Yuya Sakaki and Odd-Eyes Phantom Dragon
This article covers the manga. For the anime, see Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V.Yuya Sakaki is the mysterious Entertainment Duelist known as the "Phantom", pursued by Reiji Akaba and the Leo Corporation after he hacked into their Solid Vision System. Yuya himself is in search of the card "Genesis Omega Dragon", a card that will supposedly determine the fate of the world. Having to share a body with Yuto, along the way he encounters Yuzu and, after not entirely paying attention to the piece of paper she had him "autograph", he now finds himself with a hothead of a manager along for the ride as well. With Yuri and Yugo also sharing Yuya's body, things only get weirder from here on out.
Published monthly in Shueisha's V-Jump in Japan and Shonen Jump in US since August 20th of 2015.
The manga is written by Shin Yoshida (story) and Masahiro Hikokubo (duels), drawn by Naohito Moyashi and supervised by Kazuki Takahashi. It ran from August 2015 to April 2019, totaling 45 chapters compiled into seven volumes.
Character tropes can be found here.
Tropes:
- Absurdly Spacious Sewer: Yuya secretly practices his driving skills in an underground sewer in preparation for his fight with Ren. Then the latter discovers his location and challenges Yuya to a race in the sewers.
- Adaptation Name Change: Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon is named Odd-Eyes Phantom Dragon in the manga, to coincide with Yuya's Phantom moniker. Likewise, the other dragons have their names changed in order to fit the Pendulum theme deck.
- Adaptation Personality Change: Everyone. Reiji is a Bad Boss, Shuzou is a wimp, Yuzu is money-obsessed, Yuya is much suaver and lacks the depression and insecurities of his anime counterpart, Yuto is more talkative, Yugo is a Glory Seeker, Yuri is a keigo-user, Sawatari's ego actually matches his skill (though he still jobs to Yuya much more easily than what we've seen of his teammates), Kurosaki duels to "feel alive" rather than for the sake of revenge for his people, and he and Sora work alongside one another. Not to mention, both Yusho and Leo remained best buds in this continuity.
- Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: Thanks to Yuya and Reiji being from 20 years in the future, their relationship with the other cast changed:
- Yuya and Yuzu aren't close like in the anime, then it's revealed that she's Yuya's mother.
- The trio Shun, Sawatari, and Sora have a Teeth-Clenched Teamwork and Vitriolic Best Buds relationship compared to the anime.
- Leo and Reiji have a better father and son relationship, and the Yusho is a Broken Pedestal for the latter.
- The 4 "Yuu" boys are actually brothers in this continuity, not the fragments of Zarc. This means that Yugo, Yuri, and Yuto is now related to Yusho and Yuzu.
- Adaptational Heroism: Yuri, who was really antagonistic in the anime till the end, is now firmly on Yuya's side although he didn't lose his sadistic tendencies in duels.
- Adapted Out:
- Despite them being a major part of his anime deck, Yuya doesn't play Magicians in this continuity. Instead, Odd-Eyes have been developed into their own continuity.
- Yuzu's dimensional counterparts (Serena, Rui, Rin) are absent due to Yuzu's own decrease in plot relevance.
- Yoko Sakaki is nowhere to be seen in any of Yuya's flashbacks. Turns out it's because of the implication she isn't Yuya's mother in the manga, Yuzu is.
- Yuya and Yuzu's original incarnations, Zarc and Ray, are nowhere to be seen, since the manga plot no longer revolves around Ray and Leo's attempts to revive her, nor Zarc and his desperate attempts to revive himself.
- The Yusho juniors are also nowhere to be seen, implying they're not enrolled in Syu Zo dueling school as the school has no enrollees.
- All for Nothing: Yugo's efforts in wiping out Yuya's memories of them was easily restored by the Adam Factor inside Yuya. Yuri even mentions this trope by name.
- Alternate Continuity: Some of the notable details are the following:
- You Show Duel School is renamed Syu Zo Duel School and Yuya is not a student there (however, he finds himself in their employ later on).
- Kurosaki and Sora are working under Reiji, on a team with Sawatari.
- Yuzu is not wearing her signature bracelet, and doesn't know about Yuya until the start of the story.
- Yuya's ace monster is not Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon, but Odd-Eyes Phantom Dragon. The same goes for Yuto, Yuri, and Yugo, they have pendulum versions of their ace monsters instead.
