Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's/Characters

-

This is a list of characters and associated tropes from Yu-Gi-Oh 5 Ds, the second sequel to the original Yu-Gi-Oh! anime and manga series. Characters are referred to by their names in the original Japanese version with alternative spellings/meanings with the Dub equivalent in brackets next to them.

As with on the main page, please be careful when using Fanon-related tropes to edit this page.

Multiple Character Tropes
Here are some common tropes associated with various characters:
 * Chosen One: Both for the Signers chosen by the Crimson Dragon, and the Dark Signers chosen by the Earthbound Gods.
 * Facial Markings: Applies to anyone with a Criminal Marker, as well as the Dark Signers.
 * Orphan's Plot Trinket: Yusei, Jack, Crow, and most people from Satellite. West and Nico as well, following the death of their father.
 * Out of Focus: Many characters, whether Demoted to Extra or suffering from Chuck Cunningham Syndrome.
 * Power Tattoo: Signers and Dark Signers, in the form of a birthmark. Doubles as Mark of the Beast as well.
 * Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory: The Signers and Team Ragnarok
 * Grey and Grey Morality: The majority of the villains are Well Intentioned Extremists, and while some of them Kick the Dog, they still ultimately have understandable motivations for what they're doing. The only ones who aren't are the Dark Signers, who suffer from With Great Power Comes Great Insanity, and some still held onto their humanity in the end. In contrast, the heroes are still good people, though the majority of them have participated in criminal activity, or sold people out.

Team 5D's
The main protagonists, consisting of the Signers and their closest allies. Their teamname comes from the 5 Dragon's Birthmarks which helped bring them together.


 * Badass Abnormal
 * Blessed with Suck: Signers.
 * Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: Jack, Yusei, and Crow.
 * Made of Iron: Yusei, Jack and Crow are quite resilient.
 * Averted with Aki; she spends several episodes unconscious after crashing her D-Wheel.
 * My Significance Sense Is Tingling: The Dragon's Birthmark responds to other sources of mystical energy, including but not limited to other Birthmarks, Dark Signers, Rune Eyes, and more.
 * Power Trio: Yusei, Jack, Crow.
 * During the Dark Signer arc Yusei, Jack, and Aki seemed to be shaping up as the three primary duelists of the show, until Crow is elevated to main character status. In Season 3, Aki, Rua, and Ruka form a secondary Power Trio.
 * Three Plus Two: Yusei, Jack and Crow are the three, Aki, Rua and Ruka are the 'two'.
 * Played straighter in the Dark Signer arc before Crow showed up, with Yusei, Jack, and Aki as the three, and Rua and Ruka as the two.
 * Played straighter in the Dark Signer arc before Crow showed up, with Yusei, Jack, and Aki as the three, and Rua and Ruka as the two.

Yusei Fudo


The main character of 5D's and one of the Signers, bearing the Crimson Dragon's Tail. He is much more calm and serious than the previous Yu-Gi-Oh! protagonists before him, but he is just as protective of his friends and his cards. This and his considerable skills, earn him a great deal of respect and admiration from his friends.

At first, he lives a slum named Satellite, although he escapes, looking to retrieve his rarest card from his old friend Jack, in Neo Domino City. He spends a brief stint in jail for his trouble, attaining a Criminal Marker, although he is later released. He participates in, and later wins, the Fortune Cup tournament held by Rex Godwin for the purpose of gathering the Signers.

Once all the Signers are gathered, he returns to Satellite to hold a battle with the Dark Signers. He eventually

In the W.R.G.P. arc, he works as a mechanic, living in Neo Domino City with his friends. He participates in the W.R.G.P. with his friends as Team 5D's. At the same time he works to attain a state of Clear Mind so that he can perform Accel Synchro to defeat the Three Emperors of Yliaster.

At the end of the series, Yusei -
 * A Friend in Need: Aki, and then Kiryu.
 * Actor Allusion: Thinking back to when Yusei ordered milk at a bar, guess who else did the same in the music video of RUN&GUN's "Believe"?
 * Badass
 * Bar Code Tattoo
 * Big Brother Mentor
 * Catch Phrase: "Is that so?" in the Japanese version, usually before making his game winning move.
 * "Let's rev it up" in the English dub, typically when summoning Junk Warrior.
 * Celebrity Voice Actor: In the Japanese version, Yusei was voiced by Yuya Miyashita, a stage actor and a member from the J-pop group RUN&GUN.
 * The Chosen One
 * Determinator
 * First-Name Basis: He calls Aki by her first name in their second duel to get her attention, a move typically considered disrespectful in Japan except under a few conditions.
 * Genius Bruiser
 * The Hero
 * Heroic Resolve
 * Hey, It's That Voice!: His dubbed voice actor did the voice of Hiroto Honda/Tristan Taylor from the original series.
 * If You Kill Him You Will Be Just Like Him:
 * I Know Karate: Shown in Episode 25 when he dispatches several guards with a Shoryuken.
 * Improbable Hairstyle: Believe it or not, it's actually inherited.
 * It's All My Fault:.
 * Limited Wardrobe
 * Magnetic Hero
 * Made of Iron
 * Mark of Shame
 * Meaningful Name: He is named after the Planetary Particle (Yuusei Ryuushi) which his father discovered. Like the particle, which joined every other particle together, his father wanted Yusei to be someone who could join other people together through bonds - which is exactly what he became.
 * The Messiah
 * Moses in the Bulrushes: His father saved him from Zero Reverse Superman-style.
 * Mr. Fixit: He did build his own D-Wheel after all. Fixing things is his trade after the Time Skip.
 * Power Glows
 * The Quiet One
 * Red Oni, Blue Oni: The blue to Jack's red.
 * Sins of Our Fathers:
 * The Stoic
 * Technician Versus Performer: Appears to be the technician, being cool and calculated, but he is the performer because he mixes up his strategies and uses his cards in creative entertaining ways.
 * This Is Unforgivable!: Almost a secondary Catch Phrase of his.
 * Tragic Keepsake: He finds  after the end of their duel.
 * True Companions: He is very fond of this, which leads to.
 * Power Trio: His first group of friends -> Four Is Death: His second group of friends -> Five-Man Band: His third and current group of friends
 * Weak but Skilled: Only his Synchro monsters are truly powerful in terms of attack, so he relies on his various monster effects for protection.
 * A major gimmick of his deck is that he uses so=called "weak" cards that were discarded as trash by the residents of Neo Domino City.
 * Why Did It Have To Be Bugs?: Dub-only.
 * Informed Flaw, at that, since's he barely shown actually being afraid.
 * A major gimmick of his deck is that he uses so=called "weak" cards that were discarded as trash by the residents of Neo Domino City.
 * Why Did It Have To Be Bugs?: Dub-only.
 * Informed Flaw, at that, since's he barely shown actually being afraid.

Jack Atlas


Yusei's rival and a Signer with the Wings of the Crimson Dragon. Two years before the series began, he stole Yusei's 1st D-Wheel and Stardust Dragon card, and relocated to Neo Domino City, becoming the 'King of Riding Duels'. Initially very arrogant and self-centered, caring little for others. However, after losing to Yusei in the Fortune Cup and meeting a special friend, he begins to realize where he went wrong and decides to take a different road than the one he took before.

Being a Signer, Jack helps defeat the Dark Signers,

In the W.R.G.P. arc, Jack lives in Neo Domino City with Yusei and Crow, with a spectacular inability to hold a job. He participates in the W.R.G.P. under Team 5D's as well, gaining a new power, Burning Soul, at the same time.

At the end of the series, Jack -
 * A Friend in Need: Carly
 * Always Someone Better: By the end of the series, he's acknowledged as the strongest Signer... except for Yusei.
 * Anti-Hero: Type III.
 * The Atoner
 * Attack! Attack! Attack!: He definitely isn't stupid, but his deck focuses on offense and packs several anti-defense strategies. He also has a tendency to accuse defensive players of being cowards.
 * Given that his deck is built around being nearly relentless in assault, it would probably be classified as the best defense is a good offense. The logic in it is that you can't really do anything to him if you have no cards to put up defense against his gigantic demons of terror. Then he steamrolls you in style while maintaining his flashy deck.
 * Also since he is a showman, he really is not going to impress anyone by using the turtling strategy.
 * Badass Biker
 * Badass Longcoat
 * Berserk Button: An easy way to annoy him is to refer to him as 'former king' or something similar. Oh, and eating his cup ramen.
 * Big Damn Heroes: Gets to do this when several kids' souls are about to be absorbed for Uru's summoning and Yusei has his hands tied.
 * Character Development: Becomes significantly less haughty and selfish during the course of the series.
 * Color Coded for Your Convenience: He wears white and blue. It was a subversion during the first season when he was the main antagonist, but played straight in subsequent seasons.
 * Crippling Overspecialization: He doesn't have many skills outside dueling and fighting, and his Deck doesn't have many strategies other than offensive ones.
 * Deal with the Devil:
 * Defeat Means Friendship: With Yusei, though in his case it was more like "Defeat Means Reconciliation".
 * Determinator
 * Et Tu, Brute?: Betrayed his True Companions to get out of Satellite.
 * Evil Laugh: In Episode 76 after knocking out the leader of some D-Wheel thieves, before beating up the entire gang singlehandedly.
 * Expy: Of the original series' Seto Kaiba, as most YGO franchise rivals tend to be. However, Jack is a lot more over-the-top, and is rather more open about his friendship with the other protagonists.
 * Final Boss: Of the Fortune Cup arc.
 * Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!: He uses this on Yusei in Episode 43.
 * Harem Hero: With Carly, Mina and Stephanie.
 * Heartbroken Badass:
 * Heel Face Turn
 * Hot-Blooded
 * Incendiary Exponent: When he invokes 'Burning Soul' for the first time in Episode 113, his hand catches fire.
 * Jerk with a Heart of Gold: This Jerkass who treats other people like dirt cries Manly Tears after he hears Yeager's story of only eating ramen because he was so dirt poor. He even offered him boxes and boxes of it.
 * The Lancer
 * Land Down Under: Has an Australian accent in the English dub.
 * Latex Space Suit
 * Large Ham: After all, the king's duel must be entertainment for all! In addition, there's only one king, and IT'S HIM!
 * Ore no TUUUUUUUUUURN!
 * Lonely At the Top: Revealed by episode 25, which is titled "The Lonely King: Jack Atlas"
 * Lotus Eater Machine: Fall victim to one in Episode 58 but snaps out it due to.
 * Made of Iron: Taken several D-Wheel spills that should have broken his neck in two by name. Two of those instances do land him in the hospital, though.
 * Mirror Match: When he faces an impostor who has a replica of his Deck (Red Daemon's Dragon included).
 * Monowheel Mayhem: His D-Wheel, the Wheel of Fortune (Phoenix Whirlwind in the dub).
 * No Indoor Voice: Maybe speaking very, very loudly is a requirement to be a king?
 * Purple Eyes
 * Red Eyes, Take Warning:
 * Red Herring Twist: The preview for episode 58 made it seem like Jack was going to become a Dark Signer, but it was actually a case of Lotus Eater Machine.
 * Red Oni, Blue Oni: The red to Yusei's blue.
 * He's also the Blue Oni to Crow's Red Oni.
 * The Rival
 * Scannable Man: Averted, as he's the only member of Team Satisfaction not to have a Criminal Mark.
 * Screw Destiny: Lampshaded by his card, Change Destiny.
 * Serious Business: Besides the obvious dueling, don't get between Jack and his.
 * Technician Versus Performer: Appears to be the performer, but he rarely deviates from tried-and-true methods and he lacks Yusei's creativity, making Jack the technician.
 * Ted Lewis: Dub voice.
 * Together in Death: Attempted.
 * Took a Level In Badass: Taking only two episodes to turn the devil into his new ace card counts.
 * Trademark Favourite Food: Blue-Eyes Mountain coffee and cup ramen.
 * Tragic Keepsake:.
 * Unwanted Harem: Has Carly, Mina and Meido Stephanie chasing after him like lovesick puppies.
 * Unexplained Accent: Dub only.
 * Vitriolic Best Buds: With Crow.

