Yūya Sakaki (manga)


 * This is the manga version of Yūya Sakaki. For the anime character, see here."The fun starts now!"

- Yūya's catchphrase.

Yūya Sakaki is the main protagonist in the Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V manga. He is a mysterious Entertainment Duelist known as Phantom who the Leo Corporation is after. Reiji referred to him as Destiny Factor (運命の因子 Unmei no Inshi, Lit. Factor of Destiny) that holds their future.

Appearance
Like the anime, Yūya's outfit consists of his trademark goggle, black choker around his neck, and his Pendulum Pendant while wearing a hooded white cloak that resembles Maiami middle-school uniform with red shirt underneath, brown belt around his waist, and trousers. As a child, Yūya also wore a sleeveless black zipped jacket with a round yellow pattern on the left side of the chest. Underneath the jacket was an orange-coloured shirt with a small pocket on the sleeve, black choker, and short green pants like his anime counterpart's child self. When Yūya challenges Ren, he wears a Riding Duel outfit similar to his anime counterpart.

Personality
Yūya appears to be more cheerful and carefree than his original counterpart yet also more mature at the same time. As an Entertainment Duelist, he likes to entertain people and can't bear to see someone sad, furthered by the fact that he stated the only time he truly feels alive is whenever he sees people smiling and enjoying his Duel, going as far as jeopardizing his own safety just so he can make a little boy smile. This can make Yūya be somewhat irresponsible in a way, causing Yūto to scold him often. He remains cheerful even in an dangerous situation and instead use it as an opportunity to show off his Entertainment Dueling. Yūya is also shown to be smarter and more intelligent than his original counterpart, able to keep calm and level-headed even at dangerous situation.

He is kind-hearted, saving anyone who is in danger be it ally or enemy, which he demonstrated when he saved Yuzu by bringing her to his hideout even though he wasn't supposed to and when he saved Shun after he defeated him. This kindness, however, can also be his downside as it enables him to sympathize with his opponent, something that his opponent's take advantage of, which is demonstrated when he hesitated to defeat Sora after believing his sob story. Yūri reprimanded this side of Yūya for being too soft.

Yūya's biggest difference with his original counterpart is his view on Dueling. While his original counterpart strongly believes and persists that Dueling as a whole is solely for fun and must not be used to harm people in any way, this Yūya doesn't seem to mind a rough Duel as long as it doesn't go too far or holds any ill intent, and most importantly his opponent enjoys Dueling him. This is shown as he accepted Shun's hardcore Dueling despite the dangerous situations that he had gone through while Dueling the latter which endangered his life several times. Instead, Yūya applied his original counterpart's belief in Entertainment Dueling as a whole, believing that Entertainment Duel exists to make people happy and not to be used to harm or trample on people's hearts.

Past
Yūya is the son of Yūshō Sakaki, a Duelist and researcher who found Entertainment Dueling and Solid Vision technology with Leo Akaba. Yūya also has been close friends with Yūto, Yūgo, and Yūri since childhood. Yūgo commented that Yūya used to always cheer him on whenever he was Turbo Dueling. Yūya had said that the four of them had played a game in which one of them was blindfolded and the others would create a situation in a duel that was as complicated as possible and then the person who was blindfolded would have to solve it.

However, one day, G.O.D went berserk, resulting in his father stealing the card from the military facility and took it to his lab in a failed attempt to stop its rampage. When Yūya came to, he was inside a capsule in his father's lab. Questioning his father of what was happening, Yūshō explained that G.O.D was not a natural phenomenon that he and Leo had initially thought, but instead was artificially created, so he wished for his son to find the one who created it in the past and put a stop to it so the world will be saved. To prevent the world from being destroyed, Yūshō, who had learned how partially to control its power, used it to regress time and send Yūya more than 20 years into the past, an incident which is called "World Illusion".

Following the incident, Yūya somehow shared a body with his three close friends and lost his memories regarding them and instead believed himself to suffer a quadruple personality disorder, and his three friends inside him are his alternate personalities. Yūto, Yūgo, and Yūri erased Yūya's scattered memories regarding them for reasons yet to be revealed, but according to them, the incident relating to them would only bring pain and sadness to Yūya so they thought that it would be best if he forgot it. Arriving in the past, despite not knowing the exact details from his father, Yūya quickly set off in his goal to find "Genesis Omega Dragon".

