Téa Gardner, known as Anzu Mazaki ( Mazaki Anzu) in the Japanese versions, is one of Yugi Muto's best friends. Téa does not usually play games with Yugi and his friends, but in the beginning of the anime, she could beat Joey Wheeler in Dual Monsters, and was later shown to be more than competent against others. Téa is also very good at dancing and wants to be a professional dancer when she grows up.
Appearance[]
Téa is a tall beautiful teenaged girl with a slim build along with white skin, blue eyes, and thick layered brown hair that nearly extends to her shoulders. Her hair is sectioned into two layers, consisting of an inner layer of a darker shade and an outer layer with a lighter shade.
On occasions she wore the school uniform colored in the same manner as in the manga.
Téa’s main outfit during seasons 2 and 3.
During the first season of the anime, her usual outfit is comprised of a yellow shirt, which flows like a skirt at her thighs, with a pink waistcoat over it, and a blue miniskirt. A pair of brown knee-high boots completed her ensemble.
Téa with her beautiful thick brown layered hair hanging up-side-down as she lies draped over the Leader Hitotsu-Me Giant’s shoulder.
In the second and third season, her clothes consist of a light green sleeveless buttoned shirt with yellow collar, pink and blue wrist bracelets, navy blue shorts with a light blue belt, white thigh-high socks, and blue platform sandals. She also wears a yellow tank-top with the word "SPIRIT" on it (which was removed from the dub) and a red skirt on occasion in the second season.
She also wears another outfit: a yellow tube-top, red choker, light pink shorts, black thigh-high socks, red platform sandals, and a pink jacket. In the fourth and fifth season she wears a black sleeveless shirt that reveals her belly button, a red skirt and a pair of white high-heeled boots. During the trip to [Illusions Industrial Illusions], she wears a white jacket over a red tank top, a pleated yellow skirt, and tan boots and she also wears the same outfit at the KC Grand Championship.
In the 4th season, she wears a yellow jacket, blue shirt and short shorts. In the 4th episode of said season, she wears a black tank top which slightly covers her belly button, navy short shorts with a gray belt, and yellow wristbands.
Personality[]
Biography[]
Duelist Kingdom[]
Téa defeats Joey in Duel Monsters five times at school, with four of the Duels being offscreen.
Téa draws symbols on her, Yugi, Joey and Tristan's hands to symbolize their friendship before Yugi faces Kaiba, after Kaiba tears up Solomon Muto's "Blue-Eyes White Dragon".
Téa and Tristan sneak onto the boat to Duelist Kingdom to support Yugi and Joey in the tournament. Téa mostly stands on the sidelines giving the boys encouraging speeches.
Yugi and his friends faced Yami Bakura in a Shadow Game of Duel Monsters, where the players are trapped in cards similar to their Monster World pieces. Téa becomes the card "Magician of Faith" in the Duel. As she is upset over Joey's sacrifice, she uses her effect to return "Monster Reborn" to Yami Yugi's hand, which allows him to revive Joey.
As they approached Pegasus Castle, Téa wonders if there really are two Yugi's. She thinks back to when she first meets Yugi and Joey at Burgerpalooza. She then wonders what they are doing there and thinks they could get her in trouble since she had to be 18 to work at the restaurant and if they let it slip she is still in school, she'll get fired and won't have enough money to pay for her dance lessons. As she serves Joey and Yugi their food she gives a sinister glare and pours ketchup all over their food. She reveals she wants to study dance in New York but instead of laughing, Yugi and Joey support Téa. The next day Téa gets a letter from Yugi saying they found a warehouse in Spring St. for Téa to use as a dance studio. When she arrives a mugger holds her hostage and Yami Yugi saves her when she blacked out.
Kaiba cheats to defeat Yugi in the tournament by standing on the edge of the castle, so Yugi's last attack would knock him off. Yugi relinquishes the Duel to Kaiba. Téa then yells at Kaiba how Yugi spared him. Kaiba says Yugi lost. Téa argues back that Kaiba's forgotten what being human is due to his machine obsession and Yugi’s friends care for him whether he wins or loses a Duel.