Aki Izayoi (Akiza Izinski)


A Signer bearing the Dragon's Foreclaw and incredible psychic powers, which enable her to manifest her cards in reality. In the past, her uncontrolled powers caused people to fear and reject her, leading to her becoming isolated from the rest of humanity. She initially hated her "wretched mark", believing it to be the cause of her powers and her suffering. When Yusei first met her, she was extremely unstable and violent, having developed a destructive split-personality, and was being manipulated by Divine, who intended to abuse her power. However, through Yusei's efforts, she gradually begins to open her heart to others again, reconciles with her parents who regretted rejecting her, and learns to control her psychic powers.

In the W.R.G.P. arc, Aki re-enrolls in the local Duel Academia, quickly rising to become the best student in her year. She uses her Psychic powers several times over to save herself and others from harm. She learns how to ride a D-Wheel, becoming part of Team 5D's pit crew and also serving as a benchwarmer, or substitute, for the team. Staying true to this role, Aki briefly substitutes for Crow when the latter crashes and is injury-stricken. She crashes herself on her D-Wheel and temporarily goes into a coma courtesy of Team Catastrophe. At the end of the series, Aki -
 * A Friend in Need: Yusei considers her one of these when he first helps her.
 * Action Girl: Begins as one of the franchise's biggest. And then... (see Chickification)
 * Actor Allusion: Whether done intentionally or not, Aki is a possible case of this for her Seiyuu, Ayumi Kinoshita. Look her up on The Other Wiki and one of her few other roles is Jasmine of Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger, who also has psychic powers.
 * All Girls Want Bad Boys
 * Ax Crazy: While in her Black Rose Witch persona.
 * Broken Bird: She starts off in the series as lonely and angry for the world shunning him off it only took a while for Yusei to get her back
 * Biker Babe: As of Episode 75
 * Bad Powers, Good People: Post Heel Face Turn.
 * Celebrity Voice Actor: In the Japanese version, she was voiced by model/actress Ayumi Kinoshita.
 * Character Development: She makes peace with her two primary sources of suffering in her life and mellows out, although there is much debate about how well this was handled, including....
 * Chickification: Watch Episode 22 and 72 in succession. You might be surprised to learn that the Axe Crazy Dark Magical Girl who leaves her opponent in a smoldering crater over some personal insults of the former, and the Smitten Teenage Girl Tsundere who spends the entire episode fawning over Yusei and thinking about how awesome Riding Duels are of the latter, are actually the same person.
 * The Chick: In Season 3, natch.
 * Cool Big Sis: Rua refers to her as 'Big Sis Aki' (Aki-nee-chan).
 * Dark Action Girl: As the Black Rose Witch.
 * Dark Magical Girl: When she first appeared.
 * Defeat Means Friendship: It took two defeats and some of Yusei's Battle Therapy.
 * Defrosting Ice Queen: Gradually, after meeting Yusei in the Fortune Cup.
 * Demoted to Extra: Aki was initially the third-billed character of the series behind Yusei and Jack, appearing in such a role in the opening, ending, and being almost as important in the plot of the first season. Come Season 2 however Crow was the third hero, and Aki spent much of her time pre-occupied by school and/or convenient plot injuries. As a result her character arc for the season is only glossed over, and once Team Unicorn is defeated she's pretty much forgotten entirely.
 * Drama-Preserving Handicap
 * Expy: Puh-lease, its so easy you should not need to read this.
 * Fingerless Gloves
 * Heel Face Turn
 * I Just Want to Be Normal: She eventually comes to accept and control her powers, using them for good though.
 * Kill It with Fire: Black Rose Dragon. It's attack is named "Black Rose Flare."
 * Latex Space Suit: Her riding outfit is rather form-fitting, as is pretty much mandatory for female characters.
 * Letting Her Hair Down: Her Power Limiter is also her hairband, so when she goes all out in the first season, her bangs fall over to partially cover her face.
 * Of Corsets Sexy
 * Parental Abandonment: After her powers awakened, Aki's parents couldn't accept her anymore. It takes a while, but they eventually make up.
 * Power Incontinence: Like many Psychic duelists, she wasn't able to turn her manifestation power off, until her 2nd Duel with Yusei when her father was in danger.
 * Power Limiter: Aki's hairband supposedly acts as a restraint for her powers. It's not known whether it is a Magic Feather or not.
 * Psychic Powers: Can manifest her cards in reality.
 * The Smart Guy
 * Smitten Teenage Girl
 * Something About a Rose: Roses are a major part of both her and her deck's motif.
 * Split Personality: She developed one of these when she couldn't handle the guilt of hurting people anymore.
 * Tentacle Rope: A power of her 'Rose Tentacles' monster card. Use gratuitously during her first duel with Yusei.
 * White Mask of Doom: She wore one of these as the Black Rose Witch. It was broken after her first duel with Yusei.
 * Whip It Good: Another part of her deck. A particular example is Black Rose Dragon when equipped with Thorn of Hatred/Thorn of Malice.
 * You Go, Girl!: Season 3
 * Episode 75 in particular, where she is discriminated against for being an aspiring female D-Wheeler.
 * You Go, Girl!: Season 3
 * Episode 75 in particular, where she is discriminated against for being an aspiring female D-Wheeler.

Rua and Ruka (Leo and Luna)


Two twins hailing from the Tops, an especially luxurious area of Neo Domino City. They met Yusei after he recovered his D-Wheel from Security, giving him shelter and since then, they have supported him in every way they can. Since their parents were usually at work, they were usually alone together, educated via the Internet and spending most of their time indoors.

Rua is the lively and blundering older twin. He is generally overconfident (though this changes slightly after an incident at the Arcadia Movement) and is prone to crying when he loses. Ruka is more calm and collected of the two. She is a Signer, bearing the Rear Claw Birthmark. She has had the ability to speak to spirits since an incident at the age of 3, where she fell into a coma and her mind lived in the Spirit Realm for a month. This power peaks when she duels but it also tires her out.

Ruka has a tendency to point out the flaws in her brother's plans, which gets on his nerves, but despite this they both deeply care for one another - Rua was always by her side while she was comatose, and gave himself the task of protecting her, even going so far as to face a Dark Signer so she didn't have to get hurt. It's through this Dark Signer that Ruka finally receives her Signer dragon, Ancient Fairy Dragon.

In the W.R.G.P. arc, Rua and Ruka are more social, spending more time outdoors and attending the local Duel Academia. Both twins learn to ride the D-Boards, dueling boards equivalent to the D-Wheel being a dueling motorcycle. The twins become part of Team 5D's pit crew, mostly staying by the sidelines. They later go up upon the Ark Cradle, Rua's Power Tool Dragon.

At the end of the series, Rua and Ruka and Ruka -
 * Action Girl: Though she doesn't really get any spotlight duels, and she's got fewer duels than the others, out of the duels she has had, so far Ruka has only lost a single duel, and that to one of Illiaster.
 * Ascended Fanboy: Rua was completely burg-a-durg over Jack for a long time.
 * Rua (and possibly Ruka) is  in the manga.
 * Break the Cutie:.
 * Brother-Sister Team: They finally get to be one of these in Episode 50.
 * The Chick: Ruka
 * Chick Magnet:.
 * Creepy Child: For those mindrape moments when Ruka is skirted off to Narnia.
 * They both count in the manga, especially Rua while they're dueling Yusei.
 * The Determinator: Rua is even
 * Different As Night and Day: Ruka is down to earth and very logical, and Rua is..., well. "SHA-KIN!"
 * Disguised in Drag: Rua impersonates Ruka to take part in the Fortune Cup.
 * Half-Identical Twins
 * Hero Worshipper: Rua and Jack.
 * In the Hood: Ruka in the manga.
 * Mouthy Kid: Rua
 * Reading the Stage Directions Out Loud: Rua/Leo (only in the american version).
 * Spell My Name with an "S": Lua? Luka? Luca? Not helped by the anime itself flip-flopping on the issue or the dubs altering the names.
 * Tagalong Kid: Rua
 * This Is Unforgivable!: Done by Ruka, directed at Demak, who had been corrupting the Spirit Realm and **had hurt Rua during the course of their Dark Duel.
 * Took a Level In Badass: Rua in Episode 142. Two words:.
 * Even more in the manga for both of them.
 * Transforming Mecha: Rua's decktype, Deformers/Morphtronics, are household items (Cell Phone, Lighter/USB Drive, Radio) that transform into humanoid robots.
 * Trapped in Another World
 * Waif Prophet: Ruka's a textbook example.
 * What Could Have Been:.
 * Even more in the manga for both of them.
 * Transforming Mecha: Rua's decktype, Deformers/Morphtronics, are household items (Cell Phone, Lighter/USB Drive, Radio) that transform into humanoid robots.
 * Trapped in Another World
 * Waif Prophet: Ruka's a textbook example.
 * What Could Have Been:.