- Instead of being separate humans, Yuya, Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri are Split Personalities. Though based on some of Yuya's memories, it wasn't always like that. The four of them are really brothers. And in the ending, it's revealed that Yuzu is their mother.
- Yuya, Yuto, Yugo, Yuri, and Reiji are revealed to be from the future. Reiji has very different relationships with Yuya, Leo, and Yusho as a result.
- Ambiguous Ending: The manga ends with Yuya, Reiji, Ren and Isaac entering the portal where G.O.D was defeated to confront the makers of the G.O.D card, and it's unknown if they were able to defeat them or not.
- Apocalypse Maiden:
- Genesis Omega Dragon is supposedly this. Yuya says it can manipulate the Hard Light setup of most duels, and Yuya says Hard Light system was supposedly created to bring it into existence and thus can deal out an untold amount of damage to the world if in the wrong hands.
- According to Reiji, Yuya himself is apparently also this, saying that it's his destiny to bring about The End of the World as We Know It. Then it turns out Yuya isn't that, but he and Reiji carry the Adam Factor, pieces of the G.O.D.'s powers that were split by Adam himself in order to combat the card. And anyone who possesses the card and the factor can become this if they chose to.
- The Artifact: While in the show Yuya's pendulum has the ability to turn cards into Pendulum cards. Here it's pretty much a necklace that Yuya wears with no importance whatsoever.
- As You Know: The second chapter has Yuya explaining to Yuto how action duels work to Yuto's annoyance. It works for the audience's benefit cause no one else can hear Yuya anyways.
- Badass in a Nice Suit: Yuto in chapter 7 wears one to infiltrate LDS to follow a lead Yuya found.
- Battle in the Center of the Mind: Yugo chases and fights Ren inside Yuya's consciousness.
- Beach Episode: The Manga side story 2 has Yuzu asking Yuya to join the Maiami Beach Hot Guy Contest to win a 60kg rice and to promote their school. In the end, Yuto volunteers for Yuya and has him, Kurosaki, and Sawatari on swimsuits. Reiji won wearing his normal clothes since he forgot to bring his swimsuit.
- A Birthday, Not a Break: The End of the World as We Know It from Yuya's original timeline happened on Yuya's birthday.
- Bittersweet Ending: Yuya defeats Reiji and destroys the G.O.D card. However this causes a gate to appear and Yuya, Reiji, Ren, and Issac enter the gate to confront G.O.D's creators with Yuya leaving behind his Odd-Eyes Phantom Dragon card for Yuzu. Sometime later Yuzu wonders if Yuya will ever return and encounters a young Yusho Sakaki. In the sky, Yuya's voice is heard promising to her that they will be reunited as it is their destiny.
- Book Ends: Story-wise, Yusho and Yuzu's first meeting place in the finale is the same one where Yugo, Yuri, and Yuto met their demise at the.
- Butterfly of Doom: Reversed. Ren's backstory shows him dying in the tournament when he crushed a butterfly on his path making him slip and crash. The Genesis Omega Dragon offered him a second chance and he took it, this time the butterfly escaped his path so he was able to win and lived a prosperous life before Eve called him.
- Chekhov's Gun: Sora uses gloves and glasses with Reiji's fingerprints and retinal pattern to hack the servers. A few chapters later, Kurosaki and Sawatar use them to find Reiji's location.
- Continuity Nod:
- In the first Scale, Yuto was wearing his goggles and mask in the anime.
- Yuya's duel runner outfit is the same one in the anime.
- Crazy-Prepared: Yuya is this compared to his anime counterpart. Best example was in his duel with Ren, Yuya knows he won't hold back on their next duel so Yuya rigged the particle accelerator in the reactor so he can activate a booster card. This helps him snag an action card that helps him win.
- Declaration of Protection: Yugo and Yuri promise to protect Yuya from those who wanted to hurt him. After all, they are his older brothers.
- Demoted to Extra: Shingo and Shun got hit with this hard. Both got to have only one duel and rarely received any Character Development. They immediately got shifted to the sidelines when Eve's group came into play. Yuzu has somewhat less relevance in the plot compared to the anime and doesn't even get any duel.
- Drama-Preserving Handicap: Since he wants a fair match, Ren decided to use a Duel Runner that is similar to Yugo's current specs even if he had better ones from the future.
