Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS/Characters

Yusaku Fujiki/Playmaker
A first-year high school student who doesn't like standing out, Yusaku is convinced to try VR Dueling. Uses a Cyberse Deck. As a Charisma Duelist, he is known as Playmaker. Voiced by:Shouya Ishige (Japanese)


 * Aloof Ally:As Playmaker, he has been praised by other Charisma Duelists for his skill and talent. Not that he cares.
 * Anime Hair:The common hair style for every Yugioh protagonist
 * Anti Hero:Yusaku is neither Hot-Blooded nor an All-Loving Hero, but a standoffish, serious, and distant Ice King.He would even go so far as to give the Knight of Hanoi a very brutal The Reason You Suck Speech, which is something that only Kaiba archetypes would usually do.
 * Awesome By Analysis:Said to be a genius duelist and hacker who excels at reading people. See EstablishingCharacterMoment below.
 * Badass Baritone:Sports a deep voice.His voice is much deeper than any other Yu-Gi-Oh protagonist even being deeper than Atem and Yusei.
 * Badass Boast:"Knights of Hanoi. Wherever you choose to run rampant, I will appear. My name is Playmaker!"
 * Badass Bookworm:He's a hacker who gains fame in the Network World for defeating the Knights of Hanoi in fierce Duels.
 * BFS:His Decode Talker wields a greatsword.
 * Big Damn Heroes: As Playmaker, he saves Blue Angel from being erased by Cracking Dragon.
 * Bishonen:See his anime design he looks much more attractive and taller than his predoocseeors
 * Broken Streak:The first Yugi archetype who acts like a Kaiba archetype in the beginning, particularly Shark, Kurosaki, and even Kaiba himself.
 * Catch Phrase:Some variation of three reasons when analyzing situations or reading people.
 * Cyber Goth:Yusaku uses the Cyberse archetype, which all fit this theme.
 * Dark Is Not Evil:His Decode Talker are dark monsters
 * Deadpan Snarker:Doesn't say much when he responds to the AI in Naoki's Duel Disk.
 * -->AI in Naoki's Duel Disk: Hello there.
 * -->Yusaku: Yeah, hi.
 * Establishing Character Moment:Yusaku's first appearance is when he's woken up by Naoki at the end of their class. In quick succession Naoki shows off his Duel Disk, discusses Link VRAINS and asks Yusaku if he wants help improving his Dueling skills. Yusaku (who doesn't even know Noaki's name despite being in the same class for a month) has already analysed him by this point and replies no, because there are three reasons he thinks Naoki is a mediocre Duelist. . He talks about his new Duel Disk but not his deck, 2. He hasn't been to Link VRAINS (suggesting a lack of confidence) and 3. "What kind of Duelist judges someone by appearance, anyway?.He does add that he also picked up three reasons Naoki is a good person, but by that point Naoki is too miffed to care.
 * Expy
 * Appears to be this for Yusei]], being a cool-headed Teen Genius and all, but his Playmaker account resembles a Darker and Edgier version of Yuma's first ZEXAL form.
 * His Decode Talker looks like an odd combination between Buster Blader, and Elemental HERO Sparkman. It also serves a similar role to Yusei's Junk Warrior, being a secondary ace monster with 2300 ATK.
 * Good Is Not Nice:To unbelievable degrees. He's a hacker, a No-Nonsense Nemesis and a cold-hearted Jerkass who wants to Revenge make the Knights of Hanoi pay the price for their involvement in the "past incident".
 * Good Old Ways:Downplayed, but he uses an older modeled Duel Disk which requires physical cards, as opposed to Duel Disks which can utilize cards in data format.
 * Golden Super Mode:As Playmaker, Yusaku's hair changes color, with the dark blue part becoming magenta, the bright blue part becoming a yellow-ish gold, and the bright pink parts becoming hot pink.
 * The Hero:of VRAINS
 * Ice King:He's aloof and is not the type of person whom other people can easily approach to.