Escaping From LC
Yūya, along with Yūto, whom he shares the same body with, is a mysterious Entertainment Duelist known as "Phantom". They were chased by Leo Corporation after he apparently hacked into LC's Solid Vision system and used the Solid Vision for his own goal. While on the run, they bumped into a crying boy near the harbour. When Yūto asked why he was crying, the boy told him that he didn't make it to watch the LC match as he wished to see a dragon monster from the Solid Vision system. Wanting to make the boy smile, Yūya decided to grant the boy's wish, much to Yūto's objection who reminded him that they were being chased. Yūya still did it anyway and switched place with Yūto, telling Yūto that they'll manage somehow and then summoned "Odd-Eyes Phantom Dragon". Just as Yūto had worried, the summoning allowed LC to locate them, which earned Yūya a chide from Yūto as they continue their escape.

Yūto vs. Shingo Sawatari
Cornered by LC, Yūya commented to Yūto that they were supposed to run away, though Yūto revealed that he was just bluffing. Unfortunately, Yūto's bluff failed, leaving him no choice but to Duel. Yūto's attempt to keep Duelling while trying to open a way to escape and the Action Field that matched Shingo's Deck allowed Shingo to gain the upper hand and his LP eventually reduced to 200. Seeing Yūto's stamina has almost reached his limit, Yūya told him that his Duelling style and Shingo's were complete mismatch with each other. Yūya asked Yūto wasn't it supposed to be his turn to appear, but Yūto told him to shut up since it was his fault they were dragged into this situation in the first place. Yūya then told him to save his lecture for later and let him Duel since the gallery has opened along with many audience gathering. Promising to defeat Shingo in his place, Yūya forcefully switched place with Yūto, the former finally revealing himself while saying his catchphrase: the fun has just begun.

Yūya vs. Shingo
Yūya effortlessly turned the table by getting the last Action Card with his pigeon and then Pendulum Summoned "Odd-Eyes Phantom Dragon" and increased its ATK by using the two Actions Cards that he got and delivered the finishing blow with "Phantom Dragon's" monster effect to inflict damage equal to the combined ATKs of the "Persona Dragon" and the "Mirage Dragon" in his Pendulum Zones, thus defeating Shingo. Right after defeating Shingo, Yūya was immediately surrounded by the LC Duelists. However, Yūya then disappeared and only left a Phantom card behind, and reappeared beside Yuzu. Having anticipated that they will capture him once the Duel ended, Yūya used a card to create Solid Vision projections of himself to fight against Shingo while he hid somewhere in the nearby building when the Action Field was activated.

Yūya then threw a paper plane card that he materialised with Solid Vision big enough for him to ride on and escaped. However, midway his escape route, he felt heavy as the paper plane started to lose its balance. Yūto told him to look behind him and was shocked to see Yuzu was also riding the paper plane. This panicked Yūya as he revealed to Yuzu that the paper plane can only carry one person before they both finally fell into the sea due to overweight.

Contract with Yuzu
Yūya brought Yuzu, who was unconscious from the fall, to his hideout and told her when she awoke that she's the first outsider that he brought to his hideout. Yuzu immediately asked him to teach at her school, promising to pay him 500 yen per hour, something that Yūya commented to be so cheap and refused because he didn't have time to do so. He revealed that he used the Solid Vision to look for a certain card called "G.O.D", a card that will determine the future of the world. Yuzu mistook this as a treasure card, and Yūya decided not to go into the detail further. Yuzu asked again that once he found the card he will teach at her school, but Yūya couldn't promise that. However, much to his dismay, Yuzu revealed that the paper he had signed after his Duel was actually a contract that put him into a deal to teach at Syu Zo Duel School whether he like it or not. Yuzu declared herself as his manager until he found the card and demanded him to pay her 1000 yen per hour, but Yūya didn't have that much money and instead retorted that she should be the one who pay him 1000 yen since he didn't actually need a manager. Yuzu reluctantly agreed to pay him 100 yen per day but only until she get rich, causing Yūya to mentally commented that she's stingy.

