Characters / Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's Team 5D's

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Team 5D's

As a whole

From left to right: Jack, Crow, Rua, Yusei, Ruka, Aki and Bruno.

The main protagonists, consisting of the Signers and their closest allies. Their team name comes from the five initial Crimson Dragon's Birthmarks, which helped bring them together.

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• Badass Crew: Every one of them is badass. Of course, as a team they are even more badass. They save the world twice.
• Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: Jack, Yusei, and Crow.
• Brought Down to Normal: Aki briefly in Season 3 with her psychic powers, all of the Signers at the end of the series when they lose their Signer marks (although Aki and Ruka should still retain their separate powers.)
• Childhood Friends: Yusei, Jack, and Crow have been together since their young days in Satellite. Yusei and Jack have been known each other longer than Crow.
• The Chosen Many: The Signers were chosen by the Crimson Dragon. The German makes it explicit by localizing "Signer" as "Auserwählte(r)" which means "chosen one".
• Cool Bike: Five out of seven have iconic D-Wheels. Ruka and Rua have Duel Boards instead.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: Yusei, Jack, and Crow have been best friends since childhood and were raised by Martha. After the Dark Signer arc, they live together in the same house, where they (or at least Yusei) found another male life partner in Bruno.
• Irony:
  • Yusei, Jack, Aki, Ruka and Rua have one or two cards that are drawn and designed by children who won the YGO drawing contest. Each of them use their card in an episode and, at the end of the episode, they announce the respective winner of the contest and then they tell the viewers that they will use those cards in the future and take care of them. With the exception of Yusei, who got two cards and uses them in only a few episodes, the others never use those cards again. Most ironically is Jack, who tells the viewers that he will use his Demon Chaos King in the future, despite the fact that he only borrowed it and had already given it back to Kazama in the same episode.
  • Yusei summons his strongest monster, Shooting Quasar Dragon (which looks very much like a Stardust evolution, and has an effect to call Shooting Star Dragon) using every Signer Dragon but his own.
• Leitmotif: "5D's' Theme".
• Made of Iron:
  • Yusei, Jack and Crow are quite resilient. Especially Yusei, who falls twice from a dangerous height and is believed to be dead. He survives both times without any explanation.
  • Averted with Aki; she spends several episodes unconscious after crashing her D-Wheel.
• Magic Is Feminine: Aki and Luca are the only two female Signers and the only ones who can communicate with Duel Monsters and materialize them into the physical world. Aki is even likened to a witch and has the nick name "Black Rose Witch" in the Japanese version of the anime.
• My Significance Sense Is Tingling: The Dragon's Birthmark responds to other sources of mystical energy, including but not limited to other Birthmarks, Dark Signers, Rune Eyes, and more.
• Power Glows: Their Signer birthmarks glow in several different situations. For example, if one of them needs a new power or is awakening a power.
• The Power of Friendship: The bond between the Signers can give a single Signer new powers and literally newly created cards out of nowhere. Or manipulate the deck's card order, as seen during the debut of Shooting Star Dragon.
• Power Trio:
  • Yusei, Jack, Crow.
  • During the Dark Signer arc, Yusei, Jack, and Aki seemed to be shaping up as the three primary duelists of the show, until Crow was elevated to main character status.
  • In Season 3, Aki, Rua, and Ruka form a secondary Power Trio.
• Protagonist Power-Up Privileges: Yusei and his lancer Jack have no less than three alternate forms of their Signer Dragons, while only one other Signer (Rua) has one, and then only one. Yusei eventually uses the other five Signer Dragons to (Limit Over Accel) Synchro Summon Shooting Quasar Dragon, an evolution of his own Signer Dragon.
• Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory: The Dragon Marks grant them an immunity to Yliaster's "Falsification of History". It even applies to anyone within a small radius around them.
• Screw the Rules, I Have Supernatural Powers!: The power of the Crimson Dragon can give the Signers new cards they didn't even have. In the middle of a duel, no less. Doubly so for Aki, who already has incredible psychic powers even she has difficulty controlling, which makes any duel against her (in the beginning, at least) incredibly dangerous.
• The Team: Team 5D's is the hero team of the series and large emphasis is placed on their their bonds as friends, particularly in major duels when the Signer marks gather on a single duelist and in the WRGP where the three-man elimination format allows them to leave cards on the field for the next duelist even if they happen to lose.
• True Companions: In a way they're all orphans who form a bond thicker than blood itself. Their bond is so strong that at the end of the series when they all have chances to live happier lives they hesitate to take them because it means they would have to separate from each other. Although in the end thanks to Jack who was already gung-ho on leaving and Yusei who will connect them all together they decide to go their separate ways knowing their bonds will never falter and Yusei staying in Neo Domino City will give them a reason to comeback to Neo Domino City once their dreams have been fulfilled.
• Two Girls to a Team: Aki and Runa are the only female members.

Yusei Fudo

Yusei Fudo

Voiced by: Yuya Miyashita (Japanese), Greg Abbey (English; credited as Frank Frankson in 5Ds)

The main character of 5D's and one of the Signers, bearing the Crimson Dragon's Tail (this is replaced with the Dragon's Head at the end of Season 2). He is much more calm and serious than the previous Yu-Gi-Oh! protagonists before him, but he is just as protective of his friends and his cards. This and his considerable skills earn him a great deal of respect and admiration from his friends.

At first he lives in a slum named Satellite, but he escapes, looking to retrieve his rarest card from his old friend Jack in Neo Domino City. He spends a brief stint in jail for his trouble, attaining a Criminal Marker, although he is later released. He participates in, and later wins, the Fortune Cup tournament held by Rex Godwin for the purpose of gathering the Signers.

Once all the Signers are gathered, he returns to Satellite to hold a battle with the Dark Signers. He eventually defeats three of the Dark Signers, helping to unite Neo Domino City and Satellite in the process.

In the W.R.G.P. arc he works as a mechanic and general handyman, living in Neo Domino City with his friends (including newly-introduced amnesiac Bruno). He participates in the W.R.G.P. with his friends as Team 5D's, in which he's the last wheeler. At the same time he works to attain a state of Clear Mind so that he can perform Accel Synchro to defeat the Three Emperors of Yliaster. After winning the tournament he goes up onto the Ark Cradle to prevent the destruction of his hometown for the second time. Yusei learns that Bruno is an ally of Z-One, but during their duel Bruno teaches him the Delta Accel Synchro needed to defeat Z-One and then sacrifices his life for Yusei. In his duel with Z-One Yusei creates a superior power instead, Limit Over Accel Synchro, and summons Shooting Quasar Dragon to turn the duel to his favor. After defeating Z-One, his enemy helps him to stop the Ark Cradle and saves Yusei's life.

At the end of the series Yusei remains in Neo Domino City, becoming a scientist like his father and making sure the bad future Yliaster spoke of never comes to pass.

He uses an aggro toolbox-themed Synchron deck comprising a large number of Tuner and Tuner-support monsters, allowing him to quickly summon a variety of Synchro monsters. His signature cards are Junk Warrior and Stardust Dragon.

