Characters / Yu-Gi-Oh!: ARC-V: Yuya's Counterparts

Beware of major spoilers, Late Arrival Spoilers and Walking Spoilers!

This page lists the main characters of Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V with their respective tropes. The main protagonist is Yuya, but his counterparts in the other dimensions also play a central role in the storyline.

The Dragon Boys

All four

• Anime Hair: All of them have two-colored hair with some manner of spikes protruding.
• Anti Anti Christ: Three of the Dragon Boys show their compassion and sympathy to humanity. Yuya is the primary example of this.
• Apocalypse Maiden: Just like Anti Anti Christ, three of the Dragon Boys. Even though they don't want to destroy the world and Yuya is actively fighting against it, simply existing gives Zarc the opportunity to possess them and use them to initiate his own revival. Highlighted by Yusho and Reiji being forced to choose between protecting the world and protecting Yuya.
  • This is also why each of Ray's reincarnations had been sent to become close to each of them, their presence would help keep Zarc's influence at bay. By keeping Yuri and Serena from one another, the Professor caused Yuri to fall to said influence and effectively become a second Zarc in personality.
• Artificial Human: In a way, all four of them are technically this due to being dimensional, reincarnated fragments of Zarc's soul willed into existence.
• Color-Coded Characters:
  • To go with the Four Heavenly Dragons themselves. Yuya is red, Yuri is purple, Yugo is green, and Yuto is indigo.
  • Their color schemes match the part of the card game they represent. Representing the main deck and pendulums is Yuya with a red/green coloration. Fusion is Yuri who appropriately purple. Synchro is Yugo who wears white. Xyz is Yuto who bears dark colors.
• Doppelmerger: They all end up getting fused into one. Yuya absorbs Yuto, Yuri absorbs Yugo, then Yuya absorbs Yuri while Yugo is still inside Yuri.
• Elite Four: All of the four own a dragon as their ace monster which also represents one of the summoning methods. Yuya owns Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon (formerly Odd-Eyes Dragon which represented Advance/Tribute Summoning), Yuto owns Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon, Yugo owns Clear Wing Synchro Dragon and Yuri owns Starve Venom Fusion Dragon. The four dragons as a collective are called the "Four Heavenly Dragons" by their original owner Zarc, a reference to the Four Heavenly Kings who served under the legendary military commander Minamoto-no-Yorimitsu.
• Evil Is Not a Toy: Whenever Zarc would force his influence on the boys, the boys generally react with intense pain. Even after Yuri starts agreeing with Zarc and enjoys his influence, he's slowly driven insane by the power.
• Evil Knockoff: What their actual relationship is to the former Yu-Gi-Oh! protagonists they each parallel.
• Foil: Each of the boys with each other.
  • Yuya and Yuto. Both boys care for their friends, both care for their respective female counterparts, and both do not want to hurt others pointlessly. However, Yuya is cheerful, bright and silly. Yuto is serious, stoic and dark. Yuya is more hesitant to participate in war. Yuto is a veteran at it and sees it as having no choice in the matter. Yuya believes in his father's message of bringing smiles to others through dueling and made it his personal motto. Yuto only knows of this motto through Ruri and does not really practice it, willing to resort to violence if pushed enough.
  • Yuya and Yugo. Both boys are silly most of the time, both care for their most important person and both love entertaining others through their dueling. Yuya is more down to earth and calm while Yugo is more hot-headed about his actions. Yuya tends to strategize about his next moves whereas Yugo relies more on luck to carry him through.
  • Yuya and Yuri. Both utilize Fusion Summoning for powerful combos, both love to laugh when the situation calls for it and both have absorbed a counterpart. However, Yuya laughs to entertain others and bring happiness. Yuri only laughs when others are suffering. Yuya Fusion Summons by learning from his experiences and borrowing power from his friends. Yuri would prefer to be all alone and Fusion Summons by forcefully stealing others monsters on the field. Yuya unwillingly absorbed Yuto but both work together and live in harmony. Yuri willingly absorbed Yugo against his will and uses the latter's ace monster against his will.
• Glowing Eyes of Doom: They all gain these when "awakened". It also crosses into Red Eyes, Take Warning for Yuya, though his eyes are always red, but the difference is that only his irises glow.
• I Am Legion: Whenever they undergo Synchronization as a result of their dragons resonating, they begin to speak in unison and may even have the voice(s) of the others speak through them. It's because they're all fragments of Zarc, who begins to manifest when they summon their dragons.
• Iconic Item: For each of them, their respective dimension dragon. Yuya also has his pendulum.
• Identical Stranger: The key trait of them is that they all look similar to each other, just with different hair colors and styles. Even their dragons are identical, with similar stats, effects, appearances, and names. This is revealed to be due to the fact that they are technically the same person, all of them being reincarnations of Zarc, who got his soul split in four by Ray.
• Inconsistent Spelling: Every one of them except Yuya gets some degree of this between the katakana and romaji writings of their names: Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri are romanized as "Ute", "Hyugo/Hugo", and "Joeri/Juri" respectively in the Versus Character Splash, certain openings, and various other Japanese sources; however, the katakana writings of their names establish them as "Yuto", "Yugo", and "Yuri", which is what the dub settled on. Zarc/Z-ARC also has a case of this, with the former being what is given in the Versus Character Splash while the latter is written on Leo's console and what his katakana name spells out (again, the dub went with the latter).
• Madness Mantra: Whenever the four of them gather in one spot, they will start chanting, "We shall become one" over and over again.
• Omnicidal Maniac: All of them are not only Apocalypse Maidens, but also spawns of Zarc. To clarify, they qualify as Apocalypse Maidens because being spawns of Zarc forces them to become Omnicidal Maniacs whether they want to or not.
• Other Me Annoys Me: The boys generally do not get along at first. Due to Yuri's trollish moments, they gain massive grudges on each other which becomes this when we learn they're all reincarnations of Zarc. It's finally subverted after Zarc is defeated a second time with all four supporting each other.
• Parasitic Immortality: Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri all die throughout the series, but their spirits manage to live on by inhabiting one of their counterparts' bodies. By the end of the anime, they are all residing within Yuya.
• Put on a Bus: Due to Zarc's revival, the four of them have been absorbed by Zarc. Till episode 141 when Yuya is revived and episode 146 reveals that Yuto, Yugo and Yuri's souls are inside of Yuya.
• Reincarnation: All of them are reincarnations of Zarc.
• Rule of Symbolism: Each resembles one of the five parts of the soul from Egyptian mythology. Given the franchise's roots, this is likely intentional.
  • Ib (Heart): Yuya, the empathic, friendly one.
  • Sheut (Shadow): Yuto, the dark, brooding one.
  • Ka (Vitality): Yugo, the energetic, passionate one.
  • Ba (Personality): Yuri, the sadistic, crazy one, closest in personality to the boys' original self.
  • Ren (Name): Zarc, the original identity bearing the group's true name.
• Satan Is Good: While Zarc is referred to as the "Devil Duelist", his spawns are far from being naturally evil since their birth.
• Sharing a Body: At the end of the series, they all share a body, with Yuya being in charge.
• Split Personality: Their "awakened" sides seem to be this since whenever it happens, they become much more ruthless and destructive, but don't remember what they did after the duel.
• Split-Personality Makeover: Whenever they awaken, each of the Dragon Boys gain glowing eyes and in Yuya's case, his hair starts standing up.
• Split-Personality Takeover: When all Four Heavenly Dragons are on the field, Zarc will attempt to fuse them by drawing them to the same area.
• Soul Jar: They each hold a fragment of Zarc's soul.
• Superpowered Evil Side: When they "awaken" they gain Glowing Eyes of Doom, a dark aura, and become much more aggressive and destructive. Said awakening is Zarc's soul within them attempting to take over their body.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Each of them initially appears to be a stand-in for the previous protagonists in the franchise. However, their temperaments, appearances, and even the monsters they use are all wrong; mirroring those of the antagonists of the old shows than anything else.
• Synchronization: When their dragons resonate with each other, usually from being summoned, they can achieve this.
• Theme Naming:
  • Their names all start with "Yu" as is tradition for Yu-Gi-Oh! protagonists. Their original form, Zarc, subverts this.
  • The names of their Four Heavenly Dragons are in the form of "(Adjective) (Noun) (Summon method) Dragon".
• Tsurime Eyes: They all have these.
• Wham Line: From Episode 92: "We will become one.", and Episode 126-127 reveals exactly why it's a wham line.
• Victor Gains Loser's Powers: One counterpart defeating another will lead to the winner absorbing the loser into himself and acquiring the loser's Dimension Dragon. This is actually part of Zarc's plan to merge his reincarnations back into a single entity so that he can be reborn.

Yuya Sakaki

Yuya Sakaki

Voiced by: Kensho Ono (JP), Michael Liscio Jr. (EN)

The main protagonist of ARC-V, an eighth-grader who attends You Show Duel School. He aspires to become an Entertainment Duelist and bring laughter to people through his duels like his father did before him, at least before Yusho's mysterious disappearance three years ago.

He owns a good-luck charm pendant his father gave him when he was younger, which mysteriously glows during his televised exhibition match against Strong Ishijima. This unlocks the power of an entirely new Summoning method, Pendulum Summoning, which quickly sets off a chain of events that may go well beyond his control.

He is currently one of the Lancers, however, given Yuya's pacifistic nature, as well as his own personal creed to bring smiles to others as he duels instead of simply defeating his opponent, he doesn't quite fit in, especially when he keeps coming to blows with Reiji's style of command. As time goes on, however, the two gain a mutual respect for one another, with Yuya loudly proclaiming that Reiji is indeed a worthy leader to follow.

He uses an Entermate/Performapal Deck, which features animals in costume that focus on altering the ATK and DEF of monsters; he later starts incorporating the Odd-Eyes archetype. His ace is his Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon, one of the Four Heavenly Dragons. Backing them up are his Magicians; his first two enable Yuya's finishing moves, with later Magicians allowing Yuya to Xyz, Synchro and Fusion Summon powerful monsters. Like previous protagonists, Yuya's ace card keeps evolving, and Yuya learns the other Special Summoning methods through evolving his Odd-Eyes.

As the series goes on, Yuya inadvertently absorbs Yuto into his body, gaining access to his Xyz's ace monster, Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon, giving his deck access to Xyz Summoning and the latter's Phantom Knights. Eventually, Yuya goes on to absorb his other remaining dimensional counterparts into his own body, reviving as his original incarnation, the "Devil Duelist" Zarc. Following Zarc's defeat, Yuya retains the souls of Yuto, Yugo and Yuri, along with their ace monsters, and his deck accommodates their play styles to bring about the Dimensional Dragons' full power by the end of the series.

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Tropes associated with Yuya:

• 2D Visuals, 3D Effects: Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon and its evolutions are rendered in CG. Yuya is also made in CG whenever he's riding this monster.
• The Ace: He's the best duelist of the You Show Duel School, though there are only six students there. By the end of the series, he's the strongest human duelist with Zarc and Ray being the only two that are potentially better than him.
• Accidental Pervert: In Episode 22, he felt down the stairs to then falling right with his head in the perfect position to look up Mieru's skirt. Even though he didn't see anything, she still whacks him on the head. What a great first impression.
• All for Nothing: Despite his damnedest to prevent Zarc's revival after handing Yuri his first defeat, Zarc takes full control all of the boys, who then immediately fused to return to his former single glory. Subverted once Ray shows up, Yuya regains control over his body and Zarc is history.
• All-Loving Hero: Very much so. Yuya deeply cares about making everyone happy, even his enemies. But ARC-V being the show that it is, its heavily deconstructed. Episode 140 actually justifies this. When Zarc was split, the four nature cards were able to purify his kinder nature which became Yuya.
• All the Other Reindeer: Due to his dad disappearing, nearly every kid his age mocked him.
• All Your Powers Combined:
  • In Episode 46, by using the Pendulum effects of Xiangke Magician and Xiangsheng Magician, Yuya is able to turn Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon into a Level 7 monster, allowing him to overlay it with Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon to create Supreme King Black Dragon - Odd-Eyes Rebellion Dragon, the first Xyz Pendulum Monster revealed.
  • After Episode 79, he matches Reiji's feat of mastering Fusion, Synchro, Xyz, and Pendulum Summoning.
  • In Episode 135, he absorbs all of his counterparts and gains their powers.
  • In Episode 146, he matches Reiji's ability to summon a Fusion, Synchro, and Xyz Monster in a single turn.
• Alleged Lookalikes: When the Lancers arrive in the Synchro Dimension, Yuya and Serena are mistaken as Yugo and Yuzu (which is more justifiable than the the other examples below, since Yugo and Yuzu were wearing helmets to cover most of their hair). Later in the final arc, Heartland characters would initially mistake Yuya for Yuto, but then realize immediately that he is not. Strangely, none of the Academia character ever mistake him for Yuri, despite Yuri having been mistaken for all three boys.
• Always Save the Girl: While he gladly helps the Lancers and wants to save the dimensions, he makes Yuzu's safety his top priority. He spends the Friendship Cup dueling so he can broadcast his message of peace to the Tops and Commons, but wanted to forgo his duel so people could help Yuzu after she crashed into a building. Reiji even points out how Yuya keeps putting Yuzu before everybody. It also doesn't stop at just Yuzu: he refuses to hand over Serena to Academia and intends to save Rin and Ruri as well. This comes to a head in Episode 92, where he decides that if he can make just Yuzu smile with his dueling, then that's enough for him.
• Americans Hate Tingle: In-universe. By the Maiami Championship arc, Yuya is loved as an entertainer in his home dimension. But his way of entertaining and ideas about dueling are much more frowned upon in the Synchro Dimension. Till episode 98 when he is able to get the ENTIRE City to cheer for him as he defeats Jack.
• Animal Motifs: Two in relation with Yuya's personality and Superpowered Evil Side
  • The Dragon due to Yuya's signature monster Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon, made clear with the title of Episode 39. "Reverse Scale": Gekirin (逆鱗), in far-eastern mythology, is a scale on a dragon's throat that in inverted compared to the other 80 scales on it body. Legend says that anyone who touches this scale sends the dragon into an Unstoppable Rage.
  • The Hippotamus in relationship to Yuya's Performpal Hip Hippo monster, being peaceful yet powerful and dangerous when provoked. Egyptian myths also consider hippos as embodiments of evil.
• Anti Anti Christ: Episodes 126 and 127 reveal that Yuya is a reincarnation of Zarc who used his powers to destroy the Original Dimension. But Yuya refuses to do so and has in fact spent the series trying to make people happy instead.
• Apocalypse Maiden: After Yuri absorbs Yugo, Yuya becomes this even more than any other character, since Yuri is a full-on Antichrist. If Yuya defeats Yuri, he absorbs him and then Zarc is revived. If Yuri defeats him, Yuri absorbs him and Zarc is revived. Even just existing gives Zarc the opportunity to possess him and force him to duel Yuri. And Yuri has become dead-set on dueling Yuya.
• The Artifact: His Discover Hippo was only really useful in his first duel. A monster with low ATK and DEF, and its effect (treated as two tributes for a Tribute Summon) is pretty much useless when Yuya starts using Pendulum Summoning. His purpose in Action Duels (a steed) is diminished by stronger monsters being able to fulfill transportation purposes. The monster itself is somewhat of a mascot for the series, so it appears more outside of duels than it does inside. In episode 26 however, his friends were surprised to see it summoned and be used as a tribute for Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon since the monsters he used for the Pendulum Scales did not have scales going that high.
• Astonishingly Appropriate Appearance: Even before Pendulum monsters are born, he already had green and orange hair meant to resemble the dual-coloured border of said monsters.
• Badass Adorable: Despite his joyful look, Yuya is one of the stronger Lancers. By the end of the show, he defeated Reiji becoming the strongest human duelist in the show. His Entermates are also adorable as well but can pack a punch.
• Badass Biker: This fits him more than any other Lancer, as he seems to have the best riding skill out of the Lancers as shown in his duel against Shinji and his Big Damn Heroes moment in episode 89. Although Tsukikage and Kurosaki perform crazier, non-riding stunts while riding.
• Badass Boast: Gives a pacifistic variant to the Tops and Commons in Episode 95, demanding they stop fighting and listen to what he has to say: he's going to Duel Jack in the finals to prove to them that Dueling is used to make others happy. Jack agrees, and tells everyone not to interfere with their duel in the next episode.
• Badass in Distress: He is captured by Roget, who intends to Mind Control.
• Base-Breaking Character: Just like Jack, he becomes an In-Universe example after beating Shinji. The Tops vigorously praise him for winning and putting an end to Shinji's "revolution drivel", while the Commons despise him for doing so and accuse him of being in cahoots with Roget, who comes out to personally congratulate him.
• Bash Brothers: With Sora, Jack, and later, Reiji.
• Battle Aura: Since his second Awakening, he emanates a seething black aura that no-one in-universe appears capable of seeing. It is later shown that this even extends to his D-Wheel, his synchronized counterparts, and his dragons. Later in episode 125, his aura takes the form of Odd-Eyes Raging Dragon's silhouette, causing the Parasite Fusioners to tremble in fear.
• Berserk Button:
  • Don't threaten the You Show Duel School around him. It's the school his father set up.
  • Using Dueling as a way to wage war, and sealing your opponents in cards became major Berserk Buttons, to the point of involuntarily triggering Yuya's Superpowered Evil Side.
• Beware the Nice Ones: He's one of the nicest guys in the series, and even without going his Superpowered Evil Side, he's still really scary when he's pissed off.
• Beyond the Impossible: It's practically a plot point — Yuya is constantly coming up with new ways to push the limits of what his skills can do in order to evolve his dueling, and in doing so tends to end up breaking established game mechanics. A short list of highlights includes creating a new type of card (Pendulum Monsters), giving an Xyz Monster a Level so he can use it for another Xyz Summon, performing a Synchro Summon without a Tuner Monster, and creating Pendulum-hybrid monsters that count as two different types of card.
• Big Brother Instinct: He has grown protective towards Reira while in the Synchro Dimension and uses his duels to both protect him from Security and in attempts to make him smile. In episode 59, he's more worried over Reira's disappearance than he and the others being captured by Security. In episode 67, he questions Reiji's decision to allow Reira to join a dangerous battle and declares to him that if Reiji would not protect Reira, he will.
• Big Damn Heroes:
  • In Episode 4, when Yuzu and the kids finally fall, Yuya has his newly returned Pendulum Monsters rescue them.
  • In episode 89, he arrives just in time as Reira starts to suffer from PTSD and exhaustion.
  • In episode 99, when Jack and Crow's Big Damn Heroes moment nearly kills Yuzu in the progress, Yuya saves her from her fall with the help of Whip Viper and Discover Hippo.
• Bishie Sparkle: What Mieru imagines Yuya has when he defeats her. Afterward, she's head over heels for the guy, much to Yuya's confusion and Yuzu's anger.
• Blade Brake: In Episode 9, Yuya uses his Entermate Sword Fish to catch himself when he falls.
• Blithe Spirit: Subverted in the most unceremonious and sadistic way as possible. Yuya's attempts to be this in the Synchro Dimension using his dueling to cheer the City up but the City either treats his actions with apathy or downright anger. He realizes if he wants to change the City, he needs to play by their rules instead. Double Subverted in Episode 97 after Yuya forces the City to stop talking shit and fight against each other by surprising Jack with Nirvana High Paladin.
• Book Dumb: Yuya mentions in Episode 19 that he is bad at science and math.
• Born in the Wrong Century: He would have been fit in a world full of Hot-Blooded characters from Yu-Gi-Oh! GX and treated with equal respect.
• Borrowed Catchphrase: In Episode 39, his Superpowered Evil Side borrows Yuto's summon chant for Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon. Yuya later uses it himself whenever he summons it.
• Break the Cutie: Jesus Christ, is this trope ever in effect. Yuya is a happy-go-lucky guy that wants to bring smiles and happiness to his audience. Those ideals start seeming to become more and more distant when Sora turns out to be a lot downright evil and Yuya realizes dueling is being used as a form of warfare. Afterward, Sora disappears, shortly followed by Yuto, who Takes The Bullet for Yuya. This finally culminates in his own Superpowered Evil Side, which causes Yuya himself to breaking his own ideals of dueling for happiness. And as soon as he manages to get a grip on that, Yuzu ends up disappearing, and he presumes her captured or carded by Academia. The City soon break his ideals again and Jack Atlas calls his dueling is conceited. To make even things worse, seeing Yuzu getting pulverized unceremoniously by Sergey takes a huge toll on him. After he beats Shinji, he is hated by the Commons and he barely escapes having a mind control chip being put in his brain...but Roget instead puts an electrical chip to shock him into his Superpowered Evil Side. Not long after, he ends up becoming Barrett's punching bag until Sergey interferes to beat them up and kidnap Yuzu, followed by Jack calling him out twice, and just when the Lancers succeeded in retrieving Yuzu from Roget, they're split up again by a wormhole. By the time Yuya's group reaches Heartland, Yuya himself ends up becoming a Fight Magnet for Kaito and Edo to the point where Kurosaki and Yuto had to bail him out in different circumstances, then there's Kachidoki, who's out for his blood by the time his group and Yuzu meet again in the Fusion Dimension. After successfully infiltrating Academia, he's horrified to learn that Yuzu was implanted with a Parasite Fusioner in her head, but then comes one of his worst breaks: It turns out that Yuya and his counterparts are actually pieces of Zarc, which as the Professor points out makes him an Apocalypse Maiden so dangerous his own father briefly wonders if he needs to be killed. It gets worse when he has to watch his father be defeated and carded by Yuri, and the subsequent duel with Yuri and Zarc's inevitable resurrection was the biggest breakdown of his life. Once he helps take down Zarc from within, he and everyone else forget the ENTIRE interdimensional war and Yuzu. When he finally remembers, he gets a huge Heroic BSoD after recovering his memories AND concluding that he's also Zarc. The kid needs a hug and lots of therapy.
• Broken Pedestal:
  • In Episode 2, after finding out that Pendulum Summoning requires special cards, most of his fans begin thinking of him as a cheater.
  • Becomes this for Sam, Crow, and the Commons in Episode 80 after beating Shinji and receiving congratulatory praise from Roget. After Crow defeated Kurosaki, Crow realizes that Yuya is not his enemy.
• Building Swing: In Episode 3 and 14, Yuya spends the first few turns using Entermate Whip Viper to swing across the field quicker than he can move on foot. Happens again in episode 99, when Yuya catches Yuzu from her fall.
• Butt-Monkey: Often. He sometimes uses it as a comedy routine.
  • In Episode 20, he is unable to answer any question correctly, gets electrocuted, and frozen.
  • In Episode 22, Yuya has terrible luck. He oversleeps, he hits his head under his desk, he trips and falls down the stairs, is accused of being a pervert, gets wrong coin side, has a dead opening hand, is glared by thirteen black cats, trips over nothing, finds an Action Trap named "Great Misfortune," and his two strongest monsters are switched to Defense Position before he could even attack.
• Catchphrase: He has two during duels: "Ladies and gentlemen!" and "The fun's just getting started!" The latter also appears frequently in the opening and ending songs.
• Character Development: Compared to other Yu-Gi-Oh! protagonists, Yuya is a very dynamic character, who continually changes throughout his arc.
  • Nico Smiley chose the four duelists Yuya needed to beat to qualify for the Junior Youth Championship specifically to make Yuya become a better duelist all around. And it pays off too, with Yuya learning from the first three duels that there is no such thing as a perfect strategy and flexibility is important in dueling, that he can use disadvantages in his favor, that he can't be complacent in dueling, that a pro needs communication with their opponent and the audience to be entertaining and how to take Pendulum Summoning further. With the last duel, he takes the lessons from the previous three duels and applies them here as well as learning how to stand on his own two feet rather than constantly relying on other people for support.
  • This really shows in Episode 31, when Sawatari revealed his own Pendulum Cards, sent Odd-Eyes and his other cards back into his deck, and was overall cornered. Yuya, instead of falling into a Heroic BSOD, smiled, and enjoyed the challenge presented.
  • Yuya is now more eager to show his Entertainment Dueling to the audience and his opponents, after all the violence he has seen lately. Unfortunately, he kind of struggles, as he is not only unable to give Kachidoki a happy smile on his face, but he gives him a brutal defeat instead when Yuya's Superpowered Evil Side shows up. This event has given him more angst. He has reached a point where his current mental state is basically a pendulum, going forth and back from happy and cheerful to a Heroic BSoD, to the point that he crossed the Despair Event Horizon at the end of Episode 44.
  • In the Synchro Dimension arc, Yuya attempts to use his Entertainment Dueling to peacefully end conflicts like his father, but continually fails due to the different values the City has from him. Eventually he is forced to see the different values the City has and that the only way to make them listen to him is to make them accept him, he resolves to no longer hesitate as that's the only way he can do anything. Yuya's growth as an Entertainment Duelist has finally paid off (for the time being) in Episode 100 when he uses his experiences in the City to beat up three Academia students with Gongenzaka and Sawatari while bringing smiles to an innocent family at the same time.
  • The Fusion Dimension and Epilogue has Yuya learn about his origins as a reincarnation of Zarc. At first he refuses to admit it and does his best to fight off Zarc's influence, despite his best efforts, Zarc was able to take control of his body. With help from Yuzu, Yuya is able to regain control of his body as he refuses to allow Zarc to rampage. After Zarc's defeat Yuya finally admits to his origins in despair as he takes responsibility for Zarc's actions but still fears Zarc's influence. It isn't till his duel with Jack when Yuto, Yugo and Yuri call him out on his fear that he realizes there is more to Zarc than just his horrible actions and starts to accept himself as Zarc as he uses all Four Heavenly Dragons. His duel with Reiji allows him to realize what Zarc's original dream and he fully accepts his origin while deciding to fully realize Zarc's dream.
• Characterization Marches On: The first two episodes shows Yuya acting like a clown and he makes fun of everybody and everything. Since the third episode, he's much more serious and his entertainer persona only shows up when he is doing some of his combos. While it's stated by his mother that Yuya used his duel against Ishijima to reinvent himself out of his Sad Clown persona into a more serious Entertainer, it doesn't explain why all pre-series media treated this attitude as his only personality.
• Chekhov's Gun:
  • The first time he used Pendulum Summoning, Yuya used the phrase "Ide yo, waga shimobe no monster-tachi wo" ("Come forth, my monster servants) during his summon chant. Since then, he usually uses "Awarero, ore no monster-tachi" ("Appear, my monsters"). He does use the first variant again in Episode 39, when his Superpowered Evil Side is revealed.
  • His split personality becomes a lot more relevant once Yuto's and Yugo's are revealed, their blind rage and ruthlessness hinting that his split personality is just as dangerous. Which was proven in Episode 39, when his dark side was shown.
• Chess Motifs: Roget sees him as the White Knight.
• Chick Magnet: Yuya is surprisingly popular with the ladies in this show. Excluding Yuzu, who was bound to like him due to their childhood relationship, Yuya has also won the affections of Mieru and the Tyler twin sisters; Grace is more vocal about it than Gloria.
• Childhood Friends: With Yuzu and Gongenzaka. He met Gongenzaka 3 years ago and has been friends with Yuzu at least since the opening of the You Show Duel school.
• Classical Anti-Hero: Yuya unlike the other protagonists is plagued with self-confidence issues and constantly faces oppositions in his methods to end the Interdimensional war.
• Coat Cape: He likes to wear his jacket this way. It never seems to fall away from him, even in situations were it reasonably should, like when he's performing all his acrobatic stunts.
• Color-Coded Characters: His outfit is orange and green, and he has red eyes and a blue pendulum, which calls to mind Pendulum Monsters: their card borders are both orange and green (Monster and Spell card), and the Pendulum Scale icons on the cards are red and blue.
• Combat Pragmatist: His Dueling style is this. He summons a speedy animal and runs around to find Action Cards, allowing him to negate his opponent's attacks and such. His initial Pendulum Monsters, Stargazer and Timegazer also count, since they can shut down his opponent's Spell and Trap Cards.
• Convenient Coma: He was in one for two days after the events of Episode 37.
• Contrasting Sequel Main Character: Even though there are similarities to previous protagonists, Yuya is still very different to them in certain aspects. He is introduced as an average duelist, unlike Yugi, Judai and Yusei who were exceptionally skilled in dueling and Yuma who was exceptionally bad, is very famous in his hometown because of the bad reputation he got from his Disappeared Dad (the other protagonists were unknown at the beginning of their respective series) and he has two or more personas when dueling, with his entertainer persona being clearly an act. Outside of dueling, he's a rather quiet and a bit shy and is anything but hyperactive and he is more serious than Judai and Yuma in their first season. Yuya also suffers from some psychological issues that appear earlier than by other protagonists and he undergoes more dynamic Character Development. Like Judai, Yusei and Yuma, Yuya relies a lot on his ace card, but unlike the three and Yugi, Yuya doesn't have as many beatsticks as them. While the others have more options of powerful monsters, Yuya's only other beatstick besides Odd-Eyes and its evolutions is his Entermate Hammer Mammoth, which justifies Yuya's dependence on his ace monster better than Judai, Yusei and Yuma. Notably after he gets Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon, he actually uses it instead of Odd-Eyes a few times, and since it's an Extra Deck monster that's easy to Summon, it's quite logical for him to do so. He continues this trend as he gains more and more different beatsticks like his Paladins, using them over his normal Odd-Eyes in situations where Odd-Eyes isn't available or just isn't viable. The contrast gets stronger when we learn that his powers are from Zarc. Unlike the other protagonists whose powers were from the side of good (or A Lighter Shade of Grey at minimum), Yuya stands out as having his powers being evil in nature. Where other protagonists were The Chosen One to some degree or another, Yuya is a harbinger of death and destruction.
• Cool Big Bro: To the kids from the You Show Duel School. He attempts to be this to Reira when they enter the Synchro Dimension, and seems to have succeeded.
• Cosmic Plaything: Dear God. Every time Yuya tries to do what he believes in, the universe is trying to break him, force him to commit evil, or downright kill him at every turn.
• Creepy Monotone: In Episode 39 when possessed. Later on, whenever his Superpowered Evil Side kicks in, he sounds really angry and aggressive instead.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Perfectly demonstrated during his duel against Ishijima. Yuya acts like a clown and apparently makes a fool of him while riding Entermate Discover Hippo. Ishijima and the audience eventually realize that Yuya's ride helps him gathering Action Cards all over the place.
• Curtains Match the Window: He has red eyes, which match most of his hair.
• Dark Is Not Evil: His deck contains a number of DARK Monsters, including some of his Magicians, some of his Entermates, Odd-Eyes, Rune-Eyes, and, as of Episode 37, Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon, and later still, he combines it with Odd-Eyes in the form of Supreme King Black Dragon - Odd-Eyes Rebellion Dragon. This is not surprising, considering that his four predecessors also used DARK Monsters. Then you can add his Synchro monster, Enlightment Paladin, who is another DARK monster, as well as his Synchro Pendulum evolution, Nirvana High Paladin.
• Deconstructed Character Archetype: Of Yugi, and the gaming Anime heroes in general. He values Duel Monsters as a fun game that makes people happy, and can barely cope with the revelation that it's also a tool for war. He's a Warrior Therapist, except when his opponent has different values and goals than he does, thus the number of times he's been an effective Warrior Therapist can be counted on one hand. His unique Pendulum cards get him accused of cheating, targeted by Reiji, and become an emotional crutch for a while. His happy demeanor is a mask to cover up how depressed he is after his dad vanished. His deep friendship / Ship Tease with Yuzu cost him to become very distressed to the point of losing a duel due to his anger against Reiji and let him to be manipulated by him in order to save her. See All-Loving Hero.
• Defeating the Undefeatable:
  • How does Yuya beat Jack in Episode 98? By using Niranva High Paladin's Pendulum Effect to weaken Red Dragon Archfiend Tyrant, allowing Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon to finish it off with a rainbow-colored Spiral Strike Burst.
  • Yuya does it again with his victory over Yuri in episode 135. Despite Yuri taking the advantage by summoning Clear Wing and Starve Venom then stealing Dark Rebellion. Yuya is able to turn the tables by taking back Dark Rebellion and then stealing Clear Wing, then using the dragons Yuya is able to destroy Starve Venom with Odd-Eyes, defeating Yuri. Made better as Yuri earlier mocked Odd-Eyes the episode before. But sadly this doesn't end well as seen by the Pyrrhic Victory entry.
• Defeat Means Friendship: Jack becomes a lot friendlier towards Yuya at the end of their second Duel, even though he's a Jerk with a Heart of Gold.
• Despair Event Horizon: His mental state was already a messed up pendulum after the event of Episodes 34-37, but seeing a group of duelists being sealed into cards in the end of Episode 44, he finally breaks, triggering his Superpowered Evil Side again.
• Determinator:
  • Thanks to his father's advice to smile and laugh whenever he feels sad or in trouble, Yuya manages to gather the courage to get himself out of any pinch he finds himself in.
    Yuya: That's right. If I keep my heart in Defense Mode, there's no way I'll be able to enjoy my duels!
  • Honestly Yuya wins the prize for this as he's arguably the most traumatized character in Yu-Gi-Oh! canon so far as his entire series was more or less an exercise in breaking him. But despite being mentally traumatized again and again, mocked, physically beaten and even tortured, he never gives up. While he's wallowed in self-pity a few times, he'll always pick himself up to continue the fight.
• Disappeared Dad: Yuya's father Yusho was a popular Duelist, but three years ago, he no-showed an event and hasn't been seen since. Mentioning anything about his father is one of the only times Yuya won't be smiling.
• Distressed Dude: In Episode 30, Ankokuji does this to keep Gongenzaka distracted. Yuya proves to be a Badass in Distress and Yuya defeats four people who are supposed to keep him in busy at once.
• Does Not Like Guns: When Sawatari attempts to card three Academia students near the end Episode 100, Yuya stops him from doing so. Then Kaito shows up.
• The Dog Bites Back:
  • Kicks Shinji's ass for mocking Tuning Magician in Episode 79.
  • Double subverted in Episode 95. Yuya was supposed to go rampant on the Tops and Commons for all the crap he's been through. Instead, he forcefully pacifies them into witnessing his second Duel against Jack by delivering a Badass Boast, which angers Roget (unintentionally) as a result.
  • In Episode 99, Yuya puts the final nail in Roget's coffin by giving him a viciously brutal "The Reason You Suck" Speech after the latter attempts to make Blatant Lies about Reiji. Considering the fact that Roget is not above turning Yuya into his lackey and abusing poor Yuzu, he's not getting away with that.
  • With the Lancers taken out one by one until Reira and Ray are left, Yuya steals all of Zarc's winning chances as payback for making his life a living hell.
• Dragon Rider: He can ride his dragons in Action Duels.
• Dull Eyes of Unhappiness: Playing With. When Yuya was reassured that Dennis is a spy from Academia, his eyes started glowing just like they usually do when his Superpowered Evil Side possesses him, but once he snapped out of it, they became dull and lifeless. However, they returned to normal in his next scene.
• Eldritch Abomination: As a result of absorbing Yuri, Yuya, who is now under Zarc's control, takes the form of a Draconic Humanoid Abomination with a pair of Supernatural Gold Eyes.
• 11th-Hour Superpower: His newly acquired Smile Universe plays a key role in giving Reira and Ray the opportunity to put down Zarc.
• Enemy Mine: Roget attempts to do this on him in Episode 81. It fails.
• Evil Sounds Deep: Yuya's Superpowered Evil Side has a noticeably lower pitch than his usual voice.
• Expy: Despite being the ARC-V equivalent of Yugi, his overall characterization leans closer to Pegasus, mainly due to his jovial, fun-loving showman exterior and propensity for using cartoony monsters that eventually facilitate the summoning of much darker Spellcaster and Dragon monsters.
• Famed In-Story: Yuya is very famous for defeating Strong Ishijima and debuting the Pendulum summon, in Standard, he grows even more famous as one of the Lancers.
• Fatal Flaw:
  • As Reiji and Jack pointed out, being naive, self-righteous and Willfully Weak are his biggest weaknesses. Yuya thinks he's right at what he's doing, only for the likes of Reiji, Jack, and the City to bite him in the ass, causing him to become frustrated and violently aggressive. He's also too soft in dueling, which results in him almost losing at the hands of 227 and paying the price for it.
  • His Always Save the Girl and Paladin tendencies have severe impacts on Yuya's way of thinking, which gets him into trouble and ends with Yuzu being taken away by Sergey to the Duel Palace.
• Fighting Clown: Especially in the first few episodes.
• Fighting from the Inside: In episode 140, Yuya spends the final moments of the Duel struggling against Zarc for control over his body. Thanks to Yuzu's words, he was able to succeed.
• Fighting Your Friend:
  • In Episode 25 he discovers that, in order to qualify in the Junior Youth and initiate his climb into professional dueling, he must defeat Gongenzaka.
  • A far more sober and darker version occurs when he duels a serious Sora in Episode 49 as he confronts his friend over his actions. It also ends with no resolution since the Battle Royal ended before the duel concluded and Sora escapes.
• Flung Clothing: Yuya does this in Episode 1 when he summons Odd-Eyes Dragon. How he took off a full body costume and keep his Duel Disk on is everyone's guess.
• Foil:
  • With Gongenzaka, they are both heirs to their schools with unusual decks. Yuya having a Pendulum deck and Gongenzaka having a deck without Spells or Traps. While Yuya hides his emotions, Gongenzaka is instead very expressive about them. This is best shown in their dueling styles. Yuya, during a duel, runs about looking for Action Cards, compared to Gongenzaka refuses to move.
  • With Reiji they are both the aces of their schools and are Pendulum users. While Reiji is well respected as the head of the top duel school at the start of the series, Yuya is looked down upon because of his father and is a member of a duel school made up of only 5 people. They both hide their emotions, Yuya using laughter and smiles compared to Reiji's cold manners and stoicism. Their relationships with their fathers are completely different as well. Yuya's father disappeared, but Yuya still thinks very highly of him, while Reiji doubts his father even cares enough about him that he would be a useful hostage after the Professor's abandonment of the family. This is furthered in their methods of dealing with the interdimensional war. Yuya still attempts to follow his ideals and compassion, while Reiji is ruthless, and willing to sacrifice his men if needed. Also, Reira also sees both of them as brother figures and both Reiji and Yuya care about him in different ways.
  • He's also one with Atem from the original series, ironically making him similar to Yugi. Whereas Yuya is kind and finds the idea of hurting people disgusting to the point of hesitating to win a duel where his freedom was on the line, Atem was almost a villain protagonist at the start of his series who would give incredibly cruel punishments to those that crossed Yugi and his friends and even after becoming nicer was willing to let Kaiba commit suicide to win a duel. Yuya is full of insecurities making him more defensive, while Atem is extremely confident to the point of being cocky and willing to take risks. Yuya is defined by how his past shaped him, while Atem is driven to find his missing memories and past. Atem started out as Yugis Superpowered Evil Side and slowly evolved into The Chosen One, while Yuya's Superpowered Evil Side makes him a harbinger of the Apocalypse.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: After he bumps into Gongenzaka in the first episode and takes off his goggles, you can see tears in his eyes, hinting at his Stepford Smiler personality.
• Friend to All Children: Yuya seems to care deeply about children, being close to the kids in You Show and becoming very protective of Reira the second he saw that Reira was scared.
• Full-Name Basis: He and Reiji refer to each other by their full names.
• Fun Personified: Yuya lives to entertain people and bring smiles to their faces.
• Funny Character, Boring Actor: In-Universe example: Outside the Action Fields, Yuya's much more serious and introverted, hiding deep emotional scars from Yusho's disappearance and the traumatic events he's faced since acquiring his Pendulum Cards behind a warm smile. Bonus points for being Truth in Television for a lot of real-life comedians, who turn to humour in order to overcome their misery.
• Fusion Dance: He fuses with Yuto, which is similar to the overlaying in Xyz.
• Gaining the Will to Kill: Becomes aggressive in dueling through his Superpowered Evil Side, only for self-defense though.
• Germans Love David Hasselhoff: In-universe. Yuya reaches this status to Ensemble Dark Horse levels in the Syncro Dimension in Episode 98. Even the Tops and Commons encourage him to give Jack the finishing blow.
• Goggles Do Nothing: Averted. He uses them to hide his feelings and also logically uses them when riding his monsters and in place of a visor for Riding Duels.
• Good Counterpart: Odd-Eyes Venom Dragon can be seen as this for Greedy Venom Fusion Dragon. Sora even calls it Yuya purifying Yuri's dragon.
• Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal: His deck's theme, bar Odd-Eyes and the Magicians.
• Happily Adopted: Zig-Zagged Trope. Yuya is perfectly happy with his family but he has no idea that he's adopted given his unusual existence and neither do them.
• Harmless Electrocution:
  • He's fallen victim to this a few times, in particular Episodes 16 and 20, and the Battle Royal penalty at one point.
  • Disturbingly averted in episode 87 where Roget tortures Yuya with an electrical chip in his helmet.
• Harmless Freezing: In Episode 20 he is frozen in a block of ice following his Humiliation Conga.
• Heir to the Dojo: In a fashion. His father set up the "You Show Duel School" which specializes in teaching Yusho's Entertainment Dueling style; Yuya is the ace of the school.
• The Hero: He is The Protagonist of the story and he has to save others on several occasions. But Yuya is an interesting twist on the trope as unlike his predecessors, he isn't the crutch character for the good guys till later on. In season 1 Yuya spent a good time Locked Out of the Loop in regards to the secret fight Yuto and Shun had against LDS and he didn't play an especially huge role in stopping the Academia in the Battle Royal arc. In season 2, he's crushed by Jack and can't touch the Arc Villain Roger as he fails to entertain the City countless times, even losing to Sergey which causes Yuzu and Serena to both be kidnapped. He starts to fulfill a more traditional heroic role in his rematch with Jack when he's able to finally succeed as an Entertainment duelist and unite the City. This continues in the Xyz arc, where he is able to stop the Academia army. But this is deeply subverted in the Fusion arc when it's revealed he's a reincarnation of Zarc and despite his attempts to fight it, Zarc is able to revive with Yuya needing his friends' help to break free. And even then he isn't the one that deals the finishing move on Zarc, that's Reira and Ray.
• Hero with Bad Publicity: It's a recurring thing with Yuya, compared to the previous protagonists. In every world he enters, he starts off on a bad foot. At home, he's thought of as a coward like Yusho just because they're related. The City disliked his pretentious attitude about their society and his refusal to fight. It got worse due to Roget's interference making the Common, 99% of the City, think he has special benefits from Roget and thus they hate him. Heartland has Kaito and Allen dislike for differing reasons. And in the final arc Maiami city distrusts him because he's Zarc. Through a lot of hard work, Yuya is able to fix his public image for all four dimensions and is beloved by the end of the show.
• Heroes Love Dogs: He loves his mom's pet dogs.
• Heroic BSoD:
  • He is more prone to these than all the other protagonists, and it's perfectly justified as his loving personality also masks three years of emotional pain caused by his father's disappearance and his attempts to cope with it. Has a big one after learning that Reiji can Pendulum Summon and needed Shuzo to duel him out of it.
  • Becomes depressed after his disturbing victory against Kachidoki in Episode 40. The audience's applause for Yuzu's duel and Yuto's words of wisdom help Yuya get over it an episode later. Takeda and Umesugi remind him of that incident two episodes later, but Dennis helps him to get out of it the following episode.
  • Poor beggar has another one after Yuzu's disappearance.
  • After his victory against Duel Chaser 227, Yuya took a few seconds to process the fact that he witnessed the blatant disregard for human life that everyone in the audience displayed during his duel.
  • Goes into this once again in his Duel against Yuri, where he discarded Smile World as a cost to activate Farewell. As he was going insane while warding off Zarc's control to the best of his ability and just saw his father get carded by Yuri just beforehand, discarding Smile World causes him to hallucinate Yusho walking away from him and leads him to just break down crying. It takes a rousing speech from Reiji to compel him to get back up and continue fighting Yuri.
  • He undergoes a nasty one in Episode 142 when he realizes that Yuzu is missing and then remembers his actions as Zarc. This ends as he collapses saying he's Zarc. In a way, Yuya has a good reason for this, since he has Zarc's original sweet kid personality but none of the latter's malice. Not helped by Zarc using Yuya's body for his resurrected form near the end of the interdimensional war.
• Heroic Self-Deprecation: After Yuya lost his first duel to Jack, he has wondered if he really can end the war peacefully and make everyone happy.
• Heroic Resolve:
  • After learning about Yuto's soul and the darkness inside of him. He remembers his father's words and decides to move forward, trusting himself and Yuto.
  • Later on when he dueled Reiji because he disregarded the people who got carded in the Battle Royal as necessary casualties and wanted him to repent for it and Reiji just kept pushing at his buttons until he declared that he will definitely bring Yuzu back and keep the promise he made to Yuto.
  • He later declares to win the Friendship Cup and beat Jack to make the City accept the Lancers and change the City.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: Him and Gongenzaka.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Sawatari uses Yuya's Combat Pragmatist tendencies against him in their duel, by having all the Action Cards being traps instead. Afterwards, Yuya does the rest of the duel without Action Cards.
• Honor Before Reason:
  • A strange example. When given the opportunity to end his turn and win the duel against Reiji, he makes sure that he gives himself some defense just in case, and he turns out to be right. He admits that he wouldn't have liked to win the duel like that.
  • He also doesn't want to get into the Junior Youth Championship without having all the requirements, even though his defeat of Ishijima had made the Maiami City Committee more than happy to let him in. Nico Smiley was smart enough to give him tough opponents that make Yuya stronger, who gets Rune-Eyes and Beast-Eyes as a result.
• Hope Bringer: He's this to Yuzu. Whenever Yuzu is forced into a hopeless situation, she will mentally ask for Yuya's help.
• Horrible Judge of Character: Zig-zagged. Even though Yuya decides to help Sora because he is his friend, Yuya soon questions Sora's behaviour about Xyz users being his prey. Later, despite hating what Sora has done, he challenges him to a duel to try to "bring back Sora's smile," who remains remorseless throughout the duel. However, episode 80 reveals that his words did have an impact on Sora, but took a while for them to sink in.
• Humiliation Conga: Episode 20. He fails to answer any quiz questions correctly, getting him zapped, slapped around, dragged through the mud and frozen.
• I Am a Monster: After fully regaining his memories in Episode 142, he collapses saying he's Zarc. Considering the fact that Yuya is also Zarc but in a different body and lacks the aforementioned Satanic Archetype's Omnicidal Maniac attitude, his words DOES make sense (partially, at least).
• I Am Your Opponent: He says this to Yuto in Episode 35, while joining Sora's side.
• I Just Want to Be Normal: When given the opportunity to get a free pass into the Youth Dueling Circuit, he instead gets Nico Smiley to arrange the four Duels that Yuya needs to qualify.
• I Just Want to Be Special: Being the one who discovers Pendulum Summoning is a bigger deal to Yuya than other people think. When Sawatari used his Pendulum Monsters against him, he was shocked but managed to put himself together by getting the cards back and winning. But when Reiji created his own Pendulum Monsters, Yuya went into a Heroic BSoD because he realized that now, Pendulum Summon wasn't his anymore.
• I Let You Win: Invoked. Yuya uses Smile Universe to bring back Supreme King Dragon Zarc and Supreme King Servant Dragon - Odd-Eyes so that Reira and Ray can deal the finishing blow
• I Will Find You: After the Battle Royal, Yuya's main goal is to find and save Yuzu.
• Idiot Ball: Yuya tends to do this a lot when he isn't thinking straight. If he doesn't Pendulum Summon, he'll leave a monster on the field with little protection whatsoever. Notably averted in his Duel against Reiji, where he does this, but makes sure to leave sufficient protection.
• Idiot Hair: He has a green strand, to go hand to hand with his Idiot Hero status.
• Idiot Hero:
  • Even accounting for unfamiliarity, there's no way it should have taken someone with average deductive abilities as long to replicate Pendulum Summoning as it took Yuya, especially not if they reviewed recordings of Yuya's duel as he himself did. Nonetheless, Yuya somehow takes nearly three hundred Duels to successfully perform another Pendulum Summon.^note  Some fans have suggested the 300 battles were also used to discover the ins and outs of how Pendulum Summoning works for all Yuya's Pendulum Monsters, though this practice did not reveal that they go to the Extra Deck when destroyed. However, again, this is fanon/fridge possible brilliance.
  • He fails to correctly answer several Science and Math Questions on the Quiz Field.
  • However, he does Fusion Summon correctly on his first try, something Yuzu did not do (mostly because she was confused about Yuto's resemblance to Yuya).
  • Yuya generally averts this trope when he is related to the plot. He knows that Kurosaki isn't a normal guy and that the duel between him and Sora was more than a feud between two Duel Schools. Yuya also questions Sora's strange behavior and he looks for people who can give him more exposition, i.e. Yuto and Kurosaki. And when confronted with the knowledge of his Superpowered Evil Side and that he has Yuto and a darkness inside of him. He correctly deduces that it wasn't Yuto that caused his Awakening, but the darkness.
  • Really, Yuya's being Book Dumb and occasional holding of the Idiot Ball (which in most cases there's a pretty decent reason for) aside, Yuya comes off a lot more as "Hero of average intelligence" than "Idiot Hero".
  • Averted again later on in the Academia arc, where Yuya and Yuto are doing deductions of the Professor's Evil Plan and how he, Yuzu and their counterparts are connected to the plan. He is basically the Audience Surrogate in those moments, where his theories are very close to the viewers.
• If You Kill Him, You Will Be Just Like Him!: Yuya tells this to Kaito.
• "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: His duels with Sora and Edo (who fails) and Kaito and Kurosaki, who are also attempting this After he is taken over by Zarc.
• Image Song: "Brave Believers".
