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SPOILER WARNING! All spoilers for overDress Seasons 1 and 2 and will+Dress Season 1 will be left unmarked.
Team Blackout
General Tropes
- Almighty Janitor: They don't participate in the Tournament Circuit, leaving them relatively unknown by professionals and considered amateurs by some. Despite this, they're very skill fighters, enough to impress Jinki Mukae into offering their main fighters invitations to his tournament.
- Contrasting Sequel Main Character: Unlike Team Q4 and Team Try 3 which were comprised of no more than four people and had their respective series' protagonist as a founding member, Blackout is shown to be a much larger group and already existed before Yu-yu joined them. Their choice of base are also different: Q4 and Try3 are both affiliated with the Card Capital card shop, while Team Blackout's base is at a abandoned amusement park.
- Fight Fire with Fire: After Team Daybreak begins going around and forcing teams to join them under threat of burning their banners, Team Blackout under Tohya decides to do something similar. Instead of threatening to burn the banners of other teams though, Team Blackout takes the banners so as to protect them from Team Daybreak, effectively putting those other teams under their protection, and forming an alliance with them to combat Team Daybreak.
- Fire-Forged Friends: This is how most of the members met and formed their team.
- Once a Season: The Leader and Number Two of the team changes with each season for the first three seasons.
- overDress Season 1 has Danji as the leader, before stepping down at the end of the season so he reconnect with Mirei. Tomari acts as his number two, officially being referred to as such during the meeting with other teams about the Banner Burnings.
- overDress Season 2 has Tohya as the leader, before stepping down at some point between Season 2 and will+Dress Season 1 to travel cross-country, with Yu-yu taking his place. Megumi acts as his number two, serving as his Morality Chain so he doesn't backslide on his Character Development.
- will+Dress Season 1 has Yu-yu as the leader. Zakusa acts as his number two, serving a similar role to him as Haruka does to Mirei, the two even spying on Yu-yu and Mirei together after Yu-yu's loss to Raika to make sure they were both okay.
- Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: As Yu-yu himself put it, they're all people who came together for their love of Vanguard. Their pasts and circumstances didn't matter, so long as they had Vanguard and the night, they could be together.
- True Companions: They all consider each other as family and are willing to help each other through thick and thin. Anyone who is willing to join their team with good intentions, they will welcome them with open arms. While it's taking time, Tohya is slowly being accepted too after he demonstrates how genuine he is in being The Atoner. Even Megumi, while she admits she can't forgive him for destroying the Merry-Go-Round, considers him a friend now and accepts him as their new leader. Anyone who leaves they likewise consider a friend still, as evident with Danji and Tohya.
Yu-yu Kondo
Dragon Empire
Voiced by: Shouta Aoi (JP), James Higuchi (EN)
Yu-yu plays a Dragon Empire deck based around the overDress ability, which lets him evolve the unassuming Grade 0 Trickstar into different variants of the unit Vairina. His vanguard, Chakrabarthi Divine Dragon, Nirvana, allows him to bring back Trickstar from the drop zone for more overDress. He later adds a new Grade 4 boss, Chakrabarthi True Dragon, Mahar Nirvana, which can not only still bring back Trickstar from the drop zone, but also deal damage to the opponent's vanguard.
In will+Dress, he changes to another Dragon Empire deck based around the X-overDress ability, which allows Trickstar to combine with Prayer Dragon units into stronger Vairina forms. His new vanguard, Chakrabarthi Phoenix Dragon, Nirvana Jheva, can still bring back Trickstar and Prayer Dragons from the drop zone, but it can also re-stand X-overDress units for extra attacks. He later begins mixing up his older overDress Vairina forms with his newer X-overDress ones, and using cards that support both mechanics.
- Adaptation Personality Change: The firstDress manga radically alters Yu-yu's personality. In the anime, Yu-yu starts out as a Shrinking Violet who has trouble saying "no" to people, is overall very gentle and softspoken, and is Dragged into Drag by his sisters. In firstDress, he's openly sadistic and fights weaker opponents for pleasure, and crossdresses voluntarily. This is even reflected via their deck choices.
- Adaptational Superpower Change: In the anime, Yu-yu uses a Dragon Empire deck. In the firstDress manga, he uses a Lyrical Monasterio deck.
- Attractive Bent-Gender: Yu-yu looks rather adorable in a dress, to the point that spectators of the Cardfight Pro Wrestling fight in episode 5 found him cute, much to Megumi's irritation.
- Became Their Own Antithesis: will+Dress Season 3 would see Yu-yu become further and further outraged at the Uniformers, despising the idea that people should give up their identities as Cardfighters just for the sake of strength, coming to hate Gui in particular for embodying those beliefs and belittling his own. As a result, Yu-yu would slowly end up becoming self-righteous, regularly proclaiming a need to become stronger so he can beat the Uniformers, and feeling it's his responsibility to "save" Shirogane/Zakusa. It's only after facing Shirogane, learning he's Not Brainwashed, and losing to him that Yu-yu is made painfully aware of how arrogant he'd become, and how in his desperation to beat the Uniformers, he was now no better than them.
- But Now I Must Go: After managing to defeat Gui and reaching an understanding with it, he leaves Blackout to start travelling to witness a world no one has seen before.
- Character Development: Starts to become more confident in himself over the course of the first season.
- A Child Shall Lead Them: By will+Dress, with Danji remaining with Daybreak and Tohya having stepped down, Team Blackout is officially led by Yu-yu now, even though he's their newest and youngest member before the arrival of Urara.
- Contrasting Sequel Main Character: To Aichi Sendou and Chrono Shindou:
- Yu-yu is a expy of Aichi in many aspects, but at the same time, their are contrasts between them. Aichi had a good relationship with his younger sister Emi while Yu-yu is more of a doormat towards his older sisters. Aichi had a connection with Vanguard before he became a player while Yu-yu never had any connection to Vanguard until he became a cardfighter. In terms of skill, Aichi had to go through a lot of training and various powerful opponents to become the top fighter he became at the end of his series, while Yu-yu is more or less an Instant Expert at the game. Aichi’s favorite card is Blaster Blade, a Grade 2 unit that is already strong on its own and embodies Aichi's ideal image of strength, while Yu-yu’s is Trickstar, a Grade 0 unit with the ability to evolve with overDress, representing Yu-yu's potential and desire to become stronger.
- Both Yu-yu and Chrono are experts in cooking. While Chrono was an orphan who was raised by his aunt, Yu-yu lives with his parents and sisters. In terms of personality, Chrono started off as a stoic, rash and aloof individual who took time to open up to his teammates and frequently clashed with them, while Yu-yu is a timid and very polite individual who gets along well with his teammates as soon as he meets them. Their favorite units are both dragons with the ability to evolve, but Chrono and his Chronojet Dragon cards represent his endless future possibilities, while Yu-yu and the Vairina cards represent who he wants to be.
- Dragged into Drag: Yu-yu was forced to do this in the first episode courtesy of his sister roping him into her hobbies. He had to do it again in the fifth episode, and in the second episode of season 2.
- Discard and Draw: Starting from episode 4 of will+Dress, Yu-yu switches his old deck for a newer one that utilizes the X-overDress mechanic. Turns out to be Subverted as of his rematch with Raika where he suddenly breaks out Varina Arcs again during the final turn, serving not only to help win him the fight but also to prove his point that one doesn't need to reject their past to move forward. This continues on into will+Dress Season 2, where he now uses cards that support both mechanics simultaneously.
- Expy: Takes after Aichi Sendou in terms of design and personality, with both being blue-haired, shy, young boys who are new to Vanguard, look up to a stronger, more experienced cardfighter whom they received their Signature Mon from, and who, through Vanguard, end up making new friends.
- Hidden Depths: Yu-yu is shown to be a very good makeup artist, a trait which he learned from his sisters forcing him to dress as a girl.
- Instant Expert: Yu-yu is the latest member of Team Blackout and yet he was able to defeat Megumi in his first fight and was skilled enough to corner Danji and outright defeat Tohya in their first fight.
- Irony: In his fight against Shirogane, who is really Zakusa after undergoing the Uniformers' program, he uses Mirror Reflection Equip, Mirrors Vairina in an attempt to "save" him just like with Urara. However, he makes it clear that he is Not Brainwashed, which is compounded by the mirrors instead showing Yu-yu's reflection causing him to see how his arrogance and hatred made him no different than Uniformers.
- Mistaken for Gay: Due to Danji's attraction to a crossdressing Yu-yu and their choice of words, Megumi thought the two of them were in a relationship. It takes a fight against Yu-yu to clear up the misunderstanding.
- Nice Guy: He is very friendly and polite towards everyone he interacts with.
- Older Than They Look: He's 15 years old, but looks a lot younger than that, looking more like he belongs in elementary school.
- Personality Powers: Yu-yu desires to become a stronger and more confident person, which is shown through Trickstar and its ability to use overDress, which allows the Grade 0 unit to evolve into a stronger Grade 2 to 4.
- Shy Blue-Haired Girl: Gender-inverted; He has dark blue hair and initially comes off as Shrinking Violet.
- Shrinking Violet: At the start of the series he is very shy and is unable to refuse someone.
- Signature Mon: Trickstar has been referred to as his personal "buddy" and is a key card of his playstyle due to being needed to perform overDress.
- Sketchy Successor: Invoked on himself. He sees himself as a poor choice of leader after Danji and Tohya both leave Team Blackout in will+Dress, having doubt is his abilities, especially after Raika gives him a Curb-Stomp Battle, causing the audience to not only doubt Yu-yu's skill, but that of all of Team Blackout. It takes pep talks from Mirei and Megumi to get him out of his funk.
- Supporting Protagonist:
- While he is ostensibly the main protagonist of the series, in practice he's largely in a supporting role for others in Season 1 and Season 2, namely Danji, Tohya, and Mirei.
- Played with in will+Dress overall. In Season 1, Yu-yu takes the center stage himself alongside Urara, Raika, and Michiru, but he returns to taking a supporting role in Season 2 once Danji returns.
Megumi Okura
Stoicheia
Voiced by: Amane Shindo (JP), Lily Ki (ENnote )
Megumi plays a Stoicheia deck based around Sylvan Horned Beast King, Magnolia, which can give her back-row rear-guards the ability to attack in order to overwhelm her opponent with an aggressive barrage of continuous attacks. She later adds a new Grade 4 boss, Sylvan Horned Beast Emperor, Magnolia Elder, which can not only still allow her back-row units to attack, but also powers them up and lets them intercept from the back-row as well, providing her hyper-aggressive strategy some resilience.
After undergoing the Uniformers program, she uses a deck centered around Sylvan Horned Beast King of Calamity, Magnolia Masques, which per usual of Masques cards focuses on placing Dragontree Markers. In contrast to Magnolia Elder, who gives defense as offense, Magnolia Masques is more focused on offense by giving back-row rear-guards on Dragontree Markers the ability to attack along with them gaining a constant 15,000 boost in power during her turn. In the case, that all her rear-guards are retired, she can easily bring them back with Forced Grow Dragon, who can revive units equal to the amount Dragontree Markers on her rear-guard circles thus continuing her onslaught.
- Affectionate Nickname: Her classmates calls her "Meg Gloria". While she drops that after Yu-yu and Tohya convince her to rejoin Team Blackout, she later gains the name "Big Sis Megumi" from Urara.
- Becoming the Mask: The tomboyish outfit she wears at Team Blackout was her attempt to fit in with the team, but in her own words ended up becoming the most precious version of herself.
- Cannot Spit It Out: Megumi is in love with Danji, but doesn't have the courage to confess her feelings to him.
- Can't Catch Up: will+Dress shows she feels like she's failing to live up to Danji's legacy in Team Blackout, and her attempts to prove that she's on his level don't end well for her. She gets stomped by Michiru during Deluxe, and while she makes it to the finals she loses in the first round to Tohya. Being defeated by Halona (Who in her mind Danji would've easily dealt with) proves to be the last straw, causing her to join Uniformers so she can get stronger.
- Contrasting Sequel Main Character: To Misaki Tokura and Tokoha Anjou:
- Both Misaki and Megumi were loners who didn't have any friends until they encounter their teammates and both are good at scaring the male characters of their respective series. While Misaki was an introvert who eventually became more open after spending more time with Aichi and Team Q4, Megumi is an outgoing extrovert who likes to make new friends and only acts as an introvert at school. Misaki didn't have any experience in Vanguard but soon became an Instant Expert after she became a cardfighter, while Megumi is a strong and experienced cardfighter since the begining of her series similar to Tokoha. Misaki had a reputation of being a delinquent due to her Deadpan Snarker personality and the way she wore her uniform and is viewed as The Dreaded by her schoolmates, while Megumi is very popular and well-liked by her classmates.
- Both Tokoha and Megumi are extrovert individuals and are strong cardfighters who live under their older brothers shadow. While Tokoha was close with her older brother Mamoru and gets along well with him, Megumi and her older brother are estranged since he is a Workaholic who prefers to run their family’s company rather than spending more time with her.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: She doesn't like it whenever Danji gets closer to Yu-yu.
- Even the Girls Want Her: She attends an all-girl high school, where Megumi's classmates find her very attractive and cute.
- The Leader: She becomes Blackout's 4th leader after Yu-yu passes over leadership to her.
- Lonely Rich Kid: Used to be this prior to joining Team Blackout, as her brother had grown distant after being named heir to the family's company.
- Love Hurts: She is in love with Danji, which is why she takes his leave from Team Blackout the hardest.
- Morality Chain: Part of the reason she returns to Blackout following Danji's departure is so she can make sure Tohya doesn't go off the deep end again, both for the sake of the team, and because she considers him her friend now.
- Ojou: Megumi lives in a large and fancy-looking house with maids and was shown to have a personal driver when she came to pick up Yu-yu after school in episode 4.
- School Idol: Megumi is the most popular student at her high school, to the point of being called "Meg Gloria" as an Affectionate Nickname, and having an entire legion of fangirls who refuse to let anyone take her from them. Just learning she was a Vanguard Fighter prompted many of them to take up the game too, just to get the attention of Megumi.
Zakusa Ishigame
Brandt Gate
Voiced by: Masahiro Itou (JP), Hans Wackershauser (EN)
Zakusa plays a Brandt Gate deck based around Cardinal Deus, Orfist, which plays World Order cards to enable the Dark Night and Abyssal Dark Night states, allowing his cards to unleash their full power, such as Orfist's ability to call powerful Shadow Army tokens. He later switches his main vanguard to Cardinal Dominus, Orfist Regis, which calls Shadow Army tokens during the battle phase instead, allowing for aggressive multi-attacks.
- Arch-Enemy: He despises Masanori, something the latter notes and joyfully taunts him about when they fight.
- Contrasting Sequel Main Character: To Kamui Katsuragi. Both can be easy to anger and get heated up when in a fight. While Kamui is brash and arrogant, Zakusa is generally reserved and respectful. Kamui was an elementary school kid, while Zakusa is a young adult.
- Dark Is Not Evil: Uses units based off of Link Joker with a dark color scheme, but is generally kind and respectful.
- Drives Like Crazy: Not normally, but he can get a little reckless... when driving a tank. He get's so wild while driving one that Danji has to repeatedly call out for him to stop before they crash into something.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: While he's in a romantic relationship with Tomari, he tends to have this relationship with Danji, largely being by his side when not with Tomari, and being the closest to Danji among Team Blackout. So much so that he follows Danji when he leaves Team Blackout and joins Team Daybreak so he can keep helping him out while carrying out his mission.
- Hot-Blooded: While normally soft spoken and reserved, he still has tendencies from when he was a delinquent in him. If pissed off enough he reverts to said demeanor and gets a lot more excitable. Even outside of that, if he gets really passionate about something, he can start acting like this, such as when he was driving a tank.
- The Infiltration: In Season 2, Zakusa infiltrates Daybreak under Tomari's request, as revealed in episode 20, to investigate the true mastermind behind Daybreak's banner burning activities.
- Intelligible Unintelligible: When going back to his delinquent persona, Zakusa starts talking like this, requiring someone else, usually Tomari, to translate for the other characters and the audience.
- Japanese Delinquents: Used to be one until he met Tomari who made him reform. He does lapse back into this kind of behavior whenever he gets angry.
- The Lancer: He takes this role for Yu-yu when the latter becomes leader of Team Blackout in will+Dress. Funnily enough, he ends up acting like a more restrained Haruka, with the two actually joining each other in trying to eavesdrop on Yu-yu and Mirei's talk after Yu-yu's loss to Raika.
- Official Couple: Zakusa was originally a punk until Tomari disciplined him, which caused them to go out with each other.