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• The Ace: Nearly defeated the reigning King of Games Jack Atlas in the 5th episode of the series, and officially dethroned him about 20 episodes later. Defeating Jack alone made him a world renown duelist with duelist from various other countries seeking him out just to duel him or ask him to be a part of their team for an upcoming Tag Team Duel Tournament. People wanted him so badly that they were willing to beat the daylights out of him so they kidnap and brainwash him into being a part of their team. About 200 years later in Z-ONE's timeline he was praised as a legendary duelist/hero who toured the world, won various duel tournaments wherever he went, and inspired many duelist in the generations that proceeded his own. Yusei is notably one of two protagonists alongside Yusaku Fujiki of Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS to never directly lose a duel during the series, with his one loss at-all being pre-series in a match with Jack.
• Affectionate Nickname: Zora, who spoils Yusei beyond belief, addresses him as Yusei-chan.
• All-Loving Hero: He cares and respects everyone, even those who originally antagonized him.
• Amnesiac Resonance: In the English version of episode 13, Yusei suffer from amnesia because of the crash he took when he made his escape in the last episode. However, despite his memory loss, Yusei knew how to duel and repair things along with agreeing with Leo that Jack does means something to him, although he question on that one but didn't wonder about how he knew to duel and repair.
• Badass in Distress: In Episode 71 he gets kidnapped, but is saved thanks to Aki.
• Barcode Tattoo: Those yellow lines on his face are criminal marks put there by the police.
• Bat Family Crossover: In Bonds Beyond Time movie, Yusei teams up Jaden Yuki and Yugi Muto/Yami Yugi from different eras to defeat the movie's Big Bad, Paradox.
• Berserk Button: He's incredibly calm most of the time, but insulting somebody's cards will really set him off.
• Big Brother Mentor: To Rua at the beginning of the series.
• Birds of a Feather: Bruno and Yusei quickly become friends because they both have a high know-how about technology, and are both mechanics.
• Breaking Old Trends: Yusei is the first Yu-Gi-Oh! protagonist to primarily use Effect Monsters as his ace monsters, and the only one in recent history to not have a Spellcaster-duo ace monster in his deck.
• Catchphrase:
  • "Is that so?" in the Japanese version, usually before making his game winning move.
  • "It's here." in the Japanese version when he draws the exact card he needs to win the Duel; Sometimes it's said as "It's go time." in the English dub.
  • "Let's rev it up!" in the English dub, typically when summoning Junk Warrior.
  • His Synchro Chants can be counted as this, as they are all "Clustering [X] will create a new [Y]. Become the path its light shines upon!"
  • The phrase that best sums up his philosophy on Dueling (and with people) seems to be "There is not one card in this world that is worthless."
• Combat Pragmatist: In his duel against Takasu; he knew his hand was being watched by security cameras, so he took advantage of the blackout to switch his face-down cards. Technically the move is illegal in an actual game, but it's a rule with minimal impact and Yusei's opponent was hardly playing fair himself.
• The Comically Serious: Especially when Jack or Crow are hamming it up.
• Contrasting Sequel Main Character: Provides half of the page image. Yusei seems to have been specifically designed to be Judai's opposite, stoic, serious and older compared to Judai's youthful enthusiasm. In fact, at this point, he is the oldest protagonist in the entire series starting 5D's at 18 years old.
• Crazy Jealous Guy: Downplayed, but he does not like it when a guy flirts with Aki.
• Cool Bike: The Yusei-Go was built by Yusei himself, and despite having only spare parts made out of junk or stolen goods, it's an impressive machine, showing that Yusei is a brilliant mechanic.
• Crippling Overspecialization: His tendency to rely too much on Synchro monsters bites him in the ass hard when encountering the first Machine Emperor, to the point he couldn't create a counter until he achieved Accel Synchro.
• Determinator: No matter how slim the odds against him are, he'll never quit.
• Did They or Didn't They?: At the end of the series when Aki visits him one last time before leaving Neo Domino City, they have a moment with them holding hands and looking into each other's eyes after which Aki closes her suggesting that this might've been a Kissing Discretion Shot.
• Dub Personality Change: Downplayed. In the original Japanese, Yusei is very serious and barely speaks, the English dub made him somewhat more emotional and talkative.
• First-Name Basis: He calls Aki by her first name in their second duel to get her attention, a move typically considered disrespectful in Japan except under a few conditions.
• Forgot About His Powers: Yusei desperately tries to find a way to deal with the Machine Emperor monsters that can absorb Synchro Monsters. He eventually finds the Accel Synchro, but Yusei already had a card that could deal with them, and he has had it since the beginning of the series: Turbo Warrior. A Synchro Monster that cannot be targeted by monsters who are Level 6 or lower, and the Machine Emperors are Level 1^note In the anime, a Machine Emperor is made of five monsters that join forces and give the Infinity (the torso) their ATK and DEF. The Infinity is a Level 1 monster that absorbs Synchro Monsters. Some parts can be replaced by stronger versions of themselves that have higher Levels, but the highest Level that was shown was 5.. However, he never uses Turbo Warrior against them and he relies instead on his Accel Synchro Summon.
• A Friend in Need: To Aki, and then Kiryu.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation: Aside from Stardust Dragon, most of his cards are said to be collected from trash cans and have been thrown out by other duelists for being weak. Yet the deck Yusei builds around them is brilliant and able to match and overcome many professional duelists using store-bought cards.
• Genius Bruiser: He's an incredibly talented duelist and mechanic, and still capable of manhandling two of Godwin's bodyguards in a fight.
• Golden Super Mode: "OVER TOP CLEAR MIND!"
• Hope Bringer: For the people of Domino City, and in the future the entire world.
• I Choose to Stay: In the final episode. Rather than venture out into the world like the other signers, he chooses to stay behind as guardian of Neo-Domino city.
• Ideal Hero: Especially by the later seasons, where he has no significant character flaws and never loses.
• I Know Karate: Shown in Episode 25 when he dispatches several guards with a Shoryuken and a Hurricane Kick.
• If You Kill Him, You Will Be Just Like Him!: Says this when Bommer attempts to kill Godwin.
• Improbable Hairstyle: Believe it or not, it's actually inherited.
• Invincible Hero: Loses once (twice if one were to include his flashback duel against Jack) during the whole series, and once manages to beat an entire team of three skilled duelists all by himself (Jack and Aki had already damaged the first one, though).
• It's All My Fault: He blames himself for what happened to everyone after Zero Reverse, which was caused by the Old Momentum designed by his father.
• King of Games: Defeated Jack who was the reigning King of Games during the Fortune Cup, thus the title was passed on to him.
• Limited Wardrobe: Justified by a tight budget. Though it gets a little ridiculous when flashbacks to him as a small child have him in the exact same clothing.
• Made of Iron: He endures a lot of real attacks during the series.
• Magical Incantation: Like most characters in 5D's, Yusei uses summon chants for his Synchro Monsters, with the exception of Arm's Aid (Armory Arm).
  "Clustering hopes will become a new shining star! Become the path its light shines upon! Synchro Summon! Take flight, Stardust Dragon!"
  "Clustering the shine of stars will illuminate a new miracle! Become the path its light shines upon! Synchro Summon! Arrive in light, Savior Star Dragon!"
  "Clustering crystal dreams open the door to a new evolution! Become the path its light shines upon! Accel Synchro! Be Born, Shooting Star Dragon!"
  "Clustering stars become one, as new bonds will enlighten the future! Become the path its light shines upon! LIMIT OVER ACCEL SYNCHRO! Light of evolution, Shooting Quasar Dragon!"
  "Clustering power that dwells inside my fist, transform into a will that can shatter even steel! Become the path its light shines upon! Accel Synchro! Show yourself, Stardust Warrior!" (commercial for Structure Deck: Synchron Extreme)
  "Clustering stars will call upon a new force! Become the path its light shines upon! Synchro Summon! Show yourself, Junk Warrior!"
  "Clustering minds will now become a new force! Become the path its light shines upon! Synchro Summon! Blaze on, Nitro Warrior!"
  "Clustering bonds weave a greater force! Become the path its light shines upon! Synchro Summon! Rev your engines, Turbo Warrior!" (most episodes)
  "Clustering stars weave a greater force! Become the path its light shines upon! Synchro Summon! Rev your engines, Turbo Warrior!" (episode 31)
  "Clustering hopes will evoke a new horizon! Become the path its light shines upon! Synchro Summon! Dash onward, Road Warrior!"
  "Clustering powers will turn into a spear that pierces the earth! Become the path its light shines upon! Synchro Summon! Break it apart, Drill Warrior!"
  "Clustering roars turns into an echoing arrow which tears through the skies! Become the path its light shines upon! Synchro Summon! Show yourself, Junk Archer!"
  "When wishes of steel gather round the messenger of the gale, that wish will become an invincible shield! Become the path its light shines upon! Synchro Summon! Show yourself, Junk Gardna!"
  "Clustering fighting souls will awaken the raging wicked god! Become the path its light shines upon! Synchro Summon! Obliterate, Junk Destroyer!"
  "Clustering anger brings with it a warrior from a fierce god!. Become the path its shines upon! Synchro Summon! Howl, Junk Berserker!"
  "Clustering wishes will call out a new speed's horizon! Become the path its light shines upon! Synchro Summon! The Power of Hope, Synchro Tuner, Formula Synchron!"
• Magnetic Hero: He bonds with many different groups of friends.
• Manly Man and Sensitive Guy: Yusei portrays elements of both. On the one hand, he does have a tough, manly exterior. He is capable of taking out 2 guards with a few kicks and a punch. However, he is clearly the most considerate and sensitive of the men in Team 5Ds.
• Mark of Shame: The criminal mark. At least, in theory. It doesn't really come up again after he beats Jack.
• Meaningful Name: He is named after the Planetary Particle (Yuusei Ryuushi) which his father discovered. Like the particle, which joined every other particle together, his father wanted Yusei to be someone who could join other people together through bonds - which is exactly what he became.
• Moses in the Bulrushes: His father saved him from Zero Reverse Superman-style.
• Mr. Fanservice: He is probably the hottest looking out of all the Yu-Gi-Oh! protagonists. Not only does he wear a muscle shirt as part of Team Satisfaction, he also gets a few Shirtless Scenes to his name.
• Mr. Fixit: He did build his own D-Wheel after all. Fixing things is his trade after the Time Skip.
• Nice Guy: Despite his intimidating features, he's actually really nice and probably the most heroic of all main "Yu" characters who would drop anything to help a friend or person in need. Towards the end of 5D's, he was even willing to sacrifice his own life to save Neo Domino City. In fact, out of all of the Yu-Gi-Oh! protagonists, he's the only one to have never submitted to darkness of any kind, or, in Yusaku's case, being a Jerkass. Double Subverted towards the finale, when Z-One, through numerous hints, is revealed to be an aged Yusei from the future....except not. He's just a doppelganger from a future beyond Yusei who surgically and psychologically conditioned himself to become who he saw as a symbol of hope: Yusei.
• Not So Above It All: Despite by a mile being the most mature and serious protagonist, he's had his share of comical moments showing he isn't above laughing at Crow when he's the butt of another character's joke, or at Jack being embarrassed by Martha when she asks him act like a king to her like he did in their younger years. Especially when Martha suggest that he has a crush on Aki, even telling him to go and "save his future wife" (in the Japanese version), or take her on a date (in the English dub). His comical moments however are much more evident in dub of 5Ds though.
• Not So Stoic: In his earlier days. Also, Yusei can be hammy and hot-blooded if the situations calls for it.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • Has this reaction when Sherry tells him that he'll die if to the Ark Cradle
  • Also has this reaction during the duel with Team Unicorn and he realizes Breo uses a "Deck Destruction" strategy.
  • Has one towards Team Taiyo upon seeing that Taro and Jinbei remain calm even though their supposed key card, Holding-Hands Majin, is destroyed and that their current wheeler, Yoshino, is losing. This makes him wonder if they still have another plan other than the Boring, but Practical Stone Wall strategy they showed earlier.
• Official Couple: He becomes one with Aki by the end of the series. Yusei is in love with Aki and before she moves to Germany for medical school, she tries to confess her feelings to him but he knows what she was going to say and thus he silently confess and returns his love for her.
• One-Hit Kill: Yusei is prone to One-Turn Killing his opponents, notably with Nitro Warrior. At the beginning of the Crash Town arc, Yusei does a One-Turn Three Kill with his Nitro Warrior.
• Perpetual Frowner: Almost always has a scowl or seemingly angry or annoyed look on his face. Although when he does smile it's generally a smug looking one despite no ill intentions. However he is capable of giving a genuine looking smile without the serious eyes he always has.
• Personality Power: Both of his favorite Synchro monsters, Junk Warrior and Stardust Dragon, represent an aspect of him.
  • Junk Warrior's ability allows him to gain ATK equal to the total attacks of Lv. 2 monsters when he is summoned to the field, just like how Yusei draws power from the bonds with his friends and how he believes that no person or card is useless, no matter how weak they are.
  • Stardust Dragon's ability allows it to be sent to the graveyard to negate a card destroying effect and then return to the field at the End Phase, representing how Yusei is willing to make sacrifices for the sake of his friends and then triumphantly returns.
• Plot Armor: There is more than one duel where he's just about to lose, and the duel is interrupted.
• Power Trio: With his first group of friends, Crow and Jack.
• Pre-Asskicking One-Liner: Gets a hilariously goofy one when facing Rudger.
  Rudger: "You'll be attacked directly and dance the dance of death."
  Yusei: "I'm a... (smiles) ...lousy dancer."
• Precision F-Strike: Not in the series itself, but during the NAWCQ Nationals 2016, his VA gets one during the scripted duel against Yuya's VA.
  What the-What the hell is a Pendulum Summon?
• Real Men Wear Pink: He's a stoic guy who runs a Warrior/Machine deck, but still has a couple of adorable monsters like Roadrunner or Bolt Hedgehog.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: At the end of the Fortune Cup, Yusei gave a small but solemn and sad one to Jack, stating that he lost the Duel due to "giving into his Pride of trying to be a king".
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The calm and serious Yusei is the blue to the hammy and hot-blooded Jack and Crow's red.
• Say My Name: He has a habit of Skyward Screaming the names of people he cares for whenever something happens to them. Also of former enemies.
  • "KIIIIIIIIRRRYYYUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!"
  • "MAAAAAARTHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!"
  • "RAAAALLYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!"
  • "CRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWW!!"
  • "BRRRRUUUUUUUUUUUUUUNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!"
  • "Z-OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONE!!"
• Shameful Strip: Episode 8 has him subdued by the guards and his clothes stripped from against his will leaving him wearing only his boxers. Afterwards his arms and legs are cuffed to a table while tests are run on him while being electrocuted.
• Shonen Hair: His crab-like hairdo provides the page image.
• Signature Mon: Always changes across the series. Junk Warrior, then the entirety of the Stardust line, and finally Junk Warrior again. In the series' finale, it becomes apparent that they symbolize Yusei's current position. Back when he used Junk Warrior at the Satellite, he was focused on being the center of his friends' bonds. Throughout the series, his regrets and self-sacrifices make him closer to the Stardust theme of self-sacrifice, while still having the characteristics from Junk Warrior. At the end of the show, with every problem solved, he's closer to Junk Warrior again.
• Sins of Our Fathers: He feels guilty about the Zero Reverse, seeing as it was caused by his father's invention. Placido exploits it, causing Yusei's first Accel Synchro attempt to fail. Team Ragnarok also refuse to work with Team 5D's because they believe Yusei's fate to be cursed due to this.
• The Stoic: Yusei is a very serious person who keeps a straight face most of the time.
• Technician Versus Performer: Appears to be the technician, being cool and calculated, but he's actually the performer, because he mixes up his strategies and uses his cards in creative, entertaining ways.
• There Is No Kill Like Over Kill: During his duel with the Guard Robot he summons Stardust Dragon to finish it off, even though he could have just switched his Junk Warrior to Attack Mode at that point.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Yusei ordering milk at a bar has led it to not only become a Memetic Mutation, but also an Ascended Meme, as there's an official figurine of Yusei holding a glass of milk, and during events held by Konami, Yusei's seiyuu Yuya Miyashita often jokes about it and he even brings milk to Duel Operas.
• Tragic Keepsake: He finds Antinomy's/Bruno's glasses after the end of their duel and decides to keep them.
• Warrior Therapist: Essentially he's this trope given flesh, he goes a couple of rounds with Aki to help her overcome her overcome her Dark and Troubled Past. As well as Jack and Kiryu to restore their friendship.
• Weak, but Skilled: A major gimmick of his deck is that he uses so-called "weak" cards that were discarded as trash by the residents of Neo Domino City. Only his Synchro monsters are truly powerful in terms of attack, so he relies on his various monster effects for protection.
• Win Your Freedom: This is part of the first arc, when he is stuck in the detention center.
• World's Best Warrior: He is considered the best duelist of his generation.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Has a fear of bugs in the Dub, though it borders on Informed Flaw since he's barely shown to actually be afraid.