• Impossibly Cool Clothes: Yuya's Coat Cape completely defies gravity.
• Incoming Ham: "LADIIIIIIIIIIIIES AAAAAAAAND GENTLEMEEEEEEN!!"
• Instant Expert: While can be explained by Yuya having Yuto's "soul" inside his body, he seemingly has no problem using Yuto's deck during duel against the infected Ruri and Serena.
• It's All My Fault: He blames himself for being unable to protect Yuzu in the Battle Royal.
• Kind Hearted Cat Lover: He loves his mom's pet cats.
• King of Games: Interesting to note he's the third protagonist to hold this title and like Atem/Yugi and Yusei, he wasn't interested in winning it.
  • Dethrones Jack and takes over his position as "King", not only in Riding Duels, but also in Entertainment Dueling.
  • At the end of the series, he also surpasses Reiji by defeating the latter.
• Large Ham: He tends to treat Duels like a show, so he is very hammy and dramatic, although not all the time. He's much more normal outside of a duel though.
• Laser-Guided Karma: His teasing of Futoshi in the first ending earns him a quick smack from Yuzu's fan.
• The Leader: Is shaping up to be this as of Episode 93, telling Reira to stay with Tokumatsu and Sawatari, even trusting the latter before heading towards the Duel Palace with Gongenzaka. Of course this occurs if Reiji's not around, but as Tokumatsu puts it:
  Tokumatsu: "The one who has to protect the precious brother of your Lancers' leader, has to be the one who is most likely to become the next leader. Isn’t that right?"
  • Become this again in Episode 100 when Gongenzaka and Sawatari are arguing each other over consuming the emergency rations or returning it to a Heartland woman and her two children.
• Leitmotif: A passionate, optimistic one, reflective of his philosophy. There's also "Swing! Pendulum of Souls", which plays during many of his climactic moments, such as his first Pendulum Summon.
• Le Parkour: Yuya uses it the most, always jumping around for Action Cards. Taken to new heights with his Superpowered Evil Side, being able to jump over a large pool of lava.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: When he drops his Pre-Asskicking One-Liner, "The fun is just getting started!" before executing his combo.
• Light 'em Up: Magician of Astromancy's and Rune-Eyes Pendulum Dragon's manners of attacking. Also Odd-Eyes Saber Dragon. Nirvana High Paladin while being a DARK Monster has a lot of light imagery going on.
• Light Is Not Good: While Yuya is a good guy, he uses Odd-Eyes Saber while partially under the influence of his Superpowered Evil Side, and destroys DC 227. The key word is "partially", as Yuya has already gone back to normal when he summons it.
• Living Emotional Crutch:
  • Well more like Dueling Emotional Crutch, but Odd-Eyes functions as this for Yuya. If Odd-Eyes is destroyed, Yuya is crushed. After his character development, this is no longer the case.
  • In a more personal level, Yuzu seems to have been this for him; as he said that after his father disappeared and he was bullied because of it, Yuzu was the only one who stuck by his side and always helped him, and furthermore thanks to her wish to be stronger, he was able to see what laid beyond the Pendulum Summon, after she goes missing he's absolutely pissed at Reiji when Reiji disregarded his strong feelings with Yuzu as a weakness.
  • During his Duel against Yuri, his copy of Smile World becomes this for him; because he's not only shaken from seeing Yusho get carded in front of him but also trying his damndest to keep his sanity because of Zarc's attempted takeover, he keeps Smile World in his hand as one of the tools to calm him down. When he is forced to discard Smile World as a cost to prevent his LP from hitting 0, he sees a hallucination of his father walking away from him as if disappointed, causing him to break down and beg for Yusho's forgiveness. The only thing that keeps him going on are Reiji's words "to win". However, with Smile World being gone and the feeling of victory going through his body triggers Zarc to completely consume Yuya's personality.
• Loophole Abuse: Downplayed. During his duel with Tokumatsu, he's able to create an anti-damage loop using his Raingoat and Seesawhopper, essentially shutting down Tokumatsu's strategy and ensuring that he can draw cards safely. While not illegal in most cases, stable loops are something Konami tries to eliminate in the real game, and even better is that this one is available in the real game.
• Loser Son of Loser Dad: His father got a reputation as a Dirty Coward for his no-show and disappearance. Many people mock Yuya and declare that he must be a coward as well. Allen thinks the same when he learns that Yuya is Yusho's son despite being nice to him earlier.
• Loved Ones Montage: In his duel with Yuri, Yuya has one when he summons Odd-Eyes and Dark Rebellion, assembling all Four Heavenly Dragons. As he views his family and friends, he is able to remain in control.
• Made of Iron:
  • Yuya has been thrown around like a rag doll on multiple occasions.
  • In episode 64 and 65, after Jack defeats him and he is sent flying and lands on his neck. He is simply knocked unconscious and doesn't suffer any injuries when he wakes up.
  • Three days later, Yuya gets electrocuted in his brain, is later sent flying to the ceiling and is demolished by Sergey. He is still fine after that.
• The Magic Poker Equation: Goes all over the place with this. May be justified by how his pendulum seems able to create new cards and transform others into new forms, a recurring power in the franchise.
  • He always seems to have his two main Pendulum Monsters, Magician of Astromancy and Magician of Chronomancy, and his ace monster Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon in his opening hand or after his first few draws. However, in later episodes his two Magicians appear less (though still frequently) since he has many other Pendulum Monsters to use now. Odd-Eyes, however, remains omnipresent despite him only having one copy of it; you can count on one-hand the number of duels where he doesn't use it.
  • Played straight in his second duel with Sawatari. Not only does he draw his three main cards in the early part of the duel, after a bunch of cards are shuffled to the deck, he draws three of the shuffled cards again: Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon, Magician of Chronomancy, and Entermate Drumming Kong.
  • Played straight in his rematch with Sora. He opens with his original two Magicians and Odd-Eyes, and despite Sora wiping his field, manages to pull off Dark Rebellion in the next turn, reset his Scales with his new Magicians to revive Odd-Eyes, and overlay for Odd-Eyes Rebellion Dragon on his second turn, which may have allowed him to win had the Battle Royal not ended.
  • Played straight and subverted in episode 90. Yuya's opening hand technically would allow him to summon Odd-Eyes Rebellion Dragon in his first turn, but the only thing that prevents him from doing so is Barrett's Beast-borg Medal of the Crimson Chain. And when he finally summons it, he loses to Sergey immediately.
• Magnetic Plot Device:
  • The Pendulum Cards at the very beginning of the series. The only known real ones are all in Yuya's Deck, with the chance that they're (initially) the only ones in existence, and they allow a powerful way of summoning monsters. No wonder why everybody wanted them.
  • His pendulum seems to be able to create new cards on the spot. Creating the Pendulum Cards and Odd-Eyes' evolutions.
• Meaningful Name:
  • His family name means "evergreen", which is fitting, since evergreen trees have relevance in Shinto ceremonies and his role in the story is similar to Amaterasu: When the restless and rampant Susanoo destroys her rice fields, hurls a flayed pony at her loom, and kills one of her attendants in a fit of rage, Amaterasu, who was in fury and grief, hid inside the Ama-no-Iwato, thus effectively hiding the sun for a long period of time. Though she was persuaded to leave said cave by the other gods, who decorated it with evergreen trees covered with jewelry, mirrors, and cloths, which ultimately restores the light to the world, Susanoo ends up being banished from Heaven for his actions. Both later made a truce when Susanoo gave her the Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi sword as a reconciliation gift.
  • Although his first name could be translated as "game arrow", it is also a Double Meaning. Specifically, he is named after a famous Egyptian courtier from the eighteenth dynasty who served as a key adviser for Amenhotep III, and held posts such as "King’s Lieutenant" and "Master of the Horse". In his native town of Akhmin, he was a prophet of Min, the God of fertility, and served as this deity's "Superintendent of Cattle". That Yuya's wife is Tjuyu, an Egyptian noblewoman associated with the royal family, who held high offices in the governmental and religious hierarchies. Yuya and Yuzu's reputation as Entertainment Duelists mirrors that of his Egyptian counterpart and Tjuyu.
• Mistaken Nationality: Because Edo Phoenix met Yusho in Heartland and Yuya uses Dark Rebellion, Edo assumes that Yuya is from the Xyz Dimension. Pulling out a Fusion Monster, Brave-Eyes Pendulum Dragon shocks him.
• Monster Clown: Yuya's Superpowered Evil Side turns him into this. It also helps that he's using a circus-themed deck.
• Mook Horror Show: His Superpowered Evil Side does this to the Obelisk Force.
• Morality Pet: His and Yuzu's friendship with Sora caused Sora to make a Heel–Face Turn.
• More than Mind Control: Since Roget ran out of time to brainwash him, he settled with a device that increased his aggression so he would stay and fight Crow. It unintentionally activates his Superpowered Evil Side.
• My God, What Have I Done?:
  • After he recovers from his Superpowered Evil Side in Episode 39.
  • After beating DC 227 in episode 71.
• My Greatest Failure:
  • Yuto Taking the Bullet for him.
  • Brutally defeating Kachidoki. In Episode 42, he got triggered pretty badly for Takeda and Umesugi making the same mocking gesture as Kachidoki.
  • After learning that Yuzu went missing he regrets not being there to help her, and later Reiji proving him that he still needed to be stronger to rescue her, he practically screams her name in frustration.
• Next Tier Power-Up: A Yu-Gi-Oh! protagonist staple. Yuya's favorite monster (Odd-Eyes) gets several upgrades throughout the story. First, from Odd-Eyes Dragon to Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon. Then, Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon gets two Fusion versions: Rune-Eyes Pendulum Dragon and Beast-Eyes Pendulum Dragon. Then Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon gets two Xyz version: Supreme King Black Dragon, Odd-Eyes Rebellion Dragon and Odd-Eyes Raging Dragon. Then his Synchro monster Enlightenment Paladin gets an upgrade Nirvana High Paladin
• Nice Guy: He's shown to be fun-loving and relatively easygoing. The fact he wants to Commons to be happy even when all they're done is mock and hate him makes him a saint.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: His interference in Yuto and Yugo's Duel caused Yuto to lose.
• Nightmare Fuel Station Attendant: His Superpowered Evil Side. Going from creepily stoic to pissed off and just disturbing.
• No Guy Wants to Be Chased: He was freaked out by Mieru's sudden interest. To be fair to the guy, everyone would be creeped out when a 12-year-old girl you met today asks how many children you want.
• No-Sell:
  • While fighting Obelisk Force members, they activate their monster abilities which afflicts effect damage to their opponent. It's been established that characters from different dimensions can somehow make the damage real; in this case the effect damage was in the form of a flamethrower. While grinning at first, the members become shocked when Yuya is hit full-on with the fire and gets up with the air of being shoved slightly and looking annoyed. This starts freaking them out and when they do it again, Yuya treats it with complete indifference, even brushing his shoulder off!! At this point, the members are sweating buckets, not helped when Yuya smiles at them eerily.
  • His darkness also protects him from the Doktor's parasites, one of which burns up when it tries to get inside his head.
• Nonuniform Uniform: Yuya uses the school's jacket as a Coat Cape and different kind of pants than the rest of the males in the school.
• Obviously Evil: His Superpowered Evil Side. In Episodes 45 and 46, he gets a constant dark aura around him.
• Oblivious to Love: Fortunately, not to the extent of previous protagonists.^note Judai/Jaden, Mr. "I-don't-know-what-fiancé-means", we're looking at you. Though in his defense, tsunderes can be confusing to deal with, with the mixed signals he gets.
• Off Screen Moment Of Awesome:
  • Yuya duels four people at once in Episode 30. It's only shown that he's using his Hippo cards, but it is not shown how he defeated them.
  • At the beginning of episode 90, we only see how Yuya defeats three Obelisk Force soldiers with Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon, Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon, and Enlightenment Paladin.
• One-Hit Kill:
  • Like other protagonists, Yuya often uses combos that allow him to wipe out the Life Points of the opponent in one turn, which is given a big helping hand by his Pendulum Dragon monsters and his Magicians' Pendulum effects.
  • After receiving Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon, Yuya is able to perform the same OTKs like Yuto. With the help of Dennis, Yuya even manages to do a "One Turn Two Kill".
  • With his Superpowered Evil Side, Yuya was able to do a "One Turn Three Kill" using Odd-Eyes Rebellion Dragon.
• Only Sane Man: He acts like this for his group in the Synchro Dimension. He's the only one that doesn't run into the City, realizing that it would only be dangerous and further split up the group. He's proved right when due to Serena and Sawatari's wandering around, Security was able to capture them.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
  • When Yuya drops his cheerful persona, it usually means something is wrong with him.
  • In Episode 9, Yuya is noticeably angry in his Duel. This makes the main cast question why.
  • In Episode 35, Yuya becomes angry at Yuto, and even Yuto is a bit stunned by that.
  • In Episode 39, he brutally defeats Isao Kachidoki by using Yuto's Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon.
  • In Episode 50, after hearing of Reiji's actions. He is noticeably angry and aggressive, focused on defeating Reiji. He is even crying without his goggles on, showing he's finally had enough. He even attempts to sucker punch the guy.
  • Yuya is pushed too far in episode 71 and willingly duels aggressively, even ramming 227 off his bike.
• Out-of-Character Moment: During his One-Turn Kill against Mieru, Yuya acts charming. It is either this, is part of his entertainer persona, or just Mieru's imagination.
• Painful Transformation: Every time he awakens, he is shown to be in intense pain.
• The Paladin: What Reiji thinks of him in regards to Yuzu and her counterparts. His Synchro Monsters are effectively this as well.
• Perpetual Smiler: Even though when time gets tough, he always respond with a smile.
• Person of Mass Destruction: Whenever he awakens, he's this. Odd-Eyes Rebellion Dragon caused rolling blackouts when it was summoned in his duel against Crow and Odd-Eyes Raging Dragon destroyed the Doktor's lab. See Apocalypse Maiden.
• Pinball Protagonist: Yuya kickstarted the plot off with his Pendulum Cards, but in the first arc, most of the plot literally disappeared when he showed up. However, in Episode 33, he catches up with the part of the plot he has been missing.
  • He completely averts this from Episode 35 on, where he learns everything Yuzu knows and even personally duels Yuto. He also demands to know what's going on so that he isn't left behind, and succeeds quite nicely in that regard.
• Playing with Fire: Despite being DARK and EARTH monsters, respectively, Odd-Eyes, Odd-Eyes Pendulum Brave-Eyes, Odd-Eyes Raging and Beast-Eyes utilize flame-based attacks. Entermate Fire Mufflion is a straighter example.
• Plucky Comic Relief: Not Yuya himself, but his Hippo cards usually lower the tension by being adorably hilarious.
• Portmanteau: Several of the Entermates, such as Partnaga, Spikeagle, Lizardraw, Plusturtle, and Friendonkey.
• Pre-Mortem One-Liner: Yuya has an amazing one against Yuri in their duel. In the last turn Yuri taunts Yuya that none of his dragon have the attack strong enough to defeat him in one attack, thus he can turn it around because of his ace Starve Venom's effect. Yuya gives a chilling threat, "that's only if you still have life points remaining" before revealing his plan to use Odd-Eyes' effect to double the damage to exactly deplete Yuri's life points.
• The Protagonist: Yuya is the protagonist of the story and the series mainly focuses on him. Due to the protagonist-deuteragonist-tritagonist-dynamic between him, Yuzu and Reiji, Yuya doesn't follow the same plot as them, thus he was initially Locked Out of the Loop in the first 34 episodes. When he does get involve, Yuya has to fight his own duels, that aren't directly connected to the fight against the main villain, but are still important for Yuya's development and how he makes friends and allies with others through his dueling. The first Arc Villain Yuya has to confront directly is Edo Phoenix in the Heartland arc which only lasts for 12 episodes. But Yuya is no threat to Roget and he has almost nothing to do with the Professor, both of these villains being challenged by Reiji.
• Protagonist Power-Up Privileges: Subverted. While Yuya was the only one with Pendulum Cards, it's a plot point that others are making more and he won't be the only user, as proven in Episode 13 and later in the Maiami Championship arc. Played straight regarding the fact that he is the only duelist so far who can create new cards out of nowhere, on-screen.
• Pyrrhic Victory: Yuya gets a lot of those.
  • His victory over Reiji in episode 14 is not an actual victory, as Reiji forfeits the match before finishing Yuya off.
  • Yuya defeats Kachidoki brutally, making the latter mad at him, with Yuya failing to prove him his principle of dueling bringing smiles.
  • Almost the whole Friendship Cup is this for him. His first three duels are anything but satisfying to him. He sends Duel Chaser 227 to slavery, despite Yuya doesn't approve that even before the start of the duel. Then he does the same to Shinji, who now hates him and mistakes him for being the Tops' pet, and the Commons also start to hate him. And then, Yuya's inner darkness is awakened for about 90% of his duel with Crow and he doesn't even know how he has defeated him. While Crow doesn't mind to be sent to slavery, he warns Yuya that the Obelisk Force have arrived in the City, giving Yuya even less reasons to celebrate his victory. Yuya's victory over Jack is the only one which he is truly satisfied with.
  • Despite defeating Serena and Ruri in a duel, Yuya doesn't get a chance to question them about Yuzu whereabouts and they run away. He quickly follows them, only to be trapped in the Doktor's laboratory, where he does meet a brainwashed Yuzu who largely ignores him and then all of them leave Yuya alone in that room.
  • The worst is his victory over Yuri. Yuya is forced to focus so much on the duel that Zarc is able to take over, defeating the purpose of winning.
• Rage Breaking Point:
  • In In Episodes 50 and 51, Yuya, having suffered through the MCS, finds out that Reiji intentionally set up the Battle Royal as test to see how potential Lancers would fare against Academia. Reiji not only remains apathetic to the fallen duelists, but actively taunts Yuya. Yuya is livid.
  • Happened again in episode 71 where due to a large range of factors, Yuya completely loses his cool and starts dueling aggressively against DC 227, even having Odd-Eyes ram DC227 off his bike.
  • Happened in episode 125 when Yuya not only learns that Yuzu is infected but he sees the Doktor put his slimy hands around her, he goes completely berserk.
  • Happened in episode 133 where Yuri not only cards Yusho, but he even shows Yuya, Yusho's card. Yuya destroys the Binding Swords of Impact holograms that kept him unable to move.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Yuya doesn't buy Roget's Blatant Lies about Reiji and calls the French bastard a Dirty Coward and a Bad Boss.
• Rebuilt Pedestal: To the City near the end his second Duel against Jack.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Averted, Yuya is a nice guy. Except when it's Superpowered Evil Side, then just run.
• Red Is Heroic: He is the main character, he has red hair, red eyes, a red shirt, a red Duel Disk and his ace is a red dragon.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: His Entermates/Performapals. Discover Hippo/Hip Hippo stands out though.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Yuya wants Yuri's head after Yuri cards Yusho.
• Rollerblade Good: Acquires Allen's pair of roller blades at the end Episode 112. He uses them to acquire Action Cards easier and faster.
• Rule of Three: During the final duel, Yuya uses all three hybrid versions of the Four Heavenly Dragons, barring Odd-Eyes Raging Dragon: Odd-Eyes Venom Dragon, Odd-Eyes Wing Dragon and Odd-Eyes Rebellion Dragon.
• Sad Clown: Confirmed to be this by his mom in Episode 1. She states he makes fun of himself before others can. This might be lampshaded when Yuya enters his match against Strong Ishijima dressed as a clown.
• Sadist: Not Yuya, but his Superpowered Evil Side is such a psychopath, he even made the Obelisk Force crap their pants.
• Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: Inverted in his dynamic with Yuzu, with him as the energetic guy and her as the savvy girl. Although the energetic part is downplayed outside of duels.
• Say My Name: Tends to scream his friends names whenever they're placed in mortal danger. Special shout-out goes to Sora and Yuzu.
• Scenery Porn: Starting with the Heartland arc, Yuya's been using cards that can turn the battlefield into beautiful displays.
• Screw Destiny: Mieru says it's his fate to lose to her. He tells her he'll simply have to change it. He does in fact do so. Later Played for Laughs when he says he'll change the destiny of being Mieru's "fated person."
• She Is Not My Girlfriend: With Yuzu. She agrees at first, but he takes it too far. He also says this in Episode 18 when Sora suggests someone else might take Yuzu away from him.
• Sharing a Body: Yuya, with the power of his pendant, somehow absorbed Yuto into his own body and now his Xyz counterpart travels with him wherever he goes, influencing him at times and allowing Yuya access to Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon. Yuya also has access to his Superpowered Evil Side, where both he and Yuto lose themselves to their rage but allows them to duel more violently and efficiently.
  • By the end of the series, all of Yuya's counterparts inhabit his body.
• Shell-Shocked Veteran: Shows some signs of this after the events of Episodes 35 through 37.
• Shrinking Violet: Based on the flashback in Episode 25, he was this as a kid after his dad disappeared.
• Shout-Out:
  • Thanks to his Superpowered Evil Side, Yuya is what The Joker and Needles Kane would have been if they were on the heroes' side. Being enemies with billionaire-type characters (Batman and Calypso) like Reiji also counts.
  • Him riding a red D-Wheel with a red helmet is a shout-out to Yusei and his Yusei-Go. Another one are the ATK, DEF and Level of Yuya's Enlightment Paladin and Nirvana High Paladin which are the same as Yusei's Stardust Dragon and Shooting Star Dragon, respectively.
• Shut Up, Hannibal!: Yuya takes a page from Yusei's book by telling Shinji that any card is useful at all costs. Jack is proud as a result.
• Slasher Smile: In Episode 45, he gives out chilling smiles to he Obelisk Force members, implying that they're screwed. They are.
• Sociopathic Hero: While under the influence of his Superpowered Evil Side.
• Spirited Competitor: As a result of his character development, Yuya has become this. Even smiling in excitement in his duel against Sawatari when Sawatari sealed his Pendulum summoning.
• Stepford Smiler: He's the "sad inside" type. According to Yuya's mother, he created his Fun Personified persona to cope with his father's disappearance and the negative stigma it brought him. It's the result of his father's advice to "laugh when you feel like crying". Episode 14 confirms that he has a pessimistic streak. He eventually drops this altogether, no longer hiding his tears in the face of the hell he's going through.
• "Stop Having Fun" Guys: Invoked as an inversion. He argues that the point of Dueling is so people can have fun. Unfortunately for him, this ideology continuously blows up in his face throughout the show, as the enemies he faces either don't care about fun at all or derive pleasure from horrible acts.
• Team Mom: Male example for the Lancers, as he is concerned if everyone is safe and all right.
  • Creates Ho Yay due to Gongenzaka being the Team Dad.
• Tears of Joy:
  • He is so moved by Yuzu's duel in episode 69, he starts crying.
  • Again in episode 99 when he and Yuzu are briefly reunited.
• Technical Pacifist: Yuya loathes using dueling for combat and tries his best to solve conflict without violence. But if push comes to shove, he will fight back.
• Theme Naming: Like other protagonists, Yuya's name has the Yu syllable in it.
• Third Time's The Charm: At the end of the series, he finally defeats Reiji at the end of their third duel, if one does not count Reiji's duel (and subsequent defeat) against Zarc.
  • If one does count Reiji's defeat against Zarc, this trope is still in effect, as Yuya later admitted that he is the same person as Zarc.
• This Is Something He's Got to Do Himself: After getting called out by Jack (via a message from Sam) and recalling Yuzu's advice about Entertainment Dueling in Episode 95, Yuya concludes that he must save the City by going back to the Duel Palace and facing Jack for the second time. The rest of the Lancers (Kurosaki in particular) give him a helping hand.
• This Is Unforgivable!:
  • To him, Dueling is all about having fun and entertaining the audience. He'll never forgive anyone who would tarnish it by using it as a weapon for conflict and hurting people. In the Episode 45, he yells this in through his Superpowered Evil Side, which was triggered by Obelisk Force carding the Knight of Duels.
  • How he reacts to Yuri carding Yusho.
    Yuya: Unforgivable... You turned my dad into a card... RELEASE HIM!
• Throw the Dog a Bone: Being treated like an Ensemble Dark Horse by the Tops and Commons for beating Jack in their second Duel eases some of Yuya's depression.
• Time Master: Enlightenment Paladin's card effect of returning a Spell Card from the graveyard is represented by the players moving backwards in a blue environment.
• Took a Level in Badass: In general Yuya slowly improves and grows as a duelist as the show goes on from a mediocre duelist with a powerful summoning mechanic to the best human duelist at the end of the show.
  • The first big step Yuya took to growing was learning the other three extra deck summoning mechanics from Fusion, Xyz and Synchro. As well as creating the extra deck pendulum monsters Odd-Eyes Rebellion Dragon, Nirvana High Paladin and Odd-Eyes Raging Dragon.
  • And beyond that, starting with his duel with Gongenzaka, he starts to Pendulum Summon without both his Magicians and demonstrates more complex strategies. (Such as attacking an opponent with Odd-Eyes, then using Trump Witch's effect to summon Beast-Eyes and attack the enemy again). And after his second duel with Jack, he starts to create multi-layered strategies that give him multiple ways to win if his opponent can counter his initial plan. His biggest achievement is his final duel with Reiji. With quick thinking and impressive forethought, he had planned three alternative paths to victory that left even Reiji shocked that he had more up his sleeves.
  • During his final duel with Jack, Yuya manages to use all four Special Summoning methods barring Ritual Summoning in one turn. This includes summoning all Four Heavenly Dragons. It goes further during his final duel with Reiji where he summons the three hybrid versions of them, which also happens in one turn. Twice.
• Token Super: Yuya serves as this among his friends, as he and his dimensional counterparts have the ability to "Awaken", where they become more malicious and powerful. It's revealed this is actually Zarc's will attempting to take over his reincarnations.
• Training from Hell: Well, the card game version, but between Episode 2 and 3, Yuya and Gongenzaka dueled through the night and had at least 291 duels.
• Tranquil Fury:
  • When Yuya's Superpowered Evil Side first appears, he has a disturbingly calm demeanor in contrast with his frightening appearance.
  • Yuya in his duel against Sora in Episode 49 is noticeably calm, but still has plenty of anger against him.
• Trauma Button: Kachidoki's taunt, as mentioned above, but more seriously, witnessing duelists carding others prompts flashbacks of Yuto's memories of the Invasion of Heartland, as well as unleashing Yuya's Superpowered Evil Side. Intense pain has also become his trigger.
• Trauma Conga Line: See Break the Cutie above.
• True Companions: Yuya sees all of You Show and the Lancers as this.
• Twin Telepathy: Although they aren't technically twins, Yuya mysteriously synced with Yugo after grabbing his deck as the latter was dueling, contributing to Yugo's victory.
• Unskilled, but Strong: In the beginning, he was a mediocre duelist, but he could reliably Zerg Rush most any opponent to death with his Pendulum Summoning (which only he could do at the time). He eventually grows out of this, and becomes one of the best duelists in the multiverse.
• Unspoken Plan Guarantee:
  • Shows up in Episode 13. Yuya outlines his combo to defeat Reiji in detail to the audience, only to have it fail after the first step because of an effect of Reiji's monsters he didn't know about.
  • Happens again in Episode 23, when he has Trap Card that can negate a direct attack and allows him to add a card to his hand, which is then rendered unusable by Mieru's tactics.
• Unstoppable Rage: While Yuya's Superpowered Evil Side was rather stoic before, in Episode 45, he is brutally pissed off.
  • Again in episode 87 and 88.
  • And he completely loses his shit after watching his father get carded by Yuri. So much, that even the Binding Swords of Impact break under all of Yuya's rage.
• Villain Respect: Yuya gains Roget's for his growing skill and Barrett compliments his resolve to not sell out Yuzu and Serena despite being forced into a situation where he can't do anything.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: He develops this with Sora eventually, getting him in a friendly headlock after explaining that no, they cannot celebrate Sora getting into the MCS, because Yuya still has to. Sora throws it all away after his cover is blown, revealing his affiliation with Academia.
• Warrior Therapist: Yuya's Entertainment Dueling eventually catches his opponent in his performance and he changes them in a positive way. Characters like Michio and Sawatari eventually end up on better terms with him. Since Yuya's goal is to make people smile with his Entertainment Dueling, it backfires when his Superpowered Evil Side enters the scene and ditches the Entertainment style for a dark OTK, following with Kachidoki becoming really pissed at Yuya after losing to him.
  • It is a bit of a Double Subversion with Sora, because it does start to have an effect, it just takes a while.
  • He returns to this when dueling Tokumatsu.
  • Seemingly Yuya's ability as a Warrior Therapist depends on the personality and goals of his opponent, as enemies whom he cannot relate to or who cannot relate to him are unshaken in their views even after he beats them (such as Security). Yuya doesn't seem to be a Warrior Therapist so much as he occasionally acts as a catalyst to kick off his opponent's Character Development.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: He wants to prove he's being worthy of being Yusho Sakaki's son, both to himself, common public and to his father (wherever he is), by being a great Entertainer duelist like him. A flashback shows that while Yusho was flattered by his son's devotion, he encourage him to be himself instead of trying to emulate him. Yoko even comments that Yuya now is determined in surpassing his father.
• Wham Line:
  • Episode 39 has Yuya's "Formed from pitch-black darkness, to fight those foolish enough to oppose its treacherous fangs! Descend now! Xyz Summon! Rank 4! Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon!"
  • "I overlay the two Level 7 Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon and Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon!"
  • "I won. I only thought of winning. As you wished (cue Slasher Smile)".
  • "I set the Pendulum Scale! I'm taking control of this duel, starting right now!" BECAUSE IT'S ZARC'S CATCHPHRASE
• What the Hell, Hero?:
  • He calls out Sora for his allegiance with Academia in Episode 49.
  • He gives Reiji an earful for his actions the last few episodes in Episode 50. Calling him out on forcing them to battle the Obelisk Force when he knew that they were coming and manipulating them. Reiji, being Reiji, shrugs it off.
  • On the receiving end from Tatsuya, Ayu, and Futoshi for failing to protect Yuzu in Episode 52.
  • Gets called out by Jack in Episode 64 for his self-satisfying Entertainment Dueling and being Willfully Weak.
  • He gives Reiji another earful in Episode 67 over his treatment of Reira, claiming that he sees Reira as a tool, when Reira has spent all his time trying to find him. And screaming what was the point of bringing him to a war when Reira obviously didn't decide that himself. While Reiji coldly agrees with Yuya over Reira being a Child Soldier, he genuinely thinks fighting experience and self-willingness are required for Reira to survive and live in a happier life.
  • He calls out Sora again in Episode 80 over his Prisoner Exchange deal in regards to Yuzu and Serena while still working for Academia. Admittedly, Sora doesn't have any other choice and is visibly shocked in response.
  • Jack chews him out again (through Sam) in Episode 95 for his barbaric Dueling against Crow during the first semi-final match, telling him that if this is the kind of Dueling he's aiming for, then he's not worthy to face Jack. In Yuya's defense though, he has absolutely no idea what he was doing while Dueling Crow, thanks to Roget forcing him to awaken his inner darkness. Fortunately, Jack is willing to give Yuya one more chance through Dueling so the latter can prove himself that he's more than just a psychopath.
  • Gets another one from Jack in Episode 96 for imitating Yusho in their second Duel and not making his own Entertainment Dueling. Needless to say, Yuya has a back-up plan: summon Nirvana High Paladin, a Pendulum Synchro Monster.
  • He calls out the enraged Yuto and Kurosaki in Episode 108 when they were using brutal tactics against the Tyler Sisters. Justified, since his and Yuto's rage have something to do with their Superpowered Evil Side and he doesn't want to go rampant again like last time.
  • Gets called out for the fourth time by Jack in Episode 145 for acting like an arrogant coward and being Willfully Weak again over fearing the outcome if he summons the Four Heavenly Dragons at the same time.
  • In Episode 146, Yuya's refusal to listen the voices of the Four Heavenly Dragons and summon them has earned an earful from his other counterparts. Yes, even Yuri, The Dreaded Agent Peacock Antichrist who kidnapped Rin and Ruri, worked with Academia for no reason other than being a Blood Knight, and carded Yusho, noncholantly calls him out for it.
• Whole Costume Reference:
  • With the plot important necklace, a collar, and a jacket he wears like a cape, Yuya is dressed almost exactly like Yugi was from Battle City onward. Only with his outfit being bright and cheerful as opposed to Yugi's dark and edgy. They also both have starfish looking hair (though Yuya has a slightly more natural looking "starfish lying down" as opposed to Yugi's "starfish standing straight up").
  • Yuya's Riding outfit resembles Yusei's outfit. With both having the back of their outfit defy gravity, having orange spheres on their outfits. The difference is that Yuya's outfit is red and white compared to Yusei's dark blue and black. Making Yuya's look much brighter.
• Willfully Weak: Despite being the only person able to use a never-before-seen method of summoning capable of opening his dueling to several abusive combos, high Level monster spam, etc., Yuya sticks to using his weaker Entermate monsters, often for his one turn finishes. Partly justified in how the Entermate reflect Yuya's personality and due to the nature of Duel Schools in ARC-V, all other advanced summoning methods that aren't Tribute Summoning do not appear to be available to the general public. This later becomes one of his Fatal Flaws, as Jack pointed out.
• The Worf Barrage: Yuya's dragons become less effective after their introduction.
  • Until his duel with Mieru, Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon brought him almost every victory. But later, it doesn't do much aside from being a Fusion or an Xyz Material. It gets better in the City arc.
  • Rune-Eyes Pendulum Dragon is a less notable example, but it has its bad moments after doing very well. It defeats Mieru in one turn during its introduction and destroys Gongenzaka's Susanowo in its second appearance. While during its third appearance, after destroying Reiji's Extra Deck trio, it gets banished by Reiji's D/D/D Oblivion King Abyss Ragnarok's effect in the next turn. Rune-Eyes' next appearance eventually causes Yuya to lose the duel against Jack.
  • Beast-Eyes Pendulum Dragon manages to defeat Gongenzaka and Sawatari. But it doesn't do anything against Kachidoki and Reiji, and it is easily overpowered by their monsters Idaten and Caesar Ragnarok, respectively.
  • Odd-Eyes Rebellion Dragon starts getting less duel ending effective against Yuya's opponents after his duel with Sora in Episode 49. Against Reiji, his D/D/D Duo-Dawn King Kali Yuga is able to counter Yuya's game winning attack with Odd-Eyes Rebellion Dragon with just Kali Yuga's effects. Against Crow, Crow survives Odd-Eyes Rebellion Dragon's multi-attack with Black Feather Cursed Guard and destroys it next turn with Assault Blackwing - Chidori the Light Rain (though at least Crow still lost the duel due to other factors). Against Sergey, Odd-Eyes Rebellion Dragon isn't able to use any of its effects due to Sergey's monsters powerful effects, the fact that they're Level 8 and Yuya's Life Points already being low, costing Yuya the duel against him. Against Kaito, Odd-Eyes Rebellion fails to overpower Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon, resulting into a double KO of both monsters.
  • Dark Requiem Xyz Dragon fails to win Yuya's duel with Edo during its debut, but to its credit, Edo is forced to end this duel in a tie before Dark Requiem would finish him off.
  • Brave-Eyes Pendulum Dragon almost manages to bring Yuya's victory over Edo during its debut, but it fails due to being destroyed by Edo's Dystopiaguy. This is subverted later on in the same duel, as Yuya brings Brave-Eyes back to the field and wins the duel with it.
  • During the final duel, all of Yuya's dragon fail to defeat Reiji's Superdeath King trio. Justified, since the Superdeath King trio can protect themselves from being destroyed and Yuya is focused on stopping Reiji from drawing new cards and raising the ATK of Odd-Eyes to land the finishing blow on him.
• The Worf Effect:
  • He lost to Jack in Episode 64 to show how powerful Jack is despite Yuya Pendulum, Xyz and Fusion Summoning in one turn.
  • Gets his (and Barrett's) ass kicked again, this time by Sergey in Episode 92 to remind the viewers why Sergey isn't called the ''Duelist Crusher" for nothing. Though to be fair for Yuya, he was already severely weakened by Barrett's assault and Sergey merely dealt the finishing blow, not actually overpowered Yuya in skill.
• Worf Had the Flu:
  • He started his duel with Michio while starving, which left him barely able to think straight and too weak to retrieve an Action Card. Once his mother passes him a snack, he easily retrieves the card and comes up with the winning strategy.
  • And with Kyuando, he started exhausted after watching quiz shows all night, which made his Idiot Hero problem much worse.
  • His duel with Mieru comes in a time when he's feeling very uncertain about his future and he feels stuck. Mieru's speeches about how his future is bound to failure makes him take very bad decisions out of anger.
  • The reason why he lost to Sergey was because Yuya was nearly losing to Barrett, and Sergey merely saved him from his defeat by the other man.
  • Yuya's Duel against Kaito involves him talking some sense into Kaito and would've costed him the Duel if it weren't for Yuto advising him to summon Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon and Kurosaki arriving at the last second.
  • Yuya finds himself overpowered by Edo because he's too busy demanding that he reveal Yusho's whereabouts, only for a pissed-off Yuto to take over the Duel and summon Dark Requiem Xyz Dragon to beat up Edo, losing his chance to gather more clues about Yusho as a result.
  • His third and final Duel against Reiji also counts as this: While Yuya did beat Reiji, the reason why his Supreme King Odd-Eyes trio are having a lttle hard time during the Duel is because Reiji's Superdeath King trio has multiple protection effects.
• Wrong Genre Savvy: Yuya thinks he's in a regular gaming anime in the same vein as GX and ZEXAL, where being Hot-Blooded and The Power of Friendship are the key status quo. However, due to living in a world full of super geniuses, psychotic maniacs, and pragmatic Duelists who don't give a crap about entertainment, he fails to realize that he's actually in a Gen Urobuchi-level Psychological Horror story.
• Worthy Opponent: He sees Gongenzaka, Reiji, and Sawatari as ones. And after Episode 97, Jack calls him "interesting".
• Xanatos Gambit: During his duel with Crow in the Friendship Cup, Yuya finds himself in a situation where he could not not win the duel unless through bad luck. His opponent has 2400 Life Points left, so Yuya activates the effect of Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon to widen the gap between the dragon and Blackwing - Raikiri the Sudden Shower to 2500, but his opponent negates that. So Yuya Xyz Summons Odd-Eyes Rebellion Dragon to destroy all of his opponent's monsters and would inflict a total amount of 2600 damage instead. Then again, the opponent negates the destruction of Raikiri, reducing the damage to 0. Following that, Yuya equips Odd-Eyes Rebellion Dragon with Supreme King's Wings, which not only prevents the equipped monster and the Equip Spell Card itself from being destroyed by card effects, if the equipped monster destroys a monster by battle, the ATK of the destroyed monster will be inflicted to the controller. However, the opponent manages to negate the destruction yet again, but Odd-Eyes Rebellion Dragon can still attack two additional times, so the third attack will finish him off. Unfortunately, the opponent negates the Battle Damage of the third battle with a Trap Card by paying half of his Life Points, so Yuya has no choice but to end his turn. Fortunately, Yuya has insurance. If the equipped monster is destroyed by battle, the monster who destroyed Odd-Eyes Rebellion Dragon will be destroyed as well and its ATK will be inflicted to the opponent's Life Points. Crow does exactly that and loses the duel.
• Yank the Dog's Chain: The show is rather evil for him. Every single time he starts to make peace with his issues, the show finds new ways to break his sanity all over again.
• Your Answer to Everything: Bringing smiles to everyone via Dueling, just like his father Yusho.
• Zerg Rush: He can summon as many monsters as he wants when Pendulum Summoning, as long as they're within the level range of the two monsters used as the summoning materials, and as long as he has empty spaces in his Monster Card zone. To put things into perspective, Normal Summoning only limits you to one monster, and Special Summoning requires various methods that can get you usually, at most, one other).