 * I Just Want to Be Normal:Prefers to be this until his first play in VR Dueling.
 * Instant Awesome, Just Add Dragons:One of his Link Monsters is Firewall Dragon, but it is a Cyberse-Type instead of Dragon-Type.
 * Irony:He doesn't like to stand out but his account name is "Playmaker" and becomes well-known in the Network World for dealing with the threat the Knights of Hanoi poses.
 * Jerkass: According to Naoki, his attitude is really "unpleasant" despite being indifferent to each other. He even attempts to use Ignis as a bargaining chip during his first on-screen act as Playmaker. At least he's not as sour as Kaiba.
 * Jerk with a Heart of Gold:Immediately after he told Naoki how his analysis defined him as a weak Duelist, he also tells him how is defined him as a good person.
 * Kid Detective:He is a hacker who solves mysterious in cool manner
 * Kick The Dog:What Go thinks of him showing up and "snatching" the spotlight (even if it's unintentional). In Playmaker's defese though, he didn't ask for fame in the first place.
 * Light Is Good:His Firewall Dragon is a LIGHT Monster.
 * The Magic Poker Equation: His Skill, Storm Access, allows him to randomly add a card found in a Data Storm to his deck. Naturally, the first time he uses it he gains Decode Talker, which is perfectly suited to winning him the duel.
 * Meaningful Name:Yusaku's surname, Fujiki, is Japanese for "wisteria tree".
 * Memetic Hair:His hair is often associated with that of a wisteria; see also Meaningful Name.
 * Multicolored Hair:He has dark blue hair, complete with light blue bangs and traces of pink.
 * Mysterious Protector:His role as Playmaker. He doesn't even bother revealing his secret identity to others.
 * Naive Newcomer: He's far from naive and he uses Duel Monsters as his personal weapons but he's likely new to Speed Dueling.which Yusaku himself lampshades by questioning whether or not he already knows how to Speed Duel.
 * No-Nonsense Nemesis:He is not dueling for fun but for Revenge
 * Online Alias:Playmaker
 * Ordinary High School Student: He starts out as one, with a dislike for standing out. He is also the first main character in the franchise who is not a gamer at the beginning.
 * The Reason You Suck Speech:Playmaker dismisses the Knight of Hanoi he defeats in Episode 2, in that the latter has no right to call himself a Duelist.
 * Revenge:Vows to avenge his and Shoichi's little brother's as-of-yet unknown past.
 * Rule of Three:Has a habit of listing three things about a given situation or person.
 * Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Go and Blue Angel attempt to confront Playmaker in a Duel after he defeats a Knight of Hanoi, but dismissively remarks that he has no interest in either of them, and proceeds to log out of Link VRAINS.
 * Serious Business:He treats Dueling as a means of hunting down the Knights of Hanoi.
 * Shrinking Violet:Averted the reason why he doesn't like to stand out isnt because he is shy or timid but because he is a hacker
 * The Smart Guy:Said to be extremely smart and clever
 * The Stoic: Prefers to distance himself from others due to his Playmaker business.
 * Teen Genius:Said to be an incredibly smart person, good at reading people, and quick-witted.
 * Theme Naming:Like the other protaganist he has kanji 遊. Unlike the previous main protagonists, however, his name has three syllables as opposed to two.
 * Tron Lines:His VR body suit has these
 * Tsurime Eyes:Highlighting his aloofness.
 * The Unchosen One:Yusaku is neither The Chosen One (Yugi,Jaden,Yusei,Yuma) nor an Apocalypse Maiden (Yuya.He just happened to capture Ignis by chance.
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair:Most of his hair is blue with pink shades

Ignis
A mysterious AI program, sought after by the Knights of Hanoi and SOL Technology Inc., that Yusaku captures by accident.