Yūya vs. Shun Kurosaki
While discussing about his catchphrase, Yūya was skeptical that Yuzu understand about Duel and questioned her. Yuzu confirmed that she of course understood considering that her father own a Duel school and she once won a second place in national math competition, which impressed Yūya. They were interrupted by a video uploaded by Shun on the underground site that showed him defeating and took Yuzu's father hostage. Shun told Yūya to come at Deception Valley if he want to save Shūzō. Since the video was set to disappear after it was played so they couldn't report it to the police, Yūya and Yuzu had no choice but to confront Shun directly. At the said place, Shun challenged him to a midair Duel. While Yuzu went to save her father, Yūya started to Duel Shun. He summoned his pigeon, Poppo, to get an Action Card, but Shun summoned his monster, "Raid Raptors - Napalm Dragonius" to destroy his pigeon and reduced his LP to 3400. With the Action Card midair, Yuzu told him to summon a monster that could fly, but Yūya couldn't do anything as he revealed that he didn't have any monster that could fly in his deck, but Yūya remained positive that he will do something. When Shun was about to get the next Action Card, Yūya got it first by using the solid visioned paper plane that he used to escape before. However, Shun activated the Action Card he got earlier to destroy Yūya's Action Card and reduced his LP to 3100. With his paper plane in flame, Yūya jumped on a nearby island following Yūto's advise. Yūto warned Yūya that since Shun has seen his Duel once, he already knew about "Odd-Eyes Phantom Dragon"'s monster effect. Despite knowing this, Yūya decided to summon "Odd-Eyes Phantom Dragon" just as Shun was expecting him to since fulfilling everyone's expectation is what Entertainment Duelist does. Declaring the start of his Entertainment Duel, Yūya summoned "Entermate Uni" and "Entermate Corn" and then activated the latter's effect, switching both to Defense Position to add "Odd-Eyes Mirage Dragon" from his Deck to his hand. Yūya placed "Odd-Eyes Mirage Dragon" and "Odd-Eyes Persona Dragon" in his Pendulum Zones, allowing him to Pendulum Summon "Odd-Eyes Phantom Dragon". "Phantom Dragon" launched an attack on "Napalm Dragonius", but Shun activated his face-down "Raid Raptors Replica", creating a copy of "Napalm Dragonius" that takes the attack instead. Since "Phantom Dragon" inflicted battle damage during the turn it was Pendulum Summoned, its effect activated, inflicting damage to Shun equal to the combined ATK of the "Mirage" and "Persona" Dragons in his Pendulum Zones. Much to both Yūya and Yūto's shock, Shun directly took the damage and smiled menacingly at the pain he received. Shun stated that he could only feel alive when he is Dueling fiercely, something that Yūya understood since he himself sometimes found it difficult to truly feel alive unless he saw people enjoy watching his Entertainment Duel, noting that he and Shun were not so different. Shun rebuffed this, beginning his counterattack.

Shun Xyz Summoned "Raid Raptors - Blade Burner Falcon", destroying Yūya's "Odd-Eyes", "Entermate Uni" and "Entermate Corn", reducing Yūya's LP to 1600. Shun attacked again to finish him for good, but Yūya activated "Entermate Uni" and "Entermate Corn's" effect to reduce the damage, preventing him from losing at the cost of reducing his LP to 100. The impact of the attack destroyed the branch where Yuzu and Shūzō were, but fortunately, Shun saved them from falling, much to Yūya's relief. This made Yūya realised that Shun isn't as bad as he thought to be, wondering to Yūto that if Shun acknowledge his Entertainment Duel they could become friends, to which Yūto replied that he preferred not to. Yūya started his own counterattack by summoning "Odd-Eyes Phantom Dragon" and then used "Odd-Eyes Persona Dragon's" Pendulum effect to make them switched places and then used its monster effect to negate Shun's card effect, allowing Yūya to defeat him. As Shun fell, Yūya saved him as a payback for him saving Yuzu before and asked that while he was fine with hardcore Dueling, did Shun have fun Dueling against him. As Yūya continued, Yuzu and Shūzō promoted their Duel School in flashy way, embarrassing Yūya who used smokescreen to escape from embarrassment. Back at Syuzo Duel School, Yūto commented that his exit wasn't fit for a magician, and Yūya defended himself that he had to use smokescreen because he couldn't make three people disappear without any device. Shūzō and Yuzu, who watched Yūya talking with Yūto whom they couldn't see, became worried and wondering if he has double personality disorder. Yūya revealed that in his case instead of double personalities, he has four different personalities, shocking Yuzu and her father even more.