Crow Hogan


A friend of Yusei and Jack, who takes care of a group of children and steals in order to provide for them. Orphaned when his parents were killed during the Zero Reverse, he wandered Satellite alone for a long time, never receiving any care or a formal education. However that all changed after discovering some cards in a dump - from those he gained knowledge and skills as well as friends. Reckless and daring, he will rise to any challenge. He is a formidable duelist and rides a Custom D-Wheel, Blackbird, with various modifications (including wings inspired by the legend of the Daedalus Bridge, and an anti-theft shocker). -
 * Badass Normal: Right from his introduction, and
 * Badass Abnormal:
 * He still qualifies as the most "normal" among the 5D's teammates. As Crow himself notes while facing Jose, he doesn't have any ultimate trump cards like Jack and Yusei, and while have secondary special abilities, Crow does not.
 * While he lacks any special abilities. He does gain  and Armored Wing is still a powerful card and the trump card of many Blackfeather decks in real life.
 * Big Brother Mentor
 * Big Eater
 * The Big Guy
 * Broken Pedestal: After learning who the man from the legend of the Daedalus Bridge was.
 * Butt Monkey
 * Genius Bruiser: He's a lot smarter than he lets on.
 * Hot-Blooded
 * Irony: Crow of all people
 * It's All My Fault: When Ushio comes to request his, Jack's and Yusei's help in taking down Ghost, Crow turns his request down. Because of this, Ushio takes on Ghost himself and is seriously injured. Crow was quite upset when he found out.
 * Just Like Robin Hood: He steals in order to provide for a group of children he takes care of.
 * Large Ham
 * Lovable Rogue
 * Mark of Shame
 * Papa Wolf
 * Parental Substitute
 * Scannable Man
 * Sixth Ranger
 * Take Care of the Kids: In his Backstory.
 * What Could Have Been: Was originally supposed to be the Final Boss of the Dark Signer arc, until he became a Marketing Executive's Pet.
 * You Killed My Father: Episodes 94-95

Bruno


An amnesiac young man whom Mikage and Ushio have Yusei, Jack, and Crow look after. Despite this handicap, he possesses exceptional mechanical skills. Interestingly, he shares many characteristics with Dark Glass, such as hair and eye color, voice, and left-handedness. -
 * Cute Kitten: Really likes them.
 * Kindhearted Cat Lover:
 * Mr. Fixit: Like Yusei, he's an exceptional mechanic, and is able to develop a new engine with him for the WRGP.
 * Non-Action Guy: Unlike the others, he doesn't appear to be a duelist, despite his knowledge of the game mechanics. He's also not very assertive and claims to detest violence, so naturally he's been on the receiving end of physical abuse more than once.
 * Sixth Ranger
 * The Smart Guy
 * Transformation Sequence
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Has the same electric blue color as Dark Glass below.
 * Sixth Ranger
 * The Smart Guy
 * Transformation Sequence
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Has the same electric blue color as Dark Glass below.
 * Transformation Sequence
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Has the same electric blue color as Dark Glass below.
 * Transformation Sequence
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Has the same electric blue color as Dark Glass below.

Rally Dawson
A young boy who idolizes Yusei. -
 * Bar Code Tattoo: The first one shown.
 * Expy: Of Mokuba.
 * Heroic Sacrifice:
 * Not Quite Dead
 * She's a Man In Japan: The Latin American dub switched his gender.

Saiga (Blister)


A friend of Jin Himuro and a "Jack of all Trades", who helped Yusei reclaim his Deck and D-Wheel from Security after he was freed from the Detention Center. He was once a Tag Riding Champion, but an accident led to his partner Yuji being severely injured. His only memento of his friend is their burnt "Machiner's Sniper" card, which Saiga initially believed was sent to him out of spite. However, Yusei convinces him otherwise. He later sneaks into Satellite to check up on Yusei's friends. After Neo Domino and Satellite are connected, he stays in the Satellite area rather than heading back to his old home. -
 * Cynical Mentor
 * Grumpy Bear
 * Heroic Bastard
 * Perma-Stubble
 * Nice Hat
 * Noble Fugitive

Martha


Yusei's foster mother who runs an orphanage in Satellite and is regarded as a parental figure by abandoned children in Satellite. She took care of Yusei after he was injured during his first duel with Kiryu, and later encouraged him to go to help Aki (he was reluctant to do so as it probably meant fighting a friend again and the duel with Kiryu had left him with fear and doubt, but Martha knew that this was necessary to open his heart up again). She also played a major role in Ushio's Heel Face Turn. -
 * Apron Matron
 * Meddling Parents
 * Parental Substitute

Others

 * Grumpy Old Man: Tetsuzo.
 * The Hyena: Uryu's right-hand man, Shizaki.
 * No Name Given: The two that hang out with Uryu aren't named in the anime itself. Instead, they're given names in the games and in Tag Force 4, one shares Uryu's English name.
 * Posthumous Character: Robert Pearson.
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Uryu.

Jin Himuro (Bolt Tanner)


A respected inmate at the Detention Center, who was a former Pro Duelist. However after being crushed by Jack, he spiraled into drink and depression, getting involved in underground duelling and eventually ending up at the Detention Center. Little more than a bully at first, he became one of Yusei's allies after Yusei defeated him using Yanagi's seemingly 'worthless' Deck, getting him fired up for the first time in ages. -
 * Defeat Means Friendship
 * Mr. Exposition

Yanagi Tenzen (Tenzen Yanagi)


An eccentric and enthusiastic old man who befriends Yusei on the way to the Detention Center after seeing the Crimson Dragon's appearance. Having traveled extensively, he has some knowledge concerning ancient treasures and the legend of the People of the Stars. -
 * Badass Grandpa
 * Dirty Old Man
 * Cool Old Guy
 * Fan Boy
 * I Just Want to Be Special
 * Smooch of Victory: He tries to give one to Yuusei early on.
 * Too Dumb to Live: When it comes to playing the game. He doesn't even read the effects of his cards before playing them, and does not really understand the concept of Synchros.

Hideo/Setsuko Izayoi (Mr. and Mrs. Izinski)
The parents of Aki Izayoi. After an incident when she was young triggered her psychic power, they didn't know how to accept her anymore, eventually leading to her running away from home. After Aki was left in a coma after the attack on the Arcadia Movement, they visited her in hospital, blaming themselves for what had happened. . -
 * Meddling Parents
 * Parental Abandonment: They come to regret this.
 * Tetsu Inada: Hideo's seiyuu.

Dr. Fudo


Yusei's father and the lead developer of Old Momentum. Rex and Rudger Godwin were his assistants. He had wanted to stop the project after realising the risks involved, but ended up being replaced by Rudger. He managed to reclaim 3 of the cards needed to seal Old Momentum's Safety Controllers and entrusted them to Rex Godwin. He was killed in the Zero Reverse shortly afterwards, but was able to ensure his son's survival beforehand. -
 * Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!:
 * Improbable Hairstyle: One of the reasons for his son's hair.
 * My God, What Have I Done?: The Momentum project.
 * Posthumous Character
 * Ignored Expert

Stephanie
A shy cafe waitress who has a crush on Jack, and is another rival for Carly and Mikage.


 * All There in the Manual: Her name has never been shown or said onscreen until episode 137, but was revealed in the wiki.
 * Cannot Spit It Out
 * Clingy Jealous Girl
 * Foe Yay: With Carly and Mikage. They all become Vitriolic Best Buds by the end.
 * Muggle: She couldn't see the Hidden Knight - Hook that the heroes could. She is apparently not a duelist, either.
 * Shrinking Violet
 * When All You Have Is a Hammer: She got past a security guard with a coupon for her cafe.

Other

 * Apron Matron: Zora (Yusei, Jack and Crow's landlady in the third arc).
 * Combat Commentator: The Master of Ceremonies.
 * Double Entendre: Dick Pitt. Probably the reason his name got changed in the dub.
 * Gratuitous English: The Master of Ceremonies with his catchphrase; "EVERYBODY LISTEN!!!".
 * The Remnant: Mukuro Enjo.
 * Smarter Than They Look: Mukuro Enjo, in both anime and manga, finds ways to exploit format which haven't yet been repeated by others, with his Speed Accel Deck in the anime exploiting the Speed World Field card and Speed Counters, while in the manga he runs a Stall Attack Deck, having figured out that he can exploit the first-to-finish-wins rule by simply attacking, as even if no damage is done his Feel will slow down his opponent.
 * What Could Have Been: In-universe. Apparently, in Z-One's original timeline, Enjo was not only a good friend of Aki and Yusei, but the three of them won the Pegasus J. Crawford Cup Trinidad Riding Duel Grand Prix.
 * Ye Olde Butcherede Englishe: Jill De Lancebeaux in the dub.

Duel Academy

 * Darkskinned Blonde: Patty.
 * Sounds familiar, doesn't it?
 * Expy: Heitmann's attitude to low-level monsters and his Deck, are the same as Professor Chronos. In the dub, they also share the same voice actor.
 * Hot Teacher: Maria, full stop

Rex Godwin (Rex Goodwin)
"I am no more than a man who dreams of the evolution of Neo Domino City and peace for the world. However, I would not hesitate to sacrifice one side...to capitalize on another for existential necessities."