Voiced by: Takahiro Sakurai (Japanese)
 * Artificial Intelligence: One that Yusaku captures by accident, and is sought after by the Knights of Hanoi and SOL Technology Inc.
 * Beware the Silly Ones:After the Knight of Hanoi is about to blow himself up...Ignis transforms into and Eldritch Abomination...and devours him.
 * Butt Monkey:You can't help feeling sorry for the poor thing after everything that happens to him. UpToEleven And that is after just one episode.
 * Chew Toy: Literally! He barely escaped after being followed and almost devoured by a Cracking Dragon.
 * Cosmic Plaything: Despite of him dismissing the idea of prayer, he is obviously hated by the Universe.
 * Cowardly Lion
 * Distressed Dude:In the first episode he is targeted by both Knights of Hanoi and SOL and later he gets taken to hostage by Yusaku
 * Embarrassing Nickname:"Ai", courtesy of Yusaku.
 * Expy
 * He like a trickster version of Astral and his personality is similar to Orbital 7.
 * Foil
 * To Atem,Yubel and Astral.Unlike any of them, he is much more goofy and amiable. Also, his purpose is immediately made clear upon his introduction, unlike his more mysterious predecessors.
 * His attitude makes him one to Yusaku.
 * Heroic Wannabe:
 * Humiliation Conga:The first episode alone has him go through all kinds of trouble, but Yusaku capturing him is definitely were humiliation after humiliation keep happening to him.
 * Keet
 * Lovable Coward:After everything he has been through in just the first episode, his cowardice is entirely Justified
 * MacGuffin:Both the Knights of Hanoi and SOL consider him as this for unknown reasons
 * No Name Given: Before the premier it's only referred to as a "mysterious lifeform".'
 * "No Respect" Guy:Everyone is after him, but no one takes him seriously
 * The Friend Nobody Likes:Claims that his own people dislike him.

Shoichi Kusanagi
A hacker who shares the same motives as Yusaku.he Mysterious Hot-dog Vendor: He works as a hot-dog vendor in the city. However, that is merely a cover, as he is actually a skilled hacker who supports Playmaker in Dueling.

Voiced by: Subaru Kimura (Japanese)


 * Cool Big Bro:Acts this to Yusaku
 * Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass:He may be a hot dog vendor but he is actually a skilled hacker.
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair:He has dark purple hair

Akira Zaizen


Head of SOL Technology’s Security Division A high-ranking SOL employee who oversees the security of the city and the VR Space. He protects the city from hackers.

Voiced by: Shouma Yamamoto  (Japanese)


 * The Ace:A high ranking officer in SOL Technology
 * Aloof Big Brother:He is said to not to care about Aoi
 * Cain and Abel:The Able to Aoi's cain
 * Expy:
 * His personality and being The Ace as well as being Aloof Big Brother to Aoi makes him similar to Kaiba and Zane
 * Parental Abandonment:He and Aoi lives by themselves without their parents and we have no idea what happen to their parents and that is the main reason why He devotes himself to work for Aoi’s sake, but due to that, he usually doesn’t have the chance to come home.
 * Workaholic:He values work more than anything else
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair

Bishops
One of the higher-ups of SOL Technology Inc.

Voiced by:IKKAN


 * Chess Motif: Communicates with a hologram of a literal white bishop piece.

Aoi Zaizen/Blue Angel
A classmate of Yusaku's who uses a Trickstar deck. As a Charisma Duelist, she is known as Blue Angel.