Yuto

Yuto — The Dark Duelist

Voiced by: Manpei Takagi (JP), Michael Liscio Jr. (EN)

A strange masked man investigating LDS, he intervenes in a duel between Yuzu and Sawatari. For mysterious reasons, he shares the same face as Yuya and he has some connection to Yuzu, who resembles a friend of his named Ruri. It is later revealed that he is the Xyz Dimensional Counterpart to Yuya, due to them sharing the same face.

Yuto used to live in Heartland, a peaceful city that was invaded by Academia, turning it into a war zone. Together with his friends, he's a member of Resistance, a rebel group that fends off Academia soldiers. At some point, when Yuri kidnapped Ruri, Yuto encountered Yugo, who was looking for the kidnapped Rin; both of them mistake each other for the kidnapper and dueled each other until Yugo disappeared. After learning that Reiji Akaba is the Professor's son, Yuto followed his friend Kurosaki travel to Standard, where Yuto meets Yuzu.

He learns that LDS is not associated with Academia, but he decides to follow Yuzu from the shadows to protect her, since she resembles Ruri. Accepting that they are not the same, but relieved that Yuzu is learning Fusion Summoning not for evil, he tells her about his mission. After Sora loses to Kurosaki in the Maiami Championship, Yuto pays him a visit to interrogate him, which eventually leads to his meeting with Yuya. Despite Yuya's initial hostility, Yuto makes peace him and tells him about the existence of the other dimensions. Shortly after that, Yugo appears out of nowhere and they duel each other again, still believing that they are enemies. But once they summon their dragons, they are possessed by their Superpowered Evil Side. While Yuya manages to bring Yuto back to his senses, he fails to do the same with Yugo, resulting that Yuto loses the duel and is greatly injured by Yugo's last attack. Before disappearing into light, Yuto inherits Yuya his Dark Rebellion Dragon Xyz Dragon and his last will: to make everyone smile with his dueling. He is absorbed by Yuya and his spirit resides within him for the majority of the series, acting as mentor and friend to Yuya.

He uses a Phantom Knights deck that focuses on summoning Xyz Monsters, including his Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon, and makes use of Spell and Trap Cards that can be activated from the graveyard. Like his other counterparts, his ace dragon can "evolve" into a stronger version of itself, Dark Requiem Xyz Dragon.

Eventually, all four boys become one again to form the original entity Zarc. After Zarc's evil is sealed away, Yuto continues to live on in Yuya's body, this time with Yugo and Yuri for company.

---

Tropes associated with Yuto:

• All-Loving Hero: Despite his deep hatred for Academia, Yuto usually does not want to harm his enemies. But he does have limits as seen in Episode 104, where he decides that peace can only come after completely destroying Academia.
• Alleged Lookalikes: They're not completely different, but he's different enough to Yuya that it's a bit of a head scratcher as to why Yuzu can't make herself believe they're really not the same person. That being said, he's the most alike out of Yuya's counterparts in terms of hairstyle, which probably wouldn't be too difficult for Yuya to pull off.
• Always Save the Girl: Yuto has shown a strong dedication to saving Ruri; when he thought Yuzu was Ruri he would follow her around just to protect her, even asking especially about her when he and Sora first met. This becomes more heartwarming after Episode 124, since it's revealed that Yuto might be in a relationship with Ruri.
• And I Must Scream: Episode 134 has Yuya and Yuri continually summoning their dimensional dragons, to the point where Yuto finds himself in great pain and eventually absorbed completely by the darkness that is Zarc's influence.
• Badass Cape: Combined with Scarf of Asskicking during his first couple of appearances.
• Badass Long Coat: His trademark outfit and it has short sleeves.
• Bequeathed Power: Sort of. By giving Yuya his Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon, he also gives him his soul, his Superpowered Evil Side, and his ability to Xyz summon.
• Berserk Button:
  • Saying you'll hurt his friends, and Sora hits it deliberately to get him to duel him.
  • Being reminded of his homeland's destruction is a major button. Each time he was reminded, he awoke while he was inside Yuya.
  • As of Episode 124, messing negatively with Ruri in any way, shape, or form.
• Big Damn Heroes: First he saved Yuzu from dueling Sawatari, and intervened to prevent Kurosaki from dueling Masumi.
• Black Knight: Sawatari nicknames him "Knight-kun" when Yuto tries to protect Yuzu, and he seems to have a knight motif. His Spell Card monsters are black horse-riding knights, and Yuto's is a more noble person than his partner Kurosaki, but Yuto still supports him. His deck is later revealed to be a Phantom Knights deck, monsters covered in black clothes and/or armor.
• Borrowed Catchphrase: The phrase "bringing smiles to others through Dueling" was a philosophy that Yuya at first thought was something Yuto learned from his father when he was in the Xyz Dimension. It turns out that Yuto really borrowed this from Ruri, as a way to honor her wishes.
• The Bus Came Back: He returns to being a major character in the Xyz Dimension arc after the Synchro Dimension arc demoted him to extra. The fifth opening makes note of this with by emphasizing Yuto's overbearing presence.
• Casting a Shadow: His "Phantom Knights" archetype is primarily DARK in nature.
• Collared by Fashion: A small one that brings Yugi's to mind.
• The Cynic: In contrast to Yuya, who believes he can get through to Edo, Yuto repeatedly tells Yuya that he can't understand him through dueling.
• Dark and Troubled Past: He was once a resident of Heartland, a sprawling city from the Xyz Dimension that was a once-fun and peaceful realm until it was brought to ruin by the efforts of the Fusion Dimension.
• Dark Is Not Evil: Unlike his friend Kurosaki, Yuto doesn't assault people and he prefers to end conflicts peacefully if possible.
• Determinator: He makes a comment in Episode 35 that echoes Kurosaki's words of getting up and fighting despite being knocked down.
• Evil Doppelgänger: Subverted. At his first appearance he looked like one, but as the series went on he was quickly revealed to be very noble.
• Expy: Of Shark as a primarily purple duelist with a dour streak whose deck focuses on card destruction and swarming the field with Level 3 monsters to Xyz summon darkly armoured champions. Likewise, he turns out to have a twisted, intimate connection with the greater threat of the story.
• Fighting Your Friend: In episode 124, he finally meets Ruri again only to have to duel her. With the added bonus that he learned from Kurosaki that saving Ruri by simply beating the Parasite Fusioner within her is ineffective.
• First-Name Basis: He's currently the only character who refers to Kurosaki by his first name, strengthening the fact they are best friends. It's later revealed that everyone from Heartland seems to call him by his first name.
• Flat "What": Yuto hilariously conveys this wordlessly on his face when a flashback in Episode 124 shows that Kurosaki introduced Ruri as his little sister. He looks back and forth between the two in sheer disbelief, with Kurosaki being annoyed by it.
• Flip Personality: In the Xyz Dimension arc, it's revealed that if he wills it, Yuto can gain temporary control over Yuya's body while still remaining sane, marked by Yuya's eyes changing to a pale gray color. In Episode 104, where this ability is first demonstrated, he and Yuya go back and forth quite a bit while fighting Edo, a high-ranking Academia soldier.
• Foil: To Yuya, even down to their color palettes. While Yuya loves to entertain people and he's all smiles, Yuto never fools around and he's all serious. But both care for Yuzu. It's later shown that they aren't so different, as Yuya believes that duels are meant to bring people their smiles, and Yuto agrees with him in his depth of his heart and he doesn't want to hurt people anymore with dueling.
  • Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon is one to Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon. Having their summoning method as the third word in their name, the same ATK and DEF. But having mirrored poses, Dark Rebellion's card background is a dark starry sky while Odd-Eyes' is a bright starry sky.
• Fusion Dance: The first few times when Yuya's Superpowered Evil Side shows up, the audience can see both him and Yuto "combining".
• Go Out with a Smile: He smiles as his body fades away, although his soul remains with Yuya.
• Goggles Do Nothing: Wore goggles with his facemask during his first appearance. Subverted, as they did protect his eyes from flying debris when he shielded Yuzu, but the lens broke. He abandons the goggles by the time of his next appearance.
• Heroic Sacrifice: When Yugo's Clear Wing Synchro Dragon's final attack destroyed Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon and continued on towards Yuya, Yuto managed to save him by shoving him out of harms way. The result ended up severely injuring Yuto, which led to him being absorbed unintentionally into Yuya's body. What truly makes this heroic is that Yuto went out of his way to protect a person he just met that day and barely knows.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Kurosaki. It is unknown how long they've known each other, but it is revealed in Episode 124 that Yuto has been friends with Kurosaki before he met the latter's younger sister Ruri.
• Identity Amnesia: Suffers this temporarily when he gets separated from Yuya in Duel Links. Exactly why this happens isn't made clear.
• I'm Dying, Please Take My MacGuffin: Gives Yuya his Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon, which is somehow plot-related, to Yuya before vanishing. It's unclear just how permanent his "death" is at the moment.
• Instant Expert: Has a shade of this. Despite his first time "waking up", he has no problem in using Yuya's deck which uses relatively new mechanic (not to mention different cards) compared with his Phantom Knight deck. This is evident in Yuya's duel against Kaito and Edo when in the former he knew which pendulum card he needed in order to summon Dark Rebellion while in the latter he reduced Edo's LP into 100 by using the same deck. In both cases, Yuto successfully pendulum summon and activate pendulum effect.
• Irony: Yuto comes from a world inspired by Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL, often considered to be one of the more lighthearted and goofiest series of Yu-Gi-Oh!, but he is easily the most serious and angsty of the Yuyas.
• It's All My Fault: Yuto regrets going to Standard when he finds out that during his absence, the Academia nearly wiped out his home, blaming himself for not being there to save everyone.
• Knight of Cerebus: His actions kicked off a best-of-three competition between LDS and You Show, with the latter at risk of being overtaken. He also hinted the existence of a Greater-Scope Villain, Academia.
• Leitmotif: Associated with the track Duel of Rebellion, a melancholic but heroic track.
• Le Parkour: Yuto is quite acrobatic, even more so than Yuya, a known Entertainment Duelist whose profession is to move quickly around the field. This makes sense as participating in the Dimensional War has sharpen Yuto's physical abilities considerably. Several known examples include:
  • Leaping around the warehouse trying to avoid Sora in Episode 15 and clashing with the kid in midair.
  • Running around and keeping up with Yugo in Episode 37 while his Synchro Counterpart is on a motorcycle.
  • Like Yuya, Yuto is quite skilled at moving around an Action Field obtaining Action Cards in Episode 125 while dueling both Ruri and Serena.
• Lethal Joke Character: No, seriously. In his home dimension, his Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon would have been little more than a beatstick, since its effect in the anime can only be used on a Level 5 or higher monster. Problem is that since this is the Xyz Dimension, his opponent would be using an Xyz Monster and Xyz Monsters don't have Levels, making Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon's effect useless. Against the Fusion Dimension, however, it's a different story.
• Locked Out of the Loop: Yuto insists Yuya not tell the others about his soul being inside of him, since they just wouldn't believe it anyway. However, Yuya eventually tells them anyway, and Kurosaki is remarkably okay with it.
• Love at First Sight: During the flashback scenes in Episode 124, it's revealed that Yuto was infatuated with Ruri the first time he met her.
• Luminescent Blush: Episode 124 shows both Yuto and Ruri sitting together on a park bench during the sunset. It's implied that they both had a fun date and Ruri snuggles up close with Yuto as a result. Yuto turns crimson with happiness.
• Made of Iron: Was thrown into a real wall with enough force to crack and leave a hole, and he just gets up and continues dueling like nothing had happened.
• Mind Screw: A walking one for Yuzu for a while.
• Mr. Exposition: Acts as one to Yuya regarding the four dimensions and Heartland's past.
• Mysterious Protector: To Yuzu. Sawatari even called him "Knight-kun" for coming out of nowhere to save the princess.
• Nice Guy: He's actually very kindhearted, and isn't nearly as violent as Kurosaki is. In fact, similar to Yuya, he hates hurting people and doesn't like seeing others suffering.
• No-Nonsense Nemesis: Just like Kurosaki, he never responds to any trash talk and calmly plays his turn. He wasn't fazed at all, meeting Yuya, who is said to look just like him. However, he was going to leave Sora alone since he was injured, until he provoked him. He's also a lot more merciful, trying not to hurt his opponent, and stops the duel with Yuya once Sora is taken away.
• Not Quite Dead: After disappearing into the light after his duel with Yugo, he merges with Yuya, transferring his soul and Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon to him. While his physical body is gone, he's still around, and appears from time to time when Yuya's Superpowered Evil Side emerges or simply when Yuto appears as a Spirit Advisor.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: A meta example. Nobody In-Universe knew his name (some don't even know he exists). His nickname, Dark Duelist, was given by the creators to the public. His true name is revealed in Episode 21.
  • Hilariously, in Episode 103, Sawatari still doesn't know who "Yuto" is.
• Out of Focus: Spends his time sleeping inside Yuya for the majority of the Synchro arc.
• Over-the-Shoulder Carry: Grabs Kurosaki this way after knocking him out in Episode 21.
• Pragmatic Hero: While Yuto does want a peaceful resolution, he is not afraid to hurt his enemies or even his rogue allies when needed.
• Perpetual Frowner: In contrast with Yuya's Perpetual Smiler. Subverted, in that he later reveals that he shares Yuya's idealism and tells Yuya to bring smiles with Duels.
• Personality Powers: A card set composed of Black Knights, the Phantom Knights, fits a shadowy but well-meaning duelist like Yuto like a glove.
• Put on a Bus: After he is absorbed by Yuya, Yuto's spirit shows up only a couple of times later on. After Yuya, Gongenzaka, Sawatari, and Kurosaki arrive in Heartland, Yuto seems to show up more often.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: He told off Sawatari for his lack of determination in their duel.
• Reluctant Warrior: He only dueled to protect Yuzu and gather some information about LDS from Sawatari. After getting what he wanted, he was willing to step out of the duel, but Sawatari made him give the final blow. He also calls Sawatari out for not having the dueling experience gained by suffering, implying he has a dark past that has made him cynical. His line to Yuzu before he duels Sawatari in her stead, "I don't want you to get hurt again", supports this. Furthermore, his reluctance during his duels with Sora and Yugo demonstrate this further, as well as his parting words.
  • Yuto's dueling style reflects his passive nature; he uses trap cards that negates the opponent's attacks and effects, thus bringing the conflict to a non-violent end. Also, with the exception of Yugo, Yuto always offers his opponents the opportunity to either surrender or stop the duel entirely; in all three of his on-screen duels, only Yuya takes him up on his offer.
• The Rival: Yugo's. They loathe each other due to mistaking each other for Yuri, who took away each other's precious person.
• Revenge: Like Kurosaki and Kaito, even the more pacifistic Yuto seeks revenge for his homeland. Since he's inside Yuya's body, Yuto's memories and his hate for Academia has triggered Yuya's Superpowered Evil Side a couple of times. His hatred and grief eventually overcome Yuto and he takes over Yuya's body twice during their duel with Edo, which also corrupts Yuya. Later he, along with Yuya, becomes angry and vengeful towards the Doktor for what he did to the bracelet girls.
• Rule of Symbolism: His dragons represent his mindset.
  • Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon represents his will to fight against Academia, the invaders who destroyed his hometown. Since the Resistance is a small group of people and they fight an entire army, Yuto is nothing more than a rebel. Additionally, Dark Rebellion also represents Yuto's dark side which often comes out of his pacifistic nature.
  • Dark Requiem Xyz Dragon represents Yuto's grief for his comrades and the citizens of Heartland, as Yuto's disappearance let them out of Academia's mercy. It also represents Yuto's growth of his hatred and his will to fight.
  • Odd-Eyes Rebellion Dragon represents the bond between Yuto and Yuya and their wrath. Unlike Dark Rebellion and Dark Requiem which are designed to fight in direct one-on-one battles, Odd-Eyes Rebellion is created to annihilate their enemies with no mercy. Similar like Yuto's hatred corrupts Yuya, Dark Rebellion corrupts Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon.
• Scarf of Asskicking: Combined with Badass Cape. Currently, he's wearing the scarf on his right arm.
• Sharing a Body: Yuto's soul/body is inside Yuya and can at times influence or share thoughts with his counterpart. This allows Yuya access to Yuto's Dimensional Dragon.
• Shell-Shocked Veteran: Just like Kurosaki, though Yuto appears to be taking it better. However, later episodes show that the war has been taking its toll on Yuto. This continues into Duel Links, where if he ends up facing any of the GX characters he associates them with the Fusion Dimension's version of Academia, immediately triggering a fight-or-flight response.
• Shock and Awe: Strangely enough, Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon's modus operandi.
• Shoot the Dog: Yuya holds back against Edo simply because he naively believes that Edo would tell him about his father. Edo would have done nothing of the sort, instead simply intending to take Yuya hostage in order to get to Yusho. In order to prevent this, Yuto takes over Yuya's body, against Yuya's own will, to fight back against Edo.
• Silly Rabbit, Idealism Is for Kids!: He starts to slip into this in Episode 104, telling Yuya that while his and Yusho's ideals are beautiful, they can only be achieved if Academia is defeated.
• Spirit Advisor: The first few times when Yuya is possessed by his Superpowered Evil Side, we see Yuto's spirit emerging with Yuya. Yuto's spirit shows up a couple of times later on during the Synchro saga but only to show viewers that he's still with Yuya and only partially influences Yuya's decisions with his memories of Heartland's invasion. He fully embraces this role in the Xyz Dimension arc, where his spirit within Yuya fully awakens, allowing them to speak to each other in the same manner as Yugi and Atem, or Yuma and Astral. Deconstructed in Episode 104 when Yuya attempts to be peaceful instead of being violent; he takes control of Yuya's body in order to defeat Edo. Over time, however, Yuto returns to his pacifistic self after witnessing the results of Yuya's idealism winning over his opponents.
• Split-Personality Takeover: While he's not really Yuya's split personality, he takes over Yuya's body in Episode 104 when Yuya refuses to listen to him, attempting to crush Edo in a duel. Later in Episode 124, as a result of Yuto's feelings for Ruri, his deck ends up appearing in Yuya's deck during their duel due to their Synchronization. Yuto eventually takes Yuya's body over, to the point that the viewers and some characters can see Yuto, but the monitor footage depict Yuya's body.
• Stalker with a Crush: While the "crush" part is debatable, we do see him following Yuzu around from a distance in Episode 15. Justified, he thought Yuzu was Ruri as they're Identical Strangers and the last time he saw her, she was kidnapped. Episode 124 shows that Yuto has feelings for Ruri, which makes his determination to protect anyone who looks like Ruri all the more sense.
• The Stoic: Yuto's default personality. Whether he used to be happier and more lively before Academia invaded his dimension remains to be seen.
  • Not So Stoic: However, Yuto does carry regret and anger over what happened to his dimension deep down and when the right buttons are pushed, he can lose his temper. His Superpowered Evil Side does away with his stoic nature entirely. Episode 104 shows that Yuto's regrets came to a breaking point and he becomes more aggressive when it comes to trying to fight Academia. He calms down a few episodes later. Later becomes incensed again when he finds out what the Doktor did to the bracelet girls, particularly Ruri. Episode 124 shows a lighter side of this as he falls for Ruri. Ending 6 shows that Yuto is wary of being seen with Ruri romantically whenever Kurosaki is around and tries to unsuccessfully hide himself with his own jacket.
• Super-Speed: He showed incredibly high speed in Episode 35. Episode 37 shows that he can keep up for a time against Yugo while the latter is on his motorcycle.
• Tag Team: With his willpower, Yuto is able to take over Yuya's body or can synchronize with him, which allows them to magically draw Yuto's cards from Yuya's deck. Because of that, Yuto is able to draw one of his Rank-Up Magic Spell Cards during the first duel with Edo in Episode 104, and later in Episode 124, Yuya/Yuto's starting hand consists entirely of Yuto's cards.
• Take Up My Sword: After his defeat against Yugo, Yuto gives to Yuya his Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon before he fuses with him.
• Taking the Bullet: Just as Yugo's finishing attack is about to hit Yuya, Yuto pushes him out of the way and takes the hit instead.
• Tap on the Head: Punch to the solar plexus variety, used against Kurosaki when the latter was starting trouble in episode 21.
• Theme Naming: His real name is Yuto, making him the third person to have the friendship prefix.
• Took a Level in Cynic: Yuto used to be a stoic but idealistic young man before the invasion. Afterwards, he's barely holding on to his idealism as his dimension falls apart, his friends are taken away and his enemies are still roaming free committing more heinous crimes. Is it any wonder why he's the most pragmatic of Yuya's counterparts? Episode 104 reveals that he eventually grows tired of constantly being passive and starts to believe that being aggressive will save his home dimension from Academia. Yuya talks him out of this, saying that being hateful will solve nothing and only lead to more conflict.
• True Companions: Values his comrades immensely, swearing to stop at nothing to save them. He even considers Kurosaki his best friend, despite the man's hot-headed nature, and was willing to fight to the bitter end if it means he can save Ruri. He later comes to think of Yuya as this as well, given how close the two are with each other now.
• Unknowingly in Love: In contrast to Yuya and Yuzu's relationship, this is how Yuto and Ruri's relationship is portrayed. He knows she holds a special place in his heart, but never acknowledges that feeling as being in love with her due to being Tsundere compared to Yuya.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Willing to do what is necessary to create a world without conflict, and to save his comrades. Subverted in that he's much more compassionate towards his enemies than Kurosaki, and tries to avoid fights whenever possible.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Gives one to Yuya in Episode 104 over his decision to reason with an enraged Edo, telling him that even Yusho's Entertainment Dueling is useless against the commanding officer of Academia.
• When He Smiles: Yuto is always seen with a frown on his face. The only times he ever smiled genuinely was when he got to know Yuzu while bidding her farewell and entrusting Yuya with his ace monster before being absorbed into him. Yuzu was visibly affected when she sees it, as it makes him resemble Yuya even more. Flashbacks of Yuto's homeland before Academia and him interacting with Ruri has him smiling a lot more.
• Whole Costume Reference: His outfit besides his cape looks just like Yuma's school uniform except dark and edgy instead of light and colorful.
• The Worf Effect: Loses to Yugo, but Yuya's interference may have caused this.

Yugo

Yugo

Voiced by: Shinpei Takagi (JAP), Michael Liscio Jr. (EN)

A mysterious Turbo Duelist initially mistaken as an agent of Duel Academy by Yuto. Yugo grew up as a part of the "Commons" in the slums of City, alongside his childhood friend, Rin. Both dreamed of building a D-Wheel of their own and using their dueling skills to participate in the Friendship Cup to escape the hardships of their environment, similar to their hero, Jack Atlas. Sometime before the plot started and the Friendship Cup drew near, Rin was hunted down and captured by Yuri on behalf of Professor Leo Akaba. Despite Yugo's attempted rescue, Yuri escaped with his prize and brought her to Academia. Since then, Yugo has worked everyday to try and reclaim Rin from Academia's clutches while at the same time intending to make her kidnapper, Yuri, pay for his crimes. As a first in the franchise of Yu-Gi-Oh!, he is one of the few male protagonists to show romantic interest in a female protagonist; in his case, it's his childhood friend Rin. Whether or not she reciprocates remains to be seen.

Yugo is the Synchro Dimensional Counterpart to Yuya, Yuto and Yuri due to them sharing the same face. He uses a deck with Speedroids, Wind-Machine Type Monsters that resemble toys or are references to games, primarily those centering on dice. Similar to Joey Wheeler from the original series, Yugo relies on luck as a powerful factor in his duel style and all his monsters lead up to supporting his ace monster, Clear Wing Synchro Dragon and its stronger counterpart, Crystal Wing Synchro Dragon.

Like his Xyz counterpart, Yuto, Yugo is eventually absorbed by Yuri and unwillingly gives him access to his ace monster. Later Yuya absorbs both Yugo and Yuri, with all four boys becoming Zarc again. After Zarc's defeat, he is at peace with living alongside the three other boys, sharing the same body.

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• Accidental Misnaming: In the Japanese version, Yugo's name is similar to the Japanese name of "Fusion", leading to misconceptions of him being from the Fusion Dimension. In the English version, Yugo's name is mispronounced in various derisive ways, such as "Nogo" or Slowgo".
• All There in the Manual: How his name and alleged crime are revealed.
• Alleged Lookalikes: Similar to Yuto, Yuya comments that Yugo looks exactly like him. Anyone could easily tell them apart at a glance. Seems to have been noticed, given that Yuya later corrects himself to stating that their faces look similar, which they do.
• Always Save the Girl: Yugo puts saving Rin at the very top of his priorities as shown in episode 86 when he chased down Yuri even if it means he loses his shot at a better life.
• And I Must Scream: Despite Yugo's best efforts, his luck finally runs out against Yuri and he ends up losing their final duel. Yugo is absorbed into Yuri, similar to how Yuto was absorbed into Yuya.
• Arch-Enemy: Appears to be one for Yuto but later revealed to be just a huge misunderstanding.
• Ascended Extra: Yugo essentially becomes a main character during the Synchro Dimension saga, protecting Yuzu from the authorities.
• Badass Biker: ARC-V's return of the D-Wheel is indeed awesome. Episode 47 reveals his awesome riding techniques, and he generally duels from the D-Wheel even outside of a Riding Duel, only breaking the trend during his duel with a corrupted Rin.
• Berserk Button:
  • Getting his name wrong. So far, he has been mistaken by the Resistance and Academia as being affiliated with the Fusion Dimension due to his name sounding almost like the same as the Japanese word for Fusion, and as Yuya because they look similar. This becomes a little joke in the commercial of Crossover Souls.
  • Starting from Episode 93, his name is spelled as Hugo.
  • Seeing people get hurt in front of him makes him angry, as seeing the Obelisk Force duelists causes him to flashback to images of their attacks.
• Beware the Silly Ones: He crashes his D-Wheel, has No Social Skills and is constantly irritated at his name being messed up. He's also a duelist capable of defeating Yuto.
• Big Damn Heroes: Two in Episode 47, first when he rescues Yuu Sakuragi, and then when he saves Yuzu by inadvertently causing Yuri to teleport away, though he mistook her for Rin.
• Big Eater: He is always seen eating while he is in the hotel provided by The Friendship Cup.
• Blow You Away: Yugo uses a WIND deck, which includes all of his Extra Deck Monsters as well.
• Book Dumb: A flashback in episode 117 shows that when he and Rin studied to learn how to put together a D-Wheel, he was reading the book he was holding upside down.
• Borrowed Catchphrase: Whenever Yuya and Yugo mentally synchronize, Yugo uses Yuya's catchphrase "The fun's just getting started!".
• Broken Faceplate: In his duel with Rin, his helmets visor is cracked and thrown away. Though it is less prevalent than the fact that the D-Wheel was also lost.
• The Bus Came Back: After being absent for about 14 episodes, Yugo returns in Episode 106.
• Butt-Monkey: At times. He gets dragged through dimensions by Clear Wing, ends up on the receiving end of Yuzu's fan and Serena's fist, and has people constantly getting his name wrong. What reward does Yugo get after going through painstaking efforts to find Rin and meeting her at last? Get kneed in the stomach and berated for "taking too long" to mount the rescue, by Rin herself no less! Though she at least has the decency to hug him in gratitude afterwards.
  • Then Rin turns out to be one of the Doktor's People Puppets, subsequently wrecking his D-Wheel and beating him in a Duel. Yugo just cannot catch a break.
• Cassandra Truth: His attempts to convince anyone associated with the Resistance that he has nothing to do with Academia hardly work.
• Catchphrase: "Yūgō jya nee!! Yūgo da!!" (I'm not fusion!! I'm Yugo!!)
• Character Development: Gets a surprising but significant amount of it once he becomes separated from Yuya in Duel Links. The time he spent as a part of Yuya actually helped him understand his other counterparts better, and now that there's no interdimensional war to stress over he's a lot calmer.
• Childhood Friends: With Rin. Both of them grew up in the slums.
• Childhood Friend Romance: He has very obvious feelings towards Rin with him saying while she's not his girlfriend, he would love for it to be true.
• Cosmic Plaything: Mild example, but if it's not Yuzu's bracelet, it's Clear Wing Synchro Dragon that's warping him all over the place as it chooses. And then of course there's his Superpowered Evil Side and Synchronization.
• Covert Pervert: He's very interested in Rin being his girlfriend (despite denying that she was), and in episode 62 he is clearly staring at Yuzu's chest, when commenting that Rin's clothes should fit her. He also ogles the skimpily-dressed cheerleaders during the fourth opening, which earns him Yuzu's slap from her fan.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Yugo himself notably describes himself as this, though the way that it's presented in the series is a bit of an inversion, that zigzags all over the place. He's introduced as a Red Herring ally of Academia that apparently devastated Heartland. He turns out to be a bit of a goofball, but immediately defeats Yuto upon his first appearance. The next time he shows up, he's acting like even more of an idiot, but then beats two guys at once, and later defeats three Obelisk Force members in one turn (by turning their own card against them, no less). In short, while he acts like some of the sillier past protagonists, through and through, he is just as innovative and strategic as Yusei, his 5D's counterpart ever was.
  • In fact, Yuri himself considers him an opponent worthy enough that he is not confident enough to take him on with his Honor Student deck.
• Determinator: Rin noted in the past his best trait was that he never gave up. When it comes to rescuing Rin from Academia, nothing will stop Yugo. Nothing.
• The Dreaded: Yuto does not talk about him lightly. Averted later on; it turns out Yuto's account was the result of a gigantic misunderstanding: Yugo is actually rather dorky.
• Drives Like Crazy: As Yuzu can attest to, he does this when trying to avoid Duel Chaser 227 and when trying to get to the stadium in a timely manner to watch Jack Atlas' exhibition duel.
• Dynamic Entry: Subverted. He comes into the Standard Dimension with a flash of light but accidentally hits a street light camera. Played straight when he busts in to save Yuzu.
• Expy and Composite Character: His deck is one to Yusei's, being comprised mostly by Machine-Type monsters and having a WIND Synchro Dragon as its ace, but also a little with Jack's using the same Power Deck tactics. His Hi-Speedroid Puzzle seems to be a nod to Speed Warrior. In personality, however, he is a lot more like Judai or Yuma. He was instantly eager to duel upon seeing Yuto and doesn't even bother to introduce himself to Yuya, and he appears to be clumsy like Yuma, since he crashed into a street light camera. But his background is similar to Yusei's. Being a orphan that built his own D-Wheel.
  • His use of luck and dice rolls on some of his cards is like Jounouchi, and several of his monsters bring Rua's Morphonic monsters to mind, such as Speedroid OMK Gum, which even transforms like one. His interactions with Rin even bring how Rua annoyed Ruka to mind.
• Eye-Obscuring Hat: During his first appearance, his eyes are covered by the glass part of his helmet. The second opening briefly shows them, albeit covered by the tinted helmet visor.
• The Faceless: Initially. Although parts of his face were shown in flashbacks and the second opening, the whole of it was not. His face was first shown in supplements, here.
• Foil: He's one to Yusei whose series is an alternative version of his dimension. Yusei was the The Stoic, didn't like to talk and was a genius. Yugo is hot headed, talkative and a bit of an idiot.
• Hidden Depths: A byproduct of his Character Development in Duel Links. Yugo is the only one of Zarc's incarnations shown thus far to take advantage of the fact that he'd become a part of Yuya by perring into his counterparts' memories to understand them better. Once he ends up separated from Yuya again, he's shown to be a lot more perceptive than he initially let on. He's also shown to be the most openly worried of the four about Zarc potentially returning. Not only does he instantly pick up on that as the reason Reiji approaches him, he also gets uncharacterisstically wary around Yuto before they duel, remembering when they both went berserk. Combined with several character interactions showing that he refuses to accept he used to be a part of Zarc, insisting he's his own person with his own thoughts, memories, and feelings, and being openly regretful about the chaos they all caused, this gives heavy implications that the main reason Yugo is worried about Zarc coming back is that he's scared he and his counterparts will end up losing themselves and hurting each other again.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Invokes this upon the members of Obelisk Force he Dueled, wiping all 3 of them out with effect damage caused by their own card.
• Hope Spot: When Yugo lands a clean hit on Rin's Fusion monster and ends up destroying both it and the Parasite latched onto it, Yugo believes that with this action, Rin was forced back to her old self. He couldn't be more wrong...
• Hot-Blooded: Yugo's certainly not lacking in passion and spirit.
• Hypocritical Humor:
  • He gets mad at being confused for one of his counterparts, yet he consistently manages to screw up Yuzu's name, including mistaking her for Rin because she was wearing Rin's clothing. And this was after he said she should.
  • He later complains about Yuzu not capitalizing on her duel to advertise their message about the Interdimensional War, but when he gets to duel, he also forgets to do so. To be fair, being synchronized with Yuya may also have had something to do with it.
• I Am Not Him: A key part of his Character Development in Duel Links. Yugo is the only one of Zarc's fragments who won't accept his own origins as a split-off aspect of someone else, especially someone who turned into a literal demon god.
• Icy Blue Eyes: Subverted. While he has blue eyes, not only is he neither cold nor calculating, he's one of the goofiest characters in the entire show.
• Idiot Hero: He once tried to interrogate two people who were unconscious.
• The Illegible: His handwriting is terrible, justified in that he probably didn't have much education due to where he lives.
• Insistent Terminology: Every time someone gets his name wrong, he corrects them by saying that it's Yugo and not Fusion.
• Invincible Hero: Not exactly The Hero, but since his first on-screen duel in Episode 37, Yugo hasn't lost any of his on-screen duels and Clear Wing Synchro Dragon has remained intact on the field until Episode 117, when Clear Wing is finally destroyed for the first time and Yugo himself is harmed when he loses the duel to Rin, despite him having Crystal Wing Synchro Dragon on the field.
• Ironic Name: His name sounds pretty similar to the Japanese word for Fusion, but he's a Synchro user - which turns out to be a significant plot point.
• Irony: Comes from the world that represents 5D's, often considered the darkest, most serious spinoff series of Yu-Gi-Oh!, but is easily the goofiest of the Yuya's.
• I Will Find You: His goal is to find Rin, no matter where she is.
• Light Is Not Good: Subverted. He wears a primarily white outfit and Clear Wing Synchro Dragon involves a white color scheme and bright, shining lights. He was played up as a pawn of the Fusion Dimension for bearing their name and kidnapping Ruri, but as it turns out, this was simply Yuto's misunderstanding; Yugo's actually a pretty nice guy.
• Locked Out of the Loop: The guy had no clue what was going on until Yuzu filled in some of the blanks. Even then, he was the only incarnation of Zarc who didn't know he had a Superpowered Evil Side or any clue to his Apocalypse Maiden status until Zarc revived.
• Lost in Translation: The Resistance mistaking him for an agent of Academia is due to a Japanese wordplay which doesn't work in English: Yūgo's name is pronounced almost exactly as the word for Fusion, "Yūgō".
• Made of Iron: In Episode 117, Yugo is pushed out of the window by an infected Rin and lands without his helmet on his D-Wheel. Both, the D-Wheel and Yugo are fine. Averted later in the same episode, when Clear Wing is destroyed by Rin's Crystal Bell, sending Yugo with his D-Wheel flying through the air and falling on the ground. Yugo gets minor injuries, but his D-Wheel is destroyed and unusable now.
• Mr. Exposition: He acts as one when telling Yuzu of his childhood with Rin, how Rin was kidnapped by Yuri, how his rivalry with Yuto began and how City works. Although, he concludes some of these things after telling her what he knows.
• Mythology Gag: He's a big one to Yusei Fudo, having a D-Wheel, a similar helmet, and a white-and-blue WIND Dragon-Type Synchro Monster with 2500 ATK and 2000 DEF as his ace card. However, his Dragon is Level 7 as opposed to Stardust's Level 8, probably to go along with Odd-Eyes. Clear Wing Synchro Dragon also has circuitry pattern Tron Lines running through its wings, referencing the use of circuitry motifs on most products in the 5D's era.
• No Sense of Personal Space: The guy doesn't seem to understand the idea, he was way too close to Yuzu in episode 54 as a result. He also gets too feely with Serena in Episode 84, who also looks like Rin.
• No Social Skills: Implied, since the first thing he does after crashing into a street light camera is challenging Yuto, not even bothering to introduce himself to Yuya. Later he beats Takeda and Umesugi up before they could answer his questions. He later admits to Yuzu that he has a bad habit of saying things without thinking and he needs Rin to keep him in line.
• Not Helping Your Case: He tries to help Yuzu when she tries to tell people about the invasion, but looks like a crazy person when he tries to have Clear Wing move him across dimensions.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Any time he drops the anger and hot-headedness means that he's being deadly serious.
• Perception Filter: Because the Running Gag of his name sounds similar to "Fusion" is Lost in Translation in the English Dub, Yugo's name is constantly being misspoken as something similar to the point that nobody can seem to remember his name.
• Put on a Bus: Starting from Episode 92, he is absent until his return in Episode 106.
• Plucky Comic Relief: He's up there with Sawatari for the least serious character in the show thus far. His significant non-duel appearances generally lighten the mood, but when he gets into a duel, he can really lay it on.
• Punny Name: His name Yūgo is a pun to "Yūgō" ("Fusion"), which doubles as an Ironic Name. The O in his name is slightly shorter.
• Red Herring: The claims of him being a Fusion agent were proven false, and a distraction from Academia's reveal.
• The Rival: Yuto's. It begins by Yuto mistaking Yugo as the one who kidnapped Ruri, and ends at last with Yugo's defeat. Yugo on the other hand is more intent on taking down Yuri, the actual culprit, spending most of the show trying to hunt him down.
• Running Gag:
  • Getting his name wrong. Either calling him Yūgō "Fusion" or any of his counterparts' names. Or thinking he's on the Fusion Dimension's side because of his name. The dub also adds insults to him such as "Slow-Go" and "No-Go" along with a few altered Who's on First? jokes that couldn't work due to language differences.
  • Getting whacked by Yuzu and her counterparts. Yuzu uses her Paper Fan of Doom, Serena punches him, and Rin knees him in the stomach.
• Say My Name: "RIIIIIIN!" Usually to Yuzu or Serena.
• She Is Not My Girlfriend: When Yuzu suggests Rin is his girlfriend, Yugo denies it with a blushy, happily looking face.
• Slasher Smile: During his first clash with Yuto, which was only in Yuto's perspective. In Yugo's flashback, Yugo didn't smile at all.
• Smug Smiler: In the second opening.
• Solar and Lunar: Before his duel with the moon-themed Serena he makes a promise to the sun.
• Technician vs. Performer: The Performer in his duel with Serena. He even calls her out for thinking too by the book.
• Teleporters and Transporters: Clear Wing Synchro Dragon can teleport Yugo across dimensions, but he can't control where he goes.
• Theme Naming: His name is romanized as "Hugo", following the tendency for Synchro Dimension denizen having Westernized names (eg. Jack Atlas, Crow Hogan, Sergei Volkov, etc), yet follows the Yu- naming of all of his counterparts since "Hugo" and "Yugo" have identical pronunciations in Japanese.
• Twin Telepathy: Although they aren't technically twins, Yugo mysteriously synced with Yuya as the former was dueling, giving the impression that they were both contributing to Yugo's victory.
• Unfortunate Names: His name sounds similar to the Japanese word for "Fusion", so half the people he meets assume him to be associated with the antagonistic Fusion Dimension when he tells them his name and end up in conflict with him, which is not helped by his irritation at people getting it wrong.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: While Yuri was the one to trigger their antagonistic meeting, Yugo was eventually the one to take the first major step in reviving Zarc by defeating Yuto, who got absorbed into Yuya.
• Walking Spoiler: The fact that he's a Red Herring and what his personality really looks like, it's hard to talk about Yugo being not an enemy. Especially since he's hanging out with Yuzu for a good portion of the second season.
• Who's on First?: The entire reason for his rivalry with the Resistance. All together now: "Yūgō jya nee, Yūgo da!"
• Whole Costume Reference: Yugo's outfit and helmet resemble Yusei's own clothes and helmet.
• Wild Card: Initially the only character to be this, due to not being tied to any relationship and is simply a resident of Synchro. This changes once he meets Yuzu, who enlightens him to the situation at large.
• The Worf Effect: Despite putting an impressive fight against Yuri, he ends up losing not only just to demonstrate the Predator Plants' full power, but also to accelerate Zarc's resurrection.
• Worthy Opponent: He sees Sawatari as this, impressed by their duel.
• Yank the Dog's Chain: Congrats Yugo! You've finally found Rin! Except, she's been infected by the Doktor, destroys the D-Wheel they've built together, and brutally defeats him in a duel.