Jack Atlas

Jack Atlas

Voiced by: Takanori Hoshino (Japanese), Ted Lewis (English)

Yusei's rival and a Signer with the Wings of the Crimson Dragon. Two years before the series began he stole Yusei's 1st D-Wheel and his Stardust Dragon card, then relocated to Neo Domino City and came to be known as the 'King of Riding Duels'. Initially he was very arrogant and self-centered, caring little for others. However, after losing to Yusei in the Fortune Cup and meeting a special friend, he begins to realize where he went wrong and decides to take a different road than the one he took before.

Being a Signer, Jack helps defeat the Dark Signers, which include his special one-time Love Interest Carly, and former mentor Rex Godwin.

In the W.R.G.P. arc Jack lives in Neo Domino City with Yusei and Crow, with a spectacular inability to hold a job. He participates in the W.R.G.P. under Team 5D's as their first wheeler. He eventually gains a new power, Burning Soul, at the same time. After winning the tournament, he also goes onto Ark Cradle to fight Yliaster.

At the end of the series Jack attempts to defeat his rival Yusei, but fails. He leaves Neo Domino City, traveling around the world to become a true Dueling King.

He uses an aggro beatdown-themed Resonator deck focused on summoning his signature card, Red Daemon's Dragon.

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• Always Someone Better: By the end of the series he's acknowledged as the strongest Signer... except for Yusei.
• Anti-Hero: A Pragmatic Hero. Jack will do anything to accomplish his goal of becoming a great duelist, even if it means abandoning his friends and forcing a Sadistic Choice on Yusei.
• The Atoner: He develops shades of this after losing to Yusei, vowing to start making it up to his friends that he betrayed.
• Attack! Attack! Attack!: He definitely isn't stupid, but his deck focuses on offense and packs several anti-defense strategies — most prominently with his ace card, Red Daemon's Dragon. He also has a tendency to accuse defensive players of being cowards. Given that his deck is built around being nearly relentless in assault, it would probably be classified as the best defense is a good offense. The logic in it is that you can't really do anything to him if you have no cards to put up defense against his gigantic demons of terror. Then he steamrolls you in style while maintaining his flashy deck. Also, since he is a showman, he's really not going to impress anyone by using the turtling strategy.
• Badass Biker: For a person who plays card games, he is very badass on that motorcycle.
• Badass Longcoat: In true Yu-Gi-Oh! rival fashion. Subverted with his D-Wheeler outfit, which doesn't have a coat.
• Berserk Button: An easy way to annoy him is to refer to him as the 'former king' or something similar. Oh, and eating his cup ramen.
• Big Damn Heroes: Gets to do this when several kids' souls are about to be absorbed for Uru's summoning and Yusei has his hands tied.
• Borrowed Catch Phrase: During his final duel with Dragan, Jack borrows Yusei's "Is that so?" and his Leitmotif.
• Calling Your Attacks: A staple of the franchise, but the name of his Red Daemon's Dragon's Absolute Power Force even became the title of a booster set, featuring Saviour Demon Dragon on the cover.
  "ABSOLUTE POWER FOOOOOOOOOOOOORCE!"
• Celebrity Is Overrated: He gave up his life in Satellite and turned his back on his friends just to become a publicity puppet to a fickle crowd that would mostly turn their back on him in kind when he lost his champion title. The ones who did not motivated him to change himself.
• Celibate Hero: In the final episode he tells Carly, Mikage, and Stephanie that no woman will be in his way.
• Character Development: Becomes significantly less haughty and selfish during the course of the series.
• Chick Magnet: At least three characters have a crush on him: Carly, Mikage and Stephanie. He also used to have lots of fangirls when he was King.
• Cool Bike: He replaced Yusei's first D-Wheel with his own Wheel of Fortune, which is basically a monowheel, but it is surprisingly capable of doing crazy stunts like high jumps or driving on ceilings. It is also capable of drive backwards, allowing Jack to face his opponents directly, something he commonly does.
• Crippling Overspecialization: He doesn't have many skills outside dueling and fighting, and his Deck doesn't have many strategies other than offensive ones. In fact, an entire episode is dedicated to the premise that he couldn't hold a job due to his arrogance and lack of real world knowledge.
• Deadpan Snarker: The dub tones down his hamminess and adds in a good bit of poison-tipped snark, making him a trash-talker of the highest caliber with a very sharp tongue.
  Goodwin: The universe, energy, mankind. Yliaster is the power flowing through all of these things, binding them together.
  Jack: So it's glue. You've sworn allegiance to magic glue?!
• Deal with the Devil: In Episode 112 with the Crimson Devil's servant, the Crimson Devil being the most powerful Earthbound God. However, when he awakens his 'Burning Soul' in the next episode, he steals its power instead to make his new ace card.
• Defeat Means Friendship: With Yusei, though in his case it was more like "Defeat Means Reconciliation".
• Determinator: He never gives up in any situation, and he encourages his friends to never give up as well. A prime example would be the match with Team Unicorn; when Jack crashes, he remains conscious and pushes his Wheel of Fortune all the way to the pit so that Aki can take his place, and later he motivates Yusei not to lose against Jean.
• The Dragon: He's this for Rex Goodwin during the Fortune Cup arc.
• Et Tu, Brute?: Betrayed his True Companions to get out of Satellite.
• Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: He's as loyal and affectionate towards Martha as Yusei is. In one episode where he greets her during the Dark Signers arc, she asks him to greet her as he did when he was a child (which is the way a knight kneels while addressing a queen) and he does, even though the other Signers are watching.
• Evil Laugh: In Episode 76 after knocking out Syd, the leader of a D-Wheel theft ring, and before beating up the entire gang single-handedly.
• Expy: Jack is a mix between Kaiba and Manjoume but hammier, more Hot-Blooded, and open about his friendship with the other main characters after the time skip. The other major difference between him and the other rival characters is that Jack doesn't have a family member acting as his Morality Pet.
• Face–Heel Turn: He used to be good friends with Yusei and co. but he threw it away when Godwin offered him a chance at making it out of the Satellite Sector.
• Final Boss: Of the Fortune Cup arc, where he is automatically placed as a grand finalist. Also of the anime itself, depending on how you see it.
• Fire Is Masculine: Jack Atlas is a Hot-Blooded, prideful duelist in contrast to the more sensitive, humble and even-tempered Yusei. His Red Daemon's Dragon is the only Signer Dragon with a fire-based move and several of its alternate forms and support cards have fire and heat themed names (" Jeweled Demon Dragon - Red Daemon", "Crimson Fire", "Red Nova"). Jack later gains access to a power called "Burning Soul" which allows him to take on the powers of the Crimson Dragon itself to create Crimson Nova Dragon.
• Get A Hold Of Yourself Man: He uses this on Yusei in Episode 43.
• Graceful Loser: Subverted. His first Riding Duel with Yusei got interrupted, but video recordings revealed that Jack would have lost to Yusei's Trap Card. Even if the public would never know about the duel, Jack still knew about it, which is also why he personally sought after Yusei to give him his promised Stardust Dragon back. After that, he was waiting for Yusei to face him in the Fortune Cup to get revenge for his loss. But after losing in the Fortune Cup and losing all of his fame and most of his fans, Jack came to stoically accept that he lost his status as the King of Riding Duels.
• Heartbroken Badass: When he finds out something bad has happened to Carly and he wasn't there to protect her from it, and then when they have to face each other as enemies.
• Heel–Face Turn: After losing to Yusei he comes to his senses and rejoins the winning team.
• Hot-Blooded: Weaponized with his "BURNING SOUL!" His hot-bloodiness allows him to channel the power to Synchro Summon Scar-Red Nova Dragon.
• I Gave My Word: When Yusei arrived at Neo-Domino City, he challenged Jack to a Riding Duel to get his stolen Stardust Dragon back. While the duel got interrupted by the Crimson Dragon, video recording revealed to Jack that he would have lost to Yusei's Trap Card. And even though the public would never know about the duel, Jack still knew about the outcome and he's upset that he lost. After Yusei got out of prison, Jack personally sought out for Yusei to give him his Stardust Dragon back.
• Incendiary Exponent: When he invokes 'Burning Soul' for the first time in Episode 113, his hand catches fire.
• Informed Flaw: Overlapping with Redemption Demotion, we're told repeatedly over the course of the third season that Jack has no idea how to play defensively. This is despite the fact that before then, he ran many cards (Twin-Shield Defender, Battle Fader, the entire Resonator archetype) that favored defensive play, and even outright stated in his time as King that he sometimes played defensively to make the Duel last longer than it would if he went all-out.
• Invincible Hero: He never loses in a Standing Duel. Yes, and this includes Yusei.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: This Jerkass who treats other people like dirt cries Manly Tears after he hears Yeager's story of only eating ramen because he was so dirt poor. He even offered him boxes and boxes of it.
• King of Games: Was introduced as the current reigning King of Duels at the beginning of the series until he lost to Yusei at the Fortune Cup that is, although by the end of the series he's the champion of the world's greatest Riding Duel league but won't consider himself the true King of Duelists until he defeats Yusei.
• Large Ham: You have no idea...this guy is probably the single most hammy character of the entire anime. After all, the king's duel must be entertainment for all! In addition, there's only one king, and IT'S HIM!
  • Ore no TAAAAAAAAN!
  • ABSOLUTE POWER FOOOOOOOOOOOOORCE!
  • Let's not forget CAAAAARLYYYYY!
• Last-Name Basis: He still calls Aki by her last name Izayoi, even after they become teammates.
• Latex Space Suit: His dueling outfit.
• Lonely at the Top: Revealed by Episode 25, which is titled "The Lonely King: Jack Atlas"
• Lotus-Eater Machine: Falls victim to one in Episode 58, but snaps out it due to Carly's glasses.
• Made of Iron: Takes several D-Wheel spills that should have broken his neck in half. Two of those instances do land him in the hospital, though.
• Meaningful Name: His name means "Man of Atlas", which is fitting, since his monsters are either demonic or brutish in appearance.
• Mirror Match: When he faces an impostor who has a replica of his Deck (Red Daemon's Dragon included).
• Monowheel Mayhem: His D-Wheel, the Wheel of Fortune (Phoenix Whirlwind in the dub).
• No Indoor Voice: Maybe speaking very, very loudly is a requirement to be a king? During Jack's first duel with Yusei, Yaeger somewhat justifies his hamminess and loud speaking voice as an actual strategy to pressure his opponents psychologically. Still doesn't explain why he talks like that when not dueling, though...
• Not So Above It All: Despite being as serious as Yusei most of the time, he's definitely had his fair share of goofy moments (especially towards the end of the series) doing things such as: Frequently arguing with Crow, CRYING over his cup ramen being taken from him and Lazar's backstory and comically offering BOXES of them and threatening to take them away when he isn't telling them what they want to know, and doing a 10 foot jump in the air to play a video game and his reaction to losing at it.
• Official Couple: With Carly. Probably the only one in the entire franchise to have ever spat the L word more than once (with the exception of pre-established relationships between certain characters). The feeling turns out to be mutual before the Reset Button is pushed.
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Near the end of the anime, he defeats Kiryu, Bommer, and Sherry off-screen. All of these opponents, especially Sherry (who dueled Aki and Crow simultaneously), are extremely skilled duelists who gave his friends very tough duels, just to show that he Took Many Levels in Badass.
• One Head Taller: Jack's already one of the tallest characters in the show, but he's practically a giant compared to Carly. Most noticable in these◊ pictures◊.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: When he uses his 'Burning Soul' powers and robs the strongest Earthbound God of its power, melding it with Red Daemons' Dragon to create Scar-Red Nova Dragon.
• Red Herring Twist: The preview for Episode 58 made it seem like Jack was going to become a Dark Signer, but it was actually a case of Carly's Lotus-Eater Machine.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: He's one of each.
  • Given his Hot-Blooded ham, he's clearly the red to the more calm and serious Yusei's blue.
  • Believe it or not, despite his Hot-Blooded ham outpacing Crow's, Crow manages to be the red to Jack's blue by virtue of being over-the-top for longer.
• Rich in Dollars, Poor in Sense: Being the King for a while seems to have diluted his sense of saving. His favorite Blue-Eyes Mountain coffee costs 3000 yen per cup (21.66 dollars, but the Dub inflates this to 30), and he gets a custom tailored suit despite Crow repeatedly reminding him that they barely have enough to pay for rent and food.
• The Rival: To Yusei.
• Save the Villain: He saves Nicolas from an explosion that would kill both of them, because even a guy like him doesn't deserve to die.
• Say My Name: to Carly's, one of his prominent line in Dark Signer arc, it gets louder and longer every time.
• Scannable Man: Averted, as he's the only member of Team Satisfaction◊ not to have a Criminal Mark.
• Screw Destiny: Lampshaded by his card, Change Destiny.
• Self-Made Lie: It is later revealed that Goodwin and Jeager paid strong duelists to lose against Jack on purpose when Jack's career began. That said, Jack is still a skilled enough duelist to earn some legitimate victories throughout the series.
• Senseless Sacrifice: During the duel against Team Taiyou, Jack uses a Taking You with Me move to annihilate all of Jinbei's Life Points to give the team a 2-to-1 advantage, but Jinbei saves himself with Gift of the Mystical Elf to keep in the game.
• Serious Business: Besides the obvious dueling, don't get between Jack and his cup ramen.
• Technician Versus Performer: Appears to be the performer, but he rarely deviates from tried-and-true methods and he lacks Yusei's creativity, making Jack the technician.
• Together in Death: Attempted. When he was forced to defeat a possessed Carly during their Dark Duel where the loser perishes, he intended to use "Shockwave" to end the Duel in a tie so she wouldn't go down alone. She realized this, however, and quickly triggered "Earthbound Release" to ensure that only she died.
• Took a Level in Badass: Taking only two episodes to turn the Crimson Devil into his new ace card counts.
• Tough Spikes and Studs: Jack wears a studded neckband and is a highly skilled duelist with an aggressive playing style.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Blue-Eyes Mountain (coffee) and cup ramen.
• Tragic Keepsake: After she dies (and, unknown to him, becomes a Dark Signer), he carries around Carly's glasses until she's revived.
• Unwanted Harem: Has Carly, Mikage and Stephanie chasing after him like lovesick puppies after the Dark Signers arc.
• Unexplained Accent: In the dub, there's his Cockney accent (which gets mistaken for Australian an awful lot). It could be justified by his clearly foreign name and hair, but that's never touched upon seeing as his parents are long dead.
• Ungrateful Bastard: Punches Bruno in the face just because he was cleaning his D-Wheel.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: With Crow.
• The Worf Effect: Despite his increasing badassery during the tail end of the WRGP arc, Jack inevitably suffers from this due to the tournament's structure. As the first duelist of the team, he has to be knocked out by a powerful enemy duelist sooner or later, that Crow and/or Yusei have to deal with. The duel against Team Catastrophe is the only exception during the Tournament Arc.
  • This trope was played straight with Team Unicorn and Team New World, although he still managed to look good both times; against Team Unicorn, despite being the first duelist to lose in the match, he had to push his broken D-Wheel to the pitstop by himself despite being injured; with Team New World, Jack had already taken down two of the three opponents, even if they let him win to give José an advantage. With Team Taiyou, Jack wasn't losing, but he still attempted a Taking You with Me on the Second Wheeler Jinbei because he noticed that their strategy was off and suspicious and he tried to take the team out as fast as possible. With Team Ragnarok, Jack was already physically and mentally exhausted from his intense duel against Dragan and he had only few LP left, thus he was left unprepared of Team Ragnarok's team strategy of using each other's Nordic Gods which heavily benefit from the W.R.G.P. rules.
• Would Hit a Girl: He literally hit Barbara who definitely deserved it, deeming any woman who Would Hurt a Child unworthy of chivalry.
• Would Hurt a Child: He knocks out Rally, a young boy. (In the sub, it was with a punch. In the dub, he tasers him)