Voiced by: Yuki Nakashima (Japanese)
 * Action Girl:She is also a duelist
 * Amazon Brigade:All of her Trickstars are females
 * Angelic Beauty:Her Trickstar deck and VR forms are these
 * Astonishingly Appropriate Appearance:Her blazer is designed to look like her tie has blue wings, and her stage name is "Blue Angel."
 * Badass Adorable:She is kawai and cute as Blue Angel.As Blue Angel she has most of her cute movements
 * Big Brother Worship:Has a brother complex, and wants to admit to him that she Duels.
 * Big Damn Heroes:Saves Playmaker by launching his D-Board back to him with an energy lasso after he falls off.
 * Bifauxnen:She is a girl and wears skirt but she looks more boyish.Averted as Blue Angel where she is a girly Idol Singer.
 * Boyish Short Hair:Her hair reaches down her lower nape averted in her VR form where she has long hair and is tied into Girlish Pigtails
 * Cain and Abel:The cain to Akira's Able
 * Curtains Match the Window:She has light brown hair and eyes
 * Dangerously-Short Skirt:
 * Expy: She's usually seen as a Bifauxnen amalagamation of Anzu, Asuka, and Aki. Her first name even starts with the letter "A".
 * Genki Girl:As Blue Angel her personality is this being happy and cheery who gets excited so easily contrast to her Aoi personality.
 * Girlish Pigtails: As Blue Angel, her hair is tied up like this.
 * Hair Decorations: Her twintails in her VR form are held up by dark blue bows.
 * Idol Singer: In addition to resembling a Magical Girl, Blue Angel also takes on the appearance of an idol.
 * Lady of War: Her Trickstar Lightstage are this fitting her calm and quite personality
 * Magical Girl: Blue Angel take on the appearance of a blue-haired magical girl with twintails and angelic wings marked with hearts and purple four-leaf clovers.
 * Meaningful Name: Her online handle, Blue Angel, references the fact that she uses a Trickstar Deck, which is composed of Fairy-Types.
 * Multicolored Hair: As Blue Angel, her blue hair sports light blue highlights.
 * Online Alias: Blue Angel.
 * Parental Abandonment:She and Akira lives by themselves without their parents and we have no idea what happened to their parents
 * Split Personality:As Aoi she is serious,quite,calm and collected who hates standing out like Yusaku but as Blue Angel she is cheery,energetic,upbeat and perky
 * Troll: The Trickstar's secondary focus is to mess with her opponents by forcing them into a serious disadvantage. For example banishing their entire hand and making them draw a new one thus thinning their decks or suppressing one of their Set Cards and forcing them into sending the card to Graveyard if it can't be activated during End Phase.
 * Winged Humanoid: Sports a pair of white wings engraved with hearts and purple four-leaf clovers in her VR form.
 * Whip It Good:Uses an energy lasso to launch Playmaker's D-Board back to him.
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair: As Blue Angel, she sports blue hair with light blue highlights.

Go Onizuka/Go 鬼塚
A Duelist who uses a Gouki deck. As a Charisma Duelist, he is known as Go 鬼塚.

Voiced by: Daiki Hamano (Japanese)


 * Attention Whore:His first spoken line in the series is to complain about Playmaker supposedly taking his spotlight, hinting that he has a big ego dispite his friendly demeanor.This is Deconstructed at the same time: Go grew up in an orphanage and as thanks, decided to become a Charisma Duelist so he earn money, could repay their kindness, and make children happy.
 * Dark and Troubled Past:He used to be an orphan with money issues, and Playmaker stealing his fame by accident is Serious Business for him.
 * Digital Avatar: Averted; he sports the same appearance both online and offline.
 * Dishing Out Dirt: His Gouki monsters are EARTH Warrior-Type Monsters.
 * Expy: He's basically a hunky Giragi and his dueling style is similar to Jack Atlas
 * Friend to All Children:Don't let his looks and Attention Whore attitude fool you, as he's really nice towards children and doing his Charisma DUeling job to give them a better life.
 * Full-Body Disguise:Disguises himself as a Knight of Hanoi to lure Playmaker into Dueling him.
 * Gentle Giant: Despite his stature and build, he has a friendly and kind-hearted demeanor outside of LINK VRAINS.
 * Humble Hero: As a result of his orphaned upbringing.
 * Nice Guy:The closest thing to series would get to a genuinely friendly character so far.
 * Online Alias: Go 鬼塚.
 * Real Name as an Alias: His online handle is based on his real name, and is written in a way that it's homonymous.
 * The Rival:Views Playmaker as this
 * Worlds Strongest Man:Has a reputation for being the strongest Duelist in LINK VRAINS.
 * Yokai: In this case, Japanese ogres.