See Dark Signers

Jeager (Lazar)


Godwin's right-hand man and the bureau's Head of Special Investigations in the first two arcs. Effeminate, slightly sadistic, and egotistical. His arrogance quickly gives way to cowardice when his life is in danger. He leaves his post after being left to die by Placido and goes into hiding with his family. However Yusei's group find him in order to find out what he knows about Yliaster. -
 * Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: In episode 80, he  and while he's at it,.
 * Balloonacy: Can quickly inflate a balloon and float into the sky with it.
 * Compressed Vice: For episode 80, Jeager is given a insatiable weakness for cup ramen.
 * Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Not exactly a moron, but you wouldn't guess from his appearance that he's a talented duelist.
 * Dirty Coward
 * Evil Laugh: Hi hi hi~
 * : Season 2.
 * Large Ham
 * Monster Clown: It's even the theme of his deck.
 * Ninja Log: Pulls a variation of this when Crow ties him up after mistaking him for a Dark Signer.
 * Papa Wolf: He will do anything to protect his wife and son.
 * Screw This, I'm Outta Here: After being used and left for dead by Placido, he disappears.
 * Villainous Crossdresser

Mikage Sagiri (Mina Simington)


Godwin's meek secretary who watches over Jack. She does her best to be useful, but often unintentionally sparks her superiors' wrath. She has feelings towards Jack, and is jealous of Carly for the attention she receives. In Season 3, she is Head of Special Investigations. -
 * All Love Is Unrequited
 * Cannot Spit It Out
 * Clingy Jealous Girl
 * Foe Yay: With Carly and Stephanie. They all become Vitriolic Best Buds by the end.
 * Mrs Exposition
 * Oblivious to Love
 * Office Lady
 * Sexy Secretary
 * Triang Relations: Mikage likes Jack, Jack is oblivious and likes Carly, while Ushio likes Mikage and also goes unnoticed.
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair

Tetsu Ushio (Trudge)


A member of Security who operated within Satellite. After losing to Yusei in the first episode, he developed a grudge against him and vowed to crush him. He fought Yusei two more times, once when Yusei escaped Satellite via the pipeline between the cities (which gave him a scar on his cheek) and when Yusei attempted to reclaim his D-Wheel from a Security Warehouse - losing both times.

Later, he flew the Signers, Mikage and Rua to Satellite on Godwin's orders. While at Martha's place, he began to respect Satellite residents more after learning how one of the children, Takuya, admired Security for trying to save his father and wanted to become one someday (despite the fact that Satellite residents couldn't join Security). After Yusei's initial duel with Rudger, he became one of Yusei's allies and has accompanied his group during the fight against the Dark Signers. He has worked with Mikage on several occasions and has developed a crush on her, though he is aware of her feelings for Jack.

By Season 3, he is working as Mikage's partner and has been promoted to the position of Assistant Chief of Special Investigations. -
 * Ascended Extra: He's the same bully Yugi faced in his first Dark Game.
 * Big Ol' Eyebrows
 * Cannot Spit It Out
 * Character Development
 * Cop Boyfriend
 * Dan Green: Dub voice.
 * False Start
 * Good Scars, Evil Scars: A rare example of what could have been both. Ushio got his scar early on when he tried to stop Yuusei's gambit to escape to Neo Domino City.
 * Heel Face Turn
 * Implacable Man
 * Inspector Javert
 * Jerkass Facade: When acting as an examiner in Episode 75.
 * Love Hurts: He has unrequited love for Mikage which isn't returned for far too long.
 * Nice Guys Finish Last
 * The Worf Effect
 * You Rebel Scum: He initially refers to Yusei as "Satellite Scum" and his cards as "trash" on every possible occasion. He stops this later after his Heel Face Turn (and learning Yusei was born in the city).

Takasu (Armstrong)


A terrible prison Warden in the Alcatraz-esque prison facility. He was ordered to find out more about Yuusei's mark, resorting to various torture methods involving electrocution. Considering how he treats those who end up in his prison from Satellite, it's not too much of a stretch to imagine him as being pretty much the worst villain in the entire show for someone without powers. He's sick, twisted, and has a complete lack of care for his inmates, often cheating and scheming to get what he wants, having stripped the decks from all of the inmates. He challenges Yuusei to a Duel despite knowing he's confiscated Yuusei's deck, but Yuusei constructs a new one of cards saved by each inmate who offers him one. With a mixed matched deck, Yuusei challenges and defeats the cheating warden, sending currents of electricity through his body that nearly knock him down for good. He is later removed by Godwin. -
 * Electric Torture
 * Establishing Character Moment
 * Evil Laugh
 * Fat Bastard
 * The Fat Guy With the Big Lips And Pimply Nose
 * Gross Up Close-Up: He blows. NOSE HAIR. on people.
 * Kick the Dog
 * Kouji Ishii: His seiyuu.
 * Torture Cellar
 * Villainous Glutton
 * Scary Black Man
 * You Rebel Scum

Others

 * All Psychology Is Freudian: Professor Frank.
 * Mad Scientist: Akutsu. It gets kind of creepy when he's
 * Villainous Breakdown

Divine (Sayer)


The leader of the Arcadia Movement. His organization offers refuge for psychic duelists rejected by society, but conducts experiments on people with psychic potential at the same time. One of his goals is to raise an army to wage war on the world to take revenge on all the people who reject and revile the psychic duelists and made him what he is. He was the first person who ever accepted Aki and gave her a home, even if only because of her strong psychic powers. -
 * Complete Monster: He's a terrible, terrible man.
 * Engineered Public Confession: Falls victim to one of these in Episode 61,
 * Evil Laugh
 * Eyes of Gold
 * Good Scars, Evil Scars
 * Karmic Death: Twice.
 * Kick the Dog: A lot.
 * Killed Off for Real
 * Manipulative Bastard
 * Masaya Matsukaze: His seiyuu.
 * Never Found the Body / Not Quite Dead: After his first, supposed death.
 * Obstructive Zealot
 * Pet the Dog: MAJORLY subverted. Every seemingly kind action he takes is actually using others for his own gain.
 * Psychic Powers: Can manifest his cards in reality.
 * Trigger Phrase: He used one of these to trigger Aki's 'Black Rose Witch' persona.
 * Unexplained Recovery: Seeing as he appears after being beaten in a shadow duel and No One Could Survive That, it certainly qualifies, especially since it was never explained.
 * Unexplained Recovery: Seeing as he appears after being beaten in a shadow duel and No One Could Survive That, it certainly qualifies, especially since it was never explained.

Dark Signers
The antagonists for the second arc of 5D's. Just as the Crimson Dragon chose the Signers, the Jibakushin chose the Dark Signers. Dark Signers are people who have been revived by the Jibakushin upon their death, usually because they have died harboring revenge towards one of the Signers, hungered for power or in one case, displayed a great will to live. According to Rex Godwin, this transformation is irreversible as they are already dead.

Here is a list of tropes that can be applied to all of the Dark Signers:
 * Back From the Dead
 * Black Cloak
 * Black Eyes of Crazy
 * Brainwashed and Crazy
 * Came Back Wrong
 * Colour-Coded for Your Convenience
 * Death Is Dramatic
 * Disney Death
 * Evil Laugh: All of them are rather prone to this, particular if their Earthbound Gods take over. Kiryu's takes the cake though.
 * Evil Costume Switch
 * Face Heel Turn
 * Facial Markings / Mark of the Beast: Aside from their Birthmarks, they also have patterns on their face similar to the criminal markers.
 * The Fatalist
 * Instant Runes: When they duel, a huge flaming Geoglyph corresponding to their Earthbound God appears, tearing up the nearby scenery and trapping anyone who is too close.
 * Eucatastrophe
 * The Only One Allowed to Defeat You
 * Redemption Equals Death
 * Reset Button:
 * Undeath Always Ends: The eventual fate of every Dark Signer is to crumble to dust.
 * Villain Override: They can fall victim to this if they don't follow their Earthbound God's orders.
 * With Great Power Comes Great Insanity

Rudger Godwin (Roman Goodwin)


"By the time I even realized, my fate was in the hands of the Gods. I chose the darkness in my own heart. This world will soon be reborn! That is my answer!"

The leader of the Dark Signers, bearing the Spider's Birthmark. The older brother of Rex Godwin, and like him, the former assistant of Dr. Fudo, whom he replaced as lead developer on the Old Momentum Project just before the Zero Reverse occurred.

It is later revealed that he was -
 * Artificial Limbs: Like his brother, Rudger has a prosthetic left arm, after severing his own arm.
 * Demonic Possession: The spiders he controls can do this.
 * Disc One Final Boss
 * Giant Spider: He has them as his superpower, his birthmark, and his decktype.
 * Hades Shaded
 * Taking You with Me:
 * Temporary Bulk Change
 * Together in Death:

Demak (Devack)


The Dark Signer with the Monkey's Birthmark. Nothing was revealed about his past, but he was supposed to bear hatred towards the Signers for unknown reasons. He was responsible for the corruption of the Spirit World through his servant Zeman and held control over the seal on Ruka's dragon. He was the first Dark Signer to fall, through the combined efforts of Rua and Ruka. -
 * Backstory: None whatsoever, though Word of God says he bore hatred for the Signers for some reason.
 * Everything's Better with Monkeys
 * Scary Black Man

Kyosuke Kiryu (Kalin Kessler)


"Gods of Death don't die."

The Dark Signer chosen to bear the Giant's Birthmark, Kiryu was once the leader of Team Satisfaction, a group consisting of himself, Yusei, Jack and Crow. Together they managed to defeat every other Duel Gang around and 'conquer' Satellite. However he wasn't satisfied with this and kept looking for more enemies to defeat, becoming more sadistic and eventually causing his teammates to desert him.

