Yūto

"I don't want to hurt anyone anymore."

- Yūto's vow to himself after watching many people got hurt.

Yūto (ユート) is a main character of the Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V anime. He is also known as The Black Duelist  (のデュエリスト Kuro no Dyuerisuto). He has three dimensional counterparts: Yūya Sakaki from Standard Dimension, Yūgo from Synchro Dimension, and Yūri from Fusion Dimension. He works with Shun Kurosaki to search for Ruri Kurosaki whom has been kidnapped by their enemies.

Appearance
Yūto strongly resembles Yūya Sakaki; people often confuse him with Yūya, and the first time Yuzu Hīragi saw him, she thought he was Yūya in a costume. Yūto and Yūya have nearly identical faces, except for their eye colors (Yūto's eyes are gray, while Yūya's are crimson). His hair is close to a palette swap of Yūya's, black in the back with light purple in the front. Unlike Yūya, whose hair lies flat, Yūto's sweeps upward and to the right side of his head.

He wears a punk-style outfit, with a dull green formal shirt and dark blue tie, as well as a black cape-like garment with ripped sleeves and edges plus dark blue pants and black boot-like shoes. Like Yūya, Yūto also wears a choker and wristbands, although his bands are a matching set—black with silver studs. Yūto also shares Yūya's penchant for goggles, though his are of a sharper make and a more military style. He also sports a mask he uses to conceal his face, a red scarf tied around his upper right arm that is partially hidden by his sleeve, and can sometimes be seen with a larger red scarf around his neck. He abandons the goggles entirely after they are damaged in his Duel with Shingo Sawatari, and later gets rid of his mask as well.

Yūto and his dimensional counterparts' attire and hair are all based on the color of the cards that their dimensions are based on. As such, Yūto wears dark clothing to reflect the color of Xyz Monsters, while his hair is both black and purple, the latter color likely a reference to the color of DARK Xyz Monsters' Overlay Units.

Personality
Yūto and Yūya are similar in that both care about their friends and do not want to hurt anyone; this is shown by his reluctance to let Yuzu be involved in his fight. However, while Yūya is energetic and positive, Yūgo is short-tempered and stubborn, and Yūri is cruel and sadistic, Yūto is cold, serious, calm and collected. Even more so than his Dimensional counterparts.

As a Duelist experienced in dimensional war, Yūto is battle-hardened, telling Shingo that he doesn't feel the sharpness of a sword nor the power of a bullet from his Dueling. Unlike his best friend Shun, he is not reckless nor impatient in his mission. Instead of simply attacking anyone he assumes to be an enemy, he would first interrogate them to get a clear idea of the situation, then leave them alone should they not be a real threat. His perceptiveness made him quick to deduce that most of LDS in the Standard Dimension is unaware of the war between Academia and the Resistance.

Through Yūya's Awakening, it is shown that deep inside his heart, Yūto harbors a deep vengeful hatred towards the Fusion Dimension and the Academia for the destruction of his home world. While indirectly possessing Yūya, he doesn't care of the consequences resulting from his actions and only focuses on defeating his enemies. This is worsened when he was under the influence of the unknown darkness to the point he enjoys harming them.

Yūto is actually a conflicted individual. While he has strong hatred for his enemies, t he destruction of his home world and losing many of his comrades made him developed a strong desire to not hurt anyone, but at the same time he knows that he must continue to fight to protect and save his comrades. Thus, he shows mercy against enemies who are at a disadvantage, such as when he offered a recuperating Sora the chance to surrender during their match after holding back against him on purpose.

Etymology
In the anime, Yūto's name in Romaji is written as "Ute", which is pronounced as "Yūto" in Japanese. Yūto has many definitions depending on the kanji used. For example: 優 (Yū) means "Gentleness" and "Superiority", 悠 (Yū) means "Distant" and "Leisurely". The last syllable 人 (To) means person, 翔 (To) means to "Soar" or "Fly". For this character, his name is written in Katakana, so it has no actual meaning.

