Among the various cuts and edits that the English dub of Yu-Gi-Oh! has been covered for years, one of the most controversial issues cleared up the series’ first LGBTQ+ hero. 4Kids Entertainment is famous for editing a lot of the anime they license to make them more suitable for children and Yu-Gi-Oh! is one of the worst examples. In addition to cutting out nearly all instances of gore and violence, English scripts often rewrite characters’ personalities and motives to be completely different from what they are supposed to be, a notable example. I mean, Seto Kaiba was written to be much more conceited than in the original Japanese.
The characters themselves are often the biggest victims of Yu-Gi-Oh!’s English dub!, and unfortunately that includes cutting out the series’ first LGBTQ+ hero, Yu-Gi -Oh! Jaden Yuki of GX. A lot of what made Jaden an LGBTQ+ character wasn’t established until GX was nearing its end, so even if someone were watching the movie in Japanese, they wouldn’t be able to help but grasp it. Even so, the English dub still cuts out a hugely progressive portion of Jaden’s character and the entire franchise, and that’s not disappointing to watch.
How Yu-Gi-Oh! Censored English dub of GX Jaden Yuki as an LGBTQ+ Hero
The way that Yu-Gi-Oh! The gender-censored GX English dub of Jaden Yuki both derives from the season 3 dub. Prior to season 3, Jaden was mostly uninterested in the opposite sex, but after meeting Jesse Anderson, the two developed. an almost romantic relationship, with the main antagonist of the season, who clearly loves Jaden. , even comparing Jaden’s feelings for Jesse to Jaden’s feelings for them. All of this has been heavily censored in the English dub to keep their friendship just pure, so anyone just watching Yu-Gi-Oh! GX in English won’t know that Jaden is said to have feelings for Jesse.
However, the biggest way for Jaden’s gender to be censored is through his relationship with season 3’s villain, Yubel. Originally, Yubel was an intersex character who expressed their love for Jaden through sadism, and after helping them through that, Jaden reciprocated their feelings and united their souls. together so that they can never be separated. Unfortunately, the English dub rewrote Yubel to be explicitly female and cut out the character’s romantic side so they just wanted to play with Jaden. Jaden’s LGBTQ+ hero status is nicely conveyed, but Yu-Gi-Oh! GX’s censorship made it all too common for people to miss.
Why Yu-Gi-Oh! GX English dub censor Jaden’s Gender (& Why It Matters)?
Oops, Yu-Gi-Oh! GX’s English dub censored Jaden’s gender, but that raises the question of why it was censored in the first place and why that matters. GX was released in the early 2000s, and at the time, the idea of a show or movie aimed at children with explicit LGBTQ+ characters was virtually unknown. In recent years, it has become a lot easier to get kids’ media to feature LGBTQ+ characters, but GX’s English dub at the time would have been too much of a challenge to escape. out of it without any backlash, so it makes sense that the dub will try to avoid that.
Even if there’s logic behind Jaden’s gender being censored, it’s still a big deal. While the children’s media has become increasingly LGBTQ+ active, there are still problems with representation, most notably studio intervention. It’s important for children’s media not to shy away from positive expression, so Yu-Gi-Oh! gx The fact that its LGBTQ+ protagonist was censored prevented the franchise from having an amazing initial impact on representation.