After losing to Kaiba, Yugi no longer has enough Star Chips to enter the tournament finals. Mai offers Yugi her excessive Star Chips. Yugi initially refuses, feeling unworthy. Téa Duels Mai for the Star Chips. Using a combination of Magic Cards, Téa makes her "Shining Friendship" card defeat Mai's "Harpie Lady". Though Mai is able to turn the Duel around, using "Harpie's Feather Duster", she is impressed by Téa's performance and wants to give Yugi the Chips, so she surrenders saying "Harpie Lady" was her best monster and Téa defeated it.
Kemo doesn't allow Téa, Tristan or Bakura to enter the castle, where the finals are held, as they are not finalists but Mai distracts him long enough for them to sneak in.
Inside they witness Kaiba and Pegasus Dueling, Pegasus was able to predict Kaiba's moves and easily win. Tristan Suspects Pegasus cheated, so that night he talks with Téa and Bakura on the subject. The three inspect the Duel arena and find a hole that shines moonlight directly at the Duel arena. Tristan spots a tower and the three head towards it. In the tower, they are confronted by Pegasus, who uses his Millennium Eye to transport them to another dimension. They wake up and enter a room, where a Shadow Game between two robed men is taking place while others are chanting. The winning man, Pegasus confronts the three and tries to take Bakura's Millennium Ring. Yami Bakura takes over Bakura's body and sends Téa and Tristan back to their rooms and erases their memories.
During the final rounds, Téa cheers on Yugi and Joey in their Duels. She is unable to watch the end of Yugi's Duel with Pegasus, as Pegasus takes the Duel to the Shadow Realm. Despite this Yugi feels his friends are with him in spirit and manages to defeat Pegasus.
Pegasus disappears after the Duel. The gang proceed to a tower, where they find Pegasus' diary, which Téa reads. She learns that Pegasus had a wife Cecelia, who died and Pegasus was trying to revive her using the Millennium Items and Kaiba Corp technology.
Téa and her friends are taken home by Seto Kaiba in his helicopter.
Battle City[]
Yugi asks Téa to go out with Yami. After visiting many shops and attractions, they enter an arcade. Inside Téa beats Johnny Steps in a dance game. Not taking his loss too well, Johnny later catches up with Yami and Téa, and challenges Téa to another game with a condition: if she loses, she must become his girlfriend. Yami instead challenges Johnny to a game of Duel Monsters. If he wins, Johnny must leave Téa alone. If Johnny wins, Téa must go on a date with him. Yami reveals himself to be Yugi Muto, towards the end of the Duel Johnny recognizes Yugi Muto as the one who beat Pegasus, causing Johnny to surrender and run. Téa stops him to tell him how quitting isn't going to help him and he must never give up to achieve his goals.
Afterwards Téa and Yami go to an Ancient Egyptian exhibition to find clues to Yami's past. Here they meet Ishizu Ishtar, who shows Yami some info about his past as a pharaoh and tells him he must enter the Battle City tournament to learn more.
During the preliminary rounds of the tournament, Téa accompanies and encourages Joey along the side lines for his Duels, before being captured by the Rare Hunters along with Joey. The hunters take them to a warehouse at the docks where they keep them locked in separate rooms. The hunters lock Téa alone inside a compartment filled with cardboard boxes while Joey is tied to a chair in another part of the building. She attempts to escape by standing on some of the boxes so that she reach a window in the room. The boxes can’t support her weight, however, causing her to fall just as her hand reaches the window. Soon later, Mokuba, who had also been kidnapped by the Rare Hunters, is locked in the same room as her. The two then work together to escape by stacking all the room’s boxes together so that they can climb towards the room’s skylight. As they climb towards it, however, the Rare Hunters enter and begin climbing after them, causing the stack to collapse. Though Téa falls and is restrained by the hunters, Mokuba manages to escape, promising to come back with help to rescue her.