- Elaborate Underground Base: Yuya has one that looks like a ghetto Bat Cave.
- Face Death with Dignity: Yugo, Yuto and Yuri spent their last moments together by sharing a meal and throwing roses while wishing Yuya happy birthday before they perished.
- Fun with Acronyms: Genesis Omega Dragon is also called G.O.D. for short.
- Heroic Sacrifice:
- Just before Yusho triggers the World Illusion, Yuya's brothers place him in the only available escape pod, saving his life at the cost of their own.
- Done again in their duel against G.O.D. Before vanishing for good Yugo, Yuto, and Yuri combine their strength to create a new monster for Yuya to use: God-Eyes Phantom Dragon.
- Hot-Blooded:
- Kurosaki combined with a Hair-Trigger Temper to boot. He duels for intense matches and hates Yuya's guts for taking a more performer approach to them.
- Yugo in this continuity is still a hot-blooded person, though he has Glory Hound tendencies too.
- Journey to the Center of the Mind: Yugo and Yuri are doing this inside Yuya's mind in order to erase his memories about them.
- Kid from the Future:
- Ren turns out to be Yugo's descendant in an Alternate Timeline and highly idolizes him. Its the reason why he's set on dueling Yugo and Yuya.
- The ending strongly implies that Yuya, Yuto, Yuri, and Yugo are Yuzu's kids.
- Large Ham: Yuya still has his entertainment routine. Sawatari is just as hammy as his anime counterpart. Sora even more so and really loves to gloat when he's torturing Yuya in their duels.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: Yuya doesn't remember anything about his past. Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri are trying their best to keep Yuya from remembering something from his past. Turns out that all four boys were brothers. Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri all sacrificed themselves to protect their youngest brother, Yuya, from death but somehow their souls ended up in his body. To spare Yuya the immense grief and guilt he would inevitably feel if he remembers the circumstances in how he was saved, they do everything they can to prevent Yuya from remembering.
- Magic Poker Equation:
- Invoked as Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri gave their lives to activate the Adam Factor inside Yuya in order to summon the God Eyes Phantom Dragon to defeat the possessed Eve.
- Played for Laughs as the last round of the final battle had Yuya declaring and actually drawing his best card, but he can't play it since he doesn't have any cards left after his combo. It's settled on a scramble to an action card instead.
- Mark of the Beast: All those who made a contract with god have part of their body scarred with muscle-like markings. It disappears once the G.O.D. card was destroyed.
- Mythology Gag:
- Yuya and Yuto are Sharing a Body, and can freely switch control between one another when needed. This is a massive Mythology Gag to the original series with Yugi and the Pharaoh. Later chapters reveal Yuri and Yugo also share his body.
- Eve's Extra Deck Monsters are based on the Sacred Beasts, Timelords, and Numbers respectively.
- New Powers as the Plot Demands: In Isaac vs. Reiji, it turns out Leo created a card for Reiji that bypasses the pendulum scale, allowing him to use Transcendent Pendulum Summon and summon a level 12 monster instantly.
- New Rules as the Plot Demands:
- Just like in the anime, Pendulum Summoning is shown to be unique only to the Phantom, and the LDS is shown monitoring his duels to know more about it. It makes sense since Yuya's from the future and the only one who knows this is Reiji, who also knows how to pendulum summon.
- Yuya using tokens for Xyz Summon to summon Dark Anthelion Dragon is this because tokens can't actually be used for Xyz Summons. note
- Not So Above It All: Yuya manages to pacify Yuto by telling him that he looks good in a suit.
- An Offer You Can't Refuse: How the Genesis Omega Dragon gets his followers. It will offer people near death a second chance at life and render them ageless but in exchange, they will have to serve it after their lives end. It offers Yuya a chance to save his brothers in exchange for surrendering, but his brothers stops him and tell him they're fine disappearing.
- Our Dragons Are Different: The Dimension Dragons, as per the anime. However, unlike the anime where Odd-Eyes and its evolutions are Yuya's ace monsters while he mainly relies on his Pendulum Magicians and Performapals until he gets them, Odd-Eyes is promoted to its own full-fledged archetype in this manga, with Yuya and Yuto having several different Odd-Eyes Dragon Pendulum monsters to work with instead of just Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon and its extra deck evolutions. Yuto still has Dark Rebellion though.
