Nico Smiley Nico Smiley is a recurring character in the " Yu - Gi - Oh ! ARC - V " anime . He is a manager of professional Duelists , having managed The Sledgehammer . Design . Appearance . In the dub , Nico Smiley ' s mustache is lengthened to avoid resembling Adolf Hitler . He is a skinny man who wears a pink , yellow , and black jacket and a ribbon tie . Nico has straight black hair and pink and orange glasses . He somewhat resembles a clown . Nico wears two rings on his left hand . Etymology . Smiley ' s first name comes from the onomatopoeia " nico nico " , a term for when someone is all smiles . Biography . Pre - Arc League Championship . Nico approached Skip Boyle at the behest of the Leo Institute of Dueling , who wished to have the champion the Sledgehammer Duel You Show Duel School student Yuya Sakaki , as The Sledgehammer never got the oppurtunity to Duel the boy ' s father , who had no - showed at their championship match . Leo Institute agreed to give You Show Duel School their new ARC System free of charge in exchange . Yuya eventually agreed . On the day of the Duel , Nico functioned as a commentator . After The Sledgehammer lost to Yuya , he stepped down as champion and went overseas to train , leaving Smiley without a Duelist to manage . Nico eventually approached Yuya , offering a free entrance to the Junior Arc League Championship if Yuya agreed to take him on as manager , not before telling Yuya about what happened to the Sledgehammer . Yuya refused , insisting that he wanted to enter the tournament through the usual means . He instead asked Nico to aid him in finding opponents to defeat , as he needed four more wins to qualify , to which Nico agreed . He arranged Yuya to Duel four different opponents , including his best friend Gong , and decided to train Yuya to become a pro Duelist . Nico first arranged a Duel for Yuya against Reed Pepper . Nico was listening to Yuya ' s conversation with Reed and gave a disgusted look when Yuya ' s stomach growled . Nico eventually found Yuya passed out in an alley . When Yuya woke up , he exclaimed that a a Duelist used one of his monsters to defeat a trio of LID top students and cause real damage . Nico reassured him that this was all a dream , since he found Yuya unconscious and assumed that he had a lack of sleep . Yuya agreed with Nico and left with him . Before Yuya ' s next Duel , Nico accompanied him in a bus on the way to Pierre L ' Supérieure ' s school . After talking for a while , Nico fell off a chair . Nico and the head of the academy announced the battle , then watched the Duel . Nico was impressed that Yuya won . He contacted Yuya on another day and noted the positive and negative things that happened during the Duels , and said Yuya had to really impress him in the next Duel . Yuya wondered why Nico was upset . Some time after , Yuya met Nico disguised as a fortune teller at the entrance of Aura Sentia ' s Dueling school , though his disguise unnerved Yuya . Nico and Madam Divina , the head of Aura ' s school , commenced the Duel . Nico was again happy that Yuya triumphed . Yuya ' s final opponent was Gong . He explained that he arranged Yuya ' s Duels so each one would train Yuya in a different way . Nico was pleased when Yuya won against Gong , which surpassed his expectations . Arc League Championship . During the Arc League Championship inauguration ceremony , he requested Yuya to give a speech as part of his training . Friendship Cup . Before Yuya left to the Synchro Dimension with the rest of the Lancers , Nico revealed he had very high hopes for Yuya and expected him to take over the pro Dueling world , yet he said that he was still proud of the Pendulum Summoner . Duel Academy . After Zarc ' s defeat and the Standard Dimension being reborn into the " Pendulum Dimension " , Nico had lost his memories of Zuzu and the events involving people from other dimensions . He announced the Battle Royal between Yuya Sakaki , Sylvio Sawatari , Gong Strong and Moon Shadow . During the Duel , at the urging of Moon Shadow , Nico began to remember the events of the Arc League Championship . He is later seen watching Yuya ' s Duel against Jack Atlas with You Show Duel School and was happy when Yuya won . He then watched Yuya and Declan ' s Action Duel . He was happy when Yuya won the Duel and witnessed Zuzu ' s revival .