After this, Téa is possessed by Marik, who turns her into one of his mind slaves to lure the Pharaoh into a Duel with Joey, who is also possessed by Marik Ishtar. The Duel is set up, so the loser would drown. Téa is made to sit on a chair which restrains her hands and feet while under a large crate hanging from a crane. A push of a button will release the crate and crush her, should Yugi refuse to Duel Joey or anyone else interfere. Téa is then released from Marik's control after she is forced to explain the provisions to the Duel and helplessly tries to help Joey break free of Marik's control several times while also doing her best to remain brave and cheer Yugi on, despite the fact that her own life was in danger. During the duel, Kaiba remote controls his helicopter to ram the crane into the water in order to save Téa. upon seeing this, the Rare Hunter holding the control to the crate attempts to push the button but is stopped and knocked unconscious by Kaiba. The chopper successfully knocks the crane into the water thus saving Téa’s life. After Mokuba manages to free her from the chair, she joins her friends in attempting to stop Joey and Yugi’s duel, but are unable to free them in time before both are pulled under the water. When it seems as though both are doomed, Téa drops to her knees in crying despair, only to be shocked and relieved when Yugi rises to the surface and later when Serenity, who has regained her eyesight, rescues her brother from underwater.
Téa, along with Tristan, Serenity and Duke Devlin proceed to the KaibaCorp blimp to cheer for Yugi, Joey and Mai in the finals. Roland initially refuses to let them board, as they aren't finalists, but Mokuba talks him into letting them on. Despite Joey's objections, all of them take residence in his room for the finals.
Téa cheers for Yugi and Joey, during their quarter-final Duels. When Joey tells Mai, she wasn't in his dream, which his friends appeared in and jokes about it, Téa seizes him after Mai leaves and tells him off.
During this time, Marik's spirit inhabits Téa's body and occasionally possesses her, since Yami Marik took over his body, using her to try to talk to Yami Marik and Ishizu.
Virtual World[]
Téa finds herself trapped alone in a Virtual Canyon.
As the KaibaCorp blimp traveled to the Duel Tower, it was sucked into an underground lair by Noah Kaiba. Tea along with Yugi, Joey, Tristan, Duke Devlin, Serenity, Mokuba and Seto Kaiba emerge from the blimp to investigate. Here they are sucked into the Virtual World. The gang encounter Noah and the Big Five, all of whom seek revenge on Seto Kaiba and require a body to return to the real world. They then get separated, with Tea being transported to a large canyon in the middle of a desert. Separated from her friends, she goes on to explore the canyon hoping to find someone. However, as she wanders deeper into the canyon, she unknowingly ends up being hunted by four Hitotsu-Me Giants bearing Stone Age weapons and clothing.
Téa spots the Hitotsu-Me Giant leader watching her atop the cliff.
Believing her to be a hunting game, the giants hide behind the canyon’s rock formations, stalking her as she walks down the gorge’s path and waiting for the right moment to make their move. Eventually, after she spots one of them on a nearby cliff, the giants appear from behind the rocks and enclose themselves on Tea’s position. The frightened girl attempts to walk back slowly but her attempts result in her provoking the giants by accidentally stepping on a loose pebble. The giants leader, the one Tea first spotted on the cliff, jumps into the air and attacks her by throwing his axe at her.
The leader throws its ace at Téa, missing but causing her to suffer a small scrape on her cheek.
While the axe does miss Tea and lands behind her, hitting the ground causes a number of loose rocks to burst into the air, one of which hits Tea’s left cheek, leaving a small cut under her left eye, despite that everything is supposed to be virtual illusions. Almost immediately after this, the giants continue their assault while their victim is actually groaning in real pain from the leader's initial attack while she covers her wounded cheek, forcing a terrified Tea to flee for her life. As she runs, she calls out for somebody to save her, but no one answers her fearful pleas. Then while fleeing from three of the Hitotsu-Me Giants, the fourth from out of nowhere appears before and blocks her escape, having been hiding behind some of the rocks waiting for her to come his way. Cornered and with the monster right in front of her with nowhere else to go, the petrified Tea can only look up in absolute horror and gasp as the beast slashes her with its claws but she loses consciousness only when she lands on the desert ground hard.
A horrified Téa, cornered and soon to be incapacitated by the fourth Hitotsu-Me Giant.