Aki Izayoi (Akiza Izinski)

Aki Izayoi (Akiza Izinski)

Voiced by: Ayumi Kinoshita (Japanese), Erica Schroeder (English; credited as Bella Hudson in 5Ds)

A Signer bearing the Dragon's Foreclaw and incredible psychic powers, which enable her to manifest her cards in reality. In the past, her uncontrolled powers caused people to fear and reject her, leading to her becoming isolated from the rest of humanity. She initially hated her "wretched mark", believing it to be the cause of her powers and her suffering. When Yusei first met her she was extremely unstable and violent, having developed a destructive split-personality, and was being manipulated by Divine, who intended to abuse her power. However, through Yusei's efforts, she gradually began to open her heart to others again, reconciled with her parents who regretted rejecting her, and learned to control her psychic powers.

In the W.R.G.P. arc Aki re-enrolls in the local Duel Academia, quickly rising to become the best student in her year. She uses her Psychic powers several times over to save herself and others from harm. She learns how to ride a D-Wheel, becoming part of Team 5D's pit crew and also serving as an alternate for the team. Staying true to this role, Aki briefly substitutes for Crow when the latter crashes and is injury-stricken. She crashes herself on her D-Wheel and temporarily goes into a coma courtesy of Team Catastrophe. She gets better, although she appears to have lost her Psychic powers. She later comes to peace with this, saying she no longer needs them, but her powers re-manifest to save herself, Crow, and Sherry from harm, causing her to discover that she can use them to heal. At the end of the series, Aki leaves Japan to study and become a doctor in Germany.

She uses a plant deck focusing on field control. Her signature card is Black Rose Dragon.