History
Yūto is from Heartland City of Xyz Dimension with his close friends Shun Kurosaki and Ruri Kurosaki. Together with them, Yūto attended the Spade Branch of Heartland Duel School. At one point during these times, they watched a Duel in which Kaito Tenjō, the ace of Clover Branch, their rival branch, was Dueling, and like everyone else were amazed by his Dueling that Yūto commented as dynamic yet delicate, and expected him to become Heartland's Duel Champion. Their happy lives ended when one day, their homeland was invaded by the Academia of Fusion Dimension, destroying the city. Yūto, Shun, and Ruri then joined the newly formed Resistance to stand up against the Academia. During the battle, Yūto and Shun managed to defeat and interrogate one of Academia Duelist who revealed the existence of other dimensions and the Academia's goal to unite all of them. Shun attempted to turn him into a card, but Yūto stopped him as it won't change their situation, stating there has to be another way to bring back the peace of their world. Sometimes afterwards, Ruri was kidnapped by an Academia Duelist, Yūri, leading Yūto to look for her. While looking for her, he encountered Yūgo, a Duelist from Synchro Dimension who was also looking for his kidnapped friend, Rin. With Yūgo mistaking Yūto as Yūri and didn't answer to Yūto's question whether he was from the Academia or not, the two concluded that they are enemies and clashed, bringing out their respective ace monsters. However, both are interrupted by Shun and the other Resistance members, forcing Yūgo to retreat.

Pre-Maiami Championship
The Black Duelist is a mysterious duelist who is targeting the Leo Duel School. He first appeared to take the place of Yuzu Hīragi's duel against Shingo Sawatari. Before taking the duel on, he said to Yuzu he doesn't want to see her getting hurt anymore. In the first turn, all he did was set Magic Cards. Later in the duel, he Xyz Summons his ace, "Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon". He was inflicting real damage in the duel. After defeating Sawatari, he took off his mask, where Yuzu and Sawatari became confused and thought he was Yūya Sakaki. When Yuzu's bracelet shines, he disappeared without a trace. The confusion makes Sawatari to complain Yūya was the culprit. A Xyz Duelist attacked Marco, who was Leo Duel School. This could be suspected to be The Black Duelist's attack. Because of this, Reiji Akaba forfeits his duel with Yūya and leaves to investigate the case. When Yuzu goes back to the place The Black Duelist was last seen by her and Sawatari, and brought along Sora Shiun'in to learn Fusion Summon, The Black Duelist came back. This time, he was noticed by Sora who suddenly starts jumping and going around to catch him. Then, both Sora and The Black Duelist fought using their Duel Disk. Sora Shiun'in said to him, "You're not from here, are you?" and then The Black Duelist replied "Neither are you". He disappears again because of Yuzu's bracelet. At the time, Masumi Kōtsu also thinks Yūya was the culprit. He has been staring at Yuzu since they first met. When Yuzu's bracelet shines for the third time, he is teleported to the place where Shun Kurosaki was.

Yūto vs. Sora Shiun'in
Unlike Shun, Yūto did not take part in the Maiami Championship. He walked past a big screen displaying Shun's Duel against Sora as Shun talked about The Resistance. After Sora's defeat, he approached him in the hospital to interrogate him about Ruri's whereabouts, but he was only able to learn that captured Duelists were sealed inside cards. Sora insisted that Yūto take him to Shun for a rematch, but Yūto refused. When the guards discovered him, Yūto fled with Sora hot on his tail. At Central Park, Sora taunted Yūto about Ruri's fate, claiming that he would hunt down all Xyz users like Yūto, and suggested that destroying Fusion users would help get Ruri back. Yūto promptly challenged Sora as a result, and took damage on the first turn. Recovering, he brought out "Phantom Knights Break Sword", which Sora destroyed with his "Death-Toy Scissors Bear" and used to power it up. He brought out "Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon" in the next turn and was in a position to win the Duel, but deliberately held back out of mercy, destroying "Scissor Bear", but leaving Sora with enough LP to stay in the match. Yūya arrived to help his friend as Yūto offered Sora the chance to surrender. When Sora didn't back down, and Yūto vowed to bring down Sora as the first step to bringing down Fusion, a furious Yūya joined the Duel, refusing to let Yūto hurt his friend further. Yūya quickly performed a Pendulum Summon, bringing out "Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon". When the Dragon appeared, both Yūto and Yūya felt a burning sensation in their chests as "Odd-Eyes" and "Dark Rebellion" roared at each other. Aiming to destroy both Dragons, Yūya attacked, but despite using "Timegazer Magician" to counter Yūto's Traps, Yūto was able to successfully protect "Dark Rebellion". When Yūya pressed for answers to the enmity between the other two Duelists, Sora chided Yūto for not speaking since it'd reveal his faction's weakness. Sora proceeded to reveal his true strength, but before he could he was transported back to the Fusion Dimension by the Academia.

