Yuya Sakaki

**Yuya Sakaki** (榊さかき遊矢ゆうや *Sakaki Yūya*) is Yuzu Hiiragi's childhood friend in Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V: Shattered Soul. He is an alternate universe version of the Yuya Sakaki that appeared in the original *Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V* anime.

He is a born-entertainer who attends the You Show Duel School to advance his Dueling expertise and become an "Entertainment Duelist", a specific type of professional Duelist, similar to his father. He and Yuzu are the pioneers of Pendulum Summoning. He is the Standard Dimension counterpart of Yuto (from the Xyz Dimension), Yugo (from the Synchro Dimension), Yuri (from the Fusion Dimension), and Yushi (from the Link Dimension), one of Z-ARC's fragments.

## Etymology

The syllable "Yū" (遊ゆう) in this character's name comes from the "Yū" in the Rōmaji of "Yu-Gi-Oh!" (遊ゆう戯ぎ王おう *Yūgiō*, lit. King of Game) and past 4 main characters' first or last names of the series (Note: There are other ways to write "Yūya" in Japanese). Sakaki (榊), also known as Cleyera japonica, means "Divine Tree" in Japanese.

Yūya's name may also derived from Yūya, a powerful Egyptian courtier during the eighteenth dynasty of Ancient Egypt, father of Tiye, the Great Royal Wife of Amenhotep III. When the latter died, his son ruled the Ancient Egypt as Amenhotep IV, but later changed his royal name for Akhenaten, whose namesake may have inspired Akhenaden, the father of Priest Seto and uncle of Atem.

## Appearance

Yuya is a young teenage boy with crimson eyes, and dual-colored green and crimson hair of average length sticking out in downwards pointing spikes all around his head in a similar manner to Judai Yuki, with the exception of one short upwards pointing spike of green hair. He wears his good-luck charm pendant on a simple string around his neck, and a buckled choker, and a pair of golden goggles with orange lenses on his forehead, with a blue star obscuring the right lens. Yuya wears a simple orange t-shirt with a thick, silver-buckled brown belt over it, green pants with what appear to be "Deck pockets" on each leg, and magenta shoes, as well as crimson wristbands. He also wears his gold and red lined white school jacket over his shoulders like a cape, in a similar manner to Yami Yugi.

## Personality

A fun-loving and energetic boy, Yuya is very theatrical and loves to entertain people, traits he seems to inherited from his father, Yusho Sakaki. He idolized and loved his father very much and wishes to become an entertainer like him one day. After his father disappeared during an important match, Yuya was left heartbroken and traumatized by the event because his beloved father was labeled as a "coward". As Yoko Sakaki had stated, Yuya acts like a fool merely to beat people for insulting him about his father disappearing. Due to Yuya's buffoonery, his friends and other people are often baffled by Yuya's behavior and believes he doesn't take things seriously. Because his father was so famous, his friends and other people seems to have high expectations of Yuya to live up to his father's reputation while simultaneously quick to bring up Yusho's "cowardice" or scold him for his clownish actions. Yuya has a habit of putting his goggles over his eyes when he is either upset or embarrassed, something he did since he was young. When Yuya Duels, he announces "Ladies and gentlemen!" when he is about to perform a finishing move.

## Trivia

* While he's the main protagonist at the original version of the Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V anime, Yuya becomes more of a deuteragonist character in Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V: Shattered Soul, switching roles with Yuzu.
* Both Yuya and Yuzu obtain Pendulum Summoning at the same time in Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V: Shattered Soul.
	+ Unlike Yuzu in the original anime, Yuya while a deuteragonist, still gets Pendulum Summoning in Shattered Soul.

## External Links

* Yuya Sakaki for his original anime incarnation at Yugipedia.