Yuri

Yuri

Voiced by: Kensho Ono (JAP), Michael Liscio Jr. (EN)

A member of Academia under the direct command of Professor Leo Akaba. Like Yuto and Yugo, he strongly resembles Yuya. Later revealed to be the Fusion Dimensional Counterpart to Yuya, due to them sharing the same face and originally being of one entity, "Zarc". Yuri has captured Ruri and Rin from their respective dimensions on behalf of the Professor and with Serena under their wing, his new task is to capture Yuzu, the fourth and final piece. Cold, cruel and ruthless in his tasks, Yuri is one of the most sadistic characters introduced in the series. He utilizes the Predator Plants, a legion of DARK Plant type monsters that can swarm the field, impairs and ensnares opponents with their effects and sets up ideal conditions for his ace monster, Starving Venom Fusion Dragon. Later episodes show that like his counterparts, his ace dragon can "evolve" into a stronger version of itself, Greedy Venom Fusion Dragon.

In his duel against Asuka, he reveals that he also uses a second deck utilized by special "honor" students of the school, which turns out to be another "Antique Gear" archetype, designed to swarm the field with "Gear" monsters in order to tribute them and power up stronger Antique Gear monsters in their place. However, he later reveals to have modified the deck's original recipe to contain his personal trump card, "Super Polymerization", which fuses any number of monsters on both sides of the field to summon the deck's ace, Antique Gear Ultimate Golem.

Like Yuya, Yuri goes on to absorb one of his dimensional counterparts, Yugo, into his body and gains access to Clear Wing Synchro Dragon. Seeing the power obtained from absorbing just one of his fragments, Yuri then becomes obsessed with absorbing Yuya and Yuto next. However, through a long grueling duel, Yuya reverses the absorption on him instead, thus granting Yuya access to both Clear Wing AND Starve Venom. After all four boys temporarily become Zarc again, Zarc's evil essence is sealed away in an epic duel, resulting in Yuri losing his sadistic tendencies and becoming "normal", content with living inside Yuya.

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Tropes associated with Yuri:

• Ambiguously Gay: More in the dub than the original who used more respectful speech than flamboyant, uses somewhat feminine speech patterns, and treats his fusion with Yuya as something closer to a wedding.
• Agent Peacock: A flashy dresser and a dangerous duelist.
• Alleged Lookalikes: With Yuya, Yuto, and Yugo, he seems to has been mistaken for both Yuto and Yugo by the other. Yuzu first mistakes him for Yuya, but then she remembers that aside from Yuto there is another one who looks like Yuya, so she assumes that he is... Yugo.
• Ancient Grome: Yuri shows Asuka that he was given a "Honor Student Deck" full of Antique Gear monsters and was dueling quite skillfully despite it being the first time using it. Turns out it wasn't and he was just messing with her.
• Antichrist: As a reincarnation of Zarc, he has downright demonic powers and unlike the other counterparts he is evil enough to want to card everyone in the four dimensions.
• Armor-Piercing Attack: The big Antique Gear monsters he uses (Reactor Dragon, Golem and Ultimate Golem) are all capable of inflicting Piercing Damage. Starve Venom also does that once when it copies the effects of Super Vehicroid Jumbo Drill.
• Ax-Crazy: Yuri really loves carding people because it is fun and the Professor is giving him a free pass for that.
• Badass Cape: A short red one resembling Yuya's coat.
• Badass Long Coat: He wears also a coat, since his cape isn't long enough.
• Badass Long Robe: He wore a cloak with a hoodie when he kidnapped Rin and Ruri. Yugo saw his face when Yuri kidnapped the former, but the cloak possibly added extra confusion to the whole Identical Stranger issue for Yugo, as Yuri's cloak resembles Yuto's cape.
• The Bad Guy Wins: Despite not wanting to lose to Yuya, Yuri ends up taking his loss well and gets his wish anyway; becoming one with all his counterparts and restoring their original power.
• Berserk Button: His button seems to be being mistaken for someone else. Getting in his way also annoys the crap out of him, even more so when someone starts to take the advantage over him in a duel.
• Beware the Silly Ones: Even his basic speaking is theatrical and rather silly. Make no mistake, he's just as capable of switching to sadistic and dead serious, though he does it far less frequently than in the original.
• Big Ol' Eyebrows: Has very thick, pink eyebrows.
• Blood Knight: He wanted to duel Serena rather than just arrest her to make it more fun. When he notices Serena's current condition, he offers to duel Sora instead. He expresses little interest at Yugo's demands until he remembers that he beat Serena and decides to duel him. In Episode 123, he expresses interest in dueling one of the strongest female duelists in the school, Asuka.
• Brilliant, but Lazy: Has some shades of this, as in Episode 86 he complains that it is a pain that Starve Venom brought him to Yugo.
• Broken Win/Loss Streak: He remarks that his loss to Yuya was his first ever defeat in a duel.
• Calling Your Attacks: He notably averts this with his ace monster and its upgraded form, making Starve Venom and Greedy Venom the only ones of the Four Heavenly Dragons that lack any names for their attacks and effects.
• Casting a Shadow: All of his monsters are DARK monsters, except the Antique Gears. His ace, Starve Venom Fusion Dragon, even requires 2 DARK monsters as its Fusion Materials.
• Character Tic: Occasionally licks his lips.
• Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are: As if it wasn't obvious enough that he's a sociopath, he's shown to do this to both Yuzu and Rin, clearly enjoying himself while cornering them, and in Rin's case saying to her face that their game of hide and seek was over. Later it's revealed this was the same for Ruri.
• The Comically Serious:
  • Despite being a psychopathic Agent Peacock, Yuri gets dumbfounded at Yuya's Synchronization and deliberately messes with Yugo about his name sounding similar to "fusion"
  • He is slightly disturbed by the weird appearance of the Ojamas, which becomes hilarious when he's slightly annoyed to command his Starve Venom to attack Ojama King.
  • After he manages to inflict damage to Asuka during their duel, he childishly begins chanting "hurry up" while Asuka is trying to recover from Yuri's last attack.
• Conveniently an Orphan: He mentions in episode 123 the first thing he remembers is being in the Academia and having no family.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Almost every duel he engages in becomes one-sided as soon he gets serious. In fact, he claims to have never lost before and respects those who manage to put up even the slightest resistance. Case in point, he stomps through Ruri, Rin, Yuzu, the Academia defectors, Asuka, Sora, Kaito, Edo, Yugo, and even Yusho, and the latter two are the ones he considers to be the strongest he's ever faced.
• Dark Is Evil: All of his non-Antique Gear monsters are DARK monsters and look vicious. Two DARK monsters are the required Fusion Material for his ace monster, Starve Venom Fusion Dragon who is by far the most vicious of the Four Heavenly Dragons.
• Deadpan Snarker: Yuri's a sadistic monster but he's hilarious due to his many sarcastic lines especially when he's with Yugo.
• Death by Irony: For all the gloating about Yuya being "his", Yuri ends up being defeated, and then absorbed by the very same person whom he wants to take away from Yusho.
• Death Glare: He gives a chilling one to Yugo.
• Didn't See That Coming: Yuri becomes surprised when Yuzu's bracelet teleports him somewhere else.
  • When he boasts Starve Venom Fusion Dragon's effects to Yuya, Yuya himself tells him that won't matter because he had 3600 life points left. Yuya then destroys his dragon with Odd-Eyes' double effect.
• Dishing Out Dirt: His secondary Antique Gear deck is full of EARTH monsters.
• The Dragon: For the Professor. He also captured Ruri and Rin for him. Episode 91 shows that he is very highly ranked within the Obelisk Force, who are the Professor's hand picked force, calling him "-sama" showing he's above them in ranking.
• The Dreaded: Almost everyone is afraid of Yuri, to the point that just the threat of him coming on the scene is enough to motivate people. Roget doesn't want Academia to invade the Synchro Dimension, but he's terrified when he thinks Yuri might come. Even his own allies fear him; when Yuzu is about to duel Obelisk Force and Yuri arrives looking for her, the latter quickly clear out^note after Yuri threatened to card them no less, and Barrett tells the Professor he can complete his mission alone and doesn't want Yuri around. For his part, Yuri seems to enjoy being feared, and is shown sadistically toying with his opponents on multiple occasions. Episode 123 delves a bit into Yuri's background; as a child, he was a genius duelist who crushed all his opponents but his creepy and intimidating demeanor alienated everyone around him and he soon became lonely. It's even shown that he's a bit jealous that someone strong like Asuka manages to be loved while he ends up alone.
• Duels Decide Everything: Invoked, whenever Yuri goes to secure a bracelet girl he always duels them to give them a chance to escape. He usually does this for fun.
• Easily Forgiven: Like Yuto and Yugo, Yuri is now "trapped" within Yuya, aiding him with advice and giving Yuya access to his ace monster, Starve Venom Fusion Dragon. Not only is Yuya cool with Yuri living within him now but he shrugs off Yuri's past actions and treats him like he was always "one of the guys" despite his willingness to seal countless victims into cards, including Yuya's father, all while laughing cruelly about it. Justified, since Zarc's influence and the Professor's Player Killing encouragement might've convinced Yuri into committing such horrible acts. Yuri's purification can possibly be symbolized by Odd-Eyes Venom Dragon, as commented Sora and the de-carded Asuka, as well as its summon chant.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Yuri finds the idea of innocent entertainment laughable and instead prefers his opponents to suffer while he comes out on top. Episode 123 shows that the idea of friendship is repugnant to him now and "carding" everyone in the world and across every dimension until he's the only one left is his greatest dream.
• Evil Counterpart:
  • His Starve Venom Fusion Dragon is one for Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon, resembling a heavily distorted and corrupted version of it. It also looks like a twisted version of Clear Wing Synchro Dragon, too. Additionally, the way how its first effect looks is very similar to Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon's Treason Discharge effect.
  • Yuri introduces in Episode 135 a Trap counterpart called "Ridicule World", which like Yuya's Spell Card "Smile World" increases the ATK of all monsters on the field by 100 but with the sinister effect of preventing monsters from attacking if their ATK is higher than its original stat. The photo of the trap card also has evil faces laughing mockingly, opposed to the fun encouraging smiles of Yuya's magic card.
• Evil Doppelgänger: Unlike Yuto, who is just a Foil, and Yugo, who's not that different from Yuto himself, Yuri is indeed a real evil counterpart for Yuya. Word of God states that he works for Academia for fun.
• Evil Feels Good: Episode 123 reveals that at this point Yuri finds carding people fun and refuses to stop, considering it to be as natural as breathing at that point.
• Evil Is Petty: Despite his atrocities of kidnapping girls and carding people, he takes time to make Yugou/fusion Troll puns to Yugo.
• Evil Sounds Deep. Inverted; his voice is actually the highest-pitched of the four boys, including Yuya, who shares the same voice actor. In contrast, the Fusion Dimension counterpart of the bracelet girls (who was an Anti-Villain at her worst) has the deepest voice.
• Eviler than Thou: Yuri and his Superpowered Evil Side prove to be eviler than the Professor.
• Expy: Being an Ax-Crazy Psycho for Hire themed after poison and carnivorous plants, Yuri is an unholy blend of Supreme King Judai, Professor Cobra, Yubel and Black Rose Witch Aki pressed into a single character and let loose on the universe. Bonus points for his reasons to commit unambiguously evil acts. His peerless expertise with more "classic" Ancient Gear cards, combined with his dandily shrill demeanour give him shades of Professor Chronos as well.
• Faux Affably Evil: He seems to be somewhat respectful, if mocking, to Yuzu despite it being his mission to capture her. That said, he also heartlessly seals Olga and Halil into cards just because they were in the way.
• Flat "What": Yuri realizing that Yuya is about to win the duel when Yuya negates Yuri's trap effects against Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon and has it attack Starve Venom Fusion Dragon.
• Foe Romance Subtext: A frightening example; after learning about the power he can gain from fusing with counterparts after absorbing Yugo, Yuri becomes obsessed with dueling Yuya and will not allow anyone to get in his way. He even screams at Yusho that Yuya is all "his".
• For the Evulz: Seems to be the reason why he does anything. A good example is episode 91 when Yuri finds Serena. He admits he could easily capture her due to her current state but refuses as it would be too boring and instead wants to duel her with her freedom at stake.
• Foreshadowing: He was shown in the second opening after Yuto and Yugo, Yuya's other alternative selves.
  • Viewers got a glimpse of Yuri's dimensional dragon, which is shrouded in shadow: a giant, snake-like purple monstrosity with red eyes.^note Its eyes are actually green. A similar thing happened with Clear Wing Synchro Dragon. When it is finally revealed, it doesn't look like its silhouette at all.
  • In the fourth opening in the shot with the other counterparts, behind him is what appears to be a web. But upon closer inspection it's vines.
• Formal Characters Use Keigo: Almost always speaks in an extremely polite manner, even as he's torturing and killing people by turning them into cards. If he stops speaking this way, it means he's either pissed off, reveling in his own insanity and bloodlust, or both at once.
• From Bad to Worse: Yuri shows up and orders three Obelisk Force members to leave Yuzu alone. Yuzu would've been better off fighting the three minions...
• Get It Over With: After he loses to Yuya, he simply expresses hope that the latter will absorb him quickly.
• Graceful Loser: Surprisingly. While shocked over losing, he was fine with losing to Yuya nonetheless. Mostly because in his own words, Yuya is Yuri and Yuya will simply absorb him (and Yugo) and become one to become the Devil Duelist. Which is exactly what Yuya is doing.
• Green Thumb: He uses a Predator Plants deck, which is full of carnivorous Plant-Type monsters.
• Hated by All: Pretty much everyone who has ever met Yuri, even within Academia, fears and/or hates him because of his sadistic, ruthless demeanor. Best exemplified during the "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight against Zarc, which is largely directed at Yuya with concern occasionally directed toward Yuto and Yugo. Not a single person mentions Yuri.
• Hair Antennae: But don't let them fool you. He's not dumb, and he's not a nice guy at all.
• Hellish Pupils:
  • During Opening 4, in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it-moment, Yuri's eyes take on a reptilian state, making him look even more demonic and creepy. Shows up again briefly during Opening 5 when he's clashing with Yugo.
  • He occasionally gets them when he duels.
• Heel–Face Turn: His sudden personality shift from an Ax-Crazy Jerkass to an eccentric sweet keigo is the cause of Zarc's soul being extracted from Yuya. This is somewhat understandable though, since Zarc has something to do with Yuri's sadistic attitude. Further reinforced by Odd-Eyes Venom Dragon, who is a white Starve Venom Fusion Dragon with a pair of dichromatic eyes and Yuya refers to it as the "radiant dragon with compassionate empathy".
• Hero Killer: As of this post, his carded victims include Asuka, using the Honor Student Deck. While said duel may have been the closest he has come to losing thus far, his winning move revealed that he had actually been holding back, purposely waiting to use Super Polymerization. Ten episodes later, he defeats and cards Yusho.
• Hopeless Boss Fight: Anyone who ends up facing Yuri resulted with them being carded or absorbed by him. His Duel against Yuya is also functioned as this, as whoever wins the Duel will end up becoming Zarc anyway
• I Just Want to Have Friends: In a flashback in Episode 123, Yuri was jealous of Asuka for having admirers and friends due to being a strong duelist. Despite being a strong duelist himself, he ended up all alone. Later in his older years, Yuri loses his desire for friendship, seeing it as laughable.
• I Lied: He claimed to be unfamiliar with the Ancient Gear deck he used against Asuka, but subsequently reveals that he was lying and knows perfectly well how to use it and was just doing it to screw with her.
• Insistent Terminology: Don't address him condescendingly. If you're lucky enough, he'll kindly request that you address him by his name.^note To be exact, he doesn't take it kindly when referred to by condescending second-person and third-person pronouns. In this case, "omae" from Yuya, and "aitsu" from Yuzu, respectively.
• Invincible Villain: Until his duel with Yuya, he won every single duel he'd ever been shown in, and nearly all of them were Curbstomp Battles in his favor, even when he had a massive handicap. He won a five on one duel in one turn and defeated a combination of Yugo, Kaito and Edo Phoenix. It doesn't help that he's carrying a piece of Zarc like his fellow counterparts. Yuya manages to break Yuri's winning streak in Episode 135, but at a terrible cost; he's forced to discard "Smile World" so he can survive against Yuri, setting off a chain of external events that alter his mindset enough for Zarc to take over as soon as he wins.
• Jerkass: Yuri is meant to be Yuya's opposite in every way: Yuya's kind, understanding and wants to make a person smile; Yuri's cruel, impatient and loves filling someone with terror. When asked by Yuzu why he's going around sealing people in cards like he did to poor Olga and Halil, he responds with a nonchalant "they were in my way."
• Just Following Orders:
  • He claims that he's just following the Professor's orders after carding Halil and Olga and attacking Yuzu.
  • He also claims this to Yugo when he demands Yuri to take him to Rin.
• Just Toying with Them: He opts to duel both Asuka and Sora with his weaker Honor Student deck, claiming to have never used it before, but this is only a layer of the deception he plays on the them. This doesn't him from completely wiping the floor with them once he decides to end things.
• Karma Houdini: Besides his one loss to Yuya, Yuri is never punished soundly for all the sins that he's committed nor has he ever shown any type of remorse for what he's done. Instead he now exists within Yuya, together with Yuto and Yugo. This is also justified at the same time because Yuri's Player Killing spree might be Zarc's fault. However, that doesn't excuse the things he did before Zarc had any influence over him, the same things that made him so hated and feared. There's also the fact that unlike Yuya and the others he wholeheartedly embraced said influence from the beginning making the original point very dubious. He has lost his physical agency, however, so this may be downplayed.
• Kick the Dog: He defeated and "carded" Olga and Halil without any regret. He then goes to chase poor Yuzu, all while smiling about it. It's the same when he goes after Ruri and Rin.
  • Rather than simply arrest Serena while she's weakened, he would rather duel her and watch her squirm. When he tries to duel Sora in her place, he mentions how annoying it would be to drag both of them back and would opt for killing him instead.
• Large Ham:
  • Yuri's rather dramatic when he duels. A lot of his actions are similar to stuff Yuya has done when in his entertainer persona. Episode 134 and 135 has Yuri hamming up his evil actions to insane and entertaining degrees.
• Laughing Mad: In his duel with Yuya, Yuri becomes more and more deranged and ends up laughing insanely due to the sheer "pleasure" of dueling against his counterpart. Episode 135 has Yuri jumping off the deep end as he keeps invoking this trope throughout the duel; his final reaction as he realizes he's about to lose to Yuya has him laughing derisively at the situation.
• Le Parkour: He shows some impressive agility in episode 86, easily jumping off the duel palace and avoiding Yugo. In episode 91, Yuri casually flips over a large construction hole and continues his conversation as if nothing had happened.
• Man-Eating Plant: The Predator Plants archetype is based around Venus Flytraps and Pitcher Plants.
• Man of Kryptonite: Theoretically, Yuri is capable of defeating all of his counterparts if his Starve Venom is pitted against their dragons' base forms. To explain why:
  • Starve Venom's first effect allows it to gain ATK equal to the sum of ATK of all Special Summoned monsters the opponent controls. With its second effect, Starve Venom is able to steal Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon's Monster Effect which deals double battle damage when battling Level 5 or higher monsters. In this scenario, Starve Venom would inflict at least 5600 battle damage.
  • If Starve Venom's first or second effect is activated and Clear Wing Synchro Dragon's effect negates it, it would destroy Starve Venom while boosting its own ATK to 5300 ATK. Starve Venom's third effect will be triggered and destroys Clear Wing and all other of Yugo's Special Summoned monsters while inflicting damage equal to the ATK of all destroyed monsters, which would be at least 5300. And since Clear Wing's effect only works against monsters that are on the field, it is unable to negate Starve Venom's third effect.
  • This scenario is the most risky one; if Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon uses its effect against Starve Venom twice and destroys it in battle, Yuri would take 3900 battle damage, which is barely enough to survive if he has all of his Life Points. If Yuri survives the attack, Starve Venom's third effect will be triggered and Yuto would lose all of his Special Summoned monsters and would lose at least 4600 Life Points.
  • This ended up causing Yugo's loss in their duel, and almost ended up causing Yuya to lose during their duel; Yuya winning with the damage-doubling effect of Odd-Eyes rather than the other dragons.
• Manipulative Bastard: He kidnaps Rin and leads Yugo to the Xyz Dimension where he meets Yuto. The two assume the each other as enemies and fight, while Yuri is hiding and smiling in the background.
• Meaningful Name: Yuri, or Joeri means "farmer".^note  Although Yuri comes from Russian transliteration, while Joeri is from Dutch. Which fits, considering the type of Deck he uses.
• Mechanical Lifeforms: The Antique Gear deck he uses is a pure Machine-Type deck, with its members being based on different beasts, like hounds, wyverns, golems or dragons or literal gears.
• Motive Decay: He implies that he got invested in carding people because it made the Professor happy, but he later did it just for fun.
• Nightmare Face: Episode 135 has Yuri display this type of face in typical Yu-Gi-Oh! antagonist fashion: one eye being bigger than the other, complete with wild mood swings and insane laughter. Yami Marik, Yami Bakura, Saiou and Vector would be proud.
• Not So Above It All: Despite all his evil acts, Yuri gleefully makes Fusion puns at Yugo's expense. He's also quick to lose patience at the Synchro duelist's Idiot Hero moments.
• Not So Similar: While Yuri is the most similar in personality to Zarc at the time of his death, the more we learn of Zarc, the more differences we see. Yuri and Zarc are both sadistic, cocky and powerful duelists that want to essentially kill everyone else in reality to prove their power. Yuri has complete confidence in himself that he'll win while Zarc is actually quite insecure underneath all of his arrogance with Crow even suggesting he could lose deeply annoying him. Their general attitudes are quite different with Yuri being a complete troll and being willing to pretend his opponent has the advantage over him as his duels with Asuka and Yugo before quickly turning the tables on them, Zarc refuses to shut up about his overwhelming power and how no one stands a chance. The final difference is how they regard Entertainment dueling with Yuri being unable to understand its core principle of making everyone happy while Zarc once wanted to make everyone smile and despite his current hatred of it, still cares for the idea.
• Obviously Evil: If his smug face during his introduction isn't enough, the second version of the second opening highlights how evil he looks.
• Omnicidal Maniac: In his words, he'll turn everyone in existence into cards until he's the last one standing.
• One-Hit Polykill: In episode 106, after setting up for an big counterattack with Skid Drosera, Yuri uses a combo with Starve Venom and another Skid Drosera to get a One-Turn Five Kill.
• One-Man Army: He beat five people in a five on one duel in one turn, and later proved his skill by beating Asuka with a deck that he is supposedly unfamiliar with. He also defeated Yugo, Edo, and Kaito when they ganged up on him.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
  • He's almost always Faux Affably Evil or smiling evilly. That's why his Death Glare to Yugo is so damn terrifying.
  • And in a humorous variant, his confusion after waking up from the synchronization, and then shock at Yugo thinking Yuzu is dead.
  • Normally, when the dragon boys are awakening, they usually are either in Tranquil Fury or have an Unstoppable Rage or even both. However, episode 123 showcases Yuri's awakening without getting angry at all, instead he becomes very diabolic.
  • In Episode 130 he is uncharacteristically annoyed by Edo, calling him a "scumbag" and a "creep". He looked completely disgusted by Edo's Destiny HERO Duskutopia Guy.
  • If he drops his hammy way of speaking in the dub, then he's about to bring the pain.
• Over-the-Shoulder Carry: How he kidnapped Rin.
• Pet the Dog: By the time Yuri shows up in front of Yuya again, he's no longer the same Ax-Crazy Jerkass from before, even entrusting his Starve Venom to Yuya.
• Planimal: Starve Venom Fusion Dragon incorporates several features of deadly plants into its body, including several Venus Flytrap maws, thorns, and petals. Its tail also resembles a vine.
• Poison Is Evil: His ace dragon, Starve Venom Fusion Dragon, is the most vicious of the Four Heavenly Dragon.
• Poisonous Person: His dragon is implied to be one, its name is Starve Venom Fusion Dragon. It is also part of the Venom Archetype due to sharing the same katakana.
• Product Placement: He uses the Honor Student deck to promote the upcoming Machine Dragon Re-Volt Structure Deck.
• Perpetual Smiler: He is always seen with a smug smile on his face.
• Psycho for Hire: Supplementary materials reveal that he only works for Academia because it's fun. As seen in the anime, he follows the Professor's orders without questions and does not care about the reasons behind them as long as he has fun doing his missions.
• Purple Is Powerful: He is primarily dressed in purple and is The Dreaded. Starve Venom Fusion Dragon has also more base-ATK and Levels than the other three dragons and thanks to its upgraded anime effects, it is also the most powerful of them.
• Redemption Rejection: Yuri cruelly rejects Asuka's attempts to turn him to the good side. He also mocks Edo's statement that the latter will get him to smile again.
• The Rival: To Yugo, who spends most of the show trying to hunt him down for capturing Rin, meeting time and time again without a real conclusion. Yuri himself considers Yugo to be nothing more than a slight hindrance until their final duel, during which he acknowledges Yugo as an alternate version of himself and thus a worthy opponent, and defeats him nonetheless.
• Shout-Out: His dragon's name includes Venom, seemingly in reference to the archetype used by Professor Cobra in GX. Starve Venom also shows parallels to snakes, since all other Venom monsters are snakes.
• Sissy Villain: While this Trope is common for the franchise as a whole, Yuri stands out among guys like Pegasus and Mr. Heartland. While many such villains have some humor potential and/or redeeming qualities that keeps them from being true monsters, Yuri has neither (unless you count his moments of false kindness)^note at least until he fuses with Yuya. He's a Sissy Villain who's a cruel sadist and dangerous threat.
• Slasher Smile: Most of his smiles are these and they are disturbing!!
• Smoke Out: Flashbomb variant, he uses the spell card Violet Flash in this manner to escape.
• Smug Smiler: In his first appearance. The title of Episode 47 is even called "The Cold Smile of Yuri". This becomes the norm for him whenever he speaks to anyone unless they manage to annoy him.
• The Sociopath: Yuri has no respect for human life and he enjoys carding other people. He wouldn't mind turning everyone into cards even if he's the only one left and he greatly enjoys the idea, since it would make him the strongest.
• Soft-Spoken Sadist: Yuri is very calm in his speech, but absolutely enjoys being a Duel Soldier. Shown very well in episode 54 where we see Yuri capture Rin and again in episode 75 when he captures Ruri.
• Spanner in the Works: Towards the Professor. Due to Yuri's trollish and sadistic nature, he both liked to take his time capturing the Bracelet Girl and messing with the other Dragon Boys. His actions lead to the Dragon Boys gaining grudges against each other which sped up Zarc's revival, something the Professor wanted to prevent.
• The Starscream: His Omnicidal Maniac speech in Episode 123 implies that once he's done carding with everyone, he'll do the same to his boss.
• Taking You with Me: His Greedy Venom Fusion Dragon has an effect that when it's destroyed it'll destroy every monster on the field and deal damage to opponents based on the added ATK of their destroyed monsters.
• Token Evil Teammate: Serves as this for his dimensional counterparts.
• Troll: Boy howdy, he gives Vector a run for his money.
  • Deliberately antagonizes Yugo by making several Fusion puns. Later when he thinks that Yugo is messing with him by saying Yuzu exists within his "heart" and can "see her anytime", Yuri mentions the same should apply to Rin.
  • Episode 123 may have well has been called "Yuri trolls Asuka and Sora". Let's count:
    • He claims that the "Honor Student Deck" that he's using is completely new to him and for him to utilize it so skillfully must mean he's a genius. It turns out he always knew how to use it.
    • Baits Asuka into thinking she got through to him and then spitefully rejects her, calling her a great "Honor Student" since she "honest to a fault".
    • Reveals that Sora's attempts at locking Yuri out with grids could easily be opened by the guy; he didn't do it earlier because he wanted Sora trapped and needed an "audience". Sora's reaction says it all.
  • He flashes a carded Yusho in front of Yuya's face, who then completely loses his shit, breaks free from the Binding Swords of Impact, and confronts Yuri in a Duel.
  • He defeats Yugo by having Starving Venom negate then copy Clear Wing's effect, just so he loses to his own monster.
• This Cannot Be!: Yuri's last words as Yuya's final attack wipes out the rest of his Life Points during their duel in Episode 135.
• Took a Level in Kindness: Zarc being sealed away also purified Yuri of most of his rotten personality, thus allowing him to act as "normal" as Yuto and Yugo and exist peacefully within Yuya, encouraging the latter to use his ace monster, Starve Venom Fusion Dragon. Even the dragon's summon chant loses its underlying menace.
• Unskilled, but Strong: During his duel with Asuka, he decides to use the Honor Student Ancient Gear deck instead of his usual Predaplant deck, leaving him reading off his card effects as he uses them. Subverted, as he knew how to use it all along.
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Implied by a picture of 11-year-old him shown in Episode 117, where he looks entirely like a normal kid, no sign of cruelty or sadism. Episode 123 shows that he was shunned by his peers and whatever sweetness that was in him was sucked out by the Professor's parenting style. Becomes "sweet" again after being saved from Zarc and existing within Yuya.
• Villainous Breakdown: Zigzagged. Once he becomes focused on fusing with his counterparts, his former Blood Knight tendencies give way to impatience and rage whenever unrelated Duelists keep getting in his way. To the point of yelling at Yuya's own father that Yuya belongs to him and nobody else. While as the duel against Yuya continues Yuri is noticeably unstable, that was caused by Zarc's influence, and he actually takes the loss well.
• Waistcoat of Style: Under his Badass Long Coat. How many layers does this guy wear anyway?
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: Episode 123 reveals that Yuri started carding people because it made the Professor, who was the only person that showed any interest in him, happy. Said episode also revealed he outgrew it in the worst way possible.
• When All You Have Is a Hammer…: In contrast to the other dragon boys, who can routinely win without needing their dragons, Yuri's strategy is pretty much "Fusion Summon my Dimension Dragon as quick as I can, then wreak havoc with it because it's so good I don't need anything else".
• When He Smiles: He smiles most of the time, but it's either Slasher Smiles or Smug Smiles. In Episode 125, he does make a very warm smile, which catches Sora off-guard... only to show a Slasher Smile and his Hellish Pupils immediately afterwards.
• Whole Costume Reference: Yuri's outfit resembles Judai's Supreme King armor with the cape and long coat even having spheres to hold the cape. But it was made by the Academia mixing Judai's two looks.
• Wild Card: Yuri doesn't care about sides as seen in Episode 47; he'll seal anyone that gets in his way into cards as he threatened the Obelisk Force for trying to duel his target Yuzu and actually "carding" Halil and Olga. He only seems to listen to the Professor, and the only reason why is because he is allowed to card people. Episode 123 implies he's fully willing to turn on the Professor eventually.
• Willfully Weak: For his duel with Asuka, he uses an Ancient Gear deck instead of his regular one, which is much stronger as might be expected.
• Worthy Opponent: As a result of his duel against Yugo, Yuri sees all his counterparts as this. Episode 132 adds Yusho to that list.
• World's Strongest Man: Clearly Academia's strongest warrior, as he claims to be undefeated and defeats Edo Phoenix, the commander of the Academia forces himself, as if an afterthought.
• Xanatos Gambit: No matter whether he is going to win or lose to any of his counterparts, the loser will be absorbed by one of the others and become one and form Zarc. In the end, Yuya beats Yuri and absorbs him.