Yūto proceeded to recover his Life Points and remove his Traps, pointing out to Yūya that their Duel was now pointless, and both Duelists mutually ended the Duel. Yūya pointed out how Yūto held back in the Duel, and reasoned that Yūto did not want to fight at all. Yūto spoke about how his hometown, Heartland, was once a city full of smiles, until the Fusion Dimension attacked, and told Yūya of the four known Dimensions. Yūya was skeptical, but declared that Duelling wasn't a tool for fighting, but for giving people happiness. Before they could finish their talk, however, Yūgo emerged from a beam of light on his D-Wheel, crashing into a surveillance camera. Upon removing his helmet, he was revealed to look like both Yūto and Yūya. Seeing Yūto, Yūgo challenged him to a Duel.

Rematch Against Yūgo
Yūto accepted Yūgo's challenge. During the course of the Duel, Yūgo remained upon his D-Wheel, thus Yūto had to run about to catch up to him and dodge the vehicle. Both Yūto and Yūgo vowed to defeat the other for taking something precious from them. Yūgo brought out his "Clear Wing Synchro Dragon", a clear hint for Yūto to bring out "Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon" so the two dragons could duke it out. When the two Dragons were summoned, the eyes of both Duelists began glowing; both started claiming that they must destroy everything. Yūya managed to snap Yūto out of it, and while Yūto had the chance to defeat "Clear Wing", he ended his turn, remembering his vow to never hurt anyone. Yūgo, however, remained in his state and proceeded to defeat Yūto, who shielded Yūya from the shockwave. Upon losing the Duel, Yūto's soul was absorbed into Yūya, but not before entrusting his wish and his "Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon" to Yūya. His Duel Disk and Deck were later retrieved by Nakajima.

Yūya vs. Isao Kachidoki
Yūya was Duelling against Isao during the second round of Maiami Championship. With Yūya cornered by Isao's violent Duelling that prevented him from getting Action Card and Idaten's monster effect that prevented him from attacking, Yūto's soul merged himself with Yūya's with Yūto temporarily took over Yūya's body, initiating the Awakening. He used Action Card Mad Hurricane to return his monsters on the field back to deck and used "Entermate Turn Toad" and "Entermate Cheermole" to Pendulum Summoned "Entermate Rakudown" and "Entermate Silver Claw". With the two have same levels, he constructed overlay network, summoning "Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon" that swiftly defeated Isao.

Battle Royale
Obelisk Force appeared and turned Knight of Duels into cards, triggering Yūto's memories when Heartland was invaded, spilling it into Yūya as the result. This caused Yūto to once again initiated the Awakening and temporarily taking over Yūya's body. Obelisk Force immediately reduced his LP since their monster effect made him unable to activate any Magic, Trap, or Action Card. They then taunted him that he will share the same fate as Knight of Duels, angering him further. His soul and Yūya once again merged, creating two new cards: "Synthesis Magician" and "Antithesis Magician", which he used to perform Pendulum and then Xyz Summoned "Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon." However, this didn't last long as an unknown darkness within Yūya slowly overwhelmed both Yūya and Yūto, causing it to take over Yūya's body and defeated the Obelisk Force using "Odd-Eyes Rebellion Dragon the Supreme King Black Dragon."

Yūya vs. Reiji
After the end of the Battle Royale, Reiji challenged Yūya into a Duel with Heartland as their Duel Field. This brought back painful memories for Shun, who couldn't bring himself to tell what happened during the tragedy that befell his homeland. Reiji then started to reveal it instead, causing both Yūya and Yūto to shout at him to stop talking and start the Duel, which resulted with Yūya's lost.

Departure
The next day, the Lancers were prepared to go to the Synchro Dimension to recruit potential allies against the Academia by using their enhanced Duel Disk based from Reiji's research on Yūto's Duel Disk, leading Shun to accuse Yūya for stealing Yūto's Duel Disk along with his card as oppose to Yūya's earlier statement that Yūto entrusted it to him. In response to Shun's accusation, Yūto telepathically told Shun to trust Yūya, whom he has considered as his comrade that will never betray them.

