Tell Kawai

Tell Kawai

Names
English	Tell Kawai
Japanese Japanese 合（か）羽（わ）井（い） テル Base 合羽井 テル Furigana かわい テル Rōmaji Kawai Teru
Personal
Birth	August 8
Gender	Male
Career
Organization	Kappa Heavenly Cleaning (manager)
Duelist
Deck	Kappa
Appearances
Anime debut	Yu-Gi-Oh! GO RUSH!! episode 0044: "The Chupacabra's Trap"
Appears in Anime Yu-Gi-Oh! GO RUSH!!
Voice actors
Japanese	Kengo Kawanishi
Kawai, Tell

Tell Kawai (合（か）羽（わ）井（い） テル Kawai Teru) is a character in Yu-Gi-Oh! GO RUSH!!. He is an alien who comes to Mutsuba Town, and has a connection to Yuhi Ohdo, having been the alien who stole his Earthdamar.

Design

Appearance

Full-body view of Tell in his drenched human form.

Reference sheets depicting Tell in his human form and his true form.

When Tell first appears he is constantly drenched in water. He resembles a pale-skinned human with lank dark green hair that reaches his neck and has a fringe styled into a point hanging over his orange eyes, which have ovular irises and slitted pupils. He has pointed ears and slightly webbed hands. Tell wears a white labcoat over a grey jumpsuit with a blue collar and an unusual silver diadem, with the traditional arms being an ornamental arrow shape; the diadem is held on his head by a metal plate fitting over the top of his skull.

In his true form, Tell wears dull green protective clothing and darker green gloves and boots, with a silver beak-like mask covering his mouth. This mask can be removed and can open to allow Tell to drink when necessary.

Personality

Tell thirsts for knowledge; once he finds a subject he deems interesting enough for study, he obsessively pursues it. His own physiology reacts to this desire; his consistent secretion of water was due to the lack of satisfaction he found in his failure to unravel the mystery of the Earthdamar. However, when Tell finds a new object of study in the form of Yuhi Ohdo himself that promises results, his body ceases the secretion. Tell himself thirsts for water despite being constantly soaked, keeping bottles on hand both to drink and pour over his body.

Tell is willing to undertake questionable methods in pursuit of his research, but also proves to hold to his word; after being defeated by Yuhi in a Rush Duel, he relinquished the Earthdamar without argument and even urged Yuhi to ingest it, though it is unclear how much of this was due to his newfound desire to study Yuhi.

Etymology

Tell's name comes from the Japanese word for "parched"; "kawaita".

Biography

History

Tell encountered Yuhi Ohdo on Earth in Mutsuba Town, defeating him in a Rush Duel with his defensive tactics and stealing the Earthdamar from him. Tell was driven to take the Earthdamar due to his belief that it was the mystery of the greatest truth in the universe, but the more he studied the substance, the more questions arose in him and his thirst for knowledge became more parched. Tell's body began secreting water in response to this, leaving him in a constantly drenched state.

First Arc

Tell was bathing in the river outside the Mutsuba Heavy Machinery Garbage Collection Site #8 one day. Unbeknownst to Tell, Yuhi saw him bathing, though Yuhi was forced to abandon pursuing Tell.

Tell's condition made operating his laundromat business difficult as any clothes he ironed were soaked faster than he could dry them. After an unsatisfactory wash, Yuhi arrived to scold Tell for his work, unaware Tell was the manager of Kappa Heavenly Cleaning, and Tell dropped Yuhi into his laboratory after Yuhi challenged him to a Rush Duel to retrieve the Earthdamar. He met with Yuhi downstairs, agreeing to his terms but setting the condition that Yuhi would remain in his custody so he could study the Earthdamar further. As they prepared to Duel, Yuhi's Duel Disk failed to work due to having been mixed with his laundry, though Valvelgear transformed into a Duel Disk for Yuhi. Yuhi's twin sister Yuamu and Yudias Velgear arrived as well; Tell was intrigued to learn the Ohdo twins were in the company of a Velgian. Tell used his defensive tactics against Yuhi again, seeing success despite being surprised that Yuhi had changed his Deck, and he almost defeated Yuhi with "Kappa Emperor River Slider", but Yuhi activated "Jointech Bumper" to stop him. However, Valvelgear had trouble activating the Trap Card, Tell noting the paradoxical claim Yuhi had made of losing his Rush Dueling ability with his Earthdamar and then Rush Dueling to retrieve it. To his shock, Yuhi claimed he wasn't alone and had 8.88 million comrades (the Velgians aboard Valvelgear) and was able to successfully destroy Tell's monsters with "Jointech Bumper". On his next turn, Yuhi Tribute Summoned "Jointech Rex"; Tell was prepared to counter it with another "Kappa's Gas", but Yuhi used the effect of "Jointech Rex" to destroy his Trap and defeat Tell in a One Turn Kill. Tell was struck by Yuhi's passion, shifting his obsession to him and ceasing his secretion of water. He returned the Earthdamar to Yuhi, but Zuwijo zir Velgear stole it before Yuhi could drink it, and Tell took the chance to leave while the UTS employees were distracted.

Tell watched a live presentation of Learning the Fun Way – Ultimate Go Rush on a TV in the street, eventually moving to a Ramen Hut to watch the Duels there. He watched Yudias' Rush Duel with Chupataro Kaburagi and the use of the Earthdamar to materialize "Magical Sheep Girl Meeeg-chan" in the physical world, observing the Earthdamar was stronger than he'd thought. He left the restaurant after the Rush Duel, grimly noting the power was an avatar of ruin that would lead them to darkness. Becoming aware that Zuwijo would use the Earthdamar at Mutsuba Tower, Tell bathed on a nearby building to watch the event and was interrupted by Manabu Sogetsu and Nyandestar or MIK. Tell cryptically alluded to Zuwijo's intention to use the Earthdamar again, claiming aliens had seen things humanity couldn't imagine. He left his bath while Yudias Rush Dueled Zuwijo atop Mutsuba Tower, the latter using the power of the Earthdamar to materialize his "Voidvelgr Requiem" and clad himself in it, and visited Mutsuba Heavy Machinery to inform Asaka Mutsuba of the events.

Deck

Tell uses a Kappa Deck, focused on defensive tactics and cards based on the kappa.

Duels

Opponent(s)	Episode(s)	Outcome
Yuhi Ohdo	4	Win (flashback)
Yuhi Ohdo	5	Lose

Trivia

• Tell is based on the kappa, a kami from Japanese folklore.

Other appearances

• 

  Tell Kawai (manga)

• 

  Tell Kawai (Dawn of the Battle Royale)