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• Action Girl: She's one of, if not the, most active female duelists.
• Adaptation Personality Change: In the original, she was mostly an Emotionless Girl in her original persona, speaking in little more than a Creepy Monotone. In the dub, she's a lot more expressive from the get-go, bordering on Large Ham at times when Dueling.
• Ax-Crazy: She was in her Black Rose Witch persona.
• Badass Biker: She takes her D-Wheel exam in episode 75 and has a few Riding Duels after that. Definite emphasis on babe here - compared to Carly or Sherry who wear rather loose outfits in their Riding Duels, Aki chose a skintight suit that she invariably wears with the top part of the zipper unzipped, to make a Cleavage Window. Gets bonus points for the fact both her D-Wheel and her biking suit are named "Bloody Kiss" (probably to give off a Lady in Red Femme Fatale vibe - even though Aki does wear red a lot, she is actually neither personality wise) according to some side material. It doesn't get much more sexy than that!
• Because You Were Nice to Me: Her loyalty to Divine was because he didn't reject her for her powers, although it is deconstructed as she was just being used by him. Her loyalty and affection for Yusei, on the other hand, is a better example, since he showed her kindness and helped her reunite with her family.
• Bad Powers, Good People: Post Heel–Face Turn she retains her psychic powers but is firmly on the side of the good guys.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: During her second duel with Misty, Divine hypnotizes her with a code word and unleashes her sealed Psychic Power. It is explicitly mentioned that he is using mind-control on her, and it's hard to tell which one is crazier; Aki, or DarkSigner!Misty. Although it comes to Aki's favor, as Aki was suffering a Heroic BSoD after learning that "she" killed Toby it was actually Divine who did it, and the mind-control helped her to continue the duel.
• Broken Bird: She starts out the series lonely and angry at the world for shunning her, and it takes quite a lot of time and effort for Yusei to help her get over this.
• Brought Down to Normal: She apparently lost her powers while being attacked by Hidden Knight - Hook. Emphasis on apparently because the exact reason why wasn't explained, and it was eventually subverted when she got them back.
• Breakout Character: Among Team 5Ds, Aki has proven lastingly popular as a character, and one of the most popular female characters in the entire franchise, owing to her sympathetic backstory, Character Development, appealing design, her Ship Tease with Yusei (which is one of the franchise's most popular) and being a competent duelist with a powerful deck theme, including a Signer Dragon that remains effective in the real life game to this day. A 2018 popularity poll showed Black Rose Dragon to be the most popular monster in the series, beating out Stardust Dragon and all its upgraded forms by over a thousand votes. The late 2010s saw a steady stream of support for the Rose Dragon theme, culminating in 2021 with Ruddy Rose Dragon, the first Signer Dragon evolution that wasn't based on Yusei or Jack's cards, and they also got a support Link Monster, something neither Yusei or Jack has yet.
• Captain Ersatz: Her design cue makes her look similar to Kallen Kozuki from Code Geass.
• Cannot Spit It Out: Tries to tell Yusei she loves him at the end of the series, she almost does it but ultimately decides not to mid sentence although luckily for her Yusei isn't Oblivious to Love and seemed to catch on to what she wanted to say and silently returned her feelings.
• Cassandra Truth: Up until Divine's confession, Misty declined to believe that Aki had nothing to do with the death of Toby.
• Character Development: She makes peace with her two primary sources of suffering in her life and mellows out, although there is much debate about how well this was handled.
• Cleavage Window: Aki has more cleavage exposed than all the other female protagonists in the franchise. Especially on her biking suit which is always unzipped in the chest region... just because. This however was censored out in the English Dub after episode 16.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: Has shown shades of this during Yusei's duel with Sherry (which is then implied to have had a significant part in becoming a D-Wheeler herself) and when Yusei meets Bruno and he ignores her when she needed help with her homework she immediately huff and left visibly upset, so much so even Rua pointed it out.
• Combat Stilettos: Before she became a D-Wheeler she effectively embraced this because her normal outfit included high heels. At least one fanfiction has her lampshade it considering her Duel with Yusei was a bit of a long one.
• Combat Tentacles: Another part of her deck. A particular example is Black Rose Dragon when it's equipped with Thorn of Hatred/Thorn of Malice. Or her other monster Rose Tentacles.
• Contrasting Sequel Main Character: To Asuka Tenjouin, the previous female lead. Unlike Asuka, who was friendly to her peers from the beginning, Aki started off as a social outcast due to her dark past, which is the crux of her initial hostility towards around her until she turned on a new leaf after Yusei defeated her in their 2nd duel. Adding to this is that their respective love interests are also Contrasting Sequel Protagonists, even providing part of the page's picture.
• Corrupted Character Copy: Coincidental or not, Aki acts as a Darker and Edgier take of Ayumi Kinoshita's famous role of Marika "Jasmine" Reimon. Aki and Jasmine were outcasts since childhood because of their Psychic Powers. Jasmine was recruited by Doggie Kruger into the eponymous team as its Yellow Ranger, while Aki was brought in by Divine into the Arcadia Movement, manipulating her worst impulses for his own exploits, setting her down to a dark path until she met Yusei. Jasmine at her best is a Cloud Cuckoolander who has a penchant of nicknaming friend or foe alike for her own amusement. While Aki eventually managed to adjust herself to society after meeting Yusei, to the point they become close with one another, and joins with the rest of the team's adventures in the WRGP and their battles against Yliaster.
• Cool Big Sis: Rua refers to her as 'Big Sis Aki' (Aki-nee-chan). She really acts this way towards Rua and Ruka afterwards.
• Cool Bike: Her Bloody Kiss is made by Yusei and co. and it's quite an impressive machine despite being mostly made out of junk parts. Unfortunately, it lacks the horse power of the other machines, which almost gets her and Ruka killed when the team is trying to enter Ark Cradle via Bifröst. She's lucky that Yusei and Dark Glass are there to save them by taking some of her weight (Ruka) and by providing them a slip stream.
• Coy, Girlish Flirt Pose: While Aki is not the flirtatious or seductive kind of person, she does this often for Yusei at times such as...
  • Him modifying her D-Wheel.
  • In the last episode when she tries to confess her feelings to him.
  • Yusei himself envisioned her in this pose during the Bonds Beyond Time winking at him when thinking about his friends encouraging him.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Was an outcast in her younger years due to her psychic powers which lead to her parents disowning her (albeit unintentionally, they immediately regretted doing so and desperately wanted her back to be a family again).
• Deadly Sparring: When she was a little girl, Aki had a friendly Duel Monsters match with her father which was interrupted by a business call. This greatly upset Aki due to how little time her father spent with her. Unfortunately, this caused Aki's Psychic Powers to manifest for the first time and led to her injuring her father by having monsters attack him.
• Defeat Means Friendship: Although it did take two defeats and some of Yusei's Battle Therapy.
• Defrosting Ice Queen: Gradually, after meeting Yusei in the Fortune Cup. She eventually defrosts completely by season 2.
• Demoted to Extra: Aki was initially promoted as the third most character of the series behind Yusei and Jack, appearing as such in the opening and ending and being almost as important as them in the first season's plot. Come Season 2, however, and Crow has become the third hero, with Aki spending much of her time pre-occupied with school and/or convenient plot injuries. As a result her character arc for the season is only glossed over, and once Team Unicorn is defeated she's pretty much forgotten entirely until she and Crow duel Sherry.
• Did They or Didn't They?: At the end of the series when she visits Yusei one last time, they have a moment with them holding hands and looking into each other's eyes after which Aki closes her suggesting that this might've been a Kissing Discretion Shot.
• Don't You Dare Pity Me!: Her duels with Yusei before her Heel–Face Turn is full of moments where she rejects any form of sympathy from Yusei, but that did not stop him from finally opening her heart to others and eventually reconcile with her parents.
  Akiza: I need my mask, why are you trying to help me, Yusei?
  Yusei: Because I know you!
  Akiza: You know who? The scared girl? Maybe the face behind the mask?
  Yusei: I know what it's like to be the outcast, I'm from the Satellite! You think people like it when they saw me?! You can't stay afraid! You can't hide behind a mask forever!
• Drama-Preserving Handicap: She loses her psychic powers at the start of the WRGP, and doesn't regain them until after her duel with Sherry.
• Expository Hairstyle Change: Her bangs are curled while in her biking suit. A more prominent one comes after the time skip at the end, where her hair is straighter but still flared at the fringes, as well as replacing her limiter with a red headband, signifying she returned to a normal and happy life.
• Everyone Can See It: Her feelings for Yusei appear to be this with: Jack, the twins, and even their own parents taking notes of their relationship. And so does Yusei in the last few episodes, apparently.
• Expy: Her ace monster Black Rose Dragon is similar to Red-Eyes Black Dragon from the original series as both are level 7 dragon-type monsters with the same value of 2400 attack points.
• Foil: From the WRGP arc and beyond, Sherry and Aki are this to one another. Aki had a strained relationship with her parents from her childhood and was recruited by Divine into the Arcadia Movement where he exploits her Psychic Powers for his own personal gain until Yusei entered her life. Sherry had her parents taken away from her as a child and Mizoguchi has been her legal guardian ever since, and her desperation to seeking answers with her parents' whereabouts led her to be recruited by Z-One. Ironically, Aki (and Crow) were able to beat her during the Ark Cradle arc. Sherry also acts as a Shadow Archetype to Aki, had she never met Yusei and instead remained loyal to Divine.
• Friendless Background: Due to being a psychic, Aki was feared by many people, including her classmates and she didn't have any friends until Yusei came to her rescue.
• Friend to All Children: After her Heel–Face Turn she became very fond of children and has a very soft spot towards them.
• A Friend in Need: Yusei considers her one of these when he first helps her.
• Girly Bruiser: She is a very feminine girl who uses a Rose style deck and loves cute things and beautiful gardens. After her Heel–Face Turn, she shows off her cute and kind side a lot more. Despite all this, she was originally seen as a monster due to her sadism and mental problems and she is an extremely strong duelist.
• Goth Girls Know Magic: She wears a Victorian-style dress, is lonely and angry at the world, and has Psychic Powers. Aki does lose the "lonely and angry" perspective later on, but her liking of goth clothing definitely stays - she chose a skintight biking suit, in a red-and-black color scheme (and named it the "Bloody Kiss" according to the Tag Force games) to give off an apparently intentional sultry vibe.
• Heel–Face Turn: Starts out as a villain due to being manipulated by Divine, but joins the winning team after losing to Yusei.
• Hellbent For Leather: Aki's Riding Duel suit is by far the most "leathery" looking out of the four members of Team 5Ds who participate in Riding Duels, as the camera shows off the gleamy reflection typical of polished leather clothing in a few shots.
• Hospital Hottie: What she becomes after leaving Neo Domino City. As a doctor in Germany, she's still as beautiful as when she was a teenager.
• Hot Witch: Of sorts. Aki's psychic powers were considered by many to be a form of witchcraft leading to her getting the nickname "Black Rose Witch", and she wears clothes that emphasize her sex appeal. You could consider her a "sexy witch" adapted to the sci-fi sensibilities of the series.
• I Just Want to Be Normal: She does eventually come to accept and control her powers, using them for good. She appears to actually lose her powers, but later gets them back, and is revealed to be able to heal with them.
• I Just Want to Be Loved: Due to being a psychic Duelist, Aki was shunned by her family and peers, and as a result she became very distant and a bitter Broken Bird，but deep down she wanted her family to love her and a friend who cares for her genuinely and accept who she is. Her reason for joining Divine (who was actually using her as a pawn), is because he was nicer to her and was a psychic like her. Yusei and his friends were the first group of people who showed genuine kindness to her and wanted to became her friend and help her get out of her loneliness and reunite her with her parents, and this prompt Aki to not only come out of her shell, but she also falls in love with Yusei and gradually became attached to his friends, because they were the type of friends she yearn to have for years.
• Implied Love Interest: For Yusei. All but confirmed to be his Love Interest in the series finale.
• Kill It with Fire: Black Rose Dragon is a FIRE attribute monster. Its attack is named "Black Rose Flare."
• Lady of Black Magic: Elegant, reserved, and aloof, and has powerful Psychic Powers that she used to make her cards' attacks real (in the form of vines and fire) before her Heel–Face Turn.
• Last-Name Basis: Prior to her Heel–Face Turn, everyone but Divine and her parents called her "Izayoi". During her final duel with Yusei, the latter starts to call her by her given name to reach out for her, which would be considered rather rude in Japan as at that time he still barely knows her. After said Heel–Face Turn, the main characters are now close enough to her to call her by her given name, except for Jack.
• Latex Space Suit: Her riding outfit is very form-fitting, as is pretty much mandatory for female characters. Aki has probably the tightest Riding Duel suit in the show, which was pretty explicitly designed for fanservice - the red and black coloring, the fact Aki never zips up her cleavage (which shows off her bust), the stilettos... And the name, Bloody Kiss (as given in the "Tag Force" game series) seems to have been chosen by Aki precisely because of the sultry vibe it gives off, which shows Aki knew what she was going for.
• Letting Her Hair Down: Her Power Limiter is also her hairband, so when she went all out in the first season her bangs fell over to partially cover her face.
• Luminescent Blush: When Sherry winks at her.
  • Also has this when she tries to confess the feelings she has for Yusei to him.
• Mind-Control Eyes: When mind-controlled by Divine during her rematch with Misty.
• Most Common Superpower: Aki is by far the most well-endowed female protagonist in the entire Yu-Gi-Oh franchise, and is also a terrifyingly powerful Psychic duelist who can keep up with the boys no problem.
• Ms. Fanservice: Aki is definitely a good looking lass - she seems to choose clothes that show off her large bust and shapely legs, be it her standard Victorian-styled poofy uniform or the skintight Riding Duel suit (both of which include high heels for emphasizing her legs specifically, with the former also including stockings). Not to mention that her psychic powers and Plant-type monsters also allow for plenty of Power Perversion Potential.
• Nice Girl: Aki never was a bad person, but her kind-hearted, sweet, caring demeanor comes to the forefront after her Character Development.
• Of Corsets Sexy: She wears a low-cut red corset that helps to accentuate her breasts.
• Official Couple: She becomes this with Yusei by the end of the series. Before she leaves for medical school, she wanted to confess her feelings to Yusei but couldn't muster the courage to confess her feelings to him, thankfully Yusei was able to notice what she was going to say and thus he silently confessed his feelings to her and accepted her love in return.
• Parental Abandonment: After her powers awakened, Aki's parents couldn't accept her anymore. It takes a while, but they eventually make up.
• Perpetual Frowner: At first, due to her status as a Broken Bird with no friends.
• Power Incontinence: Like many Psychic duelists she wasn't able to turn her manifestation power off, until her 2nd Duel with Yusei when her father was in danger.
• Power Limiter: Aki's hairband supposedly acts as a restraint for her powers. It's not known whether it is a Magic Feather or not. Sayer installed another because he thought she couldn't control her full power, then removes it during her duel with Misty.
• Psychic Powers: Can manifest her cards in reality. Later on she masters another aspect of her powers, that being Healing Hands.
• Psychotic Smirk: A few times during her first duel with Yusei. Her second duel with Misty while mind-controlled might also count.
• Red and Black and Evil All Over: Completely inverted. During Aki's stint as the Black Rose Witch, her standard clothes feature white much more prominently than any black (those being the ones she wore during the Fortune Cup and Dark Signers arc, at her most vulnerable). It's after she definitely sides with the heroes that she chooses her Riding Duel suit, which is colored in a red-and-black color scheme. The only truly consistent element that could potentially qualify is the Black Rose Dragon, as it does have a red and black color scheme and is overall very sinister in some of the duels while Aki was the Black Rose Witch, but even then the Dragon wasn't evil - it only followed Aki's command.
• Red Is Heroic: Aki is heavily associated with the color red, and is firmly on the side of the heroes after some Character Development.
• Redemption Demotion: One of the foremost examples in the franchise - she goes from easily toying with opponents and nearly defeating Yusei to getting crushed in just two turns by Andore. Her strategies also become considerably less complex. To cap it off, she loses her powers for most of the last third without much explanation.
• Refusal of the Call: In the finale, she graduates in the top of her class, as such many of her classmates wonder if she's going to take to the pro leagues much like Jack, Crow and Rua. Instead she goes to med school to become a successful doctor.
• Sadist: What she pretends to be as the Black Rose Witch. Yusei soon realizes that her fun of inflicting pain is fake.
• Ship Tease: With Yusei, big time. The finale all but confirms they are an Official Couple, in no small part due to the fact Yusei seems to have seen through her I "Uh" You, Too moment.
• Strong Family Resemblance: She looks like a younger version of her mother and inherited her eyes and red hair.
• Single Woman Seeks Good Man: She develops feelings for Yusei because he's a Nice Guy who treated her nicely and helped her reconcile with her parents.
• Something about a Rose: Roses are a major part of both her and her deck's motif.
• Split Personality: She developed one of these when she couldn't handle the guilt of hurting people anymore.
• Tentacle Rope: A power of her 'Rose Tentacles' monster card. Used gratuitously during her first duel with Yusei.
• Took a Level in Cheerfulness: After her Heel–Face Turn, she has become cheerful and emotionally open.
• The Unfought: From the villains' perspective, Aki is the only Signer who never duels any of the Three Emperors of Yliaster or Aporia.
• Unkempt Beauty: A variant. Aki is often seen with a rather messy hair whenever the limiter tied to her hair is removed, while her keeping her attractive looks intact. During her duel with Misty, this goes to another level when Divine uses a Trigger Phrase to fully awaken her Psychic Powers, causing her already messy hair to grow at a waist length.
• White Mask of Doom: She wore one of these as the Black Rose Witch. It was broken after her first duel with Yusei.
• Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: For Episodes 40 and 41. After watching her friend and mentor Divine plunge to his horrifying death while the only place she'd ever really felt at home collapsed in flames around her, she fell into a coma. She then relived every single horrible moment of her life all at once, before waking up to the face of Yusei, who she already felt conflicted about, and her parents, of all people. Destroying the world from there is Disproportionate Retribution, yes, but the poor girl was suffering quite badly.
• You Are Too Late: By the time she defeats Misty, Aki doesn't get enough time to deactivate the final control tower before sunset.
• You Go, Girl!: Season 3. Episode 75 in particular, where she is discriminated against for being an aspiring female D-Wheeler.