This culminated in him provoking Security,  an officer before being arrested. A misunderstanding led Kiryu to believe that Yusei betrayed him, when he was actually trying to take the fall for Kiryu. Kiryu later died in prison and became a Dark Signer to take revenge. - "Kiryu: I told you, I'm a God of Death. Gods of Death don't die."
 * Anti-Hero: Type III, post-Heel Face Turn.
 * The Atoner: During the Crash Town arc.
 * Ax Crazy
 * Badass: He's the only person in the entire series to have ever beaten Yusei. In the manga, he's even more so, seeing as he has.
 * Technically Jack has won against Yusei once, but Jack didn't.
 * Badass Biker
 * Badass Longcoat: He wears one of these during the Crash Town arc.
 * Badass Long Hair
 * Bare Your Midriff
 * Beard of Sorrow: A variation: Kalin in the Crash Town arc is so depressed he's not bothering with cutting his hair; it's longer and his bangs nearly cover his eyes.
 * Death Seeker: At the start of the Crash Town arc.
 * Despair Event Horizon
 * The Dragon: Helped by the 'Ryu' (Dragon) in his name.
 * Evil Laugh
 * Forgotten Childhood Friend
 * Hero-Killer
 * It's All My Fault
 * My Hero Zero: Infernity Zero. Also, his Infernity monsters can only use their effects if he has zero cards in his hand.
 * Eucatastrophe: During his first duel with Yusei, he would have killed him if Yusei's D-Wheel hadn't given out from the damage it had sustained.
 * Promotion to Parent:
 * Redemption Equals Death:
 * The Rival
 * Russian Roulette: His cards Infernity Randomizer and Infernity Death Gunman have damage effects that emulate this.
 * Shinigami: What he is called by some of the people in Crash Town, and he calls himself this in the final duel of the arc as well.
 * Shinigami: What he is called by some of the people in Crash Town, and he calls himself this in the final duel of the arc as well.


 * Shout-Out: When using Infernity Death Gunman; "To be honest, I've forgotten how many monsters there are in my Deck."
 * Used to Be a Sweet Kid:
 * White-Haired Pretty Boy

Carly Nagisa (Carly Carmine)


"When I cheer on someone doing their best, I think I can do a little better myself. That alone makes me happy."

An unsuccessful, clumsy and nervous reporter, who becomes tangled up in the events of the series after noticing the Dragon's Birthmark during Yusei and Jack's duel at the end of the Fortune Cup. In the process, she learns many secrets, but something usually prevents her from writing a story. She uses a Fortune-Telling Deck to read her own fortune and decide on her actions.

She meets Jack Atlas when he is attacked by a possessed Ushio and after helping Jack fend him off, safeguards him from the media at her home. During his stay with her, she learns about his past and how foolish he has been, and gives him some advice that helps him to find his way. As events become more dangerous, he leaves her behind for her own safety, but having developed feelings for him, she follows his trail - with disastrous consequences. -
 * A Friend in Need
 * Action Girl: Surprisingly, yes.
 * Bare Your Midriff: In her Dark Signer outfit.
 * Beautiful All Along: Without her glasses on (as you already knew).
 * Brainwashed and Crazy
 * Break the Cutie: Who can blame her for breaking down in tears at the end of Episode 39.
 * Character Development: One of the more fleshed-out characters in the series.
 * Clingy Jealous Girl
 * Cute Clumsy Girl
 * Dark Action Girl: As a Dark Signer.
 * The Dog Bites Back
 * Dramatic Irony
 * Expy: With her glasses on, she seems like a female version of Mousse from Ranma 1/2
 * Foreshadowing: Though by then it was pretty obvious how screwed  was.
 * Fan Nickname: Her Dark Signer self is commonly referred to as D-Carly.
 * Fighting Your Friend
 * Foe Yay: With Stephanie and Mikage. They all become Vitriolic Best Buds by the end.
 * The Glasses Gotta Go
 * Go Out with a Smile
 * Intrepid Reporter
 * Kill the Cutie
 * Laser-Guided Amnesia
 * Lotus Eater Machine:.
 * Love Makes You Evil: The possibility of a future with Jack is what caused her to slip into her Dark Signer persona for a 2nd time.
 * Meganekko
 * Official Couple: With Jack, one of the most canon-supported pairings.
 * Though after she, the writers are acting as if Jack's and Carly's   never happened.
 * Opaque Nerd Glasses: Her trademark.
 * Otaku: Hinted.
 * Slow Motion Fall: Both times.
 * Sparkling Stream of Tears:.
 * Super-Powered Evil Side
 * Thinks Like a Romance Novel: Her Jack fantasies. Complete with roses, sparkles, and even a baby.
 * Took a Level In Badass: Twice. First when she came back as a Dark Signer and gave  what was coming to him. Second when she became   Now considering her introduction at the start of the season, who could have seen this coming?
 * Veronica Taylor: Yep, Carly is played by the same actress that originally played Ash Ketchum and May.
 * What Beautiful Eyes!
 * What Have I Done / What Have I Become?: Happens in quick succession after she regains her senses after.
 * What Beautiful Eyes!
 * What Have I Done / What Have I Become?: Happens in quick succession after she regains her senses after.

Misty Lola (Misty Tredwell)


"(to Aki) Nothing will make him come back now. But, I want you to apologize at the very least... by going to where he is and doing so!"

The Dark Signer with the Lizard Birthmark. She was a top model, and like Carly, practiced fortune-telling (though she read people by facial appearance rather than through cards). She became a Dark Signer after her brother was killed. Misty fell into depression following his death, leading to her losing focus and crashing her car in the ocean. While in hospital, she was spared by Ccarayhua and instructed to kill Aki - the one believed to be responsible. -
 * Dark Action Girl
 * Dead Little Brother: Her younger brother, Toby, was a psychic duelist who admired Aki. About a year before the series began, he was found dead and barely recognizable in the Daimon Area, supposedly crushed by falling debris from one of Aki's duels.
 * Foreshadowing: She sees the 'shadow of death' about Carly, predicting her death in the near-future. And sure enough, 8 episodes later...
 * Gorgeous Gorgon: She uses a gorgon deck.
 * Hall of Mirrors: Made her last stand in one, and has a field spell called Mirror Labyrinth.
 * Junko Minagawa: Her seiyuu.
 * Taken for Granite: What her gorgon monsters like to do to her opponent's monsters.

Bommer (Greiger)


"Vengeance is the darkness in one's heart which will never die out!"

Bommer initially appeared as a participant in the Fortune Cup - an honorable duelist, proud yet stoic, who was perfectly willing to admonish the crowd at the Stadium when they started to speak ill of Yusei due to his marker. He comes from a destitute village, and like Crow, learned everything he knows from Duel Monsters Cards.

He was in a deal with Godwin to expose the Signers in the tournament in return for financial aid for his village. However before his duel with Yusei, Bommer learned that his village had been destroyed, apparently by one of Godwin's experiments to summon the Crimson Dragon. This led to. During the attack on the Arcadia Movement, he was. Later, when Demak was defeated, Rudger  in order to make him a replacement Dark Signer, giving him the Killer Whale Birthmark and a second chance at revenge. - "Bommer: This man is undoubtedly a duelist, selected under the same conditions as we were. If one has cards, marker or no marker, they are the same as everyone else, and the people standing here should be ashamed of nothing. It is all of you, looking at him through your trivial rose-colored glasses, who are nothing short of vicious."
 * Dead Little Siblings: Annie and Max, although
 * Doomed Hometown
 * Mr. Exposition: During the Crimson Devil sub-arc.
 * Redemption Equals Death: After his battle with Crow, he
 * Revenge
 * Spiked Wheels: On his D-Wheel.
 * What Have I Done:.
 * What the Hell, Hero?: Delivers a magnificent one to the crowd in the Fortune Cup when they start booing Yusei for being a Satellite citizen:

Rex Godwin/Goodwin


"Friends, bonds, legends, love - What good have they done? Have they managed to even put a dent in destiny!? Destiny merely scoffs at us, unchanged! However, I shall proceed upon the remaining path... I shall create a new world!!"

The director of Neo Domino's Public Security Maintenance Bureau and the leader of Yliaster. He is responsible for transforming Neo Domino into it's current, hierarchical state, and for isolating Satellite (to act as the battleground for the war between the Signers and the Dark Signers, and as a decoy to protect Neo Domino). Cold, calm and calculating, he is perfectly willing to sacrifice innocent lives to achieve his goals and preserve his utopia.

It is later revealed that he was a former developer in M.I.D.S. and an assistant to Yusei's father along with his older brother, Rudger. Shortly before the Zero Reverse, he was entrusted with 3 of the cards necessary to operate Old Momentum's safety switches,, and the mission to bring together the Signers to defeat Rudger.

Acting on his promise to his brother, he gathered the Signers and sent them to defeat his brother, while thinking of a way to break the 5000 year cycle. He eventually came to the conclusion that only a God's power could change fate, and decided to acquire the powers of both the Crimson Dragon and the King of the Underworld to become the Ultimate God and create an 'ideal' world. - "Yusei: Isn't that what we call a bond?"
 * Affably Evil: At least up until he
 * A God Am I: Intends to acquire both the power of the Crimson Dragon and the King of the Underworld to become the Ultimate God and end the 5000 year cycle.
 * A Love to Dismember: He worships his brother's severed arm, and 62 episodes in Rex forcefully removes his prosthetic left arm in order to make his brother's arm his own, becoming a Signer in the process.
 * Artificial Limbs: He lost his arm when . Coupled with the fact that he had the severed Dragon Head, it led some to believe that he was the 5th Signer.
 * The Chessmaster
 * Drunk on the Dark Side
 * The End of the World as We Know It: Plans on causing this, then rebuilding the world sans the Signer-Dark Signer cycle.
 * Expy: He is essentially this show's version of Pegasus.
 * Foreshadowing: That emblem on his suit that he showcases from his very first appearance? Totally insignificant, really.
 * Gambit Roulette
 * Hannibal Lecture: His quote above is part of one which spans the Duel, with varying degrees of focus on each of his opponents, until Yusei finally shuts him up.
 * Hidden Agenda Villain
 * Hypocrite: A strange example. He claims that bonds have failed and everyone is ultimately strongest when alone, but Yusei points out in his Shut UP, Hannibal moment that both Godwin/Goodwin brothers were ultimately trying to fight fate, and:


 * Kick the Dog:
 * Large Ham: After.
 * Maddie Blaustein: First voice of Rex in the dub, replaced by Pete Zarustica when she passed away in her sleep from natural causes (not that you'd be able to tell the difference anyway).
 * Mr. Exposition: Initially.
 * Robotic Reveal: His prosthetic was revealed when he caught a spike that broke off Bommer's D-Wheel and it shredded his glove.
 * Together in Death:
 * Utopia Justifies the Means: Both in his plan to create an 'ideal' world and in his isolation of Satellite to act as a battleground.
 * Villainous Breakdown:
 * Well-Intentioned Extremist:
 * White Gloves: Hides his prosthetic with these.
 * Yin-Yang Bomb: Becomes a Signer and a Dark Signer at the same time.