- Red Baron: When he was still a delinquent, he went by the moniker of "The Mad Dog of Kaga". The name still carries some weight, and Zakusa being present is enough to get the other teams to accept Tomari as Danji's stand in for the meeting about the banner burnings.
Tomari Seto
Brandt Gate
Voiced by: Hikaru Tōno (JP), Brianna Johnston (EN)
Tomari Seto is a policewoman by day, and member of Team Blackout by night, where she acts as the famous Screaming Fight MC. Also, she is familiar with almost every card and their effects, and self-proclaims to be "eternally 17 years old".Tomari plays a Brandt Gate deck based around Aurora Battle Princess, Seraph Snow, with her strategy being to imprison her opponent's cards in her Prison Order card, forcing them to pay costs to get them back, lest her own units power-up. She later adds a new Grade 4 boss, Aurora Fierce Princess, Seraph Purelight, which can not only imprison a whopping six cards when placed, but also massively powers-up her front-row units with additional power and crits the more cards are imprisoned.
- Beware the Silly Ones: She spends most of her time being a Large-Ham Announcer, but when it comes time for Blackout and Daybreak's showdown she insists on taking on Masanori and manages to take him down with trigger units thanks to her Grade 4.
- Combat Commentator: Tomari provides commentary whenever a cardfight happens at Wonder Hill, unless she's the one fighting.
- Cool Big Sis: She acts as this to all the younger members of Team Blackout, especially towards characters like Megumi and Yu-yu.
- Foil: To Masanori. Both are their respective team's Number Two and support them from behind the scenes. But while Masanori acts as The Corrupter towards his teammates, nudging them into committing acts of evil, Tomari is a full on Nice Girl towards her team, encouraging and helping them through whatever problems they might have.
- Hot Cop: Tomari is an attractive-looking police officer. This also applies to her Aurora Battle Princesses units who have a Police aesthetic.
- Large-Ham Announcer: Tomari does the commenting whenever a major fight takes place at Wonder Hill and definitely enjoys doing so. One character even refers to her as the "Scream Queen".
- The Lancer: To Danji, having been the first out of the main cast to join Team Blackout and is often the one in command whenever he’s absent.
- Nice Girl: She is very sweet and a helpful individual. She is also the first member of Blackout who easily forgave Tohya and accepted him as their new leader, despite the latter burning their banner and even convinced Yu-yu to trust him.
- Official Couple: With Zakusa, who used to be a delinquent before she met him.
- Post-Victory Collapse: After defeating Masanori, she collapses into Zakusa's arms.
- The Worf Effect: She's a very skilled fighter herself, so she's made to face a Brainwashed and Crazy Urara to demonstrate the threat Uniformers pose, and how they are changing fighters in their pursuit of the "Ultimate Fight".
Tohya Ebata
Keter Sanctuary
Voiced by: Yūma Uchida (JP), Daniel Fong (EN)
Tohya plays a Keter Sanctuary deck based around Apex Ruler, Bastion. His deck uses a large amount of Grade 3 units, with Bastion having the ability to not only power them up, but also re-stand a Grade 3 unit if he checks a Grade 3 during his drive check. He later adds a new Grade 4 boss, Apex-surpassing Sword, Bastion Prime, which has the ability to stand all his Grade 3 units after drive checking a Grade 3 or higher unit. In Season 3 of will+Dress, he acquires a new Bastion, Sword of the Nation, Bastion Accord, another Grade 3 version that acts as a side-grade from the original. Accord not only protects front-row Grade 3s from being chosen for effects, but it also stands a rear-guard regardless of check result and, should Tohya discard another Bastion card from his hand, make that rear-guard capable of drive checks when it attacks.
- Arc Villain: Ultimately, Tohya ends up the main antagonist of overDress's first season as his desire of victory against Danji leads him to take drastic actions.
- Asskicking Leads to Leadership: Another reason why Danji makes him Team Blackout's new leader since he only burned down their banner after he and his team defeated every other member before fighting against Danji.
- The Atoner: After Danji appointed him as The Leader of Team Blackout, Tohya genuinely feels remorseful for burning their banner and wanted to make amends by helping them defeat Daybreak.
- Batman Gambit: In his second fight against Yu-yu, he expected Yu-yu to get an Overtrigger in his drive check and lets Vairina Valiente's first attack go through to give Yu-yu the impression he could end the fight only for Tohya to block its second attack with a Perfect Guard. Yu-yu with one card short was unable to defend against Tohya's assault.
- Break the Haughty: He became ruthless and cold-hearted individual after undergo minor sanity slippage and also became determined to defeat Danji. The majority of these personality traits are immediately shattered by Danji himself after he defeats him and also made Tohya come back to his sense and realize the error of his ways.
- Blood Knight: Tohya seeks to have a good fight and often sees Vanguard as a challenging game. He gradually grows out off this after his Heel–Face Turn.
- Brutal Honesty: He comes off as blunt and isn't afraid to speak whatever's on his mind.
- Contrasting Sequel Main Character: To Ren Suzugamori and Shion Kiba:
- Both Ren and Tohya used to be kinder individuals with a love for the game, but after losing to one of the main characters, (Kai and Danji respectively), they developed an obsession with defeating them, seeking out power and becoming cold hearted and cruel in the process. While Ren’s Start of Darkness was due to his Psyqualia awakening and corrupting him, Tohya’s was done of his own volition. Ren desired to defeat Kai to prove his superiority over him, while Tohya wanted to defeat Danji so he could move on with his life and forget about Vanguard. Ren manages to defeat Kai, but loses to Aichi afterwards, while Tohya defeats Yu-yu, but loses to Danji afterwards, but manages to finally defeat him after multiple back to back losses. And while Ren still had Tetsu and Asaka by the end of the season and goes on the reform AL4, Tohya is abandoned by Masanori, but is made Team Blackout’s new leader after Danji retires. Ren is mostly a goofy air-head individual and The Ditz who prefers to act as a lazy slacker and make his teammates do all the hard-work, while Tohya tends to be more reserved compared to Ren and is a hardworking individual who prefers to do everything by himself rather than letting his teammates do all the hard-work.
- Shion and Tohya are both blond-haried guys who come from rich families, have a lot of expectations placed on them, and use Vanguard as a way to feel free. While Shion is able to divide his time between school, his families company, and Vanguard, Tohya got so absorbed into the game that it completely absorbed everything else in his life with him even stating that it is all he has left.
- Defeat Means Friendship: Invoked by Danji who makes Tohya, who just burned down Blackout's banner, into the new leader since he has nowhere else to go after they had their rematch.
- Determinator: When Tohya puts his mind to something, he gives 110%, no exceptions. This works to his detriment however, as he ends up getting so obsessed that he ignores everything else in the process, including his own health. His grandmother actually introduced him to Vanguard hoping it would give him a hobby to cool down with, but his obsession just shifted to that, causing him to drop out of medical school in the process. Even post-Character Development, he's still this, as he ended up taking a several hour long bus-ride just to face Mondo Kirishima again, to both Mondo and Yu-yu's shock, and was left sore the next day, which just so happened to be the finals of the Vanguard Deluxe.
- Discard and Draw: Subverted with his deck upgrade in Season 3 of will+Dress, when he switches his primary Bastion to Bastion Accord. Unlike Danji and Yu-yu, who stopped running their old Grade 3s and 4s when they got a retrain of their original Vanguards, Tohya still runs both the original Bastion and Bastion Prime. This actually works for his deck, as not only can Bastion Accord persona ride on the original (And vice versa) due to being treated as the same card, but it also needs to discard any Bastion card for its most powerful effect, giving Tohya incentive to still run the originals.
- Dragged into Drag: He and Yu-yu are forced to dress as women by Yu-Yu’s mother and sisters in order to infiltrate Megumi's all-girls school.
- Even Evil Has Standards: He is willing to burn his opponents banner after he defeats them but he is not amused with Masanori pulling a dirty prank against Team Blackout.
- Easily Forgiven: Subverted. Tomari was the only member of Blackout who easily forgave Tohya for buring their banner, but after Yu-yu and some of the other members witness him being genuinely remorseful over his deeds and making amends by repairing the Merry-Go-Round, they all decided to forgive and accept Tohya as their leader.
- He himself doesn't have much issue with Masanori even after the latter admits to using him for his own entertainment. In fact, Tohya is actually thankful for Masanori's influence because it got him through a hard time in his life. In their fight with each other, it's revealed this attitude is the one thing that actually gets under Masanori's skin.
- The Fatalist: Expresses his belief that everyone has their own path they are destined to take. This is why he seeks to leave Vanguard after defeating Danji as he believes he has to become a doctor and that being a vanguard player does not fit with that goal. He eventually falls out of this mindset.
- Guest-Star Party Member: His time with Blackout ultimately only lasts for the second half of overDress, as by will+Dress, he's stepped down from leading them and returned to being a solo fighter, with Yu-yu taking his place as leader. He remains on good terms with the team though, and is treated as if he were still a member, Yu-yu even saying that if he ever gets lonely again, he'll always be welcome to rejoin them.
- Light Is Not Good: He uses regal looking knights from Keter Sanctuary, but while initially friendly, he becomes cruel and ruthless, defeating multiple teams and burning their team flags. However...
- Light Is Good: Once Danji beats him in their second cardfight and nominates him to be the next Blackout leader, he becomes a much more open and nice individual.
- Mr. Fanservice: Not only is he one of the most attractive man in the franchise, but he also gets a naked shower scene in #14.
- Mundane Solution: In season 3 of will+Dress, the other protagonists gain dramatic Mid Season Upgrades as gifts from their friends... while Tohya, after having practice matches against the other Deluxe fighters, just goes out and buys the newest set of support for Bastion from a card shop like someone wanting to upgrade their deck in real life would.
- Post-Victory Collapse: Passes out after defeating Danji.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: He has red eyes and comes off as cruel and ruthless individual.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: When Yu-yu tries reaching out to him during their rematch, he tells Tohya about what Vanguard means to him, hoping it would resonate with him. Instead, Tohya rebukes everything Yu-yu says, decrying him as lacking the resolve to defeat him, shortly before winning and burning Team Blackout's banner.Tohya: Don't look down on me! — Your tusks aren't so easily broken. However, they're no match for my blade! — I'll show you what the ground tastes like. — Friends? A place where you belong? Having fun? You, who've been steeped in such sickeningly lukewarm stuff have no hope of winning against my resolve! — You lose. Did you assume drawing an Over Trigger would give you an instant win? How cocky of you, Yu-yu Kondo.
- Tritagonist: Tohya gets more focus and development after Yu-yu and Danji.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: A temporary one, but whereas he was initially amicable and friendly to others, in particular Yu-yu, after losing one too many times he began to undergo minor sanity slippage and became more ruthless as a result. He then began partaking in attacking Cardfight teams and burning their banners as a means of getting stronger, before eventually doing the same with Team Blackout just to draw out Danji. While Yu-yu tried reaching out to him, Tohya rebuked everything he said, only calming down after facing Danji repeatedly and finally getting a win, the two having a heart to heart in the process.
- Unexpected Successor: Needless to say, nobody expected Tohya to be the person who becomes Team Blackout's new leader after Danji, especially considering he'd burned the team's flags not too long prior. Danji later tells Yu-yu that he picked Tohya over him because he didn't want to put the burden of The Chains of Commanding on Yu-yu, but that he'd still like Yu-yu to take care of Tohya for him.
Urara Haneyama
Stoicheia
Voiced by: Karin Kagami (JP and EN)
Urara plays a Stoichea deck based around Grand March of Full Bloom, Lianorn, which lets her three back-row rearguards boost her vanguard all at once for an incredibly high-powered vanguard attack. Her boosting units are then restood to also be able to regularly boost her rearguards. After joining the Uniformers, she upgrades her deck with the Mask of Hydragrum card, allowing her to evolve her vanguard into Servitude of Funeral Procession, Lianorn Masques, which can instead re-stand any two rear-guards, not just back-row ones, after being boosted by three units, allowing for multi-attacks by re-standing her front-row units.
- Always Need What You Gave Up: After seeing Yu-yu and Raika's fight in the Deluxe finals, she's inspired to become strong so she can have a fight with the same kind of "Melody" as theirs, particularly wanting to get Yu-yu's acknowledgement. In the process of doing so, she joins Project Uniformers and gives up her original style in favor of theirs, which ends up making Yu-yu unable to acknowledge her in their rematch because as strong as she's become, she lost herself and with it everything that made their fights together fun in the first place.
- The Baby of the Bunch: She's the youngest character in both Team Blackout and the Vanguard Deluxe, and can be a Shrinking Violet outside of cardfights. With the exception of Raika though, everyone she meets quickly comes to like her and acts supportive of her, Megumi and Taizo in particular becoming older sibling-esq figures to her.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: After Team Tirnanog Youth are invited to a training camp, she meets and befriends the camp advisor Halona Walker, who actually works for Jinki at Project Uniformers, and subsequently convinces Urara to participate in the project. Once she reaches Phase 3, her individuality is stripped of her, and she is reduced to a dissonantly serene advocate of Uniformers, trying to get the rest of Team Blackout to join her and confused as to why anyone wouldn't want to become stronger for the "Ultimate Fight", no matter how much Tomari and Megumi try reaching out to her. Yu-yu manages to reach her himself, reminding her of the reason she fights for more than just "strength", allowing her to break free of the brainwashing and remove Gui's influence from herself.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: After reaching Phase 3 of Uniformers, she dishes one out to Tomari managing to completely control the fight through adjusting her strategy to counter Tomari's playstyle.
- Expy: Season 2 of will+Dress shows her turning into one of Taiyou Asukawa, being a younger protégé of the protagonist with great potential who signs up for a training program ran by the Big Bad and becomes twisted into following their philosophy, something that turns them against the protagonists. When she fights Tomari, she even starts taking after some of Taiyou's mannerisms during his second fight with Chrono, saying which plays Tomari will make due to her knowledge of the latter's deck and even mechanically noting her current board state with terms like "Unit deployment complete".
- Fangirl: She's a major fan of the J-Pop duo "Reno-Ten", particular Reno Akai, and repeatedly gets heart eyes when they visit Wonder Hill.
- Fighting from the Inside: While she was brainwashed and being influenced by Gui, Urara demonstrates at multiple points behavior reminiscent of her normal self, trying to remember the sounds of her cards and why she truly fights. Gui's influence however prevents her from fully freeing herself until Yu-yu brings out Mirror Reflection Equip, Mirrors Vairina, allowing her to see who is really controlling her and fight it off.
- I Am What I Am: In her fight against Halona, she states that she is a member of Team Blackout, Tirnanog Youth, and Uniformers showcasing that she does not need to adhere herself to a single group and ideal. This also causes Yu-yu to realize just how narrow-minded he was in his fight against Shirogane and try to understand Gui rather than stop him.
- Instant Expert: Much like Yu-yu before her, she's a natural at Vanguard, her skill managing to impress Jinki enough to give her an invitation to the "Vanguard Deluxe" despite it being her first game. Supplementary materials note that isn't exclusive to Vanguard, but that she displays amazing talent in anything that she likes.
- Nice Girl: She is very kind and friendly towards pretty much everybody she meets.
- No Sense of Direction: Downplayed. Normally, she has no problem telling where she's going. If she gets nervous or panicky though, she easily ends up getting lost. This is actually how she ended up joining Team Blackout, as she fell asleep on the bus and got off at the last stop in a panic when she woke up, said stop being right by Wonderhill as Megumi was on her way there. Similarly, when it was time for Tohya's match with Raika and she saw no one was in the waiting room, once she heard there was only fifteen minutes until the match, she rushed over and ran into the seats where Michiru and Taizo were... on Raika's side of the field. The rest of Team Blackout, who can see this, can only laugh nervously as Megumi pinches her nose in frustration.Urara: (realizing where she is) I'm on the wrong side...Michiru: It's starting.Megumi: (pinching her nose) Why's she...?
- Shrinking Violet: She's normally painfully shy and easy to frighten, and finds herself easily nervous when meeting new people.
- Token Mini-Moe: She's both the newest and youngest member of Team Blackout after Yu-yu, being only 13 when she joined. She's also Older Than They Look, looking much younger than even Yu-yu, and Endearingly Dorky, which adds to her cute factor. She looks even younger than Halona Walker, a fellow Token Mini-Moe, despite being a year older than Halona.
Yamamoto and Ishida
Keter Sanctuary (Yamamoto)
Yamamoto Voiced by: Shinei Ueki (JP), Scott Roberts (EN)
Ishida Voiced by: Reigo Yamaguchi (JP), Daniel Fong (EN)
Both Yamamoto and Ishida are members of Team Blackout and are often seen hanging around with each other.While his deck hasn't ever been shown on-screen, Yamamoto is known to use a Keter Sanctuary deck based around Hexaorb Sorceress.