Rua and Ruka (Leo and Luna)

Rua and Ruka (Leo and Luna)

Voiced by: Ai Horanai (Rua) and Yuka Terasaki (Ruka) (Japanese), Cassandra Lee Morris (episodes 11-64), Eileen Stevens (episodes 65-123 & Duel Links), Allegra Verlezza (Leo, Cross Duel) (English)

Two twins hailing from the Tops, an especially luxurious area of Neo Domino City. They gave Yusei shelter after he recovered his D-Wheel from Security, and since then they have supported him in every way they can. They were often alone since their parents were usually at work, educated via the Internet and spending most of their time indoors.

Rua is the lively and blundering older twin. He is generally overconfident (though this changes slightly after an incident at the Arcadia Movement) and is prone to crying when he loses. Ruka is the more calm and collected of the two. She is a Signer, bearing the Rear Claw Birthmark. She has had the ability to speak to spirits since an incident at the age of 3, where she fell into a coma and her mind lived in the Spirit Realm for a month. This power peaks when she duels, but it also tires her out.

Ruka has a tendency to point out the flaws in her brother's plans, which gets on his nerves, but despite this they both deeply care for one another - Rua was always by her side while she was comatose, and gave himself the task of protecting her, even going so far as to face a Dark Signer so she didn't have to get hurt. It's through this Dark Signer that Ruka finally receives her Signer dragon, Ancient Fairy Dragon.

In the W.R.G.P. arc Rua and Ruka are more social, spending more time outdoors and attending the local Duel Academia. Both twins learn to ride the D-Boards, the skateboard equivalent to the D-Wheel. The twins became part of Team 5D's pit crew, mostly staying by the sidelines. They later go up upon the Ark Cradle, dueling Aporia with Jack. Despite his best efforts every action Rua takes is thrown back up in his face, hurting Ruka and Jack in the process as Aporia attempts to visit upon him his own despair. Ruka is briefly killed by Aporia, but manages to be revived with the help of Ancient Fairy Dragon and the Crimson Dragon. It's then that he's given a new birthmark bonded to the Rear claw, the "Heart" of the Crimson Dragon. Rua also receives a Signer Dragon, "Life Stream Dragon", which is the true form of Rua's Power Tool Dragon.

At the end of the series, Rua and Ruka leave Neo Domino City to live with their parents. Eight years later Rua is working his way up to be Riding Duel Champion, and Ruka attends a university in London.

Ruka's deck has an enchanted forest theme, consisting primarily of fairies plus a few beasts and plants. Her trump card is Ancient Fairy Dragon. Rua uses a Morphtronic deck. His trump card is Power Tool Dragon, later superseded by Life Stream Dragon.

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• Action Girl: Though she doesn't really get any spotlight duels (and she's gotten fewer duels than the others), Ruka has only lost a single duel, and that to one of Yliaster. She later proved instrumental in defeating Aporia.
• Adaptational Villainy: In the manga, Rua and Ruka are orphans who have to fend for themselves in order to survive. This, in combination with the influence of the Duel Dragons—themselves Adaptational Villainy counterparts to the anime's Signer Dragons—makes them decidedly crueller than their friendly anime counterparts.
• Annoying Younger Sibling: Rather, Annoying Twin Sibling. Rua to Ruka. Much more so in the 4kids dub.
• Ascended Fanboy: Rua was completely burg-a-durg over Jack for a long time.
• Awesome, but Impractical: In the Fortune Cup arc, it was noted that this was Rua's Fatal Flaw in terms of strategy; he devotes all his resources to big combos and leaves himself with no backup plan. A key example is his Duel with Yusei, where he assumed that his two Deformer Magnens were an unbreakable combo and Yusei would just let him burn down all his Life Points with Chakkan's effect.
• Berserk Button: While Rua doesn't view him as the best anymore, he still idolizes Jack. Badmouthing him, let alone saying that he's a criminal will piss him off as Sly found out.
• Big Brother Instinct: Rua may be silly, but he is protective of Ruka.
• Book Dumb: Rua. He often needs help with counting the total levels or attack points of monsters during duels, as well as incorrectly saying simple words from time to time (such as saying "cusmotize" instead of "customize" or in the dub, mixing up "invisible" with "invincible").
• Break the Cutie: Aporia towards Rua during their battle in the Ark Cradle.
• Brother–Sister Team: They finally get to be one of these in Episode 50, and again later when they duel Lucciano, and then Aporia.
• Chronic Hero Syndrome: Rua. Wants to protect his sister at all costs, looks after an unconscious Yusei even though he may have been a dangerous criminal, helps Team Taiyou even after they insist they don't need it...
• Creepy Child: When Ruka's spirit it sent to the spirit world in her duel against Professor Frank, her souless body causes her to be this.
  • Rua and Ruka are Creepy Children for much of the manga, due to Adaptational Villainy.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Whenever Rua's Berserk Button of seeing his sister endangered comes up, his dueling competence suddenly spikes and he proceeds to begin dueling effectively. Jack even lampshades how terrifying it is.
• Determinator:
  • Rua is even brought up to Signer status by the Crimson Dragon because of his refusal to give in to despair, and his Heroic Sacrifice.
  • Then there was the utter hell he goes through to get back his sister's Ancient Fairy Dragon, even if it means taking a full blast from a Machine Emperor because of it.
• Disguised in Drag: Rua impersonates Ruka to take part in the Fortune Cup.
• Dull Eyes of Unhappiness: This happens to Luka when she is hypnotized in her duel with Professor Frank. Oddly enough, Rua who was in the audience was also affected.
  • Happens to her again in episode 70 when she is lured into a haunted house.
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Rua is hot-blooded, Ruka is sensible.
• Future Badass: In the Distant Finale, Rua becomes one of the best duelists in the world.
• Green-Eyed Monster: Rua becomes really jealous when Lucciano, the New Transfer Student, shows up. The irony is, Lucciano is literally a green-eyed monster (minus the envy part^note Not the "transforming into another person"-part).
• Half-Identical Twins: Rua and Ruka are twins, their only physical differences being their genders and their hairstyles.
• Heroic BSoD: Ruka, after her brother intercepted Aporia's attacks and died to protect her and Jack. ^note Aporia attached heart devices to them during their three-on-one Duel against him that caused them real pain when they lost Life Points, and they would die when their Life Points hit 0. The Crimson Dragon later revives him as a Signer, having noted his bravery.
• Inconsistent Spelling: Rua? Ruka? Luka? Not helped by the anime itself flip-flopping on the issue, or the dubs altering the names.
• My Sister Is Off-Limits: How Rua reacts to Lucciano, but it's justified since Lucciano really does has an evil scheme in mind.
• New Powers as the Plot Demands: Rua becoming the Sixth Signer.
• Only One Name: Their surnames are unknown.
• Plot Armor:
  • Despite the fact that they lose their duel with Lucciano, they survive his killing attempts thanks to supernatural intervention; Rua is saved by the Crimson Dragon, and Ruka is saved by her Duel Monsters' Spirits.
  • Then there's the moment when Rua is revived by the power of the Signer Dragon.
• Polar Opposite Twins: Ruka is down to earth and very logical, and Rua is... well. "SHA-KIN!"
• Reading the Stage Directions Out Loud: Rua (only in the American version).
• Shipper on Deck: While accompanying Yusei and Aki to a roller skating rink, Rua immediately comes to the conclusion that the two of them are on a date, Ruka eventually agrees after much back and forth with him and seeing "how much fun" the two are having.
• Sixth Ranger: Before and after Rua became a Signer.
• Stellar Names: Dub only.
• Tagalong Kid: Both of them, though Rua moreso. He even lampshades it in the Dark Signer arc, where he insists on being left behind because he wouldn't be much use even if he did go.
• This Is Unforgivable!: Done by Ruka, directed at Demak, who had been corrupting the Spirit Realm and had hurt Rua during the course of their Dark Duel.
• Took a Level in Badass: Rua in Episode 142. Two words: Sixth Signer.
• Transforming Mecha: Rua's decktype, Deformers/Morphtronics, are household items (Cell Phone, Lighter/USB Drive, Radio, etc.) that transform into humanoid robots.
• Trapped in Another World: Happened to Ruka when she was three years old; her spirit was summoned to the world of the Duel Monsters Spirits, leaving her body in a coma for a month. Happens again when she duels Professor Frank, and for a third time before she duels Demak.
• Twin Switch: Ruka gets invited to the Fortune Cup, but Rua (briefly) takes her place. They eventually get found out.