Sherry Le Blanc


A new D-Wheeler introduced during the third arc who challenges Yusei, intending to recruit him for her team. She reveals that Yliaster is involved in the Grand Prix, and her motivation for entering it is to get revenge on Yliaster for killing her parents. -
 * Action Girl
 * Anime Accent Absence: Played straight in the original, but averted in the English dub by giving her a thick French accent.
 * Badass: Episode 93... just Episode 93.
 * Biker Babe
 * Expy: Very reminiscent of Sherry from Zatch Bell.
 * Ms. Fanservice: Also just Episode 93.
 * The Ojou: Subverted, she was this until her parent's death, going in hiding with Mizoguchi and becoming a Badass.
 * Orphan's Plot Trinket: The card hidden inside her childhood teddy bear,.
 * Rapunzel Hair: To take full advantage of the Samus Is a Girl reveal.
 * Samus Is a Girl
 * Shout-Out: Her cards reference Joan Of Arc and the Hundred Years' War.
 * In Episode 117,, Zone confronts her in white space in the form of her father. He says that if she wants to know the truth, he will tell her, but she'll have to accept her fate being changed as a result. Doesn't sound familar at all, does it?
 * Why Don't Ya Just Shoot Him: Seems to be more interested in beating the crap out of people than dueling them.
 * You Killed My Parents
 * In Episode 117,, Zone confronts her in white space in the form of her father. He says that if she wants to know the truth, he will tell her, but she'll have to accept her fate being changed as a result. Doesn't sound familar at all, does it?
 * Why Don't Ya Just Shoot Him: Seems to be more interested in beating the crap out of people than dueling them.
 * You Killed My Parents

Mizoguchi (Elsworth)


Sherry's butler, who has protected and raised her from childhood ever since her parents were killed by Yliaster. He will follow her at all costs. -
 * Attack! Attack! Attack!: Like Jack, he is quite clever, with a deck that focuses on attacking relentlessly. He cites that samurai never hesitate or retreat.
 * Badass
 * Badass Normal: One of the few characters who doesn't poesses any special powers during the show and yet he's equally or more Badass than them.
 * Battle Butler: He lays a bunch of thugs flat with no effort.
 * Crazy Prepared: Seriously, a sword and a parachute in his duel disk?
 * Determinator
 * Everything's Better with Samurai: His deck. He also cites lessons from Bushido.
 * Knuckle-Cracking: As shown in the picture, when he is about to beat up the afforementioned thugs who had tried to drop a truck on Sherry, Yusei and Aki.
 * My Master, Right or Wrong: Supports Sherry no matter what dangerous or illegal thing she does. Not hard to blame him, Yliaster are the real bad guys.
 * Perpetual Frowner
 * The Quiet One
 * Seppuku: Has a card, Resolve Of The Lord And Retainer, that does this.
 * Single-Stroke Battle: Has a card, Pause Of The Certain Kill, that does this.
 * Shout-Out: Several of his cards reference Miyamoto Musashi and Sasaki Kojiro.

"Dark Glass" ("Vizor")


A mysterious rider who challenges Yusei when he is worrying about the incident concerning Ghost, telling him to "surpass his limit." He helps Yusei overcome his fears, and shows him an alternative way of fighting called Accel Synchro. He is the only D-Wheeler so far to be left-handed. -
 * All There in the Manual / Word of God: Series Director Katsumi Ono revealed on his Twitter account that
 * Awesome but Impractical: His D-Wheel, which is one of the strangest designs to appear in the series. He must have a hard time keeping it balanced.
 * Badass
 * Big Damn Heroes: Saves Yusei from being overrun by the army of Ghost.
 * Cool Shades
 * Cute Kitten: Swerving to avoid a kitten caused him to crash.
 * No Name Given: "Dark Glass" is only a nickname that's displayed on the duel scoreboard for the audience's benefit. In the show itself he's credited as "The Mysterious D-Wheeler."
 * The dub uses Only Known by Their Nickname instead, as he told Yusei to call him "Vizor".
 * Rule of Cool: His D-Wheel design is a monowheel talon that would be very hard to balance on. But who cares?
 * Shout-Out: To Kamen Rider.
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair

Ghost
A mysterious duelist who has been infecting and destroying D-Wheels.


 * Evil Laugh
 * Glowing Eyes of Doom

Team Unicorn (Andore, Breo and Jean)


A strong Riding Team that were Team 5D's first opponents in the WRGP.

- "Jean: The more you try to defend against Breo, the more you'll be dragged into Hell with nowhere to escape."
 * Ambiguously Gay: Jean All three of them.
 * Badass Boast


 * Break the Haughty: Breo's backstory.
 * Crazy Prepared: They extensively study their opponents and adjust their decks to counter them. They also like to fool their opponents into thinking that they will use a particular strategy, only to use a different one.
 * Defeat Means Friendship
 * Gratuitous Spanish
 * Hero Antagonist
 * Horned Hairdo: Andore.
 * Ignore the Fanservice: Jean.
 * Eucatastrophe
 * Photographic Memory: Breo.
 * Smug Snake: Jean
 * Why Don't You Just End Your Turn and Win: One of the most infamous cases of Plot Induced Stupidity in the franchise, if Jean had simply ended his turn and not made a move, Yusei would have lost by deck out. Instead they Hand Wave that he feels the need to attack (in the Japanese his "fighting spirit" has been ignited, in the dub he doesn't want to win by deck out), and in doing so causes himself to lose.

Team Catastrophe (Nicholas, Hans and Hermann)


Team 5D's second opponents in the Preliminaries. They acquired a 'dark card' from Placido which they use to make their opponents crash. -
 * Embarrassing Rescue
 * Evil Is Not a Toy
 * Hoist by His Own Petard:
 * Invisible to Normals: Their monster's shadow hook (which was attacking their opponent's wheels).
 * Living Shadow: The majority of their cards, especially Hidden Knight - Hook.
 * Obviously Evil
 * Trying to Catch Me Fighting Dirty
 * Unwitting Pawn

Team Ragnarok: Dragan, Brave (Broder) and Harald (Halldor)


Team 5D's newest rivals as of Episode 118, these 3 duelists were shown to be very important, and immune to Yliaster's changes to history due to having a new set of God Cards, the Tripolar gods, all 3 based on Norse mythology. They are notable for being the very first Divine Type Monsters since the 3 Egyptian god cards from the very first series, as well as the first Divine type of Synchro monsters. -
 * Back From the Dead: Doubles as Death Is Cheap. This is the main effect of the three gods, which give a bonus when coming back. Brave, being the cunning duelist he is, exploits the hell out of Thor's in his duels with Jack and Crow.
 * British Accents: Harald, dub only.
 * Background Boss: Odin, who is so absurdly huge he has to stay on the background.
 * The Berserker: When not dueling, Harald is perfectly calm and collected. During an actual duel... Not so much.
 * Dub Name Change: Brave to Broder, and Harald to Halldor in the English dub. Oddly enough, Dragan keeps his name from the Japanese version.
 * The Fatalist
 * Freudian Trio: Brave/Broder is the Id, Dragan is the Ego, and Harald/Halldor is the Superego.
 * Hero Antagonist: They want to stop Team New World (The Three Emperors of Yliaster), but are unwilling to work together with the Signers, because of Yusei's father being the one who created Momentum (which led to Zero Reverse).
 * Large and In Charge: The most powerful of the Polar Gods, Odin, wielded by Harald, is probably the largest monster to date, towering over the city and easily dwarfing the other two.
 * To put it in perspective, the entire duel, Odin is in the background, and he's STILL bigger than the other two.
 * Masaya Onosaka: Harald's seiyuu.
 * Not So Different: Brave cares for a group of children and is a trickster duelist, just like Crow.
 * Norse Mythology: Most of their cards are based on this.
 * Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory: The Polar God cards they hold protect them from temporal distortions.
 * Shout-Out: One is obvious, the 3 polar gods being based on Norse Mythology, with Thor, Loki, and Odin. Another is that when Dragan summons Thor, he gains a green mark in his eye similar to another certain eye power.
 * Which the other two members share, having a different type of rune in each eye to represent their respective polar god.
 * Talking to Himself: In the dub version, Harald and Jack are voiced by the same person, Ted Lewis, and spend pretty much the entire Ragnarok exposition episode like this.
 * Throwing the Fight: During Jack's reign as King, Dragan participated in a fixed match against him in order to get financial aid for his injured father. He isn't happy about it (and neither is Jack when he finds out).
 * The Trickster: Brave is considered one, as well as his Polar God, Loki, who is the Trickster God of Norse Mythology.
 * Unexplained Accent: Harald with his British accent, dub only. Since he's supposed to be Norwegian.

Team Taiyou (Taro, Yoshizo, and Jinbe)


Another new team and Team 5Ds' third opponent. They only have one D-wheel that Yusei fixes and they have classic cards from the first Generation of Duel Monsters Yusei seems to recognize as being similar to Yugi's deck. -
 * Fan Dumb: In-universe example, the WRGP audience thinks that their outdated cards and Stone Wall strategy is lame, even though they are undefeated and are giving Team 5D's a run for their money.
 * Seriously, the city is full of Jerk Asses with a serious mood swinging problem.
 * Hero Antagonist: They are just guys trying to prove their worth to the world..
 * Lethal Joke Card: Their ultimate card, Sleeping Giant Thud, requires the sacrifice of a Level 1 Normal monster that has been on the field for 10 turns (a nearly impossible condition to fulfill in today's game). Once it hits the field, it can easily curb-stomp a God Card.
 * Mighty Glacier: Sleeping Giant Thud. Almost impossible to take down, and a hard hitter the kind which would make Obelisk the Tormentor cry.
 * Not So Different: Like Yusei, they are poor and their decks are made of collected cards that others threw away.
 * Not So Harmless Villains: Everyone assumes that they are pushovers because most of their cards are outdated. They are extremely powerful.
 * Powerful enough to be able to utilize a card strong enough to contend with the 3 Egyptian God cards, but is so hard to summon, no one before them has ever got it on the field due to the ridiculous summoning conditions the card has.
 * The Power of Friendship: How they managed to win all their duels until losing to Team 5D's.
 * Stone Wall / Death By a Thousand Cuts: Their overall strategy.