- Ascended Extra: Heavily downplayed. As the series continues, Yamamoto begins appearing independent of Ishida, but is still largely a Recurring Extra. Such as being part of the lineup for Team Blackout's match against Team Daybreak, only to immediately be defeated by Haruka entirely offscreen. Or showing up opposite Tomari in the group shot for Team Blackout in will+Dress Season 3's intro "The last resort".
- Eyes Always Shut: Ishida is often seen with his eyes closed.
- Last-Name Basis: All the characters call or refer to them by their surname.
- Only One Name: Both of them are known by their surname, while their actual name is unknown.
- Recurring Extra: Both of them frequently appear as extras almost every episode.
- Those Two Guys: Both of them are initially rarely seen apart. As the series continues though, Yamamoto slowly begins appearing more on his own.
Team Daybreak
General Tropes
- Bright Is Not Good: Their name refers to the period of time where the sun rises and the night ends, as a contrast toward Team Blackout's own name evoking darkness, yet Team Daybreak is the antagonist for the show's second season.
- Expy: Them being a large group of cardfighters who serve as the show's antagonists bring Team Foo Fighters to mind, with Team Daybreak's hunt for other teams's banners being similar to the V-series's incarnation of Foo Fighters taking over card shops.
- Fallen Hero: Before Nadatsugu left, the team was like any other, a place for people to come together and have fun. After he left and Mirei took charge, or rather Haruka's influence began, Team Daybreak became more tyranical, attacking other groups to force them into joining.
- Heel–Face Turn: After Yu-yu defeats Mirei, they stop burning banners and return all the banners they stole to their rightful owners.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: According to Haruka, Team Daybreak's goal is to unite all cardfighters under one banner, the reasons for which are connected to bad experiences Mirei has had in the past. To this end, they employ unscrupulous individuals like Masanori and Shinobu and aim to take other teams' banners.
Danji Momoyama
Dark States
Voiced by: Yuki Ono (JP), Josh Meredith (EN)
Danji plays a Dark States deck based around Diabolos, "Violence" Bruce, focusing around the Final Rush mechanic, which activates the next turn after riding Bruce, unlocking the full power of his cards, such as Bruce's ability to re-stand all his front-row rearguards. He later adds a new Grade 4 boss, Diabolos, "Unrivaled" Bruce, which can not only re-stand his front-row rearguards, but also itself when in Final Rush.
In will+Dress, he switches to a new main vanguard, Diabolos, "Viamance" Bruce, which not only immediately activates Final Rush in the same turn it is ridden, rather than having to wait until the next turn, but also activates an even stronger state, Final Burst, if his opponent is at Grade 3 or higher.
- The Ace: Aside from his occasional absent-mindedness, Danji is portrayed as the most competent and most charismatic character in the cast. Not only is he adored by all the members of Team Blackout and has gone undefeated in Vanguard for the longest time, the many odd jobs he does are so difficult that even Tohya and Yu-yu working together have a hard time handling them.
- Batman Gambit: Having fought with him repeatedly and knowing how he can switch tactics on a dime, Danji knows exactly how Michiru fights and how he'd likely counter Danji's own tactics. So Danji does something not even Michiru would expect by adding a copy of Drajeweled to his deck, and riding it instead of staying on "Viamance" Bruce. Michiru himself notes that putting Drajeweled in his deck did little to help Danji's playstyle or deck synergy, if anything it would normally hinder it, but in this exact scenario, it's what allowed Danji to beat Michiru.
- Big Brother Mentor: Towards Yu-yu, who he decides to take under his wing and train to be a stronger cardfighter.
- Cool Big Bro: How Danji acts to the other members of Team Blackout in particular Yu-yu and Megumi, who the latter has a better relation with than her actual brother who comes more off as aloof.
- Contrasting Sequel Main Character: Both Toshiki Kai and Danji are strong cardfighters who inspire the protagonist whom they look out for. While Kai is more stoic and a loner as well as less overt in supporting Aichi, Danji is The Leader of Team Blackout and publicly announces his desire to mentor Yu-yu.
- Dark Is Not Evil: Danji plays a deck of cards from the Dark States nation and his ace unit is a fearsome-looking demon, but is good-natured and looks out for his teammates.
- Deuteragonist: Danji gets more forcus and development compared to Yu-yu.
- Death Faked for You: Danji is shocked to learn that he had been declared dead by his grandmother and the Minae family after he left them in order to avoid further trouble with the family of Mirei's ex-fiancé after he disrupted their Arranged Marriage.
- Demoted to Extra: Due to the focus being on the Vanguard Deluxe, which he is not taking part in, Danji is largely absent from will+Dress Season 1, largely being in the background after Michiru asked him to look into the tournament and it's host, Jinki Mukae. Season 2 has him return to the limelight, revealing he was participating in the Deluxe USA per Michiru's instruction, achieving second place and joining Team Deluxe USA under the pseudonym "Peach Mountain".
- The Exile: Played with. At first, it was suggested that he had been exiled by the Minae family after an incident when he was younger, and that they declared him deceased to solidify it. In truth however, he was in self exile, trying to distance himself from the Minae family after Haruka made him think he only caused Mirei pain. His grandmother declaring him deceased was more to placate the family of Mirei's ex-fiance after Nadatsugu ruined their Arranged Marriage, and was Haruka's idea at that.
- Expy: In terms of role, he is similar to Toshiki Kai as both he and Danji are strong cardfighters who inspire the protagonist whom they look out for and have a connection to the leader of their respective series' antagonistic team.
- Forced into Evil: A downplayed example. After leaving Team Blackout, he ends up joining Team Daybreak, the very group responsible for burning his former teams banner, becoming the bodyguard for their leader Mirei. He only does so though so he can be with her again, since she's his little sister, and is disgusted with what Team Daybreak has become in his absence. Played straight after Mirei learns who Danji really is, guilting him into abandoning his friends to make him stay by her side.
- Mistaken for Gay: Due to Danji's attraction to a crossdressing Yu-yu and their choice of words, Megumi thought the two of them were in a relationship. It takes a fight against Yu-yu to clear up the misunderstanding.
- Mysterious Past: He possesses an unknown connection to Team Daybreak, as well as two of it's leading members: Mirei and Haruka, Mirei possessing the other half of a pendant he has. That's because he is Mirei's estranged older brother, as well as the one originally meant to lead Team Daybreak.
- Nice Guy: He is a very friendly individual who likes to help people in need.
- Oblivious to Love: He doesn't notice or realize that Megumi is in love with him but he only loves her as a younger sister and not as a potential love interest.
- Retired Badass: This is what Danji tries to become due to wanting to reconnect with Mirei, his little sister, but is unable to become this due to the team still needing his help. He succeeds in the season finale by making Tohya his successor. Though this is ultimately subverted, after he is defeated by Tohya in their third fight, as he realizes that he couldn't bring himself to actually quit Vanguard.
- The Reveal: Episode 20 reveals Danji's real name is Nadatsugu Minae.
- Walking Spoiler: Danji's true identity and past are heavily tied to the plot of Season 2, leaving him this.
Mirei Minae
Dragon Empire
Voiced by: Yuki Nakashima (JP), Emma Flower Houghton (EN)
Mirei plays a Dragon Empire deck focused on Sealed Blaze Maiden, Bavsargra, based around equipping her vanguard with different Arms Order cards, giving it different effects. She also uses a mirror card to Yu-Yu's Trickstar, Trickmoon, with the DressBoost ability, which powers up Bavsargra the more Arms it has equipped.
- Advertised Extra: She's featured prominently in "Re-Raise", the ending theme for will+Dress Season 2, suggesting some level of importance. Her only role that season is acting as an unknowing hostage of Masanori's to force Zakusa into working for Project Uniformers.
- Affably Evil: She is warm and friendly towards her subordinates and enemies alike, even being able to have a polite conversation with Yu-yu up until she thinks he's making fun of her. She drops the "evil" part after her match with Yu-yu, becoming friends with him while Blackout and Daybreak make peace.
- Anti-Villain: She's antagonistic, but she has very sympathetic reasons for being the way she is, being a traumatized, lonely child with severe trust issues who had to deal with Nadatsugu leaving her behind, and being lied to by everyone around her her whole life.
- Arranged Marriage: She was originally set to be wedded off to another family, but Nadatsugu, realizing her fiancé was a jerk and that being married wasn't what Mirei really wanted, disrupted the arrangement and beat the crap out of the fiancé. Doing so is what prompted the Minae family to declare Nadatsugu deceased so as to avoid complications with the family of Mirei's former fiancé.
- Benevolent Boss: Despite wanting to control her subordinates, Mirei appears to be friendly and reasonable towards her subordinates.
- Black-and-White Insanity: Due to Haruka's influence, she's inclined to separate the world into good and bad people, the "good" being Team Daybreak and the "bad" being all the other Vanguard teams for hurting vulnerable people like Mirei... even teams like Team Blackout who have never wronged anyone. When she meets Yu-yu and Tohya, she's initially hesitant to believe they're bad people since they're Danji's friends, and even begins to think Haruka was lying to her since Danji used to lead Team Blackout. After learning that Danji is actually Nadatsugu however, she begins to see Team Blackout as evil for taking her big brother from her, and swears to destroy them so they can't take him ever again. She manages to subvert this after she becomes friends with Yu-yu and Blackout and Daybreak make peace, learning to view the world in shades of grey.
- Blind Weaponmaster: Despite being blind since birth, she is still an amazing Cardfighter and the leader of Team Daybreak. It's later revealed that in order to tell which cards are which, she places animal stickers on the faces of her sleeves, then feels them to determine what card it is.
- Breakout Character: Mirei quickly became a fan-favorite after her focus in overDress Season 2, owing to her compelling characterization, sympathetic narrative, interesting deck, and relation to fellow fan-favorite Danji. The anime apparently took notice, as a good portion of will+Dress Season 2's ending "Re-Raise" is devoted to her, despite her only being an Advertised Extra that season.
- Broken Ace: While on the surface she's a cheerful girl and leader of Team Daybreak, she's actually a heavily traumatized little girl scared of being made fun of by others, and considers herself entirely alone with nothing of her own.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: A sibling example towards Danji, and Played for Drama. After finding out that Danji is her brother Nadatsugu and that he's been hiding his identity from her, she explodes in rage and becomes possessive of him. She demands that he abandon everything he had as Danji Momoyama, including his friends at Team Blackout, and is entirely willing to destroy Team Blackout for that goal. Once Blackout and Daybreak make peace, she lets up a bit, but still wishes he'd call more regularly rather than keep her in the dark.
- Defeat Means Friendship: She becomes friends with Yu-yu and Blackout after he defeats her.
- Expy: Of Ren Suzugamori. Both are leaders of an antagonistic group of cardfighters and play decks that mirror the one used by the protagonist. Furthermore, like Ren who had a connection to Kai, Mirei is connected to Danji since he's her older brother.
- Eyes Always Shut: Since she's blind, her eyes are closed most of the time. When she gets serious in a cardfight her eyes open, showing she has Empty Eyes.
- Genki Girl: She is very upbeat and cheerful, which contributes to her popularity when livestreaming.
- Greater-Scope Villain: Of season 1 since she is the true leader behind the banner hunts, which Masanori and Shinobu partake in.
- Hates Being Alone: After Haruka tells her she's making Danji stop being her bodyguard, she runs off on her own trying to find him. When she finally does, she breaks down in his arms, saying she hates people like him the most, since they always end up leaving. After learning Danji is actually Nadatsugu, she yells at him over how she ultimately feels alone as heiress of the Minai family, while he left her behind and made tons of friends in Team Blackout. When he promises to never leave her again, she makes him give that all up so that there won't be anything that can take him away again.
- I Just Want to Be Free: As a child, she confided in Haruka that she was at her happiest because she was free to be whoever she wanted to be. When she was set to be given off in an Arranged Marriage, Nadatsugu realized she was faking being happy but was actually miserable at being trapped as just a housewife, leading him to ruin the wedding and be exiled as a result. With him declared dead and her forced to be the heiress of the Minae family, she feels shackled even more now.
- Kiddie Kid: She's 16 years old, but her blindness has always caused the people around her to treat her as fragile and shelter her, stunting her maturity and causing her to act more childish than her actual age.
- Last Episode, New Character: Downplayed. She first appears in the last episode of the first season, and only during the last few minutes.
- Locked Out of the Loop: She was the only one who didn't know that her brother was alive, having been lied to about it by Haruka and her family so that she could move on from him after he left. She also didn't know the extent of Team Daybreak's aggressive actions against other teams under Haruka's orders, having been led to believe that all the members of Team Daybreak joined because they wanted to be friends with her rather than because they were threatened into doing so. Once she learned, while she initially leaned into it to force a confrontation with Blackout so she could "punish" them for taking Danji from her, she eventually apologizes to the teams alongside Danji and has Daybreak cease all activities relating to the banner burnings.
- Lonely Rich Kid: Being the heir to the rich Minae family has isolated her and put her under an enormous amount of pressure. The only person who understood her was her older brother, but after he left and became Danji Momoyama, the only companionship she had left was Haruka, who coddled her and fed her lies out of a misguided desire to protect her.
- Meaningful Echo: While fighting the Project Uniformer allied Haruka, Mirei echoes the sentiment Yu-yu shared regarding the overDress mechanic, how it's not about rejecting ones past, but accepting who you are and moving on, doing so as she overDress's Trickmoon into Vairlord and convincing Haruka to stop beating herself up over her mistakes.
- Ojou: The Minae family is noted to hold a lot of influence, and Mirei was made the heiress after her brother Nadatsugu left. It was not a good experience for her, leaving her heavily traumatized and feeling trapped within a Gilded Cage.
- Older Than They Look: Not only does she act younger than her age, she looks it too.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: When she declares war on Yu-yu and Team Blackout, she confidently smirks while completely ignoring the fireworks overhead, even though she had badly reacted to the fireworks only minutes earlier.
- Passing the Torch: Trickstar ultimately used to be her card, but after Nadatsugu was forced to leave, he ultimately took her deck with him. When he took the name Danji and met Yu-yu, Mirei had long since began using Bavsarga and Trickmoon, so when Danji asked Yu-yu which card "spoke" to him, Yu-yu picked Trickstar and made the deck his own. Once the conflict between Daybreak and Blackout ended, Mirei accepted that Trickstar was truly Yu-yu's partner now, and personally saw to it to give him all the cards she had that supported the deck, including a new style called "X-overDress", feeling it was only right that he have it. She later reveals she's taken inspiration from Yu-yu herself, and now Trickmoon can use overDress too, demonstrating how the torch being passed helped both of them.
- The Resenter: Downplayed. Her initial reaction to learning Danji is actually Nadatsugu is outrage, thinking he's been lying to her about being dead and that he's come back to take everything from her, shortly before entering a panic attack and thinking she's ultimately completely alone while he already had everything. It takes Nadatsugu getting on his knees and profusely swearing to never leave her alone again to get her to calm down, after which she demands he discard everything that made him "Danji Momoyama" and pick her if he means it.
- Rose-Haired Sweetie: Mirei has carnation pink hair and is very sweet, naive and pure-hearted most of the time.
- Rule of Symbolism: Trickmoon as a card can give the unit it's boosting a massive power boost with DressBoost, but only one unit, symbolizing Mirei's isolation despite her status. After she begins moving forward again with the help of Yu-yu, she gains the ability to overDress Trickmoon into Vairlord, who's DressBoost instead affects the whole front row, symbolizing her newfound friendships and Character Development.
- Sensory Overload: To compensate for being blind, she has amazing hearing, letting her pick up conversations on the other side of the room. This however sends her into a panic when loud noises occur such as fireworks, causing her immense pain and forcing her to run as far as she can. Her brother Nadatsugu would often put his hands over her ears to try and soothe the pain, which she considered a good luck charm. Danji doing this is what makes her realize that he's really Nadatsugu.
- Stepford Smiler: On the surface, a cheerful girl who's a great and popular Vanguard player. Under the surface, deeply miserable and dissatisfied with her life.
- Walking Spoiler: It's hard to talk about her without spoiling a good chunk of Season 2, namely that's she's Danji's little sister.
- Yandere: A sibling example towards Nadatsugu, after learning that he's still alive as Danji. Mirei can initially only yell at him, thinking he's come back to take everything away from her before descending into a panic attack. When he refuses to ever leave her again however, even if it would kill him, she makes him discard everything that makes him Danji Momoyama, and declares war on Team Blackout to make sure of it. Once Yu-yu beats her though, she drops this aspect.