Crow Hogan

Crow Hogan

Voiced by: Shintarō Asanuma (Japanese), Christopher C. Adams (episodes 30-93 & Duel Links), Tom Wayland (episodes 94-123) (English)

A childhood friend of Yusei and Jack and a former member of Team Satisfaction, who takes care of a group of children and steals in order to provide for them. Orphaned when his parents were killed during the Zero Reverse, he wandered Satellite alone for a long time, never receiving any care or a formal education. However, that all changed after discovering some cards in a dump - from those he gained knowledge and skills, as well as friends. Reckless and daring, he will rise to any challenge. He is a formidable duelist and rides a Custom D-Wheel, Black Bird, with various modifications (including wings inspired by the legend of the Daedalus Bridge, and an anti-theft shocker). The Black Bird is a memento of Robert Pearson, a Blackwing Duelist who took care of orphans and motivated Crow during his crisis with Team Satisfaction.

Despite not being a Signer he helps against the Dark Signers, defeating Bommer and (along with Yusei and Jack) Rex Godwin. During the climax of the Dark Signer Arc he inherits Yusei's Dragon Tail, becoming a new Signer whilst Yusei gains the Dragon Head.

Together with his friends he participates as Team 5D's in the W.R.P.G, where he serves as the second wheeler.

He uses a Blackwing deck that focuses on swarming the field before Synchro Summoning powerful monsters. His signature cards are Blackwing Armor Master and Black-Winged Dragon.

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• Animal Motif: The Crow. He uses a DARK Winged-Beast-Type archetype that are designed after birds, the Blackfeathers/Blackwings. His D-Wheel, the Black Bird, can even fly to some extent.
• Ascended Extra: Crow was not intended to be a main character at all, but due to Executive Meddling he has ended up taking the spot of the fifth Signer, which was intended to be Rua's, and Aki's role of the Power Trio.
• Badass Normal: He defeats Dark Signer Bommer and helps to beat Godwin, both times despite not being a Signer at the time.
• Big Brother Mentor: He takes care of a lot of orphans.
• Big Eater: As shown at the beginning of Episode 80.
• Broken Pedestal: After learning who the man from the legend of the Daedalus Bridge was.
• Butt-Monkey: Becomes this in season 3.
• Cool Bike: His Blackbird, which he inherited from Pierson, has wings and limited rocket-powered flight capabilities.
• Dark Is Not Evil: His Blackwings, rather than being evil monsters, are heroic figures for the children that Crow cares for.
• Empowered Badass Normal: He becomes a Signer during Godwin's defeat. Although he's still the only Signer without special powers^note Yusei's Clear Mind, Jack's Burning Soul, Aki's Psychic Power, Ruka's Duel Spirit Connection, Rua's spiritual connection with his sister.
• Friend to All Children: His main characteristic is his love for children, particularly for the orphans he wants to protect, a trait he inherited from Pierson. Crow was the first to leave Team Satisfaction because he realized that they started targeting even kids, and when Kiryu viciously defeated the kid Crow just spared, Crow attacked his leader and quit, with Jack following his example immediately.
• Hot-Blooded: Not as much as Jack, but still pretty much.
• I Let You Win:
  • A flashback in episode 33 indicates that Crow lost a duel against a thug on purpose (apparently with a random deck, since Jack would throw him another Duel Disk with his Blackwing deck) to locate a group of thugs, the Magician's Four, with a transmitter, and soon enough Yusei, Jack and Kiryu ambushed the Magician's Four and Crow ended up winning the re-match.
  • Despite having a face-down Mirror Force on the field, he lets Leo (Zora's son) win after the latter gathered his courage to prove himself as a person, which was Crow's intention.
  • He tries it again during his second duel with Jaeger, as he sees Jaeger family cheering up for him. However, Jaeger sees through Crow's apparent misplay and decides to lose the duel to face Yliaster instead of running away.
• Irony: Crow, of all people, becomes a cop after the second timeskip. Even he is surprised at himself.
• It's All My Fault: When Ushio comes to request their help in taking down Ghost, Crow turns him down. Because of this Ushio takes on Ghost himself and is seriously injured. Crow is quite upset when he finds out.
• It's Personal: Pretty much the reason why he wants to defeat the Dark Signers after they made the orphans vanish, and later to Team Catastrophe after they make him, Andore, Jean, and Aki crash with their Hidden Knight — Hook.
• Just Like Robin Hood: He steals in order to provide for a group of children he takes care of.
• Large Ham: Almost as much as Jack.
• Line-of-Sight Name: His name (at least in the dub) comes from the first card he found in a trash heap as a kid, namely D.D. Crow.
• Lovable Rogue: He used to steal confiscated decks from Security to give them as presents to orphans. He's also a nice guy and wasn't anything like a brutal thug. He's even the first to leave Team Satisfaction when they became too vicious and brutal.
• Mark of Shame: His Criminal Marks. Flashbacks shows he had less marks on his face. He also invokes this trope to tell the kids not to imitate him, so they won't end up with a face like his.
• Nice Guy: Crow has a friendly and selfless personality. He cares deeply for his friends and will do anything for the orphans he takes care of.
• Noble Bird of Prey: Crow's Blackwing deck is a (DARK) Winged-Beast archetype, which relies heavily on The Power of Friendship, as demonstrated that they make each other stronger thanks to their strength in numbers and easy ability to swarm the field. Crow himself is a noble criminal who goes against the people with authority to help and protect the children of Satellite. Interestingly, Crow was already using Blackwings before he met Pierson, who used the same archetype as him.
• Papa Wolf: For the orphans he takes care of.
• Parental Substitute: Again, for the orphans. He is very protective of them and acts like Robin Hood to support feed them and give them decks. The orphans clearly look up to him.
• Remember the New Guy?: Crow and Kiryu were introduced in the Dark Signer arc, but they never appeared in any flashback during the Fortune Cup arc. Soon, the two of them met Yusei again, revealing that they not only used to be friends (including with Jack), but used to be a team called Team Satisfaction. This applies even more with Black-Feather Dragon who was never shown in any flashbacks during the first two arcs, but is shown in later flashbacks after it was introduced.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The red to Yusei and Jack's blue. While Jack is more of a Large Ham and more Hot-Blooded, he's often more reserved outside those moments. Crow...is not.
• Scannable Man: He's notable for having criminal tattoos all over his face, implying multiple arrests.
• Sixth Ranger: He doesn't become a Signer until after the Dark Signers are defeated.
• Smarter Than You Look: He's a lot smarter than he lets on, and he's a good strategist.
• Take Care of the Kids: In his Back Story.
• Token Flyer: Crow's D-Wheel is the only one with a flight mode.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: With Jack. Now that they live together, they tend to bicker a lot during comedic moments, but otherwise they have a very strong bond.
• Vocal Evolution: During the Dark Signer arc, especially early on, Crow's voice was more rougher to match his tough criminal persona, but during the course of the series, his voice became softer and a bit higher to match his heroism, now that he's left his criminal past behind.
• You Killed My Father: In Episode 94-95 when he learns that Bolger was Robert Pearson's murderer, who was Crow's sort-of father figure.

Bruno

Bruno/"Dark Glass" (Vizor)/Antinomy/Johnny

^Antinomy

Voiced by: Hiroki Tanaka (Japanese), Justin Badger (English)

Antinomy was one of the last four humans from Z-One's time. At the time he met Z-One he was a glorious D-Wheeler named Johnny, and they became friends after Z-One saved his life from the Machine Emperors. After the original Antinomy died of old age, Z-One sent an android clone of him to the past to overlook Yusei and make him stronger. Without introducing himself, he challenged Yusei to a duel to teach him a way to defeat the Machine Emperors: Accel Synchro. However, Antinomy gets in an accident while being interrogated by Placido and he loses his memories. The only things he remembers upon waking up are his knowledge about dueling and D-Wheels, and his name being "Bruno".

Bruno is found by Ushio and Mikage, who ask Yusei, Jack, and Crow to take care of him. When Yusei realizes his talents as a mechanic, they gladly invite him to their home and become friends. Bruno becomes a full-fledged member of Team 5D's as their mechanic, but he also slowly regains some of his memories and develops a split personality. While Bruno is the friendly mechanic, his unnamed "Dark Glass" persona is almost the same D-Wheeler as Antinomy. Only remembering that he has to protect Yusei, "Dark Glass" supports Yusei at several occasions and helps him in stopping the Ark Cradle, during which he recovers his full memories again.

After remembering his role in Z-One's plan, Antinomy challenges Yusei to a duel of death. But it turns out that Antinomy — who had come to trust 5D's over Z-One — only dueled with Yusei so that he could teach him the Delta Accel Synchro, in the hopes that Yusei would surpass it and stop Z-One. In his final moment, Antinomy/Bruno sacrifices his life to save Yusei from death.

He uses a Tech Genus deck.