Knocked out from the giant’s attack, Tea’s unconscious body is then scooped up by the Hitotsu-Me Giants’ leader, the one responsible for her cut, who then throws her over his shoulder. With his pack following behind, the leader carries the unconscious girl off deeper into the canyon back to their lair. Noah, having been watching from his Cyber Control Chair, takes great amusement in watching the helpless Tea being carried off over the shoulder of his Hitotsu-Me Giant. Eventually the giants bring Tea to the cave where they have made their den. Once inside the leader dumps Tea on top of the flat surface of a large stalactite structure over looking the rest of the cave. Hurt from landing on the stone surface, Tea moans in pain as her body squirms, much to the amusement of her cyclops captors who briefly loom over her before going into their den down below.
An unconscious Téa being carried over the shoulder of the Leader of the Hitotsu-Me Giant pack.
Sometime later, Tea awakens, trapped on the stone shelf as the Hitotsu-Me Giants lurk below. During this time, the cut on Tea’s cheek continues to sting her, causing her to further question how the giants, who are supposed to be virtual illusions, could have cut and carried her to the cave. The giants then start heating a large cauldron in preparation for their next meal.
Trapped on the stone shelf, Téa is now the prisoner of the Hitotsu-Me Giants.
Realizing that she is their intended dinner, Tea looks for a means to escape. The only way out of the cave however, is a large hole in the ceiling of which she has no way to climb too. Suddenly and oddly, a mysterious penguin throws down a vine for her to use to climb out. Though confused, Tea uses the vine to climb out, though this doesn’t go unnoticed by the giants below who come after her again. Tea makes it to the top and then begins running when she sees the giants gaining on her. When they reach the top, one of them, the one that knocked her unconscious, throws its axe in an attempt to kill her. But just like before, the axe misses her and she continues to flee.
Téa climbing out of the giants’ pit.
The giants charge after her, but she is able to outrun them. This doesn’t last long however when she arrives at a chasm with a raging river down below. Tea is then forced to use a nearby rope-bridge to get across, despite its obviously unstable condition. Before she can get across though, the giants arrive and and attempt to cross it as well. But due to the giants’ and Tea’s combined weight, the bridge gives out and collapses. Thankfully Tea hangs on to the part of the bridge that hangs from the top allowing her to climb up to safety. The hitotsu-me giants are not so lucky however, as they fall to their deaths in the raging river below.
The rope-bridge collapses, leading to Téa’s escape and the Hitotsu-Me Giants’ deaths.
She manages to climb to the top but she passes out soon afterword.
Back to Battle City[]
Pyramid of Light[]
Waking the Dragons[]
Grand Championship[]
Capsule Monsters[]
Dawn of the Duel[]
Ceremonial Battle[]
Yu-Gi-Oh! GX[]
Decks[]
Trivia []
- Though Téa's Dueling skills are slightly better than mediocre compared to others, she is the only character in the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise who never lost a Duel she participated in; beating Mai Valentine alone (though she might've lost if Mai hadn't gotten soft on her) and even besting Crump of The Big Five (though she had help from Dark Magician Girl when facing the latter). Knowing this, Tristan seemed to have taken her place in Capsule Monsters. Serenity, Ray and Mokuba are too insignificant to count and the Supreme King has tied.
- Téa is currently the only female lead who's only game against the main character of her series was the one time during the very first episode of the Capsule Monsters mini-series.
- On numerous occasions in seasons 2 and 3, there are several animation mistakes involving Téa’s plastic bracelets, in which they briefly shown missing, with her arms being completely uncovered, in one scene before reappearing in the next.
- In addition, in episode 100, as she is being thrown to the ground of the Hitotsu-Me Giants’ cave by their leader, the color of Téa’s bracelets are switched (with the first appearing pink and the second blue, instead of being blue then pink), as her elbow and hip hits the ground.
- In the same scene, Téa’s yellow collar appears as the same color of blue as the rest of her buttoned-shirt.
- Téa's breasts would rarely be drawn separately particularly in the Japanese version. This is more rare in the English dub.