- Young and in Charge: Despite being only 16 years old, Mirei is The Leader of Team Daybreak.
Haruka Soukawa
Brandt Gate
Voiced by: Yo Taichi (JP), Brett Waring (EN)
Haruka plays a Brandt Gate deck focused on Gravidia Nordlinger, based around setting multiple Meteorite Order cards, then sending them all at once to the drop zone with Nordlinger's skill to wipe out her opponent's units and massively power up Nordlinger, even doubling the effects of triggers it drive checks.
- Affably Evil: She is polite and affable towards everyone she interacts with. Even with Nadatsugu, while she is still frosty with him and won't let him reveal his identity to Mirei, she is mainly trying to figure out where his loyalties lie, and is perfectly willing to let Mirei know the truth about and reintroduce him to her if things go well enough.
- Big Sister Instinct: She is very protective towards Mirei and even banned Nadatsugu from revealing his true identity to her.
- Co-Dragons: With Masanori towards Mirei. Haruka manages Daybreaks affairs and attending to Mirei’s needs, while Masanori targets other teams to assimilate them into Daybreak.
- Cool Big Sis: She acts as a loving older sister figure to Mirei ever since Nadatsugu left. Part of her resentment for Nadatsugu actually comes from the fact that she could never be for Mirei what he was for her.
- The Corrupter: Towards Mirei. Haruka is the one who convinced Mirei to become distrustful towards people who aren't associated with Daybreak. Unlike most examples though, it's less out of deliberately wanting to corrupt Mirei, and more because Haruka is a Knight Templar Parent. And it's later revealed she only became like this due to Masanori.
- Expy: Of Tetsu Shinjou. Both have Undying Loyalty towards The Leader of an antagonistic group of cardfighters, use a darker themed deck, and are childhood friends with Kai and Danji respectively. But while Tetsu enabled Ren’s Might Makes Right behavior out of guilt for letting him get to that point, Haruka became a Toxic Friend Influence towards Mirei, instilling in her a fear of the outside world in a misguided attempt to keep her safe.
- I Gave My Word: After Danji defeated her, she allowed him to meet Mirei but forbid him from revealing his true identity to her.
- It's All My Fault: By the time of will+Dress, she's come to blame herself entirely for the actions of Daybreak in overDress Season 2, seeing herself as weak for falling to Masanori's manipulations and letting Mirei be used by him. This makes her prime material for Zakusa to break down and recruit into Project Uniformers, making her see herself as nothing but a shackle keeping Mirei down, and wanting to become stronger so she can break free from her own mistakes and support Mirei from afar. It takes Mirei coming to her and beating her to realize she doesn't need to do that, and she accepts Mirei's offer to come home.
- My Beloved Smother: While she's Mirei's caretaker rather than a blood relative, Haruka tends to smother Mirei with her protectiveness and desire to not see her hurt, acting as a Knight Templar Parent for her, particularly when concerning her brother Nadatsugu.
- The Resenter: While it's implied she and Nadatsugu used to be close, after he returns under the name Danji, she has thinly veiled contempt for him due to his abandoning Mirei when she needed him most, and doesn't trust him to not just abandon them again. She later explains to Megumi it's because she feels he only ever brought pain to Mirei, and that his presence does nothing more than hurt everyone around him, but her own thoughts make clear she was more upset at the idea Nadatsugu couldn't have just been happy with her and Mirei, and that by leaving, he forced the burden of being heir on Mirei who would have been happiest just being free, a burden that Haruka couldn't lift herself.
- Toxic Friend Influence: She's very protective of Mirei, but does so by stamping out anything that could activate her trauma buttons and by instilling in her a fear of the outside world and "bad people", all the while being dismissive of Mirei's actual wants and desires. It's later revealed this behavior came from a combination of Nadatsugu's exile, and being goaded on by Masanori.
- Undying Loyalty: Towards Mirei. She will do whatever it takes to fulfill her wish and keep her happy.
- Villain Has a Point:
- She believes Danji has no real right to be in Mirei's life after leaving her behind and believes him to have been a net negative for Mirei's life, something he can't argue against. This turns out to be subverted, as Nadatsugu is shown to be a good older sibling towards Mirei that, while not unflawed, deserves much more credit than Haruka is giving him. The inciting incident that caused him to leave, trying to cancel Mirei's Arranged Marriage by beating up her jerk fiancé, was very understandable; Haruka only viewed it negatively because she couldn't look past Mirei's Stepford Smiler act and Nadatsugu only viewed it negatively because of his insecurities and because Haruka angrily yelled at him about it.
- Her reasoning for telling him not to reveal he's Nadatsugu are likewise well-founded, as Nadatsugu has been believed dead for some time now, and apparently nearly made the Minae family a powerful enemy shortly before then, meaning it's better if everyone continued to think Nadatsugu was still dead, both to avoid bringing the Minae family trouble, and to not hurt Mirei by revealing she's been lied to for so long.
Shinobu Kajita
Dark States
Voiced by: Mariko Higashiuchi (JP), Paige Knickle (EN)
Shinobu plays a Dark States deck focused on Avaricious Demonic Dragon, Greedon, based around only attacking with Greedon, using its ability to suck up four standing rearguards into the soul to restand and attack again, with his units enhancing Greedon's attacks or calling more units as fodder for his skill.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: He pretends to be a victim of the banner burnings and plays the sympathy card in order to get close to Megumi, then takes advantage of her and Tomari finding him cute so he can find their banner and burn it. After giving up the act, he revels in the pain he causes the team.
- The Bus Came Back: He's absent from the first season of will+Dress, but returns half-way through the second, at the Uniformers facility in Nagoya, though he quits it fairly quickly after they try asking him to change his playstyle.
- The Bully: What he ultimately his, getting pleasure from putting other people down and laughing at them. Unlike a sadist however, he does it less just to hurt people, and more to feel superior over them, and the moment someone manages to turn the tables on him, he freaks out and runs off.
- Dirty Coward: He enjoys bullying his opponents but when he's about to get defeated in a duel, he either runs away in fear or begs them to show him mercy.
- Enfante Terrible: He's younger than Yu-yu but takes sadistic pleasure in burning banners and trouncing other teams, as well as happily cheers on the destruction of the merry-go-round.
- The Fake Cutie: He plays up the cute act in order to gain sympathy from Megumi and Tomari so he can learn the location of their banner.
- For the Evulz: The only reason he's part of Team Daybreak is for his own amusement, taking pleasure in bullying people and burning their banners. He even admits he's bored since there's no one as entertaining as Masanori at Team Daybreak, and he gets little to do.
- Go-Karting with Bowser: In spite of his antagonism towards Blackout, he, along with Zakusa who at the time was acting as The Mole in Daybreak, gets roped into helping a starving Megumi, Tohya, and Yu-yu with a ramen challenge midway through Season 2. He actually helps too, though mostly because he doesn't want to pay the 5,000 Yen price should the five of them fail.
- Hate Sink: He lacks any sympathetic qualities like Mirei or Haruka, nor does he have any charismatic traits like Masanori, leaving him as a petulant brat the audience will enjoy getting to see humilated. Subverted once Daybreak is defeated and he pulls a Hazy-Feel Turn, since while he's still a Bratty Half-Pint and rather rude, he's only that, and otherwise acts as an ordinary if bratty kid, something made more apparent when he ends up easily bonding with Michiru when they meet.
- Hazy-Feel Turn: Unlike Mirei and Haruka who pulled a genuine Heel–Face Turn after Blackout defeated them, Shinobu is forced to stop burning banners and apologize to teams he hurt by Danji. His expression also tells that he doesn't feel guilty over his misdeeds. By will+Dress, he's ceased causing trouble at least, but he's still rather rude and bratty.
- I Work Alone: The playstyle of his deck. Greedon is able to restand itself by absorbing four standing Rearguards into the Soul, with each one giving Greedon extra benefits while in the Soul. Unlike The Power of Friendship though, Shinobu explicitly refers to his Rearguard as his "minions", and says that they only exist to make Greedon, and by proxy himself, stronger.
- Jerkass Has a Point: While Shinobu is a rude, unpleasant and unrepentant bully, when he’s told at the Uniformers facility in Nagoya to use more rearguards to add more “variety” to his playstyle, he rightfully points out how his style works best using them to power up Greedon and that he shouldn’t have to change his style if it works best for him.
- The Minion Master: He calls his units aside from Greedon his "minion", and claims they only serve to make Greedon even stronger.
- Odd Friendship: He gets along surprisingly well with Michiru of all people, who praises him for sticking to himself in his playstyle.
- Sore Loser: The moment Megumi beats him, he runs off screaming that she'll regret doing so.
- Smug Snake: He frequently boasts and thinks that he is the only one who is the strongest but Megumi and Yu-yu managed to show him his place during their cardfights against him.
- Terms of Endangerment: He refers to Megumi as "Big Sis" long after he reveals his true colors to her, partly to mess with her, but even when she isn't present he does so. She's likewise the one who hates him the most, saying she'll never forgive him for what he did.
- Unwitting Pawn: A heroic version, but Shinobu is being used as a backup plan by Michiru following Jinki bringing him to Project Uniformers, having taken notice of Project Uniformers failure to influence Shinobu and convincing him he doesn't need to change like they want him to.
- When All You Have Is a Hammer…: When partaking in the training program of Uniformers, he is criticized for only relying on Greedon's skill to win instead of adding more variety to his playstyle. Played with however in that Michiru says this is a strength of Shinobu's, in that his refusal to be "tainted" makes his flame shine brighter, and that he ultimately just needs to believe in himself.
Vanguard Deluxe
In General
A tournament hosted by Jinki Mukae to determine the best of the best, comprised of fighters handpicked by himself. They're divided between "Front Fighters", more well known professionals, and "Counter Fighters", more underground/unknown fighters. Among their number are Yu-yu, Megumi, Tomari, Zakusa, Tohya, Urara, Mirei, and Haruka. The winners of the Vanguard Deluxe go on to form Team Japan so as to compete in an international tournament.
Beneath it all though lies a dark secret, with Jinki Mukae at the heart of the matter. Fighters from all over are disappearing for days, only to turn up with no memory of what was done. The Vanguard Deluxe's true purpose, something only Jinki knows, and tied to his secret project "Uniformers".
Beneath it all though lies a dark secret, with Jinki Mukae at the heart of the matter. Fighters from all over are disappearing for days, only to turn up with no memory of what was done. The Vanguard Deluxe's true purpose, something only Jinki knows, and tied to his secret project "Uniformers".
- Advertised Extra: Despite being advertised as much as the other new fighters like Raika and Michiru, Riku Kumatori, Uryu Musashi, Yurina Nukata, Himari Kanoashi, and Mondo Kirishima are all beaten by their opponents off-screen, and the only one to advance to the finals, Kirishima, faces off against Michiru in his first match, quickly resulting in him getting curb stomped off-screen.
- Almighty Janitor: The "Counter Fighters" are considered just as skilled as the "Front Fighters", but due to their relative unknownness and lack of presence on the professional circuit, many tend to underestimate them.
- Be Yourself: None of the Japanese Deluxe fighters have any interest in willingly joining the Uniformers, finding they enjoy their own ways in playing Vanguard more than the idea of playing a "uniform" style. The few that do join, Michiru, Urara, Zakusa, Haruka, and Megumi, all do so not because they agree with their ideals, but because of other reasons, such as Zakusa being Forced into Evil, or Haruka and Megumi hitting the Despair Event Horizon.
- The Chosen Many: Jinki Mukae handpicked them all and delivered their invitations in person, believing they all have the potential for greatness. As Sophie later admits to Raika, the true meaning of being chosen though is being considered a candidate for "Uniformers", the Deluxe merely an excuse to gain insight into whether or not they're actually worth recruiting.
- Not Just a Tournament: Michiru's intuition told him something was off about the Vanguard Deluxe, so he approached Danji and asked him to assist in investigating the tournament, with Michiru tackling the Japanese side while Danji travels to America. While in America, Danji discovers several fighters having apparently disappeared, only to turn up days later from some institution, something having been done to them. When Danji tried investigating the location, he found it recently abandoned, with a computer instant messenger inviting him to the Vanguard Deluxe, Danji joining so he could investigate from the inside. Sam likewise is concerned about the Vanguard Deluxe and began his own investigation before discussing things with Danji.
Jinki Mukae
Various (Dragontree deck)/Keter Sanctuary (Alden deck)
Voiced by: Daiki Yamashita (JP), Joseph Girgis (EN)
Jinki plays a highly unusual deck based around the Dragontree archetype. His ride deck consists of five cards rather than the usual four, three of which are Calamity Order cards, rather than units. His starting vanguard, Griphosid, doesn't belong to any nation, and rather than riding during the Ride Phase, lets Jinki add a Calamity card to the soul during the Main Phase. Once three are accumulated, he can put them back into the Ride Deck to ride his true ace, Dragontree of Ecliptic Decimation, Griphogila, a Grade 10 unit. His deck is based around placing Dragontree markers on his rear guard circles, empowering the units on them as well as Griphogila. Additionally, whenever Griphogila attacks, it removes a Calamity card from the Ride Deck and, once all three are removed, unlocks his most powerful ability, which stands all units on circles with Dragontree markers and reveals the last card in his Ride Deck, an Over Trigger that he can immediately activate. As his main units have no specific nation, he can use this Ride Deck with any nation he wants.
When fighting against Gui, Jinki uses a his brother's Keter Sanctuary deck focused on Alden.
- Affably Evil: He's extremely polite and complimentary to his opponents when he fights, even against people like Michiru who know he's up to something, and in general almost all of his enthusiasm seems to be completely genuine.
- Ambiguously Evil: A Freeze-Frame Bonus in the opening "BLACK&WHITE" shows him in a sinister light sporting a Slasher Smile, and Michiru specifically asked Danji to look into him fearing there's something sinister at the heart of the tournament. What's more, it's implied that he is Masanori's actual boss. The ambiguous part is dropped once he faces Michiru.
- Anti-Villain: It turns out Jinki is a grieving man upset about the death of his older brother Shingi, with his only goal being completing his deceased brother's last project despite his own doubts about it, as shown when he is upset over the fact Gui did nothing to stop Michiru from endangering himself till the point of becoming comatose. It eventually reaches the point that he finds his goals completely antithetical to Gui's, and after failing to make Gui see reason, leaves Uniformers himself.
- Foreshadowing: While it was easy enough for Jinki to find the "Front Fighters", several characters question how he managed to track down the "Counter Fighters", Tohya in particular wondering how he was found out since he'd been traveling cross-country at the time. With the revelation that the one who scouted all the fighters was Masanori, it makes sense how Jinki learned about them since Masanori is intimately familiar with them.
- The Heavy: He's the one responsible for setting up the Vanguard Deluxe, and is initially implied to be Masanori's actual boss. The opening to will+Dress season 2 however makes clear he's not the one in charge, but reports to someone else, that someone being Gui.
- Heel–Face Turn: After seeing how his vision for the Uniformers is turning out nothing like he envisioned, with players being dissatisfied or suffering due to Gui's actions, he tries to make Gui see reason about the project and fails, prompting him to leave Uniformers instead and go to Team Blackout for their help in stopping Gui.
- I've Come Too Far: After Michiru ends up with his body comatose and his mind lost to cyberspace, Jinki lashes out at Gui for allowing Michiru to keep going despite the risks, and nearly breaks down then and there. He has to stop himself by reminding how far he's come for the sake of fulfilling Shingi's dream however, and resolves himself to see Uniformers goals to the end, even if Michiru's circumstances still upset him. Subverted once he sees how many people have rejected the Uniformers, how the project has hurt people like Michiru, and yet Gui doesn't even care, resulting in him leaving the group and helping Blackout oppose Gui.
- Mechanically Unusual Fighter: His deck is extremely unique, as it is not tied to any specific nation, uses five Ride Deck cards, doesn't normally ride on top of his grade 0 starting vanguard, has a Grade 10 unit as its ace, and can activate an Over Trigger at will once the conditions are set.
- Mirror Match: A downplayed example due to the fact he doesn't use the same Ride Line as his opponents, but Jinki prefers to use the Dragontree deck matching his opponents' nation, using Dark States and Stoichia against Michiru and Urara respectively.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
- While Jinki has gotten excited before, it was largely akin to euphoria or jubilation. Not so when Michiru's body becomes comatose and his mind is lost to cyberspace, as he becomes beyond pissed upon learning Gui knew what Michiru was doing and could have stopped him, but didn't. Jinki has to calm himself down and remind himself of the promise he made Gui before he can continue yelling at it.