Naoki Shima
He is Yusaku's classmate and loves Dueling, but he’s not too confident about his skills, and has never Dueled in Link VRAINS. He’s a fan of Playmaker.

Voiced by: Chiharu Sawashiro (Japanese)


 * Artifact
 * Expy:
 * He looks like Teppei from ARC-V
 * His design and personality wise and him being a Fat Best Friend and classmate to the main protagonist makes him similar to Tetsuo
 * Fat Best Friend:He is Yusaku's classmate and is shown to be good on terms with him and his fatter compared to him.
 * Fan Boy:mostly to Playmaker but he is also a fan of Go and Blue Angel as well as other charisma duelist
 * Gonk: He doesn't look good
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair:Green in this case

Ema Bessho/Ghost Girl
Voiced by: Yuna Kamakura (Japanese)


 * Biker Babe:Seen riding (and jumping off of) a motorcycle in the OP.
 * Ninja:
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Multiple shades of pink and purple

Revolver
The enigmatic leader of the Knights of Hanoi.

Voiced by: Shunsuke Takeuchi (Japanese)


 * Arch Enemy:Unlike Kaiba and his successors, whose rivalry with their respective main characters are mainly out of respect, Revolver is openly hostile to Yusaku.
 * Badass Longcoat: Returns to this tradition which was broken by Reiji
 * Big Bad: He leads a group of Cyberspace busting maniacs.
 * Char Clone:The first Kaiba Expy who is not only outright evil, but is also actively working with the villains.
 * Cool Mask:He wears a mask that looks like a visor of sorts.
 * Evil Counterpart:Physically to Yusaku and his Playmaker alter ego. Made sense that Revolver is wearing white clothing in stark contrast to the latter's black.
 * Expy
 * Arguably to Kaiba in the Death-T arc: He's the opposite of the main character, has a dragon-like ace monster with 3000 ATK and an opposite attribute, and is introduced as a villain.
 * His Topologic Bomber Dragon is the Cyberse equivalent of Jack's  Red Daemon's Dragon.
 * Aside from being Kaiba expy
 * Foil: To Reiji He and Reiji are opposites to each other: the latter is a Well-Intentioned Extremist, leads the Lancers in an attempt to stop the Arc Area Project (which ultimately resulted with the resurrection of a Satanic Archetype Omnicidal Maniac), and is quite respectful towards Yuya, while the former is just as villainous as the likes of Marik and Placido, leads the Knights of Hanoi in his campaign to annihilate Link VRAINS, and is openly hostile to Yusaku.
 * Instant Awesome, Just Add Dragons:Uses a Vullet deck which is composed of DARK Dragon-type monsters. He also has his Cyberse-type Topologic Bomber Dragon.
 * Light Is Not Good:In contrast to Yusaku's Dark is Not Evil attire, Revolver's outfit is primarily white.
 * Meaningful Name:Revolver may either refer to "revolt" or the six-rounded handgun.
 * More Dakka:Uses an energy lasso to launch Playmaker's D-Board back to him
 * No Name Given:His real name is not known
 * The Rival:As opposed to Go's Friendly Rival, Revolver is actually Yusaku's main (and downright bitter) rival.

Specter
A member of the Knights of Hanoi. He serves as Revolver’s assistant. He calmly analyzes the events in LINK VRAINS and reports them to Revolver.

Voiced by: Kajimoto Daiki (Japanese)


 * Cool Mask:Averted; Specter is (so far) the only member of the Knights of Hanoi that doesn't wear one.
 * The Dragon:Is Revolver's right-hand man.
 * Undying Loyalty: To Revolver