- Outside-Context Problem: Nothing is ever known about the Genesis Omega Dragon, with the only thing they're sure is that it's not from their world, will bring on The End of the World as We Know It, and that whoever holds it will gain unimaginable power. Even the scientists who researched it can only guess from what they'd seen firsthand.
- Playful Hacker: Yuya is this, with him hacking the LDS servers no problems and even created a fake card to infiltrate the company.
- Psychotic Smirk: Yuri, Sora, and surprisingly Kurosaki sports a really psychotic smirk when they're dueling.
- Read the Fine Print: Yuya neglected to do this after Yuzu asked for his "autograph", and as a result, he now finds himself with a new manager but has also agreed to teach at the Syu Zo Duel School once all is said and done.
- Rewatch Bonus: The reveal that Yugo, Yuri, and Yuto are brothers makes their actions in earlier chapter chapters clearer and answers why they're protective of Yuya.
- Rule of Symbolism: There are a lot of Biblical Motifs scattered throughout the book. For starters: Eve is the Big Bad, and she's looking for the Adam Factor. Then there's the G.O.D. card that can shape the entire world.
- Scarf of Asskicking: Reiji's scarf, only this time he can use it as a grappling hook, gliders, and even a boomerang!
- Sharing a Body: Both Yuto and Yuya share the same body. And at the end of the sixth chapter, he says he has two more, Yugo and Yuri.
- Sins of Our Fathers: Reiji thinks highly of his father and blames Yusho for thinking he caused the World Illusion that killed his father that he antagonizes Yuya even knowing he doesn't have anything do to with it. He does not even recognize Action Duels that Yusho created. Turns out it was Leo himself that caused the G.O.D. Card to run amock and Yusho was forced to use the World Illusion and send Yuya to the past for a chance to stop it.
- Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism: The anime is more zig-zagged on the scale. The manga is more idealistic, playing more out to the previous Yu-Gi-Oh! manga.
- Space Battle: Isaac challenges Reiji in a huge simulation of space with the earth as the backdrop.
- Talking to Themself: Yuya and Yuto do this quite frequently, much to the confusion of anyone who happens to be nearby at the time.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Yuya and Reiji have this dynamic as they have their own reasons to find the G.O.D. Card, even admitting that this team-up won't make them friends.
- Title Drop: For Scale 37: "The Cause of Everything!!".Yuya: That thing stole our lives! It's the cause of everything!
- True Companions: Kurosaki, Sawatari, and Sora are actually close even if they don't admit it and are more Vitriolic Best Buds. They took Sora's reveal as The Mole badly, but that didn't stop them from still treating him as their friend.
- Unexpected Character: In-Universe example. Eve's deck features a Fusion Sacred Beast Monster, a Synchro Timelord Monster, and an Xyz Number monster, all cards originating from previous eras of the series.
- Wham Episode: Scale 14 reveals that Reiji and Yuya are from 20 years in the future.
- Wham Line:
- When it was revealed that the Phantom is both Yuya and Yuto. In Scale 6, this is followed up by Yuya's willing and cheerful admission that he actually has four personalities, to the gaping shock of Yuzu and Shuzou.
- In Scale 13, Ren also says that Yuya has the Adam Factor after the battle with Yugo.
- "The four of us... ...were actually brothers."
- Wham Shot: During Yugo's battle with Ren inside Yuya's mind, it was revealed that Yuya and Yugo used to be separate people.
- Scale 16 shows Yuri, Yugo, and Yuto in separate bodies staring at the destruction of the G.O.D. Card.
- Ren removes his mask to reveal his scarred face that resembles Yugo.
- The last page of Scale 34: Yuya, Yuto, Yuri, and Yugo playing with Yusho, confirming that they are family.
- From Scale 37, Eve Summoning Genesis Omega Dragon.
- The Epilogue Chapter showing an older Yuzu holding a year old Yuya while a young Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri are playing around them, celebrating Yuya's birthday, cementing that Yuzu is the mother of the four boys and that she ended up marrying Yusho.
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Isaac feels that he is deplorable for being unable to find a cure for Eve's illness while the latter feels she's become ugly due to the scar she received. Both reassure each other that they are both brilliant and beautiful respectively.
- You Can't Thwart Stage One: Eve was defeated by Yuya on scale 36. Unfortunately, the G.O.D. card was in her hand and fully took over her mind to fight Yuya itself.