Crashtown

 * Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Barbara.
 * Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Barbara.
 * Combat Pragmatist: Lotten.
 * Complete Monster: Lotten.
 * Decoy Damsel: Barbara.
 * Femme Fatale: Barbara again.
 * Gatling Good: Lotten's Gatling Ogre, which is able to perform a First Turn Kill.
 * Heroic Sacrifice:
 * Meaningful Name: Lotten (which sounds the same as "Rotten" in Japan) is the obvious one. The dub also shortens Barbara's name to Barb, which is a word for something spiky or prickly (as in barbed wire).
 * One-Hit Kill: Lotten's Gatling Ogre.
 * Screw The Rules, I Have Dynamite:.
 * Spell My Name with an "S": Lotten/Rotten.

The Three Emperors of Yliaster


A mysterious trio from Yliaster who succeed Godwin as Head of the Bureau, and the main antagonists of the third arc. Not much is known about them, but they apparently intend to use power of the duelists competing in the WRGP to complete a "circuit" with which they can discover the 'location of god' and attain an even greater power. Their main goal, however, is.

-


 * Big Bad Triumvirate
 * Big, Thin, Short Trio
 * But for Me It Was Tuesday: They have "erased" a lot of people throughout the years, so many.
 * Despair Event Horizon: Each of them.
 * Lucciano.
 * Placido.
 * Jose.
 * Dub Name Change: One of 4Kids most embarrasing ones yet. They are called Primo (Placido), Lester (Lucciano) and Jakob (Jose).
 * Plus not to mention that the English version disrupts the Theme Naming the Japanese version employed.
 * Evil Sounds Deep: Played straight with Jose and subverted with Luciano's shrill, nightmarish wail of a voice.
 * Eyepatch of Power: Sorta. Luciano and Placido have metal plates with the Infinity symbol on them covering one of their eyes. Placido's covers his right eye while Luciano's covers his left eye.
 * Fan Nickname: The Tenors, see Theme Naming.
 * Fusion Dance: Jose and Placido.
 * Also,.
 * Gratuitous Spanish: "Diablo", the name of the Riding Roid army headed by Placido, is Spanish for 'Devil'. Also, Jose is about as stereotypically Spanish a name as it gets.
 * Gratuitous Italian:.
 * Knight Templar
 * Master of Disguise: Both Luciano and Placido do this to trick Rua and Ruka.
 * A Million Is a Statistic
 * Numerological Motif: Infinity.
 * Power Crystal: They each have one of these on their forehead.
 * : Turns out.
 * Technopath: Placido, to a certain extent..
 * Theme Naming: The three of them are named after the Three Tenors: Jose Carreras, Placido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti (now deceased).
 * breaks the theme. He's named after a record company, or a philosophical conundrum.
 * You Can't Fight Fate: They fiercely believe in this, and Placido even compares the humans' struggle to survive to the dance of worker bees. They don't dance because they want to, but because it is their role written by fate itself. And just to punch in some extra symbolism, the bee's dance describes the Infinity symbol. Jose also revealed that is their task to make sure history stays on a predetermined course, and as such
 * You Have Failed Me:
 * You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: They leave Jeager and Team Catastrophe to die without blinking an eye once they stop being useful.
 * You Have Failed Me:
 * You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: They leave Jeager and Team Catastrophe to die without blinking an eye once they stop being useful.

Placido (Primo)

 * Arch Enemy: Placido feels Yusei is his, for defeating the first Ghost. Yusei doesn't even know he exists until Placido confronts him directly.
 * Berserk Button: He gets a bit annoyed when his fellow Emperors suggest that he might not be able to defeat Yusei.
 * Cool Sword: It also doubles as his duel disk.
 * Half the Man He Used To Be:
 * Revenge Before Reason: Placido is so obsessed with killing Yusei that Jose and Luciano are worried that he will screw up their plans.
 * White-Haired Pretty Boy

Luciano (Lester)

 * Evil Laugh: Luciano has a laugh very similar to Jeager's, only much crazier... And Hungrier.
 * Giggling Villain: HOLY CRAP.
 * Gratuitous English: "Bye, bye!"
 * The Hyena
 * Large Ham: Even Brian Blessed would tell the kid to tone down.
 * Rollerblade Good

Jose (Jakob)

 * Bald of Evil
 * Badass Grandpa: Episode 110 cements him as this when he easily defeats Sherry in a fight and just in case anyone doubted his dueling prowess, in episodes 132 and 133 he Curb Stomps Jack and takes out Crow without much trouble at all.
 * Large and In Charge: Jose is the largest and most senior member of the group, and has referred to himself as the leader of the Three Emperors. In parallel to that, his Machine Emperor Grannel also easily towers over both Wisel and Skiel.
 * Mind Over Matter: Used to retrieve  and to stop a meteor (the tablet containing his Machine Emperor) midfall.
 * Really Long Beard of Evil
 * Unusual Eyebrows: That piece of hair sticking out from under Jose's hood? That's his eyebrow.
 * Super Strength: Displayed when he and Luciano are attacked by Sherry and Mizoguchi.
 * Shout-Out: Combined with the above, Jose is one to The Six Million Dollar Man of all things, having a similar style of Super Speed along with his strength to said character.
 * Takayuki Sugo: His seiyuu.

Aporia


"I am Aporia, guardian of despair."

"Aporia: I can assure you that the ending is worth the wait."
 * Back From the Dead
 * This is not even counting
 * Beyond the Impossible: As far as the ridicolousness of his design and D-Wheel goes. Just look at him!
 * Climax Boss
 * Despair Event Horizon: Crossed it thrice. That sure will do some good to your sanity.
 * Final Boss: Of the 4Kids dub of 5D's, due to that dub skipping the last seventeen episodes.
 * : He is the result.
 * Irony:
 * Also, just this line from the dub.
 * Irony:
 * Also, just this line from the dub.
 * Also, just this line from the dub.

"Aporia: Young boy, this is despair. (Shot of Rua in tears). Turn end."
 * Light Is Not Good: His apparence is somewhat angelical, wearing all white, and with boosters on his back that sort of look like wings.
 * Made of Explodium: Explodes magnificently after his defeat at the hands of Yusei. After all, There's No Kill Like Overkill.
 * Kick the Dog: One very memorable one to Rua after laying waste to Ruka and Jack in one turn, nearly defeating them.
 * Kick the Dog: One very memorable one to Rua after laying waste to Ruka and Jack in one turn, nearly defeating them.


 * Red Eyes, Take Warning
 * Rule of Three: Everywhere. Three embodiments, three despairs three Machine Emperors, three Machine Imperial Soldiers.
 * Villainous Breakdown: Has one when he finally realizes Yusei is about to defeat him.
 * Well-Intentioned Extremist: He intends.
 * Wham! Line: " . My name is Aporia."
 * The Worf Effect:
 * The Worf Effect:

Zone


A mysterious mechanical being that dwells within a cyberspace area that has connections with Bruno and the Yliaster Trio (and possibly Yusei). It was first seen when Yusei, Sherry and Bruno were brought to it's world by the power of the 'Z-One' card.

- "ZONE: Yusei Fudo, though you may have come this far with the intention to cut open the future with your own power... . [...], Zero Reverse was caused and your lives were changed dramatically. You were orphaned, living in Satellite, and then rose up to the challenges in the WRGP. . [...]"


 * A Form You Are Comfortable With: Appears to Sherry alone as her father.
 * Cyborg
 * Despair Event Horizon: He may not have run over the line three times, but his crossing was no less painful.
 * Dramatic Unmask
 * Fan Nickname: Robo-Shrimp.
 * Fauxshadow: Despite the many hints, some more subtle than others, he is.
 * Giant Hands of Doom
 * Hideo Ishikawa: His seiyuu.
 * Man in the Machine: His monsters also fit this trope, seeing as how those are angels inside the armor.
 * Shout-Out: Possibly to the Truth. It claims to be 'the one who knows the truth' and offers to tell Sherry the truth in exchange for her accepting her fate being changed.
 * Superpower Lottery: His deck.
 * He has a card that
 * Tarot Motifs: The four  he has used are based on the first four Major Arcana.
 * What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic: His ten Temporal Machine Gods are based on the ten aspects of the Tree of Life used in Kabbalah.
 * White Void Room: It resides in one of these.
 * Hideo Ishikawa: His seiyuu.
 * Man in the Machine: His monsters also fit this trope, seeing as how those are angels inside the armor.
 * Shout-Out: Possibly to the Truth. It claims to be 'the one who knows the truth' and offers to tell Sherry the truth in exchange for her accepting her fate being changed.
 * Superpower Lottery: His deck.
 * He has a card that
 * Tarot Motifs: The four  he has used are based on the first four Major Arcana.
 * What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic: His ten Temporal Machine Gods are based on the ten aspects of the Tree of Life used in Kabbalah.
 * White Void Room: It resides in one of these.
 * Superpower Lottery: His deck.
 * He has a card that
 * Tarot Motifs: The four  he has used are based on the first four Major Arcana.
 * What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic: His ten Temporal Machine Gods are based on the ten aspects of the Tree of Life used in Kabbalah.
 * White Void Room: It resides in one of these.
 * White Void Room: It resides in one of these.

Crimson Dragon


The embodiment of the Red Star worshiped by the People of the Stars 5000 years ago. After sealing the Jibakushin within the Nazca Lines, it's power was divided into 5 separate pieces and infused into the 5 individuals known as Signers as a Dragon's Birthmark. The 5 Dragons who protect the Signers are it's servants.