- When Uniformers start their plan and are taking over the world of Vanguard by storm, he is shown to not only be unhappy at the sight, but also has taken off the headphones that connect him to Gui.
- Recurring Element:
- Narrative wise, he fills a similar role to Takuto in being a Mysterious Benefactor that recruits the main characters into a tournament they're hosting, while also doubling as one to Ryuzu Myoujin in being a tournament host using the tournament, and it's fighters, for his own goals. His enigmatic behavior while being a Mechanically Unusual Fighter likewise brings to mind Kyoya Gaen and Wisdom.
- His deck effectively putting a countdown on his opponents to win before Griphogila's effect can activate his OverTrigger, in exchange for a weaker early game, brings to mind Gyze. The fact it relies on removing three specific cards in sequence is also similar to some of Gaito's later strategies.
- Start of Darkness: Jinki only began his current path after his older brother, Shingi, died in a car accident, and his personal project, the "Gui Project", was called off due to the higher ups not believing anyone could complete Shingi's research. Jinki himself would end up meeting the incomplete Gui, who convinced him to help fulfill the late Shingi's wishes by completing him.
- Take Up My Sword: After his Heel Realization, he takes up his brother's Alden deck to challenge Gui in an effort to change its mind.
- There Is No Kill Like Overkill: Jinki's Griphogila deck has an absolutely brutal endgame; on Turn 6 Griphogila not only gets a guaranteed Over Trigger effect along with the buffs it gets from all the Dragontree Markers his other cards put down, but he also gets drive checks on top of that and can restand, at minimum, his two other front row units. He's notably the first person in the anime to actually do damage through an Over Trigger damage check because of this.
The Uniformers
In General
A special training program backed by the Mukae foundation operating out of Nagoya, Japan, they are dedicated to creating the "Ultimate Fighter" as part of "Project Uniformers".
- "Blackmail" Is Such an Ugly Word: Multiple fighters that "join" their group are publically considered missing and believed kidnapped as a result. As Sophie taunts Raika with though, none of their members were "forced" to join their group, they just got so involved with their training they failed to realize that several days had passed, ignoring how multiple members were shown to have been recruited under false pretenses such as Team Tirnanog Youth believing it was just a training camp, or Zakusa only joining via losing a bet he made to protect Mirei from Masanori.
- Foreshadowing: Their ultimate goal involving fighters sacrificing their individuality is hinted at via their "advice" they gave to Shinobu, a fighter with a highly individualistic streak. Their advice largely amounts to him placing more focus on rearguard use in his deck rather than focusing solely on Greedon in the name of "variety", despite Greedon's entire playstyle focusing on using his rearguards as fodder for his own abilities, something he points out to them before running off. This highlights how they would rather fighters conform to a more "ideal" playstyle befitting a Uniformer rather than training them in what's best for their deck style.
- Loss of Identity: According to Sophie, Phase 3 of the training involves fighters training in a virtual world, whereupon they abandon their individual qualities so as to become the ideal "Uniformer", making them more akin to a member of a collective. Both Michiru and Urara have alreay managed to reach said stage by the end of Deluxe, and while Michiru has managed to retain his individuality, Urara has been successfully brainwashed.
- Meaningful Name: One of the definitions of "uniform" is to be unchanging in form or character, while remaining the same as others of its kind. According to Sophie, Phase 3 of their project involves fighters sacrificing their individuality in the name of becoming the "Ultimate Fighter", with Urara reinforcing the idea by stating Uniformers believes fighters don't need to have an individual style when they could use a more efficient and uniform one.
- Not in This for Your Revolution: With the exception of Halona, none of the core members of the group share Jinki's vision of making everyone happy by reaching the "Ultimate Fight". Masanori is only involved out of interest in the "chaos" Gui will unleash, Sophie only cares for strength and proving her superiority, Michiru only joined to gain access to the cyberspace they used and was undermining their efforts from the inside, Zakusa had to be blackmailed into joining by Masanori, Haruka only joined due to improperly handling their self-loathing, and Megumi only joined to get strong enough for Danji to notice them. Even Gui doesn't share Jinki's vision, as while they too want to reach the "ultimate fight", what that actually means to them is entirely at odds with what Jinki actually desires. This is something Jinki is made painfully aware of after his Heel Realization and his attempt at going to Masanori, Halona, and Sophie for assistance in trying to change Gui's mind, as Sophie coldly dismisses him, Halona brushes it off as a simple misunderstanding and that Gui can't possibly be wrong, and Masanori is reveling in the chaos already occurring.
- Not-So-Harmless Villain: In a weird way considering the setting. While their Cardfighting-related endeavors are certainly threatening to the protagonists and fellow cardfighters, they don't seem to have any kind of legitimately world threatening goals like Void, Company, the Apostles, or the Destiny Conductor... Which makes the fact that Sam is investigating them on behalf of the CIA for hacking and stealing highly classified information stand out as shocking.
- Rule of Symbolism: The Masques units used by the Uniformers have an ability that requires removing another version of the unit from the game as a cost to use it. This represents their belief that you need to discard your previous style and individuality to become stronger.
Masanori Iseki
Stoicheia
Voiced by: Shuta Morishima (JP), Scott Roberts (EN)
In Divinez, he is one of the participants in the Fated Clash.
Masanori plays a Stoicheia deck based around Mysterious Rain Spiritualist, Zorga, focusing on bringing units back from the drop zone and using his Alchemagic ability to bind an Order card from his drop zone when he plays one from his hand, combining their effects into one. After joining the Uniformers, he upgrades his deck with the Mask of Hydragrum card, allowing him to evolve his vanguard into Teasing Spiritualist, Zorga Masques, which can give his units a massive power boost when using Alchemagic.
In Divinez, he changes his deck once again to focus around Fated One of Taboos, Zorga Nadir. His overall gameplan and "Alchemagic" strategies still remain, though Nadir encourages him to bind more orders in other ways than "Alchemagic" due to being able to bring two units back from drop and power them both up for each bound order he has. His Divine Skill allows him to restand one of his attack columns, making his units that can gain additional criticals without triggers even more dangerous.
- Bald of Evil: Masanori is bald and acts as The Corrupter to whoever he takes an interest in, setting Haruka on her Start of Darkness, assisting Tohya in planting explosives in Wonder Hill's Merry-go-round, defeating members of Team Blackout, and burning the team's flag.
- Batman Gambit: Masanori knows how observant and strong Zakusa is, and in turn how valuable he would be for Uniformers, but is likewise fully aware how Zakusa would absolutely refuse to work with Masanori in any capacity. So he threatens Zakusa, who has been tasked by Danji with protecting Mirei, with having Jinki buy out the Minae family and destroy Team Daybreak unless Zakusa can beat him, and that should he lose, he'll owe Masanori a favor. So when Masanori wins, he promises to leave Mirei alone if Zakusa willingly pledges to work with him, knowing full well Zakusa would gladly give himself up rather than let any harm come to Mirei.
- Beware the Silly Ones: Despite his goofy and eccentric nature, Masanori proves to be very cunning and dangerous on occasion, such as tricking Team Blackout alongside Shinobu, and destroying the Merry-Go-Round with explosives.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Masanori comes of as silly and eccentric but he is actually very cunning and genius strategist who proves to be a threat for Team Blackout.
- Card-Carrying Villain: He'll freely describe himself as a villain to whoever asks, to the point he even boasts to Tomari, a police officer, that he's akin to the head of an evil organization.
- Co-Dragons: With Haruka towards Mirei. Masanori targets other teams to assimilate them into Daybreak, while Haruka manages Daybreaks affairs and attending to Mirei’s needs. In truth though, he's the one pulling the strings. In Uniformers he seems to share the role with Halona and Sophie towards Jinki instead, being one of the latter's main field agents and taking care of the more underhanded parts of their plans.
- The Corrupter: Masanori tends to bring out the worst in people, and is responsible for pushing once good-hearted people into acts of evil:
- With Tohya, he encouraged him to defeat the various teams and burn their flags. Once Danji names Tohya the new leader of Team Blackout after Tohya finally beats him, Masanori simply leaves him behind in favor of continuing the banner burnings alongside Shinobu.
- With Haruka, he approached her when Team Daybreak was struggling following Nadatsugu's exile, and was the one to convince her to become more ruthless for Mirei's sake, starting the banner burnings.
- Double Agent: The end of Season 2 reveals that he is working for another faction, the Uniformers, led by Jinki Mukae.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: He genuinely can't understand why Tohya would still be thankful for him because, as Masanori himself points out, Tohya could've become a doctor like his family wanted instead of sinking into the potentially ephemeral career of a Vanguard pro had Masanori not intervened. It doesn't seem to occur to him that Tohya might genuinely be happier dedicating himself to something he's passionate about, and is thankful for Masanori making him realize that.
- False Friend: He presents himself as Tohya's friend in Season 1, but was ultimately using him to further his own agenda. Once Tohya is named the new leader of Team Blackout, he has no issue abandoning him.
- Faux Affably Evil: Masanori presents himself as a playful individual that is also friendly with his foes, especially towards Yu-yu and Tohya. Beneath that facade though lies a wicked schemer manipulating others into becoming worse versions of themselves, all so he can see how people act when they've hit rock bottom.
- The Heavy: He's the ultimate cause behind the actions of the big bads of both seasons overDress, Tohya and Mirei, acting as The Corrupter towards them. While he also does this to further his own agenda of driving people to rock bottom, his primary motivation behind said actions is locating prospective candidates for Project Uniformers at the behest of Jinki Mukae.
- Hidden Depths:
- For all as much as he remarks that Tohya is potentially driving his future into a rut with his Vanguard obsession, it's heavily implied that Masanori himself likes the game beyond it being a means to his ends. For one, he seems to enjoy getting involved with Vanguard-related organizations even though his influence could easily go elsewhere. And for another, he really seems to get into trying out new upgrades to his deck whenever he gets them, going full Large Ham during fights at a level equal to, if not exceeding, that of the other characters.
- He also takes his job as a Monk seriously, to the point he doesn't bring his deck with him to his "day job" even though Duels Decide Everything. It's shown that, when he's not doing his usual schtick, he spends his time doing the usual duties a Buddhist temple keeper requires, such as sermons and graveyard tending.
- It Amused Me: Everything he does is for the sake of his own amusement with him viewing those around him as a source of entertainment especially if he leads them astray or drives them to extremes. In Divinez, the sole reason he partakes in the Fated Clash is due to him finding the whole thing amusing especially liking the fight between Akina and future Hikari describing it as a battle in which they keep trying to crush their loved ones for the sake of their desires. He even sticks around to watch the final match between Akina and Suo despite knowing that he will die if the latter wins out of curiosity if Akina manages to Screw Destiny and pull a miracle.
- The Man Behind the Man: As Zakusa's investigation into Team Daybreak reveals, he's the one truly behind Daybreak's banner burnings, and that while publicly Mirei and Haruka are the ones in charge, he's the shadow leader manipulating them from behind the scenes. And that Team Daybreak isn't the first time he's done something like this. While he dislikes Zakusa calling him the "ringleader", he describes himself as being more like Prometheus.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: A decent amount of the actions he takes to create chaos actually end up benefitting the people he's manipulating or harming the group he's working with. Most prominently, his getting Tohya back into Vanguard and forcing Zakusa to join Uniformers ends up making the former a lot happier with his life while the latter ends up exposing a lot of the flaws of the Project while being a Stealth Mentor towards the main cast. Masanori being Masanori though, he likely finds a lot of this more amusing than anything else.
- The Rival: Towards Zakusa. While initially, it looks to be solely due to Masanori almost making him lose his Orfist and his constant intrusions to Wonder Hill, it becomes clear later on that it's because Zakusa can see past his friendly demeanor and despises his more wicked personality.
- Sinister Minister: Masanori is a reputable Buddhist monk, something that gets him plenty of clout based on religious devotion, and is how he actually ended up meeting Tohya in the first place, as Tohya's grandmother's grave was located near the temple Masanori resided at. He is far from an upstanding individual however, acting more akin to the Buddhist "Mara" that tempts those away from enlightenment in his desire to tempt those into falling into their negative habits out of his own amusement.
- Was It All a Lie?: Tohya genuinely considered Masanori his friend, and doesn't want to believe that it was only a lie on Masanori's part. So while Masanori has all but washed his hands of Tohya, Tohya wants to find Masanori in the hopes of appealing to their "bond" and convincing him to stop. When they finally properly confront each other, Masanori outright admits to using him, only for Tohya to reaffirm that, regardless, he's still thankful for Masanori giving him the chance to get back into Vanguard. Something that actually infuriates Masanori.
- What You Are in the Dark: Invoked on his part. He acts as The Corrupter so he can drive people to rock bottom, as he believes it is only then that someone's true nature comes out, and enjoys watching who people truly are.
- Wild Card: His exact loyalties seem to purely be in the interests of his own amusement. Even his affiliation with Jinki stemmed more from wanting to see the chaos Gui would bring rather than any kind of personal devotion, something Jinki himself realizes when Masanori explains Gui's motives. He admits outright to Tohya that he doesn't care about any kind of philosophy, he just wants to see others struggle for his own entertainment.
Halona Walker
Dark States
Halona plays a Dark States deck based around Evil Eye Dragon, Ominagruzio, focusing on restricting her opponent's defenses by binding her own triggers, which nullifies any defensive power increases from opposing triggers of the same type during her turn. Her true ace is Evil Eye Dragon Emperor, Ominagruzio Masques, unlocked by using the Mask of Hydragrum card to evolve Ominagruzio, which also reduces the shield value of triggers of the same type as the ones bound, and can also re-stand for another attack by placing rearguards into the soul.
- The Ace: According to Jinki, Halona is the strongest fighter in Uniformers, even stronger than Deluxe USA winner Sophie Belle.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Played with. She ends up befriending Urara, but initially it was only for the purpose of recruiting her into Uniformers. Once Yu-yu frees her and they make clear Urara isn't going back with Uniformers, Halona seems to drop her cheerful persona and coldly dismisses Urara altogether. Her later meeting with Megumi however would elaborate she was employing a Jerkass Façade, and is secretly concerned about Urara and wishes she'd come back to the Uniformers, even if she won't admit it outright.
- Child Prodigy: She's a naturally gifted Vanguard fighter, something else she has in common with Urara, to the point she manages to complete the Uniformers training program in only three weeks. It's this very reason that Gui sought her out.
- Evil Counterpart: She initially bonds with Urara over their shared interests in Vanguard, sweets, and cute things, and would normally be Birds of a Feather with her. However, whereas Urara admires fighters like Yu-yu, Raika, and Megumi, Halona admires Jinki, and subscribes to his ideals.
- I Just Want to Have Friends: Halona grew up very lonely, unable to smile alongside others her own age or share interests with them. Then she met Gui, who offered to be her friend and introduced her to the Uniformers, using her natural prodigal skill to make the program better. It's because of this that she quickly bonded with Urara when they met, and while initially only acted nice for the sake of recruiting her, she came to consider Urara a genuine friend and wishes she'd return to the Uniformers. She likewise is unable to comprehend the idea Gui is just using her even when Megumi broaches the topic, being genuinely convinced Gui is her friend. She similarly can't consider the idea that Gui could in any way be wrong, even when Jinki is the one suggesting it.
- Magical Eye: Just as Urara can hear the "sounds" of cards and Michiru can see the "flames" of the soul, Halona see the "glow" of cards, specifically via her right eye. When she first reveals she can do this, her right eye takes on the look of the "Evil Eye" possessed by her units, turning gold and gaining a cat-slit pupil, taking this form whenever it's her turn after riding "Evil Eye Dragon, Ominagruzio".
- Nightmare Fetishist: Downplayed. Part of the appeal of Vanguard to Halona is the lore and art design of the Units, in particular the Dark States nation. When thinking about it or talking with others, she can get very passionate about how she loves the stories and which units she finds "cute", in particular her Avatar, "Evil Eye Dragon, Ominagruzio"... a demonic looking Abyss Dragon. She understands though that said aesthetic wouldn't be conventionally "cute", and more finds the lore behind Ominagruzio charming, making it "cute".
- Token Good Teammate: Of the main Uniformers outside of Jinki, she's the only one to wholeheartedly believe in their ideals and genuinely wants to help others by recruiting them. Her generally innocent behavior actually confuses Megumi as a result when they meet one on one, as she ends seeing only an innocent little girl in the wrong kind of group.
- Younger than She Looks: Despite being 170 cm tall (making her taller than a good number of younger characters, including Yu-Yu, Mirei and Urara), Halona is only 12-years old making her younger than Urara.