Shun vs. Dennis
When Shun exposed Dennis' real identity as an Academia Duelist, Yūto reacted to the Duel within Yūya, watching the Duel intensely as his anger started to rise after hearing Dennis' part in Ruri's capture that also reminded him of his fallen comrades and his destroyed hometown. His anger spilled into Yūya and he asked does Yūya understand his feeling, to which Yūya answered that he understood, but disapproved to Duel that only filled by anger and hatred, and instead he will Duel to bring happiness for people like Yūto had asked him to.

Yūya vs. Crow
The mind-control chip that Roget placed inside Yūya's helmet forced Yūya to enter his state of rage and synchronised his mind with his dimensional counterparts, including Yūto who was inside him and they together Duel against Crow in the same state of rage as Yūya. After much struggle, Crow was able to destroy the chip inside Yūya's helmet, freeing Yūya from his Awakened state, which also freed Yūto, Yūri, and Yūgo, at the cost of his defeat. Once the synchronisation ended, Yūto fell unconscious.

Yūya vs. Barrett
When Yūgo and Yūri summoned "Clear Wing Synchro Dragon" and "Starve Venom Fusion Dragon" during their Duel while Yūya had "Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon" and "Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon" on the field during his and Barrett's Duel, the Four Dimension Dragons started to resonate with each other causing Yūto and dimensional counterparts to go to the state of rage again. This caused a dimensional hole to appear in the sky as they stated that they have been waiting for the moment they will become one and attempted to reach the dimensional hole. However, this was interrupted by Yuzu's arrival that automatically transported Yūgo and Yūri away, ending the synchronization.

Gongenzaka & Shingo vs. Kaito
Yūto mentally communicated with Yūya, explaining to the latter that Kaito used to be a professional Duelist from Clover Branch of Heartland Duel School, a rival branch to Spade Branch where he and Shun attended prior the invasion. However, he noticed that Kaito has changed since his Dueling used to be subtle yet dynamic, but now he could only sensed anger in his Dueling, making Yūto wondering what had happened to Kaito while he was away. After Kaito defeated Gongenzaka and Shingo, he challenged Yūya to Duel him, intending to card him along with Gongenzaka and Shingo. Hearing this, Yūya decided to accept, not wanting anyone to be carded again. Yūto told Yūya it'll be pointless to Duel him because the current Kaito won't listen to anything he says. In respond, Yūya determined to convey his words and feelings to Kaito through Duel instead like he did with Jack.

Yūya vs. Kaito
Yūto tried to persuade Yūya once more, explaining that while he was able to communicate with Jack because both of them shared the same goal to bring happiness to the City, the same thing won't be possible with Kaito whose heart was filled with rage. This didn't change Yūya's mind who reminded Yūto of his own wish to bring smile to people, asking him to trust him. Reluctantly, Yūto let Yūya Duel. Soon, Kaito overpowered Yūya, already seeing through his tactic after his previous Duel against Shingo and Gongenzaka, making Yūto realised that Kaito's skill has much more sharpened than before. He again tried to persuade Yūya to stop, but the latter still insisted to continue. Unfortunately, even after summoning "Odd-Eyes Rebellion Dragon", Kaito still able to counter it with his reverse card to summon another "Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon", destroying the Supreme King Black Dragon and left Yūya's field wide open. Finally deciding to help, Yūto quickly instructed Yūya to use the dragon's monster and Pendulum effects. Understanding that he was still not strong enough but still wanting to open up Kaito's heart regardless of his and Yūya's current strength, Yūto finally came up with this tactic: Duelling together with Yūya, both of them Xyz summoned "Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon", shocking Kaito. By summoning his ace monster, Yūto tried to remind Kaito of him during their days at Heartland Duel School. Yūto's strong presence within Yūya allowed Kaito to momentarily see his splitting image, causing Kaito to thought Yūya as Yūto. Before the Duel could continue, Shun arrived with Sayaka Sasayama and Allen Kozuki to clear the misunderstanding. Despite Shun's assurance that Yūya and the others are allies, Kaito remained defiant and left the scene, leaving Yūto and Yūya in wonder.