-
 * All Your Powers Combined: When a Signer is fighting with great determination, the Dragon's Birthmarks can unite onto their back, forming the Full Dragon's Birthmark and allowing them to draw Savior Dragon..
 * Again with
 * Because Destiny Says So: The Signers having to come together and face the Dark Signers and Earthbound Gods, every 5000 years.
 * Big Good: Indeed.
 * Chekhov's Gun:
 * Chekhov's Skill: Doubles with Chekhov's Gun above. seems fairly random and a waste. However, after
 * Deus Ex Machina: Savior Dragon and the Synchro Monsters it summons, Savior Star Dragon and Savior Daemons' Dragon. Aside from the two Synchro monsters being incredibly powerful (although the real life card game Nerfs them to a degree), Savior Dragon only appears after the Crimson Dragon adds it on top a Signer (in this case Yusei and Jack's) decks. This means that Yusei and Jack are battling using a card not even in their decks.
 * Awesome but Impractical: The Savior Dragons revert back to their original forms at the end of the turn, making them unfavorable in the actual card game.
 * Elemental Powers: The Signer Dragons and their attributes.
 * Blow You Away: Yusei's Stardust Dragon
 * Casting a Shadow: Jack's Red Daemons' Dragon.
 * Dishing Out Dirt:
 * Light'Em Up: Ruka's Ancient Fairy Dragon
 * Making a Splash: The only attribute not represented by a Signer Dragon.
 * Playing with Fire: Aki's Black Rose Dragon
 * Everything's Better with Sparkles: The Savior Dragons, again.
 * Foreshadowing: The Crimson Dragon showed the Signers a vision of Satellite being engulfed by the flames of the Spider Geoglyph.
 * God: Perhaps the most powerful god in the Franchise so far. Its level of power is shown to be even stronger than the other gods from the rest of the entire Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise, especially in the 10th anniversary movie, where The Crimson Dragon is the main being that
 * Jesus Taboo: Because of this, the 'Savior' in the Savior Dragons is replaced with 'Majestic' in the TCG and in the English dub, and Savior Daemons' Dragon being renamed Majestic Red Dragon. Also a lesser example, "Red Daemons' Dragon" being re-named "Red Dragon Archfiend."
 * One of These Is Not Like the Others:
 * Our Dragons Are Different
 * Our Dragons Are Different

Earthbound Gods (Jibakushin/Earthbound Immortals)


Embodiments of evil sealed within the Nazca Lines by the Crimson Dragon and it's servants. They were unleashed from the Underworld 17 years ago, after the Zero Reverse incident blew a hole between this world and theirs. They are the driving force behind the Dark Signers, and are as follows; Uru (Spider), Cusillu (Monkey), Ccapac Apu (Giant), Aslla Piscu (Hummingbird), Ccarayhua (Lizard), Chacu Challua (Killer Whale) and lastly Wiraqocha Rasca (Condor). Much like the 5 Dragons serve the Crimson Dragon, they serve the King of the Underworld (Meikai No Oh). -
 * A Million Is a Statistic: Earthbound God's sacrifices.
 * Beat Still My Heart: When Earthbound Gods are summoned, a disembodied heart appears and starts beating as it absorbs people's souls.
 * Big Badass Bird of Prey: Wiraqocha Rasca, particularly as it's the most powerful of the seven.
 * Breath Weapon: Wiraqocha Rasca, and the King of the Underworld.
 * Cherry Tapping: Wiraqocha Rosca's 1 ATK, meant to compliment its key anime effect.
 * Demonic Possession: They will do this if they are not happy with their Dark Signer.
 * Eldritch Abomination: All of them.
 * Everythings Worse With Monkeys: Cusillu
 * Gameplay and Story Segregation: They're extremely fearsome cards in the anime, but in real life they're rather poor decks, closer to E Heroes rather than something like Blackwings
 * This is partly due to the practice of Nerfing cards on that sort of level to keep the game balanced, and also because they're harder to summon than Synchros. They're not particularly bad cards in themselves, given how fearsome they can be, but the fact they're not so easy to summon screws them over. Also, in real life they're not Physical Gods.
 * Giant Eye of Doom: Ccarayhua.
 * Giant Spider: Uru.
 * HP to One: Wiraqocha Rasca's anime effect.
 * Made of Evil: According to, they were manifested from the evil in people's hearts.
 * Oh Crap: Prominent when they are summoned.
 * Our Dragons Are Different: The King of the Underworld, which appears as an Evil Counterpart to
 * Sealed Evil in a Can: Old Momentum being the can-opener and the Nazca Lines of all things being the can.
 * There Is No Kill Like Overkill
 * The Unpronounceable: The Earthbound God's names are in Quechuan.

Kikoutei (Machine Emperors)


A series of monsters used by the Three Emperors of Yliaster. They are Machine Emperor Wisel, owned by Placido, Machine Emperor Skiel, owned by Lucciano, and Machine Emperor Grannel, owned by Jose. Arriving on Earth one at a time via stone tablets, they have the ability to absorb Synchro monsters - and since most people in the series use them, this is a bit of a problem for anyone facing them. .

-
 * Combining Mecha: Each one is made up of 5 separate components with effects that support one another, and can be replaced or upgraded to make the Kikoutei more powerful.
 * E=MC Hammer:, literally "âˆžï¿½". It doesn't take a genius to see the problem with that.
 * Everything's Better with Sparkles: Wisel has a pair of boosters on it's upper legs that emit a trail of sparkles.
 * Humongous Mecha: While Machine Emperors Wisel and Skiel aren't that humongous, Jose's Emperor, Grannel, certainly is.
 * And then there's the gigantic monstruosity that is.
 * Killer Robot
 * Man of Kryptonite: Designed to kill Synchro Monsters.
 * Numerological Motif: They all have an infinity sign on their chest.
 * Odd Name Out:.
 * Plot-Based Obfuscation: All of them appear in the opening credits, but until they have actually appeared in the show, they are mostly hidden by shadow.
 * Shout-Out: The tablets that they arrive in are similar to the monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey. Not to mention the Ka Tablets from the original show.
 * Shout-Out: The tablets that they arrive in are similar to the monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey. Not to mention the Ka Tablets from the original show.

Other

 * Maniac Monkeys: Zeman.
 * Everything's Better with Monkeys
 * Older Than They Look: Torunka due to the Minus Curse de-aging him. He's actually the Dark Sage monster.

Paradox


"If I let history be, the world will be destroyed. I've come here to change that hopeless future"

The main antagonist of the 10th Anniversary Movie who comes from a destroyed future. Believing Duel Monsters to be the cause, he traveled back in time to kill Pegasus before he could create the game, requiring the main protagonists of the three series to team up to stop him.

-
 * A Million Is a Statistic
 * Anti-Villain
 * Big Bad: Of the movie.
 * Cool Bike: It can transform into a flying machine and also travels through time.
 * Cool Mask
 * Detached Sleeves
 * Evil Laugh
 * Make Wrong What Once Went Right: How the protagonists view his goal.
 * Malevolent Masked Man
 * Meaningful Name: He and his friends are all named after logical fallacies.
 * Rummage Sale Reject
 * Set Right What Once Went Wrong: How he views his goal.
 * Shoulders of Doom
 * Spikes of Villainy
 * Time Travel
 * Unusual Eyebrows
 * Watching the Sunset
 * Well-Intentioned Extremist
 * Watching the Sunset
 * Well-Intentioned Extremist

Sect Injuin

 * Meaningful Name:  Sect uses Insect-Type monsters
 * Also, since family names are placed before given names in Japan, Sect's name is Injuin Sect.
 * The Rival: Yusei has declared him this, although Jack kinda lives more up to the role.
 * The Rival: Yusei has declared him this, although Jack kinda lives more up to the role.

The Skeleton Knight

 * Big Bad: Apparently.
 * Deal with the Devil: Duelists can call upon him to obtain powerful cards, but
 * Evil Counterpart: His ace monster, Underworld Dragon Dragonecro, specializes in creating these of any monster it battles.
 * Hellish Horse: Skeleton Knight rides a skeletal one in place of a D-Wheel.
 * My Horse Is a Motorbike: Inverted as he uses a horse instead of a D-Wheel
 * No Sell: A somewhat unusual example with Underworld Dragon Dragonecro, which cannot destroy monsters in battle.
 * Urban Legend

Surtr

 * BFS: He has one as his Duel Disk.
 * Cool Shades
 * Facial Markings
 * Good Hair, Evil Hair
 * Norse Mythology: He is named after the fire giant that will set the world ablaze at Ragnarok.
 * Norse Mythology: He is named after the fire giant that will set the world ablaze at Ragnarok.

Odin

 * Judging from a line after Surtr breaks his armour,
 * The Faceless:
 * Manipulative Bastard
 * Norse Mythology: He is named after the king of the Norse Gods.
 * Shoulders of Doom
 * Tin Tyrant: Apparently the armour is meant to
 * Shoulders of Doom
 * Tin Tyrant: Apparently the armour is meant to
 * Tin Tyrant: Apparently the armour is meant to

Transer (Transcender)

 * Mecha-Mooks

Player (World Championship 2009)

 * I Am Who?:
 * Purely Aesthetic Gender
 * The Voiceless

Player (World Championship 2010)

 * The Ace: of Team Satisfaction. Kiryu even mentions that he/she would make a better leader than him.

Player (World Championship 2011)

 * The Ace: of Team Future Speed.
 * Parental Abandonment:.
 * Parental Abandonment:.
 * Parental Abandonment:.

Toru

 * Boisterous Bruiser
 * Dishing Out Dirt/ Extra Ore Dinary: (Uses a Scrap Deck)
 * The Lancer
 * My Rules Are Not Your Rules: A minor case; as his deck contains two "Pot of Avarice", a Limited Card.
 * Parental Abandonment:.

Misaki

 * Deadpan Snarker: Has her moments.
 * Distaff Counterpart / Expy: Of.
 * Shock and Awe: (Uses a Watt Deck)
 * Shout-Out:
 * Sugar and Ice Personality
 * Tsundere: Mostly to Toru
 * When She Smiles
 * Wrench Wench: Like Bruno she's good with machines.
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair
 * Zettai Ryouiki

Klaus

 * Badass Grandpa: The main characters.
 * Cool Old Guy
 * Parental Substitute