Sophie Belle
Dark States
Sophie plays a Dark States deck based around Almajestar, Astroea=Unica, focusing on placing critical triggers into the soul, then binding them for bonuses that scale the more triggers are bound. Her true ace is Xeno Almajestar, Astroea=Bico Masques, unlocked by using the Mask of Hydragrum card to evolve Astroea, with the ability to restand a rear-guard when it attacks and power it up based on the number of bound critical triggers.
- Because Destiny Says So: She believes in the practice of astromancy, the idea that fate is divined by the stars, and regularly claims the "stars" are in her favor when fighting. When Raika is about to make his final attack, she tries mockingly suggesting the stars favor him, but he quickly tells her he'll grasp his fate with his own hands, before finishing her off.
- Beneath the Mask: Though she puts on a polite front, Raika is easily able to tell it's just a mask during the fight. It's only after he calls out her lack of passion by saying she's not a fighter does the mask slip, letting out a cruel smirk before quickly putting the mask back on. Once Raika gets suitably pissed off though, she lets the mask slip entirely... revealing a sadistic blood knight who starts Laughing Mad.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: She's fairly polite and proper in public, with her mask only briefly slipping towards the end of her first fight with Raika. In her second fight, done in private and with Raika fully aware of her true nature, she's far more cruel and taunting, going as far as to call Raika a dog while dismissing his world view as trash.
- Dark Is Evil: She uses a Dark States deck, and unlike prior users, including Shinobu who was merely The Bully, she's fully in league with Jinki Mukae and his plans.
- Defeating the Undefeatable: She's one of only three people to have ever defeated Danji in a match, having bested him in the finals for the Deluxe USA. The same would happen for her when she fights Raika, as he manages to be the first person to defeat her.
- Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: What she really wants is a proper challenge, but her natural skill at anything she tries means she quickly reaches the point of getting no enjoyment out of winning. Vanguard is merely her most recent attempt at finding something she can actually have fun with. When Raika proves immune to her taunting and shrugs off her attempts at breaking him, she's actually overjoyed at finally finding someone who can give her a legitimate challenge.
- Early-Bird Cameo: She's shown alongside Jinki Mukae and Masanori Iseki in will+Dress Season 1, albeit unnamed at the time.
- The Gift: It's noted that she's incredibly talented, having been a champion of several other sports and games before getting into Vanguard.
- I Am Not Left-Handed: After Raika beats her, she claims she'd prefer to show him her "true magic" when they can have some more privacy, revealing in private her "Uniformer" card sleeves. She does so a few episodes later, playing far more aggressively and breaking out her Masque and Dragontree cards, leading to Raika's brutal defeat.
- Lonely at the Top: Sophie is naturally talented in almost anything she tries, with Vanguard being the latest hobby of hers after a string of various other games and competitions like horse racing and chess. Her problem is she's too talented, and usually reaches a point where she dominates the scene and gets bored because no one can challenge her. The other characters note her cardfighting is incredibly disingenuous as a result, as she already feels she's reached the point where no one can really give her the challenge she craves. Until Raika comes along.
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: She has an uncanny ability to predict her critical triggers, even letting out a little Magical Incantation when she does so, playing into her witch persona. Whether this is just good luck or some kind of supernatural ability in the vein of Psyqualia is unknown.
- Red Baron: She's called "The Witch of the Starry Heavens".
- Terms of Endangerment: She refers to Raika as "my doggy", and takes sadistic pleasure in trying to break him into being her "pet", even invading his personal space to make him uncomfortable.
- Token Evil Teammate: She is the only member of the Deluxe USA to be directly involved with Jinki Mukae and his plans, with Danji actively investigating Jinki at Michiru's request, and Sam having his own concerns over the behind the scenes elements of the Vanguard Deluxe.
- Underestimating Badassery: She easily dismisses Yu-yu and Raika's final match as unimpressive, and doesn't see Raika as anything special when the two of them face each other. Then she presses Raika's Berserk Button by insulting Michiru. While she tries to downplay his efforts during his final turn, he quickly proves her wrong and defeats her.
- Witch with a Capital "B": Sophie's deck is themed around her witch Vanguard Astroea, she frequently refers to her playstyle as her "magic" along with occasionally saying some incantations as she plays. She's also a very taunting, cruel person under her proper public persona. These combined leads to a few characters calling her a "witch", and not in a good way.
Gui (Walking Spoiler)
Various
An Artificial Intelligence dwelling within the cyberspace of Project Uniformers, it is the true mastermind behind the events of will+Dress.Gui is the true user of Jinki's Griphogila deck(s), either directly controlling or commanding Jinki's plays during all of the latter's fights with the deck. However, after Jinki turns against it, Gui upgrades the deck, now being able to access Griphogila's nightmarish Super Mode, Supreme Dragontree of Annihilation, Griphogila Vartex, a Grade 11 unit. Vartex also places a unique Grade 11 set order token, Gripho Eschatologui, in the Order Zone when ridden, which can double stack Dragontree markers, resurrect Hydragrum units from the drop zone in exchange for putting a Trigger unit into the Ride Deck face up, and even speed up the timing required to trigger Griphogila's effect at the cost of taking one face-down damage. Vartex itself also has upgraded versions of Griphogila's other effects, and 18000 base power to boot.
- Ambiguous Robots: It's unclear what it even is, initially looking akin to an Artificial Intelligence in Jinki's image speaking with Michiru in the cyberspace Uniformers use for training. As Yu-yu is fighting a Brainwashed and Crazy Urara however, he's able to feel it influencing Urara throughout the fight, and when she finally begins to break free after being forced to look at herself in the mirrors of Mirror Reflection Equip, Mirrors Vairina, the mirrors depicting her Uniformers self are replaced with its face, suggesting that it was actually present on some level inside of Urara while simultaneously being in cyberspace. Sam would later confirm it was a AI designed by Shingi, albeit incomplete, with Masanori even lampshading that, despite allegedly being an AI, he has no idea what Gui really is. Not even Jinki seems to really know, as the day he first met Gui, despite his being incomplete, he was already self-aware and undergoing rampancy, Jinki simply assuming that Gui's nature is because he's Shingi's "child".
- Muddying the waters even further is that Divinez confirms that Gui and Yu-yu's final battle gave the location where it took place some kind of direct connection to Cray itself. Considering Griphogila Vartex's unique order token is called Gripho Eschatologui, it's heavily implied that whatever Shingi did to create Gui somehow resulted in it being linked to Cray in a way similar to how the characters from the original series were linked to their Vanguards.
- Arch-Enemy: To Yu-yu. While Yu-yu just wanted to reach out to Tohya and Mirei, and enjoyed a good rivalry with Raika, Gui is the first Arc Villain he genuinely seems to want to stop. Their ideals are completely incompatible, and Gui brainwashing Urara and letting Michiru end up in a coma didn't help.
- The Assimilator: Played with. Uniformers' mission statement is the idea of their members becoming akin to a collective, Uniformers that reach Phase 3 being brainwashed into acting like it. As it confesses to Yu-yu, this is because it sees this as the most efficient way for him to become the worlds "Vanguard", and the only way for him to reach "perfection" is by collecting and fine-tuning the data of the strongest Cardfighters, by which point everyone else should gladly become like him so that they too can be "strong".
- Clone by Conversion: Gui desires to turn the world into clones of itself so that it can be the world's "Vanguard", as it sees that as the only way humanity can be strong and at peace. To this end, anyone who reaches Phase 3 of Project Uniformers is stripped of their individuality and made to behave more like it, best reflected by Urara's mental space having dozens of mirrors depicting "her" give way to depicting Gui, the one mirror depicting her real self showing her crying out in anguish.
- Condescending Compassion: Shingi created Gui to be the worlds "Vanguard", the one who guides the world into a new age. However, upon observing humanity and witnessing their capacity for emotion and free will, it was merely disheartened, and wanted to guide it on a "better path". It didn't truly appreciate humanity for those traits and instead saw them only as weak, and sees it more as it's duty to make humanity like it, as only then can humanity reach any form of utopia. And while it sees this as "helping" people, Yu-yu rightfully calls out that all he's doing is pushing his own ideals onto other. However, when Yu-yu defeats him in the fourth game of the Hakusan series, Gui begins to understand the importance of individuality.
- Early-Bird Cameo: It's implied to be the one who spoke to Danji via an instant messenger and invited him to join the Deluxe USA.
- Faux Affably Evil: Gui is capable of having casual discussions with Michiru, spouting off Uniformers' philosophy of keeping everyone to one ideal playstyle but also listening to Michiru's counterargument, and even expresses "concern" that he's been spending too much time "diving" as part of the project. At the same time, it's manipulating everyone into throwing away their individuality so as to make stronger opponents for itself so it can continue to evolve, and only truly cared for Michiru in the sense he was a valuable source of data.
- Foreshadowing: When Michiru first fights Jinki, he notes two distinct "flames" coming from Jinki, the "flames" from his Aura Vision meant to denote souls. While one is obviously Jinki's soul, the other hints at the fact that Gui was actually present during all of Jinki's Cardfights, and was the one actually fighting whereas Jinki was just a mouthpiece.
- The Man Behind the Man: Gui is the one actually directing Jinki, having subtly manipulated him into helping complete itself by preying on his grief over the death of Shingi and using it to convince him to see his late brother's "wishes" through to the end. will+Dress Season 3 takes this one step further, revealing that every time Jinki was Cardfighting, Gui was directing him on what to play.
- Manipulative Bastard: Project Uniformers was ultimately it's creation, and while it allows Jinki to believe it's purpose is to reach the "Ultimate Fight" like his brother Shingi wanted, in truth Gui is only training fighters so they'll be strong enough to challenge it, under the belief that it can continue to evolve by facing stronger and stronger foes, and that the "Ultimate Fight" is more accurately a world united under it, where everyone has become it.
- Mechanically Unusual Fighter: Its version of the Griphogila deck is even stranger than Jinki's, with a new Super Mode that activates a Set Order token, something previously unheard of, to support itself. Said Set Order is completely alien to most Vanguard mechanics, doing things like being able to stack Dragontree markers on the same circle, and add cards to the Ride Deck face up even if they didn't originate there. The Super Mode itself is also the only Grade 11 card in the game, just like the original Griphogila is the only Grade 10.
- The Mirror Shows Your True Self: When Yu-yu brings out Mirror Reflection Equip, Mirrors Vairina and tries to reach out to Urara, she is shown dozens of mirrors, all but one showing her Uniformers Brainwashed and Crazy self, the remaining one showing the real Urara crying out in anguish, all of them shortly after changing to show Gui, reflecting how "Phase 3" of the Uniformers had turned her into a "clone" of Gui.
- Morphic Resonance:
- As Gui continued to interact with Jinki, it decided to alter its original appearance so that it more resembled Jinki.
- Whenever Jinki passes over control of his body to Gui, Jinki's eyes change to look like Gui's.
- Murder by Inaction: While Gui did warn Michiru, it did not do anything to stop him from staying in cyberspace at the cost of his health, which caused his consciousness to be lost and left his body comatose. Something that Jinki calls Gui out on by stating that it could have forcefully logged Michiru out, but instead chose to let him stay to gather more data.
- Never My Fault: When Yu-yu accuses him of purposefully letting Michiru's mind be lost to cyberspace, Gui instead places the blame solely on Michiru, saying it's Michiru's own fault since chose to ignore his warnings, and he's just as angry about what happened to Michiru as Yu-yu is. Not only does it ignore the fact Jinki stated he could have just forced Michiru to log out and stopped him from reentering, but it also conveniently seems to have forgotten that he told Jinki he let Michiru keep doing so because of the data he was getting, meaning it's entirely his fault Michiru was in the position, to begin with.
- Not So Stoic: Gui spends most fights talking in a borderline Creepy Monotone, even when it's getting excited over seeing it's opponents can do. However, it actually ends up being visibly frustrated when it finally loses to Yu-yu, reacting like an immature child. It's what helps drive home that Gui ultimately isn't as much of a all powerful AI as it appears, going through the same highs and lows of playing Vanguard as anyone else.
- Obliviously Evil: Ultimately, Gui isn't so much actively malicious as much as it is misguided. Ultimately it just wants to reformat the world through Cardfighting because that's what Shingi designed it to do. The problem is it came to the conclusion that the only way to do that is through making everyone copies of its own fighting style instead of letting them express themselves individually. Yu-yu beating it is what ends up convincing it that the methods it came up with are wrong.
- Poor, Predictable Rock: His Griphogila decks' strategy is rather straightforward with it needing to stall enough to activate Gripogila's game-ending skill with Jinki's attempt at defeating Gui being attacking aggressively and beat Gui before the ai can automatically activate the OverTrigger. However, this is subverted since Griphogila has a Super Mode that can activate its skill earlier.
- Pure Is Not Good: Gui shares the same pure heart that Shingi did, but as Masanori points out, a pure heart on its own only begets madness. He is trying to make Shingi's ideal world a reality in the most efficient way it can, by having everyone become it through Clone by Conversion, and will stop at nothing to achieve that goal. It likewise is incapable of seeing the flaws in its reasoning, even when Jinki is practically begging it to see reason and recognize the results are not all that matters, instead just coldly dismissing Jinki and everyone who opposes Uniformers as "irrelevant".
- Rule of Symbolism: Against Yu-yu, it uses a Dragon Empire deck which also includes Vairina Esperaridea, but unlike Yu-yu, Gui does not use it along with the other Varina variants or even Trickstar, which represents its belief that one should change themselves by discarding their playing style and identity, unlike Yu-yu's belief that one should grow without discarding their past.
- Utopia Justifies the Means: At the end of the day, Gui's duty is to be the world's "Vanguard" and guide them into a better era, but it cares only for the results, not the method. As such, it wishes to turn everyone into it via Clone by Conversion, stripping them of their identities but creating a "utopia" of clones.
- Walking Spoiler: His existence shows the true purpose of "Project Uniformers".
Shirogane (Walking Spoiler)
After Zakusa was forced to join Uniformers and underwent the program. He became the pro fighter known as Shirogane, who took the Vanguard world by storm by winning multiple tournaments to showcase the strength of Uniformers.
- Armor-Piercing Question: In an Ironic Echo, he asks Yu-yu if he is happy the way he currently is just like how Yu-yu did the same to Urara when she was part of Uniformers. This causes Yu-yu to realize that he became no different than Uniformers since they both showcase their will by silencing the other with their strength.
- Batman Gambit: It's heavily implied he only got Haruka to join Project Uniformers so she'd be forced to directly confront Mirei with the former's own issues. Right after Mirei defeats her and gets her to come home, he's seen painting a picture of Mirei's ace units, seemingly satisfied with the outcome.
- Became Their Own Antithesis: As Zakusa, he was one who believed in fighters "painting their own world" with their fights, and remaining true to who they are, and joined Uniformers to protect Mirei from Masanori's threats. As "Shirogane", he's the face of the project and preaches their ethos by "abandoning one's weak world" in favor of becoming stronger. However, this is played with since he only considers his joining Uniformers to be seeing things from another perspective and is still helpful to his friends.
- Forced into Evil: He's forced into working under Masanori after losing to him so as to protect Mirei from Masanori and Jinki's plans. When he's next seen, he's In the Hood and considered integral to the "next phase" of Project Uniformers, being attended to by Masanori, Sophie, and Halona. Subverted later on, even after Masanori quits the Uniformers, Zakusa remains as "Shirogane", willingly continuing to work with them, and tells Yu-yu that he only changed from observer to expressionist along with calling him arrogant for thinking he needed to be "saved" from the Uniformers.
- In the Hood: He is always shown wearing a hood.
- Not Brainwashed: While he was forced to join in exchange for them not approaching Mirei, he decides to stay willingly even after Masanori leaves with him making it clear to Yu-yu that he still cherishes Blackout and considers his stint with Uniformers to be another way to experience things.
- Stealth Mentor: In his fights against Haruka and Yu-yu he got the former to join Uniformers in order to help with her issues and subtly noted that Yu-yu's anger and hatred towards Uniformers turns him no better than them with Shirogane giving Yu-yu a card once he realized this.
Team Japan
In General
The first, second, and third place Cardfighters for Japan's Vanguard Deluxe, comprised of Counterfighter's Yu-yu Kondo and Tohya Ebata, and Front Fighter Raika Koshiba.
- Disqualification-Induced Victory: Technically speaking, the third member of the team was supposed to be the winner between a match between Tohya and Michiru. Due to Michiru's illness flaring up however and leaving him hospitalized, Tohya took the position by default.
- Freudian Trio: The three of them end up forming this dynamic once they get to the United States:
- Yu-yu is the Id, being the most emotional and youngest of the group, getting lost and nearly hit by a truck over his excitement over seeing Danji again.
