Forbidden Characters

Forbidden Characters 禁断文字 (Kindan Moji)
Japanese Wiki: 8336

Forbidden Characters is a form of card text featured on cards in the Duel Masters Trading Card Game.

Details

Forbidden characters are a type of encoding system that is first featured on a promotional version of Forbidden. It encodes English and thus the forbidden Characters correspond to English characters. At first the text is considered to have an unknown meaning, but players managed to decipher the text, revealing the mysterious Seal mechanic. This mechanic was an unknown mechanic and thus many players thought it is a non-card object.

Later on in the Duel Masters Versus Revolution Final: Episode Listing season of the anime, a card named kndn legend dkdm x appeared and is used by Basara, revealing the Seal mechanic. The card itself is actually a secret version of Dokindam X, The Legendary Forbidden which appears extremely rarely and is nearly impossible to obtain by regular players due to its extremely low packaging rate and thus high prices.

Despite forbidden characters are not Japanese characters, Forbidden character cards can be used in official tournaments. However, in order to prevent younger players from unable to recognize the card's effect, tournaments may disallow Forbidden character cards to be used. As a result, it is recommended to bring a proxy copy of the Japanese version of the card for reference purposes. Additionally, despite that it references English text, cards with forbidden characters can't be used in the English game, and is still a card in the Japanese game.

Letter Chart

a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h	i	j	k	l	m
a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h	i	j	k	l	m
n	o	p	q	r	s	t	u	v	w	x	y	z
n	o	p	q	r	s	t	u	v	w	x	y	z

DMR-23 Dogiragolden VS Dormageddon X later released Dormageddon X, Forbidden Armageddon with a capital X character.

X
X

It also introduced Initials X creatures that had Forbidden Characters for Greek letters.

These were previously used for Survivors.

Alpha	Beta	Gamma	Delta
A	B	C	D

Examples of cards with Forbidden Characters

KNDN kndn
Fire / Creature / 9 / 9999
■ Creatures can't attack. creatures can't attack. ■ Seals can't be removed from creatures. seals can't be removed from creatures.
The world will come to end when the forbidden seal becomes unlocked. the world will come to end when the forbidden seal becomes unlocked.

KNDN ~SEALED X~
kndn ~sealed x~

Fire / KNDN Pulse

■ This pulse starts the game in the battle zone with 6 seals on it.
this pulse starts the game in the battle zone with 6 seals on it.

■ This pulse can't leave the battle zone.
this pulse can't leave the battle zone.

■ Unsealing—When this pulse has no seals on it, flip it to its creature side.
unsealing—when this pulse has no seals on it, flip it to its creature side.

■ Whenever a player puts a command into the battle zone, he puts seal from one of his cards into graveyard.
whenever a player puts a command into the battle zone, he puts seal from one of his cards into graveyard.

KNDN LEGEND DKDM X
kndn legend dkdm x

Fire / KNDN Creature / 99 / 99999

■ Triple breaker
triple breaker

■ When this card is flipped to this creature side, your opponent puts a seal on each of his creatures.
when this card is flipped to this creature side, your opponent puts a seal on each of his creatures.

■ Whenever a spell that costs 4 or less would cause your opponent to choose a creature, he can't choose this one.
whenever a spell that costs 4 or less would cause your opponent to choose a creature, he can't choose this one.

■ If this card is anywhere other than the battle zone, you lose the game.
if this card is anywhere other than the battle zone, you lose the game.

Artist: MITSUAKI MATSUMOTO (mtsk mtmt)

DEMON HAND demon hand
Darkness / Spell / 6
ST (When this spell is put into your hand from your shield zone, you may cast it for no cost.) ST (when this spell is put into your hand from your shield zone, you may cast it for no cost.) ■ Destroy one of your opponent's creatures. destroy one of your opponent's creatures.
Artist: hippo

Red-End, Super Lightning Sonic was also seen played by Basara. Its name and race was in Japanese characters, but the ability and other card details were in forbidden characters.

超轟速レッド・エンド

Fire / Evolution Creature / ソニック・コマンド + 侵略者 / 5 / 6000

■ Evolution - Put on one of your fire creatures.

evolution - put on one of your fire creatures.

■ Invasion - Fire command

invasion - fire command

■ Double Breaker

double breaker

■ When this creature is destroyed, you may put one of the cards that was under it from your graveyard into the battle zone.

when this creature is destroyed, you may put one of the cards that was under it from your graveyard into the battle zone.

Other Characters

Additionally, forbidden characters have been featured in creature's artworks, reading as follows:

Click to view
Card:	Forbidden Characters:	Translation:
Forbidden ~The Sealed X~	seal	SEAL
Marmo, Forbidden C	save kndn	SAVE (KNDN on the Promotional card.)
Trooper, Forbidden U	unchain	UNCHAIN
Red-End, Super Lightning Sonic	thered	THERED
Redzone X, Forbidden Lightning Sonic	darkness	DARKNESS
The End of X	dkndm	DKNDM
Trig, Forbidden C	vol si	VOL SI
Typhoon, Forbidden C	honcen	HONCEN
The Black V, Roaring Sound	rudo	RUDO
Kizamu, Forbidden V	slash	SLASH
Walsura Prince S	scepter	SCEPTER
Metal Walsura S	guard	GUARD
Savage, Forbidden U	summon	SUMMON
Hook, Dark Armor K	tenebris scutum	TENEBRIS SCUTUM
Luciano, Explosive G	ferus ignis flatus	FERUS IGNIS FLATUS
4-W, Break Speed	dash	DASH

Since each of the cards with a Forbidden Characters card exist with a Japanese printing, they can be directly compared to the original card.

Forbidden Characters:	Japanese:	English:	Reference:
kndn	禁断	Kindan / Forbidden	Forbidden
dkdm	ドキンダム	Dokindam	Dokindam X, The Legendary Forbidden
unsealing	禁断解放	Forbidden Liberation	Forbidden ~The Sealed X~
st	S・トリガー	Shield Trigger	Terror Pit
knda	禁断機関	Forbidden Engine	VV-8, Forbidden Machine
forbidden riser	禁断機動	Forbidden Mechanism	VV-8, Forbidden Machine
dormaggedon X	ドルマゲドン X	Dormageddon X	Dormageddon X, Forbidden Armageddon
forbidden star ~the last day of the world~	FORBIDDEN　STAR　～世界最後の日～	FORBIDDEN STAR ~The Last Day of the World~	FORBIDDEN STAR ~World's Last Day~

Appearances in the anime

Red-End Forbidden Characters — Red-End's effect changing to Forbidden Characters

Only Basara is able of reading the forbidden characters, this being the reason why Zakira let him have the unsealed version of Forbidden. Later on, when Basara duels against Lucifer in a revenge match, the card of Red-End, Super Lightning Sonic had its effect changed from kanji to Forbidden Characters which only he could read, which influenced the outcome of the duel as Lucifer accidentally destroyed it and helped his opponent unseal Dokindam X after playing a Fire Command.

Whenever a seal was removed, a number would be displayed in Forbidden Characters as ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR, FIVE and SIX. Additionally, Forbidden Characters seem to appear around the creatures as well as on their cards.