Chinese Mythology: An Introduction by Anne Birrell is a pretty good book, that stays very close to the source material, IMO (though I may be biased because I wrote my bachelor paper on it). The only disadvantages are that it's fairly disjointed at times, since the source material often only involves a sentence or two, and that it may be geared too specifically to sinologists. We only got the basics on alchemy in class, which is a pity, because I liked the subject, but it got mostly glossed over. And yeah, there are often so many different versions and trying to shove them all in one coherent narrative would be dishonoring the source material. I think I really need to hit the library soon now XD I should go there to return some books anyway so I might try to pick up some stuff on other cultures.

[laughinghyena.livejournal.com]

"(Also, any suggestions for info on mythology in the Americas? That's one area of the world where my knowledge is woefully inadequate)"

Looking at syntheticpoetic's reply, I noticed one story that was left out. Since it's famously known locally where I live in California. And it was also used as inspiration for the sculpture sundial memorial of the Alaska Airlines Flight 261 in Port Hueneme.

It pretty much explains the creation of dolphins from a Rainbow Bridge made connecting the islands to the mainlands. It is interesting to note that a "Sky Snake" is involved with the tale.
The Legend of the Rainbow Bridge (http://www.cyberwitch.com/Wychwood/Temple/legendOfTheRainbowBridge.htm)

Imagine Neo-Spacian Aqua Dolphin's reaction.

Something else to make note of:
I also know of Coyote and/or Sky Coyote being a semi-creator and protector of humans in the Chumash myths. He is often portrayed as a fool or very wise at times.
And while Coyote is refereed to as a creator in some tribes he is also known for bringing death. Coyote and the Origin of Death (http://www.firstpeople.us/FP-Html-Legends/CoyoteAndTheOriginOfDeath-Caddo.html).
One Chumash tale is that Coyote and Sun gamble together. When Sun wins, he gets to eat/kill people. But when Coyote wins, Sun isn't able to do that.
Both Coyote and Sun are often seen in both positive and negative dual perspectives. I don't think it would be that hard to make the comparison of Coyote to Darkness and the Sun to the Light.