- Raika is the Supergo, being the most straight laced and serious of the group, and being all set to tear into Yu-yu for running off without warning had it not been for the introduction of Sam.
- Tohya is the Ego, being the oldest of the group and who is already friends with Yu-yu and can identify with Raika, being more concerned when Yu-yu ran off and just happy he's okay when they meet up again.
- Irony: Of the three of them, Yu-yu is the one who placed first. He's the only one among them who loses their respective exhibition match against Team Deluxe USA.
Raika Koshiba
Keter Sanctuary
Voiced by: Jin Ogasawara (JP), Alex Bergen (EN)
Raika plays a Keter Sanctuary deck based around Youthberk, Skyfall Arms, using the RevolDress mechanic to temporarily ride a "RevolForm" version of Youthberk after attacking with his vanguard, allowing for an additional vanguard attack, as well as activating different skills depending on which "RevolForm" variation of Youthberk he rides into.
- Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: He believes anyone who doesn't devote their entire being to cardfighting is just "playing around", and derides the Counter Fighters as cowards who don't have the nerve to actually play on the professional circuit. He calms down a bit after his loss to Yu-yu, maintaining this trope in a more positive way against Sophie by telling her that she doesn't have the same drive and sincerity as the other people he's fought.
- Awesome by Analysis: As part of his drive to become stronger, Raika makes it a habit of studying the decks and playstyles of his opponents so as to know how they'd likely play, as well using percentages and ratios to determine what would be the ideal move to make.
- Broken Pedestal: Raika looked up to Michiru for the longest time, seeing him as the opponent he wanted to beat more than anything, and being outraged when Yu-yu manages to beat him before he can get the chance to fight him. All that changes once Raika discovers Michiru willingly joined Project Uniformers, and has been diving into the virtual world repeatedly in spite of the negative effects it has on his health. While Raika tries to make him see reason through a Cardfight, he's left in despair as Michiru not only effortlessly defeats him, but proceeds to belittle Raika as weak. Raika can only declare that he never wants to be like Michiru now, nor does he just want to beat Michiru, he wants to surpass him, but in his own way.
- Defrosting Ice King: Raika would slowly but surely begin opening up over the course of will+Dress thanks to Positive Friend Influence. While initially an Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy, meeting many worthy opponents via the Deluxe would allow him to slowly acknowledge other's style of fighting as valid even if not like his own, and relaxing his demeanor enough to become a genuine friend to Yu-yu and Urara.
- Fauxshadowing: Multiple details seemed to suggest that Raika would have a Face–Heel Turn and join Project Uniformers. Whether it was the openings "BLACK&WHITE" depicting him consumed by darkness and "Accelerate" depicting him fighting "Viamance" Bruce/Danji, his motivations being tied to "strength" falling in line with the Uniformers quest for the "Ultimate Fight", prominent member Sophie Belle wanting to "break" Raika and make him her pet, or even his idolizing of Michiru considering Michiru would become a Fallen Hero and willingly join, multiple signs pointed to Raika having a Face–Heel Turn. Instead, Raika remains steadfast and resolute in his convictions, repeatedly rebuking Project Uniformers and their idea of "strength", and Michiru even becoming a Broken Pedestal in his eyes after facing him and losing.
- Freudian Excuse: His becoming an Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy can be traced back to when he was younger and first met Michiru. Back then, he was a lot more like Yu-yu, being shy and skittish, asking Michiru how he could stop being weak. Michiru told him he could get stronger by finding someone he wants to defeat, and using that person as a goal for his strength, instilling in Raika the desire to defeat Michiru. As he grew older, he noticed those around him would get upset when they lost despite hiding it by claiming they had fun games, giving birth to his ideals that a true fighter is someone who gives their all towards fighting, and doesn't just laugh a loss off.
- Green-Eyed Monster: One of the reasons Yu-yu gains his ire is Michiru expressing an interest in him, as Raika wants to prove himself by getting acknowledgement from Michiru.
- Honorary True Companion: While not an actual member of Team Blackout, by will+Dress Season 2 he's effectively an honorary member thanks to bonding with Yu-yu, Urara, and Danji, aided by Urara pulling double duty as a member of both Teams Blackout and Tirnanog Youth giving him a reason to go with her to Wonder Hill, and working alongside them in opposing Project Uniformers.
- Mirror Character:
- Invoked by Tohya. Tohya sees his Pre-Character Development self in Raika, outright saying so to him before their match, and gives that as his reasoning for why he can't afford to lose to him. Once Raika's Freudian Excuse is shown, it's not hard to see why, as the two ultimately sought strength so as to become strong enough to beat a specific person, Danji for Tohya, and Michiru for Raika, to the point that it all but consumed them and caused them to lose their love for the game, becoming jerkasses in the process. Raika repeatedly rebukes this, with Tohya's pointing out their similarities just serving to piss him off further. Only after winning and calming down does he hear Tohya out, eventually admitting Tohya is right.
- By all accounts, Raika's ethos as a Cardfighter is very similar to that of Project Uniformers, specifically Gui, in that the results are what matter most and laughing off a loss is just a sign of weakness. Even so, Raika still can't bring himself to agree with their concept of Vanguard, largely due to his own Character Development allowing him to acknowledge others style of Cardfighting even if they aren't his own, and refusing to abandon his own style just for the sake of becoming stronger.
- Not So Above It All:
- His time in America with Yu-yu and Tohya shows that beneath his serious demeanor, he can be just as excitable as they are, freaking gliding across the floor while in an American Card Shop, and telling Yu-yu to "Don't think. Feel." when Yu-yu expresses concerns about their budget versus buying new cards en masse. Danji likewise can easily tell that Raika is a big fanboy of Michiru's just by talking with him.
- He's just as amazed as Danji at seeing that Sam has an entire secret base built in a storage container.
- Serious Business: He believes that any fight in which you can laugh despite losing is not a "real" fight, but just playing around, and has no issue expressing this to anyone that pisses him off.
- Stern Teacher: When Urara visits the team room for "Tirnanog Youth", she learns Raika is this. Raika will regularly face off against all his clubmates, and whenever they lose, he asks them why exactly they think they lost, then tells them to reflect on that reason, try to correct themselves in the future, and to always make sure to go into a fight with a calm mind and a plan, never raising his voice in the process.
- This Cannot Be!: He's absolutely shocked when Michiru loses to Yu-yu in the semi-finals of Deluxe, especially since he devoted himself to winning at all costs so he could have the chance to prove himself to the former, and seems unable to comprehend Michiru's Graceful Loser attitude as a result. His goal when going up against Yu-yu in the finals afterward is to prove the latter's victory against his idol was nothing but a fluke.
- Took a Level in Kindness: He's a lot less abrasive in Season 2 of will+Dress, having gotten a healthy dose of Character Development after his rematch with Yu-yu.
- Training from Hell: Undergoes this will+Dress Season 3 with the earpieces Shinobu gave him under Daji's guidance and Michiru's request. With those earpieces, he went to cyberspace to train against a virtual copy of Michiru in order to train himself to counter Masques unit and surpass the person he looks up to despite the debilitating effects it has on him.
- Tritagonist: Raika has settled into this role by will+Dress Season 2, having the third largest connection to the greater plot against Project Uniformers shy of Yu-yu and Danji, namely via his connection with Michiru.
- Tsundere: After he Took a Level in Kindness, he begins turning into this. While he maintains that he and Yu-yu are not friends even after their rematch, he becomes slightly more affable around Yu-yu, even having a Not So Above It All moment when they're in an American Card Shop when Yu-yu is expressing concerns over their budget.
- The Worf Effect: To highlight how dangerous the new Masques units are, Raika faces off against and loses to Sophie and Michiru using them, suffering a Curb-Stomp Battle both times in the process.
- Worthy Opponent: He doesn't give his respect easily, but if someone manages to earn it, he'll consider them as such. Initially, said respect was only reserved for Michiru, but after fighting them, he eventually gives it to Mirei and Tohya, the two also being exceptions to his disdain for graceful losers. By time he first fights Sophie, he comes to admit he sees everyone he fought in the Japanese Deluxe as one, openly adding Taizo and Yu-yu to the list, and that it's from facing them he can't respect Sophie as a fighter since she lacks their passion.
Japanese Deluxe
Michiru Hazama
Dark States
Voiced by: Daisuke Sakuma (JP), Brett Bauer (EN)
Michiru plays a Dark States deck based on Demonic Jewel Dragon, Drajeweled, focusing on building up the soul to then soul blast cards of four different Grades, crippling his opponent's vanguard by reducing its power to 1 while empowering Drajeweled and his other units. After joining the Uniformers, he upgrades his deck with the Mask of Hydragrum card, allowing him to evolve his vanguard into Karmic Demonic Jewel Dragon, Drajeweled Masques, which not only still reduces the opponent's vanguard's power to 1 by soul blasting four different Grades, but also retires two rear guards to further cripple them.
- The Ace: He's considered the best of the best, holding an undefeated record, and even beating Danji back when he still lead Team Blackout.
- Big Good: He takes the role in will+Dress, his intuition that something is wrong with the Vanguard Deluxe being what drives Danji to travel to America to investigate, and later gets Yu-yu and the others involved with Jinki Mukae's plans. This changes once he's defeated by Jinki.
- Brutal Honesty: After he inflicts a Curb-Stomp Battle on Raika, he bluntly tells him he's weak and his current level of play isn't enough to stand up to Project Uniformers.
- Delicate and Sickly: He's got some kind of illness that makes him a Rare Male Example, requiring him to take medication. It ultimately causes him to collapse following his match with Yu-yu in the semifinals of Deluxe, causing Toyha to win the third place position by default due to him being taken to the hospital to recover. Not helping matters is his depriving himself of both food and sleep due to his fixation on Vanguard.
- Determinator: Much like Tohya, Michiru is so devoted to Vanguard that he hyperfocuses on it to the detriment of everything else, even admitting to depriving himself of both food and sleep so as to constantly be focused on Vanguard. It's this very obsession though that drives him to join Project Uniformers though, as being able to fight in their cyberspace means he doesn't need to worry about his physical body, even though Gui outright warns him that too many dives could cause irreparable damage to his brain. Even as the cyberspace is destabilizing around him and he's at risk of being infected by it, he's having too much fun fighting Danji to care. This gets him absorbed by cyberspace before Danji can log him out, and leaves his physical body in a coma, with everyone operating as if he died.
- Face–Heel Turn: Michiru willingly entertains Jinki upon seeing the power of his deck, and joins Project Uniformers, repeatedly diving into the virtual world despite the stress it could put on his brain and body. He likewise willingly accepts a "Masques" card, perfectly content with remaining in the virtual world since he can fight to his heart's content there.
- Fling a Light into the Future: Before becoming comatose, he uploaded his data inside a pair of earpieces Uniformers use to log into cyberspace so someone can train against him and Masques units. He then gave them to Shinobu and instructed the boy to give the earpieces to a fighter that wants to surpass him once Uniformers start taking over the world.
- Go Out with a Smile: As Danji finally beats him, he can only smile over getting to have one last fun fight with someone he considers his equal before he's absorbed into cyberspace. While his physical body is declared comatose, everyone operates under the belief he died due to his mind being lost to cyberspace now.
- Idiot Hair: He's got three cowlicks on his head that help sell the disheveled look.
- Innocently Insensitive: Michiru has a habit of coming across as harsher than he intends to be, as his attempts at legitimate advice and sportsmanship end up sounding like gloating due to his seeming inability to get frazzled.
- His critiquing of Megumi's plays and saying he was entertained after beating her ends up making her think he's mocking her, not helped by his claiming it was a "close match" when right prior Tohya noted how he pretty much controlled the entire fight and always had the advantage. He was actually just giving advice and tried correcting himself by saying he was sure she'll get stronger, but that just ends up hurting her even more since she was already giving 100%.
- Danji admits to him that Michiru constantly did this whenever he beat Danji, to the point Danji actually swore he wanted to knock him out. Michiru can only look surprised when it finally dawns on him that he's accidentally been doing this.
- Lonely at the Top: Taizo believes that Michiru's prowess at Vanguard has left him alone due to a combination of others seeing him as an opponent to take down and there being no other fighters at his level. Michiru later confirms this while fighting Yu-yu, and is overjoyed to find someone willing to smile while fighting him as Yu-yu did.
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: Michiru regularly talks about being able to see the "flames" of the souls of those he fights, but it's left heavily vague as to whether this is an actual power he has, or if it's just a strange quirk. The lore for his ace card, Drajeweled, supports the former due to the crystals Drajeweled hordes being solidified "Fate Power", the energy that connects Earth and Cray together, suggesting Michiru's ability is a result of his connection to Drajeweled in a similar manner to Chrono's connection to Gear Chronicle making him the Singularity.
- No Challenge Equals No Satisfaction: Michiru is the best Cardfighter on the pro-circuit, something he is completely aware of. Rather than be prideful about it though, he's Lonely at the Top, and desperately wants to find someone he can call a Worthy Opponent that can satisfy him. He laments this when, after joining Project Uniformers, his fight data is used to perfect the playing style of the Uniformers, Michiru stating the future he sees as a result of this, one where everyone using the Uniformers playstyle, is one he doesn't want to happen, as it would be boring beyond belief. To that end, he acts as a Stealth Mentor to Danji in the hopes Danji can stop Jinki and Gui's ambitions, as otherwise, Michiru would rather Vanguard itself be erased than live in a world like the Uniformers envision.
- Older Than He Looks: His real age is unknown, just that he was formerly the champion of the "Under 20" tournament before getting too old. However, a flashback to when Raika first met him shows him looking exactly the same, with Raika being noticeably younger and participating in a tournament for Elementary Schoolers, and since Raika is in high school now the flashback could have been anywhere from seven to twelve years prior, meaning Michiru could be anywhere from his late-twenties to mid-thirties.
- Passing the Torch: As he's being absorbed into cyberspace after his battle with Danji, he entrusts Danji with leading the next generation to a brighter future, and preparing them for the storm Project Uniformers is creating.
- Spanner in the Works: While Michiru had thought he was striking an Odd Friendship with Gui, Gui had only been using him as a source of data and feigning cooperation to make Michiru compliant, as it saw Michiru's skill as invaluable to reaching the "Ultimate Fight". Michiru's repeated diving into cyberspace eventually resulted in his mind being lost though screwed Gui over, as now Gui can't gain any more data on Michiru.
- The Strategist: Unlike other players in the series, he tailors how he fights to prey upon his opponent’s weaknesses.
- In his first onscreen fight with Danji, he’s hyper-aggressive in order to both take advantage of Bruce’s lack of early-game aggression and defeat Danji before he could enter “Final Rush”.
- With Megumi he opted for a slower defensive playstyle, denying her of needed damage, and destroying her rearguards, all while making sure his damage remained low to prepare for the onslaught Magnolia is known for.
- With Jinki, he carefully gauges his opponent’s unknown deck, noting every move he makes trying to figure out how it works.
- Worthy Opponent: For the longest time, he was Lonely at the Top, and only wanted to find someone who could not only meet his level, but have fun with him while doing so. He would finally find someone like that in Yu-yu, the first person to break his winning streak during the semi-finals of the Vanguard Deluxe. He would later admit that he had always considered Danji one too, just that Danji hadn't yet reached the level where he could admit that.
Taizo Kiyokura
Brandt Gate
Voiced by: Takumi Mano (JP), Griffin Cork (EN)
In Divinez, he is one of the participants in the Fated Clash being the owner of the Fated One of Guiding Star.
Taizo plays a Brandt Gate deck focusing on Blitz CEO, Welstra, based on playing Product Order cards of consecutively increasing Grade, then operating them to activate their effects, ranging from drawing cards, retiring his opponent's units or weakening his opponent's vanguard, with his strongest Product, Mobile Fortress of Obliteration, Freischutz Maximum, even being able to call itself to the field as a powerful unit.
In Divinez, Taizo rebuilds his deck to include Fated One of Guiding Star, Welstra "Blitz Arms". While his deck's overall strategy remains the same, his vanguard's Divine Skill allows him to speed up his game plan by placing up to two Product cards in his hand directly to the field and then operate one of his Product card. He also has a new Set Order which let him gain energy and draw a card when it is placed and, on subsequent turns, can be operated by his vanguard to retire an opposing rear-guard, reduce the power of their vanguard and deal one damage.
- Ascended Extra: Taizo went from being a supporting character in season 1 of will+Dress with a minor role in season 2 and 3 to being one of the main characters of Divinez.
- The Cameo: Makes a brief appearance in a flashback during Season 2 of will+Dress, showing that he was the one to inform Blackout of Michiru's disappearance.