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• Alliterative Name: Some of the dubbed video games give his full name as Bruno Borelli.
• Amnesiac Dissonance: After gaining all of his memories back, he trusts Yusei and Team 5Ds more than Z-One's plan. However, since he knows that Yusei's current state isn't enough to defeat Z-One, he challenges Yusei to a duel of death and teaches him Delta Accel Synchro in hope that Yusei would surpass it.
• Amnesiac Resonance: Bruno's good with technology and has a desire to protect Yusei, but doesn't know why either of these applies to him.
• Amnesiacs are Innocent: Antimony is stoic and pragmatic, and is one of the players in Z-One's plan to destroy the city. Bruno, on the other hand, is a meek but kind-hearted guy who quickly befriends Team 5D's.
• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: When Ruka asks what 5D's means, Bruno suggests that it might stand for five words beginning with D: devil, destroy, dead hit, dark, and... daisuki Bruno-chan ("[everyone] loves Bruno-chan"). Jack uses tsukkomi on him.
• Awesome, but Impractical: His D-Wheel, which is one of the strangest designs to appear in the series. He must have a hard time keeping it balanced.
• Back from the Dead: Sort of. In Duel Lnks, Antinomy ends up appearing within Duel Links and is initially believed to be just another "echo of the past" like the Dark Signers were. After his event fully plays out and his death is re-enacted, however, he suddenly reappears as Bruno, alive and well, confirming that this time it's really him. Unlike the others, he's brought back as a fully Living Memory, completely intact. The catch is that Antinomy surmises that he's only "alive" for as long as Duel Links itself is kept up and running, as his brain waves are connected to its servers. If those servers were to shut down, he'd go right back to being dead.
• Badass Biker: He's not only a good duelist, but he's also an excellent rider who has mastered high speed. Before his first duel with Yusei started, he showed off his impressive riding skills that Yusei could barely keep up with. As such, Antinomy has mastered Clear Mind and Top Clear Mind. He even saves Yusei, Aki, and Ruka with his slipstream.
• Big Damn Heroes: Dark Glass saves Yusei from being overrun by the Diablos army. Happens again in Episode 138, where he uses his souped-up D-Wheel to provide a slipstream for Yusei and Aki to accelerate enough to make it over the Bifrost Bridge before it collapses.
• Birds of a Feather: Bruno and Yusei quickly become friends because they both have high know-how about technology, and are both mechanics.
• Blue Is Heroic: Both his Bruno appearance and Dark Glass appearance are very heavy on the color blue; Bruno is kind and intelligent, whereas Dark Glass is cool-headed. Bleeds into Primary-Color Champion with Bruno's regular outfit, which has a lot of yellow and red.
• Butt-Monkey: Bruno gets a lot of physical abuse, especially by Jack.
• Cool Bike: His Delta Eagle only has a single wheel and it's behind the machine, but he has no problem riding it.
• Cool Shades: So cool Dark Glass is "named" after them.
• Easy Amnesia: Antinomy crashes into the ocean and blacks out. When he wakes up again, all his memories are gone. Possibly justified by the fact that he's a robot, so his memory loss could just be a malfunction.
• Electronic Eyes: Whenever his robotic side takes prominence.◊
• Establishing Character Moment: Bruno is introduced tinkering with a D-Wheel, so fascinated with it that he forgets the meeting he's supposed to go to and the fact that he has no idea who the owner is. He's then promptly punched out for it since the owner was Jack.
• Expy:
  • As a result of the Yu-Gi-Oh! tradition of Continuity Nod Shout-Out Theme Naming of making the name of the protagonist and his best friend spell the word Yuujou (friendship)^note For the original, there's YUUgi/JOUnouchi. For GX, there's Juudai YUUki and JOHan. In 5D's, it's YUUsei and JOHnny, Bruno's the "Joey" to Yusei's "Yugi".
    • Adding to the above example, Bruno is also the "Johan" to Yusei's "Judai". They even have the same hair color.
• Everyone Knew Already: Yeah, his dual identity was likely the worst kept secret in the show; the writers publically confirmed it even before the official reveal.
• False Friend: Bruno pretends to invoke this after he regains his memories of Antinomy, but it's merely part of his plan to act as a Stealth Mentor to Yusei.
• Gadgeteer Genius: Bruno's a very talented mechanic and knows plenty about computers, and with his help, the development of the new engine system improves a lot.
• Gentle Giant: Bruno's a huge guy, clocking in at 6'6" (about as tall, or even taller than Jack). He's also a pacifist who wouldn't hurt a fly, unless it activated his involuntary self-defense mechanism.
• Gratuitous English: His Synchro Monster chants are almost entirely in English:
  "Regulator, open! Thruster warm-up, OK! Up-link, All Clear! Go, Synchro shoukan! Come on!"
• Go Out with a Smile: Dies with a smile after helping Yusei escape the Black Hole.
• Graceful Loser: While he used to be a competitive pro duelist in his past life before the Machine Emperors attacked, the present Antinomy's role is to teach Yusei and help him evolve his dueling. Therefore, Antinomy does not mind losing his duels because winning is not his goal.
• Heel–Face Turn: In Duel Links, once it's confirmed that he's been fully brought back to life, Antinomy makes sure to let everyone know that this time, he's firmly on the side of Team 5Ds for real.
• Hero-Worshipper: Johnny was a big fan of Yusei's before the Machine Emperors invaded.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Yusei defeats Antinomy by surpassing his own limitations, which is what Dark Glass had been teaching him to do all along. It's exactly the outcome that Antinomy/Bruno had been hoping for.
• I Have Many Names: Johnny, Bruno, Dark Glass/Vizor, Antinomy, The Mysterious D-Wheeler...
• I Know You Know I Know: During his final match with Yusei.
  Antinomy: "This is you we're talking about. It's only natural for you to assume I've already read through it."
• Improbable Weapon User: Bruno carries tools inside his jacket. One of the screwdrivers comes in handy in Episode 81.
• I Was Quite the Looker: When compared to his original old body in Pandora's flashback, it's clear that "Bruno" was what Antimony once looked like as a young man.
• Killed Off for Real: He's one of the few characters to die and stay dead.
• Kindhearted Cat Lover: Crashed while saving one from being run over, which lead directly to his memory loss.
• Manchurian Agent: Volunteered to be one, at least initially, and seemed to have two layers of programming, the first of which caused him to access his true personality and skills (as "Dark Glass") the second restoring his memories completely. The complete programming didn't kick in until the Arc Cradle appeared, threatening to destroy Neo Domino, and he turned against Yusei, combatting him in a lethal duel thought outer space where a black hole threatened to consume them. However, he started to have second thoughts and resist his programming, and in the end, sacrificed himself to help Yusei escape the pull of the black hole.
• Meaningful Name: Antinomy, referring to the mutual incompatibility of two laws (as in two arguments that contradict one another despite both being logically true), reflecting the apparent contradiction that the kind, friendly Bruno and the eventual antagonist Dark Glass are the same person.
• Mentor Occupational Hazard: He teaches Yusei the technique that will stop Z-One once and for all. Yusei then beats him in the duel, and he dies.
• Mr. Fixit: Like Yusei, he's an exceptional mechanic, and is able to develop a new engine with him for the WRGP.
• Mysterious Protector: As Dark Glass. He was assigned by Z-One to look after Yusei and help him become stronger.
• No Name Given: "Dark Glass" is only a nickname that's displayed on the duel scoreboard for the audience's benefit. In the show itself, he's credited as "The Mysterious D-Wheeler", which is then later changed to Bruno. The dub uses Only Known by Their Nickname instead, as he told Yusei to call him "Vizor".
• Non-Action Guy: Unlike the others, Bruno doesn't appear to be a duelist, despite his knowledge of the game mechanics. He's also not very assertive and claims to detest violence, so naturally he's been on the receiving end of physical abuse more than once. At least until he gets Glowing Eyes of Doom. (Of course it's then subverted when he turns out to be "Dark Glass", and it's Bruno's own personality who duels Yusei in the Ark Cradle arc.)
• Opaque Lenses: Apparently only the viewers can see Dark Glass' eyes behind his shades, but his opaque lenses are enough to convince people that he's not Bruno.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: There are noticeable similarities between Bruno and Dark Glass, yet nobody sees the similarities until he removes his shades.
• Really Dead Montage: While trapped in the black hole, he reminisces over all the happy times he had with Team 5D's. Then he bites it.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: When Sherry tries to tazer him, his eyes suddenly glow red as his body goes into its super-powered mode.
• Reflectionless Useless Eyes: He has these naturally. It is a hint to the fact that he's actually a robot.
• Ridiculously Human Robot: Turns out he's a robotic duplicate of one of the last people left After the End, which Z-One made to help prevent the Bad Future. He looks human, has many human functions (breathing, sleeping, eating, sneezing, etc.) and feels pain and emotions.
• Rule of Cool: His D-Wheel's design is a monowheel talon that would be very hard to balance on. But who cares?
• Shonen Hair: While not as bad as the likes of Crow, Dark Glass/Antinomy has hair that sticks straight up.
• Shout-Out: To Kamen Rider.
• A Sinister Clue: His left-handedness hints that he is an associate of Z-One.
• Sixth Ranger: He takes Crow's place as this once Crow has become a Signer.
• Sixth Ranger Traitor: Subverted. He was actually working for the villains all along (even if he himself didn't realise it) but he decides that he trusts Team 5D's more and thus helps their cause instead.
• Split Personality:
  • Bruno and Dark Glass are different personalities, and he apparently doesn't know about his other personality until he gets his memories back. As Antinomy, Bruno decides to act as a Stealth Mentor to Yusei and pretends to be a villain.
  • Interestingly, Dark Glass seems to be based off of Antinomy's original personality. But after he gets his memories back, Antinomy's personality becomes a mix of Bruno and Dark Glass, with Bruno being the core of his personality while his dueling attitude is from Dark Glass or the original Antinomy.
• Stealth Mentor: He teaches Yusei Delta Accel Synchro under the guise of being on Z-ONE's side.
• Sunglasses at Night: Dark Glass wears his shades even when he's dueling at night-time.
• Taking the Bullet: For his own Accel Synchro Monster, in order to not spill all the secrets of Accel Synchro at once. Rather than letting his monster be destroyed by Yusei's Drill Warrior, Dark Glass uses Tech Genus Blade Gunner's effect to banish itself, which leads to a direct attack that cost the game.
• Thanatos Gambit: He fully intended for Yusei to be the winner of their life-or-death duel, and used the time to teach Yusei a new type of Accel Synchro.
• That Man Is Dead: He insists on being called Antinomy during his final duel. Which turns out to be a bluff, as his Bruno personality is still completely intact.
• Theme Naming:
  • Like Aporia and Paradox, Antinomy's name refers to a logical fallacy.
  • All of Antinomy's known monster cards (save for Buster Blaster) are called "Tech Genus [Monster Name]".
• Transformation Sequence: After he reveals himself to actually be Dark Glass, he does a futuristic one of these.
• Walking Spoiler: The reveal that Bruno is not only Dark Glass, but also Antinomy is a very big twist.

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