Genesis Omega Dragon
Yūya explained that for reason he himself didn't know, he has three other personalities inside him, and his own memories were also scattered, leaving him unable to remember further. Taking about this, Yūya asked where Yūgo and Yūri were, to which Yūto answered that they were on a tour, making Yūya riled a bit for touring inside his mind on their own. Yuzu once again asked him what kind of card G.O.D is, and Yūya then explained that whoever gain that card may destroy the world in the future because G.O.D is the ultimate monster that able to freely abuse Solid Vision's substantiation system. He also thought that the current Solid Vision is created to create G.O.D. Yuzu asked how he knows about all this, and Yūya ended the subject by answering that he saw it in his dream.

He changed the subject to the lines Yuzu and Shūzō said to promote the Duel School before escaping from Shun, refusing to ever saying that again since it's embarrassing. Yuzu protested that if he didn't it won't promote the school, but Yūya retorted that he wasn't Dueling for the sake of the school's advertisement. Now that it ended, Yūya wanted to return to his hideout, but was shocked when Yuzu decided to temporarily stay in his hideout until they find G.O.D since she was his manager, much to both Yūya and Shūzō's dismay.

Yūya vs. Sora Shiun'in
The next day, Yūya got an information about G.O.D from Information Psychic System Company, the company that produce Solid Vision System. Yūya and Yuzu decided to infiltrate the company with Yūto and Yuzu disguising themselves as employees. The disguise made Yuzu excited, though Yūto felt it was too silly, but Yūya commented that the disguise suited him, giving a feeling of true businessman, which somehow made Yūto pleased. Anticipating the securities, Yūya has created fake identification cards beforehand, allowing Yūto and Yuzu to enter the building. When they arrived at the supposed room where the information came from, they were trapped inside the room, realising too late it was a trap set by one of LC Duelists, Sora Shiun'in. Yūya quickly switched place with Yūto and prepared to Duel Sora. Yūya asked about G.O.D, and much to his disappointment, Sora didn't have a clue about it. Although knowing it was a trap and they were already surrounded, Yūya decided to Duel despite Yuzu's protest, thinking it would be harder for them to escape if he didn't win. Starting the Duel, Yūya tried to reach the first two Action Cards, but failed each of them due to unexpected booby traps amongst the field, but then sensing something wrong with the impact he just had. Yūya changed his tactic by Pendulum Summoned "Entermate Handsome Liger" and changed the Duel to his favour as well as getting the third Action Card with Poppo. Sora countered attack that Yūya tried to stop with his Trap Card, but then noticed a photo of Sora with a girl. Sora revealed that the girl was his younger sister and the reason he was working for Reiji was for her sake. Yūya began to falter after he was convinced by Sora's story, hesitating to continue the Duel. His moment of hesitation resulted with Sora able to counter attack.