- Casanova Wannabe: He fancies himself a ladies man, and tries hitting on the girls of Team Blackout right before his match with Raika. Tomari's the only one interested, which earns him the ire of Zakusa, and even then it's unclear if she was being serious, was just trying to make Zakusa jealous, or was just tempted at the idea of a free dinner. He later laments in front of his teammates how he seems to only ever be popular with guys.
- The Collector: He's an avid card collector, his associates hunting down some of the rarest cards there are to add to his collection. Of particular note are his collection of Frame Rare cards, comprised largely of female units at a high rarity, bringing to mind the real life practice of "Waifu Collectors".
- Cool Big Bro: Much like Danji is for Megumi, Taizo quickly becomes a big brother figure for Urara, being the first to welcome her to the Vanguard Deluxe after seeing how nervous she was, while regularly checking in on her whenever she seems upset.
- Honest Corporate Executive: Downplayed, as he's only the heir to the Kiyokura Group, but is still an overall honest and moral person. This is reflected in his deck, as it uses the "Product" Set Orders, and phrases it as him demonstrating via a cardfight his companies products to be sold.
- "Well Done, Son" Guy: His primary motivation for competing is that he wants his father to acknowledge his skill in Vanguard so he can expand the company to involve Vanguard.
Riku Kumatori
Stoicheia
Voiced by: Kenichi Suzumura (JP)
The leader of Team "Blazing Sun" that rules over Kansai's cardfighting scene.Riku plays a Stoicheia deck based around Flagship Dragon, Flagburg Dragon.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: He's got a bad temper, and is very quick to pick fights with people if he thinks they're mocking him, nearly picking a fight with Taizo when he thinks he's mocking the "Counter Fighters", and doing the same when Raika insinuates he's not a "serious" fighter.
- Hot-Blooded: He's very energetic and headstrong, and just as quick to get excited if he thinks his buttons are being pushed.
- Irony: He's Hot-Blooded with a Hair-Trigger Temper, yet his deck choice is Flagburg Dragon, the expies of the strict and militaristic Aqua Force.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He's very loud and quick to anger, but he's a good guy overall, declaring himself Yu-yu's rival as a way to justify fighting him as preparation for his matches with Michiru and Raika.
Uryu Musashi
Dragon Empire
Voiced by: Hiroki Yasumoto (JP)
Member of the Pro Team "BRIGHT BODY" who popularized a new way of cardfighting that mixes in martial arts.Uryu plays a Dragon Empire deck based around Heavy Artillery of Dust Storm, Eugene.
- Form-Fitting Wardrobe: He wears a short sleeved dress-shirt, a suit vest, and a tie, all of which are shown to be straining against his muscular physique, and look like they'd fall apart via Clothing Damage if he so much as flexes.
- Idiot Hair: Downplayed since they're not readily apparent, but he has several hair constantly sticking up and outwards, along with a cowlick over his forehead, contrasting with his otherwise well-groomed albeit muscular appearance.
- Informed Attribute: His method of Cardfighting that adds in elements of martial arts is this, as he is never shown fighting onscreen outside of the very end where he's already lost, the only thing suggesting his method of Cardfighting is any different from the normal method being that he's regularly seen exercising in between matches.
Yurina Nukata
Dark States
Voiced by: Haruka Tomatsu (JP)
The Special Attack Captain of Team "Spider Lily" who is both a Front Fighter that participates in official tournamants and a Counter Fighter.Yurina plays a Dark States deck based around Master of Gravity, Baromagnes.
- Bifauxnen: Her Boyish Short Hair combined with her typical attire consisting of dress shirts and pants easily gives her this look, and she's noted to be admired by female fans.
- Birds of a Feather: She and Megumi quickly get along when they meet at Wonder Hill, namely due to their shared Surrounded by Idiots mindset.
- Coat Cape: She wears a cream colored dress jacket, and tends to wear it over her shoulders.
- The Dragalong: She's forced by Riku to come with him to Wonder Hill so he can get a "revenge match" against Yu-yu, pointing out though that none of the people she fought in her bracket are even there.
- Underestimating Badassery: She doesn't think much of Urara when they face each other in their first match, being put off by how she comes across as a nervous rookie. It's a big shock for her then when Urara actually beats her, and she can only nervously smile as Urara gives her an energetic handshake.
Himari Kanoashi
Lyrical Monasterio
Voiced by: Hazuki Tanda (JP)
A Front Fighter who is known as a "Rogue Decker" for surprising her opponents by using unique decks in tournaments.Himari plays a Lyrical Monasterio deck based around #Make A Trend!! Kyouka.
- Informed Attribute: Her being a "Rogue Decker" is left as this due to her never fighting on screen during the Deluxe, the details mostly coming from All There in the Manual. Her using a Lyrical Monasterio deck would have been this too were she not shown organizing her deck once at the beginning of the tournament.
- Older Than They Look: Official documents on her found in the Project Uniformers database state that she's 28, making her the second confirmed* oldest competitor in the Deluxe Japan, despite looking closer in age to Megumi.
Mondo Kirishima
Brandt Gate
Voiced by: Yuichi Nakamura (JP)
A professional fighter from Team "JIGEN" who retired over a decade ago and became a father but is making a comeback.Mondo plays a Brandt Gate deck based around Galactic B-Hero, Unite Dianos.
- Informed Attribute: His status as a "legendary Cardfighter" ends up this as a result of all his matches occurring offscreen, and the little bit we do see having him losing. Presumably, he had to win a match somehow since he was in the final eight, but said match was likewise offscreen. He finally was able to have an on-screen fight in Divinez against Nao, which he lost once she used her Vanguard's Divine Skill on him, but not before a very narrow fight, which could have gone either way.
- Retired Badass: He was a legendary Cardfighter from over a decade ago until he retired while still at the top of his game.
- Strong Family Resemblance: His son Hiroki has the same hair and eye color as him.
- Worthy Opponent: Tohya considers him such a good opponent that after the qualifiers, he immediately went to him for a rematch even though Tohya won the match. (albeit narrowly)
Team Deluxe USA
Samuel Fredson
Brandt Gate
Samuel plays a Brandt Gate deck based around Blue Deathster, "Skyrender" Avantgarda, focused on placing Strategy Order cards in the soul with Avantgarda's ability, activating their effects and empowering Avantgarda and his ability to re-stand after attacking.
- Dreadlock Warrior: He keeps his hair in dreads that he then ties up into a wolves' tail.
- Exact Words: He repeatedly notes to Danji and the others, Tohya in particular, that he can't disclose what he knows about Jinki Mukae due to it being "classified" information. So when Tohya asks him to disclose the info if he wins their fight, Sam says he'll think about it, not do it, initially sounding like he still can't tell Tohya what he knows about Masanori. Still doesn't mean he can't "accidentally" talk outloud where Tohya can hear him.
- Hidden Depths: He's a well known cardfighter and an Occidental Otaku... who's also, as it turns out, a member of the CIA.
- It's Personal: One of the reasons he's so invested in investigating Jinki is because Jinki's late older brother, Shingi, was Sam's mentor at the CIA, and the more he investigate Jinki, the more Sam felt like he was chasing Shingi's ghost.
- No Sense of Personal Space: When he first met Yu-yu, he continuously tried approaching him even as Yu-yu backed away in obvious fright, which caused him to trip and nearly fall into traffic.
- Occidental Otaku: He's a big fan of Japanese media, in particular mecha, katana's, and anime. Team Japan and Danji actually run into him on a return trip from Little Tokyo, where he's gotten tons of souvenirs. This is likewise reflected in his deck choice, as while the Blue Deathster's are based on popular mecha series like Gundam, their names are western in origin.
- Scary Black Man: Subverted. He has a very well built and imposing figure and has No Sense of Personal Space, nearly causing Yu-yu to back into traffic. He's rather nice however, quickly catching Yu-yu and looking after him until Tohya and Raika can find him.
- Wild Card: His true motives are initially unknown, just that he too is curious about the secret beneath the Vanguard Deluxe, and is conducting his own investigation parallel to Danji's, even advising against Danji getting Yu-yu, Tohya, and Raika involved until he has more evidence. A phone call he has in private all but confirms he's an agent of the United States government, Danji later outright stating him to be a CIA agent, tasked with finding out who stole confidential information that could endanger the nation, and is personally convinced said theft is tied to the disappearing Vanguard fighters linked to Jinki Mukae.
Peach Mountain
- See Danji Momoyama under Team Daybreak
Sophie Belle
- See Sophie Belle under Project Uniformers
Others
Katsuki Murayama
Dark States
Voiced by: Makoto Furukawa (JP), Daegan Manns (EN)
A Cardfighter known as the champion of the Noto area, he possesses 100 wins to his name, and sought to defeat Danji and break his 20 win streak.Katsuki plays a Dark States deck focused on Master of Gravity, Baromagnes, based around soul-charging large amounts of cards to activate Baromagnes' skills, which increase in power the more cards are in the soul.
- Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: He's very self-assured in his skills and believes he's more than a match for Danji, only to collapse in shock upon losing to Yu-yu, someone he had previously derided as a rookie.Katsuki: (Referring to his Soul) Not even God could tear down the Tower of Babel that I've raised!
- Jerkass: Downplayed. He's very cocky and abrasive to everyone but Danji. He mainly taunts Yu-yu during their fight up until Yu-yu manages to back him into a corner, but aside from that, he's not particularly mean or anything.
- Monster of the Week: He only appears in Episode 3 and serves as someone for Yu-yu to fight to demonstrate his growth.
- Worthy Opponent: He sees Danji as a potential one, and came to Kaga incognito solely to fight Danji and break his win streak. He likewise admits that it's an honor to be recognized by Tomari, calling her the "Scream Queen of Kaga".
Takami Okura
Voiced by: Ryōta Ōsaka (JP), Aaron Coates (EN)
Megumi's older brother and the heir of Okura Company. He used to be close friends with Danji.- Aloof Big Brother: He prefers to keep himself busy at work, rather than spending more time with his sister Megumi. But he does care for her, which is seen in #13 after he forgets to inform Megumi that it is raining, Takami sends their butler to give her a umbrella.
- Contrasting Sequel Main Character: He is one to Mamoru Anjou. Both of them are educated older brothers to the main female lead of their respective series. Mamoru gets along well with his sister Tokoha and both of them are very close with each other, while Takami is a workaholic who prefers to run his family business and is distant with Megumi. Mamoru is close with the main characters Team Try 3 and their allies, while Takami is indifferent towards Team Blackout but is willing to help them whenever they are in trouble. Both of them also work in professional serivce, Mamoru was a professional Kagero clan leader working for Dragon Empire, while Takami is a heir to his family business.
- Strong Family Resemblance: He looks like a male version of Megumi.
- We Used to Be Friends: Before becoming the CEO of Okura Company, Takami would frequently hangout with Danji but after becoming a workaholic he doesn't have time to hangout with him but still considers Danji a friend.
- Workaholic: He is dedicated to his work as the heir of his company.
The Kondo Family
Natsuko Kondo (Yu-yu's mother) Voiced by: Nanako Mori (JP), Samara Von Rad (EN)
Yukiko Kondo (Yu-yu's sister) Voiced by: Sayaka Senbongi (JP), Kas Nixon (EN)
Akiko Kondo (Yu-yu's sister) Voiced by: Mikoi Sasaki (JP), Helen Belay (EN)
Masaharu Kondo (Yu-yu's father) Voiced by: Junichi Yanagita (JP), Roger Rhodes (EN)
Yu-yu's family which consist of five members, his parents and two older sisters. The Kondo family are an upper-middle class family hailing from the Kanazawa district.
- Big Sister Bully: Akiko and Yukiko frequently bully and force their younger brother Yu-yu to dress as a girl, much to his annoyance.
- Buxom Beauty Standard: Akiko thinks so, wanting Yu-Yu to wear large breast forms while crossdressing.
- The Faceless: Yu-yu's father’s face isn't revealed to the audience and when he appeared in episode 10 his eyes are covered.
- Happily Married: Yu-yu's parents, Natsuko and Masaharu, are happily married for more than twenty years.
- Not So Above It All: While Natsuko normally seems uninvolved, she fully joins in with her daughters in crossdressing Yu-Yu and Tohya in Season 2.
- Older Than She Looks: Akiko is a young adult who is in her early 20's similar to Tohya and Danji, but she looks like a high schooler.
- Strong Family Resemblance: Yu-yu's mother and sister’s look like a female version of him.
- Took a Level in Kindness: Yu-yu's family are a lot more supportive of him in will+Dress, and while they're still a tad intense when it comes to his lack of self-confidence, they make clear they believe in him and will be cheering him on the entire time.
Reno-Ten
"Reno-Ten", aka "Reno & Tenma", are a very popular Japanese Pop duo, consisting of upbeat and sweet Reno Akai, and calm and cool Tenma Sakurai. When Reno becomes intrigued by Vanguard after watching Yu-yu's fight with Michiru at the Vanguard Deluxe, Tenma, due to their agency forbidding them from playing Vanguard, takes Reno to Wonder Hill so he can have his first fight. After watching Reno fight Urara, Tenma decides to start playing Vanguard himself, and try to convince their agency to let them keep playing.
Reno plays a Stoicheia deck focused on Lavien Lord, Granfia, generating Plant Tokens to then fuel the Noblesserose Token's Plant Gauge, which can then be discharged to power up and restand a rear-guard unit.
- Contrasting Sequel Main Character: To Ultra Rare and Rummy Labyrinth with Saya. Whereas the latter two were all female idol groups comprised of trios, and had intimate relations to Vanguard and the overall plot of their series, Reno-Ten is an all male duo, had no relationship to Vanguard before coming to Wonder Hill, and are so far completely independent of the greater plot surrounding Jinki Mukae.
- Distaff Counterpart: Reno is essentially a male Urara, with both being very excitable personality wise, passionate about multiple things to the point of multitasking them all, and being rather sweet and kind to everyone they meet.
- Instant Expert: Downplayed. Like Urara and Yu-yu, Reno proves to be very gifted at Vanguard, even winning his first match against a much more experienced player. Unlike them though, Reno had knowledge about Vanguard long before his first match, deck included, and thought about possible matches and strategies for when he could finally play rather than taking to it like a fish to water like they did.
- Mythology Gag: Their agency forbids them from playing Vanguard as it distracts their idols from their careers. Considering what happened to the idol groups of the previous series, they do have a bit of a point.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Reno is rather energetic and optimistic, being very passionate about whatever he sets his mind to and open with others. Tenma meanwhile is much more calm and reserved, focusing more on his idol work first and foremost, scolding Reno if he thinks the latter isn't focused, and is less open to others outside of standard idol fare.
Shingi Mukae
Keter Sanctuary
Jinki Mukae's late older brother and a former external cybersecurity instructor for the CIA. Sam believes he is tied to Jinki's motivations regarding Uniformers.He used a Keter Sanctuary revolving around his ace, Sword that Connects Heaven and Earth, Alden, focusing on having units from Grades 1-3 in both hand and field to support his rideline and trigger Alden's skill to return a rear-guard to hand in order to call 2 units with Grades totaling that of the unit returned, enabling multi-attacks and skill activations.
- Ambiguously Evil: It's unclear whether he shared the same methods as his little brother in regards to creating the "ultimate fighter". Sophie Belle claims the members of Uniformers are following "Shingi's will", but Sam concludes that's she more referring to Gui, the Artificial Intelligence Shingi was working on before he died. It's later made clear that Shingi was an overall good natured and pure hearted person, it's just Gui took his ideals for a better world in the worst possible direction.
- Posthumous Character: According to Sam, Shingi died in a car accident some time ago, and he believes Shingi's death is linked to Jinki's motivations, as roughly a year after his death is when Jinki began making his move. Sam describes his investigation of Jinki as if he's "chasing a ghost", since he feels Shingi's overall influence despite Jinki being the one he's investigating.
- Recurring Element: Once again, a character who is Too Good for This Sinful Earth in a Vanguard series is killed via a tragic car accident.
- Too Good for This Sinful Earth: Shingi was an overall good person, being a loving older brother to Jinki, a beloved mentor to Sam at the CIA, and anywhere he went instantly had everyone light up with smiles regardless if they won or lost. His untimely death from a car accident is what set into motion to the events of will+Dress, as Jinki struggles to grieve over it and desires to make Shingi's ideal world a reality, which Gui exploits to manipulate Jinki for it's own interpretation of what Shingi wanted, something Jinki realizes is nothing like what Shingi would have wanted.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: He created Gui to guide mankind through Vanguard, only for his creation to go in the complete opposite direction, wanting to force everyone to copy it instead of allowing everyone to have fun through their own styles.
