Hokaben

Hokaben was first introduced in the Duel Masters Versus season of the Duel Masters Anime.

Plot
Hokaben is a top school baseball player. He first appeared in episode 1. As his curry buns were taken by Justice, Katta Kirifuda dueled Justice to get his curry buns back. Impressed by Katta's dueling skills he decided to learn how to duel.

He eventually learned on how to duel from Lulu Takigawa,Benchan and Katta.At first he loses a lot of times to Katta with a total of 7 losses during their practice duel in the card shop and lost during the Duel Masters Neighborhood Tournament round in episode 5.Fortunately he subsequently improves his dueling skills, with Bucyake as his practice partner. He was at first unsure if he should continue dueling until his baseball team members supported him and gave him Redbull Muscle, Uber Passion as a gift.

In episode 18, he duels Sasori and does not fall under her "Honey Trap" easily. Even though he got the upper hand,Sasori managed to use her Nature Dragon combination and Dragon Solution to turn the tables and avoid a direct attack. He lost to her but he managed to impress her due to his strong dueling skills. In episode 24, Katta, Lulu, Bucyake and Benchan helped him to construct a mono Fire civilization deck for the shop tournament in order to qualify for the Duel Masters nationals. He received Katta's Batorash Knuckle, Blastdragon to add to his deck. During the finals of the tournament, he dueled Komei, in order to get his Redbull Muscle, Uber Passion back. During the finals, Hokaben managed to perform Dragon Solution and used Batorash Knuckle, Blastdragon and Gaishukaku, Passion Dragon's effects to win the duel, getting his card back from Komei and earning a spot to the nationals.

At the end of episode 33,only he and Katta Kirifuda made it through the regionals and proceeds to the nationals of the Duel Masters National Tournament.He and Katta are part of the interview which was broadcast live on television. He was nervous at first but he managed to overcome it and talked in front of the camera confidently. In his duel profile about the 8 finalist,it was indicated that he only took 8 months to become a strong Fire Civilization duelist like Katta.

During the competition,when Katta had a hard time dueling Komei,he got mad when he realized that Komei was cheating in the duel,angrily pointing out that that was not a fair duel. However,Katta told him that he is fine and he will settle it in the next draw,in which he won the duel.

He was part of the New Year exhibition match together with Lulu and Katta.Before the exhibition match,he worked together with Lulu and Katta on their decks for the team match. During the match,they did not cooperate with each other at first. Fortunately,they worked together in the end and he summons his new trump card,D Soul Battle 3rd Generation, Passion Dragon at a lower cost as Bolshack Superhero,Jackpot Batoriser and Gaial Axel are on the team's field,which activates its cost summon ability and activates its other ability to force battle. He was out of the 3-on-3 match afterwards.

Deck
Like Katta, he uses a monocolored Fire Civilization deck. His deck is based on Gaial Command Dragon and Human Baku.

At first he loses a lot of times as he was a beginner, but he got stronger in the subsequent episodes.

In episode 24, he built a deck focused on his new Dragheart card, Take-jin, Dragon King Keep ~Fighting Spirit Mode~/Gaishukaku, Passion Dragon for the competition.During the New Year exhibition match,he uses his new trump card,D Soul Battle 3rd Generation, Passion Dragon,to summon dragons and its own at a lower cost and force battle his opponent's creatures.