Aichi Sendou

Aichi Sendou is the main protagonist of Cardfight!! Vanguard anime and manga. He is also the main protagonist of Cardfight!! Vanguard Movie: Neon Messiah, along with Toshiki Kai. For the duration of season 4, Aichi was sealed by his own volition to keep Link Joker sealed away with him, while leaving his friends in the dark. Consequently, Kai set out to find Aichi and becomes the main protagonist during this period, although the spotlight is still on him. As a result of playing host to the Void's seed, Aichi himself ends up becoming the main antagonist in Kai's quest to bring him back. In Cardfight!! Vanguard G, Aichi is studying abroad in America and is recruited by Ibuki to help with Plan G. Because of his absence, Team Q4 is forced to fight Team TRY3 in the G Quest's Ultimate stage without him. He also sends his Stride Force to Chrono Shindou during his fight against Ryuzu. In Cardfight!! Vanguard G: NEXT, he comes back to Japan during summer break and goes to meet Kouji Ibuki with Chrono.

He is a somewhat shy and timid young man who wishes to be a Vanguard Fighter, but has never had the chance to have a real fight until his second encounter with Kai. When starting to play Vanguard, he believes more in himself, becoming a powerful Vanguard Fighter. His Vanguard Circle's color is blue; but when using a Shadow Paladin deck, the color changes to dark blue.

## Personality

At first, he is a shy, taciturn and timid boy who doesn't stand out, but is always kind and nice to everyone. After he starts playing Vanguard, he starts to come out of his shell and appears more confident in himself, resulting in a boost on his Cardfight skills. During the regional tournament, he doubted his ability when Misaki wouldn't make it in time for most of the tournament, and again when he was paired up to fight Gouki in the finals, but through winning the team's first match, and some encouragement from Kai, he regained his confidence and grew determined to win.

After Aichi gains PSY Qualia, he begins to act very much like Ren Suzugamori; arrogant and obsessed with growing stronger, yet staying eerily polite throughout, which he frequently displayed once Ren gave him a Shadow Paladin deck, which appears to fuel his PSY Qualia. After Kai brought him back, Aichi started doubting himself, but quickly gets over it after seeing his friends having fun during a shop tournament at Card Capital.

During Season 2, he displays more of his calm and determined personality while he was fighting with other fighters, even when he was in the brink of losing against Christopher Lo after the latter got PSY Qualia powers. However, he grows increasingly worried when his Royal Paladins were replaced by the Gold Paladins, and desperate for answers as to what happened. This starts to lessen after fighting with the new clan and learning to respect it. After facing fighters like Ren, Leon, Kourin and Jun, he begins to forge his own path, growing stronger with each fight. He refuses to leave his friends in trouble if he can help them, even when the circumstances dictate that it is a waste of valuable time, as shown when he accepted Christopher's rematch to try and break him out of his PSY Qualia-induced madness, even when Cray and Earth were in danger.

In Season 3, it is shown that Aichi, outside of any Cardfight!! Vanguard-related event, is still quite unsure and nervous, but this side of him completely vanishes whenever he plays. He also starts to act more like a leader in the Cardfight Club. Naoki, Rekka, Kourin and Kai have all noted that during their fights with him, he seems like a different person, only looking forward and having his sights set on winning.

Based on his cardfighting ability and place in Miyaji, Aichi is highly intelligent and perceptive, though this is mostly hidden by his shyness. His intelligence is seen in his cardfight strategies and ability to keep his deck evolving, and his perceptiveness allowed him to see Naoki Ishida had been reversed even if he didn't know what was actually wrong with his friend. Even so, he can be a bit dense in social situations, such as when Naoki bought a deck to cardfight him.

In Season 4 after waking up under the influence of Link Joker, Aichi is show to have become cold and cruel under its effects, striking Kourin and Philippe Neve with his dark power. He also fought ruthlessly during his cardfight against Kai, showing determination to be sealed away again. At that time, he felt that there was no other way to save Earth and Cray from Link Joker other than to disappear from the world. However, he had a slight change of heart when he realized that everybody was willing to take his burden in order to end his misery of being the host of the Seed. His wish to prevent the incident from happening again was apparent as he was able to hold back Link Joker for a prolonged time despite the clan's efforts to break his soul and body. After his fate was changed by his friends and Planet Cray, he was able to relieve his burdens of the future.

In NEXT, he is more confident than before but still very clumsy as he misses his train while helping some foreigners. He is very caring and offers to buy Chrono and Kamui drinks. When he plays Vanguard, he becomes a completely different person, becoming more confident in himself and concentrating on the game.

In the Cardfight!! Vanguard manga, Aichi (during the Link Joker arc) becomes a very cold person under the influence of Psy Qualia Zombie's effect.