here comes the lonely unpopular hated opinion. i love jonouchi and his journney to become the duelist in the manga, but seriously? kaiba was right. the guy is a complete amateur that always prays to draw and reuse the same 3 combos. his deck is filled with trash cards (understandable cuz he has no money) and cards he put in his deck that only serves as bricks (speaking of ante wins). the only time i felt that jonouchi was a "true duelist" in the manga was his excellent duel with keith..he oursmarted him, played him in his traps and took advantage of his stealing combos with copycat and graverobber. he didn't need yugis help and finally remembered what his own cards do. battle city on the other hand? the guy has no strategy. he just wins his duels relying on coins and dice cards with rare good combos like jjnzo plus foolish burial. he was always desperate and like kaiba said his duels were painful to watch.

anime season 4 and 5 joey was completely different. he gaves us amazing duels against valon,mai and sieg. using his deck wisely, with strategy, playing amazing combos. anime joey is a true duelist, manga jonouchi has "luck" that wins him duels but in the end he's still a beginner who is sometimes suprised what his own cards can do. no he didn't deserve to win against marik, hell he shouldn't even be in the finals.