Other

WARNING - The following profile has all unmarked spoilers for the late episodes of the series.

Zarc (Z-ARC)

Zarc/Supreme King Dragon Zarc (Z-ARC/Supreme King Z-ARC)

Voiced by: Kensho Ono (JP), Michael Liscio. Jr (EN)

Zarc in his original human form

^{Click here to see Zarc's revived form}

The titular main antagonist of the series, a Duelist from the Original Dimension who is the original form of Yuya Sakaki and his other doppelgangers Yuto, Yugo and Yuri, as well as the original owner of the Four Heavenly Dragons: Odd-Eyes Dragon, Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon, Clear Wing Synchro Dragon and Starve Venom Fusion Dragon.

Originally a kind person with an innate ability to communicate with monsters, Zarc wished to bring smiles and entertainment to the world at large, similar to Yuya. After he accidentally injured an opponent in a duel, the audience cheered this display and demanded more violent duels to entertain them, which Zarc decided to indulge in. Soon the overwhelming peer pressure from citizens to partake in more violence, combined with Zarc's own deep insecurities about losing, took a drastic toll on his psyche. As Zarc's blood lust eventually reached a fever point, he finally broke and turned his ace monsters against the stadium. With Zarc and his dragons satisfied with the destruction caused, they decided to never feel helpless and "used" by others ever again, fusing themselves together with the power of Astrograph Magician to become a nightmarish creature. Re-naming himself "Supreme King Dragon Zarc", the new abomination boasted that he now had the "powers of a God" and moved to destroy the world itself.

Unfortunately for Zarc, a beautiful duelist by the name of Ray defeated his "god-like" form with the power of nature; the end result being that Zarc's soul and body was split across the four dimensions, reincarnating as Yuya and his counterparts. But ever since that fateful day, remnants of Zarc's essence in each of his incarnations have been desperately trying to get all four boys to join together again, bringing about his revival. Eventually, he succeeds and revives himself with Yuya as his base body, ready to bring ruin across the Dimensions once again.

Despite his overwhelming powers, Zarc is eventually taken down by the combined efforts of Ray, Reira, Edo, Kaito, Jack and the rest of the Lancers, with his "fragment" Yuya proving pivotal in bringing about Zarc's second downfall. While promising to return a third time, Zarc is denied that chance when soul is sealed away into Reira's body. Through a series of future events, Yuya is finally able to make Reira smile with his dueling and, by extension, restore Zarc's faith in humanity and pacify his soul, thus ensuring that his inner evil will never threaten the dimensions ever again.

When he duels, Zarc uses a deck named after his title, the "Supreme King" set of cards, which focus on summoning out his ace, "Supreme King Z-ARC," and protecting it with powerful backrow. His Pendulum cards, the "Supreme King Gates," protect his life points, and he can punish Extra Deck users by using his main deck Darkwyrm monsters to make counterpoint monsters on their turn, usually by overwhelming them with raw power.

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Tropes associated with Zarc:

• Achilles' Heel: The Natural Energy Cards (a series of Continuous Spell Cards created by Leo Akaba and are composed of En Birds, En Flowers, En Moon, and En Winds), which were responsible for Zarc's initial downfall at Ray's hands.
  • Defied in Episode 139, where Zarc denies the Professor the opportunity to defeat the former in the same manner as Ray.
  • Played straight in Episode 140 when Ray, inhabiting Reira's body, activates the cards in her father's stead…again. The effects of the four En cards together turn any monster that's Fusion, Synchro, or Xyz, into normal cards and negate all of their effects. Then they destroy all monsters that have had their effects negated and deal 600 points of damage for each one destroyed.
• All Your Powers Combined: As the predecessor to his counterparts, Zarc's deck is capable of summoning all Four Heavenly Dragons. It's taken to the extreme with "Supreme King Dragon Zarc" being a hybrid Pendulum/Fusion/Synchro/Xyz Monster.
• Antiquated Linguistics: After he's revived, he speaks like this, using "ware" instead of "ore" as he did in the Professor's flashback. He slips back to "ore" after the Professor shows up to confront him, however.
• Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better: Once he brings out his monster counterpart, Zarc really starts pouring on the irony by functioning as a sort of mirror match. He utilizes the same summoning methods his immediate opponents do, he revives Clear Wing in a manner similar to Crow's own Phantom Synchro when the latter joins in, and he attacks all of Reiji's High Kings with Supreme King Servant Dragons of the corresponding card type, defeating each one with ease.
• Arch-Enemy: To Ray. He even created Pendulum Summoning to counter her the next time they fought. Too bad he never got the chance to fight her one on one and take advantage of the new summoning mechanic.
• Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Supreme King Dragon Zarc towers over every other monster in the series. It's as tall as buildings, with wings dozens of times as big as that.
• Ax-Crazy: In his current incarnation, Zarc is only concerned with proving his power by destroying everything in his path and beating down everyone who stands against him.
• Back from the Dead: This is Zarc's goal. He returns after Yuya and Yuri's Duel.
• Badass Boast: His That Man Is Dead speech against Sora and Edo also counts as this.
• Beast of the Apocalypse: A titanic Draconic Abomination with godlike power who lays waste to the Original Dimension and almost does the same with the multiverse.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: Supreme King Dragon Zarc is the end result. Due to the audience's blood lust, Zarc grew more and more violent and powerful. In the end, he decided to become all powerful because the people wanted more and as a way to pay them all back for their selfishness in driving him insane.
• Berserk Button: Telling Zarc that he fears losing gets a rise out of him and he goes out of his way to reinforce that he will never lose since he obtained the powers of a "God". Crow and Sawatari intentionally keep pushing this button as a way to reach out to Yuya's soul, even going as far as calling Zarc a coward for "hiding" behind all his monster's protective effects.
• Big Bad: He's the true culprit behind everything that's happened over the course of the series, from the Professor's Start of Darkness to the Dragon Boys' Superpowered Evil Side.
• Blood Knight: Zarc eventually became one due to the audience. When he won the championship, he still wanted to fight more, leading him to summon his four dragons to attack the world, and upon his revival in the Fusion Dimension, Zarc's first action was to demand an opponent to duel him. At the same time, however, it's also subverted in his duels against the Lancers where Crow and Sawatari accuse him of being a Dirty Coward for his Purposely Overpowered deck along with bringing up the idea of him losing, that he immediately stops enjoying the duels and starts to have a Villainous Breakdown.
  • In the English Dub, however, this trope is entirely played straight by having Zarc becoming a dark deconstruction of the Challenge Seeker by taking it to its logical conclusion. Instead of going mad from power, Zarc becomes mad when nobody wants to answer his call for challenges anymore after becoming the Duel Champion and decides to "challenge the whole world" instead. In his duel against the Lancers, he even boasts as how his Purposely Overpowered deck is the result of his hard work to continue evolving in duels, which is a far cry from the Dirty Coward who uses the deck to make it impossible for him to lose.
• Boss Rush: Inverted, where all the Lancers (along with Edo and Kaito), rush him two at a time, attempting to take him down, not even bothering to start a new duel. This ultimately proves instrumental in bringing about his defeat since every duelist's monsters who fell against Zarc provided the necessary materials for Ray to activate the "En" Cards.
• Break the Haughty: Zarc regrets "becoming one" with his fragments when Crow, Sawatari, and Yuya inflict this on him before Reira and Ray put him down.
• Became Their Own Antithesis: Episode 147 reveals that Zarc originally wanted everyone, humans and monsters alike to be happy. But mankind's blood lust drove him insane trying to make them happy. In the end, Zarc became a god that tried to destroy the world and stated he wanted to give people fear instead of smiles. He finally realized how far he had fallen in the same episode.
• Bond Villain Stupidity: Despite knowing of and fearing the Natural Energy Cards after they beat him in his original plans for conquest, Z-Arc never patches up his ace's weakness to them in the years since his defeat, meaning after Reira gains them and Ray possesses their body, he's again defeated by them with the aid of Yuya throwing away his chance to retaliate.
• Breath Weapon: As "Supreme King Dragon Zarc", he has one.
• But Not Too Challenging: Z-ARC is ultimately revealed to have this attitude as the Duel drags on. Despite his Blood Knight and Challenge Seeker tendencies, he quickly feels insulted when Sawatari and Crow accuse him of being a Dirty Coward who is so scared of losing that he masks these insecurities behind his "Godly persona" and using a "control strategy" with Purposely Overpowered cards he created from his Reality Warper powers compared to Yuya's more daring strategies and more well-rounded cards. When Z-ARC actually does lose against the Lancers despite all efforts, he undergoes a huge Villainous Breakdown.
• Came Back Strong: Invoked, where he created Pendulum Summoning to counter Ray the next time they meet.
• Card-Carrying Villain: Averted. While Zarc refuses to admit it, Ray states the reason for Yuya's pendulum is because Zarc himself had good in him as well. And said good became Yuya.
• Contractual Boss Immunity: Supreme King Dragon Zarc completely shuts down all card effects that would make it leave the field in any way, and in the same effect is immune to destruction in battle. As Sawatari discovers, this is to prevent the heroes from taking out Zarc's ace monster with any basic monster removal effect.
• Composite Character: Acts as a combination of previous villains Zorc, Supreme King Judai, Darkness, Z-one, and Don Thousand.
  • Like Zorc, he's a dragon-esque creature of darkness that seeks to destroy the world and claims he exists because of the evil in humanity. Zarc is also only one letter away from Zorc.
  • Aside from sharing his title (at least part of it) with Supreme King Judai, Zarc, too, is a young boy who could hear duel spirits and was driven to evil and is a past incarnation of the main hero that takes over his reincarnation's body to be reborn. Also like Judai and Yubel, Zarc eventually fused with his monsters to become a hybrid being.
  • Like Z-one, Zarc is an evil alternate version of the hero who is revealed near the end of the series to be the real villain behind everything, and he apparently has the powers of a god. Zarc's name is sometimes given as "Z-arc," paralleling the formatting of Z-one's name.
  • Like Don Thousand, he was defeated in the backstory of the series in a battle that split dimensions apart, and he needs to absorb a group of characters to fuel his revival in the present.
• Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: Like how Yuya is a Contrasting Sequel Main Character, Zarc is a contrasting antagonist to the mentioned villains he combines traits of.
  • Like Zorc, Zarc is a being of darkness who wishes to destroy the world. But Zorc was always evil and is a force of nature, while Zarc began as a human and was able to take power due to science.
  • The Supreme King like Zarc was reincarnated into their series' main protagonist and has the power to hear duel spirits. However, the Supreme King was revealed to be a benevolent being that was corrupted by his negative emotions, while Zarc was corrupted by the negative emotions of the duel spirits that spoke to him.
  • Like Darkness, Zarc is effectively an embodiment of a negative aspect of humanity's collective consciousness who believe that they exist simply because humanity wills it so. Darkness represents humanity's collective fear of the future, and their tendency towards nihilism as a result of that fear. Zarc represents humanity's inherent lust for violence and death, and their willingness to act upon those desires no matter how cruel or evil they are. Notably, Darkness actually foreshadowed Zarc's existence during GX, believing that those exact traits would create somebody with that sort of mindset. Zarc is the end result of that belief, and the ideal of nihilism as a whole - he's an Übermensch with a god complex who believes that all of humanity deserves to die because of how they treated him like a toy, being unwilling to see how much the kind of entertainment they wanted was torturing him and his four dragons until they finally broke and went insane trying to live up to their expectations.
  • Like Z-one, Zarc is an alternate version of the main hero that acts as an antagonist and is spoken of as a god. But where Z-one was a Well-Intentioned Extremist who was going to destroy only Neo Domino City to avert a Bad Future where the world was destroyed, Zarc is plain evil and wants to destroy everything for no reason other than playing "God". Additionally, Z-one's godhood is repeatedly reinforced by the other members of Yliaster who see him as one, while Zarc's godhood is self-declared.
  • Like Don Thousand, he spends the majority of the series asleep, trying to absorb a group of characters to revive and finish the destruction of the world he began beforehand. But while Don Thousand seeks the destruction of the Astral World in order to claim power and is only interested in that end goal, Zarc seeks the destruction of the multiverse to prove his power and will duel any challengers as part of that goal.
  • He has trace elements of Seto Kaiba as well due to his being extremely proud and possessive of his ace dragon monsters and ultimately losing to what is essentially a much more elaborate spell card version of Exodia.
• The Corruption:
  • His soul acts like this to Dragon Boys when they give in to anger, they grow more violent and bloodthirsty.
  • The Supreme King Servant Dragon versions of the Four Heavenly Dragons makes it seem he's this to the Four Heavenly Dragons too.
• Cosmic Retcon: His defeats are the result of this. Twice:
  • His first defeat was handed to him by Ray, who uses four nature Spell cards that not only defeated him, but split the four of them into different people and split the original dimension into the Standard, Fusion, Synchro, and Xyz dimensions.
  • His second defeat by Ray-possessed Reira and Yuya's control by using Smile Universe by giving Reira up to 8500 life points and allows her to use En's effect of inflicting 1200 points to his 1000. Reira then seals Zarc before he can split his soul again and the Standard Dimension becomes the Pendulum Dimension.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Since his resurrection, he's been handing them out like candy.
  • During his duel against Edo and Sora, he was able to double his life points and then summon Supreme King Dragon Zarc, defeating them.
  • Kurosaki and Kaito couldn't do anything against Zarc and lost without damaging his life points.
  • Gongenzaka and Jack, too, failed to scratch Zarc's LP. He would've lost LP from the battle between his Supreme King Servant Dragon - Clear Wing and Jack's Tyrant Red Dragon Archfiend if it weren't for the Pendulum Effects of Supreme King Gates Zero and Infinity.
  • Again, with Crow and Sawatari. Crow only successfully whittles down the LP Zarc gained from the above mentioned battle, and Sawatari's attempts to destroy "Supreme King Dragon Zarc" fail twice.
  • Hell, Leo Akaba, too. He attempts to defeat Zarc in the same way Ray did, only to be denied the opportunity and suffer a One-Turn Kill.
  • Downplayed when Reiji confronts him, who whittles down at least half of his LP (since the start of the episode) with the combined efforts of the DDD High King Executive Monsters. Zarc defeats him nevertheless in a single turn just as Reira intervenes in the Duel.
  • Finally, inverted with Reira/Ray due to finally playing the "En" Cards and cutting their power loose. Though Zarc promised a potential comeback, Yuya prevented him from doing so, allowing Reira/Ray to deliver the finishing blow.
• Dark Reprise: His summon chants for the Supreme King Servant Dragons are this, twisting their messages:
  • Dark Rebellion's original chant speaks of fighting those foolish enough to oppose it. Zarc's summon chant commands it to give in and obey his will.
  • Clear Wing's original chant has it striking down enemies with rays of light. Zarc's chant for it talks about using its wings to deceive enemies.
  • Odd-Eyes' original chant was about it's beautiful and wonderful eyes, Zarc's is about it's scorching eyes. In the dub, he tells it to "turn up the fear" as opposed to Yuya telling it to "turn up the heat."
• Demon of Human Origin: He became a "god" by fusing himself with the Four Heavenly Dragons, earning the title "Devil Duelist" by laying waste to the original dimension.
• Demonic Possession: He has the ability to inflict this on his reincarnations when they are induced into berserk rage.
• Didn't See That Coming: He didn't expect that Yuya would hijack his body, which ultimately costed him the Duel against Reira and Ray.
• Dirty Coward: Sawatari and Crow claim that Zarc is this, as evidenced by his multiple protection effects.
• Draconic Humanoid: His body following his resurrection is essentially Yuya's body with several draconian features grafted on.
• Dragons Are Demonic: As Supreme King Dragon Zarc, he is an almighty dragon of destruction. He's called a devil by the cast as well for his power and evilness.
• The Dreaded: Once the cast learns about Zarc, he easily becomes this. This carries over into Duel Links, where the cast are all rightfully paranoid about the idea of Z-Arc returning due to Duel Links being able to access their memories. Part of Reiji's goal in Duel Links is to be ready for a potential return of Zarc by reuniting the Lancers and observing the other worlds in the game to see if they can be relied on.
• Eldritch Abomination: As "Supreme King Dragon Zarc".
• Emerald Power: As a Duelist champion, he has green strands of hair, and as "Supreme King Dragon Zarc", he has green portions.
• Enemy Within: He exists inside each of the Dragon Boys and wants to absorb them to be revived. Simply being in proximity of each other for too long lets Zarc begin to influence them to try and make them fight, since whoever wins will absorb the other and bring Zarc one step closer to his reincarnation.
• Evil Doppelgänger:
  • To Yuya. He's more of one than even Yuri. While Yuri is Yuya's opposite, Zarc similarly wanted to entertain people. The difference comes in Zarc did everything to make the audience happy which eventually drove him mad and bitter at humanity for their bloodlust while Yuya gain the self-confidence to not bend over backwards for his audience while learning how to express himself in his dueling so he truly enjoyed himself each time he dueled.
  • He also has corrupted versions of the Dimension Dragons in his deck, bearing the moniker "Supreme King Servant" instead of their dimensional designation, i.e. "Supreme King Servant Dragon Dark Rebellion" to "Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon."
• Evil Sounds Deep: His voice is deeper than Yuya's and Yuri's, which makes it clear how evil he is.
• Face Framed in Shadow: The audience didn't got to see Zarc's original face before he became an abomination and only got to see vague outlines of his face and mouth, since the Professor didn't specifically tell Yuya and the others who Zarc really was at that point. Averted as of Episode 139, where a brief shot of his face can be seen in the same flashbacks.
• Fatal Flaw: Episode 139 reveals that Zarc actually fears losing so much that he went as far as fusing with his dragons and obtaining "god-hood" to ensure that the possibility of defeat becomes impossible. All of his cards reinforce protecting his ace card/himself, "Supreme King Dragon Zarc", from harm or effects from his opponents. Sawatari and Crow call this out as "cowardly", with Crow lecturing Zarc that losing every once in a while isn't a bad thing and actually promotes worthwhile growth.
• Final Boss: Is shaping up to be this following The Reveal in Episodes 126 & 127. He even effortlessly defeats the Professor in Episode 139.
• For Happiness: A darker and deconstructed example when the people desired violence and bloodshed. He started playing along to make them happy.
• For the Evulz: He attempts to destroy the original world just to show off his "godlike" powers.
• Freudian Excuse: Despite barely knowing anything about Zarc's original personality, his backstory in the last couple of episodes of the show try to hammer in that Zarc was a victim of peer pressure when the audience he so desperately tried to keep "happy" with his duels demanded that he go "bigger and grander" with each duel, no matter the consequences to his opponents. The repetition of violence, combined with his own insecurities about losing, drove the man insane after a certain amount of time and he, along with his monsters, decided to take out their anger on the world, with Zarc embracing the fact that he is fine being called a "devil" as long as he gets his revenge.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: As the Professor stated, Zarc was just an average duelist at first. But due to the audience's blood lust, he grew more and more violent and bloodthirsty until he became a monster with the power to destroy the world.
• Frozen Face: His expression never changes from a Slasher Smile, and it is terrifying. Of course once he starts to laugh, it isn't any better.
• Fusion Dance: Zarc fused with his dragons to become "Supreme King Dragon Zarc".
• Glowing Eyes of Doom: As "Supreme King Dragon Zarc" his eyes glow, which mixed with his red/yellow eyes, creates a horrifying picture.
• A God Am I:
  • His "Ultimate Power" speech in Episode 126 suggests that he has acquired this attitude since his descent to villainy.
  • His revival in Episode 136 has him play this up. He refers to the Dimension Dragons as heavenly dragons and uses quotes similar to the Bible.
• Good Thing You Can Heal: On top of all the other overpowered effects his cards have, Supreme King Gate Infinity takes whatever damage Zero cancels and converts it into LP. He gains so much LP while this effect is active that even once his opponents do finally start getting around it and doing damage he has plenty of LP to spare, and only Yuya regaining control of his body long enough to essentially throw the duel was able to keep him from winning.
• Greater-Scope Villain: By the start of the series, he's sort of dead, or at least inactive. However, his actions are what split the dimensions into four and drove the Professor to his own misdeeds including the Interdimensional War. He is likely this show's answer to Zorc Necrophades, the Light of Destruction, Z-One, and Don Thousand.
• Green and Mean: As Supreme King Dragon Z-Arc he's a dragon-like green giant.
• Heads I Win, Tails You Lose: Indirectly forces it on Yuya. By the time Yuya duels Yuri, Yuri has absorbed Yugo into himself. Thus, it ultimately didn't matter if Yuya or Yuri won the duel; the winner would absorb the loser and the four Dragon Boys would be reunited to revive Zarc either way.
• Heel–Face Turn: He gives up on destroying the world after Yuya and Reiji's final Duel, as indicated by Reira's laughter.
• Hidden Depths:
  • Beneath an apparent Generic Doomsday Villain and a front of apparent confidence in his own power lies an ultimately insecure madman who fears losing so much that it drove him to destroy the world so that he never had to experience it.
  • His last line in Episode 140 reveals that he feels that he was forced to fight and felt like a toy for humanity.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: He claims to have created Pendulum monsters in preparation for a rematch with Ray. Not only are the Pendulum monsters Zarc and Odd Eyes still susceptible to the four Nature cards that initially did him in, but when Yuya regains control of his body, he revives his Pendulum Monsters specifically to make them fodder for the Nature Cards to whittle away the rest of Zarc's Life Points.
• Hopeless Boss Fight: Zarc's Curb-Stomp Battle against the Lancers can be considered as this.
• Humanoid Abomination: The form he takes following his resurrection.
• Inferiority Superiority Complex: During his confrontation with Crow and Sawatari it is revealed that Zarc is afraid of losing. His Purposely Overpowered cards are meant to protect him and ensure that never loses. If people bring up the possibility of him losing, Zarc's insecurities become visible.
• Informed Ability: He was an internationally-famous celebrity and entertainer before he became the Big Bad. In his only onscreen match, he uses what might well be one of the most boringly straightforward strategies in the franchise, relying entirely on his overpowered dragon's protective effects to No-Sell everything the protagonists throw at him, which led to the duel being criticised by fans for being, ironically enough, boring. This is suggested to be the result of his fear of losing, but this was something that developed well before he turned evil.
• Irony: He and Ray meet as enemies and he is split while cursing Ray. In the four dimensions, three of his four reincarnations are shown to be good friends and implied to be in love with their respective Ray counterparts.
• Invincible Villain:
  • Being the main overall villain who wields the strongest cards in the multiverse, Zarc is impossibly strong as a duelist. Beating him takes cards specifically designed to counter his deck and Ray still had to sacrifice herself to seal him away.
  • Across four episodes, the Lancers take him on two at a time for a total of eight opponents; Zarc beats them all in pretty much one turn each and comes out of it unscathed, and defeats the Professor before the Professor can even finish his first turn. It's not until he faces Reiji, one of the best duelists in the world, that Zarc finally takes significant damage, and even then he bounces back from it by filling his field with his dragons and takes Reiji out on his next turn. It takes Reira and Ray to beat Zarc using the Natural Energy cards, and they have to pretty much lock down his entire field to be able to finally do it. And even that was partly because Yuya regained control at the last second and basically threw the duel completely, as Zarc was literally a Pendulum Summon away from defeating them too.
  • This trope is also pretty much Zarc's entire playstyle. Once his Supreme King Dragon Z-ARC hits the field, it's immune to destruction and removal effects, making it nearly impossible to get rid of, and it prevents Zarc's monsters from being affected by the effects of an opponent's Extra Deck monsters. Meanwhile, his various Servant Dragons are designed to counter monsters of the same type of Extra Deck monster as them; they can be summoned on the opponent's turn when the opponent performs the same kind of Extra Deck summoning, and they can be returned to the Extra Deck at any time to sap the ATK of monsters of the same card type as them to 0. They also have powerful innate destruction and negation effects, which taken all together means they hit the field hard and powerfully, and if the opponent gets into a position to destroy them, Zarc can bounce them away and de-power the opponent in the same move. Finally, if you manage to get in an attack to try and deal damage to him, his two Supreme King Gate Pendulum monsters negate any damage he takes and reverses it to heal him instead.
  • Furthermore, this trope is a plot point: Zarc is terrified of losing. His deck, which he seems to have willed into creation himself with his powers, centers on shutting down the opponent's ability to defend themselves so he can grind them into the dirt without opposition. As the Lancers start to actually give Zarc a proper fight, they call him out as a cowardly duelist who can't handle opponents that fight back, triggering a Villainous Breakdown.
• Jerkass: The biggest asshole of the bunch. He went crazy and used his dragons to attack bystanders. After fusing with them, he went all Person of Mass Destruction to the rest of the world.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Unfortunately his heart of gold is severed from him into a Literal Split Personality: Yuya.
• Kick the Dog: The first thing Zarc did after fusing with the Four Heavenly Dragons is attempting to annihilate the original world.
  • Upon meeting the friends Yuya had made his cold shoulders all attempts at talking to Yuya and coldly states that he was merely an "Alter Ego" to bring about his resurrection. It brings Sora who had questioned his own loyalty to Yuya for so long to tears realizing he might actually be gone.
• Knight of Cerebus: The complete opposite of Yuya and the most genuinely threatening among the series' villains.
• Large Ham: Considering he was an entertainer, this isn't too shocking.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Although horrifying, Zarc's first order of business upon his revival is to first attack the Fusion Dimension which closely qualifies as this trope given that the Arc Area Project was what started the chain of events leading to his revival, this is however downplayed since given that this is Zarc we're talking about he would have probably done the same regardless of the dimension he would have ended revived in since he very clearly stated his goal.
• Leave No Survivors: Zarc makes himself clear in episode 136 that he plans on killing everyone. But he wants a challenge.
• Madness Mantra: “We will become one!” These are also his last words before Ray beat him and split him up.
• Manipulative Bastard: The Professor's attempt to resurrect Ray through the Arc Area Project and Revival Zero, which ultimately ended with Yuya and his counterparts fusing and become Zarc is all part of his Xanatos Gambit.
• Marathon Boss: It takes eleven duelists facing him in seven separate rounds in a Duel spanning four episodes to finally bring Zarc down.
• Master of All: It's heavily implied that his Deck, whatever it was, was capable of easily performing Fusion, Synchro, and Xyz Summons just like Reiji. After all, he was the original owner of the Four Heavenly Dragons as well as a top-ranking Duelist. Upon his resurrection, he also reveals that he gained Yuya's mastery of Pendulum Summoning as well.
• Meaningful Name: Zarc is a pun on "Zorc," the main antagonist of the original Duel Monsters series.
• Morphic Resonance: Supreme King Dragon Zarc's forward-facing horns resemble his original human body's large green-tinged bangs.
• Mythology Gag:
  • His epithet, the "Supreme King", is the same as the one used by the Supreme King in GX.
  • His Pendulum Monsters are named "Supreme King Gate Zero" and "Supreme King Gate Infinity." This naming scheme was previously used by Darkness in GX. Furthermore, Darkness' Zero and Infinity relied on activating the effects of Trap cards physically located between the two of them, similar to how Pendulum Monsters are placed at the edges of the duel field.
  • When he summons Supreme King Dragon Zarc, he combines with it, akin to Marik fusing with The Winged Dragon of Ra and Paradox combining with Malefic Truth Dragon.
  • In Leo Akaba's files and in the English version, his name is rendered as "Z-ARC", bringing to mind Z-one from 5D's.
• My God, What Have I Done?: When Zarc injured an opponent accidentally, you see he's actually nervous and uncomfortable. Sadly subverted when the audience applauds him instead, his worry turns to satisfaction.
• My Nayme Is: In both versions, his name is read as "Zarc". In the dub, it is spelled "Z-ARC", and in the original, his name is written as "Zuāku" (ズァーク) where the "Za-" part is spelled with two katakana characters instead of one ("za" is usually written as ザ), emulating the "Z-Arc" spelling.
• Never My Fault: Episode 128 reveals that he's bitter about being split into four saying that he only did what the people wanted him to. Ignoring that they obviously didn't want for him to go that far.
• Nigh-Invulnerability: Zarc's cards have so many protection effects that defeating him seems impossible. The reason why his cards are so hard to beat is not that it is for the sake of making him overpowered, but to prevent him from losing, which is Zarc's biggest fear.
• Nightmare Face: In typical Yu-Gi-Oh! villain fashion, Zarc contorts his face to scary degrees when he faces "powerful" opponents and then proceeds to demonstrate why he's called the Supreme King.
• Not So Stoic: As the duel goes on, Jack and Gongenzaka's insistence on the idea of "entertainment" causes Zarc to up the ham and begin referring to it himself. Then, when Sawatari and Crow step up to the plate, they deduce his fear of losing, sending him into a rage.
• Omnicidal Maniac: After becoming "Supreme King Dragon Zarc", he attempted to destroy the world.
• One-Winged Angel: Zarc fused with his dragons to become a huge dragon of incredible power.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: Possibly. Despite everyone referring to him as "Zarc", a Freeze-Frame Bonus of the Professor's computer has him listed as "Z-ARC" while Ray is "RAY-A" (where the "A" could mean "Akaba"). This implies that "Zarc" might not actually be his name, but what he was known as after becoming Supreme King Dragon Z-ARC.
• The Paragon: A dark example. Due to his popularity, his rivals started to copy him and duels in the Original Dimension became more much violent.
• Personality Powers:
  • Zarc's Supreme King cards are incredibly powerful and have multiple defensive effects. This represents his own strength and his fear of losing.
  • Pendulum Summoning is an invoked example. Zarc created Pendulum Summoning as a way to represent himself, as they can be destroyed but will always revive.
• Physical God: As "Supreme King Dragon Zarc", he was nearly invincible and nearly destroyed his world.
• Power-Upgrading Deformation: When Zarc fused with his dragons to gain power equal to a god to take revenge on humanity, he became a draconian monster as a result. He grew wings, fangs, claws, and scales over his skin, his eyes have a permanent yellow glow, his skin turned gray.
• Purposely Overpowered: Zarc's cards are designed to make him Nigh-Invulnerable and able to stand up to the combined might of several top-tier duelists utilizing a variety of archetypes.
• Reality Warper: A minor example. Episode 128 reveals he had a degree of control of where his reincarnations are sent to.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning:
  • After becoming Supreme King Dragon Zarc, we get a good look at his red awakening eyes.
  • While his revived body has his yellow eyes, Supreme King Dragon Zarc has red eyes.
• Sadist: To frightening extremes.
• Satanic Archetype: He's a sadistic Eldritch Abomination with Omnicidal Maniac fantasies who wants to wipe out everything in existence and is at least partially born from the evil of the human heart. It's really driven home by how Zarc is repeatedly referred to as the "Devil Duelist" or more simply as a "devil".
• Sealed Evil in a Can: After resurrecting from his first defeat, Ray defeats Zarc again and seals him inside Reira's body, so that he won't divide the world a second time. Unlike last time, only Zarc has been sealed away; his four alternates are brought back.
• Sealed Evil in a Six Pack: The first time he was defeated, his soul was sundered into four pieces and each fragment now in a separate "can". Reuniting them and becoming whole so he can resume his plan is his goal.
• Shadow Archetype: Being the original self of the Dragon Boys, he acts as this for each of them showing which traits of his they inherited but Zarc is especially this to Yuya. Zarc represents how Yuya could have been twisted by his dream and humanity if he didn't have Yuzu, his friends, and his family's support to guide him to a healthier mindset.
• Slowly Slipping Into Evil: It all started with him accidentally injuring another duelist, when the audience cheered for him, and then he and the Dueling as a whole started to become more and more violent for the sake of entertainment.
• Smug Smiler: He is the only person besides Ray that has supernatural powers in ARC-V and he takes every chance to tell everyone around him about it.
• Smug Super: Since his revival in Episode 136, he refuses to shut up about himself, calling his power unrivaled and himself a "god". Though as he showed, he has every reason to think that.
• Sore Loser: He does not take losing very well, unlike the commanding officers of Academia. Further exploited by Crow and Sawatari in Episode 139, who keep pressing the button to make him slip up and give Yuya a chance to regain control.
• The Stoic: His tone and expression never change and feels inhuman as a result. However, as the duel against the heroes continues, he becomes hammier but shows signs of insecurity once people mention that he's afraid of losing.
• Story-Breaker Power:
  • Zarc's monsters are designed to utterly control the field and make sure that he comes off as all-powerful. His Pendulum Monsters negate ANY damage to his Life Points and instead heals himself as long as he has his "Servant" monsters on the field. Even worse, they rate 0 and 13 on the Pendulum Scale, meaning he can Pendulum Summon anything. With "Supreme King Dragon Zarc" on the field, Fusion, Synchro, and Xyz Monsters and their effects are useless against him. He also can destroy cards added to the opponent's hands outside of their Draw Phase, making the act of obtaining Action Cards pointless. As long as "Supreme King Dragon Zarc" exists on the field, his "Servant" monsters gain the benefit of his protection and vice versa. Finally, the Four Heavenly Dragons undergo "corrupted upgrades":
  • "Supreme King Servant Dragon Dark Rebellion" is an even stronger version of the original counterpart. It can Xyz Summon itself on either player's turn when the opponent Xyz Summons, activate its effect on either's player turn and steal ALL the monster's ATK as opposed to just half and finally return itself to the Extra Deck to weaken the opponent's Xyz monsters ATK down to 0.
  • "Supreme King Servant Dragon Clear Wing" is a more aggressive version of the original counterpart, trading most of the original's ability to suppress effect activations at will for vastly increased offensive capabilities and staying power. It can Synchro Summon itself on either player's turn without a Tuner when the opponent Synchro Summons, negates and then destroys all the opponent's monsters as soon as its summoned, can negate a battle once per turn and then destroy the other battling monster while inflicting damage equal to the monster's attack points and return itself to the Extra Deck to weaken the opponent's Synchro monsters ATK down to 0. Zarc even exploits this dragon's effect further by equipping "Supreme King Violent Spirit", extending the dragon's ability to destroy and inflict damage to the opponent from targeting one monster to targeting ALL monsters. And of the four, it's the only one that can also Summon itself from the GY with its summoning effect, meaning even if you somehow manage to beat it will probably be back sooner or later.
  • "Supreme King Servant Dragon Odd-Eyes" is an even stronger version of the original counterpart. It can Special Summon itself on either player's turn from the hand, Deck, or Extra Deck when the opponent Pendulum Summons, protects Pendulum card(s) from being destroyed by battle or card effect once per turn, doubles ANY battle damage Zarc's Pendulum monsters may have inflicted on the opponent and return itself to the Extra Deck to weaken the opponent's monsters ATK down to 0, no matter what summoning type they are.
  • "Supreme King Servant Dragon Starving Venom" zigzags this a little by being Weak, but Skilled compared to its original counterpart. It loses the ability to gain ATK equal to the combined ATK of the opponent's Special Summoned monsters, and it no longer destroys monsters when defeated, meaning its raw damage potential and the individual threat level is severely reduced. However, like its brethren above it can Special Summon itself on either player's turn when the opponent Fusion Summons, its effect stealing ability becomes a quick effect that can now target any monster on the field or in any graveyard during either the main or battle phase, any time a monster you control attacks a defense position monster piercing battle damage is inflicted to your opponent, and finally, like the others, it can return itself to the Extra Deck to weaken the opponent's Fusion monsters ATK down to 0.
• Supernatural Gold Eyes: His natural eye color, fitting as even before he became "Supreme King Dragon Zarc", he had supernatural powers. His eye color is a reference to Supreme King Judai.
• Sympathy for the Devil: Later, Yuya feels outright sorry for Zarc and cries for him and the dimensional dragons, seeing that the world's cruelty and appetite for violence warped his worldview.
• That Man Is Dead: He flat-out tells Sora and Edo that Yuya no longer exists and was merely an alternate personality created to facilitate his revival.
• Took a Level in Badass: Since Yuya created Pendulums, his revived deck now has Pendulums as well.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: His backstory. He was originally just your average duelist, but after accidentally hurting another duelist during a match and having the crowd cheer for him, he began to become more and more violent until he snapped and turned his dragons on the crowd.
• Ultimate Life Form: Zarc considers himself this as a mix between human and duel monster that is Fusion, Synchro, Xyz, AND Pendulum.
• The Unchosen One: A villainous example. Unlike every other ultimate evil, Zarc wasn't a primordial force nor was he being manipulated by one (that we know of). He was just an average human with mild supernatural powers who decided to become a god and destroy the world, and he pulled it off and became the biggest threat to the universe to date. Episode 139 reveals that this may be a deep-rooted fear of losing and that he went off the deep end in an attempt to make sure that he can never lose. He even voices out loud that he has no desire to return to becoming a normal human again, enjoying his "god-hood" status.
• The Unfought: Unless one counts the Duel between Yuya and Yuri, Zarc is the first main antagonist of a Yu-Gi-Oh series not to duel the main protagonist (Yuya eventually retaking control and fighting against him comes the closest to this). Justified, due to the fact that Zarc cannot have physical form without fusing with Yuya and the other Dragon boys, making it impossible for Yuya and Zarc to meet prior to Zarc's spirit being sealed within Reira.
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid: When we finally get to see Zarc's face in Episode 139 from before Zarc became the Supreme King. We see that he used to give warm smiles, not unlike the ones Yuya would give. Episode 140 states that Yuya is his original kindness given form. Episode 148 has Zarc's original kindness restored when Yuya manages to make Reira laugh with his entertainment dueling, and by extension, Zarc's soul.
• A Villain Named "Z__rg": Zarc is named like this, just like Zorc.
• Villain Respect: He respects anyone that decides to duel him as he sees it as suicide.
• Villainous Breakdown: When Crow and Sawatari call him a Dirty Coward and a Sore Loser, and after Yuya rigged his Duel against Reira and Ray.
• Walking Spoiler: Just knowing who Zarc is spoiling most of the Myth Arc and the Professor backstory and motivation.
• Weaksauce Weakness: If you read Zarc's anime effect, you'll notice that the real reason the En cards are able to hurt him is that he doesn't stop his own effects from being negated. Meaning that if a single person ran a card as simple as "Breakthrough Skill" or "Skill Drain", the duel might have been over much, much sooner.
• Winged Humanoid: His resurrected body possesses a large pair of bat-like wings.
• Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: As observed by Yuya during his final Duel against Reiji, all Zarc wanted was to make everyone, monsters included, happy with his Duels. He was eventually driven to insanity from fulfilling humanity's desire to see more violent Duels, and thus turned against the world and attempted to destroy it. Even after Reira seals his soul in her body, his return is imminent as long as his soul is tainted with evil, according to Reiji, and deduces that Yuya must make Reira smile with his Duels to pacify Zarc's inner evil. After Yuya defeats Reiji in their final Duel, Zarc gives up on destroying the world, as indicated by Reira's laughter.
• Yellow Eyes of Sneakiness: He's always had golden eyes but they become really obvious upon his revival which shows his evil and sadism.
• Yellow Lightning, Blue Lightning: Averted. Zarc blasts red lightning.
• You Can't Thwart Stage One: By the time the main cast finds who he is, it's far too late. Yuto had already merged with Yuya and Yugo and Yuri was currently engaging in their battle. Despite the remaining cast's best encouragement during the inevitable battle with Yuri, Yuya ultimately succumbs to Zarc and the resurrection finally happens.

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