Yūri vs. Sora
In his dilemma, Yūya heard Yūri's voice that was telling him he was being too soft and to his shock and protest, Yūri forcefully replaced him to Duel Sora. As Yūri ruthlessly attacked Sora, Yūya told him that he has gone too far while also reminding of Sora's story, but Yūri then revealed that everything Sora has said was a lie, exposing Sora's true nature. Seeing there's no point continuing his facade, Sora admitted it was indeed a lie and he countered attack by using the prototype Pendulum cards given by Reiji and summon another Fusion monster, reducing Yūri's LP to 100. Seeing Yūri's condition, Yūya worriedly asked was he alright. Yūri revealed that the damage shook his brain, which wasn't normal if the damage setting was in half. Sora revealed that he had tripled the damage impact Solid Vision in their field, much to Yūya's protest. Yūya asked Yūri to switch back with him, assuring Yūri that if it wasn't for his help, then he wouldn't have known of Sora's true nature and he has something that he wants to say to Sora. Feeling there was no helping for him at his present state, Yūri agreed, but then said that Yuzu might be disappointed if he returned due to her fondness for handsome guy, but Yūya told him she would be okay. Relented, Yūri allowed Yūya to take control. The moment they switched place, Yūya quickly fell on his knees from the pain, wondering how Yūri was able to stand up even after receiving so much pain. Determined he won't waste Yūri's determination, Yūya told Sora that while he wasn't angry of being tricked, he was sad and will never accept that Entertainment Dueling is being used to hurt and trample on people's heart. Furthermore, he won't forgive a fallen entertainer like Sora to use Pendulum Summon that is the symbol of Entertainment Duel, declaring he will make him take the responsibility for hurting Yūri. As they were reaching the last turn, Sora tried to get the last Action Card. Yūya, who was unable to move due to the damage, instead summoned "Odd-Eyes Mirage Dragon", "Entermate Ballad", and "Entermate Barracuda" to attack before Sora could get the Action Card. Yūya then used a combination of trap card "Entermate Show Up" to double up "Entermate Ballad's" ATK and "Mirage Dragon's" effect to decrease "Daredevil's" ATK, allowing "Barracuda" to destroy "Daredevil" and then used "Odd-Eyes Phantom Dragon's" to inflict another damage. Just before Sora's LP reach 0, Sora got the Action Card and used it to inflict 1000 damage on himself. Realising that Yūya purposely decreased his LP in a roundabout way to prevent him from receiving unnecessary physical damage like he did, Sora used another of his Action Card to doubled the damage, with the total damage of 5800. As per the setting of the room to triple any damage, The impact nearly destroyed the whole room, but Yūya managed to defend himself and Yuzu with his cloak as they watched Sora disappeared. Unable to bear the damage anymore, Yūya passed out, prompting Yūgo to take over and they escaped using his D-Wheel.

Yūgo vs. Ren
Back at the hideout, while Yūya was still unconscious, someone hacked into Yūya's head through his Duel Disk, trying to get access into his memories, so Yūgo volunteered to chase off the intruder inside Yūya's mind. While Yūgo was Dueling the intruder, Ren, Yūya repeatedly uttered Yūgo's name with worry, sensing something has happened to him, which also alerted Yūto and Yūri. In respond to this, in his mind, Yūya's consciousness created a road that saved Yūgo, who was falling after he slipped from the course.

Duel Against Reiji
When Yūya woke up, he has difficulty remembering how he ended up at the hideout, and he was helped refreshing his memories by Yūto and Yūri who then explained the situation while he was unconscious. Hearing about Ren and deduced he is from the same era as them, he thought Ren is also after G.O.D and was infiltrating his memory to check how close they have, but Yūri revealed that Ren was looking for something called the "Adam Factor" that was residing inside Yūya's body, confusing Yūya. He then checked his computer and realized that Reiji was coming to his hideout, explaining to Yuzu that Reiji knew their hideout due to Ren's hacking allowing Reiji to find out their location. Before Reiji appears, Yūya told his personas to "get lost" for a while for he's meeting someone from the "same era" as him. He introduced Reiji as his friend, but the latter coldly stated he doesn't consider Yūya as such. He then told Yuzu that she will stop becoming his manager because Reiji is not an opponent that he can get away unscathed, telling Yuzu he can do anything with all of his things if he doesn't come back. He and Reiji then went into the underground of his hideout where Reiji correctly assumed that this is where Yūya first arrived in the current era after his father, Yūshō Sakaki, triggered the World Illusion, something that Yūya confirmed. Yūya revealed that he knew about Reiji and Leo Akaba from his father and when he first heard of Reiji's name in the current era he knew both of them will clash. Yūya asked Reiji do they really need to fight since nothing bad happened between them. Reiji admitted that while this was true, he had sworn to stop Yūya from controlling G.O.D. Despite Yūya's attempt to clear up that his intention is not to control the card, Reiji wouldn't listen to it while reminding the fact that Yūshō was the cause of his father's death. Accepting that fact was inescapable, Yūya accepted Reiji's challenge. Since Reiji refused to use Action Card, Yūya decided to Duel in normal way as he didn't want an unfair advantage. Knowing how strong Reiji is, Yūya started his turn by Summoning three "Entermate Card Gardnas" to strengthen his defence. Before starting his turn, Reiji revealed where G.O.D came from, an information that Yūya has yet to hear since his father didn't have time to tell him the details. Reiji countered Yūya's defence by summoning "DDD Supersight King Zero Maxwell" and used "DD Count Surveyor's" effect to treat all Yūya's "Gardnas" as one monster, making its DEF to merely 9000 before using "Zero Maxwell's" effect to finally reduced it to 0, destroying the "Gardna" and inflict piercing damage to Yūya that reduced his LP to 1200. Yūya once again tried to tell Reiji that he has no intention to control G.O.D, but Reiji would only listen if he beat him. Yūya tried to Pendulum summon, but "DD Scale Surveyor's" effect changed Yūya's Pendulum monsters' Pendulum Scale to 0. Without any choice, Yūya switched place with Yūto who summoned Xyz Pendulum monster, "Dark Anthelion Dragon". When Reiji destroyed the Xyz Dragon, Yūya activated "Pendulum Halt" to draw two cards from his deck. Seeing the cards, he then switched place with Yūri who summoned Fusion Pendulum monster, "Starve Venemy Dragon". After Yūri ended his turn, Yūya told Reiji his side of story based on what he heard from his father and his reason of his arrival in the past. Unfortunately, Reiji took this as Yūya blaming his father entirely, and insisted that Yūya defeat him in Duel if he wants him to listen more of his story. Despite his Pendulum Scale being sealed by Reiji, Yūya stated that he will continue with Overscale Pendulum, summoning "Odd-Eyes Phantasma Dragon" that can be summoned at Scale 0 and began his counterattack. Their clash caused a huge distortion in space. Before the Duel can end, however, Yūya noticed a camera hidden nearby and asked Reiji to let him prove his story, but to his surprise, Reiji already knew about the third party besides them because that third party saved him when World Illusion began as Reiji exposed the camera.