Resistance Hideout
At the Resistance hideout, both Yūya and Yūto were lamenting over their inability to open Kaito's heart, only feeling Kaito's anger throughout their Duel even after they have summoned "Dark Rebellion". Allen then commented Yūya's resemblance with Yūto, even starting to think that Yūya might actually Yūto himself by the fact that he used "Dark Rebellion" until Shun cleared the confusion. Allen questioned Yūto's whereabout since he was supposed to be following Shun to Standard Dimension but was now absent. Before Yūya could answer, Yūto told him not to reveal that he is inside him because they won't understand their condition, something that Yūya reluctantly agreed. They were saved from the question by Shun who explained that Yūto had suddenly vanished and then entrusted "Dark Rebellion" to Yūya, whom at first Shun suspected for stealing the card. However, after watching Yūya throughout their battle at Synchro Dimension, he came to believe that Yūto had indeed entrusted his ace monster to Yūya and understood why he did so, something that relieved both Yūto and Yūya. Their relief was cut short when Allen and Sayaka revealed that while they were gone, Academia had launched a massive offensive attack that destroyed most Spade and Clover branches' Resistance Duelists and residents, including Kaito's whole family, which shocked Yūto.

Powers and Abilities
Yūto is able to inflict real damage, destruction, and pain in a Duel even without the presence of an Action Field. His use of this ability is akin to Psychic Duelists in that the effect is physical in nature and not magically induced. Examples of this are wind being felt from  Solid Vision  holograms, causing explosions that can shake an entire building, and using " Phantom Death Spear " to pin  Shingo  to a wall by his coat. Upon his next appearance, he was also shown to be acrobatic, performing several high and agile jumps in a scuffle with  Sora. He can also dash to the point of being nearly a blur that a pair of guards couldn't react fast enough. Yūto is stronger than he looks; he was able to effortlessly knock down  Kakimoto  off-screen, and knock  Shun  unconscious with a single punch to the gut.
 * The Awakening - Like his dimensional counterparts, Yūto has the ability to enter the Awakening that Arc V Yuto berserk.png increases his Duelling skill, but came at the cost being blinded by his rage, resulting Yūto has no other objective but to defeat his opponent in brutal way. After he merged with Yūya, Yūto has a certain degree of control to take over Yūya's body, usually does so when the latter is cornered in a Duel. However, this got worsened after Yūto witnessed the Obelisk Force turning people into cards that triggered his painful memories of the tragedy that befell his homeland. Yūto's sadness and hatred gave birth to a darkness that was strong enough to overwhelm both him and Yūya, causing their Duelling skill increased, but slowly losing their humanities. During the state, Yūto has no recollection of what happened.


 * Synchronization - Like his dimensional counterparts, Yūto is able to synchronised his mind with his dimensional counterparts. This was first triggered during his rematch against Yūgo. The synchronisation was triggered because "Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon" and "Clear Wing Synchro Dragon" calling one another, resulting both Yūto and Yūgo to awaken at the same time.


 * Telepathy -  Yūto is also capable of selectively communicate telepathically with other people from within Yūya that can only be heard by the person whom he is communicating with, even without Yūya himself realizing.

Deck
Yūto runs a "Phantom Knights" Deck that focuses on Xyz Summoning. He uses several copies of "Phantom Knights Shadow Veil" to protect himself against attacks and to Xyz Summon his ace card, "Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon", while using cards like "Phantom Death Spear" and "Phantom Wing" to protect it as well as damage the opponent, enabling a OTK through the effect of "Xyz Dragon". His monsters are Level 3 and "Dark Rebellion" is Rank 4, so Yūto takes advantage of the effect of his "Phantom Knights Break Sword" in the early game. Should it be destroyed, its other effect instantly sets up the Summon of "Dark Rebellion".

His Dueling style reflects his merciful nature and refusal to hurt others. He uses many protective cards and cards that restrain the opponent, additionally he often leaves the opponent with enough life to survive his assaults and offers them the chance to surrender peacefully, only finishing them off should there be no other choice.

Trivia

 * Yūto shares some traits with Aki Izayoi from Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's series. In their first appearance both of them listed as mysterious characters who hide their face behind the mask. Both of them have special ability to cause real pain and damage in their duels.
 * Yūto's seiyuu Manpei Takagi and Yūgo's seiyuu Shinpei Takagi are twin brothers.
 * Yūto's and Yūgo's flashback in episode 18 was initially scheduled to appear in first episode.