Yūya demanded their observers to show themselves and questioned their identities. As demanded, Ren appeared before them and introduced himself with Yūto and Yūri confirming that he was the one who infiltrated Yūya's memories. Ren then revealed that both Yūya and Reiji possessed the Adam Factor, a power necessary to awaken G.O.D together with the EVE Factor, and one day they will take that power from them. Before the conversation could go further, the underground started to collapsing from the impact of the earlier clash, forcing Yūya to let Ren go and escaped to safety by riding on "Phantasma Dragon". Yūya tried to convince Reiji to work together with him since they have the same enemy, but Reiji decided to fight alone because he still can't forgive Yūshō. As he watched Reiji left, Yūya stated that he believed one day Reiji will come to understand the truth.

Non-canon
Yūya is shown facing Reiji Akaba in an Action Duel in the special manga chapter. He is 14 years old and aims to be a Pro Duelist. Yūya uses the same strategies as his anime counterpart, using his "Entermate" monsters to explore the field, like riding on "Entermate Silver Claw", for example. He is also able to perform Pendulum Summons in the manga, although how he got his Pendulum Monsters is not explained. Yūya keeps his anime counterpart's opinion regarding Action Duels: he believes that Duels are entertainment, and should be "happy, fun and silly".

Abilities
Like his original counterpart, Yūya is athletic and acrobatic. In addition to his acrobatic moves, he is capable of performing magic tricks that gives him advantages in Duel, one of such is summoning his pigeon, Poppo, that he materialised from Solid Vision system to make it get an Action Card for him that is out of his reach. Yūya is also an excellent hacker, able to easily hack into Leo Corporation's Solid Vision system, created fake ID cards, and is able to freely manipulate Solid Vision system throughout the whole town.

Canon
Yūya uses the combination of "Entermate" Deck and "Odd-Eyes Dragons" Deck that focuses on Pendulum Summoning. However, while Yūya's "Entermate" monsters in the anime mostly resembles animals dressed in carnival costumes, Yūya's "Entermate" monsters in manga so far are humanoids dressed in performer costumes.

Like all of his personas, his deck is influenced by his personas' and vice versa.

One Shot
In the special manga chapter, Yūya runs an "Entermate" Deck, like in the anime.

Trivia

 * In recent manga omake, it's revealed that Yūya mostly eats preserved foods since he is on the run from LC and only eat outside once in a while. In particular, he likes ramen.